Garda: The DMV from Hell

I've had this written for weeks, but I've been super busy and behind on posting entries.

Friday, February 20th

After my classes on Friday, Marine and I caught a bus to the city centre for our 3:15 bus to Galway. When I say "caught a bus" I really mean caught. I feel like we are always running to the bus stop and sometimes we have more than enough time before it leaves. We got to Galway around 6:30pm and checked into our B&B. There was a mix up with our booking, so we got a room with two double beds and a single bed for the price of a two person room. After we settled in we walked into town (less than a ten minute walk). There were some pedestrian roads with lots of restaurants and we found one with entrées for under 10€. You know it's Ireland when the special is ham and turkey with potatoes and vegetables. That's what I got. There was more food than I could handle though. 

I recently got in touch with a friend from a running camp, Aim High, I went to in 2009. My friend, Ed, from the camp is living in Galway and going to school there so after Marine and I ate dinner we headed to Ed's apartment. We stopped into a Buddhist store to stay out of the cold and the guy in the store told us all about the different Buddhist items for sale there. They had giant crystal singing bowl that you can't play too loud because it can cause some sort of head damage.

When we got to Ed's we met his French roommate, an Italian girl who gave me tips on traveling in Italy, a Dutch girl, and another French girl who's name was also Marine. Marine was very happy to have people to speak French with. We had a great time and talked for hours. 

Saturday, February 21st

The next morning we had an Irish breakfast at the B&B. Actually, I had almost two full Irish breakfasts and Marine had bread and coffee. Our diets work out great together because I never have to waste bread and she can't eat eggs and meat in the morning. Our bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher left at 11:30am, so we walked around town for a little bit after we ate. I desperately needed sunglasses because I didn't bring any with me from the States. It's the one thing I always forget, but I found a cheap pair at DUNNES. We went into one of those shops made for tourists. I haven't been in one yet because I'm trying not to be a tourist in Dublin, but who cares if I'm a tourist in Galway? Marine and I like the same sweatshirt in the store and there was a 2 for 40 deal. We ended up going back the next day to get them. We had some time to kill before the bus still so we stopped into a Brazilian coffee shop. It reminded me of Key West because its bright tropical decorations and outdoor seating area.
On the bus to the cliffs, there was a couple in front of us being nauseously adorable with each other. Between that and the bumpy twists and turns, Marine and I were both sick to our stomachs. I insisted on sitting towards the back of the bus because you can see out of more windows, but it was a rough ride back there. We went up a road nicknamed the Corkscrew. There is a joke that the roads are so twisted because Irish people were drunk when they made them. The driver risk us the real reason was because if the roads were straight it would make the horses resistant because they don't want to start a long journey. The roads twist to trick the horses into thinking the end is near. Another tidbit of history: the DRY stone walls were built with no cement during the potato famine to divide up land. The land in Galway isn't good for growing much so we passed a ton of grazing animals on the way up. 

The Cliff of Moher were gorgeous and cold and wet and windy. My pictures make it look like we visited on a perfect day, but I just don't have pictures of the hail and rain. We were hiding behind the stone barriers at one point because it hurt so bad to be hit in he face my the hail. The views are too incredible to miss. It makes the whether bearable and it passes quickly. We went on a trail along the cliffs and jumped the stone barrier to a man made foot path on the edge with no barrier. We aren't criminals, everyone does it. It was really muddy and scary at times but we made it back alive. I think my shoes are goners though.




The Cliffs of Moher have had several movies filmed at them, but the most famous are the Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We went to the Burren for a quick stop on the way back, which is in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. When I saw that scene in the movie I wasn't aware that it was in Ireland, but I really wanted to see it in person, and I did.



When we got back to the city we went to a pub to sign up for a pub crawl with Ed. There was a total of six of us- earlier that week there was 300 in one night. I think we set a record for the smallest pub crawl. We had fun anyway. They bring you to 5-6 pubs and each one is a different style.

Sunday, February 22nd

We had planned on spending Sunday morning on a free walking tour of the city, but it was pouring. Instead we went shopping for some boots because mine couldn't keep the water out. We briefly visited the two cathedrals in Galway. As we headed back towards the bus stop we found a crêperie to eat at. I had camomile tea and soup. Marine was excited to fill her craving for some French cuisine. 

