PARIS! The Last HURRAH trip! :)...Part #1

There are absolutely no words that can truly describe my experience in Paris! I had very high expectations of what Paris would be like, and was afraid I was going to be disappointed but I was definitely NOT!! :) My trip was incredible and just another reminder of how blessed I am!!

Some exciting news about this trip was my friends Anna, and Emanuil, and Anna's BF Nick were able to come! :) Although just two days before at practice she rolled her ankle and the doctor gave her crutches :/ she was an absolute warrior walking all around Paris!! :)

Normally I talk about everything and then list pictures but I think I am going to let the pictures do the talking :)

My Paris Adventure ....Day #1=)

The back side of the Sacre Couer!



The Sacre Couer!




The View of the City!



:)

Breakfast! Ham and Egg Pancake

The Louvre



Anna :)



The Pyramides inside the Louvre

Mono Lisa!

Just playing around inside the Louvre!

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Tuileries!!!

Anna and Emanuil :)

Eiffal Tower... of course we had to have a photo shoot :)

Miss Lovely Allison!!

Caleb and Allison and I!



OKLAHOMA KIDS!!! :)




Just LOVE this!! :)



We love Crepes!! :)

 

At Night :) while its Sparkling!!

Cristen and Allison!

Notre Dame!!



Notre Dame!



this door was awesome the detail and message was just incredible!

The End!

So that was my first day in Paris!

The weather was just beautiful which pretty much put the cherry on top :)

I would like now to just give a shout out to the Lord for all the blessings he has given me!

-Lissa

Part 2 to come!

The American Dream!!

Hello!!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far! I just finished writing my essay for one of my classes woohoo! :) I actually enjoyed writing this essay...by enjoy I mean I liked it in comparison to other essays I have had to write ;)! The topic was on stereotype threat which I did not know anything about but the more I read the more interesting it got to me. But anyways it feels great to have that out of the way! And I leave for Paris Thursday night :) YAY! So excited for that... its going to be another long night though because we are riding in the coach bus over night and will arrive in the morning.

It was really nice not going anywhere this weekend! First weekend in a long time that I wasn't traveling, I just got to stay home and work on my paper and enjoy Swansea.

Saturday night I went over to Anna's house and hung out with her and her brother Emanuil. We are dinner, and it was DELICIOUS!!! Their mom is a really good cook and is also trying to learn better English so I really enjoy conversing with them, and can't imagine how hard English must be for people to learn when I speak it and still dont get half the rules haha ;) After dinner though we went and played monopoly... it had been SOOO long since I had played that game! It was pretty fun!

They had the IRELAND version, so the prices were in Euros and the land was Landmarks in Ireland! Pretty cool :)

Normally when I play monopoly I lose.. and am one of the first ones to go bankrupt but this time it was the opposite lol... Emanuil was joking around with me and said "I guess thats what they call the American Dream" haha Definitely made me laugh!

We watched a movie called WITH HONORS, and I really liked it! The main guy was writing his college Thesis in order to graduate with honors... just reminded me that I have to do that, AHH!! Anyways Anna and I were up until 3:30 am.. haha we were both so tired but it was TOTALLY worth it!

I had not had a SLEEPOVER in so long and it was such a great night :)

 



Yummy ICE CREAM!



The AMERICAN DREAM! LOL



Anna and Emanuil

We talked about them coming to the U.S. and me going to visit Bulgaria or coming back to visit them in Swansea and It just EXCITES ME.. I am really going to miss them but KNOW that I will see them again :)

Sunday night I had a dinner with my basketball team, and just hung out with some of the girls and watched Coach Carter, LOVE that movie! 

Monday I went to the Christmas market in town with Allison and Cristen and we got FRESH MADE DONUTS! YUMMY probly one of the BEST decisions of the day! haha! We came back and I worked on my paper, and then Allison made us dinner :) She is an AMAZING cook and made us Fish that was made with a yummy brown sugar/teriyaki sauce combination and some Asparagus! It was so yummy!! 

Today I had tutorial and class and finished my paper :) I have basketball practice here in a little bit! 

That concludes what I have been doing for the past few days! It was been a really nice weekend and just getting excited for Paris. 

