Monday 31 December 2012

2012

rough starts. Rizzle Kicks. cold houses. best housemates. angel cards. Gort na Coiribe. driving everywhere, anytime. chocolate hob nobs. Draw My Thing. old trains. loving the sea. fancy dinner awards with the best people. pubs. getting married. being ecstatic. dance class. baking buns and slappin' bums. friends being grandfathers. toga. painting toe nails. Clarenbridge. cousins. Downton Abbey. Coventry. new people are great. Nando's. working gals drinking fancy drinks. saving ducks. BBQ's. forever in love with Renville Park. Noah And The Whale. forever in love with Salthill. Mumford & Sons. sunrises. sunsets. walks. forts. road trips. best friends. King's. enjoying work. work friends being great. The Front Door. explosions. Volvo Ocean Race. headbanging. fireworks. Quay Street. town people. too many people in one bathroom at one time. Olympics. leaving work. goodbyes. blanking. Tralee. Spain. a language course. endless nights out. sushi. new people are even greater. heat. castles. wine. markets. diners. visits from parents. saying goodbye to Riley dog. ciara and helen go wild. HAWAY. bizarre. prisoners. settling in. tapas. liking fish. bicycles. sisters. floods. mulled wine. scotch eggs. Love Actually. Barcelona. molesting Picasso. Mal Pals. turning 20. having one of the best birthdays. flying home. reuniting. happy tears. Christmas dinner. out, out, out. new puppy. new year.

Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year. I am a very happy girl and can't wait to see what 2013 brings. Normal blogging shall resume soon :)

All my love,

Ciara

Monday 17 December 2012

Beers, Bears and Birthdays


 11th of December - Wine, tapas, beer and live music with Helen, Rose and Chelsey


13th of December - Mini Christmas feast and dancing bears


15th of December - Early Birthday celebrations with my Mal Pals

16th of December - Plaza de la Merced

A quick update for this week as I'm a busy bee with studying, Christmas shopping, flying home and being in my 20's. I've had a lovely last full week in Málaga celebrating all kinds of things with amazing people. Other amazing people at home will be seen soon and I'm the biggest eager beaver to be back in Ireland by the end of this week. I hope to write my next post on the plane back, summarizing my last few days and my first semester here in Spain. So.many.feels.


Hasta muy pronto,

:)!

Ciara

Thursday 13 December 2012

Barcelona

The soup has been souped and Sir Daniel O'Donnell has sang his song. That can only mean one thing, Barcelona was fanfreakintastic. 

In order for any trip to be a memorable one, something has to go wrong. One word, Ryanair. Arriving at Helen's apartment, 4 hours before our flight headed Northeast, it was time to print out our boarding passes. It was 10 minutes into the 4 hours before our flight when we realized that we were unable to check-in for the flight online. There was nothing we could do about it on the interwebz so we decided to make our way to the airport. On asking a rather stern Ryanair employee if there was anything we could do she said that we would have to pay €60 if we wanted to be anywhere near Barcelona in the next few hours. Now, I do realize that we left it a teeny tiny bit till the last minute to check in but 4 hours? €60? I understand if you didn't check in,  maybe, an hour before the flight and you had to pay this ridiculous amount of money but 4 hours? And €60? Where exactly does this money go? After switching between two different information desks for about an hour, we were finally given our boarding passes and headed towards security. In ridiculous situations like these, I tend to display the attributes of my personality that come from my Mother. I get all defensive and let you (you're a customer services rep now, k?) know how I feel about this totally bizarre situation. Then I laugh about how ridiculous people and the world are. In the midst of this particular fit of laughter, it was decided that chocolate and vodka would be the best things to resort to. To top off a great airport experience, our flight was delayed. Alas, all was well for the world is weird, Kinder Bueno is great and raspberry vodka exists. 

