LONDON!

Wow, it has been forever since my last post! I guess I’ve been a little busy (and also probably a little lazy). The last few weeks here have been absolutely amazing! I can’t believe I just have one more week here-the time was gone by so fast! I want my blog to be updated before I head back or else I know I’ll never do it, so here it goes….

London could possibly be my new favorite city. I just loved it there, and it is now in my top three favorite cities (New York City and Paris being the other 2). About a month ago, I was talking with my friend Cassie from back home about how much I wanted to go to London, but didn’t really have anyone here to go with, so she said she would meet me! It was great to see a familiar face, and I was so happy we were able to go there together! I flew in on a Thursday evening and spent the night in the Heathrow airport. I was not looking forward to this, but it was really my only option since Cassie wasn’t due to arrive until 7am the following morning.  Sleeping at Heathrow is doable, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend it. I had borrowed my roommate, Lauren’s, sleeping bag, so I found a little spot on the floor-did a little reading, and then went to “sleep”. I can’t really say if I ever actually fell asleep because it was just so loud and bright that it was even hard to just concentrate on sleeping. I was woken up around 3am to a man saying “Excuse me miss, we need to clean this wall.” THE WALL?? Did he seriously need to clean this particular WALL at that very moment!? So I wasn’t too happy about this, but I guess they gotta do their job. He recommended that I go upstairs into this café that had some couches. They were all taken, but I found a café that was closed (with the lights off!) so I curled up under a table and slept for a couple more hours. The coffee shop opened at 5am, so I was up again and went down to check my friend’s flight. It had been delayed until 11am when it was supposed to be in at 7! So I hopped on the Internet, booked a room at the Yotel for 4 hours, and headed over to another terminal to get some actual sleep. It was quite expensive (about 40 pounds), but it was soooo worth it! It’s this “hotel” type place that has these little cabin type rooms that you can book anywhere from 4+ hours. The bed was so comfortable and it was pitch black! (Even had a fan noise J) So I slept for 3.5 hours…took a shower…and then headed back to meet up with Cassie.

We got to our “Bed and Breakfast” (we received fruit baskets in the morning, so I guess this qualifies as a b&b) which was the tiniest room I had ever seen. So we didn’t have a lot of room to walk around and only one bed that we shared, but it wasn’t really a big deal since we were really only there to sleep. We lost over half our day with Cassie’s flight being delayed, so we didn’t do a whole lot the first day. We found our way down to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Parliament which ended up being my favorite part of London. Just looking at these made me really feel like I was actually in London J We then headed over to this cute little Christmas market that was going on which I just loved. They had lots of booths filled with food, jewelry, scarfs, and other unique items. Music was playing and it just finally felt like Christmas to me (even if it was only a week before Thanksgiving). We finished our first night by riding the London Eye (giant ferris wheel type thing that has great views of the city) and seeing all the great lights of London by night.

The next morning was spent waiting an hour in line for front row tickets to see Wicked that night which we got! They release 24 front row tickets every morning for only 25 pounds and waiting only an hour to get them was definitely worth it! This was my absolute favorite thing I did in London! I have been dying to see this show and I’m so happy I FINALLY got to see it. (I have since became addicted to the soundtrack-I’m secretly hoping that when Emilie and I potentially go to NYC this spring, I can see it again!)  Afterwards we headed to Portabello Road in Notting Hill which just so happens to be one of my favorite movies. I looked for the travel book store that Hugh Grant works at in the movie, but never found it. But Portabello Road is a giant street market that goes on forever-antiques being the majority of the shops. I didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to just walk around and grab a bite to eat. The rest of the day we walked around Picadilly Circus which is basically just an area for shopping/dining/theater. We saw Wicked that night and then ate at Hard Rock Café afterwards. Sidenote: First Hard Rock began in London. They told us the table we were sitting at was where the owners used to sit because they could see the whole restaurant and it was this very booth where the whole thing began.

