One Sleep

Good day from Aberdeen, Scotland everyone! I hope the last week has treated you all well. We definitely have been enjoying our last few days just relaxing at the home of Jenna's Aunt and Uncle. It is so great to have less stress and responsibility for a while. Meals are cooked for us, plans are made for us, we don't have loud noises outside our windows...life is good.

We are "one sleep" away from coming home, as Tiffany would say. We are pretty darn excited about it, too. Let's catch you all up briefly on the last week.

Last Saturday was one of the most emotion-filled days we've come across thus far. We were excited about our week long "vacation" with Paris and Sctoland, scared about what we might encounter, depressed about leaving our flat mates, sad to leave Rome, happy to get cooler temperatures, and glad to get one step closer to an English-speaking world. And that was just in the morning.

We woke up, cleaned the apartment, finished packing, had one last dance party, and had to say goodbye to our amazing girls. It was a little rushed because we had to make it out the door before our shuttle to the airport came, so that made it a little easier. There were a few tears, but then the four of us (yes, Meredith got to be in the shuttle with us) left for FCO. We got there around noon and attempted to check our bags, but found out that we couldn't do that until two hours before our flight. Also, the three of us were in the wrong terminal...so we had to say goodbye to Meredith before we thought we'd have to. That was very, very hard to do. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are excited to Skype and call her once we're back home.

We made our way to where we were supposed to be and waited for almost an hour until we could check in. Then, it got interesting. The lady helping us informed us that our connecting flight to Paris had been cancelled. We were going to be Stuck in Torino, IT where our connecting flight was. So, the next forty five minutes flew by while Jenna talked to that lady, I ran to another terminal to find other airline flights to Paris that night, and Kritsa went with a guy to talk to someone else about finding a different flight through the airline we were already using. Eventually, we decided to just take the flight to Torino, stay the night there, then take another flight to Paris the next day so we didn't have to pay more for a flight that night. So, that process began, and we find out: oh, wait, this airline doesn't even HAVE a flight from Torino to Paris anymore. I'M SORRY, WHAT? So...we have to start at square one. We are going to Torino, and that is final. We'll figure out the rest when we get there. The good thing from all of this? We didn't have to pay for our overweight baggage. Thank goodness.

We get to the gate for our flight. With our luck, we find a yipping poodle dog (exactly the same as the one that was super annoying by our apartment) at the gate, getting on our same flight. That dog follows us everywhere, apparently. So, we wait for the flight. Then, they announce the gates have changed. So we walk there. And wait. And wait...wait...and then about 20 minutes later they come with a bus to take us out to put us onto the plane. Then we sit on the plane for...maybe 35ish minutes because the radar for the entire airport is down and no one can fly in or out. So we got to sit on the plane for a while, too. When we finally took off, we were just laughing about "what else can go wrong today." We landed in Torino when our original connecting flight would have been taking off, so that made us feel a little better, then we started talking to Jenna's Mom and our travel agent more. Through a series of events, our travel agent ended up getting us onto a different flight to Paris with another airline and we didn't have to pay a penny! The only catch: the plane left in a half hour, they were boarding in ten minutes, and we had to check our luggage and go through security! It was like a movie, the airline people worked really fast for us, they (again) didn't charge us for the overweight baggage, and we RAN to our gate and made it just at the end of the boarding line. The funny part about this? It was a flight to Frankfurt, Germany and THEN we connected into Paris. So we were in three countries in a matter of seven or eight hours. Cool.

Germany was neat...the airport, at least. We had a smaller layover and then our next flight was only delayed by about a half an hour. When we finally made it to Paris we were just so exhausted that I don't really remember even being on that plane. The airport was very cool, though. There were escalators that were people movers (there weren't stairs, it was just a strip all the way up) and we were lucky enough to get our luggage early on in the line. We took a taxi to our hotel and made it there a little before midnight.

We slept in. A lot. And it was good.

