Blarney Stone, Galway, and first night in London

March 20, 2012

It’s been a few days since I last wrote, so I am going to try my best to get everything in. Sunday morning we explored as much as we could of the fancy hotel in Dublin (which truthfully wasn’t much) and had breakfast at a café where I had fruit and a muffin. Our bus to Cork was at 4:30pm, so we wandered around Dublin for most of the day, checking out the last of the St. Patty’s day celebrations which consisted of a fair by the river and a festival/carnival in Merrion Square where we saw the beginning of a duo act put on by two brothers, Seamus and Sean. They were not only raunchy and ridiculous, but also gymnasts and did cool tricks with ladders and one arm lifts into the air. 

Maiya and Gabby climing up the winding staircase to the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle

We left Dublin at 4:30pm by bus and reached Cork around 7pm, where we checked into the Kinley House Hostel. It was the first real hostel I’ve been to (dorm like sleeping situations, breakfast, etc). Then we headed into downtown Cork for some Mexican food! It was great Mexican food, but way more expensive than I would have liked (20 euros is more than I want to spend on food that I can get for 5 dollars in the US). After dinner we walked around downtown Cork and stopped by pubs to catch some live music and to see night life in Cork. We ended up staying at Oliver Plunkett’s bar where Celtic Fusion was performing. Maiya decided she wanted to try a beer, so we went up to the bar and bought a half pint of Guinness to share. That’s some heavy beer, I’ll tell you. Not my favorite. 

Blarney Castle Grounds

Anyways, we "enjoyed" a beer and some music and wondered how the heck Irish girls don’t get cold wearing mini-skirts and outfits that show too much skin as well as high heels that I can’t walk in around Cork when I’m freezing and I’m in jeans and my winter coat. It blows my mind. We made it back to the hostel around midnight, where I double checked accommodations in Galway with my friend Kelsey from Willamette. Had peanut butter and jelly toast for breakfast the next morning and made it to the bus station at 9:15 am for a ride to Blarney to see Blarney Castle and to kiss the Blarney stone. The grounds to Blarney castle are gorgeous.. and HUGE. It takes a good hour to walk around the entire area, which we were not able to do. 

Me and the Guiness. Haha.

Gabby and I at the Blarney Stone

Swans in Galway

So we saw the front area of the grounds, got to climb up the castle, kiss the blarney stone (yes, I am now so good at flattery it blows everyone away, haha) and walk around the Druin stones behind the castle (witch stone, witch’s kitchen, Doubler stone, wishing steps). We took pictures and had a magnificent time during our Blarney visit J Rode back to Cork at 11am and got lunch at the festival taking place in downtown Cork. 

Kissing the Blarney Stone!!!

Then at 12:35pm we boarded a bus to Galway! A four hour bus ride, so fun. We ended up switching buses in Limerick because the driver told us that it was a non-stop bus and if we wanted to get to Galway as soon as possible, it was the way to go. We almost left Maiya’s backpack on the other bus and I almost didn’t know where my ticket was. But both were found and remembered and we arrived in Galway around 5pm.  Kelsey met us in Eyre Square and took us to her apartment where she lives with Kathleen and one other girl. All the other Willamette kids and University of Portland kids in their “international” group live in the same apartment complex a five minute walk from Shop Street and downtown Galway, which is nice and convenient. It is also a ten minute walk from the warf (which we went to this morning after breakfast at Griffin’s). The Cathedral is also a five minute walk in the opposite direction, and it is gorgeous. I lit a candle for people I was thinking about (grandparents, family, friends back home). 

Galway: Picture from the warf

After introducing Maiya and Gabby to Kelsey, we left her to finish her paper and walked around until 7pm, when we met back up with Kelsey and Kathleen and went to get food with Tom, another Willamette kid on the program. It was a lovely evening- Kelsey, Tom and I don’t hang out that much at school so I was iffy about how things would go down when we arrived, but we all got along great and had a really good time J Kelsey took us to a pub afterwards to hang out. I got an Irish coffee (which is pretty good, a little strong at the end though) and she got a Kopperbaum, which is basically juice (4% alcohol). Ian, her friend and a student from UofP met up with us there and we talked and hung out until 11pm. Then back at the apartment we watched True Blood episodes with everyone at the pub plus Kelsey’s friends Katie and Joanna. This morning we woke up and had breakfast at Griffin’s bakery (mini Irish breakfast anyone?) and went to the Cathedral and warf. I saw swans in real life for the first time. Left Galway around 3:30pm to get to Dublin for our flight to London! Made it through to the flight fine, missed our bus to Victoria station and so had to wait another half hour for the next one. Arrived at Victoria station around 11:30pm tonight (after riding through neighborhood upon neighborhood of houses and apartments that look EXACTLY the same)… the architecture here is absolutely beautiful. I’m really looking forward to exploring tomorrow! Lisa, a British black woman took us to the right station, where during this trip I met Job McNeil, a friendly (but drunk) ukulele player with a British accent. Nice guy, but not my type. He wrote his name on my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek when we parted- sweet guy… and quite amusing that five minutes after arriving in downtown London the drunks were already coming after me (laughing really hard at how ridiculous that is). We took a taxi to Maiya’s aunt Soukina’s house where I am now writing this entry. Gabby and I are sleeping upstairs and Maiya is downstairs. Her aunt is super nice and has a good sense of humor. I believe that is healthy for a woman her age (she’s in her 80s I’m assuming). She made us tea and offered us food (like any true Arab) and we had a nice conversation until 1am. Now it is bed time and I am tired, so sleep time for me. I hope that I am able to connect to wi-fi here so I can skype Meranda later. I’d love to be able to talk to everyone back home… Going to check the connection before I head to bed tonight. Tomorrow is exploration of London day- can’t wait.

