The sun is out and the sky is clear and it’s another beautiful day in Tully Cross. It’s sad to realize that these days are numbered, and that by this time next week I’ll be looking at my neighborhood outside my window instead of a mountain, and that I will probably never see as many stars at night in Grand Rapids as I can see here. It is definitely a bittersweet feeling and this week will be sure to bring a roller coaster of emotions that we will all undoubtedly experience from being excited to see friends and family back home to sadness over leaving our “Ireland Family.”
As I said in my last post, the weeks have gotten rather hectic around here lately, a significant change of pace for all of us who are used to a laid back type of education out here. How we’ll make it back in the Academic Building next year, I have no idea. Yet amidst the studying and papers that have been looming over our heads, we’ve made sure to take in our surroundings and fully embrace Tully Cross while we’re still here. In honor of Dr. Dawson’s family departing, we played one last game of Quidditch down on the pitch and the cottages united to make “Brinner” (Breakfast for Dinner) for her family as their last dinner in Tully Cross before sending them off the next day. It’s been different without having Liam, Emily and Allison around. They definitely added to our Tully Cross experience with Liam always knocking on our door dying to play some soccer and Allison joining us on every hike, sometimes having more of a sense of adventure than any of us. During one of their last days here, Dr. Dawson appointed me Liam’s “Uncle” because I became in charge of him on the bus. This seemed to stick with Liam as he began referring to me as “Uncle Rob!” Somehow that has resulted in me being Dr. Dawson’s brother…I’m not sure if she wants to be that close to the Abid family. She’s already got Chris to deal with. Nevertheless, the French children are surely missed here, and as they departed, the reality set in for the rest of us that our time in Ireland is winding down.
Maybe it’s not so much the realization that our time here is coming to an end, as it is that our time with each other is coming to an end. If there’s one thing that we have as a group, it’s definitely a sense of family. There have been countless nights here, especially in the past few days, where we all end up together outside or in the pub enjoying each other’s company. In the past few days, we’ve been doing a lot of grilling because the weather has been so nice out. The first night we had the grills operational was a gorgeous spring evening last week. We broke out burgers, hotdogs, and vegetables and had a great night out by the picnic tables blasting some music and enjoying everyone’s company. Some of us walked down the road a little bit and watched the sun set behind Tully Mountain and shortly thereafter, the moon began to rise over the Diamond. It was an absolutely clear and beautiful night topped off by great people and of course, great food grilled by yours truly.
We also banded together this past weekend and prepared an Easter feast. Beth, Bailey, Dr. Dawson and I went into Clifden to buy the supplies we needed while finding the best Mocha in all of Connemara at Welsh’s Bakery. Needless to say, I was an extremely happy camper. My friend from High School who is studying in Poland, Pete, came to Ireland to spend Easter with us. After much e-mailing and messaging back and forth, I got him on the bus from Galway to Letterfrack and he arrived on Saturday evening as Dr. Dawson and I eagerly awaited his arrival outside the grocery store. Dr. Dawson was extremely happy to have him as she feels it is our “obligation to all international students to welcome them with open arms, especially during holidays away from home.” Pete integrated with the group extremely well and joined us for the annual hike up Tully Mountain on Easter morning which I led. Unfortunately, it required a 5:00 a.m. wake up and also unfortunately, we got rained on the entire time. We fought our way through the extremely wet weather and the dense fog, and finally made it to the top of the mountain. It was cold, windy, and rainy, but the memory of that hike and of every single person on the trip making it to the top was worth it. Upon our descent, it began to clear up, the rain stopped, and by the time we had made it to the cottages, the sun was peaking through the clouds and we had a beautiful rest of the day. Apparently there’s an Irish saying that goes “If it’s raining before 7, it will be done for the day by 11.” This was certainly the case as we had gorgeous weather and were able to eat our Easter Feast outside between cottages 5 and 6. Pete helped me man the grill which cooked the salmon. If you’re reading this Dad, I think I’ve inherited your grilling ability, but I still need to work on the grill marks.
After the feast, most of us entered a food coma. Pete and I caught up on life, school, and anything else that came to mind before heading down to the pitch to play some Ultimate Frisbee with Jake. That night the pubs were packed. Pete and I headed to Sammons where he enjoyed some Guinness and was in Heaven. He got chatty with Dr. Dawson and they talked for a good hour or so before Pete and I were the only ones left from our group in the pub. Sadly, we missed last call at the bar so we took the walk across the street and settled in for the evening since we had to get him on the bus to Dublin in the morning. Dr. Dawson drove us down to Letterfrack and I gave Pete some Dublin tips and saw him off.
We are two finals and a few hiking journals away from completing the semester. Tonight is our History final, which everyone is diligently studying for, and tomorrow we face our Literature final. After our Literature final we are holding “Student Awards” in Tully Cross, and the evening will be capped off by a video montage that I’ve been preparing this semester of our experience in Ireland. Look for it on Facebook on Thursday after its debut. Thursday we are hosting the “Thanks from the Yanks” party, when we repay the locals for all of their generosity this past semester and cook them dinner and hold a party at the pub. Bailey, Beth and I will head into Clifden again with Dr. Dawson tonight to get the supplies. I’m helping Dr. Dawson make hummus and I’ll be manning the grill, again. Aside from that, this week will be spent making the most of what little time we have left here.
My last update from Ireland will come at some point this weekend in between all of the activities we have planned for ourselves and for the community. Until then…
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
These Are The Days
There’s than three weeks left for me on the Emerald Isle now, which is slightly depressing to think about. School is definitely starting to pick up for us with projects, papers, and finals looming around the corner. It’ll be busy for the next week, that’s for sure.
This past week has kept us pretty busy too. Thursday we hiked down to Kylemore Abbey for probably the fourth time this semester. It was such a gorgeous day, I think it was the warmest and sunniest day that we’ve been here. We toured Kylemore and then saw the gardens, and those of us that wanted an adventure hiked up to the Jesus Statue that is located behind the castle (only this time we were successful). It was the perfect day. After we got to the statue, we found a stream running down the mountain and we all took our shoes off and stood in the stream and admired the views. I loved it.
Friday we departed for our trip to the South at 7:00 a.m. It was a rude awakening, but I woke up to an awesome sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful.
One of the best ways to wake up.
On our way to the south we stopped at Cahir Castle. We’ve seen so many castles that I’ve lost count, but this tour was one of the better tours we had. After the castle, we walked about 20 minutes to the Swiss Cottage. It’s totally secluded from the rest of the city and completely revolves around nature. No two things about the cottage are the same; all of the windows, entry ways, etc are made differently. Again, another highlight of the trip for me. Shortly thereafter we made it to the Bed and Breakfast and then explored Kilarney, the city we were staying in for some food and proceeded to pass out from the long day’s journey.
The outside of the Swiss Cottage. I want to live there.
Saturday we toured the Dingle Peninsula, which was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. We stopped for multiple photo opportunities and got to walk down to the ocean a few times. The weather held out for us too which made it a good day. We then stopped at the Muckross House, a Victorian Mansion where Queen Elizabeth stayed in the 1850’s. The Mansion also encompassed some gardens and a lake that we were able to check out for a little while. After the Muckross House, Dr. Dawson surprised us with a stop at Torc Waterfall, which I again loved. We ran to the top of the waterfall as we were pressed for time, but it was worth it. Afterward, the guys plus Beth went out to dinner together and then Jake, Ken, Rian, Beth and I met up with Maggie and Heather for a pint at a pub. It was our Dublin Pub Crawl group reunited, only much more tame. Overall, Saturday was one of my favorite days that we’ve spent over here. The sites were remarkable and I loved every second of it.
Brit, myself, and Hannah during our tour of the Dingle Peninsula.
Sunday we left at 9 in the morning to start our trip back to Tully Cross. On the way, we passed through the Burren, which is land made up of Limestone from 350 million years ago. The land was created by the water and the ocean, and ironically, the ocean is what will soon destroy the land. Within the Burren we saw the Cliffs of Moher (or Cliffs of Insanity), another highlight for me. It was cloudy and was slightly sprinking while we were there, but the sun eventually came out for us and we got to enjoy the views and the Cliffs. I was really impressed to stand at the Cliffs. We made our way toward Galway and we got to do some Grocery shopping for the cottages and then headed back to Tully Cross. During the two hour trip from Galway to Tully Cross on the bus, we had “Rian’s Variety Hour” which basically is what it sounded like. People read poetry, sang, told jokes and stories. It was the best and most entertaining bus ride I’ve been on. I didn’t show off any of my talents, but perhaps next time. After getting back, we all went to the chipper for dinner and then called it a night.
The Cliffs of Moher. Simply beautiful.
