Well, I did it :) I survived 4 months in a foreign country and am now back in the States at my apartment. It was an incredible experience. While there are some things that I would change (like my roommates and having to heat up the water every time I wanted to shower), I absolutely loved every minute of it. I still can't believe it's over, and American accents still sound a bit strange to me hehehe. My last week in Dublin was great--I went out bar hopping with friends and then spent 3 days in Athens with two of my good friends, Amanda and Sam. It was the most beautiful place. The islands are great and the weather was a lovely change from the cold wind of Dublin.
Home is nice though. It's great to be back with my roommate Kristin, even though it's not the same without the other half of our apartment here. I miss them, but I'm excited for this summer to start. I still have my wonderful job at Talbots (love those ladies) and I got into SURE (student undergrad research experience) at Elon so I'll be working on my research in June and July.
This summer is going to be a big change because not only will I be working on research, but this will be the first summer I will not be living in Raleigh. However, I'm really excited to do more things on my own and I know that after Dublin, I can handle just about anything this summer can throw my way.
Well, that's just about it. I miss Dublin and it's an experience I will always remember and treasure. But it sure is good to be home :)
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Long Overdue
Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Been busy and kinda occupied with school and trips and such. So with that said, I will apologize in advance for this very long post :)
Brighton/London trip
Since I don't remember where I left off, I'm just going to start from the beginning. Feb 26 was my travel day to Brighton, and also my first traveling internationally by myself (yes Mom I flew by myself and no nothing happened I was fine). The way to England was not eventful. I flew over there on Ryanair, which is pretty standard for me and they flew into Gatwick, which was the airport I needed to get to so I could take a train to Brighton. Once I made it through customs, which was a little nerve racking because that was my first time going through alone, I made my way to the trains, which were located at the airport. Yay convenience! Actually turned out to not be so good because before I boarded the train, there was an announcement that there had been a fatality on one of the main southbound tracks (the direction I was heading) and it was shut down. Well, turns out me and like 100 other people were all heading in the same direction so we squished on the train and it took us to the farthest stop we could go, which was the next stop. Then I had to push my way out of the station and stand in line for a good 45 minutes to catch a bus that took me to the next station, about a 45 minute ride away. Then I hopped on a train there and took it all the way to Brighton. Needless to say that for some reason when I travel, something always goes wrong :) Oh well. Finally made it to Brighton 2 hours later than I was anticipating, but my lovely roomies from Elon, Lauren T and Lauren M (who will henceforth be referred to as Laurenx2) were waiting for me. I honestly did not realize how much I missed them until I saw them. I almost started crying I was so happy to be with them again. They hadn't been waiting too long, thankfully, and their house dad (they're doing a homestay) was nice enough to drive us back so we didn't have to walk. Steve (their house dad) is really nice and was very welcoming. He even carried my backpack in for me. So we get there and dinner is almost ready, thank goodness, and it's REAL FOOD!!! Chicken fiesta to be exact, something I haven't had since I was back at Elon with my roomies. During dinner I also met their other roommate, Meaghan, who is a Senior at some school that I can't remember the name of, but she was really nice too. After food, we all kinda meandered upstairs after cleaning up and I got shown the very short tour of the house. Once in their room, it was like we had never been apart. That's one of the things I love about my roommates, Kristin included, is that no matter how far apart we are or how long it's been since we've seen each other, we can pick right back up where we left off. That night Lauren M and I were up until about 1am talking like we used to sophomore year. It was nice to have a conversation like that again :)
Friday dawned bright and early and we ate breakfast and then they decided to show me Brighton that day. We first took the bus to their school, the University of Sussex, which is SOOOOOOOO much bigger and better than DBS (my school). I'm thoroughly jealous of their library. I need something like that or at least comporable to Elon's in order to write my papers here well which has been proving to be a bit difficult considering the VERY limited amount of resources we have here. Anyway, after a visit to the school, we went to the Pier and of course took lots of pictures. It was great to be by the ocean again. Then we took a bus back into the city and had lunch at this cute Thai place with Meaghan, who needed to do some shopping. After lunch, we wandered around quite a bit just looking around shops and seeing what was there until around dinner time when we headed back to the house. It was at this point that I got to experience Sainsburys for the first time. OMG it is the best grocery store ever!!!!!!!! I really wish we had one in Dublin. It's like Tesco, only much bigger and slightly better prices. That night I honestly couldn't tell you what we ate because I don't remember, but knowing my roommates it was good. The next morning we had to get up a bit early to go to Rottingdean, this little town they had been raving about since they went for the first time. Apparently, it has the best creamed tea and scones with clotted cream ever. AND THEY DO!!!!!
That morning Steve was nice enough to drive us to Rottingdean and along the way we stopped by to say hi to his family and pick up his nephew. His family is really nice and jokingly asked him if he had picked up another girl for homestay when they saw me :) Once in Rottingdean, Steve dropped Laurenx2 and myself off in front of the cafe and we had the best tea and scones I've ever tasted. Literally to die for. If anyone goes towards the southern coast of England, GO TO ROTTINGDEAN FOR TEA AND SCONES! We then wandered around the town for quite a bit and did a few photoshoots, which being with Lauren T is typical :) They were a lot of fun though. We took pictures by a church, in this beautiful garden, and along the beach while we walked. Later we decided to take a bus ride so I could see the Seven Sisters Cliffs better. Ended up staying on the bus for about 2 hours just riding around. In Eastbourne, we had to get off and catch a bus back because it was getting close to dinner time. When we got to Brighton, we started heading to the next bus stop when we saw the bus we wanted at the stop so we ran like crazy, hopped a fence, and were able to catch the bus. It was insane :) Dinner that night was tacos, which are always good, and we had a big group to feed because not only was it Meaghan, Laurenx2, Steve, and myself, but some of Steve's buddies were over to watch a movie that night. Also, when we got back there was a surprise in the kitchen for us (well, I think more for me than anything). A 2-liter bottle of Shandy was on the counter (I had asked Steve about it the first night having been told about it by a friend of mine). So that night along with tacos, we all had some shandy. It was good (it's beer mixed with lemonade), but more lemonade than anything. I can't drink a lot of it at once though because it's really sweet. But it was a fun night.
The next morning we all headed to London. Steve decided to come with us as well so bright and early we headed out to catch the 8:30am train to London. It was an eventful train ride to say the least since Lauren M had booked the tickets and fails at life because she apparently did them very wrong so we had to buy more tickets on the train. Again, no matter where I go something seems to go wrong. Anyways, we finally arrive in London and make a pit stop at Starbucks. I think we all needed a pick-me-up to keep us going that day. First we headed to Buckingham Palace, which was cool, but was one of those things that can be done in about 10 minutes. So we moved onto Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey. Those were really cool, and Westminister was really interesting to look at after having taken an art history course. We also wanted to see Trafalgar Square while we were over there so we made our way there and used the nicest free public restrooms I've seen yet. There is also this big fountain at the entrance to the National Gallery with lions around it so we did the touristy thing and took pictures by the lions :) We then headed out to check out the Tower Dungeon tour, however, upon arrive we quickly nixed that idea because it looked like an overpriced haunted house that none of us wanted to pay for. Continuing on our way, we walked over Tower Bridge, which was really cool and gave us a good view of the Tower of London. It was on that side of the Thames that we decided to pause for lunch at a pub we passed. The food was really good and I had my first taste of fish and chips (which were excellent!) Then we decided to split up since Lauren T and I wanted to go back to the National Gallery and the rest of the group wanted to see the London Zoo. It was nice to spend some quality time with LT, we had a good talk. Also, the art was really cool to look at, and we got to just about every section there was at the Gallery (and yes I am an art nerd lol). It was around that time that I realized I was late to meet up with Sam and Amanda so I frantically texted them and we decided to meet at Westminister Abbey since they had headed over in that direction. Lauren T and I made our way over there and met up with them. I introduced everyone and after standing around for 5 minutes, we decided to move on. I invited LT to come with us, but she decided to stay and wait for Lauren M, Steve, and Meaghan to come so we parted ways. It was sad to leave her and I'm a little sad that I couldn't say goodbye to everyone before I left, but it was okay because I knew I'd be seeing Laurenx2 soon enough when they came to visit me in Dublin.
