Fall Break

Hello again!
So I've finally recovered from my exciting and busy week last week! It was fall break so I didn't have school for an entire week.
I spent the whole week with my friend Brianna and we started out in Barcelona. It took such a long time to get there (one hour bus ride to airport, one hour flight, 3 hour bus ride into Barcelona) but when we finally did it was so beautiful. It was warm and sunny which was a welcome change to cold and cloudy Paris. We walked around and went to the beach and layed there for a couple hours until we could check into our hostel. Our hostel was really cool, it was right next to the huge Cathedral. We soon realized while unpacking that we brought waayyyy too many clothes. We were staying in a room with 10 other people from all over the place. Some austrian guy totally made us embarrassed when he told us he too was staying for 4 days and showed us his small backpack that contained all his stuff. We had a large suitcase with enough clothes for at least 4 outfits a day. We barely fit everything into the small lockers we were given and swore to one another that we would never make the same mistake again. After the embarrassment passed we went to the nearest Tapas restaurant and ordered so much food and ate almost all of it. Tapas are basically small dishes of food and you can get all sorts of variety. It was delicious.
The next day we woke to a beautiful day and met up with Brianna's friends who were also there for the weekend. We walked around more and then went to the Gaudi architecture on the top of the hill, called Park Guell. We walked up so many streets and then stairs and then escalators and finally reached the top. The view of Barcelona was clear and you could see the ocean stretching out behind the city. The architecture was so different and the designs were intricate with a sort of mosaic of tiles. We sat on the grass and relaxed and listened to someone playing the spanish guitar. After relaxing we went back to the hostel (getting some Gelato on the way) and got ready to go out. We went to a spanish sushi restaurant which was surprisingly deeelicious and after went to a club. There were so many clubs in this one area and we all went to one but soon separated. It was a fun night!
The next day we woke up and found a crowd of people outside our hostel dressed in Victorian era garb. Apparently they were all extras in some movie being filmed by the Cathedral. I tried to find out what movie but it was definitely lost in translation. People in Barcelona speak catalan, which is very different to both spanish and french. Fortunately mostly everyone spoke English so we figured it out. We then walked out to the Cathedral square and found a bunch of people dancing and singing, I guess it was some sort of religious celebration. There was a circle of people holding hands and doing some sort of traditional dance, but they looked really angry... Probably because there were a bunch of tourists watching them.
We walked to the Picasso Museum and spent a good 2 hours there. Picasso was a very interesting person... He was one of the pioneers of Cubism and it was cool to see how his art changed over the years. He spent a lot of time in Paris (Montmartre) and it shows in his work. He was also obsessed with naked women, which got boring to look at after a while.
We decided to walk down to the beach again. We sat on the sand for a while, and it started raining but was still so warm. We spent some time just walking around and taking it all in. We found some band playing a makeshift outdoor concert and sat and watched for a while... Barcelona is such a cool city because every street has some sort of art on it or a musician playing on the corner. Its so cool, it would be such a great place to live.
That night we went to a traditional tapas place and had a feast with every food you could imagine, including Sangria (which is really good). We stuffed ourselves and basically went into a food coma.
The next day the other girls left and Brianna and I did some more sightseeing and shopping. We walked to the Gaudi houses and then to the Gaudi Cathedral, which unfortunately was closed by the time we got there. We realized how small Barcelona is and walked from one side to the other and saw the entire city... Its seriously beautiful. That night we went to an italian restaurant and ate so much we thought we were going to puke after. Both of us had near puke moments but the food was so good we didn't want to leave any leftovers! We walked down to the beach and laid there for a while until we felt better... We then met up with some other friends and went to another beach to hang out. Brianna and I had to get up at 3 for our flight so we went to bed early after packing our humungous luggage.
The next day was the longest day of my life. We missed our alarms... So rushed to the bus stop but when we got there the bus had already left. We waited an hour and got on the next bus and made it to the airport on time and got on our flight... But apparently the weather was too bad to land so we landed in Lille in Northern France. We were so close to the Belgium border we seriously considered an impromptu visit but realized we had no money. We took a 3 hour bus to Paris which wasn't bad at all because I got to see the French countryside which is green and flat, but quite beautiful.
