Not-so-Kodak moments, European style

The other day I was feeling all nostalgic and decided to look through the pictures I took while I studied abroad in Galway, Ireland in fall 2005. And they made me laugh out loud. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite bizarre pictures, since everyone likes looking at pictures, right? If not, just pretend. 

Please note: These were taken over 3 years ago. My hair was frizzy and terrible (hey, it rains A LOT in Ireland) and I gained about 20 pounds over the course of my 4 months there, which you might notice in the pictures. Sick, I know, but we ate and drank to our heart's content, so I'm surprised it wasn't more.

Pretending to sleep at an ancient burial ground in the Burren. We were trying to be peaceful, but I couldn't stop laughing. And now I'm afraid my mockery earned me a one-way ticket to hell. Whoops. Next time I'll just stick to snapping pictures of the painted sheep.

This was taken at Dropkick Murphy's pub in Edinburgh. We saw the "craic" sign (a gaelic word for "fun", pronounced like "crack") and thought it would be fun to pose with it. But apparentlyI didn't get the memo to flash rockstar fists. Instead, I mimed snorting crack. As in the drug. Can you even snort crack? I don't know, I'm super anti-drug, which is why this picture was extra bizarre. 

This little beauty was taken at the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. We thought we'd look cool and snap a pic of us taking our first sip. Only, that was the first time I'd ever tried Guinness and clearly you can tell by my face how much I liked it. I look like I might vomit into my glass. 

After pleading with my brother to take this very touristy shot in Leuven, Belgium (where he lived at the time), he finally agreed. That right there is an actual grilled cheese vending machine. I kid you not. Is that not the coolest thing you've ever seen? I was amazed. And it pops one out in 60 seconds! I was dragged away before I could actually buy one (I was told they were sketchy). Bummer. 

Oh how I miss the scary European cigarettes packages. Not that I've ever smoked before, but they always amused me...until I came across this one in London. It was a bit depressing for me and after a long night of drinking, I just had to have a picture with it. It says, "Smoking can cause a slow and painful death." Yikes. Just say no, kids.

Munich was full of these crazy painted lions. Each one had a theme (the Santa one was my fav), but when we found this one, we couldn't figure it out. It was wearing makeup, a belt, daisy flip flops, rings, a bitten chocolate heart necklace that says "I love Munich", a checkered bib and it's holding a liter of beer. 

And as I typed that, I think I finally realized what it's supposed to be. An American. No wait...a trashy American woman. Hmm...

A totally classic pose in Paris. Being the cheeseballs we are, we had to take this pic. But it was only later that I realized we might have chosen one of the worst spots to do this. How nice that we thought to frame the lovely graffiti in the background. I think I might be one of the first people ever to make the Eiffel Tower look ghetto. Nice work.

There were oodles more, but I'll spare you tonight. Maybe one day I'll put up my favorite good pictures from Ireland and beyond. Or not. You'll just have to wait and see.

Have a great night everyone!