three things...

A few things that happened this week currently making me happy:

1. I haven’t gotten a haircut since August and have wanted to get one since the first week, so I finally chopped off all my locks. I feel ten pounds lighter and think the easy, short do is perfect for spring.

2. Yesterday Kristin, Susan, Lydia and I went to Primark, which is a super cheap department store on Oxford Street that we have been meaning to go to for awhile. They have everything including home wares where I spotted a bulldog/union jack pillow that I had to have.

3. It was a beautiful 66-degree day today (warm enough for Lydia to wear shorts), so Lydia and I took a picnic to a park near our flat. We chatted in the sun before walking to the British Museum where we saw the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra’s mummy.

doing st. patty's day right

Some of us took an alternative route to Dublin, opting to catch a train to Wales before taking a ferry to Dublin. Although it took substantially longer to reach our destination, it was nice to see the English and Welch countryside and to avoid airport security. The ferry was more like a cruise with an arcade, movie theatre, casino, shopping and lots of food options (Susan ended up buying—and later returning—three giant Toblerone bars when she planned on getting a sandwich).

When we got to the city center I found Landon, which was actually quite lucky because he doesn’t have a cell phone (yes, does not) and we weren’t very specific when we set up a meeting place. I planned on sharing a hotel room with Leanna Thursday night because Landon had room checks (he’s not supposed to have overnight guests) and class on Friday, so I dropped off my backpack there before Landon and I headed out to get dinner. At dinner I had my first pint of Guinness, which tastes more like really fresh water with a cocoa aftertaste than beer to me, and I wondered what all the fuss was about. It wasn’t horrible, but there are a ton of other things I would rather drink.

After dinner we went to a beer festival that celebrated Irish brewers. The company Landon interns for works with the radio station that sponsored the event, so we got in for free. We tried a few different kinds of beer and I snagged a Nutella banana crepe before I had to quit because my belly had expanded to look like I was 6-months pregnant. We met up with my friends at Temple Bar, which is an actual bar but also an area of Dublin with noteworthy nightlife, and ended up leaving on the early end so we could get a good night’s sleep before a full day of sightseeing.

Leanna and I met up with Alex and Katherine to walk to the Guinness Storehouse. When we arrived a line that wrapped around the block and more rain were there to welcome us. Once we finally got inside the massive museum (I don’t really have a better word for it) we learned about the special brewing process, various advertising campaigns and how to pour a perfect pint of the “black stuff.” I found out that Guinness is actually a dark, ruby red, not brown or black while I was there. At the top of the Storehouse is a bar where you can enjoy a pint while taking in a spectacular view of the city.

Katherine, Alex and me at Guinness

Leanna and I planned on doing a walking tour called “Walking in St. Patrick’s Footsteps,” but we missed the start time so we decided to grab lunch at Ireland’s oldest pub, The Brazan Head. Leanna got beef and Gunniess stew and I got bangers and mashed, which was delicious but made me feel like I had a huge rock in my stomach for the rest of the day. After lunch we found our way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral where choirboys with festive Irish face paint were practicing for the upcoming mass. It was beautiful inside and named after the saint because he supposedly started baptising people in that spot.

lunch at the oldest pub in Ireland

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We wandered back to a different hotel where Leanna was staying with Sarah, Katy and Clare to wait for their arrival and get ready for a pub crawl. I had planned on bringing my stuff to Landon’s place during this little break, but because he was sans phone the only way to communicate was via Facebook, which meant we had to be near a computer to get in touch. Needless to say it was difficult to coordinate meeting, so I ended up spending the night with my very nice friends who let me stay in their room. Anyways the pub crawl was kind of lame compared to what we had all experienced in the past, so after the last bar Leanna, Sarah and I moved on to a club called Copper’s that was huge, packed and really fun.

Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day so we got up early to secure a prime location for the parade. I was expecting the parade to just be Irish and very green, but they actually have a different theme every year that has nothing to do with typical St. Patty’s Day. This year’s theme was science, so different questions were posed and a float, dancers and/or musicians would follow to illustrate the answer. Most of it was pretty weird, but hilarious. After the parade we recouped, got lunch and walked to a carnival where we rode a Ferris wheel.

