Friends here, friends there, friends everywhere

Wow. Well these last few days have been such a blur. I love London! The people here are so nice and even if they aren't trying to be nice, their accent makes them sound nice! We've met so many cool people here, i have at least five new friends. The ones we got closest too were these two boys from australia...

You know when you make awkward eye contact from someone across the room and then end up talking and then becoming best friends? It was sort of one of those moments. :) Me and my mom were on an all day tour bus going to Windsor Palace, Stonehenge, and Bathe England when we met them. I'm not sure how but my mom just started talking to these two young boys, Michael and Nathan. They've been mates since they were little and are just now starting to travel around europe. On all the stops in our tour we would just hang out with them and i guess after spending 8 hours of your day with someone you barely knew, you get close. They invited me to hang out with them all day the next day so i did and it was a blast! It was good spending time with people who were closer in age to me, we related more. Michael is 24 and Nathan is 22. They also brought their friend along, hannah who was so sweet. We became close as well.

They left this morning to go to Ireland for New Year's. Nathan is coming out to L.A later this year though and he is going to stay with us! Good bye's are weird for me though. It's funny how the soul keeps no time. You could know someone for a day or a year and still have a connection with them. Who knows, i could never see them again and they could end up being a big part of my life, time will tell.

Today we met a family from Greece! There are two girls close to my age who barely know english but we exchanged facebook information anyway :). We met them while we were on the Thames river, touring the city one last time. They even invited us to come stay with them if we ever come to Greece! I think it's great how you can meet someone and find at least one common interest with them. It's like we all are connected and have a common thread in some way, even if you live on the other side of the globe.

Those are my thoughts for today. Tonight we are seeing Les Miserables and then heading to Trafalgar Square for New Year's! I can't wait to see whats in store for me this upcoming year. :)

x

Pictures on Facebook :)

I added all the pictures i have taken on the trip on my Facebook. Well not all, but most of the better ones. I can't write more for now. But more adventures will be shared tomorrow!

http://www.facebook.com/laurennzzski?ref=profile

London!

We're in a place they speak our same language! Yes! I'm very excited to be in London and have very high expectations for it. Some of my family on my dads side is from England so i have grown up with english breakfast tea, yorkshire puddings, and Cadbury chocolate! The style and vibe isn't as great as Paris but it's still more unique than our conservative style in Orange County. Our hotel is in the best location. It's not even a block away from Trafalgar Square! My goals while were here is to have a tea party, goto The Water Rats (A cute coffee shop that plays local indie bands), walk through Hyde Park, take lots of pictures, try to avoid as many history museums as possible, and see Stonehenge! I'll actually be seeing Stonehenge tomorrow. We're taking a bus tour to Windsor Palace, roman baths, and Stonehenge. I love being on buses or trains because i get to sleep! I have been so tired this whole trip. I still don't think i'm fully on european time.

Our new hotel is in a good location but hardly as nice as our quaint, eclectic, Paris one. The beds are little, the tv is small, and the breakfast here is "cold continental"... whatever that means. We will be here less then we were in Paris though so i guess it doesn't matter much.

My internet connection is much better here so the photos are uploading faster! Here are some that i took our last days in Paris. If your wondering who the random blonde is, she's one of our friends from Arizona that we met!

Goodbye Paris... Hello London!

I'm sitting here in the lobby of our quaint little hotel, watching the people pass by. Paris never sleeps! I'm sad to say that i will be leaving tomorrow. I will miss the amazing style, culture, crepes, and vibes. I hope i can come back some day and stay for a longer period of time...

Today i slept till one in the afternoon! I was so unbelievably tired. I have no idea how the people here do it... we walk like five miles a day! My feet hurt, my back hurts, i feel like an old lady!

My christmas was good but very odd. I missed everyone back home and the things i normally do on Christmas. It was sad knowing i was so far away from the people i loved the most. It just felt like an ordinary day and that made me sad. I can't wait to come home even though i still have a week left!

Londons next. We're taking the English Chunnel tomorrow morning. The same one that broke down last week... cross your fingers for us! I'm excited to go somewhere that actually speaks our language. I'm tired of getting weird looks after i mispronounce a street or french word i'm trying to learn. I told my mom that i absolutely needed to do one thing in London, have a tea party! I love english food: fish and chips, yorkshire pudding, english breakfast tea, and Nutella!

Regarding pictures... It takes so incredibly long to upload them here. I have so many i want to post! Hopefully it will be better in London and i'll keep trying to post a few here or there. I will also try to put them on Facebook.

I hope everyone had a great christmas!

Pictures!

New Friends, a Bottle of Wine, and Christmas eve...

Hello! Sorry for the lack of blogs the last couple of days. It's been such a whirl wind. I am exhausted! We've been all over the town and my ankles hurt like crazy. Tomorrow is Christmas and nothing will be open, therefore it is our resting, sleeping, strolling day. Finally. We went to Versailles today. It's not one of my favorites but it was good to see. I have loved just strolling around boutique-y areas and dining at little bistros. My mom on the other hand, wants to hit every museum available on her museum card. There has been some tension there. We got some good shopping in today but everything is so much more museum! I've also noticed that a lot of the clothes and jewelry are cheap and not worth much at all. Maybe we'll have better luck in London.

