heading on our way

I just finished packing my bag - which probably weighs way more then what I am allowed...hmm I wonder how Ryanair is going to feel about that. Probably not well. But other then that I am ready to go! We are taking a bus down from Glasgow (leaving at 11pm) and getting in to London at 7:05am. Overnight bus - sketchy? Perhaps. We will be spending the day in London and then taking our flight to Salzburg later that night. And so the journey begins!
Due to some unfortunate circumstances (aka the incapability of ipad's to agree with me/the universe) I will not be able to post pictures to my blog over the course of my trip. I will continue to write about the adventures as we go along. When I get back I will then overwhelm you all with the many pictures I will be taking. 
I leave you with a few pictures of our sunny day in Glasgow and the new coat I bought that I mentioned a posts ago. 

And so the Euro trip adventure of Flat2D begins! xo

taylor swift

On tuesday Amy and I ventured all the way down to Manchester in order to see the Taylor Swift concert. The night was obviously amazing. Taylor was fantastic and I love her even more now. We were sad when the concert came to a close. Also her opening band was Scottish which we were very excited about. All in all a perfect night.

international kids do it best

International wednesdays continue to be our favourite night of the week. You know that when you get a group of 20+ year olds from around the world in one bar things are going to get crazy. Our flat has had countless hilarious stories and memories after wednesday nights. They are something we will always remember about being here.  

Unfortunately our wednesday night adventures are going to start coming to a close soon. Due to our travel plans and the fact that time is moving so fast we are making sure to make the most of the ones we have left. Got to get some even more good stories out of them. 
In other news I am going to see the Taylor Swift concert in Manchester tonight! Amy is obsessed with her so at the beginning of the semester we decided we had to go see her in concert. Despite the fact that I am stressing hardcore about everything I have to do before I leave on our spring break trip it is going to be one great night! xo

a sequence

This is why we are best friends. And this is why my St. Pat's was so amazing. Thanks Tess for making it the best ever. Oh and Ireland - I guess you helped too. xo

afternoons full of tearooms and sunshine

It has been absolutely beautiful here in Glasgow lately. Blue skies and sunshine make everything so much better. The temperatures have even been higher! On my run yesterday I only had to wear a tank top! In the middle of my run I had even wished that I wore my shorts instead of pants. It is actually that nice and warm here! In a city that normally rains every single person heads outside to enjoy the sun when it comes out. The parks were full of people playing football, walking their dogs and playing with their children. It was fantastic. 
A few days ago, on another warm and sunny day, Claire, Kayla and I decided to boycott our work for the afternoon and go enjoy some tea at the Willow Tea Room that I went to when my mom visited. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and frolicking in the sunshine. 

It is supposed to be sunny and warm all weekend which will be a nice change! Although I am currently busying writing essays so for right now I will be enjoying the sun from my room. We are planning on doing some shopping tomorrow for a few things we need for our spring break trip (we leave in less then a week!!). So hopefully it is gorgeous and sunny for the little bit that I will step out of the flat. xo

the rest of the irish

The first night we were in Ireland we went out to a local pub (The Washington) with a bunch of Joe's friends from Cork. I was supposed to meet up with Tess, but we all know that two drunk girls without phones were never going to actually be able to meet up. (Although I think we figured out the next day that at some point we were at the same bar...strange). Anyways point being, this night was great! We danced to traditional Irish music, enjoyed way too many Beamish's (their local stout), and had way too many laughs with some awesome new friends. After that we made our way to another pub (Clancy's) for a few last drinks. It was chill and relaxing and perfect for the end of the night. And then of course we had to try out their version of drunk food (which is basically just poutine with garlic mayo sauce - that garlic sauce is what they rave about). This type of food is what led me to feeling like I had gained an unfortunate amount of weight while in Ireland (and maybe some of those Beamish's). 

