Toxic Tuesday (Boozeday)

Toto, we are most definitely not in Kansas anymore.

This - school - has - a - pub. On campus. Last night, I experienced one of the many marvels of the Irish schooling system. For example, in Ireland, it's acceptable to have a student pub. And, one that's adjacent to my dorm building.

Now that the true DCU (Dublin City University) students are back on campus (us international folks have been taking classes 2 weeks prior to their arrival to warm up to the campus) things are getting loco here. Hallways are crowded, classrooms and loaded, and the campus pub, is... well... awesome.

From yesterday onward, the pub now hosts a "Toxic Tuesday" where the pub is open to students until 2am. I know, I know what you're thinking. A pub available to students... on a school night?!

Yes Mom and Dad. Yes, it is.

And so, my floor-mates and I hopped on over to the pub to see what it was all about. And apparently, it was all about a paint party. Little did we know, the pub was having its annual PAINT SLASHING CRASHING DASHING party, in which every student brave enough to enter would promptly be soaked.

AWESOME.

Covered in blue paint: but I ain't feeling blue!

When I first got pummeled by paint, I wasn't exactly the happiest of campers. But after seeing my friends get equally soaked alongside my new Irish friends, I just gulped my beer and went with the flow.

After a very very late evening, I finally went to bed. And then, promptly woke up for my 10am class. Don't worry guys-- I am a professional.

First class was shortened for the day, which was good for me and my unbrushed hair, and our second class was replaced with a field trip to the show, "The Field."

I definitely didn't fall asleep during the show. Nope. Not me. definitely not.

But, the theater was beautiful!

And for the record all, my academic-ness is not taking a vacation. What am I doing immediately following this blog post? Homework. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS. Homework.

PS. Anyone know how to remove paint from my white sweater? I don't think Guinness really cures every problem...

American Wench Speaks French...

Les croissants Les croissants Les croissants Les croissants

I'm back!! Just got back from a fantastic 48-hour Paris expedition, and let me tell you... it was crazy. For starters, no one filled me in about the driving situation is Paris. Road lines should be mandatory, no matter how good your cheese is. Thus, I spent several taxi rides fearing for my life, as cars aimlessly spun past the Arc De Triumph. Holy Cannoli. Rather, holy crepe... (and believe me, I'll get to those in a second).

But rather than spending the entire cab ride hyperventilating, I figured I'd give you all a taste of the cab-seat scenery.

Voila:

This photo doesn't quite capture the madness of the driving situation,

but friends and fam, let me put things into perspective. You think I'm a

terrible driver? Multiply my lack of driving skills by 100. Exactly.

But let's begin with the most important facts about France. Food and Fashion.

Our first meal in Paris was an enormous collection of all the deliciousness one must try when experiencing Paris. Lauren, Beth and I loaded up on a cheese omelette, a croissant, hot chocolate, orange juice... and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.

Speaking of sink... the sink in our hotel bathroom:

Once we gathered our energy, we sought out to conquer the Champs-Élysées. And boy, did we do some damage! Okay, well not quite. But I'm officially a master window shopper.

For JUST 800 euro, these bad boys could have been mine. Thanks, but I think I'll go barefoot.

But don't worry. I ALSO experienced the many glorious sights of Paris, beyond the shopping:

The Eiffel Tower...

The Arc de Triumph...

The Mona Lisa (my homegirl)...

And of course, our LUXURY HOTEL (big thanks Lauren!)

But let's not leave out our hotel room view:

After an exhausting day of walking, walking and more walking... we decided to go out for a relaxing dinner for Lauren's 21st birthday, and then celebrate even more with the burlesque show:

Lido!! http://www.lido.fr/

Wining and dining at restaurant Chez Clement...

My dish:

(It was the chef's special. Eggs and smoked duck. Not sure I'm going to be this adventurous with my meal selections in the future...)

And the the fabulous, sexy, scandalous, marvelous, lights flashing, girls twisting, men jumping, horses hopping show... LIDO! (seriously, if you're ever in Paris. Go. To. This. Show.)

