i'm in love.

i love italy.

venice was amazing. i just loved walking around along the little cobblestone streets, crossing the canals a million times, seeing all the amazing glass shops, the gondolas everywhere, and just getting completely lost in the maze of streets. san marco was incredible, i walked into the cathedral and was just was blown away. the upper half is all from quickly looking painted, like a fresco, like most other cathdrals... until lookng closer and it is a mosiac. the domes of this huge cathdral are all mosiac, i was completely speechless. i went up to the balcony and just stood up there staring at it all and just looking down for about 20 minutes, just amazed.

i wish i had more time in venice, there was a lot i wished i could have done, but i loved it there. just sitting along the canals, and people watching!

florence was great today. the train was fun, i loved seeing the countryside and watching it change. i went to the duomo, and wow. gorgeous, but in a completely different way. i spent the afternon walking around the city and just exploring, after popping into galleria dell' academica to see michalenglo's david. and wow. you walk into the room and see his unfinished sculptures and at the end of the corridor is david and you are just blown away. i was just so impressed. i sat and just looked at it and the detail and just how wow.

i'm really enjoying myself, eating some amazing food, drinking some fabulous wine and of course the gelato!

i'm excited for pisa tomorrow and to see an old friend, and then the uffizi and santa croce and piazza michalenglo to get a gorgeous view of the city. and then roma on sunday!

i've taken a redic amount of photos and can't wait to upload them!


oh and i also made out with an italian along ponte vecchio, one of the amazing bridges in florence tonight... it is a whole other post though, but it was fun and i was careful and a funny story!

la dolce vida

I'm off to Italy!

I all ready with my trip info, my guide books and maps and ready to see some absolutely amazing history, incredible art, breathtaking scenery, fabulous architecture and cathedrals, eat some delicious italian food and just enjoy my time in italy. 

I am so excited!!

I am also really looking forward to the food. I love Italian and pizza and gelato! yummmmy! 

I'm spending most of today in airports and flying but I'll be in VENICE tonight! YAY! And then have all day Thursday to play in the city of canals!

canals in venice - thanks to my sister

And then Friday I'm hopping on the train and enjoying the gorgeous Italian countryside and then playing in FLORENCE and seeing the Duomo and then Uffizi and the David and who knows what else. Saturday I'm headed to PISA to do the famous holding the tower in my hand picture and I'm meeting up with a camp friend who now lives in Italy! And then back to Florence for the evening. 

duomo and florence - thanks to sister

Sunday morning I'm up early to catch the train to ROME! I'll be having a Colosseum-gasim, people watching from the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain. Monday I'm going to the Vatican (I got really excited when I remembered the Vatican is the smallest country! I have a slight love for small countries) and the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica! And then I have to be at the airport around 7 to head back to Cork. 

trevi fountain - thanks to sister

So a VERY busy few days. But I am sooo excited! Hope everyone has a great week :)

Lots of Love from Italia!

and I stole the pictures from my sister and her trip to Italy last March.

and this is why i'm a dork

I met my friend Karen for lunch today. And we were talking about life and plans and such. She was wondering if I had anything yet and I was just saying I was looking for jobs in these states and she was trying to picture where they were. She has family in New Jersey and has been the NY/NJ before and is doing a J1 this summer and will be spending her summer in the States! So me being the dork I am, pulled out a pen and grabbed a napkin and at first just drew the rough outline of the US and then just dots for NYC and Washington DC. 

And then I just drew rough outlines of the East Coast, and then since was like can you do all the states. So I quickly just started drawing boxes and as you can see my sense of scale and such, COMPLETELY off. But I never said I was an artist. So then she was started coloring, she was excited she knew the Great Lakes (though they are completely off in the drawing!) so she drew them in red. And then wanted to color Canada and Mexico and the Ocean. Then she marked places she'd been in orange and me in green hilighter. And the places she wanted to go in yellow. So then I labeled all the states with her naming the ones she could, and I was sooo mad I forgot ONE state. Stupid Missouri. I looked at it closer once I got back to work and figured it out pretty fast. But it made her laugh that in about 15 minutes I just quickly did this. 

And so exciting when around 12.30 gmail returned. The radio station we listen to at work actually said, and oh by the way gmail is back and we all went and signed in. How sad is that? 

So I still need to pack... But I know what I want to bring, I just need to actually pack it all. The weather is going to be nice mid to upper 50s and low 60s. and SUN! 

Oh, and just watched Law and Order: UK. It is a new show over in the UK. And it is obvi a British version of Law and Order. It was pretty good, though I miss the usual actors and the places that I know in NYC and actually understanding the court system. The UK one has all the solicitor/barristers (not sure of the difference between solicitor and barrister) in the wigs and such which made me giggle. Though it was nice to watch Law and Order, because I love that show. 

Ok, so my internet is driving me insane, it just stops working and won't let me go to a new webpage, like gmail still works and I can still chat, I just can't open or change windows! uuuuugh!

So maybe I really should pack?

gmail

so for the last two hours gmail has not been working.

i think i am going insane.

especially because there are things i need to be doing via email.

look what you have done to me gmail. you get me all addicted and now i feel like a druggie needing a fix, especially because i am sitting in front of a computer.

but...

I AM GOING TO ITALY TOMORROW!!!

and glad I could help enlighten everyone on the wonders of being able to customize your theme :)

that one time i wore my smarty pants...

I didn't get to watch the Oscars last night, as they started too late to show over here, so I was going to watch them tonight, which is when they were airing on tv here. But I got a text from Kara asking me to come to the pub quiz, and of course I chose that over the sitting at home painting my nails, writing a letter to Holly and watching the Oscars where it isn't suspensefull, just making comments about the dresses and the actual show. But the quiz was fun, I met Kara and Steph and two other friends. And for the first time we placed! We came in 4th so we won 45 euro, which as pretty sweet. So with my 9 euro it covered my pint and the quiz fee. I've played a lot at this pub quiz and the only other time was when Kara and I won for best name. 

So that was fun. Thought we didn't do too hot on the Oscar round, maybe if I had watched it, haha. 

Today was your usual Monday, we were busy in the morning and not so much in the afternoon. Though there was a funny moment when I got back from lunch. One of the societies had gotten bubbles delivered to the office for their ball next week, and the auditor gave us some to play with so Sharon assaulted me with bubbles walking into the office and then threw me my own little champagne bubbles. Which I was having issues with making the bubbles bubble. Sharon was laughing at me and then tried to make sure it wasn't broken. Nope it was me, so she said, you're blowing too hard. And of course the mature adults we are burst out laughing and joked about my blowing skills the rest of the afternoon. But I was able to blow softer and make bubbles. It was a good thing the office was quiet. Though I was productive I emailed my video resume, did some trip planning for Italia and a few other emails and then the stuff I actually do at work such as answering phones and helping people. 

