Scotland!

This past weekend I went to Glasgow, Scotland! It was incrediby cool, but rainy. My friend Patrick is doing a semester there at the University of Glasgow, which gave me a good excuse to go visit Scotland.

The flag of Scotland. For those of you who don't know, it's a white X on a blue background. It makes of the blue and white part of the union jack.

This is Patrick's school. He giggles every time he gets to say he goes to school in a castle. So do I.

FRIDAY:
When I first got into the airport Patrick wasn't there to meet me. But I had a strange feeling that he wouldn't be there for some reason. So I was prepared to go it alone. Since I only had Patrick's address and no idea how to get there, I decided my first task would be to find a hostel. After getting some cheesy chips (one of the best things I've found in Ireland).

This is me enjoying some delicious non-cheesy chips. The first chipper I found in Scotland was out of cheese, what a disapointing introduction to a country!

I proceeded to look for the only hostel I could find in Glasgow using a map that didn't include the hostel's location. Eventually I got there, booked myself for two nights, and took a nap on the comfy couches.

The lounge of my hostel. This is really nice as far as the hostels I've been in. If I got to 7 more Scottish Youth Hostels I become a member!

After that I got my key, took a shower and got ready to go out exploring. Lucky enough there was a large park, called Kelvingrove Park right outside my door, so that's where I started. It was pouring buckets of rain though and became rather unpleasant. A nice Glasweigan was kind enough to give me ideas for things to take pictures of and even showed me down through the part to the art museum. There I saw Salvador Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross" which was really cool because I love Dali. I also hung out with Elvis.

Chilling with the King.

I got a cup of tea and a sandwhich as well to tide me over until I met up with Patrick. While at the hostel I checked my facebook and Patrick had messaged me his very legitimate reason for not meeting me at the airport (he missed his own flight and was still in London at the time). So I met up later that evening with him and his girlfriend Jessica who was over visiting for a few weeks. We ate dinner at Mother India's, a delicious Indian restraunt where I had my first real Indian food experience. It was delicious! Spicey, but delicious!

Indian beer isn't bad either!

After feeling fat and sassy we went to a local Scottish pub where I sampled a malt of the month. We then went to a house party where we hung out with loads of international people. The thing about studying abroad is that I've met an incredible number of people from all over the world, not just from Ireland/Scotland.

SATURDAY:
The next morning I explored more of the park and found the skate park and playground. Scottish grafitti is better than Irish grafitti, which isn't saying much. But at least it's not complete crap.

The art museum is in the background. Quite the fancy building for a skate park backdrop.

Being a child and climbing on the rope pyramid. Like my new-ish shoes?

Patrick, Jessica and I set out for city center to go try the Willow Tea rooms, which are based on the designs of someone named Mackintosh. He was a famous architect and made some fancy chairs.

Enjoying a refined cup of tea at the Willow Tea Room.

Jessica and Patrick having some tea.

Then we wandered around city center and saw cool buildings and stuff. Patrick then showed us around his castle of a university and I got all jealous because UCD is all concrete and... concrete. After that I went back to the hostel to get all fancy for a cocktail party at Patricks, and fell asleep for an hour. The party was sweet, I got to meet loads more international students which is always fun.

George's Square is really cool with Patrick and I.

SUNDAY:
My last day Patrick had to work for awhile so Jessica and I explored the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful! There was a path going through the woods along the Kelvin River and all the trees had turned colors. Just as it started to rain we went into the greenhouse and saw some awesome plants. Some palm trees have leaves bigger than me! That was a really cool experience.

Making kissy with the pretty flowers in the Botanic Gardens greenhouse.

After we got hungry and went past this church-looking building which turned out to be a restaurant. We of course had lunch there for the novelty of it, and it turned out to be really good. In Scotland they put mozzarella on their cheesy chips instead of cheddar in Ireland.

It looks like a church but it's much more tasty!

We finished lunch and went to the bar where Patrick works for some delicious drinks and fun with random people who played football (soccer). Then it was time for me to go back to Ireland after a wonderful weekend in Glasgow. All in all I really liked Scotland, the scenery is gorgeous and the people are really nice. Someday I'll explore more of the country. For now I'm very satisfied with what I saw and experienced.

When in Rome... learn Italian

Which is advice I should have followed when I went to Germany, I should have learned German. Knowing what things are and how to get there would have been nice, I think I would have learned a lot more about Frankfurt and everything. Other than not knowing what anything was really, I had a good time. I traveled there with 7 other people, so there was a good group of us and at all times at least one person sort of knew what was going on. I've also come to appreciate the pictures of stick boys and girls on the doors of bathrooms. My recommendation to anyone travelling to a country with a language you don't speak, at least learn what boy and girl is so you don't have to stand in front of two doors wondering which to go in. It saves on embarassment.

Frankfurt! The city is known for its skyline because apperantly European cities don't really have tall buildings. This is true for Dublin. They also drive on the right side of the road (woo hoo!)

Travelling to Frankfurt didn't take too long. We took Ryanair which is a low-cost flight, I think tickets were like 50euro. But there really wasn't anything wrong with the flight or anything. When we got there we ended up staying in a hostel with some of the Irish students from the flight. And then going to the closest bar (O'Rileys - again Irish) and seeing them there too. So the first night we didn't really do anything new. Except most of the people at the Irish pub were speaking German (singing kareoke in English though).

This is our plane going to Germany. We got to walk on the tarmac! I think was cool, but really it's because Ryanair is that cheap.

This is inside our hostel as we're waiting to go out/watching the Daily Show. My favorite thing is the crooked picture on the wall. It adds a touch of class.

The next day we wandered around did some shopping and generally didn't know what to do. There is a cool old-fashioned touristy spot that we hit up. We had lunch as some place and I ordered schnitzle (spelling?) and a liter of beer. Which made for a full and happy rest of my day. That night we went to a night club called Living where I was yelled at in German by some girls who thought I stole a wallet. I didn't by the way, it turned out they had checked it into the coat check and forgot. But now I know what it feels like to be falsely accused of something and not understand at all what happened or why I was picked out. Overall, it was a pretty funny experience.

Hannah and I found this tower to be pretty and asked a random German to take our picture. Turns out it is really old and part of the orignal towers surrounding the city.

Enjoying a bit of German culture.

This is the more traditional looking area. I liked it. We went to the church in the background as well. It was old and reddish colored. I don't know much else about it because I don't know German.

Sunday we went to the Frankfurt Zoo and saw some sweet animals. The rhinos are dangerous though. We also too the underground/subway to get to the zoo which was really exciting for me because I've never been on a subway before. Apperantly this is something that large cities do, create efficient public transportation. I never knew. That night Hannah, Molly and I bought cheap Jagermeister and Red Bull (yum!) and then we all went around the block to the red light district and walked around.

I assume this sign says: Caution! Rhino trained to aim urine ignorant American tourists! Hannah and I were glad the Rhino was outside and wearing a diaper (or nappy as they would say here).

The wooden door with the ironwork is the door to our hostel. Notice the prime location right next door to the quality establishment "World of Sex." We stayed in a nice part of town.

It was only on the last night that it was discovered beer was sold in vending machines.

Monday was a strange day because we didn't really know what to do. We spent most of the day walking around the shopping street again and taking pictures/buying souveniers. I mailed postcards and life was good. We got in late that night and just crashed. So all in all Germany was really cool to be in because I never thought I'd go there. And I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to mainland Europe at least once while I've been abroad.

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Last weekend Mom and Dad came for a visit to Ireland. After showing them around Dublin city Sunday they went off on their own and explored the land of saints and scholars. The next weekend they came back to Dublin and I showed them another good time (because that's what I do). And where else did we go but the zoo! Apperantly Dublin Zoo is a Victorian zoo. I'm not sure what that means, but the monkies were darn cute.

These orangutans were really friendly.

The sign reads: Gorilla - gentle giant. Notice the cracks in the glass.

Gorillas have big hands

The cute widdle cuddly lions are sweepy!

The rhinos were absurdly cool. And they really liked their log.

Now of course the few days I spent with my parents weren't all at the zoo. But I didn't take too many pictures with my camera because 1) the screen is broken, and 2) Dad took plenty of pictures. Unfortunately Dad's pictures can't be uploaded to blogger, so you're stuck with my zoo pictures for now.

While Mom and Dad were here we also saw the Book of Kells, which is a sweet illuminated text that some monks spent a lot of time coloring. We also saw the Long Room in Trinity which is a library with about 250,000 books, all of them old. That was really cool. The Long Room also had the oldest Irish Harp and one of the few remaining Proclaimations of Independence. I was in nerdy Irish history heaven.

We also wandered around Dublin and saw the General Post Office, Temple Bar, Trinity, O'Connell Street, University College Dublin (where I go to school), and some shady streets. It was good fun! We did a bus tour as well and got to see the National Gallery, Pheonix Park, Museum of Modern Art, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral.

Mom also bought me some pancake mix and maple syrup (from Vermont) and I made pancackes yesterday. They were absolutely delicious and I'm probably going to be making absurd amounts of pancakes from now on.

