When in Rome!

Italy is incredible. I could have spent twenty-six days backpacking through the country. There is still so much to see, I am already planning for my next trip :)

I started in Rome. Flew from Santorini back to Athens, then caught a flight to Rome from there. We were nervous at the Athens airport, as we heard nothing good about Alitalia Airlines. But all went well and the flight was uneventful, and we all landed safe in sound with our backpacks.

Our friend Rich from Quinnipiac was spending a semester in Rome. So after a night in a (pretty sketchy but cheap) hostel we met up with him. He was an amazing host, giving us tons of great tips on food, sights, and of course four spots to sleep in his apartment! He has a really nice large apartment and we met his seven (!) other roommates. At one point we were so loud in his apartment the Italian man upstairs started screaming "basta" out of his window. We got the hint and ironically went out to an Irish pub for the night.

Rome was beautiful. It was fantastic weather, in the 70's and sunny every day. Rome is a gigantic city and you can't walk anywhere without bumping into some sort of ancient ruins. Rich tells us that they have such terrible public transportation in Rome, and every time they try to build the subway they have to stop because they find more ruins!

I became a master of the map and knew Rome like the back of my hand by the time I left. The Trevi Fountain was one of my favorites. It is a beautiful fountain full of sculptures. It is said that you should throw two coins into the fountain; the first to ensure a return to Rome and a second for a wish. We headed to the Spanish Steps next, which you could barely see because they were covered in tourists. The Colosseum is another incredible sight. We were just walking down the street when bamn! there it is right on the side of the road. It is a massive amphitheater and when standing in it you feel as if you are right there with gladiators. Behind the Colosseum in the Roman Forum and Palatine hill which is an ancient Roman civilization. There a ruins everywhere. The four of us health science students went to the Crypt of the Capuchins next. It is a series of small chapels beneath a church. It is the resting ground of 4,000 friars who died in between the years 1528 to 1870. Their bones have been arranged in patterns, piles and sculptures along the walls, ceilings and floors. We were of course fascinated and after two semesters of Anatomy we couldn’t walk through without names of bones and millions of surface markings running through our heads.

Of course I was in Italy, so I ate lots of Italian food, my favorite. We went to quite a few great cheap restaurants thanks to tips from Rich's roommates. Lots of pasta, pizza and panini’s. Then of course gelato. Rich showed us a place that apparently has the best gelato in Rome called Gialettia. They had an endless amount of flavors. So many choices we would stand at the counter forever debating.

Wednesday in Rome we took the day and headed to the Vatican, the smallest country in the world. It was the perfect day to go we found out, as on Wednesdays the Pope gives a weekly address. We got there just in time to hear the end (in Latin of course). We went to the Vatican museum and beat the huge crowd from the address and got right in with no waiting. The museum is ENDLESS. We wondered for a good two hours following every "Sistine Chapel" sign as we looked at the art. It took us another hour or so as we speed walked through it just to get to the Sistine Chapel, but it was worth it. The chapel was packed and even with the "No camera" spiel on the speakers in five different languages flashes went off left and right. The ceiling was stunning. Seeing all the paintings in person after years of hearing and seeing them in textbooks was unbelievable. I was surprised at how the chapel was in the shape of a rectangle. In my mind I had always pictured it more circular. After, we wondered into St. Peters Basilica and up the 520 steps to the Coppola. It got a bit claustrophobic as the walls started turning in when you got up to the dome. The top was packed with people. There was an amazing view of the city below but I tried to get down as quick as possible to breath when I found there was another longer line to get down! Downstairs the church has the biggest interior of any Christian church in the world. I loved the beautiful stained glass windows. La Pieta, Michelangelo’s sculpture of Mary holding Jesus was in the church. It was behind glass, because apparently a few years back a crazy guy went after it with a bat (I love hearing all the fun facts from tour guides as you pass by). La Pieta is the only sculpture that Michelangelo signed and is most famous for that. I spent my day in Vatican city with three girls who have been to Catholic school most of their education. So I learned much more than I bargained for, and got all of my endless questions answered.

Rome was beautiful. Great weather, friends and food. I loved all the sights and the culture. I consider it one of my favorite cities and would fly back in a heart beat.

Greece!

Athens was the first stop. It took a whole day of travelling to make it there; first flew to London with a six hour layover, then 1497 miles onto Greece with Aegean Airlines (probably the best airline ever). The hostel was great. Right in the middle of the city and had an amazing view from the terrace on the roof of Acropolis at night. Our lovely European student cards got us in for free to Acropolis, which is an amazing site. Once you make it up there it is breathtaking. It is built on this huge hill which can be seen from all over Athens rising above the city. One night we even watched the sunset from up near Acropolis. The view was amazing and the city of Athens is looked endless. Went to the Olympic Stadium and the Temple of Zeus too. I was a bit disappointed not to see Zeus sitting in his chair, Disney movies raised my expectations a bit too much. Who knew that Zeus was long gone! I think I tried all the famous Greek food. I lived on gyros all week. They were really cheap and delicious. It is a choice of meat, tomatoes, onion and tzatziki sauces wrapped in pita bread. Of course I had spinach pie, lots of Greek salads, tried Moussaka and all sorts of Greek deserts like baklava, kadafi, profiteroll and ravani.

In front of the Temple of Zeus.

Acropolis

We took a five hour ferry to Ios, one of the Greek islands. It is known for the younger crowd and backpackers but the season hadn’t quite started and the island was pretty empty. Everyone seemed to be painting and opening up for the season. We stayed at Far Our Beach Club which was right across the street from the beach. When they picked us up at the port they told us we would never want to leave. The owner kept trying to talk us into an upgrade. Telling us our rooms would be pretty cold at night this time of year, and the upgrade for 5 more Euros not only has a TV but also an air conditioner. He was making a lot of sense. Haha. We stuck it out for our ten euro a night “double room with a shared bath.” They walked us over to our rooms and showed us to two bungalows. They were white washed circular rooms with straw roofs. The inside had two beds, a table and chairs. I loved it. My friends were a bit unsure. The whole Beach club is more of a camp ground. We were one of the few guests and everything was still being prepped for the season. Therefore the bathrooms hadn’t been cleaned since probably last November. We headed straight to the beach and spent the whole day swimming and enjoying the sun. We had the whole beach to ourselves. That night we went into town which is about two miles away. There is a shortcut from the beach which involves walking up this huge hill to the top. It was quite the adventure walking to the only bar Flames. But we had a great time once we got there. The next day our noon ferry was cancelled. So we spent another day on the beach before taking the ferry to Santorini around five.

The beach in Ios

Bungalows!

Santorini was beautiful. We stayed at an amazing hostel, a great deal and with our own room including a bathroom and kitchen! It was right across from the black sand beach, Perissa beach. In the morning we hiked up a “hill” to see Ancient Thira. It was full of ruins of the ancient city and had an amazing view of the beach and island below. Later we went into Fira, the main city. It is full of shops and restaurants with an amazing view of the caldera. We took a cable car down to the port, and turned right back around taking the donkeys back up. It was about 1588 steps and a blast; one of my favorite adventures of the trip. That night we missed the bus back to Perissa beach but it worked out perfectly as we met up with some Ireland/Qu friends and caught up on our travels. The next day was Easter and Kristina’s birthday. We celebrated by going out to the volcano then swimming in the hot springs. Not so hot this time of year as it was only 15 degrees Celsius. Plus we had to jump off the boat, swimming through the freezing ocean to reach the Iron and sulfur hot springs. We ended the day watching the sunset from Oia, on the other end of the island and I wasn’t ready to leave Greece.