I had a lot of random things on my mind yesterday and now I can't think of them. Ohhhh! I love how now gmail you can customize your theme color. Of course I changed mine and made it slightly different, I was using the cherry blossom, but now it is pink and green. and I love it.  And looking at everyone's birthday ball photos this morning at work kept me entertained for a good hour. Ahhh, crazy drunken birthday ball photos. 

So I can't think of anything else... night!

happy birthday george

My college has a slight (ok, crazy) love afair with George Washington. I mean hello, we are named after him, the only college he gave permission for his name to be associated with, he donated 50 guineas and was on the first Board of Visitors and Governers among other things. There are multiple statues to George all over campus, his  Rules of Cilvility and Decent Behavior are sent out to all first year students as well as funny posters around campus, George Washington was at our graduation on horseback.... So we celebrate his birthday every year, with Birthday Ball. A formal affair with students, alumni, professors and it is pretty much our homecoming since we don't have an official one. It is usually a great night to dress up, get drunky and see all your friends and those who have graduated and try not to make a fool of  yourself in front of your professors. And then after the event is the midnight breakfast in the dining hall! 

I remember being so excited freshman year because you hear all about birthday ball and it kinda reminded me of prom in the movies - a band, a theme, the college president giving a speech where he actually said Happy Thanksgiving, instead of Happy Birthday to George, seriously.My Worch girls and I all got ready together and then drank a little and then took prom style photos in the CAC. Sophomore year we remembered how much fun we had last year and couldn't wait for it, we had a mini party on our hall while getting ready, then I ran over to party a little with my sorority sisters and back to my hall. Had a great night with my friends. Junior year went over to my friends for our pre-party and fun seeing all my friends who graduated and laughing with everyone. Senior year was just awesome, my Garrett C girls and I threw a wine and cheese pre-party which we had everyone at, and then at the ball, we got pictures with our favorite professors and even the college president! And somehow only Lindser and I were birthday ball survivors and made it to the breakfast. And then every year the morning after looking at photos remembering the crazyness of the night... One of my favourite things about WAC. 

Last year I obviously wasn't able to attend my first as an alum, but I was in Wales visiting my sister and Sunday morning I did call my crewies who all met up for brunch at Ellen's and it was great to talk to everyone. This year a lot of my friends are going, but not everyone but I still can't wait to see everyone's pictures and hear stories. Next year, I will be at Birthday Ball, my first as an alum. And I can't wait. 

So tonight I'm heading over to one of my co-workers to watch the Munster match and I'm bringing a bottle of wine so we can have a Birthday toast to George Washington (even though his birthday is Sunday) and then later when I'm out with Kara and Steph. 

So Happy Birthday George Washington!

Worchester Girls Freshman year

worch girls sophomore year

with the berries junior year

fishy faces with the senior crewies

when Amy, Chelsea and I found the President... haha

and a night amy and i loved GW sophomore year

heads carolina tails california... or new jersey/connecticut

So I'm faced with another dilema. I'm really leaning towards doing it so hopefully it will all work out. My college roomie needs a roomie for the next 4 months and they also kinda need someone at her work to help out. I love her line of work and it is actually something I want to pursue (but in a different subject matter, but I do like boats) so I'm seriously considering when I get back moving to CT for a few months. As much as I love my parents, I don't really want to live back home and I would rather do this than substitute teach. So I'm now convincing my parents that instead of being smart financially and moving home, I should move to CT. Plus I think this would look better on a resume than substitute teaching and I'd still be working with students just in a more fun way. And it fits in perfectly with my time frame for wanting to work at a summer camp/summer academic camp/something teaching. So fingers crossed this works out!

And in other random news, Socks the cat, the beloved Clinton family pet was put to sleep this morning. I was sad to hear this news. 

So I can't believe how fast the week went! Craaaaaazy! 

Also crazy this is my last weekend to relax before 3 crazy ones traveling :) Tonight was fabulous I got home and instead of a cup of tea I made a malibu and pomegranate. I bought a bottle of Malibu for almost nothing in duty free coming back to Ireland and decided it was time to drink it, so I'll be having my own personal happy hours after work. I think it is a fabulous idea. And I'm reading an old Jodi Picoult - Songs of the Humpback Whale. So that was an enjoyable way to spend the evening. 

I have to reshoot some of the video resume. My placement counselor had some advice,  it was small, but it is enough to make me want to do it again. I'm a perfectionist, so while he said it was good the one small suggestion he made has fighting with my camera in the morning. It is funny after my student teaching, where we were filmed and made to watch and critique it ALL the time, I still hate watching myself. So I'm hoping since yesterday took forever, but now I know what I'm saying and all of the earlier mistakes I made I can hopefully shoot this in 2-3 takes. And be DONE. 

Tomorrow I'm doing the usual Saturday things around the city and the video resume and then I think I'm seeing Vicky Christina Barcelona with Kara and then I'm going to hang out with one of the girs from work and watch movies and have my own toast to George Washington since I can't be at Birthday Ball.  So happy weekend to everyone!

i say ummm, a lot...

So I've been putting off creating a video resume for some of the teaching jobs I am applying for and I decided to work on it today. I am looking at independent schools and well as public ones and I am working with an independent school placement agency and they suggest a video resume to help you find more schools. Sounds simple right? 1-2 minutes of talking about yourself, teaching and why they should hire you. THINK AGAIN. I wrote down some things I wanted to say and have been filming it the last hour. I keep messing up, and forgetting things and while watching some of the clips I realize I am saying ummm, every fourth word. SERIOUSLY. So I've shot it a few times, so now I'm attempting to edit it and make it one cohesive video. But honestly, I think I've gone insane. I'm thinking I'm talking all funny, I don't really know what they are looking for, I'm trying to make it me, but still professional. UUUUUGH! Driving me insane! But if it gets me a job, then hey, I'll do it. 

So it has been a pretty good day, worked, had lunch with Kara and then met a fellow American in Cork for the best hot chocolate and we walked around just talking for a while. It stinks I've just met her and I'm leaving so soon, but I'm looking forward to meeting up with her again. And then the video resume from hell. 

Last night with Brenda was fun, Shopaholic was cute. Totaaallllly different from the book, but still fun. I've really learned with my favourite books turned movies that they will be different and not to compare to the book so much to the movie. It was slightly PS. I Love You esque in the book to movie format, where location and such is totally different. Really it is a basic idea based on the novel with the main themes, but not much else. But I still enjoyed Shopaholic and it was your cute chick flick :)

So back to this video resume, which might kill me. I think I have a decent clip, now just making it slightly better. But seriously, it was drilled into my head not to say um, like, and yea by my education professor and now that I've been in Ireland, seriously they are all back in my vocabulary! grrrrr. 

