Thursday, May 10, 2012

Spring Break 2012 (Dublin): "I've traveled around, I've been all over this world"

We landed in Dublin on Saturday evening with high hopes for the last leg of our journey. Since it was late when we arrived, we took the hostel’s recommendation and went around the corner to grab a slice of pizza for dinner. We had our first encounter with Ireland’s witty advertising. Across the street from where we got our pizza was a shop whose awning read: “Probably the best pizza in Dublin.” Not convincing as far as quality what with the hedging, but definitely entertaining.

We sat in the lobby downstairs doing some planning where we met a few American girls that gave us some suggestions for the next day. Still, we called it a night early on and were up the next morning, ready and eager for the breakfast the hostel provides. The spread? Toast, beans, hash browns, sausage, bacon, eggs, and fruit. Oh, and tea and coffee. Delicious and filling doesn’t begin to do it justice.

Once we were ready to roll out of the breakfast area, we made our way along the River Liffey and toward the Jameson factory. Chandeliers made of Jameson bottles, a bar serving only Jameson (though it wasn’t open since it was too early), and an extensive gift shop, it was quite a sight. We didn’t go through the actual tour, but it was pretty cool to see.


From the Jameson factory, we made our way across the river to none other than the Guinness factory. The tour there had been highly recommended to us, and we weren’t led wrong. We began with a tour of how the beer is made – how the barley and hops are harvested and processed to make the one and only, Ireland’s finest Guinness. After that, we looked at the history of the company and were awarded certificates once we’d poured our own perfect, complementary pint of Guinness. It’s an art, really.




We lunched, picked up some groceries, and made our way back to the hostel in the pouring rain where we decided to have an evening in. We teamed up with a few other Americans in our hostel and had a night in playing cards over a couple of drinks. After over a week of traveling, it was nice to stay in, clad in sweatpants, cutting up with some friends.

We were up early again the following morning with the intention to go to Cork, but we hadn’t realized quite what a long trip it was. Unfortunately, we opted out of the eight hours we would have spent in transit and didn’t make it to Cork and the Blarney Castle. We did get around the city for a bit, our first stop being Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. After being in France where the campus isn’t really taken care of, or pretty, or maintained, being on a proper, beautiful campus was really something. Right in the middle of the city, the Book of Kells is in a building right in the middle of the campus. We walked through the museum-esque part of the display that explains how the animal skins, inks, and books were made before making our way into the display room where the actual Book is held. Incredible. From there, it was into the library. I’ve never seen such a library, or such incredible windy staircases. Such a cool place.



From there, it was on to Irish coffees and lunch, the best salad spread I’ve ever encountered in my life. Yum. Then it was on to the National Gallery where I found my new favorite painting. The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton. Breathtaking. We continued walking around the city and saw some very moving statues commemorating the Irish potato famine as well, right alongside the river. Maybe those photos will do the sorrow and grief more justice than I can, describing the overwhelming sadness.




Once back at the hostel, we booked an Irish dancing show, got ready, and went out to enjoy an Irish meal and show. I had salmon with a cheese as an appetizer, followed by lamb stew, then an assortment of desserts, including a chocolate mousse bit, a fruit pastry, and some kind of cake-y pastry. While we ate, the band set up, and the lead singer came to where we were sitting at the bar for his drink. He chatted with us for a bit before going to start his set, and what do you know, a few songs in, we even got a shout-out, a song dedicated to us. Along with our song, the band played a few Irish favorites including “Galway Girl” which has become one of my favorites. The Irish dancers were sensational as well, making me jealous of all their moves, but especially their high kicks. All in all, a wonderful night.



Tuesday morning, we woke up for our last day in Dublin and went straight for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The stained glass was probably some of the prettiest windows I’ve ever seen. With Ireland having been my mom's mom's dream destination and the strong Catholic roots of my mom's side, it was particularly special to get to visit Saint Patrick's Cathedral.




We meandered around the city for a bit, the sun finally peeking out to see us in the end. Which was good since we’d managed by some cruel twist of fate to either lose or break three umbrellas over the twelve days.

By the time we reached the hostel from our wandering, however, the rain had picked up again, so we bent our heads against the rain for the last time as we made our way back to the Dublin airport to make our way home to Aix.

