Dias Extranos.

On top of a mountain looking at Segorbe, Spain

city bus attempt #1 The past two days have been so bizarre and random. I love when you don't plan things, but somehow your day becomes a silly adventure! Yesterday, I went to class and on my way back to el colegio I passed Tay! She asked me if I wanted to go to this market in the streets down by the beach that her professor told her about -- por supuesto, yo dije sí! Naturally we had absolutely no idea how to get there, so we started at the bus stop in Plaza Reina. We asked this old man which bus to take and he sent us to Plaza Ayumiento. Of course there are about 10 bus stops in that plaza so we asked more people where to go. Finally, we were directed to the bus stop where we could catch bus 32. We paid our 1,25 and were on our way (no clue if we would actually get there considering we weren't sure if we even had the right name of the market/street). After about 10 minutes on the bus we realized that we had no idea where we were supposed to get off so we asked the bus driver -- somehow the stop we were at was the right one! So, we got out and wandered around the market. Sounds cool, but it honestly was such a crappy market. It kind of looked like an ourdoor Goodwill (not the cool stuff at goodwill -- yes I shop there -- the gross stuff). We expected to see a lot of jewelry, art, rosaries, you know...but it was more like bras, underwear, ugly clothing, shoes, purses, belts. It was cool to see because it was pretty big, but we were quickly over it. Tay had to get to her next class, but I was done for the day so I just "headed home." Well, Tay took a cab to school because she had no idea what bus to take, so I just decided to get back on bus 32 because it had to go back where it came from. NOT THE CASE...tehe. Let's just say that I had a pretty darn long tour of the city. I immediately noticed that we were going the opposite direction than home, but I figured they would quickly turn around. Ohhhh noo...I saw the entire city before I got home. I saw an entire couple of "barrios" (neighborhoods) that I have never seen before, went by the beach (where my bus driver decided to get out and walk around for a few minutes??), and spent about 45 minutes on the bus at this point and wasn't even CLOSE to home. Eventually this sweet old Spanish women sat next to me on the bus and I asked, "conoces si este autobús va a la plaza del ayumiento finalmente?" (Do you know if this bus gets to the plaza ayumiento eventually?) and she kindly answer, "Más o menos, salías cuando tú estás cerca de la mezcla porque el autobús no va a la plaza del ayumiento nunca más ya durante fallas." (More or less, get off when you are close to the Mezcla because this bus doesn't go to the plaza during Fallas anymore.) Great. I had no idea what the Mezcla was and had her explain it to me. What was really strange is that she thought I was from France? Haha, but I was SOO thankful for this little old lady. After she got off the bus, I realized that the entire bus was full of people above the age of 60...no idea why. I must've been in old fart valencia at the time. Anyways, about an hour and fifteen minutes after I left the market, I reached the Mezcla which was actually right next to the plaza I needed to be in. It actually turned out to be such a fun adventure. I had fun seeing parts of the city that I had never seen and wondering where in the world I would end up! And I got to talk to a really NICE spaniard for once and practice my Spanish. After that, I came home, did P90X, ate lunch, sat on the roof, did homework and chilled for the rest of the evening...

Next Stop, Segorbe aka Middle of Nowhere

Orange Trees...We only took this pic because it looked like a mini version of the "whomping willow" from Harry Potter..hahahah

Ryan contemplating jumping in this fountain..Suz and I are great persuaders

Success.

