Irish Celebration!

A couple of weekends ago now I headed out to Dublin to spend St. Patrick's Day with Emma! It was so nice to have a weekend where we didn't really have to travel or see sights but we could just hang out. I got there late on Thursday.. which became the first of 11 nights that Emma and I ended up sharing a slightly smaller than twin size bed. It wasn't too awful- with the exception of Emma at one point fully smothering me in Paris as she rooted around in her bag for a sweater.. because she so desperately needed a sweater in the middle of the night.

The next day we went into Dublin with her friends Molly and Jicole to shop around for St. Patrick's Day outfits and see a few of the festivities that were happening during the weekend. We saw a bit of a Gaelic dance festival and walked around St. Stephen's Green before heading to Central Porterhouse pub to spend the day there. Emma also introduced me to Tolteca- the Irish version of Chipotle. After about four months without my beloved burrito bowl it was very welcomed. Of course I wouldn't dare go to any European Chipotle out of respect for Ruz- but Tolteca I could deal with.. twice. Later that night we went out to a pub/club called Whalens. It was a great time- she has very, very fun and nice friends and it was great to be able to go out with them.

Saturday we went into Dublin again and had sandwiches at O'Neills and then Irish Coffees at the Quays. Then we headed over to Porterhouse Temple Bar to meet up with James and Gabe who were also in Rome. Emma's friends came and met up a bit later and it was a ton of fun- we then all headed over to Croke Park to watch a Gaelic football game. We all stuck together the rest of the night as we went around to a few more pubs but headed back early to get an early start for the parade.

Sunday was finally St. Patrick's Day! We woke up super early to walk in the parade with Molly and her sister. Dublin was so cold and my fingers were all but freezing off. Emma and I ended up heading off by ourselves to a pub before meeting up with her friends a bit later- where in which we were of course seen just the two of us by a few people that we went to high school with. When we left we were absolutely dying because of how it must have looked 2 years out of high school now in a different country we are still only seen together. It was such a great weekend and it didn't even have to really end because Emma came back to Rome with me on Monday!

Vive il Papa !

The last few days I was fortunate enough to witness and participate in the historical election of Pope Francis the First. To be able to stand in the middle of St. Peter's Square and actually experience it for myself is something that I will never, ever be able to forget.

Tuesday night my roommates and I skipped classes to walk over and see the swearing in of the Cardinals and just see some of the events happening in St. Peter's. The entire day there had been a certain level of buzz happening- things I had been following on Twitter- but we couldn't make it over there until the evening session. We got to see the end of the swearing in and were approached by several news stations that recognized our American accents. That night we ended up waiting a few hours for smoke .. in the freezing rain and intermittent hail. We were suffering through it because we were all so excited but at a certain point between our feet getting wet and our hands going numb from holding the umbrellas we decided it was time to call it a night. Naturally this was about ten minutes before the first black smoke billowed out and about three hours after we'd gotten there. So it seems that the Papal election mirrors Italian public transportation in some ways.. as soon as you decide you're going to walk away from the stop the bus is GOING to pull up. The lesson is never learned.

Killing time waiting on Tuesday for the Pope! The Square filled up much more as it got closer to 8 o'clock! For the record those are my roommates (Katelyn, Meghan, Briana)!

My roommates ever so patiently waiting on the Pope.

The huge screens that showed the Cardinals swearing in and later had a close up of the chimney so that the smoke was easier to discern.

My beautiful roommate Briana and I waiting at St. Peters!

The Square a little more filled up Tuesday night.. with beautiful skies and a beautiful lit up St. Peter's to match.

Wednesday morning we skipped class AGAIN to go over and wait on smoke again. It's pretty easy to rationalize missing class with that whole "once in a lifetime experience we'll never be here again" excuse. Especially because we were all pretty positive that it was going to happen that morning.. The Italians had all been saying that it would happen within 24 hours. We don't have any form of television or news here so we pretty much rely on word of mouth as well as the Today show account that I follow on Twitter. So midmorning we headed over and waited not long for the smoke to billow out.. black again. It was still amazing to see the black and to hear that collective disappointment from the crowds. Each time the smoke begins to billow there would be a loud kind of expectant shouting that you hear well before you ever see the smoke. People file out pretty quickly as soon as it's over so we treated ourselves to Old Bridge gelato (we started realizing we hadn't had any in a couple weeks and with 50 days left here that was starting to feel like a sin).

