Tumblr picture blog

I was suppose to have my picture blog updated daily but for somewhere tumblr takes an incredibly long time to upload pictures here. I will get to it when I return though. The link will be posted afterward. :)

In a nut shell... a big descriptive nut shell.

These past few days have been so hectic. I mean, go figure, we are about to leave!

Wednesday night I saw Les Miserales. Before the show a group of 7 of us ate at an Italian restaurant. This wasn't your typical Italian restaurant. In order to get to the tables you had to climb up a ladder, so you were above ground level. I agreed on going just for the experience, because I am not the biggest fan of the food. However, my plate was delicious! I ordered a salmon pasta with creme sauce mixed with grilled zucchini. With 30 minutes to make it from Chelsea to Picadilly circus, we found ourselves running to the bus stop, up and down escalators at the tube stations and through the sidewalks into Queen's theater. I really wish some one had filmed this because it was quiet the seen, running in heels and all. The run was all worth it. I had never heard of Les Miserales until my grandmother requested I watch it. And I am so glad she did! It was beautiful, the singing was incredible and the lightening was the cherry on top.

Thursday morning was our last day of classes but that does not mean classes are over. I have two 10 page papers due at the end of June. Oddly enough, I am pretty excited to write my happiness paper. I don't know the topic yet, but I am very anxious to find out. Nerd much? B) During class I overheard a girl talking about John Mayer tickets for the evening. I thought I was crazy and hearing things until Isa turned around and asked what she was talking about. Well... what she was talking about was JOHN MAYER'S CONCERT IN LONDON! CHECKKKKKK! We immediately rushed to the computer labs and purchased two tickets. The tickets were 12 pounds! Astonishing price. With late fees and whatnot, the total amount came out to 32 DOLLARS... still, amazing price, even in dollars. I feel like I'm beginning to sound a little bit redundant but John was incredible. I saw him in West Palm in 2008, with lawn seats. I thought that was a show to see. This perform topped any concert I have ever seen. Our seats were great. In my opinion they were better than floor seats because we were at an angle. He opened up with Why Georgia and then continued with (not in this order):

Vultures
Dreaming with a broken heart
In your atmosphere
Your body is a wonderland
Heartbreak warfare
Half of my heart
Who says
Perfectly lonely
Assassin
Crossroads
Edge of desire
Don't stop believing cover by Journey

and for his encore Gravity. Unforunately, my camera was dying so I couldn't record the songs. His encore was ridiculous. His tickets go on sale June 1st for South Florida. Hopefully, I'll be attending this one as well. :D


Friday was our daytrip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was really interesting. The current theory as to why the stones are there has something to do with a burial tradition connected by the river of Avalon. Also, the way the rocks were places on top was by building wooden latters that they would burn with fire and force the top rock to fix perfectly into place with the top standing rocks. Bath a little less interesting to me. I find that I like more natural surroundings. Bath was covered by buildings and glass.

Today a small group of us took a daytrip to Oxford University. I can't complain much, because we've had incredibly amazing weather, but the rain really put a damper on our day. I guess, I've been pretty spoiled. It rained almost the entire time during our walking tour of the campus. They do things really different from UF, or any U.S. university for that matter. Students have to interview to get accepted into the colleges. They don't have any assignments, papers or exams throughout the year. At the end of their first year they have to pass an exam. If they pass, then they get to continue on but if they fail then they are kicked out of the college. Second year has no exams or assignments, and then after the third year you take another exam that you must pass in order to graduate. School goes for 8 weeks and there is 3 semesters. Also it is only for 3 years. Seven years after you have graduated, if you write the university a letter basically stating you are alive you pretty much are handed a piece of paper granting you your masters degree!

P.S. I was also able to snap some cool pics of places where Harry Potter was filmed. I really need to get to watching all those films now that I've seen so much of the filming locations.

Top 10's

What I miss from home:
1. AC
2. Beach/ocean
3. Customer service
4. Not paying to get into clubs
5. The gym
6. My bed & a bathroom that I can actually do a full circle in
7. Driving
8. Looking right, left, right before crossing a street
9. My blackberry
10. MY FAMILY<3

What I will miss from London/Ireland:
1. Pret
2. The tube
3. Walking everywhere
4. Being able to travel to any city within a few hours
5. The social atmosphere of pubs
6. The drinking age
7. Primeark/Pennies
8. Hearing different languages
9. Meeting new people
10. The subtle differences of the Europeans

Obviously, this is in no specific order. I'm sure I'm missing items too.

Sometimes some down time is okay.

