Haste Ye Back (Or, Why I Want More Time in Scotland)

I love Scotland!

Even though at first I was worried that this weekend excursion so close to the end of the semester would be detrimental to my workload, I am so glad that Ian, Hannah and I took this trip. Scotland is definitely one of my favorite places out of everywhere I have traveled.

We arrived in Edinburgh late on Thursday night and spent the night chilling in the hostel so we could wake up early the next day and head to Dunfermline, the town that Ian's family is from. We took a quick half-hour train ride to a small, pretty town where all the trees had the green leaves and pink blossoms of spring and a heavy morning mist hung over everything. Dunfermline was Andrew Carnegie's birthplace, and we went to the Andrew Carnegie museum where a really friendly tour guide told us about the displays. By the time we left the museum the sun was out and the weather was beautiful. We had lunch in a little cafe run by old ladies (I had steak pie and an empire biscuit) and then went to check out an old abbey.

  Then we went to our bed and breakfast to drop off our stuff, and we met Jim, one of the owners. He was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and our room was really nice and comfortable. We also met an American couple who were living in Scotland and gave us their phone number in case we got lost or needed help and also gave us some recommendations of where to go for dinner. After a quick nap, we visited Pittencrief Park, which was even nicer than Phoenix Park in Dublin.

Me with the Andrew Carnegie statue

After going to the Andrew Carnegie library to look into some local history and genealogy, we headed to the cemetery to help Ian search for some of his relatives. Although we found a few headstones with the right last name, none of them were related to him and the place was massive, making the search difficult. But it was still interesting to walk around and see the names; I found quite a few Crawfords. After the cemetery we went for dinner in town at one of the pubs the American couple had recommended to us, then went back to the bed and breakfast to relax before bed.

In the morning Jim and Liz, his wife, made us a huge breakfast which we ate in their lovely dining room. Being at the bed and breakfast was like being at someone's grandparent's house. We had such great time chatting with them and the house was so comfortable that we didn't want to leave. But after breakfast we got back on the train and made our way into Edinburgh. Unsurprisingly, it was raining, because wherever Ian and I go, apparently, it rains. But we didn't let it dampen our spirits as we explored the Royal Mile on our way to Edinburgh Castle.

We explored the castle with audio guides, but most of it was outside and it was quite cold and rainy, so we didn't see everything, but it was still cool. We had lunch at a random cafe, then went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience. It was kind of like the Guinness Storehouse or the Jameson Distillery, except you got to go on a ride in giant whiskey barrels to learn about the distilling process. Then you go into a tasting room where they tell you about the different regions in Scotland that produce scotch and how they all taste different, and you get to choose one to try. They also have the world's largest whiskey collection which we got to view while drinking our sample out of our free tasting glass. It was a little cheesy, but overall a fun activity.

We went to our hostel after the whiskey tour to check in and drop off our bags and saw that we were in a 6-bed dorm and there were 3 other people with stuff already there. We groaned because we knew we would be woken up when they came in, seeing as how we had to go to bed early to wake up at 4:45, but didn't worry about it as we walked around the city. We wanted to go to Mary King's Close, a tour around an underground town, but the tickets were sold out for the day. Instead, we ended up having hot chocolate at the cafe where JK Rowling used to sit and write the Harry Potter books! I didn't even know where it was, but we stumbled upon it and went in for a drink. It was easy to see why it was so inspiring--it has a perfect view of the castle.

We explored the city a little more of the city before heading to dinner at Frankenstein's, a pretty cool restaurant with pub grub. It was a little obnoxious because we were sitting right next to a giant hen party (bachelorette party), but they were a little funny when the started dancing. Then we went out for after dinner drinks at another pub before going back to the hostel to sleep before our ridiculously early morning.

We thought Easter wouldn't be a peak travel time, but the Ryan air desk had the longest line I've ever seen at an airport desk ever. We were lucky we had gotten there early because it was pretty ridiculous. But we got home and took the city bus to a place near enough to walk to our apartments. The trip was tiring but amazing--I wish I could have stayed longer!

A Lovely Weekend (Or, Why Spring Has Sprung)

On Thursday I went to a play that was paid for by Champlain. I was surprised that more people didn't take advantage of this opportunity, but only four of us plus Claire, our head resident, wanted to go. It wasn't at the Abbey or anything, it was an unknown pay performed in a smaller, art-space type venue. But the themes were all about leaving home and experiencing the world--surprisingly relevant to the situation of a study abroad student. It was a little artsy, but the actors all seemed to be about my age which added to the meaning.