Monday we didn’t have class, but the hiking class went for a hike at noon only to be rained out about halfway through the hike. We turned around early and spent the majority of the afternoon working on homework. Later in the day most of us went down to the pitch and played Quidditch which was organized by Heather. Liam was the snitch, which was interesting to watch. It was a lot of fun and the field was muddy, so we ended up doing some laundry after the game. Rian got the award for dirtiest player. After the game Beth made us Gallahad Stew and we went out to Coynes for the usual live music from Aiden and a few songs from Beth. It was a fairly successful day.
Tuesday I woke up early to conquer the pile of homework that is looming over my head this week before Lit Class that evening. After watching some Scrubs, the night was spent at cottage six playing Bananagrams and simply hanging out.
Today I’ve tried to get some more homework done, but motivation escapes me currently. I’m hoping that I’ll find some soon. We have our History Class this evening and that’s basically it. Tomorrow we were supposed to head out to Innishbofin but the weather doesn’t look too good, so we might skip that. This weekend will be low-key, spent working on a lot of homework I’m sure.
This past week has kept us pretty busy too. Thursday we hiked down to Kylemore Abbey for probably the fourth time this semester. It was such a gorgeous day, I think it was the warmest and sunniest day that we’ve been here. We toured Kylemore and then saw the gardens, and those of us that wanted an adventure hiked up to the Jesus Statue that is located behind the castle (only this time we were successful). It was the perfect day. After we got to the statue, we found a stream running down the mountain and we all took our shoes off and stood in the stream and admired the views. I loved it.
Friday we departed for our trip to the South at 7:00 a.m. It was a rude awakening, but I woke up to an awesome sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful.
One of the best ways to wake up.
The outside of the Swiss Cottage. I want to live there.Saturday we toured the Dingle Peninsula, which was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. We stopped for multiple photo opportunities and got to walk down to the ocean a few times. The weather held out for us too which made it a good day. We then stopped at the Muckross House, a Victorian Mansion where Queen Elizabeth stayed in the 1850’s. The Mansion also encompassed some gardens and a lake that we were able to check out for a little while. After the Muckross House, Dr. Dawson surprised us with a stop at Torc Waterfall, which I again loved. We ran to the top of the waterfall as we were pressed for time, but it was worth it. Afterward, the guys plus Beth went out to dinner together and then Jake, Ken, Rian, Beth and I met up with Maggie and Heather for a pint at a pub. It was our Dublin Pub Crawl group reunited, only much more tame. Overall, Saturday was one of my favorite days that we’ve spent over here. The sites were remarkable and I loved every second of it.
Brit, myself, and Hannah during our tour of the Dingle Peninsula.Sunday we left at 9 in the morning to start our trip back to Tully Cross. On the way, we passed through the Burren, which is land made up of Limestone from 350 million years ago. The land was created by the water and the ocean, and ironically, the ocean is what will soon destroy the land. Within the Burren we saw the Cliffs of Moher (or Cliffs of Insanity), another highlight for me. It was cloudy and was slightly sprinking while we were there, but the sun eventually came out for us and we got to enjoy the views and the Cliffs. I was really impressed to stand at the Cliffs. We made our way toward Galway and we got to do some Grocery shopping for the cottages and then headed back to Tully Cross. During the two hour trip from Galway to Tully Cross on the bus, we had “Rian’s Variety Hour” which basically is what it sounded like. People read poetry, sang, told jokes and stories. It was the best and most entertaining bus ride I’ve been on. I didn’t show off any of my talents, but perhaps next time. After getting back, we all went to the chipper for dinner and then called it a night.
The Cliffs of Moher. Simply beautiful.Monday we didn’t have class, but the hiking class went for a hike at noon only to be rained out about halfway through the hike. We turned around early and spent the majority of the afternoon working on homework. Later in the day most of us went down to the pitch and played Quidditch which was organized by Heather. Liam was the snitch, which was interesting to watch. It was a lot of fun and the field was muddy, so we ended up doing some laundry after the game. Rian got the award for dirtiest player. After the game Beth made us Gallahad Stew and we went out to Coynes for the usual live music from Aiden and a few songs from Beth. It was a fairly successful day.
Tuesday I woke up early to conquer the pile of homework that is looming over my head this week before Lit Class that evening. After watching some Scrubs, the night was spent at cottage six playing Bananagrams and simply hanging out.
Today I’ve tried to get some more homework done, but motivation escapes me currently. I’m hoping that I’ll find some soon. We have our History Class this evening and that’s basically it. Tomorrow we were supposed to head out to Innishbofin but the weather doesn’t look too good, so we might skip that. This weekend will be low-key, spent working on a lot of homework I’m sure.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
With A Little Help From My Friends
Hey. Long time no update. My apologies. It’s been pretty hectic around here since St. Patty’s Day. I’ll try my best to catch you up to speed.
St. Patty’s Day in Ireland was awesome. We started the festivities early before the parade in Clifden. The parade was for the younger kids mainly; it was cool that they could participate in St. Patty’s Day too since in the States it’s mainly for adults. After the Parade we hung around Clifden for a little bit and shopped for groceries and then arrived back in Tully Cross to meet some guests from AQ that were staying with Dr. Dawson, Matt and Hannah. We then proceeded to start the festivities again down at cottages 8 and 9. The weather was SO GORGEOUS on that day that we spent all afternoon and evening outside. After an hour break for dinner we went back down to the other cottages for a few more hours before finally making it to the pub, where I had a sip of Guinness before falling asleep due to sheer exhaustion. I at least made it to the pub which is a lot more than other people can say though. Honestly, St. Patty’s Day in Ireland = One of the best days ever.
The next day Dr. Dawson had planned a hike for us in the afternoon. Convenient. We shook off the after effects of the day before and took a walk down to Lettergesh beach. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this about various places in Ireland, but Lettergesh beach was honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. We had another clear day which was awesome and we sat out on the rocks and watched the ocean for a while before heading back.
The weekend was spent working on homework and playing some much needed soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. On Monday we departed for Bunratty. Bunratty is a traditional even for the program. Each year, AQ students go and get served a massive feast and they crown a King and a Queen from our group. This year they crowned Jake and Beth. The feast was awesome and we were all in a food coma from the amount of meat, coupled with Meade and Wine.
Dr. Dawson and I at Bunratty.
We were whisked back to our B&B and crashed for the night. The next morning we went back to Bunratty and got a tour of the castle and the surrounding village. On our way back to Tully Cross we stopped at Coole Park, where Yeats got the inspiration for some of his poems and where he wrote some of his poems. Again, one of my favorite places in Ireland. Beth and I successfully climbed a tree in the park. Score. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in our cottages and getting things together for the rest of the week.
Climbing the tree was not an easy feat.
We had class the next two days, but it was the best weather we’d had so far in Ireland. I wore shorts and a tee-shirt for two days in a row and Dr. Dawson had class outside that week. It was awesome. We finally found the grills that last year left for us too, so we are hoping to have a barbecue sometime soon while the weather is nice. Friday was the start of our extended weekend, which I spent with Rian, Jake, and Ken. We went to Dublin Friday to Sunday just to get out of Tully Cross and be able to do something. Maggie, Heather and Beth were in Dublin for a night as well before they flew out for their trip, so we met up and did a pub crawl across the city with them. I spilled a pint on Heather (not out of drunkenness). My bad! After a milkshake from McDonalds, we got the girls in a taxi to the airport and proceeded to crash.
Halfway through the pub crawl at Dawson's Pub, the smallest pub in Dublin, and probably the most uncomfortable.
The next day we had the goal of getting to the Poetry Festival Awards Ceremony that was taking place in Dublin that week. We called and got FREE tickets. Whoot! In the meantime we went to almost every bookstore that Dublin had and I proceeded to spend around 50 Euro on six books. I spent more money on books than I did on alcohol. I felt like a very responsible student. We managed to find our way to the awards ceremony and saw Seamus Heaney win the award for his newest collection of poems, which I also bought. We then got to MEET Seamus Heaney and get our picture taken with him. SCORE! Rian was basically star struck and I think the rest of us can die happy now. The rest of the day was spent in St. Stephen’s Green reading, another one of my favorite places in the country. We went out for a pint and some live music and called it a night.
I woke up on Wednesday to a call from James saying that he and Annie had landed and I would be seeing them shortly. I got up and got the rest of my homework done and took care of a few other items. They arrived outside my cottage at 10:00 a.m. which was much sooner than I thought, so it was a pleasant surprise to see them already. We caught up over some tea and then had some food at Sammons before I had to head to class. That night, we had a welcome dinner for James and Annie at Cottage 9 and then decided to go out to the pub for a few drinks as well.
The next day we had our Literature class and I still had some things to finish up for that, so I was studious while James took Annie down to the Tully beach. That evening we saw a show called “Hunger”. It was a dramatic reading about the Famine in the mid 1800s. The two that put on the show are actually coming to Aquinas to perform it in October in the Moose and then doing a tour in the States. After the show, we got the party started in Cottage 6 for Brittany’s Birthday before heading to the pub for the Disco. I unfortunately missed Dr. Duncan and Dr. Dawson dancing to “Dancing Queen”. Someone has a video of it though, so I’ll have to watch that at some point. Everyone ended up back at our cottage where James and I ended up making grilled cheeses for everyone while the guys tore down our mantle. We finally got everyone out of the cottage and I got myself into bed.