Yesterday I also was at a ceile (pronounced kay-lee) which is where people get together and dance Irishly to Irish music. I made a fool of myself but it was really fun. There was a guy there who played the Uilleann pipes (pronounced ill-um) and they were really cool to learn about. Absolutely brutal to learn how to play, but they were really cool to hear. So now when I get back to Minnesota I can pretend to Irish dance with all of you!

Wicklow Mountains in the Rain

This past Friday I travelled with the usual group of Americans to the Wicklow Mountains which was described as a 'walk.' It actually turned out to be more like a stairmaster climb through the rain and 80 kph winds. I had a good time!

Today we went to Kilmainham Jail, which wasn't exactly the happiest thing I've done here. This is the jail where 14 people were executed after the Easter Rising. Last weekend I went to Kilkenny, but my camera died so I didn't get many pictures. I'll post some here though and get more later and post to the pictures website. There are more from the Wicklow Mountains there now.

Starting from the last week, Kilkenny Castle:

This is my favorite castle so far, of the three I've seen. Originally it had four walls, but one was knocked down during a war of sorts. It wasn't rebuilt because the family quite liked the view. So now from here we can see the court yard and just a small portion of the surrounding field.


I don't really like this picture of me. But you can see how the castle is on the river. It makes for a pretty view. No need for moat building here!

On to this past weekend in the Wicklow Mountains. These are just south of Dublin in County Wicklow in a place called Glendalough. Which in Irish means 'glen of two lakes.' And true to form, there are two lakes there! It was really beautiful after it stopped raining and we didn't have to climb more stairs.

Me, Molly and Hayley hanging out by a small waterfall in the pouring rain. Notice how wet our pants are. Thank goodness I have a nice raincoat and it kept the top of me dry and mostly warm!

Thankfully it stopped raining. Julia and I got real tired climbing up the stairs. All the lazy Americans complained until we got to the top.

The view was spectacular. At the far end of the lake down there is close to where we started. So the walk through the mountains turned out to be a bit more like a hike. But it was worth it. The other lake is to the left more. We walked along the ridge with massive gusts of wind to see more of the view. It got a bit dangerous, so our guide made us go back to safety. Just in time to avoid even more rain.

This is the far side of the lake you can see in the picture above. Hayley and I revisited it when it wasn't blowing rain in our eyes and we could actually see the valley. Ireland is so pretty! I've decided this is the area I want to retire to and raise sheep.

At Glendalough there is also a Monastery with a cathedral, tower and graveyard. Most of the monastery is in ruins, but the tower still stands. Monks built these towers during the Viking invasions to protect themselves and the Church's valuables. The would climb up a rope ladder into a door high in the tower, then pull up the rope so the invaders couldn't reach them. Unfortunately the insides were made of wood and the Vikings caught on that they could just burn the tower.

Here we have another not good picture of me. But it is a good picture of the round tower.

Kilmainham jail was built in the late 1700s and was just a regular jail for County Dublin until 1910. They used to hold whole families here, and just children who stole bread. Right along with the murderers. During the famine, people wanted to go to this jail because they were able to get food regularly. It was reopened in 1916 for political prisoners, and also held prisoners from the revolution in the 1920s as well.

The main entrance to the jail. They used to do public hangings right above the door here until about 1860. The detail above the door is of serpents or dragons that are chained down.

A bit of grafitti from the 1920s. It reads "Beware of the risen people, that have harried and held, ye that have bullied and bribed." It is a quote from Patrick Pearse who was executed here after the Easter Rising.

The newer wing of the jail here, built in the 1800s sometime I think. It has actually been filmed in some movies, so it might look familiar. The skylight on top makes the room look strangely grand and beautiful.

Everything in Ireland is cool

For some reason the people at the Quinn School of Business treat American students better than all the other international students. I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining. So that means that the group of American students has trips to cool places planned for throughout the semester. Today was one of those trips.

We started out at Croke Park:

This is the third largest stadium in Europe. I think it fits 84,000 people, but I could be wrong.

This is where they play the Gaelic Games, such as Hurling and Gaelic football. They do other things, but those are the coolest. The people on the field here are practicing for a Gaelic football all-star game or something like that.

I like the shorts they wear for the Gaelic games.

If your county is good at Gaelic football they could win something like this trophy at the all-Ireland final.

I tried to use a Hurley stick, but I suck at things like that so it didn't fare well. It was good to see how the Gaelic Athletic Association helped to shape nationalism in Ireland. Bloody Sunday actually occurred in Croke Park during a hurling match to raise funds for an anti-British group. History is everywhere here, it's really cool.

After that we went to Malahide Castle in the north of Dublin. It's a really cool castle that people actually lived in until 1975. It was in the Talbot family for 800 years. I couldn't even trace my lineage back that far, much less hand down a castle.

Before doing any touring we had a delicious lunch. Hooray for not paying for food!