So I think I've finished it, I'm going to stop for now and send it to a few friends before I email it to my placement counselor. Or I might just throw my camera out the window, and well I kinda need it for Italy. 

it is official.

I JUST booked my flights home. So it is really real. I will be boarding a plane at 8am on March 24th to take me back to the US. And this time it isn't for a 3 week vacation, it is for real. I don't know how I feel right now. A bit sad, but mostly like wow, this is really happening now. I remember feeling this way in July 2007 when I bought the flight bringing me over. Like I had my acceptance letter from UCC, but until I booked the flight, it didn't feel real. And now, it is real. Like I've known about it for a while and I've been saying March 24th for about a month now.

Like every day is starting to be more real, with the last hike on Sunday and having my calendar staring at me with less days and trying to fit in as much as possible. This weekend is my more stuff around Cork - hopefully going out with Kara (but it honestly doesn't look like it), having my own toast to George Washington, and starting to go through my stuff and organise some stuff for charity. Next weekend I'll be in Italy, the weekend after I'm going to Dublin with Brenda, then London the following weekend, then it is my last weekend in Cork where I'll be packing and having a panic attack. 

Haven't been up to much. At work today I booked my hotels/hostels for Italy and my train tickets! YAY! I've been looking over the guide books on Italy and I'm writing down things to do and such. The last few days have been boring, just work and the gym. Followed by either reading or watching tv after dinner. Though tonight after aerobics I'm meeting Brenda and we are seeing Confessions of a Shopaholic! YAY! I'm excited! I LOVED the books and I love chick flicks! And then I'm meeting the lads at the pub to talk about mountains and climbing and the usual craic. 

I can't believe it is already Wednesday! This week is going by SOOOO fast! 

i love the mountains

Yesterday was such an amazing day. I went hiking with the club to the Reeks, specifically Hag's Glen and Carrauntoohil. Or the highest point in Ireland at 1038m. Now I've been to Carrauntoohil a handful of times now and to the Reeks a lot and each hike has been great because each one has been different - coming down in the dark through a bog in the pouring rain, curve gully in 2 feet of snow, team sorority girls on the epic reeks ridge hike, not getting quite to the top in November because of time restraints and yesterday's gorgeous day.

One of the reasons why yesterday's hike was so fabulous was because it was my last hike with the club and my last adventure in the Irish mountains. These mountains have become my home on Sunday's and I've spent almost every Sunday from late September to March hiking as well as going out randomly with friends in the summers. From my quick calculations I've gone on about 50 hikes in the time I've been here including the time I studied abroad. So these mountains are really a bit part of why I love Ireland so much. So when I realized that this was the last hike I was sad, but luckily it was one of my favourite hikes. They still have 5 more but I'll be traveling most weekends until I go home.

But the weather forecast was looking optimistic (I think I was the only person excited to see it was going to be about 50 and sunny, everyone else wanted snow) and there really wasn't too many clouds in the sky. And we were on the Reeks. So after the long walk to finally get to the mountain - there was about a 2k of road walk and then another 3k along a path(ish) and then through the bog we were there.

Walking in - there was only a bit of cloud on Carrauntoohil -big one on the right

But going through the Hag's Glen is just gorgeous. And so it was exciting, we were going up O'Shea's Gully (one of the easier ways up, but I'd never done it before) and there was a slight detour with a few of us going up the bottom half of Curve Gully (I like climbing up rocks and waterfalls) but it was just nice.

climbing up the gully

The clouds were clearing even more as we were climbing in, and I was hoping (fingers crossed) that there would a view from the top. As normally it is cloudy, and if you lucky the clouds might give way for 30 seconds and a view opens up but then quickly closes. So a clear day on top is quite exciting! So there was the usual banter while hiking up, talking about life, post college plans (a lot of my friends are all final years - which is crazy because when I first met them they were all in first year!) and everything. Enjoying the scenery and just being so happy to be on a mountain.

Along where we had lunchy

So after a quick little lunch among the mountains by a cute little lake we started up the gully and we were about 20 minutes from the summit and it was clear! So we were right by where the 2nd highest mountain is connected to Carrauntoohil by a great little ridge and the views were just amazing!

Why I <3>Like those views were part of the reason why I love hiking and Ireland so much. And after some scenery appreciation where I was joking around and said I made a little pact with the mountain gods to get us such nice weather because it was my last hike. We headed up the path to the top. And of course the clouds were starting to roll in, but it was pretty dramatic to watch the clouds roll in and I had a great time just sitting up there taking it all in.
Clouds rolling in over Beenkeeragh
at the top - these are actually other hikers not my friends.
coming down the Heavenly Gates
And then we headed down though the Heavenly Gates and omg, the group was sooo slow.
Like constantly having to stop and wait for people to catch up, but we were getting to the point where we didn't want to be coming down in the dark. So we were trying to hurry them down, without being too mean about it. But the sunset was absolutely gorgeous and you could see the tops of the mountain for most of the hike down, which was pretty awesome. So while walking down the path I was just basking in the moment, trying to take as many mental photos (and regular ones) because hiking in Ireland and getting such nice days is rare, and so it was nice that for my last Irish hike. I was sad to say goodbye to the mountains that I call my home.
omg, gorgeous sunset
last view of the reeks - car is the 2nd to the right.

I was wrecked after the hike - while it took us forever because the group was slow we had been hiking for about 8 hours from the time we left the bus to getting back to it. But enjoyed the bus ride back talking and singing. They made me laugh, because on the announcements, they said goodbye to a semi permanent member who we just can't get rid of whose been around the last 2.5 years (while calendar years is only 2 - I've been around 2.5 academic years since the academic year is september to march) and got a lot of jokes about my accent and bionic knee (the knee brace I wear). So that made me laugh. I was sad to say goodbye to PJ the bus driver, who I've had a few long talks with and can always make you laugh. I'm having a going away party at a pub in a few weeks so I'll still get to see everyone a few more times, just not my beloved mountains.

