I have a funny story...well two. actually three. I first one is the best.
I feel like I should write about my internship but I don't want to. Maybe I'll want to brag about it once I better understand what I am doing slash start to like it (like everyone swears I will).
So Stories:
1. Made my day story: So me and Carolyn are kicking butt in our boxing class tonight and everyone girl around us is just being a biddy.
Side note: We are both in love with the boxing/spin/pump and tone/core attack instructor..Graham. He is a dream boat and officially likes us because we spend more time at the gym than every other student at DCU combined.
Today Graham was really intense and yelling at girls for being too slow. It was awesome. Then were are doing this really hard punchy thing and he stops everyone and yells "We need to be getting stronger, faster. There is no reason why some of you look like this and some of you are still wearing sweatshirts. Work harder." Right as he says 'look like this' he takes his hand and wipes my chest..fingers full of sweat shakes his hand and sooo much sweat falls on the floor. I was just standing there..kinda proud/violated/disgusted/confused. Then we continue the set. Ten minutes later he walks up and says 'sorry for touching your chest..and wiping the the sweat off. I realize that was kind of inappropriate. It just looked so good, like one of those athletics on the HD TVs'
My life.
2. Depressing story: Today I was freaking out because I kinda messed up the bus system (again) and was late to work. I am supposed to be there at 'half nine' which is 9:30..not 8:30..sometimes I still get confused..also its actually 9 turdy haha I'm eight years old. Okay anyways I roll up at 9:45 feeling guilty. I shouldn't really, because Irish people don't care about time so this isn't a big deal..but I still get nervous.
When I arrive to the office there is no one there. Then 10:30 rolls around and stillll no one. Then 11am and I start to kinda wonder if its like a holiday or something. I check my email and realize I have a meeting at noon. Sure enough at 12:15 in comes my boss...'Hi Natalie! How was your morning'.
I answered goood then casually asked where everybody was/still is all morning. She didn't know. 'Im sure they had things'...How is that allowed????
After our 30 min meeting she left and I sat by myself for the rest of the day. Just me, Jack Johnson and FDA regulations.
3. I'm stupid story: Today I was treating myself to a cappuccino with whole milk not skim..because I was alone and depressed in the office. I was sooo excited by the EXTRA creaminess of the milk. Turns out the 'extra' creaminess was not because of the fat content but because that is what happens when you steam chunky,spoiled milk. Nobody refrigerated the milk after Friday. I'm back on tea.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Dublin..For reals
On our ten day trip , my friends and I found ourselves hatin' on Dublin… a lot. Then we realized that maybe we should try and do more Dubliny things before we compared it to every European city we visited.
Item 1: Phoenix Park
Phoenix park is the central park of Dublin. There is a zoo and some gardens and the president lives there! So on Saturday we all packed our lunches and walked the three miles to Phoenix Park. The park was beautiful! Lots of trees, flowers. grass and creeks and all in the most beautiful fall colors. There were naturally a few Gaelic game fields and even a polo track. We ate our lunches on the steps of the Wellington Monument and enjoyed being in the background of lots of tourist pictures.
Ok so here comes the Dublin hatin’…please look at the architecture here. The monument and the presidents house….
Really Ireland? Be your own country.
Item 2: Guinness Factory
Ten weeks later Kristen, Priscilla and I were the LAST BU kids to get to the Guinness factory. Opps. Probably because none of us are fans of the stuff, but still we thought it was important to go. I know exactly where the Guinness factory is now because it is literally right next door to my internship (I will explain this tomorrow). Anyway the factory was actually really cool. I learned all about how beer is made..now I can talk about hops. I also learned how to properly pour a Guinness draft. Did you know it takes 119.5 seconds to do? After I learned all that and saw how Guinness has been advertised over the years..which was highly entertaining…we got to the gravity bar! This is where you get your ‘free’ pint or coke. Shoulda gone with the coke! We all had about five sips. Even though the beer was still yucky, the views were amazing!!!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Fall Break-Part four- London
I know the suspense was killing you but yes I made it to the Madrid airport without being kidnapped. In fact I got there wicked early. So early that I bought a book. I decided that I would rather try and sneak a book on the plane in my pants (because my bag was already real full) than spend another minute wondering around the Duty Free stores. I bought One Day..like the movie I wanted to see but never did. Anyway sooo good! I read it for fun. big things.
