Tales from Italy ch.9: Your Elephants are Polar Bears.

Did you know it’s possible to visit a whole country in a day and still get back in time for dinner? Well it is! Small city-states qualify as their own countries and are easy to get to. When it comes to Italy, the most well-known city-state would be Vatican City, home of the Pope, Roman Catholicism, and all that jazz. But how many of you know about La Reppublica di San Marino? It’s a small city-state that’s only about an hour’s drive from Urbino, yet it’s its own country- it even has its own euro coins! It was pretty cool to add a new country to the “Where I’ve Been” application on Facebook when I got home later 😉
San Marino is stunning. It’s located on top of this mountain with spectacular views. I’m sure that on a sunny day you could see for miles, but as luck would have it, when we went it was cloudy. Inside the city, we saw a lot of beautiful places like the Basilica di San Marino and this cute little park at the top of the mountain.

On the way up, we passed hundreds of vendors, and you wouldn’t believe it, but some of the main items they sell are swords and guns. Granted the swords were beautiful, but still! I was surprised and yet so intrigued.

Despite our cloudy conditions in San Marino, the next several days were surprisingly sunny and warm. My friends and I spent a lot of time outdoors and sunbathing, and have the sunburns to prove it. One day, Laura and I went up to the Fortezza after running some errands in town. We played Frisbee and had lunch before laying down for a nap. Unfortunately our nap lasted a bit too long and we woke up burned.

On another particular day, I found Monika at my window, dressed in purple with a bouquet of lilacs in her hand. It was the cutest thing you’d ever seen. Between the warm weather, fresh flowers, and clear skies, finding the motivation to study for finals has been hard. Yet the semester must go on! I was further reminded of this when it came time to register for fall classes at New Paltz. It was a little strange registering while abroad because I’m currently associating school with Italy, not New York. Not to mention that the Italian way of things wouldn’t even dream of registering for the fall until at least October, after there has been a one-month class trial-period.

Anyway, between the studying that’s now making up for lack of classes and the sunbathing I’ve been up to, I’ve also gotten started on a radio show and program for the Erasmus students/ International students. Our show is called Independent Carrots; the name is taken from a band name idea we had on our trip to Sicily when Judith ate carrots everyday. Working with one of the US liaisons here in Urbino and a fellow classmate and friend of mine, Ryan, we have set up a radio program that is for foreign students. We had our first show on April 20th, and it is being set up to stay and work for future semesters, maybe even turning into an credit-earning program for communication and media majors who choose to study in Urbino! It’s a lot of fun and reminds me of my radio show back in New Paltz on WFNP. The one I have here is a bit different, but you can see all of this here.

Other random events have happened since San Marino. On one particular day, while having gelato, the strangest conversation came up about the possibilities and experiences of what it would be like to be defecated on by a pigeon. And, as misfortune and uncanny coincidences happen, Laura was then pooped on by a bird. And if this day wasn’t unlucky for her enough, that night, while showing us her favorite pair of elephant pajamas, we pointed out to Laura that the elephants were actually polar bears, and, after some minutes of nonstop laughter and shock of years of believing them to be elephants, her whole world changed…. just like her pajamas.

Meanwhile, while all this random joy has been happening, there has been an active volcano in Iceland causing havoc to planes all over Europe.  This sucked for a lot of my friends who were making brief trips home and either had their flights canceled, rescheduled, or had to book train tickets. For me, Monika, and Laura, we had a trip to Paris planned in the upcoming days, and damn Eyjafjallajökull wouldn’t stop threatening our plans. If the spelling of it’s name wasn’t enough (which by the way I learned to pronounce thanks to the clip on Wikipedia), why’d it have to go and threaten our Paris plans, huh?

Oh well, I can’t complain to much because in the end our flight didn’t change at all. We were going to Paris, and no Icelandic volcano was going to stop us!

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

Why Wales? Entry #11: The Italian Adventure “Days 7&8”

Day 7  March 26, 2010

San Marino to Rome.  (2 becomes 4)

Day seven started out well planned, but many problems occurred. The plan was to get up at around 6:30, check out of the hotel by 7:20, get on the 8am bus back to Rimini for our train to Rome at 10:15.

The 8am bus to Rimini was the only bus that would get us there within the time frame, and provided a lot of extra time. The problem was that when we went to check out, the front desk was closed. Even though it was supposed to have 24 hr front desk- we had to wait until they came in, and we didn’t even pay yet.