(I snuck a quick pic... naughty me!)

After an action packed Saturday, our plan to wake up Sunday at 8:30 am caved. We snoozed the alarm a few too many, and ended up sleeping in until 11am. But we threw our things together, and ran outside to greet the day as quickly as possible. Only, we ended up greeting the afternoon instead. Whoooops!

We made our way over to the Latin Quarter, and found ourselves amidst crepes. LOTS OF THEM. I was on cloud 900. With mouths watering, we each ordered an egg and cheese crepe. It was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. No Joke. This was some serious fromage.

As if the concoction wasn't decadent enough, the pound of cheese topped onto the thin pancake was coated with wads of butter. Wowzer, Paris does it UP. And yet, their cholesterol is low. What's their secret?!

But amongst the delicious crepes, cakes, sandwiches and pizzas... there were some questionable brunch options:

Can't really explain what this is. But I'm guessing heartburn medication is a key ingredient.

Well, that's all for now. Au revoir!!

xx

Hungary for Turkey? Go to Ireland.

Enough is enough. Ireland does not have horrible food. Yes, I'm a bit biased considering I've been here for roughly 2 weeks, and the country is now very close to my heart... but I'm also a foodie. That means, I know good food. As a result, I have decided to give you a virtual tour of the delectable diet of Ireland. Potatoes, move aside. We've got bigger spuds to fry.

Let me ease you into Ireland. Let's start with my self-made American dinner, assembled with the freshest of Irish ingredients.

Couscous with garlic and salt:

Ground turkey with canned tomatoes, beans and spicy seasonings...

(okay, so maybe canned ingredients aren't the FRESHEST of choice. But, moving on)

VOILA! A delicious turkey chili. All thanks to the Irish grocery selection.

Grandma and Aunt Bertha, please note: I had your chili

on the mind when preparing this dish!

And if you don't believe that this was yummy... look how much Lauren digs it.

Beth getting camera shy...

But then suddenly being overwhelmed by a LOVE FOR MY CHILI!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren meant to give a thumbs up...

And Sarah clearly wanted to be recognized in the blog...

Love you Sarah! (Unfortunately, Sarah's vegetarian-ness made the dish off limits

for her... next time I'll attempt a vege-chili. We'll see about tofu in the market)

And now... the street foods of Ireland!

Yea. I know. And you thought they only served Guinness and chips.

But wait. There's more...?!?! You bet there is.

But enough street food. Hit me with the restaurants.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yea.

Take that skeptics. Drop the question mark, and pick up a fork.

Best. Night. Of. My. Life.

Pinch me. Tonight, the unthinkable happened. I actually brought my SLAM to Ireland.

After A LOT of googling, I found a small pub that had an open mic night for comedians, singers and poets. I gave them a quick ring around 7pm and they informed me that I was more than welcome to join their set list for TONIGHT, which was set to start at 9:30pm. Nervously and excitedly, I dragged my bum (and Lauren and Beth's as well) out of DCU and into the city. I was about to hit the crowd with some SLAM... (fun fact... no one in Ireland knows what SLAM poetry is... I learned that out the hard way)

After a jittery bus ride, and 4 tourists who gave us the completely wrong directions, we arrived at: THE BATTLE OF THE AXE at Ha’ penny Bridge Inn... a comfy little pub which an easy-going crowd. Things were looking good.

want more info? -----> http://www.battleoftheaxe.com/#Thursmcs

It took me a while to find ya, but well worth the search!

When we walked inside, I was a bit perplexed to find a lot of people drinking beer, but no stage area. Then after some investigation, I realized that the open mic night was on the second floor... phew. That got me worried.

When we walked into the correct room, this is what we found:

Telling you that I was nervous would be an understatement.

2 hours into the show, my heart was pounding. I could hardly focus knowing that my act was coming up. Would I forget a line? Would they even get the American jokes? I was a wreck.