My flight got super delayed and then I got caught up in the Passport line. See the police guy was really awkward and I couldn't tell if he was interrogating me or just making convo..so I guess my answers were vague and sketchy and he was frustrated. opps. All these delays made me miss my bus into the city. I flew into London Gatwick airport because its super cheap but its like an hour away from the city..so no bus was a problem. I had read in my confirmation email though that you could use the same bus ticket for anytime within two hours of your flight. That was all nice until the next buses driver didn't really believe me.. He finally gave in though and let me on. He also let on this group of five Spanish kids who had recently decided I could interrupt for them. See they were trying to say "our tickets are for 11 o'clock" Spanish 101 material. So I heard this and told the bus driver what they said..then bam they were talking to me and expecting me to translate. I was feelin pretty good after my 48 hours in Spain but I was way unqualified for this job and it got awkward real fast.
I finally got into the city and met up with Kate and Morgan!! Felt so good to see them. We walked to Kates flat where I stayed. She lives right off of Hyde Park. Absolutely gorgeous. That night me and Kate just walked around the park and saw the embassies. Then, obviously because its Kate and Natalie, ate burgers and cookies.
The next day Kate had to work and Morgan had class. I thought I was going to have to play by myself but Morgans class was going on field trip so I tagged along. We went to the British National Library, a walking tour and to the British National Museum. I thought I would hate the library but actually they had all these really old books on display and old maps where the world was all wrong. It was actually cool. The walking tour was ridiculous we just saw a bunch of houses where famous authors lived. Then we went to the museum. Did you know that all the British do is steal other peoples cool stuff? seriously bullies. I saw the Rosetta stone! The modern exhibit was really cool, it had a display about modern pharmacy and how many pills we take over our life time. Really creepy to see.
Later that day Morgan, her mom and grandma and me went to tea at Harrods. Classy again. Harrods was really fun! Such crazy stuff and the prices were just fun to laugh at..some day...when I'm not flying on plastic airplanes. I went home with Kate and we made a delicious dinner then got dressed up and went out for the night!
The next day Kate and I rented bikes and rode all around London! We started in Hyde park and went straight to Portebello Market. Maybe my favorite market of the trip, although nobodies prices can compare to Casablanca but still this one was amazing! There were tons of antiques and being that I am eighty years old and I love antiques I was right at home. I bought this charm bracelet that is apparently from the 1920s kinda cool to think about who picked out all the charms and why. After that we rode past everything touristy...Buckingham palace, big ben, Westminster, and the eye of London! Then we ended up in another market. Heaven. This one had a 'Tuckers Exotic Meat' cart..me and Kate ate wildebeest and springbok and loooove it. Then some more bike riding back over the river and through the business district. That night we went to Brick lane for dinner. It is the little Bangladesh in London and men come out of their restaurants and try to convince you to come it. It was pretty entertaining and yummy of course.
After a long day of bike riding and a full tummy of Indian food me and Kate got all cozy and decided to watch a movie..then Morgan came over and reminded us that it was Halloween and not just any Halloween but our last one together. So we put together some make-shift costumes and rallied.
Mind you I had significantly less clothes to work with hence Tom Cruise..also Risky Business not so popular in the UK.
Anyway so Saturday night was crazy. Not like drunk crazy..like we all had one glass of wine and everybody around us was just actually crazy. First off a scary man roller-bladed up to us in full costume tried to jump out and scare us..then gave me candy. Yes I ate it. Then at the club, we were done dancing, just hanging out in the back getting some air and a man walked up to us pulled out paint and started painting my face.. no words. Then grabbed me and Kate and started to swing dance with us...Kate got away and I was not as lucky. The whole night was strange..we also witnessed a drug deal.
After that adventure we woke up nice and early and went on more bike-rides!!! This time to more markets and St Paul's Cathedral. The occupy London protests were all around the cathedral so it was a little crazy but we were still allowed in. When we went in there was choir practice. holy gorgeous.
Kate took an architecture class this semester so on Sunday afternoon she took me to see some neat buildings. First is the 'gerkin' I have no idea if that is spelled correctly but it means pickle. The second is some building that was built with all the 'insides' out, so like the pluming and elevators and everything are on the outside. Apparently the inside is more pure this way..