Amanda, Sam, Andrea, and myself wandered around for a little bit before deciding we were hungry and wanted to find our B&B so we took the tube to Camdentown, where our B&B was located and checked in. After dropping off my ridiculously heavy bag (mind you I'd been carrying around my bookbag all day long) we went down the street for dinner at this little cafe place. It was pretty good and very cheap (always a plus when living on a budget) then we went back and took a nap. Earlier that day we had decided to go out that night and see if we could find anything interesting going on so the nap helped refresh us all. Once ready, we embarked out into London on a Sunday night. The first pub we went to looked okay, though seemed to cater to a slightly older crowd. We were very disappointed when 10 minutes after ordering our drinks they told us they were closing and that we needed to finish our drinks. So we asked the bartender if there was any place else open later nearby and he directed us to a pub down the street. Arriving there, we were glad to see that the crowd was closer to our age there, however they were going to be closing around 12am. So we asked the bartender there if there was anything open past midnight that night. She told us there were some places a few blocks away that should be open, so we headed out and wandered around till we found this seemingly popular little pub. Inside we decided to stay even though the bartender said they were only open till 12:30-ish. By that point we were kinda sick of walking and didn't want to walk too much farther. We all ordered a drink and found a table to sit at. It was kinda cool because we had apparently found a pretty Irish bar in London: there was an irish instrumental band playing and the guy who sat down and talked to us all evening was from County Mayo. Some of his friends came over, who are in a band, and we all ended up talking until around 1am when the really attractive bartender came over and told us that we needed to be moving on (which was fine with me because I was getting kinda tired). We headed back to the B&B and crashed. The next morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast with, SURPRISE! normal coffee!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to find that I wasn't having a massive caffeine jolt like I normally on the rare occasions I drink drip coffee here in Ireland. What a wonderful way to start off the day :) Then we grabbed our stuff and headed to the British Museum, which was the first thing on our list of things to do that day since it was mine and Andrea's last day in London. 2 hours later we were done after seeing some cool artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's mummy. Then we headed towards Madame Toussand's where we were going to go until we found out that it was going to be over 20 pounds just to get in the door. Nixing that, we opted for a double decker bus tour instead, you know one of those hop-on-hop-off ones? Well, we hopped off at St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Di got married and were going to tour it when we found out that it was going to be 11 pounds. Not wanting to pay that, Amanda and I headed towards the Globe Theater, having gotten separated from Sam and Andrea while distracted by a used bookstore near St. Pauls. We took a tour of the Globe Theater which was AWESOME!! It was one of the few things I HAD to do while in London after hearing my friend Nora rave about it upon her return from London. I also went a little crazy in the gift shop and bought myself a mug, 2 magnets, and a beautiful greeting card that I think I'm going to frame. Amanda and I then headed to Kinsington Gardens on the tour bus to meet up with Sam and Andrea at the Peter Pan statue there. After trudging around the gardens for 20 minutes, we found the statue just as dusk was falling and took some quick pictures. Then Andrea and I had to run off because we had a plane to catch. Once safely back at Gatwick airport, we had dinner and then hopped the plane back to good ol' Dublin, though we realized that two of the guys from our program were on our plane to so when we got back to Dubin we walked back to the apartments with them. And since it's late and I have to be up early tomorrow, I'll continue with the post later :) Night!
Brighton/London trip
Since I don't remember where I left off, I'm just going to start from the beginning. Feb 26 was my travel day to Brighton, and also my first traveling internationally by myself (yes Mom I flew by myself and no nothing happened I was fine). The way to England was not eventful. I flew over there on Ryanair, which is pretty standard for me and they flew into Gatwick, which was the airport I needed to get to so I could take a train to Brighton. Once I made it through customs, which was a little nerve racking because that was my first time going through alone, I made my way to the trains, which were located at the airport. Yay convenience! Actually turned out to not be so good because before I boarded the train, there was an announcement that there had been a fatality on one of the main southbound tracks (the direction I was heading) and it was shut down. Well, turns out me and like 100 other people were all heading in the same direction so we squished on the train and it took us to the farthest stop we could go, which was the next stop. Then I had to push my way out of the station and stand in line for a good 45 minutes to catch a bus that took me to the next station, about a 45 minute ride away. Then I hopped on a train there and took it all the way to Brighton. Needless to say that for some reason when I travel, something always goes wrong :) Oh well. Finally made it to Brighton 2 hours later than I was anticipating, but my lovely roomies from Elon, Lauren T and Lauren M (who will henceforth be referred to as Laurenx2) were waiting for me. I honestly did not realize how much I missed them until I saw them. I almost started crying I was so happy to be with them again. They hadn't been waiting too long, thankfully, and their house dad (they're doing a homestay) was nice enough to drive us back so we didn't have to walk. Steve (their house dad) is really nice and was very welcoming. He even carried my backpack in for me. So we get there and dinner is almost ready, thank goodness, and it's REAL FOOD!!! Chicken fiesta to be exact, something I haven't had since I was back at Elon with my roomies. During dinner I also met their other roommate, Meaghan, who is a Senior at some school that I can't remember the name of, but she was really nice too. After food, we all kinda meandered upstairs after cleaning up and I got shown the very short tour of the house. Once in their room, it was like we had never been apart. That's one of the things I love about my roommates, Kristin included, is that no matter how far apart we are or how long it's been since we've seen each other, we can pick right back up where we left off. That night Lauren M and I were up until about 1am talking like we used to sophomore year. It was nice to have a conversation like that again :)
Friday dawned bright and early and we ate breakfast and then they decided to show me Brighton that day. We first took the bus to their school, the University of Sussex, which is SOOOOOOOO much bigger and better than DBS (my school). I'm thoroughly jealous of their library. I need something like that or at least comporable to Elon's in order to write my papers here well which has been proving to be a bit difficult considering the VERY limited amount of resources we have here. Anyway, after a visit to the school, we went to the Pier and of course took lots of pictures. It was great to be by the ocean again. Then we took a bus back into the city and had lunch at this cute Thai place with Meaghan, who needed to do some shopping. After lunch, we wandered around quite a bit just looking around shops and seeing what was there until around dinner time when we headed back to the house. It was at this point that I got to experience Sainsburys for the first time. OMG it is the best grocery store ever!!!!!!!! I really wish we had one in Dublin. It's like Tesco, only much bigger and slightly better prices. That night I honestly couldn't tell you what we ate because I don't remember, but knowing my roommates it was good. The next morning we had to get up a bit early to go to Rottingdean, this little town they had been raving about since they went for the first time. Apparently, it has the best creamed tea and scones with clotted cream ever. AND THEY DO!!!!!
That morning Steve was nice enough to drive us to Rottingdean and along the way we stopped by to say hi to his family and pick up his nephew. His family is really nice and jokingly asked him if he had picked up another girl for homestay when they saw me :) Once in Rottingdean, Steve dropped Laurenx2 and myself off in front of the cafe and we had the best tea and scones I've ever tasted. Literally to die for. If anyone goes towards the southern coast of England, GO TO ROTTINGDEAN FOR TEA AND SCONES! We then wandered around the town for quite a bit and did a few photoshoots, which being with Lauren T is typical :) They were a lot of fun though. We took pictures by a church, in this beautiful garden, and along the beach while we walked. Later we decided to take a bus ride so I could see the Seven Sisters Cliffs better. Ended up staying on the bus for about 2 hours just riding around. In Eastbourne, we had to get off and catch a bus back because it was getting close to dinner time. When we got to Brighton, we started heading to the next bus stop when we saw the bus we wanted at the stop so we ran like crazy, hopped a fence, and were able to catch the bus. It was insane :) Dinner that night was tacos, which are always good, and we had a big group to feed because not only was it Meaghan, Laurenx2, Steve, and myself, but some of Steve's buddies were over to watch a movie that night. Also, when we got back there was a surprise in the kitchen for us (well, I think more for me than anything). A 2-liter bottle of Shandy was on the counter (I had asked Steve about it the first night having been told about it by a friend of mine). So that night along with tacos, we all had some shandy. It was good (it's beer mixed with lemonade), but more lemonade than anything. I can't drink a lot of it at once though because it's really sweet. But it was a fun night.
