Update!

What a busy week it’s been! I guess that’s why I haven’t had time to update this blog.

On Monday, Lauren and I were able to pick out what classes we’re going to be taking. Since we’re both doing psychology and needed similar classes in order to fulfill the major requirements back at New Paltz, we wound up with the same (AMAZING) schedule. On Thursdays from 10:15-11:15, we’re taking Intro to Narrative (we’re supposed to take one English or history class in addition to our psychology classes), then from 11:15-12:15 we have Individual Differences, which, given the description we heard, sounds like Psychology of Personality. On Fridays from 9:15-11:15 we have Exploring Investigative Psychology, which involves forensics–something I’ve always been curious about, and from 12:15-1:15 we have Health Psychology. AND THAT’S IT. Only four classes, only twice a week. I’ll sure be doing a lot of traveling during my weekly five-day weekends!

In fact, Sarah (my roommate in New Paltz who is studying in Dundee, Scotland right now), Lauren and I are planning a trip to London and Paris in a few weeks! I’ve actually been to both London and Paris before, but it was when I was 11 and was with my dad and stepmom for our “family honeymoon”. We only spent five days in each city and, being so young, I don’t think I was really able to appreciate it as much as I will this time around, even if I’ll still only be spending about five days in each city.

On Tuesday we had to go to campus to meet with our tutor groups, which every course (major) has several of. Tutor groups are groups of about 15 students, led by one professor/advisor, that meets once a week to discuss anything related to the course the students are on. I think this is a great idea because it helps to build the community which can be hard, especially at a large school like Huddersfield. Everyone in our group, which is, aside from Lauren and me, comprised of first years, was nice and welcoming and a bunch of us ate together during our lunch break, which was nice. The only part of the group that I’m not terribly enthusiastic about it that it meets on Wednesday afternoons, so we’ll have to go to campus when we otherwise wouldn’t have to. Such a hard life I lead!

On Wednesday, Lauren and I went to the not-as-exciting-as-I’d-hoped Societies Fayre (fair), a big event in which all the societies (clubs) and sports teams tabled and tried to get students to join. That night, I went to the first meeting of the LGBT society, which was held in the Graduate, the bar in the Students’ Union, and then moved to a bar in town. Some “meeting”! It was definitely a lot of fun though and I met some great people.

On Thursday, I met up with two of the girls I met the night before, both of whom are named Kirsty, and their friend Maria, for the Freshers Fayre, where local businesses came to campus and bombarded all of the first years with free EVERYTHING that no one really wants! I spent most of the rest of the day with the Kirstys and Maria.

Friday was pretty low-key. At night, I went to a party outside (yes, literally, outside) one of the halls in the complex I live in with one of the Kirtsys and a few of her other friends. Eventually, a group of us went back to one of their flats where it was actually warm and where we were audible to each other. We spent a few hours there, which I enjoyed. People really seem to enjoy my accent!

Yesterday, Lauren and I went on our trip to Manchester! We had to leave pretty early in the morning and I was extremely tired from the night before, but once I’d finally had some breakfast, I was ready to begin exploring Manchester–which is a wonderful city! There’s a lot of shopping there, a TON of pubs, and many beautiful buildings which I must admit, give New York a run for its money. It was too bad I was so tired or I would have liked to do more exploring. Lauren and I did sit near Piccadilly Square for about an hour and watch the people and pigeons go by, which was both entertaining and relaxing. I fell asleep on the bus ride back (as I did on the bus ride there), and when we got back to Storthes Hall, we ordered Chinese food and had a quiet night in.

This morning I was supposed to go to Liverpool, but I woke up still feeling exhausted and a bit sick, so I decided to skip it. Lauren tells me it was absolutely amazing and that she, Berit, Lucie, and a new friend they made from Finland, Marianne, want to go back very soon, so it looks like I’ll be able to see the city shortly anyway!

I start class on Thursday, which is probably a good thing since I can definitely feel my brain rotting. I’m glad I have this blog to update (even if I did slack off this week), otherwise I’m pretty sure I’d actually have no brain left at all.

Here are some pictures from Manchester:

York!

Today I went on the first of three trips I mentioned in my previous entry, which was to York. York was the most important Roman British city and has been extremely well-preserved, so it’s quite beautiful. My friends Lucie and Berit, who I also mentioned in my previous entry, went on the trip with me and Lauren too, so it was a lot of fun!

York was extremely rainy and cold today—not much different from how Huddersfield has been, but the weather in York (or maybe just today’s weather in Northern England in general) did put a littttle bit of a damper on the experience. We certainly made the best of it, though, and explored as much of the city as we could.

We started the day walking through the huge outdoor food festival, which was comprised of stand after stand of fish and meat and bread and sweets and jam and a LOT of free samples. We then decided to get lunch at a pretty good pub, where I got fantastic macaroni and cheese (I think they flavored it with cinnamon or nutmeg or both, which was really interesting), which came with a nice salad and awesome garlic bread, and a glass of chardonnay. What I’ve noticed about a lot of British eateries is that even though waiters bring you your food, once you’ve decided what you want from the menu, you have to go up to the bar and order it and even pay for it beforehand. But since this isn’t always the case, it tends to be a bit awkward knowing exactly how/when/from whom to order.

After lunch, we just walked around the very rainy and very beautiful streets, stopping in stores and taking a ton of pictures. Past the food festival was another outdoor market which had stands that sold a lot of knick knacks and scarves and other cute, small things of that nature.

About two hours before we had to leave, we stopped at a cafe for tea and coffee—I still hadn’t done tea time in England yet!—and relaxed and talked about the differences between our cultures (American, Danish, and Czech) and our experiences in other countries. It’s really interesting finding so many similarities and differences in customs you would never even give a second thought to, like what a normal breakfast is or how much you like your tea to be steeped or what you wear out to a club, or “disco”, at night.

