busy busy busy

Well Australia... it seems like a lot is happening down under. Julia is out of the game and Krudd has once again risen from the ashes in an attempt to swift the Labour party out for a win in the upcoming federal election. Parliament decided to enter turmoil when channel nine were trying to broadcast origin. So all was happening today, although not so much on origin because New South Wales obviously need to hit the how to play footy books again. I watched all of this unfold on my newsfeed. In a matter of maybe 10 minuets, it was completly dominated by Julia vs Kevin feuds, and then there were those footy nuts who were totally dedicated to ensuring that NSW got a victory... of which was unsuccessful. So Australia has been quite a happening place! But while all of this was unfolding down under, I was having my own party in DK.

So I have been relativley busy during the last week. I have had things on every single day and I now find myself tired, worn out and watching the chick flick 'The Ugly Truth'. To a dane, this is a hyggelit night in. The danish summer has delivered fine movie watching night weather and I plan on making the most of this! Anyway!

So since my last blog update I have moved in with my wonderful second host family. My new host family live so close to town... like 10 minuets on a bicycle (so now im a true dane cause i bike everywhere). They also live right on Roskilde Fjord, which means that I can go swimming and out on the boat which has proven to be so much fun. The fjord is relativley warm which i find it hard to believe considering it was frozen four months ago. Although, there are A LOT of jelly fish lurking in the water... of the non poisiousness kind which is strange for me just to jump in and feel the squishy delightful creatures touching and swimming around me. Kinda gross but i think im used to it now! So... Im settled in and loving living where i live. 

Since moving in, I have been into the full swing of family life and have enjoyed various danish traditions with my second host family. On Sunday, it was St Hansens Day in Denmark which is the longest day of the year. This is a traditional medieval day I suppose, as it is customary to have a bon fire and burn a witch.... With my second host family, we had a small party with family. It was so lovely and so hyggelit. We had a BBQ.. or a 'grill' as the danes called it, and watched the beautiful sunset over the Fjord. It was wonderful and it was really cool to experiance this danish tradition! It is also weird for me to see light shining through my window at 11:30pm at night.... danish summer- gotto love it!

I am also now technically on summer vacation as in Denmark at the moment there is something called læseferrie (reading vacation) where all of the students have time off to read and study for their exams. Well being an exchange student sure has its perks as i dont have to do any exams- yipee so ive been enjoying my time off and so have many other exchange students which is awesome as ive been able to catch up with a few of them! Last week I was in Copenhagen three times. The first was so that i could catch up with my friend Laura who lives about 1 hour from me. We spent the day soaking up the sun in Nyhavn, eating fresh strawberries and of course shopping in the really really awesome sales!! The second time was with my friend Jayanna who lives in Jetland. I haven't seen her since introcamp 5 months ago, so it was so nice to catch up especially cause she was my roommate! It was cool to hear each others experiances and chat a little about what we have been up to! That was a great day! and it was also spent in Nyhavn because the weather was picture perfect! 23 degrees however it felt like 30! Dont know how i am going to come back and readjust to 40 degrees.... aw man. 

The third reason was for a Thirty Seconds to Mars concert which was AWESOME! This concert was part of the Fredag's Rock in Tivoli (of course). I went with my really really good friends from Euro Tour- Kathleen and Laura. We spent the day in Tivoli going on all of the scary rides and eating all of the carnival food. It was so so lovely and it was even better to reminice about Euro tour together because we had some of the group back together! We also met up with another exchange student Gaby who lives in Copenhagen... We had a lovely catch up in a cute coffee shop in Tivoli which had really good coffee that i was really enjoying until i spilt it all over my pants...... So.... Thirty Seconds to Mars turned out to be absoloutley AWESOME and im so soooo glad that i was able to go and see them! I defiantley am a fan of their music :) 

On Monday and Tuesday, I was able to experiance two danish traditions with my lovely third host family. The first was a danish graduation party for someone has finished with high school... i got to see two of those actually :) and the second was a special one as it was a 25 years wedding anniversary. This was so cool and so different to what usually happens in Australia.