This morning I had class, and after multiple people detailing how incredible the British Museum is I decided to give it a second chance. I've never been in a museum so confusing! I tried, I really did. But this museum was not having my liking. I decided this one was just not for me. After the tube ride home I grabbed a quick lunch from Pret, the best lunch place! Since it's beautiful outside, and the heat has calmed down so it's actually enjoyable to walk, I walked home while eating my chicken and avocado on wheat sandwich, chili piri chips and to finish it off healthy a cup of mangos. I don't know who I think I'm kidding with that eating healthy deal. Gym membership will be signed within 48 hours of returning to the states!

While Isa went to visit an Ad agency, I decided to stay in. I straightened up my half of the room, skyped with my grandparents, tried to catch my mom before leaving for work (but here's a no brainer... she didn't answer!), figured I'd blog a bit and now I'm in the process of uploading pictures. It's amazing how fast one can stay connected now. Skype is such a great connection, and being able to show my family all my pictures is wonderful too.

Yesterday the Queen opened Parliament/gave a speech there. I missed her going from Buckingham to Parliament but was able to catch her on her way back. It was a pretty neat experience. There were hundreds of the infamous black and red guards lined up all along the street. The band was also dressed in the same guard attire. The music was an ease to the wait for her arrival. Oddly enough they played the opening song to Hawaii 5-0 and James Bond. I'm thinking maybe those are two of her faves, or at least on her ipod at home for sure. A set of about 40 black horses and guards introduced the Queens carriage. She wore a beautiful crown as she drove past us- however, not waving. Following her were more important people, maybe her sons? I wouldn't know. Then followed by them were another group of all black horses and guards.

After they finally cleared the way, we grabbed a sandwich from pret and made our way down to covent guard to try to purchase Lion King tickets. It's kinda incredible how quickly we've learned to manage the tube stations and our way around town. We were able to snag 53.50 pound tickets for 21 pounds!!!! SCORE! Next on our list was the London Eye (this was considered class). The Eye was pretty neat. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the rotation but you literally get to see everything. The ticket also comes with a 4D experience show, which might have been better than the eye, haha. Since Temple Church was fairly close to the eye, I ventured off to snap a few pictures of the church for my stepdad.

Soon enough, I found myself racing out of the tube station and heading toward the Lion King theater. The show was incredible. Everyone did an amazing job and the set-up was truly the best part of it all. The performance really brought to life the characters and scenario of the film. Disney, himself, would be proud!

Miami weather in London?!

Today I put on one of the few pairs of shorts I brought, a tank top and a light sweater. Not even half way through my walk from the dorm to the bus and I was already taking off the sweater. It isn't just not raining or overcast.. it is HOT! A little too hot for my liking here. It is one thing when I'm going from my car into an AC building or being at the beach, but because we walk everyday this is a little much.

After class we grabbed some lunch in Picadilly Circus and then decided to go to Primeark (the London version of Pennies) because neither Isa nor I have clothes to endure the heat in. I finished the majority of my gift shopping and headed home.

We told the guy at the front desk that we didn't think our AC was working. His response was "we don't have AC in this building." Ummmm.... excuse me?! Not only did I have to hang my wet laundry all over my room last night because the dryers decided to not work, but the building doesn't have AC? I mean, c'mon, seriously? We're not living in the stone age over here!

On a brighter note, I finished and submitted my 5 page paper on i-dont-even-know-what-hofstede-deminisions. That was a relief! Tomorrow the Queen will be gracing us with her presence, as she parades down the streets of London waving her precious hand at us peasants.

Parks, Parks and more Parks!

Friday morning was a little rough, after a night of celebration for Isa's birthday. Brittany and I met up at Hyde Park to walk around. We had some lunch and one of the most popular park cafe's then opted to laid down in the grass and we enjoyed a group of guys break dancing. Later on Isa met up with us and we literally wandering the streets of London. I dont know how the hours seem to keep passing us by.

Saturday we went on a day trip to Greenwich. Again we laid in a park for about an hour, then visited the prime meridian. The prime meridian is where time starts! Greenwich is 0 and every time zone before or after is either +1, 2, 3 etc. So that was pretty interesting. Then we watched a futbol (soccer) game in a local pub- definitely a cultural experience and a must do in Europe!

The weekend was rather low-key but much needed. This morning I slept in, grabbed some dutch pancakes for breakfast and have been working on homework ever since. I am still refusing to believe that I will be leaving Europe in one week.

Happiness

I've had very interesting assignments for happiness. One was to interview two people and report on how happy they really seem to be. My interview questions were:

1. What is happiness to you
2. What makes you happy today? By today I mean the present.
3. What will make you happy 10 years from now?
4. At the end of your life as you reflect back what do you think would have done to make yourself happier?

These questions appear to be really simply questions but I think when you really reflect and think about the answers to them you can learn a lot about yourself. So I encourage you to answer them on your own!