The next morning we all headed to London. Steve decided to come with us as well so bright and early we headed out to catch the 8:30am train to London. It was an eventful train ride to say the least since Lauren M had booked the tickets and fails at life because she apparently did them very wrong so we had to buy more tickets on the train. Again, no matter where I go something seems to go wrong. Anyways, we finally arrive in London and make a pit stop at Starbucks. I think we all needed a pick-me-up to keep us going that day. First we headed to Buckingham Palace, which was cool, but was one of those things that can be done in about 10 minutes. So we moved onto Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey. Those were really cool, and Westminister was really interesting to look at after having taken an art history course. We also wanted to see Trafalgar Square while we were over there so we made our way there and used the nicest free public restrooms I've seen yet. There is also this big fountain at the entrance to the National Gallery with lions around it so we did the touristy thing and took pictures by the lions :) We then headed out to check out the Tower Dungeon tour, however, upon arrive we quickly nixed that idea because it looked like an overpriced haunted house that none of us wanted to pay for. Continuing on our way, we walked over Tower Bridge, which was really cool and gave us a good view of the Tower of London. It was on that side of the Thames that we decided to pause for lunch at a pub we passed. The food was really good and I had my first taste of fish and chips (which were excellent!) Then we decided to split up since Lauren T and I wanted to go back to the National Gallery and the rest of the group wanted to see the London Zoo. It was nice to spend some quality time with LT, we had a good talk. Also, the art was really cool to look at, and we got to just about every section there was at the Gallery (and yes I am an art nerd lol). It was around that time that I realized I was late to meet up with Sam and Amanda so I frantically texted them and we decided to meet at Westminister Abbey since they had headed over in that direction. Lauren T and I made our way over there and met up with them. I introduced everyone and after standing around for 5 minutes, we decided to move on. I invited LT to come with us, but she decided to stay and wait for Lauren M, Steve, and Meaghan to come so we parted ways. It was sad to leave her and I'm a little sad that I couldn't say goodbye to everyone before I left, but it was okay because I knew I'd be seeing Laurenx2 soon enough when they came to visit me in Dublin.
Amanda, Sam, Andrea, and myself wandered around for a little bit before deciding we were hungry and wanted to find our B&B so we took the tube to Camdentown, where our B&B was located and checked in. After dropping off my ridiculously heavy bag (mind you I'd been carrying around my bookbag all day long) we went down the street for dinner at this little cafe place. It was pretty good and very cheap (always a plus when living on a budget) then we went back and took a nap. Earlier that day we had decided to go out that night and see if we could find anything interesting going on so the nap helped refresh us all. Once ready, we embarked out into London on a Sunday night. The first pub we went to looked okay, though seemed to cater to a slightly older crowd. We were very disappointed when 10 minutes after ordering our drinks they told us they were closing and that we needed to finish our drinks. So we asked the bartender if there was any place else open later nearby and he directed us to a pub down the street. Arriving there, we were glad to see that the crowd was closer to our age there, however they were going to be closing around 12am. So we asked the bartender there if there was anything open past midnight that night. She told us there were some places a few blocks away that should be open, so we headed out and wandered around till we found this seemingly popular little pub. Inside we decided to stay even though the bartender said they were only open till 12:30-ish. By that point we were kinda sick of walking and didn't want to walk too much farther. We all ordered a drink and found a table to sit at. It was kinda cool because we had apparently found a pretty Irish bar in London: there was an irish instrumental band playing and the guy who sat down and talked to us all evening was from County Mayo. Some of his friends came over, who are in a band, and we all ended up talking until around 1am when the really attractive bartender came over and told us that we needed to be moving on (which was fine with me because I was getting kinda tired). We headed back to the B&B and crashed. The next morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast with, SURPRISE! normal coffee!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to find that I wasn't having a massive caffeine jolt like I normally on the rare occasions I drink drip coffee here in Ireland. What a wonderful way to start off the day :) Then we grabbed our stuff and headed to the British Museum, which was the first thing on our list of things to do that day since it was mine and Andrea's last day in London. 2 hours later we were done after seeing some cool artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's mummy. Then we headed towards Madame Toussand's where we were going to go until we found out that it was going to be over 20 pounds just to get in the door. Nixing that, we opted for a double decker bus tour instead, you know one of those hop-on-hop-off ones? Well, we hopped off at St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Di got married and were going to tour it when we found out that it was going to be 11 pounds. Not wanting to pay that, Amanda and I headed towards the Globe Theater, having gotten separated from Sam and Andrea while distracted by a used bookstore near St. Pauls. We took a tour of the Globe Theater which was AWESOME!! It was one of the few things I HAD to do while in London after hearing my friend Nora rave about it upon her return from London. I also went a little crazy in the gift shop and bought myself a mug, 2 magnets, and a beautiful greeting card that I think I'm going to frame. Amanda and I then headed to Kinsington Gardens on the tour bus to meet up with Sam and Andrea at the Peter Pan statue there. After trudging around the gardens for 20 minutes, we found the statue just as dusk was falling and took some quick pictures. Then Andrea and I had to run off because we had a plane to catch. Once safely back at Gatwick airport, we had dinner and then hopped the plane back to good ol' Dublin, though we realized that two of the guys from our program were on our plane to so when we got back to Dubin we walked back to the apartments with them. And since it's late and I have to be up early tomorrow, I'll continue with the post later :) Night!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Cheerio ol' chap!
I have arrived safe and sound back from England. It was soo amazing to be there with two of my roommates from Elon. I had not realized how much I missed them all (Kristin that includes you though you never got on skype so we couldn't have a roomie reunion). Brighton and Rottingdean were absolutely beautiful and the creamed tea and scones with clotted cream were to die for. London was fun too, and it was nice to go around with some of my FIE friends there as well. I saw so much in the span of 4.5 days it seems like a whirlwind. I don't have enough time to do it justice here, so I'll save that for the next post, but I'm glad to be back in Dublin where I know the city :) This whole month is going to fly by ridiculously fast because I have 2-3 papers due, 4 people coming to visit, and a program trip to Galway the last weekend. So I'm going to be going going going nonstop for a bit, but that's totally fine with me. First up this weekend are Briana and Kyle, who are flying in on Sunday and Saturday respectively. I can't wait to see them and show them Dublin, then we're hopping a flight to Edinburgh on Monday to do Scotland for a bit and then back to good ol' Ireland (the Republic that is). Okay well I need to go get ready for class, seeing as I skipped my first one this morning because I was up late, but I was productive and outlined one of my papers during the class time. Toodloo!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Ladidadida
Hi Everyone. I guess I should update again since it's been a bit since I've written anything :) Sorry 'bout that. Not that I've been terribly busy, but I have been writing a paper that was due this past Friday. Thank goodness that's over with. It was a 2500 word essay on the causes and effects of the Great Famine. Easy right? No. It was like pulling teeth. The whole lack of work that I have to do here has killed my academic motivation so I'm trying to be better about that right now and get a head start on some of my essays that will be due in March. Mmmmmm, what else is new with me?
Well, this past Friday me and three girls, Nora, Kelsey, and Morgan, went out to celebrate being done with our essays (they're all in FIE with me). We first went to Whelan's, a bar near school, to hear Heritage Centre, a local band, play. They were pretty good, not my typical type of music, more punk rock alternative, but still pretty good. Then we decided to go dancing because it was only like 11pm and we didn't want to go home yet. So we headed to the Temple Bar area and went to Turks Head, a club, to dance. Ended up staying there for quite a bit. Melody, another girl in the program, met up with us there and we all danced for something like 3 hours straight. It was great!!!!! After a bit though we all got hot and decided to stand outside to cool down. Whilst out there we, Melody and I, met this group of Irish guys. The only one whose name I caught was Connor, and they were all really nice. We ended up talking for over an hour before we realized the time and decided to head back. The guys had been trying to get a party started and wanted us to join them, but we were all tired and didn't want to walk very far so we declined. I think they were kind of drunk, but then again that's pretty typical of Irish boys at 3:30am :)
All Saturday I stayed in because my legs were screaming at me and it was a little painful to move around. It's been awhile since I've gone out like that considering I don't go out that much. However, when I do I go all out hehehehe. Yesterday, Nora and I hung out and watched a movie because it was kind of a blah day (it rained for a little bit, which is out of the ordinary because it hasn't really rained all this past week).
Today I'm trying to be a little productive because I have 3 essays due in March and March is going to be my busiest month. This coming weekend I'm going to England to visit Lauren and Lauren in Brighton and see London, the following Saturday Briana arrives for a week and that Sunday Kyle arrives for a week. Then the following Sunday Lauren and Lauren arrive to visit and then that Thursday morning I'm leaving for Galway with the FIE group. So basically every weekend is taken in March :) Not that I'm complaining, it just means I'll have to budget my time well. But that's fine because I'm really excited to see everyone. And then the first weekend in April my family comes to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to see everyone that I can hardly stand it hehehehehehe. Although I'm not looking forward to the early plane arrivals. Oh well, I can deal. Well, I'm going to go do some research on Islam for a paper. Love, hugs, and happiness to everyone!!!!
