Travelers are cool. I have really enjoyed meeting people at the hostels we've stayed at. There are so many people from everywhere; India, England, South Korea, Germany, Latin American countries, and of course, America! I've had short conversations with many people. It is fun to learn things about where people are from and why they are traveling and what they've seen. It feels very comforting though when you find other Americans to talk to. It's amazing how quick you gravitate towards each other and find an almost instant friendship. I love it! Back at home, that just doesn't happen. But within the etiquette of the hostel culture, it's the norm.
Goodness, I know we've done so many things since I wrote last, but it's getting tough to remember it all. A few things though; I met with my Irish company today. It's called Enterprise Ireland. For the class, one of the requirements is to interview a staff member at an Irish business, which compliments our academic or career interests, and find out some of the key innovations within the company and how the company generates and incorporates new ideas. I had a classmate come with me and the two of us spent an hour talking with a woman named Ann Finn, an highly competent professional Irish businesswoman. It was great. Enterprise Ireland is a government funded firm whose goal is to find and support businesses with high export and growth potential. They also create programs designed to get researchers from universities, medical institutions, etc, connected with businesspeople and other appropriate professionals so ideas can be shared and viable solutions created that have real profit potential. With the Irish economy in the state it is in, they are working their butts off to facilitate the production of innovative products and services that can be exported and that will create jobs.
More on everyday life to come. I just got done skyping with my little munchkin back home and it was so nice! I can't wait to get home and squeeze my beautiful little Elli girl again. =)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Galway and foggy cliffs
Well, we bussed into Galway yesterday indeed, but we only had 4 hours there. Then we had to catch a different bus out to Doolin, where the Cliffs of Moher are.
Last night, we went out to a pub in Doolin and it was pretty cool. We heard real, traditional Irish music live. I took a video of the group playing. I hope it turns out well. Tried a brew called Smithwicks. It was good.
Galway was really great though. Tomorrow morning we go back and will stay there for the rest of the week. I am really excited about that because it was really fun roaming around. Great eateries, great gift shops, cheap fashion stores similar to Charlotte Ruse, and street musicians too. My favorite was the 2 guys who played music while standing on these little posts about 3 feet high. One had a banjo, the other an acoustic guitar, and they played a song I'm guessing they wrote, called "I'll kill a puppy every day until you go out with me." It was hilarious!!!
This morning we took an outing to the Cliffs of Moher, but it was raining the whole time so it was hard to see much of the coast at all. It was still cool, but would have been amazing if it had been a clear day. I had a flying dream once, back when I was in high school or before that, where I was soaring over green topped cliffs that dove straight into the rolling waves of the ocean. I'm sure that is what these cliffs would have looked like if it had been a sunny day, so no worries, I've already seen them in my dreams. =)
Last night, we went out to a pub in Doolin and it was pretty cool. We heard real, traditional Irish music live. I took a video of the group playing. I hope it turns out well. Tried a brew called Smithwicks. It was good.
Galway was really great though. Tomorrow morning we go back and will stay there for the rest of the week. I am really excited about that because it was really fun roaming around. Great eateries, great gift shops, cheap fashion stores similar to Charlotte Ruse, and street musicians too. My favorite was the 2 guys who played music while standing on these little posts about 3 feet high. One had a banjo, the other an acoustic guitar, and they played a song I'm guessing they wrote, called "I'll kill a puppy every day until you go out with me." It was hilarious!!!
This morning we took an outing to the Cliffs of Moher, but it was raining the whole time so it was hard to see much of the coast at all. It was still cool, but would have been amazing if it had been a clear day. I had a flying dream once, back when I was in high school or before that, where I was soaring over green topped cliffs that dove straight into the rolling waves of the ocean. I'm sure that is what these cliffs would have looked like if it had been a sunny day, so no worries, I've already seen them in my dreams. =)
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Bus rides galore
Today and yesterday I think we rode our little tour bus back and forth from here to there about 25 times. Yipes.
Yesterday morning we all met at the Dublin airport's new terminal. Much more spiffy than the old one that my flight flew into. At the entrance there were even some lovely ladies in their flight attendant outfits handing out travel sized, men's Dove products. I took two, of course. Never refuse things that are free. They might come in handy. Like for instance, today when one of my male classmates said he forgot to buy bodywash at the store we went to, I was like, "Well, my friend, it just so happens...." True story.
So we took a bus from Dublin to New Grange Lodge, which is wonderful! It feels like a little home away from home here. There are several lounge areas with couches; one has a flat screen tv, another has a radio. There's a nice little dining room and an outdoor eating area in the center courtyard. (although it's too chilly to eat outside in the mornings) Only bummer is the internet connection gets really bad when everyone is trying to use it at once. I haven't been able to get online till now. And that's because all but 2 of my classmates have just gone out to the local bar. Ha.