The hotel workers finally arrived at 8:20 am, so we obviously missed our bus. We enjoyed a quick breakfast while we waiting for a taxi. The taxi cost 55 euros- and got us there just in time! Literally, as we got on the train, it pulled away. It was certainly a hectic morning, but things like that are a part of traveling. As much as you plan, somethings you just can’t plan for. I realize now that we should have taken care of the bill the night before to avoid this problem, but still, it happens.

We arrived in Rome around late afternoon and met up with Maggie and Justine. They spent the previous week in Malta enjoying some sunshine and island weather. Their day was even longer than ours, since they had arrived in Rome at 6:30 A.M that morning. That’s right- when we were just waking up, they were arriving in Rome.

Needless to say, we were all tired. We originally planned to go to the Vatican this day, but with the line and our luggage- we decided to skip it.

Instead we headed to our hostel, which was a country club (campground) outside of Rome. We took a 45 min metro ride and then a shuttle to the place. The place was pretty nice, but we wouldn’t reccomend it. Although it was cheaper than places in Rome, the time it took to get there wasn’t too nice.

We ate dinner at a restaurant at the hostel, and then crashed since we were so tired.

**A lot of the places visited on this leg of the trip I have seen before; I went to Italy in my junior year of high school. Part of the reason I wanted to go to Italy was not only to see new places, but also to revisit the place I’ve been and appreciate them better. Junior year, we went to Rome, Sorrento, Capris and Pompeii.**

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Day 8  March 27, 2010

Rome in a day.

Most people will argue that you can’t do Rome in a day. Well, we did.

The only thing we missed was the Vatican, but we were okay with that. We decided to spend more time outside in the sunshine. We went to Circus Maximus, the Colloseum, the forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps- and more!

The best part was most likely our Italian dinner- we sat at a nice outdoor restaruant, andenjoyed delicious italian food. We had musicians by our side, and of course finished it off with some gelato.

Rome = amazing.

Oops…again

I don’t know what it is about this blog, but I keep forgetting about it 🙂 So there is a little catching up to do. This weekend I spend some time with friends, as I will most likely be traveling the next three weekends that are approaching. We spent both nights starting off with eating out for dinner then, we enjoyed the clubs or pubs for a bit.

Last weekend though, I went to Berlin. It was a bit odd because, I technically went solo on this, but I met people there. It was interesting to find my way to hostel without anyone to come pick me up. I never realized how large the city was until I took a look at its extensive U-Bahn system (subway). I arrived later in the evening on Friday night, so I didn’t have much time to look around on first arrival. Saturday we took the free walking tour around Berlin and saw all the usual sights, Brandenburg Gate, embassies, Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, administration buildings for various Nazi organizations, i.e. the Luftwaffe . The rest of the day was spent strolling around town checking out parks and other things to see such as the TV tower. Sunday was a good day as well, we rolled out of bed a little late, but the sun was shining all day so it didn’t seem as if we burnt any daylight. First we crossed the OberbaumbrĂŒcke bridge, which was quite near our hostel. Just on the other side, was the East Side Gallery, which was all the paintings done on the Berlin wall. On the end of that was a lovely little rasta themed place on the river that had everything from a half-pipe to an artificial beach overlooking the water. We sun bathed there for a couple of hours then went off to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-GedĂ€chtniskirche church. It was a church that was bombed during the war and parts were rebuilt in a modern fashion. After that we wandered into the Teirgarten, which is a very large park next to the zoo in downtown Berlin. At the end of that stroll we came back near the city center where there was a small carnival going on, with classic blow up castles, cotton candy, and Ferris wheels. The Reichstagg was the next stop on the list. After that long day, we came back to hostel and rested up for a little bit, then had a final dinner out on the town. My bus back on moday morning was at 9, so I had to do the rare, early morning wake up call at 7:30, but I survived !

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! 🙂

South Western Travels

My fieldtrip down to the Albany and Margaret River areas of the Southwestern region of WA will probably be the most memorable experience that I take back with me when I leave Australia. It consisted of seven days, filled with hard work, which wore both on the body and mind, and late nights spent completing the maps and diagrams of certain outcrops that we spent the day studying. Through it all, however, I made wonderful friends and learned so much more, in such a short amount of time, than I ever could have in a classroom. Traversing, at times, over fairly dangerous terrain, sometimes consisting of sharp limestones that jutted out at every angle, to steep rocky slopes that abruptly dropped off into the crashing waves (of the Southern and Indian Oceans) below. It’s a miracle that my fellow classmates and myself made it back safe and sound without any more than a scratch.