The next day we walked to Buckingham Palace (was hoping to at least see the Queen’s Corgis but sadly we did not….guess that was probably a long shot), Trafalgar square and then headed to the British Museum. This is the oldest museum in the world-wasn’t really my type of museum, but did see a few cool things such as mummy’s, Rosetta Stone, and one of the statues from Easter Island. We then headed to Harrods, the famous department store in London which I just loved. I have never seen a bigger department store (well maybe Macy’s in NYC) and I just couldn’t get over how expensive things are. For example-there was a pet store inside and one of the cats was selling for 1200 pounds! They even have a souvenir shop inside basically just for tourists. It was all decorated for Christmas and just so pretty inside! It has so many different restaurants and cafes as well. Cassie and I split a 14 pound sundae, and it was delicious! I don’t think I have ever spent that much on ice cream, but I felt like it was well worth it. 

Our last day in London was spent touring Westminster Abbey, watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (where Cassie may have gotten into a small fight with an angry lady who wanted her whole family to be closer to the gate), St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Princess Diana got married) and then ended at the Tower of London which used to be a fortress, palace, and a prison. Here  there is a museum with many of the crown jewels which was pretty neat to see. Right next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge (everyone mistakes this bridge as the London Bridge-the London Bridge really isn’t all that cool) which I didn’t get the chance to go up. We took a boat ride down the Thames, walked through the Christmas market one more time, and headed back to the hotel to pack up for the following day.

I left the following morning after saying bye to Cassie and met Danielle, Kacie, and Caitlin at the London airport and we set off on our Tour of Italy! Next stop: Venice! (Post about that later this week…) 

Enjoy the pics below-more are posted on Facebook if you want to check them out. 

 

sleeping corner at Heathrow

Yotel-highly recommend if your ever in need

Westminster Abbey

Christmas Market

Favorite part of London

London Eye

Portabello Road 

of course we had to go find Platform 9 3/4

before the show

Favorite show ever!

Buckingham Palace

clearly we needed a picture with a gaurd

it smelled like urine inside...so gross

Harrods!

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower Bridge

on the boat ride

Oink Oink

I am officially better after my recent attack of the swine flu! I really was only reallllllly sick for 2 days, and then after that it was basically just a sore throat with a cough. Those 2 days were definitely no fun, and I'm so happy I'm feeling better.  I actually don't really know 100% if it really was the swine flu since they aren't testing people anymore for it unless you're at risk. So they basically diagnosed me based on my symptoms, and I only went to the doctor because I thought I had an ear infection (again). But since I definitely felt like I had the flu, and it's the only flu going around at the moment, I'm pretty sure they made a logical guess. I was just sooo happy I didn't have any travel plans last weekend, so I didn't really miss out on much besides Halloween (which I was pretty bummed about). 

This is how they sent me out of the doctor's office last Friday.....

Since I wasn't supposed to be out in the public until Monday here is a list of what I accomplished in my 7 days of incarceration.....

1. Caught up on The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives. 

2. Began watching a new show, Glee, and watched all 8 episodes out so far. 

3. Watched the entire 6th season of Entourage. 

4. Watched Center Stage, Dazed and Confused, and The Holiday. 

5. Ate toast and soup...and that's about it. 

6. Re-read New Moon (gearing up for the movie, of course)

7. Slept...alot

8. Cleaned and organized my room

9. Skyped

10. Got homesick (but I'm definitely better now)

I was so happy to FINALLY be outside and actually interacting with people that weren't through a computer!  So glad you can't catch swine flu twice :) 

Ring of Kerry

This last weekend was my last major trip around Ireland before I start heading to other countries around Europe. Kacie and I had signed up for this trip a while back  for the Ring of Kerry. It was an organized trip which was so great because it required zero planning on my part which I definitely needed a break from because planning trips is so time consuming and a lot of times frustrating and a little stressful. The Ring of Kerry is located on the Iveragh Peninsula and is probably Ireland’s most visited tourist attraction. It is basically just a winding road along the peninsula with lots of mountains, lakes, and just great scenery.  The bus left UCC in the afternoon on Friday and we headed straight for Kilarney. We picked up more students from Galway and Limerick at the Kilarney bus station and then we headed to Cahersiveen where we stayed overnight both Fridy and Saturday. There were 50 students on this trip some of which were in my archeology class and other people I have met since I have been here. We went straight to dinner once we got there which was salad/bread, lasagna, and chocolate pastries. After dinner we had a native Kerry guest speaker who told us what it was like to grow up in the South of Kerry. It was actually pretty interesting to hear about what life is like living on the peninsula. After dinner we had trad music and learned how to Irish Dance.  We learned three different types of dances, and it was really fun to learn. I hope I can remember the steps, so I can teach some of you when I get home. :)

