Departure day

So, before I started to pack my (probably 200 pounds worth of things by now) into 150 pounds worth of luggage allowance, I looked back at the first blog post I ever wrote and thought about all of the experiences I have had since that first week of January and all of the life lessons I have learned. But first, let me fill you in on some of the things I will greatly miss.

I will miss being able to take the SWIFT bikes during lunch to the nearby chateau in La Hulpe that is absolutely stunning. Even more I will miss picnic lunches and adventures with my friend and co-intern, Lauren.

I will miss the ability to purchase beer at your local McDonalds. Whether or not Sophia remembers this, I will always remember it, and crack up every time. I will also miss being able to legally consume alcohol, yes, sad day. Also a sad day that on several occasions I witnessed children of no greater than 10 years of age purchase beer in the line in front of me. I will now revert back to a maturity classification less than them. Awesome.

Aside from my goofy blog name and the funny irony of the situation, I have learned so much while living in Belgium and traveling Europe. I often say that I have learned about myself and the world in the last four months what I think otherwise would have taken five years.

I will miss having my dear friend Keegan Goo-dee-ay swoop in as our respective boyfriends when strange men are too friendly at our local watering holes.

I will miss all of my great friends made on this study abroad trip, I know we will reunite in many bar-crawls of years to come, whether in Columbia, MO; Brussels, Belgium; or somewhere as crazy as Brazil.

Just to name off a few of the most important lessons (without getting too sappy):

-Being aware of what's going on in the world (outside of the U.S.!) is unbelievably important. Why? Because many things that happen in the world every day are likely to somehow affect you. I am amazed by the amount of newspapers I see young people reading on the metros. It's too easy to live in an American bubble- and I only say this because I think I have lived in somewhat of a bubble for many years. We should know what's happening in the world before whether or not it affects our gas prices!
-There is no place like home, no love like family and friends, and no Mexican food like Ah-mer-icuh's. :)
-Meals are meant to be eaten slowly in the company of friends or family. Fast-food is not much of a concept in Europe and I can see why- eating should be enjoyable because of the company you're with.. not because you can shove down a crave case in 30 minutes flat. :)

I will miss... the food. My pants, however, will not.

-There is so much out there in the world to see- yes, it can be different and sometimes scary, but it's worth seeing! Every culture has something unique to offer and at least one positive aspect you can strive for in your own life. Traveling and experiencing other cultures makes you a more accepting person and opens your eyes to the world. At least it did for me. :)
-Life is about living. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it doesn't last forever. Don't center your life around work because you won't go to your grave bragging about your corporate achievements or your hours clocked. Tell your family and friends you love them, create the life you dream of, and be gracious for it. I have heard people say many times that Americans "live to work" while Europeans "work to live." I'm not saying one side is better than the other, I think a balance is the best, but as an American who's always wanted to achieve, achieve, achieve, I now realize that the best kind of achievement is a happy life fulfilled by beautiful family, friends and memories.

And I will miss this. Ha.

This experience has been a dream, I wish everyone the same opportunity that I have been blessed with. If you have the chance, do it! It's more than worth it. I will look back on these past four months for the rest of my life with nothing but the biggest smile.

For those of you who I haven't seen in many months, I cannot wait to see you! I dearly miss so many of my family and friends, and now we will be reunited in such a very short time.

I will miss the beautiful scenery in my little Brussels neighborhood.

I'll do another post or two with pix. from my travels with my parents, but until then... thanks for reading my blog and staying close and in touch! :)
xoxo
kate

one of my favorite cities on the map, Paris!

P A R I S , F R A N C E

Let me preface what's to come by first saying that this was a Madame trip, you know, the ones where we tour churches, museums, and the occasional park from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.ish. So- we are absolutely exhausted and ready to fall over by the end of the day. Now Madame, who's quite a constantly energized pistol with cookies informed me that until 10 years ago, she did these tours in high heels. I'd just like to know, how the heck' do you do that when i've been doing all this for just a few months and my favorite flat brown boots have a hole in the back so big that rocks fly into my shoe and stab me in the foot throughout the day. those will NOT be making it into the 160 some odd pounds of luggage bound for the U.S. in a week or so...

my favorite greek sophia and i hanging out near the louvre

how could you not love it here?

if/when i return to Europe to live for another period of my life.. I hope to land in one of the following cities/countries:

A. Paris

B. Amsterdam

C. Italy

she's a pistol i tell ya! i believe madame lectures us on well some philosopher (sorry for my bad ears)...

