The good and the bad.

So, I know I have neglected posting on here since my return from Italy. And you would think that was because I have been relaxing, sleeping, and recovering from that trip. WRONG. This past week has actually been one of the busiest weeks I’ve had here, so there’s definitely a lot to share.

Okay, let’s start with last Saturday, two days after I returned from Rome. The whole time I’ve been in London I really wanted to take a day trip out to the coast of England to see Dover. So I took the train and journeyed out there by myself. It was lovely because I didn’t have to worry about other people complaining about walking or not wanting to see what I wanted to see – it was MY trip. And I loved it. I spent most of the day roaming around Dover Castle, which is absolutely humungous and sits on a hill high above the city of Dover. The views from up there were quite impressive – because Dover sits right on the water, it was clear enough for me to see the coast of France! I mean, obviously not the best view considering it is 40 miles away, but nevertheless, I saw it. I also took a tour of the Secret Underground Wartime Tunnels, used in the Napoleonic Wars and, more recently, during WWII. Very interesting – my dad would’ve loved them! And I learned about a man named Bertram Ramsey (a vice admiral in the British navy), who basically saved all the English, Belgium, and Holland soldiers who were trapped in Dunkirk, France during the war. For some reason, he is highly underrated. I had never heard of him until that day, and it seems like his name should’ve been all over our history books.

Besides the crazy winds that were blowing most of the day, it was a really good trip. And as much as I love traveling with people, sometimes it’s just nice to have a day for yourself – which was exactly what I did. :)

The next eventful thing happened Tuesday night, but this is definitely not as pleasant as my fun, little trip to Dover. I was sitting with a friend at this restaurant, called Wok in a Box (fast-food Chinese – actually really good), when I got up to leave and noticed my purse was missing. Yep, it had been stolen. NOT COOL. And the crazy thing is that it was on my leg, and somehow I didn’t even know when it was taken. It was just not a good night. When I realized that it was nowhere to be found, I felt so sick to my stomach – one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. I think I was initially in shock because I didn’t actually start crying until I made it back to my flat and was talking to my dad. But I tried to pull myself together as much as I could and tried to figure out what needed to be taken care of. There was a lot of stuff in there – all my cards, most of my identification, my iPod, my camera, my UK mobile, the keys to my flat, and of course all of it was in my fabulous green giraffe print purse that I bought with Daniel in Las Vegas. I filed a police report that night and Mom and Dad and I called all the credit/debit card companies and all that stuff. So everything was pretty much taken care of fairly quickly, but it still just was not fun. I do not understand how a person can justify doing that to another person – how they can even think that it is an okay thing to do. But I guess that’s why I’m not a criminal. On the optimistic side of things (it’s always good to try to find the silver lining), all of my pictures were off my camera, my journal and laptop were not in there, and my passport was safe and sound back at my flat. So it definitely could’ve been worse.

My dad sent me an email shortly afterwards that basically sums up how I feel about the situation: “Do not let this ruin your time in nor your perception of London and of England. This kind of thing could happen anywhere… you can't stop living and doing all the fun things you had planned. The thief only should get what is in the purse, don't let him / her ruin anything else!” Thanks, Mom and Dad. :)

So onto happier news… Wednesday morning we left for an overnight trip to Manchester and Liverpool, England with the London group. We went on tours of both cities and were to observe the regeneration, industry, and other things about each city. It was a really interesting trip because most of the time when you think of England, you think the only big city is London. That’s definitely not the case. London is more like its own country than a city, I think. Both Liverpool and Manchester are quite large and each is unique in its own way. Both of the cities remind of big cities in the states - Manchester is sort of like Indianapolis and Liverpool has been compared to Gary, Indiana by other students, but I wouldn’t say it’s quite as rough. My impression of Manchester was that it was really new and contemporary (hence, regeneration), with lots of modern shopping and art centres. We DEFINITELY did not have enough time there. And we saw the Manchester United Football Stadium, which was cool just because it’s so famous AND because David Beckham used to play there all the time. Then we went to Liverpool Wednesday night, stayed at a very nice hostel, and went on a tour of the city the next day. It didn’t grab my attention quite as much as Manchester, because it was a little rougher and not quite as fun and new, but it was still very awesome because of that one band that started there… Who were they again? Hmm… I can’t really think of their name right now…. Oh wait… THE BEATLES. The city definitely attracts a lot of attention because of them. We actually drove on Penny Lane, which was really cool. We headed back to London later that day, which took longer than expected because a big bus and London traffic don’t exactly mix. I was content though – the girl I sat with on the bus had her laptop so we watched episodes of “The Office” and the movie “Sex in the City”. :)

The next day, I went to Paris with Mel, Kenny, and another boy, Sam. And it just happened to be my 20^th birthday. :) I will write all about the adventures of Paris in my next entry, so stayed tuned!

Until next time,
Rachel