Reunions in Barcelona!

It was tough getting back into the swing of classes after my two weeks off. Though luckily all week I had a great trip to Barcelona to look forward to! My friend Ginny from Lesley and I had planned tis trip since late January, it was great to have it finally happen! Also going to go to Barcelona meant that I got to reunite with another friend who I have not seen since the summer that I was going into sophomore year of high school, my friend Katie Randall. I've known her since I was three years old, I know her from when I lived in Brooklyn. She's studying in Barcelona this semester so she hung out with Ginny and I the whole weekend, it was awesome!

Katie and I 2004

Katie and I 2011

My flight got in at 10 in the morning and Ginny wasn't getting in until 6pm so I hung out with Katie all day. My hostel was right off of la rambla so we walked around it for a while. We walked around many different markets around the city. One thing was that Barcelona is not friendly for vegetarians, it had many slabs of beef all around it. Katie took me around to know me some things like the area around her school, which was so pretty! She took me to this really pretty park as well. We went out for a typical Spain lunch outside at two in the afternoon for a really long time. I got so lucky with the weather out there!

Around five we went headed out to Girona Airport where Ginny was flying into. It was about 64 miles outside of the city. The bus ride there was really pretty. It was so great when Ginny arrived! Luckily she and Katie seemed to hit it off really well! After we checked into the Hostel we went out for tapas and then called in an early night since I had gotten up at 3 that morning.

On Saturday we were lucky enough to have as nice weather as we had the day before. In the morning Ginny and I walked around a little bit to get a better feel so the city. We noticed a place where you could rent a vespa and we were so excited to try but you had to be over 21, two more weeks and I could have! We met up with Katie around noon at the hostel and we headed straight to the beach not without stopping for my new favorite snack gelato. The beach was absolutely gorgeous with all of the palm trees around it. As well the water was so blue that it was almost green.

After the beach we headed over to la Sagrada Familia the church in Spain which was amazingly gorgeous. It was about 10 euro to go inside for students but it was so worth it, it was like nothing that I had ever seen before.

Later that night after dinner I got to meet with another person that I haven't seen in a while, my friend Katharine who I went to high school with who I hadn't seen since graduation. She is studying in Spain as well. It was so weird to be with all these people from so many different stages of my life. We had a lot of fun staying out for a while, Barcelona is a city that never sleeps.

The next morning we were worried that the weather would be awful cause it ad been raining in the morning. Though luckily it cleared up as the day went on. Katie took Ginny and I to this gorgeous Park Guell. It had so many amazing monuments as well as this hill we could climb up that showed this incredible view of the city.

After the park we got together with a friend of Ginny's who was studying in Barcelona and after lunch we went out for more gelato and then it was time for me to head back to the airport. I was sad to go since I had such a great time in Barcelona, it was such a relaxing weekend! One thing that I was really impressed about was how well Katie could speak Spanish, it was so helpful to us she was able to order for us and everything. I think a personal goal of mine would be able to be able to speak a foreign language more fluently someday.

mmmm gelato

Paris Trip 2 and Saint Patty's Day Dublin

I've just had a great week! It was so nice to be able to have Em come for the past week. Bright and early Monday morning Our flight was at 6:30 in the morning so we planned to get up around 3. We went to bed around 10:30 pm and I randomly woke up around midnight thinking it was 3, woke Em up we both got dressed, brushed our teeth were all ready to walk out that door when Em looked at my computer and realized that it was 12:30. We both just flopped back into bed still dressed for a three hour nap. Sorry about that Em, unfortunately that was not the only thing I had to be sorry for to Em during that trip.

