Hashtag Tinker Fish Take Spring Break

By now most of you have probably seen the multiple selfies posted on Facebook accompanied with the caption "#tinkerfishtakespringbreak" and I am finally providing some context and narrative for those selfies.

The Hashtag.

First things first, lets clear the air behind the meaning of the hashtag. Caitlin and I met while working at Pine Cove Christian Camps. At this camp the counselors get "camp names" and go by those assigned camp names for the entirety of the summer. You get named by playing the "name game" where a name is generated by how you answer certain questions. Caitlin's camp name is Tinker Toes, my camp name is Run Fish (this is the short version mind you). Since we are PCBFs (Pine Cove Best Friends) it makes since to smoosh our names together, thus creating Tinker Fish (thanks to Mac and Sneeze for providing us with this grand idea).

Caitlin's friendship has been a divinely ordained entity in my life. We have been friends for.... 3 or 4 years now (I can't remember because math) and our friendship has been one of those constants that always keeps going no matter what life throws at us. For example, boyfriends, school, distance. And I'm so happy she FINALLY came to see me while I'm living abroad.

Caitlin had never been outside of the states before her trip this past week. As you may gather from her camp name (a nod to tinker bell) she and her family have basically spent the majority of their life at disney world. Some of us don't have that privilege. I, for example, have never been to disney world. But my time will come, this week it was Caitlin's turn to do something new.

I am so proud of Caitlin for coming to Europe by herself to see me! My love language is quality time, and sitting in this little tiny room everyday alone has quite an effect on me. So having an extra bed take up the one area of floor space my small room provides made my heart so full!

I'm sad to be writing this post because it means she is back in the states, but I will see her again soon (hopefully in September!)

So, now that I've provided some background, lets get to the fun stuff!!

Caitlin in London

Friday 6 March

Caitlin was a trooper this week, and you will soon see why. I dragged her all around London (and Paris) to make sure she saw everything she could with her short time here.

I picked her up from the airport on Friday and we went straight to Buckingham Palace (she only got like 2 hours of sleep on the plane).

Then I took her to Trafalgar Square, where we toured the National Gallery and got tea overlooking the square. We walked by Big Ben and the London Eye. Bussed to the Tate Modern, I showed her the Turbine Hall and we walked across Millennium Bridge, had a view of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and walked to St. Pauls. Then we went to Borough Market to grab a bite to eat and kept on trucking to Tower Bridge, which we crossed to the Tower of London.

Walking along the Thames!

I'm not done yet, folks.

Then we bused to Kensington Gardens and walked through the Park and saw Kensington Palace and Queen Victoria, I even took her way across Kensington to a big grocery store so I could buy a new kettle (this was all in attempts to keep her awake until 9pm).

I am seriously so proud of this girl. She didn't complain once and stayed up until 9pm, then she passed out for 10-11 hours.

We got up the next morning and headed straight for Paris!

Saturday 7 March

Paris has always been Caitlin's top European destination and it made my traveler's heart so full to be the one to take her there (and because I got to show her my "namesake" obvs).

Before I go any further, I'm sure you have realized our use of a selfie stick. Yes, yes, shake your head and judge us all you like but selfie sticks are so awesome. I honestly don't think we would've taken half the pics we took if we didn't have one, which would be a shame. It was also extremely fun to use. Yeah sure people looked at us weird, and it acted as a very large "LOOK AT ME IM A TOURIST" sign, but every time we took a pic we were laughing so hard, not to mention all the random creeper pics I took of Caitlin over my shoulder. Yes, I fully endorse the selfie stick and I can't wait to use it on my next trip!

Back to Paris...

We found our airbnb no problem, and when we got to the 8th floor where the flat was we were greeted with this view.

After admiring the iron lady for a few minutes we headed back out and about. We walked back by the Eiffel Tower, through the Tuileries, I showed Caitlin the Louvre and how massive it is (no, we did not go in. I have a love/hate relationship with the Louvre and decided to not make Caitlin go through the painfully large crowds of tourists only showing up to take a pic of the Mona Lisa, I will spare you from the rest of my soap box speech) and we walked ALL the way to the Notre Dame, where we watched the sun set.