We've met some friends! They are in the room right next to us and there're these two older ladies ditching their families for Christmas to have a "girls trip"... kinda like us! They invited us down for some wine tonight, it was fun. We had really good conversations :)

I want to sleep. Tomorrow i will have a more extensive blog... its taking too long for my pictures to upload :( i will upload a bunch soon!

Paris Adventure Day 1

Today was quite a day! I love being here, theres excitement everywhere and people have been very friendly to us (unlike what i have heard about French people). Our hotel could not be in a better place, its not in a touristy area but surrounded by so many popular local boutiques, cafe's, and restaurants. I feel like i am a part of their culture, not just another person buying an "I Love Paris" shirt. Today was MUCH colder though. I was shivering like no other until i bought a huge thick scarf and hat that covered my chilly ears :). We saw the Notre Dam Cathedral and shopped around. I need to start taking more pictures but with it being so cold, its a hassle to take out my big camera! I will take more tommorrow though... We are going to the Louve and Modern Art museum.

About the food... Lunch today wasn't the best because we were in a very touristy area and the restaurants down there aren't as good and more expensive. ( I guess they try to take advantage of the tourist's ignorance.) My vegetable soup had no vegetables and my moms french onion had no onions! But dinner quickly made up for that.... CHOCOLATE CREPES!!! Man, they it was unbelievable. I'm pretty sure the chocolate was just nutella but that doesn't matter, it was made just perfectly. I think i will be having one every meal. We also went to a local bakery and got more chocolate :) The bakery's have pretty reasonable prices, unlike the restaurants and everything else. I feel like everything is double the price then it would be at home. I wanted to buy more Uggs but they were 400 dollars! The same ones are 160 at home...

But nonetheless, I'm super stoked to be here. My moms reading more Paris books as i type. She's trying to find the best places to go tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the modern art museum, cafe' sitting- people watching, taking pictures, and shopping!

x,

L

Finally in Paris... but it took awhile to get there...

Hello from Paris! I can't believe i am FINALLY here.. its been a long two days...

Well, i guess i'll start here... About thirty minutes after i posted my first blog about the trip we got a call saying that our flight from Arizona to Philadelphia was cancelled due to the big blizzard going on there right now. (We were originally going from OC to Arizona to Philly to Paris) We kinda freaked out. We were literally on three phones and two different computers at the same time trying to get a new flight or change our flight or anything that might work. After about two hours of wrestling with different airlines, my mom got us flights that went from Orange County to Vegas and then from Vegas to Pittsburg... Well that would leave us in Pittsburg but we needed to be in Philadelphia but nine on sunday night. Soooo... once we got to Pittsburg we rented a car and drove 6 hours to Philly the next day. It was long. Too long. But, it doesn't end there...

Once we got the airport in Philly, we were informed that our flight might be cancelled or delayed very late. Great. At this point, our family was just telling us to give up because everything was way too complicated, but we didn't. Our plane left Philadelphia 6 hours after the appointed time...

But, long story short, we are HERE! Paris, France. It's two degrees. TWO. It's definitely freezing. We got here when it was already dark so we didn't get to see much but we did goto a lovely dinner down the street from out hotel. I felt like i needed to be on my best behavior because i kept getting strange looks from people... I wonder what i was doing wrong?

Anyways, i am completely exhausted. Tomorrow we'll be on a bus touring the city and hopefully some shopping! For now, i leave you with these... the first one is our super cute hotel room, its themed pink and brown! The second one is our view...:) The third one is my mom standing in front of our snowy rental car... driving in the snow is not fun! And lastly, a picture of the snow somewhere along the 76 turnpike :)

My Travels...

It's crazy to think that in 48 hours i will be walking the streets of Paris. Did i mention that Paris is SNOWING?!.. its crazy. In about an hour i will be leaving for the airport which will take us to phoenix. From there we will take a flight to Philadelphia and stay the night their tonight. We will spend all day in Philly tomorrow and leave tomorrow night at ten for Paris. Hopefully i'll be able to sleep... i'm not a happy camper when i'm sleep deprived and jetlag sets in...I will be in Paris for 6 days and then i will be off to London. Christmas is Paris and New Years in London :)

Anyways, i will be blogging hopefully everyday from our trip posting pictures and stories. For those of you who asked for me to do this, i hope it brings you joy. :) And for those who will just stumble upon this blog, enjoy!

x

( Thats how english people end their letters, or so i've heard.)

raindrops

I absolutely love waking up to rain pattering on the ceiling. I love even more walking into the living room and our christmas lights are on, it's just so beautiful. Recently, i have been going on the right direction, i think. I'm thinking about my life and working on my relationship with Him. It's definitely been a challenge but i wont give up. step by step ill make my way through...

On a better note,

I'm leaving for europe next saturday! Crazy right? I could not be more excited. Christmas in Paris, New Years in London....i cant even believe it. There are many uncertainties on this trip but i'm hoping that God will help everything work through for the better. I pray that my mom will let me do some of the things i like to do aswell as her list of museums and such... I also pray that i wont be sick (I have a cold).

The only sad part... i will not be able to see my amazing boyfriend for two weeks! I spent Hanukkah with him last night and it was a bit bittersweet considering theres so many more holidays coming up and i wont be with him...

Oh, i'm also getting really into photography... My uncle has blessed me so much and done so much for me and he has gotten me two amazing cameras to take pictures with. i will post pictures soon.

Other than that, i'm loving life and trying to live in the present.