Since I have four days of "rest" (aka homework galore and still not sleeping poor, poor body) in between my Paris and Prague trips...
I went to Ireland last weekend with Stephanie (surprise, surprise) and we met her friend Deck there who is a doctor that she met when she was volunteering in Haiti this past summer (Stephanie is wonder woman with the kindest heart.) We flew into Dublin and immediately located a bagel shop aka heaven with cream cheese (Spain doesn't believe in bagels). I blended into the airport's crowd with my leopard print suitcase and even brighter leopard print jacket (false). We piled into Deck's car and he drove us to Galway on the wrong side of the street the whole way (aka the "right" way legally but who are we kidding here). Galway is a quaint, adorable little town and that night we ventured into a packed out Christmas market. That night they lit the Christmas tree up and everyone cheered. On cue, it started snowing. The market was quite crowded and had interesting stands including one that sold hamburgers with wild animal meat from all over the world. Kangaroo hamburger, impala hamburger...yum? We decided to pass that up for a more healthier indulgence of a powder sugared cranberry deep fried Danish donut. Success. We wandered into an Irish pub for our first taste of famous Irish cider and then we rallied and went to the Ireland v. Scotland rugby game. The crowd was INSANE. They were yelling Irish curse words and slang, screaming at the ref, the players, drinking "hot whiskey" (literally whiskey with hot water and lemon-yuck), and Stephanie and I were learning words that will never be used in real life. Ireland lost in literally the last minute becuase of the kicker. Bummer. We stopped in another pub after the game and got free cider that was included with our rugby ticket. Speed dating was going on upstairs in the bar and I ran into a gal who was ditching her current bachelor #8 and hiding in the bathroom. Was only a little tempted to try out an alter ego and participate.
The next day we drove to the cliffs of Moher, a finalist for the seven wonders of the world. They were outstandingly beautiful and completely worth the drive through the country side. On our way out we passed by several little cute towns, one of which had a population of what seemed to be forty and everyone was out on the streets selling horses and various animals. The animals were surrounding our car. And I think Loveland is small. What do I know. We traveled to Dublin that night to stay with some of Deck's other friends living there; they were extremely nice. We did our own little "Irish pub crawl" that night and I woke up with someone's iphone in my purse becuase in the darkness of the pub I mistaked the iphone case for my contact case. Common mistake. Deck and his friends went through the phone to connect with someone to give the phone to and this owner of the iphone was a wild one-- let's not go into details. Deck tried to tell We all went into Dublin and saw University College Dublin which was a beautiful campus and then Stephanie and I went shopping all afternoon, but only bought things from the tourist store. Silly us. Later we toured the Guiness factory and ended with a cold Guiness on top of the factory in the "Gravity Bar" that overlooked Dublin. Afterwards, we met up with Deck's girlfriend and us four grabbed dinner in Temple Bar, a famous location for bars and restaurants. That night, Stephanie and I got food poisoning. Literally thought I was dying. I was completely floored. Luckily we were in a house of doctors, not luckily we were both sleeping on the bathroom floor and there was nothing anyone could do except move our flight to later in the afternoon and pray that Jill, who I was supposed to meet at the airport in the morning, could navigate around Madrid for a day. We made it home, Jill was fine--I cued my roomates in on the situation and they helped out, and I will forever be concerned with restaurants while abroad now.
After cena with the senora, Jill and I grabbed coffee in Madrid and I showed her Grand Via-Madrid's main street and Plaza de Espana. We called it an early night since I no longer had a stomach. Tuesday was the best, I decided to take off a day from school? and we went shopping all day along Fuencarral-a great shopping street leading from my house to Plaza de Sol. We stopped along a few of Madrid's great sights including San Miguel Market, a gorgeous basilica, and Plaza de la Villa (which I had written a paper on for my art history class). We drank a glass of wine in Plaza Mayor and caught up. Stopped in a Museo de Jamon and tried to enjoy a euro glass while ham legs hung all around the restaurant around us. My roomate that night at dinner informed us that Spainards began hanging ham legs in their bars and restaraunts in order to scare off the Muslims and Christians back in the day. Now they just love their jamon. The bartenders thought they were flirting with us when they gave us free samples off of the raw ham leg. Spainards have game. That night we walked around Bilboa and a few places around Sol.
The next day after school Jill and I sufficed our artistic cravings and went to the Prado musuem. Our version of looking at art was judging the Roman sculptures on how "hot" they were. The Roman Gods won. My kind of perfect muscular art. Obviously we are so cultured on the subject. We shamelessly grabbed McDonald's on the way to Madrid's beautiful modern cathedral next to Palacio Real and later that night indulged in Senora's famous paella dish.
That night Jill and I went to Orange bar, where Jason Derulo was "flyin' solo, I'm flyin' solo..." We were ushered into VIP where we met Derulo (Jill shamelessly asked if his diamond watch was "real." REALLY?) He was very nice and gave us some goose. Classy, classy.
Thursday was THANKSGIVING and a sad reminder that I am family-less. However a few American school friends, Jill, and I went to Hard Rock Cafe where they served turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the MOST delicious apple crisp I have ever eaten... or maybe that's just becuase I am so deprived of mama's cooking? After was a Kapital kind of night and Jill experienced Madrid's seven floor club...
I have so many things to be thankful for, and it was nice to reflect on all the good in my life on Thanksgiving. I shared it with my roomates, friends... my "Madrid" family. It sure was odd having school that day though!
Currently I am sick and am chugging vitamin C tablets in order to get better before Friday (aka Prague for four nights Amsterdam for two--we didn't realize we mixed up the dates?) If I faint or get food poisoning like the past two trips I may be the most unlucky person. Thursday is our dreaded dance performance for my salsa class. I am wearing a metallic gold dress with an extra large gem on front. Some would definately call it an "adorable" piece. If they were speaking about a rap video...
Three weeks until I am home. I would say the time has flown, but really it hasn't. I've grown, matured, and experienced so much the States seem like forever ago. And Qdoba, I know you miss my dollars.
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