New Year, New Adventure, New York

And.... she's back! After what felt like the longest hiatus on this planet... I'm back out of town. And much like I've done for the past 3 summers (and spring semester in Germany) I'm going to attempt to keep all of the craziness recorded here for the interested eye to read.

Where now?  Back to the big city to intern with an accounting firm until mid March! The city that captured my heart during my first visit in 2010.  There's just no place like New York!

I headed to the airport on January 1st with my three amigos! New year, new adventure! Mom drove, dad worked on his new years resolution, and Maia willingly got up at 6:30 am to come with us.  I'm the luckiest.  On the way up we talked about the excitement of going to the airport.  Always a new adventure, always something new.  Except for when you're actually leaving... you know that part still sucks.  Airports are such interesting places.  They are great for people watching... I remember waiting for Maia in Berlin last June... I remember tearing up watching grandparents waiting to see their grandchildren, who clearly lived outside of the country and were coming to visit.  The grandmother was holding a doll, and as soon as her little granddaughter came out, she handed it to her, they hugged, and I could see tears in the grandmother's eyes.  It all brought back many memories of goodbyes and happy tearful hugs that followed our arrivals back home to Uruguay.  As I said, airports are magnificent places, you get to witness overwhelming hellos and sad goodbyes all in one scene.

In my case, I said goodbye to my favorite three and headed off for my temporary home. I have to say, it is wonderful knowing that after all of my fun trips I always get to come home to my three amigos.

So with that in mind, I headed to the city.  My connection in Charlotte was very tight and thanks to US Airways (they told our flight crew the wrong time to report) we were delayed in Memphis.  Oh yes... My friend Matthew, who is also interning in NYC, was pretty chill about it, but the planner in me got the best of me. I went and asked and they put me on the later flight out of Charlotte.  Hey! It gave me an extra hour to have lunch! So that was fine! Matthew, on the other hand, didn't get the flight changed because he didn't make it to the front of the line by the time we boarded.  Turns out.... he still made our original connecting flight in Charlotte.  So much for planning!!! My luggage made that flight too! Just not me.  By the time I got on the next flight and made it to NYC, my luggage had been in the city for a while.  Pretty comical if you ask me!

Once in the city, I called the lady, who I'm staying with and took a cab to the apartment. As I did in Germany, I'm not posting her name, because I don't know if she wants it posted... haha!   So I'm officially a spokesperson for Airbnb.com.  Y'all.... That's how we found the place in Berlin, the place in Edinburgh, in Cinque Terre, in Cork, in Galway, in Dublin, in London, in Berlin (again), in Innsbruck, and in Paris!!! And now again in New York! It's magic the wonderful places you can find when you just trust people's reviews.  The site is made so that people with spare bedrooms can make a little extra cash.  They list the bedroom (or apartment if they do that), specify if breakfast is included, and see what they get! The guests review them and the host reviews you! It's magical.

Thanks to Airbnb, I'm now living in New York, on the upper west side (in a perfect location with Matt Damon and Kevin Bacon living very near my place... oh yeah.. AND TINA FEY), with a perfectly decorated and furnished room and plenty of closet space! The lady I live with is precious! She is an actress, and she also has worked in the catering industry.  She is super interesting and has millions of stories that range from meeting Oprah, to chatting with Blake Lively, etc.  It's so much fun to sit and chat! After I arrived at around 5pm, I unpacked all of my clothes into the lovely closet and rested the night away.  My situation is soooo different from the last time I came to the city to intern.  This is not a college dorm, I didn't have to bring sheets or towels, and the place is homey!!! It has a view and a kitchen!  I LOVE IT!






My first full day in the city was wonderful! I woke up at 9 and my new roommate made me a delicious Irish oatmeal with bananas and maple syrup.   After over an hour of chatting about her life and my life.... I finally decided to get dressed and head out.  Where?  Eh... I just wanted to walk. This city never ceases to amaze me.  The diversity of people is incredible! The shops, the restaurants, the parks... it's breathtaking. So I headed down Central Park West and walked all the way down to Broadway and 53rd, where I went into the theater for Cinderella.  I have been slightly obsessed with the show and the cast members... and after they announced that Laura Osnes would soon be replaced by CARLY RAE JEPSEN, I knew I had to see it before that happened.  So I got the cheapest tickets they had for Sunday's matinee and I figured that would be a wonderful thing to do before work takes over my life.

From there I walked down to Times Square and sat at my favorite coffee shop.. Caffe Bene.  It's like a magical hideaway in the middle of the crazy chaos that is Times Square.... Honestly if work and the theater weren't right there, I would avoid Times Square at all cost... It's like a theme  park! NUTS!  Anyway, I digress. I sat with my coffee for a few hours.  First I realized I was sitting by some Argentinean college students and since their conversation was too intriguing, I had to move ... I was there with a purpose! A book!!! Yes... I said it. A book.   New year... new me! My awesome co-worker/friend Jennifer gave me this awesome David Sedaris book, so I'm loving it!

After a couple of hours, I realized it was starting to get dark, so I headed back uptown.  Decided to walk the 40 blocks and enjoy the crisp weather.  I stopped at Columbus Circle at Whole Foods and purchased some food for lunch/dinner and then continued the walk to my precious apartment.  Once there, I lounged around and chatted with my roommate/landlady. She recommended the movie "the Apartment," which is the story that the musical Promises,Promises is based on... sooo naturally I watched that on Netflix.  Then her friend brought over some of the movies nominated for the Golden Globes, so she told me we could watch them whenever...


Then we started talking actors... priceless. It's funny to hear an actor talking about an actor.  They are so knowledgeable! Then... we talked about TV shows... and then SCANDAL came up.  I revealed my recent obsession with it and she said she was caught up as well. (GREAT SIGN, we are going to get along just fine!) As we started talking about it, she realized that she was one episode behind... so naturally we sat around and watched it! By the end of it, she went into her room and took out seasons 1 and 2 of Entourage.  It is apparently another good TV series that she recommends I watch.  Since a blizzard was about to hit New York and I don't start work until Monday, I accepted! Then... she gave me a book! (The Talented Mr. Ripley)... WOW! What is up with this!?!?  For those of you that don't know... I am the WORST about reading. I do it if I have to or if I really get into a book.  I hate putting a book down because I won't pick it up again on purpose. Sooooo... either I read it in one sitting or I force myself at some point to pick it up.

