Thanksgiving in Ireland

Hello everyone!
I have finally returned to write another post, but this time it is from my fabulous new Irish computer! yup that's right, Irish computer. My previous computer (may it rest in peace) just didn't want to be fixed; the poor thing just couldn't handle being my computer anymore. Due to the fact that I have 6 final essays to write and the library here closes at, like, 9pm and doesn't open on Sundays  I had to purchase a cheap little netbook to pull me through. Just to add a little extra pizzaz, I decided to name it Steve McQueen:

(Please Note: The naming of my computer may or may not be due to the level of stress I have been dealing with due to the lack of a computer and number of assignments I had due. don't judge me, or do... I am still calling it Steve McQueen.)
Anyways, other than the pile of papers that I need to get done, everything is pretty normal here! and its crazy to think I have just a bit more than two weeks left! yikes! I have to admit, I am a bit excited to go home, but I am going to be SO sad to leave! Ireland has certainly become my second home! I am hoping to make a trip back here in the future, perhaps even for spring break, but it has been amazing living in a foreign country for a few months.
I am missing having my family around Cork! They all made the trip over to visit me for thanksgiving. It was so much fun getting to see them and show them where I have been living for the past few months. Plus having an Irish thanksgiving wasn't too bad either, we didn't do anything special but it was nice to spend it with the family. Unfortunately for them, they visited just in time for the poor weather to hit. Their entire trip was cold and wet, but that's what you get for visiting Ireland at the end of November...  I do have to give them credit for sticking it out through the rain! We got to visit a lot of places while they were here (and I made sure to jam as much sightseeing as I could into a week). The week started in cork by seeing the city, the university and of course grabbing a few pints.

From there, we spent a day driving around the ring of Kerry which was beautiful. The views were amazing combinations of mountains and the sea and even the rain wasn't that bad! all the clouds and mist from the rain made everything look that much more beautiful. It would have been nice to visit Kerry while it was sunny, but I enjoyed the misty view just as much.

We then traveled to Galway, driving through the Burren and stopping at a portal tomb and the Cliffs of Moher along the way.

We didn't spend too much time in Galway but it is a small city so there wasn't too much to see anyways. We made sure to stop by "Claddagh Gold", the jewelry shop known for the original claddagh ring design. My Mom, Becca and I all got a traditional/original claddagh ring there!
From Galway, we drove over to Dublin, stopping at Trim Castle along the way. Unfortunately  Trim castle was closed, but we did walk around the walls and got to see a little of the castle.We grabbed a quick lunch in Trim before continuing the journey to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin in the evening and spent some time wandering around the Temple Bar area before we choose a place to eat. The place we chose was fantastic and had so many good beers to choose from. Our waiter was really great as well which always makes the meal that much better. After dinner we were all really tired, so we headed back to our hotel and made it an early night. The next day we got up early and were able to make it to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells before a line was able to form. The Book of Kells is well known because of its really detailed and decorated calligraphy, as well as the high quality of materials that were used to make it. We got to see some of the really decorated pages of the book (called "carpet pages" for those of you who want to know), along with some pages from similar books, like the Book of Durrow and the Book of Armagh. We also got to see the Long room, which is a really cool part of the Trinity College library that's filled with lots of really old books.
                                             
(This is not my picture, pictures were not allowed to be taken but it looked cool. This is from pinterest.)
From Trinity, we headed over to the National Museum, and spent some time looking around and checking out the bog bodies. We then headed over towards the Guinness factory, stopping at Christ Church Cathedral on the way. In the Guinness Factory, we all learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness!

We finished the day by grabbed a delicious dinner of beef and Guinness stew while listening to some live traditional Irish music at one of the restaurants in the factory. The next day, we headed to the airport, where they all got on a plane and I caught my bus back to cork.

BROKEN COMPUTER

Hello!
So my computer broke and I haven't been able to write any posts since. I have been dying without my computer. First world problems. Anyway I just got the chance to post three new posts about my various trips, so be sure to check them out! (three posts not including this little snippit).
Oh and I am using my still-broken-minimum-function computer to write these posts. The operating system on my computer is now an Irish system so my spell check is in British-English. Sorry but you'll just have to deal with it. OK that's all... I think. If you want to see pictures, your best bet is to check my facebook!