Waiting, waiting, waiting! More umbrellas. The rain never stopped  all day.

My friends are quickly becoming famous. 

This afternoon I also got to go on a special tour of the forums through one of my classes which was pretty cool. We got to walk around on the floors of Trajans', Augustus, and Caesar's forum which was pretty amazing! 

But the rain was relentless allll day and so by the time I got back to the apartment I was like a wet dog and so frustrated that it hadn't happened in the morning. I was really getting worried too because I knew I was leaving for Ireland the next day and I really didn't want it to happen while I was gone. Again all the roommates picked up though and headed over there to watch.. and thank God we did because within minutes of walking in white smoke billowed out of the chimney! I didn't even see it before we were all hugging and screaming.. it wasn't until that was over for a few seconds before I looked up and could actually see it for myself. So many people were screaming, surging forward and jumping up and down. It was like the ball dropping in Times Square at New Years Eve- SO much excitement. The bells began to ring and we all ran up to get as close as we could before the Square began to fill up. 

During all of this, Briana, one of my roommates who is a phenomenal photographer (same one who snuck her way into the media pit at Pope Benedict's last Angelus) drops her umbrella and tin of cookies she had brought for all of us (knowing how crabby we got waiting so long the last two times) and is scrambling on the ground of the Square for these cookies. I was crying laughing so hard at this- I can't even express how funny it is because it is literally sooo typical that Bri would choose to save the cookies rather than take pictures of the smoke billowing out. This is on the same day, mind you, that she told me I was crazy for never eating fried chicken and waffles. Together. As a meal. As though I ever would. Although apparently I am because she's making it for our "Southern roommate night." 

So at that point we knew we had a bit longer to wait but we were in a great spot- dead center of St. Peter's where the red curtain was and the newly elected Pope would eventually walk out- and right at the point where the colonnades start. We could see everything. We waited just over an hour primarily discussing how amazing this whole thing was, how excited we all were, and of course laughing about the freaking sugar cookies being all over the floor of the square (newly named Pope cookies). This is all as we can see the curtains barely moving and these shadows behind- and there was reactions from the crowd to each of these tiny movements. So. Much. Excitement. The Italians would spontaneously chant "Vive il Papa!" We got to see the procession through the TV's that were on either side and hear the Italian national anthem sung just before he came out. He was introduced and the crowd went absolutely crazy for him. People had signs, huge flags, everything for this event. When they announced that his name would be Francesco, the whole crowd chanted "Francesco il Papa!"  Realizing we were a bit confused at what was going on a few Italians translated for us and told us that his name would be Francis, King of the World, in English. When he finally came out it was exactly as we had heard there would be- only a few people recognize immediately who it is by looking at him, so a whisper rolls back into the crowd. It's almost like a rumor at first but very quickly we knew he was Argentinian. He spoke, thanked former Pope Benedict and said his piece to the crowd. It was such an amazing experience to have his first blessing ever spoken bestowed upon us. I'm so grateful to have had that experience and I'm sure it is one that I will never, ever forget. 

Briana's picture from when he came out to speak!

Bri's pictures.

The white smoke billowing out! I think these were post cookies being saved? (Bri's again)

Receiving the Pope's first blessing. Of course taken by Bri that camera lens captures everything.

Marquette kids celebrating a Jesuit Pope! Weird coincidence that 3/5 of us are wearing Marquette clothing?

When we saw the white smoke! Most memorable night with the most memorable of people. 

So.. Spain isn't Mexico ?

This past weekend Meghan, Kelly and I traveled to Barcelona and Madrid. We were all finishing up our midterms (Meghan literally cabbing it from her last one to make our flight in time) and I had somehow convinced everyone that we would be celebrating this practically on the beach with margaritas in hand. I blame it on my usual confusion with geography. Our disappointment didn't last long though as soon as we realized sangria was definitely a workable substitute.

