A Taste of 'Home'

I actually finished writing this post yesterday on the plane, but I didn't publish it until I finished my new video for the trip -> Finland 2013

This weekend away was so much different than the others I have experienced, yet it is so far one of my favorites. Callista and I went to Finland, and it was so relaxing and interesting. This was my first weekend where I didn’t have a tour guide for the weekend, so we did our own thing and it worked out splendidly.

We booked our flight for Friday afternoon this time, so we didn’t have to leave any classes early or anything, and we had plenty of time to get to the airport. We ended up cutting it really close, and arrived at the airport in Dublin about half an hour before our flight, and we were rushing to check-in. Turns out, we really didn’t need to worry, as when we got to the desk they informed us that, due to an issue with the plane arriving from Helsinki, our flight was already delayed by three hours. We didn’t really mind because it gave us time to eat dinner (which was free from the airline because of the long delay) and just take our time. I have decided that it is much better when the flight is delayed at the beginning of the trip than the end.

We finally boarded the plane and were about forty-five minutes into the flight when the captain came on the loudspeaker and explained, in a thick accent, that for some reason (I didn’t hear it because of the accent) we were briefly going to land in Oslo, Norway to switch planes. We were already three hours later, with the late departure we were scheduled to land in Helsinki ad 2, but with this further diversion we ended up landing at 3:30 AM (Finland time, which is two hours ahead of Ireland time, which is six hours ahead of CST).  We were kind of happy about this stopover, though, as neither of us had ever been to Norway. Turns out, we only walked about forty feet on the tarmac and switched planes. We didn’t even go inside the airport in order to buy a little trinket as proof of our being there. Thankfully we didn’t have any problems finding our hostel from the airport, and we got there about 4:30 and were able to crash soon after.

Porvoo

The next morning, we had a plan to go to Porvoo, a tiny little town about an hour outside of Helsinki. My dad had a high school classmate who married a Finn and lives in the Helsinki area, and her oldest daughter and daughter’s boyfriend had offered to drive us there and show us around! It was so great having a contact in the area the entire weekend, and they gave us great suggestions about what to do and what was going on in the area. Porvoo is one of the oldest settlements in all of Finland, and many of the original buildings are still there. The streets are cobbled and narrow, and they are lined with tiny wooden houses. It was still cold here, but starting to warm up, so there was snow that was beginning to melt. We stopped at a chocolate factory/shop before going there, and I bought some delicious Finnish-made chocolate. In Porvoo, we ate at a little café that was in an old cellar, and it was warm, cozy, and quite adorable. We got some hot chocolates and headed back to Helsinki. Our ‘guides’ had to be back in the early evening, and we had a little time before then, so when we got back to the city, they drove us around and pointed out some things that were too far away to walk to.

That night at the hostel, we mostly just relaxed. There were a few others staying the hostel who were from cool places: the UK, Egypt, Russia, China, and a few from Germany. Me being me, on the way back from the bathroom, I struck up a conversation with a few of them sitting nearby. I don’t know how we got to this topic, but I mentioned that I sing for fun (I think it came up because one of them asked me if I smoked, and I said no because of the singing thing). This was a bad idea. They all insisted that I sing something for them, very adamantly, and wouldn’t let it go. I eventually agreed just to get them to stop asking, and sang some Adele for them. They made everyone else in the common space be quiet and listen…it was so embarrassing. After I finished the bit of the song, they spent the rest of the night saying that I should sing professionally, while I struggled to explain to them that it would NEVER happen in the US barring any major lucky moments/crazy connections. They just responded with, “You should do it here.” Maybe I’ll become a Finnish pop star…

Helsinki Cathedral

The next day we had free to do whatever, and we decided we would go to the city center to see the main things and buy souvenirs (one of my favorite things to do…I feel like such a tourist, but I like to see the things that each country is known for). We figured out the city tram system, and made it to the Cathedral, the most well-known site in Helsinki. It is a Lutheran cathedral, and is a huge white building on top of a tall set of steps. We wandered from the square in front of the Cathedral and found the souvenir shops, then walked a little further and found the ‘shopping street’: the expensive, clothing store street in the middle of the city. After that, we went back to the hostel for a little while. We had been invited out to a city called Järvenpää, about thirty minutes outside of the city, where my dad’s classmate lived. She felt bad that she wasn’t able to meet us the day before, so she met us at the train station there (we rode on a real commuter train, the first one I had been on since I went to France when I was eight). Heidi and her husband took us out to dinner there, and we talked about what we were studying, the differences between Europe and the USA, and Finland and Ireland. We talked for a while about the similarities between Finland and Minnesota, in particular. I noticed the very first day why so many Finns chose to live in MN: northern MN is almost exactly the same, temperature and geography wise, as southern Finland! It smells the same, looks the same, and has similar populations and architecture. I felt so at home here, the whole weekend. I think it is one of the places in Europe that I would feel perfectly comfortable living. I even look the part: I was mistaken for being Finnish multiple times throughout the trip.

