Home Sweet Home!

A big hello from Canada at last!!

This will be my last entry in this blog. Looking back on my trip I realize how much of an amazing trip I had. I experienced things I never would have imagined. I met great people, I learned about myself and I grew, I got to see the pure beauty of this world, and I had fun.

If you asked me what my favorite thing or place was I don't think I could tell you and pick one. However when I think of each country I would say: Greece was where I grew the most on an individual level, Ireland was the most beautiful and I enjoyed sight seeing, England was the most fun and I had a great time with friends.

I'm sure that in a few months I'll be looking back on this blog and saying "WOW, I miss it." Currently though it feels so good to be laying in my own bed writing this and how true the saying " There's no place like home" is to me right now.

These small entries, insights, and photo's of my trip are such a small portion of what I actually experienced and learned. It's hard because I will never be able to fully explain it to anyone since I was on my own. But I do honestly appreciate all the support and love each of you gave me while I was on my trip. It was so great to be able to update you on my journey.

I have come a long way in 5 weeks and I will always look back on this trip and I will smile.

Thanks for sharing with me everyone!

Cheers,

Maryse

London, England

Hello!

I'm not sure how many people are still reading my blog but its going to come to an end very soon. My trip is just about over. I arrived in London England today and this is where I will fly home from.

I had an amazing time in Central England. As I mentioned earlier I spent most of my time in the countryside which was great. I spent a full day in Nottingham yesterday, I went to the Nottingham Castle and the oldest pub in England. It was a really nice day to see the city. The day before that I went to Wollington Gardens, Museum, and Deer Park. It was an absoutely beautiful museum which was actually the home to a family long ago. Inside the museum is a whole bunch of life size animals that have been stuffed and they look real. The man who use to live their devoted his life to nature and animals as a study. It was really neat and I have some cool pictures.

Last night my friends (the ones who I originally met in Greece) and I had a big poker night at the farm, we set up the table in one of the barns and played poker and cards all night. This was so much fun. I enjoyed their company so much and I'm so thankful for the time spent in and around Nottingham.

This trip has truly been amazing and I have enjoyed it so much. However I must say I'm really looking forward to going home, being with my family, catching up with my friends, and sleeping in my own bed. ha I will update my blog at least once more for a final look back on my trip.

Can't wait to see you all back home.

Maryse

England!!

Hello Everyone,

England has been great so far. I don't have much time on the computer to update and I can't upload any photo's because I'm not on my laptop and can't plug it in here. So a quick little update:

England is just as beautiful as Ireland and I really like it. I'm currently in Nottingham England. I visited and did some sight seeing in the cities of Bristol and in Bath. I will be in Nottingham till probably monday or tuesday and then will catch a train to London for two days before I fly home.

It's been so nice to have friends tour me around here. In Bath I visited cathedrals, saw the university, got some great photo's. My friends that are touring me around live in Nottingham and one of them lives on a large farm with a famous abbey that is now in ruins. I spent a full day at the farm yesterday. We did adventures through the forest, went quading, saw some castles and breathtaking views of England. I've been quite lucky with the weather here and it's really beautiful. Tonight there is a local family festival in Nottingham with pubs, games, and events so were going to go to that tonight.

I'm looking forward to seeing London soon but I'm soaking up all my time here and truly having a blast. The country side is so beautiful and very serene.

Hope all is well back home and will update again when I can!

Cheers,
Maryse

Day in Galway

Hello,

Today I had a full day in Galway. It was really nice to walk around and see the city. I have decided I like Galway more than Dublin. Dublin is great for sightseeing but its very busy. Galway is a very artisy city with music playing everywhere, there are long shopping streets, square parks, and its right by the ocean.

I went to a little coffee shop, bookstore, and bible school today that was recommended to me by someone on my sailaway in Greece. It was really neat to meet some of the people who worked their and ran the ministry. I enjoyed a warm drink and a cookie while I talked with the director about the school and ministry.

Overall I had a quiet day but a very enjoyable one. I truly have come to love Ireland, even the rainy weather. I am sure sometime in the future I will be here again, whatever that may mean or be.

