Market & FAMILY :)

Nothing too exciting has been going on over this side of the pond. I laid low this weekend, staying in Galway. The Morris brothers were in Dublin visiting Mike Mo, and took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher, so I went in town to give them a half hour tour of Galway. It was great to see them! Mo and I decided that we need to start planning our trip to Paris, I hope it all works out!

Yesterday I went to my favorite Saturday market with my roommate Miranda, and got the most delicious crepe! It was ham and cheese with sun dried tomato, pesto and dijon mustard.... so good! Instead of buying my usual hummus I decided to buy some brie cheese, and that was a great call! I got crackers at the supermarket and am in heaven! Unfortunately, I have found my new addiction. I also decided that I need to start rationing out my souvenir purchasing so I don't wait until the last minute and have to buy a million things at once, spending all my money on the last few weeks I'm here. One thing I definitely decided to get is a painting from a man at the market. He has a ton of different ones, all of places around Galway. They're only 25 Euro, and come with a colorful wooden frame he made. The only issue is I need to decide between a painting of the Claddagh at night or a picture of a few pubs on Quay St. The one of the Claddagh is definitely prettier, but the one of the pubs is nice because it's places I spend time at in Galway, like Taaffe's and the King's Head. I'll have to think it over and get some second opinions.

The family is coming in two days!!! I'm very excited to see them and show them around! I know they're going to love it! I'm so excited to show them all my favorite places to go, from the Quay's and Taaffe's to my favorite little coffee shop, Cafe Luna. I have a Connemara day trip planned, which should be a lot of fun. We're also going to Doolin Saturday night, and after Easter mass we're going to go see the Cliffs of Moher. I'm pumped!

This week is my last week of classes. I also already handed in one of my finals, and am done with one class. Now I just need to write two more final papers by April 30th and take three exams. I'm trying to get some done before they get here so I'm not cramming before spring break, but I am the procrastination queen, and am doing a great job at maintaining my crown.

Aran Islands, Craig, & St. Paddy's Day!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to write!!! Rag week was crazy, there was so much going on. We went out all four nights of the week, and had a great time. Some people went much crazier than we did, but we just took the week off from classes and slept in late after late nights out.

Craig came to visit us during his spring break. He got here last Friday and came on my program;s trip to the Aran Islands. It was a great day and I had so much fun with him. We took the ferry to the biggest island, Inis Mór. Once we got there, everyone rented bikes (again!) and we rode from one side of the island to the other. It wasn't nearly as long of a bike ride as in Dingle, so it was a piece of cake. The island was so small and felt like I had gone fifty years back in time! The few homes that were on the island were so spread out, and the "town" on the other side consited of two gift shops and a small cafe. Once we got to the other side of the island, we climbed up what felt like a mountain to these huge cliffs. Unlike the Cliffs of Moher, we could get right up to the edge. I leaned over the side to look, and it was so high! We got lunch at a little coffee house before we headed back to catch the ferry home.

That night Mary and I took Craig out to the Quay's with a few of our friends, and we spent some time there chatting with all the tourists who were in town for the holiday. Craig left on Sunday to go visit Mike Mo in Dublin but came back last night before he flew out of Shannon today. I was so glad he came to visit and I think he had a great time!

Galway was full of people this week, and for good reason. I'd have to say that Wednesday was one of the best days I've had here so far. We woke up early to make breakfast and start the day off right. We made french toast, home fries, and mimosas, and got decked out in our green to head into town for the St. Paddy's Day Parade. The parade ended up being a huge letdown, and there wasn't really too much to see, so we headed to a pub to keep the celebration going. We met a bunch of people at one of my favorite pubs called the Front Door in the smoking garden, and hung out there for quite some time. Eventually we moved to a few other pubs, and wandered the streets. The pubs were serving pints in plastic glasses, so we could take our Guinness's outside onto Shop St. and Quay St. The streets were packed with people, everyone in great spirits. Everyone was talking and celebrating with each other, and we even danced around to the street performers. We ended the say at Taaffe's, which had a great band playing Trad music. The pub was so crowded, and the only place we could find room was right at the front where the band was playing. Mary, Megan and I plopped right down and sat on the stage while the band was playing, drinking our cans of Carlsberg and talked to anyone who was near us. By about seven thirty it was getting dark, and I was so worn out. We got some taco fries from Charcoal Grill and walked home, and Mary and I took a three hour nap on her couch. It was by far the best St. Patrick's Day I have ever had!

Dingle-The Accidental 40 Mile Bike Ride

This weekend we went to Dingle and it was AMAZING! The weather was perfect, and the town was so cute. We took a four hour bus ride and didn't get there until around eightish. Once we found our hostel we settled in and headed out for the night. The guy who owned our hsotel gave us a little map and told us about a few pubs to try. We went to the most famous Dingle pub Dick Mack's. When we first walked in it seemed really small, but we found some face and got our Guinness's. They tasted so good after the long bus ride and it was one of the best pints I've had so far. We started chatting with a bunch of guys near us and learned they were a group of doctors who come to Ireland every year to get away. They were having so much fun and it seemed like it would be such a cool thing to do when we get older.

The next morning after our full Irish breakfast we found a shop to rent bicycles from. We got them for the day and went to the tourist information office to ask for some tips on where to go. She highlighted a route called Slea Head Road and told us it's a gorgeous thirty mile road around the coast and through the countryside. She said when she did it it only took her about five hours. We weren't worried because she didn't look like she was in top notch biker shape.

