Last days, last night, homeward bound!

It's a little surreal that this is the last night. It's more sentimental than I thought it would be. Cambridge was home for two months. Friends were family for two months. It's weird walking around and there being less people since they left already! Or people rushing around doing last minute things! Or people's families here coming to get them! It's weird. It hits you fast when everything is ending. I didn't know it would be this sad! I'm happy at the same time, though! I get to see my family, my friends, my boyfriend. :) I'm super excited for hugs! Cambridge has definitely left an imprint on me. I definitely plan to come back someday. I love the environment. It's so charming and beautiful. I'll miss walking around and window shopping and watching the sunsets. I'll miss going to the music room to play piano. I'll miss bumping into friends and having random conversations. I'll miss practicing for the talent show! I'll miss the cool, crisp evenings and the peace you get when overlooking the river. So peaceful. This trip has been a blessing. Blogging about it makes you realize how blessed you are. There were many times to reflect upon everything when you get a moment of quiet... whether by the river or even on bus rides. I won't lie, it got hard sometimes. But it has been a huge blessing. God provides. So many friends to encourage you. So many heartwarming people and heartfelt conversations. It's been great. :) You can learn a lot from the people you meet. Even when you don't feel like being sociable. You never know what sort of surprises are before you until you put yourself out there. On that note... thanks for reading my blog, guys. :) Can't wait to see everyone back at home. Live life! Love people! And be grateful! You never know what moment is your last. Might as well make the most of it. And love is the only thing that lasts. So start loving. :) The people who love are the ones you remember. <3 Thanks to God for a great trip. God bless y'all. xoxo. 

Sushi selfie with my fellow sushi lovers!

Me, Madi, and Cameron

Sophia and I visiting the Kettle House! A house turned into a visiting site. :)

Farewell Formal! 

Love these girls. Cynthia and Holly.

Annie! :)

Faith! :)

Jess! :)

Twins reunited shortly.... :) 

 

She's a blessing. :)

Gonna miss the sunsets. <3

Dinner by the river. Fish and chips. ;)

Farewell, Cambridge! Until next time...

Spain!

Hola, guys! I got to go on a trip to Barcelona, Spain! It was awesome. My friend Jenn and I went together for the weekend. The first night we had trouble finding our hostel and it was already getting really late so we were concerned BUT we found it. :) It was actually really a nice place to stay -- clean, friendly and breakfast included! Also it was right by the street Las Ramblas, which is known for being a major tourist attraction, with all sorts of shops and tents up and down the street. On Saturday we did a lot of window shopping. A LOT! It's fun to see what's there -- lots of knick knacks and souvenirs, foods, clothing, etc! It's also fun seeing the similar things, such as Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, etc! Lots of people understood English, so communicating wasn't hard. Although, I am a Spanish major so I really have no excuse haha. I still need to learn so much Spanish. Going to Barcelona reminded me how I need to touch up and deepen my vocabulary and phrases. When I get back to UCI, I plan to join a Spanish fraternity or some group where I can practice speaking and have that Spanish community I need. :) Hopefully I can even come back to Spain one day or other Spanish-speaking areas and practice! Maybe even get an internship! Anyway, after window-shopping we made our way up to Casa Batlló! It was a house designed by Gaudí, who is known for many famous and amazing architectural designs. You can tell he puts a lot of thought into his work. It's intentional, functional, and appealing. We also got to see the Sagrada Familia during the weekend, which is a church in Spain designed by Gaudí. It's phenomenal! Again, you can notice all his hard work and effort he put into its design and structure. The Casa Batlló was very colorful inside and there were so many floors! Gaudí even designed some furniture to complement the design of the house. The inside resembled the ocean. The walls and ceilings had many curves and there was a lot of blue colors inside. Afterward we took the metro down to the harbor area. There we did more window shopping! We ended the night getting hot dogs and overlooking the bay. It was peaceful. We headed up to Starbucks in the nearby mall where we got a really nice view of the harbor. So peaceful, it put us to sleep haha. The next day we went to church! Hillsong Barcelona. :) It was really cool to be a part of. It's cool that you can meet up with other believers, even when there is a language barrier. There were translations available but listening to the Spanish music was awesome. After, we shared a lunch of paella and tapas! So good. We had to have seafood at some point since that's what Barcelona is known for. No regrets. Happy tummies. After lunch we made our way over to visit the Picasso Museum! I didn't know that Picasso was Spanish haha! When we got there the line was HUGE!! So instead we went to the bookstore to see the types of artwork he did. Very interesting... On our way back to Las Ramblas we went inside this cute little store where they use typewriters to write you a story! You pick three words of the ones they had there, then the people will type up a story for you. We ended the day with more window shopping and gelato. ;) Monday, we saw Sagrada Familia, which was very cool to see. Hard to find, despite it being so huge. We did the audio tour and learned a lot about Gaudí and how much he poured into his work. We also got to go up one of the towers! So high up! I learned I'm afraid of heights. But, you get a good view of Barcelona from there. And the bullet looking building, the Torre Agbar. It's cool seeing postcard pictures in person. After our visit we made our way down to the beach! We cut it close because we had a night flight back to England. Plus, people gave us the wrong time estimate for walking to the beach haha. It took a lot longer, but it was well worth it. Our plane even departed a little later than it was scheduled so after landing we almost missed our coach back to Cambridge! The trip was overall pretty rushed but fun at the same time! Hasta luego, Spain! God bless. 

