What you've been waiting for

A real post with pictures! I wrote most of this on Notepad in my iPod while traveling, so please excuse the frequent use of present tense in my writing.

Spain and Germany

Thursday
This morning, I awoke a frazzled mess at 10:30, seeing as we had planned to leave at 11, and I had such a late night with wrapping up big projects that I hadn't finished packing or checking into my flights. Mind you, I could only take one backpack.. So packing was tricky. Europe isn't a fashion show anyway, right? After a whirlwind of a shower, packing, and quick goodbyes to housemates, we made the 11:40 coach to Luton just fine.

I've been feeling sick to my stomach all day- probably because of the bus, airport, and airplanes. I'm a fragile little kid. You can guess the rest- fast forward, smooth trips, no tossing my cookies. Then we landed in Madrid about 8:30 local time.. An hour forward! We had to take a LOT of metro rides to get all the way from the airport to city centre, where our hostel is! Props to Grant on the kickin location. We're in the Cat's Hostel, which used to be a castle? Or something. Need to double check facts. Went to Museo de Jamon (literally, 'the ham museum') for dinner, Cailee and I split some seafood paella while the boys had some sort of ham, eggs, and French fries combo. The waiter was a very patient older Spanish man who spoke NO English. I'm not sure how comfortable I feel about not knowing ANY of the language. Uh oh.

Wifi usage and a military shower this evening, since the dadgum things operate like push-button sinks in public bathrooms: water on, off. Soap up. Rinse and repeat.

Big day exploring Madrid tomorrow!

Friday

Madrid was busy busy. Breakfast at the hostel, then we basically just explored the city while the boys navigated.

Got kicked out of a church,

saw Plaza Mayor,

Palacio Real de madrid, ate lunch from various little kiosks inside Mercado San Miguel, and enjoyed Museo del Prado.

Logging the days by pedometer make them seem even more tiring.. And this was a whopping 10 miles. We also spent a lot of time on the Metro (subway), so I can't imagine how many more miles that would've been on foot. Overall, a very entertaining city that we regretted not being able to spend more time in (mostly due to the fact that we couldn't find a hostel with openings for Friday night). Instead, we utilized a journey we have now nicknamed the 'bustel'- foregoing a solid night's sleep for a patchy 7 hour nap on an overnight bus to the next location. Hey, save the Euros you would've spent on a hostel AND the travel time that would've eaten up your day!

Great idea, but dadgumit you need discipline and patience to survive this one. Our bus left Madrid around 11, we had an unknown layover around 12, and we finally arrived in Alicante around 5:30 am. That was a painful, painful little experience here. My closest family and friends are reading this, knowing EXACTLY how this went down for me- I was straight up exhausted the rest of the day. We sat in a cafe at the Alicante bus station until 7ish, then decided we better get started exploring the city. First thing you should know about this little gem (and the rest of Spain, really): nothing really opens until 11 or 12. Nothing. You know how McDonald's is open 24 hours in the states? Try a third of that: 11 to 7. Joke was on us! Here our 'family' of four was staggering like zombies around a Spanish city no tourist has ever heard of, while many of the Spanish partiers were just getting home from their eventful evenings. I guess now is the time to break the second piece of Alicante information to you- it is not a tourist city. We literally planned this trip looking at bus routes to the coast, and settled on this one. Many people may not find this appealing, but I loved it. It was just a genuine Spanish port city, with us passing through for a couple of days. The best part (well, one of them) was that it felt undiscovered, almost 'unruined' from becoming a tourist hub. I find something alluring in being able to say that I didn't hit up all the typical tourist-ridden destinations while traveling, although I will do plenty of that elsewhere.

Around 9:30 (we've been up for 4 hours now, remember) the consensus was one simple goal- find the hotel. What.an.adventure. We walked, hiked, climbed through very interesting outskirts of Alicante's city center for 4 miles.

It was absolutely hilarious, kind of frustrating, and I will never forget it, no matter how much my memory sucks. Definitely a major group bonding moment. Can a moment last 2 hours? A mile or so before we arrived, we stumbled across a random city park that was literally an oasis. It was gorgeous, and so out of place in a eyesore-type area of city.

Finally, 11 am spelled victory. Used the self timer on my camera to take an arrival picture, and we checked into our very first hotel of the trip!