The other assignment was to do a random act of kindness to a stranger or someone that you haven't spoke to in a long time. As the class discussed this and as I've spoken to various people through the trip I've realized how blessed I am to have my friends and be as close to my family as I am. A lot of people said they were going to write a letter to an old best friend that they hadn't spoken to in years. I thought about who I could write a letter to and absolutely no body came to mind. Every best friend that I have made I still remain fairly close to and at least talk to often. Many people also have talked about how they hardly have spoken to their families since they have been here. And all I could think about was how I talk to at least once member of my family at least once every two days if not every day.

All around I am just extremely appreciative of what I have been given.

Tower of London and Abbey Road

This morning my culture professor cancelled 3 out of our 4 classes for next week! Woooo hooo! Then in happiness we had a speaker from an agency that is essentially PR mixed with Advertising. She was a very good speaker and I learned a lot about a field of work which I had known nothing about. I could definitely see myself working for an agency like hers.

Our activity for the day was going to the Tower of London. We started off on a tour group that talked about the construction of the walls and how old they were.The outside wall is 25 feet WIDE! It was hard to following so we decided to do our own thing. The bloody tower was not as creepy as I had anticipated. It's a little uneasy knowing how many people died on the same grounds that you're walking on though. The oldest part held all the armor of past kings like King Charles. It also has the swords and guns used for battle. Next we went into where the royal jewels are kept. We got to see all the gifts that have been given to the queen and all the royal crowns and jewels. It was beautiful!

The next venture was to find Abbey Road. Abbey road is where The Beatles recording studio was and where their album cover photograph was taken. I had so much fun recreating the picture. The cars have to stop for people crossing the road and the majority of the people in the cars know why people are crossing the cross walk. Many of them would turn, wave and smile. This surprised me because in Miami EVERYONE would be honking their horns. Danny and I must have crossed the crossway 8 times. Fortunately we were able to get a great picture! I even took my shoes off! Unfortunately it was just us two... so in our picture we look like Paul and Ringo.

Albert and Victoria

This morning started bright and early at 6:45 a.m. to make it to class on time at 8:30 a.m. After class we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Hyde Park. The study abroad was divided into four groups and has to compete against each other. The first competition was to exchange a potato to every single group member. The catch was you had to transfer the potato by the neck or the feet. My team came in second place. :) The next competition was the limbo.... no need to elaborate- my team came in last. The final round was a water balloon toss where my team came in first place. Overall, we made second place. There is still two more days of games to be played but those will be next week sometime.

After the games I went to the Albert and Victoria museum. I'm not exactly sure why I liked this museum so much.. I just got a different vibe from it. The objects in it were just incredible. My favorite part was a room from the 20th century. It held the first walkman, my first sony player, radios, the first nike air max, heels from the 60's and the liking. Another room that I really enjoyed contained shoes and dresses throughout the years. One of Princess Di's dresses was on display also.

After basically being kicked out of the museum because it was closing we headed back toward the tube station. We were all pretty hungry and spotted an indian restaurant. Indian food here is suppose to be amazing, and it is. I wish I could tell you exactly what I ate but I'm not even sure! I had an appetizer that had what I believe was lamb, chicken, a potato thing and some sort of sausage. My entree was called chicken rogan. Now, indian food is known for being spicy and i love spicy! However, I was a little scared to order a meal that was "hot." So I order something that said "medium chicken." My mouth was on fire the entire way through my meal. Not uncomfortable fire though, I enjoyed it. I'm just glad I ordered what I did!

London living

I'm starting to feel like I really do live here. But not because of my living conditions, just because there is a lot of time allotted to us here. I really would like to get to another country this weekend because I feel like by the time the weekend comes around I will have seen everything there is to see in London. The issue is finding a reasonably priced train ticket (don't want to fly bc of the volcano) and a hostel for the wknd. So anyone please FEEL FREE to arrange a wknd getaway for me! :D

Yesterday I had class in the morning and then ate lunch in the middle of a park. Afterward I went to the British Museum. The museum was a lot to handle. It had huge ceilings and was very spacious. All the glasses figures were jammed packed with items and it was hard to find what to focus on. In the late afternoon we had to listen to a guest speaker talk about Old London. It was fairly interesting but this man just had the most mundane voice I have ever heard. Needless to say it was hard to stay awake. We were suppose to do a walking tour of Old London but our professor cancelled it because we had to have time to get ready for Mamma Mia. I was a little upset about that, I was looking forward to the tour.

Mamma Mia was great! I had never seen it.. and felt like I was the only person in the entire world who hadn't. A lot of people said that it wasn't the best they've seen but I personally thought it was good.

