It's been far too long since I posted. So this is going to be a long blog. Since the weekend in Belfast I've been to Portrush(which neighbors Portstewart), Limevady, Dublin(for St. Patrick's Day weekend), London, and around the coast of Northern Ireland. We went to Limevady one day with my host Mom Ann, she showed us around and brought us though a wonderful nature walk. She is about 70 years old but is the very active. Each time we get together she takes us along the coast somewhere and always brings us on nature walks, which I adore because you wouldn't know about them if you weren't a local. But now on to Dublin.
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| Jameson |
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| Guinness |
We went to Dublin for the St. Patrick's Day festivities, since we knew we'd be down there for St. Patrick's day we decided to turn it in to a weekend there, and do all the touristy things all at once. We were there from Wednesday-Sunday and covered everything we wanted to. On Wednesday night we ran into some of the St. Patrick's day festivities. They had people from all over the world playing music from there country and dressed in outfits. For the rest of the time in Dublin we went to the famous Temple Bar, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Brewery, Jameson Distillery, National Wax Museum Plus, Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, and the City Hall. It was an amazing, fun weekend even though it was packed with people. On St. Patrick's day we started the day early with seeing the parade, which was different than a parade you would see in America. The parade had many random figures in it kinda like the ones you would see in Tim Burton's films. After the parade a few of us decided it would be fun to take pictures with people we saw in crazy outfits. This was a successful mission due to everyone being dressed up. I found it ironic though how we heard that a lot of people that live in Dublin leave for the St. Patrick's day weekend, yet when in the Temple Bar area, which was the most crowded was full of tourist. You could probably tour the world on this day in Dublin with the amount of people who come in from all over the world on this day. My favorite part after St. Patrick's day of course was the Jameson Distillery, Guinness Brewery, and the Wax museum. At the distillery I became a certified whiskey taster! They had you try a Scottish whiskey(Johnnie Walker), Irish whiskey(Jameson), and an American whiskey(Jack Daniels). The difference in them is how many times there distilled and how they distill it. Jameson is distilled 3 times, Scottish is distilled twice, and of course leave it to America to only distill it once. When I tasted the different types I could identify the difference, which was very interesting to me. Out of our group no one really enjoyed the Scottish whiskey, and of course Jameson was our favorite. At the distillery as well I ran into a couple that was from Minnesota! The ability to meet them and hear there accents was a comforting, a little piece of home :) The Guinness Brewery was intriguing as well. After you tour the Guinness brewery and learn all about how it's brewed you come up to there famous Gravity Bar, where you get your free pint of Guinness but are also able to see all of Dublin. It is a truly amazing view. When we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral we got lucky it was a beautiful day out, so we enjoyed it by sitting in the park and climbing some trees(not recommended-got in trouble). Also, the night we were suppose to stay in a hostel we got the privilege to stay in a fancy hotel instead because they over booked the hostel for that night. Our last day in Dublin we went to a pub to watch the rugby match, this place was amazing with great food out on the grill outside in the beer garden. The match was England vs. Ireland, England was assumed to win but Ireland ended up having a huge defeat over them, which was a pleasant surprise. Dublin was overall an amazing trip with amazing people. I fell in love with Dublin on this adventure.
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| Typical tourist London photo |
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| Tower Bridge |
After getting back to Portstewart on Sunday from Dublin I had two days of classes and a free day before we were off to London. We arrived in London at night so we took some pictures of London at night and tried teaching my roommate Rachel how to ride a bike, which was interesting-let's just say it didn't work out. In London we saw Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar square, Covent garden, The National Gallery, St. Jame's park, London eye, Transport Museum, Wellington Arch, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London bridge, Tower bridge, and Westminster Abbey. We saw most when we took a two and a half hour walking tour. The tour was a lot of fun though and worthwhile. The guide was funny and very informative. It made me want to learn more about the United Kingdoms history. Also, made us realize how big London really is. On Saturday there was a protest in London, which we tried to stay away from by going to Harrods, which is an incredibly fancy store. Let's just say if you get the urge to buy a £400 pen you can find it here. They had everything in this store from gelato to modern style fooseball table. We spent majority of our day in here with our jaws dropped from the amount/range of stuff they had to the prices of things that some people were actually purchasing. I found my dream kitchen and patio set in this store, so once I purchase a house my next step will be to return to London for them. Even though we tried to stay away from the protest it seemed to be following us because of this we would run into random problems of the tubes(underground rail station) and buses being shut down making it hard for us to get to one place to another. After our adventurous day shopping we made it our mission to find Chipotle!!! which was a huge success and made my life by being able to have Chipotle in London and luckily it still tasted the same as home. In the location that Chipotle was, there was the Chinese district, which has more Chinese places to eat than anywhere in the world except for China of course. The next day was when we went on the walking tour and saw many sites. Also, while in London we went to the comedy show which was well worth it. There was comedians there from all over and they were actually funny. One of my favorite parts about being abroad is hearing what the world thinks about Americans, and at the comedy show the comedians had a good time picking on America(still proud to be an American though). My overall impression of London was that it is a tremendous city but a bit too large for me. Another way to sum up our trip to London is: "
running to trains, being 5 min walk away from protesters throwing rocks & starting fires, allnighter to catch plane/bus, sleeping with no hot water & heat w/ squators, chipotle, $400 pens, palaces, sneaking on buses/tubes & threatened expensive fines, being stuck bc buses/tubes close.. hanging out with Marissa Meyers & Haley Anderson.. pretty successful/awesome weekend.. and that is London" this was my roommates status on facebook to sum up our weekend and people from London said we had a typical experience...
