Pre-departure
As soon as I learned that studying abroad even existed, I knew I wanted to study in Ireland some day. This fall, that dream became a reality, and now here I am. I finally started packing (three days before leaving) and am starting to feel somewhat ready to begin my journey. There are a few hard goodbyes coming in the next few days, my dog and my parents. My parents have been so incredibly supportive of my trip and I can't ever thank them enough for giving me this opportunity. I can't wait to get to Ireland and make the most of the time that I have in this beautiful country.
I have been to Ireland before, I've seen many different parts of the country and I've shared many memories with the family that I have there. The first time I went, I was in the fourth grade. Since then, I've been in love with it. I am infatuated with the culture and the people; their warm hearts and kind spirits. I am obsessed with the scenery; the rolling hills and the greenest pastures you'll ever see. I am curious about the history, rich in stories of determination and grit.
I am going to Ireland to experience their way of life and their culture for more than just a week long family vacation. I want to explore places I've never been and I want to travel not only all over Ireland, but throughout Europe. I can't wait to start this adventure in just a couple of days!
Day 4
After a few days visiting family in Buncrana, I have officially moved into my room in Maynooth. My flat is one of the newest on campus, however, it is not finished. The walls and ceilings are still concrete, so hopefully that gets finished by the time I leave. My flatmates seem to be really nice so I'm excited to get to know them better. Although my room may not be finished, I'm sure that I'll be able to make do. I have orientation starting Thursday into Friday so that will let me meet some of the other students studying here this semester. There are still two more flatmates who have not moved in yet, I'm excited to meet them as well! Classes start next Monday and I'll be able to go to several different classes before deciding which ones I will actually register for. I like that system, it allows you to kind of get a taste for everything before having to decide what you want to do.
It was so great to be able to spend the weekend with my family in Buncrana (especially Orlaith for letting me take over her bed for two nights)! I love seeing everyone and catching up. Seeing how much all of the younger kids have grown since I was here two years ago was crazy! It was nice to see that Oonagh's daughters were no longer scared of my American accent and were much happier to see me this time.
Edit: Because people (Tara) are concerned for my wellbeing after seeing the photo of my bed, here are more pictures to prove that I am not, in fact, in a prison cell, I just have cement walls
29 january
I've been here a little bit over a week now and I've settled in a lot. Thursday and Friday were orientation, busy days but interesting and I met a lot of other people who are studying abroad here. Yesterday, I went with two friends to Dublin to go on a tour of the Guinness Factory. We took the bus from Maynooth to Merrion Square in Dublin and then walked to the factory, which is about a mile and a half away. We got to see a lot of Dublin on our walk there, and a lot of a different part of Dublin when we got lost on our walk back. Once we eventually found our way back to where we wanted to be, we stopped in a restaurant in the Temple Bar area of the city. I've never been to that area of Dublin, but it was a nice section with a lot of pubs and restaurants. We then walked from there back to the bus stop and after waiting at the wrong bus stop for two hours, finally made it back to Maynooth at around 10:30, exhausted and freezing cold. Our day in Dublin was definitely an adventure, but now at least know where to go for next time.
a weekend in barcelona
I just got back today from spending the weekend in Barcelona with the one and only Molly Curley. Infamous for "wasting gas" and going on drives to random towns all over New England with no purpose, we were very eager to begin our newest adventure in Barcelona. However, we did not expect it to begin in the airport, where we took an hour to figure out that we were actually on opposite sides of the airport and Molly actually had to take a bus in order to get to where I was. So after that slight delay, we were off. We checked into our hotel and (finally) went and got something to eat at a restaurant around the corner.
Friday morning, we got up and walked a couple of miles to Park Güell (aka where they filmed The Cheetah Girls 2) and saw the most amazing views of Barcelona. The whole park was designed by Antoni Gaudí and features a lot of really cool stone structures and mosaic-type designs and the view was incredible.
After the Park, we walked to La Sagrada Familia, a church also designed by Gaudí, but it hasn't been finished yet. It has been under construction for 135 years, so even if you go more than once, it never looks the same. The outside has insane amounts of details and carvings in the stone, and the inside is entirely natural light, with a ton of stained glass and all white walls. This church is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.
