First Week of Classes!

So second semester has officially started. Not bad so far, but it's only been a week.

Monday, bright and early at 7:30am, my alarm went off, and I opened my eyes, listened to the beautiful birds sing, hopped out of bed, skipped to the shower, came back to my room, tossed some fairy dust in the air and twirled around a few times and ta-da! I was dressed with perfect hair and make-up with a full stomach, and everything was ready for school.

Just kidding. What really happened was this: 

My alarm went off at 7:30am, and my first thought was, "Ughhh why is my alarm going off?!" Then I remembered it was the first day of school, so I groaned and shut my alarm off and sat up with my eyes closed. Five minutes after literally just sitting there trying to convince myself to move, I stumbled to the bathroom, got a shower, got dressed with the first clothes I touched, threw my hair up in a not-so-pretty bun, haphazardly put on a coat of mascara, rushed to shove food into my mouth, frantically ran around my room throwing things in my bag for school, and then somehow made it out of the door only like five minutes later than originally planned. 

Genisis, Isis, and I have the same 9am class on Mondays and Wednesdays, so we met up at the esquina (corner) to walk to class together. The walk was surprisingly beautiful, and as we were crossing the windy Bridge of Death, the sunrise was pretty breathtaking.

Okay, it looked way better in real life...

The first class I had was Poesía de Hispanoamérica (Hispanic-American Poetry). It seems like it'll be a good class, but unfortunately I can't gauge that for sure because we have a temporary professor, because the real professor is out on vacation doing research. Right now it's a fun class (probably because our professor is actually a professor of Education Science, so he knows what he's doing when it comes to teaching), so I'm kind of afraid for the real teacher to come back on Wednesday. 

After that class, we all had two hours to waste until our next classes at 1pm, so we just went to 100 Montaditos and got café and toast. We also went to the office after we finished our food for a reason I can't really remember, because I just went with Genisis and Isis since I didn't have anything else to do...plus it's always warm in there and there's free wifi, so why not?

My next class was Mitos Literarios (Literary Myths). I have a super nice professor, and the class syllabus sounds really interesting. I think this is going to be my favorite class (well, one of my favorites). This is what our syllabus says we're going to cover: 

-Introducción genérica al concepto de mito literario: motivo, argumento y arquetipo

-La bruja casamentera: Celestina 

-El pícaro: Lazarillo de Tormes 

-El caballero andante: don Quijote de la Mancha (I had a whole class on him last semester, so that'll be easy but also super interesting because even though I hated that class with my entire being, I really did enjoy don Quijote)

-El seductor: Don Juan Tenorio

-La femme fatale: Carmen la Cigarrera

I'm super ready for this class. Bring on all the Spanish literary myths!

This is Celestina, the first one we'll be learning about! Creepy...

That's it for my classes on Mondays (and Wednesdays). So after my 1-3 class, I went home for lunch, took a siesta, and then went for a walk with Genisis and Isis. Then it started drizzling, so we headed home where I spent the rest of the evening doing nothing (actually, I just really don't remember what I did). 

Tuesday, I got to wake up at a more reasonable hour of 9:30am and left the house at 10:30am. My first class of the day was escritura creativa (creative writing). I'm really excited for this class because I definitely think it will help me improve my Spanish grammar and writing, which I feel isn't too strong. It will also just be nice to have a fun class where I can be creative!

After that, I had a class called Literatura y la ciudad: El caso de Sevilla. I'm super super conflicted, because at first I totally only signed up for that class because we have to sign up for five classes (but only have to take four), but after that one class, I was almost convinced that I should take it. It sounded like it would be super interesting, and now I really want to take it. But you see, I'm conflicted because:

#1. I don't have to take it. 

#2. I don't want to take five classes, because last semester I had five classes and I was drowning. 

#3. Although I had five classes last semester and was drowning, I also had a billion internship hours last semester which I think was the main contributor to my stress because it left me with no free time and also no sleep time. Also, I'm not sure if that's exactly it or if five classes was actually too much for me to handle.

#4. I got B's in all of my classes with my crazy schedule last semester, so it probably wasn't too much to handle...and this semester won't be so crazy so I should be able to do the same or better...

#5. It's at such a crappy time (1pm-3pm). I hate 1pm-3pm classes, especially since I have another class at 5pm. So I walk for 30 minutes to get home, then I'm only home for an hour, then I go 30 minutes back to the University. I mean I could just ask for a bocadillo (sandwich) for lunch and stay at school, but honestly Toni always seems so distressed when she has to make me a bocadillo because apparently vegan bocadillos are super intense and make her brain gears go into overload, and she can only spit out two types of bocadillos: one with mushrooms or one with a tortilla española (the vegan version ;) ). I don't even know what to suggest to her because I never eat sandwiches back in the States. Plus, bocadillos for lunch are lame and sad in a country when lunch is supposed to be the main meal of the day. Also I just hate all that walking back and forth.

So yeah. Still not sure if I'm going to take the class. I probably will end up taking it because the interestingness of it trumps the other things, but I still can't say for sure. I probably won't decide 100% until next Tuesday when it's time to go to class.

