Life

Back from Budapest - great trip again!! It was very cold, but we made it work anyway. I won't be able to write the long version until this weekend because I have a paper due Friday which is unfinished (though I'm at 700 out of 2000 words so I'm on my way!). Other exciting things coming up in the near future: Romeo and Juliet tomorrow, Britney Spears's birthday Thursday, Harrod's and ice skating in Hyde Park on Friday, possible day trip to Oxford on Sunday, London Symphony Orchestra the next Thursday, Nutcracker the next Friday, and likely trip to Cambridge the next Saturday! Gotta get working but will write more soon!

Staying Updated

       So! I'm determined to stay super up to date with my blog so that I'm not still working on it when I get back (and I have a feeling there is going to be a lot going on the next few weeks - most of which is school work but whatever). I don't really have much to report on! But, I did go on the London Eye last night! I loved it! For some reason, I like London so much more at night. The view from it was really spectacular. I went with Katie and Emily, but my camera broke on our way up! I have a few pictures that I will put up later but I was really mad, it was such a great opportunity for picture taking! Either way, I'm glad I went on it, it was one of my favorite things I have done in London. Afterwards, Emily and I were trying to find a place to eat when we came upon Ed's in Soho. I had completely forgotten that my friend Hilary recommended it before! It's a small diner with a really nice atmosphere. Since we're going to be at an airport tonight for our Thanksgiving dinner, we thought we would go all out last night. We got burgers and fries and dipped them in everything unhealthy that we could find. We also had "alcoshakes"- milkshakes with alcohol in then. Mine was dark rum and chocolate. I could taste the rum a little bit but it wasn't too bad. We're going to go back and try the Bailey's milkshake! I went out to a pub called O'Neills afterwards because a friend of mine has to leave early (Sunday) because he's not feeling well and somehow managed to finish all of his work super early! His twin sister is also in town so we spent some time at the pub until I headed in pretty early. I finished my fourth paper today! Four down, four to go. My first round is due next Friday, so I'm trying to get my act together. I have three due next Friday, and then four due on the 16th! I have one left to finish for next Friday (and some edits to make to the other two), but I'm hoping by staying in town next weekend I'll actually get something done (I haven't been in one place for more than a week in a long time).  But tonight, off to Budapest! I've heard that it's beautiful so I am pretty excited. After that though, it is very doubtful that I will leave the country again until I come back. I need a break, I am so sick of airports! These are my 7th and 8th flights in the last few weeks and I don't want to fly on a plane for a long time (well for three weeks after this until I fly home). Anyway, many more things to do in London when I get back! Tower of London, Harrod's, Topshop, Oxford, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and Wimbledon are all on my list!

A little bit of everything!

        So after the days of amazingness that was Italy, it was time for Spain. We got at 4:30 Wednesday morning to get a bus at the Florence bus stop to go Pisa, where we would catch a flight to Girona (for 5 pounds) and then take a bus into Barcelona. We arrived in Girona absolutely exhausted, but the airport was absolutely gorgeous, up in the mountains. It was the only part of Spain I liked...

pretty

view from bus into Barcelona

   Well, after catching up on sleep all day and then going out to eat with Garrett and his friend Gabe who were also in Barca, the unfortunate incident occurred. We went home the next day to London. I spent the weekend finishing up my presentations for that Monday and finishing a third paper (3 down, 5 to go). My presentations went pretty well, I'm just glad they are over! 

    I'm slowly realizing how much there is left to do in London before I go, and I only have 27 days! I've made a list and am working hard to cross everything off. Last week, I went to the Tate Modern to check out some modern art instead of the Renaissance art I have become so accustomed to. Not going to lie, I just didn't get it. Here are a couple pictures:

pile of dirty clothes = art?

desk and chair..

    After a couple hours there, I was pretty much done. I'm not much of a modern art fan. Some of the Picasso stuff was very interesting though. There were definitely a few sections I liked, but overall not my favorite (I mean, how do you beat the Louvre or Vatican Museums???).

   Anyway, Thursday came around and it was time for another trip! Before we left, Katie, Garrett and I climbed to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. This is where Princess Di and Prince Charles got married!! It was another stunner. We couldn't take pictures inside but we got some up top. Katie and I have now officially climbed the three tallest basilica domes in the world!!!!!

St. Paul's!

London!

still gotta get on that big old ferris wheel

headsets = life

    After we were done there, it was off to the airport again (not going to lie, so sick of airports). We boarded our flight to Dublin and we were off! Another Ryanair flight (people didn't clap after this landing...), and we were there! First thing we see when we got off the plane - loads of people in costumes. I don't know where they were from (somewhere in either the UK or Ireland), but they were crazy. There was Batman, a pimp, the three blind mice. They were drinking whiskey on the bus and asking random people how to get to Temple Bar. Welcome to Ireland!

