...will eventually take over. For now, I'm awake.
It's still fairly early.
My eyes are starting to glaze over, and all I can see is fog that covers the roads as I stare out of a bus on my way to Kinsale.
But I'm not physically on a bus to Kinsale. I'm at my kitchen counter, which happens to be green like those faraway hills.
I've been researching for longer than my eyes can handle. All I want to do is take up residency in Ireland, and live in a place that fills my dreams. While I was there, I didn't dream of the roadways of America, though occasionally I thought of Fenway or the Garden. But I visit Ireland every night, and I have since I stepped off of that plane. Unfortunately I'm coming to the realization that I probably have a little more work to do in America before I can jet off to my dream country. A little more "real-world" experience.
By "real-world" I mean - real WORK experience.
Frustrating, but I figure it will be worth it.
I'll let you know when I figure out more. For now I'm going to go get back on that bus to Kinsale, maybe stop for a pint and some fish at Edward's while I'm there. Best fish ever, just sayin.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Back to Europe...
...soon enough. Or so the plans are going. Backpacking for the summer is definitely in my plans, and then...back to Eire.
I miss it so much. I know that I'll miss America while I'm there, but you only live once, and I know what I want.
I miss it so much. I know that I'll miss America while I'm there, but you only live once, and I know what I want.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Back in the U.S.A.
By now most of you know that I'm back in the U.S.A. although I wasn't supposed to be home until June 3rd, I arrived in the land of the free on May 20th at about 8:00pm. The 21st was my little brothers birthday and I was determined to surprise him. I'll let you know how it went a bit later. I've got to head to work now to pay off all those travelling bills.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Dingle...
...has more stars than you have ever had the opportunity to see ever in your life.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Cate and I were up pretty early on Wednesday morning so that we could leave our apartment by 7:45am to make it to the bus station for a 8:40 bus. I forgot my camera in my haste to be ready - but Cate brought hers so no worries, there are plenty of pictures. My AWESOME professor offered accomodation at his house and to pick us up from the busstop in Dingle so we were on our way. We got to the bus station and grabbed the bus to Tralee, where we would then get on another bus to Dingle. However, lucky for us, on the way to Tralee, as the bus tried to get through the Kerry airport roundabout thing, something happened that could only happen in Ireland. The bus, hit a donkey cart. No lie. I was watching as he pulled the bus around it thinking, "I'm not really sure if he's going to be able to make it." About 5 seconds later I heard the crunching sound of metal on metal and groaned. The bus driver turned off the bus and got out to assess the damage. While he was assessing the damage, other people on the bus went out with him to look at it and talk about it and smoke a cigarette. Even the donkeys came over to assess the damage through the wire fence between them and the rest of Ireland. In fact, the donkeys meandered their way to look at the bus before the Garda even got there. We waited for like 20 minutes to a half hour, just enough time for us to miss our connecting bus to Dingle from Tralee. Once we finally got going the bus driver told us all that the bus to Dingle was actually going to wait for us. Whew! That made me really happy! I felt bad having to have my professor pick us up even later.
It was about 12:45 when we arrived at the Dingle busstop. My professor Proinsias, or Frank, rolled up in his silver Nissan and long silver hair and took us on a tour of the Dingle Peninsula. It was absolutely gorgeous, the whole place was breathtakingly beautiful with bright blue oceans and blue skies and green hills. I loved it so much. We stopped for lunch at a great little place whose name had something to do with pottery but the actual restaurant and little store had, well, nothing to do with pottery. But they did have a great little chicken pot pie, which the three of us really enjoyed. My professor insisted on paying for our lunch, and would continue to be that way for the remainder of the trip. Kind, but frustrating, you're killing me Smalls! After that Cate got to talking about how she is a potter. Frank brought up that the Louis Mulcahy pottery place was right nearby - which basically made Cate's day, she knew exactly who he was and loved his work. So after lunch we headed there and Cate bought a bunch of one of a kind pottery from him that was made with a test glaze - meaning it will never be made like that ever again. Really, really cool. After that we were chatting with the girls who worked there and she offered to bring us down to the small studio outside where you can try your hand at throwing a pot. It was really cool - and I got to throw (which basically means that I made pottery on a pottery wheel). It's a cute little bowl type thing that it really kind of good for nothing but I still want to keep it because I made it, and I made it in Ireland at the Louis Mulcahy place. Goodness all around. From there we ran errands and he took us around more of Dingle. Then we headed back to his house where his roommate was waiting and making dinner for their friend Christine who was having a birthday. We all hung out and chatted and then sat down to a delicious meal. Before we ate though, Frank took Cate and I to the beach which was about 100 steps from his house. It was really nice out and the beach was beautiful. Later that night we got a ride into town and hung out at a place called Dick Mack's famous for being a a shoe store by day and a bar by night - though now it is primarily a bar. A lot of famous people have been there and there are stars outside on the sidewalk with famous names on them. From there we headed to a pub with live music and Irish set dancing. It was really cool to see it in it's natural setting where 3 people were playing their music and a group of people were just dancing along. The bartenders were really nice too and when Cate mentioned that she really wanted a Bulmer's shirt the girl said that she would let Frank know the next time the Bulmer's people came by and she would grab some T-shirts for us. Everyone had been so nice it was such a great experience. From there we headed to another place called that wine bar where Cate and I opted for pizza and tea in place of our half-pints of Guinness. When we were there the girl from Louis Mulcahy's came in with another girl that worked there. The other girl's name was Geiza (spelling may be wrong). She was German and was working in Ireland and working on her english. She was so sweet and kept telling us about how Kate, the girl from Louis Mulcahy's, was helping her to learn english. When the pizza came - the four of us were splitting it - she couldn't stop talking about how hungry she was. It was so funny. They actually said that we should stay the weekend but I had to write a paper and pass it in by Friday at 3pm. The invite made us really happy though. Frank called a cab to drive us back to his house. While we drove along my face was plastered to the window because it was either my eyesight - or the sky looked totally different. When we finally got to his house and got out of the cab I looked straight up into the sky, to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I wasn't. Up above me was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It literally took my breath away. I could see countless stars, more than I even knew there were and more than I could ever have imagined there being in the sky. Frank said that you can even see satellites and shooting stars and recommended that we grab some chairs and blankets and sit outside and watch the stars for awhile. We sat out there for about an hour just watching the shooting stars and trying to pick out the satellites in the sky above us. It was truly unbelievable and is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Everything we did seemed so simple that day, we drove around, had lunch, looked out the window, went to some bars, and looked up into the stars at night. I don't know if it was the beauty that took place within all this simplicity, the ease of life in Dingle, or the way people treated us, the fresh air, the atmosphere. I am not sure what it was, but it was breathtaking and made me wish that I could share it with everyone that I knew. If I could, I really truly would.
Cate and I shared a double bed, and woke up in the morning and had some tea and figured out what bus we needed to take to get home with time to do our paper and other homework. Ugh. Then we told Frank that we wanted to take him out to lunch. He drove us to a place in Annascaul called the SOuth Pole Inn which was once run by Tom Crean, the survivor of 3 famous expeditions to Antarctica in the early 1900's. It was really cool - and had a great fish and chips. From there we headed up the street a bit to another pottery place - which was really nice. While we were in there Frank went across the street to tchat with Hannah Hanafin who worked at a bar. We got into the bar and I almost wanted to applaud her. She's in her eighties and still pouring pints and chatting up customers in her bar in Annascaul. It was pretty cool to see. After we left there Frank took us a special way around Dingle to an area with really pretty sights. It was absolutely gorgeous. The sheep that fill the hills are so lucky - they get to see that everyday!! We took some pictures and looked down between the hills at villages that have been deserted since the famine. After that we drove back into town and gave Frank a good-bye hug, and thanked him as much as we could, but there are no words to adequately express how truly thankful we were that he did all that for us and gave us a personal tour of the area. He was absolutely fantastic. We walked around and checked out some jewellery stores until our bus to Tralee was there to take us back. It was a great trip, and I am so, so glad that we went. We got home around 8, and luckily there was a bus stop right near our apartments so we didn't have to walk all the way from the bus station in town - which I was not looking forward to because I was exhausted. I got home, sat down on my bed and was invited to the movies for 9:30. It was 8:40 and I live about 45 minutes away. You can imagine. I booked it, and went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall for the second time, it's so funny though I didn't mind at all. After that we walked around town and hung out and chatted until my exhaustion began to take over and I yawned every 2 minutes. I wish I had been more awake but I wasn't and so around 2 or 2:30 he said goodbye and I crawled into my bed - exhausted. Long day - but definitely a great day. Whoot!
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Cate and I were up pretty early on Wednesday morning so that we could leave our apartment by 7:45am to make it to the bus station for a 8:40 bus. I forgot my camera in my haste to be ready - but Cate brought hers so no worries, there are plenty of pictures. My AWESOME professor offered accomodation at his house and to pick us up from the busstop in Dingle so we were on our way. We got to the bus station and grabbed the bus to Tralee, where we would then get on another bus to Dingle. However, lucky for us, on the way to Tralee, as the bus tried to get through the Kerry airport roundabout thing, something happened that could only happen in Ireland. The bus, hit a donkey cart. No lie. I was watching as he pulled the bus around it thinking, "I'm not really sure if he's going to be able to make it." About 5 seconds later I heard the crunching sound of metal on metal and groaned. The bus driver turned off the bus and got out to assess the damage. While he was assessing the damage, other people on the bus went out with him to look at it and talk about it and smoke a cigarette. Even the donkeys came over to assess the damage through the wire fence between them and the rest of Ireland. In fact, the donkeys meandered their way to look at the bus before the Garda even got there. We waited for like 20 minutes to a half hour, just enough time for us to miss our connecting bus to Dingle from Tralee. Once we finally got going the bus driver told us all that the bus to Dingle was actually going to wait for us. Whew! That made me really happy! I felt bad having to have my professor pick us up even later.
It was about 12:45 when we arrived at the Dingle busstop. My professor Proinsias, or Frank, rolled up in his silver Nissan and long silver hair and took us on a tour of the Dingle Peninsula. It was absolutely gorgeous, the whole place was breathtakingly beautiful with bright blue oceans and blue skies and green hills. I loved it so much. We stopped for lunch at a great little place whose name had something to do with pottery but the actual restaurant and little store had, well, nothing to do with pottery. But they did have a great little chicken pot pie, which the three of us really enjoyed. My professor insisted on paying for our lunch, and would continue to be that way for the remainder of the trip. Kind, but frustrating, you're killing me Smalls! After that Cate got to talking about how she is a potter. Frank brought up that the Louis Mulcahy pottery place was right nearby - which basically made Cate's day, she knew exactly who he was and loved his work. So after lunch we headed there and Cate bought a bunch of one of a kind pottery from him that was made with a test glaze - meaning it will never be made like that ever again. Really, really cool. After that we were chatting with the girls who worked there and she offered to bring us down to the small studio outside where you can try your hand at throwing a pot. It was really cool - and I got to throw (which basically means that I made pottery on a pottery wheel). It's a cute little bowl type thing that it really kind of good for nothing but I still want to keep it because I made it, and I made it in Ireland at the Louis Mulcahy place. Goodness all around. From there we ran errands and he took us around more of Dingle. Then we headed back to his house where his roommate was waiting and making dinner for their friend Christine who was having a birthday. We all hung out and chatted and then sat down to a delicious meal. Before we ate though, Frank took Cate and I to the beach which was about 100 steps from his house. It was really nice out and the beach was beautiful. Later that night we got a ride into town and hung out at a place called Dick Mack's famous for being a a shoe store by day and a bar by night - though now it is primarily a bar. A lot of famous people have been there and there are stars outside on the sidewalk with famous names on them. From there we headed to a pub with live music and Irish set dancing. It was really cool to see it in it's natural setting where 3 people were playing their music and a group of people were just dancing along. The bartenders were really nice too and when Cate mentioned that she really wanted a Bulmer's shirt the girl said that she would let Frank know the next time the Bulmer's people came by and she would grab some T-shirts for us. Everyone had been so nice it was such a great experience. From there we headed to another place called that wine bar where Cate and I opted for pizza and tea in place of our half-pints of Guinness. When we were there the girl from Louis Mulcahy's came in with another girl that worked there. The other girl's name was Geiza (spelling may be wrong). She was German and was working in Ireland and working on her english. She was so sweet and kept telling us about how Kate, the girl from Louis Mulcahy's, was helping her to learn english. When the pizza came - the four of us were splitting it - she couldn't stop talking about how hungry she was. It was so funny. They actually said that we should stay the weekend but I had to write a paper and pass it in by Friday at 3pm. The invite made us really happy though. Frank called a cab to drive us back to his house. While we drove along my face was plastered to the window because it was either my eyesight - or the sky looked totally different. When we finally got to his house and got out of the cab I looked straight up into the sky, to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I wasn't. Up above me was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It literally took my breath away. I could see countless stars, more than I even knew there were and more than I could ever have imagined there being in the sky. Frank said that you can even see satellites and shooting stars and recommended that we grab some chairs and blankets and sit outside and watch the stars for awhile. We sat out there for about an hour just watching the shooting stars and trying to pick out the satellites in the sky above us. It was truly unbelievable and is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Everything we did seemed so simple that day, we drove around, had lunch, looked out the window, went to some bars, and looked up into the stars at night. I don't know if it was the beauty that took place within all this simplicity, the ease of life in Dingle, or the way people treated us, the fresh air, the atmosphere. I am not sure what it was, but it was breathtaking and made me wish that I could share it with everyone that I knew. If I could, I really truly would.
Cate and I shared a double bed, and woke up in the morning and had some tea and figured out what bus we needed to take to get home with time to do our paper and other homework. Ugh. Then we told Frank that we wanted to take him out to lunch. He drove us to a place in Annascaul called the SOuth Pole Inn which was once run by Tom Crean, the survivor of 3 famous expeditions to Antarctica in the early 1900's. It was really cool - and had a great fish and chips. From there we headed up the street a bit to another pottery place - which was really nice. While we were in there Frank went across the street to tchat with Hannah Hanafin who worked at a bar. We got into the bar and I almost wanted to applaud her. She's in her eighties and still pouring pints and chatting up customers in her bar in Annascaul. It was pretty cool to see. After we left there Frank took us a special way around Dingle to an area with really pretty sights. It was absolutely gorgeous. The sheep that fill the hills are so lucky - they get to see that everyday!! We took some pictures and looked down between the hills at villages that have been deserted since the famine. After that we drove back into town and gave Frank a good-bye hug, and thanked him as much as we could, but there are no words to adequately express how truly thankful we were that he did all that for us and gave us a personal tour of the area. He was absolutely fantastic. We walked around and checked out some jewellery stores until our bus to Tralee was there to take us back. It was a great trip, and I am so, so glad that we went. We got home around 8, and luckily there was a bus stop right near our apartments so we didn't have to walk all the way from the bus station in town - which I was not looking forward to because I was exhausted. I got home, sat down on my bed and was invited to the movies for 9:30. It was 8:40 and I live about 45 minutes away. You can imagine. I booked it, and went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall for the second time, it's so funny though I didn't mind at all. After that we walked around town and hung out and chatted until my exhaustion began to take over and I yawned every 2 minutes. I wish I had been more awake but I wasn't and so around 2 or 2:30 he said goodbye and I crawled into my bed - exhausted. Long day - but definitely a great day. Whoot!
I know, I know...
...I haven't updated in awhile. I could tell you that I'm stressed and the like but I'm not really sure what it is. I guess I just haven't been up to it.
Today Carolan, Cate, Lizzy, her friend Becca and I went to Youghal (pronounced Yawl). It's a pretty cute beach town and we were able to walk the beach and look for seaglass and shells. But before we found the beach we walked around through the shops and found a really cool old church. We couldn't go inside but we walked the grounds and walked through a really old cemetery that was right beside it, it was basically a part of the church. The girls were chatting and I decided to follow a path through it that led up the hill to a stone wall that had stairs going up to a tower. It was a really beautiful view of Youghal and the surrounding area. It was really peaceful too. Behind me was a suburbia type area - very quiet - and in front of me was the ground of the church and cemetery and trees. Beyond that was the small town of Youghal with it's beach side buildings and then the actual beaches and the ocean. You could even see a lot of other parts of Ireland since Youghal is kind of inset on the island so it's surrounded by a lot of other parts of Ireland. It was really nice. I loved it. Eventually the girls found their way to me and checked it out too. From there we wandered farther from the port area in an effort to find a beach that we could walk along. There was also a really cool area that you needed to take stairs to get to, since a lot of Ireland's coast is cliffs it was the only way to get to this part of the beach. While the others looked through the rocks for seaglass I went meandering and scampering over all the rocks. The waves were crashing all around me and the smell of salt water made me think of summers in Seabrook. After a while we found another stretch of beach and walked it for a long time. Once we were toward the end of the stretch there is a large hill so I climbed up there and gave Mom a call. It was a good conversation and we've come to a decision. Life is too short to not take chances - chances with travelling, with people, with your heart. It's just always worth the risk. If I hadn't decided on a whim to come to Ireland I never would have experience any of this, and no not every minute has been great or memorable, but every moment has made the next possible and I feel like I'm learning so much from this. Enough of being comtemplative. I don't really know where I'm going with it. I'm just tired and rambling on and on. Ignore what you want to.
After we were finished meandering around Youghal we headed to the bus stop. There was a Centra(like a CVS) nearby so we went in and got snacks. Snacks is a word that I use lightly since what really happened was Cate bought a pie and we all had forks and we stood at the bus stop and ate the apple pie.
So here's what I will fill you in on soon enough:
Florence (the rest)
Venice
Athens
Santorini.
Dingle
Today Carolan, Cate, Lizzy, her friend Becca and I went to Youghal (pronounced Yawl). It's a pretty cute beach town and we were able to walk the beach and look for seaglass and shells. But before we found the beach we walked around through the shops and found a really cool old church. We couldn't go inside but we walked the grounds and walked through a really old cemetery that was right beside it, it was basically a part of the church. The girls were chatting and I decided to follow a path through it that led up the hill to a stone wall that had stairs going up to a tower. It was a really beautiful view of Youghal and the surrounding area. It was really peaceful too. Behind me was a suburbia type area - very quiet - and in front of me was the ground of the church and cemetery and trees. Beyond that was the small town of Youghal with it's beach side buildings and then the actual beaches and the ocean. You could even see a lot of other parts of Ireland since Youghal is kind of inset on the island so it's surrounded by a lot of other parts of Ireland. It was really nice. I loved it. Eventually the girls found their way to me and checked it out too. From there we wandered farther from the port area in an effort to find a beach that we could walk along. There was also a really cool area that you needed to take stairs to get to, since a lot of Ireland's coast is cliffs it was the only way to get to this part of the beach. While the others looked through the rocks for seaglass I went meandering and scampering over all the rocks. The waves were crashing all around me and the smell of salt water made me think of summers in Seabrook. After a while we found another stretch of beach and walked it for a long time. Once we were toward the end of the stretch there is a large hill so I climbed up there and gave Mom a call. It was a good conversation and we've come to a decision. Life is too short to not take chances - chances with travelling, with people, with your heart. It's just always worth the risk. If I hadn't decided on a whim to come to Ireland I never would have experience any of this, and no not every minute has been great or memorable, but every moment has made the next possible and I feel like I'm learning so much from this. Enough of being comtemplative. I don't really know where I'm going with it. I'm just tired and rambling on and on. Ignore what you want to.