Friday our science class had a field trip to the Marble Arch Caves right over the Northern Ireland border. I don't really remember any facts about the caves, but all of the formations inside were really cool to look at, and there was a river running through it that we got to take a little boat ride on. Some of the stalactites had been forming for thousands of years, so it was pretty cool to have the opportunity to  see them.

Then on Saturday it was time to Green Up Dublin! Champlain teamed up with the EF Dublin School of English, which ended up being mostly Japanese students, to give back the community we've been living in this semester by sprucing it up a bit as part of the National Spring Clean initiative. We split up into teams and all had different routes to follow picking up litter, cans, and bottles. One good thing about Dublin is that the city is good about maintaining the main walking areas with street sweepers, but my team still ended up with several trash bags full of garbage. Most of what we found were cigarette butts and there was no way we could pick up all of them--there were thousands. But we all put in our best effort and ended up at the academic center where we had a barbecue with our new Japanese friends. I felt a little silly talking to them because most of them were engineers or studying biochemistry or working on space station plasma ions or whatever. But they were really nice and overall I had a good time at Green Up Dublin.

On a side note, I found the best cupcakes in Dublin on one of the most beautiful days of the year. I walked all around the city in the bright sunshine and even went out of my way to go to Merion Square. It's one of the most beautiful places I've been to in the city, and it was practically empty--everyone heads to Saint Stephen's and always forgets about this spot. The weather has been so pleasant here lately, I'm worried about what I'm going to be coming home to in a couple of weeks!

Happy Easter! Look for a post about my trip to Scotland after the holiday.

Western Ireland

Last weekend our entire class went to the west of Ireland! We piled, once again, into the giant coach bus and made the trek across the country toward Galway, making several stops along the way.

First we stopped at a fairy ring, which is actually the remains of an ancient ring fort, but legend says that if you step inside you'll be cursed by the fairies.

We also stopped at the Burren, a wide open area covered with limestone and scattered with ancient wedge tombs.

Then we stopped in a small town called Lisdoonvarna, the home of Europe's biggest matchmaking festival, so that the teachers could buy breakfast supplies. although it would have been cool to see the festival, we were lucky it wasn't going on at the time we were there--apparently some Champlain girls got proposed to 6 times last year!

Our last stop before reaching the hostel was the Cliffs of Moher--definitely one of the coolest things I've seen since coming to Ireland!

Our hostel for the night was in a small town called Doolin. After hanging out on the beach a bit, we ate and hung out in one of the local pubs where there was some trad music being played by a couple of musicians and Hannah and Andy asked if they could join in. They played a couple of songs that everyone recognized, so, as Champlain had kind of taken over the pub, everyone was singing out loud and having a great time.

The next day we took a boat to Inisheer, one of the Aran Islands. Ian and I chose to rent bikes and travel around the island that way. The whole place was completely covered in stone walls for farming, and we passed through the Ghaeltacht, a place where Irish is still everyone's first language.

On the boat on the way back to Doolin, we passed right under the Cliffs of Moher and got to see another spectacular view.

After the Aran Islands it was time to drive to Galway. When we got there we explored for a bit, walking down the main shopping/ restaurant street. The city was small enough to remind us of Burlington and it was cool to see another urban area of Ireland that was so different from Dublin.

Chilling with Oscar Wilde

We split up for dinner, and Ian, Patrick, and I went to an Indian restaurant called Kumar's. The food was fantastic and I'm glad we tried something different because I was getting a little tired of traditional Irish food; it was nice to have some spice and different flavors.

The next day it was time to go home, but we had a little bit of time for shopping and lunch before we left. We hung out by the river in the sun for awhile before getting back on the bus and making our way back to Dublin.

Home Coming (Or, Why I almost Got Thrown Out of A Museum)

My mom came to visit me last weekend!

In a sort-of-last-minute decision, she decided to make the hop across the pond to experience Dublin, and, of course, hang out with me, her favorite child ;-) . We had a great weekend together seeing the sites, eating good food, and hanging out, and it was awesome to have her all the way over  from the States!

