Happy Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten-- Holidays Abroad

So I know I've been home for about a week now (and I'll be addressing that in a moment) (and by a moment I mean... in a while) but I had been meaning to write this since the holiday season began abroad.

Basically, Christmas? Huuuuuuuuge deal in Europe, apparently. At the very least, the people there have a love affair with decorating. right after Halloween lights went up on trees in Hyde Park, rides and mulled wine and Christmas markets galore.

Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park!

Of course, for us it was a bit jarring because there are more holidays between Halloween and Christmas, right?! Like Thanksgiving and what, Veterans Day or something?

The most American of holidays

But really, the decorations are to die for. Everything has lights, everything has baubles and colors and is all about being safe and cheerful all over the city. On my way to Sainsbury's I'd see lights on the casino across the street and it wasn't just generic casino lights, either, but like legit Christmas lights. Sooooooo pretty. 

Just so you know, these pictures of the Christmas fair were taken the day after Thanksgiving. Yep. It was already up and in full swing by the end of November. I was taking a walk one night when I happened upon it, and by "happened upon it" I mean I saw the Ferris wheel through some trees and went "WTF is that?" and thus inspected it. Every street has something hanging from buildings and lighting up with little trees and lots of flowers and whatnot.

I'm pretty sure even Americans find this tacky.

This is all in Ireland, btw

But the place that really goes all-out for Christmas has to be Germany, hands-freaking-down. We landed in Berlin two weeks before Christmas and you'd think Christmas was a two-month affair. I mean, I guess it makes sense because we stole a lot of our Christmas traditions from German traditions but I've never seen a nation so in love with a holiday. To be fair, I had no idea that they'd be so into the last hundred years of their own history, either, so there's that. But I digress. Decorations and traditions in Germany definitely trump everything I've seen.

Christmas Markets selling decorations that go on for miles

Gigantic Christmas trees in political centers

Uh.... an international Christmas tree, I guess

Sweet stands selling gingerbread hearts that say things

Singing folk songs and carols inside said Christmas markets

Seriously, Christmas markets everywhere. We went to five of them.

One day I'll fully celebrate the holidays abroad, because it'd be amazing. I'm so curious as to what they have in northern Europe and in places like Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Sweden, places that have big Christmas markets and whatnot. And really like celebrating? I don't know what I'm talking about. I know Italy's real big  on Christmas, I'd love to see that. Spain, too, maybe France, and er, I don't know, Switzerland? I feel like they must have Christmas celebrations of some sort because everyone goes skiing there. Who am I kidding I don't know anything about Christmas in other places except for right freaking here. But that's alright because I'm learning, right? Right.

Deutschland? Deutschland!

Germany. Deutschland. When I was accepted into this study abroad program, my first thought was “I’m going to Germany”. I can’t really explain why; I’ve never been particularly interested in Germany before. Even when I started learning about WWII I was always more interested in places like Britain, Poland, Russia, even Austria. Italy I always wanted to go to but I got that done with forever ago. But... Germany?

Well, I finally got to go. I didn’t think I was going to get there, but I really wanted to, and I mentioned it to Katie and the next thing I knew we were booking a flight. The flight was a bit pricey and I really wasn’t sure if I could afford to be there for three days, but we did it. I turned in my dissertation and then woke at the crack of dawn and left for Germany.

And it was so, so worth it.

We landed early in the morning and after a bus and a train checked into our hostel, where we kind of fell asleep on the couch in the lounge. But then we checked into our room and napped forever... and then explored.

One things I always wondered about Germany is how they approach their own history of the last 100 years. I always kinda assumed it was all hush hush, look at all our pretty buildings and let’s pretend we weren’t two cities for forty years. Oh, I was so wrong.

The only thing these guys could say was "photo" we're pretty sure

So, so wrong.

Berlin kind of has a love affair with its own history. There were tons of people wandering around in WWII-era and Soviet-era uniforms posing for pictures with flags, handing out passport stamps and postcards.

I now have a visa to live in East Berlin for 14 days!

 But really. It’s all over the place. Everything in Berlin was either WWII, Soviet Union or Christmas.

Christmas at Brandenburg!

 I mean, it was okay with us because that’s all that we did. We did the Berlin Mauer Museum, the DDR Museum, the Holocaust memorial, and every Christmas market we could find.

It was all wonderful, of course. We spent a lot of time wandering where the wall used to be, and playing around with its old boundaries. So ridiculous.

This probably happened.

I have to say, there’s still a bit of a physical difference between the East and the West. When we went to the East End Gallery, there was just... something different about the area we were in. It was clearly cleaned up but it was noticeably different. I know a lot of the city has been fixed but still. The East End Gallery was gorgeous, btw.

Germany was beautiful and incredibly friendly. The Christmas markets were really fun and had SO MUCH JOY. And the Christmas decorations were just... to DIE for.

