Thursday, March 29, 2007

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Lá Fhéile Pádraig!! Well, it's way past St. Paddy's Day, but that was the last major event.
Two of my friends from home came to visit for a week and it was pretty intense! My other roomie had 2 friends also, so it was quite the packed house. It was an interesting mix of people too - we had three people from Wisconsin, 2 from Jersey, 1 from Boston, and 1 from Connecticut. At one point 2 other people stayed so we had 4 from Wisconsin and 2 from CT, trust me - the accent ratio was insane and we had a lot of fun with that.

Kris, Jacks, Kat, and I hit up the Cliffs of Moher which were just unbelievably beautiful. I had been there years ago, but it's something you can never see too many times. The weather was perfect - sunny, cool, and clear. Driving through the Burren alone made the trip worth it. The rolling Irish hills were in perfect form for our friends. I had class during their stay so I couldn't visit Connemara with them on another day, but I'll get there. I had to pass up on a trip to the Aran Islands also, but I'll make it there no doubt.

At the end of the week was St. Patrick's Day - which contrary to some American's belief, it is a big deal in Ireland. A very big deal. Thousands of people descended upon Galway from around the world, but the weather was awful so you didn't really see half of them.

We started off in Monroe's, a great pub, and a marching band played some music to kick off the parade. We hid under an awning during the actual parade because the rain was so bad. The parade was short but cute - lots of kids in uniforms and bagpipers. We then hit up Wards Hotel for some lunch and to watch the big rugby match. Ireland won, but not by enough points to secure the entire six-nations games. Nighttime was when the real festivities began. The rain relaxed a bit and we hit downtown.
We went to the Quays first and met some obnoxious Irish boys. I was almost set on fire by some idiot, and that idiot then literally set his friend on fire. I was asked by multiple boys for a kiss - it's the Irish pick-up line. We met up with some more American friends we had made earlier in the day and then went to Hole in the Wall. We met more crazy Irish people and danced for awhile, where we met some great people. We followed them back to their apartment and went to a real Irish house party. It was amazing.
We drank, we sang, people Irish danced and played the tin whistle, and I met some great people. We all even fell in love for the night with some nice Irish boys with great Irish names. We partied till 4am and had probably the best night in Ireland thus far. I miss my family and friends and NYC, but I am in love with Galway!!!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Visitors

Our friends from Fordham are here!! So far it's been a lot of fun, pretty low-key. Last night we hit the pubs - An Pucan, King's Head, and The Quays. Some Dublin friends were there, and a family from my home town!! It was bizarre!!

Today we went to the Cliffs of Moher and drove through the Burren. It was a gorgeous day and just so unbelievably beautiful. I saw the Cliffs years ago, and they are definitely worth seeing again. We walked along the edge, so great. Well that's about it for now!

Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

Last week we went to Paris. I've wanted to go there for as long as I can remember - I took French for seven years just so I could go there and know the language!! Luckily it turned out to be everything I had hoped for!!

We left Saturday morning from Shannon airport and flew via Ryan Air to Beauvais, France, and then took about an hour long bus to Paris. Pulling into the city you can see the Eiffel Tower so believe me, I got tres excited. The bus pulled into a place called Port Maillot, and then Katie and I were in the middle of Paris with my basic knowledge of the language and no map. But the hotel concierge nearby directed us to a subway stop, we asked around and eventually made it to our budget hotel on the exact opposite side of the city. The hotel was pretty decent and about the same cost as our terrible hostel in London so it worked out well, and the location turned out to be perfect. Katie got in touch with a childhood friend of hers studying in Paris, so we headed over to meet her by Sacre Coeur. The best part about being abroad is you become best friends with everyone else studying, simply because we're all in the same boat and everyone wants places to stay or to be shown around. Katie hadn't talked to this girl in about four years but she was gung-ho to show us around! So we headed that way and tried to find food but Katie is the pickiest eater of all time and French food is tricky, so I just grabbed a four-cheese pizza tart thing at a boulangerie (bakery), and it was surprisingly good. I'm not a cheese person but I ate more cheese this weekend than in my whole life. We wandered around and stumbled into the Red Light district and saw the Moulin Rouge which is pretty cool to see at night because of the lights, and then we walked down the street - it was hilarious, I'll just leave it at that. We met up with Lisa the friend and her friends, and then we met up with more people and got fondue! It was so delicious! We had meat and cheese fondue, and they serve you 2euro wine out of baby bottles! It was such a cute gimmick! We also made some Canadien friends backpacking across Europe that night, so it was successful.

