Author Archives: ers5150

Ireland

Ireland was totally worth it. Some might say Dublin is just like London but I disagree. In Dublin the people are more friendly not that they aren’t in London, they’re just not as polite as Dubliners. In my opinion the people of a city or town can have an effect on how much tourist and alike enjoy that location. In Dublin from the tour guides to the people working at the pubs were about as friendly as people from the south in America. It seems they both have a very hospitable mindset towards others.

The first day there we saw Queen Elizabeth! They shut down the main roads in Dublin so she could drive though and we saw her! Some of the people didn’t care one bit, others protested her visit because of the country’s past relationship.

I think it’s ironic that I’ve been in England for 5 months and went to the Royal Wedding but didn’t see the Queen yet my first day in Dublin I see her!

I spent my time in Ireland with my boyfriend, Jamie, who came to visit for 10 days, five of which were in Dublin. We went on a Wild Wicklow tour which took us through many small villages south of Dublin (including where Bono lives), all through the Wicklow Mountains (where part of Brave heart and P.S. I love you were filmed), and Glendalough. Going through the mountains was the best part. The views were just incredible and aren’t like going through mountains in the States.

Jamie and I also took the FREE Sandeman’s Walking Tour and now I probably know more history of Dublin than Canterbury, were I’m studying. The Sandeman’s tours covered Dublin Castle, Dubh Linn, Dublin’s Medieval Walls, Viking Remains, Norman Dublin, Georgian Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, Adam and Eve Church, The National Library, Famous Writers, Temple Bar, U2 – Origins of the rock legend, Ha’Penny Bridge, Spire of Dublin, City Hall, Trinity College, Leinster House, Chester Beatty, Library, St. Stephen’s Green, 1916 Easter Rising.

I also did this company’s tour in Paris and it was just as good and informative. I highly recommend it.

We also went to the Guinness Brewery. Turns out I like Guinness which I did not expect. It is a self guided tour and you learn about the history, making of beer and how the processes have advanced. We got our ‘free perfectly poured pint’ at the top of the brewery in the 360� Bar.

Location: Dublin, Glendalough, Wicklow Mountains

The Royal Wedding

Going to the Royal Wedding was a very spontaneous event for my friend Liz and I. We decided to get the first train from Canterbury to London at 2 AM the day of. We each got about 2 hours of sleep and highly caffeinated ourselves once we got to London!

(Trafalgar Square)

I could easily compare the amount of hype in the air for the wedding to the Superbowl in the States. Everyone is really excited, wants to have a good time, a lot of alcohol and tons of security.

(Our view of the wedding)

Liz and I got to London at about 8:30 and we could walk around pretty freely but as time went on it took longer and longer to walk from point A to point B. After walking down the Mall for an hour trying to find a good spot we planted ourselves on the edge of a fountain in Trafalgar Square to watch the wedding on a massive screen. We chose to watch it on the big screen rather then stand for 3 hours along the Mall just to watch the procession.

1.Free hats from Sony 2.Horse security 3.Attempt to get to Buckingham Palace

Location: London, Trafalgar Square, Royal Wedding

Spring is here!

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!!! I finally got to see some of the country side and more of Kent. A group of us went to ‘Broadstairs Beach’ which is about 35 minutes away by car. There is a much closer beach (20minutes) called Whistable but it’s a pebble beach, Broadstairs is sandy. That day is was a little windy and in the high 60’s. We buried some people in the sand and one of the guys went in the water, this was in March the water had to freezing! After the beach we decided to have an evening picnic or as the English call it a ‘barbecue’.

(Main part of Broadstairs) (Frankie berried up to her knees) (Stone Bay- part of B.S.)

I bought supplies for S’mores and taught all my English friends how to make s’mores. We had to use cook the marshmelloes over the ‘barbecue’ which is a tin pan with charcoal in it. Don’t worry they do have grills but as college students we use the tin pan method. Everyone enjoyed their s’mores. After the barbecue most of us went to Woody’s Pub until 11:30 PM, needless to say I don’t think we wanted the fun day to end.

