Every ending is a new beginning

I can't believe tomorrow I will be back in the States. I don't even know how to react to it at this point. Leaving Galway isn't like going home from Penn State for the summer. I'm moving away from a whole life I created here back to America, where a totally different life is waiting.

And I'm both glad to be heading home and sad to be leaving Galway. At the end you tend to look back and remember all of the good times and forget the bad, and there were a LOT of good times here. I went to the Quays one more time last night for a final pint of 'real' Guinness, and just reminisced with my friends Aliza and Courtney -- and we had some really great times this semester. We even looked a bit longingly at the table behind us where we had dinner the very first night we arrived in Galway. It's weird how everything tends to come full circle.

This semester had been in the works for so long, I can't believe it is over. Being here has taught me so much and it's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. It may not have been the easiest semester of my life, but there's not much I would take back about it. Having never been to Europe before and then living in Ireland and traveling has opened my eyes so much. I love Europe, truly. It's absolutley amazing. Traveling is something I have always had a passion for, but I never really traveled that much before now. But I have a feeling that I will be saving my pennies to come back to Europe as soon as possible. There are still so many places I haven't been to! And some I would love to go back to for a longer period of time (PARIS!).

It's so crazy to realize that in one semester I went from never being to Europe to going all over Ireland, Portugal, Paris, Normandy, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, London and Oxford. I've seen 11 different cities and 5 countries. I traveled with friends and traveled by myself. I became street savvy (at least I like to think so) and independent.

After this trip I feel like I could face anything, do anything and go anywhere. So even though it's the end of this adventure, there are many more that await. So, who wants to travel around the world with me after graduation?

London Calling

All good things must eventually end

I'm slowly starting to pack, and have only two full days left in Galway. It's very weird to think about. After living here for four and a half months it's almost over. And packing is not going to be fun -- two suitcases and a back pack for 4 months worth of stuff, ugh. I took one last walk through town and down to Salthill today. Luckily it has been extremely nice these past few days making my depature even sadder. It finally feels like ... well spring because it's never hot enough here to really feel like summer.

I never had a chance to update about London, but it was an awesome trip. I'm really, really glad I went and traveling alone was the easiest thing ever. There was no one but me to worry about and I got to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And I did a LOT. So I'll just post a few photos from the trip and if you want to hear about it -- well in only a few days I can tell you about it in person or on the phone!

London Bound

I'm going to London early tomorrow morning and I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun. I'll be there until Friday afternoon and then am back in Galway for one more week. I'll be back in the Jerz on May 15th. So weird.

In the home stretch

About 18 days until I return to the states. It's amazing how fast time has gone!!! Right now it's getting a little boring here in general. I have one final and one paper left, but they're both not until May 4th and I don't have classes. So, I'll basically be spending this week just hanging out and studying and writing. But that's not such a bad thing. It's going to be a pretty crazy summer, so I might as well enjoy the relaxation. The weather here has not been nice at all. I hear it's wonderful, sunny and warm in NJ and State College -- go out and enjoy it for me!! I mean I'll be spending the summer in Florida, so I'll get more than enough warmth and sun. But it has been cloudy, windy, cold and rainy here most of the weekend. The sun's out right now, but is flanked by pretty nasty, dark clouds and it's cold. Probably in the mid-40s.

BUT. I'm going to London next week!! I'm really excited! It's going to be a solo adventure for me because a few of the friends I've asked have already been to London, and some are having visitors or visiting friends in other places. I think it'll be fun to do something by myself like this. I already have a lot of it planned out. There's so many different options for bus tours and walking tours, too, so I won't be wander around the city on my own very much. I got tickets to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre, too!!! That's going to be awesome. I'm also going to Oxford for a day and my friend, Alex, has a friend who studies there and she said she could show me around for a bit.

Then I'll head back to Galway for about a week, pack and bid Ireland goodbye. I'm flying home on May 15th. My host sister from the first weekend here also e-mailed me and told me to come over for a day before I leave, so I'm going to try to set that up for my last week.