The last part of Sunday was the BEST. See I drug Kate to the broad street pump. Its only my favorite thing in the world..also the birth place of modern epidemiology. google it. Then we saw The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine aka my dream school. I know it sounds fake but next to Hopkins and Harvard this place is one of the best public health schools in the world. Also it is right next to Soho..My Favorite section of London..and Chinatown. You couldn't get a better location.
The end off my London trip I am going to summarize because reliving it still makes my blood boil. Basically I left Kates place at 3:30 am and walked for 45mins missing my 4am bus (google said it was a 10/15 min walk), ended up taking a taxi to a train station with a rando Swiss guy..who I had to pay in Euro for the cab because I spent all my pounds..took a train with him to the airport..he fell asleep I had to wake him up everyone around thought it was cute..then almost missed my flight. Oh but wait I also forgot to empty my water bottle so my bag got pulled aside at security. I was super embarrassed.. usually I am really good at remembering to empty it, I apologized and asked if I could just go pour the water out. Answer was no. Apparently you can't pour liquid out if you have tried to get through security with it. The officer made me chug it..all 24oz. Then he had to audacity to say 'thanks, have a great flight love." umm no I ran right to the plane and had to pee in like ten seconds.
My flight got super delayed and then I got caught up in the Passport line. See the police guy was really awkward and I couldn't tell if he was interrogating me or just making convo..so I guess my answers were vague and sketchy and he was frustrated. opps. All these delays made me miss my bus into the city. I flew into London Gatwick airport because its super cheap but its like an hour away from the city..so no bus was a problem. I had read in my confirmation email though that you could use the same bus ticket for anytime within two hours of your flight. That was all nice until the next buses driver didn't really believe me.. He finally gave in though and let me on. He also let on this group of five Spanish kids who had recently decided I could interrupt for them. See they were trying to say "our tickets are for 11 o'clock" Spanish 101 material. So I heard this and told the bus driver what they said..then bam they were talking to me and expecting me to translate. I was feelin pretty good after my 48 hours in Spain but I was way unqualified for this job and it got awkward real fast.
I finally got into the city and met up with Kate and Morgan!! Felt so good to see them. We walked to Kates flat where I stayed. She lives right off of Hyde Park. Absolutely gorgeous. That night me and Kate just walked around the park and saw the embassies. Then, obviously because its Kate and Natalie, ate burgers and cookies.
The next day Kate had to work and Morgan had class. I thought I was going to have to play by myself but Morgans class was going on field trip so I tagged along. We went to the British National Library, a walking tour and to the British National Museum. I thought I would hate the library but actually they had all these really old books on display and old maps where the world was all wrong. It was actually cool. The walking tour was ridiculous we just saw a bunch of houses where famous authors lived. Then we went to the museum. Did you know that all the British do is steal other peoples cool stuff? seriously bullies. I saw the Rosetta stone! The modern exhibit was really cool, it had a display about modern pharmacy and how many pills we take over our life time. Really creepy to see.
Later that day Morgan, her mom and grandma and me went to tea at Harrods. Classy again. Harrods was really fun! Such crazy stuff and the prices were just fun to laugh at..some day...when I'm not flying on plastic airplanes. I went home with Kate and we made a delicious dinner then got dressed up and went out for the night!
The next day Kate and I rented bikes and rode all around London! We started in Hyde park and went straight to Portebello Market. Maybe my favorite market of the trip, although nobodies prices can compare to Casablanca but still this one was amazing! There were tons of antiques and being that I am eighty years old and I love antiques I was right at home. I bought this charm bracelet that is apparently from the 1920s kinda cool to think about who picked out all the charms and why. After that we rode past everything touristy...Buckingham palace, big ben, Westminster, and the eye of London! Then we ended up in another market. Heaven. This one had a 'Tuckers Exotic Meat' cart..me and Kate ate wildebeest and springbok and loooove it. Then some more bike riding back over the river and through the business district. That night we went to Brick lane for dinner. It is the little Bangladesh in London and men come out of their restaurants and try to convince you to come it. It was pretty entertaining and yummy of course.
After a long day of bike riding and a full tummy of Indian food me and Kate got all cozy and decided to watch a movie..then Morgan came over and reminded us that it was Halloween and not just any Halloween but our last one together. So we put together some make-shift costumes and rallied.