After that class, I went home and ate lunch, and then headed back to school for my class at 5pm: fonética y fonología españolas. I sat down and was ready for class to start when some guy came in and told us that class was cancelled.

Class was cancelled because our professor actually had the flu...soo sucks for the professor, but good for me. (She was doing a lot better by our next class! :) )

So with my newfound two hours of free time, I went to Starbucks (I promise I wouldn't go there if I could just find another place that has soy milk/almond milk/etc.) and bought a soy latte and read my book, Si decido quedarme, (If I decide to stay...) to pass the time until 7pm. At 7, Vanessa, Genisis, and Isis and I went to an intercambio in Nervión. I'd never been to this intercambio before, and I really liked it. We met a really cool group of Spaniards who helped us learn some new phrases, and of course we taught them some stuff in English, too. 

Wednesday was basically just a repeat of Monday, except that night I went to a improv show in Triana with Vanessa, Genisis, Isis, and Vincent. We got there a little late, so our seats weren't the best, but it was still really funny and good. I understood more than expected, but there was one skit I didn't understand at all. It turns out I didn't understand because it was about this lady Juana la Loca, who I've never heard of before (and if I had heard of her, I didn't remember...). Still not sure who she is, so I guess later I'll Google her and figure out who she is.

According to Google, this is what Juana la Loca looked like. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Juan_de_Flandes_003.jpg)

Thursday was also a repeat of Tuesday, except I skipped the class that's making me feel conflicted so I could see what life would be like if I didn't have the class. It was only ten past 1 and I was already at a loss with what I should do with my time, so I just almost went to class late, but then decided against it. I ended up sitting by the river on a bench in the sun reading my book about an hour ("read" = people watched, river watched, day dreamed, read a few pages) until my fingers were congelados (or as my host mom would say, cogelao), aka frozen.

On the way home, I was on this little street called Calle Maestro Arrieta, which is like 30 seconds from my house. I never usually see too many people on the street because it's just kind of like a super small residential alleyway street, but this time, there was this old lady headed in my direction and she was hardcore staring me down. Now let me tell you, she looks like just any run of the mill typical Spanish old lady. She's not gitano (gypsy), she was pretty well dressed, and her hair was done really well. So...at first I thought she was looking at someone behind me, so I tried to casually look behind me to see if there was anyone there, but there wasn't. Then I thought I had something in my hair or on my face, so I checked as best as I could, but nope...nothing there. By that time, I was getting pretty close to the old lady, and she said to me:

(Conversation translated from Spanish except for the last line):

Old lady: I'm looking at you. You know why?
Me: No....
Old lady: You look just like this muchachita (girl) I saw yesterday. She was walking exactly where you were, and...*starts speaking unintelligible Spanish*...oh, the pobrecita (poor thing), they just left her right there, you know? So, when you cross the street, you have to be careful, okay? Crossing the street is dangerous and you should only cross when the light's green. ¿Vale? (Okay?)
Me: Oh, yeah, pobrecita, I can't believe it...well I gott-
Old lady: POR DIOS (Oh my God), la pobrecitaaa. This street can be dangerous, you see all these cars? It's easy to get lost...

*Side note: All of the cars are parked, it's a one-way street, there's never traffic, and there's not even crosswalks with lights on the street because it's small and that would be unnecessary*

Me: *thinking that I either have no idea what this lady is saying which is why it's not seeming to make sense or that this lady actually ISN'T making sense* Yeah, well I have to leave...adios! (Bye!)
Old lady: *spots random man on street* OYE, I'm telling this girl about the muchachita I saw yesterday! You remember the muchachita?
Random guy: Yeah, the muchachita...*walks away*
Me: Haha okay well bye!
Old lady: Oh wait! You're a foreigner aren't you?
Me: (in English) YEAH ACTUALLY I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH BYE. *walks away quickly as she's still trying to talk to me*

That old lady was WEIRD. As soon as I got home I told Toni about what happened, and when I told her the street I was on, Toni gave me a dead-on description of this lady. Then Toni informed me she's media loca (half crazy), she lives on that street, and she stops everyone she sees to tell them weird crap. So that was interesting...

Anyway, so after lunch I went back to the University for my phonetics class, which wasn't cancelled this time. I think phonetics will be my most boring (but probably most beneficial to my spoken Spanish) class. On one hand, I'm not looking forward to it, but on the other hand, I'm excited to learn!

That night when I was eating dinner with Toni and Vanessa, Vanessa and I were talking about how Spanish numbers are difficult, specifically the number 500. Spanish numbers, like English numbers, follow a pattern. We have a super simple pattern for counting in hundreds: the number and then the word "hundred." For example, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, etc. Theirs is a little different. They have cien (100), doscientos (200), trescientos (300), cuatrocientos (400), and wait for it: quinientos (500). The word for 100 is different, but not so hard to remember, but quinientos?? What is that!! Why can't it just be cincocientos and follow the pattern like the rest of the numbers? So we explained that to Toni, and she got such a kick out of it. She seriously laughed for 5 minutes, and then she called someone and told them what we said. It was hilarious. Then we told her we were going to change the Spanish language to say "cincocientos" instead of "quinientos" and at first she was like, "Oh yeah? No one will understand you!" and then I told her that since I'm going to be a Spanish teacher teaching Spanish to students who don't know anything, what I say is "lo que hay." (what I say is just what there is). She also got a huge kick out of that.