Friday was a rough morning for some people. Bailey and I had planned to have breakfast at Sammons with our guests, so we started off there and then James and Annie took me out to Westport for the afternoon. We wandered around the city, found another bookshop where I almost bought more books, and then had some tea and caught up with each other since we hadn’t had the opportunity to yet. That evening we got dinner at the hotel. A little pricy but definitely good food. Fish and Chips since it was a Friday in Lent. After stuffing ourselves we sat around and just talked some more and they updated me on everything Aquinas. We proceeded to Coynes and had a few drinks. The others trickled into the pub and then eventually left until it was just the three of us with Bailey talking to Erika at the bar. We went back to cottage 9 and hung out for a while before crashing hard.
Saturday was another beautiful day. After grabbing lunch at Sammons we went to the Park in Letterfrack and hiked the lower part of the Diamond with Dr. Dawson and her family. I was tempted to go to the top but no one else seemed game, so some other time this month. Afterwards the three of us took a joy ride out to Lettergesh beach and sat on the rocks again and just admired our surroundings. I read Nature on a rock as I listened to the Ocean. I think Emerson would be proud of me. It’s not the woods, but it’s what I’ve got. We just chilled for the afternoon before introducing the two of them to the Chipper across the street and then heading out for a few drinks at Sammons while they had live music.
The view from the Sky Road in Clifden. Probably one of my favorite places around here. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I have a video that I'll post on Facebook soon.
Monday was their last day in Ireland. I started off the day with the hiking class while they went for a ride in the car. We hiked around the bottom of Diamond again and through the Nature Trail. The rain held out for us which was nice.
The Waterfall at the Bottom of Diamond. So serene.
Afterward James took me out in the car to talk and check out Tully Mountain since I'll be leading a hike up that mountain on Easter Morning. He showed me where he went in for the hike his year, so that was helpful. Then we just took a small joyride before heading back to the cottages for their going away dinner/party. I bought wine for the night that maybe five of us drank...over estimated that a little bit. Then we went out to Coynes for some live music and a few drinks. After the pub, the three of us stayed up until 4 when they had to leave. Bailey met us at the car and we said our goodbyes and reminded each other that we'll see them again in less than a month.
The next day was a little rough as I tried to get back into the swing of things. We had our Lit Class in the afternoon, so I spent my day getting ready for that and then Ken's parents who are visiting made our cottage dinner. SO GOOD! The rest of the night was chill and I was in bed early since I'd gotten little sleep the night before.
Today is a chill day again. We have a history quiz that I'll study for but that's it. Tomorrow we are going down to Kylemore Abbey and actually going into the property. Friday we depart for the South for the weekend, and after that we have just three weeks left. I'll be excited to go home, but I'll definitely be sad to leave Ireland.
That’s all. I’ll try to update more often this last month!
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
St. Patty’s Day in Ireland was awesome. We started the festivities early before the parade in Clifden. The parade was for the younger kids mainly; it was cool that they could participate in St. Patty’s Day too since in the States it’s mainly for adults. After the Parade we hung around Clifden for a little bit and shopped for groceries and then arrived back in Tully Cross to meet some guests from AQ that were staying with Dr. Dawson, Matt and Hannah. We then proceeded to start the festivities again down at cottages 8 and 9. The weather was SO GORGEOUS on that day that we spent all afternoon and evening outside. After an hour break for dinner we went back down to the other cottages for a few more hours before finally making it to the pub, where I had a sip of Guinness before falling asleep due to sheer exhaustion. I at least made it to the pub which is a lot more than other people can say though. Honestly, St. Patty’s Day in Ireland = One of the best days ever.
The next day Dr. Dawson had planned a hike for us in the afternoon. Convenient. We shook off the after effects of the day before and took a walk down to Lettergesh beach. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this about various places in Ireland, but Lettergesh beach was honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. We had another clear day which was awesome and we sat out on the rocks and watched the ocean for a while before heading back.
The weekend was spent working on homework and playing some much needed soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. On Monday we departed for Bunratty. Bunratty is a traditional even for the program. Each year, AQ students go and get served a massive feast and they crown a King and a Queen from our group. This year they crowned Jake and Beth. The feast was awesome and we were all in a food coma from the amount of meat, coupled with Meade and Wine.
Dr. Dawson and I at Bunratty.We were whisked back to our B&B and crashed for the night. The next morning we went back to Bunratty and got a tour of the castle and the surrounding village. On our way back to Tully Cross we stopped at Coole Park, where Yeats got the inspiration for some of his poems and where he wrote some of his poems. Again, one of my favorite places in Ireland. Beth and I successfully climbed a tree in the park. Score. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in our cottages and getting things together for the rest of the week.
Climbing the tree was not an easy feat.We had class the next two days, but it was the best weather we’d had so far in Ireland. I wore shorts and a tee-shirt for two days in a row and Dr. Dawson had class outside that week. It was awesome. We finally found the grills that last year left for us too, so we are hoping to have a barbecue sometime soon while the weather is nice. Friday was the start of our extended weekend, which I spent with Rian, Jake, and Ken. We went to Dublin Friday to Sunday just to get out of Tully Cross and be able to do something. Maggie, Heather and Beth were in Dublin for a night as well before they flew out for their trip, so we met up and did a pub crawl across the city with them. I spilled a pint on Heather (not out of drunkenness). My bad! After a milkshake from McDonalds, we got the girls in a taxi to the airport and proceeded to crash.
Halfway through the pub crawl at Dawson's Pub, the smallest pub in Dublin, and probably the most uncomfortable.The next day we had the goal of getting to the Poetry Festival Awards Ceremony that was taking place in Dublin that week. We called and got FREE tickets. Whoot! In the meantime we went to almost every bookstore that Dublin had and I proceeded to spend around 50 Euro on six books. I spent more money on books than I did on alcohol. I felt like a very responsible student. We managed to find our way to the awards ceremony and saw Seamus Heaney win the award for his newest collection of poems, which I also bought. We then got to MEET Seamus Heaney and get our picture taken with him. SCORE! Rian was basically star struck and I think the rest of us can die happy now. The rest of the day was spent in St. Stephen’s Green reading, another one of my favorite places in the country. We went out for a pint and some live music and called it a night.
Meeting Seamus Heaney. Best. Day. Ever.
Sunday we got back to Tully Cross and settled back in. The rest of the extended weekend was spent working through homework and trying to get as far ahead as I could because James and Annie were coming on Wednesday and I wanted to spend as much time with them as I could.I woke up on Wednesday to a call from James saying that he and Annie had landed and I would be seeing them shortly. I got up and got the rest of my homework done and took care of a few other items. They arrived outside my cottage at 10:00 a.m. which was much sooner than I thought, so it was a pleasant surprise to see them already. We caught up over some tea and then had some food at Sammons before I had to head to class. That night, we had a welcome dinner for James and Annie at Cottage 9 and then decided to go out to the pub for a few drinks as well.
The next day we had our Literature class and I still had some things to finish up for that, so I was studious while James took Annie down to the Tully beach. That evening we saw a show called “Hunger”. It was a dramatic reading about the Famine in the mid 1800s. The two that put on the show are actually coming to Aquinas to perform it in October in the Moose and then doing a tour in the States. After the show, we got the party started in Cottage 6 for Brittany’s Birthday before heading to the pub for the Disco. I unfortunately missed Dr. Duncan and Dr. Dawson dancing to “Dancing Queen”. Someone has a video of it though, so I’ll have to watch that at some point. Everyone ended up back at our cottage where James and I ended up making grilled cheeses for everyone while the guys tore down our mantle. We finally got everyone out of the cottage and I got myself into bed.
Friday was a rough morning for some people. Bailey and I had planned to have breakfast at Sammons with our guests, so we started off there and then James and Annie took me out to Westport for the afternoon. We wandered around the city, found another bookshop where I almost bought more books, and then had some tea and caught up with each other since we hadn’t had the opportunity to yet. That evening we got dinner at the hotel. A little pricy but definitely good food. Fish and Chips since it was a Friday in Lent. After stuffing ourselves we sat around and just talked some more and they updated me on everything Aquinas. We proceeded to Coynes and had a few drinks. The others trickled into the pub and then eventually left until it was just the three of us with Bailey talking to Erika at the bar. We went back to cottage 9 and hung out for a while before crashing hard.
