We want Moher....Galway!

This weekend a fairly large group of students (11 total) from my program went to Galway for the weekend.  Galway is located on the west side of the country, across the country from Dublin.

We had to get up at 6 AM to get make it out to the train station…some of us walked and others took a taxi but either way it was an early morning and all of us were tired.  I have never ridden a train before and was wide-awake and excited, I love train stations!  The trains had our names on our seats (I rode backwards) and I got a diet coke from a trolley lady and while everyone else slept most of the 3 hour ride, I read a book that I borrowed from my friend Allison.

We arrived in Galway at 10 AM to a rainy/cloudy day.  Our hostel was right across the street from the train station so we checked in right away and got the day started.  I went with 3 girls to the travel center and with the help of an extremely nice lady, we VERY quickly got our whole weekend organized!

Let me preface by saying that what we all discovered quickly were a few key differences between Dublin and Galway.  1. It is much smaller and you can instantly tell. 2. The general population is much younger than Dublin, so it was more up our alley.  3. It is essentially a large college town, with a main university. 4. With the smaller population and cobblestone streets and younger people everywhere, it had the feel of Madison and Ann Arbor for those Michigan kiddos on the program.

Which means that we all felt instantly at home a bit and much less overwhelmed than sometimes when in the city of Dublin.

So…the busy weekend began:

After telling the other people the plans in case they wanted to join, we stopped at a crepe place and ate some lunch, walked around the city center of Galway, grabbed coffee and chocolate for the bus ride (from Griffin’s bakery---amazing) and headed for the coach (bus) station for our 1 PM tour to the Burren and Cliffs of Moher.  All 11 of us decided to go, it was only 16 euro for a 5 hour trip, and the bus was pretty much all ours as only a few other people came.  We drove through Ireland, stopping at various “hotspots” to take pictures of scenery---the day was a bit cloudy, but the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds and everything still looked beautiful, duh!  Finally, after a very bumpy ride in which everyone ended up motion sick (the roads in this country look like one ways and we had a  2 story bus climbing up mountains and such), the sun came out and we arrived to the Cliffs of Moher.

It was 3 PM here so 9 in the states and I called my dad when I was at the top of the climb and told him to google pictures of the cliffs because that was where I was standing.  Of course, we took lots of pictures and did goofy things and then all just enjoyed it…..which was kind of hard to do because there were flies everywhere, including horse fly’s.  But if they wouldn’t have been there I could have sat and watched the view all day.

Soon it was time to head back---we slept pretty much and upon arriving at the hostel, we showered and then got dinner. I went to The Front Door with Allison and Jacki and we had a wonderful AMERICAN meal…..pizza, wings, and beer.  It was the special there and we decided that nothing else would taste better than some American grease.  Dad, you’ll be glad to know the wings are just as good in Ireland and they give you a bowl of water to clean your hands with.

We made some Irish friends who worked there, including some promoters that let us play some trivia games for free cider. After dinner we met up with the rest of the group and headed out on the town.  There were a lot of stag and hen parties going on (bachelor and bachelorette), so groups were out in costumes everywhere!  We ended up at this bar called Coyote’s and, get this, they had a mechanical bull to ride….so we did!  It was SO much fun, even though most of us were horrible at it.  We all had a good laugh and a good time, but we had to get up early so the night had to end.

Saturday morning we woke up too early to shower and catch a bus an hour away to a ferry that would take us to the Aran Islands.  Not all of us went on the trip, but we did gain a new member of our clan…our 8^th roommate in the hostel, Matt, aka Canada.  One of the girls on our trip gets really sea sick so she sold him her ticket and he joined us.  I’ve also never been on a ferry so that was another first. We went to Inis Mor, the largest of the 3 Aran Islands.

After a leisurely lunch of coffee, pizza, and panini’s, we headed out to explore.   The thing to do on the islands is rent a bike and ride around the island.  I was really really looking forward to doing this, but my knee was really hurting from all the activity the night before and decided biking wasn’t the best thing for it.  So everyone rode bikes and one girl, Carly, stayed back with me.  We looked through the shops and then decided to take a horse carriage ride through the islands instead of the bikes. (Another first-never ridden in a horse carriage…really the weekend for firsts among ways to travel).

