2018 Destinations

This is just a quick list of the cities I’m hoping to visit during my time abroad! This list will be updated throughout my trip, and (hopefully) posts about these destinations will be linked here for those of you wanting pictures / stories about my experiences there!

1. Dublin, Ireland *

2. Belfast, Northern Ireland

3. Malahide, Ireland

4. Galway, Ireland

5. Cork, Ireland

6. London, England

7. Edinburgh, Scotland

8. Munich, Germany

9. Paris, France

10. Amsterdam, Netherlands

11. Zurich, Swizerland

12. Barcelona, Spain

13. Brussels, Belgium

14. Milan, Italy

15. Venice, Italy

16. Florence, Italy

17. Athens, Greece

18. Santorini, Greece

* Most of my time will be spent in Dublin, as this is where my program is based!

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Céad Míle Fáilte

Céad Míle Fáilte (100,000 Welcomes) Welcome to Dublin! Here’s a quick look into my first week abroad and some of my favorite Dublin things (so far): The Pubs 1. John Kehoe’s Heritage Pub Dicey's This is where we had our first Guinness! 2. O’Donoghues First Cider stop! Bulmer’s is THE Irish cider that you’ll find on tap at pretty much every pub in Dublin. Oh, and try the chips! 3. The Temple Bar Only hung here for a few, the drinks are some of the most expensive in the city, but the atmosphere is great! ^ roomie pic! 4. Bad Bob’s Super fun place with great live music and drink specials (read: we spent a lot of the night here. lol) ^ my adorable roomie, Emily 5. Devitt’s Much less touristy than the other pubs we’ve seen so far, this pub had a great vibe with a more local crowd. (And the live music is top notch) ^ with our new musician friend, Stephen 6. B

London, England

Quick weekend trip to London to do some exploring! SOHO Afternoon Tea @ Fortnum & Mason You simply cannot have a trip to London that doesn’t include high tea. Naturally, this was our very first stop (after dropping our bags off at the hostel, but more on that later). Fortnum & Mason is THE place to have an afternoon tea. With the entire first floor of the building being dedicated to their fabulous teas and desserts for take-away, we knew immediately we’d picked a good place. The teas, sandwiches, biscuits, and cakes were served in the fabulous Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, and let me tell you it makes you feel like you are the queen herself. This was probably my favorite part of our entire trip, it was great. <3 Piccadilly Circus Welcome to the epicenter of all things London fashion! So many big names of designers and restaurants with flagships of stores like: Burberry, Victoria’s Secret, Ted Baker, and more. After exploring a bit, make sure to head

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is easily one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. Here our some of the highlights from our trip: Van Gogh Museum I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I am not usually a museum person. Europe has completely changed that. The Van Gogh museum was wonderful ! Really cool glimpse into the mind of Vincent, as the museum was organized in the sequence of his life. Was a little disappointed that Starry Night was not among the collection (it’s currently in the MOMA in New York if you were wondering), but I still thoroughly enjoyed our time there. ^my favorite of his works Bloemenmarkt Did you really go to Holland if you don't go see the Tulips??? We went to one of the many flower markets along the canals and got to see tons of the famous flowers! Fun fact: the entire flower market is the only floating flower market in the world! Heineken Experience I still have mixed thoughts about this particular

Blarney {corc Blarnan} Co. Cork

Took the train down to Co. Cork this weekend to check out Blarney! Eats Breakfast: I’ve heard great things about Farmgate Café which looked really cute, but we just barely missed the breakfast time. Instead, we wandered The English Market and each found our own breakfast eats (for Dad this meant sausage and potatoes, for Mom and I pastries). Definitely recommend a walk around this adorable market if you get the chance! There was a little bit of everything :) Coffee Stop: Spent a bit at VeloCoffee shop while waiting for our bus to Blarney. Had a great almond milk latte to warm up for the rest of our trip! Coffee Stop #2: We also stopped at the café by Castle Blarney for another warm up of Bailey’s Coffee before going into the castle. It was a chilly day, large amounts of coffee were obviously necessary ;) Dinner: For dinner we stopped at a great little gastropub called Gallaghers . The food was great and the atmosphere was ev

Malahide {Mullach Íde} Co. Dublin

From the vibrant coloured buildings to the adorable little cafés, this little coastal town was so much fun for quick day trip from Dublin! After a lazy morning at home, we grabbed some coffee and headed over on the dart for an afternoon of exploring, eating, and occasionally petting dogs(the dogs were great). Eats Gourmet Food Parlour This was a little ways away from the train station, but the walk was beautiful and definitely worth it. With great views out onto the water and a fun atmosphere inside, this was definitely a great stop to grab a bite and warm up for a few! The menu was great and they had a selection of delicious looking desserts too! Places to See Malahide Castle This was my favorite castle we’ve seen so far! There were a couple cute little shops in the “village” area (peep Avoca from my last post… I’m obsessed). There’s also the option of buying tickets and going in and taking a guided walki

Paris, France

Girl trips with Mama Tolle are my favourite thing in the entire world. All of our adventures have been magical, but this one will be hard to top… Here’s a quick recap of our week in Paris! Eiffel Tower My favourite thing in all of Paris was watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Every night on the hour the tower sparkles for approximately 5 minutes and it is absolutely perfect. I made Mom watch the sparkles 8 times in the week we were in Paris. Champs-Elysées & Shopping Shoppers dream! This beautiful street is overflowing in some of the top brand names in the world: Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Nike, just to name a few. Fashion is HUGE in Paris, so obviously so is shopping, and the shopping centres / malls keep up with the larger than life mentality. The Galleries Lafayette and BHV in the Marais were our favourites. Ladurée Ladurée is decidedly home to the greatest Macarons in Paris… trust us, we tried probably all of them ;) Arc de Triomphe I

London, England (part 2)

On the eve of a royal wedding, we decided to take a trip to London to see Harry… Potter. Obviously. Yer a Wizard Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter So, this was admittedly the main reason for our trip to London. Me and Mollie are both HUGE Harry Potter fans and they just so happened to be doing an exhibition on the Goblet of Fire, which is personally my favourite film in the series. Guys, I cannot stress how incredibly MAGICAL this experience was. As this was the location where most of the series was filmed, they still had all of the main sets still made, explanations on how they made the wizarding world a reality, and interactive experiences with all of it along the way. The tour ended on the model of Hogwarts used in the filming of the series and I can honestly say it was one of the coolest things I have seen. With the castle perfectly lit and the musical score from the films, it was truly beautiful. We both cried a little. Here are about 5

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