After dinner, I went to a salsa club with Vanessa, Genisis and Isis. I really didn't want to go because I don't like dancing nor do I even know how to dance salsa, but I said I'd go with them if only to people watch. So, we went and it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but I don't plan on going back. I found a really nice song I like from the club, so that's something good that came out of the experience.

This is the song. The song in the club was the bachata mix, but this is the normal version.

Oh, and as usual, I left something behind there when we left (my scarf). We were walking down the street headed for the churros stand at the Puente de Triana when the wind blew and I was thinking, "Man my neck is cold, what the heck..." and then I realized my scarf was still at the club. I obviously went back to get it since we hadn't even gotten like two minutes away from the club, and it was fine...just buried underneath some coats which is why I forgot it (out of sight, out of mind!). What is that, the 3rd time I left something behind in Spain? 3rd? 4th? I don't remember at this point! How am I so forgetful?? Anyway, I had a warm neck all the way to the churros stand, which is all that matters. So, then we had good ol' 2am churros before heading back home to acostarnos (to go to bed).

Took this screenshot off of Google maps...that little stand is where we like to get churros. Obviously this wasn't taken at 2am, though.

Like last semester, there's no class on Friday. Usually, I would have my internship all day on Fridays, but the internship doesn't begin until tomorrow. So I spent my morning sleeping, but I still got up at a reasonable hour to go to Café & Té with Genisis and Vincent to creep on an intercambio that Isis had.

BUT, on the way there, I had another "almost dead guy" incident, though. Why do these things always happen to me?? This time, I'm pretty sure they guy was dead because it didn't look like he was breathing...and some guys were beside him calling an ambulance. We didn't stick around to see what happened, but there was a crowd growing. Oh, Spaniards, always creeping...and always dying on the street?

Anway, Isis had an intercambio with some random guy who only wanted to meet one-on-one, and since that seemed sketchy, we were there to be her back up crew. At Café & Té, I got tostada which came with orange juice, and I've never had orange juice in Spain because I hate orange juice in America. It's so gross and bitter and just yuck...but since it came with my toast and since I was thirsty, I figured I'd just drink some to wash down the toast. Well, let me tell you something: orange juice in Spain is quite possibly the best orange juice in the entire world. I've never tasted such an amazing beverage. I almost cried. I also drank Genisis' orange juice too, because she didn't want it (her loss). The best part of this discovery? When I got home, I told Toni how much I love orange juice here, and the next day she bought me orange juice to have with my breakfast.

 

Oh, and Isis didn't die at her intercambio, so that's good, too.

Friday night, we went out to get sushi/maki, which was a lot of fun and super tasty.

Saturday morning, I met up with Genisis and Isis and we met Giulia, the JYS program director, to go to the vegan bakery. I was supposed to meet on the corner near my apartment with Genisis and Isis at 11:45, but somehow I lost major track of time and didn't leave the house until 11:47...I thought they'd be at the corner waiting for me, but they definitely weren't. So I called them and they were ALSO running late, so I felt super bad because Giulia was supposed to meet us at a different corner at 12:00, but the corner she'd be at was like 15/20 minutes away, so we met her late. Oops :/ Obviously we've been in Spain for too long (everyone's always late here). It was okay, though, and we had coffee and an assortment of things from the bakery. Super yummy, except for the strawberry cake. That was gross, which was disappointing because I love strawberry cake. My strawberry cake is better, just saying.

Then, today, Sunday, I went to meet with Mercedes again. We talked for like two hours in the park about all kinds of stuff. I learned some new vocab, like, "qué rollo" which you can use when you don't like something. I also learned that "vaca" doesn't just mean cow, but it can mean like that rack that goes on top of cars. Never knew that one! Also, she's from Málaga, and I'm going to Málaga on Friday for my birthday, so she told me some places that I should see while I'm there. I can't wait!

On my way home, I had to stop by a chino store to buy tape for my fichas (cards with your picture and basic information on it for the professors at the University), and on the way to the chino, I saw a Semana Santa ensayo (practice)! I stopped and watched the guys walk a little bit. It was really interesting to see. It looks like it takes a lot of hard work and practice to carry so much weight!

This next week will probably go by really slow since my birthday is on Friday...but I really like my new schedule, so this will probably be a good week regardless! :)

IRELAND

This post is late but you can deal with it because I had a lot to write, I was trying to recuperate from traveling, and lack of sleep (can you say 3 hour siesta?), and I had pictures to edit. 

Ireland was the best trip in the history of all trips. Just kidding. My study abroad experience in Spain is, but the lil' vacation to Ireland tops all my European visits in the past.

