the countdown begins...

The Countdown Begins!!

with 14 days left, im starting to prep to be back on american soil. "here's marissa eating American soil; mmmmm tastes like LIBERTY"

two weeks ago i was ready to come home. in fact, my restlessness started to kick here; its like ive been in one place too long again. we dont get to go to sweden ( =[ ) that shit was crazy expensive! it didnt help that the website was yelling at me in swedish because i wasnt booking the train tickets right. MY bad, sweden. we didnt get to go to prague, budapest, or amsterdam either. slightly bummed. just  didnt have the funds i guess. i did, but jake didnt. we're kind of travelled out. i suppose i am ready to be home, but im absolutely in love with dublin. its had such an impact on my life; i cant imagine not being a part of it. and i cannot CANNOT believe that the greatest trip of my life is nearly over....this is so sad. it has ruined me as an american and as a student. lol. i literally have two papers left and im done-zo. st. norbert is doing what it does best and trying to fuck me over. im not planning on losing much sleep on it; i have an overwhelming sense of apathy toward the whole academic thing lately. i wholly intend on bitching mercilessly until i get my way. be prepared, registrar. you aint never dealt with a woman so pissed. I WILL NOT BE TRAPPED THERE ANY LONGER THAN I NEED TO BE. dont worry, its only three grand directly out of my pocket.

on a lighter note, im taking a day trip to london on tuesday. should be fun =] im glad i get to see it, even if its just for the day. we might try to squeeze in a couple trips around ireland too. i havent seen limerick yet, and i had SUCH a blast in galway that i'd love to go back there. 

today, jake and i met up with our friends phoebe and emily in howth. there was a 'prawn festival' and the usual sunday markets. i bought a ton of jewelry that i shouldnt have bought =P its all good tho. most of it is for my family. since im pretty sure that my sisters are way too lazy and have a severe ADD problem, i'm almost positive that they wont read this, so i'll include a picture of everything i bought, including the stuff i bought them. if they dont like what i got them, i think im going to keep it myself. randa's birthday is the week after i come back, so i need to get her something for her birthday. 19s nothing special. LOL just kidding. maranda and i actually decided to live together. i was planning on living alone this next year and just get an apt. by myself. but then i was talking to her and realized how much marinette SUCKS, and i asked if she wanted to get one together. sooooo ima move in on may 1st, shes coming in whenever shes done with school. pretty pumped about it. i even have a list of the things i need/want. i dont even have a bed. like at all. not even at home. great idea, parents. let me just say how excited i am to sleep on the couch in my own house. whoooooo. either way, i cannot wait to see my favorite A's: angelina, audra, and ali. and i cannot wait to have the one thing that gives me comfort at night: AN INCOME. 
i dont have a full-time job set up for the summer yet, but im going to start making some 'bothersome' phone calls and not stop till someone gives me a job.  i just found out that the spring formal dance is going to be april 30th, WHICH MEANS I CAN ATTEND. aaaaaaawesome. so pumped. i cannot believe how much i miss my BUD girls. who knew i actually liked all of them that much =P just kidding

overall, this trip = success. im sooooo sad its over. but i miss everyone way too much to stay for much longer. i wish i could just go home for a few weeks on like a 'vacation'. ha. 'holiday', as they say here. im a little bummed that one of my best friends wont be there when i come home, because he just haaad to go to the AFGHANI MOUNTAINS AND NOT COME HOME FOR TWO YEARS. selfish. rude. you know who you are =P miss you. so incredibly much. prepare for the biggest four-limbed-hug of your life when you come home. 

