#found an irish cider to love! and watched live music at a pub!

[sakizm]

finally, after 15 yrs of dreaming of going, went to IRELAND🇮🇪

[penwieldingdreamer]

Falling for you

The second installment of my drabble series. Let me know what you think about it. A big thank you again to @fortheloveoffanfic for being my beta 💗 Happy reading everyone

Also here are the songs played at the pub:

Bean Pháidín , Tell me Ma-Gaelic Storm , Galway Girl - Fiddler's Green

Summary: A few weeks later finds the reader in all kinds of embarrassing situations - mostly tripping over stuff or falling over people - right in front of Lee

Warnings: none, besides fluff, clumsiness and a little tinge of jealousy

Words: 2231

Another day on the set of the second installment of the Hobbit series and already you felt like the clumsiest of all people on set. Either you’d slip, trip or let stuff fall to the ground. But it wasn’t random, it only happened whenever you were around Lee or in his close proximity.

James and Martin had made fun of the fact that it would only happen with the tall actor, but you waved them off and of course Benedict chimed into the scheme.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re falling for the King, luv.” he said one time while the four of you had been granted a break from filming. “You make a fool out of yourself because there’s that one person that makes your heart skip a beat.”

Angrily shuffling your food around the plate, you glared at the British actor. “Well thank you for the vote of confidence. If you hadn’t said it I wouldn’t have known I was such a joke on set.”

“What Ben means to say, dear,” James started, putting his hand on your arm. “is, that when you feel something for another person you get clumsy, do crazy things or fall all over yourself because you can’t concentrate around them. All three of us went through that when we met the women we knew would one day be our wives. It has nothing to do with you being bad at your work, the opposite, actually.”

Reluctantly you nodded your head, feeling like you just made a fool out of yourself again in front of those that were your friends. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve never been like that before and I fear if this happens more Pete will get tired of me messing up. I don’t want to lose this job.”

“You won’t,” Martin said with so much conviction, you couldn’t help but give him a small, teary smile. “Peter isn’t like that. He values your work as part of the crew and how you bring up new ideas or possible changes. Now if you were to set the whole place on fire that would be another case.”

Ben and James laughed softly and you couldn’t help the giggle escaping your lips when you listened to him. You were very lucky to have friends like them or you’d probably would have resigned after the first incident. “Thank you, you have no idea how much I needed this.” you said sending them a grateful smile. "But now I got to head back to work. The king on his throne is waiting for me."

All three laughed before Martin called after you. "Be careful up there and if you fall, fall in his lap, that's a lot more comfortable than the ground." he joked when you had turned back to the three actors but waved him off with your own middle finger. You knew he had a knack for putting his fingers up for the camera when he shouldn't and you were sure there were some scenes he snuck his middle finger in, just like he always did.

A chorus of laughter followed as you righted your work bag and made your way back to the set with Thranduil's throne.

Orlando stood underneath it, grinning up at Lee dressed up as the Elvenking and waited his turn. "Looking good, dad." he called with a chuckle and you could see the tall actor grin.

"Thank you, son. I feel very good up here." he answered leaning back on the chair, trying to fix his robes and wig as best as he could while a few strands were hanging in the branches of his crown.

Peter saw you emerging from the mass and called you over. "Ah, Y/N, good that you're here. Lee's just had a bit of a stumble up the stairs but we'll be doing a few headshots of him and well, you see the mess."

"Sure, I'll get right on it." you told him, taking a deep breath and steeling yourself so you'd be as relaxed as possible while working on fixing the actor. When he saw you approaching, Lee stood up and made to walk down, but you halted him with a motion of your hand. "Stay, I'm coming up so there's no repeat of that."

He stayed standing, watching you make your way up the stairs. Thank God there were handrails just in case. "If you insist

I could have come down, didn't want you to fall to your doom, dear mortal."

"Charms get you everywhere, huh?" you asked him with a grin as you ascended to the Weta built throne, pointing to the seat so he would sit back down again, keeping his long legs tugged to chair so you could start your work on his hair.

"So far it worked out rather well, I think." He told you, smiling as you gently pulled a strand away from the branch of his crown.

You couldn't help the small smile forming on your face as you listened to his jokes while you freed the last of his hair and righted his crown. A final touch of powder over his nose and you were finished. "Now, you're all done and you're looking regal again." You packed up your bag and turned to descend the stairs when you lost your footing and if it hadn't been for Lee's swift reaction, you would have tumbled down.

