This morning I slept in until about 10:30, when I decided it was going to be a productive day. (And it was! I accomplished 10/15 things on my to-do list!) I got up, threw on some clothes, and walked to Barclay's and Caffe Nero (no, I'm not spelling Caffe wrong, that's actually how they spell it) to grab a delicious iced carmalatte and to start the day off right. When I got back, I did some laundry, cleaned the entire kitchen (including all of the dishes), and charged/emptied/reloaded all of the necessary electronic equipment. Hoorah!
Christine called me around 3:30 asking if I wanted to go to the National Gallery with her because she had to go for one of her classes. I agreed, and she came over a little while later. We grabbed Claire and Alex and headed out to Trafalgar Square. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark, and the fountains were all lit up and beautiful. Inside the museum I got to look at a lot of artwork, some of it very famous. My favorite room had French artists in it that I had learned about in AP French. Some examples included Monet, Manet, and Renoir. A lot of Van Gogh's paintings were also there, including his self-portrait and the one of the vase of sunflowers (I don't know what they are actually called).
After we left the Gallery, we ventured to Big Ben in the distance. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any really good pictures of it, but at night it was absolutely stunning. I had always imagined Big Ben as just a glorified clock tower, but the architecture and attention to detail in the design are really beautiful. (Here is the best picture I could find: Big Ben)
Once we reached Big Ben, we were starting to get cold, so we caught the Tube back to Christine's flat so we could grab some movies, and then came back to my flat to hang out for the evening. We made some french fries and chicken nuggets for dinner, and then just hung out all night. I even introduced Alex, Christine, and Sam to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Awesome.
I'm retiring early tonight since tomorrow we have to be up relatively early to visit the East End Market. I also have to write my paper on Dublin, since I managed to not work on it at all today (one of the 5 things un-accomplished on my to-do list). Oh well, tomorrow's another day.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
London Day 11: Stonehenge & Salisbury
8:30 a.m. Christine, Alex, Claire, and I are absolutely exhausted and boarding the bus to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. Ramon joins us, and we take over the "party seat" in the back of the bus ("party seat" = the row in the back of the coach bus that has five seats across so we don't have to split up). We immediately fall asleep for the duration of the 2-hour bus ride, although my sleep is very restless since I'm in the middle and don't have anywhere to put my feet up to get really comfortable. About 20 minutes before arriving at Stonehenge, the really annoying commentator/tour guide lady starts talking to us about the history of Stonehenge (really not that interesting) and how a bunch of people think aliens created it. Weird. She also told us a story about how there have to be guards on duty at all times because at night people try to do weird things there, such as conceiving a child during a full moon. She also mentioned a "crazy man dressed in a green spandex from head to toe" who went into it and danced around before running into the woods and not getting caught. She obviously doesn't watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I'm proud that green man made the appearance at Stonehenge.
Once we arrived at Stonehenge, we all piled off the bus into the wind, and walked around. Sadly, they don't let you up-close-and-personal with it because people kept trying to graffiti it. So, we walked around it, took some pictures, and were generally disappointed. I had hoped it was going to be really interesting, however, it was exactly the same as every picture I've ever seen of it have been. Just a bunch of stones in a formation. Hm.
We boarded the bus 45 minutes later to drive into the town of Salisbury to see the Cathedral. It was beautiful, but churches always make me uncomfortable, so that aura was a little weird. It was your typical Roman-style cathedral, and there were a ton of graves and monuments in it. We explored the entirety of the Cathedral, before heading to a special room where the Magna Carta was held. Sortof like Stonehenge, I was generally uninterested, but I'm glad I went anyways.
When we left the cathedral, we decided to explore the town of Salisbury, which was really cute. We walked around and looked at a bunch of shops before deciding to go find some fish n' chips. We went to a place called Stoby's, which may have had the worst service in the world. And I'm not exaggerating. Once we finally found a table, we had to bring the dishes downstairs ourselves. We also had to put in our own food order (it was a sit-down restaurant) after we had waited an obscene amount of time for a server to stop by. Finally, our food arrived, and it wasn't even that good. We were disappointed, but at least we were fed. We hung around and talked for awhile to kill time before the bus (it decided to start blizzarding outside, so we didn't want to walk around in it unnecessarily).
We caught the bus, napped the entire way home, and arrived back in London around 6. Everyone went home to get ready, and around 9 we met up again before going out to Shakespeare's Head for the evening. It was a really fun time, and Christine, Claire, and I were recruited to go talk to a 21-year-old British boy named Mark whose birthday it was. That was interesting, and it was nice getting to meet some British people. They thanked us for bringing beer pong over to the UK, along with other funny conversations. They had to catch the last Tube home, so they headed out around midnight. After that I went up to the bar with my friend Dave to grab drinks, and we stood talking there for about 30 minutes. Randomly, a British guy came up next to me and asked if I minded if he stand there. I really didn't mind. Then all of his friends came over and started squawking like chickens and flapping their wings. I excused myself from the situation, totally confused, only to have Dave explain to me that the guy who stood next to me was trying to get me to leave Dave, and that all of the chicken-boys were trying to call Dave a chicken. I seriously do not understand boys, especially British ones. At last-call we finished our drinks and headed home for the night, and I was finally able to sleep-in this morning. I'm probably going to stay in tonight, since I have managed to procrastinate my second paper for my Ireland class until the very last minute (go figure). However, it is probably a good idea anyways, since pubs are expensive and I'm cheap.
Once we arrived at Stonehenge, we all piled off the bus into the wind, and walked around. Sadly, they don't let you up-close-and-personal with it because people kept trying to graffiti it. So, we walked around it, took some pictures, and were generally disappointed. I had hoped it was going to be really interesting, however, it was exactly the same as every picture I've ever seen of it have been. Just a bunch of stones in a formation. Hm.
We boarded the bus 45 minutes later to drive into the town of Salisbury to see the Cathedral. It was beautiful, but churches always make me uncomfortable, so that aura was a little weird. It was your typical Roman-style cathedral, and there were a ton of graves and monuments in it. We explored the entirety of the Cathedral, before heading to a special room where the Magna Carta was held. Sortof like Stonehenge, I was generally uninterested, but I'm glad I went anyways.
When we left the cathedral, we decided to explore the town of Salisbury, which was really cute. We walked around and looked at a bunch of shops before deciding to go find some fish n' chips. We went to a place called Stoby's, which may have had the worst service in the world. And I'm not exaggerating. Once we finally found a table, we had to bring the dishes downstairs ourselves. We also had to put in our own food order (it was a sit-down restaurant) after we had waited an obscene amount of time for a server to stop by. Finally, our food arrived, and it wasn't even that good. We were disappointed, but at least we were fed. We hung around and talked for awhile to kill time before the bus (it decided to start blizzarding outside, so we didn't want to walk around in it unnecessarily).
We caught the bus, napped the entire way home, and arrived back in London around 6. Everyone went home to get ready, and around 9 we met up again before going out to Shakespeare's Head for the evening. It was a really fun time, and Christine, Claire, and I were recruited to go talk to a 21-year-old British boy named Mark whose birthday it was. That was interesting, and it was nice getting to meet some British people. They thanked us for bringing beer pong over to the UK, along with other funny conversations. They had to catch the last Tube home, so they headed out around midnight. After that I went up to the bar with my friend Dave to grab drinks, and we stood talking there for about 30 minutes. Randomly, a British guy came up next to me and asked if I minded if he stand there. I really didn't mind. Then all of his friends came over and started squawking like chickens and flapping their wings. I excused myself from the situation, totally confused, only to have Dave explain to me that the guy who stood next to me was trying to get me to leave Dave, and that all of the chicken-boys were trying to call Dave a chicken. I seriously do not understand boys, especially British ones. At last-call we finished our drinks and headed home for the night, and I was finally able to sleep-in this morning. I'm probably going to stay in tonight, since I have managed to procrastinate my second paper for my Ireland class until the very last minute (go figure). However, it is probably a good idea anyways, since pubs are expensive and I'm cheap.
London Day 10: Dance Party!
Thursday morning I have my 9 a.m. class. It turns out it's going to be really awesome. My professor is a 34-year-old Australian guy who is in a band. We only have to stay for the second half of the class every second week, and we only have to do the readings on those weeks as well. After class, Christine and I had a lunch date, and Sam and Alex came along as well. We went into this cute little sandwich place called 'Onion'. We'll definitely be going back because the service was really good and so was the food (yum!). Random fact: English people like to put corn in their tuna salad. I'm still undecided about whether or not I like this.
After lunch, we all went our separate ways (most of us to work on our papers for our Ireland class). I had to shower and get ready for my interview with the Encompass program (more information to follow below).
//Edit: I forgot to mention that we stopped at Barclay's (bank) to take out some cash, and the ATM decided it would be fun to eat my ATM card (the ATMs here, more colloquially referred to as "cash machines" or "holes-in-the-wall", suck in your card, rather than having you swipe it). When I tried to ask the banker to get it out for me, he told me it had to be destroyed since it wasn't a Barclay's card. I had a minor panic attack (although apparently I stayed composed, according to Christine) before a lovely gentleman called me over and said he would break the rules and open the ATM for me since I wasn't just "here on holiday." I cannot express how much I love this man. So now I have my card back, but not without an extreme fear of ATM machines. Oh lordy.
A little background: the Encompass program is a program that takes 4 students from a bunch of different areas (England, US, Israel, India, Iraq, etc.) and brings them together in Scotland (all expenses paid) for a week to learn about each other's cultures and break down cultural barriers. You get to do hands-on physical team-building during the day, and at night, you have lengthy discussions regarding different sensitive topics. I'm really interested in cultural boundaries and things like that, so I was really hoping I'd get it.
My interview went well, although I wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for in a candidate. It turns out I wasn't what they were looking for because yesterday I found out I didn't get it :(. It's okay though, because now I can travel over the two weekends that I would have been gone. I'm not totally disappointed, even though it would have been awesome. Ho hum.
So anyways, after my interview I sat outside the Office of Student Life so that I could sign up for some Love London events. Love London Weekend is a weekend that SU London sets up for students where there are 20+ activities over 4 days that you can attend that helps you see different parts of London. All of the activities are either free or subsidized, so it's pretty awesome. I signed up to see Billy Elliot the musical (for only £15!), do a walking tour of Royal London, the 'Old City', and a Beatles walking tour. I also signed up for a Brewery tour with Brian from my Ireland prequel, and I'm going to sign up for 'Bowling with Brian' on Friday night as well. Yeehaw.
Afterwards, I went back to my flat and worked on my papers until 7, when we had an Ireland prequel reunion pizza party! It was really fun, and I missed the group from Ireland terribly. We had really good chemistry, but since we've been in London and have branched out to different people it's been harder to see each other as much. Wolfgang force-fed us pizza and dessert (I think I gained about 15 pounds from it) and all was lovely. We also discussed the trip and how it could be improved/changed, and we found out a few people wrote on their course evaluations that Wolfgang and Brian act like "an old married couple." I don't think I could have said it better myself. They also presented us with a gift! Brian had burned us all a copy of 'The Merry Ploughboys: Live in Concert' (the little Irish band that played when we were in Dublin).