Right now--- the following are still on my list to read:  (if you're going to judge, stop now... there's no need for negativity, I'm aware of my standards).

• The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
• Happily Ever After: The Life-Changing Power of a Grateful Heart (Trista Sutter --- yes she was the first Bachelorette, yes I love the book, yes stop now if you're judging)
• Holiday on Ice (David Sedaris -- almost done with the last pages, soooo funny)
• The Longest Ride (Nicholas Sparks -- got it for my birthday in October, started it to escape my sometimes depressing thesis research and found that it deals with a man's story concerning the Holocaust... So I put it down and now need to get back on it)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsmith) 
• The Fault in our Stars (John Green) 

So... where was I? Oh! I went to bed watching Entourage (instead of reading).

Friday morning I woke up to about 4-6 inches of snow.  So I made the conscious decision that I would make lounging my day's chore.  My landlady/roommate/new friend was supposed to go nanny, but due to the snow, they cancelled.  So... we lounged.  In the morning, I laid in bed and watched backstage interviews of Broadway stars... then I made a delicious salad for lunch.  At that point she asked me about my thesis... which led to about an hour explanation... poor woman!  Then she started telling me about all the fancy events she catered.  It's unreal! She showed me clips of the movies she was in too! So cool!!!

 Then... she went out for popcorn and we started the movie marathon.  First up: 12 Years a Slave.  Talk about hard to watch! Wonderfully done, but sooo sooo hard to watch.  Halfway through the film, we took a break.  She started a marinara sauce and I made us salads.  As the marinara sauce simmered, we ate salads and watched the movie.  Then another break, some ravioli making, and we returned to finish the film with some wine and delicious goat cheese and roasted tomato ravioli!    Next... Blue Jasmin -- Woody Allen.  GREAT movie! Also not a light film like my usual picks, but it was lighter!


After the movies I headed to bed thinking she was going to bed too! Instead we ended up talking about traveling and slave trade in Rhode Island.  Apparently the documentary Traces of Trade is a must see (historically speaking). After about an hour and a half later, she headed to bed and I started writing.  It was a perfect snowy lazy day! I'm so thankful that I didn't have to go to work.  I know that next week the temperatures will be lower and it will be painful to get out, but I can enjoy it for now! I am so lucky!

I am so happy with my living situation! And I have a new friend, the cat, it is perfect.

Ok, I think I'm done.  I'm sorry for the length, but I hadn't decided whether I would blog this semester... so I was a bit behind.  I have concluded that blogging might not be regular or specific these months (since it is predicted that I will be working from early morning to late nights and sometimes Saturdays), but I will make an effort to stay updated!  I'll make sure to keep up of my days in my new gratitude journal and on my lazy days I'll share the highlights.

 ---- Oh, for those of you wondering what a gratitude journal is... refer back to the books I'm reading.  Trista Sutter's book gave the idea of keeping a journal where every night you write 5 things you are grateful for.  Like things that happened, you remembered, etc.  I love it so far and I'm hoping to keep it up!!!

Ok, I'm really going to bed now, good night!

London (our final stop 5 months ago)

I’m blogging from Oxford… strange… I know! Only about 5 months late on this entry, but our European sister trip blog was not complete!!!  It still lacks one entry! Our amazing day in London with the best tour guide ever!!!!   I can’t believe I have waited this long to post it, but thanks to school, work, and excuses I have continued to put it off.  Now, since I am officially off for Thanksgiving, before I start focusing on my thesis and only my thesis, I wanted to post the concluding entry.  

Maia and I had an incredible trip through Europe! Germany, Italy, Scotland, and then England!  It was a dream come true! Then my parents came and we traveled through Germany, Austria, and France.  A perfect summer to top off a pretty incredible semester abroad.  I truly am sooo lucky and SOOO thankful!  And that is why I am writing this post! 

Time flies by, and it is so easy to forget to stop and thank people! So this is my small way of thanking everyone who helped along the way on our amazing Europe trip.  Thank you to all of the hosts that shared their lives with us, thank you to all of you that read my blog and kept up, thank you to all of that sent in recommendations, thanks to my friends who made every effort to stay in touch, thank you to my parents who made it all possible, thank you my aunt for surprising us later in Paris, and thank you to Adam, who took a whole day to show us around London.   We were sooo lucky and we owe you a tour group flag and a LOT more!!!  THANK YOU TO ALL!  Now starts the entry I wrote on our last day in London! (I have decided not to edit, since I never have done it.... the mistakes are part of my charm...  right?!?! or a sign of laziness... either way, they're there)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Sunday in London began around 9. We got dressed and headed to the subway station. The night before Maia had messaged Adam, who dates Sarah Gaines, one of the sweetest, nicest, most generous friend we have. He is from close to London and studied abroad in Mississippi for a year. They met there and Sarah Gaines then spent this past year studying in England. They are both the sweetest. We messaged him to let him know we were in the city and were hoping he would come so we could meet him for lunch or something.  Instead... We got the best day we could have asked for to end our sister trip.

After waking up sort of early, we headed out to Embankment, where sweet Adam met us at our Starbucks. From there... He had the whole tour planned. First off, the Borough market, famous for its crowds and noisy vendors that yell at you to purchase their products! The booths were set up and lined the whole square! The plan includes a coffee at London's famous coffee shop, the Monmouth Coffee Company... Sadly it was closed, so we continued to the London bridge. The incredible fun fact and history started immediately! Did y'all know that what we think is London bridge is actually not! A town from the states tried to buy the rights to the "London bridge" and people couldn't believe it, because it is just like any old bridge... Nothing special... Not the picturesque bridge everyone thought... Too funny!

On the other side of the bridge we walked London city, where the business section is... And as Adam said... The money is at!  It is only a 1 mile radius but a lot of money!

