Portugal

Neighboring Spain is the lovely country of Portugal, which is known for it's gorgeous beaches.  Since Sevilla is only a couple hours drive away, my program decided to have a weekend trip in Lagos and Portimao.  The program had us staying two days and one night, since we knew that it was going to be so beautiful some of my friends and I decided to extend our trip and stay an extra night in Lagos.  The plan originally was to just enjoy the beach and the nightlife, and while we still did that in some respects it wasn't exactly what we had planned because it was still pretty cold with high 50s, low 60s and windy.   

First we stopped off in Lagos for lunch and to see the amazing rock formations there.

One of my roommates Carley and I

I loved this rock.

All of the rocks were made up of pieces of shells, which I thought was awesome. 

After hanging out of the beach for a little bit we went to Portimao for the rest of the day, there we got some drinks walked around the boardwalk town with the view of the ocean below.  

Check out those looming clouds in the background! 

We got little Portuguese pastries, I don't remember what they were called but my friend Lorena told us they were yummy.  

Enjoying the beach before the rain hit.

That night we went out to a couple of different bars and clubs on the board walk, which was really fun.    The only thing was that the whole beach town wasn't too busy because it was off season, it probably would have been a lot more exciting if we went in the middle of summer.  Regardless we still had fun. One place we went to was playing cool Spanish/Portuguese music and gave us free strawberry daiquiris, which was nice :)

The next day we went back to Lagos, we heard that it was a lot cooler in Lagos then in Portimao and had also heard of a hostel that had a rating of 98%.  It was funny because it was called the Rising Cock, but everyone there was super nice and they organized some drinking related activities for us! 

We did something called a booze cruise!  Basically we got driven around in a boat with like 60 people and got endless beer and sangria as we enjoyed the beautiful Portuguese oceanside.  At one point they took people out on a smaller boat and drove us through the rock formations, which was obviously awesome.  I stole the pictures above and below cause I didn't want to bring my camera on the boat. A lot of people jumped in the water too, but I didn't because I was having a hard time with the cold, and couldn't even imagine being in the water. 

After we got back from the booze cruise we hung out in the hostel and slept off the alcohol a little bit.  Across the street was a burger place called NahNahBah, which is one of the top 50 burger places in the world!  So obviously we had to hit that up! The place was really cool and we were all very excited to get some delicious burgers. 

The burgers were huge!  The one that I got had pineapple on it, yummmm. 

This was on the porch of the hostel, we all loved that hostel.  In the morning Momma, who was an older Portuguese woman made us fresh crepes with jelly and nutella, a nice homey touch.  

We got up in the morning and decided to walk around Lagos more to get a better feel for the town.  It was such a cute little town, it felt calm and beachy. 

Best jumping picture in all of the world.  Left to right, Lorena, Belinda, Marielle, and Lauren!

Beaches and Castles

Colorful streets of Lagos

All over the streets they would have mini little mosaics, here is an octopus! 

A cool swirly sculpture which I was into cause I'm into swirls hah

We stopped and got some delicious freshly made pizza and then jumped on the bus to head back to Sevilla.  Portugal was a very different trip for me, it was a lot more about just enjoying, relaxing, and drinking.  A lot of people my age who go abroad are more focused on drinking in all the different cities they visit rather than actually seeing them. Which is an experience I can respect if that's what you want to do, personally I like to really explore.  This trip I allowed myself to do more of the college drinking thing which worked out well because the towns we were in didn't have as much to see as some of the other places I've visited.  It was a fun little vacation, even though this whole experience kinda seems like vacation :)

So I got to go to Ireland!!

I was really excited to get to Ireland because it was one of the places I had looked forward to the most.  When I was considering places to study abroad I actually really thought about Ireland because it is just so green and beautiful and the accents there are the best.  Turns out it was all pretty awesome like I had imagined.  We took the train very early from Wales to the airport and then flew through to Ireland.  A lot of times when we fly within the EU we don't get stamps in our passports but we were all very excited to get a stamp when we arrived in Ireland!! 

My travel companions sleeping on the train

We got to the hostel around 5 and after settling in we went out to get some delicious Irish food.  My first, and probably best meal in Ireland was a steak and Guinness stew, complete with a flakey crust top, mashed potatoes, and vegetables! It was absolutely delicious!  With our dinners we also got our first Guinness' and they were amazing!  I had only had Guinness once before and I remember it being strong and kind of hard to get down but the Guinness in Dublin was tasty, probably due to the fact that it's brewed there! Apparently, the smoothest Guinness is found in Dublin because they don't need to add anything to it to keep it during transportation, so its fresh and extra smooth.  Delish.

After our yummy meal we did the next most important thing to do in Ireland, go to a pub!! Unfortunately when we got to Dublin it was ridiculously cold, it was even hailing for a little while.  Since I am so spoiled with warm weather in Sevilla, my cold tolerance is terrible so it was a little unbearable for me.  That night we ended up going to 2 pubs and then this clubby bar which was recommended to us by a bartender. The people in Ireland are all so nice! Everyone is interested in where you are from and what you are doing in Ireland, it was really refreshing to be in a place where I could carry a conversation with locals.  Also my friends and I feel like Ireland is one of the only places where the people don't have negative connotations connected with Americans.  They don't have a problem with us but it feels like a lot of other European countries aren't as fond of the United States.