Afterwards everyone came over to my flat to try to plan our Spring Break, but when that got too complicated, we just ended up pre-gaming. Then we decided we were lazy and didn't go out, so Christine, Claire, Alex, and I just had a dance party (90s music, classic rock, and Lady Gaga!) in my flat all night and hung out and it was lovely. Except for the fact that the dance-party was ended by the security guard on watch (apparently we were being too loud) at around 2 a.m. (we had to be at Faraday house at 8:30 a.m. for our trip to Stonehenge). Oh well... it was a fun night regardless!
After lunch, we all went our separate ways (most of us to work on our papers for our Ireland class). I had to shower and get ready for my interview with the Encompass program (more information to follow below).
//Edit: I forgot to mention that we stopped at Barclay's (bank) to take out some cash, and the ATM decided it would be fun to eat my ATM card (the ATMs here, more colloquially referred to as "cash machines" or "holes-in-the-wall", suck in your card, rather than having you swipe it). When I tried to ask the banker to get it out for me, he told me it had to be destroyed since it wasn't a Barclay's card. I had a minor panic attack (although apparently I stayed composed, according to Christine) before a lovely gentleman called me over and said he would break the rules and open the ATM for me since I wasn't just "here on holiday." I cannot express how much I love this man. So now I have my card back, but not without an extreme fear of ATM machines. Oh lordy.
A little background: the Encompass program is a program that takes 4 students from a bunch of different areas (England, US, Israel, India, Iraq, etc.) and brings them together in Scotland (all expenses paid) for a week to learn about each other's cultures and break down cultural barriers. You get to do hands-on physical team-building during the day, and at night, you have lengthy discussions regarding different sensitive topics. I'm really interested in cultural boundaries and things like that, so I was really hoping I'd get it.
My interview went well, although I wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for in a candidate. It turns out I wasn't what they were looking for because yesterday I found out I didn't get it :(. It's okay though, because now I can travel over the two weekends that I would have been gone. I'm not totally disappointed, even though it would have been awesome. Ho hum.
So anyways, after my interview I sat outside the Office of Student Life so that I could sign up for some Love London events. Love London Weekend is a weekend that SU London sets up for students where there are 20+ activities over 4 days that you can attend that helps you see different parts of London. All of the activities are either free or subsidized, so it's pretty awesome. I signed up to see Billy Elliot the musical (for only £15!), do a walking tour of Royal London, the 'Old City', and a Beatles walking tour. I also signed up for a Brewery tour with Brian from my Ireland prequel, and I'm going to sign up for 'Bowling with Brian' on Friday night as well. Yeehaw.
Afterwards, I went back to my flat and worked on my papers until 7, when we had an Ireland prequel reunion pizza party! It was really fun, and I missed the group from Ireland terribly. We had really good chemistry, but since we've been in London and have branched out to different people it's been harder to see each other as much. Wolfgang force-fed us pizza and dessert (I think I gained about 15 pounds from it) and all was lovely. We also discussed the trip and how it could be improved/changed, and we found out a few people wrote on their course evaluations that Wolfgang and Brian act like "an old married couple." I don't think I could have said it better myself. They also presented us with a gift! Brian had burned us all a copy of 'The Merry Ploughboys: Live in Concert' (the little Irish band that played when we were in Dublin).
Afterwards everyone came over to my flat to try to plan our Spring Break, but when that got too complicated, we just ended up pre-gaming. Then we decided we were lazy and didn't go out, so Christine, Claire, Alex, and I just had a dance party (90s music, classic rock, and Lady Gaga!) in my flat all night and hung out and it was lovely. Except for the fact that the dance-party was ended by the security guard on watch (apparently we were being too loud) at around 2 a.m. (we had to be at Faraday house at 8:30 a.m. for our trip to Stonehenge). Oh well... it was a fun night regardless!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
London Day 9: More Exploring
Yesterday was a pretty good day despite the fact that I had two classes. My first class was at 10:40 and was my Anthropology class about food. It should prove to be very interesting. After that class, I grabbed some food and did some reading in preparation for Round 2 of Communications Law. That will definitely not be my favorite class, but at least all of our tests are take-home and open-book (Yay!)
Something that was fun during Comm Law was that we were given a break halfway through the class, and SULondon was putting on an Afternoon Tea. So, we all went down to the lounge during our break and got tea and scones and it was absolutely delicious.
After class I went back to my apartment to work on my Ireland papers for a bit, and I invited Alex over to look through some of my maps so he could find the interview for his internship today. Alex coming over quickly turned into Christine and Claire coming over too, so we sat around for awhile before deciding to go on an adventure to help Alex find where his interview would be. We took the Tube to St. Paul's Cathedral (beautiful) and walked to where his interview was. Success. Afterwards, we decided to cross the Millenium Bridge and then grab something to eat. We ate at a little restaurant/pub on the water that was really cute. (Outside there was a bin with blankets that said "Eat, drink, and snuggle!") Afterwards, we ventured back to our flats on the Tube, and then I stayed in and had an early night. Yeehaw.
Something that was fun during Comm Law was that we were given a break halfway through the class, and SULondon was putting on an Afternoon Tea. So, we all went down to the lounge during our break and got tea and scones and it was absolutely delicious.
After class I went back to my apartment to work on my Ireland papers for a bit, and I invited Alex over to look through some of my maps so he could find the interview for his internship today. Alex coming over quickly turned into Christine and Claire coming over too, so we sat around for awhile before deciding to go on an adventure to help Alex find where his interview would be. We took the Tube to St. Paul's Cathedral (beautiful) and walked to where his interview was. Success. Afterwards, we decided to cross the Millenium Bridge and then grab something to eat. We ate at a little restaurant/pub on the water that was really cute. (Outside there was a bin with blankets that said "Eat, drink, and snuggle!") Afterwards, we ventured back to our flats on the Tube, and then I stayed in and had an early night. Yeehaw.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
London Day 8: A Recap of my First Week in London
So things have been busy, and I didn't have an Internet connection for my first few days, so I'm just getting around to writing in this now. Hopefully once I write in it tonight I'll be able to keep up daily, but knowing me I will continue procrastinating and never get around to it.
My first week in London has been great. I'm starting to learn my way around near my flat, and have also had the chance to explore some of the surrounding areas. For anyone that knows anything about London, my flat is located between Bedford Square and Russell Square, about halfway between the Russell Square and Holborn Tube stations.
During the week we did a lot of Orientation activities (mostly uninteresting) and also went out to the pubs a bit. Friday night was particularly fun because some of the student guides planned a night for everyone in pre-arranged housing. We started at a pub called Shakespeare's Head, and after a few hours they brought us to a club called 'Sway' and got us in without a cover! (Yippee!) We danced there for the remainder of the night before retiring to our beds.
On Sunday I went on a bus tour of London which ended in Greenwich, where we were given time to explore. I went to the market and bought some things (including Boston Terrier earrings!!) We also had the best fish n' chips I've had thus far. In Greenwich we were also able to see the Prime Meridian and the British Observatory, where the official time of the world is determined. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing afternoon.
Monday was my first day of classes, and I had my first class at 3:40 p.m. It was my Communications Law class, which should prove to be relatively harmless. Before class I woke up and explored the University of London area, and signed up to be able to use their Student Union (we are eligible to as SU Abroad students). After class I met up with Claire and Christine for dinner at Pizza Hut before returning to Faraday House (SU's campus in London) for the Travel Seminar. The seminar was pretty overwhelming, but generally informative. Hopefully we can get our trips for the semester planned out later this week so that the stress of planning will be over with. After our meeting, we went back to Pizza Hut for ice cream (we hadn't had time earlier) and brought our friend Alex with us as well. After ice cream we came back to my [freezing cold] apartment (the heat had been broken since before the weekend) and hung out. We were all discussing how it stunk that we couldn't watch the Syracuse vs. Georgetown basketball game, when I remembered that a bar we had gone out to earlier in the week had ESPN. I called them up, and sure enough, we could watch the game there! Tip-off was 7 p.m. EST, so we arrived at the bar around 11 p.m. GMT for a midnight tip-off. It was awesome. Everyone else at the bar was really confused at first, but we managed to have a really great time and even have some of the people in the bar rooting for us at the end! (We ended up winning 73-56!!!!!!!) By the time we got back home, it was 2:48 a.m., but I think we were all glad to say that we got to watch the game.
Today I had my first class of Race, Gender, and the Media, and I must say that I am really excited for it. It's going to be a really interesting class, and I've already learned a lot about the differences between the media in the United States and the United Kingdom. After class, I met up with Christine for lunch at a cute cafe called Cafe Nerro, and then we came back to my apartment for a little while. A few more people came over, and we decided to go on a walking adventure to a part of London none of us had been to before. So, me, Christine, Claire, Sam, Halley, and Chris all headed towards a small road near Faraday House that had looked intriguing. We walked through a bunch of different parts of London (or so it seemed) with little flat buildings, shops, cafes and pubs. Eventually, we realized we were close to King's Cross Station, and being the Harry Potter nerds that we are, made our destination Platform 9 3/4. We all got giddy once we reached the inside of the train station, and we followed signs until we found it! They had labeled it and put a cart halfway through it, so we took some incredibly nerdy tourist pictures before catching the Tube back to Russell Square.
Once we returned, Christine and I decided to head to the Faraday House computer labs so that we could work on our papers for Ireland. We ended up meeting up with Claire, Alex, Dave, and Ramon there, which meant we didn't really get much done. Christine and I had a lot of excess energy for some reason, and spent a lot of our time moving around the room in our rolling chairs and playing on Facebook. We don't get out much.
Now I'm procrastinating doing reading for my classes tomorrow and writing my Ireland papers, but at least I'm doing something relatively productive. Tomorrow I have classes straight through the day, but I'm planning on trying to organize a group to go to Trivia night at a pub near the University of London! (Shout-out to Jim and Andy!)
My first week in London has been great. I'm starting to learn my way around near my flat, and have also had the chance to explore some of the surrounding areas. For anyone that knows anything about London, my flat is located between Bedford Square and Russell Square, about halfway between the Russell Square and Holborn Tube stations.
During the week we did a lot of Orientation activities (mostly uninteresting) and also went out to the pubs a bit. Friday night was particularly fun because some of the student guides planned a night for everyone in pre-arranged housing. We started at a pub called Shakespeare's Head, and after a few hours they brought us to a club called 'Sway' and got us in without a cover! (Yippee!) We danced there for the remainder of the night before retiring to our beds.
On Sunday I went on a bus tour of London which ended in Greenwich, where we were given time to explore. I went to the market and bought some things (including Boston Terrier earrings!!) We also had the best fish n' chips I've had thus far. In Greenwich we were also able to see the Prime Meridian and the British Observatory, where the official time of the world is determined. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing afternoon.
