I've been bitten by the travel bug and I just can't stop! So yes, here's another blog entry about my trips..you know you love it.
I left Madrid on Thursday the 26th for Edinburgh, Scotland to go visit my cousin Katie who has been studying abroad there since September and it was so much fun!! Katie had come with everyone to see me in Madrid, but we didn't really have that much time to spend together while she was here, so it was so great to see her. On Thursday we hung out at her flat for awhile before going out for a few drinks and some amazing pub food. We hit up a few more pubs that night and I got a chance to meet some of her friends and see the Edunburgh night life. We ended up getting back to her place at around 5:30, but it had been such a fun night it didn't even matter!
Friday was filled with sightseeing and more cousin time. Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful, and I can see how Katie would never want to leave. It's amazing that even after almost a year there, she is still so in love with the place. I loved having her show me around, and meeting all of the people she spends her time with. We made dinner on Friday night and pregamed a little before heading out to the pubs! The night took us to "Dropkicks" where there was a live band playing. We finally made it back to Katie's after a long walk home that included lost phones, a huge crowd in the street, a stolen street sign, and an avoided arrest by the Scottish Police. All in all, a great vacation! :)
Saturday we headed to the airport for our flight to Dublin! Since it ended up being delayed for a few hours, we browsed through the Duty Free shopping and picked out a new perfume for Katie. Once we arrived in Dublin, we settled into our hostel before heading out for a quick meal and then the "Literary Pub Crawl"! This popular and well organized pub crawl took us through Dublin, with our two guides acting out scenes from famous works written by Irish authors, sharing interesting historical facts, occassionally singing, and there was even a quiz! It was so much fun and a great way to spend our first night. We also went to the famous "Temple Bar", for a few pints of Guiness, the only thing we drank (besides water) the entire time we were in Dublin.
On Sunday we did sightseeing, including Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, the Temple Bar Neighborhood, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Guiness Brewhouse. After the tour, we went to the "Brazen Head", the oldest pub in Ireland! When we got there they weren't serving food, so we ordered a pint and waited around for the kitchen to reopen. We were
finally served, and the food was well worth the wait! After that we headed back to the hostel to take a nap before heading out to Doyle's, a great pub a little outside of the Temple Bar area. We were there for the whole night (the bartender who looked like Heath Ledger didn't hurt either) and then headed back to the hostel to rest up for our 4 hour bus ride in the morning to Galway!
Monday was our bus ride which was fine and we got to see the beautiful Irish countryside on the way! We met up with Eileen! at the bus station and walked back to her place to drop off our stuff and catch up. She then took us on the (brief) tour of Galway which included such highlights as the statue of the Wilde brothers, the bay, and the Spanish Arch. She then took me and Katie for our first meal of fish and chips, which was amaazing.
After getting ready back at her place, we headed out to Bar 903 where we had a few pints and listened to a live band. The night was great! Tuesday we bummed around for most of the day (it was nice to just relax for awhile) and then walked around the bay area. We picked up some food at the grocery store and made a mexican feast for dinner at Eileen's! Delish! During the day we had run into Eileen's friend John (she knows him through her boyfriend Colin) so that night we met up with him and some of his friends and hit up a few pubs. Good times, good times.
Wednesday we took the bus ride from hell into Dublin so we could all catch our flights (Eileen and I to Amsterdam, Katie back to Edinburgh) but we had missed our original bus and therefore all ended up missing our flights. Several hours later, Eileen and I made it to Amsterdam, and Katie made it back home...only to find out she had fractured her foot and needed a cast and crutches! Yikes! Eileen and I made our way to the hostel and the creepiest, steepest set of stairs in the world! I tried to take pictures that reflected this, but they can't even do it justice. Needless to say, we didn't spend very much time at the hostel as a result of these heinous stairs.
We were pretty tired when we got there, so we walked around for a little bit on Wednesday night before heading to bed. Thursday was absolutely beautiful (actually, I got really lucky with this whole trip- there was sunshine everyday and it was never very cold) so we spent the day at Vondel Park people watching and chatting. We got some food later on and then walked around the "Red Light District" which was quite interesting, to say the least.
Friday we did a ton of sightseeing and a ton of walking. Even with a map it was still pretty difficult to find everything so there was a lot of trial and error. We weren't in any kind of rush, though, so it worked out perfectly. We went to the Heineken Brewery, the Anne Frank House, and the Van Gough Museum, plus walked around the city center and Dam Square. The city is so beautiful and it's one that I would definitely want to visit again, now that I have a better sense of where everything is.
Saturday we took advantage of another beautiful day and went to the ZOO! :) It was actually a lot of fun and we saw a ton of animals. Afterwards we had a few beers in Rembrandt Square, right by our hostel, and enjoyed our last day in the Dam. We went for dinner at 'Wok to Walk", this really great Chinese place and strolled through the Red Light District some more before heading to bed. Sunday Eileen took off for Dublin and I caught my plane home to Madrid. I can't believe how quickly the time flew by, but it was also really nice to be back at my piso and see my friends from the program.
And now we've come to my favorite time of year, finals time. For the next two and a half weeks I'm pretty much going to go crazy with studying and paper writing. The Spanish system is different, in that we never have any assignments so our entire grade it based off of the exams or a final paper, which makes it really stressful. But I'll get through it.
Oh! I also have an update: On June 22 I'm flying into London to visit my roomate from home, Whitney, who will be there for an internship this summer. And then on Sunday the 24th I'm flying from London to Chicago! Yup- home a little early, for several reasons. The hardest part of all of this is thinking about saying goodbye to everyone, and to this place, my new home. Ugh. But mmkway all for now! Hope you liked the entry!
Other than that I haven't been doing a whole lot. I finished up with school last Friday, which was awesome, so I've mostly just been bumming around, waiting to hear back on my grades. Kate left yesterday for 12 days in Italy, so I've had the room to myself. It's weird though, and kind of lonely. My other roommates are so in and out because of their work, so it's just been me here, really. Not that I'm complaining- but it's still weird. I'm so looking forward to next year though, since Kate and I both go to Purdue. It will be awesome having someone around who went through the same program as me, who I can talk to if ever I feel nostalgic- I really couldn't have made it through without her. 
