Trip to Ireland: May 7-10

Thursday, May 7th

Our flight left out of the smaller airport in Rome, called Ciampino.  I had never been there before and had no idea how to get there so we decided to take a cab.  There was tons of traffic since it was rush hour, so it took us about 45 minutes to get to the airport.  Our flight was through Ryanair, an airline with extremely cheap flights, but it hits you with little costs if you don't follow the rules perfectly.  My 3 girlfriends and I check in and everything is OK, so we waited for our one guy friend who was coming on the trip with us to show up.  Once he checked in, we all went and got something to eat and relaxed before our flight.  The flight was pretty bad with a lot of turbulence.  The landing was also very bad and when the flight finally came to a stop, everyone on the plane started to clap.  We take a taxi to our hostel because the bus wasn't running since we got to Dublin around 11:30 at night.  Our taxi driver was extremely nice and told us all the good places to go to eat and where the fun pubs were.  We checked into our hostel and headed to the pub next door for a pint of Guinness.  I never had a Guinness before but I thought it was delicious!  It reminded me of a milkshake.  We listened to the live music and danced and sang and then decided to go to sleep.  However, once we got to our room we realized that we had the lights from outside shining into our room, so a couple of my friends slept horribly.

Friday, May 8th

We got up early and had breakfast in our hostel, which consisted of cereal and toast.  After that we headed to the tourism center, but on the way we stopped at Starbucks and drank some coffee since Rome does not have Starbucks.  We got maps at the tourism center and booked our day trip to the countryside.  After that, we toured around Dublin and went to Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ's Church ( we didn't go into either of the churches because it cost 5 euros just to look around.)  Instead, we decided to just peak our heads in and get a look.  After that we went and got fish n' chips at Leo Burdocks, which is a really famous fish n' chips place in Dublin.  It was really good until you were done eating it and felt sick to your stomach because of all the grease.  After we got lunch, we headed to the Guinness Factory.  The Guinness Factory has 5 floors and the inside is shaped like a pint of Guinness.  In fact, it is the largest Guinness pint in the world.  Arthur Guinness signed the lease on St. James Brewery in Dublin for a period of 9,000 years in 1759.  Guinness beer is made of hops, water, barley and yeast.  Each floor of the Guinness Factory tells you different things about the history of Guinness Beer.  The top floor is the Gravity Bar, in which the walls are all glass, and they give you a pint of Guinness and you can drink your beer while looking at the entire city of Dublin.  After the Guinness Factory, our group decided to split up, so my friend Chelsea and I decided to go and see the Kilmainham Jail.  The map was confusing so we stopped in a pub and ask some old men how to get there.  They were really helpful and asked us to come back for a beer once we were done!  By the time we got to the jail, it was closed for the day, and it started raining so Chelsea and I jumped in a cab and headed back to our hostel.  We heard live music walking to our hostel, so we decided to stop in for awhile.  We sat down and a table and happened to come across a "stag", which is basically a bachelor or bachelorette party.  The guys were really nice and bought us pints of Guinness and Baileys on the rocks, which I had never had before, but I think its delicious.  We ended up going pub hopping with them and danced and drank with them til dinner time.  Chelsea and I went to dinner at Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin.  We had fried brie with cranberry sauce for an appetizer and I had Irish Stew for dinner which was really good.  We met up with the rest of our group after dinner and went to a couple pubs close to our hostel.  At the last pub we went to, there was a live band playing Irish music and I ended up Irish jigging with a man wearing a green velvet jacket.  We thought he might've been homeless, but he looked like an actual leprechaun and he was really nice!  