ANYwho, ive got some dinner to attend, i have to make a 'flow chart of a service 
ive experienced and all the steps therein' for my services mkting and mgmt class. shoot me now. at least its an excuse to eat a really ymmy din din with my favorite bunny ^_^ i've eaten so unhealthy in the last few weeks that any weight i lost is now back. le sigh. i'll just have to try harder at home. limited income should help. newfound access to places like taco bell and wendys shouldnt help. a little here, a little there. we wont tell my diet log. im actually thinking about getting a trainer, even if its once a week. i think it'll really help keep me on track. i want to look awesome for graduation, and anything else extremely important in a girl's life that might be coming up in a few years. ;) we'll see i guess. 

im freaking out about money, about bills, about grad school, about taking a year off in between undergrad and  grad school, about being a senior, about my best friends leaving me (i literally cannot imagine life without them), about everything. 2011-2012 will definitely be a big year for me. its gonna be a big year for everyone depending on if we all survive. hopefully, this whole apocalypse thing will be just like y2k. :/ here's hoping. this town is getting sick of me, its time to find somewhere else to check off my list. we're actually looking into schools in florida, probably miami. im just not feeling the cold anymore. i got a little taste of the warmth of the southern part of the country and decided that i cant do cold weather anymore. thats it, im done with you wisconsin. making plans and having something to look forward to is what makes my life fun for me. 

favorite song lately: somebody like you AND/OR rumor has it = adele. 

favorite country lately: spain. fell in love.

favorite movie lately: totoro. thats right, i found the torrent

favorite object: the most adorable pair of lace shoes i bought the other day. 
SO. 
GORGEOUS.


 what can i say, i like being lacey. 
 14 days!!!

<3

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." 

— Marilyn Monroe

wicklow mountains

for me ^_^

bottom for mommy, top for me ^_^

rings for seesters; theyre greener than they look here

hard at work in our messy room

the quote was the deciding factor; that was my senior quote

im from UUUHMERIKA

yesterday. was. st patricks day. 

IN DUBLIN IRELAND.

yeah, it was kind of a big deal.

i spent $400, again FOUR HUNDRED dollars in the past week. i swear i was robbed. i dont remember spending that much. i woke up this morning with shamrock tattoos on my face, my hair could get me drunk if i smelled it and/or be considered flammable, i have the worse headache of my life, and im lovin every minute of it. i have eaten fish and chips, taken more cabs to more clubs/pubs, and had more beer in the last week than i have all year. this is the first real weekend that im actually IN the country. we always travel! it has made me realize that i dont really have that many friends here, and its because we had to choose between traveling everywhere or staying here and partying with everyone all the time. its a little saddening =[ price i pay i guess. 

anywho, on wednesday night we went to a club called diceys. its pretty common  to go there, ITS HUGE and they offer awesome international discounts. it was jam packed. i had a blast. the lady insisted on a "bag check" as soon as i got in, which is something they have never done. i had about 2 mixed drinks in there. shes like "im gonna hafta take this" in her manly voice and i was like, "ok butch, take my snapple" apparently it was a big deal because i kept repeating how upset i was all night long. we took a cab there, but instead of taking one back we walked. i have no cute heels here that i can walk in, so i have to wear my heeled boots all the time. not a fan =/ 

the next morning i was dying and i swore id never drink again. but i sobered up somewhat by the time the parade and the hurling/gaelic football match rolled around. our seats were AWESOME! i had a blast there. i swear, genevieve just snaps her fingers and makes everything perfect. i love that woman, shes amazing. i may or may not have had a burger from a vendor because i was dying, and hot dog at the game (jake got us one, hes so sweet!) AND a green slushy that conveniently turned my mouth a festive color. then i ate fish and chips and a pub. i have ruined my diet. we drank at a pub after the games. i paid way too much money for food and of course way too much for drinks. then, we came home, got ready, and st patricks day began. we pregamed and went out. i few half decent looking men were talking to me. he said where are you from and when i said the US i got the classic response of "haa, of course, but where in" i just say chicago because no one knows anything else in the states. i then tell everyone that ive been here since january. usually, they are surprised, but then believe me. this guy last night refused to believe me! lol i had to show him my student ID before he realized i wasnt a tourist. its actually kind of annoying after a while. but over all, the night was a great success [said in borat accent] we got back, jess paid me 13 cents for the cab [thanks jess] and we went upstairs. jake bought a frozen pizza and i loaded with veggies, because we have to get our 5 a day somehow! drunkenly works.so since i raged the last two days i have to be a shut-in today and do all my homework. my friend is here from back home, she came to see another friend of mine and i was just a perk in the whole deal :P, so i need to spend time with her also. i cant wait to go home! apparently, i had a 30 minute convo with my parents last night. if they had time to talk with me, that means they weren't as busy as they had hoped =/ sad. i hope they made some moneys tho. the whole conversation is patchy. also apparently, i stole a bracelet and a scarf. also apparently, i took all my clothes off and somehow got into jakes shirt and boxers. and apparently, i made new friends in ireland last night. we've got to start planning amsterdam/brussels, and im saving my appetite for some brownies. ima go try and get all the booze and green off of me, get some lunch with my favorite bunny, and try to be a student for a few hours.