The last leg of our trip in Ireland was spent in Dublin. We were able to walk around the city for a bit and get a feel for what it is like there. We had an amazingly cheap and delicious meal at a restaurant in the Temple Bar area (I had bruschetta and guinness and beaf stew). Then we met up with Hayley and Mel (who I met in Spain) to get Claire's cellphone that she forgot at their apartment when we visited. They were so generous and offered to let us sleep on the floor at the hotel they were staying at, located right next to the airport making our walk at the early hour of 5:30am to the airport not so bad. Plus it was SO much better then our alternative, which was obviously to sleep in the Dublin airport.

As expected it was a fabulous trip. I loved meeting a ton of new people while I was in Ireland and of course getting to see Hayley and Mel again was a nice surprise. I am hoping to see them again during the first week of May when we will be going to Belgium and the Netherlands (seeing them in Amsterdam - and if everything works out as hoped I will also be seeing....KIRSTIN!! yay...but more on that later). Although the trip was unreal I was very happy to get home that Saturday morning and climb right into my bed (despite it being a cot it felt like heaven that day), where I stayed for the entire day watching movies. Just what I needed after a crazy 3 days. xo

life

picture perfect

One thing I have loved about being over here (as if I need another reason) is the countless opportunities I have had to use both my amazing camera (Nikon D3000) and my lovely new holga. They have allowed me to capture all of the beautiful things I have seen in picture perfect frames. When I have left this place and want to reminisce, it is these pictures that I will turn to (and of course the amazing friends I have met) - to remind me of everything wonderful that this experience has given me so far. So thank you Mom and Dad for getting me that amazing camera - I continue to love it just as much as I did on that Christmas morning :) Here are some of my favourite shots from Ireland. 

I am so excited for all of the places I will soon be visiting and all of the amazing photo opportunities that they will provide. xo

we were irish for the day

I am going to start off by stating the obvious: St. Patricks Day in Ireland was unreal! Think of something really awesome...and this day was more awesome then that. We could not get over the excitement that filled the entire city (and country). 
The day started off with us getting up at 8:30, getting ready, and drinking by 9:30. We drank for a bit at Joe's place so we didn't have to spend as much money out at the pubs (who were we kidding - we still spent a ton). When we finally made it out of the house (around 12:00) we went to watch a bit of the parade that had just started. Due to all of the families and kids on parents shoulders we weren't exactly able to see much of the parade. Amy insisted on finding a spot where we could see - apparently she is obsessed with parades or something - but in the end we convinced her that going to the pub across the street was a better idea. We first went to Door 51 - a pub they frequent regularly, where we could see part of the parade from the outside patio area. There we did Irish car bombs (in Ireland they drop a shot of whisky into a guinness), had way too much green beer that made my tongue green and enjoyed Irish flag shots. 
On to the most exciting news of the entire trip - I got to see Tess! If anyone doesn't already know, Tess is my favourite person ever aka my best friend. So getting to see her in Ireland was unbelievable. She is studying for the semester in Denmark (where I am visiting her in late April). I got to meet a bunch of her friends from school and we stayed together for the entire day. I am sure people got sick of us talking about "how awesome it is that we are together in IRELAND"! It definitely made the trip worthwhile. 

Parade

Irish car bombs

REUNITED and so happy about it

Tess, Claire, Astrid and I

Irish flag shots

Celebrating

Astrid and I

SO much green beer

Joe, Kayla, Amy and I

It was delicious

Claire, Amy and I

Jordan and I

<3

Adorable

St. Pat you are great

The rest of the day/night was spent moving from bar to bar to bar. Just the way St. Pat's is supposed to be done. Thank gosh there are so many bars to go to :) By the end of the night I had lost all of my flatmates but don't get all worried, I was with Tess and her friends. And someone must have been looking out for us because at the end of the night all of my flatmates, including myself, made it back to Joe's apartment. It was an amazing day, one that I will most definitely never forget. Well I will never forget the parts I actually remembered from the night :)