Itinerary!!

So itinerary post nowwwww...everywhere I'll be during the month of April, aka the month of EUROTRIP.

April 1-3
Galway, Ireland

April 4-6

Madrid, Spain

April 6-9
Zaragoza, Spain

April 9-12
Barcelona, Spain

~meet up with Ronnie

April 12-14

Montpellier, France

April 14-17

Paris, France

~including Stornoway concert

~meet up with Brit

April 18-20

Rome, Italy

April 20-23
Florence, Italy

~Brit leaves after this, flies out from Rome

April 23-24

Milan, Italy 

April 24-26

Krakow, Poland

April 26-28

Berlin, Germany

April 28-May 1

Haarlem, Netherlands (it's right outside of Amsterdam, but cheaper)

I'll update along the way cause I'm bringing my computer to study and procrastinate on. Awwwwww yeah.

Slán go fóill!

P.S. Check out the new pix!!

'I don't wanna be a housewife...'

         Hey all so quick pre-EuroTrip post to update you on the last couple weeks…sorry I fail so hard haha. Well rugby is now over, sadly, though I guess it’s good since I’ll be gone all of April. But we made it to the final!!! :D Seriously, the team is SO GOOD. Rafa and I have discussed who would win, UCC or Bowdoin, and we actually can’t decide. So tough. But about the final:

         We were set to play University of Limerick (UL), which is right near us, but of course everything has to happen in Dublin. The team bus left at 5:15pm on Thursday…but my Irish test got out at 6. Fml. So Rafa and I ended up taking the early train up to Dublin…5am to be precise. So after a lovely night of little sleep and nerves, we got to the station at 4:30am. We had tried to book tickets online but they wouldn’t go through, so obviously we decided to get them at the station, not really worrying about the train filling up or anything. We get there, go to buy tickets, and find out a nasty little detail: tickets online, 14 euro; tickets at the station, 66 EURO. Yeah, fml. Rafa and I kinda share a look and simultaneously think, Eff this, like they need us. We try to barter and bargain but no luck—it’s either pay the money or don’t go. And we can’t get them online, cause it’s within the 90min that the train leaves. We end up getting tickets for the 7:30am train, hoping that Eimear (our captain) and Theresa (our coach) don’t gut us. Luckily, the guard we’d tried to guilt into letting us get on the train allowed us on the 6:15am train, which was the really fast one so we ended up getting there right after the 5:30am train. PHEW. I obvs slept the entire way, including in the station. I don’t think I’ve ever slept sitting up, my head on a bag before. Oh sleep deprivation how I dislike you.

         The game was insane! Like an absolutely unbelievable game—we were totally spellbound on the sidelines. Everyone played SO FREAKING WELL like the entire time it was amazing. We even got a new mascot, Kenny the Red M&M, which Kelly convinced a convention to give us, along with the green and orange ones. So I of course carried it up and down the sidelines screaming and cheering and taking lots of pictures (with my new/old camera…thanks Mom!!). We did lose, 7-5, by one conversion kick, but it really was just bad luck. We were equally as good as UL and if the ball hadn’t gone into touch I think we could’ve run back to their end and drop-kicked for a win (that would be 3 points, btw). A frustrating end to the game, but everyone was super proud. The bus ride home was filled with shenanigans, aka lots of drinking. Rafa and I serenaded them with some songs from home, which the Irish seem to love. They also love ‘Grenade,’ ‘Ireland’s Call,’ and ‘The Fields of Athenrye,’ all of which were sung over and over and over AND OVER on the 4 hours home. I did not drink, partially cause I had no money but also because I know my bladder. There was a new rule—no randomly stopping to pee like usual. On our ride home from NUIG we stopped like 7 times for the bathroom…I wanted to kill someone by the end. We got home and went out in our rugby gear, which was really fun. It was Captain Morgan night or something and I got a t-shirt that barely fits over my top half, so obvs that’ll be someone’s gift when I get back. One of the girls, Niamh (pronounced Neeve), turned 21 that day so we made sure she had an epic night. Did eventually go home to bed since I’d barely slept and am a wuss.

        Now rugby is over, which is bittersweet. Everyone knows I have a love-hate relationship with the game: I love it, but I hate being so nervous all the time. But I am sad because I won’t get to see the girls really at all again. There’s Intravarsities and the Rugby Ball, but I’ll be gone by then :( It was an awesome time, and I really hope I get to see them all again in May.

Slán go fóill!

