Accents Galore!

Since spring break at my university is 1 week plus the Monday after Easter, and I have no class on Wednesday, Anna and I decided to elongate our break through Wednesday. It's my senior year spring break - go big or go home.

We wanted to hit up the British isles and decided it makes more sense to go to Ireland and the UK on the same trip, so we made that our spring break. Anna and I met up in London, as I was flying directly
from Lisbon, Portugal. We also met up with a friend of mine from my dance team back at school, Sarah. The three of us had a fantastic time in London and saw pretty much everything. We hit up all the major
sites and went on 2 guided tours. The first tour was themed around the monarchy and spoke about the royal wedding which would be 1 week later. The second tour was a Grimm reaper tour and spoke about jack
the ripper and the east end (dodgy end) of London. Both were amazing and I highly recommend going on tours with NewEurope when you travel. They do a great tour and each city offers a free 3 hour tour.

My favorite parts of London were st. Pauls cathedral and Big Ben. The cathedral is gorgeous and has beautiful glass mosaics on the ceilings. I fell in love with them when I saw them. I know I told you I loved
norte dame and that was my favorite, which it still is, but Sagrada Familia and st Pauls are so much more contemporary and crisp. I need   to stop seeing cathedrals, they are all too beautiful! Lol.

Big Ben isn't interactive like the cathedral. We didn't go inside or anything, but when I think of London, 1) I think of the parent trap, and 2) I think of Big Ben. The clock tower of parliament is so Gothic 
and regal. At night they light it up and it beams. Anna and Sarah quickly realized how much I loved it and would try to placate me and make sure we could see it nearby when we sat and hung out. Thanks guys!

Also, Sarah is incredibly passionate about music, especially the Beatles, so we took a photo of us crossing abbey road and Sarah even took her shoes off! It was hilarious and so different than typical tourist activities.

Some other things we did were take photos with the British guards, watch the changing of the guards (super crowded!), went to Westminster abbey, saw Les Miserables, and ate proper burgers with a pint. I'm
sure that last one may seem out of place and not exciting, but all of Europe has no idea how to make a proper burger, except the UK and Ireland! We quickly picked up on this and had burgers all the time.

After London, Sarah had to go back to Paris to resume her grad classes. Anna and I continued on to Scotland. We went to the capital of Scotland: Edinburgh, for 3 days. The most noticeable change was the
weather. In London it was sunny and around 75-80 each day, warmer in the sun. The sky was clear and blue. In Scotland, we got off the train and asked for directions towards the castle. This castle, which was a
half a mile away and on top of a mountain, was invisible due to the haze. The sky was grey and you couldn't see very far at all. Complete 180 from London.

We first went back to the hostel and checked in. That is when we noticed the second and third difference: one good, one bad. The second was the smell. Our hostel, and other buildings in the city, smelled
like horse manure and body odor. Lovely. It was quite overwhelming. The third difference was the sinks. In London, their sinks are TINY! Maybe 8 inches across and 5 inches in length. When I used them and
washed my face I got water everywhere. Here in Scotland, they went back to sinks for normal people, not my Barbie lol.

Even though the city didn't have the beat first impression, I loved it. (surprise surprise.) the people were great and had entertaining accents. We drank a bunch of cider and saw people wearing kilts! I love plaid, so we spent an hour or so looking at tartans and trying to find different patterns and asking about weddings.

For those of you that have seen Made of Honor, men do in fact wear kilts for their wedding. However, women typically won't wear an entire shawl of tartan (plaid), but instead a small bow or pin, if anything.

The best part of Scotland was st Andrews! We went there with really no idea what we were going to do, and ended up having a great time. We even were able to play 18 holes at the old course!

Ok well that's stretching the truth... We got to play 18 holes on the practice green. See, the old course has a system that is a lot like miniature golf, only difference is there are no statues or moats. Anna and I did that and it was a blast! We were goofing around and I almost got a hole-in-one! I know it's only putting, but who cares lol.

After we were in Edinburgh for 3 days it was time to pack up and spend the rest of our pounds. Ireland uses euros, thank goodness! Going from a 2.0 to 1.5 exchange rate always feels great.

Once we were in Dublin, we were so excited. We decided this was the frivolous end of the trip. Scotland and England were historical and educational and we loved them, Ireland was going to be pubs and
Guinness. We did tough it out and go on 1 tour in Dublin. Our tour guide said if all we take from the 3 hour tour is that there is more to Dublin than leprechauns and Guinness, then it was a success. Well congrats! I know there is also Jameson in Dublin lol.

We did do a few historical things. We saw some cathedrals, one where they found a mummified cat and mouse in the organ's pipes: Tom and Jerry. Also, we went to trinity college and saw the book of Kells and
the long room. The book of kells is a 1,000 year old book that is a rendition of the bible by Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. It had great colors and was standing the face of time quite well. We also saw the
long room. For those of you who have seen episode 2 of starwars, the Jedi library is a CGI version of the long room at trinity college. It was grand and filled with oak walls and medical books. The best part
in my opinion was the baru harp. Now, I didn't know I knew what this was, but we all know it: it's the trademark of Guinness! This harp is from the middle ages and looks amazing. I managed to snap a photo,
even though they are prohibited. The guard enforcing said rule took his job very seriously. Anna and I joked that he was a leprechaun due to how small he was and that he was EVERYWHERE!

Also, we went to the Jameson distillery and Guinness brewery. So much fun! Both had great tours. Guinness' was better in that they let you go at your own pace and even had a section on their previous
advertising. Jameson did give more booze at the end tho. At the Jameson one, I volunteered and got the opportunity to compare an Irish whiskey, a scotch, and a bourbon. It was pretty cool. At Guinness, Anna
and I got to pour our own pints! I attempted and only semifailed at drawing a clover in the head. I thin someone can nail it after a dozen tries or so. If only they would've let me keep trying. At least they gave me the best and smoothest beer ever! That'll have to do.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. A huge success in terms of senior year spring break. No drama or tension and a lot of fun. I must admit though, by the end of the trip, I was ready to go back to Madrid and
be in my apartment and be 'home'. I won't be traveling this weekend, and I plan on just hanging out and shopping. Sounds like a success to me!