FlyeFit

Hello!

So naturally after I got my bank account, I signed up for a gym! I needed my bank card because that's what you use to get into the actual gym. There are blue barred doors, similar to the kind at train stations that you pass through after you submit your ticket, only they're tall to the ceiling and completely block the way. In order to get in, you have to scan your card. And they lock after you've moved them. Like revolving doors that lock after one person makes it through. I don't know.

But yes. So I am with FlyeFit! They are 24 hours which is super handy (cause I'm always going to the gym at 3 in the morning) and there's three different locations to chose from. The one I go to is about 5 minutes walk away. It's really nice!

If you believed me when I said that I go to the gym at 3 in the morning...gotcha! ;)

I had to buy trainers (sneakers) when I got here because I didn't bring any over with me. Luckily, there's a store called Penny's that sells things for RIDICULOUSLY cheap prices. They have everythingggg. However, the quality is questionable. But these shoes are great! I had to purchase insoles for them to add an extra layer between my foot and the thin foam-like sole of the shoes, but whatevs I'm cheap as fuck.

So FlyeFit. Dats mah spot! My spot, that is, if I feel like getting sweaty and working on my fitness. (If those are the only qualifications, then my local Tesco is also "my spot"...lol just kidding for reals, I'm not sweaty at the grocery store).

Except sometimes I am sweaty at the Tesco because my gym is RIGHT NEXT TO IT. My gym is right next to the grocery store. You can imagine the internal struggle everyday walking to the gym and going home from the gym. Sometimes I leave to go to the gym and end up coming home with cookies and never having gone to the gym ... O_O

So FlyeFit's logo looks kind of like the symbol for the band Flight Facilities. I don't know which came first

My gym here is not much different than Gold's Gym Express that I went to in Normal, Illinois. The layout is very different, but the types of machines offered, weights, and other facilities (Flight Facilities) are the same.

There are two levels. Once you make it past the troll at the gate, there is the level with the tredmills and other cardio machines, along with a make-shift football field that is almost the length of the room, but no where near the size of the real deal. It has that fake rubber, shredded material painted to look like the grass on the field.

Then you can go upstairs to where a lot of machines are for weight lifting as well as a room with weights and a mirrored wall. Also upstairs are the locker rooms. When I arrive at the gym, I always go upstairs, dump my stuff into a locker, and then go back downstairs for the tredmill.

Now I know what you're thinking. Damn, Erika at the gym?! She probably rocks the fitness fashion like a boss.

And you're wrong. I actually look pretty strange when I'm at the gym. I didn't bring any work out clothes with me, besides sports bras, and so what I wear are leggings and fashionable sweaters that I don't care for too much anymore. Anyone remember that light grey owl sweater I've worn the past three winters? Good, because that'd be weird if you paid that much attention to my clothes.

Besides that sweater, I also rock a black one with gold chain accents on it, and my cheetah sweater from H&M that I got in Edinburgh last summer. I also re-wear these outfits if they didn't get too sweaty the previous time...WOW Erika, you're so gross.

At first I was very nervous about going to the gym because I didn't know what the machines would be like. Instead of judging distance in miles, they use kilometers over here and I wasn't sure what level I'd have to place the machine on. Hell, I didn't know what to expect from the machines!

But actually I was SHOCKED and also comforted to find that the tredmill is the exact same brand as the one I ran on in Gold's Gym! Matrix, to be exact. It looks a little different, but the settings were the same! I always used "manual." And it's really easy to use! And even the cup holders are in the same spot and the emergency stop button is in the same spot and it's just so wonderful!

At first I felt like a bad ass because the settings were in km/hour and not mph. So instead of running at a steady pace of 6.5-7mph, I'm running at about 10-11 kmph. And instead of saying I ran 4 ish miles, I ran 7 km. Which makes me feel like a bamf. You can imagine my stride during my cool down.

