Strawberry Fields Forever

It's been nearly a month since my last entry, and I can't believe how fast my summer has been flying by. Between studying for the GRE, attempting to compile a semi-presentable scrapbook of my spring adventures, and working full time for the Events Office, it seems like my days disappear right before my eyes.

After a fun-filled Fourth of July Weekend in St. Joe (read: Joetown rocks! Outdoor concert, hanging out with friends, and great food), I headed home to visit Ellen and Katie. Katie was up first in Winona, where we spent the afternoon picking strawberries and the evening shopping. We headed out together for Milwaukee then, our task being to find the perfect bridesmaid dresses. I think we did pretty well, and it was nice to see Ellen again. I hadn't seen her since Christmas with my being in Ireland. I finally got to see her engagement ring in real life and had some good old sisterly conversation. Eric was nice enough to make us a fabulous dinner while we were there as well. Maybe I should go to Milwaukee more often! ;)

This past week has been fairly busy, as I had two large events that started at the end of this week, not to mention I was filling in for a co-worker as the "Office Manager" meaning that I got to spend a lot of time answering phones and taking care of the random assignments and situations that come up. I also started shadowing a physical therapist in St. Cloud this week. I'm always nervous to start shadowing, just because every PT has different ways of going about things, and often I feel that I'm in the way. However I had a blast shadowing and felt confirmed in my decision to pursue this career path.

Speaking of, I'm currently sitting at the local coffee shop, studying away for the GRE. Better get back to it.

A Different Kind of Rain

The weather in Saint Cloud has been absolutely gorgeous lately. Unfortunately, I've been stuck inside, unable to enjoy it. While my friends scampered off to the beach, I sullenly dressed for the wedding I worked this weekend. Nine hours of making sure the bride and groom were completely happy. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy working weddings, especially this summer as I am able to check out ideas and suggest them to my sister.

Like I said, I have not been able to enjoy the beautiful weather. Finally, today, my friend Alyssa invited me to her cabin. Wouldn't you know that it started sprinkling just as we were about to take off. We reconsidered our options, and instead decided to go a movie in St. Cloud. When I got back, I went for a long run in the pouring rain. It was the best reminder of Ireland I've had yet. I'm sure I looked like a crazy person to the locals of St. Joe. So here's to enjoying the crappiest day we've had in the last two weeks!

Wild Goose Chase

I don't know if anyone still reads this anymore, but I thought it might be nice for those of you who live far away and don't get to see my beautiful face everyday to continue to read about my now-less-than-interesting life back in Minnesota.

Today was my second day of work. Work has started well so far--I remember more than I thought I would, although I can tell this summer will be just as stressful as previous summers. My first three events were planned for me, however, since I was gone. Because of this, I've been helping my co-workers and bosses with random jobs to fill my work hours.

I typically split up my work day by working as much as I can in the morning. Then, when I get too hungry to stand it, or my stomach is growling loud enough for everyone in the office to hear, I head over to lunch, hoping that the few hours I will have left go quickly. On this particularly afternoon, I came back from lunch at 1:00. We have a big group coming to campus this weekend so my mission was to put up signs for my friend, Tina. Wouldn't you know that I had to put the signs on sandwich boards, which were, of course, missing. I then spent the next 2 hours of my afternoon trying to locate said sandwich boards. We never found them.

Is This Gonna Last Forever?

I wish that it would. That's right folks, I'm less than 12 hours away from leaving my beautiful Ireland, and while half of me is rejoicing that I finally get to see friends and family, the other half is heartbroken. So as my last blog post from Ireland, I decided to give everyone a little reflection of what I've learned in Ireland.

I wasn't planning on spending my trip "finding myself". I know some of my friends who planned on cutting themselves off from family and friends back home, rarely talking so they could be truly independent and learn about themselves. But I feel comfortable with who I am, and I knew I wouldn't be able to spend too long before calling mom and dad. Regardless, I've learned more about myself on this trip than I expected, in addition to making several friends that I might not have otherwise.

Surprisingly, I found out that I don't really like to travel, unless its for a good length of time. I need to feel comfortable with my surroundings, and at the very least that requires knowing my way around a small square of whichever city I'm in. At the same time, I can't regret a minute I've spent in any of the countries I've seen.

I learned how to slow down. Rarely in Ireland do you see people on the go with lunch or a coffee. They sit down and have a meal, or chat over a cup of joe at the local coffee shop. They arrive 10 minutes late to class for no other reason than walking at a normal pace. Stores don't open until 9:00 am and everything closes down by 6:00 pm. They take time to just be with each other.

I learned how to relax. Classes start five minutes late and end five minutes early. The Irish students think you're crazy if you go to class during RAG week. I went out for pints in the middle of the week. I spent entire weekends in Galway, London, Edinburgh, etc. instead of studying. And when I needed to get something done, I did it.

I learned how to communicate. I went to four different countries, with languages ranging from French and German, to Italian and Catalan. Somehow, I managed to navigate through their various airports, train stations, streets and shops. I also learned when it was important for me to communicate with my travel buddies.

I learned how to plan. I spent my month of April in four different countries, and numerous different cities. I had to book flights, hostels, and activities to do in each of those places.

I learned how to let it go. While I think I did a pretty good job navigating myself around cities and doing different activities, it wasn't without difficulty. I missed trains, arrived late at night in foreign cities and lost confirmation numbers.

I could go on and on with all the lessons I've learned, but I'll be home tomorrow to tell them to you myself! Every minute of these last five months has been incredible. I was very skeptical of the hospitality of the Irish (after all, I come from the land of Minnesota-nice), but they are truly the friendliest people in Europe. Ireland's scenery and lifestyle make anyone feel welcome, relaxed, and like they are having a good time. In addition, I have five awesome flatmates without whom would've made this trip a complete bore. That's it for me--I'M COMING HOME!

How to Make College Students Look Like Cattle

Warning: The following is a rant about my first day back to campus after an extended vacation across continental Europe. This scene was witnessed outside of the Boole Library and no actual cattle were harmed in the process.

Step 1: Make sure spring break is five months long, and extends from the day classes end to the first day of finals. This way students will feel especially anxious just before finals.

Step 2: Have the day before finals start be a public holiday--a bank holiday is especially helpful.

Step 3: Due to the bank holiday, make sure the campus library doesn't open until 10:00 am.

Step 4: DO NOT open the library doors, until precisely 10:00 am. I repeat, DO NOT open the library doors even if there are over 100 students waiting outside the doors.

Step 5: Make sure your library is equipped with the following: scanners that you must scan your id card across every time upon entering the library, only 3 scanners, and not enough seats for every student planning to study.

Step 6: Make sure that no other place on campus is open.

Ode to Backpack...and Other People's Blogs

Study Day Number... well, I don't know how many days I've been studying, but it sure feels like a lot. Therefore I am taking a break to once again update you on something I think is very important: my backpack.

Backpack, you have served me well, not only carrying my books to and from class each day, but also being stuffed to the brim with large amounts of clothing, and carrying my groceries. I have not needed to buy but one reusable grocery bag at Dunnes or Tesco because you have served me in carrying my groceries. When I stuffed you full of clothing on my European excursions, you did not rip or tear like others' bags. I have carried you at St. Ben's, along the 20 minute walk to the UCC Campus, and across continental Europe. Thank you, backpack.

Now that that bit of ridiculousness is over with, I can bring up a second point. My friends are fantastic bloggers. I haven't been able to stay up on a lot of them more recently because I've been gone, but last night my study break consisted of catching up on most of them. My friend Kate in Guatemala wanted me to write her blog for her--ridiculous! She is a fabulous writer and I have loved hearing about all her adventures. My roommate for next year, Steph, also just wrote a beautiful reflection piece on her time in Guatemala as well. And another roommate for next year, Alyssa, her blog made me laugh out loud! I only hope that my blog has been half as entertaining as theirs.

Thank you for the distraction! Now back to work!

A Summary of Travels

I'm sure you all have a billion questions, so I hope that this will answer a few of them.

Best (to Worst) Metros:
1. London
2. Barcelona
3. Paris
4. Rome

Favorite City: Edinburgh

Place I Could Live In: Edinburgh or London

Favorite Tourist Attraction: The Louvre

Best Meal: The Cafe in Corniglia

That's all I've got for right now, but feel free to comment and I will answer those as well!

Harry Potter Heaven

What does Harry Potter have to do with this next post, might you ask? Well, a lot more than you think.

Day 0: Eh-din-bur-ah
As usual, Megan and I had to wake up fairly early, both because we had 2 flights in addition to the limited selection of buses that went from Biassa to La Spezia. In the morning we took the train from La Spezia to Pisa Airport. I'm sorry to say that I did not see the leaning tower. We realized we had gotten to the airport in plenty of time, so we waited around for our gate to open. The flight was slightly delayed, but everything else went smooth enough. Once we landed in Dublin, we went through security again to get to our second flight. The one to Edinburgh (pronounced like above). It was a long day of travelling to say the least, and it was quite difficult to board that second plane to Edinburgh--I really just wanted to be in Ireland. Once we arrived in Edinburgh we took a bus to the city centre and managed to find our way to our hostel in the dark and rain. I couldn't see very many sights, but I could already tell that Edinburgh was beautiful. We arrived at our hostel to catch up with some other girls from our program: Liz, Abby, Emily and Mayra. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces.

Day 1: Tom the Tour Guide (Why does this sound familiar?)
Since Megan and I were literally doing a crash course of Scotland (namely, we would only be there for 48 hours), we decided to take advantage of seeing the most we could in the shortest amount of time. So we booked a 12-hour Highlands tour for the next day with the other four girls. We headed out of Edinburgh at 8:30 to start our tour. Tom was the name of our tour guide. While he seemed to have some good information, we had a really awkward laugh that we couldn't help but be entertained by. First stop on our tour was seeing Hamish the hairy coo. He was so cute! Google a picture of Highland cattle and you have Hamish, or check out my facebook page. After that we went further up in the Highlands to take a couple of photo ops before stopping at Loch Ness. We took a one-hour boat tour around Loch Ness in hopes of seeing Nessy. I let you decide from my pictures if you think I saw it or not. Regardless, we had lots of fun taking silly pictures and getting out on the water. We ate lunch at what we thought was a fish and chips place, as well, and only ordered chips, to which our waiter promptly informed us (after we ordered I might add) that he was doing us a favor and normally they don't let people just order chips. Those were our major stops along the tour, but we stopped a few other places for photo opportunities. It was a great day catching up with the girls and seeing the Highlands of Scotland. We played cards that evening and prepared ourselves for the journey back to Ireland the next day.

