Barcelona! What a spectacular city. The architecture is amazing, the night life is amazing, the sangria is amazing, and it has a beach where you can get 5 euro massages... Amazing!
There is also a fantastic fountain show, an amazing market, and feral parrots.
We stayed at a pretty sweet hostel that had its own pub crawl which we went on on Sarah's birthday! She got 2 extra shots (2 came with the pub crawl), and by the time we got to the 2 euro shot bar (see picture above for a partial list of the 2 euro shots available) she was a happy camper. We partied it up at a club until 5 in the morning, though getting my foot stepped on by a girl in heels brought back traumatic memories from one night in 2007 at Club Cuba in Galway. That time, I ended up with a huge lump and a nasty bruise that lingered on my foot for a good week. This wasn't nearly so bad.
Barcelona is definitely a place I'd go back to if the opportunity presented itself, but I'd like to see more of Spain in general. And next April, I'm going to get the chance! My aunt Rita and my cousin Sky will be visiting Madrid, and I'm going to pop over for a few days to hang out with them!
So Barcelona was in September, and in October I went to Oktoberfest in Munich! I also got to hang out with Sarah, Sarah, and Ariel at their apartment in Landstuhl, and go on the airforce base which sold American food. I snatched up root beer and cheez-itz, but they were sold out of Dots. It was a sad moment.
I arrived in Landstuhl at around 9 in the evening, and at around 10 we ate dinner, and on the way back to the girls' apartment, we stopped at a bar (an Irish one, go figure...). We ended up going to sleep at around 3:30 am... and left the house at 5:30 am in order to catch a 6 am train to Munich! Of course, not much sleep happened on the train either, as we had to make good use of the time for some predawn pregaming:
We also made friends with older German ladies in drindls who gave us pretzels. Om nom nom. Once in Munich, we had a bit of time to wander around and see the city, but I was so tired that I couldn't really comprehend much of it. I do remember very affordable and very delicious berries being sold by fruit vendors. Once at Oktoberfest, we learned that lots people of all ages really do dress up in lederhosen and drindls. And it's normal. The costume nerd in me was in heaven. Too bad the drindl I had bought for myself had not arrived in time :(
At Oktoberfest, they have roller coasters. I had read that they had rides, but the picture on the website just showed a carousel, so that's what I was expecting. What I got was the Loop de Loop:
Now, I'd never had the guts to go on a super loopy upside down roller coaster before. Ever. And when we first arrived at Oktoberfest, I said absolutely not. Then, after going on the tamer Alpine ride and the mysterious mining ride that was hidden inside of a dark building, I was convinced that the Loop de Loop was my destiny. And I am so glad. The entire time I joyously yelled "LOOP DE LOOP!" Which, by the way, is the name that I gave the ride... not the "official" one.
See the girl in the drindl behind me?? Alles gute! We took the party train home from Munich, which had 3 bars with dance floors that stayed open all night long. Unfortunately, my body finally quit working from exhaustion after hardly sleeping for several nights in a row and I had to snuggle down on a very uncomfy train seat. At around 4 am, I woke up hungover and ate my cookie necklace. Another sad, yet happy moment as a piece of memorabilia was destroyed but delicious cookieness entered my body.
In November, I did manage to take a very quick trip to Dublin where I met up with Chris on his last night in Europe. We drank, ate delicious kebabs, and I fell down. The cobblestone streets are vicious when you're in heels. One of the best parts was the Christmassy atmosphere in the city:
Amsterdam - Supposed to be beautiful and awesome!
Norway - Must see the Northern Lights!
Rome - I studied Latin for 4 years. I have to go here.
Southern France - My childhood neighbor Jill is currently living here, so hopefully I can go with my sister, whenever she gets around to visiting me!
Istanbul - I've wanted to go here since high school for some reason, but I really don't know much about it. The professor of an art history class I took for my Medieval Studies minor was always very excited about it, though.
Scotland - Ariel says we must go to the fringe festival here.
Shetland - I know it's random, but that's kinda why I want to go. I am hoping I can convince Ariel while we're in Scotland!
Egypt - Ariel's also put this one in my head. I am thinking maybe in September, before I come home?
There are also more things in Ireland that I'd like to go to:
One of the music festivals in summer - these are supposed to be spectacular.
Northern Ireland - I've got to see the Giant's Causeway at some point.
Ring of Kerry - Supposed to be absolutely beautiful.
I know there are more places that I don't even know about yet that I want to visit, so let me know if you have any suggestions. I am getting a Master's degree, but I could have done that in the States. The reason for moving this far was so that I would be in a position to travel to awesome foreign places! I am going to try to keep up with the visiting a place each month, and hopefully I'll get a loan soon to make that possible, because I am woefully broke now. :)
PS - Many pictures in this blog were stolen from the albums of Sarah Henry and Ariel Anderson!
