Snapshots of a Madrilena life

so it's been a while since my last post, so in light of that sad fact, i decided to relay the highlights of my epic life:

my roommate, Patri, is moving out at the end of the week, so for my last 15 days in madrid im moving into her room...silly? i think so too.

I went to a Real Madrid v Getafe game last Tues.  I cheered for Real Madrid, because due to the fact that my Uni is in Getafe, i have some negative inclinations towards the city.  Madrid won, and we managed to sneak down from the vomitorios (nosebleeds) to the mid section, with all the europeans. it was very vale.

My summer job is hopefully gonna hire me back for a month, so hopefully the lure of money will be enough to compensate for the fact that all my best friends from home are graduating college and moving away.  Sayville will be a lonely place this summer :(

Last week, Lola called me at 11pm to inform me that her cousin was having a baby and that she wasnt coming home to make me dinner, so i should make myself tuna.  Well, i broke the pull open top to the can, which didn't fit into a can opener, so i tried to hack a hole in the can of tuna with a 12 inch steak knife. 

which failed miserably. i then proceeded to make scrambled eggs...in the micro.

this whole being a hot mess in the kitchen thing really sucks :)

Today, at the famous Getafe sandwitch place, i recieved the highest honor: I got a sandwitch named after me!  Its called El de Jeannie, and it is: pan normal, queso mosarella, cebollas, salsa barbocoa, pollo, y tomate.  Its now on the wall, and i'm damn proud.

i only have one more paper to write for school, which im hoping to finish tonight, so that i can enjoy my last weekend in Madrid before finals start.

Jillian got robbed. I told my mom, who told me to tell her "those bastards will get theirs"

Thanks for that skanky. :)

either tomo or thurs, Jill and i are gonna finish booking ferries and trains for our epic greece/italy adventure.  that will be the most extreme trip of my life to date. 3 weeks. literally with nothing but back packs.  however, nothing will be as extreme as Kevin McConnell showing up at Atocha at 8am with nothing  but the clothes off this back for our Sevilla Cordoba weekend because he fell asleep on the metro and woke up at Sol.  Jokes.

Hasta prontoooooooooooooooo

Semana Santa in Sevilla

Semana Santa was so intense.

like it was crazy.

people carrying Jesus and Mary throughout the city, incense, KKK looking people who are actually priests.

saetas being sung from the balconies by big fat spanish men, making friends in the crowd with 2 old people who explained to me everything about Semana Santa...it was so cool. 

Holy Thurs mass was nice while we were there, and Good Friday was a really cool service, and i kissed the spanish jesus cross, which was a lot different than in the US for some reason.  The place was a mad house, people were on the streets day and night, bc the processions went from like 9 am till like 3am.  It was really intense.  I'm not doing a good job of explaining, but its so hard to describe.

Highlights:

Jill's food poisoning... :(

Epic hostel experience, shitty snoring roommates, bed 14, Ryan's 'lost key', the fact that 14 ppl shared 1 bathroom and that i had to walk thru a hallway and another person's room to get to it, walking over the sleeping man on the hallway mattress on way to said bathroom circa 3am, the nice girls from Taiwan....

Sevilla is like a maze of a city, and i promise i'll post vids and pics soon :)

Side note, Jill and I tried to go to Easter Sunday mass today, but were mildly unsure if the church was Catholic...but it was a beautiful service nonetheless, and I'm sure we got some heaven points for trying ;)

Hasta Luegooooooooo

I left a piece of my heart in London (like that's a surprise to anyone who's known me for the past 21 years)

Ah, nothing like a relaxing weekend with some chill CUA folk in my favorite place in the world, where everyone has an AMAZING Accent, and people speak the King's English.  We squatted with Pat, Mark, and Ryan Hamilton in their flat on Hatton Garden, which was amazing, and a slightly refugee camp like experience.  On thurs night, we had an epic heathrow experience, in which our Iberia airlines pilot kind of was like.." hmmm i think im gonna land the plane....NOW", and people screamed when we hit the ground.  I was a little unhappy.  However, the first night we just chilled, which was really nice, and i feel in love with things like "mind the gap:" and "the tube".

On our first full day, we went to Westminster Abbey, which was TOTALLY BALLER.  A shit tons of famous ppl are buried there, including my personal fav QEI, right next to her sister bloody Mary(they hated each other) and right across from Mary Queen of Scots (who Elizabeth had executed).  Oh the irony.   Sadly, pics were not allowed, but i feel like i'll hang onto that memory for a while.  After that, we walked along Whitehall, past Big Ben and Parliament, and peek past the barricades to shout hello to 10 Downing Strees ;).  We then headed to Trafalager square, then up the Mall, which was decorated with Mexican flags (go figure) all the way to Buckingham palace and the Queen Victoria Monument.  That was pretty baller.  Then, we headed to see the statue of Duke wellington and the Arc and then we headed into Hyde Park, where we saw lots of green, the Peter Pan statue, and the Prince Albert Monument.  Then, we walked to...HARRODS. Which was AMAZING.  It's a CITY block long, and like 7 floors of everything u can imagine.  The escaltors were Egyptian themed, and we got awesome cup cakes in the food hall for 2 pounds.  We scoured all the floors, playing a while in Toy Kingdom and Pet kingdom, and then we hit up the gift shop, where i dropped a few pounds.  After that, we headed back to the flat, and we out to this awesome pub for some food and drinks.  Then, we headed home, where the drinking continued, and i learned everything there is to know about Ryan Hamilton...and i do mean everything (poor chap was slightly intoxicated ;))

The next day, we went to the changing of the guards ceremony at Buckingham, which was AMAZING, and quite long too lol.  Then, we headed to the British museum to see famous stuff like the Rosetta Stone and the pieces of the Parthenon.  After that, we lunched at this cute Crepe place on Museum street, and then hopped on the tube to the financial district, and then walked to the Tower of London, which was extra baller bc they had an epic exhibit of King Henry XVIII's armour.  That place was pretty awesome, and i fully enjoyed the Beef eaters( guards), with whom i took a pic with, and the exhibit in the White tower was really awesome as well.  And oh yea, i saw the crown jewels.  The contents of that building could save the world from the financial crisis.  Case and point: solid gold wine basin from like the 15th century....that was as big as my body. Baller.

After that, we crossed the historic tower bridge (the one ppl think is London Bridge), and walked along the Thames to Globe Theater, passsing Francis' Drakes ship, London Bridge, and the HMS Belfast on the way.  After the Globe, we crossed the Foot bridge, the Millenium bridge, and walked to St. Paul's Cathedral.  After that, we walked home...aka alot of epic walking.  But our night was far from over.  We we to the Fryer's Delight, a famous fish and chips place, and enjoyed England's fine fried food.  Then we bought some booze, made cards, and played Kings and watched 40 year old virgin till everyone was good and drunk.

On Palm sunday, we all slept in and Mark prepared a lovely luncheon feast for us, consisting of chicken, potatoes, and an epic salad.  We met Pat and another guy who's name i can't remember, so i'll call him Nigel bc that everyone's name in england, and we enjoyed some lovely company, some political talk, and good food.  After that, we went to Abbey road and took the famous pic at the intersection...which is REALLY busy, ergo it was really funny.  Then, we hit up the gift shot near St. John's Wood Metro, and i couldn't resist buying both my father and Brian Bligh (aka the 2 biggest beatles fans i know) some stuff lol.  After that, we metroed to Baker Street, where all the walls on the tube are decorated with Sherlock Holmes's head, and saw the historic place where he lived according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 221b Baker Street.  After that, we headed to mass in Westminster Cathedral (which is by the Abbey, but is Catholic as opposed to Anglican) to hear the Passion.  After a lovely mass, where our priest sounded like Sir Ian McKellan, we went to King's Cross to see.....PLATFORM 9 and 3/4, which was funny, bc first we were in St. Pancras International train station, which is next to Kings cross, and we asked some ppl and they literally did think we were crazy..or it was just the fact that they didnt speak english lol.  After schlepping to Kings Cross, we searched all over only to find that due to construction, they moved the location of the platform to the other end...so we schlepped over there and took pics with teh Cart that stuck in the wall...AMAZING.  Then we headed back and went to dinner at this Italian Restuaruant, where our waiter was from Barcelona and got a kick out of speaking to us in Spanish.

On our last full day, we got an EPIC behind the scenes tour of Parliament courtesy of Pat and Mark.  It Was AMAZING.  Since Parliament was not in session, we got to walk down onto the floors of the House of Lords and of Commons (red carpets and green carpets respectfully). We got an epic tour, and took some hallways and stair cases that only staff takes, which was extra baller.  We got a look at the chapel thats underneath westminster palace, which is the oldest part of the Parliament and survived the fire in teh 1600's and has statues that date back to the 11th century.  Anyway, this chapel is not open to the public, and it has a lovely organ and is super oldddddd.  We also met John, who;s a doorman in the House of Commons and wears a piece of the crown jewels that dates back to the 1800's on his uniform.  I also rubbed Churchill's foot before entering the floor of the Commons, which is wat all the MP's do before they entered. I was happy.  Then, we ate lunch (which was uber cheap bc it was subsidized) on the Terrace, which is outside and is normally where  the Lords and other MP's eat, and it only open to interns when Parliament's not in session...which made it even baller.  Its right on the river, with a lovely view of the Eye and Tower bridge, and since we had epically good weather (the Best in like 2 months according to the secretary in Mark's office, who was this cheerful brit), it was nice to be outside.  After that, i enjoyed a pint of Guinness in the bar thats in the House of Commons, which was a lovely experience.  We sat in chairs where a shit ton of famous ppl go to drink after a stressful day, and it was quite lovely.  Then, i peed in the house of common;s ladies room, bc i wanted to lol.  After that, we saw some crazy Sri Lankan protest and Katie and I went to the War Cabinet Rooms and the Churchill Museum, which are located underground.  It was an amazing experience. The museum is full of shit that belonged to that great man, including cigars, silk Pj's, the assualt rifle in that famous pic of him, and my personal fav: his maroon velour onesie.  It was a lovely experience to go through his life, and after that, we saw the rooms, which have remained unchanged since the war ended in August 1945.  Like literally unchanged.  Maps hang everywhere, there's awesome telephones with green recievers, and its so cool bc u can see what they went through to protect the place from collapsing during hte Blitz.  SO BALLER.  I of course bought shit from the gift shop, and we met up with everyone else, walked across Westminster Bridge, which we walked all over bc it was closed due to the protest, to the Eye, where we got waffles and walked across another footbridge to Picadilly Circus, up through Coven Garden, to Carnaby Street and to Oxford Street.  We then walked home and saw some poparazzi taking pics of someone, but it was just some brit TV reality star.  We then walked home, got some Subway, and spent out last night quietly chilling.