Hike up to Ancient Fira


Donkeys!

Up on top of the volcano!

26 Days, 10 cities, 5 countries, and 1 backpack...

Phew.

I finally made it back to Cork yesterday night, after a long day of the walking, the metro, multiple buses, and a plane. As I was sitting next to the Eiffel Tower yesterday morning, I wasn’t ready to end my travels. I was ready to pack up my bag and move on to the next stop- maybe Prague, Amsterdam or Berlin. But my funds were low, my clothes were dirty, I had a flight already booked back to Ireland and two exams looming in the future to study for. It wasn’t until I heard the Irish accent pronunciation of “C-ark” that I realized how much I missed everything back in Cork. I woke up this morning disoriented in my own bed. It was strange not to wake up at 7am to a hostel room full of roommates. Taking a long shower in my own bathroom without flip-flops was fantastic. I had an amazing time traveling Europe, but am glad to be back.  

For my month of traveling, I started off in Athens and took a ferry to the Greek islands Ios and Santorini. From there I flew to Rome, and made my way up Italy onto Florence and Venice. I took a train over to Nice on the French Riviera and a day trip to Monaco. I flew to Barcelona then ended my trip in Paris.

I met up with friends in Santorini, Rome, Florence, and Barcelona catching up with stories as it seemed like we had been away forever. I met tons of new friends on the roads, as our paths crossed at hostels.

I saw all the amazing sights; the Acropolis, the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, ancient ruins, St. Peters Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Sagrada Family, Notre Dame and the Palace of Versaille. I walked on a volcano, rode donkeys, saw Michelangelo’s sculptures, took a gondola ride, spent a few days on the Mediterranean beaches, and wondered through the Louvre. I tried all sorts of Greek, Italian, Spanish and French foods; from spinach pie and paella to crepes and gelato.

I have mastered metro systems, maps, planes, train timetables and the bus system. There are so many ways to get from here to there. I am going to enjoy the next couple days of sticking around Cork with no place to go.

We were really lucky, and had a great trip with no setbacks. A canceled ferry here and a delayed flight there, but other than that traveling went smoothly compared to lots of stories we heard.

I am back in Cork for a few days, lots of odds and ends to get done, but when I get a chance I will write some posts about all my travels and adventures. My camera broke in Ios :( but when I bum the photos off of my three traveling buddies I will be sure to upload some! Time to get back to reality and go grocery shopping and start some much needed loads of laundry. 

Not all those who wander are lost

One more last blog update before I hit the road!

The past week I have been wrapping things up in Cork. Classes are over. At UCC we have the whole month of April off. The Irish, who have exams from the whole year use the month to study. The visiting students only have finals from the second half, so we take the chance to travel. I have two exams in May and two papers due. I finished up my final papers this week and got them out of the way. So I will be taking off for Europe for the month then back to Cork to study for my Physiology and Physics exam in May.

I got my haircut earlier this week. It was too long and driving me nuts, I went to a hair place near campus that gave students a 15% discount. It was called “Curl Up ‘n Dye” which I thought was a great name.

On Wednesday, a few of us went to the Rugby Tournament. My friend Kristina joined the team, and one of my Irish friends is also on the team. We heard it was going to be this big event kind of like a carnival, so we went to check it out but we were the only three fans on the side lines! It was a lot of fun though watching the games. And they loved having us “enthusiastic Americans” who cheered them on. Kristina's only just started so she was basically the water girl and flag girl. But she played in three games! She even caught the ball and was tackled to the ground so it was pretty exciting! I went out with the Rugby girls on Thursday night to celebrate. Those girls are nuts but it was a blast.

I am planning on packing all day today and I leave bright and early tomorrow for my backpacking trip. Nine cities in 26 days! Monday morning I fly from Cork to London for a six hour layover then catch my flight onto Athens. I am spending a few days there, and then going to the Greek islands; Ios and Santorini. Next I am flying to Rome to stay with a friend from school and making my way up Italy onto Florence and Venice. Then taking the train over to Nice on the French Riviera, and flying to Barcelona for a few days then up to Paris!

I am not sure how much internet I will have access to, so we’ll see if I get any blogging in. If not I will be back in Cork on May 1^st with lots of pictures!

Until then!

St Paddy's Day!

So another update.

I am finishing up my last two weeks of classes. I cannot believe how fast the courses flew by. I have two papers that I have finally been assigned so I am hoping to finish them up before April when I am backpacking through Europe. I had my last Physiology lab yesterday which was absolutely ridiculous. We didn’t even do half of the lab, because apparently they don’t have enough equipment? So we just sat in a lecture hall as the professor talked us through it. Compared to 3 hour Quinnipiac Anatomy labs where we are completely hands on, these are a joke.

St Paddy’s Day was on Tuesday! We had the day off over here :) They had a big parade down in Cork. All the Irish really talked it down, saying ours in the states were better. But I loved it! It was absolutely packed downtown. We got there late and couldn’t really see much but they had a few big blow up floats, like a dragon and robot. So we saw those! The rest was student and kids marching. Everyone was green with all sorts of Irish St Paddy’s day accessories. A group of us came back to the apartment and sat outside all day in the beautiful weather. It was like a summer day! We walked down to the fields and watched a few soccer games too. We went out later at night to hit up the pubs and everything was packed! It was a great day though! :)

I have finally finished planning my backpacking trip for April. So many planes and trains and hostels! I am sticking around in Cork this weekend, hoping to get some essays written. 

The Ring of Kerry

I went on a school trip this past weekend to the Ring of Kerry in County Kerry on the south-west coast of Ireland. The Ring of Kerry is a 170 km circular road all along the coast starting and ending in Killarney. Marion, one of the professors who teaches Irish organized the trip as she is from the area. She had a whole set schedule for us packed full of events. The trip was a decent price and included food, transportation, events, sightseeing, admissions and the hotel.

We left on Friday around 3:00. There were about fifty kids on the trip, all international students. It was an hour and a half to Killarney, where we stopped at a bus stop and picked up a few more students then we traveled another hour or so to the Ring of Kerry Hotel in a town called Cahersiveen. We stopped for our first photo op seeing a beautiful rainbow. It was a bit foggy out, but a beautiful view of the mountains and ocean. It is so strange of me to see the mountains here, as they are all rock and grass. I am used to the Appalachian covered in trees, so when I see the ones here they look more like hills to me.