(more pics to come)

Outside la Casa Batlló

One of the ceilings in la Casa Batlló

Siesta time is a real thing..

Dinner at the harbor

Peace and relaxation

Las Ramblas at night... before the night life happens

My Spain buddy!

Inside Sagrada Familia

View from the top of the tower

Made it to the beach!

Good-bye, Barcelona!

Last moments

Hey guys. :) So, yesterday I turned in my final essay for Painting in England. It felt so good to finish it. Today was my last lecture for my art studio course. Then, my last seminar for Painting in England is tomorrow and my final for that class is Friday morning! Then, SPAIN on Friday! Woo! 

So let me catch you up on the past week. Last Wednesday I went on a tour of the Wren library (the one at Trinity college in Cambridge). It was beautiful. And old. I found out that Sir Isaac Newton went to school at Trinity college and became a fellow of the college. There was even a little box of his things in the library! I saw his walking stick, his practice book of Latin, a watch he gave to Richard Bentley, and even a lock of his hair (random!)! There was also the first edition of the Principia, where Newton recorded the 3 laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation for the first time. Another cool thing I saw in the Wren library was the original manuscript (handwritten) of Winnie the Pooh! Apparently, the author A.A. Milne and the main character, Christopher Robin (Milne), were students at Trinity college, too. It's cool finding out these fascinating, random facts about Cambridge. I also had no idea that Christopher Robin was a real person. Another cool thing I saw was an 8th century copy of the epistles of St. Paul in Latin. They think it was probably copied down by an Irish scribe. So that was last Wednesday. :) 

Then, on Thursday I went on a tour of the Pembroke chapel, St. Bene't's Church in Cambridge, and finally the King's college chapel (finally!). I learned that the Pembroke chapel was designed by Christopher Wren, the same architect who designed the Wren library, the dome and nave of St. Paul's cathedral in London, and other beautiful and famous buildings! Apparently he was really popular here. :) Afterwards, we went to St. Bene't's Church, which is the oldest church in Cambridge. It was quite small compared to all the other buildings. I also learned that in the old days a church was for common people while a chapel was for priests and such. Finally we made our way over to King's chapel! Even though I've been here for a month and a half, I still hadn't seen the inside. So it was nice to finally see it. It is gorgeous! Very extravagant and luxurious. I can't imagine how it must have been to build it. It's huge and the inside is vast. So many glass-stained windows, too. Our tour guide was Nicholas Chrimes, who is an author of Cambridge: Treasure Island in the Fens, a book on... you guessed it, Cambridge! He pointed out how multiple master artists, such as Michelangelo and Jan van Eyck, had influenced many of the pictures on the stain-glassed windows. 

Lastly, on Sunday I went on a day-tour to Brighton and Beachy Head, two beaches on the south coast of England. It started off cold and rainy, not one you would think is a "beach day," however the weather warmed up as we got off the bus. There, I got to explore the city a bit after eating a lovely breakfast at a French café. Brighton is known as the gay capital of the UK, so I saw rainbow everywhere! After, I toured the Royal Pavilion! It's where the Prince Regent (later King George IV) had stayed at. It was his getaway beach home where he could have parties and enjoy life as he wanted. It looks really interesting: Indian style on the outside and Chinese on the inside. We weren't supposed to take photos of the inside but it was super cool to see and walk through. A lot of what was inside was original, too; so that was really neat to see. Afterwards, I walked down to Brighton pier. So enjoyable. So windy! Then, got myself a banana milkshake at Moo-moo's. :) Yummy. Then, back on the bus and to Beachy Head! This place was REALLY WINDY. It was so windy that it was hard to walk DOWNHILL! Here, we got an awesome ocean view and were able to enjoy walking alongside the cliffs (not too close to the edge, of course!). Beachy Head is actually in the top three places for suicide, amongst some location in Japan and the west coast of the US. I can understand why. So, if you go, take a buddy and don't get too close to the edge, seriously. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to visit. My new friends I met on the tour and I took lots of photos together. While walking, a little old lady grabbed onto my arm, too, because it was too windy for her to keep balance. Haha, it was cute. 

