ich bin in Berlin! - August 6, 2011

I just departed Berlin, which I truly did love! I had a horrible hostel experience... it was HORRIBLE, but I literally have slept for 2 hours the past 48. I had a bed in a 30-bed dorm, and it wasn’t so much the other people that kept me awake as it was the god awful “mattress” and “pillow”. Basically my neck kept me awake the entire time. Otherwise, the hostel was the nicest one i’ve stayed in so far!

Berlin itself wasn’t necessarily NICE, but I LOVED the history of it, and I found myself often forgetting I was in Germany since it’s so culture filled. The first day I got there it was raining, and I was starving, and I was still in technology shock from being without any means of communication to anyone for 2 days... so immediately arriving I spent 20minutes trying to connect to internet! And then an hour trying to find a place to eat, before I finally said to hell with it and ventured out to wander. It worked out since the rain tapered off when I left. So I wandered, not too far, and ended up at an Italian restaurant, yes, Italian in Germany. I’m already sick of the “Traditional” German food... bread and sausage. I’ve had my fair share of carbs. I’m wondering if I tell my host family I’m going on a carb-free diet will they get sick of dealing with me and send me back? :) 

So I sit at this nice Italian restaurant along the river and enjoy a nice glass of Pinot Grigio. I opted to order lasagna... which later proved to be a bad choice. Ironically, the closer you get to Italy, doesn’t mean the BETTER the Italian. Unless that is, you’re IN Italy. (Reason #3238752475475 why people want to come to America... we LITERALLY have everything. And STL knows Italian!) So I had the best looking and worst tasting lasagna of my life. 

And of course, it made me sick! What gives. So I went to bed fairly early, with intentions to get up the next day and get in a good amount of sightseeing.

Since I ended up not even sleeping at all, I was up at 8. Got myself some breakfast from the hostel, and spent a good hour researching things to do. By the time I actually got ready and left it was already 12... go me! So I ventured towards the meeting spot for a free walking tour, free means business! On my way I ventured into the Mercedes-Benz show room, and then discovered the Volkswagen showroom across the street. Got to sit in my future car! The white VW Eos. It was gorgeous, minus the fact its an automatic transmission! 

The walking tour started at 1, and to my surprise was FOUUUUR hours long. But I went for it anyway, and I’m glad I did! I actually ran into two girls from the hostel who were from Cali. They seemed pretty cool and nice, but later proved otherwise... but I will say I was pretty envious of them. They’re about to be seniors at Sonoma state and they’ve spent the last 2 months backpacking around. They’ve been SOOO many places, and they leave in 10 days. Kinda wish I would’ve just done that. I’m seriously wondering what I was thinking. 

So after this tour, we head back to the hostel. This is where things got “weird” with these girls. First, they actually left the tour like 1 stop before it was over, and I figured, hey I better head back with them anyways, its just one stop and I was exhausted anyway. So they seemed a little like I was intruding by walking back with them. Then, I spent the next hour or so figuring out what to do later that night -- one of the girls comes downstairs to where I was CLEARLY sitting, and she CLEARLY acted like she didn’t see me... then they both left to go get food, also knowing I was going to get food. I guess maybe I’m being a little cynical, but personally... if I were with a friend, and we were backpacking across Europe and we met a normal girl our age from the States and she was traveling alone... I would invite her out with us for stuff! Nope, they just kept ignoring me in the hostel, and then around 11pm, as I’m taking my make-up off... “Oh are you not going out tonight? You should come out!”.... excuse me? Uggghhhhhh...

Anyways, so when they left for dinner I left out on my own in search of some Asian food, because I was CRAVING it. Thanks to Foursquare I found a dece place and started making my way there. It was pretty far so I took the S-Bahn, and ended up at an International Festival! I said to hell with finding the restaurant, there HAD to be some kind of food in there that would satisfy my craving. Sure enough, I found some lovely Thai Curry! The festival itself wasn’t very entertaining, so I walked around for a bit... found myself only entertained by the Boxer/Dane mix playing with a water bottle like Jack used to... and kept wandering. I attempted to waste time and go into the TV Tower, but after hearing it was an hour wait to the top I opted to put that one on the list of things to do when I return to Berlin (2 days was REALLY not enough... well not even 2 days). My wandering adventures continued, and proved to be pretty cool. I walked along the river and encountered some beautiful architecture, weird people, and different parts of town. Overall, I’d call it a success. Ventured back to the hostel, considered going out, and opted to stay in. Guess you could say I’m just not brave enough to venture out to the bar by myself and meet people. Possibly because it’s gone wrong in past experiences.. who knows. It’s different being a girl and going out on your own in a foreign country, and being a guy doing the same thing. 

SO today-- I ventured back to the Jewish Holocaust Memorial (which I discovered on the walking tour). They had a free museum that I wanted to see, and I wanted to take more pictures. The memorial is incredible. Well, to me. Maybe i’m just a nerd about stuff like that, but it was designed with the principle that each memorial stone is the same length and width and they are all placed the same distance from each other, but they are all different heights. 

