A mother-daughter adventure!

         I finally got to eat again! I met up with Mom in London after a week of scrimping and saving, finishing up the food I had, which turned out to be frozen chicken, oatmeal, and tea. Quite a fun few days, lying in bed attempting to ignore my need to eat haha. I also watched a looooooooooooot of TV and movies while procrastinating lol. I mean, my tests weren’t super hard, and they were over by the 13^th, so it wasn’t a huge deal, unlike at Bowdoin. THANK GOD. I couldn’t have handled this way of doing finals if the tests were as hard as at Bowdoin. Having a month off to ‘study’ realllllllllllly killed me, cause basically I forgot everything and had to relearn it. (On the other hand, it was the best month off everrrrrrrrr.)

         London was AMAZING, as I totally remembered. And this time we got the London Pass to go into all of the exhibits and buildings omg it was so fabulous. Mom really wanted a certificate for climbing up the 311 steps of the Monument, so we trudged our way to the top. The view was pretty good, but we were dying and gross afterwards haha.

         BEST PART BY FAR was ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ with Catherine Tate and David Tennant (Donna and The Doctor). It was seriously brilliant beyond all reason. The play was set in the 80s, which was a little strange, but it actually worked really really well! And after I GOT THEIR AUTOGRAPHS. AND TALKED TO THEM OMG. Like I had a whole conversation with them, which basically means I can die happy now. Right before that we were in this random map shop in Covent Gardens and the lady, who was very odd and talkative, kept telling us about all the people who visited her shop and send her thing. Interesting history of the shop as well, BUT the best part was when she said that Catherine Tate comes into the shop all the time and she’s actually friends with her like! I gave her my info and she said that she’d ask Catherine to send me something. If that happens I might actually faint from happiness. And ‘Pygmalion’ was pretty awesome as well…Rupert Everett (from My Best Friend’s Wedding) was epic.

         Next came the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, and a medieval reenactment dinner at Dunguire Castle. Surprisingly, the last was quite fun! We even met people form Pleasantville…super odd that they were there too, and sat next to us. I really love Irish music and poetry, actually—I think that’s why I liked ‘Pygmalion’ so much haha.

         I didn't realize there were mountains in Ireland, but the entire coast is basically mountains, especially the Ring of Kerry. Beautiful, but quite hilly. Mom gets major props for getting us around on those tiny tiny roads alive lol. We did get to see the Rock of Cashel, which is absolutely brilliant, as well as King John’s Castle, which wasn’t quite so grand. I wish we’d had a little more time in Cork, cause we had to rush a bit, but we covered the best parts. Packing was miserable cause I had to clean my room and the apartment as well, something that was slightly difficult after nobody wanting to do anything during exam period…it was a bit of a mess haha. But I did get to show her around UCC and the English Market, two of my favorite parts of Cork. I'm gonna miss the beauty of UCC, actually, cause the campus blew me away.

         Newgrange was by far the coolest part of Ireland, without a doubt. I mean, it’s stood for 5000 years and the 15m corbelled roof on the inside is still standing, no cement, no reinforcements. Absolutely magnificent. I’m kinda obsessed with it now, and totally entered the lottery to see it during sunrise on the winter solstice (100 people get to each year, 25,000 apply). I don’t wanna be long winded (again) so look it up :)

         Driving-wise, Mom did quite well actually. I tried briefly and did manage to shift gears, but the roads were too windey and I didn’t want to stall every time I pulled over to let another car pass, so Mom did like all of the driving. I am so used to the left side of the road, though. Coooooooooooooooolness.

Slán go fóill!

The hurling guys outside really need to stop practicing against my building.

         Why hello there good people! Writing about EuroTrip is exhausting, so I thought I’d do a random update about my current life in Cork, as unexciting as it is. Basically I’m here to take finals, of which I have 4: May 4, 5, 11, and 13. Nbd though, because I’m done with the first 2 and those were my hardest. I think I actually did quite well, which is grand since they’re 70% of my grade like. It’s so weird realizing that I’m almost done with junior year AND being in Ireland…I totally remember just getting here in January, and also the packing leading up to my arrival here. It seems crazy that I’m going to be a senior and have to find a job or something, because I am so not ready for that. But mostly I’m sad I’ll be leaving Ireland—this place really grew on me, despite my initial homesickness.