Today I had class again. After class I went to the Globe Theater where Shakespeare's plays were performed. We had a mini tour inside of the theater and then an interactive workshop that taught us about Shakespeare's writing style. By this point in the day I was running below empty. Coffee has never saved my life as much as this latte did today. Isa and I sat by the river and drank our coffees while we waited for our friend Daniella and Danny to met us. Danny is a friend who has been studying abroad in Barcelona, as well as travelled to basically every country in Europe. He held off on London until now so he would come when I was here.

We grabbed a quick bit to eat, then went to St. Paul's Cathedral for some more pictures. We had intentions on going inside and climbing to the top but it was 10 pounds so we decided that we didn't want to pay that much. Instead we went to the Museum of London. This has been my favorite museum in London. It was a lot more interactive than the others. It was extremely small and easy to get through. By the time we were done with that it was approaching 5, the time when almost everything closes. So we went to Harrod's- OMG! That is the most amazingly huge, expensive and beautiful store I've ever seen in my life. Obviously, I didn't buy anything but the experience was rather entertaining.

Now, I am absolutely exhausted and getting to bed early so that I do not have to rely on coffee tomorrow. ;)

Sightseeing

Today we slept in and got a midday afternoon start at sightseeing. Most things in Europe are closed on Sundays, so we did what we could. We took the tube to where the London eye is. We watched the street performers and had lunch in the park. We didn't ride the London eye bc we'll be doing that later as a group. We walked along the river and took pictures of the parliament building and big ben. Then we went to the tate modern museum. Today has been rather a slow day. But just walking around is enough to please me! I think i'm going to watch Harry Potter tonight and see what all the hype is about. I'm late, I know, but all I've been hearing is ppl talk about how places here is all over the series!

Brighton

Today I went on a day trip to a city called Brighton. It was about an hour train ride from London. The city is a beach town... go figure, right? You guys didn't REALLY think I was going to go an entire month without some saltwater did you? ;) As soon as we got off the train we literally walked straight out and down to the beach. This beach has no sand. It is a pebble or rocky beach. Slightly uncomfortable to walk on but nonetheless a beach! It also has a pier with an arcade and carnival rides. I rode a roller coaster on a pier, over water... what was I thinking? I'm not entirely sure! After that we walked the strip and paced in and out of stores. Then we sat by the beach while we listening to live music. We realized our time ran out way too quickly as 8 p.m. approached. I'm exhausted! Tomorrow we have plans to go sight seeing in London! :)

University of London

After arriving in London late last night, we were welcome by our horribly rude RA for our dorms. Isa and I are sharing a room again. The room is smaller than a room on a cruise ship, and our bathroom is about 4x4! We also share a kitchen with 4 other people. Isa and I did some groceries are hope to save some money by cooking dinners and eating sandwiches. After unpacking and straightening my life out a little bit, I didn't feel like cooking so we went out to eat. I had an amazing cheeseburgers and fries!

This morning was an early morning for us. We met downstairs at 9 a.m. and took the tube from one station to another. When we got off we walked for about 15 minutes to the AIFS office and the University of London (where are classes will be held). How I am going to remember how to get to class on Monday morning is way beyond me! After our orientation we went on a coach bus tour of London. Our first stop was at the church was Princess Diana got married. Next we went to the "London Bridge". What people (myself including) think is the London Bridge is actually not. It is called something else that I can't remember right now, haha. The real London bridge is no where near as pretty as the landmark bridge that everything thinks is the bridge. Our last stop of the tour was to the Queens house.

We received our cell phones last night, also. It is an ancient Nokia something or another. I had the phone when I was in 6th grade. I'm pretty pleased with the model bc it has the phone game Snake- which I havnt played since middle school.

Tomorrow and sunday are free days and we are planning a day trip to Brighton, which is apparently a beach town so yay! :)

Ireland, I miss you

It’s been less than 24 hours since I left the beautiful island. I am now driving somewhere between Wales and London, heading toward London. I can only hope that I fall in love with London just as I have with Ireland. I just finished watching P.S. I love you, which was filmed in Galway. As much as I miss my family and home, I am not looking forward to returning home- I was already missing Galway while I was in Dublin and now I’m missing them both. Europe is truly an amazing place. I’ve decided my next trip here will be to Paris, Greece and Switzerland.