When we first headed out at around 11:30 it was beautiful, the views were perfect. The road winded along the coast and was right on top of cliffs that dropped down into the ocean. We stopped in a small town to get some sandwiches for a picnic, and stopped a lot for photos. We found a path that led down to the side of a cliff and stopped to eat our lunches, and then hopped back on the bike. We saw so many cute little baby lambs, and a few cows. We also stopped at a few beaches that looked like they would be awesome to visit during the summer. It really was a perfect day for biking and the weather could not have been better.

After a while, we came to a fork in the road, and weren't sure which way to take. We tried to follow the map, but it didn't feel right once we came to a few massive hills that were not easy to bike up. We stopped to ask a little old lady who was walking her dog if we were on the right path, and she could only speak Irish! We decided to keep going, and eventually found ourself in an exact place we had stopped an hour back. We had done a huge circle! I flagged down a guy driving a tractor and he was able to give us some directions on how to get on the right track towards Dingle. He said it was only about seven miles and should only take us a half hour on the bikes. After about a half hour we got nervous again and stopped at a pub to ask for more directions. Everyone in there told us we were on the right track, and it should only be seven miles to town! Either the first guy lied to us to make us feel better, or Irish people are really bad at estimating distances! The sun was beginning to set and the next leg of the ride was so hilly. I was so tired and could barely move up the huge hills, and the sheep were beginning to get pretty old. Once we got to the top of our last mountainous hill, we saw the lights of Dingle in the distance, and it was all downhill from there. We were so happy to finally get back (at 7:00...7 1/2 hours later!), but could barely walk by the time we returned our bike. We headed straight to a pub for some dinner and it hurt to sit in the booths. It felt like my butt was black and blue with bruises from the bike seat and my knees were killing. I felt like a seventy five year old lady I was so achy!

After dinner we went back to the hostel to shower and relax a little, then went out for a few pints. We were so tired we could barely keep our eyes open in the pub, so we turned in early for the night. The next morning we stayed in town and did a little shopping before we had to catch the bus at 3:30. I loved Dingle and it was such a great weekend, despite the whole getting lost in the middle of no where thing.

This week is RAG week at NUIG. It's supposed to be a constant party and I can currently hear people outside partying and it's only 1 PM. Last night I stayed in because we got back late from Dingle, and people were outside until about 3 AM. I want to get involved on the festivities, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to go all week! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Giant's Causeway, Rugby, & Titanic Views

Belfast was lots of fun. We had a very busy weekend, and spent a lot of time on the bus. The ride was about 5 hours, and we had an hour stop at a mall in Dublin for lunch in between. Once we got to Belfast, we checked into out hostel and had free time to explore they city. It was cold and rainy and we didn't really know where we were going so after walking around a bit we decided to find a pub instead where we killed some time before dinner. After dinner we had everyone up to our room because it was so big. There were about twenty five beds in our hostel room and it held most of the girls in our program. after a few drinks we headed our for the night and went to a pub called The Beaten Docket. There was karaoke and afterwards the DJ played all sorts of fun American songs for us to dance to like "Born in the USA" and "Summer of '69." It was a great night out.
The next day we had to wake up early to head to Giant's Causeway, it was about and hour drive out of Belfast City. Once we got there we split up into smaller groups for tours. The Causeway was absolutely gorgeous and had the most spectacular views. Apparently it was formed thousands of years ago from volcanic eruptions under the ocean. Huge pillars made of rock formed and make up the causeway. There are celtic legends about a giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) who built the causeway so he could walk to Scotland to fight a giant from over there. There were so many different myths about the rock formations and stories about what they look like. I took tons of pictures and had awesome views after we climbed about 150 steps to get to the top of the mountain. We stopped for lunch in a small town and then headed back to Belfast city so we could catch the Ireland vs. England rugby match. We found a pub and settled in to watch Ireland kick some British butt! I really enjoyed watching rubgy and am thinking about buying a Ireland rugby jersey.

We went to a hotel for dinner and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out for the night. Mike Mo was also in Belfast with his group from BC so I went out to meet him at Robinson's pub. We danced to some Trad music and had a few pints before I had to leave to meet up the the Arcadia kids at a nightclub near our hostel. It was the biggest club I have ever been to and there were so many people! Luckily I found everyone quickly and we danced until they turned on the lights and kicked us out.



Sunday morning we had someone come speak to us about the different murals around Beflast. It was so interesting learning about the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the different viewpoints of both the Unionists and the Nationalist. He showed us examples of murals by the IRA and the UFF, they were so interesting. A lot of them were really intimidating with men pointing guns and threatening poems. After lunch we got on the bus to take a tour around Belfast to see the murals. We were able to get out and take pictures and went to both sides of town, the Loyalists and the Nationalists. We also stopped at the dry port where the Titanic was built. We saw exactly where it first took off from and went to a little exhibit. Belfast used to have a very large ship building industry.

After the thour around Beflast we got back on the bus for our long ride home. I slept most of the way and we had a quick stop for dinner. It was so cool to be able to see such a different part of Ireland with such different political views. I did enjoy the trip, but I think I prefer the Southern part of Ireland more. In fact, we are thinking of booking a trip to Dingle this weekend, one of the most popular tourist attractions, I hear it's beautiful!