Its been forever since our last update so get ready, this is going to be big! We have been busy all these weeks with lots of fun stuff to share with our faithful followers!
Quite literally the only thing we did in the days following St. Paddy's Day was write our final papers.... whooo hooo. So nothing to report there, but then Katie's family came! Mom, Dad, sisters Kara and Amy, uncles Jon, Joe, and Kevin all came to spend some time on the island. While it rained a majority of the time (first rainy week since we arrived), there was still a lot accomplished! The girls all made a trip to Paris as part of Kara's belated graduation present. Lots of walking, some shopping, and sightseeing at all the usual spots- including a very interesting Eiffel Tower experience. Camille stayed in Paris to meet up with some friends to start her two week European tour and the rest went back to Ireland to continue on with the boys. The rest of the vacation was spent in pubs and on the road (Jon got to be an expert at driving a large van on the wrong side of the car and road), with the Cliffs of Moher and parts of the Connemara area being explored. Fun to have them here, sad to see them go....
PARIS: Camille's stay- Well on Wednesday I made my way over to another hostel to meet up with Allison and Estef. The three of us then headed out to the Louvre as the weather was not too great. We walked all around the Louvre for 4 hours. Seriously. There was tons to see and we got in free with our European student IDs. Awesome. Later that evening Lizzi came to join us and we had a mini Luther reunion with Erik too! Thursday we did some more epic walking up to Sacre Couer and Mon Martre and over to the Eiffel Tower. Friday was a day for Versailles. The typical meal while in Paris consisted of a baguette, Camabert cheese, apples, and the occasional crepes. Most importantly...macarons! Katie joined on Saturday. The majority of that day was spent walking around Paris and just enjoying being there! And it rained....
MARSEILLE: Sunday morning we left for Marseille via train. The journey lasted about 3 hours. Katie slept for most of it and Camille was awed by the French landscape. Marseille was the place where it had been decided we were just going to take it easy. Sunday afternoon we walked to St. Vincent's Church and saw the crypt and just got our bearings of the city. We passed through a small market where an American woman was trying to pay with American currency and when the teller was making conversation about where they were from and such the woman replied, "the States". Well duh, the French aren't stupid lady. This is why Americans have a bad rep. as tourists...Anyway, the next day we walked to some more lovely cathedrals and had a cappuccino and banana split on the port where we got some sun. Lovely!
BARCELONA: After a very lengthy bus ride, we finally arrived in this beautiful city! While there, we saw Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, and accidentally climbed the mountain trying to get to Park Guell. Also, we spent a few hours at the beach where we got harassed by women wanting us to pay them for a massage every thirty seconds. This is also the city were Katie FINALLY got her Starbucks, although they did not have coffee based ANYTHING for some ungodly reason... AND they didn't take gift cards, but whatever. It was still good! This was our favorite stop and we each got an adorable scarf to remember it by :)
ROME: Basically....we walked the city to death seeing a ton of sweet stuff. We saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, a ton of Piazzas and water fountains, and the Spanish Steps, and I am sure that there are more things that I could list as well...We also went to Vatican City! It was a Sunday, so the museums were closed. But, we got to attend Mass in St. Peter's Basilica which was cool, however, it was in Latin and Italian and there were people in Mass that would try and take pictures the entire time. Rather annoying. Probably the best part of Rome was the Gelato. We had it four times and the last time we enjoyed it was also the best. It was the cheapest thus far and it was the best quality, and while enjoying it we watched an albatross kill and devour a pigeon. Free gelato-dinner entertainment!
N. IRELAND: After our lovely slumber party in the airport (1/2 on the floor in check-in, 1/2 in Starbucks!), we made our way to Belfast. We killed some time at Queen's University, the museum and the Botanic Gardens until our room at the hostel was ready. When it was we took a much needed four-hour nap, then we went back to sleep after dinner. Glorious! The next day we boarded a tour bus to Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge, Giant's Causeway, and (London)Derry- all very cool spots! The plan in Derry was supposed to be to catch a bus straight to Galway at 4pm. Here is what actually happened: We got the ticket window and found out that the last bus to Galway was at 3:15pm... the only bus we could get would be halfway to Sligo... We thought we could do that and then catch the connecting bus five minutes later to make the rest of the trip... We got to Sligo to find out that the second bus was only on Fridays... the next bus to Galway was at 6am the next morning, it was 9:30pm... we went to a pub across the street from the bus station (mmm, Smithwicks)... met the very nice bartender who was previously a student at NUIG... stayed there til 3:30am... ended up with only two hours to kill til the bus came! FINALLY made it back to Galway at about 9am and took the longest, most amazing shower that ever happened. And then took another one today! And we also ate food!!
Now we are sitting on the couch, eating noodles and watching the Ninja episode of Myth Busters. Tomorrow is another trip to the Cliffs and hopefully, if the volcano in Iceland cooperates, we will be on a plane home on Tuesday morning! Wish us luck- goodness knows we need luck while traveling... See you sooooooooon!
LOVE.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
St. Paddy's Day!
Hello people! So...yesterday we celebrated a national holiday of Ireland's called St. Patrick's Day. It was lots of fun. We actually started out our St. Paddy's Day celebration Tuesday night at out neighbor, Katie's, apartment. She made traditional Irish stew for us and invited some Irish people over to dine with us. The stew was delicious and the company was grand!
Around 4 am on St. Paddy's morning Chelsea's friends finally arrived from London to celebrate with us! So they of course settled in and got some sleep right away because we had an early morning. Around 9 am the ten of us from Dunaras journeyed out to the other side of town where we had "Eggs and Kegs" with some friends. Num! They cooked us eggs and toast and we had some mimosas and Irish cider. After a fun morning of chatter and food the even larger group of us walked into town for the parade.