Monday was my first day of classes, and I had my first class at 3:40 p.m. It was my Communications Law class, which should prove to be relatively harmless. Before class I woke up and explored the University of London area, and signed up to be able to use their Student Union (we are eligible to as SU Abroad students). After class I met up with Claire and Christine for dinner at Pizza Hut before returning to Faraday House (SU's campus in London) for the Travel Seminar. The seminar was pretty overwhelming, but generally informative. Hopefully we can get our trips for the semester planned out later this week so that the stress of planning will be over with. After our meeting, we went back to Pizza Hut for ice cream (we hadn't had time earlier) and brought our friend Alex with us as well. After ice cream we came back to my [freezing cold] apartment (the heat had been broken since before the weekend) and hung out. We were all discussing how it stunk that we couldn't watch the Syracuse vs. Georgetown basketball game, when I remembered that a bar we had gone out to earlier in the week had ESPN. I called them up, and sure enough, we could watch the game there! Tip-off was 7 p.m. EST, so we arrived at the bar around 11 p.m. GMT for a midnight tip-off. It was awesome. Everyone else at the bar was really confused at first, but we managed to have a really great time and even have some of the people in the bar rooting for us at the end! (We ended up winning 73-56!!!!!!!) By the time we got back home, it was 2:48 a.m., but I think we were all glad to say that we got to watch the game.
Today I had my first class of Race, Gender, and the Media, and I must say that I am really excited for it. It's going to be a really interesting class, and I've already learned a lot about the differences between the media in the United States and the United Kingdom. After class, I met up with Christine for lunch at a cute cafe called Cafe Nerro, and then we came back to my apartment for a little while. A few more people came over, and we decided to go on a walking adventure to a part of London none of us had been to before. So, me, Christine, Claire, Sam, Halley, and Chris all headed towards a small road near Faraday House that had looked intriguing. We walked through a bunch of different parts of London (or so it seemed) with little flat buildings, shops, cafes and pubs. Eventually, we realized we were close to King's Cross Station, and being the Harry Potter nerds that we are, made our destination Platform 9 3/4. We all got giddy once we reached the inside of the train station, and we followed signs until we found it! They had labeled it and put a cart halfway through it, so we took some incredibly nerdy tourist pictures before catching the Tube back to Russell Square.
Once we returned, Christine and I decided to head to the Faraday House computer labs so that we could work on our papers for Ireland. We ended up meeting up with Claire, Alex, Dave, and Ramon there, which meant we didn't really get much done. Christine and I had a lot of excess energy for some reason, and spent a lot of our time moving around the room in our rolling chairs and playing on Facebook. We don't get out much.
Now I'm procrastinating doing reading for my classes tomorrow and writing my Ireland papers, but at least I'm doing something relatively productive. Tomorrow I have classes straight through the day, but I'm planning on trying to organize a group to go to Trivia night at a pub near the University of London! (Shout-out to Jim and Andy!)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
London Day 2: Getting Settled
(I actually wrote this post the night it happened, but I didn't want to post it out of order, so pretend that it's actually my second day in London, and you're all set to go! :P)
I woke up this morning feeling even sicker than I was last night. I also woke up a few hours earlier than I had wanted to (I got up at 10 a.m.) due to the fact that my body was on an early sleep schedule from my Dublin/Belfast adventures. I started off by finding a Boot's (pharmacy in the UK) and buying some Sudafed, which made me feel much better. I also helped Katie pick out a phone at Carphone Warehouse (phone store) and we got a little lost in a part of downtown London that reminded me of a mini Times Square (very, very, mini). We found our way back to the flat, and I had some breakfast and took my medicine. I also managed to do some laundry, shower, and get the Internet hooked up on my netbook (hence the mass amount of blog-posting I did all at once). I also managed to completely fry my Mac's charger by accidentally putting my plug-converter together upside-down. Whoops. Luckily, all of my roommates use Macs as well, so they have let me borrow their chargers until I can get a new one.
At 2 we had a housing orientation with our landlords, and afterwards we went to the grocery store to get some household necessities (trash bags, dish soap, etc.) for our flat. We got back, had a quick bite to eat, and then headed back to Faraday house (SU Abroad's campus building) for a meet and greet. We didn't stay long, and headed back home after about half an hour. When we returned I video-chatted with my mom and sister (hi guys!) and then got ready to go out for the night with some friends.
Something I've noticed is that a.) everyone here wants to go out every night and b.) the people from our group travel in large packs. We did just that tonight, when about 30 of us invaded a neighborhood bar (Princess Louise's). It was a pretty cool place. It had two stories, three bars, and a bunch of little rooms with doors so you could have your own private hangout. That bar closed early (11 p.m.), so we headed down the street until we found another bar (White Hart) that was open later (12 a.m.). When they called last call, we came back to my flat to hang out and talk for awhile, and Sam, Aaron, Andrew, and I (all flatmates) went to a convenience store to get something to eat. After everyone left our flat, the girls and I stayed up for a little bit to talk and get to know each other better, before retiring to the comfort of our beds. (Which don't have top sheets, in case you were wondering)
I woke up this morning feeling even sicker than I was last night. I also woke up a few hours earlier than I had wanted to (I got up at 10 a.m.) due to the fact that my body was on an early sleep schedule from my Dublin/Belfast adventures. I started off by finding a Boot's (pharmacy in the UK) and buying some Sudafed, which made me feel much better. I also helped Katie pick out a phone at Carphone Warehouse (phone store) and we got a little lost in a part of downtown London that reminded me of a mini Times Square (very, very, mini). We found our way back to the flat, and I had some breakfast and took my medicine. I also managed to do some laundry, shower, and get the Internet hooked up on my netbook (hence the mass amount of blog-posting I did all at once). I also managed to completely fry my Mac's charger by accidentally putting my plug-converter together upside-down. Whoops. Luckily, all of my roommates use Macs as well, so they have let me borrow their chargers until I can get a new one.
At 2 we had a housing orientation with our landlords, and afterwards we went to the grocery store to get some household necessities (trash bags, dish soap, etc.) for our flat. We got back, had a quick bite to eat, and then headed back to Faraday house (SU Abroad's campus building) for a meet and greet. We didn't stay long, and headed back home after about half an hour. When we returned I video-chatted with my mom and sister (hi guys!) and then got ready to go out for the night with some friends.
Something I've noticed is that a.) everyone here wants to go out every night and b.) the people from our group travel in large packs. We did just that tonight, when about 30 of us invaded a neighborhood bar (Princess Louise's). It was a pretty cool place. It had two stories, three bars, and a bunch of little rooms with doors so you could have your own private hangout. That bar closed early (11 p.m.), so we headed down the street until we found another bar (White Hart) that was open later (12 a.m.). When they called last call, we came back to my flat to hang out and talk for awhile, and Sam, Aaron, Andrew, and I (all flatmates) went to a convenience store to get something to eat. After everyone left our flat, the girls and I stayed up for a little bit to talk and get to know each other better, before retiring to the comfort of our beds. (Which don't have top sheets, in case you were wondering)
London Day 1: I'm finally here!
Early Tuesday morning I moved into my flat in London. It is HUGE! We have, by far, one of the largest flats in the pre-arranged flats. (For those of you who don't know, SUAbroad only arranges housing for about 75 students, and these students are known as the "pre-arranged housing" students. The rest have to find their own flats during Orientation week [SU puts them up in a hotel for the week] and they are known as the "independent housing" students. I lucked out and am one of the pre-arranged housing students, so I got to move into my flat earlier than the independent housing students.) About an hour after I arrived, my roommates arrived too! I was so excited to meet them. Quick overview of roommates:
Double Room:
Me!
Katie K.: 20, Junior, Advertising Design major, SU student
Double Room:
Sam: 20, Junior, Public Relations major, Boston University student
Halley: 21, Junior, Advertising/Public Relations major, Arkansas University student
Triple Room:
Aaron, Andrew, and Brant: All Juniors at George Washington University. Not sure what all of their majors are, but one (Aaron) is psychology and one (Andrew) is sports management. I think the other might be business?
So far all of the girls get along really well, and the boys have kindof kept to themselves. Hence why I don't know much about them. After everyone got here, the girls and I decided to make a run to Argos, where we could buy drawers/bins/hangers/etc. for our rooms. I don't like hanging up my clothes, so I had to buy a set of plastic drawers to act like a dresser in my room. When we got back we unpacked, and then headed to an Orientation meeting, which was mildly interesting.
After Orientation, a bunch of the Ireland crew got together with their newly-arrived roommates and went to a pub by the British Museum (appropriately named the 'Museum Bar'). It was a small bar, so we managed to take over since we had at least 40 people. It was really fun even though I was a little sick (I drank water all night) and the bartender hated me (for drinking water all night). Afterwards, we had a bunch of people over to our apartment to hang out and talk, and then we all headed to bed. Overall, a fun night indeed!
Double Room:
Me!
Katie K.: 20, Junior, Advertising Design major, SU student
Double Room:
Sam: 20, Junior, Public Relations major, Boston University student
Halley: 21, Junior, Advertising/Public Relations major, Arkansas University student
Triple Room:
Aaron, Andrew, and Brant: All Juniors at George Washington University. Not sure what all of their majors are, but one (Aaron) is psychology and one (Andrew) is sports management. I think the other might be business?
So far all of the girls get along really well, and the boys have kindof kept to themselves. Hence why I don't know much about them. After everyone got here, the girls and I decided to make a run to Argos, where we could buy drawers/bins/hangers/etc. for our rooms. I don't like hanging up my clothes, so I had to buy a set of plastic drawers to act like a dresser in my room. When we got back we unpacked, and then headed to an Orientation meeting, which was mildly interesting.
After Orientation, a bunch of the Ireland crew got together with their newly-arrived roommates and went to a pub by the British Museum (appropriately named the 'Museum Bar'). It was a small bar, so we managed to take over since we had at least 40 people. It was really fun even though I was a little sick (I drank water all night) and the bartender hated me (for drinking water all night). Afterwards, we had a bunch of people over to our apartment to hang out and talk, and then we all headed to bed. Overall, a fun night indeed!
Belfast Day 4: Sale Racks & Drag Shows
(Sorry I am so behind...)
Our last full day in Belfast was our free day, where we were supposed to go out and do some research pertaining to our final papers for Belfast. I had decided to do my paper on tourism in Belfast and how Belfast could make itself more appealing to tourists. I am going to create a draft of a mini-advertising campaign along with my write-up. So, naturally, I slept in until noon and then shopped all day in the Belfast shopping district. However, there were super sales (75% off!) at all of the stores. I got myself a cute £10 brown cardigan ($16.00) and a pretty dress for Kellie Benz's wedding (yay!).
In order to treat us for our last night together, we got all dressed up and went out to dinner at the Crown Bar which is known worldwide as one of the most beautiful bars in the world. We were treated to a traditional Irish meal, and lots of chatting and reminiscing of the previous week's events.