So now we're apparently Obama fangirls

        Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! What better place to be than in Ireland, and of course Dublin is the best spot in Ireland. IFSA brought us up there, which was lucky cause zomg there were like no hostels/hotels available at all. Rafa and Katie did get a hostel so they met up with us that night after a rather hectic bus adventure up to Dublin. We went to the parade in the morning, and it was epically crowded even at 10:45, over an hour before the parade began. Surprisingly tame, for St. Patty’s Day, though I guess the US does kinda twist everything. Apparently it’s really only a big party here in Dublin, though it is a bank holiday and also every town has a parade. Fun fact: the shortest parade is 100 yards, from one pub to another. Lolz. It was a strange parade, with a whole story behind it called “BRILLIANT,” though I really had no idea what was going on. See pix for details, but basically there were a lot of colors and strange objects/animals/people and I had no idea what was going on.

         After the parade we went to see the Book of Kells FOR FREE which was awesome cause I got to save the 8 euro for the pub that night haha. We hung around in the room playing games for a while cause the pubs were packed…like ‘can’t get back out’ packed. We planned on doing bumper cars at the carnival while intoxicated but sadly they closed so we settled for dancing around and singing loudly. Also lots of ‘Never Have I Ever,’ which is always a fun game to play haha. That night we ended up at a club that seemed to be mostly locals, and where the ratio of guys to girls was like 10:1. Seriously, it was like a man-fest in there. The music was pretty hardcore and I think a mosh pit almost started, but it was a lot of fun anyway. A good way to end the night, fo sho.

         My roommates were in Dublin as well and we had a sketch plan to meet up ‘later.’ Funny story about that, actually. In Cork we were all going out in our separate groups but wanted to see each other so we decided to meet at Tasty Kebab ‘later.’ That’s it—no times, I didn’t have their phone numbers, and there’s more than one Tasty Kebab in Cork. Well, my friends and I did end up there, and when I walked in there they were! It was pretty epic—roommates reunited ftw haha. We didn’t find each other in Dublin, prbs cause it’s a lot bigger than tiny tiny Cork.

Friday I slept in…a little. Rafa, Katie, and I went to the Guinness factory and pretty much just wandered. We tried to go to the women’s Six Nations game (Ireland vs England) that night, but thanks to some crappy directions on the website we got lost, confused, and ended up not making it. Nbd, cause it ended up being pretty fun. I decided pretty last minute to stay Friday night too, which meant I needed a hostel or something to stay in, except since the Six Nations game was on Saturday night everything was full. Being me, I decided to wing it. OBVS A GOOD IDEA. So we went back to their hostel, and waited in a pub until the front desk would close, so Rafa could sneak me upstairs. Anyway, in the pub Rafa and I ordered ‘spicy’ hot wings. Yeah, so Ireland doesn’t really know what spicy is, so I can eat their spicy food even with my low tolerance. Apparently we found the one place that does use HOT hot sauce. Rafa was weak and gave up :P But I soldiered through and almost died. I was def crying by the end and drank everyone’s water (yes I know it doesn’t actually help but it was all I had!). Didn’t help that the movie ‘The Pianist’ was playing in the pub—I mean, who puts on a WWII movie in a pub of all places?! Rafa and I ended up talking to a really drunk old guy who may have been a little bit racist. Not like purposefully racist, just like politically incorrect and kinda ignorant racist. He did love Barack Obama though, and is really excited he’s coming to visit in May (as am I…we’re tooooooootally gonna follow him and wear all red, white, and blue haha). Bought me a pint and continued to tell us his life story, so all-in-all a pretty hilarious end to the night.

So back in the hostel, Rafa was paranoid…epically paranoid. Like ‘cover your hair cause it’s very noticeable’ paranoid haha. I can’t blame her—if she got caught they could kick us out. Sadly, no extra beds in the damn dorm room, so I slept (aka just laid awake for hours) on the floor by the window and the heater until like 5:30 when some girls left for their plane and one offered me her bed. BOOM I passed out immediately. I also slept the whole way home on the bus, but I will never again take for granted a bed and a blanket. Tile is not an adequate sleeping surface, btw. I don’t know who that girl was, but she’s my hero now.

 

Slán go fóill!

