Valentines and Bath Time!

Once again, I had another amazing week in London. While a lot of planning occurred, everything is finally coming together in regards to our travels. Thursday night I went over to Jason's flat and finished planning our eurorail trip. Jason, Jenni, and I will be spending 21 days in April in six countries! We are going to Barcelona in Spain, Zurich in Switzerland, Florence, Rome, Naples, Capri, and Venice in Italy, Vienna in Austria, Prague in the Czech Republic, and Berlin in Germany. This is made possible as a result of having 6 weeks between our last day of classes and our first day of finals. Also, since we are students, we were able to buy a eurorail pass for over half off the adult costs, which is making this trip very affordable as well. I'm a little worried about packing, but I know we will be able to do laundry along the way. I also figure if I could pack for five months in one big suitcase and one little suitcase, I can easily pack for three weeks in one little suitcase :).


Friday was also another amazing day. I was pleasantly surprised after class with two dozen pink and red roses from my boyfriend Jacob. He's currently doing a co-op at NASA in Cleveland, and he is also the president of his fraternity. I'm quite proud of him, and the roses were definitely a surprise. I also got a beautiful card from my Grandma Kay, and a funny card from my mom and sister. Anyways, a little bit after class I got a text from Jenni, and ended up going out for a girls night with her, Danielle E., Anna C., and Veronika M. We went to an Italian place for dinner called Spaghetti House and then saw the movie Valentines Day in theaters. It was by the same director that made Pretty Woman, and I thought it was fantastic. I love having girls nights and am sure there will be plenty more to come.

Saturday was the first Butler sponsored day trip. We went to Bath, and in total there were four coaches filled with Butler students. The trip was 2.5 hours each way, and fortunately I was able to fall asleep for most of the journey. Bath is such a pretty town, and I loved seeing all the weathered stone buildings. Along with getting free transportation to the city, we also got a tour of the city on our coach and received free entry into the Roman baths. The tour was nice, but I was incredibly hungry at that point in the day, so more than anything I just wanted to eat :-P. We fortunately had about 45 minutes to grab a quick bite to eat before we were allowed to enter the baths. While we were waiting, we watched a few street performers, including a woman who was playing the hang. A hang is a drum that is made in Switzerland, and only two people in the world currently make them. There is also a very long waiting list for the drum, and once it is made you have to go to Switzerland in order to receive it. I honestly think it would all be worth it though, as the music it makes is quite beautiful :).

Once we got into the baths, we were given audio guides to listen to various stories about the different areas. A few of my favorite parts included seeing the Roman actors and taking photos with them, going to the cold plunge and watching the funny videos surrounding the waters, and of course, seeing all of the gorgeous architecture. I took a lot of pictures...again, if you don't have facebook, let me know and I will send you a link to the photos! We were also told multiple times during the day not to touch the hot waters. Apparently the baths had never been cleaned and therefore they would be filled with different types of microbes. Silly microbes. Anyways, while the Roman baths were incredibly crowded, we definitely had a fun time exploring and learning.

After we were done with the baths, we had about an hour before we had to be back on the bus. In other words, we had just enough time to go grab some absolutely amazing fudge. I purchased a little Belgian chocolate swirl piece and happily still have a bit of it to enjoy a few days later. We then took the coach home, and had a wonderful time eating dinner at a cute little restaurant in Notting Hill. It was a great day trip, and I am really happy Butler organizes trips for us to go to places that we normally wouldn't go to.

Finally, along with yesterday being Valentines Day, Jason pointed out to me that it was also the Chinese New Year. So in celebration, Jason and I enjoyed Dim Sum and some studying at our favorite little Chinese restaurant in Camden Town. I love Dim Sum now, and am sure I will be enjoying it a lot more once I get back to Cleveland.

While I have lots of studying to do this week, I am truly looking forward to flying to Dublin with Jason this weekend. I can't wait to see Ireland and am sure I will come back with more stories. Love and miss you all!!!