The luck of the Irish: Dublin, Ireland

Greetings~

Last weekend I ventured off with only me and my roomie to Dublin, Ireland. I had a great time embracing this city and country.

It started out our hostel, Jacob's Inn, which was our very FIRST hostel experience. Fortunately we chose a great hostel, as we heard from experienced hostel-stayers that we met. I will say that hostels are the best way to meet all different people across the globe! I met some really cool people whom my roomie and I had some great times with. But...sharing a 10- female bedroom with only 1 bathroom is rather difficult (Yes, one bathroom!). We always had to lock our stuff up and our shower decided on when the bathroom was free. Then when we did get to shower and get ready, I felt like I had to race to get ready because others needed to use it too. Besides that, it was a crazy and interesting experience. Did you know that hostels have large kitchens where almost everyone cooks their own meals every night? It's definitely a cheap way to travel and a good way to meet others. Me and Sara tried it one night, except we settled with some frozen pizza and chocolate while others made gourmet meals. Overall the hostel experience wasn't too bad, but I will say that I admire hotels and even motels much more!

After arriving at the hostel, we headed out for our first night at the many infamous pubs. In Dublin, the area where most of the night life and pub scene reside is at "Temple Bar." Sara and I ended up checking out about 5-6 different pubs. They were all really laid back but filled with so many people, endless drafts of beer, and great live music. The next day we checked out the city, ended in a street market, did a little shopping,  and took an Irish dance class. The Irish dance class was the best part! One of the great perks about hostels: so many free activities, hence free Irish dance classes. It was so much fun and actually a great work out! By calves were so sore. Being a dancer, I kind of picked up the steps easily so the instructor thought I'd be his permanent partner for the class. The instructor was a little weird, but I now have a new respect for Irish dancing and their commitment and pride for their dance. Once we finished our session, I headed out for another pub night, but this time with some cool people we met at our hostel. We had another great night out and met some other weird/interesting people along the way. But it just added to the funniness and experience of our trip. 

The next morning Sara and I headed out to finally see some greenery! We ended at a great coast side city called Bray, which I highly recommend anyone going to Ireland to check out. It's simply beautiful because it offers the gorgeous coast with endless green hills. We spotted this cliff and Sara, being a lover for hikes, decided we were going to make it to the top! About a mile or more uphill hike and a couple of breaks, we finally made it. Totally worth it! To our surprise a simple, yet sacred, concrete cross resided at the top of the cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the green countryside. Sitting there embracing all of the beauty, I felt God right next to me. I was reminded from our uphill struggle climbing to the top that God's love is never failing and constantly surrounding us. Even though we face struggles  and sin , just like the pain I endured climbing to the top, we have a redeemer always there for us. I felt blessed to experience this moment and once again, thankful to see and experience a new part of the world.

Through out the rest of our stay, we toured the Guinness factory, which was great except for the fact that I hate beer and got a free pint. Thankfully Sara didn't mind drinking mine for me ;)

We ended our trip at a pub with a friend we met at our hostel listening to some great music. It was definitely a fun weekend and perfect ending!

Now I'm in London for a couple of weeks ready to explore more before November comes and I have trips planned almost every weekend and then home :( Ah....time is going by way too fast and I'm not ready to accept that. I miss seeing my friends and family, but sadly I do not miss California or LA that much, except my bed, the food, and the dollar.  Well, I'm continuing to live every moment to the fullest because that's all I have. 

Cheers from London

xoxo

Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour! 

Comment allez-vous? In French that means, how are you? That is probably the extent of my French with the exception of Parlez-vous anglais, which means do you speak English and probably the phrase I used most in France. Sorry for my lack of frequent posts but times are getting pretty busy. But now I'm here, ready to share with you my travels in beautiful Paris!

