Amelia's Adventures, "studying" abroad!

America Meets Ireland (Weeks 12 & 13: Nov. 17 - 30)

2009-11-30T12:32:00.005Z

Well these past two weeks have been all about experiencing Ireland, yet also throwing in a lil bit of Amurrica, especially with this past weekend being the great holiday of THANKSGIVING!

Week 12

Leading up to this past weekend, we wrapped up rugby training for this part of the season. I was sad to see it end, because I really enjoy the new sport I've picked up as well as hanging out with the girls. After our Wednesday night session, where we didn't even play (we watched film of different rugby teams to see how to get better), we went over to Hannah's house and watched the second half of the Ireland vs. France World Cup qualifying match. Now a little background: this was the second match that they were playing against each other since that's how it works in the World Cup. France won the first meeting in Ireland, but then Ireland was ready to take on France on the home pitch.

Everything started off well, Ireland was up 1-0 at the end of regulation, but it was all tied up on aggregate, so they went into overtime. Ireland came 15 minutes short of forcing a famous penalty shoot-out against France when a highly disputed goal in the first overtime created the loudest uproar I have ever heard. French captain Thierry Henry blatantly handled the ball with his hand right near the goal and fed it to William Gallas for a header into the goal. Then, all of Ireland cried out in horror. Such a blatant handball, surely the ref will overturn it? FALSE!

France got to move on to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and Ireland left, feeling dejected. Since then, FIFA and other soccer elites have weighed the possibilities of letting Ireland be the 33rd team for a play-off game and adding more referees to each game. I hope Ireland still gets a fighting chance in the World Cup.

For the rest of the week, we just fumed about the unfair loss. I went to all of my classes, score! When we went out on the weekends, they were two of the best nights in Galway in a while. I think it was because we had such huge groups of friends both nights, that we practically owned the dance floor. Maggie, Bryeanna and I decided we wanted to at least make it out of our flats one time on Sunday, so we went to Riordan's for Irish breakfast. So yummy. Though it did take up a good chunk of the day, it immediately started to get cold and rainy when we got back, perfect weather to stay inside and "work"...I didn't eat anything until about 9:30 that night!

Week 13

This week marked the last week of modules (aka classes) at college! Wow, how quickly the semester has gone! It worked out perfectly that I didn't have any modules on Thursday, which was THANKSGIVING. I was lucky enough to be invited to two different feasts, but in the end, I was unable to attend both. I first went to my friend Brigid's, from Fairfield University, parents' holiday house that they had rented for the week. The McEntee family hosted about 15 hungry American study abroad students for a great feast! We had all of the fixins: turkey, two kinds of stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, sweet potatoes, rolls, butternut squash soup, baked apples and tons and tons of dessert! We wined and dined for hours, but then I had to leave early to head to the coach station to pick up Sloane! What better way for a Parisian to spend THANKSGIVING than in Ireland, getting some greenery and fresh air!

Since I was in my post-THANKSGIVING food coma and Sloane was tired from traveling, we opted out of going out to a pub or club for the night (and good thing too, because it was freezing and also very late...they would have been closing by the time we got there, ha!). So what did we do? Drink a bottle of wine and watch two episodes of "Glee": sounds like a good, relaxing THANKSGIVING night for me!

The next day, typically BLACK FRIDAY and spent shopping with the fam (or in my case, usually window-shopping since I hate crowded, hectic and chaotic dressing rooms...too overwhelming), Sloane and I went on a tour of Connemara, the west of Ireland's Gaeltacht region. We toured the Irish countryside and saw breathtaking scenery, despite a sometimes gloomy day. We saw Ireland's only fjord, the Killray Fjord in Leenane. In Leenane we stopped at a pub for "refreshments". Since it was a chilly day, what do Sloane and I opt for? Irish coffee, of course! It was actually my first Irish coffee, ever, seeing as I now prefer tea (two sugars and milk) to coffee. But nevertheless, it was refreshing and definitely added a lil sumthin sumthin to our morning!

After our pub stop, we made our way to the Kylemore Abbey. This landmark wasn't originally an abbey, rather it was an elaborate home for a husband and wife; the husband built it for his wife as a honeymoon/wedding present. It sits upon a gorgeous lake, surrounded by mountains and bluffs. There is also a miniature replica of the Norwich Cathedral on the grounds, as well as extensive Victorian gardens and a mausoleum. The interior of the big house was reminiscent of some of the chateaus I went in during my French adventures! And since it is now an abbey, I was totally expecting seeing nuns everywhere. Sadly though, I didn't see any "nuns having fun" (which is one of the funniest blogs/calendars/books I have ever seen), nor did I see any nuns singing about how to solve problems like Maria (shameless "Sound of Music" plug). Sloane and I had a great time exploring the grounds of this magnificent house.

After a late lunch at the Kylemore Abbey, we were off again traveling through Connemara. When we finally got back to Galway at 5:30 p.m., we were starving! We went to McDonagh's for a delicious fish and chips dinner, Sloane's fish and chips THANKSGIVING! Ha ha. After that, we headed back to my flat to get ready for a little bit of a pub crawl. We went to the King's Head first, typical popular pub. The band that evening was a GREAT Southern/Classic Rock cover band...played a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the like. Sloane and I were digging it, being Southern Belles and all. Then some of the guys met up with us to enjoy a bit more of a jam sesh to some of "The Boss" (Bruce Springsteen for y'all uneducated folk). After the King's Head, we joined up with some of the other boys and girls at the Quays. It was PACKED! We luckily created a huge table in the bottom nook of the pub and just hung out. I liked that we didn't go to a club; it was nice to just chill and talk, drinks in hand. According to the Irish kids, the Quays has the best pints of Guinness in all of Galway, so naturally Sloane had to have her first real pint of Guinness here. We then headed home to rest up for another full day of adventuring.

We woke up to another gorgeous day! So sunny, though very cold. We first walked over to college and I showed Sloane our most "Harry Potter"-esque buildings. Then we walked by the Cathedral and we were going to go in and look around, but it was in the middle of one of the Mass services, so we decided to come back later. Then we started to get a little hungry, so we walked down a path by the raging River Corrib. The Corrib was so full due to all of the massive rainstorms and flooding (apparently the worst floods in 800 years!). There were some very adventurous and brave paddlers kayaking out in the rapids though. It definitely looked like fun! It made me miss paddling in North Carolina...not too much longer though!

We went to Riordan's for the full Irish breakfast, naturally. It is such a bargain for all of that food and it is so delicious! With our bellies full, we headed back out to take advantage of the gloriously sunny day in Galway. We walked down to the Claddagh and down by the bay. On our way to the Claddagh though, we stopped by the Spanish Arch, and there I had my brush with death. No, I wasn't mugged or held at gun-point...a HUGE swan got very, VERY angry at me and charged me. Sloane documented only the "before" and "after" shots, but had we recorded it, it would be the next Youtube sensation.

We walked all around the Claddagh and out by the bay, and boy was the tide high! There was hardly any beach left to explore. Though we did see many dogs out and about, and that started the "Oh I wish my dog was here! He'd love it!" reminisces. Soon enough, I shall be reunited with the best dog in the world: CHARLIE!! After walking off some of that breakfast, we moved on to the next order of business: SHOPPING. Sloane was on a mission to knock out presents for her dad and future brother-in-law. After a quick stop into my favorite Claddagh ring store/museum, we were off on our way looking for jerseys and Irish wool sweaters.

We enjoyed stopping into all of the touristy shops, killing some time before the Ireland vs. South Africa rugby match. We also went down to the market and I drooled over some of the prints of Galway and western Ireland. So many things I want to bring back home, I don't think I'll have enough room in my suitcase! We also went into the Church of Ireland, where I discovered a memorial to me, "Amelia", though I'm glad it wasn't really me, because that would mean that I would be dead. Probably death by swan attack.

Now we determined was a good time to head back over to the Cathedral, surely Mass would be over by now. We were in luck, no services. Just plenty of space to document the gloriousness of the Cathedral. Then we realized it was time for the match (though apparently kickoff was an hour earlier than I had thought...oops). No matter, we saw the end of the first half and the exciting finish. It wasn't much of a match, but fly-half Jonathan Sexton got the job done with tons of penalty kicks. Sloane quickly became a big fan of rugby, though we both agreed that drinking Guinnesses made the game a lot more fun! The atmosphere was unlike any other sports bar I've ever been in, and this win concluded a year of wins for the Irish: undefeated since November 2008. Quite the record.

After the match I took Sloane for the best hot chocolate in Galway. Granted, it was no Angelina's like in Paris, but it is still pretty damn good. We followed that up with a bit more shopping and then headed back to prep for going out. Then we went to the Cellar for dinner. How appropriate for two Richmond girls to go out to dinner at the Cellar: it was as if we hadn't left campus at all. Then we came back home and realized that we were both a lot more tired from our busy day of exploring and day drinking to go back out into the cold (it was literally 0 degrees Celsius aka freezing in Fahrenheit). Alternative game plan? Snuggle up under some blankets, drink wine and watch "Sex and the City". WIN!

We were up early since Sloane's bus to the Shannon airport was at 10:15 a.m., but Sloane could not leave Ireland without having a scone. We went to the Galway Bakery Company for tea and scones before one last goodbye at the coach station. I was so glad to have one of my good Richmond friends come for the THANKSGIVING weekend. I can't believe that our time abroad is quickly coming to an end. It'll definitely be a bittersweet goodbye.

Until next time...

But It's 2 AM...Time to Go RAGE! Barcelona (Week 11: Nov. 10 - Nov. 16)

2009-11-20T11:13:00.005Z

Nov. 11/12

Nothing too exciting happened this week until Wednesday when we had a home rugby match versus Sligo IT. Of course, in true Irish rugby fashion, it was a wet and muddy affair. While it did not start to downpour until the very end of the game, it was still a slip 'n slide of a pitch.

But all of the mud and rain was worth it because we won! I think the final score was somewhere around 24-0, a solid victory. After showering up and looking like a real person, I joined the team at Monroe's for a little celebration, complete with drinks and pizza. Well that celebration turned into a long (but fun) party complete with teaching American drinking games, pictures and great craic.

Well, like all good things must come to an end (ooh, did I really just use that cliché?), I had to leave the pub early (mind you, it was about 11 p.m. at this time), in order do get my stuff to go to Barcelona for the weekend! Weeee! But of course, I hit probably the biggest snag in all of my travels thus far.

When I got back to my flat, I had enough time to take a little nap before my 1:30 a.m. bus to the Dublin Airport. I had set my alarm for 12:45, NBD. Well...I didn't wake up in time and woke up in a panic at 3:45 a.m. instead. I rushed over to the bus station, but the next bus to the airport wasn't running until 5:00 a.m....(why have a bus at 1:30 a.m. but not at 4 a.m.?!) There would be no way in Hell that I could make it to the airport in time for my 6:40 a.m. flight to Barcelona...ugh. THE BIGGEST FAIL OF ALL TIME! So I came home, devastated and dejected (but the silver lining: I could sleep in a bed instead of in a bus seat...).

I had to buy another ticket to Barcelona (insert: Frustrating Irish Moment ofthe Day!), but luckily the return flight didn't get cancelled too. Woot woot! So, I just hung out and slept to prepare for my second attempt at going to Barcelona.

Nov. 13

Looks like Friday the 13th wasn't so scary for me! I was successful this time, and I even ran into some friends from NUI-G at the airport who were going to Paris. Landed in Barca at about 10 a.m. and took the train to the train station where I met up with Courtney! So excited to see her, especially since I hadn't seen her since Oktoberfest. We went to her apartment so I could drop off my stuff and then we headed into the city centre, most notably taking a route down Las Ramblas, the famous strip in Barcelona where there are tons of shops, café, and of course, street performers. After doing some shopping, Liz and Sloane joined us for lunch at one of the cafés, where we were informed that we had to order the patatas bravas, apparently a traditional dish in Barcelona. They were little potatoes served with two delicious sauces, definitely glad we got them!

After lunch, we walked around a little bit more and then met up with two Richmond boys who happened to be Barcelona in for the night. We then made our way up to Parc Guell for the sunset over the city. Parc Guell was amazing! So many mosaics, fountains and crazy architecture. Barcelona really celebrate Gaudi's work throughout the whole city. Though it wasn't as spectacular of a sunset as it could have been since it was a bit hazy out, it was still really cool to see the whole city from high above.

We invited the boys over for dinner (which wasn't going to be served until about 9:30 p.m., oh Spain), so we went back home to prepare for dinner and going out. Liz made a delicious penne a la vodka, and we also had salad and Sangria (which tasted like fruit juice...mmm). Liz and Courtney's other apartment mate, Fariz, had his friends from Belgium visiting this weekend too, so we all took part in learning some Belgian drinking games before we headed out to some bars. The first bar we went to was Dow Jones, a quirky bar where the drink prices are displayed on monitors like on Wall Street. Periodically, there will be a "stock market crash" and drink prices will fall drastically, which encourages people to order during this time. And what a good deal!

After Dow Jones (we left before another crash), we went on to the main event of the night: CHUPITOS! I think "chupito" means shot in Spanish? Regardless, we went to a chupitos bar where there were literally HUNDREDS of different concoctions. And all for 2 Euro? MONEY MAKER! We took a bunch of different chupitos, and they were delicious, fiery and cheap (probably the best part). The fiery shots were a little intimidating at first, but luckily no burned lips or singed eyebrows! After we got tired of trying to figure out which chupito to try next, we went back home (around 3:30 a.m....they stay out really late in Barcelona) to rest up for a big day of touring and shopping.

Nov. 14

Woke up a LOT later than I am used to (like around 1 p.m.!), but I guess that's the Spanish lifestyle. The four of us (Sloane, Courtney, Liz and I) got ready and headed out down Las Ramblas to check out the street performers, artisan booths and other shops. I may or may not have gotten some birthday prezzies from the cool jewelry makers on Las Ramblas...I'll let you be the judge.

Then, in true American student abroad fashion, we were hungry for something cheap and familiar. Solution? SUBWAY! Ordering it in Spanglish was a bit troublesome, but in the end, GREAT SUCCESS! After scarfing (ha, perhaps an unintentional pun, since the typical American girl abroad is always sporting a scarf) down some delicious sweet onion chicken teriyaki, we headed on down to the Port and did a bit more sightseeing. We also got delicious waffles (who knew Spain did waffles?) as a lil snack.

