Scotland

Since I haven't had any pictures this month, this post shall have them in abundance.

Something I forgot to mention: we saw Avatar in 3D last Monday. It was an impressive thing, but I think that 3D cinematography needs to find it's sea legs before the medium really takes off. Certain 2D conventions, like changing the focus of a frame to direct the viewer's eye, don't really work in 3D (or, at least, I haven't adapted it yet).

So Wednesday morning, we left for Edinburgh. Our flight left at 6:30 in the morning and I was up at half three. We fortunately made it onto the correct plane and were in Edinburgh within two hours. Our hotel wasn't expecting us until noon, so we grabbed breakfast and walked around the neighborhood. Not a touristy location, but lots of cool shops. We checked in, napped, then headed into city center. Edinburgh's city center is a castle on a huge hill, something I feel we lack in America. Enjoy pictures:



The castle's hill was surrounded by a rather nice park. Statues and flowers and stuff.



One of the things I noticed about Edinburgh was how green the city is. Everybody has a little garden out front (all very well-maintained) and some of these seem like tiny parks. People stuff their interiors (by the windows) with flowers and bushes and trees. Streets were tree-lined, sometimes twice.

Things were mostly closed by the time we go out to the city center. The next day, we meant to go on a Highland Tour, a bus tour to see some of the countryside and the highlands. We tried walking to city center, but made a wrong turn (or, rather, planned a long route) and missed the bus - our early wake-up was in vain. Unyielding to despair, we walked to the National Museum. There were many fine works there, from Raphael, Titian, Da Vinci, and Boticelli.



And Harviestoun. Here's me enjoying a particularly excellent example of craftsmanship. From the museum, it was a short walk to the Walter Scott monument.


This spire's exterior was covered with character's from his stories. Fun. Even more so were the views offered from the top.



Old Town. Old. Medieval old. Edinburgh is filled with old buildings. Like this one, part of Old Town:


Point of interest: Old Town is entirely uphill, no matter which direction you travel in.


Princes Street, the main thoroughfare for the city now (the castle and Old Town would be to the left of here). Also, New Town. Not quite as old as Old Town, but still (mostly) a couple of centuries old.




More castle pictures! Woo!



Clayton Hill. Deceptively hard to walk towards, even if you follow the street leading straight towards it.


When we made it to the top, the views offered were choice. Here's Emer looking pensive as she gazes upon the city. From here, we booked it into Edinburgh castle.

The palace, where the crown jewels were kept.

The castle was (as you may have guessed in the previous pictures) quite large. The crown jewels of Scotland were stored there and I learned much about the history of Scotland. There was quite an interesting exhibit about when the castle was used as a POW camp during the War of American Independence. We stayed there, enjoying the castle until the place closed and we were kicked out. We were about to leave, but we noticed a crowd forming and decided to wait to see what the fuss was about. As it turns out, a new governor of Edinburgh Castle was being installed. Much pomp and circumstance.


There was a kilted marching band. Yes, that is a bagpipes and brass band.


The new governor, leading his escort. There was a regent of the Queen there. In part of the ceremony, he walked up to the castle walls and knocked on the gates. I kid you not, a guard appeared at the top of the walls and shouted "Who goes there?" This happened after a half hour of bagpipes playing right outside. Someone didn't get the memo about a new boss.

The next day, we woke up early again and made our way into city center. Emer insisted upon taking the bus this time though (it's only 1.8 miles to walk). We managed to catch our Highland bus tour and left for Loch Lomond. I have no pictures of this for two reasons. Firstly, midges were as thick as fog near the lake. Secondly, the batteries ran out. When we stopped for lunch and a hike at Loch Katrina, we picked up some new batteries and let the camera go wild.




As you can see, the lake was beautiful and the weather followed suit. The highlands were particularly awe inspiring. Our final destination was Stirling and Stirling Castle.


Stirling has a sweet cemetery.


Stirling, a tower whose name is unknown to me, and the Highlands.


Stirling palace. The castle has held a distinguished place in Scottish history, as the single road into the Highlands went through Stirling. Both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce fought important battles within a few miles of the castle. Despite it's significance, I felt Edinburgh has the better castle.


Stirling does have tapestries and an active tapestry workshop. This tapestry is part of a seven piece series "The Hunt of the Unicorn".



Another highlight of the third day was finally taking a picture of ourselves that looks alright. I've gone through a few dozen photos that only show half of my head, or only a single one of Emer's eyes are visible. It sounds like a simple task in theory, but you know what they say about theory and practice.

The next morning, we left for our (thankfully not so early) flight and enjoyed being back home. Yes, I had haggis. Every morning for breakfast. Delicious.

