Drink Guinness...like a boss

London, United Kingdom

RyanAir! It only cost 1 euro for our flight to Shannon!

Because of course you would think to remove your earrings before jumping out of a plane...

Welcome to London.

I think I will put this vending machine in my registry when I get married. How GREAT would that be?

So embarrassing. We had to take this picture for the Michael Jackson poster.

Before watching WICKED at the Apollo Theater!!!

Watching WICKED on Halloween!

<3

Going around the haunted parts of London on Halloween and Tristan trying to attack me. It's love.

MUSE!!! I've missed you!!!

Eating breakfast on the patio in London!

Take a right to see Peter Pan!

He's an entire midget taller than me.

So beautiful.

Of course. The standard best friend picture!

On the water in Hyde Park!

Perfect group photo in Hyde Park!

Me and my long lost brother! :)

Apple pie with ice cream and caramel sauce: heaven.

Ordered an entire pitcher of JuneBug for ourselves... then had two long islands...nbd.

Oh my god the beef stew was delicious!!!

Buckingham Palace!

Typical Jess pic.

In front of Harrods!

Cheers!

I wish I could live in London forever...

I got the red telephone booth AND Big Ben!

What a fairytale!

Before we went and watched Parliament!!! Sporting our poppys & supporting UK veterans!

Ireland

Drying our shoes/socks/clothes near the fire after getting caught in the hailstorm

... what is up with the signs in Ireland???

Typical Tristan pic.

Cliffs of Moher!!!!

Please do not jump off a cliff.

Majestic.

The insane winds at the Cliffs of Moher

The quaint sweater shop and pub that we went to in Doolin!!! Oh it was adorable!!!

My FAVORITE pub in Ireland!

The original Claddach shop!

I love Ireland and I would go there again in a heartbeat!

I am currently sitting in my room at 12:20am. I feel like a pregnant walrus. I just ate overcooked Easy Mac like a boss in the kitchen downstairs with Kens and Adrienne and I am almost positive that I have never felt sexier in my entire life. After coming back from Das Boot (a bar called Café Notre that everyone goes to after class to drink from glass bottles in the shape of a boot) around 11, I knocked on Adrienne’s door only to see Kens rolling around on the bed with one boot on her foot and Adrienne struggling to pull it off while trying to put on pajama pants at the same time. I love my housemates. Needless to say, I joined the party as we talked about the ridiculous things that had happened over Toussaint Break.

London: (Travel Scale: 9)

It’s Halloween. Our group of 6 is staying in a hostel in London. We are all stuffed into a room of 6 beds with only 4 lockers. The beds, sprinkled with love stains, are bunked and there is only enough room in the room for two girls to tip-toe around at a time. Hostel for ants? I think so. And how could I forget the awkward locks that refused to lock? Despite the awful hostel and losing my adapter/sandals/ umbrella, London was probably one of my favorite cities.

Golden leaves, mixed with morning dew, scattered the sidewalks of London. Every time you took a step, it felt like you were walking through mountains of Special K cereal that had been sprinkled with only a couple tablespoons of milk. Odd comparison, I know but that’s all I want for breakfast tomorrow so I can’t really think about anything else right now.

Men hustle around the city in their tweed vests, wool ties, hats, trench coats, and tortoise-colored framed glasses that reminded me of Johnny Depp in Secret Window. Of course they had a newspaper in one of their hands and briefcase in the other. The children are dressed to the 9s and the dogs frolic the streets but always stay loyally close to their owner. The metro system is one of the most simplistic yet efficient ways of getting from one part of London to the other. It’s called the Oyster. …I still don’t know why it’s called the Oyster, but it is. It’s a simple pre-paid card that you purchase and use for every time you get on and off the metro. The only problem with this great metro is that you sweat like a pregnant mama giving birth to her baby child every time you get down in the tunnels. 2 Seconds before the tube halts in front of you a strong, awkwardly moist gust of wind slaps you in the face yet you can only appreciate it because it’s the only form of “air conditioning” that they have. So you squeeze on this wet worm and hold your purse like you are in Rome. There are signs everywhere that warn you of all the pick-pocketers...only this time, I can actually read it because it’s in English! Such a relief to travel where people understand you and you do not have to spend hours trying to explain yourself over a pointless game of charades.

