Monday, November 26, 2012
Forgot to mention my team of bodyguards
Just realized I forgot to mention how I basically had an entire team of bodyguards last week. Whenever we went out to a pub or to Mizzoni's (aka Heaven on earth... best pizza you could ever imagine, especially at 2am) or just walked around Shop Street.. It would be me, Adam, Keith, Sean, and Pat (who came all the way from Dublin to have Thanksgiving dinner with us and then stayed til Saturday.. so fun!!) walking next to me.. And if you don't know them, I'd say Adam is 6'2'', Keith is 6'3'', Sean is 6'2 maybe and Pat is probably 6'0 so regardless to say I had some good company around me and didn't have to worry about any drunk leprechauns bothering me at all when we went out!!! ;-)
Sunday, November 25, 2012
20 Days
I will be flying back home to Boston in exactly 20 days from today. I can't believe it. That's really not much time at all. Time seems to go by faster and faster every year but wow, this semester was one for the books. I think it broke a record it went by so fast. I've started making a list of memories that I don't want to forget.. from little quotes or inside jokes to the names of people we've met here that I don't want to forget. I've got 66 written down so far but my friends and I plan on sitting down and adding to it. That's the scary part I think - forgetting. I know that I've taken hundreds of pictures and that they're on my computer and Facebook and I have these blogs to go back to and reread but it's the little things like the little orange and white dog that roams around my block freely or the familiar faces we see downtown performing each week or whatever else
Coming here has been such a great experience.. not only because Ireland itself is beautiful but because I have lived life outside of the small St Mike's bubble and because I've lived on my own for four months without the safety net of friends I've known for years surrounding me or my mom down the hall willing to make my next meal and spoil me if I get hungry. I've had to find my way around a new city, a new country, find the correct bus station and get over the awkwardness you feel when you have to approach ten strangers in a row to ask for directions because you didn't pay good enough attention the first time six times someone told you where your destination was. Some parts have been kind of scary.. like waking up after dozing on a bus and wondering if you missed your stop and where the hell you are in Ireland (all cows and sheep and green fields look alike... no surprise there but it really makes it hard to try to figure out where you are haha) or getting ready to take my first exam after not having to work hard academically for months (yeah that's my current fear. more about that next week if I survive..) but mostly it's just been incredible getting to know my new friends here.. especially my Irish roomies and their friends along with the lovely 13 people who came here on the API program with me who have traveled with me, been exhausted with me, put up with eachothers shenanigans, booked and stayed in weird hostels with me, and everything else we've been through!! It'll be weird going from living with them to us separating and being in different parts of the country so far from eachother but I have no doubt we'll all reunite at some point or another!! Preferably in the Cape... at my cottage.. or better yet, when they come visit me in Galway after I move here forever ;-)
Coming here has been such a great experience.. not only because Ireland itself is beautiful but because I have lived life outside of the small St Mike's bubble and because I've lived on my own for four months without the safety net of friends I've known for years surrounding me or my mom down the hall willing to make my next meal and spoil me if I get hungry. I've had to find my way around a new city, a new country, find the correct bus station and get over the awkwardness you feel when you have to approach ten strangers in a row to ask for directions because you didn't pay good enough attention the first time six times someone told you where your destination was. Some parts have been kind of scary.. like waking up after dozing on a bus and wondering if you missed your stop and where the hell you are in Ireland (all cows and sheep and green fields look alike... no surprise there but it really makes it hard to try to figure out where you are haha) or getting ready to take my first exam after not having to work hard academically for months (yeah that's my current fear. more about that next week if I survive..) but mostly it's just been incredible getting to know my new friends here.. especially my Irish roomies and their friends along with the lovely 13 people who came here on the API program with me who have traveled with me, been exhausted with me, put up with eachothers shenanigans, booked and stayed in weird hostels with me, and everything else we've been through!! It'll be weird going from living with them to us separating and being in different parts of the country so far from eachother but I have no doubt we'll all reunite at some point or another!! Preferably in the Cape... at my cottage.. or better yet, when they come visit me in Galway after I move here forever ;-)
Family visit at Thanksgiving!