After we were finished meandering around Youghal we headed to the bus stop. There was a Centra(like a CVS) nearby so we went in and got snacks. Snacks is a word that I use lightly since what really happened was Cate bought a pie and we all had forks and we stood at the bus stop and ate the apple pie.
So here's what I will fill you in on soon enough:
Florence (the rest)
Venice
Athens
Santorini.
Dingle
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Firenze...
We're in Florence!
As I type, I’m currently on a train from Rome to Florence. We woke up at around 9 and packed up the rest of our things and headed out, exhausted. Genna and Lizzy are across from me asleep, Lizzy’s head keeps nodding a bit and I really hope that her neck doesn’t hurt too much from the position she’s sleeping in.
When we got to Florence Lizzy’s friend Rachel met us at the train station with a boy Matt that she knows that we actually go to school with in Ireland. It seems like the bigger we make our world with all this travelling, the smaller it actually becomes! We headed to her apartment where she had good internet access so that Genna and Lizzy could sign up for classes. We dropped our stuff off and headed first to the market since it was closing soon. It was unbelievable! Unlike anything that I have ever seen! There were stands upon stand of meat, and fruit, and vegetables, and pasta, cheese, dried fruit and vegetables! Everything you could imagine was right there!! It was AMAZING! We got mozzarella, pasta, chicken and tons of dried fruit and cashews, pistachios and almonds. Can you tell we were craving nutrients? Sure we’ve been eating some great food in Italy but we have been lacking a bit in some departments - hence why we were so excited to eat the salad in Rome too. We went back to Rachel’s apartment and the girls signed up for classes. While they did that Rachel went out to get wine with Matt and Jackie, her roommate who actually knows Lizzy from home. To get wine, you bring empty wine bottles in canvas bags to this place called di vino or something and they fill up your empty wine bottle and cork it for you for only 2 euro. 2 euro! For Italian wine! I wish I liked wine I could appreciate it a little more I think! Lizzy and Rachel cooked dinner while we hung out and chatted. I skyped mom for a bit in the hospital, which was nice because I haven’t gotten to talk to her in awhile. Then we headed to our hostel, Jackie called a cab for us since we don’t speak any Italian unless you include Prego and Grazie. We were pretty surprised when the woman opened the door to our “hostel.” We expected a room with 3 beds and a private bathroom. We got our own apartment. Not too shabby for 30 euro a night! There’s a full furnished kitchen, and it has more plates, dishes and pans than our apartments in Cork do! There is an eating area, a living area, a TV, bureaus if we wanted to unpack our stuff. It is just unbelievable. I love it! It’s no Ritz Carlton, but as far as hostels go, this is basically the Ritz Carlton of cheap hostels. We took showers and set up our internet. Thank God for wifi! Lizzy got in contact with a few of our friends from Cork/Umass who actually are in Florence right now also. They didn’t come out with us because they had to be up by 6 to catch an early train to Venice for the day, but we chatted for a bit and planned on meeting up to hang out the next night. Lizzy’s friend Rachel met us with her friend Mo who is from Florence. First they took us to a bar with live music. The guy had a great voice but it wasn’t exactly good bar music, it was really depressing. Then he started singing Music of My Heart – Nana’s song – I looked at my friends and said, “Ok, time to go.’ From there we went to a discoteca called Space and since Mo works there he got us in for free and he got us in VIP, which means you get to hang out in the VIP area. It was pretty sweet, I’m not gonna lie. We were there until the wee hours of the morning, and were probably the last people there. The others talked about going to another club, but I was so tired, all I wanted was to be pointed in the direction of the hostel. Luckily Genna is amazing with directions and took us right back there. Currently it’s 12 and I just woke up and the girls are still sleeping. I think we needed it! I’ll catch up with you later!
As I type, I’m currently on a train from Rome to Florence. We woke up at around 9 and packed up the rest of our things and headed out, exhausted. Genna and Lizzy are across from me asleep, Lizzy’s head keeps nodding a bit and I really hope that her neck doesn’t hurt too much from the position she’s sleeping in.
When we got to Florence Lizzy’s friend Rachel met us at the train station with a boy Matt that she knows that we actually go to school with in Ireland. It seems like the bigger we make our world with all this travelling, the smaller it actually becomes! We headed to her apartment where she had good internet access so that Genna and Lizzy could sign up for classes. We dropped our stuff off and headed first to the market since it was closing soon. It was unbelievable! Unlike anything that I have ever seen! There were stands upon stand of meat, and fruit, and vegetables, and pasta, cheese, dried fruit and vegetables! Everything you could imagine was right there!! It was AMAZING! We got mozzarella, pasta, chicken and tons of dried fruit and cashews, pistachios and almonds. Can you tell we were craving nutrients? Sure we’ve been eating some great food in Italy but we have been lacking a bit in some departments - hence why we were so excited to eat the salad in Rome too. We went back to Rachel’s apartment and the girls signed up for classes. While they did that Rachel went out to get wine with Matt and Jackie, her roommate who actually knows Lizzy from home. To get wine, you bring empty wine bottles in canvas bags to this place called di vino or something and they fill up your empty wine bottle and cork it for you for only 2 euro. 2 euro! For Italian wine! I wish I liked wine I could appreciate it a little more I think! Lizzy and Rachel cooked dinner while we hung out and chatted. I skyped mom for a bit in the hospital, which was nice because I haven’t gotten to talk to her in awhile. Then we headed to our hostel, Jackie called a cab for us since we don’t speak any Italian unless you include Prego and Grazie. We were pretty surprised when the woman opened the door to our “hostel.” We expected a room with 3 beds and a private bathroom. We got our own apartment. Not too shabby for 30 euro a night! There’s a full furnished kitchen, and it has more plates, dishes and pans than our apartments in Cork do! There is an eating area, a living area, a TV, bureaus if we wanted to unpack our stuff. It is just unbelievable. I love it! It’s no Ritz Carlton, but as far as hostels go, this is basically the Ritz Carlton of cheap hostels. We took showers and set up our internet. Thank God for wifi! Lizzy got in contact with a few of our friends from Cork/Umass who actually are in Florence right now also. They didn’t come out with us because they had to be up by 6 to catch an early train to Venice for the day, but we chatted for a bit and planned on meeting up to hang out the next night. Lizzy’s friend Rachel met us with her friend Mo who is from Florence. First they took us to a bar with live music. The guy had a great voice but it wasn’t exactly good bar music, it was really depressing. Then he started singing Music of My Heart – Nana’s song – I looked at my friends and said, “Ok, time to go.’ From there we went to a discoteca called Space and since Mo works there he got us in for free and he got us in VIP, which means you get to hang out in the VIP area. It was pretty sweet, I’m not gonna lie. We were there until the wee hours of the morning, and were probably the last people there. The others talked about going to another club, but I was so tired, all I wanted was to be pointed in the direction of the hostel. Luckily Genna is amazing with directions and took us right back there. Currently it’s 12 and I just woke up and the girls are still sleeping. I think we needed it! I’ll catch up with you later!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Roma!
Roma! We woke up at around 9 with the intention of being gone by 10 o’clock. We ended up leaving around 10 o’clock, locked the door to our brightly decorated bed and breakfast/hostel and headed out. We were a little unsure about the whole breakfast thing so we went across the street and grabbed some pastries at a little snack bar that was right in front of the metro stop. Luckily the metro is right at the corner of our street so we were able to hop on right there. It was 4 euro for a 24 hour ticket, and it ended up being well worth it’s price. Our first stop was the Vatican. I could attempt to explain it to you, but I really can’t. It was amazing. The amount of artwork in that place leaves you in awe. Everywhere you turn there is something different. It’s not all Catholic art either, there are tons of pieces of old Greek and Roman gods as well. It took us awhile to get through the entire thing to make it to the Sistine Chapel to see the ceiling Michelangelo painted. There is a huge hallway before you get there and the ceiling is completely painted and extremely ornamental. I can barely describe it so I just took a picture. It was amazing. On our way through the maze that eventually takes you to the chapel Genna stopped us. “Is that Dave?” - Dave being a kid from UMass that also happens to be in UCC with us. Sure enough, it was him in Vatican City also on his way to the Sistine chapel. We made it through the maze a bit more and met him in another room and chatted about our travels. It ended up he had been traveling alone, which I cannot even imagine. We finally found our way to the Sistine Chapel and looked up to see Michelangelo’s famous painting on the ceiling, only what we were surprised to see was that there were a million pictures on the ceiling and that famous one of many done by Michelangelo was in the center, and a lot smaller than I pictured it. It didn’t make the room any less beautiful as there was not an empty space on the walls or ceiling that wasn’t filled with some magnificent painting by an amazing artist of years ago. It was breathtaking. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures – though people did anyways. Every time someone did the guards would clap their hands. I hguess they figured that was the best way to get the English-speaking people’s attention. It didn’t really work that well. Eventually we made our way our of the Sistine Chapel and out of Vatican. We decided we would meet up with Dave on the Spanish steps at around 4 after we checked out the Coliseum. We grabbed pizza at a café near the Vatican – that was a mistake. I’m not even going to say how much we spent on pizza. Thank God it was good or I would be pretty angry. We hopped on a nearby metro station and headed toward the coliseum. We ended up walking all the way around the coliseum since we went in the wrong direction toward the entrance. But it was a nice walk. It was 11 Euro to get in, a bit steep for my liking but it was the Coliseum! That’s a must-see if I ever saw one! It was amazing! It was so cool to walk through there and imagine what it was like when it was actually used as an entertainment base. It is really breathtaking, and there were some awesome views of the surrounding areas like the Forum and the arc. Just amazing. We checked out the giftshop – got the essentials. No extras on this trip, and headed back to the metro and toward the Spagna stop for the Spanish steps. It was like a where’s Waldo game. I spotted Dave in the middle of the steps and we went and sat down. At this point the sun was shining bright and it was so warm. I loved it! We all had our sunglasses on. I hope Greece is this warm – or warmer.
We took some pictures and then we headed out towards the Pantheon. I don’t know if you know this – but the Pantheon has a large hole in the center of it. Want to know what they do when it rains? Nothing. It just rains inside the Pantheon. Pretty cool if you ask me. That was a cool building to see, not nearly as impressive as the Coliseum in my personal opinion. But still cool nonetheless. While we stood around in front of it some weirdo came over to Dave and offered to have his picture taken with him. I really don’t know how to explain the encounter except for weird, awkward and uncomfortable. Dave got pretty annoyed with him and we were pretty close to running away. After that we headed back toward the place that we ate at the night before. It was really well priced in comparison to anywhere else so we decided to go again and Dave joined us. Our favorite waiter was there and he chatted with us about how he had been out way too late the night before last and that’d why he had been so tired. I got the risotto in scampi sauce this time. The best part was the garnish which was some sort of small crustacean with claws and eyes. I put it on my other plate and put the napkin on it. It just made me way to uncomfortable to have it watch me while I ate. Once we finished we headed toward the Trevi fountain which is better to see at night. On our way we got gelato – surprise surprise! I was lucky though – I ordered and paid for a 2 euro cup of gelato (the smallest) but he gave me a 3 euro cup! Wonderful! I love gelato. I will miss it dearly when I leave Italy. We finally found the fountain and it was beautiful at night! We took a bunch of pictures. However the men that sell souvenirs on the streets are obnoxious and besides trying to sell us roses, camera tripods, and weird knick-knacks, they had these rock like things that they were playing with and selling that sounded like those really loud bugs you hear in the summertime in New England. It was the most obnoxious sound ever. Whenever they came near us, Dave would firmly and loudly say “No.” I think he scared them a little. Good. When we were done taking pictures we headed back to our hostel. We were exhausted and had no energy or money to head out that night. We checked out our stuff online, emails and such, worked on class schedules and I packed my bag. Bedtime!
Update: Genna had to go to the bathroom and needed help unlocking the door. I got up and unlocked it for her and as I shut the door behind her I heard the neighbors, very loudly and clearly getting busy in their room across the hall. When Genna got pack she peeked at me on the bottom bunk and gave me a look of shock. All I could do was laugh and say, “Well somebody’s having fun right now.” What a day.
We took some pictures and then we headed out towards the Pantheon. I don’t know if you know this – but the Pantheon has a large hole in the center of it. Want to know what they do when it rains? Nothing. It just rains inside the Pantheon. Pretty cool if you ask me. That was a cool building to see, not nearly as impressive as the Coliseum in my personal opinion. But still cool nonetheless. While we stood around in front of it some weirdo came over to Dave and offered to have his picture taken with him. I really don’t know how to explain the encounter except for weird, awkward and uncomfortable. Dave got pretty annoyed with him and we were pretty close to running away. After that we headed back toward the place that we ate at the night before. It was really well priced in comparison to anywhere else so we decided to go again and Dave joined us. Our favorite waiter was there and he chatted with us about how he had been out way too late the night before last and that’d why he had been so tired. I got the risotto in scampi sauce this time. The best part was the garnish which was some sort of small crustacean with claws and eyes. I put it on my other plate and put the napkin on it. It just made me way to uncomfortable to have it watch me while I ate. Once we finished we headed toward the Trevi fountain which is better to see at night. On our way we got gelato – surprise surprise! I was lucky though – I ordered and paid for a 2 euro cup of gelato (the smallest) but he gave me a 3 euro cup! Wonderful! I love gelato. I will miss it dearly when I leave Italy. We finally found the fountain and it was beautiful at night! We took a bunch of pictures. However the men that sell souvenirs on the streets are obnoxious and besides trying to sell us roses, camera tripods, and weird knick-knacks, they had these rock like things that they were playing with and selling that sounded like those really loud bugs you hear in the summertime in New England. It was the most obnoxious sound ever. Whenever they came near us, Dave would firmly and loudly say “No.” I think he scared them a little. Good. When we were done taking pictures we headed back to our hostel. We were exhausted and had no energy or money to head out that night. We checked out our stuff online, emails and such, worked on class schedules and I packed my bag. Bedtime!
Update: Genna had to go to the bathroom and needed help unlocking the door. I got up and unlocked it for her and as I shut the door behind her I heard the neighbors, very loudly and clearly getting busy in their room across the hall. When Genna got pack she peeked at me on the bottom bunk and gave me a look of shock. All I could do was laugh and say, “Well somebody’s having fun right now.” What a day.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Days 5 & 6 of Eurotrip 2k8...
Since we got in at around 7:30 am, we ended up sleeping till 3 in the afternoon. We headed out to a bagel place for “breakfast” and then checked out some really cool shopping areas. They sell animals at shopping areas along the streets. Like those cart things you see in the center of the malls. There were bunnies, hamsters, ferrets, chickens, and more. I took a picture. I was in awe. We had pizza at the apartment and ended up heading out to a club later that night. It was fun, a little difficult to push away the creepers when you don’t speak their language. But it was still a good time. We got in around 4 or 5, we had to catch our flight to Rome so we didn’t want to stay out too late. Rome here we come!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Barcelona...
...is amazing!
I absolutely love it here!
We ended up passing out for a good amount of time and then went out to grab some food and drinks and came back to get ready for the night. We got all dolled up and headed out for the night. The first stop was a tap bar. Basically every table is set up with a tap that goes to a keg. There is a screen that has the counts for all the tables of how many litres have been drank by each party. The screen definitely creates a need to race to see how much each table can drink - but we didn't feel like racing. So we did a little bit of drinking before we headed to this nightclub called Opium. Luckily the girl we are staying with knows this kid who can get us in for free. He told us a word to say, (can't tell you it's a secret!). When we got there girls in front of us told us they had an in and that they would take us in with them. But the bouncers didn't let them in so as I walked up I just looked at them and said the word, no problem. They let us in right away. The club is right on the beach and it was amazing. I didn't buy anything to drink there - it was ridiculously expensive, like 10 euro a drink. No thank you. We danced and had a great time until the wee hours of the morning and then Genna and I left together because we were echausted. We got back around 4:30, Lizzy and Allie followed at around 5:30, 6ish. We didn't wake up till about 1pm. We needed the rest.
Once we were all ready and awake we decided to head out to a...of all places, Mexican Restaurant called the Black Rose. It was actually really good. I liked it a lot. Plus the decorating was fantastic!! After that we walked around a bit, checked out some stores and shopping areas, and then headed to the beach. It was a little windy and therefore a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and the ocean looked beautiful. It was so gorgeous.
Later on we went home and changed and then headed to a Tapas bar - a place where you order a whole bunch of appatizers and share. It was so delicious! We drank cava sangria and munched on fried asparagus, sausages, patatas bravas (kind of like home fries with sauce), a salad, and some other really good appetizers. After eating we met up with Allie's friends and headed to a bar called Chupitos. Chupitos is a shots bar. On the wall there was a huge list of all the shots that they served. There were so many, and the names were pretty hilarious. There was one called a Monica Lebinski. I'll let you use your imagination on that one. We started off with one called a Boy Scout. Get your headed outta of the gutter it was totally PG. They give you a marshmallow on a stick and light the bar on fire, so you roast your marshmallow and then stick it into the shot, take it out, put the marshmallow in your mouth and then take the shot and it tastes like a s'more. It was declicious! But the best part was that Allie has an amazing friend named Harry, who didn't let us girls pay for a thing. Every shot was paid for, and he was just one of the most genuinely nice guys that I have ever met. It was fantastic. We headed to Las Ramblas, where there are a lot of bars. However, we didn't realize that it was extremely late/early in the morning so places weren't allowing people in anymore. No problem. We were already by the beach so we decided to go sit on the beach and hang out. On our way there we met 3 guys from BC and invited them to join us. Lucky for us, the Spanish people sell beer on the beach (illegally) all night and morning long, so the boys bought a few and we just all sat and talked on the beach. At one point my friend Lizzy said that we should just stay and watch the sunrise. It sounded like a good idea. We hung out for awhile, Lizzy and Genna were hilarious and at one point had a "fight" where they basically spit random movie lines back at each other in a way that made it sound like they were fighting to anyone who doesn't know them. Allie decided to leave around 5 or 6 because she had gotten really cold. But we wanted to stay and hang out for a bit more, and watch the sunrise on the beach in Barcelona. You only live once right?! At around 7:30 am we decided the sky was light enough for us to consider it "the sunrise" and cold, tired and hungry we parted ways and Genna, Lizzy and I took a cab back to Lizzy's friend Allie's apartment. Lucky for us the door to the complex was unlocked, but we did have to ring the bell to her actual apartment. Luckily we didn't wake up her roommates.
