Budapest

While I was in Spain I got an e-mail from my french friend Pierre-Simon telling me that he had got me a ticket to Budapest for 60 euros, so I better be in. Of course I was since seeing Eastern Europe was on my list of things to do and a trip to this amazing city had to be worth every penny! I went with Pierre and his friend, Francios and we had an awesome week! The first thing I noticed about Budapest was how RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP it was. They are on a different currency, but pints equaled out to about 1 euro and 20 cents (not bad compared to the 6.50 I pay in Dublin), not only that, we went to a five star restaurant which was amazing and spent no more than 15 Euros ahead. Our hostel was right in city center, and really it wasn't a hostel at all. It was an apartment with a kitchen, shower and three beds, costing us all a whopping 6 euros a night! It was AMAZING! The three of us, enjoyed our time there, doing all the touristy things like visiting the Parliament (pictured), walking up Gallert hill to see the whole city, and spending time in both buda and pest, the two areas separated by the beautiful Danube river. Also the Budapest Spring festival had just begun so we spent hours at the outdoor market buying amazing souvenirs and eating various hungarian dishes. We took a day to visit the Terror Museum which was about Nazi and Communist occupation in Budapest which was very interesting and definitely pretty scary. We spent nearly everyday at the Baths, relaxing and getting a feel for some real hungarian culture. The baths were beautiful and always full of people rain or shine. It was a perfect way to relax on our last spring break trip before school started.  Unfortunately we weren't able to find much of a nightlife in Budapest, so we spent many of our nights in the same bar playing cards until the wee hours of the morning. It is a beautiful city at night, and the various types of architecture give this place a very interesting appeal. On my last full day, I got a phone call from one of my best friend, who is studying in Prague, telling me that he and our other friend were on a bus and coming to Budapest to surprise me!! It was the best surprise ever since I have not seen them since I was in Paris! We went out the night they arrived and then spent most of the day together before my flight. Exploring, all three of us with our fancy cameras, found an amazing hungarian free market where we took lots of great photos and caught up on each others lives and adventures. Budapest was the perfect place to end my spring break. Relaxing, but full of surprises, and great to be with new friends and old ones who also love to travel!

St. Paddy's Day in Dublin

St. Paddy's in Dublin was pretty low key for me. The city is full of tourist ready to party and absolutely every pub was packed. The festivities in Dublin begin the week before the 17th and there are lots of cool things to see, like traditional music and Irish step dancing. I missed these activities because I was in Spain, but my Irish friends assured me that I didn't miss too much and I'd have plenty of chances to see some Irish culture minus all the American tourist. Most Irish people are overwhelmed by all the tourist and the holiday is definitely not as wild for them as it is for all the Americans that come over to show their love for Guinness. I went out the night before with Jamie and some Irish friends and had a blast! Everywhere was really packed, but it was a lot of fun and everyone was in a good mood looking forward to their day off. I was advised not to go into Temple Bar on Paddy's day and to avoid the parade, so instead I went to a Rugby game with one of my friends and had a great time not being one of those stupid tourists that make fools of themselves in a foreign country. I did however wake up early on Paddy's day to check out town, at 10 in the morning the streets were already filled with people decked out in green, orange, and white with a guinness in one hand and an Irish flag in the other. Some other friends went to the parade and said that there was nothing to see because there were just too many people. For me, it was just another day in Dublin, I saw a great game, and enjoyed my guinness, for all the tourist though it was a crazy drunken escapade and I imagine they don't remember much about their holiday.