Lovely trip, im in love with British Airways, and i cant wait to go BACK!

BULLFIGHTS- where mexican matadors almost die!

Went to a bullfight today.

holy shit.

It was epic.

Ps, Kevin came for a visit this weekend, which was awesome. We hit up the Prado, Reina Sofia, Templo de Debod, Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Espana, aka all the usual Madrid sites.

But today, was the bullfight at Ventas in Madrid.  AND IT WAS CRAZY. 6 bulls died, the 18 year old spanish bullfighter almost got seriously injured, the French bullfighter got his hand stabbed, and to top it all off, i was FREAKED Out when the Mexican bullfighter got throws into the air, and then like basically mauled by the bull.  It was like being in the coliseum during the Gladiator matches.  I was horrified. But, he finished the fight, and was on 2 feet when he walked off, but still; epic. 

Also, i felt bad for the horses that were blindfolded in the bullring, bc sometimes the bull got up underneath the horse and its armour, sad face.

SO EPIC

I was Born in Dusseldorf, and that is why the call me Rolf!

In continuation with the Great Schlep of 2009, I made my way all the way out to Germany last weekend for the long weekend...and it was glorious.

The journey was off the a hysterical start as I realized that we were taking a BUS to the airplane..bc it was that small.  I feel hoodwinked by Luftansa, but oh well.  So, we walked onto the plane, which i was not entirely happy about, but i got over it quick enough.  I also finally got my italian food ive been craving in the form of ravoli and tomato sauce.  I also discovered a wonderful way to cope with my fear of flying...lots of wine.

We landed in Dusseldorf at like 1030, and our friend Lisa was there to pick us up. From there, we drove on THE AUTOBAUN, u know, the one with noooo speed limit to her house in Coesfeld, which is like 50 minutes outside of Dusseldorf in the beautiful german countryside.  Her house was ADORABLE.  We slept in the loft above her media room, which was soo cool.  In the morning we sat down to a traditional German bfast, aka like so much food and sooo goood, and met her mom, who doesnt speak much english.  Then, we took a tour of Coesfeld and saw some of the sites.  I was historically very happy bc the town was one of hte ones that was bombed in WWII, and some of Lisa's family members fought during the war, so it was really interesting to hear about that!  In the afternoon, we returned for lunch at her house, and then went to her Grandma;s farm to walk around there.  It was so pretty, and we ended up staying at her gmas house for a while, even tho her grandma only spoke a slightly arcaic form of german, which was even cooler.  Then, we went to see the big mansion in the city, and went home for dinner.  After dinner, we went to the local brewery to sample german beer.  It was a gooooood night :)

On friday, we were up early to go to Essen, which is where Lisa goes to uni, and then to Munster, which is a pretty famous city.  Essen had a super cool metro, and lisa's school was so cute.  We met up with a few of her friends there and went out to lunch at doner :) and walked around the city center.  Then, we caught the train to munster, which is FULL of bikes.  its considered the bike capital of germany.  We saw the room where the peace of westphalia was signed in 1648... look it up its sooo famous, and we went to a few old churches, one of which had cages outside on the bell tower that they used to kill Anabaptists in the middle ages.  So cool.  After that, we meet up with her friend Christina and went to a GERMAN CARNIVAL! That was sooo cool, and we rode bumper cars bc ive never done it before.  Then we got coffee and caught our train home, where we ate dinner and chillaxed with the fam.  

On saturday, we took a day trip to the netherlands with lisa's sister Uschi and her friend Annuk, whos Dutch.  We went to the market and ate traditional fishy food and these fries with peanut sauce on them...aka SO good.  Then, we went to another small town that's famous for all of its old book stores, and we happened upon a really old Dutch mill...so we went for a closer look and the owner, Martin, happened to be there, speak english, and gave us a private tour of the mill!  That was really cool.  Then on the way back into germany, we stopped at the border to take pictures, bc it was kind of a big deal. Then, we had dinner, got ready to go out, and pregamed while watching Deutchland Superstar, germanys American Idol, and one kid is 16 and sings like James Blunt.  Then, we went out to a discoteca which was like amazing and had like 3 different clubs, one of which was like a skater boy/death metal club called the basement, and everyone down there was like in a mosh pit and like being super hardcore.  We called it a moderatly early night at 3am, and headed home for some sleep.

Sunday was a surprise day, and it really was a surprise because we went to the place where lisa's sister rides horses and got a like 2 hour long tour of hte german countryside from the back of an old fashioned buggy.  The horses were these 2 beautiful black males and they sometimes wanted to go alot faster than our driver let them...but i mean come on dirt roads are realllly bumpy.  However, it was an amazing experience, and afterwards we fed them and got a tour of the farm, which included Cows, calfs, pigs, and bulls.  Then we went back to Coesfeld for the annual spring fest, and we chilled there for a while.  Our last lunch was this amazing fest consisting of all this traditional german food that her mom made, including schnitzel, which was SOOOO good.  For dinner, we had currywurst and fries, which was also super good.  Then we just chatted, said goodbye, packed, and got ready for our 4am wakeup call.

We left at 430 the next morning, and were back in spain by 930.  Overall, it was one of my fav trips ive taken so far, and it inspired me to take german next semester bc its a really awesome language :)....

hasta luegooooooo

Portugal, Europe's Secret Jewel

So, I've come to a decision.  Everyone needs to go to Portugal. its an amazing country.  literally.  Also, when you all go, you must must must stay at Living Lounge Hostel.  Best place ever. I seriously fell in love with the country.

Friday was a whirlwind kind of day, starting with a 930 train to the airport.  Our flight left at 1235, and at 1215 portuguese time (1 hr ahead of Espana! :))  we landed.  Lisboa is beautiful.  Rights next to the Atlantic ocean, it smells salty and looks like a combo of Rome (its built on 7 hills), Rio de Janeiro (big jesus statue and all), San Francisco (sister of the Golden Gate bridge is in Lisboa, along with tons of street cars), and Costa Rica (the ocean was TURQUOISE!).

We hopped the bus to Rossio Square, and schelpped to our hostel, which was right around the corner from an elevator that looks like the Eiffel tower, bc the guy who built it studied under Gustauf Eiffel!  Living Lounge was AMAZING.  IT was so clean, artsy, and had a great crowd of ppl working there.  We were in a 6 person room with 2 Germans, Sebastian and Olivia, who were staying there for a month to do their graphic design thesis project.  so cool.  

We then went to the part of town called Belem by trolly, which was awesome.  We saw Vasco da Gama;s tomb, the monument to the Explorers, had famous portuguese pastries, and went to the tower of belem, which ended up being closed bc the workers were on strike.  typical.  We also went to like a war memorial for all the soldiers who died fighting for portugal which was cool, and then headed back to the city center.  I was not feeling so hot tho, heat and all, so i went back to the hostel for a nap before dinner, which was at the hostel.  Then, we ate, which was an AFFAIR.  We met a girl named Jane from houston, who flies free everywhere bc her dads a pilot, and ryan and and were HAPPY off of wine.  I then tried Port Wine, which was nast, and we hung out with a bunch of irish people and some french people in the hostel for the night over a few beers.  It was awesome.

Saturday, by Jane's suggestion, we caught the train to Sintra to see castles and creepy mansions.  The place was like a fairy tale.  we caught a bus up the mountain to the moorish castle and spend a while walking up and down and around the torrents and towers of the muslim fortress.  We could see for miles.  Halfway thru, we met 2 older Canadians who were traveling thru Portugal and we chatted with them for a while.  After the castle, we bused down and walked to this creepy old house that was like built by this guy obsessed with mysticism and the occult.  It was so cool...one room had mirrors on the floor so it made u feel like u were gonna fall when u walked over to the sides.  After that, we discovered a chapel on the grounds and took pics, and then for a bit we were underneath the chapel trying to decide if we could walk down this creepy passageway.  However, with the help of camera flashes and ipod lights, we deemed it not worth the effort.  We then climbed a few more ruins of towers and saw more of the grounds of this place, and then caught the bus to Caiscaos, which is where the beaches are!

The bus was pleasant enough, and the beaches were so worth it.  We all walked through the agua, which was FREEZING, and yet there were still ppl swimming.  We eventually ended up sitting out on a stone dock that jetted out into the ocean and watched surfers do their thang.  We then stayed for sunset and went home.  Before we had dinner, we rode the Eiffel tower elevator thing, which was cute....but way overpriced. 

Dinner was another awesome affair at the hostel.  We met a girl who lives in Madrid, Jessica Carter (same as my roommate! so FUNNY) doing what i hope to be doing after college, aka fulbright scholar, and her friend, who's from Bombay, Ruchi.  They were both really awesome, and we had a great convo with them.  Then, our german roomies, Sebastian and Olivia were chatting it up with us too, along with Antonio, who was the half portugues half indian hostel worker who was making dinner.  I had to order veggie both nights, bc i DONT eat fish, and both nights my meal was indian food, which i had never tried before, but found very interesting.  After dinner, everyone wanted us to go out, so we went to a bar/club in barrio Alto for a while.  There, i met 2 girls from paris, and we chatted (in FRENCH!) about our lives, which was so cool!!!  Then me ryan and jess went back bc it was 2 and we were beat...funny, all the madrid kids who normally stay out till 6am are going home early.

Sunday we got up and checked out, and then headed to the St. Georges' Castle at the top of the hill in Lisboa.  The view were incredible, and once again, we were just allowed to play atop ruins of old shit. so cool.  Also, there were random cats and PEACOCKS just walking the grounds.  So cool.  Then we bought really cool coin necklaces from this lady who was speaking to us in a combo of english, spanish, and portuguese. 

Then, we headed down to take a ferry so that we could see the Christ the King statue across the bay from Lisboa.  The ride was so pleasant, and then we bused up to the top of the hill, where the views were GORGEOUS. Then, we continued the big schlep back to the airport. 

Twas another lovely weekend trip, and in summation, i am now OBSESSED con Portugal.

Besos, y hasta luegoooo

Mejor Dia en Madrid

Hola todos!

