So I saw it, the City of Love.

As expected - but against my hopes - I am yet again writing this update nearly two months after my actual trip. Nevertheless, I'm quickly remembering all the delightful details of this adventure and am excited to relive it now.

So let's begin with the fact that I stayed with my friend in her family home just outside of Paris. The town she lives in is utterly lovely and quaint, complete with wisteria and vines growing on all the buildings. I must note that the luxury of being able to stay with an actual Parisian who knows the city well increased the awesomeness factor of this trip tenfold. I also give thanks for the authentic French cuisine and wine (oh, the wine!) we devoured every day thanks to her parents. I tried duck liver for the first time, and it was brilliant. This hospitality was easily my favorite part of the trip. Therefore, I thank Clara Castelli and her beautiful family so very much. Here's more of the re-cap:

Day 1: Notre Dame, Lovers Lock Bridge, the Louvre Museum, Palace and gardens, lots of fancy shops (i.e. Chanel, YSL, Celine, etc....of which I did not enter), the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Loads of photography ensued, a lock was attached to a bridge, postcards were purchased, and one mocha éclair was eaten while we walked along the River Seine. If only a lightly-bearded man on a Vespa had appeared and given me flowers and a kiss, the day would have been a dream.

Day 2: Good morning, Eiffel Tower. The sun must have known we were seeing Paris' main attraction because it shined so brightly on that beautiful day. Actually seeing the Eiffel Tower in person felt a little like standing on a giant monopoly board: as if it were a giant game piece that could be picked up by the hand of God. We then went to Montmartre, a beautiful basilica that sits at the highest point in Paris from which you can see everything. The town around the basilica was darling. I don't think there's a better word to describe it. We walked back down to the city after that and came upon the Moulin Rouge, which was a bit of a letdown because the recreation of it after it burnt down is clearly that - a recreation. Regardless, mentally viewing the sight through the lens of the 1920's was cool enough for me.

Day 3: Versailles! My American friend, roommate and partner in crime, Ashly, ventured to this small city with me, and we were beyond proud to have made it there all on our own! We only got semi-lost once. The city itself was quaint and picturesque, and the Palace was, well, words fail me. Seeing the royal rooms with hand-painted walls, marble floors and gilded fixtures and the endless gardens with grand fountains was to look at wealth that you've never witnessed in your life. Please go have a thorough look at my Facebook album if you want to see what my exaggeration is about. Later that night, we put on our most fancy outfits and went to at a fancy Parisian club with a bunch of Clara's fancy friends. It was maybe the most fabulous day of my life, and I firmly believe everyone needs to feel that fabulous at least once. It's good for the soul.

Day 4: On our final day, Ashly and I went sightseeing on our own throughout the city, witnessing more gorgeous architecture, tree-lined roads and pretty gardens. That sunny afternoon, we had lunch with Clara's father at the most fitting French café with a peekaboo view of the Eiffel Tower. We went shopping for a bit and returned to have yet another fine dinner at the Castelli home. Then, as part of my secret plan, we went to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night and eat crepes while we watched. It was a mesmerizing sight.

Four days in Paris was perfectly wonderful and yet not nearly enough time. I cannot wait until I can go back to it. It truly is the city of lights and of love; you can feel it while walking the streets, watching the people and eating the cuisine. Even without the accordion players performing from park benches, there is a melody in the beauty of the city that truly affects you.

- Ali

15 Things I've Learned So Far While Abroad

I don't reflect on my experiences abroad as often as I should because, as I am living in a foreign country, I get busy with actually living and working and not reminiscing. Even so, today I asked myself, "what have I learned while living in abroad?" In no specific order (clearly), here are the top 15 lessons that came to mind.

1) How to take a quick shower before all the hot water runs out.
2) Not all hostels are sketchy!
3) Some are very sketchy.
4) My parents seriously and literally prepared me well for life.
5) I'm a control freak, in the simplest of terms.
6) The best-dressed men can be found in London.
7) How to shower and shave in a 2ft x 2ft shower.
8) Bathtubs are a luxury I take for granted. *sighs*
9) St. Paddy's Day in Dublin is mainly a tourist attraction.
10) I actually like beer.
11) Wine is still better.
12) Daylight Savings Time is different across the world. (I feel dumb for not realizing this before.)
13) Living in a foreign country for an extended period of time is much different than spending a week or so there - not bad different, just different.
14) A passing grade in European countries is a 40%. Yes, everyone, that says 40%.
15) Being an American in a foreign country puts you on the spot, but not always in a bad way; many teachers here use American comparisons for perspective. I'm learning to look at my home country through a whole different looking glass here and that's a wonderful thing.

As I sit now, there are even more things coming to mind about this experience. Though my time here hasn't ended yet, I'm already aware of how much bigger your world becomes when you travel and especially when you live abroad. Ah yes, reflection is a good thing. Now I'm off to make plans for Barcelona!