i have 29 days left. 

we'll get two wee cups and split it! (land of scots)

SCOTLAND! 

i just got back from a 3 days trip to scotland. traveling seems to be getting more and more stressful lately. im getting kind of burned out i think. that, and things have been crazy-stressful lately. im nearing the end of my trip, and frustrations are getting the best of me and patience is running thin. but anywho

Scotland was a ton of fun. we booked a hotel that was MUCH more expensive than i anticipated it to be, i bet it wouldnt have been so pricey had we not booked it the night before. it was nice to have our own room to trash tho. our first night there we just chilled out for a while, then went out and navigated. we found the Royal Mile, which is one of the main streets in Edinbraugh (spelling?) we did some shopping, and i may or may not have bought a wallet that looks like burberry and a passport cover that is INSANELY adorable. i would out pictures on here, but i CANT RIGHT NOW because my computer is still dead. the adapter went out on it, and i had to wait for HP to send me another one. turns out they refuse to send it anywhere but the billing address, and i had to have it sent to the US then to here. it has been 3-5 days and i still dont have it. of course it couldnt have happened in the TWO MONTHS that i had nothing to do academically, it has to happen in the week span where everything is due. its not even that ive been slacking, its that all my work is on my computer. i usually throw it on google docs so i can access it everywhere, but of course i didnt do that this time. the library computers here dont even have word on them! technology HATES europe. its so frustrating.

anyway, scotland. 

we saw the castle in edinbraugh, and a couple more cathedrals. they were gorgeous. we didnt get to go to St. Andrews because it was snowing (snowing!) and the buses wouldnt run. i was not about to take a two hour cab ride after paying almost $40 a night for a room, so we stayed where we were. we did some grocery shopping and played a drinking game to CSI: Miami. the game was every time they said something stupid or corny we had to drink. who knew we'd be almost chugging our stuff. that show is so dumb! jessica appointed me judge, the position i was soon thrown out of after one episode. it aint my fault we decided on a dumb show!

the trip was stressful and frustrating. we ended up having to sleep in the airport bc we couldnt afford another hotel in glasglow. we went out to eat, i had a burger ( ^_^ ) we jumped on our flight at 7am, we THOUGHT we left phoebe behind, JESSICA IS A LIAR. overall, it was nice to see scotland, but it wasnt terribly eventful, and it was so nice to be back din Dublin.

since we've been back, we've started to work on our group project. we have to come up with a marketing campaign for a product. we chose a marketing campaign for redbox here in europe. they dont offer any here, weird right? BUT since i dont have a computer, it makes researching and typing terribly difficult. ive been reading handouts for my other classes. READING pieces of paper, who does that anymore? like, highlighter and everything. it BLOWS. i have to make this blog quick, because ive stolen jake's computer from him and he wants it back. jerk :P there will be more posts later. ive got a ton to talk about, considering this is st. patricks WEEK and im in dublin. prepare for a shitshow.

peace out

ciao, bella

ROME:

our little trip to rome was EXHAUSTING, to say the least.

i shall regale you as to why, whilst i lay in a bed i may not get out of today and eat an apple, the only non-carb/gelato item ive had to eat in days.

