Photos from London (*title is meant to be read in your best British accent*)

We were in London the day of the World Premiere of the final Harry Potter movie... lots of fans!

At the Changing of the Guard

This is what the Changing of the Guard looks like in the rain :)

I believe that is London Bridge... I remember it being much less impressive than I was thinking it would be. The tour guide also said that the nursery rhyme comes from the fact that the bridge was quite shaky when it was first built... "London Bridge is falling down, falling down..."

On our tour bus next to the Tower of London

Big Ben at an obviously more sunny part of the day!

London Eye

Having a Pimm's with my dear friend Sarah before we went in to see Billy Elliot

It is not very clear in this photo, but that  gentleman is basically leaning against the stage, we were so close!

Self-portraiture gone awry 

A souvenir at the Tower of London...  medieval torture device paper dolls basically

Theatre geeking out at Shakespeare's Globe Theater (well kind of... the original one burnt down)

Oxford and Dublin Pictures!

 We used the "Chunnel" to go under the English Channel... basically we drove the charter bus into a box car and then the whole line of box cars goes through a tunnel that runs under the English Channel. Not really a comforting thought to me at all...

 

The GT banner hanging on the fence of the Oxford Worchester campus. Moments after snapping this photo the Program Director of the portion of the program in Oxford got on the bus and our job was done! Such a relief!

This is the main "quad" of the Oxford campus where the students stay. That grass is absolutely untouchable.

 Just some of the gardens on the campus. So beautiful!

This is my travel buddy Dana with all of our bags at Heathrow before we boarded our flight to Dublin. Not too bad considering the amount of time we traveled! 

Drinking my first (and most likely last) Guinness at the Storehouse in Dublin. Highly recommend this tour stop if you are ever in Dublin, the view from the bar there is awesome! 

Our hair dryer in Dublin was mounted in the drawer of the desk at the hotel... Those Europeans- so quirky!

Just one in a series of many photos I took with things that said "Knight"

St. Patrick's Cathedral

The final summary... about a month late...

So, I realized the other day that I never really completed my blog for the trip since the last post basically said that I would post again later. I have now been back in the states for a month and three days (but whose counting?). Things have been more than a little hectic- moved into a new apartment, my boss had her final days at Georgia Tech right after my return, and most recently I was named Interim Director of our office. Needless to say, blog posts had fallen way down on the to-do list. But for those of you that have followed the blog this summer, I definitely feel as though I owe you some final thoughts. With that said...

This trip was AMAZING! In so many ways it was everything and simultaneously nothing that I expected. I still am not quite sure that it has fully sunk in that I have seen and done all of the things that I see in my pictures. One of my moments of realization happened at IKEA of all places. They have a large selection of canvas prints that you can purchase and they have a number of "city scenes" from major cities all over the world. I was walking down the aisle and realized that I had been to all but one of the cities featured (gotta get to Tokyo next :). 

Upon returning, everyone has asked me what my favorite place was and I probably answer the question differently every single time. I think that in the end it is a toss up between Paris and Venice. Paris was so much more than I expected it to be. Seeing the Eiffel Tower up close and personal was also way more incredible than I anticipated. Venice was amazing just because of how it contrasts to the American cities that I have been to in the past. The age of the city, the fact that the canal is the main form of transportation, and the just overall magic of that city really left an impression on me. But truly, every city provided the trip with something new and exciting and so many memories to carry back with me. 

The Oxford Worchester campus is stunning and has incredible gardens sprinkled throughout the grounds. The small area is quite charming and I am so jealous that the students were staying there for the remainder of their summer. Although I have to say that I was beyond frustrated the first morning waking up there because I could not get the water to be hot in the shower. Mind you, I had spent the last 4 weeks traveling throughout Europe and experiencing a vast array of different bathroom fixtures and configurations but I simply could not figure out this shower! I did eventually find a button that activated the hot water... but it obviously caused me quite a bit of distress and as I am still frustrated with the situation well over a month and a half later.

Our trip to Dublin and London after dropping off the students was great. The Irish actually reminded me a little bit of Texans due to their overzealous pride in their country and their frustration with us not seeing the Irish countryside. We spent some time on some city tours and just listened to Irish stories and folklore which are so much better when told with an authentic Irish accent! London was everything that I hoped it would be, we had a great time seeing the sites even though we had an entire day in a torrential downpour and mostly were just able to see people's umbrellas while attempting to see the Changing of the Guard. The English people were very... English. And you can currently get pretty much any item imaginable printed with Kate and William's wedding portrait on it. In London we also went to see a performance of Billy Elliot that had me in tears multiple times. I am typically a strict believer in only seeing a musical live once since there are so many that I want to see, but I will absolutely be going to see Billy Elliot again this spring when it comes to Atlanta. INCREDIBLE!  

So... that's it. One incredible summer summed up in a few short blog posts. Knavigating Knight is back to knavigating my own little heaven of midtown Atlanta. I hope that the summer of 2011 has treated you well and hope even more that I can see you in person soon! 