Helen and the goods

We arrived to a chilly, fresh aired Barcelona. The best kind of aired a place can be in the first week of December. I called my friend Grainne as soon as we were in the main square near where our hostel was. As it was almost 1:30am the schuts had had a few dranks already. In true Grainne Wood fashion, she came running towards us, arms open wide. After a 10 minute walk down La Rambla we were greeted with an array of drunken hugs from the rest of the group. Since it was 2:30am and we had no alcohol and exhausted brains after dealing with stoopid Ryanair, McDonalds was had and myself and Helen hit the hay.

Kabul was one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. It was right in the city centre, our four night stay came to a total of €35, it was continuously being cleaned, no one who wasn't staying in the hostel was allowed in and there was free breakfast and dinner everyday. Once we were done chowing down on our first free breakfast, myself and Helen headed out to explore Barcelona. We rambled around La Rambla for the afternoon where we found some lions, street art, the most delicious looking fruit, an English cafe that served all day breakfast and our first Starbucks of the Christmas season was had. Christmas in a cup, lads.





 Later that day, we met up with everybody and headed off to La Sagrada Familia. A great day of wandering was had. That night, we had a party with French people and mistletoe. People stripped. 

 Emmet + Micheal

 Maeveen + the lovely Ailbhe

We were really cultured and had McDonalds (again) outside La Sagrada

La Sagrada Familia a.k.a. the most random church ever



 The greatest people you will ever meet

French kisses

Saturday was a late start so breakfast had to be fetched. We bumped into some of the lads from Geordie Shore and decided to follow them. We were lead into the market where they were just standing there as were we. I decided to give Charlotte a big wave with a crazy girl smile and she grinned back and I've never felt like more of a stalker in my life. So here's a creepy picture of Charlotte...


 After another day of banter in Kabul, we went for a wander around the port.

 The Lions



Before heading to Barcelona, I was told by an abundance of people that it was absolutely necessary that we went to Razzmatazz. On Saturday, Kabul had arranged VIP entry for everybody staying. It was a pricey €17 to get in but we all reckoned we had to do it with it being the biggest club in Spain and the second biggest in Europe. This place was absolutely massive. We only found three out of five of the dance floors it was so big. People threw punches (thanks Broz), deported army men (who tip over cars in Budapest...who does that?) got too clingy to us more English folk and family were missed. It was a memorable one.

Another hungover day later and it was our last day in Barcelona. Helen, Emmet and I went out in search of The Cure and found it in the form of the English cafe we found a few days earlier. Two English breakfasts and a fish and chips and we were ready for another day. We visited the cathedral, the Christmas market and had a hearty Italian. 

The Cure




Our trip ended with chats on the stairs of the hostel. Helen and I had an all-nighter as we had to leave at 4am to be on time for our flight. Goodbyes were said and before knew it we were back in Málaga. 

Although it wasn't the most stimulating of trips culture wise, it was in terms of fun. I love my friends. Maeve, Emmet, Brozzie, Micheal, Grainne, Helen and the newbies Ailbhe, Elise and Fritz Fitzpatrick. Thanks for a brilliant weekend lads and lassies. I shall be seeing you soon :)

In other news, it's officially 8 days until I am home! You know how I feel about this.

I shall leave you with a little something that I saw on a door in our hostel which I thought was quite lovely...


''The days are so beautiful here, you must kiss each one of them''

Te Amo

Ciara

Monday 3 December 2012

Hi, December

Greetings! I wasn't actually planning on writing an update for this past week as I thought squeezing it into my update after Barcelona would be a good idea. I'm guessing, knowing me, I will have too many pictures to show off and will give a way-too detailed description of everything that happened down to what was had for breakfast...so documenting last week right now, before all is lost, is probably a good idea. 

Honestly, nothing majorly exciting happened last week. I've been concentrating on my Uni work a lot so Monday till Friday was basically all work and no play. This was made up for on Friday though when some friends and myself trotted along to a rave. It was exactly what I needed after a week filled with 9am starts, confusing Spanish literature classes and people being too loud to understand anything the lecturer was saying. After a 10 minute taxi journey from the city centre and lining up for an hour, we finally got into the warehouse. It was well worth the €10 and one of the best nights I've had in Málaga yet. Definitely on the list as a birthday party destination...