One of the people in our group was gay, and so he had not come out with us at all because he had been doing his own thing. We really wanted to spend time with him on our last night, so we secretly planned to go to a gay club that was having a drag show so that he would go with us. When we told him, he couldn't turn us down, so we all hailed black cabs and went to the club. Now, I have never been to a drag show before this, so I assumed it was going to be like a fashion show. It wasn't. It was a bunch of men gone women who were doing things such as talk shows and skits that were absolutely hilarious. They even had a bingo game where the winner won £40 at the bar! (We didn't win)
After awhile, the (straight) boys decided the gay club wasn't exactly their scene, so we hailed taxis back to Robinson's pub by our hotel and enjoyed the last few drinks we would have in Belfast. After last call, we hung around for awhile, and then the bouncers started kicking people out. The kicked out this drunk Irishman, Sean, first, and he gave us a pint on the way out and told us to 'enjoy!'. We managed to get him to sit down with us for awhile, and he was absolutely hilarious (and hammered), and we convinced him to take a picture with us (a beer in each hand).
All-in-all it was an eventful day, and I must say that Belfast was a success. Although I didn't like it as much as I liked Dublin, I'm glad that I went there, because it was a hidden gem of a city. I don't think most people think of touring to Belfast, but it really was worth the trip.
Our last full day in Belfast was our free day, where we were supposed to go out and do some research pertaining to our final papers for Belfast. I had decided to do my paper on tourism in Belfast and how Belfast could make itself more appealing to tourists. I am going to create a draft of a mini-advertising campaign along with my write-up. So, naturally, I slept in until noon and then shopped all day in the Belfast shopping district. However, there were super sales (75% off!) at all of the stores. I got myself a cute £10 brown cardigan ($16.00) and a pretty dress for Kellie Benz's wedding (yay!).
In order to treat us for our last night together, we got all dressed up and went out to dinner at the Crown Bar which is known worldwide as one of the most beautiful bars in the world. We were treated to a traditional Irish meal, and lots of chatting and reminiscing of the previous week's events.
One of the people in our group was gay, and so he had not come out with us at all because he had been doing his own thing. We really wanted to spend time with him on our last night, so we secretly planned to go to a gay club that was having a drag show so that he would go with us. When we told him, he couldn't turn us down, so we all hailed black cabs and went to the club. Now, I have never been to a drag show before this, so I assumed it was going to be like a fashion show. It wasn't. It was a bunch of men gone women who were doing things such as talk shows and skits that were absolutely hilarious. They even had a bingo game where the winner won £40 at the bar! (We didn't win)
After awhile, the (straight) boys decided the gay club wasn't exactly their scene, so we hailed taxis back to Robinson's pub by our hotel and enjoyed the last few drinks we would have in Belfast. After last call, we hung around for awhile, and then the bouncers started kicking people out. The kicked out this drunk Irishman, Sean, first, and he gave us a pint on the way out and told us to 'enjoy!'. We managed to get him to sit down with us for awhile, and he was absolutely hilarious (and hammered), and we convinced him to take a picture with us (a beer in each hand).
All-in-all it was an eventful day, and I must say that Belfast was a success. Although I didn't like it as much as I liked Dublin, I'm glad that I went there, because it was a hidden gem of a city. I don't think most people think of touring to Belfast, but it really was worth the trip.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Belfast Day 3: Indescribable Beauty
Today marks our 3rd day in Belfast. We woke up bright and early at 7 a.m. and loaded the bus at 8 a.m. to head about two hours outside of Belfast into the countryside. Our TA, Brian, told us that we could nap for the first hour of the trip, but that he would wake us up for the rest of it because we were going to be traveling down a coastal road that is ranked as the 2nd most beautiful road in the world. (1st place belongs to the highway that runs between Los Angeles and *insert other big city in California here*)
Brian wasn't lying. When he woke us up the sun had just begun to rise over the hills of Ireland. Around 9 we stopped at a gas station to grab coffee and to use the bathroom, but most of us went to take pictures. The gas station was in a little coastal town with some docks and sailboats. Incredibly cute. The sun was rising over the hills when we were there, so we took a bunch of pictures and soaked in the beauty. It's hard to describe how surreal it was, but once I am able to load my pictures, I'm sure you will see that it's indescribable. This was my favorite part of the day, although the rest of the day was really fun as well. //Edit: Here is my favorite photo of the day: http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs124.snc3/17151_1214678491496_1364820170_30545686_162078_n.jpg
We continued down the road for about another hour or so until we reached a cliff area. Here, there was a little rope bridge (the name is escaping me) that connects two cliffs. For my Oswego bros, it reminded me of the bluffs a lot, but over water. It was pretty much the scariest thing ever, and I was freaking out the entire time I crossed it. The scenery was beautiful there as well, with a view of Scotland in the distance if you could see far enough. I was just as scared when I had to cross the bridge back to the mainland, except this time Christine and I wanted to try to take pictures of each other on the bridge, which required letting go of the rope railing. That was scary in itself, but of course Wolfgang was yelling down to some of the boys to start jumping on the end of the bridge and swinging the ropes so that it swung. Let's just say, I almost had a panic attack. Not fun. Thanks, Wolfgang.
After we finished crossing the bridge (and after I finally convinced myself that I wasn't having a heart attack), we loaded the bus and drove about another 20 minutes up the road to Dunluce castle. Dunluce castle was a castle built in the 1400s-ish (I can't remember the exact date) when a rich Scottish family moved to Ireland and inhabited the coastline. There isn't much left of it now, but you can distinctly see the foundations and many of the walls (the roofs and all of the interior woodwork, flooring, etc., is gone). Interesting story: the castle was built on a cliff for maximum protection from invasions (the cliffs were too high for any one to attack). The kitchen was the portion of the castle that was on the outermost part of the cliff. One day the woman and man who owned the castle heard screaming coming from downstairs, so they ran to the kitchen only to find that that portion of the cliff had broken off and fallen into the sea with the kitchen and 7-8 servants. They then decided to leave the castle, believing it was unsafe to live in (no more of the castle has fallen into the sea besides small pieces of rocks in more recent years).
When we finished exploring the ruins of Dunluce castle, we were invited into a place called the Wee Cottage (absoultely adorable) for lunch. Wolfgang likes to fatten us up, so we had a hearty lunch consisting of soup, sandwiches, scones with butter, whipped cream, and jelly, and apple pie. (When I told Wolfgang I didn't like apple pie he replied, "Your grade in this class depends on how much apple pie you eat. If you eat none, you get an 'F'" To which I replied, "Well, I could give you my piece of apple pie...", to which he replied, "Well then, you get an 'A'!") All of the food was homemade by a woman named Avril who owns the Wee Cottage. I loved the atmosphere there because it truly felt like someone's cottage, complete with tacky decorations, mismatched furniture and a roaring fire in the fireplace.
Last, but not least, we drove a little bit further down the coast to a place called the Giant's Causeway. Apparently it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, although I haven't had a chance to fact-check that yet. Basically the Causeway is a coastline that consists entirely of hexagonally-shaped rocks. I would say that each rock is about the size of a large dinner plate (or perhaps a little bit larger) and they are all flat on top. Each stack goes to a different height, which creates different mountains so to speak of these rock formations. (You might have to Google it to get a better idea because it is really difficult to explain). Nobody knows how the rocks were formed and why they were only formed in this particular area. Apparently they were formed by lava from the ocean, but the Irish have a myth about a giant from Ireland and a giant from Scotland. Long story short, the Irish giant challenged the Scottish giant to a fight and built the causeway as a means for the Scottish giant to reach Ireland. The Scottish giant became afraid of the Irish giant, so when he ran from Ireland he destroyed most of the causeway so that the Irish giant could not follow him home. Interesting stuff.
After the Causeway we loaded the bus for the ride home, and I slept most of the way. When we got back to the hotel, Christine and I went on an adventure searching for an Internet cafe in Belfast (which are pretty hard to find). Everything in Belfast seems to close around 5 p.m., so that made it even harder. Afterwards we ate a quick dinner (leftover sandwiches from lunch) and headed to the boys' room to play some cards before going out. I decided I had been out enough this week and really needed to lay low tonight, so I stayed in. Tomorrow is the last night of the trip, so I decided I would go out well-rested tomorrow and have a really good time.
Today is also the first day that I've really gotten homesick. It's finally hitting me that when I leave Belfast I'm not going back to Syracuse, I'm going to London to start making new friends. I'm excited, but also scared because London is so big. I feel much better though, because now that I have a cell phone I was able to call home and also call some friends to catch-up, and my homesickness has subsided a little.
Tomorrow is our free day in Belfast, so hopefully I will do some fun things. Either way, I'll be able to sleep-in past 8 a.m., which will be a nice change of pace.
Brian wasn't lying. When he woke us up the sun had just begun to rise over the hills of Ireland. Around 9 we stopped at a gas station to grab coffee and to use the bathroom, but most of us went to take pictures. The gas station was in a little coastal town with some docks and sailboats. Incredibly cute. The sun was rising over the hills when we were there, so we took a bunch of pictures and soaked in the beauty. It's hard to describe how surreal it was, but once I am able to load my pictures, I'm sure you will see that it's indescribable. This was my favorite part of the day, although the rest of the day was really fun as well. //Edit: Here is my favorite photo of the day: http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs124.snc3/17151_1214678491496_1364820170_30545686_162078_n.jpg
We continued down the road for about another hour or so until we reached a cliff area. Here, there was a little rope bridge (the name is escaping me) that connects two cliffs. For my Oswego bros, it reminded me of the bluffs a lot, but over water. It was pretty much the scariest thing ever, and I was freaking out the entire time I crossed it. The scenery was beautiful there as well, with a view of Scotland in the distance if you could see far enough. I was just as scared when I had to cross the bridge back to the mainland, except this time Christine and I wanted to try to take pictures of each other on the bridge, which required letting go of the rope railing. That was scary in itself, but of course Wolfgang was yelling down to some of the boys to start jumping on the end of the bridge and swinging the ropes so that it swung. Let's just say, I almost had a panic attack. Not fun. Thanks, Wolfgang.
After we finished crossing the bridge (and after I finally convinced myself that I wasn't having a heart attack), we loaded the bus and drove about another 20 minutes up the road to Dunluce castle. Dunluce castle was a castle built in the 1400s-ish (I can't remember the exact date) when a rich Scottish family moved to Ireland and inhabited the coastline. There isn't much left of it now, but you can distinctly see the foundations and many of the walls (the roofs and all of the interior woodwork, flooring, etc., is gone). Interesting story: the castle was built on a cliff for maximum protection from invasions (the cliffs were too high for any one to attack). The kitchen was the portion of the castle that was on the outermost part of the cliff. One day the woman and man who owned the castle heard screaming coming from downstairs, so they ran to the kitchen only to find that that portion of the cliff had broken off and fallen into the sea with the kitchen and 7-8 servants. They then decided to leave the castle, believing it was unsafe to live in (no more of the castle has fallen into the sea besides small pieces of rocks in more recent years).
When we finished exploring the ruins of Dunluce castle, we were invited into a place called the Wee Cottage (absoultely adorable) for lunch. Wolfgang likes to fatten us up, so we had a hearty lunch consisting of soup, sandwiches, scones with butter, whipped cream, and jelly, and apple pie. (When I told Wolfgang I didn't like apple pie he replied, "Your grade in this class depends on how much apple pie you eat. If you eat none, you get an 'F'" To which I replied, "Well, I could give you my piece of apple pie...", to which he replied, "Well then, you get an 'A'!") All of the food was homemade by a woman named Avril who owns the Wee Cottage. I loved the atmosphere there because it truly felt like someone's cottage, complete with tacky decorations, mismatched furniture and a roaring fire in the fireplace.
