Ireland shenanigans

I began my tour on the 1st of November, so it has officially been 6 days as of today. My journey began in the southern part of Ireland in a city called Dublin. As we walked around town I found that the personalities of the locals are much like those from the U.K. All very friendly and open. At about 10 am on our first day we did a walk through of the Guinness brewery. We learned how to pour a pint properly and even got to drink it ... Even though it was only 10am..condoning of alcoholism? I don't know haha. Since then we have been slowly working our way north and are currently on our last loop to reach the top. To be honest I haven't exactly been paying attention to the names of all the cities and towns we have gone to. This is mainly because of the fact that I have a guide and a driver, which means all I have to worry about is my car sickness... Which has been quite strong because of all the twists and turns within the roads. The crazy thing with all these winds in the road is that the speed limit is insane. Where I'm from if there is even the slightest curve in the road, the speed limit is dropped to about 40km/h... Here it starts at 80 and goes all the way up to 100!!!! So you can understand why my stomach is doing flip flops all day. 

Despite all the crazy driving, we have had a great time wandering around Ireland. The views are always gorgeous with loads of green land and mountains. The weather is that of typical Ireland, and thank god I went to Scotland first.. it definitely made me become a little more accustomed to the weather. For those who haven't been out this way, essentially the way the day starts out is bright and sunny without a cloud to be seen in the air, and will all of a sudden take a turn for the worst. The biggest set of dark dark clouds will come rolling in at ultimate speeds and just take over the whole sky in a matter of minutes, and then that's it. No more sun for the rest of the day. Grey sky's with on and off rain for the rest of the evening. 

One of my favourite places we have been to so far is the cliffs of moher. When driving in you can barely tell that you are anywhere special. It seems as though you are just on flat ground with a bunch of tourists around. However, one you walk a little further out of the parking lot, you begin to see that the once flat ground begins to take a severe drop off to a 300m drop. For those who believed the world was a flat surface it is this area that will make this myth seem almost true. You literally walk straight to, what feels like the edge of the earth (take a peek below at pictures). In order to get the most amazing pictures possible, we walked down narrow paths that literally drop off to your death at one end, and are perfectly flat grassland on the other. It was such an adrenaline rush to be walking so close to the edge, and to be able to get the pictures we took made the evening that much more spectacular. 

I also have finally been able to get my Irish ring called the claddah. This ring used to be worn as a wedding ring, but is still commonly used as an engagement ring. The way the ring looks is a simple round silver band with a heart in the middle, a hand on each side of the heart and a crown ontop of the heart. Each of which represents a form of affection. The crown ontop of the heart represents loyalty, the heart is shown for love, and finally the hands which hold the heart symbolize friendship. If you are in a relationship, the base of the heart is meant to face in to show that you are taken, whereas if you are single and looking for love the base of the heart is pointed out, symbolizing that your heart is available for taking. I don't know about you, but unless I am engaged I don't exactly like to have something on me that basically screams "IM TAKEN" or "IM SINGLE" but the symbolism behind the ring was too cute to give up. 

That's all for now. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep because just writing this post is making me feel woozy. Darn bus. 

Keep an eye out for more posts to come. 

Xoxox 

Ireland shenanigans

I began my tour on the 1st of November, so it has officially been 6 days as of today. My journey began in the southern part of Ireland in a city called Dublin. As we walked around town I found that the personalities of the locals are much like those from the U.K. All very friendly and open. At about 10 am on our first day we did a walk through of the Guinness brewery. We learned how to pour a pint properly and even got to drink it ... Even though it was only 10am..condoning of alcoholism? I don't know haha. Since then we have been slowly working our way north and are currently on our last loop to reach the top. To be honest I haven't exactly been paying attention to the names of all the cities and towns we have gone to. This is mainly because of the fact that I have a guide and a driver, which means all I have to worry about is my car sickness... Which has been quite strong because of all the twists and turns within the roads. The crazy thing with all these winds in the road is that the speed limit is insane. Where I'm from if there is even the slightest curve in the road, the speed limit is dropped to about 40km/h... Here it starts at 80 and goes all the way up to 100!!!! So you can understand why my stomach is doing flip flops all day. 