Saturday, May 9th

We got up early, had breakfast and went to catch our bus for the tour of Wicklow Countryside.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Everywhere you looked was green and the countryside had beautiful yellow flowers and at one point, the bus had to stop so sheep could cross the road!  The tour guide showed us where parts of famous movies took place, like the scene from Braveheart where Mel Gibson is running down a hill and we saw the lake Lough Tay where Lancelot threw his sword into that lake.  We also saw parts of where the movie P.S. I Love You was filmed.  We got to take pictures on the bridge in P.S. I Love You and three of my friends were almost left behind because the bus driver didn't realize they weren't on the bus and actually started to pull away.  We went to Glendalough, where we saw monastic ruins.  After that we went to the Meeting of the Waters which is where three of Ireland's rivers meet to form one.  After that we had lunch is Avoca village, where the famous Irish television series Ballykissangel was filmed.  Once we got back home, we wondered around and went to Grafton Street, which is a famous shopping street in Dublin and after that we went to Stephen's Green which is a beautiful park.  That night we had dinner at Calligher's and everyone tried different Irish dishes.  After that we went pub hopping and ended up at our usual pub by our hostel and sang and danced until it closed.

Sunday, May 10th

We didn't book a hostel for Saturday night since our flight left at 6:55 in the morning so once the pub closed at 3 am we got our stuff from a storage room in our hostel, called a taxi and headed to the airport.  Our check-in process was a little rough this time.  Three of my friends got charged 20 extra euros since they didn't follow the directions and everyone was tired and irritated.  Once we got to our gate, we all tried to sleep.  I managed to fall asleep on a chair with my head on my lap for about an hour or so and once I woke up I looked around and couldn't find my friends, I thought they had left me, but they were only getting coffee.  We got on our flight and slept most of the way home and since there was an hour time change we didn't get back into Rome until around 10:30.  When we got out of the airport, we wanted to get a cab.  The taxi drivers tried to charge us 65 euros for our ride because they thought we were from Ireland, but after fighting with them for about 10 minutes we got our taxi ride down to 30 euros, which is what its supposed to cost to begin with.  Once I got home, I got into bed and fell asleep.  My roommate Natalie's parents were in Italy so they took us out to eat in Piazza Navona and we had tartufo for dessert, which is chocolate gelato with a cherry in the center and it has a hard chocolate outside. It was delicious!  After that, I got home and jumped into bed and fell asleep immediately! 

May 4th-May7th

Monday was a really stressful day for me because I had to write a paper and be prepared to present about it on Tuesday.  It was stressful because the paper basically determines my grade in that class for the semester.  The class is Italian Politics and I had to reform parts of the Italian Constitution to make it represent more of a presidential republic rather than a parliamentory democracy.  On Tuesday, I presented it and turned in my paper and actually think I did pretty well so I was happy.  Since it was Cinco de Mayo, our friends threw a party at their apartment on their terrace/garden.  It was tons of fun and I had a great time!  Wednesday was a day for me to relax, update my blog, upload pictures and do laundry.  I only have a little over 2 weeks left in Rome.  Its crazy to think how quickly it went by!

Weekend in Amalfi Coast- April 30th- May 3rd

My friends Meghan, Kelly, Brittany went to Amalfi Coast together.  It was absolutely beautiful!!

Thursday, April 30th

I had an Italian quiz that day so I was ready for a fun weekend.  The trip was organized by a program called Euroadventures and it had kids from Florence and Rome on it.  The bus was supposed to be in Rome at 1o pm that night, but they ended up getting caught in a lot of traffic in Florence, so they didnt end up getting to Rome until around 11 pm.  To kill time we went to McDonalds and ordered food.  So once the bus arrives, no one moves to make room for the rest of us.  There were people that had 2 seats just for one person and once the bus driver yelled people finally started to move, but my friend Brittany and I got stuck in the very back left corner of the bus.  We get to our hostel, Villagio Verde, in Sorrento around 2:30 am.  Villagio Verde was really cool because it was covered in ivy and vines and was all around green.  We stayed in bungalow/cabin type of houses and they were absolutely freezing.  I didnt pack for cold weather so I ended up having to borrow my friends sweaters and I also had to steal a blanket off a bad that wasnt being used to stay warm.