SPRING BREAK IN SPAIN

Its been a long time since I have blogged last, but its only because for the last month I have been traveling! I think this Spring Break may have been the best one yet! I left on March 6th for Spain, knowing that I wouldn't be back in Dublin for awhile, happy to see the sunshine and explore I was ready for this adventure! My first stop was Granada, my Irish friend, Shona and I flew to Malaga, and took a two hour bus to Granada. We met her friend, who is studying in Granada for the semester and it was a fun couple of days! The town is perfect for spring break because it is a huge college town, full of students from all over! I toured the city on foot like I do in most cities and my friends took me to this awesome look out point where I could see the Alhambra and the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains that sit behind amazing palace. The nightlife was a blast, and pretty much everything we did was as cheap as dirt, which was a nice change from Dublin's expensive nightlife! I left my friends in Granada and took a 3 hour bus ride to Sevilla. I had no idea what to expect after being in Granada, and Sevilla is a completely different city. I think it may be my new favorite place in Europe. I reminded me a little bit like Boulder with a hippy vibe, free spirit attitude, and relaxed atmosphere. I stayed in probably the coolest places of anywhere in europe, a pension right in city center, where the narrow streets made by shuttered houses and family businesses conceal the view of anything outside. You could get lost in the maze of these skinny alleyways, and believe me I was lost too many times! I met one of my best friends from Santa Clara in Sevilla and it was so great to see her since its been nearly 8 months! It is always nice to be there with someone who really knows the city! I did a lot of the touristy stuff, while my friend, Meredith was in class and my favorite discovery of the weekend was when Mer and I found this out door market in the Bohemian district of Sevilla. I ate the most amazing food in Sevilla, tapas are seriously the best ever! The weather in Sevilla was perfect and i couldn't have been happier to wear my flip flops! After spending about 5 days in Sevilla, I took my next Bus to Madrid. It was a very long bus ride, but having been pretty worn out from all the excitement, I slept most of the way. I met a good friend in Madrid from middle school and high school that I haven't seen in two years! After about 10 minutes it was like nothing had changed and we were back to our usual high school shenanigans! My friend Katie, lives in a very cool bohemian neighborhood, her piso (floor) was in such a cool building and it was a blast being surrounded only by the spanish language. I never really caught on to my spanish, its very different to the spanish in South America, but it was fun being in a place where I could kinda understand what people were saying! I saw the whole city and spent nights in clubs dancing. Katie took me around and showed me the sites of the City and we finished with a trip to the famous tapa bar, El Tigre, where costumers throw trash on their trash on the ground to show off how good the food is! It is quite the sight when you walk into this bar, but it was without a doubt the best food i ate in Madrid. Touring around Spain couldn't have been better for my Spring Break adventure! I feel so lucky that I got the chance to go and see so many cool cities while I was there! I headed back to Dublin the day before St. Paddy's, not quite ready to leave, but looking forward to the excitement of the Irish Holiday!

Rome: The Eternal City

It was quite the adventure in Rome last weekend! I left on Thursday and spent all day Thursday and Friday touring around on my own. I did the sightseeing tour bus, so I basically ended up seeing the whole city at least twice. My favorite was the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I learned so much about art and history and it is hard to believe that the Vatican Museum has more art in it than the Louvre in Paris. The architecture of Vatican city is pretty amazing and I cannot believe that it is its own country and that it is the largest church in the world. 

I also loved the Pantheon, which I saw early in the evening on Thursday night, the dark sky behind the granite building showed every detail of this Roman Temple. The baroque style of the city is so much different from the Renaissance style of Florence and the cities both have completely different aesthetics. What I liked most about Rome was how the modern attitude of this city just seems to move around all the ancient remnants. The Colosseum, the last remaining pillars of the apollo, and the old obelisks brought all the way from Egypt thousands of years ago-- just sit in the background of this busy place. Other monuments like the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain are hidden down narrow streets and each have a completely different style to design. I suppose this is what really makes Rome the Eternal city.

  On Friday, my friends Jamie and Chantal arrived and we went out for a fabulous Italian dinner. That night we met up with some other friends from Milan who were in Rome for the weekend and went out on the town. The night life in Rome is definitely wild, but after a fun night with locals at Pubs and Clubs, we still managed to wake up early the next morning and go to the Colosseum. We did a tour; however, I found the outside structure far more amazing than the inside. I think that the building pretty much speaks for itself, but we learned a lot about entertainment that went on there and it is pretty insane how many thousands of people could fit in there and how the tickets were free to all Romans. 

The rest of the day we ate gelato and walked around and saw other monuments like the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. The Fountain is amazing at night and we all through in a penny to insure that in the future we would return to this spot. 

On Sunday I went back to the Vatican with my friends and we spent a lot of time in the church. We also went to the basement to see the sarcophagi of all the past popes. Vatican City is a Pretty interesting place, I think my favorite part of it is the architecture. I found it very interesting that the designers and artists were not allowed to sign their names on their work, rather they had to write the Pope's name of when the structure was completed. Bernini, designed the entrance to the Vatican and contributed to many of the statues around Rome; however, he name does not appear on any of his work. After the Vatican we had an amazing lunch on Piazza del Populo and worn out from all our site seeing we headed back to our hotel for a siesta and a relaxing night. Rome was an amazing city and I was sad to leave but I know that I will return to the Eternal city!!!

