converse and fromage

Paris was incredible! Not only did I get to spend one whole week in one of the most beautiful and glamerous cities in the world, I got to spend one whole entire amazing week with Pauline!! Finally after over a year of not seeing this diva, Paris became our mecca for a reunion. First and most important I have to say something about French food. It is exquisite. Although we ate in alot, saving the euros and all, the fromage, croissants, baguette, crepe, ... etc etc was increeeedible. We ate non stop and hydrated ourselves with some damn good 3 euro bottles of wine. My week consisted of sleeping in, eating nutella and fromage, going through Pauline´s clothes, and wandering the streets of Paris. I enjoyed Paris this time around much much more. It might have had something to do with the weather which was spectacular! Hot every day and we both just wanted to wear our bathing suits all the time. I did alot of the touristy stuff like some museums and seeing the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triomphe, etc etc. It was fun just walking around aimlessly, sitting at a caffe, doing absolutely nothing and being in PARIS!

We went to a cute little Fondu restaurant in the first few days and this place was nutts! It was so tiny you had to climb over the table just to get on the other side of it, people were all squished together you are practically sitiing on top of each other. This place was very traditional French and it was sadly filled with a bunch of annoying Americans. They were so loud and abnoxious and afraid to undercook their meat, while Pauline and I throroughly enjoyed our bloody medium-rare chuncks of oil dipped meat, as the Americans gawked at us. The most outrageous part about this place was that wine was served out of baby bottles! At first I was very grossed out and hesitant to drink out of them but then I thought... hey, ce´st la vie! A few baby bottles later and an extremely great dinner even our annoying counterparts did not seem so bad. I even exchanged numbers with one girl and we planned to meet up in Union Square, SF in November, I hope we both remember!

I just need to keep talking about the food. There is so much freaking cheese in this country and the people can´t stop eating it (I don't blame them) Pauline even has cheese for dessert! Crazy, eh?? The pastries are always so so fresh and you must always buy a fresh baguette every morning.

The people were extremely nice and I did not get the negative- Americanism that I hear about all the time. I didn´t even have to try too hard to speak French but did not need to be in too much excess of my English as well. I learned a few good phrases and that seemed to work for me for the week. It was great that after just a few days I figured out the metro system and was able to go anywhere I wanted to, easy. I´d be walking down a street completely lost and there would be the Eiffel Tower, just standing there right in fron of me!

It´s not everyday that you get lost and find yourself in front of one of the most famous monuments in the world. It´s also not every day that you find yourself sitting in a caffe for HOURS right across the street of Notre Dame.

(Notre Dame)

My second night there Pauline and Nick took me to their favorite bar, Charlie Birdie. I honestly don´t really remember that much because those drinks were so strong! I am out of habit of drinking hard alcohol now so a few cocktails did it for me! I remember Nick having to give me a piggy back ride back to the metro on the Champs Elyse. The drinks in Paris are extremely expensive, much much more than in Dublin, 8 to 10 euro for a cocktail, Hell No H2O!

(Pauline, Nick and I at Charly Birdy)

I also have to mention the fashion in Paris. This was something that I noticed there all the time. You really get to see alot of the very typical French people very often in Paris. There are also very trendy people wearing designer clothes such as Diesel, Christain Dior, dudes even wear Louis Vuitton purses. French people are also completely OBSESSED with Converse. I started noticing this obsession of the French here in Dublin but I had no clue how extreme they are with Converse. Some of them have as many as 15 pairs, I don´t even have that many shoes!

(Ceiling at Gallery Lafayette)

Shortly put, my trip to Paris consisted of wine, cheese, lots of laughing (hell yeah bulgaria!) and new shoes. I also got to meet a few of Pauline´s friends and got to see her life in Paris which is really amazing, I think! She has great friends, all very friendly, a cute little apartment which she shares with her borother, a job close to home, and an incredible city where something is always going on day and night! I was really sad to leave Paris and

on the verge of tears to leave Pauline. I hope to come back

soon, I will have to since Pauline is painting her walls pink. Au revoir Paris, hope to see you again soon!

Eiffel Tower by night, isn't she lovely?

me in front of Notre Dame

hello, gorgeous! check out the Dolce & Gabbana ad on the metro, those are alll over Paris metro stops.

Louvre, will I discover the secrets of the DaVinci Code?

Moulin Rouge, wanna have a laugh??

sunny and happy in front of Arch de Triomphe

(below: lovely day out in Versailles. being royalty for the day and having a few laughs, hehe)

eating nutella crepe and watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle!!













p.s. i had problems loading up photos, so ill put more up once this thing is crackin again!

