pleasant portugal

well it has been far too long since I wrote on my blog, I guess with limited time and a ticking price tag on internet I havenºt had the chance to sit down for long enough to get to my blog!

many exiciting things have happend over the past few weeks. southern France was beautiful and I loved the opportunity to use my long lost second language. I was relieved to see that it came back rather quickly and the locals LOVED that I was able to communicate with them so well! Spain was something else, Barcelona I think was far to hyped up for me... and thus left me feeling dissapointed. Although we did stay at an amazing hostel (Kabul - highly recommend, free dinner!) the city had some highlights but not what I was expecting. Sevilla and Valencia were two smaller Spanish cities we stopped through that I really enjoyed... had a wonderfully spanish feel with beautiful architecture and great food! I have to say though, the Portuguese are by far the most friendly and by lingual bunch of the europeans Iºve meet thus far. The beaches in Lagos were spectacular, and Lisbon and Porto have been wonderful cities to wander, drink coffee and devour delicious pastries! Were heading back to northern spain tomorrow to visit San Sabastian, known for the beaches and party night life, so it should be really fun, but sadly our last beach destination!

Other news that came my way recently was my acceptance to the University of London - Kings College for the Masters in Public Health Program. After receiving the boot from SFU I was really discouraged, but for some reason felt the inclination to look into my own current backyard at uni of London and found a wonderful program and professor. After a stressful and quick application I was accepted and will be starting in the fall! It seems a strange twist of fate that SFU didntº accept although Kings College has a better program, as well jsut the simple fact that I found myself in that particular city in the first place. If I had not been a nanny in London the thought would have never crossed my mind to apply to the University of London. So wether it be fate, coincidence, or pure chance I dont care, Iºm just so excited to have the opportunity to study at such a great school in an area I am certain will be a life long interest.

As usual my time is running short on the computer and must bow out before Iºm cut off. But I miss home terribly and look forward to a now earlier return. As of this morning I will fly home August 13th and look forward to giving my whole family and all my friends a huge hug! As well Iºm really looking forward to days out on the boat wakeboarding and living the beach dream! until next time... cheers

travelling with testosterone

so its been over two weeks since we've been on the road - and its hard to believe how much ground we covered so far. We started in Palermo Sicily which now seems like ages ago and I ate the most delicious gilato ever. Naples was pretty dirty but tops the list for the best pizza I have ever eaten. Pompei was just incredible and I highly recommend going to Naples just to make the day trip there,

We continued our way up the coast and meet up with Terra in Naples then up to Rome. I loved Rome, although it was loud and crowded the sights were incredible. My personal favorite was the Trivi Fountain - I could have sat there for hours. Then we headed north to Venice which is amazing in person. I loved wandering the streets and canals, definitely a city to get lost in. Then we headed down to Florence to see the one and only David, which was well worth the wait. Florence over all wasn't anything spectacular though - we did climb to the top of the Duomo which gave us a great view of the city though.

Then we had to do the classic euro stop in pisa to get all of our cheezy holding/pushing/licking/kicking... etc pictures with the tower, and then arrived in Cinque Terre that evening. Cinque terre was incredible, one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited. Although we didn't have great weather we still made the most of 2 full day hikes, one in which we severly got off the trail and were making our way through bushesfor about 20 minutes... i have the scars to prove it, haha. We left on a beautiful afternoon and it was hard to say goodbye. We also ran into some fellow Western kids, some being my frosh from years back and it was great to see them and enjoy some classy boxed wine together.

We headed west to the land of the French and have spent the last few days soaking up the cote dazure sunshine and eating pasties gallore. pain au chocolat... incredible. we walked about monaco looking very poor in the rain, and then strolled the beaches of Cannes, with luckly much better weather.

And lastly I have to say I never thought I'd say this, but i very much miss hanging out with girls. haha. the boys are great, but between the following girls like puppies down the beach and constant poo and fart jokes... i miss a feminine touch. haha, Luckly we have meet some other very nice girls in Nice so that was a good relief.

Were off to Avignon tomorrow to check out Pont du Gard, an old Roman Aquiduct which is a great spot for cliff jumping. Then continuing on to Spain - to the very highly recommended Barcelona. I'm really looking forward to checking out the city and enjoying the night life there too! cheers from the road