Denmark is Amazing. (I started this post while still in Denmark)

Case closed, Denmark is the coolest country I have been to in Europe so far. Even better than Ireland. I love Denmark! It's a very cool culture, they are very easy going, and everyone has been ridiculously nice to me. I've met so many awesome people since I've been here, I almost don't wanna return back to Ireland. I think the reason I am really loving my Danish experience is because I am actually living it. I'm not just visiting it. For example, I went to London, and Brussels and Amsterdam. But I only went for 2 days to these places and stayed in hotels, bopped around to the touristy sites, etc. It was great, and we saw a lot, but I didn't experience the culture of the place. Now I am here, in Viborg, a city 4 hours train ride from Copenhagen on the main island, and it's awesome. There isn't a whole lot to do, but I'm emersed in the culture. This is the real experience. No American food for breakfast or dinner, hardly any English on the TV, no bud light on tap. It's amazing. I could definitely live here and have no qualms about it. I guess I'll start updating you on the crazy weekend I had...

Friday- On Friday, I lounged around for the day as Pernille and Ben had to work until 5. It was their last day of work until Spring Break. However, they get an hour to an hour and a half off for lunch so I met them at noon just down the street. From there, I met up with them and a bunch of the guys from the animation workshop and we had pizza at this little pizzeria. Ben and Pernille had to help me read the menu since it was all in Danish, and Ben ended up ordering for me because the guy behind the counter may not understand my accent. The pizzas we ordered were awesome. About the size of a small Dominos pizza, these individual pizzas were flatbread. I ordered a favorite, which was a pizza of tomato sauce, cheese, fresh lettuce, fresh tomatos, kebab meat, sour cream. Although, the sour cream tasted like Ranch dressing. Even though nowhere in Europe do they actually use Ranch. In fact, no one knows what the hell it is. So we sat down and ate our pizza, drank our cokes and talked about random things. Eventually we got on the topic of tattoos and people getting sued for dumb ones. Then the America questions started. Basically I told them you can sue and can get sued for everything and anything in the States. They laughed about it and I told them some stories about ridiculous lawsuits that have arose in the States in previous years. Then we talked about the education system. Basically, they go to school for free. The government automatically gives them money to go to the University, and they don't have to pay it back. However, they pay about 50% in taxes annually to the government. So half of their salary goes back into the state, which is ridiculous. They then asked me how taxes worked in America and I said it's difficult to explain because it differs case by case. I told them that depending on marital status, kids, income and where you live all factor into it.

After lunch I came back to the house and chilled for a bit. Then Pernille got off work and I met her to go grab some ice cream at this new shop that just opened up downtown. It was freaking amazing. Pernille has a good ice cream sense. This ice cream was so creamy, it basically tasted like Yogurt. I got strawberry and Lemon, which combined just made my day. So we ate our ice cream and took a walk around the city, down to the two huge lakes that they have, and then back to the city. We talked about Viborg and caught up. It was a good time.

After our walk, we decided to stop in for a beer at a small bar across the street from the Cathedral gardens. So we walked in, and it was decently crowded. Immediately however, some big dude walks up to me, I feel an arm go around my shoulders, and there is a big kiss planted on my cheek. What the hell is going on? Then there are three guys talking crazy Danish, I'm trying to get Pernille to save me, and finally this guy walks away from me. Then, his old bald friend comes up to me and attempts to hit on me and hook me up with his friend. I was like dude, get away from me, this is weird. Figures this would happen to me at my first bar in Denmark. So the guy finally leaves me alone. However, the one drunken babboon starts talking to Pernille and I, but he didn't know English very well so he had to ask Pernille to translate. However, as we stood there and drank our beers, the guy who kissed me walks over to me again, runs his hand down my beard and says 'Nice beard Santa Claus.' Haha, at this point I'm like Pernille, are we at a gay bar? She laughed and said no. Apparently, there are 3 regulars who come in and get drunk, and two of them try to hit on guys. Soon after my beard was molested, the bald guy bought a drink for some guys my age across the bar from us and then went over and started harrassing them. Eventually, these three were kicked out. It was funny as shit but really awkward. Oh well, shit happens.

So after I was sexually assaulted by two middle aged guys at the bar, we returned home and ate dinner. On Friday night there was a pub or party at school so we were going to be going to that later on. We were planning on having people over before hand, but no one ever showed. Haha, so Ben, Pernille and I just sat in and chilled before we left. We went to the pub around 11. We got there and I immediately felt out of place. A lot of eccentric dressers and stylish looking people. So we had to bartend from 11 to 1. All they were serving was beer and wine. Easy enough. However, as people started crowding the bar and speaking in Danish, I was starting to panic. I then had to explain I was American, got the beer, and then gave it to them. However, the money was the next issue. Their coins are hard to figure out, so I had trouble making change at first. I had to keep asking Pernille how much each coin was. And our change drawer was just a big pile of change, so I didn't even know how many coins they normally use. However, I started getting good. But then, some kid behind the counter with me tried to open a bottle of red wine and splashed it all over my baby blue long sleeve. So, that was a crisis. I wasn't even that mad, it was kinda funny. So Ben and I took it to the kitchen and tried to clean it off best we could, and then decided to save it for the weekend. So I returned and bartended my ass off. Mike was there and was giving me a hard time about not making shots, but he's a cool dude and we were just making fun of each other. Then he told me he loves the show Eastbound and Down and I flipped out. We quoted that show for probably an hour as I served people. It's funny how people across the world end up liking random American TV.

Friday night Mike also taught me about 'Yendalo.' Basically, this is a way for the Danish people to keep people from becoming arrogant assholes. Wish we had it in America. Basically, everyone in Denmark follows it. Basically the jist of it is, if someone is gloating about something, you are to act like you don't care or that they are being an asshole. So for example...

Guy 1- Yeah, so basically I am the man at work and just got a promotion. So yeah, like I'm gonna make 100,000£ a year now.
Guy 2- I don't care how much you make. A lot of people make that much, and even more.

or

Guy 1- Yeah, so I just got a decked out xbox360, so sweet. Ton of games, wireless controllers, the works.
Guy 2- Oh, I got a decked out PS3. Got like 10 games with it, more controllers than I need, and it cost less so.

That's Yendalo. The Danes hate cocky people. So basically, the Danish people would hate most Ivy League students, and everyone who works in Washington DC.

Friday night or Saturday morning I should say, we returned to the apartment at around 4am and then went to bed. I ended up bartending the entire time, which was awesome. It's the best way to meet people. By the end of the night people were toasting with me and what not. It was great.

Saturday- On Saturday we went to Pernille's home town to eat a traditional Danish Easter feast with her family. Her Dad picked us up around noon and we set off to Randers. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. On the way, Pernille's father and I discussed stupid lawsuits in America and other dumb things America does. Usually talking about stupid things we do makes other people laugh, so it's an easy conversation starter. Haha, but we weren't busting on the US. Just busting on the people in the US who try to work the system with dumb lawsuits.

Once we got to Randers we got to walk around the town for a bit. It was a nice small town, not very big. But it was cool nonetheless. Pernille showed me these old buildings that had ancient stories attached to them. This one building was still standing from the days of the Vikings. It's a restaurant now. However there was a story about a Viking, and this building, and the building almost burned down but some window was open so it didn't. It was complicated. Anyway, since this story, for hundreds of years, that building has a window at the top of it that stays open. It's just left open forever. They have put chicken wire up to prevent birds from flyin in, but it's open. The folklore was that if the window is left open, it could never ever burn down. So there you have it.

After that we were picked up by Pernille's Dad again and taken to Pernille's house. There we walked into what was a very awesome and sleek European house. All hardwood floors, modern art on the walls, a black and white marble bathroom with a heated floor! A brand new very sleek steel and black kitchen. It was awesome. I got to see her Dad obviously, her Mom, her brother and his girlfriend. We had a traditional Danish Easter feast. We started at around 2 and ended at around 7. So a 5 hour meal. However, it isn't like America where we make a ton of food, pile it on our plates and then wolf it down in 10 to 15 minutes. These are small portions, served over many hours so you can enjoy conversation and eat the whole meal. The whole meal is served on rye bread, but there are different toppings every course. The first course was raw heron with some kind of pickled sauce. Then there was baked heron and tuna salad. The next course there was more breaded and cooked fish. The next course was basically a chicken pot pie, (the kind that has the covering over it with the vegetables) without the lid on top. Freakin amazing. Then we had Danish meatballs, bacon, liver paste and hard boiled eggs and vegetables. After that, it was crackers, cheese, fruit and chocolate. The entire meal we kept taking shots of schnapps. It was created by the Danes and they are known for their good schnapps so we were taking them throughout the entire meal. Schnapps is awesome. The whole meal was fantastic. Her parents were great. I had long conversations about tons of different things with her Dad and Ben. He even asked Pernille in advance what type of music I liked, she said rap, and so halfway through dinner he put in a Danish rap CD. Just outstandingly nice people. The greatest hosts. It was amazing.

After dinner Pernille's brother dropped us off back at the apartment. We watched the Danish X-Factor finale and then Ben's brother and friend came over. Ben's brother is hilarious, Jakub. We sat around and drank cider and beer for awhile. Then Mike came over and we decided to go out to this bar called Crazy Daisy. Apparently it's a bar for all the younger crowd, like the 18 year olds. But it was really all that Viborg had. So we went. I had a great time. It was your standard European bar/club. There was a huge bar and then a dance floor and different tiers. They just played a ton of techno the whole time and had strobe lights and what not going on. I sat at the bar the entire time and just laughed at the guys dancing. It was comical. These dudes with way too much hair gel and shirts from the baby gap dancing hardcore to techno. Ah, what a site. Oh, they did play two American songs. They played, "Eve's that girl" and "Hey Ya" by Outkast. Hahaha.

I didn't even realize what time it was, but with the clocks springing forward, we didn't get into the apartment until 6am.

Sunday- Sunday was great. Pernille had to go finish up some animation work, so Ben invited Jakub over and we watched half of the fifth season of Scrubs. Never watched it much at home, now I am addicted. Ben made this slammin pizza, so we just chilled, watched Scrubs and ate pizza.

Later on Pernille returned, we ate a little something, and then she went to work at the movie theater. So, Ben and I watched more Scrubs and then went to the movie theater to meet her. Since she works there, the three of us paid for one ticket and we went to see the Green Zone with Matt Damon. It was basically the Bourne series in Iraq. Hope I didn't spoil anything.