Friday, May 1st

May 1st is Italy's Labor Day so we had a day off of school!  But we woke up around 10 am and walked to a piazza to meet up with everyone participating in Euroadventures.  We take a ferry to the island of Capri.  The ferry was really pretty, but very bumpy.  Once we got to Capri, we went on a 25 minute hike up to the main part of Capri.  We ate lunch at a pizza place over looking the Mediterranean Sea.  We got lost on our way back down to the sea, but we managed to find our way back down somehow.  We bought wine and caprese sandwiches, which consist of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese for our booze cruise around the island of Capri.  The weather was beautiful and the cruise was really fun except that a girl kept getting sick off the side of the boat.  The blue grotto, which is one of the 7 wonders of the world, was closed due to rain, so we couldnt go in but we got close enough to see inside and it looked really amazing.  The weather was pretty and they gave us the opportunity to go swimming so I decided to jump in the water.  It was so cold that I couldnt breathe.  After the cruise, we bought gelato and headed back to Sorrento.  We almost missed the ferry though because they told us the wrong dock to catch it on.  We get back to our hostel and nap and that night we went to a karaoke/dance club and sang and danced til 2 in the morning.

Saturday, May 2nd

We got up at 10, got ready, and got breakfast/lunch at little diner close to the bus station.  We wait for the bus to Positano and the bus finally comes, but the only room left is standing room so we decide to jump on and stand.  The bus ride from Sorrento to Positano was honestly the scariest bus ride of my life.  To get to Positano, you drive on the coast on very skinny roads the big buses shouldnt be allowed to drive on.  Every time the bus driver made a turn, it looked like you were going to fall of the cliff into the sea.  We get to Positano and to get to the beach you have to walk down through the city and through all the building stacked on top of each other.  The beach was a black sand beach and it was a beautiful and really hot day.  Trisha, one of my best friends from home who is studying in Florence was in Amalfi Coast for the weekend too so I met up with her and hung out with her on the beach.  We wanted to catch the 5 o'clock bus back to Sorrento so we left the beach early and got the biggest sandwich of my life.  It was the size of my head.  We walk back up through the city and wait for the bus.  It ended up being 2 hours late and everyone was mad and was pushing to get on the bus.  I get separated from my friends and they get on the back of the bus but almost didnt fit and got the door slammed on them 3 times before people started to move.  I was in the very front of the bus standing basically flat against the windshield.  At one point of the ride back, the bus driver did the sign of the cross so I was freaking out.  We finally got back to Villagio Verde and we decided that we wanted to hang out on our porch and sit outside for the night instead of going to a club.

Sunday, May 3rd

We got up and checked out of the hostel and had breakfast at an outdoor diner.  We had chocolate filled croissants and donuts that were really good!  After that we went to the train station and headed to Pompeii.  Right when we get to Pompeii, it starts to rain.  We walked through the Pompeii ruins.  It was amazing to see how everything is still so well preserved even though it was covered in lava at one point.  We even saw a person who was basically fried alive by the lava of Mount Vesuveus.  After we walked through the ruins, we went to lunch at a little italian restaurant.  We decided that not many tourists go to the place because we all got eyed up and down.  After lunch we realize that the train station we thought would get us back to Sorrento actually didnt have trains running through it.  We got lost, but eventually found our way back to the main train station after walking for 45 minutes.  We get back Sorrento and get on the bus and head back to Rome.  I got back to my apartment around 10 pm and was exhausted so I went to bed!

