Blackhall Place.

So after a few requests to see where I've been living the past few months of my life, I introduce you to Apartment 4, Block B in Blackhall Place. My Dad compared my room to a cell in the Montgomery County jail, but I like to call this home.

Living in Blackhall Place has its ups and downs. For example, our hallway flooding every time our neighbors took a shower. DOWN. But, an apartment complex full of all your friends. UP. Waiting an hour for the water heater to heat your shower. DOWN. Having your own room. UP.

That's life though, ups and downs. And although we constantly make jokes about Blackhall Place, I secretly love it so much. So friends, here is my room. (If you look closely you might see yourself featured on my bulletin board):

And these ladies to my left and right are the beauties I've been living with. Ashley and Nora :)

Howth and Easter.

On Saturday a group of us headed north to a small fishing town called Howth. This beautiful place is just a quick 20 minute DART ride (metro-like train) out of Dublin. We walked around the pier area for a while, saw seals (!), and then ate lunch at a pub called The Waterside. I tried fish and chips for the first time, just because I felt like I had to atleast once, and I thoroughly enjoyed the chips part. The fish, not my favorite.

As we approached the coast of Ireland while flying back from London last weekend, I was able to see the cliffs and the lighthouse of Howth. Thus the one thing I wanted to do while there was see the lighthouse from the ground. Becca, Celia, and I hiked along the edge of these cliffs for about an hour until we rounded the corner and saw THIS:

The whole hike was breathtaking, as it was a beautiful day and there were these yellow flowers blooming everywhere. It's crazy that this place has been here the entire time just TWENTY minutes away from where I live. Gosh, Ireland is just incredible.

Obviously taking a picture break along the hike :)

When the sun was shining the water looked TROPICAL. It's hard to believe that this picture was taken in Ireland. It looks more like the Bahamas or something. Also fun fact, Ireland has palm trees randomly. Which makes this even more tropical looking.

Afterwards we headed back to Dublin and prepared for one last night at one of our favorite clubs/pubs called Copper Face Jacks.

We woke up the next morning and headed to Christ Church Cathedral for an Easter Sunday service. I'm pretty sure it was a Catholic Church, but it was still really beautiful and Easter is definitely a favorite holiday of mine. Jesus is risen! Which is the most exciting thing. We ate brunch afterwards at Lemon and then lounged allllll day long. Definitely a great last weekend in Dublin.

This week is going to be action packed with paper writing, packing, preparing for Spain and Morocco, farewell parties, and saying goodbye. I hate the fact that this experience is coming to an end, but I can honestly say I've been so blessed throughout this adventure.

Spring Has Sprung.

This weekend is officially our last in Dublin. Sad Sad SAD. But, we're trying to enjoy it as much as possible. On Thursday it was Becca's 21st birthday, so we started celebrating at 12:00am on Wednesday night, and continued to celebrate Thursday by eating lunch at Queen of Tarts, and then spending the night with friends and karaoke at a pub called Wool Shed. We sang "Say My Name" by Desiny's Child. We sounded SO good. . . .

Then today was BEAUTIFUL in Dublin so Celia and I just walked around and ate lunch at a place called Bad Ass Cafe. We were walking around the campus of Trinity College and found beautiful cherry blossoms. Definitely one of my favorite parts of spring. So of course we had a photoshoot.

Cherry Blossoms!

Beautiful puffy clouds over Dublin.

Celia is a cutie head.

London.

Thursday evening I hopped on an Aer Lingus flight (which, by the way, is much more enjoyable than RyanAir) and headed to London to visit one of my best friends, Natalie. She's studying and interning there with a big group of Elon students. After I arrived, we took the tube back to her apartment in a place called Little Venice (atleast I think that's what it's called.) It's a really nice area, and her flat is pretty big with a total of 8 girls living in it.

We got a bite to eat in her neighborhood and then took the tube to explore London. We started out in Piccadilly Circus, which is essentially the Time Square of London. It was bustling with people and definitely reminded me of New York with all the bright lights and advertisments. We then made our way to Trafalger Square and were able to see Big Ben lit up in the distance.

Afterwards we headed to a bar called Sports Cafe that Natalie frequents and had plenty of laughs as we hung out and caught up on the last few weeks since she'd visited me in Dublin. Friday morning we woke up and headed to the area of London where Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and all sorts of crazy street performers hang out. We must have come at the beginning of their day because we saw more than one of them preparing for their act. It was funny to see people just casually walking around in their crazy costumes before they started performing. Below is a picture of me being a tourist.

Afterwards, we walked to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Both cool things to see since I've always heard so much about them. We had a quick lunch at one of Nat's favorite spots and then took the tube to the Harrod's department store. EXPENSIVE. But so many beautiful things. My favorite sections were the diamonds and the candy. Both things that I love. Especially candy. After recognizing how not rich we are, we went to a store called Primark. If I were to name this store I would call it "ZOO" because that is exactly what it was. However, it has so many cute things and is WAY cheap. But it was so overwhelming that we went back home and took a nap.

Later that evening we went to a Thai restaurant in Natalie's neighborhood, and then got ready to go out once again. We went to a pub called The Nags Head in a place called Covent Garden, and then headed back to Sports Cafe where hilarity ensued. We met a fashion designer. Who knows P.Diddy and who also let me try on his $100,000 diamond BLING BLING necklace. Hilarious evening.

We slept in Saturday morning, then headed to Camden Market. I loved this place. Maybe because I secretly wish I was punk, but also because there were so many cool things to photograph and so many uniquely dressed people. We also ate a waffle covered in chocolate which I wasn't mad about and I bought a cool bracelet. Below is a picture of some of the interesting characters that frequent Camden Market.

We then headed to Hyde Park and laid in the grass and walked around a bunch. It was the most beautiful day and was perfect for some park laying. Hyde Park is huge and we really wanted to find the Peter Pan statue, but failed, but I was okay with it because there were so many beautiful things to look at. We also saw a young girl wipe out on her rollerblades while holding her brother. Yikes.

London was so great and I loved getting to see Nat in the city she loves so much. Being in big cities is fun, but I'm so glad to be back in my comfortable little city of Dublin. When I flew in this morning, the sun was shining so brightly, and as we approached the coast of Ireland I realized that right now, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world.