- Ali

March: London Shenanigans & the Harry Potter Studio Tour

Ah, there is so much to write! London was so much more than I expected it to be, and I expected a lot. I travelled with two really good friends, which definitely made my experience all the better. I spent five days there and four nights - five nights if you count sleeping in an airport (check that off the bucket list). We conquered the vast city, and I will never complain about walking far distances again.

Day 1: After an early flight on the unexpectedly pleasant RyanAir, we arrived just outside the city. From the Baker Street tube station, we made our way down to the Marble Arch, peeked at Hyde Park, walked the whole way down Oxford Street, down to Piccadilly, found our way to Trafalgar Square, snaked our way down to the River Thames, then came upon the London Eye, Parliament and Big Ben. Then, after navigating our little group so successfully all day, I determinedly led us the opposite way from our hostel. We all make mistakes, right? We walked the London Bridge to get to our hostel and then made our way down to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. It was a wonderfully fantastic, beautiful, adventurous day! The sun was shining, and we discovered so many gardens, parks, historical places and breathtaking architecture. It made for the most perfect first day in London.


 

Day 2: Our second day went a lot like the first, where we just walked around and saw as much as possible, thankfully without the added weight of our backpacks. We were able to see the London and Tower Bridges by day, walked to the Millennium Bridge, strolled through the South Bank, came upon Parliament again, saw Westminster Abbey, went in search of Buckingham Palace (of which I was thoroughly disappointed, I saw no baby George), made our way back up to Oxford Street and did some shopping, and just discovered a lot more of the city.
 

 

Day 3: Friday was filled with more zigging and zagging through the streets of London which you can never do enough of because there is simply so much to see! We saw the famous Borough Market, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Covent Garden, the National Gallery and some of Hyde Park. That night we tubed to Piccadilly Circus to Her Majesty's Theater to see Phantom of the Opera! Okay, no big deal, but it took my breath away and was so much more than I dreamed it would be.



 

Day 4: We started out en route to our next hostel because our second was a tad sketchy. However, it fulfilled the important experience of staying at a dodgy hostel. In this day's journey, we discovered Regent's Park, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the wonder of Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall and London's West End. That night we decided to take a little walk around the area of our new hostel and stopped to get wine at a cozy bar nearby. It was another lovely day, minus the calluses on my heels from walking. For all my photos of the city, visit my Facebook album here.



Day 5:  Sunday we went on the Harry Potter Studio Tour at the Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden, an hour train ride from London. When we arrived, a little piece of me came alive. I won't go into full detail of the tour, since that would take me hours and hours, but just know that the best comparison I can come up with is being Charlie inside the Chocolate Factory. The first part of the tour was a short movie about the creation of the films and interviews of the filmmakers, etc., which gave me goosebumps. Then as the movie ended, the projection screen rolled up and behind it was the doors to the Great Hall. I had a mini-heart attack right then.

The reason the tour was so amazing is because you got to see the real sets and props used in the films. We saw the sets of the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room and boys' dormitory, Dumbledore's Office, Hagrid's Hut, the Borough, the Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley, Potions Classroom, the wooden bridge, the Riddle gravestone, the house on Privet Drive and the Potters' cottage in Godric's Hollow. The props included the wigs, props and major costumes of all the characters, all the horcruxes, the Triwizard Cup, Dumbledore's pensieve, the door to the Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts' Door, the Mirror of Erised, the marble staircase, Hagrid's (Sirius') motorcycle, Mr. Weasley's flying car, the Knight Bus, the Black family tapestry, the Vanishing Cabinet, giant wizard's chess pieces and so much more! At the end of the tour there was a massive model of Hogwarts. The lighting around the model changed colors to reflect night and day. In a word, it was magical. I took hundreds of photos, but you can find the best of them in my Facebook album.

Thanks as always for reading! Next week I'm off to Paris with my two roommates. I look forward to gushing about the wine...

- Ali

March: School & St. Paddy's Day

February came and went, but it seems like March has flown by even quicker. It was a little less action-packed, unless you count the stealth mode I went into to write four papers in two weeks. Nevertheless, March has been amazing with all the accumulation of fantastic memories.

Here's another quick recap:

School: As it turns out, studying abroad doesn't actually mean four months of vacation. It means two or three months of vacation and several weeks of cramming papers and studying. Most students abroad don't take as many classes as they would at home. In fact, our advisers at home encouraged us to take less classes abroad. With that said, the advisers and teachers here (not professors, they hate being called that) are on the same page. I'm pretty sure they know we're here for adventure and discovery and are okay with that as long as we turn our assignments in on time. So that's what I've done. Granted, I'm incapable of turning in a mediocre assignment, so I still took time on my papers and handed in something worthy of a good grade. But there was much less stress involved. So back to March: I had one paper due the day I got back from London and three due the following week. It was a long couple of weeks. However, surrounding all that work was a lot of fun.