They (sometimes) call me "Eyes That Pierce Death"

         So it seems I have many untapped talents, amongst them clay pigeon shooting. Fo seriousness. IFSA went this weekend to Killary, an outdoor adventure center in Connemara, in the buttcrack of nowhere. It was supposed to be pretty miserable, so imagine our surprise when it was sunny and warm and some of the most beautiful days I’ve seen in Ireland thus far. It’s located in a valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and right on a lake. Zomg the view in the morning was unbelievable! The night we got there we moved into our rooms, which had BUNKBEDS. I felt like I was at a 5^th grade sleepover haha. The staff put on a pub quiz that night that included lots of challenges and random questions. At one point we had to showcase a talent, and apparently no one else in my group had one so I had to burp the alphabet. Oy…embarrassing yet hilarious! And we came in second too!! I won a copy of In Bruges, one of the most awesome movies ever. Anyway, it was full of insanity and yelling and lots of crossdressing.

The girls and I signed up for archery and clay pigeon shooting in the morning, along with two guys from the Galway group and an IFSA leader. The guys made bets but we were pretty convinced none of us would do well so we didn't haha. Turns out I outshot them all…aw yeah hand-eye coordination. So obvs my future career is to be a sniper lol. Our group was really great, making fun of my inherent ability to kill or maim, and how gingers have no souls. Archery was next, though I didn’t really do great at that. Guns are clearly my specialty…INSERT SARCASM FONT HERE. But I had a really fun time, actually, and totally wanna do clay pigeon shooting again. The IFSA leader, Geoff, was really good at archery, and apparently I gave him a really dirty look (I didn’t mean to, I swear!!) so they named me “Eyes That Pierce Death.” We had a really great time—I don’t think it would have been as awesome with other people who didn’t joke all the time. Good craic, right there.

         They fed us really really well there…veg soup, oatmeal bars, and lots of fruit. I haven’t been that healthy in months :P The afternoon was high ropes and outdoor laser tag in the effing mud. Alyssa and I had to stack two towers of beer crates as high as we could while standing on them, obvs attached to harnesses. Yeah, have I mentioned I don’t like heights? I really only wanted to do the laser tag, and was hoping to skip the high ropes haha, but it actually was pretty fun. I think I’m getting over it, a little bit. We managed to get to 11 crates high before we overbalanced; Alyssa and I were holding onto each other to balance and catch the crates as the others threw them up and so when one fell we both did. Best part was that we also got to be the anchors for other people, basically keeping their ropes tight to keep them from falling. The girls from Galway were pretty hilarious…we kept laughing about how we put our lives in each others hands.

         Laser tag was insane cause we were outside in this bog running around in camo trying to hit these little sensors on people’s heads. I was running trying to get away from Alyssa and I stepped in a knee-deep mud pit but I kept going, except my shoe didn’t come with me. So after a lot of tugging, I manage to get my shoe out, except Alyssa’s coming after me so I start running across the bog in my sock carrying my shoe full of mud. I ended up dying pretty quickly after that anyway haha—the gun made an awesome WOARGH noise as I died. Apparently my skill with rifles does not extend to laser guns. So sad :( Ugh my shoes and pants were horrific after that. The rest of the time was pretty chill..there was a slightly awkward dance party that night, I did zip line the next morning but it was gross out, and then we finally took the 6 hour bus ride back home. Epic weekend, but good to be home and clean haha.

Slán go fóill!

Deliciousness ftw

Random: Centra has a sale on Ben and Jerry's...3 euro for a pint! This must be what heaven feels like.

I'm still holding out hope I'll get into Hogwarts

         I’ve been epically busy since two weeks ago, so this week is a nice break, though I really need to get on those applications blah. So the rugby team made it to the final! This is pretty exciting for them (and me, but not quite as much) cause they made it last year and lost in the 30 min of overtime they played. God I hope that doesn’t happen. My biggest problem with the team is that the times of things keep changing right before they’re due to happen. Like we suddenly had a team meeting at 6 on Tuesday. Only problem is that I have class until 6. Yeah. And, I mean, I did end up getting out early, but it’s not really super fair if I can’t make it cause of class and then I get kinda yelled at, like Liz. If you freaking want me there, tell me more than 5 hours in advance. Same with games. The date of the final was changed a freaking lot before finally settling on 25/3. And the Rugby Ball—it was 6/4 but now is 8/4. I mean, we couldn’t go to either, but randomly changing things is so inconvenient. It’s not our captain’s fault—everyone else does this too—but I don’t get why everyone’s schedule isn’t decided well in advance. Maybe a Europe thing? It’s starting to get on my nerves. But I do feel bad cause I’m missing practice for St. Patty’s Day cause IFSA is taking us to Dublin, but def not bad enough to skip it. I would regret that for the rest of my life, fo sho. But good news—we’re getting our apparel!! I’m mostly excited cause I’ll finally have a sweatshirt, something that I have missed so effing much.

