Been Around the World Don’t Speak the Language

In Spain we managed to get by with our meager understanding of the language, but when we arrived in Portugal we did not even know the most basic words. We could not say hi, bye, thank you, or bathroom in Portuguese, but we got through it and I say ‘obrigada’ to the locals for bearing with us.

As we flew into Lisbon the day after Christmas it was only fitting that the airline placed us on a private jet as a present. When all 14 passengers on the flights arrived at the plane we were all shocked to see that it was a tiny jet. After everyone took pictures of the outside we got some solid group plane selfies and pictures of our view right into the cockpit! Not only were we on a 19-seat place, but each seat had a snack pack with a sandwich, water, earplugs, and a wet nap- RyanAir doesn’t even give their passengers beverages! It was so funny, and such a pleasant surprise to begin our adventure in Portugal on what we like to call a private jet.

After our luxurious flight over, we were refreshed and ready to see what Portugal had in store. On our first day in Lisbon we took a tram to a renowned monastery and then walked over to a famous bakery. The main form of public transportation in Lisbon consists of old, rickety trams. Given the hilly topography, they seem suspect to stalling and breaking down every time them drive up a hill. Nonetheless, we made it to the church, which was cool, but I can’t say much about it. The bakery, however, is home to the famous Portuguese treat Pasteis de nata, and they make it with a secret ingredient. It is a custard filled pastry sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon and it is delectable!

After enjoying our Pasteis de nata we rode a tram that circled the entire city. From here we saw great views off all the hills and all the little shops along the narrow streets. We also got to witness a man tram hopping- he leaned casually against a building at each stop and then hung onto the back of the tram once it began to drive again.

The next day we went to the popular flea market. It was so huge that we could not even make it through the entire thing, but we found some random nic nacks, and Shai was tricked into buying a mini camel.

Once again, we found a ride through BlaBlaCar from Lisbon to Porto. This time our driver was a guy who majored in Tourism, and spoke wonderful English. He explained everything as we drove up nearly half of Portugal for about a 5 hour ride. We even made a stop in his old college town to have the traditional pastry and coffee snack between lunch and dinner. When we finally arrived in Porto it was dark out, but the city was lit up and astounding. The city of Porto is layered along a mountainside with a river running along it. We could see the lights shining on every layer, on the 7 bridges, and off the river. This view was breathtaking-and it really heightened my expectations for my time in Porto.

By day Porto was cool, but not nearly as remarkable as it was at night. One thing that I really liked about this city is the presence of hand painted tile on almost every building. It gave it a personal, united feel. We walked past the several wineries on the river, and then went to a restaurant to taste francesinha, a popular local dish. It consists of layers of different types of meat and bread all covered in a thick layer of melted cheese and topped with a flavorful tomato based sauce. It was an extremely heavy meal, and not the best tasting thing in the world, but I’m glad I can say I tried it.

From Porto, we Shai and I parted with Claire, and went to Paris. We were exhausted when we got there and immediately went to our hostel to take a nap. While this may sound like a waste of a day it ended up being the best decision we could have made! When we finally woke up it was dark out, but we wanted to do at least something so we resolved to walk to the river to scope out a nice view. We ended up walking around a good amount of the city for more than an hour- and we fell in love with Paris. Our midnight walk was straight out the movie Midnight in Paris, and it was a great introduction to the city.

The next day we set out to see all the typical touristy things. First we hit the Eifel Tower with a picnic of baguette, tomatoes and avocado. We ate our snack on the lawn right under the tower and it was the cutest picnic I have ever been part of. From there we walked along the river, stopping at various museums and interesting buildings until we happened upon the Arc de Triumph and then the Louvre. The next day we walked the other way to Moulin Rouge and then sadly had to go to the airport to end our trip in Dublin.

I never thought I would be traveling through Europe for the holidays, but I am so glad I had this opportunity. Every city I went to had something special to offer, and I enjoyed all 17 of the days I spent country hopping!

Vamos a la Espana!

After I finished my assignments and packed up my life in Cork, I set off to travel around Europe for 17 days.

First, I went to Madrid to visit Maddy. Although I was only there for a short time I really got a feel for the city by wondering around. Each district has a distinct ambiance, so walking from one to the next was super interesting; and since it was Christmas time every street was lined in different lights! Maybe the best part of my visit to Madrid was being introduced to Spanish cuisine. We went out for tapas and wine followed by churros y chocolate. The tapas we had are called pinchos and are native to northern Spain. They are essentially slices of baguette topped with anything from salmon and caramelized onion to chicken and cheese.