Weekend in Prague

April 24th-26th

Friday, April 24th

I went to Prague for the weekend with my friends, Meghan and Ross.  Our flight left really early on Friday morning so we decided to take a cab.  I have never been in a car that drove so fast in my life.  He hit 180, so Meghan and I were squeezing each other's hands and hoping that we got to the airport OK.  Which we did and really fast too.  Our flight there was a little rough because we had teenager Italian boys sitting right behind us so we couldnt really sleep since they were so loud.  We landed in Prague and went right to our hostel, Sir Toby's.  Since it was too early to check in, they let us put our stuff in the storage room and we got breakfast at the hostel.  After breakfast, we tried to head to the center of the city.  We ended up going the wrong way on the tram and took it to the last stop.  Once we got there, we decided that we went the wrong way and waited for it to head back the other way.  Eventually we got to the center of the city.  We climbed the clock tower of the main church in Old Town Square.  After that, we went on a free walking tour through Prague.  We saw the John Lennon wall aka Freedom Wall, where it is the only place in the city were you are legally allowed to spray paint on.  We also saw the Charles Bridge, Parliament building and Wallerstein Garden.  The Garden was beautiful and it had peacocks just walking around freely.  After that, we hiked up to the Prague Castle.  This walking tour took about 2 and 1/2 hours so by the end we were pretty tired, so we headed back to our hostel and took a nap before going out.  That night went to a bar/club called Beer Factory.  You sit at a table with your friends and each person has their own beer tap and you compete against the tables around you to see who drinks the most.  Since there was only 3 of us, we didnt win.  But we danced all night and had a great time.

Saturday, April 25th

We got up and had breakfast and decided to walk around by ourselves, so we headed back into the city.  We walked to the Jewish Ghetto of Prague, hiked up a hill and saw an amazing view of the city.  After that we went to Charles Bridge and took pictures.  Part of the bridge is shown in Mission Impossible so we were sure to take pictures by that.  After that, we headed to a park and went to see Petrin Tower.  Petrin Tower looks like a minature Eiffel Tower.  You had to take an incline, like in Pittsburgh, to get up to the park.  Ross was too tired to walk to the top, so just Meghan and I did.  It didnt seem very sturdy and once we got to the top we could feel it swaying with the wind, so we took a bunch of pictures quickly and got down as soon as possible.  That night for dinner we went to a little restaurant close to our apartment and had pizzas.  Then we met up with Meghan's friends who are studying in Prague and we pregamed at their place and headed to a 5 story club.  Each floor of the club played a different genre of music, from oldies to techno to hip hop.  I ended up staying on the oldies floor and danced with a gay man til 2 in the morning when we decided that we should head home since our flight left at 10 in the morning.

Sunday, April 26th

We got up, checked out of our hostel, and figured out the public transportation to the airport.  Our flight home was more relaxing then our flight there.  When I got home, I slept and did work the rest of the idea and fell asleep at about 10 pm that night!  

Prague was a beautiful city.  I dont know what I was expecting Prague to look like, but it wasnt what I expected.  It was a little hard and confusing though since we didnt know anything about the language so we had somewhat of a hard time getting around, but it was still tons and tons of fun!

Earth Day

April 22nd

Today was Earth Day in Rome and they were having a free concert in Piazza del Popolo.  My friends and I decided to go to the concert so we pregamed at our girl friends' apartment and headed to the concert.  My friend from school, Steph, who is studying in Dublin came to Rome so I met up with her and took her to the concert.  It was really fun and really crowded.  Ben Harper was the main singer and he was introducing his new band.  It was a great concert and tons of fun!

Spring Break!

Friday April 10th 

I got up and took the train to the airport to meet the rest of the girls for spring break!  The girls included me and my friends, Natalie, Meghan, Anndel, Liz, Kellyn and Brittany.  My friends Anndel and Liz dont have small suitcases so they had to bring one of their big ones and both of their suitcases ended up being overweight.  Also, my friend Kellyn, had the wrong last name for her ticket reservation so we had to wait for about 45 minutes to get everything figured out.  We had to sprint through the airport to catch our flight on time!  But luckily we ended up making it with time to spare.  Once we got on the actually plane, we ended up sitting there for about 45 minutes before they even started to move to the take-off and landing strip.  We landed in Nice, France around noon to beautiful weather!  We checked into our hostel, Hotel Baccarat.  It was a nice room that consisted on 2 lights on the wall, one plug for the entire room, a broken shutter in our room, and we had to steal toilet paper for the closet in the hall.  

We changed in our swimming suits and headed to the beach.  We bought french baguettes and cheese and found a really cute wine store and bought wine.  There was the most beautiful french man (that we named Geston, from Beauty and the Beast) who worked there and helped us pick out wine.  We sat on the beach, which was a rock beach, and ate and drank.  After that we went back to our hostel and got ready for dinner.  We went to a place close to our hostel called Woody's Tex Mex.  We should have figured that mexican food in France might not be that good... It wasn't the best meal and the drinks were extremely expensive so we stuck to water.  After dinner, we were all exhausted so we decided to go to sleep early.