We trekked back towards Liz and Courtney's apartment, while making a few more stops into different shops. We also happened to do a bit of cathedral hunting, coincidentally. Nothing like my typical go-to "oh snap a pic of dis cathedral, yo" picture to add to my Facebook albums. But they really are quite impressive, definitely nothing like them back in the States.

Since we clearly couldn't eat dinner anywhere near a "normal" time, what better way to pass the time than go to the fountain show at Montjuic? It was so cool to see. Instant fun? Have classical music blasting, epic light show AND JUST ADD WATER! After a mini photo-shoot, we headed back to prepare for a night out.

We had decided last night on the way to Dow Jones and/or chupitos that we were craving some Mexican like something fierce, so for dinner we had some fajitas. MMM. We then continued to get ready to try out a new club in Barcelona. Oh adventure! Liz and Courtney's friends from Bentley met up with us and then we were on our way. We raged and fist-pumped to Europe's greatest jamz (aka techno and David Guetta...my new love) at Ribelino's until about 5 a.m....wow, what a late night! It was definitely a great night to celebrate my 21st birthday, round 2. I'm still waiting for Round 3 when I get back home, so I can really appreciate being 21, ha ha. Went to bed around 6 a.m. and said bye to Sloane (though I'm seeing her for Thanksgiving in Ireland!), since she had an unfortunately early train out of Barcelona for Paris.

Nov. 15

Since Liz and Courtney had to do work (what's that?) since they were having even MORE visitors the following week, Courtney wrote me EXCELLENT directions to get to some places I had on my list. Their apartment is in a great location, virtually close to everything touristy. SCORE. I walked maybe five blocks to La Sagrada Familia, probably the mother of all cathedrals (aside from the Notre Dame). Yet the great thing about La Sagrada Familia is that it's been under construction since it's inception...back in 1882 by Gaudi (renowned Catalan architect of many of Barcelona's touristy hot-spots, like Parc Guell). It is not scheduled for completion until at least 2026! Luckily though, it's still b-e-a-utiful despite the scaffolding. Fortunately, parts are now open to the public for touring (complete with self-guided audio tours...WIN!), so that's one thing I did by myself.

The architecture was breathtaking. Describing it in words wouldn't do it justice. Even the pictures are a poor representation of seeing it up close and personal. Eh, you can't have it all I guess. After spending an ample amount of time at La Sagrada Familia, I whipped out the MetroCard, map and directions and headed over to the Picasso museum. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum, but it was a really cool museum! It was a little difficult to find because it blended in so well with the surrounding buildings. There was a special exhibit on his Japanese-influenced pieces, so that was interesting. After my typical dose of art history on a trip throughout Europe, I did a bit of postcard shopping and headed back to Liz and Courtney's.

One of Liz and Courtney's apartment mates, Telio, had his birthday this weekend and his parents were visiting from Toulouse, France. They cooked up a DELICIOUS meal for all of us: salad, pasta, meat and an interesting sauce. And for dessert, we had two different kinds of ice cream. It was nice to get a home cooked meal. Being abroad has been great and all, but I cannot wait until I don't have to cook/fend for myself on a regular basis.

After a delicious (and filling!) meal, it was off to bed since I had to make sure to catch my flight back home to Dublin en route to Galway! I had a great time in Barcelona! What a fabulous way to spend a weekend, you know, casually gallivanting about in Spain. The usual. But of course, like it happens to so many of us, there was one small casualty on the flight back. Don't worry, not like a fatality or anything (though I was a little devastated), I somehow lost my favorite sunglasses. My Ray-Ban wayfarers, which are normally around my neck on my Croakies, somehow fell out of my bag when I was going through security or something. Of course, I didn't notice they were gone until the sun was obnoxiously in my eyes on the bus ride home to Galway. FAIL. That's another birthday present that I'm willing to buy for myself...

I'm almost caught up! I'll catch up soon, I SWEAR! I'm only about 1 week behind...NBD.

The 21st Celebrations (Week 10: Nov. 7 - 9)

2009-11-10T17:25:00.005Z

Well, I (and some other people) never thought I'd live to see the day: my 21st birthday. Now, I don't want to hype it up too much because then y'all will just be disappointed. But since I had low (if any) expectations for my birthday abroad, they were definitely met and exceeded! It was a grand weekend.

Nov. 7

My favorite British person, VERITY POSTLETHWAITE, arrived around midday which was soooo exciting. After dropping her stuff off in my room, I gave her the walking tour of Galway: we went from my flat over to college, through college and stopped by St. Nicholas's Cathedral. It was actually the first time I had gone inside of it, so that was exciting. After that we went through Shop Street and stopped for a lunch of fish and chips at McDonagh's. Delicious. We then continued exploring Shop Street and went inside the Claddagh Ring Museum. We also got hot chocolate at the BEST hot chocolate place in Galway, which was a great idea since it was a chilly and blusteryday. Then, since we didn't have anything else better to do, we went into all of the touristy shops and looked at all of the Irish and Guinness-related paraphanelia. Always a good time; the shops have also started setting up for Christmas and put out Christmas decorations and goods. We had fun looking at all of the creepy FatherChristmases.

After going into all of the touristy shops, we moved on to something even more enjoyable: the sporting goods store, Elvery's. I love looking at all of the cool football (not American), rugby and other sports jerseys. We then headed back home to rest and watch the Chelsea vs. Manchester United football match (unfortunately, Manchester United lost), made pizza and drank beer while we tried to watch/listen to the Richmond vs. Villanova game. Apparently I got a shout-out on the radio? That's cool. I was devastated to come home from Night 1 of my 21st birthday to find out that the Spiders lost by ONE POINT! Ugh. So frustrating. Oh well, now we've got that loss out of the way so the boys better tighten up and bring it on home!

Verity and I did a mini-pub crawl, starting off at the King's Head, then the Quays and ended at Monroe's: we decided that Monroe's was the most fun, mainly because it was a lot less crowded than the other two pubs.

Nov. 8

Happy Birthday to me! We started our day off by going castle-hunting, though we never made it to the actual castle. We did, however, come across a very interesting landscape and explored that some; there were some rock formations that looked very "Lion King"-esque, so naturally we had a photo shoot. We then headed down into town for a full Irish breakfast at Riordan's. It was so delicious and filling! Tea, toast, bacon, sausage, potatoes, eggs, beans and "puddings"...not too sure what the puddings actually were, but they were yummy!

After brunch, we went for a long walk down by the bay and the Claddagh, taking advantage of the best birthday present: sunshine! We walked back home to rest up for Night 2 of my 21st birthday. Unfortunately, most of the Fairfield kids and Georgetown girls were getting back late from trips, so they weren't going to make it out that night. But that's ok because some of the rugby girls came by and then we headed out. Verity and I had a great time out, we even rode in one of the rickshaws, which I've always wanted to do! Oh the simple pleasures...

Nov. 9

Verity had to leave early this morning...waaaah. But I'm excited because I'll get to see her again in December before the Vogler fam heads over for our Irish Christmas, so it's not "goodbye but see you later". I then headed to Irish language class and a few other classes. Then I just came home and rested before another night of muddy rugby training. Night 3 of the 21st birthday was about to commence, so it was fun to have the Americans come by to party. Three nights of celebrations in a row? Goodness, was I tired!

All in all, the birthday celebrations were glorious! And they'll continue when I head to BARCELONA next weekend! More updates to come...

PS- To get totally caught up, scroll waaaaaay down to read about my French travels.

A Ghoulway Halloween and Being Studious (Week 10: Oct. 31 - Nov. 6)

2009-11-09T16:52:00.004Z

And the blog updates continue. Since this week wasn't nearly as busy nor adventurous as my French travels, no need for a very detailed play-by-play.

Oct. 31

Halloween was good craic, though apparently the students celebrated in full force the Thursday prior, so I was a little upset that I missed that. No matter, I had a fun Halloween with a few purchases from ol' reliable Dunnes (including two sequined items, skirt and vest/top thing) and some new crazy patterned leggings from a French H&M. I was going for a Hannah Montana/pop star look...not my best Halloweencostume but a nice, budget-friendly imitation.

One funny aspect of the Halloween night was that there were semi-spontaneous performances of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" along Shop Street: a bunch of people dressed up as ghouls and such broke it out, complete with jams pumping.

But a not-so-fun aspect of Halloween were the long queues outside of the clubs! Definitely the longest I have ever seen them, AND we had to pay to get in! That was the first time that I've had to pay to get in since being here...the stampers weren't being as generous this night, I guess. Another not-so-fun aspect was while in the queue, I got stilettoed on my foot. Now, getting "stilettoed" sounds exactly like how it sounds: some girl stomped on my foot (accidentally) and her stiletto heel came crunching down on my exposed skin and it broke the skin and started to bleed. Ew. Needless to say, this injury impeded my dance abilities, so I called it an early night (it also kind of hurt to walk on since she got the bone that connects my foot to my big toe! very crucial).

The rest of the week was pretty standard. I went to ALL of my classes! Yes, I went to every single class for a whole week...I don't think I've done that in a few weeks. Oops. It's a good thing that I went to class too because I got one of my midterms back: I got a 65...which is an A in Ireland! Never thought I'd be so happy to say that I got a 65 on a midterm, but when in Ireland...

Rugby training has been lovely and muddy. VERY MUDDY. So muddy that two of my shirts are now (despite several washes) a dingy, off-white. Oh well, a small price to pay to the Irish rugby gods. I really do enjoy this new sport and I definitely want to continue playing when I get back to campus.

This week was just preparing for a British invasion by none other than VERITY POSTLETHWAITE! Verity is a good friend from Keystone Camp, so I was thrilled to find out that she could come over for my birthday weekend.

Now on to post about the big 2-1!

Audio Tours in Avignon and a Quick Stop in Marseilles (Week 9: Oct. 28 - Oct. 30)

2009-11-08T17:32:00.005Z

Now that we've made it to our last few destinations in France, Martha, Rachel and I were a little reluctant to end our glorious holiday because that would mean that we would soon have to say goodbye :(

Oct. 28

In the midst of our loooong, 11-hour train from Tours to Avignon, we had to switch trains somewhere close to Avignon at 6:30 a.m., which was rough! It was so miserable because we were a) tired from an awful sleep pattern and b) it was absolutelyfreezing! It was colder in France than it has been in Ireland!

We made it to Avignon around 10 a.m. and checked into our hostel (which was sooo dodgy) and met up with our friend Amy, who is studying in Perugia, Italy for the semester. Amy, affectionately known as "Baby Amy" for her small stature, was atOktoberfest too, so it was great to see her again! Once we were settled, we began yet another trek to the city centre and started exploring. Our first stop was the Palais des Popes, or the Palace of the Popes. For a bit of background, historical info, during the Reformation and Counter Reformation, there was the Great Schism with the Roman Catholic Church and they moved the Pope from the Vatican to Avignon for a good number of years. The Palace of the Popes was HUGE! We added another notch on the "touristy fanny pack belt", if you will, by doing an audio tour. It was neat to see the palace where about seven popes resided. I'm sure that in the prime-time of the Palais des Popes, the artwork was even more grand and breath-taking, though it was still amazing to see the remnants of the mosaics, paintings, tapestries, etc.

After touring the Palais des Popes, we went "cathedral hunting" over to the Cathedral de Notre Dame (NOT the one in Paris, haha). This was yet another display of Catholic and Gothic grandeur, with gilded statues of patron saints, immaculate stained glass windows and so forth and so on. This cathedral is located high up on the side of the hills, so it was a nice vantage point to see the whole city of Avignon. Though the best place to see the city was on the St. Benezet Bridge, or the Pont d'Avignon. Part of this old bridge had been burned/destroyed long ago, so it stops about halfway across the river. We joked that it was such a shame that the bridge didn't span the river anymore, since our hostel was located across the river from the bridge; it would have cut our commuting time in half!

We came back to our very dodgy, 14 Euro/night (though we did get breakfast included!) hostel for a much-needed rest hour and prepared to go out to dinner. The shower situation was questionable, at best. You know those faucets on sinks that you have to press and hold? Well that's essentially what the shower was like, but with no drain (just a hole in the floor) and a stinging mist that fluctuated between icy cold and scalding hot. Oh well, I guess that's what we get for only paying 14 Euro!

We had a very hard time deciding on where to go for dinner, and unfortunately, we picked probably the worst restaurant! We had an unusually long wait for our food...like over an hour! And we ordered probably the simplest meals: spaghetti. It doesn't take THAT long for it to cook! I know that people in France and other European countries eat dinner really late compared to home, but it was nearing 9:15 p.m. before we finally got our semi-decent spaghetti. After our lame dinner, we had to salvage the evening with a few drinks at where...a karaoke bar. Yes, there was a French karaoke bar in Avignon...we couldn't possibly pass up this opportunity. While we mostly just enjoyed hearing awful renditions of American songs with heavy French accents, we did belt out a few ditties (Celine Dion, anyone? I think yes.). Singing karaoke in France was definitely a highlight of the trip, and definitely a memory from abroad that I won't forget, especially since "It's All Coming Back to Me Now".

Oct. 29

We woke up to a loud, construction-esque noise (luckily it was past 9 a.m.), and decided that it was time to make moves. We got that free breakfast (complete with juice boxes, though the juice was less than delicious) and checked out of the hostel by the river and went to the Roman, Greek and Egyptian collection museum in Avignon...it also happened to be near the karaoke bar! It was an interesting museum to visit since they had an extensive collection. After our visit, we went shopping and got some take-away lunch and had a picnic by the river. We headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage to catch the train to Marseilles, our last stop in France.

We checked into the hotel (yep, that's not a typo...a real hotel!), which was conveniently located near the train station. It was definitely a good idea to book a hotel room for our last night since we knew that everything would be clean and safe after having spent many nights in hostels. We then did a bit of exploring around Marseilles. Marseilles and Paris are very different from each other, aside from the fact that both are very populated. I didn't like Marseilles as much as the other places that I visited in France, but perhaps that is because I didn't go to the right places in Marseilles. I thought Marseilles was kind of dirty, crowded and busy...not exactly my scene after living in Galway for so long now.

We said bye to Baby Amy since she had been staying outside of Marseilles with one of her family friends and then grabbed some dinner to bring back to our sanctuary, aka the hotel room. It was a nice way to end the trip, just relaxing in the room, especially since we had to be at the airport early for our 6:50 a.m. flight.