Saturday was another beautiful day. After grabbing lunch at Sammons we went to the Park in Letterfrack and hiked the lower part of the Diamond with Dr. Dawson and her family. I was tempted to go to the top but no one else seemed game, so some other time this month. Afterwards the three of us took a joy ride out to Lettergesh beach and sat on the rocks again and just admired our surroundings. I read Nature on a rock as I listened to the Ocean. I think Emerson would be proud of me. It’s not the woods, but it’s what I’ve got. We just chilled for the afternoon before introducing the two of them to the Chipper across the street and then heading out for a few drinks at Sammons while they had live music.
Our night out at Sammon's with our guests of honor.
Sunday we went to mass and then James and Annie took me into Clifden to grab some groceries. On the way back, the three of us hit the Sky Road in Clifden. It was the most beautiful view ever. The sun was starting to go down and it was really clear. I want to make it back out there. After that the three of us hung out with Vaughn for the rest of the night.
The view from the Sky Road in Clifden. Probably one of my favorite places around here. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I have a video that I'll post on Facebook soon.Monday was their last day in Ireland. I started off the day with the hiking class while they went for a ride in the car. We hiked around the bottom of Diamond again and through the Nature Trail. The rain held out for us which was nice.
The Waterfall at the Bottom of Diamond. So serene.The next day was a little rough as I tried to get back into the swing of things. We had our Lit Class in the afternoon, so I spent my day getting ready for that and then Ken's parents who are visiting made our cottage dinner. SO GOOD! The rest of the night was chill and I was in bed early since I'd gotten little sleep the night before.
Today is a chill day again. We have a history quiz that I'll study for but that's it. Tomorrow we are going down to Kylemore Abbey and actually going into the property. Friday we depart for the South for the weekend, and after that we have just three weeks left. I'll be excited to go home, but I'll definitely be sad to leave Ireland.
That’s all. I’ll try to update more often this last month!
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The Great Escape
Hey all!
Back in Tully Cross, and let me just say that it’s great to be back home. We only have seven weeks left here. That’s so crazy and slightly depressing at the same time. But before I get all sentimental, let me tell you about the rest of my tour of Europe.
Tuesday evening we spent the night in the Barcelona Airport, which I can say without a doubt was the most miserable experience of my life. I caught a cold while not being able to sleep which made our plane ride horrible. We took off on time and landed in Rome early in the morning and we figured out our way to the hostel which took us almost two hours to get to by bus and Metro. We finally got there and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we got the lay of the land and then came back and crashed for four to five hours easily. We woke up feeling somewhat rested and made plans to meet up with some of the other AQ students who had been in Rome since the start of Spring Break. They took us out to a restruarnt they had been to near the Vatican and we got the biggest calzones I’d ever seen. After that we got delicious gelato; so much better in Italy than in Spain. Once we’d stuffed ourselves full of carbs and sugar and felt like true Italians, we parted ways and crashed at our hostel as we entered a food coma.
The next day we met up with a Seminarian that Brittany’s uncle was able to hook us up with. He met us in St. Peter’s Square which was definitely cool to check out. Kyle gave us some information on the city and some tips on getting around and staying safe, etc. He then invited us to the Seminary for a Vigil Mass on Saturday which we agreed to. After that we took the information he gave us and planned the rest of the week in our hostel, grabbed dinner down the road, got gelato and turned in for the evening.
St. Peter's Basilica from down the road.
We woke up in the morning planning to conquer a good portion of Rome. We started off at the Spanish Steps. It was weird because we were trying to find the Steps on the map and we turned the corner and there they were. It was slightly amusing. After checking out the steps and the church at the top of the Steps, we navigated our way toward the Trevi Fountain. I threw in a 1 Euro piece, so my wish had better come true; although there was someone fishing the coins out of the fountain. I hope he didn’t get mine… Anyway, after making our wishes we went toward the Pantheon. It was nice to put my Humanities knowledge to work. It was raining that day so the rain was pouring through the dome hole which was cool. After the Pantheon we also conquered the National Museum of Rome. Lot’s of sculptures in there and not much else. It was cool to look at, but I’m an art kind of guy. After all of that, we were extremely exhausted so we headed back to the hostel for a break. For dinner, we went out with Maggie and Jacquline who were still in Rome to a resturant that Alexa had recommended to me. The restuarnt had about 100 different types of pasta. It was so delicious and right near the Trevi, so we got to see that lit up at night and get some gelato too. Yum.
Saturday was our night out with the Seminarians. We started off by meeting Kyle at the college, which was somewhat difficult to find. Kyle gave us a brief tour of the Seminary and we got to go up to the roof and get some really cool pictures of the city. It was probably one of the best views of the entire city. After that we attended a vigil mass with some of the guys from the college and then four of them took us out to dinner near the college and treated us to a full Italian meal. We tried digestives at the restaurant for the first time, which was basically alcohol. I got Sambuca to represent the Abid family. It was strong and disgusting. Never again. After dinner the guys also treated us to gelato. We had an awesome night with them, not to mention a FREE night. We were all satisfied and slept easy that night.
Our very generous Seminarian friends after our night out on Saturday.
The next morning, Allen, one of the guys from the night before, sent us a tentative schedule of what we should try to hit up for the rest of our time in Rome. We had a pretty general idea of what we wanted to do already, but it was nice to actually have it down and planned out. We went to Vatican City and saw the Pope speak in the morning as he always does on Sundays. After that we went ventured to two of the four Basilicas that kind of surround Rome. We went to St. John Outside the Walls and St Mary Major. We had already seen St. John Lateran because it was right down the road from our hostel, so all that was left was St. Peter’s. St. John Outside the Walls was my favorite Basilica. I was so massive but not hugely overwhelming like some of the other Basilicas that we had seen. That evening we tried to meet up with some of the AQ students who were studying abroad in the Rome Program, but had poor directions and couldn’t make it out there, so we settled for pizza and gelato, of course.
Monday we finally made it to the Colloseum which was probably the highlight of my Rome experience. I was so utterly impressed to be standing inside of the structure that it hit me how lucky I was to be in Rome and experiencing everything that I was taking in. After we toured the Colosseum, we went across the street to the Roman Forum and the Palentine. There were some oranges in the Forum that we picked, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. They were disgusting. Serves us right I suppose.
I'm a fool.
After the Forum we had lunch back at the Seminary and then received a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica from one of the Seminarians, completing our tour of the four Basilicas. St. Peter’s was extremely impressive. The Dome stands higher than the Statue of Liberty if that puts it into perspective for you. We also got to go underneath the Basilica and see Pope John Paul II tomb, which was a somewhat moving experience. They’ll be moving his body up to the actually Basilica soon as he’s being Beatified on either May 1 or 2. After the tour we were worn out, so we spent the evening in our hostel figuring our Paris and catching up on American TV shows.
Tuesday was our final full day in Rome. We woke up early and made it back out to Vatican City to tour the Dome of St. Peter’s, a separate part than the Basilica. The Dome was, as I said, higher than the Statue of Liberty. It was a narrow path to get up to the top, so I began to get a little claustrophobic. There was literally one point where you had to bend sideways to make it through the stairs up. That freaked me out. But the views at the top were definitely worth the exhausting trip. After that we made our INTO Vatican City. We got to tour the museums and check out a lot of really cool artwork. We even found some of the pieces that we studied from Humanities. I felt cool actually knowing what the different pieces of art were. The high point of the museums had to have been the Sistine Chapel. The artwork in there was really impressive. You’re not supposed to take pictures in there (they typically take your camera away) but I managed to sneak one picture in of the wall. SCORE! The rest of the day was spent packing since we had to check out of the hostel early the next morning. We did have one last night on the town for a true Italian meal topped off with gelato and wine. Delicious.
The art in the Sistine Chapel. You're not supposed to take pictures because it ruins the art, but I wasn't using a flash so it didn't harm it, so it's all good. It was really crowded and loud in there, but it was still cool to see.
The next morning we were up at 5:00 to make it to Ash Wednesday Mass with the Seminarians on time. The morning was rough, and cold, but attending mass and seeing the guys one last time was worth it. They then gave us tickets to the Audience with the Pope at St. Peter’s. We ended up being about 50 feet away from the Pope. My camera was dead, but I got a few pictures on my iTouch before it filled up. The Pope spoke in about eight different languages, English of course being one of them. The entire event was cool; more or less an informal celebration than anything else. After the Audience with the Pope we headed toward the airport to depart Rome for Paris.
Upon arrival in Paris we were once again overwhelmed with a culture shock. We had to take over an hour bus ride to actually get into Paris and from there, figure out the overly complicated Metro System. There were 14 different Subway Lines that went throughout the city; much different than any other city I’ve tried to navigate. We got on the line we needed, only to have it shut down a few stops later. We transferred a few times and finally got off at the right stop and found our hostel. After a long and extremely tiring day, I was happy to find my bed.
