Study Abroad in Dublin

Vienna

2008-05-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

So, before I actually went to Vienna I met up with Hannah and Kelley in Copenhagen for one night, but I'll write about that later when I discuss Copenhagen with you. We arrived in Vienna around 4 on Thursday and went straight to Katrina's. She had class that day so she gave us detailed directions to get from the airport to her apartment. We arrived around 5 and then decided to go get some food, because we were all rather hungry. We went to a restaurant called Centimeter where you can buy sandwiches by the centimeter. It was a pretty cute place and we definitely enjoyed the dinner. Then we went to find our hostel that we were staying at for one night and were pretty pleasantly surprised with how nice Wombat Hostels are.

The next day Hannah, Kelley, and I went to meet Katrina at her room and then left to tour the city center. We walked towards the city center and saw the Museums Quartier, Parliament, the people's gardens, a lot of statues, and a lot more. Katrina knew a lot of the history of the city and it was great to hear all of it from her. I can't really remember it all, but it was great at the time:-) When we made it to the actual city center we saw some great royal palaces and Roman ruins. We then walked to a church that Katrina and Zeke had found a few weeks prior that was amazing from the inside. We also walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral (Stefansdom) and then enjoyed some great gelato on the street. After a couple of hours walking around Vienna we decided to meet up with Whitney, who is also studying in Vienna. We met up with her at Schönbrunn Palace. It was great to see her, because it had been a while and the palace was really pretty. As we went to the gardens we could see the Gloriette up on the top of the hill and we decided to walk up to the top of the hill so we could get a good view of the city. It looked like some rain was coming in, but we thought we'd take a chance. As soon as we made it to the top it started to really rain hard so we thought we'd wait it out. Unfortunately it didn't let up and we had to walk back in the heavy rain and we got quite wet. After getting drenched we thought a return to Katina's would be good so we could dry off. After a while we left to go to the Naschmart, fresh market. The market was amazing and it had so much fresh food. I am officially jealous that Katrina gets to live so close to it!

Our next stop was to get in line for Opera standing room tickets. The tickets are only 2 euro which is pretty dirt cheap to see a professional opera in Vienna if you ask me so we thought we'd try it out. Madame Butterfly was the Opera that was showing that weekend and I was really happy it was that opera. Madame Butterfly is a rather short Opera at around 2.5 hours and was pretty easy to follow and interesting to watch.

That night we spent some time hanging out and just had some really good times:-) The next morning we woke up pretty early to take an hour long train outside the city to Melk, Austria. In Melk there is an amazingly beautiful monastary and a great small town. We arrived there around noon after seeing some great scenery on the train. We decided to start walking around and climb up to the monastary. We found out an English tour was leaving around 3 so we went back down to the city center and ate lunch at a cafe. We also walked down to the Danube and got to see the river up close. Our tour of the monastary was pretty great and the tour guide spoke great English which really helped. I think it's safe to say our favorite part of the tour was the view from the top balcony which overlooked the city, the Danube, and the countryside. We also really liked the chapel which was very impressive. Overall, it was a great day trip and Katrina really picked a great city for us to visit. Upon our return to Vienna we were in the mood for some Wiener Schnitzel so we headed up to an area called Grinzing where there are tons of Heurigen's. These restaurants are really cool and the one we finally chose was really fun. There was live music to be listened to, great food to be ate, and it was very reasonably priced. That night Katrina and another American hosted a "traditional American frat party," so we all attended and just had a fun night together. Overall, our trip to Vienna was amazing! It was not only great to see 3 out of the 4 of my future roomies, but I also loved the city! Thanks Katrina for such a great weekend:-)

The Last Days in Dublin

2008-05-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

As I finished multiple final papers, presentations, and tests I was excited to be done with school, but really sad to be leaving Dublin. I always heard that this semester would go so quickly, but I never believed it would actually be done. My last night in my apartment I went out to Devitt's with my roommates and some friends which was amazing! As usual there was great trad music to be listened to and the musicians were so fun to talk to. I talked to a fiddle player named Vincent who was really friendly and then just spent some time with friends and said goodbye.

I needed to move out of my apartment on April 19th and luckily my grandparents were in Dublin that day so I could move all of my belongings and myself into their hotel room. They had just gotten done with a tour of the Ring of Kerry and then I was going to show them around Dublin for 3 days. On that saturday we decided to get settled in and then tour around the Grafton Street area and see the Book of Kells in Trinity College. I hadn't seen the Book of Kells yet so I was really glad we decided to do it. I personally enjoyed the old library up on the second floor much more than the Book of Kells, because it was a 2 story room just filled with books from the 1800's. It was crazy how many books they had from such a long time ago and the room design was really original. After this we ate dinner and called it an early night. The next day Grandpa woke up with a cold that I probably gave him...ooops. He wasn't feeling very well so he decided to stay at the hotel while Grandma and I went to the National Museum and the National Gallery. We also went shopping for a few souvenirs and then saw that the weather was taking a turn for the worse so decided to see how Grandpa was doing at the hotel. We found him eating chocolate ice cream in the hotel bar and then decided to plan on going to Foley's pub for dinner, because the hotel staff had highly recommended it. The next day Grandpa was feeling a bit better so we got on the Dublin hop on- hop off tour to see all of Dublin. The bus really is a great way to see all the sights and get some good commentary from a Dubliner. We saw Phoenix Park, the River Liffey, Merrion Square, St. Stephen's Green, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Guinness Storehouse. We got off the bus and took the tour of the storehouse which was pretty fun. We got seats up in the Gravity Bar and got to enjoy some great views of the city. We then returned on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack and organize, because they were leaving the next day and I was going to be leaving for Copenhagen shortly.

Overall, we had some great times in Dublin and it was great to see them and share my semester experience with them firsthand. It was unfortunate that Grandpa got sick and wasn't feeling well, but we did our best to have some fun and see all the sights!

Roma

2008-04-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

On Thursday April 3rd, I left directly after Gaelic class to go to the airport. My flight out of Dublin was at 7:30 and I flew with my friends Mel and Jess to Ciampino airport. We arrived around 11:30 in Rome and immediately took a bus into the city center. Our hostel was in a good location and about a 5 minute walk from Termini Station. Termini Station is where busses, trains, and the metro all go so it was very good to be close. When we got to the hostel is was about 1 AM so we just checked in and went to bed with plans to wake up early and start touring.

On Friday morning we decided to go to the Vatican thinking that it may not be as busy on a weekday compared to the weekend. I'm not sure how great our logic was, but we only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes which I don't consider a long wait. Once inside the Vatican Museums we were bombarded with beautiful paintings, tapestries, and architecture everywhere. I seriously couldn't believe how beautiful everything was. We decided to head straight to the Sistine Chapel and the walk over there was through gorgeous hallways filled with paintings. We slowly made our way through the hallways with tons of other people and then were directed into the Sistine Chapel. I really wasn't expecting it to look like it did. First of all, there were so many intricate paintings that we had to search for the Creation of Adam. Once we finally found that painting it truly felt unreal. I have always seen that picture in books, online, etc, but you never thinking you'll actually be standing underneath it while in Rome. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel in order to preserve the paintings and they were very strict about it so I couldn't even sneak one without my flash on. Nonetheless, we stayed in the chapel for quite some time just looking at the art in awe.

After the Sistine Chapel we made our way back to the center of the Vatican Museums and then went outside to look at the beautiful grounds. There were huge buildings everywhere, tall trees, fountains, and sculptures and the weather was amazing. After walking around for a while we went through some of the exhibits in the museums and then left to find a place to eat. We found a cute Italian Cafe and got pizza and ate it outside the restaurant. The pizza was great and I wasn't let down when it came to Italian food!

After eating and regaining energy we walked back to the Vatican and made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. This was my favorite part of my trip to Rome and a mistake we made ended up being one of the best experiences. We walked up to the Basilica and got in line for what we thought was the main part of the Basilica, but it turned out to be a line for the cupola. When we finally figured this out we had waited so long that we didn't want to leave the line so we stuck it out. We took the elevator up three large flights and then got out prepared to climb over 350 stairs. The stairs ended up being ridiculously narrow and many of them were in tight spiral staircases.

About halfway up the climb we stopped to look at the inside of the Basilica from the dome. I'm not terrified of heights, but this did make me feel uneasy. Despite the uneasy feeling I was able to take some pictures and looked over the edge a couple of times. We then continued on our way to the top and when we finally got there it was amazing. The view from the top of the dome let us see all of Rome. We stayed up there just looking at the ruins, River Tiber, and the buildings for quite some time. After this we walked down and then entered the inside of the Basilica which was more beautiful than I could imagine. This Basilica is by far the most beautiful church I have ever been in. There were so many areas to see in the Basilica and each one had great paintings, sculptures, and the domes were frequent and beautifully painted.

Continuing on we took the metro to the Spanish Steps. The steps were packed with tourists and we climbed them and got to look at the Trinta dei Monti which was very pretty. Due to all the tourists we didn't stay long, but as we were leaving we stopped in Gucci and Prada. I have to say I felt very out of place and didn't even see anything I would want even if I could afford it. In Prada there were these hedious bags I think I could have woven in elementary summer school so needless to say I didn't purchase anything. We then walked to what we thought was the Trevi Fountain, but was really the Fontana de Tritone. I was pretty surprised to see how unimpressive the fountain was and eventually figured out later that night that the reason it was unimpressive was because it's not the famous fountain. After this we took the Metro back to our hostel and rested for about an hour. We then asked our roommates about restaurants and they recommended a restaurant near the hostel. We had a long dinner with breadsticks, a cheese platter, wine, lasagna, and dessert. It was a great atmosphere and it was fun to have such a prolonged and relaxed dinner. After this we were pretty exhausted and we headed back to the hostel and called it an early night.

