Announcement: Honduras!

Many of you may know that I spent this past summer in Cape Town, South Africa working in local community health clinics.  The six weeks I spent working with local communities and individuals changed me in more ways than I could ever begin to explain.  I know that it may sound cliche, but it was the most rewarding experience I have had thus far--but eye opening and humbling.  The members of the communities had compassion, pride and humility for their culture and people.  Please see the link above (South Africa 2012) if you would like more info.

Before I left Cape Town I knew that I wanted to continue my service work back home at Rochester.  I had heard of Global Water Brigades through my friend, Bridget, who is also in Alpha Phi.  I immediately messaged her requesting more information and knew that it was something I would pursue during my senior year.

Well folks, it is official! I am happy to announce that I am going to spend a week in Honduras this coming January working as a member of Global Water Brigades, Rochester.  I cannot wait to share more information with you and share what GWB is all about along with the brigade itself.  There is so much to be done in the coming months with preparations, fundraising and spreading the word about GWB and I hope that you will follow the journey with me and the other brigaders (there is a group of about 20!)

I will give more information on the trip in the coming weeks regarding what exactly GWB does in Honduras, so keep reading!

Please feel free to read up on Global Water Brigades HERE!

Donations/ sponsorship can be located at empowered.org/kyliebellis where you can donate towards either my personal goal or the entire group.

**All donations/ sponsorship goes towards supplies to build sustainable water systems (including pipes, tools etc), 24/7 guards, travel expenses and our personal labor**

Thank you,

Kylie

Adventures in Boston

Where oh where have I been? I've actually been busy exploring Boston for the past few days as I was visiting my friend Rachel from UR.  I remember mentioning to her once that I had only been in Boston for 6 hours on a trip to Salem that my mom took me on before entering freshman year at HWS. She gladly invited me to stay with her over break and get a better feel for the city and her hometown of Newton, MA.

Here are some facts about the last time I went to Boston:

1. I was 18 years old, which seems like a lifetime ago

2. OhsoMiscellanea did not exit nor did I ever think I would have a blog

3. I rarely exercised let alone ran daily

4. I was hopeful, nervous and excited for orientation at HWS

5. It was the hottest day on record in Boston that year (2009)

6. We rode the Old Trolly around as if it were a cab

This time, however, was a bit different:

1. I am now 21 years old, which makes ME seem old

2. OhsoMiscellanea is definitely in my life yet still not as much as I'd like

3. I had so much more energy to walk the city instead of taking the T or cabs

4. My body went "haywire" from lack of running for 3 days

5. It is the middle of winter and we saw no snow...anywhere

6. We saw so much more of Boston that I had never seen! (North End)

One this has still remained the same though. I love Boston and apparently I also love touristy pictures (the Boiling Pot & the Ducks).  Give me a break though, it was something that definitely had to be done. 

Thanks so much to Rachel and her family for having it, it was a wonderful trip!

Double Dutch.

No, not the jump roping kind but the I am going abroad to the Netherlands (Dutchland for all of you have lived under a rock your whole lives) August 26th kind!  I don't believe I have done a post about going abroad yet but as the weather gets increasingly nicer I find myself needing more reasons to procrastinate.

So, as of August 26th I will be flying to Brussels and then taking a train to Maastricht, Netherlands and spending the semester there...until December 23rd to be exact.

See that dot at the very bottom of the map?  Well that is where I will be.  Maastricht is known for its beautiful walled in city that is from Medieval times and still has Roman ruins lurking about.  To say that I'm excited is an understatement, though I will surely miss the comforts of home.

A river runs through the city, which I believe is a bit larger than Buffalo, NY.  I have already scoped out a few marketplaces and events that should be coming fall semester so now all I have to do is (a) have an amazing summer, and (b) fit everything into two LARGE suitcases so I can make it there.

Spring Break| The Artsy Side of Us

If you are friends with me on Facebook you have already seen all of these photographs but I figured I'd post them to the blog anyways and give a little description/ explanation of them.  I have realized I am awful at organizing posts on such a HUGE EVENT but some is better than none right.

The first day we literally walked everywhere, which would have been okay if I had prepared and chose not to drive to classes that were far away.  Amidst my huffing and puffing we went from the apartment in Camden to St. Pauls and all the way down to parliment across the river to the eye and back!  I was trying to get some great compositions so I thought the above photo of St. Pauls was cool!

Here we have BIG BEN, twice! I like the top picture because it shows the buildings around the tower but also highlights the tower itself.  The photo below is one of my favorites because its so busy.  You have the flags, the tower and even the eye in the background. In photography we learned how the eye is attracted to shapes, these three objects create a triangle which balances the photo.

Below is a photograph of the London Eye, which has probably been taken many times and is becoming too touristy but I still like it.

After walking past the eye there was a sort of boardwalk.  Under this one bridge were walls of amazing and interesting graffiti, along with some young skateboarders showing off their tricks.

The artist seems to be talking to the sand sculputer in this photo, its as if he is yelling at her.  It was the most random thing right in the middle of London but so interesting at the same time. 

Buckingham Palace at its finest, on our first sunny day!

Buckingham palace, which can also be seen through the reflection in Brendan's RayBan Sunglasses.  It was quite stunning but also a serious tourist trap.  I don't know how I could deal with it if I were the Queen.  Also, the Guards were NOT as exciting as I had hoped, they were so far away I could hardly see them!

The Louvre.  Being the serious nerd I am and LOVING The Davinci Code/ Angels and Demons, I am of course in love with the Louvre and the pyramid outside if it.  I happened to catch the suns rays coming through the pyramid on the sunny day we went (which was a tuesday, the museum is closed).  I love this picture because it really shows how absolutely gorgeous it was outside since it was in fact 75 degrees!