Also weight is measured in kg which is your weight divided by 2.2. For example, if you weigh 110 pounds, you are 50 kg. So if someone says they lost 3 kg it's actually an accomplishment. If someone says they lost 3 pounds, you're like "so what?" or "did you just take a poop?" (I haven't lost weight and that's not my weight in kg, these are just examples ppl!) Also, to convert miles to km, you do the number of miles multiplied by 1.6

I really like the gym because it's a place where I can jam to my music. Seriously. When I walk on the tredmill, I'm practicing my catwalk. Sometimes I'm also dancing. I'm in the midst of choreographing an interpretive dance that I will film and show you later (this is real).

I am personally proud of my gym playlist, and am always adding to it. For me, it's a lot easier to run when I am running to the beat of the song. Here is a list of songs that I can run to in rhythm with the music (ranging from slower, bigger and bouncier strides to smaller, faster steps):

Bang-Bang: Jessie Jay and you know
Chalk Outline: Three Days Grace
Alone: Heart
It's Gonna Be Me: NSYNC
A New Way to Bleed Remix: Evanescence
I Just Had Sex: The Lonely Island
Touchin on My: 3Oh!3
Black Widow: Iggy and Rita
Off to the Races: Lana Del Rey
Whip My Hair: Willow Smith (the best. it's against my rules to not run when this plays)
Upgrade Ya: Beyonce and her Boo
Serial Killer: Lana Del Rey
Chandelier: Sia
Centuries: Fall Out Boy

Other songs that are on my playlist (but don't fully line up with my pace, yet still good!) are:
No Enemiesz: Kiesza
The Inuyasha theme song (this shouldn't surprise you)
Let it Go: The Alex Boye cover
Sia: Elastic Heart
Change Your Life: Iggy Azalea
And We Danced: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
Original Don: Major Lazor
I am the Best: 2NE1
Take Me To Church: Hozier

and a bunch more. There's 44 songs, too many to list all!

So one day The Motto by Drake was playing when I entered the gym, and I smiled to myself as I screamed "fuck yes" on the inside. It was all I could do to keep from strutting to the locker room. And to be honest, I probably did. I know I did. But to avoid this confirmation, I neglected to look any of my passerbys in the face and gauge their reaction to my impromptu catwalk. When I reached the locker room and busted open the door in all my strutting glory, I found two girls dancing and clapping to the song. "Awe, hell ya I feel you girl!" was what came out of my mouth. And they totally laughed. At first I wasn't sure if I should have been embarrassed by my comment but that moment fleeted after a second as I thought "no regrets"

So that's everything about the gym! Hope you enjoyed this little entry-poo.

:)

xxKa

What the Fox Really Says

This was too good not to share.

There are foxes that roam the streets at night around my apartment. Sometimes I can hear them making what can only be described as a "howl" and tonight was one of those times.

At first I thought that maybe they were attacking one of the Scat Cats from the Rat Pack that live on our street (you'll hear about them in the near future). Or maybe they were ripping apart some poor defenseless bird.

However, I have come to the conclusion that this is merely what the fox says.

You'll see what I mean after you watch this video. Listen closely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGfqGJg9TAA&feature=youtu.be

Here is a lovely picture of my leg in the sun. Doesn't the sunshine look so inviting :3 xxKa

Starbucks

Hello!

Today's entry will highlight my Starbucks experience in the United States compared to my new experience working at Starbucks in Dublin. Let me take you on the journey.

I first started working at Starbucks in June 2008, where I worked at a cafe store in my home town of Bumble-Fuck, Illinois.

Oh. Excuse me, stupid auto-correct. I meant to say Mundelein, Illinois.

