Galway & The Aran Islands

Last weekend, we decided that a trip to the west side of Ireland was very much needed. Thus, on Friday, Elizabeth and I awoke an hour earlier than usual...packed our bags, and carried them all the way to Kevin Street. We arrived to our Microbiology lab flush-faced and sweating, but hours later, it proved to be well worth our strife. Before we left the house, however, the mail courier knocked on our front door with a package. And this time...it was for me! The girls have gotten tons of mail and packages since their arrival, so this one really made me feel good.

Thank you, Mary Beth!! Halloween is her favorite holiday, and thank you for celebrating with me from so far away MB. I was in need of some American candy..and candy corn! They don't have it here!!

I know how SPOOKILY decorated her house probably is right now and how pumpkiny it smells too! I wish I was around to see/smell it! This package will suffice, however:)

With that, Elizabeth and I headed to the bus station to meet Jeanine and Monica for a wonderful weekend in Galway. The boys left much earlier since they do not have class on Fridays. We met them as they were leaving The King's Head, a popular pub in Galway. We decided to grab some dinner at this pub. It was very cool inside.

We later met at a pub on Quay street to celebrate our arrival in Galway as well as birth of Jeanine....she turned 22 late that night. The live music there was AMAZING! We met Erica, a close friend of Derrick's who is studying in London this semester. She is so cool...and we love her.


We decided to finish the night at The King's Head...where we found a great DJ playing good old American music! Jeanine got her birthday Guinness, and the dancing began...

The next morning, we woke early to begin the day! A great day through Galway shopping. I got a head-start on my Christmas shopping as the little shops there had the most amazing gifts. My mother and Grandma Carolyn would have gone NUTS! The shopping scene is pretty amazing here.As many of you probably know, Ireland is full of sheep's wool sweaters, and it seemed Galway and the Aran Islands had the most of them. Adam found this little baby sweater of which we all agreed could only fit a baby just from the womb. It was so tiny.The farmer's market was amazing. There was so much delicious food; our mouths were watering. We saw huge bowls of fresh pasta salads, fresh fish, olives that looked like they were just picked from the tree, and loads of fresh breads and pastries. Since I have been craving a doughnut since I've been here, I opted for a 70 euro-cents sugar & cinnamon covered doughnut handmade before my very eyes. I was on cloud nine.Somehow, Adam, Joe, Jake, and I lost the girls....so we stopped in the middle of shopping street to watch a magician from Texas. He was one of the best magicians I have ever seen in real life. Who would have thought such talent in Ireland was grown from our very own country?Lastly, a little lunch in the park before we headed to the bus and then ferry that would take us to the Aran Islands. The street sign below we saw at the loading dock. The boys thought is was funny and asked that I snap a photo.The ferry ride lasted maybe an hour. I often find that I am happiest while on the water....so this part of the trip was one of my favorite. The air temperature was perfect: not too hot, not too cold....brisk. We watched the sun set, and arrived on the island in the dark of night. The area is not well lit by any means, and few people inhabit the island. It was at this point where we thanked God for having the boys with us. While Jake made chainsaw noises in the background, and Jeanine yelled 'boo'....we thought this set-up would just too perfect for a 'Texas-chainsaw massacre 4: Aran Islands rendition'.We arrived at our hostel (pictures to be seen below), and after being ENTIRELY FREAKED OUT by the place (especially since we arrived in the pitch black night), we decided to lighten up the mood by celebrating Jeanine's birthday in one of the only open restaurants on the island. It was amazingly delicious. I had the most delicious cider (as seen below...do we have this in the states?), and I do not believe that any of us have laughed so much before in our lives. I cannot even begin to depict to you what was said over dinner, and so I am forwarding you to my dear friend Joe Comerford's blog post of the trip. He describes it perfectly. Begin about halfway through this blog post when he begins talking of the Aran Islands. Please click the link below:

http://jac5270-thisisireland.blogspot.com/2008/10/100708-101308.html

Here you will learn about the two 80-year old women (Helen from Alaska can be seen wearing the salmon shirt in one of the below photos) that Jake and Joe had to bunk with along with how we made the ultimate best of our situation.

