- adventures with #1
- moneyyy
- christmas
- new years
- BARS!!
- family
- christmas eve...food and the yankee swap!
- full fridge
- american cereak brands
- REAL cheeseburgers
- wendy's frostys and fries
- denny's date nights with tjmaxx crew <3
- ice skating in boston
- parents
- geoff too...i guess
- ROLLIE!! and HENRY!!
- MY CAR!!
- beach...maybe a tan if i'm lucky
- snowboarding
- snowmobilling
- sleddddddinggggg
- o'connors
- normal chips
- cheetos (i've had the biggest craving for them lately!)
- REESE'S!!!!
- proper haircut
- pedicures
- hiking
- nature hikes
- coolige park with bailey
- late night beers with daddy
- bonfires!
- s'mores with alyssa =] and banana boats!
- sarah landry's sarcasm
- hibachi with mallory brideau
- walks to the farm
- The Hill in general
- MY BED!
- heat and hot water
- country concerts with #1
- amy boucher's hugs
- cousin-time
- finally being LEGAL to do something FUN!
- visits to plym
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Things I CANNOT wait for when I get home!
Northern Ireland and Belfast
During my last weekend in Ireland, Caitlyn and I took a final weekend trip up to Northern Ireland. We stayed in Belfast and signed up for a day tour trip through Derry and the North shore. The bus ride to get to Belfast was over 7 hours and we had to change buses 3 times! I was so happy to finally get off the bus.
We left the Causeway and headed to Derry. Derry wasn't exciting at all. A dark city with a stone wall, that was about it. At that point, we were tired and didn't want to walk around. I just wanted to get back to Belfast to the hostel and to my bed.
When we got back to Belfast we went down to the Christmas fair again and saw the lights on everyone's houses and buildings. The lights made me miss home a bit and driving around looking at all the houses where a christmas truck seemed to explode all over them with lights and plastic snowmen and blow-up santas.
We decided to tour the city our first night there. They had a christmas fair and there were lots of food vendors! Everything looked delicious. I got a slice of 3-layer chocolate cake! Soooo good!! Caitlyn got a chocolate muffin with truffles on top. You can't get that back in the States. Nope, you can't!
On Saturday, we took a bus tour through Derry and the surrounding areas. We went up the Giant's Causeway and toured through the country side. I didn't think the tour was that great, but it probably would have been much better during the Spring when everything was green and in bloom. Our first stop was at the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. The bridge was used by fisherman to catch salmon. It's no longer in use, but you can pay to cross it. I didn't do it, but it looked pretty cool.
When we were done at the bridge, we got back on the bus and moved on to the Giant's Causeway. When we got there it looked like being at the mini Cliffs of Moher. The views were great and it was a cleary day. The Causeway was supposedly made by a Giant who was in pursuit of a woman he loved who had left Scotland for Ireland to marry someone. The Giant built the Causeway to connect Ireland to his home island.
In truth, the Causeway was created by underwater volcanos. You can't really see the causeway in my photos because the tide was high but the cliffs were cool. We walked the entire length of the causeway and it took over an hour to make it to the end. Such a hike! And Caitlyn actually fell in the mud OOPS!
When we got back to Belfast we went down to the Christmas fair again and saw the lights on everyone's houses and buildings. The lights made me miss home a bit and driving around looking at all the houses where a christmas truck seemed to explode all over them with lights and plastic snowmen and blow-up santas. On our last day in Belfast, we planned out our day on a map and wanted to see the Botanical Gardens and soem Titanic sights. We got up in the morning and headed over to the Gardens. It had frosted that morning so all the plants were frozen in a winter wonderland. But there was a greenhouse where there were tropical plants inside and it was really warm!
Belfast was great, but it wasn't as spectacular as I have heard from others. When our bus came to get us, we had another 7 hour ride to look forward to back to Galway. Half way back, we had to switch buses and found out that the next bus would not be there for another hour. We ended up hanging out in a parking lot with no lights, a cold bench and the bus station closed for the night. Perfect. Well the bus finally came and he guy was probably one of the nicest irish guys I have met. He was so nice and made the rest of the ride back to Galway smooth and fast. When we finally got back to our apartment it was about 12:30 in the morning. I was ready for bed!
Well it's Tuesday now, 4 more days till I'm back in the States. So EXCITED!!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I kissed the Blarney Stone!
This past weekend, Caitlyn and I took a bus down to southern Ireland to see County Cork. The bus ride was long enough, 4 hours! When we got to Cork it was beautiful! The city was right on the water and all the houses were painted different bright colors. We had a little trouble finding our hostel, no one knew where it was and we trekked up and down cobble-stone hills trying to find the place.
We finally got to the hostel, on the last hill we climbed! We checked in and decided to look around the city. There was a christmas fair with dancing turkies and food vendors everywhere! The weather was also pretty nice, whenever we look at the weather channel it says awful weather but we always manage to luck out and miss the rain/snow/wind.
On saturday, we booked a tour that would take us through County Cork and up to the Blarney Castle. The tour was small, only 8 of us which made it nice and friendly. The roads were really icy so we did our tour backwards, we headed to the castle first. When we got there, the icy covered everything there was a fog. The place looked like a scene from the Secret Garden.
When we left Blarney, we got back on the bus and headed to a town called "Cobh" which is really pronounced "Cove". The irish language doesn't use the letter V so when you see "bh" together, it's pronounced like a V. Cobh was the last stop that the Titanic made before it's journey to America. 
After spending an hour or so in the town, we got back on the bus and made our way to the last stop on the tour, Kinsale. On our way there we took a boat across the bay to get to the other side of the penninsula. It was pretty interesting being on a bus on a boat, Caitlyn had never done it before and I hadn't done it for about 10 or more years probably. When we got to the other side, the bus drove through the country and made our way to Kinsale which was another water-town. It wasn't made up of fisherman, it was more upscale, almost like visitng the Cape.
There was a hill we could hike called Breakheart Hill, we climbed to the top and got a whole view of the penninsula and the town. The wet and icy hike was deffinitely worth it, even though it was getting colder and dark.
All in all the weekend was great, we got to see southern ireland and the weather held out for us. I got to kiss the Blarney Stone and see the ocean. In a few days we head to Belfast and are doing another tour on saturday through Derry and some other cities.
We finally got to the hostel, on the last hill we climbed! We checked in and decided to look around the city. There was a christmas fair with dancing turkies and food vendors everywhere! The weather was also pretty nice, whenever we look at the weather channel it says awful weather but we always manage to luck out and miss the rain/snow/wind.
On saturday, we booked a tour that would take us through County Cork and up to the Blarney Castle. The tour was small, only 8 of us which made it nice and friendly. The roads were really icy so we did our tour backwards, we headed to the castle first. When we got there, the icy covered everything there was a fog. The place looked like a scene from the Secret Garden.
Unfortunately the pictures can only be inserted landscape style
We went into the castle and it was pretty cool, there were small rooms everywhere and the icy had formed on the stairs so it was pretty slippery. To get to the top we had to climb up these narrow spiral stone steps that just seemed to be getting smaller and smaller as we climbed higher. When we got to the top the view was amazing. We could see for miles, even with the fog. The view looked over the castle gardens and the stables. I would have loved to live on that property.
Caitlyn kissing the stone
It was pretty scary on the top of the castle, it was icy and the guard rails were low. But the views were great and kissing the stone was something I can now cross off my list of things to do before I kick the bucket =]
When we left the castle, we walked around the grounds and everything was pretty magical with the ice covering everything. There were giant trees that we could climb and paths that lead through gardens and the woods. There were "wishing steps" that if you walked up them and back down with your eyes closed, your wish would come true within a year. There was also a witch stone that was in the shape of a witch's face.
When we left Blarney, we got back on the bus and headed to a town called "Cobh" which is really pronounced "Cove". The irish language doesn't use the letter V so when you see "bh" together, it's pronounced like a V. Cobh was the last stop that the Titanic made before it's journey to America. The town itself was also really pretty. It was a fisherman's town and there were little houses and shops that lined the road that followed the shoreline. We walked up a hill to St. Coleman's Cathedral. It was so big inside and the stained glass windows were beautiful! The view from the top of the hill was amazing as well.
There was a hill we could hike called Breakheart Hill, we climbed to the top and got a whole view of the penninsula and the town. The wet and icy hike was deffinitely worth it, even though it was getting colder and dark.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tim came for a visit!!
Tim finally came up for a visit this past weekend, FINALLY!! That boy has stood Caitlyn and I up for several weeks now. He was supposed to come up Friday night, but silly goose missed his bus, but he showed up Saturday morning!!
The day started out great, the sun was out and it wasn't windy or sub-zero temperatures. We started off by taking him through a tour of downtown and shop street, which then lead us to the Christmas fair in Eyre Sq. I was glad he came, it was nice seeing friends from back home (states) and introducing him to my new friends in Ireland.
We found out that on Galway Bay, there was an ice skating rink set up!! We all headed over there and ended up running into our friends Jess, Alison, Amie, Sam and Mickey! The rink was set up inside this make shift building that looked like it was for weddings. The side of the building facing the bay was all glass windows so we could see the water and shops that lined the shore. It was a nice reminder of skating in Boston and at my Grandparents' pond in past years.