Despite all the crazy driving, we have had a great time wandering around Ireland. The views are always gorgeous with loads of green land and mountains. The weather is that of typical Ireland, and thank god I went to Scotland first.. it definitely made me become a little more accustomed to the weather. For those who haven't been out this way, essentially the way the day starts out is bright and sunny without a cloud to be seen in the air, and will all of a sudden take a turn for the worst. The biggest set of dark dark clouds will come rolling in at ultimate speeds and just take over the whole sky in a matter of minutes, and then that's it. No more sun for the rest of the day. Grey sky's with on and off rain for the rest of the evening. 

One of my favourite places we have been to so far is the cliffs of moher. When driving in you can barely tell that you are anywhere special. It seems as though you are just on flat ground with a bunch of tourists around. However, one you walk a little further out of the parking lot, you begin to see that the once flat ground begins to take a severe drop off to a 300m drop. For those who believed the world was a flat surface it is this area that will make this myth seem almost true. You literally walk straight to, what feels like the edge of the earth (take a peek below at pictures). In order to get the most amazing pictures possible, we walked down narrow paths that literally drop off to your death at one end, and are perfectly flat grassland on the other. It was such an adrenaline rush to be walking so close to the edge, and to be able to get the pictures we took made the evening that much more spectacular. 

I also have finally been able to get my Irish ring called the claddah. This ring used to be worn as a wedding ring, but is still commonly used as an engagement ring. The way the ring looks is a simple round silver band with a heart in the middle, a hand on each side of the heart and a crown ontop of the heart. Each of which represents a form of affection. The crown ontop of the heart represents loyalty, the heart is shown for love, and finally the hands which hold the heart symbolize friendship. If you are in a relationship, the base of the heart is meant to face in to show that you are taken, whereas if you are single and looking for love the base of the heart is pointed out, symbolizing that your heart is available for taking. I don't know about you, but unless I am engaged I don't exactly like to have something on me that basically screams "IM TAKEN" or "IM SINGLE" but the symbolism behind the ring was too cute to give up. 

That's all for now. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep because just writing this post is making me feel woozy. Darn bus. 

Keep an eye out for more posts to come. 

Xoxox 

My londy londy londy! It's going down

I have just spent the last two days roaming aimlessly around London, England. I did a few exciting things like, went on a walking tour, watched the changing of the guards... Attempted to find any prince to marry... You know a typical day in England. Hehe although I did not find a future husband, I definitely found a future living ground. Right where my hostel was located was the most beautifully elegant row of condos that all looked identical.mperfectly white and Victorian on the outside, each costing and arm and a leg to own the inside.

This city is so beautiful, with nothing coming even close to duplicating in each area. Taking a train or walking just one station is like entering a completely different city. Tourist tended to stay around the main square, where the London eye and House of Parliament is located, but everywhere else surrounding is just beautiful ground with lovely people and buildings. I got to go in the London eye which was amazing, however I obviously got the most gloomy day while I was there. I also got to see the amazingly beautiful and shocking display of poppies which surrounded the land of the London tower. It was unbelievable!

Although this city is completely gorgeous I have to admit I feel very guilty. Yes I did go see almost all the main attractions, but at this point in my travels I am just tired. After almost 2.5 months of constantly waking up and running around to see everything possible in the 3 days I am in each given city for, there is nothing I want more than to just have a main area to stay in for a long period of time. Given this, I am so damn excited to start my au pair. 

This evening I will be on my way to Ireland which will be amazing! I have 9 days of a tour guide dragging me everywhere which means I literally don't have to do any thinking. I wake up, get in a bus, and do as I'm told haha. Following this journey I have 2 days back in dublin to get my life together and then all that's left is to make my way back to Italy. I just got word from my parents that they are coming to visit me as of the 13th and I am so excited. It has been so long since I have seen them, let alone been on a vacation with them. It has also been forever since they have been back to the motherland so I am so excited for them to experience it... And to test my dad's Italian. Hahaha. They are going to be traveling with me for 10 glorious days and then that's it... I start my au pair. I can not believe how fast this has all gone by. I know you're probably thinking... Bianca you still have like 2 weeks before your parents even get there. In response to this, all I have to say is, you have no clue how much time flies here. 2 months has felt like 2 weeks, so 2 weeks will certainly feel like a minor 2 days. 

Keep reading! There will be more stories to come about Ireland and all the beer drinking and weight gain that will occur while I'm there haha 

Miss you all 

Xoxo 

The street my hostel is on 

The land of the scots!