We woke up in the morning well rested, but longing for our cottages back in Tully Cross. We finally had a hostel that served breakfast, which was extremely nice to have. After breakfast, we made plans to meet up with the other guys who were in Paris as well. Once we met up with them, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures and hung around for a little bit. After we got some crepes (DELICIOUS) the girls did some shopping and I went off with the guys who showed me around to some places they had already found. We went to some random touristy shops and then found Notre Dame. I was really impressed with the Cathedral. It was much different than anything we saw in Rome. I think I liked Notre Dame better than the Basilicas in Rome in all honesty. After Notre Dame, we met up with the girls again, grabbed dinner, and then we parted ways for our hostel and had a relaxing evening.
Friday was our last day in Paris, so we got up early and hit up the Lourve, the world’s largest art Museum. I loved it. The best part was the Italian and Spanish art. I could easily have spent a week in there looking at everything but we settled for the better part of the morning/day. And we got in for free, which is always a plus. After the art tour we went back to Notre Dame for a little while and then did some window shopping. We finally made our way to the Eiffel Tower again where we simply sat there for an hour or so before calling it a night and heading back to pack our things. The next morning we were up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our bus to the airport and head back to IRELAND.
We tried to hang around until the Tower lit up at night, but some of us got tired so we went back before it got dark.
As much as I enjoyed touring Europe, it has been very nice to be back in Tully Cross. The week has been fairly easy so far, just getting back into the swing of things. Today is of course St. Patty’s Day and we are about to head to the parade in Clifden before starting our Irish festivities. It’ll be a great time, I’m sure.
That's all I've got for now. Next week we take an overnight trip to Bunratty and then we have our extended weekend, which is still up in the air. I have a week to figure it out. Hah. Until then...
Peace. Love. Rome. Paris.
Rob
Back in Tully Cross, and let me just say that it’s great to be back home. We only have seven weeks left here. That’s so crazy and slightly depressing at the same time. But before I get all sentimental, let me tell you about the rest of my tour of Europe.
Tuesday evening we spent the night in the Barcelona Airport, which I can say without a doubt was the most miserable experience of my life. I caught a cold while not being able to sleep which made our plane ride horrible. We took off on time and landed in Rome early in the morning and we figured out our way to the hostel which took us almost two hours to get to by bus and Metro. We finally got there and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we got the lay of the land and then came back and crashed for four to five hours easily. We woke up feeling somewhat rested and made plans to meet up with some of the other AQ students who had been in Rome since the start of Spring Break. They took us out to a restruarnt they had been to near the Vatican and we got the biggest calzones I’d ever seen. After that we got delicious gelato; so much better in Italy than in Spain. Once we’d stuffed ourselves full of carbs and sugar and felt like true Italians, we parted ways and crashed at our hostel as we entered a food coma.
The next day we met up with a Seminarian that Brittany’s uncle was able to hook us up with. He met us in St. Peter’s Square which was definitely cool to check out. Kyle gave us some information on the city and some tips on getting around and staying safe, etc. He then invited us to the Seminary for a Vigil Mass on Saturday which we agreed to. After that we took the information he gave us and planned the rest of the week in our hostel, grabbed dinner down the road, got gelato and turned in for the evening.
St. Peter's Basilica from down the road.We woke up in the morning planning to conquer a good portion of Rome. We started off at the Spanish Steps. It was weird because we were trying to find the Steps on the map and we turned the corner and there they were. It was slightly amusing. After checking out the steps and the church at the top of the Steps, we navigated our way toward the Trevi Fountain. I threw in a 1 Euro piece, so my wish had better come true; although there was someone fishing the coins out of the fountain. I hope he didn’t get mine… Anyway, after making our wishes we went toward the Pantheon. It was nice to put my Humanities knowledge to work. It was raining that day so the rain was pouring through the dome hole which was cool. After the Pantheon we also conquered the National Museum of Rome. Lot’s of sculptures in there and not much else. It was cool to look at, but I’m an art kind of guy. After all of that, we were extremely exhausted so we headed back to the hostel for a break. For dinner, we went out with Maggie and Jacquline who were still in Rome to a resturant that Alexa had recommended to me. The restuarnt had about 100 different types of pasta. It was so delicious and right near the Trevi, so we got to see that lit up at night and get some gelato too. Yum.
Saturday was our night out with the Seminarians. We started off by meeting Kyle at the college, which was somewhat difficult to find. Kyle gave us a brief tour of the Seminary and we got to go up to the roof and get some really cool pictures of the city. It was probably one of the best views of the entire city. After that we attended a vigil mass with some of the guys from the college and then four of them took us out to dinner near the college and treated us to a full Italian meal. We tried digestives at the restaurant for the first time, which was basically alcohol. I got Sambuca to represent the Abid family. It was strong and disgusting. Never again. After dinner the guys also treated us to gelato. We had an awesome night with them, not to mention a FREE night. We were all satisfied and slept easy that night.
Our very generous Seminarian friends after our night out on Saturday.The next morning, Allen, one of the guys from the night before, sent us a tentative schedule of what we should try to hit up for the rest of our time in Rome. We had a pretty general idea of what we wanted to do already, but it was nice to actually have it down and planned out. We went to Vatican City and saw the Pope speak in the morning as he always does on Sundays. After that we went ventured to two of the four Basilicas that kind of surround Rome. We went to St. John Outside the Walls and St Mary Major. We had already seen St. John Lateran because it was right down the road from our hostel, so all that was left was St. Peter’s. St. John Outside the Walls was my favorite Basilica. I was so massive but not hugely overwhelming like some of the other Basilicas that we had seen. That evening we tried to meet up with some of the AQ students who were studying abroad in the Rome Program, but had poor directions and couldn’t make it out there, so we settled for pizza and gelato, of course.
Monday we finally made it to the Colloseum which was probably the highlight of my Rome experience. I was so utterly impressed to be standing inside of the structure that it hit me how lucky I was to be in Rome and experiencing everything that I was taking in. After we toured the Colosseum, we went across the street to the Roman Forum and the Palentine. There were some oranges in the Forum that we picked, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. They were disgusting. Serves us right I suppose.
I'm a fool.Tuesday was our final full day in Rome. We woke up early and made it back out to Vatican City to tour the Dome of St. Peter’s, a separate part than the Basilica. The Dome was, as I said, higher than the Statue of Liberty. It was a narrow path to get up to the top, so I began to get a little claustrophobic. There was literally one point where you had to bend sideways to make it through the stairs up. That freaked me out. But the views at the top were definitely worth the exhausting trip. After that we made our INTO Vatican City. We got to tour the museums and check out a lot of really cool artwork. We even found some of the pieces that we studied from Humanities. I felt cool actually knowing what the different pieces of art were. The high point of the museums had to have been the Sistine Chapel. The artwork in there was really impressive. You’re not supposed to take pictures in there (they typically take your camera away) but I managed to sneak one picture in of the wall. SCORE! The rest of the day was spent packing since we had to check out of the hostel early the next morning. We did have one last night on the town for a true Italian meal topped off with gelato and wine. Delicious.
The art in the Sistine Chapel. You're not supposed to take pictures because it ruins the art, but I wasn't using a flash so it didn't harm it, so it's all good. It was really crowded and loud in there, but it was still cool to see.The next morning we were up at 5:00 to make it to Ash Wednesday Mass with the Seminarians on time. The morning was rough, and cold, but attending mass and seeing the guys one last time was worth it. They then gave us tickets to the Audience with the Pope at St. Peter’s. We ended up being about 50 feet away from the Pope. My camera was dead, but I got a few pictures on my iTouch before it filled up. The Pope spoke in about eight different languages, English of course being one of them. The entire event was cool; more or less an informal celebration than anything else. After the Audience with the Pope we headed toward the airport to depart Rome for Paris.
Upon arrival in Paris we were once again overwhelmed with a culture shock. We had to take over an hour bus ride to actually get into Paris and from there, figure out the overly complicated Metro System. There were 14 different Subway Lines that went throughout the city; much different than any other city I’ve tried to navigate. We got on the line we needed, only to have it shut down a few stops later. We transferred a few times and finally got off at the right stop and found our hostel. After a long and extremely tiring day, I was happy to find my bed.
We woke up in the morning well rested, but longing for our cottages back in Tully Cross. We finally had a hostel that served breakfast, which was extremely nice to have. After breakfast, we made plans to meet up with the other guys who were in Paris as well. Once we met up with them, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures and hung around for a little bit. After we got some crepes (DELICIOUS) the girls did some shopping and I went off with the guys who showed me around to some places they had already found. We went to some random touristy shops and then found Notre Dame. I was really impressed with the Cathedral. It was much different than anything we saw in Rome. I think I liked Notre Dame better than the Basilicas in Rome in all honesty. After Notre Dame, we met up with the girls again, grabbed dinner, and then we parted ways for our hostel and had a relaxing evening.