When we got back to the hotel I saw that Landon messaged me and he was at his dorm, so I seized the opportunity to make the trek to DCU, which is a 20 to 30-minute bus ride from the city center. Unlike in London, the Dublin buses do not announce the upcoming stops, so you just have to see where you are and know when to get off. This is highly inconvenient when you have no idea where you are going, so I asked the bus driver and he said he would “give me a shout” when it was time to get off. Irish people are very friendly and nice compared to the British who are known to be mostly standoffish. Landon gave me good directions, except left out which room he was in, so after attempting to buzz a few I figured that tactic could possibly get me kicked off campus and was not getting me any closer to gaining entry to the dorm. I actually did call his US phone, but of course it went straight to voicemail. Thankfully another study abroad student from BU walked by and she knew where he lived, so I began to incessantly ring the bell until finally the door opened.

After Landon awoke from his nap we got dinner and prepared to go out again, this time to a club called The Palace. We went with a bunch of BU kids and Leanna and Sarah met us there too; it was fun, but people were beyond tired from the day’s festivities so started to fade. I said good-bye to Leanna and Sarah who were leaving the next day before Landon and I moved on to a bar nearby. It was nice to catch up just the two of us because we hadn’t really gotten a chance to have a nice, long talk since Christmas break. After we finished our pints we crossed the street to get Mexican food before eventually catching a cab back (another public transportation inconvenience: buses stop running around midnight). Having not thought about where I would actually sleep that night and because other guests were occupying the couches in the common room we decided it would be a great idea to share his very narrow, twin bed. Landon is over six feet tall. After almost pushing each other off several times, it became clear that was not our smartest move, but thankfully I got a mattress to myself the next night.

On Sunday Landon took me around to a few more sights: Dublin Castle, Trinity College and St. Steven’s Green. St. Steven’s, which is a park filled with flowers, green patches and winding paths, was my favorite because I loved people watching (despite the excessive PDA—what is it about the sunshine that makes lovers more affectionate?) Landon also got his haircut, which was hilarious to witness. He decided to go to a hole-in-the-wall salon and when he asked for a simple buzz with everything one length, the shop owner (who was a dude with hair that looked like a soft-serve ice cream cone) told his hairdresser to buzz the sides but just trim the top (clearly defying exactly what Landon had just asked for). Confused and conflicted, the hairdresser took three times as long to cut his hair than it should have taken (I was about to just ask her if I could do it), and Landon had to instruct her to put down the shears. Even though she took forever, she still nicked him in the back so he has a little patch that is visibly shorter than the rest of his hair. But in the end, it was only nine euro.

Trinity

St. Steven's Green

We spent the rest of the night hanging out with other kids in his program and watching Billy Madison. I packed up and we were in bed by midnight; I was exhausted and so excited to get some sleep. Unfortunately I had to wake up at 6 a.m. to make sure I made the ferry and it took Kristin, Susan and I forever to get home because there was some sort of disturbance on the train tracks. I loved Ireland and had a great weekend with all my friends, but I am really happy to be back home in London.

sunshiny day

Katy arrived here late afternoon on Friday I’m happy to report without any problems (Clare’s arrival was a bit of a fiasco). We went to the Crown for dinner and met up with Lydia and some of her friends who were also visiting. There were a ton of USC kids here because it’s spring break, so we were quite the tour guides/hosts this weekend. We moved on to the Exmouth Arms, a pub that we walk past almost everyday but have not taken full advantage of at all, for another pint. Alex claims they have the best chips he has had in London, so it’s now found a place on my to-try restaurant list. Katy was feeling her trans-Atlantic flight and I figured it was late enough to let her go to bed without being too jetlagged the next day.