My last day in Dublin was spent at the Guinness factory. The marketing director spoke to us for about 30 minutes. He was a very good speaker and held my attention. A pint of Guinness contains fewer calories than a pint of OJ. So obviously the smartest thing to do for my weight would be to have a Guinness with breakfast ;). The factory produces 3 million barrels of Guinness per day! The building is structured to model the Guinness pint glass. On the fourth floor you have the opportunity to learn how to pour the perfect beer. It takes exactly 119.5 seconds for perfection. You begin by first titled the glass at a 45-degree angle until it is about ¼ filled, and then tilt the glass regular until it covers the harp logo. Let the beer set and the gases rise to the top, while the foam dilutes. After that is finished fill the beer up to the top and enjoy the drink. To enjoy the beer to its full potential you push block all the foam out with your lip and take a big gulp of the dark stuff. Ps- it really works!

Later that evening we headed out for our last night in Ireland. We started out night at the bar we had been at the previous night. After making friends with a local in the girl’s bathroom, she told us of a better local bar that we should go to. It was the perfect place to spend our last night. The floor we walked into, and spent most of our time on, had a live band playing Irish music and songs from kings of leon. Downstairs played house music and the upstairs terrace was a refreshing spot for air. When we headed back to our hotel it was very sad. Crossing the bridge over the river we stopped and took in all that Ireland had given to us.

This morning we headed to the ferry at 6:45 a.m. It took us 4 hours to get from Dublin to Hollyhead. Then we got on our coach bus and drove for 2 hours to Wales, stopped for lunch, got back on the bus for a 4 hours bus ride to England. I’m excited to see what England has to offer us!

Gleandalough & Wicklow Park

An early and beautiful blue filled skies was the way I started my Tuesday morning here in Dublin. We had a group tour to Glendalough and Wicklow Park. For those you don't know what it is, it is the biggest park in Europe (maybe even in the states as well?) We started at the bottom of the park and hiked up a car path. To the left we had a peaceful river running downhill while to the right we had houses that I didn't believe existed until I came here. It's incredible to see so much livestock, particularly sheep, grazes outside of peoples home. The freedom that animals have here is great and so precious. Once we reached the top, we were surrounded by greenery, mountains of utter beauty and the scenery of nature. It reminded me of scenes from Lord of the Rings. After spending about an hour at the top, taking pictures and soaking all the beauty in, we headed back down with time to spare. I decided to lay on the grass and just enjoy it all. I was shortly interrupted by a local field trip group of about 50 elementary school children. They were adorable. I snapped a few pictures of them, and they of course thought I was crazy.

On our way back we stopped for lunch. I enjoyed what I think has been my favorite meal so far- a spinach and cheese croissant with 3 salads (tomatoes and spinach, tomatoes and broccoli, and potato salad). Then it was back to the bus. Our tour guide for Dublin has been a pleasant to have. However, her voice is so soothing that once I hit that chair on the bus I immediately am put to sleep. After what felt like a 5 minute nap, our bus dropped us off at our hotel. I realized that I had time to quickly make it to Trinity College for the Book of Wells. Fortunately, I only had to pay 4 euros because I was a student and because it was 4:40 by the time I got there (it closes at 5). The book was beautiful- it dates all the way back to the 8th century. I don't even think my mind can concept how old it really is. The art work is unexplainable. How can there be so much detail??? Beyond me.

Last night I decided I needed to enjoy a night out in Dublin, since I hadn't yet. The area called Temple Bar is the spot to be at. So we made our way there and found our way into the actual bar called Temple Bar. There was a live band playing all irish music. This immediately took me back to being a child and pretending that I could line dance. The pubs here are very different from in the states. Pubs are seen more as a place for socializing. Yes, people do get drunk but there it's a slow process and I believe usually unintentional. Here a man can sit at the bar and become friends with people sitting around him. At home, this man would appear to anyone as a creeper or an alcoholic.

As we made our way home, I found myself looking to the right for cars instead of toward the left. I am getting used to having to look "right, left, right" instead of "left, right, left." I am very fortunate to not having to return to Gainesville for summer classes where I have to walk everywhere! Haha :)

Dublin take II

I was a little off. Dublin is beautiful, and my views of it have completely changed since yesterday. Today I had class in the morning and then went on a bus tour of the city. Our tour guide was an elderly woman who was absolutely adorable. She even sang us a song (of which I can’t remember right now). Apparently our hotel isn’t exactly in the best location because we began our tour by seeing the area of the newly immigrants homes. This would explain why I had such a misconception of Dublin. We then toured around the museums, Trinity College and St. Patrick’s cathedral. All of a sudden there were tons of things that I felt like I need to go back and see before I left Dublin. Our bus got off at St. Patrick’s and we were able to go inside and view it. We also stopped at a park in Dublin were I enjoyed tea and a muffin of some sort, while the others ate an amazing lunch (I had lunch before I left). The food here is incredible. It’s always cooked with veggies and always has some sort of good sauce. I am having difficulties not being able to eat ranch. Hot sauce I can stumble upon sometimes. If I were to ever move here, I would definitely have to bring a suitcase full of the both. The country of Ireland has no ranch whatsoever! These people are missing out! Haha, anyways I think I might be becoming addicted to tea. I have a cup a day two.
Yesterday we walked by Trinity College twice, not knowing what it was. Had I had known then I would’ve gone inside and toured the college as well as seen The Book of Kells. I tried to do that today after the tour. However, the president of somewhere was receiving a personal tour and no one else was allowed in. Wellll excuseeee meee! :( I’m not sure what I’ll be able to squeeze into the rest of my busy week before departing. I wish had the bus tour BEFORE our free day so that way we would have known what we should go see. Tomorrow we are going on an all day excursion to Wicklow and Glendalough. The park is supposedly the biggest park in Europe! Wednesday we have class again and will be visiting the Guinness factory at 2:15 p.m. I am hoping to go to Trinity between then but that might be cutting it close. Thursday morning we leave at 8:20a.m. for London.

