As most of my friends and family know, I took a small trip to Brussels this weekend with my Brazilians (Bruxelles in French and Bruxelas in Portuguese- my spelling will be all kinds of messed up when I get back to the States).
Victory dance
Before I talk about that, though, I need to add some pictures from the basketball game of José Lucas. His school has a small team, and they played against my school this last week, so Bia, Henrique and I all traveled down to campus to watch him play. He is better than I thought he would be at playing ;) Although he was very tired after only about half of the game haha. I tried to take several pictures of him laying down on the ground to rest, but he always would get up too fast. One of the French asked if we could take score because no one was there. I'm American, so of course I know some things about basketball, but not THAT much! haha The Brazilians like to joke that because I'm American, I know how to play basketball really well, just like the rest of the world thinks they know how to play football (soccer) very well! Not always true in the case of some Brazilians....hahaha
Teaming up after winning
Now Bruxelles!! We woke up extremely early in the morning to make it to the train station on time for the train at 6am. Priscila bought her ticket literally the day before we left (we were all afraid she wouldn't get to go with us because she procrastinated so long!). The first day was the hardest because we were all so tired after walking maybe a mile to our hostel, and we finally had wifi at the hostel, but we (Bia, Henrique and I) rallied and ended up visiting some of the town. Priscila slept until the evening haha. It was very cold, so it was difficult to walk very much. We saw many interesting and beautiful buildings, most of which were closed, so I only took pictures of the outside, and then we would move on to the next place. We did visit a very beautiful park in which there was a fountain that Bia told me I needed to wish for something in ;) There was no money already in the fountain, so I didn't want to throw a coin in, but I made a fake wish of course.
It's difficult at time to get Nathalie out
So happy to find McDonald's!
There were many beautiful cathedrals, and there was even a small street market with antiques. My favorite part though was the Grand Place, especially during the night. It was so beautiful to see all buildings covered in gold lit up in every direction that you looked. It is one of the most beautiful man-made places that I have ever visited because of its elegance and grandeur. It is interesting in that it has architectural styles from three different epoques! I wish my iPhone had done a better job of taking in the beauty of it all. It's a shame that we don't have technology to capture exactly what the human eye can see.
Street market with antiques
Belgium flag in the rain
Beautiful building....
Grand Place
One of the many parks
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That night, I had the honor to visit a gorgeous Brazilian singer, Paula Fernandes. I have been learning one of her song, Não Precisa, so I was able to sing along when she sang that song! I enjoyed some Guaraná Antarctica (a Brazilian beverage), and the company of MANY Brazilians. It was impressive how many Brazilians were all in attendance at this event!
The next day, we got up around 10am (much later than normal because we had stayed out until 3 in the morning to watch Paula!), and we took Priscila to see some more things in Brussels, including the Grand Place again in the daylight. We also visited the European Commission building and the Manneken Pis. For those of you who don't know, this is one of the most famous statues in Belgium, a major landmark of Bruxelles, but it is also the smallest. If you expect some large, grand statue, you will be sorely disappointed. It rained A LOT this day, so we were glad to be on the train to Lille.
Another beautiful park with Nath
European Commission building
The Grand Place during the day
Manneken Pis
Lille is a city in France in which some of our friends lived before coming to Amiens. To my mother, you would LOVE Lille. I take what I said about never living in France back. Lille is beautiful. It is a city MUCH larger than Amiens, and there is literally everything you would need in it, but it still somehow how this feel of a small, quaint town to it. It doesn't feel so large when you are walking through the streets. It doesn't feel like a huge city, but rather a small college town. But in reality, it has both H&M AND Nike outlet! I'm in love with this town. The first night, we just spent some time together in the hostel's bar, and we tried to make it an early night because we were all so exhausted from the day before. On Monday, we visited some major landmarks, but it was raining, so we ended up going into the large centre commercial and shopping for some time :)
Church in Lille
Coffee :)
Streets of Lille
Needless to say, I was happy to be back in my own bed. Some times I just want to travel all over the world every weekend, but it's months like these that make me grateful for the downtime. I went to Ireland, went to Bruxelles, this next weekend I have Paris, and then the weekend after that, I will be in Bruxelles again for a trip to the Johnson & Johnson headquarters to shadow a European representative. Keep your fingers crossed for a possible internship opportunity or good connections stemming from this trip. After these next two weeks, I will be more than glad to crash in my bed and sleep like a bear for the next three months (Priscila ;)).
Well I am sitting in the Beauvais train station for the next
three hours waiting for the next train, because I missed my train literally by
ONE MINUTE. If the lady in front of me had not asked so many questions, I would
have been on that train and back in Amiens by 1pm. The way I look at it though
is that everything happens for a reason. No matter how terribly you might think
things are, there is ALWAYS a reason. That is one of the main things I have
learned during my study abroad time here. It has helped me to relax and calm
down after a crisis has occurred. There’s no point in being frustrated over
something when you will always be able to remedy it some other way. And this
way, by missing my bus, I have some extra time to work on my blog! I spent 18
euros to get from the airport to the train station, and that was only about 5
miles. I was not about to waste every bit of money I have in my account just
because I want to be back in my own bed! Now I get to sit in the train station
on a holiday and have my thoughts to myself. Did I mention that despite the
fact that the next train is at 12h40, my layover train doesn’t leave the next
station until 17h49. All in good time, all in good time.