Safe to say Caitlin's feet were killing her, but I lugged her all that way because I brought the wrong plug adapter for European outlets (big time fail on my part, I promise Im not a newb), so we went to a department store by the Notre Dame and found some european phone chargers. Then we ate at an amazing french restaurant (the man who greeted us at the front door had an 80's style black and white glamour shot of himself hanging up on the wall, it was fabulous).

Sunday 8 March

We woke up the next morning and went to the Orsay. I showed Caitlin all the big name paintings I learned about in undergrad and have since forgotten their significance, which means I mainly walked around saying "this painting is famous but I can't remember why," art major problems.

Then we walked back to the Notre Dame to find a bookstore Caitlin wanted to peruse, Shakespeare and Company, and we ate baguettes overlooking the Seine.

After baguettes, we went to Montmartre, which was my favorite place in Paris the first time I visited as a young, bright eyed 12 year old.

View of Paris from Montmartre

After wandering the streets of Montmartre we went shopping on the Champs Elysees.

I don't know if you can tell, but it was 65 degrees in Paris on Sunday, and the ENTIRE city was out and about on the first real day of clear warm spring weather, which made shopping a nightmare. But we endured through the hectic sweaty swarming mobs and found ourselves lounging on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower.

We didn't want to spend money on dinner because we are broke, and it was Sunday and were afraid everything would close up on us, so we got frozen pizza and wine at the local supermarket and ate dinner watching the sunset over the city.

Monday 9 March

Our last day in Paris we spent with no plans, and it was probably the most fun we had in the city. It was also the ONLY day during Caitlin's time here that the sun was not out the entire day (I've decided it is officially spring.)

There is no way that waking up to this view could ever get old

We woke up early and had a photo shoot under the bridge that is in the movie Inception.

Then we walked along the Seine and soaked up all the views of the Eiffel tower (we also spent the majority of the day trying to get super Parisian photos of each other.)

Caitlin wanted to see the Luxembourg Gardens, which I had never visited, so we found them and sat in front of the palace for about an hour and a half people watching and talking about boys.

I mean, come on, you just can't beat spending a morning like this with your best friend

After lunch we headed back to the Notre Dame (Caitlin's fave place in Paris) and walked along the river and found a nice place along the Seine to sit and talk some more about boys (we had a lot of heart talk to catch up on, okay).

We found Point Zero, which means we will come back to Paris... or something like that....

My favorite view of the Notre Dame

Spotted: Caitlin practicing her ballet at the Notre Dame!!

We sat here for a good hour and half as well, and then bought another dinner's worth of groceries and spent our last night in Paris gazing over the Eiffel Tower (we had a REALLY early morning train back to London).

Tuesday 10 March

Back in London I took Caitlin to the Churchill War Rooms. If you love history (and even if you don't, in which case, you're weird) the Churchill War Rooms is one of my favorite museums in London. It takes you through the war rooms where Churchill worked during WWII. After the war was over the lights were turned off and everyone left, leaving everything how it was when they left in the late 1940's. So, for the most part, everything that was there then, is still there now and its incredible.

After the war rooms we parted ways. I had to meet a professor about my thesis. So I armed Caitlin with a map of London and had marked up her tube map to help her get back to tour Kensington Palace.

They grow up so fast! So proud of this girl for conquering the tube all by herself!

We met back up and headed to Westminster for an Evensong service.

If you've never been to an Evensong service you should go. Right now. It was spectacularly brilliant. I had never been inside Westminster, and the Evensong service is free, so we spent an entire 45 minutes inside the Abbey for free while listening to angelic voices sing to the heavens. It was all very surreal and Caitlin was beside herself when it was over. Then I took her to a pub and we ate pie and chips to finish off another fun day!

Wednesday 11 March

I took Caitlin shopping on Oxford street so she could get a few London things to take back to America, then we went to the Orangery at Kensington Palace for high tea!!

It's spring in London!!! It arrived just in time for Caitlin's visit. Could not have asked for more perfect touring weather!

Caitlin LOVES Kensington Palace and all the history that comes with it, so I loved taking her here for high tea. And I'm very pleased to say that Caitlin now knows what a good cuppa is, which means there is no turning back now!

