I have so much to catch all your readers up on, so bear with me while I try to organize and then regurgitate everything that's happened to me in the past 3 weeks.
Let's start with Winter Break.
The amazing thing about France is that they are not at all opposed to vacation. I will actually have 3 weeks of vacation by the end of this semester (whereas in the US, I would've only had 1). So, in good Study Abroad practice, I decided to make the most of my week off and do a tour of the UK and Ireland with 4 of my good friends from the program.
Friday the 24th: We left for London. And in good French tradition, the plane took off 40 minutes late. Which meant we got into London 40 minutes late. Which meant we were too late to take a train into London (none of the airports are actually IN London - so you typically have to take a train or a bus to get downtown). Which meant we had to take a bus. So, we got tickets for the bus and headed to the convenience store to load up on snacks for the 1 hour bus ride into London. By the time we got into London it was around 1 in the morning and we still had to make it to the apartment we were staying in. Hailed a cab, and got to the apartment building. This is where the confusion began.
Side note #1: My friend (who was with us) has a friend living in London for the year who was gone for the weekend but left his keys at the front desk for us.
Side note #2: The guy working the front desk was a temp who had not heard anything about said keys needing to be given to said girls.
Side note #3: Seeing as it was now 2 o'clock in the morning, and the apartment owner was on a plane to the US, it was impossible for us to reach him to assure the man at the front desk that we were - in fact - being honest.
Eventually, things worked out and we got up to the apartment for the quickest night's sleep I've ever had.
Saturday the 25th: Took a quick tour of the city - saw Big Ben and St. James' park. When we were in St. James park, we watched a man feed some squirrels nuts with his bare hands, so we asked him if he could teach us how, and he did! So I got to feed a squirrel! With my bare hands!!!
See??? I told you!!! SO COOL!!!
Sunday the 26th: Went to Notting Hill - where I have officially decided I could see myself living sometime in my life. Especially in this apartment:
Home Sweet Home :)
Then it was off to meet up with Ninie!!! Had an emotional rendez-vous and then it was off into the English countryside. We took a nice stroll along the river behind her house and then went out for Curry (The Indian Food in England is literally the best Indian food you'll ever have). And I got to spend all night catching up with Ninie, getting to know Chris, and playing with Maeva!!! The CUTEST girl I've ever seen in my entire life - she even gives Baby Elie a run for her money. Yeah. She's THAT cute.
Monday the 27th: Spent the day in Cambridge. I hadn't realized that Cambridge is an actual city - it's not just a college. It's also WAY older than I thought! Cambridge's first college was founded in 1209! The building's are unbelievably beautiful, and I felt like I was getting smarter and stuffier just walking around. Here are a couple pictures:
Then I had my first Fish & Chips experience! Note: no English person, when they say "chips" is ever talking about the Pringles or Lays type of chips. Ever. Those are "crisps." So don't even ask.
Tuesday the 28th: Maeva got sick the night before, so we ended up spending a nice, relaxing day at home tending to the very sad baby :( However, I DID get to cross one thing off my list, and I GOT A NEW PIERCING!!! Something to help me remember London (as if I could forget it :) ).
Later that night was when the fun began. Sarcasm. I think my friends have been in France too long, because they have this problem with being on time. It's like they're allergic to it. Our bus to Edinburgh was going to leave at 11:00 pm. So we decided (to be very very safe), we would meet at the bus station at 10:00. By 10:40, there were only 2 of the 5 of us present, and the other 3 were not responding to our very expensive phone calls. The two of us who were present decided to politely explain to the bus driver our situation; including the fact that Lauren (the girl who was waiting with me) couldn't even get onto the bus because the other girls had her Reservation Number. So I was the only person who would be allowed to get on the bus, and there was no way I was about to board a 9-hour bus to Edinburgh alone. The bus driver was not as sympathetic as we would have hoped and explained very simply that the bus was leaving at 11:00. On the dot. So. We prayed.