(Zoom in on this picture. You won't be disappointed.)
Holiday Inn Express, I never knew I would love you so. By this point, we could barely stand from fatigue. One blissful four hour nap later, we hiked BACK into city center (why in the world?) for dinner. However, we did treat ourselves to a cab ride back to the hotel after dinner. No way we were going to trek that in the dark. Nuh-uh. Yay for showers back in the room! I looked as badly as I smelled. Sicknasty! Then, I did something I haven't done in years: I went to bed at 9. And baby, it felt so good. Taking the hint from the previous morning, we saw no reason to head into town, especially with noon check-out, so we slept until 9! What a great 12 hours it was, too. Kinda too-realistic trippy dreams, but I got over that pretty quick.
This morning (Sunday), we were in no hurry to get back to downtown. That's the great thing about being in an unheard of city. You don't feel pressured to get anything done, and really get to unwind.

What a perfect day.


For 2 hours, we just played and read and relaxed on the beach. Somehow, everyone else got a sunburn but me! Success. Well not for them, but it would've been torture for this fair complexion. That's a joke, y'all.

I think this was, overall, one of our favorite days of all of our travel breaks. More exploring en route to city center, and then chilled at the beach with a picnic lunch through the early evening.

We played cards and sampled the 'euro' menu at McDonald's, which I know is shameful to do while vacationing in Spain, but I learned how to play hearts!.. Because that totally matters. Another 'bustel' experience tonight from Alicante to Barcelona, except I doubt it will be as rough, being so well-rested. A girl can dream, right?

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I'll be blunt- that was the bus ride from h-e-double hockey sticks. But really. I tried to remain passed out for most of it and succeeded, but poor miss Cailee witnessed an argument that disrupted the entire bus- apparently there were little men everywhere, yelling about seating arrangements. It got pretty heated, and got some police and other bus drivers involved. Morning hurt when it came with our 7:30 arrival in Barcelona, but things started looking up pretty quickly.

Barcelona was, by far, our favorite (up to this point. Berlin ended up winning). We spent time getting a little sunburned at the beach, gawking at the architecture of Gaudi,




seeing the Olympic village (Parc de Montjuic),

seeing the aquarium, the FC Barcelona stadium, walking, and eating lots of good food.

After all of my stress from last week, I feel like I was finally able to unwind and not have to worry about a single thing. Having an entire city to explore at my leisure was such a liberating feeling. The main impressions I took away from Spain are: as long as you're cautious, it really is safe. Sunshine and warmth feels amazing, especially after England has caused you to forget the idea. Signs are usually in three languages: Spanish, Catalan (a mix of Spanish and French), and English. Buying a 10-trip metro card is a good idea. So is ice cream. And local markets. This culture is beautiful. I can't say it enough. Colors are vibrant, buildings are bold, and there is so much to be learned.

Germany


I am obsessed with Berlin. Really. I'll admit, I was completely apprehensive hopping on a plane to a place that, in my mind, would be cold, stark, and boring. Luckily, I was wrong on all three counts. The weather was absolutely beautiful and sunny, except for the day we took a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside of Berlin. How fitting. Our first full day, Cailee, Spencer, and I went on a NewEurope tour of Berlin- and it was free! For 3 and a half hours, my mind was blown as we walked around the city, learning about the intriguing history that transpired not too long ago.


The guides for these tours make money solely off tips, so you are free to pay what you feel suits the worth of the tour- and it was certainly a wonderful one! I highly recommend NewBerlin/NewEurope tours.



It was just amazing to us how a city had reunited only 20 years ago, and was flourishing so greatly. I loved the very elegant architecture, graceful pillars and statues, and thought-provoking momuments marking the events of the Holocaust. Because of the tour, our curiosity to further explore each of these areas was piqued- unfortunately, we didn't have a week to spend there, as we wished we could've. Our second night in the hostel, Nicholas and Jacob actually joined us from their excursions around Germany! We had dinner together, and also toured the Reichstag and Sachsenhausen as a group (with our same tour guide as the day before!) the next day.


It was so wonderful to meet up and share stories.


Sachsenhausen was one of the original 'models' for concentration camps because of its triangular design that worked so efficiently for the Nazi rule, and it was sobering to stand on the ground where such horrific repression and abuse took place against people Hitler labeled as inferior. I don't want to sink the mood, so if you want to hear more about it, I'd love to tell you what we learned.