Some go from a couple inches off the ground up to like 15 feet! It’s like a huge maze, and the ground underneath is wavy-- the concept behind that is from another Holocaust memorial in which they had so many bodies they had to bury that they eventually started stacking them... so some graves are 10 people deep... and the ground grew around them all making they gravesite wavy. I thought it was all pretty cool and amazing to put forth such thought (and ridiculous amounts of money -- 27 million euro) for such a great memorial. The museum itself wasn’t spectacular, but it gave a good explanation of what all went on, and it was very chilling reading the amounts of people killed, and they even had excerpts from letters/diaries/etc. of Jews that were affected. I really wanted to make it to one of the concentration camps just an hour north, but I was advised not to go alone because it can be very depressing and scary. I checked it out online and agreed. I think I might need someone to come with. To know that you’re in the place of which only 70 years ago, millions of innocent people were tortured to death, young and old... it gives you the chills. So I’m thinking maybe I will make a trip to Krakow Poland and visit Auschwitz. Otherwise, there is also one near Munich. While I’m in Prague I’m hoping to also visit the other Holocaust memorial, I believe it’s the one that graves were stacked on top of each other. I also got to see a lot of other cool sites: Hitler's Bunk, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, etc. I will definitely be taking a trip back to Berlin!

I’m currently on the bus to Prague... after what seemed like 437758 stop changes on the U-Bahn in Berlin, I made it to the bus stop. If there was ONE thing I could do without in Berlin, it’s the public transportation system. WORSE THAN LONDON. So now I’m on my “Business Class” bus... first cross-country bus experience since Spring Break ’09. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. But, besides the fact that the FREE WI-FI isn’t working, and I don’t have an electrical outlet at my seat... I can’t complain. I have a full two seats to myself, it’s not a 50 year old bus, the other people on here aren’t tooo creepy, no one is blaring their headphones to the point in which I can hear, we aren’t making 8000 stops at ridiculous stations in the middle of no man’s land, I DON’T have any transfers to other busses... and this particular trip, isn’t 24 hours long!!!! So... I will not be complaining! (plus, free bottled water! BOOM!) Eurolines puts Greyhound to shame! Now, if only I had Kelly Neal, Kristin Figueira, and Hallie Bergen here to start fights with me :)

On the other hand, I am NOT traveling to Prague alone! Well, at the moment I am, but I have an accomplice meeting me! I met a girl last week, Babs... she’s pretty much in my shoes. She graduated from U of I in May, didn’t know what she wanted to do, so she insanely decided to fly across the world and watch a kid, make worse than minimum wage, and “see the world”. Needless to say, we just came from the same lifestyles... and did 160 degrees spins to now, the same lifestyle -- life of a raging college student to life of a “responsible” nanny. Quite the adjustment for us both, but it was nice to hear that someone else is experiencing the same things I am, and missing the same things, and wondering what the hell!

So Babs last minute, got Sunday-Tuesday off... and is meeting me in Prague tomorrow!!!! FINALLY someone to cause some havoc with me in another country! I’m currently riding through the scenic of Germany... looks pretty similar to... my ride through Kansas. Open fields, some trees, and fucking windmills. I HATE those giant white windmills. They freak me out, especially when they’re in huge packs. God I miss home... I’m beginning to question more and more what is worth more. I know it’s only been a month, but while things are getting better, there’s still a void that I don’t think will ever be filled. It’s like... being married to a millionaire... it’s nice, but no matter how hard you try and how much money you spend on great things you buy/experience... you’re still not happy. Granted, I’m sure some wife-of a millionaire could prove to me otherwise... this is my general depiction of being married to money!

Spending the next 4 days in Prague, then guess back to Munich... we’ll see where things bring me then. Tschuss!

Welcome to Germany... oder, Wilkommen in Deutschland!

Leave it to me (along with a severe case of homesickness and legitimate depression) to make use of the insane amounts of free time I have by avoiding to update this thing. I've instead spent numerous hours looking into flights to get back home, places to travel to while I'm here, cars/jobs/dogs (among many other things.. Cards 2012 season passes) to purchase when I get back home, reminiscing on old pictures, checking Facebook/FourSquare every 20min to see what I'm missing out on... basically I've spent ALL my time on the computer doing EVERYTHING I shouldn't - like I said, depression has gotten the very best of me.

So let's start with getting here...

I made the wise decision to take Dublin out with a bang (hah)... Boy did I do some work. Let's say it was a successful night and one for the books. I was awoken at 4am by Dani, Christen and Mark telling me "BRITNI, it's 4! The cab is here! We have to get to the airport!" (We all had early flights... mine being at 7am.. but I couldn't risk the chances of missing YET another flight).  Luckily had all my bags packed so I scrambled to get everything together and down the flight of stairs... I somehow made it down the stairs with the help of a few other comrades (I had 4 bags). 20 minutes later we made it to the Airport where Dani & Christen departed ways to a different terminal.. and I later ran into Mark who helped keep me awake until our flights!

