smugg's

This week my family is all at Smuggler's Notch in Vermont for our annual family ski trip. My grandparents own a beautiful condo that they've been going to since my mom was in high school. We've taken a family vacation there every year since I was born. Usually my aunt, uncle, cousins, grandparents, parents, brother, and dog are all there! It is hands down one of my favorite places to be in the world. 

This is my first year not making this trip up to the Notch. My family says they don't feel too sorry for me, because I'm here :) They are right because I'm incredibly fortunate to be here, however, it's still hard to not be there. So many of my favorite memories with my family are during those weeks. My dad has made it a tradition to always carry swedish fish on him, so whoever gets to ride up on the chair lift with him, gets some on the way up. A couple years ago, he also started the "flask of Bailey's" tradition, where we take shots of Bailey's and cheers to funny people that we can think of. It sounds silly, but we have cried laughing over yelling funny names and taking a shot of Bailey's. As a family, we have some of our best talks on the chair lifts. We spend the week skiing, snuggling by the fire, relaxing at the hot tub at night, playing board games, eating dinner together, snacking way too much, and completing a crazy puzzle.  Luckily, thanks to Skype, I was able to chat with everyone last night which was so fun! Thank you, modern technology.

dublin: ireland

This weekend, our entire Galway group (16 of us!) traveled to Dublin. The entire trip was planned by our BC coordinator and paid for by BC! Yes, paid for! Our hotel, meals, taxis, tours, bus ride, etc. were all covered for. I literally only spent 1 euro the entire weekend on postcards. Needless to say, it was a nice change after all the money I spent in London & Paris. 

It was really nice to have a leisurely, relaxing weekend. We stayed in an amazing hotel and ate luxurious three course meals. We also all knew we'd most likely be back to Dublin with friends and family, so no one felt particularly rushed to squeeze as much in as possible in a weekend like we usually do when traveling.

The first day we checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick lunch, then walked to Parliament. We received a tour of the Parliament building which was really beautiful on the inside. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures. After our tour we ate dinner at the hotel, which was an incredible three course meal (mussels, steak, and chocolate mouse) with great wine! 

Boston College house in Dublin!

Parliament.

On Saturday we saw the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, and Grafton Street, which is the main shopping area of Dublin. Then, we took a tour of the Guinness factory. I can't really say that I paid all that much attention to the actual tour. It was self guided and got a little boring. I can tell you the four ingredients in a Guinness though- yeast, barley, hops, and water! We did, however, pay extra to take a course called "the Perfect Pint," where you learn all about different types of Guinness, as well as the proper technique to pour a Guinness (it's really quite a science!) We also learned what makes a good/ bad Guinness and why the technique, storage, and temperature is so crucial to it's taste. After the course we got certificates and are official Guinness connoisseurs :) The coolest part of the factory is on the top level there is a gravity bar where you drink your free Guinness, with all glass windows that give a 360 view of Dublin.

St. Stephen's Green, the main park in the middle of Dublin. Sort of reminded me of the Commons!

Dublin Castle.

All of our group!

One of many cool street performers on Grafton Street!

Trinity College.

Instructions on how to properly pour a Guinness.

At the end of our tutorial, we all poured our own!

The fourth ingredient- water!

This weekend, I'm staying in Galway and very excited about it. Alex is arriving the weekend after so it will be nice to have a weekend in Galway to relax. There is also a great outdoor market on Saturdays in Galway that I keep missing because of traveling, so I can't wait to go. In the meantime, I'll be catching up on sleep, cleaning, laundry, and school work!

galway photos

My mother informed me recently that I haven't shown her enough photos of Galway. I've been holding off making an album on Facebook until I really felt like I had enough good photos. Plus, I'm always taking more. So for now, I thought I'd show some more pictures of beautiful Galway. 

 My Beautiful School- NUI Galway.

 The Niland House (where I live).

 Downtown Shop Street.

 A great pub in town, pronounced "The Keys."

 Another popular pub.

 Maybe my favorite pub- always good for real traditional Irish music.

 On the walk to school, I cross this bridge every day.

The main canal that runs through Galway.

Were in Dublin this weekend with our coordinator Margaret. I won't spoil any details of the weekend now, but I'll post later!

valentine's day {a day late}

To end my trip to Paris perfectly, when I came home and walked into my room, there were a dozen red roses waiting for me on my windowsill from Alex for Valentine's Day. It was so nice and unexpected.

I have mixed feelings about Valentine's Day. I think it's sad that a holiday makes single people feel bad about themselves. And sometimes even if you do have a date, expectations aren't met and you still feel bad. But I do like that it is a day to focus on the people you love, and to make them feel special. So, I hope everyone focused on the people they love, boyfriend/ girlfriend or not.

