You'll be glad to know that I did not get run down by a bike..

Last weekend, I went to Amsterdam! It was lots of fun. Really nice city, very pretty. Lots of fun markets to trek around looking for cool buys. The hostel that we stayed in had the best brekky that I have ever had in a hostel. There was lots of food, which we got so much more than we needed and a pile of napkins to not very sneakily wrapped up for a make do lunch. Excellent. There was cake served. Made an excellent afternoon tea :)

Everyone in Amsterdam rides bikes, so crossing the road you have to look out for cars, trams, buses and BIKES. Scary.

Went to the Anne Frank Huis, which in a building that was the factory owned by Otto Frank, Anne's father and where the family lived/hid. It was very interesting and worth a visit. We bought a hop on hop off pass for a boat that went to the sights via the canal which was quite cool, slow but fun and because it was sunny it was also all the better. Joined a 3 hour walking tour around the city which was quite informative although I am pretty sure that it went for more than 3 hours, very long. all in all a good weekend. I would go back to Amsterdam again!

Of course because I left Galway last weekend, the weather was BEAUTIFUL, thankfully this weekend has been lovely out so it is ok and as I mentioned the weather in Amsterdam was nice and sunny and that is all that matters.

All my love xx

RAIN

It is raining AGAIN. But I am getting used to it, i guess. I will need to get used to it. On my walk to church this morning the rain was coming from every direction, there was no way of blocking it. I had remembered to grab my umbrella before leaving the home, thankfully. I was very wet for the whole service, not nice, trust me. I think that I need to invest in a rain jacket this week.
Last week I made a Butternut squash (pumpkin) , spinach and chickpea curry. It was very yummy. I didn't put in chili, but chili powder as well as mixed spice. So if you are looking for an easy dish, you should try this, it went down well. tasted great the day after i made it. If anything, it is very visually pleasing, which in my book is always important.
I am going to launch into being active this coming week as I have spent the afternoon in bed (wrapped in my Snuggie, mummy sent me one), dozing on and off and am now feeling extremely lazy :(
Currently enjoying Florence and the Machine. FANTASTIC!
Happy Birthday to my lovely cousin Fio, for this week. Super jealous if you will be making it to her party.
all my love xx

The Bedroom Philosopher

I forgot how good the Bedroom Philospher is, so am currently having a love affair with the music player on his myspace page.

Rain rain, go away!

Officially it is still summer, somebody forgot to mention this to Galway, where it was rained quite heavily for the majority of the day :( I was inside at work but could see the mental weather that Galway had put on for the day.

I am going to Dublin for the weekend to meet up with a girl I met when I was in London, she is over for the weekend, so that should be fun. Facebook really is so handy when travelling in that you can keep in contact with people after meeting them where ever you find yourself. YAY!

All is well, with the exception of the weather, I am dreading winter. But I knew coming into this that Ireland was wet and cold, so can't complain too much. I am still going to complain though. I feel it is only the right thing to do.

I have a problem atm, all my friends seem to be leaving Galway, so am on a mission to find new friends, I will keep you updated on this. I may need to force my friendship on people. They'll love it :)

All my love xx

And they're off...

The Galway Races were last week, all week. I didn't make it to any of the race days as I had to work everyday - although I would have loved to dress up in a pretty dress and wear an obstruction on my head - I could have gone on Saturday or Sunday but was happy enough to just head into town after the races. The races brought loads of people to Galway, loads of people who went from the races to the city for a big night. The main street of the city was made a glass free zone as people gathered both inside and outside of the pubs. Many pubs set up outdoor bars so that you didn't even have to go inside to get drink. I was quite amused that there were lines outside of pubs - this I had not seen before in Galway and pubs that would never be full were packed. It was a great atmosphere, a busy hard to move inside and up and down the street atmosphere but it was fun.

All my love xx

Parlez-vous anglais?

