JJ and Maddie Visit, and Sean's 21st!

JJ and Maddie flew in on Sunday morning, and I was so excited to see them. They arrived at 7am, and yes, I actually was up to meet them outside. On the first day they were here I let them sleep in, knowing that they would need it. When they woke up it was nice out, so we ventured out to Howth, where I had taken Meg. It was a cloudy day, but seemed okay to go. We walked out, and laughed at the height of one of the walls that I easily cleared but J struggled with and Maddie was hopeless of seeing over. They were impressed with Howth, just as I was again because this time there was no fog covering the cliffs. They were laughing about the amount of walking that we had to do, but we hadn’t done any of it yet. As we reached the trailhead, we watched people in wetsuits dive off the cliffs from diving board-like anchored structures. We joked about joining them, but then realized how cold that water

actually probably was. We continued on, and I was envious of people who were out on jet skis driving around the cliffs- that would be fun. We hiked up to one of the peaks, and they were tired. I laughed in comparison, as Meg and I had covered so much ground. There were a line of very dark clouds approaching, and they didn’t want to risk getting soaked which was understandable. We headed off to the coastal restaurant that I went with Meg to get fish and chips again, I’d been craving it since I ate it with her. They were just as good as last time, and the girls were getting sleepy. It was the ultimate food coma. We headed back to Dublin and ended the night with a beer at Temple Bar, which was great. It was actually the first time that I’d been in there to sit and have a beer, as usually it is swarmed with tourists and I’m there much later in the night. It was great just to chill out and catch up with them. We headed back to DCU relatively early as everyone was tired.

On Monday morning we all woke up and headed to the Guinness factory to do the tour. It was my second time, but it was so worth it to spend it with Picones. It was the one thing they wanted to do, and I certainly wasn’t about to deny them that after they came so far to see me. We had a great time on the tour, and got to the skybar to find it filled with an asian tour group. Instead of drinking their beer and enjoying the 360 degree view of the city, these people were not drinking and looking down at their cell phones texting. After scanning the room for seats and coming up short, we were beginning to get frustrated. When we finally found seats, we capitalized on them, waiting it out until dinner up there sipping on our Guinness. We left directly from there to Gallagher’s Boxty House for a birthday dinner that Tracy bought for us to celebrate my 21^st birthday.

We had an awesome meal, and I once again sincerely appreciated real food. They insisted after that we see Coppers, one of Meg’s favorite places, and I wasn’t about to deny them that experience. We headed back to my room, and ended up joining everyone to pregame in my room. At Coppers, as usual, we met some interesting people. They had a great time, as everyone always does. On the way home, we played with the DVD system in the taxi and watched Garfield, which the taxi driver said was usually for his children. Whatever, we had a great time. Probably the best taxi ride I’ve ever had, that’s for sure.

The next morning I got a text from my mom, that offered all of us lunch on her. Offer accpeted, that was for sure. After some research, we ended up at The Bakehouse, a place on the River Liffey. It was a place that a couple of the people in my program had talked about, but I had never been. After visitng, I can certainly understand why everyone was talking about it! We had great service, and an awesome meal. Afterward, we went to Kilahamen Gaeol. It was a really cool place as we did the tour. There were interesting parts of the tour including the old jail cells and the overcrowding figures that occurred during the fight for Irish Independence. There was a room with cameras, and we spent at least 20 minutes in there rotating around the cameras to see people and zoom in on them. We waited out the rain inside the gift shop, and walked to Pheonix Park afterward. We walked around the monument, and I took them to the water park. Like everyone else that visited they were surprised by how green everything was.

After struggling to understand from a phone call, Jim sent us a text message with directions to the train stop. We jumped on the DART at Tara Street Station and headed out to Booerstown to meet up with Eithne’s relatives. I was especially proud of myself that I was able to navigate there, let alone lead anyone else. They were awesome people. We got to Jim and his wife’s home and they gave us Budweiser and Doritos, which I immediately appreciated after being away from home for so long. We had a very nice meal, and when we finished, Dan asked us if we’d ever had Rubarb. None of us had, so naturally they ordered 6 of them, one for each of us. It was delicious. We stayed for a long time talking afterwards, and none of us noticed that it had begun to get dark outside, meaning that it had gotten really late. Before we left, Jim paid for our taxi and we headed back to DCU just in time to see security lock the door. After a while of joking about Maddie hiding inside of a suitcase, we finally borrowed ID cards from Kelsey and Gillian and got them in.

