Annie and the Chocolate Factory

This week I stayed in Dublin and got the chance to cross a few things off my "Dublin bucket list." I have a little less than a month here, and I can't believe how quickly the semester has gone!

Leinster House

On Thursday I went on a tour of the Dail (pronounced like "doll"), which is the lower houses of the Irish Parliament and is located in the Leinster House in Dublin. I went with my BC class, and we got a private tour from one of the security guards. He showed us around the different chambers, and we even got to meet a senator! She was there when we walked in, shook all of our hands, and in typical Irish fashion, said, "You're all very welcome to the Dail." We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Leinster House, which was a shame because it was beautiful. In the Senate chamber, there are chandeliers made from Waterford crystals, and the entryway has very ornate gold-leaf patterns covering the walls and ceilings. I've been doing my best to keep up with Irish politics since coming here, and seeing the Leinster House and learning about how the Irish government works definitely makes everything I've been reading and watching on the news make a lot more sense. The lower houses of the Irish government are fairly similar to the bicameral legislature in America. The Dail is more akin to the U.S. House of Representatives; it has 166 members and is directly elected every five years under a proportional representation system. The Dail is seen as the most dominant branch, and it has the power to nominate the Taoiseach, which is the Prime Minister and pronounced like "tee-shock", approve the budget, approve declarations of war, and ratify treaties. The Seanad, or Senate, is also located at the Leinster House. Its powers are loosely modeled on those of the British House of Lords, and it is seen as the weakest branch of Irish government. There are 60 members of the Seanad, and they only have the power to delay the passage of bills; they cannot veto a bill outright. Senators are not directly elected, but rather appointed in a few different ways. Eleven are chosen directly by the Taoiseach, so the Taoiseach usually enjoys a majority since the Dail must approve his or her nomination. Ireland also has a president, a deputy prime minister, and a supreme court, so the way government works here isn't all that similar to how it works in America because there isn't the same separation of powers and system of checks and balances. After the tour, our teacher took us to a hotel across the street from the Leinster House for a drink with one of the members of the Dail. I couldn't decide what shocked me more: that BC paid for a pint for all of us, or that a politician joined us!

Friday got off to a great start as a friend and I toured the Butlers Chocolate Factory, which is about an hour from UCD by bus. Butlers has a few chocolate shops around Dublin and Europe in general, and their chocolate is amazing (but not as good as See's)! We watched a film about the history of chocolate, got to see a timeline of important events in chocolate's past, watched chocolate being made and workers decorating the handmade chocolates that Butlers sells, and of course, learned about the history of Butlers, which was founded in 1932 by Marion Butler. The highlight of the tour, though, was the copious amount of chocolate that we were given. We got to try white, milk, and dark chocolate, toffee fudge, milk chocolate truffles, and orange crunch truffles. At the end of the tour, we got to go to the "experience room," where they were playing the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie soundtrack and we got to use melted white chocolate to "glue" chocolate decorations onto a giant milk chocolate bear!

As much fun as the Butlers Factory was, it was kind of hard to enjoy. After we had been there for about 10 minutes, my friend got an email on her phone from BC telling all students to stay inside because of safety issues connected to the Marathon bombings. During the entire tour, we weren't really paying attention because we were too busy trying to find a news article explaining what was going on and trying to text our friends at school to make sure they were okay. For this entire semester, I've never questioned my decision to come abroad, but on Friday all I wanted to do was go back to BC. I know it seems weird that I wanted to go back when all of this was going on, but I couldn't handle being so far away from my home and not knowing if everyone was safe. I felt almost guilty for being abroad. Why did I have the freedom to tour a chocolate factory, visit the Irish Parliament, and travel around Europe when my friends couldn't even leave their dorm rooms? It didn't make sense; it wasn't fair. And nobody here seemed to care. Nobody was talking about what was happening in Boston, and none of my roommates or other European students I know seemed to understand how afraid all of us from BC were. My friend and I spent the remainder of Friday watching the news and reading articles online, trying to make sense of all of this. I couldn't sleep until they announced that the police caught the suspect, and when that happened, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and relief. I've always loved going to BC and been so grateful to have the opportunity to go to school there, and I know I'll return in the fall with a deeper sense of appreciation than I ever had before. Boston is a beautiful, wonderful, and incredibly strong city, and I know it will be even more so after last week's events.



