Behind Blue Eyes
America is my country, and London is my hometown.
I’ve been back in the states for about 2 1/2 months now. Life has swept me up again in its ever-strong current. Back in California and nearly halfway done with my semester. With how busy everything has been in my life lately, it’s hard to believe that only a few months ago I was having the most incredible adventure of my life in some of the most beautiful places on earth. I was talking with my roommate about it a few nights ago and she asked me what I missed the most. I didn’t have one specific answer for her. Instead, I said “everything.” There are things that I miss about every country, every city I saw while I was in Europe.
London took my breath away. My experience there was unlike any of the other places I visited. Upon arrival, I hadn’t known a single person but when I left, I left with a family of people that I’ll never forget. Sadly to say, I haven’t been the best with keeping up with that many of them, but not a single day goes by that I don’t think about the amazing experiences I had with them. My nights writing papers with Michelle at the local McDonald’s in Surbiton. My day adventures with my flatmates to Covent Garden and Buckingham Palace. The late nights going out to the pubs with everyone and laughing the entire time. There’s nowhere in the world like London and it will always be a part of my history now.
Scotland was beyond beautiful. Yes, some of my experiences there were not as pleasant as I would have hoped, but it didn’t take away from the beauty of the country, the highlands, the people. A country with such history and beautiful architecture. I finally got to walk along the cobblestone streets I’ve always wanted to see.
Paris was everything I expected it to be. Classy, glamarous, expensive and rich in culture. Walking the halls of The Louvre will always be one of my most fond memories of my trip. The art itself was beautiful. Our humor by posing with some of the most famous and sought after statues in the world will always make me laugh. My evenings sitting under the Eifel Tower or gazing at it from across the river seem surreal now and I would give nearly anything to be back in that wine cellar sipping white wine with black currant juice and eating some of the best food I’ve ever tasted in my life.
Ireland has my heart. I was only there for a short four days, but it captured my attention like no other place has. I don’t know if it was the gorgeous landscape, the character of the locals, or the taste of their ciders and ales, but the only other place I have felt more at home than Ireland is in my own hometown in Oregon. I can’t imagine my trip without going there. I am literally homesick thinking about it.
Barcelona had its own kind of beauty that I’ve never experienced anywhere else. The people are quirky, the streets are smelly, the graffiti is inspiring, the gelato is unreal, the cathedrals are breath taking, and the shopping is fantastic. I purchased some of my favorite clothing items and sandals while we were there. Gaudi truly was a genius architect and I look forward to the day that I can return and see his Sagrada Familia entirely finished.
Each place has taken a different piece of my heart. Some more than others, but all the same, I wouldn’t change my experiences in Europe for anything. It was the most incredible and nearly life-changing month and a half I’ve ever had. I would give anything to go back and walk through the busy streets of London and hear a dozen different languages being spoken or to stroll the alleys of Kinsale, Ireland listening to a local pick his guitar in front of the pub. I envy their slow-paced lives. I wish that Americans could realize that we need to take the time to stop and simply be. Life is rushing us by so quickly that we don’t even realize it. This is my senior year of college and I think that I may have been lucky to discover this early enough in life to take advantage of it. I plan on slowing down, on having days to do nothing but spend time with my dear friends and family. I have been a very blessed individual and would be completely selfish of me to take these opportunities I’ve been given for granted. So, thank you. Thank you to my family for supporting me in my dreams of traveling. Thank you to my friends who encourage me to go back. And thank you to you for reading. This is my last entry. I hope that you have taken my experiences to heart and really consider traveling, whether it’s to study abroad like I did or to see the places with rich history and culture to add something to your lives. If you have the opportunity, take it without question. Life is too short to never live.
Barcelona… what to say? We have a love/hate relationship. Millions of people, constantly having to check my bag to see if my wallet got stolen, and streets that smell like urine… ehhhh.
We flew into Garino Airport, from where we took a miserable, hour and fifteen minute bus ride into Barcelona. We had a confusing time trying to figure out where to get a taxi, but soon we flagged one down and headed to our hotel. By the time we got to Le Meridian, which is right on La Rambla (the main street in the city), it was around 11:30. I was tired, sweaty (it was in the 90’s the whole time we were in Spain), and cranky, so I went to bed asap. The next day we just walked around the city. One thing I can say about Barcelona, it has some of the most intriguing graffiti I’ve seen.
I didn’t find a ton of souvineers that I liked. I mostly bought clothes because we found a really great store called Zara that was having a huge sale at the time. Let’s just say I stocked up and we had to buy an extra suitcase for everything we got.
The next day, we walked through the side streets to the beach. The water was a gorgeous blue and it was, once again, hot. It was Jake’s birthday also so he and I went to a beachside bar and I got both of us Long Island Iced Teas.
We walked all the way down the boardwalk to the giant bronze fish sculpture that I guess was built for the ‘92 olympics that was hosted in Barcelona.
The rest of the day was lazy. Went back to the hotel, showered, took a nap and then headed out to dinner for Jake’s birthday. We ended up going to a Tapas bar, which is basically a bunch of small dishes. You can pick as many as you want. We picked a ton of food, including calamari, shrimp, beef, chicken; all of which were cooked in different and delicious sauces. So good!
