The Emerald Isle (sequel)

Dublin checklist:

• Spending a late night at an Irish pub - check.
• Leprechaun sighting - check.
• Downtown wandering (Castle, Spire, gardens etc.) - check
• Pretending to be a Trinity College student - check.
• Enjoying a pint at the Guinness Brewery - 

 

And yet another reason why I love being Canadian   >

(They probably only make the English pay, lol)

Learning what Guinness is made from: water, barley, hops, and yeast.  

 ^ We tried some roasted barley.

"Each Copper holds 172,800 pints"

And now up to the the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor to try one! I'm not a huge beer drinker, but it was actually pretty good.  I've never tried a Guinness in Canada before but I've heard it is much better in Ireland - I'll have to do some comparing once I get back home.

We enjoyed our pints overlooking Dublin as the sun set.

Not to worry mom and dad:

We were all smiles on the train after our pints - on our way to Kilkenny! 

We arrived pretty late and after wandering around in the dark, we managed to find our hostel.  We had a number of early mornings and late nights in a row, so we enjoyed sleeping in before we started day 3:

Good morning/afternoon Kilkenny!

Pronunciation lesson: It's kilKENny, not KILkinny as we discovered. The number of times random Irish people corrected us is amazing.  

First stop: Kilkenny Castle.  

We weren't supposed to take pictures... so we did.  This was in the gallery of the castle - taken just as the lady at the other end of the room had her back turned..

^ After a lovely walk around the castle grounds, the next stop was St. Canice's Cathedral. v

This is quite possibly on the list of the best food I have ever eaten (along side my Nonna's beans and my mother's chili... and dad's BBQ :)

Clonakilty Chicken: Chicken stuffed with black pudding, wrapped in bacon + mashed potatoes and roasted veggies.  I think I gained a few pounds that night..

But save room for dessert back at the hostel!  No oven for baking = fried chocolate chip cookies, mmmmm...

We shared our 'water closet' with Leprechauns at the hostel. I never saw them though so they  must have been hiding the whole time.. sneaky.

Another early morning called and we had a sleepy train ride back to Dublin to begin day 4. 

We hopped on a bus headed for Newgrange.  

We had a very *interesting* tour guide named Mary.  She went around the bus asking where everyone was from and she had been to every place it seemed.  "So, where are you from?? Tjindzinchkdlen. Oh yeah.. I use to be a guide there." It was incredible.  

Once she got started with the history of Ireland, she didn't stop until the bus did.  All of us definitely fell asleep - good thing we sat at the back.

IMAGINING the Hills of Tara like Mary told us.  Amazing. ^

In all seriousness though, it was a pretty cool view.  The Hills of Tara are home to ancient monuments and seats of kings dating back to the 6th century.   Also a very spiritual place where rituals and festivals were held.

We made it to Newgrange itself - an Irish passage tomb that's 1000 years older than the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge. It has a cross-shaped chamber inside with only one entrance. It was built so that the midwinter sunlight enters in through the Roof Box (the hole above our heads ^) and casts a beam of light inside for only a few minutes everyday... pretty cool.  

Walking down the passage inside the tomb...

One of the 97 stones that surrounds to tomb. ^

When we got off the bus, Mary shook our hands, looked us in the eyes and said in an intense voice, "Good luck on your studies." It was hard to keep a straight face.  I'll miss her though :) 

We were back in Dublin once again and we slowly made our way back to the airport.

The perfect size suitcase to mail a sheep home! 

Now if only I could find one big enough for a highland cow...

With our postcards in the green mailbox, a lovely view of the sunset over the River Liffey, and the last of our food eaten before we boarded the plane, it was time to say a final farewell to Ireland.  

I've made a list of memorable quotes from the tip and have a handful of brochures and pamphletes of places we visited.  Good memories for sure.  Thanks for the great company girls.

A big Guinness cheers to Ireland!

The Emerald Isle (pt. 1)

4 exchange students. 1 week off school.  Sounds like an adventure waiting to happen..  It was such an epic 4 days that I can't fit it all into one post. So, stay tuned for part 2, and maybe even part 3   :)

It all starts with the planning stages: "So.. where do you guys wanna go?"

^  Goodbye Scotland... Hello Ireland  ^

(for any future Europe travelers - keep Ryanair in mind. Return ticket to Dublin: $64)

Touch down in sunny Dublin! Once again, we lucked out with the weather but it was very chilly - the blue skies are deceiving. 
^ We wandered down O'Connell Street and saw the 120m 'Spire of Dublin' (we learned later that it was a millenium project that was finished in 2003, lol - fail.) We also said hello to Daniel O'Connell himself. ^

After walking over the lovely River Liffey, we bumped into..

Less than 2 hours after stepping off the plane, we heard those magical words: "Top o' the mornin' to ya!"  