The next day Katie and I got up early and hit the tourism route. We started at Notre-Dame on the Ile de la Cite and went to mass, which I found to be amazing. The music was in Latin and very eerie, which fit such an historic building. We then walked along the Seine and saw the Hotel de Ville and got lunch - I got un croque-monsieur, which is basically a glorified grilled ham and cheese, but I had to pretend order them all through highschool French classes, so I finally wanted a real one. Pretty good. We also checked out the Centre Georges-Pompidou which is the one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen. Next the Louvre, which was great because it's free the first Sunday of every month! We walked around for 2 hours and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo - which I found cooler than Mona Lisa, and lots of great art. The Egyptian exhibits were the best, and they let you walk down along where the old moat used to be. It got way too crowded so we had to leave, and then hit the Touleries Gardens, Place de la Concorde where all the executions took place during La Revolution, and then walked along the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. That was one heck of a hike. From there we walked to the Eiffel Tower, which is honestly so much bigger than I thought!! We didn't go up but if you go the building behind it - the Trocadero, you get a great view of the city. Why stop there? We then walked down the Eiffel's lawn - the Champs de Mars and checked out the military school - it's beautiful, and then headed towards Les Invalides, where Napolean is buried. It was probably 5 or 6 at this point, so we headed back to the hotel to relax. At night we met up with Lisa again and got dessert - a crepe with nutella and bananas...I don't think anything better exists. Then we went to an Australian pub where it was American night of all things and met up with our new friends.

On Monday we went to Sacre-Coeur which is so so so beautiful and breathtaking. The view is to die for, but the people harrassing you for money were out of control. We went inside and it was so impressive. We walked around Montmatre after that which is very cute and it wasn't too packed but artists ask to draw you every five feet. The art was so great and the buildings are charming. One particular square had a restaurant called Chez Eugene, and right near it was another cafe called La Mere Catherine, which I found to be just perfect. We walked all over that hill and then headed towards the St. Michel area to meet a friend of mine for lunch, but the Metro stop we planned to meet at had multiple exits and entrances so we missed each other! Instead I got a baguette with chicken and cheese and headed towards the Jardin du Luxembourg which was beautiful, then the Pantheon, the Sorbonne, and back to Notre Dame to see St. Chapelle - but you had to pay to get in so we didn't see the stained glass which is its draw. We walked along the Seine again to the Palais Royale, stumbled into St. Gervais church which was so haunting - really mysterious and creepy but beautiful. At night we met up with some Fordham kids and got dinner and then hit an Irish pub called The Galway - ridiculous! But I got a glass of red wine to appease my sister.

Tuesday, our last day was awful weather. The other days were mild and sunny and I walked around in a tee-shirt, but this was cold, rainy and windy and we had to lug our bags everywhere. We went to the Catacombs, which I thought were just unreal. So humbling and frightening but a necessary experience. I'll just say that Katie is claustrophobic, which I thought was just a term she threw around to mean she didn't like crowds, but I learned she really really is. We then walked to the Montparnasse area and met Lisa for lunch and I got a great little tart and une baguette sandwich. Honestly, the French understand good food better than anyplace I've ever been. We then pretty much walked to the Eiffel Tower again and then to Port Maillot, to the Arc de Triomphe and back to Port Maillot to kill time in the pouring rain. Basically it was time to go home, so after security threw out half of Katie's stuff and a bumpy plane ride, we just wanted to go home. But of course it's Ireland and Bus Eirrean would stop running at 8 at night at an international airport, so our return ticket was useless - rip off!!! But we took a different bus back to Galway and finally, finally went to bed.

The French really do walk around with baguettes sticking out of their purses, the croissants are delicious, they are actually nicer than people give them credit for and will ask if you prefer English or French at some restaurants. No one talked politics unlike the Irish, and I just had an amazing time. The Canadiens we met put the American-thing into perspective, one of them said he'd never met an American he didn't like and in fact thought we're great overall, our government just ruins it. Paris has a lot of trees and without being in bloom it gave the city a very brown, dead look, but I imagine in spring and summer it's just gorgeous. I have to go back because we didn't see the city lit up at night, except the Eiffel Tower which sparkles every so often. J'adore Paris, c'etait magnifique!!

RAG Week

RAG week happened a few weeks ago - Raise up And Give. It's basically a week of insanity and alcoholism - it was a lot of fun!! The Irish kids get wasted morning, noon and night for a week and then drunkenly give their money to charities. These kids were walking to class drunk, drinking in the concourse, etc. It was nuts!! I unfortunately had two papers to write, so I didn't get to partake in the mayhem too much. Next time!!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

London

This past weekend was London!! Kat, Sarah and I hit up the capital city and I seriously want to live there, it's just so expensive!! I loved every minute and it's so beautiful, and yes very cosmopolitan like New York, but I think it has so much more original and historic character.

We took a 4 hour bus to Dublin, waited 2 hours then took a 4 hour ferry (which was awful), then took a 7 hour bus to London. That trip was hell. We got to London by 9amish and walked to Buckingham Palace then figured out the Tube and headed to Borough St for our hostel. We then went back to Victoria and bought tickets to ride a double-decker hop on and off bus. It was so worth it because we saw everything. I got a hole in my pants and had to wrap my sweatshirt around my waist so I was freezing under my jacket w/just a little Tee on. Luckily I found a cheap pair of jeans and solved that problem! At night Katie and I found peanut butter KitKats - which the US needs NOW - and then walked around our hostel area. Turns out back in the day it was the slummy area that Shakespeare got his inspiration from - pretty cool if you ask me. Now it's such a hidden gem - great little night life - one bar was made out of the arch of a bridge!