The parade....apparently the American rule of whoever is there first gets the best view does not necessarily apply in Ireland. There were several groups of people (mostly mothers with their children) who thought that they could push and shove ahead of us. Annoying. There is a reason we got there a half hour early....but we have learned and next time we will just show up whenever we feel like it and shove our way to the front. After the parade we stopped at McDonald's where we thought it would be extremely appropriate to enjoy a Shamrock Shake! NUM!
After a full morning and afternoon we took a few hours back home to rest up for the evening. We headed out to the pubs around 9:30 and had great fun with great friends. All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better St. Paddy's!
With LOVE from across the pond!
Around 4 am on St. Paddy's morning Chelsea's friends finally arrived from London to celebrate with us! So they of course settled in and got some sleep right away because we had an early morning. Around 9 am the ten of us from Dunaras journeyed out to the other side of town where we had "Eggs and Kegs" with some friends. Num! They cooked us eggs and toast and we had some mimosas and Irish cider. After a fun morning of chatter and food the even larger group of us walked into town for the parade.
The parade....apparently the American rule of whoever is there first gets the best view does not necessarily apply in Ireland. There were several groups of people (mostly mothers with their children) who thought that they could push and shove ahead of us. Annoying. There is a reason we got there a half hour early....but we have learned and next time we will just show up whenever we feel like it and shove our way to the front. After the parade we stopped at McDonald's where we thought it would be extremely appropriate to enjoy a Shamrock Shake! NUM!
After a full morning and afternoon we took a few hours back home to rest up for the evening. We headed out to the pubs around 9:30 and had great fun with great friends. All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better St. Paddy's!
With LOVE from across the pond!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
My Birthday!
So last Monday I turned 21, and it was pretty spectacular.
We got up early in the morning so we could do a day adventure to one of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. The Aran Islands are located off of the west coast of Ireland, not far from Galway. In order to get there we took a 45 minute bus ride to the ferry port. From there we took the ferry to the island which was about another 45 minute journey. The island was beautiful! We rented bikes and explored! Fun Fun!
So....my birthday.....we started the evening out by walking down to a pub called Monroe's. The whole Dunaras gang came out to help me celebrate! My first drink as a 21 year old was actually a shot at a neighbor's apartment on the way to the pub. The entire apartment area was crazy on Monday night to kick off a charity event called RAG (Raise a Grand) Week. Basically, students from NUIG binge drink all week and proceeds go to charity. Another reason why Monday night was sure to be grand! Everyone was out! ...So where did we leave off...oh yes, Monroe's. At Monroe's Katie and Chelsea asked the bartender to make me a special birthday drink. She did and it was really good. With my drink, Katie and I split bacon cheddar chips (fries). NUM! After Monroe's we went to a few pubs and ended the last couple of hours of the night at a place called BAR 903. Overall, the night was a great success! And, I celebrated my 21st in Ireland, could it get much better?
We got up early in the morning so we could do a day adventure to one of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. The Aran Islands are located off of the west coast of Ireland, not far from Galway. In order to get there we took a 45 minute bus ride to the ferry port. From there we took the ferry to the island which was about another 45 minute journey. The island was beautiful! We rented bikes and explored! Fun Fun!
So....my birthday.....we started the evening out by walking down to a pub called Monroe's. The whole Dunaras gang came out to help me celebrate! My first drink as a 21 year old was actually a shot at a neighbor's apartment on the way to the pub. The entire apartment area was crazy on Monday night to kick off a charity event called RAG (Raise a Grand) Week. Basically, students from NUIG binge drink all week and proceeds go to charity. Another reason why Monday night was sure to be grand! Everyone was out! ...So where did we leave off...oh yes, Monroe's. At Monroe's Katie and Chelsea asked the bartender to make me a special birthday drink. She did and it was really good. With my drink, Katie and I split bacon cheddar chips (fries). NUM! After Monroe's we went to a few pubs and ended the last couple of hours of the night at a place called BAR 903. Overall, the night was a great success! And, I celebrated my 21st in Ireland, could it get much better?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Finally, an update!
Hey all! We really have not forgotten about you, I promise! We just truly have not done anything since our last post! Well, we did get our final paper topics... But that's really it.
Chelsea's sister is here for a while, so we are going to the Aran Islands on Monday to bike around and see the sights! It is also Camille's 21st Birthday so we will be going out to celebrate with some friends that evening as well. We will definitely have an update after this fun day!
Other than that, we both miss friends and family, a lot. (Camille says hi to Grandma!) Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us, we will try to update again very soon with something fun!
LOVE!
Chelsea's sister is here for a while, so we are going to the Aran Islands on Monday to bike around and see the sights! It is also Camille's 21st Birthday so we will be going out to celebrate with some friends that evening as well. We will definitely have an update after this fun day!
Other than that, we both miss friends and family, a lot. (Camille says hi to Grandma!) Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us, we will try to update again very soon with something fun!
LOVE!
Friday, February 26, 2010
"So Happy I Could Die"...
...a really good song by Lady Gaga, gotta love her! But Katie and I have spent the last 4 hours planning our April travels, and now that we finally have it all figured out, I think that we are both "so happy we could die". Ugh, it was exhausting! But we are going to see some really cool places!!!! I will tell you but you have to listen to what we did the past week first!
On Monday....Katie and Jack left in the morning to go on the Burren/Cliffs of Moher tour (the same one that Katie and I went on last month) and did a neat little overnight thing in Doolin. It sounds like they had tons of fun! But apparently the stores and such do not open until around noon in Doolin, so they were rather bored Tuesday morning. Katie, having gone on the tour before, was slightly targeted and teased by Desmond, the same lovely tour guide we had before! He is a cutie. But Katie, being the amazing friend that she is, inquired about the wildflowers, so Desmond is going to call her if they come out sometime in March or April so we can be sure to go see them!
On Tuesday....Chelsea hosted what we call "Family Dinner" and invited all of our neighbors over for fajitas. NUM! This was also nice because most of the folk that came over for dinner were to leave for London on Wednesday. Later that evening we also played some intense Bananagrams, Katie and I upset the rest of the players because we basically took turns winning. We are awesome English majors, no big deal...