The first four days were spent dodging rain drops and sheltering our detailed sketchwork, maps and field notebooks from the ever-impending shower, while managing the impossible task of keeping ourselves and our belongings dry(which we packed up each morning and lugged around the field with us all day). There were moments when I felt quite miserable and in need of dry/warm clothing and shoes. I even remember envying the instructors, with their years of experience in the field, who sat about oblivious to the weather around them. I envied their indifference.
It really only affected me the most on the second day out, when we were all stuck out on a huge outcrop in Albany, known as The Gap because of its main physical feature. It consists of two stifflingly large cliffs, which have essentially been split apart by the enormous waves (that this particular area is known for) below, forming a gaping gap with very high walls.
On this day, not only did the rain pester us all day, but temperatures stayed quite low as well. We even felt it sleeting at times! We all sat around this rock pavement, with the overcast sky persistantly hovering overhead, struggling to produce detailed (and to scale) geological sketch maps, using 1 meter grid squares as the mapping base.

It was so bad at one point that as soon as I saw a few others heading off towards the bus (the only refuge) I took off in a mad dash after them. At that point it was more important to get shelter than it was to finish my work. It could be said that the bus was our home away from home twice removed; sometimes it seemed that we spent more time in it (travelling across the region from site to site) than we did in our beds at night.

To be continued…

Tales from Italy ch.8: SPRING BREAK! Part 4- Cardiff, Wales and London, England

The day we were to leave Ireland, Janelle and I had an early flight to Bristol, England. We caught a taxi at 4:30AM and were in the air by 6:30. Since I had been sick with congestion the last few days, our flight was easily the most uncomfortable flight I had ever been on and the descent was enough to make my eyes tear. Once again, the flight was only about 40 minutes long so I didn’t have to endure it for too long.

Once we were in Bristol, it was a quick train ride to Cardiff, Wales. Just like in Ireland with seeing the Irish language everywhere, we were all of a sudden confronted with Welsh once we crossed the border. Like Irish, I wasn’t well aware of Welsh until actually experiencing it in the country. For me, both Irish and Welsh were interesting things to really take in; when I considered the UK and Ireland, I generally associated the language spoken as English. While I was correct to some extent in thinking this, I was incorrect in neglecting how there are still other official languages spoken in these countries. Don’t get me wrong, I had heard of Irish and Welsh and knew they were still spoken, but like many things, it doesn’t really sink in until you hear and see it for yourself.

We got to Cardiff Central around 8 in the morning. We were to meet my friend, Eleanor around then, but there was a slight mix-up in the AM/PM part of 8:00. I guess that would be one of the times you can really appreciate the popularity of military time in most of Europe. It’s not like Janelle or I minded though; we were still a bit sleepy from our travels, and the extra time gave us enough time to grab a bite to eat and sort out our bus tickets to London for the next day.

Later that day, Eleanor took us to see St. Fagan’s Outdoor Museum. It was such a fun experience, and it reminded me a lot of the historical-remake little colonial cities we can find on the east coast in the US. We saw actual homes that date back from the 1500s, like this one from 1544:

This home belonged to a wealthy farmer; its two chimneys are a wealthy status symbol, as it was not always so simple to afford ventilation.

Other sights that we saw at St. Fagan’s included a pasture loaded with sheep, miner’s homes that were each decorated to a different time period ranging from 1805-1980, some pottery being made, and an old cathedral.

Just before leaving the museum, we stopped at a small candy shop where I got to taste some delicious gingerbread and some hard, green glow-stick candy that tasted oddly like Mountain Dew.

After the Museum, we walked over to the Castle and strolled around the castle grounds. The gardens were stunning, especially with the beautiful day we were having!

After the castle, we were off to Cardiff Bay. One of the first things we saw was the Cardiff Opera house. The building is spectacularly modern and in-your-face so-to-speak, and is decorated with Welsh:

For lunch, we went to Wagaman’s Japanese. Apparently it’s a pretty popular chain in the UK
 lucky them- It was so good! During lunch, Eleanor’s mom called to ask about dinner. Our choices were salad or curry. Janelle and I, having only ever associated curry solely as a spice, said salad because we didn’t know what ‘curry’ meant. This lead into a cultural discussion on what the Welsh (And English?) refer to as curry, and what we, as Americans, refer to as curry. Basically, in the end, we discovered that her mom was making curry chicken for dinner, of which we eagerly accepted. Turns out, ‘curry’ can mean any meal cooked with curry spices, while for us, we take the unnecessary time to say ‘curry chicken’ or ‘chicken with curry sauce.’