From there we walked down Cannon Street, the Strand, and saw the St. Paul's cathedral, the royal courts, and Trafalgar Square. Along our walk we learned about the tough process of becoming a lawyer in London and the college life as well!! Final exams, class attendance, etc. We could have never learned so much without our amazing guide!!!! At Trafalgar Square we learned about the blue chicken statue and the New Years celebration that takes place!

From there, we walked down the mall past St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace. Adam told us about seeing one of the princes speeding by in his range rover... unreal! We then stopped by the guards... they don't play around... Their guns have knives at the end of them! Adam told us about his friend who is in the army and was assigned to guard one of the buildings by the palace. Adam and his friends went there to see him and try to make him laugh.  

This whole part of London is a bit surreal. It is like a surreal world... the royal world. Then we walked down the mall past St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace Gardens. We saw some of the guards and Adam told us about his friend who is in the army and was one o them for three weeks. He came to see him and made him laugh.

After that we continued through constitution hill to Hyde park! Sarah Gaines had talked about the park so I was sooo excited to see it! It was gorgeous! We walked all along the lake, by some swans, some Canadian geese (that bite), and Diana's memorial. It was full of people and beautiful! For the most part it didn't rain!


From there we headed back towards Covent Gardens and to a little place he recommended away from the tourist. It was called the meat market! It's an American style burger joint, but way tastier!

The tour continued Covent Garden and then just a walk away we got to the Parliament and Government offices.  After staring at Westminster abbey, we crossed the bridge over to Big Ben.  While on the bridge, Adam enlightened us on the unreal currents of the River Thames! Terrifying for one that is not fond of standing on bridges… heights!

 

From there, we headed to Jubilee park where we got to lay on the grass and enjoy it all! There was a mom taking pictures of her little daughter and lots of kids running around.  And absolutely perfect place to people watch and an incredible place over all! 

After a walk along the south bank, Adam took us back to the train station and we headed back to our awesome room!!!  It was the most perfect day in London, and all thanks to Adam.  An incredible day to say the least!!!!

The amazing people of Dublin, Ireland

After falling asleep with my Benadryl, I woke up 2 hours later when we were pulling into Dublin!! Our airbnb house hosts were going to pick us up from the airport stop, so we were happy not to have to find the place! At the airport we called Sinead and Des and Sinead said she would be on the second floor. Due to some misunderstanding we waited for 20 minutes in the parking lot. At that point we called and found out we were supposed to cross the street before going to the second floor. After that... we figured it out and found her!!!

She was super sweet and welcoming. Turns out she studied in Mississippi and played soccer at William Carey in Biloxi and Hattiesburg! How small is this world!!!! We were so thrilled by her hospitality! When we arrived at their house we met Des and their dogs Timmy and Cony. Des is from Glasgow, Scotland and has a super thik beautiful Scottish accent! We were offered food and drinks and were shown around. Again... We were offered two rooms... a double and a single, but... we decided not to mess up 2 rooms! After they showed us the bus station (20 minute ride into Dublin) they told us they would happily drive us to the two towns around them-- Malahide and Swords. We were too tired and decided to stay in... Again I felt quite sick! After laying down for a bit we went downstairs and met the other guests in the kitchen. Matilda (18) and her mom Celin, who were from France, and Julianna and Jen from California. We stayed downstairs playing cards and talking with Jen, Des, Julianna, and Siniad. We had a blast and discussed all things from gun control to taxi drivers and weather. Again... a blast, but we fell asleep exhausted at around 12:30.

On Friday morning, we woke up promptly at 7:58 and lazily got dressed and went downstairs. We found Des, Matilda and Celin eating. Des welcomed us warmly, made me a coffee and he insisted on toasting our bread for us. He didn't let us put our dishes up or wash, and then insisted on driving the four of us to the bus station. Once in the car, we realized that we didn't have the 2.80 in coins, sooo he was like... "Why don't each of you pay me 2.50 and i'll take you into the city?" My initial reaction was um... No way!!! You don't need to waste your awesome sunny morning driving us 20-30 minutes into the city!!!! But he insisted and drove us! So, we saved time and money because of his generosity. I don't think I've ever met such sweet, generous, giving, and interesting people. Anyway... He drove us in and we walked the day away.

It was sunny and the forecast predicted no rain... So we left our rain jackets at home and awaited a sunny day. We walked through Temple bar first, but since it was 9:30, it was dead. We decided to stop for a coffee at Starbucks and use the wifi to plan out our day and route. With Ricks help and our map, we were ready to go! First stop... Trinity College! No library tour but a great walk around!
Then... The national gallery! On our way... It started pouring down rain.. So, we ran the 2 blocks and arrived soaked to the museum. The exhibits included European painters and a special Irish exhibit. It was a wonderful piece of culture! After that... the national museum of archeology. I was kind of excited about this one... but it turned out to be a bit of a bore... We left and headed to Grafton Street, a pedestrian shopping street. But... it started pouring down rain!!! soooo we snuck soaked into a tiny corner cafe and had a delicious chicken, goat cheese, and pesto sandwich between the two of us. As it stopped raining we headed to Grafton.

Dublin is so picturesque. Precious houses, flowers, and full of people. I absolutely loved it. I would put pictures up but I forgot my phone that day!! We walked down the street and then to Dublin castle! By then I was really starting to not feel well... The rain, the air, and my cough was not helping... Sooo we decided to go back to Tempel bar and find a place to eat. Everywhere was packed, but the music flooded out into the streets. We found a cute little Mongolian place that was unique and provided Maia with the white rice she had been asking for. Yes... I know... strange choice in Ireland, but it gave us a chance to dry up and catch our breathes.
Then... back to Grafton for gelato and H&M... Can't take stuff back but we can eat it! Hahaha

The street was still lined with musicians and I was mesmerized by a trio (Violin, trumpet,and saxophone) that was playing Con te Partiro, which I know because of Andrea Bocceli. Oh it was soooo gorgeous that we didn't realize it was starting to rain. In two seconds it was buckets, cats, and dogs. We were soaked and ran to another Starbucks to kill time until it cleared up. After waiting 30 minutes and being soaked and cold we gave in and decided to find the bus home ....We headed out in the sun that lasted two seconds because it started to rain like never before. I couldn't see through my glasses and people were yelling at us that if we ran fast enough we wouldnt get wet. It was a joke. We legitimately were dripping when we arrived at the station and when the bus arrived... we didn't find the air conditioning amusing... It quit raining during our 35 minute bus rise... And we somehow got the bus driver to tell us where to get off. Of course when we got off... it started pouring. We ran for 3 blocks and realized that we were sooo drenched that it was pointless. We couldn't stop laughing. When we finally go to the apartment poor Sinead didn't know how to react! We were soooo wet!!! We hurried upstairs took the drenched clothes off and squeezed all the water off of it ... Then we tried to warm up... Which was easier said than done...