Friday was our last day in Paris, so we got up early and hit up the Lourve, the world’s largest art Museum. I loved it. The best part was the Italian and Spanish art. I could easily have spent a week in there looking at everything but we settled for the better part of the morning/day. And we got in for free, which is always a plus. After the art tour we went back to Notre Dame for a little while and then did some window shopping. We finally made our way to the Eiffel Tower again where we simply sat there for an hour or so before calling it a night and heading back to pack our things. The next morning we were up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our bus to the airport and head back to IRELAND.
We tried to hang around until the Tower lit up at night, but some of us got tired so we went back before it got dark.As much as I enjoyed touring Europe, it has been very nice to be back in Tully Cross. The week has been fairly easy so far, just getting back into the swing of things. Today is of course St. Patty’s Day and we are about to head to the parade in Clifden before starting our Irish festivities. It’ll be a great time, I’m sure.
That's all I've got for now. Next week we take an overnight trip to Bunratty and then we have our extended weekend, which is still up in the air. I have a week to figure it out. Hah. Until then...
Peace. Love. Rome. Paris.
Rob
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Hello World
Hey guys!
The whirlwind tour of Europe is half over. I'm sort of sad, but I'm looking forward to heading back to Ireland where they speak English. Spanish and Italian have not been good to me, and I haven't even tried French yet. Uh oh...
Our time in Spain was quite the experience. Saturday morning we departed the Globetrotter for the Dublin airport. Since it was our first time flying Ryanair, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get through the airport and deal with everything that we needed to deal with. Our flight was at 1:45 and we got to the airport shortly before 11 and had no problems with check in or security. I was PUMPED to see that my bag fit in the restrictions too; I was slightly nervous about the size of it, but it worked nicely. Our flight was delayed almost two hours, so needless to say our adventure was not off to the best start.
We finally got on the flight and landed in Barcelona and, after bridging the language barrier, figured out that we needed to head to City Centre and head down La Rambla to our hostel. The street our hostel was on was not numbered accurately. Our hostel number was "24." The numbers went 22, 23, 25...24 was down the street about a fourth of a mile for some reason. After about an hour or so of searching, we finally found our hostel and dropped our things off. We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to the hostel and called it a night early. We were all overwhelmed and in a huge culture shock, mainly because of the language barrier, and our hostel was not the best in the world.
We woke up the next morning with some better attitudes and a goal to find a Catholic Church to go to mass at. We found one right on La Rambla that was at 11, so we chilled outside until it was time for mass. The entire mass was in Spanish so we didn't understand a word of it until the priest broke into English briefly, and then returned to Spanish. After that, we found a place to get really cheap lunch, the Pita Inn. I had a lamb sandwhich, so good. In the afternoon we met up with the guys who were also in Barcelona for the same time that we were and we toured the city on foot with them. We went from La Rambla to the beaches to Port Olympico to Segrada Familia all the way back across town to the Magic Fountain. We walked for about 7 or 8 hours but we saw so much of the city, (especially some Gaudi Architecture) so I didn't care that my feet were about to fall off. We wanted to see the Olympic Stadium for the 1992 Olympic games but we didn't end up finding it. We later discovered that we were probably about two minutes away from it at one point. So close, but so far. By the end of our tour, it was time for dinner so we grabbed some cheap sandwiches at a restuarant not too far from La Rambla. After dinner, the six of us (me, Brit, Hannah, Ken, Jake, and Mike) went out with some other AQ peeps in Barcelona for some Sangria on La Rambla. We capped off the night with a trip to an Irish Pub (go figure) and some of the guys had a pint, not Guinness, and then we called it a night.
Monday was a day to sleep in from the exhausting yet very exciting and awesome day we had on Sunday. After grabbing some lunch, we took a siesta and then went down to the pier and enjoyed the view of the ocean for sometime. We grabbed dinner on La Rambla and had paella, the rice dish that Spain is well known for. Afterward we invited Bridget, Vaughn, and Rian over to our hostel for a "hostel party," which ultimately resulted in a late night trip to the Pita Inn and then McDonalds. Everybody came back to our hostel, since theirs was a long walk away, and crashed for the night.
Tuesday was our last day in Barcelona. I woke up with a strong desire for greasy Mexican food. I think I'm having Adobe withdrawals to be honest. After grabbing some breakfast (not a taco or burrito mind you) we met up with Jake, Ken and Mike and went to the Picasso Museum. After taking Humanities, I have a newfound appreciation for art, and I found the museum to be really cool and interesting. Still not a fan of cubism though...I could do without that Picasso. After the museum we grabbed some lunch and then went back to our hostel. The girls crashed but I wanted to see Parque Guell so I went out on my own and planned to meet up with everyone from AQ at 6. I unfortunately could not make it to the park and back in enough time, so I settled for grabbing some Gelato and walking around the streets for an hour while almost getting lost. It was a poor substitute, but it'll have to do. That evening there were 13 out of 20 of the AQ students in Barcelona so we all met up and attempted to have dinner together. I say attempted because Jake, Brittany, Hannah and myself opted out of having Chinese food and instead grabbed some sandwiches. After that we checked out of our hostel and said goodbye to everyone since we had a 6 a.m. flight to Rome, meaning we spent the night in the airport so we wouldn't miss our flight.
I didn't get to do a whole lot in Barcelona unfortunately. It ended up being a lazy trip, but it definitely gives me a reason to return. Despite the first night and not knowing a lot of Spanish, I really enjoyed Barcelona and would return in a heartbeat.
Here are some pictures:
Segrada Familia. Crazy architecture. It cost 10 euro to get in, so we didn't go inside, but it was still an awesome view from the outside.
The beach. Not quite the same as Lake Michigan, but I still enjoyed it.
The view of the city from the top of the Montjuic Barcelona Fountain. This fountain is a water/light show but unfortunately it wasn't playing on Sunday when we went to the top. The view was still awesome though.
The whirlwind tour of Europe is half over. I'm sort of sad, but I'm looking forward to heading back to Ireland where they speak English. Spanish and Italian have not been good to me, and I haven't even tried French yet. Uh oh...
Our time in Spain was quite the experience. Saturday morning we departed the Globetrotter for the Dublin airport. Since it was our first time flying Ryanair, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get through the airport and deal with everything that we needed to deal with. Our flight was at 1:45 and we got to the airport shortly before 11 and had no problems with check in or security. I was PUMPED to see that my bag fit in the restrictions too; I was slightly nervous about the size of it, but it worked nicely. Our flight was delayed almost two hours, so needless to say our adventure was not off to the best start.
We finally got on the flight and landed in Barcelona and, after bridging the language barrier, figured out that we needed to head to City Centre and head down La Rambla to our hostel. The street our hostel was on was not numbered accurately. Our hostel number was "24." The numbers went 22, 23, 25...24 was down the street about a fourth of a mile for some reason. After about an hour or so of searching, we finally found our hostel and dropped our things off. We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to the hostel and called it a night early. We were all overwhelmed and in a huge culture shock, mainly because of the language barrier, and our hostel was not the best in the world.
We woke up the next morning with some better attitudes and a goal to find a Catholic Church to go to mass at. We found one right on La Rambla that was at 11, so we chilled outside until it was time for mass. The entire mass was in Spanish so we didn't understand a word of it until the priest broke into English briefly, and then returned to Spanish. After that, we found a place to get really cheap lunch, the Pita Inn. I had a lamb sandwhich, so good. In the afternoon we met up with the guys who were also in Barcelona for the same time that we were and we toured the city on foot with them. We went from La Rambla to the beaches to Port Olympico to Segrada Familia all the way back across town to the Magic Fountain. We walked for about 7 or 8 hours but we saw so much of the city, (especially some Gaudi Architecture) so I didn't care that my feet were about to fall off. We wanted to see the Olympic Stadium for the 1992 Olympic games but we didn't end up finding it. We later discovered that we were probably about two minutes away from it at one point. So close, but so far. By the end of our tour, it was time for dinner so we grabbed some cheap sandwiches at a restuarant not too far from La Rambla. After dinner, the six of us (me, Brit, Hannah, Ken, Jake, and Mike) went out with some other AQ peeps in Barcelona for some Sangria on La Rambla. We capped off the night with a trip to an Irish Pub (go figure) and some of the guys had a pint, not Guinness, and then we called it a night.
Monday was a day to sleep in from the exhausting yet very exciting and awesome day we had on Sunday. After grabbing some lunch, we took a siesta and then went down to the pier and enjoyed the view of the ocean for sometime. We grabbed dinner on La Rambla and had paella, the rice dish that Spain is well known for. Afterward we invited Bridget, Vaughn, and Rian over to our hostel for a "hostel party," which ultimately resulted in a late night trip to the Pita Inn and then McDonalds. Everybody came back to our hostel, since theirs was a long walk away, and crashed for the night.