Although the horse ride was a bit expensive, both Carly and I were extremely glad we payed the money and thought it was well worth it.  Our driver was a local man named John.  He grew up in Galway and now lives on the islands….and what we loved about this experience was that it wasn’t a guided bus tour, but someone living on the island.  He let us stop when we wanted pictures, showed us his house, and his daughters house….stopped to switch horses, and spoke to everyone that passed him along the roads in Gaelic.  It was cool to see a part of the island from the eyes of someone that lived there in a leisurely pace, and here him interact in his native language with other locals.  The only hard thing was that it was hard to understand him so I said “that’s good” to some things I shouldn’t have when I didn’t realize what he was saying, whoops!

We got out at Dun Aongus, an ancient fort on the island.  It was a 20 minute walk up the mountain basically, which didn’t help the knee but was totally worth it.  It was a little like the Cliffs of Moher, but calmer, with less flies.  It was a very hot day outside and people were picnicking in the fort and taking pictures….no one else in our group got this far to walk up it so Carly and I were the only ones. Definitely a must see for anyone heading to Galway.  The thing about Inis Mor is that it is the closest point to America, so there is a bar on the island called “The American Bar” which is actually in Irish bar but it was where Irish people went before emigrating to the US.  Carly and I took pictures standing at the top of the cliffs and looking out to America…the closest point to it, just across the ocean!

John finally got us back to the main area and we hung out talking to some locals before taking the ferry back to Galway.  We didn’t get back to the hostel until 7, so it was definitely another really long day.  Jacki, Allison, and I did dinner again…this time we had our first fish and chips experience.  We ate at McDonaghs’,  which is apparently a famous fish and chips place.  I just started eating fish a year or so ago, but this was by far the most amazing thing I’ve ever had….I am officially in love with fish and chips.

Sunday was great….so relaxing.  We woke up, checked out of the hostel and spent the day walking around the city, taking pictures, and shopping.  After a lunch of again, fish and chips, a few of us hung around under a tree while it rained just taking in the atmosphere an before we knew it, we were grabbing brownies and coffee from our favorite Griffin’s bakery and then heading to the train station to go back to Dublin.

It was a very successful weekend and went smoothly despite the large group.  Everyone had a grand time.  After a weekend of sunburn, we returned finally to rain in Dublin….but the US was playing in soccer so we showered and went to a pub to watch the game. Then, I had my first time at Porterhouse (a top 10 Dublin pub) and got to experience strawberry beer.  It is wonderful and my new favorite beer….Guiness who??

 

 

Last week.....

It’s Thursday morning here and I’m sitting in Starbucks (how American) paying for internet because I had to send some attachments and we can’t do that in the only lab they give us internet. It’s right by the hustle and bustle of the city though, and nice to get out of the Trinity College gates once in a while.

Today we will have finished our first day of class. I have class in a few minutes, followed by a quick lunch break for errands, and then UW-Madison and Michigan students have their film class for 3 hours in the afternoon. After the first two days of chaos, yesterday settled down a bit. I realized I even typed chaotic in my last post. Things settled for two reasons.

1. We have chosen our classes so aren’t attending all of them anymore. I am taking Drama, History, Film, and Visual Culture.

2. The main professor had a little chat with us about differences in American and Irish lectures. He pointed out that in America, we are expected to read ahead of time and know answers to things…in Ireland, they lecture by being less interactive and just lecturing, and the readings supplement but they don’t put a focus on having the readings done as you go. Needless to say, you can imagine how flustered they were as 30 students were freaking out about handouts and books! (and our history book will be in on Monday, to which the professor said “You only have to finish the 300 page history in 5 weeks…plenty of time”)

So, now that we have some free time in either mornings or afternoons, I think everyone is feeling better. We have to sign in for everything we do, however, and some people feel like they should go to classes they aren’t taking, because the people here have made numerous comments about getting graded based on overall attendance (taking every opportunity to learn from great people)….which is awesome, we all get that. But we also need time to explore the city and get errands done, and in my case, go to the gym…..taking all 7 classes with the night events planned that’s just not possible.