After a bit we went downstairs and hung out with Jen and Julianna, because they were killing time before leaving for the airport. We hung out until Matilda and Celin came down and asked us to join them for dinner. We hadn't planned on leaving again, because I wasn't feeling great and we didn't want to ask Des and Sinead to take us to town (either Swords or Malahide). However, Matilda and Celin had rented a car and were heading to dinner, so we joined!!

Malahide is on the coast and tiny, but has 24 restaurants. The ride there was hilarious. Celin had never driven on the wrong side.... And after 5 minutes.. We realized she was driving on the wrong side when a car was heading straight towards us!!!! Aaaahhhh!!! It was too funny!!! Movie worthy.

Our dinner was delicious!! I had risotto with shrimp and mussels, which I had been looking for this whole time! The conversation was hilarious.. From music to tv shows to favorite movies. Guess what... They like Nicholas sparks movies!!! And I didn't bring them up. Unreal!!! They also watch glee and how I met your mother! Matilda freaked when I told her I knew who the mother was! Haha

After dinner we met the new guests: another mom and daughter from Destin, Florida! Crazy how small the world is! They were super sweet, but we were sooo tired that we went straight to bed!

Saturday morning we woke up again at 7:58 (not sure why the same time again) packed slowly and went downstairs with all our stuff. Sinead needed to get our room ready for the next guests (an American couple from Michigan). While we ate breakfast she washed and dried all sheets and comforters and cleaned the room for like an hour and a half!!! Crazy! Luckily we had the Destin girls to chat with! They filled us in on how obnoxious tourists are! I can't imagine living there during spring break!!!

Sinead took us to the airport at 10:30 and we hugged Des goodbye at their house. Saying goodbye to the precious and sweet couple was sooo sad. We told them to stop by when they come back to Mississippi and we really hope they do!!! They are incredibly nice people!!

Sinead dropped us off and as we got out, the next couple got in. We let them know that they were in for a treat and hurried through security and to our gate. Our plane left on time and we ordered fries just to see what they tasted like when cooked on a plane... GROSS is the answer!!!

When we arrived in London we just walked in. We haven't gotten 1 stamp on our passport and they have just glanced at it once... And nothing in London. We got some pounds and headed to the bus station. We voted agains paying 30 dollars for the quick train and took the bus (extra 80 minutes) but only 12 dollars. Arriving at Victoria station an hour and a half later, we bought a day pass and headed to the tube. 25 minutes later on the central line, we reached ealing common and walked the 15 minutes to our place. Nowhere near the center of London but a super cute 3 story tall house. The lady met us at the door and led us to our perfect room (two twin bed and in suite bathroom). After that she left us and we understood we probably wouldn't see her again. She lives here with her husband and kids, but we are only allowed in our room upstairs, no kitchen, etc. The arrangement is fine and gives us privacy, but a little strange after the hospitality that was des and Siniad.

After changing we headed out and took the tube to the West End. Our goal was to check and see if Once the musical had tickets left for cheap... and they did!!! Their most expensive tickets in the orchestra were reduced to 19 pounds!!! We jumped on it! Then headed to grab a sandwich and walk the west end! 1.5 hours later we were sitting in our seats to watch Once! The Irish pub musical!

The references to Dublin streets and Cork made sooo much more sense!
I've seen the show twice but this time it was so much more meaningful. Again the magic of musical theater overwhelmed me and I cried. Music is just such an incredible thing!! I was thrilled that Maia got to see this piece of magic and we both left incredibly grateful!!!

Today was even more amazing and again showed us the kindness and generosity in people... But because of how amazing it was.. I want to dedicate a special post to it. So, tomorrow, as we head back to Berlin and wrap up our sister trip, I will share the incredible last day that we had!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Showered by nature

