Time's Flying

This is going to be a long one…

Dublin

As promised I’ll start with the trip I took to Dublin, Ireland, on January 22nd. I went with a group of girls from my program. We left early Friday morning on a 6:30 a.m. flight. Since it was an international flight we wanted to be at the airport plenty early, however the tube doesn’t start running until 5:30 so we had to find an alternate route to the airport. So at 3:40 in the morning we were trudging through the rain (I of course am the only one without an umbrella) to a bus stop that supposedly ran a route to Heathrow. We were standing along the road on a random side street with people wandering in and out of sight. Finally after about ten minutes our bus showed up, it slowed down, started to stop and then the driver hits the gas and speeds away. “What just happened? No worries, we’re plenty early, we’ll just wait for the next one.” Twenty minutes later another one comes, finally. Once again, another bus on the route (will be stopping according to the sign hanging above our heads) it slows down, we all are waiting there ready to jump on and then right as it looks like it’s about to stop again the driver hits the gas and flies by…what are we supposed to do jump in front of it? It was about 4:45 a.m. at this point. Another 45 minutes until the tube opens, next option, a taxi. In London there are two types of taxis, the black city taxi’s and then the non-licensed, unofficial taxi’s which run at a supposed lower rate. On our first day in the city we were informed by the local bobby (police officer) that we should never take any taxi other than the black ones, so we’re a little leery to take one of those, but of course they are the only ones in sight – six girls, pouring rain, wandering, an interesting start to our first trip for sure. We finally just walked into a Holiday Inn and had the receptionist call us a van taxi and made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch a nap and our flight.

We landed in Dublin just as the sun was rising. From overhead it looked like a small city set up in more of a grid structure than London, but very similar otherwise. We dropped our bags off at the hostel and proceeded to explore the city. It was indeed a lot like London on a much smaller scale, but different in that it was more colorful, not as fast paced, and less crowded. Dublin Castle was one of our first stops, it was beautifully preserved and not what I would have envisioned a castle to look like, reminded me more of a palace. We wandered around for the rest of the day checking out the neat shops and pubs and the beautiful Trinity College. When we returned to our hostel later that afternoon we were expecting to be in a 10-person, female room; however, when we entered our room we were surprised to find a Czech man sleeping in one of the bunks. His accent was thick and hard to understand so all we got out of his was that he was from Prague and his name was either Winnie, Willy, or Weenie – either way we quickly switched rooms and ended up having roommates from Pittsburg, PA.

The next nights and days were spent checking out the nightlife and a fun tour of the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. The Irish were fun and friendly, their favorite topic of conversation was Obama and they weren’t all short with red hair. We said goodbye to Ireland early Sunday morning, all in all it was a great trip. I would like to go back though to somewhere smaller, perhaps Galway or Killarney where there is more countryside and fewer tourists.

Snow Day in London?!

It has snowed on and off since I arrived in London but never more than flurries, or if it did snow harder it didn’t stick. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when all of a sudden snow started accumulating everywhere! It ended up being the most snow London has had in over 18 years and it was obvious. I went outside on Sunday night to take pictures and people were everywhere, bewildered and amazed by the few inches of snow layering the streets. Taxi drivers were attempting to use newspapers and napkins to clean off their windshields (they don’t own ice scrapers here). Although the snow was still coming down when I went to bed I expected to still have class on Monday morning, but when I woke up I was surprised that the whole city seemed to be shut down. The streets were empty except for the occasional slow car inching down the still covered streets. Class was canceled for the day (of course after I made the 20 minute walk through the snow to my first class). There were kids sledding in the streets and even one woman decked out in her ski gear (skis, poles and all) making her way down the sidewalks, it was a sight to see. I stopped and talked to a family in the park for a bit who said that they hadn’t seen anything like this in London ever, no one knew how to react or respond so the entire city shut down. The front page of one of the newspaper the next morning was of a picture of a snow plow with the heading “What is That?” Another article I read talked about how they had to import salt to help melt the sidewalks and streets because they had none on hand : )

Wales

Last weekend I went on a trip to Wales. It was an all inclusive outdoor adventures trip called Preseli Venture and it was amazing! The 5 hour train ride to the Welch countryside was gorgeous. We stayed in their lodge on the coast of the Atlantic on the border of Pembrokeshire National Park – beautiful. It was snowy and cold while I was there but that didn’t hinder the experience at all. The first activity I did was called coasteering, which is basically swimming and climbing around the rocky coast and jumping off rocks. We were decked out in winter wet suits, which were quite the task to get on, but really did keep you relatively warm. The water temperature was 42 degrees Fahrenheit on the first day and 39 the next, but after the first jump (which takes your breath away) the water temperature wasn’t bad at all. I’m slightly afraid of heights but sucked it up and did all the jumps, most of them were between 12-16 feet but the last one was 25 (as high as Preseli’s insurance covered) and was quite the rush. My friends and I got a water camera and took pictures but haven’t had them developed yet, so hopefully they’ll turn out! We also went on a 5 mile hike along the coast, the sights were breathtaking - the pictures don’t do it justice. The last day we were supposed to surf but there wasn’t any wind so we kayaked in the Irish Sea instead. Once again, breathtaking and we got to hang out with some seals! Here’s the website if you want to check it out: http://www.preseliventure.co.uk/

Otherwise I’ve just been keeping busy, I can't believe I've already been here a month. Went to see the musical Chicago on a whim last night, it was interesting hearing the British try to imitate a Chicago accent, quite nasally. Took a couple day trips to Oxford and Greenwich these past weeks, they were both very neat places to explore. Hope all is well with everyone, keep me updated! Love to all!

Oh and a few of my friends saw Jude Law yesterday at the tube stop, why he was riding the tube and not with his driver I don't know, but there was paparazzi and all! I'm now on the lookout for any celebrities.