On a side note... I come home in 19 days!!!! WHAT??? That is less than 3 weeks away! I just can't believe it. Although I know I am ready to come home... I really am going to miss it here, mainly because of all the people have I met! It is going to be so different not seeing them everyday and just makes me sad thinking about it! But at the same time I am over joyed thinking about seeing everyone from home.. so really have mixed feelings! :) 

But I got to run to practice so thanks for stopping by!

-Lissa 

My Thanksgiving Story! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you!

This year was the very first year that I have ever spent Thanksgiving away from family! Normally my whole family, my brother in law, my grandparents from my dads side, and all my cousins and usually some friends of theirs get together and celebrate Thanksgiving together! This is what my family did at home... but I got to spend it with my FAMILY here!

(From Left) Kate, Nick, Allison, Me, Caleb, Cristen!!

I wasn't really expecting to make any "real" close friendships while being over here.. I was just thinking of the fact that I am only here for 3 months as are most of the other friends of mine, and often spend the weekends traveling, so I just wasn't thinking that I was going to make lots of friends, but I was WAY WRONG! I have mat so many WONDERFUL people while being over here and grown close to many of them! And honestly they have COMPLETELY MADE MY TRIP! I couldn't image the past three months without them all! Aside from my friends from my Basketball team, the majority of my friends are from the United States. We were first just thinking that we would go out to eat at this place called the Carvery that serves "Christmas Dinner" all the time, that is Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans... most of the basic Thanksgiving dishes, but the more Cristen thought about it the more she just didn't feel right about EATING OUT for Thanksgiving! So...we decided to COOK!!! Cristen and I went to Tesco and got all the groceries for the various dishes on Wednesday. We really had to strategies our plan of action though because we have ONE POT and ONE PAN... hahaha! Wednesday night Cristen made the pumpkin pie, and her dad's green bean casserole that isn't really a casserole ha, which was perfect because we didn't have a casserole dish :) She also made the cranberry sauce. I made my grandma's 7-up salad and Caleb made these chocolate butterscotch rice crispy things! Thursday morning Cristen and I both had class! Afterwards we started the rest! We made mashed potatoes, two different kinds of stuffing, the turkey, the gravy, salad, and then heated up store bought apple pie and also homemade apple cider (my favorite)!!! Nick made this corn dish and sweet potatoes and Allison supplied some drinks! THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD!!

We all sat down and ate Feasted together while sharing what we were thankful for and just enjoyed each others company:) IT was LOVELY!!



Caleb getting ready to CHOW DOWN!! :)



Miss Cristen making Potatoes



Pumpkin pie :) and Chocolate thingys yum yum!





Allison, Caleb, Cristen!





:)



I must admit that I was getting a little sad because I was missing Thanksgiving at home! And I am sad that I did, because I miss my family so much, but I could not have asked for a better day here! This really helped me realize that Thanksgiving is about spending time with FAMILY and being Thankful for what you have and stuff... but Family does not always have to be your mom, dad, siblings, cousins, aunts, grandparents etc. Yes they are my immediate family, and I just think I have the GREATEST one :) but I sat at a table surrounded by 7 other people who love me and care for me and who I love and care for in return, 7 people who all 3 months ago arrived at Swansea, Wales not knowing anyone else and met each other for the first time and have been together ever since! THEY are my FAMILY here and I am just so thankful for them all!!!:)

Words cannot really describe how thankful I am for EVERYTHING that I have. This amazing opportunity, my family, my friends, my boyfriend, the fact that I live in a free country that has FREE bathrooms (ha joke) the fact that my brother is recovering and I received a letter today from him and he seems happier than ever!!!!!!!! I am healthy, and my family and friends are healthy. I just can't even list everything because God has blessed me to where I can't even measure!

At a dinner a few of us went to hosted by the school Wednesday night, a guy got up and gave a little speech/sermon on the fullness of life and how it is only complete with Christ... and I couldn't quite get his relation to what he was talking about with Thanksgiving at the time but I was reading and came across a verse:

John 6:35, Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

I am the first to admit that when I am giving thanks I am thanking God for the things I HAVE AT THE MOMENT and completely missing the big picture... that I have CHRIST for ETERNITY! The FULLNESS of life comes from Christ... I will never go hungry and will never thirst because God has blessed us ALL with the gift of SALVATION through his son!