After navigating the S and U bahn and a flight to London, we actually reunited with Grant (who had deviated from us to see his family in France) on the bus ride home! Haha, so fun to exchange stories about our partially-separate spring breaks. It was a wonderful 10 day trip, and such a blessing to be abroad with wonderful people.

Phew! I need a nap after all that. Hope you enjoyed reading my silly little details.
Always,
Sydney

No, I have not disappeared off the face of the earth.

But thanks for worrying.

The past ten days, I've been traveling to Spain and Germany.
I had the time of my life, and have ever so much to say about it.. which will be posted in a timely manner. Hopefully with pictures, goodie!

I will continue documenting life as I know it, future trips permitting. Posts are going to be fewer and further between, but worth the wait (in my humble opinion).

I hope your Saturday was equally lazy as my own. Dang, it felt good.

All my love from the Kingdom that is United.

Sunshine & suffering

Started a little P90X Kenpo workout today.. then Ben came to tell me that a whole bunch of people were going to play ultimate frisbee. My reserve to stay inside- out the window, literally. I met the group at the park, and even though it was pretty dadgum chilly, the sun was out and the game was epic. And that's all that matters.

I left early to shower, eat a quick bite, and get ready for church! Natalie, Brittany, Jacob, and I went to the 6 PM service at St. Aldates, which was absolutely fantastic. One of the American guys at the church, Vince, gave a GREAT talk about the reasons why God allows suffering. I got choked up at a couple of parts, and time just flew by!

Trying to get back early for my 9@9 meeting, I had my first experience with the Oxford public transportation system. Uneventful. I led 9@9 with Becca, Bradyn, and Dr. Bennett, and am so thankful for the fellowship this brings us every Sunday night.

Gearing up for a busy busy week, getting projects done and preparing for my first spring break, which will be to Spain and Germany! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..

An epic meal.

Malia's birthday was today! Her first restaurant choice was too busy, but we ended up at cozy, warmly-lit All Bar One. Oh.my.goodness. I had no idea what to expect, and it blew my socks off. Needless to say, today's post will be about what I ordered.

I felt a little adventurous but also wanted something healthy. I noticed a dish called 'halloumi with vegetables' under the Salads and Skewers section of the menu. It didn't say what exactly halloumi was, but I knew that veg skewers with roasted veggies on the side would at least be a good meal by themselves.

When the waitress brought my dish to our (tightly packed) table, my jaw dropped. It was colorful and beautiful! Two skewers with bell peppers, onions, and halloumi drizzled with a sweet and spicy glaze, accompanied by roasted bell peppers, onions, and zucchini on the side. Absolutely delicious. I thought the halloumi tasted and looked like a fish, a cross between cod and scallops. Just looked it up on Wikipedia- it's actually a Cypriot cheese with a high melting point, so it can be grilled. Whatever it was, I think I found a new favorite dish.

To top it all off, Natalie, Brittany, Cailee, Allison, Wyatt, Nicholas, and I went to G&D's afterwards for sweet treats. No sitting room, though, so I enjoyed my brownie at home with a little ice cream on top.

Whoever claimed that food in the UK was disgusting and bland was terribly wrong.

Pretend it's still Friday.

I completely forgot to mention in my birthday post that my dress arrived in the mail that afternoon! I am wearing it for our trip to London today. in love.

I couldn't fall asleep Wednesday night (even though I had been exhausted all day!) and got to bed pretty late.. You can figure that I slept in considerably on Thursday morning. More like, Thursday afternoon. Becca's family was in the kitchen when I walked in, and it was so funny not to have college students on our floor. They're in town for her birthday, which is today! Happy birthday, Becca! :]

Katie told me I had a 'surprise' downstairs, which Cailee so kindly dropped on my doorstep. A package from my family! I love seeing my mom's delicate handwriting when I get mail. I didn't have scissors in my room, and was too stubborn to search for some. I broke a pencil in my valiant attempt to open the package, but it worked, after a bit of a finagle. Inside were some birthday treats, streamers, balloons, a birthday poster and card, and a bottle of maple syrup! Oh, I was ecstatic. I don't even use the stuff THAT often back home, but I miss it, and it's ridiculously expensve in the UK.. Probably because they have to ship it from Canada! Definitely going to have pancake night sometime soon. It makes me feel so special to be thought of, and all the emails, texts, and facebook wall posts made my birthday just wonderful.

