Bad News on the UK Front

It's Friday April 16th, at 2:26pm, and right now I should be on a train to Birmingham England right now. What happened? Well my flight got canceled, and as a result I had to cancel 3/4's of my trip.

Normally when you are preparing you fly, odds are, you're getting on the plane. Possible reasons for a delay or cancellation? Bad weather (especially in the winter!), a strike, MAYBE a plane crash. What I did not expect was that my amazing trip to the UK would be canceled due to an erupting volcano in Iceland.

So instead of flying to London this morning, I spent the morning canceling my trip day by day. I managed to get on another flight to London, but not until April 24th. So if the ash has died down by then, I will have managed to salvage at least 4 days in London.

After spending all day yesterday (and well into the night) constantly checking the status of my flight, i woke up this morning to find that all UK, and Scandinavian airspace, as well as the airspace of the northern parts of Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and many other northern European countries has been closed until AT LEAST 1pm on Saturday April 17th. Thousands and thousands of flights into and out of Europe have been canceled, and many more are expected to be.

The airspace is closed due to a GIGANTIC ash cloud caused by this constantly erupting Volcano, which could continue erupting for months. I found this cool explication about the ash cloud on the news.



Also click on the title for more information about this crazy catastrophe.

It's unknown when airspace will be open again, or when flights will continue normally. I'm not even sure I'll be able to go on my London flight next Saturday, although I will update you on my travels. It's frustrating having to cancel a trip that I've been looking forward to for so long, especially since not everyone will reimburse me. The inter UK flights that I'll miss as a result of this first cancellation, won't refund until they're actually canceled (if they are) as well as the trains I booked from London to Edinburgh. Hopefully I'll be able to get most of my money back for my trip that I unfortunately can no longer go on.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the the Volcano will stop erupting (Although some geologists are saying it could continue erupting for weeks or months!) in time for me to go to London, and get back safely. Also that my parents and Adrian will still be able to come visit me in France!

And talk about bad timing! I can't even take this time to take the train around France because the SNCF (french rail company) is currently on strike. Luckily I have some amazing friends who will help me drown my sorrows in pizza and good company!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Wrapping Up the School Year

It's almost halfway through April, and I only have two more days of classes left until I am done school in France. Wrapping up the school year means essays, lots and lots of essays. As an international student, I only have two exams which are in May, but all of the other exams have been replaced with essays. In the past week I've written two, and have to write one more before I head to the UK on Friday!

I'm really excited about my UK trip, but at the same time it's a little sad. For me, going on this trip really marks the end of my year in France. After I leave Lyon, it's NON-STOP for me until I fly home for good on May 27th. After my 12 days in the UK, my parent come visit for a few weeks, and the day they leave, Adrian comes to visit for the last two weeks of my time in France. Then we fly home together back to Canada for good.

Adrian and I just booked our trip while he's here, which I'm really excited about! We're heading out on a 10 day trip to go Camel trekking in Morocco, meeting up with my friends for a few days in Paris, then wrapping it up with a few days in Venice before heading back to Lyon, frantically packing away the last 9 months of my life, and then it's back to Canada :)

I really cannot believe that my time here is almost over! Although I think I'm definitely making the best of it, saving my biggest trips for last when I have enough time to properly visit all of the places I want to see.

I'm getting really excited to come home though! I have so many things to come home to! It's been way too long since I've seen all of my friend's and family. I've been named the President of the McMaster Dance Club for 2010/2011, I am being a Welcome Week Rep for Matthews Hall in September, I have an awesome summer job working at a Kid's camp run by McMaster, and I`m so excited to get home and start all of these things! I'm so grateful to everyone who took special consideration to the fact that i`m an ocean away, and still gave me these amazing opportunities anyways! Thanks everyone :) Skype has definitely been my lifeline while I've been here.

So it's my last normal week in Lyon, and I'm going to spend preparing for my amazing 12 day trip to England/Ireland/Scotland, where hopefully I'll be lucky enough to spot Nessy! I'll report back in a few weeks!

