"Where my people at?"

I was just about the only person in Dublin who had red hair & freckles. I was disappointed that my people weren't surrounding me. At one of the bars the man actually did a double take when I didn't have an Irish accent. Other than the fact that the ginger status was minimum, Dublin was absolutely amazing! We got there on friday and settled into our hostel "Barnacles" and then headed for appetizers and drinks at a touristy American type restaurant, mostly because we were craving nachos. Later that night we set off on a Pub Crawl. We hit five different pubs throughout the night, all of them being completely different. The first pub was celebrating Oktoberfest so the waitresses were all dressed up while we sipped our beers, Matt got an oyster flavored one...I almost vommed. The second pub was the best considering they served up a huuuge plate of chips & sausages. NOM. We devoured the chips in two seconds. I'm pretty sure Kim and I ate the whole plate while the boys were complaining they weren't getting any of it...woooops. The third bar was great! There was the cutest guy singing with his guitar, best part was he sang Kings of Leon. I was dying. The next bar was more swanky or as Katie would call it, "plosh." We had baby guinness shots that were delicious. At the fifth pub we attempted to learn gaellic, which was a fail since nobody could remember it the next morning.
The next day was filled with touristy activities. We signed up for a bus tour that took us all around the city and you could hop on and hop off whenever you wanted to go to one of the sights. We went to the Jameson Whiskey Factory first.





Kim and Matt were chosen to be the whiskey tasters and I was so jealous!



After Jameson we went to the Dublin Castle, which was probably my favorite sight. From the looks of the outside of the castle I never expected it to be so amazing inside. It was huge and lavish and it made me wish I lived back then so I could attend the balls in the grand ballroom.





After the tour of the castle it started down pouring and we had to run back to the hostel & when we got back we all were absolutely soaked. We had to blow dry our socks and boots. Later that night we went to a local pub that was super cute. In the summer time this would definitely be the place to be. Once the roof came off it would be covered with vines and flowers with stone walls...so pretty. Best part of the night though would definitely have to be the nutella gelato. DELISH.
Sunday morning came way too fast, but we had a bunch planned out so I rolled out of bed. We started the day off at St. Patricks Cathedral. Me at a church on sunday is a weird thought I know...so of course I found the most unchurch-like thing in the whole place...a pretty pretty princess tower.



I did actually take pictures of the cathedral too...



From there we headed to the Guinness Factory. This place was huge! With seven floors there was plenty to see. From how the beer is actually made, to all the advertising they've used over the years.



The coolest part was at the very top of the building there was the Gravity Bar. This bar had 360 degree panoramic views of Dublin. We got served our complimentary Guinness' and took in the sights.





After the Guinness Factory we went to an old jail that they spell gaol and I couldn't even pronounce the name. Besides that, it was the coolest thing...creepy, but cool. It was crazy to hear about the people who were in jail for years for such miniscule crimes such as stealing a loaf of bread. But in the same "gaol" there were murderers. So bizarre.



We even got to go inside the jail cells!



After eating dinner at an underground pub & watching the Patriots game on a huge projector screen, we wandered back to the hostel...to find a man lying in Kim's bed. I don't think I've laughed harder in my life. I may or may not have peed my pants a little. We could not contain ourselves, we had to go outside in the hallway to burst out laughing. This man must've been given the wrong bunk bed assignment because he was definitely in Kim's bed. We could not handle the situation it was too hilarious.
The next morning we checked out and ventured to Trinity College, only to find out that it costs 10 euros to go on a tour. The school is beautiful but not worth 10 euros, sorry. So instead we went shopping at all the touristy shops and bought presents for our families and friends. After that we went to Dublina, a museum all about the early vikings and settlers that came to Dublin. It was actually super interesting and really fun...probably because a ten year old would also enjoy it with all the things we could dress up in and play around in.



After the museum we went to Christ Church where we got to have tea in a crypt! I thought this was the coolest and most ironic thing ever. We were literally underground where important people of the church were buried just having some afternoon tea. Hilarious.



We ended our stay in Dublin in the perfect way...at a pub. We listened to Irish music while enjoying our bar food & pints.

London Ladies

London this weekend was an absolute blast. With minor setbacks, I still managed to laugh more in one weekend than ever before. As soon as we got there, we found a pub with fish and chips, since we still hadn't tried the famous dish. We all ordered it, but I of course will be the only one not ordering it again. The chips of course were delicious buuut we all know how much I love fish...



From there, we headed straight for Oxford Street, which is a huge strip of massive amounts of shopping, and as we found out, a massive amount of people. I have never seen so many people in one location in my life. If you think NYC is bad, try going into Primark (kind of like Forever 21) on a Saturday. We have a Primark here in Oxford, which I love, but I was just not ready for Londons version. With three floors and thousands of people shopping inside, we were the most overwhelmed! We continued down the street after buying things without trying them on due to the excessive line for the dressing room. We could barely shuffle through the crowd, but we popped into a few more stores before giving up. The street would definitely be amazing if it wasn't on a Saturday afternoon. From there we attempted to find somewhere for dinner...struggle number two for the day. Thank god we ended up finding a restaurant called Prezzo, because it was absolutely delicious! I ate everything on my plate and then some.
After our food comas, we headed to meet AshleyAnne and her friends to go to ZooBar!



