Location: Amsterdam

Date: May 23, 2006 

Sean: After the 8-hour plane ride to London and the day layover AND the 30-minute flight to Amsterdam, we still didn’t have a place to sleep tonight. We ended up in Hansbrinker Hostel because it had free breakfast—PB & J on stale bread. You had to pay extra for milk, fruit and silverware, and we needed to save our money for the infamous cafes.

After getting our room in order, we headed out to tour the infamous Red Light District.  Our tour started at a bar where we got to be the barkeeps and pour our own drinks.  We learned that we couldn’t take pictures of the girls—that’s about it, everything else was fair game I guess.

We spent the rest of the time admiring Van Gogh and Rembrandt, while going to cafés and then hallucinating images in the drapes of our hostel room. And Cameron ate all the Pop-Tarts, that fatass.

Location: Somewhere Over the Atlantic

Date: May 25, 2006 

Rachel: So I’m seated on the plane between a guy who I can’t tell if he knows he’s gay or not, and two men who I can’t tell if they’re going to bomb this plane or not. The flight attendant comes by to take our drink order. I put on my big-girl pants and order a bottle of wine. It’s international waters, so who cares if I’m underage? It’s only by a few months anyway. The stupid flight attendant complies, and I drink a bottle of red wine like I know what I’m doing, even though I think it tastes like cough syrup. 

Jordan: So, I wonder if this whore next to me thinks I’m gay. I’m really excited because I’ve never had such a slutty friend. (I read her blog, believe me, I know). I hope those guys sitting next to her aren’t terrorists. At least she’ll go first. The flight attendant totally just gave us some red wine even though I’m not 21. I kind of don’t like red wine. 

Location: London

Date: May 26, 2006 

Sean: This girl named Rachel sitting across from me at lunch is really getting on my nerves.  She’s so mean, always making fun of me and telling me how I’m crowding her style at lunch today.  It’s OK--I guess I have a Stella.

Getting to flat today was fun too.  Cameron and I arrived first so we got the pick of rooms and when everyone else on the group flight came there was a frenzy to find the right room.  When we realized there was going to be an odd man out on the couch, I realized that Jordan, this really shy, smaller kid, wasn’t talking or picking a room.  “I guess I’ll take the couch, I mean…” I think he said.

We got it figured out.  He decided to go live with the girls.  I mean I thought I was supposed to be the guy sleeping over in the girl’s room more than any of the others. I guess not.  Is he gay? I think he might be? I don’t really know for sure.

We all met up at the Lion’s Head later that night for some great English food and drink, nachos and light beers

Rachel: We went to a pub tonight! I drank some hard cider and felt pretty cool. I mean, just think….a month ago, I was drinking Grey Goose with my sorority.  Now, I’m drinking cider with people with bad teeth. Why did I come on this trip? Oh well. It looks like my group is pretty fun. And the funny thing is, a few of these ciders have the ability to get me rather tipsy. Gee, even if the guys here have bad teeth and give us dirty looks for talking loudly, it’s fun being in a bona fide pub! 

Jordan: We went to a really cool pub tonight after I drank a couple of beers at the flat—and in the Tube! My girl roommates were pretty cool when I casually mentioned I was gay. The bartender definitely carded me when I ordered a double Jack in Coke and didn’t card anyone else. I’m the youngest one on this trip and even the bartender knows it. Sean might be a better dresser than me, but the jury is still out. 

Location: London

Date: May 29, 2006 

Rachel: We’re totally getting settled in here and we’ve been drinking a lot since classes hadn’t started yet. Last night we went to an American sports bar in Piccadilly to watch the Pistons game. We all got together to drink beforehand, and I proved to everyone that I was no lightweight when it came to drinking. I schooled them all in a Waterfall. I wish I remembered what happened next. According to the digital pictures, I passed out in the bar. When I came to, that frat guy Sean was confessing all this shit about his ex-girlfriend to me. I pretended to be passed out again so he’d get the picture and write this stuff in his LiveJournal where it belongs. Anyway, maybe going from taking a few shots before a frat party to chugging an entire bottle of wine (and then some) before a bar is a bit much for me. Oh, well. I am getting an education all right! And classes start tomorrow, so I’m sure we’ll quit drinking now. We had to get it out of our systems.  

