Paris

NUI Galway, who beieve it or not is a real academic institution, has a month off during the Spring semster. A MONTH off. Yes. I have done a bit of travelling thus far but was saving a lot of it for the back end of the semester, Spring Break. After about a month of browsing Ryanair and Hostelworld.com and Tripadvisor my trip was planned out to the detail and I was ready to take Europe by storm.



The first stop on the trip was Paris, France.

My Spring Break journey begins with me running through the streeets of Galway to (barely) catch my bus to the airport. After 3 hours of watching Maurice Sutton high school highlights on the bus, I arrived at the Dublin airport. Luckily I managed to squeeze 13 days of clothing into a Ryanair approved suitcase, ate a weird airport meatball sub, drank a pint, and boarded a plane to France. The plane ride flew by because I watched Midnight in Paris on Erin's iphone, and I was now officially ready to tackle Paris.

After taking another bus from the airport to center city, the 8 of us grabbed two cabs to Smart Place Paris, our hostel for the next two nights. Without divulging too much detail, all 8 of us ended up sleeping in the same 4 person hostel room, which was no bigger than my bathroom on West this year. Our booking was messed up and we convinced the receptionist to turn a blind eye and let us shack up together for the two nights. #STUDYABROAD. While the room was extremely small, it cut everyone's hostel expence in half so that actually worked out. After a long day of travel, we went right to sleep with big plans for the next day.

On Thursday morning me, Erin, and Megan woke up bright and early and started our Paris tour. Erin was just in Paris the weekend before so it was great to have somebody to navigate the city and show us all of the best places. Our first stop was the Sacre Coeur Bascilica, which was conveniently right behind our hostel.

After marveling at the Basilica and the great views of Paris from the top of the steps, we started walking more towards the center of the city. Along our journey, we stopped for some French pastires. We arrived at the Louvre Museum just as the sun started to come out. The Louvre is the famous art museum in Paris that is home to the Mona Lisa. The entrance to this museum in really neat and the line wasn't too long to get in. Plus it is free for EU students, a common theme throughout my Spring Break travels.

The Lourve was home to some great art, don't get me wrong. However, the main star of this show was the overwhelming number of Asian tourists who were taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Excessive photography was to be expected, but nothing prepared me for the absolute mob scene that surrounded the Mona Lisa. These people were cut throat, ruthless savages who would do anything to wiggle their way through the crowds to get that treasured Mona Lisa selfie shot. Pure comedy. The Mona Lisa, but the way, was very cool to see in person but honestly so small that you're better off googling an image of the painting. Nothing too special there, I liked some of the other paintings a lot more.



After we left the Lourve, we walked in the sunshine trough the Tuileries Gardens to the Monet museum, which was also free. The Monet museum is most famous for its white circular rooms with the paintings of water lilies.

After the Monet museum, Megan, Erin and I walked down the Champs Elysees, which is the main shopping street in Paris, towards the Arc de Triomphe. I honestly have no idea what this arc symbolizes or stands for, but it is an iconic image in Paris and surprisingly massive when you see it in person. After being slightly more wowed by this Arc than the Mona Lisa, the three of us grabbed lunch at a small cafe in Paris. I ate a croque monsieur, which is a ham and cheese sandwich with melted cheese on top of the bread. Very solid sandwich.

By this point of the day it was literally only like 2pm, and we were on pace to set the land speed record for fastest 1 day Paris tour. We stopped into a convenience store and picked up a few bottles of 2 euro "champagne," actually just sparkling wine. We walked along the Seine river to the Eiffel Tower. The next few hours of my life were spent hanging out with Megan, Erin, Matt, and Brendan in the gardens surrounding the Eiffel tower, sipping on some gross champagne and listening to the Lumineers CD on my phone. Definitely a highlight. I more or less peaked for my trip that afternoon, at least for the time being.

Vod does Paris

Popping bottles, a legal activity in Paris mind you

This is a picture of the Eiffel tower

After marveling at the tower, we walked to a food cart where I ate the single greatest hot dog of my entire life. You can find these dirty dogs all over Paris, and for literally the first time I  found something that Europe does better than the United States, hot dogs. They take a crusty french baguette, put TWO hot dogs into it, and then melt cheese over the entire thing. Unreal. Definitely the best I ate while in Paris.

After devouring some hot dogs, Erin and I left the Eiffel Tower and took the Metro to Notre Dame. This church was insanely impressive, and so masssive. The inside of the Notre Dame was the prettiest church I have ever seen, by far. And yes, I saw the Gargoyles.

Immediately behind the Notre Dame there is a small park, which was definitely my favorite spot in Paris. Through the park you can see the the Love Lock Bridge, which is a bridge covered by locks. A couple will put a lock on the bridge and throw away the key into the river, "locking" their love in Paris forever. It is another iconic sight in Paris and was awesome to see.