         I’ve been hanging out with my roommates a lot more now, since we’re all just in the apartment studying/watching TV on our computers haha. It’s been really fun! I have to admit, when I left for EuroTrip I was so ready to get out of Cork, but by the end all I wanted was to be home. After experiencing the crazy lifestyle of some of the other European cities, I really appreciate the fact that I can walk into town and also be in bed by 2, instead of going out at that point. Seriously, that was rough. Now that I have no money, I’ve pretty much just been hanging around, especially since Ireland welcomed me home with a crapload of rain. Oh, how I missed it haha.

         I meet Mom on the 18^th in London, which will be awesome because a) I’ve missed her (I know, surprise surprise! :P) and b) I won’t have to pay for things haha. We got the London Pass, so I’ll get to actually go into a bunch of things instead of just admiring their outsides. I’m soooooooo glad we missed the Royal Wedding, though, because I hear it was insane. Part of me would’ve loved to be there for it, but I was happy watching clips on TV.

         Gossip time: the Queen AND President Obama are coming to Ireland in May!! Sadly I’ll miss the Queen (she’s here exactly when I’m in London, and she leaves the day I get back), but theoretically if Obama makes it to Galway Mom and I will be there. He’s rumored to be coming down to UCC to dedicate a statue to Frederick Douglas, but it’s not official and may not happen. Idk. But if he does I’m so changing our plans and dragging Mom down—I mean, it’s only a 3 hour drive at most haha. The Pope was originally gonna come this year, but now he’s coming next April. Dammit I wanted a famous person trifecta. Though maybe being at the Vatican counts…?

Slán go fóill!

'I'm running with beauty as company, the lights are a-low where I run with you...'

         In a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse, we were greeted in Poland by sheeting rain. A little sad after our beautiful, warm days in Italy and Spain. But we found our hostel with no problems. Except we forgot it was Easter—aka NOTHING WAS OPEN. Fo serious, nothing. And we failed at preparation: we didn’t bring any food with us. So we walked a good 30 min in the pouring rain to McDonalds (cause we’re classy like that) and ended up with some delish cheeseburgers and a kebab (it was disgusting, actually) from next door. Nbd.

         Kraków was awesome because the Polish currency, zloty, is rather cheap compared to the Euro. Like, 3.50 zloty to a euro. WOOHOO. Shopping was awesome, let me tell you. We didn’t really go anywhere the first day because of the rain and Easter, but we did have an exciting (SARCASM) surprise in store for us. The train ride to Berlin, which was originally said to be 4 or 5 hours, turned out to be 10, or, in the case of the overnight train that stopped everywhere, 14. So we canceled a night at our hostel in favor of traveling overnight with no beds on a public train, then switching to a German one at 5am. More on this later.

         This unfortunate mistake meant we lost most of a day in Kraków, so we had to cut out some of our desired activities. The only thing I actually wanted to do in Poland was see Auschwitz, but unfortunately it would have been a 6+ hour thing, and we wouldn’t have seen anything else in Kraków, so we didn’t go. But the city itself is amazing—so much interesting stuff happened here. We walked to the Jewish Quarter, a place that was decimated during WWII but has grown back to near its original size. The main square of the city itself had this amazing Easter market with traditional Polish things all on sale for very little cost. We each had like over 100 zloty after paying for the hostel and such, and it wouldn’t have been worth it to exchange the currency again, so we all went on shopping sprees. I got SO MUCH awesome stuff there, and I really wish we’d had more time because it was a beautiful place.

         The Wawel castle, where the Polish royalty was based since the 1300s like, was absolutely magnificent, and included a massive cathedral that has been in use for hundreds of years. There was a stone dedicated to Chopin, the famous composer from Poland, which made me happy because I love his music. If you ever have an hour or so, Wikipedia the Polish royal line, because it’s actually quite interesting and filled with craziness. I mean, people were marrying, killing, tricking, betraying, and beatifying like mad. Good times.