so, being the eager traveller that i am, and having the somewhat anal type A personality boyfriend i have, i made all the arrangements we would need to allow this trip to go smoothly. of COURSE this cant happen, i mean its me we're talking about. i booked a hotel, yes HOTEL not hostel, on cheaphotels.com thinking that this would be our little splurge trip and we'd have some luxury. i looked up directions to all the sites we wanted to see and was so relieved when the directions seemed easier than any other trip ive planned. our flight got in at about 10 pm (night was the cheapest) so i thought we could go straight to our hotel and meet up with the boys in the morning.

boy, was i wrong.

we got to the airport in Dublin just fine. we used to take a cab (costed about 25E) but we found a shuttle bus that brought us there for E6 each. i searched and searched the airport for Dr. Pepper to bring to andri, as they dont have it in italy i guess(those poor, sad italians) and was unsuccessful. our flight was more than a little shaky, the landing bounced like 3 times and we basically had to keep our seat belts on the whole time. we get into Rome (ciampano) and we take a shuttle to Termini, the big train and bus station. 

its aaaaaall down hill from there. 

in termini, we first thought we'd look up a bus that might take us there. we cant seem to find a schedule, so we decide to go find information as they usually speak english. we end us wandering the termini station for several hours, all while trying to get our phones to work to call the boys, trying to find an information desk. at about 11:30 pm, we finally find one. in very broken english, the man tells us that our hotel we booked, you know, the one that said it was 11km (about 6 miles) from trastevere where the boys live is actually 30 KM (15 MILES) from where the boys live, about 25 miles from Termini. no buses or trains run that far, and the best way would be to take a E65 taxi. 

then

we go to take a taxi, we're standing outside, minding our own business, when this short tubby italian man comes up to us and asks where we're going. we tell him, and then a group of 4-5 italian men crowd around us and start babbling in italian about who is going to take us there. i was starting to get weirded out by them, but jake said he read that that's what taxi drivers do there, they discuss who is going where because some of them dont want to drive super far but some dont mind, etc, etc. the guy says "you wait for taxi, will be E100! i take you for 90" i said "im definitely not paying more than E50", and we negotiated until about E65 was decided. we start walking to his car. WHICH we find out is an unmarked, taxi license-less car. i was like NOPE not getting in there. he couldnt figure out why in the world we wouldnt want to drive with him in his sketchy ass car. he kept saying "i know these streets vedy well vedy well you get there fast" YEAH, without our organs. needless to say we ditched him quick. 

so now its about 12:30 am and our phones FINALLY start working. we get a hold of the boys who said they will come to termini.jake and i are sitting in the train station cafe tired, cranky, hungry, and pissed. we decide to walk around a bit, watching all the hobos drink and have deep philosophic discussions. finally this person comes running at us screaming something. i started to walk away and was like ANDRI?! it was our friend from florence that was in rome too. THEY WERE FINALLY HERE. its about 1am at this point.

we walk to the boys apartment, about a half hour walk, so i can use their internet to try to find a hostel for the night and cancel our other res.im on there for about 2 hours and cant find a THING thats under E100, even hostels were crazy expensive. its about 2:30 am. trevor looks up some hostels that are close to the apartment, gives us directions, and jake, drunk matt, somewhat buzzed mark, and i set out to find these places.

so, google maps lies. ALOT.

we took the exact directions  it gave us, only to find out that not 1, not 2, but ALL 3 of these hostels do not exist. at lest not in the place that they say they do. we wandered basically into the complete other side of Rome, kind of the ghetto area. its about 5am now. we decide, after getting very lost, to head back. we finally head back to the boys apartment at about 530 am. we sat at the table till about 6am, and decided that it was best to give up, save one night's hotel fee and just get trashed at the table until morning. thats exactly what we did.

matt ended up passing out at the table, smashed his head against the corner, mark jake and i kept talking irish accents saying "DRUNK POTATOES" over and over again; it was a shitshow.

so now it's 7:30 am, we watched the sun come up in rome, drunk. i found us a new hotel and at 8am, i called and asked if i could check in that early. i was able to sweet talk him into letting us, and we set out, once again, on our trek around Rome. if thats what being homeless feels like, i can see the pros and cons. we FINALLY got to our hotel. we got a "queen sized bed" which was actually just two beds pushed together. as soon as we walked in, i ran to the shower, jake ran to the bed. i joined him shortly after; its incredible what a hot shower can do. we finally slept.