The hotel was nice; I shared a room with my travel buddies, Kristina, Julia and Brianne. It was definitely a step up from the hostels we are used to! Dinner was delicious! We had a whole room to ourselves for our three course dinner. There were about five options to choose from, I opted for a Turkey/ham dish complete with mash and veggies. After the meal along with salad and rolls I was stuffed when they brought out pastries for desert! After dinner we had a speaker native to Cahersiveen tell us about his life living out in Kerry. He had some interesting stories. After the speaker the whole group met up downstairs in the hall for a traditional Irish Ceili; where we learned Irish dancing. Marion had a little band play including a guitar, drum and accordion and used the mike to call out the steps to us all. We learned the Siege of Ennis, Stack of Barley, and Waltz of Limerick to name a few. It was a blast, and after a few wrong steps everyone caught on.

On Saturday we were up early for a buffet breakfast that we all filled up on. Then we hopped on the bus heading to Valentia Island right off the coast linked by a bridge to the mainland. Over 600 people live on the island. Our first stop was on Foilhommerum Cliff which is the site of the first transatlantic cable from Newfoundland to Valentia in 1857. The view was absolutely amazing from here; be sure to take a look at the photos I have up. Next we went to the Skellig Experience, a heritage center that opened just for us. Marion arranged quite a few stops that are usually closed until tourist season starts in April. The center was about the Skellig Rocks, two islands out off the coast which are sea bird colonies (home of the Puffins!) and the site of Christian Monastic architecture. You can take boats out to them but only in good weather in the summer. We made an unplanned stop next, to hike up Geokaun Mountain and Fogher Cliffs, the highest mountain on the Island that goes right up through a farm. We saw hundreds of sheep on our way up, and many lambs, some only an hour old! The top was another amazing view of the ocean and islands. The next stop was Valentia Slate Quarry where slate has been sent out all over the world. It has been used for the British Houses of Parliament and Paris’s Opera House to name a few. The whole time Marion gave us her catchy narratives about the land and views. She would always ask Tommy, our bus driver for his input. He was an amazing driver, taking the coach bus all over the island down windy one lane roads with Marion going “hmm we probably shouldn’t be going down here.”

Marion is from Bellinskellig, so on our bus tour over in that area she pointed out all her families houses next to the sea. We went to Ballinskellig Beach and walked out to McCarthy castle, well what was left of it. We had to walk across a stream from the tide so it was lots of rock hopping to avoid being soaked. We went back to the hotel for soup, and sandwiches then had the afternoon free. A few of us walked down through the town of Cahersiveen looking at all the shops and found a pub to watch the Rugby match. Ireland was playing Scotland in their second to last Six Nations Game, and continued to be undefeated as they won 22-15. Dinner was another delicious meal, where I had tortellini and cheesecake. After Marion set up a table quiz for us, which are very popular in pubs over here. You have a group of five or so and there are a few rounds of ten random questions. Some questions included were; What is the capital of Pakistan? What is the hardest substance of the human body? What is a baby turkey called? How many pieces are on a chess board? My group thought we did so great, and were really excited for the final score to see who won the prize. Marion gave the first place team, and second and we urged her to continue for the third and then fourth. It turns out we came in second to last! The only reason we did that well was because the last place team didn’t complete the game and left half way through! Ha. And we thought we did so well! That night in the hotel was a big function as the Junior Gaelic football team had won the finals. So the whole town had up Red and green flags for Cahersiveen and Kerry’s colors of gold and green too. So the hotel was full of activity.

On Sunday, the group did a walking tour of Cahersiveen and wondered up around the coast to the Stone Forts. The forts were circular with hundreds of steps all over to the top which was grass. Beautiful sights on the top and we had a blast climbing all over. After we headed back for a quick lunch we packed up and continued on the rest of the Ring of Kerry. We went to Derrynane House, the home of Daniel O’Connell, an Irish political leader who gained the Catholics the right to vote. We were back on the bus forever, with a quick stop at Cahar Daniel, a scenic outlook. It was a bit windy but an amazing view. We also drove into Killarney National Park which was absolutely amazing. Be sure to check out the photos I put up on flickr, although they don’t do the Park justice. We finished up the Ring of Kerry back in Killarney and then headed back to Cork.

The Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland’s most popular spots; the view of the Atlantic is beautiful as you follow the coast along. The trip was great, and it was nice not to plan something for a change! Pictures are up!    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjhastie/sets/72157615377402120/

Buses, Trains and Planes to Scotland!

I jetted off to Scotland last week. Had a wonderful time; I think Scotland is my favorite trip yet. The country is right over the Irish Sea, but it took us buses, and trains and planes to reach our destination of Edinburgh; a bit too much traveling for my liking.

We originally bought tickets to Glasgow for a ridiculously cheap price; flying out Thursday night and back Saturday night. Then when I met a few Scottish people, everyone’s advice was to visit Edinburgh. There is a frequent train in between so the plan was to fly into Glasgow and take the train to Edinburgh.

I spent most of Thursday traveling. I left my flat around noon and after missing the first bus by seconds (and the buses in Ireland are never on time!) we waited an hour and caught a bus to Shannon Airport, about two hours away. After seeing a beautiful rainbow in Shannon we flew to Glasgow Airport. It was a short flight, about forty minutes. We got to Glasgow and the second we touched down Brianne was in love with the country. She went on and on about how much she loved Scotland- and we hadn’t even stepped foot off the plane! While waiting for the flight attendents to let us off we chatted with a few Scots who taught us to pronounce Edinburgh as “Edin-butta.” After visiting the information booth at the airport we found that we needed to take a train from the airport into Glasgow city center. We had just missed this train (what luck!) so we waited an hour for the next. While I waited, Brianne and I hit up the Irn-Bru vending machine! A Scottish friend introduced us to the soda in London and Brianne and I drank more Irn-Bru than I can count throughout the weekend. I don’t know how to explain the taste… but it is delicious! [it reminds me of something you would like Jer].

So we caught the train into Glasgow which was a 45 minute ride. Once there we had to walk to the other train station. A few people saw me with a map and were so helpful offering help! The train from Glasgow to Edinburgh was about 45 minutes. We finally made it and our hostel was only a short walk away.

We stayed at Royal Mile Backpackers which is on the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is about a Scottish mile, and the road runs from Edinburgh Castle, down to the palace where the Queen stays when she visits. It is full of shops, pubs, and historical buildings. Edinburgh Castle is built on top of a volcano, and due to icebergs which carved out most of the land but not the trail right after the castle, the Royal Mile is a high ground compared to the rest of the city. Our hostel was really nice, had a great atmosphere. The rooms and beds each had creative names. We stayed in the room called “Addictions,” my bed was labeled Chocolate and some of the others were Shopping, Alcohol, Gambling, and Smoking. We each had our own locker and safe, which was a first for any hostel I have stayed at. By the time we actually made it to the hostel it was already 9. We decided to be adventurous and headed out to explore the city. At one of the pubs I tried a Brother Cider, which was Toffee Apple flavored, that everyone seemed to be drinking and the next night I tried a Strawberry and Pear. Best drink in Scotland! I wish they had it back in Ireland.   