After Madrid, I took an 8 hour bus ride over to Barcelona. Here I met up with Shai and her sister Tom, our friends Dhiren and Wei from Cork, and Claire, my roommate from Santa Cruz. It was surreal to have a reunion with friends from all over the world in Spain. After meeting up at the hostel we set out to see the city. We happened upon an extremely tall mall with a rooftop lookout. There was an elevator to the top that cost about 2 euros each to ride up, but being students traveling through Europe, we went into the mall and found our way up for free. The view was stunning! I could see the entire city, which is full of ornate buildings, spacious parks, and interesting monuments.

After walking around for hours we had to refuel with some native cuisine. We went to a recommended restaurant to try Paella, a rice based dish filled with spices, seafood, chicken and cooked with a little bit of wine (I think). It is cooked and served giant pans, and then dished out individually. It was tasty, but the meal came with more cultural lessons than we bargained for. Turns out if you are served bread before your meal in Spain and do not refuse it you get charged. However, we were each given a free shot at the end of the meal (who doesn’t enjoy a bit of liquor at 1 in the afternoon) so it evened out.

The next day we toured the famous cathedral La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi, an architect known for his eye for detail, designed it along with several other buildings throughout the city. It was like no building I have ever seen before. Every last bit of the walls was covered with patterns and designs, and the intricate stained glass windows were strategically placed to allow for the entire cathedral to be lit by the sun. In comparison to all of the several other cathedrals I have seen, it was much more modern. Everything was white and sparkling and absolutely beautiful. I think I like the medieval style like the cathedrals in Ireland better, but La Sagrada Familia was definitely impressive.

From Barcelona I continued onto the small town of Malaga in the south of Spain with Claire and Shai. We had an early flight and got there with the full day ahead of us. None of us had any real background knowledge about Malaga but we saw a cool looking Moorish tower and decided to climb the hill it was built on. Again, we stumbled upon an astounding view of the entire city. We could see the beach, the bull fighting stadium, a cathedral, mountains, and so much more! We reached the very top of the mountain at about 10:30 AM, and there was an extremely sketchy man selling shots for 1 euro 50. Oh, Spain.

From the mountain, we strolled to the beach. It was sunny and even hot enough to take off our jackets. We enjoyed bocadillos, mini sandwiches much like pinchos, at a small café right along the ocean. En route back to the hostel we came across a Christmas market. There is at least one in every, so we made a point to explore them all.

The beach was so nice that we went back the next day to just lounge around. Then we went to a modern art museum that was recommended by someone at the hostel. It was weird, as much as I try I cannot understand how some radom things can be classified as art.

After two wonderful days in Malaga we made our way to Cadiz by carpooling with some locals through a ride share website called BlaBlaCar. This was a great and cheap way to travel across Spain, and it gave us the opportunity to meet and talk to local people. The man who drove us to Cadiz was a 24 year old lawyer who surprisingly had spent a month in Cork. He was very nice and spoke English pretty well. I was surprised at how many hills we saw along the road, the landscape was pretty-but at times it looked like what I see while driving up the 101. The coolest part about the drive was that we got a view of Africa in the far distance as we were driving along the most southern part of Spain.

We arrived in Cadiz on Christmas Eve and were greeted with a potluck party. It was weird to celebrate this family holiday with a group of strangers, but everyone was friendly and festive and as we ate, drank, and were merry.

Our one day in Cadiz was Christmas Day so most everything was closed. Since we could not explore the shops we took a walk along the beach and out onto what I think was an old castle or fortress of sorts. My windy selfies in Ireland are NOTHING compared to the ones we took here. It was so windy that we could barley keep our Santa hats on our heads. The weather made the experience 10x more fun though, and that windy beach is how I will forever remember Cadiz.

Next, we made our way to Seville via another ride from BlaBlaCar. This time however we encountered some small problems. The car would not start. For the first time in my life, I spent Christmas Day pushing a car up and down a small ally in Spain trying to get it to start. After several attempts to fix the battery, and several more tries to start the car while we were pushing it the guy say down at the wheel and prayed for it to start. This worked, and we were on our way to Seville.

We arrived at the hostel the night of Christmas Day, so after exploring for a bit me, Claire, and, Shai had a little snack exchange and card making party to celebrate with ourselves. The next day we wondered around the city-it is pretty modern and had a ton of stores along every street-kind of reminiscent of 3^rd street in Santa Monica. There was also an extravagant building with a huge square and fountain, we could not figure out what it was, but we got some great pictures of it.