Since then, I’ve holed myself up in the apartment to finish an eight-page paper and prepared for my first oral exam. Now, a few tutoring appointments, many hours, a quote, and thirty minutes in front of the professor later, I am two assessments down with three to go. And I got an 11 on my oral! On a scale of 20, that sounds kind of bad, but it actually translates to a B+, which was only “à cause de mon français limité,” due to my limited French. If that’s my biggest fault, I’ll take it! I’ve my first written exam tomorrow morning, followed by our end of the year dinner for the program. Saturday morning, it’s off to Paris to visit my family as well as see Jackie, then home to Aix for a day, then off to Amsterdam with some of the girls, then my last two exams, and then one week to pack and frolic before going home.

With less than three weeks left of my year abroad, everything seems to be coming to a close rather quickly, and my feelings about it are as mixed as ever. I’m unbelievably excited to get home and reunite with my family and friends, but the fact that I’ll be parting with another set of friends, moving on to another stage of life, both breaks my heart and, quite frankly, terrifies me. But for now, I’m going to do my best to savor the last few weeks of what has been an incredible journey before I have to face up to the new challenges that await me states-side. Until then, I’ll keep you posted on the last bits of traveling that I’ll be up to and hopefully some end of the year shenanigans, too. Love and miss you all, as always.

Here and there,
Kiley

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Spring Break 2012 (Liverpool and Edinburgh): Beatles, Baggage, and Mountains

So, from London it was onward to Liverpool for a night before Scotland. We trained it the three hours from London to Liverpool where we lugged our bags the mile from the train station to the hostel. Luckily, these directions actually checked out and we made it without incident. Upon checking in, we met our Aussie roommate, Craig, who had been in Liverpool a few days already, so he offered to show us around. It was so nice to hear the familiar Aussie accent that I’ve missed ever since landing in the states! Craig was a wonderful tour guide, showing us the city’s municipal hall and the harbor where the Beatles Museum also is.




Walking around the harbor, he led us to a delightful little candy shop where we stocked up on gummies and other sweet snacks for the rest of the trip and onward to the massive Ferris wheel that takes you high enough to see over the whole city. After the rain we’d endured during the train ride, we were pleasantly surprised by the sunshine that came to greet as we perused Liverpool.




That night, we all went to the Walkabout, the Aussie bar Craig had found, for dinner, drinks, and the Chelsea vs. Barcelona semi-final game of the Champions League. This was a great night for several reasons: I got to flaunt my newly purchased Chelsea gear, I got to drink Tooheys New – the real Australian beer of uni students, we all finally tried kangaroo – I ordered a steak and was all too eager to share the delicious meal, and last but not least, Chelsea won! All around, a wonderful night.


We were up and at it early on Wednesday to catch our train to Chatsworth House, a noble estate a few hours outside of Liverpool. Ever seen Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley? Well, this house was used for some of the filming at Pemberley and may have even been Jane Austen’s inspiration for that estate. It was hands down bigger and grander than Kensington Palace with over 300 rooms, thousands of books, and a legit hedge maze in the vast gardens. The guides stationed in each room were beyond helpful and knowledgeable, fielding our eager questions in almost each of the rooms throughout the marked tour. Best part? I might have to say playing dress-up with the time period clothes provided in one of the spare bedrooms. The photos don’t quite do it all justice, but I hope it gives you an idea of how incredible this house is.






From Chatsworth, we had lunch in Chesterfield where the train station is before catching our train back to Liverpool. We were nervous because we knew we would only have forty minutes between the train and getting the overnight bus to Edinburgh, but that turned out to be the least of our worries. Because of the location of the hostel, train station, and bus station, it made more sense to check our bags at the train station luggage place, given our tight schedule. Unfortunately, we failed to take into account that the place for left luggage closed thirty minutes before our train got back. Whoops.

After speaking with security, a few of the remaining train station workers, and a police officer (all of whom had pretty heavy Scouse accents – I recommend Youtube-ing it, because it’s really interesting but so difficult to understand!), we resigned to the fact that we would not in fact be collecting our luggage until the following morning. More happy traveling accidents: moving the bus ticket only cost five pound total, the hotel we found around the corner in place of the hostel a mile away only cost twenty pound each, and we got to stay in a hotel. After months of hostel traveling, it was absolutely refreshing to be in a private room with our very own bathroom and shower, decent breakfast, in-room tea and coffee, and everything else lovely about hotel rooms. So, we had a few drinks at the hotel bar and watched The Inbetweeners from the comfort of our very own private room. What could have been a terribly expensive mistake had turned into a cozy, relaxing, and fun night. But mostly we were excited about the hotel room.


