O'everything

I swear I do things in Madrid. A few weeks ago, Natalie and I went to a Camila concert at a club called La Riviera. Camila is a Mexican band that Natalie and I are shamelessly obsessed with alongside, apparently, thousands of other people in Madrid. The concert was standing room only and I can definitely mark the experience as one of the most cultural I´ve had in Spain. At one point, the lead singer asked (in Spanish; they are a legit Mexican band) who in the audience is from Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, etc. I would be lying if I said I didn´t expect him to say the States too; being abroad has made me feel like America actually is the center of the universe. Alas, he never did, and Natalie and I truly felt out of our element, but in the best way. You would think a real “Spanish” experience is easy to come by in Spain, but with so many connections to American family, friends and media, it is common to become engrossed in the ´ol red, white and blue and, at times, forget to experience the place where you really are.

CAMILAAAA pretending to be Spanish with a REAL MADRID fútbol jersey

In terms of general abroad experiences, especially those that take place in Junior year, they are awesome for multiple reasons. Here are a few:

1.     Living in another country for 4+ months (9 and ½ in my case) can test you socially/academically/culturally/etc.

2.     You still can look forward to final year of playing before scary grown-up times

3.     About 35% of BU Juniors go abroad at least one semester

a.     Ability to visit your friends in their respective countries

b.     It´s rare to feel like you are “missing out” on things happening back home because your friends are probably abroad too.

4.     Ahem… drinking age.

5.     I will not go overboard and put the 6 following ones I am thinking of right now.

Let’s focus on 3a. I have already had the pleasure of visiting and staying with friends studying abroad in Paris, London, Barcelona and most recently, Dublin.

My friends, Madelyn and Julia, who are very conveniently friends and suitemates, are studying in the homey capital of Ireland and generously invited Natalie and I to visit them. Dublin is Boston across the Atlantic in so many ways. There is the obvious: it is full of white, Irish people, but also, the city is full of historical pubs (Faneuil Hall), there is a beautiful park (Boston Gardens), a Guinness Brewery (Sam Adams Brewery), it is next to the ocean (Atlantic), and it is similar in size. A major difference: the Irish accent is MUCH more attractive and common than the Boston accent.

Natalie and I found a direct cheap flight via the most horrible airline ever, RYANAIR, and semi-successfully followed the directions Madelyn and Julia gave us to reach University College Dublin (UCD), where they live in an apartment-style-dorm with 4 other people.

We hung out at their apartment that night and the differences in our abroad experiences were immediately apparent. The Dublin program certainly has its faults, but I envy their living situation. They live in a dorm with students from Ireland, which makes it easy for them to make friends with natives. Of course, I love living with a family and living this way creates an immediate connection with the city and the castellano language, but I have absolutely no Spanish friends. Yes, I have numbers belonging to Spanish people in my cell phone, but friendships that begin in clubs and bars last about as long as a plate of jamón ibérico in a room full of hungry Madrileños (re: not long). I love BU as much as the next admissions tour-guide, but they certainly do not make it easy for us to make Spanish friends.

 Unfortunate fact: Spanish people don´t have that unsatiating desire, like English-speakers do, to group together hundreds of 20-year-olds in one building on a college campus. Therefore, we, in Madrid, don´t have the dorm option. From the outside, at least, the Dublin program has got a perfect thing going… but I digress.

The next morning, Natalie and I woke up at 7AM to catch our Wild Wicklow Tour bus because we are grandmothers and the tour turned out to be AMAZING. Natalie and I were the quintessential young-people whom the 20-something (30-something?) tour-guide used to playfully tease throughout the tour and we got to see some of the beautiful, green, country-side of Ireland. Fun fact: although Braveheart takes place in Scotland, we saw a lot of its filming locations in Wicklow, Ireland. I forget to yell out “they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!” when I first got off the tour bus. Sad. 

Our lovely tour-guide turning our coffees into Irish-coffees... sort of.

Heterosexuals at the "P.S. I love you" bridge. 

DERRY!

BABIES.

This = New Hampshire. Homesick times

That night Madelyn, Julia, and our new friend, Christine, took us for a night on the town to a bunch of clubs, the names of which escape me. We ran into about 5 stag parties (bachelor parties) and a bunch of people that were just all-around awesome. One highlight: when a police officer asked me if I had been drinking (because, I will admit, I was acting silly) I proudly said “Yes I have! Is that alright?” Words cannot express how much I love being able to legally drink. People don´t emphasize how awesome it really is. 

Some biddies at a club in Dublin

The next day, Natalie and I took a VERY long walk to Trinity Church, overpaid to see the book of Kells (12 euro and no student discount), passed through Christ´s Church, then reached the Guinness factory where I saw none other than Rob Mahoney, a BU friend studying abroad in Dublin who I had met the previous summer working at Admissions. Are you getting used to these chance encounters? Me too. Are they getting less exciting? Nope.

Trinity College

Cool floor of Christ's Church 

I found Rob!

After attempting and failing to drink a disgusting pint of Guinness, Natalie and I met up with Mad and Julia, Natalie´s sorority sister, her sorority´s friend and boyfriend and had a lovely time in some of their favorite pubs in the city.

Take note: Fish and chips in Dublin > Fish and chips in London.

Temple Bar, the neighborhood in Dublin that contains Temple Bar. Confused?

Better option: Rhode Island, neither a Road nor an island, discuss

Madelyn and I

Nom nom nom fish and chips

We had eggs for breakfast the next morning (BEST TREAT EVER! Spanish people have a piece of bread or crackers EVERY DAY for breakfast) and said a quick see-you-in-September to Madelyn and Julia before jetting back to Madrid.

Although Dublin wasn´t my favorite city, every person I met was incredibly warm and friendly. In addition, having automatic hosts makes any travel experience better. Oh, and most men there are very good looking. That helps. Even though my overly-Irish name didn´t get me any free drinks, I was ecstatic to feel so at ease in the land of my ancestors.