miss globetrotter

Dylan Thomas Boathouse & Tenby (Round One)

These pictures are a little over due, but oh well. This was our last cultural trip with the international program. We went to Laugharne to the Dylan Thomas Boathouse and then to Tenby. Dylan Thomas was a famous Welsh writer, who spent a few years in Laughaurne finding inspirations for his writing. I can see why he liked it there so much, it was so beautiful. The weather was great on that day as well, so we all enjoyed the sunshine and  walked around the towns with our ice cream.

Model Material

This is the little garage that doubled as Dylan Thomas’ studio for writing. 

Signing the visitor book! 

Hello delicious breakfast! Welsh tea with welsh cakes, bara brith bread, and toast with jam. We ordered this in the cafe, which was on the bottom floor of the house. 

Dylan Thomas Boathouse. Perfect place for a house!

Sam and I walked to town after visiting the boathouse. We found a cool second hand bookshop, which is where I found this collection of Penguin Published books. 

Tenby : This is St. Catherine’s Island. During it’s existence it’s been: a convent, vacation house for a wealthy family, and a zoo! Currently, there is nothing on the island. When the tide goes out, you can walk to the island. During my second trip to Tenby, the tide was out, so we walked over. However, it’s private property and we didn’t go any further, but we had a good time climbing on all the rocks and going in and out of the caves!

St. Catherine’s Island 

There were so many colorful houses in Tenby, I loved it!

Perfect day for some fish and chips. I’m going to miss these fries when I go back home. 

A walk on the beach

These next photos were obviously not taken by me. The international officers had a professional photographer come on our trip to take photos of us. Sam and I were the only ones from the crew that could make this trip, so it’s just lots of pictures of us :) 

Haters gonna hate. Thug Life.

Our group! We’re missing at least ten people though, ten very important people, but they either couldn’t make the trip or had to leave early for commitments at home. 

So that was our day! It was so great. Everything was just so perfect about it, except for us missing the crew. However, we told the crew how great Tenby was and we went the next weekend! Cut to…my next post. I’ll post the pictures from the next Tenby trip soon, still editing. 

Last few days in this lovely place.

xoxo

Ebbw Vale

For those of you who know me, you probably know that I now have a welsh boyfriend. This post is from last week, when I went with him to his home town of Ebbw Vale. Such a beautiful place and a wonderful family! I really enjoyed actually being with a family. It made me miss my own, but I’ll be seeing them soon enough. Ebbw (Pronounced ‘Eboo’) Vale was once home of the best mining industry in Europe! There was so much history to learn and so much land to see! Enjoy the photos!

Chocolate, not a bad way to start the trip! These were waiting on us when got to his house :) 

View from his house. I’m jealous!

No biggie, just modeling in the streets.

If you look at the bottom of the light pole, there are sheep. These sheep were just roaming the streets. Odd. 

Sam and his Nan in the garden picking some rhubarb. 

After dinner, we went on a walk up the mountain behind Sam’s house. We passed many horses, sheep, cows, and bulls. It was nice to be in nature. 

One of the mine entries. My camera eventually died, so Sam took this of me on his phone.

Almost to the top, trying to be as graceful as possible…skinny jeans were not a good decision on my part.

Panoramic view from the top. We caught it just as the sun was setting.

A man and his mountain :) 

I’m so glad I got to visit Ebbw Vale. I met some great people and I got to experience family life in Wales. 

Happy Summer.

xoxo

Lost Adventures

Amidst the chaos of all of the traveling, I found pictures that I hadn’t uploaded that I wanted to show you all. It’s separated into two different trips…Caving & Camping.

Caving.

So, Sam and I traveled to the Brecon Beacons which is a national park in Wales. He said we were going caving. I thought to myself “oh cool! Just like the caves we visited when I was in eighth grade!”….not. The caves I once visited had lights and tour guides, this was the complete opposite. We had one headlamp between the two of us. The pictures I’ve posted only have light because I used the flash on my camera. In reality, it was complete and utter darkness. Such an odd feeling not being able to rely on sight. If you look closely there are white arrows spray painted on the walls, this is how we got to know the layout of the cave. 