As for the weather today… let’s just say I had to pull out the raincoat. It didn’t rain but it was gloomy, cold and wet- just like we were told. I’m still convinced it’ll stay beautiful forever. If not, I’m glad we were lucky enough to enjoy some sun-filled days. I’ve decided that I am a firm believer in the weather patterns affecting one’s emotions and moods. I need sunshine in my life, everyone does. Sunshine sends positive and warm energy into the body. :)

86 instant communication

Now that we are far far away from our cellphones, constant internet access and the liking we have to use these ancient things called phones inside of hotel rooms and remembering our friends room numbers in order to make those calls. Crazy right? We all literally have a piece of paper that details the room numbers. Today was a free day for us, meaning we could do whatever we liked. Last night after dinner we decided that we would met for breakfast at 10 a.m. and decide what we would like to do for the day. At 10 a.m. all were there except for the boys, so we decided that we would eat breakfast and then met again at noon to go explore. At noon, we were all there and headed to The National Museum. The museum was actually not as impressive as I thought it would be. It was more replicas than I had imagined. I'm still awaiting the book of Kells from Trinity College. Isa and I managed to find Starbucks, and although I'm not the biggest coffee person it was definitely good to enjoy a vanilla latte! We decided to split up because people wanted to do different things. So again we all made plans (ahead of time- what a concept!) to meet in the lobby at 7 p.m. for dinner. I, and three other girls, headed to the shops! We had seen a store with a sign that read 75% off on shoes, so of course that was our ideal first destination.

Not exactly the way things worked out. We got hungry and saw a sign that read "Take out sandwiches 2.95." This was from the same place that we had lunch yesterday (the panera of Ireland). I think it has become my favorite place to eat. I've kinda gotten tired of the fish and chips and irish stew. So these sandwiches are a nice change. I enjoyed a delicious spicy chicken and spinach sandwich :). After eating, we stumbled across a store called Penny's (absolutely not to be confused with JC Penny's from home). The first thing that caught my eye was bathing suits for FIVE EUROS! WHATTT??!?!?! Obviously, I was sold. This store is the best thing ever created in the world. Okay obviously not the world. I like to think that even shopping here is a cultural experience. While I've been walking the streets I tend to admire and pay close attention to how people interact and to how they dress as well. The clothing in this department store says a lot of the youth culture (and it says a lot in cheap numbers!). I had high hopes of finding heels because some were as cheap as 5 euros, but unfortunately they didn't have my size. I ended up spending a total of 30 dollars (24 Euros) on my purchases. And anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE spending money when I am getting greattttt deals (yes, I know I sound like my dad). Now, I should stop sounding selfish. I also did a bit of souvenir shopping for the wonderful people who made this trip possible (even though they told me not to). But I don't care! :D

My end of the day consisted of skyping with Chaz, Rox and Eddie! Yup, Eddie beat you to it mom! =P Then we went to eat at SuperMac- take a guess? Yup, something similar to a McDonalds but better bc it has baked potatoes and pizza. Not that I missed the crappy American fast food, but we all wanted something cheap and quick to eat.
As for this bloody cold of mine. Tonight I took my 3rd of 5 pills and I'm still very congested but I don't have a sore throat anymore so that is good. However, two girls are starting to get a sore throat. It's probably my fault and I feel bad. :(

The weather here as been above and beyond anything that any of us could have asked for. We were told that it would be rainy and overcast the entire time. Our raincoats and boots are probably collecting dusk in our luggages (good thing!). Today I even wore shorts with stockings underneath them and it felt great. My grandparents told me that when they came here years ago they too had beautiful weather. So I secretly thought I would have their same luck. Obviously it is the luck of the irish ;).