Last, but not least, we drove a little bit further down the coast to a place called the Giant's Causeway. Apparently it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, although I haven't had a chance to fact-check that yet. Basically the Causeway is a coastline that consists entirely of hexagonally-shaped rocks. I would say that each rock is about the size of a large dinner plate (or perhaps a little bit larger) and they are all flat on top. Each stack goes to a different height, which creates different mountains so to speak of these rock formations. (You might have to Google it to get a better idea because it is really difficult to explain). Nobody knows how the rocks were formed and why they were only formed in this particular area. Apparently they were formed by lava from the ocean, but the Irish have a myth about a giant from Ireland and a giant from Scotland. Long story short, the Irish giant challenged the Scottish giant to a fight and built the causeway as a means for the Scottish giant to reach Ireland. The Scottish giant became afraid of the Irish giant, so when he ran from Ireland he destroyed most of the causeway so that the Irish giant could not follow him home. Interesting stuff.
After the Causeway we loaded the bus for the ride home, and I slept most of the way. When we got back to the hotel, Christine and I went on an adventure searching for an Internet cafe in Belfast (which are pretty hard to find). Everything in Belfast seems to close around 5 p.m., so that made it even harder. Afterwards we ate a quick dinner (leftover sandwiches from lunch) and headed to the boys' room to play some cards before going out. I decided I had been out enough this week and really needed to lay low tonight, so I stayed in. Tomorrow is the last night of the trip, so I decided I would go out well-rested tomorrow and have a really good time.
Today is also the first day that I've really gotten homesick. It's finally hitting me that when I leave Belfast I'm not going back to Syracuse, I'm going to London to start making new friends. I'm excited, but also scared because London is so big. I feel much better though, because now that I have a cell phone I was able to call home and also call some friends to catch-up, and my homesickness has subsided a little.
Tomorrow is our free day in Belfast, so hopefully I will do some fun things. Either way, I'll be able to sleep-in past 8 a.m., which will be a nice change of pace.
Belfast Day 2: Peace Walls
On the second day of Belfast, we did a lot of historical stuff surrounding the conflict between the Unionists and the Nationalists. We went to the Sinn Fein (Nationalist political party) headquarters where we met a bunch of crazy guys who had fought in the Civil War and most of them had been in jail 2+ times. Afterwards, we went to the UUP (Unionist political party) headquarters where we got a tour of the Peace Walls in Belfast. The Peace Walls are a physical barrier separating the Unionists (Protestants) from the Nationalists (Catholics) so that they can't kill each other (literally). They are about 2-3 stories high, so that bombs and guns can't be used, and you have to drive about 45 minutes in either direction in order to find a way around them. There is one gate through the peace wall, however it is only open during the day so that people can commute into the City Center for work. It is closed after dark and is able to be shut at any time in case a conflict arises. Crazy stuff.
Some of the peace walls were bland concrete, while parts had artwork on them. One section had grafitti art on it that artists from various parts of the world created in order to promote peace. There were shrines to people such as Ghandi, and there was a section of the wall where foreigners could sign and send their best wishes for peace to the people of Northern Ireland. Our tour guide brought Sharpie markers so that our group was able to sign the wall. There were also a bunch of murals on the sidesw of townhouse complexes/flat buildings that were representative of different things. One was of an armed gunman pointing a gun at you, which was kindof scary, but really got a point across about what it was like living in Belfast during the warring times.
After we got done with the tour, we walked back to our hotel to get ready for the RUGBY MATCH we were going to (can you tell I was excited?). We bundled up because it was cold, rainy, and windy and then caught black taxis to the stadium. The stadium was completely packed because it was a playoff game. The teams were Ulster (the county we were in in Northern Ireland) versus Edinburgh (a city in Scotland). We rooted for the home team (Ulster) which was really fun. Everyone at the game was crazy, and they kept singing an anthem that repeated "Stand uppp for the Ulstermen!" and by the end we knew the tune. Ulster ended up winning (hooray!) All-in-all it was fun to watch, even though I know nothing about rugby. Although, I did somewhat figure out the game by the end.
Some of the peace walls were bland concrete, while parts had artwork on them. One section had grafitti art on it that artists from various parts of the world created in order to promote peace. There were shrines to people such as Ghandi, and there was a section of the wall where foreigners could sign and send their best wishes for peace to the people of Northern Ireland. Our tour guide brought Sharpie markers so that our group was able to sign the wall. There were also a bunch of murals on the sidesw of townhouse complexes/flat buildings that were representative of different things. One was of an armed gunman pointing a gun at you, which was kindof scary, but really got a point across about what it was like living in Belfast during the warring times.
After we got done with the tour, we walked back to our hotel to get ready for the RUGBY MATCH we were going to (can you tell I was excited?). We bundled up because it was cold, rainy, and windy and then caught black taxis to the stadium. The stadium was completely packed because it was a playoff game. The teams were Ulster (the county we were in in Northern Ireland) versus Edinburgh (a city in Scotland). We rooted for the home team (Ulster) which was really fun. Everyone at the game was crazy, and they kept singing an anthem that repeated "Stand uppp for the Ulstermen!" and by the end we knew the tune. Ulster ended up winning (hooray!) All-in-all it was fun to watch, even though I know nothing about rugby. Although, I did somewhat figure out the game by the end.
Dublin Day 5/Belfast Day 1: Sweet Chili Sauce
Our last day in Dublin/first day in Belfast was one of the longest days of the trip. We got up bright and early to leave Dublin and head for Belfast. The bus ride was about two hours long, which gave us a few minutes to catch our breath after we reached Belfast. I slept through most of the bus ride even though it was our first glimpse of the Irish countryside, but it had been a long 5 days, and I needed the extra Zzz's.
We started out the day by going to Belfast's City Hall for a tour. It was magnificent. It was made entirely of marble (from what I could tell), and had huge paintings on all of the walls commemorating the different government officials that had been elected to work there. Many of the rooms also had antique furniture and woodwork dating back almost 100 years. One of the rooms looked exactly like the ballroom from Beauty and the Beast. Random fact that I learned? The mascot of Belfast is a seahorse. Why? Nobody really knows... it just is.
After the tour we had about an hour to grab lunch and get cell phones (hooray!) It feels great to no longer be disconnected from the world. If you want my phone number let me know, and I'll send it to you :). After lunch we went on a walking tour of the city of Belfast, which included going into a giant glass dome at the top of a shopping center where there was a 360 degree view of the city. It was cool for about 5 minutes, but then (thanks to my mom) I started to feel the ground moving (we were 7 stories up) and had a minor freakout in my head. We also learned that the Titanic was built in Belfast all the way from the woodwork on the furniture to the ropes used when it was docked. Apparently no one spoke of the tragedy until after the movie came out and tourists flocked to see the city where the Titanic was built. My tour guide also told us a joke/random fact that I'm going to share. Apparently throughout the world there are only two words that can be recognized by people who speak any language: Coca-Cola and Titanic. "Which," my tour guide jested "both go down well with ice."
After the tour we had a short time to get settled into our hotel rooms before taking taxis to Queens University, which was an absolutely beautiful school. It looked like a castle. It was also nice to see how similar campus life was in Belfast to how it is in Syracuse (and all of the other schools I've had the pleasure of attending...) We had a lecture in one of their classrooms by a PhD student who was studying the relations between the Unionists and Nationalists in Belfast. It is all very complex. I'll probably go into more details in my next post, because the following day we went and visited both sides of the conflict to hear what they had to say.
That night a bunch of us decided to go out for dinner, and we found a restaurant/pub across the street from our hotel that had really good food. My discovery of the day? Sweet chili sauce. It tastes like Thai 'R Cracker sauce from Quaker, Steak, and Lube (where I waitressed all fall) which is my favorite sauce there. I am really happy about this since they don't have ranch dressing here, which is one of my favorite foods ever.
We started out the day by going to Belfast's City Hall for a tour. It was magnificent. It was made entirely of marble (from what I could tell), and had huge paintings on all of the walls commemorating the different government officials that had been elected to work there. Many of the rooms also had antique furniture and woodwork dating back almost 100 years. One of the rooms looked exactly like the ballroom from Beauty and the Beast. Random fact that I learned? The mascot of Belfast is a seahorse. Why? Nobody really knows... it just is.
After the tour we had about an hour to grab lunch and get cell phones (hooray!) It feels great to no longer be disconnected from the world. If you want my phone number let me know, and I'll send it to you :). After lunch we went on a walking tour of the city of Belfast, which included going into a giant glass dome at the top of a shopping center where there was a 360 degree view of the city. It was cool for about 5 minutes, but then (thanks to my mom) I started to feel the ground moving (we were 7 stories up) and had a minor freakout in my head. We also learned that the Titanic was built in Belfast all the way from the woodwork on the furniture to the ropes used when it was docked. Apparently no one spoke of the tragedy until after the movie came out and tourists flocked to see the city where the Titanic was built. My tour guide also told us a joke/random fact that I'm going to share. Apparently throughout the world there are only two words that can be recognized by people who speak any language: Coca-Cola and Titanic. "Which," my tour guide jested "both go down well with ice."
After the tour we had a short time to get settled into our hotel rooms before taking taxis to Queens University, which was an absolutely beautiful school. It looked like a castle. It was also nice to see how similar campus life was in Belfast to how it is in Syracuse (and all of the other schools I've had the pleasure of attending...) We had a lecture in one of their classrooms by a PhD student who was studying the relations between the Unionists and Nationalists in Belfast. It is all very complex. I'll probably go into more details in my next post, because the following day we went and visited both sides of the conflict to hear what they had to say.
That night a bunch of us decided to go out for dinner, and we found a restaurant/pub across the street from our hotel that had really good food. My discovery of the day? Sweet chili sauce. It tastes like Thai 'R Cracker sauce from Quaker, Steak, and Lube (where I waitressed all fall) which is my favorite sauce there. I am really happy about this since they don't have ranch dressing here, which is one of my favorite foods ever.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Dublin Day 4: Jameson & The Seafarer
The last day in Dublin was our free day. We each were asked to propose a final project/paper in which we interviewed random Irish people and then used the responses to help formulate an argument. Naturally, I used the day to sleep and sight-see.
We (Christine & I) started off the morning by sleeping until noon. We went out and grabbed breakfast at a supermarket by our hotel before meeting up with some of the boys to go to the Jameson factory tour. It was a 25-ish minute walk through Dublin to get there, which was nice because it was through a part of Dublin that I hadn't explored yet. We passed a lot of beautiful buildings including Dublin's courthouse and a bunch of random churches.
When we arrived at the Jameson factory they put us in a room to watch a video, and after the video they asked for eight volunteers to do a whiskey tasting after the tour. I volunteered along with my friends Christine and Dave. The tour was relatively interesting, although my favorite part was definitely at the very beginning. Apparently back in the day when they were making Jameson they did it in a factory that had a lot of mice. In order to solve this problem, they got a cat for the factory that caught about 20 mice a day. The cat's name was Smithy, and all of the workers loved him. When he died, the workers were devastated, so they decided to have him stuffed. They still have the original Smithy (there have been many replacements since the 1800s) and he was at the tour. I've now decided that I might need to stuff Lizzie when she kicks the bucket, but we will see...