Mind you I had significantly less clothes to work with hence Tom Cruise..also Risky Business not so popular in the UK.Anyway so Saturday night was crazy. Not like drunk crazy..like we all had one glass of wine and everybody around us was just actually crazy. First off a scary man roller-bladed up to us in full costume tried to jump out and scare us..then gave me candy. Yes I ate it. Then at the club, we were done dancing, just hanging out in the back getting some air and a man walked up to us pulled out paint and started painting my face.. no words. Then grabbed me and Kate and started to swing dance with us...Kate got away and I was not as lucky. The whole night was strange..we also witnessed a drug deal.
After that adventure we woke up nice and early and went on more bike-rides!!! This time to more markets and St Paul's Cathedral. The occupy London protests were all around the cathedral so it was a little crazy but we were still allowed in. When we went in there was choir practice. holy gorgeous.
Kate took an architecture class this semester so on Sunday afternoon she took me to see some neat buildings. First is the 'gerkin' I have no idea if that is spelled correctly but it means pickle. The second is some building that was built with all the 'insides' out, so like the pluming and elevators and everything are on the outside. Apparently the inside is more pure this way..
The last part of Sunday was the BEST. See I drug Kate to the broad street pump. Its only my favorite thing in the world..also the birth place of modern epidemiology. google it. Then we saw The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine aka my dream school. I know it sounds fake but next to Hopkins and Harvard this place is one of the best public health schools in the world. Also it is right next to Soho..My Favorite section of London..and Chinatown. You couldn't get a better location.
The end off my London trip I am going to summarize because reliving it still makes my blood boil. Basically I left Kates place at 3:30 am and walked for 45mins missing my 4am bus (google said it was a 10/15 min walk), ended up taking a taxi to a train station with a rando Swiss guy..who I had to pay in Euro for the cab because I spent all my pounds..took a train with him to the airport..he fell asleep I had to wake him up everyone around thought it was cute..then almost missed my flight. Oh but wait I also forgot to empty my water bottle so my bag got pulled aside at security. I was super embarrassed.. usually I am really good at remembering to empty it, I apologized and asked if I could just go pour the water out. Answer was no. Apparently you can't pour liquid out if you have tried to get through security with it. The officer made me chug it..all 24oz. Then he had to audacity to say 'thanks, have a great flight love." umm no I ran right to the plane and had to pee in like ten seconds.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Fall Break-Part tres. Madrid
Finally we got to Madrid on Tuesday..seretly I had wanted to spend the whole week in Madrid. I just had a feeling it was going to be my favorite. I was pretty right.
I have to say before we got through the airport the weirdest thing happened. So our plane landed and we were taxiing, the flight attendant was on the loudspeaker thanking us for choosing the airline, stay in your seats until the seat belt sign is off...blah blah and then starts screaming "SIR SIR...SENOR SENOR STAY SEATED!!" This guy is running down the center of the plane and like we just landed..this thing is still movin pretty fast. Then a flight attendant runs down the aisle and starts pushing him into his seat and he is yelling..a lot and in spanish..and in sophisticated words I don't know. Anyway the plane finally came to a stop and he starts running into people and yelling more and then opening all the air vents. I was all for letting this crazy off the plane but other people were ignoring him. I figured he had a connecting flight or something..nope saw him in the passport line just chillin.
We stayed in a nice hostel in Madrid. It was right by Plaza del Sol which is a very popular area and close to everything but most importantly home to the best chocolate and churro place yummm. In Spain the hot chocolate was just a cup of melted chocolate. soo good. On the first night there we met up with people from the BU Madrid program that were friends of my friends. They took us to one of their favorite Spanish restaurants and we ate Paella..so much paella in Spain. One of the girls walked us around that night and pointed us in the right direction for the next day.
We sleep in a little on Wednesday because the no sleep thing was starting to catch up with us. The only down side of our Madrid hostel was that they limited your croissant intake. I found this particularly offensive. No fear though because in Madrid there are Dunkin Doughnuts..yes I got Dunks after a VERY long two months. Also American dunks have a few things to learn from the Spanish...chocolate shavings on doughnuts and ice cream? they mean business.