Tomorrow I have class at 8 a.m. and then we have a bus tour of Dublin. I just really don't know how much I love Dublin. Galway I LOVE. It's ironic because I love Galway for all the reasons that I hate Gainesville, haha. I love the small city feeling and the warmth of the people. Dublin just doesn't make me feel like I'm in Ireland. Maybe tomorrow's tour will change but my mind. As of now, my hear remains in Galway.<3

PS- I havn't figured out how to upload pictures onto this blog just yet. :(

Irish lies and long bus rides

So if there's one immediate thing I've picked up on it is the lies that the Irish love to tell. When we went on the walking tour of Galway, our guide (who I'm still convinced is a leprechaun) told about 8 stories that were immediately followed by "and there's not a bit of truth to dat." We're constantly being told our bus rides will be about an hour when in reality they take like 2 hours. Maybe their running on Cuban time? Hah.

We took a 3 hour bus ride yesterday to the Cliffs of Moher- indeed pure beauty.

However, the fact that we were told we couldn't talk on the bus bc we were too loud was annoying and the fact that we were told it'd be a 2 hour trip (there and back). This morning we headed off to Dublin. We stopped in a small town to eat lunch, were I had a sandwich that would be the equivalent to a panera sandwich back home. Once we arrived in Dublin, it was obvious. It is such a different place from Galway. Galway is a small town, and everyone was really nice. You could walk the majority of the town in about 10 to 20 minutes. The people socialized with us and when they asked where our next destination was, they warned us not to go into Dublin. And now I know why.

Dublin is a huge city, picture like a mini NYC. Galway is so much more natural and pure than the city life here. As we were waiting at a light, a local spit right on our bus, looked up at my friend and smiled at her. Obviously, they hate Americans. I may be judging way too early but who knows. Tomorrow we are planning on shopping and exploring the city. :)

Irish Lingo

HELLO Dia duit

HOW ARE YOU? Cen chaoi a bhfuiul tu?

TEA Tae

THANK YOU Go raibh maith agat

YOU ARE WELCOME Ta failte romhat

PLEASE Mas e do thoil e

CHEERS! Slainte!

GOOD LUCK Go n-eiri leat

TAKE CARE Tabhair aire

Classes

I had my first day of classes in this morning. My first class was culture. And pretty much we compared and contrasted the lifestyle of the Aran Island (that has a total of about 800 people) to Irish cities and to America. We decided upon Americans being more private, preferring more attractive people, having media influences, not tolerating anger well and being more fearful than those people of the European countries. My next class was happiness. We were asked these four questions:

What is happiness?

How do you know if you're happy?

How important is happiness?

What makes you happy?

I believe that happiness cannot be defined. Essentially, it is an emotion of content. Happiness is the now and shouldn't be compared to the then or what could have been and what was. It is a choice. One chooses to look upon the negative aspects of their life or to look at the positive ones. With that said, one of the best ways to experience happiness is to experience negative situations and emotions and allow them to take their natural course. It is then when people learn to grow and to fully appreciate what the are happy for. When dealing with the struggle of a negative situation one chooses to allow all of the negative in and take over or to overcome it. Happiness reflects off of people, and when one is happy the surrounding people can feel the warmth of the emotion. Although it is shallow, happiness can be determined by comparison, specifically to the self. Self reflection is a positive motivator. When one self reflects one can determine the level of happiness or lack of and decide what needs to change or not change. This can then determine how happy one actually is. Happiness, I believe, is essential to a healthy life. Without it, not only do you jeopardize personal life but also those around you. Happiness derives from what makes a person happy. Naturally, what makes humans happy is shelter, food, water and human connections. Love and friendships are two of the strongest driving forces behind happiness. I also firmly believe that what makes a person happy can be determined by their self esteem, having people be proud of them and acknowledge their choices, self thought and reflection, positive energy and a bright surrounding.

I intend on posting my favorites quotes from my textbook. But for now, I am off to the Cliffs of Moher.

Aran Islands

This morning I enjoyed a breakfast that consisted of sunny side up eggs, mixed with hams and a tomato. I was fully energized for the deep excursion that awaited me. I started out on an hour bus ride to a port, where I then transferred onto a ship that would take me on another hour ride to the Aran Islands- a place that I was soon to find out I would fall in love with. Once we reached the port we were all put into a total of 3 vans and taken up the island. Then we climbed a trail to the top and atlas! BEAUTY! I seriously do not have the words to describe how magnificent this view was. Ireland is by far one of the prettiest places I have ever seen in my life. (Of course Hawaii hold my heart). It's drive me insane to not be able to put into words what my little insignificant eye can see. If my family were to know the risk I put my life into today, they would drop dead. I laid down right over the cliffs on the Aran Islands. Not only was I able to capture beautiful pictures but I was able to soak up the ocean water. The view of the endless ocean and utterly open space is breath taking. My mind ultimately wonders and has absolutely no other happy place.