Day 2: Snape, Snape, Severus Snape
Since the other four girls were leaving in the late morning, we decided to wake up early and climb up the highest location in Edinburgh--Arthur's seat. While it was quite the hike, the view was worth it (after the fog cleared). We finished off by treating ourselves to Starbucks for breakfast. After that, we returned to the hostel, where the other girls packed their bags and headed back to Scotland. Megan and I, on the other hand, took advantage of a three-hour long walking tour. We stopped everywhere and heard some great stories! Including the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. She could see an old school with four towers (inspiration for the four houses), Greyfriar's Cemetary, and Edinburgh castle from the windows she sat at, which inspired the story. We also heard stories about Maggie Dickson, a woman who survived a hanging, and Brodie Deacon, a criminal mastermind. The buildings around Scotland are just beautiful, and it was fun to hear their history. After we got done with that, we went back to the Elephant House for a smoothie and to soak in some of the awesomeness of J.K. Rowling. We chilled at the hostel for a bit, before finally deciding to go and eat dinner at "The Last Drop," so named because it sits along the square where people used to be hanged. Megan was dying to try haggis, but I couldn't wrap my head around eating that right before I was to get on a plane to Ireland. So she ordered haggis and I ordered soup, and the two of us drank some Hot Toddy's. The pub was absolutely picturesque. There was an old man standing next to us, getting livid at the slot machine he seemed to be losing money on, and the bartenders seemed to be enjoying the whole scene. A Scottish man came up to Megan and complemented her on the wrap she had just bought too! It was a wonderful way to finish out our time in Scotland. We had to leave after that and board the plane for our 9:15 flight back to Ireland. We met a guy from Long Island while waiting in line to board the plane, who had been living in Dublin for a year. We compared stories and talked about returning back to the states. The ride went quick, and sure enough we arrived at our lodging for the night: the Dublin airport. I dislike sleeping in airports, but as we had no choice, I took a few Simply Sleep and conked out. Megan informed me that a police officer had come around to check our passports during the middle of the night, of which I was completely unaware. We bused back to Cork in the morning, and I've been studying ever since for finals!

5 Villages, 4 Nights, 3 Days, 2 Friends, 1 Italy

After we said goodbye to the moms, Megan and I headed up the coast of Northern Italy to the Cinque Terre--five villages along the Italian coastline that are full of vineyards and the catch of the day. It was a wonderful escape after the hustle and bustle of the city.

Day 0: Tickets, Please.
I waited around for Megan to return from Rome in the morning, and after a bit of a late start, we commuted into Rome directly to the train station to board our train for La Spezia. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the station and found our seats with little trouble. While we had reserved seats ahead of time, we weren't surprised to find ourselves in a compartment, but unfortunately there were four other people in there as well. I immediately fell asleep, because the moms had woken me up early to say goodbye. Sure enough, about an hour later one of the staff came around to check tickets. Groggily I took mine out. I hate when they catch me during my sleep. The ride was a good four hours, but it went pretty quick as I slept most of the way through. We managed to get off at the right stop, and find our way around La Spezia to the bus stop. La Spezia had really fun street names named after famous people. It was actually a lot bigger than I was picturing! For some reason, when I hear small I immediately picture Blue Earth. Anywho, the bus ride was probably the best part of the day! We had to go up crazy switchbacks to get to Biassa, and every time we came near a corner the bus driver would honk the most ridiculous horn ever to warn other cars. In addition, we overheard a conversation between an Australian and two Canadians who were also staying at our hostel. Finally, every time any of the locals would get off the bus, every single person on the bus would say multiple times, "Ciao, ciao, ciao." It was hilarious and awesome. We arrived at the hostel in Biassa only to find our that the Australian girl was our roommate! So we invited her out to dinner with us--to the only restaurant in town, a little pizzeria/bar. When we got there, the prices were so cheap that we decided to each get our own pizzas. I mean, they couldn't be that big, right? For only 4 euro? They were huge! I ate about half of mine before I had to quit. When we got back to the hostel we invited three other Canadians (two of which were the ones on the bus) to watch "Gangs of New York." It was nice to just chill and not worry about starting to see sights right away.

Day 1: Intense...like camping.
We decided to allow ourselves a little time to sleep in on this first day since both of us had been waking up early every day in Rome. The hostel had shuttle buses leaving throughout the morning to the first village of the Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore, but only at select times, so Megan and I decided to hike to the first village. It was only about a 2 hour hike, but before we even left Biassa, we got lost. We saw an Italian man watering his plants on his porch so we stopped for directions. He only spoke Italian, and since Megan and I know zero English, we had to use a lot of hand gestures to finally figure out where we were going. We got the gist of his speech: we were heading in the right direction. And sure enough, after a half-hour climbing up a treacherously steep hill with rocks sliding this way and that, Megan and I saw a sign for Riomaggiore. Only 1 hour and 15 minutes to go! This path was much easier however. In Riomaggiore, we stopped for lunch and at it down at the Marina, soaking in the sun's rays and watching the few boats out and about. I couldn't manage to pull myself off the wall we were sitting on, so we tanned for a little bit before finally deciding to head on our way. We hiked down to the next village, Manarola along the Via dell'Amore. It was the most beautiful walk. Almost no hiking, and beautiful ocean views the whole way along. After arriving in Manarola, we refreshed ourselves with gelato and tried to find the high path for hiking that Megan's friend had recommended. After pulling out our map, we discovered that it would take us four hours to hike to the third village, and I was definitley not up for that. I was hot and tired. So we meandered through the first two villages again, and ran into our Canadian friends once again in Riomaggiore. We decided since we only hiked the first two villages, we wanted a little bit more exercise, so we hiked back to Biassa. Clearly I was mistaken on thinking this path would be easy. It was mostly uphill, and climbing back down the treacherous mountain that we scaled that morning was just as difficult. We made it alive, and headed straight over to the pizzeria, once again to dine on some great Italian food. But not before running into the same Italian man! He wanted to know if we had made it and we assured him we had. It was wonderful to see him again, and I'm sure he was glad to see that we had made it back alive. We headed back to the hostel and called it an early night.

Day 2: Love is in the Air
Megan and I slept in a little bit once again and decided to take the second shuttle into Riomaggiore from our hostel. Since I hadn't checked my email in a few days, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to catch up on some emails while we waited for the bus. Whenever I'm paying for internet, I always go to the important emails first--from people I know, special school emails, etc. and then leave the other emails for later, when I have more time. I noticed that I had gotten an email from my sister, so I opened it up, only to find the happy news that she is engaged! I was so excited! I think I sent her three emails in a row telling her to give me a call and all the details. It was a great way to start out the morning. This is my official congratulations to her on my post though!
After the exciting news, we headed out for the second day of travels. We shuttled to Riomaggiore and walked again to Manarola. This time we decided to keep on walking to Corniglia. It was very warm this day, so we were quite tired by the end, especially because to get up to the town by foot you have to climb 382 steps! We stopped for lunch at this little hole-in-the-wall cafe place tucked inside one of the little alleyways. I cannot believe how amazing the food was! They had sandwiches like every other cafe, but this place brushed butter and oregano on top that was just amazing! We also picked up some gelato before heading back down toward the beach to lay out in the sun for a bit. Finally we kicked it into gear ahead and hiked to the fourth village, Vernazza. We met two Americans on this pathway who were very friendly and we chit-chatted with them for most of the 2 hour hike. Once we got there, we perused the shops a little bit, bought some snacks and headed back on the train to Riomaggiore, where we waited for the bus to bring us back to the hostel.

Day 3: Rain, Rain, Go Away.
Our first two days had been absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately our luck ran out. It started raining nearly as soon as we got to Monterossa, the last of the five villages. We decided to start from there and work our way back to Riomaggiore, as far as we wanted. The hike to Vernazza was definitely the most difficult of the four hikes between the villages. It took us about two hours. Afterwards, we decided we wanted to eat at that same little cafe in Corniglia where they had all the great food before. We jumped on a few wrong trains before finally getting there. We hiked our way up to Corniglia (this time via road) and basically ran to the restaurant. Once inside we ordered our food and chatted with the employees, while raving about how good their food was. We took our time, playing cards and eating slowly, just to stay out of the rain. Two Australian couples also came in, and we found out that they loved it just as much as we did! They had also been at that restaurant the day before. We found out from them that there was a bus from the train station to Corniglia, so we didn't actually need to climb all those steps. Bummer. Regardless, we took the bus back down to the station and decided to take the train to La Spezia, because the pouring rain was no fun to hike in. We took a taxi from La Spezia back to Biassa, which was definitely worth it. After we changed into dry clothes, we borrow "The Bourne Identity" from the hostel and settled in for an afternoon inside. We went out for one last pizza at the pizzeria, and called it a night.

The villages were one of the best places I had been thus far. I don't know if it was the people that were there at the same time as us, or what, but we met more people here than in any other location. No time to stay in Italy, however. Next up, EDINBURGH!