The next morning we got up early again and went straight to the Colosseum. This was also so crazy to actually see- it's such a famous sight that it feels so weird to really be visiting it. I can't really explain the shock of turning the corner and seeing the huge Colosseum right in front of you with the Palatino next to it. Anyway, the Colosseum was pretty packed so we decided to spring for a tour. Our tour guide was Italian and pretty hard to understand and I think she was a bit off her rocker. She brought us in the Colosseum and to the top tier where we overlooked the entire Colosseum. She told us some history, some of which I understood and other parts that were not very clear. We then spent about a half an hour walking around the Colosseum by ourselves and were shocked to see how impressive it truly is. The stage area no longer has the floor so you can look down and see the rooms where animals were held and pushed up through trap doors. It was insane to think about how many men were killed in the Colosseum- our tour guide estimated over a million men were killed in total (but I'm not sure how accurate her word is). As we were leaving the Colosseum we were a bit pissed at how crappy her tour was and that we paid so much for it. Then we met for the free 2nd tour of the Palatino and were pleasantly surprised at how great it was. Our tour guide was American so it was easy to understand and he gave us a mythological and historical tour of the Palatino. We walked around the ruins of the palaces of the Roman Empire, looked out over the Circus Maximus (which is where the chariot races took place), saw aqueducts, gardens, and so much more. We also learned about various rulers that I can't really remember- there was just too much history and names to remember!

After our tour we were really hot and tired so we stopped for Gelato which was delicious. We then continued walking by the river which was really pretty as well. As we were walking we passed through the Jewish Ghetto which was recommended by our hostel as an interesting walking area. As we left the Jewish Ghetto we saw the sight where Caesar was killed and I was very creeped out by the number of stray cats in the area. There were seriously 20 cats just wandering in the ruins which made me feel uneasy- cats are creepy. We then left the site and made our way to the real Trevi Fountain which was so much better than the fake one we saw the day before. There were tons of tourists and the fountain was absolutely beautiful. After the fountain we went down to the Pantheon which was a very different experience than I expected. For some reason I thought the Pantheon was in ruins which it totally isn't. There was also a huge political rally right outside the Pantheon complete with a rock band, posters, balloons, and lots of enthusiastic Italians. Due to the huge crowds we didn't spend a long time at the Pantheon, but it was still very pretty. Nothing can really compare to St. Peter's Basilica so I wasn't as impressed by the Pantheon- maybe I should have saved the Basilica for last so I didn't have such high standards...

After this we went back to the Hostel and the walk was killer. Our feet were killing us because of all the cobblestones so we laid in bed for about an hour and then found the energy to leave on the way to our pub crawl. Along the way we stopped in a jazz club for dinner and accidentally ordered an eggplant dish that was not great. The club itself was really cool and I wish we would have found it the night before for some jazz music and relaxation- but what can you do? We finally made it to our pub crawl and were a little let down by the turnout. We were the first one's to arrive and finally some other people showed up and some of them were really fun. The advertisement had said that there was an open bar from 9-10, but apparently they meant one drink from the bar and then unlimited Splürgen...which was a crappy german beer. This angered me because we had paid for the pub crawl, but we persevered and ended up having a pretty good time with some Americans, Australians, and Germans!

The next day Mel took an early flight out of Ciampino and Jess and I stayed in Rome until later that day. We checked out of the hostel and went back to the Vatican and watched the crowds of people gathered for mass at St. Peter's Basilica which was interesting to watch. I've never seen so many priests and nuns in one location! After this we shopped around for some souvenirs and then ate lunch at a small cafe. We then had to take the Metro back to Termini and get our bags. Our trip back to Dublin was long and our plane was delayed which made me miss the bus in Dublin...so I had to take a very expensive cab back to Dundrum which was unpleasant. Other than that the Rome trip was a complete success. Unfortunately the weather in Dublin was awful when we returned- it was snowing/raining and freezing cold. Rome just spoiled us with the 70's, sun, and no wind!

Catch Up!

2008-04-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

So it seems that I have somehow gotten behind in my blog. Maybe it's the ridiculous amount of homework looming over my head or the traveling i have taken part in, but either way i need to catch up! Well, last weekend after my family left I got to have a visit from my friends Zeke and Katrina, which was amazing. It was great to have to have them come right when my family left because all of my roommates were in Rome and I probably would have gotten really lonely without them here in Dublin!

We started out their short visit by meeting down in Temple Bar after they went to the Guinness Storehouse. I didn't want to take the tour with them because I've already done it twice and am most likely going to do it again in 2 weeks with my grandparents. Well, we met and decided to start by walking around the city center and seeing some main Dublin sights. I don't exactly remember the order of our touring, but I'll do my best to get it somewhat right. We went to the National Museum to get an overall history of Ireland and to see the bog bodies- which has turned out to be quite the popular sight! We spent some time there and enjoyed the building as well as the exhibits. We then made our way to St. Stephen's Green and got some nice weather in between rain storms. We walked around the green for a while and enjoyed the fact that spring is officially here- all the flowers were in bloom and the trees are finally starting to bud. We also walked around Temple Bar and Grafton Street and eventually were hungry and tired and took the Luas down to Dundrum to make some dinner and relax.

That night we decided to go down to Devitt's, a pub near the city center. This pub has trad music sessions nightly and really is a great place to see some Irish culture. When we first got there it was pretty empty and I was worried I had made a mistake in pub choice, but as we drank our first pints of guinness and bulmers the place started to fill up with younger people and the music session got going. Musicians just kept adding in and towards the end of the night there were about 7 or 8 people playing the fiddle, concertina, guitar, and uilleann pipes. I really enjoyed the music and it turned out to be a really relaxed pub. I hope that Katrina and Zeke liked it and enjoyed the trad music as much as me!

The next day we got a later start and left the apartment around 11 or noon. Katrina and Zeke showed interest in having a DART adventure so we decided to head down to Dun Laoghaire to see the ocean and a smaller Irish city. Luckily, the weather cooperated while we were down in Dun Laoghaire and we got to walk around without getting wet- which is always a plus. We walked around the city, got some ice cream, and ate lunch on some rocks down by the water. Then we walked up and down the pier looking at sail boats and the coastline. We then walked farther into the city center and looked at some old churches and buildings. Then it looked like the weather was taking a turn for the worse so we got on the DART and went back into the city center of Dublin. As soon as we arrived at Tara Station the rain started and we waited in the station for about 15 minutes until it slowed down. As soon as the weather perked up we headed for O'Connell Street so they could see the GPO and the spire. After we saw those sights we back tracked to the Temple Bar area along the River Liffey and went over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I was glad we decided to do this, because I had actually only driven past the Cathedral once and it is really pretty. Unfortunately, part of the exterior is under construction so that takes away from the beauty of the building. After we walked around the grounds for a little while we decided to make our way back to the National Gallery so Katrina could see some art. After making the long walk up to the Gallery we were disappointed to see it was closed. We couldn't figure out why it would be closed when it was supposed to be open for at least another 45 minutes, but nonetheless we moved on and walked over to Merrion Square to take in some more green:-) Merrion square was beautiful and then we went back to Dundrum on the Luas. Before going back to my apartment we stopped at the Dundrum Town Center and Katrina found the Build a Bear store. She was lucky enough to get a free bear from them- which was so nice! After the excitement of building her bear we went to my apartment and we made some pizza and garlic bread and had a relaxing night because their flight left at 6:40 the next day.

Overall, the trip was short, but we had a great time. Their original plan was to fly out on Tuesday, but Aer Lingus moved their flight back a day and shortened their trip. I wish we could have had one more day, but I was glad to have that day and half with them! I think it's definitely possible to see all the big sights in Dublin in 2 days, but there are some extra things that can be fun if you have more time. We fit a lot of stuff into a little time and now I'm excited for Katrina to show me around Vienna is about 2 weeks!!

Family Vacation

2008-03-31T06:02:00.000-07:00

These past 2 weeks I have had a steady stream of visitors and it's been so fun showing people around the country! On Friday, the 21st, my family arrived to spend a little over a week traveling Ireland. I met them at the airport pretty early in the morning and we were off on our adventure soon after that. We rented a beautiful Toyota corolla which barely fit all of our luggage and bodies. Nerves were running high as we pulled out from the airport with our Garmin shouting directions about traffic circles and me reminding my dad to stay on the left hand side of the road. Eventually we made our way out of busy Dublin on the M50 divided highway (that's a big deal around here) and we headed down south to County Wicklow. I planned on us driving through

the Wicklow Mountain National Park and then stopping at Glendalough, an ancient monastery, where we visited on our IES orientation. In true Ireland style it was raining when we arrived at our destination, but we braved it and walked around the ruins, cemeteries, churches, and roundtowers and then also headed down to the lower lake. After a while we had enough of the rain and decided to take a break and get some lunch before we continued driving to Kilkenny for the night. Lunch was tasty and we were on our way across the National Park looking at mountains and various other interesting vistas.