Hope all is well with everyone back home! Enjoy the last week of classes and good luck with finals!

Home Sweet Ireland

Now I'm back in Galway, and it's nice to be "home." Ireland is a good home coming place. It's sort of comforting. After the hustle and bustle and chaos of the bug cities of Paris, Madrid and Barcelona Ireland is just calm and simple. There's nothing too extravagant about it, at least not in Galway. But it's cute and sweet and just a nice place to rest one's feet.

I have an essay due in a week and a half and three exams before I'm really done. About 4 more weeks left in Ireland and then back to America! That's SOOOOOOO weird. I think it's going to be a bit of a culture shock going home, less so than coming here. And while I miss my parents and friends back in the States it'll be really weird to leave. While there's so much waiting for me back "home," there's so much of this "home" that I don't want to leave behind.

But there's still time for me to enjoy being here and make every moment I have left count. And no matter what I'll never really leave cloudy, rainy, lovely Galway behind.

Easter in Barcelona

Sunday was another rainy and cloudy morning. Since it was Easter we weren't sure what would be open, if anything. But we caught the train to Parc Guell anyway hoping for the best. And it was open! I was pretty excited because that was one of the places I really wanted to go to in Barcelona. Downside: some of it was ... guess! Under construction. Ugh. But, what we did get to see was still really cool. The park was on top of a really BIG hill, so high that there were outdoor escalators leading up to to, after a ten minute incline you had to walk up.

It had another amazing view of the city. The park is a little hard to describe, but the architecture of it is just very funky. It was designed by Gaudi and much of it is made with ceramic in a mosaic style. It's very colorful and fun -- I just wish it had been sunny. We walked around that as much as we could, but the upper half all seemed to be fenced off, so less time was spent there than we thought.

After that we headed back into the city and down to the beach. It began to rain steadily as we got to the beach and the wind was blowing pretty hard. After seeing the beaches of Portugal, Barcelona's was nothing too impressive. But we got lunch outside under big orange umbrellas right by the sand, which was nice. We just wandered around that area for a bit after lunch and then got churros con chocolate. They were amazing!! It's churros, basically pastry with sugar on top, and then a cup of a hot chocolate like substance only much thicker. We dipped the churros in the chocolate and when those were done we drank the rest. So good.

That night we went to check out the biggest church in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia. It has been under construction since 1882 and isn't even close to being finished. It's actually one of the most visited buildings that isn't yet completed. Gaudi worked on it for 15 years until his death and then a lot of it was destroyed during the Spanish War. It's expected to be completed by 2026. It's really spectacular looking! Gaudi was amazingly inventive. We got to go inside and see the construction site and the interior of the building that has been completed so far. After wandering around inside we went to mass there!! A lot of people have asked me if the service was huge, but it wasn't at all. The main part of the cathedral is still under construction so just a small part on the side is closed off for service. There was a small makeshift alter and a few benches set up for pews. There's no heating installed in the cathedral yet so there were heat lamps set up around the pews and a piano off to the side. But the service was really, really nice. It was all in Barcelona's language -- Catalan. I didn't understand a word of the service, but got the gist of what was going on. The congregation for the mass seemed mixed, from Americans to Barcelonians and citizens from other parts of Spain. In the end they had people from different countries come up and say Happy Easter in their native tongue.

After that we just grabbed a quick dinner on the way to the metro and headed back to the hostel to get to bed early because we had to get up early to catch more trains, planes and automobiles back to Ireland.

"Barca! Barca! Barca!"

On Saturday we headed up to the mountain Montjuic. We took the metro and then a tram to get there and then a gondola to get all the way to the top, where the castle was. We didn't go inside the castle because it didn't seem like much, but we wandered around the top taking photos of the city and the harbor. It was neat how the mountain looked down on the whole city. Barcelona looked so much bigger from up there than I thought it was. We also got to see the Olympic stadium! That was really cool. The sidewalk leading up to it have gold circles on it with the footprint and names of all the athletes that won gold medals.