Short puffs of breath were leaving your mouth when you held on tightly to his shoulders, his arms circling your waist as you had fallen into his lap with that move. "Hello there." he whispered, watching your shocked face, eyes blown wide with fear. "You okay?"

Biting your lip, you couldn't help but enjoy the feel of his hands on your hip, the warmth spreading through your clothes. "I-I'm sorry, I, the stairs…I guess…missed steps." you brokenly mumbled, apparently having forgotten how to talk when you looked into his blue eyes. The contact lenses only intensified his gaze.

"Yeah, they're dangerous." Lee agreed, his head leaning closer, the rest of the world around you forgotten.

Yet before he could close the gap, Peter interrupted you with a loud whistle. "If you two turtledoves are ready, we'd like to continue." he called out to you with a chuckle. Of course everyone had seen that and you already felt the heat of your blush rising all over your body.

Carefully, yet hastily you scrambled off of Lee's lap and made your way down the stairs and to the back of the set. You would have loved for the ground to swallow you up when Benedict had come over and grinned at you.

"So, I don’t think you will tell me what that up there was.” he said matter of fact, knowing you wouldn’t even be able to describe it.

“Nope,” you said, eyeing the actor and PJ going over the next scenes with a dummy. “I’d rather leave it like it is. This is just too embarrassing."

He put his arm around your shoulders pulling you close. Martin was just walking around the corner having seen the whole thing and he instantly knew you'd be shutting down, only doing your work and nothing more, keeping your distance from Lee. The Brit found the eyes of his friend and co-Sherlock-actor, nodding once, then twice. They were your friends and could see that the sparks between their fellow actor and you were there, now they only needed to kindle the fire.

"Oh, this is wonderful." you gushed, looking around the Irish pub everyone decided to visit at the eve of their day off. "It's been too long since I had so much fun besides being on set."

Already the ciders and beers and whisky were flowing and everyone was laughing and singing with the band that played that night. James had decided to take a row of tables next to the musicians so the cast and crew that wanted to go there would fit into the seats.

"You all deserve a time off after the amazing work you did." Peter said, raising his pint of Guinness for a toast. You all followed suit, calling out a shout of "Hear, hear."

Laughing and listening to all the stories everyone was telling about their time on set, you enjoyed the feeling of warmth that spread through you. Not because of the alcohol but because of your family away from home.

"Are you enjoying the music?" James asked after a short while, himself listening to the tunes and words from his home country.

Nodding your head, you clapped your hands to the rhythm and smiled as a few people started to dance to the songs you couldn't understand the lyrics to. “What is she singing about?” you asked him, leaning in so he could understand the words with the louder music.

"It’s a really old Irish song, dating back hundreds of years in Ireland. This is one of the funny old Irish songs that is sung by a woman, and she sings about another woman." the Irish actor tried to explain over the loud music. "Back in the day women would get together and sing this song about the woman in town that was married to the man that they all wanted to be married to. ‘It’s a pity that I’m not Phaidin’s wife,’ and this woman who’s married to him, they hate her, and as the verses go on, they talk about what they’d like to do to her, like they want to break her legs and get rid of her and do anything to be this man’s wife. It’s a fun song. Irish music is like that. When you translate the words, sometimes it’s like gruesome and dark, but they’re meant in a lighthearted way."

You were always blown away by the way such a story could be shown in a nice tune. "The music is so lively, you'd never guess it's such a sad and dark story behind it."

"That's just the way the Irish are." James grinned at you before another song was starting.

"For our next song we'd love for you guys to get up, dance some more and just have fun." the female singer announced and waved to all patrons in the pub. The violin, banjo and drum began to play the first chords before the singer joined in. "Tell me ma when I go home, the boys won't leave the girls alone."

Benedict and James smiled at you, holding their hand out and pulled you from your seat and onto the provided dance floor where others had already started twirling around. "Let's dance and have some fun." the Brit said, giving you a twirl.

You couldn't help the smile that found its way on your lips as you danced around with the two actors, unbeknownst of the dark blue eyes following your moves. The dance was exhilarating and both James and Ben led you through the steps, jumping and twirling with other patrons until you were out of breath and another song was over.

When you came back to get something to drink you saw one of the seats being vacant. Lee was missing from the group of merry friends and you leaned over to Orlando, who had been sitting besides him. "Where did your dad disappear to?" you asked him, mirth coloring your words as you took a large sip of your drink.

