Category

Europe

Category

My expectations of Belgium: chocolate, waffles, beer. The reality: chocolate, waffles, beer, mussels, beautiful buildings AND “French” fries. Brussels is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. It is full of importance and possesses an air of regality. You walk into the Grand Place and you feel as though you have stepped back through time. There are buildings towering above you in every direction of the square; but these building aren’t the steel skyscrapers of New York, they are ornate mason structures with gold details and statues of important figures throughout history decorating their outer walls. City hall reaches up towards the sky and 300 of these statues of mayors, politicians, painters and more look down on the square at the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to visit this majestic city each year. And the best part of all, my hostel was right down one…

Do you remember your first kiss? The first kiss I got yesterday gave me more than just butterflies in my stomach; it bestowed on me the gift of eloquence, or as some call it, the gift of talking your way out of anything. Yes folks, I kissed the Blarney Stone! But, it isn’t as simple as leaning over and kissing a rock; you have to be lowered down the side of the very top of Blarney castle and held on to by someone as you cling for dear life onto the iron rails sticking out of the wall above your head. Terrifying, right? But I did it! I conquered one of the world’s 99 things to do before you die and joined the millions of visitors over the past hundred years who have kissed the stone. The term blarney actually means “clever or flattering” as in a way with one’s…

Guess what; there’s a Boston, Ireland! We passed the sign for it when I went on my first excursion today with my study abroad program, API. The excursions included in my trip to Galway  were actually a huge reason why I chose API as my abroad program provider, and I am so glad I did. Not only do I get to go on some incredible excursions around Ireland and even to Edinburgh, Scotland, I also had the chance of meeting Kevin and Finn, my program directors. They are the most wonderful couple and mentors I could have asked for on this trip. Finn refers to herself as our “Irish sister” and she truly lives up to that title. The pair of them are a fountain of information and resources as we plan our own trips around Europe and encounter the day to day challenges of living in a foreign country.…

I made it! I am here in Galway, Ireland. The ride from Boston was  easy, no hassle at all! Aer Lingus was a great, inexpensive airline to use with a direct flight into the Shannon airport an hour outside of Galway. On the plane, every passenger got to watch the plane’s course of travel on individual screens on the back of each of the chairs. They even played music, movies and a variety of t.v. shows! It was SO COOL! Getting settled in has been a bit more of a challenge because of the scheduling of classes, finding my bearings, and dealing with phone and bank issues, but I have tried to just keep an open mind and explore in the times that I have felt overwhelmed. I am living in the student apartment complex called Gort na Coiribe which is where a vast majority of the students at the…