Luckily I snagged a decent pair of headphones (since I left mine in Barcelona) and a snack to hold me over... and even luckier, I shared a whole 3 seat row of seats... to myself :) So I sprawled out and took a fat nap before landing in the motherland. 

So i'm waiting in the giant line to go through customs (last thing I wanted to do), worried about how I will EVER find my family in this (what seemed to be) huge airport in which I understand none of the signs, and then I see my little blue eyed blonde haired children waving the German flag out of the corner of my eye! Though I was feeling pretty emotionless and unenthusiastic (seeing that I really didn't get ANY sleep at all), it nearly brought tears to my eyes to ACTUALLY be meeting them after almost 9 months of talking through Skype, etc! The tears to my eyes effect quickly disappeared when I was shot down from a hug and any form of "HALLO!"... and the rush of emotions quickly flooded in (homesick, terrified of meeting these people, what have I got myself into, I just want to call my mom, these kids won't talk to me.. I don't understand these kids.. etc etc etc) = one hell of an emotional rollercoaster

When we arrived to the house (in a nice little neighborhood, VERY much unlike what I pictured/expected), I met Steffan, my host dad. Still, as with the kids and Jana (the mom), it was all so awkward and at this point all of the emotions running through me (including hunger & thirst). Luckily, they had lunch waiting for me! Spaghetti, in which made me feel like a fat American because I had 3 servings... but I had no idea when I would be eating next, or what. This was also my first experience with "Apfelsaft mit wasser" (apple juice with water... who drinks water with their apple juice??).. it was okay, absolutely nothing special.. I mean, it tastes like watered down Apple juice. After refueling on nutrition and hydration I couldn't be happier to hear the magical words "nap-time". It was much needed, and thankfully I have a VERY comfy bed. I could use a bigger comforter (p.s. WHY are the comforters in Europe i.e. Ireland & Germany so far) the EXACT same size as the mattress??). But, it's purple, I have my own futon, a flat screen, bar table and chairs, a nice closet set up, and EVEN a fireplace... all in my cozy little basement room. I can admit, this is the first basement I've never been afraid of! Downside -- I share it with spiders occasionally (i'm slowly scaring them off), and I don't have a toilet. But I have a sauna and my own shower and sink... as with many of my complaints, things could be worse.

Post-nap I was informed we were going to a local festival (something to do with France/Germany... not really sure what it was all about), but I went. And to my LOVELY surprise, we were riding BIKES to this event. Now, I will inform you that this was the first experience on a bike SINCE the accident, and secondly... I was given the worlds most uncomfortable bike. Additionally, I was engaging in physical activity that required strength and stamina, which I was lacking due to lack of sleep, and full force emotional distress.

We get to this festival.. all is still a jumble of emotions... we meet another family (Benjamin's family -- he goes to school with Carolina... it's her "boyfriend"), they ALSO have an Au Pair, Alice who is from South Africa. I wasn't sure if it was my lack of eagerness to interact and socialize with others, or my legitimate instincts, but I wasn't truly a fan of Alice. Especially after she spent 10min telling me it took her 6 months to start to bond with Benjamin and the family makes her do lots of cleaning, etc... way to start out day 1 eh?

So mainly the festival was for the kids... and the parents sat and gossiped in German... they bought me a pizza like snack (which was heavenly), and then proceeded to bring me a drink. When asked what I wanted, I wasn't really sure... the college student in me wanted a beer (hell, I was in Germany!) and the responsible (yes, responsible) me wanted a non-alcoholic beverage, and the hungover me wanted a huge water... so I came up with my best reply "Surprise me!". Then I received non.of.the.above.

Steffan brought back a round of 3 drinks in wine glasses what resembled orange soda, garnished with an orange slice on the side. Turns out to be a "Spritz"... and it turns out to taste like shit. It is slowly growing on me, but it's truly never going to be my favorite. It's made with a VERY bitter orange liqueur called Aperol, Prosecco (champagne), and mineral water. Less Aperol and more Prosecco makes it tolerable, but I haven't found the desire to drink it more... it's apparently the "summer" drink here. Please, just give me a beer.

So after the festival we trekked our way back home where I experienced my first dinner... which I later discovered would be the exact same dinner I would experience EVERY night. If you were thinking earlier that it was unusual to be eating spaghetti for lunch (not dinner), I was as well. I soon discovered things are a bit backwards here. They generally consider lunch a "warm" meal, and dinner more like what we would consider lunch... cold cuts, bread, salad, etc. This would of course take some getting used to... which hasn't been TOO bad, except for the fact that we eat the exact same dinner, every night. I need something new asap.

Back to day one... to end a long story, I spent the rest of my evening VERY homesick, and crying... the way I would spend many more evenings up until recently. I know my updating is a little bass-akwards, but I am trying to give good thorough updates, without skipping over the first few weeks!