Jordan: Oh man, can I drink. Last night we went to this American sports bar to watch the Pistons game. They played the best music for dancing and I had a great time. I asserted my maturity by being one of the few who could actually handle their alcohol. Half of our group was passed out at the bar. It was so damn funny. 

Sean:  So maybe making Cameron and other people on this trip drink vodka, grapefruit juice and Sprite before going to the sports bar was a bad idea.  Well I can hold my liquor, I guess these other bitches on my trip can’t handle the greatest drink ever.  I was drinking along to “Waterfall” with the best of them and continued at the bar, unlike some people on my trip. 

After getting to Piccadilly Circus, I journeyed into the masses with two girls around my arms, one, Rachel, saying “Sean, geeetttt oooonnnnnn!” and the other, Kaitlin asking repeatedly where we were going and responding to every side street vendor imaginable. I want to bone her, so I put up with it.  

At the bar, everyone was passing out, throwing up, trying to hide the people who were throwing up or just not caring at all.  I mean, I was worried for their safety, but I was more worried about the blonde in front of me on the dance floor.  I did help save one of my buddies by getting him in a cab and still had the energy to watch the Pistons game--while being a Laker fan—amongst a bar full of Miami Heat fans.  

Location: Dublin

Date: June 10, 2006 

Rachel: We’ve been on some really cool tours here in Dublin. My favorite was the Guinness factory. But the 100-year-old jail, the Book of Kells and the city itself are amazing as well. We’re really bonding as a group. After being here for a few weeks, I definitely feel more independent. Like, before, I would make someone walk up to the bar with me when I ordered a drink, but now I have no problem doing it alone. We’ve been drinking a lot of beer in our dorm while we’ve been here. It makes me feel like I’m back at MSU. I don’t like that feeling, so last night I ventured to the bar and got plastered there instead. I felt very worldly.  

Jordan: Dublin is really an amazing city. My wallet is uber-drained though, between the cab rides back from the bars and all the alcohol I’ve been buying. Dublin has a great history and they are so proud to tell it—even the cab drivers can’t resist giving us Americans a wee history lesson.  

I shotgunned a whole 500 mL beer the other day. Damn I’m good. 

Sean:  Well Rachel said “amazing” so she should be slapped I just want you readers to know.  The adjective amazing was way overused on our trip, thus we started hitting each other when we said it.  I mean we are journalism students; we should have better vocabularies than this, right? Well, at least Rachel should. She’s the smart one.  

Anyway the bar scene in Dublin was amazing.  The street is so old that it still has cobble stone on it, with beer just flowing through the cracks. We had to go to THE Temple Bar, of course.  All I remember is a bunch of Irish Bar Music, all our girls flirting with foreigners to get drinks and Cara dropping to the floor outside the bar, kissing the street and yelling “Cobblestone, I love Cobblestone!” What a drunk ass. 

Location: Middle of Nowhere in Ireland

Date: June 14, 2006 

Rachel: Last night was the first night of this bus tour, the Shamrocker Tour, or, as I like to call it, Shamrock Out With Your Cock Out. Our group is really, really bonding. We stayed in this gorgeous hostel last night. I felt like I was at the ends of the earth. There was no technology. It was all earth and sky—and water. Our house is on the Atlantic Ocean. 

Sean:  Well Rachel told you how we Sham-rocked Out With Our Cock Out, and that’s true because it is exactly what we did.  Well Jordan and I did, I mean. I guess that’s kind of sexist, but whatever.  

After going to town—I use the term “town” loosely—and purchasing cheap bottles of wine, we finished them and decided to stumble down to the beautiful, private Irish beach we had to skinny dip.  There were six of us. I lit the way with my camera flash, and the next day discovered a few thousand pictures of really drunk people walking in darkness. 

We arrived to very low tide, a foggy beach and a full moon. There was no wading in the water first to see if it was a reasonable temperature—Rachel, Cara, Jordan and I jumped right into our skinny dipping paradise. The water had some sort of magical quality that night. Blue sparks filled the water around our legs whenever we moved, or pushed unsuspecting people named Rachel into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Rachel: Running nude into the Atlantic Ocean was one of my favorite moments of the trip. Then Sean had to go and ruin it by tackling me. Does that count as a hook-up? I’m not really sure. After we were done with the most refreshing swim of our lives, we took the treacherous walk back to our house where the rest of the group was waiting, as they’d just come home from the bar. We opened bottles of wine and sat down next to the fire burning in our little fireplace. We played “Fuck,” our most outrageous drinking game. We were so warm and toasted. 

Location: Belfast

Date: June 17, 2006 
 

Jordan: I hate everyone. Being in a bus locked up with 15 people has really not been easy. I doubt there is one person who hasn’t gotten on my nerves a bit. The political situation in Belfast is really bad. I never thought it would be this bad. The situation is depressing and it has really been affecting the relationships between people in our group.  

Two nights ago, we found a dance club. For a troubled city, they have a really great club scene. The night frustrated me though because everyone found someone to dance with and even though there were gay guys at the bar, I still danced with girls. Last night seemed to be going well until Sean and I just got pissed at everyone. I didn’t want to go out and apparently some people had a problem with that. We’ll see how the rest of the trip goes. I don’t know if we’ll recover from this weekend filled with animosity. 

And I’m not worried about Sean dressing better than me anymore. The other day, he wore a sweater with gym shorts and black socks. Phew. 

Rachel: I hate everyone. This week all hell has broken loose. Well, none of us were prepared for the unstable political situation in Northern Ireland. Being warned not to go out alone at night was a sobering experience—so we got drunk in our hostel instead. We had 10 people packed into a tiny room. There was barely enough room to open our suitcases. I don’t really remember what all happened the first night. I had strange bruises the next day. The next day we went to the Belfast Telegraph and then went on a tour of the docks where Titanic was built. The city is really eerie, and everyone is a little more serious here. The last night was the worst. First, Sean got us lost in the city and there were men with tanks and uzis on every corner. I don’t know how they do it where he’s from, but men in camo with semi-automatic weapons are generally a signal that it’s time to ask for directions. But that’s just me. Later, I went out with Kaitlin, the dumb blonde who is supposed to be my mortal enemy on this trip. I had so much fun, but apparently, not everyone is in support of our friendship.  

Sean: I hate everyone.  First of all, we got to a new European capital and we are all excited to go explore the beauty of Belfast, but first we have to take a city tour.  This tour consisted of the “Troubles” of Belfast and Northern Ireland.  It was all about the IRA, Protestant gunmen, Molotov cocktails being thrown into innocent houses and murals memorializing those who kill.  Buzzkill.  

I was feeling down because of the surroundings and really just wanted to stay in the hostel and drink, but Cara and Kaitlin kept prodding me to go out to a club.  Now, drun and depressed, I decided it was a good idea to just run away from everyone after we got out the door to go to the club. 

The next night we were trying to find yet another American sports bar in a European nation.  I thought I knew how to get there but everyone kept yelling at me when just a few cops and army men with tanks and shotguns started showing up on the street. Evidently the people on my trip can’t handle the security at a children’s parade.  I didn’t want to go out that night and neither did Jordan. We tried to explain to everyone that sometimes you just want a night to stay in and catch up on schoolwork. Kaitlin and Rachel couldn’t seem to wrap their drunk, slutty minds around that concept. We split up. Jordan and I went back to the hostel to bitch about those two girls. Then the drunk asses came home and decided to gloat about the “great night” they had, with punks and awesome clubbing.  Rachel and Kailtin were so loud that I wanted to stop journaling and go to bed instead of listening to them.  

[Authors’ Note: We were going to tell you about our weekend trip to Paris, but we weren’t sure if you’d ever heard of it. It’s kind of small and off the beaten path. We really loved it; it was one of the highlights of our trip, but we don’t want to bore you with details of the national monuments and amazing museums in such a small city.] 