Loving Ireland already <3

At Trinity College - about to walk under the infamous arch (according to the students, if you walk under it you won't graduate). We didn't want to take the risk, so we took our pictures and went around it... like all the other students. >

What is this doing here??

In the afternoon, we took advantage of another free walking tour (as did many other traveling university students).  We began by learning about Dublin Castle and Christ Church Cathedral - hows that for an educational afternoon, mom and dad!

^ Then on to see Dubh Linn gardens with neat Celtic designs in the grass.

Here we are making ourselves at home in a typical viking house displayed in the cobble stones! I'm either sitting on a couch or the toilet... I can't remember.

Strolling down the streets of Temple Bar - an area of the city with lots of pubs and restaurants. We re-visited the actual Temple Bar on the right, but more on this later.

Ha'penny bridge spanning the River Liffey! (people used to have to pay half a penny to cross it - such a creative name)

We ended the tour looking at a memorial for the Great Famine (1845-52).  Our tour guide told us that English courts prevented financial relief from charities exceeding 1000 pounds and ships of food from other countries from reaching people in Ireland because Queen Victoria had only sent 2000 pounds herself - more than a million people died to spare her reputation..

On a lighter note... we went back to check out Temple Bar for the evening:

Enjoying our first 'glasses' (1/2 pints) of Guinness at the oldest pub in Dublin while making a couple of new Irish friends.  We stayed until 2 am singing oldies songs with the locals and the wonderful band. Such a great night - probably my favourite part of the trip.

After a sound sleep at the hostel and a complementary breakfast, we were ready for day 2.  We had a lovely stroll through St. Stephen's Green in the morning while humming Beetles tunes from the night before.

When we got downtown, there just HAPPENED to be a marathon and we just HAPPENED to walk by in time to see the winner cross the finish line (left). Totally random, but awesome.  We stayed for a bit and cheered on the Irish runners :) Woohoo!

Still not sure which way to look... who knew crossing the street would be so difficult??

At first I thought it was funny that at every crosswalk 'look right/ left' was written on the pavement, but after seeing all the one way streets and numerous turning lanes, I'll admit I started taking these signs a little more seriously.

Picking up postcards, t-shirts, and other gifts at Carroll's - the huge Irish gift shop that we spent wayyy too much time in.  

Getting my Christmas shopping done in October: check.

Trying to even out the load after a day and a half of walking around Dublin.

We were on our way out of the city but we still had one more stop to make...

To be continued :)

Red, Orange, and Yellow..

Mann, what a week. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be at school... but after a few sleepless nights and afternoons in the library, I remember what being a university student is all about. 

Here I was working away, and the next thing I knew.. it was fall!

A beautiful distraction right outside my window.

I don't have much to report, so I hope you don't mind a few scenic pictures around campus..

From the library.. 

  This is the building where all my lectures are held.  After class, I took a long walk home to soak in all the fall colours..

The same building from across the Loch, and of course the good ol' monument making its way into all my pictures.

The swans and the ducks in the Loch seem quite happy with all the rain.  

 I needed a little break from all the essay writing, so I took advantage of another ceilidh night with the mountaineering club.. nothing can cure the essay blues like twirling around with guys in kilts :)

 ^ A new friend from France.  

I'm really getting the hang of all these dances - I feel so Scottish!



And now I'm off to the land o' the Irish for my mid-semester break.. Dublin, here I come!  Talk to you again next week with more pictures and stories from my Irish adventures.

Cheers!

Thanksgiving eh?

It has been a lot of fun bumping into other Canadians while I've been here and on Sunday night we were all ready to have a little taste of home and celebrate Thanksgiving... University style!  (aka: BYO food, plate, and cutlery)

... and I thought I would be the only one over here.

None of us were about to attempt the turkey - so chicken it was!

It was such a lovely evening! The food was great and the company even better. It was nice to talk about home with friends who didn't smile every time I said the word 'about' and who are as excited as I am to be here.

There was one downfall of the night though... no pumpkin pie :( They don't sell pumpkin filling over here and frozen pumpkin pies just don't exist.  Scotland is missing out!  On a side note, peanut butter doesn't seem to be very popular either - a few of my Brittish and Scottish flatmates have never even eaten a PB&J sandwich before, let alone heard of it... I just can't even imagine a life like this.

Now I come to the sappy part of my post, but I feel it's only appropriate: What am I thankful for??  I'm so thankful for this past month and I'm almost surprised with how well things have turned out - it seems too good to be true sometimes.  I've made really great friends from all over the world and I'm having the best time exploring Scotland with them.  I can't even explain how friendly people have been to me (I don't know if this is just because I'm foreign or what, but it's great!)  I'm loving the university and the campus is gorgeous.  And lastly, I'm thankful for Skype... free phone calls home to the parentals is the way to go. 

I'm glad I have a few more months before I'm home bound.  I'm so blessed to be here, life is good :)

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Cheers.