It's a wrap

Hi all,

I've been putting this off for a week or so because I believe it'll be my last summer post :(

We were in Ireland for about five days and split our time between Dublin and Galway. I have to say, Ireland is absolutely beautiful and definitely my favorite place yet, mainly because of the people. I have never been surrounded by so many genuinely nice people!

Wings at Canal Street Cafe

We have a very close family friend who has lived in Dublin for 8 years and now lives in Galway, so we had the pleasure of experiencing these two cities as true locals! A few fabulous restaurants we went to: Avoca (really funky atmosphere and great home-cooked food), Canal Street Cafe (AMAZING chicken wings), and The Chophouse (gastropub with great fish)... all in Dublin! 

Dad, Mom, Akshay and I also did a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Although it was complete crap weather, the sights of the Irish coast and countryside were well worth it. I had been craving grassy hills and wide open spaces. That's just what I got -- donkeys, sheep and all.

But my most favorite part of all was Riverdance. Riverdance is a show that features typical Irish dancing and music. Growing up, we had the video cassette of the full show. I watched it religiously while "tapping" in front of the TV screen wearing my dance costume. You can understand my excitement when I realized they were celebrating their 20th anniversary in Dublin! The dancers were so in sync and professional and beautiful and just all around amazing. I couldn't contain myself! Here is my favorite number of the whole show starting at 4:38:

Where were you on 30 April 1994? Tell us on http://www.facebook.com/riverdance 20 years ago, on April 30th 1994 something happened during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest that was to lead to the creation of one of the most successful stage shows of all time and introduce the wider world to Irish dance and music.

We are heading home tomorrow! I am so excited to be in North Carolina for a bit before I head to Spain. By the way, I am going to Spain! I will be studying in Seville for three months in the fall. I will be back on the blog at that time. 

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed and were well updated on my whereabouts. Have a lovely rest of your summer!

Thames to Seine

At the risk of sounding like a spoilt brat, I have to admit that I've never had much of a desire to travel to Paris. But here we are!

Paris is actually very pretty. I was expecting it to be dirty and cramped but it is moderately clean and nicely spaced out. First impressions: 

  1. The Eiffel Tower is massive. This seems like common sense but I promise you... however big you think it is, times that by ten.
  2. The metro smells awful. I was rationing my oxygen. <-- does that make sense?
  3. Paris doesn't have many (if any) high-rises as opposed to London or New York City. I believe this makes it seem more spacious with a lot of breathing room. 
  4. The whipped cream is delicious. Almost as delicious as my friend's mom's homemade whipped cream (hi Danielle!) 

A really good picture of us

Mom, Dad, Akshay and I are here until Thursday morning. If you know my parents, then you know that we have an action-packed itinerary while in Paris. We used hop on/hop off boat tickets the past two days. I must say this is a really great way to see the highlights along the Seine River. We will be doing a walking food tour in the Latin Quarter tomorrow and a walking impressionist art tour on Wednesday. World Cup games will, of course, be included in all night-time activities. 

I'm trying to show you how big the Eiffel Tower is

You know when people say "oh my god I've been eating so much" and all they have eaten are a few bags of nuts and maybe a couple of sandwiches? Well, when I say I have eaten LITERALLY everything in sight on the hour every hour, I am not lying. I just felt like you should know this.

New pictures in the "Paris" tab! Enjoy! And I'll be back soon! 

 

 

Gardens and tea

My mom LOVES flowers. She smells them and admires them and even takes selfies with them. So when I heard that she and I would have a couple days to ourselves in London I knew I had to take her to a garden. After researching the many gardens in London, I chose Kew Gardens in Richmond.

Massive waterlilies

To be honest, I hadn't heard of Kew until a few weeks into my internship and even then, I stumbled upon it while doing some research for work. Kew Palace is a British royal palace on the river Thames. Surrounding the brightly colored orangey/red palace are gardens with beautiful glasshouses, a treetop walkway, and even a Japanese pagoda. Mom went ballistic. To be fair, it really was very beautiful and well maintained. My favorite was the waterlily house. It had these HUGE waterlilies with smaller flowers surrounding it. I had no idea waterlilies could grow that big!

