Home Is Where...

I T ' S  A  F U N N Y  T H I N G  A B O U T  C O M I N '  H O M E L O O K S  T H E  S A M E ,  S M E L L S  T H E  S A M E ,  F E E L S  T H E  S A M E . Y O U ' L L  R E A L I Z E  W H A T ' S  C H A N G E D  I S  Y O U .
-avocados are plentiful. -there's Target. -friends and family aren't several mental timezone calculations away. -the sister is. -the sister's closet is. -sunshine... shines. -I don't need to Google Map every single little destination I'm trying to end up at. -there's Mexican food. Good Mexican food. -there's sushi. Good sushi. -my lifeline isn't an adaptor. -my toes fit so perfectly in my Rainbow flip flops, despite not wearing them in months and months. -when WiFi fails, 3G takes over. -my devices know the password-protected WiFi networks like old friends. -laundry machines don't suck. -figuring out currency isn't the most difficult thing since calculus. -I use plastic over cash. -I stop thinking on temporary terms. What is home to you?

13

Tell The World I'm Coming Home

Mates, my arm muscles have completely died after I tortured them into lugging 3 suitcases, 2 of which were in the 50-pound range (didn't have a scale to check and crossed my fingers they wouldn't charge me if I went over - yolo), and a massive tote bag brimming with pastries for the plane and Mindy Kaling's book, through half the whole airport. 
Heathrow is disgustingly enormous.
The past week was go, go, go. It was a constant frenzy of finishing up essays that didn't want to be finished, packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, and then packing everything, popping over to Dublin, Barcelona, and Paris in quick succession, and then fretting over every logistical detail in the process of getting home.
But now, I'm sitting in a random seat in the middle of my terminal, waiting for my gate to show up so I can go and begin a day of enduring 11 hours on a plane. At least I have Mindy.
Now, everything's still and not frenzied. It's finally hitting me that I'm leaving Europe, and there is no knowing when I'll ever be back. It's hitting me that school, real school, is starting next week. That I'll get to see my friends and my family, and that I won't constantly be scratching my head at the tiny but extremely noticeable differences between the US and the UK. It means I won't be the foreigner anymore, the outsider, the visitor. 
I get to go home, and anyone who has ever known me understands that to me, home - my bed - my loved ones - mean infinitely times more to me than formative, mind-building academics, traipsing through cities that I've only dared to dream of, crossing cultural barriers and planes and trains and coaches and (attempted) horse carriages. These are all wonderful, these all make my heart fuller than full, but home. Home is everything to me.

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Cliffs of Moher, More, More! || Ireland, Part II

For the Sunday leg of our Dublin trip, we knew that the town would mostly be shut down for religious and rest purposes... especially because it was the day before St. Patrick's Day. Ergo, we escaped the city for the bright, beautiful countryside by way of a day trip to the famous Cliffs of Moher.

Apparently, 450 other tourists had the same idea.

The day trip takes about 13 hours total. There was an insane amount of driving, although if you really break it down to the fact that you drive the width of a whole country and back in that amount of time, it's really nothing. I can barely get out of Texas in 13 hours.

There were a handful of random stops - one at Limerick to see the castle where Cromwell laid siege on the Jacobites. There was one at the tiny, adorable town of Doolin where we had a truly delicious pub lunch. We saw the "mini Cliffs of Moher." We stopped at a couple of graveyards - I won't say it was a little creepy, but... it was a little creepy.

The true showstopper of the entire day was the actual Cliffs of Moher. Vast, humongous, and so, so stunning - seeing the cliffs for the first time was one of those moments that literally take your breath away. We were treated to blue, cloudy skies at first, which painted the prettiest picture above the brilliantly green cliffs. On our walk back to the bus, the skies turned gray and misty and foggy... it was akin to walking in the clouds, a little bit like a lucid dream.

If you're ever in Ireland, I do highly recommend choosing to go on a day trip somewhere. Cliffs of Moher was a spectacular choice - well worth the pricetag (about 40 euros per person) and the long hours in the bus. Seeing the Irish countryside, with its rolling fields and farmland, its sheep and cows, is truly everything you've ever heard it to be.

