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! :)

Routines, Snail Mail, and TRAVEL

New travel journal/sketchbook-decorated the title pages :) (no stencil used) 

It's been a few days, so I thought I would come and give everyone a brief update. I have finally gotten into a routine here! I thought I would never memorize my class schedule, or where everything is, and I felt like a freshman in college (or even high school, for that matter) all over again. Completely overwhelmed for the first few weeks, but then once you get the hang of it, it feels like you have been here forever. I am comfortable here, and I have amazing friends and keep in touch with family and friends from home regularly. I did notice, this week, however, that I am sketching a lot more in the margins of my notebooks, so I decided to buy a cute little sketchbook/travel journal. It is small enough that I can just throw it in my purse without it becoming a major issue, and I am doubling it as a journal, so when I don't have my laptop on trips I can write in it instead. 

I got my first piece of mail last week, and a second letter today! I love that I can keep in touch with people thousands of miles away and feel like they are right next to me with the technology today, but there is just something wonderful about getting "snail mail." The letters I got were from a family friend (thank you Mrs. Ortiz, I know we don't know each other very well, but I loved both the card and the letter you sent me! So sweet of you!), and I got so excited when I saw my name on them! A few people have asked if they could send care packages. The answer is yes, you can, but they might be a little expensive! I appreciate letters just as much, and they are way cheaper to send internationally :) Here's the deal: if you send me a letter, I will send you a postcard back from somewhere cool! I never know what to write on postcards, as most people know what I am up to because of this blog, and there isn't much space to write, but they are still fun to collect and send back home.

A few nights ago we got to book our housing for next year at Creighton! I am living with two great friends, Audrey and Jessica. It is going to be a blast and I cannot wait! That same night I also got to Skype with my godmother/aunt, Tina, and Grandma Maki. She is in the midst of house hunting in Neillsville, the "big city" compared to her tiny little town in northern MN. It was so much fun to just sit and chat (and make funny faces into the camera the entire time...thanks for your sense of humor Tina, makes skyping so much better).

Yesterday, I went into Limerick City with a few friends who had their immigration appointments, as I wanted to go to the sporting goods store. As it turns out, UL has an olympic size pool in the arena (their name for fitness center), so I needed to get a swimsuit to work out in, and a pair of goggles. Mission accomplished! I agreed that if I was going to workout here, it would be swimming, as my joints probably wouldn't be able to handle jogging regularly. Here's to adding the gym to my new routine!

Budapest is just a week away! This past week I also planned my reading week trip (reading week is a week of no classes right before finals start. Here, most of the international students take advantage of the break and travel!). The first weekend we are spending in Berlin, and then we fly to London for our HARRY POTTER adventure! I am beyond excited for this, as we get to tour Warner Brothers Studios in London, and see the actual sets of Harry Potter, as well as costumes, the Hogwarts Castle model used in the movies, and the special effects and green screen sets! We are also going on what they call the "Muggle Walking Tour", and we will be going around London and seeing the "locations" from the movies and books (Platform 9 3/4!). We then come back and are spending a day in Dublin before coming back to UL. I also have tentatively worked out going to Italy during Easter week (after the parents leave; can't wait for them to visit either!). Because it will be Holy Week when we are there, we just have planned a day trip to Rome, and are spending most of the time in Florence and Venice. To finish off the week, I planned and booked two more trips today! One to Barcelona for a weekend (over my birthday, actually! It should be fun!). And the other one is to FINLAND! Finally! I am beyond excited for this one (I can hear it now..."why?"), but this is where I get my blonde hair and blue eyes, and a large portion of my genes (from Dad's side). It was a bit of a hassle, booking just these two, because I am going with a friend and we had issues with the internet and computers and websites. At one point, I wanted to just throw my computer against a wall, but obviously that would have been counter-productive. But we finally got it all worked out, and booked. 