Our first night in Barcelona we went out for dinner and drinks but kept it pretty low-key because we knew we'd be trying the clubs the next night and touring most of the next day so we wanted to get a full night's sleep. Which isn't exaaaaactly how it happened. We left the bar at about 1:30 and got in a cab.. with a man who is more than likely illiterate and also unfamiliar with Barcelona apparently. Meghan gave him the exact address, spelled it out for him and everything and he was very confused and started driving all the while talking about how there is "barCelona and barTelona" and that we may be confused about where we were going. Which we were not. So he drives all the way out to barTelona and tries to type in the address on the GPS again.. and it doesn't show up. Basically we ended up driving around for an hour and a half and he was actually very confused about where he was. He turned off the meter and was relying on us to direct him around. It was really only funny once we got out of the cab a block from our hostel because he suggested we just walk the rest of the way. The whole time I was convinced we were being driven to some secret location to be sold into sex slavery and had already developed a whole plan of how to escape. It was genuinely hilarious despite getting home so late at night.

The next day we explored Barcelona! Right away we went over to La Sagrada Familia and it is by far my favorite church we have been to all over Europe. Which is about half a million. I think it was God's way of making me look stupid because the whole way over there I was telling them how sick I was of churches and how I was by no means going in another.. and then we round the corner to see this.

It was so much different than any other church that we've been to - still being a work in progress it's much more modern and abstract. We spent about an hour and a half walking around inside and watched the video on the depictions of Lent on one of the facades. 

Depiction of Christ carrying the cross and moments leading up to his Crucifixion.

Christ bearing the cross.

Gospels of Christ's last days in-scripted on the doors

Inside of the church- structure models trees with trunks and branches leading up to a canopy of leaves as the ceiling. 

By the time we left it had started to rain- we went and got lunch and picked up sandwiches at Bo De B to save for dinner which we had heard really great things about that all proved to be true. Afterwards we wandered over to Mount Montjuic because we couldn't seem to find the beach that I kept expecting to be there. There was a beautiful view of Barcelona after we made it up all the steps- and the Illuminated Fountain was there too although it wasn't lit up yet.  

Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out. Barcelona has really unique nightlife so we ended up doing some pretty different things. The first place we went was Pippermint's where you order drinks by the liter- anywhere from 1 to 13. The next place was a shot bar that had over 300 shots including ones that light on fire. We did a boy scout shot where they lit the bar on fire, we roasted a marshmallow, put out the fire in the shot and then took it. We also tried Willy Wonka ones which weren't as unusual, and then another one that had a scooped out orange with a shot in it that got lit on fire that you drank through a straw, squeezed the rest into the glass and then took the shot. It was all really unusual and a ton of fun. We also saw a girl took a Monica Lewinsky shot and a few other people take Harry Potter ones. So fun. Afterwards we went out to this Opium club that one of our friends knew about a VIP list for so we didn't have to pay the ridiculous 20 euro cover. The club was so swanky and the whole scene was a ton of fun and looked like a scene from The Hills. We met up with a couple other Marquette people who are studying in Spain while we were there and had such a fun night! We didn't end up heading back to our hostel till close to 4:30 and needed to leave by 7:30 to make our flight. The lack of sleep is hitting us hard this week. 

The next morning we were just about dead trying to board our flight. We were so relieved to arrive in Madrid and get picked up by Alex and Joe, two Marquette boys who Meghan had known since freshman year. They live in an apartment with 7 other roommates that don't speak English, which is so different than what we have in Italy. Fortunately for them all of the roommates, including Joe and Alex, speak Spanish. So they could all communicate and even though we didn't know everything that they were saying it was all still so funny. They live in a really great apartment too that is much less like the modern student apartment that we stay in. It had the exposed brick and the kitchen in a pantry type of thing- so cute. They took us back and made us coffee- which was probably never more happily received. We went over to an indoor market and tried this salmon with dill sauce that the boys recommended- so good. Then they toured us around Madrid for a while and took us over to a beautiful park, Parque del Buen Retiro that is one of their favorite places in Madrid. After we had walked around the park for a while we all sat and had a snack outside a restaurant because the weather was that nice. 

Later that night they cooked us dinner, further proving that every Marquette boy cooks well. Alex also made (and exploded) homemade sangria which was so delicious. Definitely going to be l making him make that when we're back at Marquette next semester. The best part of the night was that Brittany, a friend from my sorority came over to the house to have dinner and go out with us! We all went out together and it was a lot of fun, as usual, to be with other Marquette kids. We also finally got our beachy drinks because Brittany had the same idea as us girls about finding those which we couldn't have been happier about.

