Got back on Saturday from traveling around Ireland with the family, who flew over to visit for Bridget's spring break. We drove all over the country! And I got to see Galway (Irish: Gaillimh), Kinsale (Cionn tSáile), and the Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair), which I hadn't gotten to see before. It was great to see everybody.
And now I'm off for part two of spring break! I'm going to Italy and Spain, and we're planning on going to Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan, Granada, Madrid, and finishing it all off in Barcelona. I CAN'T WAIT!! I've wanted to visit Italy since forever, so I'm pretty much can't believe I'm going to be there later today (here's to finding the hostel without a problem, since we get there kind of late!). And I really can't wait to use Spanish again because I'm really rusty and feel like I haven't spoken it in forever! But either way, I can't wait to get back to Spain, because I loved it there! And then more adventures in the other homeland! Hopefully a card that can hold 2000 pictures will be enough, haha.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
St. Patrick's Day in Ireland!
The open-air food market going on at St. Patrick Street the whole weekend. Let's just say I didn't cook at all. It was SO packed there from Friday through Monday.
If you look closely, you can see they're wearing shamrocks in their hats. It was so cute! I mean, tough. 
No parade would be complete without St. Patrick himself! 
This kid was adorable. The best little Irish Viking child I saw all day! 
Then we saw this band play at Old Oak. If you look at the top of the picture, you can see that the pub displayed the flags of each of the 6 nations...except for England! Serves them right.St. Patrick's Day in Ireland=AWESOME. Cork was so full of people, it was awesome. If you ever have the chance, make it over to Ireland for it. It's not like the States, but definitely worth it!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Luck of the Irish
A happy St. Patty's Day weekend to everyone! Even though I haven't traveled out of Cork the past two weeks, I thought I'd update everyone about what St. Patrick's Day is really like in Ireland, and some fun facts about Ireland that I haven't shared yet.
Although, first (on a sad note), I have to let everyone know that the luck of the Irish was NOT with us on Saturday, as the rugby team lost their final game to England, 33-10. With all of our points scored in the first 10 minutes of the game (games are 80 minutes long). I have never hated England as much as I did yesterday! We ended up getting fourth place in the tournament, ahead of the only two teams we beat (Scotland and Italy). Still had a great time watching it at the pub--the crowd was pretty awesome! (So I guess the craic was sort of mighty...)
I'm sure you all are wondering what St. Patty's Day is like in Ireland! Since it falls on Monday of holy week, the pope said that the holiday was moved to Saturday the 15th this year. In true Irish form, other than (sort of) moving the religious celebration to Saturday, the Irish are having a three-day celebration! Monday is still a national holiday, which means no classes! All weekend they've had cultural stuff going on in the main part of city centre, like different groups singing, puppet shows for little kids, and a big open air market selling GREAT food. All of that is still going to be going on Monday still, along with the parade! And lots of people have been dressed up all weekend already to show their Irish pride.
A few differences:
-No one dyes the river green (have to wait to go back to Chicago for that).
-They don't traditionally eat corned beef and cabbage.
-St. Patty's Day, although it's been getting more and more attention each year, was never hugely celebrated in Ireland. It all the Irish-Americans making a big deal about it in the States. When the Irish-Americans (and those in other countries) decided they should visit Ireland to celebrate the holiday, the Irish started making it a big deal in order to cater to the tourists.
Then there's some other stuff I've learned since being here:
Although, first (on a sad note), I have to let everyone know that the luck of the Irish was NOT with us on Saturday, as the rugby team lost their final game to England, 33-10. With all of our points scored in the first 10 minutes of the game (games are 80 minutes long). I have never hated England as much as I did yesterday! We ended up getting fourth place in the tournament, ahead of the only two teams we beat (Scotland and Italy). Still had a great time watching it at the pub--the crowd was pretty awesome! (So I guess the craic was sort of mighty...)
I'm sure you all are wondering what St. Patty's Day is like in Ireland! Since it falls on Monday of holy week, the pope said that the holiday was moved to Saturday the 15th this year. In true Irish form, other than (sort of) moving the religious celebration to Saturday, the Irish are having a three-day celebration! Monday is still a national holiday, which means no classes! All weekend they've had cultural stuff going on in the main part of city centre, like different groups singing, puppet shows for little kids, and a big open air market selling GREAT food. All of that is still going to be going on Monday still, along with the parade! And lots of people have been dressed up all weekend already to show their Irish pride.
A few differences:
-No one dyes the river green (have to wait to go back to Chicago for that).
-They don't traditionally eat corned beef and cabbage.
-St. Patty's Day, although it's been getting more and more attention each year, was never hugely celebrated in Ireland. It all the Irish-Americans making a big deal about it in the States. When the Irish-Americans (and those in other countries) decided they should visit Ireland to celebrate the holiday, the Irish started making it a big deal in order to cater to the tourists.
Then there's some other stuff I've learned since being here:
- There's much more of an effort to be environmentally conscious here. When you go grocery shopping, most people bring their own bags and packs and stuff to carry groceries back home. If you want them to give you a bag, they charge 30 cents for each one you ask for.
- Since you don't tip here, positions like waitstaff actually get paid by the hour. Since they don't rely on tips, the service at restaurants is definitely not as good as what it is in the States.