Hello Blogworld.. So I'm having a very very lazy Sunday in order to recover from my long (but lovely) week of visitors so I'm going to post a few entries right now. Get ready.
To start, the family arrived in Dublin on Sunday morning so I took an afternoon bus to greet their jet-lagged selves for dinner! Keith, Adam, Mom, and Uncle Joe and Aunt Sandy came.. so we had a whole crew! It was really great to see them. Keith looked old - Stonehill is turning him into an adult, awww. We met at a little pub and they did their very best to talk in full sentences and tried to fill me in on how their flights went.. but it was a bit of a struggle since they were so tired haha. I had gone out the night before so I was tired as well but I think they won the Who's Most Deliriously Tired competition. For example, Mom was trying to tell Joe and Sandy where I'd traveled to so far... and apparently I've gone to Spance and Frain HAHA! So we couldn't get enough of that joke and every time someone stuttered or said a word wrong later in the week, we'd blame it on Spance or Frain and say "Well that must just be what they call it there!" Oh man, I couldn't get enough of it. It was classs.
Keith got to drink legally and the family got to experience their first extremely drunk Irish man who told us "When you see the big cat, don't get off the elephant." We're still not sure if we should wait to get off the elephant when we reach Spance, or if we should ride it all the way to Frain where there are no big cats.
We had the same driver all week who took us on all of the tours - his name was Maurice but it was pronounced Morris, but eventually we just called him Mossy or Mo. He took us all over, we saw the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, went to a cute little pub called McGan's in a little town called Doolin that Mom and Bonnie ate at 25 years ago!! And then to lots of other places.
Thursday we had Thanksgiving Dinner at the hotel that generously offered to make us a 3 course meal with mulled wine included!! It was so so good.. There were a few options for meals but I started with corn on the cob, then had turkey and ham with mashed potatoes, and then there were a bunch of options for dessert including Banoffi pie.. my new obsession! YUM I'm not sure how I survived 20 years without it. It's amazing. And the mulled wine was so good, it reminded me of a warm liquified version of potpourri or a warm sangria without the fruit.
It was a really fun week and going out to the pubs with Adam and Keith was great - It was so so nice to hang out with them and have fun with them and see them in a new light/context besides a regular family party at Christmas or something. Gotta love the bro bros.
Then CJ came on Friday for two nights from Paris! So that was great.. He got to have some real Irish Guinness and shepherd's pie and could relax for the weekend without worrying about getting pickpocketed or robbed. Saturday we took a very long, winding and bumpy bus ride to go see the Cliffs of Moher and we got SO lucky - it was a perfect day. So sunny!!! We even got to watch the sunset go down over the Cliffs, it was amazing. Even better? I didn't fall off the Cliffs - which I had a dream about last week! Even better than that? I witnessed my friend Mary get shocked by an electric fence HAHAHA it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. No, I'm not a psychopath - she didn't get hurt. But she had jsut finished helping me climb over a wall (so heroic- probably would have fell off the Cliffs if she didn't pull me over) but one of her boots landed in a mud puddle, so she held onto the fence next to her to dip her foot into the puddle.... and as soon as she touched the water ZAP!! It shocked her. It took both of us a minute to realize what happened and when it did i DIED laughing Oh my God.. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even make any noise. CJ and Erin were ahead of us on the path and they heard her scream so they were concerned/asking what happened but I couldn't even tell them I was wheezing and cackling so hard hahahahahah.
Anyways that pretty much sums up my week! How was everyone else's Thanksgiving?
To start, the family arrived in Dublin on Sunday morning so I took an afternoon bus to greet their jet-lagged selves for dinner! Keith, Adam, Mom, and Uncle Joe and Aunt Sandy came.. so we had a whole crew! It was really great to see them. Keith looked old - Stonehill is turning him into an adult, awww. We met at a little pub and they did their very best to talk in full sentences and tried to fill me in on how their flights went.. but it was a bit of a struggle since they were so tired haha. I had gone out the night before so I was tired as well but I think they won the Who's Most Deliriously Tired competition. For example, Mom was trying to tell Joe and Sandy where I'd traveled to so far... and apparently I've gone to Spance and Frain HAHA! So we couldn't get enough of that joke and every time someone stuttered or said a word wrong later in the week, we'd blame it on Spance or Frain and say "Well that must just be what they call it there!" Oh man, I couldn't get enough of it. It was classs.