So.. the first. The graduation party. This party is filled with traditions that mostly revolve around a special hat. This hat looks like a sailor hat and once you finish your last exam, you get one to wear around all day. There are so many traditions surrounding this.... for example it is lucky if you and your friends bite it. You also have to write your final grade in the centre of the hat and people write messages on the inside. The love of your life is supposed to write their name in the circle in the middle of the hat and then people can write 'secret messages' in the brim... Then of course cause it is denmark there are many traditions that revolve around beer. For example, if you drink a whole slab of beet in one night you can a square into the brim of the hat.... and if you end up at the hospital with your stomach pumped then the black rim comes off as a sign of pride. I got to write in one of the hats which was really cool :) 

so the parties that i went to were really hyggelit and nice. They weren't very formal... they just had good company and good food. It was cool to see. At one of the parties i met an aussie couple from Tassie! WHAT A SMALL WORLD! It was so strange for me to hear the accent again!

After these two parties, me and my third host family drove for half an hour in the car to prepare for the 25th wedding annaversary. This is a pretty big event in Denmark that involves a lot of preparation the night before. It is traditional in Denmark to make a flower arch over the door of the couple who are having the annaversary. This is made by the family of the couple, and the couple are not allowed to be involved in the preperations. I was lucky enough to be involved in the making process, so making the flower boquets was so much fun and putting up the danish flag everywhere was really special. So that night we got home quite late and went straight to bed for the next morning we had to be up at 5 30am to prepare for the big day ahead.

So.. it is traditional in denmark for a 25th wedding annaversary to begin very early. Trumpet players come to wake the couple up andddddd family and friends gather outside the house to sing until the couple 'wake up' and come out and stand under the arch. This was really really cool to see and witness as we have nothing like it in Australia. I love this tradition and actually wish that our silver wedding annaversaries were more like the danes. So, after the singing and early wake up call the couple holds a morning coffee and brunch ceremony with the people who gathered to wake them up. It is traditional here for them to dance the bridal waltz and socalise with the guests. So after this, we then drove back to Roskilde slept for three or so hours and prepared for the formal part of the evening. This was similiar to other danish parties that I have been to in that there were many speeches and many songs. It was a very formal evening, where everyone wore fine clothes. It was really really special and I am so lucky that I got to see this special danish tradition! Who knows maybe ill even bring it back to Australia- especially the trumpet players... look out mum and dad! 

So thats the latest from the land of DK. The next few weeks are filled with plans and my social calendar is slowly filling up. The sun is shining, strawberries are in season and i no longer look like an albino. HAPPY DAYS! 

write soon 

apologies for my bad spelling. Learning a new language has made it even worse than it was before. and i cant really be bothered spell checking because my blog is just for random thoughts. sorry if it is annoying

i've been everywhere and there...

It has been nearly a month since I have written in my blog..... oh how quickly time passes! Sorry for the huge overdue entry its just that i've been a busy traveler! Since my last update I have visited 9 countries... I have seen Europe as a tourist, eaten some of the best food i've ever tasted, formed friendships that will last a life time and found a new appreciation for road trips....

Spending 18 days on a bus with 52 other exchange students will be something that I remember for the rest of my life. Somehow between inside jokes, fried chicken, dodgy hostels, 10 hour bus trips and a lot of 'practical information' from our tour guide we became one big family travelling around Europe with no map, sometimes no clue what to see and matching jackets that obviously made us the most fashionable people on the streets of some of the richest and most exclusive countries in the world... I can not even begin to sum up euro tours awesomeness in this tiny blog entry....  

So....

Day one... This began with a 6am wakeup call for the hour drive to where my bus would depart from. At the stop, I met up with Lauren and Laura (two other Aussies) and we amused ourselves until we arrived at the next stop where we picked up two more Aussies Kate and Kathleen. We picked up 52 exchange students in total from all over Denmark... in Sealand, Fyn and Jetland... The six hour drive to Berlin is nothing for Aussies who are used to day long... even week long roadtrips. But i think we are all becoming a little more danish or maybe it was the bus.. but 6 hours felt like 6 days. We were all excited though and were talking about our expectations for the trip and somehow between Haribo lollies, pringles and Milka chocolate, we survived and were ready and eager to see what Berlin had to offer. We arrived in the late afternoon, just in time to squeeze in a visit to the Berlin Olympic Stadium which was used by Hitler in 1936. It was a pretty impressive building, and also pretty cool to see given that I had learnt about it last year in good old modern history. Unfortunately though we could not actually go in, but we were satisfied taking tourist pictures out the front of the stadium. We then drove to our hotel... or...... building what called itself a hostel and went to bed. But that was not after a trip to a beautiful park where we stayed for the duration of our curfew. We bought some Ben and Jerry's and just sat and talked. It was very hyggelit. Went then went to bed and prepared ourselves for a super busy day of sightseeing in Berlin.