As laid out in the title, it's finally December. Hoorah! I think I'm the most excited human being on the planet in regards to Christmas and everything that surrounds it. I went and bought myself an Advent calendar, a Christmas playlist has been drawn up and I've squealed too many times at the Christmas lights that have been put up around this lovely city. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show because I lost my camera at the rave. So stooopid. An early birthday present will have to be asked of the parents before Barcelona. Mmmhm, Barcelona :) I am beyond excited for the trip this weekend! 

Here's a picture to make up for the lack of decent pictures. I'm a lil excited...


I'm not crazy though. 

Hasta pronto :)

Ciara

Sunday 25 November 2012

A Quickie

As you can see from the title, I shall just be popping in for a quick update this week. I have 101 things to do before this next week starts tomorrow morning. There's also a delicious curry being cooked for me which I have to attend to at 7 tonight. That may be my motivation...

This week included finding an amazing bookshop just up the road from where I live, welcoming back friends, hanging with the regulars, house parties, arguing over which movie to watch, eating Chinese, cycling until my bum was numb and bopping about Roadhouse. A lazy week with the camera was had so I don't have too many exciting things to show other than an adventure to the botanical garden with Hanne and Nalisha and our pretty rented bikes on Saturday. We cycled about 6 miles in total according to Google Maps. Needless to say I can feel it today...






I've made two goals in terms of my blog this week. The first short-term one being I will write one during the week next week and the second one is more long term. I want to be able to write a whole blog post in Spanish without using a dictionary/my grammar bible by the end of my ERASMUS. I might even do a few times! 

Ciao for now :)

Ciara

Wednesday 21 November 2012

I'm a ''tarde'' girl, in a ''tarde'' world...

I've been thinking a lot recently about my trip home for Christmas. When something is constantly on my mind there is normally 50 million things that I have to do. A list is my best friend through situations like these. This week I decided to make a few lists to layout what has to be done and who has to be seen whilst being back in Éire. The list that has caused me the most pain and anguish has been my food list...

Keane's soup
* Mother's lasagne 
* Mother's scones
* Mother's roast dinners
* Taco chips from Capital
* A fry 
* Brown bread
Kerrygold butter
McCambridge's deli rolls

For some moronic reason I decided to make this list on my computer desktop. It's all I think about now every time I log in to have a browse on the interwebz or bop along to some music. Alas, I refuse to delete it. The thought of home delicacies gets me through the times where I've made another plate of fish and vegetables and the potatoes are not at all like spuds. Guys, I need spuds.

This week did start out with some hearty Italian food. I was informed by my lovely friends, Charlee and Lily, that some Italianos were willing to cook us a meal before we headed out on Monday night. Italian boys cooking food? Lads, you couldn't say no. Dinner was served after the five of us polished off our second bottle of wine. It was sausage in a creamy tomato sauce. With pasta of course. I was given a mighty serving and tucked right into it. I was half way done when myself and the other two girls felt the fullness coming on. To our slight horror (not that the food was bad, it was freaking delish, but just that if you cut us we would have probably bled pasta sauce...) there was another course. Luckily, it was fried potatoes. Yay! Insert smiley face here. Even though I was full, I gobbled it right down since it was the closest thing I've had to a proper spud since I got here. A great night out was had in which I got a massive heart painted on my face. That's always great.

 That one picture I took at the Italian dinner. They set the table and everything. Nawh. 


My drunken self decided to take pictures on the way home...