We quietly sang 'happy birthday' to Jeanine, until half-way through the song, the entire restaurant was singing and clapping for her. The Irish as so nice!Here is the hostel we stayed at: the 'druggie house', apparently.Poor Adam's bed was in a mudroom...the walls were moldy, the whole room was windows which left little room for any warmth in the area...so we had him sleep in our room with us....we were terrified to be alone anyway.Part of the directions the lady sent Jeanine as to 'how to get to my hostel' said, "Go past the 'Lucky Star Bar' with the roosters. Now, here we are thinking there is going to be a painted picture of some roosters on the building....OH NO! Imagine seeing the bar, being within one foot distance from a fury object that appears to be...sleeping..., and then upon a slight form of movement, you come to find its a live rooster. (Yes, that's right...one foot...one ruler's length away from your and a ferocious bird.)We woke up super early Sunday morning to walk up to the cliffs. They were amazing...and, as depicted below, you will see photos of some sites leading up to the cliffs. There was nothing by the cliffs...no guards, no rails, not a person in sight...just us and God's natural gift.

Jake was so eager to get to the cliffs....he ran up the rocky, beaten path to get there. Our hike up the hills was well worth it.



Literally, one slip off the cliffs and you fell into an abyss of swirling waters and rocky ground: a goner. Helen (the 80-year old from Alaska) told us that many people die because the wind will just sweep you off from your feet. Needless to say, the girls and I were very very careful. And then there was Jake...who was sending us to our graves with his fearless moves, skipping from cliff to cliff, and taking photos from unsafe ledges of the rocks. If you look to the right of me in the photo below, you can see an eenie-weenie little person in a dark coat who looks like he's going to plummet into the rocks. By the grace of God....he is still alive.


I like to say that it is this moment whereas Joe walks to safe grounds, Adam is trying to persuade Jake into NOT jumping over the cliffs. The drop was so deep.
Jake takes Adam's advice... :) (Not really....he was fearless, and kept skipping...I just like to think he was being safe).
And with that, we headed back to Galway, and then back to Dublin. We spotted a beautiful horse that only I was able to coax into feeding with my bare hands. I'd like to think it is because I used to feed my grandpa's horse 'Sweet Pea' when I was little, AND the Milroy's (who I babysit for in Valpo) like to visit and feed the horse down the street little carrots. ...skill, maybe?

Beauty. How else can you describe it?

America the Beautiful

The last time that I voted, I was unsure of many of the politicians. I did not know who they were, what they stood for, ...their beliefs, etc. This year, as one of the most important elections in America's history, I made sure that if I did not know of the candidate, I would research his or her claims, specifically noting the issues at hand as best I could.

Then, after careful consideration, I decided that I wanted to remember where I voted (in Ireland) and how I voted, adding more importance to my decisions. And so, last Thursday, on a rainy windy day...I headed two miles from Kevin Street (DIT's location) to the American Embassy.

I felt like the guards thought I was a terrorist or some crazy photographer, because I was walking around the building snapping photos. I had to speak through bullet-proof glass in order to enter a tiny building where my camera, telephone (which had to be turned off), and ipod were confiscated. (Otherwise I'd have photos of the embassy without the tacky gate in the front). Upon removing all metal from my body, walking through a metal-detector, given a special necklace that 'must be worn at all times while in the building', and lifting up my pant-legs to check for stowed objects, I was free to enter. I felt, well, pretty important.

...like a good American citizen.

That evening, we had the boys over for dinner. By coincidence, we had talked of making an American meal for them. We had New York/Chicago style pizza (some pizza's came out thicker than others), garlic knots, and M&M cookie bars for dessert.

Thus came an end to an American day....in an Irish sort of way.

Tea for Two and Two for Tea

When the shades lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever is life is over and our work is done, we have one of two options: steadily walk toward our quiet home or move into an evening that can only end in good conversation and an eventual sound sleep. Elizabeth and I chose the latter of the two.

After a 3 mile walk to St. James Hospital, only to find that class had been cancelled, I headed back to Kevin Street to a hospital just past Merrion Square in order to attend a theatrical breast-feeding seminar with Mary Moloney (one of my favorite Irish professors at DIT) and Elizabeth. The presentation itself was outstanding. Ireland has great population of reluctant breast-feeding mothers, so hospitals in the Dublin area have formed somewhat of a foundation to help promote breast-feeding thourought all of Ireland. Here are two photos of Merrion Square.