The next morning we woke up early and grabbed some breakfast. I tried haggis, a must since I was in Scotland. It was interesting, full of spices. It is the sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs all minced up with spices and oats, cooked in the stomach. YUM! Ha- I tried not to think about that when I was eating it. After breakfast we took a free walking tour. We saw a few other groups from Cork who were also in Scotland for the weekend. Everyone was taking advantage of the cheap flights this weekend! The walking tour was great. The tour guide gave us the historical background of the city full of fun facts and stories. We went up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, which was built on top of volcanic rock. So it has a great defense, as no one can scale up the rock easily. The castle was beautiful. Edinburgh is full of haunting and ghost stories as we learned a few on the tour. It is in Edinburgh that the famous body snatchers Burke and Hare originally stole dead bodies to sell to science for Medical dissection. When they ran out of dead bodies they went on a killing spree. There were also many witch burnings and the site of hangings. The pub across the street is called The Last Drop, as you would go there for your last dram of whiskey before the hanging. We went through Greyfriars Kirkyard, a haunted graveyard where Benjamin Mackenzie spends his time haunting and many people have been hospitalized after visiting. Lots of people were reburied in this graveyard, and it was after seeing so many coffins with scratches inside that wakes became more popular. So people would know for sure that the bodies were dead and didn’t bury anyone else alive. Some of the caskets have these cages built around them to protect the people from body snatching. It was great history and lots of eerie stories. After the tour, we walked up Calton Hill to see the sun set which was beautiful.

I stopped in this heritage center that you can find your tartan and clan of your ancestors. I am part Scottish on both my mother and fathers side so I stopped in and looked up my history. I found out that Hastie, from my father’s side, was a part of the Clan Graham, and Dunbar, from my mom’s side, was a part of the Clan Murray. I bought bookmarks of each with the tartan, crest, and some information on them. It was really neat to look up the history and see where my ancestors came from.

For dinner we stopped in at The Last Drop where they slash the prices in half if you show your hostel card. It was a Friday night and I can’t even count how many Stag and Hen parties I saw all night. Edinburgh is clearly the place to go. We stopped in a pub later for some Scottish music, which was very similar to the Traditional Irish music with the fiddle and flute.

On Saturday we went to the National Museum of Scotland in the morning. I saw Dolly the first cloned sheep, who is stuffed and displayed in the museum. After, we went to the Elephant House for tea and to write some postcards. The Elephant House is the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. The view from the back is amazing as you can see Edinburgh Castle and also the “original” Hogwarts, a boy’s school out the window. Just looking out you can see where she must have gotten her inspiration from.

We caught the train back to Glasgow around noon. There were street performers everywhere! So we listened to some bagpipes and drums on our way to the train station. Next it was the train to the airport, and flight back to Ireland. We landed in Shannon and waited an hour for the “next bus.” It wasn’t until 8:45, after waiting in the rain for a bit, that the bus driver going to Limerick informed us that there were no more buses back to Cork tonight. We found the Bus information desk back inside, but of course no one was there, no one was answering the information phone and all the schedules that we needed were out of reach at the back of the desk. Right as we were debating jumping the desk to get the bus timetables a jolly security guard came over. We explained out dilemma of getting back to Cork and just as he was telling us that we would have to spend the night in the airport the bus driver going to Limerick came running in. He came all the way inside to get us to let us know that we could take his bus to Limerick then take the train back to Cork. We took his advice and hopped on the bus to Limerick. We were not too excited about this, as our Irish roommates always warn us about Limerick because “Limerick is where you get stabbed.” We caught the train at 10:00. Luckily there was one other passenger in the car who got off at Limerick Junction. We asked where she was going and realized we better get off too, or who knows where we would end up. We transferred trains and then on our way to Cork bought our tickets. We asked for student tickets pulling out all our “Student ID’s” as we all have so many cards proving we are students. The conductor then informed us that they only take their student card which you have to buy from them- and you can’t buy it on the train. So we ended up paying an outrageous amount to get back to Cork. By the time we made it back to Cork, we were so mad about spending so much money that we walked all the way home from the train station. For the forty five minute walk we thought about all we could have bought for the price of the train ride. “I could have bought ‘five sandwiches from Hillbillies’ for less than the cost of that train ride.”

Scotland was wonderful! I absolutely loved Edinburgh, and seeing all the historical buildings and cobblestones. The traveling was another story... but we made it to Edinburgh and back to Cork, so in the end it all worked out! 

Pictures!!

Up the Coast

Hello everyone! Thought I would write a quick update before I head off to Scotland for the weekend. It has been a crazy week, and I am getting over being sick again. I wish my body would just adjust to Ireland already! Let’s see, last Wednesday I went out to Bandaoke, which was a lot of fun. It is just like karaoke, but you have a band as back up. We had a blast. I had my last Physics lab last Friday, which is a relief! I dreaded the three hour labs. Physiology lab started up this week, it was very different from what I am used to. We were in a lecture hall and the teacher pretty much did the lab for us on the projector. I am used to hands on small lab groups. It was an easy cardiovascular lab, but in the end we had a “MCQ” twenty question quiz that was pretty difficult. Not sure where he came up with those questions!  

Last Saturday, a group of us went to Kinsale, a town on the coast about a half hour away. It is more of a summer town, but it was full of cute shops and cafes. We walked about a mile and a half up to Charles Fort. It is a star shaped fort built right on the water that was constructed in the late 17^th century. It was huge! We walked all around it, seeing the view from the walls and looking at what was left of the brick buildings. It started to drizzle by the time we made it back to town, so we found a pub called Muddy Mahers, and grabbed some food. The pub is family owned and it seemed like everyone knew everyone. We ended up sticking around as we had perfect seats for the Rugby match so we watched Ireland beat England 14-13. I am getting very into Rugby these days, it is amazing to watch.

My spring break has been planned and flights have been booked! I am backpacking through Europe with three of my friends for the month of April that we have off. The current plan is to start in Greece in Athens, and then move on to two Greek islands, Ios and Santorini. Then fly to Rome, travel up the coast to Florence and Venice, then take a train to Nice on the French Riviera. Next, on to Barcelona and ending in Paris! It will be four weeks :) I have been doing so much research with the travel, flights, and hostels. Earlier this week I booked hostels for the first week in Greece. I still need to book the rest, but just need to find the time!

I am off to Scotland today. I fly out tonight to Glasgow, but am taking a train to Edinburgh. I will be back late Saturday night. Quick trip, but I got great deals on the flights.     

Also, I put pictures up from Northern Ireland http://flickr.com/photos/mjhastie/sets/72157614747372336/ !

Up to Northern Ireland

Had beautiful weather this weekend, which always makes a trip better! No rain at all! It was perfect. I left on Thursday night to travel to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We found cheap flights with Ryan Air, so we flew from Cork to Dublin, which was only a half hour flight or so. Then bought tickets and took a two and a half hour bus ride to Belfast and got in about midnight on Thursday night. We had booked Linens House Hostel in Belfast for the first night because it was very cheap and reception was open all night. It sounded very bare bones on Hostelworld.com based on reviews, but we were very happy with it. Then again we were only there for about eight hours or so.

On Friday we were up early to do the PaddyWagon day tour, my favorite part of the trip. We had a little mini bus and it took us all around the Antrim coastline to Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, a few castles, and Derry. We had a full bus and I met people from the states, Whales, New Zealand and Spain. Our tour guide Jean was great, and filled all the driving time with stories and background on everything we passed by.