I'm always eating...why.

segorbe last night, a group of us decided that we wanted to go HIKING! Sounds awesome, right? Well, Ryan found the spot to go, talked to a guy who worked at the national park, and figured out what bus we had to take to get there. Me and Suz woke up this morning around 8:00am, put on our hiking gear, had breakfast, dealt with the hungover boys (Ryan and "grateful" dave), grabbed out picnic lunches, and headed off to the bus station. We had no idea where we were going, as usual, but got there with 5 minutes to spare! We paid our 5,20 bus fare and were on our way to good ol' segorbe, spain. It took us about an hour with the MANY stops in itty bitty spanish towns (sooo weird by the way...I don't know what people do in these towns, they seem to be EMPTY), but we eventually got to the great city of segorbe. It wasn't so great. We got off and asked these young girls to point us to the "parque nacional" and they didn't even have a clue what we were talking about. They called over an older lady and asked her and apparently, Spaniards aren't much for the outdoors. Not only do they not drink, go out more than once a week, workout, oh no...they also do not hike. We had no idea what to do so we just decided to walk towards the mountains in the distance and see if we would eventually get there. At one point we saw this random playground in the middle of the city that had a map on it and it showed us some trails! We followed the arrow and surprise surprise, we still were walking on concrete with no national park in site. We just decided to keep walking towards the mountain and make our own path. It was interesting....we passed by a lot of oranges trees, lemon trees, rabid dogs, goats, poop, farmland, a highway, no trespassing signs, etc. Of course we continued. FINALLY...we got to a point where we could climb up into the woods. We point to a rock on the top and decided to make that our destination. A couple of thorns in my knees and rocks up our butts later, we got to the top :) We looked out over the farms and sat down to eat our lunches. I ate two bocadillos, a pear, a nutella and jelly sandwich, peanuts and sunflower seeds -- I eat an unnecessary amount of food. Anyways, we decided to head back down because it was starting to rain. On the way back, Suz and I spotted a fountain and decided to convince ryan to get IN the freezing cold fountain and climb on top of it for a picture -- of course he did it, idiot. I was almost peeing in my pants I was laughing so hard. I am almost pretty positive Ryan wanted to kill us, but it was sooo worth the it. Hahaha! ...We found our way back to segorbe and had 15 minutes until the bus came for Valencia. The boys decided to get a beer and Suz and I got Cola-Cao (its the best hot chocolate on earth). We could see the bus stop from the bar and panicked because we saw the bus that we were supposed to catch back to Valencia -- the next after this didn't come for another TWO hours and considering we were in the middle of NO WHERE, that was the last thing we wanted to do. The awesome people that Suz and I are, chugged our Cola-Cao and sprinted towards the bus. The bus driver laughed at us and recognized us from this morning and held the bus until the boys made it. We loaded onto the bus and listened to the sweet american jams all the way back to Valencia. On our way back to el colegio, it started raining and Suz and I wanted to RUN to beat the boys, but we were stopped in plaza virgen by these fourteen year old spanish girls screaming "excuse, excuse, excuse!!!" Haha...I believe they were trying to say "excuse me"...tehe. They came up to us, asked if we spoke English and said that they were going to Ireland in a couple of weeks and was wondering if they could practice their spanish with us. We said yes and they asked us a bunch of silly questions. When they asked us where we were from and we said "the united states" they covered their mouths and said "que guay!!!" (how cool) and were like so excited, haha. Anyways, they asked us why we were here in their broken spanish and asked to get a picture with us. The next thing we know, a swarm of fourteen year olds were taking a picture with us...it was so funny. Suz and I were just happy because our Spanish was better than a fourteen year olds English -- I know, pathetic, but people always tell us that we are all equivalent to about a 12 year old...greaaaaat.


The past two days have been awesome, very random, but awesome. Everyone keeps complaining about how we are halfway through our program, but I personally think we still have sooo much time left. I have nothing to complain about -- I feel like I am taking advantage of every single day that I have here and don't intend on slowing down or missing out on these little adventures. You have NO idea where each day can take you here.......


live it up!

Us with the little Spanish kids

Barcelona.

absolutely wild. Barcelona was an absolute crazy adventure between people getting punched in the eye, insane chupitos, to people getting lost on broken down metros -- I'd like to say that I handled this weekend decently well. Barcelona is definitely one of my favorite places I have ever been to. I am for sure going back one day, but I want to go when it is ridiculously warm so I can go to the beach! Friday I decided to skip class because I was up all night due to nightmares caused by watching Shutter Island. (We illegally watch movies on our computers all the time, and for some dumb reason I watched Shutter Island and was totally freaked out that I could turn insane). Anyways, I skipped class and it felt SO GOOD to catch up on sleep, especially when I had no idea what the weekend had in store for me.