So I got home, checked my email and went to bed. And woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a bus. I haven't hiked in a while, so I was the usual sore after a hike, knees sore, random bruises that I always get, and my hips sore. Anytime I hike my hips are bruised from my pack. It has happened since I was 13 and started backpacking, since I don't really have hips, packs fit me kinda weird. And I had a killer headache. And had some bad news in an email from roomie. Another really good friend had a seizure last night, they think it was just a combo of dehydration, stress and a few other things, but she is doing ok. So it was definitely a shock to check my email and see that. And work has been the usual Monday, so I was grabbing my purse to go home for lunch and I notice my keys aren't there. kfksfkksdks!?! uuuugh, the one morning I didn't have my keys in my hand walking out the door - I was running late, headache and a lot on my mind... So of course I only had one of my housemates numbers, the one who works late hours and so I texted him asking for the other numbers and luckily one of the girls was going to be home when I get off work. So I just went to the shop and grabbed a roll instead of going home. At least I have aerobics tonight and then I'm meeting the girls from work for a pint to look forward to, so hopefully the endophins will help the headache and my bad mood.

Happy Monday!



little video from the OMG gorgeous spot/picture of me and prettyness. i'm talking a little bit, but it was windy. the view starts out looking at Beenkeragh ridge (kinda) not the best and then over Coomlaughra Horseshoe of the lakes, over to Cahir then up to Carrauntoohil - where you can see the cross! then back over to Cahir and the lakes again.

love and tourist in my own city

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I'm not usually a big Valentine's Day fan because well I've been single every year (ok, M and I were together in 2006 but I was 3000 miles away and I don't think he was with Jenna at this point yet) and I don't really see the big need for a day to pay quadruple the price for roses, and to publicly display your love. I think it should be happening all the time, just a little note to say hey, I love you. Or a random just because, not because you have to. 

But I do enjoy the candy and chocolates :) I do wish I had some conversation hearts, I can't find any here, I love their sugary goodness.

So I've had a fabulous Valentine's Day, I decided to be a tourist in my own city. For living in Cork for almost 2 years now, and leaving it once already. There are still tons of things I haven't done. So I am making it my mission to do them and to take as many pictures of the city. 

So today I headed to the Crawford Art Gallery for their exhibit on Maclise. He was born in Cork and is most famous for two frescos which hang in Westminster (which I've actually seen, though I don't remember them specifically I was in the room where they are when I toured Parliament last April) and also his illustrations for books. So it was cool to see the exhibit. I've been to the Crawford a few times, but I did one of the guided tours and it was cool to hear more about the artist, his life and the little things about the paintings. I would love to take an art history class because I don't really know much about art, besides I enjoy going to art musuems. So that was fun and today was the last day of the exhibit, so I was glad I went. I've had a few friends talk about it and say it was fabulous. 

After the Crawford, I treated myself to my favourite hot chocolate from O'Conaill's and then decided to head up to Shandon. St. Anne's Church is referred to as Shandon Bells and it is one of the notable sights of Cork. I was too late to go inside the church but I took a few pictures from the outside and then wandered around the North side of the city. I headed up towards the UCC Music School because I love the views of the city from up there and then on my way I saw the Cork Vision Centre was open. Now I used to live around the corner from this when I studied abroad and thought it was a church, but it is actually a museum and I've finally visited it. And it was really cool. The most amazing thing is a scale model of Cork City. So awesome! Like I found my house and it was neat to just see the whole city and how the River Lee runs around the city centre and everything. The exhibit this month was from a local art college and the pieces were cool, there was everything from ceramics, sculpture, paintings, sketchbooks, drawings, mixed media, reallly everything. So it was neat and made me want to take an art class. The last time (and only time) I had an art class was my freshman year of high school I took a Crafts class - it was cool. I really enjoyed it, as I love the arts, but a drunk 5 year old could be a better artist than me, but with crafts it was mostly 3D stuff. So I was ok, it is the drawing/painting that gets me. I love clay, sculpures, visual design stuff and that is what the class was about. So back to today, so I asked the woman working there about the model of the city, how long it took (1 year full time) and a few other questions and I mentioned how this was my first time but I was looking forward to the photography exhibit next month. In association with one of the local papers they are doing an exhibit- Echos of the Past, which is all old photos of Cork. And she gave me an invitation to the exhibit opening! So I am really excited for this in a few weeks. I've never been to an opening before. So that was cool. And then on the way home I stopped at my favourite cafe for a late lunch as it was Valentine's Day, so I could treat myself. 

So I enjoyed being a tourist in my city, there are still a few more things I need to do, so in the next few weeks I still have to go to St. Finbarr's Cathedral. I live next to the cathedral and have never been inside, ring the Shandon Bells, the Cork Public Museum, the Fort (some of old walls of the city from the medieval times are still intact), Red Abbey, the Glucksman (another art gallery, I've been a few times but want to see the newest exhibit) and continue to take pictures of the city.

So besides being a tourist I ran a few errands, I got guide books for Italy at the library. They didn't have a book of Italy in, but I was able to get individual guides for Venice, Florence and Rome and I think I like that better. They are smaller and will easily be able to fit in my purse and the maps look fab, so now I can plan a little more. I need to book accommodation and train tickets this week at work. And I also got 2 fabulous travelish writing books on Italy. Both are by Annie Hawes - Extra Virgin: Amongst the Olive Groves of Liquria and Ripe for the Picking. They are about a British women and her sister who just went over to work in a small town for a few weeks, but end up moving and buying an olive grove. So I'm excited to read them. I've started the first one and I can't put it down. 

And I bought nail polish. I'm painting my nails again. Last week when I took off my fake ones, I painted them with the only nail polish I had a sparkly red that I've only ever worn on my toes, because fake nails ruin your real ones and they just looked horrible. All indented, scratched and uuugh. So I had them red for a few days, but I don't like my fingers to be that bright, so I bought 2 more subdued shades of pink. Which is funny because the last time I painted my nails besides getting a French manicure was, honestly I have no clue. I usually don't paint my nails, because I hate it when they get chipped. 

So off to finish catching up with Private Practice - I LOVE the Grey's/Private intertwining storyline. And pack my hiking gear up for tomorrow! I can't wait to be on a mountain :)

And here's to celebrating Valentine's Day with my favourite quote about relationships - 

Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and signifigant of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you - you love, well, that's just fabulous. 

-sex and the city

a smaller reproduction of one of Maclise's frescos in Westminster

the model of Cork from the gallery
Shandon Bells - each of the 4 sides has a clock, and the times are all slightly different

the story behind ireland

I realized I've never really wrote about how I came to be living in Ireland and since I've had a few people ask about what I'm doing here and why I'm going back to the US.

So I studied abroad in Cork, Ireland in the fall of 2005. I had a few fabulous months frolicking around my little city along the Lee, hiking with the club in Kerry, traveling around Ireland and Europe (Berlin, Paris, London, Barcelona) and I also was dating an Irish guy. I found my research interests in Irish American domestic servants and fell in love with the country. I had a really hard time leaving in December and wanted to find a way to come back after college.