Finally, at 10:58, the girls were spotted running down the hallway of the bus station. At 10:59, the girls gave the bus driver their Reservation Number. And at 11:00, the first of the 3 girls boarded the bus.
So, after two heart attacks, a lot of pleading, and even more swearing, our 9-hour journey to Edinburgh finally began. On the bus, I made friends with an English boy who turned 20 on the bus! So I shared my traditional English sweets with him, and he shared his Cider with me. His name is Sebastian :) He was nice.
Wednesday the 29th: Edinburgh!!! The coolest place in the world! I had absolutely no expectations for Edinburgh, and it blew. My. Mind. All of the architecture is still entirely Medieval, and right on the hill in the middle of the city sits the Edinburgh Castle.
Pictures:
We took a 3-hour tour of the city where we learned the history of the phrase "shit faced."
STORY TIME!
So. Back in the 17th century, in Edinburgh, they were still using bed pans (naturally, since they didn't have a sewage system). And they used to open their windows and empty out their bedpans at any time during the day, yelling the phrase "Gardyloo" before doing it (apparently, it comes from the French phrase "gardez l'eau"which is an awful translation of "look out for the water!"). However, the government decided that this just wasn't civilized. So they decided on a specific time when people were allowed to empty their bed pans. So at 10 o'clock at night, when the churchbell would ring, everyone would open their window, scream "gardyloo" and dump the contents of their bed pan into the streets of Edinburgh. Well. Coincidentally, 10 o'clock was also the time when the pubs closed in Edinburgh. So then men who had been drinking all day, stumbling drunk through the streets of Edinburgh would hear broken French being screamed at them from above and - naturally - would look up to see what all the fuss was about. And in doing so, would receive: a face full of shit.
Shit Faced.
That was one of the wonderful little tid-bits I learned in Edinburgh :)
That night, we went on a Ghost Tour of the city where we learned all about Edinburgh's dark, torturous and haunted past, and I learned about some of the most inhumane ways to torture someone (I'll spare you the details).
Thursday the 1st: Second and last day in Edinburgh :( We started the day off right with a bottle of IRN BRU. IRN BRU is the Scottish soda that everyone drinks. And I mean everyone. Scotland is 1 of 2 places in the world where Coke or Pepsi isn't the top selling soft-drink (Peru being the other one). In Scotland, more IRN BRU is bought and consumed than both Coke and Pepsi combined. Which makes sense considering that it essentially has poison in it (it wouldn't be legal to sell it in the states), and it's got addictive properties. Here's a picture of the ingredients:
It might be kind of hard to read, but it says: "may have an adverse
effect on activity and attention in children"
............
So after roaming around the city and the castle a little bit, we were off the airport to board a plane to Dublin!
When we got to Dublin, we went to our hostel, dropped off our stuff and grabbed a Cider in the legendary Temple Bar (it's an area in Dublin where all the pubs and bars are) before calling it a night and going to bed in our creepy-ass hostel. It literally was like the house from The Shining. Normally, there are constantly people roaming the hallways of hostels and people talking to each other, but in this hostel, it was almost as if it was deserted. It was beyond creepy. I was afraid to go the bathroom alone, and when I finally worked up the courage to do it, I was constantly imagining opening a door to a creepy young girl staring at me.
Friday the 2nd: We went on half a tour of Dublin where we learned that the Irish are some of the most self-deprecating people I've ever experienced in my entire life. The tour guide constantly made fun of the Irish people and the city of Dublin. I couldn't decide if she was just using it as a defense mechanism because the city of Dublin is the most confused city I've ever been in (between the beautiful historical landmarks and the cement blocks they call buildings, I couldn't tell what century I was in), or because she just really didn't like Dublin. Either way, we left the tour early and went to...THE GUINNESS FACTORY!!!
Fun facts:
1. A pint of Guinness only has 190 calories in it (it's about half as much as in a pint of Cider).
2. It takes 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint of Guinness
3. Arthur Guinness signed a 900 year lease for St. James' Gate (he obviously had a lot of faith in his beer)
Then we went on a Pub Crawl through Temple Bar before returning to our very creepy hostel.