12

Got Guinness? || Ireland Part I

In a few hours, I have to go grab a bunch of clothes from my unpacked suitcase from this weekend in Ireland and throw them into the laundry... only to pack them right back into the same suitcase for Barcelona and Paris tomorrow. It's been quite the mad whirlwind, it has, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.
My friends, Nick and Lauren, and I spent about three days total in Ireland - two in Dublin and one on a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Every inch of the country was green - either from the vast hills and fields in the countryside, or from the kitschy shamrock headbands and sweatshirts that everyone was adorning for St. Patrick's Day. Emerald Isle, it was indeed. 

One of the lessons I've learned from traveling with friends (and oh boy, are there many) is that everyone has their unique interests. Everyone has a mental list of things they reeeeally want to check out in a new city, a list of places to see and food to try. When we are all able to compromise and hit up these various places, many of which we wouldn't think to go to on our own, it's really amazing how valuable and interesting we find them to be.
I'm not a big drinker, and especially not a big beer drinker. My friend Nick is my polar opposite in this particular case. The Guinness Storehouse was number one on his priorities list, so the three of us ventured to the factory right after dropping our bags off at the hotel... and on empty stomachs.
Mmmhm.

As it turned out, I did in fact enjoy the Guinness Storehouse. Very, very much so. And I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in Dublin. The tour is self-guided, easily maneuvered, and incredibly interesting and informative. I've never given any thought to the intricacies of the beer-making process, and now I appreciate it so much more. It was well worth the (cheap) price - and it comes with a complimentary pint of Guinness! You even have the option of pouring a pint for yourself, like so:

The tour ends on the seventh floor, at the Gravity Bar, which allowed for us to enjoy our pints whilst absorbing the 360 panoramic views of Dublin at sunset. This in itself was one of my favorite memories in Dublin. 

Traveling has imparted many a life lesson to me; above all, it's demonstrated to me over and over again the pricelessness of exploring new places and trying novel experiences with an open mind and with amazing company. If all else fails, you always get a story out of it, and people to laugh about it with. Or, you can just come out of it with an incredible experience all around - as it happened with Guinness.
What has traveling taught you?
-- Remember to try your hand at winning $145 in cash!

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An American in Ireland {For St. Patrick's Day} || $145 Cash Giveaway

Cliffs of Moher
Happy St. Patrick's Day, pals! I genuinely hope you are wearing green on green on green and avoid getting pinchy-pinched today. I'll be sporting a bright green shamrock headband that practically rains glitter and parading myself down the streets of Dublin, I will. 
I have many an Irish story for you - I have so much to tell you about the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin, and the beautiful, breathtaking, splendidly wondrous Cliffs of Moher (hint: no Horcrux was found). But today. Today's for being Irish and everything green and parades and... libations.
Embrace today like the Irish, my friends. In the meantime, how about a pot of gold for ya? ---

I'm teaming up with a bunch of fellow September FARM obsessees for a $145 cash giveaway this month. Because Karli's really funny and awesome, her sponsors are all so sweet, and you deserve to love them all too. 

need ideas on how to spend $145?

• how about some new hunter rain boots just in time for spring showers?
• how about some glorious easter decor from pottery barn? (a personal favorite.)
• or maybe you need a ridiculously beautiful new easter dress to wear to brunch and sip champagne in? (oh easter brunch…i love thee.)
• possibly you've been eyeballing a new swimming suit for all the hours you're going to log at the pool this summer? (dear god, please tell me this is in my future.)

Caroline's suggestion: just make it rain, rain, rain, and swim in your puddle, girl.

well then, i suggest you do the following two things:

1 | get entered. there are about a trillion entry options. do all of them.

2 | go ahead and visit all 15 of these sweet gals and show them some love. 

 keeping up with kelsey • perpetually caroline • the grits blog

 the farmer's wife • september farm • living lavender

 mommy in heels • a + life • yellow mango life

 the newly blog • bunny autumn etsy shop • jane heinrichs

with all our hearts • a fresh start on a budget • a hundred tiny wishes

very very best of luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

8

When People IRL Tell Me They Read My Blog

Sometimes I can be a total dweeb bordering on obnoxious about my blog. In my defense, I'm physically! unable! to put a stopper on my constant shutter-clicking (pics or it didn't happen, amirite?) or blog stalk talk. People are nice enough to listen to me ramble on and on about a new blog crush or winning a giveaway or sponsorships, but when these very people come up to me and say the dreaded,
"Hey! I read your blog, I really like it!" I freeze up.
Like this.