Lock Bridge

Surprisingly, it was still light out at this point of the day. We came out of the gates FIRING. We checked out the Shakespeare Book Company, which is a really interesting and famous book store right by the lock bridge. After looking around for a while, Erin and I settled on a nice place for dinner. The service was painfully slow, but the food was decent. I ate DUCK! When we left dinner it was around 10pm. We took the metro back to the Eiffel tower to see it at night and climb it before it closed at 11. The line was pretty short and we took the tram ALL the way up to the very top. It was blistering cold but the views of the city were absolutely amazing. Not to mention that there was a clear full moon that night and there were literally fireworks playing in the distance. OK, now I have peaked. 

We met up with the whole Nova gang at the base of the tower and took the metro back to our hostel for some much needed sleep after a jam packed day. 

Friday was our last day in Paris. We checked out of the hostel and carried our luggage with us throughout the whole next day. We went back to Notre Dame with everybody because most people hadn't seen it the previous day. They have bleachers in front of the church and I sat there for a while, enjoying some sun and admiring the building and yes, the tourists. Then we all went out to lunch together, in a similar area where we had eaten the night before.

Meat Sock, a story for another day

After a huge lunch we all went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which is a beautiful and huge park. We essentially spend the whole rest of the day in this park, because it was so warm and we had done everything the day before. More Lumineers was played. At one point, we watched these French men play bocce ball in what appeared to be some sort of league or tournament. This one punk kid was schooling old guys and was probably the biggest boss I've ever witnessed. These frenchies had some game, but they simply cannot rival the bocce prowess that is displayed in the Outer Banks on a summerly basis. Another league. I ate my first macaroons in the gardens and they were insanely good. Much different than American macaroons. Some flavors included Rose petal, caramel, creme brulee, passionfruit, and praline. 

We left the gardens around 4pm and headed towards the Gare de Lyon train station on the complete other side of the city. We all grabbed some last minute 1 euro baguettes for dinner and waited for our train to arrive. After asking every worker in the station if we needed to do anything special before boarding, we were assured that we could simply jump on the train. So we did.

I shared a small "coachette" with Erin, Brendan, a french mother-son combo, and a French spy. Literally this girl was the definition of a stealthy secret agent. Our room was stifling hot, but once we all fell asleep it wasn't an issue. The train was supposed to take about 15 hours, but it ran a few hours overboard. I slept much better in my little bed than the hostel the past two nights, and I woke up refreshed and ready to roll. At around 11am the next morning, I was in Rome.

Paris was a great trip and the perfect place to start our Spring Break.

London

I started my British journey on Friday morning out of Shannon airport. I suffered a minor panic attack after news that the bus dropped us off less than an hour before the flight. This didn't end up being a problem, as I checked in, got through security and arrived at my gate in literally four minutes.

The flight was standard. As my travel partner Brendan put it: "RyanAir never disappoints. In disappointing." The flight was delayed but too nothing crazy. I took out POUNDS, got railed by the exchange rate, and boarded an Express train from the Gatwick Airport to center city.  We arrived at Victoria station and I got my first taste of the Tube, the Subway system in London, and my best friend for the weekend. Everybody always raves about how "efficient" and "easy" and "clean" the Subway system in London is, and it certainly lived up to the hype.

Ana Luna, my friend/host/ personal chef/tour guide for the weekend and Brendan’s buddy Karl met us at the station and chauffeured us to the only natural first destination upon arriving in London: Chipotle.

I had been craving Chipotle for a few weeks, ever since I found out that there were some in the city. I got a burrito with half chicken-half beef (a scientifically proved way to get more MEAT), and chips and guac. To say that Chipotle was my favorite meal abroad would make me sound like such an American scrub with no sense of culture or any shred of a sophisticated pallet, but Chipotle was my favorite meal abroad. I was STARVED at this point in the day and for the love of God just look at these pictures.

After Chipotle we went to Ana and Karl’s flats (Flats?!!?! Sew trendy #London  #Abroad ) to drop off our bags. After settling in and regaining feeling in my toes and fingers, we went to Westminster station to meet up with Bridget. Westminster Station was straight out of a post card, as soon as we stepped onto  the street we were met with the image that I'd say most associate with London, the London Eye and Big Ben.

Me and Bridget

Me and Ana Luna

Big Ben

London Eye

We walked over to Westminster Abbey and all of the tours had ended. However, there was a choir service at 5:30 that was free admission so we attended that. The music was nice, although the real star was the building itself. The ceilings are absolutely MASSIVE and every single wall or corner is carved with such insane detail. There were like five separate churches inside and it was just a breathtaking view. I was amazed that they could have build something so massive back in the 1200’s. No power tools? No cranes or trucks!! 

ALIENS.