Kilkenny turned out to be a larger city than I first thought it would be and we had a pretty good time there. Everyone was tired from jetlag and traveling so we called it an early night and then planned on doing some touring downtown in the morning after a full Irish breakfast. That morning we ate a ton at breakfast and then went around downtown. There was Kilkenny Castle which was quite impressive, but unfortunately our timing was off for taking a tour and we had to pass. After looking around the huge grounds for a while we just walked around the city center looking at cute pubs and shops.

We then made our way back to the car and started on the nervous journey to Killarney. Our Garmin, which ended up being a life saver and a curse all at the same time, decided to take us on some rather sketchy roads and there was some definite panic in the car more than once. The backroads were pretty much just one lane dirt roads that were curvy and very dangerous. Progress was slow, but eventually after multiple hours of travel we successful and safely made it to Killarney National Park. This was one sight that I really wanted to see on our vacation and it proved to be absolutely beautiful! I would strongly recommend the National Park to anyone who enjoys hiking, because the trails around the mountains and lakes were fantastic. We pretty much stayed close to the travel center and looked at the gardens:

the Muckross House:

and took one hike to a Torc Waterfall: The grounds were impressive and we all really enjoyed the stop.

Later that night we headed into the city center and chose a random pub to eat dinner in. By chance it turned out to be the self proclaimed 'most famous pub in all of Ireland.' I'm not sure how true the title is, but we did like the Danny Mann pub a lot. First of all, the fish and chips were to die for and secondly, the live music was great. The Molly Malone's were playing that night and they are a trad band from Cork. We loved their music and ended up staying a while as we enjoyed Guinness and Bulmers. The next morning we woke up and went to church for Easter in a Cathedral in the city center. It turned out to be a beautiful church and after the mass we headed out for the Ring of Kerry. If you aren't familiar with the Ring of Kerry, it is a famous drive along the lower peninsula in County Kerry. Luckily, we did the tour on Easter Sunday and the tour busses must have had the day off, because we didn't see a single coach bus the entire time which made the thin roads a bit more bearable. Along the way we stopped at seaside towns, beaches, and lookout points.

My favorite part of the Ring of Kerry was our split second decision to take a ferry to Valentia Island. The ferry that took us to the island held about 12 cars and the Island turned out to be nearly deserted.

We drove around the Ring of Valentia and stopped at the top at Fogher Cliffs, which was like a mini Cliffs of Moher, with absolutely no one else there. The views from the top of Valentia Island were fantastic and it was a great addition to the Ring of Kerry.

On our way back to Killarney we stopped in many small towns and saw a beach where numerous people were surfing...which was crazy. The Ring ended up taking us about 6 hours and it was a great tour.

The next day we woke up early and before weleft for Galway we stopped at Ross Castle near Killarney National Park. The castle was also pretty impressive and reminded me of a mini Blarney Castle. We looked around the grounds and also missed the tour and would have to wait for a long time to get the next one. I guess castle touring was not working for us on this trip. After finishing at the castle, we decided to take the coastal route to Galway which was a bit longer and had another ferry ride across the mouth of the River Shannon (more like the ocean though). We spent the day driving across the base of the Dingle Peninsula and across County Clare. The ferry ended up taking about 20 minutes and was a pretty unique experience. As we made our way closer to Galway we drove through the Burren and I had another chance to see the Cliffs of Moher. I was hoping that this time the weather would be better and maybe the sun would be shining, but I was let down. As soon as we arrived a huge cloud bank blew in and at times the Cliffs weren't even visible. My dad and I hiked up to the lookout tower and got stuck in some rain with no shelter to be found except the door way to the tower that was closed. We waited out the rain and then made our way back to the visitor's center where we enjoyed some hot chocolate and ice cream. Eventually the clouds cleared enough to actually see the Cliffs and we continued to make our way back up to Galway. We checked into the Galway Bay Hotel, which turned out to be a great location to stay. It was right by the promenade and had a great view of Galway Bay. Unfortunately, the hotel ran out of pillows and those of you who know my mom and sister know what a tragedy that must have been. Luckily, there was some creative use of fleece sweaters, towels, and coats and we survived the night. The next morning I had to leave quite early on a train to get back to Dublin for class. I left around 9 o'clock and my family went on a tour of Connemara, which made me pretty jealous. They said is was fantastic and they were able to see Kylemore Abbey, now a international girls boarding school, enter into a gaeltacht, and see some beautiful parts of County Galway.

We spent one night apart as they continued to tour Galway and I attended classes. On Wednesday night, I met up with the fam at the Harcourt Hotel, which was just south of St. Stephen's Green, and we went out to dinner. The next day I had film and culture class while they toured Dublin. I had them go to St. Stephen's Green, Dublin Castle, Grafton Street, Trinity College, and the National Museum. It turned out to be the only day where they didn't get rained on and seriously one of the nicest days I have seen here in Ireland. Later that night we ate a great dinner at the Barge Pub near my IES center and then headed down to Dundrum to meet some of my roommates and see my apartment which turned out to be a full night. The next day we toured Kilmainham Gaol, which turned out to be interesting and historically educational, but depressing as expected. In Kilmainham Gaol the members of the 1916 were all held and executed one by one and this action by the British eventually led to the Civil War of 1921 and the freedom of the Republic of Ireland. Many of the prisoners were executed under harsh and tragic circumstances like one man who married his sweetheart in the jail the night before his execution. After learning about this history we headed over to the much more lighthearted atmosphere of the Guinness Storehouse. We ended up finding some seats in the Gravity Bar and enjoyed some Guinness up there while looking at the great view of Dublin. After this tour my mom had done too much walking and it had started to rain so we took a taxi back to the hotel and rested until dinner. We then ate dinner at a great Irish Pub at the top of Grafton Street called O’Neil’s that also had some great fish and chips and Irish atmosphere.

Here we called it a night and the vacation had come to an end. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to the family early Saturday morning and head back to Dundrum alone. Luckily, I didn't get too depressed because I had a visit from my friends, Zeke and Katrina, to look forward to in a mere 5 hours. I'll tackle our weekend together in a later post, because this one was epically long. Cheers!

St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

It appears that I have gotten a bit behind in my blog...I'm sure all of you were just sitting on edge waiting for my next entry so I'm sorry I kept you in suspense. I thought today I'd fill everyone in on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin and show you how the holiday is really celebrated! First of all, I'd like to complain that the weather on St. Patrick's Day weekend was not even close to ideal and that it prevented me from finding the motivation to leave my apartment more than once. March is turning out to be rainier than February and that is really disappointing...

So we'll start out on Sunday, the eve of St. Patrick's Day. During the day I took a trip to the city center by myself and just spent hours walking around and people watching. It was pretty amusing because all the tourist were wearing ridiculous costumes and were usually pretty drunk. The part I liked the most about the city center walk was Grafton Street. The street is usually really busy with shoppers and street performers, but for St. Patrick's Day the street performers went all out. I saw a professional string quartet, really good trad performers, tons of fake statue people, and then some really random balloon and clown acts. It took me such a long time to walk down the street because I kept stopping and watching all the great performers! Later that night I went out to the city center with my roommates and some friends and celebrated with a bunch of tourists and some locals. We ended up going to the Porterhouse Bar in Temple Bar and it was packed. I'm pretty sure any pub I walked by all weekend was full no matter what time of the day it was so I was expecting some huge crowds at night. Porterhouse turned out to be pretty lively and I really enjoyed myself. There was a live band playing and tons of fun decorations which really put us in the St. Patty's mood. After a late night out on Sunday I woke up relatively early the next day to start my real St. Patrick's Day festivities.

My plan for St. Patrick's Day morning/early afternoon was to walk from the last LUAS stop (St. Stephen's Green) which is just south of the city center to Croke Park, which is pretty far north of the city center. This walk turned out to be quite the difficult adventure, because crowds around the parade in the city center were absolutely crazy! I barely could see any of the parade as we walked by and people were on roofs, street lamps, and statues attempting to get a glance. From the glimpses I caught the parade seemed pretty amazing- very colorful and surprisingly tropical. As we made our way through the crowds we navigated the windy north Dublin streets and finally arrived at Croke Park. Croke Park is an enormous outdoor stadium that was built by the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) to house club and county games for hurling and Gaelic Football. The stadium just finished 10 years of ongoing construction and is pretty impressive now for a sports league that isn't professional. We showed up for the All Ireland Club Finals in Hurling and Gaelic Football and were really surprised how many people were at the stadium. It turns out that one of the Gaelic Football teams, St. Vincent's, was a Dublin Club team so that brought a lot of fans in. My overall perception of Irish games are that they make American athletes look like complete pansies. Hurling is a game that requires the use of a small softball like ball that's as hard as a rock and hurlies (wooden paddles), It's pretty hard to explain the game without watching a match, but I can tell you that there were plenty injuries and a lot of blood- so it was a great game! The next game we watched was the Gaelic Football game, which I'm not even going to try to explain- check out a clip on u tube or something. After we watched these games we were freezing and tired and we headed back to the apartment.