Brendans Masterpiece (pt 1).  While walking up through the gardens outside the Louvre he just had to go get a picture of these trees...Little did I know he had another idea, which came out very nicely I might add.  The trees seem to frame the women sitting on the bench which I love.

He also took this photo at my request.  I like the lines of the building and then the movement of the cars, it shows how fast they actually do drive in Paris!

The top photo of the pallet is one that I took and Brendan took the B&W ones below.  I thought that I was doing great with my framing and aperature but he seems to outdo me once again.  I really like how the stand is in focus while the rest of the background is blurred, you can see it a lot better in the black and white.

The Eiffel Tower: Touristy and Expensive but obviously something everyone who goes to Paris must see.  We went to the second level (the line to the top was way too long for our short stay), and traveled about the gardens below.

My first sausage in 3 years!  In the German Marketplace (Borough Market), we walked around scoping everything out when I had this sudden urge for Sauerkraut and a big Sausage.  Luckily this nice guy had some for sale.  I must say, it was amazing.

This picture was taken our last night in London when we went on the Eye.  It is a lot taller than I thought it was but luckily very steady and you could hardly tell you were moving.  The sunset was gorgeous and it was a great end to our trip!

Spring Break| The Yummy Part

Let me give you one some insight into one of the more exciting parts of Spring Break.  

A brief background may be required for this so here we go: For the past two years my meals have consisted of white meat only (chicken and turkey), little to no seafood and LOTS of veggies.  Thats right, no ham, sausage, beef, pork etc.

Over break I promised myself I would try lots of foods and so that is exactly what Brendan and I did.  I have posted a few pictures of our favorites except that we didn't take pictures of the Snails in Paris, or the Bouf Bourignon which I clearly just tried because Julia Child makes a great recipe.  We also had Veal (baby Moo cow) and the following:

Cute little triangle tea sandwiches and Iced Chocolate at this restaurant called Cilantro.  I was absolutely splendid both for the meal and price!  Located right near the shopping district of London I was very happy to find such a yummy place.

Here is the Ostrich dinner we made, yes Ostrich as in the big bird!  We bought the steaks and wild mushrooms at Borough Market, please if you ever go to London, go to this market.  We also added a great Creme Fraise sauce to go with it.

The Ye Old Chesire Cheese, known for being one of the oldest running pubs in London serves up some great Fish and Chips.  I must say its not half bad especially since it is a dish known to England and the UK.  Their draft beers weren't half bad either!

I love cheese.  Mostly very sharp cheddars and Brie but we decided to explore this amazingly huge cheese shop and ended up with a Stilton (VERY strong blue cheese) and some soft goat cheese that had some bite to it.  The people were really friendly and let us sample anything we wanted!

Last but not least, Katzenjammers or as I would like to call it "Kittys and Jammies."  A nice little basement German Pub that serves some awesome German beers in seriously large quantities (well large for me).  This pint was so heavy but we had a great time sipping away while enjoying traditional German Pretzels.  We also met some fun Russians who sat next to us and were arguing over whether or not to see Greece the Musical!

All in all, the food in London/Paris was AMAZING.  I couldn't have enjoyed my newfound love for something besides chicken anymore.

Spring Break 2011| The Best Break Ever

Here, I'll give you a little hint at how my spring break went...It was AMAZING.  Needless to say, after a rather misfortunate return flight home I am just returning to school this morning.  What does that mean?  I have been super busy and unable to blog about my trip!  Hopefully in the next few days, more likely it will come this weekend, I will post numerous blogs about my trips to London & Paris, and all the glorious foods I tried with Brendan :)

Stay tuned.....

J'taime.

A quick update on my plans for spring break.  Not only will I be going to London but we will also be going to PARIS, FRANCE! How exciting right?  I may or may not be too excited to describe the break I am about to experience in exactly 1 week.

While taking a break from the stacks and stacks of never ending homework I was able to look up some great hotels and airfare.  Thank god I have a friend, Jillian, who has lived in Paris for the past few summers.  She was a great and helped me settle on a Hotel in St. Michel.

The Grand Hotel St. Michel.   It's great because its right in the heart of a fun section in Paris and we can easily get to the Metro to see all the touristy sites.  I cannot wait to have a Baguette fight along the Seine, how fun?!

I cannot wait to post pictures that I take while in Europe, and simply can't wait to step off the plane in Heathrow next Saturday night.  As for now I am nursing myself back to health from an upset stomach and severe case of being drastically overtired.  I decided to stay in and work on getting better so I don't end up sick by next weekend.

Hope you all have a great night!

Countdown.

I am officially starting my countdown to spring break, which is bound to be quite one of the best experiences of my life!  Not only will I be seeing Brendan for the first time in 9 weeks I will also be in London.  I have seriously been waiting to officially start this mental countdown since the day he left but I figured that it was too many days a way and a bit obsessive.  So here we are...

14 days!

No, don't worry I will not do a daily countdown on the blog, but be excited because most everyone's Spring Breaks are around the same time...Start your own countdown folks, get excited for adventures and relaxing away from school.  Are you going anywhere exciting or staying home with family and friends?  Either way, its a sign that spring is coming sooo sooo soon!

Saratoga Springs.

I should first introduce Brendan before I go to far.  

Brendan is my boyfriend of almost two and a half years who is will be studying abroad in London this semester.  For Christmas we decided to spend the day together and chose Saratoga Springs.  I was skeptical at first because I thought it was mainly a summer attraction, but to my surprise, it was still gorgeous in the winter!

We went on a day without snow and it was bitter cold but the town was much like Canandaigua and the State Park was amazing.

A few photo's from the day: