My first ever EUROTRIP! ...beware, this is LONG.

Where to begin!?!? Basically, I had an amazing last two weeks. I am just going to start from the beginning, and I'll try not to leave out a single detail!

Our train left Klagenfurt around 10:15, and we were there in plenty of time. We happened to meet a group of girls that were also going to the Trevisio airport (near Venice) so we just stuck with them. We had to change trains at some point in Italy, and then once we got off the train in Trevisio, we took a bus to the airport. We were at the airport in plenty of time too....so of course, I finished off a can of Pringles as we sat around for the next couple hours.
In Klagenfurt, right before our big Adventure!
We were flying with Ryanair…which is the cheapest airline EVER. We didn’t buy a single plane ticket for more than 20 euro (30 dollars). But, it costs 18 euro to check a bag, so Natalie and I were smart and shared a bag. The only problem with this was that it was EXTREMELY heavy and such a hassle to lug around. The weight limit for checked bags is 15 euro, and of course ours was over weight. So, we pulled out all we could from the bag and shoved it into our purse (we shared a purse the entire trip too).

This is a video of Nat putting on the GINORMOUS backpack for the first time.
We landed in Rome and first thing I saw when I got off the plane was a group of guys in kilts. I thought I might see that in Ireland, but Rome? I was confused. Once Nat and I had our bag, we tried calling my cousin Megan, to see where we should go. We had never used our phone before, so we had to have someone else help us the first time. I talked to my uncle Kris on the phone and he said that we should take a taxi to the Christoforo Columbo hotel. He said it wasn’t far from the hotel at all and shouldn’t be too much.
This was a group of the men in the kilts. We later found out that there was a rugby game against Ireland, so thats why we saw so many people dressed like this the entire time.
We talked to information before trying to find a taxi, and they said that it would be at least 50 euro to get to the hotel from where we were…so we decided to figure something else out. We ended up taking a bus to the train station and after wondering around forever, finally asked someone which bus would take us where we were going. We hopped on the bus and were on our way.

Our only problem now, was that we had NO IDEA where to get off the bus. We tried asking the bus driver, but he spoke no English, and was no help at all. Luckily, some sweet lady overheard us asking, and came up and tried to help us. She called some friends and figured out where we should get off. She spoke only a little English, so she used quite a few hand signals. At one point, she told us we needed to be very, very careful at this time of night—it was like eleven. She made some kind of a stabbing motion, and then put her hands around her neck and made a choking sound. She said there had been stabbings going on and that two girls shouldn’t be walking around at night like this. So, needless to say, we were scared. We got off the bus and some man pointed us in the right direction of the hotel. It was probably a half mile walk there. Natalie was scared to death. Haha.

Once we walked into the hotel, I was SOOO relieved to see Kris, Krista, and Megan at the front desk waiting for us! And they were very relieved too! For some reason our phone wouldn’t receive any phone calls, so they were quite worried about us. My uncle called my mom and told her we were there and safe and sound…I’m sure she was quite relieved to hear that. By this time it was probably 11:30, and Natalie and I were STARVING. Megan and Kris were nice enough to go on a food hunt for us. The only thing open was a little stand across the street with a big fat guy serving little pita things, but at that point anything would do, so Nat and I chowed down.

After talking with everyone for a while, we all decided we were super exhausted and went to bed in our hotel. Megan, Nat, and I shared a room. The second my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

The next morning, we were ready by 9:30. We ate breakfast at the hotel and checked out of our rooms. Then we were on a journey to find Kris and Krista’s next hotel. We had to walk half a mile back to the bus stop that Natalie and I were at the night before. …it was a lot less scary during the daytime and with three other people.
...Lugging the bags to the bus stop!
I couldn’t believe where their hotel was...RIGHT NEXT to the PANTHEON. It was amazing. Their bedroom windows overlooked the Pantheon. I was in awe. We left our bags and then went out and toured Rome! We saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We did a little bit of shopping at Zara between all of that and also stopped to get lunch at a cute little pizza stand. Megan and Krista tried french fry pizza—weird—but they said it was good!
Nat, Meg, and I in front of the window...yup, that's the Pantheon in the background!!

Inside the Pantheon with uncle Krisy.

At the Trevi Fountain!
Krista and her french fry pizza.
The Spanish Steps.
After seeing the Spanish Steps, Krista and Megan went and did a bit more shopping and Kris walked Nat and me to the Vatican city. It was GORGEOUS! I’d love to describe it, but no words could give it justice, my pictures and video don’t even give it justice. We spent quite a while there, and then as we were leaving we saw policemen blowing their whistles and standing in the street, and I said, “Oooh, maybe the Pope is coming.” But Kris said it would probably be a bigger deal if it was the Pope. But, sure enough, his motorcade came out and then the pope mobile came! I even got it on video. So, needless to say, I feel pretty cool that I got to see the pope—well saw his car thing.
Here we are at the VATICAN CITY!
At the Vatican.
Uncle Kris as we were leaving the Vatican.

Of course, I had to put the video of the pope on here!

We walked back to our hotel from The Vatican and met back up with Kris and Krista. Uncle Kris made us reservations at the Crowne Plaza—which was so incredibly nice of him! Kris, Krista, Nat, and I took our bags to our hotel and Kris checked us into our hotel. Then we all headed back to the city centre and met Megan at the hotel. We went out for dinner at a cute restaurant in the Piazza Marona. After dinner we walked around the Piazza for a bit and then went and got some gelata—which is Italian ice cream. It was absolutely DELICIOUS. Then we went back to Kris and Krista’s hotel and Kris got us a cab to take us back to our hotel.
Aunt Krista was a bit tired during dinner, and didn't notice the paper we put on her head.
In front of the Pantheon with our Gelata.
To say the least, Nat and I felt like queens at this hotel. It was soooo nice! They had a bathrobe and slippers for us to wear. We each had our own queen sized bed, and the room was HUGE. I wish we weren’t so tired that night so we could have enjoyed it more, but we basically just got there and went straight to bed.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel. It was 18 euro a plate (ridiculous!), but ours was included with our room. I ate soooo much! I hadn’t had real breakfast food since I’ve been in Europe. So I had about three plates of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and fruit. I was pretty much in heaven. Afterwards, we packed up our things, checked out, and took the hotel shuttle bus back into the center of town. Nat and I did some shopping in Rome, and then met up with Kris, Krista, and Megan again.

Then, all of us took a bus to the train station, and soon we were on our way to Florence! The ride was very, very fast. Only 1.5 hours! Once we were in Florence, we took a taxi to our hotel. But, once again, this was probably THE NICEST hotel I’ve ever stayed in, and ever will stay in my whole life. It was apartment style. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. I loved it. Anyway, we dropped off our things, and then went walking around Florence. We shopped a bit and then went out to eat at Mammamias. It was extremely good—I got hotdog pizza. Haha. Afterwards, we all got these white slushy drink things…..they were soooooo good. Afterwards, we got gelata again.

Then, Megan, Nat, and I went clubbing. Megan’s Birthday was at midnight, so we got a lot of free drinks and just had a really good time! We met one of Meg’s friends—Francesco—and also met this kid named Birtie. He ended up taking us to a dance club. Afterwards, we walked home and when we walked in the door we saw that Kris and Krista had hung a huge banner on the wall for Meg’s birthday, it was sooo cute! Then we all went to bed. Even though there were three beds—one for each girl, we all started out sleeping on the pullout bed in the living room. Natalie ended up moving to the other room but Megan and I cuddled all night! Haha.
Out for Meg's bday!
Cuddling in bed after we got back!
In the morning, we were woken up bright and early to someone knocking at the door. Megan answered, and it was 21 roses for her Birthday! Her dad had them delivered to her. It was sooo cute! But, we were still tired, so we went back to bed and didn’t wake up until super late…like 1 in the afternoon.

There were washing machines in our building, so Krista decided to stay in and try to do some laundry while the rest of us went out and walked around and did some shopping. I finally found a pair of skinny jeans—that’s what all Europeans wear—so I bought those! We ate at a little pizza stand, and then went and got some gelata. Haha, we couldn’t get enough of that stuff!

When we got back, we were surprised to see Krista was still working on the same load of laundry. It was literally taking hours to get all of the clothes washed. I still don’t understand how to work them. When I tried to do a load, it took at least two and a half hours to get them just washed. It was ridiculous.

That night we were going out to dinner with Megan’s house mom and dad in Florence. We met them at this AMAZING restaurant. We reserved a table that was in the basement of the restaurant. It was very authentic Italian. Megan’s house mom and dad’s names are Anna and Joey. They were so adorable and fun.
Meg with her flowers and banner before going out for her bday dinner!
Let me just tell you everything that we ordered at this restaurant: 2 plates of these little appetizer thingys, then four huge pieces of garlic bread as an appetizer (and there was a basket of bread at the table for us), 4 people got huge bowls of soup, everyone got a main dish, we had a bottle of house wine, and Kris and Joey drank quite a bit of beer. ….all in all, Italians eat A LOT. I couldn’t believe the amount of food that just kept on coming to our table. The waiters brought Megan ice cream for her birthday, and everyone in the basement of the restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her and applaused. It was adorable. I had so much fun that night!

Singing Happy Birthday to Megan!
Afterwards we all went to Joey and Anna’s so that we could see where Megan had been living the past few months. It was a very cute place! We sat around and talked until midnight, and then took a taxi back home.
At Joey and Anna's.
The next day was St. Paddy’s day! Kris and Krista woke up early and walked Meg to her class that morning. Natalie and I slept in till eleven, woke up and showered. We did some laundry and ended up getting locked out of our apartment. So, I ran downstairs just before the front desk closed and got a key from “the lady.” Then everyone came home and Nat and I ventured out into Florence on our own for a bit. We stopped at a grocery store and got something for us to eat the next day.

When we got back to the apartment, Meg, Nat, and I all walked back to Joey and Anna’s house so that Meg could drop off her flowers there. Then we met Kris and Krista in the middle of the city and then we walked to the train station so that we could buy our tickets for the next day. On our way home we all stopped at a little restaurant and ordered kebabs—yum!! Then we stopped at a liquor store to stock up for the night, since it was St. paddy’s day and all :)
Kris and Krista
We got back to the apartment, showered, and had a few drinks at the apartment. Two of meg’s friends came over—Allison and Diana. We all went to a few bars and just had a ton of fun! Then, we got home and meg and I ended up sleeping on the pullout bed again.

The next day Kris and Krista left pretty early for the train station to go to Lake Como. We said all of our goodbyes, and then soon after, we had to say our goodbyes to Megan before she left for class. Nat and I showered and packed our things. Nat THOUGHT she knew her way to the train station, so we took off on foot to find that. After she realized she didn’t know where it was, we asked several people and realized it was getting close to 11:30—when our train was leaving. So, we started running through the streets of Florence. FYI, I was wearing the HUGE backpack. I still don’t see how I ran with that thing on. It was sooo heavy! We ended up getting a taxi at 11:25 and pretty much just told the driver to go as fast as possible. We made it there with two minutes to spare. We rummaged through a thousand people on the train, finally found our seats and sat down.

I wrote a few postcards on the train, and then just as I was about to start writing one out to Christy I had a panic attack; the night before I had taken my passport out of my purse and gave it to my uncle before going to the clubs, and I couldn’t remember him every giving it back to me. So, Christy’s postcard was full of lots of things like: “if you haven’t heard from me by the time you get this postcard, come to Rome and find me…I’ll probably be on the streets begging for money somewhere.” Sorry about that Christy…it probably wasn’t the most pleasant card in the world. Neway, I found it. It was in my purse...so apparently Uncle Kris put it in there sometime without me knowing it. Whew.
We got off the train, and immediately Nat and I found a place to set our stuff down and sit for a while to eat our lunch (a little piece of bread). After sitting there for about ten minutes a cop came up to us and said we couldn’t sit there and we had to go sit in McDonalds. Apparently we looked homeless or something. So, we went over and sat in McDonalds for the next hour cuz Nat was feeling pretty sick.

Finally after about an hour and a half of sitting around at McDonalds, we left and walked 15 or 20 minutes to the Colloseum. Our plane didn’t leave Rome until ten at night, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. We ended up finding a quiet place outside of the colloseum and just rested there for a few hours. At 5:30 we left and found an internet café. After being there for about an hour, we walked back to the train station and got on a bus to take us to the airport. I bought some chips in the airport and called it supper.
The Colloseum!
Our plane ended up leaving about twenty minutes late. We met a kid that was on our flight and was originally from Florida, but studying in Madrid. He was traveling by himself over Easter break—CRAZY! Anyway, we sat and talked with him the entire plane ride to London.

Our plane landed around 12:30 and then it took us forever to get our passport stamped. We made it to our bus stop by 1:05—when it was supposed to leave—but the bus was late and didn’t get there till 1:30am. We got on and it was a 45 minute ride into the city. Once we got off the bus, we had to find the Victoria station in order to catch a different bus and find our hostel. At this point it was 2:30 am. We didn’t have any money for the bus, so we found an atm and then ran back to catch the bus before it left—luckily we made it just in time. That bus took us to King’s Cross—which we later found out was the bad part of town—we got off the bus and some nice people told us which direction to go to find out hostel. Sadly, we went to the address we had written down, but the hostel wasn’t there. I was so frustrated. ….wondering around at 3am in a new country is NOT FUN. A taxi driver drove by and stopped to help us. We asked him if he knew where it was and he looked it up on his gps thing. He found it and said, “I’m going in that direction anyway, I’ll give you a lift for free.” It was so nice of him! Anyway, we made it to our hostel—The Ashlee House—and checked in.

It was close to 4am when we got to our room. It was a four person room and there were two people in there sleeping, a guy and a girl, both on the bottom bunks. I’m sure we woke them up when we came in, and I felt so bad! I was extremely nervous and scared being in a room with two strangers, and ended up sleeping in my clothes and cuddled with my purse (just to make sure nothing was stolen!).

We had to be up the next morning by 8 am to pay for our room. So, needless to say, I had a restless night of sleep, and when I did finally get up and out of bed, I felt so sick—and so did Natalie. Before going downstairs I went to the bathroom and threw up. It was horrible, and I felt miserable. I couldn’t eat breakfast, and ended up eating nothing the entire day. Both Natalie and I were either throwing up in the bathroom, or sleeping all day long. We didn’t leave the hostel.

By the end of the night, all I wanted to do was go back to Klagenfurt. I couldn’t imagine being miserable like this for the next week. I used a pay phone to call my mom and basically just ended up bawling to her. I feel bad that I had to call her like that, but when you’re sick all you want is your mom with you, so I had to call her. She looked up flights for me to go home early, but we didn’t make any set plans. Instead Natalie and I tried to get a hold of our friends to see if we could stay with them for a couple nights.

Natalie got a hold of one of our friends from Sheffield, England. He is also studying in Klagenfurt, but was home for Easter break. He said we could stay at his house if we wanted to, so we made plans to go there the next day, thank goodness.

I woke up the next morning and felt a lot better...still a bit sick, but nowhere near as bad as the day before. We checked out of our hostel, found an internet café, and bought a bus ticket from London to Sheffield. We took a bus to get back to the Victoria station and found a subway restaurant inside so we and ate there.

Then we got on our bus to Sheffield. It was a 5 HOUR bus ride (it was raining and there was a ton of traffic). When we got off, we called Louis (pronounced Louie) and he told us he was at the Café Moco on main street in Sheffield. So we took the tram to where he was and sat there for a couple hours. Nat and I were hungry so we went to a little pizza shop and ate there. The pizza was disgusting. I ate one tiny, tiny piece and threw the rest away.