Speaking of night events, last night Fintan Vallely and friends came to play for us….they play traditional Irish music and dance. It was absolutely amazing! There was a Irish step dancer, a woman who sang solo with no instruments, 2 violinists, the irish pipes, and a clarinet type thing. They were all quite wonderful and everyone was impressed. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures but I’m still humming some of the tunes. The thing I found most interesting was that they don’t use scores and read notes from pieces of paper. In Irish music, they learn a song and everyone plays the same notes….the song becomes melodious/unique based on the individual styles of the person playing. Interesting!

Oh, about the weather. The professors love us because they say we’ve brought nice weather…I don’t know what happened to this Ireland rain, I’m sure it will come back, but it’s been sunny, gorgeous, literally blue skies…and since the sun here doesn’t set until about 10:30 at night, the sun is still hot at 6. Which means yesterday I sat outside and read from 4-7 and I got a tan. woohoo!

Okay, time for class. A group of us is taking the train to Galway this weekend to see the Aran Islands, Cliffs of Mohr, and other things….my first time on a train! I’ll write more when we return on Sunday night!

First three days in Ireland

The past 3 days have been a whirlwind.  Between traveling and events that the College had planned for us, we didn’t get our first real bit of down time until 6 PM on the third day.  This is the first chance I’ve had time to post and it’ll probably be a long one so sorry in advance!

Traveling went well….of course the flight was delayed at O’hare, but when aren’t they?

I met up with 4 other students in the O’hare airpot and together we flew to Toronto, walked to our gate and boarded for our flight into the Dublin airport.  Although I love traveling alone (so much less stress than with a group and the people watching in airports is extremely interesting), it was nice to have other people to find our bags and the airbus to the college and just have some names and basics out of the way.  Other students in the program assumed we all knew each other!

 

So.  About traveling and Ireland and anything else, here are my first few impressions from the past 24 hours:

-Traveling internationally on Air Canada is the way to go!  I felt like a kid in a candy shop with my individual TV screen in front of me.  They have awesome movies by the way. And music. And TV. And games.  Although we flew overnight, I didn’t sleep at all.  And they give you free alcohol…wine with dinner on the plane isn’t so bad!

-Ireland has hills, which living in Wisconsin we don’t see much of…it reminds me of Pennsylvania, where I used to live.  I sat in the middle of the plane so I couldn’t see out the window much,  but I saw lots and lots of hills. (we went to mountains which I’ll talk about later on which were even better)

-Everything is so green.  Even better than your neighbor that has perfect lawn and waters it everyday.  I mean like really green.  The grass is so bright and the trees are ridiculously huge and just green.   I guess that’s what things look like when it rains approximately 5 times a day.

-Yes, Irish accents are extremely attractive.  And sound 10 times better in person.  Enough said.

-Irish people are also EXTREMELY nice.  Imagine the nicest friend you have.  They’re nicer than that.  They want to talk to you about anything and everything and are always willing to help, whether it be with directions or carrying your 46 pound suitcase up to your dorm room.  They genuinely want to help and get a little offended when you refuse it.  I’m so used to doing things on my own that I’m not used to accepting help, but I do have to say it is pretty nice.

-EVERYTHING IN EUROPE IS SO EXPENSIVE.  I will be broke by the time I leave this trip.  A beer is a good 10 American dollars, food is all expensive, drinks, water, basically everything.  Oh well, we have all decided we won’t let it ruin our trip and will pay for it with our great jobs someday, ha.

-Not only do people drive on the left side of the road, but they walk on the left side too.  We looked very American walking on the right and making everyone move around us until we figured this out.

-The handle to flush the toilets is on the right side of the toilet

So yesterday we got organized-my room has a double bed and some of the other rooms only have singles.  The rooms are super cute and have lots of space. And include their own sinks in them. Not bad for a dorm room, I’d say!  We also have 2 bathrooms for 4 people and a completely furnished kitchen/den area.

After unpacking a group of us went walking around the city for an hour or so just exploring.  For those of you from Madison, most of the streets are like mini-replicas of State Street.  Everything is cobblestone, people walk in the streets, there are shops everywhere and markets with flowers and produce.  It’s pretty much amazing.