Despite rain and drizzle we walked around Montjuic for a good while checking out all of the parks that dot it -- there's dozens. They were really, really pretty and we both wished it was sunny and that we had books with us to just sit by the fountains and flowers and read. We saw another cathedral that is a museum, but didn't go in. Like everything else in Barcelona, it was under construction. The huge fountain in Montjuic was also not on. It was a cool looking place but those small things detracted from the beauty I'm sure it is.

That night we went to an FC Barcelona game. Futbol is very, very popular and competitive in Europe so it was fun to go to a game! I've never been to a professional soccer game, even in America. Barcelona is really good and their footwork was very fancy. There was a pretty good turnout for the game, considering it wasn't a very big game and it was a rainy day. But the rain cleared away by game time and it wasn't too cold, either. There were lots of little kids sitting around us and they really got into it. Jumping and screaming when a goal was made and cheering on their favorite players. I got an FC Barcelona scarf from a vendor on the street and Andy got a jersey. Even though our seats were near the top of the bleachers we still had a great view of the game. Sporting events are so similar, yet so different. They're very universal, something that unites everyone I think. They did the wave, screamed, cursed (in Spanish of course), clapped for injured players and chanted their teams name ("Barca! Barca! Barca!"). It was a lot of fun and kind of relaxing after all the walking and site seeing. And they won, too!!!

Last leg of the trip: Barcelona

We almost missed the morning train to Barcelona on Friday because for some reason we thought it left at 10:30 a.m., but no it was at 9:20 a.m.. So at 9 a.m. when Andy checked his ticket we freaked, threw everything in the suitcase and RAN. We grabbed the metro ... twice and pretty much ran for the train. Even the security guards were like RUN! But we made it, so all was well. After checking into a very nice youth hostel, we grabbed a map and headed into the center of the city. We walked down the main thoroughfare, Las Ramblas. It's a supposedly very famous street and was pretty cool (though to me nothing spectacular). There were lots of odd street performers dressed up lining the streets and they would stand still like statues until someone tossed a coin into a cup in front of them and then they would start moving. But our personal favorite was a man who had a table filled with wine glasses in from of him; the table vibrated and he played the glasses really well.

We checked out yet another church and actually ran into some other Galway abroad students heading out as we were heading in. We spent about ten minutes in the church and left. We were a bit worn out by churches at that point (though we weren't done yet). After that we walked toward to bay and checked out the view from there, discovered the Spanish Arc de Triomf (not quite as impressive as the one in Paris) and found the Picasso Museum. I liked that one a lot because I have only seen Picasso's more famous works and it was neat to see everything he did from the start of his career to the end. His works were really more eclectic than I thought.

That night the hostel took the kids out to a club, but before that we stood around in the kitchen talking. Then this older Asian man staying in the hostel, Charles, grabbed a communal guitar in the sitting room and we had a random sing-a-long to the Stone and Beatles and others. It was pretty weird and hilarious. It was neat to meet more students traveling. Everyone has different stories. I met two boys from Brazil studying in Spain. And when one asked me to tell him about NJ my description was very bland in contrast to his about Brazil. There were a lot of Americans studying in different countries and a boy from New Zealand studying in London. And a girl from Japan just traveling around for a few months.

Day tripping

Tuesday we took a day trip to the town of Toledo, Spain. It was wonderful. The town itself is declared a World Heritage site because for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures. The city is just beautiful. It climbs upward though the hills and has hundreds of small streets twisting left and right, up and down all throughout it.

Andy and I just wandered through the sunlit streets for hours. It was a gorgeous day and we had no real plans on where to go. So far during the trip we had been to tons of churches and cathedrals, but the Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada was by far my favorite. It wasn't anything too spectacular on the outside, but inside ... wow. It was really much bigger than it looks from the outside and the murals, stained glass windows and amazingly elaborate chapels dedicated to the different saints. There were many different rooms inside, all decorated with different art and even a room with all of the uniforms of old bishops and priests. My favorite part was the retable which was done in Gothic style and represents the passion of the Christ and ascension of the Virgin Mary. We once again were not able to take photos inside so I have no pictures of it, but it was beautiful. (here's a pic of it from Wikipedia)

After that we went to another religious building, this one a Jesuit church. It is popular for it's great view of the city. It almost seemed like a hidden treasure because there weren't many people inside and it was hidden among the winding streets of the city. Little signs pointed the way to the stairs which took you up to the top. The view was perfect!