The next morning we had breakfast at 8:30 and then headed on the bus and did the tour around the Skellig Ring. We could not have asked for any better weather. It was absolutely fantastic and the visibility was amazing! When I came to the Skelligs a few weeks ago, you could not see the islands from the mainland because of all the fog but you could see them crystal clear this day. It was amazing! We hiked up to the top of this mountain to have a 360 degree view of the Valentia Island. It was just so pretty!  We made a stop at the Valentia Slate Quarry which I guess is  pretty famous slate, but I had never heard of it before.  But I still picked up a couple pieces for a free “souvenir”.  We also stopped at the Skellig Exerpeince Center which is basically just a visitor center for people who don’t actually want to go out to the Skelligs can visit here and learn about it.  So we watched a video about the Skelligs, but being that Kacie and I had already been to the Skelligs, this stop wasn’t all that great. Experiencing the Skelligs first hand is definitely more worth it J  Our last stop before lunch was at the Ballenskelligs beach which was beautiful. There was beach, ocean, and mountains all around…what more could you ask for?  We found our way over to the McCarthy Castle by walking through the freezing cold water, but it was a pretty cool view from the top. After the beach, we headed back to the hotel for lunch which was just soup and sandwiches. After lunch we had the afternoon free. Kacie and I and a few others headed into Cahersiveen just to walk around a bit and do a little shopping. The town is rather small, so there really wasn’t a ton to see, but there is a really pretty Catholic church right in the middle of town that we went into.

We headed back to our hotel, took a short nap, and then went to dinner. After dinner, we had a few guest speakers who talked to us about Gaelic Football. I didn’t realize how much of a community sport it is and how much people love it in Ireland. Even after players get to the professional level, they still come back and play at their local level which I thought was pretty interesting. After our speakers, we played Table Quiz at the bar in the hotel which is a trivia game you play in groups. It was actually a lot of fun because I just love any kind of game that involves trivia.  The football players ended up playing in on the game as the “local” team and they ended up winning. But they gave up their prize so one of the teams on the trip could win. My team  happened to win after a tiebreaking Macarena and Irish dance off.  We got the choice of either Skellig Chocolates or Valentia slate coasters-we of course chose the chocolates! After the trivia game, we headed to bed.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast, and Kacie wanted to attend mass at the church we saw the previous day, so I told her I would go with her. I had never been to a Catholic Mass before, so I was actually interested in going and attending one. After 20 years of having the mass times at the same time every Sunday at this church, just 3 weeks ago the times changed Apparently there is a shortage of priests in Ireland, so they have to had make some adjustments. Even a small time near here, only has mass every other Sunday so the priest can be at two different churches.  Anyway,  our tour guide didn’t realize the times had changed, so we went all the way there and there was no mass. 

After that, we walked to these stone forts that were on the outer skirts of Cahersiveen which even though I have seen plenty of stone forts with archeology, these ones were actually pretty cool because they had been reconstructed. We then headed back to the hotel for lunch and then we departed the hotel to finish the last leg around the Ring of Kerry. This day wasn’t as great for weather as the previous day. It was pretty foggy so the visibility wasn’t all that great. I’m just happy we at least had one great day, so I was ok that it was foggy. We made a stop at the Derrynane House which is where Daniel O’Connel lived. He is some guy that helped Ireland win their freedom (at least I think so…I was pretty tired at this point and I might have fallen asleep during the video…oops!) So after that we made a couple more stops for photo-ops but they really weren’t that great because of all the fog. I guess that pretty much sums up my weekend- once again I was happy to be back in Cork. Next weekend=absolutely nothing J And I couldn’t be happier about it-I need a break from traveling! 