Keith got to drink legally and the family got to experience their first extremely drunk Irish man who told us "When you see the big cat, don't get off the elephant." We're still not sure if we should wait to get off the elephant when we reach Spance, or if we should ride it all the way to Frain where there are no big cats.
We had the same driver all week who took us on all of the tours - his name was Maurice but it was pronounced Morris, but eventually we just called him Mossy or Mo. He took us all over, we saw the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, went to a cute little pub called McGan's in a little town called Doolin that Mom and Bonnie ate at 25 years ago!! And then to lots of other places.
Thursday we had Thanksgiving Dinner at the hotel that generously offered to make us a 3 course meal with mulled wine included!! It was so so good.. There were a few options for meals but I started with corn on the cob, then had turkey and ham with mashed potatoes, and then there were a bunch of options for dessert including Banoffi pie.. my new obsession! YUM I'm not sure how I survived 20 years without it. It's amazing. And the mulled wine was so good, it reminded me of a warm liquified version of potpourri or a warm sangria without the fruit.
It was a really fun week and going out to the pubs with Adam and Keith was great - It was so so nice to hang out with them and have fun with them and see them in a new light/context besides a regular family party at Christmas or something. Gotta love the bro bros.
Then CJ came on Friday for two nights from Paris! So that was great.. He got to have some real Irish Guinness and shepherd's pie and could relax for the weekend without worrying about getting pickpocketed or robbed. Saturday we took a very long, winding and bumpy bus ride to go see the Cliffs of Moher and we got SO lucky - it was a perfect day. So sunny!!! We even got to watch the sunset go down over the Cliffs, it was amazing. Even better? I didn't fall off the Cliffs - which I had a dream about last week! Even better than that? I witnessed my friend Mary get shocked by an electric fence HAHAHA it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. No, I'm not a psychopath - she didn't get hurt. But she had jsut finished helping me climb over a wall (so heroic- probably would have fell off the Cliffs if she didn't pull me over) but one of her boots landed in a mud puddle, so she held onto the fence next to her to dip her foot into the puddle.... and as soon as she touched the water ZAP!! It shocked her. It took both of us a minute to realize what happened and when it did i DIED laughing Oh my God.. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even make any noise. CJ and Erin were ahead of us on the path and they heard her scream so they were concerned/asking what happened but I couldn't even tell them I was wheezing and cackling so hard hahahahahah.
Anyways that pretty much sums up my week! How was everyone else's Thanksgiving?
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Vamos a Barcelona!
Hola amigos! I got back from visiting Barcelona this weekend and it was a really great trip.. especially because NO ONE GOT PICKPOCKETED!!! Woohoo! First time visiting another country and having everyone return with their wallets, so that was a big success. Major paranoia pays off! I went with Jo, Betsy and Laiken (Bacon and Letsy as I often accidently say) and we got there pretty late on Friday, around 10pm probably. But it was grand cause Spain/Barcelona people are such night owls! We checked into our hostel and found a tapas place for dinner that was still open by the time we got ready and went out, which was around midnight. We all got three small plates of food - I got nachos and guacamole, a potato casserole/cake thing, and then teriyaki chicken - it was pretty good! Then we set out to find the bar crawl that our hostel was hosting.. Their first stop was a bar called Grand Foc, which means Great Fire but got us some raised eyebrows and laughs when we asked people where the Grand Foc was.
When we got to the bar there were a ton of people there - turns out there are 3 Sant Jordi hostels in Barcelona so all three met up together to do this bar crawl, which meant there were a ton of people my age there! It was really fun. We met guys who were walking around Europe from Denmark, Australians who were traveling for 7 months, people from Scotland, Ireland, England, the US, and a bunch of other places I can't remember! We all were happy to go out and everyone was super friendly and excited to meet eachother and find out why they were backpacking/studying abroad/traveling or whatever. Two Australian guys were wearing tiger costumes (never found out why haha) but they were obviously the most easy to pick out of the crowd so they led the whole hostel group (probably about 50 of us!) from Grand Foc to our next spot, Soventa, a nightclub that was on the beach!! At one point the Tigers decided they needed a dance move to lead the group with, so naturally I had to teach them mine and Lindsey's (down down up up around around) and they loved it! So Lindsey, our dance move is officially international!! Everyone in the group was dancing their way to the club and I became known as the dance teacher, it was hilarious. The rest of the night was fun, we danced our little hearts out and then went out the back door of the club and onto the beach where we splashed in the ocean and yelled about how cool our lives are that we're on a beach in Spain at 3am haha. Never saw the Tigers again unfortunately but we got some good pictures!