Berlin olympic stadium

Day two; BERLIN!

Having been to Berlin two weeks earlier, i was quite eager to be back in this amazing city to see what more it had to offer. It came in handy knowing a little bit about the city as we were basically given total freedom... quite literally. We were dropped off after our tour of the Berlin Wall and were told to meet back at the bus at 5pm.  We learnt some pretty important lessons on our first day of sightseeing that would help us survive the next 16 days... The most important was that we could not be late to our bus, or else our bus driver would drive off, even if we weren't all there. Another one was that we needed to find a map pretty quickly so we would know our way round... I think our tour guide may of needed one too considering we drove through a park that was strictly for pedestrians and cycles only. We got some pretty funky looks from the Germans going about their day.... rather funny! So with these pieces of information under our belt, we departed our meeting spot ready to see Berlin. We were really lucky as the sun was shining so we decided to make the most of this by hiring some bikes and cycling around for the day. I personally thought that it was the best way to see the city, as you are seeing it in true European style.  We cramed our day with so many things. Firstly we stopped at the Brandburg Gate, rode to Check Point Charlie, shopped (of course) and lastly enjoyed the beautiful weather riding around the Tear Garden. We got a really good feel for Berlin and went back to the bus feeling satisfied with what we had achieved in one day! That night, we again had a hyggelit time in the park but this time we ate fruit instead of ice cream. Berlin was awesome

Aussies at the wall 

The Wall! 

Check point charlie 

couldnt have imagined a better day in berlin... or a better way to see the city! 

Day three; PRAUGE

Back on the bus and bound for a country with a different currency, different language, different food and completely different culture.... the golden city PRAUGE!!!!!! Most of the day was spent on the bus... however we did make a stop at a concentration camp right on the border. This was very interesting to visit. Very eeary... and very moving to visit. It's really hard to describe what you feel there. It's confronting because you are standing in the place where the Nazi policy was praticed. And seeing where the people lived and went about their daily lives was just heart breaking. The most chilling experiance of the day though was walking through the tunnel of death... A completely dark underground tunnel where the jews were marched to their death. This was very confronting. Almost as confronting as stepping inside an isolation cell where the Nazi's kept some prisoners for various reasons. It was a very hot day outside, but the moment you stepped into the cell there was an immediate temperature change. Some of these cells were totally black and you could only imagine how cold they would have been in winter. It was really heartbreaking.

After our visit, we exchanged some money into Czech kroner at the border and were on our way to our hotel in Prauge. We arrived in time for dinner, and had the opportunity to explore the city at night. We jumped on the metro and spent the night in the city of Prauge. My first impressions of the city were dampened by rain, but it was really cool to be able to walk around the city. Everything had a lot of character and things were so unbelievably cheap! That night, me and another aussie girl went to starbucks with two American oldies. It was really really hyggelit just talking about exchange and random things. It was a great way to start our adventure in Prauge!

Concerntration camp 

Concerntration Camp 

Day four; PRAUGE 

Today we finally got to explore the wonderful city of Prauge! Our first stop of the day was a museum quater where there were many things to see and do. We got to stroll around the Royal Palace and see a place that had the most amazing view of Prauge. Here we stopped at an old church that was just beautiful on both the inside and the outside. We took some touristy photos and then moved on to the Charles Bridge. We walked through the beautiful city of Prauge which was filled with so much character. So many colourful buildings both modern and old. It had a really really cool feel about it and I really loved it! The Charles Bridge was quite a site! Along the walkway were different popes and sculptures which only added to the character of the place. This little tour lead us to the main square of Prauge which was pretty cool to see. We spent the day mostly here, wandering the streets and coming across so many wonderful things that Prauge had to offer. One of the highlights was seeing the Old Clock in the Square go off. It was pretty special as on the hour little figurenes go round, and to complete this, a person even plays the trumpet! It was pretty cool. We ended up going up this clock tower as there was a viewing platform. We payed our 7 euros not really knowing what to expect but the views were incredible! It was defiantley worth the visit and something that I will remember about Prauge. We then finished our day off and ventured back to our hotel.

Beautiful view of Prauge 

Amazing church! 