Finally, tonight was the PKP talent show! It was great. A success. Lots of people performed and lots of people showed up to watch! So many great acts and bold people. Madi, Jess, Sophia, Cecilia, and I sang a medley of songs to the cup song beat. It was great! So fun practicing with them. They were all very encouraging and had such good ideas to add to the songs. 

Thanks for reading my post. :) I know it was long... Final is on Friday so I won't be posting soon but will as soon as I can. 10 more days till I'm home with the loved ones! God bless. 

...Almost forgot, last Saturday was the PKP London trip! I went to the Tate Britain museum with my Painting in England class and afterward walked with my classmates to an Indian lunch. :) We walked along the River Thames to the Tate Modern museum where we met an interesting stranger who wanted to be our friend haha. He took us to bridge nearby the museum where we got a nice view and where I saw a talented artist painting the scene and selling other works of his. We ended the night by going to the Globe theatre. The play was King Lear! It was hard to keep up with their dialogue (and hard to stay standing for so long... since it was that type of ticket entry haha) so I didn't watch the whole thing. But from what I saw, they were really talented. And it was cool to see the theatre. Anyway, that about wraps up my experiences within the past week. Hard to blog it all! I still need to go punting by the way! 

Trinity College, Cambridge

Me and my classmates outside Tate Britain :)

Gonna miss these guys...

The artist's work! Beautiful.

To the Globe!

Beautiful night view of the bridge

Hot chocolate in Brighton

The Royal Pavilion!

Moo-moo's :)

Beachy Head, atop the cliffs

So windy! Hard to walk.

Beachy Head, beach view

Painting in England, last lecture!

The "stoic"

The "conversation piece"

Talent show with these girlies!

Last three weeks at Cambridge

Funny how time flies. I'm finishing up my last few weeks here and actually finishing up the last 2 weeks of the courses I'm taking. (I get a week off to do whatever I want!). My plan is to spend the last week traveling the UK with some friends. Last Friday, my friend Annie and I went to another one of the musical events put on by the Cambridge Summer Music Festival. This one was a choir called the Vocalis Chamber Choir. They're from New York but performed here in Cambridge at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs. The sound resonated. Their performance was called Journey in Song and they sang a lot of uplifting Christian songs, which was encouraging. During intermission Annie and I played on the playground near the church. :) We're still kids at heart. On Saturday, a group of us went on a day tour to Stonehenge and Bath. (Yes, I went again!). It was worth it, though. This time in Bath I got to see the Royal Crescent as well as the Circus (both expensive and extravagant housing communities). Lots of famous people had lived in these places, including Nicholas Cage, who lived at the Circus! After a long day of touring it was nice to get back and have a pretty restful weekend. On Sunday, I went to play baseball with a few other PKP students. We had to improvise the rules a bit since there were only five of us. :) It was fun nonetheless. Ever since, I've been sore and feeling a bit sick. I've been able to catch up on sleep, though, which has been good. It's nice focusing on two courses now rather than three... Still waiting for grades but enjoying this time here. Hopefully I'll get to go punting soon and do all the other Cambridge-y things before time is up!! The PKP talent show is coming soon, so my room buddy Madi, a couple others and I are planning something sweet. ;) Something musical of course.. I'll let ya know when it's planned. Other than that... there's the London trip with PKP this Saturday that I'll be going to. Then, there's an all-day tour to Brighton and Beachy Head that I'll be going to on Sunday. Those are beaches in England that look beautiful from the pictures I've seen. Really looking forward to it. Love ya guys! God bless. Xoxo. 

Team Baseball! PKP

Vocalis Chamber Choir
Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs
Cambridge

Annie :) 

Intermission..  

The Royal Crescent, Bath

Horse-drawn carriage

The Circus, Bath

Bath Abbey

Stonehenge, again :)

Bones found at Stonehenge

How they suppose the stones were moved...
They're heavy! 4 tons

Stonehenge housing replica

Always beautiful...

Just another day in Cambridge

Art class!

I like to read.