Ok I'm exhausted. I'm sorry. I'll add more later.
I absolutely love it here!
We ended up passing out for a good amount of time and then went out to grab some food and drinks and came back to get ready for the night. We got all dolled up and headed out for the night. The first stop was a tap bar. Basically every table is set up with a tap that goes to a keg. There is a screen that has the counts for all the tables of how many litres have been drank by each party. The screen definitely creates a need to race to see how much each table can drink - but we didn't feel like racing. So we did a little bit of drinking before we headed to this nightclub called Opium. Luckily the girl we are staying with knows this kid who can get us in for free. He told us a word to say, (can't tell you it's a secret!). When we got there girls in front of us told us they had an in and that they would take us in with them. But the bouncers didn't let them in so as I walked up I just looked at them and said the word, no problem. They let us in right away. The club is right on the beach and it was amazing. I didn't buy anything to drink there - it was ridiculously expensive, like 10 euro a drink. No thank you. We danced and had a great time until the wee hours of the morning and then Genna and I left together because we were echausted. We got back around 4:30, Lizzy and Allie followed at around 5:30, 6ish. We didn't wake up till about 1pm. We needed the rest.
Once we were all ready and awake we decided to head out to a...of all places, Mexican Restaurant called the Black Rose. It was actually really good. I liked it a lot. Plus the decorating was fantastic!! After that we walked around a bit, checked out some stores and shopping areas, and then headed to the beach. It was a little windy and therefore a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and the ocean looked beautiful. It was so gorgeous.
Later on we went home and changed and then headed to a Tapas bar - a place where you order a whole bunch of appatizers and share. It was so delicious! We drank cava sangria and munched on fried asparagus, sausages, patatas bravas (kind of like home fries with sauce), a salad, and some other really good appetizers. After eating we met up with Allie's friends and headed to a bar called Chupitos. Chupitos is a shots bar. On the wall there was a huge list of all the shots that they served. There were so many, and the names were pretty hilarious. There was one called a Monica Lebinski. I'll let you use your imagination on that one. We started off with one called a Boy Scout. Get your headed outta of the gutter it was totally PG. They give you a marshmallow on a stick and light the bar on fire, so you roast your marshmallow and then stick it into the shot, take it out, put the marshmallow in your mouth and then take the shot and it tastes like a s'more. It was declicious! But the best part was that Allie has an amazing friend named Harry, who didn't let us girls pay for a thing. Every shot was paid for, and he was just one of the most genuinely nice guys that I have ever met. It was fantastic. We headed to Las Ramblas, where there are a lot of bars. However, we didn't realize that it was extremely late/early in the morning so places weren't allowing people in anymore. No problem. We were already by the beach so we decided to go sit on the beach and hang out. On our way there we met 3 guys from BC and invited them to join us. Lucky for us, the Spanish people sell beer on the beach (illegally) all night and morning long, so the boys bought a few and we just all sat and talked on the beach. At one point my friend Lizzy said that we should just stay and watch the sunrise. It sounded like a good idea. We hung out for awhile, Lizzy and Genna were hilarious and at one point had a "fight" where they basically spit random movie lines back at each other in a way that made it sound like they were fighting to anyone who doesn't know them. Allie decided to leave around 5 or 6 because she had gotten really cold. But we wanted to stay and hang out for a bit more, and watch the sunrise on the beach in Barcelona. You only live once right?! At around 7:30 am we decided the sky was light enough for us to consider it "the sunrise" and cold, tired and hungry we parted ways and Genna, Lizzy and I took a cab back to Lizzy's friend Allie's apartment. Lucky for us the door to the complex was unlocked, but we did have to ring the bell to her actual apartment. Luckily we didn't wake up her roommates.
Ok I'm exhausted. I'm sorry. I'll add more later.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Days 2 & 3 of Eurotrip 2k8...
It’s not very sunny but who I am to complain, hopefully it will get sunnier later. We’ll see. We are doing walking tours today so that we can see as much of Paris as possible and then we are going to check out the Eiffel Tower one more time and after dinner head to the Louvre. Hopefully we will go out tonight as well. Granted – that means pulling an all-night because we have to be at a train station by 6am to take the train to Beauvais airport where we will catch our plane to Barcelona.
We headed out by 10:30 so that we could meet at St. Michel by 11:30 where there were free walking tours, with time to stop for a crepe on the way. Butter & Sugar Crepes for breakfast? Delectable. Our tour guide, Luke, was fantastic and extremely knowledgeable. We walked for at least 4 hours with the tour but it was a great time. I learned so many things. For instance – if there is a statue of a king (or great person) on a horse and all four legs are down, he/she died a peaceful death, but it the left front leg is up they died a bloody death and if the horse is rearing up on its hind legs, they died in battle. It was really cool. We saw Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and a bajillion other really important historical buildings. In the middle of the tour we stopped for lunch where we all got sandwiches, a drink, and a dessert. It was so delicious. My dessert was this little pie looking thing and I thought that it was filled with some chocolate crème or something – like a mini chocolate crème pie. However, I was mistaken – the filling was pure chocolate. It was really good, but I had to pour out half of the chocolate, it was just waaaay too much chocolate for me. That says a lot because I love chocolate. We ended our tour between the Petite Palais and the Grand Palais and he told us some amazing stories about World War II. In all of Paris – when Hitler took over he wanted nothing more than to see Napoleon’s grave. However in order to look into Napoleon’s grace you must bend over a railing almost as if you were bowing to him and Hitler refused to bow to another emperor so he had them set up a mirror so that he could walk in, look at the mirror and see the grave. However, when he got to the top and looked across – they had set the mirror up wrong. So Hitler spun around quickly to leave and his hat fell off, so he turned around and knelt down to pick it up thereby bowing in front of the tomb of Napoleon. Also - did you know Paris was supposed to be flattened? A famous officer was order by Hitler to completely level it because as the allies closed in on Hitler he states that if he couldn’t have Paris – nobody could. He was there for a month, but he was in contact with someone who was in contact with the allies and the Nazis. He came out with an elaborate plan and in the end set up only one detonator – in the Grand Palais which is a large open building with a flat marble floor. When Hitler called to ensure that he was flattening the city he set off that one detonator, it did little damage to the building, only breaking the glass ceiling and making a mark in the floor – all of which was easily repaired. He said that he just couldn’t flatten all of Paris because of its beauty and history. Thank God for that man. Now we can visit beautiful Paris. The city is so beautiful I loved it.
We headed to the Louvre after and saw the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory and Napoleon III’s quarters – where he lived while he was king. It was amazing. We took so many pictures.
But after 9 hours of walking around we were exhausted. We wandered our way back to the apartment and all of us collapsed face down onto the bed for a few hours. Eventually we decided to go out to eat because we needed some food. We found a really cute little restaurant where I got (French) onion soup, which the waitress continually said was “really really French.” I’m not sure what that meant but it was good none the less and then we ordered dessert. I figured it would be the right place to order crème brulee, so I did and it was delicious. But it was too much and I could only eat half of it. Genna & Lizzy got omelettes and chocolate mousse. The chocolate mousse was really thick, and almost frosting-like. But in all it was a fantastic day in Paris.
We had to be up by 4:45 in order to catch a cab to the bus station to catch the bus at 6am to the Beauvais Airport. Our flight to Girona (near Barcelona) was at 9am. We made it into Spain 15 minutes early and found our way to a bus which took us about an hour to get to Barcelona. From there we took a cab to Lizzy’s friend Allie’s apartment and set up camp. Luckily there is free wifi access here so I can type up all this and add pictures! I’ll do my best to keep staying in touch. Now I’m going to go take a nap since I didn’t actually get to sleep until 3am. Do the math – that’s less than 2 hours of sleep.
We headed out by 10:30 so that we could meet at St. Michel by 11:30 where there were free walking tours, with time to stop for a crepe on the way. Butter & Sugar Crepes for breakfast? Delectable. Our tour guide, Luke, was fantastic and extremely knowledgeable. We walked for at least 4 hours with the tour but it was a great time. I learned so many things. For instance – if there is a statue of a king (or great person) on a horse and all four legs are down, he/she died a peaceful death, but it the left front leg is up they died a bloody death and if the horse is rearing up on its hind legs, they died in battle. It was really cool. We saw Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and a bajillion other really important historical buildings. In the middle of the tour we stopped for lunch where we all got sandwiches, a drink, and a dessert. It was so delicious. My dessert was this little pie looking thing and I thought that it was filled with some chocolate crème or something – like a mini chocolate crème pie. However, I was mistaken – the filling was pure chocolate. It was really good, but I had to pour out half of the chocolate, it was just waaaay too much chocolate for me. That says a lot because I love chocolate. We ended our tour between the Petite Palais and the Grand Palais and he told us some amazing stories about World War II. In all of Paris – when Hitler took over he wanted nothing more than to see Napoleon’s grave. However in order to look into Napoleon’s grace you must bend over a railing almost as if you were bowing to him and Hitler refused to bow to another emperor so he had them set up a mirror so that he could walk in, look at the mirror and see the grave. However, when he got to the top and looked across – they had set the mirror up wrong. So Hitler spun around quickly to leave and his hat fell off, so he turned around and knelt down to pick it up thereby bowing in front of the tomb of Napoleon. Also - did you know Paris was supposed to be flattened? A famous officer was order by Hitler to completely level it because as the allies closed in on Hitler he states that if he couldn’t have Paris – nobody could. He was there for a month, but he was in contact with someone who was in contact with the allies and the Nazis. He came out with an elaborate plan and in the end set up only one detonator – in the Grand Palais which is a large open building with a flat marble floor. When Hitler called to ensure that he was flattening the city he set off that one detonator, it did little damage to the building, only breaking the glass ceiling and making a mark in the floor – all of which was easily repaired. He said that he just couldn’t flatten all of Paris because of its beauty and history. Thank God for that man. Now we can visit beautiful Paris. The city is so beautiful I loved it.
We headed to the Louvre after and saw the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory and Napoleon III’s quarters – where he lived while he was king. It was amazing. We took so many pictures.
But after 9 hours of walking around we were exhausted. We wandered our way back to the apartment and all of us collapsed face down onto the bed for a few hours. Eventually we decided to go out to eat because we needed some food. We found a really cute little restaurant where I got (French) onion soup, which the waitress continually said was “really really French.” I’m not sure what that meant but it was good none the less and then we ordered dessert. I figured it would be the right place to order crème brulee, so I did and it was delicious. But it was too much and I could only eat half of it. Genna & Lizzy got omelettes and chocolate mousse. The chocolate mousse was really thick, and almost frosting-like. But in all it was a fantastic day in Paris.
We had to be up by 4:45 in order to catch a cab to the bus station to catch the bus at 6am to the Beauvais Airport. Our flight to Girona (near Barcelona) was at 9am. We made it into Spain 15 minutes early and found our way to a bus which took us about an hour to get to Barcelona. From there we took a cab to Lizzy’s friend Allie’s apartment and set up camp. Luckily there is free wifi access here so I can type up all this and add pictures! I’ll do my best to keep staying in touch. Now I’m going to go take a nap since I didn’t actually get to sleep until 3am. Do the math – that’s less than 2 hours of sleep.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Early Morning Wake-up...
...because we are going to Paris!!
Breakfast was at 9am and consisted of whatever food was left in my apartment. Conveniently that meant toast and eggs. So I made one-eyes (cut a hole in the middle of the toast – put it on the frying pan – drop egg into the hole) and there was fruit so we kind of feasted. Then we were off…
We were at Cork ariport with plenty of time before our flight. While we waited we went over to a little food-booth to get waters. They had a bunch of expensive truffles, which we clearly were not going to pay for. The server offered us some on a little silver platter, to which Lizzy asked him if we had to pay for them. He sassily replied, “Why would I offer you chocolate if you have to pay for it?” It was funny – and the truffles were delicious. Strawberry, mmm. On our way into the plane we met a couple and their son, who was adorable. They were having a little difficulty carrying all their luggage and his little army print rolly-carry-on was a bit too big for him to carry – even though it clearly made him feel like a king. Lizzy offered to carry the little bag for him and helped them on their way to the plane. While we were on the plane, about to take off the little boy began to count down – 10, 9, 8…and when he reached the end he screamed “Blast Off!!” Now there is an annoying way to do this and a cute way to do this. He was adorable. The entire plane started laughing. It was just so cute,
We arrived in Paris a little early. But we didn’t get off the plane until around 3:40. Once we entered the Charles de Gaulle airport there was a huge line to go through for the customs and security check. Once we made it through, we felt like we were in the middle of a Dr. Seuss novel. The center of the airport was outside so there were these tubes that were moving-sidewalks that took you all over to the different levels of the inside of the aiport. I felt like I was on the Jetsons. Pretty cool.
Genna’s friend Matt gave us pretty detailed directions and we found our way to his apartment without a problem. It’s a really nice apartment – decorated really well, had a great family room and his room is huge with a huge closet that has mirrors for doors that stretch all the way to the ceiling. Only problem – he currently has no running water – well sort of. They can’t run the water because when they do the bathtub back up. Nice, huh? So no water. And to think – we thought we wouldn’t be roughing it. Not the case.
However, we can turn the water on for a hot second to brush our teeth or really quickly wash our face. So we did and then we headed out to explore the city.
Since we hadn’t eaten since around 8am, we all really wanted some food. First stop – crepes! We all got crepes au chocolat. C’est fantastique! Then we started to walk around a bit. We decided we would head toward the Eiffel Tower. Another thing about Matt’s apartment – it’s right near the Louvre. So we walked toward the Louvre and explored it. I don’t know if you know this – but the Louvre is HUGE. I mean bigger than big. And it is amazing. From there we could see the Eiffel Tower, and after taking some pictures we headed off towards it – Matt had told us that it was about a 45 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower – not a problem considering we walk that to get from our apartment to town every day in Cork. We were stopped by two very funny African men that made bracelets. I knew immediately that it was going to cost me money when they asked me to put my hand out btu I figured – what the heck. Lizzy and I ended up with two really cool bracelets, that didn’t cost us more than a ride on the Metro. The men said that we had to make a wish right as they tied them and joked with us about our boyfriends, saying that they are “sex machines.” It was pretty hilarious. Plus, they spoke English and French, fairly fluent in both. I was able to talk a little French with the guy making my bracelet, while Lizzy could talk in English to the guy making her bracelet.
Paris is absolutely beautiful and the walk to the Eiffel Tower was fantastic because there was so much to see on the way there. We took some cool pictures once we got there and then we decided to go get some actual dinner – by now it was around 8 or 9. We found a nice little Italian restaurant –I know – Italian in France? But it was great and the server was very nice to us. Plus we ordered the perfect amount of food and it didn’t cost us more than 10 euro each which was pretty reasonable. It didn’t hurt to know that I could get us through a dinner with my knowledge of French. I may not be amazing at it, but in one day I already feel more confident about the language.
When we finished we headed back to the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to see it all lit up – it was so cool. We took as many pictures as we could, granted it was difficult because the lighting wasn’t perfect but we did our best. The best part was when it was sparkling – it was so cool, it was all lit up and sparkling like a Christmas tree. So beautiful. We had to fend off the vendors, but “Non merci” is pretty easy. Finally we decided to find ourselves the Metro (subway) and head back to Matt’s apartment. We found it without a problem, got ourselves to the right line – and ended going in the opposite direction we wanted. No problem – we realized it right away, got off, switched sides and headed in the direction we meant to. When we got out of the Metro near his apartment, we had our bearings about us and found it without a problem, but we saw a girl with Haagen Daas. We all wanted dessert so we decided to walk around until we found it. It took a bit of walking – luckily in a straight line – but we did find it. More conveniently – there was a bathroom we could use there so that we wouldn’t be dying without one at Matt’s apartment. Finally we headed back to the apartment.
We bothered his roommate Josh, who is from Puerto Rico, but lives in NYC and goes to BC, for a while. I was able to get online for all of 5 minutes. Enough time to send an email but that’s about it. We were hanging out in Matt’s room when he got back. After a lot of debating we ended up sleeping in his huge bed – the three of us – while he slept on the couch. We were all ready to take the couches and the chairs but he would not let us sleep in there and insisted that we all just sleep in his bed. We protested for a while but he eventually won over and after some giggling and chatting I rolled over and went to sleep.
Breakfast was at 9am and consisted of whatever food was left in my apartment. Conveniently that meant toast and eggs. So I made one-eyes (cut a hole in the middle of the toast – put it on the frying pan – drop egg into the hole) and there was fruit so we kind of feasted. Then we were off…
We were at Cork ariport with plenty of time before our flight. While we waited we went over to a little food-booth to get waters. They had a bunch of expensive truffles, which we clearly were not going to pay for. The server offered us some on a little silver platter, to which Lizzy asked him if we had to pay for them. He sassily replied, “Why would I offer you chocolate if you have to pay for it?” It was funny – and the truffles were delicious. Strawberry, mmm. On our way into the plane we met a couple and their son, who was adorable. They were having a little difficulty carrying all their luggage and his little army print rolly-carry-on was a bit too big for him to carry – even though it clearly made him feel like a king. Lizzy offered to carry the little bag for him and helped them on their way to the plane. While we were on the plane, about to take off the little boy began to count down – 10, 9, 8…and when he reached the end he screamed “Blast Off!!” Now there is an annoying way to do this and a cute way to do this. He was adorable. The entire plane started laughing. It was just so cute,
We arrived in Paris a little early. But we didn’t get off the plane until around 3:40. Once we entered the Charles de Gaulle airport there was a huge line to go through for the customs and security check. Once we made it through, we felt like we were in the middle of a Dr. Seuss novel. The center of the airport was outside so there were these tubes that were moving-sidewalks that took you all over to the different levels of the inside of the aiport. I felt like I was on the Jetsons. Pretty cool.
Genna’s friend Matt gave us pretty detailed directions and we found our way to his apartment without a problem. It’s a really nice apartment – decorated really well, had a great family room and his room is huge with a huge closet that has mirrors for doors that stretch all the way to the ceiling. Only problem – he currently has no running water – well sort of. They can’t run the water because when they do the bathtub back up. Nice, huh? So no water. And to think – we thought we wouldn’t be roughing it. Not the case.
However, we can turn the water on for a hot second to brush our teeth or really quickly wash our face. So we did and then we headed out to explore the city.