It was amazing to be in this space where the likes of Henry VIII had been coronated or where Kate and Prince William got married (Ladiesss). Mom, you would have loved this. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but this may give you an idea.

Westminster Abbey

After Westminster we grabbed dinner at the Blackbird for some traditional British pies. We intended to watch the Villanova game at a sports bar but the place we went to wasn’t playing the game. We hung out there for a while, laughing at all of the freshman abroad students in their Nova Nation shirts attempting to start chants/socialize with us. After a fleeting NCAA basketball fix (my Bracket has been bent sideways and f*$&#D) we went to meet some of Ana’s friends. We ended up at this ridiculous Japanese themed tea place called Opium and couldn’t leave there fast enough. A presumably Serbian promoter then got us into another club but we were all exhausted and had big plans for Saturday, so we closed the books on a successful Day 1.

Commence the warmest, CHEAPEST night’s sleep in all of London. Ana Luna you are a SAINT.

Saturday I woke up and braved the snow, took the tube all by myself (Mom/Dad you’d be so proud of my travelling skills. I think I could drive to Wendy’s now. Ugh Wendy’s) and met Bridget at Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard.  I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that at the very least I’d get to do some prime time Asian tourist people watching. Some of the best in the World.

Perhaps we missed it but literally all that happened was one of the Royal guards (red shirts) stepped out of his little guard shack and a new guard took off his black jacket and stepped in the box. Pretty anti-climactic. As we were leaving, a bit slighted after that pathetic display of national pride, about 20 guards on horses marched right in front of the palace, putting on quite the show. No Queen sightings.

Bridget and I wandered through St. James park in search of the infamous London pelicans, but none were to be found. There were so many gross birds and weird ladies feeding the beasts, all in all a hilarious stroll through a park if I’ve ever had one. We hopped on the tube to the London Bridge and I got my customary instagram of the Tower Bridge. We then went to the Borough Market. This experience requires its own paragraph, holy shit was it awesome.

The Reading Terminal Market has found its competition. Borough market was a massive outdoor market under a bridge with so much food. As soon as you think it ends, a whole new area will reveal itself. I ate an Argentinian empanada and the best sandwich I have ever enjoyed. A Pork Belly with Crackle and Apple Sauce sandwich from this small counter called Roast. Scott would have died. Even Guy Fieri would have been impressed with this culinary accomplishment. It was basically a mound of pork fat with deep fried pork skin? Ears? Testicles? It doesn’t matter it was so amazing.

After lunch we went to the Churchill War Rooms. This decision was initially a means of escaping the cold, but it was my best decision of the weekend. Life? Unbeknownst to me prior to yesterday, the war rooms were a SECRET bunker underneath London where Winston Churchill conducted and essentially ran WWII. It was fascinating. The staff worked and lived down here for the duration of the war, working an average of 16 hours a day. We got to see the Conference Room where all meetings and decisions were made. The tour also takes you through the Map Room, left just as it was after the War ended, which tracked the Allied forces on maps using push pins and yarn. I was absolutely fascinated that they could conduct a war without any computers or real technology.

Since London was continually bombed throughout the war (to divert attention on civilians’ needs and not the war effort), this secret compound was build with a 6 foot steel and concrete reinforced ceiling. The war rooms were never hit.

My favorite part of the tour was a room with an “Occupied” lock on it, leading every person in the camp to believe that it was a restroom. Only Churchill knew the room’s real function, a direct phone line to the President of the US, either Roosevelt or Truman at the time. I thought that was so cool, and just one of many amazing stories regarding the LEGEND of Winston Churchill.

Jeez he’s babbling about these, what are they, war rooms? I don’t get it….It was so amazing to be in the space where decisions were made that literally changed the course of history. They spoke of the pressure that these men were under on a daily basis and I could really sense it, tough to explain. I’m switching majors and becoming a history teacher. I didn't take many pictures, but this should give you an idea of a sample room.

ALSO best part of the War rooms was running into Nygren’s friend Carys. 2 Points.

I'm serious guys, it was so cool.

Saturday night we all went out and met some of Bridget’s friends at a club called Foundation. They serve drinks in tea pots and mason jars, which was pretty awesome. Saturday was definitely the wilder of my two night’s in London. See facebook. It was a great night to end an awesome weekend.

I flew back today with no issues. I didn’t have to pay 70 pounds to print my boarding pass or get stuck in Paris due to a gay marriage rally, forcing me to book a new flight and get back to Galway past 3am. I am counting my blessings.

London was an awesome city, but the company definitely made the weekend. I’ve gotta thank Bridget and Ana and Karl for everything, you all rock!

I’m back in Galway for two days now and then my Spring Break begins. Don’t expect to see a blog from me for quite some time, but I can assure that my next post will be pretty epic. Well enjoy the NCAA games I envy all of my American readers, and Go Shockers!