Tuesday was our last day in Barcelona. I woke up with a strong desire for greasy Mexican food. I think I'm having Adobe withdrawals to be honest. After grabbing some breakfast (not a taco or burrito mind you) we met up with Jake, Ken and Mike and went to the Picasso Museum. After taking Humanities, I have a newfound appreciation for art, and I found the museum to be really cool and interesting. Still not a fan of cubism though...I could do without that Picasso. After the museum we grabbed some lunch and then went back to our hostel. The girls crashed but I wanted to see Parque Guell so I went out on my own and planned to meet up with everyone from AQ at 6. I unfortunately could not make it to the park and back in enough time, so I settled for grabbing some Gelato and walking around the streets for an hour while almost getting lost. It was a poor substitute, but it'll have to do. That evening there were 13 out of 20 of the AQ students in Barcelona so we all met up and attempted to have dinner together. I say attempted because Jake, Brittany, Hannah and myself opted out of having Chinese food and instead grabbed some sandwiches. After that we checked out of our hostel and said goodbye to everyone since we had a 6 a.m. flight to Rome, meaning we spent the night in the airport so we wouldn't miss our flight.
I didn't get to do a whole lot in Barcelona unfortunately. It ended up being a lazy trip, but it definitely gives me a reason to return. Despite the first night and not knowing a lot of Spanish, I really enjoyed Barcelona and would return in a heartbeat.
Here are some pictures:
Segrada Familia. Crazy architecture. It cost 10 euro to get in, so we didn't go inside, but it was still an awesome view from the outside.
The beach. Not quite the same as Lake Michigan, but I still enjoyed it.
The view of the city from the top of the Montjuic Barcelona Fountain. This fountain is a water/light show but unfortunately it wasn't playing on Sunday when we went to the top. The view was still awesome though.That's all for Barcelona/Spain. I want to go back there so bad.
So far Rome has been pretty good to us. We're here until Wednesday and then we head to Paris. I'll have a Rome update/review for you then.
Peace. Love. Barcelona.
Rob
So far Rome has been pretty good to us. We're here until Wednesday and then we head to Paris. I'll have a Rome update/review for you then.
Peace. Love. Barcelona.
Rob
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Don't Stop Me Now
Hey peeps!
It is March 2. That is so bizzarre. I seems like just yesterday I was getting on the plane at Ford Airport to head to Ireland, and now I'm getting on planes to travel around EUROPE! Before I get to that though, let me back up and update you on everything that's happened before Spring Break.
The weekend before we went to Dublin was a huge academic weekend, but everyone took a break to head down to Tully for a double 21st birthday which was a lot of fun, coupled with a few trips to the chipper which has essentially become our "Yesterdog" over here. Sunday, my cottage gave our presentations on the sites in Dublin; my topic was Kilmainham Gaol, the jail in Dublin which has a dark history. Ask me about it sometime. The presentations went well, but then we were off to study for our Literature Midterm later that week. Tuesday evening we kicked off our Spring Break with a party in Cottage 6 and a trip to Coynes. Overall, it was a successful evening and a great way to depart Tully Cross for two and a half weeks.
Wednesday we made our way toward Dublin. On our way to Dublin, we stopped at Newgrange. Newgrange is a monument constructed during the Neolithic era and is less than an hour outside of Dublin. The monument is significant because it identifies the winter solstice, meaning that every December 21, the sun shines through the small opening in the monument and fills the monument with light. They did a demo for us with a 40 Watt lightbulb, which was still very cool to see. They conduct a lottery each year for about 20 or so people around the world to be in the monument on December 21 at sunrise to experience it.
This is the entrance to Newgrange. We couldn't take pictures inside unfortunately, but you can definitely tell it's something from the Neolithic era.
That evening we arrived in Dublin and got settled in our hostel, which was a very nice hostel, the Globetrotter. From there we grabbed dinner and some of the guys and I along with Brittany, Hannah and Beth explored the town before calling it a night.
Thursday morning we went as a group to see the Book of Kels at Trinity College. The Book of Kels is a historic book which contains the four gospels in Latin. It is ornately and very elaborately decorated and was written by Monks around 1,000 AD. It was sent to Trinity College during the Cromwell era of the 1600s for fear of it being destroyed. The colors of the book were extracted from minerals and the book took an extremely long time to compose, but it was definitely cool to view. Above that room was the Long Library, which is just as it sounds. It is by far the biggest library I've ever seen and unfortunately, the library is only for show as you cannot check out books from it. It was definitely impressive to look at.
After the Book of Kels, we were on our own in Dublin. The guys and some of the girls along with Dr. Dawson made our way to the Guinness Storehouse. The Storehouse, or Brewery, is a seven floor building and is nicknamed the "high point of your visit to Dublin." Literally. The seventh floor is the Gravity Bar where you redeem your admission ticket for a pint and enjoy the 360 view of Ireland. That pint was by far the freshest and best tasting Guinness I will ever enjoy; we hadn't had much to eat yet that day either so one pint was plenty of Guinness for me to take in.
Honestly, best tasting Guinness in all of Ireland.
Brittany and Ken, all smiles at the top.
After the Brewery we went to Kilmainham Gaol and toured the jail, which was awesome to tour after doing my culture presentation on it. I already knew a lot of the information but I learned a lot of new facts as well, including some of the inmates that were kept there during its 130 years of operation. The jail in Dublin was the scene of brutal treatment of Irish prisoners and inmates while it was open. Conditions in the jail were terrible and sometimes it was uninhabitable. Going from an ultimate high at the Guinness Brewery to the jail was slightly depressing and startling, but very interesting nonetheless. That evening we had to ourselves, so some of us walked to the oldest pub in Dublin and had a pint there and then called it a night.
Friday we had the morning and afternoon to ourselves again, so there was more sightseeing including the National Gallery of Art and the National Library and Museum. In the library there was an exhibit devoted to Yeats and his poetry and included in the exhibit was a copy of Walden that Yeats had signed and used for inspiration for some of his earlier poems. Let's be honest, Thoreau is kind of a big deal.
That evening we went to a play at the Abbey theatre together called "No Romance." It was a three act play that had just premiered in Dublin. I'd try to explain it, but I'd suggest you look it up if you can find it. If it ever comes to the states, I'd recommend seeing it. After that we all said goodbye and packed our things as we were heading our separate ways the next morning for Spring Break.
That's all I've got for Dublin. I'll post about Barcelona soon, and look on Facebook for pictures!
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
It is March 2. That is so bizzarre. I seems like just yesterday I was getting on the plane at Ford Airport to head to Ireland, and now I'm getting on planes to travel around EUROPE! Before I get to that though, let me back up and update you on everything that's happened before Spring Break.
The weekend before we went to Dublin was a huge academic weekend, but everyone took a break to head down to Tully for a double 21st birthday which was a lot of fun, coupled with a few trips to the chipper which has essentially become our "Yesterdog" over here. Sunday, my cottage gave our presentations on the sites in Dublin; my topic was Kilmainham Gaol, the jail in Dublin which has a dark history. Ask me about it sometime. The presentations went well, but then we were off to study for our Literature Midterm later that week. Tuesday evening we kicked off our Spring Break with a party in Cottage 6 and a trip to Coynes. Overall, it was a successful evening and a great way to depart Tully Cross for two and a half weeks.
Wednesday we made our way toward Dublin. On our way to Dublin, we stopped at Newgrange. Newgrange is a monument constructed during the Neolithic era and is less than an hour outside of Dublin. The monument is significant because it identifies the winter solstice, meaning that every December 21, the sun shines through the small opening in the monument and fills the monument with light. They did a demo for us with a 40 Watt lightbulb, which was still very cool to see. They conduct a lottery each year for about 20 or so people around the world to be in the monument on December 21 at sunrise to experience it.
This is the entrance to Newgrange. We couldn't take pictures inside unfortunately, but you can definitely tell it's something from the Neolithic era.That evening we arrived in Dublin and got settled in our hostel, which was a very nice hostel, the Globetrotter. From there we grabbed dinner and some of the guys and I along with Brittany, Hannah and Beth explored the town before calling it a night.
Thursday morning we went as a group to see the Book of Kels at Trinity College. The Book of Kels is a historic book which contains the four gospels in Latin. It is ornately and very elaborately decorated and was written by Monks around 1,000 AD. It was sent to Trinity College during the Cromwell era of the 1600s for fear of it being destroyed. The colors of the book were extracted from minerals and the book took an extremely long time to compose, but it was definitely cool to view. Above that room was the Long Library, which is just as it sounds. It is by far the biggest library I've ever seen and unfortunately, the library is only for show as you cannot check out books from it. It was definitely impressive to look at.
After the Book of Kels, we were on our own in Dublin. The guys and some of the girls along with Dr. Dawson made our way to the Guinness Storehouse. The Storehouse, or Brewery, is a seven floor building and is nicknamed the "high point of your visit to Dublin." Literally. The seventh floor is the Gravity Bar where you redeem your admission ticket for a pint and enjoy the 360 view of Ireland. That pint was by far the freshest and best tasting Guinness I will ever enjoy; we hadn't had much to eat yet that day either so one pint was plenty of Guinness for me to take in.