Today was a lovely dia aqui en Madrid.  Sunny, probs near 70 degrees F.  Beautiful.  To celebrate, Jill and I went to Madrid's famous Espidrills store, the oldest one here (opened in like 1854 :)) and bought some CUTE shoes...2 pairs...for under 12 euro.  NOT bad.  Then, we went to Retiro, and rented a row boat and rowed on the big man made lake in front of Alfonso X's tomb.  So cute...and so sunburnt.

After class, we went back into the city for some shopping, stopping at a restaurant in Plaza Mayor to stop and chat with our new Spanish friends :)!  We also got ice cream from McD's...for 80 cents. Again, not bad.  Overall, it was a beautiful and relaxing day where we really came to appreciate the city even more.

I really do love it here...however im SO excited to hit up Lisbon for the weekend.  Hilarity will ensue!

Hasta Domingoooo

Mas Cuentos de Madrid

Hola!

Well it's been epically long since my last post, so i figured I'd update on my vida. Monday was alright; i was still a bit tired from Paris, but hey, whateves.

On wed, right after school, Jill and I went to see Jess and Mimi, who had just gotten back to Madrid from Marsailles, and we took them to an awesome kebab place near Opera.  I however left them to their own devices and went home at 10:30, as i had school the nxt day...and I'm so proud of them bc they had a legit Madrid party night, ending at 530 am.  Welcome to Madrid ladies!

Thursday is when epic things started.  We meet Jess and Mims for lunch at Malespina, our FAV tapas bar, for amazing tapas and sangria.  Exciting.  Then they came with us to the Getafe to see Carols III, and then Jill and I had class...ugh.  However, that night, we all met up, along with Teresa Taylor!!!! and Ryan and I took them to the Office aka O'Connells for an amazing night.  Katie met up with us there, and her and me along with jess and mims did a Irish Car Bomb, much to the dismay of Rob, the Irishman from their hostel, who claimed we were ruining Guinness.  Ryan had made friends with British people, and came and got me so i could b their friend as well.  We met a bunch of awesome brits, our fav being Marc, basically a billionaire, who dropped 200 euros on 4 bottles of top shelf tequila, which he dolled out to anyone who walked his way.  4 shots later, Katie and I were pretending that we were from Harvard, along with Ryan (who was wearing a Harvard tee shirt), but alas my fun was cut short bc me ryan and teresa needed to catch the metro.  Oh best/worst part...Jill showed up with Ashley and Nick who were visiting Andy, and Marc took Nick by the hair, sat him down, and gave him a tequila shower.  Horrific.

Friday, we lunched at a kebab place, and then took the ladies to Corte Ingles so they could experience it, and then to Parque de Buen Retiro.  I then went home to do my hw, but 11pm found me and everyone else at Sol and later still back at O'Connells...where Kevin was waiting, already INCREDIBLY intoxicated.  Then Sondie came, which was magnifique, and we all sat around chit chatting...until Marc showed up again, and bought a bottle of tequila for our table!  After a few shots apiece, he decided he wanted to marry me, but over the summer in Vegas....i was like whatever lol (aka umm im never seeing u again so it dont matter to me).  Then, i peaced to get the metro home, saying peace out to jess and mimi! 

Yesterday, we went to Valle de los Caidos, which is Franco's burial ground, for a class field trip...this was after the first round of the field trip, which included a visit to Museo Reina Sofia, where i saw Guernica and a bunch of other really famous not so old stuff.  Jamie, Lulie, Jill, Katie, and I had a major bonding sess over Thai food (well i had already eaten a kebab), and it was basically epic love sess.  Then, we went shopping, where i found the PERFECT pair of skinny jeans and my own pretty gladiator-esque sandals. 

Today was a quiet day, as i think i have the stomach flu. I was suppose to see Lourdes with the girls to get coffee, and then go to Patricia's house for a cooking fest, but alas, i was mildly stuck to the bathroom :(.  However, i wrote a paper and did some research for one of my final projects, so it wasnt a total waste!  Also, Claudia and i had an epic bonding sess, where she told me about when she was a little girl and couldnt draw well, and how everything she did draw was ugly bc she didnt stay in the lines, but how now shes better.  And then she was like well i wont tell my mom bc ur not suppose to speak english, but how do u say Princesa in english?  We played that game for a while.  Then she told me i spend too much time on my computer.  I swear, shes the most precocious child i think ive ever met. The little Castilian accent really is just the icing on the cake. 

well, thats all for now...

HASTA LUEGO

Ahh, Paris- where one eats crepes and plunges one's own hostel shower

Well, its 2:08 Madrid time, and im going to post about my bday present from my parents...a flight to Paris! The trip was amazing!

Jillie and I hustled out of Lit on thurs afternoon, and made it to the cercanias train in 10 mins...not bad.  Before we knew it, 7pm rolled around and we were at Barajas waiting for our plane!  I wasn't too tooo bad on this flight...im starting to get better?...sorta.

Anyway, an hour and 20 mins later, we landed in Orly, Paris.  We made our way to the Orly bus...and waited for liek  943084309 hours, bc it was midnight, and buses run reallllllllly slow at night.  After the epic bus adventure (where we didnt pay for our ride bc we didnt know how..) we got to Denfert-Rochereau and walked to Ave Des Gobleins, where Oops hostel is located.  We managed to pass it at first (mostly bc it was next to a construction site lol), but we got checked in...and then went upstarirs only to find out that we were roomming with 2 annoying Sweds who didnt speak a word of engligh, or spanish, or french... so we parked it and slept.

Friday started off balling.  We got trad french bfast at the hostel (bread, brread, and a crossiant) and started the 3o min walk to Rue Monge and over the Pont Neuf to see Notre Dame.  That place was AMAZING.  Also- free to go in....i think it was the first time i didnt pay to see a church in europe...seriously. 

After that, we schelpped over Ils de Cite to the Louvre museum. Along the way, i saw a naked women being dragged by police into a hospital...typically french.  The louvre was also amazing.  Deff better than the Prado.  I chatted it up with some old french guy, and was really suprised by how much french i still retain.  We got in and saw all the uber famous stuff- Mona, Venus, and a bunch of other stuff.  And, we really managed to do a great deal of the museum in just under 3 hours, which was brilliant.  We then walked through the IMMENSE gardens to the Obliesk at Place de la Concord.  From there, we took a few pics with the Tour Eiffel in the bkround, and then walked up the famous Champs Elysees!  We stopped for lunch at a little sandwitch place, and continued walking till the Arc de Trioumph.  That was really cool, and we lingered for a few so i could touch history.  Then we walked to the Invalides, where Napolean is buried, and then worked our way back towards home, stopping for paninis and crepes on the way. 

This was the start of a hysterical night...as our swedish roommates were gone, and repaced by 2 guys who didnt know each other...Milano and Ignacio.  After an awkward meeting with Milano (we never did figure out his real name), he left to go out (and we never really met ignacio, bc he was spanish ergo always out partying till 6am and sleeping till 4pm), and we went to shower.  However, about 40 seconds into Jillie's shower, she realized it was flooding bc it was CLOGGED with hair...so gross.  So we went to the front desk, and what did we come back with?...but a plunger.  We were told to plunge the hair out...so we tried for like shits and giggles, and then went back and managed to shower in another room...on the 7th floor..with AN AMAZING balcony.  the best shower ive ever taken, hands down.  

Sat was Versailles day, and it was BEAUTIFUL.  We got the extended tix so we could see Marie Antoniett's palaces too.  We took a tour of the main building, ate our baggie lunch (of churizo and petits pains) outside in the gardens, and then did all the Marie stuff.  My feet were killing me however, which sucked, but oh well.  It was so pretty; literally like outta  a story book, and she used some DIVINE colors to decorate the palace...too bad she like bankruped the french monarchy and was responsible for the starvation of thousands of french peasants lol.  On the way out, i grabbed a fresh squeezed OJ from a CUTE french guy, who complimented me on my french and impecible accent.  He was so amazing that i was american that he made me say 'une jus d'orange' again just bc he was amazing that my french accent was baller. :-). After Versailles, we hopped on the train back to Champs de Mar/Tour Eiffel.  This was my fave part.  We got to the tower when it was still off, and then saw it get turned on. Its' really a site to see at night.  And, on the hour, ever hour, it sparkles for 60 seconds! Amazing.  We ate at a cafe down the street from the tower, and then started our ascent to the top.  We took the elevador, bc my feet were dying.  However, that shit was on an angle and really bumpy..so by the time we reached the second floor, i was a little on edge.  I had about a 10 min long LI hissy fit where i contemplated just going right back to solid ground, bc the FJ in me forced me to the top.  That elevador ride was alot better, and God bless Jillie, bc she was really great with me and my irrational fear of tall imposing and high things.  The view from the very top was SO worth it; amazing; and we took some baller pics up there.  Then we went back down, and metro'ed it home. 

Sunday, we schlepped out to Sacre Coeur after checking out.  Its in the Monmontre neighborhood, and it was my fave place in the city.  We went it and stayed for the second reading and the Gospel, saw the Nun choir sing, and then we peaced out.  On the way back down, we got ACCOSTED by annoying and pushy sengaliese men who cornered us on the steps...ugh so annoying.  I pulled a NY, grabbed Jillian, and forcefully pushed past the pack of them...they should really know not to grab a lady without her permission.  From there, we walked up the famed sex district to the Moulin Rouge, and took some more pics, b4 grabbing quiche and pastries at this little bakery for lunch.  Then, we people watched in Luxembourg Gardens for a while, soaking up its beauty, and finally, we went to the Catacombs...which i have to say were better than Rome's for the sheer fact that all the bones were still there, and u were allowed to take pics.  IT was also self guided...and they were really big...1.7 km under the city.  So Cool.  Then, we headed to a supermarche and bought goodies for the plane, and then picked up our luggage, said goodbye to oops, and got crepes with Nutella b4 catching the bus to the airport.  

All in all, it was a balling weekend, were i did many historical things :)....however, i have class in like 10 hours, so im gonna sleep!

HASTA MANANA!!

Cumple de 21 Anos!

Hola todos!

Well..it was my birthday.  and it was lovely.  Classes were chill, i didnt have hw, and Ryan, Jill, Luli and I went out for drinks at the Office.

Best day ever.

Also- i learned this from a spaniard in the Office (aka O'Connells) 

When you wanna say cheese in Spanish, like when you're taking a pic, you say Patatas!