Saturday the 3rd: We decided that since we weren't huge fans of Dublin, we would take the day and go to Cork, Ireland. Our bus left at 6:30 in the morning (meaning we had to wake up at 5:30 - after having gone to bed at 2:30). We got to go to Cobh (pronounce Cove) which is where the Titanic set sail after picking people up from England. And then we headed to Cork where I got to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone!
Story behind "Blarney" : Apparently there was some guy who was really good at sweet-talking people, and the Queen (or some important woman) said that due to the fact that he was such a sweet-talker, he spoke "Blarney." Or something...I wasn't really paying attention. But anyway! After kissing the Blarney Stone, you're supposed to be granted the "Gift of Gab" for 7 years. Meaning you'll be able to sweet-talk for 7 years. AKA watch out, because I gave that stone a big, juicy smooch :)
Then we roamed around the gardens - which literally felt like they were inhabited by faeries. Everything shined in this misty, green glow. It was kind of like there was magic or something in the air. And no picture I took quite captured it.
Here are some pictures from my adventure to Cobh, Cork, and Blarney:
Cobh
The Blarney Castle
*SMOOCH*
Can you see the faeries???
So when we got back to Dublin after our lovely day in faery-world, we went on a pub-crawl and ended our time in Dublin in true Irish tradition - with a stomach full of Guinness, Jameson, and Cider.
Sunday the 4th: While the other girls boarded their plane back to Marseille, I boarded a 3-hour bus to Galway to meet up with a friend of mine from high school! Galway, unlike Dublin, is what I imagined Ireland to look like - it's green and intimate, and there are street performers in front of the stores on Shop Street. It's absolutely beautiful :)
Shop Street
Galway Bay
Monday the 5th: My friend had to go to lab, so I got to visit the National University of Ireland - Galway. With a couple hours to kill, I grabbed a Cider and took advantage of the free WiFi in the College Bar.
Things I learned whilst in Ireland:
1. "Shift" means to make out with someone (ex: if someone says "did you get the shift last night" or "did you shift anyone?" they're asking if you kissed anyone while you were out)
2. They really don't drink as much beer as you'd think. Forewarning: My new Irish friends told me this, so I'm allowed to say it without being judged. Because the Irish are so poor, they buy the cheapest bottle of vodka (11€ a bottle) and drink it before going out (they tend to binge drink quite a bit). And boy can the Irish drink...I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it.
3. People will end sentences with "like," so you'll be waiting for them to continue their sentence and you'll realize that they've said all they were planning on saying (ex: while talking about how hot someone's soup was, they'll say "it was all hot like, and it burnt my mouth like")
4. Irish is a language that used to be (and sometimes is still spoken) in Ireland. It's different than Gaelic, and Irish kids actually learn it in school! I met a girl who used to be fluent in it, and her name is actually an Irish name: Caoimhe (it's pronounce Kwee-vah - Irish isn't the most phonetic language...)
5. They actually eat potatoes as much as I thought! They have an entire aisle in the grocery store dedicated to potatoes!
Tuesday the 6th: Time for me to start my venture back to Aix. I took the 3-hour bus back to Dublin and got on my plane to London where I stayed overnight in preparation for my flight home the following day.
Wednesday the 7th: Got to the airport super super early (8:30 for an 11:25 flight), so I treated myself to a fantastic French Toast breakfast and did a little window shopping in Gatwick airport.
That was when my trip ended, and I had to go back to the (not so real) reality of the South of France.
One big thing I realized when I was in the UK was how similar it was to the States (especially in comparison to France). I was gone from Aix for a total of 13 days, and upon my return, I was actually kind of nervous to go back. After speaking English for almost 2 weeks straight, I felt a lot less at ease speaking French and I had to re-accustom myself to the culture all over again. I haven't decided if the familiarity means that I like the UK and Ireland more or if it means that they just felt more comfortable because they were so similar. Either way I had an absolutely blast, and I can't wait to go back to London in 2 weeks :)
À bientôt!
