Weekend 11//20/08- Dublin, Sensation White & Madrid!

THURSDAY, November 20, 2008:

Got done with school, booked Sensation White tickets (huuugeeee rave in Europe... first time it came to Madrid... big deal!) and then got stuff done before the group trip to Dublin!
Went to this store FNAC to pick up the tickets, got Evan and I the Pablo neruda book we have to read for lit hispanoamericana, camera shopped and found a great new camera! yay on that. then came home, packed bags, got ready, and met everyone at El Tigre for cerveza y tapas and we all left for the airport from there. Flight was good, we landed in Dublin around 11 PM (they had changed out flight to a later time), moved into the hostel and went out!
Made friends with the Americans in my room (interning in Germany) and we went to Temple Bar (pretty touristy) and tried some Guiness and chatted. Got the beer paid for me so wahoo! ha just hung out there til it closed around 2:30.. kidnd early.. and headed back to the hostel to sleep.

Got free breakfast in the morning which was bomb... and hmm what did we do? Just headed out into town, walked around, saw St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church, got lost a little (which is actually an intended thing), Saw Trinity college.. had some lunch (Dublin is a pretttty expensive place! 10 euros for a salad) and some of us got tarts at this famous tart place called Queen of Tarts. Super pretty lakes with birds.. parks... Dublin is more of a tourist/big city but they had some pretty spots.
Around 430 we headed to the Guiness factory museum.. 10 euros, pretty big but you got a free Guinness at the end (that is some heavy beer!) and kinda interesting. It was a self guided tour but a must-see.
Hmm what did we do that night? GOt back to the hostel, got ready, pre partied a bit then headed to some bars. Some people ate dinner there, I hung out with Hannah and the americans on the roof, had a funny lil encounter with an Irish guy putting down the guys we were with ha but he was funny and he won. Left cause we though we lost everyone, went to Temple Bar to find them.. ran into Eugene and DAnny and all them! so crazy but we were trying to find the group. Found them... just lotsa bars and hanging out... lotsa walking and kinda cold place! But Dublin was overall super fun and the people are hilarious and very nice. Some of us took a taxi back home and others went clubbing. Glad we went back though cause we got up super early (630 AM cause our clocks were still on madrid time on accident) the next day and saw some ireland countryside!
Took a train out to Bray, walked around.... small city... super pretty green-ness and ocean.. had a good breakfast...

good quotes from the countryside:
lil boy makes a face at us and the dad says "Say hello, charlie"... reminds us of that you tube video about "charlie bit me"
"are those guys flashing us outta their hotel window?"
yes/no game
ah! dont remmber. fun times though! Made it to the airport for our 3 PM flight and hurried home for SENSATION WHITE concert!

Made iit with barely enough time to get ready, met up with Tam and Mary and we ..kinda got lost on the way there... but it was okay. Got there, everyones wearing white, found Jen, raved, saw people.. drank water.. good times! Kinda getting tired of writing right now ha but it was a fun night and overall glad I went! Had to take a taxi home though cause it was supposed to go til 6 and it ended at 3 :/ way lame. but the music was super fun, Jen is awesome. super glad I went!


SUNDAY, November 23, 2008:

Stayed up til around 8 in the morning! slept a bit, woke up at noon to Dane seeing if I wanted to explore Madridland which I am wayyy down for cause time is running out and theres always more to see! Got ready and we met up at Sol, took some classy tourist pics there (finally) and cruised around town. Went to the Botanical Gardens (only 1 euro so that was sweet) and looked at all the amazing plants... it probably would have been a better idea to go when we first got here though cause everything is leafless or Fall colors.. but it was still good times. Walked around there for an hour or so, checked out the green house... I saw a Venus fly trap which was my goal! and all those plants that act like animals/are sensitive.. our crazy plant bio teacher in SB's enthusiasm for plants rubbed off a bit. Saw some bonsai trees.. took some more touristy pics with the new awesome camera... then left to grab some Doner Kebab for lunch! Havent had kebab in a while so it was heaaveeenn.

Hm walked around, went through Lavapies (my own ghetto neighborhood but I havent really explored it too much yet), got some beer and headed to Retiro park to wait til the Prado museum had free entrance (4-7 on Sundays).. it was kinda warm out today and super clean and sunny! SoO nice. The park was full of families and couples and the fall colors look really cool right now. Then went to the Prado.. checked out the parts we both havent seen yet.. learned some random art history from mr dane.. good times! Lis called and we all went back to Retiro to check out the scene. Every Sunday night theres a big music kinda festival.. people playing drums and tossing around a soccerball.. lots of kids... just a fun scene. Lis went to Berlin so we just talked about our trips... it was pretty cold by then so we left, hopped on the metro and now I'm home!

Got a paper due Tuesday and a few books to read for Lit classes. I gotta start studying for finals because I'm traveling every weekend til then.. even weekend before finals. Classes look pretty good so far though so wahoo.

We're all kinda bummed we're gonna miss Thanksgiving dinner with kids studying abroad all over madrid! :( the date was supposed to be a different day and a bunch of us booked a trip to snowboard in Switzerland.. and then they changed the Thanksgiving dinner date. So no thanksgiving for us! But I think evan will make us a pumpkin pie so yay.

Overall great weekend!

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