I love Florence. It is my favorite place I have visited (behind Ireland, of course) so far. It was so much cleaner than Rome and very picturesque. The population of creepy guys is much lower than Rome which I appreciated.
Tuesday, March 16th :: Travel to Florence
Kelly and I bought train tickets to Florence the day before and so we got up fairly early, took advantage of our last free breakfast from the hostel, and walked over to Termini station. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:15am but we did not see any trains leaving for Firenze S.M.N. It wasn't until about 8:15:30 am when we realized the train we were supposed to be on was going to Milan but stopped at Firenze S.M.N. When we realized this, we ran to get our ticket validated just in time to watch our train pull out of the station. I can't think of a better use of 44 euro...so we had to buy another train ticket which was leaving at 8:43am. We waited around and once again couldn't tell which platform our train was at. Around 8:40 we realized platform 1 also has platforms a-e so when the board said 1E, we had to run for it. Thankfully, we weren't the only ones running (and I mean RUNNING) late and the train was held up. I've never been more grateful for a 3 hour ride. We both got some much needed rest. Our next adventure in public transportation was trying to figure out the bus and find our hostel. The directions said to take bus 22. The problem with those directions? They didn't say what stop to get off at...after a struggle to figure out our location via map and google, we ended up getting off at the correct stop and then walking in the complete wrong direction. The bus stop was directly across from our hostel but instead of looking across the street, we walked away from it. Around 2pm we were finally settled in the hostel which was more like a little apartment. It was really very nice (and we had two balconies!) but the internet left something to be desired...I felt like I was using dial-up again. Around 5 we both decided we were starving. We took bus 22 to the city center and stumbled upon the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. This soon became my favorite Piazza. At this Piazza I was able to have Penne Alfredo (the menu actually said "Alfredo"! I almost jumped for joy! It's so difficult to find cream (alfredo) sauce in Europe.), peanut butter gelato (I definitely DID jump/scream for joy), and see an Irish pub which made me feel better about my Saint Paddy's plans.
Sadly, I do not remember specifics about what happened the rest of the trip, as it was a long time ago. I CAN tell you that I saw the David while in Florence (he is gigantic! His calf muscles are ridiculous! The overall detail in the statue is astounding; and all carved out of marble!), ate far too much food, and enjoyed Florence a lot. I do not have any pictures from this trip since my computer's final resting place was Brugges, Belgium (more on that later)
Thursday, March 18th :: Travel to Rome
Kelly and I went back to Rome so the next day Natalie and Laura could leave with us for Brugges. While in Rome, Natalie and I met up with a friend from elementary school who is also studying in Rome and we made a pilgrimage to the Saxophone Pub. It was well worth it. I just wish they sold t-shirts.
Friday-Sunday, March 19-21st :: Belgium
I really liked Belgium. The people were a lot nicer and Brugges was the cutest little town. Our trusty tour guide, Rick Steves (his book, obviously), told us the best places to see and visit in Brugges. We went to a candy shop called Dumon. The little old woman was one of the nicest ladies I've ever met and reminded me of my Mammom (My grandmom, for those of you who don't know that I call her that) if she was Belgian. She asked, since we are American, if we knew Rick Steves. We said yes of course and told her his son went to our school (more or less true) and that we are in the band with him (Irish Guard). In short, we told this woman we're friends with Rick Steves' son which is, in fact, not true but it was a little white lie and it made her very happy. I did feel slightly bad when she gave us free chocolate (only a piece each, otherwise I would feel horrible!) but I quickly drowned my bad feelings in the aforementioned chocolate and felt better. Overall, I really liked Brugges which is a good thing because there were a lot of things going against it:
1) Our hostel left something to be desired, namely, everything. The front office gives you the appeal of it being really clean and hip and cool but then you get to your room and use the sink and mystery sludge comes bubbling out...yeah, gross. Apparently it was rated "Best Hostel" three years in a row but I'm now thinking the hostel gave themselves that award...St. Christopher's Bauhaus Budget Hostel. DO NOT GO THERE.