After that we just wandered and wandered and ... ran into a castle! There was a market near it and a pretty little park so we walked around that for a while. Then we decided to take a new route back to the train station and go more spectacular views of the city and all the beige and white rooftops with the countryside surrounding them. It was a perfect and beautiful Spanish city.

That night we went to a restaurant called Tapas Bar for dinner. I got smoked salmon and it was very good. We also shared a pitcher of Sangria, which was delicious. After that we checked out a party at a club for international students but the drinks were over priced and we were pretty tired from walking around Toledo for hours so we headed back to the hotel to get some shut eye. Barcelona was yet to come.

Palace of Versailles and Train Rides

Tuesday morning we woke up early to cloudy and drizzly skies, but got on the train to Versailles regardless to arrive right after it opened. We had better luck than the last attempt and although there was a line, it wasn't too long and we had until 6 o'clock to explore.
Versailles was absolutely beautiful. It was huge and extraordinarily ornate. We got audio guides and wandered through all the rooms just gaping at the elegance of it all. There were dozens and dozens of rooms in the palace, and all of them were decorated differently and uniquely. My favorite room by far is the most famous on in the palace -- the Hall of Mirrors. It was amazing. It's one long room that has large windows looking out to the gardens lining one side and large mirrors lining the other side. The whole ceiling is painted and dozens of large chandeliers hang down from the ceiling stretching across the whole length of the room. We also walked down to Marie Antoinette's estate, which was also very beautiful. She had good taste in decorations! We grabbed lunch in a restaurant by the Palace gardens and then did a little shopping in the town. After we caught the train back to the city we tried to go to the Museu D'Orsay but there was too long of a line. Instead we headed back down to the Arc de Triomphe to get a closer look at it when it was opened. We walked down the Champs Elysees and took the underground tunnel to the Arc (though running across the roundabout again was tempting). We got a look at the eternal flame and walked through the Arc.

We went back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and a quick dinner of crepes au fraise and gelato (I know really healthy, but delectable!). Then we went to the train station to catch an overnight train to Madrid. The train was pretty nice, but sleeping on it was not the most comfortable experience. But we left as the gold-pink sun was setting on Paris and rode on through the countryside until we hit Spain around daybreak. It was fun to see the sun rise over the Spanish countryside -- it was really incredible.

We checked into the hotel in Madrid right after we arrived, and it was a really nice place right in the center of everything. The bad thing about Spain is they don't let you take photos inside any of the cathedrals or museums -- so I won't have any from inside of buildings, just outside. We headed to where the Palacio Real de Madrid is and got in line for that. It was gorgeous inside. Just as ornate as Versailles was. I really like the dining hall with a ballroom attached where the royalty held balls. There was also a section filled with all the old armor they used to wear -- that was really neat. After that we went to a restaurant called Inshala, which was recommended in Andy's Europe travel book. It was delicious!! We had Paella (I ate it all, except the shrimp that still had eyes. I can't eat things with eyes.) and then a huge lemon chicken (I swear it was one whole chicken between the two of us) and then we even had a really good chocolate cake for dessert. And it was all very, very delicious and only 12 euro for all that food!!

After that we hit up the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Museo National de Prado. Both were really nice, but after a point you get a little tired of so much art, especially because most of it is religious. All the paintings of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, etc. are amazingly beautiful -- but can get a little old after a while. After the museums we walked through the Real Jardin Botanico. It was really nice! Most of the flowers weren't in bloom yet, but there were lots of pretty red tulips and it was very green. After that we went to get tapas at another restaurant the book suggested, but the route we took to get there made me feel a little uncomfortable. It was very well lit or populated and there was a lot of graffiti. To get to the restaurant we had to go to an apartment-looking building and take the elevator up. The restaurant was OK and the tapas weren't bad, but I wasn't in the best mood because of the walk. After we ate we took the metro back to the hotel and went to bed.

