Belfast

This weekend I went to Belfast, in Northern Ireland.  I didn't realize that we had crossed the boarder into a different country, until I noticed that the road signs had changed from being bilingual to simply English.  When we arrived at Belfast we had free time to explore the city.  We dumped our stuff of at the hostel and started walking around.  Our bus driver had told us that if we went to the top of a shopping center there was a great view of the city, so we set off to find the shopping center.  We found it and it was totally worth it!

We then had a very lovely dinner, where I tried mussels for the first time.  Slimy, yet satisfying!

Friday night we went with ESN (the club that I went to Galway with) on a pubcrawl throughout the city.  We had a lot of tequila, and it was a great night full of dancing.  At the last club they had dum dums and smarties in little bowls on all the tables and I kept stealing them, putting them in my wristlet,and then dancing up to all the ESN people and giving them away.  It was great craic.

Saturday we went on the Black Taxi tour through Belfast so that we could see the history, particularly of the troubles.  Although there has been a cease-fire for over ten years, there are still many social issues in Belfast.  This is most notable because there is a three mile long wall that blocks off the Catholic and Protestant parts of the city.  The wall is so tall, and the only way to get through is four gates that police close every night.  We got to see both sides of the wall, and looked at murals on each side.  Also, we signed the wall.

The ESN committee came up with a scavenger hunt for us to do, so we spent the rest of the day walking throughout the center finding some of the items. We also did some shopping in the amazing shopping center that we had visited the day before.

Sunday we left Belfast and explored more of Northern Ireland. We walked across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is 75 feet in the air.  It was so beautiful, one of the most beautiful views I have seen so far.  At one point Adele and I were standing looking at the bridge, the Island, the water, the green hills and the cliffs and we could not believe how breathtaking it was.  She then had the idea to pull out her iPod and we shared the earbuds and listened to Liz on top of the world from the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.  We both almost started crying. It was ridiculous and amazing. I'm actually listening to it right now as I type. *sigh*

Our next stop was the Giants Causeway.  According to legend, Finn McCool was an Irish giant who one day exchanged some words with a Scottish giant across the sea (13 miles away) and the Scottish giant wanted to fight him, but unfortunately was unable to swim. Finn McCool built a bridge out of stone from Ireland to Scotland, but building it made him too tired to fight, so he quickly ran back to Ireland, to his castle, and pretended to be a baby asleep in a cradle.  The Scottish giant came over, and thought "if this is how big the baby is, how big is the father" and ran back to Scotland, and Finn McCool destroyed part of the bridge.

Or, there was a shift in teutonic plates.

It was a lovely weekend, and below is the music Adele and I listened to if you would also like to have a slightly religious experience, although the pictures do not do Ireland justice.

  

The Gift of Gab

Sunday bright and early at 5:45 am we loaded into a taxi to go into city center, where we hopped on the Paddywagon at 6:10 and started our journey to Cork!


At first the bus was very quiet and we all slept, but after a few hours the sun came up and we were able to look out at the pretty greenery that we were passing.  Our first destination was the town of Cobh, which was the last stop on the Titanic before it left for NYC.  We went to this really cool Titanic Museum, which was interactive and had replicas of what a third class and first class cabin would have looked like on the Titanic.


At the beginning of the tour we were handed a "boarding pass" that had the name of a real passenger who had boarded the Titanic at Cobh.  I was Nora Healy, a 29 year old.  At the end of the tour, we were able to see if our person had survived. Nora was saved on lifeboat 16, which was the only information they had about her. Katie's person was originally in the water and was then rescued by lifeboat 16, which was pretty cool to find out.


After the museum, we spent a little longer strolling around the beautiful town. It was such a nice, warm, sunny day, it almost felt like we had left Ireland!

After, we stopped in the town Kinsale which was really nice, but we did not have a chance to explore because we were too busy stuffing our faces with fish and chips. Mmmmm.

Then it was on to the main attraction...Blarney Castle!! The grounds at Blarney are so beautiful, on a nice day (like we had) we could've spent the entire day there.  Obviously if it was raining it would be a different story, and the lovely trip up to the castle wouldn't have been so magical.

We climbed up to the top of the Castle, which actually was worse than Trim Castle the day before. At one point I was clutching the rope railing trying not to freak out, and I look behind me and this three year old girl was walking up the stairs like it was no big thing.  Embarrassing.

When we got to the top, we met this nice old man who helps dip you back to kiss the stone. He seemed really excited that a group of smiling 21 year old girls wanted to kiss the Blarney stone. I wonder why?

Legend has it, that after kissing the Blarney Stone, you have 7 years of the gift of eloquence.  I didn't think it was possible, but I will now be wittier and more charming than before.  

After, we took a casual stroll through the poison gardens (the plants were actually in little wire cages, yikes) and then we stumbled upon the Blarney House.  Maggie and I proceeded to stalk the grounds, pretending that we were characters from a Jane Austen novel, and that some young gentlemen who lived in the house would come riding out on their horses and whisk us away. Unfortunately, we had to go back to the paddywagon before this fantasy materialized.

^^ Pemberly...oops I mean the Blarney House.

Our last stop was Cork. Cork is a beautiful city, the part we saw actually reminded me of Buffalo a tiny bit, there was definitely an "Elmwood" vibe.  Unfortunately, we did not have much time in Cork. We stopped at this chocolate shop that had the world's best hot chocolate. My life has been changed forever after drinking it. I also ate a brownie. Nutritious dinner!  It was so delicious, I would go back just for the hot chocolate again, although it will have to be after Lent! I could definitely go back to Cork for a weekend to explore the city, but I'm not sure if I will have the time.  This experience is flying by! This weekend I am going to Belfast, and then the following weekend will be our spring break trip of Amsterdam, Paris, and London. 

