to the left, to the left

HI GUYS!!!!!!! I bet you thought I forgot you; I did not. I just barely had to time to breathe the month of February, let alone publish a blog post! I went on "winter break" and MAN OH MAN do I have stories for you.

So the title of this blog has two meanings: one, I SAW BEYONCE if you somehow didn't know this (sorry if I was/am annoying about that but I mean come on) and second because the three islands I visited all drove on the left which consequently led to me almost dying 261894 times before I got used to it and now that I'm back in France, I'm back to almost dying because I look the wrong way still...my life is hard, I know. SO DETAILS here we go!!! This will be long af, sorry in advance.

FIRST STOP on my island tour 2014 was the UK, London to be specific. This leg of the tour I've dubbed "Sarah's Fangirl Break" because along with Beyonce, I also went on a Harry Potter studio tour and saw the Parent Trap house and fangirled in general over London because I still love it more than most things in life.

SOoooo Harry Potter. Like the rest of us, I grew up with those books and obv have a LARGE emotional attachment to them. I of course had to make the pilgrammage to see the studios to be fully immersed in the movie magic. I was expecting to love it, but not as much as I did. There was just so much to see!!!!! My fave parts included the Great Hall, the Burrow, the Common Room, Dumbledore's Office, all the props, the wigs, the costumes...okay so like all of it. But what actually brought me to tears was seeing all the tiny children running around in robes and wands, enjoying the magic as much as I did. We had the priveledge of growing up with the stories and characters, but seeing these kids made me fully realize the huge impact the stories will continue to have on all of us wah. Oh and at the very end of the tour, there's a room with nothing but the giant mini model of Hogwarts and talk about a surreal place to be. Wowza. I counted, and I think I only cried like seven times, which I think is impressively low sooo yeah.

As you may remember, my friend Lindsay is studying in London and was once again a fantastic tour guide, only this time we went to much less sightseeing places and I got to feel like a real Londoner, away from the swarms of tourists that are everywhere you go--my favorite was Brick Lane, although I am sadly not nearly enough of a hipster to truly fit in there...

...and then Lindsay and I continued to the highlight of life, a Beyonce concert. You guys, I know you already know this, but if you ever, EVER get the chance to go on the floor at a Beyonce concert, do it. We made eye contact like three times and I almost cried, Jay Z came for Drunk in Love and I did cry, basically anything she did was tear-worthy. She's just such a phenom performer, it's awe-inspiring. I don't know how she does it, but I'm sure glad she does because wow I reaped the benefits. I wish I could go on, but I honestly don't have words to explain it.

After Beyonce, I was scheduled to leave London but I didn't really have a concrete plan of what to do. Naturally, I fulfilled one of my goals with the modern way of running to a ticketing counter and saying "give me the cheapest ticket you have!": SkyScanner. I SkyScanned for cheap flights out of London to a cool place I'd never been and ended up in Larnaka, Cyprus at 4 AM!

My plan was this: drop my bag off at my hotel and go to the beach to watch the sunrise. Sounds relatively easy, right? Well not really. I got to my hotel and they weren't open, so I was stuck with my bag to find the beach. A minor hiccup. My taxi driver told me how to get to the beach, but I of course walked the wrong way....so here I am, pretty lost in a weird country, at what is now 5:30 AM...I didn't know what to do, so I kept walking. I found the beach, but of course it was cloudy, so I couldn't see the sunrise. It had been spitting this whole time, but, stupidly, I wasn't that worried (even though I live in a Mediterranean climate...I should've seen what was coming next). There were a lot of old, Greek men running/swimming on the beach and when they saw me walking in the mist, they quickly ushered me to a changing house to sit down and avoid the rain. I knew (assumed) I'd be fine, but I humored them and sat for a while. I left the beach the way I came, confident I knew the way. HAHA nope, I got lost (again) and that spitting? Turned into a torrential downpour. I've never been so unintentionally wet in my life. I stumbled into the first open coffeeshop I came across (it was like 7:30 at this point, but I had found my way into residential Larnaka). There were three people there: three old men, of which only one could speak marginal English. We attempted to chat, he told me he once brought a FBI agent home with him (I think that's what he said at least) and by the time I had finished my coffee (okay so I spilled it all over myself), it was 8 AM and still pouring. The English speaker goes: "Okay, now I give you a ride back to your hotel"

Now, everyone knows the golden rule of life: do not get into cars with strangers. However, when it's 8 AM, pouring in a place with little drainage so there are puddles everywhere, and the most sleep you've gotten in two days is a bumpy four hours on a plane, all the golden rules and smart things your mother teaches you fall to the wayside. Away I dashed into his car--Larnaka isn't a very big town and I showed him a picture of the church right outside my hotel so I was confident I would be there in about five minutes.

Then he tried to kill me.

WOW KIDDING SORRY NOT FUNNY but he did take me to a weird church that was definitely not the one I showed him, claiming he thought it was...so there was definitely a moment of "haha Sarah, you're so stupid what are you doing what are you doing what are you doing get out of the car get out of the car" but luckily we pulled up to my hotel like three seconds later and I scurried inside. Miraculously, my room was ready so away I went to take a nap--er, eight hour sleep--before continuing my adventure.

The rest of my time in Cyprus passed much less eventful than me climbing into a car with a strange old man, as I'm sure my mother is ecstatic to hear (sorry for any near heart attacks I just caused).

My next stop was the very small, very delightful country of Malta! I got there via a HUGE plane--I think it might've been bigger than the one that brought me across the Atlantic in August. They had Frozen so I was obv a happy camper. The Malta airport is tiny (shocking) and I'm pretty sure that plane was maybe half the size of the whole airport. You had to walk onto the tarmac for all flights and it dwarfed all the other planes there.

During my stay in Malta, I completely fell in love with the island and that's largely thanks to the hostel I stayed at (sunny weather by the sea doesn't hurt anyone's case either). Seriously, if you ever find yourself lucky enough to go to Malta, stay at Hostel Malti and I promise you a good time. They greeted me by name and made me feel welcome and shit that's just amazing. A++++. I met so many interesting people from all over the world, and as a girl that loves traveling alone, that's always the best part!! I could go on forever, but I think you'd rather look at pictures of the sea, so here you go! I went swimming twice of course, and it was cold, but summer is just around the corner!! (ahhh I refuse to accept the fact that it's almost the middle of March).

WOW SORRY I hope you read that all!! I have a lot to say, apparently. Who knew I liked to talk, even if it's via the internet? I'm staying in Aix this weekend for the first time in what feels like forever and I couldn't be more excited to do so. On the bus from the airport last night I was so content with everything that I started tearing up a little (okay, so maybe I was listening to Beyonce too but whatever). My next trip is to Istanbul so that'll probably be a peak of life. Oh and in case you're wondering if I ever study, I took two midterms today so yes I guess I do a form of studying.

Kisses friends!!! until the next one,

Sarah and the sea and selfies = true love 

Sarah