Sick but not slowing down!!

                          

     Where I went to church this morning:
St. Patrick's Church of Ireland

I’ve been sick for the past three days, with what I thought was strep throat, but the doctor told me it’s just a bad viral infection.  I’m having a hard time swallowing anything not liquid.  But my very kind ‘International Friends’ host mom went out of her way to pick me up, drive me to the out-of-hours doctor at the hospital, drive me to the pharmacy (the ‘chemist’ here) and then proceeded to send me off with couscous salad and homemade cookies!! Thank God for Irish hospitality J

This morning I forced myself to get out of my room, more specifically my bed, and this is a little picture diary of my day in snowy Northern Ireland!

Snowy days <3

      

Galway & The Aran Islands

The harbor in Galway

Galway and the Aran Islands: hands down my favorite trip so far.  It took me and my friends Ellie and Emily 6½ hours my train and bus to get to the city (located on the western coast of Ireland), but it was more than worth the effort.  We stepped off the bus to be greeted by our cozy cottage-like hostel, conveniently right next to our bus stop.  Our hostel, “Galway City Hostel” was right on the Eyre Square, which is the center of the town.   The next morning marked the opening of the international Christmas market, and so we were dazzled by food and gifts from around the world.  French crepes, German sausage, Finnish slippers.  You get the idea J  I even bought an Irish flute!! Lol it sounds awful when I try to play it.  We then wandered through the town that was all decorated for Christmas, saw the beautiful harbor, old churches, and even James Joyce’s wife, Nora Barnacle’s, little house.  Everything was cute and Irish and it was the one city so far that I could definitely live in, in the future.

Nora Barnacle's house

We also decided to take a trip to the Aran Islands, one of the most classically “Irish” areas of the whole Emerald Isle.  The biggest of the three islands is Inish Mor and even that one only has 800 inhabitants.  Irish (Gaelic) is the primary language there and I got to hear it spoken many times; it definitely is not related to English, but rather to me sounds like a bouncier German or Russian language.  You can’t book tours for the island in advance, but once you get off the ferry there are native guides in minibuses or in horse drawn carts waiting to haggle.  We were fortunate to get a hilarious local named Bertie who was “born and raised” there and he gave us a great deal for 8 euros (I honestly don’t know how they make a living…).  He drove us and other Americans and a couple from Tasmania around and gave us the inside scoop on the island’s history and what it was living there.

The cliffs by fort Dun Aengus on the Aran Islands

Visually, it was absolutely stunning.  It was snaked with more than 7,000 miles of handmade stonewalls because the earlier villagers had to do something with the rock removed for farming.  Rolling green hills, views of the ocean everywhere, stone forts dating back to 1100 B.C., church ruins with very Celtic looking cemeteries----and my favorite: the 300 ft. cliffs.   I felt as if I was on the edge of the world looking out on the Atlantic, knowing that the closest land was America.  The cliffs took my breath away and even made me a little nauseous from their sheer height.  However, lying down on the edge and looking down is an experience I will never forget!!

We also got to some of the island’s famous seals, which the islanders refuse to kill because they believe they are sacred and are embodiments of deceased people.

Thanks mom and dad for giving me this trip as a Christmas present---it was one of the best I’ve ever had! Love you <3

"Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi

Hello again my dear friends and family.  A couple of weeks ago I had the hugest privilege of attending a play at the Riverside Theatre (on campus, right next to my student housing!) called "I Once Knew A Girl: Unheard Stories of Women".  I wandered over to the play with some girlfriends, not even suspecting what a heart-wrenching production I was about to experience.  The stage was simply set, with only a white staircase and white screen in the background, and was acted on by six adult women of various ages.  These women, in their own unique ways, had survived Northern Ireland's Troubles (the civil wars between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Unionists) and had written the play to tell their intense stories.  I thought the program put it very eloquently:

 "It is a delicate and sacred work to liberate these sometime painful and deep stories.  Through the creative process, these six women performs who come from very different backgrounds, have together created a beautiful and loving space where trust sisterhood and respectful listening have abounded.  In that way, they have created a model of what the strength and power of women working together in peace can look like."