The rest of my weekend was very low key. On Saturday evening I went to mass at the chapel on campus, and today a friend and I went to Fixx Coffeehouse, which is our favorite Dublin coffee shop, to do homework. Fixx has a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere, baristas that draw pictures in the foam on your coffee, and, best of all, a free library! The walls in the back of the shop are lined with bookshelves, and they ask that if you take a book you either put one in its place or make a small donation. The last time I went I picked up a copy of Sherlock Holmes, and when I finished that, I put it back in exchange for a short story collection. Since classes at UCD aren't as rigorous as they are at BC, I've had a lot of time to read for pleasure, which has been awesome.

While last week was pretty laid back, albeit stressful, this week will be much busier. Tomorrow night is UCD's annual International Ball, which should be great craic (the Irish slang for "fun," pronounced like "crack"). I have a final essay due on Wednesday and a final exam on Thursday, which probably won't be too much craic, but that's okay because I have Barcelona to look forward to this weekend!

"Can we sit where JK Rowling sat?"

Sunday morning I came back from a quick trip to Scotland. Three friends and I spent two days in Edinburgh, and this was definitely one of our quietest, least busy weekend adventures. We arrived in Scotland on Friday morning, and the first thing we did was head to Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle sits atop Castle Rock, which has hosted human inhabitants since 900 BC. The Castle, though, was built in the 1200s, and was the cite of royal occupation until the 1600s. By the 1700s, its chief purpose was militaristic, and since the 1900s it has primarily served as an historical monument. Edinburgh Castle is huge, and we spent about two hours exploring. The Crown Room and Royal Palace houses the Stone of Destiny and the Great Hall contains a display of armor. St. Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building of the Castle, and it was built to honor David I's mother. The Prisons contain bunks that emulate the beds the prisoners would have actually slept in, and in keeping with the authentic feel of the entire castle, a gun is fired every afternoon at 1:00.

Jewels in the Crown Room

The 1:00 gun

After visiting Edinburgh Castle, we checked into our hostel, Castle Rock, which was only about a stone's throw from the top of the Castle (pun intended). This is probably my favorite hostel I've stayed in so far. First of all, it looked like a castle on the outside, and the inside had lots of stairwells leading in different directions, much like the castle we explored earlier that day. There were a few different lounges, each with a name and a purpose, like The Posh Lounge, which has a fish tank and a piano, and my personal favorite, The Groove Lounge, which houses a record player, a guitar, and is "strictly for grooving." Each dorm room has a theme too, and we were in the Happy Days Room. There were 14 other people in our room, so needless to say I didn't sleep at all, but the hostel was so cool and in a great location, so it was worth it.

The Groove Lounge

That night we went to dinner at Elephant House, which is where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When we walked in, the waitress asked us if we wanted to sit in the front or in the back, and one of my friends jokingly responded, "Can we sit where JK Rowling sat?" The waitress gave her one of the biggest eye rolls I've ever seen, and put us at a table at the front of the restaurant. We later found out that JK Rowling sat in the back. Rude. Aside from the waitress, eating at the Elephant House was magical (this time, no pun intended). Being the literature nerd that I am, I couldn't get over how cool it was that I was in the same place as where one of the most influential authors of all time was when she began her writing career. The bathrooms are covered in graffiti that has thank-you messages to JK Rowling and quotes from the books. The messages range from sentimental to funny; one of my favorites was the spell "Alohomora," which is used to unlock doors, and is written on one of the door handles.