On Saturday we did the same route I did with Clare: Portobello, Buckingham and Harrods. But with a slight twist. Katy has already been to London, so we nixed taking pictures in front of the palace to tour the Royal Mews, which is where they keep the Queen’s horses, carriages and cars. Katy rides horses and I find them quite cute, so we had a fun time seeing them. We also got to see the marriage carriage, which took Diana and Kate to and from their wedding days, and a massive one that takes each new monarch to their coronation. Next we walked along Hyde Park to Harrods, where we only hit the highlights a.k.a the Pet Kingdom and the food halls. Because it was a Saturday the place was packed and they brought out one of the English bulldog puppies for kids (and me) to pet. I almost stole her she was so adorable. We came back for a little down time before preparing for “the number two club in Europe,” Fabric.

gold state coach

We started off Sunday with a picnic in Green Park because it was a beautiful, sunny day. Whenever the weather is good people flock to the parks, I even saw someone in shorts, which was a little extreme. It’s amazing how much better the sun makes everything. Sunshine instantly puts me in a better mood. It makes everything from getting around the city to sandwiches better. After soaking up the rays for awhile, we took the tube to Canary Wharf, a business-y part of London I was told to check out. Underneath the skyscrapers that house financial giants is a massive mall. I needed something green for St. Patty’s Day to avoid getting pinched (even though I’m told wearing green isn’t really an Irish thing), so I got a pair of green pants. Lydia was pleasantly surprised with my purchase because her mission is to introduce more color into my wardrobe. Since I’ve been here I’ve noticed that I only wear neutrals, everything I own is either gray, navy, black, white or brown. I’m slowly becoming my mother whose idea of pushing the envelope is adding a colorful scarf to make her usual all-black ensemble look different.

Green Park

Katy met up with Kelly, another Gamma Phi who is also visiting London over break, so I could have time to write a paper. This week I have turned in two papers, each for a separate class, that account for 100 percent of my grade. It’s a little nerve-racking turning in a paper that counts for so much, especially when I have never had any assignment assessed in this country. But I am leaving school behind for my weekend in Dublin tomorrow!

XXX

I want to apologize in advance for how lengthy this post is, but I had to fit everything in from my weekend. Also, I realize it looks like I wore the same clothes the entire trip, but I assure you this is not the case. The last time I was in Amsterdam I was in seventh grade when my dad took Jen and me to France and the Netherlands. During that trip I declared Amsterdam was my favorite city in the world, but this was before I had moved to LA, which made me realize how amazing Seattle is, or before I lived in New York and fell in love with the Big Apple. But after this weekend I can still say Amsterdam is for sure in the top five.

Lydia and I arrived Thursday night, got settled in our neon green-painted, 12-bed hostel room (more on that later), and met up with our friends who are studying abroad there for drinks before a pub crawl. I’m a little embarrassed to report that our first meal in Amsterdam came in a paper bag with golden arches on it, but we were in a rush and the Dutch aren’t particularly famous for their cuisine. It was great seeing Sarah and Leanna and meeting all their friends who were also on the pub crawl. They have a really good international student program that organizes events and day trips for all of the American study abroad kids, which I am super jealous of because Accent doesn’t do anything like that for the journalism students in London.

Friday was packed with all the touristy things we wanted to do: the Heineken Experience, cat boat, Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum. Navigating through Amsterdam proved to be our biggest challenge because a) the street names are all in Dutch so it is impossible to pronounce or remember any of them b) the street names change almost every block c) the city is shaped like a U so the streets are far from a grid and it is difficult to figure out which direction to go d) our map was small with only major street names e) the public transportation is limited. With all of these factors against us we got lost quite a few times and it took us awhile to get anywhere, but we always found our way eventually. So after we finally found the Heineken Experience we did the tour, which involved us being brewed like beer, filming a music video with Dutch people, doing a tasting, and me performing a DJ set. The whole thing was pretty weird and hilarious, so obviously we had a good time.

heineken horses

Our next stop was to meet up with our friends at the cat boat, which is a cat sanctuary on a canal house boat. Lydia and I both love cats so we were very excited to see some cute kitties and even though some of them scratched and hissed I still wanted to take one home. After that we went to a restaurant named Greenwood that ironically serves English afternoon tea, but I opted for a delicious lamb burger with onion chutney instead. Next Lydia and I went to the Anne Frank House, which people said moved them to tears. Yes, it was moving to see how she and her family had to live, but I was put off by the huge crowd of people all moving through the museum and annoyed that people were taking pictures when signs clearly indicated not to do so.

kitty!