Monday, February 23rd

I left for the Garda National Immigration Bureau at noon to get my student visa. Americans don't need a visa to come to Ireland, but they only stamp your passport for 90 days. I need the visa to get back into the country after March because I will be traveling to other countries. Unfortunately, it costs 300€. When I got here a little after 12:30pm I was 128th in line. I realized they were only getting through one number every 2.5 minutes. I was told by other people who had already gone through the process that it can take 4-6 hours. I planned ahead and found some gluten free places to eat in the area. I went to a crêperie called lemon crepe and coffee co. that serves buckwheat crêpes. I got one with Nutella, bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream. I'm not the biggest fan of buckwheat, but this was amazing. I ate outside at the restaurant because the inside was very crowded. As soon as I finished eating it started to down pour and I headed back to GARDA. It was raining so hard that I decided to wait it out in a doorway because whether passes here quickly. It was clear in less than ten minutes. I spent an hour total away and when I came back, the queue moved less  than 30 numbers. The place was filled with screaming kids so I'm glad I brought a book and headphones. They only had four windows open so I didn't get served until 5:45pm, and then I had to wait to get fingerprints done and for the card to be processed. I ended up getting home close to 7:30pm.

Scotland: the Land of Cashmere and Pork

January 31st
I went with Marine and Hayden to the Dandrum shopping center in another part of Dublin. It's Billy Fuccillo huge. There are sky walk ramps instead of escalators in some areas and they are at a pretty steep incline. They freak me out- big time. I don't even like the ones that are completely level at the airport. Other than that, the experience was fun. We ate at a local chain sandwich shop, O'Brien's, that sells gluten free bread options. I found a coat that helps me not stick out like a sore thumb anymore and I finally went into a Zara's. Apparently we have them in the U.S., but I have never seen one. Practically all the case studies in my global marketing class are on them so I was interested to see what their clothes actually look like. It's supposed to be somewhere you can get knockoff designer clothing at a decent price. It was still a little too pricy for me to get something I don't have room for in my suit case. On the way back to the bus stop we went to "Liddle", a well known grocery store in Europe. We had planned on coming back with groceries so I brought two bags with me and stuck to not buying more than that so I could carry it back with ease. Marine and Hayden didn't stick to this two bag policy...so I offered to carry a bag for Marine. I didn't mind; it would have been very unpleasant to see her balancing five bags. I told her she didn't fit her French stereotype very well of buying for a few days at a time. We had an adventure trying to find the right bus stop to take back to campus and when it was supposed to arrive- none of us had wifi or cell service. We were waiting for a while so we decided we should ask these girls who were on their cell phones near by when the next bus was coming. Its funny how all of us were uncomfortable asking a stranger for information, especially since they were about 12 years old. I ended up asking the girls to look up the bus schedule and it turned out we were in the right spot and just had to wait a few more minutes.

February 1st
Hayden and I got up early (9am- we are in college) and headed for a trip to Howth, Ireland to see the market and the coast. The Howth Market was a little smaller than we expected, but it was amazing. There were so many different kinds of foods and little jewelry shops. I got a few rings, including a claddagh ring with my birth stone and a hand knit hat. I needed a warmer hat for Howth because the wind was unreal. We went on the Howth Cliff walk and Hayden demonstrated her skills of finding sea glass. I bought an Irish (Gaelic) to English dictionary at a book sale. I hope it will help out with my Irish class. I am also trying to relearn French. I was just naming random items in Marine's kitchen and it's surprising how quickly it comes back to you from a little practice.

Some of you may have seen the picture like this on Facebook. This is what happened the first three times:

The license plate says 131 because it is the year the car was bought. Hayden explained to me that they used to just write the year (12 for 2012), but the Irish are superstitious so they changed it to 131 when it was 2013 so people would still buy the cars. Then it ended up increasing sales for the first part of the year because it looked better that 132 (used in the second half of the year). So now they continued using this system. The American stereotype of driving big cars is completely true. I'm taller than almost all of the cars here. 