this photo was taken right before a man in one of these buildings with the blinds closed started pretending to be the philosopher she was talking about and adding random dialogue throughout her lecture.. hahah too funny!

if only you could see it when it sparkles :)

and this my friends- is my friend keegan goo-dee-ay (please read my athens post for explanation on the phrasing "goo-dee-ay").

my mom told me that she's read all these stories about him on my blog and i needed to post a pic. so here he is... taking in his favorite louvre art.

my favorite alice (alex haha) who's become one of my good friends while frolicking around europe together- love her!

yes- please take note... christian louboutin press office

i believe i've found my calling. thank you.

my favorite senioritas!!

pretty shot of the seine

i thought this was so beautiful. those parisians are just so romance.

my touristy self in front of Monet's Water Lillies at L'Organgerie (one of the best museums in Paris! if you love impressionism and visit Paris you must go!)

Sophia- pre-TWO birds pooping on her. HAHHAHA

the view of Montmarte at sunset

my lovely mila and i in front of Sacre Coeur (which is the beautiful and famous church at the top of Montmarte)

some lovlies of mine in Montmarte (the best area of Paris- did I say that already?)

our token greek being such a sport carrying madame's 36 loaves of french bread for lunch hahaha.. each student had to take a turn carrying the giant bread...

so we could have a gypsy picnic in the grass at versailles! and make daisy chains and eat COOO-KIEEESS (in madame's high-pitched voice)

my favorite statue in one of the ponds in the versailles gardens (palace/home to the louis kings, ninth, fourteenth, etc. etc.)

hanzy and i frolicking in the gardens

my delta loves in the hall of mirrors in the palace of versailles

i hope this photo makes you bust up laughing the way it did for me. ahhh this is no joke what we look like at the end of these trips- exhausted, dirty, smelly (yes we can look smelly), dusty, weathered, etc. etc.

right before this, my friend alex so kindly gave me her metro ticket as i got stuck in the turny machine when mine didn't work and then she got stuck behind the gates and had to shotput her 40 pound suitcase over the gates and then high jump over the turny thing to get into the metro. hahahahah i'm almost peeing in my pants just thinking about it. all the while we're trying to do this as fast as possible before the metro guards run over and charge us 100 euros/take us to jail (which means i would not be able to have kept my dad's promise of staying out of jail).

now i'm touring Europe with Tam and Dan! so far we've hit Brussels and Venice, and they hit Paris last week. we're now in Berlin and then heading to Amsterdam! having lots of fun and funnies :D

just have to share 2 pix from beautiful venice!

my mama and i on a beautiful gondola ride in the canals

my daddy and i on the island of venice :)

more to come!-

Just got back from Londontown! (Okay well more like 2 weeks ago woops!)

L O N D O N ,  E N G L A N D

i won't lie and tell you that i fell in love with london. it was at the bottom of the list of the cities i've visited. however, i had a lot of fun, saw some really cool things, visited an awesome advertising agency, went chasing prince harry, went junking, and stayed in an old jail. sounds like an adventure to me. oh yeah, and i was so exhausted that at one point i fell asleep standing up.

london was almost like being in an american city to me, we managed to search and seize the only chipotle in all of europe. (in case you don't know what this is run out and get the vegetarian burrito bowl with extra guac and lime-salt chips immediately) and boy was it delicious. i'm a tex mex girl all the way and these europeans just don't seem to take to refried beans and queso the way i do at least 2 times a week back in the states. i'm embarrassed to say that my friends at home have admitted their frequenting of mexican restaurants for margs and enchiladas has gone down at least 50% since my departure and my current manager once brought me in a can of refried beans from the american store by her house. embarrassing. anyone who loves me prepare yourself to invade all mexi restaurants in a five mile radius for at least two weeks after i return! ;)

a shot of a vintage sign shop on portabella street. i love this pic. i learned that my favorite "keep calm and carry on" signs are actually from london and of course i had to get one.