It was a great time working there. If you were a regular at this location around that year, you would remember the house-hold names of Todd and Rhonda. Those were the two Baristas that had been there the longest, and were ultimately the faces of that location (at least I'd say they were!). Rhonda used to joke that I was here daughter, because she was old enough to have been my mom and didn't have any kids of her own. She was super awesome, such a funny person! Todd was really into movies, and he was even an extra in the Dark Knight (they filmed in Chicago). I think you can maybe see him behind Heath Ledger in one scene. I was at that store for about 1 year. I even made a theme song for Starbucks while I worked there. Yes, of course I still remember it, and I would love to share it with you:

Starbucks. We make really good drinks
Coffee, tea...we'll have it on the brink
of the hand-off counter, it is there for you
deliciously made, nice coffee, that is freshly brewed
we are the Starbucks, we're really super cool
We donate all our expired pastries to all the schools
STARBUCKS, STARBUCKS, across from Dominics
in Mundelein, off route 176

Now, let me amend this song because there are many things that aren't true about it anymore. First of all, Starbucks cannot donate their expired pastries due to legalities. You know, if a person receiving this donation were to complain about getting sick from a pastry, Starbucks could be in trouble. It's a really big shame :( Also, Dominics...no longer...exists. SADDEST THING EVER. They were a great grocery store! I certainly chose them over Jewel Osco (all my Illinois friends are totally understanding me right now). And finally. The most depressing amendment to this catchy jingle...

That Starbucks closed down a few years ago. The Starbucks that birthed me into the world of coffee...the one that said "hey, let's give this girl a chance to caffeinate the world." They are no more.

Moving along. So after 1 year at that location, they said "BYE" and transferred me to a Starbucks in Wheeling which was strictly a drive-thru. It's the only Starbucks that I've EVER seen that has no cafe. It was literally a box the size of two sheds put together with maybe 2 or 3 tables outside the front, 4 parking spaces, and a drive-thru lane. There was a walk-up window where people could order drinks from too. It was just a really weird store. The most Baristas ever working at one time was 3. You couldn't fit anymore inside anyways, and even with three it was pretty cramped.

Luckily I was only there for 3 months over the summer, because it was about a 45 minute drive from my house and I'd have to leave at 3:45am to get there by 4:30 to open the store. >:[

Then I was transferred to the Starbucks that I would call home. The Starbucks that immediately comes to mind when I think about my time with the company in the past.

This Starbucks was a drive-thru and a cafe and we were BUSY. We had goals of making 50 drinks per 30 minutes during our morning rush, and I tell you. We were damn close a lot of the time. I still have a report that was printed once when I was on bar showing the hours and half-hours with the number of drinks made next to it. The progression was something like 12, 22, 35, 40, 47, 46, 46, 40, 29, and yes. That was me! I made those drinks that fast! XD

I worked at this store in Buffalo Grove for 2 years and met some of the best people I know there. I still think about them all the time. Here are some lovely pictures from this place for you to enjoy:

 I think I'm getting crowned in this picture^

 Queen B and Queen DT 4 Life

Some of the girls I worked with!

Ahhhh such a good time. Then I left to go to ISU and waste my money on a useless degree!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Here I am in Dublin, Ireland working at Starbucks yet again! It's just a really fun job. One of those rare, minimum wage gigs that makes you feel slightly more important than other minimum wage gigs, and like you might actually be doing something (maybe) meaningful with your life.

But after being at this store for about 2 1/2 months, I've noticed some pretty interesting differences between the customers, food, drinks, and such from the US stores. Let me explain.

Pastries
All of our pastries at my Dublin store are locally baked so some of them look a bit different than the US versions.

Lemon Loaf US v. Lemon Loaf Ireland

(main differences are: there's lemon zest on top, no icing, and it's not as bright of yellow in Ireland)

Blueberry Scone US v. Raisin Scone Ireland

(this is what scones really look like!^)

Butter Croissant US v. Butter Croissant Ireland

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake US v. Cinnamon Swirl Ireland

(We don't sell coffee cake in Ireland. This is what we call 'cinnamon swirl')

Now forget the drinks, forget the other pastries...the Cinnamon Swirl is hands down the best thing we sell at our Starbucks. It is soooo delicious! You can't even imagine. (Or can you?!?!)