We sort of left for Ireland on Tuesday. We didn't actually leave for Ireland until Wednesday, but I'll get to that in a few minutes. So on Tuesday, we rolled on over to Plaza de Armas and hopped on a bus to Málaga, Spain because that's where our flight was leaving from. That bus was the best bus I've ever seen, but then again, that was the first bus ticket I've ever bought to travel to a different city so I don't really know if my opinion is that valid. Anyway, it was super awesome because I ended up switching tickets/seats with Isis so she could sit next to Genisis, and that was basically the best trade of my life. Why? Because I got a window seat and aisle seat all in one! Doesn't get any better than that! Also, the bus had wifi and it was playing The Fault in our Stars in Spanish. Oh, and there were little goodie bags, and the bus was basically empty. #winningalready

The best bus seat.

On the way to Málaga, I half watched the movie, I took advantage of the wifi, and I watched it snow out of the window. WHOA WHAT? Snow in southern Spain?! Yeah, that's right. It was snowing on our drive to Málaga. Who knew??

When we arrived at the bus station, we took yet another bus to the airport. Then we stupidly couldn't find the entrance to the airport and almost walked around the place until we turned around and realized we had been next to the entrance when we got off the bus. Oops. 

The time in the airport was long and I must say that I kind of hate that airport now just because I had to stay there for such a long time. We got there at like 23:30 (11:30pm), and I ate my bocadillo (sandwich) my host mom made for me for dinner. Then we did a little exploring and we found a Starbucks that was open 24/7, so we camped out there for the next 8 hours. We slept in shifts...I wasn't tired at first, so Isis and Genisis knocked out fast while I read a book, played games on my iPad, people watched, and wished that we had just gotten a hostel. 

Around 2am I decided to break down and buy the wifi because the Málaga airport is mean and just wants to steal your money. Eh, just like most airports I suppose. Anyway, Isis and I split the price. It was pretty worth it because then I at least could waste away my time that I couldn't sleep by binge watching Youtube and reading Buzzfeed articles.

Around 2am was also the time Isis entered crisis panic mode. We were talking about how she was planning to stay in Spain until July, and I was like, "holy crap how long is your visa good for?" and when she told me it was good until September I didn't believe her for a hot second. She showed me her tarjeta extranjera, and when I looked at the expiration date, it surely enough said 9-1-15. However, here in Spain, the date formula is day/month/year, not month/day/year like in the States. Isis failed to take that into account, so when I told her that her visa was actually already expired, she practically fainted right there. Sooo Isis spent the next hour sending panic emails to basically everyone at the JYS office and talking my ear off about how if you added the IQ's together of everyone at the oficina de extranjeros together, you wouldn't get a score high enough to keep a chicken alive.

Around 4am I decided to get some sleep, and I kind of slept for about 2 hours. I found out that I can't sleep in airports. I'm on too much of a high alert of my surroundings and just can't manage to relax enough to actually fall completely asleep. Good to know for the future I guess...

At 6am, there was this dude behind us who took some sleeping pills, and had a flight at 6:40am...we had talked to him a little bit earlier, and so we felt like we should wake him up for his flight. So Isis and Genisis tried to wake him up, but he might as well have been dead. Then a security guard tried to wake him up, and that didn't work either. So we just sat there and watched the time tick by as he missed his flight. He woke up like 5 minutes before his flight was supposed to take off, and he asked us the time and then proceeded to book it to security...but then we saw him later passed out at a different table. Eh, we tried. 

Somehow the morning passed by pretty quickly, and before we knew it, we hopped on our plane. Getting through border security was pretty scary though, because the guy who checked my passport asked me a ton of questions, looked at my expired visa for a long time, then examined my tarjeta extranjera...and once he saw that everything is actually okay, he asked about my life in Spain and eventually stamped my passport and told me he hoped I had a good trip! Luckily, the guy that Isis got looked at her stuff for like two seconds and didn't even ask to see her tarjeta extranjera, so everything was super okay. Gracias a dios. 

As we were in line for our plane, Isis was still in panic-crisis mode, so she called Giulia, the JYS program director, for advice if she couldn't get back into Spain. I guess Giulia made her feel better because after that Isis basically had the most "don't care" attitude I'd seen. 

The plane ride was pretty run of the mill. When I got on the plane and found my seat, there was the most adorable old man in my seat -- the window seat. I *almost* didn't say anything because this old man is literally the picture perfect gramps and I didn't want to make him and his wife get up and move around because I also felt like they'd break if they moved too much. But...I wasn't letting gramps steal my window seat. So I went to say something, but then I was stuck...did they speak English or Spanish?? So, I stuttered in  Spanglish for a few seconds before just giving up and asking them if they knew English o español. When they said English, I was relieved, but my brain was still in Spanish mode so I had a hard time spitting out what I was trying to say. 

Anyway, I got my window seat and the old couple ended up being super nice and adorable. They told me all about how they have property in Málaga, how they've lived just outside of Dublin all their lives, and they even gave me travel advice. We also had a super in depth conversation about education because low and behold, the lady used to be a teacher in Ireland! Then we proceeded to compare and contrast education systems of Spain, Ireland, and America.