Friday night, we went to a restaurant up on a hill above the city called Mirablau. The food was delicious and the restaurant has 360-degree views of all of Barcelona, so the view wasn't too bad either.
On Saturday, we woke up and went to Las Ramblas, a road in Barcelona with lots of shops and restaurants that leads all the way down to the water. While we were there, we got lunch, where we ordered sangria and were given mojitos (we were not sad about this), at a restaurant on the main part of the road. After that, while we walked back to the hotel on a lot of different side streets with a lot of different little fruit markets and such. All of them were very cute and we didn't even get lost.
Adare, Killarney, and dingle
Yesterday, I was able to go on a trip through the international society here at Maynooth with a bunch of friends. We went on Paddywagon's Kerry Highlights tour. We left Maynooth at 7:30 a.m. which, if you know me at all, you can imagine how excited I was about that, and got back around 9:30. It was a long day, but it was really really fun and very much worth it.
Our first stop was in Adare in County Limerick. It's a small town, but it's very charming and has a really cute little park and lots of thatched roof cottages. When we were first driving in, the tour guide told us that two of the thatched roof homes had just recently been ruined by a fire. We stopped here for about 20 minutes, got coffee and light breakfasts and then continued on our way.
Our next stop was at at the Torc Waterfall inside of Killarney National Park. The 18-meter-high waterfall was absolutely beautiful and the forest it was in was gorgeous and so green.
After that we were given an hour and a half in the town of Killarney and Big Mike, our bus driver and tour guide, recommended a horse and carriage tour of the National Park. A few of the other people on the trip and I decided to go for it and it was completely worth it. Our tour guide, first of all, was a little old Irish man who thought that he was the funniest person to ever walk the Earth but had the funniest laugh any of us had ever heard. He also told us about pretty much every tree we went by on the tour. We saw what seemed like a lot of the park, but the park itself is more than 25,000 acres or some ridiculously large number like that, so what seemed like a lot was actually only a small fraction. The park is gorgeous and has lots of lakes and a few homes from when the park used to be different estates. There are also these huge deer there that look like they're the size of cows.
After the stop in Killarney, we went to the Dingle Peninsula, more specifically, Inch Beach. We got there right before sun set, so the views were incredible and seeing a beach surrounded by mountains was really cool. Some people were brave enough to go in the water, and Big Mike suggested it, saying to go in if you hadn't been in the Atlantic Ocean yet, but I decided that I had had enough experience with the Atlantic Ocean and did not need to venture into the freezing cold water. My friend Kasey, however, did want to go in the water because she's from Indiana and never gets to go to the beach. So, she took her shoes off, rolled up her jeans, and walked in. While she was enjoying the beach, some random dog decided to pee on her shoe while it's owner unapologetically watched, and then offered Kasey a little shrug before walking away after the dog had finished. As anybody would be, Kasey was thrilled.
After about 30 minutes on the beach, we got back on the bus to head back to Maynooth. We only stopped two more times, once near Tralee, but it was just to take a picture quickly, and then again at a rest area when we were about halfway back to school (it's about a 3 and a half hour ride). The ride back was full of karaoke by Big Mike, who's favorites include The Time of My Life and Sexy And I Know It, which was written "about him and only him". When we got back to Adare, we dropped Tom off at the Paddywagon offices there and Tom drove us the rest of the way back to Maynooth.
Hangin' in Howth
This weekend, some friends and I went to Howth, a small village on the coast outside of Dublin. We got off the train and found the Howth Market, which was a farmer's market type of situation, where they were selling lots of handmade crafts and fresh food. After walking around there, we walked about 4 miles along the cliffs and enjoyed the sun while it was out. The cliffs had some really breathtaking views. On our walk down, it started to pour, of course, because this is Ireland, so we once we got back into the main part of the town, we stopped and got lunch at a tea room called The Dog House. After we ate, we got back on the train to Dublin and walked around there for a bit. While we were there, Kayla, Kendall, and I went to a pub near Temple Bar to watch some of the Ireland-France rugby match. We didn't understand anything that was going on, but it was a very interesting experience watching such a big game at a pub in Dublin.