On Wednesday....Katie and I got up early in the morning to go to our classes for the day. English, history and then more English. Jack meet us on campus after our last class and we took him to have some lovely crepes at Zatsuma! Jack liked the crepes so much that he insisted that we go back on Thursday....
On Thursday....We ate more crepes....really that's about all we did.....well, I guess that Katie and Jack went for a walk to the bay....but that's not really that eventful.....really.
Early Friday morning....We said our farewells to Jackie Poo Poo Bear (insert sad face here). However Katie and I decided to spend the evening booking various buses, trains, flights, and hostels around Europe....wanna hear? Okay!
Well.....On the 4th of April we are leaving from Paris via train to go to Marseille. We will be spending 3 days in Marseille from whence we will take a bus to Barcelona (this was particularly interesting to book because the bus site was in French, let's hope we got the right date/time!!!). After our 4 day stay in Barcelona we will be taking a flight to Rome. ROME! Somewhere Katie and I desperately wanted to go but had not planned on....however, after looking at prices in Norway and Scotland, it made sense to spend that money in Rome instead, since our desire to go there was much stronger than that for Oslo and Edinbourgh. So ROME! From Rome we are flying to London where we will spend an eight hour layover to end in Belfast, but it is saving us about 50 euro, so that is certainly worth it to both of us. Finally....we will arrive in Belfast where we will spend a night and then the following morning we will take a day tour to see the lovely Co. Antrim coast and Giant's Causeway, leading us to Derry. From Derry we are catching a bus to take us back to Galway, our home away from home. In case you have not been keeping up with the days...our return to Galway will be on the 14 of April. This will give us about 6 days to say goodbye to the city that we love. And to hopefully see some wildflowers!
On April 20, in the late afternoon, we return to you....tired.....cultured....grown individuals....AND WE CAN'T WAIT. We love it here so much, but after planning all of this we both realize that it will be leading us back home. Which is something we are certainly looking forward to....
In case you haven't noticed....I like ellipses.....
On Monday....Katie and Jack left in the morning to go on the Burren/Cliffs of Moher tour (the same one that Katie and I went on last month) and did a neat little overnight thing in Doolin. It sounds like they had tons of fun! But apparently the stores and such do not open until around noon in Doolin, so they were rather bored Tuesday morning. Katie, having gone on the tour before, was slightly targeted and teased by Desmond, the same lovely tour guide we had before! He is a cutie. But Katie, being the amazing friend that she is, inquired about the wildflowers, so Desmond is going to call her if they come out sometime in March or April so we can be sure to go see them!
On Tuesday....Chelsea hosted what we call "Family Dinner" and invited all of our neighbors over for fajitas. NUM! This was also nice because most of the folk that came over for dinner were to leave for London on Wednesday. Later that evening we also played some intense Bananagrams, Katie and I upset the rest of the players because we basically took turns winning. We are awesome English majors, no big deal...
On Wednesday....Katie and I got up early in the morning to go to our classes for the day. English, history and then more English. Jack meet us on campus after our last class and we took him to have some lovely crepes at Zatsuma! Jack liked the crepes so much that he insisted that we go back on Thursday....
On Thursday....We ate more crepes....really that's about all we did.....well, I guess that Katie and Jack went for a walk to the bay....but that's not really that eventful.....really.
Early Friday morning....We said our farewells to Jackie Poo Poo Bear (insert sad face here). However Katie and I decided to spend the evening booking various buses, trains, flights, and hostels around Europe....wanna hear? Okay!
Well.....On the 4th of April we are leaving from Paris via train to go to Marseille. We will be spending 3 days in Marseille from whence we will take a bus to Barcelona (this was particularly interesting to book because the bus site was in French, let's hope we got the right date/time!!!). After our 4 day stay in Barcelona we will be taking a flight to Rome. ROME! Somewhere Katie and I desperately wanted to go but had not planned on....however, after looking at prices in Norway and Scotland, it made sense to spend that money in Rome instead, since our desire to go there was much stronger than that for Oslo and Edinbourgh. So ROME! From Rome we are flying to London where we will spend an eight hour layover to end in Belfast, but it is saving us about 50 euro, so that is certainly worth it to both of us. Finally....we will arrive in Belfast where we will spend a night and then the following morning we will take a day tour to see the lovely Co. Antrim coast and Giant's Causeway, leading us to Derry. From Derry we are catching a bus to take us back to Galway, our home away from home. In case you have not been keeping up with the days...our return to Galway will be on the 14 of April. This will give us about 6 days to say goodbye to the city that we love. And to hopefully see some wildflowers!
On April 20, in the late afternoon, we return to you....tired.....cultured....grown individuals....AND WE CAN'T WAIT. We love it here so much, but after planning all of this we both realize that it will be leading us back home. Which is something we are certainly looking forward to....
In case you haven't noticed....I like ellipses.....
Sunday, February 21, 2010
REUNITED
On Tuesday evening, Camille and I were reunited in our apartment once more. Jack and I waited up watching TV until her and Lizzi arrived around midnight or so. Then we moved next door where we celebrated the first day of Lent with some grilled cheese :)
The following day we took Lizzi and Jack to our history class, where they got to experience our crazy and very stereotypical Irish professor. After that was just a long day of walking around in city centre, trying to figure out the details for our trip to Cork that was taking place early the next morning. As per our usual, our travels started as a struggle; we missed our bus. However stressful that was for Katie, we made it onto the bus that left two hours later with no problems. Our hostel in Cork was great and very close to the city centre. Cork was fine, nothing too special really, unless you had lots of money you wanted to spend at Monsoon! Which, unfortunately, we do not. But we had Kebabs for dinner and they were delectable. Later that night we went down the street to a pub, where Jack got his first Guinness in Ireland and us girls had some Bulmers to go along with the massive amount of crisps (fries) that we ordered at a semi-sketchy place nearby.
