Milan and the End of Fall Break

In the morning I didn't have anything to do between the time I had to check out of the hostel and when I had to go to the airport. I found the archaeology museum and the Natural History Museum. In the archaeology museum I found a mislabeled picture of a temple in Rome. I felt quite proud of myself to knowing the right name. 

I got to Milan without any problem. All I wanted to do when I got there was sleep so I went to bed early and the next day Ken had class. I spent the morning sleeping, cooking, and cleaning his kitchen. I made these delicious little treats with the leftover bread and cheese from my airplane trip. It was quite a good lunch. 

For dinner Ken and I decided to make some alfredo. It was the easiest thing I have ever made. It turned out amazingly. Ken's roommate continuously  told us that we were "the best" since he came home and didn't want to cook dinner. We had it all ready for him. 

The next day we took a trip to a cemetery since it was almost Halloween. This was the biggest and most elaborate cemetery ever. I'm sure there were several million dollars worth of art there. 

Ken found this particular statue amusing. We called him the "zombie Jesus". Irreverent, I suppose, for a cemetery but it was the highlight of our trip. 

We also found Toscanini's tomb. He was one of the best conductors ever. 

I decided I needed to spend an extra day in Milan. The idea of spending Halloween alone in Rome didn't sound appealing and since Ken was having a small party that night, I definitely didn't want to miss it. So we went to the train station and I bought a ticket for the next day even though I didn't get a reserved seat for the 6 hour train ride. After we went to the train station we stopped at the store and got some ingredients for chicken salad. Of course, it was delicious. Segundo, Ken's roommate, again proclaimed that we were "the best". 

The party was very fun and relaxing. And the next day I got on my train. I got to sit in a comfortable seat for the first two hours until I got kicked out. I sat in one of the corridor seats for the remainder of the trip. It wasn't comfortable  but it was completely worth the extra night in Milan with Ken. 

Dublin: Day 3

On my third day in Dublin I took a bus tour of the Wicklow Mountains. It was amazingly beautiful. I never wanted to go back to Rome.

It was really windy and cold that day. But this is a picture of me with Dublin in the background. 

We stopped at a little lake. It was really muddy and cold so I didn't spend much time. Essentially I went, took a picture and retreated back to the bus. Thankfully there was coffee, tea, and cookies waiting for me when I got back to the bus. 

 My favorite part of the day. This is the bridge where P.S. I Love You was filmed. I adore that movie and I had been looking forward to this moment all week.

Again, the bridge. 

Lake Guinness. The Guinness family owns the land on the right and the lake looks like a glass guinness since it's so dark and there is white foam on top. 

This was a cute little town where we stopped to use the bathroom. 

WATERFALL. 

This is the cute little house where I ate tea and scones with a couple of German girls who were on my tour. They didn't speak much English but I thought they were absolutely fascinating. 

This is very near where Bono, Enya, and several other famous Irish people live. It looks exactly like the Bay of Naples and all the streets in the area are named Sorrento, Amalfi, etc. 

Finally we ended at a graveyard in the mountains. It was really cool and beautiful. Overall, I think this was my favorite day of the whole trip. I loved everything we saw and I didn't mind for an instant doing this by myself. I wanted to stay forever. Plus, traveling by myself meant getting to ride in the front of the bus with the driver so I got to hear all of his interesting side comments about things as we passed. 

Dublin: Day 2

My second day in Dublin I decided to go on the free walking tour. It seemed counter-productive since I had already been in Dublin for a whole day but I figured I didn't have anything better to do with my day. I am so glad I did it. My tour guide was great and knew so much about everything in Dublin. 

 This was where the castle of Dublin used to be. This picture is also funny because I didn't realize until I was looking through my pictures that I know the guy in this picture! He's in my program here in Rome. I honestly don't know his name... Mike, maybe? Apparently he was on my walking tour too. I probably should have given him some warning that I was taking a picture...

This picture is particularly funny because it is of justice with her usual scales but 1. she has her back turned to the people of Dublin 2. She is not blindfolded 3. when it rains water collects and the scale tips to one side. 