Oct. 30

We woke up very early, much to everyone's dismay, to get to the airport. We had no problems flying out of Marseilles, but when we landed in Nantes, things began to go awry. Since there weren't any direct-Dublin flights on good ol' RyanAir, I had to change flights in Nantes, whereas Martha and Rachel just needed to take a bus back to Rennes.

Well, the Nantes airport only had one flight to Dublin that day, which was convenient since the connecting times weren't that far apart. Unfortunately, I had to get my checked bag off of the carrousel and check-in at the ticket counter. The woman working at the ticket counter proceeded to tell me that I had missed the time to check my bag and that it would be on the next flight to Dublin: commence travel freak-out. Fortunately, St. Christopher--Patron Saint of Travelers--was helping me out because right then Rachel (graciously) ran over with my bag so that I could check it. Then I had to pull a "Home Alone" (you know the scene where the McAllister family is sprinting through the Chicago-O'Hare airport?) and ran to my gate. Luckily I made it with time to spare since my flight to Dublin was delayed by about 30 minutes.

I made it to Dublin (and so did my bag!), but since I bought my bus ticket online prior to traveling (in order to save some much-needed Euros), it was invalid since I had missed that departure time due to the delayed flight. Of course, right when I get back to Ireland, I get a Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! I got back to Galway around 3:30 p.m. and stopped at Subway for a delicious sub of the day: tuna! Exhausted from the fun week of traveling, I decided to lounge about and began watching the new show, "Glee", online. I'm LOVING "Glee", it's so good!

And so ends the adventures in France. Up next...Halloween!

Touring Tours (Week 9: Oct. 26 - Oct. 28)

2009-11-08T16:44:00.001Z

So now begins the update from Tours, France (pronounced like "tour" not "tours").

Oct. 26

We were up early four our full-day of chateau touring around Tours. We went into the city centre where we were to meet our guide, Pascale. His English was good, but he had a strange accent, kind of like the movie announcer-voice. He also drove a sketchy auto-bus. The day started out very chilly and foggy, which was disappointing at first. Our first chateau was Chenonceau, the most visited in the Loire valley. It would have been prettier if there wasn't a bunch of scaffolding upon the facade. I enjoyed walking through the chateau, visiting the various bed chambers, some of which held French kings when they visited.

Our second chateau was Clos Luce & Amboise. Here, Leonardo da Vinci spent the remainder of his life, and it was the main residence of King Francois I. We ate lunch at a cafe nearby the chateau and we had two different types of crepes. For the main meal, we all had hearty, savory crepes, called gallettes: mine was filled with cheese, eggs and ham. Then we all had yummy chocolate crepes for dessert.

The third chateau of the day was Cheverny, a private home for the past seven centuries. It had an unusual furniture collection, but the family is LOADED. This was Martha, Rachel and my favorite chateau of the day. They even had current family photos in one room that was open to the public. The chateau has only been closed for three times in the past few decades: for the marriage of the current owners, when Queen Elizabeth visited, and when one of the past French prime ministers hosted a gala there.

Lastly, we visited Chambord, the largest chateau in France after Versailles. Unfortunately, most of it was closed for renovations. Waaah waaaah. It was a loooong day but very fun and historical! Uncle Francois was out to dinner with his fiancee and friends, so what do three college girls resort to for an easy dinner? FAST-FOOD KEBABS! They were so delicious and comforting. They took a while to get since they were roasting a fresh hunk of meat, but we had a nice time catching up and talking about school and our abroad experiences. We came back to Uncle Francois' to hang out and sleep in a little bit for tomorrow.

Oct. 27

We slept in to catch up on some much deserved sleep, which was nice. Then "Uncle Francois" showed us around Tours and we went into St. Martin's Basilica and St. Gatien's Cathedral. In France, we haven't done so much "castle-hunting", but rather "cathedral hunting". We got French pizzas for lunch, which was very good! The French sure do know how make delicious bread and cheese! The crust was excellent. We then came "home" for lunch and hung out. We even watched "Twilight", which was strange for us to see that Francois suggested it and liked it. Not too many straight men in the States would have suggested a movie about vampire love, but we didn't complain!

Francois' fiancee took the meat that he had prepared for us to work with her so we got to-go pasta for dinner instead; the pasta place was similar to a Subway: you could choose the type of pasta, sauce, cheese and fixins. It was pretty good for some fast food in France.

We then packed up and got snacks for our 11-hour overnight train to Avignon. Woof! It was such a bad sleep, even with taking some Benadryl to knock us out. Since we were all about saving money, we didn't get a sleeper-car, just seats that reclined a lot.

Now on to Avignon and Marseilles! Such a whirlwind adventure in France!

All Things Touristy, including Asian Tourists- PARIS (Week 8: Oct. 22 - 25)

2009-11-05T22:27:00.003Z

Bonjour! Here begins the updates regarding my French holiday. And what better place to begin than Paris? Paris, the city of monuments, museums, shopping, glamour, fashion, bridges, cuisine, wine, lights, love...you get the picture. Paris should just be the city of everything as far as I'm concerned. Thus I give you my Parisian adventures...

Oct. 22

After the essential last-minute scramble before a trip, I left Galway via bus at....1:30 a.m. I kid you not. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people on this bus. I get to Dublin at 4:30 a.m....oy that's early. Fly from Dublin to Paris-Beauvais--I had a sneaking suspicion that this airport wasn't really in Paris. Confirmation: this dodgy little airstrip was just like Memmigen in Germany...about one hour bus ride from the city centre. Oh well, that's what I get for flying RyanAir.

Once the shuttle bus dropped us off in Paris (the real Paris), traveler's confusion hit me like a speeding bus. I had a little difficulty finding the nearest metro station, but I managed to navigate myself through yet another foreign metro system and arrived at my first ever hostel, Vintage Hostel. Located near the Sacre Couer, I was pretty impressed with this hostel: I had imagined cramped quarters and dirty rooms. Not so, though the carpet had seen better days. I dropped my stuff off and headed out to explore.

I figured that I wanted some "me" time, and what better place to have that time than at the Louvre? Yep. I casually went to the Louvre by myself and spent the next four hours "ooohing" and "aaahing" at these priceless masterpieces. I wandered around like an idiot, carefully studying the confusing map in the hopes of finding all of the great works of art. I think I succeeded, huzzah. I liked Delacroix the best, I think; "Liberty Leading the People" is one of my favorite pieces. And yes, I'm sure all of y'all are wondering if I saw "The Mona Lisa". Nope. Just breezed right by it. PSYCHE! Surprisingly, there was not a long line to see this little portrait. I probably took far too many pictures of it...it's like when a bug is attracted to light, you can't help but stare and snap a zillion pics. Crowded around this piece of art were a lot of people, going camera crazy. But something about this group of people struck me...they were all speaking a foreign language, and it wasn't French. These camera-crazy, surgical mask-wearing tourists were none other than that of the Asian tourist variety. They were out in full force at the Louvre (and every other tourist hot-spot). I wonder if people think that way about all tourists, or just Asian tourists? I digress.

After the Louvre, I headed back to the hostel with a quick stop to the grocery store to scrounge up something for dinner, since I hadn't been able to get in contact with my friend Sloane, who is studying abroad in Paris this semester. Surprise, surprise: my phone is having issues yet again.

I was happy to see that my column about Oktoberfest made it into the Collegian! Check it out at thecollegianur.com and search for "Oktoberfest".

Oct. 23

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! The big 55! So old...just kidding!

So Sloane and I had planned to meet at the Arc d'Triomphe around 10 a.m. since she didn't have class. I got there, no problem. Took some pictures, saw some more Asian tourists, yet no Sloane. My phone being on the fritz, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I did probably the most touristy thing I've ever done: I hopped on one of those double-decker open-roofed buses that takes you to all of the big sight-seeing spots, complete with headphones and audio tours. I saw just about EVERYTHING: the Louvre from the outside, Musee d'Orsays, Palais des Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Couer, the Obelisk and the Place de Concorde, the Opera House, Champs Elysees, the list goes on. Unfortunately though, we couldn't go up in the Eiffel Tower because it was closed for a bit of construction.

Then I finally met up with Sloane at the Arc d'Triomphe. The reunion was like out of a movie: I come up from the underground tunnel to get over to underneath the arch, and then Sloane comes out of nowhere and gives me the biggest hug! It was so comforting to finally see someone that I knew in such a large city. I'm all for being an independent traveler and such, but after the chaos of trying to meet up, I was so happy. We decided to head over to the Luxembourg Gardens and Sorbonne since I hadn't been over there yet. It was very beautiful, and Sloane said that it was her favorite typical Parisian park. We then went over by the Opera House again and the Place Vendôme, a very posh area where all of the jewelers (like Cartier) have shops. It is also home to the Ritz Carlton where Princess Diana stayed before she died. Then we went to the Galeries Lafayette, which seemed to me like Saks Fifth Avenue on CRACK! I then went home to change for dinner and before meeting a large group of Richmond girls for fondue. The fondue place where we went was like a little hole in the wall--long and narrow benches and tables filled the place. They served their wine out of baby bottles (yes, like the bottles that babies drink from). I think it was a good gimmick since it is so crowded, I'm sure in the past people knocked into others and wine spilled everywhere. Very practical. After the delicious dinner, we went to a Parisian bar called "The Frog and the Princess", but we didn't stay there long since the Metro closes at 2 a.m. We soon parted ways at the Metro station, and I headed back to the hostel to rest up before my next Parisian venture.

Oct. 24

Woke up and checked out of "Vintage Hostel" and trekked over to the interesting new hostel, "Peace & Love" (yes, that's the real name of it. It also happens to be in the Red Light District, apparently near the Moulin Rouge? NBD). It was such a LOOOOOONG haul over to "Peace & Love" since the Metro worker didn't tell me there was a quicker/more accessible metro stop near my hostel. I ended up getting to the new hostel a half-hour later than we had originally planned on, so I was nervous that I had kept Martha and Rachel waiting. But when I arrived, they were no where to be found...I was anxiously waiting and then there was a phone call to the reception for me! Such relief, but Martha said that they were delayed because their train from Rennes didn't stop at their stop and they went all the way to the Charles de Gaulle airport and then had to take the metro to our hostel.

Not a problem, though we had tickets for a showing of "Cinderella: the Musical" (in French) at 11 a.m. Then Martha calls again saying that I need to meet them at the theatre since the metro stop on the line they were on was closed! So here I am, RUNNING to the closest metro station to get to the theatre. I come up the escalator from the metro and I hear Martha and Rachel SCREAM my name and we're RUNNING into the theatre, right before curtain call. Then there was a ticket fiasco...apparently we needed to have printed our tickets out prior to that moment. Oops. We resolved it and then we got to our seats right as the curtain was rising. It was funny seeing "Cinderella" in French: I didn't quite understand everything that was going on since it was in French, but it was still enjoyable. All of the little kids were waving light-up wands throughout the performance, even when the actors were performing...you would think that they would have had to turn them off at that point, but oh no.

After the show, we went back to "Peace & Love" to drop off Rachel and Martha's bags and then Martha's friend Laura, who is studying in Paris for the semester, took us to one of her favorite cafes for lunch. We all ordered essentially the same thing, a "French" hamburger, that was served open-faced with great cheese, sauce, veggies, and a fried egg on top, served with "frites" and "salade". It was soooo GOOD! Then we went to a University of Richmond professor's apartment for hot chocolate. Professor Lidia Raddi is on sabbatical this semester, and she is Martha and Rachel's favorite French professor. She was so friendly and welcoming (especially since I had only taken two semester of French, though we didn't speak French the whole time). There were other Richmond kids there as well who happened to be in Paris for the weekend. It was fun to talk about school with other Richmond people.

Then we went back to "Peace & Love" to nap and get ready to go out in Paris. Since we had eaten such a late lunch and even more at the hot chocolate gathering, we didn't even bother with dinner. We started off with Happy Hour at "Peace & Love". We knew we definitely wanted to see the light show at the Eiffel Tower since it is the Eiffel Tower's 120th anniversary. Well, we didn't anticipate how long it would take us to get there, so we were literally RUNNING to see the light show. It was quite the typical, touristy sight to any locals, I'm sure. It was so cool to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up and changing colors. We had a little photo shoot about it, clearly touristy. We then met up with Martha's friend Laura at an Australian-themed bar, "Oz", where dancing on tables is totally normal. It was fun, though very expensive--guess that's just Paris for you.

Oct. 25

Woke up, packed up and headed to the Musee d'Orsays. It was a long line but we ran into some of our Richmond friends heading out as we were going in. We had a limited amount of time due to our train schedule, so we did all of the major highlights in one hour...BALLER. I liked d'Orsays better than the Louvre because it was less hectic and seemed more sophisticate in the sense that you needed to know a bit more about art to appreciate it. I also liked it since it was a bit more modern with the late 19th and early 20th century pieces.

We got some postcards and went back to "Peace & Love" one last time to collect our luggage and headed off to the train station. We tried to print out our tickets from the kiosk but that was a FAIL since Martha didn't have an international banking card with the chip. Luckily, the young man working at the ticket counter was very helpful and printed all of our train tickets out for us. Then we were on our way to Tours, where we were met by Martha's brother's former host mom who was currently hosting a very cute boy from Davidson. We had a delicious dinner of salad, bread, lasagna and apple tart. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal for once. After dinner, we went to "Uncle" Francois' apartment. Francois is Martha's host mom's younger brother (he's really only 22). He and his fiancee were late to come home and we were so tired from our travels that we passed out around 11 p.m.

So ends the Parisian adventures. Up next, touring in Tours.

Pre-Holiday--Irish Update (Week 8: Oct. 19 - 21)

2009-11-02T23:01:00.003Z

Greetings! This week in Ireland was a bit dull (mainly because I was scrambling to finish two midterms and pack for my French excursion), though we did have our first rugby match in Cork on the 21st of October! That was quite good craic. We were meant to leave round half ten (though that quickly translated into leaving college at quarter after 11).

The bus ride to Cork was long but fun. I enjoyed (finally) learning everyone's names through various entertaining name games, singing crazy Irish songs and just getting to know the Irish girls. They're very welcoming and fun to be around, which is a nice change compared to how some of the Irish girls were at different pubs and clubs...they were more on the prowl out on the town methinks.

Of course, right when we step off the bus, it starts to downpour. Now if this had been in the States (and probably if it was a different sport), then the game would have probably been postponed/cancelled. Not so in rugby. "The wetter, the better" according to Coach Bertie (a very BIG guy with a scruffy beard; he kind of looks like a papa Grizzly bear, but also cuddly like a teddy bear).

