Alghero!

On May 2nd Ali, Hillary & I left Barcelona to venture on to Alghero, Italy. Alghero is on the Italian island of Sardegna. We stayed in an adorable hostel that was more like little bungalows! Our hostel was in a suburb of Alghero called Fertilia. Fertilia was a tiny town filled with friendly faces. The center of town held a wonderfully simple church, which I've decided I love because of its simplicity.

The bus ride from Fertilia to Alghero was only 70 cents, but we usually opted to walk the 3 miles into town because of the beautiful view of the Mediterranean all along the way. Alghero was the perfect end to our vacation because unlike Barcelona, there was not as many tourists and a lot less pressure of having to see a million things. The weather in Alghero was also a bit warmer, which was great for us because we desperately wanted to play on the beautiful beaches!

Every day we enjoyed the beach and met new, friendly people. I was the translator for the three of us because I took 5 years of Italian in high school! The one thing my friends asked me to talk to the locals about was Gelato! Gelato is italian ice cream which is second to none. We enjoyed gelato every day... twice a day! This was probably my favorite thing to share with my friends. I had been telling them of my experiences in Italy from my senior year in high school and was so excited to return to italy! I was excited about the language, the food and the gelato!

We loved our 3 days in Italy, especially the food! I ate so much pasta and pizza that I'm surprised that I still fit into my clothes by the end of the trip! Also, despite the fact that I am not a fan of wine, I will admit that I did have some wine made in Alghero. I felt like it would have been wrong not to have had at least one glass of wine while in Italian! I was delightfully surprised with the wine I had. It was not as dark as usual red wine is and tasted sweeter. So I have decided I am not a fan of any wine, except wine that comes from Alghero!

On our last day we relaxed on the beach before going to the airport. While on the beach, I looked into the water and saw what I insist was a pirate ship! It was gorgeous in the distance, so I am glad to have snapped this picture!

I may not have been a lot of places in this world, but of the places I have been, I can say that I have never seen more beautiful water than in Alghero. I am so glad that I was able to spend three days in such a small, relaxing and beautiful city.


Now, on a new subject, I have finished all of my exams! I am very excited about coming home in four days! Until then though, I will be shopping and spending time with my great friends that I have met here!

See you all soon!!

Barcelona !

On Monday, April 28th my friends Hillary, Ali and I left Dublin to visit Barcelona! We arrived in Barcelona at about 11pm and were very excited to have our first Spanish meal! We walked into the first open restaurant we saw. The food was cheap and absolutely delicious! Despite my severe lack of Spanish skills, I was able to order a Durham which is similar to a burrito. It had chicken and lettuce and a million other things in it which was wonderful! After eating we hailed a taxi to take us to our hostel.
Once we arrived at our hostel, we went straight to bed so we would be ready for our first day in Barcelona! When we woke up we decided to go to see a building designed by Barcelona's famous architect Gaudi. His specialty was making buildings that look like they're made of sand! When we saw our first Gaudi building, we were amazed. It was gorgeous! The best part about Gaudi is that he did not just do structures like churches, he did everyday structures, like this apartment building! The whole city is filled with amazing works of Gaudi. After seeing the apartment building, we decided to take a walk down the famous La Ramabalas! This street was amazing. It had shops and stores and in the middle of the road it was like one huge market! People had news stands, restaurant tables, pet shops, art shops and flower shops all in the middle of the street! At the end of the street we had found water! As we walked further we found our first glimpse of the beach! Despite it being a bit chilly, we still played at the beach for a while!

The next day we visited a whole park designed by Gaudi which was on top of the mightiest hill I have ever seen in my life! However, once we reached the top of the hill, we realized it was completely worth it! There were so many structures that were simply works of art! It maintained the sand castle theme, however it also included many mosaic aspects which added beautiful, bright colors! The buildings were magnificent immersed in the nature of the park. The next day we went to the cite of the Barcelona Olympics. The stadiums are a big attraction to tourists. I personally liked the museum the best because you could see the whole city from the top of the million stairs! After the seeing all there was to see about the Olympics, we took an aircab to a Spanish castle overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Once I was there I decided that I want to be a princess with a castle overlooking the Mediterranean!

Our last day in Barcelona we went to see yet another piece of Gaudi architecture! This is one of his most famous works, a church that sincerely looks like it would be washed away if it rained. Even standing up close, I had a hard time believing that it was not made of sand! I thought it was incredible! I never made anything that cool out of the sand at Charlotte Beach!

By the end of the day, we were at the airport waiting to take off to Alghero, Italy! That is an adventure I will have to write about another day though, because I need to go study for my last final which is coming up on Wednesday!

(PS. I already survived 2 exams and I feel pretty confident about them!:) )

I hope everyone at home is doing well! I'll see you very soon!!!!

I'm no longer a teenager!!

On April 26th I officially turned 20 years old! It was really exciting for me! We started celebrating on Friday, April 25th at 9:30pm. I had a few friends over my apartment and we danced and laughed and had so much fun! My friend Ali made me chocolate milk with Baileys so I could start my birthday with an Irish drink! So I had my chocolate milk in my sippie cup and dunked cookies so that I could take full advantage of my last few hours of being a teenager! It was very delicious! People continued coming to celebrate with me throughout the night and at midnight my friends put candles in my birthday pie and sang happy birthday to me! They only had two candles, so they found a plastic ring off of a milk container to be a zero so that the pie would say "2" "o" with the 2 candles and the plastic ring! It was very creative and I liked it very much! The pie was actually more like a tart, but it was delicious either way and we all enjoyed it! By 3am everyone had gone home and I was in bed getting some rest before I woke up and continued celebrating my birthday! When I did wake up, my friends and I went downtown for a little shopping! I helped my friend Ellen pick out some new clothes for her vacation and got myself 2 shirts! I also wound up with a big pink birthday hat! After shopping we met up with another friend, Colin, and went to dinner with him and his family who was visiting. His family was extremely nice and I enjoyed meeting all of them and having dinner with them. At the end of the meal, our waiter brought me a piece of cheesecake and had me stand on a chair to announce to the restaurant that it was my birthday! It was a lot of fun and the cheesecake was very good!! After spending the day downtown, we came back to DCU to freshen up before going out for my birthday! So we all changed and made ourselves pretty again, then everyone came to my apartment before catching a bus to go downtown! We decided to go to Temple Bar where a lot of the nightlife occurs in Dublin. We went to a bar called The Porter House which has beers from across the world in the craziest of flavors! One of my friends bought me an apple beer and another bought me a chocolate beer! I liked the apple beer a lot more, but both were great and we had a lot of fun! Altogether it was a great birthday and am happy to be 20! Waking up on Sunday, I had a lot of packing to do before leaving for Barcelona and Alghero on Monday! Next time I will give you all the fun details about my trip! But right now I gotta get to studying for my final exams! I'll be home soon and can't wait to see everyone!!! Hope everyone is happy, healthy and safe! Send me some emails to let me know how you're all doing!