I'm heading to bed for now, but at least everyone has been thoroughly updated on my adventure TO and first day in Pullach Germany!

Please stay tuned: The kids, my Host Parents, homesickness, Attempts at meeting people, Driving/Public transportation, FOOD, society, and much more. I'm going to try my hardest to keep at this nightly until i'm caught up to date! I love and miss everyone (and everything American) more than I imagined! A HUGE thank you to everyone for supporting me... without you I wouldn't have made it past week 1!

LoNdOn ToWn ((June 24-27)) & Dublin last week

This post is LONG overdue, and I have many more updates to post after this. We left for London LATE Friday, which made for a rough start to the trip. The airport we booked our flight into was an hour from the city, and by the time we got on a bus and got to our hostel is was almost 1am! We had originally had some difficulties with finding a hostel, and so myself and my roommate booked ONE bed in the hostel to share, and ended up getting caught. So in the midst of finding another free room/hostel at 1am in London, during a weekend of music festivals and WIMBLEDON, we never found another open spot in a hostel, but we met some guys who were working the bars at the Hard Rock Calling Music Festival in Hyde Park (which we had no idea was going on). They told us Kings of Leon had played, and the next acts were Bon Jovi and Rod Stewart. We talked to them for like 20minutes about America, and left. Went back to the original hostel and they made accommodations for both of us to stay (whew!), but we were still out of a place to stay Saturday night. So we ended up getting some sleep (in this AWFUL hostel might I add...) in a room with 10 other strangers... and we started our Saturday around 9am. We started out trying to venture around the city in hopes of finding a place to stay that night. EVERYWHERE booked. We then ventured to a mall where we got ready for the day (because our hostel had ONE bathroom for a room of 12 people, we didn't get to do this there..) and we got ready in one of the bathrooms at the mall. (Quite the experience)... Then we got a text from the guys we had met the night before, they had 2 free tickets for us for the music festival -- TO SEE BON JOVI! So we spent our Saturday night in Hyde Park seeing BON JOVI for free!!!

The weather was ABSOLUTELY beautiful and it was an AWESOME concert! He played for almost 3.5 hours! Then we wandered around once again looking for a place to stay... found a hotel that had one room, but we had to check out at 7am! So we booked that and got up early to site-see... we spent ALL of Sunday on a tour bus seeing everything about London. My favorite was Buckingham Palace.. I wish we had gotten to spend more time visiting and learning about the Royalty. We DID get to see the changing of the guards which was VERY cool!

It was GORGEOUS. But our trip was short, as our flight back to Dublin was at 7am on Monday morning... so we spent the night at a Hookah Bar (where we met the very nice owner), and he let us stay and hang out with his employees until 3am. Then we took a cab to the airport and slept there for a few hours and caught a plane to Dublin!  It was short, but nice. They cost of living is soo expensive, so it was better we left when we did! I'm sure there is much more to tell, but honestly London was more or less spent looking for places to stay than looking around the city... I will definitely go back one day when I have more money and a better plan!!

The last week in was bittersweet! I spent a lot of time working on my final presentation with my partner Zane for BJ Fitzpatrick & Co. It turned out to be a success! The company loved it, and they were very appreciative of our hard work! They even gave us gifts!!! My first Pandora charm bracelet!!!!!! (Now I can get charms for gifts :]

The last dinner hosted by the College of Business was at the Arlington Hotel. We got a 3 course meal, which we got to choose. I had a salad, Lamb, and cheesecake. I must say my shank of lamb (which was my first EVER) was delicious!! After dinner the student managers arranged for us to get into a Temple bar club, where we spent most of the night dancing! Our last night we spent at one of our favorite local bars, Doyle's. It was right down the street from Trinity and we got to know it pretty well! I left at 4am with another group of students who had early flights, so it was hard saying goodbye to too many people so early. Needless to say, we were all still slightly drunk at the airport at 4am having gone out to Doyle's right before! Luckily I was already packed! This time, checking THREE bags... oyyyyyy how am I EVER going to get back to the States?!

The girls at the pitch on our last night!

Week 3 - Galway & Adventures around Dublin

Apparently keeping up with a blog is much more time consuming than expected... it's going to be much harder to recap everything since my last post, but I'll do my best!