Out of the kindness of her heart, Adrienne bought me tickets to the musical called Wicked. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Perhaps. So we attend this wonderful musical while Kens, Tristan, Matt, and Brooke go on a haunted tour around London. We meet up in the city center only to see that there are so many people who are dressed up as goblins and murderers than sluts and naughty professors. I am completely serious. I was in shock when I saw these beautiful women in conservative vampire costumes (I…don’t know if there is such a thing as a “conservative vampire costume” but their tatas were not hanging out and their behinds were fully covered and the black knee-high boots did not come out to play that night) and a couple droplets of fake blood splattered across their face. Where are the playboy outfits? Whips and chains? Whip cream and chocolate syrup? ...wait, am I going overboard? Nonetheless, London women do not celebrate Halloween like American women...that's all I have to say about that.

Other highlights of London?...

We went to Parliament and saw politicians rip apart one another. They covered everything from Drug policies to Afghanistan yet nothing seemed to get accomplished. People took personal jabs and never thought to find solutions to these multiple problems that were brought up. Instead, they continued to blame one another and other countries for all the problems.
As I began to doze off to a much needed nap, I saw people leave from House of Commons and a new group of people come in. Then I remembered a face that I saw on the London newspaper. OH! HEY THERE GORDON BROWN. No big deal that we were sitting above the British Prime Minister as he spoke about Tony Blair as the next EU President... no big deal. All I kept thinking was... "is this real? no way jose would Obama mama be standing a couple feet away from me." I could not help but stand there in awe and watch this man get completely obliterated by all of his opponents and laugh at their witty remarks. It is absolutely baffling. These men would banter and then elbow their friends sitting next to them and encourage them to say more negative things to Papa Brown.

Ireland (Travel Scale: 7... only because I almost got blown off the Cliffs of Moher)

So I met a tall, dark, and handsome Italian man in Ireland. I mean, he's only 6'2" with an athetlic body and rock hard abs... but it's not like he's gorgeous with a killer smile or anything like that. He stayed at the same hostel as all of us but trying to find work in Dublin. He goes to the University of Pisa and is taking a year off to travel. Comes from a small town in Italy and his favorite team is Florence's futbol team. We exchanged numbers and were supposed to meet up at a later time because I had plans to come to Italy and he had plans to come to Los Angeles but unfortunately, ... because God probably wants me to become a bitter old cat woman, I realized when I was on the bus to Dublin that I forgot to give him my country code so now the only way he could ever find me is if he facebooked "Jessica, Los Angeles"...and I'm pretty sure that's a lost cause. So I am alone and my life is gloomy until I find my next possible European lover... (which I met in Prague during our pub crawl...he's from Aberdeen, Scotland...but we'll get to that in a later entry).

Doolin, Ireland. If I were to ever go back to Ireland, it would be to revisit that beautiful town. You have to walk a couple miles to get to the nearest pub but it is absolutely worth it. On your walk to the pub (which serves Guinness on tap and makes the BEST stew and apple pie) there are endless green hills and cows staring you in the face. Matt and I counted the number of rainbows on our way from Ennis to Doolin--8. Absolutely magnificent. This town is what you imagine when you first think of Ireland. I wish I could go back. Dublin was far too developed and Galway was mediocre and not aesthetically pleasing. Speaking of Dublin, the first sight that we see when we get out of the train station? A women and a man beating another man on the side of the street. They beat him so ferociously that you could hear the man's fist crunch his bones... then you walk a couple more blocks to run into a worker's protest with angry middle-class men and women with their charcoal-tinted teeth complaining with their homemade posters. It could be that Dublin didn't make the best first impression and my thoughts are forever tainted or it could have been that I was unbelievably hungry when I got off the train ride so I could not think of anything but my next meal but either way, unless you are going to Dublin to take the Guinness Brewery tour, it is not worth it--go to the quaint Irish towns instead.

One beautiful thing that I learned about the people of Ireland--not only do they have gorgeous dogs with long, ruby-colored hair but they are uncommonly kind. They go out of their way for you to be comfortable and never have I ever been somewhere in Europe where I could have a relaxing time the way that I did in Ireland.

I still have postcards that I have not mailed from my trip to Berlin... I have to go finish those. Hm. I will leave you with this adorable quote from my mom.

"did you have lots of fun at Vienna and Prague? you didn't get hurt or stolen? you are my prayer. did you update your blog yet? Love Mommy"

She's the cutest.

Missing home,

J.