So if any of you are going through some hard times, maybe its the first Thanksgiving that you are spending without a special loved one in the family, or maybe its not as big because your struggling financially, or maybe you are off in a different country and haven't made many friends, no matter the circumstance, just know that God Loves You!!

A HUMAN TURKEY?? :)
Head= Cristen
Body= Allison
Feathers=The Rest of US!

-Lissa

Germany...Oh what a LoVelY adventure she was!!

I just made a new best friend... Although I do not know his name, so I will just name him hotel lobby guy! Why is he my best friend you might be wondering...because he is letting me sit in the lobby of the hotel called Novotel!!!! It is 2:00 am and our train from London just terminated at Bristol and our train to swansea isn't until 5:19 and guess what the train station closed so where are 2 girls supposed to do? Ha wonder around the city at 2 am, I DON'T THINK SO!!!  We tried the holiday inn express but they said the Lobby is for residents only, so we walked some more and came across this other hotel and the guy was nice enough to let us sit in the lobby! If I ever need a hotel in this city I know I'm going to Novotel and NOT the holiday inn express!!
I've decided It's a good thing I'm only 20... Not saying that older people could not have done what Cristen and I just did but I don't think I would have been able to survive if I was old! We left swansea at 8 pm, Thursday night and took the train to London, and then took the underground to a different London train station where we were going to catch the train to the airport! We arrived at about 12:10 am but our connection was not until 4:10 am.. we figured we could just sit in the train station or at the McDonald's there... HA NOT!!! The McDonald's shuts down its tables at 10...so you can only order to go, and the train station closed at around 1... Haha so now what??? Luckily there was a 24 hour cafe just down the street a little ways that we went to, ordered an omelette and sat there until 4! It was quite entertaining with the many drunk people coming In and out who liked to talk Haha... 4:10 came around and we hopped on the train to the airport, our plane departed at 7:30 so we waited in the gate, and then boarded the plane... Neither Cristen nor I remember taking off or landing ha! We were that tired! Best flight I have ever had, we got an hour of sleep, and arrived in Germany at 8:30 am, 12 hours from.when we departed!!!!!! Oh my goodness ha! We were greeted at the airport by Cristen's cousin Ian and her husband Bert!! Bert was stationed I'm Germany in a small town not too far from Frankfurt so we got to stay with them! Their house is just so so cute :) I loved it, and it was so great being able to stay In a HOME ... with a COUCH :) HA as crazy as this might seem I.really miss couches!!! And their's was super comfy :)
...anyways we dropped our stuff off and toured the house then we went and they showed us the town by them. They described it as "the most American like town in Germany" but it had some little shops and we ate a resteraunt and had our first GERMAN food!!! :)

I wish Burger Kind looked like that in America :)

What a cool Mirror!!

Where we had LUNCH!!

I think one of my favorite things is getting to try each countries food! Pretty much everything I have tried has been delicious... But that also could be because I don't try things that I have been warned not too, except for the Welsh Lava Bread... eww that is not bread at all! It's seeweed goop that Caleb made me try!
....back to Germany! After lunch we stopped at this MEGA store... It was a furniture store that was SOO HUGE and had the COOLEST stuff! I Love just walking around stores like this and imagining my house someday :) this place was like IKEA On steroids as Cristen would put it! We had fun! and I got a couple awesome ideas on stuff I can make :) We went back to the house and cristen and I took a little nap because we were so tired and then we went to dinner at this little dinner and got to try some another German delicacy! OH MY GOODNESS this was so so so good!!! On the way back after dinner we went to Globus, which is a German Walmart only they wayyyy out due Walmart!! The candy brand Haribo is German, which I did not know. They make lots of Yummy candy, and Globus had an isle of every kind possible and it was so so cheap, so of course Cristen and I had to get a bunch :)

This is the MEGA STORE!

This is one idea I think would be fun to make!!

I like the ORANGE ONE!! and the little BRITISH one :)

Inside the store!

