I'm a Bad Blogger...BAD Blogger!

Shame on me! It's been a while, hasn't it? Where shall I start? From the beginning, I suppose. We'll pick up from the trip after Amsterdam (it's been 7 weeks of straight trips or visitors, so...buckle your safety belts, folks!)

The weekend after Amsterdam I met my two best buddies, Morgan and Travis, for a fun weekend in Portugal! Travis was there for a full month researching for his Ph. D. It was rainy the whole weekend, but much warmer than Switzerland, so I was happy about that! We had a nice, relaxing weekend full of yummy food, LOTS of chocolate, cheap wine and fun stories of way back when. We even watched a movie or 2 in English! I love hanging out with my old buddies!

                                    Trolley in Lisbon, Portugal

                                    Fun Night out with Friends!

                                         Castle in Lisbon

                                           View of the beautiful city!

Unfortunately, I came back to Lugano to MORE snow.  But it sure was beautiful!

The next weekend was trip to London #1.  I got to spend 5 days in London with my friend from TASIS, Allyson.  But this one wasn't for fun - more like stress!  We were there in order to attend a job fair.  Both of us had the dream of looking for a job in London.  Literally we put ALL of our eggs in this one basket, as there were only 3 London schools in attendance.  Within 3 minutes of the start of the fair, we had been turned away by 2 of them.  Yikes.  But luckily, we both secured interviews with the SAME school (in London!).  I am convinced that I only got the interview because I literally FELL into the principal as I was shaking her hand.  Nice.  Allyson and I had a weekend full of interviews with the school (and even got to go to their campuses to visit in person!).  More on that later!  We did get to have some fun as it was Adam's (Eason's roommate) 30th birthday.  A good time was had by all, and Allyson and I almost forgot how worried we were about the job situation. :)

                                 Me and Allyson Out on the Town in London

Me and Eas

Adam and All of his Ladies on His 30th!

The next weekend it was BACK to London. This time I got to bring all of my buddies from TASIS along as it was a 4 day weekend for us! Good times! Other than losing my purse on the flight (it's okay, I still had my passport and money/credit cards), it was a great weekend! I got to see Morgan, hang out with my TASIS friends, and spend Valentine's with my boy! He had a great surprise day planned out which included a manicure (for me), a REAL show, drinks at a nice bar, and dinner at a very special place for us - Buddha Bar. He took me to the same place in Paris on my birthday - I have to recommend it - so great! It really was a nice and relaxing weekend. PLUS we had a reason to celebrate - the day before the trip I was offered the job in London! Talk about shock! Still working on the work permit to actually be able to live/work in London but the ball is rolling on that!

La Cage on Valentine's Day!  Great seats!
Going out for a Date

The next weekend was a weekend that I had been waiting for...KRISTIN'S TRIP TO EUROPE! I was so, so excited about this! My sweet friend, Kristin, had never been to Europe and she took time to come explore it with me! I was so very honored! I met up with her in Paris (after she explored all by herself all day!) and we hit the town running. We saw all the sights, had lots of good food, and shared some fun Euro-moments that will go down in the history of the mermaids. :) Here are just a few pics from Paris:
Me and Kristin at the Louvre
Just climbing the Eiffel Tower...
  "You Gotta Get IN the Map!"
Me and Merms in front of the Eiffel Tower

That week Kristin went all around Switzerland and Italy on the trains. I was so super impressed!! She has some funny stories to tell about the Milan train station ("Here, Italy is my boot...you are here, Naples is here...Lugano is way up here!"). It was just so nice to have her there when I came home from work (just like old times!). It didn't hurt that the weather was BEAUTIFUL for her! She really got to see Lugano at it's best! Check out this great pic from a lovely Lugano day:


Beautiful Lugano!


More coming soon! I had more visitors this past weekend (the boys!) and my Mom and Marty are coming this weekend! I can't tell you how excited I am to see them! I feel so blessed that everyone has come so far to see me. For those of you who can't come, know that I miss you tremendously and can't wait to see you over the summer (that's only 3 short months from now!).

Until next time,
Hayley