The following morning, Picones left at 6am for their flight, and I walked them out. I was really depressed that they were leaving, but knew that I didn’t have too much time left in Ireland after they were gone. Honestly, they probably were what got me through. I waved goodbye to them, and went back to my room to study. My auditing final was at 9:30, and I wanted to be as prepared as possible (ha!). I took the test, and think I did exceptionally well on it, but only results will tell! I’m still waiting on those. I headed off to Sean’s place in Maynooth after a quick nap, and spent the night there after going to a club out there. Because Maynooth is a college town, and it was exams week, everyone was either back studying or home, so we were the only ones in the club. I walked in after paying the cover charge, but they didn’t want to let Sean in because he was wearing shorts. The funny part was that I had gone ahead of him, and I had gotten in wearing them. We spent a while there until it closed, stopped to grab pizza and headed back to his dorm for bed. 

"I'm in Venice"- The Italian Job

Sean and I booked on my 21^st birthday. I’m 21, and that’s the one place I’ve always wanted to see since the Italian Job and James Bond were filmed there. Sean called, sent me his credit card and I booked flights. We looked around for hostels, and found one that was really centrally located, which was perfect as we wanted to walk everywhere rather than waste money on transportaion. I booked the hostel for both of us, and I thought we were all set, that was until two days before the trip. I woke up that morning to an email, thanking me for staying with them at the hostel and asking me to review my stay. After looking up the flights, I realized that I had booked the hostel for the dates I had origninally looked at in February… ^st birthday present, that’s for sure.

Not good! I knew I didn’t have enough money on my card to pay for both stays, so the desperate phone call went out to mom and dad. They were awesome about it and helped me through it, and I ended up only losing a 15 euro deposit, which was perfect compared to 150 euro stay. After that chaos calmed down, I began to get excited about my trip. Sean and I had agreed to spend as little money as possible, which made me so much more comfortable about going. We left at 4:30 am and headed to the airport and began our trip. The flight left at 6:30, and we were in Venice early, but as per usual with RyanAir had to take a bus to Venice itself. We flew over the Italian Alps, which were incredible. I laughed with the kid next to me

who lived in Croatia. He had just returned from Dublin, where he said the beer was “amazing”, but the girls were “shit”. We were laughing so hard, and I got some pointers from him about how to save money while we were in Venice. When we arrived in the city, it was a moment of pure joy for me, as we crossed a bridge over a canal, filled with chris-craft like boats motoring around as taxis. Our first stop on the way to the hostel was to a pizza shop where we grabbed slices to go. Once we got to the hostel, they upgraded us to a private room, which was awesome because it meant that we could leave our bags there instead of carrying them around the city. The best way to describe the trip was with one word- food. It was awesome. We must’ve walked hundreds of miles, but every bridge and intersection I wanted to stop and take a picture. It was stunning the way the canals just moved through the city. It seemed however that the only reason the Island was still active was tourism, especially as we wandered the ourskirts which seemed slightly abandoned. We spent both days wandering around, and covered so much ground. From various campos to St. Mark’s Square, where I was more than happy to recite a couple of Italian Job quotes. We stopped at

a food vendor cart and ordered a couple large Heinekins and sat in the sun on the lagoon looking out for a couple of hours. In between stops for Gelato and a variety of other desserts, we decided that we were hungry, and noticed a meal special at a place that we had passed by that seemed really good. There was a tripadvisor label on the door too, so it couldn’t be that bad, right? Wrong. So wrong. We both had pasta with meat sauce as a main dish, and in the middle I asked Sean what he would guess the meat actually was. His reply was “cat”. The dessert provided was terimisu, which I’ve never seen a soggier version of than what was on my plate. I actually couldn’t force myself to finish it, which really says something.