My last post ended discussing how I wasn't sure what I was going to do on the 4-day weekend we had from June 17-20th. I ended up staying in Ireland. A big group went to Barcelona (been there), another went to London (JUST spent this past weekend there), and another went to Munich (be there in 5 days!)... so I took some time to explore the Emerald Island! There were only a few other people who stayed too, but  they mainly stayed in Dublin. The first day of the weekend (Friday the 17th) I went out to Howth with one of the other guys on the trip, Baron. Baron and I both hadn't been to Howth yet, and many others already went. When we left it was rainy, and after the 20min train ride there, it was rainier. We were pretty bummed about the weather, but knew how sporadic Ireland's weather is, so we attempted to wait it out. The wind was brutal, and the rain was cold so after waiting 20min for a bus to take us to the hill, we gave up and decided to pass time with a warm lunch! We walked up and down the harbor looking for some yummy seafood, and ended up eating at a WONDERFUL place called The Oar House. It was the ONE meal I truly splurged on, but it was very well worth it. I started off with an Irish Bailey's coffee (heavenly) and some seafood chowder. Baron got the cajun calamari (also very yummy!), and for my main course... rare grilled Tuna steak with a green olive pesto on top, a small salad, and 'chips' n' vinegar (chips are ACTUALLY not chips like the Americans like to think... they're more like steak fries that you get back home!, but amazing with vinegar!!). It was a wonderful lunch, and while we passed a bit of time the rain hadn't let out, but the wind did, so we managed to catch a bus (after running after it!) to the beginning of the hill hike. By the time we made our way up the rain let out to a mist, and we decided to take our chances and start hiking anyways... GOOD idea, because the sun eventually came out and the weather was more than I could've asked for! It was beautiful, and we hiked around almost the entire island of Howth, along the cliffs.. we took detours down to the bays and saw seals in the waves, I walked along the Irish sea, and got SOAKED/muddy/and ruined my tennis shoes, but all the well worth it! I took some breathtaking pictures, and saw every different aspect the coasts of the Island had to offer. It was a day VERY well spent. Experiencing the scenery here has made me step back from reality and truly take everything I have for what it's worth. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity, and while I may be paying it off for quite some time, I'm glad that I can say this is what I did and that I have incredible family and friends who are supporting me.

After returning from such a wonderful day in Howth, I decided I would spend the rest of my weekend in Galway... by myself. Not sure if the "by myself" part went as lovely and relaxing as I had expected it, but I survived. I found a 3-day trip that took me to the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, and Connemara for  80euro (including transportation to-from Dublin, as well as transportation around to the sites). I was able to find hostels for the 2 nights, which was only 27 euro. The 1st day was the Cliffs, and I got incredibly lucky with the weather! It was sunny, and the wind was apparently "calm"... blowing and pushing me around didn't seem too calm, but the locals insisted it was. The views were amazing, and although I was a little too scared to get close to the edge, I got some pretty awesome pictures. That night I stayed in a dorm at NUI Galway (a University there). It was pretty nice.. had a few mishaps with the dorms they put me in (yes, I had to move to another one), but I survived. I attempted to venture into town by myself, but it had been a long day and I was in an iffy mood, so I ended up going back to the dorm and getting some sleep after a bit of time in the city.

The next day the tour took us to the Aran Islands. I didn't have the greatest time here unfortunately... I don't think I really knew what to do! It was the one day of the trip that the tour wasn't guided, you had to self-guide yourself. So I rented a bike (like everyone else does) and attempted to venture around... needless to say I didn't make it very far around the island so I didn't get to see any of the big sites. Biking long hilly distances is something I haven't done in years, and after hiking all around Howth a few days before my body was taking a beating... I also didn't realize how hard on my back biking would be. But even though I didn't get to see much, I got a good workout! That night I stayed in a different hostel, which was much better! More people were around so it wasn't so lonely, plus it was in Galway city center, so it was closer to everything. I attempted to venture around town for a bit, and headed towards a pub called "Hole in the Wall". Along my way there I met a few guys, and invited them out to join. One joined me, but it was after only a pint with him that I discovered he was just another rude boy in the world.. so I ventured back to my hostel and got some rest for the next day.

The last day was spent on a bus going all around Connemara and the Killmore Abbey. I FINALLY got to see the countryside of Ireland! It was beautiful. I saw a few small old castle remains, some monasteries, Connemara ponies (loved them!), sheep, cows, sheep dogs, and Killmore Abbey was beautiful too. I truly enjoyed the landscaping and the countryside!

The week following in Dublin was busy with school and work. Work is getting better, I was very happy to finally talk some Marketing talk about Pandora's products with one of the main executives, John Fitzpatrick. He's an older guy, and has been in the family business for years I'm assuming. His perspective and insights to marketing Pandora jewelry was very interesting, and I'm looking forward to looking into jobs with Pandora for the future. He also showed me two new products they are introducing soon, and said he would hook me up with anything if I was interested :)

Wednesday (22nd) we celebrated Dani's 21st birthday. Her birthday wasn't actually until Saturday, but since everyone was going to be gone traveling and her mom was coming to Dublin to take her around Ireland, so we celebrated early! I made her a shot book, but it was the worst quality shot book I'd ever made since there are NO Hobby Lobby's here!!! But it was the thought that counts, and she loved it! Most of the entire group of us studying went out that night to celebrate, and we surely celebrated hard. We had a free day from class on Thursday so we were able to celebrate hard and sleep in a bit.