Next week is Rag Week here at UL, also known as Charity Week. The basic idea is that there are a bunch of parties and events, and the money used to purchase the tickets to the events all goes to charity. So basically, people just party literally all week for charity. I am not exactly sure what goes on, but I have deduced that it will just be absolute madness. There are a lot of restrictions in effect in our village (barriers at the entrances to the on-campus housing, ID required entry, no guests, no furniture outside, no consumption of alcohol outside, etc.), and I have heard a lot about how crazy and fun it is. It should be a good time. I realize that my "brief" update has become quite long, so I'll end it there. I'll maybe update everybody about Rag Week, then Budapest! Woohoo!

Here Comes the Sun

Today was different. I attended classes, as usual, and hung out with friends, as usual. But what was different weighed heavily throughout the day. You see, today, February 20, is the two year anniversary of the passing of a friend, Ann. Ann fought so hard for so many years, but eventually cancer won the battle. She was funny, beautiful, and so brave. I have never met a single soul like hers. Anyways, I realized something that amazed me today. This past weekend in Northern Ireland, the only thing that went wrong was that I lost a bracelet. You might think that this was no big deal, but it was to me. The bracelet was white with orange lettering that said "Hearts for Haerings: Harmonious Hope." This was the only bracelet I wore, and I wore it every single day. Unfortunately, it was just big enough that it would slip off my wrist when I took off a jacket or long-sleeved shirt. I realized during the weekend that it must have slipped off. I don't know for sure where, but I realize now where it must be. 

I didn't know this until recently, but Ann loved the movie Titanic. Well as you know, this past weekend I toured the Titanic quarters. You can probably tell where I am going with this, but I must have lost the bracelet somewhere nearby. I know I didn't lose it on the tour of the quarters, because I remember having it on when we left Belfast. But somewhere between Belfast and Derry it slipped off. I like to think that it was at the Giant's Causeway, and that it slipped off into the Atlantic Ocean. I guess I will never know where it is, but I like to think that Ann chose the spot. Somewhere really beautiful. I lit a candle today, a tradition that has started so that wherever a light is shining, we know she is still with us. She impacted a lot of lives, and she continues to impact them from Heaven. 

Another way Ann is present this week: though it typically rains here every day (everyone knows that I guess), it has not rained since last week. The sun has been shining, and is supposed to continue shining for the rest of the week! I feel like her song is so fitting this week...she is here. 

Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I sayIt's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
It's all right

Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland, UK!

So much happened this past weekend! I went on my first trip out of Ireland, into the UK. It was only a three day trip, but it was phenomenal and filled with fun and laughter. This might take a while to write down everything that happened, so bear with me :) I booked the trip with a bus tour company that specifically targets students at both the University of Limerick and nearby (I think) Tralee University. We took a single coach bus, filled to capacity, from both universities, up to Belfast, along the Antrim Coast to Derry. I think what made it most interesting was the history of the whole country! I knew that there has been violence in Northern Ireland, but never imagined the extent of the whole thing. We went on tours that were incredible, filled with historical events and locations. I will start from the beginning of the trip and go from there. 

On Friday morning, the bus left UL at "8 am sharp", which in Ireland is more like 8:15. The sun was still rising, so it was still a dawn grey, with the clouds and everything. We boarded the bus and met the driver and the tour guide. Ironically, our tour guide was not Irish. She was French, and spoke with a heavy French accent, but has been everywhere in Ireland and really knew her stuff. It took about four and a half hours to get to Belfast from Limerick, and most of it was spent in near silence, as almost everyone slept most of the way. When we arrived in Belfast, we drove around the city and were shown some of the most well known sites around the city. There are about 300,000 people who live in the city of Belfast, but the bus drove through the main squares, not the residential areas. The architecture was beautfiul. As Northern Ireland is part of the UK, there is a lot of British influence throughout the city. Some things were subtle, such as the architectural style of all the buildings (Victorian. More about Victoria later), but there were obvious ones as well, like the Union Jack flying on every street. 

Our first hint of violence was made shortly after we got into the city. We passed by a fancy-looking hotel called the Europa. Turns out, this hotel is the most bombed hotel in the world. It has been bombed a total of 34 times. We didn't hear why all of these bombs occurred, most of them were probably politically or religiously (or both, which happens frequently here in Northern Ireland) motivated. In fact, as we drove by there was an ambulance and a few medical personal right outside, bandaging a man's head. For all I know, he could have simply fallen down, but I found it very appropriate that something was going on outside this infamous hotel. We continued driving around the city, and our guide would point out famous landmarks or statues. Back to the Victoria thing: as a city, the people of Belfast seem to be obsessed with Queen Victoria. Everything is named after her, there are tons of statues of hers, etc. As the guide would point to things, she would have us guess what they were named after, and it quickly become clear that everything was named after her. The main street was Victoria Street, the mall was Victoria Square, the bridge was the Queen Victoria Bridge. There was even a statue in the city of her husband, Albert. Whenever she was ask what anything was named, we would all respond with an enthusiastic, "Victoria!"

I didn't actually know very many people on this trip, only a few and not very well, so I was being brave and just hanging out alone. There was a girl who is in a few of my classes and lives across the street from me, Callista, and I hung out with her and sat next to her on the bus. During the bus tour, we drove by the largest arena in Northern Ireland (seats 20,000 only), and someone mentioned that Belfast had a hockey team. Turns out, the girl directly in front of me was from Canada, and we bonded over the hockey worlds we lived in. From there it was easy: I think I finally found my best friend here! Her name is Meggan, and she was with one of her housemates Rhiannon, a girl who I recognized and had met briefly in one of my classes. The four of us (the first friend and the two new ones) bonded the rest of the bus ride and decided afterwards in our free time to walk around the city together. 

The Titanic Museum

This bus tour around the city was really just meant to kill time, as we had gotten there early and our tour of the Titanic quarters wasn't scheduled for a little while. I was really excited to go on this tour. I don't know why, but I have always had this interest in the Titanic, and we were going to get to tour the docks and places that the Titanic was built and first launched. Our tour guide was hilarious. He was a short ("wee") little man who lived his whole life in Belfast. He started the tour off with, "I know everything there is to know about the Titanic. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask, I will answer it. Even if I don't know the answer, I'll just make it up." I knew from there is was going to be interesting. We walked past the Titanic museum (which I heard was really cool, but we didn't have time to do both), and were going to do the outdoor walking tour. We saw the Drawing Room, where the Titanic was designed (along with her two identical sisters, the Olympic and the Britannic). As the tour guide held up a picture of the designer, Thomas Andrews, and asked if anyone knew who he was, I heard Meggan whisper under her breath, "Victoria!" The joke continued throughout the day. 

The guide also had really interesting stories, the lesser known incidents that happened during the building of the Titanic. There was the story of Wee Jim, who would, at the end of every work day, leave the shipyard with a cart full of junk: scraps and rubbish. Nobody understood why, and he never said why. The guards just assumed he was a bit dumb, and left it alone. After a while, they thought maybe he was steeling other materials, and just piled the trash on top of it to cover it up, but they had him empty the cart and he wasn't. On the last day, he was retiring, one of the other workers finally asked him what he was doing with the cart of rubbish everyday. He responded with, "I was stealing the carts." Turns out, he would eat his lunch quickly everyday, go back and build an identical cart with the materials, and fill it with trash, wheel it out, and sell it. Every single day for 20 years. He wasn't dumb after all. There were other stories, like the final worker to die building the ship (there were a total of 10 that died while building it), who go run over by the Titanic as it was being launched into the water. Tragic way to go. Or the story about the worker biking to the dry docks, the 44 foot deep dock that held the Titanic in order to paint the outside, on a foggy, dark morning accidentally biked off the edge and fell. He didn't die, but he didn't go back to work for three years. 

The dry dock of the Titanic.