Eastern Orthodox cathedral

Our last day we decided to go back into the city center and wander around a bit more.  This turned out to be a great idea, one of the best days. We walked down to the docks along the Baltic Sea, still partially frozen, and up to the Eastern Orthodox Cathedral. We then walked in the opposite direction and found a pretty park at the top of a hill, from which you could see both cathedrals, along with part of the sea and a lot of the city. We found a café named ‘Amanda’s Bar and Bistro’, walked near a huge ferry (which crosses the sea and goes to Estonia. Had we been there for one more day, we would have gone to Estonia for a day, as it is really cheap, but we just couldn’t fit it in).  After walking around, we timed it perfectly to get to the airport and onto our flight ‘home’ to Ireland.

Other things that happened this weekend:

-I had to register for classes for next semester, which was tough from so far away. We do it online, anyways, but for some reason I had so many more problems. I had my best friend, Audrey, register for me, as I was on a plane at the time I could register. The problem was I was signing up for a few classes that only had one section, so filled up rather quickly. I think I worked it out, finally, with a little bit of a different schedule as I had originally planned.

-Met a guy from Egypt (like I mentioned earlier). He was a few years older and so nice and helpful. We chatted for a while about his experiences with culture shock: his first time out of Egypt had been a few weeks before, and he first went to Amsterdam. Talk about completely different ends of the spectrum. He went from an extremely conservative and warm country to one of the most liberal countries where it was snowing. He actually really made me want to go to Egypt. He is from Alexandria, and he showed us a bunch of pictures of home…if I ever decide to go, he told me to let him know and he would show me around J

 -Just before boarding the plane back to Dublin, we had to take a bus/shuttle from the airport gate to the actual plane. On this shuttle, we ended up standing near an older couple. The man leaned in and stated that he was on the same city bus from Helsinki to the airport, and he had been betting with his wife that we were headed to Dublin as well. Despite both Callista and I wearing our UL sweatshirts, this isn’t how he said he thought this (we were wearing our jackets on the bus, so he didn’t even see them until we were already at the gate). He said he guessed this because we looked Irish! I thought this was pretty funny, and I told him we were studying in Ireland, but we were from the US. He then mentioned that he noticed our Limerick sweatshirts, and proceeded to tell us a physicist-based limerick that was pretty funny.

-For some reason, I always attract the crazy drunk people wherever I am. On the way back to our house on Thursday night, an Irish lad with his friends comes up to me with his arms spread, and goes, “Come here!” I refused, logically, and so he just shuffled over to me and hugged me from the side…it was pretty funny. Anyways, on the train to Järvenpää a drunk guy plopped himself down right next to us, heard us speaking English, asked us where we were from, and was blown away when we said from America. He talked to us the rest of the ride, and kept on saying, “I’m very drunk.” I was impressed with his English: for being so drunk, it was pretty good.

Birthday in Barcelona!

I got to experience something that not many people do, a birthday celebrated in a foreign country! I went to Barcelona, Spain this past weekend, and it was amazing! Despite the rain the first day, and getting lost trying to find the hostel, it was a beautiful and fun place to visit!

Callista and I left Thursday afternoon. Our flight was in the evening, but we were flying out of Dublin, so we had to take a two hour bus ride to the airport. We got through security and on the plane with no problems. The problem came when we landed in Spain, though. We had directions to our hostel, given to us by our tour guide for the weekend (this was another WSA organized trip, the same program as my Budapest trip). The directions apparently came directly from our hostel's website, but they were really terrible. We got to the city center with no problems, but then we had to find the street it was on. We got on the next bus they told us to, and from there we were utterly lost. It ended up taking two hours to find the hostel, along with many forms of transportation and a lot of walking around. The street signs weren't very visible, and it was dark, so everything seemed to be sketchy and confusing. The worst part came when we got to see the true side of Barcelona, or of any city really: we were walking down a side street (the next day, we found out it was right around the corner from our hostel...) and a tall guy with a light jacket and hood walked by. We continued going, and about ten feet later there was a man sitting in a doorway injecting himself with drugs. First time I have ever seen that...it was...interesting. We just kept walking, at a slightly brusquer rate. The next day when we were telling our tour guide all of this, he got this strange look of recognition on his face and he exclaimed, "I saw you girls last night! I saw the junkie first, then noticed you two and was going to say something, but I thought you would be even more freaked out if I randomly started speaking to you, so I walked by and turned to watch your reactions!" I was SO mad when I heard this, because our tour guide was from Bristol: he would have spoken to us in English and we would have been able to ask for directions, subsequently finding out that he was out tour guide for the weekend...but it was an adventure, so there is nothing I can do about it now.

