Ello ello.

(This was written a week ago but I just got around to posting it)

Hello everyone, I am currently sitting in Carlisle Train station waiting for my connection back to school. I have just returned from a grand Italian adventure with my cousin Lindsey. But before I get into that, let me recap on the past few weeks.

First, I returned to school after a long, warm, sunny Easter break at home. It was really nice to be home and see everyone. Its a little weird to be back at school knowing that these are my last few weeks as a St Bees student. Although I will be glad to return home and be with my family and friends once again, I will also be really sad to leave this place and the people here behind. I've made a lot of amazing friends during my year here and its a little surreal that I'm leaving them all behind, not knowing if or when I will ever see them again.

A couple of weeks ago Kate and I were given tickets to an event in Carlisle called Radio 1's Big Weekend. Radio 1 is basically the biggest radio station here and every year they put on a free concert that has tons of amazing big names and new artists, basically a giant festival. This year, the festival took place in Carlisle (which is a about an hour and a bit north of where my school is). Anyways, I was lucky enough to be given tickets to go by a friend, so Kate and I put on our wellies and headed to Carlisle. We waited in a line for 2 hours to get in with tons of other excited and crazy fans. When we finally did get in we were greeted with a huge field of food stands and tents with various stages in them. We headed to the main stage first because everyone was curious to see who the surprise opening act would be. We had heard rumors of Eminem and Rihanna and various others but it turned out to be the Artic Monkeys. I hadn't really listened to them much before the show but they were amazing live so I have found a new favorite artist :) Really, I would highly recommend checking them out. Kate and I stood in the tent for about 4 hours without eating or using the loo just to see some of our favorite artists. We ended up seeing Jessie J, Nicole Scherzinger, Tinie Tempah, Ellie Goulding, Black Eyed Peas, Panic at the Disco, Swedish House Mafia, Plan B, and many more I can't remember right now. It was probably one of the best days of my life, or at least in the top 20. Needless to say we were absoutely exhausted after standing up for a straight 12 hours but it was totally worth it!

After Big Weekend, exams began. I can't say I really enjoy exams, but on the plus side with exams comes study leave. Basically for two weeks we didn't have to go to school, all we had to do was just sit and study all day. Which I could handle sometimes. I'm having a hard time taking exams seriously because I know they don't really affect much for me and before half term I was most focused on my trip. After the two weeks off though I was kind of going crazy just sitting and studying all day. But I'll go back to school after half term. And I only have 3 exams left!

Now, on to half term. Lindsey (my cousin) and I planned a grand adventure for my half term break. For her, this was a celebration of her recent graduation from high school. She was supposed to arrive in England on Thursday and travel to my school and stay with me. Things didnt really work out as planned. Her very first flight to Chicago was delayed and then diverted midair to Tulsa. She got stuck there for about 4 hours then she finally arrived in Chicago. Needless to say, she missed her flight to Manchester and had to rebook for the next day. She spent a totally of 17 hours in the Chicago airport before finally getting on a plane to England. When she finally got to Manchester on Friday, I took a train and met here there. From Manchester we took a train to London and stayed in a hostel there for the weekend. We got to see all of the major sights of England and we even got to go on the London eye! It was a great weekend overall. On Sunday, we went to London Gatwick Airport and caught a flight to Rome. We arrived in Rome that night and had to wait FOREVER to get our luggage. Then we had to find food, and get a train to the city centre and find our hotel. It was a bit crazy, but we managed alright and when we finally got settled in our room we were very excited to be there! Rome is a very mesmerizing city. Its so beautiful and I don't think I could ever get enough. The first day we were there we went to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and a few other places. The second day we visited the Vatican City. We had some interesting experiences on the metro in Rome as it was very crowded. Wayyy more crowded than London ever was for us. It was quite entertaining. Anyways, our 3 days in Rome were spent eating gelato, marvelling at the sights, and enjoying the Italian way of life. It was a great few days. On Wednesday we took a train to Naples. Lets just say, on arriving we were a bit shocked. Naples is more of a metropolitan area than Rome and significantly less glamorous. We were very nervous about the are and we had an initial moment of panic. My first reaction was to hop the next train back to Rome, but we stuck it out and eventually discovered it was a very interesting and dynamic city. On our first day we visited a few of the major churches in Naples. Unfortunately we weren't able to go in because we completely forgot that shoulders and knees needed to be covered to go in. So, if you ever travel to Italy and plan on visiting religious monuments, make sure you bring something to cover yourself with. Anyways, the second day in Naples we took a regional train to a town called Sorrento. It was a beautiful town and we spent the day on a local beach enjoying the Italian sunshine. Of course I ended up with a sunburned but what can ya do? Anyways, we returned to Manchester on Saturday and after a bit of confusion with our hotel situation we got settled and just relaxed for the night. It really was an amazing trip for both of us and I'm very sad its over. I hated saying goodbye to Lindsey because I wanted so badly to be going home with her! But oh well, I will enjoy my last few weeks here :)

As far as I know I have covered the past few weeks completely. I'm sure I missed something here or there but thats to be expected. I shall post at least once more before I return to the US for good. I'm sure there will be tears and sadness as well as joy on my departure from the UK but we'll see when the time comes. Ta ta for now!