On Saturday night, Kendall and I made the fun discovery that we had an exam on Wednesday so we studied that night and then pretty much all day on Sunday only to discover on Monday that our exam was not actually on Wednesday, we just read Moodle wrong. So that was really fun. (This is why they need to adopt the idea of making a syllabus here)
Copenhagen, Denmark
This weekend, I traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark with Maggie, a Gamma Phi sister from back home who is studying abroad in Dublin. I met Maggie at the Dublin airport and once we landed in Copenhagen and managed to navigate our way to our AirBnb, we grabbed a quick dinner and went to bed.
Friday morning, we woke up and walked to the tourist office that was down the road from the apartment to buy a 48 hour Copenhagen Card. The card was definitely a great idea, it gets you free entry into 73 different attractions around the city. discounts at lots of different restaurants, and free public transportation. We added up what it would have cost to do everything we did without the Copenhagen Card and we figure we saved about $40-50 by doing this. The first thing we did was a canal tour around Copenhagen and then we headed to Christiansborg Palace. The reception rooms in the palace were beautiful from floor to ceiling (literally-the ceilings are all carved and painted). After that, we went to walk around Nyhavn, the canal in Copenhagen with all of the colorful buildings that you see in pictures. It was a really cool spot, it looked just like the pictures you've seen. We ate lunch in that area and then went to the Carlsberg brewery (we both agreed that the Guinness one was cooler, but we're probably a little biased). At the brewery, you can go into the stables, and Maggie made a horse friend who tried to eat my hair right after letting Maggie pat him. Then we went back to the apartment for a little bit before going to a weird restaurant for dinner that gave us this really spicy spread for our bread that made my eyes water.
On Saturday, we were determined to get a lot of things in before we had to be at the airport at 6. We woke up and went to a restaurant for breakfast that our AirBnb hosts recommended where we got pancakes and French toast (very worldly of us). After that, we went to Rosenborg Castle, which is where the Danish crown jewels are. We explored the castle, which had a lot of knick-knack type of things in it. Then we went and saw the crown jewels which were, of course, gorgeous. When we were walking to get on the bus, I actually bumped into a girl I graduated high school with...in Copenhagen...you can imagine the shock. After that, we went to Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Royal Family, in time to watch the changing of the guard. This was a really cool ceremony to watch. When we were there, we asked a random girl to take our picture, and it turned out that she was also a Gamma Phi at BU, another small world moment. After the Palace, we just wandered around the city in search for the perfect postcards to add to our collections and got lunch and a drink at a restaurant closer to the apartment.
Overall, Copenhagen is a really, really cool city and if you are going there I absolutely recommend the Copenhagen Card (shoutout to Lauren Cullen for telling me to get it) because you save a lot of money and Copenhagen is a pretty expensive place without it.
London, England
During our "study week" in March, I spent three days in London with Kayla, Kendall, Allison, Grace, and Kendall's friend Cayla from the states. The first day, we did a free walking tour and saw a lot of the biggest sights in the city. After that, we did a lot of wandering around and window shopping before going on a pub crawl that night.
The next day, we headed over toward the London Bridge and got brunch at Where The Pancakes Are, which was delicious. After that, we
On our last day, we walked around the Shoreditch district of London, admiring all of the street art.
St. Patrick's Day
We spent St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, of course. There are no words to describe how fun it was, so here's a video. Erin also came!!
Paris, France
Erin and I spent a few days in Paris, had a picnic at the Eiffel Tower, climbed up the dome at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, and put a lock on the lock bridge for all of our friends (shoutout to the Retreat pals)
Italy
One of my favorite trips this semester has been to Italy with Erin. We spent 5 days exploring Rome, Florence, and Venice, three of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. We were even lucky enough to go on a wine tour in Tuscany and a gondola ride in Venice! This trip was full of things to cross off my bucket list!!
And everything in between
This time in Ireland has been so incredible and I am so thankful for this opportunity! I've seen more of the world than I ever imagined and I've traveled all over Ireland. I've met so many incredible people from so many different places, it's been truly life-changing. As if Ireland didn't have enough of my heart before I came, I definitely love it even more now.
I haven't been keeping up with this blog as much, but between all of my adventures and actually going to class it's been hard! Here are some more pictures from my adventures around Ireland!
Credits:
Created with images by Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL - "A new map of Ireland, civil and ecclesiastical" • useristrator3 - "st patrick's chapel maynooth st patrick's college"