We got the check, and there was a 6 euro “cover charge” included. That was the final straw. We agreed that the next night we would have a great dinner to make up for it. On the bright side, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard at a meal. At one point after that we were walking through the canals and passed a desset shop, and decided to make up for the meal with that. I got a piada nutella and Sean got a brownie and we split them, that was after gelato of course. We did a similar routine the next day of wandering all day, and taking a break on one of the canals this time with an Italian beer watching all the boats and people pass. We laughed, as we said that we would probably pass on the gondola ride, being two guys. We

ended up catching the Traghetta, which is a shelled out version of the gondola that led directly across the canal and back for 2 euro, filled with other people. That night we went to an awesome place on the canal where we sat outside watching the boats and gondolas pass. We got amazing meals, and italian meatballs as a side. It certainly made up for it. There was a cloud lightening storm above St. Mark’s Square that night, which was really cool to watch. I tried to get pictures of it, but every time it happened I either missed it or it was blurry from the nighttime. We admired a massive yacht with multiple boats hanging from it, and ended then night with more gelato. It had seemed that we had covered everything in Venice, the

Rialto Bridge, the gelato and meatballs, and everything else. The next morning we had to return to Ireland, so it was a 4:30 am wake up call. We were out of the hostel and on the lagoon by 5. We took the water taxi away from the city to the bus stop, which was perfect, as we were cruising around the lagoon as the sun rose over the city of Venice, and St. Mark’s Square. It was the perfect way to end it. We passed the loading docks, where trucks and boats were lined up and frantically loading for the day’s shipments to the city. We stopped at a pastry shop at the end of the water taxi line and ordered chocolate croissants and another one that was amazing, but unfortunately I don’t remember the name of. We caught the bus to the airport, and were off from there. It was the perfect 21st birthday present.

Lessons From Venice:

1. If you see a restaurant in Italy that looks good, just go for it, it'll be worth it.

2. When in Venice, don't expect any place to be open past 10 pm, except for the few savior gelato shops of course.

3. If there's somewhere you want to go, and there's a way to do it cheaply, just go and figure it out because it'll be worth it!

Destination: Barcelona

Our flight took off from Munich, and we landed in Barcelona a few hours later. The flight there was beautiful as we coasted over the coast of Spain and the beaches in Barcelona. When we got to the apartment, we were surprised at how nice and big it was. The foyer was marble, and we had a balcony that overlooked the street. Jamie, the landlord, spent about an hour pointing out things on the map that we should see and do. This would've been more effective if we weren't starving, we kept staring at the McDonalds logo on the bottom of the map! He gave us additional cultural pointers, including the fact that in Barcelona, people don't go to lunch until 2 at the very earliest and 9 for dinner at the earliest. Most places that are decent wouldn't even be open until then! It was 7:30, so we wondered whether we could

Our Apartment

make it. There was a nice brick oven pizza restaurant down the street, and the girls had their minds set, so we went there for dinner. We headed back to the apartment after, and the girls bought wine and chocolate. Brian and I decided that there was way too much estrogen in the conversation, so we headed out for a walk around the city. We saw a couple of really cool architectural details that I'd seen in pictures of the city, which made me really excited. There was a fountain that was lit up purple, so we thought it was the Magic Fountain that Jamie had told us about. We were in the park and Brian bought a launcher with a light up rocket, that we had a good time with. As we walked in the crowded area, we had sketchy individuals approach us and make all sorts of offers seemingly every five feet that we walked. We were offered a variety of venues, including parties, clubs, single beers, marijuana, and sex parties. This isn't quite what we had pictured, and something that would never happen in Dublin. We checked out the map, but it wasn't too helpful as we didn't know the language. That's when we realized that the trip back could be interesting. We stopped by an Irish bar on the way back, which in fact, was not Irish at all. It was really funny, because they tried so hard, but it just wasn't. On the way back we knew we'd passed the "Magic Fountain", but after that we somehow got mixed up. Afraid to screw it up, we must've passed the fountain 15 more times before getting up the courage to go a little farther and find where we connected. It had gotten really late, and we knew we'd be screwed with the girls when we got back, so we braced ourselves. As promised, when we walked in we went to the kitchen table, and all 6 of them swarmed and we got quite the lecture. We were told that we were never to pair up again, and we were both on probation. That lecture went on for at least 15 minutes before they finally gave it up and we went to bed.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the beach for the day. It was around 80 degrees out and sunny, so it was the perfect time. We stopped at Spar and I grabbed two huge baguettes for 1 euro, what a steal! The beach was beautiful, the water was crystal clear to the point that I was standing up and could see my feet. As we laid out on the beach, every couple of minutes we would here a Spanish man walking around yelling "Mojito, Mojito, Margarita, Sangria!", and in the gaps between that, we had asian women approaching us offering massages. Krista was asleep when an asian lady started massaging her leg, which she was significantly less than comfortable with, but we thought it was really funny. As a

