Benvinguda a Barcelona!

My second big trip was quite a success!

This time my group was down to 5 girls (Me, Ellie, Maureen, Erica & Alanna) and sort of spur-of-the-moment decided to make a trip to Barcelona, Spain. After our connecting flight from London (Yes...I can say I've been to England now;) ) we arrived at night to our ADORABLE hostel called Saint Jordi: Sagrada Familia in the north part of the city. We were too exhausted to do anything that night but we were up bright and early the next morning.

We realized quickly that not many people spoke English there (or Spanish for that matter), but Catalan was most people's first language. My companion Alanna and I dusted off our rusty Spanish skills and did our best to get us around. It was so fun to try to remember all the words and expressions, but also motivated me to study it a lot more! We spent the morning wandering aimlessly around, in search of the Fat Tire Bike Tours starting point---we missed the first tour, but went in the afternoon! It was my absolute highlight of the entire weekend: riding around with 20 other tourists and weaving in and out of little alleyways and whizzing along the beaches and seeing the sights. Definitely the way to get around Barcelona :)

The history of the city was fascinating and we got to see some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen, mostly Gaudi's works. We went on this underground tour that walked us through Roman ruins and it was so mysterious and enchanting, and we also learned a lot about Catalan culture.

I set foot in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! A little chilly, but I donned my swimsuit regardless and went for a swim. It was a gorgeous warm day and the sailboats were out. Tidbit: A little fact I didn’t know about Barcelona was that nudity on the beaches is legal…so…well you get the picture… J

The nightlife was great there as well and we got to go out with a big group from our hostel.

After 3 nights in Barcelona, we took a bus up to Girona to spend the night closer the airport. Although I had never heard about Girona, I ended up falling in love with it! While our time in Barcelona has been crowded and fast-paced, this homey little city was a quieter Italian-looking place that was filled with families strolling about, soaking in the sun. My friends and I decided to amble around town to take pictures and we stumbled on the most beautiful cathedral! El Catedral de Girona.  Stunning architcture, and it was empty inside, unlike the touristy Catedral de Barcelona.  It was a perfect way to wrap up a busy and yet perfect four day trip!

Hope all is well friends and family <3

PS: There are more pictures of my trip on Facebook

A wee jaunt to Dublin

Temple Bar area & my first Pub Crawl

Dublin. A city I had heard much about in literature, but was way different than I expected. For some reason, in my mind, I had a mental picture of a sprawling, quaint town---and in reality it’s an urban metropolis with an interesting mixture between the ancient and the modern.

It took 6 girlfriends and myself 4 hours by train and bus to reach the city and once we arrived it took us quite some time to reach our hostel, because there are NO street signs in Dublin. Or if there are, they are very well hidden. Also, the roads never follow a pattern or grid like the United States, but rather the old trails of the Vikings. That explains a lot J

Paying homage due from English majors everywhere

My first hostel experience was an interesting one. I was placed in a room separate from my friends and it was filled with French people who wouldn’t talk with me—slightly awkward.  It was a beautiful sprawling stone building with four floors and room after room of dorm beds.  We met some nice Irish and Italian people, but overall it felt like an orphanage. Yuck

We (of course) had to do a pub-crawl, and so we met up with about 60 other backpackers and hit three pubs and a dance club in the Temple Bar area! It was chaos! I recommend going with a smaller group if at all possible. My favorite pub one was that played reggae music with a band called the Barley Mob.

Had to do it

The majority of the rest of our time there was spent sightseeing and learning about the city’s turbulent history.  The Irish rebellions against the English were key in all the places we saw and it was fascinating because I had learned about the time and people through Yeats, Joyce etc., and now I have images and experience to match with the things I read and study! Definitely a cultural highlight. I also visited the Dublin Writer’s Museum to make my English professors proud of me…ok…and I guess I liked it too! We went to the Guinness factory and my favorite part was the gorgeous 360-degree view of Dublin from the top floor. However, overall it was one of my least favorite activities because it was so crowded and slightly boring learning about the brewing process. I did have a sample there though J

Christ Church Cathedral

The absolute BEST experience of the whole city was going to the Chester Beatty Library and seeing all the ancient religious documents.  I had one of the strongest spiritual moments of my life when I saw the portion of the oldest known book of Romans.  I tried to stop the tears when it hit me that my Bible is based on true documents written thousands of years ago, but they just kept coming. I will never forget that moment.

Other highlights were: Stephen’s Green Park (SO beautiful), Christ Church Cathedral, Kilmainham Gaol, the General Post Office, Dublin Castle, The National Museum of Archaeology, walking along O’Connell street, eating out and so many other things!

Updates will come soon...

Hi friends! So I PROMISE updates will come soon...this past weekend and week has been CRAZY, but I will fill you in on everything shortly.  Tomorrow I leave for Barcelona!!! I will have two trips to tell you about (and some drama over loosing my wallet...); Dublin and Barcelona. They will come as soon as I have a second to breath.

I miss everyone so much!

Mmm..I'm cuddled up in my flat, hiding from the typical Irish weather: rain.

Life is good my friends, life is good.  The best part of this past week was SURFING.  I signed up to try to my uni's "Surf Club", and the first day was on Wednesday.  I am not lying when I say that it was up there with some of the best days of my life.  Picture the sun shining and the skies are blue. I get picked up by a couple Irish surfer 'dudes' and arrive in Portrush (town on the coast) and I am given a full body wetsuit. Uh oh. Myself and 25 other beginners make a huge circle on the beach and our kind instructor Carl proceeds to teach us the in's and out's.  Then we all run into the water and are pushed around by the waves, falling haphazardly from our boards, pitifully face-planting, splashing and all the while trying not to kill everyone. I got up again (I surfed once in Hawaii as well), and it was a most successful day! I am seriously considering joining the club and going every week. Gnarly bra!

As far as a class update: uhhhhh. I don't know what to say.  My classes actually require a lot less work than Whitworth, and my only true work to be turned in are the mid-term and final papers. It's hard to get motivated school-wise even though my professors are passionate and interesting.

What I am motivated about are my upcoming trips: October's will be Dublin! Galway! Barcelona! and Scotland! When we plan our traveling adventures, I am a kid in a candy store! I have found a true passion for making travel plans and figuring out the little details like transportation, housing etc. Who knew?

This past Saturday a bunch of us international students went to the 'Glens of Antrim'. It is a national park that has pretty much the only trees in the area. It looked soooo much like Portland and the westside, that I felt like I was home again! We hike about 7 miles total and got to see some pretty waterfalls and breathtaking scenery of a valley and the ocean. Some pictures are up on Facebook if you want to see them.

Also---at the Christian Student Union worship service this week, we sang Phil Wickham's "You're Beautiful" and it made me cry a little bit. It was such a nice gift from God to have one of my favorite songs.  It reminded me that God is the same everywhere; whether I am here, home, or the ends of the earth. He is with me and he will be my portion forever :)

Take care everyone!