         There was a bunch of stuff dedicated to the late Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, because he was to be named a saint by the current pope in the beginning of May. Everyone was super excited, and there were pictures of him all over the main square. Did you know that he is one of the only non-Italian popes? Excitement.

         Polish desserts are awesome, lemme just say. In my haste to buy and spend my zloty, I bought several delicious foods, none of which I can name. But seriously, Poland is grand and I def wanna go back.

Apparently the hostel we stayed at in Poland was once a Gestapo headquarters and prison for Polish officers. The receptionist was telling us that many of these rooms were cells and many were interrogated and tortured here. There was a museum next door that gave tours of some of the cells as they were, but it was closed sadly. I mean, since Auschwitz is only an hour away obviously the Germans had a huge influence in Krakow, but I didn’t realize that even the apartment buildings were occupied by them. They even stationed themselves at Wawel Castle for a while, which was the seat of the Polish royal family for years. I wish we could have made it to Auschwitz, if we’d had another day, because I’ve heard so many stories about it from the people at the hostel.

And the end you’ve all been waiting for…our somewhat hilarious mostly horrifying journey on the overnight train! When I’m old and rich, I will never take a train without beds again. Or one without private compartments... At first there weren’t many people on board, so we eventually stretched out and were about to go to sleep when these two Polish guys opened our door and were like, can we come in. Well, I mean, what were we gonna say?! It’s a public compartment like and we couldn’t take up 8 spaces with 3 bodies (though I wanted to…). They clearly were interested in talking to us, and all we wanted to do was sleep, but these morons wouldn’t give up. Actually, only one spoke English, and he just wanted to practice by talking to us. Usually it would’ve been fine (we loved hearing English after so long in foreign countries) but at this point we were miserable. So we finally tell them we’re going to sleep, I put on my sunglasses and hood, and curl into the corner, as Ronnie and Rafa do the same. But this fool doesn’t go! He kept trying to make conversation with us, and we were like, NO WE’RE ASLEEP, but as kind as possible. Finally he leaves, though only to get his bag so he can move into our compartment, fml. Luckily, a bunch of other people with no interest in talking come into our compartment and ask if it’s free—we, of course, immediately say yes. So the guy from before comes back and everyone is asleep, but he taps me and is like, c’mon let’s go. Ignoring the fact I was asleep, I was not moving, mostly because I was cradling my valuables like they were my children (the chess set was the most awkward to hold haha). So he leaves again, and I passed out until we switched trains, so I have no idea if he came back. Sigh, people are strange. Essentially that was up there with the worst nights of my life, mostly because the train was creepy and the ride was far too long. On the other hand, it got us to Berlin, which was magnificent!

Slán go fóill!

'A bottle of red, a bottle of white...it all depends on your appetite...'

         After Rome and Paris, we were totally wiped. Like so completely exhausted that even Brit didn’t care about sightseeing in Florence, and that’s like a huge deal haha. But we basically checked into our really nice yet expensive hostel with a pool, restaurant, and no kitchen and vegged out for a while. We had our own room for the 4 of us and it was huge so we kinda just hung out and ate and watched Italian TV…when the satellite was actually connecting. Eventually we wandered around the city, which was nice because Florence was especially beautiful. Obviously we saw Ponte Vecchio and the awesome cathedrals (like the Duomo) and such. Sadly, since it was Holy Week, all the churches were closed except for prayer. But it was absolutely gorgeous out…god I love Italy! Rafa’s friend, who’s abroad in Florence for the semester, told us some places to go and see. Nothing too exciting to report, but of course I got more gelato. I freaking love gelato. Also, I really love the Medicis, one of the most powerful families in Italy for a long time, so it was fun being in their home base. I was that obnoxious history person who told everyone lots of useless facts. Awwwww yeah.

