Paris.. at last!

Oh, where has the TIME GONE?! I officially leave two weeks from today. Surreal is too easy a word to describe what I'm feeling. I have never experienced so emotions all at once: I have fallen in love with this place and this lifestyle, but I desperately do miss my people and home..

I visited Paris, France March 2-5. It was my first big European trip since arriving in Ireland, and I will never forget it. I went with two girls from my program, Tara and Emma, and I cannot stress enough how easy it is to travel with two people you can actually stand! We all got along great and laughed off the stressful things that happened, which is a must when you're traveling. Our trip will remain dreamlike in my memory.

Paris shocked me - I had no idea how breathtakingly beautiful a city it is! Nor did I anticipate how rude the French can be, but it remains my favorite European city (so far), second only to Galway. :)

We spent our first night frantically trying to find the metro and our hostel without butchering the French language into an unrecognizable gibberish, and somehow we made it (despite a late-night fruit stand scene I was afraid was something straight out of Dateline..)!

Our first day, we mastered the Metro system and walked down the Champs Elysses, speechless and giddy by our stunning surroundings. I screamed bloody murder the first time we caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, and I doubt I stopped smiling throughout the whole day. We walked from the Army Museum where Napoleon is buried to the Triumphal Arch, and then caught a train out to Versailles Palace and Gardens. It was like something out of a movie, something you hope you get to see but doubt you ever will. That night we had what remains the best meal of my life at this hole-in-the-wall French eatery with Emma's friend Matt who has been studying abroad in Paris for two consecutive semesters! Tara and I split a big salad and a French cheese plate, and we all had baguettes and a bottle of white wine. Ahhhmazing.





The next day, we went to Monmarte, the center of the Bohemian Revolution and the setting for the film Moulin Rouge. There, we climbed the "mountain" to Sacre Couer, a beautiful cathedral. I have decided cathedrals are my favorite thing to see while traveling because it's like art, architecture, history, and it's quiet enough to pray and take it all in. We also visited the Moulin Rouge, of course, and got lost in the sex shop district eating crepes.. Luckily, we found the metro stop and took it to the Lechaise Cemetery, Holly suggested it. Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and several other famous people are buried here and it is vast and gorgeous. When we arrived, Parisians were lining the streets as a famous French actress (apparently) was being buried that day, so we watched her funeral procession. After that, we had a quick picnic in the grass beneath the Eiffel Tower and climbed it! Emma has a slight fear of heights and vertigo, but she conquered her fears! I had to stop a few times on the never-ending winding staircase.. Chocolate eclaire + thousands of steps = recipe for disaster. But it was worth the journey for the panoramic view of Paris. Next, we walked through Notre Dame cathedral. It was such a moving experience for me, that I sat down to pray and got separated from my friends. A choir was practicing and the architecture lover within me couldn't stop snapping pictures and spotting architectural features that I learned about during my one art history class.. That night we had dinner with Matt and two other girls from our program, Ali and Michelle, before getting creme brule and hot wine at an outdoor cafe even though it was FREEZING! We felt truly Parisian.










Saturday we toured the Louvre and saw the Monal Lisa and the Venus de Milo! Our feet were killing us and Tara and Emma aren't quite the art history buffs I am, so they headed off while I walked around the galleries alone.. and loved every minute of it! I waited in line for the Muse d'Orsay for over an hour, but it was well worth the wait! This museum houses galleries of my three favorite artists, Monet, Degas, and Van Gogh. I was IN LOVE. I caught up with my companions for dinner at a cafe overlooking the Notre Dame cathedral. Afterwards, we bought champagne and cracked it open on one of the many beautiful bridges overlooking the sparkling Eiffel Tower.