After a caffine and sugar fix we walked.for hours. Madrid was full of plazas. So many little squares and each of them filled with history and beautiful gardens and street vendors. My favorite was the palace gardens! Its the last pic in this group. But in all honesty everything was breathtaking. I also loved that everyone spoke Spanish. I am sure I sounded like a third grader but I was still pretty impressed by how well I could communicate with people! Spanish is so pretty and the Spanish accent is absolutely adorable.
For lunch that day we had Menu. All over Madrid there is a set price for a three course lunch so we got to eat at a pretty fancy place down town for cheap. Paella..naturally and sangria...so much sangria.
After lunch we walked more! We went to some markets. Have I mentioned how much I love open air markets? We also ran into a starbucks sample guy! He had a whole tray of little mochas and told us there were two cups with green stickers that got you a free drink if you picked one..me and Kristen picked the two cups. He looked really confused and then just took his samples back inside. But whatever we got free coffee!! After even more walking we met up with the Madrid girls again and they showed us another really good Spanish restaurant where we ate dinner. I had ox tail and Spanish tortilla..and more churros and chocolate.. That was all for Madrid. I went to bed pretty early because I had to wake up a 3:30am to get to the airport in time for my flight to London. To get to the airport at that time in the morning I had to take a bus that left from the other side of the city...the guy at the hostel told me everything I had to do. I looked kind of scared and asked if walking through the city at like 4am was safe and he just smiled and said "eehh mas o menos"- perfect.
I have to say before we got through the airport the weirdest thing happened. So our plane landed and we were taxiing, the flight attendant was on the loudspeaker thanking us for choosing the airline, stay in your seats until the seat belt sign is off...blah blah and then starts screaming "SIR SIR...SENOR SENOR STAY SEATED!!" This guy is running down the center of the plane and like we just landed..this thing is still movin pretty fast. Then a flight attendant runs down the aisle and starts pushing him into his seat and he is yelling..a lot and in spanish..and in sophisticated words I don't know. Anyway the plane finally came to a stop and he starts running into people and yelling more and then opening all the air vents. I was all for letting this crazy off the plane but other people were ignoring him. I figured he had a connecting flight or something..nope saw him in the passport line just chillin.
We stayed in a nice hostel in Madrid. It was right by Plaza del Sol which is a very popular area and close to everything but most importantly home to the best chocolate and churro place yummm. In Spain the hot chocolate was just a cup of melted chocolate. soo good. On the first night there we met up with people from the BU Madrid program that were friends of my friends. They took us to one of their favorite Spanish restaurants and we ate Paella..so much paella in Spain. One of the girls walked us around that night and pointed us in the right direction for the next day.
We sleep in a little on Wednesday because the no sleep thing was starting to catch up with us. The only down side of our Madrid hostel was that they limited your croissant intake. I found this particularly offensive. No fear though because in Madrid there are Dunkin Doughnuts..yes I got Dunks after a VERY long two months. Also American dunks have a few things to learn from the Spanish...chocolate shavings on doughnuts and ice cream? they mean business.
After a caffine and sugar fix we walked.for hours. Madrid was full of plazas. So many little squares and each of them filled with history and beautiful gardens and street vendors. My favorite was the palace gardens! Its the last pic in this group. But in all honesty everything was breathtaking. I also loved that everyone spoke Spanish. I am sure I sounded like a third grader but I was still pretty impressed by how well I could communicate with people! Spanish is so pretty and the Spanish accent is absolutely adorable.
For lunch that day we had Menu. All over Madrid there is a set price for a three course lunch so we got to eat at a pretty fancy place down town for cheap. Paella..naturally and sangria...so much sangria.
After lunch we walked more! We went to some markets. Have I mentioned how much I love open air markets? We also ran into a starbucks sample guy! He had a whole tray of little mochas and told us there were two cups with green stickers that got you a free drink if you picked one..me and Kristen picked the two cups. He looked really confused and then just took his samples back inside. But whatever we got free coffee!! After even more walking we met up with the Madrid girls again and they showed us another really good Spanish restaurant where we ate dinner. I had ox tail and Spanish tortilla..and more churros and chocolate.. That was all for Madrid. I went to bed pretty early because I had to wake up a 3:30am to get to the airport in time for my flight to London. To get to the airport at that time in the morning I had to take a bus that left from the other side of the city...the guy at the hostel told me everything I had to do. I looked kind of scared and asked if walking through the city at like 4am was safe and he just smiled and said "eehh mas o menos"- perfect.
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