After happy caving for a while, Sam said “so, are you ready for the caving challenge?” 

“What challenge”

“The challenge when you go around the whole cave again, without me or a headlamp.”

“Something is going to eat me.” 

….Then, feeling the need to prove myself, I gave in. I had to navigate around the cave feeling the sides of the cave and praying to God that aliens wouldn’t attack me. This photo was taken right before the challenge…scared beyond belief!

And I’m off!

In my mind, this was the last picture being taken of me before my mysterious death. After I took a left where the arrows were pointing, it was just me in complete darkness. I couldn’t even hear Sam. Probably one of the scariest moments of my life.

I made it! So happy to see signs of human life.

Sam crawling under the waterfall.

Camping at Gower Coastline. 

Campers: Sam, Stu, Katy, and myself.

Mission: Camp at Gower Coastline in the dunes. Cliff jumping during day.

When we arrived it was so foggy! We had to walk around for a bit before we found the perfect camping spot. then we had to walk back to the car to get our gear and walk back to the spot to set up! I felt like I was in “The Never-ending Story.” (All photos with me in them, were not taken by me. Credit to Stu for those!)

Foggy night

These are photos I took in the morning. Foggy day in the Gower.

Our campsite. Notice the tent in the middle of the dune.

Finally seeing some of the coast. Mission: Get to beach. 

What do you do when you don’t want to sit on wet ground? Sit on your boyfriend. 

Our aim was to get to that little pool. So, we had to navigate around the rocks which was one of my favorite parts.

This is Sam jumping into the pool. I’m in the pink and black wetsuit standing on the rocks below him. I did the jump too, but there aren’t any photos of it. Trust me on this one.

Campfire. 

Sleepytime on the way home.

Welp, that’s the end of my lost adventure photos. Hard to believe that these adventures are coming to an end soon. I’m planning on enjoying every last minute of being here and will update you on all the happenings. 

It’s a movie night for us on this stormy evening. Hope you’re having a wonderful day. Happy graduation to all of my friends at GWU!

xoxo

Visitors in the UK

So, after a fun reunion in Paris, we headed to Wales so I could show off my home. Sam and I took Mom and Kristie to all of our favorite spots. I wanted to show them how I lived over here and what I did on a normal basis. Even though London and Paris were a lot of fun, I think that being in Wales was my favorite part of them being here. 

The first castle of the visit!

Our first day was very eventful. It was a day of firsts! First castles, ciders, beers, betting on the Grand National horse race, rainy day in Wales, Welshcakes, and a nice dinner at the Quayside. Twas’ a good day!

Day trip to Swansea! We packed a lunch (and by we, I mean Sam packed us a lunch - cake included!) 

Our view from where we had our afternoon cider. So pretty. 

I didn’t take as many pictures when they were in Wales and England with me, because they both had cameras with them also. That’s why there is a lack of pictures. Here is where we start our adventure in Old London town…this is a traditional british breakfast. Beans, egg, tomato, sausage, ham, toast, hashbrowns, coffee. 

Tate Modern

Tate Modern

London Eye! This was one of my favorite things we did in London. It was a rainy afternoon, but it didn’t matter. It was good to have them see England in it’s traditional weather. Also, this meant there were no long lines! 

This picture explains the whole trip. Laughter. 

Picture of a picture. Us on the London eye with the people in our pod. So funny. 

Old London Town.

Just doin my thang.

Kensington Palace

Queen Victoria’s wedding dress. 

Wall art leading to the exhibition on Princess Diana’s fashion. 

To the left of the dress you can see pictures of Princess Diana actually wearing it. 

This was our last day in London, then I sent Mom and Kristie on a plane headed back to the states. We had such a great time together and I am very happy that they got to come see where I live and then also to travel a bit. Definitely a trip I will never forget!

Now, it’s May. That means, I’m coming home soon. I only have 19 days left in this beautiful place. This makes me very sad. Time has flown by way too fast. I must make the most of my time!

It’s raining right now and I think I’ll go make a cup of tea and have a movie night with my boyfriend. 