2) St. Christopher's also happened to be the final resting place for Capitán, my computer. My computer just kept shutting down on its own but it would restart after a while. Well, one time it didn't restart and it has yet to come back to life. When I arrived back in Ireland I took it to the doctor and was told that the ac adapter plug lies right next to the motherboard in Dells and so if it surges, the motherboard could be damaged. Well guess what surged and guess what fried? Exactly. If it sounds expensive, that's because it is.
Next week I will try to get caught up on my blogs but I make no promises. Assignments and school work are piling up. It's that time of year I suppose!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I now PREFER creepy Irish guys.
*NOTICE* There are not many pictures up yet but I will add more soon!
So I've been in Rome for about a day and a half and it has been amazing. I have a feeling that the stories from this trip could be equal parts hilarious and slightly traumatizing but more on that later.
Friday, March 12th :: Travel Day
The cab was coming for Kelly and I at 3:45am. Since I am a procrastinator, I had to finish packing Thursday night and didn't get to sleep until about 1:45 and I was waking up at 2:45. The best part was that a couple was having a very large fight in the hallway and I'm fairly certain the whole building could hear them. Anyway, we get to the airport and are ready to find our gate around 4:30 when we look on the departure board and see our flight was delayed to 11:15. First I complained a little bit about how I could've slept longer and then laughed at the situation in general and decided to just go with it. At least we weren't running to our gate because it was closing. I'd much rather be there far too early than have to rush.
When we finally arrived in Rome it was 4 or 5 something in the afternoon. We took our first adventure on public transportation and made our way to Termini station and our hostel. Our hostel is directly across from the Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) which is the first church built in Rome and the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. It's awesome. Also, our room has a BALCONY. Kelly and I may have freaked out a little bit. So after we composed ourselves, we rested a bit and then went to meet Laura and Natalie at the Tiziano. I have missed my "Little Guy" so much and we had a heartfelt reunion. After our little reunion Laura, Kelly, and I went to Pascucci's for a quick sandwich and a frulatto (WHICH ARE AWESOME) and then met up with Natalie and her parents to get drinks. After that, we went to Abbey Theater (an Irish pub! In Rome!) for fries and drinks...again.
After that, Kelly and I had our first gelato experience at the Frigidarium (It was magical!) and then made the trek back to our hostel.
Saturday, March 13th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 1
We slept in a bit and met Laura for lunch at L’insalata Ricca where I had my first Italian meal. It was crepes with ricotta cheese and spinach and then creme brulee for dessert. Holy crap. It was so good. After lunch, Laura took us around to see the sights of Rome. This consisted of: Campo di Fiori, Piazza Novana, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. On our way to the Spanish steps we walked along a road that was the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York City. If you’ve never been to New York City, there are basically a TON of shops. It was cool to see Italy’s version of a shopping district. The stores are so small and almost everything is behind glass. My favorite of everything we saw was the Trevi Fountain. Walking the way we did, you hear it long before you see it and then suddenly the buildings part and there it is in all its glory. I’m a big fan of fountains in general, but this is most definitely my favorite. It’s just magnificent. Fun fact: Kelly was almost pick-pocketed at the Trevi! Kelly caught the girl, thankfully. We kept seeing the pick-pocketers around the city but that’s probably because they had incredibly distinguishable sequin hats on that were obnoxious. If they were trying to blend in, they failed. Geez, I could be a better pick-pocketer… After our sight-seeing, we decided to meet up again later that night for dinner.
ATTENTION: This next section contains adult themes and could potentially make people feel very awkward so if you don’t like being an adult or feeling awkward, skip this part.
The bus ride back to our hostel was reason number one for the title of this post. The bus was extremely packed but I luckily landed a seat after a stop or two. While I was standing, a guy behind me started rubbing his elbow against me so I moved away as much as I could because I thought I was in his way. Well, he got closer. After I landed a seat, Kelly came closer to me as did the elbow rubber. He started rubbing both of us with his elbow and breathing really heavily and tried to grab Kelly’s rear. We both shot him dirty looks (while I simultaneously prayed to Mary, who I again, brought on this trip. She’s a great lady.) and he moved away, but when we turned around he came right back. We’re both fairly certain he was touching himself in a place that is definitely not appropriate to touch in public, let alone on a crowded bus. So gross. The whole walk back to the hostel we talked about how grossed out we were and how these creepy Italian guys made creepy Irish guys look downright saintly.