So I went back to WAC and had a really rough spring semester my junior year - my classes and stuff at the high school was insane, crew was frustrating me more than anything, and I was going most days 6am-1am with classes, crew, sorority, friends and high school. I missed Ireland and my boyfriend was 3000 miles away. To keep myself happy I was busy looking up different grad school programs in Ireland and planning M's visit during the summer. So when I found out in July he had been cheating on me for 5 months (and that is a whole other story) I was even more determined to go back. At the same time UCC announced that one of their options in their History MA was the Irish Diaspora! I was starting to do research on my thesis which was on Irish American's Domestic Servants and wanted to continue this in grad schoool so I was beyond ecstatic!

I started senior year of college omg busy. I was student teaching at a HS 45 minutes away, captain of the crew team, on exec board of sorority, thesis writing and was going through emotional hell. It was the looking at the calendar and being like a year ago I was frolicking on the mountains in Kerry, or we had our first date a year ago and missing Ireland like whoa. Luckily I was so busy my emotional rollercoaster was quite well hidden. And so it was around October when I decided to tell my parents I was applying to UCC for my Masters in History and I had a whole list of why this was a good idea to convince them. So I survived student teaching and only had 1 major freak out and after December 20th passed I was a much happier person. So over winter break I applied to Cork for grad schoool and nervously awaited a response. I found out I was going back on March 16th, I was in Florida with my crew team on our last day and checked my email on a friend's computer and I still remember screaming and waking up all the girls who were napping and just jumping up and down, tears streaming down my face I was SOOOOO excited. I WAS GOING BACK TO IRELAND! The rest of spring semester was amazing and I couldn't wait for September.

So I came back to Ireland in September 2007 to start a year long masters in history. I loved being back, the first few weeks were weird, because I couldn't believe I was back in Cork and I was facing a lot of personal ghosts. But I wasn't letting that stop me, I quickly found a part time job at the college, continued hiking with the club and was loving my classes and research. So I absolutely loved my first year, I finished classes in April and handed in my thesis in September. And then it was decision time. I had an amazing visit home in July and was torn on what to do. What did I want to do? Did I want to stay in Ireland? for how long? could I find a job? It had been my dream to live in Ireland and by graduating I was able to take advantage of a 6 month permit to live and work to find a job. So in September I made the decision that as much as I love Ireland and living here, I didn't think I would be able to find the type of job I wanted, and I was getting really frusterated with being so far away from my friends and family. I made the decision in September 2008 to stay until the end of March 2009 (though my permit is until the end of May), it gave me a few more months to stay in Ireland, I could travel around a bit more, and the end of March seemed like a good time because it would be a good time to find a teaching job.

So I've been really luckily to have the opportunity to live in Ireland for 2 years total, and this year to really experience it by working, almost all of my friends are Irish and to live past the honeymoon stage of being abroad. I had a few really rough spots especially in the summer when it didn't get about 65 and it rained every day and right after I came back from visits home were always the worst. But I've gotten to experience some amazing things, I've been able to travel (London - 4x, Wales, Edinburgh, N.Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy and all over Ireland) and I was able to turn a dream into a reality. As sad as I will be to leave, believe me I'll be a wreck. I am looking forward to the future and the unknown. 2009 is really my year of adventure and transitioning from a student to the real world. So I'm making the best of my last few weeks here with lots of traveling and trying to fit in as many things as possible and drinking as much tea as I can.

he's just not that into you

Last night when I got home from the cinema, my internet wasn't working so I didn't get a chance to write. So yesterday was just a funny day. I look forward to Thursdays because it has become mine and Brenda's date night, we usually go to the cinema and we've been planning this weeks for a while because we were sooo excited to see 'He's Just Not That Into You'.

I reallllly liked it. I hadn't really read any reviews, and so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I laughed seriously the entire movie, and so much of it was realistic. I loved the first few minutes - maybe he just forgot your hut number? or got eaten by a lion? Like friends and I have totally said those things to each other, and the Drew Barrymore character with her email, blackberry, cell phone, home phone, work phone had my laughing because it is so true! And Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston, omg their chemistry. It made me love the two of them more. That had to be my favourite one of the movie. It was very 'Love Actually'ish where the charachter are all interconnected and how they all deal with relationships and life. And the movie made me miss Maryland. Within like a few minutes they had the NattyBo symbol above the grocery store and I was likke Natty Bo! I think I maybe drank it a few times in college, but it is such a MD thing. And they worked at some Nutmeg company and McCormick spices are in Baltimore and they went sailing on the Bay and when all the phone numbers are 410... And it makes me laugh because I love spotting super American things in movies that no one else picks up here. When they were in the CVS she was picking up body washes and she is holding a pomegranite one and I laughed because that is my body wash (in case you were wondering). I try to stock up on stuff when I'm home because it is so much cheaper in the states and the sizes here are sooo small! And just the little things about American life I miss. I can't wait to go and visit MD when I get back! And hopefully I'll be living there in August!

So other things yesterday that were funny. My boss was flipping through the paper and on the back page was a few pictures from this traveller's wedding. This isn't the photo, but they were similar - the dresses were bright red though.So he goes to me, so when you are planning your wedding Erin, I've found your bridesmaids dresses. I just had to laugh. It was pretty funny though. And right at the end of then at the end of the day he had another funny one. So if you have a blackberry you get your email right? Yea, why? Its crazy anytime I sent an email to Mark or Ian they respond within like 5 minutes. And I just send one to Ian yelling at him for being on holidays and responding. So I said don't worry, when I'm in Italy I won't respond to emails. And he asked who I was going with and I said myself. And he said wow, you should get someone to go with. When you go out tonight use it as a chat up line - Hi, want to go to Italy with me. I just laughed and said I'm going to the cinema to see a chick flick. Right, why do you make it so hard.
As much as my job drives me crazy sometimes because I do nothing and I miss being challenged. It has been a great place to work. There are amusing phone calls, random issues with housing, the people I work with are great and make me laugh, I've been able to take off really whenever for holidays and I spend most of my day gchatting.

Also Brenda and I made plans to go to Dublin the first weekend in March! I haven't been to Dublin in the last year and a half! I'm not the biggest fan of the place but I'm excited to go up there again and have a mini adventure with Brenda. I'm going hiking on Sunday! YAY! We are going to the Reeks, which I am excited about, I also haven't been hiking in forever, so I'm psyched to get back on a mountain. And tomorrow I'm going to a few places in Cork which I haven't done yet since the weather is supposed to be ok and I don't have a million errands to run!

