Europe 7-5-09 to 7-10-09

Hey Guys,

Sorry, but unfortunately I didn't ever write in my journal for these last days of my trip. And by now I've forgotten many of the fine details. I'd like to just give some interesting details of these days as best as i can remember, not in any particular order though.

-Eiffel Tower and pickpockets, which I didn't care for either, It was expensive and scary.
-The Louvre, Very Interesting and a great environment.
-Notre Dame Cathedral, Beautiful place, beautiful architecture.
-Cheese and Clog Making in the Netherlands, family owned with a cute son ;)
-Expensive rich people hotels, perfect!
-Anne Frank house/hideaway, very historical, wish my credit card would've worked.
-Belgian Chocolate, yum yum, but watch the intake.
-Belgian War museum and Memorial.
-A canal boat tour in Amsterdam, great scenery for pictures.
-Diamond Factory Tour in Holland, sorry but the diamonds were a bit expensive to buy.
-Getting the last gifts for nieces and nephews at the airport in Rotterdam.
-Dreaded airplane ride home, which I made it through safely. Good food though.

Alright Guys, I'm gonna get yelled at shortly to go to bed. Hope all this info is as interesting to you as it is to me. Check out my travel videos on www.youtube.com/tkdgurl12 and pictures on www.teresarae2012.shutterfly.com.
With Love,
Teresa Rae

Europe 7-4-09

Today we woke up early on the French Shore. We got Stuff together and got off the boat. We ate breakfast down the street from the ferry port. After breakfast we drove for awhile to Normandy Beach area. We went to a French museum about WWII and watched a couple of movies about D-day, in which I nearly fell asleep. We shopped in the gift store and ate lunch at the museum and went on our way to Utah Beach area where there were German Bunkers. We then traveled to Omaha Beach and most of us picked up some sand. We got back on the bus and went to the American Cemetery. We had a small ceremony for the 4th of July and honoring our soldiers. It was sad but made me proud of my country. We walked around awhile and got back on our coach to go back to our hotel. We ate dinner though I can't remember where and stayed at the hotel.

Europe 7-3-09

Today was our last day at UKSA. We got up and ate breakfast, had another hour of free time, and went to our next activities. I didn't participate today though because I was still feeling dizzy and quite Tired. The rest of the delegation besides Paige, who was injured and Sarah, who was sick, did more dingy sailing and raft building. The injured went to lunch with the others and then back to our relaxing spot. I had a hard time sitting still though, so I went for various walks and bought lots of ice cream throughout the day at the store. One time on the way back from the shop I saw the raft builders. Two of them were doing good, one okay, and the last was practically sinking. After they were done we all ate dinner together. We waited awhile for a boat to take us to Portsmouth. We waited more a Portsmouth for our overnight ferry. It was huge, It reminded me of a cruise ship. It had tiny rooms and we had four in ours but I managed to fall asleep.

Europe 7-2-09

We woke up this morning and ate breakfast. We had an hour of free time after breakfast before we had to meet up for the day's activities. I went to the UKSA shop during free time and ran around trying to find stuff to do. Finally it was time to meet out instructors and split off into groups. My group got to go windsurfing first. We did balance exercises and games first. We did a gladiator thing on the boards in which I only won once. Then we put our boards together and ran across them all. I made it! Then the windsurfing part. It was hard at times to keep balance but I kept it long enough to get pulled pretty far out. I was able to swim back though. It was a fun challenge. We took a break for lunch which was pretty good, and I got a break from my wetsuit. My group's afternoon activity was dingy sailing. It was a lot of fun and pretty easy. I steered and Catherine controlled the sail. At one point we all lined up like duckies. The only bad part was getting hit with the mast or boom. It hit me a few times and pretty hard one time when we were first putting it up. After sailing we changed out of our wetsuits and had dinner. In the middle of dinner I got really dizzy. I was a little worried because I had remembered getting hit earlier and told my dad. He told my mom, who insisted on me going to the hospital. We went to St. Mary's and got checked out, but I was okay, just a little embarrassed but Meghan kept me laughing. I went back to UKSA and chilled in the cyber cafe until bedtime.

Europe 7-1-09

Today we got up and went back into London. We listened to a former member of Parliament. His name was Patrick I think but I don't remember his surname. Anyway, he talked to us about how Parliament works. He made it interesting with small jokes and we got to ask any questions. After this we went to Winston Churchill's museum and Cabinet War Rooms. It was interesting but we missed a lot of it rushing for lunch. We walked across the street to the park and ate our lunch. After this we went driving for awhile and got on a ferry to the Isle of Wight. It was a pretty quick ride though. Once we got to the Isle, we took a floating bridge across the bay to get to the United Kingdom Sailing Academy. We walked up tons of hills to get to the UKSA and where we were staying. We ate dinner at the UKSA and had an introduction to the next day at UKSA. Then it was time to rest up for the next day's adventures.

Europe 6-30-09

Today we spent a pretty great day in London. We woke up this morning and had breakfast at the hotel. After we left the hotel we went to see a lot of sights. We picked up a lady who gave us a tour of the town. She took us into St. Paul's Cathedral, which was very pretty. We ate lunch and then went to the Tower of London, where a lot of torturing took place long ago. I got a couple of books there and an ice cream cone before we left. After that we took a small boat tour on the Thames River. We then walked to dinner where we had a great dinner. Then we got about an hour of free time to shop. I got a T-shirt for my boyfriend and a small teddy bear for me. Then we went to watch "Blood Brothers" and I cried in the end but I really enjoyed it. We got back to the Hotel around midnight and I took a shower and hit the hay.