 (ps.  Upper Crust: Best sandwich place EVER. Freshly made bagettes that they heat up for you when asked. I hear they are on the East Coast… going to check to make sure they are on the West Coast too, because man! Those sandwiches are delicious, if simple. And not a bad price either).

Spring Break Shenannigans: Part 2

March 17, 2012

Gabby and I outside RyanAir on our way to Dublin

Maiya and Gabby

Downtown Dublin :)

Dublin St. Patty's Festival street fair

Dublin!

Oh. My. Goodness. That’s all I have to say about today. And yesterday afternoon. We landed in Algeciras around 1:30pm, and were able to make our way from the ferry port to the bus station by talking Spanish (finally! A language I understand!). We successfully bought bus tickets for Seville and had an hour and a half before it was supposed to take off, so Maiya, Gabby and I wandered around Algeciras for a bit. It was super quiet around that time, there were few people out and about (I’m thinking that it may have had to do with siesta). We had falafel wraps for lunch and found a square with a very beautiful mosaic fountain and benches where we enjoyed the sunshine and fed the pigeon from the bread we bought for breakfast. Around 4pm we headed back to the bus station to catch our bus that planned to leave at 4:30pm. At the bus, we were told that the bus in slot 5 was our bus, so we headed that way. The driver told us that our bus was planned for slot 4, which is what it said on the screen schedule. Finally, an older Spanish man tried to explain that we missed our bus. In my mind, I thought “How in the heck did we miss it? It’s four thirty five, we’ve been here for 20 minutes and the bus hasn’t shown up!” Finally I just accepted the fact that our bus wasn’t coming, and Maiya came up to me and reinforced that our bus had come and gone. “Daylight savings time!” How could Spain be on daylight savings and Morocco not be? That completely through the three of us into a tizzy because we had lost an hour in our day and didn’t know if there was going to be another bus to catch to Seville for the night.  Thankfully the other bus company had one leaving at 7pm, so we bought tickets for that ride and waited at the bus station this time. We left on the bus for Seville at 7pm, where Maiya met Sara, a 22 year old Spanish forest ranger who talked with her in Spanish the entire ride. We reached Seville around 9:30pm and Sara got us on the local bus to get to the neighborhood where our couch surfing hosts live (yes, we couch surfed!). She was so helpful, I was really appreciative for her. Two ladies on the bus and the bus driver were also helpful, telling us how long of a ride it was to the neighborhood and the bus driver telling us when to get off. Being in Seville again since high school blew me away- seeing the same buildings and recognizing places was such a great feeling. It took us a good 15 minutes to get to our stop, and then another 10 minutes or so to find number 9 on the residential street where Pierre and Marian, our French hosts, lived. Pierre was the one who buzzed us in. We walked into this apartment plaza and went up two flights to their apartment. Both Pierre and Marian met us at the door, and we had amiable and comfortable conversation until 1am. Pierre made us the most delicious pasta I have had (one that consists of just tomato sauce and garlic) and chamomile tea (I haven’t had good tea in a while, this was GOOD tea). We all took showers and went to bed, getting up the next morning at 7am to make sure that our walk to the bus station went successfully. We walked through Seville to the bus station (a good 20-25 minute walk) and we made it without a fuss. 