So happy Friday the 13th :)

wednesday thoughts

thanks for all the amazing tips for italy! i am getting very excited planning it :) in two weeks i'll be flying up to dublin to catch my flight to venice! eeeeee!

finally got around to watching mamma mia! last night. i know i must be the last person to see it. it came out when i was home, but slightly earlier in ireland, so by the time i got back to ireland it really wasn't playing. so at work last week somehow we got discussing it and i mentioned i'd never seen it, so my boss let me borrow it, but somehow everyone in the office didn't like it, but of course it did! hello, abba songs and a cute fluffy movie. amazing! last night i was definitely singing and dancing around my room while watching it.

i'm enjoying the gym a lot. i've started going to an aerobics class on monday and it is good. reminds me how i'm slightly uncordinated though but it is fun. and i love the wednesday night stretch & tone. more lunges and weights and makes me quite sore on thursdays. i'm thinking of adding a spinning class as well...

i'm getting more excited about going home, the flight price keeps dropping so i haven't bought it yet, but it is down to $185 from shannon to newark one way(last week it was $205). i've never seen it that cheap, the cheapest i've seen it before now was $230 when i bought my one way ticket here in 2007. But there are tons of things I need to think about such as packing and figuring out what is coming back to the US, giving all the random things I no longer need to good homes and such, organising health insurance for the US, dealing with my Irish bank account and saying goodbye to the city... i can't wait to start planning things for when i'm home. april is going to be busy! the second weekend is easter, i'm going to boston the third weekend in april as one of my best friends is running the boston marathon, and the weekend after i'd like to go cheer on my crewies at the regional regatta at one of my favourite race sites and then it is may! hopefully i'll have organised a few job interviews in there as well.

i spent most of yesterday at work updating my photoblog. i've been doing a photo a day project since july 31st 2007 and i love it. i take a photo a day of something, either something i'm doing or just whatever i feel like and it is crazy that i've been doing it for over 550 days now. it can be quite a struggle sometimes to think of things, but i really enjoy doing it. i get distracted sometimes uploading the photos and yesterday i uploaded almost a month of photos!

meeting kara for lunch soon, it has been slightly quiet in the office, except complaints from neighbours about parties which is all we have been receiveing... and it is almost sunny today!

this post is brought to you by the letter b.

so the amazing bing over at life in the left lane gave me the letter b in the starting with the letter game...

so here are my 10 favorite things that start with the letter b:
1. backpacking
backpacking is one of my FAVOURITE things to do. i love going out with everything i need on my back and camping and hiking. one of my favourite trips was summer of 2007 when i took 6 high school students in the smoky mountains.

ps. i have a slight obsession with nalgenes...

2. berlin 

berlin is one of my favourite cities! i went to berlin in november 2005 for a long weekend and had an amazing time with my two friends laura and emily. i love german history so running around the reichstag, brandenburg gates, the berlin wall, and all through the city was just fascintating to finally see these things after 2 history classes on germany!

i <3>

3. babies

i absolutely love babies. though right now there is no way i want one of my own. i love playing with other peoples and babysitting, but like at the end of the day or when they are omg cranky to give them back. one day, but not for a long while!

with my cousin daniel at christmas

4. beer 

what is not to love about beer? i'm slightly a beer snob though. i think i drank too much crappy beer in college - mmmm beast! and now if i'm gonna drink beer, i want to like it. i obvi love my stout - beamish if in cork, guinness anywhere else, or heinekin and if i'm going cheap miller. 

whoa, glasses.... this was the day after st. patrick's day senior year, after the crew party post spring break training trip  the seniors went to the irish pub in town to celebrate me going back to ireland!

5. books 

i absolutely love reading. like i always have a book in my purse and i probably read about 100 books a year, no joke. i'm a fast reader and especially in the summer i love to do nothing else than sit out and read. i seriously brought 12 books to the shore for 5 days over the summer. and i usually get 2-3 books a week from the library, i read every night before bed and once i start a book i have a hard time stopping. some of my absolute favourites are red rose crew; eat,pray,love; sisterhood of the traveling pants; gone with the wind. i love reading chick lit and history.

a stack of reading from the library in the summer 2007 - i was slightly on an irish kick here with the maeve binchy (a fav!) and 2 historical fiction on ireland

6. bowballs 

ok, this one is slightly odd.. so in crew, each boat has a bowball. a little foam ball about the size of a ping pong ball on the front, kinda like a mini boat bumper to protect it from docks or other boats... and one of my favourite things in a race is when you are walking on a crew and as the coxswain i would just yell to my girls - BOWBALL, meaning that we were almost a full boat legnth in front of that crew and to take a few hard stroke to get that boat legnth. and nothing was better than on wednesday mornings when racing the boys to yell bowball on the little boys! gosh, how i miss rowing. i've also won races by a bowball and lost races by a bowball, literaly about a half a second over 2000 meters. 

a few of the boats, you can see the bowball on a few of them - the victor o. stango was my boat senior year, the clo was my frosh year boat.  i have some great memories in those boats.... and in the p fall too. haha - florida junior year.

7. blogging 

i've been blogging now since 2001. i've used a few different sites, but i love it. i love being able to read about my life since i was 16 and i also love reading other people's blogs :)

8. barry's tea 

my absolute favourite kind of tea. barry's irish gold blend. i drink about 4 cups of tea a day, and when i go back to the states i will be bringing back a ton of tea! in the year and a half i was back in the states, luckily i had friends go to ireland and they had to bring me back tea!

barry's and tea biscuits = heaven

9. billy joel

billy joel is one of my favourite singers. i grew up listening to him and i can sing along with almost any of his songs. i'm slightly jealous of my parents who've seen him in concert multiple times. my fav songs would be - the longest time, downeaster alexa, scenes from an italian restaurant, i've loved these days, and vienna. 

shhhh... i know it isn't billy joel - but my senior crewies remind me of him because our song was - the longest time

10. beach

i'm a jersey girl and would normally call it the shore... but the letter is b. so i love the beach. the feeling of the sand between my toes, lying out soaking up the sun, listening to the surf, long walks on the beach, maybe going in the ocean... i went to the jersey shore every summer for a week growing up and i love it. and i loved the few hours in florida in march during spring break, afternoons at betterton during college, the amazing sunset over the pacific, playing along the med, really anywhere there is a beach :)

at the jersey shore about a year old - 2 of my fav things a baby on the beach!! 

