Welcome to my study abroad blog! I hope to be as entertaining as possible as you join me on my adventures in Europe by sharing video content, photos, and a bit of personal commentary here & there along the way. My contact information is shown if you wish to contact me. If you would like my school address, please e-mail me for it; I promise to write back!
Going out of order here a bit but that's just because
1. I love Spain
2. I just made this video so I'm putting it up regardless
Sorry if you checked this earlier, I mixed a bunch of songs together and one of them violated copyright regulations so the video didn't work. Bummer. But this one should be fine!
Couple things to note:
We stalked the architect Gaudi while we were there, so any curvy building you see is probably designed by that man. And there's about a million pictures of the Sagrada Familia, which is under construction and probably will be for eternity as far as anyone knows.
I also stalked all the food I ate, as you can see in the video. Tapas, gelato, and paella all hold a special place in my heart.
The "study" part of "study abroad" has consumed my past week, but I'm FINALLY (relatively) free! Just turned in 3 major projects today and classes end this week.
With finals looming, I'll be updating while & when I can.
Studying abroad has been a fantastic experience and I would recommend it to anyone thinking about it, but sometimes - I'll admit - I get pretty homesick. Especially when I start thinking about Kraft macaroni and cheese and my mom's homemade mashed potatoes (must it always be about food? apparently so). So having a little bit of home come here was considerably refreshing and definitely helped with the 'homesickness factor', even if my mom didn't bring along her mashed potatoes. (Though, she did bring me Ranch dressing).
I'm going to throw all the pictures into a video so it's easier to go through them all, but here's a layout of what everything is (some are not necessarily in order, sorry!):
- Dad, mom, & Chase arrive and we go to The Quay's for lunch for them to try their first Guinnesses (or, if your Chase, a Stella in a Guinness glass)
- Campus tour before class
- Pubs, pubs, and pubs
- The authentic Cass Gunderson Dublin Tour after Amy & Cam arrive
- Howth to see the seals and peak view
- Glendalough with my parents to hike for a day
- Trip to the Cliffs of Moher
- Leinster Rugby match
- Powerscourt Estate with Mom, Dad, & Chase to see the waterfall & gorgeous gardens
- Gravedigger's pub (Kavanagh's) to cross off an item on my dad's life-goal list
On our second day in Belgium (refer to Brussels post) we decided to hop a train from Brussels to Leuven to meet up with the one and only Sarah Trevor.
What was intended to be a quick tour of Leuven, a dinner, a beer, and a train ride back to Brussels turned into ... a quick tour of Levuen (check), a dinner (check), a beer (check), another beer (well okay, why not), missing the train back to Brussels at midnight (oops), Sarah Trevor taking a 30 minute nap at the bar (it happens), having a giraffe drawing competition at a bar called Girafe (appropriate), and beers 'til the trains ran again at 5 am.
Turns out, I'm not very good at using language when I have a camera in front of my face.
But, um, it, um, happens.
Update for Visitors #2 & #3:
...And Breanne getting picked on at Fitzgerald's Pub (sorry for the low quality).
See yah Sunday!
PS - A good drinking game might be to take a shot every time I say the word "footage" in the first video. I'm betting you will be hammered by the end of it.
Monday, April 4, 2011
More updates to come in the next few days.
Tomorrow, April 5th, is One Day Without Shoes to raise awareness about children around the globe that go without shoes in their day-to-day lives.