On our way back to the bus, we stopped again at the food festival. We all gave in and bought brownies to take back to our flats. We’d gotten free samples of them earlier and none of us had forgotten how good they were. I got an Oreo brownie and a Nutella brownie, which I hope will last me a while. For dessert tonight, I had plain yogurt with honey, cinnamon, blackberries, and a few pieces of the Oreo brownie. YUM!

All of this coming week is Freshers Week, which means that there are events every day and every night geared specifically toward first years and new international students. Last week I bought a wrist band for five pounds which gives me access to every event for free, AND queue (line) skipping privileges. Lauren and I also have meetings with our psychology advisor almost every day this week, which is when we’ll sign up for classes, or “modules” and have an introduction to the psychology major, or “course”.

Here are some pictures of Huddersfield and York:

Huddersfield Has A Lot of Mini Coopers…

And I attempted to count them all today. I stopped after about ten, when I passed by an uncountable number of them parked in a parking lot and couldn’t decide if they were worth counting anyway. It’s all fine by me though, as my dream car is the Mini Cooper.

So today, I got up at about 7:45 and got ready for a 9:30 orientation, the first of many that will be taking place throughout the next two weeks. Lauren and I made our way over to the Central Services Building (which, for all you New Paltzers, is known as “CSB”, so we felt right at home) where all the international students were told what would be happening as far as class enrollment and activities for the next few weeks goes. We found out that we don’t begin classes until the 27th instead of the 20th, which is when I originally thought they began, so I’ve still got a lot of time before I have any schoolwork to do. After waiting in line for a while for our Visas to be scanned—this was somehow the process for “pre-enrollment”—Lauren and I went into town to get a couple of things, signed up for day trips to York, Manchester, and Liverpool. The trip to York is on Sunday, Manchester is the following Saturday, and Liverpool is just the day after!

A little before 17:00 (5:00) we made our way back to campus for a meeting of the International Students society, which met in the Coffee Bean in the Students’ Union. I was expecting it to be led more formally than it was, but what wound up happening was simply that international students trickled in and sat with each other at tables, randomly. Lauren and I became friends with Berit, a woman from Denmark whose 33rd birthday happened to be today, Lucie from the Czech Republic, and Rizwan from Pakistan.

After talking for a while in the Coffee Bean and having small conversations with some of the staff members of the Students’ Union, who are students and recent graduates of the University, the five of us went out to dinner at a place called The Cotton Factory, where we had really good pizza (though it was not like New York pizza) and a couple of drinks. We then went back to the Students’ Union, where there was yet another International Students event—though it wound up being populated with pretty much every kind of student—at the bar on campus, The Graduate. We stayed there for a few hours before splitting up and going back to our respective homes.

Tomorrow we have enrollment, and the rest of the day free. Hopefully we’ll find something fun to do like we did today!

Arrival Day

Well, after a delayed flight, almost not being let into the country by the border patrol officer because we had no documentation from our host university saying we had a reason to be here, a “we might not have housing for you” scare, and, possibly worst of all, not being able to figure out how to use the internet for an entire 20 minutes, Lauren (also from New Paltz) and I are here in Huddersfield and settling in.

We are the only two people in the flat to move in so far, and have been told that only one other girl is scheduled to move in (though more may sign up) and she won’t be here until next week. Not quite what I was expecting!

Anyway, after we dropped our bags off in our rooms and e-mailed our parents to tell them we were alive, Lauren and I ventured off into the town of Huddersfield to get a few necessary items and check out the area where we’re going to be spending the next three months. We live in Storthes Hall Park, which is about a 20 minute shuttle ride to campus and town.

The main part of the town of Huddersfield consists of the University and a few streets with a bunch of shops/pubs/restaurants. But the most unique part is this expansive, never-ending mall type place. Once you exit the main building of the mall, which looks like a regular shopping mall, if not a somewhat small shopping mall, through the back, you are presented with a TON of stores on curved streets that seem to go on forever. Following along one street leads into a sort of roofed outside market that sells everything from meat to clothes to pillows to textiles to (questionable) produce. It’s quite interesting!

Anyway, while in town, Lauren and I got toiletries, pay-as-you-go phones, and lunch from a place called Nandro’s. Nandro’s has a sort of customizable selection, where you can choose what kind of meat (or non-meat) you want, how you want it served (as a burger, in “pitta”, and… something else?), and what level of spiciness. I chose a beanie in a pitta with cheese and pineapple, medium spice. A beanie is, first of all, something we should have in America, and second of all, made of some sort of combination of vegetables, spices, and beans. YUM.

On the shuttle back to Storthes Hall, Lauren and I totally passed out and continued our naps back in our flat. When I woke up and showered, the water was so hot (and unadjustable) I could barely stand it. I hope I can figure that out because shower-induced burns is not a good enough excuse for anyone to be smelly.

Now I’m waiting for Lauren to figure out the issues she’s having using her power adapter so we can go to the Administration Building a couple of minutes away, which has a little market in it, to buy groceries.

Tomorrow we have nothing scheduled, but orientations and class sign-ups and the like begin on Wednesday, so hopefully there will be some updates more exciting than these by then!

“Your UK Visa Has Been Issued”

This is possibly the most glorious phrase I’ve ever heard (read). I don’t think it’s possible to describe in words the process I (and my wonderfully helpful father) have gone through in the past few months, mostly weeks, in order to procure this one single, but apparently eminently important, piece of paper. My first piece of advice to anyone planning on studying abroad is to understand the visa application process well enough that you’d be able to explain it, step-by-step, to someone else. My second piece of advice is START YOUR APPLICATION EARLY! Like, many months in advance. This will allow enough time for the many corrections you’re likely going to have to make.

