I don't even know where to begin, but I suppose the beginning is logical. I'm writing about my break in a few entries so as to not ramble on too much, but it's hard to put these past few weeks into a concise thought so excuse my random asides and such.

The 18-hour bus ride (only about 16 in actuality) to Paris wasn't quite as horrible as I imagined it to be, largely due to the fact that I was miraculously able to sleep for nearly the entire time. Our class group arrived at the hotel in the middle of the night, slept for a few more hours, and then began exploring Paris. We did all the typical touristy things, as a bulk of the educational portion of the trip happened in London.

The weather was pretty crumby and I think that may have skewed my vision of the city; I'm glad I got the chance to see Paris, and I was really interested in lots of things I saw in the Louvre, loved the view from the Eiffel Tower, and had a great time wandering the streets near the Sacre-Coeur, but somehow missed out on experiencing the romance and charm I was expecting.

I was surprised at how dirty and smelly I found the city to be, and I also didn't find the people exceptionally friendly; I definitely felt some American hostility for the first time in Europe.

London, on the other hand, I adored (with the exception of the pound, of course). It was a relief to constantly hear English being spoken and know that I, too, could speak it without any issues. The tube was very easy to maneuver, I got to see lots of Bucknell friends, and the city had a vibe about it that made me very easily picture myself living there at some point in my life.

The academic part of the trip was also impressive. Among other activities, our group took a tour of the BBC building which was slightly generic but still neat to see how huge it is and how much is constantly going on. We also took a tour of the Telegraph newspaper; I had expected this to be pretty boring but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. Our guide was really entertaining and did an excellent job explaining how much work goes into just one issue of the paper and how important it is to utilize relationships and even the floor plan of the building to most efficiently produce the news. While I've been learning a fair amount in my media class, I find that these types of field trips have been a much more effective way for me to grasp the ideas and importance of the media industry.

My class left London Friday morning to return to Copenhagen, while I spent an extra night in the city with friends and flew to Rome Saturday to meet the girls I was going to spend the next nine days with. While I was slightly nervous to be traveling alone for a bit and ended up running into a little trouble with the rendezvous, it eventually all worked out and the next week and a half was unreal.