We proceeded to warm-up and get ready for the game. The UC-Cork girls (well...they were more like horses) were BIG. I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite movie quotes to myself when I saw one of them:

"Buzz, your girlfriend...WOOF!"- Home Alone

Warm-ups in rugby entail some running/sprinting, passing, light tackling with tackling bags and the inevitable: getting DIRRTY. My T-shirt, even after treating it with stain-remover and washing it, will never be white again. Alas, such a price to pay to the rugby gods. No matter, tis the nature of the sport.

The game started and we had a good start, though we couldn't manage to get a try; we were definitely playing better than UC-Cork, but they got lucky and managed to get two tries in the first half. During the second half, we got really close to the try line, but injuries started taking their toll. My friend Alison (who's only in her second season in rugby but is a CHAMP!) got a nasty black-eye and was out for the rest of the game, Mary and Meadhbh (pronounced "Maeve"..spelled the Irish way) both got knocked around being on the front line...it was my first glimpse of what rugby is all about. I didn't play much, only towards the end for about 2.5 minutes, but it was fun being on the sidelines and observing.

We may have lost, but another great aspect about rugby is whether your team wins or loses, you drink to celebrate a job well done any how. The drinking songs are sometimes foul and disturbing, but that's what rugby is all about, according to Bertie the Bear (most of these songs were created by drunk guys, so obviously they can be crude). But our UCG Rugby Chick's song has a great line in it: "Win or lose, we're always on the booze". Gotta love Ireland.

As we made our way back to Galway, I was tempted to join the team for the drink-up at Monroe's, but I had to finish packing for my France trip...there's always next time.

Now on to my Parisian and French adventures!

A Very Irish Week (Week 7: Oct. 12 - 18)

2009-10-18T23:35:00.004+01:00

Dia duit! That means "hello" in Irish, by the way. This week has been very Irish for me. I've continued to go to my Irish language class, one of the few classes that I attend on a regular basis...oops. I also went to rugby training Wednesday evening and that was a lot of fun! The girls on the team are very welcoming and nice, and we have our first match sometime next week. How exciting. I also had my first fish and chips meal this week at Galway's oldest fish and chips bar. It was delicious. Our friend Mary, the "original Galway Girl" from University of Richmond, was here for the whole week and introduced us to some of her Irish friends who lived in the area and we went to their house a few times. Always good craic to meet some new Irish kids. Remember, "craic" means fun. Not drugs. Also, people have asked for my address abroad. Well here it is, and what better time to give it out than right before a very important day in November, I believe it's November 8th. No, it's not a national holiday in Ireland or Amurrica (though it should be)...it's my birthday! And I'm turning 21 this year, so it's not as special abroad as it would be back home, but no matter! I AM ABROAD. Here it is:

Amelia Vogler

27B Cuirt na Coiribe

Headford Road

Galway

Ireland

Ireland doesn't do postal/ZIP codes...maybe because it is so small or maybe because they are just lazy? The world may never know. Also, Mama Allison has corrected me with some fast facts about the UR vs JMU football game from last week. Here they are:

JMU vs Richmond football games have never had more than a 7 point difference in the final scores.

Since we have been playing each other (started in the 1980s) after last week’s game total points scored UR 876 JMU 874.

Finally, no player on either team last Saturday had ever won a JMU/UR game on their home field so that continues until next season.

I guess since this week was a bit more eventful than last week, I'll revert back to a day-by-day synopsis.

Oct. 12

Well Monday was a pretty scholarly day, in some respects. I went to my Irish language class, of course. I like it and I think I am improving. The teacher is super nice and personable, a change from most of the boring professors during lectures. Then I spent the rest of the day studying for my midterm in Human Sexuality and working on another midterm for my Irish Emigrant history class; luckily, the test wasn't too bad. The Irish Emigrant midterm paper though....WOOF! So boring. Oh well.

Monday was also my friend Liz from the basketball team's birthday; she lives in the neighboring student apartment village of Gort na Coiribe, so we went over there to celebrate. I decided not to go pubs & clubs afterward since I had to wake up early to work more on the Irish Emigrant paper.

Oct. 13

Spent the majority of the day working on the Irish Emigrant paper, so going to basketball training was a much deserved break. Since I've joined the "B" team, they start training at 8 p.m. and I didn't get home until around 9:45 p.m., thus decided to catch up on some much-needed sleep instead of go out.

Oct. 14

Finished up the Irish Emigrant paper and went to two out of three classes...not too bad, considering the one I didn't go to was the Irish Emigrant class. Turned that paper in and headed home to prepare for rugby training. It was quite a hike to get over to the pitches (aka playing fields), so that was a warm-up of sorts. What a fun and interesting sport! We play rugby union, which has 15 players per team. The coaches and Irish girls were impressed at my skills for my first time playing. SCORE! Our first match is against UC-Cork sometime next week. Should be a good match. Got a lift (aka ride) home with some teammates and got ready to go out. Met up with the Fairfield kids and we went "stamp-hunting", which is when club promoters line Shop Street with special "free in til half 12" deals, etc. for each club. We first went to Karma, then to Cuba, though the line for Cuba was too long. We decided to forgo Cuba and go to Bar 903, which is the bar associated with Cuba, but different buildings. Actually, the Irish say "Bar 9 0 Tree" because that's how they pronounce "three". Quite a good joke and a good night.

Oct. 15

Went to both classes AND the tutorial for one of them today. Big day. Then after tutorial I went to work out at the gym. Came home and we hosted a mini Amurrican pre-game with the Solo cups and pong balls Mary brought us from home. We then went out to Hole in the Wall, then "stamp-hunted", ending up at Cuba. Cuba seems to be our go-to club.

Oct. 16

Since I don't have class on Fridays, I decided to go down to Shop Street and peruse, while making a few purchases in preparation for my trip to France next week. Just a few scarves and leggings to look more European. I also mailed some more postcards and got rugby boots and a gum shield (aka cleats and a mouthguard). Well, turns out that my Bank of Ireland account had run dry...my funds were going through a famine (ok, inappropriate reference to the Great Famine, but it was necessary!) So, yes, I am now THAT girl abroad...the one who runs out of money. Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! No matter though, because my WONDERFUL, LOVING PARENTS (Big Jim and Mama Allison) and I figured out a solution. I'm only abroad once, gotta make the most of it, though it is depleting my funds. When in Rome...

I didn't realize that I had actually run out of money until the next day, but I had a sneaking suspicion. Came home from my afternoon out and Mary's Irish cousin Marian came over for the night from Sligo in northern County Galway. She was so nice! We played flip cup and pong with her, though she admitted that her skills were a little lacking since she only plays those drinking games with other Americans. From our apartment we went to the Cellar bar and then on to Cuba, again.

Oct. 17

Woke up rather late (like almost 12 p.m.) and I REAAALLLY don't like to wake up that late because I feel like such a waste and that the day is gone. No matter, I quickly recovered the day by going to Shop Street with Mary and Bryeanna and we went to McDonagh's for fish and chips. Wow. So. Good. It's on Quay Street, down near the Claddagh and it is one of the oldest fish and chips bars in Galway. It was delicious. I didn't need to eat anything for the rest of the day. Bryeanna and I tagged along with Mary so she could make some souvenir purchases and I scoped out the great touristy shops. So many cool things that I've added to my list. Then we came home to rest some more before Mary's last night out in Galway. We went to Mary's friends' house near city centre to hang out beforehand. It was fun meeting some Irish guys who weren't creepy (normally the ones out in pubs are older and fairly creepy. ew). From there we went to Bar 903 and to the Roisin Dubh, more of a hipster scene but very cool (clearly because the hipsters go there). It was a successful night to end Mary's return to Galway.

Oct. 18

Well Mary left today, and she took the good weather with her. It was a gloomy day, the kind where you just stay home all day and clean and pretend to do work. We went on a cleaning rampage in the apartment and then I began my midterms with much procrastination (hence the blogging). I only have a few paragraphs left of one paper and then one more paper before I head to France! Ooh la la!

Well, that sums up my week. I don't know if I will be able to blog while in France because I am hesitant to take my computer (though I don't want to run out of memory on my camera and would like to upload them onto my computer if needed and I need to register for classes next week, yikes!). But I'm excited to spend 3 days in Paris with my friends Chelsea, Elizabeth and Sloane (who just booked a Thanksgiving trip to Galway, score! No more lonely Thanksgiving!) and then go to western and southern France with my friends Martha and Rachel. Should be a trés bon voyage pour moi. I know my Francais is a little rusty...good thing I'll be surrounded by fluent friends!

Au revoir from Ireland!

Spider Born and Spider Bred, CHOMP CHOMP GO GATORS! (Week 6: Oct. 5 - 11)

2009-10-13T22:35:00.002+01:00

Now this is just a lil' somethin' extra for y'all American football fans. I have been following my three teams (Spiders, Gators, and Skins) religiously over here...checking ESPN every time I get back from going out. And this was a grrrreat weekend for college football, pro football not so much. Ugh my poor Redskins, when will y'all take a page out of a college playbook and learn to finish a game when y'all are up?!

The Richmond Spiders, Division IAA's reigning NATIONAL CHAMPIONS, yet again closed a stressful and exciting game against in-state rival, the James Madison Dukes. Woof, woof, JM-WHO?! Choked under pressure when they were about to score on the last-winning drive, fumble, SPIDERS RECOVER! That's why we're called the Spiders...we Spiderman-websling loose balls. Wow. I wish I had been at that game, though if it was giving me heart palpitations over here in Ireland, I can only imagine what sort of cardiac arrest I could have gone into in the game atmosphere! Apparently, the last few games with JMU have been decided by a combined 12 points or less...pretty impressive. We continue our winning streak, and they better keep winning and not lose, especially in post-season play! Chattanooga again, that's all I want for Christmas. That, and an Aran Island sweater and a Claddagh ring...minor details.

And my Florida Gators! Oh, how wonderful it was to hear that the love of my life, Mr. Tim Tebow, #15, was back in the game and doing his same old routine, just a mere two weeks after a concussion! That, my friends, is the sign of a true athlete and champion. He is Superman. Though it was not a big scoring game, a win is a win. His athletic dominance and prowess impresses me so much. And I know what it's like to get a concussion...as many of y'all know, I have had four. Woof. I don't think I could have come back after a concussion like that and power the Gators on to a huge SEC "W". Let's hope that my two favorite college teams keep up the great, record-breaking and setting streaks!

In other football news, the Republic of Ireland's national soccer team is playing Montenegro tomorrow in the World Cup qualifying matches after tying Italy 2-2. Keep in mind, Italy was the reigning world champions, so that's huge for our small island nation. I hope Ireland qualifies for South Africa. That would be epic. I'll be sure to watch that match tomorrow.

That's all for now on my sports updating. Hopefully this added a bit more spice and all that jazz to my regular blog post. And I hope this week's blog entry will be more action-packed than last week's snoozer. Take care!

The Original Galway Girl Visits! (Week 6: Oct. 5 - Oct. 11)

2009-10-11T20:33:00.007+01:00

Greetings avid "Amelia's Adventures" readers! See, I'm back on track with this posting on a Sunday night. I bet everyone is relieved. And though I know that everyone is thrilled that I am blogging at my normal, semi-designated time again, I am sad to disappoint with probably my lamest blog post ever. But, alas, the show must go on. Please, when reading, if you happen to be falling asleep, keep the snores to a minimum volume...I don't want to hear snores erupting from every corner of the world because of this boring post. My apologies in advance. In fact, before I begin, my week was so boring that it is not even worth it to break it down day-by-day...it was that boring. Well, perhaps not boring; rather, just sort of "blah"...a chill week, a week to catch up on sleep, etc.

Although to add to the fun of a monotonous week, I had my first assignment due on Monday (an opinion-based reaction paper for my "Human Sexuality" class), so that actually took up a good 2-3 hour window on Monday. Yay for productivity! Also, I was busy filling out forms and such to send back to Richmond for various things, so yet again, that took up another 2-3 hours on I want to say Tuesday? This week was filled with mundane work, writing papers and filling out forms. Boring, boring!

But one exciting thing that happened was that Monday was the first day of my Irish language class. It was a little bit hard to understand since I registered late since they switched me from class to class because of different openings and schedules. Irish at first really does sound like gibberish. The sentence structure is all whacked out. Like they put the verb before the nouns and adjectives. And the alphabet? It's like Hawaiian, but rougher and with a lot more consonants instead of more vowels. I'm just learning, so maybe that's why it seems odd to me, or maybe just because it is a completely crazy language. Nevertheless, I find it very enjoyable and have already picked up on some of the Irish language that is displayed around Galway.

When I went to basketball training on Tuesday though, it was somewhat of a waste. Like I said last week, the coach told me that if I had been here for a year, I would have been on the "A" Varsity team, but alas, I am not and therefore not really a concern for him. So I think I'll just do the Galway league...though I hope they still give out cool gear. I mean let's face it, why go through the trouble of playing sports if you don't get cool gear?! That's always a big factor in my decision-making: will I get a sweet t-shirt or sweatshirt out of this? I'm always looking to add to my t-shirt collection. I've been eyeing a few gems out and about around Galway, and I'm definitely getting a jersey of some kind before I depart.

Bryeanna and my good friend Mary Colleary, the original Galway Girl (as far as we're concerned), has graced our presence for 10 days! We're thrilled to have her hang with us, because she's practically a local. We've joked with her that since she had an Irish boyfriend, that she had the other side of the Galway experience, whereas we've done more touristy things. Regardless, it has been fun catching up with her and hearing about her adventures when she studied abroad here two years ago. We look forward to more castle hunting and adventuring this next week.

I'm sorry but I'm a little scatter-brained at the moment...I am writing this while booking my trains for traveling around France. I plan to add a little extra special post tomorrow about sports in and out of Ireland. Also, check out The Collegian and thecollegianur.com for a column by me about Oktoberfest, hopefully to be out in the next issue!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for my Collegian pieces and my sports update tomorrow! Hopefully I'll also have learned more Irish so I can start incorporating that into my blogging, though y'all will just think I've gone completely mental over here. Not crazy, just crazy in love with Ireland.

Slán go fóill!