Publin

(Rafa, Jemma, and me at Sin, Temple Bar)

i was down to 8 euro in my wallet today and after running into Drew at USIT agreed to buy both of us a cup of coffee, as he was broke and that coffee is all that i could offer us. normally it would be a nice tall glass of the black stuff or my new favorite ale Smithwicks. So now I´m down to 4 euro, and i hope thats enough to get me to the airport tomorrow cuz im a goin to PARIS!!! But before I jump ahead, i need to dwell deep into the wonderful life of Dublin which is the pub. a few months ago i despised being anywhere near an irish pub, and here i am thirsting for yet another pint of irish goodness. i love beer, ale, stout, cider, all of it. its difficult not to here. two pubs on every corner. i wonder if i will actually ever remember anything from my time here, as im constantly in a state of intoxication. especially recently as there are loads of reasons for celebration. i had my last day at krappy moka on saturday, i packed up my krappy uniform and ran out of that place so fast, i was singing on my way home. no job and no money and im as happy as an irish cow chewing green green grass. i have been extremely dissapointed with the job aspect of my life ever since i landed on this island but im taking each experience with a grain of salt. next week i start a recepionist job at a hospital where the nurses have gone on strike. it is temporary but i will make up what i lost over the past month at krappy in just one week doing this temp work, thank god for sunday double pay. so im tempong the rest of my time here. i will be making almost twice as much as i have been and hopefully enough to fund my 5 weeks of backpacking once i sadly leave this green place.

things are constantly changing here. cristina, my lovely italian flatmate who i am going to visit in milan is leaving and last night we had a goodbye dinner at a Mexican restaurant. ofcourse nothing can compare to Gordos or EL BJ from back home but i was actually impressed with the food. it was mild, although i was the only person out of us 10 who was not gagging for water and ice over the mild enchilada sauce. the spanish, italian, and french just arn´t used to spicy food that i enjoy so much! everyone in the house is very upset that cristina is leaving, she is the heart and soul of the house and not having her here will be a big change for everyone. tear.

ive also been doing absolutely nothing. the weather has dramatically changed and i realized that i packed all wrong! how could i forget that there are seasons here?? Oy! it is warm here and I go to Stephen´s Green practically everyday. I have been learning much more about Irish history and the more I know and learn and read and hear and talk to people about it the more compelled I am to find out more and to know more. its incredible to be here, and to learn about such recent history. being here for Easter was especially dramatic and almost forboding. I am currently reading Angela´s Ashes by Frank McCourt. Its an incredible book and the more I learn about the struggle of the Irish the more I feel connected to this country. I don´t know why, really.. possibly because I am spending so much time here and getting to know the people. I really do love this country, the people are so alive and so nationalistic and so incredibly proud to be who they are. its amazing to be here, to walk out to the Liffey every day and finalyl see some blue skies and horses trotting on the Quays and people rushing to work.

And now a fast forward:
since the past few weeks i have drank extreme amount of beer

been forced to dance the salsa

ate pasta every day

spoke french, spanish, and italian

become unemployed

made friends with irish

seen an irish concert

decided that being unemployed is not so bad

stopped caring about... anything, oi!

fell asleep at the park

grew a deeper appreciation for U2

walked 500 miles

decided to take another vacation to paris, which is where im headed to tomorrow!!

for 1 whole week!!! i will update from te land of cheese and wine very soon!

sounds and smells

(Bray)
because that was demanded of me to write about so here it goes.

at night i can hear my polish neighbors listening to music very very loud, its usually some kind of techno and an occasional justin timberlake and gwen stephani, with my neighbors singing along of course. i wake up late almost every day, and by late i mean the normal usual noonish. i compose myself with a 5 minute shower, sometimes 10, depending on the que and some Barry´s tea, because that is the cheapest black tea sold here. I go outside aimlessly most of the time before i need to be at work, which is usually around 5pm. outside is buzzing. it smells like vomit around the corner almost every morning and most of the time i can see the consequences of last night´s drinking vice splurged out on the street. the Guinness truck comes round and picks up the empty barrels of stout from pub to pub. the sounds are eclectic. i can hear everything from the clicking of the pedestrian signals to cross, the polish ladies talking, the punky teenagers listening to music. the air is fresh and the sun has come out. i sit in Stephens Green, by the lake, by the birds, by the people. its warm and people look happier now that spring is here. and i am ecstatic to be here. the streets are my friends. old adies selling flowers on street corners. daffodils daffodils daffodils! ive slowed down alot the past few weeks. im less in a panic to do stuff and see stuff and now im just taking each day as a normal day in the life, to enjoy myself and my time here. i serve coffee and i absolutely despise my job! oh the krappyness of it. my last day is next saturday and it will be a day of celebration for me! i go out to a pub nearly every night, wallet getting thin with every pint of sweet sweet ale i inhale. the pubs are warm and friendly and the people drunk and happy and everyone just chills out after work and relaxes. its a good life here in ireland. today Luke and i had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, which is very rare to find here in Dublin as most inhabitants are carnivores. this was my second time in this place and im craving for more! its a hippy little joint smashed between Graffton and S William St. the food is scrumptuouse, anything from hearty salads to creamy veggie pasta and fresh scones. i can´t say much about irish food so far, so this veggie find was a real treasure for me. irish food here consists mainly of burgers, chips(fries), stews(pretty good), potatoes, and soups soups galore! i decided to give up on attempting to like the irish food and attempt the more variety of quisines here which consist mainly of chinese, indian, and italian. toinight i am taking things slow, but then again... every time i decide that, i still end up at someones house drinking wine or down at yet another pub having another pint. cheers!