After that we went to Jakub's apartment to hang out for a bit. It was me, Pernille, Ben, Jakub, their sisters boyfriend Allan, their house mates and a couple other guys. We just drank some beers and hung out for the night. I ended up talking to this cool dude named Peter for most of the night. This dude was like 7 foot! He was talking to me about America, Denmark, the price of things, etc. It was awesome, he was a cool dude. He's also in the animation school. He's also hilarious because he works part time as a nude model for drawing classes. Furthermore, he is partially my hero. He doesn't have a girlfriend anymore, but he did as of a couple weeks ago. He like sculpture, so he somehow convinced her last year to let him make a mold of her boobs. She let him. He still has the mold. I don't even know what to say about that. Awesome? I don't even think that justifies it.

After we got back, Ben and I attempted to watch two episodes of Scrubs and ate cold pizza. What a night.

Monday- Monday, I kinda forget what happened. I know that Ben went in to work on his animation a little bit, so Pernille and I hit up the city. She showed me around and what not. We got to go into their ridiculously old church and monastery, and then we eventually met up with Ben. Then we went to a bakery and bought a bunch of Danish pastries, came back to the apartment, ate lunch and then ate pastries. In the evening I cannot really remember what we did. OH I remember now! Monday night we watched this movie called Ondskab. It was in Swedish so I had to read the subtitles, but it was really good. Basically a movie about this kid in the 1940s who goes to a boarding school, gets picked on by the upperclassmen, and then beats the shit out of them all. It was awesome. If you can find it, I recommend it. It was nominated for an Oscar the year it was released. After that we decided to watch the Heart Locker. Pretty good flick but didn't really realize why it was nominated for an Oscar in best picture?

Tuesday- Tuesday I was at home by myself for a little bit. Pernille had to work and Ben had to go to the DMV to get stuff taken care of with his license since he was the one driving to Copenhagen on Wednesday. Once they returned we had lunch and then Ben had to leave later that evening to go pick up the car at Pernille's house. So Pernille and I watched Scrubs and she cooked dinner. Then Ben got back, we ate, watched Scrubs and chilled. Then Pernille's friends came over to watch TV so Ben and I went to this bar and watched the Bayern Munich and Manchester United match. Great game. Bayern Munich scored to win in stoppage time in the 2nd half! It was awesome. After that we came back and the girls were still watching TV on the projector. So Ben and I watched Danish TV for a bit until we all decided to go to bed.

Wednesday- Wednesday we got up and left for Copenhagen in the morning. However, we didn't drive straight through. First we stopped off at Pernille's friends house in Arhus, the second largest city in Denmark. It was a cool city. Felt a lot like a cross between Philly and Harrisburg in terms of size. But it was a very busy place. Much busier than Viborg. We walked around and I saw the sites of the city for a bit. Then the girls bought groceries and Ben and I went to the bus station to pick up Jakub. Then we went back to her friends place and had lunch and then left for Copenhagen. I fell asleep on the ride, and when I woke up we were over water. And we stayed on a bridge over water for about 10 minutes. It was the connecting bridge for the main island to the smaller ones. We stopped off at a rest station to get some food. I was surprised to find hardcore porno DVDs amongst the candy section. That was interesting. We all got chocolate milks and then bounced.

We finally arrived at Ben's parents place outside of Copenhagen. It was this awesome apartment in these really cool European block style apartment buildings next to this lake. It was really cool. We just stayed in and chilled for the night then.

Okay, I'm tired so I will update on Copenhagen Thursday and Friday tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Thanks for getting on my ass about this Milan. Shout out.

Danmark!!!

Velkommen, Velkommen to Danmark! Ahhhh yes, Denmark, and awesome country. I guess I should update you guys about my trip thus far. I'm in night 2 but already so much has happened!

Ok, so my travels started on Wednesday morning at 330am. Sorry for the lack of punctuation by the way, but I'm on a Danish laptop and I can't find a lot of the keys. Haha. Okay, anyway, so I get up at 330 yesterday and took the 4am bus to Dublin. That way I didn't have to sit around in the airport and wait for hours. I got to Dublin around 8 and had 50 minutes to kill before they started checking you in for the flight. So, I went to the cafe upstairs and got a bagel with creamcheese and bacon. It was better than it sounds. After playing on my laptop and eating it was time to check in. I checked in, got through security and finally did not beep! I was pumped. I was basically naked walking through the medal detector because i refused to get beeped. After I passed customs, I went to my gate and just chilled until it boarded.

I flew Norweigen Air which was really nice. Everything was blue and red to symoblise the flags of the Scandonavian countries. I got an eisle seat right behind the exit so I could have leg room, and slept for most of the flight. It was raining in Dublin when we took off so there wasn't a whole lot to see. Everything they were saying over the intercom system was Danish so I couldn't understand a word of it. Even the safety video. The flight was smooth though. Took 2 hours, and I flew into the future so I got there at 230ish. The flight was late so we got in later than expected. Flying over Denmark when we landed was awesome though. You could see how the whole country is seperated into islands. It was really cool. Once I got off the plane I tried to follow all the Danish signs and eventually came to a main holding area. I asked literally 4 people how to get train tickets, where to find an ATM, and how to get to the train boarding area. They were all very nice and helpful though, thank God.

I found the train ticket machines and tried to purchase one to Viborg (veeborg) where Pernille lives. However, I was very taken back when the total price said 336 Kroners. I was like holy shit, this means nothing to me. So I went and exchanged my 20 Euro for some kroners. I got 100 Kroners back. So, I took out 1,000 Kroners which will hopefully last me my stay here. After I bought my ticket, I was told that I just missed the 250 train and I would have to take the 350. So I had an hour to kill, so I decided to grab a Danish sausage and a coke from this little stand in the airport. It cost me 26 kroners, and it was amazing. Apparently one of the most traditional Danish meals is a Danish sausage with everything on it. It was this looooong sausage in this tiny bun. It looked ridiculous, yea, make some sexual jokes.....Okay, good now_ That is where the question mark is on my laptop, but on here it's _ So, sorry about the underscore. Anyway, I got almost the works. I got spicy mustard and ketchup, with fresh onions. However, they also put pickles on it too, but I wasn't in a pickle mood. It was amazing. It was crispy and crunchy on the outside, had like a crust, and the inside was like a hot dog. It was the best phaelic looking food i think I've had. Except for a Pats Cheesesteak of course. But this was awesome. And the Coke, the best I've ever had. It's true, Coke is different in every country. In Ireland it's sweet and less carbonated. In London it was a bit more bitter. In the Netherlands it was a kinda bitter and unfizzy. But here, it Coke, take a Dr. Pepper, pour them in a glass together. That's Coke in Denmark.

After my awesome feast, I went to the platform and waited for my train. It came at 350, right on the dot. However, the train is linked by car, and the train breaks off and goes to different places depending on which car you go to. I had to go to Viborg via Langa. So the train came and I looked at the computer screen that tells you which car to enter. On the platform there are letters every 50 yards. I was to be down in car B, and I was at D. I had to run with all my stuff down to B. In the process I dropped my phone and the back busted open, so my phone, battery and back are laying all over the platform. I had to stop mid sprint and pick those up, but I made it. Then once on I wasn't sure I was right so I asked a young lady if she could help me and she did. She asked where I was from and talked to me about my trip, and then wished me luck in Denmark. The train ride was 4 hours through the Danish countryside, and I got to sit by myself in a booth so that was nice. Denmark looks like PA. Rolling hills, farms, forests. It's gorgeous. Viborg is on the main island part of Denmark. Copenhagen is more toward Sweden, on an island off to the right of Denmark. So I got to cross over the huge bodies of water to get to the mainland. It was really cool. It was like taking a train over an ocean. Water everywhere, really neat. And you felt like you were traveling between islands.

I finally made it to Viborg and was greeted at the train stop by Pernille and her boyfriend Benjamin. It was so great to see her, and to meet Ben! I can't believe I'm actually in Denmark. We always joked about it and now it's a reality. So it's great! Last night we got in and we had some Danish beers and Pernille made us dinner. We had salad and chicken in some type of creamy sauce. It was really good whatever it was. So we caught up and I got to meet Benjamin. He's a great guy. Really down to earth and nice. We talked and talked. Then at 10 Pernille watched this show called Paradise Hotel, a Danish version of temptation island. Ben showed me some animation stuff on the computer. Then we got bored and joined her watching the show. They tried to translate it for me. But it was good even without the translation. There are no censors on Danish tv so on this reality tv show, they are just showing people having sex and boobs here and there. Haha, gotta love Europe. After that Sex and the City came on. In English. Ben and I were making fun of it, and then we ended up watching the entire episode. And here, they swear in the show. Like full out cuss words. It was great. After that the two of them went to bed and I stayed up to talk to Em quick and do my fantasy baseball draft. My team is stacked. My pitching alone is amazing. I got Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay. Golden.

This morning I woke up at 930. Pernille told me Danish cuisine is known for its open faced sandwiches and rhye bread. So she said eat some for breakfast. So I did. I had rhye bread with butter and watched Oprah. Also of note, rhye bread here is 10000 times better. It's very grainy and has a lot more flavor. Almost like pumpernickel. After I ate I got a shower, got ready for the day, and then I watched Dr. Phil until Ben and Pernille returned from class. When they got home Ben made a spread for us. Only, it was an open face sandwich spread. So we each got two pieces of rhye bread, and then we had to choose from liver paste, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, hardboiled eggs, mayo, ketchup and some type of fish in a ketchupy type paste. I'm down for trying anything in the food world so I followed their lead, because although you can mix whatever you want, certain stuff is just gross together, and they will tell you if it is. So on one piece I ate liverpaste with sliced cucumbers. The other piece I split in half. On one side I had a half of a hard boiled egg, tomato, cucumber, onion, mayo salt and pepper. On the other I had the fish, cucumber, onion and mayo. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was willing to try it. AMAZING. Friggin fantastic. I want this food everyday. I mean, Denmark is known for their open faced sandwiches. Ben told me the liver paste and cucumber is the most famous one in all of Denmark, the most traditional. They were so insanely good. But they are messy so you have to eat them with a fork. Damn, this is another Euro food craving I know I'm going to have when I get home.