I'll be sure to write before I leave for England tomorrow.

Cheers,

Maryse

The Cliffs of Moher!

What an amazing day!!!

Hello everyone! Today was my best day in Ireland so far. I did a full day trip to the south west coast and saw the Cliffs of Moher. They are absoultely gorgeous. I met two other girls who were traveling alone on the tour so we hung out all day. This was really nice for me and we had heaps of fun.

I tried to take good pictures so that I could share this amazing view and place with you all and I hope they do some justice. This is somewhere I would tell everyone I know to visit. I'm quite tired since it was a long day but it was well worth it. Tonight Erin(Australia), Ashley(Toronto), and myself are going to make dinner and then go to a pub for a drink. This will be nice since I have yet to go out and experience an Irish pub. We are going to find one with live music which will be great.

Today was a great day and I'm excited to share ALL my photo's with you when I'm home from my trip.

Thanks for reading my blog! Truly hope all is well back home!

Maryse

Galway, Ireland

(The two photo's with buildings in them are taken right outside my hostel room. The photo of the green field does NO justice to the beauty of the countryside but it was difficult to take a photo with the moving bus.)

Hey,

I have made is safely to Galway Ireland. The bus ride to Galway itself was absoultely breath taking. I cannot express and I wish my pictures could show you just how amazing and beautiful Ireland is. I have yet to see a more beautiful place on earth. Galway is a small city on the west coast of southern Ireland. It is very close to the Cliffs of Moher which are a huge attraction here. Tomorrow I will be doing a full day tour of them.

My time in Galway is shorter than I would have liked but I have a feeling sometime in the future I will be back to Ireland for further travel. The hostel I am staying at has nice bunk beds, is quiet and is very clean so I should be getting a good nights rest, finally!

I will be sure to update my blog tomorrow evening once I've completed my day trip. Hopefully I will get some good photo's so I can attempt to show everyone back home the beauty.

One of the coolest things for me being here is that just looking at the green fields, the stone, the cattle, and the rolling hills is a huge testimony of God's amazing creation and existence. I'm truly in awe.

That's all for now.

Maryse

Bye Bye Dublin!

Hello.

Today was my last day officially in Dublin. I didn't spend most of the day here anyway though. I went to a town south of Dublin called Bray. As I mentioned its on the coast and it is really nice. There was a huge hill at the end of the beach and you could climb up it and see Dublin like 12km away...really neat. I enjoyed my short time here. I read on the rocky beach, got fish and chips, and walked up the hill and layed on the grass and sang. ha

This afternoon I had a nap for awhile because I was quite tired, had a quick phone call home to my parents which was nice and got my stuff ready to go to Galway tomorrow.

This evening I went to a place called Shelborne Stadium and watched the greyhound dog races. This was such a cool event! It's as popular as a flames game back at home for the locals. Basically they all bet on the dogs they think are going to win each race. I'm so happy I went out for a night at the dogs and experienced this. I did this with three other people from my hostel who were also traveling alone. Adam was from baltimore, Martin from France, and Anna from Germany.

Now i'm off to bed and ready to travel to Galway tomorrow.

Hope all is well back home.

Maryse

Shopping and Walking!

Hey!

Today I had a good day. I have pretty much scene all the main attractions in Dublin now. I did some shopping which was nice and bought two cute and cheap tops (cheap for Dublin that is). I couldn't help myself! I did a lot of walking today too, pretty much the whole downtown.

Later this afternoon I went to St.Patricks Cathedral and attended a service their. There was a choir who sang and it was a very old and traditional service. It was neat to experience it. The church is quite large and has beautiful architecture. I'll post pictures above.

As for this evening I'm having a quiet evening at the hostel. It's only 9:15pm and I'm getting ready for bed. Ha I know I'm crazy. I should be going out, I'm in Ireland! lol But I enjoy my evenings by myself!

