"Where the men are men, and the sheep are nervous" -Ireland

Luck of the Irish!  A Rainbow!

This past weekend, I went on a 3-day paddywagon tour of Southern Ireland with stops in Galway and Killarney.  Thursday night, we flew into Dublin, Ireland.  The first night was our only one to be spent in Dublin, so we went out briefly to walk around the river, take pictures of the infamous Temple Bar, and to stop in a couple pubs to hear some live Irish music.  The second day, we began our journey to Galway.  Throughout the day, we had various scenic stops.  We got our first glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful green countryside. As we drove through Connemara, we also got a lovely mountain view.  We had a stop to take photographs at Kylemore Castle, which was entirely picturesque.  Lunch was a picnic of cheese, bread, and fresh fruit.  We very quickly decided that Irish cheese was way better than what you get out of the package in the States!  We also saw LOTS of sheep, which our tour guide always pointed out by yelling “SHEEP!!!” every time he saw some.  We also saw lots of walls that had been built to divide people’s land during the potato famine.  That night, we stopped in Galway, where we did some shopping and then enjoyed a night of going to pubs, enjoying live music, and interacting with the locals.  At one pub, we were talking to a very outgoing guy who then invited us to come to his friend’s birthday party in the back of the pub in what would be their equivalent of a party room.  After, we met up with some of the other members of our paddywagon who were from New Zealand and Australia and went to a couple different clubs to finish off the night.  I LOVED Galway!! It was exactly the cute, old Irish town that I was wanting to see.

A Stop at an Old Church

The Irish Countryside

Castle!

Morning River Side Run in Galway

Our second day on the paddywagon tour, we began the journey from Galway to Killarney, but not before I got my morning run in!  I went by some old churches, the Spanish Arch, and for the most part ran on the river front.  It was absolutely beautiful.  I absolutely came to a true admiration for the quaint little Irish town.  It was sad to have to move on, but the second day was absolutely spectacular.  There is not a way that anyone could see the beauties we saw and not believe in a God.  The entire day, we drove along the coast.  We saw beautiful beaches, but most notably the Cliffs of Moher, also known as the Cliffs of Insanity.  These Cliffs were absolutely just spectacular.  It was easily comparable to the Grand Canyon.  We also stopped at a wishing well where we had to throw coins in backwards.  If we made it, our wish would come true, but if we missed, the opposite would come true!  We spent the night in the very small town of Killarney, and enjoyed some pub life at a place called The Grand. 

Castle by the Sea

Seaside Village

Cliffs of Moher

Enjoying the View!

The third day, we moved from Killarney towards Dublin.  This drive included the counties of Cork and Kerry, lots of mountain views, and a stop at the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone for 7 years of eloquence of speech.  Kissing the Blarney stone was probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever done in my life because you literally dangle 300 feet above the ground almost like you are doing a backbend.  However, the grounds, castle, and cave were beautiful.  It was a sunny day and it felt and looked just like spring.  To conclude the trip, we stopped at the Rock of Castle Dunamase in the Golden Vale.  There were lots of cool old stone configurations that we enjoyed climbing on, and we got a beautiful view of the Irish countryside.  After this, we rushed back to Dublin, grabbed cabs, and raced through the airport (we had only 40 minutes from our arrival at the airport until the time the plane departed! Scary!) and were a bit rushed, but made it just in time.

Overall, Ireland was one of the most beautiful and spectacular places I have ever visited.  Again, I truly felt as though I was able to become somewhat immersed in the culture here, and I could have spent days just sitting on the paddywagon bus admiring the country, mountains, and sea.  It truly was spectacular.  I hope that in the future, I can return to do a tour of the northern part of Ireland since I was only able to tour the southern part of the country.    

Overlooking the Countryside :)



Castle Grounds

Cave Adventure!

Blarney Castle

Rock at Dunamase

Barcelona, Espana!!! Yes, I am still alive!!

Highlighter Party

Hello all! Sorry for the delay in posts! Things have been so busy here!  I have been studying for tests, writing papers, coordinating my Christian Fellowship group, planning trips, getting ready for trips, going on trips, studying some more, attending a Valentine’s Day karaoke party, chatting with staff like the funny old night guard Chris, preparing an act for our school talent show, going to Stamford with my host family, learning to actually like and drink a lot of tea, visiting Barcelona with four of my girlfriends, and going on a large group paddywaggon tour of Ireland.  Yesterday, I got to celebrate “pancake day” or as we would call it Mardi Gras of Fat Tuesday with my host family!  They had both “savory pancakes” (including chicken, mushrooms, and a sauce) as well as “sweet pancakes” that you add orange and lemon juice (fresh squeezed), chocolate, honey, and sugar!  They were much thinner than American pancakes, but were absolutely delicious!  After, I returned to school, and we had a highlighter party where everyone wore white shirts and wrote on each other with highlighters (they showed up under the black lights that were out).  Today, I am so lucky that I have gotten to attend our “double day” of classes! Woohoo!   So, needless to say, it is a very busy day and week once again!