(Bye for now, in English)

I Wish My Eyes Were Cameras (Week 5: Sept. 28 - Oct. 4)

2009-10-06T22:48:00.006+01:00

Good evening (well technically it is nighttime over here, at a whopping 10:52 p.m.) everyone! I am dreadfully sorry for being so tardy on this update, but for good reason! I had my first, yes, you heard right, FIRST assignment due yesterday so I was working diligently on that....psyche. But I still had to turn it in, so that deterred me from my weekly update. Plus, I had to fill out some forms and stuff for Richmond, so that took a while as well. I don't know about y'all, but I think this Irish time is throwing me off like whoa. I'll try to get back on some semblance of a schedule next week, but here we go again:

Sept. 28

Kind of a waste of a day, not going to lie. It was a lazy day by Irish standards, so by American standards, it was probably nonexistent. I just spent the day being lazy and recovering from the immense lack of sleep (not to mention that little festival in Germany, OKTOBERFEST). And during that pathetic little festival, I somehow lost my mobile (cell phone for Amurricans, see I'm picking up the slang already), so I reluctantly had to purchase a new one. Luckily though, I could keep my same number and the credit transferred over too, so it wasn't nearly as big of an ordeal as I expected. I did manage to make it to my weekly psychology class, which proved to be entertaining and informative as we had guest speakers in our "Human Sexuality" class. It was....interesting....to say the least. Then I came back and updated blog, like it says on the previous post, ha.

Sept. 29

I mistakenly thought I had an early class today....FAIL. Turns out that it's next week that it starts up. Grr. Then....D-Day. My computer started acting funny, and not in a fun way. My poor, precious MacBook Pro was dying because the hard drive was full? How could that be?! Must be all of those pictures I seem to take...

I came home from classes and got ready for basketball training. It's been really fun and I enjoy getting a different form of exercise every once in a while. Unfortunately, the coach said that since I'm only here for one semester, I can't be on the "A" Squad. Boooooooooo. And not to sound cocky or anything, but like I've mentioned before, these Irish girls play like they are Legos or something--very stiff and rigid, not like the fluidity of American ballas. So I decided I'll give the varsities another shot next week (ha. a pun. so clever), and then decide if I still want to play ball over here.

When I got back, I got persuaded to go out to the Cellar bar, sister bar to the Cellar on the Richmond campus (HA. KIDDING), for 5 Euro pitchers with the Fairfield kids. How could you not pass up that golden opportunity, especially when just a pint of Bulmer's Irish Cider (which is quite possibly the most delicious drink I've had over here), is close to 5 Euros?! It turned out to be a nice, fun and relaxing night to take a baby step back into the party zone after that German festival, OKTOBERFEST.

Sept. 30

Got up for class and went to "Gender, Work and Family in Ireland, 1815 - 1922" and then went and bought stamps for some of the postcards I stole/pilfered from OKTOBERFEST. Who knows? MAYBE YOU COULD BE A LUCKY WINNER! CHECK YOUR MAILBOXES FOLKS! But seriously, don't fret if you haven't received a postcard yet...they are expensive! And postage is not cheap either. So, SETTLE DOWN.

After that adventure, I returned home and reluctantly decided that I had to take Ol Reliable to the GalMac Apple retail store. Fortunately, it was close to my apartment, in about the same area as the Garda Immigration station. UNFORTUNATELY, it is cost me 400 Euros! That's like enough 5 Euro pitchers to last me the rest of my time here in Galway! Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! Ugh, oh well, it was probably worth it in the long run, plus it was about time to upgrade to Snow Leopard (purr, purr) and get a HUUUUUGE external hard drive.

That night, we went over to Gort na Coiribe and hung out with some Irish kids. Then we went to Hole in the Wall, our fave, and tried out Club Cuba. Nice mixture of a pub/club night.

Oct. 1

Rabbit, rabbit! To start October off right, the Irish way, I had my yummy brunch of potato waffles with cheese (mmmmmm cheesy goodness), eggs and peppers. I feel like all I do is eat huge meals over here to eat all of the (expen$ive) groceries since everything has such a short shelf-life.

Then, a beacon of light on a cloudy day: a call from GalMac! Was my computer really fixed in this lightning speed? Nope. Turns out they thought it would be ready, but it wasn't. Waaaaaaah. I realized that it is much more frustrating to know that you can't have your computer when you are bored and know that you should have it back rather than not being able to have one (ie, when you're traveling, it's Not a Big Deal to not have computer access. But when you're in your apartment and the only thing on TV is "Brooke Knows Best" and "MTV Teen Cribs", you want that computer real bad).

Went to my first "tutorial" for one of my history classes today. It was pretty painless, and it made the class more interesting since it was a smaller environment, more similar to what I'm used to at school. It also seemed to be helpful for the midterm...my only real work for any class except for the final. After this semester, I definitely know I would not have liked going to a big state school with 200+ people lectures...I would never go! After that, I worked out and came home to get ready and go out. Turns out the Cellar bar here is much, MUCH better than the one in Richmond, ha ha. 5 Euro cocktails tonight! We met some Holy Cross girls there, and found out that they are here for the entire year! As much as I am loving being abroad right now, it would be so strange to be removed from your home for a whole year. I want to see everyone and go back to campus (notice how I didn't say go back to "school"...I wouldn't mind not having to go to class upon my return. Like THAT will ever happen), but I also want to stay here and travel and experience Ireland. After the Cellar, we went to the Front Door/Sonny's...apparently it has two different names depending on which entrance you use? Only in Ireland...

Oct. 2

I love Fridays. Not only because is it the end of the week, but also because I don't have class! Not that I really go to class all that much anyway, but it just frees up your day so much more. I went over to Ward's Corner Store for lunch with a Fairfield friend, then I got a call from GalMac...MY COMPUTER WAS READY TO BE PICKED UP! O GLORIOUS DAY! After lunch, I trekked over to the store and picked up my precious (not said in a Gollum/Smeagle accent) lil baby computer and immediately began fiddling with it, checking out the new features. Seems nerdy, right? Well, perhaps it is, but it's just soooo nice and beautiful! Never fear, I still have the "No Hovering" sticker and some Keystone stickers. It's a brand new car on the inside with the same paint job on the outside.

Since our apartment was so empty because people were out of town (and partly because we were feeling lazy/wanting alone time), Bryeanna and I decided not to go out in preparation for an early morning traveling with the Fairfield kids to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.

Oct. 3

Woke up early to book it over to the Fairfield kids apartments since we were tagging along with their program. They live all the way on the other side of campus by the canal, so it was quite the hike. And of course, right as we're about to embark on an adventure, it starts to be misty and windy. Great. Aran Islands trip, part deux. FAIL. Luckily though, once we started traveling southwest, it was clearing up. Woot woot. The Fairfield kids are lucky: they have all of these trips paid for through their program, plus they have a precious older Irish lady, Anne, who is their guide/go-to gal. She was so sweet to Bryeanna, Kelly (from Wisconsin- Madison) and I for tagging along.

We passed a lot of ruins of castles, though some castles are still used for themed dinners, teas, etc. We made our way through the Burren, a limestone-landscape region south of Galway, in County Clare. It was very hilly and rocky, but still gorgeous scenery. Our first stop was the Aillwee Cave, one of Ireland's most famous caves in the Burren. It was really fascinating to go inside of the cave, especially because ancient European Brown Bear fossil bones have been excavated inside of the cave. The European Brown Bear, extinct for many years now, was possibly larger than grizzly bears. Not your cuddly teddy bear. There were a lot of interesting rock formations, like stalagmites, stalactites, etc. One of the highlights was the "Frozen Waterfall", a series of stalagmites and stalactites connected from growing together, looking like a frozen waterfall. Then, there was a real waterfall! That was really cool as well, seeing an underground river/waterfall, since the cave was at one time a much larger underground river, with fossils of sea creatures imprinted on the ceiling of the cave. Another cool part about the cave trip was when the guide turned off the lights. You really couldn't seen anything, not even your own hand in front of you.

After the cave trip, we made our way over to the Cliffs of Moher, seeing more beautiful countryside, ancient ruins and dolmens, ancient stone tombs from the Neolithic period. One of the most famous, the Poulnabrone dolmen, was built before the Egyptian pyramids! Clearly that just shows how the Irish have been leading the way in heavy-stone lifting architecture since the dawn of time...

Then we finally reached the Cliffs of Moher! But we were starving (it was nearly 2 p.m. and no snacks!), so we hit up the cafe first to nourish our cold, wind-blown bodies. Little did we know about how much more windy and blustery it could get out on the cliffs! We made our way over to the edge of County Clare, Ireland. It was absolutely breathtaking. I find it hard articulating and describing the beauty of the cliffs. So much green land falls away to limestone rock which gets swallowed in the sea, the sea being the Atlantic Ocean. Here are a few pictures, though I still think that if my eyes were cameras, then and only then would they do this description justice. As one can see, it is gorgeous. And very windy, clearly by my windswept gingery locks and disheveled appearance. No matter, this was definitely one of the best trips I have ever and probably will ever take. We spent quite a lot of time at the cliffs, exploring the right side (which was more touristy and more safe with big guard rails) which had O'Brien's Tower on that side. It cost 2 Euro to go up to the top, so we decided it was too windy to pay that price. Then we went over to the left side. On the left side of the cliffs, there is a sign saying the typical: "DO NOT GO PAST THIS SIGN"....we went past it. It was so cool to walk along such an ancient path, weather beaten and worn from many rebels taking the road less traveled.

After spending about two hours there, it was time to come back home to Galway. We rested up for a little bit then headed back over to the Fairfield kids apartments to pregame before we went out. And did we go out. We definitely "stamped it up", where the club and pub promoters walk around Eyre Square and Shop Street stamping people and stickering them for free drinks, free admission, etc. I think we hit up every free promotion...and why not? We're poor American college students, we need all the help we can get.

Oct. 4

To add to a full weekend of Irish culture and travels, I went to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair Sunday with a few other Richmond girls. The Ballinasloe Horse Fair is the oldest horse fair in Europe, and it was really interesting to go to one. There were horses....EVERYWHERE. People were riding them on the street alongside cars, and of course, there was poop everywhere. Ew. What was worse though, was what some of the local girls were wearing (or rather, what they weren't wearing). They were very scantily clad, looking like they were ready for their next shift at Paper Moon or some other "exotic dancing" club, or maybe they were trying out for Pretty Woman, working the streets. I don't think either of these were the case, but it didn't make much sense to wear super high-heeled stilettos, booty shorts, and tube tops to a HORSE fair.

From a high vantage point in Ballinasloe, we were able to see the entire green space which was COVERED by horses and their owners, trying to sell them. It was a horsey girl's dream come true. Every kind of horse in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc. was there to be sold. I think I saw the entire cast of Black Beauty: Merry Legs, Ginger and of course, Black Beauty. This whole day reminded me of the horse fairs depicted in Black Beauty, and I was immediately transported back into a little 10-year-old girl, wanting THAT pony and THIS pony...ah wishful thinking.

I'm really glad I braved the crowded, smelly streets of Ballinasloe for the Horse Fair (hey, it was listed as one of the festivals to go to in my Irish tour guide book). And no one got kicked/trampled by a horse (though we did see several stallions rear up and try to escape/kick someone). SUCCESS!

So here ends another eventful week in Ireland, full of adventures. I shall try to get back on my "schedule" of blogging on Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY(said in a crescendoing, booming, resounding way, similar to a sports announcer or a furniture salesman from Haynes saying that "This is the biggest sale of all time and it only happens once" type of thing). Hope all is well, wherever in the world you may be!

"TO ARTHUR!" and "I think I'm lost. I'm in Munchen, not Munich" (Week 4: Sept. 21 - Sept. 27)

2009-09-28T14:31:00.005+01:00

Hello once again! I apologize for not blogging the second I got home from Munich on Sunday, but a recovery was definitely in order. Prepare yourself for the what I know will be a shocking and loooong blog update, but this past week has been action-packed with enough kicks and punches to put some of those old-school kung-fu movies to shame. Let's rewind to last Monday, shall we?

Sept. 21

It started off like any other Manic Monday, except this time there was more "mania" involved. With the three history classes I'm taking, we have to sign up for "tutorials", which are like smaller, discussion-based lectures (lame and boring usually comes to mind). Well, my friend Sammie and I had signed up for a Monday morning tutorial for our "Irish Emigrant Experience" history class and got to the classroom right on time (10 a.m.) We are a bit confused because the classroom is dark and well what do you know? Turns out it was cancelled last minute--no email, nothing. Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! Grrr. After a frustrating moment like that, the remedy? NAP TIME! And for good reason I decided to take a nap: the roomies are starting to get sick, and I definitely don't want to catch that if I can help it! One activity that we've come to discover is that on MTV UK over here, they play the Top 40 every day at 12:30 p.m. We've come to make a habit of watching it weekly and writing down good songs that are popular over here, since chances are, the States haven't heard of them yet. Definitely lots of club jams, but fun, bubble gum pop music nonetheless. Then once we return and these songs finally make it over in the USA, we'll already know all the words because we'll be like, soooo European! Ha ha. Since this morning's tutorial was a FAIL, I went to my other class later in the day and then went to the library and chilled. The James Hardiman library at NUI-Galway is similar to Boatwright, but definitely a lot more sterile, less friendly and not as bustling. The design and attitude I felt in that library (and I can't believe I'm saying this) made me miss good ol' B-1. Who thought that I'd ever miss a library? There was a looong line to get on one of the computers to print off stuff; I needed to start printing off stuff for OKTOBERFEST! After our Human Sexuality class, we came home and got ready to go out. Unfortunately, we encountered an annoying misty and windy night. Fortunately, we went over to our friends' apartment from Fairfield and then went to GPOs night club. It was really fun! From the outside looking in, it didn't really look like a big place, but looks were definitely deceiving. It was packed with people, and finding the bathroom was a big ordeal in this cavernous place. It was like you needed to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way back through the crazy maze. When it was time to leave, we were dying for something delicious, naturally. And where was our first request? The crepes place. And what did we discover? CLOSED. *Commence sad face* Waaah. But it was probably for the best that it wasn't opened, because who knows what kind of creations we would have concocted at such a late hour in the night.

Sept. 22

Since I only have one class most Tuesdays (I know, what a hard life), I decided to cook up what I thought was a very Irish breakfast/brunch. And indeed it was yummy. I scrambled up some eggs, toasted some potato waffles with cheese and cooked up some baked beans. Now the beans part may seem a bit strange, but for two reasons I wanted/needed beans:

a) PROTEIN!

b) the Irish L-O-V-E beans over here; tons of advertisements for beans on toast, etc.

