Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, England

Friday night with Abigail

I left Dublin and flew to London Luton on the 8th of January, from Luton I got the train for £8 to Bedford where Abigail met me at the station, the last time I'd seen Abigail and her family was just before Turkey, so 31st of August 2012. I had a really good time catching up and eating the kind of home-cooked meals that I was used to before all this travelling.

On Saturday, Abigail and I drove to my family friends Tony and Hedvika's, where I met my dad and we all went out for an Italian dinner. The next day, after a huge cooked breakfast, dad and I got the train to Nana's, my English Grandmother who has just moved home after more than 40 years in the same house. We had "King Burger" as she likes to call it and dad practically bought me my new ruck sack for Australia etc. and on the 15th of January 2013 dad and I made our way to London to go to St. James Palace, which apparently is an invitation only building (insert brag here) so that was cool.

Steven and I with out Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards

 After the ceremony, which was actually better than I thought it would be; I got to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen since leaving school, so that was fun. Dad and I went to T.G.I.Fridays.

"In here, it's always Lucy" - Martin Cunnington Photography

The best chicken in the world!

Tourist Photo 101

Then I almost missed the bus to Norwich, I literally got on as they were closing the doors. 3 and a half hour Journey and I met Becky and 2 of her Uni friends at the bus stop. It had snowed heavily so the buses and taxis in Norwich were not driving, so we ended up walking from town to the Uni, dragging my suitcase, for about an hour. Hard work.

Again, I hadn't seen Becky since August, so it was absolutely great to catch up with her again. I also got to see Emma, so that was just the cherry on the cake... I think that's how you say that expression...

First night was an Aliens vs Pirates party so naturally I painted myself green and sprayed blue stripes into my hair. Absolutely class night in the end but getting the green off the next day was tough!

Becky and me

Jess the Pirate, Jess the Alien, me and Will

Emma and me; girlie night in after the party the day before

After my visit to UEA, I went back to Abigail's, looked through my Uni boxes and decided what would stay and what would go with me. The cats ended up loving my boxes, so my work was pretty slow, but it was snowing in Bedford too so there was nothing better to do:

Arthur and Oscar

Flew back to Amsterdam on the 20th. It's the 25th now and the Canal outside my window has frozen solid. The locals haven't yet gone onto the ice, so I'm going to leave it for a bit longer too. I tried to apply for my Student Finance and my University Accommodation but turns out I can't do that until like June... Great. So instead I've planned my Carnival Costumes (just need to get a white blonde wig and I'm done) and planned my trip to Australia a bit more. If you're thinking of ever going, check out http://www.backpackerpack.com/
- you get a map of Australia, a CD full of advice and instructions concerning Visa's and Tax returns if you plan on working, you get a check list of things to do before you go and a packing list. I think it's well worth it, especially as it's only 29.90 euros. (It was originally a German thing but now they have an English version and a French one, I think.)

Lots of Love
Lucy xxo

New Years in Carlow, Ireland

Anna, Kadn and I shared a double bed the whole time

Five* Irish plus three and a half Germans, in Ireland, for New Years Eve... Need I say more?

(*May vary, terms and conditions apply.)

New Years Eve

Kadn, Colm and Glenn met me at the airport, where the first thing we did was get lost trying to find the car park again. We drove to Carlow with the sunset streaming through the car windows, with epic music playing - felt like a movie scene to me. After watching a bit of a Take That Tour, eating Bacon (or 'Rashers') and sausages for dinner, Kevin, Conor, Niall and Chris came over to Colm's house.
We went to The Foundry, which is apparently one of the biggest clubs in Ireland, outside of Dublin: Cool. I'm pretty sure when we got on to the dance floor, the count down was at like 60 but within seconds it was 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR! And everyone was hugging everybody else. The place was absolutely packed, so this was actually pretty difficult. At the end of the night, we went to Supermacs, which is like an Irish McDonalds, like Quick in France, (Although they all have McDonalds as well of course) and then walked home for about an hour.

Hurling

A tradition Irish game, which Conor, Chris, Kadn and I attempted to play, until we realised the park we were heading for was closed and then it got too dark. So we went back and watched about 6 hours worth of 'Prison Break' before Anna arrived from Germany, completing the arrivals.

Chris

Fierce Hurling

Lost in Ireland

Too dark to play

Climbing Fences

or attempting to...

Game Night

This was one of the craziest days I've had in a long time, and not a single bit of alcohol was consumed. It began with an innocent game of Monopoly, which soon developed into a Political Gang-up between Chris and Glenn, then Conor, Kadn and myself. But while all this was going on, nobody noticed until the end that Colm, the bank, was handing out free money here and there, and keeping half of the Bank's income as his own.

Game Night continued with that game where you write a name on each persons forehead and they  have to ask yes or no questions until they figure out who they are. We had Mr. Bean, Batman, Green Tractor, The Queens Dogs, The Pope and a few more rude suggestions. What is the actual name of this game?

Then we played Charades, Germans vs. the Irish, until 3 am in the morning, by which time it was more "what funny things can we try and make them do" (e.g. "lick a shoe" and "run head first into a wall") rather than the normal "what words are good to guess" (e.g. "Gangnam Style" and "Planking").

The German's Breakfast, plus toast.

Happy Belated New Year to you,
Lucy xxo

Interrail - "Berlin Extended"

So it's been a long time since I last posted, but I've been without my laptop for awhile.
So here is the end of my interrail experience in video format:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9a20F4c_o0&feature=youtu.be

I hope it makes you laugh at least half as much as it does for me.
I now have so many beautiful memories, it's impossible to pick favorites but if I had to, this visit from the Polish girls would be in the top 10. Gracias beaucoup für this!

Lucy xxo

p.s. posts about Ireland and England will come soon, fear not.