The next day we walked around Las Ramblas and bought souvenirs then went on a free walking tour of the Gothic area of Barcelona and saw a lot of places Gaudi designed.. the architecture was really pretty! Our tour guide was nice, she was from Australia but has lived in Barcelona off and on for the last 4 years. We also met two Americans on our tour who met on Match.com and had been dating for awhile now, and they just decided to quit their jobs and move to Australia so they were traveling all around Europe on their way to their new home. How cool is that?? They were really nice, we had lunch with them after the tour.
Later that day we went to La Sagrada Familia but it was closing so we couldn't go inside unfortunately. So I'll be google imaging pictures of that later haha. Then we took a little siesta in the hostel after walking around all day and went out again later that night with the hostels again. Since the Tigers weren't there, I felt I had no choice but to continue the dancing alone hahaha so I led the group this time. The two men leading the bar crawl were so funny, they were dancing with me the whole time too. One's name was Hernan, but when we first met him he told us to meet on Roger Street, but his accent was so thick we thought his name was Roger, so we called him Roger all night and he thought it was a riot. We didn't find out his real name til we were halfway to the club we were all going to.
The next morning we woke up ridiculously early and went to Park Guell, which was beautiful, but we were so tired we were pretty much delirious throughout the whole tour. We kept taking ridiculous pictures and had a serious case of the Sleepy Hahas because we were so tired. That was the last thing we did in Barcelona then we made our way back to our beloved Galway.
I was so glad I got to go to Barcelona - it was a much different trip than my trip to Paris. In Paris we did a lot more tours and didn't really go out at night, so it was really cool to go out late and see the club life and the beach since obviously we have nothing like that in Galway.
Mom, Keith, Adam, Joey and Sandy are coming next week! So that should be great. I'm ready to go out to a few nice restaurants again, hehe! :)
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Versailles and Halloween.
Thought I'd make a new post since that one was getting pretty long.. Sorry I type/talk a lot!
Sunday we went to Versailles and did a tour of the gardens that King Louis 14th created in order to have the most "glorious chateau in France". It was absolutely breath-taking. and HUGE! It was something like 22,000 acres so naturally we didn't see it all but we did walk around forever and see the water fountain show that had its own soundtrack specifically composed for the fountains, and all of the original statues and perfectly manicured lawns. The thought put into the gardens and the symbolism behind everything was amazing.. For example there was hardly any grass in the gardens because grass grows wild and King Louis wanted to prove that he could control everything, even nature, because he was the Sun God and he basically thought that he ruled the world, even the way grass grew from the ground. Another thing that was amazing was the water pumps for all of the fountains didn't run all the time, so when King Louis was taking a stroll through the gardens he'd tell his servants which garden he wanted to see next, and they'd do a certain whistle to let the next servant know they had to sprint to go turn on that water before he got there.. then when he was moving on they'd shut that off and turn it on again quickly at the next one before he showed up.. So it looked to him/his guests that the water was running at all times. Everything was so impressive.
That night we went to Montmarte for our third and final tour.. This was the Moulin Rouge area and we had another awesome tour guide, Billy, who was Scottish and made a million drinking references haha. After this tour we met up with CJ again and got some delicious crepes and had a drink with him in a little French bar.
How was everyone's Halloween?? Mine was great! I was a pint of Guinness, so I had a black dress and used cotton balls to make foam go around the top and then I drew/cut out/taped a harp and the word GUINNESS across it.
