Monday, March 27, 2017

Barcelona, Spain

   This past weekend I went to Barcelona, Spain! My friend, Carley, and I had many setbacks when it came to transportation, but when it came to the sites-marvelous. We arrived Friday night and it was pouring down rain and I don't mean Ireland rain, this was full on thunder and lightning, Iowa storm rain. We weren't worried about it until we got off the bus at what we thought was the right stop... It wasn't. And we got lost. It was about 1am and we finally decided to get a cab to take us the rest of the way which was when we found out we were about two minutes away from our Airbnb.

It was too beautiful of a photo op to not take it just because of the rain!


   Saturday was full of adventure! We rented bikes so we could get around faster and our first stop was obviously the beach! We didn't stay long, but we are now able to say we have been in the Mediterranean Sea! We saw a lot of interesting things biking around town and we were even able to see the Sagrada Familia which has been under construction for the past decade! We ate at a cute little diner which was known for the best sangrias and tapas in town. Our bikes were due back at 7 that evening so we took a break then. After a while we decided to go for supper and walk around the town to see what it looked like at night.

Sagrada Familia


   Sunday was a day of stress! We had an early flight but it was at an airport in Reus so we had to get transportation there. After much struggling to find the best way, we finally arrived about 40 minutes before our flight departed! Lucky for us, the Reus airport is very small and their security went very smoothly and we made our flight with about 10 minutes to spare! It was definitely an adventure I will always remember and I got three new stamps in my passport from it, so it was all worth it.

We had to get proof we made our flight!


   We started week 10 in university today which means only 10 more days until my parents visit and only a few more weeks until final exams! You can tell everyone is ready for summer vacation, except all the international students! Summer vacation means we have to leave Ireland and none of us are ready for that yet. The time seemed to have flown by, but that only means we will all have to come back!






Tuesday, March 21, 2017

London and St. Patrick's Day

   These past couple weeks have been very busy here in Ireland for me. From the 9th-13th I was in London with a friend and we had an absolute blast! We spent our Friday night figuring out the public transportation so we had some sort of idea of what we were going to do for the weekend. Saturday was a very long day for us. We spent the morning getting into the city centre and going to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, looking at the London Eye and venturing into China Town. After a late lunch we took the underground to King's Cross Station which is home of Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. We stood in line for over an hour to get pictures, but it was so worth it! After we were finished there, we just walked around the city and saw London at night, which was so much different than during the day. Sunday was a relaxing day and we ended up eating at a restaurant called Maxwell's that serves cheeseburger bombs which is a bacon cheeseburger with a coffee mug full of melted cheese to pour on top. It was everything it sounds like and so much more! 



Buckingham Palace



Tower Bridge


   The following week was crazy as it was the week of St. Patrick's Day and it was my most crazy week for school work as well. I was able to turn all my assignments in by Wednesday, however, and was able to spend Thursday night bowling with some friends. Friday, I went with the International Society to Dublin to see the most popular parade in the world! I was told by various people that St. Patrick's Day was overdone by Americans and that it was more of a day to celebrate a saint rather than to dress in green and drink all day. That was proven wrong starting at 00.01 of that day. When I arrived to the block the parade was on in Dublin, the street was covered in green. There were groups of people with solid green suits on or suits with shamrocks to get in the spirit. There were people drinking every which way you turned, including in front of garda. This came as a shock to me, coming from small town Iowa, but at least I can give an accurate description of Ireland on St. Patrick's Day! 




   I'm officially two months away from my fly home day and I only have 4 weeks of classes left! I received my final exam timetable today and lucky for me, I only have two exams to take this semester which means I have three weeks for traveling at the end of my time! Today also marks 16 days until my parents come to visit and I could not be more excited for them to arrive and for me to show them around this beautiful country!