Having covered almost the entire southern coast of Spain, it was time for us to hop the boarder over to Portugal. Spain was amazing. The little beach towns were quaint and cute, but also had interesting historical sites scattered within them. I finally got to utilize my three years of Spanish and taste more ethnic cuisine. 

Until Next Time, Ireland

My days in Ireland are coming to an end, but I like to think I made the most of it!

For my final trip in Ireland I pulled a solo mission to the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast. With this trip under my belt I have successfully been to every coast of the island of Ireland! To get to the Cliffs of Moher I booked a day tour through Paddywagon, a super cheesy, touristy company.

Before the main attraction we had a couple of pit stops. I saw 4 castles that day but I will only tell you about the most interesting one: Leamaneh Castle in county Clare. It was owned by Mary McMahon, a woman with a fascinating reputation. Her nickname is Mary Rua (Red Mary) because of her fiery red hair, but also because of the fact that she had 25 husbands...all of which she outlived. Mary was left this castle by her first late husband, a modest Irish man. Under British Law of the time a widow could not own property so Mary had to wed an English soldier to maintain the castle through a loophole. That husband died in battle, then came and went the other 23 (!) men who helped her earn her reputation. The castle itself is noteworthy because only 75% of it was lived in (the left part of the picture). The remaining 25% was a refuge area for when the castle was under attack. The windows were wide on the inside but closed to just a sliver on the outer walls so arrows could easily be deployed from the inside, but could not be shot in (almost like a cheat on the stickman game Defend Ur Castle Porter and I used to play).The entrance to this part of the castle was lower than the main floor, which created what was called a ‘murder room’ where any intruder could be showered with arrows upon entry. Mary sure did deserve her nickname!

After seeing several other castles and stopping for lunch in a sleepy town, with great seafood chowder, that I unfortunately cannot even remember the name of, we were off to some warm up cliffs. The Baby Cliffs are only about 50 meters high, but the view was beautiful and I could see the waves crashing almost right under my feet.

Following our stop at the Baby Cliffs, we were ready for the real deal. The Cliffs of Moher are over 400 meters high! They extend for several kilometers and are absolutely remarkable. Since I was there on a tour, I was only allotted 1.5 hours to explore the cliffs-but don’t worry, I made the most of it.  I hiked to the very end of the cliffs, past where any other tourist ventured, to get a full view. You don’t know serenity until you are sitting on the edge of a 400 meter sea cliff, alone, just watching the waves. I was awestruck. However, as you might imagine, the trek to the end took a while. As a result I had to run back to catch the tour bus and return to Cork. It wasn’t embarrassing though, because I only ran the deserted part so nobody even saw me do it!

Aside form my day trip to the west coast I have been hanging out with friends, embracing the final weeks we have together in this glorious county. I only have half an essay and 2 days before I pack up my life in Cork and move on to other things (I would say 'bigger and better' but I don’t know if it CAN get much better). Soon I'll be off to travel through Spain, Portugal, and Paris where I get to meet up old and new friends! Until then, Goodbye! Adios! Adeus! Au revior!

UK Days

My study abroad program held an early Thanksgiving dinner in London for all the UC students attending universities in the UK and Ireland. This meant I got a free trip to London and a proper American Thanksgiving feast. London was a lot of fun. I got an authentic experience because I stayed with Shai’s friend Olivia, who is a student and local resident of London, instead of in a hostel. We flew out of Cork on Thursday night and landed in London just in time to put our bags down in the apartment and go to a pub down the street. I was surprised because London initially reminded me of LA with better public transportation, a big, busy city, but with British accents.

The next day I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! I navigated public transit all alone to get there, this gave me a nice taste of the London life but I would have much rather used apparition or the floo network, oh well. At the studio I saw the original sets, costumes, props, and effects used in all the Harry Potter films. It was magical: I walked through the Great Hall, rode a broomstick, drove my friends around in a flying car (with the aid of a green screen), entered Dumbledore’s office, hung out in the Gryffindor common room, saw my reflection in the Mirror of Erised, drank butterbeer, and so much more. We were there for over 5 hours and never got bored once. It was surreal to live in a world I have only seen on screen. I went crazy with my camera and now have more than 200 Harry Potter related pictures- here’s a small selection.