Our first stop was by the coast, where we all got out and you could see Scotland from the beach! Next we went and saw Carrick Island. It is this small island right off the coast and has the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that connects it to the mainland. Unfortunately the bridge is closed until April due to the weather so we didn’t get to go down. I was really bummed- it looked so cool! I hope I get a chance to go back at some point and get onto the island! Next the bus took us to Dunluce Castle, well the ruins of the medieval castle. It is built on this cliff with huge steep drops on all sides of it. Michael Jackson actually tried to buy it and renovate it, but his offer was turned down.

Our next stop was Giants Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Giants Causeway was formed over 60 million years ago from volcanic eruptions. The lava cooled and hardened forming over 40,000 basalt columns. They are tall columns that are hexagonal and form stepping stones. It is a gorgeous site to see. The columns are all over and create these huge mountains. The legend is that a giant built this causeway as a road to Scotland. I took some great pictures so be sure to check them out. I think it is easier to see, than explain. We stayed at the Causeway for about two hours, I would have loved to stay longer, it was beautiful!

Next we took the bus to Derry. It was a long ride, but I spent the whole time sightseeing out the window. We passed so many sheep and green pastures I finally felt like I was in Ireland! I loved to see the country. We even passed another old run down Castle. We made it to Derry; also known as Londonderry depending on whether you are a nationalist or unionist; which is enclosed by defensive walls. Derry is known for its troubles, as most of Northern Ireland is due to the tension between the Catholic nationalists and the Protestant unionists. The Catholics were discriminated under the Unionist government. In the late 1960’s there were civil rights demonstrations. Bloody Sunday was on Sunday January 30, 1972 where 13 people, seven who were teens were shot dead by the British in a civil rights march. Our tour guide Jean was telling us the history. He was one of the ones who marched in the peace protest. His mother sent all four of her sons out in their Sunday best for the peaceful march, never knowing what danger they were walking into.

I really enjoyed the tour and was glad we took the day to see Northern Ireland. Later that night we found our second hostel of the weekend, Paddy’s Palace. We arrived and found out that we had been upgraded from a 20 person mixed room to a private four person room! So that was exciting! Plus there was free internet, towels, and tea and a great kitchen. A few of us walked over to Tesco’s, the grocery store and bought dinner for the night, a pound each. That night we just hung in the hostel, talking to a group of Australians and a New Zealander. It is so interesting how many people from down under we meet as many of them take a year off before college and travel and work.

On Saturday we took a Black Taxi Tour which takes you around Belfast with an explanation of Northern Ireland’s notorious political history. Our driver was really difficult to understand with his accent, but towards the end we could make out most of what he was saying. Belfast has been experiencing conflict between the nationalist Catholics and the unionist Protestants since the 1960’s and it still occurs today. There have been bombing, assassination and street violence. The city is extremely segregated. The taxi took us through different areas of Protestants and Catholic housing. In the different areas the curbs and sign posts were painted orange, green, and white in the Catholic areas or Red, white and blue in the Protestant areas. We passed the famous Peace Lines, which are a series of barriers to separate the neighborhoods and prevent violence. Today there are over forty of them up in Belfast, and one we passed was over 3 miles long, and full of murals and signatures. They even have a gate that closes separating the neighborhoods at night. Our tour guide said it is funny to watch everyone race and try to get over to their own sides before the gates close for the night.  We also saw the political murals all over Belfast depicting their past. I will add a few photos up for you to see.

After the tour we went to Botanic Gardens. I am sure in the summer it is gorgeous. There were two indoor buildings, so we went into the Tropical Ravine, and Palm House which were full of plants and flowers. Later that night we went to a restaurant called Benedicts, which a friend had recommended. The restaurant was beautiful, and very expensive, especially because it was in pounds. But they have a “Beat the Clock Menu.” So because I ordered at 5:30, I only paid 5.50 pounds for a 12 pound meal of Italian stuffed chicken with basil mash. What a deal!

The next morning was another early travel day, up at 6am to take the bus to Dublin, and flew back to Cork. I loved our trip to Northern Ireland, it was great to see the country and coast for a change!

I had a physics midterm today. It was funny how the class size doubled for the exam. It was interesting to take a test here. I am just glad to have it over with. Yesterday was Pancake Tuesday! So we made lots of pancakes. Jill, my friends Irish roommate made pancakes too. The pancakes they make over here are very flat, and remind me more of crepes. She made them, and put lemon juice and sugar on them and rolled them up. They were delicious!

 Well that is about it for this extra long update. I am on my way to a Traditional Irish music concert for my Music Class, but pictures soon! Cheers!

London Photos

London pictures!

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes!! I had some sort of crazy Irish flu last week, so I was pretty dead for a chunk of the week. I didn’t realize how much I would miss NyQuil! 

I felt a bit better on Saturday so a group of us went to Cobh (pronounced "Cove"). It was about a half hour train ride away. It was a cute Irish seaport town. Quiet now, but it used to be quite the bustling major transatlantic Irish port. Over 2.5 million people emigrated out of Cobh to America during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Cobh was the last port of call of the Titanic before it left across the Atlantic. Also when Luisitania, the passenger liner was sunk by the Germans survivors were brought to Cobh. The little town had a lot of history to it!

I woke up feeling much better for my birthday which was good! A few friends and I went out to watch the Rugby game Ireland vs. Italy then out to dinner for Italian after we kicked their butt. Haha. My friends made me my mom's raspberry chocolate birthday cake that she makes me every year so I felt right at home! I still expect pancakes when I get home though mom ;)

I leave on Thursday night for Northern Ireland. I will be in Belfast until Sunday afternoon. Hope you enjoy the London pictures! 

Across the Irish Sea to LONDON!

London! I absolutely loved it! So much to see and do and the city is full of so much history it is amazing! I spent Wednesday night traveling, I felt like it took forever to get there. First we took a bus to the Cork airport, then the plane to Stanstead airport, then a bus to London, then the tube and after some walking finally made it to our hostel. We stayed at Journeys London Eye hostel which was great. Best one I have been to yet. Everyone was just so friendly, and it was very youth oriented, so we met tons of great people our age and swapped traveling stories. We crashed early Wednesday night ready for a jam packed weekend.

On Thursday, after our complimentary breakfast of tea, toast, and cereal, we went and found the Big Bus Tour Company. Our friends who had gone the week before recommended them. It included two different bus tours where you could hop on and off, three walking tours, and a boat cruise. It was nice to have the transportation, but looking back probably wasn’t worth it. It was terrible weather on Thursday though; cold and rainy. London had a crazy snow storm earlier in the week, but most of the snow was melted by the time we got there just a bit of ice left when we first got in. I was just surprised how much colder London was compared to Cork. We took the bus tour and saw all the sites, Big Ben, Webminister Abbey, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London and went on the River Thames Cruise. We were pretty frozen after that so we found Sherlock Holmes Pub and defrosted. My friends all had their fish n’ chips but I stuck with a roast beef sandwich.