Hope the sun is shining on you guys. 

xoxo

Paris

Momma Doo in Paris! WHAT?! Thus begins the mother-daughter bonding trip of a lifetime. I had been to Paris with a group from my school a couple years ago, but Mom had never traveled to Europe before. This was bound to be a great trip. She said all that stuff that moms are supposed to say….”I’m just happy to see you”….”I just want to catch up”….”you look great, now tell me about your boyfriend.” But, I knew mom wanted to see the sights, and I wanted to show her!

1st stop: Guided tour of the Opera Palais Garnier. This is the opera house that inspired the writing of “Phantom of the Opera.” Every time I went up and down the grand staircase I was singing “Masquerade” from the musical in my head…ok, maybe out loud as well.

Momma Doo on the grand staircase!

I like the images of birds on the ceiling…

The rainy streets of Paris.

Galeries Lafeyette. This is a mall with all the biggest brand names you can think of in fashion. Chanel. Fendi. Gucci. Prada. Alexander Mcqueen. Dior. Dolce & Gabbana. Giorgio Armani. Don’t worry though, we weren’t there for shopping. I just wanted to go on the roof to get a good view of the city. 

The first dinner we had was at this cute artsy place called Mondrian, named after the artist. 

The Louvre. I allowed myself a good half day to spend in the art museum. Weeks leading up to the trip, I researched what would be in the museum and what I wanted to see the most and made myself a hitlist. I spent 5 and a half hours in there. FIVE AND A HALF HOURS. My favorite piece was “Winged victory of Samothrace.” (Seen below) I sat there for about 40 minutes just sketching. I’m fully convinced that if I lived in Paris, I would go to the Louvre at least once a week to clear my head. 

Shining moment for Haley! Not to brag or anything but here’s a neat story…so when I was in Paris about two years ago, my brother and I found this awesome little restaurant with the best onion soup I’ve ever tasted. I wanted to take mom there and I was pretty sure I knew what direction to head in. First street I walked down, I found it. Felt pretty accomplished and the soup was just as good as I remembered. 

Shakespeare and Company. Coolest. bookstore. ever. 

One of my favorite things about this bookstore is how the upstairs is covered in notes written by all of it’s visitors. I sat there for an hour just reading everything I could find in this little cubby. 

Goodnight Paris.

Paris Day 3. Oh hey, why are there an extra pair of feet? Who is that?!

Kristie came to visit! This was a big surprise for me and was planned for a long time. When I woke up to her knocking on my hotel door I didn’t know if I was still dreaming or if she was really there. I can’t believe everyone kept it a secret from me! 

Started the day at Notre Dame. 

Musee de l’Orangerie. This art museum had two showrooms on the top floor dedicated to Monet’s work with water lilies. Monet actually designed the two oval shaped rooms to put his work on display after the war, hoping that his work would remind the people of the beauty and happiness once had. Absolutely breathtaking, but no pictures were allowed. So here’s another Monet.

Pierre August-Renoir 

Eiffel Tower. I saw some more friendly faces here! My neighbors from back home in NC were traveling on their spring break, so we met up at the Eiffel Tower and caught up over champagne on the summit! Never in my life have I ever felt so classy. 

Champagne toasts all around! Except for Haley and Hunter, they were just the photographers for us adults :) 

Meet Little Haley! Yes, we’re both named Haley. I babysat her for years, but now she’s growing up and she’s finally taller than me. Such a beautiful person inside and out and just like the little sister I never had!

Good morning sweet shop! So many pretty colors. So much good food. 

Our sweet little hotel. Would stay there again if I ever travel back to Paris. 

This is my “good morning world. I just bought sugery sweets before breakfast and I know today is going to be a good day” face.

A beautiful candle shop

That’s a candle of Marie Antoinette..

I love flower shops.

Desserts in the park! 

Look behind us…

Finished Paris off with a box of macarons! Paris was about seeing family and friends and I loved every minute of it. Mom, Kristie, and I set off for Wales after this. As much as loved Paris, I was excited to take Kristie and Mom to my new home. 

Hope you’re having a great day. 

Shout-out to my brother who turned twenty-three today!

xoxo

missglobetrotter