He turned to you and smiled, patting the seat next to him, so you didn't have to stand. You were grateful for that with your feet aching from all the dancing you did with his fellow actors. "He said he needed to get back to the hotel, his flight back to the States is taking off early." Orlando said and your face must have shown your confusion as you didn't know Lee was needed back in America. "Shooting for Guardians of the Galaxy is starting in a few days and he wanted to get back earlier so he arranged it in the last few days. Peter knew about it, I'm surprised he didn't tell you."

"Oh, no, I really didn't know and Lee hadn't mentioned anything before." the disappointment colored your words and you sank back down in your seat. You couldn't help the feeling that it was something that recently happened and especially something you did or he would have been open enough to talk to you.

The British actor patted your leg and grinned. "Don't worry, he'll be back before you know it. Once he's done with that movie Lee's going to annoy us again with his dad jokes."

Nodding your head, you tried to feel confident, but still you didn't know why he didn't at least wait until you were back at the table to say his goodbyes. No he just left without so much as a word. Of course you were only there doing his make - up and hair but you had hoped that in the time you worked together you at least had become friends. Giving the dark haired actor a small smile you made your way back to your corner seat, staring off into space and trying not to get too drunk on your cider while thinking about why not even Peter had bothered to tell you his Elvenking was leaving the set sooner than planned.

Taglist:

@fortheloveoffanfic @toomanystoriessolittletime @omgkatinka @fuck-yeah-hope @wholelottatiffy @axshadows ​@a-really-bi-girl @madbaddic7ed @maggiemoo1892 @pinkzsugar @agniavateira @mary-ann84 and everyone else who wants to read this.

[sjworldtour]

31/01/20 Whizzing and bouncing in Whistler Blackcomb

We've skied for 9 days in Whistler, including some of the best skiing days of both our lives. Here are some of the highlights...

In the hostel

Played pool pretty much every day, Joey is rubbish at it except for one match when for some reason she was amazing. Sam is consistently good and best after two beers but loves potting the white for some reason.

There's a sauna! great after skiing and it's not too hot so Joey can lie on the low bench without roasting too much. 

Nice kitchen with resident chatty guy who seems to be there all the time. Made some good meals and always followed them up with fresh hot cookies from the ridiculously large tub of cookie dough we have been steadily working through. 

Joey may suck at pool but definitely has the edge at boggle.

Met a new strategy game - Terraforming Mars - which took us well over an hour to have any clue what was going on but turned out to be a really good game. Second time we played it went a lot more smoothly, Sam won 1 Joey won 1.

Early in our stay there was another English guy who was a guru on everything ski related. He delighted in telling people he skis double black diamond runs and says this in practically every sentence. He also said he's really good at boarding but just can't go on his heel edge. Once he's got that sorted he'll have it nailed though. 

One evening there was an incredibly argumentative man in the hostel. For the first few hours he was sat in the kitchen denouncing climate change and Joey tried really hard not to get involved but failed. Very hard to argue with someone who is stating that complete rubbish is scientific proof, and then questioning the sources of any actual science he is presented with. Throughout the evening we were pleased not to be too close to him, he obviously just loves a debate and kept slipping sentences into conversation like "Ï hate all young people and what they do and what they wear", and “I hate [something] as much as I hate liberals”.

On the slopes

Each day we have driven down the road and parked at Creekside to catch a gondola up the mountain. Nice long gondola followed by long, slow and usually cold chair called Big Red, but usually some nice snow under it to warm us up for the day. From there we have skied on the Whistler mountain and got the Peak 2 Peak gondola across to Blackcomb mountain. Both great areas.

Both areas have amazing alpine bowls to find powder in, usually with slightly terrifying entrances to the bowls. On the top of Blackcomb Glacier chair is "Spanky's Ladder", a short hike carrying skis up to a dramatic ridgeline with various bowls dropping off the other side. The first time we did this the visibility wasn't great and we accidentally ended up following a guided group for the first half - not fantastic etiquette but good for getting us down without falling down any cliffs. Joey had a panic when the guide was describing the entry to the bowl to his group. All you have to do is sideslip down the steep rocky bit, then point straight down avoiding the sharp rocks on the right, and hope the traverse will slow you down eventually. It's terrifying  but worth it, the skiing below that point was amazing and we managed to overtake the group and make our own way from there. 