Inside the beautiful church in Prauge 

Charles Bridge 

The clock tower 

View from the clock tower 

Day Five; VIENNA

We piled on the bus bright and early this morning to travel quite a few hours to Vienna!! Our first stop was the Royal Gardens which were absoloutley incredible. They were huge and had everything from mazes to foutains that should have been somewhere in Rome. It was awesome to spend a few hours wandering through these beautiful gardens! This was true Mozart country! We explored the gardens quite a bit and ended up at the top of this hill thing which had the most beautiful view of Vienna! It was quite spectacular! In fact the whole gardens were just wonderful! The foutains were so decidant and it was hard to imagine that this was once someones private garden! So after our tour, we piled back onto the bus and ventured to our hotel. From there, some of us put our Sunday dress on and headed into the heart of Vienna to see a classical concert at a beautiful old church. This was Mozart country so what better to do in Vienna right?! The concert itself was actually pretty good. The musicians were talented as were the singers. And the church- oh my goodness.... it was just so beautiful and the singers and music combined perfectly  to echo beautifully through the old walls. It was a great way to start our stay in Vienna. After the concert we walked around the beautiful streets of Vienna and found a coffee bar where we just sat and talked until our curfew. It was really really hyggelit

Royal gardens Austria

Royal gardens Austria

Royal gardens Austria

Royal gardens Austria

Day Six; VIENNA

So today we had the whole day to explore the beautiful city of Vienna. I had been pretty impressed by both Berlin and Prauge but I was more so impressed with Vienna. It was absolutely beautiful! It had so much character and there was so much to see and do. The city is set out in a circle style, where all of the important buildings and touristy things to see are located. This made navigating our way around the city pretty easy.... well so Lauren and I thought until we ended up running across half of Vienna to make our bus by 5 minuets! So anyways, we stopped at the Royal Palace and were let off from there. We didn't end up going into the palace.. we instead decided to split off into smaller groups so we could see much more. Lauren and I ended up hiring bikes for the day which was super cool as we were again able to experiance so much more of the city than we could have on foot. We had a really good day seeing what Vienna had to offer. We stopped to buy some Mozart chocolates, ate Mozart cake, drunk Vienna coffee (which was to die for) and saw the old church in the heart of Vienna which had the most amazing stain glass windows. Our biking adventure then took us all over Vienna... to the old parliment... to random looking important buildings and beautiful parks which were really really cool to ride through. Vienna was overall a wonderful city and I hopefully will be able to go back there one day. It was one of my favourite cities on Euro tour!

Mozart cake! 

The amazing church in the middle of Vienna 

Vienna Parliment building 

Day Seven; ITALY! Lido Di Jelso 

Back on the bus today.. We had quite a long drive a head of us, but the drive through Austria was just beautiful and the lyrics of 'the hills are alive with the sound of music' were running through my head all the way to Italy. We made a picnic lunch stop right in the heart of the moutains.... i think that we were really close to the Alps. It had the most amazing view ever and the water was crystal clear. Of course, being an Aussie I had to dip my feet in and test how cold the water actually was! It was a really really nice spot to stop though and the views were simply breathtaking! I hopefully will one day come back and go skiing in the apls there (how danish i sound!). We arrived in Italy in the late afternoon and ate some strawberries on the beach. The water was actually really really warm and it was really tempting to go for a swim. Of course for dinner we ate pasta and this was a reminder that we were actually in Italy!

Austrian waters!

Check out that view. Arnold territory 

That view.... what a place to stop and eat lunch! 

Day Eight; VENICE 

Venice venice venice... how do i even begin to describe this day?! The morning began in a very traditional danish way.. waking up my girl Lauren singing Happy Birthday because TODAY WAS HER 18TH BIRTHDAY! Unfortuantley, my roomies and I couldnt find balloons so we ended up blowing up plastic gloves which was pretty funny as there were EVERYWHERE in our room. But it was a great way to start the day! As was a beach yoga session which was held by our lovely rotex. Then... we drove for about 30 mins and boarded a ferry to take us across to Venice for the day! I was pretty excited for venice as I had heard so much about it and it defiantley lived up to all of my expectations! Our first stop for the day was a Gondla ride which was just AWESOME! And something that I can tick off my bucket list... It was really good to see the city on the water and get an idea of the atmosphere. From this moment, it seemed that we were in for an awesome day in Venice. We all bought a sailor hat and wore them for the day. We looked like the biggest tourists but we didn't have any care in the world! We ate italian food for lunch (spagetti mmmm) and shopped, admired the beautifully decorated masks and admired the old buildings and the amount of character in this small little city. Needles to say I loved Venice a lot and it is defiantley on my places to come back to list! That night all of the girls enjoyed getting dressed up to go out with Lauren and celebrate her 18th! It was a very fun evening and a great way to finish our day in Venice

Gondla ride! 

