The Beginning of an Adventure: Northern Ireland, Ireland and Portugal

As I am trying to wrap up my time in Barcelona -only today and tomorrow left :( - I don't have a lot of time to write, but I am going to put the highlights of the last week on here!

When I got back to Barcelona from Morocco and Semana Santa in Sevilla, I had finals week - the least stressful finals week of my life- and I got my grades... I passed! I tried to soak up my last week in Barcelona while continuing to make travel plans. At the end of the week one of my friends from school and sorority sister, Sarah was here. It was good to see someone from home and catch up about all of our study abroad adventures!

 

:::Sarah and I by the beach:::

Belfast, Northern Ireland

We flew to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was beautiful, but there was not a lot to do - since we were there for such a short time - other than look at churches, gardens and other various tourist spots. 

:::St.Peter's Cathedral:::

:::The last place that the Titanic was on dry ground:::

:::Queen's University:::

Dublin, Ireland

We took a bus to Dublin after 2 days in Belfast. We got there at night, so we just went to the touristy part of town to hang out for the night. Then the next day we walked all around Dublin to see the Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, old churches and the Guinness Storehouse - since it is probably the largest tourist attraction in the city- to see how it is made - and since I am a science geek... I thought it was pretty interesting! The next day we went on a tour to the coast of Southern Ireland - saw the beautiful coast, countryside and AMAZING Powerscourt Gardens.

:::Never know when you are going to find people from Spain and get to practice your Spanish!:::

:::St. Patrick's Cathedral:::

:::Looks like I must be Irish! Haha!:::

:::In Powerscourt gardens... (photo thanks to VGirl's artistic skills):::

:::Let's see how many times I can use the word beautiful... THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE OF IRELAND:::

Lisbon and Cascais, Portugal

We flew to Lisbon, Portugal and walked around the city all day to see the town, cathedral and castle. This was a little more difficult than Ireland since they understood our Spanish, but we could not understand Portuguese. The next day we went to Cascais - a wonderful beach town - and layed on the beach and I got burnt and look like a lobster... but it was worth it. :)

:::Sao Jorge - Castle in Lisbon, Portugal:::

:::Cascais beach:::

Now I have two days in Barcelona then I am off to The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Greece, Romania, Austria, Poland... then USA.