Dublin' it Up in the City

Just two weeks ago, I found myself in the city of Dublin, Ireland for a quick weekend trip with Izzy and Annelien. All of us had always wanted to go, so we said let's do it!

Because of the delays during our trip to Spain, we had one day in between Spain and Ireland at home in Belgium, so much of what we did was very spontaneous while we visited (little time to plan unfortunately). Let me just say, the flight coming in was absolutely stunning. Because Dublin sits right near the water, we got to see much of the coastline upon flying in. 

Overall - I would give Dublin a 7/10. It's definitely a neat city with tons of history, but it's quite expensive when you're balling on a budget, and you truly don't need more than a weekend there. If anything, this trip fueled my desire to go back and visit the rest of the country, mountains, cliffs, and all.

Upon arriving, we got driven to our hostel by this adorable old Irish taxi driver. It's so weird seeing them drive on the other side of the road, let alone being present in a car while it happens, but he drove us about 20 minutes away to the heart of Dublin. We stayed in "The Generator Hostel" which ended up being very trendy, very different from the hostels we've stayed in before. 

Because we couldn't check in until 2, we went in search of lunch. We ended up going to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland dating back to 1198. It was everything you would imagine a typical Irish pub could be. Fireplaces, dark mahogany walls, beer glasses the size of your head - old Irish men drinking at 11 in the morning - it reminded me of the Three Broomsticks from Harry Potter. It was fantastic. I had a delicious sandwich and ended up trying some Irish hard cider (no Guinness for me - yet!)

The rest of the afternoon was spent simply exploring. It ended up raining a bit (what a surprise). We stopped in the late afternoon for one of the best "iced" hot chocolates I've ever had. Yes, you heard me. In the biggest mason jar, you get hot chocolate, topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. It was the absolute best. 

We ended up going to bed early that night due to the exhaustions of traveling. The following day was my favorite, though. We started our morning off by visiting St. Stephen's Green, a massive park in Dublin. As we walked through, we met an old Irish man who was fond of feeding pigeons. He ended up wanting us to do the same, and my friend Izzy went right for it. I'm not too fond of birds after an incident I had with one at a young age, but before I knew it the guy was giving me oats in my hand and I had a pigeon resting right on my arm. Don't worry, PLENTY of hand sanitizer was used after I was finished. He was a little quirky, but it made for a hilarious memory.

Kinda happy, kinda not...

After, we walked by Trinity College and decided we were going to visit Howth, a little harbor town on the coast of Ireland. It only cost 6 euros to take the train to get there, and boy was I happy we did. It was definitely my favorite part of the weekend. We couldn't have gone on a better day. Clear skies and a little bit of wind added to the ambiance of it all. You could walk all through the town and just see so much blue sky and rocky cliffs. I ended up making a couple new friends along the way as well...

Meet my new friends!

Howth, Ireland

Upon coming back, we trekked through the Temple Bar area where much of the nightlife happens. It's a cool little area to hear live music, but definitely something you only need to do once or twice.

Sunday, we visited the Guinness Brewery, which was much more awesome than what I expected. Not only do you get to learn about how the beer is made, but they teach you how to "craft the perfect pour" of Guinness. Let me tell you, it's an art. After you get through the museum, they have a "gravity bar" where you can see lovely views of Dublin while enjoying your complimentary glass. It was a lot of fun and I can proudly say I am a true fan of the beer.

Graduated with honors! 

Later that day, we were looking to go to the old jail located on the outskirts of the city, but little did we realize that you had to book in advance before you could go. So, we got there only to find out we couldn't visit which was disappointing. The rest of the evening was filled with relaxation, as we had an early flight the next morning. Our hostel ended up having live music on Sundays, so we sat in the restaurant and listened for a bit.

All in all, Dublin made me realize how much I want to go back to Ireland to explore more. I'm so thankful to have traveled to all these cities, and I'm so excited for a few more adventures we have in the works in my last 2 months ahead. Up next, an update on a visit to my favorite city in the world ... Paris! 

Life.

Originally I was going to create a post on my trip to Dublin a couple weeks ago - but I decided I wanted to talk about something different today.

Life - it's a crazy journey. It's full of ups and downs. When I was a freshman in college wanting to study abroad at some point in my career at Hanover, I dreamed about it being the best semester of my life. I'd get to travel, I'd get to live in Europe, everything would be fabulous for the 5 months I was abroad.

In reality - this truly has been the best semester of my life...but not in the ways you'd think. This semester has challenged me not only academically, but individually. In the short time I have been here, I have never learned so much about myself. It's been one of the hardest semesters, but I know I will come out more sure of myself than I ever have before.

Being away from all my friends and family back home, every decision I make is up to me, and solely me. While I can consult friends and family on the phone every once in awhile, it's ultimately myself who calls all the shots. It's been a semester of doing things for me, and only me.