On our way to Barcelona

Mine and Suz's AWESOME Room

We got on the bus around 1:30 and headed to Barcelona. This time I actually got my bag OFF of the bus and didn't leave any belongings. I didn't even bring a purse because Barcelona is known for excessive pick-pocketing and mugging. I wasn't going to risk it so I kept a money purse in my shoe the entire time. After the 5 hour bus ride, we immediately went to our beautiful hotel. Suz and I had a huge room to ourselves and were in heaven compared to the "dog house" we stayed in when we were in Madrid. We loved the bathroom the most because it was huggggee and had a heated towel rack in it (not that we ever figured out how to use it). Once again our hotel was located in the most perfect area -- right in the middle of the city. Our entire group headed to a dinner at this restaurant called FresCo. IT WAS HEAVEN! It doesn't sound like much from the outside, I am sure, but we are SO tired of our food at the dorm. FresCo was kind of like a Jason's Deli -- it had a longggg salad bar with all kinds of toppings and pasta salads (no, still no ranch considering nothing like that exists here), pizza, pasta, my fav...artichokes with oil and garlic on them, frozen yogurt, café con leche, and fruit! We filled up on the delicious fresh food and headed back to our hotel.

Taylor and I

Listerine Shot -- Step One (I'm scared to death -- haha!)

Step Two -- FIRE.

Step Three -- Wait.

Eliza, Grace, Britt, Tay, and I at Chupitos!

Suz and I unpacked and got ready for our first night out in Barcelona!! A bunch of us went to Tay's room to pregame and then headed off to Espit Chupitos. The cab ride was pretty expensive compared to our dirt cheap cabs in Valencia, but we eventually got there! Chupitos=shots. This bar was so cool and absolutely

packed full of Americans. There is a huge sign on the wall of about 200 different shots -- you have no idea what in the world any of them are, but it was soooo fun to just pick them and see what crazy thing you had to do to take the shot! Some examples of these shots -- A Boyscout: they pour alcohol down the bar, light the bar on fire, give you a stick with a marshmellow, you roast your marshmellow, dip it in a shot and take the shot; Fourth of July -- They put a sparkler in the shot and you have to wait for the sparkler to end and then take the shot; Harry Potter -- Something involving magic wands and fire ( I didn't take this one); My Listerine Shot (above) -- She put this green stuff in the bowl, lit it on fire, put a glass on it and it sucked up into the glass somehow, she let out the liquid and put her hand over the glass opening and had me suck the air out with a

straw (tasted like listerine) and then I had to take some of the green shot! All in all -- this place was soooo fun, cheap, and made taking weak shots a BLAST! After Chupitos, we took a cab to a discoteca called RAZZMATAZZ! It was 6 stories and was packed to the RIM. Side note: Barcelona is soo different than Valencia....people speak English only, there are American students everywhere, and its completely full of tourists (these were my least favorite things about Barco). Anyways, the discoteca was full of Americans and DISASTERS! My shoe broke immediately when I got there so I was dancing like a complete "rahtard" as my friends would say, Ryan got punched in the eye while searching for Suzerz in the huge place, the band playing was sooo loud that I didn't even know that they were singing in english, you couldn't move being there were so many people so it was SO easy to get lost, we tried to fix my shoe with bubble gum=fail. We eventually decided to go back home and make sure everyone made it home ok! Luckily, everyone was back at the hotel, safe, and pick pocket free!

In front of one of Gaudí's houses in Park Guell

My favorite strange performer in the park

The cutest children alive -- I want to steal all of the spanish children

Where America's Next Top Model was!