After lunch they took me to their school just ten minutes walk up the road. Today, it was gorgeous. Probably around 60, and sunny. The first true day of Spring here they said. So I am lucking out weather wise. However, they want it to rain because there is sand everywhere. They spread sand when it snows and it hasn't washed away yet because they haven't had rain in awhile. Anyway, the two go to an animation school here in Viborg. It's the most elite one in Denmark. Currently they are both in their last year and they are working on their final project. There is a group of 8 of them working on a movie called, Bjorn. It originally was going to be called 'Toke' named after a famous viking, but they found out toke means to smoke weed in America and they changed it. Haha. So the movie Bjorn is a short animation film about a great viking who defeats everyone and wants to live with the Viking gods. However, in order to do so, you must be defeated. If you aren't defeated, and you just die, you go to hell, which is really boring. So he goes out in search of someone to defeat him. He runs into many opponents and they always end up killing themselves in very humerous ways. Bjorn grows sad, and then finally one day he encounters a huge monster that finally kills him. He then goes to the afterlife with the Gods and is greeted with spears and axes and a torch etc. However, all of the sudden everything vanishes and he finds that he has wings and a halo. He was sent to heaven, and ends up being bored for eternity. It was really funny, and the animation looks amazing. Pernille is working on backgrounds for the movie, and Ben is one of the 3 animators. It was so cool to actually see animation being done. I was in heaven. Pernille showed me all around her school. So many movies being made constantly, 2d, 3d, cgi. It's insane. And the work they do is amazing as well. The story ideas are also brilliant. One groups final project is a 2d film about a superhero who really has to crap but he can't because things always get in the way, like someone needing rescued etc. I got to meet a ton of Danish people, and they were all very cool and very friendly.

After I got the tour I had to leave so Pernille could actually do work, haha. I returned home and chilled for a little bit. Then at 445 I returned back to the school. I was going to play basketball. Ben and some of the guys usually play on Thursday night, but Ben was hurt but still wanted to know if I wanted to play. I said of course. So me and a bunch of Danish guys went to the gym and played 3 hours of basketball. It was awesome. I was the 'American'. I didn't play too well the last hour but I was tired, and they didnt have water fountains in the building. Haha, so that's my excuse. I think I broke my right pinky though. I jammed it hard going for a rebound on someone else hand as they were swiping down and me up. The pinky itself doesnt hurt but where the finger hits the hand, that bone hurts to the point where I can't close my right hand. Eh, I'll get through it. Also, basketball theory here is way different. I was constantly shooting from outside. However, they all drive low to the baseline. Like kids have wide open shots and just choose to pass to someone open underneath. It was crazy to me, coming from a country where everyone is a ball hog just shooting the deep ball constantly.

After bball I returned with Ben and Pernille had cooked dinner. Pasta with chicken sauce and salad. Again, a great meal. And, we got to drink Thor! Which is Pernilles 'Yuengling' as she said. It's brewed in her hometown of Randers (Anders). After dinner we sat there and got out the laptop and discussed music. We laughed about how bad Danish music was, and how european and technoish it was. Ben said that last year they went into a huge throwback 90s techno stage, and everyones music went retro. They even started listening to Kriss Kross again and turned their clothing backwards. Also, the Rednecks, who sang cotton eyed joe, had 4 other songs and they are exactly the same! Literally the exact same beat. Look it up, you'll laugh your ass off. We talked for a good 4 hours about everything while drinking some kind of Danish Easter beer. It tasted like Heineken. Thor was good though. Tasted like Rolling Rock. They are great hosts. I'm so excited to be here.

I also got to hear stories about Ben's younger brother, who works on the sets of movies as some type of electronics specialist. Basically, he knew what he wanted to do, decided to go right into the profession after high school, and is now 21 and could get a job anywhere if he wanted because he's that good. So because he works on movie sets, from time to time he gets to meet actors and celebs. One night the whole cast went to some bar in London and he ended up hitting on Miley Cyrus the entire night. One day, Daniel Radcliff was brought back to meet the production team, and because he is about the same age as Ben's brother, they said, 'Here Daniel, go with this guy.' Ben's brother said it was kinda awkward cause they didn't know what to talk about. So the first thing Ben's brother said was, 'Soooo, you shoulda brought Hermione.' Haha, and also, my favorite story of Ben's brother is when he met Orlando Bloom. One day Orlando was brought back to see the production crew and the behind the scenes of the movie. They brought him back to introduce him to some of the members of the group. When they brought him over to meet Ben's brother he goes, 'Ohhhhh hi, you must be the new intern! Well I'll be your superviser, hi nice to meet you. Okay, let's get started you're gonna be busy today.' Hahaha everyone was like holy crap, you just basically made fun of Orlando Bloom to his face. Haha.

Tomorrow we are meeting for lunch at a pizza place. Ben told me that here pizza comes in like 50 different varieties. The reason for this is because they don't have many italian citizens, so pizza was introduced through the natives here who learned of it from abroad. And then they just started throwing all kinds of stuff all over it. So getting a plain cheese is unheard of here. So that should be fun. Then tomorrow night we are attending a 'pub' at their school. A pub is a word for party, but it just means not as crazy. At a pub you can't serve hard alcohol and you can't have blaring music and dancing. It's so weird, haha. The theme of the party is Easter, Porn Star, Mexican, because no one could decide on one theme. Haha. I don't think I'll be dressing up. The pub starts at like 9 or something, and from 11 until 12 Pernille and I are the bartenders serving drinks! Hahaha I can't wait. I don't even know the currency so this is gonna be interesting. Hopefully I'll get to update tomorrow night. If not, maybe Sunday, because Saturday we are going to Randers to have a big Easter feast with her parents!

Take care everyone! Goodnight!

Talk Dirty To Me

Yeah, Talk Dirty To Me. Probably tied for the most popular song the glam rock band Poison has ever made. "Every Rose has it's Thorn" was terrible, but it was popular. Why am I singing Poison right now? Because today I downloaded "The Best of Poison." I honestly didn't even realize Poison was worthy of a, "Best of" cd. But, they have one. Today for whatever reason, I went from downloading a ton of Woodstock bootleg CD's featuring Hendrix, Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane...to downloading Poison, Whitesnake and Motley Crue. Why? I have no idea. But I was on a rock and roll kick and figured I'd cover the spectrum. Plus I'm getting my playlist ready for the summer, and it's nothing but classic rock. All types of classic rock. From the Beach Boys, to Poison, to Def Leppard, to Bob Dylan, to Steve Winwood, to the Traveling Willbury's, to Peter Gabriel. I got it all. Or most of it? I'm pumped to listen to it. But I can't yet, because it isn't summer, and anyone with a summer playlist knows the songs just don't sound the same until they are blaring out of the car speakers. So until then, sleep well summer classic rock playlist.

Okay, so, today was weird. First of all, my alarm never went off, and then all the sudden it was 11. I missed 2 classes. One I was planning on skipping at 9 anyway, but I had full intentions of going to my 11. Didn't happen. Then I realized, "Oh shit Matt, the heat is only on from 8-11am. Which means if you want a shower, the tail end of the hot water is gonna be gone." So I tried, and it was gone. So no shower this morning. It was raining out as I got ready. Not unusual here. But then it got much louder...it was hailing outside. Yeah, just hailing like crazy. Thunder, lightning, the whole 9 yards. And then 20 minutes later, sunny, completely dry, and warm. I walked out to go to my 1pm with a jacket on and had to return it to my room. Only in Ireland.

So I went to my 1am, and it was painfully boring today. After that I went to Subway and grabbed lunch with Jen. I haven't seen her in 2 weeks because she broke her foot walking in heels. But she's a Cardinals fan so I expect nothing less. Haha. Her Adam Wainwright jersey shirt made me want baseball so bad today. Can't wait for the boys of the summer. My Pirates are gonna turn heads this year, just wait. Yes, I am 100% serious.

This evening I finished up my papers, kinda. World War II paper completely done. Sources, everything. Music, I need to finish my comparisons, but that shouldn't take long. This evening after I finished my papers, I made a porkchop, again, drank some milk, went out for like an hour and then came back.

It's crazy here this week. It's rag week. It's basically a week long State Patty's Day. It's State Patty's Week basically. Students from all over Ireland come in, and it's just drinking all day and night, craziness. But people aren't destructive and idiots like in State College. They drink, get drunk, have a good time, sing songs. The worst they do is break beer bottles. No lamps or wooden furniture out of buildings. NO fighting at all. It's a good time. Every University in Ireland has a rag week. It's the most popular week of the school year. Teachers cancel class, there are no expectations. It's great.

But I'm gonna miss it...

Because tonight I guess, since it's 2am here, I am leaving for Denmark! Yes, I will be spending 10 lovely days in Denmark visiting my friend Pernille! I am taking the last bus out of Limerick at 8:30pm tomorrow, and then arriving at Dublin airport at around 3am. Then I sit in the airport until my plane starts boarding at around 10am. So 7 hours in the airport chilling. Not like people haven't done that before, so I'm not gonna worry or stress about it. Then my plane leaves at 10:50, and I land in Denmark at like 2 their time. Then I have to wait until like 3:30 to catch the train out to Viborg where Pernille lives. I'll arrive there at like 7:30, and thus my week in Denmark begins. My carry on is stuffed to capacity, so anything I buy there, if I do, I may just have to ship back. But I'm excited for the trip. Everyone goes to Copenhagen, but I'll get to see the real Denmark. Vikings tombs, and the coast, and the heartland. I'm pumped. I'm just going to have a relaxing and fun time. Nothing to stress or worry about with papers out of the way. Sure I'm missing class but who cares. Every American has been skipping like crazy by now. I never see friends anymore because either I don't go to a class, or they don't. Haha.

Hmmm anything else? Oh, freaking Ronnie Brown got a DUI. Yes, Miami Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown. The nicest guy ever. I've read stories, heard interviews, he's a shy and very kind dude. And then he gets a DUI! The papers have been saying he is distraught about it. I can see this affecting his season positively though. He's gonna be so beat up because he likes to set a good example and be a good role model, that he's gonna have to tear it up on the field so people don't hate him. Boom, Superbowl.

Also, Emily's parents bought two Kayaks. So I'm pumped to get home and hit the lakes with her for the brief amount of time I'm home this summer. And now, that has peaked my interest, and I'm gonna buy one when I get to San Antonio. It's like the kayaking Capital of the South. Obviously Colorado has the best rivers in the country, but Texas has the Rio Grande which is apparently awesome to Kayak. So it's goin down!

