Londontown!

So I made it my goal to make sure that I posted about one country before going to another one, and seeing as I'm leaving to head to Scotland in about an hour, it's probably time that I post about my adventures in England, even though it could be argued that England and Scotland are kind of part of the same country...I digress. 

So Sam and I went to england the weekend of the 27th of March and stayed with her friend Camilla in her flat near the university that she is studying abroad at. We arrived at London Stansted Airport (the same airport Obama flew out of a few days later after the G20 summit) on Friday afternoon after my first flying experience on RyanAir. RyanAir is a budget airlines that flies around Europe, and it truly is a budget airlines. You pay for everything, including having to check in at the airport if you're not an EU citizen. Regardless, it still works out to be really cheap. The flight to England was a little over an hour, so it was a quick trip. We took a bus into the city center and met Camilla there.

We got settled back at her flat (which was absolutely beautiful) and then she took us out exploring a little. We went to the West End (theater district) and Trafalgar Square before getting dinner and going out for some wine. The strange part about being in London is the lack of British people. Everyone working in all of the stores and restaurants is an immigrant, which was very surprising. By the time I left London I couldn't remember having spoken to someone with a true British accent.

The next day Sam and I went out exploring on our own. We used the Tube a lot while we were there (subway system) which is wonderfully efficient. It was so nice coming from Ireland, which lacks good public transportation. The only problem was that there seemed to be a lot of construction so some of the subway lines we wanted to take were closed and we had to reroute some of our journeys. It just helped us get used to the tube quicker. Our first stop was parliament, because my only goal in London was to see Big Ben. We took a bunch of photos over there, of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We then headed down toward Buckingham Palace. On our way we passed through this beautiful park, I believe it was called Victoria Park, but don't quote me on it. There were flowers and cherry blossom trees everywhere and it was just beautiful. 

We then saw Buckingham Palace, which was absolutely beautiful. Lots of gold adorning the gates around it. One strange sight was the flags nearby the Palace, which alternated between British flags and what appeared to be Mexican flags? We couldn't figure that one out. We then walked through Green Park and then up to Hyde Park. There were lots of daffodils in bloom everywhere we went. It was lovely. In the afternoon we did some shopping near Oxford Circus. We went to the famous toy store in London, Hanley's and to TopShop and Burberry. It was a lovely afternoon, until it started hailing, but we survived.

On Sunday we went to the Camden Markets, which were soo cool. I think there is only one part that is specifically the Camden Market, but basically all of the Camden area closes down on the weekends and turns into a huge outdoor market. There were all kinds of vendors, from food, to clothing, to jewelry. It probably went on for a mile on both sides of the street. I purchased a poster of Trafalgar Square and the guys threw in some other London photos for free. We also purchased lunch there from some of the various cuisines they had to offer. If I ever go back to London, which I hope I do, these markets are definitely on my list.

Overall London was a great time. It's such a vibrant city in spite of its dreary weather. There's so much to do and see, and the public transportation makes it so easy to get everywhere quickly and efficiently. Two thumbs up for London! Off to Scotland for a few days! More when I get back!

Where to begin...

So it's definitely been way too long since I've written a real post. Things got very busy towards the end of the semester (which officially ended on friday). With a series of projects looming over my head it was hard to focus on much else...but I'm not complaining, it's still a lot less work than I would have had to deal with at Tufts. Next up is some traveling in the upcoming weeks followed by my finals...all six of them. Also, unlike at Tufts my finals are all worth more than half of my grade, with 4/6 being worth 70-100%. Scary stuff!

So, as evidenced by my last post of pictures, Pat came to visit for his spring break. It was good craic, as the locals would say. We managed to fit a whole lot into a week, and squeeze in some time to celebrate St. Patrick's day Irish style!

One of his first days here we went to the Cliffs of Moher (my second trip there) and the Burren using a tour service that I had used before. While the weather was supposed to cooperate, in true Irish fashion it did not. I always joke with my parents that I never know what the weather is going to be because even the weather service isn't quite sure. Usually on the news they just shop Ireland with a lot of misty cloudy-ness over it, which means very little. My computer is usually pretty uncertain too: 

(This is an example of a weather icon that can't make up its mind)

Anyway, the weather started out really nice but by the time we got to the Cliffs it was nearly raining. A really cool thing that we experienced while there was sea foam being blown up from the treacherous waters below. At first we thought it was seagulls flying through the air but once we caught some we realized it was just foam being blown up from about 700 ft. below. Pretty incredible!

