Despite my best efforts (or maybe just my strong desire and a little bit of effort) to be a good blogger I realized that I have only one week left in Europe and haven't blogged in more than a month. So in the interest of ending on a strong note, here's what I've been up to...
I went to Dublin at the beginning of March and Brussels for day because there was a cheap flight. Although it wasn't the prettiest European city I've been to, Dublin had the kindest people. People would stop us on the street just to make sure we were enjoying our stay and knew where we were going. Once we ran into the same man three times in one day. I've decided Ireland is like Europe's version of the South. I loved the temple bar area and wandering around Trinity College, but my favorite part of the trip was meeting up with my friends from Athens who are studying at Oxford. We went to see the Avett Brothers in a tiny venue about the size of Athens' Caledonia Lounge.
View of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Factory
At the Avett Brothers with Tyler, Nathan and Doug!
Brussels
We returned from Brussels to churros stands, falleras (women and girls dressed in 15th century Spanish attire), and swarms of tourists from all over Europe. It was the climax of Las Fallas, a world renown annual festival in Valencia. The city had been preparing Fallas and light displays for the past few months in anticipation of the festival's final week. Fallas are huge floats throughout the city that represent aspects of Spanish culture that Valencians don't like. On the final night, fireworks ignite each of the Fallas which then go up in flames. But Valencians don't save fireworks for the grand finale - lest you should pause your celebrating to take a nap, fireworks went go pretty much non stop for 7 days.
Falleras right outside my dorm
That was 3 stories high
I also went on a ten day trip to Italy last week, but that deserves it's own post and will have to wait til later.