Beach at Last!!

So…now for Barcelona!

Wednesday February 8^th.  British Studies Exam: 14:00-16:00. Cab to Grantham Train Station: 15:55.  Train Departure from Grantham: 16:17. Train Arrival in King’s Cross Train Station: 17:29.  Tube to Victoria Train Station. Gatwick Express departure from Victoria Train Station: 18:15.  Arrival at Airport: 18:44.  Easy Jet departure to Barcelona: 20:15.  Arrival in Barcelona: 23:30.  Nothing like a hectic start to the long weekend!!  We did, however, successfully make all of these connections, just barely!  Upon arrival to Barcelona, we took a taxi to our hostel (I still think he overcharged us because he thought he could take advantages of Americans) and then went to the beach.  Even though it was only 40 degrees outside at best, we ran around barefoot and got our feet in the water!  It was a great start to what was to be a really amazing trip. 

View out of the Hostel at Breakfast

Thursday:  We started the day in the hostel café, eating our free breakfast, planning our day, and looking out to the beach through the glass window wall of the café.  Yes, our hostel was right on the beach, and I could see it while eating my morning muffin.  I think it’s the closest I have ever stayed to a beach!  Planning the day was a little complicated because we had several maps, but none that showed which metro stops led us to the various attractions we wanted to see, so we had to guess and check with our limited knowledge of Spanish.  Also, people in Spain do not even speak Spanish, but rather Catalan (a merge of Spanish and a couple of other languages that we definitely didn’t know)!  “Habla ingles?” seemed to be the one phrase we began to depend on!  The day was full of highs and lows. Highs: Being walking on La Rambla (the famous walking street), being able to navigate based on color rather than have to decipher the Catalan, eating pastries and napping on the beach, and eating the traditional Spanish paella.  Low of the day: Barcelona being the top city for pickpocketing and Becca being a victim to it.  Fortunately, she noticed immediately and another friendly tourist who spoke some English was able to lend us her phone to cancel the credit cards immediately. 

Karen, Becca, and I on the beach!

The Beach!

Sunset at the Port

Paella :)

Bus Tour!

Saturday morning, Karen and I decided to do a double-decker bus tour of the city due to our limited touring the previous day after the pickpocketing incident.  It was a quick and easy way to be led around the city, hear some of the city’s history in English, and be able to visit all of the attractions that we wanted to see.  We also got a great deal and discount on lunch at a restaurant ironically named “Happy.”  It really did make us happy and full!  Some of the highlights of the day included seeing the Olympic Village, bull fighting and soccer stadiums, and Park Guell.  At Park Guell, we watched the sunset from the highest part of the park, where there were 3 crosses up on a hill overlooking the city.  It was absolutely beautiful, and truly a God-inspired spectacle.  Sunday, we concluded our trip with enjoying our last bit of Spanish food at a café where we got into a long chat with a few locals, and viewing the beautiful basilica, Sagrada Familia. 

The Pastries Rocked!

Casa Batllo

Park Guell

Three Crosses

Sagrada Familia

Inside Sagrada Familia

After my trip in Spain, I truly have a new appreciation of Spanish culture.  I wish I could have had so much more time in Barcelona!  Not only was the city beautiful, but it had a definite sense of culture,cuisine, religion, and livelihood.  I hope someday to return here and truly be able to more fully immerse myself in the wonderful Spanish culture and way of life.

Sunset at Park Guell

Birthday Week!

My Small Group Roman Tour!

This Wednesday, we went on a field trip to Lincoln (about an hour away from Harlaxton via bus).  Here we explored some Roman ruins, toured an old Cathedral that was built during the 11^th century, and also toured Lincoln castle that is currently the home of one of the four copies of the Magna Carta.  We also had some free time to explore the city on our own, eat our sack lunches, visit a pub called the Magna Carta, and do some shopping.  It was a great trip.  Too bad we have to be tested over it!

