Ireland And Barcelona

Happy 6th Month Anniversary of arriving to this strange city- aujord'hui!

I'm sorry that I do not write more. I am. So i hope this is ok. I never get enough words out on this blog- i have so much going on in my head, and so much i want to say it just never comes out right. So i tend to dumb things down into short sentences so you do not end up readIing a novel (which normally happens when i write anyway).

February was a crazy month.

The family I live with left to the Olympics so I had the house to myself for a week. Those days consisted of cooking, and living freely. I took a tour of Montmarte alone one day, watched a painter paint a young girl. It was amazing to actually have the time to stand there behind the artist, and watch her portrait be painted. I never have time like that here. I soaked up everything that day. I ended with Sacre Cour. Overlooking Paris- such an amazing view up there. It is a great place to reflect on life and a good place to dream.

The Merais became my best friend during that week. Getting lost in tiny streets with my ipod blasting my favorite music. No watch on my wrist.

I left for Ireland on a friday morning- 5AM. A lone walk down my long hill. Birds chirping! Waiting for the first train in the cold to take me to the bus station.

The best part about Ireland was the bus from Dublin to Cork. The first thing I did when I arrived. How amazing it was to drive through the green hills and fields. Such a breath of fresh air from Paris. I honestly forgot what it was like to see the sky meet land. Along the way we stopped in tiny villages and I experienced the 'real Ireland' up close. It helped I had the 'PS I love you' soundtrack on my Ipod (haha) i guess im a hopeless romantic.

Ireland was amazing. So nice to see my good friend Robyn from Saskatoon. I stayed and partied with Medical Students that week. Attended my first chili-cook-off! Kissed the Blarney stone, and made a wish. Walked up and down the witches steps and made another wish. Sat ontop a hill in Cork overlooking the city in the sun. Drank Guiness at 'sober lane' and danced to the macareena in the middle of the pub. Walked to a Lake.Took a train to COBH and pretended jack from Titanic was there awaiting me. (It was the last place the Titanic stopped at). Ate the most amazing fish and chips I have ever had by the Ocean...danced it off at a club later that night! Drank more Guiness.

It really was a fantastic trip. Full of Nature, and good fun. A word I would use to describe Ireland would be "magical."

After travelling for 12 hours that day back to Paris...it ended with a face-to-face encounter with the 'train police' and me screaming "i hate paris" to them. Lets say i was not ready to come back....i really hate the train police here though.

I slept the next day away seeing as how I did not get much in Ireland. Later that day my friend Kate came over to spend the night, seeing as we were leaving for another fabulous 5AM departure the next morning to Barcelona, Spain with four other girls!

Barcelona was out of control....adventure after adventure and memory after memory. It felt like heaven being able to walk around in a dress and sun glasses. The sun was so hot getting off the plane. The view was outstanding. Mountains setting the scene with a blue sky and the Meditteranean Sea in the backround! Hot air. We went for Tapa's as soon as we arrived. We checked in to our amazing hostel and had a little Siesta. Ate dinner, and walked to the beach. Barcelona was full of adventures. Walking tours, markets, fresh juices, la rambla street full of surprises, new beaches, long walks, long nights, new people, live music and new experiences! We would not go out until 1:45AM, which is usually when im coming in. We became regulars at the absenth bar down the street from our hostel which was always full of new encounters with crazy spanish, american, and italian people! Experiencing Gaudi's architecture in person was breath-taking and very inspiring. During a walking tour we took part it, we won these free cars to take around the city for a few hours....on the last day in Barcelona we decided to take the plunge, and drive!

It felt so weird driving again....the cars we had drove like motorcycles so everything was done with your hands. Me and Alex (an australian girl we met) shared a car. The beginning was basically us screaming at the top of our lungs the entire time. They were mini- convertables basically so if i was to make a mistake...chances of us dieing were quite high!

The cars went up to 70 mph. Sharing a main street with buses and motorcycles scared the shit out of me! In the end- we got lost driving around. Alex took the wheel and drove on the opposite side of the street due to her being Australian. We felt like celebrities. Everyone thought we looked amazing in our little yellow cars!

We met two european men one rainy morning ontop the terrace of our hostel. They decided to put on a little show for us with their flutes and base. We shared this experience with a man named "jesus" who lived in "heaven," which we all quite liked.

Our room was great apart from an irish man who happened to sleep next to me. He would start off the day taking shots at 10Am and would be plastered from morning to morning basically. He snored like no other person, and smelt like hell. I loved him. Highlite of the trip forsure, my favorite was how no one could understand a word he said.

We didnt sleep the last night. Went out to "Razzmatazz" which is the biggest club in Barcelona. Danced the night away on a platform and left around 5AM. Me and Alex could not find the exit to the night ended with us putting up the biggest fuss to the security guard who finally was so sick of us let us enter through the 'red rope' entrance to leave. On the way out the scariest spanish men tried to grab us and we flung ourselves into the first cab we saw, meanwhile screaming at the top of our lungs all the way down the street with no shoes on! We somehow ended up in a hallway with a bunch of people from around the world at our hostel and waited for the rest of the girls to come home so we could catch our 8Am flight.

Now im back in Paris and everything is back to normal. My friends are throwing me an "Alice and Wonderland" themed birthday next saturday. I'm Alice! And it is going to be wonderful. I was supposed to be coming back to Canada on March 26th, but im not ready, and neither is Canada.

I hope your all well, and I have plenty of stories to tell in more detail so feel free to ask me. I miss you all and Love you all.

Amsterdam here I come.