Following Paris, my plan was to get to Edinburgh, Scotland around 7pm have a nice shower at the hostel I had booked for the evening and be ready for my tour around Scotland by 9am. Obviously, with all the luck I have, this didn't happen... In fact, what did happen, was far far far off from the original plan. So this is how the disaster began. I get to the train station a few hours ahead ready to make a reservation for my train, after waiting in line for about an hour I get to the front and am told that my train is fully reserved, I can't get any discounts and if I want to buy a ticket it'll cost me 245€... So to that I obviously said fuck you and left. I then checked flights, since most within europe slash the uk are quite cheap... I was wrong. These flights were about the same price and did not include luggage. So back into the line I go. This time I get a very weak English speaker and it almost turns into a match. Basically she just kept telling me to go upstairs and I had no clue as to why or what I was supposed to do up there. I go up anyways and finally find someone who not only understands English but also realizes that a 245€ train ticket is ridiculous for a student... So he finds me one for 109€. Still fucking expensive, but it was my only option to get me to edinburgh in time to meet my travel group. So off I go to find my train from no other place but Disneyland Paris! In all honesty I wanted to say fuck this and just go hang out with Mickey Mouse for a while haha. 

Onto the train I go and of course I have the cutest little blonde girl in front of me named Imogene, and to top it off she had an English accent. Of course, I then loved this train getting my spirits picked up by this little girl telling me everything about her life and how awesome Disneyland was. This train was a few hours, drawn out longer by stops due to maintenance. I of course start to freak out that I'm not going to make my connection and as a result will miss meeting my tour. Round turns Imogene's parents who seem to be more concerned than I am about myself missing this connection. They immediately start looking up train schedules for me! At this point all I can think of is how amazing the U.K is. These people have no clue who I am besides the fact that I've been chatting with their 3 year old all day, and yet they are trying their hardest to make sure I get to where I need to be. After talking with the train master and figuring out my plans, this family then reapproaches me to make sure all is well. After reassuring them that I am fine and thanking them excessively for all their help, they then tell me that if worst had come to worst they were going to bring me with them to their house (since it was halfway between London and Edinburgh) let me stay there and catch me a train in the morning. I could not believe that a perfect stranger was about to let me stay with them.... There is no way in hell this would ever happen in Canada. People sit with headphones in and try their hardest to ignore all that is happening around them. If anyone is frantic at all we just assume that they're crazy or they'll figure out their problems on their own. At this point I realize, if all else fails ... I'm moving to the u.k! 

Anyways, I make my connection train and am over joyed... I then run into another amazing older gentleman who informs me that I don't have to transfer and that our train makes an unofficial stop off in edinburgh where I can get off. I immediately go crazy and explain to him how much I love the u.k. And how everyone is so friendly. Of course, this man was right.. So off I get at edinburgh station.... At 4am. I walk to the hostel that I'm supposed to meet my group (not the one I was supposed to stay in that night...that got canceled and still charged on my card... My life right?). I am so happy that I've made it and get to take a shower and just relax until my group comes. 

So the tour begins and it is a 5 day Skye and highlands tour with a company called Macbackpackers! Anyone hoping to travel please please go on this trip. There are so many beautiful places to be seen and gorgeous mountains all over. To top it all off we had an unbelievable tour guide who told stories like nobodies business! He was so great at his job, knew exactly where to go, all the great spots and was so knowledgable about everything in Scotland. This mans name was Richard. So if you go on this trip I suggest you ask for him, you won't regret it for a single second. 

You didn't think that was it did you!? It's me were talking about, and that means there has to be disaster lurking somewhere close by. So... Our bus broke down twice and we were getting the end effects of a hurricane that had just happened right before we left, meaning everyday was excessive wind and rain. Bonus is, this didn't stop us from doing anything! We went on hikes, saw waterfalls, claimed mountains and everything. It was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, we got completely soaked and loads of wind burn, but it was totally worth every second of it. 

Following the tour I stayed in edinburgh for a few extra days. This was my way of saving money by not going to London, as well as a nice way to relax after a long eventful 5 days. 

Guess what?!?! 

Were finally caught up! Now don't let me get behind... Message me everyday to remind me that I need to write. 