Luckily... my Bulmers Hard Cider gave be a smidgen of liquid courage. Just a smidgen. (Man, smidgen is a great word. Say it. Say it right now. I know you want to. Smiiiiiiiidgen.)

You're on candid camera...

An example of past entertainment at the Battleoftheaxe open mic...

And the moment that changed my life forever:

**FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY**

After a 6 minute rhyming throw-down on stage, I was finished and reclaimed my seat in the audience... and exhaled. I had done it! AND the crowd was super receptive and friendly -- Ireland rocks!

I sat through the rest of the show, laughing hysterically at the comedians and pleasantly serenaded by the singers. Then finally, the show was over. It was time to choose a Battle of the axe winner. Drum roll please...

I WON?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The coolest thing that has happened to me! EVER. Gahhhhhh... and I won a rubber duck. So legit.

Updates shall follow soon!

And remember...

why close a door, when you can SLAM it? ~ Sam

Sheepers Creepers

Alright folks, I've been keeping something from you all for quite some time, because I didn't want to worry you. MY CAMERA IS DEAD AND I FORGOT MY CHARGER. Well, that's a lie. That was the case as of this morning, but thanks to some expertise help from my Dad, Joy and Rose... the charger was shipped to Dublin and I'm ready to snap some pics.

Today my history class took a field trip to the Hill of Tara... and boyyy I was trippin'. Literally. A misty day plus tons of mud does not make for good walking ground. However, the sights of the mountainside were green and lush... from what I could see through the fog. This wasn't exactly one of my favorite places I've visited so far in Ireland... although the serenade by our 80 year old tour guide definitely added brownie points.

Here's what I saw:

Ahhhh spooky dungeon that kept people caged underground !!!

Sheep! Real Irish ones. The you only find in, well, Ireland.

The personification of gothic romance... am I right? I'm right.

Ta ta for now! Class tomorrow bright and early... 2.5 hrs with a break, followed by 3 hrs. If there was ever a time for me to start drinking coffee (which I don't)... I think this trip would be the time. Don't worry guys, there is Starbucks in Ireland. Although I haven't heard such great reviews thus far...

Exploring Dublin

This was a fantastic weekend! Instead of traveling to Galway as planned, Beth, Lauren and I thought we needed some R&R after all of our traveling, unpacking and class-taking. Saturday morning we let ourselves sleep in, and then decided to conquer Dublin City- without an agenda.

We hopped on the bus, drove into Dublin City, and walked and walked. I had heard of a good place for lunch, so we wandered around searching for "The Queen of Tarts." On our way there, we realized that we were in the middle of a massive festival! Not only were we lucky enough to be in the city on the first day of their fresh market, but we were in the middle of Tradfest! Tradfest is Dublin's musical festival, where they fill the streets with wonderful Irish music, actors dressed in crazy costumes, and wonderful food stands strewn about the streets.

These two ducks were running around the streets entertaining the locals.

One of them even let me pet his beak... I know, "WHAT THE DUCK?!"

We decided to get our energy from lunch, and THEN search through the festivities,

so when we viewed the red doors of The Queen of Tarts... we knew we had arrived.

Once entering into the charming cafe/restaurant, Heaven had come to Earth. I'll let you figure out why on your own...

Tarts and quiche and scones, oh my!

After munching and crunching on a delicious lunch of frittata, salad, and homemade focaccia, we were ready to trek the festival. We started by browsing around the market for a couple of minutes (Beth and Lauren watched in embarrassment as I attacked the vendors by taking their pictures, fascinated by the 5 pound cookies and shepherd's pies)... we made our way over to a stage flooded by packs of people. The ground began to shake. Thump. Thump. Thump. It was IRISH STEP DANCERS! In perfect unison, a troupe of dancers began knocking their feet on a wooden stage, filling the air with celebration and... well... a lot of knocking. We cheered in awe, and made our way further through the market.

Later that evening we decided to try out a super cool looking restaurant that doubled as a nightclub... they even had a DJ built into the bar! I ordered my first cocktail ever legally... it was a strawberry/lime/rum concoction that was much stronger than anticipated. No worries fam, I sipped it slowly...

slurrrrrrrp...