         We didn’t really plan our train to Milan very well, so we ended up with rather expensive standing room only tickets…at 8am…for a 4 hour ride. Fml. Luckily people got off at the earlier stops so we were finally able to stretch out and pass out for a while. Not exactly the best train ride I’d ever had.

         Milan itself was really kinda cool, though again we didn’t do much. Essentially it was just a resting place before our flight to Kraków. I had the directions this time, and TOTALLY almost got us to the hostel without getting lost. We couldn’t really judge well what 300 yards was, but we turned one freaking street too early and that got us lost for 15 extra minutes. I was so on the right track though. Def.

         Turns out there’s a Duomo in like every Italian city, and they’re always wonderfully elaborate. Again, closed because of Holy Week, but the outside was rather nice. We got our final gelato and sat by a fountain by a castle. Is it bad that I think I was gonna miss the availability of cheap gelato more than Italy itself? Maybe. But I’m telling you gelato is amazing, so I think it’s okay.

         ANYWAY, while we’re sitting there, this random black man comes up and brings a whole bunch of those cheap friendship bracelets the street peoples are always selling. Well, we do our customary, no thank you, and try to ignore him, but he kinda throws these bracelets into our lap. We tried to give them back but he’s like, no it’s a gift, regalo. And then he takes them and ties them on our wrists! We’re kinda sitting there like, okay, wtf is happening right now. But we made it rather clear that we wouldn’t pay, so we didn’t do anything. On the other hand, as soon as he started tying them I knew he was gonna ask for money once we couldn’t give them back. Sure enough, he started asking us for a small donation ‘for Africa.’ He was like, money for Africa, waka waka. Oh Shakira, how you’ve spread through the world, cause I don’t think waka waka was ever associated with Africa before the song… Anyway, we ended up with free bracelets, and sadly the guy got no donations for ‘Africa.’

         The flight to Kraków was rather hilarious, solely because Rafa and Ronnie were wearing like all their clothes and looked huge. It was funniest when they tried to sit in the airplane seats and all the clothes kinda bunched up around their top halves. They were like, oh noes everyone is gonna think we’re the fat Americans! Oh the lolz.

Slán go fóill!

"City of a million moonlit places, city of a million warm embraces..."

         What I love most about Italy is the gelato, fo sho. I mean, you literally can’t go wrong with gelato…it’s always freaking delicious. I have never met a gelato cone I did not like (assuming I picked the flavors lol). And while Gelato Fiasco in Brunswick is fan-freaking-tastic, it really can’t quite compete with real Italian gelato.

         All we wanted when we got off the train was to shower and rest, cause sleeping on a moving train is rather difficult. Sadly we couldn’t check in for a looooooong time so we sadly and slowly wandered around looking for gelato. In our true lazy fashion, our first gelato was at the train station, but it was really good AND cheap. Finally, we got to check in. The lady was leading us to our room, and we kinda expected to be up one floor or something, but she led us outside! And then around the corner…and down the block…we were worried a bit that we were living in a completely different building lol. Ended up being a random apartment in the same building, but on the other side as the desk…slightly inconvenient as there was no WiFi in our room.

         Brittany gave us a super awesome walking tour of the city (she’d been there already) including the Coliseum and the Pantheon. It’s so cool seeing everything cause it’s mostly really well preserved even though it’s unbelievably old. Also I love the movie ‘Gladiator’ and I was totally imagining all the scenes as I walked around—I can’t help it I’m too geeky! And Brit also showed us the two best gelato places in Rome…we obvs got cones at both haha. The first one was freaking huge (love it) and the second was all-natural, so no cones. Both were good but I def prefer the first one because I got more gelato lol. The second shop was right next to the Trevi Fountain, sadly a huge tourist spot. Ronnie seemed to be quite the attraction, as several of those creepy guys who sell crap toys kept coming up to her to chat her up lol. One greeted her with ‘Diamond, Diamond,’ which was freaking hilarious. Well, we enjoyed it lots…I’m not sure if Ronnie did as much haha.