LOVE IT!

Also, lola made me tortilla espanola and broccoli, LOVE IT!

Adios

21st Birthday weekend...Salamanca style- "Soviet Union will not be stopped by fatigue"

Epica was the word of the weekend.  Turning 21 someplace where the drinking age is 18 was mildly anticlimactic, but still really fun.  To start, Carnival started this weekend, and ends on Wed.  Its like halloween here, and everyone dresses up!  My 5 year old host sister, Claudia, was Wilma Flintstone.  Her mom had a really good time trying to explain that one to me, especially because all she said was 'the woman in white with the necklace".

Friday, Ryan, Jill and I continued our misadventures in Segovia, which is clearly the loveliest place I've been to in Spain.  We had a trifle bit of problems at the train station, and we ended up taking the bus because we couldn't find the 15 euro train tix that were online.  The bus ride wasn't too long, and the station was conveniently located down the street from the REALLY OLD Roman Aqueduct in the middle of the city.  It's huge, and oh so historical.  We climbed up the stairs to the top, and were able to look over across the top of it.  We did a bit more exploring up there, walking thru the Roman area, which was awesome.  We then schlepped our way to the famous Gothic cathedral, and went in there as well.  Then, we saw the oh so famous castle that's there - El Alcanzar.  The basement of the settlement is actually the remains of a roman temple.  Part of the castle was built by muslims, and then it was a medieval fortress, and then in burned down in the 1800's and was fully restored.  It was full of medieval tapestries, suits of armor, canons, flags, and all other assortment of harry-potter-castle-ish-wonderfuls.  We then climbed up the 152 spiral staircase to the Torre de Juan (which was only mildly better than the spiral staircase up to the Blarney stone...im really conquering that whole fear of heights), and got amazing views of the city and the castle, which was soooo cool.  We made our way down, went souvenir shopping, and embarked on our most epic quest...to find the Doner Kebap food joint.   let me tell you, we succeeded, and it was the best kebap i've ever had in spain...hands down.  

Friday night, I went back to Ryan's house instead of schlepping home, and we bought a bottle of wine, had pizza and wine, and had epic bonding time with our mothers via skype.  Mark and Pat had come down from London to visit us in Spain, and we took them to a chocolateria and then to our favourite Tapas Bar for Sangria, and around 1245, I called it a night, as I knew i was gonna get up balls early for my Sat birthday bash.  Oh, I almost forgot.  Ella visited the boys in London...and was apparently quite threatening.  I'm really glad to see the extra 4ooo$ i paid to go ol' CUA going to such a great cause...sending her to check up on students abroad (sarcasm anyone?)

Saturday, I woke up like a half hour before i had to be on the metro, rushed to get ready, and only after i was down in the metro did i realize that i didnt have my train tix to segovia, so i ran back to get them.  Then, bc i was on the wrong metro car, Kevin and i almost missed eachother at Congosto, but luckily, i shouted and he heard me, and then we were off the the Chamartin train station to meet up with everyone else.  Some epic details later, Kevin, Ryan, Jill and I got on the 11am train to Salamanca, and Katie was gonna meet up with us later.  Salamanca was soo pretty; while there was not too much to do, we throughly explored the city, ate Kebaps for lunch and dinner, saw cathedrals, got ice cream, drank boxed wine by the river, and the piece de resistance, Jill and I got changed for the night in a kebap place's bano, complete with doing make up and hair...now that was funny.  While we were waiting for Katie, we stopped at Delicatessan and Cafe to get some of their famous Sangria, which was uber awesome.  Then we got Katie...after being lost for a bit ;), and went back to Plaza Mayor to look for Jacko's Cocktail bar, which is famous for its 1 liter for 5 euros of your choice cocktail.  We found it, and i realized it was a Michael Jackson themed bar!  We all got different liter cocktails, and Jill and I shared the "Thriller" which ended up sneaking up on me ;).  Then, Katie and I shared my first 'almost legal in the US' cosmo (another liter of course), and we made friends with some americans to VA and Michigan, a really cute guy from Scotland, and some dutch girls.  Then, oh then, did Kevin decide that he was buying me a shot of Absinthe.  At the time, I figured, oh what the hell, one only turns 21 once.  So, me kevin, ryan and katie all took a shot.  It tasted mildly disgusting, but boy oh boy, did that shit pack a punch.  Soon after that incident, we left to go to an irish bar for carbombs, which i did not partake in, as i was still realing from the first 3 hours we spent at Jackos.  We stayed here till about 3ish, watching drunk spaniards dance, chatting, and in katie and jill's case doing car bombs (which they had quite a time of explaining in spanish to the bartender :)).  Then, we somehow ended up at another irish bar, Molly Malone, for more beer and talk of how the Soviet Union will not be stopped by (insert anything you want here).  This was the catchphrase of the night, and came out of drunk Kevin's (or as i call him Sean Connery) mouth alot, always in a russian accent of course.  Natasha also made an appearance as well.  At around 5, we got kebaps again, and then made our way to the train station...where we were homeless for about 55 minutes bc the security guard told us the station didnt open till 7am.  So, we all huddled for warmth, shared ridic stories, and contemplated our crazy night.  Probs one of the finest 7am adventures in drinking and epicness since i've been here.  Also, more importantly, i remember mostly everything from the night, did not get sick at all, and didnt spill anything on my red silk dress, which were my goals upon starting the night of epic drinking at 8pm.   Im quite proud.  I snoozed on the train ride back to madrid, and then had the best commute back to La Gavia, explaining to Kevin just how ridic drunk kevin had been the night before.  Here's a snippet:  Kevin: "Well I don't remember the second bar...i think i ordered a bottle of something."  Me:"No kevin, you had 2 pints, and you kept shouting 'the great soviet union will not be stopped by closing times', and im pretty sure we almost got kicked out."  "Oh shit...what else happened?  Should I go pray or something?"  All in all, it was a night to remember, and tomorrow, or better, in a half hour, i technically turn 21, which is sooo weird.  I think lola is gonna make me something i actually like, and not fish, for dinner tomorrow, and i'll probs have a glass of wine to celebrate the event.  Great weekend, and a big hand to all of us for managing 9 hours of straight drinking!  Thanks guys, y'all rock!  

Hasta Luegoooooooo

Granada (It's ok, It's Flexhold)

Hola TODOS!

Well, its been DIAS since my last entry, and I've been pretty darn busy. Hmm...where to begin.  Well, school i guess is schoool.  My classes are pretty cool, however I forgot that i had to like work tho, so that's really starting to get to me.  Wed night, I found myself with the grupo at our fav haunt- 100 Cervecerias, the 1 euro bar.  Thurs I stayed in, to prepare for the big weekend in Granada...however that didn't go over so well, as I stayed up muy tarde packing and such.  Friday began the epica granada adventure.  I'll leave everyone with this; ERASMUS (international student org) SUCKS AT PLANNING TRIPS AND AT GENERAL COMPETENCY.  

Friday:

The bus ride there was great, except for when we realized that instead of the hotel we were supposedly staying at, we were actually in a HOSTEL (and an icky one at that) and we ended up being in a room a 7 (we all knew each other, THANK GOD), and our other group members were in the 10 person room and in another hostel (because they didnt think to book the same one? idiotas).  However, all was not lost, because we made friends with 3 really cool Italians, 2 of whom only spoke spanish and italian (and boy were their accents hysterical).  Friday, when we got there, and after we realized the full horrificness of our hostel crisis, we did a psuedo walking tour around the city (passing by all the impt things, like Ferdinand and Isabella's graves, with the briefest of intros, like 'here's an impt monument, now lets go'), but we did get a good feel for the city, which was lucky, considering what was soon to come.   However, we did see a bunch of pretty churches, and had our first real encounter with the Gitanos (gypsies) who accost you with Rosemary and curse you when u walk past. Creepy.  My friend katie actually got grabbed and shit. Crazy. 

We realized quite quickly that none of the ppl who planned our trip knew where they were going or what they were doing. No one. at all. it was in a word- asinine.

However, i dont wanna give anyone the wrong idea. I loved Granada and had a shit ton of fun :)...it was just a tad disorganized.  For the rest of Friday, we had some free time to explore more, and we ate at this AMAZING Arab Restaurant called Kasbah.  It was the most amazing thing i've ever eaten abroad.  Tucked into one of the narrow side streets in the Arab quarter of the city, its a rather hole in the wall place, but its BEAUTIFULLY decorated on the inside.  I ordered Pastella de Pollo, which was like a pastry thing filled with chicken, almonds, and onions with cinnamon on top.  Even our sangria had cinnamon in it!  However, since i was so hungey, i ordered a kebap too ;).  Then, we went on this nighttime tour of the old Muslim neighborhoods, in which our busdriver, Pepe, drove us halfway up the Mountain (oh i totes forgot to mention that Granada- yea in like IN in mts, however, there were a shit ton of palm trees, talk about confusion lol) and then we schlepped through really old streets to get a really awesome view of La Alhambra at night. Beautiful. Then, we went to an authentic flamenco show, by real gitanos, in what Ryan called "The Flamenco Speakeasy" because it was like a white washed stone room that was super long and like built into the side of a mt.  We got free sangria at that too, which made my life.  After that, the buses dropped us off in the middle of the city, we all walked to a bar, stayed for a bit, and then tried to find our way home.  However, one the of trip leaders, who supposedly knew the way, was actually really lost, so Ryan and I took charge and navigated us halfway across the city back to our hostel, which may i remind u all was in an ALLEY.  When we got back, he pulled me aside and thanked me for getting us home.  My response: I'm from NY, it's what I do. 

Saturday:

We went to La Alambra pretty early, and it was SO awesome.  About the only thing on the trip that was well planned, probs bc some really awesome Arab woman was our guide and she really knew her stuff.  Check out the pics when i put them up. It's literally like paradise up there.  However, we got left at the famous fountains near the end of the tour, and were yelled at bc apparently it was our fault.  Stupid Erasmus.  After that, we WALKED back to the city, down a cobble stoned path that was hundreds of years old (aka worn) and down hill (and those of u who were in Rome know how well i do on cobblestones).  After that, we broke apart again, went back to Kasbah, bought wine for the night and food for the next day, and proceeded back to the hostel for our wine party.  Two bottles later, we were all really happy, Ryan had given EVERYONE a makeover, Jilly did my hair, and we met the italians for an amazing night.  The first discoteca we went to was Teatro, which was really awesome, and mommy found herself a hot spaniard...and after a few dances promptly dropped him...mommy knows best ;).  Then we went to this club, Mae West, which we had VIP passes for, so we took a glass elevator up to the top, and got 2 free drinks...so when 430 in the am rolled around, we all decided to peace.  Me katie and Sara really had to pee, so we left first.  It was on this walk back that i realized that heels on cobblestone even streets SUCKED. Sara peed in an alley, and we ended up back home.  My poor feet.  Mommy (clearly my new nickname) waited up for Jilly to come home, bc she didnt have a key. and then we all spelt for 4 hours. because check out was 1030am. ugh.

