April
Well, technically I'm going to start back in January when I decided to buy plane tickets home to surprise my sister for her birthday. It was SO tough keeping this secret from her, especially since we tell each other everything and talk so often. But anyway, I think I pulled it off fairly well, considering I had to keep the fact that I was going to be flying over 4000 miles a secret.
My bestest best friend Kaitie was in on it from the beginning and was there to pick me up from the airport and drive me to my parent's house. The look on their faces when they saw me standing in the doorway was one of the best moments of my life. I would have paid any amount of money for that moment.
My week in Colorado was spent eating Chipotle (I missed sofritas so much), spending hours walking through Target, catching up with some of my best friends, seeing a Rockies game, and of course spending every other minute with my sister. We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (one of our favourite places) and Seasons 52 for her birthday dinner. We watched Harry Potter movies and spent an afternoon walking the streets of downtown Denver. Overall, I had an incredible week and came back to London with a full heart, an even fuller suitcase of American food, and an empty wallet.
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| Coors Field. One of my favourite places in the whole world |
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| CHIPOTLE |
May
May was a fun month! I saw two concerts (Shawn Mendes and The Summer Set), took a day trip out to Greenwich to enjoy the warm weather and ride the Emirates sky line (a gondola that takes you across the Thames and gives you the coolest views of the London skyline) and got to attend my first Summer Ball! I also rode bikes through Hyde Park (bucket list: check!), and got to play a game of bubble football, which is where you put on those giant bubbles and just slam into other people. I was very bad at it, but it was still a fun experience.
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| The trees on campus blooming |
I also took a day trip down to Brighton to attend the Brighton Fringe and see one of my friend's shows that she was putting on there. The day was spent on the Brighton pier eating strawberry and nutella crepes and sitting on the freezing beach pretending we weren't slightly miserable in the wind.
My friend Sam and I (it was mostly Sam but I helped a little) also did a drinking olympics party! Basically, all of our friends packed into Sam's kitchen to play drinking games, like beer pong, flip cup, corners, and heads up. It was a really fun night! My friends Sarah and Nick were on my team and we DOMINATED. We were undefeated up until one game of flip cup where the Norwegians we were playing with let us down ;) Best part of the night though was waking up the next morning without a hangover. Success!
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| Team USA |
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| Norwegian Buddy |
After the drinking olympics party it was time for Summer Ball! For people in the states, every summer my University puts on a day of activities after summer term ends. The day starts around noon when there's live music, bumper cars, amusement park rides, and tents full of different types of alcohols (including Pimms!). My friends and I spent the afternoon drinking on the lawn and listening to music. It did rain (of course it did, it's England), but that didn't stop anyone from enjoying Eliza and the Bear (a super awesome band, I highly suggest checking them out).
After the afternoon festivities ended, everyone went home to prepare for the night part of the ball, which is a formal event. We all went home to get food, get dressed, and then headed back to campus for more bumper cars, a silent disco, and Tinie Tempah. We ended up staying out until about 3am before I finally crashed. There was some drama over the course of the night (when isn't there) but overall I had an absolute blast at summer ball.
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| Becca and I |
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| The girls! Sarah, me, Devin, Becca, Imani, Sam, and Lucia |
IRELAND
Although my trip to Ireland still took place in May, I'm giving it it's own subheading because it deserves it!
Two days after Summer Ball, my friend Sarah and I hopped on a plane and one hour later were in Dublin Ireland! We decided to rent a car there, which was an adventure all it's own. I'm of course used to riding in buses and other people's cars on the other side of the road, but driving was a whole other story. The car was a manual, which is fine, all my cars back home were manuals, but shifting with your left hand got a bit tricky at times. Overall though, I think I did okay with it (though Sarah may say different at time). Driving in the city was tough of course, but once we were on open roads it was so nice to drive again. I think we're both happy we chose a rental car because of the freedom it offered us.
The first day in Dublin we wandered all around the city, discovering new places to eat and people watch. We visited Temple Bar and stared in awe at Christ Church cathedral for a solid 10 minutes. The coolest part was that even after sitting at the bar for an hour, listening to live music and eating vegan sandwiches (honestly so grateful I found food I could eat there, unlike some other cities I've visited *cough cough* Venice) the sky was still light out! The sun didn't set until 9:30pm which was absolutely crazy.
Our second day in Ireland, we woke up super early to hit the open road and head to the Cliffs of Moher! We definitely lucked out. The sky was crisp and blue and apparently that was the first nice, sunny day they've had all month! The drive to the cliffs took about three and a half hours, which Sarah and I spent listening to One Direction, The 1975, and Bastille. Once we got off the highway at Galway, the rest of the trip was on narrow, winding country roads, which I had way too much fun driving on (again, sorry about that, Sarah). The countryside in Ireland was absolutely stunning. There were flowering trees everywhere and it all was a much more vivid green than I've ever seen before. we also drove past one town that was very difficult for me not to visit, but we managed to just drive by...
We finally hit the coast and I can honestly say that the cliffs of Moher are one of the most (if not the most) spectacular things I've ever seen. It's hard to describe them and their size. Every few steps Sarah and I would take we would stop and admire them again. Every view was more amazing than the last and I couldn't get enough of them. At one point, we reached a rocky ledge where people were taking pictures sitting on the edge. You can't tell in the picture, but it is a straight drop to the water below. I normally don't have a problem with heights but this was the exception. It even made my stomach turn a little! I took so many pictures of the cliffs because every angle delivered an amazing picture, but I'm just going to post a few of my favourites here.
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| Stopped at an overlook on the drive to the cliffs |
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| Sorry Mom |
After visiting the cliffs we drove to Limerick to hang out for a little and grab some food. Limerick is a really cool city that seems to be up and coming. It has a really nice walking mall through the centre and everyone was SO friendly! We got the most delicious vegan wraps that we ate on the drive back to Dublin while jamming to punk albums from my undergrad days.
The next day we stuck around Dublin and did the Guinness Storehouse tour and wandered around the city some more. The storehouse was really cool, and was my third brewery tour. Overall I think the Coors tour was better, but it was still really interesting and a very well done tour. At the end you get a free pint of the black stuff while getting a 360 degree view of Dublin. The beer was just okay (although better than I expected. And yes, I DID drink beer, just not that much), the view of the city was spectacular. I guess I didn't realise Dublin was surrounded by hills, but it made me miss home a little.
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| The view of Dublin to the south from the storehouse |
After that, we found another restaurant and bar in the Temple bar area, and drank ciders until the sun was almost setting in the sky. Our final day in Dublin we walked to our favourite new spot in the business district where I got a vegan Mexican quinoa hot box with tofu (yummmm) and then we drove back to the airport where I was more than ready to give back our rental car and get back to London. Our flight home was delayed because of air traffic controller strikes in France, so we ended up getting home about three hours late, but all in all I had a fantastic trip to Dublin. I'm not itching to go back right away, there's just too many other cities I want to visit first, but I definitely hope to make it back soon.
That's about it! Sorry this is such a long post, I just had a lot to say! Guess I didn't realise how exciting the past few months have been! My courses are done for the year, and now I get to focus on research for my dissertation which is due at the end of August. Ahhh! As for plans for the summer, I don't really have any yet! Just gonna kind of see where the road takes me (or more accurately the bus and tube because there is no way I'm driving in London. Haha). Talk to you soon!
Cheers! xx
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