city lights

well i woke up with a cold. no fun. but i guess its a small price to pay for an amazing weekend in paris! (sarah was sick and spending the weekend together, naturally i got sick too.)

wednesday we had kings and crowns night
so the girls got together, got all dressed up, and played a couple rounds of kings
then out dancing
then to bk for some crowns.
it was grand
BUT
i had to leave for paris at 4am
SO that means no sleep.

when we landed in paris it was SNOWING!!! well, we were in beauvais b/c ryanair doesnt fly directly into paris, but it was snowing all the same :) it was gorgeous and of course, me getting easily excited, i was acting like a little kid on Christmas; paris AND snow all in one day!!! lol
(anyone who has traveled with me can agree with that; i get ridiculously excited when i go somewhere new)

anywho
we boarded the bus for paris, thinking it would be like 40 mins or so..an hour and a half later we were in paris! but we had no idea how to get anywhere or even where the metro was. luckily the guy selling tickets at the bus station googled it for us; so nice! we quickly found the metro station and were on our way
we found our hotel and dropped off our bags
grabbed a starbucks (of course) and decided what to do for the day
first things first; lunch. AMAZING. we had an amazing salad at this little cafe. it was so good.
anyways
we decided to walk around a bit then go on the boat tour. that was gorgeous. it lasted a good while and we took so many pictures. by the time we were done we decided to go in the eiffel tower...at night! it was so beautiful!!! and it sparkles! that was way cool.
after that we went for some dinner. once again; amazing
then some shopping
then we met some algerian guys (this is where it gets interesting)...more like algerian creepers. lol
but they took sarah and i to a piano bar and bought us wine which was pretty cool. cept the one named mustafa (kinda like mufasa from the lion king. lol) was darn near ready to propose so sarah and i hurried on out of there and back the hotel and our nice warm beds.

the next day we went to notre dame and some modern art thing and the LOUVRE!!! it was gorgeous. we took pics next to the mona lisa, but sarah has them on her camera since my batteries had died by then. there we met another guy, this time from lebanon. something about sarah and i attracts creepers apparently, who just invite themselves along on our trips. kinda annoying really. hahaha. it was a very fun day overall.

the last day was a pretty short one. we went to l'arc de triomphe and to the champs elysees, where i bought a new purse/wallet set, thanks to my lovely grandma karen who insists on putting monies in my account. :) we ended up going back to the first cafe for that salad again (it was just THAT good) and narrowly made our bus back to beauvais airport. but we made it, and thats the important thing. over all, an amazing weekend.

that night a bunch of us went over to mallori's because her roommate's friends were having a case race (pretty amusing really) and the rest of us just chilled and had some drink. (though not nearly as much as those doing the case race!)

yesterday mallori, john, and i went over to greystones/bray to visit flopsy. it was a really great day; got to see the beach and anyone who knows me at all knows that constitutes a good day in my book!!! we had tea twice, climbed a hill to find an amazing view, and got to meet the super sweet mrs. walsh. it was a fun day with a very....exciting..ending. lol mal and i decided that we'd get off the dart line a bit early and just walk home instead of going all the way into town and taking the bus. save a bit of money, even if it is just 1.70euro. yah. prbly not doing that again. it was so cold. and we got lost...a couple times. but we had a laugh which is all that matters.

once i finally got home i got to talk to the fam a bit. see the new dog on skype. (SO CUTE!!!) and my wonderful family will be here in a week!!! i cant wait to show them around... i really hope they love it here as much as i do. actually, idk if ive written this out here yet but im thinking of doing a masters here just so i can come back. theres just something about ireland...i have to come back. i love it too much not to.

but anyway. that was my excitement of late. now its just studying till saturday when i have 2 exams. then cleaning all day sunday for the fam to get here on monday. oh and thursday is kate's bday so we're having a little get together. should be fun.

well its freezing. time for more tea.
:)