Travel Writing

So, I started this blog as a travel blog since I was moving overseas and all.  But I haven't actually written much about traveling.  So let's do that now...

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.

So Oktoberfest is a fantastic mix of pretzels, beer, and carnival rides.  The best mix ever. There are also cookies.  On ribbons.  That you wear around your neck.  Cookie necklaces!

 

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:

So those have been my travels thus far, but I want to go so many more places between now (well, January, really, since I'll be in the States over the holidays) and when I go home next fall.  So here is a list:

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!

Heyyy, Homework...

I have hit a homework wall.  And so I am blogging again!

First thoughts:  should I cut my hair?
It is a very important decision.  I have been agonizing over this for the past hour (part of my homework denial scheme), and am torn between a funky new short haircut and keeping the length. It's finally getting long and looking nice, and I thought that my layers still had split ends but upon examination tonight, I've realized that they are actually healthy hair, it is just the longest layer that is split at the ends.  Here's what I have in mind for a haircut:

Or maybe this:

Or maybe something else.  Or maybe not short at all.

In other news, I'm excited for the holiday season.  Christmas parties!  Christmas party with my class...

MES students party it up (Team Afghanistan:  Winners!)

and then a party at home!

Like this but with Christmas sweaters!

And I am going to bake delicious things and drink egg nog and it'll be great!  Woot woot nog!

There is apparently going to be a Christmas Market in Galway this year, opening this Friday.  It should have spectacular foods and mulled wine and I have high expectations.  It's supposed to look something like this:

But I think that picture's from Germany as this based on the German ones and this is the first Galway Christmas Market.  But there better be lights and chalets and Christmassy costumes!

Random picture from Germany!  Oktoberfest!

With all that said (written...), I can't think of any more rambles, which means it's time for 703 précis number 10.  Boo.  But just 8 précis remain to be written before it is Christmastime!  Woot woot!

November: Month Number Nine

I don't usually take baths, but today I took a bubble bath and that was a good decision.  I've been obsessed with the idea of taking one for the past few weeks after seeing an episode of Friends where Monica convinces Chandler that baths are a good idea... She convinced me too.

Luckily mine did not end up like this

A month ago,  I tried (and kinda succeeded, but mostly failed) to get ahead of school before Chris arrived.  While Chris was here, we mostly just hung out, which could have been lame if that wasn't what we usually did anyways.  We did try to take a day trip.  And by try I mean we talked about it, looked at the car rental website, talked about it some more the next day, looked at the car rental site, talked about it again, and finally packed our shit and went into town to leave... without looking at the car rental website.  When we got to the agency, the dude was a dick and there were no cars, so we decided to take the bus back to my house.  Seeing that we had 20 minutes to kill, we went to get a pint:

Giant pint glass.  I am aware that that doesn't make sense.

35 minutes later, after missing the first bus, we went back to the bus stop, and saw that we had another 35 minutes to kill.  So we went to another pub and had another pint!  Then we took the bus home.  Good day trip.

As for school... Each of my classes had a midterm assignment, with two being 3000 word essays and the third a map project with a 1500 word discussion.  And each of them had their deadlines pushed back.  And I still turned them all in late.  The first just 15 minutes late, the second an hour and 15 minutes late, and the third 1 day 2 hours and 15 minutes late.  Very nice...

But now that all is done and I am back on track.  I go home in less than a month.  Back to America, where stuff is cheap!  I <3 the $!!!  Especially since I now have just 19 euros in my bank account.  Spectacular.  Or maybe it's... Spooktacular?!

My pumpkin!

 

Chris' pumpkin!

Galway AboOoOo!