After the tour we did the whiskey tasting, and it solidified my hatred for whiskey haha. At the tasting they taught us how to professionally (although I use this term loosely) taste whiskey, and we got to try Jameson (Irish whiskey), Jack Daniels (American whiskey), and Jim Bean premium (Scotch whiskey). (Side note: despite all of my recently-acquired whiskey expertise, these might not be the correct brands of whiskey, as I'm trying to do this from memory...) At the end we received a spiffy certificate certifying us as official whiskey-tasters. Hoorah, hoorah. Another side note: if you are ever in a situation where you need to drink whiskey and don't like it, try mixing it with cranberry juice. It is absolutely delicious and is apparently a traditional Irish way to drink Jameson (besides straight-up, of course).
When we left Jameson we took the long way back to the hotel so that we could try to see some more of Dublin. The sun also came out, which was a nice change, since I don't think I've seen the sun since before New Year's. When we returned to the hotel we met up with a larger group of people to go out to a nice dinner on our last night in Dublin. We stopped at a restaurant/bar down the street from our hotel. It was tasty.
After dinner we all met in the lobby to walk to Dublin's theatre to see 'The Seafarer' by Connor McPherson. It was an interesting play to say the least. It was a comedy that made fun of Irish alcoholism, but it also had a weird underlying story going on having to do with love, friendship, and the battle between Heaven and Hell. Deep stuff. I did enjoy it though, and for those of you who watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there was a Charlie-esque character to keep everyone entertained during the more somber parts of the play.
After the play everyone was pretty exhausted, and we had an early morning/long day ahead of us, so we decided to go out for just a little bit before heading to bed for the night. Unfortunately for me, I made the unwise decision to get an Irish coffee at 10:45 at night, and couldn't get to sleep until 2:00 am. Poor life choices.
P.S. If my stories get boring/uninteresting/far too detailed and long, please comment or e-mail me. I don't want to bore everyone to death, but I don't want to leave you hanging if you want more details either. And everyone knows how much I love to talk/ramble/tell pointless stories...
We (Christine & I) started off the morning by sleeping until noon. We went out and grabbed breakfast at a supermarket by our hotel before meeting up with some of the boys to go to the Jameson factory tour. It was a 25-ish minute walk through Dublin to get there, which was nice because it was through a part of Dublin that I hadn't explored yet. We passed a lot of beautiful buildings including Dublin's courthouse and a bunch of random churches.
When we arrived at the Jameson factory they put us in a room to watch a video, and after the video they asked for eight volunteers to do a whiskey tasting after the tour. I volunteered along with my friends Christine and Dave. The tour was relatively interesting, although my favorite part was definitely at the very beginning. Apparently back in the day when they were making Jameson they did it in a factory that had a lot of mice. In order to solve this problem, they got a cat for the factory that caught about 20 mice a day. The cat's name was Smithy, and all of the workers loved him. When he died, the workers were devastated, so they decided to have him stuffed. They still have the original Smithy (there have been many replacements since the 1800s) and he was at the tour. I've now decided that I might need to stuff Lizzie when she kicks the bucket, but we will see...
After the tour we did the whiskey tasting, and it solidified my hatred for whiskey haha. At the tasting they taught us how to professionally (although I use this term loosely) taste whiskey, and we got to try Jameson (Irish whiskey), Jack Daniels (American whiskey), and Jim Bean premium (Scotch whiskey). (Side note: despite all of my recently-acquired whiskey expertise, these might not be the correct brands of whiskey, as I'm trying to do this from memory...) At the end we received a spiffy certificate certifying us as official whiskey-tasters. Hoorah, hoorah. Another side note: if you are ever in a situation where you need to drink whiskey and don't like it, try mixing it with cranberry juice. It is absolutely delicious and is apparently a traditional Irish way to drink Jameson (besides straight-up, of course).
When we left Jameson we took the long way back to the hotel so that we could try to see some more of Dublin. The sun also came out, which was a nice change, since I don't think I've seen the sun since before New Year's. When we returned to the hotel we met up with a larger group of people to go out to a nice dinner on our last night in Dublin. We stopped at a restaurant/bar down the street from our hotel. It was tasty.
After dinner we all met in the lobby to walk to Dublin's theatre to see 'The Seafarer' by Connor McPherson. It was an interesting play to say the least. It was a comedy that made fun of Irish alcoholism, but it also had a weird underlying story going on having to do with love, friendship, and the battle between Heaven and Hell. Deep stuff. I did enjoy it though, and for those of you who watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there was a Charlie-esque character to keep everyone entertained during the more somber parts of the play.
After the play everyone was pretty exhausted, and we had an early morning/long day ahead of us, so we decided to go out for just a little bit before heading to bed for the night. Unfortunately for me, I made the unwise decision to get an Irish coffee at 10:45 at night, and couldn't get to sleep until 2:00 am. Poor life choices.
P.S. If my stories get boring/uninteresting/far too detailed and long, please comment or e-mail me. I don't want to bore everyone to death, but I don't want to leave you hanging if you want more details either. And everyone knows how much I love to talk/ramble/tell pointless stories...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Dublin Day 3: Drinks & Dancing (Happy Birthday Scott Hobin!)
We started off Day 3 early in the morning by taking a bus to the Dublin School of Ecumenics. Now, I know you're thinking that I spelled Economics wrong, but I didn't. Ecumenics is the study of how religion and politics are interrelated in Ireland (or, that's what I got out of the lecture at least...). When we arrived they served us tea and biscuits (which is the only reason I was able to stay awake at 9am...) and it was lovely. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this lecture, as it was interesting what a large role religion has played in Irish history. I would go into details, but I don't want to bore you to death. After the lecture we were able to eat lunch in the school's dining hall. It had delicious potato leek soup (in case you were wondering where to get some good potato leek soup).
Afterwards, we took the bus to the Dublin City Council to meet with one of the guys who is very high up there. The man who was speaking to us wasn't ready yet, so we got to play in a room that was dedicated to the urbanization of Dublin. It had a really cool floor that lit up when you walked on it, and the whole time I just kept singing "Billie Jean" and amusing myself by walking on different spots and making it light up. I seriously need to get out more. After that we sat through what might possibly have been the worst lecture of my life. Let's just say I have a page in my notebook dedicated to writing as many Beatles lyrics as I could think of and trying to make them look artsy (I failed miserably).
After the lecture we had about an hour to get ready before going out to a group dinner at the Merry Ploughboy Pub, which is a restaurant about 30 minutes outside of the city of Dublin. We took a bus there, and we almost died because it decided to start snowing again, and crazy Irish drivers don't know how to drive in snow. They also, apparently, don't know how to use windshield wipers. When I stepped out of the bus I got welcomed by Wolfgang throwing a snowball at the bus. Thanks, Wolfgang. We got there and were served a 3-course meal consisting of some kind of soup, mashed potatoes with chicken, and a dessert that we think was apple-cranberry crisp. During dinner, there was an Irish band who played traditional Irish tunes. Wolfgang was crazy and kept singing ridiculously loud and slapping the table to the beat. As I have said before, he is a riot. They taught us the chorus to every song and encouraged us to clap along. It was very fun. There was also a troupe of Irish dancers who danced for part of the dinner. They were amazingly good. After dinner the band had to help push the bus out of the 3 inches of snow that had accumulated, and we managed to survive a death-defying drive back to the hotel.
After we got back, we were going to go out close to the hotel, but apparently bars in Dublin that are near our hotel close at 11:30pm. So, we had to trek across Dublin on slushy sidewalks (although, nothing we aren't used to) to the Temple Bar area, where all the bars are open until 2:30 am. We found a bar called Fitzsimmon's which was much less crowded than Temple Bar and also better laid out. We met a group of five boys who were from Illinois and were backpacking across Europe. Christine (my roommate) and I decided we needed to go request "Bad Romance" by Lady GaGa, and the bartender informed us that any music requests had to be made to the DJ downstairs in the dance club. We were intrigued and managed to convince the Illinois boys to come with us. Now, imagine a a hot, sweaty, crazy raving dance club with black lights and neon lights and crazy people all fancied out. Okay, that's where we were. The boys convinced us to stay downstairs and dance until Bad Romance came on, and naturally it was the last song of the night. It was incredibly fun.
Afterwards, Christine and I made our way back to the hotel (the rest of the group had left far before 2:30) where we found 3 other people from our group in the lobby by the fireplace. We sat and chatted for about an hour before retiring. It was definitely my craziest and favorite night in Dublin.
Afterwards, we took the bus to the Dublin City Council to meet with one of the guys who is very high up there. The man who was speaking to us wasn't ready yet, so we got to play in a room that was dedicated to the urbanization of Dublin. It had a really cool floor that lit up when you walked on it, and the whole time I just kept singing "Billie Jean" and amusing myself by walking on different spots and making it light up. I seriously need to get out more. After that we sat through what might possibly have been the worst lecture of my life. Let's just say I have a page in my notebook dedicated to writing as many Beatles lyrics as I could think of and trying to make them look artsy (I failed miserably).
After the lecture we had about an hour to get ready before going out to a group dinner at the Merry Ploughboy Pub, which is a restaurant about 30 minutes outside of the city of Dublin. We took a bus there, and we almost died because it decided to start snowing again, and crazy Irish drivers don't know how to drive in snow. They also, apparently, don't know how to use windshield wipers. When I stepped out of the bus I got welcomed by Wolfgang throwing a snowball at the bus. Thanks, Wolfgang. We got there and were served a 3-course meal consisting of some kind of soup, mashed potatoes with chicken, and a dessert that we think was apple-cranberry crisp. During dinner, there was an Irish band who played traditional Irish tunes. Wolfgang was crazy and kept singing ridiculously loud and slapping the table to the beat. As I have said before, he is a riot. They taught us the chorus to every song and encouraged us to clap along. It was very fun. There was also a troupe of Irish dancers who danced for part of the dinner. They were amazingly good. After dinner the band had to help push the bus out of the 3 inches of snow that had accumulated, and we managed to survive a death-defying drive back to the hotel.
After we got back, we were going to go out close to the hotel, but apparently bars in Dublin that are near our hotel close at 11:30pm. So, we had to trek across Dublin on slushy sidewalks (although, nothing we aren't used to) to the Temple Bar area, where all the bars are open until 2:30 am. We found a bar called Fitzsimmon's which was much less crowded than Temple Bar and also better laid out. We met a group of five boys who were from Illinois and were backpacking across Europe. Christine (my roommate) and I decided we needed to go request "Bad Romance" by Lady GaGa, and the bartender informed us that any music requests had to be made to the DJ downstairs in the dance club. We were intrigued and managed to convince the Illinois boys to come with us. Now, imagine a a hot, sweaty, crazy raving dance club with black lights and neon lights and crazy people all fancied out. Okay, that's where we were. The boys convinced us to stay downstairs and dance until Bad Romance came on, and naturally it was the last song of the night. It was incredibly fun.