Another time we went up Spanky's Ladder and skied along the ridge - luckily visibility was great that day (see the video). A completely beautiful start to a run, followed by one of the best bowls ever.

On the Whistler side, we found great powdery skiing both up the Peak Chairlift, and in the Harmony and Symphony chair area. One of the best days ever we timed Harmony really well, joining the queue just a few minutes before it opened, then skied down Sun Bowl and took a gamble heading towards Symphony lift which was not yet open. If it hadn't opened we'd have been looking at an hour or so to hike back out to Harmony. Thankfully we timed it perfectly and only 3 people went up the mountain before us. We had two runs in perfectly delicious fresh powder before anyone else really got there, hurray. 

A lot of the powdery bowls start with popping down the side of a cornice. This is terrifying because of both the association with avalanches and the enormous vertical drop. In reality the area is hugely closely managed, with more avalanche blasting than we've ever heard before, and these entry points are so well skied that they're solid. But the vertical drop thing is real, and Joey ended up on her bum a number of times before (sort of) getting the hang of it. 

We did some fun tree skiing, in the glissando glades towards the bottom of Symphony, and in various other places following mountain biking trails. Neither of us are great at it when the snow is scraped out, but we're getting better. 

We've had a couple of not great days on the mountain. One day early on was warm and raining, and we waited half an hour for the gondola to open so were soaked before we even got started. Could have handled the rain except that the warm weather turned the lovely fresh snowfall into gluey cement that was impossible to ski nicely. We struggled down an unpleasant ungroomed run, getting serious leg burn trying to turn in the deep heavy sludge. The only other technique was demonstrated by a group of lads who just bombed it in a straight line down the hill, limbs flying everywhere in a blitz of chaos. They regrouped at the bottom and one of them asked if any of the 7 or 8 of them had made it without falling over. They had not. But they got past it a lot quicker than we did.

Another early finish day was Saturday, when the mountain was super busy as all the Vancouver residents come to town, and none of the alpine skiing was open so we were all confined to a handful of lifts. We queued for ages a few times, then gave up safe in the knowledge we'd have the hill to ourselves again come Monday. 

We've got much better in the freestyle park, Sam progressing to 180 jumps and nailing it. We've both gone over a weird banana box type thing, and also a rainbow box. Joey's first attempt at that was so comically slow as to get an applause from the chairlift above, but she did it a bit more smoothly after that.

One day when the weather wasn't inspiring we took advantage of the free avalanche awareness session offered over at blackcomb. This was very informative for Joey and a good refresher for sam and we started getting super excited about our Wapta adventure. Also we got to hide in the avalanche hut for an hour while it was blowing a gale outside.

Out and about

Sunday was Joey's mum's birthday and Australia day, both perfect excuses to go out and celebrate. In the afternoon we went down to Function Junction to try flights of beers at two local breweries. The first place had a fluffy dog outside, tasty beer, and mountainy art on the walls, very pleasant. The second place wins the contest though as it had Yahtzee and, wait for it, TABLE ICE HOCKEY. This is literally the best and most Canadian thing we have ever seen, and even better it was free. We played for ages, it's so much more fun than table football. We went home to a creepily empty hostel and had a few more beers playing pool and heads up. Then caught the bus up to Whistler Village (our first time actually in the village itself) and had a drink surrounded by noisy Aussies. At 7pm there was a "fire and ice” show, with skiers and snowboarders doing impressive jumps through a hoop of fire on the piste just above the town plaza. Pretty awesome. There were also fire twirler people but Sam said we could do better than that after watching people learning it on the volleyball court at Noosa. Followed the show with live music, beer/cider and way too many nachos at an irish pub. Way too many nachos. Had to go home because of death by nachos. 

On Thursday we went back to Function Junction, one of the breweries had an event on with a DJ and a giveaway of a fridge full of beers. The DJ was fine but they wouldn't let us enter the competition as we're not locals (pah). Tasty beer and a super cute puppy though so yay. Then went back to play more table ice hockey in the other brewery. Went home and ate yummy pizza from a takeaway in Creekside. Sam witnessed a car sliding into a roadside barrier in the fresh snow while collecting pizza. Luckily our car, Sam, and the pizza were not involved. 

Our car is great, with heated seats and heated steering wheel making it "warm and toasty for a Saaaaaaaam”.

Everyone else here seems to have a snowmobile on the back of a truck.