*Anyway*, now that that’s finally taken care of just a mere twelve days before I leave for Huddersfield, I can finally relax and look forward to my trip instead of dread the possibility that it might not happen. The crazy part to me about my upcoming semester abroad is that I really don’t know what to expect. Since this is the first time in many years that New Paltz and Huddersfield are doing an exchange, both the students at the schools and the staff in the international offices don’t have as much knowledge on the programs as they would were they regular, semesterly exchanges. This is both exciting and somewhat anxiety-provoking. I know very little about University of Huddersfield itself, like what the vibe on campus tends to be, what the students are generally interested in, if the professors teach class (which I hear is sometimes optional??) with their underwear on their heads, etc. What I do know is that I’ll be taking mostly psychology classes in addition to one class on British culture, and that I’ll be living in a campus-owned flat with five other international students, including one from New Paltz, which is a converted insane asylum. At relaying this piece of information to my mother, I was given the response “Oh good, so you’ll feel right at home!” She just may be right.

Regardless of knowing or not knowing what to expect, I do know that this has literally been the longest summer of my life—mid/late May-early/mid September—and I am ready to leave it behind. Though it had its definite good, even great, times, my summer was also filled with a lot of stress, getting my heart broken by someone I really cared about, working a much less than thrilling job at Connecticut Muffin (this should be self-explanatory), a somewhat scary visit to New Paltz this past week, and generally not feeling like I did anything terribly productive. I am definitely ready to see what Huddersfield has to offer me.

Home Tomorrow?!

WOW! I cannot believe I am actually saying that – I go back to New York tomorrow. My head is filled with thousands of happy and sad thoughts, memories of my last four months here, and questions of how it all went by so fast. I’m mostly packed, with just the essentials remaining (toothbrush, etc).

It is truly a bittersweet feeling. For this past week, all I’ve thought about is going home – getting back to my family and friends and my boyfriend, getting to sleep in my own bed and have my own bathroom again. Also, I was offered an internship in the city, so that’s another thing to look forward to. But now that it’s crunch time and I have literally one last day here, I’m starting to get a little sad. When I first got here and started meeting all my friends, I hardly thought about having to say goodbye. Now that I am, I can tell it’s going to be a lot harder than I imagined.

People study abroad and have all sorts of different goals – some want to learn to live on their own, others want to learn about another country/lifestyle. Me? I’ve learned a lot about myself here. Sure, I’ve mastered London transport system and I have gotten lost enough times to learn how to find your way, but I’ve also grown a lot more than that. I’ve learned how to be myself, by myself – to be a person on my own – which I couldn’t always do because of certain people at home. People here got to know me as ME, and not as someone else’s friend. Becoming educated about another country and their way of life has made me aware of how little I actually know about my own country. While my time of exploring London may be coming to an end, I plan to start seeing the parts of my own country that I’ve never seen. With that, I also want to try a whole bunch of new things this summer, along with old things that I used to do and want to take up again – like painting. I miss it. I guess my adventurous side has been unleashed here!

My last week in London has been full of ups and downs. Between getting in some last minute London time, I also had to say goodbye to two of my friends, Josh and Melissa, who left a few days before me, which was pretty hard to do. Tonight, as my little sendoff, we’re all getting together one last time in Gubbay to watch a movie. Josh had everyone go to the local pub and get breakfast the morning he left, and we all went out to dinner for Cinco de Mayo/Melissa’s last night. I personally have an earrrrrrly day tomorrow (leaving my room at 6am) so I wanted to do something relaxing (and cheap!).

On Monday, I went to the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum with Laura. There was a Grace Kelly exhibit in the fashion section, but we decided not to do that especially since we hadn’t pre-booked the tickets. But even so, the museum was amazing! British Museum is still my favorite, but the V&A runs a close second. There was so much to see, all different kinds of things! One of my favorites was the section on movies: they had several original costumes from various different movies made in the UK, and there were also a bunch of dioramas of set designs for movies like Sweeney Todd and plays like Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Then, right next door, there was a whole exhibit on British Rock with photographs of many, many stars from the 60s and 70s from Harry Goodwin.

Although we loved this museum, we had started losing energy and getting hungry pretty early in the day. By the time we had seen just about everything, we were both on the verge of passing out. We left and instead of retracing our steps back to the tube station (which we later realized would be quicker and much more beneficial to our hunger pangs), we walked the opposite way to try and find food. Well, apparently the V&A museum is located adjacent to a very ritzy residential area with no restaurants in sight. We stumbled upon the Pakistani Nationalist Party, but no restaurants. Finally, after literally walking around in a circle, we found this little side street with several French cafes, grocery stores, etc. and went into the cafe. Finally, food! And delicious food at that! It was such a cute, little place with really nice owners. After being satisfied, and both leaving with Nutella crepes to go, we headed back to the tube station where we found a plethora of cafes and places to eat. OH WELL.

Yesterday, I went to my last museum, The Natural History Museum. Although I’m never big on science, I did enjoy this museum. It was very hands on, probably because a lot of children go there on school trips and with their families. Sadly, I spent so much time in the museum that I didn’t get to go to Hyde Park like I planned. Oh well. Then when I got back I literally passed out and took a 6 hour nap! Not good for my sleep schedule, but I totally needed it after being exhausted these last few days.

Now, I’m off to donate all of my books and kitchenware to Oxfam, a second-hand store that also does a lot of charity work. I figured it would be better than throwing all of it out, since I couldn’t sell back my books anyway. Then I’m hanging out with Ashley before I come back and finish packing and having the last movie night in Gubbay.