After lunch we grabbed some ice cream on the pier just before a daunting line (or as they say in the UK, “queue”) formed behind us. Ice creams in hand, we then hopped on the last boat tour of the day that took us around the bay. Being in the water, we were able to get some nice views of the shore: (The big armadillo looking building in the back is the Opera house, and the red one in the front is the old port):

Our tour guide on the boat also told us some funny tales about what we were seeing from the boat. For example:


From the boat we were able to see these two images above. The first is of a Norwegian church; the second, a statue of the Welsh man who attempted to be the first to reach the South Pole. Unfortunately for the latter, the Norwegians beat him there. So where did they put his statue?:

That evening after dinner, Janelle, Eleanor, and I watched a DVD of the Welsh comedian, Rhod Gilbert, after being inspired when we passed by the actual Rhod Gilbert on the way home. Even though sometimes his heavy Welsh accent made it a little difficult to understand, he was actually pretty good, and we got in some laughs (mine between blowing my nose because of my  still-existent cold!) before bed.

The next day, the three of us went on a tour of the Cardiff Palace before catching our bus to Reading where we would meet up with my friend, Toni. Once inside the grounds, it was like stepping into a life-size version of a child’s castle play-set. Old castle walls that guarded the lovely scenery before us surrounded us. To our left was the actual Palace home and in the center was the “Shell” –complete with moat- (this is what reminded me so much of a castle-toy) where the family, in times of danger, would come to stay:

We toured the Palace house, the shell, and the inside of the surrounding walls (referred to as the ‘war tunnels’).  (There are pictures from the inside of all of these in the link at the bottom of this journal).

After the Palace, Janelle and I said our goodbyes and were off to Reading. The bus ride wasn’t too long, and we arrived in time for dinner. That night, Toni was having family over for a BBQ. It was great- I hadn’t had a BBQ in such a long time, and after all our traveling, taking the time to just enjoy such a family-oriented event was relaxing, even if there were a handful of little children running all over the place. Dinner was delicious and we ate outside on a picnic blanket. After dinner, the relatives began to disperse, and we spent the evening watching Zombieland. Before bed, I took a bath since the shower wasn’t working due to construction. Not like I’m complaining- I LOVE baths!! It was so nice to just lie there and soak in hot water; just the thing I needed to relax.

The next day, we took a trip into London. The first thing we saw was the changing of the guard.

Once the guard had changed, we followed them to Buckingham Palace where there were more demonstrations. While there, we noticed that the flag was at half-mast, which means that the Queen is not home.

After Buckingham Palace, we saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the “London Eye” (though it’s expensive price kept us off it), Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and –get this- Platform 9 Ÿ!!!! From Harry Potter!!

We finished off our day at the London Dungeons; I guess you could call it a museum, but it reminded me a lot of the haunted houses people visit on Halloween. The only exception was this had 2 rides: a water ride and a drop ride. The actors inside were really funny, and despite the amusement-parkness of it all, we learned a lot about London’s darker history with law and punishment over the centuries.

At the end of the day, we went out to dinner where I once again ordered a Steak and Ale pie- it was officially my first and last meal in the UK. I didn’t mind though- I had already completed my check-list of foods to have in the UK and Ireland, which included:

  • Steak and Ale pie
  • Deep-fried Mars bar
  • Fish and chips
  • Haggis
  • Scones
  • Hot-cross buns

Of the above, I miss Steak and Ale Pie and Fish and Chips the most.

My trip to the UK and Ireland was amazing. In such a short time, I got to see 4 different countries, meet up with lots of my old friends, and try a ton of new things. Yet even though it was one of my greatest experiences, I was very happy to get back to Urbino in the end. Two weeks of constant travel is a lot of work and really tires you out. It was nice to get back to a familiar bed and schedule; stuff I was used to. Nonetheless, the memories I made there I’ll never forget. I’m so glad I went.

(More pictures from Cardiff and London)

Why Wales? Entry #10: The Italian Adventure “Days 4-6”

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Day 4 March 23, 2010

Piacenza & Venice

We had a short morning at Miriam and Lorenzo’s with some dilicious italian bread and coffee. After that Miriam rushed us to the train station to head back to Venice for another night. Our first train ended up being late, which delayed most of our day- but it was nice to relax a bit more on the train.