but only for 3 hours.

its now noon. we decide to get up and sight-see, goddamnit. it took us a little bit to figure out the public transportation, but we did, and  then we went to the Vatican. it was like Christian Mecca. St. Peter's was incredibly gorgeous. it gave me chills. i blessed myself with holy water from the vatican. i feel holier. lol! 

later that night, we went out to eat with boys.  i had pesto gnocchi, jake had a different kind. then we got gelato, my second one of the day. IT WAS AWESOME. we wanted to stay and party with them, but our buses stopped running at 1am, so we had to head back to the hotel. i slept like a rock.

day 1/day 2 = 3 out of 5 stars.

The next day, we saw the colosseum and the roman forum. i forgot my camera in the hotel, so no pictures from the forum. it was so beautiful. it was sunny and gorgeous out, still a little chilly tho. i wore my new yellow roman dress, E12! we were supposed to go to a soccer match with the boys, but we decided to sight see more. we wanted to see the trevi fountain and the colosseum at night, so we were going to go back and put pants and sweaters on.

turns out, roman metros only run until 9pm on sundays.

so now we're stuck at a bus stop called cornelia, with no bus going home and no train to take us to the city center. we finally get on two connecting trains NEAR our hotel and walked the rest of the way. so, stuck in the suburbs of italy because nothing runs on sundays, we decide to go to dinner. pictures are on here. it was a tiny little place and i got a veggie pizza and this super yummy dessert. we got about a block away on the bus and i thought, hey, id better check for my wallet. YUP. i left it at the restaurant. we went SPRINTING back, trying not to have a panic attack. we got  there and the waiter had it in his apron. he was even going to bring it to the hotel as its the only one near the restaurant and he knew we weren't italian. i couldve hugged him. THANK GOD it was a tiny mom-and-pop place. italy outside of the roman city center actually reminds me alot of arizona when i went with my family on the way to hawaii. it was nice =] but anyway, we went to sleep early and got much needed down time together.

the next day, we got up early and saw the vatican museum, sistine chapel, colosseum again, and hung out with matt. we cut in line about 2 hours up the que, and made it into the chapel in about an hour's wait. it was INCREDIBLE. we had gelato AGAIN; we knew it was the last time we could there. on the way to the colosseum, i tripped on a rock and fell and twisted my ankle. i just sat on the ground for a while. seriously, what else? it was fine tho, just a little sore. we got back on a train and got on the shuttle to the airport. the shuttle left late. of course the shuttle left late. we got to the airport with only 45 minutes to go through security and get to our gate. we got there on time, and got in line right away. 

turns out, ryan air delays flights and doesnt tell you

so, our flight was delayed an hour. its not 9pm and we've been standing in line for an hour. jake and i are sitting on the floor in line at this point. they have it set up so that once you're through passport check, you cant go back out to go get food or anything to drink. yet again, jake and i are cranky, tired, starving (we ate breakfast and that was it), and we JUST WANT TO GO HOME. we finally board the plane and ride on of the shakiest, coldest flights of my life. it landed late, and as we were hurrying through the terminal in Dublin we saw the shuttle bus that would take us to oconnell.

turns out, it was the last shuttle bus.

SO, we end up taking a more expensive coach bus to our stop and ride the luas home. we never buy luas tickets, you can normally just jump on.

turns out, they have guards that check your tickets after 11pm.