Natalie went to a summer camp last summer in Maine and met a kid from Sheffield named Andy, so she called him up and he met us at the café we were at. Natalie told him how much she loved flapjack (a traditional English food) and he ended up buying each of us a piece there! Around 10:30 Andy took the two of us to a bar and we sat there and talked with him and his friends for a while. All the girls there were so dressed up. Like wearing the shortest, and I mean SHORTEST dresses I’ve ever seen in my life. And there I was in my jeans and winter jacket. I felt a bit out of place. Soon after, Louis came and met us at a different club, and we went there for about an hour. I was extremely tired and couldn’t really enjoy it too much. But FYI, the people at that club danced soooo weird. BUT EVERYONE DANCED. And I mean everyone, there were people who were all by themselves and just dancing up a storm. It was kinda weird.

We went to Louis’s house afterwards and were thrilled to be in an actual home! He showed us to our room where we each had our own twin sized bed. It felt so good to sleep there. We slept in till about 10:30. Then we showered, and took a bus back into the center of town where we met Andy. He showed us around Sheffield. It is such a cute little town! We shopped for a little bit, and then his friend Tom came and picked us up in his car. We went out to eat at this restaurant called Toby Carvery’s. We all ordered a “Carvery.” I guess in England, a Carvery is a buffet. But it was good and cheap and I loved it. I ate stuffing and turkey and a lot of potatoes and gravy! After lunch, Tom drove us all around and showed us England’s country side. It was beautiful!
In Sheffield's city centre. During our Drive, notice what side of the car Tom is driving on. AND, fyi, TOM IS A MODEL!
Just a video from the drive.

Afterwards, Nat and I went to the grocery store and got some soup to eat for supper and lunch the next day. We went back into Louis’s house and took a nap until about 11 at night and then woke up and ate our soup.

Louis’s parents both speak French (they grew up in France), so Louis grew up speaking both English and French. And, most of their movies are in French. Nat and I tried to watch one before bed, but couldn’t figure out how to change the language to English so eventually we just gave up and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up, showered, and ate some more soup. I tried to call my parents allllll day long on skype, but could never get a hold of them. I was extremely frustrated. By the time I finally got a hold of them, we talked for one minute and then I had to leave to go to Andy’s house. It was a bit disheartening.

Anyway, Louis’s mom dropped us off at Andy’s house. We got there, and Nat and I ordered a Dominos Pizza. It was delicious. It was the first normal, “American” pizza we’ve had since we’ve been in Europe. Then we got online and ordered our bus tickets for the next day. We watched TV for a bit, and then the three of us went to a pub. We all just relaxed and talked for a bit and drank one or two drinks. Then we all went back to Andy’s and went to bed.

The next morning, we got up and got ready to catch our bus. Andy’s friend drove us to the bus station. Once we were in there, Nat and I were thrilled to see a candy machine. We each got several candy bars for our breakfast/lunch, and then hopped on the bus and were on the bus for four hours back to the London Victoria Station. Since it was Easter and all, Natalie and I decided to treat ourselves to a good ol’ pizza buffet at the station. Haha, it was good, but it definitely made me miss my Grandma’s home-cooked Easter dinners. Anyway, from there we got on the tube (or the subway) and went to the Paddington train station. Then we got on the train and headed to Maidenhead.
My Easter dinner.
Natalie has another friend that lives just outside of London in a town called Marlow. She ended up picking us up in Maidenhead and took us to her house. Her house was kinda like a townhouse. But it was huge. It was four stories high. and soooo nice and modern. Once we were settled, I used Harriet’s computer and finally got to talk to my family on Skype. They were all at my grandma’s house. And my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bret were there too…so it was good to see and hear everyone!

Afterwards, Harriet’s mom cooked dinner for us. We had chicken and mushroom pie, veges, potatoes, and even this little bread appetizer thing. It was great to have a real home-cooked meal!