Location: Edinburgh

Date: June 28, 2006 

Rachel: Our trip is almost over. It’s been a great week in Scotland, and not just because I’ve been fucked out of my mind so much. The tour of Scottish Parliament was one of my favorite buildings I’ve ever been in my life. I think I’ll have dreams about it. I’m not ready to go home at all.  

Jordan: To think I thought we couldn’t get along anymore. I love these people. They are my family. Edinburgh is a magical city. There’s a castle in the middle we toured. It made everything better. We learned about the rich history this country has. Scotland is so overrated. A couple nights ago, I had my first gay bar experience and it couldn’t have been better if I actually got some ass. We made best friends with the cutest couple and they bought us drinks and danced with us all night. These past couple days have been filled with journaling and nostalgia during the days and the nights have been filled with belligerence and love for these people I didn’t know six weeks ago who I cannot live without. 

Sean:  Secret passage ways, magnificent architecture, and the only free golf course in the world describes my time in Edinburgh.  The Golf Tavern and The Bad Ass bar highlighted my drinking nights.  Even when I was supposed to be writing an article I stopped in to the Bad Ass to have a Guinness. 

All in all Edinburgh Castle, taking a trip to St. Andrew’s Golf Course and going on the golf course with the boys made my time in Edinburgh unforgettable. 

We had our own rooms and our own bottles of wine.  We were just like a family, we made dinner like a family and we fought like a family.  We made our favorite dinner, Mexican. The penultimate night, we had one more drunken screaming match because of a spilled bottle of wine and too many intellectual mind games. Everything escalated so fast. I wasn’t even involved but I got in fight with a girl that wasn’t involved either.  All I remember was screaming, “You don’t know me!” like an angry guest on Maury and storming out of the room.  

Location: East Lansing, MI

Date: Oct. 10, 2006 

Jordan: It’s been over three months since we got back. Despite being miles away from each other before school started, the people from my trip have stayed so close. Once school started, we just couldn’t get enough of each other. Thinking back on Europe, we learned so much more than anyone could have explained in a classroom or lectured about at a meeting. We experienced the cultures, the people and most of all each other. What we learned was priceless, but it was nothing compared the friendships we made and the tolerance for alcohol we gained.  

Sean:  Through ups and downs, fights and frenzies, we became a family on this trip.  We did experience more than just being legal to drink but all the fun stories did involve alcohol, or lack there of.  I feel sorry for people that will never go out of the country in there life and see how others live.  Yes we did hang out with each other almost all the time and didn’t expand into the natives of the country, but that is OK with me.  Stories and experiences I am holding so dear in my head will always be there.  

I went back to London after the trip with Cameron because a friend had an internship there.  But it wasn’t the same, Cara our hippie wasn’t there, Jordan the token gay kid wasn’t there, Rachel the person I was always talking to wasn’t there, and everyone that made “Reporting in the British Isles” so perfect wasn’t there to talk about “tube surfing” or “minding the gap.” And I know every time I go back to Europe I will miss these people and my AMAZING six weeks in the British Isles. 

Rachel: In the time since we’ve been back, I haven’t gotten over Europe much at all. Quite often I find myself genuinely pissed as I try to wrap my drunk, slutty mind around the fact that we’re never going to be back in the Scottish Highlands or in Paris together again. We lived in a foreign country for six weeks. But, like everything good I experience, I feel like there’s never enough time. There’s never enough time to spend in great places. There’s never enough time to see everything you want to see. There’s never enough time to spend with people you care about. Time always runs out before the fun does.

Now I am back to MSU, to the life I had last year. At any moment, I can have pretty much anything I need at my disposal. When people ask me to describe my experience, I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know what to say to them. “So, was it amazing?” they will ask. Well, yes, it was amazing, but once you’ve studied abroad, you understand that amazing doesn’t even come close, amazing is a terribly weak word when it comes to describing a 35-day period in which your entire life changes and you become the best version of who you are.