joke, Brian decided to get a corn row by a lady on the beach, but he didn't want to pay for it so it ended up being a weird string that cost him ten euro. Morgan had a bracelet made, and the guy while doing it began to mock the asian women offering massages, with a "chingy chingy mingey mingey" chant. We were swimming, when we just stopped and started laughing. Yesterday morning we had woken up freezing in a tent camping out in Germany, and this morning we were so warm that we were swimming in the Mediterranean Sea after laying out on the beach in Spain. This really is the life. In addition, today

was reading day back at school, which means that everyone else was in the library studying while we were swimming in the Mediterranean, not too bad. On the beach we met a cool couple, who suggested that we join them on a bar crawl that night. We planned on going out one night, so this seemed like a good way to do it since we didn't really know the area. On one of our final laps down the beach, we ran into a guy, who was clearly lost and thought it was a nude beach. That was disturbing, but even more confusing was the fact that when he returned to his spot on the beach he changed into a suit to leave. What?? Morgan had a bracelet made by a huge guy on the beach We left the beach after we realized that we were getting pretty burned, and had lunch a block from the beach, where I got a "Nacho Burger" with

Guacamole and nacho chips and cheese on it. It was so good! Brian had to sit in the shade, because when we were on the beach he was "too cool for sunscreen". Now he had a towel wrapped over his head to avoid the sun, talk about cool! We stopped at the store, and before we left the cashier liked the girls so he gave us a free bottle of wine. It was slightly creepy, but did I say free? If not, free. We went to the bar crawl and we were so burnt that dancing was just too painful. We went though the areas that weren't touristy, which led to some interesting areas and experiences, but we made it out. When we finally got back to the apartment after a stop at McDonalds, we laid on the floor of the foyer and applied aloe everywhere, all of us laughing and in agony from our burns. We looked like penguins waddling around out there. We crashed after that, we couldn't make the traditional Spanish night out. (In Spain most places don't open up until around 2-2:30 and people don't go home until 7 or 8 am... not my style!).

The next morning we all woke up for croughnuts, which was a combination of croissants and doughnuts, which sounded great. They were delicious with cinnamon and a flakey center. Gillian and I finished ours, which was supposed to hold us over as breakfast. We joked about finding a McDonalds once we finished it. They were too expensive to buy multiple of, which both of us agreed upon. We left from there to Park Guell. That is the famous tiled park that everyone always posted about. We were still in rough shape from the sunburns, but we committed to it. We spent most of the day there, it was so beautiful. One of the things we admired were the escalators built into the mountains next to the stairs. How did it stay dry? Were there that many Americans that visited this park? There were so many questions that we

had. It was beautiful, we ended up hiking up a mountain which provided us with a comprehensive view of the city. I really did appreciate those moments atop the mountain, admiring all of the noise and action that I knew was occurring below. We ran into a man dressed in a full cheetah suit, and who was certainly tripping out on something. He was staring at one girl with a mickey mouse sweatshirt on, and we're pretty sure he thought Mickey was real. He was talking to her shirt, including things like, "you're an animal, I'm a doctor" among other statements. Wow, I really hope he wasn't a doctor! We spent a while trying to figure him out, or at least what he was on, but quickly gave up hope. On the descent, we came across people playing on a garbage can and with chimes, in a melody that was incredibly relaxing and calming. We headed from there to the actual Magic Fountain, which was incredible. We were all covered up (as shown by the picture below) because we were hiding from the sun. The girls asked us to take a picture, so naturally we took a picture of ourselves. After wandering around that area of Barcelona further, we headed back to the apartment. Brain claimed that there was a Burger King near the apartment, so Gill, Morgan, Krista and I were set on him leading us there. After an excess of 20 minutes walking, the girls began to update Brian in their dwindling confidence in him after every block we passed. Eventually we made it and feasted. We

ended the night with Tapas for dinner, including fried fish, which instead looked like a minnow holocaust, all of them dead and fully intact on the plate. It was so unattractive. We laughed and took pictures with them. To my credit, I did eat a couple of them in entirety, which included the eyeballs. Although, that was after Sangria, so it's probably not something I'd do again! The other Tapas were great though, I even tried mussels and loved them, not something I would've done at home! We stopped at the place across from our apartment to get Gelato, before getting yelled at by the neighbor and turning in for bed. My flight was early the next day, so I woke up even earlier walked to La Segrada Familla, which is arguably one of the most famous buildings in Spain. It is an old cathedral that has been under construction since

1882. The detail on that building was incredible, I was in awe. Unfortunately I was nervous about catching the bus to make sure I didn't miss my flight, so I moved out quickly and didn't get a chance to go inside. I got to the bus station and bought my ticket and walked around for a little while. I decided to head over to the bus a half hour before it was due to leave, and it's a good thing I did. I boarded the bus, and we left 20 minutes earlier than we were supposed to, because it was "full enough". I really hope they sent another one back for the people who weren't banking on that, because it easily could've been me. I had a while in the airport, so I went and sat outside in the sun and got McDonalds while talking to my parents. I was exhausted after traveling so much, and was ready to be back in Dublin! It was an amazing run though, that's for sure.