To all my friends and family at home, I love you so much and miss each and every one of you!

paris: france

Disclaimer: I think I could write an entire book on how much I love Paris, so I apologize for how long this post will be.

First of all, Paris was the most breathtakingly beautiful city I've ever been to. Pictures don't really do the city justice. I've seen a thousand pictures of the Eiffel tower, but until you're actually standing there, underneath it, you can't really understand how incredible it is. I had a moment this weekend, while walking over a famous bridge with the Eiffel tower lit up in the distance, that I was just overwhelmed by the city's beauty. It was really a reality check about how fortunate I am to have this experience. I kept saying, "I can't believe I'm in Paris. I can't believe I get to do this." All weekend I just felt so amazed & grateful to be there. 

 The French culture is also beautiful. What I loved even more than seeing the touristy sites, were the days that we went into the smaller neighborhoods where we could really see the people. I went into the weekend with all the sterotypes in my mind (the people are rude, the city is dirty, they hate Americans, etc.) In my experience these were all false. The people there were really very friendly if you were polite and attempted to speak French to them. I learned a few key phrases, like how to say: I would like, do you speak english, hello, goodbye, thank you, numbers, etc. Chrissy and I were on our own on Friday and most of Saturday but we got by pretty well with our limited French speaking abilities and ever ordered a whole meal in just French! We met up with our other friend Anya (who is fluent in French!) Saturday night for the rest of our trip and she made our lives a lot easier! Again, it was so nice to see the city with best friends.

In my tour guide about Paris, it said, "Paris is all about the food. If you have to make a choice between going to one more museum or eating more French cuisine, choose the food." So, this is exactly what we did. I have never eaten better in my life. We tried crêpes, pommes frites, french onion soup, baguettes, cheeses, wine, seafood, steak tartare, pastries, chocolates, etc. and every single item was the the best I've ever had. Seriously, the food is incredible.

If you're interested, here is what we did over the weekend:

Friday: I arrived around 8 pm, so I went right to our hotel to drop off my stuff, then met up with Chrissy at Notre Dame Cathedral. Which, by the way, is the most magnificent church I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of churches!) We went out to a cafe for crêpes and wine. Then we just explored the area near our hotel was (called the Latin quarter). It's a very touristy area, but fun and full of young people. The cafes and restaurants stayed open very late in this area. 

 The magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral.

 Crêpes and wine the first night.

Saturday: Chrissy and I had breakfast at our hotel (which was free & delicous!) then headed to the Eiffel Tower for our bike tour. We met up with some girls from my Galway program who were also in Paris. The tour was great and definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We had cruising bikes that we rode all over the city to many of the main touristy sites. We saw the Eiffel Tower, Napoléon's Tomb, Musée D'Orsay, Louvre Museum (where we stopped for lunch), Ecole Militaire, Rodin Museum, Les Invalides, Alexander III Bridge, and Grand and Petit Palais. I'm glad I did the tour, because it was nice to actually learn about all the beautiful buildings we were seeing. I also just loved riding a bike around the city. All of our bikes had a name on them. Our tour guide said, "I'm a firm believer that the bike picks it's rider, so look at the name of your bike." Mine was named baguette, which I thought was appropriate for all the the eating I did this weekend. After the tour Chrissy and I headed up to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down Champs-Élysées. We went to a French restaurant and got the best French Onion soup I've ever had. At night, we went back to the Eiffel Tower and went to the very top. You have the option of going up to the first level, or all the way to the summit. The stairs were closed at night, so we took a glass elvator up which was honestly a little scary. The top is a lot higher than it looks. It was the most spectacular view from the top. After we met up with Anya & Cristobol for dinner to a little French restaurant. It was very very French, even a bit too much so for Anya, so we knew it had to be legit :) We spent the night catching up, listening to a cute woman play the accordion while singing le vie en rose. We had a smorgasbord of wine, bread, dried meat spread, oysters, pickles, steak tartare, creme brulee, etc.

 Breakfast at our hotel: Baguette with cheese, jam, and a chocolate spread.

 Before our bike tour.

Does this even need a caption?

The BC group.

 In front of the Louvre!

 The best french onion soup in the world!

 On the famous Pont Neuf bridge... apparently it is a famous "make out" bridge.

Eiffel at night :)

At the top!

View of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Sunday: On Sunday Chrissy and I went to the Musée D'Orsay, a famous impressionist museum. We paid 6 euros for a ticket, because we said we were from the US. When we realized that we could count as EU citizens, we bargained and argued many people but eventually got our money back. We justified buying yet another croissant with the 6 euros that we saved later. Later, the three of us met up at the Sacré Cœur, which is another beautiful church up on a hill that overlooks the city. Scenes from the movie Amelie were shot there! We walked around the neighborhood around it called Montmarte which was my favorite in all of Paris. There were so many street vendors selling incredible artwork, and other souvenirs. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe, then split up because Chrissy had to go home. Anya and I went out to another cute French resturant for dessert. 