         Somewhat hilarious story: so I’m walking over to Claire’s for her Mexican night party and putting my earrings in when I realized I’ve dropped one of my pearls. First thought: oh #*&@. Second though: I will not leave here until I find it. So I search the sidewalk for like 30 minutes, all the while drunk Irish are walking by laughing at me. How rude. I get a flashlight from the Warden, search for another 15 min like before he comes out. He literally walks to the very edge of my search zone, where I hadn’t looked yet, and finds it immediately. I was both pissed and relieved. Seriously, world?! Anyway, I have it back and my life (aka ear) is complete again.

         Idk if I’ve complained about my shower at all but basically the drain has never worked. I can take like 3 min showers, turning the water off often, otherwise it floods all over my bathroom AND room. BUT THEY FIXED IT. I am so happy I just stood in the shower and luxuriated in actually being able to have the water on for more than 30 sec at a time haha.

         Hilarity today—I was eating in the cafeteria and all of the sudden a group of primary school boys walked by the window. That wasn’t too remarkable…except for the fact they were wearing robes! Like Harry Potter robes ahhhhhhhhhhh so awesome!!! Woah epic win.

Slán go fóill!

Honestly, my interest in the Crown Jewels is because they're shiny

          Part 2 of my London adventure! Yeah I’m obvs procrastinating writing applications. But fo serious London was amazing. And also, excitement—I saw Paige Wolff! She was staying just down the street so we met up Saturday to hang out. It was freaking awesome to see a familiar face, especially one I hadn’t seen in so long. We did lose Alyssa and Brian for most of the time—since Brian had studied there he knew where he was going.

Saturday we got up early to go see the Changing of the Guard cause the tour bus company from Friday had a free walking tour. Btw the Tube is a magical invention—simple yet effective. None of the insanity of the NY subway system. Our tour guide, Rebecca, told us stories of the English monarchs as we walked towards Buckingham Palace, about how Queen Victoria was loved but her son, Edward, was not so he built lots of memorials to her in the hope that the people would love him as her son. Yeah, no such luck. We watched as the Old Guard (who’d been on duty for 48 hours) came out of St. James’ Palace and lined up in the courtyard, before the band came out. They played ‘Putting on the Ritz,’ which is not exactly what I thought was going to happen, but it was cool! Apparently they play random things…one time they played the Indiana Jones theme haha. Anyway, I approve. We followed Rebecca around the side to see the New Guard begin marching from the opposite street. Rebecca Perez (my friend) was very impressed they were marching an oboe and a bassoon haha. After much marching and strutting, I think the guard was officially changed. It’s apparently a great honor for a regiment to be chosen, and the uniforms that they wear depends on the regiment as well as the season—red uniforms are only for summer, unfortunately.

         After that we all split up; Katie, Dannie, Paige, and I went to the Tower of London cause it looked unbelievable while Rafa and Rebecca went to museums (ew :P ). Well the Tower was amazing. It’s freaking HUGE!! And old—the original White Tower (in the center of the complex now) was built in the 1100s by William the Conqueror. Gradually more was built around it, and it was used as a royal fort and later palace, though it was also used as a prison for high-profile prisoners. The tour guides, Beefeaters, still live here, which I think is awesome. The Warden of the Tower lives in the Queen’s House, which Henry VIII built before Anne Boleyn, but she was executed before it was finished. She spent her last nights able to see it. Now I wanna be a Beefeater. Sadly to become one you have to serve 22 years in the Queen’s Armed Forces, and retire with certain medals. So…yeah…I don’t have much of a chance…boo. The Crown Jewels were insane—I have never seen that much jewelry in one place. It’s such a waste that they’re almost never worn!! I would wear that crown every day, fo serious, just to remember that, yeah, I own an effing huge diamond. I would settle for the ceremonial sword, though, cause it’s really beautifully decorated. Sadly Oliver Cromwell, that bastard, melted down most of the royal regalia, so the super old crowns of the original English royalty are gone. I mean, the ‘new’ crown is from the 1600s so I guess it’s old too, but how cool would it have been to see the crown of William the Conqueror?!

         We were there for 3 hours and still didn’t see everything, but we were exhausted and decided to head back. Paige and I headed back to our hostels, but not before getting frozen yogurt at this amazing place that had student deals. Sooooooo unbelievably good. AND they put strawberries on it—epic win to the max. That night we went back to King’s Cross to FINALLY get a pic at Platform 9 ¾, aka where it was hidden away on Platform 8 cause of construction. Damn you Royal Wedding slash Olympics…everything is being fixed up blah. After, we stayed in and drank wine and watched TV cause it was miserable and rainy. Rafa did go out to visit a friend, though.