 

so there you have it, my 10 favourite things that start with the letter b!

if you would like to play, let me know and i'll give you a letter!

i'm going to italy!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

i just booked flights this afternoon, so i'm headed to italy february 25 to march 2nd!!!

i am sooooo excited!

lots to do to plan this one, especially with only 2 weeks. but YAY! 

this will be my first time seriously traveling by myself. 

my first time in london three years ago, i was alone. but it was london and i went to n. ireland by myself in october. but this will be my first adventure to a place where i don't know the language.  so a little bit more intimidating, but i'm sooooo excited!

i'm flying into venice, then going to florence/pisa and then rome. it is going to be quick and i'm going to be packing a lot into my days, but i am excited. 

here's what i'm thinking...

wed - flight arrives into venice at 8pm

thurs - run around venice and love to canals

fri - up early and train to florence and then enjoy the artwork and the duomo

sat - pisa for the morning to do the obligatory picture with the tower, more fun in florence

sun - up early for train to roma, then the coliseum and pretending i'm a gladiator, and then people watching on the spanish steps with gelati at sunset (i was told to do this by a friend)

mon - vatican and more in rome. be at airport around 6.30 for flight back to cork. 

so does anyone have any omg you must do this? advice? or good places to stay?

so besides booking my flights, making this trip a reality nothing much else going on. 

i had a quiet weekend, i wanted to be more productive, but well that didn't happen. 

saturday i ran errands in town and had fun skipping in the sunshine, but it was COLD. ireland the 30s are not typical, please bring back the 40s. and then i watched an AMAZING rugby match. the 6 nations are back! YAY! it is ireland, scotland, wales, england, france and italy and for the next few weeks there are lots of glorious rugby matches on the weekend. so that is fab. and the game was great. ireland won 30-21 it but it was close a few times. france played a great match, but somehow ireland managed to hold them... so fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

and then sunday, well that was gloriously lazy. i thought about going hiking, but my bed won. it was actually sunny, but it is just bitter out with a wind. so next week, i'm going no matter what because it is the reeks, and i don't miss the reeks. but i enjoyed sleeping in, reading books in bed, watching a few movies, and the last 3 episodes of grey's... and WOW, soooo good! i love lexi and sloan together, and alex and izzy (and hopefully that awk thing with denny is over) and i liked the new doctor, but seriously the thing with callie? uuugh, don't fuck her over again. i love callie. and wtf with addison? which reminds me i am soooo behind on private practice, and oth and gg. 

and i'd like to aplaud the library with another tale of amazing. so i had many arguements with the library at my university over books. they always went missing when i needed them and after about 3-6 weeks they would be like yea, that book is missing and then i could interlibrary loan for free (otherwise they chargd 16 euro!!!) so this was great fun while writing my thesis. luckily i had time with that, not so much with my term papers. so a book i needed and requested last FEBRUARY and according to the catalogue, was listed as in process. which meant they were buying it, because the copy had been lost in 2006. so i figured i should have it by the summer. nooope, so i ask at the desk about it, yea it is still coming.. ok fine. so i realised by september nope, not getting this book. oh well, i'm not about to pay 16 euro for a book. what did i get over the weekend??? an email from the university library telling me the book was on hold for me. while i would have loved to go get it, i couldn't because i am no longer a student and don't have access to the library - it is card entry only. so thank you library for finally getting me that book a year later, and four months after i turned in my thesis and 2 months after i have my MA degree. 

so happpy monday!!!

oh and ps. welcome to all the new people reading :)

and a hot water bottle - yea i didn't think they existed any more either, reminds me of in like 19th century novels where they would bring heated bricks into bed... but they are used to warm the bed and i absolutely love mine. the irish really don't believe in heat, like we do in the us. so we don't have heat on at night... only between about 6pm-10pm and 7-10am. otherwise the house is freezing! so the 2 duvets and hot water bottle keep me nice and warm!!

my first bloggy award

So a few weeks ago the amazing Pam over at Relish gave me my first Bloggy Award! YAY!

Where I was presented with the:

So the rules of the award:

1 - Choose a minimum of 7 blogs you find brilliant in content or design.

2 - Show the 7 winners' names and links on your blog and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3 - List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So here are my 7 blogs

Amy at The (Post) WAC Sketches

Kristen at One Safe Place

Rachel at Confessions of A Jersey Girl

Can I Just Say

The Manhattan Transfer

Ashley at This? Is Not the Life I Ordered!

Jess at Classy in Philadelphia

And now 10 things about me!

1. I'm slightly obsessed with checking my email. Like my gmail is open most of the day and the first thing I do when I get home is check my email.

2. I am extremely indecisive when it comes to things like picking what to do when hanging out with friends or going out to dinner. I'd rather not be the one to make plans.

3. Five years ago this weekend (2004) I accepted a bid to my sorority and while it was something I thought I would never do, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I love everything about my sorority especially the creed and our philanthropy and I believe it is something for life. I regret not hanging out with my sisters as much in college as I wish I did, but by my senior year I was quite unhappy with the direction the chapter was headed and didn't want to be around most of my sisters.

4. One of my closest friends is my pen-pal. We've been writting letters since we were 13 and I look forward to her letters in the mail every week.

5. I am very organized from the outside. Everything is in its place on my dressers, desk, and there isn't clutter. But if you open up one of my drawers though chances are the clothes are just thrown in there and not all neat and folded.

6. I need to be extremely busy or I become completely unmotivated. I think that is one of the things why I've had such a hard time in Ireland, I'm not busy enough and spend too much time doing nothing.

7. I'm ready to move back to the US. I've loved living in Ireland but right now I'm kinda tired of living like a student and working in a temporary job. I'm ready to be a grown up.

8. I'm slightly obsessed with to-do lists. I'm always making them and I LOVE crossing things off the to-do list. And they are usually color coded.

9. At work I know most of the society people by name and what society they are from when they come in to get stuff done. I also recognize people who come in looking for accommodation all over the city. Chances are if I meet you once I'll be able to recognize you and figure out how I met you.

10. Only about 5 people I know in real life know I blog. I prefer to keep it that way. I'm much more comfortable with strangers reading about my life than people I know.

but i am le tired...

yay for friday!

-saw slumdog millionare with brenda last night and LOVED it! the whole setup of the movie, the questions/flashbacks, the acting, mix of hindi/english, the cinematography... just amazing! and the little kids were adorabe, latika was gorgeous, there were a few funny, a few disturbing and a few suspensful scenes... one of the best movies i've seen in a while. 

- i'm exhausted, but i guess that's what i get for staying up until 3.30 late gchatting with gator.

- i've been bad the last 2 days with the gym... stupid cold weather. 

- i've realised i only have 7 weekends left in cork... time is going by WAY too fast. i'm now plannning my last few weeks and organising everything for italy and london. and i'm trying to go up to dublin again too. 

- lot of errands to run this weekend. 

- my hot water bottle is amazing. 

