Spring has Sprung in England! <3

I have returned to England for the final term of my MSc… Only 8 more weeks and I will wave good-bye to an amazing year in Oxford!

And upon returning on April 30th, Oxford greeted me with the most beautiful weather I have seen since moving here… Gorgeous blue skies, perfect temperature, blooming flowers, and bright greens everywhere… It was a gorgeous city under the worst of winters, but now it’s truly impossible to tolerate being inside for more than a few hours of daylight… A condition which is bound to effect my strict Trinity Term exam study schedule sooner rather than later.

So Anna and I soaked up the last weekend of freedom before our ritualized return to the library… We frolicked in the fields, explored every inch of the University parks, and blew dandelions all afternoon… For two Virginia gals, it was practically like being back home in the country… :)

Our wonderful home on Bradmore Road! :)

  Roses on Pusey Chapel in St Cross College…

Oxford Countryside…

Where there were lots of dandelions…

 

And a little rolling around in wildflowers…

 

With Love from Oxford… ~Mary Elizabeth <3

Spring Break 2011 in Garmisch, Germany!

 

A truly inspirational week spent with the Stuttgart Highschool Youth Group in Garmisch, Germany! Excusez-moi!

Ireland: Exploring Dublin and Robert’s Opera (Day 5)

Robert arrived in Dublin late Friday night, but was stuck in rehearsals for the opera most of Saturday… So Carolyn, mom, and I spent the day exploring Dublin! And I was SO excited that an old friend from undergrad, Allison, was able to come down from Belfast (where she’s in grad school at Queens University) to visit! :)

Allison and I spent the entire day literally wondering EVERY inch of Dublin… And it was wonderful, especially since the girl is an incredible Irish-history whiz! Yay for super smart friends! Haha It was almost like having a personal tour-guide… We started in the Medieval District, wondered towards Trinity College and the House of Lords… Stopped for lunch near Grafton Street… I finally found a claddagh ring that I absolutely loved (I’ve been waiting years to get one until I could buy it myself in Ireland!)… We wondered through St Stephen’s Green (which may actually be my favorite place in Dublin) and through several museums… Eventually got kicked out of the National Museum of Ireland at closing… Found coffee in a random neighborhood… And then got rained on to end the day, or course! Haha Luckily enough, after almost a year of both Allison and I studying in the UK, a little rain is pretty much par for the course… ;)

Saturday night was Robert’s opera performance at the Grand Canal Theatre! He sang as the Tenor in the Verdi Requiem, in a concert honoring the 300th anniversary of Trinity College in Dublin. And he was WONDERFUL! Afterwards, Carolyn headed back to the hotel (which was conveniently just across from the opera house) and mom, Robert, and I headed out for drinks with a group of Roberts old Dublin/opera friends… It was a great night! And a good chance to celebrate our incredibly talented, crazy cousin… :)

  By Sunday morning, we were exhausted (both from the week of intense traveling, but also from mom and my late night out celebrating with Robert)… We looked like the living dead by the time we boarded the plane Sunday afternoon to come home to Germany… But it was a good kind of exhausted. It was an amazingly wonderful trip to the “Land of Saints and Scholars!”

With Love from Germany… ~Mary Elizabeth <3

Ireland: The Temple Bar Pub Crawl (Day 4)

After leaving the Blarney Castle on Thursday we headed to Dublin! Dad flew out of Dublin Friday morning, and the girls (admittedly) spent a good portion of the day napping (By this point in the trip, it was much needed!)… Haha BUT later that afternoon we rallied and headed into the city center!

We’d heard rumor that the “Temple Bar” region of Dublin was the place to be… But we had NO idea. Talk about an interesting and adventurous Friday night… We spent the evening doing the classic pub crawl… Or should I saw mom and I pub hopped, and Carolyn was our designated road-guide… Haha :)

By just our first pub stop, I’d managed to make a few interesting friends while ordering pints for mom and I at the bar (which triggered an interesting chain-of-events for later that evening! Haha)… And by the time I returned from the bar, Carolyn had fallen head-over-heals in love with the very cute, acoustic guitar playing Irishman performing in the pub! She was totally having a “P.S. I Love You Moment” (for all familiar with the movie, you know which scene I’m talking about… Haha) Needless to say, we were broken hearted to see him go… :) We strolled the streets and River Liffey a little, before continuing our hopping… We found some great street musicians… But not before I got a visit from one of the very outgoing guys from our first pub stop… Haha

 

It’s difficult to describe the awkward conversation that ensued in the middle of the street… At one point our new friend was teaching Carolyn his “pub-version” karate moves (all while Carolyn laughed hysterically to the point of tears), at another recommending local restaurants and simultaneously declaring he would not rape us (which we very much appreciated)… He told the same story seeveral times over, and even attempted to pull us into a riverdance in the middle of the street… Haha Carolyn and I have probably never been so publicly accosted, nor has my poor mother (who seemed to alternate between laughter and the sudden urge to beat the man with a beer-bottle in defense of her daughters)… :) And while it was all in good fun (and rather hilarious to be honest), we still could never determine just HOW drunk he really was? Either way, we are now certain that the Irish know how to party… Haha :)

With Love from Ireland… ~Mary Elizabeth <3