One of Gaudí's houses

The next morning we woke up bright and early (and hungover) for a delicious breakfast in our hotel. I was so excited because yet again I GOT COLD MILK!!! Yummmmmmy. We got on our bus to go on a four hour tour around Barcelona -- lets just say we all were struggling big time. It was a really ugly day so my pictures aren't that pretty, but it was still an awesome tour minus the whole group being hungover. Park Guell was my absolute favorite. For those of you dorks out there -- It is the park where America's Next Top Model had one of their final fashion shows. It is full of Antoni Gaudí's architecture, ceramic mosaic walls, caves, fountains,

everything. He is officially my new favorite artist. His work reminded me of something that my sister would love. There were three houses in the park that Gaudí designed (one being his own) and they were the most amazing

houses I have ever seen. Everything looks like something our of a Dr. Suess book or Alice in Wonderland. He made me fall in love with mosaic. One time in middle school I made a huge mosaic table with my art teacher and this encouraged me to keep doing things like that -- its soo beautiful. There were also a lot of performers in the park trying to make some extra cash, but my personal fav was this black man from London. He had six adorable puppies and this long horn that made the most interesting sounds. If you

ever get a chance to go to Barcelona, I 100% would suggest going to this park. It was everyone's favorite place in Barco. The other place would have to be to see La Segrada Familia which is a HUGE cathedral that

Gaudí started building and never got to finish because he

passed away before it was done. It pretty much looks like an incredible

"drip sand castle" you would make on the beach. It was the most incredible architecture I have seen in my life...

After the group tour finished up, a couple of us (me, Suz, Tay, Grace, and Britt) went on our 4 hour search for the Museo de Picasso. It took us absolutely forever to find, but we got to see SO much of Barcelona on the

way. Barcelona is one of those places that has about a millions th

ings to do and we had 1.5 days to do it. But I would like to give us chicas credit because we got to do/see a TON of it. It tooks us soo long to get to the Picasso museum because we kept getting so distracted by Calle Las Ramblas. There were farm animals for sale everywhere (soo weird...even roosters? Why the hell would yo

u need a rooster in Barcelona...this I cannot answer), art, flowers, markets, street performers, etc. This was the street we were staying on but didn't really get to explore it until then. I kept thinking we were entering a different "land" because one block would be full of the performers, the next animals, the next food, the next flowers, the next art, the next souvenirs, etc. It was so entertaining/distracting and we knew we had to pick up the pace to make it to the museum. Along the way, we got to see the bridge built for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. I of course loved that because of

my Olympics obsession (ps..Men's hockey won the night before and I was sooo excited).

After searching forever, we finally got there. I loveeeeeed this museum and was in such a zone. This was the best museum I have been in within Europe so far. It explained Picasso's entire learning process up to his style he created -- cubism. It was so cool to get to stand in front of something as simple as a sketch and know that Picasso was sitting in front of it doing it himself. It made me think of how I always sit around (back in the states) and watch Alex sketch in her sketch book, work on projects etc -- this stuff could be in a freaking museum one day. You wouldn't think that such a famous artist started off exactly the same way -- starting off with the basics and eventually created a completely new perspective and style. Needless to say, I thought this museum was incredible. Afterwards, we went out to eat at this restaurant called UDON which was a good change. I was dying laughing because I thought there slogan was hilarious for some reason..."NOODLES AND FUN!!!". Tehe.

Taylor Chico, me, Molly, Brendan, and Eric at OPIUM

Mols and I at Opium!