Anyways, the tour was incredible. The sheer size of the Titanic is not exaggerated one bit. The  museum was built to be the exact height of the bow of the ship. But that isn't the end of it. The bow is the shortest portion of the ship. The center, with all the upper decks and smoke stacks, is three times the height of the bow. So the guide had us picture this building, with two stacked on top. It was HUGE! The dry dock was built to the dimensions to fit the enormous luxury ship. We got to go down and walk in the dry dock. The scary thing is that the water was being held back be an enormous gate. Thankfully,  since the original gate was in service for over one hundred

years, they built a new one. So the really old gate was still there, just not actually holding back any water. There was water that trickled along the edges, which was slightly nerve-racking, but we were told this was perfectly normal and safe. Rhiannon, not thinking said about the dripping, "It's not like water's ever killed anyone." She quickly realized the error of her statement, as we were ironically standing directly where the Titanic was, which about 1,500 of it's passengers were, in fact, killed by water. We still haven't stopped giving her crap for that one. Just little jokes about this place were made throughout the tour. As the tour guide repeatedly stated about the three sister ships (two of which sank, one was sold for scrap parts by the British), "They were perfectly fine when they left here." 

Callista, Me, Meggan, and Rhiannon

After the tour of the Titanic quarters, we went to our hostel (my first experience staying in one!) and were told we had the rest of the night to do whatever we wanted. The four of us dropped off our stuff in our rooms, and headed out to walk around, find the mall, and explore. We took beautiful photos of the Belfast City Hall and statues surrounding it, looked for "relatives" on the list of victims of the Titanic disaster, and eventually made it to the mall. The mall was beautifully designed. It was partially indoor, partially outdoor. There was a domed roof over the center, and the spindles off the center of stores were covered with a glass roof, but there were doors containing the shops, it was just open on the ends. I have never seen anything like it. We wandered around the mall, ate at T.G.I Friday's (I know, total Americans, but it was really good...), and eventually made it into a Claire's. Meggan ended up getting her cartilage pierced (again), and we had a few laughs with the employee. She just kept bringing up stereotypes about Americans, and we would respond in turn with stereotypes about Irish and British. When we told her that the four of us had just met about four hours before, she didn't believe us. By then we were just having a grand ole time, and laughing and goofing off. It was a lot of fun. We were getting tired from all of the walking and bus ride, and had to be up early the next morning for more activities, so we walked back to the hostel and just hung out there for the rest of the night. 

The next day, we had a more detailed tour of Belfast on the bus. This is the day we heard about the Troubles and the violence was very apparent. It was all very eye-opening. I knew about the conflicts between the Protestants and the Catholics in Northern Ireland, but this was more in a general sense. Definitely not to the extent I heard about it the rest of the weekend. We drove to the Peace Wall, the wall that divides the Protestant neighborhood from the Catholic neighborhood. There were gates that were around both neighborhoods, that close at a certain time of night and on certain days of the year (religious holidays, mostly), topped with spirals of barbed wire. There was one street that made me (and the rest of us, I think) incredibly uneasy. This was the street where there was recent fighting and rioting (only about a month ago, it was in the news). Our tour guide didn't make it any better when she said, "There are many buses from the Republic that don't even drive into this part of the city, it is too dangerous. We just aren't going to stop here, we will keep driving and get out at the Peace Wall." That was really fun to hear...

The Peace Wall

The Solidarity Wall

At the Peace Wall, we all got out, and were able to write something on the wall. Hundreds of thousands of young people like ourselves have done the exact same thing, in many languages, all about pleas for peace and end to violence. All up and down the walls are murals and paintings about the wall, it's history, and it's purpose. We also stopped at another wall of murals (there are murals all over Belfast). This one was called The Solidarity Wall. The pictures on this wall depicted not only please about human dignity, civil rights, and peace in Northern Ireland, but in other areas around the world (hence "solidarity"). There were a few aimed specifically at the Israeli-Palistinian conflict, as the people of Northern Ireland can relate on a different level to their situation-religion vs. religion, hatred and suppression and violence in such a small area for such tragic reasons. Both of these walls have powerful histories, and were incredible to visit and read. The violence becomes so real when you see the barbed wire, the smashed windows, the walls that divide in order to protect. Most of the buildings in Belfast, especially in the areas around both of these walls, had metal cages on all the windows, not for fear that people will break in, but that the violent confrontations might shatter the windows by accident.