Bella Roma

Day 0: Um...Sketch.
We started off the morning taking the train from Interlaken to our layover station at Milan. We woke up early to get to the train station, but apparently it was too early for some of us, because everyone besides Megan jumped on the wrong train. We realized our error on the train, and luckily were able to get off at the other Interlaken station and jump on the correct train there. It was not a pleasant start to my morning. We only stayed on that train for forty minutes, also, which made the mistake all the more unpleasant. Once we got on the correct train, we found out how crowded it was and realized we had no idea how to find our seats. Finally figuring it out, we had to kick out some of the people that were in our seats. Once all settled, we enjoyed a 2ish hour train ride to Milan. We chit-chatted a little bit and just enjoyed the general scenery and ride. Once we were at Milan, we took an opportunity to enjoy the station's architecture and take a quick break before jumping on another train for a 3-hour ride to Rome. This train was much nicer and more comfortable. Generally we found the trains in Rome to not be that great. Apparently the moms had heard that 2nd Class was kind of sketch, but in general I didn't mind it. Termini was crowded, but we found out how to get to the metro and jumped on to get to our hostel. Now, the metro on the other hand was definitely sketch. The cars were all graffitied, and surprisingly, NO ONE was on the metro. After two metro rides, we realized that our hostel was a good 45 minutes out of the city. Now, one might ask why I would go to through the trouble of booking a hostel so far outside of the city. Megan and I usually have a checklist of things that we look for in a hostel: security lockers, breakfast, etc., etc. and with the moms, we had to make sure it wasn't a youth hostel. Also, the description on the internet said that it was on a beach. And guess what?! It was! I was totally okay with the commute if I got to stare out at the ocean everyday. (Actually, I think it's a sea, but I can't remember which one.) Instead of heading all the way back into Rome to start seeing sights and finding some food, we decided to hit up the local grocery market for another wonderful dinner. We picked up the makings for some amazing chicken salads, in addition to stopping at the corner gelato place to pick up a delicious pre-dinner dessert. Now by that time I had stayed in a few hostels, including a few that had some pretty strict rules. I wasn't sure how the hostel was going to take our bringing food in. But the moms brought it in, and chit-chatted with one of the employees who was so nice! She brought out all the utensils we would need and forced us to have salt since we were having salads. We ate our food, some delicious bread for only 50 cents, and played cards before going to sleep early to prepare for the big day of sights the next morning.

Day 1: The Biggies
We decided to go big right away in Rome. Megan had many friends staying in Rome that she wanted to connect with, so most of this trip was just me and the moms. We started early heading over to the Palatino to pick up tickets for the Colosseum. Wouldn't you know that it's culture week in Rome (probably because Rome was also celebrating it's birthday that week) so all of the sights were free! We got tickets for the Colosseum, Palatino, and Roman Forum for absolutely nothing! Cheapest day so far. I suggested we head towards the Colosseum first, because I didn't know how busy it would be. After mom mistakenly got two tickets for a real tour instead of an audioguide (through no fault of her own--the guy spoke English, too), I let the moms take advantage of that while I wondered around the Colosseum by myself. I couldn't believe how huge the place is! The whole time I wanted to watch the movie Gladiator, even if it's not historically accurate. After taking in the general grandeur, we headed over to take in the Palatino and the Roman Forum. While walking amongst the ruins, it started to sprinkle. Then rain. Then REALLY rain. We decided we had had enough of the outdoorsy stuff, so we were planning on jumping on the hop-on, hop-off bus tour to catch some other sights. We were just in time for the next bus, so we snagged a little lunch and waited on the sidewalk. Slowly but surely, the cars stopped driving by and a group of reenacting gladiators started marching down the street--they were having a parade! Apparently this is NOT a common occurrence, but by this time it was still pouring rain. The procession looked just as miserable and sopping as I felt. An HOUR later, we finally boarded a crammed, steamy, smelly bus. I couldn't even see where we were going, or hear anything about what we were passing. Finally we decided to try to hop on a different bus at the Piazza del Popolo. No such luck there, so we hopped on the next bus on our original line, where we ran into a friend who had been waiting with us out in the rain by the Colosseum. I was soaking and uncomfortable at this point (wrong ensemble: skinny jeans and flats) so we headed to the Trevi Fountain to throw in a coin and make a wish, before finally just heading back to the hostel. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got back to Ostia the weather started to clear. For dinner we went to "Non Solo Pizza..." or as mom likes to call it, "Con Solo Pizza". It was so good! We then stopped at our favorite little gelateria (the same one as the first night) on the way home for dessert. Another round of cards finished off the night.

Day 2: Tom the Tour Guide
The next day we decided to hit up the Vatican. We signed up for a 1:30 tour through our hostel, so we had the morning to kill. After making our long commute into the city, we wandered over to the Campo de Fiori, a wonderful fresh fruit and vegetable market that has a few souveneirs as well. We had fun sampling dried, candied fruit as well as some delicious strawberries. A man was selling vegetable "tools" (sorry, no better word) which promptly gave the moms and Megan something to purchase. It was like an informercial, and we all loved it! He was making curly fries and all sorts of vegetable delights. After walking away with our purchases (I also walked away with a beautiful yellow purse), we headed over to the Vatican. We were plenty early, so we imitated statues and did a little souveneir shopping before meeting up with Tom, our tour guide. Tom led us all around the Vatican, starting off in the square outside of St. Peter's Basilica, informing us all about the Sistine Chapel, through the Vatican museum, to the Sistine Chapel, and finally to St. Peter's Basilica. I loved the whole thing. Tom was very informative and told us lots of things I didn't know. Also, it was great for me to see some of the works of art that I've been learning about in my art history class, such as the Saint Longinus and the Baldacchino. The only other people who were on our tour with us was a couple from Colorado who had just been to the Cinque Terre (where Megan and I were heading next) so the tour was super small and fun. After the nearly four-hour tour, I was famished, so we headed over to Piazza Barberini to eat dinner. We found a cute little restaurant to eat pasta in. Mom also introduced us to proscuitto and melon. Delicious!

Day 3: Mom and Daughter Day
After having been in Rome for a few days, the others were nice enough to let my mom and I have a day together. First on my list was seeing the Spanish Steps. We climbed all of the steps and wandered into the chapel at the top. Hardly any people were there, which was a little disappointing--I thought the steps would be filled! I guess you have to wait for a sunny day to see that...Afterwards, we wandered toward the direction of the Pantheon, the next stop on our list. Wouldn't you know that we walked down the most expensive street in Rome--Prada, Dior, Gucci, Fendi, you name it, it was there. I always manage to find those streets! We eventually ran into the Pantheon (and I literally mean ran into the Pantheon--it was kind of abrupt). You would never guess how impressive/beautiful/astounding the inside of the building is until you enter. The outside looks big, but it's just grey and misleading. At this time, we were way ahead of schedule on our plans for the day, but there was one more thing that I really wanted to see-the Borghese Gallery. Home of many of the works of art that I've learned about, it was also located in one of the only green parts of Rome. Before we walked an eternity to get there, however, we had to stop for a gelato break. I was currently reading the book "Eat, Pray, Love" and in that book, the author recommends the gelato place "Il Gelato di San Crispino" as apparently having hte best gelato in Italy, which is saying quite a bit, if you ask me. So we wandered towards it, but couldn't find it! So we stopped in the next nearest place. After rounding the corner to head back out, we found the place! We ordered gelato at that place too. You can't pass up an opportunity to sample the best gelato in Rome, even if you've just had some! After having our fill, we headed to the Borghese Gallery. On our way, we had a minor crisis--my mom and I got separated on the subway! I was trying to mouth Termini to her, but she didn't get it. Thankfully, she's super smart and got off at the next stop, where I jumped off the metro and waved her to where I was. Whew. I think she was more freaked out than I was considering I had been navigating us the entire trip and she had no form of communication, including not having my cell-phone number. Once there, we found out it was sold out--until SATURDAY. I will remind you that this was a Tuesday. Slightly disappointed, we decided to check out something else instead. We decided to go to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. As we stepped out of the metro, I did what I always do, pull out my trusty map. Of course, a hop-on, hop-off bus tour guy was trying to sell us tickets, so I moved down a few steps. After a few moments he walked past us again and said "Information?" to which we replied, "No, thanks." He was like, "No, it's okay." So we asked how to get to the Basilica and he pointed us in the right direction. After we arrived to a beautiful looking facade, we were disappointed to find gates around the steps. Then we realized that this was the back of the Basilica! So we headed to the front and went inside. It was a beautiful church. After exploring it for a bit, we were tired enough to return to Ostia where we ate another dinner at "Non Solo Pizza" (not very good this time) and enjoyed the beach. As per usual, cards finished out the evening. We also met a friendly and chatty Londoner who had been living in Italy for the past seven years. She was very sharing, but she told us that we had done a good job at seeing all the sights so far.

Day 4: Churches, churches, churches galore
The next day I decided to let the moms fend for themselves and head off with Megan to see some of the works of art we hadn't seen yet. We stopped at the Piazza del Popolo to see some Caravaggio and a concert set up for Earth Day, then headed over to see the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa (Bernini is a genius) and wandering down the Quirinale to find the Sant'Andrea al Quirinale. In all that time, the moms still hadn't found their final destination, so we met up with them and wandered about for a bit. We saw a few places worth going into, but none of us could decide what to do. Finally, we headed over to San Giovanni to see the Basilica. Another massive, beautiful church. I was churched/museumed out at this point. We headed back to Ostia early to do a little market shopping and hang out at the hostel. We stopped at our favorite gelateria, where the workers seemed to recognize our faces, since we had stopped in their everyday. The afternoon just flew by, and before we knew it, we found ourselves in a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Now this is hilarious for 2 big reasons: 1) Mom hates Chinese food. 2) We are in Italy. Eating a Chinese Restaurant. Hm. Surprisingly, it turned out to be amazing! The best Chinese food I've ever had! Even Louise loved it! She called it a "gastronomical delight". So great. After many fits and giggles, we did our normal routine of playing cards at the hostel, and called it an early night as the moms had to leave in the morning.

Day 5: Ciao Roma.
It was time for the moms to leave me on my european excursion and to go back to the states to share all of their amazing adventures. I hope they have shared some good stories with all of you. As for me, it was tough to say good-bye, but I was on my way to the Cinque Terre, to spend three days on the Italian coastline. What a pick-me-up!

Hey Mom, it's SwitzerLAND!