Sunday we started our day by trying to walk around to the Louvre (where the Mona Lisa lives and other incredible things like that) and we ended up getting lunch and getting lost on the way. Eventually we made it to the crazy cool glass pyramid entrance of the Louvre and got in free because every first Sunday of the month is free admittance. That, also, kept us from feeling guilty when we didn't get to see even half of the museum; we hit the highlights though. After that we walked around and made our way to the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures. We found dinner later and called it an early night.

Monday we slept in again, found lunch, and made our way back to the Eiffel Tower. We took a GRAND amount of touristy Eiffel Tower pictures (the other girls have better ones, I swear!). Krista and I made it to the tippy top and Jenna took a breather and walked around taking really cool picture from different angles of the tower. After that, we made our way over to Notre Dame. We found Nutella Crepes that Katy suggested and they were BETTER THAN I EVER DREAMED and I even had to finish Jenna's. Yessss. We took lots of pictures, stopped to watch a roller blading extravaganza, and walked all around the Latin Quarters. It was really an amazing part of town with all kinds of fun restaurants and areas to shop. Eventually, though, we hopped on the metro to see the Sacre Cour and the Eiffel Tower at night, from a distance. We were able to see the Tower in its "shimer" stage and also when it was blue. So cool...but pictures don't do it justice. We walked around this area for a while, then went back to the hotel.

Tuesday we got out a little earlier than usual after we checked out of the hotel, got a chocolate croissant, and found the Moulin Rouge (because I would have thrown a fit if we didn't). We took more touristy pictures and headed back to the hotel to meet up with our shuttle. We met a sweet lady from NY on the shuttle and she had been traveling alone for a week in Amsterdam and Paris, and was going home that day. The airport in Paris was very confusing, but eventually we got checked in a ready to go. Our first flight to London was a bit delayed, but the one to Aberdeen was fine. We found out the hard way that the London airport does not accept the Euro, but they do take dollars...so we had to fish those out of our bags and it was very strange using money that is all green.

We made it to Aberdeen safely and Jenna's uncle picked us up from the airport. Their whole family welcomed us to their home that night with cookies and milk. We shared a few stories about our adventure and had a great night's sleep.

Yesterday we got up and had a wonderful pancake breakfast with fruits and Nutella (they know the way to my heart). We went and took a tour of a castle and had lunch at a cute tea room. We took a mini-hike into a canyono thing with a waterfall that was super cute and just had some small adventures. That night we had AMAZING lasagna, salad, and asaparagus. YUM. Janet (Jenna's Mom) sent us a sweet package in the mail with the makings for puppy chow, some pringles, and popcorn. So, naturally, we made puppy chow that night and played games with the kids, Jacob, Mary, and Sadie. We played Guitar Hero, Mancala, and Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS (the hand held game system). We got to bed a little late, but had a lot of fun.

Today we woke up and had a muffin and fruit breakfast (they spoil us) and left with the girls to see Dunattor (sp) castle, which is Jenna's favorite, and looked all around there. We drove around the countryside, got to see downtown Aberdeen, and then ate a pub that was really unique. They even had a couch area where you waited, ordered, and then when your food was ready to be served, they moved you to the dining area. Really neat idea for set up. After that, we headed to a beach to see some seals and the girls and I made a sand town...which reminded me a lot of my cousins and made me miss them lots. After that, we headed back to their house and now we are getting ready to have beef enchiladas for dinner and possibly watching Enchanted while eating ice cream with puppy chow in it! That is basically perfect for me.

It is extremely strange to think that tomorrow we leave Europe and head back home. A definite mix of emotions for me, and I'm sure the other girls too. I'm excited, but I know I'm going to miss a lot things here, too.

So, tomorrow we'll have breakfast, re-pack, and head out to the airport before lunch and fly from Aberdeen to London, then to Chicago, then to Kansas City. Tomorrow! You all better be excited. Hahaha, I kid, I kid.

I guess this'll be the last "group" update, though. We've talked about having a "reaction" update from each of us individually a few days after we get back to share any funny stories of readjusting or anything. I do know that we're excited for air conditioning, microwaves, dryers, and hamburgers. I am ready for a steak, that is for sure.

Take care and we'll see you very soon!