Amsterdam and the Homeland (Belgium)

Halloween night, my computer crashed taking my completed 5 page paper with it. this was no ordinary paper however, it was one that was due the next day and worth 50% of my grade for the class. Luckily one of my friends let me borrow her computer and I managed to finish and submit the paper 15min before the cab arrived to take us to the airport! our flight was crazy early, so I never got any sleep that night but was able to sleep on the plane to Amsterdam. From the airport, we caught a train into the city centre, where it was pouring. We were all exhausted so we grabbed a lunch at Bagels and Beans. The food was delicious, plus I got a massive Cappuccino that was magical. From there we planned on going to the Anne Frank house, but the line was way too long. Instead we made our way to the hostel, taking an insane amount of pictures along the way. We checked into the hostel, then headed out to explore the city some more. I needed to use an ATM but there was not a single one around, it was a bit insane actually! We wound up at the Heineken experience which was pretty entertaining. I have to say, I enjoyed it more than the Guinness factory! We got to taste barley and the sweet stuff before the liquid ferments... or at least I think that's what it was, it tasted like tea. There was also an interactive ride, where we stood on this platform and were moved around, misted with water and warmed by a heat lamp as we travelled through the process of making the beer. With out our tickets, we got a free pint and it was kind of amazing how much better Heineken tastes at the factory! We then hopped on a free boat ride back into the city centre. 
for dinner we went to dinner at pizzeria and then to a chocolate shop for dessert. Dessert involved a delicious nutella waffle that disappeared within seconds.
The next day we woke up early to make it to the Anne Frank house before the line got too long, however our plan was unsuccessful  we ended up standing in line outside for an hour, and by the time we made it inside my fingers were completely numb. It was terribly painful, but I bought a pair of gloves which did help quite a bit. The Anne Frank house was really cool too to see, I had read her diary before so it was cool to actually see the annex. It was amazing being there in real life but also a quite a sad place to be.
From there we went back over to our hostel and rented some bikes. It was really cool to see Amsterdam by bike, we were able to visit the "I am Amsterdam  sign and Vondelpark before my bike got a flat tire. I was not happy. Plus I had to walk the bike back to the bike shop which wasn't near by. After getting a new bike, we rode aimlessly for a bit longer before we had to return the bikes.
The next morning was early, we headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Brugge. The bus lady was evil and I couldn't catch a bus to Brugge with my friends. luckily I was not the only one without a ride, one of the other girls was also stuck. I had to navigate alone back to city centre alone in order to meet with her and we caught a train to Brussels instead. The first thing I did after getting off the train was to buy a waffle which was magical. that waffle was the best waffle I have ever had, hands down. We wandered around for awhile and grabbed food at a Greek place. That night, we went to a bar that held the record for the most kinds of beers available (certified by Guinness book of world records of course). I think it had something like 2,008 different kinds of beer.
The next day was also full of wandering around and tourist-ing, before we had to head over to the airport and catch our plane back to cork!

Spain and Lots of Rain...

In late October, three of my friends from Ireland and I took our long weekend and visited Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona. We spent a day in Toledo, two days in Barcelona and Madrid, and a night and a day on the bus travelling between them. We started out trip in Madrid and after checking into the hostel we wandered around Madrid. We found a cheap place with a deal for €1 tapas and ate dinner there. After dinner we found a bar to watch the soccer game (Real Madrid vs somewhere in Germany). Unfortunately Real Madrid lost, but it was still amazing to see a Real Madrid game while in Madrid! We enjoyed some sangria and a free little plate of paella while we watched the game.

 The next day was packed full of tourist-ing. We spent a day exploring Toledo, the former capital of Spain. Toledo was a really pretty town with skinny winding streets. The buildings all looked exactly what I had imagined Spain to look like and the city had so much history! 