Since we hadn’t eaten since around 8am, we all really wanted some food. First stop – crepes! We all got crepes au chocolat. C’est fantastique! Then we started to walk around a bit. We decided we would head toward the Eiffel Tower. Another thing about Matt’s apartment – it’s right near the Louvre. So we walked toward the Louvre and explored it. I don’t know if you know this – but the Louvre is HUGE. I mean bigger than big. And it is amazing. From there we could see the Eiffel Tower, and after taking some pictures we headed off towards it – Matt had told us that it was about a 45 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower – not a problem considering we walk that to get from our apartment to town every day in Cork. We were stopped by two very funny African men that made bracelets. I knew immediately that it was going to cost me money when they asked me to put my hand out btu I figured – what the heck. Lizzy and I ended up with two really cool bracelets, that didn’t cost us more than a ride on the Metro. The men said that we had to make a wish right as they tied them and joked with us about our boyfriends, saying that they are “sex machines.” It was pretty hilarious. Plus, they spoke English and French, fairly fluent in both. I was able to talk a little French with the guy making my bracelet, while Lizzy could talk in English to the guy making her bracelet.
Paris is absolutely beautiful and the walk to the Eiffel Tower was fantastic because there was so much to see on the way there. We took some cool pictures once we got there and then we decided to go get some actual dinner – by now it was around 8 or 9. We found a nice little Italian restaurant –I know – Italian in France? But it was great and the server was very nice to us. Plus we ordered the perfect amount of food and it didn’t cost us more than 10 euro each which was pretty reasonable. It didn’t hurt to know that I could get us through a dinner with my knowledge of French. I may not be amazing at it, but in one day I already feel more confident about the language.
When we finished we headed back to the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to see it all lit up – it was so cool. We took as many pictures as we could, granted it was difficult because the lighting wasn’t perfect but we did our best. The best part was when it was sparkling – it was so cool, it was all lit up and sparkling like a Christmas tree. So beautiful. We had to fend off the vendors, but “Non merci” is pretty easy. Finally we decided to find ourselves the Metro (subway) and head back to Matt’s apartment. We found it without a problem, got ourselves to the right line – and ended going in the opposite direction we wanted. No problem – we realized it right away, got off, switched sides and headed in the direction we meant to. When we got out of the Metro near his apartment, we had our bearings about us and found it without a problem, but we saw a girl with Haagen Daas. We all wanted dessert so we decided to walk around until we found it. It took a bit of walking – luckily in a straight line – but we did find it. More conveniently – there was a bathroom we could use there so that we wouldn’t be dying without one at Matt’s apartment. Finally we headed back to the apartment.
We bothered his roommate Josh, who is from Puerto Rico, but lives in NYC and goes to BC, for a while. I was able to get online for all of 5 minutes. Enough time to send an email but that’s about it. We were hanging out in Matt’s room when he got back. After a lot of debating we ended up sleeping in his huge bed – the three of us – while he slept on the couch. We were all ready to take the couches and the chairs but he would not let us sleep in there and insisted that we all just sleep in his bed. We protested for a while but he eventually won over and after some giggling and chatting I rolled over and went to sleep.
I'm leaving on a jet plane...
...and you don't know when I'll be back again.
I am leaving in just a few hours for our first stop on the Eurotrip - Paris, France!!
I'm super excited and still packing some random little things. I'm going to try and get online to update whenever I can but unfortunately I can't promise anything. The girls and I had a fiesta last night and ate everything in my apartment. We couldn't leave anything to go bad!! Luckily we left some eggs for breakfast so I'm going to go cook those. Catch up with you soon!
xoxo, brit
I am leaving in just a few hours for our first stop on the Eurotrip - Paris, France!!
I'm super excited and still packing some random little things. I'm going to try and get online to update whenever I can but unfortunately I can't promise anything. The girls and I had a fiesta last night and ate everything in my apartment. We couldn't leave anything to go bad!! Luckily we left some eggs for breakfast so I'm going to go cook those. Catch up with you soon!
xoxo, brit
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I'm exhausted...
...currently we are working on how to get from one city we will be at to another. Yup, we leave in 2 days and we're still planning. It's crazy. Packing you ask? Hmm....well. It's not done. It's started...per se. But not done. I have a fairly good idea of what I am bringing, and I have luckily done most of my laundry. I'm bringing a lot of stuff that can be mixed and matched. Lots of t-shirts and tank-tops and a few dresses that will be easy to throw on, especially for our time on Santorini Island in Greece. I even made a dress - by hand. Yup hand-sewn. Took me forever. I mean forever. I appreciate my sewing machine that much more right now.
I can't believe this trip came so fast. Within a few days we will be in Paris, France, from there we go to Barcelona, Spain and then on to Italy. While we are in Italy we will be in Rome, Florence and then Venice. From Venice we fly to Athens where will stay for a few days and then it's on to Santorini Isaland on Perissa Beach where we will soak up some island sun. Granted it won't be tropical weather, but anything seems tropical in comparison to all the rain that we have been getting here in Ireland.
I'm so excited. Nervous, and anxious and a little scared but so, so, so excited. I'm going to see the Eiffel Tower! And the parthenon! And Vatican City!! I always joke that I am such a dreamer, and I am. Sometimes I'd prefer to live in my dream world - hence why I love sleeping - but right now I feel like life is the dream world. I'm just hoping I don't wake up from this one.
By the way, daylight savings finally happened for us so we are back to being 5 hours ahead of everyone on the East Coast of the States. However while we are in France, Spain and Italy we will be 6 hours ahead and in Greece we will be 7 hours ahead. Something to keep in mind in case any of you ever want to call me. My phone doesn't let me call out while I am not in Ireland so if you wanna chat you will just have to give me a call!! C'mon I know you wanna, phone cards aren't that expensive! Trust me - ask me to let you know how much it would cost in Euro. You'll feel even better to know that if you were to spend 50euro, you are actually spending 75USdollars. Yeah, now imagine buying groceries. Now imagine buying groceries for 5 months. Lastly - imagine buying groceries for 5 months and living for those 5 months with a cheap roommate who steals your food that you spend all that money on. Great, I'm glad we're in the same frame of mind. Swear to God if my bananas, milk, cereal etc goes missing again when I am back from this trip - hell hath no fury like that of a women whose roommate has stolen her Frosted Flakes!!!!
Gnight!
I can't believe this trip came so fast. Within a few days we will be in Paris, France, from there we go to Barcelona, Spain and then on to Italy. While we are in Italy we will be in Rome, Florence and then Venice. From Venice we fly to Athens where will stay for a few days and then it's on to Santorini Isaland on Perissa Beach where we will soak up some island sun. Granted it won't be tropical weather, but anything seems tropical in comparison to all the rain that we have been getting here in Ireland.
I'm so excited. Nervous, and anxious and a little scared but so, so, so excited. I'm going to see the Eiffel Tower! And the parthenon! And Vatican City!! I always joke that I am such a dreamer, and I am. Sometimes I'd prefer to live in my dream world - hence why I love sleeping - but right now I feel like life is the dream world. I'm just hoping I don't wake up from this one.
By the way, daylight savings finally happened for us so we are back to being 5 hours ahead of everyone on the East Coast of the States. However while we are in France, Spain and Italy we will be 6 hours ahead and in Greece we will be 7 hours ahead. Something to keep in mind in case any of you ever want to call me. My phone doesn't let me call out while I am not in Ireland so if you wanna chat you will just have to give me a call!! C'mon I know you wanna, phone cards aren't that expensive! Trust me - ask me to let you know how much it would cost in Euro. You'll feel even better to know that if you were to spend 50euro, you are actually spending 75USdollars. Yeah, now imagine buying groceries. Now imagine buying groceries for 5 months. Lastly - imagine buying groceries for 5 months and living for those 5 months with a cheap roommate who steals your food that you spend all that money on. Great, I'm glad we're in the same frame of mind. Swear to God if my bananas, milk, cereal etc goes missing again when I am back from this trip - hell hath no fury like that of a women whose roommate has stolen her Frosted Flakes!!!!
Gnight!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
At the end of every rainstorm...
...there is a rainbow.
I know this for sure - because it happened today. Genna and I went into town to meet with Lizzy and walk around. They needed some cheap sunglasses for our trip. It was beautiful out, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the clouds in the sky were white and fluffy like cotton candy. It was quite windy as well, but we didn't mind since it was so sunny out! We met Lizzy at Finn's Corner, a store that sells rugby jerseys and sports clothing. From there we went to Penny's, where the girls found some great sunglasses and I found - for really inexpensive may I add - some jean capris (which is great because I don't have any) and a pair of navy blue leggings (also great and will be very useful on our trip). They were a steal I promise. From there we walked around a bit, and checked out Merchant's Quay, which is something like a mall. They grabbed some food at Quizno's but all I could eat/drink was a sprite. I hadn't been feeling well day. It may have been all the caffeine I had ingested but who knows. We checked out a book store on Oliver Plunkett street as well, perhaps for some good reading on all the flights we would be on the next three weeks. After that we were satisfied with our purchases and decided to head back to our respective apartment complexes. Genna and I said good-bye to Lizzy at the top of Oliver Plunkett street, as we walked across Grand Parade and headed down Western Road Genna pointed out some threatening grey clouds in the distance. We hoped it would stay to the right of us and decided to walk instead of hopping on a bus or taking a cab. About halfway down Western Road Genna remarked on how nice the weather was while we were in town. I responded that we were lucky it hadn't poured on us and we exchanged stories of being drenched from being caught in the middle of a downpour on our way to class or home during out stay in Ireland. Within a few minutes it started to drizzle. I had a hooded sweatshirt on so I wasn't too worried. Within moments after that...it began to rain even harder. We started to laugh, "I'm so glad we just said how it hadn't rained on us yet." WIth that, it began to sleet or hail or whatever it is that really hurts when it hits your face. We cursed Ireland and its rain as we headed for a bus stop that would shield us until it calmed down a bit. After a few minutes of standing extremely close with a bunch of other people who were also in need of shelter, Genna took a peek outside and said, "I can see sunshine and blue skies, let's go."
We continued on our journey down Western Road and as we passed the Western Star, an old bar that is no longer in business and functions as a meeting place, Genna felt compelled to turn around. "Look at that!" I turned around as well. To our surprise, in front of us was an amazing site. A complete rainbow stretched across the road in front of us, its colors were so bright against the blue sky behind it, and especially in comparison to the grey, ominous clouds in the distance. We stood there for a moment in awe. It was by far the most perfect and most beautiful of any rainbow we had ever been privileged enough to be in the presence of. We were hesitant to walk away. It was so majestic looking. By now the sun was shining down, warm on our wet faces, but it was still drizzling a bit. As we turned to finally take the last turn that would take us home I remembered one of my favorite quotes, "For every rainstorm, there's a rainbow." It's true. We witnessed it.
I know this for sure - because it happened today. Genna and I went into town to meet with Lizzy and walk around. They needed some cheap sunglasses for our trip. It was beautiful out, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the clouds in the sky were white and fluffy like cotton candy. It was quite windy as well, but we didn't mind since it was so sunny out! We met Lizzy at Finn's Corner, a store that sells rugby jerseys and sports clothing. From there we went to Penny's, where the girls found some great sunglasses and I found - for really inexpensive may I add - some jean capris (which is great because I don't have any) and a pair of navy blue leggings (also great and will be very useful on our trip). They were a steal I promise. From there we walked around a bit, and checked out Merchant's Quay, which is something like a mall. They grabbed some food at Quizno's but all I could eat/drink was a sprite. I hadn't been feeling well day. It may have been all the caffeine I had ingested but who knows. We checked out a book store on Oliver Plunkett street as well, perhaps for some good reading on all the flights we would be on the next three weeks. After that we were satisfied with our purchases and decided to head back to our respective apartment complexes. Genna and I said good-bye to Lizzy at the top of Oliver Plunkett street, as we walked across Grand Parade and headed down Western Road Genna pointed out some threatening grey clouds in the distance. We hoped it would stay to the right of us and decided to walk instead of hopping on a bus or taking a cab. About halfway down Western Road Genna remarked on how nice the weather was while we were in town. I responded that we were lucky it hadn't poured on us and we exchanged stories of being drenched from being caught in the middle of a downpour on our way to class or home during out stay in Ireland. Within a few minutes it started to drizzle. I had a hooded sweatshirt on so I wasn't too worried. Within moments after that...it began to rain even harder. We started to laugh, "I'm so glad we just said how it hadn't rained on us yet." WIth that, it began to sleet or hail or whatever it is that really hurts when it hits your face. We cursed Ireland and its rain as we headed for a bus stop that would shield us until it calmed down a bit. After a few minutes of standing extremely close with a bunch of other people who were also in need of shelter, Genna took a peek outside and said, "I can see sunshine and blue skies, let's go."
We continued on our journey down Western Road and as we passed the Western Star, an old bar that is no longer in business and functions as a meeting place, Genna felt compelled to turn around. "Look at that!" I turned around as well. To our surprise, in front of us was an amazing site. A complete rainbow stretched across the road in front of us, its colors were so bright against the blue sky behind it, and especially in comparison to the grey, ominous clouds in the distance. We stood there for a moment in awe. It was by far the most perfect and most beautiful of any rainbow we had ever been privileged enough to be in the presence of. We were hesitant to walk away. It was so majestic looking. By now the sun was shining down, warm on our wet faces, but it was still drizzling a bit. As we turned to finally take the last turn that would take us home I remembered one of my favorite quotes, "For every rainstorm, there's a rainbow." It's true. We witnessed it.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Soooo behind...
...and I apologize. SO here is what's up. My friends came and were here for 10 days (one of them was) and there was St. Patrick's Day and Easter and plenty of homework to keep what free time I've had busy. I also leave for my 3 week Eurotrip in like 2 or 3 days so clearly I have had a lot on my mind. I'm going to do my best to recall...as much as I can.
HollyAnn came on Thursday night. She didn't know it but I was actually meeting her at the airport. I'm so sneaky, I didn't tell her. I headed for the airport around ten o clock since her flight was supposed to get in around 1130 and 10 was the last bus that I could take. I brought my homework to the airport so that I oculd do some studying for my Gaelic final which was at nine in the morning the next day. Her flight ended up being delayed so she didn't get in until a little after midnight. But soon after I got there my friend Jen who was meeting her boyfriend came over and we chatted. She was so excited. It was probably one the best kodak moments I have ever witnessed. We ended up splitting a cab from the airport back to the apartment with a girl who lived in the complex next door who was meeting her boyfriend at the airport. (That turned out to be a whole different story but I'll get to that later.)
The next morning I had my Gaelic exam, which wasn't too bad. Especially considering I had already done...not so well...on the oral exam which I had unfortunaetly been unaware of the date for. Brilliant. I love that I pay attention to important details. Oh well, what can you do?! Everything happens for a reason I suppose. In any case it went pretty well and then I went back to the apartment. HollyAnn and I ended up going to Waterford with Lizzy and her friend Caitlin, and Genna and her friend Sarah. We walked around and did a little window shopping and went out to eat at - of all places - an Italian restaurant that I had gone to the last time I was there. Then we hopped on the bus and headed back to Cork (still my favorite city that I've been to!).
Alanna and Arielle came on Sunday and we luckily caught a cab to the bus station to pick them up and he was great, he even waited for us and brought us back to the apartment. I felt bad for him - I don't think that he realized just how heavy the suitcases were going to be that the girls were carrying. Alanna even brought a queen size air mattress. God love her - it actually worked out really really well. They were exhausted but the worst thing to do is go to sleep in the middle of the day. So they showered and we headed to Blarney with every intention of going to the castle. However, we ended up in the gift store for hours, and by the time we actually got to the castle area, it was closed. Not meant to be!
The next day was St Patrick's Day! I'm mildly exhausted right now so I will let you know how that went tomorrow when I'm able to write a good detailed blog entry about it. Stay tuned!!
HollyAnn came on Thursday night. She didn't know it but I was actually meeting her at the airport. I'm so sneaky, I didn't tell her. I headed for the airport around ten o clock since her flight was supposed to get in around 1130 and 10 was the last bus that I could take. I brought my homework to the airport so that I oculd do some studying for my Gaelic final which was at nine in the morning the next day. Her flight ended up being delayed so she didn't get in until a little after midnight. But soon after I got there my friend Jen who was meeting her boyfriend came over and we chatted. She was so excited. It was probably one the best kodak moments I have ever witnessed. We ended up splitting a cab from the airport back to the apartment with a girl who lived in the complex next door who was meeting her boyfriend at the airport. (That turned out to be a whole different story but I'll get to that later.)
The next morning I had my Gaelic exam, which wasn't too bad. Especially considering I had already done...not so well...on the oral exam which I had unfortunaetly been unaware of the date for. Brilliant. I love that I pay attention to important details. Oh well, what can you do?! Everything happens for a reason I suppose. In any case it went pretty well and then I went back to the apartment. HollyAnn and I ended up going to Waterford with Lizzy and her friend Caitlin, and Genna and her friend Sarah. We walked around and did a little window shopping and went out to eat at - of all places - an Italian restaurant that I had gone to the last time I was there. Then we hopped on the bus and headed back to Cork (still my favorite city that I've been to!).
Alanna and Arielle came on Sunday and we luckily caught a cab to the bus station to pick them up and he was great, he even waited for us and brought us back to the apartment. I felt bad for him - I don't think that he realized just how heavy the suitcases were going to be that the girls were carrying. Alanna even brought a queen size air mattress. God love her - it actually worked out really really well. They were exhausted but the worst thing to do is go to sleep in the middle of the day. So they showered and we headed to Blarney with every intention of going to the castle. However, we ended up in the gift store for hours, and by the time we actually got to the castle area, it was closed. Not meant to be!
The next day was St Patrick's Day! I'm mildly exhausted right now so I will let you know how that went tomorrow when I'm able to write a good detailed blog entry about it. Stay tuned!!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Pictures Added!
Luckily I couldn't sleep last night. So instead I decided I would continually try to upload pictures and....it finally worked!
I've added pictures from the Ring of Kerry weekend, and as soon as I finish commenting on my Scotland Weekend pictures I will put the link to those up as well.
The link for Kerry Pictures is on the right. Or just go here: Ring of Kerry Weekend - February 22-24th
I've added pictures from the Ring of Kerry weekend, and as soon as I finish commenting on my Scotland Weekend pictures I will put the link to those up as well.
The link for Kerry Pictures is on the right. Or just go here: Ring of Kerry Weekend - February 22-24th
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Coincidences...
...make life so grand.
I was sitting on the bus to Kinsale, flipping through my notes as I prepared to interview the craftsmen of Kinsale Crystal. The man in the seat next to me holds out a picture. "This is Alex - of Kinsale Crystal," he says. It's a black and white photograph of an upclose shot of Alex Davies, a crystal master cutter, as he works on a large piece in the small workroom of their shop in Kinsale. We chatted about how he had photographed the entire process of their crystal cutting and how laid back all of Ireland was. He had actuallly moved to Ireland from Scotland and said he still wasn't used to it. We got to chatting about the transportation, which is amazing. He pointed out that it is because you can't afford to live in the cities. He lived 2.5 hours outside of Dublin and preferred commuting to actually living in the city. That says a lot.