The entire city remains on edge constantly. Like I said, only a month ago there were riots and violent protests going on in the city. We left Belfast around noon on Saturday, and as we were walking back to our bus, we walked past the city centre, past city hall and everything. On every street corner there were at least three police vehicles (big boxy, sturdy vehicles with cages on the bottom that prevent people from going under them and cages on the small windows with bars on them. Just these police cars were a sign of violence and riots, built to withstand and prevent riots and retain protestors. We saw all of these vehicles and the police standing on each corner in their bulletproof vests. We were confused and nervous, and started to walk faster through the center. We seemed to be the only ones on edge and nervous about the police presence, so it must be a regular thing to prevent violence. It is so sad and scary that that is necessary to keep the peace. 

Police cars parked on every corner around the city centre

The Giant's Causeway: basalt pillars 

Nature's very own stepping stones!

Our next stop was at The Giant's Causeway. We drove along the Antrim Coast, the northernmost coast of the island of Ireland. It was a beautiful drive, and the sun was shining (I always seem to luck out-all of the trips I have gone on have had beautiful, sunny weather, not typical for this island). When we got to the Causeway, we got out and had two hours to explore. For those who don't know what The Giant's Causeway is (I didn't have a clue before this), it is a coastline covered in basalt rocks/pillars that are hexagonal in shape. There are approximately 40,000 stones that were formed from a volcanic eruption about 60 million years ago. They form natural steps that are easy to walk on. They were just incredible! There is also a legend that goes along with the formation that I think is pretty cute. It tells of an Irish warrior named Fionn mac Cumhaill. It is said that Fionn built a road that connected Ireland to Scotland, but was then threatened by the Scottish giant Benandonner. In David vs. Goliath fashion, Fionn needs to outsmart Benandonner in order to beat him, and comes up with a plan: he pretends to be a baby, and his wife Oonagh tells Benandonner when he comes that Fionn is not there, but shows him "Fionn's son". Benandonner, seeing how big Fionn's son is, fled back to Scotland and tore up the road so that Fionn could not follow. 

On the walls of Derry

We spent the few hours there, and then drove on the bus for another hour and a half to Derry, a very old and historical city. Derry (also called Londonderry or The Walled City), is the only completely walled city in all of Ireland, and one of the few in Europe. As a historical city it was fascinating. It used to be a departure city, where immigrants would walk to in order to immigrate to North America, England, or even Australia. It is one of the oldest established cities in all of Ireland. It is the UK's City of Culture for 2013. 
We stayed in another hostel on Saturday night in Derry. This one was more of a house-like atmosphere. We watched "Easy A" and hung out in the living room. It was fun and relaxing.
We (Meggan and I) started to plan our trip over Reading week, to London (Harry Potter studios here we come!), Germany, and Austria. We went to bed relatively early, but at one am we had a terrifying awakening: an alarm started BLARING. It was the loudest alarm I have ever heard, but it didn't sound like a typical fire alarm. It went off for about 30 seconds of sheer terror, confusion, and cursing. It stopped on its own, but one of the girls in our room (there were six of us) peeked outside to make sure the place wasn't on fire, and we all slowly got back into bed. I still have no idea why it went off.