I can't remember the last time I had gone skating, probably with girl scouts 8-9 years ago?
Not only was it a great weekend filled with great friends and nights out, it also SNOWED EVERY NIGHT!! It's been pretty cold every night, but it was cold enough to turn this constant rain into snow.
The day started out great, the sun was out and it wasn't windy or sub-zero temperatures. We started off by taking him through a tour of downtown and shop street, which then lead us to the Christmas fair in Eyre Sq. I was glad he came, it was nice seeing friends from back home (states) and introducing him to my new friends in Ireland.
We found out that on Galway Bay, there was an ice skating rink set up!! We all headed over there and ended up running into our friends Jess, Alison, Amie, Sam and Mickey! The rink was set up inside this make shift building that looked like it was for weddings. The side of the building facing the bay was all glass windows so we could see the water and shops that lined the shore. It was a nice reminder of skating in Boston and at my Grandparents' pond in past years.
I can't remember the last time I had gone skating, probably with girl scouts 8-9 years ago?
Everyone was having a great time, even with our clip-on skates and tiny rink!
After skating we headed back to the apartment and made plans for the night. We decided to hit up the larger pubs and one in particular; Coyotes. We usually avoid coyotes because it's an "American" bar but they also have a mechanical bull!! Needless to say that was a stop on our list.
All the girls rode the bull, me too! But it was so slippery and no one could stay on for more than 20 seconds. I think I made it about 4! Unfortunately Tim and the other boys wouldn't ride it =[ HHAHA the Irish men could not believe how Tim managed to show up everywhere with 6+ girls...seriously the boy was a P-I-M-P this weekend, even though the bouncers and security all thought he was 12.
King's Head
I also ran into my friend Meghan from FHS!! Imagine running into an old friend from high school that I haven't talked to since probably high school!! I couldn't believe it =]
Not only was it a great weekend filled with great friends and nights out, it also SNOWED EVERY NIGHT!! It's been pretty cold every night, but it was cold enough to turn this constant rain into snow.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Here's what I've been slacking on...
I have quickly been losing interest and motivation in writing to you all this blog. Over the past month I have been travelling lightly both with API and friends.
A few weeks ago API brought us through East Co. Clare and through Bunratty Castle. It was a pretty cold day and overall it was a nice experience. Wish we could have had longer than an hour at the castle, but we had a full day planned. We had lunch across the street and I got the most amazing brownie sundae! So good...Afterwards we were brought to an old cemetery with a church/ruins. By then it was EXTREMELY cold out and everyone was kind of miserable. We drove back to Menlo at the end of the day and I went straight to bed.
2 weeks ago, myself and some friends went to Edinburgh Scotland for a short weekend. We took the bus to Dublin and then a flight across the pond. It took almost the whole day to get to our hostel. The hostel was nice, kind of small but met some great people. We did 2 ghost tours both nights. First one we went underground through endinburgh's underground city where the poor lived. The lights went out and a man dressed in costume jumped out at us, I screamed and ran away. The 2nd night, we went through a graveyard tour and went through a hill where over a 1000 bodies are buried in unmarked pile-graves. GROSS! We then went into a tomb where supposedly a poltergeist lives (our friend had unexplainable scratches on her!) Of course, another person dressed in costume jumped out at us and yes, I screamed again!
During the day in Scotland we walked around and saw the sites, where JKRowling wrote her first harry potter book. We went to the museum and walked through edinburgh castle; such a cool place! The last day was filled with travelling back to galway, where I of course went to bed! Such a fun/tiring/adventure weekend! Wish we could have stayed longer and done the loch ness/highlands tours.
All in all the time here has been flying! We haven't been able to book anymore out of the country trips because hostel and airline prices shot up. It was going to be too stressful to fly around and plan things to do anyways.
Next weekend Cait and I are going to Cork for the weekend. We're taking a bus there and spending the day sight-seeing. The next day we booked a tourbus to take us through the surrounding area and to the Blarney Castle where we can kiss the stone for luck! The weekend after Cork we're looking at going to northern ireland to Belfast and staying in the same hostel company and doing another tourbus through them as well!
See everyone a 4 weeks!! Just in time for Christmas =]
A few weeks ago API brought us through East Co. Clare and through Bunratty Castle. It was a pretty cold day and overall it was a nice experience. Wish we could have had longer than an hour at the castle, but we had a full day planned. We had lunch across the street and I got the most amazing brownie sundae! So good...Afterwards we were brought to an old cemetery with a church/ruins. By then it was EXTREMELY cold out and everyone was kind of miserable. We drove back to Menlo at the end of the day and I went straight to bed.
2 weeks ago, myself and some friends went to Edinburgh Scotland for a short weekend. We took the bus to Dublin and then a flight across the pond. It took almost the whole day to get to our hostel. The hostel was nice, kind of small but met some great people. We did 2 ghost tours both nights. First one we went underground through endinburgh's underground city where the poor lived. The lights went out and a man dressed in costume jumped out at us, I screamed and ran away. The 2nd night, we went through a graveyard tour and went through a hill where over a 1000 bodies are buried in unmarked pile-graves. GROSS! We then went into a tomb where supposedly a poltergeist lives (our friend had unexplainable scratches on her!) Of course, another person dressed in costume jumped out at us and yes, I screamed again!
During the day in Scotland we walked around and saw the sites, where JKRowling wrote her first harry potter book. We went to the museum and walked through edinburgh castle; such a cool place! The last day was filled with travelling back to galway, where I of course went to bed! Such a fun/tiring/adventure weekend! Wish we could have stayed longer and done the loch ness/highlands tours.
All in all the time here has been flying! We haven't been able to book anymore out of the country trips because hostel and airline prices shot up. It was going to be too stressful to fly around and plan things to do anyways.
Next weekend Cait and I are going to Cork for the weekend. We're taking a bus there and spending the day sight-seeing. The next day we booked a tourbus to take us through the surrounding area and to the Blarney Castle where we can kiss the stone for luck! The weekend after Cork we're looking at going to northern ireland to Belfast and staying in the same hostel company and doing another tourbus through them as well!
See everyone a 4 weeks!! Just in time for Christmas =]
Friday, November 5, 2010
Oh the possibilites..
As I am looking at the calender looking at the weeks pass me by- counting down the days, hours, minutes until I am back home in Fitchburg I have realized it is a bitter-sweet ending. Sweet that I will see friends, family and Rollie-bear but bitter in the sense that a semester is not enough time to accomplish all that Europe has to offer a 21 year old single free-bird.
As I look at cheap flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague..the list goes on...I wonder if I will be able to see everything I had planned to see since day one of being accepted to this program. Nope, I didn't get to see nearly a tenth of what I had hoped to conquer!! The thought of being a college dropout and just filling my backpack and running seems more and more enticing with each day that passes. You can't get that in the States, the different languages and cultures that are so interesting and bright and colorful (no, Main st does NOT count by any means).
Is the business world really the right step for me? Should I reconsider my future and just throw away the last 3 years of my life on a world of adventure and vine swinging in the Amazon? Wouldn't climbing mountains in Chile or biking through China be more life rewarding than sitting behind a desk convincing some corporate tight pants where to spend their money? I thought I loved the idea of money and nice cars and a barn full of horses some day, but is that all really necessary?
I hate trying to prove to Professors that I am smarter than I seem by acing tests and writing bullshit papers that won't ever help me in the corporate world, heck I'm a hands-on person! What was I thinking choosing business over something cool like Adventure Education or Archaeology or a friggin CIA agent? These were all dreams I had and then somehow I ended up with Marketing?! What on Earth was I thinking...Although I do love winning and business is the only way to get ahead these days.
The short adventures I've had throughout my short time in Ireland has only given my the Travel Bug, and boy did it bite me hard! I am going to go crazy when I finally get home and realize there's no where for me to go except the 'Burg or occasional weekend in Plymouth. These short weekends away in different worlds have only been teasers, I haven't gotten the full taste of the world yet and I don't want to stop until I've seen it all.
I was blessed to have been able to partake in this adventure Ireland had to offer, while contributing to my education. But I have to put some light on my family, friends and professors who helped me and encouraged me to push through the paperwork and endless phone calls to get to this wonderful country. So THANKS everyone, you all know who you are.
I suppose this life will always be bitter-sweet; Sweet that I'll always have a place to call home and return to and Bitter that I'll have to leave my 2nd home with a return date: unknown.
As I look at cheap flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague..the list goes on...I wonder if I will be able to see everything I had planned to see since day one of being accepted to this program. Nope, I didn't get to see nearly a tenth of what I had hoped to conquer!! The thought of being a college dropout and just filling my backpack and running seems more and more enticing with each day that passes. You can't get that in the States, the different languages and cultures that are so interesting and bright and colorful (no, Main st does NOT count by any means).
Is the business world really the right step for me? Should I reconsider my future and just throw away the last 3 years of my life on a world of adventure and vine swinging in the Amazon? Wouldn't climbing mountains in Chile or biking through China be more life rewarding than sitting behind a desk convincing some corporate tight pants where to spend their money? I thought I loved the idea of money and nice cars and a barn full of horses some day, but is that all really necessary?