I just wrote this on my train to London, so keep an eye out for more stories about what I am about to experience while in the lovely, friendly, stunning, but expensive London, England! 

Xoxox 

The highland cows (or as they call them coos) 

Almost caught up!

God, I don't even know why I started this thing... I never seem to be able to catch up with my own travels! I am getting closer though haha. Only a week and a half behind! Let's get to it. 

AMSTERDAM! 

Woo hoo! Where to start? Well, first of all, amsterdam doesn't need much of an intro. You say the name and automatically two things come to mind...drugs and sex! God what a great city eh!? At this point in time my two friends and I are all in the same city, however we are all in different hostels. It was almost like a ... Get ready to face the reality of being on your own, but not really. Anyways, I obviously choose the most expensive hostel because I have absolutely no money. However, I am so happy I did because this hostel turned out to be one of my absolute favourites! For anyone traveling to amsterdam please book at the ecomama hostel! It is it such an awesome location, the hostel is beautifully massive and clean and the staff is so friendly. So I get to this hostel, greasy as anything from the combination of rain and sweat and all I want to do is put my stuff down shower and get ready to make a big thanksgiving feast. To backtrack a little, my friends and I were all pretty upset that we were going to be missing our big traditional feasts from our family's at home and decided to make our own euro trip family feast to make up for our loss. With this being said, as soon as I walked into my hostel I knew we were going to be set to have a feast. The hostel was equipped with a massive dining room table, a huge kitchen and even had spices that we could use! Now for those of you who haven't traveled for a long period of time, when it comes to cooking meals in a kitchen at a hostel, they tend to be quite boring. This is because you have nothing to spice it up, unless you want to buy and or carry around spices at every place you go to. So as a result you end up with boring pasta, sandwiches or fruit... That's about it. You can tell now why I got so excited for the spices. With all this, our Thanksgiving feast was made...and damn was it good. We may have made some minor changes to our typical thanksgiving meal, but hey, we still had something right? 

The rest of our time in amsterdam was spent doing touristy things including riding bikes and eating space cakes. I have ridden bikes my whole life... Not only have I done this, but it also basically became my only mode of transportation in university. Essentially, it's safe to say I am no newby when it comes to riding bikes on the road. Then I came to Amsterdam.. And shit just hit the fan. This place is no joke when it comes to their bikes. I'm talking separate roads beside the regular roads meant specifically for bikes. However, this separate road is meant for bikes riding in both directions. I'm not even kidding, there are hundreds of bikers on this road at the same time. So it's safe to say I may or may not have had a minor panic attack the first day I attempted to bike in this city. I swear it was like I dropped back down to age 5 and was riding around on training wheels. I had no clue what to do.  Thank god my friends got bikes too. At this point I felt less like a fool because there were three of us who had no clue what to do. All in all, it's safe to say that amsterdam was quite the adventure. 

PARIS

After a mission and a half, along with a big dent to my wallet, I finally arrived in the beautiful city of Paris. With my first day taken up by travel time, I literally had only 2 days to squeeze in as much as I could. Thank god one of my best girlfriends was just here for 8 months. I asked her exactly what to see and she sent me an entire novel. As you can imagine, in order to get this novel completed in 2 days, my mornings started at about 9 am and I literally did not see my hostel again until 1 in the morning. This city is so spectacular with all it's little parks, monuments, and museums, it is absolutely impossible to be bored. I loved every second of being here and absolutely adored to food as well. I can't wait to go back... Hopefully this time for much longer. 

The crazy amount of stairs leading to the top of the arc du triomph 

The journey continues

Post Oktoberfest = 1week of recuperation! 

At this point there are only 3 of us left. We have all gone our separate ways and are starting to take our time and smell the roses. After the mayhem of Oktoberfest, it is only right to see the whole background of Germany while visiting. Originally we had planned to stay in Munich a few extra days then head to Berlin, however, plans changed minority due to expensive hostels. As a result we went straight to Berlin and spent a total of 3 days here. The hostel we stayed in was actually he biggest pain in the butt (do not stay here it's called sunflower hostel). In order to get to your room you had to ask the reception every single time for a key.... Apparently they can't copy keys and only have one for the entire room. So that sucked. It also sucked that the thing was like a maze and you had to put in a code to open the door to your floor and to get to the reception. So basically without this code your like a mouse trapped in a house. You can't get in and you can't get out. 