     We put down our bags at our hostel and went out for the night. Let me just say, the Christmas cheer in Dublin is unreal. It's still more than a month away and there is Christmas stuff EVERYWHERE. I guess because the Irish economy is absolutely tanking, they are trying to get people to buy stuff. Best of luck to them

    Anyway, we headed out to a club we found off Grafton St (the main drag) and had a great time. It was like listening to my ipod. They played Kesha, Britney, Katy Perry, so much good pop music. I danced my life away (we would head back there the next night).

   We got up the next morning and met up with our friends from Oktoberfest. They mentioned how cities in Europe all start to blend together (which I can sort of understand) so they took us out to where one of them was from in Glendalough. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately we didn't have time to do the entire nature walk which takes a few hours but we did see was beautiful. 

upper lake at Glendalough!

National Irish Geographic

finally the outdoors!

ah, the life

   It was really cold but we continued on our way to an old monk village sort of thing. It's now a cemetery but I guess monks used to live there. It was built between 900-1200, so it's pretty old. 

their cathedral...could use some repair

view of mountains!

where they hid their treasure (there was no door)

   They then took us to a pub nearby where I had the most delicious cream of country vegetable soup. It wasn't even that expensive finally. We spent the night out with them going to different bars that they liked. We stopped at Temple Bar but didn't stay long (it's really overpriced because it's so touristy). We had another crazy night of dancing. At one point, I hijacked a bachelorette party and got to wear a sash that said "bride to be." Becky is going to have the most fun wedding ever! All of her friends had shirts on saying "Becky's hen girls" (a hen is the word for bachelorette party). So much fun. 

   The next day we didn't have anything particular in mind so we just wandered the streets of Dublin. We took a quick stop at Trinity College - the top uni in Ireland. 

Trinity!

   We walked around into Stephen's Green and beyond until we had to head back to the airport to fly to Cork. Wish we could've had more time in Dublin! (I was dying to go to the Guinness factory)

so much Christmas cheer! and in Gaelic!

I told them to act like they liked each other and they got really into it

   We flew out of Dublin into Cork that night. After a little trouble, we located our hostel and met up with our other Oktoberfest friends. They knew the most fun places to go! Again, more great music. I heard all my favorites. Lots of good oldies and slower songs too. We went to a few places until we finally ended up at a great place called "The Classic." It was definitely classic. Rachel and I danced all that Guinness we drank right off. The song of the weekend was definitely "Barbra Streisand." I don't know if any of you have heard it, but literally the only words are "Barbra Streisand" and then some techno beats. Apparently, everyone in Ireland loves it. Also, Rachel loves Cheryl Cole and so do I! She is unknown in the US pretty much but is starting to make a bigger name for herself. She's not a great singer, but she's super pretty and all over the tabloids!

    We finally headed off to bed because we had a big day the next day. Rachel and Kevin (or Stacky as everyone calls him) picked us up in the morning and brought us to Blarney Castle. Neither of them had ever been despite living in Cork for years! It was a very beautiful area, but we were most concerned with kissing the Blarney Stone. I mean, what could be more Irish? We have been talking about since we were in the states. The moment had finally arrived. Rachel got really scared at the top and didn't even kiss it! When you kiss it, you lean backwards and hold onto rails while a guy holds you and you kiss this slab of stone. It's not even really it's own thing. Apparently they used to just hold people by their ankles and dangle them! It's a lot safer now. 

FINALLY MADE IT

Blarney Castle! (it was really cold)

I took a picture of everything that said stone

Rachel was really scared at the top

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the moment I'd been waiting for

 

view from the top of Blarney Castle

     I feel authentically Irish now. I drank Guinness, I kissed the Blarney stone. Pretty soon I will swear four leaf clovers. We spent the rest of the day walking around Cork, looking at different shops. It's a very   cute and manageably city, I liked it a lot. I wish we had more than a day there! Rachel and Stacky were so helpful too, they really hooked us up! We were sad to go but we're hoping we'll see them again some day!

   Now I'm back in London trying to get some work done before I go to Budapest on thursday. Traveling so much has me really exhausted. I'm hoping I can focus though because I have to get up to Cambridge soon! I can't believe I haven't seen Donnie yet. The time will come shortly though! Hope all is well at home! I will be back in the USA in 27 days!

The magic of Florence!

So I have definitely failed at staying caught up (sounds like me and my schoolwork as well)! I am back now in London from a fabulous trip to Ireland, but I will only get there after I am done with Florence! OK! We left Rome after an unreal three days for Rome and got in late Sunday. We went out for gelato, naturally, at one of the places recommended by Let's Go! Yet again, excellent! Really could not get enough gelato. That was the fifth time I had had it in three days. I needed a break! We chilled out Sunday night because we were pretty tired (lots of walking in Rome).

The next day we got up ready to explore Florence! Our first stop was the Duomo. Built in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio, this magnificent basilica is the world's third largest (after St. Peter's and St. Paul's - and I have now officially climbed to the top of all three!). Yet again, amazing. Pictures do most of the work for me.