Pleasant Suprises

On Monday we woke early again to go to the Museu D'Orangerie. I wasn't sure what was in the museum, but we thought that Monet's Water Lilies were supposed to be on display there. The museum was right near the Louvre so I got to see that area again without all of the crowds, which was great. There was barely anyone in the small museum when we got there and we wandered down to the bottom floor, but there wasn't much to see. I was a bit disappointed at that and was ready to leave but then we noticed there was another gallery on the entrance floor. We walked in and saw only a white wall, but then on the other side was the Water Lily paintings!! It was such a surprise! The room was rounded, but squarish too and there was a different Water Lily painting on each side. They were breathtaking. And those weren't the only ones, there was another room exactly the same on the other side, but with different paintings. We spent quite a long time studying them up close and sitting on the benches in the middle of the rooms just enjoying how beautiful they were.

After the museum we went to Notre Dame. We went inside and it was very beautiful with high ceilings and gorgeous stained glass windows. The alter was also very beautiful and the whole building was very intricate. We wanted to go all the way to the top but the towers were closed so we went most of the way up and the spread out before us was Paris! The view was wonderful! We could see the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, the Pantheon and just about everything. We could even climb up and see the bell Quasimodo rang and lower down the tower where he helped to hid Esmeralda.

After Notre Dame we took the train to Montmatre, which was another pleasant surprise. It's up on a very high hill that overlooks Paris. It was such a cute section of the city with lots of funky shops and restaurants down winding streets which lead into Paris. The day was beautiful and people were out everywhere. Children were playing and laughing in the park and tables from restaurant's lined the sidewalks. We had pizza for lunch at a table outside and then headed up the dozens of stairs that lead to Sacre Coeur -- the big cathedral on the hill. From the top we had yet another spectacular view of the city. People where lying out on the grassy hills by the cathedral eating lunch and soaking in the view of the city. A little map carved into the stone at the top showed where all the major buildings in Paris are so we looked at that a tried to spot all of them. After that we had to switch hostels, which took some time. I moved closer to the center of the Latin Quarter to Young and Happy hostel and Andy had to got to a hotel on the other side of the city. After that craziness we met up with Sam by the Eiffel Tower! It was great to see her after such a long time, especially in Paris of all places! We walked up some steps near a few museums that gave us a great sunny view of the Eiffel Tower. All the fountains were on and we just stood up there and talked for some time. Then she got us on the metro to Centre Pompidu and we said our goodbyes.

I mostly wanted to check out the Centre Pompidu because I remember pictures of it from French class. It's a modern museum that's inside out because there are stairs and escalators on the outside of the building. It looked exactly as I remembered from books in high school. Andy and I grabbed crepes at a nearby stand for dinner (mine was sucre et buerre -- sugar and butter, delicious!!) We sat on the concrete in front of the building which sloped up to the street and people watched for a bit.

After that we tried to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but by the time we reached the front of the line the very top was closed. We still went up most of the way and got a fantastic view of the city at night. It was really neat, especially because we had been to every building we could see and point out.

Oh, Champs Elysees!

After the Versailles fail we headed back to the hostel and painstakingly booked a hostel for Madrid and found on for Andy for the third night in Paris because Oops! lost his reservation somehow. After that was done we overheard some American girls talking about finding somewhere to go for dinner and since we were headed to the middle of the Latin Quarter where a good nightlife is, we invited them to go check it out with us. They ended up being nice girls. Two of them graduated early from Clemson and were traveling for a graduation present and the third girl was in their room and was from Canada. She had been traveling for more than a year and Paris was one of her last stops. I would never dream of traveling alone for that long! She's a brave girl.