Well, this past Friday me and three girls, Nora, Kelsey, and Morgan, went out to celebrate being done with our essays (they're all in FIE with me). We first went to Whelan's, a bar near school, to hear Heritage Centre, a local band, play. They were pretty good, not my typical type of music, more punk rock alternative, but still pretty good. Then we decided to go dancing because it was only like 11pm and we didn't want to go home yet. So we headed to the Temple Bar area and went to Turks Head, a club, to dance. Ended up staying there for quite a bit. Melody, another girl in the program, met up with us there and we all danced for something like 3 hours straight. It was great!!!!! After a bit though we all got hot and decided to stand outside to cool down. Whilst out there we, Melody and I, met this group of Irish guys. The only one whose name I caught was Connor, and they were all really nice. We ended up talking for over an hour before we realized the time and decided to head back. The guys had been trying to get a party started and wanted us to join them, but we were all tired and didn't want to walk very far so we declined. I think they were kind of drunk, but then again that's pretty typical of Irish boys at 3:30am :)
All Saturday I stayed in because my legs were screaming at me and it was a little painful to move around. It's been awhile since I've gone out like that considering I don't go out that much. However, when I do I go all out hehehehe. Yesterday, Nora and I hung out and watched a movie because it was kind of a blah day (it rained for a little bit, which is out of the ordinary because it hasn't really rained all this past week).
Today I'm trying to be a little productive because I have 3 essays due in March and March is going to be my busiest month. This coming weekend I'm going to England to visit Lauren and Lauren in Brighton and see London, the following Saturday Briana arrives for a week and that Sunday Kyle arrives for a week. Then the following Sunday Lauren and Lauren arrive to visit and then that Thursday morning I'm leaving for Galway with the FIE group. So basically every weekend is taken in March :) Not that I'm complaining, it just means I'll have to budget my time well. But that's fine because I'm really excited to see everyone. And then the first weekend in April my family comes to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to see everyone that I can hardly stand it hehehehehehe. Although I'm not looking forward to the early plane arrivals. Oh well, I can deal. Well, I'm going to go do some research on Islam for a paper. Love, hugs, and happiness to everyone!!!!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Schools Back
Not much is happening right now. I'm not going anywhere this weekend so that's a slight change, but I'm fine with that. It'll be nice to have a lazy weekend (sorta). I've gotten some of my academic motivation back now. I have a paper due for my foundation course on Friday and I'm already about half-way through it!!! Big improvement from the lack of work I've been doing recently.
Hmmm. Oh I went to the movies again yesterday with Amanda and Sam. We saw He's Just Not That Into You. Really cute!!! Go see it if you like chick flicks :)
Today is Valentines Day, or as my friends and I refer to it, Singles Awareness Day. Though I am determined to have a good day. I made myself a lovely breakfast this morning of french toast, I'm going out and doing some "me" shopping, and then making Indian for dinner and watching a good movie or something. And probably doing a litte work on my essay. I'd like to make it to 2000 words or more tonight, and considering I made it over 1000 last night I think I can pull that off. Then that will be one less thing to worry about.
Also went into major cleaning mode last night (I know mom, major shocker right?) but since my roommates rarely clean, I was sick of looking at the kitchen the way it was. So I cleaned my room and deep cleaned the kitchen, which should stay pretty clean since my roommates are in Amsterdam until Monday (which is totally fine with me). I get the weekend to myself!!!!! Okay I'm going to go continue my day of fun. Toodles!!
Hmmm. Oh I went to the movies again yesterday with Amanda and Sam. We saw He's Just Not That Into You. Really cute!!! Go see it if you like chick flicks :)
Today is Valentines Day, or as my friends and I refer to it, Singles Awareness Day. Though I am determined to have a good day. I made myself a lovely breakfast this morning of french toast, I'm going out and doing some "me" shopping, and then making Indian for dinner and watching a good movie or something. And probably doing a litte work on my essay. I'd like to make it to 2000 words or more tonight, and considering I made it over 1000 last night I think I can pull that off. Then that will be one less thing to worry about.
Also went into major cleaning mode last night (I know mom, major shocker right?) but since my roommates rarely clean, I was sick of looking at the kitchen the way it was. So I cleaned my room and deep cleaned the kitchen, which should stay pretty clean since my roommates are in Amsterdam until Monday (which is totally fine with me). I get the weekend to myself!!!!! Okay I'm going to go continue my day of fun. Toodles!!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
To Scotland!!!!
Hi everyone. I got back from Scotland yesterday afternoon and figured that I should update this so y'all could here about about my crazy adventure :) Lets start on Thursday evening when we (Amanda, Sam, and I) were supposed to fly out. We're all packed and ready and somehow between the time we left the apartment and when we got to the airport our flight was canceled...because of and inch of snow. We were not happy since we'd had to pay 6 euro just to get there. So we find a computer and come to find out the earliest flight we could get out is on Saturday morning at 7:45am. We decide to take it because we could still fit in Inverness and Loch Ness, which was the main thing we wanted to see while in Scotland. After we rebook our flight, we find someone who works for Ryanair, and she tells us that we just have to send our receipts to the main office in Dublin and we can get refunded for our taxi and such because of the missed flight. Okay that's not so bad right? Well, come to find out that we're going to be charged for the Thursday night we were supposed to spend at the hostel because we didn't cancel the reservation with a 24 hour notice. Go figure. So I talked to the lady who runs the hostel and she said she was able to print a receipt for us so we could send it to the airline and try to get refunded for it. So we take a taxi back from the airport and I get online to try to rearrange our accommodations in Scotland. Thankfully the lady, Mrs. Stephen, at the B&B in Inverness could move our reservation from Friday to Saturday evening. So we all go to sleep a little frustrated but whatever.
Friday we go to the Guinness Factory since we had nothing better to do. It was actually kinda interesting to see how they make beer and all the advertisements they would use for Guinness. And I tried a small glass in the tasting room. Yes Dad, I finally tried a Guinness...and I'm not a big fan. Too, I dunno. I just didn't really like it. But the storehouse was still cool to walk around. At the top there is a place called Gravity Bar, where you show your ticket and you can get a free pint of Guinness or a free soft drink. So I had the most expensive soft drink ever (cost me 11 euros). But the view was spectacular as we had arrived just as the sun was beginning to set.
Moving on to Saturday morning, I'm up at 5am to be ready at 5:30 for the taxi to take us to the airport. That was a fun morning. We got to the airport and got all checked in and stood in a really long, but surprisingly quick-moving security line. Once we were through, we discovered that there is a Butler's Chocolate Shop in the airport (they have the most amazing hot chocolate ever!!!!). So we treated ourselves to a muffin and a nice cup of hot chocolate. The flight was pretty uneventful and quite short. Only about 40 minutes long. Once we arrived at Preswick International Airport in Scotland we were ready to go through Customs, but we didn't have to for some reason. Still don't know why....
We take the train into Glasgow, which is about a 45 minute ride through beautiful countryside, because Preswick is right near the coast. Not even 10 minutes into our journey we pass a golf course, which made me immediately think of my dad :) I actually had the urge to pick up a set of clubs and go to a driving range, but alas, we had a bus to catch. Once in Glasgow, we took a connecting bus from the train station to the bus station and hopped a bus to Perth. Pretty uneventful ride, mostly tried to sleep. Once in Perth, we changed buses and got on a bus to Inverness. 2.5 hours later, we arrived in Inverness. It was early afternoon and it began to snow as we got off the bus (of course lol). We made our way to the River Ness and walked along the bank until we reached our B&B. Absolutely beautiful was the the walk. And our B&B was amazing!!!!!!!!! Finley, the older son of Mrs. Stephen showed us to our room, complete with an insuite bathroom and shower, and a COMPLIMENTARY BOX OF CHOCOLATE!! It was great. We also had a beautiful view of the river from our room. We were exhausted from our bus rides so we relaxed for an hour and found out that Supernanny is played in Scotland, but with American families. It was interesting to watch, but we got hungry so we left and found dinner at a cute italian restaurant about a 10 minute walk from the house. The penne pasta I had was superb and the brownie sunday dessert was to die for! Once done, we returned to the guest house where we all ventured to shower (which was an experience because to have hot water, you had to sacrifice some water pressure), but it was nice to be clean and warm. The bed was the most amazing thing ever!!!! Comfy, warm, and two very squishy pillows all to myself :) I was in complete heaven. We watched The Italian Job on tv and then all konked out around midnight. Here are some pics of the B&B we were in.
