June 10

I haven't been sleeping because it's been so hot, so I was up at 4, and 7 again, and I went for another run in the morning. Running in the morning here is so much better because no tourists are out yet, because the museums aren't open, and the only people out are those that need to get to work, so they're also in a hurry, it's great.

In class we talked about the show, and we talked for hours. She's also really great at comparing American culture to English culture, which is really cool, because that makes it more interesting. Sometimes we'd say something and she's go, "I wish the Brits through more like that," or "That;s one thing I can't understand about America," like, it's just so intriguing to see America from her point of view. This class goes by so much quicker than accounting. We also went to some museum that had a a theatre room. It was really interesting walking through antiques, and photos, and stuff I could care less about, to walk into a bright red room with lights flashing and interactive things everywhere. My favorite part was the soundboard that we could control...it felt like home.

Then Aleeisa, JT, and I went to Soho square, where there was a pop-up food festival going on, for lunch. Aleesia talked just about the entire time, not that I'm complaining, but she can just go on and on if she pleases. Then I napped, and it was fabulous.

Around 10, when it was still light out, some friends and I walked to Trafalgar Square. We brought our beers and sat on the steps taking in London, and the drizzle that was taking place. It was really nice to live like a Londoner...there were tons of people that had the same idea as us.

June 9

We had our first day of theater today and there are 6 people in my class, and 4 in her other class. She is from London, loves to talk, and she hates musicals, what?! It'll be a rough session. She sprung the news that we would go to our first of NINE shows that night, NINE! We also had to choose a play to do some presentation thingy on, so I chose Enron, because that's kind of tying actuarial science back to theater...kind of.

I also need to vent about this really, really, stupid kid in my class named Rob. He's really annoying and, gosh, he's so dumb. He though that he would be studying in Valencia in the summer, but Valencia filled up so he came to London instead. His parents, however, had already booked a flight to Madrid, so he was expected to fly out Thursday night. See the problem? How are you going to go to the show, and write a review on it, if you're not here, oh, and what about class the next day?! Stupid. "It was planned before I even came over here," so? "They won't excuse the absence," course not. "Maybe I'll just drop it," and take what?! Seriously dude, you're missing a whole class, that's 4 hours, you won't even be here on Friday, no on wants you in their class if you missed 1/5 of the classes already. He's dumb. I can't stand it.

The show we went to see is called The Threepenny Opera and it doesn't really have a plot, and it was really weird, really sexual, really vulgar, and super, super weird. The set was on a rotating stage, which was pretty cool, and the band was on stage the whole time as well. The set wasn't really a set, it was some plywood with paper, that they'd break through, and a staircase, and that's about it. Honestly, it was super weird. I enjoyed it, definitely, when I could understand their accents, but I noticed myself watching the background more than the main characters. That could just be the techie in me, though, but I really enjoyed how weird it was.

June 8

Alayna and I were both up around 6/7 am, despite going to bed around 2/3, because it was so freaking hot in our rooms. We both ended up in the living room, with pillows and blankets in tow, half asleep on the couches. It was decided that it would be a "do nothing day" and it really was. We watched TV for a while, and we got Burger King at 11, then we came back and watched 3 or 4 more movies with Brooke and Nicole. I went for a walk around 5, because I needed to do something, but I didn't know if it was going to rain, like it did earlier in the morning, so I just walked the 1 mile loop, several times.

June 7

JT and I left Ireland in the morning, Nicole left int he afternoon, and Aleesia left the following afternoon. JT and I sat next to each other on the flight, and in our hour of having nothing to do, we figured out how many planes we had been on in the last year, at that particular moment I was on flight number 31, and by the time I leave in August, I will have been on 35 flights in 348 days. I do math when I'm bored, so I also figured that that was basically 1 flight every 10 days and that's insane, I love it so much.

Once we got back to London we had to buy train tickets into the city, which we got a student discount on, praise the heavens. We were not about to pay 20 pounds just to get back to the city-ish area, so we paid 14 instead. Then once off the train we had to take the metro to the stop closest to us, and our total travel time from leaving the airport (which claims to be in London, but isn't) was about 2 hours...nothing like the VLC. We also received a nice, welcome back, storm, which JT was excited about because it rarely rained in Valencia, let alone stormed. It was very much like London.

Later that night we celebrated Alayna's birthday, which was the 6th, the only way we knew how. It was a great, great night. I am really grateful for my friends, the ones I had in Valencia and the ones I've made in my month of being here, they're pretty awesome.

June 6

Giant's Causeway

A rope bridge we crossed at one
of our stops

JT got to pet a baby pug
 and died from happiness 

Yet another early bus ride this morning, our last day in Ireland. Our bus driver this time was much sweeter, and way less creepy than the last one. This bus driver also enjoyed listening to Irish Folk music. My favorite played is called is this one, I highly recommend listening to it, it gave me a good laugh. The bus ride wasn't nearly as long, which was great, and in the end I think Giant's Causeway is cooler than the Cliffs of Moher. Giant's Causeway is basically a ton of rock formations that are in the shape of an organ, I guess. We definitely needed more time there than we received. 

We stopped for an hour in Belfast, on a holiday Monday, at 5:30, so everything was closed. We just walked around a few blocks, and got Nicole food. I think it would have been a nice city to visit if it were a different day and time.