Day 0: Travelling to SwitzerLAND
We started off the morning catching the airlink bus to the Dublin airport to board our noon flight to Geneva. Ireland said farewell to us in true Irish fashion (i.e. it was raining for our send-off). Once we arrived, we managed to get to our gate plenty early, only to find out that our flight would be delayed about 40 minutes. Fortunately, Megan arrived at the opportune time to chit chat and hang out before our flight left. We finally got going, only to discover at the gate that they were checking everyone's return/connecting flights because they had been having trouble with people, I guess. Even with all the trouble, we were shortly on our way!
Just before landing in Switzerland, I will embarrassing own up to the fact that I recognized the songs that the little 7-year-old girl in front of me was singing--High School Musical. This is also the story behind the capitalization of -LAND. The girl saw us landing and said, "Mom, it's SwitzerLAND! I can see Jeremy's house!". It was so cute. And for that matter, why do we pronounce it "-lend"? So from now on, it's been SwitzerLAND, IreLAND, ScotLAND, etc. We met some people while going through passport control, who kind of made a few jabs at our being American, but generally it was a good flight.
Next on the agenda was hopping on a train to Interlaken. With little trouble we managed to find a train, stretch out on a few seats and enjoy a relaxing 3-hour ride to Bern. At Bern we snacked on the most amazing pretzels, noticed that the language had now switched from French to German, and hopped aboard another hour long ride to Interlaken. It was already dark when we got to Interlaken and got checked into our hostel, so we called two fellow Johnnies who were also staying in Interlaken to grab a pint and chocolate fondue. Afterwards, Megan and I indulged in "Franc fries." And with that, we headed back to the hostel, exhausted from the long day of travelling.

Day 1: Rain, rain, go away
That's right. I thought I had finally escaped the Irish weather for some good ol' sunshine and warmth. Okay, maybe that's exaggerating a little bit--I did think Switzerland would be a little chilly, but I was still hoping to escape the rain that we can't seem to escape anywhere else. The weather started off looking great, so Megan and I booked a paragliding appointment at 10:00. I was SO excited! You'll be happy to know that this was the only crazy adventure we could do, so for those of you who voted for that one, you win! Unfortunately however, about 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave, the appointment was cancelled. They were also planning an excursion to go canyoning, but for some reason I can wrap my head around jumping off a platform with a rope around my feet but not around my waist. So we didn't take advantage of that, and instead found a path to hike over to the next two villages. We ate a light brunch and met up with the two Johnnies again who were planning on joining us for the day's adventures. We had to ferry across the beautiful blue-green water and through the mountains to get to the path. We hiked for about 15 minutes and arrived at a set of caves. We bought tickets for the hour long tour. It was a fun tour, but caves all begin to look the same to me, and the poor tour guide had to give the tour in three different languages (impressive) so it took a rather long time. Afterwards, we hiked the 2 hours back to Interlaken. In the rain. Gross. We were all exhausted and soaking wet when we got back, so we headed to the same restaurant we drank pints at the night before and had a wonderfully large dinner. We also were thoroughly entertained/creeped out by the creepy "cow-pants man" as we like to call him. You should ask the moms about that one. When he started talking to us, we decided it was time to leave. We headed back to the hostel for a dry, warm night of cards.

Day 2: Falling from the Sky
Once again, the first thing Megan and I did was book an appointment to go paragliding on a seemingly beautiful day. And once again, we waited the entire morning, only to find out our appointment was cancelled. A little disappointed, I started the next task on my agenda: finding a mountain to hike up. For the life of me, I could not find a trail that started at the bottom of a mountain and worked its way up! We found out later that all the trails were closed since it was still winter season. Frustrated with the whole morning thus far, Megan and I ended up walking around Interlaken waiting for the Tourist Office to open to find out what else we could do. By this time, the weather had cleared up again, so we decided to take our chances and call the paragliding company directly, to see if there was any last hope that we could get out today. The lady at the company told us she would call us back at 4:00 to tell us the answer. This was around lunchtime, so we were trying to find somewhere to eat, when the company called us back 20 minutes later! They said they would be leaving in a half-hour and could we be ready? OF COURSE! We dashed back to the hostel to grab some warmer clothes and waited patiently for the bus to arrive.
10 minutes after we were ready, the company drove up in a little mini bus. We were greeted by a cute little adventurer with ski-goggles and cap. She drove us around Interlaken to pick up our two pilots, Robbie and Bruno. As we drove up a mountain, Bruno informed us of all the legalities and essentially the whole procedure. I was slightly nervous, and the switchbacks up the mountain were not helping. This was a perfect time for him to ask if we got motion sickness. Apparently they've had problems with that in the past. Since Ireland's roads are so crazy, I have noticed that I have been more prone to motion sickness. So I said no, but I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out. We got to pick our pilots, then, and Robbie was mine. He was about 20 years older than Bruno, but was very chatty and friendly. He lent me a jacket, gloves and a hat, since it gets so cold so far up. We strapped on all our gear and then had to wait for another paraglider to take off. It was fun to see what we would be doing. They waited about 20 minutes, and then all of a sudden they were off! It was so fun to watch and made me even more excited! We got our glider set up on the ground and got in position. Robbie gave me instructions the whole time, mainly telling me that when I ran off the mountain, I should not sit down or jump. That's right, I should be prepared to run off the mountain. We waited for the opportune moment--the wind has to be coming towards you instead of from behind you. All of sudden Robbie yelled "run!" and we were off. I tried my hardest to keep running on the ground, but all of a sudden my feet lifted and the ground disappeared below my feet. The moment was so surreal when I realized that I was hundreds of feet off the ground. I don't know how to describe the feeling, but imagine you are sitting in what feels like in a stationary position, and viewing what looks like a cinematographic shot from a movie with panoramic views of a foreign country. It was fabulous. Robbie explained what I was looking at, and why the water is green-blue (because of green stone up the river from the lakes). He also explained why we were staying so high above the ground (updraft). Wonderful, awesome, exhilarating--words aren't enough. Unfortunately, my stomach eventually reminded me how high we were off the ground, and I asked Robbie if we could land, so I wouldn't get sick. We had kind of a rough landing, but what a scenic 20 minutes! I strongly recommend this activity for anyone interested in Switzerland.
Once we landed and got ourselves situated, Megan and I parted from our pilots and took some time to enjoy the afternoon sun. It was roasting at this point, so us and the moms recalled the paragliding and lounged about the porch at our hostel. Once we got too hot, we headed over to the chocolate store to pick up some delicious dessert for a spaghetti dinner that we soon made. The night was spent recalling the past few days' adventures over a delicious homemade meal, playing cards, and preparing ourselves for bella Roma.

Destination Dublin as a Terrific Tour Guide

The hiatus is over, and I have finally returned to Cork for good. At least to Ireland for good. At least for the next month. I might try to sneak in a few weekend/day trips before I return at the end of May, but the majority of my travelling is over. What a 2 1/2 weeks it has been! I'll follow up on my latest adventures in the same way: city by city, day by day. As always, comment or email me to hear more!

Day 1: Sleepster Sunday
HAPPY EASTER! I started my Sunday morning off waking up early to catch the earliest train (7:30) to Dublin to meet my mom and Aunt Kay, who from now on will be referred to as "the moms" when talked about together, simply for the sake of convenience. I arrived at Dublin at approximately noon only to find my mom sleeping in the hotel lobby! I went over and gave her a nudge to wake her up. We said our hellos and then continued to head right back out the door to try and find the parade that seemed to be going on. Considering the walls of people we were running into along O'Connell Street, however, we decidely missed the parade and jumped on the "Hop-on, Hop-off" bus tour around Dublin. After a few blocks, Kay fell asleep. I needed to do something to pump this guys up about being in Ireland! So we jumped off near the Jameson Distillery where we snagged a photo and decided not to drink. We ate fish and chips at Leo Burdock's for lunch, in true Irish fashion, before heading over to a nearby pub for a pint. The moms were falling asleep in their Bulmers and Guinness, so we headed back to the hotel, where the moms continued to sleep for approximately the next five hours or so. I think they felt bad, but I didn't mind. I remember what my sleeping patterns were like the first three or four days I was here, and they definitely had me beat for staying awake longer. I went to a grocery store to pick up some sustenance for dinner, in case they never woke up, only to find them awake when I returned. We had a very chill evening playing word finds and calling it an early night.

Day 2: Trinity Tour and National Gallery
As I had already been to Dublin, I left it up to the moms to decide what to do. We started off by going to Trinity College to check out the Book of Kells. They were giving tours that morning--something we definitely didn't get in January--so we took advantage of that as well. I must say that I would recommend this route if you are planning to come and visit. Our tour guide was very informative and actually funny. The Book of Kells was obviously amazing. I was just glad it was on display this time. After cruising on through the Long Room, we booked it over to the National Gallery. A few hours of wandering amongst precious works of art is enough to make anyone hungry, so the next stop was a Crepe Restaurant. I wasn't sure how well the crepes would go over, especially after eating a fabulous banana and nutella one in Paris, but it was actually pretty good. We did a little souvenier shopping then before finally heading to Penny's--my favorite department store and a pub for a cocktail. We ate a light dinner in the room again, and then called it another early night, as the moms were still jet-lagged and we had an early morning the next day.

Day 3: Wild Wicklow Mountains
I knew that my mom had been hankering to see the Irish countryside, so I thought maybe we should take advantage of going to see the Wicklow Mountains--film sight of P.S. I Love You, Braveheart and Excalibur. We went through Dun Loaghaire (pronounced like Dun Leary) and stopped at a quaint, but expensive gift shop for a coffee break in the morning. We saw some big lakes, the bridge where Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler's characters meet in P.S. I Love You, and some beautiful scenery. My mom even got to try some authentic Irish grub: Beef and Guinness Stew. It was nice being led around for once, instead of having to find everything for myself. The tour guide was okay--a bit inappropriate at times, and for sure not always 100% accurate, but he did have some good things to say. Now having had a few tour guides, I would actually say that he was one of the better ones. In the afternoon we checked out St. Kevin's Monastery before heading back to Dublin. We stopped at St. Stephen's Green to take in some more scenery and the warm weather before heading back to the hotel for a pint and another night of card games.

I'm afraid Dublin went far too quickly for all of us, what with my recovering from the first part of my european excursion, and the moms getting over their jet lag. It was easy for me to see things because I had already been there, so I hope Mom and Kay had a good time. Next stop: SwitzerLAND.