The presentation was all very interesting, but we decided that the perfect way to end the evening would be to have dessert for dinner. Thus, the Queen of Tarts seemed a perfect end to an interesting day... I just love saying that out loud: "The Queen of Tarts". It is so catchy....

I was mildly hoping for ambiance similar to that in 'Alice in Wonderland'. We were surprised to find that although not quite a distinct scene from the movie, a little imagination could carry us beyond this little bakery. We ordered dessert, sipped coffee, and engaged in 'tea talk'.The 'Queen of Tarts' makes all of her own desserts, specializing in tarts. I was very much inclined to get a tart, but I could not leave with the Bailey's Cheesecake peering at me through the window. Elizabeth got an apple crumb tart. Both were delicious.

The busy world was hushed while inside that little shop. What a perfect ending to a perfect day.

A Haunted Castle and A Live Opera

Heeelllo weekend! ...a brief update on our past weekend excursions. Oh what a great past weekend. I have photos and stories to prove it. Friday around 12:30 pm, Elizabeth, Monica, Jeanine, and I scurried out of DIT heading toward a building that would have my father gleam like a child in a toy store just before Christmas. What might you ask is this building?

Yes. The Guinness Storehouse.














Let me preface this by saying I had no initial desire to go to Guinness. However, I was definitely surprised by how well presented the self-guided tour was. All I could think about was how I would give anything to have my dad with me. He would have been in manhood heaven....just the history behind Guinness is fascinating. I was very focused on one of the Guinness history videos.


















We ate at the Guinness Storehouse for lunch. I had the most amazing salmon chowder. The food there is amazing, and the Guinness bread....to die for.
















Guinness markets their beer at being made with the purest water from the Wicklow Mountains. Here we are in front of a beautiful waterfall display in the storehouse.











Guinness is apparently 'good for you', as their slogan depicts. The taste is growing on me...we did get free drinks at the Gravity Bar (as seen in the first photo in this post) You can see nearly all of Dublin City from this high point. We met a nice older couple from Ohio while there, finding out later that they were Notre Dame fans, but even through our disappointment, they were the nicest people in the room.

The tour, lunch, free Guinness in Gravity Bar, and souvenir shopping lasted well over four hours. We were so tired when we returned home. I came home to a phone call from a helpless little boy looking for someone to distract his lack of productivity and boredom. Poor Adam...














He was so distraught from his day dedicated entirely to solitude, so he came over to spend time with the girls and me.


The next day we all woke early to go visit a haunted castle in Malahide...a seaport just north of Dublin. The day was a bit chilly, rainy, windy, and misty. It seemed like the walk to get to the castle lasted forever, but we eventually made it. I thought the castle was pretty cool....but it could have been cooler if we were allowed to take pictures, go into the secret rooms, and touch things. I am still on the prowl for a castle maybe in Edinburgh, Scotland that will scare the pants off me (and Mary Beth...my scare-loving partner).




One of those crazy posts that have signs going in every which way. We managed...

The castle
and the front door


....creepy. I was hoping to see a ghost, but witnessed nothing. We were told that loads of people see 'the white lady'...

Here you can see outside of her bedroom window.
















An old fence...














The roomies!













I asked Adam if I could take a photo of him by the stone fences...I really like those. He wasn't very happy.... :)

















An old building where the family's gravestones are preserved.












Some family graves..













More graves...













We randomly spotted a peacock just outside of the Castle.












They had an awesome playground at Malahide. I have never seen anything like it! I wish I had taken better photos, but here is what I have...both of Brian. See my roommates blogs and hopefully they'll have better photos. This is like exercise equipment..the gazelle:)














A pretty cool chair. They had these awesome gliders too. The kids would have loved it!















Malahide was awesome, exhausting, and wet. We booked it home because Brid Ann (our dean lady) got us tickets for the DIT opera...Wolfgang Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'. It was amazing! We got dressed up and ready very quickly. DIT just renovated their auditorium. It smelled so nice and new.