In the streets of Dublin

The airport bus came 15 minutes later (8:30am) and we made it to the airport around 9am. Passports checked, through security, and we boarded our RyanAir flight to Dublin! By that time all three of us were super excited! The two and a half hour plane ride seemed to drag on forever. Finally we landed, and we entered the city center of Dublin on a green two-decker bus, where we talked with a graduate student in Galway about hostels and the best way to get around the city.  We got off a few stops in, a few blocks around Merion Square and Trinity College. We found subway sandwiches for lunch and bought some souvenirs at one of the Ireland shops (yes, they have multiple stores for tourists who want all Ireland and St. Patty’s gear). We then walked around this area in Dublin for the rest of the afternoon, finding things to do while we tried to figure out if we’d wait for D’Jeane and Paul to arrive at the hotel room they rented or if we would just get our own room somewhere. We went to some pubs and saw some music (good Irish music at that), went into the National Irish gallery and saw an exhibit based on fairy tales. Walked back to Tandem Bar area and watched performances of Irish bands for two hours and joined in on some of the dancing (that was super fun!) and then tried to find this legend telling event, but that didn’t end up existing. 

Building decoration for St. Patty's Day

Irish music and folk with Leprachaun hats. It was so fun joining in on the dancing :)

Night at the Museum ;)

 By that time it was 8pm and dark so we walked around and looked for somewhere to eat. Ended up being Burger King (meh). It was weird eating fast food when I haven’t in years. It wasn’t the end of the world though. We used skype to try and find a place to stay since getting a hold of D’Jeane or Paul failed miserably. Gabby’s mom gets hotel points so Gabby called her to ask her to get us a room somewhere, since it’s pretty difficult as St. Patty’s day is such a big deal here in Ireland. Then we lost the Wi-fi in Burger King and so looked elsewhere to get access. By then every intoxicated person was in the streets and it was hard for us to stick together- we almost lost Maiya as she got too far ahead of us. We walked into the Barnacles hostel lobby and talked with the guy at the counter for information on hostels and places to go. He kindly called around for us and let us use his Wi-fi in order for Gabby to get a hold of her mom to see the progress on getting us somewhere to stay. After talking with the desk guy about places to go and him giving us discount cards for hostels and lots of flyers, Gabby informed us that her mom booked us a hotel room at the nicest hotel in Dublin: the Sharone Dublin Renaissance Hotel. And she paid for the entire thing (and it’s an expensive hotel). Walking in I felt really uncomfortable and out of place, but the lady at the check in counter was super nice and showed us where to go. Now we are here in the room watching a movie and recuperating from our day of constant walking around Dublin. 

My favorite homeless message

                Honestly, I love Ireland. Even though I’ve been told that Dublin on St. Patty’s day is not the representation of the true Ireland, but it’s been thoroughly great. I am surrounded by people who speak with Irish actions, Irish music, and a beautiful city. I thought of Alexandra all day today. I hope she makes it over here when she’s in England for her study abroad experience. I am definitely bringing Meranda here someday. I definitely plan to come back one day, Ireland is too amazing, too incredible of a place to not come back again.

    Tomorrow we plan on going to the 

day festival for a couple hours and then making our way west toward Galway. I hope I am able to contact Kelsey about staying with her, but if not a hostel will work. It is a 10 euro bus ride one way, so the entire ride will cost around 40 USDs, which is not bad. I also hear Galway and the west coast of Ireland is gorgeous, so we are all looking forward to seeing outside of Dublin.

The end of day 3 of traveling and my first experience in Ireland.

Spring Break Shenannigans: Part 1

Journey to the Irish and Land of the Britains: Spring Break 2012

Day 1.5: March 16, 2012

                Well, here we are. Aboard the ferry and waiting for the moment when we will feel the engines come to life underneath our feet and the pull  of momentum as this gigantic boat (and a fancy one at that) makes its way across the Mediterranean from Tangier Med in Morocco and take us to Algeciras, the port where we will land in Spain. My excitement level is pretty high right now. As I try to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to Europe for a week, and not just Europe, but Ireland and England for 8 days… it just hasn’t hit me quite yet. I feel that it will take me to actually be on Irish and English soil in order for me to realize that I am not in Morocco anymore. That there are people that I can communicate easily with and not stare at them stupidly when I don’t understand what they are saying to me. Just being in Tangier today has blown my mind: our taxi from our hostel to the Ferry port spoke Spanish, which is the language he spoke to us the entire ride because we all understood it! I didn’t realize just how amazing it feels to be able to understand what people are saying. I’ve gotten so used to people having to translate for me and using gestures to get my point across that being able to use words and holding a conversation with people feels amazing! Again, going back to the French language thing, I regret not taking some classes or signing up for the French class at Al Akhawayn so I can talk to people more, but I get what I get, right? Haha.