         Brit is a slave driver when it comes to sightseeing, so she lead us on an all-day walk around the next day. But, of course, first we headed to the Vatican! Many know about my secret dream to become Pope solely to be allowed to see what’s in the Vatican Library and the Pope’s Vault. Seriously, I just like knowing secrets. Well, since it was Holy Week we got into St. Peter’s Basilica for free woooo. Again, I’m not much for churches but the elaborate decorations were really quite stunning. There were carvings of a bunch of Popes in little niches, and lots of beautiful frescoes everywhere. The creepiest part about the Basilica was the dead Popes embalmed in wax to preserve them. They were in glass coffins so EVERYONE could enjoy their presence…EEK. I’m not that scared of dead bodies or anything, but some of these guys had been dead a long time and were looking a little…green and wrinkled…gross.

         When one is at the Vatican, one MUST visit the Sistine Chapel. It’s like a prereq before leaving that country. Well the thing is, first you have to go through the Vatican Museum, or at least we did because certain Classics majors wanted to :P There are signs in each loooooooooooooooong corridor telling you how many more exhibits until the Chapel. Well, those damn signs lied to us, because sometimes there were two stops left, then all of the sudden there were six. Annoying, but finally we made it to the grand finale! Sadly, no pictures were allowed, but I’m such a rebel and sneakily took them anyway haha. Like I’d miss the chance to photograph the Sistine Chapel.

         So what I’ve realized after all this time traveling is that we plan mealtimes poorly. We always assume we can find food, and then by the time we think of it we’re already freaking starving, and none of us are very pleasant at that point. Yeah, we really needed to start planning ahead. The rest of the day was just kinda walking around and trying to use our pass for lots of things. We went out for a nice dinner that night…had to have delish pasta before leaving Rome!!

         To end our tour we pretended to be Robert Langdon while running through the Castel Sant’Angelo haha, just like in Angels and Demons! We totally found the secret hiding place, btw, though sadly not the passage to the Vatican :(  We were def hoping the Pope would show when we were in the city since it was Holy Week, but sadly no such luck. I almost wish we’d stayed for Easter, except apparently everythinggggggg is closed, no surprise. I suppose if I were Catholic it might have been worth it, but I think I’m glad we got out when we did.

         Hilarious story—so one of the receptionists at our hotel, named Ali, started chatting with us while we were down in the lobby using the Internet. It was kinda weird at first cause we couldn’t understand him, but then things got interesting…oh boy did they get interesting. He brought out wine for us (opened it in front of us, nbd) and basically told us that they have so much wine in the basement they won’t care at all. So here we are, chatting with this rather friendly, slightly off-beat guy, drinking wine, in Rome. Suddenly, we’re talking about his family (he has a daughter with this Dutch lady, but she was ‘an animal’ who didn’t have human emotions, so he kicked her out), when he’s like ‘I sell children.’ Wait, what?! We all kinda have the same look of WHAT THE EFFFFF on our faces, and honestly have no idea how to answer that. He goes on to explain that he runs an adoption agency, but it’s still a bit sketch, especially when he tells us about his three daughters that he’s ‘bought.’ So we’re weirded out, but at the same time totally intrigued, and since there were 4 of us we just sat and listend, enthralled and horrified. But then he starts telling us about how he snuck into Pakistan, I think, got caught by the army, escaped by stabbing a guy, got shot in the back, but made it over the border. So at this point we’re kinda thinking he’s making this all up to see our reactions, which I must admit were rather priceless (mostly to the selling babies part). I cannot even describe everything that happened here…I’ll wait til I come home haha but this is a pretty good teaser, though things def got stranger (if possible). So yeah, after 3 bottles of wine and many many crazy things, we went to bed, ready to head to the Vatican (this was the 2^nd night we were there). Basically, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I cannot believe happened, and that I hope never happens again. Also, he wants to be FB friends so we can support his campaign to eliminate war. He be craaaaaaaazy. Oh people, how you amuse me.

Slán go fóill!

Picturextravaganza

All pictures are officially up and captioned!! Good luck getting through all of them haha...I follow in my father's footsteps and take a crapload of pictures.