Ireland!: 40 shades of green:)

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Wow, where to start... Ireland was BEAUTIFUL! It definitely was my favorite country out of all the places we visited throughout this trip, and I definitely will go back again in my lifetime.

We caught a plane Thursday night and got to our hostel by like midnight-ish, which was pretty late but we just went straight to bed so we could get an early start the next morning. Our hostel was actually pretty nice and it was in an AMAZING location! (I have to add here that I was the one who actually found and booked the hostel- as well as the 60 pound airfare lol... i was pretty proud of myself) But anyways, our hostel was a 6 person female room with 3 bunk beds, and since there were 5 of us in the room, we had a random person stay there 2 of the 3 nights, which was kind of weird/awkward at first but it really wasn't so bad.

So the first day we were there, Friday, wasn't the greatest weather - it was pretty rainy and cold. But it ended up working out okay because we were just touring around the city of Dublin and we were saving the tour of the countryside for the next day, which ended up being beautiful weather. So along the “hop-on-hop-off” bus tour we did around the city we stopped/got off at several places including Trinity College (where there were actually students graduating that day!), St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church, Temple Bar, and the Guiness Factory! Although I do not really like Guiness beer, touring around the brewery was pretty cool. It was 5 floors and we were able to see all the ingredients and manufacturing that goes into making the beer. The tour ended at the very top floor, the Gravity Bar, a place that was sort of like the Seattle Needle – it was a tall, large, circular room completely surrounded by windows that looked over the entire city of Dublin. It was really cool and so pretty. There, we also received a free pint of Guiness which was included in our admission price – since I didn’t really like the taste I gave my beer away lol but it was cool because they drew a little shamrock shape in the foam at the top of the beer.

Anyways the rest of the day we just shopped around for touristy things and then checked out the Temple Bar area, which is one skinny long cobblestone street lined with a bunch of unique little bars (and right near our hostel). The one we went into was playing live Irish music and was so crowded, but everyone was singing along and it was so much fun! It reminded me of the movie P.S. I love you if (you’ve ever seen it).

Speaking of which, the tour of the countryside we went on the next day took us to spots in the Wicklow Mountains of Glendalough where that movie (P.S. I Love You) was filmed!! Along with other movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Braveheart. I honestly can’t even begin to describe how beautiful our tour around the countryside, mountains, and glacier lakes was. It was absolutely stunning, and breathtaking. I almost wanted to cry! Haha It was just sooo green and so naturally beautiful. If you’re friends with me on facebook, I’ll be putting my pictures up soon and you HAVE to check them out. You will be amazed to how Ireland really holds true to its motto, “40 shades of Green.” Our tour lasted all day from about 9am-5pm so afterwards we finished up our touristy shopping and then ended up heading over to another part of town to check out the bar they filmed at in the movie P.S. I Love You (i know, we were a little obsessed haha) and it was funny because as soon as we walked in they were playing the song the guy sings at the bar in the film.

Anyways, that was our trip! We left the next morning verrrry early and got back to our apartment in London around 11. All in all, Ireland was absolutely gorgeous – I loved everything about it and I cannot wait to visit again!! Although next time I think I’d venture over to the west and south sides of the island to check out places like Galway and Cork, because I heard it’s even more beautiful there!

If you ever get the chance to go, I would highly recommend it! I’d also recommend that you take me with you as well!:)

Weeks 4-5: this trip is flying by!