- Divorce wasn't legal until the mid-90's (1995, I believe). Abortion isn't legal at all. (Even though this shows how much Catholicism has affected the country, the Irish still believe we are much more religious than them, because a lot of times when they think of religion in the States, they think of the Bible Belt.)
- The police here are officially called Garda Síochána or the "Peace Guard." The Garda don't carry guns, ever. As my Irish flatmate puts it, since people don't have access to guns, the police don't need them, either! The only exceptions are detectives, emergency response units, and the special branch--these make up no more than 25% of the police force.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Edinburgh!
The park at the bottom of the hill that leads to Edinburgh Castle.
View from the car park at Edinburgh Castle.
Inside the castle.
View from the top!
City centre in Edinburgh.Glasgow!
Kelvingrove Park...our hostel was at the top of the park.
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum...does this look like a "stately Victorian home" to you?
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
The Lighthouse.
City centre in Glasgow.Weekend Trip to Scotland!
This past weekend was fantastic! A few of us decided to fly over to Scotland for a long weekend--first break we'd planned on our own! Thursday was the day for taking every kind of public transportation possible to get there--bus to the airport, plane, train, Underground (mind the gap!)...but we eventually made it to our hostel (which was in an old Victorian house--so cool!) in Glasgow. And I was actually pleasantly surprised by Ryanair. For being such a budget airline I was expecting a really sketchy experience...but we got everywhere on time, it was clean, and they try to charge you for absolutely everything. Fantastic.
Friday was our day for wandering around Glasgow, the largest city in the country. It's the more urban and industrial city, but not in the same dirty was as Belfast was. When we were walking around, I realised how long I had been in Ireland--all the buildings were so TALL. I felt like Glasgow was the closest thing to an American city I've been in since leaving the States. In the morning we went to the awesome Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It was really interactive and had the most random displays--giraffes, planes, Picasso's and Rembrandt's, and suits of armor. And a wedding party taking pictures with all the men in kilts, pretty much making my weekend worth it right then and there. The whole thing was housed in what the guidebook said was a "stately Victorian home"--it was something in between a mansion and a manor...sign me up for that home! We then trooped through the pouring rain to visit The Lighthouse in the city centre, this design and architecture museum. The best part was just the view of the city from the top. The whole place kind of reminded of the MCA in Chicago. And at the hostel that night, we met people from Argentina, Chile, and Australia, which was fun. Thanks to the awesome Schrute Farm Beets shirt that my sister just sent me, the Australian and I had a great conversation about The Office. Good to know that good taste in TV shows spans the globe.
On Saturday, we took a day trip to Edinburgh. FREAKING GORGEOUS. The Chilean had said that he thinks it's more pretty than Paris even (hopefully I will get there to make that decision for myself!). But seriously, gorgeous old architecture. We went to Edinburgh Castle, which was enormous. It had absolutely everything you could think of--the Scottish Honours (crown jewels), the National War Memorial, dungeons, a chapel...everything! And it's up on the top of a hill, so there's a fantastic view of the city and the lake (loch?) behind it. The rest of the day we spent wandering around the city and just enjoying being in Scotland! Edinburgh was completely different than Glasgow, so I'm so glad that I got to see them both.
Other than being disappointed because I didn't get another stamp in my passport, it was a completely great weekend! I had so much fun, and I love that I can go to another country for the weekend when it takes about the same amount of time to get to Ohio from NU at home. Got to love Europe!
Friday was our day for wandering around Glasgow, the largest city in the country. It's the more urban and industrial city, but not in the same dirty was as Belfast was. When we were walking around, I realised how long I had been in Ireland--all the buildings were so TALL. I felt like Glasgow was the closest thing to an American city I've been in since leaving the States. In the morning we went to the awesome Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It was really interactive and had the most random displays--giraffes, planes, Picasso's and Rembrandt's, and suits of armor. And a wedding party taking pictures with all the men in kilts, pretty much making my weekend worth it right then and there. The whole thing was housed in what the guidebook said was a "stately Victorian home"--it was something in between a mansion and a manor...sign me up for that home! We then trooped through the pouring rain to visit The Lighthouse in the city centre, this design and architecture museum. The best part was just the view of the city from the top. The whole place kind of reminded of the MCA in Chicago. And at the hostel that night, we met people from Argentina, Chile, and Australia, which was fun. Thanks to the awesome Schrute Farm Beets shirt that my sister just sent me, the Australian and I had a great conversation about The Office. Good to know that good taste in TV shows spans the globe.
On Saturday, we took a day trip to Edinburgh. FREAKING GORGEOUS. The Chilean had said that he thinks it's more pretty than Paris even (hopefully I will get there to make that decision for myself!). But seriously, gorgeous old architecture. We went to Edinburgh Castle, which was enormous. It had absolutely everything you could think of--the Scottish Honours (crown jewels), the National War Memorial, dungeons, a chapel...everything! And it's up on the top of a hill, so there's a fantastic view of the city and the lake (loch?) behind it. The rest of the day we spent wandering around the city and just enjoying being in Scotland! Edinburgh was completely different than Glasgow, so I'm so glad that I got to see them both.
Other than being disappointed because I didn't get another stamp in my passport, it was a completely great weekend! I had so much fun, and I love that I can go to another country for the weekend when it takes about the same amount of time to get to Ohio from NU at home. Got to love Europe!
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