Oh it's been too long and there is now way too much to write. Soooo here goes a long post full of ridiculousness that will take you until Thursday when we arrived in Dublin! When we arrived in Galway... An hour early... We walked through the adorable town. Town seems too small because on comparison to Vernazza it was like New York city... But still small and full of flowers and on the water. We walked straight to the house... But the map didn't have the right streets so we just walked until we somehow found the house. Since it was still 2:00, we had 1.5 hours to kill. We headed to the rocks by the water and sat to read Ricks book. After about 30 minutes we noticed there was a storm brewing. I told Maia it only drizzles here... So no worries. But then.... It started lightening. And then thunder. We had 20 minutes until Sarah, our host, would be home.... And then buckets... Buckets of water started pouring on our heads. Soooo much water. Our raincoats were quickly soaked through. Our backpacks (with ALL of our clothes) were soaked trough!!! We squatted by walls and hid under trees (yes it was still lightening...). About 5 minutes after 3:45 Sarah pulled in her driveway and we invaded her perfect, clean, and adorable house with our smelly, wet selves.
She was sooo sweet. Led us to a room to hang our stuff to dry and gave us the tour. She offered us two separate rooms (one with a twin and one with a double) but we told her it wouldn't be necessary to dirty up two rooms! We stuck with the double and it was perfect! We hung our clothes around the room to dry and headed straight to shower. We didn't want any of our hostel on us in this perfect new house. After showering we got ready, grabbed a key and headed out for lunch/dinner. Sarah had recommended a pizza place and Rick had mentioned it as well... Soooo we walked over there and got a delicious pizza and some wine. Man was that wine a bad idea... Hahah ten minutes later I was ready for bed. We crossed the bridge over the perfect river and headed to the pedestrian city center in Galway.
Musicians lined the streets with everything from accordions to recorders. There were some with marionettes, others with a pile of sand that they used to carve out a dog. The streets were full of life and music! What more could you want! After a bit of walking, we stopped in for some Italian Gelato... What can we say, we LOVE Ireland but needed a piece of Italy! Hahah. Flavors: Kinder Bueno and Ferrero Rocher! Delicious!!! We then headed to a bus tour office that Sarah recommended to ask about the tour to the cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were one of the big things we wanted to see and with the rain... we figured another day on a bus tour would make it better. It turned out that the price for the 2-hour public bus ride to and from the cliff was 15 euros... and a tour from 10 am to 6 pm of the cliffs and the Burren region was just 16!! Um... Yes please! We got a wonderful deal and after that... we walked straight back to Sarah's perfect house and tried to dry up. On most of our walk it had stayed sunny but the last 5 minutes were VERY wet! We used the rainy evening to relax and recharge!
We woke up at 9 with our alarm clocks. First time since before our hostel.... Every time before that we woke up naturally because we were well rested.... But the 3 sleepless nights at the hostel wore us out!!!
Breakfast was prepared for us downstairs, so incredibly precious!!!! There were little jars prepared with Greek yogurt, berries, and granola, then pastries, coffee, and scones. Sooo sweet. Sarah had told us not to clean our things and only move them to the counter if we felt like it... but clearly we washed them. After that... We walked to the bus and got on it!
The ride wasn't all that impressive in comparison to all the amazing that we have seen, but it was really interesting historically. Over 11 castles in 1 day. Our first stop was a cave... Maia and I didn't feel like paying the tour price to see a cave, soooo we hiked a bit, climbed a bit of the mountain and sat and played the ABC game naming animals. By the time we made it to the end... It was 50 minutes later and we had to load the bus ---by the way... Does anyone know an animal with an X??

The next stop was a rock formation and a very old tomb! Very cool, but not as cool as our next stop. It had been pouring down rain until this point and it was already 1:30... so we were scared our 90 minutes at the cliff would be cut short for lunch and very wet... But nooo rain once we got there!! The cliffs. Wow doesn't even cover it. It is 5 miles of cliffs into the ocean. We had 90 minutes and walked a LOT of it. If any of you have seen the sixth Harry Potter movie... Those are the cliffs we saw! And the ones in PS I love you.. We think!
The cliffs were gorgeous, but as y'all know... I'm afraid of heights. Add in a LOT of wind... And you get a slumped over Martina thinking she's gonna fall down the cliffs! Maia--- cannot understand why I act like an idiot every time we are next to heights !!! Too funny!
Once on the bus, it started raining again... We headed to a tiny town named Doolin and had lunch there before heading back to Galway through the coast. It was nearly impossible not to fall asleep, but we did it! Probably the only two that didn't drift off with the soft Irish music in the background.
Once in Galway we walked town and through musicians galore! Two precious guys were singing some ONCE songs and I about died!!! another group of guys were playing some great Irish jigs... and then we crossed the river to our side of town and walked for an hour on the "prom" by the water. Again... It was not raining... And then it started pouring.... Sooo we arrived at Sarah's soaked.
She was pulling in at the same time (8:30pm) and was coming by just to check on us and make sure we were ok! How sweet is that! After drying up and settling in, we walked to the supermarket and got sandwich stuff and things for dinner. We came back to an empty house, set up dinner in the kitchen, and ate in the piece of her house. It was unreal how wonderful being in her house was, compared to our hostel !!!
We fell asleep early and woke up later to an amazing breakfast. Since we expected rain, we slept in and had plans to shower and eat and relax until 4:16 when our bus left for Dublin. We needed a bit of recharging. At around 11, we headed out to the town to buy our bus tickets and then came back with some famous Galway fries to go with our lunch at Sarah's! The afternoon was perfect! We were sooo happy to leave her house clean and with blow dried hair!!! Sooo thankful!
We arrived at the station early an sat on our bus with wifi and waited. I was feeling pretty crummy with a soar throat, headache, cough, etc...
But I thought it was allergies from Sarah's cat... Sooo I took a Benadryl... 30 minutes later... I was OUT!!!!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry

Disclaimer: these posts are all written from my phone so there are probably a million typos and autocorrects!!!!
We survived the horrible hostile... Yeah, not hostel, it was hostile.
On Sunday we were woken up at 7, instead of 9:30, by some loud people.... Sooo we got dressed and headed down for breakfast. Since the hostile's breakfast was horrible looking, we stole some slices of bread and headed to a little cafe next to our hostile hostel. Ok... Ill start writing hostel... But you get the picture.
We had delicious scones at our lovely cafe. The owner was a lady in her mid fifties or so. Super sweet! After enjoying my coffee we headed to the Deros tour to find out the details for our Dingle Peninsula tour. That office... Not so nice. The main lady was rude but indicated we still had 30 minutes to wait. So.... We waited with the little dog and two American ladies that were also doing the tour.
At ten thirty we got on a 23 passenger bus and headed out. There was one couple of retired teachers from Omaha Nebraska, a family from Connecticut, a French lady, a couple from Northern Ireland, some more Americans, a lady from Belgium (I think), another American around our age, and Tony, the tour guide. Tony had a very clear Irish accent, works at Aldi supermarkets on the off season, has a daughter who goes to a small national school in his little town, has sheep, and gets turf from his land for his fireplace.... Or maybe it was bog. He was a very interesting and funny guy, took questions, and gave a fabulous tour with numerous stops for pictures!




Our first stop around the dingle peninsula was called inch beach. Then we headed through the coast. The views were breathtaking. Cliffs, water, wild flowers, SHEEP, cows, mountains, grass, tree farms, etc. Sooo unbelievable... One feels like you're in a movie.