Paris Holds the Key to...Someone Else's Heart

Okay, it's time for me to be a little bit honest. I feel like I've done a pretty good job not letting any negative aspects of my trip creep into my blog, but I have to be honest about Paris: I had a fabulous time but it was for sure not my favorite city. I was super nervous to go in the first place because I had heard that the French are less than friendly. But this trip is an opportunity for me to push boundaries and comfort zones, and so on Sunday we took the night train from Barcelona to Paris and the excursion began.

Day 1: Is This Gonna Last Forever?
Megan, Karissa and I arrived at the Paris train station at about 10:00 on Monday morning. First things first, the Paris metro is probably the most confusing system ever. They not only have metros, but also RERs, which have completely different routes and span the city centre better. We had absolutely no clue where to go, but luckily we met two girls from Argentina who were headed to the same hostel. Neither of them spoke French either, but the information attendant at the train station spoke French and Spanish, so they communicated with him to find our hostel. The five of us found it with no trouble after getting directions. We dropped off our stuff in the luggage room and headed to get some breakfast. We found a little cafe and tried (a tad unsuccessfully) to order. I was surprised at how difficult it was to communicate. I know very little French. However, a nice French man was at the cafe and spoke enough English to engage in conversation with us. It was nice to meet a friendly person right away. Afterwards, we headed over to the Louvre. I was most excited about this part of Paris because of the art history class Megan and I took this last semester. I saw all the famous works (the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory), but I also got to see some of the works from my art class: the Raft of the Medusa, Death of Sardanapalus, and The Bolt. We spent four hours there, which was enough time for my legs, but not for my eyes. There was so much to see and do there. After the Louvre, we walked up the Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe. A couple things about the Champs Elysees: it is a shopping street, but it's probably the longest street I've ever been on, and it's incredibly crowded on a sunny Monday afternoon. I was hot and tired when we reached the Arc, so we snapped a few pictures and then headed back to the hostel. We found a grocery store and ate in one of the many parks of Paris before calling it an early night, to once again, play a few hands of rummy.

Day 2: The Day of Long Lines
On Tuesday we headed out to Versailles. Our luck with the metro system continued as we once again got lost and confused trying to catch our train to Versailles. We met a British couple and another American girl, however, and the six of us worked it out together. It was an hour train ride to Versailles, but it went quickly since we had conversation with our new friend. The American girl we travelled with had been living and working in Scotland, and was now travelling. She had just graduated college too and was taking some time off before graduate school. It was fun to hear about her adventures. When we got to Versailles we waited in line with her for about 2 hours to get tickets and another 20 minutes just to get into the Palace. It was well worth it though. The palace was absolutely beautiful. So extravagant. We did a little souveneir looking at Versailles and ate lunch before heading back to Paris. Once back in the city, we decided to also go to the Eiffel Tower since the weather was so nice. The lines were once again very long, and we waited about an hour and 1/2 to get to the top. Again, completely worth it! The view was amazing.

Day 3: Pack It In
Because we spent the first two days kind of slowly viewing the sights, we decided to spend the last day getting in everything we missed. Megan and I woke up early to hit up Notre Dame at 8, and then got in line for the Musee d'Orsay. I would definitely recommend this route for anyone travelling to Paris. Notre Dame had no crowds that early in the morning, and we only had to wait 20 minutes from the Orsay to open. It was fantastic. I was really excited for the Orsay Museum because of Megan and my art history class. They had a Rodin exhibit as well, which is a sculptor we also learned about. What was even more fantastic is that we had two great sights done by 1:00! Next stop was the Catacombs. Now, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, because I didn't know anything about them except for the boys on trip thought they were really cool. I think I was expecting tombs, not the actual bones that made up the hallways! There was literally like 7 hallways in which the walls were made up of rows of bones and skulls. Needless to say I raced through the last part of that. To treat myself for having gone through that, we stopped at a crepe stand. It was so good! A little old lady was running the stand, and she got to watch us with satisfaction inhale her delicious creations! I definitely did not eat enough crepes while I was in Paris. The next sight on our list was the Moulin Rouge. Since this is in a sketchy part of Paris, we literally took quick pictures and then hopped back on the metro. Although it was still early at this point, we were exhausted and since Megan and I had to wake up at 5 the next morning to make our flight back to Ireland, we went back to the hostel early.

I can hardly believe the first part of my excursion is already over. It went so quickly and we saw so many great sights. I'm incredibly excited to start the next leg of my trip, especially with my mom and Aunt Kay. The same goes for this blog: I realize it's a bit rough and quite an overview, but email me if you want to know any more details! Otherwise I'll plan on telling you more about it when I'm back! Happy Easter!

And So It Begins...

What better way to spend a month-long spring break that's meant to be for studying, then to go gallavanting across Europe? Wouldn't you know that I am doing exactly that. So here's how I'll lay out this last excursion: you'll get a day-by-day commentary with a few life lessons learned below.

Day 0: Airport Insomnia
Megan, Karissa and I left for Dublin Airport at 4:00 last Tuesday in order to get some free lodging before our 6:40 flight for Barcelona. Initially, we gathered on some very comfortable chairs near Starbucks to play a few hands of rummy before being kicked out to the cold, metal chairs in the waiting areas of check-in. I was not exactly looking forward to starting our excursion this way, as I'm kind of good at not-sleeping. Megan usually is the exact opposite, and can fall asleep anywhere, so I figured I would probably spend the night watching our stuff. It ended up being the other way around however! I definitely got a good night's rest stretched across a couple of chairs in the airport, whereas Megan and Karissa only got a few hours sleep. But regardless of how much sleep we got, we were headed for Barcelona in the morning, and we were all equally excited.
*Lesson #7: I would sleep in Dublin Airport again.
*Lesson #13: Always bring a deck of cards.

Day 1: Surfers and Sangria
The flight over to Barcelona went very smoothly. As soon as we arrived, we checked into our hostel. After dropping off our stuff, we meandered down the Passeig de Gracia in search of food. What an insane street! We stopped at a Starbucks to energize (you'll notice that Starbucks features in a lot of my blogs) right next to Dior. Just down the street was Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry. Clearly we were strolling down one of the more expensive streets in Barcelona. The city is absolutely gorgeous and we even ran into our first Gaudi architecture. Our lunch was not that refined, however. We stopped and waited a ridiculously long time in a crowded, busy, slow and overpriced Burger King, before meeting up with Liz and Abby. After we had some food in our system, Karissa, Megan and I had to find the train station to reserve seats for our night train to Paris. Even though I have a Eurail pass, I still have to reserve a seat on a train, but only for 2 euro. After talking to a lot of different people who didn't speak a whole lot of English, we decided to come back early the next morning and try again. Megan and Karissa were feeling the effects of no sleep at this point, so they headed back to the hostel to get some sleep, while I met Liz and Abby. The three of us made our way down to the beach. Although it was pretty chilly and rainy that day, it made for some awesome surfing weather and we got to see some great waves. I loved putting my toes in the sand and imagining all the people back in Minnesota still shoveling their sidewalks. Sorry, I just had to rub it in...
After walking back up Las Ramblas, we met the other girls again and decided to take advantage of a super great deal at one of the cafes on Las Ramblas: 2 tapas, 1 paella and sangria for only 12 euro! We definitely took advantage of that. It was a wonderful girls' night out and the food was amazing. Not to mention some of the sights on Las Ramblas are quite unique.
*Lesson 62: Don't eat octopus after having a night of little sleep.
*Lesson 74: If you go to Barcelona, stay at the Sant Jordi Diagonal Hostel. It was probably the best hostel I've stayed in yet: super clean, safe, and in a great neighborhood.

Day 2: La Sagrada Familia and Chocolate
Unfortunately we weren't super lucky with the weather right away in Barcelona. It was pretty rainy right away, so we decided to hit up some of the indoor sights of Barcelona. First on the agenda was La Sagrada Familia. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful! The outside detail was incredible, and it was fun to learn about Gaudi's inspiration for the work. No wonder it has taken so long to build! As we tried to decide what else we should do for the afternoon, we perused a few souvenier shops and finally decided to hit up the Chocolate Museum. I had read about this museum in Megan's "Let's Go Europe" book and knew I had to go. The ticket to get into the museum was a chocolate bar! They had a bunch of sculptures made out of chocolate including a white chocolate guerilla and a guitar. The others seemed to appreciate my suggestion! Because it was raining, we decided to keep it a light day and turned in early. We spent the evening at our hostel with 2 bottles of wine, pizza, chips and salsa, and more games of rummy.
*Lesson #93: You can get wine for 87 cents a bottle in Spain.

Day 3: Montserrat
Since the five of us were spending quite a bit of time in Barcelona, we decided to take one day excursion outside of the city to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Several of Megan's Irish friends had recommended that we go to Montserrat: a monastery out in the mountains of the Spanish countryside. It was about an hour by train to get there, but well worth it! We took a cable-car to the monastery and decided right away to spend the first part of the day hiking to the tallest mountain in the region. It was a good hour hike, but the day was absolutely beautiful. We had lots of laughs up and down the hill and the view was incredible at the top. We purchased an all inclusive tickets for the day, so after a fabulous lunch, we spent the afternoon checking out the basilica, an art museum and the chapel where the Black Madonnna was found. I also got to experience my first thunderstorm in Europe--at the very top of the mountain! It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it was enough to drench the five of us, and leave us ready to return back to Barcelona and the comfort of our hostels.
*Lesson #56: If you stay at Sant Jordi Hostel, make sure a blonde Brazilian by the name of Tomas serenades you with Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson.

Day 4: Olympic Stadium, Castles, and the Beach
Part of the reason I had such a great time in Barcelona is because several of my fellow Bennies and Johnnies were there. On Saturday we met up with 3 of our fellow Johnnies making us a crew of 8. After a quick jaunt through the National Art Gallery (we just perused the free section), we headed over to the Olympic Stadium. A few of us got a little crazy on the grass doing cartwheels and front handsprings, but it was a great time. We then walked over to a castle in the same area. I wish I had more background information, but I am completely clueless. The views were spectacular from the castle as well. After these two places, it was early afternoon, but the lot of us were crabby and ready for the beach. It was quite warm that day, so we headed to our hostels to pick up lunch and met up again at the beach. The beach was absolutely packed, but I got a good tan and it was fun to watch the few crazy people who thought it would be a good idea to go swimming in the ocean in April. After a long afternoon relaxing, we all went to a dinner at another cafe on Las Ramblas and ended the day with a cocktail.
*Lesson #17: Put sunscreen all over your face, not just on your nose and cheeks. I had a good sunburn that slowly faded down my face.
*Lesson #64: Travelling with 8 people gets a little crazy.