The next day, we got up early and went to the town square, which was the start of a Gaudi Tour. Our first stop was at the Gaudi Park, which also was where Gaudi had lived up until the night he died. The park was amazing. Parts of it looked like it was from an Indian Jones movie: tall stone pillars, dirt paths, etc. His architecture is so interesting and intricate - amazing.
The second and last stop was at La Sagrada Familia (the “sacred family” - speaking of Mary, Joseph and Jesus). The Cathedral has been under construction since the 1800’s and is still unfinished. It’s said to be finished in 2030, but no one knows for sure. The outside is incredible, breath taking.
We also were able to go inside, also unfinished, but they will have the interior done in October because the Pope is coming to Barcelona to consecrate the cathedral in November. The stained glass is some of the most beautiful that I have seen. Not all the windows are finished, so I can only imagine how much more gorgeous it will be when it is.
After returning to the square, we got lunch at the Hard Rock, where I had ranch dressing for the first time since leaving the U.S. - so good. I took my time eating because it was delicious haha! The rest of the day, we walked around La Rambla and went in some shops, including gelato shops (we had gelato every day we were there). We found a place with the best white chocolate gelato everrrr.
We found this amazing artist near the end of the street by the Christopher Columbus monument. She did portraits. Incredibly realistic. She had a crowd the entire night watching her sketch different people (took about an hour to draw one person).
The following day was our last day in Barcelona, when we did some more exploring of the city. We found a open air market type thing. There was a ton of art that I loved. Unfortunately, I had no way of getting it back to London and then home so I couldn’t purchase any. That night we went to dinner at a place that was recommended by Rick Steves (as was everything else we did because my dad is a faithful Rick Steves fan… bleh. I HATE Rick Steves after this trip).
We left Barcelona the next day. It had been a beautiful morning, but by the time we got to the airport, we got everything: lightning, thunder and POURING rain. We had to run onto the plane and were absolutely soaked by the time we got to our seats. Despite feeling like a drowned rat or something, we made the most of it and took pictures of how ridiculous we looked.
We spent our last night in London and took the tube to Heathrow Airport the next morning (which was a process, I might add - getting separated, getting lost, etc). My dad is staying in Europe for another week on business. Jake had a separate flight home because his flight was booked only two weeks before he and my parents left. Mom and I had a 10 hour flight to Houston, Texas, where we had to go through immigration and customs. We didn’t get searched or anything, so it was an easy process. We got coffee and waited at our gate. Our second flight was about four hours long. By the time we made it to Portland at 8 p.m. (4 a.m. London time), we were both exhausted. My sister in law Stephanie and my boyfriend met us at the airport. I got home and went straight to bed around 10 p.m. and woke up at 5 a.m. - jet lag is the worst thing to ever happen, but it’s SO good being home! Since I was up so early, I figured I may as well drive down the road and take some photos of the sunrise.
I spent yesterday doing laundry, got my car washed, went to the bank and spent time with my boyfriend. It’s weird getting back into the swing of things here. I miss England and everyone that I met there. It was an absolutely amazing six weeks that I spent in Europe and I’m SO grateful that I was given the opportunity to go. I look forward to my next trip and I encourage everyone interested to take any opportunity they have to go on an adventure like I had. It’s scary at first, but I made some of the most amazing memories and met some of the most amazing people. Wouldn’t trade that for anything.
My parents and brother met up with me on the 30th at my flat. I was SO happy to see them! My goodbyes were not tearful this time, thankfully. This was mostly because I knew that I had a lot to look forward to with these next two countries I was going to be seeing with my family.
Oh, Ireland…. One word: gorgeous. I’ve never seen such a GREEN country. Our flight got in from London in the evening. We rented a car – oh man, that was an experience. My dad was driving. Mind you, he was driving on the right side of the car with the stick shift on his left AND on the left side of the road. Ha! Therefore, we had every reason to be nervous. We got to our first bed and breakfast in Trim, but the “concierge” was away so we ended up driving to the local castle (no biggie) to walk around and then get dinner. The castle was cool, but we didn’t see much of it since it was closed, but there were a lot of remains of old buildings and tons of open fields. Once we got dinner, we headed back to the B&B and went to bed. We got up early the next morning to make our drive to Kilkinny, the next town we were staying in. Very cute little town – I loved it. There were lots of colorful doors, just like everywhere else in Europe that I’ve been to so far. We also ran across a one-eyed Irish cat at an old church we went to. Very friendly.
Our bed and breakfast place was right at the base of the castle in the town. The fam went to explore it and take a tour. Unfortunately, I was (and still am) battling being sick. It’s been about a week and a half since I first got it, so I took some much needed down time to take a nap while they explored. The next day, we got up early to check out because we asked our innkeeper lady what she suggested stopping at on our way to our next destination. Our first stop along the drive was at the Mitchelstown Cave where we took a tour. It was first discovered in 1833 by a local farmer who had been just walking around in his field. Pretty cool – tons of rock formations, stalagtites, stalagmites, etc. We couldn’t take any pictures inside though.