Other than the crappy hostel, a vey minor hiccup in the whole experience of Germany, we also had a very eye opening tour. During our few days I'm Berlin we made sure to take the time to go see checkpoint Charlie as well as a concentration camp, located just outside Berlin. I have heard a lot of information about these two areas but nothing compares to actually seeing it. 

Following Berlin it seems as though tourist season began to pick back up. As a result I decided to basically plan and book the next month of my life. I can't even tell you how much better it feels to be able to plan ahead, and only worry about where I am heading. I absolutely loved traveling with my friends, but 6 was too many and I was ready to make a little bit of a change. With just over a month and a half traveling with 6 we finally dropped it down to 3 and now 2. 

Next stop, Brussels, Belgium! After attempting to find a cheap hostel for many hours, we finally decided that it will be more worth it to stay in a hotel. In Europe many 3 star hotels will run around 30-50 euros per person per night when sharing a room with one other person. Let me tell you.... When I walked into that hotel I had nothing but the biggest smile on my face. I had my own comfy bed, a fluffy pillow, a sky light, my own bathroom and a flat screen tv. After about an hour if taking in our view, room, accomplishments so far and a little while of relaxation, we were ready to hit the town. Now in Belgium... Well at least for us... Hitting the town has a little bit of a different ... Let's say flavour to it. Basically we collected as many coupons as possible and hit every chocolate shop we had a coupon for. Before this trip chocolate was my treat. I was very very rarely the person to buy a chocolate bar, and when I did it was dark chocolate and sat in my freezer for some time. When I'm belgium though right. I was like a child in a candy store. I was getting so excited by all the amazing smells, types, flavours and crowds coming in and out of these stores. Not even lying, we didn't eat lunch. We spent all our money for the day on chocolates and beers, and I wouldn't change it for the world. It was such a blast running around and trying everything. We would literally walk into a store and pretend we were looking to buy purposely to just try all their samples... Fat kids. 

That's all for now, more to come from the next beautiful city...Amsterdam!!

Xoxo

The drunk fest... Otherwise known as Oktoberfest!

Alright, so this post obviously needed to be on its own... I mean it's Oktoberfest... There's too much to write! To start things off let's start from the base... And by the base I mean the camp... And by camp I mean teepee! 

For both la tomatina and Oktoberfest, we decided to do it with a travel group called stoke travel! What this company does is ensures you have a place to stay, sleep, a way to get into the event and a lot of beer in your hand at all times. Generally we are in a teepee for basically one person, but they squeeze two, however, for Oktoberfest we got this unreal teepee that is supposed to house 8. Thank god there were only 6 of us, we had so much more room to crash. Now, one thing you should know about this company is their slogan. This slogan claims that "if it wasn't for booze, we'd all be virgins." With this said, it's clear that the name of their game is to get you as annihilated as possible at any hour of the day. Unlimited drinking for everyone and beer served with breakfast, lunch and dinner became our daily routine.... this is just at the camp site. 

Day one Oktoberfest! 

This day was a little mellow. It's point was basically to prepare us for what was to come. We left for the beer tents at around 11 and were in shock with how many people were at this event. Kids in their 20s, parents, children, grandparents and even infants, all dressed up and ready to celebrate one of their countries biggest... Holidays?... It should be a world wide holiday! I actually saw a man drinking a beer while feeding his infant child who was strapped to his chest... pure class at this event. 

As you walk around the streets you are literally bombarded with the amount of people, rides, AMAZING smells, food, and who can forget BEER tents! There is literally some form of beer drinking something every other shop, majority of which hold thousands of people and an insane amount of beer mugs. Incase you haven't seen an advertisement for Oktoberfest, it is literally a requirement for these servers to be able to hold at least 5 litre beer glasses in one hand! I literally need two hands just to hold mine up! 