Tomorrow I have decided to take the train to Bray for a day trip. Bray is just south of Dublin and its on the coast of Ireland so i'll get to see the beach and a bit of countryside. This should be a nice little day trip for me that isn't too expensive. I'm also really looking forward to going to Galway in two days. I hear its absoultely beautiful and the more I think about it the more excited I am to get there.

Anyway, thats about it for now. Please continue to pray for me on my trip.

My prayers are with everyone back home too.

Maryse

Relaxing Day in Dublin

Greetings!! ha

Today was a good day. I did a lot of walking around. I went to Trinity Western University....oh my goodness. This is the most beautiful university I have ever scene. I have some great photo's of it. Unfortunetly my computer is currently dead and my photo's are on it so i'll have to wait until tomorrow when its charged to upload them.

I also went to St.Steven's Green. This is a huge park and garden area in Dublin. It truly is gorgeous. There are ponds, flowers, statues, and a couple of stages for performances. It is so green and peaceful. I sat in the grass and read my book for about an hour enjoying both the sun and some rain! ha

This evening was absoultely wonderful. I went to the theatre by myself and watched a professional irish riverdance performance. This was amazing and a lot of fun. It cost quite a bit of money but I thought "Hey..I'm in Ireland on vacation, its Riverdance, when am I going to experience this again??" So I went for it and it was worth every euro!!

I'm quite tired now and looking forward to a good nights sleep!

I'll post photo's tomorrow of my adventure's from today.

God Bless,
Maryse

Travelling Around Dublin

Hello!

It's quite late here and I'm ready for bed. I thought I would give an update before I fall asleep. I had a slow start to my day but it turned out to be a great day.

I visited the Dublin Castle and got a guided tour around it. It was very beautiful and I liked learning about the history. (picture above) I also went to the Chester Beester Library and it was basically turned into a huge gallery of history, alot of which was religious. It was neat to read a lot of random information. haha

I also did some random walking and picture taking around Dublin. I got a quick chance to walk down the main shopping street in Dublin and of course the first shop I walk into is amazing. I broke down and bought a really cute top! ha

As for this evening...I had an absoulte blast. At the hostel they give free Irish Dancing lessons twice a week so I decided to check them out. It started at 8pm, we did a warm up, learned some moves, then a whole routine, and then we danced and danced. I seriously had SO much fun. I use to Irish dance when I was younger and I really enjoyed this...it truly brought back memories of dance. The really neat thing was they chose the best female and male dancer for the evening and they got a free nights accomdation..and I won! It was special and gave me a few extra Euro's for the rest of my trip! Sweet hey??

Anyway, I have had a good day in Dublin and I look forward to walking around and doing some more touring tomorrow. I got to phone home today for free as well which was AWESOME. First time I talked to my mom in 3 weeks. It was great!!!

Hope all is well back home! I'll update again later.

Maryse

Pictures Above:

(Red Building is the Hostel I'm staying in right now)

Incredible Ireland!

Hello!!

Well I made it to Dublin no problem! I got on all my flights with ease. My goodness I have hardly been in Ireland for a couple of hours and I'm in absoulte awe of how beautiful it is. My jaw dropped as I was taking the bus to my hostel. I never thought that a city could be so amazing. I love the housing made with bricks and stones, the shapes of the typical houses is wonderful. I just wish I could describe what it's like and how amazing I think it is.

I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow and soaking up this amazing, beautiful, green country of Ireland. More great news is that I have decided I'm going to continue on in my travels and stay in Europe longer. My plan is to travel England for awhile before I come home. I am doing amazingly well, enjoying myself, and I'm already half way across the world I might as well keep travelling!!

It's crazy for me that looking back now Greece is all a memory for me its no longer a reality. I most definetly enjoyed my time on the Greek Islands and in Athens. It is a relief to be out of the crowded city of Athens and in a country that at least speaks my own language. It was perfect timing for me to leave and I truly got to see everything I wanted in Greece. Now I have a completely different culture and area to be excited about!

I will update tomorrow evening after I travel around for the day. Tomorrow I'm going to stay in Dublin all day and roam the streets, shops, and visit a few churches.