I hate trying to prove to Professors that I am smarter than I seem by acing tests and writing bullshit papers that won't ever help me in the corporate world, heck I'm a hands-on person! What was I thinking choosing business over something cool like Adventure Education or Archaeology or a friggin CIA agent? These were all dreams I had and then somehow I ended up with Marketing?! What on Earth was I thinking...Although I do love winning and business is the only way to get ahead these days.
The short adventures I've had throughout my short time in Ireland has only given my the Travel Bug, and boy did it bite me hard! I am going to go crazy when I finally get home and realize there's no where for me to go except the 'Burg or occasional weekend in Plymouth. These short weekends away in different worlds have only been teasers, I haven't gotten the full taste of the world yet and I don't want to stop until I've seen it all.
I was blessed to have been able to partake in this adventure Ireland had to offer, while contributing to my education. But I have to put some light on my family, friends and professors who helped me and encouraged me to push through the paperwork and endless phone calls to get to this wonderful country. So THANKS everyone, you all know who you are.
I suppose this life will always be bitter-sweet; Sweet that I'll always have a place to call home and return to and Bitter that I'll have to leave my 2nd home with a return date: unknown.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
I HEART LONDON
This past weekend our program, API took everyone to London for the weekend. We took a bus to Shannon Airport where we boarded our flight and then landed in London around 11 at night. We had to wait around outside, it was so COLD, and wait for our bus to bring us into the city where our hotel was. We waited till midnight (now October 23!) and a few people decided to sing me happy birthday. I didn't yet feel 21 so I didn't really go along with it, but it was nice people remembered.
We finally got to our hotel and everyone was exhausted! Between the bus rides and the plane and long waits outside, everyone just wanted to go to bed. Luckily there were only 2 of us per room and we got awesome accommodations this time!! Queen beds and fluffy comforters and a huge bathroom and flat screen TV!
Saturday morning, we all went down and had breakfast. There we got our tour bus hop on/hop off tickets like we had in Dublin and we got maps of the city. A bunch of us wanted to see the London Tower and decided to split off from out directors and went out on our own. I could not believe how big the city was!! It was like being in NYC with all the hustle and bustle. We headed off to the Tower where we learned we could play games and goof off, why learn history when you can play giant tic-tac-toe?!
The next morning, a few of us decided to go check out the British Museum. It was interesting getting there, we were having trouble with our directions but we made it there eventually. I could not believe how big the museum was! And it was free, music to my ears. There were so many different rooms in the museum, all were dedicated to a different country and culture. I definitely liked Asia and Southeast Asia the best. Very colorful, that will be my next trip!
We finally got to our hotel and everyone was exhausted! Between the bus rides and the plane and long waits outside, everyone just wanted to go to bed. Luckily there were only 2 of us per room and we got awesome accommodations this time!! Queen beds and fluffy comforters and a huge bathroom and flat screen TV!
Saturday morning, we all went down and had breakfast. There we got our tour bus hop on/hop off tickets like we had in Dublin and we got maps of the city. A bunch of us wanted to see the London Tower and decided to split off from out directors and went out on our own. I could not believe how big the city was!! It was like being in NYC with all the hustle and bustle. We headed off to the Tower where we learned we could play games and goof off, why learn history when you can play giant tic-tac-toe?!
London Bridge
We got to go inside the Tower and check out the cool things. There was a nice elevator ride to the top of the tower where we then got to see the city views. This lead to the bridge that connects the 2 towers where it looped around and you could see more of the city and the Thames River. There were jumbo sized-games where we of course played with! Hopscotch, bowling, tic tac toe, and ring toss! We also set up giant dominoes! But I can't upload videos on here unfortunately =[
We continued to walk through London and checked out all the architecture old and new. London reminded me of being back in Liverpool a few weeks ago. Clearly the UK has all the best architects in the world to themselves, all the buildings were beautiful whether modern or old, not like what you would see in Worcester or Fitchburg where some of the buildings are just a giant eye-sore.
Buckingham Palace
We saw the Big Ben and Buckingham Palace as well!! It was starting to get dark, the setting sun gave me some pretty cool pictures of the two sites. Security has been increased at the Palace so we weren't able to get too close, there was a huge wrought iron gate around it with guards at the doors.
On our walk back to the hotel, we decided to see how many people we could fit inside a telephone box! The first time we were able to fit 5 of us but we were venturing for more! We were able to squeeze the 6 girls in the telephone box this time! It wasn't easy but we some how managed to squeeze our butts inside the small space. People walking by even decided to take a few pictures with us or capture us on their video cameras, we were instant celebrities.
Unfortunately Blogger doesn't upload upright pictures correctly
London was also a great place to celebrate my 21st birthday!! I was surrounded by new friends and I was spending it in a city with the best night life. The girls surprised me first by singing happy birthday which then lead to noise complaints from the hotel on our behalf ha ha. I got a tiara and my pimp cup, followed by peanut m&ms =] I was now officially 21 so we went out to a club called The Zoo, and it really WAS a zoo!! So busy and there was several floors of dancing with different types of music and drinks being served, but really fun none the less.
While walking to the museum our friend Alison wanted a picture with the giant bronze lions that are in the center of the city. When we got there, we didn't realize how big they were and how hard it was going to be to climb up onto them! The stone it was sitting on was really slippery and we had to boost each other up. We were only to get up there for a minute because the city was having a ceremony of some sort for their Navy and there was security everywhere!
London was an overall great weekend and a place I would definitely visit again! I started to get used to the fast-pace and hustle/bustle of the city towards the end of the weekend. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me as I got more comfortable with the city and realized how much there was to see. I didn't get to see nearly 1/10th of the sights I wanted to experience, but I am happy with what I got see. I am glad the program chose London, but wished it had been a 3-4 day trip and not a day and a half.
Scotland in a few weeks and a day trip through County Clare coming up soon! 51 days till I am back in the States =]
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Learning to Cook!!
API was kind enough to plan a night of cooking for the group! We got terrible directions to walk down Shoppe st and get lost through the small winding side streets. We finally found the small cafe where we were greeted by Kevin, our assistant API director. Kevin introduced us to Kate, the owner of Cobblestones Cafe. The cafe was small and the 20 of us barely fit with all the cooking-ware and small tables. We managed to squeeze in and make ourselves at home.
Kate started the night off with showing us how she prepared for the Irish Stew and the Leek and Potato soup. Both seemed really easy to make, but then again I am not the most avid person in the kitchen. She diced all the vegetables and showed us how to properly cut up lamb and prepare it for the Irish Stew. I'm not a huge lamb fan so I only tasted the stew, but the Potato and Leek soup was delicious!
Kate also showed the group how to make scones and bread! I have made bread before with my Grammy of course, but this was completely different. All of the ingredients were fresh and the flour and sugar was different from what we use in the US. We didn't have enough time to bake everything in the oven properly, but she had made some earlier that day and we were able to taste it. I though the brown bread was DELICIOUS! We still had soup so I dipped mine and it didn't get soggy or anything. Very good!
When she was done showing us how to make the bread and scones, we used the left overs to made the Bread and Butter Pudding. It looked really gross at first, and I don't really like pudding because of the texture. I only got grossed out more as she kept adding milk and cream to the mixture and letting the bread soak it all up. I was not looking forward to trying it at all! When it came out of the oven, I was seriously mistaken. It smelled delicious and looked nothing like pudding or anything drippy and soggy. The pudding looked more like a thick cake and when you sliced it up, you poured a creamy sauce over it. I loved every bit and then some!
For all you at home with your mouths watering, don't worry. I've got the recipes and I plan on making a few things for Christmas Eve and Day! So Uncle Harry and Grammy...be prepared to taste real Irish food made by yours truly!
Kate started the night off with showing us how she prepared for the Irish Stew and the Leek and Potato soup. Both seemed really easy to make, but then again I am not the most avid person in the kitchen. She diced all the vegetables and showed us how to properly cut up lamb and prepare it for the Irish Stew. I'm not a huge lamb fan so I only tasted the stew, but the Potato and Leek soup was delicious!
Kate also showed the group how to make scones and bread! I have made bread before with my Grammy of course, but this was completely different. All of the ingredients were fresh and the flour and sugar was different from what we use in the US. We didn't have enough time to bake everything in the oven properly, but she had made some earlier that day and we were able to taste it. I though the brown bread was DELICIOUS! We still had soup so I dipped mine and it didn't get soggy or anything. Very good!
When she was done showing us how to make the bread and scones, we used the left overs to made the Bread and Butter Pudding. It looked really gross at first, and I don't really like pudding because of the texture. I only got grossed out more as she kept adding milk and cream to the mixture and letting the bread soak it all up. I was not looking forward to trying it at all! When it came out of the oven, I was seriously mistaken. It smelled delicious and looked nothing like pudding or anything drippy and soggy. The pudding looked more like a thick cake and when you sliced it up, you poured a creamy sauce over it. I loved every bit and then some!