For thursday's run, I was curious and wanted to experience the city outside of my normal route. So I ran until there was no more Oxford to be had. Down Woodstock, St Giles, Cornmarket, and forevermore until I hit the roundabout directing traffic to Abingdon, turning around to pay another visit to the beautiful Christ Church meadow.

On the way to St Aldates college night, I passed Anna Popplewell on the sidewalk. Totally recognized her, stared, and she shied away as to deflect attention. I freaked out trying to tell Allison who we had just walked past, and Cailee (walking about 50 feet behind because she had waited for Kelly) recognized her too! If you aren't familiar with the name, she plays Susan in the most recent Chronicles of Narnia movies. She was much smaller in person than I had expected.. Makes me wonder how large I would look compared to her on the silver screen if I had expected her to be 'normal' sized! Then again, a large majority of the girls here are shorter than me. At least I'm easy to pick out in a crowd if I got lost!

What anther fantastic college night. Kelly, Allison, Cailee, and I sat a a table with some strangers and got acquainted, and even invited one of them to our Sunday night devo! Worship was awesome, and I loved the talk about being willing to follow after God, harkenig back to our childhood memories of mom asking if you'd jump off a bridge if your friend did it too. Great thought- Jesus doesn't want us to dawdle or make excuses, just trust. I know that I can certainly find area for improvement here. Let's do it!

When I got back to the house, my Italy group got some flights and a bus ride booked, and I am much less stressed about the entire thing. The group is Becca, Katie, Ben, Jacob, Grant, and I- it'll be wonderful!

Left the house this morning at 7:30 for London, catching up on blog posts by typing on my iPod notepad as I fight the urge to nap on the 'coach' (bus) ride. Trying to fix my 'mental' (there's some british vocabulary for you) sleep pattern.

Back again. Lloyd's was really cool- and by that, I mean interesting, over my head, and at times bland. We walked up to this great glass building and took the lift up to a ninth floor conference room for some tea, coffee, cookies, and introductory session. With the exception of lunch, the rest of the morning up to 1:30 pm was spent broken up as three separate groups floating between 'the floor', a session about credit, and a crash course on the British vs American banking systems. The floor was definitely cool. It was a huge workspace filled with stations of 4 computer screens, stock rates and breaking news scrolling on the tvs overhead. Each of us was paired up with an employee, who explained the whole thing, answered questions, and let us listen in on phone calls that they receive. Cailee and Grant both ended up getting the same guy that I did over the course of the afternoon. I told him that I wasn't actually a business major, even though I was on the trip, and I think that confused him a bit. Kinda an awkward experience, but the 45 minutes didn't drag on too slowly.

Reloaded onto the coach to go to Parliament. We were literally on the exact street of our destination, and all of a sudden, traffic was at a standstill. Upon closer evaluation, we saw a huge demonstration being escorted by countless policemen, along with their cars and horses. The South African president or ambassador (someone important, I know those are extremely different positions) was in town, and these people had something to say about it. Once the mess broke up, we had a few minutes to walk around the Westminster/Big Ben/Parliament area. It was so much prettier now that I wasn't occupied with being so cold, like last time! The tour of Parliament was pretty snazzy.. No pictures allowed, and that was so unfortunate. Many of the ceilings and walls were gilt in gold, with intricate paintings and impressive sculptures. The oldest part of Parliament was a hall dating back to 1097, the whole ceiling carefully constructed solely of wood, with the use of wooden dowels rather than nails or screws. It was the only part of the building salvaged after a fire burned a large majority. Sick.

Not much else happened tonight, just came back home and watched the Dark Knight for our Bible class. Still trying to get caught up on blog posts, hang in there!

happy birthday to me!

To my precious lambs/committed readers/total and complete strangers,
I have not blogged in a while, and for that, I apologize. During this mysteriously undocumented period of time, my adventures have included traveling to Ireland and ending my teenage years of life. Bless you if you find those exciting, and stay tuned as I slowly rehash my life from the past week.