After getting our things settled in at the lodge that morning we walked a few blocks down to the New Grange sight. Pretty awesome. There they have some really cool restored ancient underground structures that are quite neat. It looks like a big grassy hill from the outside and inside it's like a tunnel system with little rooms inside and it's all constructed with stone. Movement inside of these underground areas was very restricted so you could only go straight in and straight out pretty much, but the cool part about it was knowing that they were engineered very intelligently several millenia ago such that the entrances were angled just right as to let in the rising or the setting sun at different times of the year.
After returning to the lodge that evening we had a meal prepared for us by the staff at the lodge, which included the best homemade apple crisp with fresh apples and real whipped cream EVER! Mmmm... Then we did a little team-building, get to know each other, exercise. The point was to find out one thing that we have in common with each person. It was fun, but by this time though, everyone was really exhausted from the long flights and the time change and everything. We listened to a couple "site reports" (where class members give a brief on a site that we will be seeing soon) and then we went to bed.
Next day, today, it was lots and lots of bus rides on our mini coach bus with our Irish tour guide Mickey. We went to the site of the Battle of the Boyne, (http://www.battleoftheboyne.ie/) and then moved on to see the preserved decapitated head of St. Oliver Something-or-Other, at St. Peters Church in Drogheda. I guess he was Catholic in a time when it was not so popular to be Catholic. Poor bloke.
Then, we saw the ruins of the Melifont Abbey, a monestary. Really cool. Too bad it was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell some centuries ago. Part of his Parlimentarian movement that basically destroyed ALL churches in Ireland (and I feel like maybe England too?)
We took a break for lunch next at a little Argentinian dining establishment where we had soup and sandwiches and then we stopped by the Hill of Slane, which we just viewed from the bus. We didn't learn much about it except that tradition says that something significant happened there with Saint Patrick where he lit a fire when he was supposed to have waited for the King at the time to light his first. It was something that kind of marked a change in an era where paganism was giving way to Christianity, which was becoming a more mainstream thing.
Anyway, next was Trim Castle, which was my favorite place so far. It was still standing well enough that you could tour all around inside of it. My favorite part of the castle was the little narrow and steep spiraling stairs that go up and down on either corner of the castle. I think it was 4 stories. It also happens to be the castle where the movie Braveheart was filmed. That made it way cooler. I was trying to picture scenes from the movie as we walked around. Fun.
Then lastly, was the Hill of Tara, which our classmate Tara found especially amusing and took the opportunity to take her picture with anything and everything that said Tara on it. So Silly =) . The hill of Tara was the hill where all the high kings of Ireland used to reside. There were no dwellings actually existing on the sight. Just lots of hills. Oh yeah, and the "fertility stone". A rather phallic looking stone standing straight up from the ground. Some of my classmates hoisted themselves up to get pictures taken sitting on top of it. Hehe. Quite amusing. Though the Hill of Tara was not my favorite place, there was a cute puppy there. Must've been a local dog from the area because he was never with an owner. But he was so cute and playful. I played fetch with him a bit with a stick and the funniest part was when he had his teeth gripped on that stick so tight that when I slowly lifted it up in the air with both hands on either side of his mouth, he just kept hangin on and floated right up in the air clenched on to that stick, even as I began rotating him around in a 360. LOL. Seeing a little doggie fly around in a circle hanging from a stick is funny as heck.
So, then we just stopped by a grocery store and came back to the lodge and cooked dinner. And that's pretty much it so far.
I hope tomorrow is fun. I think we go to Galway tomorrow. I know we have a few days in Galway and a lot of free time there, so I'm looking forward to doing some more exploring and having some fun there. I think I like the free exploring time better than the scheduled touring time. I'm such a lollygagger. =) Talk to you later everyone!
~Julianne
Yesterday morning we all met at the Dublin airport's new terminal. Much more spiffy than the old one that my flight flew into. At the entrance there were even some lovely ladies in their flight attendant outfits handing out travel sized, men's Dove products. I took two, of course. Never refuse things that are free. They might come in handy. Like for instance, today when one of my male classmates said he forgot to buy bodywash at the store we went to, I was like, "Well, my friend, it just so happens...." True story.
So we took a bus from Dublin to New Grange Lodge, which is wonderful! It feels like a little home away from home here. There are several lounge areas with couches; one has a flat screen tv, another has a radio. There's a nice little dining room and an outdoor eating area in the center courtyard. (although it's too chilly to eat outside in the mornings) Only bummer is the internet connection gets really bad when everyone is trying to use it at once. I haven't been able to get online till now. And that's because all but 2 of my classmates have just gone out to the local bar. Ha.
