San Sebastian

We went to San Sebastian which is in the Basque region of Spain. There were beautiful beaches, old buildings, amazing Tapas restaurants, and an overall amazing culture.

LONDON!!!

Everyone told us to bring rain coats and umbrellas to London, but we happened to be there during a heat wave. It was crazy. Getting there proved to be a little difficult because apparently the trains that run every hour from Bordeaux to Arcachon stop running from 11:30-3:30. Everything was wonderful from the moment we got on the plane. First off, our pilot's name was Bill Murray. Second, the flight attendant felt we needed to drink so he emptied out his beer shelf onto my lap... Third, Marci was also going to London so she helped us get on the Gatwick Express and then there we were in the London Underground. We found our hostel and mixed up some Cassis de Dijon, which we learned about in a case during French Law.

The next morning we woke up, got breakfast, and ventured into the city with our maps circled with need to see sites. We took a double decker bus through Piccadilly Circus down to the Tower of London. We saw the Tower of London and the London Tower Bridge. From there we took a boat up the River Thames. We saw the Globe Theater, the London Bridge, the Millennium Bridge, Saint Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Cleopatra's Needle, Eye of London, and got off at Parliament and Big Ben. Then, we saw Westminster Abbey which was amazing. We ate lunch at a restaurant called the Texas Embassy and had some quesdo dip and some much needed Diet Coke. I ordered a burger and fries and even got ranch to dip my fries in. It was pretty clutch considering for the past two weeks my diet consists of water, bread, butter, and cheese. Needless to say I couldn't eat dinner that night because of my large lunch.

After lunch we walked to Trafalgar Square. We watched a protest and hung out on the steps of the National Gallery. There were so many people in the square because of the heat wave and people were huddled around the fountains and lounging on the steps. We met up with the Katy, Carlie, and Amy at the bottom left corner Lion. They had gone to the ballet. From there we ran inside National Gallery. We saw Monet's Water-Lily Pond, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, and a DaVinci Cartoon with the Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist. After the National Gallery we walked down to Buckingham Palace.

We took a bus down to Harrod's and browsed around the department store which was surprisingly very cool to see. After that we ran back to shower and then finished up the night in a Paddington Pub. By strange coincidence, a recent Iowa Law grad who spoke to us during orientation as a 3L, sat down with his family at the table next to us. What a small world...

We got back to the hostel after seeing London in a day and left the next morning. We all fell in love with London, granted it was sunny and beautiful. We are all strongly considering doing the London Consortium Study Abroad program now, but we will see what happens with jobs ect...

Largest Sand Dune in Europe

Beach House

View from my room :)

Gong show

We arrive at CDG Paris at 8:30 am. Customs is a breeze. We move through the airport to the train station with luggage carts in the flying V formation. That way we don't hit each other heels and we are close enough to talk without taking up too much space. We decide that the easier way to get to the Montparnasse train state is to take the RER rather than the bus. We were oh so wrong. We had to transfer trains which required each of us carrying our 50 lbs-ish bags up and down oh sooo many flights up stairs. Seriously, it was a gong show. We finally arrived at the Montparnasse train station, got our tickets and waited. I took a picture of the luggage to show what we were dealing with...

I slept during the 3 hour TGV ride to Lisbourne. The best part was trying to get off at Lisbourne with all the luggage because the train continued on. We had all of our luggage lined up and Alex and I were between cars when the door between cars closed on me. I got out of the way but Alex and I couldn't stop laughing.

After the bus to Bordeaux we finally made it on the train to Arcachon.

BLAME (air) CANADA

We arrive at the airport in Toronto to be told that Air Canada made yet another mistake. Apparently, the lady the night before who assured us that there was room on the flight from Montreal only put Whitney and I on the flight but not Alex and Jenny and all the new employee we were dealing with could say was "oh this is strange..."

We fly from Toronto to Montreal not knowing if Alex and Jenny were going to be able to get on the flight with us. We get off the plane and go right to the gate. Of course no one is at the Air Canada gate until 10 minutes prior to boarding. Long story short, Whitney and I get on the plane without them and at the last second they let Alex and Jenny on.

Seriously, Air Canada is going to get the meanest letter ever. We have dealt with so many incompetent people.

Kost is Lost

So...I woke up in Toronto and had to try and exchange my youth rail pass for an adult rail pass (which is much more expensive). Luckily, they would exchange it but I had to UPS my pass to their main office. The concierge was very helpful. I just have to hope my pass makes it and that Rail Europe will give me a full refund. Additionally, I booked 4 TGV train tickets for once we get to Paris. (Which would have been 5 Euros with my rail pass but is now 94). I'm trying to make all these changes and check out and get to the airport before 1 pm so we can fly to Montreal so then we can fly to Toronto then to CDG Paris then take the Metro to Montrparnasse train station then take the train to Libourne and take a bus to Bordeaux and take another train to Arcachon. Sounds like an awesome birthday. Kost is Lost.

We made it to Toronto...and thats about it

Air Canada put us up in a hotel. While checking at 11 pm in the dude at the front desk disappeared for 20 minutes. Seriously what else could happen...

Further hiccups...

The flight that Air Canada switched us so we would have a longer lay-over but actually a shorter lay-over. They said we would have an hour and 20 minute lay-over, but actually we only had a 20 minute lay-over. This was our reaction when we found out the wonderful news:

Flight delay...

Our flight out of Chicago was delayed and we realized that we weren't going to be able to make our connecting flight to Paris. The people at the counter were no help so with some quick thinking and a persuasive phone call to Air Canada by Jenny we got switched to another flight. Another major plus, our bags made it off the plane, repeat our bags made it off the plane so hopefully there will be no further hiccups.