Lessons from Barcelona:

1. I'm not Spanish, not even slightly. I need to go to bed before 5am!

2. Sunscreen is a beautiful thing. More importantly, applying thoroughly and not going swimming immediately after is crucial. As I type this at the end of May, I'm still burned on my stomach.

3. Be early to busses, you never know when it'll be "full enough" and leave!

4. I like mussels, and as much as I hate to admit it, I don't mind the tiny fish either.

Springfest in Munich, Germany

The day had finally come, for my big trip with my friends to Springfest in Germany. I was extremely excited, my bags were packed and I was ready. I woke up at 5:30, grabbed a bagel and packed a lunch for the day before meeting up with Krista, Gillian, KC, Julia, John, Kelsey, and Brian at the airport. We were staying in a hotel for the first night, and then camping out in tents in Munich for the festival the second. Gill, Krista and KC were supposed to be camping both nights, but we had made bets that they wouldn't last. While we were at the airport, Gill who has checked out of every hostel we've stayed in so far into hotels, asked if in the event of rain they got hotels for the people who were supposed to be camping outside. Oh, and

no, she's never been camping either, this is her first experience. There is no way they'd be making both nights! We all laughed. We landed in Germany and split up as they headed for the campsite and we went to tour Munich. We climbed to the top of Peterplatz tower, which was quite the feat with openings as narrow as my shoulders in some parts. We reached the top which had a 360 degree view of Munich, and the bells started ringing on the tower. With the weight of the bells, the building swayed more than any building ever should, which was frightening yet very cool. Later we went to the Milka factory store, which is a type of amazing chocolate in Germany. I felt like a kid in a candy store, literally. I bought a couple of large milk chocolate oreo bars for 55 cents each, which was so much cheaper than anywhere else. They didn't last long though, I should've bought more. We met up with Brian's friend

and headed to Hofbrauhaus, a beer garden that Halpins had talked about so much. I quickly learned why, it was so much fun. We sat outside, and had a pretzel and a large German beer for dinner, no regrets. We had a great time there with live German music, and I decided it was certainly a place I wanted to come back to someday. We headed back to the hotel after walking around the city for a while, and because there were only 4 beds and 5 people in our room, we made a "megabed", laying all the mattresses on the floor. We turned on the TV, quickly to realize it was all in German, but we tried to improvise and guess what they were saying. It was really cool to see the London Tube and Dublin Prison on TV, both places I'm familiar with! We woke up early to catch breakfast downstairs, which consisted of
everything from fruits, cheeses and breads to salami and cake. I wasn't complaining about any of it, and

ate everything I could fit in my stomach. We headed out to the German underground to get to the camping resort, and the language barrier overcame again. Apparently, the underground line that we needed was being serviced, and wasn't working, so we bounced from one form of transportation to another, not really sure if we were ever going to make it there. Then we got there, it was in the back of a trailer park--not quite what any of us had pictured. We got there, and they asked if we wanted to check in. They said it was mandatory to drink a beer before we would be allowed to check in. That's when we knew this would be an interesting experience. We had a couple of drinks with the people that were there, and met a couple of kids that knew Siena, and one that had grown up with Rob Poole, one of Siena's

basketball players. It really does seem like a small world sometimes, even here. We later headed into Springfest, and we had a long day ahead of us. Kelsey and Brian both fell asleep on the train, but we were awake laughing at them. We ran into the bathrooms, and Brian walked into the wrong one which we laughed really hard at. Springfest was rather large, with everything from amusement rides to gift shops to food and beer tents. It was lightly sprinkling when we got there, but that kept the crowds away and in the tents, so it wasn't all bad. We stayed until 9:15 and then headed back to the campground for dinner. On the way back, we were in the German Underground when we heard a loud "bang" noise, and the tunnel began to fill with smoke. Security ran along the line, and people rushed out as police came down and were