                Yesterday morning , I finished my essay for my MENA region class at 10:30am and went for a 30 minute treadmill work out at the gym. Returning to my room afterwards I showered and packed my backpack to get ready to take off for Algeciras (if we left early enough) for the night to make our way up and over to Spain on Friday. Sara, my roommate, graciously offered me her duffel bag for use during the week, and I accepted as it was better luggage than my backpack, especially with having to bring my computer to work on my presentation for my Sub-Saharan Africa class for next Monday (26^th). We hugged and said goodbye and I headed over to the restaurant/café area for lunch. Had lunch with Yasmine (the dear, can’t tell you how great of a person she is!) and then turned in my paper for Ethnicity and Minorities. After that, I had no restrictions keeping me on campus, so I hung out with Maiya by the café waiting for Gabby to get done with her midterms. Many people stopped by and hung out with us: Nour, Amed, Lena, Seth, Seynab, Martina, Austen. All hung out for a while and we all said goodbye when they either took off or headed off in another direction (it was funny because we would say bye and then run into each other 15 minutes later on campus, haha). By 2:30 pm, Maiya and I were starting to worry. If we left any later than 4pm from the grand taxi station in Ifrane, we would not make the train to Tangier. Noticing that we needed to print all of our RyanAir boarding passes before leaving Ifrane, she and I ran to do that while we finally got a hold of Gabby. We waited for her at building 7 so she could print her boarding passes off as well. By 3:45 we were out of there and in a petite taxi to the grand taxi station where we got in a taxi for Meknes. We didn’t know if we would make it to the train station on time as we did not know for sure when the “5 o clock” train would leave the station. On the way down, I thought to myself, “well, if this is anything like my process applying and coming to Morocco, we’ll get there when were supposed to.” I was completely calm throughout the entire process, surprisingly. It didn’t bother me at all that we might not make the train. Fortunately, we made it to the train station at 5:25pm, and the train didn’t arrive until 5:40pm. Getting to the platform we saw Nour and IDriss boarding the train to Casablanca- final waves and smiles were exchanged and Maiya, Gabby and I sat and waited for our train. Boarded at 5:50pm and enjoyed playing scattergories and watching Hercules with Maiya for the entire ride. We arrived in Tangier around 9:30pm. Stepping outside the train station and into the city, a young man approached us and offered us a ride to the hotel we were recommended. Gratefully we accepted and headed to his car (I thought he was a taxi driver at first, turned out he wasn’t). The taxi driver parked in front of this man decided to tell him off and we were taken to his taxi. When we told him where we wanted to go, he said some words in French to Maiya and started driving, pulling out his cell phone at the same time. Two minutes into the ride the taxi driver pulls over, parks and gets out of the car, walking around looking lost. The next thing I know, the first guy who offered us a ride stops ahead of us and gets out of the car. Our taxi driver starts yelling at him, and fists start flying. I decide that it’s not a good idea to stay in the taxi, so Gabby, Maiya and I leave and head in the other direction, looking for another petite taxi to take. No one knew where the hotel we were recommended was, and so we decided just to ask for a cheap hotel (hostel). The final taxi we talked to took us to the Hotel Manama, where we got a triple room for 50 Dhs each (basically 5 buck a person). Went to the restaurant down the street and got some jus, and then decided to walk to the beach. By ourselves was not the best idea as we were bombarded with males of all ages trying to get our attention. This little kid would not leave me alone- he kept "hitting on me" and wouldn't leave me alone, even after I had walked away from him, across the street and back again. I had the biggest urge to punch him, to somehow get the idea across that I was not appreciating his actions. Finally, a man my age got him to leave me alone, to which I was super grateful. Then we met Marjuan, and he took us to the beach and taught us a karate workout at midnight by the water. That was fun haha. But he kept trying to invite us to have couscous with him and his mother the next day, which we politely declined. He walked us back to our hotel, where he got somewhat protective because the hotel guys who showed us to the hotel earlier (and who I trusted more than Marjuan) came up to take us back to the hotel. After all the pesky attention from males that night, I just headed to the hotel, Maiya and Gabby behind me. And apparently Marjuan is a drug dealer.

                After a good night’s rest we woke up this morning and walked into the medina for breakfast. Nothing was really open yet, so it wasn’t too exciting, but we got some good oranges and some bread and ate in this park in the middle of one of the streets. We returned to the hotel, packed our belongings, and caught the grand taxi to the Ferry where we spoke Spanish with the taxi driver for the entire ride. It was a gorgeous drive. He helped us get our tickets (though the entire exchange was in Spanish!) and dropped us off at the Tangier Med door, where we said pleasant goodbyes. Now we are on the ferry, it is almost 12:30pm, and the engines have just started to roar. The next time I write I will be in Dublin or somewhere in the European continent. Bon Voyage!

Spring Break Shenannigans: Intro

Yes, yes, it's been too long. I know. Better late than never, though, right? :)

WELCOME TO THE SPRING BREAK BLOG!

What I am going to post here is what I wrote down while traveling through Ireland, England and Spain. In its entirety, it may be a little sporadic as I am probably going to remember things as I re-read through everything while copying and pasting my journal here, so apologies if it is not in the exact order that it happened in. But you will get all the glorious stories one way or another (whether they were fun or not at the time, lol).

Alright, let's begin...