Thursday was spent in the lovely town of Blarney, where we toured the castle and grounds. The castle was average, I mean, for a castle, ya know. Although it did have a terrifying series of stairs that you were forced to take in order to get to the top, way too small for any normal sized person to climb, especially when you are carrying a backpack. At the top, we had all decided that we were not going to kiss the stone because really, that thing is so gross. Imagine all of the people that have touched and put their mouth on that. Ick. Confirming our decision was the man in front of us who had an incredibly obnoxious cough. But... as we were about to begin our dangerous descend, Jack had a change of heart, convincing Katie to come along. So we did it. And it was gross, but probably worth it for "making memories" that Jack is so fond of.
The grounds of the castle were gorgeous, lots of trees and soon-to-be flowers. Camille was horribly depressed by the fact that the flowers were in this stage of development, and has committed to traveling back to get them in bloom. In one part of our tour, Camille and Lizzi made their wish on the Wishing Steps by going down and back up a flight of outdoor stairs with their eyes closed and their minds on only that wish. We have a year or so to see how it works out for them. Good luck! :)
We made it back to Galway on Friday night, again, no meat. So we ordered a pizza! And relaxed while watching Zombieland!!!!!! Great movie. Therefore recommended. Lizzi left on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day and Sunday were pretty much spent on the couch, with Camille and Jack playing Sporcle for about seven hours....
Katie and Jack will head out tomorrow for an overnight Cliffs of Moher tour and Camille will enjoy her day of no class. That's all for now, more later... Hopefully ;)
The following day we took Lizzi and Jack to our history class, where they got to experience our crazy and very stereotypical Irish professor. After that was just a long day of walking around in city centre, trying to figure out the details for our trip to Cork that was taking place early the next morning. As per our usual, our travels started as a struggle; we missed our bus. However stressful that was for Katie, we made it onto the bus that left two hours later with no problems. Our hostel in Cork was great and very close to the city centre. Cork was fine, nothing too special really, unless you had lots of money you wanted to spend at Monsoon! Which, unfortunately, we do not. But we had Kebabs for dinner and they were delectable. Later that night we went down the street to a pub, where Jack got his first Guinness in Ireland and us girls had some Bulmers to go along with the massive amount of crisps (fries) that we ordered at a semi-sketchy place nearby.
Thursday was spent in the lovely town of Blarney, where we toured the castle and grounds. The castle was average, I mean, for a castle, ya know. Although it did have a terrifying series of stairs that you were forced to take in order to get to the top, way too small for any normal sized person to climb, especially when you are carrying a backpack. At the top, we had all decided that we were not going to kiss the stone because really, that thing is so gross. Imagine all of the people that have touched and put their mouth on that. Ick. Confirming our decision was the man in front of us who had an incredibly obnoxious cough. But... as we were about to begin our dangerous descend, Jack had a change of heart, convincing Katie to come along. So we did it. And it was gross, but probably worth it for "making memories" that Jack is so fond of.
The grounds of the castle were gorgeous, lots of trees and soon-to-be flowers. Camille was horribly depressed by the fact that the flowers were in this stage of development, and has committed to traveling back to get them in bloom. In one part of our tour, Camille and Lizzi made their wish on the Wishing Steps by going down and back up a flight of outdoor stairs with their eyes closed and their minds on only that wish. We have a year or so to see how it works out for them. Good luck! :)
We made it back to Galway on Friday night, again, no meat. So we ordered a pizza! And relaxed while watching Zombieland!!!!!! Great movie. Therefore recommended. Lizzi left on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day and Sunday were pretty much spent on the couch, with Camille and Jack playing Sporcle for about seven hours....
Katie and Jack will head out tomorrow for an overnight Cliffs of Moher tour and Camille will enjoy her day of no class. That's all for now, more later... Hopefully ;)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Katie's Time with Jackie Poo Poo Bear
Let me just start by saying that I got up SO early to catch the bus to Dublin to pick up Jackie at the airport. So early. After getting coffee at the airport (because let's face it, I need my coffee...) we checked in to our hotel. It was a struggle getting there because Jack insisted on bringing nearly everything he owns with him, making it hard to walk around efficiently. We toured Grafton street and pretty much bummed around for the rest of the day. Jackie had to go to bed early to try to beat the jet-lag, which he thankfully did.Saturday was a little more eventful; we toured Dublin Castle, which was awaesome! The history of the place is amazing and I had been learning about a lot of it in one of my classes so that was pretty exciting. Plus I had been looking forward to touring the castle since the last time I was in Dublin. We also visited St. Patrick's Cathedral that day, altho
ugh we did not go inside because it was a tad expensive. But the grounds were beautiful and we got some cute pictures together :)And Saturday was definitely a disturbing night, as our neighbors were "busy" ALL NIGHT LONG. I swear I didn't sleep at all, which is obviously not okay, making me sleepy and slightly on the cranky side for Valentine's Day.... But not too much, our day was still wonderful! It was our first Valentine's Day together, and we celebrated with lots of Butlers Chocolate, a couple hours in a museum, and a delicious Italian dinner. When we got back to our room for the night, our neighbors were "busy" again so we decided it was time to switch rooms.Monday was spent relaxing and walking around the city a little more (not much to report) and we caught a bus back to Galway on Tuesday afternoon! Tuesday evening we got pizza with Chelsea and Jack got to meet the group when we all went to the Cellar for some drinks! Then we came back and awaited Camille's return! I missed her tons, and she had a huge bear hug for Jackie :)
Camille's time in England...
