yay! my pictures worked finally! im so excited.. some of em are sorta small.. but you can click on em' and make it show up big. mmm so the really jungle-y, lush pics are of Sintra. the city on the river at night was our tour in Porto.. and then theres some others of friends in Lisboa and our hostel.. the gateway pic is the originally built entrance for the city of Lisboa..right thru here was our hostel..

I (heart) Portugal!!

Finally made it to Spain this morning, after a very looong, night train..without going into details, Ill just say Im happy to be here! haha..stories for another time.
Starr's got some friends here In Madrid now who are putting us up in their home..its like a 5 star hotel and then some..these guys are amazing..so incredibly generous and theyre taking us out everywhere and around, doing our laundry..cooking..everything! haha..its a nice change to stay in a home for sure. Hostels have been SO much fun though too, mainly just meeting so many ppl from all over, i love it! Our last one in Lisboa, Portugal was SO great. We stayed a little longer than planned cause it was goodtimes and every day was so packed with stuff its hard to backtrack on it all. One day we did a day trip to Sintra, which is a town 45 mins out of Lisboa, and its the cutest little place Ive ever seen! for real..and so gorgeous! Portugal was nothing but sunshine, Id call it the european tropics.. lots of palm trees, waterfalls, lush green everything, but its got castles and little caves and stuff in the mix too, cobblestone streets that have artwork built into them. Its just got so much character. They also have these little Piriquita pastry shops all over that their famous for.. and seriously they are irresistable! haha I have had my share of them..it kind of fills the gap for the lack of cheesecake! (pretty sure this is the longest ive gone without it, and yeah, its been like a month!.. starr and steph are making me wait till valentines when we're goin out and doing it all up...and they promised me cheesecake.. so im holding out! lol) And, the best thing of all, shopping!.. its SO cheap there. so dirt cheap. I ditched my towel and a few other things to make room in my pack for some new clothes! YAY..Its hard to leave each place we go, but then the next is always just as good, but in a completely different way. A few of the guys we met in Lisboa, we are hookin' up with again next week in Barcelona, where theyre going to school, so im lookin forward to it! We cooked them a fancy little dinner and bought roses and everything for them one night. we ate with chop sticks..it was so much fun..and it kind of came up from a joke we had going i guess..
After Lisboa we went to Porto for 2 nights. Clare, another girl we met in Lisboa decided to come along with us, and let me tell ya the four of us spent some quality goodtimes! Portos also got a lot to offer. second biggest city in Portugal. We did a river tour of the city on this sweet boat, and also a tour of the Croft Winery, where they Produce 'Port'... which was interesting although not so much to me, ha, since i hate even the smell of wine..sick! Anyway...ill get outta here now. this is getting too long... but check these pics out...Its Lisboa, Sintra and Porto.. PORTUGAL!

sunshine sweet sunshine~

'...the ocean looks like a thousand diamonds, strewn across the blue plain, i lean against the wind, pretend that i am weightless, and in this moment i am happy- HAPPY, i wish you were here...'
WOW..we just got back from a tour of the west coast in Ireland...and let me say there is few things more beautiful! Its day 7 of week one, and that was definately the cherry on top of an amazing week..my highlight! We walked through caves with little waterfalls, and drove through the scenic countryside, checked some castles ( of which there is SO many) and the best of all - hiked up to the top of the Moher Cliffs. They rise about 750 ft above the crashing ocean under them. ( nope..sure didnt start off from zero ft., haha) and well, honestly, to say that it was absolutely incredible is an understatement. I've never seen anything like it, but even still, Im more enthralled with the God who created them, and amazed still more, that He lives in me!..If this earth, in all its beauty can be so intense, I can't wait for eternity! Anyway, sorta sad to be takin' off tmro, but onward to Portugal! lol...we fly out Tuesday morning, early- wayyy to early, so we'll just hang out in the airport tmro night til' our flight to Lisbon! im out. taker easy!

Moving along..we're in Galway now, on the west coast of Ireland..it only took us 3 hours on a train to get all across the country! ha...Dublin was amazing, but so congested. We just stayed right city-center the entire time, it was a lot of fun .. lots goin' on for sure. Met a ton of people and no sleep! Mmm yeah to describe Dublin, it was like 1 and 1/4 million ppl in the space of swifty. like, everyones packed into the center, and then it really spaces out from there. Anyway, its nice to get out for a bit too and actually see Ireland- the countryside and all that! Its exactly like the pictures and better- completely gorgeous! I love the Ocean..I just love it! haha .. tmro we're looking into a tour..I think its about 7 hrs long actually, but it goes all along the coast and it would be rad to know a little more about things around here!

Ireland babyy!

Hey HEY! We're here!!! haha..yesterday allllll day was travel, but it went super smooth. goodimtimes on the plane..had a little bit of a picture party..but that kinda got boo'ed out when everyone was trying to sleep.. mmm jamm'd to some, well, if there was a club in the jungle, this might be the kinda music you'd hear, it was the coolest!) .. we would've had a dance party but the seatbelts got a little re-straining for that! dude, we were so high on excitement i didnt sleep for 30 hrs + ohhh and the most unreal part of the night..i saw these crazy northern lights out at like 12:30 am when everyone was sleeping. and like, normally theyre cool looking up at em, but this takes it to a whole new level..seeing them from the sky! WOW..God's so beautiful. So we got into Dublin @ like 2 pm or something..so we just kinda made it to our hostel and set our stuff in. we thot making ourselves stay up and go to bed later would be the way to get on track faster. we went out for a while, just walking around downtown checkin stuff out..( our hostels @ prime location right down city center ) and we returned a couple hours later..we got so lost, and wet lol. but ya, doesnt even matter cause Dublin is sooo unreal. Its a gorgeous!! and theres sooo much to do, a week is hardy enough of a taste!

So...its the last night chillin' in Calgary. Im @ my cousins right now, and i got to meet my new baby cousin Luke for the first time! <

I fly into Dublin tmro afternoon and we'll be 7 hrs ahead of Sasky. I AGAIN re-packed my junk cause well, Im new to this backpacking business and the key is LIMIT i guess. I am a wimp, and Im so sore already, and i havent even left yet! haha, Starr and I went through my things and send home another bag w/ her rents'. ( i really didn't know it was possible to take anything less than what i already have!..) ahhh yeah, crazy! Anyone who knows me, knows this will be a huge stretch. I love outdoors and camping out, but my home in a backpack for 3 months is definately not my style of travel. Should be good..I can get used to this. lol...and ill keep telling myself that... Anyway, im out, sweet dreams! :)

Ain't no Party like an S-Club partyy!

Sheri, Steph, and Starry - ya thats definately an S-club party, haha! Whoa whoa whoa..I can see this being nothing but good. Its been a countdown for the longest time, and its finally down to the single digits..almost hours even...flying out and Mon night. SO excited! Cant wait to see whats comin'...