In Ireland, we also sell: 

-fruit bread (which is like thick fruit toast)

-toasties (actual white or linseed toast)

-pan au chocolat (fancy for chocolate croissant)

-pan au raisin (fancy for something that looks like a cinnamon roll, but has no cinnamon or icing and instead has a vanilla-y cream with raisins)

-gluten-free brownie

-tiffen (which is a thick chocolate bar, but soft to bite into with a crispy-ish mix of sorts with the chocolate. Ours has raisins but others don't come with any)

-toffee crispie (fancy for toffee rice krispy treat with milk chocolate on top)

****we do not have morning buns, coffee cakes, mini pastries or cake pops, and the only scones we have are butter, wheat, and raisin.

We have other pastries too, but the ones listed are the most noticeably different. If you're really dying to know the whole menu, just message me. I'm not sure what pastries they sell in the US currently, but the ones we have now are completely different from when I worked there before!

Beverages

	US	Ireland
Vanilla Sugar-free Vanilla	X X	X X
Toffee Nut	X	Seasonal
White Mocha	X	X
Mocha Sugar-Free Mocha	X X	X (No sugar-free)
Caramel Sugar-free Caramel	X X	X We just got it!
Hazelnut Sugar-free Hazelnut	X X	X X
Cinnamon Dolce Sugar-Free Cinnamon Dolce	X X	We just got it! (but it’s called Cinnamon Syrup) (No sugar-free)
Peppermint Sugar-free Peppermint	X X	X (but currently out of stock :P) (No sugar-free)
Gingerbread	X	X
Peppermint Mocha	X	(technically you could make this beverage over here, but it was not pushed as a holiday beverage… I might be wrong about this, I started on Dec. 9)
Honey Almond Hot Chocolate	?	X
Signature Hot Chocolate	X	X
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate	X (not sure if they still do)	(Nope)
Raspberry	X	(Nope)
Cinnamon Sugar Topping	X	(Nope)
Egg Nog	X	X
Soy Milk	X	X (called “Soya”)

And we don't have iced brewed coffee in Dublin, and we only brew one type of filtered coffee at a time (right now it's "seasonal" blend)

So there's really not too much of a difference. We only have 3 sugar-free options here in Ireland. Currently we are pushing the Columbia Narino shots (a more premium espresso than the regular espresso shots. Costs 30 cents more to upgrade) and the triple hot chocolate.

He's just a little guy! This is Columbiowl. He is a half-full bag of Columbia espresso beans. 

Customers

I notice a difference in customers here. My store is located in a more "posh" area of Dublin called Ballsbridge. Mostly our customers are business women and men because there are a lot of businesses nearby. My last Starbucks in the US was in a strip mall in Buffalo Grove, which is a more "posh" suburb. So I would consider the types of people coming in to be similar.

Mainly what I notice is that the people here are more polite and not as specific or picky with their orders. The most intricate beverage I can think of from a regular is a Quad Venti Soya Extra-extra-extra Hot Wet Latte. That is pretty specific. But when I worked in the US, we would get customers asking for customized drinks like this all the time. Here, there's only maybe 10 people at most in a day that get these kinds of beverages. Everyone else is just "tall americano" or "grande cappuccino" or "tall latte." Americano, latte, cappuccino. These are our top sellers.

Also in the US, people would try to sneak around their drink orders to save money. "I'll have a tall tea in a venti cup and fill the cup to the top with hot water." Or people with gold cards, who get free added shots by using their card, ask for "a grande americano with an extra shot in a venti cup with hot water to the top" which is essentially a venti americano. But they get it cheaper cause they get free added shots. No one here has ever done that, that I've known. There's ONE customer who comes in every single day who asks for a short americano in a tall cup with an added shot. So he does that. But he's really the only one.

Generally in the US if someone received a drink that they did not like, they would tell you, or make a face ,or complain (occasionally with attitude). Sometimes these customers would ask you to remake the drink just by judging the weight of the cup (you can tell how much foam is in the drink that way).