Suz and I were EXHAUSTED after this long adventure and fell asleep for three hours in our hotel. I wasn't even planning on napping, but after walking miles and getting into my cozy bed to watch the Olympics, I couldn't resist the weight of my eyelids. Luckily, I woke up to my room phone ringing with Caroline screaming, "You're STILL sleeping?? Get up!! We're going out!" So, Suz and I sluggishly got out of bed, showered and got ready for the incredible night ahead of us. Molly's friend who are studying in Barcelona took us out on Saturday night. We went to an underground discoteca called OPIUM in Olympic Park by the beach. Me, Molly, Taylor (chico), and her two friends decided to get a "VIP Table" at the club because it costs about the same amount as the cover charge and we got free alcohol, fruit, drinks, table, etc! This was probably the best money I have spent in Spain so far. They took us down to the VIP section and we were treated like celebrities. They brought us Absolut, a huge fruit platter, Red Bull, Cokes, etc. We were in this section that overlooked the entire club and it was sooooooo fun. It had such a young and fun crowd. I had a BLAST with everyone (especially when Suz and Grace met up with us!) We just danced all night and went home around 6 in the morning...

Sunday was the day from hell. I felt terrible from the discoteca and was dreading the miserable 6 hour drive back to Valencia. Luckily, Ryan is the sweetest person alive and let me sleep in his lap the entire way to Valencia. At one point, I felt so terrible that I laid on the floor in between the seats. Haha! We eventually returned to our amazingggg home and I went straight to sleep for a couple of hours.

Barcelona was obviously INCREDIBLE. Its definitely not a place that you would ever want to move to but a great place to visit for about a week! Its a good place for people who don't speak Spanish! It really offended us that they wouldn't speak Spanish to us, but would be awesome for people who don't know the language!

El Mercado Central

El Mercado Central

After class yesterday, Taylor and I decided to go to El Mercado Central (Central Market). Its one of the largest in Europe and right down the street from our dorm. My family would be in heaven in this market. I had gone plenty of times right before siesta when everything was closing down, so I was excited that we finally made it while everything was still open! There is literally everything you can think of and also things you have never heard of. Tay and I just wandered around and looked at all of the delicious fruit and cheeses and also the disgusting raw meats everywhere. It was fun to compare prices at the 10,000,000 stands. We ended up buying red apples (manzanas rojas), Granny Smith apples (which I was SO excited to find), nectarines (which unfortunately I chose one that was not ripe at all), and balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico). There were so many fruits and vegetables we had never heard of so we took pictures of them and looked them up when we got home. There were also stands filled with all different kinds of nuts and dried fruit -- everything looked delicious....until you got to the meat stands. We saw WHOLE skinned rabbits, pig heads, cow tongues, cow stomach, rabbit brains, etc. It was so freaking disgusting. Anyways, it was cool experience and I think my mom would have a field day in there. My plan is to get to know the ladies at the stands so they throw in some extra apples for me :) I eat so many apples here that I am going to turn into a gigantic manzana roja. tehe.

Last night I watched The Lovely Bones and it was pretty good. I read the book twice and loved it. I think they did a really great job with the movie, which I didn't think was possible. The problem was the freaking horrible actors. I can't stand Mark Walberg in movies, so he kind of ruined it, but the main girl did a really good job. It was creepy like the book but a great movie!
I also decided last night that I think I am going to jump on the Prague band wagon with Tay, Molly, Hope, and Dave. I have always wanted to go there and am going to try and make that happen. I planned a lot for Germany, Prague, Barcelona, London, and Italy last night...I was like a friggin travel agent. We are becoming professionals on this travel planning crapola...
Today I just went to class and ate lunch. Tay and I are going on a walk around the city and getting stamps (estampillas). I'm catching up on homework and emails tonight. Then..Molly, Greg, and I are going to watch the new episode of LOST on my laptop!

I am starting this new thing where I actually keep up with blogging and not have to write about ten days of my life in one day....we'll see how that goes ;) hasta luego....

IRELAND

Looking out over the Cliffs of Moher

"lots of crack."No, I did not do cocaine...in Ireland they use the word "crack" in place of "fun". I didn't know this and totally thought my tour guide was a cocaine addict. 

