Video of Trip

Italy

I am in Rome! I left Spain yesterday and arrived here in Rome. It is a beautiful city. I am here for 4 days and then I leave for Florence for a few days...then Verona...then Venice and then back to London.
I enjoyed my last few days in Spain. Pablo took me to Salamanca. Salamanca is a beautiful city! I really enjoyed it. We ate lots of tapas! I also had my first experience with driving in a foreign country. This was interesting. Pablo lent me his car so I could head into town. The driving over here is a little different than it is in the states. Luckily I had no major accidents and only ran three red lights. Whoops. :)
Anyway, I am really happy to be here. I am staying in a monestary...which is quite interesting. I thought the nuns would try to convert me but I have barely seen any! It is a very quiet place and ironically, there is no bible in the bedside drawer. :)
Hope you are all well! I am home in less than two weeks! I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by. I cannot wait to post pictures! My brother said this blog sucks because I have no pictures to post. I do not have anything to upload them...so pictures will come as soon as I get home and can work on my Mac (I really miss Apple computers!!!!).
xo
Carrie

Barcelona and Cuenca

Hola!
Spain is great! I am really enjoying myself. I am enjoying the fact that I can somewhat communicate with the people here. Plus, no offense to anybody from France, but the Spanish are much nicer to me than the French were!
Barcelona was a blast. I went all over the city and saw the Sagrada Familia, went to the top of Tibidabo and spent one day at the beach. I loved the ports and all the sailboats. I can´t wait to post pictures.
I left Barcelona and went to the small city of Cuenca. This is about 2 hours by train outside Madrid. Cuenca is absolutely beautiful!! I loved it there. I spent the night in an amazing hotel that overlooked the beautiful scenic cliffs that make Cuenca famous. Growing up with the name Cuenca in California was frustrating as it was frequently mispronounced...nobody could spell it. I cannot stress how surreal it was to go to a city where your name is EVERYWHERE! Plus, everyone can say and spell it! I got many surprised looks that my last name was the same as their city. Especially since I´m an American. I highly recommend visiting Cuenca if any of you are ever in Spain and near Madrid. It is very touristy but only to the Spanish. I did not see any Americans there. I am very excited to upload my pictures!
I am in Madrid right now and staying with Pablo, our former exchange student. I will be heading to Cordoba and Seville this week and this weekend we are going to Salamanca where his family lives. Good times!!!
Hope you are all well!
xoxo
Carrie
PS. Drop me a line when you can! I miss everyone!

So Long France

After Paris and the south of France, I am heading off to Barcelona. I have really enjoyed my time down here. I have met people from all over the world. Today I visited Carcassonne which is a beautiful medieval city. I am staying right in the heart of it and have enjoyed all the medieval music that has been playing all day. I also ate a delicious crepe today. There are some tasty things to eat down here. I am missing the comforts of home...like walking around barefoot...but I know I will be back soon. Until then I am living it up.
More from Spain....!
xoxo
Carrie

France

Bonjour!
I am in the south of France in the small town of Nimes. It is a quaint little town with a very well-preserved Roman amphitheater. I spent the morning touring it. It is quite remarkable. I got here yesterday. I left Paris after 5 days. Paris is a great city. The only thing is all the cigarette smoke. It really bothered me...but it now explains why they are so thin! I had a great time with Maxime and his family! We went all over. They took me to an authentic French restaurant where I had a salad with goat cheese, fried chicken livers and tripe...the thickest bacon I have ever had and red wine from Bordeaux. Then for dessert...I had this flaming apple tart. It was so cool to watch them set it on fire! it was very good I must say. Paris was great but I really am enjoying the south. The people are much friendlier here and are much more helpful. I am spending tomorrow in Avignon and Monday I will be in Arles. I am really exited to visit these places.
Things are going really well. I miss you all!
xoxox
Carrie

So Long UK

I have had a great time these past couple weeks here in the UK. Both England and Scotland were amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better time. The grand finale was amazing. Last night I went to Hyde Park where Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton all performed. It was an amazing concert. Because I was there by myself, I managed to wiggle up to the front. I got some great shots and some video clips. :)

I am off to Paris now. I know it's summer and I'm supposed to be enjoying time off without students but I'm actually very excited to connect with one of my student's families on Tuesday. Maxime (for those of you who know him!) and his family will be in Paris on that day and I will be spending the afternoon/evening with them. I'm looking forward to seeing their familiar faces. Until next time....

xoxo, Carrie

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is amazing! The buildings, churches and statues are completely spectacular. I'm so glad I decided to come here. Everything is so scenic. Plus, people really do wear kilts here! They are selling them everywhere.
There are many things to do here. I'm off to go on a ghost tour, dungeon tour and visit the castle. Tomorrow I'm off to Loch Ness and the Highlands for a one day tour.
Anyway, hope you are all well!!!
xoxo, Carrie

England

This past week has been so much fun. Grant and I have been all over London. He's been an awesome tour guide. We've been lucky with weather (until now). I've been staying with him and his girlfriend at their place in Surrey which means we're outside Central London. This means, I've been on the tube A LOT. The trains can be a bit daunting but I'm finally getting used to it. We are currently on the south coast of England in Devon visiting some of their friends. It's lovely out here. I leave for Edinburgh on Monday for five days. I'm super excited for that.
This is the first time I've looked at a computer since Sunday morning. I have felt so disconnected! I hope you are all doing well. I've been thinking of everyone.
xo, Carrie

The Night Before

Bonjour Amigos,

I am trying out this note thing to see if I can successfully "blog." Thanks for all your well wishes. I'll be in touch after I land safely in London. I'm excited to see Grant (AKA- Captain South Africa for all your Pendola Folk ;) ). We'll post some pics later this week. I'll be spending the week in London. So think of me when you hear The Clash. :D

I won't have cell phone reception over there so email and Facebook are the two best ways to stay in touch with me. 

More later!

Cheers,

Carrie