Saturday, April 11th

We woke up at 10am.  It wasnt a pretty day, so we decided to get dressed and walk around Nice.  We got coffee and chocolate croissants on the street, which were delicious.  While shopping, I passed a store that I had been to when I traveled to Nice after my sophomore year of high school.  It was crazy deja vu.  We decided that since it wasnt a pretty day that we should go to Monoco.  We saw the prince's palace and took lots of pictures and then headed to Monte Carlo to gamble.  When I walked into the first casino, I was asked how old I was to make sure that I was allowed to gamble...  It was my first time gambling and I lost 5 euros in the slots.  We took the train home, napped and showered and got ready for dinner.  We went to a restaurant called Milo's.  The waiter wasnt very nice, but I got a cheeseburger and it was delicious!  After dinner we went to a club/bar called Wayne's Bar.  It was really crowded the drinks were pretty expensive but it was a nice relaxing night.

Sunday, April 12th

It was Easter Sunday so all of us girls got up early, put on our dresses and went to church.  The mass was in french, I could understand a little but it was still hard to understand.  We stuck out like sore thumbs in our bright colored dresses but it was a nice mass.  After church, we went back to our hostel to change and then went to get lunch.  My friends, Liz and Anndel, and I went to the grocery store and bought baguettes and cheese and the other girls went to a little cafe and had croque monsiers, which are basically grilled cheeses but with ham too.  After lunch, we hiked to a castle and on the way there was a beautiful waterfall that we took lots of pictures infront.  There was also a park at the top of the mountain so we walked around there too.  We went to the beach after that and relaxed.  We had baguettes with ham and cheese for dinner and we pregamed with lots of wine.  We wanted to go to a bar called Karlsbrau but it ended up being closed so we walked to the beach and found a bar called McNolans.  There was a life band there that played great music.  Anndel and I were tired so we went home early and ended up having to run to catch the tram to get back to our hostel!

Monday, April 13th

We woke up and met Meghan and went to the beach for the day.  The beach we were on was a nude beach a couple of the girls decided to go topless for a little for the fun of it.  We stayed at the beach all day but we had to catch our flight to Spain that night so we had to end our time at the beach a little early.  We took the bus to the airport and got there 4 hours early so we just sat around and talked and ate dinner.  The airport had barely anyone in.  Our flight took off around 11:30 pm so we didnt land in Barcelona until around 1 am.  Our flight landed in Terminal C, but the train that we need to take the next morning was in Terminal A so we had to find our way to Terminal A at 3:20 am.  The earliest train to take to Costa Brava was at 6 am so instead of paying for a hostel for 4 hours we decided to save money and sleep in the airport.

Tuesday, April 14th

We got up from sleeping on the floor in the airport and got the train around 6 am.  The train ride took about an 1 and then we got on a bus to get to Costa Brava, Spain.  It took us about a half to walk from the bus station to our hostel.  We checked into our hostel, named Hotel  around noon, put on our swimsuits and got lunch.  We went to a restaurant named Carmens.  The food was really good and really cheap.  After lunch, we headed to the beach.  We decided to go to an outside bar for happy hour and we ordered wine and champagne sangria.  After that we went home and napped and ordered pizza from downstairs.  That night we went out around 12 am.  The roads were bare so we were afraid the we werent going to be able to find anywhere to go.  But after walking for about a half hour we found the strip of clubs.  We went to a club called Temptation because it had all you could drink for 5 euros.  We were basically the only girls and people in the club.  There was a group of 17 year old German boys who were playing soccer came and thought I was 16 but when I told them I was 21 they said I was too old for them hahahah!  We danced for awhile but we decided that the drinks really didnt have alcohol in them so we left.  We went to an arcade and did bumper cars which was so much and after that we went to Burger King for some food.  They kicked us all out cause they were closing so we decided to call it a night and headed home.