After Kew Gardens, we met my mom's maasis ("maasi" means aunt in Hindi) for a traditional high tea... if champagne with tea is traditional? I am very close with my maasis so I loved watching how my mom interacts with hers. I am also very close with my nanima ("nanima" means grandmother) so it was so cute to see the similarities and differences between her and her sisters. This really was too much fun. We even took a selfie upon my great aunt's request. 

Will post some photos later. Love to you all! 

My journalist sister

Hi all!

Here is the message I received from my sister after my last post:

"Good post! Though I am left with a few questions. Seems like your impression of Amsterdam was "ok." Why? Any specifics? And when you say going to London isn't how you imagined it would be "abroad" what exactly do you mean by that? What were your assumptions? That there would be no mcdonalds?"

She also included grammar edits. Can you tell she's a journalist? Nevertheless, I reread the post and yes, it was weird. Let me clarify a few things.

I liked Amsterdam. The people were so welcoming and the canals and colorful plants added a special charm to the city. But with any big city, there are busy and overwhelming areas (especially if said city has legalized marijuana and prostitution). I didn't care for these touristy parts. Apologies if that overshadowed my overall thoughts on Amsterdam!

When you think of 'Europe', don't you imagine narrow, cobblestone streets with beautiful people riding vintage bicycles? (this is exactly how Amsterdam was, by the way) I am completely stereotyping but whether you admit it or not, we all have this idealized vision of how countries outside of the U.S. should be, especially if you have grown up knowing nothing but the States. When I said London isn't how I imagined it would be abroad I was referring to the fact that London and New York City are so similar. I had heard this over and over again but I didn't quite understand until I saw it for myself. Don't get my wrong though, I really like London and I've become very comfortable here. And yes, I knew there would be McDonalds here. 

Whew. Now that that's done you can read the above post for a glimpse into my wonderful day yesterday! 

Where are we now?

Voldendam

Mom and I spent the past four days in Amsterdam with a day trip to Bruges and a half day trip to fishing villages and windmills in Volendam, Marken and Zaanse Schans. 

I'm not sure what I was expecting from Amsterdam, but it wasn't quite like what I had imagined (and no, I have not seen "The Fault in our Stars"). Nevertheless, it was very cute and quaint... in some areas at least. I realized I had not really been in a 'European' city until I went to Amsterdam. Yes, London is in Europe, or technically in the UK, but it is not what you would imagine traveling abroad would be like. It's still a bustling city with tourists, McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner. 

Anyway, we were lucky enough to have gotten an apartment in Jordaan, a quieter part of town. The area had narrow streets filled with interesting flower pots and was bordered by canals. Once we went into the center city, it was once again filled with hundreds of tourists and souvenir shops (I know, I know... we are tourists as well. But at least we are somewhatly inconspicuous about it!) 

The day trips were nice but then again, I love any excuse to get out of a city setting. We traveled by coach with a tour group. Unfortunately, the groups were massive, like 80 people on each trip. We broke off from the groups and did our own thing once we got to our destinations, which turned out to be a much better way of experiencing the towns! From clogs to cheese to Belgium beers and chocolate, we really did it all! Of course, my favorite was the cheese tasting. I... ate... so... much... cheese. 

I know it's not the prettiest of foods... but it was so delicious!

On our last day, we went to the Pancake Bakery, recommended by one of my friends from the London program. We had THE best french onion soup! (pictured left). Seriously, so yummy. The pancakes, or crepes as we call them, were also very good but they were a bit greasy and heavy. But after all... when in Holland!

We are now back in London and staying with some family until DAD AND AKSHAY COME!!!! I so can not wait to see those two dang boys. I will be the official tour guide for the duration of our time in London. Wish me luck.

**If you'd like to "subscribe" to an e-mail notification of when I've posted a new blog... just shoot me an e-mail! Also, new pics in the 'Amsterdam' tab.**