Sorry I've fallen behind, this trip is just going by so fast I'm losing track of time! Anyways, i'll try to sum up what i've done in the past week or so since I've been back from Scotland. Last week we went on a Jack the Ripper tour, which took us to an area in London near the Liverpool station and we walked around the area where Jack the Ripper (the old serial killer) used to kill people. It was pretty cool but very gruesome! Last week was also Allison's birthday, so on Wednesday, the day before her birthday, we wen to Harrod's (a huge fancy department store where they have EVERYTHING) and we got these huge delicious sundaes at their ice cream bar. They were so good! After that we tried to go to the local pub, O'niell's to celebrate her being 21 at midnight but the pub closed at 11. So we went home instead and surprised her with a chocolate cake and sparkler candles that my one roommate got?! It ended being really nice and Allison was so surpised- she loved it.
The next day, the day of her birthday, we went to Brick Lane for a free curry dinner with the CAPA program. Brick Lane is an area in London that is basically a street lined with a bunch of different curry restaruants, and people stand outside and haggle you for good dinner deals. Curry is an indian food and a very popular dish in London (because of the large Indian population) but I actually really liked it! I'm going to try and go back for one more meal before I leave! After dinner we went to this night club/bar called the Virve which ended up being really fun- so fun that we went back friday night and monday night for $2 drink night! The place is so fun and the music's really good too!
Friday, Ashley, Melda, and I decided to go to the British museum since it was yet another rainy day in London. There we saw the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon reliefs (originally from Greece), Egyptian mummies, and a bunch of other cool stuff. We headed over to Trafalgar Square afterwards to check out the festivities going on.
The weekend was filled with a lot of touristy things- I went on a tour of Westminster Abbey, which was beautiful, and I got to see the exhibit on the Royal Wedding. I also attended a church service at St. Paul's which was breath-takingly beautiful on the inside.We went to Spiddlefield market where I finally found a fancy british hat! (i was determined to get one while i was here) and we also went out to dinner with Allison's family who was visiting for a few days.
Monday, Ashley and I went to see Dirty Dancing, the show, and it was SO GOOD! The choreography, the set, the music- everthing was amazing! So much like the movie which I loved even more!
Tuesday I went on a Beatles tour where I got to get a picture of myself strolling across Abbey Road! We also saw a bunch of other memorable Beatles landmarks which was cool.

And tonight we're leaving for Ireland for our last weekend of the trip! Can't wait!

Day 26: Greetings from Edinburgh, Scotland!

Today we took an hour train ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh. The fair ended up being really cheap [thankfully] and we arrived in Edinburgh around 11. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and its actually pronounced Edinboro. What I found really interesting is that supposedly, one of the founders/origin of the name, Pittsburgh, came from Scottish root, and it was actually meant to be pronounced like how Edinburgh is pronounced, "Pittsboro", but eventually got "Americanized" into just "Pittsburgh" Interesting little fun fact!

Anyways, our day in Edinburgh ended up being a little shorter than we expected, since we had to catch a train back to Glasgow at 4, in order to catch our train back to London at 5:30. But we were still able to fit in a touristy activity and rode around on a "hop-on-hop-off" bus that took us around the [small] city of Edinburgh, and its outskirts. Although we mostly stayed within the city scene, we were still able to catch glimpses of Scotland's countryside in parts of Edinburgh, as well as on the train ride! In fact, the train ride was the best part! I'm actually really happy we decided to take a train instead of a plane because we were able to see the beautiful rural hills and plains of Scotland and the UK! It got me even more excited for our trip to Ireland in a couple of weeks!
Final thoughts about Scotland: very green, lots of sheep, lots of bagpipes, and lots of kilts!! (and a not so "wee bit of whiskey") :)

Day 25: Royal Family sighting and Scotland!

Today we woke up early to get down to the Buckingham Palace/Mall St. area to watch the Trouping of the Colors parade. We actually got to see a lot more than I expected! And much more closer than I expected too! We first saw them all leave the Palace, first the carriage of Prince Harry, Camilla, and Kate, then the carriage of the Queen followed by Prince Charles, Princess Margaret, and Prince William riding on horse!:) It was so exciting to see them! It was even more exciting when we got to see them later on coming back down the other way on the Mall. We were SO close!! And we got some great pictures and videos! We also got to catch the Royal Family wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony as the planes flew over. It was really quite a sight- so neat!

After the parade, we headed home and got our things together for our trip to Scotland! We left by train at 5:30 and got to Glasgow, Scotland at 10pm. From there we headed to our [kinda shady/creepy] hostel and settled in. We ventured over to the pub across the street from our hostel to have a pint of beer and try to really experience the Scottish pub culture. It was pretty fun, and our hostel ended up not being so bad! We were served free breakfast in the morning, which was nice for us to be able to save money!

Day 24: Icebar!!