The view of Málaga from the window seat that I took back from the old guy.

The entertaining conversation with the old lady made the flight go by really fast, and before I knew it, we were starting our descent. I have never been happier to start the decent, and not just because we were about to land in Ireland, but because I have never had to use the bathroom so bad in my life. It didn't hit me until the flight attendants were like, "no more bathroom, suckas, we be landin' soon! if you gotta go, too bad!" (Okay obviously that's not what they said, but it's how I interpreted it). 

As we were landing, I had two impressions of Ireland:

1. QUÉ VERDE (how green!)

2. Oh wait, that was the ocean, wtf? *actually sees land* QUÉ VERDE!

I was embarrassed at myself for thinking the ocean was Ireland, but w/e. It was weirdly green and I wasn't wearing my glasses and I had a whole like 2 hours of not even complete sleep, what do you expect?

The first glimpse of Ireland from the plane

We landed to Dublin at around 2 in the afternoon, and then we got to our hostel around 3 I think. We were starving because we hadn't eaten anything since 8am, so after getting our things situated in our hostel, we headed out to the lobby to set up day tours and then to go off in search of food. Genisis really wanted to go to Cork to kiss the Blarney stone, and I really wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher. Well, the receptionist was super helpful and set everything up for us with the tour companies, and all we had to do was give a down payment of 15€ for each trip. Bam, done, two days full of excitement and all we had to do was show up at a bus stop two days in a row.

Then we went out to explore and find a super early dinner. We explored for a little while, and then we tried to find the hostel receptionist guy's directions to this restaurant, but we got lost and of course, tired hangry me was like, "I'M SO DONE WITH THIS STUPID MAP! *aggressively shoves map in pocket* WE'RE JUST GOING TO FOLLOW GOOGLE MAPS EVEN THOUGH THE DUDE SAID NOT TO!" So then I angrily walked ahead of Isis and Genisis, turned a corner, and BAM there was the restaurant. I cried a little.

The restaurant was called Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant. It was Indian food, and it was amazing. The portion sizes were GIANT and the small plate was only 5.55 euros...and yeah, I said "small" plate but they PILE the food on. 

Okay...my plate was a small plate, and for a size comparison...it was the same size as the vegan tart's plate I also got on the right.

After we ate, we walked around Dublin a little bit more. We even walked past Trinity College, but at the time we didn't know it was Trinity College so we were like, "Hm wonder what this place is. Looks pretty cool." *facepalm* We also stopped by a grocery store where we found BAGELS. HALLELUJAH PRAISE THE LAWD. To make things better, I found a jar of peanut butter for 1.50€. I almost cried because I have not seen PB that cheap at all here in Europe. So then, we headed back to our hostel because 1. Our faces were frozen and 2. We felt dead.

So clearly, we called it an early night and went to bed at like 9pm because we are grandmas and we hadn't had a full night's sleep since Monday night...and it was Wednesday night.

The next day, we got up around 9:30am and headed out for breakfast because I had found a place that was supposed to have vegan pancakes. It was too good to be true, though. They lied about their hours and when we got there it was closed, so we just found some other random cafe. Not all hope of a good breakfast was lost, though. This cafe had bagels.

If you're wondering what's so special about bagels, it's the fact that Spain doesn't have them and they're my most favorite breakfast food of all time. If I remember correctly, the last thing I ate at my house in America was a good ol' bagel with peanut butter.

Hallelujah, a bagel. I also got green tea (in the back). What a great way to start off a morning. 

Anyway, I happily ate my bagel, and then we went to find the "hop on, hop off" tour bus stop. Here we are on the bus:

When we got on, we rode it the whole way through around the city, and then on the second round we stopped at Christ's Church because Isis really wanted to go see it. It was pretty and they had interesting stuff on the inside, such as a mummified cat and rat that were stuck in an organ pipe for a trillion years. I was also particularly impressed by the floors.

After the church, we tried to walk to the Guinness Storehouse because it was basically Genisis' #1 dream to visit it, but then we realized we actually had no idea where to go so we just hopped back on the hop on hop off bus and rode it there. 

Genisis

Isis

Me

We spent a lot of time walking around, and I couldn't care less about the beer, but the place was actually pretty interesting and entertaining. That place was huge and they had lots of cool and informative displays. Also, the view of Dublin from the top of the bar was beautiful! 

Dublin from the top of the Guinness Storehouse

So after Guinness, we went to head back to the center of Dublin, but Granny Bladder Genisis had to pee really bad, so we got off the bus in front of some old famous jail so she could use the bathroom. While we were waiting for the next bus, we were practicing bending over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone, which we were doing the next day:

I can go pretty far back. Who knew? #secrettalent

Then we headed to a Korean restaurant for dinner where I had some super yummy kimchi fried rice (w/o egg of course!). 

yum!

The next day was our trip to Cork! We were talking about it at the restaurant, and I got so excited that while exclaiming, "YESSS CORK TOMORROW!" I knocked my glasses off my face. I'm an adult, I promise. 