Day 5: Gaudi
The last day we had in Barcelona, we decided to spend at the Park Guell. This park was designed by Gaudi. Since the day was once again hot and sunny, the park was swarming with people. However the architecture was well worth it. The girls did a bit of shopping there too. Mostly we were tired and hot from travelling, so we took the day pretty easy. After the park we split from the boys to do a little bit more shopping in Barcelona and grab some food before leaving for the train station. Abby and Liz came with us to the train station to play cards until we got on our train and left for Paris. Overall, Barcelona was a wonderful, relaxing time.
*Lesson #48: Always double-check military time. In fact, have multiple people check it.

I know this was a very brief (and rough) overview, but to go into detail would take more time and room then I have. Send me emails though, and I'll send you more detail about anything that sounds interesting. Paris blog to be coming shortly...

An Adventure in Cork?

It's hard to believe that even after three months of living here, there is so much of Cork left to uncover and an ordinary afternoon can turn into quite the adventure.

About a month ago, I decided to bite the bullet and get a library card. At the rate I've been reading books here, my funds are not sufficient enough to cover a new book purchase each time I need a good read. At the time, I had been reading a few of my roommate's books, so there was no need to actually check out a book. I chatted with a few of the Bennies about some good books to read, so when the time came for a new book, I would know which one to check out. Blue Earth, being the small town that it is has only one library. Cork has five. The closest one is only a ten minute jaunt away. However, when I looked for the book that was recommended to me by a friend, I discovered that it was not available in that closest library. Rather than ask the library closest to me if they could have it brought there (like inter-library loaning), I decided to go right to the source.

Since the Tory Top Library is on the south side of the river (or the more "posh" side, according to my Irish professor), I thought it would be an okay adventure to take on by myself one of these afternoons that I have less going on. So yesterday after class, I headed in the general direction that I thought it was. Being brilliant, I had only a vague notion of the general direction I needed to walk in, and only the street name that the library was on (i.e., none of the other street names). About 20 minutes later, I was sufficiently lost. I had turned instead of gone straight. Luckily I had called my friend Emily who got me straightened out and headed in the right direction. After walking approximately another 20 minutes down the correct road, I thought for sure I had made another mistake and missed it. Feeling a little disappointed, I turned around and trudged back to the apartment (which then took a total of about 40 minutes to get back).

I do not give up that easily, however. Even with blisters, I got back to the apartment and looked at a Cork City street map. Turns out I had been only about three blocks away from the library when I turned around! So today, I again set out for the adventure and found the library this time! It only took about a half an hour to reach it this time by foot. I really enjoyed getting lost in Cork. The weather has been beautiful here, and it was nice to see a little bit more of Cork suburbia while getting in a little exercise and fresh air. It's an experience I hope to repeat in the near future! Not to mention, I found out where the lake was, a few pubs that our group has been wanting to go to, and a few new parks.

Speaking of which, I have a feeling there will be more of these experiences since I am officially done with classes! I can hardly believe how fast the time flew by. This also means that this will be my last post before I leave for Barcelona and Paris next Tuesday. I hope things continue to go well wherever ye all may be.

Slan.

Land of the Little Green Men--Aliens, Perhaps?

That's right folks. Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. What an experience! As St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday in Ireland, we were excused from class for the day.

We Bennies and Johnnies started the day early (and by early I mean at 10:30) with a brunch for the whole gang. Matt made eggs with peppers, onions and bacon, and our apartment brought fresh fruit. After the lot was fed and sustained for the day, we headed over to Grand Parade, the main street through Cork's city centre and got a spot to watch the spread. We got there a bit late to get in the front, but we managed a fairly good spot anyway. There were so many people! Nearly every block had a stand selling Irish souveneirs--everything from orange and green sparkley cowboy hats and Irish flags to Ireland hats and noisemakers.

The theme of this year's parade was the Year of Astronomy. There were the usual bands and police officers, but a few surprise twists. One of the first people to walk through was a NASA astronaut! There was also a huge float that looked like the Loch Ness monster. It was definitely the biggest float of the parade. Other highlights from the parade included a guy that cracked a whip, some aliens on stilts, a UFO and a huge robot. Most of the other walkers were children from local clubs, or international societies, such as the Polish Association in Ireland, etc. Part of me wished that there was more Irish culture in the parade, but there were plenty of authentically Irish people around me.

After the parade, we went out for one of the Bennie's birthdays. We just so happened to go to a Chinese restaurant. That's right, another conundrum--Chinese food on St. Patrick's day in Ireland. Unusual, yes, but good? Absolutely. It's definitely a place I'll go back to again. Unfortunately I called it quits after that, in order to study for an exam I had today.

I hope you all were paid a visit by the little green men, too.

Oh How I Love To Sing

Not only just the familiar choir warm-up, but the actual truth! That's right--I finally got to put my weeks of rehearsing to the test in my choir concert last night.

The choir had been having several extra rehearsals lately to prepare ourselves for the upcoming concert. Needless to say Friday was not spared. So I made plans to meet up with a German friend outside of city hall and we headed to rehearsal in Millenium Hall at approximately 4:00 pm. We got lost trying to find Millenium Hall--we actually found it right away, but a man there told us it was somewhere else. After a short conversation with the receptionists in City Hall, we discovered our error and had a security guard escort us to Millenium Hall. After about an hour and a half of rehearsal, we had time to go eat dinner and have a little break before the concert. Most of us American students stayed together, although my German friend and an Irish girl I've gotten to know pretty well came with us. In addition, I finally discovered that a girl I met in choir goes to Gustavus! She prefaced where she went to school with "a small liberal arts school in Minnesota" which I thought was hilarious, because that's exactly what I do! When we returned to the Hall, we were told where we could put our stuff. Surprisingly, I discovered that we weren't actually having our concert in Millenium Hall; we were more in the reception area of the performing space. Millenium Hall was absolutely beautiful! That's where the choir kept our stuff. It had a huge stage, chandeliers, a balcony and mirrors everywhere to reflect how rich and elegant everything was. The reception area that we sang in, on the other hand, very much reflected a modern styling. The acoustics were pretty interesting, too. A few of my roommates showed up for the show, along with a friend from my art class. We sang 10 songs throughout the evening, interspersed with a solo flutist, an acapella group, our choir director's piano stylings, and a string quartet. Everything was really fantastic to listen to, but my favorite parts of the evening were the acapella group (especially their rendition of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley) and the song Gnossiennes No. 1 played by our choir director. That song is in the movie "The Painted Veil" which is one of my favorites (thank you Alyssa!). We had to stand through the entire concert though, and my legs started to go numb during the second half, so by the end of the concert all I wanted to do was put my feet up.

This week was one for the arts, I guess you could say, as another Bennie was involved in the Second Year play. The whole lot of us went to support her in that on Wednesday night. The play was "The Good Person of Szechwan." The Bennie that we knew was playing the lead. She was so fantastic! I really liked the play as a whole. It was a little on the crazy side, but I think it had a thought-provoking message.

The lot of us are getting ready for the big St. Patrick's day celebrations this Tuesday. Apparently they start the festival early here, with music and dancing this weekend. Luckily, St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday here, which means no classes for me! It'll be interesting to see how the Irish celebrate...

Private Tutoring Session

I just have to share this story because I thought it was quite interesting. In fact, my Monday was very interesting...

1. I have Aspects of Irish Folklore on Monday afternoons at 2:00. The first day of tutorial, only eight people showed up, out of about 24. The following week, there were four people. Needless to say, the weeks have gone by and the number has slowly dwindled to, well...me. That's right. I was the only one who showed up to my tutorial on Monday. Granted, it's a time for us to ask questions, so we don't really need to go unless we have questions, but I like to go just to have the material we are learning in class reinforced. Luckily, I already had a back-up plan in case no one else showed up, so I asked her a question and she lectured the entire hour! It was actually kind of nice. I'm curious to know what the next class thought when only one person walked out of the room...

2. Funny story #2. After the tutorial debacle, I went to the library to polish up an art history essay. As I'm standing in line of the open reserve in order to check out a book, the girl in front of me is clearly having trouble checking out her book. After about four tries, she turns to me and asks if I know how to check out a book. Best part about it: she's Irish! It's quite hilarious that having only been here two and a half months, I know more about the library than most of the Irish do. That could be saying something about me, as well...

Turning in my art history essay today was definitely a weight off my shoulders, but I have three tests, an oral exam, and another paper to look forward to before my classes end. It should be a pretty busy next couple of weeks where academics are concerned.

Spring Break

I realized I haven't posted anything in a few days, but life here has settled nicely into a routine. I haven't been on any excursions lately, discovered any unique aspects of Cork or done something crazy. Mainly, I've been working on homework and preparing myself for the onslaught that will be spring break and finals. There might be a little procrastination going on, as well.

Megan and I sat down to plan out our spring break yesterday. We are thinking of starting off in Spain, heading through France and then returning to Cork for Easter weekend. After that we'll hit the road again, this time to Switzerland and Italy. I think the only one of those countries that is a little unexpected is Switzerland. We were planning on going to Greece from Italy, but realized that it would take us a very long time to get there and we couldn't find any good flights. I'm a little sad that we won't make it, but I'm really excited to go to Switzerland! We're going to stay a few days in Interlaken and hopefully do some pretty adventurous stuff. It seems like a good outdoorsy place to go, which suits Megan and I nicely. Megan and I would always appreciate tips from any of you experienced travellers out there!

In other news, I have my choir concert on Friday night! I can't believe it's so close, and I'm a little bit disappointed because I've had a cold for a week now, and I'm not sure I'll be better before the concert. I've really enjoyed being part of a society on campus. One of the other Bennies is in a play this coming week, as well, so the whole gang is planning on going to support her in that.