Reason number two happened after we got off the bus and started walking back to the Tiziano. We were walking by the bus stop and I was just minding my own business when I notice a man in sunglasses. I see him pull his jacket up and it takes me a minute to realize it, but yes, he flashed us his wiener. I almost ran into it with my hand. Needless to say, after these two experiences, I was ready to stay in my hostel the rest of the night and do something that could help me get back my innocence (like watch a Disney movie or something along those lines) and wait to leave for Florence. It took a few minutes for the shock of what just happened (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND!) to wear off but when it did (and when Natalie stopped laughing/consoling), we left for dinner.
AND WE’RE BACK!
I can’t remember where we went but I do remember it was great. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was huge. I ate a whole pie by myself which sounds really gross but actually is completely doable because they’re a lot thinner and lighter than in America. Later, I tried a nutella crepe. I am now a firm believer that nutella will taste good with almost anything. After our crepes and gelato we went to Scholars which is another Irish pub in Rome!
Here is where the story of Dean and Chaos ensues. It took some searching but we were able to find ourselves a place to sit. While doing so we apparently made a friend. Here is his background story: His name is Dean and he and his brother, DJ, are meteorologists who live in Naples but were in Rome for some reason with their father (who was back at the hotel) Dean is apparently from Ohio. DJ is apparently from Indiana or Texas. DJ is going to be the governor of Texas someday. Dean has lived in Australia, Scotland, Africa, and now Rome. He said if he would ever move back to the states he would live in Seattle. Dean had a journal called Chaos. He asked us to write one entire page in it but we gave him two because we are giving people. Obviously, we changed our names from Kim, Natalie, Kelly, and Laura to Andrea (or Beautiful, since he couldn’t remember my name and I told him to give me one he would remember…what a charmer…), Natasha, Claire, and Kristen. In his journal we noticed other people wishing him a good time on his trip but since it was called Chaos and he told us to write the craziest thing we could think of we all contributed our own parts. We wrote about the flashing incident earlier that day and how he should not do that to attract ladies because it most likely will not work…at least not on any respectable woman…we also wrote about how he probably picked the four most awkward people to write in his journal. We’re all kind of hoping he publishes it and makes it into a book. So we talked to Dean for awhile longer and tried to help him land a lady-friend by telling him to use the pick-up line “I want to get married in a church” and then walk away. Now, none of us actually believe this will ever work on a girl, but he could do a pretty convincing Scottish accent so you never know. We Americans do love accents. I’m not really sure why, but he bought us all a round of drinks. Out of nowhere he asked what we were all drinking and bought them. I refused but he bought it anyway so I went with it. Unfortunately for me, I was drinking Guinness. One pint is enough for me but as soon as I sipped the second I decided I don’t like Guinness as much as I thought I did and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drink it again anytime soon…Dean tried to get us to go to the Abbey Theater with him but instead we just left and ended our hilariously traumatizing evening.
Sunday, March 14th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 2!
I’m not really sure what we had for lunch but I’m sure it involved something Italian and gelato. The big news is that we visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum! They were both exceedingly cool and ancient.
After that, we met Natalie, Laura (the other Laura! She is Natalie and Laura H’s roommate. She is awesome!) and Natalie’s parents. We had gelato (BEFORE dinner!) and then went to Abbey Theater for the traditional hamburger and fries before Sunday night mass! The hamburger was as big as my face but I ate it all despite the aforementioned gelato. Mass was quite…cozy because it was in a small little chapel that the Saint Mary’s program utilizes. After mass, we got more gelato…when in Rome!
Monday, March 15th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 3!
I felt very Catholic this day.