THANKFULLY they did not check ours. the guys didnt seem to vigilant on doing their job. THANK. GOD. finally got home and passed out. i may have skipped my 3 hour masters class. sorry, david hurley and other french students that i hate. i was supposed to volunteer, and i was trying to find a way out of it when i got an email from the guy saying not to come in today. SWEET. i get to go learn how to play gaelic football today, and it counts for a grade. after the weekend i had, i'll take it.

i just NUTella-ed my pants [eurotrip]

[above is a photo of me looking very sad in our gross ass sketchy hostel in paris]

hoooo boi do i have a lot to catch up on. i havent blogged since germany! it was f-ing freezing! but anywho, it was an early flight sunday morning into paris. the french dont mess around with their trains; it costs like E10 to ride like 11 blocks and the doors slam shut! swear i almost lost a finger or two. our hostel was possibly the worst hostel i've ever stayed in, and as soon as im done blogging im going to write the most horrible review ever about it. it was the cheapest we could find in paris; it was 20 euro a night as opposed to like 30 or 35 for the other ones. we definitely put price over quality, and it definitely was thee worst decision ever. we had to leave the hostel every day from 11am to 3:30 pm, so they could "clean", which consisted of them re-folding our blanket and picking up the piece of garbage we had. the showers were disgusting, the sheets had shit all over them, the guys would fall asleep at the front counter so anyone could walk in the door and come up to our rooms, these guys knocked on our door every night because they didnt believe we weren't one of their friends; they seemed to think we were lying about not hiding his friend. the 'free breakfast' consisted of a vending machine croissant and a 1/4 of a latte.

total. bullshit. there may have been banana and nutella crepes involved to make up for it. jake and ang only got nutella ones, so i kept making the joke that mine had 'superior potassium'. jake was like, this is so good; i think i just NUTelled my pants. we laughed. so hard.

it wasnt all bad tho, we got to see the Eiffel tower and go up in it at night. if i wasnt such a chicken shit about heights, im sure it would have been beautiful, but instead i was freaking out and getting nauseous the whole time and wasnt happy until we were safe on the ground again. the paris skyline at night is a sight that i will never forget. we thought the tower would be a lot closer to our hostel; turns out it was about 2 1/2 miles away. we walked there and back twice. we walked to the arc de triomphe and almost died before we figured out that you go underground to get to it, NOT run across the street through 21794328942 lanes of cars in a roundabout. the next day we went shopping. i may or may not have bought these amazing Parisian boots that were on sale for E15. theyre GORGEOUS. we went to the louvre and notre dame also.  I WAS AT THE LOURVE. for an art minor, it was incredible. they had renoirs, degas's, michelangelos, and, of course, the mona lisa. jake was a little annoyed at the fact that we walked all the way through the huge ass museum to see something about the size of a sheet of paper, but she was amazing. Notre dame was the most beautiful church ive ever seen [and i can say that because i havent seen the vatican yet. thats next weekend :P] it was incredible. overall, we walked about a total of 10 miles or so in paris. we were EXHAUSTED. our flight on wednesday was another ass-crack-of-dawn flight, and we had to find a way to get to the shuttle that takes us to the other airport thats 2 hours out of the city. we looked it up on my phone, and it turns out my iphone hates us and sent us entirely in the wrong directions. AND we couldnt get a cab. apparently, no cabs will pick anyone up until 8am or some shit. we finally JUMPED in front of this cab and he took us to the bus, which we got the LAST THREE SEATS on the last bus that would be on time for our flight. it almost didnt happen. it was a ryanair flight; so our bags had to be repacked and almost didnt come with us, then the flight was one of the scariest flights of my life. but it landed safely in barcelona. 