The night was so much fun! Especially to get to see Brittany and a little bit of Pi Phi while abroad! Nonetheless we were all still exhausted having still not slept more than two hours the night before so we came back and the boys (forever the best hosts) set up "Master-Bedding" for us, which might just be my new favorite verb. How they had extra mattresses and blankets for us I don't know because Emma is not going to have these extra amenities when she comes to stay!

The next day we went over to El Rastro, the huge Sunday market. But before we went we decided we needed Starbucks (we tend to get it when we have the chance). The difference was that at this one they only speak Spanish. Joe coached me through ordering the whole thing by myself, which I took huge pride in because I only ever took French. So that was a big deal to me to be able to do that- tons of fun. Although then they did forget my order so he had to ask the woman for it. But still. So we got to the market and let me say there are big markets in Italy- we went to one I would have considered big in Florence, but nothing like this. It was humongous. So many vendors, so many directions that you could reasonably go down. We all loved wandering around and really only went down one street of the whole thing but even that took forever. Not that we minded, but I can't imagine that you could ever see the whole thing. It was nicer than ones we've been to in Italy too just because the vendors don't press you and solicit you. Here's a picture of one of the streets - as I was standing in the middle a little ways away.. if it even shows at all how busy it was. The atmosphere was great too! Definitely a good way to start the day. 

Afterwards we walked over the the Palacio Real, stopping all the while to see some more beautiful views of Madrid. We went in and walked around the Palacio which was nice to do because we hadn't done it at Buckingham Palace because it was so ridiculously expensive- but we got to see a Palace nonetheless! The rooms were so decadent and it was fun to walk around and play "what would you do if this was your palace."

Afterwards we walked over the boy's favorite restaurant that they go to during the week, Don Jose. Such good food! And so much of it for so cheap. Plus the waiter loooovvvesss them so we understood from the moment he greeted us why they love this place so much. 

That night we ate dinner at the earliest restaurant in the world. It's in Madrid and called Sobrino de Botin. We ate in the cellar which was the original restaurant and as Joe pointed out, after 300 some years, they have figured out how to do it right. Since it was so expensive and we are all equally broke we ended up splitting a few things even though the waiter seemed really confused that we were essentially ordering what one to two people would normally order for the five of us. The coolest thing was that we tried squid in its own ink! I've never even seen it on a menu before. In spite of how weird it sounds, it's absolutely delicious. I texted my Mom and Dad right away because I know that's something that they both would be intrigued to try. So glad that Alex insisted on it because it's never something that I would have tried, ever. So delicious. We split a few delicious desserts too and then walked back to their apartment to hang out the rest of the night. 

Cellar of Sobrino de Botin!

Outisde the restaurant- plaque above says 1725, the date that the restaurant originated.

We were so sad to leave in the morning- I loved Madrid. The boys were amazing hosts and we had such a good time with them exchanging stories about our time abroad and just goofing around. Barcelona also has my current favorite church- so overall it was an amazing weekend. So happy to be done with midterms and even to be past that halfway mark- just now starting to miss my family, the bursts and the guys - especially because they're all getting to see each other lately! Luckily I'll be seeing Emma next weekend in Dublin for St. Patricks Day! 

Cheers, London!

So this weekend confirmed two important things for me- One, couples on their honeymoon should never travel budget airlines, and two, I cannot return to London until I am a million times richer than I am right now.

On the way to London we ran into very unfortunate travel delays.. despite being near a couple who were on their honeymoon. I really thought they would be bringing us good karma for being on their honeymoon and yet delays were just announced, and then announced and then announced. So really the lesson to be learned is that you should never, ever fly RyanAir for your honeymoon. I think I would get an on the spot annulment if I found out my husband had booked that. But after about 2 hours worth of delays we were finally off and were able to get into our hostel at around 3:30 in the morning in London where it was about 30 degrees colder than Rome. Not a warm welcome per se. But we were extremely excited! The view coming in for landing was incredible, London was so lit up and just sparkling. 

Sleeping in a tiny room in bunk beds in the hostel just me and Kelly was very much a throwback to being freshman year roommates in our tiny McCormick room. Another guest asked us on the way out how much we liked the place and we both basically shrugged.. we will always have stayed in smaller rooms (and for significantly longer periods of time) after our year in McCormick together. The other guest didn't seem as happy with her experience.