         Sunday we slept in and almost all of us went to the Museum of Natural History. Fun, but I was quickly museum-ed out cause there were an insane number of people, mostly tiny children, there. Rafa and I went off to our Doctor Who Experience which was, as I quickly learned, a 40 minute walk. That was unfortunate, but TOTALLY WORTH IT. OMG. SO AWESOME. We went inside the TARDIS and it moved and the Doctor sent us on an adventure and the Weeping Angels were there ugh. Idk if I’ve ever fangirled this hard, but we had a great time. They had all the Doctor’s costumes there and the monsters, and the villains, and lots of other things. I cannot wait until the new season starts, fo realz.

         We stayed up all night to catch our bus at 2:30am, drinking lots of cheap wine and eating more Thai food and fro yo. Om nom delish fo sho. We got to the airport before it was open oy so unfortunate. I was exhausted, but happy to be back. London was awesome, but I was glad to have my own room and I did miss Cork a bit.

         I did find out from Paige that my friend Scott from high school (who goes to Quinnipiac like my roommates) was gonna visit Ireland, and I learned that my roomies do know him. What a small freaking world. Obvs high school is NOT behind me haha.

Slán go fóill!

'Everybody hates England...but that's okay we hate you too. And we're awesome. Don't you forget that.'

         Why hello from London! I'm blogging cause I have extra internet time and also a random hour free. Awesomesauce. The quote above is from our tour guide in the Tower of London, which was FREAKING AWESOME. But more on that later.

         So our flight left at 8am on Thursday from the Cork Airport, meaning we needed to leave the apartments at like 5:30am. Yeah, fun fun. I finished my last of many essays at like 1am, then walked over to Katie and Rafa's. We had the great idea to stay up all night, which turned into staying up til 4am watching a weird movie with Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, and other stars then passing out for an hour. So yeah we were pretty tired. Made it to our hostel (Hyde Park Inn), where me, Katie, Rebecca, and Rafa are staying. (Dannie, Alyssa, and her bf Brian are down the street). We're in a 20 person co-ed room, which is a little strange, but also cheap so all is well. The guy at the front desk def doesn't really speak English really well, so most of the time we just smile and nod. But he's funny, and he got us all together in a room, so w/e. Free wifi and a giant tv make it rather awesome. And the shower is hot and drains well so I actually look forward to showering haha. We napped for a while, then Rafa, Rebecca, and I wandered around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, right by our hostel. It's so pretty! The Albert memorial thingy is huuuuuuuuge and all covered in gold and gorgeous. That's what I want when I die, obvs. We went to this Thai noodle place for dinner cause it was the cheapest (pounds are super expensive, and London just compounds the problem) and zomg prbs the best pad thai I've ever had. And I got Rafa to love the peking duck. An awesome first dinner here. Our street has 2 subway stops on it, and it's full of restaurants and such so we have a huge selection...this was such a great hostel to choose.

         Friday we got up early, but very leisurely. We took our Original Bus tour around the city- it was great cause it was hop on/hop off and the buses came every 15 min. And there was a tour guide on all of them spouting off awesome facts. London is so old!!! It just strikes me when people mention that buildings were RE-built in like the 1400s, which is sooo long before the US existed. And it's strange cause there are all these modern buildings right next to St. Paul's Cathedral or something. Also there are so many palaces that I've heard about in history books, like St. James' Palace where King Henry VIII lived and now Prince William grew up, just standing in the middle of the city. This is one of the few places that appears exactly as I imagined it. It's a little surreal.

         We hit most of the big sites, though we didn't go into them cause zomg so expensive, but the outsides were certainly impressive. I don't really wanna quote all the facts I learned haha but I swear they're fascinating. Even so I def don't remember them all lol...failblog. But we sawWestminster (where coronations and royal weddings are held), Buckingham Palace (where Queen Elizabeth II lives), Fleet Street (from Sweeney Todd- the guide pointed out where his barber shop was!!), and a million other awesome places. Dad, we saw the hotel where Peter Sellers (who played Inspector Clouseau) died. Westminster is prbs my one big regret, but I don't wanna spend £15 to see the inside of a church. I would rather, ya know, eat. However, I'm def springing for the Tower of London. It looks amazing and historical and huge, and I do love jewels haha. We took a ferry to Greenwich where we stood on the Prime Meridian. Aw yeah being in both time zones at once. Win. The ride back was warm and the rocking almost put us to sleep, so we decided to take a break and resume our exploration later (I mean, it was like 6pm). Rebecca and Dannie went to a Mozart concert while Katie, Rafa, and I went back to the hostel to eat and rest. Katie and I found this DELICIOUS fro yo which was buy one get one free with our student cards AND it was healthy cause I got strawberries on mine. It balances out the chocolate I've been craving.

