Cantus

I just want everyone to know that I voluntarily put myself through some massive hazing. That is what Cantus is and it was one of the best nights in Maastricht.

Basically, there is a leader, there are punishments, and there is lots of singing. OH and how could I forget...A LOT of drinking. I am so glad I never got punished, it looked horrible. One girl had to take a mixed Absinthe shot. Anyone who has hung out with me here knows I am very fond of Absinthe, but a  mixed Absinthe shot freaks me out! Plus with the amount of beer we were required to chug, it just inevitably equals getting sick.

One of my friends kept not being silent when we were told and had to chug lots and lots of beer in front of everyone. Before we drank we had to say "prosit senior prosit corona." If you forgot.. more beer. If you left your book open.. more beer. If you talked out of line.. punishment then more beer.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is tradition. AND SO FUN!

The only problem was... I needed to be productive the next day. Didn't happen.

¿Que Pasa Barcelona?

Barcelona might have been the happiest, most uncomfortable, fun trip I have taken so far. Of course I got to see a few of my sisters (SO AMAZING) and the beautiful city... but man oh man the men there are CREEPERS. I don't know what it is about my boobs but they get a lot of attention out here. A man stopped me in the street by putting his hand across my chest (yes that's how small they are, get over it) and somehow managed to get a death grip on my wrist. He started asking me a million questions about my ethnicity because I was so beautiful blah blah... Morgan noticed I was stopped and rescued me. THANK GOD. Adrienne and I were followed a few times and all of us were harassed forever. At one point one of them said something rude and I immediately screamed back,
"Vaffanculo!"
which is "fuck you" in Italian (yes, I do realize that is the complete wrong language). Currently after this abroad experience, I know a bit of Dutch, Spanish, and Italian.

Another funny moment was when this rando was following us and Lindsey (badass) turned around at started screaming at him to leave. Then ALL OF US started screaming at him. He walked in front of us and kept saying "You want to see my ass?" Libby goes, "Yeah I want to see your ass"... (WHAT)... "I want to see your ass gone!" (OH OKAY, makes more sense). Literally I died laughing because at first I was so confused/scared that he was going to pull his pants down and I wasn't really sure what Libby was getting at.

The best part was the shots bar. There were so many choices. A few that we did were the Colorado (of course it had absinthe), Boyscout (with a marshmallow), Harry Potter, Beso Blanco, Bob Marley, Playa Banana... the list goes on. Most of them were absolutely delicious.

As far as the sights go, Park Güell and Sagrada Familia were beautiful.

gobble gobble... but not really.

Cheers to the most dysfunctional Thanksgiving ever. Shana, Elana, and I went to pick up people from the Brussels train station. After, we tried to go find a place to eat and the only thing that happened to be around was this gourmet, extravagant restaurant. So, obviously (we rich folk) went in to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Of course we couldn't afford an entree, so we all got and appetizer and dessert. Yum.

Then to top it off we went to the most magical place on Earth... Delirium Cafe. Long story short, got booted out of the hotel and Elana and I spent the night at Delirium. COOL.

Went to Amsterdam yesterday. Another long story short, Bulldog's Coffeeshop space cakes make me retarded. The end.

If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough

Not in a million years did I think I would love Ireland so much. First of all, EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH. YIPEEEEE. Second, everyone is so friendly and HILARIOUS. On the first day we went to the Cliffs of Moher. As part of our tour we got to go on an old family farm that was in County Clare. Their farm was located on The Burren, which is the rocky, hilly part of Ireland. The hills are covered in limestone and it is what they use to build all their stone fences. The west part of Ireland is exactly what is seen in P.S. I love you. After hiking around we played with baby sheep and had home baked cakes and pie from his Grandmother (who thought i'd be chillin' in a house owned by a nice Granny that made me pie?). The cliffs were unbelievable. At the highest point it is about 1050 ft. tall and span 5 miles long.


This is a tree that has a million things tied onto it. Apparently it used to be an old Irish tradition that if you had a problem, you tie something to the tree and then your problem stays with the tree. I left something on that tree, hope it works.

Dublin is such a cool city. More importantly the Irish pubs are quite the experience. There was live music everywhere and the people sure do drink...a lot. I fit right in! :)




The Guinness factory was one of the coolest places in Dublin. Apparently the guy that made Guinness had such pride in his product and faith, he signed a 9,000 year lease for the land for his brewery. WHAT?

 Also, at one of the pubs, they did a cover of The Kooks, She Moves in Her Own Way. So me and this old Irish man were singing and dancing to this and having the BEST TIME EVERRRR.

Berlin, concert, carnaval

Suzanne and I went to Berlin for the weekend. The bad part was staying in a hostel of 8 people that were super inconsiderate. My favorite part of Berlin was the East Side Berlin Wall. It is the part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing that artists have decorated. I also got asked on a date in Berlin which was super exciting. But, unfortunately... I BAILED.

The day after getting back from Berlin, I went to The Kooks concert in Amsterdam. Honestly was one of the greatest shows I have seen in forever. They are so wonderful live, and the new album is so good. My favorite songs they performed were Tick of Time and Seaside. PHENOMENAL!

Then a few days after that, (haha I know, I learned how to rally REALLY well) we went to Carnaval. Carnaval is basically the 100 day countdown to the actual Carnaval. I literally can't explain what it is. Its basically like their Halloween plus ten times more alcohol than anyone normal can consume. The most ridiculous costumes EVER. Everyone participates in it too, all ages.


Other than that I have been SUPER busy and I leave for Ireland tomorrow. O M G.

halloween

All of the American's definitely showed Maastricht how Halloween is supposed to be done. Hope everyone's Halloween was as wonderful as mine! Now, I'm off to Berlin! More outrageous stories coming soon!

croatia

Croatia was one of the funniest adventures of all time. First we had to spend the night at the Cologne airport, which I thought was really going to suck…but I was wrong.  I was sitting in a random chair and next thing I know this guy sat down next to me. He was on the professional men’s volleyball team! I made friends with the team and actually went and saw one of their games. 

The first day of exploring Split was beautiful. The people here have overall been really nice. I have been eating so much seafood. NOM. We hiked up this huge hill and found a zoo. Yes, zoo is a universal word. It was absolutely hilarious because their zoo was basically a farm and then a tiger and a bear.  Oh yeah they had 2 monkeys too. The kinds of animals they had there were bunnies, goats, horses, donkeys, chickens…ect. It also turned into a petting zoo because the animals came to you when you called them. HILARIOUS

We also went to Dubrovik. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We hung out all day in the old city. On our way back we were not so lucky. We got on the wrong bus and they kicked us off at border control. We hung out at border control until another bus came... mind you this is at around 10 at night. That happened to be the last bus and it was not going to take us home. That bus took us as far as it could without passing Split. We then got off on the side of the interstate at a toll booth and were told to "either sleep on the side of the road or

hitch hike home. So we hitch hiked. We finally made it home around 3 am.

There are cats everywhere in Croatia. I found a kitten and of course had an allergic reaction. No meds, no pharmacy, no hospital... I just let my face be swollen and suffered.

Also Right before we left, I fell down a marble staircase. I have not been this sore in a long time. I definitely have many bruises to prove it.