Sunday:

Wine gives me headaches, but last night was totes worth it.  Best Valentines day to date. however, everything was closed bc it was sun, and our bus back wasnt till 4pm.  So we sat on a bench in front of Corte Ingles for an hour, bought bread and pastries at the bakery down the street, and returned to our bench.  Really funny.  We then went souvenir shopping in the Arab district, where i bought my name written in Arabic on pretty paper on the street for a euro fifty. The guy was really nice, and we chatted for a while about Marrakech, where he was from.  Then, after running into some of our friends from Cali, we went back to the hostel, check emails, and went to the plaza to wait for the bus, which was an hour late.  Also, the ride back was horrific, and i swore we were offroading. But whateves.  To end an even longer way, when i got home at 11pm, my host mom was still gone and left me no food, so i had 2 frozen spring rolls, vanilla pudding, and a kinder sorpresa huevo and called it a night.  

In summation, epic trip.  My bday is monday, and i'm like whooooooa.  This weekend, im going to Segovia and Salamanca to celebrate.  And i got word that the skanky and fran are funding my flight to Paris as a 21st bday prez. SO EXCITED.

Hasta Luegoooooooo

There's a Man Floating in Atocha Station!

Hola Todos!

Well..where to begin.   We'll start with Sunday.  Jillian and I went to El Rastro, which is a GIANT outdoor market place, where we bought pashminas and jewelry.  Then, we went to the oldest Chocolateria in Madrid...bc Samantha Brown went there, and had AMAZING chocolate. Then, we walked to the Prado, which was an adventure in itself.  We stumbled upon amazing parks and fountains along the way, remarking 'why the hell have we not been here before' the entire way.  We waited till 5pm with the rest of the cheapos to get in the Prado for free, and began our museum experience.  Same old same old- saw a shit ton of really old famous artwork, my personal fav being Las Medinas.  Then we parted ways and I headed home.

On mon, my first class doesn't start till 2:30, so I slept in till 12.  However, when I got to school, I was informed that ETA (Basque Terrorist Group) had placed a car bomb in Madrid, that when off (where my program director lives; she and her hubby heard it, and its slightly near my barrio) while I was still snoozing.  Of course, Skanky was REAL happy about that one. 

I started classes: my Superior Lengua class is small and I heart my profa.  I'm taking Espanol para Uso Professional, which is awesome too.  However, the award for fav class goes to Historia de Espana, with my prof Eduardo. BALLER.

Today, another epic adventure.  I had class at 12 (ugh earlllyyy).  It's a HUGE fricking class, but its a mesh of hist and culture, and we're going to Franco's Grave nx month, so I'm pretty excited.  Then, we had a 3 hour break...had comida, and did tarea.  My lit class wins the most boring reward, but i mean whateves.  

The real adventures started after school.  We we all get off the train at Atocha, and are walking to the metro entrance, and what do we see...A MAN FLOATING IN MID AIR.  He was holding a wall and even tho ppl were walking under him, i was HIGHLY skeptical.  But i mean seriously, what a sight to stumble upon.  Of course, no one had a camera, but not like i'd forget that easily.  Then, we headed to Sol bc i needed to visit a Barclays.  However, we ended up passing a giant protest (basque country elections are next month; hence the coche bomba).  We didn't find a used book store we were looking for, but we went to Jilly's barrio and walked around and found Folders, which is like a baby Office Max.  Then we parted ways to go home.  

So I'm on the metro, and I get to my transfer, and I stupidly get on the car PACKED with a shit ton of ppl.  So this guy, mildly old and way sketch is standing by the door, and when the train moves, the couple behind him are bumping into him.  So what happens?  Well the sketch mofo starts screaming at the guy in the couple, calling him a slew of palebrotas and saying shit like "yo mamas a ho".  So they're like getting up in each other's grills, so me and about everyone else on the car all get off at the nx stop and make a mad dash to another car...in which no one can sit bc there's white powder on all of the seats.  I swear, if that ends up being anthrax or something, I'm literally gonna kill someone lol.  Now im home, eating FISH soup...(i dont think Lola understands that I HATE fish), and trying to find my lit readings online so i dont have to buy the books.

Hope tomo is a bit less hectic. 

Adios! Besitos!

7am misadventures

Well All,

It seems that epic is my life story.  I really don't know how I end up in these situations, but i wholeheartedly blame Sean Connery. 

To begin, Friday was a bit calmer than our haphazard trip on Thurs.  We got pizza in the little italy of Madrid, and ate outside the Palacio Real.  Nice life.  Then, we headed to a cafe, met Ryan, and went to Corte Ingles to buy cheap wine for our byob black and white party.  Sweet life.

However, when i schlepped home at 5pm, I realized that the Teatro de Madrid is at the end of line 9, a good hour and 15min metro ride across the city, so i quickly showered, ate a few crackers and some cold pasta, and met Kevin at 630 to metro to Flamenco dancing. 

Ryan broke out a wine juice box which we all passed around, and then we had cupcakes for Jsmith's bday, and then we headed to the show.  However, we ended up being a bit late, and for Act 1 we couldnt make it to our front row seats.  When intermission came around, we moved down tho, so it was chillin.  I loved the dancing.  It was really beautiful.  It's amazing how similar and yet how different spanish culture is from latin american culture.  Yes, this is a dorky history major moment. 

After the show is when the night began.  After finding the metro, we headed to Principe Pio to go to our party.  However, we pit stopped at a Burger King because everyone was hungry. After that, we headed to the fiesta.  However, we got a little lost, but sooner than later we found it.  The party WAS HOPPING.  I had a small cup of Sangria, and chatted it up with the girls and this HOTTIE named Marcos.  All i gotta say is the he was impressed with my spanish skills and that i hope i see him again ;).  However, party got busted around 2amish, so we found ourselves going to catch the Buho (owl) bus into the city center.  On the way to the bus, we ran into Marcos again, who was going home.  I consider it divine providence lol.  Ridic.  While waiting for the bus, i broke out the bottle of red wine that was still in my bag, and the phrase 'mama drinks' was born.  We then got to Sol, and headed to Chueca to hit up a gay bar/club with Edu and his 3 friends.  I managed to get in for free, which ROCKED (thanks Edu).  We danced the night away to ABBA, Grease, Britney, and bad spanish pop from the 90's.  Katie and i killed the rest of the wine en el bano, and when 6am rolled around, i caught the 1st metro home.  It was a really fun/epic night, but after getting home at 7am, I've made the executive decision that it shall happen no more lol.  Tonight i think we be a night in, to upload picks and get back on my feet lol.  Typical.

Hasta Manana!

So, Avila is apparently in the Mountains...

Good evening all!

Yesterday was yet another night of Wed tradition- the 1euro bar near Opera metro.  Boy i love that place.  1 euro sangria never tasted so good.  Again, we met up with Rachel and her friends, and chillaxed...that is until 2 guys got into a fight, right next to our table.  My friend Kate and I managed to step out of the way, and both guys were thrown out.  Apparently, according to the guy we made friends with from NJ(who lived on the same street in Dublin, Parnell, where my hostel was), they were fighting over 2 beers...honestly, as I told the Spaniard next to me, I would have just given them 2 euros for another 2 beers!  However, after the bar closed, one guy came up to us and apologized for starting the fight and freaking us out..how nice!

Today was yet another epic day in the life and times of Jeannie.  AKA hot mess.  Well, I got up pretty balls early to hike to school to pay for my Granada Trip next weekend with the international student group I joined.  Then, on my way out, I took a quick look at the language list and saw that I was placed in the Superior level of Spanish...1 full level underneath bilingual, which made me super happy, considering I thought I failed the test lol.  

After that, Jill, Ryan and I decided to try our luck and make it to Avila, which is about 1.5 hours outside Madrid. So began our misadventure.  However, by the grace of God, we managed to catch a bus 15mins before it left, and we were on our way.  Then, all the sudden, we were surrounded by white, snowcapped mountains...Apparently the city is like in the mountains.  Poor Ryan was a little miffed, because he was wearing his light jacket, but we made do. It was super nice because not only was the landscape beautiful, but it was SUNNY!  Honestly, I havent seen the sun for days, madrid's been like covered in clouds.  I loved Avila, it was small and quaint and surrounded by this awesome wall called las murallas.  We visited the convent where St. Theresa of Avila lived and prayed, walked around, saw the walls, and took some amazing pics.  I also got some kick ass chocolate made in the area, called Chocolate de la piedra, and its texture is that of ground up rocks, but it tastes like nesquick, so i'm ok with it lol.  We stepped into a cervercaria to get out of the cold, and then failed in our attempt to find McDonalds, which Ryan was craving.  The sign said it was 3 mins away by bus, but when we asked a man on the street, after having walked for 10mins and happening upon the bus station, he said it was another 15mins away.   We caught the 8pm bus home, and as we were driving away, near the main highway, we saw the McDonalds.  Priceless. 

Tomorrow shall be a day of rest, flamanco dancing, and a Black and White BYOB cocktail party at one of Rachel's friends houses.  YES.

Hasta Luego Amigos!

Ay Dios Mio, Tanta Lluvia

Hola all,

Well not much as changed since the last post...I've still yet to start classes...that doesnt happen till my birthday week lol...and i'm still finished by May 15!  Yes!  Nonetheless,  I'm hoping to go to Granada next weekend, and this weekend I hope to do a few day trips to some of the cities outside of Madrid.

BIG NEWS:  I tried FISH last night..and not just a bite...i ATE it.  However, i didn't really like it, but now i can say i did it.  :).  So typical. 

Its been COLD and rainy since sunday, after the epic snowfall, so thats been ick.  There are about 200 american students in my Uni here, half of them from like CA.  Also, theres a girl from my high school here, at the same uni!  How typical..It just goes to show you how global Long Island really it.  