By the time we made it to Kinsale I was starved and had a headache. Though the photographer was wonderful to talk to, he was a smoker and it gave me an awful headache. My friends Lizzy and Cate had joined me for the trip and so we went and grabbed some lunch at a fantastic little place that served the best friend haddock I have ever, ever hand. Hands down, no questions asked. It was phenomenal. I had to eat pretty quickly though and run to the Kinsale Shop for fear of not getting there in time to get a good interview.
When I got there I started chatting with Tomas, who was the one who had emailed me letting me know when I could come in and chat with them. Alex, the master cutter was on his way out and I immediately turned on my recorder and started chatting with them about being the oldest in the family. Tomas was in the process of giving his younger brother a shove to pick up his end since he had been falling short on that day. The last thing that I wanted was the feel of a rehearsed and boring interview. I just wanted to chat and get as much information from him in a comfortable and informal way. They were great to chat with and Tomas was very pleasant and welcoming through the whole thing. In fact pretty much the entire interview was actually done in the work shop where he let me watch him cut the crystal, and showed me the first thing that he learned when he was cutting, and even let me look over his shoulder as he made each cut. It was such a cool experience. The girls came in after about 40 minutes, and I knew that meant that I was running out of time. I looked down at my list of questions and realized that we had covered every topic I wanted to in one form or another. I smiled when I realized it and thanked him for his time. He had no idea I had been recording the whole time - ah I love reporters license. It was such a hard thing to explain, it sounds so simple, but it was a really awesome experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity.
I have to go work on my article now, since that was the point of the interview in the first place. I love you all! God Bless.
I was sitting on the bus to Kinsale, flipping through my notes as I prepared to interview the craftsmen of Kinsale Crystal. The man in the seat next to me holds out a picture. "This is Alex - of Kinsale Crystal," he says. It's a black and white photograph of an upclose shot of Alex Davies, a crystal master cutter, as he works on a large piece in the small workroom of their shop in Kinsale. We chatted about how he had photographed the entire process of their crystal cutting and how laid back all of Ireland was. He had actuallly moved to Ireland from Scotland and said he still wasn't used to it. We got to chatting about the transportation, which is amazing. He pointed out that it is because you can't afford to live in the cities. He lived 2.5 hours outside of Dublin and preferred commuting to actually living in the city. That says a lot.
By the time we made it to Kinsale I was starved and had a headache. Though the photographer was wonderful to talk to, he was a smoker and it gave me an awful headache. My friends Lizzy and Cate had joined me for the trip and so we went and grabbed some lunch at a fantastic little place that served the best friend haddock I have ever, ever hand. Hands down, no questions asked. It was phenomenal. I had to eat pretty quickly though and run to the Kinsale Shop for fear of not getting there in time to get a good interview.
When I got there I started chatting with Tomas, who was the one who had emailed me letting me know when I could come in and chat with them. Alex, the master cutter was on his way out and I immediately turned on my recorder and started chatting with them about being the oldest in the family. Tomas was in the process of giving his younger brother a shove to pick up his end since he had been falling short on that day. The last thing that I wanted was the feel of a rehearsed and boring interview. I just wanted to chat and get as much information from him in a comfortable and informal way. They were great to chat with and Tomas was very pleasant and welcoming through the whole thing. In fact pretty much the entire interview was actually done in the work shop where he let me watch him cut the crystal, and showed me the first thing that he learned when he was cutting, and even let me look over his shoulder as he made each cut. It was such a cool experience. The girls came in after about 40 minutes, and I knew that meant that I was running out of time. I looked down at my list of questions and realized that we had covered every topic I wanted to in one form or another. I smiled when I realized it and thanked him for his time. He had no idea I had been recording the whole time - ah I love reporters license. It was such a hard thing to explain, it sounds so simple, but it was a really awesome experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity.
I have to go work on my article now, since that was the point of the interview in the first place. I love you all! God Bless.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Catching up....
Yes, I've been slacking on my blogging as of late. I apologize greatly. I have no idea where to begin either, because I have no idea where I left off, so I will tell you that a week ago I went away to Kerry for the weekend. It was a trip put together by the school and it was pretty amazing.
Ring of Kerry. Kerry is a County in Ireland with some of the most beautiful views of the ocean and countryside. Unfortunately I was sick as a dog for a good majority of the trip. I guess that's what happens when you are travelling nonstop.
It was a 3-hour ride to the small town of Cahersiveen in County Kerry where our tour guide, Professor Mariann Moore of UCC, apparently knew everyone. She had grown up in the town and as we drove along on this Ring of Kerry Heritage Weekend that she put together, she pointed out houses along the way where she grew up, where her mother-in-law lives, her brother-in-law, and countless others. The hotel we stayed at is owned by her brother, and after dinner we sat down for a talk by a local and her 93-year old mother in law who is still completely independent and looked fantastic. You never would have known she was 93-years old. After a table quiz we retired to our hotel rooms, arguably the nicest place we will stay in during our travels around Europe. Hostel don’t exactly offer the same accommodations, like extra pillows, tea and coffee, and bringing breakfast to your room when you are too sick to make it to breakfast. (Yes I was that girl.) The next morning we started off with a breakfast buffet and boarded the bus by 9:30.
Professor Mariann was an amazing tour guide and as the bus took us all around Kerry she had something to say about every area we passed. I can’t say that I retained all the information, but in the very least it made us all decide on returning to Kerry in May when you can visit the Skelligs – huge rock formations on top of which, where monks built an amazing monastery as a tribute to God. In order to even reach the top of the Skellig, the monks had to build their own stairs. The views were breathtaking as we looked out across the ocean toward the skelligs. The darkened bus windows only barely took away from the extreme blueness of the ocean. We had the afternoon free, so we roamed the small town, were harassed by some of the local tween-agers, and hit every store that looked even remotely intriguing. We walked away with some great souvenirs, and a new appreciation for kind tween-agers. After a 3-course dinner, including some phenomenal cheesecake, we headed to the Céilí and Set Dancing classes. When we walked into the room, we were all shivering; by the end we were shedding layers of clothes and wiping our brows. We learned 3 dances while a band of three played traditional Irish music. We were hilarious to watch as we spun in circles, laughing at ourselves as we tripped over our own feet. It was impossible to not have a good time, but we were thankful when we could return to our rooms and sleep off the exhaustion is caused.
The next morning we ventured out on a “walking tour” which was fantastic in the rain and sleet. Ireland weather tends to resemble New England’s though, and after a 20-minute rain storm, the sun was shining again. We toured Stone Forts, some of the most well-preserved in all of Ireland. They were usually on the top of hills as well, creating some great background for pictures. We boarded the bus again with all of our things, and headed out to Derrynane House, which was Daniel O’Connell’s home, Sneem, Moll’s Gap and Ladies’ View. Basically, we went to every site in Kerry that was unbelievably beautiful and picturesque. The kind of areas that make you want to take a million pictures, but no matter how many you take, they simply cannot ever fully convey the glorious beauty that is witnessed in person. We tried anyways. By 7 we were back in Cork, our home away from home, with souvenirs in hand, traditional Irish dancing in our repertoire, even more travel destination ideas, and at least 2 Facebook albums worth of pictures.
Pictures Coming Soon
Ring of Kerry. Kerry is a County in Ireland with some of the most beautiful views of the ocean and countryside. Unfortunately I was sick as a dog for a good majority of the trip. I guess that's what happens when you are travelling nonstop.
It was a 3-hour ride to the small town of Cahersiveen in County Kerry where our tour guide, Professor Mariann Moore of UCC, apparently knew everyone. She had grown up in the town and as we drove along on this Ring of Kerry Heritage Weekend that she put together, she pointed out houses along the way where she grew up, where her mother-in-law lives, her brother-in-law, and countless others. The hotel we stayed at is owned by her brother, and after dinner we sat down for a talk by a local and her 93-year old mother in law who is still completely independent and looked fantastic. You never would have known she was 93-years old. After a table quiz we retired to our hotel rooms, arguably the nicest place we will stay in during our travels around Europe. Hostel don’t exactly offer the same accommodations, like extra pillows, tea and coffee, and bringing breakfast to your room when you are too sick to make it to breakfast. (Yes I was that girl.) The next morning we started off with a breakfast buffet and boarded the bus by 9:30.
Professor Mariann was an amazing tour guide and as the bus took us all around Kerry she had something to say about every area we passed. I can’t say that I retained all the information, but in the very least it made us all decide on returning to Kerry in May when you can visit the Skelligs – huge rock formations on top of which, where monks built an amazing monastery as a tribute to God. In order to even reach the top of the Skellig, the monks had to build their own stairs. The views were breathtaking as we looked out across the ocean toward the skelligs. The darkened bus windows only barely took away from the extreme blueness of the ocean. We had the afternoon free, so we roamed the small town, were harassed by some of the local tween-agers, and hit every store that looked even remotely intriguing. We walked away with some great souvenirs, and a new appreciation for kind tween-agers. After a 3-course dinner, including some phenomenal cheesecake, we headed to the Céilí and Set Dancing classes. When we walked into the room, we were all shivering; by the end we were shedding layers of clothes and wiping our brows. We learned 3 dances while a band of three played traditional Irish music. We were hilarious to watch as we spun in circles, laughing at ourselves as we tripped over our own feet. It was impossible to not have a good time, but we were thankful when we could return to our rooms and sleep off the exhaustion is caused.
The next morning we ventured out on a “walking tour” which was fantastic in the rain and sleet. Ireland weather tends to resemble New England’s though, and after a 20-minute rain storm, the sun was shining again. We toured Stone Forts, some of the most well-preserved in all of Ireland. They were usually on the top of hills as well, creating some great background for pictures. We boarded the bus again with all of our things, and headed out to Derrynane House, which was Daniel O’Connell’s home, Sneem, Moll’s Gap and Ladies’ View. Basically, we went to every site in Kerry that was unbelievably beautiful and picturesque. The kind of areas that make you want to take a million pictures, but no matter how many you take, they simply cannot ever fully convey the glorious beauty that is witnessed in person. We tried anyways. By 7 we were back in Cork, our home away from home, with souvenirs in hand, traditional Irish dancing in our repertoire, even more travel destination ideas, and at least 2 Facebook albums worth of pictures.
Pictures Coming Soon
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
We went to Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and the movies...
...while we were in Scotland.
I'm ashamed.
Once we got past those uber American things we were good.
We arrived in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday at around 10:30. It was pretty chilly but the sun was shining and I had made it through security without losing my Aveeno face lotion. Doesn't sound important - but let me tell you. It is.
We headed toward McLay Guesthouse where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. By the way, We is myself, Carolan, Paul and Patrick. When we walked in the room we saw a double bed and two twin beds, Paul immediately declared, "You two are sleeping there." Meaning that Carolan and I were going to be sharing the double bed. Apparently the boys didn't want to cuddle with each other, shocking really. Obviously Carolan and I had no problem with that. We put our stuff down and took a nap before heading out and exploring the city a little bit. We found the Buchanan Galleries which was a huge shopping center. I am proud to say that I did not buy one single article of clothing or pair of shoes or jewelry for myself. It took a lot of will power but the fact that I'm tres pauvre (very poor) made the decisions a lot easier. After a little exploring and attempting to find a good Scotland souvenir shop (which we couldn't find anywhere in Glasgow) we realized that we were starving. We walked around a bit until to our surprise there appeared in front of us, beside the KFC, a Pizza Hut. We walked in and the smell was so good that it didn't matter that our stomachs were growling, we were totally willing to wait the 20 minutes for a table. I got soup. It was delicious. Everyone else got pizza. Surprised? No I didn't think so.
Unfortunately, we were exhausted so going out that night did not occur. We ended up going to bed after going to the movies. We saw Cloverfield which I am not even going to describe because it is indescribable and was so, so good. It was actually pretty cool to go because there was a film festival going on so there was a lot actually happening around us. It's neat to see how different placs do movies too. Their system of rating is very different than ours and they show commercials instead of previews. (Although there are some previews thrown in). Even though it was Saturday, all the travelling and walking around had made us really tied and so we decided to go to bed so we could make a fairly early start the next morning.
The good part about staying in a Guesthouse is that breakfast is included and so we were able to enjoy a traditional Scottish breakfast. This means, 1 egg, baked beans, toast with butter and/or jam, some sort of pancake/crepe type thing. It wasn't gourment, but it was pretty good. I didn't complain. However, breakfast is served between 7am and 9am which wasn't totally ok with our sleep schedules. Once we finished we went back up to our room....and took naps.
Eventually we did venture into Glasgow that Sunday and lucky for us our travels led us through a beautiful park and towards the Kelvingrove Museum of Modern Art which was one of the most phenomenal museums that I have ever been lucky enough to experience. At one point I was in a room that included art by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt and so many more. It was so unbelievable and overwhelming. For a moment I had to just stop where I was and take in exactly what was going on. I was in the same room as all those pieces of art, in a museum, in Scotland. Amazing.
We spent almost 5 hours there. Clearly we are museum people. I could have spent more time there, but everything closes at 5 so we had to exit at that point when they politely kick you out by yelling throughout the museum that it was closing in 10 minutes. No intercom system, just people walking around yelling that. It was a unique experience. We ate at a little cafe in the museum. I got a fantastic soup and the best mashed potatos that I have ever had in a restaurant in my entire life. They were so good. At the end, we all had carrot cake which was also extremely delicious. By the way, you tip in Scotland. Yes you do. "Service is not included" will be right on your bill. Just letting you know - no tipping in Ireland, but definitely in Scotland.
We later faield at an attempt to go out that night. Perhaps threes a charm and Monday would be the day. Who knows, but we headed to Edinburgh on Monday. We couldn't have gotten luckier. We walked into the train station, bought our tickets with 10 minutes before the train departed for the 50 minute ride to Edinburgh from Glasgow.
Once we made it to Edinburgh we decided to be uber touristy and ride around on one of those double-decker red hop-on-hop-off tourist guide buses. It was a great decision. We saw everything that you could have seen in the city with the ability to hop off and check things out in one area and then hop back on and continue the tour from exactly where you left off. We stopped at Edinburgh Castle which was a gorgeous area. It was also wonderful that the area was surrounded by fantastic little Scottish shops. We met the most fantastic shop owner - his name was Steve. He taught us what the flags of SCotland stand for. The blue and white flag is the National flag and is for the people of Scotland while the yellow and red flag with the crest on it is the royal flag of Scotland and is for the royal family. He actually quizzed us on it and made us guess what the red and gold/yellow flag stood for. He was quite pleased when I said "royalty", I think he was a bit surprised that I was right! I know I was! We also checked out the Elephant House which is the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter book on napkins. It was pretty cool. We also found this great little restaurant inside a really old church. I ordered soup. (Are you sensing a trend?) Eventually we found our way back to the train station and headed to Glasgow. It was our last night. When we got back I went straight to bed because I was so tired. But in the end I woke up, readied myself and went out with Paul and Patrick - Carolan decided to stay in.
Luckily Paul fears no man or woman and was happy to say to random people "Where is a good bar around here." We ended up going to Driftwood, which has a special on Mondays - 99pence for all house liquor drinks. Southern Comfort and lime? Yes. The Bartenders there were so nice, but eventually it closed up and we started to walk toward some clubs that people recommended. Lucky for us again, Paul saw a Subway and felt it entirely necessary to enter and then struck up a conversation with some locals who pointed us to the Campus Club bar. We walked in and immediately noticed what was going on. Karaoke. Good karaoke. Not like those make her shutup karaoke, like those, damn that girl can sing karaoke. It was fantastic. Good music, karaoke, and dancing. Didn't hurt that there was a mini stage and you could dance there (once karaoke was over). At the club we all went our separate ways, it wasn't packed by any means so I could always see where they were and since I was on the stage - they could always see where I was which was convenient. It was nice to mingle and meet different people on our own. I met a very nice boy who had far better dance skills that I ever will have. I got a free scarf out of the deal. Mainly because he had forgotten that he had given it to me and I felt no need to remind him. It's quite soft. Yay for free stuff. He didn't quite understand why I intended on going back to my guesthouse, and not somewhere else with him at the end of the night. So I just gave him the peace sign and walked away leaving him in confusion. It was a pretty nice feeling.
The next morning we got all our stuff together and tidied the room up a bit and organized our packs to head back to Cork. I love all the cities that I'm visiting, but it is so good to go back to Cork at the end of the day. I absolutely love Cork.
We walked down to the train station and eventually, after some wonderful mishaps that ended up with us in a taxi with a wonderfully chatty driver who was great to talk to, we made it to the Glasgow Prestwick Airport (different than the Glasgow International Airport - in case you were wondering). At the security check point - they took my Aveeno face lotion. It was a tough loss for me and I had a strong urge to jump over the table and fish it out of the large red barrel that he so casually and meanly tossed it into with a care for anything that I had to say including the fact that they had let me into the country with it. I still want to punch his lights out.
Now we are back in Cork and luckily I had homework tonight. Why am I lucky? Well I'm not - you are. Because when I have homework I will do everything possible to avoid actually doing my homework, which is why you have now read a fairly detailed entry on my trip to Scotland. I hope you enjoyed it. I am now going to go to bed with only 100 words written for my 1500 word history paper. =]
I'm ashamed.
Once we got past those uber American things we were good.
We arrived in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday at around 10:30. It was pretty chilly but the sun was shining and I had made it through security without losing my Aveeno face lotion. Doesn't sound important - but let me tell you. It is.
We headed toward McLay Guesthouse where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. By the way, We is myself, Carolan, Paul and Patrick. When we walked in the room we saw a double bed and two twin beds, Paul immediately declared, "You two are sleeping there." Meaning that Carolan and I were going to be sharing the double bed. Apparently the boys didn't want to cuddle with each other, shocking really. Obviously Carolan and I had no problem with that. We put our stuff down and took a nap before heading out and exploring the city a little bit. We found the Buchanan Galleries which was a huge shopping center. I am proud to say that I did not buy one single article of clothing or pair of shoes or jewelry for myself. It took a lot of will power but the fact that I'm tres pauvre (very poor) made the decisions a lot easier. After a little exploring and attempting to find a good Scotland souvenir shop (which we couldn't find anywhere in Glasgow) we realized that we were starving. We walked around a bit until to our surprise there appeared in front of us, beside the KFC, a Pizza Hut. We walked in and the smell was so good that it didn't matter that our stomachs were growling, we were totally willing to wait the 20 minutes for a table. I got soup. It was delicious. Everyone else got pizza. Surprised? No I didn't think so.
Unfortunately, we were exhausted so going out that night did not occur. We ended up going to bed after going to the movies. We saw Cloverfield which I am not even going to describe because it is indescribable and was so, so good. It was actually pretty cool to go because there was a film festival going on so there was a lot actually happening around us. It's neat to see how different placs do movies too. Their system of rating is very different than ours and they show commercials instead of previews. (Although there are some previews thrown in). Even though it was Saturday, all the travelling and walking around had made us really tied and so we decided to go to bed so we could make a fairly early start the next morning.