We raced back to the hostel to change before meeting up with everyone at the Van Gogh Museum, which is open late on Friday nights with a bar and DJ set up. I loved seeing some of his most famous works like the sunflower still life and his self-portraits. After the swanky museum experience we went to Bubbles and Wine in Dam Square for a glass of wine and dinner. We also stopped to get waffles, which have chunks of sugar in them or chocolate smothered over the top, for dessert.

On Saturday we joined our friends on a day trip to Delft that their program had planned. We got a late start and underestimated how long it would take us to get over to where the bus was picking everyone up, but we sprinted to make it in time (that was the first of many work outs that day). Delft is an hour outside of Amsterdam and is famous for being the burial place of Dutch royalty and for the distinct blue and white china hand-painted there. We started the day with a kick bike (basically a scooter with one big wheel) tour around the quaint, canal-filled town, which was my second work out of the day. We also got a tour of New Church, which is where the royal family’s tomb is, and climbed the very tall tower. The staircase to the top was a tight spiral with narrow steps that had large gaps between them in some places; and the first look out spot had a very short barrier and no fence to prevent anyone from falling [or jumping] off. Needless to say I pushed myself up against the building as far away from the edge as possible. After that traumatic experience we still had a little ways to go before we reached the very top and we figured we might as well finish the thing, so we continued to climb. We managed to snap a few pictures and take in the gorgeous view before we had enough and made the trek back down (third workout). We had some free time after that so we perused Delftware shops and tried some delicious apple pie before getting back on the bus.

cruising on the kick bikes

view from the top of the tower

We had a little down time before we had to get ready for Energy, the rave we were going to that night, so we talked to three girls from Minnesota who were also staying in our hostel room. I guess this is a good place to discuss our accommodations this weekend: I had never stayed in a hostel before, but I sort of expected it to be like roughing it in a camp cabin for a few nights. It was like camp except you sleep in a room with strangers who could easily take your things Our hostel didn’t have lockers, which was odd and concerning, and there was only one outlet in the entire room and none in the bathroom, which made getting ready and charging electronics difficult. I wouldn’t call myself high maintenance because I could handle the conditions for the short amount of time we were there, but I’m not looking forward to the hostel in Prague or anywhere else for that matter. 

Anyways, the rave, which was a half hour outside of the city, was different than what raves are apparently like in America, where people dress up in crazy costumes and everyone is on some sort of drug. I had never been to a rave before, but I like that in Europe raves are more about the music because techno was created here than doing drugs. There was also quite the range of people there; everyone from people who probably had grandchildren to young study abroad students. Tiesto was the headliner and his set was amazing, but I also really liked the DJ who played after him, Hardwell. I think we got there around 11 or 11:30 and the last group of us stayed and danced (yes, my fourth and most extreme workout) until 6:30 a.m. I had so much fun and can’t wait until Sensation, the massive rave we are going to in Prague in May. It was odd leaving the venue with the sun already out, but it was also a really cool experience and the rave was probably the most fun I had over the weekend.

After getting back to Hotel Janson around 8 a.m. I slept for a few hours before the other people in our room who needed to check out that morning woke me up. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep so with a mysterious burst of energy it was time to carpe diem. Our first stop was the I Amsterdam sign, which was within walking distance of our hostel, for a touristy photo op. We met up with Leanna and James near Dam Square and walked around a little bit before stopping for pancakes (I got mine with chocolate syrup and ice cream) and hanging out at Leanna’s apartment for a little while. We spilt up for dinner with Leanna and I meeting Sarah for Italian and Lydia going off with Katherine, and then met up again to explore the Red Light District. The Red Light District was interesting, but it also made me sad to see the girls selling themselves in the windows. Lydia and I were exhausted from the non-stop weekend activities, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to pack up and go to bed early.

This was my first weekend away from London and I had a great time despite the hostel and navigation difficulties. Amsterdam has such a laidback, accepting and alternative attitude that it was nice to escape the fast paced way of life in London for a little bit. I have a lot of schoolwork to do this week before Katy comes on Friday, but I can’t wait to see her!