Afterwards, Christine and I made our way back to the hotel (the rest of the group had left far before 2:30) where we found 3 other people from our group in the lobby by the fireplace. We sat and chatted for about an hour before retiring. It was definitely my craziest and favorite night in Dublin.
Dublin Day 2: "Guinness, it's good for you!"
I'm a little (a lot) behind on blogging, so bear with me while I rapidly try to post everything that has happened in the last 3 days...
So, on our second day in Dublin we did a lot of pretty cool stuff. We started the day off super early by visiting the Kilmainham Gaol (the Irish spell "jail" that way). It was really fascinating. It was a gaol that was built a really long time ago (I think the late 1800s, but I learned this 3 days ago, so it's escaping me). A lot of famous Irish rebellers had been jailed there back in the day. A lot of executions had also taken place there which was a little bit creepy. The history of it was crazy including the fact that women, children, and men were treated equally in the gaol. So if you stole an apple and you were 7, you would receive the same sentence as a 40-year-old man who stole an apple. Another crazy fact was that during the Irish potato famine, people would purposely break the law so that they could be in gaol because the living conditions were better there than they were outside of gaol. The gaol probably doesn't sound that cool, but I will post pictures on Facebook as soon as I'm in London so you can get the full effect. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that my professor, Wolfgang, kept sending students into the gaol cells and then he would try to shut the door behind them. He is a crazy man.
After the gaol we caught taxis to a lecture with some Irish travellers. The travellers are basically a group of modern-day nomads who travel between all of the countries in Great Britain. However, in Ireland, they are discriminated against A LOT. It reminded me of how African-Americans were discriminated against prior to the Civil Rights movement. For instance, a statistic they showed us said that 97% of Irish people wouldn't accept a traveller into their family, 85% would not accept one as a friend, yet 85% of Irish people had never met a traveller. We have to do a final project about our time in Ireland and what we learned, and I plan on comparing the travellers' experiences to those of African-Americans in America. It should be pretty interesting...
Lastly, (but certainly not least!) we went to a tour of the Guinness Storehouse! It was awesome. They gave us a tour of the building and showed us how Guinness is brewed. Afterwards, we were able to learn how to pour "the perfect pint," and we all received certificates for doing so. After we had all had our pints, we ventured up to the 7th floor of the storehouse to the Gravity Bar. It was absolutely amazing. It was 360 degrees of glass and you could see the whole city. It was especially beautiful at night because the whole city was lit up. I also had a chance to visit the 2nd floor, which housed all the advertising Guinness has had, and watched a bunch of Guinness TV commercials dating all the way back to the 1950s. It was pretty cool.
That night, a bunch of us ventured farther into Dublin to go to the pubs. We decided to go to the tourist district, known as the Temple Bar area. Temple Bar is one of the most famous pubs in Dublin, and people from London are known to fly to Dublin for the weekend just to go out there. One of the really cool parts about the bar is that they have a section that is open-air with heaters, so you can sit outside at tables in the winter, but still be at the bar.
So, on our second day in Dublin we did a lot of pretty cool stuff. We started the day off super early by visiting the Kilmainham Gaol (the Irish spell "jail" that way). It was really fascinating. It was a gaol that was built a really long time ago (I think the late 1800s, but I learned this 3 days ago, so it's escaping me). A lot of famous Irish rebellers had been jailed there back in the day. A lot of executions had also taken place there which was a little bit creepy. The history of it was crazy including the fact that women, children, and men were treated equally in the gaol. So if you stole an apple and you were 7, you would receive the same sentence as a 40-year-old man who stole an apple. Another crazy fact was that during the Irish potato famine, people would purposely break the law so that they could be in gaol because the living conditions were better there than they were outside of gaol. The gaol probably doesn't sound that cool, but I will post pictures on Facebook as soon as I'm in London so you can get the full effect. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that my professor, Wolfgang, kept sending students into the gaol cells and then he would try to shut the door behind them. He is a crazy man.
After the gaol we caught taxis to a lecture with some Irish travellers. The travellers are basically a group of modern-day nomads who travel between all of the countries in Great Britain. However, in Ireland, they are discriminated against A LOT. It reminded me of how African-Americans were discriminated against prior to the Civil Rights movement. For instance, a statistic they showed us said that 97% of Irish people wouldn't accept a traveller into their family, 85% would not accept one as a friend, yet 85% of Irish people had never met a traveller. We have to do a final project about our time in Ireland and what we learned, and I plan on comparing the travellers' experiences to those of African-Americans in America. It should be pretty interesting...
Lastly, (but certainly not least!) we went to a tour of the Guinness Storehouse! It was awesome. They gave us a tour of the building and showed us how Guinness is brewed. Afterwards, we were able to learn how to pour "the perfect pint," and we all received certificates for doing so. After we had all had our pints, we ventured up to the 7th floor of the storehouse to the Gravity Bar. It was absolutely amazing. It was 360 degrees of glass and you could see the whole city. It was especially beautiful at night because the whole city was lit up. I also had a chance to visit the 2nd floor, which housed all the advertising Guinness has had, and watched a bunch of Guinness TV commercials dating all the way back to the 1950s. It was pretty cool.
That night, a bunch of us ventured farther into Dublin to go to the pubs. We decided to go to the tourist district, known as the Temple Bar area. Temple Bar is one of the most famous pubs in Dublin, and people from London are known to fly to Dublin for the weekend just to go out there. One of the really cool parts about the bar is that they have a section that is open-air with heaters, so you can sit outside at tables in the winter, but still be at the bar.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Dublin Day 1: Walking Tour & Pub Night (for real this time)
We started this morning off bright and early at 9:30 am. That doesn't seem that early, however, we were all experiencing a severe lack of sleep and some pretty bad jet lag.
We started the day off by going on a walking tour of Dublin which was pretty interesting. We went to a few different landmarks, but my favorite was a courtyard next to Dublin castle. It had these huge angel statues that were all painted differently. Apparently different exhibits come through the courtyard on a regular basis, so our tour guide didn't know the significance of them, but they were still very intriguing.
We had time to eat lunch on our own, so a large part of my group went to Beshoff's for lunch. It is an Irish "fast food" place that has fish and chips. I had a fish sandwich and chips, which was pretty delicious. Apparently in Ireland it is customary to serve tomato, lettuce, onion, and cucumber on sandwiches. I love cucumbers, so this is fine by me!
Afterwards we had a lecture about the Celtic Tiger, which is the nickname for the Irish economy during the 90's and after. It was doing really well, and they had one of the best economies in the world until it all of a sudden fell in the past few years (I don't remember the exact year).
We had a free night after the lecture so a few girls and I went to the main shopping district in London for a few hours. I didn't end up buying much besides a few postcards. Then we met up with some of the boys at a local pub, and we went to two pubs. The pubs were really cool. We met an Irish guy named Matt at the first bar who was into professional darts and worked for an aircraft engineering company. At the second bar, named Kate's Cottage(hey! that's my name!) there were a bunch of Irish people playing Irish folk songs. They weren't a band or anything, they were just a group of people who brought instruments to the bar to entertain everyone. It was really cool, and they even through some Beatles in for us (the Americans) and the entire bar sang along. It was a really good time, and I drank my first Guiness (yay!) I also didn't get charged for it (double yay!).
Everything here is completely expensive, especially after you consider that a Euro = $1.40. For example, the average pint of beer = 4.5 Euro, and the fish sandwich and chips that I bought = 7 Euro. I think that's ridiculously insane.
Tomrrow is an exciting day. In the morning we are touring an old Irish jail (spelled "gaol" in Ireland), and then we are having guest speakers that are gypsies. Afterwards, we are going on a group tour of the Guinness factory. It should be quite an eventful day!
We started the day off by going on a walking tour of Dublin which was pretty interesting. We went to a few different landmarks, but my favorite was a courtyard next to Dublin castle. It had these huge angel statues that were all painted differently. Apparently different exhibits come through the courtyard on a regular basis, so our tour guide didn't know the significance of them, but they were still very intriguing.
We had time to eat lunch on our own, so a large part of my group went to Beshoff's for lunch. It is an Irish "fast food" place that has fish and chips. I had a fish sandwich and chips, which was pretty delicious. Apparently in Ireland it is customary to serve tomato, lettuce, onion, and cucumber on sandwiches. I love cucumbers, so this is fine by me!
Afterwards we had a lecture about the Celtic Tiger, which is the nickname for the Irish economy during the 90's and after. It was doing really well, and they had one of the best economies in the world until it all of a sudden fell in the past few years (I don't remember the exact year).
We had a free night after the lecture so a few girls and I went to the main shopping district in London for a few hours. I didn't end up buying much besides a few postcards. Then we met up with some of the boys at a local pub, and we went to two pubs. The pubs were really cool. We met an Irish guy named Matt at the first bar who was into professional darts and worked for an aircraft engineering company. At the second bar, named Kate's Cottage(hey! that's my name!) there were a bunch of Irish people playing Irish folk songs. They weren't a band or anything, they were just a group of people who brought instruments to the bar to entertain everyone. It was really cool, and they even through some Beatles in for us (the Americans) and the entire bar sang along. It was a really good time, and I drank my first Guiness (yay!) I also didn't get charged for it (double yay!).
Everything here is completely expensive, especially after you consider that a Euro = $1.40. For example, the average pint of beer = 4.5 Euro, and the fish sandwich and chips that I bought = 7 Euro. I think that's ridiculously insane.
Tomrrow is an exciting day. In the morning we are touring an old Irish jail (spelled "gaol" in Ireland), and then we are having guest speakers that are gypsies. Afterwards, we are going on a group tour of the Guinness factory. It should be quite an eventful day!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Commute to Dublin!
The past two days have been crazy hectic. I'll give you a breakdown with my adventures. Hopefully it doesn't bore you too much.
Friday 1/8/10
11:30 pm
Leave my house for the Syracuse airport. Proceed to have a meltdown in front of Sbarro's with my mom. Totally classy...
12:30 pm
Board my jetBlue flight in Syracuse for JFK. Flight goes well, and I arrive in JFK safely.
2:00 pm
Picked up my bags from jetBlue baggage claim, walked roughly 1,000 miles to the next terminal, and checked my bags in with Virgin Atlantic. Argued with Virgin Atlantic forever about the fact that I didn't want my bags checked through to Dublin, but only to London (as per my travel agency), and then discovered that they weigh your carry-ons and mine were extremely overweight (by 13 lbs.) So I proceed to start unpacking my carry-ons and throwing things into my checked baggage. Included in these items is all the extra pairs of clothing that I brought in case my luggage got lost.
Hang around in JFK for 4.5 hours. Buy internet access because I am THAT desperate.
6:30 pm
Check in with my group leader, Brian, by Virgin Atlantic. He gives me my immigration letter, and I go through security which takes roughly 40 minutes (but they told us it would take 4 hours). So now I get to sit around for ANOTHER 3 hours. At least I bought the Internet...