After dodging all the amazing smells we finally found 1 tent that for some amazing reason had no line and still space to stand and drink. Essentially what happens at these things is 1. You enter the tent (this can take no time at all, or all day depending on the beer tent)' 2. Grab a giant beer 3. Attempt to get your ass on a bench 4. Find something small to eat that's cheap aka pretzels 5. Try not to puke 6. Attempt to make it home... This one usually doesn't work so well. So, we got into the tent got ourselves a beer and got too excited, I think we downed it in like 3 minutes! So we grabbed another one and coincidently found a seat at the same time! I grabbed a pretzel that was the size of my face and we were ready to get the party started! Problem was, the boys found out there was a football aka soccer game going on and we might be able to find a scalper to get tickets. Second beers were finished and out the door we were. We ended up following a crowd of drunken football fans in our attempt to get to the stadium. After reaching the stadium we were slapped with the sad reality that scalpels were selling for about 100€... We were hoping for 20€. As a result, we head back to our camp for some unlimited drinking, only to realize we should prob call it quits early to make it into Oktoberfest early the next day. 

Day 2... The biggest wreck 

Ok first... Don't judge me, it was Oktoberfest... I blame their excessively big beers and their stupidly high percentage. 

It is officially the last day of Oktoberfest! Apparently at the end of the night on this day they do some fancy thing... I don't know what it is but basically it's a big party. We didn't think we'd last that long so we didn't pay too much attention to the details. We arrived at our tent at around 11 (this time there's only 4 of us) so we immediately squeeze our way into the first table we see leaving. Beer are grabbed and introductions are made. Apparently the men beside us were all about 50 and were getting as buckled as we were. 

Beer 1 comes around and we have learned... Grab that pretzel ASAP and get something in our bodies to absorb alcohol. Pretzel is grabbed and my friends and I split it 4 ways... Our first mistake. Beer two comes one of our friends realizes he isn't feeling too well and heads home. Wih it being our last day and the last official day of Oktoberfest, the decision is made that we should do the table chugs. End of beer 2 is chugged on the table, round 3 on its way. Now, just to let you know, I have a go pro on my wrist this whole time... I decide it's smart to record myself after every beer to see how stupid I get.. Worst idea ever... Do not do this! Plus I'm pretty sure after beer 2 I forgot to keep filming until beer 4. Yes, I said it, beer 4.  Now for those of you yelling pussy at your screen right now.. These aren't just beers... They're litres and they're a minimum of 6 percent (god knows what mine was but I was a disaster). 

Anyways, back to beer 2. I see a guy passing with a kcco shirt on .. Don't know it go to the site right now (www.thechive.com), your life will forever be changed. Obviously after a big kcco cheers fest he joins our table along with his buddy. These guys are around 30 and are army men! Woo woo! At this point we realize we should maybe eat a little more. When a menu is opened at these restaurants, jaws automatically drop. I'm talking French fries and ketchup at 5€ jaw dropping style. However, this doesn't stop my friend and I. We've had our eye on a pork knee since yesterday and that is getting in our mouth ASAP. So for the low cost of 20€, the pork knee is ordered. This is split between the two of us and is probably the size of my fist in terms of food that can actually be consumed. Clearly, not enough food in us to keep drinking, does that stop us... NO! Third round is ordered, and then forth. At this point I don't know my name. 

Apparently I fell asleep at the table (only reason we know is my friend took a picture)... I'm a sleepy drunk sorry :s after this it just started to rain with disasters. 

I went to the bathroom and was supposed to meet my friend outside, apparently I never ended up going to meet him so he went on a hunt to find me. Now it was either in the bathroom, while leaving the tent after the bathroom or at some point in between my friend trying to find me and the bathroom .. But basically I puked. In my hand... I clearly finished puking somewhere (I think it was outside, because I then wiped my hand on my sweater ... From this point on known as my puke bucket) ... Sorry for the details, but that's life. 

My friend finds me! I'm in some other tent eating.. I don't know what but that's my second favourite thing to do while drunk. Then the suggestion comes out. Let's go on a ride!! So off we go to this ride that is almost like psyclone from wonderland but better. We're on these 2 seater things and basically there's 8 seats on each claw. If you kick your legs on this ride you can basically flip your two seater over. Being 4 liters deep this has become the best idea in the word! So we literally go on the ride twice, both times the ride conductor man takes my "puke bucket" and puts it on the side for me to collect later... My life! 

That is the end of crazy drinking for me... At leat until Ireland! 

I'm sorry for the little delay, but set least this ones a long one... I'll try to get better at posting about my travels. Some days just aren't as interesting as others! 

Keep an eye out for more crazy euro trip fun! 

Xoxo 

Feeding infant chind... Look center