Tuesday (yesterday as I know and love it) was phenomenal. For the first time since I've been living in Oxford, it warmed up to almost 50 degrees fahrenheit. I went on a run to Christ Church meadow, and it was so beautiful! University Parks was full of purple, yellow, and white crocuses. The first little hints of spring are my absolute favorite time of year, and this was a perfect birthday present.

Even though it was a teensy bit colder outside, today was a pretty good birthday abroad. :] Allison, Kelly, Grant, Jacob, and I went to University Parks to feed the ducks our moldy bread. I met an elderly man with two cocker spaniels named Enzo and Porsche, and he was just the sweetest. He told us he lived in the states, and had even heard of ACU before! Pretty cool. Kel went home to shower, but the rest of us went to the outdoor market for some fresh fruits and veggies! I filled up a huge reusable Sainsbury's bag with avocados, apples, limes, chili peppers, bean sprouts, okra, and strawberries for just under 8 GBP. Awesome deal! Grabbed a latte, and made myself a huge veggie stir fry for my birthday lunch back at the house. Absolutely delicious. Went to my (only) class, Oxford Through the Ages, after a relaxing afternoon, and toured the Christ Church meadow area (again for me) as well as the Museum of Oxford. I think Dr. Bennett was very astute to label it 'kitschy'.. not the most impressive of exhibits, but we can always use a little crash course on our British 'hometown'.

I bought cupcake ingredients for a celebratory sweet, and Kelly was so wonderful to make all the chocolate ones for me during class! I whipped up a few vanilla cupcakes once my nose stopped running from the cold, and decorated them all with chocolate buttercream icing. I felt like such a cheater using mixes and pre-made materials, but hey, I didn't want to spend my birthday hours cooking!

Around 6 this evening, 15 or so of us went to a restaurant called Freud over in Jericho to celebrate Jackie's birthday, as well as my own. (jackie's & me? jackie & i's? hence the awkward wording in the previous sentence.) Dr. Bennett recommended it for their excellent pizzas and salads, and I am a recent convert to the sentiment. I ordered the garden (artichoke, tomato, onion, mushroom) pizza and pretttty much inhaled it. No big deal. Someone sneaky let slip to the waiter that there were a couple of birthdays, so Jackie and I each got little plates of ice cream, complete with tealights and singing. I love it when my birthday rolls around, but for reasons unknown to me, having all the attention (aka singing the birthday song) turned to me for extended periods of time is just not fun. Too many pairs of eyes watching to see what I'm going to do next.. kinda makes me feel like a caged animal. So I suffered briefly through, and went home to share cupcakes with my Oxford family.

I spent the rest of my night planning out our 10-day spring break trip to Spain with Cailee, Spencer, and Grant. We got so many things ironed out and booked. Feels good to have my blood pressure back down. Now, if I could just get Italy figured out, too..

It's been a great birthday abroad. I am loving my study abroad group more and more every day, and it is such a blessing to live with amazing, quality people. The hard part to admit is that many times today, my mind has wandered to recall memorable birthdays spent with my family and very closest friends back in Texas. I wouldn't give this trip (and especially the people on it!) up for anything, but such a stark contrast with past tradition every March 3rd has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. It's ridiculous how extravagantly God has blessed my life, and this has become increasingly evident by the day. I miss everyone back in the states so terribly. I was thinking of each one of you today, wishing I could share my special day with you. Know that I could not possibly replace or forget you.

I feel like now would be a good time to mention my parents and sister. Life in my family has been nothing short of loving and blessed. They have influenced me in countless ways, teaching me to love God, treasure faith, and spread this compassion to the people around me. I can only pray that I can accomplish a portion of what they have dreamed for me. My family has graciously allowed me to transplant myself to another country for an entire semester, supporting me in literally every manner possible. Their sacrifice and love has given me a unique opportunity to experience the world and return home a better person than when I left. For that, I am immensely grateful. I love you three so much, and I wish that I could have at least been able to spend one of my favorite days with you. You were here with me the entire time, and the month of May will come soon enough! As silly as that may have sounded typed out on a blog, there is no way I could have vocalized it without crying my ridiculous 'ugly cry'. I meant every word.

We're heading to tour Lloyd's and Parliament in London on Friday, and I'll try to get the Ireland trip documented on here before that goes down!

"In my own way, I take you everywhere I go, and it feels like home."