At around lunch time we arrived at a government owned visitor center with an incredible view to the water and cliffs. Here we had the most affordable meal of our trip and enjoyed the view. Then... We walked a bit outside. ... I'm just waiting to meet my Gerard Butler (P.S. I love you reference).
Once on the bus we headed back to the town of Dingle. It is sooo cute and little!! It has 4 main streets and we had about 50 minutes to walk it. It was more than enough time to walk trough the town and enjoy some time sitting by the boats on the coast and eat some Nutella crackers!!




After Dingle we returned through some towns and arrived back at Killarney at 5:00. It was an incredible tour!!
When we arrived in town we took a walk through the outlet mall and town and then headed to change in our hostel.
Then... We headed to the Killarney National Park for a long walk. And we walked through a cow pasture with cows. Ok... Now a Leap Year reference... Road blocked by cows. Maia and I... Have never dealt with cows. And they were all moving towards us... Do we run? Will they run!? Should we turn around??! Well, there was a man just past the cows... So we moved through the cows and walked on.




Next... The biggest deer I've ever seen... They are protected and the size of donkeys!!! Sooo cute! We continued our walk up to a looking point where you could see all the lakes and all of Killarney. There.. We plopped down for a picnic dinner! After our long day and very short night... We headed back to our hostel to try to sleep.
We closed all windows and curtains... Put our heads down and then... Someone started playing warm ups on the violin. Up and down the scales. A squeaking the whole time! Then double string songs... Ugh all on the highest strings. That bow needed some resin!! After an hour or so at midnight I finally fell asleep to some slamming doors and loud conversations.
We were once again woken up by some very loud conversations at around 7:30. So... We got dressed and headed to our little cafe. Oh.... But first we headed to the ATM. And my lovely German card was rejected by 3 of them... Seriously. My American card has been blocked twice, it took me 3 months to get my German one, I can only take out cash with my German one, and now it doesn't work? It's not like I can call the bank. The wifi is so bad I can't communicate in German through Skype... My German phone doesn't work.. And even if it did... It's dead and I don't have an adaptor for the charger. Soooo... Email. After our scone I sat with Maia on a bench on the street where I could get wifi... And I sent the email! And she answered and I tried again and it didn't work... So she said to try back later or wait because it could be the actual card.... Great .... What can I do?
So, we got on a big coach bus and headed to the Ring of Kerry! This ride was a bit different. The tour guide was nothing to rave about and for the most time... The view was covered by shrubbery. It was mostly inland so we saw a lot of sheep and mountains, which was good too, but not much information was given. Another thing that bothered us was that the stops from 10:30 to 2 were all at places for you to spend Monday. No impressive view. Just a gravel road with a little shack selling wool and Irish coffee at ridiculous prices while a bag pipe blares throughout. No thank you! Stop two was a sheep herding show with three precious border collies. Also at a random spot on the road. If you paid 5 euros you could watch the show, but if not... You were stuck on the side of the road for 30-35 minutes. We paid.. Since I love sheep!




And we love border collies.... And Rick Steves had done it in Scotland sooooo... Hahaha. We headed up a path and found the shepherd with his sheep. First he had a "sheep pageant" (as one lady called it) where he showed and described the different types of sheep. Let me just say they paraded on command and were terrified of his stick he carried... The border collies watched from the other side of the fence. The younger one ( 3 yrs old) ran from one side to the other with excitement.
After that we moved to the next field. Side note: the plots here in Ireland are divided into small plots for historical reasons. A long time ago the plots were divided amongst farmers. They divided their plots with the well known stone walls (low and without cement) in order to be able to switch out the livestock from one to another for grazing reasons. The land up on the mountains is common land and since they have no predators (snakes, wolfs, coyotes, or bears) the farmers can let their sheep roam up there. They spray paint them different colors to differentiate them from someone else's sheep. Then they use their border collies to bring them down or move them to different pastures when needed.
Back to our show. The man raises his dogs for competitions and has a little plot where he does his show. Here he keeps about 6 sheep and uses his border collies to show us how herding works. He has different whistles for each dog and also different commands. The dogs only react to their whistle and know which one means right, left, up, down, and stop. It was incredible. Such smart dogs!!! And I got to pet one too!! Sweet things.
After the dogs, we stopped at a town... Not too cute.... to spend more tourist scam money at a fancy restaurant. The majority of the people, us included, either ate a packed lunch or got food at the gas station across the way. We had our bread and Nutella and headed down to a camping ground a ways off ... There... we sat by the water and enjoyed the incredible view! The restaurant didn't even have a view!!! Bad call, Deros tours!
This route is way more crowded than Dingle and every picture spot was full of huge buses. But after lunch it got a little prettier! We stopped at Waterville on the coast and enjoyed some time on the rocks! Then... back to the bus! More coastal views and some stops amidst the mountains. Then... another town! Super super cute! Bridges, waters, mountains... Amazing.




Oh... Here I tried the ATM and I got money!!! Whooo! Love Bianca and my German bank and the fact that I fixed my problem in German!!! Hahah.
Once back on the bus we headed to an amazing stop over the mountains. There an Asian woman asked the bus driver to skip all the other stops because she would miss bet 5 o'clock train. The answer: "you want me to make all these people skip the stop so you can get a train you were told was not compatible with this tour. I don't think so. We sent an email to let you know 3 weeks ago. That should have made it to you by now even if it was sent by carrier pigeons." That wasn't the exact quote but the context is the same. Amazing. The woman returned to her seat and we stopped once more at an incredible picturesque point overlooking all the lakes of Killarney National Park. We took a picture there and the background looks like we are photoshopped in.... That's how pretty it is!