For all you at home with your mouths watering, don't worry. I've got the recipes and I plan on making a few things for Christmas Eve and Day! So Uncle Harry and Grammy...be prepared to taste real Irish food made by yours truly!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Cliffs of Moher and The Burren
Saturday, Caitlyn and I joined a tour bus and ventured down the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. The weather was beautiful and the sky was clear. On our way to the Cliffs our tour guide brought us to several stops along the way.
We saw The Burren which was really cool. I didn't realize that it was a dessert of rocks that covered A LOT of acreage. We got to walk along the Burren and it was pretty tricky. The rocks weren't flat and there were spaces and holes between them. We had to watch our step, it would have been easy to break a leg or fall in between the rocks. In the Burren there were old tombs that were over a thousand years old. They didn't look like tombs that you might expect though. There would be 2-3 rocks standing up like the legs of table and then a large rock on top to look like a large hut. We couldn't get close to the old tombs, they were roped off. But we could take pictures and continue walking through the Burren.
Caitlyn and I headed out to the Cliffs immediately. There was only a small stretch of fenced land where we were "allowed" to stand. But if you walked a little further there was a break in the fence and a sign warning tourists of the dangers of trespassing. We decided to chance it and hopped the fence.
Once you get over the fence, you follow a narrow path that goes on for about and hour and half. We didn't have enough time to go along the whole path so we only walked about a third of the coast along the Cliffs. I couldn't believe how close the path was to the edge! I was afraid to get close in case the ground fell out beneath me! Fortunately there were a few spots where you could get on your stomach and crawl and look down over the edge.
This was my first view of the Cliffs. It was so beautiful and the clear weather made it that much better! I couldn't believe how lucky we were to have gotten such great weather. Ireland isn't known for their sunshine and warm weather =] This was taken before we jumped the fence. You can see that you can't get close to the edge, but the view was amazing. You could see almost the whole length of the Cliffs. We only walked to the second one sticking out I believe, it's a good hike!
We continued our trek through the Cliffs to try and get some close up shots of the rocks and the water crashing up against the Cliffs. We continued along the path and I found a nice spot for a picture. After Caitlyn took the photo, an Irish woman came up to me and told me that 8 people had already died this year from falling off the Cliffs and a few of them had fallen where I had just been sitting. THANKS LADY FOR SCARING ME! I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, but I moved.
We saw The Burren which was really cool. I didn't realize that it was a dessert of rocks that covered A LOT of acreage. We got to walk along the Burren and it was pretty tricky. The rocks weren't flat and there were spaces and holes between them. We had to watch our step, it would have been easy to break a leg or fall in between the rocks. In the Burren there were old tombs that were over a thousand years old. They didn't look like tombs that you might expect though. There would be 2-3 rocks standing up like the legs of table and then a large rock on top to look like a large hut. We couldn't get close to the old tombs, they were roped off. But we could take pictures and continue walking through the Burren.
Portal Tomb
We got back on the bus and continued our tour through the Burren and the small villages that lined Galway County's coast. There were a lot of sheep and cows everywhere, and the tour guide was even surprised to see a small flock of llamas. I guess llamas are rare in Ireland, they are imported from Peru. He also went on to say how they are friendly and quirky. Friendly, NO. Quirky, YES. Ha ha, I remember my grandparents and their llamas. They had great spitting aim!!
We stopped in Doolin for a quick lunch. We went to a small pub called O'Connor's. The food was delicious. I got the seafood chowder and I could not believe how much fresh seafood was in it! Back home, you are lucky to get anything besides potato and a few pieces of fish.
Moving on, the bus ride from the pub to the Cliffs was only about 20 minutes. The weather continued to stay lovely and the temperature got warmer too! The bus pulled up to the Cliffs and we all clambered out to stretch our legs. I had to go back and get my sunglasses, having the sun out here is a rarity and I was surprised at myself for having remembered my shades.
Caitlyn and I headed out to the Cliffs immediately. There was only a small stretch of fenced land where we were "allowed" to stand. But if you walked a little further there was a break in the fence and a sign warning tourists of the dangers of trespassing. We decided to chance it and hopped the fence.
Once you get over the fence, you follow a narrow path that goes on for about and hour and half. We didn't have enough time to go along the whole path so we only walked about a third of the coast along the Cliffs. I couldn't believe how close the path was to the edge! I was afraid to get close in case the ground fell out beneath me! Fortunately there were a few spots where you could get on your stomach and crawl and look down over the edge. 
We continued our trek through the Cliffs to try and get some close up shots of the rocks and the water crashing up against the Cliffs. We continued along the path and I found a nice spot for a picture. After Caitlyn took the photo, an Irish woman came up to me and told me that 8 people had already died this year from falling off the Cliffs and a few of them had fallen where I had just been sitting. THANKS LADY FOR SCARING ME! I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, but I moved.
Here's the spot the lady freaked me out at
We walked a bit further along this side of the Cliffs, but we turned around and walked back the other way to check out the other coast. There was also a small castle where you could climb to the top and check out the view from 360 degrees. We also found out that this side of the Cliffs wasn't as exciting, the water wasn't crashing along the rocks and the Cliffs were smaller and less dangerous, therefore less fun!
We only had an hour and a half to check out the Cliffs, so we headed back to the bus to continue the rest of the tour. We headed back along the coast and made a few short stops to take a few last tourist-scenic pictures before the ride back to Galway. The last stop was my favorite. It was more of the Burren but it was right along side of the water and Cliffs and it was beautiful.
The Cliffs here were a lot smaller, I could have lived if I decided to jump...
All in all it was a great day! We met some great people from all over the world on the tour, our tour guide had a great sense of humor and the weather was perfect! I got to spend the day and this experience with a great friend and it's something I will remember for a long time. I would recommend visiting the Cliffs to anyone, it was a great experience with a little adventure as well.
London this weekend! And my 21st birthday!! Look out London =]
Monday, October 11, 2010
We All Live in a Yellow Submarine..
Friday morning I puddle jumped over to Liverpool via Ryanair to check out the Beatles capitol of UK! I went with Caitlyn and Tim and went straight to the hostel we were staying in once we landed. I wasn't sure what to expect from a hostel, I had never stayed in one before. We got there only to find out that Caitlyn and I would be the only 2 girls in a room with 10 other boys...bummer haha!
The first guys to arrive after us weren't too friendly. Tim tried to make a good impression but it just wasn't working. That's OK though, the ones after that made it all better! Welsh accents and Argentinean accents...hott! The man we met from Argentina was actually pretty cool. He came to Europe to better his English speaking skills and was backpacking through England and Germany for a month. He tried out his English on us and we got pretty far, he was doing very well with his lessons! We also met another man who was in college but had come to Liverpool to see a friend's performance. He was from Wales, and was very scholarly indeed. I thought he was the friendliest out of them all and was probably the nicest man we had met so far in the UK.
But moving on...Friday we explored the city and walked around and saw all the wonderful architecture. I was a little worried at first about visiting Liverpool because some of our Irish friends said there wasn't much to do there. But I liked the sights and the weather was pretty decent, no rain! I couldn't believe how tall some of the buildings were in Liverpool. There were sky scrapers, but they weren't just tall business buildings, everything was an art. The buildings had curves and dimension to them. They weren't ugly boxes sitting there obstructing the views.
We eventually found a Beatles museum that was FREE! I love seeing that word in places...The museum was great. I posted the pictures on facebook for all to see. There were guitars used by the Beatles and lovely quotes all over the walls by their kids and wives. Definitely something I would go back to see. When we were done in the museum we headed back to the hostel and met some more roommates that were there for the night. Again, Cait and I were the only girls but that was OK. We managed just fine with ONE bathroom between the 12 of us! Yes, I repeat, ONE bathroom. Ughhh. We ended up making an early night of it and hit the sack.
We got up early on Saturday and went to take a tour of of Anfield Stadium. This hour of the weekend was dedicated to our friend Tim, he was the only boy travelling with us! The field was pretty cool. A lot of history there and you could feel the love from all the people we talked to during the tour. Someone had actually travelled from Australia to see the stadium! Once the tour was done we hopped on the bus and headed back into the city. We ended up walking around all day and we didn't have a set plan which turned out to be fun.
I wanted to see the Beatles museums so we headed there and toured several of them. When that was over, Tim saw a huge building he thought was interesting so we walked across the city to it. I can't even begin to imagine how many miles we covered throughout that whole weekend! When ever we saw a tall building we made a point to walk to it, not knowing what it was or far away it might have been. We ended up finding Liverpool Cathedral. It took over 100 years to build and was amazing! I could not believe how big it was once you were up close to it. If I thought the outside looked cool, the inside was 10x better! The cathedral ceilings were so high and everything echoed. The church was full of natural light streaming in from the stained-glass windows that took up most of the walls. There was even a smaller cathedral attached to the basement of the church. It had to be 5x bigger than my house!
When we left the cathedral, we headed back to the hostel for dinner and a nap. We decided to go out and see the nightlife of the town, but it ended up being a bust like the night before. Girls were dressed like they were heading to the red carpet and again we were all in jeans and t-shirts. We walked around and people-watched which ended up being pretty entertaining. We went back to the hostel and hung out with our roommates. We exchanged stories and helped one another understand each other's languages. It ended up being an early night because we had a 9 am flight the next morning and we needed to be there 7 am for immigration.