         So Katie, Rafa, and I tried to go find Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross but there's so much construction!! We seriously looked like everywhere I though but apparently we missed it, so we're gonna go back at some point. Quite disappointing. We saw Big Ben at night and the London Eye, and everything is so lit up in multiple colors which I approve muchly of. We finally found Alyssa and Brian again haha. He studied here a year ago so they'd been doing their own thing mostly. Kinda early night in (like midnight) since we decided to go see the Changing of the Guard on Saturday morning.

         Well that's it for these two days, but more to come, def. We're not wasting a minute, and I could totally stay here longer. It's true what I've heard- London is amazing. I love it so much, and I don't usually like cities haha.

Slán go fóill!

Aiming for a 70

         Another day, another blog post. I saw Rafa (finally!) updated and that spurred me to do the same. Nothing much happening around here, except a godawful amount of essays and work in general. Remember how I was saying I didn’t have much to do? Yeah, that’s true…except for these 2 weeks in which, I swear, the profs came together to destroy me. S’all good…I’m finishing/starting my second essay right now. Oh Marine Environments, how you vex me. It wouldn’t even be that horrible if I actually knew what I was talking about or he really taught us anything we needed to know for the paper. Seriously, he went over hydrocarbon structures in class today. At least I knew what he was talking about… Luckily I have Rebecca to complain to haha.

         I’ve discovered that I love milk. Idk why I never realized this before…woulda saved me a lot of nagging from the parental units :P Speaking of which, I can no longer talk to anyone cause my Skype is down again, and I do know why. I finally got the wireless at UCC to work, but for some reason that knocked out my Skype here at Vic Lodge. I’m trying, guys, but no promises…I’m amazed I got it to work the first time. I will still be able to Skype, but prbs only in the common room. Everything is breaking! My camera met an untimely death this past weekend :( It still kinda turns on, except it says ‘lens error’ and then turns back off. So, it’s like on life support with no hope of recovery (fixing the lens is just not worth it) and I may just pull the plug. So basically I won’t have a camera this weekend, which sucks, but I plan to steal borrow everyone’s so nbd.

         I’m going to London tomorrow!!! Actually, early early Thursday morning, but we’re gonna have an epic sleepover tomorrow night. I haven’t packed, and I don’t think I have enough clothing, but I’ll deal with that tomorrow haha. I can always do laundry as I write mah paper. There’s a weird system here, where all papers must be handed right to the department office, and you get a receipt saying they received it. We also have to turn it in on Blackboard so they can see if we’ve been plagiarizing. Fortunately my brilliant brain needs no plagiarism…I make stuff up all on my own! I must say I’m a bit more laid back about grading and work here than at Bowdoin, mostly because the grades don’t count, but also their grading is far far easier. Instead of starting at 100 and subtracting, they start at 0 and add for everything you got right. Thus, a passing grade is a 40%, while an A is about a 70%. Weeeeeeeeeird.

         Rafa and I finally started booking stuff for our EuroTrip this April, so it’s starting to feel real. First we’re going to Galway from the 1^st-3^rd, then at 12am on the 4^th we’re bussing to Dublin, then flying out at 6am to Madrid. We stay there from the 4^th-6^th, then take a night bus to Valencia, stay there until the 8^th, then bus/train up to Barcelona where we meet Ronnie and Primo (he’s studying there). We promised Brit we’d be ‘together in Paris’ just like in Anastasia (yeah, the animated movie) so we’ll be there the 14^th (she gets there the 15^th) because STORNOWAY is playing on the 14^th. AWWWWWWW YEAH. It will almost make up for missing Bruno Mars in Dublin. That’s as far as we’ve gotten specifics-wise, but we’re thinking Italy after that (there’s a train from Paris to Florence hahaha) to stalk the Jersey Shore crew. Goals ftw. As you can see, I’m becoming really classy and experiencing different cultures through this study abroad experience.

...This is why I need a sarcasm font.

Slán go fóill!

P.S. Pictures from the last couple things I’ve talked about will go up soon…as soon as iPhoto cooperates with me.