The final countdown...

Ghent, Belgium was probably the least familiar city to me when I first reviewed our itinerary. And by least familiar, I mean that I had never heard of it at all. With that said, I wasn’t expecting much in the town and saw it more as a pass through on our way to Oxford. Fortunately, I was wrong and this charming small city has been a perfect spot for ending our trip. We did not have many activities on the agenda while here except for day trips to Brussels and Brugge. It has been a relaxing way to end the trip and a fantastic place to do some shopping.

Tomorrow we drive 6 hours to Oxford to drop off the students to begin their “in residence” part of the program. I will spend a couple of nights in Oxford before heading to Dublin and then London with a friend who is also serving a group leader with a different travel group. So these last couple of days have been bitter sweet as our trip comes to an end. I am also realizing how hard adjusting back to my regular schedule will be after the last few weeks of a schedule that is completely different! More summing up to come in a later post, so for now- good night!

What a day!

Not all days in Paris are baguettes and rainbows. Today was hot and sticky. Some of our students "made bad choices." I spent a good part of day looking for a bathroom because there are apparently three in the whole city. Took the subway the wrong direction and I was poo'ed on by a bird. Onward to Belgium!

(We actually did see a rainbow on the way to Paris)

"It's like New York, just with a little more b.o. ..."

When we started this trip, I did not think that I would love Paris. I thought it would be cliché and touristy and full of people that didn’t want Americans around. I anticipated that it would be full of couples wandering around and having romantic moments underneath the Eiffel Tower. As it turns out, a lot of that is true. BUT there is something about this city that has totally stuck with me. Somewhere between the Arch de Triumph and the fabulous French butter, I have found myself wishing that I could see and experience more of the city.

We are fortunately in Paris for 4 days. It would have been a challenge to get everything into any less time at this point in the trip when we are all so tired from the  “Europe at a dead run” schedule, especially with the heat!  We have had our share of city drama in this city- a subway worker refused to sell me tickets because I did not know  enough French (even though I did look up and attempt to pronounce the words “3 day” “ticket” “47 people” and “please” and apologized for not knowing French) and we had two pick pocket attempts on the subway in our group - one unsuccessful and one moderately successful.

Yesterday we went to the Louvre. Traveling Europe with an art historian is really the best way to go! Our Art History professor is so incredibly knowledgeable and great at explaining what we are seeing as we travel and I feel as though I have picked up a great deal from hearing her lectures and anecdotal information in the museums. I can tell you all about controposto, tenebristic lighting- especially as used by Caravaggio, the Arena Chapel and the Medicci Family of Florence among many other art-sy type things now! The Louvre is incredible and so vast! We only made it through four of the main areas and we were there for four and a half hours.

After our full day we headed out for a great dinner and then made it to the Eiffel Tower just in time for sunset, we spent some time with a group of our students in the park by the tower and had started to head to the subway when the twinkling lights started up at 11pm. Spectacular, it was a great day in the city!

Today was a rare free day, so I spent most of it doing what Paris is really great for- shopping! I am now the happy owner of an Eiffel Tower shaped cheese grater and some fantastic French perfume!

Our group travels to Ghent, Belgium on Tuesday and after a few days there we are off to Oxford where we leave the students to take on their second half of the summer. I can’t believe that we are so close to the end but at the same time feel as though we have been gone much longer than 26 days!

(oh- and there is a good chance that the b.o. is from our students, they sell way too much perfume here for the people to smell bad. And we have been wearing the same clothes for a while now...)

The Group Leader Experience

Now that we have been on the road for a few weeks, I feel as though I have a grasp of what being a Group Leader for the GT Oxford program is really about, let me paint you a few pictures of some of the pretty typical experiences:

- The students lovingly call you "Mama Steph" because although you have never been to any of the places that you are visiting your ability to read signs that indicate where the water closet is and then inform the inquisitive student astounds them, you remind them to get their passports out of their hotel room safes when departing each city, and you have a stash of bandaids and sunscreen in your bag at all times. (Okay so maybe the last one is a bit "mom" like)

- When walking into your fourth museum of the trip that holds an incredible collection of art from the High Renaissance you overhear one of the male students say "ugh, more boobs" 

-You are sitting in your room, enjoying a good book on your Kindle (aka most incredible birthday gift ever) and hear people walking up and down the hall talking loudly. It's about midnight, and you start to rehearse the precise way you are going to let each student know that you are going to write them up. You throw open the door and realize that the noise is three nice couples that apparently arrived for a late check in at the hotel. The feeling of relief and then also guilt for assuming your students had to   be the culprits simultaneously fall over you.

- You respond daily to the question/invitation/demand that you and your other group leader should go out with the students to the biergarten/pub/5-story club with a "no", "no, thanks", "have a good time, be safe", and "no, I have to go to bed"