Edinburgh, Scotland was a place like nothing I have ever seen before. I literally felt as if I was in a storybook of a fairytale. Our hostel overlooked a breathtaking castle that we went in right inside to when we got there. We left our bags in the hostel and wasted no time. The castle was huge and we got lucky enough to witness a couple get married:)
Then after the castle we went to get some food on the way to the Botanic Gardens.
After that we got dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Even though we were all really tired from getting no sleep the night before we went to a pub to listen to some Scottish music. I had a glass of wine as we sat there and laughed at the songs that were being sung!! Here is a link to one of many songs we heard. They were hilarious!
The next morning we woke up and walked 10 minutes down the road to find Elephants Cafe. It's where J.K. Rowling sat and wrote the first Harry Potter book. I looked out the same window she did with a giant smile on my face while eating my pancakes. We also went to the graveyard below to find the names of the actual people she used for the movies. I got to pay my respects to Tom Riddle!
After visiting the graveyard we walked to a local museum and then headed to Aurthor's Seat for some good old hiking! It was a steep climb up and a steep one back down. The top of it was incredible though! The view over Edinburgh was beautiful and it was definitely worth the climb! We all had a good laugh on the way down when Morgan and Bridget wiped out completely due to lack of traction on their shoes.
After our hike we went for dinner and then ventured back to our hostel.
Spain
We landed in Madrid in the morning and took a taxi to the city center. We had looked for things to do before and decided on going on an air lift to view the city from above!
We then made our way back and stopped in a churros place on the way! It was a quick snack before we headed to the bus station. When we got there we realized that we all had to charge our phones and that were no plugs anywhere to be seen. We wandered to a restaurant where we got help from the nicest most patient server I have ever had. She barely spoke english but she was a trooper to handle us. Since we all had to charge our phones and there were only two outlets we had to take turns. We ended up staying 3 or 4 hours!!!! We didn't want to go back to the station and wait till our bus at midnight so we decided they would eventually just kick us out when they needed us to leave. We were good customers and ordered a lot of food. I had apple pie for my first course, beer and fries for my second and a hamburger for my third! Our server definitely thought we were crazy but she laughed along anyways. We eventually went back to the station and waited an hour before for our bus. I have never brushed my teeth or changed in a bus station before and I hope to never have to do it again. We took an 8 hour night bus to Barcelona. I have to say it was not my best night of sleep and we arrived around nine in the morning. After we got off the bus we took a cab to Las Ramblas where our hostel Kabul was. We couldn't check in till noon so we decided to just drop our backpacks off and go have a look around. We went to a market just down the road where I got the most amazing gelato and smoothie. It was really cheap and all types of ventures and people were there.
After the market we walked 25 minutes down to the beach to see the Ocean! The beach was super windy and we didn't end up staying long. Instead we found a place right near by at Markamarka for fries and sangrias. After we were tired from the long day and having no sleep the past two days so we went back to the hostel to check in and rest. I really need to lay down because I was just feeling horrible that day. It was the start of a nasty cold that I am pretty sure my friend Helen gave me!! I couldn't end up falling asleep though so Morgan, Julia, Bridget and I went down in the square that our hostel was in for a drink. The square was filled at all times of a day and we sat down in the sun and had margaritas. I finally got in touch with Brendan and found a good place to meet up. Around 6 we headed to a park with this beautiful mermaid fountain! After the park we walked to the bar where Brendan told me to meet him. It was amazing to see him and I finally for the first time got to watch March Madness!! Grant who was on spring break was there too and I was happy to see some faces from home. The girls were hungry though and left to grab dinner but I stayed behind to hangout. We watched the games, laughed, caught up, drank some beers and ate some delicious mozzarella sticks. However my cold and no sleep was finally catching up to me and I couldn't bare it anymore. Once the girls came back, Brendan convinced us to go back to the hostel, nap and then go clubbing with them. Sad to say after I awoke from my nap at 11 I could barely swallow and was in no shape to go out so I stayed in. I woke up the next morning feeling better and did not regret my decision! I really needed that sleep. Next we went to Sagrada Familia!!!! Once we got there though I realized my ticket on my phone did not have the bar code on it like everyone else's. There was no wifi anywhere so I had to walk down the street and sit in starbucks to figure it out. I know it was sent in a email and thats the first place I checked. When I pulled up my inbox of course it was no where to be found. I was getting frustrated and was bummed I wouldn't be going in. Thankfully I checked my spam folder just as a last resort and there it was!! Being so relieved, I went in and was able to find my friends inside. The detail and thought put into this church truly amazed me! Everything that could of been thought of was and they were rebuilding it to the exact floorpan that was used years ago with no changes. It is incredible that an architect thought of absolutely everything that to this day they didn't have to change anything.