The good part about staying in a Guesthouse is that breakfast is included and so we were able to enjoy a traditional Scottish breakfast. This means, 1 egg, baked beans, toast with butter and/or jam, some sort of pancake/crepe type thing. It wasn't gourment, but it was pretty good. I didn't complain. However, breakfast is served between 7am and 9am which wasn't totally ok with our sleep schedules. Once we finished we went back up to our room....and took naps.
Eventually we did venture into Glasgow that Sunday and lucky for us our travels led us through a beautiful park and towards the Kelvingrove Museum of Modern Art which was one of the most phenomenal museums that I have ever been lucky enough to experience. At one point I was in a room that included art by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt and so many more. It was so unbelievable and overwhelming. For a moment I had to just stop where I was and take in exactly what was going on. I was in the same room as all those pieces of art, in a museum, in Scotland. Amazing.
We spent almost 5 hours there. Clearly we are museum people. I could have spent more time there, but everything closes at 5 so we had to exit at that point when they politely kick you out by yelling throughout the museum that it was closing in 10 minutes. No intercom system, just people walking around yelling that. It was a unique experience. We ate at a little cafe in the museum. I got a fantastic soup and the best mashed potatos that I have ever had in a restaurant in my entire life. They were so good. At the end, we all had carrot cake which was also extremely delicious. By the way, you tip in Scotland. Yes you do. "Service is not included" will be right on your bill. Just letting you know - no tipping in Ireland, but definitely in Scotland.
We later faield at an attempt to go out that night. Perhaps threes a charm and Monday would be the day. Who knows, but we headed to Edinburgh on Monday. We couldn't have gotten luckier. We walked into the train station, bought our tickets with 10 minutes before the train departed for the 50 minute ride to Edinburgh from Glasgow.
Once we made it to Edinburgh we decided to be uber touristy and ride around on one of those double-decker red hop-on-hop-off tourist guide buses. It was a great decision. We saw everything that you could have seen in the city with the ability to hop off and check things out in one area and then hop back on and continue the tour from exactly where you left off. We stopped at Edinburgh Castle which was a gorgeous area. It was also wonderful that the area was surrounded by fantastic little Scottish shops. We met the most fantastic shop owner - his name was Steve. He taught us what the flags of SCotland stand for. The blue and white flag is the National flag and is for the people of Scotland while the yellow and red flag with the crest on it is the royal flag of Scotland and is for the royal family. He actually quizzed us on it and made us guess what the red and gold/yellow flag stood for. He was quite pleased when I said "royalty", I think he was a bit surprised that I was right! I know I was! We also checked out the Elephant House which is the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter book on napkins. It was pretty cool. We also found this great little restaurant inside a really old church. I ordered soup. (Are you sensing a trend?) Eventually we found our way back to the train station and headed to Glasgow. It was our last night. When we got back I went straight to bed because I was so tired. But in the end I woke up, readied myself and went out with Paul and Patrick - Carolan decided to stay in.
Luckily Paul fears no man or woman and was happy to say to random people "Where is a good bar around here." We ended up going to Driftwood, which has a special on Mondays - 99pence for all house liquor drinks. Southern Comfort and lime? Yes. The Bartenders there were so nice, but eventually it closed up and we started to walk toward some clubs that people recommended. Lucky for us again, Paul saw a Subway and felt it entirely necessary to enter and then struck up a conversation with some locals who pointed us to the Campus Club bar. We walked in and immediately noticed what was going on. Karaoke. Good karaoke. Not like those make her shutup karaoke, like those, damn that girl can sing karaoke. It was fantastic. Good music, karaoke, and dancing. Didn't hurt that there was a mini stage and you could dance there (once karaoke was over). At the club we all went our separate ways, it wasn't packed by any means so I could always see where they were and since I was on the stage - they could always see where I was which was convenient. It was nice to mingle and meet different people on our own. I met a very nice boy who had far better dance skills that I ever will have. I got a free scarf out of the deal. Mainly because he had forgotten that he had given it to me and I felt no need to remind him. It's quite soft. Yay for free stuff. He didn't quite understand why I intended on going back to my guesthouse, and not somewhere else with him at the end of the night. So I just gave him the peace sign and walked away leaving him in confusion. It was a pretty nice feeling.
The next morning we got all our stuff together and tidied the room up a bit and organized our packs to head back to Cork. I love all the cities that I'm visiting, but it is so good to go back to Cork at the end of the day. I absolutely love Cork.
We walked down to the train station and eventually, after some wonderful mishaps that ended up with us in a taxi with a wonderfully chatty driver who was great to talk to, we made it to the Glasgow Prestwick Airport (different than the Glasgow International Airport - in case you were wondering). At the security check point - they took my Aveeno face lotion. It was a tough loss for me and I had a strong urge to jump over the table and fish it out of the large red barrel that he so casually and meanly tossed it into with a care for anything that I had to say including the fact that they had let me into the country with it. I still want to punch his lights out.
Now we are back in Cork and luckily I had homework tonight. Why am I lucky? Well I'm not - you are. Because when I have homework I will do everything possible to avoid actually doing my homework, which is why you have now read a fairly detailed entry on my trip to Scotland. I hope you enjoyed it. I am now going to go to bed with only 100 words written for my 1500 word history paper. =]
Monday, February 11, 2008
Ow...
...muscles hurt that I didn't even know could hurt.
But surfing was awesome. The surf was really rough but Carolan and I had a great time. I'm not sure if it was our 5mm thick wetsuits, or the fact that we normally swim in the frigid waters of Northeast America, but the water felt quite nice. In fact, I dove under a few times. Gave me some lovely bloodshot eyes but it was totally worth it.
Our "ensemble" consisted of a 5mm thick wetsuit, wetsuit boots, a wetsuit hood and another thin shirt over that. I didn't do well with the hood. It was very claustrophobic feeling and I hate not being able to hear everything around me, the waves breaking and crashing on the shore, the birds, I needed to take it off. They were really surprised that I wasn't cold when I took it off. I reminded them after that we were from New England, and that water was a lot warmer than New England water. Judging by how easily I could dive under water and not get a brainfreeze, I'd say it was even warmer than New England water in the summer.
We got there a little late for the first lesson, and really early for the second one so they let us jump into the first lesson. Since it ended and we hadn't had the full time they let us hold onto the boards and wetsuits and continue attempting to surf for awhile. It was nothing like surfing in Seabrook, I can tell you that much. In fact I mostly knee-boarded. The undertoe was intense and one of the instructors said the waters just weren't very good that day. It's all right though we tried our best and got up a few times.
It was mainly nice to be able to sit in the water, at one point I just sat on the surfboard and watched the waves. It was so peaceful and so relaxing. It was just what we needed. My spirit feels rejuvenated.
My body on the other hand, not so much. Random muscles hurt that I didn't even realize I was using. At least it was a good workout though. It's two days later and they still hurt. Probably didn't help that I decided to go to the gym yesterday but I didn't want to fall out of my schedule. Oh well.
I woke up early this morning with shakes and flipping from being wicked hot to wicked cold, nevermind the fact that my head hurt so bad I could barely lift myself from my bed. But I had to because you can't take medicine on an empty stomach. So I had some toast and some water and took my medicine and now I'm sitting in my bed writing to you with my body temperature still on the fritz. Right now I'm sweating. But it's apparently cold in our apartment according to my roommate, probably because I opened all the windows because I'm sweating!
Well that's about as much as my eyes can handle. So I'm going to go drink some ice water and pray that my temp will change. Ugh.
But surfing was awesome. The surf was really rough but Carolan and I had a great time. I'm not sure if it was our 5mm thick wetsuits, or the fact that we normally swim in the frigid waters of Northeast America, but the water felt quite nice. In fact, I dove under a few times. Gave me some lovely bloodshot eyes but it was totally worth it.
Our "ensemble" consisted of a 5mm thick wetsuit, wetsuit boots, a wetsuit hood and another thin shirt over that. I didn't do well with the hood. It was very claustrophobic feeling and I hate not being able to hear everything around me, the waves breaking and crashing on the shore, the birds, I needed to take it off. They were really surprised that I wasn't cold when I took it off. I reminded them after that we were from New England, and that water was a lot warmer than New England water. Judging by how easily I could dive under water and not get a brainfreeze, I'd say it was even warmer than New England water in the summer.
We got there a little late for the first lesson, and really early for the second one so they let us jump into the first lesson. Since it ended and we hadn't had the full time they let us hold onto the boards and wetsuits and continue attempting to surf for awhile. It was nothing like surfing in Seabrook, I can tell you that much. In fact I mostly knee-boarded. The undertoe was intense and one of the instructors said the waters just weren't very good that day. It's all right though we tried our best and got up a few times.
It was mainly nice to be able to sit in the water, at one point I just sat on the surfboard and watched the waves. It was so peaceful and so relaxing. It was just what we needed. My spirit feels rejuvenated.
My body on the other hand, not so much. Random muscles hurt that I didn't even realize I was using. At least it was a good workout though. It's two days later and they still hurt. Probably didn't help that I decided to go to the gym yesterday but I didn't want to fall out of my schedule. Oh well.
I woke up early this morning with shakes and flipping from being wicked hot to wicked cold, nevermind the fact that my head hurt so bad I could barely lift myself from my bed. But I had to because you can't take medicine on an empty stomach. So I had some toast and some water and took my medicine and now I'm sitting in my bed writing to you with my body temperature still on the fritz. Right now I'm sweating. But it's apparently cold in our apartment according to my roommate, probably because I opened all the windows because I'm sweating!
Well that's about as much as my eyes can handle. So I'm going to go drink some ice water and pray that my temp will change. Ugh.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Surrrrrfing IRE.....
...(Beach Boys song anyone?) It's 7am. It's probably the earliest I've been awake the entire time that I have been in Eire. But hopefully it will be worth it. My roommate Carolan and I are going surfing in Garretstown in Kinsale, which is about 40 Minutes from where we live. I'm super excited, but super tired. I'll let you know how it goes. Our other roommate Sam is actually going to a surf competition today for the UCC Surf Club. That should be cool too.
All right I've got to run and get ready and catch the bus. Talk to you later.
All right I've got to run and get ready and catch the bus. Talk to you later.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
I'm kind of dumb...
...didn't eat enough before going to the gym today. Not smart.
In any case I'm exhausted. I'm attempting to work on getting my Dublin pictures online but it's not going super well. However I do have my album done from my archaeology field trip which was super interesting. The link is to the right. Definitely check it out, I did my best to describe all the pictures and if you press the "slideshow" button at the top right of the album page you will be able to look at the pictures better. It's a good way to view them. I'm slowly getting the hang of this photobucket album thing. I'm working on it anyways.
I need to sleep. I'm going surfing this weekend! I'll tell you more tomorrow - I promise.
Love you all, goodnight.
In any case I'm exhausted. I'm attempting to work on getting my Dublin pictures online but it's not going super well. However I do have my album done from my archaeology field trip which was super interesting. The link is to the right. Definitely check it out, I did my best to describe all the pictures and if you press the "slideshow" button at the top right of the album page you will be able to look at the pictures better. It's a good way to view them. I'm slowly getting the hang of this photobucket album thing. I'm working on it anyways.
I need to sleep. I'm going surfing this weekend! I'll tell you more tomorrow - I promise.
Love you all, goodnight.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Rocky Road....
...to Dublin. It's a great Dropkick Murphys song. Download it.
Dropkick Murphys is the reason we actually headed for Dublin on Thursday this week. The concert was Thursday night at Tripod in Dublin. We left Cork around 12 and arrived in Dublin at about 5. On the bus we met a boy from Canada and when we arrived at the Bus Station we started chatting and exchanged numbers. It turned out that his name is David, he is 18 years old and got a work visa, packed his backpack and headed for Ireland. He spent the day looking for potential roommates and some job possibilities and he's going to spend the year working in Ireland and travelling. Amazing. We walked to our respective hostels and checked in and then headed to a convenience store for "dinner". "Dinner" consisted of bread and butter, a red bull (sugar free!) and potato wedges. There may have been candy thrown into the mix as well. Don't judge us. While we feasted I gave David a call, he met with us and we proceeded to the concert. It took us a while to get there but after asking several people directions we finally found our way to the queue (pronounced like the letter "q" - means that we got in line =] ) The bouncer gave our friend Paul a bit of a hard time, but in good humor. We picked up our tickets and walked into the venue which was filled with Dropkick fans from around the world. We met people from Germany to North Carolina. It was so cool. The concert was pretty intense with a good deal of moshing, and crowd surfing. However, lucky for me it was quickly realized that I wasn't a "girlfriend." Meaning - I wasn't just there beacuse my boyfriend was there and I tagged along. The surprised looks on people's faces when I knew all the words the songs, were priceless. I got a lot of high-fives and fist-pounds simply out of shock that I knew the music. It was great. It was extremely helpful when they began throwing the crowd around, men will help to hold a woman up or keep her secure from any crazies that are pushing her around. It was fantastic. Didn't hurt that I was able to stay dead center and about 2-3 people back from the stage. I was so happy. At one point my favorite song came on, and I was legit jumping up and down in the middle of these crazies moshing and I felt someone rub my head playfully (which was probably great since I was sweating and nasty and had SO much beer poured on me by then) and I turned to see that it was my friend Paul (also one of his fave songs) who had SOMEHOW found me in the crowd. It was nice to know I could still be found my my crew. About a quarter in I realized that there were arms protecting me from everything around me. I had no idea who they belonged to but they created a fantastic protective bubble for me and helped me to stay upright even when nobody else could stand on their own two feet.
Eventually, the concert ended and we headed out the door. I waited around with a friend who got a copy of the set list and had it signed, and I got a picture with one of the lead singers. It's not a good picture at all. But that's ok. While I waited to leave I looked around for my "saviour" that had protected me the whole night but I couldn't find him anywhere which bummed me out I really wanted to thank him. Luckily on our way out the door I looked over to see him chilling along a fence, I pointed at him, I had never gotten a good look at him so I wasn't totally sure if it was him. But he said, "Hey" and clearly knew who I was. I gave him a hug and thanked him for saving my life and invited him to hang out with us for the rest of the night. It turned out that he was from North Carolina and was studying in Germany for the semester and came to Dublin alone just to see the Dropkick Murphys Concert. We hung out for awhile and chatted, I actually met some people from Chelmsford which was pretty amazing. Then we exchanged numbers and went our separate ways with plans to hang out the next day too.
The next day we went to the Guinness factory! It was so much fun! It's a really cool place and you get the feeling that Guinness is a religion to these people. It was awesome. PLUS While we were watching them talk about how they brew a Guinness they called on me to start a Brew of Guinness and then they took down my information so I now have a brew of Guinness named after me! Brew #2310 - Brittany Dalphond. I don't know about you but I thought that it was pretty cool. After the tour we headed to get our free pint of Guinness, which was clearly the best pint of Guinness I will ever have in my life. Then Paul and I headed down to the other bar to try the other Guinness stouts. We tried Guinness Foreign Extra Stout which is only available in the Caribbean and parts of Africa and has 7.5% alcohol. It was amazing. The best beer I have ever, ever had. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Dublin, Africa or the Caribbean. =]
After we finished with the Guinness factory we headed back to town and decided to grab lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin. It just seems right that you go to a Hard Rock Cafe if there is one there. I don't know why, but it's one of those places that it's nice to say oh well I was in this Hard Rock in this city and that city, etc. So we got over priced food and drinks, personally I went with chicken caesar salad because I'd been craving it. It was PHENOMENAL.
We then walked back to the bus station and got in line for our bus back to Cork. Chris stayed and waited with us and chatted until it was time for us to board the bus. Thankfully it was a direct bus, so there were no stops and we made it back to Cork in 4 hours. On the bus we met an amazing person named Mike who has spent the last 5 years travelling and living in various parts of the world but grew up in Cork. He gave us tons of information of the best places to go all around Europe and told us the tips and tricks of finding the inexpensive areas in all the places that we plan on seeing. He even gave us help with our computers. I don't know how we got onto the topic of computers but I'm certainly thankful for the help. We ended up chatting almost the entire bus ride. It was great, he was such a nice guy.
Once we arrived in Cork we walked back to our apartment and went right to bed, we were exhausted and we had a field trip for our Archaeology class the next day.
We were exhausted Saturday morning, which is why it took us extra time to get to the bus. We ended up being the last people on the bus, but that was only because the people that showed up after us had to take the professor's car because there wasn't enough room in the bus for everyone. It was, interesting. In any case the field trip was really cool. We saw a lot of really amazing places and it was so cool to stand in the middle of something that has been around for centuries. We stopped for lunch at a cute little town and Carolan Pat and I found a nice little restaurant where we grabbed some authentic Irish food. It made Carolan's day. She talked about what she ate and how good it was for the whole day. By the time we got back I was exhausted, and we all just went to bed. Carolan and Sam went hiking the next day, but I knew I wouldn't have been able to stay up all night to see the Superbowl if I had gone hiking and when I talked to them today it was clear that there was NO way I'd have been able to stay awake for the game.
Sunday was wonderful. I had the apartment to myself and I went to gym and then spent the day cleaning and doing laundry and just hanging out around the apartment. It was nice to have a day of nothing. Around 8:30 we headed to Skybar which is the only bar we could find that was playing the whole game. My (Irish) friend Colin told me about it. It was awesome. It was filled with Giants fans and a few Pats fans, but it was nice to have that rivalry in the crowd and feel the tension and the excitement. CLEARLY the feelings of the Irish fans were very different from our, and it was obvious that it meant a lot more to the Americans that were there. But it was still nice. They did a raffle and lucky me I won a poster of the winning team. Riiight, that could have been awesome. While filling out my information a man who was over there commented on my T-shirt (which I had gotten at the concert on Thursday) "Dropkick Murphys," I replied, "Yeah I went to the concert in Dublin on Thursday. It was phenomenal." We then chatted about them for awhile and it turns out her actually grew up in Worcester (as if his Patriots hat and T-shirt and Levi jeans weren't already a big signal that he was from the states)and he knows the band pretty well because he grew up with some of them. Apparently they hang out when they are in Germany, he now lives there, and they grab a drink after their concert and he hangs out backstage with them. My response to this? "Can we be friends?" Yes I seriously said that. His response, laugh, "Yeah." We continued chatting about the Pats, Dropkick, etc and he gave me his card. In case you were wondering, I sent him an email today. After a few bouts of hope, some nail biting, a little nauseau and plenty of yelling and jumping, the game ended. Needless to say I was quite sad, depressed, dejected, somber, melancholy, etc at the end of the Patriots game. We were going to continue the night, half of us celebrating half of us being sorrowful, but since it was 4am here, we decided it would be wise to go to bed. And so ended a fantastic weekend, on a sorrowful night. My heart is sad. =[ I wish I could have watched it with you Daddy, and you should have been at the Guinness factory. It was cool, I wish I could share these experiences with you. I love you.