 Sacré Cœur.

Monday: For Valentine's Day, since we were both away from our boyfriends, Anya and I bought each other chocolates and went shopping. We did some shopping for friends and family at home, then somehow lost track of time and I ended up barely making my flight. It was quite funny actually. The two of us ran through the airport like crazy people, then I tripped on some woman's luggage. I made it, thank goodness :)

city of love

It's a cold, wet, dreary day in Ireland today so my mind is daydreaming of my upcoming weekend. This weekend I will be traveling to the beautiful city of Paris. It also happens to be Valentine's Day weekend, which I did not plan purposely when I booked the trip. I'll be meeting my two best friends there, Anya & Chrissy. Although I won't be with Alex this year for Valentine's Day, I think that the city of love will make a great date.

london: england

This weekend I jetsetted (is this a real word?) to London to visit my best friend since middle school, Chrissy. It was such an amazing trip, and even better to experience it with a friend. Chrissy is studying abroad in London this semester, so she knew great spots to bring me to and was an excellent tour guide. Obviously, it was just fun to see her for the weekend too!

The travel to get to London was rough because of lack buses from Galway to the airport. A friend and I ended up having to go to airport the night before, and sleep over in order to make our flight. Thus, very little sleep. When I finally arrived in London, I first took a much needed nap, then met up with Chrissy after she was done with class. We went to this cute little pub and got yummy food & drinks and caught up on life. Thursday night we went out with a group of her friends to O'Neills, a really awesome 3 floor pub with live music. 

On Friday we ventured into the city to see all the touristy spots. We walked through several different neighborhoods (Soho, Piccadilly, Westminster, etc.) each one amazing in it's own way. We stopped for high tea at a coffee/ cupcake cafe called Bea's. Honestly, to die for cupcakes! We saw Trafalgar Sqaure, Big Ben & Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and other great spots. The coolest part of the day was taking a tour of Parliament. Chrissy has an internship working at Parliament this semester so she was able to get us in some "staff only" spots and gave me an awesome tour. It is indescribable how amazing it is to see buildings to incredibly packed with history, history way older than our own country. We ate lunch at a cafe inside the castle, which had a terrace that overlooks the Thames. We walked a ton that day but I really felt like we saw so much of the city. We went to famous shopping streets like Oxford Street and saw some amazing stores. I was pretty proud of myself for only buying one shirt!

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben & Parliament

House of Lords

London Eye & Parliament.

Friday night we went to a nightclub called Fabric, which according to a popular DJ magazine is ranked 2nd in the world! And man, it totally lived up to it's standards. It was a blast. We went in a huge group and the music & dancing were amazing. The nightclub didn't even close till 6am. We made it till about 4:30am which I thought was pretty impressive :)

On Saturdays markets are the thing to experience in London. Chrissy & I went to a place called Borough Market.  There were hundreds of food stands giving out samples of cheese, sausage, breads, oils, etc. and I don't think we turned down any! It was amazing food! The market was in a great location right on the Thames river. We walked past St. Paul's Cathedral, across the Millennium Bridge, and past Shakespeare's globe theatre. After, Chrissy & I went to a Modern Art museum called Tate Modern. We were both pretty exhausted considering the lack of sleep the night before, so we went home and napped before going out to another pub that night.

St. Paul's Cathedral

On Sunday, we went to Church. No, not real Church (sorry Mom!) It's hard to really even explain what it is, but it's a famous event in London. Basically every Sunday there is an event called Church, almost like a club. The location changes from venue to venue throughout the city. The concept is that everyone has to dress up either in costume or goofy outfit to get in. It was almost like Halloween. It goes from noon- four during the day. There was lots of dancing and other ridiculous things.

London is an amazing city. It's so packed with character and history. Every single neighborhood, building, market, etc. is so unique and fun to explore. The only negative of the trip, and of London in general, is how expensive it is. High prices combined with a bad dollar to pound exchange rate leads to spending a lot of money! However, the trip was worth every cent (or should I say pence).

irish set dancing

Tonight our coordinator took us all out to take an Irish set dancing class. We only learned the very basics, but it was so fun! After our two hour class, when we felt like we were finally getting the hang of things, we went to a bar named Monroe's to really see how it's done. Every Tuesday Monroe's has Irish dancing nights, where the locals come to dance. They were amazing dancers! After seeing how it's really done, we have a long way to go :) 

I'm leaving for London tomorrow night to visit my best friend Chrissy! Unfortunately, there are no buses to the airport early in the morning and my flight leaves Thursday at six in the morning, so a friend and I are taking the latest bus on Wednesday and sleeping over at the airport- should be an adventure!