Bruges, Jess's Visit, Prague, and St. Patty's Day!

And once again I epically fail at keeping my blog updated in a timely fashion… ah well, I’m sure you’re all used to it by now J My latest adventures have taken me to Bruges, Belgium and to Prague, Czech Republic. Still working on posting Bruges pictures to facebook… they’ve been causing an annoying amount of trouble, but Prague pictures are up! My friend Jess from high school also came to visit over her spring break, which was really nice! So let’s see… bullet point time…

1. Bruges, Belgium
1. Ate lots and lots and lots of chocolate! Too delicious for its own good… or for my own good! We found this one chocolate shop called Dumon. It’s set a street back from one of the main squares and looks like a little cottage in the middle of the city (which is not entirely out of place since it’s one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe). It’s run by these two nice older ladies that were very chatty. We would go in pretty much every day to get a couple pieces of candy so they knew us well by the time we had to head home. Our last morning we stopped in to stock up on chocolates and they were very sad to see that we were leaving… probably because we were such reliable business!
2. Tried some of the “famous” Belgian beers… not my cup-o-tea… probably because I would take tea over beer anyway… but I’m glad I tried them. One of the girls I was traveling with really likes Belgian beers (family tradition at holidays) so she picked a couple out for me to try but… not a fan.
3. Went on a day trip out into the country and learned the difference between a Belgian castle (for military purposes) and château (for residential purposes). Also drove out to a nearby town and walked through a graveyard in which our guide told us that, because the ground was so waterlogged and coffins in Belgium aren’t very strong, you often find bones that have made their way to the surface. He then promptly picked up a vertebra to demonstrate this. Since he had been joking with us all day we thought he might have just planted it… until my (quite impressive) archaeological skills found a rib in another area… very eerie but kind of cool too. Definitely never heard of anything like that before! As part of the tour we also got waffles (delicious), saw how the chocolate pralines are made (complete with equally delicious free samples), and went on a beer tasting (not quite as delicious, but interesting to try… they had a cherry flavored beer which was interesting).
4. Went into the “Cathedral of the Holy Blood” which houses, you guessed it, a vial of the holy blood. Story says it was brought back from the crusades.
5. Ate more chocolates, and waffles!
6. Went on a canal tour
7. Saw the old almshouses where the poor could go to live and rich people would pay their living expenses, provided the poor prayed for the health and wellbeing of the rich.
8. Did lots of other site seeing, including a stop at a lace shop where the woman showed us how they make the lace.

2. Jess’s visit!
1. Me, Jess, and one of Jess’s sorority sisters from Villanova (and thus one of my sorority sisters as well) mostly hung out around Galway, showing her the pubs and shops and the claddagh and such
2. Had a really nice day so we walked down to Salthill and hung out by the beach before going out to dinner
3. Took a day trip around Connemara which was absolutely beautiful
4. It was so nice getting to see one of my friends from home! I miss everyone so much that it’s really nice when I get to see a familiar face.

3. Prague, Czech Republic
1. Went to visit my UMD roommate from the past two year’s Beth in Prague, where she’s studying for the semester!
2. Went out to lunch near her apartment the first day and got some delicious Czech food that later decided it didn’t like me eating it L
3. Went on a field trip with her program to a glass blowing factory where we actually got to make our own pieces! I made a decorative (and non-functioning) water jug. I blew the jug myself, and added the handle! Buuuut wasn’t allowed to add the spout… oop haha.
4. Went to the town of Litomerice where we had lunch and then went to a wine tasting!
5. Did a free walking tour of the city one day while Beth was in class. It was a great tour (with a company that I’ve done tours with before in other cities) and I learned a lot about the extensive history of the city. Convinced Beth to come along on their castle tour and, even though Beth knew most of the info already, we had fun and learned a few things.
6. Again, it was soooo nice to be able to see a friend from home, especially since I hadn’t seen Beth since around June or July.

4. St. Patrick’s Day!
1. Celebrated St. Patty’s here in Galway, which was amazing! The parade started at 12:30 so we went down around 11:45 and it was already ridiculously crowded! The most people I have ever seen in Galway!
2. Parade theme was “Over the Moon” so instead of being St. Patrick’s Day themed everything was space themed and the parade came complete with dancing stormtroopers… yeah, that’s right, DANCING stormtroopers.
3. Spent the rest of the day hanging out in pubs, going out for a fish and chips dinner, and watching everyone celebrate dressed up in Irish flags, wigs, face paint, the works.
4. Went to a pub after dinner and heard the WORST pickup line ever used on one of my friends!

-“Is your second name Jacobs?”

~”Um… no?”

-“Oh, cuz you’re a real cracker!”

~”I…don’t understand…”

Apparently telling someone they’re a “cracker” in Ireland means they’re very attractive but… doesn’t exactly translate haha

5. Sadly, the Irish party HARD and I got pushed into by a very drunk Irishman, fell down, and twisted my knee again L 3 days later and I’m still pretty much confined to my apartment. Hopefully it gets better soon!

Off to London next weekend, classes end March 31^st, spending a couple days in Paris and Euro Disney during NUIG’s spring break, and then home April 26^th… mixed feelings about that but I think I’m ready to come home. It’ll be nice to see everyone again!

Maybe if y’all are lucky I’ll get another update in before coming home… I think it’s doable… especially since I’ll have lots of papers to procrastinate writing!