La Boqueria 

Beautiful park in the middle of the city!

We eventually made it to the hostel, at about midnight, and found our room. We had a private room with our tour group, which was way smaller than usual: including Callista and I, there were only five of us! It made for a more personal tour, and we got to know everyone a lot better. It was also faster to navigate around the city and decide what we wanted to do during free time. On Friday, we headed out to see the city, the more historic aspects of it. It was raining all day, just our luck, but we still got some great pictures! We went to La Boqueria, the local market, and got to wander around. There was amazing fresh fruit and hot food that was inexpensive yet delicious. It didn't hurt that there was a roof over the market area, and we got out of the rain for a bit. We also got to enjoy a bike tour around the whole city. The bikes made the city seem much smaller. We biked along the beach front of the Mediterranean, and biked to one of the most beautiful city parks I have ever seen. There was an enormous fountain, along with a little pond, and palm trees and green grass all around. We stayed there for a while, and then headed back to the hostel for a traditional Spanish siesta (a nap: they really are real! All the businesses close for two hours in the afternoon, then reopen in the evenings and stay open pretty late!). That night, we headed over to a restaurant to learn how to make seafood paella (which I didn't eat, not a big fan of seafood, but it can be made with whatever kind of meat you want!) and sangria! The sangria was delicious, and Callista and I got chicken instead of eating the paella.

Seafood Paella

Casa Batlló

On Saturday, we were pleasantly surprised to find the sun shining when we head out! It significantly changed the temperature of the day, and I ended up carrying my jacket on my purse (the jacket was much heavier than I thought, my shoulder really hurt by the end of the day). We were going that day to see all of the Gaudi architecture in the city! This is what I was most excited about: I had learned about Gaudi in spanish classes in high school, and I had seen pictures, but it was absolutely amazing to see them in person. The first stop was on the Passeig de Gracia (in Barcelona, they speak Spanish, but everyone also speaks Catalan: a mixture between French and Spanish influences, so all of their streets and signs are in Catalan, not Spanish), the street with two of Gaudi's famous buildings. The first was his building called "Casa Batlló": also called the House of Bones, this is one of Gaudi's most famous architectural pieces. Not far down the street was Casa Milá, another apartment building, this one themed to look like it was under the sea. I personally like Casa Batlló better, as there were beautiful mosaic tiles all over the outside, along with stained glass windows and fun balconies. After the Passeig de Gracia, we went over to Park Guell, the Gaudi designed park, with the famous mosaic bench (the longest bench in Europe). We wandered around there for a while, taking lots of pictures. I ended up asking our guide to take my picture for me on the bench, and as he was taking it, a couple behind us asked, "Do you want us to take it with you both in it?" It was an awkward yet funny moment. I was flattered that they thought we were together, as he was cute and older, but uncomfortable because we didn't have time to explain why we didn't need our picture taken. It sounded like we didn't trust them to take it, or thought they would make away with my camera (they have a big problem with pick pockets in Barcelona, a fact we heard frequently throughout the weekend).

Casa Milá

Park Guell

La Sagrada Familia!

After the park, we headed over for the 'big event': La Sagrada Familia. The famous church has been under construction since 1882, and they are hoping (though I don't see it happening) to finish it by 2026. It was designed by Gaudi, of course, and it is incredible. Normally, people wait in line (a line that is a few city blocks long) to get inside the church, but with our tour, we got to skip the line and head right in! We got audio guides, but I didn't really pay attention to it. I was way to busy taking about one hundred pictures of the place, inside and out. It was unbelievable. The outside is so complex and detailed, with themes with great meaning depicted. The inside is meant to look like an enchanted forest: the stained glass windows were enormous and beautiful, and the pillars and ceiling branched to look like trees. We spent over an hour wandering around, and then headed out. We had the entire afternoon until we had to meet our tour guide that evening, so we decided to walk down to the beach. The beach ended up being a lot further away than we thought. It took about an hour to get there, and by the time we did, the clouds had unfortunately beat us there. I touched the Mediterranean for the first time though, and we walked along the beach until it started to rain. We made it back to our hostel, completely starved by that point, and went into an Irish pub for dinner (just like when I first arrived here in Ireland and wanted to find "American" food, I find myself searching out "Irish" food when in other places now...). We met some crazy people, already drunk when they go there, from Holland. It was fun talking to one of the guys (the others were beyond conversational...haha): he was a big fan of the NBA (he knew Minnesota because he knows all the basketball teams, crazy) as well as baseball, two very uncommon sports that Europeans are into it. We got invited to go to the clubs that evening with them, but we already had plans to go out.