I was incredibly deeply touched to hear their accounts of domestic abuse, rape, women's involvement in the guerrilla warfare, loss, confusion, betrayal and so many other tragic themes of that era.  It's one thing to engage with a play when the actors are acting out fake experiences, ones that are distanced from their personal lives, and a completely new thing to know that each woman is revealing the innermost secrets of her life. So, so powerful.  I approached the six women after the play (completely bawling I might add lol) and tried to tell them how much it meant to me.  All I know, is that there is a such pure power in allowing others to experience the things you have experienced---and that witness, I believe, can allow for understanding and has the potential to change communities drastically and stop wars before they even start.

Surf Club Weekend, International Friends, The Temper Trap, Halloween and...Midterms.

I haven’t written in a while and there is much to catch up on:

1)   1.) I went on the Surf Club weekend trip to Rossnowlaugh, which is close to Donegal in the Republic.  It’s so weird having to change my pounds sterling to euros just to go to another place 2 hours away.  I really got to know the other surfers well and we had a couple surf sessions each day---I was so sore, but I am improving!  There were good swells and I loved being able to wake up in the mornings and see the beach from our window J I also got to know the 3 other internationals better: My friend Lotte from Belgium, Daniela from Germany and Jusse from Finland!  Good craic indeed!

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2)  2.) Early on in my study abroad here, I signed up for ‘International Friends’, which is an organization that connects international students with local Irish families.  I was very luck to score 2 such families! My friend Ellie invited me to go with her to her family’s house, where I had a most delicious home-cooked meal, sat by a cozy fire and had wonderful conversation.  Politics, religion, music and so many other topics were broached, and it was quite a learning experience.  I love just spending time with local people and getting to experience the true Irish hospitality!  My second family (the one allocated to me) consists of a mother, Lesley, and her 14 year-old son Duncan.  She invited me over for lunch, along with her sister and young nephews.  To my surprise, after lunch we went to Whiterocks beach to go dune-surfing! 3 little boys and I lived it up sliding with sleds, on very VERY steep dunes, I might add! I always miss being around kids when I am at school and so it made me happy J

3)   3.) Last weekend was packed with fun…I took the train down to Belfast with a couple Belgian and German friends, in order to see a fabulous band ‘The Temper Trap’ perform!  It was such a fun little trip with shopping, dinner, the concert, meeting some Aussie’s and Kiwis and our hostel was SO nice as far as hostels go.  I got a short nap in on Sunday, and then took a bus full of internationals to Londonderry for Halloween festivities. WOW.  That town does Halloween big.  First there was this amazing parade, which was actually quite spooky. Lots of paper lanterns, paper monsters, costumed dancers and floats.  I have never seen a parade like this one; it was definitely uniquely Irish.  Then there were fireworks over the water, and pub craziness. It’s so cute, lots of groups of middle-aged/older women and men dress up and go out too J

4)   4.) This past week was midterms however…A.K.A. hell week. I had three essays of about 8-12 pages due, and so it was time to buckle down.  I pretty much was a hermit loner in my room for Monday-Thursday.  Then came the chaos: (this gives you a little idea of how Ireland runs…) the day my essays are due, and which I of course decided to print them out, is the day the ENTIRE campus’s internet, network, printers etc. decided to shut down.  So nobody could print anything, people were having breakdowns (myself included…I had about 3 hours of sleep after spending an entire day writing) and tension was high.  Overall I think Ireland is a little lax in the technological advances department J Eventually everything got sorted out, but it was definitely one of the worst days here.

Benvinguda a Barcelona!

My second big trip was quite a success!

This time my group was down to 5 girls (Me, Ellie, Maureen, Erica & Alanna) and sort of spur-of-the-moment decided to make a trip to Barcelona, Spain. After our connecting flight from London (Yes...I can say I've been to England now;) ) we arrived at night to our ADORABLE hostel called Saint Jordi: Sagrada Familia in the north part of the city. We were too exhausted to do anything that night but we were up bright and early the next morning.