Well, it’s been lovely here. Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in New York!!!! 🙂

xx

Day Trips Galore! – part 2

Apologies to all of my readers (Like Joey, for instance) who may or may not have been holding onto the edges of their seats with my last post. I didn’t mean to let so much time go by before I finish my spring break adventures. BUT! The good news is, in the meantime, I finished ALL of my papers for the term. I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL! How insane is that?!

Anyway, more London talk later. We must get back to my Irish adventures! When I last left you, I had finished my first few days in Ireland, with the privilege of having my family as tourguides. However, from here on out, I was left on my own most of the time. Not in a bad way, though. In fact, I was excited to explore on my own and wander around as slowly as I wanted. And of course, they helped me figure out the bus schedule, and what the best mode of transportation was each day.

Monday 12/4 – Monday was the day of the hop on/hop off bus! Basically, you pay one standard price (€13) and you have the chance to get on and off at any stop you please. That way, you have the opportunity to actually explore the sights as opposed to just seeing them from a bus. Although I’ve obviously heard of tour buses that show you around the city (they also have them in the States), I never knew there were buses that allow you to get off at different stops and get back on. Sweet! Only thing, most of the stops were museums (exactly why I was so excited to go), but museums are all closed on Mondays. Curses!! Before getting on the bus, I explored Trinity College. What a beautiful campus! Really puts New Paltz to shame (although I love New Paltz, of course!). And it was the perfect day to see it. I didn’t get to see the Book of Kells, but I’m glad I got to see the campus at least. Then, I got on the bus and it took us to St. Stephen’s Green. I was already there, but I got off to look in the Carroll’s (great souvenir shop) for postcards. Ended up getting myself a green sweatshirt 🙂 Anywho, later I went to Dublin Castle. It was closed because of “state business” but they offered to give us an abridged version of the tour where they could let us in. It was pretty interesting, and I love that part of the castle is rainbow colored! Afterward, I walked into Dublin Garden behind the castle, but I didn’t stay for long, had to get on with the hop on/hop off tour! Naturally, I had to go into the Guinness Storehouse. At first I didn’t want to because it seemed too touristy for me; other people I know just did the Guinness Storehouse and that’s it. Lame! However, I’m SO glad I went in; it was fascinating. And HUGE!! Did you know the building is actually structured to look like a pint glass? If you’re ever there, go to the bottom floor and look up, you’ll totally see it! The first floor explained the main ingredients used in Guinness (water, barley, hop, and yeast) and then as you go upstairs you learn more about the process of making and distributing it. I think my favorite room was the advertising room; you get to see all the old and modern adverts for Guinness. Really cool stuff. They also teach you how to pour your own pint of Guinness. I didn’t realize there was a whole process to it, but apparently it’s very particular. Also, you’re not supposed to drink it until all the gas has fizzed away and it’s all black. Otherwise….well it won’t feel too great in your belly, and it won’t taste as good. After I finished with the bus tour, I met up with my cousin Katie and she took me to Ranelagh, a small town in Dublin. That’s the cool thing about staying with Irish people; you get to see all these weird little places. To get there, we had to ride the Luas, a tram system that runs through Dublin. Luas is Gaelic for “speed” which I thought was ironic because they weren’t moving that quickly. After that, it was back home for us.

Trinity College

Dublin Castle from Dublin Garden

Dublin Castle close-up

ALSO Dublin Castle!

Self-explanatory

Guinness through the years

Probably my favorite advert!

Tuesday 15/4 – For Tuesday, I bought a ticket for a day tour to Northern Dublin (same company as the hop on/hop off bus). The driver took us up to Malehide Castle and Howth, passing beautiful landscapes and the coast of Dublin on the way. Ugh, the coast was beautiful! Probably my favorite part of that day. Afterward, I wandered around O’Connell Street (major street in Dublin) and City Centre a bit, and ended up in the Dublin Writers Museum. Even though it was pretty small, it was actually really interesting for an English major such as myself. There were original prints of books by James Joyce and other Irish authors. Pretty cool! I also got to see Garden of Remembrance which was a small, pretty garden by the museum. That night, my cousin Katie went with me to one of the many Dublin ghost tours. This one was a little lame, unfortunately. Apparently the best one is the bus tour, which was about €28 or something, while this walking tour was about €12. The tour guide was obviously new (he let that slip) and messed up about 5 times before we even left the meeting point. Oy. I guess it was a little creepy at times but his way of speaking was so blatantly rehearsed that it took away from it. Anyone who ends up in Dublin wanting to do a ghost tour, I recommend spending the extra money for the bus tour.

Malahide Castle from a distance

Aaaand nice and close up 🙂

The Northern coast of Dublin

Beeeeeach!

<3

I took so many pictures here!

Me and Ireland, you know

Garden of Remembrance

The Liffey in the afternoon

Thursday 15/4 – Yes, I skipped Wednesday on purpose. I didn’t do anything that day, just relaxed that day. Anyway, another day, another bus tour! This time it was the Wild Wickl0w tour. Hands down, FAVORITE DAY IN IRELAND! For the Wild Wicklow Tour, we started out with a drive past another coast – Dunlaoghaire, Killiney, and Dalkey – and then we stopped at this little shop called Avoca. Mainly they’re a hand-weaving shoppe, but they also have a cafe. I had the BEST scone I’ve ever had in my life (not that I’ve had many). That’s when I knew this day was going to be amazing. After breakfast, we drove past the mountain lakes and heather and Guinness Lake along with loooots of barren expanses of bog land. True Irish countryside. 🙂 We even got to climb up this really big mountain, the name is escaping me at the moment. I was a little disappointed because when Tara did this same tour with her friends a few weeks before, her driver actually stopped where PS I Love You was filmed, and they were able to take pictures by the bridge, and by Dunlaoghaire. However, our driver just briefly mentioned it, barely. Anyway, we also stopped for lunch, and then headed to Glendalough, which is a monastic site that dates back as early as 6th century BCE. I got some of my most beautiful pictures at Glendalough, but I’m not going to put all of them up obviously. A very beautiful but exhausting day.