We headed out pretty early. Our tour guide was pretty cool, and I learned some interesting stuff about Ireland:

1. We were going through the "Golden Veil" of Ireland, which is where all the dairy production is.

2. There are apparently 48 shades of green in Ireland (I believe it).

3. Kissing the Blarney Stone means you'll get the Gift of the Gab for 7 years -- which basically means you'll be able to BS really well.

4. Blarney = BS

Our first stop was some random gas station, and I didn't understand a word the cashier was saying to me. I just wanted to buy a Clif bar and a smoothie, but she said something to me (in English!) and I was like "..........????????" I just mumbled "no" and handed her my money. I didn't want to admit to her I had no idea what she said because darn it, I just came from Spain where understanding people is a real challenge because I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I am fluent in English, and I wasn't admitting I can't even understand my own language! I got my food successfully, though and that's all that matters.

Then we stopped in Cork for about an hour. We explored the English markets, which was basically like a giant farmer's market. It was pretty neat, and I even found vegan chocolate! I was excited because apparently vegan chocolate basically doesn't exist in Ireland. 

I didn't take many photos in Cork, but here's one that I thought was cool.

Our next stop after that was Cobh (pronounced "cove"), aka the last city the Titanic ever stopped at! I stood next to the water and just kinda stared at it with my mouth hanging open for a good 4 minutes as I pondered how crazy it was that I was actually in the last place where people set foot on solid land before dying in the Titanic wreck. So creepy and weird...

Where people bought their tickets for the Titanic in Cobh

We also went to see some pretty church in Cobh:

Cobh (and the church)

Made it up to the top where the church was! This is me being excited about being there. 

Pretty colorful houses in Cobh

After Cobh, we finally headed to Cork for the Blarney Stone! The grounds of the Blarney Castle were sooo pretty, and they looked just like I'd imagined Ireland would look. After we kissed the stone, we explored for a while and found some cool stuff, which you'll see in the photos below.

 At first I was a little scared about the kissing stone because you had to bend over backwards and it was pretty high up...and the only thing separating you falling to your death is like three iron bars that looked like it would still be easy to slip through if you were panicking and flailing around. But as I bent all the way and was kissing the stone, I got a super awesome adrenaline rush and it was actually super fun and not terrifying anymore!

Blarney Castle!

Your warning's aren't going to stop me!

At the tip top you can see the 3 iron bars that are supposed to keep you from falling to your death if you slip, and you can see the silhouette of the old guy who holds you while you bend over backwards.

Here I am kissing the Blarney Stone!

On the grounds

We found a waterfall!

We also found a duck

...and a druid circle!

That was our last stop, so after that we headed back to Dublin. We got there around 9:10pm, and so we decided to head back to the Korean restaurant for dinner again because it was cheap and had vegan/vegetarian food. I had the fried rice again, but this time I also got some avocado maki to go along with it.

After we ate, we headed back to our hostel to go to sleep early because we had to get up at like 5am to get ready to leave at 6:50am for the Cliffs of Moher!

The Cliffs of Moher trip was my absolute favorite day in Ireland. It started off kind of rough with the getting up super early and the freezing temperatures as we waited for the bus. Then the bus was really cold and the dude driving it wasn't too friendly, and I totally thought he was our tour guide so I was kinda upset at how lame he was. Turns out he was just driving the bus to our tour guide. Anyway, the bus also didn't have the heat on the whole way to Galway so we were freezing our toes off! 

Things turned around when we got to Galway and got our tour guide. He turned on the heat and he also ended up being HILARIOUS. People in Ireland have the best humor. It's a super raw humor, which is really unexpected so I found it even funnier, and a lot different than in the States or in Spain. 

Anyway, our first stop was this really old castle. It was really pretty and I got some good pictures there:

After that, we stopped at yet another castle/church thing (I should have written down where we were because I straight up don't remember right now...I was too occupied with how cool everything was!) But it was to see some of the original high crosses!:

Then we headed over to this super cool place where the ground was basically rocks and weeds, and we saw a 5,800 year old religious site where people did sacrifices in the olden days. Our tour guide said they'd sacrifice people and leave their bodies out in the open so that animals could get rid of the flesh/because it was like giving your body back to nature, and then they'd take whatever was left and put it in the tomb:

The tomb

Lunch was our next stop. We stopped in a place called Doolin, where we ate at a pub. They luckily had a veggie option that was really good, but somehow they screwed up our order and we didn't get our food until 10 minutes before we had to be on the bus. Luckily, our tour guide was super understanding and he told us not to worry because "everyone's human and things happen." 

We still inhaled our food, though. I didn't actually taste much of my food because #1 I was eating it at like 23904823 miles an hour and #2 it was super hot and I burnt my tongue. From what I could taste, I think it was pretty good! It was some potato croquette thing with fries. So anyway, we managed to eat everything and make it to the bus on time without anyone choking and dying. Success!