My wonderful school planned a trip to Paris for us, which was a nice break from all the planning I have done recently. Although I  visited Paris before in high school, I was excited to go back and experience the city once again. We began our travel on the Eurostar, which is a train that runs directly from London to Paris under the English Channel. We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into our cute  hotel, Hotel Paris France (could the name be any more original? haha jk). I forgot how small hotel rooms are in Europe and the elevators! The elevator was so small it could only hold 4 our luggages. We sent our stuff up as we ran the stairs. Well once we settled in we took a river cruise along the Seine River and got some great views of all the national and historical sites. After the cruise, we had a nice dinner at a local French restaurant and then hit the stores for some shopping. Later that evening, some friends and I sat at an outdoor cafe near the Eiffel Tower and gorged ourselves in some of France's delicious array of desserts. They were quite delicious, but nothing beats a fresh crepe from a side vendor with Nutella. It is so simple, yet probably the best treat you'll find. Anyways, we finished all of our desserts and then watched the Eiffel Tower glitter and glow in the distance. It was a beautiful sight! 

The next day we toured Museum d'Orsay, which holds some of the worlds finest pieces of art. 

Most of the art  are pre-Impressionist and Impressionist pieces. Some of the artists include Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas. My personal favorite is Edgar Degas. I had been to this museum before, but I was thrilled to see his work again. A lot of his images reflect dancers and ballet performances but the colors and painted strokes create a less refine image. I wouldn't mind owning one of his paintings one day ;) After visiting the museum, me and some friends headed to Champs Elysees for a nice lunch, some shopping and the L' Arc de Triomphe.  We ate lunch at one of France's famous cafes, Laduree, specifically famous for their desserts and macaroons. They held true to their standards because my meal and Tarte Tatin were amazing, as well as all the other desserts we all ordered and shared! Burning off all our food, we did some window shopping and then headed inside the 5 story Louis Vuitton! I had never seen so much Louis before and couldn't help but think, "graduation is coming up, which purse would I want?" ;-) Luckily the L'Arc de Triomphe was right next to the LV store so we ended up there for a while taking pictures and then headed back to Eiffel for some day shots. We finished our evening with the Louvre and then a great night out at The Rex Club, also known as the origin of Daft Punk- hence the singers of that one electronic song with 3 words we all know, "Around the world, around the world." 

Now onto Saturday! Since I had seen and visited many sites in Paris before, I thought I'd go a bit outside of the city and visit Versailles. What a beautiful place this is, especially the gardens. If you don't know, Versailles became the official kingdom of France after  King Louis XIV came into power. The palace also holds some of the world's most beautiful gardens. The palace and gardens far exceeded by expectations. I felt like I was still living through that time when I looked out into the vast, green gardens from the opened windows in the elegant palace. I was so happy I got to visit this historical, royal place in time. Once returning back to Paris, we grabbed some dinner and then headed out to a special evening in France, "White Night," which were open art performances from evening until dusk throughout Paris. 

On my last day in Paris, we went on a walking tour and toured the Jewish quarters. Upon our finished tour, I tried a Falafel. Since I'm a lover of Mediterranean food and hummus, this was quite delicious. Falafel is a type of bean smashed, pretty much the same as hummus, except this Falafel was fried and then placed in a pita with tomatoes, cucumbers,  red onion, carrots, and hummus. It was really tasty and one of our directors kindly treated us all! After, me and my rommie decided to spend our last couple of hours and do as the French do- people watch. We ended our time near the Pompidou, the coolest building ever and also the museum of modern art, and watched all types of people pass us by. It was  great way to end our trip in Paris!

Paris is beautiful and filled with so much to do. I was so thankful, once again, to experience a different culture as well. I'm glad that I finally felt like a foreigner since the language barrier was a bit difficult but I enjoyed that aspect. It's definitely a city of love and romance but also a city of art, culture and historical preservations. Another blessing I got to experience and yet another stamp on my passport :)

Oh, by the way, I saw Elle MacPherson at the train station in London (literally right next to me) and no joke, VALENTINO at the train station in Paris! Let's just say Elle looks amazing, definitely very tall and slender, and Valentino, posh, chic, and really orange. haha He was nice though after my friend  asked to take a picture with him and he politely smiled and said okay. Guess my trip to one of the fashion capitals of the world was complete! 

Au Revoir!

xoxo