Learning Irish Dance

Kacie and I

in the background on the right are the Skelligs! still can't get over how clear it was!

my favorite pic of the trip

Kacie and I at the top of a mountain-360 degree views all around

so beautiful 

Valentia Slate Quarry 

Ballenskelligs Beach

top of McCarthy Castle 

church in Cahersiveen

our team for Table Quiz- Kacie, Chelsey, Margy, me, and Leah (our team name was Leah and the Blondes)

my other favorite pic from this trip

Cahergall Stone Fort 

sooo windy and cold!

last shot from the trip-part of Killarny National Park 

Weekend in Northern Ireland and Dublin

This past weekend I spent traveling to Northern Ireland and Dublin. Being that it was so far away, we spent 2 nights away instead of just 1. Our first leg of the trip was a 30 min flight from Cork to Dublin. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was actually cheaper to fly than take the bus on this day and it got us there 100x faster. And since we were going all the way up to Northern Ireland, we needed any extra time we could get. Our plane left at 7:30 on Friday, so we had the taxi pick us up around 5:30, which entailed me walking 15 mins over to Danielle’s apartment.  I wasn’t really expecting this to be an eventful walk at 5 oclock in the morning, but little did I know that I would run into a fox in the middle of the city! At first I thought it was a cat, but then decided it was way to large for a cat. But the fox was not in the least bit scared of me and just kept continuing walking on the sidewalk right by me. I had to move into the street so it could pass me. If I had wanted to turn my back to it or if I didn’t think I would be late, I would have gotten out my camera to take a picture.  So I have no proof of this fox, but I promise you, it happened.

The flight was ok even though I was a little nervous to fly on this airline RyanAir, but it turned out to be just fine.  We then got on a bus to head up to Belfast which was about a 2.5 hours bus ride.  It was pretty miserable when we arrived in Belfast…very cold, dreary, and rainy.  We found our hostel which was only about a 10 min walk from the bus station. It was a really nice hostel which even had a café attached. We ate our packed lunches, and then we went on this Black Cab Tour. It was a tour that took us around and showed us different parts on Falls Road relating to the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants. We saw so many murals that were painted on buildings during this civil war and also got a chance to sign the Peace Wall.  If given the chance, I would actually like to take this tour again because I feel like I didn’t get much out of it the first time around. It was pouring rain, and I could never hear the cab driver over the rain and they were always directing their commentary towards one person and not projecting their voice to the group. So being cold and wet and not even being able to hear anything, I didn’t get a whole lot of the deal. I just kept thinking about getting back to the hostel and into warm, dry clothes.  I really didn’t know much about the conflict in Northern Ireland however and had no idea it was so violent there for so many years. Caitlin recapped afterwards for me what I should have learned on the tour! HaHa

There were 8 of us on this trip, so there were 4 of us in one room and 4 in the other.  After changing into dry, warm clothes, we all ended up taking a 3 hour nap!!! I guess we were all pretty tired from waking up at 4 am and traveling all day.  If I did nothing else on my birthday that day, that 3 hour nap was well worth it!  For those of you who maybe don’t know me as well, taking naps is one of my favorite things to do, and surprisingly I have only taken one other nap in Ireland since I have been here. You would think with all my free time, I would nap all the time, but I really don’t. So that 3 hour nap was sooo great!

We then ventured out to find a place to eat dinner and ended up going to a restaurant called Springsteen’s that was completely decked out in American décor! Pretty sad that that was the restaurant we chose, but it was large enough to accommodate a large group of people and was relatively cheap. We all shared a pitcher of Sex on the Beach and a pitcher of Fat Frog-not really sure what was in that drink but it was delicious! Since it was my birthday, I decided to splurge and ordered fajitas! And they were amazing! After dessert came out, Alanna and Margaret sang Happy Birthday to me…in Gaelic! They asked their teacher earlier in the week to teach it to them! They did a great job!

The next day was spent on a tour bus that took us to Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway, and Old Bushmills Distillery along the Antrium Coast which is a 20 mile stretch along the Northern coastal line of Ireland. I’m sure I have already said this previously, but my favorite thing about Ireland is how diverse it is. Everywhere I have been, it always looks like a completely different landscape and each one is so pretty in it’s own way. The Antrium Coast is definitely one of my favorites so far. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

Oh, and guess what?? I finally got to see a seal!!! I have been waiting to see one forever since I have been here, and I finally did on our tour. I couldn't always understand the tour guide, but I heard something that sounded like seal on the intercom of the bus, and I jumped out of my seat so fast to the other side of the bus to find it. He was the only seal just hanging out on a rock! I still would love to see a whole colony of seals, but I was definitely happy I saw one! 