Inside the Sagrada Familia

First time in the Mediterranean!

We went to the "Magic Fountain" that night. It was really cool actually: cheesy, but cool. It was a fountain show set to music that runs in the evenings. What I liked most about it was not the actually show, though; it was the location of the show. The fountain was at the foot of an enormous hill (Olympic hill, where all the locations from the 1992 Olympics were), with other fountains leading up the rest of the way. At the top of the hill was an old-looking, huge building, that was a museum of some sort. We sat at the top and watched the whole city, drinking champagne and just enjoying the beautiful evening.

The next day was departure day, but Callista and I didn't fly out until 10 pm (I have no idea why we booked our flight so late...). It was the best weather we had seen all weekend, so we went down and laid on the beach for a few hours. Once we got tired of that (and annoyed by the people trying to sell us beer, massages, and pieces of coconut), we walked back to the hostel. We ended up just sitting in the hostel for a few hours before heading back to the airport. We flew back into Dublin and ran into another problem: our flight was running late, so we missed the last bus that goes from the airport to UL. We slept (or tried to sleep) in the airport (it was much better than when I tried to sleep in the London airport, but it still wasn't fun). We got the first bus back in the morning, and arrived 'home' around 10 am. What an adventure. I am now officially in my 20s. It feels strange to say that...

I have started making travel videos so you all can see more pictures of my adventures. Here is the one from this past weekend: Birthday in Barcelona 2013 video!

(P.S. I also made some for Mom and Dad's Visit and St. Paddy's Day!

The Great Search for Sheep

I realize this is a bit late, but I have been really busy! (well, not really, I should have been really busy, but mostly I sat around watching movies) But the biggest thing that happened since my last post was that Mom and Dad came to visit me! It wasn't a surprise or anything, I knew when they were coming, but it was so great getting to show them Ireland! They arrived early in the morning, a Wednesday, and left early in the morning the following Tuesday. They got a rental car, so I was going to take advantage of the 'free lift' around the country, instead of paying for a bus. We went all over the country in the few short days they were here, and I had a great time!

'It's a bit cold!' The Cliffs of Moher 

They arrived on a day that I had class, but unfortunately it turned out to be the nicest day, weather wise, all week. They were jet-lagged and I wasn't around, so they stayed in their hotel room all day (it was, however, a nice hotel room :)) The next day I was in class too, so they went to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren because I had already been there. I woke up that morning to the rain and wind whipping my window, and I knew it was going to be a rough day to be there. Despite the Cliffs being 700 ft above the water, on Irish windy days (meaning really windy), the spray from the ocean reaches the tops of the cliffs. Combine that with the rain from above, it makes for a miserable time. But the cliffs are still really pretty, and the Burren is unique, so they at least got to see some really beautiful sights...