Breakfast was bright and early at 8:30am and we met Mrs. Stephen then. She is a lovely lady who is very nice and helpful. We had a lovely breakfast, it was nice to actually eat a decent breakfast, of eggs, sausage, and a potato scone. And I had COFFEE!!!!!!! Strong but good french press coffee. It was a great way to start the morning. Mrs. Stephen helped us find a tour of Loch Ness to go on and when it left so we headed back to the bus station with all of our stuff for the tour at 10:15. May I just say that Loch Ness and Urquhart (not sure of the spelling) Castle are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
We tromped around the castle for about an hour and then hopped back on the tour bus to go back to Inverness. At Inverness we caught a bus back to Perth that would then take us back to Glasgow for the evening, where we had a hostel reservation.
Sooooo, here's where the fun starts. We get to Glasgow, and it's snowing again (of course) so we head out to look for the subway station that we need to take to the hostel. Turns out the subway is closed on Sundays. CLOSED!!! Thankfully they had also given directions by bus so we took a little adventure on the public bus....yeah I'm not a big fan of the buses in Glasgow because we had no idea where we were going and we missed our stop...by 3 miles. We finally get off because we are lost and have no idea where we are. So we decide to hail a cab to just take us to the hostel, only problem is we don't have the actual address because silly me forgot to write it down. The taxi driver was really nice though and found out the address for us and took us to the hostel...or so we thought.
We get there and go inside and boom, think stereotypical hostel and that was what we had walked into. I talk to the guy at reception and he looks through his book for our reservation. But it's not there. "hmmmm I think you might be booked at our other location" WHAT???!!!????? Apparently there are two Blue Sky Hostel locations and we were at the wrong one. He calls us a taxi to take us to the other location and we finally arrive where we were supposed to be. The lady checks us in and gives us the receipt for the night that we had to cancel and we go up to our room. Mind you it's about 9:30pm now and we're all grumpy and hungry. So we venture out in search of food. Finally we find something that's open and have a pretty decent italian meal again. Once we have food in our stomachs, we calm down a bit, but have determined that we really are not big fans of Glasgow since everything seemed to have gone worng and no one was very helpful. Back at the hostel, we check our flight info, hoping that it will be canceled so we can go to St. Andrews, which we couldn't fit in because of the bus scheduel. Unfortunately, no cancelation. So we go to bed and wait for Monday morning to arrive.
Monday morning comes and we get ready, pack up, and check out. We take the subway back to the train station (it was actually open this time) and get on a train to the airport. At the airport we go to check in only to find out that we were supposed to check in online and would have to pay 9.50 pounds to check in at the airport. SO we were pissed and paid so we could check in then got through security finally, long line and slow people. We were all glad when we touched down in Dublin again because at least we were back on familiar ground. Once through customs, we got on a bus that took us into the city and walked back to our apartment. Needless to say we were all very happy to be home. Though that was quickly killed by the fact that my kitchen was a mess when I got back and apparently I'm the only one who does dishes or really cleans. Ugggghhhhhh. But that's a story for another time. So that was my adventure to Scotland. Everything that could go wrong pretty much did, but we had a nice time in the Highlands and at least I was with friends.
Friday we go to the Guinness Factory since we had nothing better to do. It was actually kinda interesting to see how they make beer and all the advertisements they would use for Guinness. And I tried a small glass in the tasting room. Yes Dad, I finally tried a Guinness...and I'm not a big fan. Too, I dunno. I just didn't really like it. But the storehouse was still cool to walk around. At the top there is a place called Gravity Bar, where you show your ticket and you can get a free pint of Guinness or a free soft drink. So I had the most expensive soft drink ever (cost me 11 euros). But the view was spectacular as we had arrived just as the sun was beginning to set.
Moving on to Saturday morning, I'm up at 5am to be ready at 5:30 for the taxi to take us to the airport. That was a fun morning. We got to the airport and got all checked in and stood in a really long, but surprisingly quick-moving security line. Once we were through, we discovered that there is a Butler's Chocolate Shop in the airport (they have the most amazing hot chocolate ever!!!!). So we treated ourselves to a muffin and a nice cup of hot chocolate. The flight was pretty uneventful and quite short. Only about 40 minutes long. Once we arrived at Preswick International Airport in Scotland we were ready to go through Customs, but we didn't have to for some reason. Still don't know why....
We take the train into Glasgow, which is about a 45 minute ride through beautiful countryside, because Preswick is right near the coast. Not even 10 minutes into our journey we pass a golf course, which made me immediately think of my dad :) I actually had the urge to pick up a set of clubs and go to a driving range, but alas, we had a bus to catch. Once in Glasgow, we took a connecting bus from the train station to the bus station and hopped a bus to Perth. Pretty uneventful ride, mostly tried to sleep. Once in Perth, we changed buses and got on a bus to Inverness. 2.5 hours later, we arrived in Inverness. It was early afternoon and it began to snow as we got off the bus (of course lol). We made our way to the River Ness and walked along the bank until we reached our B&B. Absolutely beautiful was the the walk. And our B&B was amazing!!!!!!!!! Finley, the older son of Mrs. Stephen showed us to our room, complete with an insuite bathroom and shower, and a COMPLIMENTARY BOX OF CHOCOLATE!! It was great. We also had a beautiful view of the river from our room. We were exhausted from our bus rides so we relaxed for an hour and found out that Supernanny is played in Scotland, but with American families. It was interesting to watch, but we got hungry so we left and found dinner at a cute italian restaurant about a 10 minute walk from the house. The penne pasta I had was superb and the brownie sunday dessert was to die for! Once done, we returned to the guest house where we all ventured to shower (which was an experience because to have hot water, you had to sacrifice some water pressure), but it was nice to be clean and warm. The bed was the most amazing thing ever!!!! Comfy, warm, and two very squishy pillows all to myself :) I was in complete heaven. We watched The Italian Job on tv and then all konked out around midnight. Here are some pics of the B&B we were in.
Breakfast was bright and early at 8:30am and we met Mrs. Stephen then. She is a lovely lady who is very nice and helpful. We had a lovely breakfast, it was nice to actually eat a decent breakfast, of eggs, sausage, and a potato scone. And I had COFFEE!!!!!!! Strong but good french press coffee. It was a great way to start the morning. Mrs. Stephen helped us find a tour of Loch Ness to go on and when it left so we headed back to the bus station with all of our stuff for the tour at 10:15. May I just say that Loch Ness and Urquhart (not sure of the spelling) Castle are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
We tromped around the castle for about an hour and then hopped back on the tour bus to go back to Inverness. At Inverness we caught a bus back to Perth that would then take us back to Glasgow for the evening, where we had a hostel reservation.
Sooooo, here's where the fun starts. We get to Glasgow, and it's snowing again (of course) so we head out to look for the subway station that we need to take to the hostel. Turns out the subway is closed on Sundays. CLOSED!!! Thankfully they had also given directions by bus so we took a little adventure on the public bus....yeah I'm not a big fan of the buses in Glasgow because we had no idea where we were going and we missed our stop...by 3 miles. We finally get off because we are lost and have no idea where we are. So we decide to hail a cab to just take us to the hostel, only problem is we don't have the actual address because silly me forgot to write it down. The taxi driver was really nice though and found out the address for us and took us to the hostel...or so we thought.
We get there and go inside and boom, think stereotypical hostel and that was what we had walked into. I talk to the guy at reception and he looks through his book for our reservation. But it's not there. "hmmmm I think you might be booked at our other location" WHAT???!!!????? Apparently there are two Blue Sky Hostel locations and we were at the wrong one. He calls us a taxi to take us to the other location and we finally arrive where we were supposed to be. The lady checks us in and gives us the receipt for the night that we had to cancel and we go up to our room. Mind you it's about 9:30pm now and we're all grumpy and hungry. So we venture out in search of food. Finally we find something that's open and have a pretty decent italian meal again. Once we have food in our stomachs, we calm down a bit, but have determined that we really are not big fans of Glasgow since everything seemed to have gone worng and no one was very helpful. Back at the hostel, we check our flight info, hoping that it will be canceled so we can go to St. Andrews, which we couldn't fit in because of the bus scheduel. Unfortunately, no cancelation. So we go to bed and wait for Monday morning to arrive.
