Pip Pip Cheerio: London Changed Me

When I last left you all, I was boarding the plane to London with Cassie, Sara, Suze, Carl (one of our American neighbors) and Tessa (Sara's friend studying in the Netherlands). It was only an hour plane ride, but then we had to take an hour long bus in order to get into the city. Once we arrived, made a short walk to our hostel, to find it was probably the best hostel we will ever be in EVER. It was called Wombat's and it was practically brand new, and completely catered to young adults. The decor was just so cool and hilarious, for instance, in the basement where the bar and kitchen were, there was a sign that said, "Cabinet of creepy kids".

Bar and kitchen

Front desk

Isn't it cute?

As it turned out, we were only a five minutes walk from the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, which was close to one of the tube stations. I really enjoyed the tube, it reminded me of taking the subway with Grandpa Art and Grandma Mary when we went to New York. Within ten minutes we were stepping out in to the heart of London, right in front of Big Ben. We took some pictures and walked along the water front, trying to decide where to go to lunch.

Coming out of the tube station

Big Ben

The London Eye 

So lucky to have a beautiful and sunny day

After a bit of walking, we found a small bar next to Trafalgar square. Sara had another friend studying just outside London, so during lunch I got to know the Australians and a little bit more about Australia. Though I don't think I could ever survive the plane ride there, they make me want to visit their country. 

Trafalgar square was a popping place. There were many street performers and people relaxing, talking with friends, and eating their lunches. We decided to go into the National Gallery, since it was free, and I am so glad we did. I was able to view some very famous and inspirational works, for no cost at all. Do you recognize any of them?

The National Gallery

The view of the square at the top of the gallery

Van Gogh's Chair

Such an upsetting picture for a Doctor Who fan

Just a Monet

After casually perusing some of the most famous works of art in history, we strolled down to Buckingham Palace. We walked past Saint James's park on our way, and though we tried, we didn't see the queen.

Lizzie, where you at? 

She never answered me

That night, Suze, Cassie and I all met up with Jill and Maggie to have them take us dancing. There was an amazing view from Maggie's very nice apartment, and they took us to a club called The Circus, and we all had a great time. I'm very glad that I was able to bring my Maynooth world and my Indiana world together and that we all got along so well. 

The view

Cheer, cheer for ol Notre Dame

The next day, Carl, Cassie, Suze and I took to Tower Bridge. We walked along it for some great views, even though it was cloudier than the day before.

Next, we decided to explore The Tower of London. I have to say, I wasn't too excited about going in, but after a little walking around, I was really into it. We were incredibly lucky, too, for we decided to just try to see the crown jewels, thinking if we had to wait too long we'd ditch the line. We saw the jewels in under half an hour, and when we got out, found a line where people were going to have to wait two hours or longer to see what we just saw. There was just so much history to the place and it was really fun. 

The throne

The Tower

Crown Jewels this way

A nice little view of the bridge

For lunch, we went to a super cool place called Love, and no, it's not weird. Aidan, you would have LOVED this place. It was an Italian restaurant, but at every table there was a tablet, where people could pick what they wanted to eat, and it came to you super fast. You actually had to pay extra if you made a waiter take your order.

We got ourselves extremely full, then went to The Natural History Museum to meet Sara and Tessa. It was such a beautiful building, and the exhibits were pretty cool as well. They even had the first edition of On the Origin of Species, which was so cool to see. 

That night, I took the tube by myself to spend the night with the Notre Dame kids. I was a little nervous to go alone, but I ended up switching tubes just fine, and got there in one piece. It was truly an accomplishment for me, and I'm really proud of it. We stayed up late to watch the game, which had such an upsetting ending. (But, at least my spartans are doing well!)

The next day was one of my most British days, especially food wise. In the morning, I had a great traditional English breakfast outside Harrods, and then took the tube to catch the tail end of the changing of the guard. I was still on my own, and took the time to explore the streets, while I waited to make a meeting point with my friends. 

Yes, I see you

Saint James's Park

I reunited with them on Victoria street, and we stopped in a few shops, and went outside Westminster Abbey while we waited for our appointment for high tea. I'm not usually the kind of person who likes to be on my own, but it was cool to be able to say that I'd been having my own adventures in London, and tell my friends about it. 

The Abbey

It was a very rainy day

I am also not one to enjoy tea, as many of you know. I'll do hot chocolate, or water and honey, but I've never really liked tea. London made me like tea. It really did. High tea was such an experience, with the little sandwiches and cakes, nothing like the tea parties I pretended to have when I was little. We felt like truly classy ladies (while Carl watched a rugby match). 

We're girls, we photograph what we eat, okay?