10:25 pm
Begin boarding my Virgin Atlantic flight to London-Heathrow airport. It's an enormous plane with comparable-sized TV screens on the backs of the seats. I watched (500) Days of Summer, was served some dinner (beef and mashed potatoes, yummy!), and then they turned off the cabin lights so we could sleep. However, the flight kept deciding to have major bouts of turbulence whenever I try to fall asleep. Oh yea, and did I mention the goody bag we got? Virgin Atlantic gave us a goody bag with: headphones, socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a sleeping mask, and a pen. Very random indeed.
Around 3:00 am EST, they turn the cabin lights on and serve breakfast. Muffins and juice. Hooray, hooray.
10:25 am (5:25 am EST)
Arrive at London-Heathrow airport. Proceed to baggage claim only to find out that... oh yea, they lost my baggage. Luckily, however, I'm not alone. They also lost 11 other peoples' bags from my group.
10:50 am (5:50 am EST)
My group leader gets a call from Virgin Atlantic. Apparently our bags just got lost at the airport for 20 minutes. Lovely. So we have to go back through security to get them.
11:15 am (6:15 am EST)
I am frantically unpacking my bags in the middle of one of the world's busiest airports so that my bag for Dublin isn't overweight.
11:30 am (6:30 am EST)
My group leader informs us that the Dublin airport is closed due to a blizzard, and that we are going to hang out at the London airport all afternoon in case it gets better and they send out some flights. Our flight was originally scheduled for 2:00 pm (8:00 am EST).
Luckily, some of the SUAbroad London staff was there, and they offered to watch our bags while we ate because we were all famished. A bunch of us went to a little restaurant to eat. I got some tasty tomato soup and discovered it's rude to tip in the UK. I also discovered that in Europe the beer is far less carbonated, but the Pepsi is far more carbonated. I also discovered (via a CNN news report on TV) that apparently there was a bomb scare in the London airport while we were there and they arrested three people. Lovely.
We returned to our bags and started playing a massive game of cards in the middle of the airport, when one of our guides told us that she could board us two at a time onto a flight to Dublin, but we might not all be able to make it. I was one of the first ones to go because it was done alphabetically. We ended up all making it (hooray!)
4:55pm (11:55am EST)
Boarding our connecting flight to Dublin via Aer Lingus. Frantically wrote two papers for my class, and arrived in Dublin 50 minutes later.
6:00 pm (1:00pm EST)
Baggage check in London. One of our boys doesn't have his baggage. Oh, just kidding. There it is...
Meet up with our crazy Irish bus driver outside of the airport. He proceeds to tell us that everything we pass is "less than 10 years old" and also tells us all about the recession that Dublin is having. He also tells us that this is the worst weather they have had in 40 years, and that he doesn't stop at any red lights because of it.
Random facts learned from bus driver:
- You cannot make a left on red. Red means red. (Except apparently when it's snowing...)
- Ireland liscense plates are white. UK liscense plates are yellow. Police enforce speeding by taking pictures of liscense plates going by. UK cars can speed because the cameras are unable to read the yellow liscense plates.
- In Ireland, the first two numbers of your liscense plate number are the year of your car. The following letter represents which county you are from (For example, D= Dublin), and then the rest is random.
- Little boys like to throw snowballs at tour buses. Ours got hit 5 times.
- Many other completely boring and useless tidbits of information that I will never use in my life. Such as the amount it costs for a car to use a tunnel to get through London instead of the outside streets. Hm.
I've lost track of time by now because I am so hungry...
We arrive at our hotel in Dublin safely (surprisingly, since our bus driver almost tipped the bus by parking half of it on the curb). We meet our professor, Wolfgang, who is the craziest German you have ever met. Thick accent, crazy anecdotes, and super funny.
Luckily for our stomachs, he ordered us pizza. So we had a pizza party and then we did our first day of class lecture where we went over the general concept of the course. Tomorrow we get to go on a walking tour of Dublin at 10:45 am. I'm pumped (except that it's going to be freezing cold and snowy. The snow here is even rivaling Syracuse.)
So anyways, now that I'm hydrated and full, it's time for me to get some sleep. I managed to only achieve about an hour and a half of sleep during that time frame^, so I need to catch some ZZZ's. I miss all of you guys!!
Friday 1/8/10
11:30 pm
Leave my house for the Syracuse airport. Proceed to have a meltdown in front of Sbarro's with my mom. Totally classy...
12:30 pm
Board my jetBlue flight in Syracuse for JFK. Flight goes well, and I arrive in JFK safely.
2:00 pm
Picked up my bags from jetBlue baggage claim, walked roughly 1,000 miles to the next terminal, and checked my bags in with Virgin Atlantic. Argued with Virgin Atlantic forever about the fact that I didn't want my bags checked through to Dublin, but only to London (as per my travel agency), and then discovered that they weigh your carry-ons and mine were extremely overweight (by 13 lbs.) So I proceed to start unpacking my carry-ons and throwing things into my checked baggage. Included in these items is all the extra pairs of clothing that I brought in case my luggage got lost.
Hang around in JFK for 4.5 hours. Buy internet access because I am THAT desperate.
6:30 pm
Check in with my group leader, Brian, by Virgin Atlantic. He gives me my immigration letter, and I go through security which takes roughly 40 minutes (but they told us it would take 4 hours). So now I get to sit around for ANOTHER 3 hours. At least I bought the Internet...
10:25 pm
Begin boarding my Virgin Atlantic flight to London-Heathrow airport. It's an enormous plane with comparable-sized TV screens on the backs of the seats. I watched (500) Days of Summer, was served some dinner (beef and mashed potatoes, yummy!), and then they turned off the cabin lights so we could sleep. However, the flight kept deciding to have major bouts of turbulence whenever I try to fall asleep. Oh yea, and did I mention the goody bag we got? Virgin Atlantic gave us a goody bag with: headphones, socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a sleeping mask, and a pen. Very random indeed.
Around 3:00 am EST, they turn the cabin lights on and serve breakfast. Muffins and juice. Hooray, hooray.
10:25 am (5:25 am EST)
Arrive at London-Heathrow airport. Proceed to baggage claim only to find out that... oh yea, they lost my baggage. Luckily, however, I'm not alone. They also lost 11 other peoples' bags from my group.
10:50 am (5:50 am EST)
My group leader gets a call from Virgin Atlantic. Apparently our bags just got lost at the airport for 20 minutes. Lovely. So we have to go back through security to get them.
11:15 am (6:15 am EST)
I am frantically unpacking my bags in the middle of one of the world's busiest airports so that my bag for Dublin isn't overweight.
11:30 am (6:30 am EST)
My group leader informs us that the Dublin airport is closed due to a blizzard, and that we are going to hang out at the London airport all afternoon in case it gets better and they send out some flights. Our flight was originally scheduled for 2:00 pm (8:00 am EST).
Luckily, some of the SUAbroad London staff was there, and they offered to watch our bags while we ate because we were all famished. A bunch of us went to a little restaurant to eat. I got some tasty tomato soup and discovered it's rude to tip in the UK. I also discovered that in Europe the beer is far less carbonated, but the Pepsi is far more carbonated. I also discovered (via a CNN news report on TV) that apparently there was a bomb scare in the London airport while we were there and they arrested three people. Lovely.
We returned to our bags and started playing a massive game of cards in the middle of the airport, when one of our guides told us that she could board us two at a time onto a flight to Dublin, but we might not all be able to make it. I was one of the first ones to go because it was done alphabetically. We ended up all making it (hooray!)
4:55pm (11:55am EST)
Boarding our connecting flight to Dublin via Aer Lingus. Frantically wrote two papers for my class, and arrived in Dublin 50 minutes later.
6:00 pm (1:00pm EST)
Baggage check in London. One of our boys doesn't have his baggage. Oh, just kidding. There it is...
Meet up with our crazy Irish bus driver outside of the airport. He proceeds to tell us that everything we pass is "less than 10 years old" and also tells us all about the recession that Dublin is having. He also tells us that this is the worst weather they have had in 40 years, and that he doesn't stop at any red lights because of it.
Random facts learned from bus driver:
- You cannot make a left on red. Red means red. (Except apparently when it's snowing...)
- Ireland liscense plates are white. UK liscense plates are yellow. Police enforce speeding by taking pictures of liscense plates going by. UK cars can speed because the cameras are unable to read the yellow liscense plates.
- In Ireland, the first two numbers of your liscense plate number are the year of your car. The following letter represents which county you are from (For example, D= Dublin), and then the rest is random.
- Little boys like to throw snowballs at tour buses. Ours got hit 5 times.
- Many other completely boring and useless tidbits of information that I will never use in my life. Such as the amount it costs for a car to use a tunnel to get through London instead of the outside streets. Hm.
I've lost track of time by now because I am so hungry...
We arrive at our hotel in Dublin safely (surprisingly, since our bus driver almost tipped the bus by parking half of it on the curb). We meet our professor, Wolfgang, who is the craziest German you have ever met. Thick accent, crazy anecdotes, and super funny.
Luckily for our stomachs, he ordered us pizza. So we had a pizza party and then we did our first day of class lecture where we went over the general concept of the course. Tomorrow we get to go on a walking tour of Dublin at 10:45 am. I'm pumped (except that it's going to be freezing cold and snowy. The snow here is even rivaling Syracuse.)
So anyways, now that I'm hydrated and full, it's time for me to get some sleep. I managed to only achieve about an hour and a half of sleep during that time frame^, so I need to catch some ZZZ's. I miss all of you guys!!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Packing
So today marks six days until my departure overseas.
I leave on January 8th from Syracuse, and I will arrive in London's airport on January 9th. I will then hop on a connection flight to Dublin, Ireland, where I am taking a 10-day pre-semester seminar for three credits. I will be in Dublin for 5 days, and then my class will travel to Belfast for the remaining 5 days. We leave Belfast on the 18th to fly back into London. I then have Orientation in London for 5 days, where I will learn some more about my classes and the city itself. I will also move into my flat.
Today is the day I start packing, which is completely nuts because I still haven't finished unpacking from my apartment at school (which is due to my habit of procrastination).
It's crazy thinking that in less than a week I will be in a different country far away from everything I know. Weird.
Also, people have been asking what my address will be while I am overseas, so here it is:
48-51 Old Gloucester Street
London WC1N 3AE
UNITED KINGDOM
Hooray!
I leave on January 8th from Syracuse, and I will arrive in London's airport on January 9th. I will then hop on a connection flight to Dublin, Ireland, where I am taking a 10-day pre-semester seminar for three credits. I will be in Dublin for 5 days, and then my class will travel to Belfast for the remaining 5 days. We leave Belfast on the 18th to fly back into London. I then have Orientation in London for 5 days, where I will learn some more about my classes and the city itself. I will also move into my flat.
Today is the day I start packing, which is completely nuts because I still haven't finished unpacking from my apartment at school (which is due to my habit of procrastination).
It's crazy thinking that in less than a week I will be in a different country far away from everything I know. Weird.
Also, people have been asking what my address will be while I am overseas, so here it is:
48-51 Old Gloucester Street
London WC1N 3AE
UNITED KINGDOM
Hooray!
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