Let me tell you, it isn't always easy being on your own. Often I find myself missing people back home, and it only becomes harder when you FaceTime and talk to them on the phone only to realize you aren't going to see them face to face for another few months. The glamour of studying abroad can wear off and the realities of stress and struggles can set in and eat you alive.

I'm guilty of thinking about the future too often rather than living in the present. I've caught myself multiple times dreaming about life at Hanover in the fall where I'll be back working with Panhellenic Council, playing tennis, working on my theses. The comfort feels nice. I love thinking about being back with friends and how I will be back in a world where I can understand what everyone is saying around me, where my beautiful little campus makes me smile from cheek to cheek on gorgeous fall days, where everything feels natural.

But I already know once I'm back I'm going to be wishing for the days where I could step out of the door of Junior House just to walk down the street to grab some of the best waffles you'll ever eat, where I can study in my favorite coffee shop, where I can hop on a train in minutes and go explore the world. This experience has taught me to truly appreciate living in the moment. It's easy to think about where you'll go next, but why do that when there is so much to experience now?

I'm still learning how to be with myself along the way. Last week, I had a phone call with someone I truly look up to who sat me down **virtually** and said "hey, you're homesick, and that's totally okay". At Hanover, it's easy for me to get caught up in all my activities on top of schoolwork. Because I haven't had this here, in many ways it feels like I've lost my purpose. Instead, I've decided to take a challenge. I'm learning how to embrace being alone with myself, letting my mind roam free, and taking more time to figure out who I am. It's been one of the best things for myself.

As I said before, I wouldn't trade studying abroad for the world. I have been blessed to see so many new places and to meet new people that have made this experience the best it can be. Along the way, I'm learning more about myself than I ever have before, and I'm loving it. I don't want to think about leaving in June, but I know how excited I will be to return to my favorite place in the world in September, rejuvenated and refreshed - ready to take on senior year.

If you've made it this far . . . thank you for listening. More travel posts will be up soon, I promise! Until next time.

Spring Break - Spain Edition

Long time - NO BLOGGING! I've missed getting to write posts on here. For the past two weeks, I have been traveling non-stop, with almost no time for anything else. We had our Easter holiday, so we took advantage of the time off to explore other parts of Europe. A little over a week ago, I traveled to Spain with Izzy to visit Paloma, a girl who studied abroad at Hanover last semester. She was wonderful and showed us all over. We visited Ciudad Real, Iniesta, Cuenca, Toledo, and Madrid - all within the short time we were there. I've never seen another country like it. Getting to have locals show us around was such a blessing, and I was truly able to experience the Spaniard lifestyle.

CIUDAD REAL:
This university town is about a two hour drive south of Madrid. One of Paloma's friends drove us here from Madrid so we could meet up with Paloma while she was at school. The drive there was absolutely stunning. Rolling hills, vineyards, olive trees growing everywhere - it was all so beautiful. At this point in the day, we were so exhausted, and it was difficult for me to try and stay awake. I wanted so badly to continue looking out my window, but fought against my heavy eyelids that were telling me otherwise.

Once we arrived, we went out for dinner and drinks. In Spain, tapas are a very common thing. With almost any drink you order, you can pick out a little "tapas" or tiny snack to eat with it. So we sat our in the main square and enjoyed a spring night in Spain getting to catch up with Paloma and a couple of her friends.

The next day was a big party that the entire campus was participating in. Throughout the year, different "faculties" of the university will hold a big party that everyone goes to. On the day we visited, it was the law faculty's turn to host. The party was held in what used to be a water park facility. They had a DJ and what looked to be a massive swimming pool completely drained so that people could walk around in more areas. it was very different - but the party lasted all day. We ended up meeting up with a couple girls from Hanover who were studying abroad at the university as well, so it was great to see all of them, too.

Our last day in Ciudad Real, we met the Hanover girls for lunch at this restaurant that ended up serving burgers as big as your head. Literally. I could only eat half of the sandwich. They were just massive. It was so nice to talk to students that were going through the same study abroad adventures as we were. We bonded over the language and cultural barriers we experience on a daily basis and how different our school is from the ones we attend in Europe. It made me miss Hanover and home even more.

Paloma, Izzy, and I in Ciudad Real

Later that night, we all drove East towards Valencia, where we stopped in the hometown of Paloma's - a city called Iniesta!

INIESTA
Paloma, Izzy and I, and about 7 of her other friends all came to her town for the weekend to stay with her family in their home. They live in the heart of Spanish wine country. Her dad even works out in the fields where the endless plains of olive trees and grapes are grown. Unfortunately, they didn't speak a lick of English - so I was at a bit of a loss the entire time we were there. Izzy knew some, but we had to have her friends translate for us often. Their family was so welcoming though, and always cooked big Spanish meals for us to eat.