barcelona = amazing

it was a sunny  65 degrees the entire time we were there. we found out where our hostel was, and even though we accidently made the reservation for 3 days BEFORE we got there, they still had vacancy and we went up to our rooms. we get inside, and we see that there are 4 'empty' beds. we also found this cup on top of  the lockers [all four of which were used] that said, in spanish, "i have no job, i need help so i can...." then the bottom of the paper was ripped off. WE HAD HOMELESS ROOMMATES. we freaked out, and we couldnt put our stuff in the lockers because they used them all with their hobo-shit. we went and complained to the lady, who was actually very understanding, and she let us keep our stuff in her office. PHEW. they were two italian men, not bad looking at all, that went to bed at like 5 am and slept till 2pm. in barcelona, we thought about maybe possibly going to see something touristy, but instead we found our way to the beach. we did the same thing the second day, and all day the third day. we went shopping in between there, i bought kelly, angelina, and myself a present. my present to myself was this gorgeous leather jacket that looks fabulous on me [it was 45E.] and a super cute navy dress that cost 7E. i wore them both with my new brown boots from paris. i mustve either looked good or the men arent used to seeing women's skin in february, because i got whistled at and catcalled ALL DAY LONG. i just kept quiet until this one guy said something about me really loudly next to me, and i screamed "I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU" in spanish. yeah, he shut up. they thought i couldnt understand them. we definitely stood out tho, we were in dresses and t-shirts and everyone else was all bundled up like it was cold. it was 15 C! i got sunburned! the last day we decided to sit on the beach ALL DAY. we went to this restaurant and had sangria. then another pitcher of sangria. then jake had the brilliant idea of buying a bottle of rum for angela and myself to split. keep in mind this is like, 430 pm. we drank the entire bottle, and by 8pm the sun was setting. we saw these girls going topless swimming and thought it would be a great idea. keep in mind nudity is SO legal in barcelona, even if youre not on a 'nude' beach. so, drunk as we were, the two girls stripped down to our undies and ran into the ice cold Mediterranean sea. and when i say ice cold, i mean like you cant breathe its so cold. it was painful how cold it was. we decided to go big or go home and we took our underwear off too. yes, we skinny dipped in barcelona. i was also too drunk to spell my name. apparently we got burger king, jake helped me back into my clothes, i sang dora the explorer the entire time...not in that order, obvi. i dont remember that. i remember drunkenly telling jake to go check our flight time just to be sure. GOOD FUCKIN THING HE DID, we thought our flight was at 10 pm and it was actually at 10am. we would have been beyond screwed. so, with all three of us still drunk, we got a cab to the airport and jumped on an early flight again. overall the trip was INCREDIBLE, and im sure im forgetting ALOT of awesome things about it, but as it comes back to me ill blog some more about it. as of now i have some homework i should be doing; i just made dinner, [pasta, basil, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, garlic, and WAY too much olive oil] gorged myself, and now im going to go snuggle with bunny since my room has no power until my roommates are back. its good to back in dublin, i have rome next weekend, st patricks day the following weekend, galway after that, then scotland in april! i love traveling the world!

gutentag from berlinden!

herro. GAH IM IN BERLIN RIGHT NOW!!!! this place is awesome. our hostel is really nice, and they have a computer for me to sit on. :D tomorrow we're going to see the berlin wall and a couple museums. we really wanted to go to auschwitz; turns out its 9 hours away from here.  (side note: I HATE THIS KEYBOARD. the y and the z switched places, and the symbols are all fucked up. so if i sound like a  reh-tard, its not my fault. BLAME THE GERMANS-theyre used to it by now). aaaanywho, jakes next to me looking up walking tours and shit. burn off all the food WE'RE NOT EATING. we bought peanut butter and jelly (at least what looks like jelly and might be peanut better) a loaf of bread, some of what we assumed was ham, some oranges, and some cheese. theres no fridge in our hostel, which is weird, so we had to eat the perishable food tonight. that should last us 3 days. ha! lets hope so!

today we just kind of wandered around the city, we saw a church and this monestary that has a name but i cant remember/even attempt to pronounce it. we went into a bunch of shops, and i ended up buying my germany scarf, which is a GORGEOUS dark purple and black. it was €3. i also bought a 60 cent german sausage and a latte. i thought it would be fun to order a latte in german, or at least attempt it, but the lady spoke english and ruined my fun. we got lost earlier today on the bus, on thee sweetest older lady tried to talk to us. we could pretty much figure out what she was saying to us; we understood about half. lol. she helped us out and let us follow her to show us which bus to get on. turns out she pointed us in totally the wrong direction, but we figured it out. I love love LOVE getting lost here. i really dont mind it. its kinda fun when you have the whole day to wander around without a time schedule.OH YA homework i said id be doing-. PSH. we leave here on sunday to go to paris. we're a little nervous for paris. apparently people arent nice. jake's international roommate will be back home in paris when we're there, so we're definitely gonna hit him up so he can show us the real paris without us getting killed in the process. angela knows a little bit of french, so we can at least minimally communicate with the world. I CANT WAIT TO SEE THE LOURVE! (spelling?) its gonna be amazing. barcelona is apparently warm. ITS F-ING COLD HERE. we got off the train and ang said "its like wisconsin" HA! shes so not lying tho. its that cold. kind of like wisco in like november, before its so cold you avoid the outdoors at all costs. it gets SO COLD at night. everything has the funniest names too. the coffee shop we went to was called "Balzac" and this restaurant in the mall was called "Crobag" im having a hard time NOT making fun of it. figure the locals wont appreciate it much. 