-time to curl up with a movie and bed

have a fab weekend everyone :)

matador's hats, red cheese, sherry, lolcat spanish and hugging history

Last Wednesday Amy and I were up SUPER early to catch our flight to Malaga, luckily I only live 15 minutes away from the airport but I was still up at 4.15 to be at the airport for 5.30. Spent the time waiting for the flight getting excited and reading, the flight itself wasn't too bad I read the guidebook to refresh my Spanish history and culture and took a slight nap, but was just excited for the sunshine! Once we got to the airport we got Amy her coffee and she became more human :) Flying into Malaga was brilliant! The Mediterranean Sea and the coast and the mountains!

our first view of SPAIN

So we landed and found the bus into the city and the set out to find our hotel, but the city was GORGEOUS! It was sunny! and warm and just really cute.
We found the hotel pretty easily and then set off for the Alcabaza which is a Moorish fort, the one in Malaga is from the 8th century. The area of Spain we were in was under Arabic (called the Moors) control for about 700 years until they were kicked out by Ferdinand & Isabella (of Columbus fame) with the final city being Granada in 1492. So back to Malaga, the Alcabaza was fab! It was just fun to walk about and take funny pictures.

Amy and I being our usual selves

the Alcabaza

It was walking along here I say to Amy - Tu pones su chaqueta en se bolero? She was like why yes, I am putting my jacket in the matador's hat.... oooops, I was going for bolso (bag). That was really the only instance of completely wrong word that was also hilarious. But Amy also coined my Spanish - LOLcat Spanish, because my verbs were usually completely wrong, I used la/el wrong and ended words with the wrong one o/a... but she understood what I wanted to say, just my execution was lacking. But for almost the whole trip we spoke in Spanish with people when ordering, at hotels, and such. We even spoke in Spanish to each other walking around and such too. I was surprised at how much I remember though!

So after the amazing of the Alcabaza we walked around until we found the Mediterranean Sea! Which was cool, now I saw it when I was in Barcelona three years ago, but it was at night, so seeing it during the day and with Amy was just fun! I cartwheeled and we frolicked and it was great. And there was SUN!

Amy and I and the MED SEA

in the MED... it was COLD!

So after the fun in the Med, we wondered about the city, had an AMAZING lunch. The idea of a "menu del dia" a three course meal for like €10 is great and more places should introduce, plus we had some fantastic sangria! After lunch we headed to the Picasso Museum and saw a few of his more random pieces, but was actually pretty awesome to see his later stuff. And then we just walked around and pretty much collapsed in the hotel.

We were up early on Thursday morning to catch the bus to Granada, it was a nice hour and a half and we got gorgeous views of the mountains. Once we found the cutest hotel in Granada we set off for the ALHAMBRA!
The Alhambra was a Moorish Palace/fort during the Islamic rule over Spain. This was their last city to fall to Ferdinand & Isabella. It was absolutely amazing! The palace was completely gorgeous, the architecture is unbelievable. The intricate carvings and tiles, you just walk in and WOW! You don't know where to look.

there were little pools everywhere, used as a natural airconditioning

look at all that GORGEOUS architecture!

We frolicked and took a ton of pictures of the palace and was just in awe of the amazingness of the Alhambra. We were running out of time so we didn't do the Alcabaza at the Alhambra but headed back towards town where we had a lunch along the street. And we went to La Capilla Real (The Royal Chapel) where Ferdinand & Isabella are burried and a collection of their artwork and a few other personal items are. The alter was incredible and just so intense. It was really awesome to see. Then since we had a little bit of time we went to the Cathedral next to the Chapel and there are no words.
It was so ornate and gold and just WOW! It was built in the early 1500s when the riches of the New World were coming in and just the magnifigance of the place was amazing. Like I've been to Westminster, Notre Dame, La Sagrida Familia, St. Patricks and a few other amazing cathedrals around Europe but this one took the prize. After this we headed back to the hotel for a siesta before going out for some tapas.

So trying to find a tapas bar in Granada was tough. We walked around a lot until we stumbled on one and went in. Amy ordered us two glasses of wine and the man brought us little ham and cheese sandwiches - now I'm not a big ham fan (or any type of pig really) but in Spain EVERYTHING has ham, so I've been trying really hard to branch out of my pickyness and at least try new things. So it wasn't bad, it reminded me of Pruschetto and with the wine it was fabulous (as was the wine) so we had two glasses of wine there and the second tapas was a tuna on bread with olives - which I tried olives again and didn't like, but the tuna was yummy. So we decided to head to another place we saw and this bar was where the sherry incident happened.  Where on accident we ordered sherry and when the wine came we were like.. its brown... and tastes like wine & whiskey together.. hmmm. Which we quickly discovered was sherry. It was horrible, which makes me laugh because in all of the books I read especially British ones all the older women always have a glass of sherry at night and ugggh, disgusting!  So that was realllly funny. So in order to get the taste out of our mouths we found one more place which was great where the wine was good again and the tapas was fab. 

Amy and the lovely sherry... 

So I was slightly drunker than I expected to be, but 4 glasses of wine and not much food throughout the day, guess that will do it to you. So we were up early Friday morning to head to Madrid. Now we weren't sure what to expect from Madrid, so the train ride was nice it was about 5 hours and we got to see lots of pretty scenery. And as soon as we found the hotel we dropped our bags, ate an amazing lunch and practically skipped to El Museo Prado. 

Where we spent the next three hours admiring Renaissance art. It was cool, lots of Valazquez, Goya and El Greco. Las Meninas was quite amazing to see, but I'm not the biggest fan of this style of art, I prefer more 19/20 century art. I love Picasso, Monet, Van Goh... But the Museum was still FAB! So we decided to have a fun night out and dress cute, but we still both were tired, so there was no crazy 5am disco in our plans. We went to 2 tapas bars and had an amazing cheese platter with the red cheese, that turned out to be cranberry, still laughing about that one! 

Saturday we slept in and went to a cafe for churros and they were devine!

I had a vanilla filled one, as well as some regular - the skitty ones which were then dipped in chocolate.. it was fab! After breakfast we went to La Reina Sofia where I got to see Guernica, which was incredible. It is huge and just so powerful. By it there are the sketches and such he used to create each of the charachters and they are just as amazing, the detail and everything is extraordinary! After spending like 3 hours we headed for El Parque del Buen Retiro where we just walked around and took pictures. We just walked around through the streets heading to the Palace and Plaza Mayor which had a cool horsemanship event going on. 

In the park

horse event in the plaza mayor

After this we had a fab late lunch and then wondered about shopping and just having fun! We went back to siesta, but ended up just staying in because we had to be at the airport for 8.30. So Sunday we went off for the airport and had a slightly delayed flight back to Dublin. Said a super quick goodbye to Amy who was running to connect to Boston, while I spent most of the day in the airport. 

So Spain was a complete blast! Looooooved it and getting to see roomie and the SUN!