I spent the next day playing tourist on the streets of London with Shai and Olivia. We started our day at the Borough Food market, a local outdoor market that is open every weekend and is full of delicious food from all over. As is our food market tradition, we bought homemade fudge, among other things. Next we saw the Globe Theatre, which was amazing to see in person after reading Shakespeare's plays and learning the history of the theatre in school. Then we crossed one of several bridges and made our way over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was pretty, but St Finbarre’s in Cork maintains its status as the most interesting Cathedral I have seen so far. We continued on to Trafalgar Square, named for a famous Napoleonic Battle.  This square used to be infested with pigeons. It was popular for tourists to feed them, and this lead to an uncontrollable, disgusting amount of birds in the square. Legislation was passed to stop this, now the square is clean and almost pigeon free which I liked very much. From here we took a bus to Buckingham Palace, then walked over to see Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. It was a whirlwind day of sight seeing, but having a local show me around made it feel like I was also experiencing the 'real' London at the same time.

After that long day, we were off to our EAP Thanksgiving dinner at Gibson Hall. Gibson Hall proved to be extremely difficult to find, and Shai and I arrived a little late, right as everyone was being let into the dining room. We were ready to eat, and after about 30 minutes of speeches from alumni and coordinators, dinner was served! They had it all: turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie- Shai and I might have been the first people to go for seconds...It obviously was not as good as my usual Thanksgiving meal with Aunt Laura’s mashed potatoes, my mom’s delicious sides and homemade stuffing and grandma’s jello mold and cool whip- but it was delicious, festive, and perfectly American. After dinner they announced the winners of the photo, video, and blog competitions -guess what- you are currently reading an award winning blog! I entered my post about my visit to the Blarney Stone and won third place. My prize was an ill fitting t-shirt, which I ended up giving away, but it was great to be recognized for simply recounting my adventures.

After dinner we went to a karaoke bar down the street from Olivia’s apartment. It was filled with locals and had a carefree, fun vibe. We sang, or rather rapped, Ignition by R.Kelley and then Bills Bills Bills by Destiny’s Child. It obviously sounded perfect and we acquired some loyal fans and back up singers! I have been meaning to go to a karaoke bar in Cork, so this was a perfect spot to spend our final night in London.

After a week back in Cork I was missing the royal family already, so I headed to Scotland. On this trip I learned to never trust budget airlines. Our plan was to go to Glasgow and Edinburgh, but it turned out that our flight landed in Glasgow Prestwick, which is a 40 minutes bus ride outside of Glasgow-thanks RyanAir. Even though we arrived in Scotland to and unpleasant surprise, the rest of the trip was incredibly enjoyable. Apparently the Scotish are not short on holiday spirit, because even though November has not even ended yet, there was a Christmas Market in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. There was over the top decorations and great food-what more can you want? After exploring the Christmas Market in Glawgow we set out to see the rest of the city. It is very Urban and the main street reminded me of 3^rd street in Santa Monica. There was an H&M, a Forever 21, and a Hard Rock Cafe, so we decided to go off the beaten path and find some real culture. We saw the City Chambers, the local University, St. Mungo’s Cathedral, and the Glasgow Necropolis. Everything was stunning. The leaves were changing and the sun was shining; this set the stage for some beautiful photographs, and a fair amount of photo-shoots.

After two nights in Glasgow we caught a bus to Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-brah, we had fun with that). Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and is an unbelievable mix of tradition and modernity. Almost every building is medieval style architecture, so what looks like a castle could easily turn out to be a KFC- and I’m speaking from experience. Our hostel was 50 meters off of the Royal Mile. This is the main street in the city center and gets its name because it is a mile long with the Queen’s Residence at one end and the Edinburgh Castle at the other.

 

On Sunday morning we hiked up to Arthur’s Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh, and got a 360-degree view of the entire city. We could see EVERYTHING-the castle, the ocean, the city- it was remarkable. After seeing the city from above, we sought out a more grounded perspective and took a 2.5-hour walking tour. We learned about the complicated history of Scotland, some infamous grave robbers and serial killers, the man who inspired Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the nation's obsession with the stone of destiny that England stole from them for 700 years.

I honestly did not know what to expect from this trip to Scotland. We planned it on a whim, without any particular destinations or sights to see, but it turned out to be the perfect way to really experience the country. Walking the streets, eating the food (yes I tried Haggis- we ordered it deep fried and it tasted like falafel) and simply exploring the culture with friends was amazing.