The site of Bloody Sunday

Today it is peaceful, but Derry is unfortunately known throughout the world as the location of rioting and protests during the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s. The most infamous one is the Battle of the Bogside (an area just outside the walls of the city that is almost 100% Catholic), where Catholic protestors took to the streets and fought with the police. They were protesting Internment, a process of accelerated trials (or sometimes even no trials at all) of 'rebels' and their subsequent imprisonment (sometimes even execution). These protests were the start of the Troubles throughout Northern Ireland, the civil rights movement, the conflicts between the Catholic and the Protestants. The Bogside is also known as the location for the infamous Bloody Sunday (you know the U2 song?), where thousands of peaceful (unarmed) Catholic protestors, on Sunday January 30, 1972 marched in the streets. The police opened fire on the crowd, killing 13 people, injuring 13 more, and one died later on from his injuries. At the place that this happened, there is now a memorial garden and statue, and the walls of the buildings have murals that depict the events and the desire for peace in the area. 

"The Death of Innocence"

The most tragic of all the murals, though, is one titled "The Death of Innocence". The mural is of a 14-year-old Catholic schoolgirl named Annette McGavigan. In 1971, in the early years of the Troubles, Annette was walking home from school and was hit by a stray bullet fired by the police during the clashes, and was killed. Her father would come, up until recently when he died, and sit across from this mural and talk to her. Many people would pass him, but would leave him be to grieve. They say he never recovered after the death of his innocent little girl, and died of a broken heart. This is the only mural in the Bogside that has been changed. When it was first painted, the artist said that he would change the mural only when strives for peace have been made. In 1994, the peace talks began and the artist changed it. Originally, the rifle on the side was painted black and was intact, and the white circle was blank. Once the peace talks began, the rifle was paint red and broken, and the butterfly was painted in the empty space. This just shows the tragic results of the Troubles, and it was incredibly eye-opening. 

We drove home on Sunday afternoon, about 5 and a half hours to get back from Derry to Limerick. I was exhausted, from all the walking and fun. Once back in my room, I got to check Facebook for the first time in a few days and uploaded my pictures. I then walked over to Meggan and Rhiannon's house and we watched "Bridesmaids" (Meggan and I had been quoting it all weekend, and Rhiannon had never seen it). It was an excellent end to the weekend. :)

New best friends!

Just chillin' with a guy we nicknamed "Wee Jim" in the dry dock

"No more ships in here"

Fraud Prevention and Spiders

Good news and not so good news. Good news first: I officially booked my trip to Budapest for March 8-10! I have paid for the tours, the hostels, etc. This good news is unfortunately connected to the bad news. Bad news: I tried to book the flight and my credit card was declined. This is the first major (and I mean major problem in my travels so far). I thought maybe I was just inputing the information wrong, but I tried many ways and none of them worked. I then tried using my card on another site, and it was declined there as well. This was relatively good timing for this to happen (I would have rather had it not happen at all, but), as I was able to pay for my student visa on Monday without any problems. So I am working (or trying to work with) the bank to get this all straightened out! I sent them a long and descriptive email about my problem (free of any expletives, I was very proud of myself). I am having my dad call them in person today to see if that will make it go faster. What makes me most angry is that I even contacted them to tell them I would be in Europe for four months, and they put a note on my account. I have online banking, and even that still says my card is active and there are no blocks on my account. Grrr! **Problem solved, hopefully. After searching for phone numbers and collect call numbers in order to find one that works, I finally was able to get ahold of the bank and get it all worked out. Talked to the fraud prevention department, had them put a real travel notice on my account, so I shouldn't have any more problems (fingers crossed)**