ALSO – the most important part – this was supposed to be the day before I visit Allison in Rome. However, I was at lunch when I heard about the Icelandic volcano that erupted and caused massive ash clouds over the UK. JUST MY LUCK! Basically, my flight to Rome was canceled – obviously – and instead of rescheduling, I just got applied for a refund. After all, it seemed like the effects of this volcano were going to last for days, maybe weeks. Slightly disappointing, but I was at least happy to be safe with my family in a house (free of charge). So now I was going to be in Ireland for an extra five days…

Me at Dunlaoghaire

View from the bus

Stream leading to Guinness Lake

Just like a painting!

So is this!

The Round Tower at Glendalough

Beautiful scene from the Lower Lake

Scene from the Upper Lake

One of my favorite pictures of the day 🙂

Friday 16/4 – I spent most of this day at the computer, freaking out about what I was going to do!

Saturday 17/4 – Because I had only planned to be in Ireland until the 16th, I didn’t really have a game plan from this point on. On Saturday I went to Temple Bar, this section of Dublin that is very young, full of students and tourists. There is a Photo Gallery in the Temple Bar area that I figured I would check out. Turns out, it’s this incredibly tiny gallery with barely anything in it. Okay….that took about 10 minutes of my day. Now what? Well, when I was heading over to the Gallery, I realized there was a market going on in Temple Bar! (There’s one every weekend.) Knowing how much I love markets now – especially food markets! – I decided to check it out. Had spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) and a fruit smoothie. Mmmmmm. After that delicious lunch, I decided to go back to the Chester Beatty Library, next to Dublin Castle. The reason I say “go back” is because, actually, I thought the colorful building was Chester Beatty Library when in fact it is the Dublin Castle! Didn’t know that until I went to find the Chester Beatty Library to actually go inside as opposed to just take a picture of it, and realized what my confusion was. Either way, CBL was pretty neat. I’m not usually into religious exhibits, but there was an exhibit on all different religions including some original religious texts so that was interesting. There was also a section on Asian Art which was cool. After that I actually took some time to relax on the grass in the Dublin Garden. That night I went to the cinema again with Katie and we saw Dear John. I heard it was lame, but I actually really liked it!

Monday 19/4 – Sunday was another lazy day, but Monday I went up to Limerick to visit Shaina and Dylan (fellow New Paltzers!) who are studying abroad there. I didn’t think about how Limerick isn’t exactly a touristy place, so there wasn’t much to do. So after exploring the city centre (complete with an O’Connell St. just like Dublin and apparently every other place in Ireland), I met up with Shaina and she took me to University of Limerick. I only stayed until the following morning, so I didn’t have a lot of time in Limerick, but their campus is SOOOOO much nicer than Middlesex! Apparently, it’s only about 30 years old, so all the buildings are pretty modern. The only problem was that her building is so far away! Literally in a different county, County Claire! Anyway, it was nice to have a mini New Paltz reunion over in Limerick.

View from campus in Limerick

The next two days were semi-relaxing. When I came back on Tuesday, I booked my new return flight home (London) and on Wednesday I registered for classes in New Paltz from Ireland. Of course, I had to re-research my classes because all my info was in London. But it was a success and I am all set for next semester – as a senior!!! (Eeek!) Also on Wednesday, I booked yet another bus tour, this time to Galway on Friday!

Friday 23/4 – One of my last days in Ireland! SO, I get to the pick-up point for the Galway bus thinking the following: that this shuttle bus would take us to Galway, then we’d get on another bus that takes us around Galway to various sights – all for €20. Before you laugh at me for thinking such a ridiculous, unrealistic notion, I’ll tell you that that’s how the website advertised it. Faulty advertising!!! Anyway, I realized my error when I got to the first bus; you have to pay extra for the second bus. So since I didn’t want to go all the way out to Galway and not know what to do (AND I didn’t want to waste €20 on nothing) I decided to pay the extra price to take another bus to the Cliffs of Moher. Let me tell you – one of the best decisions I’ve made in the longest time. Absolutely BREATHTAKING. I don’t even have anything to say, so I’ll just say it in a few pictures:

Cliffs of Moher!!!!

Me on one of the other cliffs! Notice how far away I am from the edge LOL

The other side of the Cliffs

Dunguaire Castle

More Cliffs

An artistic shot in the grass 🙂

After the Cliffs we had an hour in Galway City before the bus to Dublin left, so I had just enough time to run down to city centre and pick up an authentic (sort of) Claddagh ring from Galway! I wish I could’ve actually gone to the port Claddagh, but there’s always next time. For now, I’m happy with my ring. 🙂

So dudes, that was my Spring Break! I had another lazy day of laundry and packing on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon it was back to good ol’ Londytown! So, I didn’t get to explore all of Europe like a lot of my friends did, but I got to spend time with my family and really see all of Dublin and a lot of Ireland. Plus, I’m glad I was safe at a house and not stranded in an airport or something. But, I’m even more glad I made it back to London in one piece, and with JUST enough time to study for my exam this past Tuesday. Now that that and my papers are out of the way, I have the rest of the week (now only 3 days!) to explore London for the last time! But right NOW, it’s 1AM and I’m exhausted. Check in sometime in the next few days for my last London adventures! Goodnight everyone!

xx

Irish Countryside and…Icelandic Volcano? part 1

So, now that I’m all settled back in London, with my one and only exam out of the way, maybe I should finally tell you all about my Spring Break with all of its disasters and semi-blessings in semi-disguise. Let me elaborate:

Wednesday 7/4 – I already knew this holiday would be an adventure based on how it began. I had to get to the bus stop by Brent Cross Shopping Centre, a place I’ve never been before that day. Well, I figured, there will probably be signs when I get out at the tube station. There was one, and it was somewhat lacking. An arrow pointing in a very vague direction, not telling me that I’d hafta walk down a residential street, make a few turns, and somehow end up in the middle of a busy highway. What? Once I got to this highway intersection of madness, there were no signs for the shopping centre, and the woman who was also looking for the shopping centre had suddenly disappeared. Was I really lost? Alone, with a backpack full of my stuff, screaming “Take me! She’s a tourist!”? No, don’t worry. I finally saw a tiny sign across the street for the centre. Only, it was pointing towards this never-ending walkway. I started walking it, after hesitating, and came to another sign for the shopping centre, pointing right. I knew that the bus stop was by the shopping centre, so I decided to go right instead of straight. To make an already long story slightly shorter, I ended up walking all the way to the shopping centre (15 minute walk) only to find out that the bus stop is not as close as the map suggested, and I needed to take a bus back to it. Basically, I walked around in a giant circle and I didn’t realize until coming back to London 2.5 weeks later that if I would’ve just gone straight, I would’ve been there in 5 minutes. Not even.

Anyway, enough of that. So the airport was typical – I was nervous about flying completely alone to/from foreign countries, but after a minor delay, I made it to Dublin! My uncle picked me up and drove me to his house, which is about 15 minutes from the airport. By the time I got there, it was about 11pm, so I didn’t do much. Just caught up with my family, had some soda bread, and went to sleep.

Thursday 8/4 – Everyone had off from school/work this week, so my uncle and my younger cousin Ciara were able to show me around Dublin – the basics. They took me to Grafton Street, which is this street full of shops, mostly big names and high-end shops like Debenham, BT2, H&M, and Penney’s (an inexpensive shop like London’s Primark). Then, right nearby, we walked through St. Stephen’s Green park, which of course was pretty. Then we stopped into the National Gallery. It wasn’t as big as I was imagining, or as big as the National Gallery in London, but it was still interesting. I always get really tired in museums though. Then later that day, Ciara wanted to go skateboarding, so they took me to Pope’s Cross in Phoenix Park, which is, as it sounds, this hill with a giant cross coming out of it. But apparently the cross is a monument of sorts for when Pope John Paul II came to speak in Dublin at that very spot over 30 years ago. A little bit of history on my very first day! That night I had a relaxing evening and went to the cinema with my cousin Katie and saw The Blindside. So emotional!

St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre on Grafton St.

Pope’s Cross

Friday 9/4 – My aunt and uncle and my two youngest cousins went up to Newgrange, which is basically “the Irish Stonehenge” in that these rocks appeared thousands of years ago (around 3100 BCE) and it is a mystery how they got there, or what it was used for though theory says it’s probably a tomb mound of sorts. It looks so much bigger from the outside than it actually is – we were only inside the actual sight for about 5 minutes – but it was pretty interesting. Especially when you have to practically crawl in, since the openings where TINY! The most interesting part is when the guide shut the lights off and simulated a sunrise to show back in the day, they only saw light for 7 minutes from inside the mound, because of where the openings were located and where the sun rises. Pretty neat!

Newgrange

Ancient stone at the entrance

Close up of the carving

SHEEP!!!!

My cousin, the farmer. LOL (Candid shot)

Saturday 10/4 – This was a somewhat relaxing day. I spent the afternoon at Ciara’s gaelic game (they won 2-0!) and then went to Blanchardstown shopping mall (where the cinema is) where Katie met up with me and did a LITTLE shopping. That night we went out with my other older cousin, Megan, and her friend Claire. We went to a bar, Capital, and then to a club, The Village, where apparently we saw an Irish celebrity completely drunk! I didn’t know who this woman was, but it was a big deal to them. We got back at around 2 and I was exhausted!

Me, Katie, Megan, and Claire

Sunday 11/4 – This was the last day before everyone went back to work/school and everyone’s schedules started colliding, so I got to spend some more time with my cousins. Megan took me and Ciara to this park, Farmleigh’s because it was a beautiful day and we thought there’d be a bunch to do. Apparently it was Japanese Culture Day? We didn’t catch on until we saw people dressed in kimonos and other Japanese attire, with booths set up for karate and sushi. Very bizarre! There wasn’t as much to do as we thought, it was PACKED, and we didn’t bring lunch so it would’ve been pointless to sit down on the grass, so we just walked around a little. It was actually a really beautiful place, too bad nothing was really going on. After that we went back to Grafton Street to do some window shopping, and then Megan took us back to her apartment to show me around. Swank place! Then I went back and watched TV with my other cousins, which became routine for us on Sundays – Jersey Shore! Then I went to sleep to prepare for my first day on my own as an American tourist in Dublin!

The mansion at Farmleigh’s

More of Farmleigh’s

Well, it’s almost midnight here and I’m exhausted. Look’s like you’ll have to wait til next time to find out the rest! 🙂

More Than I Bargained For

This Spring Break is not at all what I envisioned. The plan was to visit my cousins in Ireland from the 7th to the 16th, go to Rome to stay with my friend until the 20th, and fly back to London from Dublin on the 21st. Thanks to this epic Icelandic-volcano-eruption chaos, it is the morning of the 21st and I am still in London. In fact, never made it to Rome because it just so happens that the volcano erupted the day before I was due to fly. I guess it’s a miracle in disguise – it could have erupted while I was en route, or after I already arrived, OR I could’ve been like my other friends who were traveling all around Europe staying in hostels. Point is, I am quite lucky I am with my family, safe, in a bed that I don’t have to pay for, as opposed to stuck in an airport because I have no money to pay for another night in a hostel. Sure, I would’ve loved to see Rome, but this is a much better situation.

