Ireland/Villa Savoye/Spain/Pictures

Hello

Sorry for the delayed blog post. It's been a few days since I've been home from Ireland, but none the less my memories are still clear as ever. This weekend was so perfect...

Friday afternoon after class my roommates and I ventured out to Charles de Gaulle airport to catch our afternoon flight to Cork, Ireland. Unfortunately due to passport troubles, one of my roommates, Mihee couldn't make it to so it was just me and Priyanka headed to the land of lucky charms and leprechauns.

Arriving was so euphoric as we were already surrounded by the Irish pastures and green patches of land. The sky was so bright and blue, it was perfect.

The hostel we stayed in was pretty nice. It was called Shelia's hostel, and they were very hospitable. They knew just where to go and where to lead us, probably due to the massive amount of tourists. Priyanka and I stayed in a room with 3 bunk beds, with about 3 different women. Our room was right next to the bathroom too so we heard every detail of plumbing go on too, but that's okay. Oh and one of the older women in the room snored soooo loud! Good thing we only had to deal with her 1 of the 2 nights...Needless to say BOTH of us were tossing and turning even with our headphones in all night.

The first night we ventured around the town of Cork, which was very cute and small. We probably circled the city central a couple of times, that's how small it is. We stopped into a pub, had ourselves a Guiness, Murphy's and Bailey's. You can't go wrong with the most Irish drinks in an Irish pub in Ireland. The pub we went to was called An Brog, and it played some pretty awesome music (Kings of Leon, MGMT) so it's good to know the Irish have a good taste in music too.

Day two came around and we were up and ready to head to the famous Blarney Castle and Stone. I cannot tell you how giddy I was still, to be in Ireland. The first moment we were in the town of Blarney, Priyanka and I ran into a gift shop to buy ourselves new sterling silver claddagh rings. I have barely taken mine off since I got it, I'm completely in love with it :-)

Next stop of course was the Blarney Castle. It was a pretty amazing place, I don't think I've ever been in a castle before. EVERYTHING was made out of stone, and the spiral staircases are narrow and steep, and just got more extreme the higher you went. I was too excited to really stop and observe every room, only because I was about ready to kiss that stone. We finally got up to the top (I don't do well with heights by the way, but my excitement distracted me) and there was of course a long line. They definitely know the efficient system of getting through people though...People kneel down, turn on their back, the guy grabs on to you, tells you to grab the handle bars, you kiss it, get up, grab a photo ticket, and you pretty much have to move out of the way for the next person. It's very fast paced. None the less I did kiss it, and it is one more thing I can say I've done in my life!

Around the Blarney Castle premises there are many walks you can do, around the lake, to see the Blarney house, and of course Priyanka and I headed out to where the arrows pointed. This was truly my favorite part of the trip. For a couple of hours we basically just walked all around random meadows and trails and through the woods of Blarney, Ireland. We saw probably 238947 different shades of green, and it smelled so natural everywhere. It smelled....Green. There were your classic sights of cows in the pastures, and we took many pictures of us in the green fields just running around. We rarely encountered anyone. It was as if people came to kiss the stone and then left Ireland immediately afterward. It was such a perfect experience, and it lived up to everything I thought it would be.

On our way to Blarney on the bus we drove past a sign that said 'Waterloo'. At the store with the Claddagh rings we asked the woman what was up there and she mentioned how there was a small 'town' with a pub and a church. When she discovered my last name was Waterloo (thanks to Priyanka) she was more than happy to recommend me to go check it out. After our long day of walking around the meadows, we decided it would definitely be worth it to check out Waterloo...come on! Waterloo, Ireland? I had to...

It was probably 2 miles when we were beginning to wonder if we were going in the right direction. We came across an old lady, her daughter and grandson (with the most adorable Irish accents) and asked if Waterloo was up the road. Luckily it was, but they said it wasn't a town, and that it was literally just a pub/inn and a church. 20 more minutes of walking and we finally made it. By this time we were both famished, exhausted and ready to sit down. We tried going into the pub, but for some reason the door was locked, yet there were people inside....We walked around to the back of the Inn where there was a restaurant called "Dal Capitan". We asked the guy if the restaurant was open, and it unfortunately wasn't. We were up a creek...each minute we got more hungry and couldn't imagine walking back to Blarney on an empty stomach and sore legs. A few minutes of flustered "what do we do now?"'s later, the guy came outside and asked us if we wanted him to cook something up for us; he said he couldn't give us a huge menu of options, but came to work early just to check over a few things. Our stomachs of course decided yes for us, and he brought us into the restaurant, and cooked us a delicious meal of ricotta and spinach ravioli with a lemon sauce. It was soooooo good. We couldn't believe how nice and hospitable he was (along with every other Irish person we've met). He gave us a discounted price and we tipped him generously, and told him to lead us into the Waterloo pub. We both got a Heineken just to say we had a drink at the Waterloo pub in Ireland. What an interesting evening that was.