Then we slept, aka took a 3 hour nap and showered and went out to dinner/our first Irish Pub.  Trying to organize going to dinner with 15 people who you don’t know, in a city that no one knows, without cell phones to communicate with each other is extremely difficult and time consuming.  We ended up splitting into smaller groups.  My group stayed at The Temple Bar and talked to two guys who are actually from America but live in Europe teaching baseball to little kids.  They were at the Timber Rattler stadium a few months ago in Appleton---it really is a small world!  They have been here 6 months and already sound Irish, so maybe I’ll come back with an accent.  Wouldn’t that be grand?

Anyway, we get continental breakfast so this morning (Friday morning) we had breakfast and then Nick, my dormmate across the hall Chelsea, and this crazy funny girl Carly went and got phones from the cell place Vodaphone.  FINALLY CONNECTED!  I seriously feel better just having it.  And we get free calls and texts to other Vodaphone people so we can talk all for free.  The phone was the cheapest they had and still kind of expensive, but it’s just necessary to have….we need to be able to talk to people.  And we have a credit on it so right now I have 40 minutes of international calling.  I called my mom during the day from my number.  Since we have to pay a set fee for a monthly service, it’s not a bad deal because that fee for free texts/calls to people here goes toward international minutes.

After we had orientation to the program in the morning (classes, meet the important people, etc) we had lunch and then went on a bus to go to Dublin Castle.  The castle was really neat, we got to take pictures…the detail in the ceilings and wood work was absolutely amazing.  From there we went to St. Patricks Cathedral.  At this point we were all so tired it was hard to pay attention but it was cool to see where Jonathon Swift was buried.  Also, they have one of the best boys choirs in Europe and they started playing at the end of our tour.

Youd think our day would be over, but nope.  Next we went to a cinema to watch a movie, The Dead by James Joyce.  The cinema is ridiculous.  It looks like you should be in a posh night club.  There is geometric furniture everywhere and open spaces and really bold colors and lots of hanging out space…….totally not like an American theatre. 

After arriving back at Trinity, some of us went and had dinner at a Crepe store-mine was spinach and cheese and my first time liking a crepe.  Not exactly Irish food, but I definitely don’t eat that in the States. After dinner came shower and sleep…..only to wake up much too early to start the next day.

Yesterday was Saturday, which consisted of a day field trip to County Wicklow.  It is about an hour outside the city and our first stop was to the Powerscourt Gardens.  This was by far my most favorite thing we’ve done so far.  The gardens were located in the mountains so everywhere was surrounded by green mountains…they were huge and you could take a long walking tour that takes over an hour to give you an idea of how big the gardens are.  They included a pet cemetery, a rose garden, Japanese gardens, dolphin park and much more.  Honestly, it was one of those places where I can’t even begin to describe and pictures won’t do it justice but I’ll see if I can find the best pics because I think I took about 200.  To you golfers out there, there’s a course right in the middle of the mountains….a pretty nice backdrop for your swing I’d say!

After that we went to Glendalough (pronounced GLEND-A-LOCH).  This was deeper in the mountains so even though I wanted to nap I keep my eyes rooted out the window.  Here we had a tour of some old monastic ruins and got to walk through the gravestones and over to a lake which, again, was gorgeous.  Also, my friend Allison here found a set of gravestones with her family’s last name on them!

Our final stop was the Avondale House-home to the Parnells.  By this point my knee was hurting and my right leg was hurting from standing with all my weight on it during the tours so I didn’t take any pics of this place….the first two places were much better.

Yesterday  was what the Irish consider a “grand day” outside….which means the sun was shining and we could actually wear a t-shirt and not be cold…..we enjoyed laying in the sun, ate some dinner, then went out to 2 student Irish Pubs….Kennedys and O’doyles.  It was fun, but right now we are still traveling in pretty large groups which is kind of difficult to manage so in time I think that will get better as people go off in smaller groups.

None of us really know what any of these things are that we visited, but we all have to take a history course starting Monday so it will be cool to read about something and say we’ve been there!  The nice weather is over and it’s raining, but all of us need groceries so we’re taking a trip to Dunnes Stores, which is a grocery/clothing store here and supposedly the cheapest around.  I don’t know about the rest of the day…I might try to go to the gym, but it’s about 30 american dollars a time, or 120 for a month so I can’t decide what to do about that….with my knees though I can’t run outside and need the weights so I might have to suck it up and pay the money, which would be about 240 for the time I’m here.  Hmmmm…….