Duomo!! I learned about this in art history class, i felt so cultured

so ornate

inside, very large

beautiful dome

    When we were done with the Duomo, we continued to walk around Florence checking out churches. Basically everywhere you go you'll find beautiful architecture. We went outside almost every church that was free. We went to almost ten over two days!

Church of the Ossingnati

Santa Maria

 One church we went into, which was pretty small, was my absolute favorite. It was called the Church of the Ossignati. It was not anywhere near as big as the Duomo, but it was absolutely the most ornate place I have ever seen. Every corner of the place was carved and sparkly. It glowed. I was in awe.

favorite church!!

   Naturally Katie and I tried to recreate the sculpture we saw outside but I'm not sure if we quite pulled it off.

twins?

Continuing our walk through Florence, there was never a shortage of beautiful architecture. We walked across the river (I forget what it's called, but it was kinda gross looking) and checked out Palazzo Pitti which had really giant doors.

very large doors

We came back across on the Ponte Vecchio, which is probably Florence's most  famous site. It is a bridge over the river that is covered with jewelry stores. Naturally we couldn't even begin to consider affording anything but we took a look anyway and got plenty of pictures!

jewelry stores on Ponte Vecchio!

view of river from Ponte Vecchio!

We walked past the Ponte Vecchio onto the side of the river with the Uffizi, which is the really famous art museum in Florence. We didn't go inside though because it was pretty expensive (and we had seen SO much art). We continued our walk along the river back to the Duomo, where we were going to climb to the top!

Katie + Jordan

view of Ponte Vecchio!

us!!

The next part was naturally our favorite - lunch. We managed to find a place with a 10 euro lunch special, where you got unlimited bread, a serving of pasta, and a serving of meat. This was the only full course Italian meal we had. The pasta was delicious! The pictures below give you an idea of whether or not I liked it. We had tripe afterwards which was kind of gross but at least I tried it!

before

after

    Jordan had to do some stuff on the computer so she went to take care of things while Katie and I decided to climb to the top of the Duomo. The climb was very similar to St. Peter's, except not quite as long. Lots of small hallways and staircases! This one was less than 500 steps so it was a piece of cake. This is the third highest basilica in the world! Words can't describe the view. I took about 50 pictures but I will only put a few here. 

Florence!!

I took a lot of panoramas

beautiful

one of my favorite pictures ever!

another beautiful day in Italy

When we got back down and found Jordan, she definitely wanted to get a similar view. I had read in my guide book that there was a great view at sunset from Piazzale Michelangiolo so naturally we made our way up! I cannot believe how much we climbed in those five days in Italy! It was a spectacular view. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy but we still got some good pics. 

odd sign on the way

view from Piazzale Michelangiolo!

us at the Piazzale!

loving my life

While walking around, we looked at some of the graffiti. Let me just say, the graffiti in Italy is adorable. All of it talked about being in love. We tried to count how many languages we saw "I love you," it was at least 6 or 7 (some was in Chinese and other languages like that so we weren't positive!) and it was so romantic. Basically, Italy was the most romantic place I have ever seen or been. Here is a little taste of one.

so cute!

Next we headed up the hill overlooking Florence towards a monestary called San Mineato al Monte. We went to hear the monks chant and it was really cool! It's so interesting being in a place like that, so different from the way I live. We stayed for a little bit and then headed out to dinner!

monks!!

That night we decided to stay in because it didn't seem like there was much nightlife (I think things generally close down when it is cold because people like to stand out in the heat). We got a couple bottles of wine and some cookies and just sat in our hostel room and laughed the night away (we got lucky we were the only three people in our room!). Early bed time meant we were up early the next day!

More churches to see! We really just spent most of our second day going from church to church. We couldn't take pictures in all of them which was too bad but they were all beautiful!

how do you decide which one to worship at?

another giant one

So after seeing countless churches, we needed a break. We decided to stop at a pizza place by Piazza San Spirito, Gusta Pizza. Little did we know what we were stepping into. The pizza here was DELICIOUS. Definitely the best we had in Italy. I couldn't get over how good the tomato sauce was, Jordan loved the cheese, and all of us loved everything!

SO GOOD

We decided we should do one major sight that day so we went through Pitti Palace. The palace was owned by the Pitti family and later the Medici, who are famous for their wealth and art collections. There was so much art in there! It was like going to an art museum inside a palace. It was really cool. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed so I don't have much to show!

Later we went onto a gelato place called Grom that EVERYONE had recommended and it was AMAZING! The apple flavor tasted like actual apples. It was insane.  We were exhausted and didn't really know what to do with ourselves so we actually just took a nap that afternoon. When we woke up around dinner time, we all knew where we wanted to go to. Back to Gusta Pizza and Grom! We ended up repeating both later in the day and it was fantastic. A great way to end our time in Florence. 

me rubbing some statue on the way for luck (I don't think it worked...)

Gusta pizza take 2