We arrived in Venice by 3pm, and the sun was shining. We were so glad that it was so nice out, because the first day we were there it was rather gray outside. The city is beautiful regardless, but it is magical when the sun is shining. We headed back to the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square to take sunny pictures.

We enjoyed delicious paninis in the square after the sun went down. Venice is beautiful at night!

We finished off the night with gelato and took some pastries back to the hotel.

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Day 5 March 24, 2010

Goodbye Venice, Hello San Marino!

We checked out of our beautiful hotel and said goodbye to Venice. We were very excited about San Marino because we really didn’t know what to expect. 

San Marino is a very small country, inside of Italy. The city of San Marino, which is also the capital of San Marino is at the top (very top) of a mountain.

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (pronounced /ˌsĂŠn məˈriːnəʊ/ ( listen) SAN-mə-REE-noh; Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino) is a country situated in the Apennine Mountains. It is a landlocked enclave, completely surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 61 km2 (24 sq mi) with an estimated population of almost 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. One of the European microstates along with Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, and Malta, San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.

We took the train from Venice Mestre Station to Rimini, a small town outside of San Marino. We then took a bus ride 45 minutes UP HILL! It was amazing, because we had no idea how high up we were going, and we just kept going up. Our ears actually popped while riding up the hill. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and we were so excited to start our adventures.

The bus dropped us off, and we looked in some gift shops and figured out how to get to our hostel. This is where we figured out that the people of San Marino do not speak any English. Luckily, my good friend Marissa spoke Italian fairly well! I was glad to have her there!

The shopkeeper actually called our hotel, and arranged for the hotel owner to come pick us up. The hotel was not far away, but the shopkeeper thought it would be nice, since we had our luggage and all. We were already impressed with the people and the views of San Marino. At first, we thought the shopkeeper called a taxi for us- but the hotel owner came to pick us up. 🙂

We headed to our hotel, which was a beautiful blue building- and had a magnificent view from the mountain from our balcony.

After getting settled in our room, we walked further up the mountain for some delicious pizza and gelato.

We hit the hay early to have a full day enjoying San Marino the next day.

San Marino Sunset

Our Hotel Room (The picture on the wall is an actual picture from the room's window)

View from our window (a bit foggy, because we were up so high we were actually in the clouds!)

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Day 6  March 25, 2010

Our day started off with the hotel’s complimentary breakfast. The man helping us was so nice and so hospitable- we later figured out that he was Mario’s father; Mario was the owner/manager who picked us up the night before. This family run business was making our first impressions of San Marino even better.

It’s so interesting how much one can communicate without knowing the language. Although Marissa knew some Italian, both parties had to really work hard at understanding spoken language as well as body language and context clues. Often througout our trip, I was able to understand a lot without really knowing what they were saying. It’s remarkable how much we communicate non-orally.

We set out for the day, up the mountain. We stopped at a gift shop and bought some awesome mideval souvenirs and continued to the Museum of Curiosities. This museum was fairly similar to the Ripley’s Beleive it or Not Museum; it included facts about the tallest man, shortest woman, longest beard, etc. It was very interesting (and curious!) to walk through.

me, inbetween drawings of the tallest man and shortest woman.

We had lunch at a cafe on the edge of the cliff.

 

View from the cafe.

After lunch, we headed up to the 3 towers of San Marino. Tower 2 included a museum of ancient arms inside. It amazing to see the towers, as well as the views from the tops of the towers. We wandered a random path, which led us to a huge pile of snow (since it’s so high up, the nights get very cold and the snow doesn’t melt as fast). After some more gelato, we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We decided to go down the mountain for dinner. This area was a lot less touristy. The place we chose was empty when we got there, but by the time we ordered- it was packed! We had more pizza and some tartufo for dessert.

Looking back, San Marino is most likely my favorite place I have been on the Italian trip. It was so unique and beautiful that I felt as if I found a hidden gem of Europe. San Marino was in the perfect location for a half way point from Venice to Rome; we never expected it to be so beautiful and comfortable!

The next day we were excited not only because we were heading to Rome, but we would be meeting up with our friends: Maggie and Justine!

Tales from Italy ch.8: SPRING BREAK! Part 3- Dublin, Ireland

40 minutes is such a short amount of time to sit on a plane. Normally, the only reason I’d ever consider flying anywhere is because it is too far to drive. Ah but you see, the good old Irish Sea makes it okay to not care about short flights.