June 5

Cliffs of Moher

I had to wake JT up in the morning, as I had every morning, but this time it was early. We had to catch an early bus for our tour around the Cliffs of Moher in the morning. We were up too early for breakfast, so we all had something to snack on before we headed out. JT and I made it to the buses first, because Aleesia and Nicole decided to stop for coffee and Starbucks, which almost made them miss the bus. We were put on separate buses, due to their lateness, but that was okay for the most part as we always ended up at the same places. We drove for 2 and a half hours before our first stop in this super, super small town. They had one grocery store, and it felt all out American. I cannot easily describe what made it American, but it was more like Walmart than any other store we've seen throughout Europe. We had a half an hour break here, there was a "castle" thing we could see, but JT spent too much time waiting in line for the bathroom, so we missed it, but we were not disappointed. 

We took another 10 minute break later on at the "mini cliffs," those were a nice preview for the main event later. Then we stopped at another very small town for lunch. There were about 3 places in total to eat, but JT wanted fish and chips, so we went there. The tables were filling up, so the lady tried ot sit the 2 of us at a table that could hold 5, easily. An older couple in the corner noticed our hesitation in sitting at such a large area, so they invited us to sit with them. They were from Washington and were in Ireland because the woman has an Irish background. I guess she never wanted to travel here until now, now that they're almost 70, but her husband has been to Alaska 12 times, and now it was her time to choose.

We got back on the bus after lunch and had the opportunity, thanks to the gorgeous weather, to take a boat tour around the Cliffs. It was just nice being on a boat, and not a bus, for a while. We got to see the cave where Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was filmed on our voyage. When we got back we hopped on the bus to see the Cliffs. I don't really know what I was expecting, but they were neat. We stood, about 730 feet from the water, which is a crazy thought, and we took tons of photos, of course. Aleesia and I just sat, at one point, with our feet hanging off the edge, taking it all in. 

Then we got back on the bus and had some more stops and it was sill about a 5/6 hour bus ride, and I was so done when we got back. We were starving, so we found this burger place, it was amazing. It was probably the best burger I've ever eaten. It may have helped that I was starving, but, regardless, it was so good. 

June 4

Dublin day 3

This day we decided to take a train outside of Dublin. We had asked the front desk people where we should go and they suggested Bray or Howth. After looking at pictures online, we decided we would go to Bray. This became a problem, however, once we got to the train station and were told no trains were going to Bray that day, which left us with Howth. The first thing we saw when we got off the train was a really small market. There were about 20 stands in a very small area, but it was a nice little place. Then we stumbled upon a amp and realized we could probably walk the entire radius of the town in about 45 minutes....we didn't, but it was discussed. Instead we walked along the piers and we watched a street artist perform for a while, before heading back into the market for lunch. 

Sitting at lunch I had to make the decision of ice cream or cupcake. While I was thinking about the pros and cons of each, I grew really grateful that I had mastered the art of traveling on my own. This is because I got a double scoop ice cream cone, my first ever, and I thought that if my parents had been there, as a child, that probably wouldn't have happened, but I am an adult, and it's awesome! We took our ice cream to the park like area across the street and relaxed a little before getting back on a train to Dublin.

This is where the fun begins. There was a very large group of students, who looked no more than 18, that obviously came to this town to party...but the police had other ideas, kind of. They were all dressed in skimpy outfits and many of the guys were in their swim trunks without shirts on, many people carrying bags, filled with alcohol. When we arrived to the station, there were no police in sight, but once we got back on there were at least 7 or 8. We don't know if they knew this was coming, or if it was a random occurrence. Once the kids tried to get off, they realized the police were checking bags and they wouldn't be able to get through. Some tried, and the police went after them, instead they were shoved back on to the train. They were pissed (and stupid). Once to the doors to the train shut they all, all 50 or so, ran towards the windows flipping the police off, banging on the door, and screaming at the top of their lungs. Once the police were out of view they started their own party on the train which included very loud music, smoking, and pounding the ceiling (which they were attempting to break). It was so crazy, I wish I had videos. This went on for another 20 minutes until they realized there was one police  officer on the train next to us watching them, then they go worse. We were trying to figure out why this guy wasn't doing anything about this, and we reached the assumption that the police here don't want anything to be their problem. He just waited until they all got off in Dublin, and that was that, basically. We talked to one of the girls, who was obviously drunk, and found out she was going to University next year, in Ireland that means she's 16. This whole situation was an embarrassment to watch as an American in Ireland. We had seen a bunch of drunk old men and now we see a bunch of drunk 16 year olds, that fits every Irish stereotype.

Once we got off the train a much larger, bearded, bulked up, tattooed police man started chasing them out of the building, but that was it, nothing else happened. Nada. We tried to follow the to figure out where they would end up and we did end up finding them jumping into the river about 20 minutes later. We walked towards the dock because there was a small festival going on, it was a pirate festival. There were tons of children dressed up as pirates, and the only food that was being sold had copious amounts of sugar in it. It was cool to see though, you could wait in line to walk onto a pirate ship and there were rides and whatnot.

We went to a movie after dinner, it's called Me Before You, and my friends cried a lot. It was nice to go out with the girls and see a sappy movie, and it was even better getting donuts (Bailey's style) and drinks to ease us out of our depressing moods. Also, I was awoken at 3:45am by rude french ladies who came in screaming, and once told to shut up, just started talking loudly, I was pissed. Also, also, there were, like, 3 people snoring really, really, loudly and it was incredibly annoying.