Also, my program director here knows about the 4am incident involving the park bench, but shes being really chill about it...I was slighly mortified thought.  I think we're going out tonight to our fav 1 euro bar, which should be fab.  Other than that, this week has been the usual orientation shit....presentations, info sessions, and getting ID cards for everything.  Seriously, the people in Spain LOVE id cards.  It's a little ridic.  The classes here that i plan on taking are so darn interesting, so i'm actually pretty excited to start those. 

Hasta Luegooooo

Snow in Madrid

Hola!!!

Ok so; life has bit pretty epic here.  Yesterday, I slept in for a bit, and then Jillie came over and we planned our huge european adventures.  I'm pretty excited...even tho i'm gonna be real poor after i return...whateves ;).  Then we went to the GIANT mall by my house, bc my roommate, Patricia (she's totes a spanish baller) works at Zara.  I ended up buying a shirt for 3.95 euros, which aint that bad :).  Then, i got home, ate dinner, and met Ryan, Katie, Christy, Katie, and Jill at La Latina for a night of Spanish vino fun.  We met Katie's hottie friend Edu and one of his friends, and i ended up getting pretty happy after 2.5 glasses of lovely spanish wine.  Love it eternally.  I caught the last metro home, and was back by 2:30am...an early night by madrid standards.

Today, I woke up balls early with the intent of going to El Rastro, which is a giant outdoor marketplace that takes place every sunday...however, it was raining outside.  But we decided that rain wasn't gonna stop us, so i peaced outta my house at 10am, and was on the metro.  However, 45 mins later when i arrived at Estrecho Metro stop...I realized the rain had turned to SNOW.  EPIC snowfall in madrid...and it was balls freezing.  So, i waited for Kara, and we attemped to find a Barclays bank while waiting for our friend Sara.  However, we got epically lost and the in only Barclays we found, the ATM was out of service.  So we stopped and had coffee in a cafe and bitched about the weather and bipartisanship...typical. 

Then, we headed to Corte Ingles to ask for directions, and eventually found our way to another cafe for lunch, which we split bc it was so expensive, and watched the epic Australian Open tennis match (which the Spaniard won), so that was pretty cool.  I had no idea that in europe, Tennis is the SHIT.

Then i went home, did some epic facebooking, and we just booked our hostel for Sevilla during Semana Santa.  It was literally crazy.  We're all split up bc we couldn't find any rooms together.  Literally, every last place is BOOKED solid, bc the famous Semana Santa celebration and the Feria de Abril celebration fall on the same weekend. EPICA.

Tomo i start school..with a test.  UGH.

Hasta Luego!

Toledo- Where you can be biffles with the old Sword Maker Guy

Hola Todos!

Today we headed out really early to Toledo, the old Capital of Spain, about a 50 min bus ride from the city center.  It was glorious.  I started reading this book called La Tesis de Nancy.  It's pretty awesome.  When arrived at Toledo, and much to my dismay, it was a bit cloudy.  We grabbed the bus to the downtown area, and made our way to the GIANT cathedral in the middle of the city.  The streets in Toledo are a joke; they make Rome's streets seem like 8 lane highways.  I've learned that cars and buses WILL NOT STOP for pedestrians, literally not even slow down.

Also, I've learned that dog shit is EVERYWHERE, and that one must always look when one takes a step. 

After almost dying and avoiding poo, we arrived at the Cathedral, which was built in the 12th century.  It was amazing; however there was no photos allowed, which really pissed me off.  The place was HUGE and had tons of hall ways and Saint's rooms and prayer rooms and stuff.  Also, there was SO MUCH gold in the entire thing.  It was basically as epic as every church i went to in Rome, which is saying a lot.  However, it wasn't super enjoyable because it was like 5 degrees C in the church, which meant it was warmer outside.  After the church, we made a pit stop in a Cafe, and roamed the streets a bit, looking at all the adorable shops.  We then headed to the oldest Goldworking shop in Toledo, where the guy actually makes everything by hand with 24 ct gold.  We saw him working; his name is Luis, and he's AWESOME.  The shop is owned by this 75 year old couple, who have the CUTEST love story.  The hubby owned it before she came along, and she was british tourist; they fell in love when she was visiting his shop in Toledo, and they later married and now co own the shop.  LOVE STORY!!!

We became biffles with this man, and by we, i mean Ryan...because they were CLOSE.  So, he called his fav restaurant in Toledo and reserved a table for us.  We ended up getting 2 courses, wine, bread, and dessert for 12 euros, which is remarkable.  Our Goldsmith friend showed up and bought Ryan and Kevin Drinks, and his wifey chilled with us, leaving us with the parting advise of "you only live once; so do what you wanna do."  Epic.

We then went to pit stop to pee in a different cafe, but the ppl were like theres no bano aqui.  So we went back to the metal store, where the guy walked Ryan down the street and yelled at the people and then we were allowed to use the bano.  I ended up buying beautiful earrings, and Ryan bought an 80 euro Sword, bc Toledo is famous for swordmaking.  Epic.  

We caught the bas back to the bus station, and then the bus back to Madrid.  Overall it was an epic day. I caught the metro back with some of the ladies, but i heard that Ryan got stopped by Metro Police because of the sword.  Luckily, they let him keep it, after the wrapped it up and tied his jacket around it...even more epic.

Hasta Luegoooooo

The Epic Adventures of Jeannette, Kevin, and Gin&Tonic

Well, My life has been so epica, to say the very least...

where to start....

Yesterday, we went to the Sorolla Museum, which is an off the beaten track art museum that was created inside Sorolla's beautiful mansion.  The outdoor gardens are precious, and make me love this city even more.  The artwork was beautiful, late impressionist, which is quickly becoming one of my favourite styles of painting.  After the museum, we stopped for a mid morning snack, and then metroed to my fav place on the planet earth, El Parque de Buen Retiro.  I first heard about it in a short story I read in my Fresh year Span Class, but this place is truly beautiful.   Like a safer Central Park with a Hyde Park/pseudo Parisian feel, the park is giant, filled with fountains, caves, animals, a large lake thing where you can paddleboat, monuments, and greenhouses.  I desperately want to fall in love somewhere in that park. Seriously. 

After that, the Gang and i split and found an ADORABLE Italian restaurant, and comer-ed mucho. We slowly worked our way home, getting slightly lost, which is becoming the story of my life, and decided to meet up at 11pm for a crazy night out in Madrid.  I ate a quick dinner and met a 'happy' Kevin McConnell at his metro stop.  We ended up at a 1 euro everything Bar, I met a hottie Spaniard, chillaxed with Kara's roommate Rachel and her awesome friends, went to a club, got free shots, got my dance on, and then we decided to catch the late metro.  

However, Kevin and I decided that we werent ready to end the fun...so I got off at his stop, and we attempted to find a bar.  After some epic fails, we ended up boozing it up in his front lobby.  After a 3am walk to see if we could find anything to point me in the right direction home, we decided I'd crash at his place...however his host 'sister' was unhappy with that choice, and we ended up back on the street.  Then, we got HOPELESSLY lost trying to walk back to my place, ended up walking 45 mins outta they way, and eventually we found ourselves on a bench in front of a construction site, waiting till places started opening at 5am.  By chance, at 530am, we eventually found my house, and in essence, i was out the entire night, up to no good.  SO EPIC.

Today, Jill and i got 4euro lunch at Plaza Mayor, bought Pashminas, found Ryan and Kara, went shopping, perused Corte Ingles, got wine and tapas, and called it a night.

Toledo is tomorrow...I'd better get some sleep :)

Madrid, Dia 5

hola todos!

Hoy, fue EPICA.  oh i love spain.  i had cereal filled with nutella for breakfast...its a good thing im walking around a lot, or else i'd be SUPER gorda.  Today, we met at Ave. de Americas to catch the bus to a little town on the outskirts of Madrid to see La Catedral de Justo.

It was amazing...this 80 year old monk started building it 40 years ago because God told him to...and he did the whole thing by himself with recycled products.  its sooooo cool!  And it's pretty big too...we saw him working down in the chapel. So Cool

we had lunch out there too, all together as a group, which was as per usual an epic affair.

we then found our way back to the bus into the city and went a bit shopping.  LOVE it.

Lola made this awesome chicken dish for dinner, which rocked my socks off...but i'm so freaking tired that i'm gonna simply haveto call this an early night!

hasta manana!!!!

BESOS

Madrid, DIA CUATRO!!! :)

Ay dios mio.

Well today was EPICA, to say the least...in a good way tho.  I was up and out of the house by about 840am to catch the metro, conveniently located across the street from me..lucky lol.

after a 30 min ride, i was in the centro of la ciudad...and walked around a bit, doing some exploring.

We all met up and had churros con chocolate..aka like melted hershey's chocolate in a cup for bfast, and did a walking plaza tour of madrid, which was awesome, and ended with a stop in Corte Ingles, like a GIANT everything store..think Walmart meets Macys lol.

We split up and me and ;'las chicas (incluyendo Ryan) and our friend Katie went to get tapas, beer and wine at a little spanish restaurant.  after that...i was a smidge happy (the wine is SO intense here....2 glasses lol...typical), we spilt up again to go shopping for phones....we ended up getting a bit turned around, but found an AWESOME shoe/bag store on Gran Via, that's super cheap, and had cafe con leche.  Then we meandered to find out where Kara lives, stopping for directions in a Spanish version of a UPS store, where the guys behind the counter were like "they speak English and they're pretty...let's help them!!!"

Kara's host mom is GLORIOOUS, and LOVES Tennis, which is really really funny.  After that, i headed home on my 45 minute metro ride on the light blue line... Dinner was quite the affair here. my host mom made like pork chop things, and her vecino, a HOTTIE named Miguel came over...they're TOTES a thing and i highly approve.  My little sister loves to chillax with me, and she came in going "do u know that a long time ago, Spain was in a war with England?  But I wasn't alive back then, so it's not that important"  I LOVED it.  Also, when i came home...at like 730pm, and told my host mom we were gonna go out, she was like....no one goes out here on a monday night...and her like bf Miguel said so too...so here i am, blogging and putting up photos of my LIFE.

tomorrow i register with the embassy..good...in case i get arrested lol!

Hasta Manana!!

Madrid, Dias 1-3

Hola a todos!

