LondonThanks to the lovely weather that we experienced in early January, or trip was actually delayed by a day. This may have caused some hassle at the airport, but the stress of long lay-overs and hours spent sitting on the plane all went away the moment we stepped out of the plane in London. We did not waste any time and were only at the hotel for about thirty minutes before starting our tour around the city. Seeing Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster felt so surreal and I could not believe I was finally in Europe. I spent my free day in London with a smaller group and we were able to visit Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace, and even Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station! We were pretty proud of ourselves for being able to successfully navigate around London and not get lost riding the Tube.
Wales
The next stop on our journey was Wrexham in Wales. Honestly I had not expected to fall in love with Wales, but it did not take very long to do so. Thanks to connections that Maryville College has, we were able to meet with so awesome instructors that taught us a lot about Welsh culture. We were lucky enough to meet with them several times throughout the week. Our group learned a lot about the tension between the Welsh and English during our visit to Chester.A connection that we were able to make to home was meeting with author Suzanne Iuppa. She is originally from Knoxville and now lives in Wales. She showed us around the remains of the Valle Cruscis monastery and told us how the Welsh culture had inspired her poetry. We also had a chance later in the week to see what was left of two castles. The first was a Welsh castle called Dolwyddelan. It was a smaller castle on top of a steep hill. The second was Caernarfon, which we learned is technically a palace that was built by the English. Some other experiences we had with the Welsh culture were getting to watch a bell-ringing practice at a Cathedral in Wrexham, and we also listened to a Welsh choir sing in a pub. Being a musician myself, I loved being able to connect something I love to another culture.
Northern Ireland/Ireland
Northern Ireland was easily my favorite part of the trip. Our first day was spent at the Ulster-American Folk Park where we were actually able to see a house that had been build in Tennessee by and Irish family. It had been deconstructed, shipped back to Ireland, and rebuilt for the park. Thanks to the Community Action Group from Portadown we were able to learn more about Irish music, including Lambeg drums, traditional fiddle tunes, and we even had the chance to try some Scottish folk dances. Our group was actually featured in the Portadown newspaper for our visit. When we finally had the chance to spend more time in Belfast we visited the newly-opened Titanic museum. It was so interactive and a great way to learn the history. My absolute favorite stop was Giant's Causeway. This is a gorgeous spot on the north coast of Ireland that is well known for its unique rock formations. On our way to Dublin we stopped at New Grange. This was the home of a tomb formed out of stone that is over 5,000 years old. Sadly we did not get much time in Dublin, but I still loved every moment of it! 
While having our last group dinner it was strange to think that we would be back in the US the next day. The days had flown by and I wasn't ready to go home. I had learned so much about different cultures and met so many wonderful people. Seeing all of the old buildings and hearing the dates which they were built made me realize how young America is compared to Europe. This trip has been the greatest experience I've had during my college years, and I truly believe that anyone who gets the chance to study abroad needs to take that opportunity.