Our cab ride in the morning turned out to be pretty entertaining! Our cabbie was Scottish and had been to America several times to visit his friends and family. Although I was a little weary once he started talking more and more. He was informing Tim of how to properly beat your wife and keep the ladies in line. He even showed him his metal bat! Although I knew it was all fun and games, he always seemed to take his jokes to an all new level. The cabbie proceeded with how he did not like Americans (not jokingly) and how he didn't understand the women and why we acted the way we did. He then went on to say how he appreciated the English women and girls because he liked how they took 2-3 hours every night to get ready and poofed up their hair with a whole can of hair spray and how they wore next to nothing; mini skirts, leotards, and 6 in heels! I could not believe what was coming out of his mouth...I'm sorry I like wearing jeans and being fully clothed lol. I miss being home and going to a party or club wearing jeans and a tank top, whatever happened to being comfortable?
All in all the weekend was a success. We had fun and saw the sights we wanted to see and then some. We met some great people and not so great people, but you get that everywhere you go. We even ran into some of our program friends at the Shannon Airport. They had gone on a weekend trip to Belgium and Paris! Updates to come soon, my birthday is in 12 days and London is in 11!!
The first guys to arrive after us weren't too friendly. Tim tried to make a good impression but it just wasn't working. That's OK though, the ones after that made it all better! Welsh accents and Argentinean accents...hott! The man we met from Argentina was actually pretty cool. He came to Europe to better his English speaking skills and was backpacking through England and Germany for a month. He tried out his English on us and we got pretty far, he was doing very well with his lessons! We also met another man who was in college but had come to Liverpool to see a friend's performance. He was from Wales, and was very scholarly indeed. I thought he was the friendliest out of them all and was probably the nicest man we had met so far in the UK.
But moving on...Friday we explored the city and walked around and saw all the wonderful architecture. I was a little worried at first about visiting Liverpool because some of our Irish friends said there wasn't much to do there. But I liked the sights and the weather was pretty decent, no rain! I couldn't believe how tall some of the buildings were in Liverpool. There were sky scrapers, but they weren't just tall business buildings, everything was an art. The buildings had curves and dimension to them. They weren't ugly boxes sitting there obstructing the views.
We eventually found a Beatles museum that was FREE! I love seeing that word in places...The museum was great. I posted the pictures on facebook for all to see. There were guitars used by the Beatles and lovely quotes all over the walls by their kids and wives. Definitely something I would go back to see. When we were done in the museum we headed back to the hostel and met some more roommates that were there for the night. Again, Cait and I were the only girls but that was OK. We managed just fine with ONE bathroom between the 12 of us! Yes, I repeat, ONE bathroom. Ughhh. We ended up making an early night of it and hit the sack.
We got up early on Saturday and went to take a tour of of Anfield Stadium. This hour of the weekend was dedicated to our friend Tim, he was the only boy travelling with us! The field was pretty cool. A lot of history there and you could feel the love from all the people we talked to during the tour. Someone had actually travelled from Australia to see the stadium! Once the tour was done we hopped on the bus and headed back into the city. We ended up walking around all day and we didn't have a set plan which turned out to be fun.
I wanted to see the Beatles museums so we headed there and toured several of them. When that was over, Tim saw a huge building he thought was interesting so we walked across the city to it. I can't even begin to imagine how many miles we covered throughout that whole weekend! When ever we saw a tall building we made a point to walk to it, not knowing what it was or far away it might have been. We ended up finding Liverpool Cathedral. It took over 100 years to build and was amazing! I could not believe how big it was once you were up close to it. If I thought the outside looked cool, the inside was 10x better! The cathedral ceilings were so high and everything echoed. The church was full of natural light streaming in from the stained-glass windows that took up most of the walls. There was even a smaller cathedral attached to the basement of the church. It had to be 5x bigger than my house!
When we left the cathedral, we headed back to the hostel for dinner and a nap. We decided to go out and see the nightlife of the town, but it ended up being a bust like the night before. Girls were dressed like they were heading to the red carpet and again we were all in jeans and t-shirts. We walked around and people-watched which ended up being pretty entertaining. We went back to the hostel and hung out with our roommates. We exchanged stories and helped one another understand each other's languages. It ended up being an early night because we had a 9 am flight the next morning and we needed to be there 7 am for immigration.
Our cab ride in the morning turned out to be pretty entertaining! Our cabbie was Scottish and had been to America several times to visit his friends and family. Although I was a little weary once he started talking more and more. He was informing Tim of how to properly beat your wife and keep the ladies in line. He even showed him his metal bat! Although I knew it was all fun and games, he always seemed to take his jokes to an all new level. The cabbie proceeded with how he did not like Americans (not jokingly) and how he didn't understand the women and why we acted the way we did. He then went on to say how he appreciated the English women and girls because he liked how they took 2-3 hours every night to get ready and poofed up their hair with a whole can of hair spray and how they wore next to nothing; mini skirts, leotards, and 6 in heels! I could not believe what was coming out of his mouth...I'm sorry I like wearing jeans and being fully clothed lol. I miss being home and going to a party or club wearing jeans and a tank top, whatever happened to being comfortable?
All in all the weekend was a success. We had fun and saw the sights we wanted to see and then some. We met some great people and not so great people, but you get that everywhere you go. We even ran into some of our program friends at the Shannon Airport. They had gone on a weekend trip to Belgium and Paris! Updates to come soon, my birthday is in 12 days and London is in 11!!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Trip to Dublin with API
This weekend was AWESOME! Went to Dublin Saturday to Sunday with the kids from API. We had to get on the bus for 8am on Saturday and rode for about 2.5 hours. Thankfully I slept most of the way! We got to our hotel and dropped our bags off in the lobby and headed to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. When we got there it started raining and we found out that the line was long!! Fortunately our group is pretty awesome and we had fun waiting around. I wasn't able to take photos of inside the college where the book was held and the library because of privacy precautions.
Once we saw the book, we all moved on to the restaurant where we would be having lunch. The fun began there when we all ordered and found out that the bathrooms had black lights!! This was both fun and definitely gross when you think about it...I was also the unfortunate one to find out that our waiter was wearing plastic shorts and spandex. I thought I being sneaky about it, pointing at him and telling all my friends to look when in real life he could in fact hear me and decided to come over and have a chat. Oh Boy! He was pretty cute actually and he informed me that he had to wear the ridiculous outfit because of Oktoberfest. And yes, my face went red like the ketchup bottle.
Moving on...
We didn't have to stay with the group, so a few of us decided to go off and do our own thing. That mean GUINNESS FACTORY! We headed off and ended up finding it after a few tries. The factory was amazing, I never knew how Guinness was made and the tour was very informative. Too much happened for me to give it to you here in detail, but look on facebook and you will see all the photos from the factory and that weekend. When the tour was over, we all got our free glass of Guinness. I couldn't finish mine though. I still have to develop a taste for the stouts and heavier beers. But because the beer is made right there in Dublin, it was fresh and very STRONG! I could feel it in my hands and legs and so couldn't the others I was with. I couldn't believer I was getting tipsy off of a few sips of beer!
When we left the factory, we headed back to the hotel and decided to stay in. The night was pretty slow and we all had to get up super early the next morning so we didn't want to have a late night out. A few of us gathered in my hotel room and decided to make a joke of it. We pushed our beds together to make a huge one and decided to jump up and down like we were 5 again, doing flips and pillow fights of course. When things settled down we played a bunch of card games. We settled on kamikaze spoons. For those of you who have never played before, you are seriously missing out! What happens is, you sit in a circle and pass the cards around to get 4 of a kind. During this you have to check to see who is winning. When someone leaps up to get their spoon everyone else does the same! Well if there is 5 players, then you only have 4 spoons and the person who doesn't get one, gets a point till they are kicked out. The kamikaze version of spoons is INTENSE! People were flying all over the place and I had the lovely opportunity of getting hit in the face by Kevin! Thanks Bud.
The morning after, Amie and Caitlyn and I compared battle wounds and cuts and scrapes. Needless to say, I bruise like a peach. We went downstairs and got our breakfast and made plans for the day. We had to be back on the bus for 3pm so we could only pick and choose a few things to do. Luckily we had a Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour ticket which brought you around to different tourist sights. We chose to see the Jail and the Dublin Zoo.
The Jail was so amazing! You could feel the history as you walked down the crumbling hallways and looking at the small cells. I could not believe the way people were treated there and how people were executed. The tour guide told us that the youngest person to ever have been detained in the Jail was an 8 year old girl who stole a ladies jacket to keep warm. She only spent 5 months there, but had to do the labor of an adult; clean the clothes and bedding and make the food for all the inmates. The tour also had a lot of other information about the political activists and extremists who were locked up and later executed in their fight to separate Ireland from British rule.
When the tour was over, we jumped on the tour bus and went straight to the zoo. We only had a few hours to run through it and make it back to the hotel so we had our game plan and checked out all then animals as fast as we could! I'm not really a fan of zoos, but this was probably one of the cleanest ones I have even been to. There were no weird smells, there was sufficient room for the animals and in general they all looked pretty happy.