urging us to get out, which led to confusion until they told us in English. I tried to lookup what happened, but couldn't find anything anywhere. As we boarded the last train, we saw Gill, KC and Krista with all of their bags in hand. We were right, they were indeed checking into a hotel. Dinner was grilled schnitzel with grilled potatoes, and it was actually delicious. We hung around the campsite for a while, talking with all the other kids there, there was an open bar until midnight. The bus to the airport was leaving at 10:15, so we needed to leave the campsite by 9 to be there in time, so we were relatively well behaved. It was absolutely freezing in the tents, dropping down to around 30 degrees in the night. I kept checking to see if my feet had actually fallen off yet, but somehow they made it! I laughed as I woke up every hour ready to leave, trying to picture Gillian KC and Krista here. No wonder they checked out. We left on schedule the next morning after an interesting batch of eggs, littered with onions, sausage, and tomatoes with toast. We got to the airport, and we looked like a group of homeless people without showers. We joked about it, saying how we could never be homeless, as we brushed our teeth in the airport bathroom sink. As disgusting as I felt, I really didn't want to leave Germany, but the beach in Barcelona was my next stop, so I could think of worse.

Final German Notes:

1. I finally understand the obsession with Hofbrauhaus, it really is an awesome place to sit outside in the beer garden enjoying pretzels, large beers, and live German music.

2. The German "efficiency" stereotype doesn't seem to be too far off, from what I noticed they were rule followers, including most of the public transportation system based off a "trust" system for payment. Not in America or Dublin!

3. It would've been a cool experience to be with people who knew German or were familiar with the area, because I feel as if we missed so much just not knowing the language. This was an inspiration to learn another language, for sure.

4. I really do love Germany, and I WILL go back someday. It'd be really cool to go with Halpins.

Royal Adventures in London

Our trip to London was, well, unforgettable. It ended up being Kelsey, Julia and I that went. John's parents were visiting and Brian's friend was coming to Dublin, so they were ruled out. Gillian and KC booked it after we told them we were going, so they were meeting up with us the next day. I had heard so much about London, I was so excited to finally see it in person.

Thursday afternoon we headed to the airport, excited for our first trip outside of the country. In the airport, we actually ran into Sean who was on his way to Barcelona, and he gave us some pointers on London as he'd gone a couple of weeks before. I was in for my first Ryan Air experience, which was quite amusing. The seats were very close together, and they tried to sell us things the entire flight from food to makeup to who knows what! By the time the flight planed out and stopped ascending, it started descending to land in London. Apparently people commute back and forth quite often for work because the flights are so short. We arrived on Thursday night, and absolutely loved the ease of the transportation system. We bought a ticket and after two trains we were right down the street from our hostel, which was a good distance from the city center. The train was so crowded, and when it lurched forward everyone fell on top of everyone. Mom wouldn't have done well, the claustrophobia would've certainly taken over on that one! The signs were so clear, however, and we were very happy with it. The hostel had great reviews, and was located above a bar and restaurant. We checked in, and headed up to the room. That was significantly less pleasant. It was around 11 when we got back, and the room we were sharing with strangers was dark, so we had to tiptoe around and lock our stuff up. We were really tired, so we headed down to the "chill out room" to plan out our walking for the next day. It was located in the basement, slightly dingy and crowded with a range of around 20 to 50 year old guys. This was nothing like our last hostel, we missed that one already. We found a spot on the couch in the corner and took out our map to begin planning. It wasn't long before one of the more obnoxious ones came over and started asking us questions in a way that was trying to be funny, but was too drunk to do so successfully. We gave up on that venture and went up to get ready for bed. There were two co-ed bathrooms for the entire hostel, which consisted of quite a few rooms. We tiptoed back into the room with 8 bunks and went to bed, but texted each other laughing about the hostel. Who were those reviews from? We woke up early for breakfast and looked around. The room we were sharing was with Armenian men, who looked as if they'd been camped out there for months. We headed down to breakfast, and I ate so much food, mostly toast and cereal. We got a day pass for all transit forms in London, and headed to the city center.

We went to the London Bridge, where Sean had said there was a really cool market. We walked on the London Bridge, which was actually just a boring average bridge. I can also promise, it wasn't falling down. Expectations were not met. The food market made up for it though, naturally it would be food that would make me happy. There was a massive food market, probably the biggest one I've ever seen in my life that stretched on forever. They had everything from fish to cheese to vinegars to desserts and meats. Literally anything you could've thought of. Best part- free samples everywhere. We were stuffed by the time we left: without having to buy anything. Perfect! The market ran underneath the train tracks, and the backdrop was a very old church, which was beautiful. We were there for a while, before heading out. 