It rained the entire evening..before, during, and after the opera. We got a cab to the show, but as for walking home....we are all now pros at walking two miles in a cold downpour in heels. Funny, Sunday was warm and sunny. The weather is so unpredictable here. It is just best to predict rainy everyday:)


Post Script:

The boys made us delicious tacos last week. Here is a photo. I forgot my camera as I would have taken many more photos. It was so goooood. We were impressed!

Observations & Complaints

A few things of mention:



- Carrots.
The carrots here are delicious (all kinds, all shapes). I have grown to love the carrot coins and the carrot sticks. I think they are meant to be in stews, but I love them raw. (Jenn, you would love them!) I will never taste carrots so sweet and with such perfect texture anywhere else.

- Exercise is not as readily accepted as is in the US.
We have found maybe two gyms throughout all of Dublin thus far. And, you don't see your
neighbor Mr. Jones running every Saturday morning to keep his heart in check.
Generally, people just walk everywhere here...and I guess that suffices for increasing your
heart rate to them. I have grown timid to power walk throughout the neighborhood....
especially after Monica, Elizabeth and I were hooted and hollered at the first weekend
here. Oops... I didn't know that Europeans don't exercise in shorts!

-St. Stephen's Green is beautiful but...
If you want a quiet park to "have a think" (they say this phrase often here) and chill out,
this is probably not the place for you. It is an excellent place to people watch, however.
Luckily, I have found a beautiful park called Merrion Square...to "have a think".

-St. Patrick's Cathedral charges!
Yes, that is right. You have to pay 4 euro to get a glimpse of this tourist attraction. Now,
upon entering the church, the first thing I saw was the lady behind the "pay desk". I
walked right out. I am hoping to get around this fee by attending mass there on an
upcoming Sunday. I just hope I don't get charged to attend mass. Now THAT is would
be a perfect example as to why so many Chreasters (Christmas-Easter only
church-goers) believe the Catholic church to be 'money hungry'. I'll keep you posted.

-Showering.
The first thing I am going to do when I get home is take one long, steamy, until I'm pruny
shower. The water in our shower can be steaming hot if you turn on the water heater and
allow the water to heat for 30 - 45 min...but just pray that it won't turn cold on you after
five minutes. I have yet to have a truly decent shower.

-The metric system.
I do not think that I will ever grasp this concept. I do not read distance in kilometers, and
I do not cook in Celsius degrees. I like the weather read in Fahrenheit, and food
labels read by cups and ounces rather than per 100 grams serving. I do have
to admit, I like their front-of-pack labeling. And, after a summer at IFIC, I know that
good, standardized front-of-pack labeling will hopefully be coming our way to the US soon:)

-Bus Drivers.
Bus drivers in Ireland (from what I have seen on the streets as they pull up to the roadside) dress amazingly. When I think of a bus driver, I often think of a dumpy, frumpy individual. (Note: this is not always true...I love my bus drivers from home.) Here, they wear sweaters and button-down shirts, or ties and a button-down shirt. Let me just say...I am impressed!

-Groceries, heavy-lifing, and the sweats.
Ah, food. It will be heaven to be able to drive to the grocery store, walk a few yards, buy as much food as you could possibly want in a one-stop trip, cart your food to your car, load it, and drive home. I went to the grocery store today to get ingredients for our dinner tomorrow night (It is our turn to have the guys over). I did not even get that much food, but between my book bag, my extra-large reusable Aldi bag, and the 2-liter of off-brand diet pop in my left hand, I was a wreck by the time I got home. I appreciate the exercise, but I'd appreciate it more if I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Again, a pity shorts are not well accepted!

-Huff-puff-smoke.
Mom, Dad....if I come home with a black lung, I blame it on the crazily high amounts of people that puff out their second-hand smoke. I don't mind the occasional smoker walking beside me. It reminds me of my childhood when my grandma used to smoke and we would take trips to Lansing to visit my grandparents. Nostalgic, if you will. But, sometimes while walking, there will be a smoker to the left, right, front, and back of me...that's a cloud of puff from which I may never recover.