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| World's smallest church |
On April 3rd it was Mother's day in Ireland. On Mother's day my host mum(the way they spell mom here) had my roommate Rachel, Marissa, and I over for lunch. It was amazing to have a home cooked meal, since I haven't for a very long time. She served us vegetable soup for a starter, then for the main meal ham, peas, potatoes, and honey parsnips(1st time having them and loved them). For dessert she made sticky toffee pudding, which is an amazing dessert. It is soooo good. It has the texture of lava without chocolate with a carmel sauce instead. After eating lunch, we sat and chatted with tea/coffee and cookies even though we had enough food by this time. Once we were done chatting for a bit she took us on a drive around the coast. It was beautiful outside! We saw lots of the coast, including Dunluce Castle & sheep island, and also visited in my opinion the worlds smallest church. During this trip we climbed a cliff that was dangerous thankfully no one fell going up or down it since there was a large chance of that happening. We went into caves, stopped at random places along the coast, just a simply drive to enjoy mother nature. Along the coast in spots your able to see Scotland! Amazing day!
The last week or so other than discovering more of the coast I have been relaxing, typing essays, taking exams, planning more traveling, and going out with people since there is only one week left of classes for this semester. I have no idea where this semester went or how I already spent 12 weeks in classes in this beautiful country. My next travel place is the rest of the Ireland from April 16th-23rd, back for a week then flying out May 2nd to Barcelona!!, will be in mainland Europe seeing Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Netherlands, and France until May 20th when my roommate and I fly out of Paris to Edinburgh, Scotland! there until the 24th of May and then the next day I'll be getting on a plane back to AMERICA (bitter sweet)
After getting back to Portstewart on Sunday from Dublin I had two days of classes and a free day before we were off to London. We arrived in London at night so we took some pictures of London at night and tried teaching my roommate Rachel how to ride a bike, which was interesting-let's just say it didn't work out. In London we saw Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar square, Covent garden, The National Gallery, St. Jame's park, London eye, Transport Museum, Wellington Arch, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London bridge, Tower bridge, and Westminster Abbey. We saw most when we took a two and a half hour walking tour. The tour was a lot of fun though and worthwhile. The guide was funny and very informative. It made me want to learn more about the United Kingdoms history. Also, made us realize how big London really is. On Saturday there was a protest in London, which we tried to stay away from by going to Harrods, which is an incredibly fancy store. Let's just say if you get the urge to buy a £400 pen you can find it here. They had everything in this store from gelato to modern style fooseball table. We spent majority of our day in here with our jaws dropped from the amount/range of stuff they had to the prices of things that some people were actually purchasing. I found my dream kitchen and patio set in this store, so once I purchase a house my next step will be to return to London for them. Even though we tried to stay away from the protest it seemed to be following us because of this we would run into random problems of the tubes(underground rail station) and buses being shut down making it hard for us to get to one place to another. After our adventurous day shopping we made it our mission to find Chipotle!!! which was a huge success and made my life by being able to have Chipotle in London and luckily it still tasted the same as home. In the location that Chipotle was, there was the Chinese district, which has more Chinese places to eat than anywhere in the world except for China of course. The next day was when we went on the walking tour and saw many sites. Also, while in London we went to the comedy show which was well worth it. There was comedians there from all over and they were actually funny. One of my favorite parts about being abroad is hearing what the world thinks about Americans, and at the comedy show the comedians had a good time picking on America(still proud to be an American though). My overall impression of London was that it is a tremendous city but a bit too large for me. Another way to sum up our trip to London is: "
On April 3rd it was Mother's day in Ireland. On Mother's day my host mum(the way they spell mom here) had my roommate Rachel, Marissa, and I over for lunch. It was amazing to have a home cooked meal, since I haven't for a very long time. She served us vegetable soup for a starter, then for the main meal ham, peas, potatoes, and honey parsnips(1st time having them and loved them). For dessert she made sticky toffee pudding, which is an amazing dessert. It is soooo good. It has the texture of lava without chocolate with a carmel sauce instead. After eating lunch, we sat and chatted with tea/coffee and cookies even though we had enough food by this time. Once we were done chatting for a bit she took us on a drive around the coast. It was beautiful outside! We saw lots of the coast, including Dunluce Castle & sheep island, and also visited in my opinion the worlds smallest church. During this trip we climbed a cliff that was dangerous thankfully no one fell going up or down it since there was a large chance of that happening. We went into caves, stopped at random places along the coast, just a simply drive to enjoy mother nature. Along the coast in spots your able to see Scotland! Amazing day!
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