Janelle and I arrived in Dublin in the evening. Our first dosage of culture shock came with all the Irish we saw on signs. Prior to this semester I wasn’t aware of the popularity of the Irish language that still exists. Our Irish friends told us that children in Ireland grow up learning Irish in schools, but I never really thought much of it until I started seeing Gaelic all around me. My favorite by far was at the bus stop where I saw the route map with all the stops written. At the very top of the chart was Dun Laoghaire. Normally, I’d assume to pronounce this “Dun- la-owg-hair” but in Irish-speaking reality, it’s pronounced like “dun-leery.” I learned this handy-dandy lesson thanks to the movie, P.S. I Love You.

The actual journey to our hostel involved a 30 minute bus ride from the airport and then some hiking on foot. Once we found our street, we had the hardest time looking for address #82. This was due to the fact that the numbers on the street went down from 53-1 and then up from 54+. In the time we spent walking in circles, a drunken Irish teen waddled up to us and attempted to speak. Honestly, I was just surrounded by stereotypes on this trip.

By the time we got to our hostel, it was past 11 and all our roommates were already asleep. We attempted to quietly set up in the dark as best we could and slept in our day clothes to avoid causing any extra noise involved with opening our suitcases. It had been a rough start that night, and I thought it’d be done once we were in bed and asleep, but I was wrong. That night I had a horrible sore throat that woke me up whenever I swallowed. I had gotten sick somehow and it wasn’t very pleasant.

The next day we slept in, but I was still tired because of waking up so often from my throat; it was killing me. Throughout the rest of the day, a stuffy and runny nose would be added to this luxury illness of mine, and I wanted to kick my antibodies for failing while I was on vacation.

During the day, Janelle and I took a free 3-hour tour that showed us many of the main areas of Dublin. Of these sites included the castle,
a converted Catholic church that was still unrecognized by the Vatican, old Viking home outlines:

…the O’Connell Bridge and ha’ penny bridge, the famous Temple Bar:

…Trinity College, Parliament (the building actually served as the model for the US White House):

…the “Spire of Dublin,” and St. Stephen Park.

On the way, we were passed by 2 oil-tanker-sized trucks filled with Guinness beer. Only in Ireland.

While at the castle, we were also presented with the following statue of Lady Justice:

The funny thing is that this Lady Justice has several flaws. For one, she is not blindfolded. Second, her sword is tipped upwards. Finally, her scale actually works, meaning that when it rains, it is unbalanced.

That night, we were both tired and Janelle decided to call it an early night. But despite my sickness and lack of sleep, I wasn’t ready to call it a night while in Dublin. So, I went out for a walk by myself and encountered a lot of things I wouldn’t have come across otherwise. In addition to learning my way around (a general skill I usually have difficulty acquiring) I heard this really cool live band, saw the the sites around the Liffey River lit up for night, and eventually came across a Penny’s (The Irish equivalent of Primark in the UK or Target in the US). The latter worked out well since I was now running low on socks and managed to grab 5 pairs for 2 euros.
(Above in order from left to right: Band, Ha’Penny Bridge, and O’Connell Bridge)

When I got back to our hostel that night, Janelle was still awake and she had befriended one of our roommates, Chloe. Chloe is from France, but currently living in the UK studying English and Art History. The next day, she accompanied us as we took a stroll through St. Stephen’s park and a quick drink at a local pub (I had hot chocolate of course 0:-)). It was a lovely ending to our day. Earlier, we saw Clash of the Titans in 3D in a theater that closer resembled a Broadway theater than a cinema theater, complete with plush velvet red seats, curtains, and ushers in ties.

Janelle got her tragus pierced and we also did a bit of shopping after she learned that there was a Penny’s nearby. On the way to Penny’s, we were stopped by a guy close to our age who was collecting donations for PAWS- a puppy organization. After I apologized for not being able to make a donation, the guy confessed his love for me and said “Don’t leave me, everyone I love leaves me!” He was obviously kidding, and it made us laugh. In the end he offered to buy me a drink that night, but like the puppy donation, I politely declined. As I turned away, I could hear him saying “I knew it! Everyone I love leaves me!” Oh well lol

At the end of the day the three of wrapped up at the pub (me with my hot chocolate). I ended up leaving early longing for a hot shower to help my runny nose and to get a head start on packing for the next day. On the way home I bought a 6-pack of pocket tissue packs and some breakfast for the next morning. When I got back to the hostel, my shower was as delightful as I had hoped, I packed, and was in bed early. Unfortunately my stuffy nose wouldn’t cease to exist, and it was gonna be another long night.

(More pictures from Dublin)