We realized quickly that not many people spoke English there (or Spanish for that matter), but Catalan was most people's first language. My companion Alanna and I dusted off our rusty Spanish skills and did our best to get us around. It was so fun to try to remember all the words and expressions, but also motivated me to study it a lot more! We spent the morning wandering aimlessly around, in search of the Fat Tire Bike Tours starting point---we missed the first tour, but went in the afternoon! It was my absolute highlight of the entire weekend: riding around with 20 other tourists and weaving in and out of little alleyways and whizzing along the beaches and seeing the sights. Definitely the way to get around Barcelona :)

The history of the city was fascinating and we got to see some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen, mostly Gaudi's works. We went on this underground tour that walked us through Roman ruins and it was so mysterious and enchanting, and we also learned a lot about Catalan culture.

I set foot in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! A little chilly, but I donned my swimsuit regardless and went for a swim. It was a gorgeous warm day and the sailboats were out. Tidbit: A little fact I didn’t know about Barcelona was that nudity on the beaches is legal…so…well you get the picture… J

The nightlife was great there as well and we got to go out with a big group from our hostel.

After 3 nights in Barcelona, we took a bus up to Girona to spend the night closer the airport. Although I had never heard about Girona, I ended up falling in love with it! While our time in Barcelona has been crowded and fast-paced, this homey little city was a quieter Italian-looking place that was filled with families strolling about, soaking in the sun. My friends and I decided to amble around town to take pictures and we stumbled on the most beautiful cathedral! El Catedral de Girona.  Stunning architcture, and it was empty inside, unlike the touristy Catedral de Barcelona.  It was a perfect way to wrap up a busy and yet perfect four day trip!

Hope all is well friends and family <3

PS: There are more pictures of my trip on Facebook

A wee jaunt to Dublin

Temple Bar area & my first Pub Crawl

Dublin. A city I had heard much about in literature, but was way different than I expected. For some reason, in my mind, I had a mental picture of a sprawling, quaint town---and in reality it’s an urban metropolis with an interesting mixture between the ancient and the modern.

It took 6 girlfriends and myself 4 hours by train and bus to reach the city and once we arrived it took us quite some time to reach our hostel, because there are NO street signs in Dublin. Or if there are, they are very well hidden. Also, the roads never follow a pattern or grid like the United States, but rather the old trails of the Vikings. That explains a lot J

Paying homage due from English majors everywhere

My first hostel experience was an interesting one. I was placed in a room separate from my friends and it was filled with French people who wouldn’t talk with me—slightly awkward.  It was a beautiful sprawling stone building with four floors and room after room of dorm beds.  We met some nice Irish and Italian people, but overall it felt like an orphanage. Yuck

We (of course) had to do a pub-crawl, and so we met up with about 60 other backpackers and hit three pubs and a dance club in the Temple Bar area! It was chaos! I recommend going with a smaller group if at all possible. My favorite pub one was that played reggae music with a band called the Barley Mob.

Had to do it

The majority of the rest of our time there was spent sightseeing and learning about the city’s turbulent history.  The Irish rebellions against the English were key in all the places we saw and it was fascinating because I had learned about the time and people through Yeats, Joyce etc., and now I have images and experience to match with the things I read and study! Definitely a cultural highlight. I also visited the Dublin Writer’s Museum to make my English professors proud of me…ok…and I guess I liked it too! We went to the Guinness factory and my favorite part was the gorgeous 360-degree view of Dublin from the top floor. However, overall it was one of my least favorite activities because it was so crowded and slightly boring learning about the brewing process. I did have a sample there though J

Christ Church Cathedral

The absolute BEST experience of the whole city was going to the Chester Beatty Library and seeing all the ancient religious documents.  I had one of the strongest spiritual moments of my life when I saw the portion of the oldest known book of Romans.  I tried to stop the tears when it hit me that my Bible is based on true documents written thousands of years ago, but they just kept coming. I will never forget that moment.

Other highlights were: Stephen’s Green Park (SO beautiful), Christ Church Cathedral, Kilmainham Gaol, the General Post Office, Dublin Castle, The National Museum of Archaeology, walking along O’Connell street, eating out and so many other things!

Updates will come soon...

Hi friends! So I PROMISE updates will come soon...this past weekend and week has been CRAZY, but I will fill you in on everything shortly.  Tomorrow I leave for Barcelona!!! I will have two trips to tell you about (and some drama over loosing my wallet...); Dublin and Barcelona. They will come as soon as I have a second to breath.

I miss everyone so much!