...was AWESOME!!!!!! Last Saturday (the 13th) I headed to Nottingham, England. My flight left at 8:00 am from the Dublin airport so in order to get to the airport at the correct time I had to leave from Galway at 3:30 in the morning!!!! But there was barely anyone on the bus with me so it was nice and quite and I had a set of seats to myself. I slept. My journey through the airport was very similar to my previous journey to England. I was frisked going through security. But other than that I made it on the plane just fine, and without worrying about the size of my carry-on having learned on my previous flight that it fits just fine. I arrived in Nottingham around 10am and met Hannah and Lauren (my future roommates!) at Costa Coffee where we enjoyed some caffeine and catching up! They took me back to their flat then where I got tackled by Tyler and big hugs from everyone else! It was nice to be able to visit all of these people because they are away for an entire year from Luther, so I hadn't seen any of these people since early September. Also at the flat was Lizzi, who was visiting the Nottingham gang on her winter break from school in Aix, France.
On Valentine's Day Lizzi and I as well as a couple of others accompanied Kathy Reed-Maxfield to Newsted Abbey, a BEAUTIFUL house and garden. We took a nice walk there and ended with some tea and talk in the Abbey cafe. FUN. Later that day, back at the flat, we experimented with chocolate truffles and sugar cookies for Valentine sweets. I also shredded massive amounts of cheese to make the sauce for our Alfredo that was to be dinner. A dinner needed to feed 15 people (so I shredded LOTS of cheese)! But we had a very nice Valentine dinner followed by our heart-shaped sugar cookies and chocolate ganache (because they didn't harden into truffles) for dessert.
Most of the next two days were spent hanging out with my Nottingham loves and reconnecting and relaxing. It was lovely.
Lizzi followed me here to Galway and we are having a lovely time here as well!
On Valentine's Day Lizzi and I as well as a couple of others accompanied Kathy Reed-Maxfield to Newsted Abbey, a BEAUTIFUL house and garden. We took a nice walk there and ended with some tea and talk in the Abbey cafe. FUN. Later that day, back at the flat, we experimented with chocolate truffles and sugar cookies for Valentine sweets. I also shredded massive amounts of cheese to make the sauce for our Alfredo that was to be dinner. A dinner needed to feed 15 people (so I shredded LOTS of cheese)! But we had a very nice Valentine dinner followed by our heart-shaped sugar cookies and chocolate ganache (because they didn't harden into truffles) for dessert.
Most of the next two days were spent hanging out with my Nottingham loves and reconnecting and relaxing. It was lovely.
Lizzi followed me here to Galway and we are having a lovely time here as well!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Upcoming Events!
Just in case there is anyone out there who cares.... which it doesnt seem like it.... because even though we are expected to write... there are never any comments... just sayin.
This weekend Katie is going to Dublin to get Jackie Poo and hang out until Tuesday. YAY! We dont have any plans set for sure yet, but we hope to hit the Dublin Castle, Killmainham Gaol, and maybe the zoo! And it will be our very first Valentine's Day together so we're definitely going to do something special, whether or not Jack is aware of that yet or not. ;) He will be staying for a total of two weeks and it is going to be wonderful! Katie will have lots to blog about when he has to leave at the end of the month...
Camille will be traveling to Nottingham, England to visit fellow Luther geeks. ha. She will be returning on Tuesday late late with Lizzi to spend some time in Galway. She is SUPER excited since she has not seen any of these people since late August. Two of those that she is visiting are going to be her roommates at her last year at Luther. Good stuff!
We will both try to blog about our weekends on Wednesday or so; keep checkin in!
LOVE
This weekend Katie is going to Dublin to get Jackie Poo and hang out until Tuesday. YAY! We dont have any plans set for sure yet, but we hope to hit the Dublin Castle, Killmainham Gaol, and maybe the zoo! And it will be our very first Valentine's Day together so we're definitely going to do something special, whether or not Jack is aware of that yet or not. ;) He will be staying for a total of two weeks and it is going to be wonderful! Katie will have lots to blog about when he has to leave at the end of the month...
Camille will be traveling to Nottingham, England to visit fellow Luther geeks. ha. She will be returning on Tuesday late late with Lizzi to spend some time in Galway. She is SUPER excited since she has not seen any of these people since late August. Two of those that she is visiting are going to be her roommates at her last year at Luther. Good stuff!
We will both try to blog about our weekends on Wednesday or so; keep checkin in!
LOVE
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
LONDON
I don't know why she said she'd promise... two posts in one day? That's asking a little too much... But alright, one day late. Here goes...
London- What can I say? It's one of my favorite places in the whole world!! We stayed with Chelsea's friends who are studying there for the semester so not only did we get cheap boarding, we also got a jam-packed weekend of fun! But let's start from the beginning- the Shannon airport. Well, this was quite the event. Shannon airport is quite small and we got there early enough in the morning where we were pretty much the only ones there, and we even checked in online ahead of time. You'd think we'd get right through with no problems, but you are wrong. First we went to the security desk without having our boarding passes stamped. Then I found out I had gotten my return ticket stamped so I had to go back to get the appropriate one done. As I was doing this, Camille fell victim to the "Random Frisking" and Chelsea got her bag searched and a lecture on how "anything that can become liquid must be in a plastic bag if she's carrying it on"-- referring to her deoderant, which for the record, Camille and I carried on with no problem AND no baggie (rebels, I know). Finally we were through and got to our gate, where we waited for over an hour to board. While in line to board, Camille and Chelsea decide that now was a great time to freak out about whether or not our bags are small enough to be carried on RyanAir planes, as if we could do something to change them. No worries, we got through just fine. Once on the plane, however, we were searching for our seats only to find out that you can sit anywhere you want! I chose the middle of the plane, which got us off last since you exit from the front AND the back... UGH talk about a strugglefest.
Alright, back to London events... The first night we arrived we pretty much went straight to the theater to see "Phantom of the Opera" which was, needless to say, amazing. Although we had a large group of Spanish high schoolers surrouding us who found it necessary to talk and sing along throughout the entire musical. Awesome. Loved it. But it was great anyway!