After eating a fulfilling meal, I thought it would be good to go to class, and surprisingly, it was more interesting than normal. Normally, my friends and I have a hard time staying awake in these big, lecture style classes, but this time I didn't nod off once! Yay me! WIN! I think that the way Richmond engages students more in discussion, etc. is the way I like to learn best. After my success in staying awake in class, I decided to try and print off stuff again, but once again, FAIL. Hopefully the third time is the charm. Later in the evening, I went to NUI-G's Ladies' basketball training. It was really fun to do team practice stuff, transporting me back to the days of Rebel basketball. I think I was the only American there too, which was odd. The Irish girls play differently...it's hard to describe. It seemed like they were much more stiff and not fluid, not to mention that some of their form made me cringe. I'm not sure how this will sound, but here it goes: I think they were different in playing ball than American girls because there weren't any black girls playing with them growing up, unlike the States. I hope to go back to training again in the next week because it was fun and it's a great way to meet Irish people. Though they made an announcement saying that this squad was mainly for people there the whole year, I would rather practice with a team that knows what they are doing than play a bunch of random pick-up games. When I got home, the roomies made some Mexican fajitas since we had been craving them lately. Yum. I've been trying to figure out OKTOBERFEST and Arthur's Day in Dublin, so hopefully plans will be developing shortly.

Sept. 23

Went to class and printed some papers out in the library but once again, FAIL. I didn't have my passport information that you apparently need for on-line check-in for flights. Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! Came home for some lunch and some Gilmore Girls, what a great combo for a pick-me-up in the afternoon. Then I went back to school to print and do some booking for travels, such as I booked a flight to Paris for my "fall break" at the end of October! Since NUI-G doesn't have a "fall break" per se, rather just a bank holiday on a Monday making a 3-day weekend, I decided to take full advantage of that and the fact that I don't have Friday classes. I'll be going to Paris and then traveling around western France with Martha and Rachel. Yay! After spending far too long sorting travel arrangements and such out, I went to the gym and dropped a note off at the Irish language center about the language course. Hopefully I can still sign up for the class! It will be awesome to learn a new language that not many people know about or have ever heard of, and yes, it is Irish, not Gaelic. Unfortunately, I missed Societies Day. Societies are like clubs without sports, so like dance clubs, International Student clubs, etc. Waah. But I'll be contacting them later, so hopefully I can be put on their mailing list, etc. Then I came home and packed for Oktoberfest and Dublin! A crazy weekend is brewing...

Sept. 24

Bryeanna and I were up very, very early to catch our 5 Euro (yep, that's right. 5 Euro!) bus from Galway to Dublin. Once we were dropped off in the city centre of Dublin, we were a wee bit confused about where to go to catch another city bus to the UC-D campus. Dublin is definitely a LOT bigger than Galway! We made it to campus, had lunch and hung out for the afternoon. Then it was time. Time to prepare for Arthur's Day. For those of y'all who may not know, Arthur's Day was the 250th anniversary of Guinness. To prepare, we played some drinking games with Noah, Mary, Lauren, Bryeanna and Noah's roommates. Then we hopped onto the bus and went on down to the city centre. Little did we realize that it would be so CROWDED! The bus had a hard time navigating through the crowded streets. Time was ticking closer and closer to the official toast to Arthur Guinness at 17:59 (aka 5:59 p.m.). We jumped off the bus and ran to the closest pub. Unfortunately, the closest pub was so crowded that people were strewn about the streets drinking Guinness. We tried getting a real pint from the tap at the pub, but to no avail. Fortunately, there was a Tesco across the street. We sprinted into the store and purchased some cans of Guinness--not as authentic or ideal, but we were desperate. We made it in time for the toast! After we finished that, we decided to trudge onto the pub we were wanting to get to the first time, Messrs Maguire. It was huge! Similar to the King's Head and The Quays in Galway, but much larger and busier, probably because of this historic day. After a long afternoon and night of toasting Arthur Guinness, we returned home and went straight to sleep, after a quick stop to McDonald's, of course.

Sept. 25

I had to get up early to get to the Dublin airport to catch my flight out to Memmingen, Germany to get to OKTOBERFEST! I can't believe it is here already! Unfortunately, Bryeanna and Mary missed their flight out of Dublin to Munich! They overslept and had to catch a later flight. What a shame. Fortunately, I was on a flight with Jeannie and Kaitlin, so we were able to hop on a bus from Memmingen to Munich easily. Well, getting ON the bus was easy; it was a little confusing when I got off the bus in the city centre of Munich. I was so confused, I sent a text to Courtney that said: "I think I'm in the wrong place. The signs say 'Munchen', not 'Munich'". Oh Lord. Well, luckily for me, I'm a pretty independent traveler and decided to buck up and figure out how I was going to get to the hotel. And how did I do that? By following all of the people dressed in lederhosen and other traditional German attire! I then made it to the Oktoberfest festival grounds and figured out how to get to our hotel. When I arrived at the hotel, I tried looking for Courtney and Liz, but it turns out that they were at the same hotel, just a different location in Munich. Oops. Then I waited for Patty and Amy to arrive. Once everyone arrived, we decided to go exploring down by the festival grounds. We were so overwhelmed by the amount of people there! Literally thousands. And the rides! So many fun rides and tons of delicious smells of German food. But then again, there were plenty of unpleasant smells and sights too, due to the debauchery of Oktoberfest. When in Rome, I suppose. Or rather, Munich. We got our first GIANT pretzels of the day, which were amazing. As we munched in Munich, we scoped out the area in preparation for our planning of THE BIG DAY tomorrow. We then met up with some other Richmond kids and went to a bier garten, where we also made some new German friends. We decided to call it a night after our first stein, in order to prepare to wake up early the next day.

Sept. 26- RICHMOND TAKES OVER OKTOBERFEST

This is it. The day we've been planning and waiting for: Richmond takes over Oktoberfest! We were up before the sun rose (for about the third or fourth day in a row for me) and at the Hofbrau tent at 7:30 a.m. There were tons of people lined up outside of all of the beer tents before we arrived, I can only imagine what time they rolled up! If you're claustraphobic, this is NOT the place for you--very crowded and smoky. Ugh. Any who, we sucked it up and battled through the long line. When it was our turn to get in, we sprinted and got an awesome table--right by the traditional German band! Yet right as we were settling in and gloating about our epic table, we discovered our table was reserved (or something, I mean who reads German?!). Uh......oops? Never fear! Our beer maid said that we could stay at that table until the reservation came at 3 p.m. HALLELUJAH! I mean I guess it's ok to stay at the same table from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. right? So we're all chilling at our table, anticipating the unknown like children waiting to see what Santa brought them on Christmas Day, and all hell breaks loose. Suddenly, there are cheers upon cheers echoing throughout the entire tent, and mind you, these aren't "tents" but more like gargantuan halls filled with thousands of people and many liters of beer. Then, the heavens opened up and all of a sudden our beer maid was back with probably 12 steins of beer, and those are heaaavvy! What a champ. Remember, this was at 9 a.m. I think this was earlier than Pig Roast, which is quite a feat. Speaking of Pig Roast, this was like an international Pig Roast on crack, with a small portion of the "Richmond bubble" transported into Germany. Essentially, heaven. I was happy that I got to meet up with a lot of friends, since I won't be seeing most of them until January. Well, as the day progressed (i.e., much beer drinking and pretzel eating), I went to the bathroom but somehow got lost on the way back to our table. This was around 1 or 2 p.m. I guess I thought that my group left, so I went outside and wandered around the festival grounds looking for them. Then I ended up on the Munich metro in the hopes of running into them there or back at the hotel. It was scary being lost in a foreign country, where I definitely had no idea what the German people were saying or what the signs meant, but I toughed it out and figured out how to get back to the hotel. This, of course, all came at a price: a lost mobile phone and about 80 Euro. Oops. I guess this was one of those "learning experiences". I'm extremely grateful that my friends looked for me, but to no avail. Despite losing money, my phone and myself, I still had a GREAT TIME! It is definitely a "once in a lifetime" experience, that is, unless we have an Oktoberfest reunion...

Sept. 27

Once again, I was awake before the sun rose. I haven't slept in days. I am tired. And hungry. But I must get home to Ireland. Since we weren't entirely sure how I was going to get from Munich/Munchen to Memmingen for my flight, I had to get up early with the Spain girls and ride the metro to the central station and figure out how to get a train from Munich to Memmingen. Luckily, it all worked out well and I met up with Mary and Bryeanna at the train station. After a short but boring ride through the German countryside (Ireland's countryside is waaay more beautiful, not that I'm biased or anything...), we made our way to the airport. On our flight to Dublin, we were seated near a bunch of rowdy yet friendly Irish guys. At least we had an entertaining flight home as opposed to a hellish one that it could have been had we been extremely hung-over, etc. We took the 5 Euro bus from the airport to Galway; this bus ride was very crowded and a strange French lady sat next to me who needed to go back to kindergarten (one of the few German words I actually know and understand) to learn about "personal space"--she kept creepin' in on me. No, no, no. Things I do not like. When we got back to Galway, I wanted to check out the Galway Oyster Festival. Sadly, I did not get to check it out because it seemed like an older people's event with expensive events that required ticket purchases, etc. Not your average fair or anything where you can just mill about and try out things. Oh well, perhaps when I am older (and richer).

Well that about wraps up a very cultural week! I would have posted pictures, but when I started to upload pictures, my computer is freaking out on me saying that there isn't enough hard disk space. I am FURIOUS. Hopefully I can fix this myself, otherwise a trip to the Apple store (if Galway has one... I hope!) is DEFINITELY NECESSARY. This week was definitely one to remember, even if I don't remember everything of every second of every day. Oh cultural life in Germany and Ireland--essentially centered around imbibing.

Sunday, Lazy Sunday (Week 3: Sept. 14 - Sept. 20)

2009-09-20T19:24:00.006+01:00

Well, I think this week's post title just about sums up what the past two sundays have been like around here--L-A-Z-Y. And yes, I was paying homage to the greatest Irish band ever, U2, with the play on words for "Sunday Bloody Sunday". But I think that a lazy Sunday is just what the doctor ordered, in order to rest up for this week's upcoming adventures. But what do this week's adventures entail? Hopefully a day trip to Dublin on Thursday to celebrate Arthur's Day, the 250th anniversary of Guinness. Arthur's Day conveniently falls on the day before my flight leaves Dublin for Munich for OKTOBERFEST! I can't wait to be reunited with some great Richmond kids in Munich for a weekend full of German culture. And by German culture, I mean large steins of beer in the Hofbraus tent and pretzels and schnitzel with noodle (a la "Sound of Music" anyone?). I can't believe that I've been in abroad for almost a month and now I get to meet up with my friends in a different country, experiencing one of the most cultural events in the world. "Study" abroad is definitely racking up points on my "bucket list". But I guess now it is time to recount the events of this past week. Some days were boring but there were a few bright spots this week.

Sept. 14

Went to my first class of the day, only to discover about 10 minutes into class time, some rando Irish guy comes in and says that class had been cancelled. Seriously? Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! Luckily though, this class was at 1 p.m., so it wasn't too frustrating, although I did have to trek over to campus for nothing. It was a tad annoying that no email had been sent out prior to class time, but I have come to accept the fact that I have very low expectations about Irish communications. If I get information communicated to me about when and if I have a final exam a week before the final exam deadline, then I'll be ecstatic, instead of scrambling at the last minute to find out where this essay needs to be dropped off by a certain time. Hopefully that is one adventure that won't play out in reality, because I don't think my heart can take that stress while I'm "studying" abroad. Nevertheless, we turned this situation from negative to positive by going on an adventure. The adventure: castle hunting. Castle hunting. How does one explain such an awesome thing? There isn't anything CLOSE to an activity like castle hunting in the States, probably because the closest thing we have to a castle is the White House, but you can't even get really close to it. Or maybe the "Castle House", as my sister and I like to call it, in Richmond on Cary Street Road is the closest Richmond comes to having a castle. Seriously though, check it out next time you drive down Cary. Directions: if you're headed into Carytown from campus, it will be secluded by trees and a brick wall on your right; the house has a spiral-y tower-esque thing protruding from the front facade. It's pretty cool. I don't know of very many cities that have castles strewn about the countryside, but in Ireland, there are castles everywhere. Even on my walk from our "village" (aka our apartment complex), there are the ruins of a castle. Sweet deal, walking by a castle every day to and from campus. Any who, we walked down by the River Corrib on this little path that takes you the back way to Corrib Village, which are basically the closest thing that NUI Galway has to dorms. It is where most of the freshers live, and it definitely looks like it! Imagine Gray Court, when boys lived there, before they renovated it, but after Pig Roast...with resort-colored, rectangular buildings. It turns out that this "stroll down the path" turned into quite the hike. But then we saw it: the castle in question. We're not entirely sure what the castle is called, but it was cool. Apparently, there are a lot of castles in the Galway area, but there is THE CASTLE. We're not sure if this one was it, but it was still pretty awesome to just be strolling along and then...BAM! A CASTLE! So beautiful. Actually it is on my blog already, but I'll post some more pics of some castles that I see quite often. The only bad thing about the castle that we found was that it was on the other side of the River Corrib, and apparently, even though it is on the same side of the river as our village, to access the castle is about 10 kilometers away. FAIL. But the view from the other side of the river was just as spectacular. And another cool thing about the walk was that we saw the ruins of the Tea Folly Room, which seemed like a little prison. This walk was lovely during the day, but it's definitely not somewhere to walk at night since the lampposts were few and far between. After our walk back to campus, I just chilled outside of the library until my next class started. The class, "Myth and Religion in the Ancient City", is a first-year's class and it turned out that the lectures actually didn't start until the next week. FAIL. But then at least I didn't have that class that week, so that FAIL turned into a WIN! Then I came home for a snack and then we went to the College Bar. Yes, I know that most college campuses have a "bar", but this DEFINITELY puts the Cellar to shame. Big time. It was RAGING in there! On a Monday afternoon? Welcome to Ireland! We went there for some drinks before our "Human Sexuality" psychology class. The class...was hilarious and very interesting! The lecturer is this gay grad student who is very funny and informative. We then headed back home to get ready to go out, since Monday is the new Friday here in Ireland. First we went to our friend Sammie's in Gort na Coiribe. Then we went to our new fave hang out spot, Hole in the Wall. After Hole in the Wall started to close, we went to the Roisin Dubh, which is a pretty hipster place that is normally jammin' on the weekends. But when we got there, it was not as crowded or crazy as we had previously experienced. So ends a wild and crazy Monday in Galway.