That Thursday (23rd), myself, Baron, and my roommate Meghan went to the Guinness factory finally! I LOVED it. I didn't like that it was self-guided, but it just made me have to read more! I loved all of the history of the beer, the company, the advertising, and everything that goes into brewing a Guinness.. it was very interesting and I wish my daddy could have been there for it too! I got to enjoy my Guinness at the Gravity bar, where you can look out to all of Dublin. It was incredible! On the way back to the dorms we decided to opt out of walking 25min, and took a horse carriage instead! It was my first ever ride in one, and I LOVED it!!!! Our horse's name was Molly, she was an Irish horse, but I can't remember the breed. That evening I got to meet Dani's mom, Cindy aka Momma D. She took myself and 3 other friends on the trip to dinner with her and Dani. We attempted to eat at Davy Burnes, but it was too busy, so we went to Sheehans, where I had lunch once at the beginning of our trip. This time I got salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans... it was amazing to say the least!

I'm going to end this post now, and start a new one for Week 4 and London!!! Hopefully this was a good recap of week 3... I know I at least hit all of the important adventures!

End of Week 2 -- BaRceLoNa!!!

This past weekend was spent in beautiful Barcelona Spain! After ridiculous amounts of traveling (from dorm to airport, Girona airport to Barcelona, bus station to hostel...) we FINALLY made it to Barcelona and settled into our hostel around midnight. The hostel was... well, a little skeptical, but I just kept telling myself it could possibly have been worst. It was only 55euro for the three nights for each person. There were four of us that went. After we got in we headed right down the street to the Bar/Restaurant... where we ended up spending most of our weekend making friends with the bartenders and owner! Abil was the owner, and main bartender. He was incredibly nice, and hooked us up at the bar every night! He gave us good insights on the city, and fun things to do! We quickly learned the bars closed at 130, but the clubs didn’t get started until 2am, and closed at 6!!! Surprisingly, I only ventured to one club, and only stayed out til 3am! Saturday we woke up bright and early for our “free breakfast”... which we were told was a “GIFT!” from the hostel. Breakfast was quite the continental brunch... white bread for toast, butter, coffee, and orange juice and milk... both of which were room temperature (yes, including the milk). Needless to say, I didn’t get my cold glass of milk in the morning! We ventured off for the day, heading for the Sagrada Familia (Gaudi Church). It was absolutely amazing, but the line was too long to wait to experience the inside. One day I would like to go back, hopefully it will be finished!!! As always, I was obsessed with the intricate detail in every building or statue. This church was beyond amazing. I wouldn’t say beautiful as in aesthetically pleasing, but beautiful as in how incredible it was thought out and designed. After that we wandered around town... for HOUUUURRRRSSSS... in search of the beach. The language barrier wasn’t a huge problem, until we were lost and frustrated. But eventually... after many hours, and miles... we made it to the beach! And later realized how easy it would have been had we  stopped to learn the metro for a few more minutes, oh well, it was a Barcelona adventure! That night I had dinner at the bar down the street from the hostel. I ate Paella (but I got my seafood peeled!!) It was amazing!!! We went to a bar called Dow Jones, its concept is based on the stock market and prices for drinks fluctuates, and every now and then the market crashes and drinks were super cheap. It was a fun concept. and a cool place to go, but the place was full of ALL americans, so it felt really touristy! After that we ventured around to some other places, and eventually the club. The club could have been a lot of fun had there been a bigger group of us, but it was just me and Dani who ventured off together! On Sunday we slept through our “breakfast” and ventured to the beach. We wandered around Port Veil, and stopped to get lunch. Once again, I ordered Paella... this time it came with creepy crawlers in it!! It was too fishy for me, which is rare, so I definetely enjoyed it better the night before! What an experience though, tearing the head off my little crawfish looking creature, who STILL had his eyes! The beach was beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for better weather! First time I experienced a topless/nude beach. The topless part wasn’t as bothersome as the old men who seemed to be the only ones participating in the nude part... but it was an experience to say the least. I also met my FIRST great dane in Europe!!!!!!!!!! Hims was black just like Jack, but no where NEAR as big!!! He was super sweet though, I spotted him from across the beach and ran to go see him! His owner was from Sweden, and was super nice, but he said danes are not very popular (at least in Spain). I did see a lot more dogs in Spain though. Dani and I ventured along the beach to get some gelato, and walk along the shore. We eventually ended up falling for some of the random people selling things on the beach (food, drinks, scarves, massages... you name it!) I bartered with the guy for some scarves for a few minutes... I finally got him to agree on 2 for 8 euro! He originally wanted almost 8 for one! After the beach we ventured back to the hostel and got ready for the night. We met our neighbors, who were from France. We partied with them in the hostel before going out, and then took them to our favorite bar down the street. There we ate food, and ended up hanging out there all night! Abil made us really good drinks, and the super sweet french guys paid for everything!! They were a lot of fun, there were a couple girls and a couple guys, and we all had a great time! Monday morning we ventured down Las Ramblas to check out all the shops and stands. After that we ventured around, and Dani and I ended up going off to do our own thing. We went back to the bar by the hostel for a drink, and went to walk around the city a bit more. We walked through the “slums” (what we called it), where tons of people camped out and demolished this plaza for protesting. We haven’t figured out why yet, because we couldn’t read the spanish!! But it was a crazy experience! Afterwards we ate a a little cafe, where we somehow ended up paying 18 euro EACH for a salad and a tapa (small appetizer plate).. we later found out that sitting outside added an additional 20% to your prices!!!! Ridiculous! Overall it was a good trip! Dani and I had a really good time, and spent time getting to know each other, which meant a lot to make a new friend :) Our flight didn’t leave the Girona airport until 10:30pm, and we didn’t get back to the dorms at Trinity until 2am, but it was all worth it! I can’t wait to go back to Spain again someday and experience more. It was definitely a different experience then Dublin has been, but one worth experiencing! This weekend I have a 4 day weekend, and NOTHING to do... two big groups are taking trips, one to Barcelona, and one to Munich. I had originally wanted to spend the weekend traveling around Ireland to other places, but there are only 3 other guys who are staying here for the weekend... as selfish as it seems, I would rather spend my weekend having a good time with my friends. I’ve found that the hardest part about this trip has been experiencing these awesome places without my very best friends, but I’ve been working to make friends here. Dani and I get along very well, unfortunately we’re not roommates, but we have a lot of fun together! She is going to Munich this weekend, and I would ABSOLUTELY love to go, but I’m going to be there for a YEAR so I’m torn... plus, I’m running low on cash... the Irish price inflation along with the currency conversion is KILLING my bank account. No one told me how expensive the price of living was here. Anyways, my next post will be about this long 4 day weekend... hopefully I get to experience something fun!

