Free chupitos, eh?

Last night, we went to a place we had been to for the first time last week. It's called the DowJones bar, and the prices of the drinks go up and down depending on who's buying what. They're listed like the stocks in the stock market and you can watch the prices change. Every 30-50 drinks or so, the market "crashes" and all of the drinks drop to their base price for the night. Super fun, and dangerously cheap. Plus we all know how I love a good game. :)
aaaaanyway. We got there kind of early (around 930) and we were the only ones there, so we made friends with the Swedish bartenders Martin and Maria. They told us all about what it's like to live on minimum wage in Barcelona, moving from Sweden, and then they took turns chasing eachother around the bar and putting gel in each other's hair. It was hilarious watching this girl with a completely gel-covered head and a side pony tail sticking straight out the side of her head serving real customers drinks later on :). We got some free tequila (aaalways a plus) and hung out with a kid from Georgia who we had met earlier that week writing love letters for money on las Ramblas. I bought one, if you're lucky I'll let you read it. If you're really lucky, I'll translate.

I didn't end up getting home until about 230, (we had to leave to catch our plane at 5am...) and court made the wise decision to stay out all night. hehe. 5am rolls around and a very schnocked roomie stumbles into the room, throws some clothes in the bag, and yells "LET'S GO" haha. We went to catch the first train into town and got through the ticket gate right as the train was there, but then the door (like normal, wooden door, no card necessary) was locked and we couldn't get out to get in the train!! I ended up jumping through a window (suitcase and all) and yelling at a veeeeery confused courtney to do the same, and hurry the heck up because the train was going to leave. hahahaha probably going to be an awesome memory after I get enough sleep to think about it.
the rest of the plane/bus rides were fairly uneventful, touched down in Dublin at 10 something in the morning and found our hostel pretty easy. This cute guy on the bus (and when I say cute, I mean IRISH and cute....) told us that a pub that's right around the corner from our hostel is a really good "irish" experience and so we're planning on going there tonight.
Irish people are so bomb. They all want to talk to you, they're soooo nice, and I noticed when we got off the plane and were looking for our bus that the lady working actually asked if she could help us. That was the first time that has happened all summer. In Spain you have to flag someone down for like an hour before you can get some slow service.
All in all I think Dublin was an excellent choice for a visit. After paying the hostel bill, I am officially dipping into a bit of debt but I only have a week left so I think I'll be ok. PLUS
**news**
I called work and my boss gave me a raise while I was gone!! (I'd been 'working' for the company for a year) and she said she'd schedule an interview with me to become a shift manager. Exciting times. So yeah, I figure a couple hundred in the hole when I get home from europe isn't a big deal. Glad I'm not travelling for 4 more weeks and really screwing myself over.

Not all of you know, I actually fly out of Barcelona on the 2nd, and I'm spending a week in Wisconsin at our family house on Lake Geneva. I'm sooooooo excited! Court and I have a list several pages long of all the food we want to eat when we get home, and wisconsin corn and steak are DEFINITELY on there!!! Plus I need to actually get a tan before I get home haha!!

Lindsay and I went to Paris two weeks ago. I loved it, but I know I could never live in France. Just not my style. Plus have you HEARD how thick some of their ennunciation is?! I literally can't do it. I was sitting on the metro trying to copy them making a fool of myself and I just can't make the sound. Gives me some perspective on people who can't roll their 'r's :)
We went to the Louvre for free (people under 28 are free on Friday nights after 6, take a note!!), and walked around in the parks. Then we went and saw the eiffel tower light up at night and ate a late dinner at a cafe. I had a cheese salad and white wine, and she got escargot, which I tried a bite of. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd pay to eat it. (I've been saying that about alot of stuff lately, haha). Very similar to this trip, we had been travelling all night (I can show you the intinerary I wrote it, it's quite complex) and we were dead tired but it was still awesome.

The food was definitely one of the highlights- crepes, croissants, espresso, a really good panini...mmmm I spent way too much money.
We also went to the Musee d'Orsay which I actually liked better than the Louvre. They had more recognizable artists (Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Manet, Rembrant...). Hmmmm what else did we do. Took a boat tour down the Seinne (or however you spell it) which was kind of stupid yet entertaining. We waited in line almost an hour to get on the boat, and the Spanish people standing in line behind us started yelling at the nordic people in line ahead of us about how they cut and "we" (he pointed to us) would like to have a word with them. Then we got on and there were these adorable little black twins with their hair in tiny little balls all over their head, it was soooooo cute. And our tour guide was HOTT. haha
We went to the Arc de Triompf, which was fun, but alot of stairs. Nothing compared to the stairs at the Eiffel Tower though. Those things.....I swear I thought I was going to die. It was fun through. Fun looking down and seeing all the people below, and there was alot going on because it was the day before Bastille. Then we waited on the lawn for the fireworks for Bastille day and this weird French guy came up to us and had horrible english but he kept saying "excuse me..." and then asking questions. And then he started being all french and telling us that he wanted to give us roses, and when he laughed he said "is not nice?!" and then he offered to buy us drinks (we declined, a bit skittish about letting a strange bring us an open bottle) and a mercedes. Every time we said no he's get real adament and say "IS NOT A PROBLEMS!!" haha. Weird french people. Anyway, there were no fireworks. Not sure why, they just announced at like 11 that there wouldn't be any that night. Awesome.
So then we went home and helped some chinese boys find our hostel and got harassed by french people on the walk back to the hostel, but it's all a part of the game, I guess.
I was talking with that dude last night about how incredibly strange it is to be a woman here. All of the things about safety you have to think about that never would have bothered you at home. All of the attention you get and have to deal with, just because you're blonde or american looking or you don't have a guy walking with you. Something I expected, but never at this level.
I'd say I've gotten more badass, but I've probably just gotten more frank. It's good in some ways, because I can fend for myself, but bad because I could end up being a bitch to someone who doesn't deserve it just because i'm used to telling people to back off.

anyway, random.
Suffice it to say that 3 hours of sleep is not enough. Our room will be ready soon *hopefully* so I'll bid you "adieu" and say I can't WAIT to see everyone when I get home. :)

- S