Eventually we headed back to Blarney and had to wait a couple of hours before our bus back to Cork came around.

Since I hadn't eaten much earlier that day and burned about every calorie I had in me, I was still starving. We had a few more things to do on our "Things to do in Ireland" list, so we headed to another pub/restaurant and ordered Irish coffees. Priyanka got Bailey's cheesecake and I just had to get the shepard's pie. That was it; we did everything we wanted to do in Ireland:

Have a Guiness, have a shot of Bailey's, get claddagh rings, hear some cute Irish accents, kiss the Blarney stone, walk in Irish pastures, drink Irish coffees, have shepard's pie, and I even met someone who had the name Sinead... I'm so glad to have opportunities like this to look back on. I am also definitely going back to Ireland in my life.

landed in Cork

our hostel

Guinness/Murphy's

2 lasses in Ireland

Our claddagh rings!!

meadow/hill

ahhh yeah!

I couldn't help myself but run free

the sign to Waterloo

Irish coffee!

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Villa Savoye

Yesterday our class took a trip to Villa Savoye, in Poissy, France. I have been getting so giddy about trips like those lately, because it's so brilliant to see these buildings in person. I wasn't sure how I felt about LeCorbu, but the way he played with the space in this house was perfect. We also manage to capture trips like these on the most beautiful sunny, blue sky days, so I'm going to just post some pictures and have them explain it better than I can.

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Spain

YES! This Saturday I am headed to Barcelona, Spain, and I will be there until Monday the 12th. I. am. so. pumped. I have been to Barcelona before, but I am all the more excited because I already know how wonderful it is. On Sunday and Monday our class will be in Valencia doing a charette with an architecture school there. Apparently they're all really excited to meet us. I am too! They've been trying to match us up with people from their school, in terms of groups/partners. I wonder who my partner/group will be! Tuesday through Friday is when our class here actually takes the tour of Barcelona. I just spent all day today working on our project; we had to make an itinerary for our trip one day, the theme for our group being the wonderful architect Gaudi. I will attach the picture of the map we put together for everyone. We had to include history of the buildings, times, the route, and a map. It's going to be a looong walk, but seeing Gaudi is worth everything. The weekend after our class trip is over, a couple friends and I decided to stay in Barcelona to soak up those beaches and take our own time around the city. I'm still in shock this is part of our curriculum...

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Pictures

I have FINALLY uploaded pictures and actually organized them into folders, so please please, go check them out if you're interested. Just a warning though, there are a ton, but hopefully the folders should help you remember which ones you've seen so far. I actually had to buy more memory storage today since I met my quota. It's only been a month! Oh, and happy October almost! I can't believe it...where did 2009 go?

Here is the link!

http://picasaweb.google.com/oolretaw

Take care

Becca

Versailles

Bonsoir

Life in Paris is still pretty jazzy. I've been focusing on my work a lot (yes, I am studying here believe it or not!) As I said a while ago, we're designing a floating/traveling restaurant. I am creating a 'water monument' (thats my concept) down the Seine river about 1/2 a mile from the Eiffel tower. I'll have to post pictures soon so you can see. And so this post makes a little bit more sense. It's cool I promise!

Today we went to the Palace of Versailles. Wow. It was incredible there. Truly a Palace fit for a King/Queen. (We didn't make it to the gardens, but my friends and I will definitely go back soon.) It was fun to see the furniture of King Louis the XIV and XV as well as Marie Antoinette. These things are so unreal in person. I feel like I'm educating myself with a REAL history lesson. I know names, pieces of art, assumptions of cultures, the brief history lessons on wars, but I feel like it actually gets dug into your head when you are standing around and in front of it instead of memorizing note cards. I really am getting an education out here just from visiting these places.