Here is Christ Church. I spent so much time here. One day I read my book and date dinner while sitting outside watching the tourists. It was quite pleasant. 

 Hay-penny Bridge. There was a ferry service here at one point but all the ferries were unkept and unsafe so city council told the owners of the service that they either needed to repair the boats or build a bridge. They decided to build a bridge but charge people a Hay-penny to cross. Thankfully they  don't do that anymore but I thought it was an interesting story.

This is a plaque placed on the McConnell Bridge that was placed there as a joke. Friar Pat Noise never existed but the story circulated that he ran off the bridge and only his cart and horse were found downstream. Eventually Dublin city council did some research on Pat Noise and they couldn't find anything. They talked to everyone in Dublin and even contacted the Pope. No one had heard of him so they decided to remove the plaque. The citizens of Dublin got very upset and the plaque was eventually put back in its original place. 

After my walking tour (which took all morning and most of my afternoon) I met Antonietta and Nicole for dinner. I got fish and chips (of course) and our waiter would only refer to my serving as "the whale" since it was so massive. I couldn't eat it all. They also introduced me to cider. I have to say that I am a huge fan. 

After dinner they took me to a pub to see their "friend" play. They met him in a different pub on their first night in Dublin and he told them to come see him play at this pub. He was fine. Irish music isn't my favorite but if I have to listen to Irish music I would much rather listen to it live. 

 

FOOD!

I'm going to take a little break from retelling my fall break trip to talk about the food I've been making. I've never really thought of myself as a cook but my roommates LOVE  coming home to see me in the kitchen. Usually it means they'll eat something good for dinner. I tend not to use recipes 1. because the measurements are different here and I have no way of measuring anything 2. because it's more fun to make up my own recipes.

When I was in Milan, Ken and I decided to try to make chicken salad. I recreated the chicken salad but added a few of my own spices since we didn't write down what we added the first time. All I remember is adding all the spices we had around and then at the last minute I added a little bit of curry. It turned out deliciously! My roommates couldn't keep away. I also made some beer bread to go with it since I didn't have anything to eat with my chicken salad. Needless to say, it was a delicious dinner and lunch for the next day.

Next I made a pasta salad. My only goal in making this was to get rid of the stuff that was just sitting on my shelf. I needed to made room! I added some artichoke hearts that I bought one day for no reason in particular, then some corn and garbonzo beans. I also fried some red peppers and eggplant to put in it. It was ok. I've made better dishes.

Then, I made some shepherd's pie. I realized I don't really know how to season meat but next time it will be much better. Overall I thought it tasted pretty good. It was definitely nice to have around this weekend. I hate waking up at noon and not having anything to eat.

Friday night one of my roommates was in Spain so the remaining four of us decided to each cook a course. Joana made us an appetizer of cauliflower/blue cheese soup. I am pretty sure that was the first time I have ever eaten cauliflower voluntarily.

For the next course we had an eggplant, zucchini and red pepper quiche made by Corina. It was delicious, of course!

Next we had shells stuffed with ricotta and mushrooms made by Antonietta. They were so good also. I wasn't sure I would be able to eat the dessert I made. Too much food!!

Finally for dessert I made an apple crisp. I was impressed by how easy it was to make. I'll be sure to make that again very soon. It was definitely a hit.

Since then we've been eating only left overs. The crisp and the soup didn't have many leftovers and the rest we've been eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I think it was a successful week of food.

Dublin: Day 1

(Oct 25)

This morning I woke up, finally made my bed, found the under-bed storage compartments for my bag, showered, and ate the huge breakfast the hostel had put out. It actually wasn’t that huge, I just ate a lot since I was planning on making it my lunch also. They had cereals, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, toast, jams, tea,coffee, and orange juice. I thought it was nice. I ate a bigger breakfast than I probably would have if it hadn’t been so convenient... and free! 
I left the hostel and decided to wander around McConnell street. I walked all the way up and found the Remembrance Garden. It was really cool and relaxing. It was agreat way to spend a morning. I just looked at the pond (I guess that’s theright word for it? It wasn’t a fountain so I suppose I’ll just call it a pond.) with a cool mosaic on the bottom, looked at a cool statue in the back, and just wandered around. It was incredibly empty so it was nice to have some time to myself. 