Then we strolled down some major shopping streets doing some window shopping. We found this toy store called Hamleys, probably the coolest place ever. It was seven stories, and had every toy possible. They also had stations set up throughout the store with a sales person demonstrating the toys. We saw everything from magic tricks to nail polish pens to paint sets. At each station we were like a group of five year olds, so easily impressed and awed. My favorite would have to be the Magical snow. It is powder, then when you add water expands one hundred times its size. It feels and looks like real snow! Then after two weeks it changes back into the powder and is reusable. Coolest thing ever. Afterwards, we stopped at Tesco, the grocery store, and bought meals for the next three nights for only two pounds each. There is nothing like pasta and grill cheese.

Thursday night we went to the Absolut Ice Bar. It is a bar where everything in it is made out of ice. The bar, tables, chairs, chandeliers, walls, glasses. They give you huge capes with hoods and gloves attached before you go in, but you can still only be in there for about 40 minutes because it is so cold. It was really cool. Afterwards we met up with Brianne’s cousin, who is studying abroad in London, and his friends. We went to a pub called The George, which was a very English pub. The George is London’s only surviving coaching inn. Chaucer began his Canterbury Tales here and Charles Dickens was known to visit.

On Friday we did a bit more of the bus tour. Saw Buckingham Palace, the US Embassy, Notting Hill, and Kensington Palace. Again it wasn’t the greatest weather and we ended up venturing off on our own for some exploring. We were planning on doing the Beatles Walking Tour, but after a few wrong turns we just missed it. Instead we went into the National Art Gallery to get away from the cold. Great thing about London- all their museums are free! We saw paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, and a million other artists. We decided to see a West end show Friday night and it is amazing how many shows they have to see! We got cheap tickets for the “stalls” to see Wicked, so we were up really close to the stage but on the far side. Wicked is a musical about the witches of Oz, a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. I had seen it before at home and was surprised at how exact the two shows matched up. They didn’t even have British accents!

After the show we went back to the hostel to make some grill cheese and chatted with all the travelers at the hostel. We met people from all over including, Madrid, Morocco, Germany, Scotland, Australia, Canada, and even the states. We spent the night hearing ridiculous stories from an Aussie who is a world traveler. Earning enough money for a plane ticket and going wherever there is good snowboarding. We heard stories of his tent burning down, flipping his car over after driving around Australia with no breaks, and being chased by a crocodile. You never know who you are going to meet in a hostel.

The next morning we went on the Buckingham Palace Walking tour. We saw the changing of the guards, a very ceremonial event. We unfortunately couldn’t get our picture taken with one of the guards because apparently a few weeks ago a guard attacked a mocking tourist. So now they stand behind ropes and the tourists have to stay a few feet away. We then made another tourist must see stop and went to Kings Cross Station for a picture by Platform 9 and ¾. You Harry Potter fans will understand that one. Julia laughed at us, but took pictures of Kristina, Brianne and I attempting to make it to Hogwarts. We went to Harrods, the biggest department store in the world. It is seven stories and has everything you could possible think of, from Tiffany’s necklaces, to Armani children tee shirts, to Ferrari bicycles and an amazing food floor. A huge store! We also went to the National History Museum and checked out the Human Biology exhibit to brush up on our Anatomy, as classes start on Monday. Saturday night we met up with Brianne’s cousin again, and went to Kings College Bar. We tried “SnakeBite,” a drink that people have been recommending to us. It is Carlsberg beer, Long Horn cider and black current syrup. Surprisingly really good!

We slept in a bit on Sunday, and “checked out” at eleven. It was a beautiful day so we hit up a few of the tourist spots like Big Ben again and took some pictures in the nice weather. We headed down to Camden Market, which is similar to Canal Street in New York City, with all the stalls set up with street vendors. I had been wearing my rain boots all weekend, and made a great buy at the market of sneakers :) Later Julia and I went to the Imperial War Museum. We only had an hour left as it was closing but what we saw was really interesting. They had a “Childrens War” exhibit and how the kids experienced WWII and went through the Blitz experience which demonstrated how London experienced 57 days of bombing. It was a really interesting museum, I just wish we had more time- [Chris you would have loved it!].

Our flight was at 6 am the next morning, and we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 2am. So we went back to our hostel even though we were no longer paying customers. We took over the couch area for the next eight hours or so and hung out all night, eating the last of our pasta and grill cheese, drinking the endless amount of English tea, and chatting with all the other guests. Julia talked our Canadian friend into letting us watch the latest episode of Greys, so at 1am we spent out last hour in London catching up on US television. We walked to the bus stop, took the night bus to Victoria station, Took the bus to Stanstead airport, flew back to Cork, took the bus to Cork city, and finally the bus home to our flat and got home about 9:30am. I slept all day Monday and woke up in time for class Monday night.

This week is RAG week at UCC. “Raise and Give,” it is a week full of charity events to raise money, but the Irish use the occasion to go out and drink. Unfortunately I have come down with some sort of virus and have spent most of my time in bed sleeping. Hopefully I will fight it off soon enough and in time for my birthday!

But that was my trip to London! I will get pictures up ASAP!

Off for the weekend

Just a quick update. I am off to London today for the weekend. I am flying out tonight at 6:20 and I will be flying back on Monday morning bright and early at 6am!

Till next week!

Pictures are Up!

I went down to college and used their internet; so I got all the pictures up finally! Dublin

I also added a few more to the Cork set. So check them out :)

Dublin!

I left for Dublin on Thursday night. My three friends; Brianne, Kristina, Julia and I went for the weekend. We took the bus at 6pm and arrived in Dublin a little after 10. Our hostel, Jacobs Inn, was about a two minute walk from the bus station so that was nice. The hostel was big, about five floors, with tons of rooms. A lot different from the hostel I stayed at last summer which was more of a house. My friends and I had gone for the cheapest option, and had booked spots in a mixed room. We got to our bedroom that contained 5 bunk beds and the room had men’s button up shirts on hangers drying all around the room. We were a bit apprehensive about our roommates at first realizing that we would be living with four strangers who were men but it turned out fine. We had four roommates. Frankie was from Nigeria but living in Manchester and was in Dublin on holiday… for the past two months. There were also three Spanish guys from Barcelona, Madrid and the Canary Islands who I couldn’t catch their names. It was really interesting talking with them and I did my best to try out my Spanish. I definitely need to brush up. I have forgotten a lot since High School.

                The next day we woke up early for our free breakfast of toast and tea. Then we went on the free tour that the hostel had posters for. You know me and free stuff! It was a three and a half hour walking tour all around the city and I am so glad we went. It would have taken us a whole day to find just a few of the places we went to. Our tour guide, Ali, was great and very interesting to listen to with all his facts and histories about the sites. We learned so much and were so glad to have gone.