We got to Paris around 11 their time and first went to our hostel, which I booked in early February for two reasons one it was one of the cheapest hostels in Paris and two I thought the names "Friends Hostel" was really cute. Well it was not a friendly place, it was in one of the worst areas in Paris, with many creepy men hanging out outside. I later read that this is where many drug deals and prostitution deals take place. Also the building it self was really falling apart, which we figured would be the case. Though we had hoped that the ceiling would have no holes in it and not have the tiles caving in on the other side. As well as we hoped to be able to climb onto the bunk beds without feeling like they would fall apart. What really freaked us out was that our window was wide open and would not lock, as well there was a lady right outside of our window perfect for all of the creepy men the climb up. We went downstairs to see if people could help us the window, the man on duty was very annoyed by our request and tried to trick us into thinking that the window was locked, we weren't fooled. After that we decided that we did not want to sleep there that night. We ran downstairs to the computer attempting to get another hostel but the computer kept on eating our money, we must have put about 10 euro in that thing. We were able to get it to work long enough to get the address for another hostel so we ran upstairs grabbed our bags and fled, running down the street at 8 at night sticking out like a sore thumb to all the creepy men who were making comments at us that we could not understand because they were speaking in french. Though with me being me we did not escape without capturing a photo of our terror in the room.

Luckily we found a MUCH nicer hostel and we able to get the friends hostel experience behind us to allow us to have a great time in Paris. The weather was MUCH nicer this time that it was when I went in February, it felt like Spring. On Monday we walked around Paris a lot, both of us were tired from getting up so early. As well Em was still jet lagged since I was cruel and bought the flight for the DAY after she came. Though we had a great time walking around and enjoying some good french food such as crepes.

On Tuesday we got up and went straight to Sandmans New Paris tour, my third time going on a Sandmans New Europe tour. They were are great chances to get a walking tour all around the city. Especially if you are like me and enjoy walking around cities a lot. Our tour guide was really good at his job and taught us many interesting facts though we don't appreciate his sense of humor. He liked to make many jokes directed at women when most of the people on the tour were women, and these women ate it all up. As well he was very full of himself making many comment on how all the women wanted him. Though despite our tour guides flawed character was got to see a lot during the tour. There are so many interesting facts that I don't even know where to start. Overall the tour allowed as to see so much.

After the tour Em and I heaeded toward to Eifel Tower. One thing that surprised me is that it does not have as big of a presense in Paris as I would have thought. It not that big, though I still love it. I made that obvisous by all of the photos that I took of it. Seeing it on a nice day is so different then seeing in on a cloudy day.

Em and I bought tickets to climb up that tower. Em and I love climbing things, or walking across things with great views such as the Brooklyn bridge on of our favorite NY activities. I was very proud myself that my fear of heights did not kick in as much this time climbing the Eifel Tower. Being able to go up on a sunny day was so much different then going up on a cloudy day. I loved it, you could see so much more and the shadow of the tour. Many people must have gotten the same idea that we did to climb it though because it was so crowded, we had to wait about an hour for the elevator to go down, at least we had a nice view. Once we got down our legs were so sore from that and the 3 in a half hour walking tour that we just lay out in front of the Eifel Tower for a while.

Our soreness was still in full force on Wednesday when we went to the Louvre. We spent about an hour looking for the Mona Lisa, proving how huge that museum was. After the Louvre we attempted to go to Montmarte but ended up getting a little lost. Needless to say once Wednesday night came and it was time to head back to the airport we were very sad. I love Paris and am I go thankful to have been able to go there twice during this trip. I was able to try out the little french that I know during this trip which was cool. I really would like to learn more!

By the time we arrived back to Dublin Wednesday night we could tell the city was in full Saint Patricks day mode by how crowded by the bus that took us back to campus was. On Thursday morning Em and I along with my friend Stephanie here all headed into the Dublin city center to watch the parade. The city was so crowded! The bus was not able to go all the way in its usual route. We all got Shamrocks painted on our face. The parade was not exactly how I had pictured it to be. I pictured lots of floats with lepracons and shamrocks but it had sort of a morbid theme to it. Many interesting floats. After the parade we were all freezing so went into a McDonalds to get something to eat and warm up. The line to get in was just crazy. I feel so bad for people who worked there that day, the had to practically act as security.

On Friday I took Em to see some of the green of Ireland, we went out to Howth where I went in the begining of the semester. Though we had such a nice day to see it! It was so different then the first time I went. On Saturday I was sad to see Em go but I had such a great time with her! I go back to classes tommorow for the first time in over two weeks which will be tough to get to. Though I've got more to look forward to! I'm going to Barcelona on Friday, I hope the weather is good!