That night some of my roommates went down to the city center to check out some pubs, I didn't feel up to it so I just stayed in and celebrated a quiet St. Patrick's Day. I know you are very disappointed that I was lame and didn't go out, but my night before is going to count as my Patty's Day experience. It turns out that the city center was absolutely crazy and it wasn't that fun anyway. There were fights breaking out between teenagers (lame), bodily fluids being projected in many directions, and huge crowds of drunken crazies. Sorry to disappoint, but it sounds like the weekend leading up to the actual holiday is way better than the holiday itself. Good to know though if I'm ever back here for the holiday again!

is that the president of dublin?

2008-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend Hannah and Kelley came from Copenhagen and Vaxjo to visit me in Dublin! Although the trip was short, we fit a lot of stuff into 2 days! We started out around noon on Friday taking the 16A city bus back from the airport and seeing the beauty that is the northern suburbs of Dublin... We got off the bus on O'Connell Street and started a walking tour of Dublin led by me. We walked down O'Connell and along the Liffey on our way towards Dublin Castle. We passed by the Temple Bar area, the Spire (aka. Stiletto in the Ghetto), and the Ha'Penny Bridge along the way and got a good feeling for what Dublin has to offer in the city center. I had already toured Dublin Castle and thought the tour gave a really good basic history of the Republic of Ireland along with a chance to see the building where major political events take place. By chance we happened to go to Dublin Castle on a day where one of these major events was taking place. Somehow, we managed to elude security unknowingly and walk into the entry way of Dublin Castle only to realize how out of place we were with backpacks and touristy clothes. All around us were people in suits and members of the press and we immediately realized we did not belong. One man with a camera informed us that the Castle was closed for the day for an award ceremony. As we were walking away disappointed he told us to stick around for 15 minutes because the President was due to arrive. Luckily, there were only about 10 other people in the entrance way so we got a great view of the President, Mary McAleese, as she was walking into the Castle. (she's in the light blue suit). We felt pretty special and very well informed as a group of obnoxious American students touring Europe approached us. They were very excited, but had no idea who they had just seen. One girl asked us who that was and I replied by telling her it was the President. "What? the President of Dublin?!?" I waited for her to realize her error....she didn't realize and I said, "no, the President of Ireland..." girl: "wow, that's even better!" Hannah, Kelley, and I laughed pretty hard after this happened especially because this girl then asked us if we were Irish after we had already spoken with American accents. Overall, Dublin Castle was not what we expected, but in a good way. Now I can say I saw the President while I was in Dublin:-)

After spotting the President we walked down Dame St. towards the Irish National Museum. We decided to tour it, because it has really good artifacts from Ireland, the bog bodies, and is a really beautiful building. We spent a while in the National Museum and then walked down to St. Stephen's Green. I had not been to the Green since January and have been saving it for spring so I could see it with flowers. In January, the Green wasn't very pretty because it was just a lot of brown in green and I was a bit disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised to see the change in the green. It was full of people, birds, and flowers which made me realize how far into spring we already are! We walked around looking at the ponds, gardens, and statues. Hannah and Kelley determined that Dublin is ahead on the spring race- and I'm very proud that my city is beating Sweden and Denmark!

After all this walking around with baggage we were hungry and tired so we walked to the LUAS and took it back to Dundrum. We took a detour to Tesco on the way to my apartment and then made tacos for dinner which were delicious. After eating a lot of food we cracked open some Bulmers and I let them experience the greatness that is Irish Cider. Upon finishing some cider we left for the Cobblestone pub. I had heard that the Cobblestone was a great place for trad music from some Irish musicians I met so I thought we would try to hear some Irish music. The Cobblestone bar was a hike, but it was very traditional and I think it was a good representation of a real Dublin pub. A lot of tourists go straight to the Temple Bar area, which is just overpriced and full of drunken tourists. Dubliners don’t go anywhere near it usually so it really isn’t a good representation of an Irish Pub.

The next day we got a pretty early start and went straight to the city center. The weather was not looking promising when we left Wyckham, but it was only drizzling. As we kept walking the rain kept getting worse until it was finally torrentially down pouring. By the time we got the LUAS stop we were pretty drenched...I guess we got the real Irish experience with some rain. As we got on the packed train towards city center the weather changed quickly and by the time we arrived at city center it was blue skies and sun. Luckily this weather lasted for our walk to the Guinness Storehouse and we were pretty dry by the time we got there. Surprisingly, I had not been to the Guinness Storehouse yet! I had decided to save the tour for when people came to visit, because I knew that was a pretty important sight in Dublin. I wasn't thinking that it was going to be that special, but the Guinness Storehouse ended up being one of our favorite stops.

The storehouse is a self guided tour that goes up 7 levels ending with the Gravity Bar, which is the highest bar in Dublin. The bar has 360 degree windows with great views of the city. Dublin doesn't have many high buildings so this was definitely one of the best views of the city I have ever had. We shared our pints of Guinness and Kelley proved to be a Guinness Champion finishing her pint and the rest of ours when we were full- I was proud! I can say that I didn't dislike the Guinness, but it is so heavy that I need to be hungry before I attempt finishing a pint of the black gold! I think I speak for all of us when I say the Guinness Storehouse is a must if you are in Dublin- it's definitely worth it!

After drinking our pints, we headed over to Connelley Station north of the Liffey and we took the DART (train) down to Dawkey. I had not been to Dawkey, but a friend of mine had said it was a good seaside town with castles and good views. While we were walking around the city the weather again turned to rain, but we persevered and made our way to the coast. Right when we got to a castle on the coast we saw THE best rainbow I've ever seen in my life. The rainbow was so defined and we could see it start over the water on both ends. It was definitely worth all the rain to see this rainbow! We then stopped at an organic food market and bought some amazing pineapple and strawberries for our fruit fondue extravaganza that night! We stayed in on Saturday night and made dinner and a lot of food in general and watched a movie. Unfortunately, Hannah and Kelley had to fly out at 6:45 on Sunday morning so their taxi came at 4:30 AM and our weekend was finished. I think it's safe to say we had a great weekend in Dublin! It was great to have them come visit me and now I'm so excited to visit them after the end of my program in April. I'm sure that Copenhagen, Vienna, and Vaxjo will be just as wonderful as this weekend was!

A Taste of Northern Ireland

2008-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

This thursday I left for Northern Ireland for our midterm break with my IES program. The trip was great because we got to experience Northern Ireland and that really connected with most of my classes and the other plus was that I didn't have to plan a thing. We stayed in nice hotels, ate good meals, and had a fun time being together on a trip. There were probably about 40 of us on the trip which made it exciting. We left early thursday morning from Connolley Station which is just north of the Liffey in the city center of Dublin. The train ride to Belfast was only 2 hours and the views off the train were beautiful on the coast. As we were riding up it looked like the weather was going to be beautiful- the sun was shining, it wasn't too windy, and it wasn't really cold (but that was to change later...). Upon arriving in Belfast we were met by our IES staff members who were chaperoning the trip and we went straight to lunch at a well known saloon in downtown Belfast. The saloon had very good food and I ate an enormous amount of delicious cod:-) After lunch we had about a half an hour to kill before our cabs picked us up for a black cab tour around the city. We decided to walk down the street and see some sights. I got to see the Europa Hotel, which is the most bombed hotel in all of Ireland, and this was the first reminder of the troubles that occurred.

We then returned back to the saloon and 7 cabs came to pick us up and bring us to all the big sights in Belfast. Our first stop was Shankill (the protestant road). In this area there were pro-British, UDA, and UVF murals everywhere on houses. There were also Union Jacks flying and orange was a common color. I really didn't expect it to be so over the top with British support, but i was proven wrong. The murals obviously told the Protestant side of the story and one mural really stuck with all of us. It's a mural with a Protestant sniper and as you walk around the housing development the gun he's holding actually feels like it's following you around. Even though I don't have anything to do with the conflict and can't really choose a side, I still felt a little uneasy being in the Shankill simply because I am Catholic. Other people also felt this way and it just proved to us how far Northern Ireland still needs to go. Next, we headed over to Falls Road to hear the Catholic side of the story. Here we saw murals honoring the hunger strikers of 1981, Sinn Fein headquarters, and political murals. Our tour guides warned us that anti-American murals were going to be commonplace on Falls Road. We definitely didn't take much offense to the murals, because they spoke some truth and we know how anti-Bush all of Ireland and most of Europe is. The Northern Irish really do like Americans in general and actually love Bill Clinton, who helped with the peace agreement. After viewing the political murals we went to the 'peace wall' which is basically like the Berlin Wall. I couldn't belive that the two communities still need such a huge separation between them. We all signed the wall and saw the gates that close after dark to separate the Protestant Shankill from the Catholic Falls Road. All the houses bordering the peace wall have cages around there porches to protect themselves from petrol bombs and other things that are thrown over the wall. This made us all realize that all violence isn't gone, but it is definitely so much less. Luckily the majority of the population supports peace and doesn't support the extremist groups like the Real IRA and loyalist paramilitaries. After finishing our tour of Belfast we got on a bus and took a 2.5 bus ride along the coast up to Portrush.

Portrush is definitely a tourist town that is thriving in the summer, but a little dead during the winter. Despite the fact that the town was a ghost town we still really enjoyed it. We stayed in a Ramada (which felt amazing, because we are all used to hostels and crappy accommodations). That night we were on our own for dinner and just had free time so we ate a local restaurant and then went to one of the few pubs in the area. The pub was dead, but with 40 of us we actually made it quite busy. I think the bartender didn't know what was going on, because his pub was flooded with 20 year olds on a thursday night that was rainy and cold!