We finally got home after 12 hours of travelling and passed out until the next day. I stayed in Paris for 2 days before going to Dublin. In Paris I didn't do too much except relax and enjoy the break. I went out one night to a club and stayed out until the metro opened, which I don't really know why I keep doing seeing as im so exhausted afterwards. Brianna and I bought a pumpkin and carved it with our friend Sara to celebrate Halloween. We also watched Twilight and ate candy which made us really excited for New Moon (yes, we are obsessed with it). Apparently New Moon comes out earlier here... Midnight showing yeaaaah.
Sara, Brianna and I took an extremely early flight to Dublin on Friday morning and got there in the afternoon. We met up with a bunch of people studying in Paris too (Americans). We walked around and checked into our hostel which was huge and pretty cool. We had our own room and bathroom which was nice! We went out to the Temple Bar area (not a bar, actually) and drank a lot of Guinness and ended up on the terrace of some 5 story club. Dublin was freezing and raining but it was still really fun. There were so many people out and the best part about the city was that everyone spoke English!
The next day, Halloween, we went sightseeing (not before getting a really good cappuccino at the next door café). We walked along the river and through piles of fallen golden and brown leaves. We went to the Kilmainham Gaol (jail) and went on a tour of the prison. We learned all about the Irish fight for independence from British rule and saw where the influential people were held for a long time or before their execution. It was sad to learn about the violent history but at the same time really cool to see all of it, especially on Halloween! We then went to the Guinness Storehouse and saw how the beer is made. Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease for the storehouse and it is now celebrating its 250th year. Good thing Guinness was successful otherwise that would have been awkward for him. We drank more Guinness and the went to a chinese food restaurant, which wasn't the best idea... But it was cheap.
My friends and I dressed up as Cats and wore ears and painted our faces. Originally our idea was to be Jellical Cats from the musical "Cats!" but that doesn't really work out when you are a poor travelling student and there are no Halloween stores anywhere in Paris. Apparently Halloween originated in Dublin so everyone was celebrating which made it even better. We went to the Temple Bar in Temple Bar (confusing for me too) and met a group of americans who were also visiting for Halloween. There might have been a "USA!" chant going on for a while but I didn't participate, I swear. Everyone was very happy to be with fellow americans.
The next day was not very eventful. We went to a craft market/ flea market and then walked to St. Patricks Cathedral. It was windy and cold and it seemed like the entire city was staying in doors for All Saints Day. We saw a restaurant that was serving brunch and literally ran to it. The brunch was amazing, they had breakfast tea and eggs and Mediterranean dishes. And pumpkin pie... Needless to say, straight after lunch we all went back to the hostel and took a very long nap!
We woke up later and went to a traditional Irish pub/restaurant and again ate so much food... I had a huge plate of fish and chips that 3 people could have easily shared. An irish band came on and we sat with our bellies full and listened for a while. The sound is so unique, a man was singing and playing a guitar, there was a woman playing the violin and a man playing the accordion. It was really nice to listen to... Very eclectic and different.
The next day we all had to take an early flight but when we finally got back it felt really goood to be in Paris. It's weird to consider Paris my home, but whenever I'm in another country I find myself missing it!
All in all my fall break was really amazing. I got to go to 2 completely different countries and experience the different cultures. I think my favorite place that I've been to so far was Dublin. The people are so helpful and nice, their accents are fun to listen to and everyone looks like theyre having the time of their lives. The rain comes and goes but there's always a rainbow somewhere to remind you that there is a sun (and maybe a pot of gold?). I want to go back and see more of Ireland, hopefully I will be able to someday (mom and dad- next vacation!). It was simply amazing!

But classes have started again and the days are getting shorter- meaning winter is approaching. I'm pretty scared, I've never had to deal with the cold (except a 3 day trip to Michigan in January- yikes). I really like Paris right now, its so beautiful with all the colorful leaves falling to the ground. Its going to be scary when winter comes!

Ill let you know how winter treats me, hopefully ill be able to type through the mass amounts of layers I will be wearing.

I miss home and everyone! xoxoxoxoxoox