Here, I almost never get asked to remake a drink. Sometimes, I have to plead with the customer to let me remake the drink for them because I could tell they weren't 100% satisfied, but they wouldn't say it out loud. Sometimes they'll order a cappuccino but the person taking the order will write latte or something different, and when I call out "latte" they're like, "Oh...um...I ordered a cappuccino. But it's ok, it's ok! I'll just take this, it's fine!" I'm like, no seriously let me remake it for you!! NO WAIT COME BACK!

We do have our share of cranky customers. There's one that snaps at you if you don't put the coffee sleeve on her cup for her, and TO HELL with you if you ask her for her name. There's also PLENTY that come in while they're on their phones and pause only to tell you their drink, then thrust their payment at you while they continue their conversation. But honestly most of the time everyone is just lovely, and lots of them actually want to talk with you and enjoy making small talk. It's refreshing!

I think I've probably cried once or twice because of a customer in the US. That's not to say everyone there was crabby; we also had SO many lovely people come in! (Jan, you my girl! ;) ). We also saw a lot more people at my last Starbucks because we were a cafe and a drive-thru.

But generally I would say the people here are happier and more polite when they come in. They're also not in as big of a hurry.

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

So that was probably WAY more than you EVER wanted to know about Starbucks. And I really hope I mentioned all the major differences that I wanted to note along with the rest of the random rambling I ended up spewing out.

But yes!!!! If there is anything more, you know you gonna hear about it in another entry ;)

Sorry this was so long!

xxKa!

My Apartment

Hello!

So guys. Brace yourself. I mean, really, grab the sides of your chair and lock your feet firmly on the ground.

I have created a video giving you a tour of my lovely apartment in Dublin.

It's located 1 block from Merrion Square, which is a beautiful park! Oscar Wilde lived around here too! I find that very inspiring, and am doing a little writing myself. Ya know, I've got that Bradbury blood in my body (I'm referring to Ray Bradbury if you didn't catch my reference. Grandma says we're related, so that means it's a fact.)

Anyways, more about my writing later!

My apartment is also located 1 block from Howl at the Moon! There's one of those in Chicago too! We went there for Molly's birthday, it was awesome. I don't think there's a piano at this one though. I honestly don't think the two are even related. I've still never been to the one over here...that's on my to-do list.

If you walk 1 block further south (east?) past Howl at the Moon, you arrive at a lovely Canal. It is so peaceful. I posted a picture of it on my very first blog post. The canal is really long and there's a paved path alongside so you can jog or walk it very easily. There's plenty of benches and each stretch has a slightly different feel than the one before it. There's a boat with a bar inside too that I think is open! I'll have to check that out sometime (another to-do list item!)

My apartment is also located about 10 minutes or less walk from Stephen's Green which is a lovely attraction of Dublin, and is quit bigger than Merrion Square. There is a lot of water at Stephen's Green and many birds, like seagulls bigger than cats and swans too. A blog post about this place shall be written as well!

Other attractions that are within 10 minutes walk are a plethora of awesome pubs, bars, clubs, shopping, and everything else the city centre has to offer. It's really the best location for an apartment. Whenever I tell people where I live, and how much I pay per month, they are just flabbergasted...jaws to the floor, speechless, amazed... I am very lucky! ^ ^

It is also 15 minutes walk to my work, and the walk is very peaceful and lovely as well!

SO without further a-do, I present to you this video tour. DISCLAIMER: you MUST read the description before you watch the video. PAUSE THE VIDEO ONCE YOU OPEN IT. READ. There is a small task you must complete in order to grasp the full effect of this masterfully created work of art.

Also, I am dancing.

and also, I just did laundry and have spread all my wet clothes all over my bed and around the room so it is very messy PLEASE DON'T JUDGE ME

Enjoy! xxKa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-9NkQU2Ys4&edit=vd