The next day we got up semi-early to try to make it to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. As usual, we had difficulties and the Tube caused us to be almost an hour late. Thinking we had missed all the good stuff, we walk up and hear a band playing "Thriller" and joked about how it was probably the guards, as "Thriller" is obviously the Queen's favorite song... Turns out it was! The guards, that is. Although we decided it is likely that MJ was definitely on the iPod that Obama gave her when they met... Ha! The guard band went on to entertain the crowd with other pop-songs including Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" (which, for those of you who don't recall, happens to be the song that Camille debuted as a solo in our fifth grade Millenium concert. Fun fact.) Chelsea got extremely picture happy at this time, and if you would like to relive these events second-by-second, her photos will surely do the job. The rest of the day was dedicated to touristy stuff: Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London...
Saturday was dedicated to the Harry Potter tour that our hosts put together. We journeyed through the city to see the spots where Harry ran from Death Eaters in front of a small souvenier shop, where Harry ran from Death Eaters over the Millenium Bridge, Platform 9 and 3/4 (which was conveniently relocated as the station is being remodeled) and we even saw Hermione in a Burberry ad! Mixed in this day was several shopping stops where Chelsea and Camille bought a few too many items to fit cleanly in their suitcases, causing more fear in their hearts as we boarded our flight home.
Don't worry, we managed to fit in some culture at the Tate Modern and the British National museums. And at three a.m. on Monday night, my bed in Galway was never better. :)
Love, Katie (and Camille)
London- What can I say? It's one of my favorite places in the whole world!! We stayed with Chelsea's friends who are studying there for the semester so not only did we get cheap boarding, we also got a jam-packed weekend of fun! But let's start from the beginning- the Shannon airport. Well, this was quite the event. Shannon airport is quite small and we got there early enough in the morning where we were pretty much the only ones there, and we even checked in online ahead of time. You'd think we'd get right through with no problems, but you are wrong. First we went to the security desk without having our boarding passes stamped. Then I found out I had gotten my return ticket stamped so I had to go back to get the appropriate one done. As I was doing this, Camille fell victim to the "Random Frisking" and Chelsea got her bag searched and a lecture on how "anything that can become liquid must be in a plastic bag if she's carrying it on"-- referring to her deoderant, which for the record, Camille and I carried on with no problem AND no baggie (rebels, I know). Finally we were through and got to our gate, where we waited for over an hour to board. While in line to board, Camille and Chelsea decide that now was a great time to freak out about whether or not our bags are small enough to be carried on RyanAir planes, as if we could do something to change them. No worries, we got through just fine. Once on the plane, however, we were searching for our seats only to find out that you can sit anywhere you want! I chose the middle of the plane, which got us off last since you exit from the front AND the back... UGH talk about a strugglefest.
Alright, back to London events... The first night we arrived we pretty much went straight to the theater to see "Phantom of the Opera" which was, needless to say, amazing. Although we had a large group of Spanish high schoolers surrouding us who found it necessary to talk and sing along throughout the entire musical. Awesome. Loved it. But it was great anyway!
The next day we got up semi-early to try to make it to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. As usual, we had difficulties and the Tube caused us to be almost an hour late. Thinking we had missed all the good stuff, we walk up and hear a band playing "Thriller" and joked about how it was probably the guards, as "Thriller" is obviously the Queen's favorite song... Turns out it was! The guards, that is. Although we decided it is likely that MJ was definitely on the iPod that Obama gave her when they met... Ha! The guard band went on to entertain the crowd with other pop-songs including Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" (which, for those of you who don't recall, happens to be the song that Camille debuted as a solo in our fifth grade Millenium concert. Fun fact.) Chelsea got extremely picture happy at this time, and if you would like to relive these events second-by-second, her photos will surely do the job. The rest of the day was dedicated to touristy stuff: Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London...
Saturday was dedicated to the Harry Potter tour that our hosts put together. We journeyed through the city to see the spots where Harry ran from Death Eaters in front of a small souvenier shop, where Harry ran from Death Eaters over the Millenium Bridge, Platform 9 and 3/4 (which was conveniently relocated as the station is being remodeled) and we even saw Hermione in a Burberry ad! Mixed in this day was several shopping stops where Chelsea and Camille bought a few too many items to fit cleanly in their suitcases, causing more fear in their hearts as we boarded our flight home.
Don't worry, we managed to fit in some culture at the Tate Modern and the British National museums. And at three a.m. on Monday night, my bed in Galway was never better. :)
Love, Katie (and Camille)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hello Hello Hello
Many apologies for waiting so long to update you all! Katie and I just got back from a long weekend in London, but more about that later...On Saturday, the 30 of January, Katie and I and several others went on a day trip to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. The scenery was simply breathtaking! Connemara is the name for the countryside north of Galway. The area is identified by the type of rock found there, granite, because the majority of the island of Ireland is made of limestone. There were sheep everywhere, I would say the most we have seen at one time yet! And on our way to a beautiful 14 century monastery we got to see itty bitty baby sheep! So precious. Also on this adventure we were able to see Ashgrove Castle. It was owned for several years by the Guinness Family but today it is a castle turned hotel. Also extremely gorgeous. Pierce Brosnan grew up 20 minutes from the castle and had his wedding reception at the hotel. It used to cost anywhere from 700 to 1700 euro a night to stay there but now because of the recession you can stay there for about 80 euro a night! Haha. Also, you should know that the Lochness monster resides in this area of Ireland, not in Scotland. So, we finished the tour by spending some time at Kylemore Abbey. It is a breathtaking castle-like building that is curremtly inhabited by 6 Benedictine nuns. The sisters there used to run a boarding school for girls but because of the lack of interest and the age of the nuns that live there it is most likely that the entire building will be opened up for tourism, rather than just the grounds. It ws a long but gratifying day!