Monday morning comes and we get ready, pack up, and check out. We take the subway back to the train station (it was actually open this time) and get on a train to the airport. At the airport we go to check in only to find out that we were supposed to check in online and would have to pay 9.50 pounds to check in at the airport. SO we were pissed and paid so we could check in then got through security finally, long line and slow people. We were all glad when we touched down in Dublin again because at least we were back on familiar ground. Once through customs, we got on a bus that took us into the city and walked back to our apartment. Needless to say we were all very happy to be home. Though that was quickly killed by the fact that my kitchen was a mess when I got back and apparently I'm the only one who does dishes or really cleans. Ugggghhhhhh. But that's a story for another time. So that was my adventure to Scotland. Everything that could go wrong pretty much did, but we had a nice time in the Highlands and at least I was with friends.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Northern Ireland
Well, I had this really long amazing post about my weekend trip to Northern Ireland with the FIE group, and then my internet died...sooooo here's a slightly briefer version and without the pictures because they take a long time to load.
We left on Thursday early in the morning and took a pleasantly short bus ride (only 3 hours) to The Giant's Causeway, which is this really neat natural rock formations on the coast. The group explored the causeway for about 1.5 hours, since it was cold and REALLY windy (like bowed almost horizontal as you walk kind of windy). But it was really beautiful. I would love to go back there in the spring when it's sunny and everything's in bloom. They also have a swinging bridge there but it was closed for the season :(
Next we ventured on to Carrickfergus Castle, which was built around the time of King John. It was interesting, but it would have been better if it wasn't raining and windy. But I did get to see some cool period weapons and armor.
We made our way to Derry and found ourselves at a lovely hotel. Hotels are a total luxury for me now. The showers are so much better than the one in my apartment and there is continuous heat! You don't realize what you take for granted at home until you live in another country.
Derry was very interesting to see, but very emotionally straining because it was the site of a lot of the conflict between nationalists and unionists and also the site of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was the day that British troops murdered peace marchers who were running for shelter. I believe 12 or 14 were killed that day. It was really intense because we got to meet the brother of one of the boys killed that day. Michael Kelly was murdered when he was only 17 and his brother, John Kelly, talked to us and showed us around the Bloody Sunday museum in town. It was very depressing, but very enlightening at the same time because of all we here about the conflict, it's a totally different experience to meet and talk to someone who was actually there.
After Derry we made our way to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland and also where the Titanic was built. Belfast was even more obviously divided than Derry and there were a bunch of murals all around the city. We took a 3 hour walking tour led by one of my lecturers here at DBS, Noel, who is from Belfast. It was quite enlightening, but after about 2 hours of looking at murals, we were all getting hungry and a bit irritable.
Finally, as we were leaving, we stopped by and saw the yard where the Titanic was built. That was really cool and the ship was HUGE!!!!!
I really enjoyed my trip to N. Ireland, and hopefully tomorrow will be fun too because I'm flying to Scotland. I was supposed to leave last night, but our flight was canceled because of snow (not even that much, like maybe an inch). We were all really frustrated last night, but I've calmed down a bit today. I think a good night's sleep helped. Anywho's, we're flying out bright and early tomorrow morning, think 7:45am, and then rushing our way through Scotland since we've had to condense our trip into about 2 days versus the 3.5 we were going to do it in. Maybe we'll be able to get back to Scotland at some point so we can see stuff we won't be able to see this weekend. Well, toodles for now. I'm going to the Guinness brewery in about 30 minutes with some girls to check that out and have that pint of Guinness Dad keeps bugging me about :P
We left on Thursday early in the morning and took a pleasantly short bus ride (only 3 hours) to The Giant's Causeway, which is this really neat natural rock formations on the coast. The group explored the causeway for about 1.5 hours, since it was cold and REALLY windy (like bowed almost horizontal as you walk kind of windy). But it was really beautiful. I would love to go back there in the spring when it's sunny and everything's in bloom. They also have a swinging bridge there but it was closed for the season :(
Next we ventured on to Carrickfergus Castle, which was built around the time of King John. It was interesting, but it would have been better if it wasn't raining and windy. But I did get to see some cool period weapons and armor.
We made our way to Derry and found ourselves at a lovely hotel. Hotels are a total luxury for me now. The showers are so much better than the one in my apartment and there is continuous heat! You don't realize what you take for granted at home until you live in another country.
Derry was very interesting to see, but very emotionally straining because it was the site of a lot of the conflict between nationalists and unionists and also the site of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was the day that British troops murdered peace marchers who were running for shelter. I believe 12 or 14 were killed that day. It was really intense because we got to meet the brother of one of the boys killed that day. Michael Kelly was murdered when he was only 17 and his brother, John Kelly, talked to us and showed us around the Bloody Sunday museum in town. It was very depressing, but very enlightening at the same time because of all we here about the conflict, it's a totally different experience to meet and talk to someone who was actually there.
After Derry we made our way to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland and also where the Titanic was built. Belfast was even more obviously divided than Derry and there were a bunch of murals all around the city. We took a 3 hour walking tour led by one of my lecturers here at DBS, Noel, who is from Belfast. It was quite enlightening, but after about 2 hours of looking at murals, we were all getting hungry and a bit irritable.
Finally, as we were leaving, we stopped by and saw the yard where the Titanic was built. That was really cool and the ship was HUGE!!!!!
I really enjoyed my trip to N. Ireland, and hopefully tomorrow will be fun too because I'm flying to Scotland. I was supposed to leave last night, but our flight was canceled because of snow (not even that much, like maybe an inch). We were all really frustrated last night, but I've calmed down a bit today. I think a good night's sleep helped. Anywho's, we're flying out bright and early tomorrow morning, think 7:45am, and then rushing our way through Scotland since we've had to condense our trip into about 2 days versus the 3.5 we were going to do it in. Maybe we'll be able to get back to Scotland at some point so we can see stuff we won't be able to see this weekend. Well, toodles for now. I'm going to the Guinness brewery in about 30 minutes with some girls to check that out and have that pint of Guinness Dad keeps bugging me about :P
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
class again class again
Second week of classes start today (well of actual semester classes). I like this only having class 2 days a week, but it is kinda hard to get up for a 1pm class (I know really strange right?) after having 5 days of relaxation. I know I shouldn't complain, but I've got myself on this interesting sleep schedule. I used to try to do the same sleep schedule I have at home, bed around midnight and up between 9 and 10am. However, I've found that going to bed between 1 and 2am here and gettting up between 12 and 1 pm is actually pretty good. Amanda explained her reasoning for it yesterday, which was that when we get back, it will be easier to adjust back to US time since we're going to bed at 6pm or 7pm US time and getting up at 8am or 9am, much closer to my normal time as compared to the sleep schedule I was trying.
One thing I do really miss, besides all of my friends and family, is good coffee. You all will be happy to know that I have only had 4 cups of coffee since I've been here. So that averages out to 1 cup a week. I've substituted hot tea for coffee and drink at least 2 cups of it a day. Or at least I used to. Slowing down just a bit, but I still drink a lot of it. But that doesn't mean I don't miss a good cup of coffee every now and then. I would love to go down to Third Place, get a latte, and sit for like 2 hours reading the paper and generally just doing nothing. But alas, I can't. Though I have found a good coffee shop, Butlers Chocolate Shop, well they have amazing hot chocolate and their coffee is superb.
Lets see, current trips I have planned are as follows: this weekend I'm going to Northern Ireland with the program, which I think will be a lot of fun, and then next weekend it's off to Scotland with Amanda and Sam. That trip I'm really excited for!!!! Scotland looks really pretty and I can't wait to go do some traveling out of the country. It looks like the only trips out of the country I'll be taking at the moment are to Scotland, England, and France, though I still have 2 weekends in February open to do something in. But I might just stay in the country and travel during those times.
Anyways, I guess I should get dressed and get out of bed, since I've been ridiculously lazy these past 3 days :) Class is beginning to call.
One thing I do really miss, besides all of my friends and family, is good coffee. You all will be happy to know that I have only had 4 cups of coffee since I've been here. So that averages out to 1 cup a week. I've substituted hot tea for coffee and drink at least 2 cups of it a day. Or at least I used to. Slowing down just a bit, but I still drink a lot of it. But that doesn't mean I don't miss a good cup of coffee every now and then. I would love to go down to Third Place, get a latte, and sit for like 2 hours reading the paper and generally just doing nothing. But alas, I can't. Though I have found a good coffee shop, Butlers Chocolate Shop, well they have amazing hot chocolate and their coffee is superb.