Oh man I actually just learned about five minutes ago there was a boy in Galway who was in a sheep costume and his costume was set on fire in a nightclub here and he is now in critical condition with burns over 80% of his body. Such a sad sad accident, so if you're reading this, say a prayer for him. The article said he was a really motivated medical student here at NUIG. My thoughts will be with him.. hopefully he recovers fully.
Sunday we went to Versailles and did a tour of the gardens that King Louis 14th created in order to have the most "glorious chateau in France". It was absolutely breath-taking. and HUGE! It was something like 22,000 acres so naturally we didn't see it all but we did walk around forever and see the water fountain show that had its own soundtrack specifically composed for the fountains, and all of the original statues and perfectly manicured lawns. The thought put into the gardens and the symbolism behind everything was amazing.. For example there was hardly any grass in the gardens because grass grows wild and King Louis wanted to prove that he could control everything, even nature, because he was the Sun God and he basically thought that he ruled the world, even the way grass grew from the ground. Another thing that was amazing was the water pumps for all of the fountains didn't run all the time, so when King Louis was taking a stroll through the gardens he'd tell his servants which garden he wanted to see next, and they'd do a certain whistle to let the next servant know they had to sprint to go turn on that water before he got there.. then when he was moving on they'd shut that off and turn it on again quickly at the next one before he showed up.. So it looked to him/his guests that the water was running at all times. Everything was so impressive.
That night we went to Montmarte for our third and final tour.. This was the Moulin Rouge area and we had another awesome tour guide, Billy, who was Scottish and made a million drinking references haha. After this tour we met up with CJ again and got some delicious crepes and had a drink with him in a little French bar.
How was everyone's Halloween?? Mine was great! I was a pint of Guinness, so I had a black dress and used cotton balls to make foam go around the top and then I drew/cut out/taped a harp and the word GUINNESS across it.
Oh man I actually just learned about five minutes ago there was a boy in Galway who was in a sheep costume and his costume was set on fire in a nightclub here and he is now in critical condition with burns over 80% of his body. Such a sad sad accident, so if you're reading this, say a prayer for him. The article said he was a really motivated medical student here at NUIG. My thoughts will be with him.. hopefully he recovers fully.
Sorry it's been so long.. Lemme tell you about Paris!
Hey there blog-readers!
So sorry it's been so long since I posted. I've been busy traveling the world/having the best four months of my life, so don't be mad. Since London, Mom visited for a few days. That was fantastic.. going out to eat and having some glasses of Chardonnay with her and enjoying a few nice steaks as opposed to the chicken fingers I make myself way too often was definitely a nice change of pace. Not to mention she took me shopping even though it's her least favorite thing to do!
My friends here were all big Debbie fans, naturally. Especially after she came to The Cellar Bar with us and had a pint with us and showed off some dance moves never seen before in Galway! We also went on a trek at the place I rode horses before in Galway and luckily it was a beautiful day so we got some more pictures and Mom got to brush up on her riding skills before she starts preparing for next year's Oklahoma! ;-)
Meghan, Emily, Mary and I went to France last weekend for three nights because Ireland had a "bank holiday" or what I'm presuming to be an excuse to have Monday off after Halloween weekend... I'd say the motto here is work hard, play harder, but I don't think I can honestly say I've been working hard in classes... oops! I attend class and take some notes but it's nothing like St Mike's where there are constant tests/quizzes to prepare for.
But back to our trip to Paris.. We had a 6am flight out of Dublin, so we had to leave Galway around 1am to get a bus there early enough and we landed around 9am on Friday so we literally did not sleep Thursday night. I did try, but I just can't sleep on buses/planes. Can you??? Does anyone have advice for sleeping on them cause it would help me SO much! If I had a euro for every bus ride I wish I could sleep soundly on......
So when we got to Paris we were somewhat delusionally tired but found our way to the hotel in the north-east side of Paris. We had lunch, went to the Louvre to see a few pictures and the Mona Lisa [which was actually kind of small and disappointing, but still creepy because she literally doesn't take her eyes off you despite where you stand in the room] and then saw the Arc de Triomphe and then went to bed pretty early to feel human again.