The next morning we got up early, ate an Irish breakfast, and then headed off to the Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery. Is there a better way to start the day than some whiskey? The Distillery was pretty cool and it's actually the longest running legal distillery in all of Ireland- I think they were celebrating their 400th this year. I had my first drink of Whiskey in the bar at the end of the tour with some friends and it was overall a delightful tour. After warming up in the bar we took our bus over to the Giant's Causeway. If you aren't familiar, the Giant's Causeway is a rock formation either caused by volcanic activity or a battle between an irish and scottish giant- I'm going with the volcanic activity explanation. As we arrived the weather took a definite turn for the worse and we all bundled up for our walk around the coast. We were sternly warned not to climb too close to the water, because people have been sucked out to sea in bad weather- so as we left we were all a bit worried about the weather. Upon stepping foot outside the term 'windy' was redefined for me. I used to think that windy weather occurred in Minnesota, but apparently I was wrong. The wind actually pushed people over on the rocks, the waves were really huge, and I was too afraid to get close to the edge of anything because it actually could push you over the edge. We had to walk back to the top of the cliffs on a narrow path without a railing- and we were seriously worried we weren't going to all make it up to the top safely. Luckily we made it back to the tourist center all looking windblown, wind burned, and exhausted. Our IES staff members told us that this was by far the worst wind they had experienced in all 14 trips they had taken up North- so we were pretty proud to have lived through it! We then returned back to Portrush and ate dinner at a great restaurant and then went back to the same pub (there was only one choice) and listened to some live music.

Dunluce Castle was our final stop on our trip on Saturday morning. This castle was built hundreds of years ago out on the edge of a cliff. The ruins were pretty amazing and it was hard to believe people actually survived the weather on the edge of the cliff. Actually, we learned of an event in the 1600's where the kitchen actually fell off the side of the cliff into the ocean taking servants along with it. Overall, the castle was worth the stop, but we were all sick of being exposed to the weather at this point so we then went back to Belfast to catch a train to Dublin.

All in all, the trip up North was amazing. None of the trips I have taken so far have related to what I've been learning like this one and I think the history aspect is what I enjoyed the most. It's impossible to imagine the delicate balance of peace in Northern Ireland without going up there and I'm glad I can finally say I saw the peace wall and saw the absolute separation between the two communities. Everywhere we went we asked the locals if they have confidence in Ian Paisley (UUP) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein) sharing power and people said they never saw it coming years ago but now they actually believe peace is possible. It was great to hear the confidence of people up there and talk to Protestants and Catholics firsthand.

more adventures around dublin

2008-02-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

This entire week the Jameson Film Festival has been going on all over Dublin and it has been amazing. On Monday I went to a viewing at the cineworld off O'Connell Street in North Dublin. Although the movie wasn't Irish I still really enjoyed seeing it at an International Film Festival. I saw Charlie Bartlet and would seriously recommend it to anyone! I thought it was such a great movie! Then the next night I was lucky enough to miss my Ireland and the EU 2.5 hour lecture to see the Irish Shorts for my film class. Our teacher, Ashley, as able to get us free tickets to the showing of 6 short films. All the films were made by and acted by Irish people and took place in various Irish locations. 1 of the films was in Irish and surprisingly I was able to catch a few phrases! I really liked most of the movies and it was a really great experience. The Irish Shorts were viewed at the IFI (Irish Film Institute) which was built by U2 for the showing of Irish Film in Dublin. The building was really cool and it's located near the Temple Bar area. After the Irish Shorts were done I went to the Temple Bar to attempt to listen to some trad music. I learned a good lesson in this attempt: that Temple Bar is NOT the place to see good trad music. I'm sure all my professors could have warned me of this, but I guess we all had to learn firsthand. Temple Bar basically has some "trad" musicians who play guitar and don't play real Irish music at all. We stayed for about an hour and then realized it wasn't even worth it.

On Wednesday my thoughts on Temple Bar music were affirmed when a mother and daughter came in to present traditional music. The daughter played fiddle and the mother played every form of guitar/mandolin I've ever seen. They spent about 2 hours bringing us through the history of Irish music playing jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, mazerkas, ect. I can't believe how amazing they were, because they would just improvise everything without music. They actually suggested a great pub where they do sessions on monday in North Dublin. I think I'm going to try and hit that pub up soon, because I really want to see some good trad music in Dublin!

So last week I found out that I don't have classes this week. Unfortunately it was too late for me to plan a fantastic vacation to any location so I decided to just take day trips around Dublin on the DART and hit up some more sights in Dublin, because amazingly I still have a lot to see. On friday I hit off the weekend in style with some intense badminton at the swan center in Rathmines. Each week the IES staff rents out the athletic center for 2 hours and anyone is welcome to join them for squash, tennis and badminton. This week only 5 of us showed up (as usual), but the small group is actually really fun. I tried out squash this week and found out it's harder than racquetball... I guess I'll have to dedicate myself to practicing. I also spent over an hour playing badminton and found out that it can be a cut throat sport (this whole weekend I've been super sore from my games). Well, after letting off some steam on the court I returned home and went grocery shopping. We then went out to Flannery's with some people who were visiting a friend. The pub was really fun and I busted some moves on the dance floor:-)

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) and it was beautiful! It's about 20 minutes south on the DART train and it's right on the coast. The day started out pretty cloudy and cold, but as the day went on the sun peeked out a few times and the temperature rose a bit. In Dun Laoghaire we walked along the pier and watched some sailing in the harbor. There was also a sunday market set up in a little park so I looked around the market with a friend and bought some food. The atmosphere of the market was great and there were kids playing everywhere in Dun Laoghaire. After eating lunch at the market we walked down the coast and saw a beach area. Shockingly there was an old man who was swimming without a wetsuit! As I watched him from the beach with my winter coat on I realized I may be losing my tolerance to cold... there were a bunch of other people scuba diving but they were all in wetsuits. I think it looked like a lot of fun, but I think I would rather attempt it in the spring or summer. I'm not really over excited to get into the water when it's in the 40's. After getting done in Dun Laoghaire my friend Jess and I returned on the DART and attempted to get into the Custom House. Unfortunately they didn't open when my travel guide said they would so we just looked at the house from the outside which was still impressive.

We also walked up the Liffey and saw a replica ship that would have carried people over to America during the famine. The ship was tiny and it was so sad to think about how many people they crammed on those ships. We also walked by the Famine Figures, which are statues commemorating the million plus victims of the famine. It was really a haunting area, but a reminder of how awful the famine was for Ireland. I then decided to split ways with Jess and wander through the city center towards St. Stephen's Green. There are so many side streets that I haven't seen yet so it was good to just take a roundabout way back to the Luas stop.

Hope all is well with everyone and I miss you a lot! Thanks for taking the time to read the blog:) I'll try to fill it with some really interesting facts from Northern Ireland soon, because we leave on Thursday morning!

Baile Átha Cliath

2008-02-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

translation: Dublin. Yes, this weekend I finally had a weekend in Dublin and in the Irish spirit I've decided to incorporate some Irish into my post. It was so nice not traveling anywhere this weekend, catching up on sleep, and finally getting to know the city center (sort of). This week in class I finally am starting to get some homework, I guess I can't spend my entire time here being lazy and having fun. I also am finally starting to feel a bit more confident with my Irish language class and that's pretty exciting.

Recently we've started learning blessings and curses which are a very important part of the Irish language. I think the curses are pretty funny and my favorite one is:

Go gcuire sé sconna ort! - that it may give you diarrhea

We'll start the weekend on Friday. I woke up rather late and took the LUAS to the IES Center where I met the IES advisors to go to a health center and play squash and badminton for a few hours. I had such a great time!!! I didn't realize how much I missed playing racquetball until I stepped onto the squash court. It was also nice to get to know our staff because they are so nice and it's always nice to talk to some Irish people. After we played badminton intensely for about an hour the staff treated us to a pint at a traditional pub called Corrigan's. I of course got a Bulmers and just had a great time talking to the staff about our Belfast trip which is happening in two weeks. Later that night I just went to the city center with some friends and hung out around the Temple Bar area.

póg mo thóin- kiss my ass (this one is pretty touristy, so not many Irish speakers say it)

Saturday I decided to go down to the city center again with Maura and we stopped at the National Museum which is right by Trinity College. The Museum had exhibits from Prehistoric Ireland, Medieval Ireland, Egypt, Viking Ireland, and much more. My favorite part about the museum was the bog body exhibit. It was so creepy, but super interesting. Basically they have about 4 bodies that have been preserved for thousands of years in the bogs of Ireland. One body was complete and the others are just parts like a torso. Here is a picture of the head on one which still had it's hair- i couldn't believe how well they were preserved! After the National Museum we headed over to the National Gallery which had so much art! We looked around for about an hour and a half and still didn't make it through the gallery, but I could only take about that much art. The best part of the gallery was recognizing art from our Art History Class slides.

Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo arís! - may we all be here this time next year

Moving on from the gallery we wandered in a semi lost state and ran into Marrion Square, which is basically miniature St. Stephen's Green. The weather was brisk, but clear so we decided to eat lunch in the grass and relax there for a while. The best part about the part were the kids playing, people walking, and the overall lively attitude. There were also flowers blooming which makes me so excited for the spring! After finishing lunch we walked to Number Twenty Nine, a historical house from the 1700's. Basically they refurbished the house and made it like it would have been in the late 1700's. We got a personal tour from a tiny, elderly, Irish man who was adorable. The house was 5 stories high and pretty narrow. I couldn't believe how beautiful the house was and it was really worth the stop. It's hard to imagine how different Dublin was in those times, but this house was on the outskirts of Dubiln in it's day and now it's in the middle of the city center. After this tour we were pretty tired and was extremely sore from my badminton and squash- which was unbelievable...I guess I'm really out of shape, so we headed back to Dundrum and spent the night in the apartment relaxing.

Do chleamhnas féin agat! -may you choose your own spouse.

Sunday arrived and I woke up early to go to church. I decided to attend mass at Christ Church Cathedral in Southwest Dublin (by Dublin Castle). The church was beautiful and the service was surprisingly similar to home. The only real difference was a decent choir and a really friendly atmosphere for such a big cathedral. After mass we were invited down to the crypt for coffee and tea which was an interesting experience.

The members of the church were really friendly and one man talked to us for about 30 minutes about Northern Ireland and Belfast. He encouraged us to come back for concerts they have during the week and mass on Sunday and I think I'll definitely go again just for the experience when I'm in Dublin on the weekends. Another tiny pretentious English man came up to us and insisted we come back for a mass when the actual cathedral choir was singing, because he claimed the music was 'dreadful and painful' that mass. I hadn't found it that bad, but I guess he expects 'musical and liturgical perfection in a cathedral setting.' That guy seriously cracked us up because he was so critical of everything and wasn't afraid to talk shit about the choir director in front of everyone.

After we were done in the crypt...we headed over to Dublin Castle, but it was closed for tours. So I decided to go to Chester Beatty Library which is now a museum/gallery. I saw a pretty impressive collection of Japanese art called One Hundred Aspects of the Moon. It was 100 paintings of mythical stories important to Japanese culture and they were from the late 1800's. The museum also had a very extensive exhibit on world religion so overall I had a very religious day.

Go raibh maith agat agus slan! (thanks and goodbye)

Cork, Ireland

2008-02-11T06:24:00.000-08:00

On Friday February 8th, I left on the Iarnrod Eireann on my way to Cork, Ireland. I left Dublin at noon and arrived at around 3 at the Kent Station in the city center of Cork. My friend Karin has been studying at University College Cork and she was nice enough to let me stay with her this weekend and show me around her city. She lives right by the Lee River and the Beamish (beer) Factory. She picked me up at the station and we walked to her apartment. After dropping my stuff off we made our way up to St. Fin Barre's Church which was beautiful. We were lucky enough to get in without having to pay the fee and we though the church was really stunning. We also walked around the grounds and then made our way to the UCC campus where she goes to school. Her campus is a lot like Hogwarts which was really fun!

After walking around the town we went back to her apartment, made some pizza, and watched a movie. When we were done relaxing and eating we made our way to An Brog (the shoe, in Irish) which is the UCC pub. We just hung out with some of Karin's friends and some Irish students from UCC. We had some Bulmers and had a great night.

On Saturday we woke up early and took a bus out to Bishopstown, which is essentially a suburb of Cork, to watch a rugby game. Along the way to the bus stop we walked through the English Market which is a huge indoor market that runs 6 days a week. They had everything from bakery, fish, meat, fruit, chocolate, and souvenirs. I really want to try and find a place like this in Dublin, but I'm sure it would be difficult to buy groceries due to how far out of the city I live. Anyway, we didn't know exactly where the fields were or what to expect from the UCC rugby team, but it turned out to be more of a practice or scrimmage rather than a game so we took the bus back rather quickly to the city center. After failing at watching a real rugby game we walked over to the Cork City Gaol, which was pretty creepy. There were wax figures everywhere which was amusing, but the Gaol had a lot of history which was interesting. (there's Karin with one of the creepy wax wardens off to the left...) The Gaol opened in the early 1800's and held both male and female inmates who mainly were convicted of petty crimes through that century. In the 1920's it was over capacity with republican fighters who opposed the treaty of 1921. At this point it was dirty, disease ridden, and inhabitable and it was closed soon after. The historical society then fixed it up and now has a nice tour and audio-visual show. I'd say it was worth visiting and now I'm pretty excited to see Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin which is supposed to be even better.

After the City Gaol we stopped at the sports pavilion where we saw a girls Hurling match going on. After being disappointed with our rugby game we decided to watch the match and it turned out to be really fun. It was a lot more low key compared to the men's hurling I've seen on tv, but it still was a good time and a nice way to sit and relax in the middle of a busy sightseeing day. After we watched the UCC team lose we left for Fitzgerald Park which has a museum and a lot of artwork. We saw a lot of great murals, some flowers blooming which was exciting, and a lot of green all around. The museum was a history of Ireland and of Cork more specifically. There was a great photography display upstairs which was actually on it's last day at the museum. Here we got to see black and white photos from all over Ireland and it was a great way to see the natural beauty from all the different counties. I really enjoyed the museum and the park which I found beautiful. After spending some time indoors we were ready to face the dampness outside and we walked to the Thirsty Scholar and watched the beginning of the France-Ireland Rugby game. Ireland was really far behind and made a valiant effort to come back, but just fell short which was sad to see. I can proudly saw that I now know some of the rugby rules and lingo and I do enjoy watching the games.

That night we were both really tired from a day of walking and touring so we just made dinner and watched some movies and went to bed (I know, really thrilling). It was a good thing I got to bed early though, because I woke up at 8 the next morning to catch a bus to Blarney which is an early morning for me! When you go to Cork you have to take the 20 minute bus tour to Blarney, because everyone wants to kiss the Blarney Stone. I actually heard this is one of the 99 things you should do before you die, so I guess I can cross one of those off my list. Blarney is a tiny town of about 2000 people that gets over 200,000 tourists a year. The Blarney Castle itself is really impressive, but I especially enjoyed the grounds around the castle. (a picture which I cannot figure out how to rotate once again is to the left, it really is a pretty castle!) Since, I left so early I got into the grounds right when it opened and basically had the grounds to myself which was amazing! On the grounds I got to see: The Wishing Steps, which had a pretty waterfall by it:

The Dolmen, 1 huge rock balancing on another large boulder:

and the Witch's Face (look at it from the side and you can see the Witch)

After walking around the grounds for about an hour I climbed to the top of the Blarney Castle and kissed the stone- which was pretty germ ridden. The castle had some pretty narrow spiral staircases and a ton of rooms to look at. Some of the rooms were bedrooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a family room, and a dining room. To the right, you can see the Blarney stone and that's where you have to lay down on your back and grab the pole and kiss the stone. It's pretty high up, but the chances of falling are low so I wasn't too afraid. From the top you could also see all the grounds and part of Blarney and it was a great view. The picture to the left is the view of some of the castle ruins from the top of the Blarney Castle.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Cork, Ireland and I would recommend visiting Blarney and Cork if you are ever in Ireland. It was great to see a familiar face and stay with a friend from school and Karin really showed me a great time in Cork. As for this week I'm planning on taking it easy, because I'm coming down with a cold. This weekend I'm staying in Dublin and hoping to see some of the sights around the city. I really want to go to St. Patrick's Cathedral for church on Sunday and on Friday and Saturday I want to see some of the museums and art galleries around the city center. There are still a ton of things I haven't seen in Dublin and this weekend I'm hoping to hit up some of the things I still haven't seen.

London Calling

2008-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend I left for my first trip outside of Ireland with my friends Maura, Jess, Reba, and Megan and we went to London! We left at 4:30 AM, which was brutal, and took a taxi to the Dublin airport and our flight arrived in Gatwick Airport around 9 AM. We then had to take a train into the city of London, because Gatwick is pretty far out. The train took about an hour and was more expensive than I originally thought it would be, a sign for things to come in downtown London. After the train ride we got off at Prancras Station in Bloomsbury. Reba had a friend attending University College London and she let us stay in her and her friend’s dorm room, which was amazing. This not only saved us a lot of money on a hostel or hotel, but she also was our personal tour guide and planner for the weekend. After getting rid of our bags we left for lunch at a pub and then were off sightseeing for the rest of the day. We started out with a stop at the British Museum. I couldn't believe how extensive the museum was and the fact that it was free made it even better! My favorite exhibits were the Parthenon ruins, Egyptian artifacts and mummies, and the African exhibit. The Parthenon ruins were shocking, because I had no idea how much they actually had left. There were amazingly beautiful parts of the building intact and Maura was able to give us some history because she took a Greek history class last summer. The Egyptian part of the museum was a bit creepy, because they had mummified bodies all over the place, but it was definitely worth stopping into. The bodies were a lot smaller than I expected and were really impressive.

After finishing up at the British Museum we walked over to Chinatown and got some cheap tickets to Avenue Q along the way. We then walked to Trafalgar Square and got our first view of Big Ben in the distance. The square was full of statues and 2 huge fountains and it was packed with tourists. There were some really great buildings around and I really liked it overall. We also saw the art museum near the square and then had to stop in a cafe to warm up.