Saturday, the weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny, so we started our day with a hike to the top of Arthur's Seat, which is a dormant volcano. Getting to be outside and enjoy the sunshine, a hike, and the beautiful views, was the highlight of the weekend for me, and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who goes to Scotland. From the top, you can see what feels like all of Scotland, from Edinburgh Castle to the ocean. There's a large grass area on the top, and when we got there we laid down and basked in the sun before heading back down the other side of the mountain.

View from halfway up...

and the view from the top! 

Stereotypical Scotland 

After climbing up Arthur's Seat, we took a stroll down the Royal Mile, which is a series of streets that runs between Edinburgh Castle and Arthur's Seat. There were countless pubs, Scottish wool and cashmere stores, and bagpipe players in kilts lining the streets; basically exactly what I imagined Scotland would be like. The National Gallery isn't far from the Royal Mile either, so we went in there for a little to look at some artwork. Museums aren't my favorite thing, but there were a lot of impressionist paintings there that I really liked and a collection of work by Scottish painters that was really unique.

The Royal Mile

Saturday evening we continued to live out our Harry Potter dreams by walking through Greyfrieirs Graveyard, which is behind Elephant House and inspired many of the characters' names in the books. We saw Tom Riddell's (aka Tom Riddle / Lord Voldemort) and William McGonagall's (inspiration for Professor Minerva McGonagall) graves.


Later that night, we went to dinner with a Canadian girl whom we met at our hostel. When I pictured hostels before I came to Europe, I always imagined them as these giant rooms with lots of beds where people from all over the world became friends. This was the closest experience I had to what I thought a hostel would be like, and it was cool to branch out and explore a new city with someone else who was also new there. After dinner, we went back to Edinburgh Castle. It was really peaceful to walk around at night and see great views of Edinburgh when it was dark.



Edinburgh was great, but it felt very small, and I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't come back on Sunday. As always, I was happy to be back in Dublin. Now I have only one more weekend trip to look forward to: Barcelona!

"Paris is always a good idea." - Audrey Hepburn

Disclaimer: this post will be full of cliches and over-excited adjectives, but I can't help it! Going to Paris was literally one of the best ideas I've ever had. I was lucky enough to go for Easter weekend, and this was my favorite trip since being abroad. The sights, sounds, friends, and of course, the food, were all incredible, and I could not have asked for a better weekend.

The Eiffel Tower from the top of Montparnasse

First of all, the weather was gorgeous. It was a little cold, but there was no rain and the sun was shining. As always, we started the trip with a free walking tour. We got to walk through the Latin Quarter and see the Fontaine di St. Michel, the Seine River, Notre Dame, Saint Louis Palace, The New Bridge, the Henry IV statue, Pont des Arts (aka the Lock Bridge), the Louvre, the Joan of Arc statue, the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, the Naval Academy, Parliament buildings, Musee d'Orsay, Ile - de - la - Cite, the Tuileries Gardens, and walk down Champs - Elysees. Throughout the tour, our guide gave us tips about his favorite things to do in Paris that most tourists might not know about. Montparnasse, one of the places he recommended we visit, was one of my favorite things we did in Pairs. Montparnasse is a 58-story skyscraper, and besides the Eiffel Tower, it's one of the tallest buildings in Paris. We went on our second night there, and it was so cool to get a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower from another place that's so tall.

There were a few things we saw on the walking tour that we wanted to explore further, so we made time during our stay to go to the Louvre (tip for anyone who's interested in going there: if you go in the entrance by the lion statues, there's virtually no wait and this is the closest entrance to the Mona Lisa!), L'Orangerie Museum (where some of Monet's paintings are), the Arc di Triomphe (where there's a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), and the Tuileries Gardens. We walked around the gardens for a while on Easter Sunday, and this, like most of the rest of the weekend, epitomized exactly what I thought Paris would be. It was relatively warm, and there was an egg hunt going on, so there were lots of families there too. We got lunch (savory crepes) at an outdoor cafe, and spent over an hour just sitting outside and loving being in Paris.