Kelly and I decided to get up early and finally utilize the free breakfast we’re offered. It was great! The cappuccino man put a heart in the foam! I didn’t think that ever actually happened! After that, we decided that since Mary has been so good to us (and what a coincidence that we’re right across from the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore…), we would go visit the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. It was a great decision on our part. It is a beautiful basilica and I won’t lie, I almost cried. After I walked around its entirety I sat down and said a prayer to Mary and was near tears. It is truly one of my favorite things about Rome. After that we decided to try the gelateria next to our hostel which was a GREAT decision.Caffe and tiramisu gelato was a fantastic idea on my part. We proceeded to go to our room, sit on our balcony overlooking the city, eat our gelato, and bask in the warm, sun-shiny weather. It was a great start to the morning. Later, we ate at L’insalata Ricca and then made our way to the Vatican. My first experience at the Vatican was stepping in some kid’s throw up, which was not a very promising start, but once inside the basilica I forgot all about that. I felt more Catholic just being in Saint Peter’s. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I had no idea who a lot of the statues were of but that did not take away from its sheer magnificence.
After Saint Peter’s, we went back to the Tiz, met up with Natalie and browsed the shops. We also got gelato (surprise, surprise!) from Giolitti’s. It was ______ (if you guessed awesome, you are correct). Almost immediately after that we went to a really good pizza place and ate again. I swear, after this trip I will either have to run 10 miles for a week or play Frisbee for about 4-5 days straight. No sleeping or eating, just Frisbee.
Tomorrow we are headed for Florence! Natalie tells me it is what she expected Rome would be like so we’ll see how it is. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it so it can’t be bad! Plus, David is there! I’m very excited.
So I've been in Rome for about a day and a half and it has been amazing. I have a feeling that the stories from this trip could be equal parts hilarious and slightly traumatizing but more on that later.
Friday, March 12th :: Travel Day
The cab was coming for Kelly and I at 3:45am. Since I am a procrastinator, I had to finish packing Thursday night and didn't get to sleep until about 1:45 and I was waking up at 2:45. The best part was that a couple was having a very large fight in the hallway and I'm fairly certain the whole building could hear them. Anyway, we get to the airport and are ready to find our gate around 4:30 when we look on the departure board and see our flight was delayed to 11:15. First I complained a little bit about how I could've slept longer and then laughed at the situation in general and decided to just go with it. At least we weren't running to our gate because it was closing. I'd much rather be there far too early than have to rush.
When we finally arrived in Rome it was 4 or 5 something in the afternoon. We took our first adventure on public transportation and made our way to Termini station and our hostel. Our hostel is directly across from the Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) which is the first church built in Rome and the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. It's awesome. Also, our room has a BALCONY. Kelly and I may have freaked out a little bit. So after we composed ourselves, we rested a bit and then went to meet Laura and Natalie at the Tiziano. I have missed my "Little Guy" so much and we had a heartfelt reunion. After our little reunion Laura, Kelly, and I went to Pascucci's for a quick sandwich and a frulatto (WHICH ARE AWESOME) and then met up with Natalie and her parents to get drinks. After that, we went to Abbey Theater (an Irish pub! In Rome!) for fries and drinks...again.
After that, Kelly and I had our first gelato experience at the Frigidarium (It was magical!) and then made the trek back to our hostel.
Saturday, March 13th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 1
We slept in a bit and met Laura for lunch at L’insalata Ricca where I had my first Italian meal. It was crepes with ricotta cheese and spinach and then creme brulee for dessert. Holy crap. It was so good. After lunch, Laura took us around to see the sights of Rome. This consisted of: Campo di Fiori, Piazza Novana, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. On our way to the Spanish steps we walked along a road that was the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York City. If you’ve never been to New York City, there are basically a TON of shops. It was cool to see Italy’s version of a shopping district. The stores are so small and almost everything is behind glass. My favorite of everything we saw was the Trevi Fountain. Walking the way we did, you hear it long before you see it and then suddenly the buildings part and there it is in all its glory. I’m a big fan of fountains in general, but this is most definitely my favorite. It’s just magnificent. Fun fact: Kelly was almost pick-pocketed at the Trevi! Kelly caught the girl, thankfully. We kept seeing the pick-pocketers around the city but that’s probably because they had incredibly distinguishable sequin hats on that were obnoxious. If they were trying to blend in, they failed. Geez, I could be a better pick-pocketer… After our sight-seeing, we decided to meet up again later that night for dinner.