We went to Harrod's after tea and went on a hunt for some running tights I've been eyeing and obsessing over for the past week and a half. And what girl doesn't want to walk through shoe heaven?!

We also found the Disney Store, which obvi Caitlin loved. Also, who knew they have a plush minnie mouse doll dressed as the queen? It was seriously the cutest!

Thursday 12 March

I took Caitlin to the Shard for breakfast! Because I'm basically a regular there now and HAD to take her, plus that view >>>

After breakfast Caitlin wanted to go to the British Museum (I know, it seems like I'm dragging her to all this boring art stuff, but she actually did want to go to these places). I actually knew what I was talking about in the British Museum, and at that point I think Caitlin had gotten a hold of the whole museum etiquette thing, she hasn't been to many museums before.

The other thing she REALLY wanted to do while she was here was see Abbey Road. I had never been and didn't even know where it was. Fun fact its not too far from where I live! So we went.

Watching the tourists try and take pics in the middle of the street with cars coming from both directions was HILARIOUS!!! We found out there is a web cam with audio that you can watch online and I plan to watch it when I'm bored just to get some good laughs!

Caitlin had a few more items to pick up before she left the next morning so we ran some errands and walked back to my room through Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens and it was absolutely wonderful. I wish I had someone to take long walks with, I don't realize how much I enjoy them until I take them, but they aren't fun alone. We spent the rest of the evening watching netflix and eating cadbury chocolate bars while Caitlin packed.

Friday 13 March

Caitlin's flight was delayed so we didn't have a rushed morning, which means we just sat in bed and watched Netflix until it was time to head to the tube.

I took her back to the airport and put her on a flight to America.

Seeing Caitlin was just what I needed. While I sat alone on the tube on the way back into the city I broke down. It was waterworks, I was that girl crying on the tube. Caitlin leaving started this homesick downward spiral. I knew that when she got off her flight she got to sleep in her own bed and see her family.

The circumstances I've found myself in this weekend are also contributing to the homesickness. Some of my fam went to see my brother at A&M this weekend and it makes me miss them more that I can't be in Cstat with my bros. I'm running a half marathon in the morning and I'm not looking forward to it as much as usual. I love races and the early morning pre-race jitters and hype and nerves that come with waiting at the start line. But, I've always had an amazing support system during these runs. I always know my brothers are ahead and my mom is close by and my dad is bringing up the rear. We usually have extended family and friends running with us too, so showing up to a big race tomorrow morning seems daunting and extremely lonely. But I'll make it through, especially because I have these bae new running tights.

All that to say, today I confined myself to my room because the past week I had Caitlin to do everything with me (quality time, remember) and I got spoiled, now running errands around London alone seems unnatural, even though its all I've known for the past 6 months.

Traveling gives you a new outlook on life and changes your priorities. I love traveling and being abroad and I will always want to go explore somewhere I've never been and have a new adventure, but I put high priority on my family and the time I want, get, and need to spend with them. Caitlin served as an amazing reminder of all the love and support I have back home, which is the only reason why I'm able to live over here. If I didn't have my family's support and encouragement there's no way I'd make it so far away from home. God has provided an amazing community for me in the States and I'm so thankful that a dear dear friend of mine spent her spring break with me here in Europe. She is a blessing and a treasure and traveling with her was a fun new stepping stone in deepening our friendship, here's to hoping our next adventure is to disney world (cough cough).

Caitlin, you're a gem, and I'm so thankful God put you in my life back at Pine Cove all those years ago. I miss you and your fam and freaking loved having you around the past week and am already looking forward to seeing you again, cause lets be honest, I already have some more stuff to talk to you about (because boys.)

I'm hoping my homesickness will dissipate quickly as I have a lot to do for school (I skipped all my classes this week), plus I'll be heading stateside in just 27 short days! But for now, its back to that grad school grind!

Because Grad School

It is that time again where I feel the need to update you on my life. 

As of late my life has been school school school and more school. The lists of assignments and papers and I have are seemingly endless, but slowly I am marking items off the check list.