After collecting our bags from the train station, we took full advantage of the breakfast and shower before catching our bus to Edinburgh via Manchester and Glasgow. We arrived in Edinburgh a bit travel weary but happy to have finally arrived after an entire day on a bus. We celebrated our arrival with Indian food tapas style and then joined in the hostel’s weekly pub crawl. By the time we joined in the pub crawl after 11pm, it had been going for a few hours already and it felt a bit awkward, being on the edge of the group, but we were warmly welcomed at the second pub once people realized we were with the group. We sang one last karaoke with the whole pub crawl/hostel group, then moved on to the club where we met more people from all over, including a group of boys in kilts. They’d just celebrated the end of their sports season and were dressed to impress. You may not think it, but kilts are actually a very cool, very flattering article of clothing. Thank you, Scotland, for opening our eyes to the awesomeness that is the kilt.



Over the next few days, we knocked out some of the things Edinburgh is most famous for – the Edinburgh Castle, the surrounding grounds, St. Giles’ Cathedral, the John Knox House (where more dress up ensued!), and King Arthur’s Seat.








We also went on a ghost tour, which took us by old jail and detailed the torture methods used on criminals and witches alike throughout the past, as well as the construction of the underground vaults. They were originally used for storage by merchants, but became the home to vagabonds and unmentionable crime after years of disuse and neglect of law officials. One vault is still occupied today by a Wiccan group who practices in the vaults. One of the most supernaturally active places in the world, it’s no wonder they’ve chosen these vaults to hold séances and communicate with the beyond. Let’s just say being down in the dark underground passages made the ghost stories they told very, very convincing!

In addition to the sights, Edinburgh also provided some of the best food of the trip. I did my best to stick to the traditionally Scottish dishes: bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes with loads of gravy, of course), and haggis. We weren’t entirely sure what haggis was, aside from a mish-mash of meats and animal—um, parts. Turns out it’s ground up sheep organs, including lungs, intestines, stomach, and heart. I was skiddish about trying it, to say the least. But when I asked the waitress if she recommended the haggis with nips and tatties (turnips and mashed potatoes!) or fish and chips, she strongly recommended the haggis. I couldn’t say no. And I wasn’t disappointed! Mixed with tons of spices, it had a flavorful, meaty taste, as long as I didn’t think too hard about what I was eating.


I think it’s safe to say that the three of us fell in love with Edinburgh – the people, the food, and the culture. In honor of Scotland and memorable souvenirs, we all decided to get piercings at the hostel-recommended tattoo shop. Why the hostel is recommending a tattoo shop, I don’t know but I’m glad they did. Most people that know me know that I like my piercings. For those of you who don't know, I have thirteen in my ears if that gives you an idea. I played with gauging my ears last year, but I haven’t really done anything new in two years, so I was super keen to do something new and different. I had my mind made up to get my daith done (a part of the cartilage toward the inner ear), but our awesome piercer-friend Kyle recommended punching a hole in my cartilage and putting a plug in it. I’m a sucker for recommendations, and I’ve never seen this kind of piercing before, so I went for it. It’s the red one, right there.


He even let us take a photo of the little block of cartilage that he more or less hole-punched out of my ear. If you have a squeamish stomach, keep scrolling. If you don’t, check out the piece of my ear on Kyle’s black glove. Yes, that’s a chunk my ear.


Now studded and feeling significantly cooler than when we arrived, we boarded our plane to Dublin, leaving Edinburgh with every intention of coming back and spending a fair amount of time. Those few nights just weren’t enough in such a beautiful, welcoming city.

At present, I’ve completed my only paper that’s due tomorrow. It has the tutor-stamped seal of approval, so my hopes are high for that grade. I’m still working on registering for my final summer course that will allow me to complete my English degree, but I’m actually looking forward to my British Romantic Literature course, both for its content as well as the fact that it will be in English. To everyone graduating in the states this week/last week/this semester, CONGRATULATIONS!! I’m so happy for you all, and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Hope this post finds you all well, and I’ll see a bunch of you states-side in three weeks! Love and miss you all, all over.