So i'm settled in my little apartment with my host family, and we've just finished cenaring. Tomorrow, i have to get up balls early and commute...to the city center.  Kevin and I are on the fringes of the light blue metro line, in the 'nature' (aka outskirts) of madrid.  A fact which mildly freaks me out, as its DEAD silent here, and its only 10:28pm, but whatever...as long as i dont die lol.  

Overall, i love madrid...the small winding streets remind me alot of Roma, which is awesome.  The spanish is taking a little getting used to...the accento Castellano es poco mas dificil!

My fam is cute...my little five year old sis Claudia and i are slightly biffles, which is nice.  Her moms a pretty funny lady too...i just need to work up my spanish some more so i stop making such an ass outta myself lol.

Madrid is literally like a fiesta city.  Last night, we went out to a few bar whilst tapas hopping...which is lovely, because if you order a drink, you get free food...thats the name of the game :).  The other americans on the program are pretty cool as well, which is really nice.

I also have like a fellow student living here, but shes 23 and Spanish and going to another school...but i'm hoping we'll become fast friends and that she'll show me around. 

Stay tuned for more adventures..,like when i get lost on the metro tomo lol!

Ireland, Day 8, 1/7/09

Today, we were up at 450 am, and left our hostel on the 5:30 bus to the airport.  It was really sad to leave Ireland, especially because I had such a great time, and also because I effin hate planes. 

Things ran smoothly at the airport, and before I knew it we were in the air.  However, the flight was horrific and we hit 3 hours of turbulance, which BLEW me.  I hated it and was itching to land.  When we finally touched down I was just so ecstatic to be off the damn plane.

It's now the 8th, and I'm attempting to upload all my pics and vids and post them on facebook and on photobucket :).  Enjoy all, and look forward to my Spanish blog, starting 1/23 :)

Ireland, Day 7, 1/6/09

Today, we check out at about 8:30 am, and headed to the bagel store for some breakfast before making our way to the train station to catch our 9:15 back to Dublin.  Again, the ride was pleasant, except for an annoying child who kept screaming half the time lol.

We opted to walk back from Heuston Station in Dublin to our hostel, the Bunkhouse :), on Parnell street, which was the worst decision of my life, as the whole walk was a 45 min trek alongside the River Liffy.  After we checked in to the hostel, we headed to Trinity College to see the Books of Kells and the Long Hall.  I have to say that it was well worth the money to see.  The exhibit on the book was really cool, and although I only saw a fine art copy as the book is being restored, it was still awesome.  My fav part of the whole thing was the long hall, which is this huge collection of old books on two floors of shevles, complete with long, wooden ladders on ropes and wheels.  They were sorted by side and at the head of each set of shelves on each side, there was a bust of a famous thinker, dr, or philo person, like Newton, Socrates, and Plato.   It was huge and beautiful, and just being in this awesome and very old room was like taking a huge step back into history.  

After that, Lorelei and I headed to Carrolls Irish Giftshop on O'Connell St. We then headed back to the bunkhouse to pack, and embarked on a cheap and typical dinner at McDonalds, which was SUPER swanky.  We were even like served.  It was so awesome.  

We then went back to the bunkhouse for some hot cocoa, and then we embarked on a Ghost bus haunted tour of Dublin at 8pm.  This tour was super cool.  It was in a semi converted double decker bus, and we all sat up on top, which was nearly blacked out due to the curtains on the windows.  Our guide was this actor, who I felt like was probably mostly drunk lol.  We went around to this old medical school, Bram Stoker's childhood home, which is now a blood bank (how FUNNY).  We learned that he was inspired to write Dracula based on the stories his mother told him about the cholera epidemic in Ireland in the 1800s.  

Our next stop was St. Kevin's Graveyard, which is apparently haunted.  It's now a park and all the bodies were exhumed and all the tombstones are against one wall.  There's also a medieval church there, covered in Ivy, and was where Blessed Bishop Hurley (who's gonna become a saint) was hanged, after his skin was boiled off with oil because he wouldn't denounce the pope.  We learned about graverobbing here, and I got a hook placed around my neck, which was effin creepy.  Lorelei was also like a guinea pig and helped our tour guide reenact grave digging.  We all got weird orbs in our pics, which was also creepy. 

Next we learned about exorcisms, which really freaked me out, and then we went to the 40 steps, which is the most haunted place in Dublin.  One of the girls in our tour group got a super creepy pic of a outline of a figure in a greenish haze.  Our tour guide was also creeped out by this, as this place is haunted by the "green lady" who wanders the steps and the church looking for her child that was taken from her because it was born out of wedlock. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the tour, and it was a really fun experience :)

But it's almost time to go home :( 

Ireland, Day 6, 1/5/09

I'm super excited about today, as we were doing a bus tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher with Healy Tours (Thanks Mary Eileen, it was a great pick).  We started off early, grabbing breakfast on the way.  I had a plain bagel, toasted, with Cadburry Nutella, which is like heaven.  Seriously. 

Our tour group was really small, so we got a small bus, which was really great because it made everything more personal.  Our driver/guide, Chris was friendly but a bit creepy.  He sort of attached himself to us, which in the beginning was funny.  But, he was creepy in the sense that he gave us really wacked out dating advise.  He was a single guy, in his 60's and said he was glad he never got married and that it was better to date around because then you can just leave the person when you're tired of them...creepy.  He also told us it was ok to date multiple men and call them our boyfriends, and that it wasn't necessary for them to know about eachother... creepier.

While we were driving, we passed a ton of SHEEP :(, cows, and llamas.  Our first stop was Dungaire castle, which was spectacular in the early morning light and located right on the water.  After that, we drove through the Burren, which is a bunch of limestone Mts that used to be underwater.  Apparently, it is the best place for botanists to study flora and fauna because it's unique in that everything from several climates can grow in it.   The entire area, which is in County Clare, (which is where my father was born), is famous for its stone walls, which really give it that story book feel.  It also borders the Atlantic Ocean, which makes it really scenic.  

Our driver dropped off most of our tour group who was doing a walking tour, and took us to the Aillwee Caves, so that we could do some cave exploring.  Driving up and through the Burren, it began to get really misty, despite the constant sunshine, which along with all the stone circles that surround the whole area, made for a slightly strange and ethereal feeling.  All the mist made me think I was in like a King Arthur movie.

The Aillwee Caves were AMAZING.  Again, we had a smallish group, which reminded me of my four person basically private tour of the Catacombs in Rome.  The caves were small and narrow, and led us deeper into the mountain.  They were also very poorly lit.  The stone formations, consisting of Calcite were beautiful.  The ceiling was encrusted with fossils of underwater creatures, and bones from extinct bears litter the floor.  There's also a really interesting stone formation that looks like two hands joined in prayer.  The cave was full of drop offs and in one room, our guide turned out all the lights so we could experience utter and complete darkness.  That was pretty damn creepy.  There was also a waterfall that was still flowing, which was a beautiful site.  Overall, the caves were amazing, and I'm so glad we did them.

Back outside, the mythical early morning mist disappeared, and we could see the spectacular vistas from the top of the mountain.  We drove down and had time for a little stroll in the village, were we took pics of the small side streets and awesome street sign.  Picking up the rest of our group, we continued on towards the Cliffs of Moher.   We passed more ruins of Castles and went past Blackhead lighthouse.  Our driver pulled over to the side of the road to what he called the mini cliffs of moher.  These are only 285 ft above the Atlantic, so they're safe enough to walk to their edge, which is exactly what I did!  I got some amazing pics, and jumped across stones and over large holes to get to the edge.  The rock formations in this area were amazing.  I gotta say, between Blarney Castle and its grounds and this bus tour, I felt like Indiana Jones, climbing over stuff and exploring and such.  

Passing an old monastary, we headed into the town of Doolin (home of traditional Irish music) for lunch, before embarking onto the Cliffs of Moher.  We drove past another castle and finally, after an epic drive up a steep road, we had reached the cliffs.  We proceeded up the trail and I got my first look at the impressive Cliffs, almost 700ft above the Atlantic Ocean.  They were still a bit misty, but looked amazing with the sunlight behind them.   The ocean was so blue, but dangerously rough, and in the distance, I could make our the Aran Islands.  We trekked towards an old guard tower, taking tons of pics, and I even saw some dolphins coming to surface from where I was standing.  It was an amazing adventure.

After the cliffs, we drove a bit further into the Burren, stopping at Lemanagh Castle.  In this area, I saw quite a bit of wild horses, which was a really awesome site.  We stopped a bit further in at the Dolmen, which is an ancient tomb and burial site attributed to celtic people, and is a good 2,000 years older than Stonehenge.  AWESOME. 

Then, we headed back towards Galway, stopping to looks at a few ancient forts and to observe the perfect straight lines that rainwater had carved in the limestone.  

Back in Galway, we headed down to catch the sunset over Galway bay, collecting more pottery along the way.  Me, being the ditz that I sometimes am, accidently choked myself on a rope attached to a boat because I stood up without looking where I was going. TYPICAL lol.  

We picked up paninis and ate at our hostel.  After resting for a bit, we headed out to the King's Head pub to listen to some Irish music, but ended up going the Tis Coli, another pub across the street, which looked even more lively.  As we approached the bar, who did we run into, but Bronwyn and Jesi, the Aussie girls from Dublin.  It was an AMAZING coincidence, and we all grabbed a couple of beers, exchanged emails, and caught each other up on stories.  I also taught them a few phrases that they loved some much that they wrote down so they could bring them to Australia, which consisted of "this is why we cant have nice things", "this is why we cant take you anywhere", and "this is why mommy left us".  Jesi actually used on of them after I spilt a bit of beer on my jeans lol.  I also successfully scored a pint of Guinness from an American boy named Dan, from Wisconsin.  That was a GREAT SUCCESS. (I love free drinks). I'd have to say that besides New Year's Eve night, this was the best night out I've ever had.

AMAZING :)

Ireland, Day 5, 1/4/09

We left our hostel in Cork today at 8:30 am, and walked to city centre to the Bus station to catch our 9:25am bus to Galway.  Our bus driver was a pleasant old Irish man, who was clearly super nice, as he pulled over to let some guy off who realized that he left his ipod in his hotel. 

On the bus, we drove through the green and pristine Irish countryside, passing through Marrow, Limerick, Shannon Airport, Ennis and arriving in Galway. While long, the ride was really pleasant...even though I saw TONS of SHEEP.