Classes start tomorrow, I’ll update after the first few days.  And for anyone who actually got through this whole thing, I promise they’ll be shorter in the future!  I’m sure you got a sense reading this of how packed they’ve had things so if you’re exhausted you know how I feel! 

Jess

P.S. I'm not sure how putting the pics on here will work, the computers we have to use won't let us store them, it's complicated, but anyway, if I can't get them up, I'll put a link to facebook when I have them...coming soon!

Procrastination Packing

I am extremely organized.  I do things way before the deadline. And I make lists.  I have lists for just about everything.  Homework lists.  To do lists. Lists of things to get done during the day where things from the to-do lists get put onto. A bit obsessive compulsive?  Maybe.  But I just really like order and it’s awesome when you can check things off and feel like you’ve done alot with a day.

Anyone that knows me—knows the above about me.  What they probably don’t know is that I am the complete, total, 180 degree opposite of this when it comes to my bedroom. And packing.

For starters, my room is usually messy.  And it stays that way until I either get so sick of the mess that I decide I simply CAN’T be in it anymore, or until something makes me clean it: like needing to find clothes to bring to Ireland. 

When it comes to packing, something in my body just can’t make me do it in a timely fashion.  For example: My family goes to Pennsylvania twice a year, once at Christmas and once in the summer to visit my mom and dad’s extended families.  We usually try to leave around 5 in the morning and drive the 10 hour trip.  If we leave at 5, that means I start packing at about 1 in the morning.  A mere 4 hours before we leave.  And without a doubt, I’m always ready to go.  That also means that while my brothers spend their last nights trying to pack, I spend it with my friends and pack anyway.

I decided that since I’m going to Dublin for 8 weeks instead of Pennsylvania for 1 week I should extend that 4 hour packing deadline…..to 48 hours.  I am leaving for the Chicago O’hare airport on Wednesday morning at 10 AM.  So my packing officially begins now.  I’ll probably start with a few lists of haves, to packs, NEED to remember, and to still buy.  But I think the first order of business is to clean my room so I can actually find the clothes I want to bring.

Actually, maybe I’ll eat breakfast FIRST.  A little more procrastination won’t hurt, right?

Jess

A month until departure

My flight for Dublin leaves in about a month. Which means that today, while I sit and type this in my empty bedroom that is now in storage, the only remains being a few holes in the wall and dust bunnies in the corner, a month from now I will be unpacking in my new home for the summer.

Today is sort of a weird day. I am a senior and most of my friends are graduating. For them, today is about moving on. Growing up. Celebrating 4 or 5 years of their life, the memories they made, and getting ready to step, finally, into the real REAL world. And I can’t quite relate because my weekend consisted of moving into a storage facility, packing up my mom’s SUV, and driving to Neenah where I will sit for the next month because I have no job and nothing interesting to do before I pack and head to a new country for 2 months.

I feel spoiled, in a way. Since I have another year of school left, I don’t have the same job worries as some of my friends. And, instead of making money waitressing to pay for rent next year, my daily schedule consists of hanging out. And then spending a lot more money on taking classes in Dublin….arriving back in the states just in time for the annual dreaded move in/out weekend in Madison.

But I am extremely excited to leave for Ireland. And I am so happy that back in December when I was deciding what I would do for the summer that I seriously considered studying abroad. I have never been out of the United States (other than Mexico), but traveling overseas has always been a dream of mine.

I don’t really feel like I’m leaving in a month yet; mainly because I’ve spent the morning unpacking everything I just packed, and right now I’m in “getting settled” mode. But I’m back at home with my parents and I know that by the end of the week after I’ve had some relax and unwind time, I’ll be bored silly and begin to think more seriously about Ireland.

I know these next 5 weeks are going to FLY by and before I know it, I’ll be driving to Chicago to board my flight. Which means I’ll have plenty more to write about in mid-June. For now? I’m going to enjoy finishing my 8^th semester at Madison and just be lazy for a while.

Until next time,

Jess