ATTENTION: This next section contains adult themes and could potentially make people feel very awkward so if you don’t like being an adult or feeling awkward, skip this part.
The bus ride back to our hostel was reason number one for the title of this post. The bus was extremely packed but I luckily landed a seat after a stop or two. While I was standing, a guy behind me started rubbing his elbow against me so I moved away as much as I could because I thought I was in his way. Well, he got closer. After I landed a seat, Kelly came closer to me as did the elbow rubber. He started rubbing both of us with his elbow and breathing really heavily and tried to grab Kelly’s rear. We both shot him dirty looks (while I simultaneously prayed to Mary, who I again, brought on this trip. She’s a great lady.) and he moved away, but when we turned around he came right back. We’re both fairly certain he was touching himself in a place that is definitely not appropriate to touch in public, let alone on a crowded bus. So gross. The whole walk back to the hostel we talked about how grossed out we were and how these creepy Italian guys made creepy Irish guys look downright saintly.
Reason number two happened after we got off the bus and started walking back to the Tiziano. We were walking by the bus stop and I was just minding my own business when I notice a man in sunglasses. I see him pull his jacket up and it takes me a minute to realize it, but yes, he flashed us his wiener. I almost ran into it with my hand. Needless to say, after these two experiences, I was ready to stay in my hostel the rest of the night and do something that could help me get back my innocence (like watch a Disney movie or something along those lines) and wait to leave for Florence. It took a few minutes for the shock of what just happened (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND!) to wear off but when it did (and when Natalie stopped laughing/consoling), we left for dinner.
AND WE’RE BACK!
I can’t remember where we went but I do remember it was great. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was huge. I ate a whole pie by myself which sounds really gross but actually is completely doable because they’re a lot thinner and lighter than in America. Later, I tried a nutella crepe. I am now a firm believer that nutella will taste good with almost anything. After our crepes and gelato we went to Scholars which is another Irish pub in Rome!
Here is where the story of Dean and Chaos ensues. It took some searching but we were able to find ourselves a place to sit. While doing so we apparently made a friend. Here is his background story: His name is Dean and he and his brother, DJ, are meteorologists who live in Naples but were in Rome for some reason with their father (who was back at the hotel) Dean is apparently from Ohio. DJ is apparently from Indiana or Texas. DJ is going to be the governor of Texas someday. Dean has lived in Australia, Scotland, Africa, and now Rome. He said if he would ever move back to the states he would live in Seattle. Dean had a journal called Chaos. He asked us to write one entire page in it but we gave him two because we are giving people. Obviously, we changed our names from Kim, Natalie, Kelly, and Laura to Andrea (or Beautiful, since he couldn’t remember my name and I told him to give me one he would remember…what a charmer…), Natasha, Claire, and Kristen. In his journal we noticed other people wishing him a good time on his trip but since it was called Chaos and he told us to write the craziest thing we could think of we all contributed our own parts. We wrote about the flashing incident earlier that day and how he should not do that to attract ladies because it most likely will not work…at least not on any respectable woman…we also wrote about how he probably picked the four most awkward people to write in his journal. We’re all kind of hoping he publishes it and makes it into a book. So we talked to Dean for awhile longer and tried to help him land a lady-friend by telling him to use the pick-up line “I want to get married in a church” and then walk away. Now, none of us actually believe this will ever work on a girl, but he could do a pretty convincing Scottish accent so you never know. We Americans do love accents. I’m not really sure why, but he bought us all a round of drinks. Out of nowhere he asked what we were all drinking and bought them. I refused but he bought it anyway so I went with it. Unfortunately for me, I was drinking Guinness. One pint is enough for me but as soon as I sipped the second I decided I don’t like Guinness as much as I thought I did and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drink it again anytime soon…Dean tried to get us to go to the Abbey Theater with him but instead we just left and ended our hilariously traumatizing evening.
Sunday, March 14th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 2!