Here and there,
Kiley

Friday, May 4, 2012

Spring Break 2012 (London): "Such a beautiful place, to be with friends"

Well! If you would have told me, two weeks ago, everything that would have happened over spring break, I would have thought it was too good to be true, but alas, it was actually that awesome. Without further ado, I present to you the most concise verbal and visual account of my last fourteen days. Here goes.

We arrived in London Gatwick after 1am, so public transportation had stopped meaning we had to find a taxi. Unfortunately, the airport only had one service open which cost over a hundred pounds, so close to two hundred dollars for the hour car-ride. How cool it was to be driving on the left side of the road again! Our cabbie was friendly and even bought us Capri Suns from the gas station, and an hour later he dropped us at the hostel. That was when the man at the desk told us we could have called a different cab for less than half the price. Not the best start, financially, but we’d made it to jolly old England. It was off to bed, then up and at ‘em for Stonehenge the next morning! After a few hitches with the train out to Salisbury, we grabbed lunch and were on the tour bus out to Stonehenge! I’ll let the photos do the talking.




We caught the bus back just as it was starting to sprinkle and made it to the train without any of the problems we’d had that morning. Once back in the city, we made our way to Buckingham Palace and through the surrounding gardens. The London marathon had just taken place that morning, so there were still ribbons and paths marked for the runners in front of the palace and along the road. As we walked, images of the royal wedding last year played in my mind, and I felt the same overwhelming, oh-my-goodness-so-much-has-happened-here feeling that I had at Stonehenge. Different histories of course, but still. I was in awe.



From Buckingham Palace, we walked around the city, toward Oxford Street and past all the designer stores. Every name brand you could think of lining either side of the street, along with several other very British landmarks. We ended up at an Italian place for dinner before heading back to the hostel to map out our next day.




We were up at a decent hour the next morning to pick up our London Passes, which covered our transportation as well as several of the attractions we wanted to see. We passed through Covent Gardens, a big plaza with lots of street performers and caught a decent magic show. Next, we grabbed our passes and it was on to Stamford Bridge, home of – yes – Chelsea FC! To say it was incredible would be an understatement. Chelsea has been my team for years, and to walk through the stadium and see the players’ locker room was, again, overwhelming. They actually had all the players’ jerseys in front of their lockers, Torres, Terry, Drogba, Cech, all the starters! Ah, I was so excited.




From the stadium, it was on to Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up. The first floor held an exhibit dedicated to Princess Diana, and there were photos of the royal family all over the lobby and entry way. According to the signs, this is where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate!) have chosen to make their permanent residence. How cool?! The second and third floors were dedicated to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, her beloved husband. The excerpts from their letters were probably the most romantic, cutest things I’ve ever read. The house was beautiful, and it made all those historical fiction diaries I read growing up come to life. Unreal. We were all like giddy little girls as we walked around the grounds in search of tea and an afternoon snack.




Full of tea and dessert, we left the little café we’d found but quickly turned back around for Roz’s postcard from Kensington. And boy, am I glad we did. Upon leaving for the second time, we were walking toward the underground when Chelsea points out that we’d just walked past Matt Leblanc, as in Joey from Friends. I had my head down against the spitting rain, but immediately whipped back around and the three of us quickly caught up to him as we debated if we should ask for a photo. He was holding hands with a girl when we caught up to him waiting for the signal to cross the road, and I decided to just blurt it out and ask for a photo. He seemed kind of begrudging at first, but agreed to let us take a photo. I’ve never seen a celebrity in person, let alone spoken to and taken a photo with one. We thanked him profusely in our giddiest, most excited voices, and went scurrying down the street with an incredible souvenir in hand.


We boarded the tube to Kings Cross to see Platform 9 ¾, still smiling and not believing that we were in fact living real life. The goofy smiles stayed plastered to our faces as we posed with the half-disappearing cart, ready to board the Hogwarts Express and all through our delicious Indian dinner – my chicken vindaloo, garlic naan, and a mango lassi were to die for! Exhausted from our day, we went back to the hostel to map out the following day over a bottle of wine from the hostel’s bar before catching up on some much needed rest.