Enjoying some sun at Tuileries Gardens

Arc di Triomphe

In addition to the walking tour, we went on a boat cruise tour in the Seine. This was another one of my favorite things about Paris because it was relaxing, informative, and allowed us to see the city from a different angle and to get a glimpse of parts we wouldn't have been able to get to on foot.

View of Notre Dame from the Seine

Sisters reunited in Paris!

We of course went to the Eiffel Tower, and this too, was one of my favorite things (basically everything in Paris was my favorite thing; I can't narrow it down at all!). The first time we went was at night because my sister was there on a field trip with her French class. Trying to get in touch with her was kind of a challenge, but we finally found each other and got to talk for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe that we got to meet up here! After she and her class went up to the top, my friends and I found a spot near a fountain on the other side of the street to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle (which it does for five minutes every hour once it gets dark) and enjoy our first of many dessert crepes.

Our daytime visit to the Eiffel Tower was also picture perfect. We climbed the 669 stairs to the second story, and from there took an elevator all the way to the top. The top was much colder than the bottom, so we didn't stay for long, but it was definitely worth the cold. For some reason, I thought I would be disappointed by the Eiffel Tower and that it wouldn't be as cool as it seems in pictures, so I was surprised at how in awe I was when I first saw it. I've seen a lot of impressive architecture since being abroad, and the Eiffel Tower was so different from anything else I've seen. This made me appreciate it even more though, and every time I saw it when we were walking throughout the city, I had to stop and take a picture because I got so excited.

Since we were in Paris for Easter, one of the friends I went with and I went to mass at Notre Dame. We went to an international mass which was supposed to be held in a mix of English and French, but it was all in French except for one reading. I couldn't really understand what was going on (we even accidentally missed the Our Father), but my favorite part was the sign of peace. Everyone was saying it in his or her native language, and it was really cool to see people from all over the world shaking hands and coming together for mass on Easter Sunday.

Inside Notre Dame

In addition to all of the beautiful sights, the food in Paris was also incredible. The bread, cheese, crepes, croissants, bread, salad, desserts, bread, fondue, bread, and bread were all phenomenal. One of my favorite things I ate in Paris though (besides the bread) were macarons, which are colorful little sweets that are kind of like sandwich cookies. We went to a pastry shop called Laduree, and the macarons there were life-changing. My favorite flavor was vanilla, which tasted like a light, fluffy, chewy cloud of deliciousness and perfection. If happiness had a taste, it would taste like this.

Macarons!!!!!!!!

Putting our lock on the bridge

One of the reasons why I loved Paris so much was because of the people I was there with. It was great to see my sister, and I got to go with two of the closest friends I've made in Ireland. When we were walking by a street vendor along the Seine one day, we saw a lock with three keys, so we decided to put our initials on it and add it to the Pont des Arts. On the back we wrote, "for friends and family," and we all put it on the bridge together and threw our keys into the Seine. Very cheesy, I know, but it was fun and cool to leave our mark on Paris! If I ever get to go back, I hope our lock is still there.


Another reason why I loved Paris so much was that it was the perfect mix between busy touristy things and leisure. Since we were there for three full days, we were able to take our time with the sightseeing and really get to enjoy all of the places we went. On our last day there after visiting the Eiffel Tower, we went back to Montmarte, which is the area where our hostel was, and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and going into different shops. We just happened to walk by Sacre Cour, a cathedral at the top of a hill, at sunset, so we decided to sit on the steps and watch the sun go down. It was the perfect way to end the weekend, and, like London, I wasn't ready to leave! If I had to do it all over again, there isn't a thing I would change about the entire trip; the weekend I spent in Paris was probably the best weekend I've had abroad so far, and I hope I get to go back someday.

Watching the sun set at Sacre Cour - the perfect ending to a perfect weekend