When we were done, we headed back to the hop on hop off bus and made it back in time for a quick lunch and then our bus back to Galway. The ride back home seemed a lot longer than the ride there. I didn't get much sleep and it rained the whole way, which seemed to be putting everyone in a somber mood. Also, everyone including myself seemed to be catching the bug that has been going around lately.
I know there isn't a whole lot of detail in this post, but so much happened in Dublin, it's really hard to pick and choose my favorite parts and then to break it down. Look at my album in facebook labelled Dublin with API and you will see all the photos I took and I explain some of the history below the photos. This weekend I leave for Liverpool, UK with Tim and Caitlyn. Looking forward to that!
I also could not upload any photos on to this blog for some reason. It was taking a half an hour to upload one photo and it would come out looking horrible. It seems blogspot has made some changes to their software and I will have to find a better way of getting some pictures up here!
Once we saw the book, we all moved on to the restaurant where we would be having lunch. The fun began there when we all ordered and found out that the bathrooms had black lights!! This was both fun and definitely gross when you think about it...I was also the unfortunate one to find out that our waiter was wearing plastic shorts and spandex. I thought I being sneaky about it, pointing at him and telling all my friends to look when in real life he could in fact hear me and decided to come over and have a chat. Oh Boy! He was pretty cute actually and he informed me that he had to wear the ridiculous outfit because of Oktoberfest. And yes, my face went red like the ketchup bottle.
Moving on...
We didn't have to stay with the group, so a few of us decided to go off and do our own thing. That mean GUINNESS FACTORY! We headed off and ended up finding it after a few tries. The factory was amazing, I never knew how Guinness was made and the tour was very informative. Too much happened for me to give it to you here in detail, but look on facebook and you will see all the photos from the factory and that weekend. When the tour was over, we all got our free glass of Guinness. I couldn't finish mine though. I still have to develop a taste for the stouts and heavier beers. But because the beer is made right there in Dublin, it was fresh and very STRONG! I could feel it in my hands and legs and so couldn't the others I was with. I couldn't believer I was getting tipsy off of a few sips of beer!
When we left the factory, we headed back to the hotel and decided to stay in. The night was pretty slow and we all had to get up super early the next morning so we didn't want to have a late night out. A few of us gathered in my hotel room and decided to make a joke of it. We pushed our beds together to make a huge one and decided to jump up and down like we were 5 again, doing flips and pillow fights of course. When things settled down we played a bunch of card games. We settled on kamikaze spoons. For those of you who have never played before, you are seriously missing out! What happens is, you sit in a circle and pass the cards around to get 4 of a kind. During this you have to check to see who is winning. When someone leaps up to get their spoon everyone else does the same! Well if there is 5 players, then you only have 4 spoons and the person who doesn't get one, gets a point till they are kicked out. The kamikaze version of spoons is INTENSE! People were flying all over the place and I had the lovely opportunity of getting hit in the face by Kevin! Thanks Bud.
The morning after, Amie and Caitlyn and I compared battle wounds and cuts and scrapes. Needless to say, I bruise like a peach. We went downstairs and got our breakfast and made plans for the day. We had to be back on the bus for 3pm so we could only pick and choose a few things to do. Luckily we had a Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour ticket which brought you around to different tourist sights. We chose to see the Jail and the Dublin Zoo.
The Jail was so amazing! You could feel the history as you walked down the crumbling hallways and looking at the small cells. I could not believe the way people were treated there and how people were executed. The tour guide told us that the youngest person to ever have been detained in the Jail was an 8 year old girl who stole a ladies jacket to keep warm. She only spent 5 months there, but had to do the labor of an adult; clean the clothes and bedding and make the food for all the inmates. The tour also had a lot of other information about the political activists and extremists who were locked up and later executed in their fight to separate Ireland from British rule.
When the tour was over, we jumped on the tour bus and went straight to the zoo. We only had a few hours to run through it and make it back to the hotel so we had our game plan and checked out all then animals as fast as we could! I'm not really a fan of zoos, but this was probably one of the cleanest ones I have even been to. There were no weird smells, there was sufficient room for the animals and in general they all looked pretty happy.
When we were done, we headed back to the hop on hop off bus and made it back in time for a quick lunch and then our bus back to Galway. The ride back home seemed a lot longer than the ride there. I didn't get much sleep and it rained the whole way, which seemed to be putting everyone in a somber mood. Also, everyone including myself seemed to be catching the bug that has been going around lately.
I know there isn't a whole lot of detail in this post, but so much happened in Dublin, it's really hard to pick and choose my favorite parts and then to break it down. Look at my album in facebook labelled Dublin with API and you will see all the photos I took and I explain some of the history below the photos. This weekend I leave for Liverpool, UK with Tim and Caitlyn. Looking forward to that!
I also could not upload any photos on to this blog for some reason. It was taking a half an hour to upload one photo and it would come out looking horrible. It seems blogspot has made some changes to their software and I will have to find a better way of getting some pictures up here!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Care Package and Foam Party
I''ve been neglecting my blog lately but I haven't had free moments to go online and have "me time." The other day the mailman came and brought me ANOTHER package! Although I knew this one was coming, it was still a nice surprise from my parents. I got everything I wanted from home; Boston Sox hat, sneakers, oreos and kraft mac&cheese! Basically what every college wants.
Last night (Wednesday) the club Cuba was throwing a foam party. A few of the girls and I decided to try it out and had a great time! I thought it was going to be wet and dirty and people falling all over the place, which is what happened but it turned out to be OK. As we got ready, the first of the nightly shenanigans started. I broke my dressy sandals! Ughhhhh so I had to go back to the apartment and change shoes. We then called a cab and waited over 40 minutes just for the asshole not to show up! And I called twice...
So we walked the 10 minutes to the club and stood in line to get our stamp and start the fun! Once we got inside, the foam hadn't started yet but the place was packed. I have never seen Cuba that full before. It's usually the last place you would go if there was nothing else better going on that night. We got onto the dance floor and stuck together but we were packed like sardines. As a good song came on, you could feel the excitement around you building up. All of a sudden...FOAM EVERY WHERE!! I was covered head to toe and sticky soapy foam. I could feel it piling up on my head and slipping all over my feet and sandals. I couldn't see anything and the girls and I just linked arms and clung to each other as people pushed and slipped on the slippery floor. I lost my shoes a few times, but luckily found them!
The foam went off and on the whole night. It just got wetter and sudsy-er as the night continued. We decided to take a break and found an empty table. I got up to get something and walked right into a stool! It hurt so bad and I was afraid to fall back into the crowd of people jumping up and down. I looked down to find a huge rip through the leggings that I was wearing (actually they were Caitlyn's!). I ran to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Mistake; I was looking like a hot mess with makeup running down my face, soap in my hair, dirty feet and ripped pants.
As we looked at ourselves in the bathroom it was our signal to head back home. Luckily everyone was getting pretty tired and felt the same way. We grabbed a taxi (who was very rude!) and we headed back to Menlo. The girls left and Caitlyn and I settled down on the couch with a pot of mac and cheese from my care package and watched MTV and decided it was a good idea to skip our first class (ssshhhh don't tell Grammie).
Tomorrow is Friday and I will be spending the day catching up on homework and reading. It will be a good night to stay in and hang with friends and discuss the weekend. We are going to Dublin with the program Saturday-Sunday! Hopefully the weather is good and no one gets bus sick this time, including myself!
 |
| Thanks Mom and Dad |
So we walked the 10 minutes to the club and stood in line to get our stamp and start the fun! Once we got inside, the foam hadn't started yet but the place was packed. I have never seen Cuba that full before. It's usually the last place you would go if there was nothing else better going on that night. We got onto the dance floor and stuck together but we were packed like sardines. As a good song came on, you could feel the excitement around you building up. All of a sudden...FOAM EVERY WHERE!! I was covered head to toe and sticky soapy foam. I could feel it piling up on my head and slipping all over my feet and sandals. I couldn't see anything and the girls and I just linked arms and clung to each other as people pushed and slipped on the slippery floor. I lost my shoes a few times, but luckily found them!
The foam went off and on the whole night. It just got wetter and sudsy-er as the night continued. We decided to take a break and found an empty table. I got up to get something and walked right into a stool! It hurt so bad and I was afraid to fall back into the crowd of people jumping up and down. I looked down to find a huge rip through the leggings that I was wearing (actually they were Caitlyn's!). I ran to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Mistake; I was looking like a hot mess with makeup running down my face, soap in my hair, dirty feet and ripped pants.
As we looked at ourselves in the bathroom it was our signal to head back home. Luckily everyone was getting pretty tired and felt the same way. We grabbed a taxi (who was very rude!) and we headed back to Menlo. The girls left and Caitlyn and I settled down on the couch with a pot of mac and cheese from my care package and watched MTV and decided it was a good idea to skip our first class (ssshhhh don't tell Grammie).