ZooBar was a blast! By the end of the night though, creepers started coming out so thats when we needed to leave haha. Katie, Kim, and I were the only ones who stayed at the club late because the other girls had rehearsal in the morning. We thought hailing a cab afterwards to head back to the hotel would be easy & boy were we wrong. Two hours later after standing in the rain for an open cab we got back to our hotel. At the time we wanted to die, and now we are hilariously laughing over the ridiculous situation.

The next morning I woke up early to meet AshleyAnne for breakfast. We ate at a delish little cafe where we ate outside & seemed like real London-ers. I loved it. After saying goodbye I took the tube back to the hotel where I met with Katie and Kim and headed to Camden Market! Camden Market was my favorite place. It was a flea market style set up with loads of different little sections with the cutest cheapest clothes, jewelry, hats, and anything else you could want! I bought one too many things of course but I love them all and I cannot wait to go back!

Ironbridge

Ironbridge...you were cool for a minute, after that, not so much. We went on our last field trip with "Petaaaa" today. We drove up to Ironbridge, which is the very first bridge built from iron ever. It was interesting to learn all about it, but five museums later I was ready to leave.



The most exciting part was touring a three hundred year old house where we all got to dress up in the most ridiculous old school outfits ever. We looked like fools & I loved it. The top hats were especially my favorite.

Wasted Wednesdays

Katie dragged me out of the flat even though I was notttt in the mood to go out. But thank god she did because we had the best time! We went to Wahoo which was blasting American music and serving us one too many jager bombs. We went with UBlock and danced for hours. Hugo jammed to Moves Like Jagger, and I of course recorded every minute of it. After non stop dancing, Katie and I ventured to the buses where we instead decided to eat a whole dominos pizza, and when I say we, I mean Katie. In her defense it was a personal pizza hahaha hot messes.

Baaaaath

^^^ that was me doing an English accent. Today we went to the Roman Baths. I wasn't too sure what to expect but I ended up loving it! Once again it was gorgeous out, which was a definite plus because I think it really affected the trip, it made everything much more beautiful. It was so cool to see the remains of these things that were built thousands of years ago. It was bizarre to see the steam literally coming right off the water and bubbling, it looked like a hot tub, yet it was only coming from the ground...too confusing for me. At the end of the tour we had to option to taste the water from the springs. We of course had to try it since its supposed to have "healing powers." Let me tell you...it was disgusting! Haha what an experience...

Forecast: 80 & Sunny

It has been absolutely beautiful for the past five days or so. Over 80 degrees and sunny everyday...much different than the rain and clouds I was expecting. We tried to take full advantage of the weather by eating all our meals outside & playing sports in the courtyard. We have been teaching the boys how to play American football so they can practice before our big Thanksgiving day game. Today we had a lovely picnic at a big park near the center of town. We went into town & got baguettes from my favorite cafe & brought them to the park. It was gorgeous out as I laid in the grass...perfect hangover cure.



I was hungover due to the "pYjama party" we went to the night before...best costume award goes to my lovely roommates who dressed in devil onesies. UBLOCK WADDUP

Stonehenge!

...or as Katie, Kim, and I like to call it...STONEALIENS!!! Alot of people told me that this was super boring to them but I absolutely loved it. Took waaay too many pictures but here are some of my favorites...







Later that day we ventured to Salisbury where we toured Salisbury Cathedral, one of the first churches in England. This church was absolutely beautiful, especially considering it was such a perfect day out! The gothic architecture was amazing and it was hard to grasp that this was built so many thousands of years ago.

London Bound

My friend pointed out that I look like I'm living in the movie "The Parent Trap" wandering around in London with my red hair, just like Lindsay Lohan did many years ago in my favorite movie growing up. It was exciting to see all of the cities attractions that are so wildly famous. I was snapping away with my camera all day...


I loved seeing Buckingham Palace! ...mostly because I was hoping William & Kate would come outside on the balcony and redo their epic kiss. =) We also got to see the changing of the guards ceremony which was an awesome opportunity.


Me standing right by Big Ben!


We all know how religious I am...but even I was amazed by the gorgeous St. Pauls Cathedral.


Most importantly...we got to go on the bridge from Harry Potter!

My Life Literally Revolves Around Food

Discovering new restaurants is literally the highlight of my day. Recently we have found a great cafe that serves delicious baguettes and paninis! We also found a steak house restaurant that serves "bottomless chips" aka I can refill my french fries as many times as I want...my kinda place. We also found a great Italian restaurant with mini meatballs, which me & Katie obsessed over right before we devoured them. Finding all of these restaurants and cafes is definitely going to take a toll on my bank account. Especially considering I can't help but get a glass of wine at dinner...just because I can, since the age is only 18 over here. And to make things even better, we have found a place we can watch American football!

Day One Discovering Oxford!

Today is my first day in Oxford, since I'm not counting yesterday when I was completely jet lagged and cried for hours, but I woke up a completely different person (thank god)! We went into town to explore. We saw all the historical buildings, churches, and schools that make up the city's beautiful architecture such as this one...

and this...

After wandering around we were starving and found a back alley pub that was delicious! Random fact...they call chicken sandwiches chicken burgers and french fries chips. The "chips" are so good so no matter how picky I am I'll at least always be able to eat my favorite food!