After spending some time wandering around Madrid, we took a Night bus to Barcelona. The Bus was about 8 hours long, but felt much longer and was terribly uncomfortable. Luckily we were able to check into our hostel early, and had time for a little nap before heading out to explore the city. Barcelona was very different than Madrid. Madrid was more of a international city, where Barcelona was more of a tourist city. Barcelona was very pretty and I am sure it would be even better when it is warmer! The first night, we went to an ice bar which was freezing. The bar provided us with really warm coats and gloves, but the room with the ice bar was kept around -18C (which is about 0F). the glasses were even made of ice and it was fun to smash them when my drink was gone! there were also some cool ice sculptures we took pictures by whenever we weren't bouncing around and trying to stay warm!

The next day we visited the Sagrada Família, that really crazy looking cathedral  

It was cool, but so crowded! we stopped for just a short while before we headed off to the beach. Me and one of the other girls were determined to swim in the Mediterranean even though it was freezing out. After a hasty change in the smallest and most disgusting public bathroom, we sprinted into the Mediterranean, dunked our heads under water and booked it back to the disease of a bathroom to dry off and change. I was cold, but it was worth it!

We also made a trip to Park Güell which was so pretty. I remember looking at pictures of the mosaic bench in my Spanish book, but I was so much prettier in real life!

The park was so unique all around and was defiantly one my favourite things I visited in Barcelona! we caught a day bus back to Madrid which was painfully long. the one good thing about the bus was getting to see some of the more "countryside" like parts of Spain. 

London Adventures

In October went to London with other students from U of I who are also studying in UK/Ireland. The trip was really fun, we got to do some unique things and I've always wanted to see London! We started by going to the theatre and seeing a play called "yes, prime minister!". The play was really good, it had a lot of subtle things that were pertaining to the British culture, but there was still plenty of funny things for the Americans! The next day we started with a bus tour of some of the more famous places in London. Our tour guide was hilarious and showed us some great things! We saw all the usual places 
(Buckingham palace,

Westminster abbey, The Parliament building,

and tower bridge)

- as well as some fun places like a pub that was covered entirely in flowers and the place where diagon ally was filmed. 

For the second half of the day we had a scavenger hunt that involved running all over London and taking pictures of various famous things. This was a great opportunity to see a bunch of things we may not have visited otherwise like the Rosetta stone, Trafalgar square and Oxford street. 

We finished the scavenger hunt at a restaurant were we learned how to cook our dinner from a French chef. The food was delicious, we made teriyaki chicken with pasta mixed with some veggies and mushrooms.

 The last day was a short day because everyone was leaving at different times. For me, my flight wasn't until the next morning so I went to the tower of London with the rest of the group. We spent the morning wandering around, looking at the armor and jewels. For lunch I went with another girl to a pub for some traditional English pie that was so delicious!

 From there we wandered to old Stanfield's market and made a quick stop at petticoat lane. The old Stanfield's market was really cool. It was an old building that was packed full of tents for vendors to sell their clothes, food or jewellery. 

After wandering around the market, the girls I was with had to catch their train, so we made one final stop at king's cross station to take the stereotypical "platform 9 & 3/4" picture.

 From there I made the trip back to the airport and spent the night in the airport waiting for my 6am flight.

Czech, Round Four

Hello!
Things have been busy here for me with the start of classes and settling into my schedule. Classes are generally going well, however I am not used to being in such small classes (it isn't easy to walk in late unnoticed...) I don't have classes on Friday which is rather strange to me; I like it but I sure cant get used to it!
I recently made a trip to the lovely Czech Republic. It was my first time on a plane since arriving and all went swimmingly! I stayed in Vysoke Myto with some friends and it was really great to see people I haven't seen in over a year! Plus I got some great homemade meals while I was there :) Thanks Alca!

  

       Traditional Czech sweets made by Alca's Grandma               Homemade Apple Strudel

While I was there I also got to participate in the popular Czech activity of mushroom hunting! With over 6000 different kinds of mushrooms in the country, looking for mushrooms in the forest is a popular activity in the Czech. I certainly had fun, and learned the difference between the bad mushrooms and the good ones, as well as how to spot them (many were hiding under the grass or their brown tops blended into the pine-needle-floor of the forest). I even found a few on my own!

Ready to hunt!

Found this guy all by myself!!