Forgetful Blogger...

Friday June 2 - Tuesday June 8... I'm still adjusting, and FINALLY (as of today, the 8th) getting into somewhat of a routine... class, work, food, workout, etc... hopefully it sticks!

Friday was the first day of classes -- it was rough, but hopefully it doesn't take too long to get into the swing of things! I have one class for my Six Sigma management practice (the class in which I work for BJ Fitzpatrick -- a retail company that owns Pandora Jewelry in Dublin), and the other  class is taught my an Irish professor about the economy in Ireland. So far, pretty boring, and brutal getting up for. Six Sigma will take up a lot of my time. We met with the company for the first time Monday 7th, they are pretty cool, but it's overwhelming!!

As far as exploring --

My roommate and I attempted to adventure to the Guinness Brewery, and instead wound up at the Jameson Distillery. Can't complain! I got to do a whiskey tasting, and overall it was a lot of fun! We also got to see some great places around Dublin (St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc.) that I would like to go back around town and visit more. We had dinner (my 1st Guinness & Beef stew) at the Brazen Head... Ireland's oldest Pub! It was delicious!

I also ate at a place called Sheehans. I meant to get a fish n' chips platter, and instead ended up with fried salmon and crab and potato patty... which was not 3 separate things as I had assumed! It was all one patty, but it was good!

During the weekend on Saturday (3rd) the school took us to Wicklow Mountains and Bray beach. The mountains were absolutely AMAZING. It was such a great experience to go hiking, since I don't do it often... if EVER. It made me realize how much I want to do more stuff like that more often! I am planning more hikes through other places in the area while i'm here too! We also went to Bray beach for a bit. Gorgeous views of the ocean and the mountains, but I've been hearing that there are better in other places! It was super chilly on the beach, but kids were still running around swimming... and cursing! The kids here have no shame, "oh shiiiit these rocks are getting slippery!" "You don't need a fucking towel" -- all in their 6 year old Irish accents... pure entertainment!

Right now I'm sitting at work, doing absolutely nothing, because they seem to be a bit unorganized... or maybe we are asking for too much? or maybe we're all just confused? Oh well, I loved visiting the Pandora store... the company we are ACTUALLY working for owns/runs the store, so we don't actually get to work WITH the store... although I would rather! Cute cute cute jewelry, and obviously the sales environment is more up my alley than this management, etc. stuff! What was I thinking?!

Tomorrow we have a free day... I'm planning on going hiking in Killiney Hill. I've heard wonderful stories, and Bono lives up there! I would one day soon, like to visit Howth & the Malahide Castle too!

This weekend I'm getting out of cold, rainy Ireland and heading to BRIGHT sunny, and WARM BARCELONA!!!!! eeyyyy yi yi yi yiiii!!!! I'm going with a couple of the girls I've been spending most of my time with, and 2 of the guys on the trip. It should be a pretty good time!

Being that I haven't kept up with this thing DAILY, I'm probably leaving a lot out, but I surely have hit all the big things! I've been meeting lots of people, but so far I haven't fallen in love with any Irish lads... there just aren't any breathtaking Gerard Butler's around, and their accents aren't as charming and mesmerizing as I remember his being in P.S. I love you! Oh well, I'm better off anyways!