During my stay - I came to realize just how laid-back the Spanish lifestyle is. They didn't eat dinner until at least 11 P.M. each night (much different from my 5:30 P.M. meals back home). They wake up late and breakfast isn't eaten until at least 11 A.M. - lunch maybe around 3 P.M. The lifestyle was just so different!

On Saturday we went to Cuenca, this beautiful city just north of her hometown. It was maybe an hour drive, and we got to see much of the Spanish countryside on the way which I loved. The city is built into the rocky mountainside, and it just oozes with picturesque lookouts and gorgeous winding streets to walk through.

Living life on the edge.

When we came back, we ended up taking one of her dad's old trucks out for some good ol' off-roading in the Spanish countryside/mountains. We got to see so many vineyards and drove for miles on these old dirt roads. We ended up getting lost trying to find a bridge that connects two provinces together in Spain, so what was supposed to be a 2 hour trip turned into a 4 hour deal. We made it back just in time for dinner at 11:30 though!

Sunday was our last day in Iniesta, and we actually got to visit a mushroom farm. Mushrooms are a big deal in Spain - they're eaten at almost every meal and they're very knowledgable on the food as a whole. Paloma's aunt worked at one, so we got a tour of how they grow and produce them which ended up being pretty neat. I myself am not a huge mushroom fan, but it was still great to visit.

TOLEDO
The same day, we were leaving to go to Madrid, but on the way we stopped through the gorgeous city of Toledo. This is probably one of the most picturesque cities I've visited. It's about an hour south of Madrid, and it sits on this massive hill that is surrounded by it's own natural moat. Unfortunately, we didn't get to a lookout of the city until it was dark at night, so I don't have pictures of the city as a whole, but I did get some great ones throughout the afternoon we were there (which will hopefully do the place justice!)

This moment reminded me of the movie Tangled - when they release all the lanterns into the night sky.

MADRID
We finished our last couple days in Madrid before it was time to fly out! We crammed in tons. We saw multiple parks, Playa Mayor, the Royal Palace of Madrid, Buen Retiro Park, and the Crystal Palace. Photos to follow below:

Fresh blooms everywhere you look!

Boat rides for 2 euros? Why not!

Crystal Palace, Madrid

The insane part was trying to get home! I'll do my best to make this short and sweet - but we'll see if that happens. Originally we were supposed to fly out Tuesday very early in the morning to return to Brussels. Because of recent events, many flights were redirected to Liege and Charleroi airports in Belgium. Flying to Madrid, our flight was redirected to Liege - no big deal, we checked online and got to the airport when we needed to. The strange thing was, we never got an email saying our flight was changed. We just did our own research.

Coming back, we checked to see when our flight was scheduled to leave that Tuesday, and it was at 9:30 P.M. Cool - we would just get on the plane then and come home. Buuuuut just wait. Izzy checked her email that day around noon only to see that they rebooked our flight the day before to leave at 12:35 P.M that day. So we missed our flight. We were extremely confused, as the website never updated with our flight change.

We ended up going to the airport anyway to see if we could get on the flight, only to find out it was overbooked. I may or may not have broken down right then and there in the airport. It's one of the worst things when you're exhausted (mentally and physically), when you just want to get home, and you can't. Not to mention few people spoke English, so I had no clue what was happening for the most part.

As they say, it's important to look on the bright side, though. The airline ended up getting us a really nice hotel room to stay in that night, and we ended up getting on a plane leaving the same time the next day. We met a really nice lady who was in the same situation as us, and ended up making a new friend in Belgium which was awesome! She lives near the coast - so now we have new friends to visit if we ever get out that way which is great.

Does the story end here? No it does not sadly. So we get onto this plane the next day thankfully, but they tell us instead of flying into Liege, we will be flying into Brussels International Airport. Brussels is actually much closer to Leuven than Liege, so that was nice, but our flight didn't get in until 11:35 P.M. at night. The last buses ran at 11:30. So we had no way of getting home until they ran again at 4:30 in the morning. We tried everything. We looked into getting a taxi (this costed 100 euros to drive 20 minutes away) so that wasn't an option. We tried Brussels Uber which wouldn't have been that expensive - but the cars were busy the entire time we tried to leave. We couldn't even take a train anywhere! It was miserable. We had to wait another 6 hours before we could get home. But eventually we made it and I slept for a very very very very long time.

Because of all these crazy delays/cancellations/etc., we had one day to relax in between our travels from Spain and our travels to Ireland. If I've learned anything while I'm here, it's to go with the flow, to be flexible, and to expect the unexpected. Be on the lookout for a new post on Ireland here soon!