UK, HERE I COME!!!

Barcelona!!!

I'm back from relatively sunny Barcelona, Spain! Virginia and Hannah and I went on a 4 day girls trip to Barcelona, for touring, beaching, and shopping!

The weather wasn't the 30 degrees that I was expecting, but it was still about 20 which was a little warmer than Lyon was while I was away, and a whole lot warmer than Canada in March, so I can't complain. I learned a little bit of Spanish, but had to mostly rely on English, and Virginia and Hannah translating things for me. Although even they had trouble because Barcelona uses it's own language Catalan which is a mix between Spanish, French, and who knows what else. At least most people understand and know a little bit of English, and hand signals are universal!!




We stayed in a Hostel just off La Rambla, the most famous pedestrian street in Spain (or so i've heard). Our Hostel was pretty nice, although we stayed in a room with 15 other people. A little bit interesting, but since we were only there to sleep, it turned out just fine.

The first day, we were told by our lovely new friend Hector (The guy at the Hostel Desk) that the Picasso museum was free Sunday afternoons after 3, and luckily enough it was indeed Sunday afternoon after 3! I hadn't known before that Picasso was from Barcelona, and it was very interesting to see the progress of his art throughout his Career. He wasn't always a crazy painter, his earliest work was completely normal portraits!

From there, we slowly wandered through the city making our way to the beach. We got there just before the sun started setting, and enjoyed some Spanish food on the water. We enjoyed a beautiful walk along the beach at sunset, but it eventually got too cold and windy for us.



We planned on spending the entire next day tanning at the beach, but the weather wasn't on our side. It was cold, windy and overcast all day so we did the next best thing, SHOPPING! I had wanted a pair of Gladiator Sandals for awhile, so we searched those out, and of course we bought a ton of other things between the three of us. (Don't worry mom, I got good deals!)



We did some sightseeing in the afternoon which is completely taken over by Gaudi's masterpieces. Gaudi is a very famous architect who, in my opinion, designed all of Barcelona. Our first stop was to see the Casa Milà and the Casa Batlló.



Next stop was his most famous piece, La Sagrada Familia which was started in the 1880's and is still not finished today! It's projected to be finished around 2020, but we'll see if that happens. So naturally when we saw it, it was under construction. I just haven't had good luck with visiting huge monuments and them being under construction! It wasn't as beautiful as i'd expected it to be (there are so many contrasts between the old stone and the new ones), but breathtaking nonetheless.



Barcelona is very famous for it's crazy/interesting architecture, and not just by Gaudi. While walking down the street there are tons of additions to the city which make it just a little bit more interesting than just buildings and streets.

We made our way back to La Rambla visiting a bull fighting stadium, and a few other attractions along the way. Dinner tonight, we all had Paella (I had veggie!) and of course Sangria. A very traditional Spanish meal! We had a good time Bargaining with all of the tourist shops and street vendors, and I got a clock made specifically for me, while we watched!







Day three (which was supposed to be rainy) turned out the be the warmest and most beautiful. We headed to the Parc Guell armed with picnic supplies, and found ourselves in the midst of a Dr. Suess Story! The Parc Guell was the property and home of none other that Gaudi. The entire park (which is MASSIVE) is covered in mosaics and interesting stonework, and of course lots of street performers to enjoy.








After the park, we headed straight for the beach to take full advantage of the beautiful weather! It was a little windy, and chilly when the sun was behind the clouds, but we got some ice cream and manages to relax comfortably lying on the beach for a few hours. Exactly what we needed.



Barcelona is packed with amazing performers, artwork, architecture, and I had an AMAZING time enjoying the entire city. It has definitely been my favourite city I've visited so far on my adventure! Here are some more pictures and hopefully a video or two if I can figure out how to post them! Also Click on the title like normal to see all my Barcelona pictures!!