I also got to see a dance class for Czech teens. These dance classes are a fun thing for many 16-year-olds in the Czech  and the classes give the students a chance to mingle and meet their boyfriends and girlfriends. they are sort of the Czech equivalent to the american high school dances, where the girls wear nice dresses and the guys wear a suit (they even have to wear gloves!). The dancing is pretty cool too because they learn a lot of classic dances. 

I also got to enjoy my first Czech beer while I was there! In the Czech republic, the beer is actually cheaper than water... I am not kidding. No wonder the Czech people are know for their drinking abilities!

BEER!

I also met a new little friend, Mr. Hedgehog! apparently they are semi-common in Vysoke Myto...

After spending some good time with old friends in Vysoke Myto, I caught a train to Prague to spend the night and leave the next day. It was wonderful seeing Prague  It is one of my favorite cities! I wandered around with a friend a little bit and visited John Lennon's wall (one of my favs) enjoying the views! 

 Charles Bridge at night

                                John Lennon's wall                                  a castle in old town square

The next morning I had a bit of time left to watch the astronomical clock hit the top (I have already seen it change like 5 times) and decided to take a picture from a unique view:

These are all the tourists taking a picture of the clock changing (my unique view)

I grabbed a quick lunch of a delicious sausage wrapped in a fried potato:

I hopped on my plane for the return flight to Dublin followed by a bus ride back to cork! The trip was a great time, and it was fun seeing everyone! I cant wait till all the other adventures that are in store! More to come later about my adventures!

Cheers!

Exploring Western Ireland

Hello everyone! It appears I am slowly but surely getting worse at writing posts! I promise to get better at it, I am just not a writer. Things here have been going well, I have finished up my early start class and as of today have started the normal semester of classes. 

The early start class finished up with one final field trip to Galway and places in the west of Ireland. It was really cool to see that side of the country, it looks so much different from the stereotypical green fields one would expect to find. The land is rather rocky and has few trees, making it stand out from other areas we visited. The Burren as it is called is very windy and reminded me in some ways of home.

The Burren

We also visited the Cliffs of Moher, or if you've seen "The Princess Bride" you probably know them better as the cliffs of insanity. They are also those crazy cliffs pictured on the movie cover of Harry Potter and the half blood prince, in case you were wondering. The view was amazing!! The cliffs are about 400 feet high and the sun was shining so we all got great pictures, except for the crazy windblown hair.

The Cliffs of Moher

We also traveled to the Aran Islands. the islands are rather small, and covered in little fields that are marked with low stone walls. the land is mainly just limestone that was covered with seaweed and straw to transform it into farm-able land.  On the largest of the three islands is an old stone fort, Dún Aonghasa. The fort uses the steep cliffs to one side as a boundary, so it offers some pretty spectacular views:

Dun Aonghasa

Galway city was fun to see as well, being the music capital of Ireland, however it was much smaller than I was expecting with only one main street.

This past saturday I went on a short day trip with a group of friends to Kinsale. this little town is located right by the sea and had lots of ships floating around. It was fun wandering around and taking pictures. We stumbled upon some pretty unique places too: an old fort and a pretty little beach. The weather was a bit chillier than I would have liked but it never really rained on us which I consider a win for Ireland!

Beach in Kinsale

Today is the first day of classes which I am both nervous and excited for. I feel like a freshman again so lost and confused, and I really hate it! I stand out too, being an american so I think I will be the subject of many jokes, oh well. I tried to dress like a European student today to blend in a bit better, but I've decided that I no longer care and will look very american from here out. Its much more comfortable that way! I am excited to get to know more people in my classes, and get the semester underway. That's all for now!