That's it for me. I hope things are well where you are.

Slan.

Koranda Cookies Still Taste Good in Ireland

It's true--I'm making a batch right now. This is the second time I've made them since I've been here, which is way more often then I would make them at St. Ben's. I think it serves a dual purpose of satisfying my sweet tooth while simultaneously reminding me of home.

It sounds like the weather has been really awful in Minnesota. I think that's my cue to rub in how wonderful the weather has been here in Ireland. Literally fifty degrees and sunny every single day. I can't remember the last time we had a good solid rain.

I've really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things back in Cork. You can start to feel the urgency around campus as people realize they have papers and finals to start working on. Nor am I immune, since I have two papers due fairly shortly. It's exciting, though, because with only four weeks left in the semester, we can start looking forward to our month-long spring break! I never thought it would come, and now it's only a month away! Before I can think about that, though, I need to stay in Cork and be productive!

On Fat Tuesday here in Ireland, it's more like Pancake Tuesday. I wasn't sure exactly why, so I did what I normally do--Googled it. Apparently, the Irish eat pancakes because it was a way for them to get rid of their rich foods, like milk, eggs, and sugar, which they were supposed to refrain from eating during the season of Lent. I was not deprived of this either! We got to have pancakes during choir rehearsal with my favorite topping--Nutella! (No, I haven't gotten over the phase yet...)

Unfortunately, my immune system has finally decided to alert me of the change of living (and pace of life, I would imagine) in Ireland. Megan has been sick for the past few days and between yesterday and today, I'm pretty sure I have something similar. Luckily she has stocked up on enough cold medicine to share.

Irish Lesson for today: Counting in Irish
A haon, a do, a tri, a ceathair, a cuig, a se, a seacht, a hocht, a naoi, a deich! Now you can impress all the people you know!

A Compendium of Sorts

Things Minnesotans are better at (a.k.a. the things I miss):

1. Handling the cold weather. Let's face it--double paned windows, hot showers. We're just more prepared for it. Rightly so, I think, since we have far colder weather. Unfortunately, the cold weather has returned to Ireland, and believe it or not, it's snowing here as well. I think I was the only person in choir yesterday who groaned when they heard it was snowing. It's such a rarity here that the Irish absolutely love when it snows!

2. Going to class. I kept hearing everyone say that no one goes to class on RAG Week. I shouldn't say that they aren't as good as Minnesotans are at going to class, they just are more willing to take a class off. In Minnesota you literally have to be on your deathbed to skip a class, but here the slightest cough will do. Perhaps it's the lecture style, or perhaps its just my inability to skip class and Minnesotans are just as bad.

3. Coffee. I still miss my drip coffee.

4. Peanut butter. I don't think the peanut butter here is that bad, but apparently I'm vastly mistaken according to my roommates. This makes sense, however, as no one here really likes peanut butter.

5. Driving. Everyone I knew before this trip that had never gotten carsick has now experienced it. Those windy, curvy, one-lane countryside roads are enough to make anyone sick. Not to mention the numerous roundabouts which cause a slamming of ones brakes.

6. Being on time. My choir rehearsals are supposed to start at 7, and usually don't get going until 7:15. In addition, I rarely have a class that starts earlier than 5 minutes late.



Now for the other side. Things that the Irish are better at:

1. Going green. Exhibit A: You have to pay for grocery bags here. I realize in the U.S. some states have also adopted this tactic, but it's quite obvious here that everyone brings their own eco-friendly grocery bags. Exhibit B (the more literal interpretation): Mowing lawns in February. How sweet is that?!

2. Distinguishing accents. I'm completely horrible at this, although I've gotten better since I went to London. I just found out a few weeks ago that my art history professor, who I've had all semester, is Scottish. Not to mention that most of my professors are British. But an Irish student can tell which part of Ireland your from, not to mention if you're not Irish.

3. Sleeping in. I once overheard somebody say "Good Morning" at 3:00 in the afternoon. What a wonderful thing.

4. Procrastinating. No further explanation required.

5. Coffee. I realize this is on both lists, but the good thing about Ireland coffee is that it's nice and strong--just how I like it. ;)

6. Fashion. All the guys wear a scarf and peacoat here. You can tell who's American because they wear sweats and invariably have a Northface jacket on.

7. Salt and vinegar. Between chips (fries) or crisps (chips), I can't get enough of the stuff!

Mind the Gap

...between the tube, the islands of Ireland and Great Britain, and of course, the differences between cultures. This past week and weekend, I went on my first international excursion in Europe: over to London.

Wednesday, February 19: 6:00 p.m. London Calling

My classes finished at 5:00 p.m. and I hurried home to make sure that I had everything ready to go for London and eat a quick dinner before heading off to the bus station. The bus station in Cork is a good 25 minute walk from our apartments, so Megan and I had planned on leaving at 6:15 in order to catch a bus to the airport and get there in plenty of time for our flight departing at 9:30. Definitely excited and anxious, Megan and I chatted about all of our plans on the way to the station. Conveniently, we ran into our first obstacle of the trip as well: we were checking to make sure we had the important stuff (passports, ids, etc.) when I realized I forgot my RyanAir confirmation number which I needed in order to pick up my ticket. I sprinted back to the apartment--thank goodness I'm a runner and I've taken enough buses now in Cork to be familiar with the route to and from. Our boarding of the bus and plane went fine after that, however and we were soon on our way to London! Being the cheap college students that we are, we opted to arrive at the London Stansted airport. From what the Bennies and Johnnies who study in London tell me, London Heathrow is really the only airport in the city--all the others are kind of a distance away. Wouldn't you know that Stansted is a forty-five minute train ride into the city. I bought a train ticket online on a spur of the moment decision before I left, but I'm very glad I did! However, this brings me to obstacle #2 on our adventure: I didn't bring my confirmation number for my train ticket either. I went up to the counter and bought a new ticket anyway, figuring that one of the other Bennie or Johnnie Ireland students could use my ticket if they went to London. Upon arriving to the kiosk to pick up Megan's ticket, however, we realized that a confirmation number was unnecessary. Luckily, the women at the ticket counter was nice enough to give me a refund for the second ticket I had purchased. Which brings me to obstacle 1.5 (I forgot about this one, hence the strange number)! As we were leaving the plane, Megan went to turn on her cell phone--our only form of communication for the weekend as laptops are too bulky and my cell phone only had 1 euro worth of minutes on it. European cell phones require a PIN number to unlock, and unluckily, Megan has never turned off her cell phone so was unable to turn it back on because she couldn't remember her PIN. So by this point, we've arrived in London with a forty-five minute train ride to look forward to, confusion about tickets, and no form of communication. It certainly was the start to our adventure!

The train ride was mainly filled with excitement for the next couple of days and crazy games of M.A.S.H. I found out that I'm going to be a plumber and my car is going to be a Hummer. Liverpool Street Station was our stop in London. This was a very appropriate introduction to the city--our hostel was in Barbican, right next to a business area of London. I could not believe how beautiful the city was. It was very late when we arrived, but the buildings were all lit up and the streets were so much cleaner than those in Cork! Which is remarkable considering the difficulty we had finding garbage cans all weekend. We checked in late to the YMCA in Barbican and got a few blissful hours of sleep before starting the next crazy day!

Thursday, February 19: City Skyline

Our goal for Thursday was to hit up the major landmarks in London. Our first stop: Buckingham Palace and watching the changing of the guards. The palace was absolutely beautiful, but what a production! I had no idea it involved so much! There were multiple bands playing pretty popular songs, actually, such as Dancing Queen. We stood on the steps as was recommended by some friends and got a great view. After watching for a bit, we decided to head over to Westminister. After our walk to the Palace, we realized that the distances between landmarks are actually quite extensive, so we decided to get our first experience on the London Underground. I cannot believe how efficient their system is! With a little help right away, we learned quickly how to get around the city. In fact, the only time we got on the wrong tube was when we were with the other Bennies and Johnnies studying abroad in London!

The next stop then was Westminister Cathedral and Abbey. We didn't go in the Abbey because it was quite expensive. But the Cathedral was pretty wonderful. My favorite part of the church was a side chapel devoted to Saint Patrick and other saints of Ireland. It was very green in color and appropriately significant to Ireland with Celtic symbols.

Big Ben and the Parliament building were just down the road, so we were able to get pictures by those two landmarks as well. We grabbed a quick lunch and ate in on the square before catching the tube to the British Museum. The British Museum took up most of our afternoon--it's absolutely enormous, and a bit of an information overload. They have artefacts from all over the world. Some of my favorites were a tree made in Africa out of old weapons, an old mummy from Egypt who was preserved in the sand (he still had his teeth!) and an art display upon entering the museum which showed old photographs underneath a netting which contained all the pills an average person will take during their lifetime. Kind of interesting for us healthcare folk.

Next on the docket was dinner. We stopped at a place called "Wagamama's" recommended by our "On a Budget Weekend" guide. It was a wonderful asian noodle restaurant. We even ate with chopsticks! Quite the experience for the inexperienced, such as myself. After a filling dinner and numerous phone calls by which I was finally able to get more minutes on my cell phone, we were able to connect with one of my friends from St. Ben's studying abroad in London for the semester, Javen. Javen met us at the restaurant and we walked back to their apartment. They live in a very upscale neighborhood, so it was fun to see the different flats and houses. What a welcoming crew! As soon as we got there we were able to chat and catch up with people before they decided to take us out. Being as I only had a backpack and had packed very light considering our change in overnight locations, I had nothing with me, but the girls of the trip were more than willing to share their clothes. We all got dressed up and hit up O'Neil's at Picadilly Circus. It was a fantastic night, and the pub scene was much different than in Ireland. If any of the London crew is reading this, thanks again for your generous hospitality!

Friday, February 20: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

On Friday, two of the London crew, Javen and Megan (a different one) decided to wake up early with us as we went to go explore Portobello Market. We were looking for some steals and deals, and everyone except me walked away with something. They had a very ecletic mix of clothing, jewelry and souveniers and pretty good prices. It took us a while to find it, as we were on foot and had taken a wrong turn, but it was well worth it. And once again we lucked out with the beautiful weather!