Rachel and I in front of the Manor

This weekend, I was able to celebrate my 21^st birthday!  It was a little bittersweet. I was not able to celebrate with everyone back at home, but I did truly enjoy my birthday festivities here.  We had class on Friday this week, so many people actually stayed in town this weekend which was nice.  Thursday night, we had a Bistro party that we called “Merica Night” in which we celebrated being American by wearing red, white, and blue, enjoying American food and drinks, playing the national anthem, and listening to any music that was either country or had a reference to the good ‘ol USA.  The Bistro stops serving food and drinks at 11 every night, but since it was my birthday at midnight, a lot of people stayed down until just after midnight.  At midnight, I was hoisted in the air, and everyone sang happy birthday!  It was a fun way to kick off my new birthday. 

At the Goose with Alex, Albert, and Rachel on Saturday

Friday after class, I went in to town and collected Rachel Milne from the train station and brought her back to the manor to spend my birthday with me!  I got to show her all around the manor and then we went out to The Goose and Barcode.  Three other friends of mine had birthdays within a week of mine, so we all wore birthday pins and went out together!  It was a whole lot of fun, and I could not have asked for a better birthday!

View from the Morning Room

Saturday, I got a great birthday present of a snowy manor.  I was really hoping that it would snow while I was here just once to see the manor covered in white!  It truly is beautiful.  A lot the young kids here have been sledding and building snowmen, and several of the students have joined in the fun, too.  I think the refectory is probably missing more than a handful of lunch trays from students attempting to sled down the big hill out back!  Because I have so much work to do, I have spent my time in one of the state rooms called the Morning Room that has big glass windows.  I feel this has been a good way for me to stay in the warmth, yet still enjoy the view of the spectacular wonderland; however, I am hoping to get outside tomorrow afternoon in the snow for a bit!  Later in the evening, we watched a movie and ordered pizza.  During the middle, I was surprised with ai birthday cake from my cross country buddies.  It was made by Cadbury, so it was quite good!  

This morning, I was able to go in to mass at St. Mary’s church, despite the snow on the ground.  I spent much of the rest of the day with my host family for a “barbecue.”  It was much like a gathering with my extended family at home.  Their daughter’s family came to join us, we ate a lot of great food, and then I was surprised with a birthday present and cake!  We also learned how to play Mexican dominoes (and even better, I won)!  I have decided that the Twycross family is awesome.  They truly made my birthday feel special, and I felt like I do have a sort of family over here. To cap off the night, I am working on some  studying for my British Studies test and watching the super bowl (yes until 3:15 am)! Karen and I made a special sign for the occasion! :)  We were very excited about the Giants win and ran around the manor chanting and celebrating!

We hate the Patriots!  GO GIANTS!

Edinburgh, Scotland: The Best City EVER!

Lunch Spot at Calton Hill!

Ok, I know I am really late on this, but here we go! Last weekend, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland for three days, and it was absolutely AMAZING and will be a very hard trip to top.  I remember telling my travel buddies in the train station before we left that I just had a really good feeling about the weekend.  Little did I know how great the trip would really be.  During the meet a family program the night before, our “dad” told us to look at the windows about an hour from Scotland because the view would be beautiful.  The train ran along the shore, and we could see light houses and waves in the ocean!  And, of course, lots of sheep.  Upon our arrival in Edinburgh (pronounced by the Scots as Edinburuh), we checked into the hostel and then headed off to find a place to eat our packed pb&j lunch.  We walked to the top of Calton Hill, which overlooks most of the city, and found a great place for our picnic!  That afternoon, we met up with several friends and hiked to the top of Arthur’s Seat, which essentially is a steep climb to overlook the city.  We took lots of pictures at the top, and then hiked down to a pond we saw below where we skipped some stones and had swans eat right out of our hands!!  After the hike, we wandered down the Royal Mile and walked into many of the little souvenir shops and boutiques.  For dinner, we found a pub called “The Tron” that was fairly reasonably priced.  I had my first Belgian waffle there for dessert, and it was so good that I went back and got another one on Saturday! It had chocolate, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream on top.  Delicious.  After dinner, we went to bed at eight because we were all exhausted! 