The next day we got up and went to a CHRISTMAS MARKET!!!!!! YAY! it was ln this little down called WEIHNACHTLICHER..not that is a mouthful, and I have NO IDEA how to pronounce it:) ! It was so cute! The buildings were so "German" and all decorated with Christmas lights and stuff! Ah I just love this time of year and am so excited for Christmas!! ... So we walked around and instead of lunch we just did testing of all these different German things, vuhl wine, which was like a hot spiced wine, I loved the smell but wasn't a huge fan of the taste so Ian drank mine, and then candied nuts, and RAHMFLECK which was this Yummy pretzel like bread with almost like pizza topping on top just no sauce, kind of hard to explain...but it was SO GOOD!! then we tried potato pancakes with Apple sauce! Mmmhm!! And of course a CREPE!!!

Me, Cristen, Ian :)

Bert shoving part of a POTATO PANCAKE in my mouth!!

Vuhl Wine

I finally got to ride on an elephant...hehe

Its leaning???

CHRISTMAS!!!

After the market, we made our way to a town called Trier, which is the OLDEST city in Germany :) they had some old Roman remains, and a huge beautiful church and the prettiest palace I have ever seen! It was dark but Ian said the palace has these gardens that just go on forever :) how awesome would it be to be royal?? I actually don't know I would like it but I think it would be cool to TEST it out, you know... Be royal for a week or something :)

The Roman's built this...it was the entrance to the city!



The Palace!!! :)



This elephant was a little more my size :)

Ian and I got hats!! We Were COLD!!

We then went back to the house and Ian made dinner! A true German dish!!! BEST meal we had!!! We just enjoyed the company of each other and sat around and relaxed all night!!

Preparing DInner!!

YUMMY!!!

Cristen impressing Bert with her Pickle Juice Drinking SKILLS!!! :)

The next day was Sunday, our last day! We went on a nature walk and saw some really pretty German HORSES :) and Ian and Bert showed us this old Celtic burial hill...which they called "the Hobbit House" haha it really did look like a Hobbit house! It was awesome!

OH YEA :)

I think I could live there.... hahah

We packed up and headed to the airport. Our flight was at 7:50. We landed in London, and took the bus to Liverpool street, then the Underground to Paddington then train to Bristol...which brings me to where I am right now...sitting on a couch in the lobby of Hotel Novotel at 2:45 am Monday morning! This will explain to you why I keep going off on different subjects in the middle of my story ha I AM TIRED!!! and My brain always just goes off on random stuff when I am near the dilarious stage:)

...Forward time!!!
We made it to Swansea at 7:50 a.m. and arrived back at home around 8! Cristen and I both went straight to bed ha we were EXHAUSTED!! I slept until 2 p.m. and then decided I needed to get up and take care of some things!!

Although I didn't go to any BIG cities or tourist attraction things, Germany was one of my favorites trips! I loved going to the little towns and the Christmas market! I really enjoyed getting to spend time with Cristen and meet her Cousin Ian and her husband Bert. They are an aweosme couple...just so cute! I greatly appreciate their hospitality and giving us an AWESOME German Experience! I thank the Lord for giving us safe travels and allowing everything to go as planned.... except for the train stations closing.. we were not exactly prepared for that curve ball, but it all worked out :)

House Keeping:
I can not believe that I only have 24 days until I come home!!!! WOWEEE! I must say though that I am ready now to come home...maybe its just the holidays making me miss my family more but the few days I have really been longing for home! Don't get me wrong though, I have really grown to LOVe it here, and I know that I am going to miss it SOO much!
GOOD NEWS!! I am officially enrolled for next semester at Langston.. so glad I got all that taken care of! I will be taking Botany, Zoology, and Physics 1...oh just Lovely! BRING IT ON!!!
I am so excited for PARIS next week! Its going to be so great!!
Cristen and I went to Tesco to get EVERYTHING for THANKSGIVING... we decided that eating out for thanksgiving just didn't seem right...so a few of us are all going intogether and we are going to Cook!! :) So excited!
I had another basketball game and we won again :) haha IT was a really fun game this week! I am getting to know the girls on my team more and more and just love them!!! :)

That brings us to today! Its Thanksgiving! WOW I still can't believe its NOVEMBER 24th!! Such craziness! I have SO much to be thankful for its just incredible! I will share it in a special Thanksgiving post SOON (I promise) to come :)

Before a little Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the school Wednesday Night!
(Nick, Me, Allison, Cristen)

MANY THANKS TO CRISTEN FOR HER LOVELY PHOTES!! Mine died:/
-Lissa