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Special Holiday Edition 2016

BlueRibbonNews.com

This semester, I was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. I spent three months visiting five different countries 

through a study abroad program at my university. It would be impossible to describe all of the sights, sounds and sensations 

I experienced on this journey, but these are a few of my favorite moments from the adventure.

By Julie Anne White.

Our semester began with 10 days in Iceland.

This photo was tak

en inside a glacier on my

first full day in this beautiful country. We 

rode snowmobiles throug

h the mountains to

the mouth of this man-made g

lacial tunnel, 

strapped on some special shoes, and charg

ed

straight inside “Lang

jokull,” the second largest 

glacier in Iceland. Most of Iceland was 

ironically pretty green and lush, with towering

mountains and tumbling waterfalls around 

every corner. But in snowy places like 

Langjokull, Iceland lived up to its name (and I

was thankful for my

 thick coat and gloves).

Iceland

harry potter

Being the avid Harry Potter enthusiast

that I am, I made sure to take a tour of

Warner Brother’s Harry Potter Studios

while I was in England. I spent five hours 

meandering through all of the sets and 

props on display, and I could have easily

stayed even longer. In this photo, I’m 

standing beside pieces of the g

igantic

wizards chess set from the first film.

I took several weekend trips to France over the

course of the semester, and it quick

ly became one

of my favorite countries. We visited the beaches of

Normandy and the American Cemetery as a g

roup, and

I later visited Paris with a friend. This photo was taken

in front of the island castle Le Mont Saint Michel 

during our Normandy trip. Some say

 that it inspired the

design for Rapunzel’s castle in the movie “Tang

led.”

normandy

ireland

The majority of my semester was spent in 

London, England. We lived right down the street

from the British Museum, at the very heart

of the city. Since we stay

ed in London for 

about nine weeks, I had plenty of opportunities

to do lots of exploring. This photo was taken

while wandering beside an old church on one

of our free days. In the rig

ht hand corner, 

you can see a bright red double decker bus

peeking out from behind the trees.

We spent our last week traveling in Scotland 

and Ireland to finish off our semester. Ireland

captured my heart with its sprawling emerald 

countryside and fascinating history. In this photo

I am standing on top of basalt columns at Giant’s

Causeway, one of the most famous natural

formations in Ireland. 

LONDON

REPORTER’S NOTE

Visit Julie’s blog at https://juliejourneyblog.wordpress.com/