After lunch, our next stop was finally, FINALLY, *cue emotional dramatic music* The Cliffs of Moher. I have wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher...basically forever. I went through a phase in high school when I decided to plan out my entire itinerary for traveling the world, and when I found out the Cliffs of Moher existed, I put that at the top of my list for Ireland because the pictures I saw were simply spectacular, and I'm a huge sucker for amazing nature views/nature anything?

I never ever thought I was going to get to go...so when I saw them for the first time, I actually teared up a little bit. 

This is me being super happy and trying not to cry at seeing the cliffs in real life. 

This place exceeded my expectations. It was absolutely breathtaking. So so so so beautiful. To whoever is reading this, I have two things to say: 1. Holy crap I can't believe you've read this far and 2. If you go to Ireland, YOU MUST GO TO THE CLIFFS OF MOHER. 

I can't even describe how that place made me feel. I felt so small. The cliffs were huge and super tall. I really just wanted to stay there forever.

Since I can't describe this very well, here are pictures:

When I saw this sign, I thought, "nope, not stopping me!"

This is thew view with your back turned to the cliffs.

Looking down at the water! I got pretty close to the edge & it was slightly terrifying but slightly exhilarating. 

All three of us at the cliffs!

"For those of you Americans whose plane tickets blew away on the cliffs today, I'll stop the bus so you can get out and start swimming. In about 3 weeks you'll reach Boston." -- Our tour guide on the way back from the cliffs

After the cliffs, we headed back to Dublin. We got there around 9:30pm, and for dinner we made a spur of the moment decision to go to this restaurant that happened to have veggie burgers. I wasn't 100% sure if it was vegan or not, but at that point of me being starving and not having internet to look up a place w/ vegan options, I just bought it and hoped it didn't have egg or something in it. It was pretty good, though, vegan or not.

We were so tired when we got back, so we had another early night and then "slept in" until 9am the next morning.

Time for another day in Dublin, our last full day in Ireland. :(

We declared Sunday officially "café day," aka "we don't really know what to do since we've already explored the city so we'll just wander around and hit up 92324 cafés and chill out all day. So we started our morning in Starbucks because Genisis "needed" her coffee, and I just used their wifi to catch up on what was going on in other parts of the world. 

Then we headed over to a gift shop next door where we bought souvenirs. I typically like to get practical souvenirs rather than lame key chains that I'll probably lose and stuff like that, so since I like cooking a lot, I got a super cute apron with lil' Irish sheep on it. I've been wanting an apron, so I thought it was a good idea. I also got my dad and me matching ball caps that say "Ireland" on them (we both like wearing caps and my dad literally always has a cap on). Then I got a couple of things for my friends as well. Oh, and also I fueled my earring addiction and bought some really pretty earrings.

Then we went to the post office and bought stamps out of a little vending machine. Those stamps were tricky, because it was 10€ for 10 international stamps, so we just split the price and we each took turns shoving our change in the slot because we had a lot of change to get rid of and we hate carrying around so many coins. 

So then we went over to the Indian food place that was nearby to eat some lunch and to write our postcards. After we ate, we dropped them in the post office box and made our way over to another place of mine that I've wanted to visit forever: the Trinity College Old Library

The first time I "saw" the library was on a list of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and let me tell you, it was NOT a disappointment. 

We bought our tickets and we went through the Book of Kells exhibit which is what you have to go through first before getting into the library. The exhibit was pretty cool, but I didn't care about it as much as I cared about just getting to see the library. 

When I set foot into the library I was overwhelmed with the smell of the old books and the lighting and the wooden shelves and the EVERYTHING! I was just in complete awe and I couldn't even believe this place actually existed and that I was standing there! It looked just like I was standing in a picture. I couldn't actually believe I was there. 

A super nice security guard took a picture of me because I lost Genisis and Isis a long time ago back in the Book of Kells exhibit because they were taking their time looking at everything while I was just like, "yep that's cool where's that library??"

It was kind of hard to take pictures in there due to the low lighting, so I had to set my camera on a railing to get a non-blurry photo of the place:

Thank you, security guard!

That library was amazing and I wish I could have stayed longer...like...forever maybe?

After we spent a good amount of time in there, we hesitantly made our way down the stairs down to the gift stop. I kind of cried a little. On the inside. I think I left a piece of my heart in that library guys, I'm not joking. 

Then we walked around Trinity College's campus for a while, and then around Dublin some more.

On the campus of Trinity College

Pretty...but not prettier than Sweet Briar.

After a while of wandering, we ended up in Temple Bar, and then we found a vegan restaurant that we had been trying to go to earlier (the one with the vegan pancakes for breakfast). We decided to eat an early dinner there, and then just head back to the hostel to pack, because once again...we had to get up super early because our flight back to Málaga boarded at 6:40am the next morning. 

I had a giant falafel sandwich with some kind of weird coleslaw knock off on the top (and tons of hummus...yumm, something I also haven't had much of in Spain), and it was amazing. My mouth is watering just thinking about that sandwich. Isis and Genisis got the same thing, but they weren't as impressed. They weren't a fan of the coleslaw...it must be my southern roots kicking in...even though I wasn't even ever a big coleslaw fan (bc usually it had mayo...yuck).