Mom at the Burren

Trinity College, Dublin

After Thursday, I was on spring break (for the entire week, up through Easter and finally started classes again today). We decided that Friday would be the easiest day to go to Dublin, as it was on a Friday and we felt there would be less traffic. We were right about the traffic, we didn't have much of a problem (with others, anyways; at that point Dad was still getting the hang of driving on the left and shifting with the left hand haha). Unfortunately, though, it was raining buckets all day and we walked the most there. Mom had her rain poncho (which I think she got in France when we went more than ten years ago, but those things never go 'out of style': you pretty much get the one look and that's it) and Dad had his waterproof jacket, but I don't even own one. I have two umbrellas, but I didn't bring either of them with me to Dublin, which was probably for the best. Every single trash can we walked by on the streets was stuffed full of broken umbrellas, and on every corner there were a few spider-like shells of the umbrellas that had broken because of the wind. I wish I would have gotten a picture of one, but it was raining so much I didn't want to break my camera...it looked like a sad graveyard of umbrellas. Anyways, in Dublin we ate lunch to start off, then headed over to Trinity College, Ireland's oldest and most well known university. It was so pretty, but again with the rain, it kind of took away from the moment. We then headed to the Irish museum of Archeology. That was pretty cool; it was in a beautiful. old building, and there were a bunch of displays of artifacts discovered in Ireland. The things I found to be the most interesting were the 'bog bodies': the remains of individuals,  that date back to 300 B.C, that were discovered in various bogs throughout Ireland, that were remarkably well-preserved. After the museum, we headed over to Dublin Castle, but with our luck, it was closed for the day (some government event was being held there...lame), but we got to see the outside and the famous 'library', Chester Beatty Library, and saw the oldest surviving copy of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed, and we followed the rules so didn't get any pictures. After that, we headed out to find souvenirs. We eventually got to a mall in on the Dublin's suburbs (trying to find a Build-a-Bear Workshop for Katie and Morgan's gifts). The mall's directory was the coolest thing ever: it was a touch screen, you would find the place you were looking for, and it had a step-by-step map, from where you were to where you were going!

Dublin Castle

Rock of Cashel

The next day we headed to Cashel, to see the Rock of Cashel-an old castle that was eventually given to the church and converted into a cathedral, but is now in ruins. It was really beautiful, and sits on a hill that overlooks the town and the countryside. We got a lot of great pictures, and though it was chilly, it didn't rain, so that was a plus. My dad had stated that morning that he hadn't seen a single sheep since they had gotten there, and he was beginning to wonder if they were a myth. That morning, we still didn't see any sheep (any real ones anyway, there was a sign with one on it though), but as we were headed from Cashel to our next stop, Waterford, we came across an entire grove of them! Dad was so excited that he pulled over and got out to take a picture with them. When we got to Waterford, one of the oldest established towns in Ireland, we got to tour the Waterford Crystal Factory (well, not the original factory, as that had closed in 2008, but the new, smaller one in the town). Waterford crystal is known throughout the world, and it was amazing getting to see it actually cut and sculpted. We got to see a lot of cool pieces, some already completed and some still in progress: we saw the workers blowing the glass into shape, then cutting the grooves into it, and finally the bigger, sculpted pieces, some of which take months to complete. It is one of the coolest, most challenging arts I have ever seen: in order to make the Waterford crystal, the person must complete a 10 year long apprenticeship, and that is just in one discipline (blowing, cutting, or sculpting)! 

Cutting the vase: flawlessly

'Where are all the sheep? I haven't seen a single one!'

'Here they are!' Mom and Dad's first Irish sheep sighting

Sunday consisted of a lot of driving. We started the day off with mass, of course, as it was Palm

Dingle Peninsula

Sunday, but then headed out to the Dingle Peninsula for the day. Dingle is a tiny, vacation (or 'holiday' as they call it here) town, so is very quiet in the off-season, and even more quiet on a Sunday. The peninsula is exactly what it sounds like, though, and you go there not for the activities but to see the landscape. It was beautiful: we drove along the coast and saw the ocean. We stopped to take a picture of the beach, but we didn't actually touch the water, it was too cold for that. After Dingle, we headed back west towards Limerick, but we first wanted to stop in County Cork to at least see where our family came from. This was good in theory, but made for an...interesting...adventure. We programmed in Enniskean, the town where our Faricy ancestors were known to be from, into the GPS, but the problem arose when the GPS took us on the TINIEST, out of the way. middle of nowhere, backroads. It didn't help that it was dark out, so was extremely stressful. We eventually found the town, took a picture with the sign, and then headed back to Limerick (which took us a while, as the GPS kept taking us on back roads when we wanted to stay on the main ones).

Enniskean, where the Faricys are from!

Mom and Dad on 'The Living Bridge', University of Limerick

Monday was the last day, and one of the nicest ones of their stay, as it was sunny at least. It was still windy and cold, but it was better than rain! We spent the morning walking around campus, which is rather large and sits on what used to be a family's farm, so is beautiful. We then went to Galway, which is the most 'college town' you get in Ireland, just filled with students. We wanted to see it, as it is rather well known,  but I also wanted a Claddagh ring for my birthday present (you aren't supposed to buy them for yourself, so this was my compromise :)). For those who don't know what a Claddagh ring is, it is a very old, traditional ring that consists of hands holding a heart with a crown on the top of it. It is supposed to symbolize loyalty or friendship, and is sometimes even used as an engagement ring. They are really pretty and unique to Ireland. We went back to the hotel, and Mom and Dad finally tasted their first Guinness (neither were big fans: they ordered one for the both of them, and took all of 5 sips altogether...) That night we said our goodbyes, :(, as they were leaving very early in the morning. I watched as my mom tried to stuff all the souvenirs that she had bought into her one, smallish suitcase, backpack, and purse (she did eventually get it all in, I was really impressed). 