Lets see, current trips I have planned are as follows: this weekend I'm going to Northern Ireland with the program, which I think will be a lot of fun, and then next weekend it's off to Scotland with Amanda and Sam. That trip I'm really excited for!!!! Scotland looks really pretty and I can't wait to go do some traveling out of the country. It looks like the only trips out of the country I'll be taking at the moment are to Scotland, England, and France, though I still have 2 weekends in February open to do something in. But I might just stay in the country and travel during those times.
Anyways, I guess I should get dressed and get out of bed, since I've been ridiculously lazy these past 3 days :) Class is beginning to call.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Pictures!!!!
I promised to upload some pictures in my last post, so here are some pictures from my weekend trip to Cork City, Kinsale, and Blarney Castle.
These are from Kinsale, a small coastal town. I love the first one because the name of the restaurant is "Fishy Fishy Shop" :)
Here's one from the Chinese dinner the girls had when we got back to Cork that evening. Anna is on the left and Amanda is on the right.
And finally......drum roll please.....BLARNEY CASTLE! Proof that I actually was there and it is beautiful. There are more pictures, but it will take way too long to put them up here so they are on facebook.
These are from Kinsale, a small coastal town. I love the first one because the name of the restaurant is "Fishy Fishy Shop" :)
Here's one from the Chinese dinner the girls had when we got back to Cork that evening. Anna is on the left and Amanda is on the right.
And finally......drum roll please.....BLARNEY CASTLE! Proof that I actually was there and it is beautiful. There are more pictures, but it will take way too long to put them up here so they are on facebook.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Second Week of fun
Hi everyone! I'm now in my third week in Dublin, so let me fill you in on what happened this past week. The foundation course if officially over, and the last day was kind of sad because my favorite lecturer cancelled his class because he was sick. However, he did give me many suggestions about places to visit while in Ireland so that should come in handy.
This past weekend a group of us went to Cork City, Kinsale, and Blarney Castle. This was my first trip really far away from the city (4 hour bus ride to be exact). It was also my first time using a bus and staying in a hostel. The buses were pretty nice, I guess, as far as buses go, though towards the end of the ride I started to feel a little sick because of the many winding roads. But that aside it was a pretty uneventful ride. We got to Cork City and I was in charge of getting us to the hostel since I had brought my travel book (which has a map in it). After making a slight circle, I got us to the hostel. We stayed at Sheilas Hostel, which is pretty nice apparently (according to a few girls who had stayed in other hostels in Ireland). Linens were included and it was really clean. My group had actually booked an entire room to ourselves since there were 8 of us staying in that room. The room was really small though, slightly bigger than my room here in Dublin, but there were 4 bunk beds along the walls, which made for a tight squeeze with all 8 of us in the room. But it was still fun. That first night we went to Mulligans pub (a pub that we just wandered into). There was a big rugby game going on so 95% of the people there were male and they were all drinking a pint and glued to the televisions (kinda reminded me of home lol). Once the game was over, most of the guys left and my group was able to grab a table. The Laughing Shamrocks (a band) played a bunch of songs, but they were all cover songs. Still good though. I got to hear many a song that reminded me of someone in my life, like The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, etc. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday we took the bus to Kinsale, a small town on the coast. The weather kinda sucked when we arrived--very rainy and windy. However, we were able to find a cute cafe and had brunch there. It was warm inside so we were all pretty happy. Once we left the cafe though, the weather cleared up a bit and we broke up into two smaller groups and wandered around the city. My group went up this hill that said cliff walk and we got a great surprise when we got towards the top--the sun came out and we had a great view of the water! Oh there were so many pictures taken. We wandered back down and then went by the docks for awhile. Once we met up with the rest of the group, we all trudged up this MASSIVE hill to find a fort that was supposed to be there, but we turned the wrong way at the top. However, by this time the weather was turning bad again so we made for the bus and were able to catch the 4:30 bus back to Cork City. A few girls, myself included, went out for food and found a chinese restaurant that had an early bird special--3 course meal for 15 Euro. I had some pretty decent chicken curry and a banana fritter. Soooo good. We then met up with some people from our study abroad group that were also in Cork City at Bru Bar and hung out for a few hours. Then myself and like 3 girls turned in for the night because we were beat.
Sunday morning we got up, got breakfast at the hostel, and then caught the bus to Blarney Castle. OMG the castle is sooooo beautiful. When you think of Ireland, the landscapes there are what you think of. Jackie and I climbed to the top, and she kissed the Blarney stone. I chickened out because I had heard from two sources that some of the locals pee on the stone and I also made the mistake of looking down (it was really high up and you bend over the edge backwards to kiss the stone). But the view from the top was breathtaking. Jackie, Anna, Nora, Mike, and myself had lunch at a cute cafe (one of the few places open for lunch on a Sunday) and then caught the next bus back to Cork City so we could make the 4pm bus back to Dublin. It was a great weekend trip I must say.
Yesterday was a very lazy day. I slept in and watched The Tudors online for a bit before meeting up with Amanda to go grocery shopping. Once we got back, I made dinner and relaxed for a bit before Amanda and Sam came over to plan this weekend's trip. However, we did not make much headway because many of the tours we wanted to go on aren't open until March. But I was productive in that I bought my plane ticket to England for the last weekend in February. I'm so excited to see Lauren Mottle and Lauren Taylor. I miss seeing my roommates everyday. But I know they are having fun and I'm able to talk to them via Skype so it's not quite as hard as it could be.
I also got my class schedule. On Tuesdays I'm taking Formations of the Psyche from 1-3pm and on Wednesdays I'm taking Culture and Religion from 11-1pm and Abnormal Psychology from 3-5pm. Those are my only classes!!!!!! I'm so excited for an easy semester. I need it considering what I put myself through last semester. However, I will be doing research while I'm here, but I don't think that will be too stressful. I'm hoping that I can get people from my classes who aren't American to fill out my surveys and that get me closer to my goal of 50 participants. Anywhos, I'll post more later, like pictures, but I should start getting ready for class :)
This past weekend a group of us went to Cork City, Kinsale, and Blarney Castle. This was my first trip really far away from the city (4 hour bus ride to be exact). It was also my first time using a bus and staying in a hostel. The buses were pretty nice, I guess, as far as buses go, though towards the end of the ride I started to feel a little sick because of the many winding roads. But that aside it was a pretty uneventful ride. We got to Cork City and I was in charge of getting us to the hostel since I had brought my travel book (which has a map in it). After making a slight circle, I got us to the hostel. We stayed at Sheilas Hostel, which is pretty nice apparently (according to a few girls who had stayed in other hostels in Ireland). Linens were included and it was really clean. My group had actually booked an entire room to ourselves since there were 8 of us staying in that room. The room was really small though, slightly bigger than my room here in Dublin, but there were 4 bunk beds along the walls, which made for a tight squeeze with all 8 of us in the room. But it was still fun. That first night we went to Mulligans pub (a pub that we just wandered into). There was a big rugby game going on so 95% of the people there were male and they were all drinking a pint and glued to the televisions (kinda reminded me of home lol). Once the game was over, most of the guys left and my group was able to grab a table. The Laughing Shamrocks (a band) played a bunch of songs, but they were all cover songs. Still good though. I got to hear many a song that reminded me of someone in my life, like The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, etc. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday we took the bus to Kinsale, a small town on the coast. The weather kinda sucked when we arrived--very rainy and windy. However, we were able to find a cute cafe and had brunch there. It was warm inside so we were all pretty happy. Once we left the cafe though, the weather cleared up a bit and we broke up into two smaller groups and wandered around the city. My group went up this hill that said cliff walk and we got a great surprise when we got towards the top--the sun came out and we had a great view of the water! Oh there were so many pictures taken. We wandered back down and then went by the docks for awhile. Once we met up with the rest of the group, we all trudged up this MASSIVE hill to find a fort that was supposed to be there, but we turned the wrong way at the top. However, by this time the weather was turning bad again so we made for the bus and were able to catch the 4:30 bus back to Cork City. A few girls, myself included, went out for food and found a chinese restaurant that had an early bird special--3 course meal for 15 Euro. I had some pretty decent chicken curry and a banana fritter. Soooo good. We then met up with some people from our study abroad group that were also in Cork City at Bru Bar and hung out for a few hours. Then myself and like 3 girls turned in for the night because we were beat.
Sunday morning we got up, got breakfast at the hostel, and then caught the bus to Blarney Castle. OMG the castle is sooooo beautiful. When you think of Ireland, the landscapes there are what you think of. Jackie and I climbed to the top, and she kissed the Blarney stone. I chickened out because I had heard from two sources that some of the locals pee on the stone and I also made the mistake of looking down (it was really high up and you bend over the edge backwards to kiss the stone). But the view from the top was breathtaking. Jackie, Anna, Nora, Mike, and myself had lunch at a cute cafe (one of the few places open for lunch on a Sunday) and then caught the next bus back to Cork City so we could make the 4pm bus back to Dublin. It was a great weekend trip I must say.