Germany knows how to do Christmas. It’s absolutely amazing. And even if we couldn’t understand something (which was most of the time) they ALWAYS spoke English. Hooray for us! Except for one time Katie was trying to order wurst, and the man just spoke in German to her, counted at her and laughed. She was intimidated. ‘Twas hilarious.

But everything was just amazing. Our hostel was gorgeous, everything was cheap and my inner history freak was satiated.

Germany, Germany, Germany is a really really nice place~♫

The Emerald Isle

So, over the last weekend, I went to Ireland. Dublin, to be exact. It was a trip that was planned waaaaaaaay back in September and, to be honest, if we hadn’t planned it then, we probably wouldn’t have gone. It’s smack dab in the middle of the most difficult point of the semester, my 6,000 word paper is due in three weeks, and at the time I had a paper due on Monday. (Let’s not talk about that paper, shall we?)

Anyway, Saiya, Nicole and I all went on separate journeys to all meet together in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday/Saturday. Naturally, I got lost on my way to the hostel, because the directions were juuuuust vague enough that I went in the wrong direction for a little too long. I did get some lovely night views of the city, though.

And an old boat!

Nicole arrived a few hours later and, after checking her in, we randomly were invited to go karaoke with four totally random guys. Now, the thing about these guys is, I can’t remember their names, and I don’t think they ever actually learned ours. They were four friends from four different countries whom had all met because they were travelling around Europe at one point or another, and every so often agreed to meet in the same place in the same hostel. One of the guys wanted his other friend to sing “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benitar at karaoke, and suddenly Nicole and I are following these four guys around the Temple Bar area, looking for a karaoke bar.

I was known simply as “Boston”, since I was from Boston; Nicole became “Louisiana” to go with the elaborate alter-ego she’s constructed for dealing with guys whom she doesn’t want to know. The four guys we met were known as Canada, Australia, Scotland and Cambridge. Canada was a wiry little guy with dreadlocks and an affinity for the Dropkick Murphys; Scotland was a big Indian guy with a thick accent who was very, very proud to be Scottish and called everyone ‘Lassie’; Cambridge was short, had glasses and was very white, and apparently sleeps a lot; and Australia was tall, lanky, really drunk and was the one who had to sing Pat Benitar in a falsetto.

So we wandered around with them throughout the throngs of drunken Irish (is there any other kind, really? Badum-ching!) looking for an elusive karaoke bar. Scotland was hitting on everything, although Canada and Cambridge were very thoughtful and talked to us a lot about history and politics. And, because I’m cursed, the World Wars. I don’t know why they always come up with me. This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve met some random people abroad and the World Wars have come up in some way. We were discussing some of the reasons for the outbreak of WWI, if I recall. The conclusion I came to after my WWI/WWII class is true: this continent is obsessed with the World Wars. Well, I guess I would be, too, if it was fought on my continent.

Anyway, Australia broke a glass and Canada was very much drunk, we went back to our hostel around 10 pm and WENT TO SLEEP. The next morning was dedicated to eating, wandering, and locating a lost Saiya.

Once we had found the lost Saiya, we then embarked on our very own man-made tour, which Nicole dubbed the “Two Fs and S Tour” of Dublin.

The most frustrating thing about Dublin was that everything you had to pay to get into, so we spent a lot of time looking at things from a distance.

I see a Saiya!

St. Patrick's Cathedral, from the closest distance I could get.

In the case of St. Patrick’s, a really, really far distance. But everything was truly quite beautiful. We saw a church that had its old foundations right beside it, looking quite old indeed. And, of course, we hard-core gift-shopped, which took more time than we thought but at the same time, didn’t take much time at all.

We wandered around and also got photos of all the Christmas decorations, because Ireland really knows how to celebrate a holiday. And that’s with lots of electric lights everywhere.

Finally we ended the trip at Ireland’s oldest pub, founded in the 12^th century. It was gorgeous inside, small and cramped and with awkward staircases and a weird opening in the front, just like in Belgium and the other old pubs I’ve been to. They really knew how to make awesome pubs back in the day.

The next day we flew home, and I got some shots of the Irish countryside I kind of wish I could have seen up close. If I ever go back to Ireland, I’m definitely going someplace out in the countryside where I can see those rolling hills of green and maybe a potato or two.

There are no whales in Wales, but there are a lot of cows.

And an old castle or several. Actually just one. But there are a LOT of cows. And small horses hanging out in bushes on top of blustery hills.

BUT I DIGRESS. About a million weeks ago (read: 2) my friends and I embarked on an epic journey to... to be honest, we don’t think we were in a town in Wales. We were on a farm, and we ended up in a town called Mumbles at some point but while we were on the farm... picture the solitude of the farm in Little House on the Prairie. Except with less Laura Ingles Wilder and more Welsh chickens underneath the window.