Kinlay House Hostel

SO...This Thursday I went to class, came back and showered, and packed for Dublin! Britt and I left around 1:00pm(Spain time) and headed to the metro. It was our first time using the metro in Valencia and it was easy and a success. We got on the super crowded metro and got to the airport in about 20 minutes. We stopped at Burger King (sick..I know, but when you come to Europe, you find comfort in Burger King and McDonalds) and headed down to security. The Valencia airport was small, but it was a nice airport and it wasn't crowded at all. As usual, the lady at the security judged us and sent us to another line (because we are American we assumed) and we went through another security line and then found our way to the gate. Ten minutes before boarding Tay, Molly, Caroline, and Joe showed up. We flew RyanAir--some thoughts--I hate RyanAir, they are VERY strict on luggage/carry-on, they keep the lights on the entire flight, you don't get food or water, everyone clapped when we landed (Molly and I wondered if this is because they usually don't land? just a thought), terrible service--but it was a quick 55 minute flight to Madrid. We arrived to the Madrid airport and had time to kill. We just walked around the airport, ate candy, and entertained ourselves until our flight at 9:05pm. We flew RyanAir again into Dublin. The flight was absolutely freezing which made it hard to sleep but luckily I was able to get some sleep. We got to Dublin and found a bus for 6,00 euro to take us to our hostel (Kinlay House). We got there and were SO tired that we decided to just stay in for the night since we had to wake up at 5:30am for our tour the next day.

Us in front of the Paddywagon!

Molly, Caroline, Tay, Me, Britt, and Joe

In front of King John's Castle -- Limerick City, Ireland

We woke up bright and early on Friday to go on our Paddywagon Tour. They served free breakfast -- Bread, jam, COLD milk, cereal, coffee, tea -- doesn't sound like much, but considering we can't get sandwich bread, jam, or cold milk in Spain...we were in heaven. We left for the tour around 7:00am on the Paddywagon bus. Most of us fell asleep for the first part of the drive. I woke up once our hilarious tour guide, Don, was yelling in his Irish accent over the speaker for us to wake up. I'm the biggest dork ever and chose to sit by myself in a single seat right next to the driver. Haha! We were on our way to our first stop, Limerick City, when we passed by the field where battle scenes from Braveheart were filmed! I was so excited and immediately thought of how cool my dad would think that was. It made me want to watch the movie again so I could pick out the scene. We also passed by a place where scenes for an upcoming movie, Knock Out, were filmed! When we arrived to Limerick, we stopped in front of King John's Castle by the Shannon River. The castle looked a lot like a fort to me, but it was really cool to see. It was the set of "Angela's Ashes."  Once everyone started waking up, I talked to all of the kids around me who were studying abroad in Italy and London. They were super sweet and also very hungover (one girl almost threw up in the seat behind me...that was comforting). There were also people on the bus from Brazil and Russia. Two Irish guys sat in the seat next to me and were training to be Paddywagon tour guides, so I talked to them a lot, naturally, but could barely understand that their accent was so strong. (No, they were not cute....all Irish people are ugly we discovered.) The tour guide gave us the itinerary for the day and was so excited that I was going to see 3 of the 4 provinces in Ireland. Its crazy to think that you can drive across an entire country in a day since the US is so freaking big. I was pumped! The next stop was a quick stop at Bunratty Castle. We went into a store there and thats where we found MEAD. Its the Irish "Honeymoon" drink. They had a sample pitcher and I wanted to try it -- it was AMAZING. It was a honey and whiskey mixture that was so delicious. I hate whiskey so that is saying a lot. We all split a bottle and I bought a little tiny bottle to bring back home to my family to try!

Not your typical golf course.

Tiger Woods played here once (pre-infidelity)

Claire County

More of the country

Then we had an hour and a half drive through the country to the Cliffs of Moher. This was the most amazing drive I have ever had in my life. The country is exactly how you imagine it. It was so awesome because our tour guide told jokes, stories, played music, and knew absolutely everything there was to know about Ireland and anyone famous with Irish blood in them. I got to ask him a million questions and  laughed my "arse" off the entire time at his silly jokes while I took pictures through the bus window. Claire County is my favorite county that I saw. It has the green hills that you always imagine in Ireland.