Sept. 15

Tuesday is essentially the mid-week Sunday here in Galway. I only have one class (ha, what a joke). So Tuesday definitely makes it a good day to get some chorein' done. And my favorite chore is....grocery shopping! PSYCHE. I haaaate grocery shopping. So stressful and expensive, even going to the cheap, sketchy places like Aldi and Tesco (open 24 hours, for convenience of course). Shout out to all the moms/other people who buy and cook their own food and live without the luxury of good ol' D-Hall. Oh Josh, the kingly Egg Man of the Heilman Dining Center, I miss you. And love love loooove your eggs. Two over hard with one slice of cheese, you know me all too well. But enough about that, it's making me hungry. On a more successful note though, I had NO issues with crossing the street. YAY! It's like I passed kindergarten again! I looked both ways, and darted across the roundabout without becoming roadkill, always a positive note in my book. I also switched my mobile service to Meteor, which was a good move on my part; now I can text and call everyone with Meteor FO FREE. And it makes meeting people a lot easier because we can actually communicate. Hollerrrr. Then I headed back to campus for Clubs Day, which is when all of the sport club teams set up booths and you can look around and sign up for whichever team you want to try. I signed up for basketball, something that clearly I am already a pro at playing, but I also decided to sign up for Gaelic football and rugby. I figured, I'm in Ireland, I gotta try a traditional Irish sport. I'm not sure which sport I'll do, perhaps I'll try both and then decide. They don't call it "practice" over here for sports teams, but rather "training". And of course, Tuesday means Gay Night, so to end our mid-week Lazy Day, we stayed in and watched the MTV VMAs, since it airs a day late. And whoa. Can we pause for a moment of enthusiastic clapping and praise for our beloved, Taylor Swift, aka T-Swift. Now I used to be a fan of Kanye because of his genius beats and sick rhymes, but I was never a fan of his award show antics. This stunt he pulled at the VMAs during T-Swift's acceptance speech was OUTRAGEOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE! Grrrr how can you be hatin' on T-Swift's "You Belong With Me", a power anthem for girls everywhere, but especially at Keystone Camp (holla back to the Pinnacle dances where we danced and raged on stage, feeling like we were rockstars!). Any who, Ireland gives T-Swift mad love abroad.

Sept. 16

Wednesday started out like every other Wednesday, with lots of classes. I went to Gaelic football "training", but it turned out to be a FAIL because not a lot of girls showed up because, according to the Irish girls, they had either gone home early for the week or they didn't have their "gear", whatever that entails... Gaelic football: it seems like a combination of rugby, soccer, and American football and it is only played in Ireland, so it isn't really popular worldwide like soccer or rugby. The "pitch" aka playing field, is really really far from our village. Then we came back and got ready for a night out where we pub and club hopped--King's Head, Hole in the Wall, GPOs, Bar 903, and many more.

Sept. 17

Went to class on Thursday and then joined the gym and worked out. It was a very weird workout because I'm still getting used to a new gym. I decided to take a break from going out on Thursday because it was kind of a "blah" night. So I began to watch "PS, I Love You" (duh obvi for Ireland) and right before Hilary Swank heads to Ireland, graoihdsansdoifvadagrrralsdhnaoisdbnvaieorhbghrg. My computer messes up. FAIL. Ugh, Frustrating Irish Moment of the Day! What a bad way to end the day.

Sept. 18

Friday was a looong day. First I had to wake up early to go over to the Garda (police station) and register with the Immigration Unit. You had to have everything exactly spelled out and exact, otherwise they wouldn't take it. I got a little lost on the way and ended up sprinting the rest of the way because I didn't want to miss my appointment. If I missed my appointment, then I would have to come back the next day even earlier in the morning and wait with everyone else. But luckily, I made it in time and everything went smoothly. Then I trekked over to campus to officially register for my "modules" aka classes. Now I'm a more legit "study" abroad student, taking three history classes, a psychology class, and a classics class. I had to wait in line again like I did last week to register with the university. Remember when I met those girls from Georgetown while waiting in line for-ev-er? Well, coincidentally, they were behind me in this line, again! We reunited and exchanged numbers so we could meet up later that night. I also signed up for an Irish language course, though it doesn't really count as a legit class; I'm taking it for fun, but the only bad thing is that it meets on Fridays and I'll be missing the first lesson for OKTOBERFEST! Oops, not a bad trade-off. I came home and did laundry for the first time, but it definitely came at a price: six Euro to be exact...woof. Then I grocery shopped some more and took a much needed nap from the busy morning. That night, we went to the Galway United Football Club match since the pitch is just round the corner from our village. Now that was probably the most Irish sentence I've ever typed. I went with some of the Richmond girls and the Georgetown girls met up with us. Galway United played St. Patrick's Athletic Club and Galway won! It was pretty exciting for a minor league team. Then we went down to Monroe's Tavern, where they had a great band and we met a crazy local who danced up a storm.

Sept. 19

Woke up and watched my ritualistic dose of "Hangover TV" while eating breakfast. Now mind you, I don't get hungover, but that is what they call it over here on some television station: they play grrrrr-eat shows like "The Hills", so we're getting all caught up on it before the new season comes out in October with the resurgence of Kristen from Laguna Beach...bitch. Then for our Saturday activity, Bryeanna and I went shopping to liven up our wardrobes. It was very successful! Although, I did have some buyer's remorse because I had set a rule for myself to try and not buy new clothes before mid-October, but I stand by my belief that they were necessary purchases. There are still a few staples I need to get, but I think I'm good to go for now. Ugh, I was missing college football like whoa. Go Spiders, Go Gators! What a great day for college football (from what I gather from ESPN.com) I swear that I will find a bar or pub that plays American football and go by myself if need be to watch some games toward the end of the season. We went down to the Hole in the Wall and the Georgetown girls met up with us. We had a great dance party on the dance floor, raging to some great American classics like, "Livin' On A Prayer". Then Shaylyn and I went to check out the Roisin Dubh, but it was very crowded. We left, and on the way home we stopped by Tesco, the cheap grocery store that is open 24/7. It was perhaps a bad idea to purchase "potato waffles". Potato waffles. Wow, delicious. Ha ha only in Ireland...

Sept. 20

"Passed out at 3, woke up at 10, go out to eat and do it again..." Lyrics courtesy of one of my favorite all-American college songs, "I Love College". And I do love college, but I'm loving abroad as well. Woke up late and had our lazy Sunday, partly because I'm nursing a strained back muscle from something, probably an injury incurred by raging on the dance floor. I made a yummy brunch, paying homage to Josh, the holy Egg Man; scrambled eggs and potato waffles with cheese! AND I found Heinz ketchup here in Ireland, which made my breakfast even better. Of course they should have the best ketchup in Ireland since there are so many potato products. It was a great brunch to enjoy while watching more of "The Hills".

Things I've done today:

1. I'm in the midst of planning a killer rendezvous in la France for the last weekend in October since we have a bank holiday; hopefully I'll be meeting up with Martha and some other Richmond kids so I can be nerdy and check out the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsays.

2. Watched more marathons of "Friends" and "The Hills"

3. Sent out emails and Facebooking

4. Ordered "take away" aka take out dinner and we baked cookie bars and are now watching "Clueless", one of the great American classics.

Next week may have to have a few installments since it is sure to be EPIC and full of stories. Things to get excited about: Arthur's Day, OKTOBERFEST! and the Galway Oyster Festival. I hope I can check out part of the Oyster Festival when I return from OKTOBERFEST! Let the cultural experiences begin!

It's Always Sunny in Galway....wait. WHAT? (Week 2: Sept. 9 - Sept. 13)

2009-09-13T23:31:00.002+01:00

Hello again! I decided that since Sundays are usually lazy across the globe, that Sunday would be the best day to update the blog. So I'll catch y'all up on all the "craic" we've done this week (pronounced like "crack", but not the drug. Come on people, as Whitney Houston once said, "CRACK IS WHACK!"). Actually, "craic" is the Irish word for "fun". And I have had a lot of "craic" this week, becoming more and more acclimated to Galway life.

September 9

I was up early to try out the "Nazi Germany" history class with Kaitlin; perhaps it was a bit tooearly in the morning, considering that I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I decided soon after that class was over that it seemed like too much work for a study abroad class.

*A SIDE NOTE* I mean, after all, from what I've heard, study abroad is not about pushing your limits. I feel that (and many of my friends feel this way too) studying abroad the fall of junior year is a great time to "take the plunge". Although I miss a lot of things aboutRichmond and America in general, it has been really rewarding to experience "real life" in a totally different country. Even though there hasn't been too much culture shock, there have been many instances that have been frustrating about not being back home. For instance, everything at NUI Galway is extremely disorganized and inefficient (refer to last week's blog post about standing in line for registration for a little taste of inefficiency). Also, having to buy groceries is a constant chore since a lot of the food has a small amount of time before it becomes expired (plus our mini-fridges don't quite hold the plethora of food that would make bulk-buying monetarily efficient). But all of these tiny, mundane events will help us all grow up and become even more ready for "the real world" (but not the one on MTV, and it's not like we're jumping for joy about the fact that when we come back we'll be second semester juniors...woof!).

Back to September 9

After our boring Nazi Germany class, we went to Gender, Work and Family in Ireland from 1850-1922. This history class seemed a lot more exciting since it's about Ireland. I'm taking at least two different history classes that are just about Ireland. I mean, if I'm studying here, might as well learn about the country. "When in Rome!" "That phrase doesn't really work there..." (Quick--movie trivia, what's that from? ANCHORMAN! Congrats to everyone who got that pop culture reference). Any who, by the time we finished up two history classes in the morning, we were famished (perhaps it was all that talk about "the famine" aka one of Ireland's most dire and trying times, practically the only thing people know about Irish history). We decided to go to Ward's Corner Store for lunch, a little sandwich shop right across University Road from campus. It was very delicious, but best of all, CHEAP! They have daily specials and a "Top 5" list of sandwiches for only 2.99 Euro. WIN! Then we had some more classes in the afternoon. Later that evening, we went over to Gort na Coiribe, the student-apartment complex right next door to our apartment in Cuirt na Coiribe. One of Bryeanna's friends from home lives with an Irish girl and she had a a birthday party with her Irish friends. It was fun hanging out with the Irish kids. The girls over here get REALLY dressed up, so that's a bit intimidating. Yet you can definitely point an Irish kid out on campus since they love wearing Abercrombie and Hollister sweats...strange. We were talking to them about college life in the states, and of course they were fascinated about Greek life and wanted to know if all of the crazy stories about sororities and fraternities were true. They also had never heard of "beer pong" or "flip cup" or other American drinking games. It's only a matter of time before we teach them a thing or two...

September 10

Woke up. Went to class. Boooorrring. But then I decided it was about time to try out the gym on campus. Galway mirrors Richmond because Galway just got a new gym on campus, just like Richmond did a few years ago. Plus, Galway is doing tons of reconstruction, just like Richmond. I feel like sometimes I'm in the Twilight Zone (cue music). Frustration about Ireland for the day: I opened up my bank account earlier that week and received my PIN for it, yet no card. Essentially useless. Grr. The gym was fun, but the one at Richmond is much better in my opinion. Yes, Galway has lots of treadmills, spinning bikes, ellipticals, weights and more, but there isn't any variety within these cardio machines like there is at school. Well, Jeannie and Kaitlin peaced out to Greece for a long weekend of fun in the sun, yet the weather has been similar here in Galway. Warm and sunny weather continued from earlier this week into the weekend, which was awesome. Bryeanna and I went and hung out with some new Fairfield friends at the pub/club/bar Hole in the Wall. It was a fun, cool little bar filled with locals.

September 11

It was strange being abroad on such a patriotic day. There wasn't any mention of it on the streets or really even the news, so that was a bit of a culture wake-up call that our news in America isn't always that important to other countries. I went to try out an archaeology class that morning. It was kind of interesting, but the class's only field trip conflicts with a trip that I already booked for Barcelona in November (a little birthday present to me!), so I dropped that class like it was hot. Then I came home for lunch and signed onto Facebook (per usual), only to discover that three of our Richmond friends from Dublin were coming for a pseudo-surprise weekend trip. That definitely livened up my weekend schedule, which had looked pretty dismal since most Irish kids go home on the weekends. We went to the King's Head, our typical jammin' place to take newbies. Like all of the other times going to King's Head, there was a great band playing tons of covers. Everything from Kings of Leon to Cyndi Lauper to Black Crowes was played. Instead of trying out some other pubs like we had originally planned, we stayed the whole time until the band finished. On our way home, we pass tons of "danger zones"--late-night food shops, such as McDonald's, Supermac's (Irish version of McDonald's/Sheetz but really, really gross), and a crepes place. And I was feeling super good since I had been in the country for two weeks and hadn't done any post-pub snacking...until that night. Bryeanna had been to the crepes place earlier that day and veered into the restaurant. But it was well worth it, considering that crepe was delish (Nutella, chopped nuts, and ice cream since they ran out of whipped cream). MMM MMM GOOD!

September 12

After our late night the previous night, we all slept in and watched a lot of Saturday morning TV. The Richmond kids from Dublin don't have TV's in their apartments, so they were thrilled to do nothing but watch TV that morning. After resisting the marathon of Friends and Scrubs that are always on here, we strolled over to campus and took them to Ward's for lunch. Then we went a different way to the Claddagh and the bay by going down by the canal. On our walk, we saw some graffiti artists doing their thang outside the Roisin Dubh (sometimes called the "Russian Dove"), an hipster, edgy bar on the edge of the City Centre. Once we got down by the water, we saw a very unusual game going on the water. There were big nets set up and buoys all around and people in kayaks playing with a water polo ball...turns out it was kayak water polo! It was really cool! For all the Keystone ladies out there: it reminded me A LOT about how we play Quidditch on the canoe lake. We continued on down toward the bay and adventured on the many rocks that line the shore. We even went out onto the sand and dipped our feet in the cool water. Since it was such a beautiful day, we didn't think twice about sunscreen. I mean really, who goes to Ireland and brings sunscreen?! Well, we all got a rosy hue to our skin. That is definitely one thing I did not expect about going to Ireland. "You got sunburned in Ireland?!" Clearly that is a testament to how white I really am... And whenever there is a gorgeous day down by the bay in Galway, there are tons and TONS of dogs out. Seeing all of the dogs, big and small, young and old, made all of us miss our dogs. Woof. We then came back and cooked dinner and went out again to Hole in the Wall. The Fairfield people came and met up with us again and that was fun. Aside from the small amount of us Americans, the crowd was mainly "freshers" (aka first year students out on the town since they are starting this week) and young Irish guys. It turned into a fun dance party and we met some Irish kids. As we left, yet again the Richmond/Dublin kids' late-night munchies influence struck. We wanted to go to the McDonald's that is close to our apartment, but only the drive-thru was open. We decided to "walk thru" the drive-thru and try it out. When we got up to the order window, we were REJECTED. We were appalled. All we wanted was some good ol' Amurrican Mickey D's! We started coming up with tons of excuses about why we weren't in a car, almost hopping into a cab and going through the drive-thru, but then we decided: No matter! There is still Supermac's on the way home. Supermac's. Oh dear. It seemed like a good decision at the time...it tasted delicious at the time...but in the morning it was not such a good decision. Oops. Poor life decision.