The cookies that caught my attention

Our next stop was the Tower Bridge, which is the iconic one we had pictured. Next to the bridge was a massive new building, with KPMG labeled on it, which made me laugh. The tower bridge was a very impressive structure, and we walked across it to the other side of the river. We walked along the river for a while, admiring an old castle-like structure on the river bank. There were so many people walking around. We headed to Trafalgar Square from there, and decided to look for a place to eat. Julia and Kelsey heard that there was a Chipolte nearby, and they decided that they had to go there. Chipolte was expensive in the states, and I was in London. I told them that I'd meet them in the square after they ate, I was going to find somewhere else. I ended up finding a small place and got a takeaway fish and chips meal. I took it down and sat in Trafalgar Square and ate there. Eating fish in chips in Trafalgar Square? Check. I laughed as I watched a little run around for what must've been at least 45 minutes chasing pigeons around the square, and he was happier than ever. While waiting for Julia and Kelsey, I climbed up on the monument where a bunch of other people were sitting, and relaxed looking around the square. It was an awesome place to be. Julia and Kelsey were back soon after, and joined me on the statue. We got pictures with one of the lion figures, and headed off to see Big Ben and the London Eye which were

visible from Trafalgar Square. I was texting Chris Sutton, who was in London for the semester and wanted to meet up, figuring we'd make something work. The transportation salesman said that our passes were good until 4 am, so we decided to go out with all the Siena kids later. (Chris, Derek, Chloe, Christina, Brenna). We walked around, and took our classic pictures of Big Ben and walked around there for a while.

After visiting Big Ben and the London Eye, we then went to the Times Square of London- which was 

not really anything close to Times Square at all, with one side only of electronic displays and advertising. It was funny though. We went into the Cool Britannia gift shop though, and spent a while in there. They had one of the Mini Coopers that was characteristic, painted like the British flag. It reminded me of the Italian Job. One of our last stops was a huge church, where we walked around before sitting for a while. We were exhausted again, as we'd walked miles. We decided to go back to the hostel for a break and to get ready to go out with the Siena London kids.

We got ready, and picked up a couple of lemonade drinks before heading out. We met a kid from the Netherlands, and he was really cool. We talked to him for a while, asking questions as he questioned us as well. Apparently, Amsterdam is the iconic place, but most of the other places were completely different from that. It was really cool making friends with him and learning about the Netherlands. When we finished our lemonades, we were incredibly sugar high and energetic like little kids. They gave us the location of where to meet up with them, apparently some sort of campus bar that turns into a club on certain nights. It was extremely spotty trying to get ahold of them as our phones didn't work except for the limited places where wifi was actually available. When we arrived at the club, we learned that they had closed tonight, but I didn't get Chloe's message until after that. They wanted us to come to their flat, but that was a half hour away and we weren't really up to it at that point. I didn't really want to go in anywhere, because the cover charges were in pounds and I didn't want to spend that money. We ended up going to the city center and found a McDonalds right along the main club route. We were all starving, so we got burgers and fries and just laughed. The guys at the table behind us gave Julia and Kelsey a free apple pie sticker, as it was McDonalds Monopoly time. We were pretty excited, and before we left we ended up with free McFlurrys, Fries, and the apple pie. It was perfect, and we headed to the tube station to go back and go to bed. As it turns out, there was an issue with the tube, and it was shut down. We asked around and took a bus, but that got us to another closed station. When we finally got to the station where our train would head back to our hostel, we leaned that the train had stopped running because of the tube issues. We were so frustrated, and had no option but to take a cab back to the hostel, which cost 30 pounds, which was almost $60 in US currency. We were talking to our cab driver on the way home, and he said "London is a 24 hour city, as long as you don't actually want to get anywhere" - that quote stuck with me. We went to bed, and agreed to get up early the next morning. When reflecting, it was incredible what I saw and experienced in just one day. 