Haven't updated this for a while and it feels like forever since I got back from London and Paris, really it has only been a couple of weeks. So I had a great time in Paris, I got lost a lot and I mean really lost, there was one day when I ended up at a train station so far from where i was headed I wasn't even sure where I was. Even though I spent a large amount of time lost and confused, I managed to see a few things. I had planned to see the Eifel Tower at night, as I have heard that it is very pretty but I kind of forgot. Oops, I guess that just means that I will have to go back :) Plus I also want to go to Disneyland Paris. I learnt from my trip that I need to plan more when I go away. I don't really like planning because I am disorganised and lazy, but there were a few things that I wished that I had of seen when in the city of love but didn't get around to it. Never mind - lesson learned. I am finding myself saying that a lot lately - "its ok a least I will know next time what I should have done", its grand though.
Anyway no I am back in Galway. The arts festival is on at the moment, so the city is buzzing a little not as much as I had expected but there are still lots of people in town during the day and lots of buskers, there are usually a few but since last week there have been many. I like it. some are interesting - I guess you could say :p I am heading to see Bon Iver tomorrow night which should be lots of fun! and Midsummer Nights Dream on Sunday night. Also checked out the Parade on Sunday night (with the rest of Galway), which was good.
I went to Killarney last weekend with my friend and her friends. It was a weekend. Took just under 5 hours on the bus to get there though, which kind of sucked. Killarney is beautiful, lovely little Irish town. Although I was doubting how Irish it was when it took us a good 20 minutes to find an off license (bottle o) :) anywhere that you can but drink is often not too hard to find. You will be glad to know that we found somewhere. I found a pub called Molly Maguires so that excited me a little :) although being an eejit I left my camera at home. Could have snapped some beautiful shots of the scenery, which was amazing I must say. Even having been here for nearly 4 months (can you believe it? 4 months on Saturday), I am constantly astounded by how GREEN everything is.
Well everything is still going well. i have all new housemates, they are lovely!
I will be sure to update this a little more often, i have been quite busy at work and what not.
Not sure if i wrote a little while back that i dyed my hair blonde, but as the weather is getting colder :( and my regrowth is getting longer, I will be brunette again soon. It was fun to be blonde for a little bit, but it is time to go back.
All my love xx

I am a terrible tourist...

I have been in London for the last 3 days, one more day here and then I head to Paris for 3 days, then back to Galway (and work). I am having lots of fun but keep forgetting to take photos L. I really am a bad tourist and I get angry at other tourists although I am a tourist. Maybe I’m just a bad person? I am definitely a grumpy tourist. Not because I don’t like other tourists, but because I have a blister the size of JUPITER on my heel. Did you know? The temperature on Jupiter is minus153 degrees Celsius. How do I know that you ask? Well I went to the Natural History Museum – it was very cool – I stayed there for about 2 hours, it just kept going and going. I could have easily stayed for sooo much longer, had I not had a giant blister L

Things I have done in London so far:

- Hamleys Toy Shop – very cool, so many toys, so much fun to be had.

- Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace – I couldn’t see too much so I left before it had finished.

- Kensington Park

- Hyde Park

- Walked around Piccadilly Circus and surrounding areas – I got lost so I can’t tell you exactly where I was

- I had a sundae at Harrods – it was so yummy (very expensive) but pretty good. Thought I might have to roll back to my hostel though.

- Went to see ‘Wicked’ at the Apollo Theatre – Very Very Very Great!

- Wandered around a lot.

- Sat in a few parks and people watched.

- Went for a drink in Soho.

- Camden and Portobello market – I got so lost in the Camden Markets, at one point I was inside upstairs and next thing I knew I was downstairs outside (????). So lost.

Tomorrow I am going to head into the city and check out a few things, see what I find.

The weather is stunning and beautiful here at the moment! Very warm :) I had to buy some thongs today.

Will let you know what I end up doing and my adventures in Paris!

All my love xx