Listened to this song about 41 times while writing this post. The Lumineers album is unreal.

Cork

This past weekend I traveled to Cork, the second largest city in Ireland.

While Cork may be the second largest city, it is by far the ugliest, grayest, saddest, rudest, and to be honest, dirtiest city that I have see abroad.  Despite the following reaction when I got off the bus, I somehow managed to have an enjoyable weekend.



One of the kids in my program named Anthony had a friend in Cork, or was it a loose acquaintance, let's just assume somebody he met on Craigslist, who offered us her apartment for Saturday night.  Disregarding a background check or even a facebook confirmation that they were actually friends, a group of us jumped on board and headed to Cork, the vast unknown.

We boarded a CityLink Bus in Galway at around 8:30 and arrived in Cork just before noon. We were met with rain and cold and a housing situation that was far from confirmed.  Our host, Allie, met us near the bus station and took us to her apartment to drop off our bags and inspect the floor that we would be sleeping on.

Our first stop in this eutopian paradise of Cork City Ireland was the English Market.  This is one of the biggest attractions in Cork, and advertised as one of the "Best markets in all of Europe."  It was a decent sized market with more raw meat and fish than potentially anywhere else in Eurpoe, I'll concede that fact. However, the cooked food selection failed in comparison to the sensory and emotional overload that IS the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. Different League. Nonetheless, I had a delicious apple and chicken sausage with onions and peppers. I started warming up to Cork.

After lunch, the other 5 Villanovans went to the Blarney Castle, about twenty minutes from the city. Since I had recently gone with my family and Erin plans to visit with her Mom in May, we decided to take a train to the Fota Wildlife Park.  That happened. This place had great reviews and was essentially a zoo, but with no actual cages.  You can think of it like walking thorough a wild safari, except the animals are all fenced off.  You can walk right up to some of the animals though, which was definitely very cool.

Penguins

Up in this Kangaroos grill

These? These are meerkats

Cheetah, wait until you hear about the CHEETAH RUN

Wait where are the animals. This is stupid.

If you need a caption for this picture, it's a lost cause

The Wildlife Park was a great surprise. The train dropped us off at the opposite end of the main action, so at first inspection it actually looked pretty anticlimactic.  I was so ready to give up.



But after we ventured over towards the main entrance the action started picking up.  There were bigger animals and zebras and red pandas and we made it just in time to catch the Cheetah Run, arguably the most thrilling thing that has ever happened or will happen at a zoo. Ever. If a small child falls into a lion pit and befriends the beasts, escaping without a scratch, the cheetah run would still be more exciting.

At 3:00 every day, a zookeeper ties dead rabbits to the bottom of a zip-line.  Yes. He then controls the zipline to whip around an enclosed cheetah area where 4 REAL cheetahs run full speed in pursuit of the dangling meat, eventually ripping it down with their claws or jaws and eating right before your eyes. Now I can't honestly say that I saw a cheetah running this fast, but they came pretty close. Scooter could have died.



After a train ride back to Cork, we went to another famous stop in Cork called O'Conaill's chocolate shop.  This place makes all their own chocolate and is well known for their hot chocolate. This hot chocolate.

We grabbed a light dinner, 4 pieces of sushi each, and met up with everyone back at the apartment. We hung out in our hosts apartment and then hit the town. Our night out in Cork was one of the most fun and absurd I've had abroad thus far. What Cork lacks in charm or sunlight or any signs of a sanitation department, it certainly makes up for in a decent nightlife.

Vod. Aftermath of an evening in Cork.

After a brief stint in Cork it was already Sunday and time to head back to Galway.  We grabbed lunch at a place called the WoolShed Baa & Grill. This was the closest thing I've seen to an Applebee's in Ireland, and nothing was more perfect. We shared a monster app platter which cured any demons anybody had from the night before.

We got back to Galway late on Sunday night, and it's been a regular week of class thus far.  I am taking the next few weeks to get ahead on some work, as I plan to be travelling a lot in the next month or so.

St. Patrick's Day is on Sunday. I have never really gotten too excited about St.Patty's Day, but I'm positive I will have my best one ever on Sunday. Apparently 80,000 or so people come to Galway for the Parade. "I'm feeling...I'm feeling like I wanna rage. Right Now."



Anyway, I'm excited to watch the final Big East Tournament and March Madness can't come fast enough.  I have been doing a bit of research in my spare time so I have some sleepers ready. Watch out Ellen Russo.

Most importantly: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY BETH! I'm sure you'll read this is a few weeks when the hangover subsides.

You'll hear from me after London next weekend, or possibly St. Patty's Day. Enjoy day dranking at the QUARTZ, bitches!

This is my favorite DMB song at the moment. I've started listening to them more. Big Boy, Matt Mahoney: Let's see a concert this summer.