After a couple of days of raininess we were blessed with about 5 days in a row of the most beautiful weather I have seen while in Ireland. This translated into the most perfect weather for St. Patrick's day. Galway is one of those cities that just absolutely comes alive at the first sign of sun. Even on a normal day all of the locals make their way into the city center to shop and eat and appreciate the scenery, but for St. Patrick's day the crowds were even larger. The pubs were open pretty much all day and all night long, with a lot of them having special traditional music performances for the holiday. Pubs are actually much more peaceful during the day because there's no struggle to find a seat or a table. Some of them even have outdoors seating when it's nice out. One of the pubs we went to pre-parade was one that I had never been to before and don't remember the name of (it's in Irish...I have trouble remembering what I can't pronounce). It's a really cute locals spot and it's cozy because they have little booths that you can go into to get a little privacy. I'll try and include a pic of this here:

After a pint or two we headed to the parade, which was very different from what I expected. I had been told that there would be a lot of local children and sports teams marching, which there were, but for some reason the Galway parade seemed to be a kind of celebration of multiethnicity? Strange in a town that is far from diverse. There was an Asian group marching, a group from Africa, and a group that held Obama masks over their face. Oh and of course the Jersey City police department! Wouldn't be an Irish parade without some Garden Staters. We actually saw them later on that night, at about 1 or 2 in the morning and it seemed that some Irish ladies had taken a liking to them, so I'm sure they enjoyed their Irish stay.

Other than the parade and some drinking, Galwegians pretty much spent all of St. Patrick's day sitting by the bay and just enjoying the amazing weather. At night town got a little crazy, we heard some locals complaining about it the next day. They should probably work on their open container laws.... Thankfully the nice weatehr lasted for the next few days. Pat and I had the opportunity to explore Galway a little bit. We headed to the Galway Cathedral, which is even bigger than I expected, and bought a frisbee to throw around one day by the bay. It seems mother nature wanted to hold out for his stay.

We then made our way to Dublin for a few days. I had received extra tickets to the Guiness factory on my first visit there so we returned and got to take advantage of getting in for free. We also saw St. Pat's Cathedral, Christ Church, St. Steven's Green, Trinity College and Grafton Street. We made a visit to Nude, for my second time, and got to sample some of their amaaaazing bangers and mash and their beef and Guinness stew. We also went to the National Gallery and the National Library, which was actually closed by the time we got there. Overall we made really good use out of time in Dublin.

Also while we were there the finals of the Six Nations Rugby competition were on. The six nations are: Ireland, France, England, Wales, Scotland, and Italy. This is the biggest deal in the world of rugby and Ireland hadn't won in many decades, that is up until this year! The final game was Ireland versus Wales and the whole time we were watching it on TV the commentators were talking about how Ireland wasn't the better team, so it would take a lot of heart to win it. The game came down to less than a minute, but by some miracle the field goal guy (that's the technical term) from Wales missed the goal posts by just a bit and it became an Irish victory. (My Irish roommates make fun of me for calling it  a field goal, it's actually a penalty kick I think). It was a great victory for Ireland and ended in a great moment where the captain from the Irish team traded jerseys with the captain from Wales. Touching, really.

After that it was time for Pat to head home. But as one Pat left, another arrived. I waited in the Dublin Airport for about an hour after saying goodbye to Pat to great my Aunt Pat and cousins Kelly and Karen. They were arriving on holiday and I got to meet up with them for a little while before they departed on their tour. I also got to meet up with them later in the week at their Galway  hotel which was right across the street from my accommodation. Aunt Pat bought us a round of drinks before dinner and we all got to chat and catch up. I also got to meet their tour guide, who was quite the character. They seemed to have a really good experience in Ireland and it sounds as though they're already planning their next European experience!

It was so nice to see so many people from home over that two-week period. The good news is only 5 weeks until I get to see everyone else!

Next post: My trip to London last weekend.

Pictures!

Pat and I at the Cliffs Of Moher

Pat and I at the Gravity Bar at Guiness

Sam and I on St. Patrick's day...matching.

While I would hate to leave my last post as something so depressing as the return of the IRA, I'm pressed for time in the lest two weeks of the semester so I can't manage to write a whole entry right now. For now I figured I'd post a few pictures.