The past weekend my friends and I took some touristy trips around Paris. We checked out the Rodin Museum and the Musee D'Orsay. Both museums were amazing. The Rodin was great because I got to see the 'Thinker' in real life, as well as Rodin's 'Gates of Hell'. Before my trip here I took a visit with my Grandmother to the Loyola Museum of Art on Chicago ave. to see their exhibit on Rodin. He is so genius; all of his writings about his sculptures are spot on with his work. Beautiful sculptures. The Musee D'Orsay was great too! I saw some unexpected pieces of art, such as Monet's Blue Lillies and Whistler's Mother, as well as other famous pieces. To see all of this in front of me gives me such a rush. It checks off so many boxes on my list of things to see in this world! My roommate Mihee and I also took a small trip to the cafe where they filmed some scenes of the french movie, Amelie. To be honest, it was a lot different than it was in the movie, but that's okay. We had a great dinner, as well as dessert of Creme Brulee d'Amelie! (It was quite a tourist trap though. Everything had Amelie's face all over it.) I've been wanting to watch that movie ever since.

This weekend I'm headed to Cork, Ireland with my roommates! I'm so excited. It's always been my dream since I was a young girl to go to Ireland and see the pastures. In all honesty, my favorite color is green, and has been forever because of views and pictures of Irish pastures. To actually have that dream come true in a couple of days and set foot on Irish lands is so unreal. Why did we choose Cork? The Blarney Castle/Stone of course! You can't go to Ireland without kissing the Blarney stone. My other goals this weekend are to get a real Irish claddagh ring (the one I have has a pink birthstone, which isn't even mine) and to sit in an Irish Pub. (okay, maybe I'll have a drink, but not Guinness.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Stone

I am going to update my photo website soon, I just have to do a bit of organizing. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states. I've been getting a bit homesick lately. It's been one month (already, oh my gosh) and there are a few things/people I do have longings for, but I am still having the time of my life. I feel like I've adapted to the Parisian lifestyle pretty nicely, and I am definitely not ready to go home. There's still so much more to see!

Feel free to send some words of love! I would love updates from everyone to see how they're doing.

-B

Rodin's 'The Thinker'

'Whistler's Mother'

the gates of the Palace of Versailles

hallway of the Palace

Louis XIV's bed

this type of art is beautiful. I love the massive canvasses

Yours truly at the Palace of Versailles!

The Time Traveler's Wife

Currently listening to: My Favourite Things -- John Coltrane. (I've recently become obsessed with Jazz music, and haven't stopped listening to it for the past few days.)

I just finished the book The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

On the train to Germany, in the living room of our school's studio, along the canal St. Martin, on the sidewalk of a Parisian cafe, on my cozy apartment couch...It's a beautiful book anywhere I went. It's a definite recommended read (for those who are always willing to read a love story, like me). I am looking forward to seeing the movie (somehow) when I get back.

Now for my next book, whatever I choose from the stack I brought to Europe.

-B

Atmosphere

I love the atmosphere of Paris. Today I sat at a cafe across the street from my apartment (waiting for my roommate to show up) and I just sat outside for about 30 to 45 minutes just people watching and eating my croissant and cappucino (which was so delicious by the way). It was perfect.

Later in the afternoon I had class, where I rode my bike to and from, listening to my ipod during the ride. It was so nice riding down the streets with all of the people and the breeze running through my hair. (such an amazing feeling.)

Now I am sitting in my apartment with the windows open, listening to the rain, Parisian jazz and drinking a glass of wine.

<3

Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/oolretaw

the albums are a bit out of order, but I finally got it working!

Muncheon/Dachau/Berlin/Dessau

Guten nacht

I'm back in Paris now after my long but amazing trip to Germany.

Saturday morning at 7:30 am we caught a train from Paris to Munich, where my friends and I decided to spend the weekend. Munich was a ton of fun. We had a few destinations in mind that we luckily got to see all of.

- We took a small trip to Dachau, one of the 'more famous' concentration camps in Germany. Wow. What a moving experience. I remember learning multiple times of the Holocaust, of the concentration camps, WWII, that whole history lesson, but actually stepping foot onto a concentration camp was a serious slap in the face. There were multiple images that twisted my stomach and took my breathe away. There was a long museum in the main building (which is where they would originally take their prisoners when they first arrived at the camp, put them through the showers, took all of their belongings, shave their heads, etc). It was a creepy feeling to step in such a nasty part of history. Reading the political articles about Hitler and his parties, how the war originated, and then the rest of the museum was about the concentration camp itself. The most disturbing part was the images, basically of people in the moments before their death. There are a few pictures of the medical 'experiements' they would pull. If anyone can't make it to Germany for one reason or another, I recommend going to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. They have an exhibit in the museum about the medical experiments they did at Auschwitz. That'll really stir your bloodstreams.

I don't want to disturb anyone, but this particular image hasn't left my mind since I've been back. It is an altitude experiment photo series of a victim being tested on.