February 2nd
After Hayden's classes, we went to the Old Jameson Distillery for a tour. Because it's the old distillery, the building is more modern and mainly used for tours. The new distillery is in Cork, Ireland. On our tour we tasted Jameson and compared it to Jack Daniel's and a well known scotch. Jameson was obviously the best. Then they gave us a mixed drink with ginger ale, lime, and Jameson- I recommend it. After the tour we went to an Irish pub for dinner, something on our "do before we leave" list. Then we headed to a free comedy show. There were four acts and the host was great. They were very interactive with the audience, but definitely not a PG show.

February 7th

Hayden and I met up around 3:20am to get a taxi to get a bus to get to the airport for our flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. We flew through Ryainair and it was an interesting experience to say the least. It is fairly easy to get cheap prices around Europe through Ryanair and we found out why. There isn't a screen for you to watch on the plane, which is fine, but in its place there is a sticker on how to exit the plane in various ways. It's not exactly comforting to stare at that the whole flight. We made it safely to Endinburgh and took a bus to our hostel to check in. The walk to our hostel was so ridiculous that we had to laugh at it. The hills in that city belong in San Francisco. The first day there we walked 15 miles and they weren't easy miles. 

Our hostel sold a cheap breakfast and we were starving. The breakfast was juice, a roll and cereal. I could only have the juice. If anyone knows me, I get really grumpy when 1. I don't have a good breakfast 2. When I can't find gf things to eat 3. When I'm sick. All of those things were happening at once and Haden was more than nice to me in my nasty mood. We went on the hunt for a place I could eat and found a little cafe. It was pretty expensive because 1£ = $1.50. I got excited about ordering gf pancakes and they ended up being the size of a small snack. We were off to a rough start. 

We luckily had great weather the whole trip and we walked the Royal Mile. It has a bunch of landmarks and things to do along the way. It was full of shops to get cashmere clothing and scarves- more than 40. I got a wool sweater because I was freezing. I found it at one shop first and the store owner kept talking it up about it being made in Scotland, but it was just a little too expensive. Then a free shops over I found the same one for less and bough it. The owner from the first store came in when I was buying it and he was very angry with the Polish store owner I bought it from. Hayden and I quickly left...

We visited St. Giles' Cathederal first:

Then we went to Holyrood Palace, but we didn't want to pay to get in because we had a lot to do for the rest of the day. 

We were heading for Calton Hill and ended up in a cool cemetery: 

It had a gorgeous view from the top: 

With a few failed attempts, we found Calton Hill. I think it was my favorite part of the trip. 

It was really hard to get up there; I got help from someone. It was even harder to get down so I'm thankful Hayden is so tall. 

This is my hat from Howth :) and most of the city of Edinburgh:

We headed towards the Scott Monument next. It was 4£ to go into it. We climbed all 287 steps to the top...and the bottom. The steps were VERY narrow. At one point we had to pass other people in a stairwell and an older women lifted me up to get around me! I got another reality check of my fear of heights and how cluster phobic I can be. But I got to see this: 

For some perspective, our hostel was right on the top of that hill by the Edinburgh Castle on the left. For some perspective of how high and narrow the Scott Monument is: 

Yeah. 

We had a late lunch at an Italian place that sold gf pizzas. Hayden got one too so we could share. We also got gf cheesecake there. I had strawberry rubarb and it was so nice to have dessert food. We went back to our hostel to use the wifi and take a quick nap after our long day. Later we walked around for more than an hour trying to find a pub to have a drink at. Everything looked so intimidating because there was a rugby game on and the pubs were full of men. We ended up at an Irish pub because we wanted to see some live music. 

The next day we had an early bus trip to the Highlands and Loch Ness. It's a must do in Scotland. Nothing is edited:

 This is the castle where most of the Nessie spottings have taken place. We took a boat tour of Loch Ness instead of exploring the castle because I was too sick.

On our last day in Endinburgh we ate breakfast at the Elephant House, which is where J. K. Rolling came up with the idea for Harry Potter. We had loose tea there and it made me want to get a diffuser so badly. After breakfast we went to the Edinburgh Castle. It's modern now and more of a museum for military history. We think that there is still a military training base on it in some parts based on some of the restricted parts. We read about a lot of interesting stories like a man fighting in battle with his newborn in his bag. 

Yes, I was that tourist...