[kelhirt]

The Home Stretch

Showing up in the beautiful, lively Cork brought back many phenomenal memories of the good times it brought us the last time we were there.

 This trip was about living like a true Irish family, which is why we got connected with one of my favorite professors and mentor’s sister, Bree. She picked us up with her daughter, Josie. WE had delicious brekky, bummed around, and went home to Innishannon; a small village about 30 minutes outside the city center. There we met Owen, her husband and their three wild pups, whom we would cuddle for four days. Over this time, we visited a few small towns that we never would have seen if we didn’t have the amazing opportunity to stay with them. West Cork is hard to see without a car, and unless you’re a local, you don’t know where to go. We spent the days on beach walks and sightseeing. They also were filled with puppy cuddles and ice cream stops. 

 We were set to leave for Galway (yay!) in the morning and ended up missing our bus due to some traffic.. Wouldn’t have been bad, but it was cold and rainy. Mads and I carried our luggage into a nearby cafe to figure out switching our tickets and made friends with the barista. He helped us figure out the bus fiasco via phone and made us lattes, which were very nice. Soon after that, we said “screw it” and went to grab some margs and guac at a little Mexican restaurant in an alley; might as well enjoy the day! Our barista friend let us store our stuff at his shop, which was really sweet.  Once we finally got to Galway later that day, the sun was starting to set and we had to take the Bus Eireann to our Air BnB in Salthill, a little town within Galway. We showed up at the address and dug around for the key under the rock where it was supposed to be--nothing. Tried to get into the backyard to see if that is what our host meant--nope. Knocked on the door and creepily looked in the windows to see if our host was there--no one. What the hell!? Thankfully, the neighbor lady just pulled into the driveway next door. This was our answer to a place to sleep! She got out and I asked her about the Air BnB and she replied: “That’s not a BnB; an older man has lived there for years.” All we could do was laugh and try to find more clarification. Turns out, there were two identical neighborhoods with slightly different addresses and the one we were supposed to be at was about a mile away. She offered us a ride, so we loaded into her car and she dropped us off at the RIGHT address in the RIGHT neighborhood. Again, an angel that was sent to us! 

I was so happy to be back in Galway, but was also a bit anxious because it meant I had less than a week left in my travels. The weather turned from sunny and 75 to the dreary Irish weather that is normal, so we took advantage of walks into the city center when it wasn’t pouring out. There, we did what we do best; bop around different shops, relax and chat by the Sparch, and listened to any live music that was on in the pubs or outside. The eve of my birthday was supposed to be a chill night as we were headed to the Galway Horse Races the next day(!) and wanted to be well rested. That plan quickly unraveled as the city’s energy enticed us with bustling streets as many people were in town for the races. AS we strolled, we decided our (very unhealthy) dinner would start with gelato from Murphey’s followed by my favorite place to rip my intestines up: PIZZA NAPOLI! 

Pure bliss, if you can’t tell by my face.

The pub that pulled us in that night was the one that pulled us in two years earlier: The King’s Head. We thought we’d check it out and found that the band was killer! We had to stay for a bit...it was too good to miss out on.  People were in the festival mode, which made for lots of drinks flowing our way, namely Bulmers cider in liter bottles--yikes. The group of visitors we found ourselves tearing up the dance floor with was a group of 6 guys from Dublin, all age ranges. As it was August 2nd, the eve of my 23rd birthday, they were excited to have a more solid reason to party; and that we did. We all were dripping in sweat, cutting a rug right in front of the stage. To top the night off Maddi told the band it was my birthday; they misheard her because they announced a “Happy Birthday” message to Karen Who was turning 22? No, 23? WAIT, WHAT’S MY NAME?  It was a good try anyway. 

The next day brought lovely weather, and thank God because we had a big day ahead of us! After sleeping in, making lunch, and doing wedding planning for Mads, we got dolled up and put on our hats for the Galway Horse Races! If you haven’t picked up on it yet, this was a highlight for me and a huge bucket list cross-off activity. We headed to the city center and waited in line for the bus to take us to the race track. We both felt like celebrities because people were stopping to look and take pictures left and right of everyone all dressed up. The bus was hot as hell, but the crew on it was down for a good time. Some guy in the front yelled, out of nowhere: “Can I get a WHAT-WHAT?” to which the whole bus unquestionably responded with an excited: “WHAT-WHAT!” 