My Claddagh ring! I love it so much!

That was pretty much how much Guinness was left when they were finished...

The rest of my spring break was very boring, but relaxing. Most of my friends were traveling for the week, so I was by myself. Orla, my Irish roommate down the hall, was actually here all week as well, but she spent most of it at the library (she is a fourth year, and studies all the time), so it was extremely quiet. I watched all the Harry Potter movies and countless other movies and TV shows online. On Saturday, I skyped with my aunt and godmother, Tina, and my family was there (looking at the house Grandma Maki wants to buy). Easter Sunday, I got to skype with my family again during dinner. It was fun getting to talk to cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Faricy. Dad even put the web cam up in the dining room while they ate (I got to 'sit' at the adult table, which doesn't always happen when I am home for holidays). It was one of the most relaxing holidays ever. Today was my first day back to classes, as I said before, but it really doesn't count because I only had one class. I worked out my finals schedule, and it turns out I only have to take two finals (yay!). But between then and now, I have a few papers to write and reading to do. I have about 6 weeks left before I head back to the good old USA, but I have so much more to do still! This weekend I am going to Barcelona, then the following weekend is Finland! So excited for both of them!

P.S. I got two pieces of mail today: one from Grandma and Grandpa Faricy, one from Mrs. Ortiz. Thanks so much, I get so happy whenever I get mail :)

This pretty much sums up Dad's experiences in Ireland :P

St. Paddy's Day: Ireland Style

What a weekend! I can honestly put this one down in the books as one of the best in my life. It was a  whole new level of excitement. I have celebrated St. Patrick's Day for as long as I can remember. It was always a different experience in Minnesota, mostly because the weather varied so much from year to year: sometimes it was snowing and around zero degrees, other years it was sunny and in the 50s. I especially loved it when the 17th fell in the middle of the week: I always got to take off school and go to the parade (our family marched in it, whether we signed up to march or not hehe).

1997

1999

2009

Here it was decent weather. For Ireland, anyways. It was on and off raining (typical) and about 45 degrees. I decided against going to Dublin for the day, which I heard was insane, but more like the US on St. Paddy's Day, as so many tourist go there for the day. Instead, we stayed for the local parade in Limerick City. It was great, and more authentic, I like to say. We got to the parade about an hour before it started, and found a place to stand. The parade was so cute: it was a bunch of groups from Limerick, like the boys and girl scouts (they call them something else here, but I can't remember what that is), and the youth sports teams: football (soccer), rugby, even some little hurlers (an Irish sport). It was really cute. A bunch of the groups had dressed up as St. Patricks and walked like that. There were a few marching bands, and a few sets of bagpipers (my favorite were the preteen ones: the only bagpipers you see in the St. Paul Paddy's Day parade are old men haha).

A bunch of St. Patricks! 

Meggan and Callum

We stayed for most of the parade, but we were getting really cold and hungry, so we walked to the first pub we saw. It was a great choice: we left before the parade was finished, so we got a place to sit at Flannery's. We ordered our corned beef sandwiches (which were delicious, by the way), and settled in for the afternoon. We stayed there and just visited (and drank a little, I admit) the entire afternoon. We met some pretty interesting people, I do have to say. I had to favorite encounters. The first was a young boy, ten, named Callum. He was sitting at the bar with his mum, and when she stepped outside for a minute ("She's having a ciggy," Callum said), he came and started chatting with us. There were nine international college girls and the ten year old kid. He was in heaven, to say the least. He was showing us all the cool things he could do, like sticking a coin to his forehead, and posed in pictures like he was a total gangster. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. By the end of the conversation, we had all  agreed to come back to Flannery's for next year's Paddy's Day festivities, and he told us he was going to marry Meggan. The other person was interesting and funny as well. There was an old Irish man who was sitting at the bar who took it upon himself to mentor us and tell us about life in Ireland. I didn't get to hear much of what he had to say, but Meggan went and sat at the bar with him for a good half hour. He was equally as adorable as Callum.