And that's it.

You're love is like bad medicine, bad medicine is just what I need. Haha, Bon Jovi.

Ahhhh ok quick update...

Since Thursday...or Friday...or whenever it was. Saturday morning maybe? Anyway, since then...

- 2 papers finished
- Nice weather
- Wore basketball shorts all weekend
- People don't wear white Nike basketball shorts in Ireland (lots of weird looks)
- Watched "Year One", had it's moments
- Laundry done
- Ate pork chops the last 3 nights
- Celebrated my friend Tess's birthday!
- Watched a tooooon of basketball online
- And Kansas officially screwed my bracket. If they would have won, I'd have 7 of my 8 Elite 8 teams still left, and I'd have my National Champion alive and well. But no, they go and lose to Northern Iowa? Eh, whatever, it's been a fun tournament so far. Here's to hoping the Final four consists of Northern Iowa, Xavier, Cornell and St. Mary's!

Peace.

Lord I was born a Ramblin' Man...

I love that song. It has no relevence whatsoever to this post, but I love that song. Good old Allman brothers. Who doesn't love them? If you don't you probably don't have a soul. Just saying.


Ok sooo an update is in store. I really don't feel like writing a lot because that's all I've been doing yesterday and today. Writing this stupid music paper. Then this weekend I have to write my WWII paper. So way too much writing going down this weekend.

Ok, so Wednesday was St. Paddy's Day. Yes, it's called Paddy's over here, not Patty's. All the flyers and official gear and what not over here say Paddy's. Common misconception. For St. Paddy's Day I just went over to the Slippery Rock girls house at noon and we started drinking. Eventually we took our act to the Stables and hung around there for a bit. Barely anyone was drinking, so we felt pretty awkward ordering pitchers of beer. But whatever, we're American, we have the right to do what we want on St. Paddy's. After way too much beer in the afternoon, we went back to their place, ordered Pizza Hut (which is NOT anywhere close to the Pizza Hut in the States. It's exactly like the old shitty Dominos) and chilled. Then eventually we went back to the Stables again and then I decided my night was done at about 10. It was a fun St. Paddy's day, even if we didn't go see a parade or go to Dublin. I had fun so that's all that matters.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to class in the morning and presented my Hitler paper. Our group rocked, but that was to be expected. At the end of class I told my professor, Mr. OConell that I wasn't going to be in class next week, and he told me it was cool. Then his car was parked across campus near the residence halls, so we ended up walking and talking about the Cold War for like 15 minutes. It was pretty cool. He's a cool dude. Probably the nicest teacher I have.

Then Thursday evening I skipped class and watched the unfolding Madness. Yes, March Madness. I was watching 3 games simultaneously on my computer, it was great. Jumping back and forth between each one. I was in heaven. And then all these upsets started to happen, and I wasn't in heaven anymore. Especially, when Georgetown decided to suck. That pissed me off. One loss ruins a team out to the Elite 8 on my bracket, and Georgetown is my favorite team, so what the hell! And to Ohio? Really? To Ohio. That's pathetic. The Big East sucks! SUCKS! So overrated it's not even funny. And then Kansas has trouble with Lehigh. What is going on this year? I will say this though, the first round has been amazing so far. Murray State at the buzzer was crazy! Robert Morris playing Nova into OT! BYU and Florida into double OT! Insane!

Today, woke up at noon. That was great. Then I had hoops fever, so I went to play some basketball at the gym. Since nobody in Ireland cares about basketball, I ended up shooting bball by myself for like 2 hours. Haha.

This afternoon I tried to finish up my music paper and got most of it done. Then I just watched basketball until about 9. My bracket is looking pretty good so far. The only real hit I took was the GTown loss. I had them to the Elite 8. Other than that, all my Elite 8 teams remain but GTown, and I only lost one other Sweet 16 so far, and that was Utah St. Other than that everyone else is alive and kicking for the Sweet 16 so I'm pretty happy. The only game I got wrong in the West was UTEP, and I only got Texas and Temple wrong in the East. My Midwest and South are my killers so far. Midwest I got San Diego State, Gtown and OK. State wrong. In the South I got Utah St., Siena, ND and Richmond wrong. But everyone but Utah St. was only a first rounder so I'm not too worried.


Other than that I got nothin else right now. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Werner out.

Today...

I realized that we have gone from 10 forks when I first moved in, to 1 fork remaining in this house. Or I'm sorry, I meant to say 1 fork remaining outside of Theo's room. He claims he doesn't have anymore forks. It's funny that he says that, because when I asked him if he had any forks in his room, he brought me knives, so I don't think he understands, or he plays dumb. Because he has definitely understood fork in the past, and now all the sudden he doesn't?

Also, yesterday, he came to get the vacuum out of my room. It's not heavy at all. I picked the entire thing up and brought it into my room, it was easy. It looks like a shop vac. The big round base and then the tube that hangs off. He comes down to get it, picks up the base after basically whining about it, and then tells me, "Okay, you help me take it up." I said, "Theo, it's not heavy. No." And then he pouted and took it up.

He's 27. To quote Wedding Crashers, he "looks like a little kid in Toys-R-Us."

I'm buying myself paper plates, plastic utensils and my own cups. If I never have to use anything in that kitchen again, I'm down with that. And I may have to be, because pretty soon there isn't gonna be jack shit left in the kitchen. I'm expecting to walk in there one day to see the stove and oven gone. Probably in Theo's room.

I cannot wait to never live with a roommate again. I'm not a huge clean freak. Is it so much to ask to rinse off your plate, throw some soap on it, scrub for 2 seconds and put it on the drying rack after you're done eating? I don't think so.

Oh, it's officially St. Patty's day here. Woopideedoo!

Goodnight.

Traditional Irish Music...

I hate you. I don't care that you have different styles for every freaking region in Ireland. I don't care that some dude once moved here from London, and then started traditional Irish fiddle in County Clare. I don't care that some music is played for dancing and some for fun. I don't care about the tin whistle, the fiddle or the guitar. Have fun not being as cool as Kiss, Steppenwolf or Boz Scaggs.

Also, St. Patrick's Day. What a crock. Patrick, was born in Wales. Got enslaved over here when he was like 6, and then later in life got everyone over here to believe in God and coverted them all to Christianity. So, it's a phony holiday. And, if anyone tries to justify it by saying, "But he introduced Christianity to Ireland, a very religions and Catholic country." You are dead wrong. All I've heard about since I've been here is how Ireland is no longer very religious, and churches are dead. So even Ireland, has turned their own legit holiday, into nothing more than a drinking holiday. Nicely done lads.

I still hate Irish traditional music.

note: I've eaten probably 5 PB&J's over the past 24 hours.

Also of note: Every bracket I fill out, I have Kansas winning it all. My Final Four is Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, WVU/Marquette (undecided here)

Ok, that's it.

Happy Mothers Day!

Yes, that's right, today is Mothers day in Ireland. Why is it in the middle of March? I honestly have no clue, but it is. I was wondering why all this Mothers day stuff started popping up all over the stores about a week ago, and it wasn't until the other day when I looked at a calendar that I realized it is today. So Happy Moms day to all the Irish Moms!

So today I just lounged around, finished one of my papers due Thursday completely, and cleaned my room. I'm gonna finish my music paper over the next 3 days so that I can watch the first round of the NCAA tourney Thursday and Friday night. Because this weekend I have to do my history paper. So I plan on doing that in the morning, before it's afternoon in the states. That way I can watch all the games Saturday and Sunday evening too. My music paper only has to be 1,500 words. That's cake. My history one has to be 2,500. But it's on "Why was WWII called the People's war." How easy is that? Yes, cake, I know.

Oh, just a quick reminder to people. I am now only 4 hours ahead of you. Our clocks do not spring forward here until March 28th. One of the last countries to do so. So for now, I am four hours ahead, as apposed to 5.

Highlight of the day: It's selection Sunday! The NCAA college basketball bracket was announced! I am so pumped! At first glance I'd say, Kansas has a tough road, but they are a strong team. I like West Virginia a lot. I can see Baylor playing Duke in the elite 8, and I think Syracuse has a pretty easy road for the most part. I can't wait to start filling out brackets. I've ran a pool every year since Junior year in High School. This is the first year since then that I'm not. It's really weird. And it sucks because no one here cares about US college basketball. So I guess I can talk to myself about how crazy shit is. I am still filling out brackets. I'll display them in my room and what not. I'm going to fill out a couple and then I'm going to make a final bracket. One in pen, that I won't change at all. I'll either take pictures or post about it by Thursday. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Hmmmm, that's really all I got right now.

Oh, and the whole car situation. I want a retro looking car. Ya know, like something from the 80's. Like a 1980's jaguar or mercedes benz. You can find them for like $6,000 now. I feel like I could see myself driving down the Santone freeway blaring "Working for the Weekend" in a 1980's car. I really wouldn't mind getting a late 1980's porsche for around 6 or 7 thousand. However, my sister and Emily both keep telling me it's not practical. But honestly, I don't know that I care about that right now. My sister said, "You can't put a baby seat in a porsche." I was like, woah, I'm not having kids anytime soon. So why not buy the nice sporty throwback while I'm young? I have my whole like to get a domestic sedan. I don't want to be that 50 or 60 year old dude that goes out and buys a porsche or a ferari. That screams, "I'm desperate for attention and I was the man in high school. Yes, I played on the football or basketball team, and now I have this awesome car. Check me out. Sure I'm half bald but don't I look so awesome?" Yeah, I don't wanna be that guy. Plus by the time I'm 50, a car from the 80's would be considered a classic car. So dammit, I'm getting an 80's car! I wish I was born in 1970. That way I could have been a kid when Skynard and Zeppelin were king, and then I could have been a teenager in the 80's, when leather jackets were the shit and Journey and Hall and Oates were radio favorites. Oh well, I'm brining it back. If I can't go back to the 80's, I'll just bring the 80's to myself.

Whatever, I'll just leave everyone with some 80's flashbacks.


























Ok, that's good enough. How can you honestly say you didn't want to be a teenager when all this was hot?




Have a goodnight everyone!

Payce.

Back by Popular Demand...Or just not being lazy anymore?

Ok, wow. So it's been 5 days. But I have decent reason for my absence. My friends have been here literally all week, and we've been traveling soooo, I have a half ass reason for not updating. Still, no excuses, and I apologize for the absence.