Wednesday, April 15th

We woke up around 10 am.  We had breakfast at the hostel and headed to the beach.  The weather wasnt very nice so we decided to have a photo shoot of the cheesiest poses we could think of.  While doing this, the weather cleared up and it turned out to be a beautiful day so we laid out all day.  My friend Brittany had to leave and head back to Rome because her family was coming in, but after she left the rest of us got ready and went out to eat.  The dinner was really nice and we decided to order dessert.  I had some crazy chocolate ice cream thing and it was delicious.  We were really full and tired so we decided to call it an early night and save up our energy for Barcelona, so we went to bed.

Thursday, April 16th

We woke up at 8:30 and checked out of our hostel and got breakfast and headed back to the bus station to head to Barcelona.  It was a beautiful day in Costa Brava so we wanted to get to Barcelona for the weather... atleast that was our idea.  As we got closer and closer to Barcelona, it looked like we were heading into a tornado.  When we first got to Barcelona, it was raining but the day ended up clearing up.  We went to the church Familia Sagra.  It's a church that has been being built for close to a hundred years.  After that, we met up with our guy friends and went to Park Guil.  Park Guil was really cool.  All of the building made you feel as if you were in a fairytale.  It also has the longest park bench in the world, called the Serpent that Guil designed himself.   After walking around Barcelona for awhile, we headed back to our hostel to relax.  We got ready and Kellyn's friend who was studying in Barcelona took us to this really nice tapas restaurant.  Tapas are spanish appetizers.  The food and drinks were delicious!  People in Barcelona dont go out until around 2 am, so since we finished dinner around midnight, we decided to go to a bar before we went to the club.  I was so tired by 2 am that instead of going to the club, I went home and slept.

Friday, April 17th.

We ended up sleeping until around noon since we didnt get home until 3 or so.  But we put on our bathing suits and walked about 20 minutes to the beach.  We met up with our guy friends and laid out and played on the beach all day.  The weather in Barcelona is really funny because it will be beautiful forever and then within 2 minutes it will drop 10 degrees and start down pouring, which is what happened to us.  We headed back to the hostel, walking 40 minutes in the rain and put in a movie and hung out.  We went out to a late dinner and then headed to a club called Catwalk on the beach.  It was really cool and played different music on different floors.  We ended up dancing til really late at night and finally decided to go home after our feet started to hurt too much to dance.

Saturday, April 18th

Today we kind of split up and all decided to do our own thing.  So my friend Liz and I decided to head to the beach and soak up as much sun as possible.  It was a beautiful day and I ended up getting really sunburned because I didnt realize how hot it was since the wind was blowing.  On our way home, we passed a band playing outside and sat and watched them for awhile.  We went back to our hostel and packed up our suitcases since our flight left the next morning at 7 am.  After that we got ready and headed out to eat.  We went to a restaurant recommended by our friends and it was amazing!  I had duck with a sauce that had apples and had the most delicious dessert of my life called, Chocolate is for Lovers.  It had all different kind of chocolate treats which were amazing!  We decided that since we had to get up at 4 to get to the airport on time that we shouldnt go out so we went back to our hostel and put in a movie and hung out with kids in our hostel.

Sunday, April 19th

We got up at 4 am and got a taxi to the airport.  Our flight left Barcelona at 7 am so we got back to Rome around 10 am and once I got back to my apartment, I immediately jumped in my bed and slept basically the rest of the day and night!  It was an amazing spring break! We really lucked out with weather and I had a great time with all my friends!

Monday, April 6

Last night at around 3:30 in the morning, I experienced my first earthquake.  I woke up to our my bed, window and furniture shaking.  It took me awhile to realize what was going on! But my roommate and I were pretty scared.  The place that took the biggest hit was about 30 miles outside of Rome.  Nothing got damaged around where I live and my friends and I are all safe, but it was a pretty crazy experience.  Then I had to get up this morning and take a midterm.... but it was the hottest day we have had yet in Rome, so that makes up for it!