Right now I am currently blogging from a bar in Galway. The deal is, buy a drink and get the password for free wifi. Definitely good marketing. I have class tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. then at noon we are off to the Cliffs of Moher.

Day one

May 4, 2010

The ground trembles as the engines roar, my stomach drops and my excitement increases. After flying for 10 plus years now, you would think that I am completely accustom to the whole taking off and landing part of the plane. And truth be told, I am. But there’s always that split moment where I remind myself that nothing bad is going to happen, and I will safely make to my destination. My favorite part about flying is actually the taking off and landing, haha. But anyways…. I’M IN IRELAND! It is so surreal. As we were landing, I gazed at all the greenery. It’s really real. Ireland is all green; it is exactly how people describe it. Not only is it all green but there is definitely animals roaming the green land. We went through customs and were shortly on our way from Shannon to Galway. After checking into to our adorable two bed hotel room with an amazing view of a river, we went on a walking tour of Galway. Now don’t you forget, if you ever get lost keep walking straight and make three right turns. Whatever that is suppose to mean?! Midway of the tour my body was completely giving out on me. Our guide would speak and I would appear to pay attention but my mind was elsewhere. I looked down at my watch. I had officially been awake for 22 hours; I was dead. After we were done I took a nice long nap until about 7 p.m. My dinner consisted of not just fish and chips but BAKED fish and chips. It was absolutely delicious! Now, considering that we have to be up in oh about 7 hours (from when I am writing this) we decided the smartest thing to do was to make our way to a local pub for just a few drinks, ya know nothing crazy. A group of us headed up museum street (how easy is it for us gators to remember that?) and was approached by a local promoter. She suckered us into going into a pub, where we had a good first night out. Drink specials were 2 for 5 euros, and a shot. Now as the night progressed we socialized with the locals and learned that crack apparently means fun here. Well let’s just say we weren’t too trusting on wanting to share some crack with that young chap. The locals, however, are really awesome. I have not met one person who dislikes Galway. Their saying is “I miss Galway, even when I’m still living here.” The people here are no surprise completely different, and way more nicer, than those people in Miami. The music too is slightly different. House and trance music is ALWAYS playing. But anyways, back to the pub scene. Next thing we know, a guy in our group is offered a shot of brandy by another guy. So he accepts, thinking not much of it. Bad idea. 5 minutes later this guy is dancing all over our friend… absolutely hilarious. So we finished up our drinks and made our way home. Tomorrow we will be touring the Aran Islands, it is going to be a long long day but I am very much looking forward to it.

Thank you volcanic ash, HELLO NYC!

After are arrival upon Newark, New Jersey we received an update that there was volcanic ash in the airwaves over Ireland, and therefore their airports were all shut down. AKA our connecting flight was cancelled. So what now? We sat in the airport, mind you airport with no free wi-fi, from 6:30 p.m. to about 10:0m p.m. patiently awaiting what was to be our next course of action. Long story short, we were told by our professors to find a place to sleep for the night (AIFS would reimburse us) and to meet back at the airport at 3 p.m. for our flight to Shannon at 7 p.m.

Here is where the fun starts. Isa and I have no idea what to do. Get a hotel? What? Where? With who? (We needed at least three people in the room to get reimbursed). All of a sudden we hear a group of people going to NYC. NYC? NYC! Okay.... here we come NYC! 15 of us got on coach bus, for a $25 round trip ticket, into the city. We made a rsvp with a Hampton Inn in the Soho district. Now picture this. 15 college students, with carry on bags, book bags AND 50+lbs worth of check-on baggage....... going on a subway! Oh and did I mention that it was only 3 guys? With all those stairs! Needless to say, this was one experience and a very fatiguing adventure, that I loved. By the way, if you're wondering if I was scared.... I was scared shitless. A subway at 11p.m. at night, in NYC, with tons of bags and bums just did not seem like the smartest thing to do. But it was surely a lot safer then me and Isa venturing off on our own.

We had plans to go out and enjoy the city life. But after the time that we arrived at our hotel, it was pretty late and the majority of us were pretty tired from the adventure. A hand full of us hung out in the lobby and explored the street a little bit. It was definitely a good bonding experience. Now after enjoying our complimentary breakfast, we are up and about and ready to make our transition back to the airport. This time we will not be carrying our enormous bags throughout the streets of NYC. It's taxi time for us.

I'm usually a fan of airports, people watching and the like. However, I do not want to be stuck in this airport again. I'm had my fair share of making the best out of an unfortunate situation. I'm ready for Europe!

Wish me luck :)