Sending my love home! Missing you all!

Maryse

The Amazing Acropolis!

Hello,

Well...its quite late in Greece. I had a good last day in Greece. I really enjoyed my time at the Acropolis today. It was so beautiful, and such an amazing view of Athens. I brought a book from home about travelling Athens and it happened to have a written tour of the acropolis so I did get my own personal tour...haha the book!! ha

Anyway, there is not a lot to write about my day. Hopefully the pictures will do some justice. I`ll write once I`m in Ireland whenever I get there! ha

Hope all is well back home!!

Maryse

Last day in Athens!

Hello!!

I know that I havent written a detailed blog entry in awhile so I will try and do so now! Yesterday I spent the whole day at a beach in Athens and had a blast. I know it seems silly that I was just on a boat for two weeks but we really didn't get time to relax on a beach. I met a few people from England and they were sooo great to hang out with. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Today I'm going to the Acropolis by myself! My plan is to find an english tour there and sneak around behind them and catch all the facts. haha Kidding! I'm really looking forward to seeing the parthenon as well as having a great look at Athens from up high. This is my last day in Greece and I plan to soak it all up. I'm leaving a day early for Ireland tomorrow because of flights.

I have caught up on sleep since I got off the boat which is nice.

I know that a few people were interested to know a litle bit more about my experience on the boat. I'll mention a few quick things now:
-The food was amazing on the boat. A women named Sandra was our cook. She is the wife of Theo our skipper/captain. They live on the boat year round.
-I learned how to wind surf on the trip which was a lot of fun. It took me awhile to get good at it but it was fun.
-You already knew that not many people were my age so I didn't make any deep relationships but for the most part I enjoyed people's company! haha
-I got to see a ship wreak and snorkel around it which was cool.
-And we studied the book of Romans pretty much the whole trip. I learned a lot and enjoyed the teachings!

That's a bit more information on the boat. I have sooo many stories to share with each of you when I'm home.

God Bless,

Maryse

Off the Boat and In Athens

Hello!

Well I have made it safely to Athens. I'm at a very nice hostel, much better than the last one. I am very tired from the sailing but it was good. The last few days were filled with great adventure, lots of sailing, time in the sun, climbing, wind surfing and great bible studies. It was a great trip.

As for now I'm going to be in Athens for a few days before I leave for Ireland. When I think about what I'm going to do there and why I'm going there I just laugh because I have no clue. I'm sure it will be a great experience though.

As for now I'm just going to relax a bit. I'm going for dinner tonight with two of the people from the boat so that should be nice. I promise to update again soon when I'm not so tired. My ankle is much better by the way.

God Bless,

Maryse

Back in Skopolis

Hello,

This will be a quick entry here! We weren't actually suppose to be stopping at an island until the trip ends on Saturday. However, one of the men on our ship had a medical emergency with an infection so he is currently at the hospital.

As for myself, the past few days have been mostly good. The day after we left here we went to an Island owned by Monks and its forbidden to walk the land and no women are aloud on the island. Of course we get there and Theo our skipper tells us that we can go for a hike no big deal.

Well...there are NO trails its all rock, hills, and scratchy bushes. This place is like never walked by men there are only wild goats.In the middle of this island there is a huge mountain and of course me and three of the guys decided it wouild be a fun idea to climb the mountain. Everyone else stayed back on the boat. ha It took us two hours to get to the top, it was a complete scramble but WOW the view was outstanding. Unfortunetly on the way back down my foot got stuck between two rocks and I sprained my ankle. We were pretty much racing daylight to get back to the boat in time so we weren't stuck in dark. This was a bit painful but much worse the next morning. For the past two days I haven't put any weight on it, but it feels much better today! I'm glad!

Anyway...I'll update way more once I'm off the boat on Saturday!

God Bless,

Maryse

Safe Night, Leaving Skopolis, and Photos!

Hello!

We had a safe night with a little wind! Praise God! I was just informed we may not recieve internet until I'm off the boat in a week so I wanted to post a few more photos and let you know I'll be safe even if I'm not blogging.