im going to bed suuuper early tonight as our flight left at 7 this morning so we were up at 430 to be ready. our flight was only like 2 hours, but i slept most of the time. i have this thing were i sleep on moving vehicles of any kind. it got the point where i put my tray down and put my face on it. goodbye all! i'll def put pics up on fb and ill def blog about paris and barcelona!

<3 <3 <3 <3

valentine's day and reading week prep

hello all. today is tuesday. it was officially my second slacker day of the week. i skipped class, my masters level class, which is usually a big no-no. they'll survive without the only american in the group. im sure the Indian kept them occupied. seriously tho, theres like 20 french, me, and this kid from india. OH YA minority native english speakers. i also am not going to my volunteer hours like i had planned to. oops. i let the guy know i wont be back till march first because i'll be BACKPACKING EUROPE for a few days :P. its so nice to be able to come and go like that. i think i might tell him that if theres anything i can do from home to just let me know. today will consist of homework, laundry, and checking-in and printing off boarding passes. possibly with a doctors appt. thrown in there :/ def not fun. there'll be a shower in there too at some point. im getting kind of sick of spending money, i spent almost 30 euro yesterday on "home remedies" if you will, i'll be spending 10 or so on laundry and 5 or so on buying a printing pass. yaaaaaay for being poor. but, back to a fun topic.

yesterday was valentines day! i had class with the most beautiful professor ive ever seen, (yes audra, even more sexy than marc hammer) and got out at 4. dinner was at 6 across town. i want it to be known that i was completely ready AND looked pretty within 15 minutes time, complete with red lipstain and tying jakes tie. YEAH. be jealous. we went to el bahia? im not sure how to say it. i'll put a picture of it on here. its the only moroccan restaurant in dublin, perhaps the only good one in ireland. lol! i thought it was awesome so be eating Moroccan in ireland. when we walked in, the guy "washed our hands" the morrocan way. we got an appetizer, entree, dessert, and morrocan coffee for 60 euro total. it was SO GOOOOD! i had what ended up being a cinnamon and macadamia nut pot pie basically, and jake had shark fish. his was awesome. mine was really good too, just the cinnamon got overpowering and i didnt eat the whole thing. everything he orders is always better, even though i know more about food than he does AND i think i have better taste :p. either way, we got cheesecake and ice cream with diced fresh fruit for dessert. it was amazing. jake looked so good too. i love it when we get all dressed up. i even wore my marilyn heels! we actually took a cab on the way there, because our res. was for 6 and we were about a half hour walk away. turns out going to dinner at 6 pm is like going to dinner at 4pm in the states; its super early. no one was there until about 730, then it was PACKED. we walked back ( i brought flats) and borrowed a movie from my lovely friend phoebe. it was a toss up between sex and city and mean girls. for jakes sake, i picked mean girls. lol. we ended up going to bed at like 2, which adds to why i skipped my 10 am today. i rolled over this morning and said, "jake, i dont want to go to class" and he rolled over, threw his big warm arms around me, and said, "dont go then" AAAAAAAAAND that was enough convincing for me. 
i have to do some laundry so i have clothes to wear over reading week. im planning on bringing a few t-shirt and a few scarves to make it look like different outfits in all my pictures. ha! im so excited. i also have to print off all my boarding passes for ryanair and aer lingus. jakes freaked out about ryanair, probably for good reason. we just have to get our ducks in a row. well thats all, i should probably take a shower at some point today. maybe eat something. <3!