After that stop we headed back to town and arrived at around 5:30. After a walk around town we headed to our hostel and rested a bit before going out for dinner at our cafe. I had the most delicious chicken and mushroom pie and Maia had some beef lasagne! Both typical here apparently... I knew about the pies, but beef lasagne is a staple at every restaurant here... And that was news to me. The lady was precious and chatted with us. She studied abroad in New York back in the day and traveled through 20 states and loved it. She was super sweet and told us how lucky we were with the weather! After some chatting we headed in.
Since it was early, we attempted to watch PS I love you on Maia's phone... But then the screaming began ... A group of 10 year old French kids having camp or something at our hostel had cooked a huge meal downstairs and proceeded to run, yell, and slam doors down our hall until way past midnight. It was horrible. Maia went to the restroom at one point because we wanted to make sure they knew they weren't alone on or floor, but it didn't make a difference... It was horrible. Ugh. At some point we fell asleep...
This morning... We were woken up by a drill breaking up the cement in from of the hostel. I don't think those things are called drills, but you get the picture. Loud French yelling and drills made for a not so very happy me...I also saw my pillow inside its case and it was sick, stained, moldyish, and had hairs.




Sick. We packed, turned in our keys and were thrilled to walk out of there. Our next stop was our cafe for our last scones and conversation with the owner. She welcomed us sweetly, gave Maia a free glass of water, and then saw us off as we rushed out of the door after stuffing our faces. Why? Well, we thought our bus was at 11 but while eating breakfast we realized it was actually at 10:00! Haha after that, we hurried off and got our tickets figured out. We made it right on time and got on this bus to Limerick, where we will switch to one that will take us to Galway. There, we will walk to our host Sarah's airbnb home! Can't wait!!!
The bus has been one interesting ride thus far. We switched buses because the other one was not working properly, but aside from that... the conversations. One man's wife is in Germany with the kids for 5 weeks and he is going somewhere. Sooo... his neighbor is taking care of all his stray cats and dogs. Getting all the berries on his farm and watching over his chickens. If he doesn't feed the cats at the right times... they'll eat the chickens. The lady in front of us is reading the royal baby special newspaper (we will be buying that at our next stop). We are kind of sad not to have been in London yesterday when the baby boy was born, but we will be there soon enough and the craziness will last. Especially when the name is announced. They should name him Spencer! That was lady D's maiden name! Haha. Next to us is a couple from Argentina... Talking to an American that studies Spanish and is trying out his skills. He's doing pretty well!! Hahha he is a musician playing guitar and is on his way to Galway to play an has a lot of family here. The couple is here for a wedding and the man speaks zero English. The American is rocking the Spanish! He's from New York and lives in New Jersey.
Anyway.. Killarney turned out to be an absolute success! I loved the vibe of the town, and the park and trails made it amazing with the weather.
Another thing we noticed was the attitude towards the disabled and handicapped. On our way into town, a teenage girl with Down syndrome was hitch hiking on the road and our bus stopped and gave her a lift. On our walk into town, a man with a metal disability on a wheel chair was out on the street collecting money for a charity and petition and people stopped, chatted, and donated. Many walked the street receiving helpful hands from everyone they crossed. A woman working at our bus tour office was also disabled and working. On this bus ride, we have picked up (for free) 3 or 4 either mentally handicapped, blind, or physically handicapped people. It is a truly wonderful thing. I don't know why it stood out to me, and I guess that's not a good sign... since this is how it should be all over the world... but it was nice to see people being respected and helped. I was thrilled to see it.
People overall are just very friendly to all. Every person we crossed in town or on the park greeted us with a "hello," " good day girls" or something of the sort. I really do love Ireland! Beautiful place and nice people, what else could you ask for? Aside from another place to sleep at.... Hahhaha
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sleepless in Killarney

It all started around 9:00pm when our tired bodies asked for our beds. Clearly.... No one else at Neptune Hostel felt the same way. Our window faces the front and the outside hangout spot. By 9:30 the door slamming inside was on the rise.  Outside, I listened to a 46 year old magician from South Africa that speaks 21 languages and was picking up the young ladies over conversation about Facebook. The ladies shyly turned him down saying they did not have Irish cellphones.  On the other side were two Irish girls asking two random guys if they would "do" the other girl. Um... Excuse me?? The conversations quickly turned Chinese with attempts by Irish girls to speak to them, while laughing because they did not speak English. By 12:30 .... The conversation was sort of dying out and turned to French while a couple struggled to communicate in English and then realized they were both French. .... Between 12:30 and 4:30 was the parade of door slamming, knocking, talking, and all sorts of ridiculousness.  And then....  The girls 

Sooo Neptune hostel has a 3:30am curfew. They shut the doors and don't open until 7:00am. Well... These two girls were returning at 4:30am. Irish. Not all there. Angry that yet didn't know the doors would be looked. Now picture this:

Window facing front.

Girls pounding on door

Girls screaming "hello can someone let us in!?!?"(in Irish accents) 

Us--- not able or willing to go downstairs to try to figure out a way to get them in.

Girls drunkenly trying to figure out which was their window. 

Girl apologizes and says she's stayed here a million times and has never been locked out. 

Girls scare because someone is walking up. 

Girls get quiet. 

Girls try the phone again and it rings for 30 minutes.  NOONE IS HERE!!!! 

Maia and I are soooo mad we can't stop laughing at the situation.

Girl repeatedly says "hello? Hello?" (I picture that Ellen Degeneres(spelling) skit where she sends her producer Amy to stores to talk to strangers through song.  Hello hello is it me you're looking for ? I can see it in your eyes ... Blah blah blah) 

At some point they find someone on the street to let them in. Two Irish security guards I imagine ... Who continued to talk and yell outside out window ... With their voices and choir of slamming doors... We gave in and went to sleep sometime close or after 5 o'clock. 

Waking up at 7 and 8 to more talking, screaming, and rolling backpacks outside our window was just a perfect way to start the morning. We are oh so glad to be taking a bus tour today. 

-the two very happy travelers 

Ireland we have arrived: Cork and Killarney

Our last night in paradise involved pizza, early night, and loud music and neighbors... But at about 12:35 I finally fell asleep. At 6:00 we left our perfect air conditioned room, left the keys on the table, and headed to the train station. Minus some issues opening the train doors... (Yes some Italian men got to laugh at me) we made it to La Spezia and then Pisa Central and then Pisa Airport without issues.  At the airport we tested our bags, mine slipped right in thanks to the shedding of a few pieces of clothing. After about 46 minutes of lines, we made it through security and began our hour wait to board. It was soooo unorganized!!!! No seats, lots of screaming, and a lot of gross smells!!! After 30 minutes of waiting people started lining up. We had no idea why... Since we still had an hour left to board, we got nervous and followed... I guess it's because we don't have seat numbers for Ryanair flights... Well.... It was our first flight with them.  Once the line started moving it was great! Lots of stress over the bags but we made it!!! Avoided the smelly crowd and sat on the very back row!  