We headed back to the hostel for a little relaxation, and then decided we would treat ourselves to a nice dinner by the river. We went across Tower Bridge, and found a nice place to eat. By the time we were out, the city was lit up, as well as the bridge, which made it even cooler going back to the hostel. 

Before we headed home at 3 in the morning, we hung out in the hostel bar, listened to live music, and talked about how much fun we'd had. We also went up to the roof of our hostel, for a cold, yet beautiful view of London.

We left very early in the morning, and got back to Maynooth safe and sound. I still went to class today, and had a nice surprise when I received my Easter letter from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Bob. I'm a little sad that I won't be able to spend Easter with my family, this is the first time I've ever done that. But, I will be in Italy, not Rome, but still, it should be a cool experience. I have a lot to do before we leave on Thursday, but I'll be able to get it done. I miss everyone very much, and hope everyone is doing well. Thank you all again for reading this, it means a lot to see that you keep up with me. Wishing everyone the best and you'll hear from me tomorrow. <3

Cheers to the London Weekend

Well, all the work is finally done, the boarding pass is printed and I'm totally ready to relax and have fun in London.

On Wednesday I handed in my philosophy paper and got my religion paper back (I got a high B! Yay!). I finished any work I could and celebrated by going out to Bradys that night with my floor mates.

Yesterday, I slept for a while and then I packed for London. I'm very excited to meet up with Notre Dame friends, as well as explore a new city. We don't have an itinerary, we're just going to go where we please. Hopefully I will find a nice church to celebrate Palm Sunday.

I'm currently in the airport, and I've been up since 3. But I'm very ready to go! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it in Monday! 

Work. Laugh. Party. Repeat.

While I've been writing my midterms non stop for the last couple of days, I've still gotten to enjoy our fifty degree weather. You have no idea how awesome it is to go outside without a coat on. It rains while the sun is out practically every twenty minutes, but who cares?

Yesterday, similar to today, all I did was go to class and write, then finish, my essays. I did find time to have some fun, though. For instance, I took joy in the fact that I wore my Guinness shirt to my religion class (not intentionally! It's a nice shirt, okay?)

Forgive me father for my shirt. I don't even like Guinness

I was also able to Skype with Aidan, who I haven't seen in forever, so that was great. Some other losers that I call my sister and mother came and talked to me too, and they were alright I guess.

Gotchya!

They DO love me!

To celebrate my victory in paper writing, I went out with my neighbors. My roomies were rather tired, but I had a great night with the guys.

They let me tag along

Today, I wrote my philosophy midterm and went to class. I had a nice break when Eleri and my friends...I mean...her friends (they're my friends, too) called me during their lunch hour. I always love seeing people from back home. :)

Literally, best friends for life

I hope everyone is keeping warm, I saw that it's snowing back in the states! I'll be enjoying my now stress-free life from the comfort of my bed. Goodnight!

A Belle in Belfast

I had a great weekend in Belfast with my flat mates seeing all the amazing sites. I'll take you through our trip day by day.

Thursday: My alarm didn't go off, so I was a little late getting around. Luckily, I had packed the night before and was ready to go by 7:15. We spent three hours on trains, one to Dublin and then two from Dublin to Belfast. Once we arrived, we found our driver for our black taxi tour already waiting for us.  First, he took us to the famous political murals. Every mural had to do with a time during "The Troubles" of Ireland, whether it was a person who was murdered, or the event of children finding gold while playing in the dirt. The most famous one is of the gunman, whose message is that he's always watching and protecting those around and his rifle always follows you (like the eyes of The Mona Lisa).

The kids finding gold and a murder victim

It really follows you

Dedicated to the Battle of Ulster

My favorite mural

Next, he took us to the Peaceline, a wall meant to separate the protestants and catholics. I didn't realize how much religion still effected Belfast. Many people had signed the wall, though not all wrote kind things. Our driver kindly gave us a marker so we could add our own bits to the wall.

Together, we can

We continued down the road to more murals on the street. They were all about pieces of history, and were very well done. 

History is ours, and history is made by the people

"In my country we go to prison first and then become president"
Nelson Mandela. Friend of Ireland

So many murals

Our driver dropped us off at our hostel, we checked in, and then went for a much needed lunch. Afterwards, we decided to roam around the town. We stumbled upon Queen's University, and then it's beautiful botanical gardens and park. There were tons of kids and families just walking and enjoying the nice day, so we grabbed an ice cream and joined them.