!!!Bruxelles!!!

My Friend Jamie and I left for Brussels on Saturday morning really really early! We got their around 9 am and headed to the flat where we were staying. Immediately I loved the city! Brussels, for most American travelers is a bit off the beat and path and maybe thats why I loved it so much, but without a doubt it was amazing. It might even go down in the books as one of my favorite spots in Europe. I don't know exactly what I liked about it so much, but it was a very friendly city and it felt very comfortable despite the language barrier. Saturday morning we arrived at our flat, my friend in Dublin offered us a place to stay there so that we could see the city and it was really nice being in a home rather than a hostel! We tried to walk into the city, not realizing that we were to far too walk, but we hopped on the metro and in minutes we were in the heart of Brussels. Jamie and I went out for lunch and I, of course, had mussels and pomme frites which was absolutely delicious! Jamie also had a belgium dish, basically a hamburger with an egg on top which was also very tasty. We toured around the city center and ended up in the Museum of Music. It was a pretty amazing full of old instruments; however, we didn't learn much because there wasn't anything written in English. After, we did a lot of taste testing, beer being on the top of the list and it was valentines day, so lucky for us, there was free belgium chocolate everywhere, and of course we couldn't come back to Dublin without having a Belgium Waffle... AMAZING!!! The city of Brussels is very small and we nearly covered everything in a day. The streets are narrow with lots of cobbles and it definitely has its own unique vibe. On Sunday we took the train to Bruges. It took us about an hour to get there and I am really glad we went and checked it out. It is a very cool city, although it is a bit more touristy than I would have expected. We had a great lunch there and walked along the streets and to the main plaza, which was pretty spectacular. We got back to Brussels just before dark, did a bit more tasting of Belgium beers and headed back to our flat to make dinner and get some rest before our early flight the next morning. It was a great trip, so nice to have a real place to stay and be in a city that was so friendly. It seemed to me, more of a town than a city and I feel its always worthwhile to experience something a bit off the beat and path!

Fees Protest

Last Wednesday, everything in Dublin came to a halt when 15,000 students marched through City Center to protest the reintroduction of college level fees. Students from all over the country gathered in Front Square at Trinity and marched to the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell St. and then to the Leinster House where opposing politicians, trade union members, and student leaders spoke to the gathering of protesters. 

I met up with my Irish friends (pictured) who were also protesting, although I mostly ran around the crowd trying to get some cool pictures. The protesters were really rowdy and three guys (pictured below) had painted themselves, were half naked were my best photography subjects. Tons of the students kept asking if I was from the media, so after about the hundredth time I just started saying "Yeah I am from MTV." The group of boys who I got the best set of pictures from wants me to e-mail them since they show such great intensity and of course since I'm from MTV!

The protested lasted from around two pm till nearly five and the whole time the students where chanting "No cutbacks, no fees, no Fianna Fail TDs." It was big and it was loud, an awesome opportunity for me to play with my new camera and get some great shots!

"No to Fees"

"Laughing Guarda"

"Take Our Picture for MTV"

"Dubliner Cowboy"

TradFest and Mates From Manchester

Last weekend was a lot of fun! I have been traveling a lot and sometimes it is really 

nice to take a weekend to explore Dublin. TradFest was the event last weekend which comes every year to Dublin's Temple Bar. Jamie and I went to a bunch of Pubs to hear amazing Irish Traditional Music. We met up with my French friends, Pierre-Simon (Pictured), Baptiste, 

and Cyril at the Quays Pub in Temple bar and enjoyed Guinness and good tunes together! 

Going to a pub on a Friday early in the evening is an awesome experience, probably Pierre and my favorite thing to do because no matter what pub you are in, it is always packed with people that just got off of work! The pub culture is very cool and the people you meet are always so friendly.

