DUBLIN!!

This is about.. a week or 2 late. Sorry about that. Anyways. I went to DUBLIN, IRELAND, February 10-12 with some awesome people. Christy came with, and we met Jennifer and Lisa from Scotland, as well as some of Jennifer's sorority sisters who also happen to be in Europe.

We got in like REALLY late Thursday night and so we just kind of hung out.

Friday morning's first stop: Guinness Factory (are any of you really that surprised?)

dang. we look good.

The factory was reallyyyy cool. We did the like.. beer connoisseur thing? It was a few extra euros but we got a student discount (thank you, La Villette!) and you only live once right?! So we got to taste 2 extra types of beer (who knew they made other kinds of Guinness??) and then got to POUR OUR PERFECT PINT!!! So cool.

me being awesome with my perfect pint!

So the factory was pretty cool too.. we walked around and went to the museum part.. some old adds for Guinness were pretty funny I thought..

exhibit a:

exhibit b:

Also, we got to drink our free pint in the gravity bar! its on the top of the factory and has panoramic views to all of Dublin. Pretty cool little bar I'd say.

I rock.

Next... we went to the old Jameson Factory! (again.. anyone really that surprised?) 

tip: Jameson + Cranberry = delicious. just saying.

So that night we went out in the Temple Bar area.. it was a pretty good time for everyone!

The next day it was actually nice out!!! We walked around and went to Trinity College..

prettyyy

and St. Patrick's Cathedral...

Then... we had to go to the airport because we left Saturday night! Short but sweet trip (with a lot of Guinness)! Loved it. 

xoxo,

-A

ATHENS

Sorry this is taking so long for me to update. As you may or may not know, I've been gone EVERY weekend in February and will continue to be.. and I love it.

So Ali, Christy and I flew from Paris to Athens, Greece, on Feb. 2. Our friend, Jennifer, the same one we met in Glasgow for Thanksgiving, met us there! We stayed till the 6th and believe me, we had an AMAZING time.

The first day we were there we didn't really do much; we got in at about 11 am and then took naps (we didn't sleep the night before because we didn't get back from Florence till about midnight and had a 6 am flight! yikes.) Jennifer didn't get in till about 6 pm and then we went for a deliciousssss dinner.

just the appetizer.. yumyumyum

dessert: walnut cake, baklava and greek yogurt with honey... mmm

The food was AMAZING. Throughout the whole trip we had great meals. So delicious.

The next day it was RAINING. bummer. But we did get to go around to a bunch of museums so it wasn't a complete waste for us. We went to the new Acropolis Museum, which had a bunch of sculptures and various items from the Acropolis, the coolest/my favorite being 4 out of 6 of the original Caryatids, which were being restored by a new laser technology that you could kind of watch them do it. Downside was no pictures were allowed but I got one of the entry...

snuck an illegal photo.. whoops

We also went to the Benaki Museum, which was some important guy's private collection in his house (hes no longer alive but his collection lives on!) and it contained things from around 3000 BC to present times over the history of Greece. The coolest thing I think was the jewelry (from ancient times to present) and the clothing that was featured, including a 19th century Greek wedding gown along with her ladies in waiting: 

all the mannequins were blinged out w/ jewels too .. love it

 and the Cycladic Museum which had things from pre history up to around the Greek/Roman times.

crazy looking dolls/sculpture things.. there were a lot of them and this one was HUGE. 

And of course! FOOD. We went to "The Most Traditional Family Restaraunt" where we got a "meal for 4" which included 10 of the 18 dishes they offered: 

TRY and tell me that doesn't look delicious.

The next day was not the BEST weather but it was ok. We took a bus to Cape Sounion, which was on the coast with cliffs and a temple to Poseidon. SO PRETTY but SO windy. 

B E A Utiful

love it. 

love the Mediterranean 

SO WINDY

So even though the day wasn't perfect weather, it turned out pretty cool. Also, Fun Fact, my Uncle Glenn was stationed near here :)

That night we went out for some drinks and had a good time.. Athens is pretty fun for sure.

The next day we FINALLY went to the ACROPOLIS!!!! and the weather was FINALLY amazing!!!

walking up.. parthenon in the background!!!

from the top of the amphitheater!

walking up to the entrance, the Propylaea 

Sorry not sorry, I took a million pictures up here.