I'm also going to go back and add pics to other entries now.

Northern Ireland Weekend- aka the return of the IRA

So once again I have a cancelled class, which seems to always be the ideal time to catch up on my blogging. Before I get into the specifics of my weekend, I have a complaint:

The members of the band U2 are from Dublin. I am in Ireland right now, however they have found this to be the apropriate time to do a super duper secret surprise performance right outside the Tufts University campus in Davis Square. They obviously did not consult with me first. More here.

This past weekend I was on a trip to Northern Ireland sponsored by my study abroad program, IFSA Butler. We left early thursday morning and drove the 5 1/2 hours up to Belfast. On our way up there bright red sheets were handed out to us advising us that Belfast is not necessarily the safest city to be in. Belfast was the site of much of the political (and consequently religious) conflict that took place in Ireland in the past few decades. While the country is now considered to be at peace, there still remain some areas which are unsafe.

The sheet we were given actually said 'Some areas of Belfast are unsafe, and some areas which are considered to be safe during the day are not at night'. Frankly this was a cause for some confusion on my part, I'd rather just be given a listing of 'where to go and where not to go', but apparently my program thought this would be more helpful. I think it is this historical concern about safety in Belfast that is kind of defining for the city. Some of the shops still require you to ring a bell before the door is unlocked to let you in, and the city is pretty much dead anytime after about 8PM. It's a little erie because there's no sign of anything unsafe going on in the city center, for the most part it's incredibly quiet, but I think perhaps people still have it in their minds that they have to be careful, and so they are.

Thursday afternoon was spent starting to explore the city, followed by dinner in our hotel. The chocolate cake for dessert was to die for. Friday morning we were up by 7:30 to have breakfast, get our stuff together, and load onto the busses for our tour for the day. Our first stop was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in County Antrim (note the name of that county, I'll mention it again later). The rope bridge itself wasn't anything too exciting, I would say (just terrifyingly high), but the surrounding landscape is absolutely beautiful. Next we headed to a castle that I don't remember the name of, but I do remember that it is situated on a cliff and at one point while it was inhabited the entire kitchen fell off the cliff and into the sea.

Later on during the tour we went to the Giant's Causeway, a rock formation on the coast that literally looks like it could be made up of steps for a giant. Yin and I were able to get in a picture at the top of one of the tallest formations, I'll try to post it later. It was already drizzling while we were there but the waves were crashing so intensely that you got splashed fairly regularly. Needless to say we left there completely soaked.


On Saturday we got some shopping in. Belfast has come to be known for its awesome shopping and more and more people from the Republic are heading up there to shop due to ever improving exchange rates between the GBP and the EUR. After shopping (including a trip to the Avoca location in Belfast), we went on a black cab tour, which takes you to the areas most affected by the troubles (the conflict between catholic republicans and protestants who were loyal to the crown). There are still areas today that are completely catholic or completely protrestant. They are marked by various full wall murals which are entirely hand painted. The areas are fairly peaceful nowadays, but some of the houses near the peace walls (separating the protestant communities and the catholic communities) have to have cages around their backyards to protect them from items which may be thrown over the wall.

At the end of the black cab tour, our guide told us a little bit about his experiences growing up during the troubles. As one of five catholic brothers the British always suspecting him of being part of the republican activities. While he wasn't actually involved, sometimes they would pull him in to be interrogated for a day or two at a time. He said it never bothered him because they always fed him well.
Belfast City Hall with their ferris wheel.

Late saturday night while in the hotel we saw a report on the news of a shooting in County Antrim (near where we were on friday). The soldiers killed were the first to be killed in Northern Ireland in 12 years. On monday another man was killed. Saturday night on the news they were saying that this was a 'turning point in Northern Ireland's history', so it was strange to think that we were all there for that. There's a lot of concern that this may open up old conflict that was believed to have been left in the past. A lot of news outlets have been making it seem like the troubles in NI have been over since 1998, but a lot of the things we learned about on the black cab tour were happening up to 4 or 5 years ago. It's possible that things aren't as peaceful as they had once seemed.

Me by the rope bridge with a rainbow!

Pat gets here for spring break on friday! Much excitement in the air!

Weekend of 2/20-2/22

Last weekend we headed over to the east coast for a 3-day tour. The tour was hosted by the Galway Tour Company. They wanted to run a tour that was specifically for visiting students to get to see other parts of the country. It was nice because everything was arranged for us, all we had to do was wait outside our accommodations at 11AM friday morning and we were set for the weekend.