Literally, these hostels just keep getting better and better. yes, this is a court room. Why? well that would be because being such intelligent young students we chose to stay in a former jail, aka THE CLINK. Literally, our hostel was called "the clink," sounds like the kind of place my Dad warned me about before i departed 'merica. yes the hostel rooms were actually set up like a jail and your 8 bunks were pushed together between the walls so that you crawled into a cave when you went to sleep. and yes i ate for breakfast what was equivalent to jail food. only diff.- i had to pay to stay in that jail and real jail birds get it paid for. ??

p.s. mom and dad- be happy this is the only jail i have stepped foot in in europe :D

yes doing the arm thing in front of Big Ben-

reminder, i'm not a journalist. but, yes, i toured the BBC. must say, not as cool as CNN. however, i did officially receive confirmation that Jennifer Lopez is such a diva! only three people have ever been driven around this special circle in the middle of their buildings and guess who demanded to be driven around to do her interview. Jennifer diva Lopez. Jeez j. Lo. AND Mariah Carrey, demands 10 labrador puppies in her dressing room to play with or she refuses to go on one of their shows. BBC refused, and so did Mariah. P.S. if you know of anything even slightly exciting about hollywood please fill me in because I haven't touch an US Weekly in months! Booo :(

****NOTE: do not go in if you are a college student with a draining bank account and a love for shoes, clothes, perfume, handbags, food, chocolate, wine, or basically anything. this place has everything.

even a fruit room. please don't judge me as a photog. no photos were allowed but this place was just amazing!

ladies- feast your eyes on.. shoes that are way out of my price range! (for now anyways)... maybe one day when i won't have to fly around ryan air i can slip into harrods and pick up some fabulous duds.

Jammin' in Notting Hill, my favorite neighborhood of London

Catching up on some junking on Portabella Road of Notting Hill. They have giant flea markets every weekend filled with treasures that I adore.

love love love the bright flats on portabella road

Mom feast your eyes on this. All of these people belong on our fav t.v. show "Horders"so maybe we won't have to submit your application any more.  :)

I still like our red, white and blue better.

Westinster Abbey where Kate and William will get married next week! Although we attempted to meet Prince Harry at club Mahiki, he sadly did not attend that evening and we are still unsure how we managed to slip in to this club seeing as when we told some Londonies the next day that we went to Mahiki last night they were shocked that we even got in. Should we take that one as an insult?!  Check out their famous patrons for yourself on their website (in case you're interested in a 10 pound drink for your chance to meet the royal red). 

Had to

Kat and I in front of the London Eye

St. James park

PARIS will be up very soon! man i'm in love with that city. if i live in europe again someday, it will most likely be there. 

and my mama and dad are coming this weekend! can't wait to see them. i just may cry. Tam and Dan better get ready for a wild ride!!! ~

Procrastinating my paper

To put off some dreaded papers/projects... I created this.

hope you like!

-k

Life as a gypsy girl vs. life as a daughter

HAHAHAH this is just too funny not to share. As I review my Mom's hotel choices for the five cities we will be visiting while they are here...

Below explains my life as a gypsy girl 

the hostel we stayed at in London that ate my favorite earring.

free continental breakfast= toast

vs.

Below explains my life as a daughter

the hotel we will be staying at in venice... so excited for this!

free continental breakfast= gain 5 pounds

i'll be living it up as a gypsy for another few weeks until my mama and dad arrive! 

A visit to the land of the lucky!

D U B L I N ,  I R E L A N D

we had another fabulous trip, this time to dublin. we squeezed in as many sites as possible...

by now you know that i just adore street flowers

the first restaurant we ate at "kate's cottage"!

a view of the river in Dublin

hanging out on Trinity College's campus... can you believe Courtney Love went here? Who the heck let her in??

pretty flowers in Stephens Green park

Hanz and I being leprechauns

the next boy band of the 21st century hahaha

before our tour of the famous Guinness factory!!

this window in the Guinness factory was just too precious to pass up

the guinness advertising floor was obviously my favorite

2nd best part of the tour- free Guinness at the top! 

Can't say that Guinness is my favorite beer (or that I'm crazy about beer in general for that matter), but at least I tried it (multiple times)!

beautiful Christ Church 

the pretty

 river at night

funny story about this irishman. this is a shot of him as he came down off the stage to dance and play music in the middle of the bar. before this... my friend alex and i went over to the area right in front of the stage to take pix and watch them play when all of a sudden he looks in our direction and shouts "where ya from?!" in the middle of his music.. so i shout back "ST. LOUIS!".. and then he starts singing about how he was in st. louis playing at mcgurks last september and i said i was there on new year's eve!  for the rest of the night i was "st. louis girl" and randomly throughout his lovely irish music he would shout "ST. LOUIS!" 

i sure loved ireland, but boy do i miss good old st. louie too.