The races were absolutely fantastic! The men and women were dressed to the nines and the hats were something to see. The actual racing was a true thrill. The anticipation of seeing the horses round the first corner, then the second, feeling the vibrations of their hooves working hard to find their place in first, followed by the exhilarating sound of the stampede of muscular and beautiful horses with their jockeys was quite honestly overwhelming. The crowd in the stands and the ones surrounding us by the gate lining the track had the energy of a grand concert. Cheering, yelling, and jumping was something both Mads and I got roped into. Honestly, it was hard not to. The feeling I felt at the races is hard to describe, because I am not a race fanatic by any measure. It was all the variables listed above that stirred extreme excitement in my heart, which led to tears of absolute joy. What a way to spend my 23rd! Oh, and of course I had a Guinness in my hand. 

 A few hours at the track surrounded by so much excitement was all I needed to make me happy. We went home to change and head to the city center to hear some music and enjoy Galway’s event energy. We found some good spots and started with a quaint pub with one live musician who could sing me to sleep every night. Live music is so fantastic and Ireland is full of it! During this time, Maddi and I were approached by two, obviously drunk, Australian men. What happened next was not something I asked for my birthday or welcomed: an unsolicited, truly unfortunate attempt at a strip tease from the surfer dude. I laughed, but don’t think for one second I let it go on for more than 10 seconds after I realized what was happening. We went to a new pub shortly after that. 

The weekend was nice, but I couldn’t help thinking I only had two more days left in my absolute favorite place. We just hung out in town, people watched, browsed a few shops, and ate gelato. Saturday night was our last Hoorah! And we took advantage of the city’s energy once more, made some friends with a group of dudes out to celebrate and we danced the night away, per usual. That and stumbling upon the musician we had seen a few nights prior was the perfect end to a less than logistically perfect trip; one that was absolutely fantastic! The following Monday morning I got up early to catch the Bus Eireann to the bus station, though I had my worries that the bus would be late or not even show up. I had my fair share of these things happening over the past two months, so I had valid reason for worry. Sure enough. 6:45am, I sat waiting for the bus in the cold rain. After 10 minutes of waiting, I picked up my luggage and started off near a gas station to call a taxi, but then, another guardian angel appeared. A man on his way to work in town pulled over and asked if I’d like a ride to the station. I was pretty desperate and he was kind, so I hopped in and had a great conversation with him. Next thing I knew I was holding back tears while giving Colum one last hug as he met me to say goodbye. 

The plane ride home was when I broke down and bawled into my arms on the tray table before I fell asleep. My emotions were intense and I wasn’t ready to come home to be greeted with my grandpa’s funeral and decide on the next journey for myself. It made me feel so much better when I woke up from my nap and the kind Irish couple next to me told me I missed lunch so they grabbed something for me. Another guardian angel! 

The plane rides home and the 7 hour delay really was not a great travel end, but luckily I was on United and wine was free and one of my best friends from college was waiting to pick me up. 

 There it is; the end of my 2 month escapade! After reading through my journal and posting these blogs, a few things became very evident. Tears from every emotion, drinking cider, live music, and increasing my resilience while living out one of my dreams were some of the big markers of my summer abroad. The thing about traveling solo is that you are never alone. The people around you become a part of your story and usually are more than willing to lend you a hand when needed. Connections are made easily, so don’t be afraid to reach out! Travel is scary and hard, but it’s not impossible. It definitely isn’t any scarier than wandering city streets in the US. Whenever and wherever you have the opportunity to travel, do it! Immerse yourself in stunning sights and damn good food. Open your mind to the stories of others; we are all human after all. 

I don’t intend to ever stop seeing weekend trips or free outdoor concerts as big adventures, and I for sure am not done seeing the world; it has shaped me as much as my family upbringing and formal education. 

The amount of gratitude I have for Ireland, Europe, and the people I met it is immeasurable. As cheesy as it sounds, I was able to love spending time by myself again through re-identifying strengths and working on my weaknesses. A summer for growth, adventure, and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. With all that, need I say that I will be back before I know it?

[irconvalentia]

On Rocky Roads (Dublin & Rome)

This post is about traveling! A few weeks ago, Ana and I had a very smooth and successful trip to Dublin. While it is an expensive city to begin with, I think we definitely overpaid for the flights and airbnb, but it was all so perfect and easy and pleasant that I think that’s okay for a first independent trip for two people who are still figuring out all the logistics of international travel. 