Gondla ride! 

Venice! 

Just a little bit touristy 

Day Nine; Beach day in Lido

A relaxing day... something that we all needed desperately! The sun was shining for our beach day which was just awesome! The girls and I went to the beach in the morning where I went for a swim. The water was soooo nice and it was like being home again smelling that beautiful sea air and jumping over the waves. It was perfect... i mean come on swimming in italian waters?! Yes please! We took a break from the beach and did a little shopping in Lido. I bought some shoes ;) i mean come on, when in italy! And i ate one of the best pizzas that i have ever eaten in my entire life. It was the sea food special and it was covered in muscles, octypus and prawns. All of course was prepared fresh on a delicious italian base. ah it was heaven. We ate some gelato and then went back to the beach for the afternoon where we again swam... i think the aussies were the only ones in the water! But it was a really good day and Italy was slowly turning its charm on me and working towards being my favourite country for Euro Tour.

That italian pizza! 

Day ten; busssss til San Remo

Today was a very long day of driving. A lot of sugary european sweets were consumed and a lot of pointless gaming was played. Lauren and I even played guess this song karaoke and dancing contest (this gives you some extent of our level of boredom). Unlike the other days of driving, we were still in the same country... in Italian waters in the town of San Remo. We did however make a day stop in the wonderful city of Verona where we were able to see Juliette's balcony which was so awesome. Me and some aussie girls paid admission into the museum where we saw artefacts from the movie with Leo Decapro and also learnt about the history of Shakespeare's play. It was worth the visit and I'm really really glad that we did it. We even wrote a letter to Juliette which was pretty cool.. even if it were just an email. We didnt get that long to explore Verona so unfortuantley Juliette's house was our only stop! As for San Remo... It was filled with Gelato stops and vespas but as for that there wasn't much to do there as it was just our over night stop.. So we bought our last gelato, went to the beautiful beach and bid farwell to Italy. 

I have to admit I LOVED ITALY! So sooo much and Rome is now on my places to go list. Its got an amazing atmosphere, the people are really friendly, the food is mouthwatering good and the places are unbelievable.

Juliette's balcony

Writing a letter to Juliette 

Day eleven: Monaco/ Avinong

Today, we drove out of Italy and into the beautiful cities of Monaco and Avinong. Three countries in one very short day!!! It was kinda sad to say goodbye to Italy. It was such a beautiful country with beautiful weather and beaches but I know that i will defiantley be back there some day! So we continued on our trusty bus that was starting to smell.... but we eventally arrived in Monaco. Everyones cameras were literally glued to the window as we came down the valley and caught our first glimpse of one of the worlds richest and most exclusive countries in the world. I didn't actually know it was a country (how sad...) the only thing I actually knew about Monaco was that they had a royal family (thanks gossip girl!) So anyway, the high rise buildings, luxourious apartments and the carssss were unbelievable and Monaco turned out to be a fantastic stop. We had quite awhile to explore the amazing city. Our first stop was as a group where we visited the grave of Grace Kelly. I didn't know but she actually married into the royal family of Monaco. She is buried in a beautiful church which we were also able to explore (all the churches in europe are amazing- its just a known fact). After this we were given free time which we used very wisely. We were really really lucky as the V8 Supercar race was occuring.. something that Monaco is actually famous for. Everywhere throughout the city we could hear the sound of the V8 cars. it added so much charm to this city. Whilst in Monaco, me and some aussie girls visited the Royal Palace which was so amazing and dedicant to see. It made us all wish we were princesses and bought back our childhood dreams. It was really worth the visit and i now know a lot more about the Monaco royal family which is pretty cool. After our royal palace tour, we decided to roam the streets of Monaco and see if we could possibly get into the V8's... We were unsuccessful at this however we did manage to find a nice gap in the baracade that gave us a pretty good view. We then decided that we should head to the Monaco Cassino (which is actually where the movie Monte Carlo is filmed). We caught the Metro across town, but were a little dissapointed when we couldnt get into the casino or even see the front of it because of the V8's.. This race takes up the whole of Monaco quite literally! Anyway, despite this downer Monaco was amazing. After Monaco we continued on our way to Avinong... thats right my heart nearly skipped a beat as our tour guide announced to the bus that we were in France and just one step closer to Paris!! We were staying at a YMCA place that had a really nice view over Monaco. We were a far way out of town so we just had a quiet night in.