That afternoon the four of us decided to check out the London Eye and the Tower of London. We decided in the end to skip the Eye and go right for the Tower, to get our money and time's worth. The Tower of London holds the Crown Jewels, but it also has other areas of the fortress to explore. We went to the Crown Jewels right away (being girls). They were so beautiful! The London Megan and I spent several minutes in front of each piece. They also played videos of coronations and such too, which was really a neat experience. Megan knows a lot about the Monarchy because of one of her classes, so she was able to instruct me and be my own personal tour guide. It was great! Megan and I headed to some of the other attractions of the fortress afterward. As we had walked from the Eye to the Tower and had walked in the morning to the Market, we were all exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the Londoner's flats to collect our things.

Megan and I had planned to spend Friday night with one of her relatives. She lives in Ascot which is about an hour and half train ride out of London. We bought tickets and got to enjoy some of the quieter parts of the greater London area. It was a very relaxing ride and nice to get away from the city for a little while. We spent the evening with her and her family, eating a wonderful meal which included ice cream for desert!

Saturday, February 21: What to See?

Ascot is only a short five miles from Windsor, so Megan and I were lucky enough to catch a ride with her cousin to go and check out Windsor castle. We did eventually have to catch a train back into London, so we didn't stay long, but it was absolutely enormous. Windsor was fun to meander around, as well. We did a little window shopping before heading back.

We were absolutely set on seeing a show while we were here. From others, we decided to go to Les Miserables. Neither of us had seen it, but I know several of the songs from choir. What a fantastic show! I've always loved any theatre experience, and this was great.

So what to do now? Nearly everything was closed for the evening because the show is a little lengthy, so we weren't sure how to spend the rest of our evening. We decided to find a sit-down restaurant before catching an early train back to the Stansted Airport. We went to the Italian Coffee Company--a must for anyone on a budget! We got a pizza to share for only 3.50 pounds! Cheap enough for us to get good desserts, too. ;) We also decided to go take a picture at Platform 9 3/4 at the King's Cross Station. We got a little lost trying to find it, and both of us were too embarrassed to ask anyone, but we finally did find it and got a great picture (see Facebook). We arrived back at Stansted at about 9:30 and parked it on some benches for the evening. After a very long night at the airport (i.e., I didn't sleep), we boarded our 6:20 flight back to Cork. Let's just say I'll spend the next couple of days recovering.

Things I've discovered since travelling to London:
1. Cork is really dirty. London has a population of 13 million people, and it still manages to look cleaner than Cork.
2. Cork is my home away from home. I love coming back to it (no matter how dirty it is).
3. I love the Irish accent. I feel like I can definitely distinguish between the two now. Irish accents are scruffier, I think.
4. I'm really bad at sleeping. Mainly because I've gotten 2 hours of sleep in the past 36. Fun.

Scenic Ireland, Foreign Friends and More Bad Luck

And the bad luck just keeps on coming. I was very excited for this weekend's trip to Galway because I haven't put up pictures for a while and I knew there would be some great ones from Galway. Unfortunately, my camera is broken. But I'm getting ahead of myself here...

Megan and I joined the International Student Society from UCC on a weekend long trip to Galway and neighboring locations. We left on Friday morning at a bright and early 8:00 am (yes, that's early in Ireland). After a four hour bus ride, our first stop was the Cliffs of Moher. I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful it was. Just as I was about to pull out my camera to capture the breathtaking view, however, I discovered that my camera was broken. Terrific. It all worked out though--Megan had her camera and the weather was absolutely perfect; although it was cloudy, the sun did peak out every once and a while, which illuminated certain spots of the cliffs making it all the more beautiful. This is definitely my recommendation for going there if you ever find yourself in Ireland. The cliffs are 600 feet high and probably are what you picture when you think of Ireland.

The next stop on the trip was the Ailiwee caves (I hope I'm spelling that right!). The caves are not something that I would have done on my own, but I'm so glad we went! We got to go about a half-kilometer into the cave (about 400 feet underground) and see some great waterfalls and rock formations, including one that looked like a set of praying hands. In addition, our tour guide turned all of the lights off at one point on the tour so we could see what it would be like to discover a cave. It was really dark (a huge understatement).

Of course, Megan made friends with our leader from UCC on the bus. She loves taking a leadership role, so between the two of them, they decided to mix up the rooming assignments so that people wouldn't choose to live with only people from their home countries (e.g. Americans with Americans, Germans with Germans, etc.) So Megan and I ended up rooming in a cottage with two Finnish students and two German students. The cottages were wonderful! They were much bigger than what I was expecting and very comfortable. We had warm water too, which is always wonderful. The only negative was that we had to pay for electricity. It cost 2 euro to keep it going for about 45 minutes.

In typical Irish fashion, the International Student Society hosted a party that night as well. It was fun to chat with some of the other international students from UCC. I talked to another American student and we were comparing which pubs were the best in Cork. I definitely think that I've been missing out, and I can't wait to try out some of the pubs she recommended.

After a semi-early night, we woke up the next morning to catch the 10:30 ferry over to Inis Mor. Inis Mor is the largest of the Arann Islands, just off the west coast of Ireland. That was another fantastic part of this trip--I finally got to see the ocean! It's about time, right? Anyways, the trip over to the island made quite a few people a little sea-sick. I managed to fare okay, though. Ireland is not necessarily a place I would recommend for those people who get motion sick easily. Between all the roundabouts and rocky countryside, it makes for quite the adventure. Back to the island: We took a bus tour for the first half of the island and got quite the view of the coast of the island. We stopped to take pictures of seals too! They looked like blobs out in the middle of the ocean. We also stopped for a couple hours at a tourist spot which has a fort (Dun Aengus) overlooking some of the cliffs on the eastern coast of the island. Although only half the height of the Cliffs of Moher, we were able to walk up to the very edge of these cliffs. Once again the weather was perfect, so it made for a beautiful sight. Megan and I did some impulsive buying at this location, as well. After our stop, we finished the bus tour and learned a little bit more about the island. Inis Mor is a perfect place to see all of the rock walls so characteristic of Ireland. The walls were built to divide the land between children and also as a means of fencing for animals. In addition, Inis Mor was originally very rocky land so it was a way to clear the land for the animals to graze. You'll have to see my pictures on facebook to see what I mean! There's a couple of thatch-roofed cottages on the island, too. I don't think I'm giving the right impression when I say its touristy either--the population on the island is very small. It's also a strong Irish speaking population. Even though I'm taking an Irish class, I definitely didn't understand most of what they were saying. We also learned that the island didn't have electricity until 1973! And we were complaining about paying 2 euro for our cottage electricity...After the bus tour, Megan and I warmed up with some Bailey's and coffee before getting on the ferry for the return trip. We talked to a native of the island who told us that the island is a good place to get engaged (it was Valentine's day, after all), and then we met a couple who did get engaged on the island!

That evening was spent getting to know our roommates. We had some great conversation about our home countries, universities, and pretty much everything you can imagine. There was another party that night, hosted again by the International Student Society. It seems as though the 45 students on the trip definitely were interested in getting to know each other, which is always good.

This morning we went into Galway city to explore a little bit. Galway is much bigger than I had imagined! It was a great city, though. It's only about half the size of Cork, but seems just as big, as they have a university there as well. Megan and I did a little perusing of the shops and ate lunch outside, as again, we were fortunate enough to have fantastic weather. I think everyone was anxious to get home, however, and we arrived back in Cork late this afternoon.

It was fun to be back out traveling again. I haven't been for a couple weeks because of homework. Luckily, Megan and I have another trip coming up! We'll be heading to London on Wednesday to spend a few days there, so you can plan on another post coming in about a week! Also, I just discovered how to view the comments on the blog, so I apologize for not having seen those sooner! I hope everything is well where you are... Slan.

I Don't Have It

I don't have the luck of the Irish, even in Ireland. First, my luggage is lost, then my computer breaks, and last but not least, I found out that I have an exam on the last day of exam month, meaning that I will be studying until the very end of my time here in Ireland. Argh.

"Tree" Bags of Starbursts Later

Dia Diaobh! It's about 45 degrees here in Cork today, and it's absolutely gorgeous. The sun has decided to grace Ireland with its presence for both Saturday and Sunday, quite a rarity from the weather I've seen thus far. With the sun shining warmly, the city of Cork has come alive. Sundays are usually pretty quiet around here because all the shops are closed down, but there were plenty of families out on the trail and in the park today. I hope the weather is as nice wherever you might be!

This weekend has mainly been an opportunity to catch up on the studying that I had turned a blind eye to the first month that I was here. Tomorrow is my big art test, but I've had other readings to catch up with as well. Luckily, my roommates have an equally intimidating stack of homework to do, which is why the party palace turned into the homework hut this weekend. Four out of the six of my roommates camped out in the living room yesterday (including me) with our laptops, papers, and books spread all around us. Thankfully we had treat's that Liz's mom sent us! We literally ate three bags of Starbursts in less than a week. You would think that we were starved for candy or something...

Unfortunately, one negative about constantly being near a laptop all weekend is that you begin to figure out how to watch American television. We've found a couple of great websites that play not only current TV shows, but also movies. I foresee procrastination.

Although this weekend would have been perfect to travel, I can't say that I mind being in Cork. I love feeling like a true Corkonian. It was great to go on a run today and actually know where I was going!

So then, here are the random tidbits for the week:

As you can see by this post's title, the Irish pronunciation is a little different for certain words. They don't use the "th" sound often because they don't have that sound in the native Irish language. With all of my roommates having papers due this week, we've also had a lot of fun looking at the different spellings of Irish English words. Basically anything that ends in "-or" becomes "-our" and anything with a "z" becomes an "s".

RAG week starts tonight. RAG stands for Raise and Give, and is essentially a massive, week-long fundraiser that includes some pretty interesting events. For example, one event is an assignment relay, in which one person gets the assignment and has to run it over to the library, where another person sits to type the assignment before handing it off to the last person who must bring it over to the Student Union. Assignments are graded on completion speed, quality of writing, and how funny the writing is.

I guess that's all. I would love to hear from ye (you all) so feel free to send emails. Slan!