Spain, like many countries in Europe, are going through some pretty rough times at the moment. Wednesday was the day of the ''huelga general del 14N''. This was a general strike in which hundreds of thousands of people protested throughout major cities in Spain against the cut backs that the Gobierno have put in place. I decided to stay in on Tuesday night after the antics of the night before and in preparation for ''Cool Night'' the next day. Around 00:20 I heard this huge bang go off. I'm still not too sure what exactly it was but it frightened the life out of me. Soon after a couple hundred people marched into the square where I live, shouting ''huelgaaa, huelgaa, huelgaa''. This was a peaceful protest in which people of all different ages participated but being in a foreign country with a crowd of people shouting outside your balcony around midnight was pretty scary. It died down quickly but come morning, evidence could be seen that Málaga was taking this day seriously. There were stickers on most shop windows saying they were closed for the huelga, other shops that were open had extra security as if things could get out of hand and the police were everywhere. The day ended peacefully and the province of Málaga came out in their hundreds of thousands. According to some unions, 140,000 people across the province marched in Wednesday's protest. Unfortunately, due to the strike, ''Cool Night'' did not go ahead. But do not fear for ''Cool Night'' was turned into ''Hat Night''. Hoorah!


  ''huelgaaaa, huelgaa, huelgaaa''

''Hat Night''

The next few days included a night in watching Mean Girls and eating Chinese food, drinking smoothies in one of my new favourite cafes, climbing into building sites on nights out, and getting back into Grey's Anatomy whilst whipping up some delicious fajitas. There were some more floods here on Saturday morning that looked absolutely crazy from what I saw on Facebook. After climbing and jumping about the city the night before, I missed seeing these as I slept in till the late afternoon. Oh lookey here, I stole a picture so you could see...

''The Dry River'' not being so dry

Sunday was a great day filled with eating 100 Montaditos, having drinks on a rooftop bar, as a result of this being convinced to go on a pub crawl, eating french toast and going to bed at 08:30. My sleeping pattern has been a biteen off since, hence me blogging on a Tuesday night. I hope all is well with everyone wherever you might be. I am looking forward to some trips around Spain before I jet back for Christmas. Christmas shopping shall be epic this year too. Better get making more lists!

Hasta pronto,

Ciara

Monday 12 November 2012

Lo Amo

In my last ERASMUS post I mentioned that my sister, Aoife, had taken an abundance of photos from The Two's trip here last week. Here are a few of those. Big fan of her work so I am...



Asho on Hallow's Eve. Very proud of the spiderweb I did. Isn't she a beaut?


Before

After



The Two being twins 


Monday was mostly spent cleaning after the The Two left. Below you can see my clothes horse (shutters) used to dry the piles of clothes belonging to me that they had worn. Worked a charm...


Genius, I am.


On Tuesday of this week I went for a run. Yes, a run. Pretty proud of myself to be honest. The Tone It Up galz on Youtube are also a great help in reaching ULTIMATE FITNESS. Of course, I went for a massive meal afterwards. It was ''Girls Night'' in our circle of ERASMUS, English/Italian/Irish (me), girls. I highly recommend the chicken fajitas from Amigos along the port. The steak burrito...nat so mach. Wednesday was shopping day and has officially become pub night among the ''Cool Group''. That is myself, Helen and Rose. So modest. The Irish (Hagan, Robbie, Dillion) and Max tagged along and we drank weird Bulmers again, a crazy high percentage beer called Judus and there were some shots thrown in there too thanks to Max. Friday was also a great day with a Spanish movie called Amores Perros and a fabulous German house party. The movie wasn't that great actually because of dead dogs and not knowing whether them fighting each other was real or not. Saturday another run was had. Of course, pictures had to be taken...





trusty zapatos

Drinks were had that night with Hanne, Nalisha, Uli, Laura and Alex. It was a lovely night filled with mojitos, tinto de verano, Spanish design students and fried fish. On Sunday, to finish off an already great week, a trip with Rose and The Robinsons was made. We ventured to Marbella, Benahavis and Mijas. All in one day. Imagine!



Marbella


Benahavis



I think that's enough information/pictures for this week. I am a tired chica and my hot chocolate awaits!

Hasta la próxima semana,

Ciara