Ok I know I just said we've been traveling, but it was actually only until Wednesday. I could have updated Thursday or Friday but I just didn't. I was hanging out with my friends, got sidetracked, and thus, no update.

Here is how my week went:

Sunday- Sara and Christina arrive
Monday- Dublin
Tuesday- Dublin/Galway
Wednesday- Galway
Thursday- Here
Friday- Here
Today- Sara and Christina leave

Okay, so here is how my week went down...

Monday: On Monday we left early in the morning to catch the 8:30 bus from Limerick to Dublin. However, we missed our bus by like 2 minutes and had another hour to kill in the bus station. So we had a mini breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and coffee at the bus station before catching the 9:30.

We got on the bus at 9:30 and were on the road to Dublin. As usual, the bus to Dublin was not crowded so we got to sprawl out and take up two seats to ourselves. I of course fell asleep for the ride there. When I woke up, we were driving into the city center. We landed in Dublin at about 12:30ish. We decided to book a hotel rather than a hostel for our trip, but check-in wasn't until 2. So, we walked around O'Connell Street for about a half an hour until we decided to go look for our hotel. We searched for an hour looking for this place. It was the Abbey Hotel. We walked all over Abbey Street and could not find it. Finally, I decided we needed to ask someone for help. So I went into the Australian Travel Agency that we asked for directions at my first trip to Dublin, and I asked for the hotel. They said, "A few doors down." We literally walked up and down the street 3 times and did not see the Abbey Hotel. So we ventured down the street and there, on a little door attached to a cafe it said, "Hotel." It turns out, it actually said Abbey Hotel above the front windows of the cafe. However, there were potted plants hanging in front of the words so you couldn't even see it. So we checked in at 2 and got our room. It wasn't bad at all. We paid 40 for one room with a queen sized bed. The girls slept on the bed and I slept on the floor. We had a huge bathroom, really clean, nice hot water. It was a great deal.

Once we got settled, we ventured out into Dublin. We decided to stop to grab a bite to eat before we went site seeing. So we stopped at a small restaurant and all got a quick bite and a Guinness. I had a beef pie. It is gravy and beef, baked into a pie. It was delicious. However, mixed with Guinness, I felt like I ate about 40 times that.

So after our afternoon feast we headed off into the city. I was actually very familiar with everything. I knew exactly what streets to take to get where, and where certain things were located. I was a pro at navigating Dublin. We went to the Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and Temple Bar. We didn't have a ton of time to look around because it was already getting dark. Plus the walk out to St. Patrick's is time consuming. So we made our way back to the hotel around 5 or 6, slept until 7 or 8, and then went out to hit up the pub scene.

We stopped at Temple Bar first. It was a decent crowd for a Monday night. Nothing special though. They had live music, but it wasn't traditional Irish music. It was just your average starving artist with a guitar, playing covers. So we just had a drink there and then decided to stop at some huge five story bar on the corner. Can't even remember the name. But it was a great time.

We got into the bar and the girls started buying me drinks to celebrate my birthday. I drank rum and cokes all night. We also had a couple Red Headed Sluts. We introduced our bartender to those. He had never heard of it before. So we are sitting at the bar having a good time, and then the live music walks in. It's just a guy and his guitar. Just like the last bar. Just like a coffeehouse. So he starts playing some of his own stuff, and it isn't going well. No one cares. He leaves after the very first song to go move his car. It was just awful. However, as we started getting a little drunker and the people around us started to as well, he got better. And then he just started taking requests. Literally his 2 hour slot turned into request hour. He played nothing he planned to the rest of the night. We gave him basically his entire nights worth of songs. We just started yelling random shit. "Dave Matthews!" He played Crash Into Me. "Tom Petty!" He played Free Fallin. "Sweet Home Alabama!" He played it. Hell, we yelled "Free Bird," and he somehow turned a 9 minute song into a 2 minute song with the same lyrics for two verses. He even said, "Are you serious? Usually people just yell that for the sake of yelling it." It was hilarious. He didn't know half the words to any song so he just played the chords and sang versus over. We were rolling laughing. We were singing along with him just so he had some knowledge of the words. Like, how do you turn Free Bird into 2 minutes and repeat a verse twice? He was messing up Tom Petty terribly, messed up Sweet Home Alabama. In fact, he would stop when he didn't know the lyrics and then just start again with the verse he just sang. Oh he played Don't Stop Believin too, and did a pretty decent job. Messed up some of the lyrics there too but he played the whole song so I couldn't be mad. As we kept drinking and yelling out songs some random girl comes over and asks us if we are American. Duh. She says she was from Texas. I was like, "Wow I hope they aren't like you." She was this little annoying 5 foot nothing bleach blond with a choppy cut and a black turtle neck on. Looked really pale, kinda Russian with her bony face. She started talking to us about random shit. But we got two rounds of shots off of her so we couldn't complain. She introduced us to her boy toy who was from England. He is a bartender. He showed me video on his phone of him tossing bottles and what not. He was a cool guy. Turns out though, she's married, and that is her on the side lover. She lives with her husband in Dublin and is moving to NYC next month. She hasn't told her lover. So she's a bitch on all accounts basically. Cheating on the husband, leading this on the side guy on. What a great girl. I just remember talking to him about how he loves his job, and who cares if he doesn't make a ton of money, blah blah. I was like "Yeah dude, I feel you. I totally feel you." He gave me his card for his bar in London, free drinks if I ever go. So I got that goin for me. Then we met some random guy from London who came in with his Irish buddy and his girl. He was a really cool guy. We actually talked for like 20 minutes about our countries. He was a good guy. Didn't get his name, but he was funny. We talked about Obama and the economy of the US. That's about all I remember of our talk. But he was one of those loud Brits who put his arm around ya and yelled stuff like, "This fockin Wanker!" Haha.

After our night of debauchery, we went back to the hotel. I watched South Park and the girls fell asleep. It was the coldest slumber of my life. The floor was freezing. I used Christina's jacket as a blanket and was cured. It was like sleeping under a heated blanket. I have no idea what that jacket was made out of, but it was amazing. Oh, and I woke up in the middle of the night to the Nickelodeon symbol rotating on the screen. No programming, not black screen, just that. It was weird.

Tuesday: Tuesday morning we got up, got ready, and checked out at noon. We decided we were going to do the Guinness factory. So we went into the city and ate breakfast at this cafe right next to the Temple Bar. I ordered the "American Breakfast." It was pancakes, apple wood bacon, and dippy eggs. It was awesome. Only, the pancakes weren't pancakes, they were just two crepes. But it was great nonetheless.

After breakfast we made our way to the factory. I took the tour for the second time, had my Guinness in the Gravity Bar and then we left. I get to go one more time when Emily comes in May.

After Guinness we headed to the bus station and just caught the 5pm bus to Galway. The trip seemed to last forever. It took us until about 9 to reach Galway. It was rag week in Galway, so there were a bunch of girls from Dublin on the bus going to party with their friends. Rag Week is charity week. Basically all kinds of events and what not to raise money for charity, with an emphasis on drinking. It's like senior week basically. So the girls on the bus were drinking on the bus. They were drinking Budweiser and Smirnoff the entire trip. We finally reached Galway, and had the great task of finding somewhere to stay so late. We refused to stay in a hostel, so we looked for a cheap hotel. Sara's Dad helped us get one right off of Shop Street. So we stayed at the Imperial Hotel for the night. We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we went to the McDonalds I visited the last time I was in Galway. It was filled with drunk guys punching each other and making a mess of the place. One very intoxicated fellow stopped us to ask where we were from. We did the whole, "America, blah, blah" intro stuff. He was excited about us being in Ireland, and then proceeded to tell us a joke. "Okay, what does Arnold Schwarzenegger say on Easter? Answer: I-still-love-easter baby." With his accent, we didn't get it at first, but then he explained it and I found it pretty damn amusing. He just kept saying, "He wants to kill you, but he still loves Easter!" So then he ran out in a drunken stupor and we ate. After our McDonalds we went back to the hotel. We bought a bottle of white wine and watched Goodfellas until we went to bed. It was a chill night.

Wednesday: Wednesday morning we woke up and caught the 10am tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, etc. It was the same tour that I took the last time I was in Galway. I let the bus driver know, and he laughed about it. He told me, "Well, I guess you can be the guide today then lad." Haha. We had a gorgeous day. It was mid 50's and sunny all day. Absolutely perfect. And the tour was even better this time around. Absolutely no overcast skies, not even once. Obviously no rain. Much warmer. Also, the tour went a different route this time. Apparently they have different routes everyday. So instead of going to the Corkscrew hill this time, we got to go to the Poulnabrone Dolmen. The famous Irish tombs out in the middle of the burren. It was awesome. That's where we realized half of our bus was Penn State students studying abroad in other parts of Europe. Literally our entire bus. A group of bros in the back were all from Penn State, the group sitting right behind us had PSU shirts on, the girls in the front of us asked if we went to PSU. It was PSU central. The bros were amusing too. Especially the kid who almost missed the bus. Ya see, the bus driver sticks to the schedule to the minute. If you are late, too bad, he needs to make it back on time for people catching buses, planes, etc. So he told us when we got to the Cliffs, be back here in an hour or you're left behind. Well everyone was back but three people. Two middle eastern guys sitting in front of me, and one of the PSU bros. The bus driver started pulling out and as he got out of the parking lot, we see this kid running to catch the bus off in the distance. So the bus driver stops and decides to wait for him. We watched this kid sprint through the parking lot, jump some kind of ditch, run through a field, drop all of his postcards and bags, gather them, and then stumble to the bus. It was hilarious. The middle eastern guys never showed. It wasn't until we were eating lunch at the pub that they showed up. They had to take a taxi.

So we went to the coastline and then to the castle and then headed back. I got to talking to the bus driver when I was at the coast. I told him I'd be taking the tour once more since Emily was coming in May and the tour was great. As we left the bus at the end of the tour he stopped me and told me that when I come back in May, to remind him who I am and he will let Emily and I go for free. So that was really nice of him. Healey Tours. If you are in Galway, it's the best way to see the coast without renting a car. Plus the dude talks the entire time and you learn a lot.

So after our tour we headed back to Limerick. Got in around 8, got some sandwiches and then watched Couples Retreat and American Idol before going to bed.