-Food flavors.
While some of the flavors of foods I have noted to be, well, a little bizarre, I have come to find that there are some foods that taste amazing! They have a delicious pomegranate-filled wheatie (think frosted mini wheats but without frosting and filled with a pomegranate flavored center). Mom, you would love that! I also found a chocolate wheatie but have yet to try it. I'll let you know if I ever do. Their yogurt flavors include hazelnut, melon, and pineapple among others. Oh, and I found this delicious little raisin biscuit covered in a thin layer of milk chocolate. At 2.5 grams of fat per biscuit...I'll take it! I am still not too keen on my milk situation, but I'll manage for the near 2 months that I am here. I miss foods in the states, but I know that I will eventually get to have those again. I fear that once I leave the EU, I'll desire their foods and I won't be able to reconcile my cravings. :) Oh dear...

Walking = Tiring

After looking at recent photos of myself, I have noted that I look much too tired that usual. I blame it on excessive amounts of daily walking. I can remember sitting in the back seat of my dad's car while driving through downtown Valpo when I was maybe nine or ten years old. We spotted a mail lady and made note of her slim physique. I remember my dad somehow dancing around the words of "Do you ever wonder why mailmen and mail ladies have such great legs? ....walking." She did have nice legs.

It was around that time that I began to notice the mailman who delivered mail to my piano teacher on Plum Street in Valpo. Every Thursday as I waited in the porch for my lesson to begin, a blue uniformed man would drop off the mail. In the back of my mind, I would regurgitate what my dad had said. And now, it seems that every mailman or mail lady that I see who has nice legs, I think of my dad. Maybe I should consider a new profession?

Let's Go to the Zoo

I apologize; I have been a little behind on my writing. Every moment that I would begin to type, I negated my wishful thinking by insisting to myself that 'this was just not an insightful moment' (to write, that is). So, let me compile my thoughts to you in a most concise, yet enjoyable manner. In order to update you on my travels, I must rewind to this previous weekend, September 27th.

After an entire Friday with little excitement and lots of moseying throughout the house, we woke up Saturday with intentions for a thrilling day. This begun with a quick grocery trip in Rathmines (a little town right down the street from us that has all of the grocery stores we go to) and a delicious breakfast made by me. The girls were still sleeping. This is a traditional Irish 'rendition' I made for Adam. He wanted to take a photo:

I made the girls and I what were supposed to be pancakes. I just bought a little package that said "pancake mix" at Tesco. Unfortunately to my surprise, they tasted more like heavy crepes. I like crepes, but I really had a taste for pancakes. Also of note: the syrup here is not very sweet. I don't really like syrup either...but I approve of the SWEET stuff with my occasional pancake breakfast. I miss Mrs. Butterworth. :(

After some minute dilly-dallying, we decided to make the 4+ mile trek to the Dublin Zoo. I had been prepped to see a true masterpiece of a zoo from my professors at DIT (my school), but my roommates, Adam, and I all agreed that 1. the zoo was just not as fantastic as we had hoped or 2. Dubliners have never experienced an awe-appealing zoo before. We did get to see some animals I had never heard of before, and two hippos among a few other animals. Adam was most excited about the tigers.

We were so close to the tigers that we could nearly touch them if we stuck our hands in the bamboo bushes and through the fence.

Jeanine, Monica, Elizabeth, and I did enjoy the scenery. We justified our 10 euros spent on the trip for the pretty nature walk throughout the zoo.

This photo largely appears to be posed. However, we had to get a photo next to the giant 'dinosaur leaves' as seen behind us. They are huge!

Our 4+ mile walk to the zoo, 1 mile walk through the zoo, and anticipated 4+ mile walk back from the zoo, led us to a well-deserved drink after our excursion at the oldest pub in Dublin: Brazen Head.

The inside of the pub appeared very traditional. Before my travels to Ireland, Mr. Humes (one of my best friends, Lindsay...her dad) gave me a Chicago Police Irish patch that he said I could use to barter for drinks with in Ireland. Apparently, the people here eat that stuff up! Brazen Head had many small individual rooms full of traditional Irish instruments, fire places, photos...and one small room full of patches! It was amazing..just like Mr. Humes had told me! Unfortunately, I left my patch in my other bag at our house. I may have to make the trip back to this little touristy pub...just to have them put my patch on the wall. You can kind of see them behind Adam in this photo that I took.

We left to go home after our quick drink and slightly cultured experience: starving, tired, and a bit cold. Thank goodness there were leftovers waiting for us in the fridge.