Later that evening we ended up meeting a crowd that was visiting for the weekend from Manchester. They were tons of fun,

definitely Yupies and without a doubt, they only came to Dublin to have a good time! They complained about the price of a pint, nearly 6 euros! In England you can get a pint for less than 2 quid, but they did tell me that the extra cost was worth it for the friendly Dubliner crowd, with which I completely agreed! I had so much fun with my mates from Manchester on Friday that I ended up hanging out with them on Saturday also!  

Although Temple bar is really touristy, you never fail in finding good music there. I asked an Irish lad why he comes to Temple Bar with price of pints and all the foreigners, and he replied, "you can always count on the people in Temple Bar for a good time because most likely they are on Holiday and in a good mood." Its definitely true that the vibe in this part of town is happy and wild, not a care in the world. With the Tradfest in town, nearly every pub 

had group of 4 or 5 band-mates sitting around a table, also enjoying a Guinness while they casually played their tunes. The music is fabulous with a sort of blue grassy tone to it, incorporating tradi

tional instruments to bring out a true Irish feel.

On sunday Jamie and I decide to go into town to see a Irish Photography exhibit for the festivities. We arrived to the Gallery at the most perfect time, there we 4 long rows of bagpipe players, irish step dancers, and people in costume... 

all of them were under the age of 14. 

Hearing bagpipes is probably one of the most powerful musical experiences, I don't know what it is about the sound, but it is truly amazing! After the parade of Irishness left, we went into the Gallery to check out the photos. 

Having become really interested in photography in the last month or so, this exhibit was very inspiring. Many of the pictures were from the rural irish country side, the locals that live there, and the portraits of them all captured their character to the truest essence. The Artist, Nutan has traveled all over the world as a photojournalist, and is Irish photographs are some of his most prized. 

I was lucky to be in Dublin this weekend because I absolutely LOVE Trad especially in a pub setting, where everyone is enjoy each-others company and the harmonics of the band. All the festivities this weekend from the music and art, to meeting new friends and hanging out with old ones couldn't be beat!

A Trip of Good Omens. AMSTERDAM

Our trip began according to plan. We walked to the bus stop leaving plenty of time to get to the airport when our first good omen arrived. A taxi pulled up having just got off the night shift and offered to give us a ride to the airport for only 7 euros each. A cab ride beats a bus any day! When we arrived in Amsterdam, we had no problems getting into the city, despite being surrounded by a language we had never heard and tolls we didn't know how to read. We had no problem finding our hostel when the second good omen appeared... We were actually staying in more of a budget hotel. We had twin beds and our own bathroom, and it was only 25 euro a night. From my European travel experience... this hotel was Luxury with a DEAL! On Saturday we wondered about the city, to see what it was all about. The canals were beautiful and omens brought sunshine (still freezing temperatures) instead of the predicted snow and sleet.  It was chilly wondering around, but we were prepared and discovered the whole city on foot. It is a beautiful place, the buildings have kind of a Georgian feel to them like Dublin, but they look more as if they are leaning over the streets. The buildings don't seem to be very tall, but when you walk inside, the steps are incredibly steep and the ceilings are very high. There is definitely an aesthetic appeal to Amsterdam with its canals, architecture, and culture. Nearly everyone rides bikes. I would imagine that there are far more bikes in this city then cars. Bicycles lined street corners, filled alleys, and were locked in a long rows all along the canals, over the bridges; everywhere I turned I saw more bikes. It was more difficult to cross the street with all the bikers than with the cars.

On Sunday we went to the Anne Frank Museum and to the Van Gogh Museum. The Anne Frank Huis was so much cooler

 than I thought it would be.  It is hard to believe that the Frank family was hiding there for so long before they were found and taken away. It is a very sad story to hear, but standing in the rooms of attic hideout put into perspective the realness of the Holocaust. 
The Van Gogh Museum was also spectacular. There were so many paintings I had forgotten about that when I saw them again. the real deal. right in front of me, it not only inspired me, but made my stomach fly. I think my favorite is "Almond Blossoms" and although I like Van Gogh, I think I like the Portraits Gougin did better as he worked along side Van Gogh. There was also an exhibit on Dutch artist, most of which were pencil and ink drawings from the 18th and 19th Century. I wrote down many of the artist that caught my eye because I think that ink drawings can bring out such unique character in a picture. 

Amsterdam was a great city to see on foot, a great city just to watch, the omens brought us sunshine, luxury, and a safe trip back to Dublin... and I still made it to my class this morning! What a trip!