What a weekend! We honestly got about 3.5 hours of sleep on average every night, but it was well worth it.
We got into the airport around 10pm on Friday, and the adventure began. Another group we went with decided to take a taxi, but we wanted to save some cash, and have an adventure. Without any city maps, we found our way to the hostel, which was on the 4th floor of an unmarked building...took around an hour and a half for us to get there. The mattresses had questionable stains, there were two showers on the entire floor, and one key for all six of us. We got what we paid for I suppose.
We ended up going out to get a bite to eat at around 1am, and found that every kitchen was closed, until we found the last place with about 15 minutes till closing time. We ate a couple tapas, and had a few drinks, expecting to go out. Little did we know that Barcelona is huge, and we didn't know how to work the metro quite yet.
We walked for about an hour or so before asking someone where the beach was, and were told it was another 45 minutes to an hour. Very disappointed, we went back to the hostel and passed out, expecting to do great things the next day. We woke up at around 10, and casually got ready. The group was wayyyyy too big and had a few too many girls in order to get out in time. Sorry for those that may read this....but we got to Sargrada Familia and decided to skip it that day due to the huge line. Grabbed a bite to eat, and metroed to Parc Güell, which had some AMAZING views of the city, and some funky architecture. Amazing place to say the least. Check out some picture on my facebook.
We got some delicious ice cream after that, and headed to Las Ramblas, to explore the city a little more and find some food. Got a full meal and 'Sandwich and Friends', which was interesting because they barely spoke english, but that made it a little fun. Headed to the hostel, and geared up for the night. We met up with Kristin (a girl from Cedarburg that was studying in Barcelona), and she did an awesome job showing us around! It was also great to see her again! We went to a couple cool bars; Dow Jones bar and Chupitos before heading to the club. The club seemed to be bumping to me, but apparently Barcelona is a little more rowdy than Limerick...who woulda thought?
The next morning we struggled again to get out on time, but made it to Sagrada in time to go in and see how absolutely beautiful it is! (Many picture on facebook again to check out). We then headed to a lunch place called 'Bo De B', which has fresh ingredients and fills their 'sub' sandwiches up to the brim. Amazing food. All a little tired, we decided to live a little Spanish culture, and took a quick siesta to prepare for another night out...or so we thought.
When we awoke, we headed to a classy hotel called the W Hotel, and got dressed up and drank the most delicious drinks ever known to man. Paying 12 euro per drink was a bargain. They had different types of fruits and I don't know what else mixed into these beverages. Amazing drinks, and it makes you feel like you're an important person.
We ended up finding out the Metro closes after 12pm on Sunday nights...when we were heading to The Opium Bar (a club, not a bar with opium) which had free entry and a chocolate fondu thing going on. Bummer we missed it; definitely my thorn of the weekend. The good news from that however, is that we made it on our flight in time, and got home safely. It was a wonderful weekend, and I NEED to go back again soon because I saw only a fraction of the city.
Great times. Now time to catch up on some much needed sleep after a longggg week of studying and paper writing...not done yet.
Slán!
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Sunday 7 October 2012
Cork
So this past weekend I went to Cork, Ireland with a group of Indiana people: Zach, Madeline, Katrina, and Richie. Great people, laughed most of the time we were here.
Saturday morning we got on a bus, as usual, and headed off to Cork where we were going to meet Katrina and Richie who got there a day earlier. When we got there we dropped our stuff at the hostel and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then we walked. The lady at the hostel told us the cool places to go, of which were an old jail, a couple cathedrals, some parks, and the university. Cork is a much bigger city than what I expected, and it is extremely hilly; this made the walking very interesting and limited. However, you can see all the houses and churches on the hill which is next to a river; makes for magnificent pictures. After we walked around the entire city and had dinner, we met up with Katrina and Richie who had been looking for us all day; neither of them had a phone, so we needed to hang out at the hostel to use the wifi.
Then the night began, it was 4:30 but we didn't know what else to do, so we had a couple casual beers, and met our roommates. Later on, we went out to a couple pubs and did a lot of dancing! We came back to the hostel because Richie had to hop on a bus to the airport at 2:30am, so we decided to play some pool and just hang out in the hostel bar. It turned out that our roommates for the night (from California, studying in London) had to leave for a flight at 6am and were not planning on sleeping, so Zach and I just hung out with them until they left. Needless to say, it was a long night.
The next day we were awoken by the cleaning lady knocking on our door, and reminding us of the 11 o'clock check out time, and we reassured her we knew. However, we didn't know it was 10:45...quickly showered and ran down in time to check out. All of us tired and groggy, decided to go to a city 30 minutes away via train. It was all of our first trains together, and it was a grand experience. We stopped and ate at a small restaurant, walked up the hills and into another huge chapel, stepped in dog poop because no one picks up their shit, and relaxed next to the water. We didn't get to go to the island where the jail was, but we had a relaxing day.
Later on we hopping on the bus and made our way home. Got to skype the rents tonight too, and my Mom comes this Friday morning!! Can't wait, it will be the greatest!
I'm off to bed now, it's been a long one.
