a bittersweet european february

there have been really good moments and amazing experiences. and then there have been all the times in between. a week in london clouded the reality of my dwindling funds but did not help the situation at all. it totally SUCKS that i loved london so much but had a hard time enjoying it. especially the last day as i walked around the city trying to save the few pounds i had left in my pocket. i mean, london was so amazing that i spent several conversations debating whether or not i should live there. it changed my perspective on europe drastically. i don't want to say it was life changing because, let's be honest, it takes more than that to alter my very stoic view of how my life should play out. and because life changing seems a bit trite and unrealistic compared to what it really was. i just had a lot of fun. and i really enjoyed the history.

i should have written about london earlier. i might have had more to say other than 'it was great.' i saw 'wicked' on the west end. i watched the changing of the guard on a sunday morning. i walked down portabello road on a saturday afternoon. i did everything i wanted to do. i guess the pictures will tell the story better than i will at this point. so here are my albums: #1 and #2.

i just discovered yesterday how broke i actually am. it's scary that i'm in another country and have so much financial responsibility at home. i've been trying on a daily basis to spend as little money as possible. not that i could spend anything other than a little money. i only have 4 euros to last me until wednesday. i think i can do it. i have enough food in my apartment. it's just really difficult to do anything without spending money in paris. so i will be in my apartment a lot. emily and i went to pere lachaise cemetary today which was free. i need to find a few more things like that. i'll go crazy alone in my apartment for days at a time (caitlin is in spain for the break).

anyway, i'm going to watch slumdog millionaire. i haven't seen it yet and everyone keeps telling me to watch it. i'll write more soon. brad will be here on friday so that will give me something to share. enjoy your sundays...

the emerald isle

hi folks! sorry it's been so long since i wrote. not much went on in january. caitlin and i spent a lot of time in our apartment trying not to spend money. nothing big to report.

but we broke our hermit rut this past weekend when we went to ireland. we left on thursday night - took ryan air into dublin. the flight was easy...because of the time difference we landed in ireland only minutes after we left france. it wasn't the most luxurious airline but it was fine for an hour.

we stayed at a hostel near the spire (an extremely tall, metal poke errected - no pun intended - to commemorate the milenium) called brown's hostel. it was...interesting to say the least. it was the cheapest we could find in dublin and because of the low rates there were a lot of long-term "guests." it was weird. we felt like we were in the middle of this strange dorm of women who never spoke to one another. i can't imagine living that way. it wasn't the cleanest place in the world and there was NEVER any toilet paper. people had put up posters and plants, shelves and curtains. it was so bizarre.

besides the hostel, however, it was SO good to be in a city where people smile at you on the street and speak your language! every time we stopped to look at a map, someone walking by would ask if we needed help. even little old ladies! that doesn't happen in paris. if you smile at someone on the street, they think you're crazy. and if you ask for directions, they scoff at you. so we were happy to meet the locals at the pubs and in the restaurants. the irish are so fun and sweet. no wonder dusty and erica love them so much! ;)

we started our first day at a GREAT little pastry/breakfast shop called 'the queen of tarts.' they had the best scones and warm apple porridge. i had tea and a scone for my first breakfast as well as some fruit with yogurt. it reminded me so much of my great grandmother. grama jean used to have 'a wee bit of tea and scone' every day at 2. and she made her own scones! my mom is scottish, though. same tradition i guess. it was great. and they played dylan and joni and james taylor and all sorts of great folk music. wonderful way to start your day!

after breakfast we wandered around for a little while looking for umbrellas. it rained all the time but it was misty rain for the most part. just enough to make you cold and stick to your clothes. oh and turn your hair into a whispy ball of ugliness. the irish women always looked beautiful though. i don't know how they do it. we found the best umbrellas ever in a little covered market and you can see them in many of the pictures. by far my favorite purchase of the trip.

somehow we managed to stumble upon a free walking tour of the city center. we were outside of the dublin castle and ari, the tour guide, started talking to us as he guided the rest of the tour to their next stop. finally he asked us if we wanted to join in and we couldn't resist his charming accent and ADORABLE smile. we loved ari. so he took us all over the city and told us about the history of each landmark. it was so lucky that we ran into ari. he was an amazing guide.

for dinner we stopped into a pub for some fish and chips. lucky for us, this past weekend was the traditional irish music festival in temple bar (the famous street in dublin with some really famous and wonderful bars...originally called temple's barr because it is on the river and the area was once owned by a man called temple - thank you ari). so we had our dinner and listened to some great music. i was in heaven! oh and the beer...soooo much beer. i never drank anything other than smithwick's or guiness. betsy and caitlin had a few whiskies because they're braver than i am.

after dinner we went on a litterary pub crawl. it was so fun! not your typical pub crawl with slobbery drunk college kids binging and making out in the bathroom. it was more based on the history of irish litterature and the pub scene in dublin. our hosts were these two irish actors, colin and frank, and we went from bar to historical site to pub to monument learning about dublin and listening to them act out some particularly important scenes. it was so fun. and colin and frank were so great! they gave us advice and places to visit. i wish i could have them on every trip from now on.

saturday morning we got up and went back to the queen of tarts for breakfast again. i had another scone (different flavor) and some apple cinnamon porridge. i was so full it was hard to stand up. but i managed and we were off to the christ church. it was, to say the least, an incredible building. i love churches - probably my favorite part of any european city. it had so much energy and character. i took tons of pictures! why don't we have anything that beautiful in the states?

after the church we took a train out to howth, a small fishing town outside of dublin. we wanted to see life outside the big city. it was so charming and beautiful. the landscape was cliffy and surrounded with hills. i loved it. right down to the strong winds and the raging surf. we got pelted in the face with the rain and betsy's umbrella turned inside out (these umbrellas were hard CORE so that's a big deal!). i loved every minute of it! we almost got soaked by the waves that came over the cliff wall. there were lighthouses and chowder shacks. we met some local guys who followed us to lunch and talked our ears off the whole time. what a perfect little town.

once we got back into dublin the rain had stopped and the wind died down. we left our umbrellas at the hostel and spent the night in temple bar going from pub to pub looking for irish music. the BEST pub we found was called gogarty's. it had the greatest music and we got great seats! (well...we stood but in good places) we saw two bands there. the second had 2 celtic drummers, 2 fiddlers, an accordian player and a guitar player. it was soooo fun! the whole crowd knew all the words to every song and they danced and drank all night long. everyone was laughing and talking and stomping their feet along with the music. it had the best energy and it made me feel like a part of their world and their traditions. but the best part is that they all WANTED us to be a part of it. they were happy to drink and laugh and sing with us. i tell ya...the irish charmed the PANTS off of me. i can't wait to go back!

sunday we spent some more time wandering around and checking out parts of the city we had missed. we had to leave around 3 so we didn't do much. we grabbed breakfast at a different cafe since we had only ever gone to the queen of tarts. it was ok but we weren't satisfied and ended up BACK at the queen of tarts to get scones. it's truly the greatest little shop i've ever been to. i wish i could work there!

all in all, our trip was great. i loved ireland and i loved the people. i'd love to go back and visit a few more cities. i have a few friends here from belfast so i might make it back to visit them. i'm happy to be back in my own bed but i can't help the anxious feeling to travel outside paris again. my cousin, dusty, is coming tomorrow for a week and then we're going to london for the weekend. i can't WAIT! i've never been outside the airport in london. and i can't wait to see my friend, giselle, who is living there. the next 3 months are going to fly by. i will have more to report, i promise! until then...xoxo

ireland photos