Going to go study for a quiz tomorrow. Should be hearing from a nearby surf school tomorrow too so that I can start surfing, it's prime time for surfing in Ireland.
I'm trying to put pictures up. I'll update the page as soon as they are up. My internet connection here is funky. Sorry! I <3 you all!
Dropkick Murphys is the reason we actually headed for Dublin on Thursday this week. The concert was Thursday night at Tripod in Dublin. We left Cork around 12 and arrived in Dublin at about 5. On the bus we met a boy from Canada and when we arrived at the Bus Station we started chatting and exchanged numbers. It turned out that his name is David, he is 18 years old and got a work visa, packed his backpack and headed for Ireland. He spent the day looking for potential roommates and some job possibilities and he's going to spend the year working in Ireland and travelling. Amazing. We walked to our respective hostels and checked in and then headed to a convenience store for "dinner". "Dinner" consisted of bread and butter, a red bull (sugar free!) and potato wedges. There may have been candy thrown into the mix as well. Don't judge us. While we feasted I gave David a call, he met with us and we proceeded to the concert. It took us a while to get there but after asking several people directions we finally found our way to the queue (pronounced like the letter "q" - means that we got in line =] ) The bouncer gave our friend Paul a bit of a hard time, but in good humor. We picked up our tickets and walked into the venue which was filled with Dropkick fans from around the world. We met people from Germany to North Carolina. It was so cool. The concert was pretty intense with a good deal of moshing, and crowd surfing. However, lucky for me it was quickly realized that I wasn't a "girlfriend." Meaning - I wasn't just there beacuse my boyfriend was there and I tagged along. The surprised looks on people's faces when I knew all the words the songs, were priceless. I got a lot of high-fives and fist-pounds simply out of shock that I knew the music. It was great. It was extremely helpful when they began throwing the crowd around, men will help to hold a woman up or keep her secure from any crazies that are pushing her around. It was fantastic. Didn't hurt that I was able to stay dead center and about 2-3 people back from the stage. I was so happy. At one point my favorite song came on, and I was legit jumping up and down in the middle of these crazies moshing and I felt someone rub my head playfully (which was probably great since I was sweating and nasty and had SO much beer poured on me by then) and I turned to see that it was my friend Paul (also one of his fave songs) who had SOMEHOW found me in the crowd. It was nice to know I could still be found my my crew. About a quarter in I realized that there were arms protecting me from everything around me. I had no idea who they belonged to but they created a fantastic protective bubble for me and helped me to stay upright even when nobody else could stand on their own two feet.
Eventually, the concert ended and we headed out the door. I waited around with a friend who got a copy of the set list and had it signed, and I got a picture with one of the lead singers. It's not a good picture at all. But that's ok. While I waited to leave I looked around for my "saviour" that had protected me the whole night but I couldn't find him anywhere which bummed me out I really wanted to thank him. Luckily on our way out the door I looked over to see him chilling along a fence, I pointed at him, I had never gotten a good look at him so I wasn't totally sure if it was him. But he said, "Hey" and clearly knew who I was. I gave him a hug and thanked him for saving my life and invited him to hang out with us for the rest of the night. It turned out that he was from North Carolina and was studying in Germany for the semester and came to Dublin alone just to see the Dropkick Murphys Concert. We hung out for awhile and chatted, I actually met some people from Chelmsford which was pretty amazing. Then we exchanged numbers and went our separate ways with plans to hang out the next day too.
The next day we went to the Guinness factory! It was so much fun! It's a really cool place and you get the feeling that Guinness is a religion to these people. It was awesome. PLUS While we were watching them talk about how they brew a Guinness they called on me to start a Brew of Guinness and then they took down my information so I now have a brew of Guinness named after me! Brew #2310 - Brittany Dalphond. I don't know about you but I thought that it was pretty cool. After the tour we headed to get our free pint of Guinness, which was clearly the best pint of Guinness I will ever have in my life. Then Paul and I headed down to the other bar to try the other Guinness stouts. We tried Guinness Foreign Extra Stout which is only available in the Caribbean and parts of Africa and has 7.5% alcohol. It was amazing. The best beer I have ever, ever had. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Dublin, Africa or the Caribbean. =]
After we finished with the Guinness factory we headed back to town and decided to grab lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin. It just seems right that you go to a Hard Rock Cafe if there is one there. I don't know why, but it's one of those places that it's nice to say oh well I was in this Hard Rock in this city and that city, etc. So we got over priced food and drinks, personally I went with chicken caesar salad because I'd been craving it. It was PHENOMENAL.
We then walked back to the bus station and got in line for our bus back to Cork. Chris stayed and waited with us and chatted until it was time for us to board the bus. Thankfully it was a direct bus, so there were no stops and we made it back to Cork in 4 hours. On the bus we met an amazing person named Mike who has spent the last 5 years travelling and living in various parts of the world but grew up in Cork. He gave us tons of information of the best places to go all around Europe and told us the tips and tricks of finding the inexpensive areas in all the places that we plan on seeing. He even gave us help with our computers. I don't know how we got onto the topic of computers but I'm certainly thankful for the help. We ended up chatting almost the entire bus ride. It was great, he was such a nice guy.
Once we arrived in Cork we walked back to our apartment and went right to bed, we were exhausted and we had a field trip for our Archaeology class the next day.
We were exhausted Saturday morning, which is why it took us extra time to get to the bus. We ended up being the last people on the bus, but that was only because the people that showed up after us had to take the professor's car because there wasn't enough room in the bus for everyone. It was, interesting. In any case the field trip was really cool. We saw a lot of really amazing places and it was so cool to stand in the middle of something that has been around for centuries. We stopped for lunch at a cute little town and Carolan Pat and I found a nice little restaurant where we grabbed some authentic Irish food. It made Carolan's day. She talked about what she ate and how good it was for the whole day. By the time we got back I was exhausted, and we all just went to bed. Carolan and Sam went hiking the next day, but I knew I wouldn't have been able to stay up all night to see the Superbowl if I had gone hiking and when I talked to them today it was clear that there was NO way I'd have been able to stay awake for the game.
Sunday was wonderful. I had the apartment to myself and I went to gym and then spent the day cleaning and doing laundry and just hanging out around the apartment. It was nice to have a day of nothing. Around 8:30 we headed to Skybar which is the only bar we could find that was playing the whole game. My (Irish) friend Colin told me about it. It was awesome. It was filled with Giants fans and a few Pats fans, but it was nice to have that rivalry in the crowd and feel the tension and the excitement. CLEARLY the feelings of the Irish fans were very different from our, and it was obvious that it meant a lot more to the Americans that were there. But it was still nice. They did a raffle and lucky me I won a poster of the winning team. Riiight, that could have been awesome. While filling out my information a man who was over there commented on my T-shirt (which I had gotten at the concert on Thursday) "Dropkick Murphys," I replied, "Yeah I went to the concert in Dublin on Thursday. It was phenomenal." We then chatted about them for awhile and it turns out her actually grew up in Worcester (as if his Patriots hat and T-shirt and Levi jeans weren't already a big signal that he was from the states)and he knows the band pretty well because he grew up with some of them. Apparently they hang out when they are in Germany, he now lives there, and they grab a drink after their concert and he hangs out backstage with them. My response to this? "Can we be friends?" Yes I seriously said that. His response, laugh, "Yeah." We continued chatting about the Pats, Dropkick, etc and he gave me his card. In case you were wondering, I sent him an email today. After a few bouts of hope, some nail biting, a little nauseau and plenty of yelling and jumping, the game ended. Needless to say I was quite sad, depressed, dejected, somber, melancholy, etc at the end of the Patriots game. We were going to continue the night, half of us celebrating half of us being sorrowful, but since it was 4am here, we decided it would be wise to go to bed. And so ended a fantastic weekend, on a sorrowful night. My heart is sad. =[ I wish I could have watched it with you Daddy, and you should have been at the Guinness factory. It was cool, I wish I could share these experiences with you. I love you.
Going to go study for a quiz tomorrow. Should be hearing from a nearby surf school tomorrow too so that I can start surfing, it's prime time for surfing in Ireland.
I'm trying to put pictures up. I'll update the page as soon as they are up. My internet connection here is funky. Sorry! I <3 you all!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Hi Aunt Lorraine!!
Check out my pictures from hiking the mountain! It was amazing!
By the way, when you get to the photo album I recommend clicking the slideshow button or the grid button, it's easier to see the pictures that way. =] I love you!
By the way, when you get to the photo album I recommend clicking the slideshow button or the grid button, it's easier to see the pictures that way. =] I love you!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tired...
...doesn't even begin to describe me. I've done a lot of climbing this weekend so I figure I'll start with Saturday. Saturday I went to Cashel, Co. Tipperary (By the way Uncle Paul Tipperary is only about a 2 hour bus ride from here.). The trip was amazing. First we went to the Rock of Cashel and watched a video on the area and explored it. It was beging retored so some it wasn't available for viewing. but the areas that were were just breathtaking. TWe walekd through the cemetery too which had absolutely beautiful Celtic Crosses as almost all of the stones. I got some great pictures of it. That was a pretty quick walk, although it was really fun to explore we finished with it rather wuickly. We could see another castle-like building in the distance and went into the main entrance to ask the desk worker how to get to the castle. She told us how and said something about please don't break down the gate to go through. We had no idea what she meant - the gate had a door. I have a feeling she wanted us to walk all the way down and around but let's be real. We are all college students and we clearly know that the quickest way to get somewhere is in a straight line. So (in preparation for Sunday's adventure) we mountaineered down the side of the hill for the Abbey in the distance. When we got there we were amazed. In my personal opinion it was a lot more fun to explore this abbey than it was to explore the rock of Cashel. Both were cool but I quickly realized that you could easily climb the Abbey, so I did and other followed and next thing you know we are all on top of the Abbey. It was turdy it had lasted since 1272, so I wasn't too worried and It was so cool to be standing on top of it and look around. I could see for miles. I wish I could describe the feeling of when I was on top of the abbey. It just felt so good, so amazing, so utterly incomprehensible and unbelievable. Eventually we scurried down off of the abbey and walked into town where we stopped at a cute little nook and got some delicious lunch which were all cracing. by the time we finished, we were done and ready to go home. We were all tired from walking and just wanted to be home. I went across the street to check the bus schedule and realized that the bus was supposed to have been there 4 minutes ago, and that the next one wasn't for 2 hours. I went in and told everyone that there were two possibilities: A. The bus was late. or B. The bus left roughly 5 minutes ago and the next wasn't for 2 hours. We decided to stand by the bus stop and pray that, like many things in Ireland, the bus was late. When we saw the bus coming around the corner we all pumped our fists into the air. Victory was ours, plus a nice 2 hour ride home which would most definitely include naps for all of us. By the time we got home it was around 7 here and I figured I would lay down for a bit since I had a skype date at 9 with my family. Unfortunately I didn't awake until about midnight and it was only because a friend texted me. What can you do. I chatted with mom (Hi mom!) for a bit and went to bed because Sunday would be a bright and early start.
I was up by 7am on Sunday because we had to catch a bus to Mahon Falls at 8:30 in order to go mountaineering with the UCC Mountaineering club. Just so we are clear mountaineering is totally different than hiking - hiking has a path. Mountaineering has a MOUNTAIN. You follow a trail of sheep shit half the time and the rest of it you just pray. It was amazing. The weather was absolutely perfect for it and it was one of the best experiencing of my life. Granted as I write this at 10pm my feet are throbbing and my legs can barely move - but it was totally worth it. I cannot even begin to express the level of amazement I had. I did put up pictures though so you can see exactly what I am talking about. But there is something to point out - both Saturday and Sunday - pictures do not do this justice. No picture I took even compared to the view in person. It was utterly breathtaking. When we reached the top of the mountain I was in awe of everything around me. I could see the ocean! Clouds were floating by us at one point! There are no words that could ever do this experience justice. Since pictures are suppose to say a thousand words I pray that you will find some explanation that portrays the magnitude of the experience that I was so lucky to take part in. Sunday is the Lord's Day and I truly felt like God was all around me when I was at the top of that mountain. The rays of sun shining through the clouds and the scenery that surrounded me everywhere I looked. I wish I could have shared those moments with all of you.
I was up by 7am on Sunday because we had to catch a bus to Mahon Falls at 8:30 in order to go mountaineering with the UCC Mountaineering club. Just so we are clear mountaineering is totally different than hiking - hiking has a path. Mountaineering has a MOUNTAIN. You follow a trail of sheep shit half the time and the rest of it you just pray. It was amazing. The weather was absolutely perfect for it and it was one of the best experiencing of my life. Granted as I write this at 10pm my feet are throbbing and my legs can barely move - but it was totally worth it. I cannot even begin to express the level of amazement I had. I did put up pictures though so you can see exactly what I am talking about. But there is something to point out - both Saturday and Sunday - pictures do not do this justice. No picture I took even compared to the view in person. It was utterly breathtaking. When we reached the top of the mountain I was in awe of everything around me. I could see the ocean! Clouds were floating by us at one point! There are no words that could ever do this experience justice. Since pictures are suppose to say a thousand words I pray that you will find some explanation that portrays the magnitude of the experience that I was so lucky to take part in. Sunday is the Lord's Day and I truly felt like God was all around me when I was at the top of that mountain. The rays of sun shining through the clouds and the scenery that surrounded me everywhere I looked. I wish I could have shared those moments with all of you.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I must apologize...
...it feels like a long time since I last wrote. Almost a week in fact. I'm not totally sure where I left off. Oh yeah, our "garden." Joy - We planted flowers, sweet pea and wildflowers and strawberries. On Friday of that week we went to Waterford Co. and went on the tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory. That was one of those days where everything went right. Sam and Care and I made the bus perfectly on time, when we got on the bus the man driving was so kind, he gave me a map of the city and dropped us off right in front of the factory - which isn't even a bus stop! After the tour was over he was still the driver and he chatted with us about the factory and told us that his brother works there. We asked if he had been working that day, and when the bus driver said yes we laughed and told him that we probably took pictures of his brother since we took pictures of everything going on!
It was really cool to see how everything was created and all the different stops along the way. I have so many pictures from that day! Oh we also got interred in a jail. We were the last group for the tours of the day and so when we returned to the main entrance of the tower we noticed that the door was locked. Sorry mum, they must have found out I stole dirt from UCC. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant with Indian waiters, very unique. The food was very good though.
The next day we hopped on a bus and went to Kinsale and walked around. It's a very cute little town, we'll definitely go back there again when it is nicer.
This week is Rag Week, and no I'm not being too personal right now. Rag Week is a festival at UCC where shows and parties are put on to raise money for charity. There are events on campus all day including bands and juggling and eating contests and at night clubs open their doors for charity as well. It's wonderful. Unfortunately it means that there are parties every single night. Bummer. Tonight is Mystery UCC Tour, you buy a ticket for 10 Euro and a bus picks you up (by you I mean like 700 students) and drops you off in a town at a club and picks you up at the end of the night and drives you home. Rumors are that tonight's destination is Limerick.
PICTURES ARE UP! Yes I was finally able to add pictures and be online for more than 30 seconds at a time which is totally awesome! So clearly I added a whole bunch of pictures and you can see them. They are all in one folder and I attempted to give them titles but they are from my visit to Waterford Crystal, our visit to Kinsale, a night at the bar and thenight we stole dirt from UCC. Check them out: My Pictures!!
I have to run! Talk to you later!
It was really cool to see how everything was created and all the different stops along the way. I have so many pictures from that day! Oh we also got interred in a jail. We were the last group for the tours of the day and so when we returned to the main entrance of the tower we noticed that the door was locked. Sorry mum, they must have found out I stole dirt from UCC. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant with Indian waiters, very unique. The food was very good though.
The next day we hopped on a bus and went to Kinsale and walked around. It's a very cute little town, we'll definitely go back there again when it is nicer.
This week is Rag Week, and no I'm not being too personal right now. Rag Week is a festival at UCC where shows and parties are put on to raise money for charity. There are events on campus all day including bands and juggling and eating contests and at night clubs open their doors for charity as well. It's wonderful. Unfortunately it means that there are parties every single night. Bummer. Tonight is Mystery UCC Tour, you buy a ticket for 10 Euro and a bus picks you up (by you I mean like 700 students) and drops you off in a town at a club and picks you up at the end of the night and drives you home. Rumors are that tonight's destination is Limerick.
PICTURES ARE UP! Yes I was finally able to add pictures and be online for more than 30 seconds at a time which is totally awesome! So clearly I added a whole bunch of pictures and you can see them. They are all in one folder and I attempted to give them titles but they are from my visit to Waterford Crystal, our visit to Kinsale, a night at the bar and thenight we stole dirt from UCC. Check them out: My Pictures!!
I have to run! Talk to you later!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Irish Invasion...
...no lie.
Yesterday we were invaded by a little over a dozen Irish college boys. I'm not complaining - I'm explaining. Just so we have that clear. Now I'll continue. It was Tuesday night. Now to put you in our shoes, we weren't sure if we wanted to go out that night. We heard a traditional Irish band was playing and it was going to be a good night but we just weren't feeling it. We were sitting in our rooms doing homework and checking facebook (the usual) when our door opened and suddenly we heard an Irish voice say, "Sorry wrong house." To which we replied, "No problem." Then the door opened again and another young Irish voice came ringing, "Sorry wrong house." At around the fourth Irish voice yelling that through out open door, Sam began to invite them in and actually went to the door. At this point I joined her at the door, or rather I made a quick sprint across my roon and into the hallway in order to join her at the door as quickly as possible. They encouraged us to get to know the locals, and clearly this was as good a chance as any other. Soon these dozen or so Irishmen were inhabiting our living room proclaiming how awesome our apartment was and telling us that it was the birthdays of two of the boys. Brilliant. One began to ask us our names, "Samantha," then it was my turn, "Brittany." They immediately erupted into loudness at the mention that my name was Brittany. I guess it doesn't get much more American than Samantha and Brittany. Soon enough they began to invite us out to wherever they were going, though only after chastising us that we weren't already out or at least ready to go out. They invited us to a bar and said, if we see you there we'll buy you each a drink. As soon as the door shut behind them as they went to meet their taxi, Sam and I looked at each other and said, "15 Minutes?"
In the end Sam chose not to go, but Carolan and I went to the Old Oak for what ended up being an ok show, but a really fun night anyways. At least for me, I got us tickets to a private event at the bar we always go to. It pays to flirt with the bartender - what's ironic is that I was only flirting with him to get information for my friend who liked him who refused to flirt with him. COnfused yet? It's much easily to flirt with someone for someone else. Does that make sense? In any case we have VIP tickets to a show with a "Brilliant band," as Dave the bartender said. 1 Point Brittany, 0 Points Somebody else.