Free hats :)

After Flannery's, we decided to head back to campus. On our way out, the bar tender handed three of us free green leprechaun hats with red beards attached to them. I was thrilled to get one myself, who doesn't like free hats? (I had also gotten a free shamrock shaped hat on Friday night, when we went to the local Spar-a convenient store-wearing temporary tattoos on our faces and decked out in green. I guess the cashier thought we would enjoy them, which we did). It was only six o'clock, though, and still light outside when we stepped out, so we went to the Burger King down the street for dinner before taking the bus back. When we got back, we were all wiped from the day, so we sat down and watched The Avengers. It was a great way to end the day. The day was amazing, spent with amazing people, and I couldn't have imagined a better St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

I put together a little video with my pictures and video clips from the parade, just for fun (I got the idea from Callista, who uploaded one to Facebook :)). Hope you guys like it (and I hope it works: I have never tried uploading videos on here before...)

My parents come tomorrow (early in the morning: less than twelve hours!) I am so excited to see them and hope they are going to have a great time, and love Ireland as much as I do! Cheers!

Budapest! Caving and Other Adventures

I discovered this week that I am finally getting busy, and it is interfering with my blogging time. I had to turn in my very first assignment in one of my classes (in week 7...this is madness). I also have two papers due next week (right after Patty's Day, what are the professors thinking?!). I am getting SO EXCITED about my parents coming to visit me! They arrive on Wednesday the 20th! Anyways, this weekend is bound to be fun, as it is a four day weekend for the holiday. A friend of mine wanted to copyright the name "Saint Hangover Day" for Monday's "bank holiday" that we have. I love this country! :)

I guess you guys would like to hear about what I did this past weekend. Nothin', really, just went to Hungary for a a few days. I guess that is kind of a big deal. It was a blast! We (a friend and I) arrived on Friday afternoon, and we booked it through WSA-Weekend Student Adventures. They plan almost everything for you, so all we had to do was get to Budapest and find the hostel. We unfortunately got there late in the day, and missed a few tours around the city, and the one I am most sad about missing was the trip to the baths. Budapest is famous for their underground springs and Turkish bath houses around the city, and I heard it was relaxing and fun. I learned my lesson though: the next WSA trip I am going on (to Barcelona), I am getting there Thursday night so I don't miss all of the tours on Friday. Anyways, when we first got to the hostel, the group wasn't back yet, so we just hung around for a few minutes. When they returned, we were going to go to dinner and find a few pubs in the city.

The group. The girl furthest to the left is Bogi, our tour guide.

As it turns out, we were going to get to hang out that night with Andy Steves (the son of travel expert Rick Steves, and the CEO/founder of WSA) and his girlfriend Jenna. They were both super friendly and adorable, and we found some interesting connections. Andy went to Notre Dame, and studied abroad at John Cabot in Rome (where Elizabeth was, if you recall). I already knew this, but what I didn't know is that apparently his entire family went to Creighton! His grandma still lives about three blocks away from the school! Crazy. Also, there is a scary connection with his girlfriend, Jenna, as well. The two girls that I met (and am now friends with, they are coming to Berlin with us in a few months), Brdiget and Rachel, go to Maynooth (that is one of the other universities here in Ireland-where the girl on the plane from MN, Megan, goes, remember?). Bridget is from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and went to high school there. Turns out she went to the same high school as Jenna, and knows Jenna's younger brother (and her entire family-big family and name in the Waukesha area, I guess). I am super creeped out by our small world still. Dinner was fun, we ate a packed restaurant that had delicious food. I got a banana daiquiri to drink. It was delicious. After the restaurant, we headed out to the ruins pubs for a few drinks.

One of the ruin pubs

The ruins are what Budapest nightlife is all about: they are abandoned buildings from WWII that lay empty for many years (hence "ruins") and were recently converted into bars all over the city. They are known to be huge and have eclectic decor. The one we went to was the third best bar in the WORLD. There were some strange things decorating the place (I think I remember seeing a child's tricycle hanging from the ceiling), but it was pretty cool. Budapest is well known for hosting bachelor parties (they call them "stag" parties). We saw tons of them. In fact, on the plane from London there was a guy who had orange dreadlocks, to the middle of his back, wearing a "Party Girl" tiara, a white toga, a pink sash, and a necklace with shot glasses on it. That wasn't even the strangest outfit there....We walked around the city to different pubs (they don't have one concentrated area that people go, they have little spots all over). We hung out there for a while, explored the place, and headed back to the hostel for the night.