We wound up leaving a little later than expected on friday and that, in conjunction with some traffic (traffic in Ireland, it was a shocker), brought us to our destination a little later than planned. We got to county Wicklow around 5 and set off on a hike in the Wicklow Mountains. The Wicklow mountains are quite small as mountains go, but by Irish standards they're fairly substantial. They even had quite a bit of snow on them last weekend.

The hike, as I mentioned, was a little later than the tour guides had planned, especially considering the sun sets around 6 these days (our days are starting to end a bit later than they do in New York but the sun still rises significantly later). We set off during a beautiful sunset, which was quite the sight to see against the mountains and valleys. Our group had about 24 people in it so it was impossible to stay all together for the whole hike. At some points I actually got concerned that we wouldn't all make it back to the bus at similar times, but it did eventually work out. The tour guide, Declan, had sent out an email with our itinerary the day before, stating that we should all bring torches if we had them. Unfortunately, while we did eventually figure out that torches were flashlights, we're all visiting students, so none of us have flashlights with us!

It got darker and darker as we went along, but for the most part it seemed like an easy hike with well cleared trails. Along the way I got to stop and pick up some snow, which was the first I had really touched since December (I am aware that the NE is getting a Nor'easter as I write this...sorry!). We got to a certain point where we had to turn off the main trail and on to a less clear path, and Declan told us that it would be about five minutes "of complete pain". I consider myself to be outdoorsy to a certain extent, and in decent shape, so I wasn't terribly concerned. Some of the other people on the tour were not as...wilderness-friendly, we'll say.

The path was muddy and steep, and the sky was dark. The only thing helping us up to the top was the light of our cell phones. At that moment I was very grateful for modern technology.  When we got to a certain point along the path it turned into what they referred to as "railway steps" or something of that nature. These were wooden steps, about a foot wide, with nails on them to give your feet better grip. The steps were raised above the terrain and for most parts there wasn't anything to hold on to. People started to get very frustrated-- which wasn't helped by the fact that we had a few complainers on the tour-- and by the time we we got to the top tensions were a little high. On a clear day you can see across the Irish Sea to Wales, but by the time we got to the top it was pitch black so there was no view in sight. 

I think at this point our tour guide felt a little bad for us, so he passed out shots of whiskey to the group to liven our spirits a bit. Little did we know that the trip back down the mountain was almost entirely made up of those railway steps. We made our way down in small groups, with those of us with cell phone light saying "step" each time there was a step down. Overall it wasn't that bad of a hike at all, but it served as a lesson that darkness can really change things. Plus side: it was so dark that I couldn't really see the several hundred foot drop that was next to me part of the way down :)

We spent that night in a hostel and woke up the next morning to head into Dublin for the day. We got into the city centre just before lunch time and Sam and I headed to a restaurant called Nude for some much needed nourishment. They're known for their hearty stews, but it was a tad to early for me to partake, so I went with the old standard, a bagel and a cup of tea. As Sam and I sat there I looked out the window until suddenly jumping up in shock. Rob Polizzo, my crew coach from high school and good friend had just walked passed the café. Now, admittedly I knew that Rob was supposed to be in Dublin for the weekend, but at the time that he told me I didn't plan on being in Dublin for the weekend, so I had simply wished him a good weekend. I ran out the door and caught up with him and got to chat with him and his girlfriend for a few minutes before they went on their way. For the record, Dublin may be a small city but not small enough that you would expect to bump into anyone you know. Also, last time I was in Dublin I wound up bumping into a bunch of Tufts kids. It seems Dublin is a serendipitous city for me!

After Nude, Sam and I went across the street to what looked like a cute shop, named Avoca. What a find! This store was started in County Wicklow as a producer of wool blankets and scarves and morphed into a well-known Irish chain. The Dublin store is complete with women's, men's and children's fashions, housewares, a café, specialty foods shoppe, and a restaurant. It's one of the cutest stores I've ever seen, and I can't wait to go back. Erin: go there immediately! Hayley: the only one in the US is in Annapolis. When I come to visit we're making a detour over there! Their mixed berry scones are heavenly, and inspired me to buy one of their cookbooks (titled "Tea Time"). I'm anxious to try out some of the recipes! (The stores website has an interactive tour of the stores, for those with good internet connections.)

