Dublin 2.19-2.21

Dublin was nothing short of amazing. After traveling overnight on a ferry to Dublin, I slept for a little bit and then my friends and I took a bus tour of Dublin. It was such a great way to see the city. Saw everything really quickly, but we only had a couple hours to site see so it worked out. After the tour we went to Temple Bar street, which is really touristy, but was really fun. Went to Temple Bar for most of the night, then made our way to another bar, which I don't remember the name...
Stayed out till 4:30am... and then had work the next day. Not the best feeling in the world, but I would have been mad if I called it an early night my first and probably last time out in Dublin! We stayed at the Four Seasons which was probably one of the nicest hotels on the whole tour. It's really fun seeing all the hotels in each city and meeting new people. It's interesting to see how the locals treat Americans. People in London weren't very nice... but EVERYONE in Dublin was so great to us!
I am really missing home - LA and Chicago. The time is going by fast tho. I really have no idea of what day it is ever, as we don't really have a weekend.

Dublin

Going out and about in Dublin, let you know how it is when I get back to my room!

Here's how I've been prepping myself-

My Song For Today :)

London

I woke up in London on the bus under an overpass next to train tracks. Drabby and cold but I immediately knew I was going to love this city.

Anyways, we got all our things to our rooms, got ready, and my friend and I headed out to do some site-seeing. I was so happy to find out over Christmas Break that Mike's brother, Nick Vainisi, would be studying abroad in London during the same time I would be here!! So Nick met Tara and I at our hotel to take us around and show us places. We first walked to Buckingham Palace. Not what I expected- to me it looked like a museum or a really big lecture hall at a university.. maybe thats what those things are modeled after? Anyways, after that we walked down "the mall" to Trafalgar Square. I really liked this area, the buildings were really cute and there were lots of little shops and pubs. We then saw the London Eye (big ferris wheel) and then Parliament/Big Ben/Westminster Abbey. I still couldn't believe I was actually in London! I feel like all these things happened so quickly I couldn't process it. I felt more like I was in another country when looking at the non-historic buildings and walking around the different squares like Trafalgar and Leicester. Leicester was really cool, it was really busy when we were out, and it was a Monday night. I guess that is where most of the tourists go and kids/university students.
It rained pretty much the whole time we were there. I didn't know that it LITERALLY rained like 90% of the time in London! I thought that was just kind of a joke-ish...

People there are either pretty miserable or really really nice. I have found that the majority of people that have been mean are the women we've encountered.. but..
Our drivers have been really helpful and nice, telling us where the best places are and where to find certain things.
I'm really excited to go back to London next week and see more things. I still need to see Camden Town and Covenant Gardens.

I think that this link below will take you to my album of pictures on facebook that I took so far!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2446699&id=14816887&l=4f7231a979

Brit Awards

*2.15.1935*

My Valentine's Day Playlist

Here are the songs that have been on my mind this rainy Valentine's Day in Leeds....


The Allman Brother's Band: Please Call Home



Alberta Cross: Low Man

The omg Performance



Album Version




Fleetwood Mac: Never Going Back Again



And I'll throw this one in for all the couples..

Young Money ft. Lloyd: Bedrock





hope that cheered you up..

:)

Being in UK makes me think of Late Of The Pier and puts me in a reallll good mood... one of the best shows ever (@Coachella)!

Make money money make money moneyyyyy

Yay here is my weekly allotment! 35 pounds a day... which is like $54 USD... I should just go to the currency exchange and put it in my bank account and make more money off it... but I won't, because I've had the hardest time not having cash on me!
My friend and I were searching around town for just a bagel and finally found a Bagel shop, they made me one and I went to pay.. and they looked at me like I was a 2 year old and were like... we don't take cards...
So.. I had to leave my bagel and cream cheese at the restaurant and go find an ATM. WHICH did not know if it would take my American debit card or not.. the ATM was broken anyways, so we went in search for another ATM. This whole excursion took place in a busy train station. The other ATM we found had the longest line ever, so we decided to ditch the food and find another place that would serve me a bagel and take my stupid american debit card. I tried 3 other places for a freaking bagel and each time I asked, "do you have bagels?" they looked at me like they have never heard of the word. So I just decided to purchase a gross looking sandwich instead. I give them my card and they said "Your swiper card doesn't work here..." uggggh!!! as there is a huge line forming behind me and everyone looking like they want to kick my head in, the manager comes over and is like "Yes, these cards do work here, here watch. And they take out their debit swiper machine from like under the counter and swipe my card, wait for the receipt.. like 20 minutes later I'm out the door with my gross sandwich and everyone wanting to shoot me. And oh I spill half my coffee on the way out. Yep. Typical Allie situation.
So I guess all the credit cards here have some sort of chip in them that enables you to tap and go and they're like high end security cards that keep your identity safe... or something.

So in the end the lessoned learned is the UK has better paying technology, except for stupid places that take only cash, pounds,Galleons, Sickles or Knuts or whatever you call it here....

I swear I'm not as ignorant as I sound...

Leeds

As of now, this is what I think of being in Leeds.

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I don't think there is that much site seeing to do around here. We asked a bartender last night what there was to see here, and he said ....countryside....
Went to dinner last night with my friend Tara and then walked down the street, asking people where there were cool bars to go to. We end up finding and "Indie Rock bar" described to us by the bouncers, and it's completely empty. We sit down and make friends with the bartenders, who are all so amused by us. I feel like everyone hates Americans overseas, but apparently not. They were amused with our accents and said that they like our accents like we like their accents. I don't think they compare at all.. but.. to each his own. Needless to say, we spent all night there and it eventually got really crowded, there are a couple universities in Leeds so it was a lot of college kids. The bartenders kept giving us various drinks and refused to let us pay! We will be going back there. So.. today wasn't the most pleasant day... I didn't see anything except my hotel room until 8pm when we decided to venture out for dinner. The food has so far been really good. We asked the hotel concierge where there was an Italian restaurant.. can't go wrong there.
For now I am going to do a little more work, watch LOST, and go to bed.
xoxo