I'm adding lots of food pictures this time because some people have a hard time with "what do vegans eat???" This was my sandwich. 

So anyway, afterwards we headed back to our hostel and spent some time in the lobby using the wifi (no wifi in the rooms, so we had to go to the lobby to use the wifi). Then we headed back to our room to shower and pack and go to sleep so we wouldn't have another day of sleep deprived travel.  

We got up super early and caught a cab to the airport because we don't trust the bus to get us there on time because the earliest airport bus was cutting it kinda close to when we wanted to be there. Our cab driver was amazing. He was one of those typical old guys who always compliment everyone, and while usually that's kinda creepy and weird, I was pretty impressed with his compliments. Mine was, "For it being so early, you look very fresh this morning!" Thanks, old guy! I can't remember Isis' and Genisis' compliments, but they were also equally not creepy and nice. At one point, Isis was like, "You think we'll get there on time?" and our cab driver quickly responded, "We'd get there on time if we were driving f*ckin' backwards!" We all died. It was hilarious!

Our time in the airport was super short, and our flight was even shorter (okay it wasn't actually shorter but it kinda felt like it).

Flying over some mountains in the lovely España

When we got to Málaga, Isis was about ready to crap her pants and have a panic attack because she was so afraid they people would ask to see her expired card and she was afraid they wouldn't let her in the country. Luckily, the guy once again scanned my stuff and examined all of my stuff really closely, but this time he didn't ask me for my tarjeta extranjera. Then he looked at Genisis' stuff less closely, and Isis' stuff even less closely because he realized we were all together and I'm pretty certain he didn't care after he realized we were together. I'm glad it went so well, but while I was waiting for Genisis and Isis after I had gone through, Isis definitely looked like she was about to throw up and pass out all at once. But seriously, everything went perfectly through there. After she got through she praised Jesus and then told me to send Giulia (JYS program director) a Whatsapp saying that she got back to Spain and didn't get detained. 

Once in Málaga safe and sound, we had a lot of time to kill because our bus was at the inconvenient time of 5:30pm and it was only like 11am. Sooo, we decided to sit at the airport 24/7 Starbucks for a few hours, and then we took a bus to the bus station where we found some lunch at some Chinese restaurant. I was unimpressed with my food. I've had way better Chinese food. Now I know why they always say Chinese food in Spain sucks. 

After lunch, we only had like 45 minutes until our bus (back to the Spanish eating schedule of eating lunch late!), so we slowly made our way back to the bus station. I was particularly impressed with the bus ride back to Sevilla...after being in Ireland, I was basically convinced it was the most beautiful country ever...but then Spain changed my mind as we were driving back to Sevilla. 

We were driving through the mountains in southern Spain during sunset, and it was absolutely spectacular. Even though it's winter, the landscape in southern Spain still says "summer" to me. The green grass was turned a beautiful golden green that I usually see in Virginia on summer evenings. The sky was a golden orange red, getting more of a fiery orange as it got closer to the horizon, and almost a very pale green as the light orange/yellow mixed with the blue part of the sky. The mountains were a dark lavender color...like someone had painted over lavender mountains with diluted black watercolor. It seriously looked like something you would only ever see in a painting or a movie. There were also windmills in the distance that were illuminated by the sun and they were glowing the same color as the sun. I thought Ireland was beautiful, but Spain never ceases to amaze me. What a greeting back to my "home country." 

I didn't take any photos because my phone was almost dead and I felt weird taking out my big camera on the bus, so I just decided to take it all in with my eyes and just try to store the beauty in my mind as a mental picture. It was worth it as I had more time to appreciate everything I was taking in. :)

When I finally walked in to my piso, Toni exclaimed "¡HOMBRE!" before I even set food in the door. She got up and rushed over to give me a hug and dos besos, and then she proceeded to have me tell her all about my trip. It was so nice coming home after a week of traveling and seeing someone be so excited to have me there. :D <3 I absolutely adore my host mom! It's going to be so hard to leave here in May. We definitely got closer over break and I hate that I only have a semester left here...:/ But I'd rather have this semester than not have any time at all!!

So yeah, that was my trip to Ireland. Super amazing and I'm so happy to have had the chance to go.

As for this week...let's see. This week is my last week of vacation. School and internship starts up on Feb 2nd, so that'll be interesting. I hope I'm not as busy/stressed as last semester! I'm only taking 4 classes, and I'm only doing 9 hours a week at my internship (could be less -- it's not set in stone, I've only told her what hours I'm available to go there, she still has to make the schedule, and there's a chance I might get less hours). That's 4 hours less of class each week and 4 hours less of the internship...so 8 hours more free time a week this semester compared to last semester. How will I use that time? Probably sleeping. Not gonna lie. I was always trying not to fall asleep in my classes last semester! Goal of the semester: get more sleep/do more things with my newly found free time.

Also I would just like to take up a little more space on this already extremely long post to just brag a little about how I'm currently in Spain where the weather is going to get up to 19ºC (66ºF) this week, while Virginia/northeastern USA is getting a crazy blizzard. Don't freeze to death, everyone!