After warming up we walked back to the theater and saw our matinee show of Avenue Q which was hilarious. If you're not familiar with the show, it's basically a musical with puppets and people based in New York and I'd really recommend it:-) By this time we were running on empty, because we were hungry and tired from a day of travel. We stopped at an Italian Restaurant in the area of the theaters and got some great pizza and then attempted to ride to the tube back and failed. 3 of the tube lines are either closed or under construction so our stop didn't work and we were forced to walk back in the cold. That night we all passed out pretty early and planned to wake up early the next morning

The next morning we got a relatively early start at around 10:30 and took the tube to the Nottinghill area where we planned on going to Portobello Market. This market was the largest market I've ever been to and I couldn't believe how extensive it was. There were clothes, artwork, telescopes, antiques, fruit, cooked food, and much more all down the street. It was pretty much packed and we struggled our way up and down the street for about an hour and a half. For lunch we stopped and got some muffins and fruit which was delicious and cheap!

After finishing up at the market we headed down to Harrods and spent a little while walking through the store and looking at how ridiculous it was. I think you could probably easily buy anything you need in that store if you had a lot of money and we needed a map to get around. It was fun looking at all the crazy things being sold and we even stopped in the pet department where they sell animals and pet accessories. We then moved on to Buckingham Palace and walked around the park near the palace. The palace itself was beautiful and it was fun looking around the area. We didn't go on a tour or anything due to our lack of time and money, but I still liked it a lot.

We kept walking from there and ended up at Westminster and got to hear Big Ben strike 4 o'clock. I loved the Parliament building and I think the Westminster area was my favorite part of London. I just liked being right on the river with the huge buildings and I thought it was a great place. Apparently I'm not computer savvy enough to know how to rotate this picture...so you get a side view of Big Ben. What are the chances all my pictures were this direction??

From here we crossed the river, ate dinner, and looked around some of the shops by the river. We then went to the London Eye and picked up our tickets for an 8 o'clock ride. I think that the Eye would be awesome during the day, but I think the night ride was the way to go. If you aren't familiar with the London Eye, it's basically a huge ferris wheel right on the water near across from Big Ben. Each part of the ferris wheel can easily hold 15 people and it's the best way to see the city of London from high up. We boarded when the sun had set and the lights of the city were beautiful. I especially loved looking at Parliament at night and just seeing how far the city went for. I tried to take some pictures of London at night, but my camera didn't really work too well. Instead I got some video on my camera that shows how pretty everything was at night. After we got off the Eye, which took about 30 minutes, we were pretty tired and started to head back for Bloomsbury. Along the way we stopped at some shops and got some souvenirs and food. We took the tube home and went to bed pretty early again....no night life for us in London

Sunday morning, we decided to get an early start and leave at 8:15, on a mission to find platform 9 3/4. When we arrived we had seen that the Pancras train station had been across the street from King's Cross and one of us had heard that there was a platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross (the station where Harry picks up the train for all of you who don't read harry potter). I thought that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see this while I was in London so we left to look. King's Cross was under construction so things weren't looking good, but luckily they left a little section open to the public where the platform was and I was able to see a fake platform!! It was very exciting:-) After this we encountered some issues with our train to Gatwick and were informed it didn't run through Pancras on this particular Sunday due to maintenance. This was of course stressful, so we had to take the tube down to London Bridge and hope the train ran there. Luckily we were able to hop on a train there and transfer in East Croyton to get to Gatwick. More little problems ensued, but nothing major. We didn't miss our flight and we got back to Dublin midday. We were lazy and decided to share a taxi back to the Rathmines area and our taxi was pulled over in the heart of city center next to Trinity College. Our taxi driver decided to "get cheeky" with the garda and there was a ticket. After a few awkward minutes we were on our way again and finally made it home. Whew, it was a really busy weekend where we made the best of our time and had some great craic!

Galway

2008-01-27T10:34:00.001-08:00

I just returned a few hours ago from my first weekend trip in Galway! The weather was about as nice as you could ask for in January and we really had a great time. Galway is about halfway up the coast on the west side of Ireland. It's about 90,000 in population, but really felt smaller in the city center where we stayed. The town had a laid back atmosphere with great shops, churches, and scenic areas. Our trip began early on Friday morning when we left our apartment and made the long journey to Heuston Station in downtown Dublin. Since we are so far out from the city center it took about an hour and half to get there, but we made it in time to catch our 9:10 bus to Galway. The trip took about 3 hours, but there was a lot to look at along the way and I wasn't bored. When we got to Galway it was about noon and we went straight to our hostel to check in. We stayed right off the city center in the Claddagh Hostel which turned out to be a decent place. The staff was very helpful and nice, but the room was the smallest thing I've ever seen. There were 4 of us staying in a room that wasn't large enough for all of us to stand at the same time...so getting ready was quite difficult each morning and night. Luckily, we weren't in the room except to sleep so it wasn't terrible. After checking in and dropping our bags off we decided to explore the main part of town and walk to the Bay/ocean. It was a very windy day so it hard to walk around on the coast, but there was no rain at all which made it fine. The coast was really pretty and there was a great walking path that we used to see a lot of Galway Bay. We got to feed some swans, go to the Galway Museum, walk on the beach, and do a little shopping downtown in the afternoon. Later that night we chose random pubs to walk into that were playing traditional music and we really made some good choices. At the Taaffe we got to see some fiddle players and at Monroe’s Tavern we saw a harmonica and an instrument close to the bagpipes. People were Irish dancing at Monroe’s and that was really fun to watch. After enjoying a few Bulmer's we were ready for bed and called it a night.

The next day, Saturday, we signed up for a 7 hour bus trip that took us around County Clare and County Galway. The main attraction was the Cliffs of Moher which were amazing. The view was clear despite cloudy skies and we were able to see a lot. The wind was of course intense and there was spray getting us wet from the ocean, but I think that it was the highlight of my trip to Galway. On our way to the Cliffs of Moher we drove through the Burren. I had never heard of the Burren or seen pictures so it was really surprising to me. It's about 250 square kilometers of rocky, hilly, and pretty desolate land. There were few houses and towns and most of the land was used for grazing sheep and cows. The land was pretty in it's own special way, but is definitely not typical Irish landscape that most people think of. As we went through the Burren we stopped at Aillwee Cave and took a tour there too. The cave was about a million years old and was formed by an underground river while the glaciers were melting. The cave tour went through some pretty narrow places and I ducked the entire time- claustrophobia would have been an issue if the tour would have been longer than a half an hour. I think it was worth seeing though. On the bus tour we also stopped in Doolin for lunch, at many castles and manors, and at an old tomb. I think the bus tour was a great way to relax, listen to the tour guide, and see as much as possible in one day.

On our last day in Galway we went to the outdoor market in the morning that had food, clothes, and touristy gifts. There was some great fruit and bread, but I couldn't buy anything to take back to Dublin because it would have been a hassle. After the market we found a little cafe and ate an Irish breakfast minus the black pudding. People in Galway were really friendly and I think it was great being there off season so it wasn't as busy. I think living in Galway would be really enjoyable, but I still liked coming back to Dublin. I think I may come back to Galway if possible, because I still have to go to the Aran Islands off the coast. The wind made it unreliable for us to go, because if the winds get too high they stop the ferry and you can get stuck out on the island. Needless to say, we didn't want to get stuck on an Aran Island so we decided to stick to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren.

Hump Day

2008-01-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm glad to be half way done with my second week of class and I'm looking forward to a weekend trip to Galway, Ireland. It is a bit risky to take this trip so early in the semester, but people were planning a trip there and I decided it would be great to get out of the city this weekend and experience western Ireland. My tentative plan for Galway is to the see the Aran Islands, the cliffs of Moor, and see the city of Galway- which I heard is great! Weather is looking good for this weekend (well, as good as it gets here in January...). They are expecting a low chance of rain, 20 mph winds, 50's, and some sun- and if that is the case I'll be more than thrilled. We found a cheap, but decent hostel, in Galway and I'm really looking forward to the train ride across Ireland, which should be beautiful. Although Ireland is very small it takes a LONG time to get around the island. Roads are not good in the country and are usually narrow which makes bus and car rides not efficient. The train is by far the best way to get around and luckily you can get to most destinations in Ireland from Heuston Station in Dublin.

This week started out shitily, with my registration with the Garda National Immigration Bureau in Dublin's City Center. When I went through customs I was unlucky enough to be randomly chosen for a 100 Euro fine that any student can incur. So, I had one month to pay this fine and register for my student card. My roommates, Tessa and Maura, also had the pleasure of going to the Garda with me and we waited for over 3 hours in a stuffy building. Luckily, I got it all worked out and won't have to return to that building for the rest of my time in Ireland. I recommend if anyone comes through Irish customs as a student avoid this at all cost- it was a waste of time and money:-( After this fun day of waiting…classes were pretty great which made this week better for me. We’re really delving deep into the Northern Irish Conflict and I can’t believe how complicated it is. The more I learn the more confused I get, but I hear that’s the way it goes. Nothing is logical about Northern Ireland and I’m getting so excited to go there in February. The murals in Belfast and the black cab tours seem absolutely amazing! That’s enough on that tangent…

Tonight, the Temple Bar area Music Festival starts and we are going to head down there to listen to some traditional Irish music in the pubs. I'm really excited to go to the Temple Bar area for the first time even though it is a huge tourist trap. I hear that everyone needs to go at least once and why not go when they are playing some sweet music. I'm probably going to get soaked on my way there, but I hope it'll be worth it. The festival continues through the weekend and I'm sure we'll be going out there more than one night- I'll let you know how it is! Sorry for the boring post with no actual facts only plans...I'll get the details of my weekend trip and pub crawl later this week!