Honestly, best tasting Guinness in all of Ireland.
Brittany and Ken, all smiles at the top.Friday we had the morning and afternoon to ourselves again, so there was more sightseeing including the National Gallery of Art and the National Library and Museum. In the library there was an exhibit devoted to Yeats and his poetry and included in the exhibit was a copy of Walden that Yeats had signed and used for inspiration for some of his earlier poems. Let's be honest, Thoreau is kind of a big deal.
That evening we went to a play at the Abbey theatre together called "No Romance." It was a three act play that had just premiered in Dublin. I'd try to explain it, but I'd suggest you look it up if you can find it. If it ever comes to the states, I'd recommend seeing it. After that we all said goodbye and packed our things as we were heading our separate ways the next morning for Spring Break.
That's all I've got for Dublin. I'll post about Barcelona soon, and look on Facebook for pictures!
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
Friday, February 18, 2011
It Feels Like Today
Holler people. Can you say WEEKEND?! Can you say one week until SPRING BREAK?! Wowzers.
So much has been going on over here lately. We are slowly getting busier with school work and as I look at the assignments for when we get back from break, I’m starting to realize that some mild stress might be in my future. But hey, that’s what the pubs across the street are for, right?
The rest of the day on Monday was pretty tame. Like I said, we had a Lit Review for our Literature Class Midterm and we turned in our papers for the class. I’m so grateful that we can type our papers and that we don’t have to write them out. Makes things a lot easier. I took a walk down to Tully because it was a fairly decent day and bought a few minor items for the cottage. That night, Jake, Ken and I grabbed a pint at Sammons and chatted, and then we went over to Coynes for the usual Monday live music from Aiden in which Beth again participated. After a while we called it a night and went back to the cottage.
Tuesday during the day, we mostly worked on homework as we didn’t have anything going on until later in the day. Mike and I walked to Tully again to grab a few items in the afternoon. I enjoy that walk a lot. It’s an easy walk and it’s a good way to simply clear my mind or to enjoy someone’s company. Once we got back, we made dinner and then I went to the Study Cottage where I saw an e-mail from Matt that said Jenny was in labor. I quick called Matt to get the details and after a minor panic attack since Matt sounded like he was crying (he had lost his voice the night before) realized that everything was going okay. I got to say hi to the parents really quick and then headed out with everyone to learn some Irish Dancing. The dancing was a lot of fun, but my mind was of course back home with Chris, Jenny, and Carson. I called my dad at the end of the lesson and got some awesome news...I had a NEW NEPHEW! I was so overjoyed, and everyone was extremely happy for me.
After the dancing, we made our way back to the cottages and Mike, Ken, and Jake poured us some wine and we drank to Carson before heading to Coynes to celebrate the little guy’s birth. The three of them each bought me drinks and each cottage bought me a drink as well to celebrate me being an uncle, again. I made a few toasts and thanked everyone who was able to make it out. I think over all, I had at least 10, if not more drinks that night. I had a lot of fun and was so happy and blessed to be able to celebrate that night with my Ireland family. The roommates ended up having a few drinks as well, because later that night all of us went down. Carson John Abid single handedly took down Cottage 7. Kudos to you little man. I can’t wait to meet you.
The next morning was rough to say the least. We were all in rare form as we tried to pull ourselves together and people realized that yes, I was still alive. We pieced the night back together while we attempted to study for our History Quiz which was that afternoon. I think I managed to do pretty well on the quiz, all things considered. I spent the day trying to get information from home regarding Carson and simply trying to seek forgiveness from my body for the night before. That night was pretty low-key and spent studying for our Literature midterm the next day.
Thursday Ken had to wake me up as it was going on 11 and there was still no sign of me in the cottage. I think my body was making up for the lack of sleep the night before. I spent all morning and afternoon studying for the midterm, which I think I did fairly well on…we’ll see. After the midterm we finished the season of Scrubs that I had brought with me. The guys weren’t too happy since there was basically no resolution in the season. I might need to get the next season shipped to me (Mom and Dad ☺ ). After Scrubs we did some of our homework and then some of the students headed to Sammon’s for a pint after a long and academically demanding week.
Today looks to be a “work” day. I’m heading to Sammons for lunch with Mike and then I’m planning to get my presentation mostly finished which is due on Sunday and some other items for the Culture Class done. Saturday evening there’s a double birthday party down in Tully; there’s supposed to be over 200 people there, so that should be a lot of fun. Sunday we have our presentations, Monday is our History midterm, Tuesday is our Literature Class, and Wednesday we head out for Dublin for three days before we begin our Spring Break. I’m booked for Barcelona, Rome, and Paris. Aside from the fact that I have a lot of flying ahead of me and I don’t know Spanish, Italian, or French, I am so extremely excited. The language barriers might be a problem, but we’ll figure it out.
No pictures this time. I’m sure I’ll have another update either before or during Dublin.
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
So much has been going on over here lately. We are slowly getting busier with school work and as I look at the assignments for when we get back from break, I’m starting to realize that some mild stress might be in my future. But hey, that’s what the pubs across the street are for, right?
The rest of the day on Monday was pretty tame. Like I said, we had a Lit Review for our Literature Class Midterm and we turned in our papers for the class. I’m so grateful that we can type our papers and that we don’t have to write them out. Makes things a lot easier. I took a walk down to Tully because it was a fairly decent day and bought a few minor items for the cottage. That night, Jake, Ken and I grabbed a pint at Sammons and chatted, and then we went over to Coynes for the usual Monday live music from Aiden in which Beth again participated. After a while we called it a night and went back to the cottage.
Tuesday during the day, we mostly worked on homework as we didn’t have anything going on until later in the day. Mike and I walked to Tully again to grab a few items in the afternoon. I enjoy that walk a lot. It’s an easy walk and it’s a good way to simply clear my mind or to enjoy someone’s company. Once we got back, we made dinner and then I went to the Study Cottage where I saw an e-mail from Matt that said Jenny was in labor. I quick called Matt to get the details and after a minor panic attack since Matt sounded like he was crying (he had lost his voice the night before) realized that everything was going okay. I got to say hi to the parents really quick and then headed out with everyone to learn some Irish Dancing. The dancing was a lot of fun, but my mind was of course back home with Chris, Jenny, and Carson. I called my dad at the end of the lesson and got some awesome news...I had a NEW NEPHEW! I was so overjoyed, and everyone was extremely happy for me.
After the dancing, we made our way back to the cottages and Mike, Ken, and Jake poured us some wine and we drank to Carson before heading to Coynes to celebrate the little guy’s birth. The three of them each bought me drinks and each cottage bought me a drink as well to celebrate me being an uncle, again. I made a few toasts and thanked everyone who was able to make it out. I think over all, I had at least 10, if not more drinks that night. I had a lot of fun and was so happy and blessed to be able to celebrate that night with my Ireland family. The roommates ended up having a few drinks as well, because later that night all of us went down. Carson John Abid single handedly took down Cottage 7. Kudos to you little man. I can’t wait to meet you.
The next morning was rough to say the least. We were all in rare form as we tried to pull ourselves together and people realized that yes, I was still alive. We pieced the night back together while we attempted to study for our History Quiz which was that afternoon. I think I managed to do pretty well on the quiz, all things considered. I spent the day trying to get information from home regarding Carson and simply trying to seek forgiveness from my body for the night before. That night was pretty low-key and spent studying for our Literature midterm the next day.
Thursday Ken had to wake me up as it was going on 11 and there was still no sign of me in the cottage. I think my body was making up for the lack of sleep the night before. I spent all morning and afternoon studying for the midterm, which I think I did fairly well on…we’ll see. After the midterm we finished the season of Scrubs that I had brought with me. The guys weren’t too happy since there was basically no resolution in the season. I might need to get the next season shipped to me (Mom and Dad ☺ ). After Scrubs we did some of our homework and then some of the students headed to Sammon’s for a pint after a long and academically demanding week.
Today looks to be a “work” day. I’m heading to Sammons for lunch with Mike and then I’m planning to get my presentation mostly finished which is due on Sunday and some other items for the Culture Class done. Saturday evening there’s a double birthday party down in Tully; there’s supposed to be over 200 people there, so that should be a lot of fun. Sunday we have our presentations, Monday is our History midterm, Tuesday is our Literature Class, and Wednesday we head out for Dublin for three days before we begin our Spring Break. I’m booked for Barcelona, Rome, and Paris. Aside from the fact that I have a lot of flying ahead of me and I don’t know Spanish, Italian, or French, I am so extremely excited. The language barriers might be a problem, but we’ll figure it out.
No pictures this time. I’m sure I’ll have another update either before or during Dublin.
Peace. Love. Ireland.
Rob
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