I’m not really sure what we had for lunch but I’m sure it involved something Italian and gelato. The big news is that we visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum! They were both exceedingly cool and ancient.
After that, we met Natalie, Laura (the other Laura! She is Natalie and Laura H’s roommate. She is awesome!) and Natalie’s parents. We had gelato (BEFORE dinner!) and then went to Abbey Theater for the traditional hamburger and fries before Sunday night mass! The hamburger was as big as my face but I ate it all despite the aforementioned gelato. Mass was quite…cozy because it was in a small little chapel that the Saint Mary’s program utilizes. After mass, we got more gelato…when in Rome!
Monday, March 15th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 3!
I felt very Catholic this day.
Kelly and I decided to get up early and finally utilize the free breakfast we’re offered. It was great! The cappuccino man put a heart in the foam! I didn’t think that ever actually happened! After that, we decided that since Mary has been so good to us (and what a coincidence that we’re right across from the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore…), we would go visit the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. It was a great decision on our part. It is a beautiful basilica and I won’t lie, I almost cried. After I walked around its entirety I sat down and said a prayer to Mary and was near tears. It is truly one of my favorite things about Rome. After that we decided to try the gelateria next to our hostel which was a GREAT decision.Caffe and tiramisu gelato was a fantastic idea on my part. We proceeded to go to our room, sit on our balcony overlooking the city, eat our gelato, and bask in the warm, sun-shiny weather. It was a great start to the morning. Later, we ate at L’insalata Ricca and then made our way to the Vatican. My first experience at the Vatican was stepping in some kid’s throw up, which was not a very promising start, but once inside the basilica I forgot all about that. I felt more Catholic just being in Saint Peter’s. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I had no idea who a lot of the statues were of but that did not take away from its sheer magnificence.
After Saint Peter’s, we went back to the Tiz, met up with Natalie and browsed the shops. We also got gelato (surprise, surprise!) from Giolitti’s. It was ______ (if you guessed awesome, you are correct). Almost immediately after that we went to a really good pizza place and ate again. I swear, after this trip I will either have to run 10 miles for a week or play Frisbee for about 4-5 days straight. No sleeping or eating, just Frisbee.
Tomorrow we are headed for Florence! Natalie tells me it is what she expected Rome would be like so we’ll see how it is. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it so it can’t be bad! Plus, David is there! I’m very excited.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
2 Weeks Behind
Well I have just been downright neglectful. Sorry to disappoint all my fans! Since the weekdays aren't too exciting, I'll write about the past two weekends!
Saturday, February 27:
Another exciting edition of a Roberta trip! First we had to meet at 8:15 in the morning. Oy. We boarded the bus and drove to Clonmacnoise. It is a monastery that was founded by St. Ciaran. We were able to see loads of high crosses and take tons of really awesome pictures (the weather was just fantastic!).
After Clonmacnoise we drove about an hour and a half (or more) to Trim Castle. Before we toured the castle we were treated to another fine lunch. The only thing that could've made it a better meal was if I had about 10 extra minutes to eat it and enjoy it. I was one of the last people in line and so, the other girls who were also at the end and I had about 10 minutes to literally inhale it. The food was fantastic as usual. Banoffe pie is a glorious thing.
After lunch we toured Trim castle. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights anymore because it is a very tall castle. The best part was when we got to the top and you could see everything. It was easily one of the prettiest sights I've seen since I've been here. Fun fact: Braveheart was filmed here!
I'm holding the key to the castle...and standing next to some thing which has some kind of importance...I think it may have been in Braveheart?
So yeah after that, we just came back and I think I watched a movie or something and on Sunday I did my usual cleaning/shopping routine.