After getting our things settled in at the lodge that morning we walked a few blocks down to the New Grange sight. Pretty awesome. There they have some really cool restored ancient underground structures that are quite neat. It looks like a big grassy hill from the outside and inside it's like a tunnel system with little rooms inside and it's all constructed with stone. Movement inside of these underground areas was very restricted so you could only go straight in and straight out pretty much, but the cool part about it was knowing that they were engineered very intelligently several millenia ago such that the entrances were angled just right as to let in the rising or the setting sun at different times of the year.
After returning to the lodge that evening we had a meal prepared for us by the staff at the lodge, which included the best homemade apple crisp with fresh apples and real whipped cream EVER! Mmmm... Then we did a little team-building, get to know each other, exercise. The point was to find out one thing that we have in common with each person. It was fun, but by this time though, everyone was really exhausted from the long flights and the time change and everything. We listened to a couple "site reports" (where class members give a brief on a site that we will be seeing soon) and then we went to bed.
Next day, today, it was lots and lots of bus rides on our mini coach bus with our Irish tour guide Mickey. We went to the site of the Battle of the Boyne, (http://www.battleoftheboyne.ie/) and then moved on to see the preserved decapitated head of St. Oliver Something-or-Other, at St. Peters Church in Drogheda. I guess he was Catholic in a time when it was not so popular to be Catholic. Poor bloke.
Then, we saw the ruins of the Melifont Abbey, a monestary. Really cool. Too bad it was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell some centuries ago. Part of his Parlimentarian movement that basically destroyed ALL churches in Ireland (and I feel like maybe England too?)
We took a break for lunch next at a little Argentinian dining establishment where we had soup and sandwiches and then we stopped by the Hill of Slane, which we just viewed from the bus. We didn't learn much about it except that tradition says that something significant happened there with Saint Patrick where he lit a fire when he was supposed to have waited for the King at the time to light his first. It was something that kind of marked a change in an era where paganism was giving way to Christianity, which was becoming a more mainstream thing.
Anyway, next was Trim Castle, which was my favorite place so far. It was still standing well enough that you could tour all around inside of it. My favorite part of the castle was the little narrow and steep spiraling stairs that go up and down on either corner of the castle. I think it was 4 stories. It also happens to be the castle where the movie Braveheart was filmed. That made it way cooler. I was trying to picture scenes from the movie as we walked around. Fun.
Then lastly, was the Hill of Tara, which our classmate Tara found especially amusing and took the opportunity to take her picture with anything and everything that said Tara on it. So Silly =) . The hill of Tara was the hill where all the high kings of Ireland used to reside. There were no dwellings actually existing on the sight. Just lots of hills. Oh yeah, and the "fertility stone". A rather phallic looking stone standing straight up from the ground. Some of my classmates hoisted themselves up to get pictures taken sitting on top of it. Hehe. Quite amusing. Though the Hill of Tara was not my favorite place, there was a cute puppy there. Must've been a local dog from the area because he was never with an owner. But he was so cute and playful. I played fetch with him a bit with a stick and the funniest part was when he had his teeth gripped on that stick so tight that when I slowly lifted it up in the air with both hands on either side of his mouth, he just kept hangin on and floated right up in the air clenched on to that stick, even as I began rotating him around in a 360. LOL. Seeing a little doggie fly around in a circle hanging from a stick is funny as heck.
So, then we just stopped by a grocery store and came back to the lodge and cooked dinner. And that's pretty much it so far.
I hope tomorrow is fun. I think we go to Galway tomorrow. I know we have a few days in Galway and a lot of free time there, so I'm looking forward to doing some more exploring and having some fun there. I think I like the free exploring time better than the scheduled touring time. I'm such a lollygagger. =) Talk to you later everyone!
~Julianne
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
First 48 hours
Airports are much like cities. Busy, with lots of people traffic and shops and restaurants. Chicago's airport was really nice. I found some really cool gift shops that I might hit up on the way back, except oh yeah, I don't go through there on the way home. Oh well. I enjoyed the 5 hours or so layover I had there. I took a handful of pictures including one of a giant skeleton of a brachiosaurus. I didn't know they had airports back in the time of the dinosaurs.... Anyway, Frankfurt was cool too. Very big. Somewhat confusing at first. It was SO multicultural. There were no "minorities" because everyone in the world was there I think. Man it was huge. One other thing I liked about the Frankfurt airport were the glass enclosed smoking rooms which could get quite packed. It looked like a game of sardines where everyone was smoking. Lol.