Tomorrow we'll be going into Dublin again, then I will be heading back to Dayton on Tuesday morning. This month has really flown by, but I can't complain. The month with Emer has been absolutely fantastic.

The Streets of Dublin

I've got one week left in Ireland before returning home. This month certainly has flown by (as months tend to do).
Over this past weekend, Dublin hosted the World Street Performer Contest, bringing street performers from all over to perform. I was expecting a sort of chaotic, bazaar-like scene with fire-eaters and sword-swallowers crowding every corner. Instead, it was a much more organized and relaxed affair. The contest took place in Merrion Square, a small park a little ways from St. Stephen's green. There were two 'stages' (open areas of grass) for the performers to show off their stuff. The quality of the performances ranged from highly entertaining to painful and predictable. Canada, in particular, had a mediocre showing. And I did get to see fire consumed that evening.
We rounded off Saturday evening with Butler's hot chocolate (because it's never too warm for hot chocolate) and had dinner at Bewley's, an extremely old restaurant. Apparently, the Bewleyes are almost as old and respected a family in Dublin as the Guinesses. The food was good, the restaurant was all decked out with statues and old paintings, and craic was had.
Fair weather continued throughout the weekend and the days have been filled with small pleasures. We went back to Blessington for a Sunday dinner, where I met Emer's sister and youngest brother. We brought back a trunk full of desserts. Monday afternoon was particularly sunny, so we spent the afternoon outside reading books in a field. Today, we went back into Dublin (Emer had an interview with a child counseling service) and took a bit of a walk about the place.
I really feel like I'm getting to know Dublin and how to get around. A natural enough consequence of spending so much time there, I suppose.

Tomorrow morning (waking up at 4:00), we're leaving to catch a 6:30 flight from Dublin to Edinburgh. We'll be spending three nights looking for adventure and attempting to understand the accent.

The weather's gone bad...

It's been a pretty exciting week for me across the pond. The unnaturally good weather we had the first day continued until a few days ago. I actually was able to work on my tan here in Ireland - who'd have thought? We've spent the days outside as much as possible, walking along the canal or going to the Dublin Zoo.
The Dublin Zoo, in particular, was very nice (it was warm enough to wear shorts that day, honestly.) We got to see the penguins get fed, baby giraffes, and a pair of hippos charge a duck that dared to swim in their pond. (The duck escaped safely.) After the zoo trip, we walked into town and had a delicious dinner (suki yaki) at some Asian restaurant.
However, the weather's taken a turn for the worse. Or rather, a turn towards normality. It is once again cloudy and rainy and everything I've come to expect from Ireland. Most of yesterday was spent making falafel, which turned out much better than expected. It tasted delicious, but the texture wasn't quite what good falafel ought to be.
Today was spent meeting Emer's parents (dad and step-mother) up in Blessington. They were very nice people, feeding me and serving lots of tea. I think I had six or seven cups this afternoon. We took a walk along beautiful Lake Blessington and I enjoyed the views offered by the country roads. Blessington is right next to the Dublin Mountains, so the landscapes and scenery offered was choice. After our lakeside walk, we stopped back to her folks for dinner (and more tea). I got along famously with her family, or at least the part I've met so far.
Another day, another delicious meal. I've been eating too much here :)

Finally Finished, Farewell

The week before was a nice week. I went to Dublin twice this past weekend. On Friday, Arlette and I were invited to a reception / lunch by the Lord Mayor of Dublin. She was doing this for international students. Never one to pass up free food (especially free good food), we both attended. We met a lot of other internationals. An American here or there, a few Russians, and your standard assorted Continentals (French, Spanish, Italian, and German). Several ambassadors also attended, so I chatted up the Indian ambassador. On Sunday, Arlette, Ita, and I went back to Dublin to see some more sights and such. We saw the Kilmainham jail and walked by the Guinness factory on the way to St. Stephen's Green. We were to meet Dan Shannahan there for lunch at Wagamama (awesome name, I know). We would've walked around Guinness factory were we not already late for lunch. Or on time, I suppose, if you're Irish. Lunch was delicious and we wondered around the decked-out mall nearby. Once we got back home, I made the last flat dinner - the famous American Breakfast for Dinner. Again, delicious.

I've finally finished my semester. This past week has been quite busy. I've had SQL assignments, two 3500 word essays, and two exams. It feels nice to be done with it all. Of course, that means my time in Ireland is coming to an end. I've got some mixed feelings about that. I am really looking forward to coming back to the States, seeing family, watching sports like a proper American, etc. Yet I feel like I've been on an adventure for the past three months (which seems like much longer than three months. I feel like I've been here for ages.) and I don't quite want that adventure to end. I've landed in a foreign country and knew a single person (brother of a friend). I've been all over the country (north, south, east, and west) and was able to spend nine days in Paris. I've met some amazing people here and made some great friends. I've learned a lot about Ireland, America, and myself. (I also learned a little of that college education stuff). I feel culturally educated now. Good job me.