Later, Nat and I made reservations at a different hostel in London, and then we all watched Eurotrip together and went to bed. In the morning we got up around ten, showered, and ate FROSTED FLAKES (my favorite) for breakfast. Then we piled into Harriet’s car and went to the cute little town of Windsor. Yes, this is where the Windsor Castle is, and YES the Queen was there when we were there!
Anyway, we searched forever, but finally found a parking spot. Then we made our way towards the castle. We decided to pay and go in to take the tour. It was 7 GBP, and definitely worth every pence! It was beautiful. Since the Queen was there, the state apartments were closed, but we at least got so see everything else. After about a 2.5 hour tour, the three of us went to a little café and ate lunch. I had leek and potato soup. Then we got in the car to go back to the train train station. We said our goodbyes and then were off for the Paddington station again.
Part of the castle!

Us with Harriet.
Nat had no problem getting close to the guard, but I was too nervous!
From there we had to take a bus to the Royal Oak, because our tube line was down. Then we stood in a gas station FOREVER trying to ask where Talbot St. was (cuz that’s where our hostel was), but the guy was on a phone with a friend and wouldn’t help us. So we walked outside and ventured forever, finally, we found it, and it was RIGHT NEXT to the gas station we were just out. We felt pretty stupid.

We were staying at the Torquay Hostel. It was only 6.50 GBP a night! A great deal! Our rooms were incredibly nice too. We were in another four person room, but no one else was staying in it, so it was basically like a hotel room to ourselves! There was even a kitchen and a bathroom in our room. I loved it.

Once we were settled, we went out and searched for a supermarket. We found a Tesco on Warnick street, and bought food for the next two days. Afterwards, we ate dinner in our room, and then went to bed.

The next morning we were up at 8. We ate breakfast—rice crispies and toast—then we got ready for the day. We took a bus to the Marble Arch, and then bought tickets for the Original Bus Tour. We got on the bus at about 11, and toured around till about 7 at night. We even took a two hour cruise tour! It was pretty fun and we got to see ALL the sights. Big Ben, The Eye, The London Bridge, Buckingham Palace,…everything.
Just a pretty view during the tour.
On our bus tour
In front of Buckingham Palace.
In England and Ireland (cuz ireland they drive on the opposite side of the road too) they have these on every single cross way.

Afterwards, we found another internet café, and booked a hostel and bus tickets for the next day. Then we walked back to our hostel, ate dinner, packed our things, and went to bed around 11. I woke up at 3:50 am, and crawled out of bed about 45 minutes later. We left the hostel around 5:30 and went to catch our bus at the Victoria Station. The bus took us back to the airport and then we got all checked in and boarded our plane to Dublin, Ireland!

We arrived in Dublin about twenty minutes early. We got our luggage and our passport stamped, and then got on a bus towards the city center. We ended up getting of f way too early and had to jump back on another one. We eventually found our hostel at like 12:30 but couldn’t check in until 3 that afternoon. So we went and got groceries from across the street (bread and peanut butter). Then we ate a sandwich and sat in the lounge and watched Oprah for the next hour or so.

We eventually checked in. We were staying in a 12 person female dorm, but it was incredibly nice. After we put our stuff in our room, we went out and ventured Dublin! We went shopping and I bought another pair of skinny jeans. Eventually we made it back to our hostel, showered, and went searching for a drag queen show at some gay bar. Random story: we saw some guy, I assume he was drunk, but he was pooping outside of McDonalds on the street. I couldn’t believe it. I laughed so hard about that. And he wasn’t trying to disguise it either, he was just squatting right in front of everyone. Yuck.

Anyway, after that big scene, we ran into three guys from Boston, and ended up just bar hopping with them. I was so excited to be in a REAL IRISH PUB!!! Anyway, later that night we found out that the three boys we met were from HARVARD! I couldn’t believe that. Anyway, the boys bought us Jameson whisky shots, and then we all shared a bottle of white wine before going into a club.
With the three Harvard boys!
After a long night of dancing, we all headed back to the hostel (they were staying in the same one as us). We talked in their room for a bit, and then we went to bed. The next morning Natalie and I went to the Guiness Factory Museum. That was soooo fun! We got there around noon and had a tour of the seven floor building for the next two and a half hours. They gave us a taste of the Guiness—but both Nat and I didn’t like it. The coolest part of the whole thing was the top floor—the Gravity Bar. It was all glass, and you could see the entire city of Dublin. They gave us a complimentary drink, but since Nat and I didn’t like the Guiness, we got soda instead.
In front of a waterfall inside of the museum.