I am pretty sure the most shocking part was walking into the crematorium with the ovens they used to cremate the bodies with. I know I swore, outloud; I wasn't expecting to see them at all. This experience was the real deal, but I'm completely glad I stepped foot onto a real concentration camp. It was definitely a reality check.

- Staying in the city of Munich is a lot of fun. We (unfortunately) ate at McDonald's for most of our meals, since it was 1 euro for a burger and a sundae, and the diet of a german involves "currywurst". We took a trip to the olympic park that was built in the 70's. It was such a pretty park, (completely man-made and teletubby land looking) but the architecture was so beautiful with the glass canopy roofs. My group and I went to the top of the hill where you could see a complete 360 view of Munich.

- Right next to Munich is the BMW Velt. (BMW World.) Beautiful building.

- Another destination was the soccer arena in the northern part of Munich. It was about 328947 miles from the train station, and closed to the public, but still looked awesome!

- Oh Berlin. What a striking city. The best way I can put how I felt about Berlin goes as follows: I love Berlin's present because of it's past. If it weren't for it's past, it would just be any other city today.

Our first destination was to the Memorial for Murdered European Jews and that really set the trip for me. Building after building our professor took us to was spectacular. A favorite part of Berlin was probably the graffiti on the walls, especially the Berlin Wall.

The German language was extremely hard, and made me miss Paris, but Germans actually speak a lot more English than Parisiens do too, which was nice. It's more angry sounding and less graceful than French. But, it was fun marching down the streets saying all of the names of stores out loud.

One of the best parts of the trip was going to the Jewish Museum. WOW. I cannot even describe how moving every single space of this place was, all I can tell you is to go see for yourself. Things such as the Holocaust Tower and Memory Void cannot even be described in pictures.

(http://www.jmberlin.de/site/DE/homepage.php) here is the website if you are interested in any kind of information about it.

- My friends and I final trip was to Dessau to see the Bauhaus! What a great experience! I did feel like one of the tourists though that come to Crown Hall all the time, but it was completely worth it. They had a photo series of the Bauhaus before/during/after WWII and the Nazi's invasion of the building which was very interesting. I got a sketch book and some colored pencils from the gift shop. The book I've already sketched in and the pencils I'm looking forward to using.

I developed a small playlist I wanted to share of some songs that made my trip even more enjoyable. Look them up, get them on itunes, or don't do anything. These songs are by some excellent artists I listen to often.

If It Smashes Down - My Morning Jacket

Epistemology - M. Ward

Must Be Dreaming - Frou Frou

Cello Song - The Books feat. Jose Gonzalez

Cath... - Death Cab for Cutie

Train Song - Ben Gibbard & Feist

Little Brother (Electric) - Grizzley Bear

Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes

Straight to Hell - Lily Allen (feat. Mick James)

Spies - Coldplay

Hours - TV On the Radio

Seasons of Love - Shiny Toy Guns

I'm currently working on uploading all of my pictures (about 1700 so far) onto a website to share with you all. I really want you to see them and this blog only lets me upload a couple at a time. Stay tuned for a website link. I hope everyone is doing well!

-B

Jean-Paul

I have a new boyfriend. His name is Jean-Paul. He's a red olympic sport bike.

Fall is coming to Paris and it's a wonderful feeling!

-B

Cultural Conflicts

Bonsoir (bohn-swahhh)

That is what you say to people after 6 pm, like good evening. I find it more fun to say than Bonjour, so I look forward to 6 o'clock coming around every day just so I can say bonsoir!

Anyway...The other day we went to La Defense, which is in the eastern part of Paris: the business district. This place was incredibly different from central Paris. All of the buildings are very modern. It felt as if I had stepped into a bubble world in the year 2100, especially after spending a couple weeks in old fashioned Paris.

I did check off a few more monuments on my list of places to go that day, including the Arc du Triomphe. (I already posted pictures from the Louvre, which is probably my favorite stop so far). My friend and I walked up the stairs of the Arc du Triomphe and hung out at the top for a while to take pictures and absorb the clean and refreshing Parisien air. Seeing the city at night was beautiful, as the Arc is located at the Charles de Gaulle Boulevard, which splits into about 12 different streets from its central point. I spotted so many monuments from atop such as the Louvre, Sacre-Cour, Pompidou Center, and of course the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful sight from any corner of the Arc. I would love to head up there again sometime soon just to read or hang out.

A few cultural thoughts: I usually adapt to cultures/surroundings quickly, especially here in Paris and I really admire their lifestyle...most of the time. There are a few things I notice here or there that I can at least tell a difference between USA and Europe. Some have benefits, some don't.