There are many things I'll miss about Ireland. Guinness is probably in the top three. Or two. The people I've met are up there as well. I'm gonna miss the friendliness that everyone seems to have - where you could wander into a pub, sit down next to someone, and have a new best mate. I might miss the Irish accent, even though I haven't given it a second thought for the past few months. I might even miss Euros and how coins are actually worth something.

I've taken some more pictures of Maynooth town and its pubs. Oh pubs. You will be missed as well.

The road leading up to North Campus. The shopping mall is the big building in the back.

O'Neills. Jazz nights on Tuesdays and Rock and Roll on Mondays - the music was always good. As the second smallest pub, it had quite a cozy feel.

The Mantra. The upstairs is the closest thing Maynooth has to a nightclub and the only place in town to charge cover. The downstairs was more traditional and had a pub quiz every Tuesday. This place just opened up last year. It used to be the dive bar but is much snazzier now.

This is the Roost. Yes, everything in this picture, except for the chimney way on the right-hand side. There are four different bars and two separate dance floors inside. The Roost had live music Sunday through Thursday nights. My personal favorite pub.

Church. I went here on Sundays. It was conveniently located on the way to the pubs.

There are two other pubs - the Student's Union pub and the Clocktower. I never went to the Clocktower because it's just a little too far away. The SU pub is notable for the three euro pints they had every Monday. As a student, I often felt compelled to take advantage of this offer.

This will be the last post in my blog. I've enjoyed writing about my experiences and adventures and I hope you've enjoyed reading. I'd like to thank everyone who read this blog, especially those of you that commented and made me feel loved. Extra kudos to you.

I'd like to say something profound in Irish here, but my vocabulary is pretty limited. I think 'goodbye' is 'slawn' or something like that, which I suppose will do.
S'long and slán.

Turkey Day and Belfast Weekend

Well, the previous weekend's plans mostly fell apart. I didn't go to Dublin or play basketball. I also missed the kenpo class. These all turned out to be blessings in disguise, since I had quite a bit of homework to do over the weekend.

Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely wonderful. I cooked a turkey (7 pounds), gravy, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and corn (and we had some apple crumble tart for dessert). I was serving eight that night: myself, Thomas, Arlette, and Hawkins, as well as Thomas's friend Thomas and his girlfriend Nicoli, Ita (a friend of the flat), and Cecilia (another friend of Thomas). Fortunately, Other Thomas used to work as a chef - he was a great help in the kitchen and made sure I didn't make too many mistakes. I also learned several awesome tricks from him, such as the proper way to chop onions without losing fingers.
We didn't eat dinner until around 7:30. This delay (the original plan was to eat at 6:30) was mostly due to our oven, which is conveniently devoid of any temperature markings - you basically guess and hope for the best. In the end, only the top half of the rolls were burnt - everything else came out nicely. The food comas lasted hours and I'm just today finishing up the leftovers.

Friday afternoon, Arlette and I joined the International Club on the Belfast trip. Belfast was a fantastic city. They had just put out all the Christmas lights as well. Since it was after Thanksgiving, I was in full-throttle Christmas spirit. These mixed together well.

Victoria Square is one of the shopping malls around the city center. Although it had more lights, the other main mall, Castle Court, had a much more Christmas-y vibe. Castle Court had a store called The Christmas Store (selling decorations, trees, candles, etc.) and another that had all those amazing old-fashioned toys (no batteries anywhere). In the center of the city, City Hall was all decked out for the holidays.


City Hall, with and without daylight. A traditional European Christmas market was being held here. We had dinner there Friday and Saturday nights (Polish sausage and churros, then raclette and fudge. Mulled wine to drink both nights.) After dinner, we went around to different pubs. Saturday night, Arlette and I went to the Crown Pub, the oldest pub still standing in Belfast. Great craic.

Saturday morning / afternoon, I went on a walk around the city. I had lots of fun stumbling across monuments and such. I wandered into a farmer's market, watched dogs playing in Ormeau Park, watched students playing at Queen's University, and walked through Ulster Museum.

I took some nice pictures as well.

This one was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon. We don't get much sun up here these days.

The old customs house. I saw this Sunday when I took a tour of the harbor area. I saw where the Titanic was launched from ("Built by Irishmen. Sunk by an Englishman.") and the more modern drydocks. Belfast is a real blue-collar town, so I felt some kinship with them. (Not that I'm blue-collar by any stretch. It just reminded me of Cleveland.) Afterwards, I toured the shopping districts and got into the holiday spirit. We had dinner in a small diner off of the main roads.