Cliffs of Moher

Scenes for Harry Potter were filmed here!

Looking out over the Cliffs

Just casually sitting on the side of a cliff ;)

Perfect day.

We could not believe the amazing weather we had. Our tour guide said word-for-word, "The weather is 3 months of winter and 9 months of shit." By my pictures, you can tell that is was the most gorgeous day ever. We got to Cliffs of Moher and realized how thankful we were for the perfect weather -- my pictures are prettier than the postcard I bought at Bunratty Castle. First we stopped in the little store built into the hill and I was SO excited because I saw one of those penny press thingies where they imprint a picture on a penny. Sam's little sister collects them and I did everything I possibly could to get Ellie this darn 5 euro cent with the Cliffs of Moher on it and could not get it to work. I'm sorry Ellie! I will try again if I see one anywhere in Europe! Anyways, we headed up the path to the cliffs and we were in SHOCK. It was definitely the most amazing landscape I have ever seen. Standing on 350 foot cliffs was a pretty incredible feeling...

Yummmmmmmm

Next we were onto the town of Doolin to go to our first Irish Pub! Doolin is Ireland's traditional music capital....boring. Exciting...we ate at a pub called Fitzpatrick's Bar. We had our first comforting meal -- turkey, potatoes, cabbage, and gravy -- and of course GUINNESS. It was incredible!!

Looking over the cliff on old ocean floor rock

Pretty blue water

Molly and I watching the sunset

After we left Doolin, we headed along the coast towards Galway. We stopped to take pictures in this area that used to be the ocean floor. It was so cool to see, the rocks were so weird that they didn't even look real to me. Once again, I wanted to stand on a cliff, so we all took pictures "livin' life on the edge". (I'm a loser...don't even laugh at that comment..lame joke from our tour guide) The sun was setting and we just chilled on the "ocean floor" watching the sun set. Saw another castle, more sheep, cows, and the beautiful stone fences. Pretty damn cool....

Leo Burdocks

Traditional Fish 'n' Chips

This portion was the size of a small infant -- you think I am joking?

Look at that grease. Bye bye patatas.

That night we got dinner at the famous Burdocks fish 'n' chips takeout stand. Don, our tour guide, told me that this is where all of the famous people eat when they come to Dublin. It was absolutely delicious and was a serving size equivalent to a small infant. This meal made us girls make a pact to never eat "patatas" (french fries) ever again because we are getting fat from this horrible spanish obsession. We literally put our hands in and yelled "no patatas". Hmm...anyways...that night we went out on the town for the first time in Dublin. We went to Hogan's, the Temple District, and a discoteca(which was terrible compared to Spain...actually, painful...the Irish CAN'T dance).

Christ Church -- Next to Kinlay House Hostel

Me in my version of Heaven -- Guinness Factory

I loved this -- This was the quote on the wall and then they had these

huge walls that you could hang a message on -- Mine was very deep.

Molly and I in the Gravity Bar -- Guinness Factory

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and were excited to explore Dublin! We left our hostel for the Guinness Factory (I was so freaking excited and acted like a twelve year old..haha!). We passed by Christ Church and took some pictures...we could hear the bells all day long in our hostel. It was a beautiful cathedral. Then we arrived to the Guinness Factory at St. James's Gate Brewery. It was such an awesome tour. The brewery is 7 stories and walks you through the history, ingredients, and brewing process. It was soo interesting and I am absolutely convinced that Arthur Guinness is a genius. A couple of interesting things -- The building is designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness and if full would hold 14.3 millions pints, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease in 1759 (picture on the left) for the St. James's Gate Brewery, he is the creator of the Guinness Book of World Records (that may be common sense but I never put two and two together!), Guinness began as a stout beer and was later changed into a porter in 1778, Guinness is very well known for their amazing advertising campaigns. When we finished the tour, we headed up to the Gravity bar that overlooks the entire city of Dublin to get our complimentary pint! We watched their perfect-pouring technique and drank the absolute best beer I have ever had. 