And then the screaming Irish babies. The flight itself was great, but the 2 year old and the 4 year old in front of us where unbearable. Parents didn't even look up during the entire 2.5 hour plane ride to Cork unbelievable. Felt sooo bad for them. 

A side note is needed here: why Ireland? O really don't know... Maia and I have had a crazy desire to go to Ireland for a long time. I don't know if because of movies or because we loved Scotland so much... But we just wanted to.

Once landing in cork, a city we knew very little about, we saw fields, fields, cows, and more fields! It was like that romantic comedy movie where the girl arrives in the middle of nowhere with her suitcase... Well picture that but the two of us arriving in a hot and sunny Ireland that hasn't been seen since 2006.  It is hot and we did not prepare for this. 

Two girls, two huge backpacks, one city, one room in a tiny house that can not be used (check in) until 6:30. At the airport we waited for the city bus which was 5 euros each. Since it was late, another American lady approached us and asked if we wanted to share a cab to the city center and we agreed. We paid the same amount and got to have an awesome Irish cab driver. The American woman had been in Italy and was wrapping up a year of teaching English in Spain. It was great to talk to some strangers! 

After dropping her off at the hostel, we said our goodbyes and headed out.  Sooo we headed out walking around the city with jeans and jackets while the rest of cork enjoyed shorts and tshirts. First stop: McDonald. Why? Cheap and supposedly with wifi. Fail on wifi. After lunch we continues walking the streets. The houses and cafes lining the streets are adorable. Just what we pictures. Scattered around, there are old churches and evidence of the city's history. It was beautiful!  But it was sooo hot. We followed 2 maps to fin where the room we rented was located. And after crossing two streets after the wine colored house with shutters we followed the strew and found our cream home with blue door. Still had 4 hours till our host would be home.... Soooo we stopped at a cafe and used the Internet to find out of our airbnb host had emailed us any information.  After some refreshing water, we headed out to the other McDonalds (yes you read that right) so that we could use the restroom. A short walk from there, we found the famous English market with all sorts of delicious goodies and a trillion olives, YUM!  By then we only had 2 hours. So we continued walking through the charming town and sat by the river on a shady bench. 

There we witnessed some security guys chase someone down (not sure why), a table with a group of deaf ladies having a ball over numerous beers, and am Asian couple driving their car on the sidewalk.  

At 6:00 we headed to the supermarket. Ten minutes later we were on our way to our house with Nutella, bread, and chips to last a while!  Cleona, our host, welcomed us and showed us around her cute house. She was soooo sweet! Downstairs she has a Living room, bathroom, and kitchen. Upstairs we had the room and she had hers.  There was a cat... So I quickly popped a Benadryl and hopes for the best. Cleona went out and told us to enjoy the house, Tv, etc. Soooo after she left, we showered, used the wifi, had some Nutella sandwiches for dinner, and watched friends on tv. I hadn't watched tv in almost 5 months!!! Soon after we were ready to go to bed!! 

This morning we got up at 8, got dressed, packed up and headed to the bus station.  After getting waters, we boarded our bus to Killarney. Cleona told us the town kind of sucks but we are ok with it because of the tours we are Doing!  The ride is amazing. We are still on it. Two seats from us is a guy from Georgia who has been talking the entire time about all of his travels. Poor Canadian girl next to him has nooo chance of shutting him up. He has been everywhere, is just sooo wordly, can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, likes to talk about logging and building capital, just graduated nursing school, and could pick up the phone and get any job he wanted with a 20,000 signing bonus. Gag. 

On the other hand, the view is unbelievable. Everything we thought of and more. Rolling green hills, trees, perfect lakes, perfect houses, cute bridges, stones, and everything beautiful we imagined we would find in Ireland. And a clear blue sky!!!!!!  It really is perfect and beautiful! 

After arriving in Killarney at 11:30, we headed to the hostel. After a 20 minute walk, we reached our destination, paid, stored our heavy backpacks and headed to the Killarney national park and did the river walk.  It was beautiful! Water, mountains, rolling hills, and cows. Pretty perfect. 

After our walk we headed to the tourist office to find our tour company's office. We have a bus tour booked for tomorrow and Monday going to Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry. We are super excited to have someone show us around!!  With address in hand, we headed to the bus office. Since  katerin was not around, we were told to come back later. 

Lunch was our next stop. We settled for one restaurant on the Main Street and I had a delicious cottage pie (equivalent to shepherd's pie?? or pastel de carne). After that we headed back to the hostel and got our room.....

And.... Let me just say it is the first I have stayed in outside the US and Maia's first. Our room is private an fine. Problem 1: no towel Problem 2: hairs on our bed and not so clean sheets.... No thank you. Problem 3: screaming Chinese outside our window. Problem 4: bathrooms are not clean.  Soooo we have changed our Galway arrangements and will be staying at another airbnb place! Call us spoiled... Whatever... With long days of walking in the HOT sun for 17 days... You need a good place to rest so you won't kill each other the next day.  

After that... We left and headed back to the park for a 2 hour walk to the Ross Castle !! Beautiful!! We left gray from the dust and dying out laughing. Out of water, we headed to a store and stocked up on water! Then.... Back to the park to lay and picnic (Nutella bread chips and water) for dinner! 

On our walk home we stopped at a huge store to look at stuff and ended up looking at every aisle. We got picnic food for our bus tour tomorrow and enjoyed browsing through the aisles of clothes. 

Now it is 7:44pm and we are beat. We might be the most boring 22 and 19 year olds, but we are soooo tired and walk sooo much!! And Rick and Cleona were right... Not much to see in Killarney, but it is soooooooooooo cute! I love it and lots of trails to hike!!