While I was there I got a call from my roommate Nicole. She and Antonietta were by TrinityCollege watching the end of the Dublin Marathon so I went there, met up with them, and watched the marathon. Honestly, it made me tired just watching these people finish. Afterwards we wandered around and found a restaurant where I could have some fish and chips. That is all I wanted to eat. We ate a good lunch and made our way to a local coffee shop to get something warm to drink before the rugby game. I realized how much I missed coffee shops and to-go cups. We took our coffee back to Trinity College and tried to find the rugby game which apparently wasn’t happening. Antonietta and Nicole decided since they were going to go to Cork that evening anyway they might as well leave then. So the left me and I wandered around Trinity College by myself. It was really nice and I loved seeing the trees turn orange, yellow and red. In Rome the trees haven’t started turning yet so it was my first taste of fall. 

Afterwards I wandered around aimlessly until I found a guy on the street doing tricks with fire. He was doing the limbo to some cool music except the limbo bar was on fire. It was entertaining. When I turned around I realized there was a massive park behind me. So I walked through there for a little while. There was a lake with swans and everything was so green. It was nice and relaxing. I was really tired and went back to my hostel and read my book. I told Nicole and Antonietta I would go check out this pub where there would be live music so I decided to take a nap. I fell asleep at 8:30 and didn’t wake up until 7:30 the next morning. Ooops. I guess i needed the sleep. 

The Start of Fall Break

(Oct 21)
Fall break started a little early. Originally my intention was to go to Italian (or at least part of it) and from there head to the airport. Well, that didn't happen. I left the apartment a little after 4 and got to Termini around 5 for my 5:30 bus. I was surprised by how many english speakers were sitting in that bus stop! Anyway... I sat by myself on the bus (thankfully) and got to Ciampino about 3 hours early. Ryanair doesn't let you check-in until 2 hours before your flight... so, I sat around in the airport. Thankfully two girls from IES were there also so I got to talk to them for a little bit.

Finally I checked in, went through security, and sat at my gate for 2 hours. Thankfully I had a good book (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) to read. When people started lining up I joined them. There, I met a nice Italian man who was going to visit his family in Milan and was eager to practice his english. Apparently he is an engineer and needed to learn english for his job. He's been watching American TV shows like The Big Bang Theory (one of my  favorite shows) to help learn english. When he found out I play the  cello and enjoy listening to Classical music he told me I was exactly like Leonard and his friends tell him he's like Sheldon.

I also taught him about Dvorak. We actually traded ipods so he could listen to Dvorak and I could listen to some of his music. I didn't really like whatever he gave me to listen to but he seemed to enjoy Dvorak's American Quartet.

When I finally got to Milan i basically RAN to the airport shuttle. I couldn't wait to see Ken. After about an hour on thebus I got got Centrale where Ken was waiting for me. We took the metro back to his apartment where I met Giacomo (his RA) and Segundo (his roommate). They were pretty awkward and I don't think they knew what to make of me. Ken and I watched Ratatouille and ate pumpkin seeds. We discovered that pumpkin seeds make a wonderful  and CHEAP snack. It was nice to catch up with Ken but we had to get up and go to the airport the next day so we went to bed pretty early.

(Oct 22)
Ken and I have been together exactly a year and a half as of today. What a better way to celebrate than a weekend trip to Spain?!

We were up and out by 9:30 but as we were walking to the metro I remembered I left my plane ticket in his living room. After he ran to get it for me we got on the metro and then immediately on the bus. Out plan was to get breakfast before we got to the airport but... we didn't have time. We checked in for our flight and headed straight to the McCafe for a chocolate croissant and coffee. It was nothing like anything we could get in the US. The croissant was amazingly delicious and not too expensive. I was quite impressed.

The flight was uneventful and we checked into our incredibly nice hotel room which was attached to the train station. Lleida was trying so hard to increase tourism so the flight to the brand new airport was something like 8 euros and the brand new hotel was just as cheap as a hostel.