Today I had the day off from work and from class which was VERY nice!:) My friend Ashley and I took another trip down to Camden Market to get more souvenirs and gifts for people, as well as ourselves lol I was able to bargain my way to 2 dresses for £30 among some other good finds. Although I spent a little too much money, I was still excited about all that I got, and all the souvenirs I got out of the way for others.
Later that night we went down to the Icebar! Its located between Picadilly Circus (Times Square of NYC) and Leicester Square (pronounced Lester). It was SO much fun! Everything was made of ice! Because the bar is always so busy and high in demand, they are reservation only, and you only get to stay in the Icebar itself for 45 minutes. It was kind of a bummer, but it was so much fun we didn't care. The admission fee included a free drink out of an ice glass as well! We also got big thermal parkas with attached gloves when we entered inside.
It was a pretty cool experience (no pun intended) and I'm so glad we did it that night! Tomorrow is the Trouping of the Colors- the Royal parade in celebration of The Queen's birthday! We're going down to the Parade and then we're leaving for Scotland at 5!
Can't wait!

Days 20-22: Back to the 'ol grind in London!

I never thought I would appreciate being in another country, other than home in the states, more than coming back to London after Paris! lol Its such a nice feeling, knowing how to get places, and interacting with friendlier people! Nothing too much has been going on this week so far, just working everyday and going to class. I had to write a paper for my European Gov't & Politics class today which wasn't too bad. Last night we went to this American Sports Bar down in Picadilly Circus (central London) since we hardly ever go out-we thought we should try it out, expecially since Tuesdays are Student Nights there and there's no cover charge, and drinks start from £1.50 which is like nothing here! It was pretty fun, but I didn't really like that it was literally ALL Americans. Like it was fun, but I almost felt like I was at a school dance or something. I guess I just wasn't really in the mood to go out or something. It was cool though how they large TV screens everywhere broadcasting sports, even the NHL Stanley Cup Finals were on!They also had beer pong tournaments which was fun too. But we didn't want to stay out too late since we all had to get up early the next day for work/class.
Thursday we might be going to a cricket game with some British friends we met at the local pub, O'neills! I've never seen cricket before so it will be pretty different, but it should be fun!
This weekend is the Trouping of the Colors, a big parade for the Queen's birthday where we'll get to see the Royal Family! (Or at least I hope) It seems like a lot of people are going so we'll have to go early to get good viewing spots!
We might also go to Windsor on Sunday, where Windsor Castle is (another royal estate that the Royal Family owns)
That's all for now! Happy Wednesday!

Day 19 (Day 2 in Paris- "are we back in London yet?!")

Today started off miserably. We didn't get a lot of sleep the night before so we woke up rather late and didn't check out of the hotel until 10am, then made our way to the airport where we waited for over an hour for the metro to take us into central Paris. (Our plan for the day was to go to the Louvre- since it was free on the first Sunday of the month, and since we didn't make it inside the day before) However, there was an issue with the metros and some lines were down, causing us to be delayed for like 2 hours, and stuck on a train with a huge crowd of rude French people!
We finally made it to the Louvre at 1pm and the line was enormous! They said it was supposed to take about 2& 1/2 hours but it really only took about 1, which was a relief. The museum was HUGE! Think Carnegie x 10, at least! It was so beautiful too and we actually managed to see the Mona Lisa!! It was so weird to see it live, in person, the real thing! After always seeing it in books and movies etc. the actual painting was amazing. I also felt like I had a better appreciation for it since I recently took an art class last semester.
We made our way around the museum to see some other exhibits, but our feet were so sore and tired (as well as ourselves) that were just too exhausted to do anything else. We headed back for the airport around 4:30 since we weren't sure how long it would take with all the delays.
We got there early and ended up settling for gross way overpriced cafeteria food since we were starving and had nothing else to eat! We made it back to London around 9 and finally got home, settled in, and passed out!
Overall thoughts about Paris: It was a great weekend that I'm very glad we were able to plan and carryout successfully. It was a beautiful city, (with great hot sunny weather too!) with its historic landmarks and amazing architecture. However, it was a lot more dirty and smelly (smelled like urine everywhere!) than I was expecting! The people were unfortunately not too friendly either, but I kind of knew that going in. I don't see myself going back to Paris anytime soon, but if I ever do, I would love to take a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower (since we never got a chance to do that) and perhaps even take a trip to Versailles (heard its worth it).
Needless to say we had a great trip but were ready to say "Au Revoir" to Paris and "Hello again" to London!