We went to a burger place [twice] on our trip. They had gf buns and chocolate shakes. The burgers were incredible and it was supposed to be a fast food kind of restaurant. I highly recommend it. It's called "Brurger." so it's hard to forget. 

I am currently on a bus to Galway, Ireland for a weekend trip with Marine. I just wanted to thank the Zalkin family that made all this traveling possible. They donated a very generous scholarship to SUNY Oswego that I was awarded for my study abroad program. My scholarship has made traveling much easier and I have so much more opportunities because of it. Thank you! 

The gift of eloquence

I haven't written in awhile. I could say it's because I'm out on big adventures all day with no time, but to be honest, every time I open my computer I end up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix. I'll try not to do that too much anymore so I don't have giant blog entries to write. I think I have to go all the way back to last Friday...

My friend from California, Hayden, and I went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library. It's a 10€ entry fee, but so worth it. The Book of Kells is a lavishly decorated four volume book of the four Gospels of the Bible. The exhibit shows how much effort went into the text and it is unknown who created it. They do know that there were multiple artists and scribes because of the different styles. It is thought to be written around the year 800. There were so many different resources they used for decorating the pages with such vibrant colors, even roots from trees were used. Some things were familiar and I realized how similiar they were to symbols in Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. I wonder if any famous authors paid a visit to Trinity College for some inspiration. There was an emphasis on the symbol of the peacock having to do with the resurrection of Christ. I couldn't take pictures, but here's an example of it used from the Internet: 

There were symbols for words like and or the. I don't know how anyone read this book, but it's beautiful. As you move closer to the Old Library it gets very cold. I'm assuming they do this for preservation. I could take pictures at that point in the exhibit so here are just a few:

The place was giant and absolutely incredible. You cannot go to Dublin without spending some time there. 

Saturday morning six of us got up early to get a taxi for around 6:30am to bring us to our Air Coach bus that left for Cork, Ireland at 7am. We slept most of the bus ride, but I woke up when the sun was rising over grass hills and Mumford and Sons was on the stereo- perfection. It finally felt like I was in Ireland. We checked into our bed & breakfast, the Lisadell House, around 10:30am. The couple that runs the B&B was so kind. We were quite literally guests in their home. They showed us pictures of their children and grandchildren and made us a generous Irish breakfast (the one you can actually order in Ireland, not the drink). I ended up having two of them because our French friend, Marine, said she could only have coffee and bread/pastries in the morning- how French of her :). We were only about a two minute walk from the bus stop so we headed out for the Blarney Castle. The entrance fee was around 11€ (student pricing). I read online that the castle looks different from various areas on the estate. Sometimes it looks like it's from a fairytale and sometimes it looks like the set of Game of Thrones. I don't know if the pictures will do it any justice, but here they are:

We thought we were going into the castle through some secret entrance and started walking into a cave. It was NOT an entrance. It kept getting smaller and smaller as we went on and then it just stopped with an opening big enough for two people. I had a cluster phobic  moment when we tried to turn around and realized a tour group of almost twenty people had followed us into the cave. We did eventually make it into the castle- the correct way. On the way to the top, we passed through a bunch of old rooms with little stories of what they used to be. Going up was very narrow. We were all wondering how people even got through the doorways, let alone the stairwells, in huge dresses or being overweight. 

The legend of the Blarney Stone is that if you kiss it, you'll receive the gift of eloquence, or speaking well. It was interesting to find out all of the well know public figures who had paid a visit there... Kissing the stone is no easy task. You have to grab bars and lower yourself down into a hole that you could easily fall through that goes all the way to the groud. There is a guy that holds you and tells you that you won't fall, but it's very intimidating when you're trying to reach the stone. It's much farther away than it seems. 

After we all kissed the stone, we attempted to climb a giant tree. The pictures on Facebook are the after math of numerous attempts to get on the tree branches. We went to the "house" on the estate, but the inside was closed.

There was a lot to explore throughout the estate. We saw a fox and it was giant. I've seen plenty of foxes, but I've seen three since being here and I swore out loud the first time because I was so shocked by its size. We got about 15 feet  away from the one here before scaring it away. 