Tomorrow is Friday and I will be spending the day catching up on homework and reading. It will be a good night to stay in and hang with friends and discuss the weekend. We are going to Dublin with the program Saturday-Sunday! Hopefully the weather is good and no one gets bus sick this time, including myself!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Weekend in Limerick and Arthur's Day
Thursday was Arthur's Day in Ireland. It is the day that Guinness was invented however many years ago. They are trying to make it a national holiday, but it only started last year. I ended up going out to town with some of the girls and we had a great time! People were everywhere and all the pubs and clubs were packed! I couldn't believe how many people were out on a Thursday night. We hopped around between a few pubs and ordered drinks here and there. I never got a Guinness but it was definitely the popular drink that night.
What I found surprising about the night was walking down Shoppe Street and seeing all the broken glass and crap all over the place! People were breaking bottles and glasses against buildings and the cobblestone ground. I was amazed that the Gards (police) weren't out and arresting people. I was glad I wore boots because normally I wear open-toed shoes out. When I got home, I had to pick broken glass out from the bottoms of my shoes. I was pretty happy when the night came to end.
The next day, Caitlyn and I took a bus to Limerick to stay with out friend Tim for the weekend. I haven't seen Tim since spring semester at Plymouth State so I was pretty excited to see my friend. The bus ride was kind of long, about 2.5 hours and we were pretty tired when we got to Limerick. We grabbed a cab and made our way to Cappavilla where he lived with his roommates.
I was pretty jealous of Tim's apartment when I saw it! I like out apartment and all, but his was amazing! Six guys lived there and they each had their own room with a private bathroom. The kitchen and living room was huge and they also had a porch with a great view! Caitlyn and I ended up taking Tim's room and kicked him to the curb haha. The boys had a spare bed in a closet (it was HUGE so don't feel bad for him) so Tim stayed there for the weekend. The first night the guys took us out to The Lodge. It was supposed to be the hot spot on campus where everyone went to drink and dance. WRONG it was dead and had probably 20 people there. We only stayed for about 30 min and bailed and went back to their apartment and went to bed.
The next morning, Tim took us on a tour of Limerick. He showed us the city, the good parts and bad. We also took a tour of King John's Castle. Walking around the city made me happy that I chose Galway for school. The boys kept scaring us about how the city is called "Stab City" and there are gang fights and people get mugged all the time. We ended up wandering down a shady part of the city on accident and I was amazed at the broken windows and closed shops that lined the streets. Another thing about Limerick was how spread out everything is. We had to take a bus to get to town and a cab to get everywhere else! In Galway everything is within walking distance and I don't have to worry about a bunch of losers jumping me.
The second night turned out to be a great night. The roommates left for Mayo to celebrate a friend's birthday but we stayed behind with Tim and one of his roommates, Mike. We went out to a house party and met their friends from the football team (they have American football). The night was full of silly boys, pink fairy wings, glitter and feathers. I will let you use your imaginations as to what happened, but the men here are extremely comfortable with their sexualities which was a breath of fresh air lol.
We left the house and went back to the boys' apartment and hit the sack. I unfortunately got one of my bursts of energy and ended up not sleeping at all. But that was ok, the night turned out great and I had some good conversations with an Irish man. I can now cross that off my list of things I wanted to accomplish in Ireland. The next morning, Caitlyn and I grabbed a cab back to the bus station and took the bus back to Galway. We were tired the whole way but the thought of my bed waiting for me back home made it better.
Needless to say the weekend was a success and I am glad we went to visit our friend. Although the culture and city were completely different from Galway, it turned out to be a fun weekend away from "home." This weekend we are going to Dublin sat-sun with the program, hopefully that will turn out to be a great time as well! Updates are more to come =]
What I found surprising about the night was walking down Shoppe Street and seeing all the broken glass and crap all over the place! People were breaking bottles and glasses against buildings and the cobblestone ground. I was amazed that the Gards (police) weren't out and arresting people. I was glad I wore boots because normally I wear open-toed shoes out. When I got home, I had to pick broken glass out from the bottoms of my shoes. I was pretty happy when the night came to end.
The next day, Caitlyn and I took a bus to Limerick to stay with out friend Tim for the weekend. I haven't seen Tim since spring semester at Plymouth State so I was pretty excited to see my friend. The bus ride was kind of long, about 2.5 hours and we were pretty tired when we got to Limerick. We grabbed a cab and made our way to Cappavilla where he lived with his roommates.
I was pretty jealous of Tim's apartment when I saw it! I like out apartment and all, but his was amazing! Six guys lived there and they each had their own room with a private bathroom. The kitchen and living room was huge and they also had a porch with a great view! Caitlyn and I ended up taking Tim's room and kicked him to the curb haha. The boys had a spare bed in a closet (it was HUGE so don't feel bad for him) so Tim stayed there for the weekend. The first night the guys took us out to The Lodge. It was supposed to be the hot spot on campus where everyone went to drink and dance. WRONG it was dead and had probably 20 people there. We only stayed for about 30 min and bailed and went back to their apartment and went to bed.
King John's Castle
The second night turned out to be a great night. The roommates left for Mayo to celebrate a friend's birthday but we stayed behind with Tim and one of his roommates, Mike. We went out to a house party and met their friends from the football team (they have American football). The night was full of silly boys, pink fairy wings, glitter and feathers. I will let you use your imaginations as to what happened, but the men here are extremely comfortable with their sexualities which was a breath of fresh air lol.
We left the house and went back to the boys' apartment and hit the sack. I unfortunately got one of my bursts of energy and ended up not sleeping at all. But that was ok, the night turned out great and I had some good conversations with an Irish man. I can now cross that off my list of things I wanted to accomplish in Ireland. The next morning, Caitlyn and I grabbed a cab back to the bus station and took the bus back to Galway. We were tired the whole way but the thought of my bed waiting for me back home made it better.
Needless to say the weekend was a success and I am glad we went to visit our friend. Although the culture and city were completely different from Galway, it turned out to be a fun weekend away from "home." This weekend we are going to Dublin sat-sun with the program, hopefully that will turn out to be a great time as well! Updates are more to come =]
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Care Package!
Just received another care package this morning! It came bright and early, normally I wouldn't have been awake that early but I was up for immigration this morning. My cousin Sara sent me a package with some awesome things! Pictures of everyone from home, friends, family and cousins! She also put some Halloween candy in there; candy corn, skittles, starbursts and gum! Seeing her card made me miss home a little bit and not being able to celebrate my 21st birthday with all my cousins back home, but I'm sure I will get over it ha ha. Thanks Numba one!
Earlier this morning I had to wake up and drag myself to the Immigration Office. When you come to Ireland as a student and stay here for a semester you have to register with the country and get an ID card. Because there were so many of us, everyone got designated times to go. Mine was at 8:15 this morning. Luckily there were others from the program so we all walked together. The office was pretty hard to find, if I was alone I probably would have been lost! Well, we got there and it was in the worst part of Galway! Felt like I was back in ghetto-burg lol.
Got inside and sat down, waited for my turn. Turns out because there are so many students registering this week, they shut the immigration office down to everyone else! People were coming and going and were getting so mad because the office was turning them away. An American man actually got up and slammed the door and was swearing and cursing at everyone and everything! Stupid American giving the rest of us a bad name...
It was my turn after the angry man-event and I went up to the counter. I had to bring a letter showing I was a student at NUIG, a bank note showing I had sufficient funds (if not I needed a letter from the parents saying they would support me, thankfully I don't need it), letter signed from my apartment landlord showing i was a resident and my passport. The stony lady put all my information into the system and took a picture of me. I wasn't prepared and it was also really early in the morning..needless to say i was not very photogenic! I also had to give my finger prints on a laser thing. I felt like i was on an episode of CSI or Law&Order!
Now I am a fully registered student and member of Ireland's society! I just have to carry the card with me everywhere instead of my MASS licence and if I don't have it, I think i can be fined or even arrested...? Ha ha oh well I am sure that won't happen.
Limerick in 3 days!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Group shots from Connemara and Kylemore Abbey
Our first stop on the tour. Kylemore Abbey is behind the lake
Kylemore Abbey again
Another castle that has been renovated into an exclusive hotel. This was as close as we were allowed. Nightly rates go from 1,000-5,000 euro! There was also a guard in front the bridge that we are standing on.
Excursion to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey
Yesterday our API group went on a "off the beaten track" tour through the Connemara and other various parts of Galway County. The day started off wet and rainy and pretty much stayed like that for the rest of the day unfortunately. Our program leader, Finn took all of us on a tour of her version of Ireland. We drove down windy narrow roads and stopped whenever someone wanted to take a picture. She sat up front with the microphone and told us little stories along the way of her childhood and the places she loved to visit. We even drove by a church where her parents got married.
Unfortunately because of the windy roads and hairpin turns, a lot of peop rsick including myself. The first half of the tour was miserable. We were on the bus for over an hour and half and I don't remember any of the scenery because i was focused on keeping my breakfast down!
Thankfully we stopped to take some pictures of Kylemore Abbey! The castle was beautiful, even in the rain and fog. There was a beautiful lake (pronounced Loch) in front of the Abbey and it was surrounded by mountains and stone walls.