Christy and I inside!

PARTHENON!! yayyyy

Erechtheion!!!!

temple of Athena Nike

The views over Athens were equally as stunning: 

over the amphitheater

Theater of Dionysis and Acropolis Museum

ruins ruins ruins

So then we walked around the city a little.. went over to the first stadium from the Modern Olympics, which was pretty cool!

woo

The design of it dates back to early Greek times but this recreation (made completely out of marble) is from 1896? I think.

We tried to go to the park that has Hadrian's Gate..

Hadrian's Gate

.. but it was closed. WHO closes a park at 3 pm on a SATURDAY? Good question. Our flight was at noon the next day so we woke up super early and made it. The weather was EVEN prettier than the day before, if that was possible, but we got to see an old temple of Zeus which was in the park.

stunning.

It was SO pretty and we were SO sad to leave. I loved Athens though it was an amazinggg time and I would love to go back, possibly going to Santorini in April? We will see :) 

One more picture of the street we had dinner on one night...

love it.

And a pano or two from the Acropolis..

love love love

lovely model, Ali

Click on the pictures to see them better!

So basically, we had a blast. 

This past weekend I went to Dublin, so that post will be coming soon!

Miss and love you all!

xoxo,

-A

FLORENCE!!

SO I decided to break this up into two posts. First up: Florence.

Last Friday night we flew into Pisa, Italy. Our flight got in late so we decided to stay there for the night, see the leaning tower, blah blah blah.

As soon as we landed, it hit. Shit. We know absolutely NO Italian. Like not even a little. Not even "Ciao". Obviously people realized this because two guys from the United States Air Force helped us. Wish we knew their names to thank them! But shoutout to the US Air Force none the less.

So we got to our hotel, which was super close to the leaning tower. Exciting! It was late and we were tired so we had some pizza....

mmmmmmmmmm

And some chianti and called it a night. The next morning we checked out the tower and church next to it.. 

church and tower.. seriously is leaning a lot!!

church and tower.. I think the sky looks awesome here!

had to do it.

and then thats all there really is to do in Pisa so we hopped on some bus? that we guessed took us to the train station (we guessed right) and went to Florence!

Florence was.. AWESOME. I loved every second of being there. One of my best friends studied there so she gave me some great tips on things to do (shoutout to BEETA). We went into all of the churches.. because well.. were architecture students and that is our duty. There were A LOT. 

Santa Maria Nouvella..

Facade by Alberti 

no pictures allowed inside though.. LAME. because it was awesome.

San Lorenzo (My personal fave)

outside doesn't look like much but inside was STUNNING. trust.

Santa Croce.. where Michalangelo's, Dante's and Machiavelli's tombs are (among others) 

And of course, IL DUOMO.

ooooo prettyyyy

With Bruneleschi's Dome.. which we climbed all 463 steps to the top of. Yikes.

sooo high!!

But the views were worth it. SO gorgeous.

looking out over Florence

So that was awesome. We also saw the REAL David (the sculpture), ate AMAZING food, met some awesome people and had just the best time. Florence is amazing and if you ever get a chance to go, I HIGHLY recommend it. 

Some more shots.. because I took over 500 pictures. Normal.

Ponte Vecchio? All those are jewelry stores!!

love italy

from the uffuzi gallery 

courtyard at Santa Croce

dome .. love the color of the sky here! (even if the photo is kinda blurry) 

Well thats about all.. As always, more photos are on facebook, and seriously. I can't even begin to describe how amazing Florence was. Words can't do it justice!

Miss and love all of you! Greece photos to come soon (hopefully tonight.. we'll see!)

xoxo,

-A

quick update!

So this past week we didn't have classes.. its the end of the French fall semester and they get the whole month of Feb. off. I guess this is technically our spring break? So we got the week off.

Anyways. We went to Pisa and Florence, Italy for the first part of the week, and Athens, Greece, for the second part of the week! Both were stunning! I'll have to put a longer post up later with more pictures but for now I have to do French homework!

Florence! (from the top of the Duomo) 

Eretchion at the Acropolis 

thats all I have for now.. Will update later!

xoxo,

-A