                We saw Dublin Castle, which didn’t look much like a castle as it burned down in the 1600’s and was most of it was rebuilt. The Dublin Spire is this huge, needle looking piece of art in the middle of the city that was a millennium project for Dublin. It is the tallest structure in the city, 120 meters high. We went to Trinity College, founded in 1592, that is the seventh oldest college in the English speaking world. They had all sorts of interesting traditions. One was that if a student rode a horse carrying a sword to their finals, the lecturer was required to serve them a Guinness for their exam. The buildings were gorgeous and millions of cobblestones. Apparently in one year fifty-six girls broke their ankles when walking on the cobblestones in heels! We saw the Leinster House that our White House was actually modeled after. We went down to Temple Bar, which is not a bar by the way. The name came from the fact that the area used to be a raised sandbank. So Temple Bar is a whole area that is known for its music and arts. There were lots of pubs with live music playing at night. Down in Temple Bar the Project Arts Center where the band U2 got started, and also the hotel across the street where they used to hang out in and now own- Clarence Hotel. We ended the tour at St. Stephen’s Green Park which was beautiful, full of trees, footpaths and ponds. We were so lucky to have such nice weather. Sunny all weekend!   

                We grabbed some lunch at a pub called Cassidy’s that had great traditional Irish food then explored all the shops down town. We saw a few street performers, one who played the accordion dancing and chasing people around. We got a few recommendations from the man at Cassidy’s and headed to the Porterhouse down in Temple Bar; where we had to try Foley Strawberry beer that we heard so much about. We hopped around to a few other pubs listening to live music. On our way back home we heard “Galway Girl” (a must know song when in Ireland) playing in a pub called Fitzsimmons and ran in for the last of the song. There were two guys playing acoustic guitars and they played all sorts of classic songs that everyone knows.

The next morning we had our free breakfast again. We live on tea and toast over here! Then took the Luis, an above ground Subway, to the Guinness Storehouse. They were celebrating their 250^th anniversary this year. Arthur Guinness signed the lease for the property in 1759 for 9,000 years. Talk about a lot of faith in his venture. They had a seven story self guided tour. The building was awesome with the world’s largest pint glass in the middle that if it was real could hold 14.3 million pints. The tour went through the brewing of the beer from hops, water, yeast and barley. Then there was taste testing, advertisements, and information about the storehouse. It was a very long tour as there was so much to look at but definitely worth going to. At the very end we went up to the top floor- the Gravity Bar, which is the highest bar in Dublin and has a 360 degree view of the city. Up top you turned in your ticket for a pint of Guinness. I got my free pint but I have tried it before and knew I was not fan. I don’t like the roasted barley taste that reminds me of coffee. My friend Brianne loves it so I handed her my glass.

What was really interesting from the tour was seeing the Guinness book of World Records. I never made the connection of the beer to the book. In 1951 the director of the brewery got into an argument over the fasted game bird in Europe and could not find an answer in books. He realized that there must be lots of other debates in pubs all over and no book to settle the arguments. That is where the Guinness Book of Records was created and became the bestselling book of all time.

After we headed back to the hostel for dinner and we played some pool and watched a movie in the common room. We ended up going back out for our last night in Dublin. We went back to Fitzsimmons that had great music the night before. They had two guys playing acoustic guitars again and had great music all night.

We checked out of the hostel at eleven the next morning and caught a bus to Cork at noon. I slept most of the ride and we got home around six.

I am going to try to get pictures up on flickr tonight so take a look!

01.20.09

Inauguration!! We are five hours behind everyone at home, so it didn’t start until 4:30 here. It is crazy how interested the Irish are with our politics. They are so knowledgeable about the topics, and they absolutely love Obama and love to talk to us Americans about it. It drives me nuts how they pronounce his name though; “Ba-raaack.” I just want to say “It’s Ba-rock people!” Anyways, they had an event down on campus and played the inauguration on a projector. So we headed down to watch; it was a great speech. There were only a few Americans there, but the Irish packed the bar and cheered away. I have been trying to keep myself updated with the news at home, which isn’t hard because whenever I turn on the TV all they talk about is America. Oh and random but good news!! The exchange rate is down to 1 euro = $1.29! So that is exciting! The pound is also way down, $1.36 last I checked, which is the lowest it has been since 1985. This is good for us since we will be traveling that way in February.

I tried to go down to immigration again yesterday. No such luck, the “queue” was ridiculously long and they closed before they got to us. So I will try again next Monday. I went to the Cork City Library on my way back and bought a library card for 1.25 euro. I got a few traveling books for London and Dublin. All this free time is getting to me! I am not used to this!

It snowed the other day! All in a 5 minute time period we had rain, huge flakes of snow, then back to rain. Not close to what New England is getting, but for Ireland that is pretty crazy.

I am off to Dublin in about an hour. We are going to the bus station and it is about a four hour bus ride. I will be back in Cork on Sunday. Hopefully with lots of pictures!!

Irish Music and Irish Whiskey

Well it has been a pretty crazy week; still trying to convert my sleep schedule to Ireland time. It’s been hard because I am usually up late talking to you all at home or out experiencing Ireland with the Irish! The rain has finally come- and hasn’t left. It is in the forties though so at least it isn’t really cold on top of the rain. But boy am I glad I have rain boots!

On Monday I went to my first Introduction to Irish Music class. The “lecturer” (not professor) seems really cool. She went through a bunch of instruments and played reels for us to see the difference between styles of music. For one of our final essays we have to go to a “session” and write about it. A session is where a group of people meet up in a pub, and get together to play music together. She suggested a pub down in the city called Spailpin Fanach that has UCC students play traditional Irish music on Monday nights. We ventured down that night and after a few turns we found it. The pub was exactly what you would expect an Irish pub to look like; with the old stone walls and wooden tables. The second we walked in we could hear the music and had to walk through and follow the noise to find the students. There were probably more than twenty kids sitting at this long table all playing along with each other. There were fiddlers, flute players, accordions, and a few guitars. It was great music and a nice place to just hang out. We will definitely be going back this week!

This week has been full of Physics- my oh-so-favorite subject (not). We have problem sets due every week which I have been worried about as I have no idea where to even start.  But I had physics tutorial on Wednesday night, which made me feel much better about the class. A teacher’s assistant does the problems with different numbers and basically goes through the whole thing. It was awesome. I wish we had this sort of thing at QU, but with a class of thirty kids- we just go straight to the professor with questions and don’t need tutorials. I am still getting used to the huge lecture classes being one of a hundred plus. On Friday I had my first of four Physics lab, which was also taught by grad students (?). The three hours were absolutely miserable. All the students in the lab were from QU so it was nice that everyone was on the same page. It was difficult because we were all starting the lab knowing nothing about how it works over here. So they had to go over lab reports, protocols, pretty much everything. Plus they used some crazy old machines for the lab that we had never seen before. Needless to say I am not looking forward to the next lab in two weeks! To end my physics full week- we saw our lecturer on the bus! He gave us a few good tips about the city and helped us find the bus station.

On Saturday a group of us took a bus to Midleton (about a half hour away from the bus station) and went to the Jameson Distillery of Irish Whiskey. The old distillery was founded in 1867 but stopped production in 1975. They went through the history of Irish whiskey, how it is made, a tour of the restored distillery and at the end gave us a complimentary drink. I tried the whiskey straight up, but ended up making a mixed drink! It was nice to get out of Cork and due to the rainy weather- was a good day to go.  