On our second day in Cork, we walked around a park and around the city until we happened upon this incredible church: 

It's called St. Finn Barre's Cathederal and it's just on a radom street in town, totally out of place. 

Incredible. 

We got back home to Dublin before 9pm on Sunday. Last night I went to a trip through my university, UCD. we went to a pub called Mary Ploughboy and got a free drink and a free show of traditional Irish music and some Irish step dancing. I'll put a few videos up on Facebook of my time there. When we got back, Hayden and I planned two trips, one to Prague and the other to Amsterdam with Adriana. 

Today was Larissa's birthday so we threw her a surprise party. Our friend Daniel was eating ketchup on his popcorn! He also puts it on pizza and chips along with various other snacks. The Brazilians think I'm crazy for drinking milk with my meals, especially with chicken. When I questioned what Daniel was doing to his popcorn he said, some people put butter on it, but he like ketchup much better. I've worked at two movie theaters for about three years total and I've never seen someone do that. I took a picture for proof. 

Wanderlust

Wanderlust: A strong desire to travel.

My classes are great! The students are actually serious and want to learn. Besides a few group projects, I don't really have homework. The professors say that there is suggested reading, not a bunch of expensive textbooks to buy. For the most part they post articles online for us through Blackboard, similar to Angel for those of you from Oswego. I have an American professor who told us if we email him in the wrong format, he will spam us with pornography. I have two Irish professors, one who's last name is Feeney. He made a Boy Meets World reference and everyone laughed because it's an all American class. He told us that if it was an Irish class, no one would get it. I also have a professor from Bangladesh. I'm only in class for eight hours a week at the most, four days a week. Not being an RA this semester is really weird because I actually have down time. The fact that I even have time to write this amazes me.

Yesterday I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and it was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. There was a lot inside that was dedicated to military forces in several wars. There was also a smaller chapel in the back, behind the alter, that was called the "Lady Chapel". It was originally used to let other denominations practice their religion peacefully.

Leave a note for someone affected by war...

Lady Chapel 

I went shopping at a bargain store and got a pair of jeans, shoes, and 5 stockings for 30 euros, about $36. It was dangerous to be in there because I wanted to buy everything. There were such good deals. Surprisingly, I stuck to what I needed though. I needed new shoes because I can't wear my boots, which are falling apart, with a dress. The bottoms of my shoes are practically detached and sooner or later I would get caught in the rain. I most likely won't wear either of the heels I brought again. I tried, but it was not convenient in the stone streets or on the slippery (or sometimes cover in broken glass) floors of clubs and pubs. That's probably why everyone is wearing big clunky heels here.

Hayden and I somehow found our way back to the right bus stop yesterday. I am starting to realize where I am now, but thankfully I have google maps for back up. I have decided on not getting a phone or international plan here. I have had no issue staying in contact with anyone from home or here and free wifi is so common here. I can download a map to save offline from google maps and the app can almost always find your location, even with no service, wifi, or 4G. I screen shot the directions before I leave the bus (free wifi on the buses as well) and I'm good to go. To talk to people I text through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or iMessage, I call through Facebook Messenger, and I video chat through Skype or FaceTime. Everything is very simple and free!

Even though I have been here for less than two weeks, I feel like I cannot go back home the same at this point. The days that I am not sight seeing, traveling, or getting lost, I am very antsy. I want to get up and go places, go anywhere, really. It's going to be hard to adjust back to living in a much smaller city at home. I do miss driving, and being able to leave whenever I feel like it without looking at a schedule for buses or flights. I feel like when I get back I will be horrible at driving, but hopefully it's like riding a bike.

I am taking a trip with four other girls tomorrow to County Cork, home of the Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone. In two weeks, three of us will fly to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. I've always wanted to say that- acting so casual about taking a trip to another country for a few days. Honestly though, it's just as surprising to me as anyone else. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love to travel, but doing it on my own for the first time feels so surreal. This past semester, my Hall Director, Kevin Speer, said he was buying things on his bucket list and he started to travel a lot. To be honest, I thought it was a little crazy he was buying a bunch of stuff and spending money on traveling too. But now I realize how important it is to live in the now and do what you want rather than wait. There's obviously a time to save, but my advice is to take the time to be impulsive and happy. Thanks Kevin :).