Saturday, March 6:
My first frisbee tournament! It was in a town a little north of Dublin so Caitlin, Laura, Con Man, and I caught a bus into Dublin and another into the town where the tournament was (Santry? I could be wrong...). The day as a whole was extremely fun although I did not play...at all, really. I've been having some serious back pain which makes it impossible for me to run at full tilt without intense pain. I've been walking/running like I have a stick up my butt for the past week or so. I felt pretty useless/like a pansy the whole day, but I still had fun. Sadly, we didn't win any of our games but I attribute that to the multiple injuries our team had and the fact that our team was made up of mostly girls and we were playing teams of all guys. You could be the biggest feminist in the world and would still have to agree that is not an even match but that is a different argument for a different day and I don't want to shine a negative light on the tournament. So. Yes, great craic at the tournament.
The past few weeks have just been great. I've spent a lot more time with my Irish friends which is awesome (because they are awesome!) and have seen some amazing things. I'm very lucky to have this opportunity and am thankful for it every single day, seriously. Speaking of opportunities, I'm going to Rome TOMORROW. I will once again be reunited with my favorite "little guy" and best friend, Natalie, and I COULD NOT be more excited. Apparently, there is a pub in Rome called the Saxophone Pub and Natalie, Emma and I are going to find it and eat and listen to jazz and it will be splendid. I'll be in Rome Friday-Monday night, Florence Tuesday-Wednesday night, Pompeii Thursday, back to Rome Thursday night and then Belgium from Friday-Monday morning. Back to Dublin on Monday morning. Just in time to go to my classes! This next week will be insane, I am sure of it. I will try to post pictures, etc. as much as I can!
My life is unreal.
Saturday, February 27:
Another exciting edition of a Roberta trip! First we had to meet at 8:15 in the morning. Oy. We boarded the bus and drove to Clonmacnoise. It is a monastery that was founded by St. Ciaran. We were able to see loads of high crosses and take tons of really awesome pictures (the weather was just fantastic!).
After Clonmacnoise we drove about an hour and a half (or more) to Trim Castle. Before we toured the castle we were treated to another fine lunch. The only thing that could've made it a better meal was if I had about 10 extra minutes to eat it and enjoy it. I was one of the last people in line and so, the other girls who were also at the end and I had about 10 minutes to literally inhale it. The food was fantastic as usual. Banoffe pie is a glorious thing.
After lunch we toured Trim castle. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights anymore because it is a very tall castle. The best part was when we got to the top and you could see everything. It was easily one of the prettiest sights I've seen since I've been here. Fun fact: Braveheart was filmed here!
I'm holding the key to the castle...and standing next to some thing which has some kind of importance...I think it may have been in Braveheart?
So yeah after that, we just came back and I think I watched a movie or something and on Sunday I did my usual cleaning/shopping routine.
Saturday, March 6:
My first frisbee tournament! It was in a town a little north of Dublin so Caitlin, Laura, Con Man, and I caught a bus into Dublin and another into the town where the tournament was (Santry? I could be wrong...). The day as a whole was extremely fun although I did not play...at all, really. I've been having some serious back pain which makes it impossible for me to run at full tilt without intense pain. I've been walking/running like I have a stick up my butt for the past week or so. I felt pretty useless/like a pansy the whole day, but I still had fun. Sadly, we didn't win any of our games but I attribute that to the multiple injuries our team had and the fact that our team was made up of mostly girls and we were playing teams of all guys. You could be the biggest feminist in the world and would still have to agree that is not an even match but that is a different argument for a different day and I don't want to shine a negative light on the tournament. So. Yes, great craic at the tournament.
The past few weeks have just been great. I've spent a lot more time with my Irish friends which is awesome (because they are awesome!) and have seen some amazing things. I'm very lucky to have this opportunity and am thankful for it every single day, seriously. Speaking of opportunities, I'm going to Rome TOMORROW. I will once again be reunited with my favorite "little guy" and best friend, Natalie, and I COULD NOT be more excited. Apparently, there is a pub in Rome called the Saxophone Pub and Natalie, Emma and I are going to find it and eat and listen to jazz and it will be splendid. I'll be in Rome Friday-Monday night, Florence Tuesday-Wednesday night, Pompeii Thursday, back to Rome Thursday night and then Belgium from Friday-Monday morning. Back to Dublin on Monday morning. Just in time to go to my classes! This next week will be insane, I am sure of it. I will try to post pictures, etc. as much as I can!
My life is unreal.
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