It feels like a dream!

Newgrange and Trim Castle

On Saturday, Jordyn, Katie, Maggie, Tim and I went on a study abroad trip to Newgrange and Trim Castle. Newgrange is this 5000 year old tomb or something.  I didn't really know what it was (hey it was a free trip) and when we got there we sat in an auditorium in the visitors center and watched this animated film about the earth revolving around the sun.  It brought me back to my earth science days with Mrs. Fuller.  


After learning about solstices (I think) we went to see Newgrange. We actually had to take a shuttle bus to the site, and when we got there a tour guide talked about it.  It was actually pretty cool, they think it was a tomb.  It is pretty crazy to think that ancient people could architect and engineer a sturdy building that has been watertight for thousands of years. 

We got to go inside, which actually kind of freaked me out. Our tour guide turned off the lights (I grabbed Katie's hand right away) and we stood there in pitch black darkness. While I tried to remind myself that I wasn't in fact going to turn on my night vision goggles and see a bunch of zombies, the tour guide turned on a stimulator that shows how the sun light on the winter solstice comes in through the window and illuminates the chamber. It was pretty awesome, but I peaced out of the tomb as soon as the lights were back on.

We then stopped to get lunch which was soup and sandwhiches and delicious coffee.  We were freezing from the wind, so it was the perfect lunch.  After we went to Trim Castle.  

Trim Castle is unique because it has not been reconstructed. It was also featured in the movie Braveheart. Which I haven't actually seen all the way through.

We were standing outside the steps, and our tour guide asked if anyone was afraid of heights. Trying to play it cool I didn't mention anything about my actually very real fear of heights.  When nobody said anything she was like "good, because you are going to be 200 feet in the air with no floors." I almost cried.

When we got into the castle, I realized right away that living in a castle in real life back in the day was the opposite of how it looks on tv and in movies. It was NOT like Game of Thrones.  Our tour guide showed us how you could still see where the floors would have been if they had remained, and that there were no fireplaces in the original construction.  The grand banquet hall was originally on the second floor. I couldn't even imagine how gross the food would be after being cooked (sometimes outside) and then brought into the castle and up the stairs. And it must have been so cold before they installed fireplaces. 

The stairs were super narrow and spiraled at a pretty steep incline. They were called "trip and tumble" stairs, and I think it would be hard to wear a dress and navigate them.  Even though it was so awesome to see the castle, I think I'm going to stick with picturing the lives of princesses being more like in Disney movies!

After a long and exciting day, we headed back to UCD and Katie and I ate ice cream and watched say yes to the dress before going to bed early for our exciting trip to Cork and Blarney on Sunday!

Galway Girl

This weekend was extra exciting, because I went on a trip to Galway with ESN.  Erasmus Student Network is a club at University College Dublin that does weekend trips and day trips, as well as nights out in Dublin, and is mainly geared towards International Students.  We left Friday morning, and hopped on the Paddywagon, a tour bus that took all of us (around 150 students total) on a grand adventure.


We got the party started early on the bus, and played the song Galway girl quite a few times.  We also played a little get to know you game, where we filled out a questionnaire and then read some of our answers to the bus over the loud speaker.  I was asked to read out loud what I look for in a man...

I really hope it is not too hard to find an Irish lad with these attributes to propose to before leap year!!

When we arrived at Galway we checked into our Hostel (me, Marcella, Katie, and Jordyn shared a four person room) and then we went out exploring the city.  It is much smaller than Dublin (obviously) and I was actually surprised because I think that Dublin is cleaner!

So pretty!

The first night out we went on a pub crawl through Galway, which was really fun.  We woke up bright and early the next day, and drove to the ferry for the Aran Islands.  The ferry ride was ROUGH.  I mean, people were having to get up and run outside to the railing, and the crew was passing out garbage bags.  I felt my banana in my tummy a few times but I just went to sleep and convinced myself I was fine.

When we arrived at the Aran Islands, it was pouring rain.  We had originally planned on renting bikes and exploring, but quickly went to plan B which involved hoping into a little 16 person tour van.  Katie was a true new yorker and haggled the price down for us, and in we went!

One of our friends Lauren was talking to her tour guide, and he said that there are only 2 streets on the Island, and that nobody has addresses.  The postman just knows where everyone lives!

The Islands were beautiful, and my favorite part was when we got out and hiked to the top to Dun Aengus, a fort that had a breathtaking view of the cliffs.

I still can't believe how beautiful it was, and how lucky I was to be able to see it. Simply awesome. After looking at the beautiful scenery, we stopped in The American Bar to all warm up while waiting for it to be time to take the ferry home. I spied a little something on the wall...

After the Aran Islands, we went out to a club that night.  It was a lot of fun, the club was packed.  We had another early morning, and went to the Cliffs of Moher on Sunday.  Unfortunately, there was a LOT of fog, so it was very hard to see the cliffs.

My view.  Of course I did hop the fence and create my own viewing experience.

This is the Google Image result for the Cliffs of Moher. Notice the difference!

We also stopped at Bunratty Castle, a place where my parents visited on their Honeymoon!  It was a quick stop and I had some delicious tea at a cafe.  Sunday night we arrived home, and rested a little bit. Then it was Superbowl Sunday! That night deserves its own post :)

This little seal from our trip to Howth last weekend was just too cute to not include!