Our first taste of guiness!

A video from the inside of the gravity bar.
In the gravity bar. That is the actual city behind Nat, not just a picture!at some random medieval place.
n At a castle in Dublin. ...standing in the guard's thing.
After the factory, we walked around Dublin for a bit, just seeing some of the sights. Dublin wasn’t what I expected at all. When I think of Ireland, I think of green rolling hills…but I guess since we were in the city I shouldn’t have expected that. I don’t know, there just wasn’t much to do there. The Guiness factory was probably the main attraction. When we got back to the hostel, we watched a movie and then went to bed.

Some sweet glasses I was tempted to buy at H&M.
The next two days were not very fun. Our plane left at 6:00 am on Saturday, so Natalie and I decided not to pay for a hostel on Friday night. So, Friday morning we checked out and walked to the port of Dublin. It was a good 2 hour walk—and it was pouring rain the whole way. By the time we got there the rain had cleared up, and we found a rock a place to sit and eat our pb sandwiches on the beach. Then we walked to a café and drank some hot coco to warm ourselves up. Then, we went all the way back to the city center. We went out to eat at the Bad Ass Café. It was an expensive place, but we thought that since we had only eaten peanut butter sandwiches that last three days that we should be able to splurge our last night in Dublin. So I spent 15 euro on a bacon cheeseburger and fries. It was delicious, but definitely not worth the 22 US DOLLARS that I spent on it.
Our lunch on the beach....and yup, my hair is soaked from the rain.
At the Cafe.
After dinner, Natalie and I went to the hostel and sat in the lounge until about 11:30. Then, since we were homeless for the night, we started walking to the airport. It was a good 2.5 hour walk. It was miserable. And we had no clue where it was either. Anyway, we got there at 2:15 and laid around on the benches until 4:30 when we could check in. We landed in London at 7:30. Our plane to Klagenfurt wasn’t until 4:50. So, for the next 8 hours we slept on the airport benches. It was absolutely miserable. The flight to Klagenfurt was full of middle schoolers. They were so loud and annoying. And my ears were going crazy and hurt so bad from all the pressure. Needless to say, it felt so good to finally land back in Klagenfurt. Nat and I took a taxi back to our dorm and were THRILLED to get back to our room.
After a 2.5 hour walk, we finally got to the dublin airport!

From being in the rain all day yesterday and the day before, I caught a horrible cold and had a miserable night of sleep last night. Anyway, it still feels so good to be home.

All in all, the past 17 days were great! Of course, we had a few bad days, but we still had a great time! I would definitely say that Rome was my favorite city, and Dublin was probably my least favorite. My parents come on Friday of this week, AND I CAN”T WAIT! We’ll be spending a few days in Klagenfurt, then in Rome, Paris, and Munich! I can’t wait! And I can’t wait to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before I end this, I just want to say thanks to Kris, Krista, and Megan! Thanks for EVERYTHING! Both Natalie and I had so much fun with all of you! You were way too sweet to us! Love you very much!!

A few weird things:
-in England and Ireland you stand in a queue instead of a line. they say "mind the steps" instead of "watch the steps"..among other prhases like that.

-in England they say "cheers" instead of thank you.

-in England they call everyone "my love." ...awkward the first time you hear it.

-in Dublin we saw a lot of people that pretended to be homeless and were begging for money. Once we saw a girl that was begging on her knees with a cup in her hand, and then five minutes later saw the same girl across the street talking on her cell phone.

-"taking a piss" in england means "pulling your leg."

They serve beer in McDonalds.

To any of you that actually read this whole thing....wow.