And then it's...

Oh. That's really embarrassing.
Did you really? Sorry!
Thanks! .... (awkward silence)
Oh wow, thank you. Sorry it's stupid.
Wait, how did you find it?!
{Maybe because I leave it up on all the house's desktops. Or because I talk about it always.}
Then, they're usually (understandably) curious. There's been a recent increase in IRL people reading or looking at my blog (...hi, guys.) because of all my friends and family who want to keep up with my travels, my friends who are traveling with me and who want to look at their mugs (funnily enough, I very much so have abandoned posting pictures on my personal FB, and they have to resort to coming to my blog to save any pictures they want - did I do this intentionally? maybe.), and their friends and family who want to see what they are up to. This results in conversations like above happening. After the initial courtesy "I like your blog!" it's... 
What do you usually blog about? When you're not traveling? 
And I do a nervous little titter - Stupid things.
What I wear, what I eat, what I do, what I think.
So basically, really stupid things. It's whatever.
I don't really know. It's a lot of rambling.
If they're smart, they'll leave it at that and we'll move on to conversation that's more in... mutual territory. But sometimes, they'll ask me more about how blogworld works and how did I get into it? How much time goes into it? Aren't you scared of psychos? We'll get into this really intense me-going-blah-blah-blah discussion and they'll keep feeding me lines like "this really is so cool!" "you're good at it!"
And by the end, I'm all... I'm blog world celebrity.
You're lucky to know me.
If you're nice to me, maybe I'll make you blog famous.
They'll laugh like I'm joking, and that's usually the end of the talk. 
But in the future, after every single little non-routine thing you do, it's going to be,
Are you going to blog about this?
Is this going on the blog?
...
OBVIOUSLY IT IS.

19

London: So Long, Farewell

It's amazing what you can get me to do, if you know the right things to say. (I would say "insert dirty joke here," but I have way too many parents and grandparents and former educators reading this blog, so let's go ahead and pretend this never happened. The font's small because I'm hoping they don't want to strain their eyes.)
Take this girl, for example.

"Let's go tour Parliament," she said.

"It'll be fun! Exactly like the Ministry of Magic, but for Muggles! I promise," she said.
And, I mean, okay, she was right. About the first part at least - it was really entertaining, especially because we took a British Politics class together last year and I felt half-smart because I knew a lot of what some things Mr. Audio Guide was talking about. Granted, I remembered all the "fun facts" (someone gets a door slammed in his face! this is where the Queen sits!) and conveniently forgot all the real facts (this is how the process of legislation works....?).

Lauren insisted that we go because then we'd be informed and cultured and (nerds). And you know what? I love her for it. But she also took me out for tea at Fortnum & Mason because she knew my brain could handle only so much education in one day.

Parliament was actually fascinating and tea was indulgent. We were by far the youngest people at both, but we are two wild, wild cards who know no restraint and self control, what can I say?

Hungry?
My bad. 
But, hang on. I need to torture you some more because I realized that I never invited you to my brief jaunt to Borough Market (heaven) last weekend. It was pre-Harry Potter Studio Tour, which essentially made it the best day ever. There was coffee and pasta and healthy smoothies and everything good in this world. AND I started the day in the most wonderful, soft, snuggly, sink-y bed. See:

Which one didn't Caroline read? You only get one guess because it's too easy.

After all this ridiculous deliciousness, you'd think I'd be satisfied, would you not? You'd think. BUT. Then I spotted a Chipotle far in the distance and sprinted at it with a speed I didn't really think I was capable of. It was everything familiar and my heart... my heart simply weeped at the extra scoops of corn salsa I begged for. 

... but the Coke was fake. There was no high fructose corn syrup in it. What a letdown for a proud American.

Sadly, this weekend marked my farewell (for now) to London. I won't be back in the city again before I leave, but truthfully, I couldn't have left on a better note. Because it was the most beautiful day I've witnessed London having since being here - beautiful, blue, warm, breezy, sunny - we walked from Big Ben/Westminster to Trafalgar Square to St. James' Park to Piccadilly for tea. Piccadilly, where my entire study abroad adventure began. How fitting.
Thank you, London, for all of the amazing memories. You have truly become one of my very, very favorite cities. Up next - finishing up Oxford schoolwork, and then Dublin, Barcelona, Paris, and home!

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