Britt, Tay, Caroline, Molly, and I in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Inside of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Next we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral and toured the inside. It was absolute gorgeous and had so much history. It was kind of eerie to know there were dead bodies behind all of the tombs, but it was pretty awesome to see. We wanted to go to mass there that night, but they said it was a lot smaller and not held in the main cathedral -- they only hold the full service once on Sunday and we couldn't make it..bummer. 

Grafton Street

Some guys singing Beatles on Grafton Street

Taylor and I at Trinity College

We walked down Grafton Street towards Trinity College. This was my absolute favorite street in Dublin. The city seemed SO dead and unpopulated until we hit this street. It is the shopping district and was PACKED full of people. There were people playing live music everywhere, street performers, a ton of amazing stores, and finally people our age. It was soo awesome. We were broke by this point, so it was so great to be so entertained for free! Then we walked through Trinity College and it looked at lot like UGA -- haha, YEAH RIGHT. It was super old and I would've loved to go through the library to see the Book of Kells with Caroline, Joe, and Molly, but Britt and I were BROKE. Britt and I decided to find a pub to watch the Ireland vs. France rugby match. Everywhere we went was totally packed and everyones' feet were killing them, so we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap. We got up and go ready for dinner! We decided to treat ourselves for one meal while we were there and all decided on MEXICAN at Acapulco. THIS WAS THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I never would have thought that the best Mexican I could have would be in Ireland, but its definitely true. We got chips with cheese and salsa (that was devoured in about 1min, not joking), chicken fajitas, the best margaritas I've ever had (I think the secret ingredient was vanilla thanks to my educated palate..haha jk), and amazzzzzzing fried ice cream.

After that we went back to the dorm to drink before we went out since drinks were so expensive in the bars. Next to the lobby in our hostel there was a dining room that all the young people went and drank in at night. We were being loud and obnoxious Americans as usual and caught the French kids' attention when we played Zumi Zumi (a drinking game that requires you to sing and pound on the table). The kids from France joined our table and we taught them the rules of the game. Then, we all headed out to a bar owned by Czech Republicans called "Czech Inn". It was an awesome bar with a dance area that we immediately headed to, of course. We eventually had to leave due to the terrible Irish dancers and the smelliest fat man on the dance floor. It was repulsive and unbearable so we headed off to Camdon Street where we met our Irish friends Aonghus and Sam. They were soo goofy and a blast to adventure around the city with. Something interesting in Dublin is that they have bikes lined up on the streets that you can just put euro in and rent and then you just return them back to one of the "docks".  Of course we got on them and played!! We headed to William Street--went to South William Street Bar and Dakota bar with our Irish friends and had a blast and laughed all night long!

We woke up the next morning and headed for the airport back to Madrid! It was such an amazing trip and was such a comforting trip. Ireland was a lot like America in many ways and felt a little bit like home. I would have to say that the most satisfying part of that trip was the people. They were soo friendly to us and never treated us like crap. It was really hard to come back to Spain that night to be treated like dirt the second we stepped off the plane. Madrid seems to be the absolute worst to me. The people there are kind of like New Yorkers, caught up in their own world and don't want to deal with anyone else. I never really have a desire to return to Madrid, really...the people are that bad. Haha! But it was so refreshing to go to a country where I could talk to anyone and everyone on the streets, in restaurants, on tours, etc without people acting like I was a piece of poop on the ground...

I definitely want to return to Ireland one day! It made me think of my dad and my brother a lot while I was there. Of the places I have been so far, this would for sure be their favorite place. Lots of history, beautiful scenery, great people, yummy food. When I go back, I am going to go to Galway and do another Paddywagon tour to a different part of the country. I love Ireland....

View from the plane -- The mountains in Spain