The next day (Sunday) we went out for our friend, Trisha's, birthday. We started out around 7;30pm and ate at this really nummy tavern on the Corrib River called Monroe's. From there we pub hopped and finally ended up at this pub in City Centre around 11:30 called the Front Door. There we met a group of local Irish guys who had apparently been drinking since 11am that morning. But they were a lot of fun and made sure that Trisha was having a good birthday celebration!
The next week was filled with classes and then LONDON!
We will post about London later tonight! I promise!!!!!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
I am sorry that we suck at blogging...
Well, I think that the most important thing to be mentioned here is that Katie found a Starbucks...yes I am serious. Miss Katie has several giftcards to Starbucks and was hoping to be able to use them in Galway, however, the city is absent of a Starbucks. But, there were two that we ran into in Dublin! I was excited too, gotta love a taste of home! In our two day, one night stay in Dublin, we were sure to enjoy the luxury two times...
So, Dublin. We took the short 2.5 hour bus ride to Dublin early Saturday morning. Upon our arrival we walked to our hostel and checked in quick so we could be sure to get in some tourist activities for the rest of the day. First, we needed sustenance so we ate at this tasty restaurant, the name of which I cannot remember. Following, we looked around Trinity College and Dublin Castle but opted out of the guided tours since we plan to spend more time in Dublin. We also spent an hour or so on Grafton Street to look around the shopping stores. I found a fabulous Lady Gaga tee for only 3 euro! We then took some time to relax at the hostel before going out to the pubs. The pubs were fun but crowded and since we had a tour the next day we turned in semi-early.
The next day we took a tour of County Wicklow and got to see some beautiful countryside as well as the Guiness Lake and lots of sheep! Also, the tour guide was the very same Stephen that I got to tour with last year, so that was exciting. Plus, he is a cutie.
During our stay in Dublin we noticed a few things. There seems to be the most awful of hair trends occurring. it consists of the under part of the hair being long and stringy and the upper parts being rather short and fluffed out. Don't really get it and I hope it doesn't catch in the States. Also, the doors. For some reason, several locations in Dublin have seem to have something going on with their doors. This "something" consists of taking the standard size door and splitting it in half, each half is on hinges on it's respective side of the frame; saloon style, if you will. However, since the total parts of the door equal a standard sized door, it is basically impossible to get through these doors with any amount of grace. ANY.
When the time came to head back to Galway, 7:15pm Sunday, we were ready. It was nice to travel west and feel like we were heading home, because Galway is our home for now.
Well folks, we will try to keep up a bit better with the blogging...
Until next time...
So, Dublin. We took the short 2.5 hour bus ride to Dublin early Saturday morning. Upon our arrival we walked to our hostel and checked in quick so we could be sure to get in some tourist activities for the rest of the day. First, we needed sustenance so we ate at this tasty restaurant, the name of which I cannot remember. Following, we looked around Trinity College and Dublin Castle but opted out of the guided tours since we plan to spend more time in Dublin. We also spent an hour or so on Grafton Street to look around the shopping stores. I found a fabulous Lady Gaga tee for only 3 euro! We then took some time to relax at the hostel before going out to the pubs. The pubs were fun but crowded and since we had a tour the next day we turned in semi-early.
The next day we took a tour of County Wicklow and got to see some beautiful countryside as well as the Guiness Lake and lots of sheep! Also, the tour guide was the very same Stephen that I got to tour with last year, so that was exciting. Plus, he is a cutie.
During our stay in Dublin we noticed a few things. There seems to be the most awful of hair trends occurring. it consists of the under part of the hair being long and stringy and the upper parts being rather short and fluffed out. Don't really get it and I hope it doesn't catch in the States. Also, the doors. For some reason, several locations in Dublin have seem to have something going on with their doors. This "something" consists of taking the standard size door and splitting it in half, each half is on hinges on it's respective side of the frame; saloon style, if you will. However, since the total parts of the door equal a standard sized door, it is basically impossible to get through these doors with any amount of grace. ANY.
When the time came to head back to Galway, 7:15pm Sunday, we were ready. It was nice to travel west and feel like we were heading home, because Galway is our home for now.
Well folks, we will try to keep up a bit better with the blogging...
Until next time...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
WEDGIE WEDNESDAYS!
So yesterday we went to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. This was the day we fell in love with Ireland. It was gorgeous! Although we did almost get blown off a cliff... that part wasn't as fun. But at least it wasn't raining (for the most part, since there are random downpours every couple hours) and we got some great pictures to share! Our tourguide, Desmond, was HILARIOUS. He was a frisky old man with an interesting sense of humor, but he definitely kept us entertained!
Upcoming events: 1- We register for classes tomorrow, finally. 2- We are going to DUBLIN this weekend! Chelsea, Trisha, and Denise will be joining the festivities as we take a tour around County Wicklow and scope out potential St. Patty's Day accommodations. Should be good!
Enjoy the pics; more later! LOVE
Oh, and in case you were wondering: Wedgie Wednesdays-- An Irish Papa John's tradition that we are taking part very soon. Obviously.
Upcoming events: 1- We register for classes tomorrow, finally. 2- We are going to DUBLIN this weekend! Chelsea, Trisha, and Denise will be joining the festivities as we take a tour around County Wicklow and scope out potential St. Patty's Day accommodations. Should be good!
Enjoy the pics; more later! LOVE
Oh, and in case you were wondering: Wedgie Wednesdays-- An Irish Papa John's tradition that we are taking part very soon. Obviously.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The commericals are working!
But seriously. When you are at the grocery store somewhere far away from home with no recognizable brands, what else is there to do but go for what you recognize? And if you still don't feel like you can pick one, go for what the locals are going for I guess... That is how we picked out bread, butter, and tea! So far our theory hasn't hurt us.
Humorous weather-related news: although it is finally nice out, we have witnessed several natives finding interesting ways to deal with the cold and ice that we had. First, Galway is experiencing a shortage of table salt... You do the math. Also, on our walk to City Centre, we watched as a lady leaned out her second story window to dump hot water on her vehicle below. Do they not have defrost?? SO FUNNY.