During Easter holiday we took another trip to Broadstairs only further down the beach to an area called Stone Bay.

Note: In England a ‘barbecue’ is the thing you cook food on and the name of the gathering whereas in America we cook on a grill and call the gathering a picnic. A picnic in England is just taking a blanket outside with some snacks and enjoying the sun.

Location: Broadstairs, Kent

London day 2

The following day I explored Kensington and walked through the gardens of Kensington Palace and saw it. While wondering around I ended up bumping into a girl that I had French class with at Penn State when I was going into Pizza Hut to use the toilet, crazy! For lunch I met two of the people from the host-family that my sister had stayed with when she studied abroad in India. They are such sweet people, we went out for lunch at a pub and got to know each other. Our time was cut short because I had to meet Allison and go see Phantom of the Opera!

(Nikil and Nihar after our lunch)

(Kensington Palace, Where the Royalfamily usually lives)

I took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and found Allison to see the musical. First we walked into Haymarket Theatre by accident turns out we had to go across the street to Her Majesty’s Theatre. Now understand I have wanted to see Phantom of the Opera performed live since I was about 10. I was so excited to finally be there. I don’t think I sat back in my seat the entire show and sang along with every song! The show and talent was incredible! I cannot wait to see it again, hopefully next time with my mom!

(Allison and I before the show)!

Location: London, Her Majesty's Theatre, Kensington

First trip to London – March

The goal of my first trip to London was to see familiar faces and meet up with new friends. I got to see my friend Frannie from home who was in London for spring break. I stayed with her at her cousins for a night. The next day we went to Westminster Abbey (not free for students like we had thought) and the British Museum (free) both are worth visiting.

(I just had to take pictures of the few home environments that I’ve been since I left)

(Frannie and I outside the British Museum)

I also saw Big Ben, The London Eye, and Parliament all for the first time! That evening I stayed at a hostel, another first, with Sam, Allison and a girl from Japan. She told us a bit about how she is worried to go home with all the destruction from the earthquake. We got dinner from Tesco express and will probably never do that again.

Location: London

Last day in Barcelona

Our last day in Barcelona began with making Colin and his room mates breakfast as a thank you for letting us stay with them. We then explored their neighborhood, Les Corts (not very exciting) and then made a final trip to our favorite caf� type place, Des Casa, for coffee and pastries. At this point the people that worked at Des Casa knew our face pretty well and gave us a lot of free samples!

We left Colin’s at 5, took the metro to the bus station, took the best bus ride ever to the Girona Airport and then got our plane back to Luton. We landed at Luton at 10:10 and got through customs just as the last bus to Canterbury left and 8 minutes before the last train went out. We would’ve never made that train so we ended up getting a cab to St. Pancras then the train to Ashford and then Canterbury and a cab back to my house. We made it home by 1:30 AM, which was surprising since we really thought we’d be spending the night in the airport.

We came across the Arc de Triomphe when searching for the bus station!

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona Endings

We spent another day in Barcelona at a huge cathedral, Sagrada Familia. It is the world’s most visited construction site and his been being built for 120 years! Sagrada Familia was also designed by Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral is so extravagant and massive just being in the place made me feel so tiny.

We paid a few extra Euro to take a trip up into one of the towers which was totally worth it. The view from the towers were great. Being that high up also allowed us to admire the detail work more closely than seeing it from the ground.

Walking down the very narrow spiral stairs in one of the towers

(We got to go into two of these towers) (View from the tower)

We (Allison and Sam) spent the rest of the day relaxing. We went out for lunch, shopping and got gelato on the way back to Colin’s apt.