Our first stop was at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which actually really wasn’t that scary. Although, my legs probably thought something different prior to walking across because they wouldn’t stop shaking. This rope bridge hangs 90 feet in the air  across a 65 foot opening between the mainland and a tiny island. This bridge was originally put into place by fisherman 200 years ago to get access to salmon nets that are caught during the summer months. It’s clearly not the original bridge that was first put into place, and it now mostly acts as a tourist attraction. Nonetheless, it offers great scenic views of the coast.

We then headed to Giant’s Causeway where we had 2.5 hours to each lunch and explore the area. Giant’s Causeway is a four mile long stretch along the coast line that is covered with hexagonal pillars that stick up at different heights. It was formed by volcanic eruptions more than 60 million years ago. The surface cooled rather quickly which caused the surface to crack into these hexagonal columns where some even look like steps leading into the sea. It is truly a unique geological landscape, and I wish we would have had more time to explore and walk around. This is now on my list of favorite things I have seen so far in Ireland. (There are only 3 World Heritage Sites in Ireland, with Giant’s Causeway being one of them. The other two are Newgrange Passage Tomb and Skellig Michael which I have also seen. Pretty cool that I can check all three of those off the list!)

Our next stop was the Old Bushmills Distillery . This is the world’s oldest distillery. We actually only stopped for like 20 minutes, so we didn’t get to do the tour or anything, so basically it was just a chance to drink as much whiskey as you wanted. Our tour guide told us the record was 5 whiskeys in 20 minutes. I didn’t get one, but I did try this old man’s Hot Totty which was hot whiskey with some cinnamon in it. I thought I would hate it, but it was actually pretty delicious!

Our last stop was a photo-op at Dunluce Castle. I am pretty much castled out, but this castle looked pretty neat because it is located right on the edge a cliff, so I’m a little bummed that we didn’t actually get to go in it.  After the castle, we headed back to Belfast and caught the next bus back to Dublin. The night we arrived in Dublin was the play-off game between Ireland and Italy for a spot in the World Cup. There was an additional 90,000 people in the city for this reason, so it was packed! I don’t really know the rules or follow sports much, but I guess Ireland and Italy tied which put Italy automatically into the World Cup, and I guess Ireland still has a shot in another playoff game (or something to that extent…)

We ended up being in an 8 bed room at the hostel which was nice so we all got to be together. We didn’t get into Dublin till after 11, so a couple of us went out, but the rest decided to just get to bed after the long day.  The following day was spent walking around Dublin and shopping. Honestly, one day is enough in Dublin. I don’t really think there is really too much to do in that city, and it’s not all that pretty.  I usually love cities, but Dublin is definitely not one of my favorites. Cork is much better J  We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café, and then ended our day at the Guinness Factory.  I was expecting to walk around an actual factory and see the beer being made, but maybe that’s really not how brewery tours work…I don’t really know-I had never been to one before. It basically felt like just a visitor center/museum where you walk around and read about the making of Guinness. So it ended up being sort of boring. The tour ends with your free pint of Guinness which most of us don’t even like. We got them anyway for picture purposes (haha), and then gave them away to other Guinness enthusiasts. I did give it another try, but I definitely do not like it!  The bar at the top where we got our free pints which was called Gravity Bar, did offer a 360 degree view of the city though which was pretty cool.

We left Dublin around 6 oclock and made it back to Cork around 9:30. It was a looooong weekend, but I’m glad we went. Northern Ireland is definitely worth a visit or two.

Enjoy the pictures!

on the black cab tour

Peace Wall between the Catholics and Protestants

me signing the wall

murals are painted all over this city with so many people's points of views

another mural

group pic on the tour 

at dinner-Lura (Danielle's visiting friend), Danielle, Kacie, and Keenie

other side of the table- Alanna, Margaret, me, and Caitlin

not great pictures cause they were out the bus window

here is the rope bridge we crossed over

closer look at the bridge 

Alanna and Margaret on the bridge- someone else got a picture of me with their camera crossing, so i'll post that later

looking down over the bridge 

I'm getting better at these shots...

Caitlin and I at the rope bridge 

cave maybe

Danielle at Giant's Causeway

isn't that just so cool?

Giant's Causeway

group pic at Giant's Causeway

Old Bushmills Distillery

Dunluce Castle 

Caitlin, Danielle, and Kacie in some garden in Dublin

at the Gravity bar in the Guinness Factory