So happy to be on the train back to Amiens
So like I said, my blog post of IRELAND! I arrived at the
airport extremely late at night, and Vicky and Olivia were there to greet me!
Vicky and I ended up staying up until 5 in the morning laying in her bed
catching up despite the fact that we had to be up early the next morning to
catch a train for Galway! The train was one of the nicest that I have ever been
on. It even had little tables where four people could gather around and play
cards, talk, or sleep (which is what we did). The countryside was beautiful. We
saw a total of four rainbows over the whole week! I was bestowed with a ton of
Irish luck (but apparently that doesn’t work in France…).
Waiting in the train station!
On the LUAS (step #2) to train station
My welcome team!
Finally on the nice train
Once we got to Galway, it started raining a little bit, but that didn’t stop us from wandering around and shopping for a bit before Sarah and Michael came to meet us to walk back to the house. Those two days were fun-filled with beautiful scenery, torrential rain, garlic cheese fries, a cathedral, and a pub in the evening. In the morning when we were scheduled to leave, the rain was so hard that we had to take shelter in a McDonald’s and wait for it to blow over.
Vicky loooooves Nathalie!
The train that we took
Nathalie is super excited to see Ireland
Taking the bus (step #1) to the train station
The cathedral of Galway
We made it back to Dublin in time to make some food and
repack for our trip to Waterford the next day. I’m not too much of a girly
girl, so you can imagine my excitement at going to look at a bunch of
crystals…WOOO. They were nice, but not something that I would go back to.
However, we didn’t get to go on the tour because it was some sort of bank
holiday (what is it with Europeans and their holidays?!?!), so that might have
changed my perspective on the whole experience. The town was beautiful, with
cathedrals, sheep, and interesting stores. Pictures to follow:
We love rainbows in Ireland
It was a bit windy that day
River leading to the ocean in Galway
We did not enjoy the rain so much
Inside the Cathedral
Our long walk to and from Galway center
Inside church again
Looking forward to that warm bed in Dublin!
Weird roadsigns in Celtic and English
The most interesting thing about Ireland was that everything was written in the Celtic language FIRST, and then in English - despite the fact that no one really speaks Celtic anymore. There were the few Irish people that would occasionally come out with their language, but I feel as if that was maybe only to talk about the weird Americans! I really liked the look of the words, but I just found it interesting that most people didn't even understand the words.
We were more than glad to get back to Dublin and get some
good rest, especially since the girls had service work the next day at 10am.
That next day, I was extremely lazy. I told myself I was going to make a trip
into Dublin and wander around by myself, but when I looked outside, it was
raining (surprise), so I ended up staying in, drinking tea, and watching
Netflix (since I’ve been deprived of it in France).
Vicky making me
food for the week.
Kilmainham Gaol
SHEEP!
Beautiful rainbows
Comic book-looking building in Dublin
On Wednesday, I finally got out on the town and visited the Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Brewery with one of Vicky’s friends, Kaian. We were supposed to go with a bunch of his other friends after they got out of class, but then they decided to cancel last minute. I was just happy to not have to go to these places by myself! We actually got lost on our way to the Kilmainham Gaol (aka really old jail) and almost wandered into a REAL JAIL!! It is called Arbour Jail? I think. We decided not to try anything. We finally found Kilmainham and took the tour for two euros! It was really interesting to listen to the history of this jail and how it played a major role in Irish history itself.
After such a long day of walking and getting lost, you can
imagine our excitement to get to the Guinness factory with indoor heating and
beer.We both learned how to pour
a Guinness. I am now an official Guinness pourer, and I even have the
certificate to prove it. I didn’t drink all of it, but I had to drink at least
some of it in honor of my dad not being able to be there with me! It was a fun
day, but I was ready to be back in my warm bed in Vicky’s room!
Anddd the Guinness gates!
Old Guinness paraphernalia
Learning how to pour a Guinness
The final day of my trip I spent sending things to my
family, visiting Temple Bar (the famous bar district in Dublin) and eating garlic
cheese fries for the last time from Supermacs! I also might or might not have
become addicted to the show “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix. And I might
or might not have watched seven episodes in one night. Needless to say, I got
two hours of sleep, so I will be sleeping well tonight! Who knows when I will
be in Ireland again?! Might as well take advantage of everything including
Netflix!
Temple Bar, didn't get to go inside
Next to the river in Dublin
Trinity College, with my Starbucks :)
Sidenotes:
They have peanut butter in this strange country, but as
Vicky says it’s “ABC peanut butter.” It was a little creamier than it should
have been I think.
The Irish like to drink, or at least the ones I came in
contact with. They were drinking every night I was there. One night Vicky went
out into the hall and screamed down the stairs several times to “shut up” and
that she didn’t want to “hear their Irish mouths.” It was quite hysterical,
especially considering she came back in the room and said that it was best not
to mess with the Irish because they can be angry elves when they are drunk.
And finally, I have missed the heck out of my Brazilians. I
loved Ireland, and I loved being able to spend time with Vicky, but I have
grown so close to this group of seven Brazilians that it’s difficult to be away
from them for so long! They always tell me that I will regret my decision to
not tag along with them, but I still don’t believe that to be true! I enjoyed
Ireland so much, and I really needed to see Vicky, but I know I would have had
an incredible amount of fun with Bia, Henrique and Pri as well!
Hello France! I’ve missed you (even though I’m angry at you
right now for making me miss my train).
