Back in Juneau...

Made it back, safe and sound. Took me 14 hours of flying time, plus a couple hours in Seatac to get all the way back from London. I was exhausted when I got home, and crashed in my own lovely bed. It's a wonderful feeling to be home. Now, I just have to work on getting my body adjusted to being back on Alaska Time.
Pretty amazing experience, but I'm glad to be home in the Juneau rain.

Last two days in London- Finale.

The arctic cold has decided to descend upon London in the last couple of days. The temperature has more or less been freezing since Monday. I foolishly waited outside in Leister Square for 3 hours to say 'Hello' to Colin Firth (for those of you who don't know Mr.Firth, he's a very famous British actor... most famous as the original Mr. Darcy in the BBC Pride and Prejudice). I did manage to shake hands and say hello to him at his movie premiere, but at the cost of going into a mild stage of hypothermia. I also got to see Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian), but not before us girls in the crowd were rained on, sleeted on, hailed on, and then blow with freezing winds. Apparently that night was the first time it's snowed in London in October since 1938... of course it would snow on us waiting on the edge of the red carpet. Some of my friends waited for 11 hours yesterday to see Daniel Craig at the World Premiere of the new Bond movie. I decided not to go. There were way too many people, and it wasn't worth wasting the day in London waiting in line to get a spot on the side of the red carpet.
Luckily, after the snow episode, the clouds cleared the next day, and since then all we've had in cold, crisp days. Perfect for walking in Hyde Park. Our hostel is located right on the edge of Hyde Park, which is wonderful for walks, jogs and playing with all the geese that line the little body of water in the middle of the park.
Tomorrow, after our literature final, all the girls from the trip are going to a fancy tea together, followed by a walk in the park and preparing for a fancy dinner with the entire group. Many of the girls bought dresses for dinner (sort of our mini-prom, to celebrate), and I ended up buying a less expensive dress that I could wear to all the weddings I'm going to in the next year (I'm good about recycling dresses).
I'm very excited to make the journey home on Saturday. Hopefully I'll be home Saturday night, but I might have to wait over night in Seattle and fly home Sunday. Either way, I will be home, in my OWN bed (hooray!), by the end of this weekend.

Pictures to come...
Lots of love,
Giselle

I should do my own UK travel show... I could make good money.

Below are the Top 10 "Must-See" places in the UK, rated by myself on their beauty, inspirational quality and the sheer joy I felt in the moments spent in these areas. If you're planning a trip to anywhere in the UK... try and visit these:

#10: My first 'Wicked' performance in London was definitely a moment of joy...see it, it's amazing.
#9: Westminster Abbey Evensong- If you go to Westminster on a Wednesday night at 5pm, you will be greeted by the worshiping voices of an enormous boys choir... it's amazing worship.
#8: Walking along Hadrian's Wall- beautiful views and lots of sheep
#7: Hiking part of the Kerry Way- Mom and I walked a part of this trail the runs around the Ring of Kerry in Southern Ireland... very peaceful.
#6: Evening on the Thames- just go near the National Theatre on the Queen's walk, the sound of the waves and the pale blue lights in the trees make it incredibly romantic.
#5: Walking along the Aberystwyth beach, Wales.
#4: Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland.
#3: The Cliffs off of the Aran Islands... spectacular. I likes them a lot better than the Cliffs of Moher.
#2: Biking the Dingle Pennisula out to Slea Head (Ireland)- amazing day with beautiful views of the Irish coast.
and finally... drum roll...
my #1 spot is the Lake District, northern England... specfically the hills (fells) around Grasmere. The heart of this area has tons of great hikes and picture perfect villages... my dream come true.

Being collegiate at Oxford.

Just wanted to quickly reiterate how beautiful and fun Oxford it. I would love to go to school here... although I feel quite under dressed and not up-to-par intelligence wise. The college quads are just gorgeous, there are some great old second-hand book stores (including an enormous book shop called Blackwell's-- I dropped a bit of money there yesterday), fun old pubs, and great fast food in general, which is typical of a good college town. I purchased a lovely Magdalen College sweater yesterday (Magdalen is where C.S. Lewis taught and tutored), it also came with a free cap, which I wore yesterday.
I need to get rid of this awful cold and runny nose so I can go out tonight to all the great pubs (Thursday nights are when all the students go out), maybe I'll have a dramatic recovery-- I'm crossing my fingers.
Down to just about a week left!! That's amazing... it has gone by fast.

