Ireland!!

So I'm supposed to be coming up with a thesis topic right now, but clearly updating this is much higher on my priority list.

Last weekend (not this past one, but the one before) I went with my roommate Cathy and two of her friends from her welcome program group, Brenna and Michelle to Ireland...my first trip of the semester! We left Friday night from Beauvais, which is the tiny airport about an hour north of Paris. We flew from there to Shannon, which is on the west coast of Ireland. From there, we took a 12:45am bus to Galway, about an hour north of the airport. Our hostel wound up being literally next door to the bus station, which was convenient.

On Saturday morning, we signed up for a tour through the Irish countryside which one of my friends from BC who had been there several weeks earlier recommended. The main attraction of the tour was the Cliffs of Moher, which is my absolute favorite place in the entire world now. They're about 200 meters above the sea, and it's a straight drop down. The wind was so intense when we were there that the sea foam was getting blown up to the top of the Cliffs. While it was cloudy when we got there, part way through it started to clear and we could see the Aran Islands off the coast. It was absolutely amazing.

That was pretty much the last stop on the tour before a two hour drive back to Galway. Along the way there though, we stopped at a castle right on Galway Bay, a fairy ring, and the Poulnabrone Dolmen (sort of the Irish version of Stonehenge). On the way back, we stopped for some fresh air right by the eastern shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Every place we went was more beautiful than the last.

We arrived back in Galway around 6 and were exhausted, but after a quick rest, we headed out to Shop Street to get dinner and start off our night. We went to an Irish pub, where we were all excited to get some non-French food. I got delicious fish and chips! From there, we found a bar where there was some live Irish music which we listened to for a while. Once that got boring, we barhopped around the area. I headed back to the hostel fairly early because we were getting a 7:45am bus to Dublin the next morning.

So we woke up early on Sunday to head to Dublin, which is 3 hours east of Galway. I wasn't really able to sleep on the bus, which was annoying. When we got to Dublin, it felt like we were in an entirely different place. Galway was very much the quintessential small Irish town, and Dublin is much more of a bustling city. After some confusion because the bus dropped us off somewhere different from where it said it would and the map they gave us was upside down, we made our way to our hostel. Because it was so early, we dropped our bags and headed out to find some food. We wound up going to a diner (the Irish cousin of Johnny Rocket's) which was really delicious (especially since I'd been craving a cheeseburger for two weeks). While we were eating, we planned out a full day in Dublin.

From breakfast/lunch, we headed to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, a must do in Dublin. We then wandered to a square where there was a St. Patrick's (or Paddy's Day as they call it there) Festival. There were rides and performers and vendors and all of that good stuff. We got some really good smoothies from one of the food carts. After that, we tried to find Dublin Castle, much easier said than done and walked by St. Patrick's. Then, we headed over to the Guinness Storehouse. We toured the exhibit and then got free pints at the Gravity Bar at the top of the factory, which had great views of the city.
We were exhausted after walking all over the city, so we took a cab back to O'Connell Street, which is one of the main streets in Dublin. We went to Carroll's, the ultimate Irish gift shop, and Penney's, a really cheap clothing store. Then we went back to the hostel to finally check in and relax before dinner. Our cab driver had recommended The Knightsbridge Bar at the Arlington Hotel, because they have live music and dancing, so we decided to head there for dinner. Dinner was less than noteworthy, but the music and the Irish dancers were great. Once the show ended, we decided to head over to Temple Bar Street. A lot of the places were packed, but we found a little bar called The Quays (prounounced Keys) that had more live music. We actually ran into a friend of Cathy's from BC too! Since it was Sunday, by the time we left there a lot of places were closed, so we just headed back to the hostel.

The other three girls left early Monday morning, but since I didn't have class, I had booked a later flight. I did some souvenir shopping and then took a boat tour on the Liffey River to relax and take a break from walking. It was a really cool way to see the city. Then I got some lunch and just wandered around the city. There was so much that I didn't even get to see, having been there for barely more than a day. I wandered down Grafton Street, which is the big shopping street in Dublin and wound up at St. Stephen's Green. I remembered the Director of OIP mentioning that there was a BC office there when he came to Paris and as I walked down the street, I saw the BC flag! It was really cool to BC over here in Europe. I wish I could've stopped in, but it would've been too risky with my flight.

So from Dublin, I took the public bus out to the airport and headed home to France. Ireland was absolutely amazing and I was so sad to leave. It definitely made me wish that I'd considered studying there.

My Dad's coming to visit me this weekend, which I'm so excited about and then the weekend after, we have a BC trip planned to Mont St Michel in Normandy in the north of France. Then it's spring break! Less than three weeks away and I have NO idea where I'm going. Oh well, it'll work out.

Be sure to check out facebook for all my pictures from Ireland!

One Month In...

Since my last post, so much has happened. For one, I started classes. Even after two weeks of classes though, I've still yet to have all of my classes in one week. The first week, one professor didn't show up and the other canceled class altogether. I definitely don't mind not having a full week of classes though. Including conferences (like discussion sections) and tutorials (also like discussion sections), I can have up to 9 classes in a week. Each class here is one a week, which I think I kind of like. Plus, we only have to buy coursepacks. Because of copywriting laws in France, they're so much cheaper than the ones we have to buy at BC. I only spent 30E on all of my coursepacks!

Classes are definitely different. Considering they're only once a week, a lot of them are a lot less work than at BC. I do less reading for a whole week than I do for one day of class at BC. There's a whole differently methodology here, most of my classes have oral presentations, called exposes and only one or two other assignments. We hear the gradings a lot harder, so that should be interesting...

Other than classes, I've been trying to explore the city. Last weekend, we finally got some gorgeous weather, so a couple of us went to the courtyard by the Louvre and then walked through the Jardins des Tuileries and over to the Invalides. On Sunday, I went to the Musee D'Orsay, because all the museums in Paris are free on the first Sunday of the month. It was absolutely amazing. It used to be a train station, and now it's a museum dedicated to impressionist and post impressionist art.



Next weekend, I'm heading off on my first trip to Ireland! We're leaving Friday night, staying in Galway Friday and Saturday night and then heading to Dublin on Sunday. Since I don't have class on Monday, I'm coming back Monday night. I'm really excited to start my traveling. Because of all the work I have for my classes, this is probably the only trip I'll be able to take before Spring Break. I'm hoping to travel more later in the semester though...London and hopefully Venice (to visit Walter and Sam!)