After dinner, we headed over to the nearby "Palace Nightclub"... a crazy neon lights flashing, music pounding, fog machine spurting nightclub. This was insanely awesome. I'll let the photo speak for itself...

Taking it down a Notch

Today... we decided to take things slow. In need of some cultural stimulation, we made our way to Trinity College so we could get an up-close and personal look at the Book of Kells. This prized Irish possession is a manuscript with Latin text from the 4 Gospels. It's not only beautiful... but extremelyyyyy old. From the year 800?! And I thought my used copy of "Waiting for Godot" was old...

Trinity College... this school hordes the majesty of the Book of Kells.

After I finished my quick museum tour of the book (I don't have a lot of patience for museums... and unfortunately, I'm fairly certain this book doesn't have a cliff-notes to sum up its context) I walked up some stairs and was stunned by a glorious library known as "The Long Room." Words cannot describe the awesome-ness of this place.

Behold...

The Long Room is the central chamber of the Old Library, built in 1732... in 1806 it was re-constructed so more books could fit from ceiling to floor. Raissssse the roof.

Well, that's all for now. And that's A LOT of all. Enjoy the updates :)

Valley of 2 Lakes

Me, Lauren, Beth at the Valley of 2 Lakes (Glendalough)

Greetings all...

It's been a while! First and foremost, I'd like to welcome my most recent reader (or listener), baby-girl-Braunfeld. Hey new little cousin, wish I could see you in person!

Since I can't, I suppose I'll fill you in, and the rest of my readers, on the craziness that has been the past several days.

1. Sort of witnessed a girl get mugged... by a weaponless, middle-aged woman. Very odd. Supposedly people in Ireland don't use weapons (the police (Garda) don't even carry them!) and they instead, choose to regulate power with fist-to-fist action. Luckily, the girl was perfectly alright after we helped calm her down, and she was quickly greeted by the local police.

Fun Fact: pick-pockets in Ireland are known as "dippers"

2. Walked the mountains of "Glendalough" this morning with my classmates. Absolutely beautiful scenery. Sure, it was nippy outside, but hey... at least I'm not buried until several feet of snow like you guys :)

(I kid you not, this photo

was taken during our hike.

Photo credit: Beth Callahan)

3. Ordered Chinese food for the first time here in Ireland. Delicious. They offer "chips" (French Fries) instead of rice... but we opted for the rice.

4. Went to the movies with two of my friends (Lauren and Beth)... "Morning Glory". I thought it was a glorious movie... well, tolerable... and I think my friends agreed. After the movie we wandered down the street and I spotted a pub called "The Poet's Corner." I immediately sprintedtowards it, hoping I would finally have the opportunity toperform some slam in Dublin... or at least witnesssome. Unfortunately, this pubwas NOT a poetry pub.We walked in only to findourselves surrounded by middle-aged men joking with one another, and stunnedthat 3American girls decided to wander into their humble pub.Nonetheless, we decided to give the place a shot,and ordered a hard cider to share... Yum.(Note to self: Order Bulmers instead of a Hot Irish in pubs!)

(Lauren, Beth and I trying out the cider)

5. In case you're wondering about life on campus... it's pretty good. Although we don't have a dining plan here, we've got a nice kitchen where we've been cooking up a lot of different recipes (favorite recipe to date is a spinach and ricotta tortellini in a creamy tomato sauce. I know, I know... we think we're in Italy. But hey, the foodoptions here arehard to figure out! See below:

Yours truly, ultra confused by the food options here at "Tesco," a popular grocery store in Dublin.

Fun Fact: IRELAND HAS CANNED MAC n' CHEESE... questionable.

Although we try not to eat out TOO much (saving our euros), we've found some hidden gems on the Emerald Isle well worth the cost...

Case in point:

(potato and leek quiche, (Clearly, enjoying the feast!)

with sauteed string beans,

and mashed potatoes)

Bon Appetit Readers!!