We got up early again the next morning and headed down to breakfast. Again, I ate as much of the buffet style toast and cereal as I could. While waiting for the girls to get ready, I headed over to the train station to figure out how to get to London Gatwick Airport early the next morning for my flight. Luckily for me, they were doing massive line maintenance all morning on both the train and tube, so a variety of lines were closed. After a half hour with him, he suggested I take the 6 am train from the hostel into the city, and a variety of lines from there to get to the airport. He didn't seem too confident, so I got really nervous. I couldn't miss my flight. Setting that aside, we were going to Buckingham Palace and other stops today, and I was really excited to see those. We met up with Gillian and KC, who were doing a bus tour for the day and took the train into the city with them. We took them to the London Bridge Market (Borough Market), where we caved and bought some of the gigantic 1 pound cookies that I'd thought
about all the day before. We decided that instead of going directly to the palace, we'd take another train out and go to Platform 9 3/4, from Harry Potter obviously. We went and each got our pictures with the infamous cart driving into the wall, and visited the Harry Potter shop after, which had a really cool design, and got to see all of the wands and other items that could be purchased. We left there and headed to Buckingham Palace after wandering through the adjacent park. The clear status symbol of the gates alone was striking. It was cool to think about how this was once the power center of the world. We left there and walked down through another park and wound up at Westminster Abbey. We spent a decent amount of time walking around the grounds there and exploring.

As we walked down by the river we saw a huge crowd of people surrounding street performers, so we figured they had to be decent. They were Jamaican men, and let's just say I didn't know the human body could contort like that. One put both of his feet behind his head, and was carried around another

who was being held up by someone else. the other acts were equally as stunning. We must've stayed for at least 20 minutes while they performed. It was so impressive. We went in for lunch near Trafalgar Square to a small place that had almost anything you could've wanted, with one man cooking and one man taking orders and socializing. When we passed the Square, it was apparently International Pillow Fight Day, and the square was packed full of people hitting each other and feathers flying everywhere. My contacts actually got irritated because there was that much debris in the air. We headed to Kensington Palace afterward. It was a long walk, and we took multiple breaks. We stopped at one point and watched as a

pick up street hockey league was going on in the park. On the way, we got the mandatory classic phone booth pictures. We to Kensington Palace, as the girls discussed being part of the Royal Family. The neighborhood around it that we explored, we referred to as "bougie central", in honor of Brian who wasn't with us. On the way, we stopped by a sign that read "The Great Exhibition- Hyde Park 1851". I got really excited, and told them both all about the event, which was the world showcase of science and technology. I had learned about it in AP Euro, literally 5 years before and it apparently stuck somewhere in my memory. It was really cool, and I was excited to see and remember it.

We headed from there back to the hostel. When we got to the train center, I decided to confirm my morning itinerary with another worker. She read my plan, and said that there was no 6 am train, ever. I would've completely missed the flight. I spent about an hour with her, planning routes as she called cab companies and looked into a variety of other ways. She apologized profusely, but said that I might actually have to spend the night in the airport, or pay a ton of money for a cab to get me there early in the morning, like that was even a choice! We met up with Gill and KC in the hostel and had a couple of drinks with them before we headed out to the London kid's flat for a party. KC and Gillian had really funny news from back in Dublin that we all laughed about. They were too sketched out by the hostel, and Gillian's parents booked them a hotel for the last two nights they were there. I guess I wouldn't have to worry about that, as I'd be spending my night in the airport! The tube work had already begun, so we had to take a ridiculous route around to get there, and by the time we got there it was pretty crowded. The London kids were leaving for home the next weekend, which made me feel weird, but it was really good to see them. I appreciated my Dublin experience so much more, because in talking to Derek he said they didn't meet any people from London, and the only people they interacted with were other Americans in their internships and living since they were all together. I thought about how many Irish friends I've made, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I left their flat around 1 to head to the airport, and darted from train to train to make it there. Even at 1, the trains were packed, but I'm not sure if that's because of the tube maintenance messing everyone else up too. It was a very long night in the airport which didn't have wifi, and I couldn't wait to get back to Dublin. 

The London Underground

Final London Comments:

1. I felt completely underdressed everywhere we went, despite being in a dress sweater. Everyone walking around was in suits, regardless of what time it was. SO DIFFERENT FROM DUBLIN.

2. London is huge, absolutely massive. We did so much, but when I got back to Dublin I wanted to sleep for a week straight to make up for it.

3. London is really expensive. With an unlimited bank account, it would be an incredible place to be, but it was pretty stressful to try to do it on a budget. I think I did a decent job though.

4. Despite the hostel and transportation struggles, I loved London so much. That should tell you how great of a city it was, that my experiences far outweighed the challenges, and I would go back in a heartbeat.