Brighton

Yesterday my roommate and I went to the coastal city of Brighton. The first thing we did when we got there was go to Brighton Pier. The pier was filled with food stands and it had an arcade and amusement park rides on the end. We played some games in the arcade but decided not to go on any rides. After the pier we went and found the Royal Pavilion. We stumbled across a free art museum. It had a random collection of things but it was cool. They had a lot of information on the history of Brighton. After the museum we walked around the town for a while and decided to get out of the cold and go to the mall. After we ate dinner we hoped back on the train and went home. It would be a really fun place to go in the summer when it is warmed. There were still a lot of people out and about.

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Royal Pavilion

Ireland Pictures

Caitlyn and me at the Guinness factory

Guinness advertisement

St. Patricks Cathedral

St. Patricks Cathedral

Malahide Castle

cool painted houses in Malahide

Malahide Marina

Malahide beach

"Caitlyn and Olivia Ireland 2011"

tidepools

Dublin castle

Dublin castle

Ireland

I haven't updated for a while but a few weekends ago three friends and I went to Dublin. We had to wake up at 4:45am to go to the airport so we could get there by 6:25. The flight was only an hour so it wasn't that bad. We arrived in Dublin and took the bus to our hostel. We couldn't check in until after 2 so we left our bags at the hostel and decided to go to the Guinness factory. It was really cool, it was 7 stories and each floor had different information on Guinness. The top floor was called the Gravity Bar where you could redeem your free pint of Guinness. From the top there was an awesome view of Dublin. After we settled into our hostel we went out and got some food. We then went to the temple bar area. There was a rugby game between Ireland and France the weekend we were there so all the bars were packed. We went around to a few bars and got some drinks. We then went to a pub by our hostel to watch some live Irish music. The next day we took a train to a little city called Malahide. We went and saw the Malahide castle then went down to the oceanfront and walked along the beach. Malahide was a cute little town and reminded me of home but a lot colder. When we got back to Dublin we went to the Dublin castle and wandered around. That night we hung out in our hostel for a little bit then met up with my friends friend and his girlfriend who go to school in Ireland. We went across the street to a bar and got a drink. Overall I really like Dublin. The people were really friendly and the city itself isn't that big so you can walk everywhere.

Paris!

Over the weekend I went on a trip to Paris. It almost every study abroad student went so there were about 70 of us. I got to take the Eurostar and it only took about 2 hours so that was cool. We stayed in a decent hotel by the Gare de Lyon train station. It was a completely different area from where I stayed two years ago. We were right by a Metro station so that was cool. The first night we all went on a boat cruise down the Seine. Even though I had been on one before it was still cool and this time it was at night. The next day we all had to wake up bright and early to go on a bus tour of the city. Afterwards my friends and I went up the Eiffel Tower, which I never did when I was there.  After that we made our way to the Louvre. Even though it is February it was still very crowded. We didn't spend much time in there which I didn't mind since I had been there before and we were all exhausted. We decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap then get ready to go out to dinner. We went out to dinner near our hotel at a place called Hippopotamus. The food was pretty good but the service was terrible but it was probably the girls first day so we didn't complain. We were going to meet up with a friend of a friend and go out but we were tired so we went back to the hotel. On Sunday we woke up early yet again to go to the Catacombs to beat the line. When we got there we didn't realize it was right across the street from the Metro so we wandered around for about an hour and finally found it. It was really cool and amazing at how many bones were down there. I was glad we went because the Catacombs were also a place I never got to go to when I was there two years ago. After the Catacombs we made our way to the Marais and got some falafel! It was still as good as last time and I am so glad we found it. We wandered around the Marais for a while and then decided to go back over by the Louvre so my friend could buy some souvenirs. Yet again we were exhausted and decided to just sit for a while. Overall it was a pretty fun trip and I am happy I got to go back to Paris!