Our next stop was at “the V,” which was basically just a very, very, very sharp turn in the road but also gave some of the best views of the countryside. I insisted that we get out to take some photos, of course. The last town we stayed in, Kinsale, was right at the southern edge of Ireland and it had a little harbor with lots of boats. We stayed there two nights and spent most of our time in the little shops around town. The roads are SO narrow there – nearly impossible to fit two cars, so we stuck to walking until we left our last morning in town. Our last night in town, we took a walking ghost tour of the town. Super cheesy but fun. Our last few hours in Ireland were spent in Dublin, the main city. Lots of shopping, tourist spots, and of course, Starbucks! Ireland was beautiful. I seriously can see myself living there for a year or two. The land is gorgeous, the people are friendly, the food is good, the cider is awesome… what more could a girl need? :)
Well, the time has come folks. My time in London is over. I didn’t have class on Thursday so I spent the morning nursing my slight hangover (being brutally honest here - I know I have family reading this but eh), doing laundry and working on my Creative Writing portfolio that was due the next day. So, overall it was a pretty chill day, but that evening was the farewell dinner. It was held at the Holiday Inn, about a half mile down the road from our flats. We all got dressed up in our nicest clothes and met there around seven, when the cash bar opened up. They let us into the dining room at 7:30, so we spent the first half hour buying drinks and taking photos with everyone. After all, it was my last night (everyone else has an extra day with each other - they leave tomorrow and I left today).
We had wine with our meals and the dinner itself was fantastic. Salad, potatoes, fish, lasagna, etc. We also had an amazing dessert - pretty sure it was rhubarb crumble cake or something to that extent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The room was gorgeous! They had these really cool lights and the room was lit up with a pale blue color.
Of course, we had to take photos with all of the people we took classes with. Below is the photo of all the girls in our Creative Writing class, with the exception of two and the boys.
Dinner was great and at the end, they handed out some awards and gave a few speeches about what an amazing month it was for everyone. Afterwards, we all changed clothes and headed to Coronation for one last night together at our favorite pub. I laughed, drank, talked, and cried. I hate saying good byes. I’ve never been good at it, so of course I lost it when I was saying goodbye to some of my close friends and started crying. Figures, right? Haha I really have learned to love these people and how crazy and outrageous they are. They made my month amazing. I’ve learned so much about myself as an individual and the kinds of things that I want to continue pursuing throughout my life. Below: one last drink together.
Today, I got up, went to class and took my last final. Came home, finished packing and then my family got to my flat! I was SO excited to see them! They helped me finish cleaning my room, I said my last goodbyes (no tears this time), and we got dinner in town before taking the train into London, where we’re staying at a hotel for the night. It’s been a crazy whirlwind of a month with lots of up’s and down’s but I wouldn’t have changed anything because in all of the craziness, it was perfect. London is perfect. My new friends are perfect. My memories of this place are going to be perfect. We leave for Ireland tomorrow. I’m beyond excited, but I miss Kingston already. You’ll always have a piece of my heart - a big piece. Cheers to you.
So, I ended up getting sick the last day in Paris, which then led for me to skip my Tuesday class, which I heard was entirely pointless anyway. I rested throughout the day and did some homework, hoping to work ahead on anything that I could. It’s our last couple days here. Tonight is my last night at Kingston. I have my last final tomrorow, and then I’ll be meeting up with my parents in London. We leave for Dublin on Saturday (day after tomorrow). Anyway, so time is running out and I’m trying to make the most of it, so I ended up going out on Tuesday night. Nothing crazy, just went to the pub with some people and had one drink. It was really low key and I only stayed an hour before walking back and going promptly to bed.
Yesterday my class went to this Indian temple thing not too far from campus. It was gorgeous, but kind of weird. It was required that we take off our shoes and cover our hair with scarves that they provided, which made me look like a biker. (see picture below)
The inside of the temple was really pretty, lots of stained glass and open windows. We took part in a ritual of bowing down before their scriptures. Kind of weird, but we did it out of respect for them allowing us to be there.
After walking around, they served us traditional vegetarian food, which looked like pita, curry of some sort, a weird rice, and some spicy green stuff. It tasted good, but another group had gone already and said that the food did weird things to their stomach, so I didn’t eat too much of it. After the field trip, we were dropped off at campus where we had another two hours of class time.
Last night, we had a big group of us go out to Coronation Hall and Oceana again, because it was student night (5 pounds to get in instead of the usual 8). Myself and two other girls ended up getting in for free, and were able to skip the line because one of them had met a guy who used to be a bouncer at Oceana. Oh, the benefits of talking to locals. It was fun. Lots of dancing and yelling over the music. A small group of us stayed until closing, which is at 3 and then took the bus to Surbiton, where we walked the rest of the way home. Got back at 4, skyped with Ryan (the boyfriend), and was in bed at 4:45. Slept like a rock until 10 (45 minutes ago) so I’m hoping to sneak in a nap before our “farewell dinner” tonight at 7. Lots to do though - laundry, packing and finishing my portfolio for Creative Writing. Can’t believe this month is coming to an end! It’s gone by so quickly… but IRELAND in 2 days! Exciting stuff. I love this crazy life that I live.