The view of Monaco from the bus 

Chapel where Grace Kelly is buried 

Grace Kelly...

MONACO!

HELLO MONACO

Day twelve; Avinong
Today was our chance to explore the city of Avinong. In the morning we had a stop at a Roman Aqueduct which was just awesome to see. Structrally it was hard to believe that this was built some thousands of years ago. We enjoyed the spectacular views of the beautiful French landscape and got up close and personal with the aquaduct... quite literally. So we had two hours or so to muck around there. It was a really cool place to explore! After, we had a picnic lunch and then ventured into the city of Avinong where the true French girl experiance began. A whole group of girls went on the merry go round in the centre of Avinong. This was honestly the best 1 euro that I spent on the entire trip. It was so fun haha. after we got our kiddy selves out of the way we moved onto the sophisticated element of french lifestyle. This began with a stop at a French Pattisery where i bought the biggest and most delicious macaroon i have ever seen... this ended with a shopping trip that left our bank accounts a little lower. It is actually awesome to now say that I have been shopping in France!

The Roman Aquaduct 

The Roman Aquaduct 

Afternoon exploring Avinong 

French Pattisery purchase! 

Day Twelve; PARISSS

The day that I had been waiting my entire 18 years of existence for... the day that I would finally be walking along the Eiffel Tower in my favourite city in the entire world. Bon jour Pairs!!!! I knew that this was going to be a super day considering I found 20euro just lying on the ground when we made a toilet stop on our very long bus drive through France. To be honest, I still can't believe that I have been to Paris. It was by far my favourite thing EVER on Euro tour (sorry italy i do still love you!). I had a tear in my eye as I saw the Eiffel tower for the first time as we drove into Paris. My excitment levels were through the roof and I couldnt believe that it was a reality. I had made it!! My impressions of Paris began so well. We had a boat cruise around the Seine River but i couldnt take my eyes of the eiffel tower. I was pratically skipping down the streets with glee. This was my dream city and I was going to make the most of absoloutley every single moment that I was there. Our boat cruise was really good... although a little short. We got an overall idea of the city although it was in french so we couldnt understand what all the buildings were. I didnt care though- I WAS IN PARIS! After our boat ride, we climbed the eiffel tower.... and we saw it sparkle at night. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. The view over Paris at the second floor was also just breath taking and me and a girl from Brazil kissed the Eiffel tower at the top. It was amazing and just like I had always imagined it to be! We didnt enjoy the stairs on the way down however as we only had 15 minuets to find our guide again and not be left stranded in paris with absoloutley no clue where to go..... so we ran down the stairs in record time and made it back. My first night in paris though was just wonderful. Everything was perfect...

I MADE IT! 

Day fourteen; PARIS

EURO DISNEYLAND was on our adgenda for today. It was a really fun day, I mean its disneyland! We did have the opportunity to go to the Louve in the morning though which I was so happy about! We had 3 hours to explore the biggest museum in the world which is a little pushing it for time, but we did the best that we possibly could. Of course we saw the big names.... The mona lisa for one and then strolled through random exhabitions which were really interesting! After this culture, we reunited with our childhood selves as we rode an hour out of Paris to the place where all your dreams come true. Euro Disneyland was pretty good. I will always have a thing for Tokyo Disneyland though as it was my first time in Disneyland. It defiantley did make me feel like a little kid again, running around the park seeing all of the rides. It was awesome and Space Moutain is my new favourite ride. It was their 20th annaversry so every hour mickey minnie and their friends would parade around the park in a train. It added to the atmosphere in Disneyland. We basically just walked around the park all day. I was so dissapointed because I didnt get to meet alice though! We stayed until the night parade which was SPECTACULAR! The castle was the main focus in this and lights were projected onto it. It was one of the most amazing things ever, and it was defiantly worth staying for despite us missing the last train and having to catch a taxi back to our hotel.
Ps it is still my ambition in life to be Alice in Wonderland at Disneyland... so that other girls who love her as much as me can meet her at euro disneyland!! and bonus i can live in Paris too! The whole package right there 

Euro Disney! Waiting for the night parade to start... 

