Shay's Italia Adventures: March 2011

LONDON:

First of all, let me start by saying SO SORRY ITS BEEN SO LONG!!! Ah, it was such a crazy week and I have so much to tell all of you about the most amazing spring break of my life. Jessica and I started our last spring break as college students by snoozing our alarms and waking up an hour later than we were supposed to. We frantically got ready and headed for the bus to the airport Saturday morning. Luckily we made it on time and were off to London...yayyyy. We finally landed and after taking planes, trains, and automobiles (really double decker buses) we made it to our destination: a BEA-utiful 5 story flat in the Chelsea area. We stayed with the president of my dad's company, Bob and his lovely wife Edie. They were so gracious and let us make ourselves at home, which we promptly did. We were each given our own room with huge beds and a giant flat screen TV. Our first mission that night was to find out about Wicked. We spur of the moment scored some tickets and were quickly off to dinner at an upscale British pub. We got our first dose of fish n chips (yum) and were given directions on how to take THE TUBE (mind the gap) from Bob and Edie. We made it with seconds to spare and took our seats to watch this amazing production. I absolutely loved it! Jessica had seen Wicked before but I was a first timer and seriously loved it. We decided since it was a Saturday night we would go check out the night life a tad ;) We went to a couple pubs/clubs and had a great time. We even managed to find our way back to the flat...something Jess and I typically struggle with.

The next day we had breakfast full of bagels and OJ and put Bob's new bagel cutter to use. They don't have bagels in Torino people. We decided we really wanted to see the sights and hit the ground running....on a double decker bus tour. Haha we were on that thing basically for two days and managed to see/do it all....Picadilly Circus, shopping in Oxford Circus, The London Bridge, The Tower of London, Big Ben/Parliament, Westminster Abbey, a ride on the London Eye, a river boat cruise, Buckingham Palace, saw the movie "The King's Speech," The Royal Mews, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and finally what you have all been waiting for.......SAW JUSTIN BIEBER 10TH ROW BABY!!

First of all, we had no clue he was in London. We happened to stumble upon a piece of paper that read "Justin Bieber tickets for tonight." Jess and I were so confused and she was pretty sure the sign was for his new movie. I went and asked the guy, "Sooo what do you know about Justin Bieber?" He said he has tickets for tonight, tenth row, 70 pounds each. DONE. We got our tickets and practically skipped home we were so excited. We explained to Bob and Edie how excited we were and they were basically straight embarrassed, but they still took us to dinner anyways before the concert. We finally showed up to the 02 arena and GUESS WHAT? We were the oldest people by at least 10 years....shocking. We decided we needed some merch(andise) and beers, so quickly got our Biebs shirts and pints of Heineken. The concert was incredible; Willow Smith whipped her hair as the opening act and Jayden Smith made a few appearances as well. We absolutely LOVED the Biebs' new haircut and every time he would fly over the audience on some sort of heart-shaped contraption. It was one of the most hilarious concerts I have ever been to but the kid knows how to put on a show. So much fun and the best way we could imagine leaving London. The next morning we shoved our faces with bagels once again and (still in our Bieber shirts) began a new journey.... one that would test our minds, bodies, and spirits.

DUBLIN:

So we arrive in Dublin Tuesday night and meet up with our other friends/roommates for the week CJ, Kevyn, and Nick. We went to our first Irish pub, drank Irish beer, and headed home. We headed to our one and only hostel for the next 6 days and thoroughly enjoyed our last shower Wednesday morning. We got up and went to claim our most prized possession of the week....our VW California Van/Home. We immediately deemed the van the "Baby Girl Bus," (long story) and rode around to find a place to park that gem. It was a seriously tight fit the whole week but once we got a system down (CJ driving, Kev navigating, Shay/Jess/Nick DJing/partying in the back) we became a little family. We stayed in Dublin for two nights and hit up every pub we could find. We found some awesome places in the Temple Bar area and were able to meet up with other friends on St. Pattys day. And let me tell you, St. Patrick's Day in the Dubs is out of control. Seriously so much fun and something I believe everyone should have on their bucket list. We all got decked out, had too many pints, and wandered around the streets all day.

After a quick stop at a friend's family friends' house for tea, we made our way to Galway on Friday morning. Just kidding, we went to McDonald's FIRST, then headed to Galway. After about two and a half hour hungover drive (thanks CJ) we made it to Galway and it was absolutely beautiful. We wandered around the water, took tons of pics, and headed for dinner. That night we, once again checked out many different pubs. It made coming back to the bus that much better ;) Saturday morning we decided enough was enough and found this local gym/pool/rec center called LeisureLand. We payed 5 euro each for BY FAR the worst shower in my life. Jess and I accidentally used styling cream as shampoo and our hair turned out 20 million times greasier then the beginning. We were freezing and pissed but WHATEV. Dreads are cool. We stayed in Galway for most of Saturday and went on a mission to find Claddah rings. For those who don't know, they are Irish rings that you wear one way if you are single or the other way if you are taken. It represents love, loyalty, and friendship so Kevyn, Jess and I all got em. That night we headed for the Irish cliffs which were sooooo cooool. I have no other words except for it was seriously beautiful. On the way back from Galway we stopped at the only open place we could find and had one of the best ITALIAN meals I have had yet...in the middle of nowheresville Ireland. It was totally weird but a good find.

Sunday we had to return the bus and figured we had to hit the Guinness factory before we left. It was about ten stories tall and really cool. They take you through the process of how the beer is PERFECTLY made and then give you free ones to try. We sadly said goodbye to the BGB (Baby Girl Bus) and headed out for our last Spring Break 2011 meal. Because we were living in a van down by the river, we splurged a little with our meals. We ate and headed back to our last place of residence...The Dublin Airport. After sleeping about 3 hours, we got McD's breakfast and headed home finallllly. Again we took planes, trains, and automobiles (literally) and made it alive to lovely Torino. I have over 500 pics from spring break and will not bore you with all of them, so I am going to just be putting up my faves. I couldn't ask for a better last spring break and what an amazing group to go with. I don't think I have laughed so hard and been that adventurous in a long time. Next up on our list....Sicily!! We are leaving in 5 days just for a short weekend trip to the beach and hopefully will run into the Jersey Shore cast (love you Vinny). I miss all my friends, family, and DG's terribly and hope you all had amazing breaks as well. I will write after Sicily!!! Peace, Love, and Justin Bieber.