Day trip to Bray

2008-01-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

Today I took the DART about 12 miles south of Dublin with Maura and Kayla. We left early in the morning and took the Luas to the city center, walked to Tara Station, and then took the DART to Bray, Ireland. Bray is a city that is situated between the Wicklow hills and the ocean. The weather was really nice today and we actually saw the sun:-) The good weather made the coast seem even more beautiful than yesterday and walking around was more enjoyable without getting soaked. The train ride to the south was beautiful in itself because we were able to see the coast all the way down. The coast had a mixture of beaches and rocky outcroppings and the variety was interesting.

When we arrived at Bray we walked through the city and found the beach area. The beach went on for about a mile and families were all over the beach. We were able to go down to the beach and touch the water which was really fun. The water wasn't as cold as i thought it would be, but I still don't have the desire to jump in. There were many dogs that were braving the water and it was fun to watch them splashing around. We walked down the beach and saw Bray Head, a 650 foot cliff facing out to the sea. People were walking up the hill so we decided to take a hike. The trails were not marked and there wasn't a map so we chose the nicest looking trail and walked along the coast for about an hour. We reached a sign that told us we could no longer continue due to danger...so we decided to take a trail up to the top of Bray Head. The climb up was really hard due to the mud and rocks, but we made it up slowly. We ate lunch on the top of Bray Head and looked out at the ocean, the city of Bray, the city of Greystone, and the countryside behind us. After looking at the beautiful views from the top and basking in the glory of our climb we headed back down on the muddiest trail I've ever been on and miraculously I didn't fall! After getting back to the city of Bray we rewarded ourselves with amazing ice cream. We walked along the beach one last time on the way to the DART station and decided to come back to Bray on a nicer day in April to experience it in great weather. This weekend was really great and I finally am starting to experience the more rural areas of Ireland and getting to see the coastal life north and south of the city!

Day trip to Howth

2008-01-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

I can sum this weekend up with one word: rain. Although the weather has been really bad we still managed to have some fun around the city and actually ventured outside of Dublin for the second time since I've been here. On Friday we had our follow up orientation at the IES center where we learned about some volunteer opportunities and the Northern Ireland trip in February. I think some IES people are going to get involved in an organization that fixes up houses outside the city on the weekends and I'm excited about that. The Northern Ireland trip sounds awesome and I'm really excited that I signed up for it. I'm looking forward to having a trip where everything is planned out, all the meals are provided, and all the hotels are planned and actually nice. I don't know all the details about the trip yet, but it looks like we'll be going to the Giant's Causeway, Belfast, and a Whiskey distillery. After the follow orientation we all competed in a scavenger hunt around the city center which sounds pretty lame, but was actually fun. It was pouring most of the time so everyone got drenched and it helped us find our way around and see some lesser known attractions. The prizes for the hunt were really great so my group practically ran the entire time, but our efforts were not good enough and we didn't win. Afterwards, we met up in Duke's Pub off of Grafton St. and had some drinks and dinner and it was great eating a decent meal that was not prepared by me!

Today we took a day trip on the DART (train) up to Howth. I went with Tessa, Kayla, and Katie and we had a good time. After getting on the wrong train and getting a little delayed we finally made it up to Howth around 11 AM. Howth is a little fishing town just to the north of Dublin. It's on the peninsula at the top of the bay where Dublin is and the views from the town were great. The town is usually a summer destination so it wasn't busy at all. We walked on the pier, saw some sailboats, saw an old abbey, and went to the Hurdy Gurdy Radio Museum (wouldn't really recommend it), and finally got to see the ocean. Surprisingly, we saw a seal at the end of the pier, I guess I didn’t realize there were seal off the coast of Ireland. At the end of the pier there is a tiny island where a 6th century monastery is located. It was a pretty good view even in bad weather. After walking around the town, which is really hilly, for quite some time we headed down to where the restaurants were close to the harbor. For lunch we went to a little restaurant and got fish and chips- which was delicious. The DART was a pretty good way to get out of the city for a day and I think I'm going to go south on it tomorrow. It was also very cheap and if you pay attention it's not that hard to figure out how to use it.

first week of class

2008-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Classes began this week on Tuesday and ran through Thursday. This week we were encouraged to try out as many classes we found interesting and then we are finalizing our schedules later next week. I attended about 6 classes and found them all to be pretty interesting. On Tuesday morning at 10 AM I started with an Irish Art History course taught at University College Dublin, near St. Stephen's Green. We looked at artwork on slides and then walked to the Irish National Museum to look at early Irish artifacts. I really enjoyed this class because the teacher was basically a tour guide for us at the museum and this made it much more interesting to look at all the exhibits. The next class I attended that day was Intro to Northern Irish Troubles. i can tell this class is going to be a lot of work, but I'm basically starting from scratch on the violence in the North so I should find it very interesting. Later that night I went to Ireland in the EU, an economics class about the European Union. I think this may be one of my favorite classes because it relates to business more than the other liberal education classes. After that first day I was pretty burnt out because I spent about 10 hours at the IES center/the city center and I’m not used to having 2.5 hour classes!

On Wednesday I slept in until noon and went to a class that afternoon called Perspectives on Northern Ireland. This class is going to have guest lecturers come in each week to share their personal experiences with the conflict in Northern Ireland and I think that this might be the best way to learn the complex history of the area. We didn't have a speaker come in this week, instead we watched a movie about the IRA that our professor made for TV and basically talked about the basics of the conflict. Wednesday was probably my easiest day this week and after class I went to the Town Centre and did some grocery shopping and walked home in the rain (of course).

Today, I went to Irish Literature to Film, a class taught by the IES center director, Ashley Taggert. I wasn't thinking that I'd like this class at all, but decided to go with my roommates Maura and Andi. I was actually very surprised with how great this class was. Ashley had us watch a clip from 'A French Lieutenant' and we analyzed it as a class. After looking at how much work and thought went into this one 5 minute scene I can say I was interested in the topic. Towards the end of class we went over the Irish films we'll be watching this semester and they range from dark comedy's, to dark sad movies, to lighthearted love stories. I liked the wide variety of films so I think I'm actually going to take this class. Oh, we started watching 'The Commitments' today and I would recommend it to anyone who likes dark humor. It's a film that takes place in Dublin during the 1980's and follows some friends who want to start a soul band (pretty funny movie so far). After film, I walked with some other IES people to the European Business School to talk about possibly taking a marketing class there. Unfortunately, I can't fit the class into my schedule, but i did find out I can play squash and badminton with the European students on Friday for free which was good news! After walking quickly back to the IES center I attended Irish language and Irish Culture class taught by Siobhan and Regina. The first part of the class was really hard, not going to lie. Siobhan, an IES staff member who actually grew up speaking Irish at home, is teaching us Gaelic. No one in the class has ever experienced trying to learn a language like this and I find it so much harder than Spanish. So far I can only say a few phrases and I know some crazy grammatical rules- when I get better I'll try and write some in the blog! As for Regina, she focuses on Irish music, religion, traditions, and sports, and I found out that we are going to be doing a variety of things from attending a Hurling match to learning traditional Irish dance.

in summary, I'm happy with the classes I have taken so far and it seems like the workload will be pretty comparable to the U of M. I think that this semester will be fun, because all the classes I'll be taken are so different than Carlson classes. This weekend we are going to a pub as a group to listen to traditional Irish music on friday night in the Temple Bar area and then I'm going to take the DART north or south of the city to see the coast on either saturday or sunday (depending on the weather).

First few days in the city

2008-01-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Since it took me such a long time to figure out how to start a blog...I'm a bit behind. I arrived in Dublin early on Wednesday January 9th after a few delays in LaCrosse and a missed flight in O'Hare. After making it through customs and actually getting my luggage I took a taxi south of the city to Dundrum. Dundrum is a suburb about 5 km outside the city center and is connected to the city via the Luas, a lightrail system. Wyckham apartments where I live are located close to the Ballaly Stop on the Luas and very close to the Dundrum Town Centre, the largest mall in all of Ireland!

My first few days here were filled with orientation during the day and going to the pubs at night with all the IES people. There are about 45 of us here from all over the country and most of the students live in the Dundrum area which makes it easy to get to know people. The pubs I have been to lately have been AMAZING! the people have been really friendly and I've met some dubliners! I've had one guinness so far and it was pretty good, so far I prefer my Bulmers cider and I think I'll be having a lot of that while I'm over here!

During orientation we took a day trip to Glendalough, an ancient pilgrimage site south of the city. Glendalough was beautiful and the buildings were amazing. The weather was not ideal, but that seems to be a theme here in january. I think that the unpredictable, cold, wet weather is going to be the most frustrating part of the winter months here and I'm already excited for spring!

Tomorrow morning classes start and everyone is ready for them to start. I think for the first week I'm going to attend most of the classes offered to get a feeling for the classes, but as of now it looks like i'll be taking...
1. Intro to Northern Irish Troubles (tuesday)
2. Ireland in the EU (tuesday)
3. Marketing (Wednesday at the European Business School)
4. Perspectives on Northern Ireland (Wednesday)
5. Intro to Irish language and culture (Thursday)

as you can tell, I have a 4 day weekend which I'm super excited for! I think that this long weekend will make traveling great and just let me tour around much easier. Well, that is about all I have to say right now and i'll make sure to do some interesting things in the next few days!