Slán
Saturday morning we got on a bus, as usual, and headed off to Cork where we were going to meet Katrina and Richie who got there a day earlier. When we got there we dropped our stuff at the hostel and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then we walked. The lady at the hostel told us the cool places to go, of which were an old jail, a couple cathedrals, some parks, and the university. Cork is a much bigger city than what I expected, and it is extremely hilly; this made the walking very interesting and limited. However, you can see all the houses and churches on the hill which is next to a river; makes for magnificent pictures. After we walked around the entire city and had dinner, we met up with Katrina and Richie who had been looking for us all day; neither of them had a phone, so we needed to hang out at the hostel to use the wifi.
Then the night began, it was 4:30 but we didn't know what else to do, so we had a couple casual beers, and met our roommates. Later on, we went out to a couple pubs and did a lot of dancing! We came back to the hostel because Richie had to hop on a bus to the airport at 2:30am, so we decided to play some pool and just hang out in the hostel bar. It turned out that our roommates for the night (from California, studying in London) had to leave for a flight at 6am and were not planning on sleeping, so Zach and I just hung out with them until they left. Needless to say, it was a long night.
The next day we were awoken by the cleaning lady knocking on our door, and reminding us of the 11 o'clock check out time, and we reassured her we knew. However, we didn't know it was 10:45...quickly showered and ran down in time to check out. All of us tired and groggy, decided to go to a city 30 minutes away via train. It was all of our first trains together, and it was a grand experience. We stopped and ate at a small restaurant, walked up the hills and into another huge chapel, stepped in dog poop because no one picks up their shit, and relaxed next to the water. We didn't get to go to the island where the jail was, but we had a relaxing day.
Later on we hopping on the bus and made our way home. Got to skype the rents tonight too, and my Mom comes this Friday morning!! Can't wait, it will be the greatest!
I'm off to bed now, it's been a long one.
Slán
Aran Islands
Hello again!
I'm a little late, but I will tell you first about the Aran Islands trip I made last weekend, then about this past weekend in Cork.
Charlie, Kelly, and I left early on Saturday morning to head to the Aran Islands. I didn't know much about them, but heard they were beautiful, and they were. On the bus ride there, be got a glimpse of the Cliff of Moher, but stayed on the bus in order to make our ferry ride. The views were amazing from the ferry port. We got on the ferry and did not know what we were in for; since it was a fairly windy day, the boat was rocking pretty well, a couple people got sick, but the three of us were able to keep it down. Once we got there we didn't really know what to do, so we just started walking, got lost a little bit, and ended up just walking on an empty road down the coast. We stopped at a ledge to eat or dinner which consisted of 6 loaves of fresh bread, a block of cheese (one for each of us), and a little wine, because what goes better with cheese than wine?
Later that evening we went to a couple pubs, most of them being dead. I don't know what I was expecting from an island that has a population of 900? Lucky for us, there was a group of about 14 UL grads there having a little reunion, so we spent most of the night having the chat with them. One of the guys was fascinating; he has traveled all over Europe and only stops when he runs out of money. And when he works, he just picks a country and goes there. He went to Norway awhile ago to work just because he wanted to see what a true winter is like; in a week from now he's moving to Canada for a year to work. It seems like a pretty sweet life!
The next day we got up and did more walking, went into a church, and had to hop on the ferry by 11:30 because of the bus schedules. Kelly and I had lunch in Doolin and watched the All-Ireland Hurling final, which was between Galway and Kilkenny (Doolin is very close to Galway, so they were all supporting Galways).
Luckily the bus came, and we made it home safely. Great craic of a weekend, but if someone else was to go there, I would say give yourself a full day, and rent the bikes because you will see way more.
Later, on to this past weekend.
I'm a little late, but I will tell you first about the Aran Islands trip I made last weekend, then about this past weekend in Cork.
Charlie, Kelly, and I left early on Saturday morning to head to the Aran Islands. I didn't know much about them, but heard they were beautiful, and they were. On the bus ride there, be got a glimpse of the Cliff of Moher, but stayed on the bus in order to make our ferry ride. The views were amazing from the ferry port. We got on the ferry and did not know what we were in for; since it was a fairly windy day, the boat was rocking pretty well, a couple people got sick, but the three of us were able to keep it down. Once we got there we didn't really know what to do, so we just started walking, got lost a little bit, and ended up just walking on an empty road down the coast. We stopped at a ledge to eat or dinner which consisted of 6 loaves of fresh bread, a block of cheese (one for each of us), and a little wine, because what goes better with cheese than wine?
Later that evening we went to a couple pubs, most of them being dead. I don't know what I was expecting from an island that has a population of 900? Lucky for us, there was a group of about 14 UL grads there having a little reunion, so we spent most of the night having the chat with them. One of the guys was fascinating; he has traveled all over Europe and only stops when he runs out of money. And when he works, he just picks a country and goes there. He went to Norway awhile ago to work just because he wanted to see what a true winter is like; in a week from now he's moving to Canada for a year to work. It seems like a pretty sweet life!
The next day we got up and did more walking, went into a church, and had to hop on the ferry by 11:30 because of the bus schedules. Kelly and I had lunch in Doolin and watched the All-Ireland Hurling final, which was between Galway and Kilkenny (Doolin is very close to Galway, so they were all supporting Galways).
Luckily the bus came, and we made it home safely. Great craic of a weekend, but if someone else was to go there, I would say give yourself a full day, and rent the bikes because you will see way more.
Later, on to this past weekend.
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