Our first order of business was to find some food for lunch. We found a grocery store around the corner from the hotel and got some meat, cheese, and bread to make sandwiches. After we ate our lunch we tried to go to an art museum but it was closing. Half an hour early. Instead we went back to the hotel to take a short nap before heading out to find a tapas bar to celebrate our "anniversary". We walked all over the city and couldn't find anything. The lady in the tourist office gave us a map and told us where in the city to go and when but we couldn't find anything. We thought it was just too early but we walked all around the entire city and could find nothing. Finally we just went into a bar that appeared to be deserted and ate some more bread, cheese, meat and tomatoes as well as some beer. I guess it was a pretty good celebration.

(Oct. 23)
We woke up and went on a mission to find a good little cafe for breakfast. It took us a while but we finally found a little place where we had some good coffee and chocolate croissants (as is usual for us).  Afterwards we decided we would try to go to some of the museums in the guidebook we got from the tourist office. The museum we tried to go to the night before was still closed so we wandered around. We tried to find the water museum but it was impossible to find. We decided to stop trying to use the guidebook and we just wandered down little streets looking at the buildings. We finally decided to cross the river and see if the Car Museum was open. IT WAS! I'm not very interested in cars but Ken thought it was interesting and I was just happy a museum was open!

In the evening we bought some crackers, cream cheese, a salad, pumpkin seeds, chocolate, and wine for our real celebratory dinner. We spread it all out and had a feast on the bed. As my parents know too well this is exactly my idea of a good dinner- a bed picnic. Since we were in a good mood from our dinner we decided to try once again to find a bar or somewhere to celebrate. Again we found very little but we lowered our expectations a bit. We decided that we would go into any bar that had at least two different groups inside and there had to be at least one woman. We eventually found ourselves in a bar that we had thought was dark and creepy the night before but it turns out it was amazing! We spent several hours just sitting and talking. It was really nice. It definitely made up for last night.

(Oct 24)
We woke up and decided we wanted cake for breakfast so we got dressed and went to the grocery store only to find it was closed. It was quite unfortunate but thankfully the bar across the street from our hotel was open so we ordered chocolate crepes and coffee. The crepes were not very good since they were cold and had clearly just been sitting around.

We checked out of our hotel and headed straight for the Lleida Wine Festival going on in the park. It was essentially a giant community party with a local marching band playing in the middle and wine vendors lined up. We bought a glass and four tickets meaning we got to try four wines- 2 red, 1 rose', and 1 white. They were all good. We agreed that it was a good way to spend a morning.

We got some felafel and headed for the bus back to the airport. When we got to the airport, the security people took my toothpaste because it was American and didn't have the mL listed. It was quite frustrating. The plane ride was fine but there was SO MUCH TURBULENCE! Thankfully I didn't get sick. That would have been embarrassing.

Back in Milan I had 5 hours between flights so Ken agreed to sit with me in the airport for a little while, which was nice. It's better to sit around with someone entertaining. Unfortunately, he had to get home so I saw him to the bus and I went to my gate.

My gate wasn't even open when I got there. I couldn't even get in the wing where my gate was! I had to sit outside the passport check (since they have the check passports again since it was a wing only for international flights). Finally they opened the gate and I got on my plane. I slept the entire way to Dublin.

When I woke up I found my bus and hopped on. It was very nice and they told me exactly where to get off. It was also very relaxing hearing everyone speak English! Finding my hostel was also easy but finding my bed inside the hostel was not. I decided to book an 18 bed room but since I got there at 1am all the lights were off and it was almost impossible to find my assigned bed in the dark. I'm sure people thought I was crazy when I shined my cell phone light on them while trying to find my bed. When I finally found my bed I realized I was on the top bunk, I was holding my sheets, and I had no idea what to do with my bag. I was too tired to try to make my bed discreetly so I wouldn't wake up the girl beneath me so I just threw the sheets on the bed, put on my coat, threw my backpack up on my bed and called it my nest. I didn't sleep very well but I made sure to make my bed first thing in the morning.

Here are some awkward pictures I took of my room in Dublin while no one was around.

Here are my pictures from the whole trip: Fall Break