The past four days were so fantastic that I am not even angry about returning to Dublin poorer and fatter!

On Friday night we flew to Amsterdam. It's the cutest city but I'm not sure if I could actually live there: every street looks exactly the same and 98% of the time I had no clue where we were. On Saturday we visited the house where Anne Frank hid, which is now a museum. It was definitely sad but extremely well done and something everyone should see. On a less melancholy note, we then walked through some markets and visited the Heineken Factory - obviously not as cool as Guinness but a close second! On Sunday we did a wine/cheese tasting which was nothing short of wonderful; I even tried taking some of the cheese with me but had to throw it out once we went through airport security. Despite the fact that this was technically our spring break, it was freezing cold. But maybe we were just biased because the blankets provided at our sub par hostel were about as thick as a kleenex.

We left Amsterdam on Sunday night after being warned by a woman at the cheese tasting that Berlin was kind of a dull city. So, the only things we were really expecting included cold weather and lots of sauerkraut. We were pleasantly surprised! Berlin reminded me so much of Detroit, and being there in general was so surreal because of all the history it holds. On Monday we did a walking tour of the city and then hunted down authentic German food. Maybe it was because our hostel gave us real blankets or that the beer was cheap (!), but Berlin might just be my favorite place i've visited so far.

Amsterdam Canals!

Cardiac arrest served in a nice little paper dish.

Planning on forwarding this baby to Heineken's advertising department.

 Arguably the greatest hour and a half of my life

Atlaaaaasssttt, my looooove has come along.....

Getting my tourist on during the walking tour.

Ironically enough the Berlin wall is enclosed by a wall. 

In other news, I am truly immersing myself in European culture: got the 6 piece McNugget meal today at the airport! Tomorrow morning a group of 8 of us leave for Belfast to tour the government buildings and talk to former participants in the Northern Ireland Conflict. This will be such a great experience but I'm really only going so I can try to hunt down any/all of Van Morrison's immediate family members. 

Auf Wiedersehen!

I am happy to say that this past week ran quite smoothly. My biggest dilemma was on Tuesday, when I was forced to purchase a pathetic jelly donut for .65 euro in an attempt to channel my polish roots and celebrate Paczki day. Polish people here eat pancakes to celebrate Fat Tuesday but a Paczki free Paczki day just wasn't worth 500 less calories.

On Friday we had a field trip for my Gothic Ireland class to a church with crypts buried beneath it. We weren't allowed to take pictures but if we were I would have tangible proof that I touched the hand of an 800 year old mummy! We were also lucky to have decent weather which made the entire experience a bit less eerie.

On Saturday we walked to Phoenix park, which is kind of the Central Park of Dublin. We rented bikes and rode around and then walked to the oldest pub in Ireland. Later we all piled into our Mexican friend's apartment where she made everyone authentic margaritas that were FANTASTIC. We are trying to think of an American themed way to repay her but so far all we have is beer pong which seems pathetic in comparison.

My valentine to....myself

Another monumental part of the weekend - cleaning our apartment! 

THE CRYPT!!!!!

Phoenix Park

 Funny story: a friend of mine asked for a Shirley Temple and all the bartender could say was "who?"

Friends making Jimmy Buffett proud!

Sunday brunch - so good I nearly shed a tear!

Finally, I have composed a short list of things from home that I miss - feel free to figure out a way to get any/all of these things to me ASAP: Redcoat Tavern, ranch dressing, a drying machine, my shoe collection, real coffee and Michigan weather (NOT!)

This weekend we went to Cork, which is 2.5 hours south of Dublin on the train. We arrived on Friday morning and fulfilled our duty as tourists by going to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. There are pictures below but basically you lay on your back next to an old man who holds onto you as you grab two poles and lean backwards over the side of the castle to kiss a stone that my mother later referred to as "cold sore city". This apparently gives you the "gift of gab" but frankly I haven't noticed anything different or particularly eloquent in my speaking habits so my ten euro ticket was really for nothing.

The next day we went to some of the local markets and I probably would have spent half of my life savings on all the food we saw but our hostel didn't have a refrigerator (there was water pressure this time though so I can't complain). I found a necklace for 5 euro and was quite impressed with myself for being a bargain hunter until my roommate bartered and ended up only paying 3. Regardless i'll still feel cool if people ask where my necklace is from and I can say "a flea market in Ireland"!

By Sunday morning we were ready to come home and also lucky enough to be in the same area on the train as a troop of screaming boy scouts! This was made a little better by the fact that the food cart sold Pringles and we also passed about a hundred huge green fields filled with baby sheep!

Blarney Castle!

 The grounds of Blarney Castle.

I didn't catch his name but he did make sure I didn't plummet to my death off the top of Blarney Castle. ALSO the Blarney stone is the small chunk of rock near the ends of the black poles.

Scenic Cork! 

Last but not least - finding true love at English Market

Otherwise I had a wave of homesickness earlier this week when U of M played OSU at Crisler Arena and it seemed like everyone and their brother was at the game BUT ME! Regardless, from across the pond, go blue!

Well, I promised that I wouldn't but here I am. From here on out, this little slice of the internet will be dedicated to everything that's going on in my life abroad in Dublin. If anything it will save me from sending out ten different e-mails each week (that's an overstatement - I send about 3, I'm really not that popular).

Last Thursday a group of us took the 6:30 train to Galway, which is 2 hours to the west of Dublin. Everything you've probably heard about the western part of Ireland is probably true: the scenery is unbelievable and the Guinness is cheaper (!). I realize that I'll probably say this about 12 more times this semester, but this was honestly one of the greatest weekends of my entire life, and not even because I drank my first cup of coffee since being here! We rented bikes, saw some cliffs, listened to live music, and most importantly, attempted to get more than one drop of water out of the shower head at our hostel.

Cliffs of Moher

Stopping along the way to the Cliffs to see more of the country. I actually have no idea what this is but it seemed significant. 

This was terrifying. 

The weather was nice but do not be fooled by the nimrod behind us who nearly ruined the picture with his florescent sweatshirt - the sky was pretty dark and cloudy. 

Tonight is the Super Bowl so we are all planning on heading to a pub around midnight to act like Americans. Otherwise I am healthy and happy despite the fact that Redcoat Tavern does not exist in Ireland. 

CHEERS!