Ireland... the love of my life.

Okay, so this post is a little late seeing as it's September and I went to Ireland back in May.. but I figure better late than never! I decided to go to Ireland last year because I have always wanted to go Europe and Ireland was at the top of my list for some unknown reason. I went with one of my good friends Brittany (find her here) and I was quite excited.

We decided to stay two weeks in Dublin so we could become familiar with the city and know our way around. Some people thought this was a bit too long to stay in one city but it was actually quite perfect. Nothing was rushed and we got to explore the city so much. We figured we should do a couple day trips to get to see more of Ireland than just Dublin. I am so happy we decided to do that because the places/cities we travelled to were absolutely beautiful. We decided to stay in a hostel but we chose to do a private room because we weren't keen on sharing a room with people for two weeks.

Outside of Isaacs Hostel 

For the first week we chose to explore the city and check out the different restaurants and pubs and sites to see. We saw the Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, the infamous Temple bar, Trinity College, etc. We also decided to do a Pub Crawl, which we ended up liking so much we did it another two times during our stay! Here are some photos:

 Trinity College 

 Inside the Dublin Castle 

 Christ Church Cathedral 

 the BEST spaghetti carbonara I've ever had

Two musicians playing some songs during the Pub Crawl

The two day trips we decided to do were the Cliffs of Moher and Kilkenny & Wicklow day tour. Both of them were simply amazing and so beautiful. The Kilkenny & Wicklow day tour was breathtaking. We got to take a walk down to a beautiful lake where the fog made it look like we were in a fairytale, well actually the whole time we were in Wicklow I felt like I was in a fairytale. We walked through a forest and explored an old graveyard with lots of history and some very ancient buildings/churches that had been sitting there for hundreds of years decaying. 

 Wicklow Mountains 

 Walking through the forest

 the Graveyard and some remains of buildings/towers

Kilkenny Castle 

The Cliffs of Moher was just as magical and was totally worth getting up at 6am. I could just sit on the cliffs all day looking out into the sea, its truly breathtaking. As well as going to the cliffs, we went to Galway which is one of Ireland's other big cities. I fell in love with Galway instantly, the vibe I got there was unreal and I remember saying "I'm going to move here in a couple years" after walking around it for a few minutes. We got told lots of cool stories about the history of the city and then we got to walk around ourselves and found a nice pub to have some late lunch it. It was so amazing and I would recommend anyone who is going to Ireland to go to the Cliffs and Galway. 

Cliffs of Moher

the oldest street in Galway

Among other things we did, we also did the tour of the Guinness factory which I thought was really cool, I mean can you go to Ireland and not do the Guinness Storehouse tour? 

 Taking advantage of the free pint of Guinness you get at the end of the tour

Overall the trip was extremely satisfying and I am so happy I chose to go to Ireland and explore for a couple weeks. I know sometimes travelling is a bit difficult with money, especially going all the way to anywhere in the U.K or Ireland or Europe from Canada.. but I promise you, it is worth it to save up the money and go! I plan on exploring as much as that part of the world as I can because for some reason, it is just so intriguing. Below are just some random photos from the trip:

 St. Stephans Green Park

 The Pub Crawl with Brittany 

 An amazing place for tea and treats: Queen of Tarts 

Some friends I met during the trip

Body Positivity

For some reason, a lot of people think how we look is the most important thing in our lives. I personally think the media has a lot to do with this but also people around us. It's the first thing you notice about someone, how they look. But soon after meeting someone, you notice more things about a person.. the things that matter; like their personality and their favourite songs and their views on life. I think those things are way more important than someones appearance. Both men and women have body issues and it is a huge thing in our culture. People get shammed for being too thin but oh, you can't be too big..also you need muscle but not too much muscle. People have unrealistic expectations for themselves and sometimes for other people, which is totally unacceptable in my eyes.

I saw somewhere how it seems like bigger girls can't post a photo without a caption along the lines of "proud of who I am" or some justification for posting the photo. How ridiculous is that?! That they feel like they have to justify that they are proud of their body whenever they post a photo of themselves just because they are bigger? I know this goes both ways (I am speaking mainly about women here) how some people insult others for being too thin. We just can't get it right, can we? We need to create a world where everyone has their own, different body and are happy with themselves. No one needs to bring down girls with a slimmer frame by saying "real girls have curves" and no one needs to call someone "fat and lazy" just because they are bigger. There are plenty of bigger girls out there who are perfectly healthy.

I myself, struggle with body issues. I used to workout like crazy and count every calorie but I enjoyed the way I looked. I wasn't too skinny and could do almost every workout. People told me I was starting to get crazy, so I toned it down.. just a bit too much. I started to not care about it and not exercise and eat like crap. So now I'm a lot heavier and probably really unhealthy. Im not happy with myself and I'm not happy with the way I look. But I know I should be focused on my health and not the way I look; my health should be the only thing that matters. I'm starting to be more body positive about myself and I am learning to accept myself. Yes I want to lose some pounds so I can fit into my clothes better and feel more confident, but I can't stop living life just because I don't like the way my body looks.

I wish everyone would just accept themselves and love themselves for who they are, regardless of how they look; along with myself.

Gratitude

One of my favourite YouTubers, Louise recently did a blog post about gratitude which you can find here. She mentioned how having gratitude for things in your life can hugely affect your mood and make you realize the stuff you are worrying about can be silly sometimes. Now that doesn't mean that your worries aren't insignificant but I must admit, sometimes I do worry about things I really shouldn't be worrying about and forget how great my life really is. I know I can't control the way I think and how I worry about some things and get quite anxious but I am going to listen to Louise and list of a few things I am grateful for in my life.

1. My family. While being away from my family and meeting many new people, I have realize that not everyone is super close with their family and have good relationships with their parents and siblings. I am very lucky that my family are like my best friends. I am so comfortable with my parents and my sisters and will talk to them everyday, whenever I don't talk to them, I miss them so much. They are always there for me and understanding for the most part. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family. 

2. My friends. I don't have a whole ton of friends but that is my choice; I like to think of it has quality over quantity. The friends I do have mean the world to me and are amazing friends. They will listen to me rant and rant for hours about anything. They're so caring and remind me to be confident and always look on the bright side of things. 

3. One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill may be just another teen drama to you but for me, that show has taught me so much. Whenever I am upset or stressed out about life and have time I will always slide a One Tree Hill dvd into my laptop and watch a few episodes. The writer always seems to have a way with words and that show just makes me happy and makes me think about life, in a good way. It's also a bonus that the music on that show is incredible. 

As Louise said, those are some big things.. I do have other small things I am grateful for, such as: candles, books, music, tumblr.. tumblr always makes me feel a little less alone, being able to workout, and coffee. 

I think it's good to write a list every now and then of things you are grateful for. People often forget how good life really is and all the amazing things that they have but take for granted.