St. Paddy's Day: As Paddy's Day approached, I learned two things. First, it's "Paddy's," and not "Patty's." This is an extremely important difference over here. Second, Paddy's Day is more or less a tourist attraction here and locals don't take it too seriously. The streets are still decorated and there is a big parade where too many people show up, but most of the streets are packed with tourists and it's easy to tell. I never quite understood the condescending call-out "American tourists" as I do now. Regardless, Paddy's Day was very fun. There were masses of people all around and lots of celebration. As expected, the drinking began early and lasted all day. Although I admittedly didn't make it until night because, well, money and the fact that I don't do "drunk" well. Still, I have fond memories of the day and knocked another item off of my bucket list!

 

Please visit my Facebook album to see more photos from around Dublin and St. Paddy's Day!

 

- Ali

February: Wicklow, Giants Causeway, Connemara and General Shenanigans

For anyone who was looking forward to my weekly updates on here, I'm sorry that I've been neglectful of this blog! I've had plenty of boring days in between my exciting days in which I could've written on here, but I was probably day dreaming or catching up on my American TV shows or planning my next adventure. Or sleeping.

As for the coolest things that happened in February, here's a quick summary:

Wicklow National Park: Also known as the place where Holly and Gerry meet in the movie P.S. I Love You. Our luck with the weather had changed that day when the sun decided to appear for most of the time we were discovering this beautiful park. There is nothing else on earth like seeing the sun shine on those hills and valleys. For all the rain I complain about here, I was thankful for it that day when I realized it helps make this land so amazingly green and lush. As for the part of the tour when we saw the spot in the movie where the characters meet, well, that was kind of a let down. However, I got to see the beauty of the surroundings without trying to relive a scene in a movie. I made the experience my own.

Giants Causeway: This magnificent place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. Great basalt columns were naturally formed on the northern coast millions of years ago by volcanic activity and the results are breathtaking. We stopped at a few other sites that day including a pretty harbor, a neat rope bridge and a spot from which you can "see" Scotland across the bay, but I'll just show the photos from the main attraction of the day. It was truly a blessed, fantastic sight.  

 

Connemara: Connemara is located on the west coast of the island, just south of Galway. It's a mountainous region near the ocean so there are a lot of opportunities for hiking, surfing and other extreme sports and activities. I went on a three-day trip at an adventure center where I had arguably the most fun I had had in a very long time! There were rock walls, obstacle courses, scavenger hunts in the forests and my favorite activity of the weekend, trudging blind-folded through a muddy bog. At the end we got to dive into giant mud ponds the size of swimming pools. Oh how I love a good trek through a bog. We then washed off in the river which was colder than any water I've felt. It was run-off stream from the mountains, and I laid in it, letting the water rinse the mud off of my wetsuit and out of my hair and fingernails. I could feel my heart beating all over. It could've numbed my body, but I was instead exhilarated. I felt so close to the earth and to myself in that moment. Unfortunately, I was so busy with muddy activities that I had no way of carting my camera around or taking pictures. For once, I was very content with that.

As for the rest of the month, it was filled with getting to know the rest of Dublin, figuring out where my favorite pubs and clubs were and trying not to spend loads of money on them. Unfortunately, I did not find a ruggedly handsome Irish man to sing and play guitar for me on Valentine's Day, but I did spend it with some cool new friends and some chocolate. Here are some lovely miscellaneous from the past month. 

My first month was a blast! In the next post I'll be summarizing March, which was even better than February. Thanks again to whoever is reading, especially my Mom and Dad because they mean the world to me. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for them. More photos can be found here!

- Ali

Rain or Shine

"No really, will it rain or will it shine?" - me to mother nature every 10 minutes.

I was pleased to find out that it does not, in fact, rain all day every day here in this beautiful land. Instead it rains for a bit then the sun pops out. Then it rains for a bit while the sun is still out. Though it's overcast much of the day, the weather is cool and lovely for walking, which I am quickly learning is what my daily life will consist of.

I am not complaining, however. Walking here is so different than walking around my hometown and vastly different than walking around my college town. It's everything you assume Dublin to be: very old pubs, even older churches, trees lining the streets, little stores and cafes everywhere, cobblestone roads and alleys and, most interestingly, people of all different ethnicities. This I love most. Of course, the majority of people are wonderfully Irish ("wonderfully" because the Irish have been nothing but helpful and kind and fun), but I see so many people from other countries including mainland Europe and elsewhere. Here at Griffith College especially, there is a large international student population. Just tonight I met several French, German and Spanish students who live in my hall. We all discussed accents, food, hot celebrities and trash TV over some beer. It was fantastic. They all said my name in a different way, and I couldn't get enough of it. Oh, how I love accents...

In other news, these first three days have been great but a little hectic. Moving into the dorms, preparing for classes and getting to know my way around has left me little time for venturing out with my camera. Needless to say I am quite torn between capturing everything I see and getting stared at with my big old lens that screams "hey, I'm a tourist!" Anyway, I hurried to snap a few photos of the streets near Griffith College, and here they are.

There are many more to come in the future, after I settle in and get time to roam and discover!

- Ali