Day fifteen; PARIS 

Today we had total freedom in Paris. We were allowed to get up whenever we wanted and go as we please, ready to explore this amazing amazing amazing city. So another aussie girl and I had been planning this day from day 1. we knew exactly what we wanted to see, what we wanted to do and how much everything cost. our plan for the day was a little bit changed due to the rainy weather but we got up early and were off to our first stop of the day; the eiffel tower. As we didnt get the chance to go the full way to the top on the first night, we climbed the eiffel tower again, in the rain! We ended up meeting some other exchange students from the other bus in the line which was so random and so cool to see them! We all went up the eiffel tower together and spent ages up the top admiring the beautiful views of Paris. I completed my life long goal of wearing a beret at the top of the eiffel tower.. touristy i know but hello ITS PARIS! So after this, lauren and i managed to successfully figure out paris' metro station and caught the train to Notre Dam. let me tell you something, 6 months ago, I would never have thought that i could have successfully navagated myself through Paris on the metro! We went inside Notre Dam which was so so sooo beautiful and then roamed around there for awhile. We then caught the metro back to the Arch det Triumph and admired that beautiful structure. We then caught the metro home to have some dinner with everyone in a restraunt which was super nice and such a good change from that not so good hostel food we had been chowing down on every night. After dinner, a group of us went back into the centre of Paris to the Eiffel Tower again! We all climbed it with the hope of catching the sunset. We got up there with just a little amount of time to spare. We did however stay up the top until the tower closed. It was the best way to end Paris.
And yes, for all those wondering, Paris lived up to and exceeded every single expectation of mine. I cant wait to go back and explore it more

Notre Dam

Arch De Triumph

Paris from the Eiffel Tower- so beautiful 

Day sixteen BRUSSELS 

It was so sad saying goodbye to Paris this morning! I felt like I had seen so much, but at the same time there was still so much to explore. I suppose that that gives me an excuse to come back when I am older ;). But paris I LOVE YOU! So anyway, our goal for today was Brussels. The bus trip was long, but we eventually arrived to charming rainy weather. We had a tour of the European Parliment which was very interesting, because it is where the EU meet and such. It was something that I wouldnt have thought to visit in Brussels so im glad we got to see it. Due to the weather our free time was both restricted and constricted with what we could do. After dinner though, everyone ventured into the city centre to see what this city had to offer. The aussies and I did traditional brussels things... such as buy belgium chocolate... and let me tell you chocolate tastes a lot better in belgium. It was AMAZING! and i wish i could cyber send it all to you! After this, we did our souviner shopping and saw that there was a mannekin thing on everything. We found out the name, got an idea of where it was a decided to investigate. We eventually found Mannekin Pis, took touristy photos and moved on to another belgium chocolate that sold the most amazing chocolates i have ever seen. Of course we bought some more- when in belgium...- and then moved onto Belgium Waffels! This waffel was one of the greatest things i have ever tasted. Not only was it the best waffel, but it was close to one of the best desserts ever. The crunchiness of that waffel and the combinations of chocolate, cream and strawberries were sooooo good. Ahhhh Belgium satisfied my sweet tooth! So we managed to see a little bit of Brussels, mainly in the old square but id love to go back someday (maybe even this year ;) ) to explore a little bit more. I would of liked to have had longer to explore.

What.... are they kidding..?

Mannekin Pis

BELGIUM CHOCOLATE OMG

BELGIUM WAFFEL OMG

Day seventeen; Amsterdam! 

Oh Amsterdam.. you wonderful city you. Filled with so much originality, strange people and funky parts of town and quirky character. It is pretty cool to say that I've been there, but I dont think id hurry back. Although in saying that I would love to explore Holland more!! Our tour of this city began with a cannal tour. This was very interesting, to see all of the buildings in the city. We then had free time and could explore it for ourselves. This was pretty cool, and I saw some pretty eye brow raising stuff. The red light district was defiantley one of them! But i ended up at Hard Rock Cafe which was pretty cool also. We drove out of Amsterdam to a bed and breakfast that backed out onto a forrest. It was a quiet place, which gave everyone the chance to bond together one last time.  