Me on Top of Arthur's Seat

Group Shot from the Castle

Sunset Run

Day two began with a sunrise run in attempts to see the harbor; however, we ended up near the water in a very industrial area that wasn’t exactly picturesque, but we got a good run in and saw the pretty colours in the sky!  We then showered, ate breakfast/ lunch, and went on a three hour tour of the city!  We heard all sorts of historical, cultural, and as our tour guide phrased it, “just plain weird” stories about Edinburgh.  My favorite story was how the stone of destiny (a giant stone used as a throne for coronation of all Scottish kings) was reacquired.  It had been moved by the English king to Westminster Abbey when it rightfully still belonged in Scotland.  A group of college students from Glasgow University (around thirty minutes from Edinburgh) heard the story of the stone and decided to steal it back one night.  When they were on their way back, they heard on the radio that there were extra inspections at the England-Scotland border because the stone had been stolen.  The students decided to bury the stone in a field and come back for it later.  Then, realizing that in the cold and under the weight of the ground the stone could crumble, the group leader Ian went back for the stone.  Bad luck continued to strike when there was an Irishman’s caravan on top of the exact spot where the stone was.  Ian politely asked the man to move the caravan, but the man slammed the door in his face.  So Ian went back to Scotland and came back later the next day with some whiskey.  He then told the Irishman what he had done and if he would move his caravan so that he could get the stone.  The Irishman loved the story and since the Irish are not a fan of the Brits, he was overjoyed to move the caravan.  Bad luck continued again when Ian dropped the stone and cracked it in two; however, he managed to hide it under the front passenger seat of the car and drive it back to Scotland with the Irishman.  They then celebrated with it before finally telling the government what had been done.  The stone now is in its rightful place in Edinburgh castle.  This is just one example of the several stories we heard.  It was a very cold day, but really enjoyed the tour and warmed up with some tea afterwards.  After the tour, I went to the castle and was able to actually see the stone, which has been pieced back together.  The castle tour was wonderful too!  The view on top of the castle was one of the best views of the entire city.  We got to see various different parts of the castle including the prison, chapel, great hall, and dungeons.  After exploring the castle, we again went to Calton Hill after to watch the sunset.  Later that night, we had dinner and then partook in a “pub crawl.”  Basically, the pub crawl was a guided group that took us to various different local pubs and allowed us to get to know different people that we may not have met otherwise.  Within the first thirty minutes, I had met Scots, a guy from Australia, a girl from Argentina, and another girl from Chile.  We had a lot of fun talking to them, seeing the different cultural differences that we all had, and coming together over a common love for traveling in Europe. 

Me in Front of the Castle

Sunrise at Arthur's Seat

In the morning, I again rose early for a sunrise run, this time the destination being the top of Arthur’s Seat.  It was quite a climb, but we watched the most beautiful sunrise I have ever witnessed.  The rest of the day was spent wondering around town and doing some shopping.  We went to the Scottish national museum (home to Dolly the sheep), the museum of childhood (full of old toys!), and walked around the beautiful campus of the University of Edinburgh.  I even at the end of the day decided to buy myself a Scotland shirt as an early birthday present.  Before heading to the train station, we walked all the way to Papa John’s (a little farther than we remembered it being) and got pizza for dinner.  Because of how long of a walk it was, we literally had to run all the way back in order to get back to the hostel, get our luggage, and to the train station on time!  It was a close call, but we made it and were finally able to eat the pizza!  On the way home, we all enjoyed talking about the trip, but then got the thrill of reading our Shakespeare piece, Henry IV, on the way home.

So far, Scotland has been my favorite trip and it will be hard to beat.  I loved the beauty of the outdoors, the castle, the strong Scottish pride, and just the overall feel of the town.  Edinburgh was a fairly large city, but small enough to have the unity of a small town.  I actually felt like I could live there, not just like a tourist.  This trip is one I will forever remember and have truly enjoyed.

Top of Arthur's Seat with the XC girls

Meeting my New Family!

Last Thursday, I was able to meet my host family for the semester at the “Meet-A-Family” dinner.  I have been paired with John and Jenny Twycross for the semester and will share them with Shelby Cron, one of the cross country girls.  The school put on a very nice dinner (that is apparently always some sort of chicken according to my parents) with some AWESOME cheesecake for dessert (and I don’t even like cheesecake)!  The dinner allowed us to meet, talk with, and get to know our host families.  We also pulled out our “diaries” (English word for planner) and scheduled the first actual visit with our family.  This Tuesday, Shelby and I went to our host family’s home for dinner.  Our host family lives in a lovely home in Grantham.  They prepared chili for us, which I thought was 203248203482039843 times better than the American version of chili.  It was served over rice with soy sauce and had vegetable chunks such as pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms in it!  After being entirely stuffed with chili and bread, we were then served apple crumble with custard for dessert.  It was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten, or at least it seemed that way after not having ate any good desserts in a while (minus my Belgian waffle in Scotland)!  After dinner, Shelby and I stayed and played a game called "Farkle" that I had given as a gift to my host family.  It was a whole lot of fun, and we are looking forward to going back to their house this Sunday for a mid afternoon barbecue!

Our Family! :)