Today brought yet another adventure as we decided how to bring our plans for a garden to fruition. The plans for our indoor garden, at that point, included some cleaned out glass jars from peanut butter, spaghetti sauce and the like, and a cookie tin, plus a good deal of compost and packets of seeds for flowers, vegetables, and fruits. We go all out. See anything missing though? Yeah - dirt. We decided there was no way we were going to pay for dirt especially when we are surrounded by so much dirt. So we planned to head out on a mission at 20:00 toward the UCC Campus because today, by some divine intervention, I spotted a large pile of dirt behind the main quadrangle. (See that building at the top of my blog - behind that.) But what would we put the dirt in? First we had planned on filling the biggest pot we had, which we covered with tin foil in a feeble attempt to make it look like potluck instead of a bit of stolen earth. But, lucky for us, the Irish boys had been patroling yet again today, this time with a bucket which they left in the lobby of our apartment complex. Sam grabbed it, I refused because I insisted on not looking suspect and I wondered what it would look like carrying a large plastic bucket and a silver serving spoon around campus and the streets of Cork. Finally we arrived at the spot. Sam filled her bucket and Carolan filled her while I stood guard over the scene. Soon I saw a security officer heading our way, "Security! Security is coming! Security!" I began muttering loudly to them, to which Carolan stood up with her bucket looked at me and said, "I think I took enough dirt for our garden." Later she revelaed to me that she though I was kidding about security. I explained, "Carolan, when you are on a stealth mission to steal something from a campus in a foreign country, be it dirt or a copy of the final exam, the person yelling that security is coming is never lying." In any case we made it back to the apartment, dirt in hand, after walking the streets of Cork and recieving plenty of odd looks from the locals. Yes, that's us - the crazy Americans stealing dirt. We then combined the dirt with our compost and planted us a garden! I hope that it will be lovely, but only time will tell.
All right it's about time for me to go to bed, I have Gailge (pronounced -> Gail-ge with a hard G sound) and Italian class tomorrow. Goodnight!
Yesterday we were invaded by a little over a dozen Irish college boys. I'm not complaining - I'm explaining. Just so we have that clear. Now I'll continue. It was Tuesday night. Now to put you in our shoes, we weren't sure if we wanted to go out that night. We heard a traditional Irish band was playing and it was going to be a good night but we just weren't feeling it. We were sitting in our rooms doing homework and checking facebook (the usual) when our door opened and suddenly we heard an Irish voice say, "Sorry wrong house." To which we replied, "No problem." Then the door opened again and another young Irish voice came ringing, "Sorry wrong house." At around the fourth Irish voice yelling that through out open door, Sam began to invite them in and actually went to the door. At this point I joined her at the door, or rather I made a quick sprint across my roon and into the hallway in order to join her at the door as quickly as possible. They encouraged us to get to know the locals, and clearly this was as good a chance as any other. Soon these dozen or so Irishmen were inhabiting our living room proclaiming how awesome our apartment was and telling us that it was the birthdays of two of the boys. Brilliant. One began to ask us our names, "Samantha," then it was my turn, "Brittany." They immediately erupted into loudness at the mention that my name was Brittany. I guess it doesn't get much more American than Samantha and Brittany. Soon enough they began to invite us out to wherever they were going, though only after chastising us that we weren't already out or at least ready to go out. They invited us to a bar and said, if we see you there we'll buy you each a drink. As soon as the door shut behind them as they went to meet their taxi, Sam and I looked at each other and said, "15 Minutes?"
In the end Sam chose not to go, but Carolan and I went to the Old Oak for what ended up being an ok show, but a really fun night anyways. At least for me, I got us tickets to a private event at the bar we always go to. It pays to flirt with the bartender - what's ironic is that I was only flirting with him to get information for my friend who liked him who refused to flirt with him. COnfused yet? It's much easily to flirt with someone for someone else. Does that make sense? In any case we have VIP tickets to a show with a "Brilliant band," as Dave the bartender said. 1 Point Brittany, 0 Points Somebody else.
Today brought yet another adventure as we decided how to bring our plans for a garden to fruition. The plans for our indoor garden, at that point, included some cleaned out glass jars from peanut butter, spaghetti sauce and the like, and a cookie tin, plus a good deal of compost and packets of seeds for flowers, vegetables, and fruits. We go all out. See anything missing though? Yeah - dirt. We decided there was no way we were going to pay for dirt especially when we are surrounded by so much dirt. So we planned to head out on a mission at 20:00 toward the UCC Campus because today, by some divine intervention, I spotted a large pile of dirt behind the main quadrangle. (See that building at the top of my blog - behind that.) But what would we put the dirt in? First we had planned on filling the biggest pot we had, which we covered with tin foil in a feeble attempt to make it look like potluck instead of a bit of stolen earth. But, lucky for us, the Irish boys had been patroling yet again today, this time with a bucket which they left in the lobby of our apartment complex. Sam grabbed it, I refused because I insisted on not looking suspect and I wondered what it would look like carrying a large plastic bucket and a silver serving spoon around campus and the streets of Cork. Finally we arrived at the spot. Sam filled her bucket and Carolan filled her while I stood guard over the scene. Soon I saw a security officer heading our way, "Security! Security is coming! Security!" I began muttering loudly to them, to which Carolan stood up with her bucket looked at me and said, "I think I took enough dirt for our garden." Later she revelaed to me that she though I was kidding about security. I explained, "Carolan, when you are on a stealth mission to steal something from a campus in a foreign country, be it dirt or a copy of the final exam, the person yelling that security is coming is never lying." In any case we made it back to the apartment, dirt in hand, after walking the streets of Cork and recieving plenty of odd looks from the locals. Yes, that's us - the crazy Americans stealing dirt. We then combined the dirt with our compost and planted us a garden! I hope that it will be lovely, but only time will tell.
All right it's about time for me to go to bed, I have Gailge (pronounced -> Gail-ge with a hard G sound) and Italian class tomorrow. Goodnight!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Today, the rain...
...waited. Till about 9:15 PM. I was walking around on the patio (which should be a garden patio) when I noticed in the light of the street lamp that it appeared to be raining. I tilted my head straight up towards the stars and as the rain hit my face I thought, "How did I not notice this earlier?"
Anyways, today was a good day. It was sunny pretty much all day. We got up and went to church at noon, which was wonderful yet again. After the mass ended we took some time to take pictures of the church, which was also wonderful and beautiful. THe eucharistic minister from the mass actually came out and told us a little more about it. She told us the meaning of all the writings and pictures along the floor which is tiled beautifully and invited us up onto the altar to get a better look at it and to show us the tabernacle which is gorgeous. She also brought us some pamphlets and she and one of the preiests chatted with us all about where we were from and what we were doing in Ireland. It was one of the most pleasant receptions we have had in Ireland, yet again at church. I suppose that's fitting. The church is called Honan Chapel and it's named for the Cork merchant family who funded it. The tabernacle, shaped like an early Irish oratory, has a door embellished with brilliant enamelling by Oswald Reeves. (All from the Pamphlet) It's beautiful.
After leaving we walked around the campus taking pictures while waiting for some friends to meet for lunch. It was a perfect day to take pictures and I got some amazing shots of the view of Cork from UCC, plus some lovely shadow photos just to prove that the sun shines in Ireland. We were starting to think the sun would never shine, but it did! When our friends arrived we headed to Lennox's for some fish and chips. I'm pretty sure it was good, but I was so hungry by the time we got there that I may have swallowed it all in one bite. I don't even remember, I just rememberreaching a point where my stomach couldn't possibly take another bite. From there we walked into town and picked up some things the "2 Euro" Store (Ireland's Equivalent to the Dollar Store I guess) and Penny's. We walked around for a while basically becoming more acquainted with the area. We also saw the Beamish factory on our way into town. That was pretty cool. It was a great day, but definitely a 5 Mile day. We walked for so long this weekend I feel like my legs should be in pain, but they aren't. They will be once I start the gym this week though. I'm so excited!
By the time we got home we were all exhausted and not at all hungry since the fish and chips filled us so much so we all went our separate ways. Carolan took a nap and I put on the movie Newsies and started going over my archaeology book and taking some notes. I got up and boiled some chicken and potatoes, yes boiled, it came out really good. I loved it. I put some lemon and herb seasoning on it. Delicious. I attempted to continue taking notes but I wasn't in the mood so I went out onto the patio and walked around and that's basically where I started this blog. Not a super exciting day, but a great one for pictures. As soon as our internet connection doesn't stink I will add pictures. Until then, check out a new album here: http://flickr.com/photos/22857838@N08/. There are only a few pictures on it, but you get the idea.
I am going to go do some more school stuff and hopefully head to bed. Talk to you later!
Anyways, today was a good day. It was sunny pretty much all day. We got up and went to church at noon, which was wonderful yet again. After the mass ended we took some time to take pictures of the church, which was also wonderful and beautiful. THe eucharistic minister from the mass actually came out and told us a little more about it. She told us the meaning of all the writings and pictures along the floor which is tiled beautifully and invited us up onto the altar to get a better look at it and to show us the tabernacle which is gorgeous. She also brought us some pamphlets and she and one of the preiests chatted with us all about where we were from and what we were doing in Ireland. It was one of the most pleasant receptions we have had in Ireland, yet again at church. I suppose that's fitting. The church is called Honan Chapel and it's named for the Cork merchant family who funded it. The tabernacle, shaped like an early Irish oratory, has a door embellished with brilliant enamelling by Oswald Reeves. (All from the Pamphlet) It's beautiful.
After leaving we walked around the campus taking pictures while waiting for some friends to meet for lunch. It was a perfect day to take pictures and I got some amazing shots of the view of Cork from UCC, plus some lovely shadow photos just to prove that the sun shines in Ireland. We were starting to think the sun would never shine, but it did! When our friends arrived we headed to Lennox's for some fish and chips. I'm pretty sure it was good, but I was so hungry by the time we got there that I may have swallowed it all in one bite. I don't even remember, I just rememberreaching a point where my stomach couldn't possibly take another bite. From there we walked into town and picked up some things the "2 Euro" Store (Ireland's Equivalent to the Dollar Store I guess) and Penny's. We walked around for a while basically becoming more acquainted with the area. We also saw the Beamish factory on our way into town. That was pretty cool. It was a great day, but definitely a 5 Mile day. We walked for so long this weekend I feel like my legs should be in pain, but they aren't. They will be once I start the gym this week though. I'm so excited!
By the time we got home we were all exhausted and not at all hungry since the fish and chips filled us so much so we all went our separate ways. Carolan took a nap and I put on the movie Newsies and started going over my archaeology book and taking some notes. I got up and boiled some chicken and potatoes, yes boiled, it came out really good. I loved it. I put some lemon and herb seasoning on it. Delicious. I attempted to continue taking notes but I wasn't in the mood so I went out onto the patio and walked around and that's basically where I started this blog. Not a super exciting day, but a great one for pictures. As soon as our internet connection doesn't stink I will add pictures. Until then, check out a new album here: http://flickr.com/photos/22857838@N08/. There are only a few pictures on it, but you get the idea.
I am going to go do some more school stuff and hopefully head to bed. Talk to you later!
No previews....
...at least not at this movie theatre in Cork. But let me back track a second. We woke up with the intention of going to Blarney and after setting out very late to walk to the Cork Bus station to take a bus there we missed our first bus. We then bought tickets for the next bus and as we looked for it in the "Departing Buses" section of the bus station, it left without four of us, two of us made it onto the bus but the rest of us did not. At this point, dejected and wet from the constant rain that has been falling in Ireland as of late, we had no interest in going to Blarney anymore. So we walked to a music store we saw along the way and stopped in and then we asked where the closest movie theatre was. After asking maybe 5 times for directions we finally found ourselves at the Cork Cinema.
This cinema was a very different experience for me. To start with, you buy your ticket and then you wait outside of the theatre. Our movie started at 1:30, so at 1:27 one of the employees went and opened the doors to allow the other movie-goers to file out of the movie that showed before and then we rushed in, found seats and the movie started sans previews by 1:40. Genna and I saw P.S. I Love You. Why I even wore make-up today I haven't a clue. Throughout the whole movie I had a river flowing down my face, I don't think I have ever cried so incessantly through a movie. It was amazing, I highly recommend it. PLUS - it's got some great scenes of Ireland in there. It was awesome to think, "Hey I'm there right now." So definitely go see it. After that we checked out some sports stores. I had hopes of finding the perfect rugby but did not and ending up finding a beautiful Boston (Ironic huh?) Fighting Irish sweatshirt. Which said 100% Irish on the tag, and I'm basically in love with it. Then we came back here napped, hung out, watch a creepy De Niro movie while complaining that we could not watch the football game.
By the way, I have like 3 channels on our TV. So that means no football game, which at this point in the season s basically torture, even for me and football isn't even my fave. Hence why it is now 2:10 in the morning here and I am still awake watching the scores change on NFL.com and reading the play-by-play. At least it gives me a chance to catch you all up on the day. I know you love to read about when I take naps.
So that's my day, I hope you are all enjoying your BBQ chicken wings and my Dad's delicious nacho dip while watching the Pats game on the HD big screen. I could be jealous of you, but I'm in Ireland, so you know it's only a millisecond of jealousy and then I remember - oh yeah I'm in a foreign country with rolling hills and green, green grass and good looking Irish men. Plus, my school looks like Hogwarts. Awesome.
Yesterday night was really fun. Carolan, Sam and I got up and went to the school to register for our history classes and pass in some papers to sign up for a Heritage Weekend in Kerry - which I am wicked excited for. We then took a quick library tour to learn how to use their high-tech library, which is wicked nice and newly renovated. While walking we found some really awesome graffiti. Then we went to the Cork museum and spent some time walking through the beautiful gardens, walked up the white footbridge and then stopped for a cup of tea and some chocolate
cake in a small cafe beside the river. It was a dream come true. We had a great time in the museum too, which was free admission. I think we are definitely going to go back later after we have taken more of our Irish History and History of Archaeology of Ireland classes so we can understand and appreciate it all a little bit more. Plus the gardens are going to be even more beautiful in the spring. Oh and on our way out of the gardens we saw the cutest little girl frolicking through the gardens. 
It was adorable.
After that we checked out the sports complex which is, in one word, amazing! First of all, you don't get in with your card you get it with a fingerprint. No lie they finger print you and it is the only way to enter the gym complex. Plus everything is free to members of UCC (the college I go to here) and they have this great personal trainer type program (also free) and a pool, and a women's only gym. They have plenty of equipment and I can definitely see myself taking full advantage of that free gym. I am so excited.
We ended up staying in for the night and just hanging out in the apartment with everyone.
It was a good craic. (That means good times over here in Ireland - sorry I couldn't resist.) And now I am here watching the scores change on NFL.com. I'm so glad church is at noon so I can actually sleep in. Oh yeah, I also got a free poster from the movie theatre. They give away the posters once they are done with them so I grabbed the last "We Own the Night" movie posters for our apartment. Nothing spruces up and apartment like Mark Wahlberg on your wall.
By the way, I apologize that I haven't uploaded pictures. I've been having a lot of trouble with photobucket. But as soon as I am able to upload more I will. For now I'll just upload a couple and try to put them into my journal entries. Sorry!
This cinema was a very different experience for me. To start with, you buy your ticket and then you wait outside of the theatre. Our movie started at 1:30, so at 1:27 one of the employees went and opened the doors to allow the other movie-goers to file out of the movie that showed before and then we rushed in, found seats and the movie started sans previews by 1:40. Genna and I saw P.S. I Love You. Why I even wore make-up today I haven't a clue. Throughout the whole movie I had a river flowing down my face, I don't think I have ever cried so incessantly through a movie. It was amazing, I highly recommend it. PLUS - it's got some great scenes of Ireland in there. It was awesome to think, "Hey I'm there right now." So definitely go see it. After that we checked out some sports stores. I had hopes of finding the perfect rugby but did not and ending up finding a beautiful Boston (Ironic huh?) Fighting Irish sweatshirt. Which said 100% Irish on the tag, and I'm basically in love with it. Then we came back here napped, hung out, watch a creepy De Niro movie while complaining that we could not watch the football game.
By the way, I have like 3 channels on our TV. So that means no football game, which at this point in the season s basically torture, even for me and football isn't even my fave. Hence why it is now 2:10 in the morning here and I am still awake watching the scores change on NFL.com and reading the play-by-play. At least it gives me a chance to catch you all up on the day. I know you love to read about when I take naps.
So that's my day, I hope you are all enjoying your BBQ chicken wings and my Dad's delicious nacho dip while watching the Pats game on the HD big screen. I could be jealous of you, but I'm in Ireland, so you know it's only a millisecond of jealousy and then I remember - oh yeah I'm in a foreign country with rolling hills and green, green grass and good looking Irish men. Plus, my school looks like Hogwarts. Awesome. Yesterday night was really fun. Carolan, Sam and I got up and went to the school to register for our history classes and pass in some papers to sign up for a Heritage Weekend in Kerry - which I am wicked excited for. We then took a quick library tour to learn how to use their high-tech library, which is wicked nice and newly renovated. While walking we found some really awesome graffiti. Then we went to the Cork museum and spent some time walking through the beautiful gardens, walked up the white footbridge and then stopped for a cup of tea and some chocolate
cake in a small cafe beside the river. It was a dream come true. We had a great time in the museum too, which was free admission. I think we are definitely going to go back later after we have taken more of our Irish History and History of Archaeology of Ireland classes so we can understand and appreciate it all a little bit more. Plus the gardens are going to be even more beautiful in the spring. Oh and on our way out of the gardens we saw the cutest little girl frolicking through the gardens. 
It was adorable.After that we checked out the sports complex which is, in one word, amazing! First of all, you don't get in with your card you get it with a fingerprint. No lie they finger print you and it is the only way to enter the gym complex. Plus everything is free to members of UCC (the college I go to here) and they have this great personal trainer type program (also free) and a pool, and a women's only gym. They have plenty of equipment and I can definitely see myself taking full advantage of that free gym. I am so excited.
We ended up staying in for the night and just hanging out in the apartment with everyone.
It was a good craic. (That means good times over here in Ireland - sorry I couldn't resist.) And now I am here watching the scores change on NFL.com. I'm so glad church is at noon so I can actually sleep in. Oh yeah, I also got a free poster from the movie theatre. They give away the posters once they are done with them so I grabbed the last "We Own the Night" movie posters for our apartment. Nothing spruces up and apartment like Mark Wahlberg on your wall. By the way, I apologize that I haven't uploaded pictures. I've been having a lot of trouble with photobucket. But as soon as I am able to upload more I will. For now I'll just upload a couple and try to put them into my journal entries. Sorry!
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Dublin - Dropkick Murphys Concert & Guinness Factory
Archaeology Field Trip - West Cork