ANYWAY, we stayed in a 6-person room with a HUGE shower

LOOK AT THIS THING.

But it was kinda daunting to use. We also had a desk, a full size bed and two sets of bunk beds. It was like one big sleepover. On Saturday, we went on a full day of horseback riding around the Welsh countryside; up  some hills, down some hills, and really far away from some cliffs.

It was... more difficult than I expected. The last time I rode a horse like this was when I was in Girl Scouts and I rode through a trail in some camp down the Cape. I had a big ol’ horse named Annie, who was gorgeous, calm and lazy. They gave me a stick to hit her shoulders when she got too slow, but even that didn’t make her go faster. Either that or I just wasn’t being harsh enough.

Annie, not caring about me whatsoever.

We stopped at a pub, and then went back into the sunset to curl up in a bed and watch tv for a while. It was Guy Fawkes Day while we were there, so we went into Mumbles, Wales and partied it up. And by partied it up, I mean pitchers of mixed drinks for £7.95.

Why yes, this is as classy as it looks.

Yep. Apparently there’s not much else to do in Mumbles, Wales, Aside from light things on fire on the beach, which we did NOT do.

On Sunday, after sleeping “in” until 8 (as opposed to 7:15 the day before) we took an epic hike to Three Cliffs Bay, where we scared some birds, climbed some hills and hung out in an old castle.

THIS WAS AMAZING.

Also, Wales is gorgeous. At least they have that going on? Afterwards we all passed out on the train home. And had very, very sore body parts.

I have to say, before I came to the UK I never thought I’d actually get to Wales. Scotland, yes. Ireland, oh yes. Wales? Eh. I didn’t know much about Wales before and, to be honest, I still don’t know that much. Wales was taken over in the twelfth century and then never heard from again. My core history class is based on London from 1666 but Scotland and Ireland are at least discussed, if minorly; Wales isn’t talked about at all. They’re not even represented on the Union Jack, and they were taken over by England before England was really even England.

Poor Wales. At least they still have their culture, right? Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all descended from Celtic societies, why didn’t they just ban together and kick the Anglo-Saxon butts in England? I guess we’ll never know.

“No one has built a hence like that since then!... no one knows what the heck a henge is, but we’ve got one!”

As Eddie Izzard so valiantly put it, yes, England has Stonehenge. Last weekend BU packed us up onto a bus at 8.45 in the morning, drove us two hours south of here, and plopped us in the middle of a field and said “LOOK. LOOK AT OUR ROCKS.”

At least they're nice rocks?

Granted it was a gorgeous day and yes, those rocks are cool. When I told people I was going to see Stonehenge, I got a lot of “it’s just a bunch of rocks” (coughFalloncoughcough) but... it was just one of those things that I had to do. Yes, I’m aware about a gazillion people a day go look at Stonehenge and yes, more people than I can even fathom have been through those rocks. Nowadays you can’t even touch the rocks or go near them; you just kinda watch them from a distance with a rope in front of you. And you walk around them look at them from every angle, attempt to take witty photos—

I'm holding it in my palm. GET IT?

It took us far too long to plan this photo out.

—and then you get back on the bus and go someplace else. For us, it was Salisbury to go look at some churches and eat some delicious foods. But it was still a breath-taking experience. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, you could see the countryside for miles, and since it was so early, the place wasn’t that crowded and we enjoyed a nice wander around the perimeter. There were a lot of sheep and crows hanging around, which was weird. Since the only method of fencing they had to keep people from frolicking in the stones was a thin black rope, we assumed that they were there to attack whenever someone crossed and made a break for it.

But this is a structure that has lasted longer than half the world’s countries have been around. This structure was standing here, presumably in one piece at some point, since before most countries had names. Or national identities. They were just roaming pacts of people who were vaguely different from one another and fought on a basis of “you kind of don’t sound and/or look like me.”

This continent is a lot like high school.

The point is, this is a vital piece of history. I’m sure that someone’s entire life career was formed just because this monument is still standing and we still don’t know what the hell it’s for. I’ve seen everything from aliens built for rituals to it was a farmhouse, and each theory is just as crazy as the last. We were even joking that it was built the way it’s standing now, and it was never one concentric circle.

"HAHA SCREW YOU ALL!" - Stonehenge

 It’s also another piece of the ancient world I’ve always wanted to see. First Pompeii, then the Rosette Stone, now Stonehenge. That’s like... three things knocked of my non-existent ancient world bucket list. (I should really make one of those.) Salisbury was nice though, once we were done marveling at Stonehenge. It had a nice church, an original copy of the Magna Carta (all Americans should be excited about that!) and a little market where Saiya bought a hat. All in all, good day.

I'm smiling so giddily because this is right before I made a break for it.


Not really.