We rode the bus all over the first day and then walked around Leicester Square and Regent St at night which was great. The next day we tried for cheap West End tickets with no luck, then Katie and I headed to watch the changing of the guard. I dunno I wasn't that impressed - it was really cool and all, but a lot of pomp and circumstance over nothing. Then we hopped on the bus and went all over again, walked around Trafalger Square, Picadilly, Leicester again, the Horse Guard, Parliament and Westminster. We also took a river cruise also from Tower of London to the London Eye along the Thames and saw Shakespeare's new Globe theatre, and an actual pirate ship - which Katie kind of freaked out about. We took the bus over to the Kensington are of town which was beautiful and saw Harrods, Princess Di's memorial park, all the museums and Albert Music Hall. Then by night we ate at Garfunkels - I had cottage pie which was delicious. Then we hit Leicester again - it's very Union Squareish, and at delicious gelatto and waffle desserts - we had to indulge it's vacation! Two Russion/London boys begged us to club with them because they needed girls to get in, but we declined the offer, we're not much of club people and we were dressed like bums! We headed back to the hostel and that great night life was non-existant. Everything closed on a Saturday night so we walked over London Bridge and saw everything at night, sooo pretty. Then we found a local pub called the Old Kings Head and chilled out there. We just really didn't want to go back to our hostel - the people were creeping us out.

On Sunday we headed to Tower of London and tried to get in for free with no luck (again) so we bought tickets, did a tour then explored for about 2 hours. That place was great - soo soo much history. Then we snuck on our tour bus (our tickets had expired) and rode over to Victoria Station. We got lunch and wandered, but we were ready to go home. We then took that dreadful trip back, but I popped some sea sickness motion and just slept the whole ferry and bus ride home. I would reccommend it tho because it's so much cheaper than flying. And back to Galway we were, and I had to quickly finish a paper, shower, and head to class!!!

Dublin

I've been very far behind on writing - I've been so busy!

A few weekends ago I went to Dublin w/Kat and Audrey and it was a blast. We visited a few Fordham friends who live in an amazing flat and our friend from London visited and stayed there too. We took the train which provided a lovely view of the countryside and then got there at night and had a home cooked meal, which we needed after a month of cooking for ourselves! Then we hit the pubs - Porterhouse, Stag's Head, and O'Sullivans. Porterhouse was great, the guy was playing great covers.

On Saturday we walked aaall over the city and started with lunch at Lemon which has delicious crepes and the like. We met up with my friend Tim and he gave us a tour of Trinity college. It's a beautiful campus and the Book of Kells is impressive - the exhibit more so than the book, but I like it much more the 2nd time around. I first saw it when I was 14 and I was less impressed. Then we walked and saw all the sights - the General Post Office where the Easter Rising took place, Christ Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Grafton Street, and the Guinness Factory. I'm sure there was more, we walked everywhere. We took in the views of the Liffey on H'Penny Bridge too. That night - more great food and then off to a party.
This trip has made me realize what a small small world it is. My friend Jason from highschool is in Dublin and in the same program as my Fordham friends and their roomates so we were all invited separately and realized that night we were going to the same party. When we got there it was great to see Jay, and then my friend Pat from Galway was standing there too! He's friends from highschool w/another Fordham Dubliner and he was on a trip and decided to visit Brian and off they went to the party. So bizarre, but lots of laughs too. The next day was just hanging out and a museum - the weather wasn't great and we had a train to catch. We thought it'd be a great idea to walk to the station along the Liffey - longest trek ever. Overall the trip was great, I could visit Dublin every weekend there is so much to do, but Galway is still better.

Monday, January 29, 2007

River Dance I am Not

We joined Irish Dance last week and it was nuts. She didn't even teach us the steps. She went straigh to routine and told us we have a recital next week. We looked like a bunch of bouncing idiots. So Kat and I are hysterical the whole time, and I realize I end the number, center stage, by myself as the point of a triangle. Even though we will be laughed at, I find something hilarious in the fact that I, a girl with no dance training or skill, am ending the show front and center. So pretty much we're going to do it and revel in the embarassment. When else am I going to be in a dance recital in Ireland???

I also signed up for the radio expecting some sort of orientation or training, but nope, the station manager put me on the schedule for this week right away. I'm doing news headlines, which is fantastic because that's what I do at FUV. I'm still really nervous though, even though not nearly as many people will be listening to FlirtFM as do FUV. I'm more scared of the equipment to be honest - I've never been good at running my own board or anything like that.

I considered choir, but eh...I'll miss Bsides at Fordham but it's such a commitment. I'd really love love to find some place or band where I could sing Irish music just once at least. And I want to play the harp and the bodhrain once! Okay maybe that's a lot, but a girl can dream!