I know I must sound unusally calm for being “stuck” on my spring break, but trust me, this past week has been maddening. Aside from worrying about my safety, I also can’t help but worry about my upcoming exam and papers. I have an exam on 27 April, and of course I didn’t take any study material to Ireland with me (when/why would I have had the chance to study?) so I can’t even study. Same goes for my papers, which are all due on 5 May. When I first learned that my flight for today was cancelled, I was scrambling to find the quickest solution that will get me back to London ASAP because of my assessments – what if I have to reschedule my exam and I can only take it after I’m supposed to be leaving back to the states? What if I have little/no time to write my papers? All sorts of worst-case-scenarios were floating in my head until I eventually shook them all out of me. Even though the thought of me being thousands of feet in the atmosphere so soon after this volcanic eruption scares me to pieces, I realize that flying woukd probably be the best option, despite the issue of time.

As it turns out, I am (hopefully) getting back to London on Sunday afternoon (25 April), which will give me a little more than a day to study for my exam. I’ve pulled all-nighters and last minute study cramming before, so hopefully I can pull it off. But just in case, I e-mailed my professor explaining my situation. As for my papers, I have a little more than a week, which I hope will be enough time for three papers (one of which I started working on before I left). Don’t worry, during this time I’ll allow myself some time to update everyone on what I did here in Ireland, complete with many pictures! Hope everyone else is doing well, and I hope all of my friends around Europe can make it back to London safely. Hopefully, I’ll see everyone on Sunday!

xx

Dan’s Visit – SUCCESS!

Wow, guys. As I sit here on this (of course) cloudy day in London, I can’t help but think about how quickly time is flying. Just this past Thursday was our last day of classes for the term. Seriously?! It feels like just yesterday I was getting to JFK with my luggage and my anxiety (especially about this “blizzard” if you could call it that), and then landing in Heathrow ready to embark on this epic journey. And now, it’s already over!

Well, not exactly; I still have about a month left. But it’s going to be pretty lax for the most part. Starting yesterday, I am officially on Spring Break for the next two weeks. (Side note: I think it’s a little strange that they call it Spring Break. It’s not like we go back to classes; we just have finals when we get back.) I have one actual exam on the 28th, and the other three are just papers that are all due May 5th. Pretty sweet if you ask me. For Spring Break, I’m going to Dublin to visit my family and staying with them for the whole two weeks. During that time, I’m also visiting my friend Allison (the same Allison who came to visit a few weeks ago) in Rome. I’m SO excited for this upcoming vacation; I’ve been waiting to go to Ireland for so long. Also, a bunch of my friends just got back from Ireland and told me it was fantastic which of course got me even more excited! But before getting excited for this trip, I had something else to be excited about….

Last Saturday, my boyfriend, Dan came to visit for the week! It was SOOOOOOOOOO good seeing him again; I’ve missed him a LOT! Also, we’ve been talking about this week since the end of January, so it was great to have it finally happen. You see, this trip was more than just a week together after months apart: even before we were dating, we would talk about London and how we both have always really wanted to go. We would say that we should go together, since it was a big dream of both of ours, knowing it would probably never happen. But look, it did! It felt great to actually be in London with him, like we always talked about.

It was also great to see someone from New York; it made me feel at home and miss it quite a bit. Anyway, that’s why I haven’t been around to blog this past week; I’ve been showing him the greatness that is this beautiful city! From what he’s told me, he loved it! While we covered most of the major “London-esque” things (Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc.), we also got to do a bunch of things I haven’t even done yet. Here’s how it went:

Saturday: He got here in the morning and of course was exhausted, so we didn’t do much. Had fish and chips of course! Showed him around Oakwood and Southgate and went food shopping for the week. A pretty anti-climatic first day in London. Afterward, we made dinner in the Sassoon kitchen and had an early night.

Sunday: We made some breakfast, then headed over to Covent Garden since it’s the best on the weekends. Saw a few street performers, went into a bunch of the shops, had Ben’s Cookies (Mmmm!), and ate British pub food. Later that night, we met up in Central London with a bunch of my friends so he could meet them.

Monday: This was our busiest day! After Dan had his very first English Breakfast (and loved it, of course!) we started off with something I had yet to do – see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace! We got there early, but not early enough; it was PACKED. Got to see it with a limited view, but it was still cool. The band played an assortment of ABBA songs which we weren’t expecting at all. Afterward, we took a stroll in St. James Park, right next to the Palace, and got some hot chocolate. Then we headed over to Big Ben and Parliament – which, of course, was a favorite – and got a few shots of Westminster Abbey. Then, because we had time and we were semi-close, we headed over to the Imperial War Museum. We didn’t get to see all of it, obviously, but I knew there was an exhibit on the Holocaust which I was interested in. Not exactly the cheeriest moment of his trip, but interesting nonetheless. We were both pretty exhausted – museums wear me out and we had already done a lot of walking – so we headed back over to Parliament Square for our next adventure: The London Eye. This was one of the things Dan told me he wanted to do and, even though I am absolutely TERRIFIED of heights, I agreed. Plus, it was a reduced price because it was the 10th anniversary of the Eye, so why not? BAH, I would not recommend this for people afraid of heights. It was amazing to see the view from the top, but for about 80% of the ride I was glued to the seat, along with an older woman who seemed to be cursing under her breath in a different language, out of fear. I felt bad because Dan was totally enjoying it; I wished I could’ve been more into it, but I think he understood.