Day eighteen; DANMARK 

Today was a very sad day, because it was officially the last day of euro tour :( there were tears shed, big hugs exchanged and promises made to visit everyone in their home countries. We had a long drive back to Denmark, and we made a few stops a long the way.. The most important being at a border shop in Germany where we could buy really cheap essential items. I basically said goodbye to all of my euros! We then continued our drive through Denmark, stopping to drop people off. The bus slowly became empty until the last stop arrived and i was reunited with my beautiful host family! I couldnt believe that euro tour had come to an end. It had gone by so so quickly... but Euro tour was honestly the best 18 days i could have ever asked for. Everyone on the bus made it such a wonderful trip and i will never ever forget it. I can now say that i have traveled through europe with some of my best friends. i feel like ive seen the world, and now have some idea of where i want to travel in the future...  I made memories that I know will last me a life time. Thankyou everyone <3 <3

52 exchange students. 18 days. 8 countries. 1 bus. 1000 memories. Euro Tour 2013 

LONDON CALLING
Just when I thought my European adventure was over, I find out that I am heading to London for four days with my host mum and host brother! HOW AWESOME! I literally love living in europe. just being able to jet sett of anywhere is still something that i am getting used to! And London! London for me is like the english speaking paris so i was so unbelievably excited to see this beautiful city! Our flight was very early in the morning, so i had one day at home from euro tour to unpack and repack. I was fresh in the morning though and i left for the airport with my host family at 5 30am! The flight was only an hour and a half in total! And we arrived in London at like 9 30am! So we had the whole day ahead of us to explore this beautiful beautiful city. In London there is seriously so much to do. Everywhere you go, every street you go down it seems like there is something old, or something new that contributes to this history of the place. Our first stop of the day was Westminster Abbey, which was unfortuantley closed due to the fact that it was a Sunday and on Sundays it is strictly reserved for worship. We got to see big ben though which was so awesome and took some touristy pictures in those famous red telephone boxes and also rode in a black taxi which was just awesome! We visited Lester Square and bought some musical tickets for Wicked on West End.. My excitment levels were by now through the roof. my favourite musical of all time on west end! It was a dream come true. We then managed to see the changing of the Guard at Buckingham palace and the road down to the palace looked just like it did for the Royal Wedding as the huge British flags were flying. This was because it was the Queen's 50th annaversy as being queen! From there, we ate a pub lunch (I ATE A REAL MEAT PIE OMG) and walked around London, getting a really good feel for the city. That night we went on the London Eye which was one of my favourite things on the trip. It gave us a beautiful view over London and we had perfect weather the whole time we were there! It was a great first day in London.

LONDON! All set for the Queen's big occasion 

Those telephone boxes...

Changing of the Guard 

The London Eye 

The London Eye 

The second day I spent there was just as jam packed. We began the day with a trip to The London Tower where we got to see the Queen Jewles and also learn about the history of london. It was a pretty cool place with so much to explore everywhere you looked! We also got to go on the Tower Bridge and from there we caught the underground (which is the greatest thing ever) to Kings Cross Station. Hello Harry Potter! I managed to visit platform nine and three quaters (my life is now complete) and then we caught the tube to Camden Town... I felt right at home but like no surprises there ;). Camden town was almost as cool as the Camden i know and love back home. The markets were really awesome and the atmosphere in the town was unreal! I really loved Camden and could totally imagine myself living there! After this, we had our tickets to Wicked! And let me tell you, it was more amazing on West End! Ahhh wicked how i love you more and more every time i see you! The cast was unbelievable and the actors, dancers and singers did the musical justice. Oh did i mention, I caught a double decker bus to the theatre! So london!

Heading home...?

PERFECTION! 

The third day we ventured off the Kengiston Palace which was just beautiful with all the gardens. Once again we didn't have the infamous london rain and the sun shone the entire time we were there! The palace was unreal and the displays were all so interesting. It was cool to learn a little more history about the British royal family as i honestly only know about the current stuff because its whats in new idea haha. So after this, we caught the tube to Greenwich where we spent the rest of the day. We soaked up the sun in the park and then went to the museum on the top of the hill where you can have your photo taken on the latitude and longitude lines. This was so cool to see and the museum was very interesting. It had stuff about Captain Cook (woohoo onya strayla) and also had the first ever watch! So cool. After this, we went to another musical (omg) and this time saw We Will Rock You which turned out to be fantastic. The singers were perfect and Queen would have been proud of their job! It was unreal!

GREENWICH! pretty cool place. standing on the longitude line 

Went to a Jaimee Oliver restraunt for coffee!

WE WILL ROCK YOU on west end- amazing! 

London was all i ever hoped it would be. The accents, the delicious scones and tea, those double decker busses, mind the gap, the history, buckingham palace, the taxis, the tube.... ahhh it was just perfect and considering its so close who knows, maybe ill be back there sooner than you think ;)

But for now, my travels in europe have come to an end. no doubt, there will be another chapter in this adventure later in the year. till then thanks for reading!