They ended up eating with us at a night restaurant outside on one of the cobblestone sidewalks that line the Latin Quarter. I got steak for dinner and it was really good. I also tried some of Andy's escargot - snails are definitely not my cup of tea. The meal even came with dessert, I got peach melba. Yum! After dinner (which lasted about an hour and a half, so nice) Andy and I bid the girls goodbye because they were headed to the Eiffel Tower and we were going to check out the Arc de Triomphe at night.

Before getting to the Arc we hopped off the metro at the wrong spot but ended up right near the Opera Garnier, the one the Phantom of the Opera is based off of! It was really pretty and I was glad to see it beacuse PoTo is my favorite musical. Then we made it to the Arc!


The Arc de Triomphe serves as a roundabout, and is surrounded by about four lanes of traffic. Well, Andy and I didn't realize there was a tunnel to the Arc we ran across the roundabout instead (we've had lots of experience from Ireland). It probably wasn't the best idea, especially when the security guard told us the Arc was closed when we reached it. Which we thought was pretty funny, so we had to run back across the roundabout. Then we headed down the Champs Elysees, which was full of life despite it being midnight on a Sunday. It's just an incredibly long strip of road with dozens and dozens of fancy shops and restaurants lined down both sides. Most of the restaurants had outdoor seating and people were still out enjoying dinner and tea at midnight! It was really cool to look back and see the Arc at the end of the road and all the lights and shops stretched out in front. I loved, loved, loved Paris.

The Louvre and long lines

On Sunday morning Andy and I got up early to hit the Louvre right as it opened. Many museums are free on the first Sunday of the month and the Louvre is one of them. We lucked out by going early because there was barely a line and the museum wasn't too crowded. We got audio headsets, a map and headed inside. It was ENORMOUS. We could have spent days within its walls -- but cut that down to about 3 hours. The museum is beautifully built. Every room was spacious, clean and filled to the brim with art. Each section was dedicated to something different, from Greek and Roman sculptures to French paintings to Egyptian art.



We saw the Psyche Revived by Cupid statue (which was one of my favorites), hundreds of religious paintings from ones of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus to ones of the crucifitcion. And of course we hit up the most famous painting in the whole museum -- the Mona Lisa. That room was the most crowded and you could only get within about 10 feet of the painting because it was roped off and security gaurds patroled its parimeter. But it was really neat to see, and as everyone does say pretty small. We also saw the Law Code of Hammurabi and too many paintings and sculptures for me to remember. I really liked the sections for Egyptian and Aztec art.






We could have spent hours more in the Louvre, but the sun was shining outside and I wanted to walk around the outside of the building before we grabbed the train to Versailles. The outside of the Louvre was also amazing, with the building in the shape of a square missing one of its sides and the glass triangle in the middle (we actually exited through it!!) Across the way was an arc and the outline of the Eiffel Tower was visible in the distance. We walked down the flights of steps that lead to the Louvre and came upon fountains and sand covered paths that lead out to a roundabout and further on to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees! It was spectacular and the sun was warm and bright. There were green chairs set around the fountains and people where everywhere just enjoying the sun with picnics and books. It was everything I dreamed it would be. We walked all the way down to the street and then headed for the metro station.



However, by the time we found the right train and got to Versailles clouds had come out. We grabbed lunch and then headed over to the palace to be greeted by not one, but two incredible long lines. One was to get tickets, the other was to get in. We only had three hours until its closing and knew we wanted to spend at least 3 hours inside it, so we decided to go back another day. Luckily my French was good enough to check with the guard that the palace would be open on Tuesday and check its opening time, too. Despite that set back everything was going perfectly.

Since Versailles was a bust when we got back to Paris we decided to check out the Pantheon, where many famous French citizens are buried. It's a really neat building and inside was beautiful with paintings on the walls and statues dedicated to important figures in France's history. We also went down to the crypt and got to see the tomb of Voltaire, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, among other famous French men and women. It was an unexpectedly awesome part of the trip.