Dublin was beautiful and so so green. It was the perfect mix of old and new. I loved the river and the bridges, the old cobblestone streets, and the plethora of pubs. We did the Guinness Storehouse (guinness is really as different as they say here, unbelievably smooth, very drinkable for someone who doesnt even like beer), St Stephen’s Green, Trinity College, and ran around Grafton Street and the Temple Bar area for hours looking at the shops, watching performers, eating fish and chips (amazing) and getting a feel for the city itself. I think we were able to do a lot in two days for making no real plan in advance, and our Airbnb host was the sweetest old irish lady named Grainne (Grawn-yah). 

The second night, we met a friend of Ana’s at a pub in the Temple Bar area, and watched live acoustic music for hours while I drank cider beer and sang along. He played all our favorites without request, and imagine my surprise when I had to stop dead mid-sentence to shout along to Country Roads. His rendition of Teenage Dirtbag stayed stuck in our heads for days. Such a fun experience there. 

*****

Traveling to Rome was  rockier experience for sure, but Karen and I figured out how to adjust and make the most of it very quickly. We were scheduled to fly from Barcelona to Rome at 7:00 am on friday, landing at 9:00. We got to the airport and through security very smoothly, boarded the flight and started dozing before takeoff. As i woke up just enough to realize we were taxi-ing down the runway about to go, we felt a quick jolt and the plane veered sharply to the left. We waited, concerned, for a long time before the flight attendants told us there was a problem with one of the wheels and the flight would be cancelled. The next hour came with confusion and concern until we eventually realized we were low on the priority list and would not get another flight out until late that night, robbing us of an entire day--half our whole trip--and requiring us to pay for a taxi into the city (the busses stop running at 11) and a late fee at the airbnb, because our old italian host would have to cross town to let us in at 1am. 

Karen and I took the day stuck in Barcelona to cross more things off our list there -- a trip to the Bunkers, churros, and a hefty nap that we needed after being up from 4-12.We went back to the airport in good spirits after reading about many other people who were able to see Rome in a single day, excited and up for the challenge. We used a free dinner voucher that Vueling had given us, and finally boarded and flew into Rome. 

The next day, we made a loose itinerary and got started early. We went to the Roman Forum, Climbed the Palatine Hill, and ran around inside the Coloseum. Next, we took the metro to the outside of Vatican City and stopped for lunch. I had the most amazing pasta--fettuccine with cream sauce and porcini mushrooms, and Karen had 5 cheese gnocchi (also delicious). This was a bucket list item checked. 

Next, we bought a guided tour to skip the line into the Vatican, and saw the Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Our tour guide was a woman named Chiara, from a small town close to Rome, and she was excellent. She knew and greeted all the guards in the museums and gave us a lot of good information. 

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“So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that.“ 

For some reason, this quote really stuck in my head as soon as we decided to go to Rome. This was something I really wanted to see. Inside the Sistine Chapel, you have to follow a strict code, there is no talking, and you are not allowed to tae pictures. This made me really appreciate and feel the experience of being in there. The works on the ceiling were incredible enough, but just the presence of being in there was something very hard to describe. To me, it smelled like old library books and fresh air. 

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Another note on Rome, the only way I know to describe it is huge. Everything we saw was built on such a massive scale I couldnt believe it. The Basilica, The Colosseum, the Vatican itself, i couldn’t believe the massive amounts of human labor had to go into building it, the tons of stone, the time spent on detail. It was really something like I have never seen before. Very awe-inspiring, which I suppose is what religious buildings are meant to invoke as places of greater belief. 

After the Vatican, we got some gelato, and went back to the airbnb for a quick nap to gear up for the last half of our day. We woke up refreshed and got dinner --ravioli for me, lasagna for Karen, and the most incredible bruscetta and sweet wine I’ve ever had. I have been trying to force myself to like tomatoes for years, but these were a whole new level of flavor I fear I’ll never encounter again. After dinner, we went to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps, then wandered around the city streets and found more Gelato. We ended our night with second dinner- Margerita Pizza and fancy cocktails at a place called “Bramble” with a very kind, very stereotypical old italian host. We made our way back and got a few hours sleep before waking up to catch a 7am flight back into barcelona. 

Both these trips were absolutely incredible, and both taught me a lot of travel and about the city’s I had only read about before. I’m so excited for my next two trips, Krakow and London, and for everything I will see and do there. I wish I could keep traveling forever.