That afternoon we were scheduled for a Guinness tour. We knew in advance that there was a strike of the public sector workers going on, what we didn't know was that there was a demonstration going on that day. And that the demonstration happened to be right around the time that we were supposed to be headed to the Guinness Factory. And that the demonstration was going to be made up of 100,000 irish people. Needless to say, we had a bit of trouble getting back to the bus and getting to the Guinness Factory, but we did ultimately get there...about a half hour after our scheduled time. The Guinness people were very understanding and took us in anyway. The tour was very informative and at the end we got two tickets for pints of Guinness. All I can say is I tried it, but I'm still not sold. I'll take a Bulmers over a Guinness any day.

That night we stayed in a really nice lodge in County Meath and then awoke the next morning to go see the Newgrange tomb, a UN protected site. It's an ancient tomb that's older than the pyramids in Egypt. It has a small light box (an opening in the stone) that lights up the whole interior of the tomb at sunrise on the winter solstice. For the other 364 days of the year the tomb is black other than some flashlights that the tour guides bring in. It's not the prettiest or most majestic historical sight I've ever seen, but the history behind it is pretty cool.

After that we went to the Hill of Tara, which was the ancient site of the Irish government, basically. The hills themselves aren't that pretty, but from the site you can see 20 counties of Ireland, nearly the whole country. It was quite the view.

After the Hill of Tara we headed home to Galway. Didn't really do much of anything exciting this weekend, but on Thursday we're headed to Northern Ireland for a long weekend! I'm going to try to add as many pictures to this as I can, but I can't guarantee that they'll work. The internet here is pretty slow.

25 things you wanted to know about Ireland

I may very well make this a 2-post day, but I figured I'd start with some fun facts about Irish life:

1) Teachers are way more lenient about cancelling class here than they are in the states. If they get to the classroom and not enough people are in it they'll just send you home. I was supposed to have 3 hours of classes today but wound up with just one.
2) People here pronounce the letter H as "hache".
3) While we're on the topic, good humor is called HB here. Or Hache Bee as they say. Noone can tell me what that stands for.
4) Lays potato chips are called Walkers
5) The main brand of potato chips here is called Tayto. As a result, Tayto has pulled a Kleenex. Everyone calls any brand of potato chips Tayto.
6) All vacuums are called hoovers, even if they're not made by hoover. Hoover is also a verb.
7) All outlets have on and off switches. To make an appliance work you have to plug it in, flip the wall switch, and then turn on the appliance.
8) Electric kettles are the greatest invention ever. Especially because...
9) Ireland consumes the most tea per capita of any country in the world. I'm down to 2 cups a day, but I had been doing 3 or 4.
10) Sandwich bread is bigger here. It's just all together taller. As a result:
11) Sandwich bags are larger. This is nice. But,
12) Toasters are not taller. the top of your bread will usually be untoasted.
13) General sandwich bread come in two varieties: white or brown. Brown is whole wheat.
14) I still have no idea how the showers work. You pull a string at some point to make the boiler heat the water. Our is always pulled. The shower will not start without it. However, only so much hot water is heated a day, so if you're not on of the first 3 (this is an estimation) people to shower that day your shower will be cold. This is all theory. Sam and I still don't have it figured out.
15) Traffic circles are everywhere. And they're named. Much like the squares in Boston.
16) Traffic circles are dangerous. Especially on bikes.
17) As much as I thought pale-ness would be embraced in Ireland, it's not.
18) All young women use fake tanner. They go overboard. They are orange.
19) Soccer is called soccer.
20) Football is Gaelic Football. Not quite sure how this one works yet...
21) All Irish people associate California with The Hills (a show on MTV)
22) They love American comedies, especially ones we don't like, like 2 and a half men.
23) They sing when drunk
24) They are aware that everyone thinks Irish people are alcoholics, and they do nothing to squash this "rumor".
25) Cider is alcoholic. The cider of choice is Bulmers. It's like beer except that it tastes good. It's on tap at every bar in Ireland and it's produced in England. It can also be found in pint bottles, so that it can be poured over ice in a glass. This is very refreshing.


More fun facts to come some day soon! Oh, one more:

26) The beer is not warm. No matter what anyone tells you, it's all about forty some-odd degrees. Even Guinness.

Killarney National Park

Just wanted to upload a panoramic I made of the national park. It's four or five regular photos put together.