So I got here last night around 8:30pm. My flight into Dublin was delayed but not too bad. I was pooped after I got all settled into the hostel. I was also starving though so I made my way to the nearest grocery store thanks to a fellow guest who was kind enough to show me directions on a google map. It was quite an adventure as I only had 15 minutes to make it there before it closed! It was like the Amazing Race. For awhile I was just briskly walking aimlessly because, even though I knew I was heading the right direction, I couldn't find any street signs! It took several blocks to figure out that the street signs were placed right on the sides of the buildings. And sometimes some of the letters have worn off which makes it even more difficult to figure out. (I made it just fine though) It was drizzly and warm out, the streets were pretty full of nightlife. I got a sandwich and some other things and mozied my way back to the hostel, taking in all the sights and sounds. It's a happening area of town, Temple Bar. Kind of like Uptown in Minneapolis, only much more compact. The streets, many of which are brick, are very narrow, as are the sidewalks. Restaurants, bars, and other shops are everywhere. The bigger buildings are either banks, churches, or museums.
The cars drive on the wrong side of the road and the drivers sit in the wrong side of the car.
It's very strange. And there's not exactly a buffer zone between where the sidewalk ends and the driving lane begins, so stay on that sidewalk if you don't want to get side-swiped by one of the double decker city busses!
One of my classmates got here this afternoon. We went out walking a bit and met an interesting, perhaps a little eccentric, local. So much I could say about that. A short man, about 50, wearing a suit and tie, strong accent, said his name was John-Paul O'Reily. He asked us where we were headed. Said Dublin was his city. Just before running into him, Anna and I saw several black cars drive by, surrounded by several police officers on motorcycles. Mr. O'Reily asked us if we knew who just drove by and before we got a chance to reply he informed us that is was the Queen herself. I was in some disbelief even though I knew from watching the news that morning that she was, in fact, in Dublin at the present. It somehow seemed to me that for the Queen of England there should have been bigger cars, or more cars, or a parade of people, or paparazzi, or something! But besides the sirens of the motorcops and the 4 black cars that passed by, it was like no big thing. Interesting.
Mr. O'Reily then showed us what he thought of the Queen by using a gesture aimed in the direction that the cars had passed by just a moment ago. Very interesting.
I could say more about Mr. O'Reiley, like the fact that he likes Barack Obama, and a song by Pink, and that he predicted Anna would be a pop star and I would be a politician (Ha!), but I am pretty pooped and ready to prepare for bed. I will be waking up early to catch the bus to the airport to meet the rest of the class. As they say in Frankfurt, Auf Wiedersehen.
So I got here last night around 8:30pm. My flight into Dublin was delayed but not too bad. I was pooped after I got all settled into the hostel. I was also starving though so I made my way to the nearest grocery store thanks to a fellow guest who was kind enough to show me directions on a google map. It was quite an adventure as I only had 15 minutes to make it there before it closed! It was like the Amazing Race. For awhile I was just briskly walking aimlessly because, even though I knew I was heading the right direction, I couldn't find any street signs! It took several blocks to figure out that the street signs were placed right on the sides of the buildings. And sometimes some of the letters have worn off which makes it even more difficult to figure out. (I made it just fine though) It was drizzly and warm out, the streets were pretty full of nightlife. I got a sandwich and some other things and mozied my way back to the hostel, taking in all the sights and sounds. It's a happening area of town, Temple Bar. Kind of like Uptown in Minneapolis, only much more compact. The streets, many of which are brick, are very narrow, as are the sidewalks. Restaurants, bars, and other shops are everywhere. The bigger buildings are either banks, churches, or museums.
The cars drive on the wrong side of the road and the drivers sit in the wrong side of the car.
It's very strange. And there's not exactly a buffer zone between where the sidewalk ends and the driving lane begins, so stay on that sidewalk if you don't want to get side-swiped by one of the double decker city busses!One of my classmates got here this afternoon. We went out walking a bit and met an interesting, perhaps a little eccentric, local. So much I could say about that. A short man, about 50, wearing a suit and tie, strong accent, said his name was John-Paul O'Reily. He asked us where we were headed. Said Dublin was his city. Just before running into him, Anna and I saw several black cars drive by, surrounded by several police officers on motorcycles. Mr. O'Reily asked us if we knew who just drove by and before we got a chance to reply he informed us that is was the Queen herself. I was in some disbelief even though I knew from watching the news that morning that she was, in fact, in Dublin at the present. It somehow seemed to me that for the Queen of England there should have been bigger cars, or more cars, or a parade of people, or paparazzi, or something! But besides the sirens of the motorcops and the 4 black cars that passed by, it was like no big thing. Interesting.
Mr. O'Reily then showed us what he thought of the Queen by using a gesture aimed in the direction that the cars had passed by just a moment ago. Very interesting.
I could say more about Mr. O'Reiley, like the fact that he likes Barack Obama, and a song by Pink, and that he predicted Anna would be a pop star and I would be a politician (Ha!), but I am pretty pooped and ready to prepare for bed. I will be waking up early to catch the bus to the airport to meet the rest of the class. As they say in Frankfurt, Auf Wiedersehen.
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