Dublin and Such

Just got back from a weekend in Dublin! It was so much fun! We left on Thursday for a class field trip, and had a busy day rushing around to see everything. We started in Dublin at the national museum. There were lots of artifacts there and it was cool to see many of the things we had learned about in class. There was also an exhibit on the bog bodies, which were mummified remains found in bogs throughout Ireland. They were a bit creepy but really interesting because they were so old and very well preserved. From the museum, we walked to a quick lunch in a random gaudy restaurant and then walked through viking Dublin, which was just the main areas of Dublin back when the vikings first settled there. We then headed over to Christ church cathedral and spent some time looking around. The church was actually used to film parts of "The Tudors" which I was particularly excited about since I had watched the whole series over the summer. They even had some of the costumes worn by the actors in the basement. Outside the church, we had a quick chance to munch on some delicious candy and sit in the grass to enjoy a rare sunny day as we waited for everyone to finish looking around. From there we went back to the bus and checked in to the hostel which was located in the widely popular temple bar area and to my excitement, right next door to one of the two Urban Outfitters stores that exist in Ireland. We had a decent amount of free time that was spent wandering around temple bar before heading to dinner where we were served ridiculously large proportions. I ordered "BBQ chicken" and ended up receiving a whole chicken, while a friend of mine got a whole pizza. luckily the school was paying! Dinner came with dessert and I ordered the best cheesecake I have ever had in my life. We headed back to the hostel and got ready in our cramped room to go out. We ended up "hosting" everyone gathering to go out in our hostel room because it was the largest area we could go. Somehow we managed to cram a good 20 people into the space. Needless to say the trash can was filled with empty drink bottles from everyone's escapades the next morning. The next day we started at 7am, which was terrible for the people who had stayed out long enough for a hangover. We took the bus for about an hour and stopped at Newgrange, a neolithic (really old) passage tomb. It was really cool to see the tomb, it was so old, yet really well preserved. It was crazy to learn that the ceiling of the tomb had not let in a drop of water since it had been built 5000yrs ago (which is insane especially for Ireland!). We then headed to Trim Castle, a 12th century medieval castle used to film scenes of Braveheart. It was still in decently good condition, and was a fun area to explore. Our tour guide was great and even confessed to playing in the castle when he was a boy, before it became a protected area. After that, the rest of the class left for Cork, but four of us stayed to catch a quick bus back to Dublin. When we got to Dublin we found our hotel and grabbed some dinner. We went to an Irish pub for our food, and I got a bowl of split pea soup which was really delicious. The next day we spent wandering about the Guinness factory, before I headed back to catch a bus to Cork because I had managed to get sick, yay. I spent all of Sunday sleeping which was nice and hopefully I will get better quickly so I can have more adventures to post about!
Sorry for the long post... Cheers!

The First Week-ish

It has been a busy week since my last post. My early start class is well underway and rather enjoyable! I am learning a lot about Irish history and it is cool to know so much about the sites I’ve visited so far. We already went on our first field trip, a day trip to the west of county cork. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30 from campus and true to my usual form, I woke up at 9:21 and had to sprint the 15min walk to catch the bus. I made it just before the professor, but never got a chance to grab my morning cup of coffee. We visited four different sites, the first of which was a ring fort.

 There wasn’t much left of the ring fort, it was mainly an empty circular field with some ditches around it, but seeing as ring forts are the most common type of site in Ireland, it was pretty cool. The only thing to really look at though was the ditches. Next we went to a tower house from 1585, and because we were with our professor, we were able to see the tower house from the inside. The third site we visited was a semi-fortified house from 1616 called Coppinger’s court. The building was rather rundown and overgrown to the point where it was past saving but looked spectacular. The building wasn't very safe so we weren't able to explore it as much as others, but we did get to go into a few areas. The last site we saw was Drombeg stone circle. The site looked almost like a mini Stonehenge and was really cool. Plus the site was carbon dated to around 1000 B.C.  which is really, really old.

This coming week, we are taking one of our overnight trips to explore parts of Dublin and Meath. We are going to visit several famous sites and I cannot be more excited!

Yesterday, my roommates and I went to Blarney. The trip was so much fun and quite beautiful! Blarney castle was huge and had a great view from the top! And I kissed the blarney stone, so now I am supposed to have the gift of eloquent speech… we will see about that one.

That’s all for now! Cheers!