One of the pubs we went to had live Irish music which was really fun! 

A Cold Walking Tour

The next morning we decided to do the free walking tour of Dublin which was good and bad.  It was awesome because our tour guide was really knowledgable and a funny Irish dude. The problem was that it was freezing and we would stop a lot for him to explain things, I was so cold that I would literally be running in place.  It got to the point where I almost left the tour because it was so cold. But I stuck it out, unfortunately because it was so cold I didn't take nearly as many picture as I would have otherwise but, it happens. 

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral

Temple Bar, there is a whole section of Dublin filled with awesome little pubs called Temple Bar.  This is THE Temple Bar.  That night we decided to go on a pub crawl with the same organization that did our walking tour.  It's fun because you hop from pub to pub with a big group of people and a lot of the time get drink deals at the different places.  I drank a lot of Guinness that night and most of the places also had live music!  I think that was my favorite part, being able to hear live authentic Irish music. 

Trinity College, the college was really pretty and the tour guide told us that a lot of the rules and regulations from the older days are still in place today.  Like all students must have their sword on them at all times, obviously no one follows it but it's still in the books.  Also the library in Trinity College was the one that George Lucas modeled the Jedi Library after in Star Wars. 

To the left is a typical street lamp in Dublin, I liked the shamrocks on it :)  And to the right is a sculpture representing the great potato famine in Ireland.

After our 3 and a half hour walking tour we ran over to the Guinness Factory.  It was a really cool place, it was connected to the actual Factory where they make the Guinness in Dublin.  The museum was shaped like a pint glass and had 7 or 8 floors.  We started with how Guinness is made, to the history of distribution, to Guinness around the world, to advertising, and we ended up at the Gravity Bar.

 This was my favorite advertisement!

The Gravity Bar was at the top of the building and had a 360 view of Dublin, here is where everyone got their complimentary Guinness! It was lovely to sit up there and enjoy a Guinness.  When I get back to the states I'm going to have to get a Guinness and compare it to the Dublin Guinness.

This is the Spire, its a stainless steel monument that is 398 feet high.  There are two parts of Dublin on either side of the river and the Spire is located on the more rugged side.  People of Dublin have given it a couple nicknames, one is "the stiletto in the ghetto" and another is "the erection in the intersection".  Our tour guide gave the impression that he thought this monument was pretty ridiculous, especially because it cost 4 million dollars to construct. 

The next day we got to have a day in the Irish countryside!  

We decided to do a tour to the Cliffs of Moor and along with that we went to an Irish Farm where we took a little walk around the country and the farmer explained to us what farming for an Irish man currently and used to entail.  We got to walk around their property and saw some baby lambs and then got some coffee and cake.  

I can't remember the name of the type of tree above but it is the type that is often associated with fairies and gnomes and other mythical Irish creatures.  This one has a lot of random things tied to it because it is supposed to symbolize tying a negative thing in your life and leaving it there with the tree. 

All over the countryside are rock walls, the walls aren't sealed with anything and just stay on their own which I thought was pretty impressive.  But the walls often create property line divisions and in the picture above you can see walls going up the mountain.  Those walls were created during the potato famine, the rich men would pay farmers food for building walls up the mountain.  These walls served no purpose but to keep the farmers busy during the famine. 

Me in Ireland with an IRISH CLOVER! I kept it and pressed it in my passport :)

Cliffs of Moor!! The cliffs were breathtaking and a little scary!  It was a straight drop and there was nothing keeping us from the edge but our will to live haha.  It was so fun walking up and down the cliffs, one side the gorgeous blue ocean the other side endless green fields.  When we are in a place that is just so amazing me and my friends can't help but have a good time.  It's just one of those things that puts everyone in an instant good mood and we run around loving life.  The only thing was that we only had an hour and a half at the cliffs, which wasn't nearly enough!!

Keliana at the cliffs :)

On the bus ride back we stopped at this beach side that was all rocks.  It was interesting geologically and obviously very beautiful. 

Castle in Ireland :)

The next morning we had some time before our flight so we decided to wander Dublin more, it was really nice to take everything in for the last time.

Marielle, Belinda, and Keliana looking bad ass in front of the spire, and some Irish graffiti! 

The river Liffey that runs through Dublin. Below is the Liffey Bridge which is the oldest pedestrian bridge over the river and was designed by Thomas Andrews, the man who designed the titanic!

Waiting for the bus to take us to the airport.

Before we left Dublin I saw hot cross buns in the window of a bakery, since the only time I had ever heard of a hot cross bun was in that childhood song I decided I needed to get one.  Who ever says "Yeah I had a hot cross bun the other day" well now I can say that haha. I saved it for the airplane and it was delicious! All in all we were very upset to leave Ireland, we even looked into changing our flight to stay longer, but it was too expensive.  It is definitely a place I see myself going again in the future. I will miss you Ireland!!