I wrote a paper about Superman.... because Grad School

I can not remember if I shared the good news, but I am going home for a few weeks in April, which puts the pressure on to finish a few of my assignments early. Also, my friend Caitlin is coming ON FRIDAY!!!! to London, so I have a ton of school work to put behind me before she arrives (among other things to prep for her stay!!). 

I finally went back to Windsor to actually tour the castle! 

If you are thinking of going to Windsor and touring the castle I would highly recommend looking up what rooms within the castle are open to the public. We made sure to go during a time the State Apartments were open. If these rooms aren't open, it is not worth your time or money to tour the castle (the price of a tickets sits at a steep 19 pounds!). However the town of Windsor is quite charming and seeing the castle from a distance when arriving to Windsor by train is a magnificent sight!

The Long Walk

We found a cutesy little sideways building in Windsor!

I signed up for a Half Marathon here in London (North London Half). It is in two weeks and I'm now starting to think my signing up was a bit ambitious, but only time will tell. I am very excited to complete an international race! It is also helping prepare me for a half I am doing in Amarillo when I'm home in April, however it has been a little difficult to adjust my grad school life to accommodate my running life. I am significantly more exhausted, but upping my miles cuts into study time, which means I am up late working and up early running. I can't complain too much though, I get to see some amazing sights while running in London!

Albert Bridge

The Italian Gardens in Kensington Gardens

Buckingham Palace

As deadlines for school approach, my research expands. I went to the Imperial War Museum for research and will be going back to actually have a look at their archives and library. 

Imperial War Museum

Other research trips I have planned are a trip to D.C. in April while I am stateside, and a visit to Auschwitz in May during my travels (more to come on future travel plans soon!).

I've never been to the IWM before, so when I went to view their Holocaust visit I didn't know what area of London I was in. So as I walked to a different tube station I stumbled onto this big guy.

Big Ben

And I instantly knew where in the city I was.

I think there was a holiday recently? Maybe it had something to do with hearts and the colors pink and red?!... Unlike Thanksgiving, Europe celebrates Valentine's Day. This V Day I spent the day working on my Superman paper. Thankfully, I serve a loving and compassionate God, and He made Valentine's Day a sweet time for me. Also, my amazing friend Leasa sent me some INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS English chocolates, so I gorged myself in those and watched Netflix when I could no longer stand my paper.

What would I do without my loving and intentional friends?! P.S. yes, my hair is curled... It's getting so long!

I ate pancakes at a Dutch Pancake restaurant on Pancake Day, aka Fat Tuesday, aka the day before Ash Wednesday.

Pancakes! ... I wanted waffles, but its not called Waffle Day.

And, most recently, I went to Cambridge. Austin had a rowing race/competition this weekend in Cambridge and it was so cool to be in a competitive sport atmosphere again!

Austin and I were twinning!

To see the race I walked for about an hour and 10 minutes along the river to get to the area where they actually race the boats.

Heading to the start

Heading to the start

I am a country girl at heart, and London is very stifling. My long leisurely walk down the river turned into a joyous frolick and I skipped through green open fields of muddy farmland! 

The farther down the river I got the more removed from all forms of society I felt. Finally Austin's boat came up the river towards the starting line, and then my phone died...

Austin's boat. He is second from the back. This photo is really awful quality because it was snapped right before my phone died.

 Being out in the country with no phone was one of the more relaxing moments of the term. I was the only person on that side of the river that far from town. I had no communication with anyone as I walked back to town, and was secretly wishing a cute Englishman would stumble upon me and help guide me back to the city. Unfortunately, as you can guess, that did not happen, and I'm sure if there had been cute guys around I would've fallen face first into the mud, so maybe it is for the better.

My second day in Cambridge three of my Londie friends came and Austin showed us around one of the college's before he headed to the boat houses.

Unfortunately I have no pics from his race the second day because I shot it all with his nice camera. But they did well, even with the cold and windy weather, and us four Londies took a beating walking through all those muddy fields. However, I am grateful to start off my spring break week with some country time (yes, it is my spring break).

Spring is coming!

The next 5 days I will spend on school work (some spring break, huh?!) and then Caitlin comes Friday and we head to Paris the next day! So stay tuned for some fun blogs with my sweet friend (it's her first time to travel outside of the states, so I'm sure there will be some great stories!), and I would love some prayers as I try to pound out my remaining assignments for the semester!