September 13

Once again, we got another late start in the morning after watching some "Hangover TV" (a legit program over here where they play random shows, such as the old-school "Bewitched", of which, I am a huge fan of now). Then we went out searching for food like scavenging vultures. Ok, perhaps a bit too graphic, but you get the picture. Since our Richmond/Dublin friends had a train to catch, we walked into Eyre Square and were thinking of going down to Quay Street to try out a new restaurant, but we first stopped into Paddy's, a seemingly innocent pub with pub food. Not so. The waiter was really sketchy and didn't seem to understand English slash may have been more than just "high on life". After ordering drinks, we all came to the consensus that Paddy's was a big "X" and peaced (after paying a fortune for water... 2.40 Euro, no way). But then it was getting closer and closer to the Richmond/Dublin kids' train departure, so we just hit up the Bagel Factory a few stores down from Supermac's (don't need to go in there during the daylight, although we did get yummy ice cream from the ice cream place within Supermac's, so that doesn't really count). Then we just hung out in Eyre Square until it was time for them to leave for their train. Then Bryeanna and I walked down to the Claddagh again to meet up with some Fairfield girls and just soaked up the Irish sun on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Well, that wraps up my second week in Galway. The sunshine really does wonders to your outlook on life. Now, that may sound cheesy (and perhaps it is), but the weather has been such a blessing as I am still getting used to living in a foreign country, some 3,000+ miles away from home without my close friends and family, but I am confident that even if the sun disappears and the rains return, my love for Galway will continue to grow and grow, like the lush, green, Irish grass.

The Beginning of My Irish Adventures (Week 1: Aug. 31 - Sept. 8)

2009-09-10T20:10:00.002+01:00

Hello all! I apologize for the tardiness of updating my blog, but that just means that I have been very busy getting acclimated to life in Ireland.

I guess I'll start off with recounting my travels. Well, luckily I didn't have to quickly rearrange any clothes, etc. from my luggage, seeing as it was all underweight! That could be a good thing...or a bad thing. After a smooth flight to Philly, I overcame my sadness and moved on to the feeling of excitement in a new place. On Tuesday September 1, I arrived bright and early in Dublin. No problems going through security, seeing as I look Irish yet act American (a.k.a., clueless and spellbound). Since my plane landed early in the morning and my bus to Galway didn't leave until later in the morning, I got some breakfast and a book on Ireland and read up on different places to go see during my stay. Once it was time for the bus to depart, I feel asleep straightaway since I didn't really sleep on the plane. When I woke up, I was surprised to see the very green and lush countryside, with TONS of sunshine! Definitely not the stereotypical image of Irish weather.

I arrived at my apartment building, Cuirt na Coribe, and just so happened to be greeted by two of my Richmond apartment-mates, Jeannie and Bryeanna. There are six of us total in our apartment: four from Richmond, a Belgian, and a German. My bedroom is very small, but nice; I also have my own bathroom which is baller. I made up my bed, complete with Biggie Bunny and my Keystone blanket, two comfort objects from home. Jeannie, Bryeanna and I went to our in-complex restaurant, Scotty's Steakhouse. It was kind of like an Applebee's or something like that, so no Irish food to begin our adventures. Since we were all very tired from traveling, we watched the movie, Love Story, a classic. We decided we would need it to rest up for the next day. Yes, in other words, we were being L-A-M-E, laaaame. Oh well.

On September 2, Kaitlin, our fourth Richmonder, arrived. It started off as a typical rainy day, and of course there were many errands to run. Luckily, we have a lot of stores close to our apartment. There is a Target-esque type of store right across from our apartment, Dunnes. It has almost everything you need: bedding, clothes, groceries, alcohol...ha ha. We have been taking many trips to Dunnes. We had a somewhat of a lazy day, just getting used to apartment life, which of course included watching MTV UK, once our TV was fixed. But we did manage to make it out that night! After drinking some very cheap wine, we trekked out to Shop Street, the center of Galway cultural and nightlife. First we went to King's Head, one of Galway's oldest pubs, established in the mid-1600s. There, we had our first Irish shots--"Butterballs", which tasted like a Bailey's concoction. I also had my first true Guinness there! Guinness is very thick, but not as bad as many people made it out to seem. We saw some of the other Richmond kids there too. Then we went around to Monroe's to meet up with some of Bryeanna's friends from home. Both King's Head and Monroe's had fun bands playing both traditional Irish music and covers of American songs.

The next day we were all up early for the International Students Welcome on campus. It was actually held in their newly-remodeled wellness center, the Kingfisher Club, located right on the River Corrib. The presentation covered everything from classes, to setting up an Irish bank account, to the all-important (and a tad bit intimidating) registering with the Irish immigration organization, Garda. It was a very long and boooooorrring day, starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending right around 1:30 p.m., with no lunch! It was kind of like freshman orientation all over again. It was also weird being called an "international student." After that, we walked around campus and took a tour. It was interesting to see what an European college campus looks like. For example, most of the lecture halls are all located in one main building. Later that day, Jeannie and Kaitlin cooked pasta and made a salad for us for dinner.

On Friday, I went to several academic meetings that gave a general overview of what classes are like, when they are, where they meet, etc. I went to the English, History and Sociological course selection meetings. After those let out, I did a bit more exploring of campus, and then headed into the City Centre from campus. You know, doing the whole tourist-y thing, snappin' pics for Facebook (shameless plug: y'all should check out ma pics on my Facebook if you want some visuals for this blog). That night Bryeanna and I made fajitas for everyone for dinner. We had some issues with cutting the chicken, peppers and onions--our "vegetable cutting knife" is duller than most of the TV shows shown on trans-Atlantic flights. After dinner, we went to King's Head again to start off, then to Coyotes, an American bar. It was...interesting. They had tons of Americana decor, American flags everywhere and even a mechanical bull! We think that more Europeans like going there if they can't get over to "Amurrica". After taking in some of the homeland, we started heading home through Eyre Square, and we came across another pub, Fibber Magees. We hung out there for a bit and then came back.

We all got a later start on Saturday, taking full advantage of sleeping in on a weekend. Since we didn't have any plans, we decided to go exploring even more and do a bit of window-shopping. We walked downtown through Shop Street again, but this time we actually went into the shops on the street. There are a ton of sweater shops, selling the famed Aran Island woolen sweaters. Another typical product sold along Shop Street is the Claddagh Ring, the ring where there are two hands holding a heart with a crown upon it. These two will DEFINITELY make my Christmas Wish List... We continued on down through Shop Street, down by the Latin Quarter where the Spanish Arch and Medieval Wall are located, right along the water. There are many memorials dedicated to those, mainly fishermen, who were lost at sea. The area down where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay is called "The Claddagh", hence the name of the rings. So we adventured on down to the Bay. It was beautiful, despite the cloudy and windy conditions. The trip down there helped spark our interest in booking a trip to the Aran Islands. Since we decided to go down on the trip the next day, we stayed in and watched TV. It may sound like all we have been doing is watching TV and being lazy, but that is far from it! We walk everywhere. Plus, the Irish kids had not yet arrived, so it was mainly locals and internationals out at the pubs and clubs.

Sunday was the day of our big adventure. We had to wake up fairly early in order to catch our bus from Eyre Square to the ferry. The Aran Islands are famous for their woolen sweaters that come in many different knit designs, and for their fishing. It is still very much a fisherman's area. There are three different islands: Inis Mor, Inis Meain and Inis Oirr. We left our apartment around 8:45 a.m. to head to the bus station to check in for our bus from Galway to Ros a Mhil, where our ferry was to depart. It was a very rainy, windy, wet and cold day for our trip, but we decided to make the most of it. We decided to only go to Inis Mor, the largest and most populated island. When we arrived, we immediately went to the Aran sweater market and museum to look around. No purchases, but lots of fun trying the sweaters on and seeing which style suited us best. Then, due to the torrential downpour and whipping winds, we decided to take a bus tour around the island. We saw lots of countryside, with many of the common lands fenced off by stone walls that have been around for hundreds of years. On of our first stops was at a seal colony on the coast of the island. Sadly, we only saw one lone seal perched atop a rock. We also passed the ancient monastery, Cill Mhuirbhigh. The Aran Islands speak Irish (yes, Irish, not Gaelic) and English, but it is one of the last remaining Irish-speaking communities. Most of these Irish-speaking communities are located in Southwest Connemara, the heart of the Galway Gaeltacht. Our bus stopped for a long time at Dun Aonghasa, an ancient fort in which it used to be circular, but half of it fell away into the sea since it was made of limestone. It was a treacherous climb with the wind and biting mist to reach the top of the fortress, but we made it! It was a nice view from the top, looking out into the water. Once we completed our descent, we went into another sweater and craft shop after we ate lunch in the village located at the base of Dun Aonghasa. It served traditional Irish food, but since it was such a cold day, we all opted for the hearty vegetable soup and the brown bread. In Ireland, "brown bread" means wheat bread. The brown bread and butter was very delicious with the soup. The soup was nice to warm us up before heading back out into the wet and cold. When we arrived back near the ferry, we headed into another pub to warm up again with some hot chocolate and coffee. After taking naps on the ferry and bus, we arrived back in Galway City and went home to prepare for the first day of school.

Monday. The first day of school. Right? Well, technically... But most of us had to register with NUI Galway since the online registration was a big FAIL. Unfortunately, I got a later start that most, which was ominous for a not-so-stellar day. First, a button broke off on a brand-new shirt, but luckily I am a former Girl Scout and thus was able to make a makeshift button out of a thumb-tack, notecard and tape. Then I headed to campus to register. I had to wait in what seemed like a never-ending line. Like the line for the "Rock n' Rollercoaster" at MGM in Disney World was probably shorter than this one! Legit, this line was about two hours long, at least. But it wasn't too bad because I met two girls who go to Georgetowne who were nice. So I registered and got my student ID card. It was a great picture! NOT. But not as bad as my current driver's license or passport photo, so yay for me! Then I went to the International Affairs Office to get a letter to set up my Bank of Ireland account. I must not have been the only one who thought that this was a good idea, for there was yet another long line. But this line wasn't as long, probably as long as the line at D-Hall is at prime-time on Saturday morning for brunch. Manageable. I set up my bank account and deposited my traveler's cheques...score! I was going to join the gym on-campus, but I have to wait until I get my new bank card to do that. That night we decided that it was a much needed to go out and have a happy ending to a boring and stressful day. First we went to The Quays, another typically tourist-y pub. It was really cool inside because there are a lot of nooks and crannies to hang out in. After The Quays, we made our way back to King's Head and met some Irish guys there. These guys were a little bit older than us (like 23, 24) and they were grad students at NUI Galway. They bought us drinks and paid for us to get into the club CP's, so that was nice, saving some dolla dolla bills (or I guess I should say some 1 Euro coins yeaaaaaah). It was a fun night to start off a new week.

Tuesday was our first "real" day of class. Well, it started off not so well, considering that it was rainy and we got lost and confused about finding our first class...FAIL. I went home for lunch and a nap before our second attempt to our first class. We went to "The Irish Emigrant Experience," a history class. It seems very interesting. According to the locals, Tuesday is Gay Night, so it is not a very big going-out night. We went to Sonny's/The Front Door Pub for dinner. I had a chicken Caesar salad, but it was very bland. Oh well, note to self: no need in ordering that again. Since I have a lot of Wednesday classes, as do the other girls, we came back and went to bed early to get ready for school the next day.

That about wraps up Week 1 (official week, from Tuesday to Tuesday, ha ha). I hope it wasn't too long or too boring for y'all. Until next time! May your days be sunny and warm, like Galway is right now, a nice break from the erratic wind and rain.

And So It Begins...

2009-08-31T20:09:00.003+01:00

Hello! Well here I am, in Richmond International Airport, about to embark on my study abroad to Galway, Ireland. Wow. It's finally here. It seems so strange--we've been talking about study abroad since last March, if not before, and now most of my classmates at the University of Richmond are preparing for their own adventures, if they have not already been adventuring in foreign lands!

From Richmond, I head to Philadelphia. Then I board US Airways flight 722 at 8:45 p.m. for Dublin, Ireland. Now, I love "Amurrica" (pronounced in that proud, Southern accent, of course), but I am excited for Ireland, commonly referred to as "the motherland" due to my Irish heritage.

Many people have told me that I'll fit in very well in Ireland since I have red hair, or affectionately known as "ginger". I am sure that there will be many instances involving these "gingery locks", for better or for worse. Whoa, that sounds like wedding vows. Awkward...

Well that's all for now! Sorry for the boring beginning, but then again, how exciting is taking off your shoes and packing three three-ounce bottles in one quart-sized plastic zip-lock bag just to go through a little metal detector for security? Thrilling, isn't it?

I think that the current state of weather in Richmond is foreshadowing my typical weather pattern for the next four months. Weather for today: Cloudy. Temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Chance of rain: 50%. Perhaps the weather is representative of everyone so devastated that I'll be gone for so long? Nah. Instead, perhaps it is just supposed to prepare me for wet and rainy days and nights. All right! Glad that Patagucci (Patagonia) rain slicker and Bean Boots will work well for me!

I'll end this inaugural blog post with a Gaelic saying:

"Is glas na cnoic i bhfad uainn."

Distant hills look green.

How appropriate.

Goodbye, America. Hello, Ireland, the Emerald Isle!

Dia dhuit!

(May God Bless You!)