Her flight got in around 10:20 on Friday morning, and after making her way to Stay Dublin, which is where she was staying and also where my apartment is, and handing over the Goldfish she had brought, I showed her my usual commute to the Academic Center, a half hour walk past the antique quarter and an area full of modern, professional buildings. After she met Stephen, the Program Director, and Lilly, the Operations Manager, and I gave her a tour of the building (with an abundance of stairs to climb). We went down the block to Cafe Sol, the place where I usually grab a take-away lunch once or twice a week, and then headed home via Saint Stephen's Green, where Mum was impressed with the spring flowers in full bloom, and Grafton Street, one of the main shopping streets in Dublin. Mum took a quick power nap, then we had some traditional Irish food at a restaurant on the Quays; bangers and mash with onion gravy for me, fish and chips and Mum.

The next day I wanted to take Mum to one of my favorite places in Dublin, the Temple Bar Food Market, which is on every Saturday. I love the wide variety of craft and food vendors there and I have made it my mission to try something from every food stall before I leave. As I munched my favorite breakfast crepe, Mum sipped some Belgian hot chocolate and picked out a pair of handmade earrings from a jewelry stall, then we grabbed a few blueberry scones and some fresh apple juice and headed to check out Christ Church Cathedral.

After eating our scones and relaxing for a bit, it was time to head to the double-deader hurling and Gaelic football match! My school had bought tickets for everyone who signed up, and luckily for me one of the students could no longer go, so she gave me her ticket for Mum and we headed to Croke Park with some of my friends to enjoy the festivities. We excitedly waved our free Dublin flags, waiting for the first match, hurling, to start, but soon after it began it started to rain.

Then it started to hail.

 We stuck it out for a little while, little white beads pelting us from above, but our seats weren't under cover and Mum decided she wanted to go back to the apartments and get warm so, map in hand, she made her way back. I stayed with a bunch of the other students, shivering and cheering for Dublin. We decided to leave before the Gaelic football game really got going, and I was glad because I was soaked through and not wearing a waterproof coat.

The next day, Sunday, Mum, Hannah, Ian, and I took the DART to the seaside town of Howth for the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival. I'm not really a big fan of prawns, and I don't think Mum is either, but there was a big farmer's market going on anyway, so we browsed around the stalls, bought some cupcakes, and walked by the water in the sun. It was a really pleasant afternoon, even though we couldn't quite figure out why, exactly, it qualified as a prawn festival because there didn't seem to be many seafood-y things around. But we left relaxed anyway and chilled out a bit before dinner.

 Mum, Ian, and I went to The Church, the restaurant Champlain had taken us to on one of our first nights here. We ate in the area where we could see the old stained glass and organ, and some live Irish music was playing. Mum enjoyed more Irish food as she tried Guinness Beef Stew while Ian and I had steaks and potato cakes.

On Monday, Mum's last day, I had class until 1:30, so Mum explored a bit on her own. We met up at the Molly Malone statue at the head of Grafton Street and found the National Art Gallery, only to see that much of it was closed due to renovations. But we wandered the few rooms that were open, admiring the paintings, until we came to a room with a large landscape on one wall over an ornate wooden table with a sign on it that said DO NOT TOUCH.

Unfortunately, I sometimes have the mentality of a small child.
I had to touch it. There was a big glob of paint sticking out from the canvas just begging to feel my fingertip. I made sure no one was looking and gave it a small poke.

Then a security guard came out and said "Ladies, the alarm's just gone off." He pointed at a blinking red light on the ceiling.

My face paled and I stammered something about my bag possibly hitting it. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but I didn't want to look to suspicious. So Mum and I looked at a few more paintings, tooled around the gift shop, and then left. When I told her what I had done, all she could do was laugh. I still think they are going to analyze my fingerprint and come after me.

After a bit of souvenir shopping and a tea and muffin break, we went to the Evensong service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Mum wanted to sit in one of those pews where you have to open a little door to get in, but we walked in as it was about to start and we couldn't figure out how to open it, so we just sat in one of the rows of chairs behind the pews. The music choir was beautiful and it was interesting to hear the gospel being read in an Irish accent. I thought um might be getting tired of Irish food, so we went to Ciao Bella Roma for dinner, an Italian restaurant where I got pizza with spicy salami and she got pasta with swordfish.

The next morning it was time for Mum to catch the shuttle back to the airport , so I woke up at the crack of 7 to see her off. I'm so glad she had the opportunity to come visit me in Dublin, and we had a great time! It's so strange to think I'll be going home in just a couple of weeks--it feels like I just started this blog yesterday!
Stay tuned--coming up next: Western Ireland!