Yesterday was a very lazy day. I slept in and watched The Tudors online for a bit before meeting up with Amanda to go grocery shopping. Once we got back, I made dinner and relaxed for a bit before Amanda and Sam came over to plan this weekend's trip. However, we did not make much headway because many of the tours we wanted to go on aren't open until March. But I was productive in that I bought my plane ticket to England for the last weekend in February. I'm so excited to see Lauren Mottle and Lauren Taylor. I miss seeing my roommates everyday. But I know they are having fun and I'm able to talk to them via Skype so it's not quite as hard as it could be.
I also got my class schedule. On Tuesdays I'm taking Formations of the Psyche from 1-3pm and on Wednesdays I'm taking Culture and Religion from 11-1pm and Abnormal Psychology from 3-5pm. Those are my only classes!!!!!! I'm so excited for an easy semester. I need it considering what I put myself through last semester. However, I will be doing research while I'm here, but I don't think that will be too stressful. I'm hoping that I can get people from my classes who aren't American to fill out my surveys and that get me closer to my goal of 50 participants. Anywhos, I'll post more later, like pictures, but I should start getting ready for class :)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Cliff Walk
I went with three other people on a walk along the cliffs from Bray to Greystones today (both of which are a DART ride outside of Dublin, meaning they are located on Dublin Bay). It was gorgeous! However, my camera died part way through the hike so I stole some pictures from my friend Amanda. The walk, I found out later, was 8km long, which is basically 5 miles. Totally worth it though. Here are some pictures from our walk.
It was really amazing. Thankfully the weather held up until we got to Greystones and were inside a little cafe for lunch. Then the rain came. But it wasn't too bad seeing as it let up when we left the cafe. All in all a very good day trip. I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Ireland!
It was really amazing. Thankfully the weather held up until we got to Greystones and were inside a little cafe for lunch. Then the rain came. But it wasn't too bad seeing as it let up when we left the cafe. All in all a very good day trip. I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Ireland!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
First Week
I've almost been in Dublin a week...well it will be a week tomorrow. I am totally in love with this city. It's amazing! The professors I have for my foundation course through FIE are great. They are all funny, witty, knowledgeable, and seem to be passionate about their topics. Out of all of them I think Marc is my favorite. I mean I like them all, but during his lectures, I'm laughing so much and learning so much at the same time. He knows a lot.
The FIE group of students is really nice. While a lot of people clicked up really fast, they seem to be pretty accepting of everyone. I'm getting better at names and have been out a few times with different people. The first night we were here, I went out with a group of about 8 to The Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Dublin. It was really cool. A little expensive, but nothing like Temple Bar. Tried Harp for the first time while at the Brazen head...it was okay, but reminded me of Bud Light (though not quite as bad). A few days ago...Wednesday I think, a small group went out to The Glimmer Man, a pub right down the street from our apartment. I really liked that pub. It's very laid back. A nice place to sit and chat with people, even though the regular crowd is more middle aged. Last night a group of us went down to the Temple bar area (about a 20 minute walk from the apartment). That was quite an experience. Since it was our first proper weekend in Dublin, I did not know what to expect. It was crazy. First we went to THE Temple Bar. It is very much a tourist trap. Loud, expensive, crowded. But still fun. I had what I have now found to be my favorite drink here, cider. We then left in search of a club because a lot of us girls wanted to dance. The first place we stopped at was the Viperoom, but it was kinda lame in that no one was really there yet. So we moved on to the Turks Head (which is a bar with a club in it). That was a lot of fun!!!! No cover charge, and they played pretty good music. We stayed there for about 2.5 hours dancing and just having fun. I got hit on once by this guy from Bagdad, but I wasn't interested so he left me alone after a few minutes. I just wanted to dance and have fun :)
Today at some point a group of us is going to see the Book of Kells I believe. Need to get more details on that though, such as when we are leaving. Tomorrow, Amanda, Matt, me, and another girl are going to take the DART to Bray and do a scenic walk along the cliffs to Greystone (hopefully it won't be raining). That's going to be a day trip so that we can take our time and just wander around a bit. I think it shall be really fun.
I am putting off doing laundry right now, mainly since I don't want to walk to the laundry place. There is one here at the apartments, but apparently the machines are really small and its expensive to do one load. Angie, a girl in the group, found a laundrymat a few blocks away that doesn't seem too bad, but that is one thing I miss about the States. I got kinda spoiled not having to pay per load to do laundry. Oh well. Such is life.
Okay well the plans look like grocery shopping then the Book of Kells depending on the hours it's open because the grocery store (the cheap one) is in a slightly dodgy part North of the Liffey (at least at night). Amanda and I went at night one time, not late, but it gets dark here early, and were fine, but I'd prefer to go there during the day when possible. It just makes things easier. Anywhos. Off to go get ready. I'll post more tomorrow when I get back from our trip :)
The FIE group of students is really nice. While a lot of people clicked up really fast, they seem to be pretty accepting of everyone. I'm getting better at names and have been out a few times with different people. The first night we were here, I went out with a group of about 8 to The Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Dublin. It was really cool. A little expensive, but nothing like Temple Bar. Tried Harp for the first time while at the Brazen head...it was okay, but reminded me of Bud Light (though not quite as bad). A few days ago...Wednesday I think, a small group went out to The Glimmer Man, a pub right down the street from our apartment. I really liked that pub. It's very laid back. A nice place to sit and chat with people, even though the regular crowd is more middle aged. Last night a group of us went down to the Temple bar area (about a 20 minute walk from the apartment). That was quite an experience. Since it was our first proper weekend in Dublin, I did not know what to expect. It was crazy. First we went to THE Temple Bar. It is very much a tourist trap. Loud, expensive, crowded. But still fun. I had what I have now found to be my favorite drink here, cider. We then left in search of a club because a lot of us girls wanted to dance. The first place we stopped at was the Viperoom, but it was kinda lame in that no one was really there yet. So we moved on to the Turks Head (which is a bar with a club in it). That was a lot of fun!!!! No cover charge, and they played pretty good music. We stayed there for about 2.5 hours dancing and just having fun. I got hit on once by this guy from Bagdad, but I wasn't interested so he left me alone after a few minutes. I just wanted to dance and have fun :)
Today at some point a group of us is going to see the Book of Kells I believe. Need to get more details on that though, such as when we are leaving. Tomorrow, Amanda, Matt, me, and another girl are going to take the DART to Bray and do a scenic walk along the cliffs to Greystone (hopefully it won't be raining). That's going to be a day trip so that we can take our time and just wander around a bit. I think it shall be really fun.
I am putting off doing laundry right now, mainly since I don't want to walk to the laundry place. There is one here at the apartments, but apparently the machines are really small and its expensive to do one load. Angie, a girl in the group, found a laundrymat a few blocks away that doesn't seem too bad, but that is one thing I miss about the States. I got kinda spoiled not having to pay per load to do laundry. Oh well. Such is life.
Okay well the plans look like grocery shopping then the Book of Kells depending on the hours it's open because the grocery store (the cheap one) is in a slightly dodgy part North of the Liffey (at least at night). Amanda and I went at night one time, not late, but it gets dark here early, and were fine, but I'd prefer to go there during the day when possible. It just makes things easier. Anywhos. Off to go get ready. I'll post more tomorrow when I get back from our trip :)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
I've officially made it to Ireland! I've been here since around 11:30 AM Ireland time, which is around 5am US time. Took a nap for a bit after meeting my roommates, who seem nice. I think we would normally run in different circles, but that's okay. Anywhos. We're going out to dinner with some people at a pub later and I'm going to do some shopping I think on the way back, or at least go withdraw some money and then go do some shopping tomorrow. Thank goodness for hot chocolate (thanks Aunt Kay and Uncle Don!) That will come in handy tomorrow morning when I have to get up at forever in the morning and get to campus for induction and orientation. But I don't think that will be too bad. I'm hoping we don't have to do too much because I need to do some grocery shopping, register with the embassy here or something like that, and find a cell phone. But things are starting to look up since I got my internet to work and the heater is finally beginning to work a bit (it's so freaking cold in here!!). But yeah. Okay, well I guess I better go get ready. I'll add some more things later!
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