Brighton: London by the Sea

Today I day tripped to Brighton! But, more on that later as I must catch you up to speed on the most current happenings in my life.

The last thing you heard from me was that I attended an Art History in the Pub talk, and that I had just purchased Paris chunnel tickets for Caitlin and myself. Unfortunately, we still have yet to find a place to stay while we are in Paris, but that should be resolved shortly (within the week, or better yet, next few days).

Don't worry, just a few quick things I did this weekend to catch you up to my adventure today!

Austin (my friend from high school studying at Cambridge), was in London with the availability to hang out on Friday morning. After I found out that he had never been to the Shard (seriously, that is basically a criminal offense here), I made reservations for us to eat breakfast there. Since I have eaten breakfast at the Shard twice now, I will share with you what little bit of knowledge I have gleaned from these experiences.

1. Make the reservation in advance. I made our reservation for Friday two weeks in advance and the latest time they had for two was 8:30 (it was a really early morning).
2. Eat BREAKFAST at the Shard. After looking at the menu, breakfast is the cheapest meal by far to eat at the Aqua Shard restaurant, brunch and lunch and dinner are all extremely expensive. Austin and I scooted out of there with paying just 9 or 10 pounds each.
3. Eating breakfast at the Aqua Shard is insanely cheaper than buying a ticket to the lookout deck at the Shard. Austin and I looked up the price for a ticket to the lookout deck while we were eating breakfast. It was something around the price range of 25 pounds for an adult, you also have to make a reservation for the lookout deck as well. The lookout point it somewhere around 80 floors above London, the Aqua Shard restaurant sits on level 31, which is honestly the perfect height above the city.
4. Making a reservation for 2 basically guarantees a window table. The restaurant is laid out so that the tables at the windows are for two people, the next row in from the windows are tables for 4, and further and further back hold more and more people. The first time there I was with two other girls, this ensured us a four person table behind the two person tables at the windows. The view was still amazing, but having the window seat is just so much better!
5. You can walk around the restaurant and take pictures. They only use a portion of the restaurant for breakfast, making the spaces that aren't being used good spots to wander through and take pictures of different parts of the city.
6. You want to use the restroom. The restroom is pretty awesome, they too have floor to ceiling window views, the ladies can wash their hands while looking over London while the guys, as Austin so delicately shared with me, can use the urinals while facing the city.

English Breakfast Tea with a view!

The first 10 minutes we were at the Shard Austin continuously took photos, I can't take him anywhere ;)

Our table was right next to a mirror, so from my seat it looked like I could see a panoramic view of the city, but if you actually focused on it, you saw what is pictured below.

Part of the view from my seat by the mirror

After eating at the Shard, Austin and I went to Tower Bridge where we went on the glass walkway!! It was actually a really fun tour. With your ticket you get to learn how the design of the bridge came to be (in a city-wide competition), see examples of other famous and iconic bridges in the world, tour the engine rooms, and most importantly, walk over the street beneath the bridge!

Who knew the top of the red double decker buses in London were white?!

I love heights and stuff like this so it wasn't a big deal for Austin and I to do this kind of a thing. However, if you are afraid of heights and looking at this photo freaks you out, there is area to walk around the glass floor in the hallway above the bridge, so you aren't forced to face your fears entirely.

We concluded our time together grabbing lunch at Borough Market. If you are in this area of London during lunch time, especially on a weekend, you are doing yourself (and your wallet) a HUGE disservice by not eating at the Borough market! It's a great experience AND relatively cheaper than getting lunch anywhere else in the city.

Friday was a busy day for me. After saying bye to Austin I curled up in my bed with some netflix (my feet and legs were exhausted, we did a lot of walking and I woke up extremely early) until I headed of to our second Drink and Draw!

This past Friday our Drink and Draw artists were Mondrian and Pollack.

This is my Mondrian replica/influenced piece! I love it!

I am really excited that Drink and Draw is a thing we decided to do this term. It's nice to get my creative juices flowing since I'm not a current practicing artist. I've found myself throughout the week sketching and coloring as a result and it is very relaxing and reflective for me!