The next day we did an awesome but FREEZING (it was barely 40 degrees and windy) walking tour of all Paris. Our tour guide was a young kid from NY who moved to Montreal when he was 18 and then to France, fell in love with it and never went home! I could totally see myself doing that in Ireland..... so if I never come home, don't say I didn't warn you all! ;-)
He told us all about the history of france during the world wars and about different tortures/guillotine beheadings and then we met up with CJ and had lunch with him for a bit..
ALSO best part of Paris -- i got to see Christina from St Mikes!!! She was visiting there for the weekend too. We had a GIANT loud squealy hug in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a restaurant with outdoor seating - proving that the loud americans stereotype is true but we couldn't help it!! I was so excited to see her. THat night she came with me and my friends on a sunset cruise around the Sein River where we got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up/continued to freeze our butts off.
Bad news was Emily's wallet got pickpocketed that night.. it was like a magic trick, the guy went in her zipped purse and grabbed it while she was trying to cross the street and then disappeared.. luckily she canceled her card and had almost no cash in it, but unfortunately her passport was in it which made for a stressful night trying to find a copy of her passport and get copies of IDs together so we could fly back home. Thank you again Tom Murphy the irish immigration man who let her on the flight. Cheers, we owe you one.
So sorry it's been so long since I posted. I've been busy traveling the world/having the best four months of my life, so don't be mad. Since London, Mom visited for a few days. That was fantastic.. going out to eat and having some glasses of Chardonnay with her and enjoying a few nice steaks as opposed to the chicken fingers I make myself way too often was definitely a nice change of pace. Not to mention she took me shopping even though it's her least favorite thing to do!
My friends here were all big Debbie fans, naturally. Especially after she came to The Cellar Bar with us and had a pint with us and showed off some dance moves never seen before in Galway! We also went on a trek at the place I rode horses before in Galway and luckily it was a beautiful day so we got some more pictures and Mom got to brush up on her riding skills before she starts preparing for next year's Oklahoma! ;-)
Meghan, Emily, Mary and I went to France last weekend for three nights because Ireland had a "bank holiday" or what I'm presuming to be an excuse to have Monday off after Halloween weekend... I'd say the motto here is work hard, play harder, but I don't think I can honestly say I've been working hard in classes... oops! I attend class and take some notes but it's nothing like St Mike's where there are constant tests/quizzes to prepare for.
But back to our trip to Paris.. We had a 6am flight out of Dublin, so we had to leave Galway around 1am to get a bus there early enough and we landed around 9am on Friday so we literally did not sleep Thursday night. I did try, but I just can't sleep on buses/planes. Can you??? Does anyone have advice for sleeping on them cause it would help me SO much! If I had a euro for every bus ride I wish I could sleep soundly on......
So when we got to Paris we were somewhat delusionally tired but found our way to the hotel in the north-east side of Paris. We had lunch, went to the Louvre to see a few pictures and the Mona Lisa [which was actually kind of small and disappointing, but still creepy because she literally doesn't take her eyes off you despite where you stand in the room] and then saw the Arc de Triomphe and then went to bed pretty early to feel human again.
The next day we did an awesome but FREEZING (it was barely 40 degrees and windy) walking tour of all Paris. Our tour guide was a young kid from NY who moved to Montreal when he was 18 and then to France, fell in love with it and never went home! I could totally see myself doing that in Ireland..... so if I never come home, don't say I didn't warn you all! ;-)
He told us all about the history of france during the world wars and about different tortures/guillotine beheadings and then we met up with CJ and had lunch with him for a bit..
ALSO best part of Paris -- i got to see Christina from St Mikes!!! She was visiting there for the weekend too. We had a GIANT loud squealy hug in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a restaurant with outdoor seating - proving that the loud americans stereotype is true but we couldn't help it!! I was so excited to see her. THat night she came with me and my friends on a sunset cruise around the Sein River where we got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up/continued to freeze our butts off.
Bad news was Emily's wallet got pickpocketed that night.. it was like a magic trick, the guy went in her zipped purse and grabbed it while she was trying to cross the street and then disappeared.. luckily she canceled her card and had almost no cash in it, but unfortunately her passport was in it which made for a stressful night trying to find a copy of her passport and get copies of IDs together so we could fly back home. Thank you again Tom Murphy the irish immigration man who let her on the flight. Cheers, we owe you one.
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