04-23-05  Three Weeks Left...

Hello Everybody!!

	Me at the Louvre

Where does time go???  It seems strange to think that next month at this time I’ll be back in Buffalo. I only have three more weeks of classes here at the London Metropolitan University.

We had a wonderful time in Paris. Paris is without a doubt a breathtaking city and I found it to be very clean, even though many say otherwise.  Chrissy, Jess and I left early last Friday morning.  We woke up at 3 AM and took a bus right from our door to Waterloo station where the Eurostar departs from. The Eurostar train takes you through the Chunnel and into Paris in about 2.5 hours.  It was not the best of days in Paris on Friday.  Not only was it the coldest day I have experienced since being here in Europe but also the travel agency that booked our trip gave us the wrong directions to our hostel.  It took us 2 hours of taking the metro, walking around Paris in the rain and getting help from people until we finally reached our Hostel.  We were cold and wet but nonetheless the simple fact that we were in Paris and just looking at our surroundings kept us going.  We dropped our things and found the nearest Café to have a croissant and coffee to warm up. Then, to keep dry we spent our day at the Louvre.  We saw the Mona Lisa, which really is not that big, and then walked through the other three wings. The Louvre is huge; you could spend days there and still not see everything.  After the Louvre we made our way to Notre Dam and got there right when they were having a service for the Pope’s funeral.

Me, Jess, and Chrissy at the Eiffel Tower.

Saturday was sunny and warm and we started off at the Champs-Elysees, did a little shopping and made our way to l’Arc de Triomphe (the largest triumphal arch in the world and it commemorates Napoleon Bonaparte's many victories).  Then, we headed toward the Eiffel Tower, stopped for some pictures before we crossed the river and I ended up with something extra on my jeans from a Paris pigeon. Nonetheless, we made it to the tower and two hours later we were looking at Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Paris was the first place we went too where none of us really new the language well.  “Je m’appelle Kelly”, “Parlez-vous anglais?”, “Je voudrais un croissant?”, and “Merci Beaucoup” got us through our weekend. 

These next few weeks are going to be busy, this time with schoolwork.  A lot of us are working on our 20-page seminar paper on the British Criminal Justice System that is for the one-week seminar we had when we first got here with the Canisius professor that came over with us. Nonetheless, the weather each day gets nicer so we are trying to make the most of the little time we have left.  Every time we are in doubt about doing something I just remind everybody that we will not be here next month at this time.  Anyway, I have to get back to work so I can head out to the streets of London.  It is hard to believe that something I was looking so forward to will be coming to an end.  If you have the opportunity, come and Study abroad in London, you will not regret it!

Kelly

Kelly's February 2005 Journal
Kelly's March 2005 Journal
Kelly's Second March 2005 Journal