All said and done, it was an excellent and exciting trip. I think Belfast might be one of my favorite cities now. Although there has been violence (Belfast was the heart of the Troubles) and there still is tension, the city feels alive. The juxtaposition of centuries-old and new architecture makes Belfast quite the interesting place.

Galway Weekend, Part II

Before we get back to the trip, the volleyball team played its first game today against Cork IT. We won in three games and had delicious sandwiches afterward :)

Saturday's weather was really nice, so it was a shame we had to spend seven on buses. There's no direct route from Wexford to Galway, so we had to connect through Dublin. Once we arrived, we were pretty hungry (it was about ten or twelve hours since we had breakfast.) We found a restaurant called Fat Freddy's, which turned out to be a nice Mexican / Italian place. Seriously. They served enchiladas with garlic bread. I would describe their Mexican-Italian mascot as a horribly offensive stereotyped charicture, if such a stereotype did exist. I ordered a Mexicano pizza (which was delicious). I don't remember what Arlette had.

After dinner, we almost immediately ran into some classmates of Arlette who happened to take the trip as well. We found a nice Irish pub and spent the night drinking in front of another trad band (you can't shake a stick without finding a pub with a trad band.) Don't worry, Mom - these guys were seminarians. We sat down next to an Irish kayaking / mountain climbing instructor and his English girlfriend. We were instant friends.


(From right to left: Me, Arlette, and my future ticket into heaven.)


The five of us from Maynooth.


Good craic that night. The next day, I left for a day tour towards the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped on the way there and back at random places, such as this castle.





We were mostly driving along the coast (in the Burrens), so there were plenty of good views of the ocean.

The Burrens comes from a Gaelic word meaning "place of rocks." I had at least twenty pictures of rocks, hills with rocks, cows amoungst rocks, etc. A few hours later, we arrived at the cliffs. They were awe-inspiring.

Of course, it starts raining right when we arrive. Hurray for Irish weather.

They had signs helpfully informing people not to jump off posted every fifty feet.

If you look closely at the top of the cliffs in this picture, you can make out tiny people. Just to give you a sense of scale.

My travelling companions for the day: Laure, Samia, and Muhammad. Note the wind.

After the cliffs, we stopped by to see a dolmen (actually, the first picture in the article) and a cave. They were not impressive. After the tour came back, we took the bus back to Maynooth. I was quite exhausted by the whole weekend and promptly fell asleep.

Galway Weekend, Part 1

I was really looking forward to this trip. As Arlette and I boarded the bus on Friday, we were talking about how the weather was supposed to be amazing - cloudy and sunny. Arlette even packed her sunglasses. We were ready for the Galway trip.

This is not Galway.

It turns out that Arlette and I managed to get on the wrong bus. Since neither of us knew anyone in the International Club that sponsored the trip, we didn't find out about this until the bus kicked us off in Wexford. We went three hours south instead of three hours west.

I thought the situation was hilarious, but Arlette was a little more flustered. We found a cozy little B&B to check into and then went to a nice seafood restaurant. We then found a pub with a trad band and enjoyed a couple of pints.

The band was very into the Irish patriotism thing. Lots of hatred towards Britain and all that.

We had a very Irish breakfast the next morning - eggs, pudding, ham, hash browns, and a tomato. We decided to take a walking tour of Wexford before we left for Galway. The tour started on the town quay, an area right around this statue.

This is John Barry, who helped found the American Navy during the Revolutionary War. There are a lot of ties between the two countries.

Also, you can see a sign post on the street corner to the right of the statue. The sign pointing towards the statue reads, "John Barry Statue."


Pictures of the harbor. You might notice that the sky is blue. That's how nice the weather was this weekend.



There's really only two streets in the city and less than 20,000 people, but it still feels like a city. More so than, say, Mentor.

Wexford was originally two settlements. One half was Christian and the other half Viking. Seriously. This is part of Kaiser Road, which comes from Viking for "Road to the Sea."



Part of the town wall and the western gate. Most of the land trade routes came through this gate.

I was a little suprised at how small the wall was. I don't think it was more than fifteen feet high, at the most. Clearly, Vikings are more talented at pillaging than at defense.


Two chruches, built right next to each other. The spikey one on the left was the more modern one, but the congregation died out in the 1950s. They decided to tear the roof off and call the site a ruin so they wouldn't have to pay taxes.

The walking tour was very interesting and gave us a good feel for the city. Afterwards, we took a break at one of the cafes then left for Galway.