After the church we took a taxi to park Guell. I was surprised on how much Spanish I could retain from memory when the cab driver spoke to us. The whole trip to Spain I really had no trouble getting around at all. I could understand better than I could speak but thankfully I remembered a lot more than I thought I knew. The park was by far my favorite part of my trip to Barcelona. We got to see the city of Barcelona from up high and look down at the view. Brendan and Grant were also in the park but there was no wifi to locate them and the place was way too big!
We went back to the hostel to rest and to get ready for dinner and the clubs. Brendan and I finally were able to talk and decided to meet up at club Opium on the beach later. The girls and I went for dinner and then walked back to the hostel to hangout. Turns out our hostel is the shit and in the main area everyone was out and about playing games, watching the games, drinking and making friends. We pregame there and I met some fascinating people. I talked to a group of people from London that were here in Spain for a convention for business. One of the main guys I talked to was a man who was older and had a wife and kids. He was a sweet guy and smiled as he talked about his family! It was really interesting because the older mans boss is ONLY 22 and was flirting with some girls across the room. I really enjoyed listening to their life stories and they were so different to anything I have heard before. It was crazy that they all worked for a person who was my age.
We left after a few beers and took a cab to Opium around midnight. It was raining when we got there but once we were inside thats when things got crazy. There were people every where dancing. We had just walked into a rave! the lights were flashing and everyone was dancing! We went straight on the dance floor and danced the night way (literally.) I looked down at my phone after awhile and realized 3 hours and gone by! I have no idea where the time went! There was a place outside connected to the club and we went out there for some fresh air. It was still pouring rain but we were under shelter and weren't getting wet. The waves were huge though and it was very windy! I couldn't find Brendan anywhere so I just went back on the dance floor without him. Next time I looked down at my phone it was 5 am and 2 more hours had gone by. Bridget and I got separated from the other 3 before and decided to leave because we had to be in a taxi for the airport by 7:30. We fell asleep for about a hour and then headed back for Dublin where I later found out Brendan was dancing 15 feet away from me the whole time and we never saw each other once! I was pretty bummed that we didn't see each other at the club and I didn't have my dance partner but theres nothing I can do about it. Overall, It was the best week I could of asked for!
Truly blessed to be traveling the world! Thank you mom and dad for literally making my dreams come true!!
We left after a few beers and took a cab to Opium around midnight. It was raining when we got there but once we were inside thats when things got crazy. There were people every where dancing. We had just walked into a rave! the lights were flashing and everyone was dancing! We went straight on the dance floor and danced the night way (literally.) I looked down at my phone after awhile and realized 3 hours and gone by! I have no idea where the time went! There was a place outside connected to the club and we went out there for some fresh air. It was still pouring rain but we were under shelter and weren't getting wet. The waves were huge though and it was very windy! I couldn't find Brendan anywhere so I just went back on the dance floor without him. Next time I looked down at my phone it was 5 am and 2 more hours had gone by. Bridget and I got separated from the other 3 before and decided to leave because we had to be in a taxi for the airport by 7:30. We fell asleep for about a hour and then headed back for Dublin where I later found out Brendan was dancing 15 feet away from me the whole time and we never saw each other once! I was pretty bummed that we didn't see each other at the club and I didn't have my dance partner but theres nothing I can do about it. Overall, It was the best week I could of asked for!
Truly blessed to be traveling the world! Thank you mom and dad for literally making my dreams come true!!