The next morning we got up and headed over to the Borough Market. We used the tube and everything and were extremely happy with how easy the maps are to interpret and for how convenient it is. The Borough Market was probably my favorite thing we did the whole trip. We circled the whole thing probably two times stealing samples which I suppose you could call breakfast. We chose these chicken wraps that smelled, and tasted absolutely amazing and had that for lunch while we continued to look around. One of the best things that we sampled was this honey- but we also came across a sign for Chocolate Wine which we asked for a tasting for. It was wine, brandy and chocolate and tasted just like drinking liquid chocolate but thinner. So good! We had a lot of fun just trying stuff. 

After we finally dragged ourselves out of the Borough Market - hot cross buns in hand (because we just couldn't resist paying a little homage to the fourth grade elementary school recorder classes) we began to wander around London. I loved London so much. Maybe it's the nostalgia for Harry Potter but it's actually probably the adorable way that kids say "Mum."

Statue in King's Cross Station

London Bridge!

St. Paul's Cathedral

We spent part of our day at the London Museum which had a lot of great exhibits. I particularly liked the one about the London fire. It had a picture of this little guy below- a symbol of gluttony as a reminder of the fire. People believed that it had been caused by the indulgence of gluttony because rumors were that it started at Pudding Street and ended at Pie. 

We spent part of our day at the Tower of London. One of the best parts was seeing the inscriptions that prisoners had wrote in the walls, but beyond that we got to see the Crown Jewels that were there for a special exhibition. I didn't know all that much about the crowning of the monarch or anything like that, so I was impressed by the luxury of the crowns and coats and the whole exhibit felt a bit like Disneyland as you wound through all the rooms. Definitely a fun part of the trip. 

Later that afternoon we went over to the Tate Modern. One of the exhibits was "Poetry and Dreams" which was just about too weird for Kelly and I both. We spent most of our time in that exhibit making up the stories of whatever made people dream these odd dreams that they were now depicting. Ended up hilarious.  After wandering through all the exhibits- we headed up to the top for a beautiful view of London at night. These iPhone quality pictures.. 

That night Kelly and I went out for Indian food. Who remembers the days that all Mary McNellis would put in her mouth was chicken, uncooked vegetables and pretzels? Certainly my Mom. But no more! Try all kinds of strange things including lamb tikka, chicken tandoori, naan and all kinds of things like that. 

The next day we got up to go explore the other end of London. That began with Harrods, which I am endlessly in love with. I don't know if we even saw half the rooms, but each of them had amazing things in them. We spent tons of time wandering around wondering why in the world there is not one of these closer to us. All the knowledge I had of Harrods came from those Confessions Of A Shopaholic books- which makes 100% sense now because I too would be a shopaholic if I had one close to me. 

Glitter doughnuts- would have brought one home for you Stephanie if you still lived down the hall! 

Because department stores have clock rooms.

& flower shops.

We walked through Hyde Park and Green Park over to Buckingham Palace where we were fortunate enough to see the police march around the square. 

Big Ben & Westminster Abbey.

We went over to Trafalgar Square and the square IS beautiful. And immense. We wandered through the National Museum there too for a while.

We spent the rest of the day shopping up and down Oxford Street and basically dying over the terrible exchange rate. Nonetheless we still had a lot of fun and loved London even if we did not love the pound so much. And on the way out of King's Cross Station we got to see a movie being filmed! So we'll have to see later if we recognize what movie it is. I'm praying it's a Harry Potter prequel or sequel but we'll see! 

And because my parents let us watch Friends from a young age, and our dog is named after a Friends character, and therefore I would practically be a sinner if I didn't- I was obligated to take the Joey Tribiani "I'm going to have to go into the map!" London picture.

It was wonderful to come home to Rome, as always. But not so great to come back to midterms. Not only because I am in no way prepared for them, but also because it means that we are already more than halfway done! It's a terrible thing to think about, but this Thursday night Meghan, Kelly and I leave for Spain! So at the very least we have the thought of tequila and tacos to get us through this rough week. 

As a final note- Happy Birthday (in about an hour Rome time) to my amazing older brother Jimmy! I'm having such #whitegirlproblems over missing you turn 24. Try not to have any of your own. Love you!