Restaurants:

The French definitely have a much more laidback lifestyle, which means the time it takes to eat dinner is at least double from the time it takes in Chicago. In a way it's nice; no one is rushing to get you out of the restaurant so they can bring in as much daily revenue as possible. On the other hand, you look at your watch and realize you've been at the restaurant for 2 hours.

Now, I've been trained in customer service for at least 48 hours total beacuse of my campus job, and in NO way do the French waiters/waitresses have good customer service. I seem to be the target person (in my whole group of friends) who gets their food, or drink, or dessert forgotten about. I remember waiting about 5-10 minutes for my food my first night in Paris, while everyone around me was chowing down on theirs in front of me. Another time the waiter completely forgot about my sorbet, finally brought it out after I reminded him about it, and while I was eating he made me pay for it mid-bite since all of my other friends had already paid for their cappuccinos. Needless to say, the Europeans never expect any tips (nor do I feel generous enough to ever leave one here), therefore that leaves them less than motivated to bring their best manners to the table.

The Metro:

The train system here is what Chicago is striving to be like. Their maps may look identical, but the effiency of the metro here is beyond me. The only bit that is confusing is how the zones work, and the cheapest way to buying tickets, but otherwise they map out with signs and diagrams at each stop. Transfers are incredibly easy, and the seats are so comfortable. You have to manually open the doors when you want to get in or out, but that wouldn't hurt anyone. It's actually really fun... The rides are so smooth you can stand up without holding onto anything and not fall over. Motion sickness is impossible too! Unfortunately you're unlucky enough to get a nice European who doesn't believe in deodorant here and there...but that's when you learn to breathe through your mouth. I have practice with that one.

Shops/Shopping:

The weekends here are worshipped by the employed, and annoying for the students (me) here visiting. I believe it's hard to find most stores open on Saturday and Sunday. Arriving in August was not the best 'example' month for life on the streets of Paris. July and August are considered their holiday. People literally have their stores closed for 2 months while they go on vacation. What a rough life, no? Once September rolls around this week, the universities start and it will be a lot more busy. I'll get to see more shops I haven't seen yet. My friends and I have been looking for bikes, so this might help our search a little bit too. In terms of shopping.....it's worse here than it is in Chicago. Shops here are so cute and you find a new one at every corner. So far my favorite stores have been Zara and Promod. (so far. it's only week 3.) When my roommate and I see a Zara, we stop whatever we're doing and run in. Today I believe she saw one before me and said "We're going in." What mavericks we are! It's fun, but can be deadly to the wallet. I'm looking forward to the fall fashions and once it gets a little colder. Fall is my favorite season in terms of fashion, in any country! I'm soo excited!

Grocery shopping:

Grocery shopping is a little hard here since I don't know what a lot of french food words are. I usually judge it by the pictures and guess at some of the ingredients. If it's in an aisle that smells like rotten fish, I just avoid it all together. Today we went to a Monoprix (kind of like our Target) which has a larger selection than the supermarkets at the corners. I was able to get a decent amount of stuff I would in America so I can finally cook! I might get ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies soon. If anyone knows the recipe to the tollhouse recipe (on the back of the c.c. bag), please send it over! I won't be able to read their french version.

Site seeing/surroundings:

SO many times my friends and I have grabbed a bottle of wine or some cheese and bread and sat in front of a large monument to hang out. Sacre-cour, the Louvre, oh my... Each time we do though we have to complain about how Chicago has such tight rules and we wouldn't even get caught dead doing this after dark there. The French don't really care what we do, and we're really enjoying this concept. I would consider moving here knowing I easily had the chance to bring a book to the Louvre or Notre Dame to read in front of it. These views are absolutely breathtaking. Even my nap in the Japanese garden was something that could only happen here. Chicago needs to rid of their security guards on segways and just let it's citizens live how we're supposed to! If anyone wants to get out of the US for a night, come by and I'll pick out some fine wine and we'll dine in front of your monument of choice! By the way, the wine here is very, very good.

I have a bunch of work due by Friday and I'm headed to Munich on Saturday to spend all of next week in Germany. I won't be bringing my computer; I know I've heard some subtle requests for more blogging, and you know I will update as often as I can, but for now just look forward to some awesome pictures!

Bon nuit for now, I'll be back before you know it!

--Becca

the arc @ La Defense

My friends in front of an awesome green wall!!

the building district of la defense

a very tall, amazingly beautiful sculpture. Who thinks my mom should do a painting based off of this?!

arc du triomphe <3