Thursday: I went to class, the girls went into the city. Class was unimportant. In between classes though I watched the sky diving club kids jump onto the soccer field from like 4,000 ft. so that was cool. I wish I could join the club, but it's 180 euros. But you get unlimited jumps. I guess I'll just wait to do that in Texas.

Thursday night we stayed in and ordered pizza. Then Sara and I went to the Stables with Andrea for a little bit. Just like an hour, tops. Nothing big. We came back, watched Seinfeld and went to bed.

Friday: Friday morning I woke up to no girls. They went to Cork for the day to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. I would have went but I am going there in April with the study abroad office and again when Emily gets here. So I just thought it was a waste of money for me right now.

When the girls returned we again ordered pizza and stayed in for the night. We just kinda sat around and played music, talked, just had a chill night in.

Today: This morning at 6 I sadly had to say goodbye to Sara and Christina. We had a good week. It made me miss Berks and home. It was so refreshing to have my friends here for a week. It was great to see familiar faces and talk to people who actually care about me. Now it's back to reality.

After seeing them off I went back to bed until about 10 and then got up. I did my one short essay on Hitler this morning, but I still need to do my Music one this weekend. It's only 1,500 words. That's two pages single spaced. Easy enough. I'll do that tomorrow.

I got to talk to my parents on the phone today which was nice. I talked to my Mom about apartments we like in Santone. It's exciting apartment shopping. It's like the NFL draft. You assess all the strengths and weaknesses of these places. You base them on different criteria. Some places have the location, others have the amenities. Eventually you'll negotiate a price with an agency and then pick one. It's a cool process. Wide open at this point.

After talking to my Dad about college bball on the phone, I decided I was going through withdraw and I was sick of just watching highlights on ESPN.com. So I went in search for live streaming of games and finally found one! So I got to watch the Houston vs. UTEP game, Duke vs. Miami, Tenn. vs. Kentucky, OSU vs. Illinois and NC State vs. GTech. Now I'm watching Kansas vs. Kansas State. I literally had 3 games playing at once in different boxes all over my screen. It was great.

Tonight I got some groceries, made steak and pasta and just sat in and watched bball. Worked on my Classic Rock play list for my summer cruisin. It got me to looking for cars online. I told my parents that the first thing I want to look into once I get down to Santone is a car. I've had mine now for about 5 years. It's a good car. Get's me to where I'm going. Never had any major problems with it. But if I'm gonna be hitting the highway, I need something a little safer. I need something that isn't 2 pounds, that rattles and gets blown around the road by little gusts of wind. Something that I can drive in the rain on the highway and not worry about it sliding and slipping. My dad always used to complain about me driving my car out to Pittsburgh to see Emily. He'd always say, "I don't think that car can be making those long trips" yada yada. Well now I have to make a 26 hour highway trip with it down to Texas this summer. And then back and forth on holidays, etc. It's cheaper than flying. However, I'm gonna have to take the Saturn. So we'll see if my Dad's tone changes. He didn't like me going four hours with it and now I'm going more than a day with it at high speeds. Bottom line is, I'm getting a new car. I'm going to budget for it. It's not like I have to pay for kids or anything, I'll be in my bachelor pad. I know it's still expensive, but I'll have a nice income for just myself. So I'm getting a car. At this point I just want to look between $5,000 and $10,000. Probably closer to the 5,6,7 range though. I don't know what make I want yet. I am really leaning toward a Volkswagen. I mean, it's a Volkswagen. I've wanted one since I was little. I'm thinking maybe a black or white Jetta. Also, I fell in love with the 1986 Porsche 944 turbo tonight. Possibly the coolest car ever made. I am tempted to get one of those. They are all priced around 7 or 8 thousand. Plus they look amazingly 1980s and have decent mileage. And they are super cool. If I didn't mention that already. I can see myself driving down the highway playing Loverboy in that car. That's what you gotta look for in a car. Can I play Loverboy in it and look awesome? Yes, in that car I could.

Okay. Wow. That's it for now. I'm tired from writing all that. I'll update tomorrow, not matter how boring my life is.

Peace.

Running on Empty

Ok, soooo my friends got here yesterday and have convinced me to go see some of Ireland with them.

So, I'm skipping class until Wednesday and going to see Dublin and Galway again. I feel slightly guilty about missing class but they post all the notes online. Plus I have friends whose family members are visiting and they are skipping entire weeks so, I don't feel too too bad. I just have to be sure to get the notes offline for my classes.


Okay, I'll update this later!

Take care everyone!

Is it Easter Break yet...

No. It isn't. And yes, in Ireland it is called Easter break. They aren't politically correct. Well, they don't have to be because their break falls over Easter. Not the first week in March. Everyone here thinks it's really dumb that American students have "Spring" break at the end of February. Makes no sense to them.

So, I haven't updated in awhile, well, because nothing is happening. This was to be a lazy weekend, and that it was. However, it was a lazy end of the week too.

Thursday. I had my dreaded midterm in Europe Government and Society on Thursday. We had no idea what to expect. I looked over my notes once Wednesday night, but that was about it. So I went to tutorial for the class at 10 and our teacher told us it wasn't going to be too bad. But as foreign students, we don't know what "too bad" means. If it's just general knowledge, it isn't necessarily going to be easy for us American students. Our general knowledge all relates to the US. If the test was on how the government in the US was set up, I'd ace it. That's common knowledge. You're supposed to know that. However, if you asked me how the government of the EU was set up, simple bare bones, I couldn't tell ya. I'd fail. But all the kids here know it because that's what they grew up with. It's expected. So I'm lost most of the time.

So I had a specially scheduled music tutorial at 11, right after my Europe Government tutorial. I should have just said I couldn't make it and studied, but I figured what the hell, why not. So I went, banged on the drum and headed to my test. I didn't eat breakfast before my test, had nothing to eat or drink all morning, and it was now noon. I was becoming restless. But I figured I did this all the time back at home and I got a 4.0 last semester so screw it. We were distributed the tests by our tutorial teachers. The prof doesn't show up on test day. Everything off the desks, use your own notebook paper, you have 40 minutes. The test was 5 short answer questions and 3 long answer questions. You had to answer all 5 of the short answers but only 2 of the 3 long answers. When I looked through the first 5, I thought to myself, "These could all be answered in one word." The first five questions went something like this...

1. What was the term coined by Erich Ludendorff?
2. When did the Bolsheviks take over power in Russia?
3. Who was the fascist leader who came to power in Italy after WWI?
4. What is the gold standard and why was it used?
5. How did the depression of the mid 1920's shape international relations?

As soon as I saw the first 5 questions, I knew I'd get no lower than an A on this test. I remember looking over all of these points when I did my one scan the night before. I'm becoming real good at anticipating test questions. I immediately just started writing. I had to elaborate because honestly, for the first 3 you could write down 1 word and be done with it. So I had to bullshit.

Erich Ludendorff, 1935, coined the term "Total War" blah blah, this meant the complete mobilization of a nations resources militarily and economically.

Czar kicked out in Russia 1917, Bolsheviks take over in 1918, don't seize full power until 1922, blah blah blah.

Mussolini was the fascist who took over Italy, blah blah.

The Gold Standard was introduced by London, blah blah.

And the Depression put everyone into isolationism, tensions rise, blah blah.

Simple, straightforward, way too easy.

The backside then had 3 long quotes. We were to read the quote, look at who said it, talk about the context in which it was used, and comment on the quote. So I chose one from Woodrow Wilson to Lloyd George about Germany not paying reparations and I chose one from some German politician about how the porn industry was ruining the country's moral values. Piece of cake.

So Thursday night, I just chilled out. I went to the gym at 10 that night. Don't know why, I just did.

Yesterday I didn't get to sleep in because I had to go turn my paper in at my teachers office. First I had to print it out. You have to put money on your ID card in order to print, and I didn't have enough on mine, so I had to go to another building and have them print it out for me. But I got it bound and it had a nice glossy finish, so it was all good. Paid 4 Euros for it though.

So after that I went to the gym, and then just spent last night chilling and watching movies. Nothings really happening here. I will say this though, it has been gorgeous the last 3 days. Thursday and Friday I was walking around in jeans and a t-shirt. Probably around 60 degrees. This week again it's supposed to get up to 60! I'm excited! The weather is definitely getting better here. It's starting to feel like Spring. I have noticed the grass getting greener over the past couple weeks. Pretty soon everything will be blooming and budding. Hell there have been flowers blooming for about two weeks now all over campus. I hope the cold, cold days are over. Crossing my fingers.

Today... was nice. I slept in until 1. Ahhh finally. I got up, had a pb&j sandwich and then went to the gym. Came back from the gym, downloaded music and just lounged all day and night. Got a pizza from Spar, it sucked terribly, but I got to watch Wedding Crashers on TV here while making it and eating it so that was cool.

Now I'm just writing this and getting ready for bed. I have to get up early tomorrow because my friends will be arriving mad early! But I'm excited for their arrival, should be a fun time! I still have to do laundry though at some point this week. I'm running out of clothing. I guess I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

Also, I hate the freaking girls who live next door to me. Quiet alllll day until right now. Why do they always do this. I hate them! I've never met them, but they are the most annoying girls in the world. They can't be Irish because all the Irish kids go home on the weekends. I've often thought about just going over on nights when they aren't noisy at like 2 am and ringing their doorbell and running back over here. Or throwing eggs in the window they constantly leave open in the front of the house. I just want them to shut up. And you can't tell them to because they'll just get louder. Oh well.

Alright, that's it for now. I'm going to bed.

Goodnight everyone.

Hump Day Blues...

Well, another Wednesday has come and gone folks.

Today, was again, wait for it, waiiiitttt for it...boring! Yes! Boring! Great!

I know people will say, "Matt, you're in Ireland, how is it boring. Go do something." People, you need to realize, I am a student here. I actually have to do work just like the rest of you back at home. I've been writing a paper all week, I have two more due in 3 weeks, a test tomorrow, and constant tutorial work. I can't just go travel 24/7. A lot of people are under that impression when studying abroad, but it isn't always a party. I can't just pick up and go to Dublin for a week and skip all of my classes. It just aint gonna happen. Plus, I've been lucky enough to travel for the past 4 out of 5 weekends, including seeing 3 countries. I deserve some rest and relaxation. For the first time in 3 weeks I will finally be able to sleep in on Friday. I plan on lounging in bed at until 1pm, at least.

