Ireland and Barcelona.. "Can my life really be this great?!" :)

St. Stephen's Green in Ireland

Beach in Barcelona

It's been so long!! I have missed writing to you all. But, it has been such a busy past couple weeks. Classes have actually had homework.. and there has been a lot going on. :) But being busy is a good thing! Two weekends ago I was supposed to go visit a little town not too far from Pamplona called Olite. It is the "Wine Capital" of Navarra. It would have been a very nice day trip.. however, I woke up sick to my stomach that Saturday morning :( Luckily, I got some sleep and felt much better. I think it may have been the nachos from the night before, haha. I am hoping to go later on in my time here.. because it looks like a beautiful place. It was probably good to have the extra rest though.. because everyone is or was sick here! Because we live so close to the mountains, the weather fluctuates a lot.. so it's really easy to get sick. Pretty much all of the exchange students have been sick so far.. yuck. I got a little better.. but then got completely sick again this weekend in Barcelona. But, it was still great! Well.. we have been on TWO trips since i last wrote.. I know, I'm slacking! I'll start with Ireland. :)
We had an AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING weekend in Ireland!! Oh, I wish everyone could have been there to experience it with me. We left on the bus at 1am Friday morning. After a 6hr bus ride, a wait in the airport, and a 3hr flight.. we arrived in Dublin at 2:30pm Friday afternoon and started right away!! First we saw Trinity College and the Book of Kelhs. It is the first version of the Gospels translated into Latin. It's so ornately illustrated.. so cool. It is housed in the "Old Library" which is absolutely beautiful. Then, we took a bus down to the Guinness Storehouse. We were able to tour the whole factory and learn all about how Guinness Beer is made. It was really neat to see the entire process. I wouldn't say I really liked the taste though.. SUPER thick. But it was still neat to see it and taste it. :) Especially because the tour ended at the top of the factory with a 360 degree with of Dublin. We headed to dinner at a cute little restaurant with live music to fill our bellies for the night. It was really yummy. After walking around town for a little, we hit the sack for the night around midnight. Saturday morning we had to get up at 5:30am in order to catch our tour bus to Cork and Blarney Castle! We stopped at a couple towns throughout the day. At the first stop.. Cahir.. we saw a castle and had some coffee and pastries. Second, we stopped in Kinsale where we saw a pretty church and got to try the traditional ice cream treat called "99". Its just vanilla with a chocolate stick in it :) haha. It was good though. After we picked up a few more people.. mostly Americans :), we finally arrived in Blarney!! It was AWESOME. The Blarney Castle was beautiful and kissing the Blarney Stone was such an experience. You have to lay down on your back and reach down so far to do it!! And I ended up having to do it twice to get a picture! Haha :). We also saw the Poison Gardens.. which is just a garden with tons of poisonous plants. WEIRD.. but cool :). On the way home we stopped in a town called Cobh, which is a port city. It is actually the port that the Titanic docked in last before she sank!!!! WOW. And we saw one more castle in a town called Keshel. All in all, it was a FABULOUS day. We got back to Dublin at about 9pm. That night we went out to the Temple Bar district of Dublin, which is the cultural hub of the city. It has a ton of pubs and cute shops. We wen to the famous Temple Bar and got to listen to a live band. It was really one of the most unbelievable times I have had in my entire life. The whole bar was singing along and clapping, and the band was great. I felt like I was in a movie :). It was so unreal. I really wish everyone could have experienced it with me. Sunday we took a free tour of Dublin and got to see all the major landmarks like Dublin Castle, Parliament, City Hall, and so much more. We ended in a park called St. Stephen's Green. It was BEAUTIFUL. We took so many pictures :). Then, we visited the National Gallery Museum and saw the big name paintings like Picasso. Then we had traditional Fish and Chips for dinner! Delicious. Lastly, we saw traditional Irish Dancing that night. Like real River Dance!! :) It was so neat. We all loved it. Monday we headed back home super early. We had to leave our hotel at 5am. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. I loved it! And I would definitely recommend Ireland to everyone!!

Last week was really busy with schoolwork.. needless to say because I obviously didn't have time to update. :)

Last weekend Candy, Maria and I went to Barcelona!!!! :) We didn't leave until Saturday morning because we took the train, which was nice. We arrive at about 3pm Saturday afternoon, checked into our hostel and ran to our free tour! The tour was awkward.. because it was only us and one other person, haha :). Usually they have at least 20 people. Oh well.. it was still nice to see everything. We got to see a lot of stuff.. which I don't remember the names of. Woops :). That night we went to see a light show at these huge fountains in center city.. but we only caught the tail end of it unfortunately. It was still beautiful though. And we were able to get a gorgeous view of the city at night as well. We had pizza for dinner and then hit the sack. :) Our hostel was a little shady this time.. haha. It was like someone's house with rooms they were renting. SUPER WEIRD. But it did the job. Especially considering all we did there was sleep. And it was cheap. So it was alright. :) We woke up early the next morning to head to the Sagrada Familia. Maria and I tried to get coffee on the way.. it was so teeny!! Even in Barcelona they don't have normal sized coffee. Aye Aye! But we muddled through. The Sagrada Familia is more amazing than I could ever describe!! The architecture is so unbelievable, inside and out. It is literally breathtaking. Everyone should see it once in their lives. We took soooo many pictures. After seeing the Sagrada, we proceeded to see more Gaudi buildings. His architecture is astounding. I have never seen anything like it. The pictures on Facebook show how amazing it is.. but still don't do it justice. You have to see it in person. All I can say is "WOW". For lunch we headed down to the beach. It was sooooooo gorgeous. And sooooo relaxing. The weather was beautiful so we ate lunch and then just sat in the sand and enjoyed the day for about an hour. It was great. To finish the day we walked all the way to the top of the viewing mountain. It was a long walk.. but so worth! We got so many good pictures of such an amazing view. Barcelona is such a beautiful city with so much to offer. A architectural work of art with a beach right there!! I couldn't believe how much I loved it.. we all did. Oh.. and we also had Gelato (like ice cream) twice!! :) It was really yummy. We woke early Monday morning to get the train back to Pamplona in time for classes. It was such an amazing, relaxing, fulfilling, fabulous weekend. I can;t even describe what a wonderful time I had.

So.. it was two great weekends in a row!!! :D

This week has been busy.. and I'm sick again. But getting a little better now. Hopefully I will be fully better since we are traveling to Portugal this weekend!! I am so excited and the weather forecast is great! YAY!! Can't wait to tell you all about that trip too!!

I miss you all so much! Wish you could be here with me! <3 :)