Sunday we woke up at 4am to catch our return flight home! It was such a beautiful trip and I will NEVER forget it!

twenty-first.

just realized that this is the only time i will have a birthday with two elevens: 4/11/11 or how they say it in ireland.. 11/4/11. cool!

i woke up (after three hours of tumultuous sleep thanks to a pot of coffee and cramming for an irish exam) to a beautiful morning after a night of stormy weather in an empty apartment. i read myself this ee cummings poem:

here's to opening and upward, to leaf and to sap
and to your(in my arms flowering so new)
self whose eyes smell of the sound of rain

and here's to silent certainly mountains;and to
a disappearing poet of always,snow
and to morning;and to morning's beautiful friend
twilight(and a first dream called ocean)and

let must or if be damned with whomever's afraid
down with ought with because with every brain
which thinks it thinks,nor dares to feel(but up
with joy;and up with laughing and drunkenness)

here's to one undiscoverable guess
of whose mad skill each world of blood is made
(whose fatal songs are moving in the moon

lovvvvvvvveeeeeeee him.

then i donned my new black and tan primark dress, red cardigan, tan flats, and rolled skinnys and headed off to my irish final.

where i was greeted by my dear friend lauren and a latte she wrote "happy birthday" all over. :) then i owned that test. and the oral exam.

i just returned from tesco, where i bought myself hot pink roses, light pink and white carnations, and food for my party tonight!

lauren is coming over in a couple hours to bake cupcakes, make stuffed mushrooms, and garlic bread.. i also bought fruit, chips, salsa, guacamole, hummus, and stuff for mimosas!

we are also celebrating another girl's from my program birthday that was yesterday.. everyone is coming at eight and then we will go downtown around midnight. :) i think i can run on three hours of sleep for this? i have to! you only turn twenty-one once!

i received three beautiful pink cards in the mail yesterday filled with pictures of loved ones! (thanks mom, dad, mamaw, aunt patti) <3

here's to birthdays and those that make them special.

St. Patrick's Week

Although it's been almost a month, my friends from home (Catelynn, Tyanne, and Kate) came to visit me in Ireland for St. Patrick's week and I thought it noteworthy.

I met them at Dublin International Airport on March 13th just to grab a quick bite and ride the 3 hour bus back to Galway with them. It was so great to sit with and have a best friend heart-to-heart with Tyanne on the bus, but only one for a whole semester is truly not enough! After dropping off their stuff at my apartment, we headed downtown to a couple of pubs so they could experience real Guinness and Irish culture, which they of course loved. We ate at Harry Fitz fish and chips, the best fish and chips in Ireland.

Monday morning we took a tour to the Cliffs of Moher, which I absolutely did not mind seeing again! It was wonderful re-experiencing them through three new sets of eyes. We ate at the same pub in Doolin and saw all the same sights with a new tour guide. When we got back, I cooked pasta and we were so exhausted that we (rather stereotypically) watched Leap Year in my apartment. Then we went out on the town and, let's just say, Kayanne Jannies joined the festivities. :)

Tuesday we were going to tour Conomara, but decided instead to sleep in a bit and just enjoy Galway for the day. Being a tourist in my own city was amazing. We went shopping, walked down to the harbor and beach, and heard some trad music in some of my favorite pubs. Then we had pizza and saw ceili dancing at Monroe's, which is becoming a Tuesday night tradition for me. Unfortunately, I was starting to feel super ill and feverish by 10 or 11, so we headed back to watch youtube videos.

Wednesday, I was feeling absolutely deathly. I shouldn't have but I boarded the bus with them to Belfast where we met up with Tyanne's Northern Irish friend, Claire, who hosted us at her house in Newcastle for two nights. We were supposed to all go to the St. Patrick's Day festival together in Down Patrick on Thursday, but I was so ill that I ended up staying in the guest bedroom all day. I have never been so sick or bummed out simultaneously in my entire life. I was angry that, of all the days to get sick in Ireland, it had to be St. Patrick's Day and the week my friends were visiting! But, looking back on it, I am very lucky we were staying with an actual family who made me tea and took me to a pharmacy to buy kleenex and cough drops rather than a hostel or hotel. That night we went to one of Tyanne's favorite restaurant pubs in the area (she's been to Ireland six times!) for dinner, which I could barely taste but thoroughly enjoyed drinking hot whiskey!

Friday we were supposed to spend the day together in Dublin and then possibly see an Enrique Iglesias or Mumford and Sons concert, but neither of those shows worked out and I was so ill that I went straight from Dublin home to Galway. They spent the day in Dublin and the night in the airport before their early flight home Saturday morning.

It was so wonderful having my girlies here and sharing my new home with them! :) And it's great to feel better again with the help of NUIG's free health center and antibiotics.

<3