Galway is right on the water, and when we finally got off the bus, you could smell the salt in the air..it was wonderful.  We walked to our hostel, Sleepzone Galway City, which had a pleasant staff and feww 15 min internet access.  After we checked in, we walked to Eyre Square, passing the famous O'Connells, and down shopping street, which is a really pretty cobblestone street boasting the oldest Claddagh Ring shop in all of Ireland. We saw the old remains of a castle that is now a bank.  Farther down the road, we found the Spanish Arch, alongside Galway Bay.  Walking along the rocky beach, we found shards of pottery with celtic symbols on it, so once again, I felt like an archaeologist, and I snagged some for closer inspection when I got home.   We walked farther down and took some lovely pics of the Sunset over the bay.  On the walk back to our hostel, we did souvenir shopping and I bought a really unique claddagh ring!

Stopping back at Sleepzone, we got ready and went to dinner at this little hole in the wall Irish/Italian restaurant called Buon Appetito, where we had AWESOME Shepard's Pie with Mash.  Dinner was candle lit and for a while we were the only patrons, which again made it really awesome. 

After dinner, we headed to the renown pub on Eyre Square, called O'Connells, where we had Guinness and chatted with a few Irish people over a game of darts.  On our way home, we stopped to play on a playground, because we're secretly 5 years old.  Returning to our hostel, we indulged in the free tea provided and I tried this awesome hazelnut and chocolate candy bar, and we met some guys from Toulouse, France, who sadly were much less friendly after they realized we were American :(. 

I managed to find an open computer for a hot sec, and friended my British friends, which was awesome!

Ireland, Day 4, 1/3/09

Today we were up at the effin early, 5am, so that we could catch our taxi at 6am to Dublin's Heuston train station to get to Cork. After a bit of ticket drama at the station, we were finally on our lovely train to Cork.  However, as it was an early morning, everyone was a bit snippy, but oh well what can you do right...I'm not exactly a morning person either!

I slept for a teeny bit, but was woken up by the MEANEST Irish woman train conductor ever, who did so by grabbing the foot that was touching the seat next to mine and yelling "We don't put our feet on the seats", and then walked away.  I was HIGHLY affronted, and decided that she had to be the meanest person in all of Ireland.  We arrived in Cork a bit before 11am, and took Bus #5 to Cork International Youth Hostel on Western Road.  Cork is a really hilly city with small cobble stone streets and colorful buildings.  It was spread out and really quaint.  However, it is the second largest city in Ireland, with a population of 120,000 people.  We dropped our stuff off before catching another Bus, #8, into city center to Catch the Bus to Blarney.  

Blarney is about a 20 min drive outside Cork.  The drive was hilly and bumpy, but ever so green.  Blarney the village is also really quaint, and the whole thing looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale.  It was super medieval and so darn green.  The castle is easily the biggest thing in the village, standing atop a hill, and build on a bulk of limestone to make it even taller.  Blarney's grounds were just as magical as the castle was.  A beautiful river snaked through the primeval forest and the shamrock green fields.  The walk up towards the castle is a small dirt road, and you have to cross a wooden bridge.  The first thing you see is a dog kennel and a guard stand, which is conveniently located next to the castle dungeons, which we decided to explore last.  Working our was up and around the castle to the entrance, we passed the old guard tower.  We finally reached the entrance to the castle.  

This entire experience was cool because they basically just let you roam the castle.  You do everything at your own pace.  I felt like I was stepping back in time as I walked through narrow doorways and stone spiral staircases.  It was literally like stepping into a fairy tale.  Passages were small and narrow, and the stone was at the very top. What made me even more delighted was that Winston Churchill kissed the stone; so we're basically linked through the Blarney stone.  In all seriousness, I was a bit hesitant after I saw the old Irish guy who would be holding me on the castle, but I kissed the stone anyway, and now I hope I'll be more eloquent :).  

After we climbed down from the top of the castle, we walked along the stone battlements, through a forest to the Badger's Cave, explored the castle's dungeons, and then explored the grounds in the Rock Glen.  There were waterfalls, the wishing steps, which if you walk up them and back down with your eyes closed, the witch grants you a wish.  We also saw the Witch's stone and her kitchen, as well as Druid tombs, Druid caves, fairy rings, and Stone Circles and Druid sacrificial alters.  SO COOL.

We walked the village of BLarney while we waited for our bus, and did a bit of shopping, as well as explored an old graveyard.  We arrived back in Cork and walked up St. Patrick's Street and found a little place to eat, called the Liberty Cafe. We then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep and pack, as we needed to be up early to leave for Galway.

So far, this whole backpacking this is AWESOME!

Ireland, Day 3, 1/2/09

Another amazing day in Dublin, albeit being our last day here till Jan 6th.  This city is a perfect combo of history and modernity.  Today, we caught the bus to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It's a lovely old church, reminding me of several churches I saw in Rome.  However, there was a distinct Irish feel, and lining the alter were Suites of Armor Heads on like pikes.  It was really cool.  The stained glass was beautiful, and even though it was locked off, there was an old stone spiral staircase leading up to the bell tower that I was dying to climb!  After we explored the Cathedral, we stepped out onto the grounds, which were amazingly green, which is what Ireland is famous for.  There were also flower in bloom in the supposed spot where St. Patrick used to bless and baptize people, which was really amazing.  

We then walked down the road to high street, the highest street in Dublin, to take pics of Christ Church cathedral. Then, we made our was to Dublin Castle, which is really funny because the only part that is a castle is this one tower.   We then made our way to St. Stephen's Green, which is a BEAUTIFUL park in the center of Dublin.  It was so green and pretty, and had tons of fountains.  Also, I saw the cutest children here ever...there are so many red heads!! Also, old Irish grandpas are the best because they were all over the place playing with their grandkids...so darn cute!  After we explored the park, we made our was to the statue of Molly Malone, who is known as the tart with the cart, the fish with the dish and the trollop with the scallop.  awesome. 

We walked up Merrion Street Upper, which has all these awesome Georgian houses with different colored doors till we reached Merrion Square, which is a park devoted to Oscar Wilde.  We met an older irish man there who told us a bit about Oscar Wilde's history in dublin.  I loved Ireland mostly because people all the time just walked right up to you to chat.  It's so different from here.  

Heading back towards the hostel, we passed the American College of Dublin, located in Oscar Wilde's childhood home, and walked the grounds of Trinity College, the oldest in Dublin, which was build in 1592 by Elizabeth I.  We had to wait till the sixth to see the Book of Kells, but that was totally ok. From here, I went to the National Library to visit the genealogy dept to see if I could find my father.  However, I was directed to the archives, so after grabbing lunch at this chic bagel place on Nassau St, I was off to do more research.  The archives were on Abbey Street, near the famous theater!  However, I wasn't able to find anything conclusive on my Father...oh well.  Walking back, I got some great pics of the Sunset!

We decided to stay in that night, instead opting to just do a traditional irish dinner at the Oliver St. John pub in Temple Bar.  I tried this green stew stuff and had guinness while listening to traditional irish music.  It was really great!  We found out that Paula, Em, Bron, and Jesi all call New Years: New Year, and determined that we were on Holiday, not vacation...ah I love British/Australian english :).  

Here's my favorite Emily quote:

"So we went to Dublin Castle today and took a tour.  Apparently, a lot of people in Ireland died fighting for independence...from England.  So Paula and I tried not to talk."

I'll miss Dublin, and our roommates, but I'm so ready for Cork!!

  

Ireland, Day 2- 1/1/09

Today was yet another amazing day in my Father's homeland! And I think one of my highlights of the day was TRYING VEGIMITE!!  My Aussie roommates, Bronwyn and Jesi let me have some, and let me tell you it is deff an accquired taste...aka YUCK. 

We left the Bunkhouse quite early to catch the Dublin City Tours hop on hop off bus tour of the city.  John was our adorable and funny driver, and it was basically just us and this old Portuguese couple on the tour! We took the entire 1.5 hour tour once through, and then caught the next tour bus to Kilmainon Gaol, the old jail in Dublin.  It was a super creepy place, and we had a tour of the jail and all its 'haunted chambers', and learned that it was build on the principle of Panopticon (DR. WRIGHT would be proud jaja).  

After that, we went to the coveted and nearly holy GUINNESS FACTORY, which was nothing short of amazing (Brian Bligh I know you're jealous).  The whole place is 7 floors of beer and awesomeness.  Me, not having eaten all day, got up to the gravity bar and after 2 pints of Guinness was sufficiently drunk...typical.  We ate at Guinness, and caught the last bus back to the hostel.  There, we chatted with Paula and Emily about Uni (short for university), politics, and life in general.  They were really awesome girls, and taught us several inappropriate phrases, such as 'blond smeg' and 'I'm sweating like a shitting dog'.  We also found out that neither the Aussies or the Brits knew what Frats were, and we had a great time explaining that to them over SoCo and Lemonade!

Later that night, we headed out with Bronwyn and Jesi to Fitzsimon's Bar in the Temple Bar district; then we decided we wanted GElatto, even tho it was FREEZING out.  Overall, it was another amazing day in Ireland!

Ireland: Day 1, Dec 31st 2008

IRELAND WAS AMAZING.  

When we landed at 7am, it was still dark outside, and all of Dublin Airport was decorated for the holidays.  Things ran smoothly and we soon found ourselves on a public double decker bus into the city.  We checked into Dublin City Bunkhouse, our AMAZING hostel, and the adventure began. 

Dublin is amazing.  We walked around a bit, exploring Moore Street, O'Connell Street and a bunch of bridges that span the River Liffy.  It's a pretty hopping and vibrant city.  My favourite was the awkward silver spire in the middle of O'Connell street, which is called the stiletto in the ghetto, the stiffy near the Liffy, and the erection in the intersection.  so typical :)

Back at the Bunkhouse, we met our 4 roommates, Paula and Emily, from Preston, England; and Bronwyn and Jesi, from Sydney Australia!  They were awesome girls!  For New Year's Eve night, we did a bit of Pub Crawling in the Temple Bar area!  Eventually we split up from P and Em, and ended up in the Pub called The Temple Bar, where I made friends with a British man and his friend, and ended up LOVING the taste of Guinness. 

At midnight, I even got kissed by a respectable Irish guy (so respectable that it was on the cheek..YES MORALS!)  

Check Facebook for pics and hopefully I'll be loading up some pics on Photobucket as well!!