This weekend will be our first one away from the apartment as we venture South to the Cliffs of Moher. We are hitching a ride with the group from Duquesne (Doo-cane), the school our roomie goes to in Pittsburgh. We are getting picked up from our apartment (no walking!!!) and got a pretty good deal at that! In a couple weekends we will be going with them to Connemara as well. Should be a grand time!
Side notes: we walked just under 6,000 steps today, according to Cami's iTouch pedometer. Seems like more... Registration is on Monday; can't wait to just KNOW what we need to do! Pray for luck getting into our seminars!... Our internet is being kinda sketch because they are working on getting wireless, so skype is equally unreliable for the most part. But that doesn't mean we don't want to try! FAMILIES: get on Skype every once in a while! Seriously. Do it.
ALL OUR LOVE
Humorous weather-related news: although it is finally nice out, we have witnessed several natives finding interesting ways to deal with the cold and ice that we had. First, Galway is experiencing a shortage of table salt... You do the math. Also, on our walk to City Centre, we watched as a lady leaned out her second story window to dump hot water on her vehicle below. Do they not have defrost?? SO FUNNY.
This weekend will be our first one away from the apartment as we venture South to the Cliffs of Moher. We are hitching a ride with the group from Duquesne (Doo-cane), the school our roomie goes to in Pittsburgh. We are getting picked up from our apartment (no walking!!!) and got a pretty good deal at that! In a couple weekends we will be going with them to Connemara as well. Should be a grand time!
Side notes: we walked just under 6,000 steps today, according to Cami's iTouch pedometer. Seems like more... Registration is on Monday; can't wait to just KNOW what we need to do! Pray for luck getting into our seminars!... Our internet is being kinda sketch because they are working on getting wireless, so skype is equally unreliable for the most part. But that doesn't mean we don't want to try! FAMILIES: get on Skype every once in a while! Seriously. Do it.
ALL OUR LOVE
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Snow and ice or wind and rain?
Perhaps one of these days some decent weather will appear? Today Katie and I braved the drizzle and wind gusts to get to campus. Needless to say, we arrived quite wet. But it is warming up!!! Our apartment is finally toasty!
This week we are testing classes out. Registration will take place on Monday and Wednesday of next week but until then we are attending the lectures that we will most likely be taking for the semester, most of which are English! I think we have the layout of the campus down finally, too (something we were both a tad concerned about). This is only because at times we have hour to two-hour breaks in between classes that we choose to spend exploring and enjoying coffee and muffins from one of the several cafes on campus.
To be honest, nothing of extreme excitement has happened thus far! I mean, we are here to study after all... but really, I think once we finally have our class schedules finalized we will start planning excursions to go experience Ireland!
Stay warm and dry (we will try our best to do the same)!
Peace and Love
This week we are testing classes out. Registration will take place on Monday and Wednesday of next week but until then we are attending the lectures that we will most likely be taking for the semester, most of which are English! I think we have the layout of the campus down finally, too (something we were both a tad concerned about). This is only because at times we have hour to two-hour breaks in between classes that we choose to spend exploring and enjoying coffee and muffins from one of the several cafes on campus.
To be honest, nothing of extreme excitement has happened thus far! I mean, we are here to study after all... but really, I think once we finally have our class schedules finalized we will start planning excursions to go experience Ireland!
Stay warm and dry (we will try our best to do the same)!
Peace and Love
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Good Afternoon! (Katie and I are getting ready for bed because it is 11pm here)
1.Where we will be attending school! This is just a glimpse from the outside but we have a tour of the campus tomorrow so more detailed pictures will be on the way!
2.Roomies! This is us and Chelsea, our lovely roommate!
3.This is our great bedroom! You should have seen it before, there were no sheets, only a sketch looking pillow and duvet (what we call a comforter). Really, not so bad. However, Katie and I were told that we would have "bedding" which we assumed meant sheets, etc. as well. We were a tad upset to walk into the room, on minimal sleep, to realize that besides toilet paper, sheets would need to be purchased immediately as well. I mean, let's be serious, we needed them for the epic sleeping that was about to take place!
The Big Freeze
Day 2 is better. Slept a good 15 hours until our roomie arrived. Her name is Chelsea, a junior from a school in Pittsburgh, oringinally from New York (Kara! It's for sure a sign :)). It is slightly warmer in the apartment, at least in our bedroom, but we still bundle up probably more than necessary.
In case you haven't heard, "The Big Freeze" is upon us, at least that's what the news is calling it. England seems to be gettig the brunt of it, but it consists of snow up to three inches and temperatures in the thirties. Whoa, right? It's pretty funny to see the news with cross country skiers in that amount of snow.
More later! LOVE
In case you haven't heard, "The Big Freeze" is upon us, at least that's what the news is calling it. England seems to be gettig the brunt of it, but it consists of snow up to three inches and temperatures in the thirties. Whoa, right? It's pretty funny to see the news with cross country skiers in that amount of snow.
More later! LOVE
Monday, January 4, 2010
Finally Here!
We have finally arrived at our apartment that we will call home for the next four months. It was a loooong journey and it's good to be settled. Wish it was warmer though! Hopefully we will have our heaters up and working soon so that we can maybe shed some of these 7 or so layers.
Camille is currently laying on the floor in the fetal position next to the heater in our shared bedroom, if that is any indication of both how cold it is in here and how tired we are from the trip. Tomorrow will be so much better after some real rest in our beds.
But before we can sleep we need food and sheets, toilet paper.... Pray for us :)
Camille is currently laying on the floor in the fetal position next to the heater in our shared bedroom, if that is any indication of both how cold it is in here and how tired we are from the trip. Tomorrow will be so much better after some real rest in our beds.
But before we can sleep we need food and sheets, toilet paper.... Pray for us :)
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