The Danube

The next day I got to do one of the coolest things I have done in my life. We started off the day with visiting the "shopping street". It is exactly what it sounds like: a square and street with a bunch of stores. It ran alongside the Danube, which we walked up to and took pictures of. The buildings in Budapest are beautiful: they all look so important and fancy. It is an extremely old city, so it makes sense. They also have more graffiti than I have ever seen. Unlike in the US and many other places, though, the graffiti doesn't mark abandoned or rundown places. It is actually a cultural movement: the younger generations are trying to add color and culture to their city after the years of communist oppression and restrictions. It is pretty cool. Next we headed off to go caving! We took a tram and a few buses to get to the location, the entrance to the longest cave in Hungary. 

Budapest Opera House

"Shopping Street"

Don't know what this building is, but it looked important :)

This is what pretty much all of the buildings looked like! 

Made it through the smallest hole ever, just barely fit!

I didn't really know what I was getting myself into when I signed up to go to caving. When we got there, we put on jumpsuits to cover our clothes (it got really dusty in the caves), and were given the helmets with headlights on them. We all looked pretty hot, let me tell you. Before we went, we had to sign a piece of paper that said we weren't drunk or under the influence of any drugs. Kind of like when getting a tattoo...haha. We walked out and began the adventure. Right when we got inside the caves, we had to descend a 40ft ladder down into the caves. As we were going down, one by one, three guys with intense harnesses and equipment came running past us. Turns out, there was a girl ahead of us who had fallen and broken here leg. When our guide said this, we thought he was joking. He wasn't. She apparently had stepped wrong and broken her leg. We found this out within 5 minutes of entering the caves...doesn't necessarily reassure! It was all fine though, we just exorcised a little more caution from then on. We went through the caves for about two hours. I went through spaces I never thought I would fit into in my life. Many times, you could only army crawl for a few meters at a time, through small spaces. Let's just say, if you were claustrophobic at all, you never would l have even gone in. At one point, I was in a space so small that both sides of my face were touching opposite sides of the hole. I didn't really think about it; if I had, I probably would have freaked out. It was reassuring that the largest person that had gone through the same spaces was a 350 lb. American football player. If he could fit, so could I, was my entire thought process. My knees and elbows were covered in bruises for a few days. What I didn't expect about the caves was the complete lack of living things: there weren't any spiders or reptiles or bugs of any kind. They were formed from the same natural phenomena as the springs, so there were fossils (40 million year old fossils) of sea creatures in the walls, but that was it. There was so much dust, I must have inhaled at least a pound of it, but it was humid, so it didn't make me cough or sneeze, which was amazing. Caving was the coolest thing I have ever done.

Heaven

That evening, a bunch of people went to a party at the baths. They turn them into a club on Saturday nights, apparently, but I opted out of that one. I am glad I did. From what I have heard about it, I would not have had fun at all. That party is more for the crazy, partier people, which I am definitely not. Instead, a few of us went to a low key bar a few blocks from our hostel. It was great to be able to sit and relax, chat and have a drink. This pub was also a ruin bar, with strange decorations. This one had rabbit statue things suspended from the ceiling, a big pack of them like they were racing. The next morning, people were leaving at different times, so there wasn't much planned for the day. We all met up to say goodbye, and then split up and did whatever. My friend and new friends weren't leaving until evening, so we went back to the shopping street to buy souvenirs and then walked back. On the way back we went into a candy store, aka heaven. It had SO MUCH CANDY, I didn't know what to do. I bought a few things and then we went back to the hostel. I was exhausted at this point, and I had a cough that was started to develop. 

Sugar! These are all jelly beans.

We got to the airport that evening, and we were on a red eye flight. We had to spend the night in the London airport (which we knew we were going to have to do). It was miserable, and I got about an hour of sleep altogether. I ended up with a full blown cold, ears, eyes, nose, and throat. Awful. As our plane was landing from London into Shannon, it literally felt like my head was going to explode. I was about to cry. Next time I am bringing decongestant (my allergy medicine) so that it doesn't hurt so bad. I am still a bit sick, but it is tolerable. Monday I slept literally the entire day. I got home at about 10 am, showered, and fell asleep until 8 pm, woke up for a few hours to eat something, went to bed at 10 pm and woke up at 10:30 am the next morning. That sleep helped a lot, but I was extremely disoriented and confused for a few days. As I mentioned at the beginning, I had to write my first paper, and I have two more due this coming week. This weekend will consist of writing those papers and having fun on Patty's Day! I can't wait! 

P.S. If anyone would like to "send" me anything, you could possibly send it with my parents! They are bringing me a few things to last me the last two months! :)