If you follow a path that runs along the lake from the Abbey, you will come across a small church. The Church's pillars is made of marble from all over the world. Each color represented where it had come from. Unfortunately I can't remember all the places, but the green marble was for Ireland, red for Italy (?) and blue or black from somewhere else. Our program leaders wanted to get married in the church but due to some old laws they were unable to and chose to get married at the Chapel on NUIG campus.
Unfortunately because of the windy roads and hairpin turns, a lot of peop rsick including myself. The first half of the tour was miserable. We were on the bus for over an hour and half and I don't remember any of the scenery because i was focused on keeping my breakfast down!
Thankfully we stopped to take some pictures of Kylemore Abbey! The castle was beautiful, even in the rain and fog. There was a beautiful lake (pronounced Loch) in front of the Abbey and it was surrounded by mountains and stone walls.
This was one of the few moments when the rain stopped! API bought the group our tickets and we were allowed into the Abbey and the grounds to walk around for a bit. Inside, we could only see a few rooms but everything was very grand. Tapestries and ornamental rugs and paintings covered the walls and floors. The Abbey was built around 1665 and was passed around from family to family as a place for worship or as a marital gift. In 1920, a group of nuns bought the Abbey and turned it into their place for religious purposes and as their home.
If you follow a path that runs along the lake from the Abbey, you will come across a small church. The Church's pillars is made of marble from all over the world. Each color represented where it had come from. Unfortunately I can't remember all the places, but the green marble was for Ireland, red for Italy (?) and blue or black from somewhere else. Our program leaders wanted to get married in the church but due to some old laws they were unable to and chose to get married at the Chapel on NUIG campus. After Kylemore Abbey, everyone was getting pretty hungry. We got back on the bus and drove another 20 minutes to Delphi lodge which is located at the base of the Twelve Pin Mountains. It was a hot spot for those who like outdoor sports; climbing, archery, fishing and scuba-diving. There, we all enjoyed a 3-course hot lunch that was DELICIOUS! I ordered the vegetable soup as a starter and it was so good. It was nice to drink something hot after the wet day we had, and the soup came with banana bread! It was a great combination. When the main courses came out, I chose the chicken with mushroom sauce.
The chicken is actually sitting in a pile of mashed potatoes! It was so good. Everyone else was a little unsure of what to order (including myself) because we were only offered 3 choices on the menu; chicken, salmon or egg plant. But Caitlyn who is a very picky eater enjoyed everything! She's making progress =] Once the main meals were all finished up, out came the dessert! Just like the main meals, we weren't given a choice of dessert. We instead got a sampler plate with different types of goodies.
The blue-ish square is a blueberry pudding of some sort (didn't like it because of the texture and it jiggled). Next we got a lemon pie and the top had been scorched like a creme brulee and then we had a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. Everything was delicious and I was so full when lunch was over! Not to mention I also had a whole pot of tea to myself while eating all of this!
As the tour continued, we got back on the road and saw more of the Connemara and what it had to offer. There were sheep EVERYWHERE! And the sheep dogs were really friendly too. The bus brought us to a river/waterfall where the water is tainted a light brownish color. It looked really gross but a lot of people like to go salmon fishing and swimming in it.
Erriff River
Here you can see the brown water coming over the waterfall. The water is tainted because of leeching into the river from the trees and sediments around the river. We only stayed here for a few minutes. It was down pouring off and on all day and everywhere was pretty wet throughout the day. We all got back on the bus and continued to drive through the country side. For the majority of bus-time, we took a leisurely route around Killary Harbour (An Caolaire Rua). This loch sits in the center of the mountain Mweelrea and separates the counties Mayo and Galway.
After this driving tour we headed back to the Menlo apartments because the weather did not get any better unfortunately. We were going to go out on the town, but it had been a long day so we decided to stay in and plan some weekend trips. Caitlyn and our friend Timmy (from Plymouth state who is currently attending limerick) booked a weekend flight to Liverpool, UK. We're not sure yet what we're going to do there but the best times are usually unplanned!
More updates as the weeks continue..
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Care Package and Updates
Got another package yesterday from Mom and Dad! Had lots of goodies in it; cookies and a few cards. It was nice getting it after a long day of classes and running around! Thanks!
Tonight we had a meeting for our excursion this Saturday. We're going to the Connemara and taking a "off the beaten track" route with our program advisor, Finn. She has a PhD in Zoology and is overall a very happy person to be around. She likes to make everyone feel welcome and she's good with pushing people out of their comfort zones. It's an all day tour but we're going to be hiking and climbing things if the weather is good. We were told to bring extra socks in case we fall into a bog or something else. We were also told that there is going to be A LOT of sheep, so bring our cameras for that "perfect" shot haha.
Classes have been going okay for now. Nothing major has happened and I am still waiting to hear back about my microeconomics course (the only one I really need). I will know later on this week, hope all goes well. Other than that classes have been classes. Everyone I have is a lecture hall with over 100 students. I'm not really used to this but it's been okay. The business classes are kind of fast but classes are shorter here (50 min) so professors have a lot to fit in a short amount of time.
Tonight is going to be a slow night for me. Last night was a friend's birthday and we were out kind of late. Tonight is another "PARTY!" night but I still haven't gotten used to going out during the week. I wonder if I will get used to it...hopefully not because we still go out on weekends! I want to start planning some weekend trips soon. Flights vary with prices so I guess you have to hit it at the right time and hope for the best!
Classes have been going okay for now. Nothing major has happened and I am still waiting to hear back about my microeconomics course (the only one I really need). I will know later on this week, hope all goes well. Other than that classes have been classes. Everyone I have is a lecture hall with over 100 students. I'm not really used to this but it's been okay. The business classes are kind of fast but classes are shorter here (50 min) so professors have a lot to fit in a short amount of time.
Tonight is going to be a slow night for me. Last night was a friend's birthday and we were out kind of late. Tonight is another "PARTY!" night but I still haven't gotten used to going out during the week. I wonder if I will get used to it...hopefully not because we still go out on weekends! I want to start planning some weekend trips soon. Flights vary with prices so I guess you have to hit it at the right time and hope for the best!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Fresher's First Night
As I have mentioned before, this is Fresher's week where all the freshman move in and the place becomes a zoo. Last night was supposed to be the big party night welcoming everyone to the town. It was a total bust! The weather was awful and the boys were beyond annoying (when you're sober). We started the night out by watching the Inbetweeners season premier and started shots. It was fun and was turning into a good night. Well the boys started making their rounds and decided to hang out in our place. I HATE when drunk people want to hang out where ever I live because I am always so worried about breaking things. After a half hour or so, the party moved into another apartment. Well unfortunately they only wanted the 4 girls to go because it was a GIANT sausage fest in the other apartment.
Walked in and immediately I realized I was not with the program as everyone else was. Drinks were all over the place and people were running around being stupid. It was like being a freshman all over again! Not fun. Well we all stood around for a few hours trying to make plans to go into town, fail. It was down pouring and the boys were being ridiculous. I couldn't tell which ones were 17 and which ones were 22. Everyone wanted our cab and unfortunately we got stuck with the drunkest Irish boy of them all. Fail.
Got into town and everything was chaos. People running around, everyone is wet, we lost all our friends, stupid boy couldn't make up his damn mind, utterly miserable. We decided to try a club but once you get in the line there is no turning back. You are gated in and if you want to leave you have to fight your way back through the line or wait in the rain till you get to the front of the line. We were getting pushed and stepped on and hugged and touched by all these randoms. I was starting to get claustrophobic and decided to bail. Everyone came and we got some food and then decided to call it a night and go home.
OK so Dear Drunk Irish Boys,
I do NOT appreciate being called a loser or a mean person because I want to go home. The night sucked and you fail as fun drunk people. I also appreciate not being stepped on or asked why my face is "twisted and not fun." Clearly my life does not revolve around being shitfaced 24/7 and trying to get with anything that moves. I also do not like drinking during the week, we Americans prefer the weekend when you do not have classes then next day.
Walked in and immediately I realized I was not with the program as everyone else was. Drinks were all over the place and people were running around being stupid. It was like being a freshman all over again! Not fun. Well we all stood around for a few hours trying to make plans to go into town, fail. It was down pouring and the boys were being ridiculous. I couldn't tell which ones were 17 and which ones were 22. Everyone wanted our cab and unfortunately we got stuck with the drunkest Irish boy of them all. Fail.
Got into town and everything was chaos. People running around, everyone is wet, we lost all our friends, stupid boy couldn't make up his damn mind, utterly miserable. We decided to try a club but once you get in the line there is no turning back. You are gated in and if you want to leave you have to fight your way back through the line or wait in the rain till you get to the front of the line. We were getting pushed and stepped on and hugged and touched by all these randoms. I was starting to get claustrophobic and decided to bail. Everyone came and we got some food and then decided to call it a night and go home.
OK so Dear Drunk Irish Boys,
I do NOT appreciate being called a loser or a mean person because I want to go home. The night sucked and you fail as fun drunk people. I also appreciate not being stepped on or asked why my face is "twisted and not fun." Clearly my life does not revolve around being shitfaced 24/7 and trying to get with anything that moves. I also do not like drinking during the week, we Americans prefer the weekend when you do not have classes then next day.
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