Monday took us to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. Since the tube took a little longer than we anticipated (as it did every time, so you’d have thought we would have learned, but no matter!), we just went onto the bridge over the Thames River before making our way to the Tower of London, which isn’t so much a tower as it is a walled village-looking place with a tower. Who knew? Since the line was way longer there than we anticipated, we settled for photos from the outside instead. The Tudor period is one of my all-time favorites in history, and Henry VIII’s wives and their demise is reason enough to draw me to London, so I think that was the singular time I was the least bit disappointed the entire trip. Still, it was wonderful to see the outside, plus now I have one more reason to make sure I get back to London!



From the Tower of London, we made our way to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It turns out that the day we visited happened to be Shakespeare’s birth- and death-day! So many happy accidents over the break. As we were given our tour, we watched the Maori (pronounced mow-ree, as in rhymes with now, not the yard work), indigenous to New Zealand, practice for their performance later that night. The Globe Theatre we were in was actually rebuilt by an American not too long ago, since the original burnt down centuries ago after a canon misfired and caught the thatch roof on fire. Still, it was built using the traditional methods of Elizabethan times, the design based on various journal entries and stage directions. So interesting!




We walked basically next door to the Tate Modern Museum where we poked around the modern art exhibits over five floors. I’d like to study and brush up on my modern art, because frankly, I just don’t understand a lot of it. But it didn’t stop me from taking a lot of photos and appreciating the paintings I did like. I was glad to have taken an Existentialist literature course as well, since I actually recognized some of the names of the artists as well.


We left after a relatively short time since we wanted to be sure to leave ourselves plenty of time to make it to the bus for our next item of business…WARNER BROTHERS HARRY POTTER BEHIND THE SCENES STUDIO TOUR!!!


To say I’m a Harry Potter fan would be the understatement of the century. Midnight movie and book releases, I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read the books, and I’m a new and proud member of the Pottermore community. I began to get those excited butterflies in my stomach on the tube on the way to catch the bus, following the Google maps directions I’d printed off along with the stack of hostel and airline confirmations and various other directions. When we got off the tube, however, we realized the directions in fact led us to the wrong place. My heart jumped into my throat and my stomach hit the ground as I compared our Google directions to the tour confirmation that reiterated that the tour would wait for no one and to ensure you arrive on time. We asked the tourist information kiosk, where the directions had taken us, and found that the actual place we needed to be was over thirty minutes away by tube, but maybe twenty minutes by cab. Looking at my watch, I saw that we had about fifteen minutes.

We frantically hailed a cab and gave him the address, asking him to pretty, pretty please, drive as fast as possible. While Chelsea and Roz spoke to the driver, I called the tour company and explained that we would arrive shortly. Around fifteen minutes later, after pleasant and calming conversation with the cab driver, he dropped us off at Victoria Station and we asked a number of security officers and station workers for specific directions to the meeting place. We arrived with about two minutes to spare, the very last group to make it to the bus. Whew. Relief doesn’t begin to describe how much better I felt once we were on the bus. An hour bus ride and one cafeteria lunch later, we were queuing to get behind the studios. Words cannot describe how giddy, elated, excited, geeking out, stoked, etc. I was to be going behind the scenes. I would love to plaster this post with those photos, but I’ll settle for listing some of my favorite things: the Great Hall, the boys’ dormitory, the Horcruxes, the Tri-Wizard Cup, Dumbledore’s office (which was originally the setting of Lupin’s office in the third movie! Say whattt?! And one of the portraits is of the guy that does the audio books - fun fact!), Snape’s dungeon, Umbridge’s office at the Ministry, the Knight Bus, the Potters’ and Dursleys’ houses, and more. Ah!





Once back from the tour, we made our way to the London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey, where we all proceeded to feel giddy and giggly, having had an absolutely wonderful time in London. Having seen some of London’s greatest, most famous attractions, we sought out a barbeque place that was recommended and had some good ol’ American barbeque and again marveled at the day we’d had, savoring our last night in London before pushing off to Liverpool the next day.




I’ll leave you with that for now, since I’ve still to unpack, post photos, and get cracking on this paper, but the most sincere, heartfelt thank you goes to Chelsea and Roz for making this trip so incredibly, unbelievably wonderful! You girls rock. I hope the end of term finds you all well, and congrats and good luck to everyone finishing exams in the states. Love and miss you all, wherever you may be!

Here and there,
Kiley