On a side note, I have had few interactions with the mysterious Irish lad across the hall. I finally met him, his name is Kevin. I don't actually run into him that frequently, surprisingly enough, but there was definitely reason to yesterday. I was sitting in my room, minding my own business, when I heard this noise. It was coming from the general direction of my radiator, so I looked over. To my horror, I watched as a huge spider stepped slowly across a piece of paper. Now, I don't have a major fear of spiders, and I don't have a problem with them when they are small. But this one was big, and had thick, scary legs! Legs and body combined, it was probably the same diameter as a shot glass. It thankfully stayed put for a while as I tried to figure out what to do. I decided I would ask Kevin to get rid of it for me. I opened my door and knocked hesitantly on his. He came to the door and I asked him, quite embarrassed at this point, "Strange question...I have this problem with spiders, and there is just this big one sitting near me. Could you possibly kill it or get rid of it for me? Please?" He looked at me as if I was slightly crazy, and kind of chuckled at me. He agreed nonchalantly, and I pointed at the spider for him (it was quite obvious where it was, but I felt I would help him out a little). I expected him to just pick up one of my shoes that was nearby and smash it, but no. I wasn't that lucky. Instead, he picked it up with his bare hand. It tried to scurry away at first, but he lunged and got it the second time. He then walked by me with it squirming in between his index finger and thumb. I watched as he just went back to his room. I don't even know what he did with it. It looked like he just put it down on his own radiator. Ew. Now I am all paranoid that these monster spiders are living everywhere in my room.

I also finally made plans to go to the grocery store today. I have been living off of bread, jelly (I ate all the peanut butter. whoops), noodles and cheese (I have made homemade macaroni multiple times), frozen pizzas and sandwiches, for the past three weeks now. It is time to actually go to the store. It is only about a 20 minute walk from my house, so it shouldn't be that bad. I just have to find a way to fit everything I need into two canvas shopping bags and a backpack. I'll maybe regret the whole walking thing later on, but it is basically my only option, and it is silly to pay almost two euro to take a bus for three minutes. There is also a possibility that I will be purchasing a few basic baking supplies that aren't provided here in our on-campus housing. They supplied: three different sized pots, a noodle strainer, a large glass bowl, one wooden spoon, one bread knife, one small ineffective knife, forks, butter knives, two different sized spoons, a cheese grater, a wine bottler opener, a potato masher, a whisk, two cutting boards, and assorted things I don't recognize. Missing from the list (insanely...): a baking sheet, a pizza cutter, and measuring cups and spoons. Let's just say, some interesting improvisation has been going on for three weeks. I might have to buy a baking sheet in case I want to make anything involving the oven...

Immigration and Transportation

Had a little mini adventure today. It was...interesting. I had my immigration appointment, which was next to the Henry Street Garda (police) station in Limerick City. We had to get there ourselves, but we didn't get to choose what time/day we were scheduled for, so it was kind of a pain. First of all, I had to leave one of my classes early to make it to my appointment, and when classes don't start until about 10 minutes after they are supposed to (they aren't big sticklers on being on time here in Ireland), that meant I sat in class for a total of 10 minutes. On the plus side, it was Traditional Irish Music and Dance, so I learned the difference between a reel, a jig, and a hornpipe, then took off. 

The fruits of my labor

Anyways, we took a city bus to get there, and we were given some directions by the international office. These directions were not very helpful/inaccurate, so we had to walk a few blocks to get to where we were supposed to be. The weather, as it is frequently, was strangely temperamental. It was sunny when we got off of the bus but started to rain about a block into it. With the sun still out, it began hailing after a while. It was only little pieces of hail, but they pelted us in the face and eyes. We eventually found the immigration office, but by that time we were soaking wet. Obviously we needed to have our photos taken for our international registration cards, we looked fabulous. We sat in the office waiting with other study abroad students, and eventually gave them all the necessary papers, had our pictures taken, passports stamped, and fingerprints filed. The whole process took about half an hour, along with another half hour of waiting. 




Once completed, we started to head back. I stopped briefly at a music store to pick up a tin whistle for my music class, and then we had to find a bus stop to take a bus back to campus. As a public transportation failure, we got on a bus that was the correct route number, but one that took nearly twice as long, went in the opposite direction, and then doubled back and was a complete waste of time. We got on the bus at about 4:30, and got back to campus at 6. This meant I had missed one of my classes. So it was an interesting trip, but I am now legally able to stay in Ireland as a student without any problems!