Guess I should get back to work, even though we have accomplished... NOTHING since we have been here since 11am! So much for exploring Dublin in my free time!!!!!!!

Day 2 - Oh yeah, I have to go to class...

Yesterday I finally arrived in Dublin... after a good nights sleep at the Hilton in Chicago, a wholesome breakfast buffet, and a good workout I ventured back to O'hare and made it to my flight with no problems. (Minus my lack of knowledge about O'hare, but I caught on quickly!). I flight went by quick, and was VERY nice. Aer Lingus has nice clean planes, and I got lucky with an aisle seat and no one to the left of me, so plenty of room to relax! I watched the new movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, Just Go With It, funny and cute! Then I took a good nap, woke up and I was in Ireland! I managed to get through the Dublin airport, and immigration services... then I successfully managed to find a bus and get to campus!  After that, I went to the wrong entrance of campus, trekked all 125lbs of luggage across cobblestones to accommodations and finally, checked in. I missed my first day of class, and my meeting the company I work for... but I put all my clothes away and took a magnificent nap! My dorm room smells like pee and sweaty boys, and the shower is 2'x2' but I guess I can manage for 4 weeks! The campus is SOOO old, and everything is spread out (not like MU), but I'm in love with the architecture! The College of Business treated us to dinner at Messr's Maguire -- vegetable soup, pork loin w/ potatoes, and chocolate cake... with a Guiness of course! Couldn't have asked for a better welcome to Ireland dinner. And the building this restaurant was in was AMAZING. After dinner I took a walk around town, and walked around campus a bit. The city is dirtier than I was expecting, but then again, its VERY old!! On campus there is a designated bar and an area around the sports field for students to drink (you can't bring your own drinks though, they have to be bought at the bar), but it was a nice social place, and a good place to pregame -- 4 Amstel Light's for 8 euro! (I'm having a hard time adjusting to beer that isn't ICE COLD, I'll survive). I'm also having a hard time adjusting to the sun... it doesn't set until 10pm and it rises again at 3am!!! We finally hit the pubs around 11, started out at Doyle's and ventured around the Temple Bar area and ended up back at Doyle's, which was right outside of campus. I actually called it a night before everyone else, but like I said, the sun was rising when I went to bed at 3am! I am excited to see where my first Friday night takes us!!! This morning was rough... can't remember the last time I got drunk on beer only, but my headache this morning reminded me why it doesn't happen often! It's 11:30am now, and I've been in class since 8am... this class is supposed to last until 1, but I'm praying it doesn't. I'm starving, could use an hr nap, and I have lots of exploring to do... as well as investing in a european straightener!! I also need to buy a phone to call locally, and some groceries (class from 8-1 everyday is brutal with no breakfast/lunch). This weekend we are exploring Ireland. I booked my trip to London for the last weekend I'm here, and I'm debating on Barcelona for next weekend or my 4-day weekend. I'll figure it out soon enough. I'll post some pictures soon. Stay tuned for more adventures... I'm just getting started so I haven't gotten too crazy just yet :)

Day 1 - Missed Flight to Dublin

An excursion of any kind involving me wouldn't be complete if something didn't go wrong... in this case, I missed my flight to Dublin. I originally purchased my ticket to fly out of Chicago through Aer Lingus, departing today at 6:45pm. I bought this thinking I would either ride the train up here, or my parents would drive me... and then last minute I decided to spend the money I saved flying out of Chicago rather than St. Louis, and buy a ticket from STL to CHI -- it was only $150, which is how much more a connecting flight from St. Louis to Dublin would have been. My flight was scheduled to get into Chicago at 5:14pm, allowing me to have more than an hour and a half to get my bags and check into the Aer Lingus flight. The flight to Chicago ended up getting delayed by an entire hour... putting me into Chicago at 6:15pm. By the time I got my bags and got through the train to Terminal 5, it was 6:53pm. Jill Smith (my mom's best friend) had been working with Aer Lingus to attempt and hold the flight for me, but when I arrived they informed me that didn't happen. They only send one flight out to Dublin everyday at 6:45pm, so they scheduled me for the flight tomorrow (June 1). Putting me into Dublin at 8:25am Thursday June 2... late for classes! Oh well! For now I'm posted up at the Hilton Rosemont, relaxing in a cozy room all by myself. I have free WiFi, and a full breakfast buffet in the morning, and there's a 24hr fitness center! Woo! Time to burn off the 800 calories I devoured at the only place to eat in Terminal 5 - McDonald's. Wish I could have waited to get to the hotel, but I hadn't eaten since 9am, and my disaster day called for comfort food... which has turned out to be not so comforting. Eating McDonald's only every 3-4months is never a fun feeling... my poor body can't take all the grease! Well it's about time to relax, or head to the hotel bar for a glass of wine! Let's hope tomorrow goes much better than today... saying goodbyes followed by missing a big flight makes for an exhausted Britni. Gute Nacht!