Orientation

Yesterday was our first official event, orientation. I had been looking forward to getting things started and meeting some new people who I would be in class with. I met a bunch of people from all different early start programs, and from all across the US. The orientation was stuffed full of info, like how things were going to work at the school, to what each early start program would cover. We also learned a bunch of things we could get involved in, like different clubs and societies. For the most part, I am super excited to get started with class, which sounds super nerdy, but the orientation got me pumped to learn about "Irish archaeology". Plus, all the early start professors seemed really laid back and fun.
Later that night and after the orientation, some of the student activities people had set up a little get-together at a local pub for all of us early start students. The pub was really fun, it was a laid back way to meet more people in the program, plus there was free pizza! It was a good chance to sit with some of the people I had met earlier and get to know each other better, plus we met even more people, some of which were in my own early start program. The walk back to our flat gave me and two of my roommates a chance to practice our Irish accents, and I am terrible at it. Oh well.
This morning, I finally went to get groceries. There is a Tesco just two blocks away from where I am living so it was a quick walk there and back. I found a bunch of things I needed and it didn't cost too much either! Now I just need to get a phone...
Cheers!

The Journey Begins

What a long day of travel! I was terrified of traveling on my own, in particular being a girl but I have survived so far! After a quick lunch with my parents and a nearly teary good-bye (none were shed on my part!) I hopped on a flight from Chicago to Newark. The flight was delayed, then we sat on the Tarmac for a while longer before finally taking off. Upon landing the woman sitting directly behind me promptly emptied her stomach in a loud manner which was not enjoyable, I think there were a lot of people glancing my direction to see if I would loose it too but little did they know I have a stomach that can handle that stuff. We taxied around the runway for a good half hour or more before a gate opened and we were allowed off the plane. I made my connecting flight successfully after buying a magazine for entertainment and did not sleep a wink on the flight, no matter how hard I tried. At least I got to see some good movies! I made a new friend on the flight; the girl sitting next to me was a recent college grad and native of Dublin and we exchanged info before parting ways. I made it through customs and on my bus without any troubles other than the realization of what I was doing actually setting in. I got to the train station just as the train to cork was leaving, and had to wait another hour for the next train. The train was a bit late due to technical problems but because of its lateness I made more new friends. I met an older man who was on his way to pick up his grand kids to spend the day in Dublin. I also met an American woman who was on a trip to UCC through Notre Dame, and we ended up sharing a taxi from the train station to UCC. There were a few bouts of rain here and there in true Irish fashion but I managed to stay dry. I got to my room and checked in, and met my first of three roommates, Chiaping who is also an international student for the semester from Maine. Because I had nothing to sleep on/shower with, we set out together to do some quick shopping. I was able to buy bedding and bathroom things for really cheap which was rather nice and I grabbed some fruit loops to help hold me out till I can get some real grocery shopping done. By the time I got back to my apartment, it was about 3pm (cork time, 9am US time). I quickly made my bed and passed out for three hours. I am a little more awake now but I am excited to go to bed at the proper Ireland time tonight! I have a bunch of things to do still so more about cork and my room later!
Cheers!

Last week is shark week!

It's officially only one week to departure. Nerves are really setting in and I have finally started laying out the things I need to pack. My mom reminded me that I needed to call the credit card companies before I left and I found it rather funny that I hadn't thought to call them! I have always remembered to take care of it on past trips, but I guess I have been so much busier planning for this trip!
There is still a bunch of things I need to print and scan, but things are slowly coming together. I am still procrastinating, however the awesomeness of shark week has replaced the Olympics. I freaking love shark week and I am glad I get to see it before I go, talk about good timing! Not much else for now, I promise it will be more exciting in a week!

The Preparation

Hooray for the first post!
There has been lots to do to get ready for Ireland, and as usual, I have been busy procrastinating. The Olympics have defiantly been a big help with distractions. I think I have nearly watched every event broadcasting so far... I can't decide if that is an accomplishment or just sad... I think both.
There are only 15 days till I leave. 15 DAYS! I am unbelievably excited but also nervous. I have already had a few nightmares that involve forgetting important paperwork and being kicked out of Ireland (not fun). I haven't started packing yet, which is a daunting task. My goal is to fit everything into one big bag along with a backpack which is most likely ridiculous but it would be ideal.
The Olympics are calling to me, so that's all for now.