Like I said, today was just another pretty chill day. I started off the morning by eating some Poptarts and then heading to class with idiot woman. I almost enjoy her class now, because it's a train wreck. I like seeing what's going to happen today. Earlier this week there was a virus on the computer in our lecture hall, so it wouldn't read her flash drive. Then she restarted the computer, started lecturing, stopped halfway through, played with the computer for 10 minutes, laughed about it, got the virus on her flash drive, got her powerpoints working, and then spent the rest of the time going through the powerpoints while clicking "no" on all the popups that continuously interrupted her, because of the virus. It was great. Everyone was laughing at her. She's starting to grow on me, because she's so smart that she's dumb. You can tell she knows her stuff. I'll give her that. But the way she presents it to us and handles herself, she's a ditz. It's like she doesn't even care anymore. It's hilarious. Today she came into class 15 minutes late. We didn't start until 11:20. She talked for 10 minutes on slides that had minimal writing on them, and then she showed us a video for 20 minutes. She's becoming so lazy, it's hilarious. And she knows it. You can tell. She'll stand up there and laugh at herself when everything goes wrong. It makes me laugh. I'm starting to enjoy my 20 minute lectures with the stone cold fox who wears dumb outfits and cannot work technology.

After my class I came back to the apartment, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, ate some Cheetos, had a Capri Sonne and surfed the web for civil war reenactment info. I got in touch with a guy down in San Antonio through a website dedicated to reenacting. He is in charge of the 6th Texas volunteer infantry, based out of Santone. They have 30 active members and do either drill or a reenactment every month. Not only do they dress as Confederate volunteers, but they also dress as New York Zouaves for some engagements if they are needed. He also told me that they have plenty of loaner gear for people who are just starting, so I don't have to worry about expenses right away. However, I don't know if I want to join. I'm gonna be down there for 2 years, but after those two years, I have no idea where I'll be. I don't wanna join and then quit right away. I guess I could always join. I mean, I want to reenact as a Confederate soldier. Always wanted to, still want to. There's a lot of personal customization that can be done with Confederate uniforms. You can pretty much wear what you want. I like that freedom. You get to create your own character and personality. You pick a name from the original roster back during the Civil War and you portray that person. He is your other half when you reenact. So I could always just start, and then if I move I can just take my outfit with me. A Confederate in Texas dressed pretty much the same as a Confederate in Virginia. Virginia Confederates were a little more formalized, but that's just a matter of buying different pants or a hat. All I know is now that I will have some money, I want to make this a reality. I want to start reenacting. More importantly, I want to be part of the 150th reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. The 145th reenactment was the biggest ever. People still talk about it on the message boards. However, people are already talking about the 150th. They say it will be the last major reenactment until the 175th. So just as long as I am an established reenactor within the next 4 years, I'm good.

This afternoon I had tutorial which was pointless, and then I skipped music again. Why? Because she puts the slides online immediately after class. And when you sit in that class, the notes you take are those exact slides. So whatever. I came back here, finished my paper and studied for my test that's tomorrow.

Tonight I just made some chicken, buttered noodles and string beans. Then I ate dinner and watched two episodes of Friends. Friends is always on over here. I've never been a fan, but I am really starting to like the show. I enjoy eating dinner and watching Friends every night. It sounds really pathetic but it's a good relaxing time so I enjoy it.

Now I am just watching a live stream of American Idol sitting in bed. I watched Gods and Generals tonight online. In that Civil War mood. This happens to me all the time. Usually in June or July I get an itch to go down to visit Gettysburg and what not. Buy anyway, so I'm just chilling watching this and waiting to go to bed.

Hopefully I have more to talk about tomorrow?

At any rate. Goodnight everyone!

Sex, Drugs and Waffles

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. I haven't updated this thing since last Thursday. Holy cow, that's awhile ago. It's been pretty crazy the past half a week, so bear with me...

Ok, so this past weekend was the trip to Belgium and Amsterdam! We only planned on staying in Brussels for a few hours, with the majority of the trip focused around Amsterdam. So Thursday evening we went to the train station, and boarded a bus bound for Dublin. The train cost a little more than a bus, but it was about 2 hours faster. A bus takes four hours to cross Ireland, where as a train takes just over 2. We had a little trouble with getting our tickets at first since we prepaid for them and the machine wasn't reading our friend Michelle's card, but one of the convenience store managers inside the station helped us out. It's amazing how no one is ever at the information or service desk. Anywhere. It's pretty absurd. It's like people really don't care about customer service in this country. It pisses me off to no end.

So we board the train, which is only about 5 cars in length, and start on our journey to Amsterdam. The train itself was different from US Amtraks. All the seats were positioned facing each other in groups of fours. So you had to look at whoever was across from you the entire ride. Also, randomly every couple of groupings, there was a table in between the four. Almost like an old school train that you'd see in the movies from the 40's or 50's. So of course we sat at the table seats, which wasn't a problem since there was no one on our train. So we traveled for about an hour, then stopped at a station, and changed to another train on the same platform. This train would take us the rest of the way. On this train, all of the groupings had tables, and it was a bit more classy than the other train. I sat next to Molly from California, who was part of our group. We ended up talking for the entire train ride about our goals and ambitions for the future. It actually made me realize that there is a lot of shit I wanna do. Like run across America. I want to do that. If I'm gonna be a teacher, I have the summer off. So why not take 3 months to run across the United States in the name of a charity. Not non-stop, but it could be done. Hell I'd take a sabbatical and do it if I had to. Also, one of these summers I will finally go through with my road trip I've dreamed of since I was a kid and visit every MLB stadium in one summer. That is doable. For sure. You can always find really cheap tickets to ballparks depending on the game and the day, and I'm gonna have a job so I'll have money. I'm doing it. Case closed. I also want to start Civil War reenacting. Yeah, bet ya didn't know I love the Civil War. I do. And I've always wanted to reenact. I've been researching it. Texas doesn't have many reenactment groups so I'm kind of bummed about that. However, in order to participate in the Gettysburg reenactment in July, you don't have to be part of a unit, you can just go as an individual and attach to someones group. So I'll just do that. Confederate soldier of course. I'd never be a Yankee.

Anyway, back to Europe. So we got into Dublin around 8 or 9pm on Thursday night. I don't have Friday class so it was all good. We walked from the train station to our hostel, which was basically smack dab in the center of Dublin. It was called the Abbey Court Hostel. It was right next to 'OConnell Street, where we were for the majority of our time in Dublin earlier in the month. So we knew the area. So we checked in and got to our room. It was nice. There were 3 bunk beds and we had our own bathroom. There were six of us, so we booked a 6 person private room. It was nice to just leave our stuff in the room and not have to worry about locking it up. So, we got situated and decided to go find food. Only, food turned into us going to a pub next door and drinking a Guinness or Smithwicks first. The pub wasn't anything great, but it caught our attention because they had live traditional Irish music on Thursday nights. So we went in and listened to an older lad and a dude probably in his late 20's sing some traditional Irish music to our group and about 4 other people. The four other people were hilarious, because they were A. Drunk and B. Good friends with the 2 lads playing. So they were constantly yelling out requests. The one guy kept yelling, "Ah, play Streets of Chicago. Jus play it far em. They're from the United States. Play streets of Chicago." Eventually they did. I left for a bit to go find something to eat by myself. However, not to my surprise, everything was closed. That's why I returned back to the pub and drank a Smithwicks. After they finished their set we decided to go to McDonalds, because it was the only place still open. Plus McDonalds tastes better after drinking alcohol, like most fast food. So I ordered my Big Mac meal and we ate. I eat McDonalds more here than I do back in the States. That's sad.

So after we ate we returned to our room. I decided to get a shower since we were getting up at 4am to catch a taxi to the airport. Our plane left at 6:35. So I hopped in the shower. It was great. Nice and warm, good pressure. And within literally 20 seconds it went ice cold. Ireland has a problem with keeping water hot. I was so mad. I hate the feeling of being partially wet and cold. So I decided to skip the shower and went to bed. It was probably around 12 when I went to bed, but I didn't fall asleep until about 1 or 1:30. Why? Because Katie snores like crazy, and someones car alarm was going off literally all night. It was the worst combination I've ever experienced. I finally somehow got to bed, and the next thing I knew I was awoken by the girls saying it's time to leave. So I packed up all my crap and we hopped into our taxi to the airport.

We arrived at the Dublin airport, which was huge, and got checked in, etc. Of course, it wasn't an airport without me getting searched. I put my bag through, took everything off, walked under the medal detector and beeped. I was once again patted down, and then bomb scanned. Also, my hair gel that I bought in an airport last week, was thrown away. As well as my Old Spice body spray. I wanted to punch the guy in the face. So after going through pointless security crap, we went to our gate. It was a good hike to get to our gate from the main lobby. Probably a ten minute walk. Which I had to make again because I had no money, and there was no ATM down around our gate. So I walked the opposite direction of all the moving sidewalks and finally found an ATM. Then I had to walk all the way back to my gate. I was sweating. But I was able to buy a bangin almond croissant for breakfast so it was all worth it.

So we got on the plane, and were headed for Brussels. When we got to Brussels, it was pouring. At least we got a stamp in our passport. It wasn't until I was in the lobby of the airport that I realized for the first time in my life, I was in a place that didn't speak English as a first language. All the signs were in French. All the people were speaking French. It was nuts. I said Merci to the dude who took my passport. That was as good as my French got. If I wanted to I could have called everyone a bitch and told them to do dirty and raunchy things, but I don't think that would have went over very well. After all, profanity is about all I know in French. Oh well.