Such an awesome place

So detailed 

Nothing better than ice cream and friends

We didn't have much to do, considering it was so late, so we decided to treat ourselves to a movie since we don't have a theater in Maynooth. So, we rested for a bit in the hostel and got ourselves situated, but didn't want to be the people who just lazed around. So, to kill time before our movie, we went and browsed in a few of the shops down the shopping strip. We went and checked out the capital building before, and we were able to see it lit up with black lights by the time we left. It was so ornate, we were bummed we couldn't go in.

There was a bar that many kids back in Maynooth had raved about that I wanted to visit, so we went there to finish up our last hour of waiting. It was called Filthy McNasty's and it was the coolest stinking bar that I will ever see in my life. Inside was really dark, so I couldn't get pictures, but there was a small little indoor bar with weird bean bag like chairs and a chair that looked like a hand. Then there was a giant door that was painted to look like big gates to a garden. We went through them and walked out in to this room with another open bar, cool lights, gazebos, and when I looked up, no ceiling. There was a portion that did have a ceiling, and there was a fireplace that was lit, so we sat there since it was a bit chilly. The place played only covers of famous songs and it was so much fun. I hope I can go back someday.

The outdoor bar

The view from my seat by the fireplace

We went and saw Selma, which made me cry with it's powerful sound effects. I'd definitely recommend the film. Then we were straight to bed for an early morning.

Friday: We had booked a Paddywagon Tour that was going to take us to major famous places in Belfast. After a nice breakfast, we boarded our bus and headed to The Dark Hedges. The place has been made famous by the show Game of Thrones (as have most of the places in Belfast, since the show is filmed all around the city). It was an incredibly cool road, and if there were less people, I could have made really really cool photographs.

Can't wait to edit these

Coolest path ever

After some time for pictures, we boarded the bus and headed to Carrick-a-Rede. It started to rain once we got there, but we still made the trek to the famous rope bridge. It was really beautiful scenery, and the bridge was pretty secure. However, on my way back across it these French guys thought it'd be hilarious to shake and jump to make me scream. Yeah, they were so cool.

Down to the bridge 

We made it across! 

The seagulls were everywhere 

The water was so blue

Long way down

Then, we traveled ten minutes to Giant's Causeway. It was incredible. The legend is that a giant wove a bridge together with rocks to get to Scotland to fight another giant. When he found out how big the other giant was, he ran away. Then the giant from Scotland came to fight him, but ended up running away and destroying the bridge, except for what's left now. It really looks like woven rocks though! It really started to downpour, but that didn't stop me from playing on the rocks and taking pictures. (I didn't fall, you guys. Not even once. It was my lucky day)

Playing on the rocks

Model status

It wouldn't stop raining

Giants were here 

Check out that weave

On the way home we stopped to take a few pictures of a castle that was now in ruins. They apparently filmed Game of Thrones there as well, but I just thought it was cool.

Just look at those colors. Pure Ireland

Once we were back in the city, we headed to The Crown, another famous bar that was just across the street from our bus stop. It was beautiful inside, and I couldn't get many pictures, but I suggest you google it because I want you to fully understand how overwhelming it was to be there. We had dinner, and then we were pooped.

Luckily, I got a picture of it before we left

Inside

Saturday: We woke up early to check out of our hostel, and spent some time wandering the streets of Belfast again. We found Saint Patrick's church, which was very beautiful. We saw Saint Anne's Cathedral, but couldn't go in because they were having a memorial service. 

Outside St. Patrick's

Inside Saint Patrick's

The side of Saint Anne's 

The front of Saint Anne's

I always love to wander streets because you can discover the most amazing things (during the day of course). Walking around, we found some of the most incredible street art I've ever seen. A lot of it was 3D, like statues or wood coming at you out of the wall. I wish we had more of this in Kalamazoo.

It reads: Every turn of the wheel is a revolution

The coolest little street

I don't remember what it all said, sorry

Can you tell it's coming off the wall?

The windows were 3D

Can you find Liam Neeson?

After our big find, we headed to the Titanic Museum. On our way we passed Victoria's square with her famous clock and the famous fish with pictures of history in each tile.

Victoria's Square

The fish

The museum was cooler than I thought it would be. It was really cool to learn about the making of the ship, and what the workers went through. There was even a ride that took you through workers building the ship, where you could feel the heat of their iron and the pounding of their hammers while they told their stories. 

"It's like Disney World, but more depressing!"

For lunch we came across one of the oldest bars in Belfast, McHugh's. We ate and watched the Irish vs. Scotland rugby game, before hopping on the train home.

Sunday: Today, I just caught up on all the work I should've been doing instead of being in Belfast. I have two papers due tomorrow, and one on Wednesday. It'll be a rough week, but that will just make going to London this weekend even more exciting! I hope everyone is doing well, I miss everyone more than they know. Until tomorrow!