I am starting to make travel plans. So much to do! I believe a group of us are going to Dublin this coming weekend, so I need to start looking at hostels. It is about a 5 hour bus ride (only 17 euros roundtrip!). We also booked flights to London in February for only 21 euros round trip! Lots of planning to do yet it seems as if we don’t have enough weekends! Keep an eye on my flicker photos; I will add a few up as soon as possible!!

Pictures are up

I tried to upload a few on here but it was near impossible; so I made a flickr account and put pictures up. Just some basic ones of the flight, UCC and my room. Hope you all enjoy! :)

You are here

A map of Cork

My high tech mother found this cool link to the map and I added a few

more points on there to give you an idea of where I am and where I go

everyday.

Rain!

Well almost a week in Ireland and it has finally rained! The temperature here has been warming up towards the end of the week to the forties, but earlier it was pretty cold. We have heard that this is the coldest winter Ireland has had in thirty years! But the good news was it was cold and dry and not rainy. Nothing new to us from New England though. I think it is much colder back home especially with all these storms you have been having. But I enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted!

I have been attending a few classes this week. My Physiology class is only for the second six weeks of the semester, and therefore has not started yet. Physics I have three times a week, and labs once a week. I am not too excited for physics. The classes are huge here with over 100 students in the lecture hall. Very different from QU where there was never more than thirty kids in a class. Physics is early in the morning and seems like the kind of course where I will need to teach myself. On Thursday the professor asked us if there was a language barrier when he found out we were from the states; he doesn’t seem too up to date. On Tuesday afternoon I attended the course- Introduction to Irish History for Visiting Students, which was really interesting. The professor changes every two lectures and takes Ireland’s history from the Great Famine to present time. On Monday I will be going to the Traditional Irish Music course, which I hope I like because I need a fine arts course to keep up with my program back home. I would have loved to take an Art course, but all I have found is Art History, which I had my fair share of in High school. I have talked to a few Irish students who have explained that Arts here is the study of education, opposed to the meaning in the states. So all in all I will be taking Physiology , Physics, Irish History, and Traditional Irish Music here at UCC. The smallest course load I will ever take!

I’ve spent most of the week catching up on sleep and getting accustomed with the city. On Wednesday the Student Union took the International Students out for a “Mystery Tour” of Cork. We went to the Franciscan Well Brewery- where they make about six different beers. Jon- you would love it! Then after they took us to a night club, which is very different than the clubs back in the states. It was funny that here in Ireland the university organizations took us out to a pub and club, but it just goes to show how the cultures are different. The music here is so random and outdated. It is nice because we know the words to the songs, but it is crazy how behind they are compared to popular music in America.  

This weekend my roommate Katie, who is also from QU, and I cleaned the kitchen which it needed badly. Then I finally cooked in it! [I have been using my friend’s kitchens the past few days instead afraid to cook in my own- that’s how bad it was]. I made chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies. It was nice to have a real meal. I have yet to master the microwave here; it has “Jet Power” with a bunch of numbers opposed to just setting it for minutes at home. I haven’t had the time to experiment with it but got a few microwave tips from Kate I will have to give a try ;)  

On Friday a bunch of us headed down to the Garda [police] station to complete our registration with Immigration to stay in the country. It is quite a walk down to the center of the city and way past it. Probably took us about forty-five minutes. We got all the way there, and found that they would not accept the school insurance card we had received because it does not have a date on it. So we are waiting for a letter from the study abroad office at QU and will have to go back another day. 

Made it to Cork!

Welcome to my blog! I hope this will keep you all updated about my travels and adventures abroad! I am hoping to update weekly, maybe a bit more in the beginning. Once I get around to pictures I will add those too. Feel free for comments, and questions- I will do my best to answer. Love and miss you all!!

So I have made it to Ireland! Safe and sound!

It has been a busy last few days. I left Southington on Saturday, and my dad drove me to JFK to catch my flight which was at 6:40 pm. I flew Aer Lingus, and didn't end up leaving JFK until 7 or so. I felt like we were sitting on the ground forever. The flight was long and uncomfortable and I didn’t get much sleep, my dislike for flying did not help the long trip. They did serve us dinner though, which was surprisingly good! It took us about six hours and we landed in Shannon at 6:10 am Ireland time.

Customs was a lot faster than I anticipated. I was the first to go through as the man was waving me over. I just handed him my passport, he stamped it for 30 days and I was on my way. Sometime soon I need to head down to the City Hall and register with the immigration officer to stay here for longer.

We grabbed our luggage, and it took forever for the rest of the fifty-five QU students to get through customs. Thank goodness for Mark, our QU study abroad guy- who is like a tour guide these last few days, getting us settled acquainted, and answering the endless questions everyone has. We finally loaded up into two big buses and started the two hour ride to Cork around seven or eight. Liam, our bus driver gave us our first reality check that we really were Ireland when a group of us went to get on the bus and he exclaimed- "girls you're in Ireland, the door is on the other side." The left side driving was a bit scary at first, and the Irish love their round a bouts! The bus drive was gorgeous, what I was awake for. So much green!! And we saw two castles which must be older than our country! Great weather too! The last two days have been blue sky, and a bit cloudy. We'll see how long this holds up for.

We got to our apartments and went to check out our rooms. The apartment has five bedrooms and a common room/kitchen which was not as clean as I expected. I have my own room, with a bed, shelves, desk, desk lamp, mirror, cork board, and attached bathroom. Really different from my small room I've had at QU and a bathroom shared with eight people! I am living with two other QU girls, who I don't really know but seem nice, and two Ireland girls, Sofie and Helena. The common room and kitchen were kind of a mess when we got here, but we later found out that the girls that moved out left all sorts of stuff behind so I am sure it will work out.

We were already dead tired when we got here, but had to drop our stuff and head into the city to buy the basics. Lots of walking!! It is a lot farther than I thought, but I am sure after a week we will be used to it all! I bought an cord for our internet [no wireless :( ] and some bedding [which I am sure my brothers will laugh at when they see pictures!]. We also went to a phone store [almost went to O2 Sean! But they did not open till noon so we went elsewhere] and I got minutes for my borrowed pay-as-you-go phone. I have free texts and calls within Meteor phones, which all my friends have here so that will be nice. And I can receive phone calls and texts from the US for free. So if anyone wants to spend the money to contact me I will gladly receive them! It was a long walk back to the apartment, especially with full hands and backpacks; we dropped off our stuff and later went out grocery shopping in the complete opposite direction. It is about a ten minute walk- not too bad. But a bit overwhelming- not recognizing brands or anything. I managed to find the store brand Special K though! So I will be happy.

Today we had orientation. Again a long day, but lots of useful information. I won’t bore you with it all. We are now registered as students. I will get an ID card tomorrow. The whole classes ordeal is still confusing. But I guess I am in a Physics and Anatomy class. I still need to find out when those are. Then for my two electives that I am going to take, I can just go to a bunch of different classes all week, and don't need to make a final decision on that until January 14th. We'll see how this goes! Very different from my written in stone course schedules at QU where I didn't have much in the way of choices due to the Physical Therapy program.

That's all for now! Was supposed to be a quick update to let you all know I was here alive, but one I start typing...