Saturday night was fun too! I met up with Adrienne (my Londoner friend), and went bowling with a group of her friends from church. I've met quite a few of these people a handful of times and it was good to see friendly and familiar faces again! I also was reminded how awful I am at bowling, but how much fun it is to bowl!

My mom said I have good form, apparently its my aim I need to work on...

FINALLY, to end off my long weekend slash start my week, a group of us went to Brighton today!

Street art on the beach

Brighton was seriously so much fun today! It always does my soul good to escape the busy cramped city of London, and it always does my heart good to see the ocean!

We got on a one hour train to Brighton this morning, and right when we arrived (at 12noon) we headed straight to the beach!

Four American girls on a deserted beach can only mean one thing, loads of candid photos!! It was so much fun taking crazy pics with these girls, and some of them actually came out really great!

That awkward moment when.....

Selfie on the beach! (Tara, Nini, Maddy, me)

We got quite a workout in, doing back bends and hand stands...

...and taking about a billion jumping pics trying to get one right! (me, Tara, and Nini)

Me and Brighton Pier, reminded me a lot of Galveston, TX!

We didn't necessarily show up to Brighton with an itinerary, just a plan of the sights we wanted to see. Amazingly, once to the beach we could see Brighton Pier not too far away, maybe a 7-10 minute leisurely stroll.

View from the pier

View from the pier

Brighton Pier was also relatively stranded, I mean, it is February, which is the PERFECT time to tour Europe if you ask me. All the kids were entertained with the arcade games, which were inside a large heated room on the pier. The weather actually wasn't that bad either. It wasn't windy, it didn't rain, and we weren't cold until after the sun went down! Pretty successful for February!

All along the pier were cut outs, we legit have 5 or 6 different pictures of us in cutouts like this one! It was hilarious and made for great memories on the pier! (Maddy and Tara)

After taking our sweet time soaking in the abandoned pier, we went to high tea! Tara found a place called Blackbird Tea Rooms online and it was only a 10-15 minute walk from the pier! They had really big portions, a quaint and cosy interior, and yummy treats! I was too caught up in all the goodness to take any pictures of the great experience! And, since we weren't in London, it was actually "cheap" compared to London High Teas!

The other thing on our list was the Royal Pavilion. We actually saw it in passing when going to the Blackbird Tea Room, so it was an easy 3-5 minute walk back to the Pavilion. We paid 9 pounds for entrance fees (thanks student discount!) and took a tour of the Oriental Gothic structure that has been a sight of controversy in Brighton since its conception.

I mean seriously, that architecture

Audio guides are included in the entrance fee, and I would recommend grabbing one even if you don't plan to use it. There aren't many info panels in the Pavilion, so the audio guide eventually comes in handy.

Once again, no pictures were allowed in the Pavilion, but don't worry, I couldn't let you down. I once again used my amazing creeper photo taking skills and snapped a picture of this INCREDIBLE dining hall. Seriously, it is the second or third room you see upon entering the Pavilion and it makes the admission fee completely worth it. Unfortunately, the magnificence and splendor of this room is not at all portrayed in this low quality image, but you get the idea.

The Royal Pavilion is pretty awesome. The outside architecture is Indian inspired and the inside design is Chinese in inspiration. There is really nothing like it in the rest of England.

Just look at that big onion dome!

After touring the Pavilion we went walking through the Lanes (an iconic part of town with narrow streets and cute boutique shops!) where we did some shopping. After shopping, we found a Chinese restaurant to eat dinner at on our way back to the station. Our train out of Brighton was at 7:20, so we had 7 hours in the city and we never felt rushed or hurried to get anything done, it was the perfect amount of time.

It was amazing to have the unique city of Brighton all to ourselves on a day like today, I can only imagine how this place fills up with tourists during the warmer months. Personally, I prefer the colder climate and empty city to the warmer weather and mobs of tourists!

I'm really hoping to keep this weekly Monday adventure going until I'm too overwhelmed with school that I physically can not mark an item off my time abroad list! Which means you'll just have to stay tuned for more of my travels and experiences coming soon!