The castle was built in the 14th century by a bunch of invading Normans. They had good taste but most weren't very attractive.

Carpet with the family crest. Their floors are officially cooler than mine.

This is my favorite room in the castle. It could be because it's the dining hall, but I do like the ceiling. Notice the horde of portraits along the walls. These were everywhere and most people just looked funny. This room could have done without the portrait of Oliver Cromwell over the door. Especially since the original occupants were Catholic.

They have a big front yard.

We also drove back along the coast and got to walk out on the beach. It was really sweet to see the bay and the Irish sea. It was quite windy and a little cold, but it was beautiful. There is an island in the middle of the bay. The coast is really rocky and dangerous looking, but there were people surfing anyway, but the beach was big and long.

Molly, Hayley and me by the beach. It has been quite windy out recently due to a tropical storm of sorts. There are all sorts of downed branches and trees because of the wind. It is very exciting to pick up the branching and wave them around when you're having a night on the town.

Hayley likes to have fun while on the beach. Notice how hard the sand is, we didn't really sink in at all. It made for good beach walking.

A scenic view of the beach on the bay. For being so cloudy most of the time Dublin is quite pretty.

Pictures!

I have put some more pictures up online so that you can see what I've been doing without me having to explain them. Here's the link:
http://community.webshots.com/user/mandi042
I'll put a link to it on the sidebar sometime soon.

Cheers!

Home away from home away from home

This past weekend was an exciting adventure to the Irish countryside, county Monaghan, for what many like to call "homestay experience." However, based on stories heard the day prior to leaving for the homestay, this experience seemed like it would be less of a homestay and more of a stay the night lost in the dark countryside. The story goes something like this: A week before my homestay, other Arcadia students stayed with the same family. One night they went down the road to hang out with people (down the road is like a few miles down a curvy, narrow road mind you). These boys didn't know how to get back later that night and ended up sleeping on a bench in front of someone's house until about 6 in the morning. Then the next day they were put to work digging holes. So I was a bit worried to stay with this family, being sick and all, I wasn't quite cut out for manual labor.

It turned out to be a really nice weekend though. I stayed with two other girls, Hayley (my rommate) and Berit, who I didn't know so well. The family we stayed with was a mom, dad and their 8 year old son Kieron, who like to play soccer, a lot. The first night we got in late so there wasn't much to do except awkwardly sit around the living room playing games with Kieron and watching risque television with the mom, Teresa. The next morning when I woke up this was my view:

The little boy's name is Anton, and he liked to kick the soccer ball, but not play soccer.

This is the house we stayed in. Brand new, there wasn't even floor in the bathroom. There are lots of newly built houses in Monaghan, it is apperantly cheaper to buy some land and build a new house than buy a house.

The Irish countryside is absolutely beautiful. It is hilly all over, unlike the country of the mid-west. The grass is really green and they use hedges to divide property. So it always looks really cool. There are tons of cows all around, more so than sheep unfortunately. We even got stopped by cows on the road into town:

There are cows aplenty in Monaghan. Some were fuzzy and cute.

On Saturday we started the day off with a little soccer, then went into Monaghan Town for some shopping. I got some recommended cough syrup because I made a bit of a ruckus coughing that night. Then we drove back home. Played more soccer:

This is one of my favorite soccer pictures. Kieron is totally into it and Hayley is afraid of the ball. Kieron told me that I was "the worst football player in the world." After I played goalie for awhile he admited that I was a pretty good goalie, but I still was bad at soccer. There is nothing quite like the truth.

We did take a short break from soccer to climb up the hill behind the house and look around. Berit (who Kieron called Parrot) was conned into carrying Kieron up and down the hill.

And then went for a walk to see the beautiful countryside. Some of us took bikes and biked around, but I got tired and ended up walking most of the time.

You can see the divisions of land here, up the hill and to the left. There are many hills like this all around Monaghan, it's quite pretty and different from what I'm used to.

On our walk, you can see Hayley, Teresa (the Mom) and Berit and Kiron on bikes. This is a typically sized country road for cars going either way. Passing gets to be pretty scary.

Kieron was really excited to take this picture with me. I have a way with kids.

That night we went over to a house where some more Arcadia students were staying and then took a bus taxi into town again for a good old fashioned night on the town. My host father recommended a hot whiskey for me to clear my sinuses. And it worked really well! I felt fabulous for the rest of the night. Until we had to wait in the rain for the taxi to come pick us up agian.

Overall it was a good, quite weekend in the country. I really enjoyed being able to live quitely, and in a normal house with cooked food. After eating pasta constantly, decent food was sooo delicious, I event ate peas! Sunday was a quite day, we played more soccer, and then some tag and went home for a quite evening at the apartment.