Oxford, students and bikes!

We made it to Oxford early this afternoon by train, and I the a revelation that I only have one more train ride before I head back to the homeland! These past three months have gone by incredibly past... particularly the last month or so. I'm excited at the prospect of not having to pack up all my clothing and books every few days. What a wonderful feeling to spread out once more (anyone who has seen my room at home knows that keeping my clothing confined to a small space is a challenge for me... I like to spread out). I have less than two weeks left now to wrap up my experience across the pond, and I know it will fly by, so I'll try to make the most of this last week and a half.
Oxford is very beautiful, definitely a college town. There are hundreds of bikes all over the place and an equal amount of students wondering the city centre. I never knew that Oxford University was made up of sooo many different colleges (my favorite being "Jesus College", I think I'm going to by their code of arms sweatshirt)!
I can't lie, I've been a little homesick recently. I've been looking forward more and more to coming home and relaxing. I'm also SUPER excited about visiting Whitworth (Novemeber 7th-11th for those of you Whitworthians) and I will be spending my 21st birthday with my best friend Kelsey at her school, Sonoma State, in California!
Not much time to relax, I know, but I'll be in Juneau from the 15th of November all the way through Christmas, hopefully substitute teaching.
Well, I will write more later... Lots of love!

Stratford: Land of Shakespeare... and tourists.

Our group traveled across England yesterday from Grasmere to Stratford upon Avon. Train rides are usually pleasent (at least this one was) and it gave me lots of time to catch up on reading and journaling. We arrived in Stratford and it seemed extremely flat compared to the beautiful terrain of the Lake District, tourists flooded the streets filled with Shakespeare toursit shops... not exactly what I had in mind. Our hostel is about a 35-40 minute walk from town, which is both fortunate and unfortunate. While the walk gives everyone a good dose of fresh air, it also is far enough that it's super hard to motivate ourselves to walk downtown. That also excludes any pub visits or evening activities... probably planned that way so we would read rather than run around town!
This morning our group went to the Holy Communion Service at the Holy Trinity Church, (the same church where Shakespeare is burried). The service was quite nice, and there were two baptisms! We were amazed at how many children they had running around the church. The English don't have the same urgency to rush their screaming toddlers our of the church like many Americans do. Usually when a baby starts to cry in an American church service, it's a race for the door, trying not to disturb the preacher. In contrast, this morning there were babies yelling, screaming, talking loudly everywhere, and the parents just gave a polite "shhh" (which did nothing) and continued trying to focus on the sermon. So, while I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful English babies running around, I wished that they could install some sort of temporary 'cry room' in these massive old churches.
I have two weeks left of living out of my backpack (hooray!), and two more destinations: Oxford and our last week in London. I'm beginning to miss home very much, and I'm craving a good spelt-banana waffle from the Waffle Co. in Juneau... that means I'm ready. ;)

In love with the Lake District!

I can now say with complete confidence I have found the most beautiful place in all of England! Our group boarded the train out of Manchester and headed North to this glorious piece of creation--- definitely a blessing to all who visit. I have absolutely fallen in love with Grasmere, the town we have stayed in for these last couple of days. Grasmere (one of the small towns nestled in the area) is surrounded by rugged green hills, tons of public footpaths, shimmering lakes fed by streams that are lined with moss and trees. The valleys are speckled with little gray stone cottages among the vibrant green pastures. It truly looks as if this little area came directly out of a Grimm's fairy tale.
The first afternoon we arrived, my friend Zach and I headed up the most epic hill we could find! We were giddy as children running through leaves, hopping rocks across steams, climbing as high as possible. Today I hiked with three other friends along the side of a beautiful waterfall that fell down into the main Grasmere valley. The trails are everywhere, and each one leads to an amazing view. This has definitely been the best point out of the whole semester.
We're heading into the last two weeks of the semester (crazy!)... I wish I could spend the rest of the time exploring all the little towns of the Lake District. But I will be back again, I know I will.