So we hopped on a bus and drove an hour into Brussels. We got off at the station and made our way toward the city center. My impression of Brussels? Dreary, dirty, and kinda shady. It almost reminded me of what an Eastern European country would look like. Trash everywhere, all over the streets. Graffiti literally everywhere, lonely looking businesses, crumbled and condemned apartments, vacant buildings with glass shattered everywhere, and construction all over the place. It just wasn't what I expected from Brussels. So we made our way toward the historic district. Brussels is small. It didn't take us long to get there. First we stopped by the little statue fountain of the baby peeing.The Mannikin Pis. This is a statue donated by a man who promised to reward the city if the people found his lost son. When he was found, he gave the city a statue of a naked little boy peeing. For some reason the statue has become a Brussels landmark. So I got a picture with it. It's actually much smaller than you think. I thought it was a huge statue, but it's tiny. Meanwhile, it's solidly raining. Right next to the statue, which sits in a corner of two rows of buildings, was a Belgian waffle bakery. It was a walk up window. They had all the waffles you could choose from laid out on a big cart. You just pointed to the one you wanted and the ladies would make that one for you. I got the one with strawberries, nutella and whipped cream. It was amazing. The best breakfast food I've ever tasted, in dough form. It was delicious. Now I know why Belgian waffles are famous. They are that good. So we walked down the street eating our waffles, and because I am me, I bit into mine and felt it become very top heavy. Ya see, the strawberries were fresh. Not concentrated or packaged. So they weren't mashed onto the waffles. They were laid on top of the waffle. And the whipped cream was put on top of the strawberries. So they were shifting with every bite. Of course, a couple bites in, all my strawberries and whipped cream combines into a massive ball and falls forward off my waffle. At the time I was eating it with one hand and felt the mass fall. In that split second I thought, "Shit do I catch this or let it fall?" I caught it. Then put it back on top of my waffle. However, my right hand was now covered in melted chocolate and whipped cream. They don't give you napkins with your waffle. So I had to stand over a trash can and wolf down my waffle, and then basically lick my hand clean. Not the best situation. But I had to do what I had to do.

As we pressed on, we walked into this huge courtyard with some of the most amazing buildings I've ever seen. A huge Cathedral with intricate carvings of men and women all over it. It was unreal. Literally every inch of this massive cathedral had people carved into it. The other buildings in the courtyard were the same way. Huge statues and figures carved into them, with gold lining the buildings. It was amazing. The coolest architecture I have ever seen. Hands down. We also got to see this gold statue of a man lying dead. It is apparently famous in Belgium. It sits underneath an overhang of one of the buildings in the courtyard. I was watching people approach it. They take their hand and rub it from the head of the mans body down to his feet. They then rub the dogs head which is carved next to the mans body, the steers head above his body, and a baby's head that also appears above his body. I have no idea what it meant or symbolized, but I did it anyway. Apparently, legend has it that if you touch the statue, you will visit again.

As we stood in the courtyard, it really started to pour. So we decided to go grab something to eat. We just popped into a little pizza joint and got three small pizzas. I had a Maes beer. When in Belgium, get a Belgian beer. It was good. Kinda like a Coors light. After we ate we headed to the bus station to catch our bus to Belgium. We got kinda lost, but we were heading the right way the entire time, so it wasn't a big deal. We made the bus on time, got on around 5, and took the 3 hour journey to Amsterdam. I fell asleep on the ride, and when I woke up I was in Amsterdam. It was night and raining so I didn't really have a great first impression of the city. Pretty much because I couldn't see anything. The bus station is right in the center of the city, located right behind the only 2 or 3 skyscrapers in the entire city. The one kinda reminded me of the Chrysler building in NYC. So we grabbed something to eat in the bus station, and then got a taxi to our hotel.

Our hotel was awesome. It was a room for the six of us, our own bathroom, a tv. It was great. We didn't have to worry about locking up our belongings again, and we could leave for the day and come back at our leisure and not have to worry about waking others up and what not. And the shower was nice and hot for the entire shower. Not just 20 seconds. So once we got into our hotel room, we just spent the night in watching the Olympics. Skating pursuit was on. Do not get that sport. It was kinda boring. Couldn't understand the announcers wither because they were speaking Dutch. However, it is a neat language. It's like a cross between French and German. They pronounce some words very harsh like German, but when listening to a conversation it flows like French. It's pretty cool.

So Saturday we got up at 8 and then hit the city of Amsterdam. It's a cool city. It's very Dutchy. Like, when you think of the Netherlands, it's exactly what it looks like. No huge buildings, has that old school flare to it. Small bakeries and shops everywhere. It was neat. It was what I pictured Europe to be. They have trains that run all over the city on different lines right down the center of the street. It was really cool. But everything looked the same. Which wasn't a bad thing. We just had trouble remembering where we were. There were canals everywhere, trees lining the streets, all the streets were basically brick or cobblestone. It was great. It rained basically the whole day, but it stopped in the afternoon for a little bit. We started the morning walking toward the city center from our hotel, and stopped at a bakery to get some pastries. I got an amazing chocolate croissant, choco chip cookie and a coffee for 3 Euros. Amazing. The best deal I've got in Europe so far. Hands down. And it was great! Breakfast of champions. We also noticed, everyone, literally everyone rides a bike. There are as many bikes as cars in the Netherlands. It was insane. There was a legit 3 story parking garage, for bikes. It was ridiculous. They have huge bike lanes that are packed throughout the day. It is literally like a highway. People constantly buzzing around. You have to have your head on a swivel because you have to watch for cars, trains and bikes. It's pretty intimidating. I was almost hit several times by bikers.

So after breakfast we continued walking and somehow stumbled upon the red light district. I say stumbled upon, because everything looks the same. Apparently there are 3 red light districts in Amsterdam. However, they are all adjacent to one another. The one in the center just goes farther down the canal than the other two. So we walked down the world famous red light district, and I put my camera into my bag. Taking pictures in the red light is a no no. The prostitutes get pissed, and people get their cameras taken or smashed. I read up on what to expect from the red light district before we left, but the things people were saying about their experiences came nothing close to mine. People were saying they were offered drugs, people tried to rob them, etc. First of all, there weren't that many people there. I wasn't offered drugs, and the majority of the prostitute windows were closed. However, there were a good amount of girls in the windows! It was crazy! However, the afternoon shift is filled with the heavier and older chicks. Some of them were pretty hideous. It's crazy how liberal everything in the city is though. You walk down the street and there is a big nice church, and right across the street is a half naked chick in the window. Haha, it was insane. Also, there are pot and sex shops everywhere. We decided to go into both. You can't go to Amsterdam, the sex shop capital of the world, and not go into a sex shop. It was pretty graphic. Some of the things they had, I didn't even know they made. Let's just leave it at that. The weed shop was cool too, because it's a weed shop. They don't have them in the states. It's legal in Amsterdam. So of course we went into one. We however didn't get to go into the life size women mannequin shop, for all those lonely guys out there. The things were realistic looking too. The had a naked one just chilling in the front window. It looked like a real woman. So we walked around the city for the whole day. Took in the sites, visited a flea market, ate at a cafe. I ate an awesome crepe, drank some Heineken(brewed in Amsterdam) and had a great time. It's a cool city. I didn't like it as much as London, but it was something you have to see for yourself. My favorite part of the day was in the afternoon when we went to the Anne Frank house. I can hear all the guys back at home laughing. It's a long story. Basically, up until about 3 or 4 years ago, I thought Anne Frank was alive. Yeah, dumb right? Anyway, we still laugh about it. So being there, I wanted to laugh, but it was so sad that I felt like an ass. But being in the house was very powerful and moving. If you ever get a chance to see it you need to. You get to go through the entire house. I got to walk through the bookcase, I got to stand in Anne Franks bedroom, I got to walk around in her kitchen and apartment. It was surreal. Best part of the day.

When we got done eating in the evening, we wanted to go back to our hotel and chill before we went out to celebrate my birthday. However, since everything looks the same, we walked for an hour in a circle and realized we were right back to where we ate at. Before we headed back, it was dark, so we decided to walk down to the red light district to see what was going on. It was getting crowded. It was about 8 or 9. The red lights lit up the sidewalks and filled the air. Guys tried to get us to come in and watch live sex shows. Drunk people hooted and hollered down the canals. And the women in the windows got 1,000 times hotter. We only saw two or three walking through at night time, and they were much younger, and a lot more fit. They looked like super models. We only saw 2 or 3 though, because most of the windows were shut, meaning people were getting busy. Haha. Also, there was a urinal in the middle of the sidewalk. You walk into this circular steel cage thing, where your body is covered, but your head sticks out. So you could stand there taking a leak and talk to someone on the street. It was odd. But everything goes in Amsterdam.

At night we headed down toward the red light district to go out. All the clubs and bars were basically member only, but we finally found a place called "Royalties" to go into. The place was crazy. Lots of techno and fog and what not. I had to pay 5 Euros to get in but the girls didn't have to pay anything. But it was okay, they bought me drinks for my birthday. It was a good time.

So the next morning, my birthday, we got up at 8, jammed everything into our backpacks and headed off to the Van Gogh Museum. It was pouring out, so our bags got soaked. We ate waffles at an outside cafe under a tarp and then headed into the museum. It was annoying though, because you couldn't take pictures. I was pissed that we couldn't take any in the Anne Frank House, but i figured, oh it's sentimental, I understand. But the Van Gogh museum. Who cares. It was just annoying. The museum itself was pretty cool. As an art lover, I took my time and examined everything. Never really was a big Van Gogh fan, but I appreciate his work a lot more now that I've seen it up close. Lot's of color and texture that you just don't see in pictures.

After that, we just headed back to the bus station, hopped on a bus and went back to Brussels. We stopped at McDonalds along the way, haha. I know, more McDonalds. When we ot back to Brussels, we headed back to the other bus station where we would take the shuttle to the airport. As we walked down the street, I realized that there were girls, in thongs and bras standing in a window across the street. I thought it was only in Amsterdam, but apparently not. Kinda shocking. Haha. So we walked back toward the courtyard, but stopped at Godiva Chocolate first. Belgium is the home of Godiva. Here I got the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had. It was chocolate heaven in a glass. Delicious. Once we finished our coco, we just headed to the bus station, got confused, finally got our bus, and headed to the airport. Then we went through security, I beeped again for no reason, got thoroughly patted down and bomb scanned once again, had a terrible "ham" sandwich, and then got on the plane to head back to Ireland. It was a looooong day.

When I finally got back to my apartment around midnight, I got a call from my family at my grandparents house. They sang Happy Birthday to me! It was great. Then my parents called me, and I got to talk to Emily. So I wasn't as cranky. Just kinda stunk to travel allll day. But I can say I was in 3 countries on my birthday, and I got a stamp from Belgium that says 2.28.2010. So that's cool.

The last two days I've just been really busy. Yesterday it was 55, clear and warm. It was great. Tonight I finally did the first school work I've done all semester. I finished my annotated bibliography. Woo.


Also, tonight I realized I have the biggest craving for Swiss tea cooler and fruit punch. Oh my God, I would kill someone to drink Swiss products right now. And then I go to Texas and they don't have Swiss! I took PA for granted all these years.

Alright, hope you guys enjoy the update. Talk to you later!