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Mount Monserrat, Spain

Tuesday Collin, Chris, Sam, Allison, and I were all suppose to go climb Mount Montserrat. The 2 guys and myself ended up going. We stopped at the super market and bought bocadillos (6 to 8-inch long portion of baguette, sliced in half and filled with sausage or another kind of cold cut of sausage) for later. Then we took a taxi about 45 minutes outside of Barcelona to get the mountain. We thoroughly enjoyed the 2.5 hour hike up along with the many site, the sites where the best part of the day! I was super excited when we saw the Pyrenees Mountain range covered in snow, they border France and Spain. At the top of Mount Montserrat is a beautiful Monastery and a young boys boarding school. We toured the Monastery and then had to catch the train down the mountain. I would have rather climbed down than mountain but then we would have had to call and wait for a taxi which would take too long.

Me, Chris, and Collin part way up the mountain.

TA-DAH, finally got to climb a mountain!

Colin and I in the court yard of the Monastery.

At the end of the day I got a “Man Badge” from Chris and Colin for not wimping out and climbing a mountain! I’m suppose to keep it up to date as well……

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Parc Güell

Monday in Barcelona begin with a cup of coffee and croissant from the wonderful caf� (De Casa, yummy) below Colin’s apartment and ate breakfast on the balcony. After breakfast we finally went grocery shopping and got food for the following 3 days. Then our mini adventure started to Parc G�ell. We took the metro to the bottom of a huge hill and then took multiple outdoor escalators to the top of the hill to Parc G�ell. The park was inspired by Count Eusebi G�ell and Antoni Gaudi carried out the idea and designed parts of the park. The park has amazing views of Barcelona and the main terrace has a caf� embedded in one of the terrace walls. The terrace also has the very comfortable Serpentine Bench (picture below) that overlooks the city and 2 park houses designed by Gaudi. On the way back the 4 of us did quite a bit of souvenir shopping.

Coffee out of a rock, kind of.

Location: Barcelona, Spain, Parc Guell

Las Ramblas

Our first full day in Barcelona the weather was beautiful. I walked around with my coat on which was a mistake even though most of the locals had on parkas. Being that it was Sunday the majority of businesses were closed. We took the metro to the area where Las Ramblas is but we need to eat first. We found a restaurant called. La Mamasita. I had a hamburger with grinned up goat cheese on top and some kind of ketchup sauce on the side and really skinny ‘Chips’ it was delicious. Lunch takes a few hours in Spain. Then we went to a very touristy place called Las Ramblas. It is filled with real people posing at statues to make money, kiosk, gift shops are filled with bartering and at the end is a statue of Christopher Columbus.

In the picture below the man wouldn’t let me take a picture unless I gave him some Euros. He wanted me to go up beside him so the “floating head” could give me a kiss and at the same time provide entertainment for the gathered audience. It was really awkward when I

went up beside because I had no clue what was going on and then Allison gladly went up for the sake of a picture. From the end of Las Ramblas the beach was only 5 minutes away! So naturally we walked along the Mediterranean Sea which is beautiful. People made sand sculptures to earn money as well.

On the way back to Colin’s, he and Chris need to get food to ‘take away’ or to-go since they were going to a Barcelona football game. They chose McDonald’s with McBeers, I’m happy to say I have no idea what it taste like. Sam, Allison and I chose to get more substantial food. When we got back to Colin’s one of his house mates took us to Starbucks (only coffee place open at 8PM on Sunday) and then we went to another restaurant. It was almost 9PM when we got to La Botiga and were the only people in there for about 20 minutes before locals came in. We ate out twice since we couldn’t go to a super market. I had a delicious risotto type dish with a homemade dinner roll and we shared a pitcher of sangria.

NOTE: Water doesn’t seem to be free anywhere in Spain. At restaurants you can purchase water in a glass bottle or water bottle, usually and it cost more than a glass of wine or a pint of beer. I learned quickly to keep a bottle of water with me in my bag anywhere I went.

Location: Barcelona

Education Abroad GeoBlog

Penn State bloggers from around the world

Author Archives: ers5150

Ireland

The Royal Wedding

Spring is here!

London day 2

First trip to London – March

Last day in Barcelona

Barcelona Endings

Mount Monserrat, Spain

Parc Güell

Las Ramblas