Tuesday: Didn’t do much during the day, especially since it was pouring. Well, at least he got to experience typical London weather. At night, I had planned on going to see Avenue Q, but because of “the holiday” (Easter, I’m assuming?) ticket prices weren’t as reduced as they normally were. We didn’t really want to spend 36 quid each, so we saw a movie instead. Not as thrilling, I know, but oh well. We saw Bounty Hunter, and it was pretty good. Probably not as good as Avenue Q would’ve been, I imagine, but it was good to get out of the rain. Before the movie we got these coupons for a free dish at Yo! Sushi, a sushi bar that ran on conveyor belts. We were both getting hungry so we figured we’d take advantage of the offer. It was pretty tasty, and a cool thing to experience. I don’t believe I’ve seen anything like that at home, but I’ll definitely keep my eye out in May. 🙂

Wednesday: We went to Bath for the day, which we were both really looking forward to. From what I saw on the website, it was beautiful. But OY! What a morning! We got up at around 6am, got the first uni bus at 7, and stopped into Tesco for an amazing chocolate croissant. No croissants! The manager told me they’d be done in “about 10-15 minutes, not long.” Me being the ridiculous person that I am, I insisted on waiting because these croissants are just THAT good. Well, almost a half an hour had gone by before I realized how long we’d been standing there. Then Dan told me the guy was JUST starting to make them. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. I was starving and stressing about time, so we got coffee/hot chocolate and muffins and left. Took a long tube ride to Paddington station for the train to Bath. Upon arriving at the ticket kiosk, I realized how crucial it was to buy tickets online/in advance. I was expecting we would pay £29.50 for two tickets to Bath, but it was A LOT more. Then we JUST missed the train by seconds and had to wait a half an hour for the next. This whole morning was turning into a giant fail and I got really upset, but once we were on the train and finally arrived at Bath at 11, I had calmed down. Only to realize that I never wrote down the name of the B&B we were going to stay at! AH! After what felt like a wild goose chase, we finally got the name and address of the place and after lunch, we checked in to the Radnor (an adorable and pretty inexpensive B&B for anyone planning a trip to Bath – I recommend!) and continued our Bath adventure. We originally wanted to visit Bath Abbey first and do the Tower Tour, but we had missed the last tour by 15 minutes. Oh well, we got to walk around the church for a bit. So, first stop was the Roman Baths. We walked around for about 90 minutes and even got to taste Spa water! I thought it was pretty gross because it was hot, but it was cool to drink water from the actual spa. Then we went to the Fashion Museum (sounds random, I know, but we got a discounted ticket with our ticket to the Roman Baths). It was interesting I guess, but if it hadn’t been for the discount, I probably wouldn’t have gone in. After that, we walked around a bit more. I realized that Bath was different than I expected. Sure, there were historical buildings/sights, but it was also this really cute, small town with a lot of small shops. But then you turn the corner and BAM! There’s an H&M and Quiksilver? So it had its modern moments. Then we reached The Circus and the Royal Crescent. Walking back to the B&B to change for dinner, we also saw Pulteney Bridge. I was confused because as I was walking along this path with shops on it, I was looking in the distance for a bridge, only to discover that I was walking Pulteney Bridge! Apparently it’s the only bridge in the area to have shops built along it. Later that night, we went to a cute restaurant called The Real Italian Pizza Co. It was a very colorful place with great Italian food at a good price. After an exhausting day in Bath, we SLEPT!

Thursday: We woke up at 7am and got ready for our full English Breakfast (included with the price of the B&B) which was delicious! They also had a bunch of cereals and juices and teas, all of which I took advantage of. Mm mm mmm!! Then we checked out at 8 (after purchasing our tickets back to London ONLINE this time) and headed back into the city for our guided tour to Stonehenge! I’ll admit, it wasn’t all it was hyped up to be. Sure, it was really great seeing something that’s so historically famous, and it was obviously something I needed to see during my stay in the UK, but there wasn’t much to do. The tour gave us an hour on the site, but Dan and I were done in about 30 minutes. It was SO WINDY at the sight, so we didn’t mind heading back to the tour bus early. And I felt like such a jerk that day, because when I went to take a picture of Dan with his camera and dropped it!!! The screen cracked 🙁 It still works, but if you can’t see what you’re taking a picture of, what’s the point? I felt awful for the rest of the day/his visit. I still feel bad. Oy, I’m so clumsy sometimes… Anywho, we got back to London at around 5 and met Ashley for dinner; she wanted to meet Dan.

Friday: LAZY MORNING! After an exhausting and jam-packed week, it’s exactly what we needed. At around 11:30, we went over to Tesco; I needed some ingredients for lunch and dinner that night. Lo and behold, they had croissants! They weren’t on display yet, but the guy let me have 2….straight from the oven. OMG. Best croissants I’ve ever had from Tesco. Yum! After making lunch, we headed over to Tower Bridge, the last must-see on my list. It was around sunset when we got there. I figured we could walk the Thames Path for a bit – between Tower Bridge and Millennium Bridge – as the sun was setting. A nice romantic, laid-back way to end the week. And it wasn’t even that cold! (Forgot to mention that I stupidly told Dan not to bring a heavy coat because it was getting nicer; naturally, it was cold and rainy this whole week, despite the conditions last week.) We got back to Middlesex and made another delicious meal and had tea and crumpets for dessert. 🙂

Today: Woke up, Dan wanted another English Breakfast before heading back to New York. Then chilled out in my room until around 1:30 when we left for Heathrow. This week seemed to fly by, but like I said before, it was great to be in London with him. And just to see him in general – I’ve missed him so much! This goodbye wasn’t as emotional and heart-wrenching as the one we had in January, mostly because we know we’ll be seeing each other in about a month. But I know I’ll still be missing him until May.

Now I just have to upload my pictures, clean my room, do some laundry, and prepare for MY upcoming trips. Also, I’ll wish everyone a Happy Easter! 🙂

xx