Going Home: 11 - 12 June

Sadly, my time overseas has come to an end. But not without one last adventure. And a return to Cork for a single night. When our tour ended, we divided into three groups, those staying in Paris, those returning to London by coach, and those flying out of Paris. I was part of the last group. We got to Charles de Gaulle airport around nine and had to wait until 11 to checkin. Then another couple hours, plus a bit more due to delay, until the flight left for Dublin. I then had a short bus ride to city center where I once again hopped on another bus back to Cork. I took the sentimental walk back o Victoria Lodge to pick up my bags. From there I called a taxi and headed for yet another airport. I sent the night there since checkin for my next flight was at 5 am.

So, from Cork I flew to London, passed through security for the second time that day. The Brits are really sticklers for security. The liquids that had made it through Cork, twice, and through Paris as well were an issue for them. Oy, what a hassle. So made it through London surprisingly well. Then off to Chicago, where I had to reclaim my bag, check it again, go through security once again, and get directions to my gate. What a crazy place. Coming into the States is much harder than leaving, even harder than getting into the UK. Finally I could text home and let my family know I was safely back in America and getting ready to board my final flight to Omaha. This was just a little puddle jumper, cramped after the Boeing 777 (which has 8 seats across versus 3). Everything went smoothly on that flight, and I even got a complimentary drink. We landed safely. On the outside of the secure area I was met by a few familiar faces: ie, Mom, Dad, my little sister, and my nephew.

For those of you who are going to ask, yes, Ireland was amazing, and yes, I would definitely do the whole thing again in a heartbeat. It was sure great to be home again, though. It took a few days to adjust to the family routine again, and a few more to get into working regularly. Things are going smoothly now, and I'm looking forward to my return to school. I'm starting a whole new chapter, with a new outlook, but this time with people I know already, and love.

Contiki: 1 - 10 June

Because I bought my plane ticket early i wasn't sure when I had to leave my apartment. Turned out my ticket was for the day after the apartments closed. So I needed to fill my time somehow. What better than a rapid tour of Europe. Jemma introduced us to an Australian company called Contiki which does coach tours around the world. The tour I joined was the European Horizon, seven countries in ten days.

Big Ben

I naturally started my journey by waking up late. The night before had been long so I'm using that as my excuse. My early taxi got me to the airport on time, but unfortunately it was the start of summer holidays so everything was crazy!!! I stood in line for checkin for close to an hour, then an hour in the security line. I couldn't believe it. Little tiny Cork had every position open but they were still backed up. They flight to London was fairly short, only a couple hours. Then a bus to the city, about an hour. My directions to the hotel weren't very clear so I wandered for a while, always headed in the right direction but constantly worried about not finding the right street. But everything turned out alright. Google just had too many steps. Turn here, turn there, etc etc. Really it could have said follow the street farther down and make it a straight journey. Whatever, I made it safely. Before checkin I stopped to have lunch. Then the boring checkin, finding my room, getting settled. Afterwards, my plan was to hop on a bus tour of the city, just to see what I could. Unfortunately it was wicked expensive. So instead I marked out a walking route. I headed out on my own, map in hand. Only a short time later I almost ran over another Contiki tourist. He recognized me from checkin and we decided to walk together. After four hours of walking London, we saw only about half of what we had planned and were completely exhausted. But I couldn't stop. I needed to attend a meeting about the next mornings take off. After a quick intro to the road team. Then we were all invited to drinks so we can meet the other people on our tour. Since I had traveled all morning then walked all afternoon, I was quite dehydrated by the time I got to dinner at the pub. Which means I got drunk much faster than I normally would. A good way to kick off the tour, especially since we hadn't officially started yet.

The next morning we took off really early. Like 6:00 am early after drinking all night for many people. After some confusion, since there were three tours leaving at the same time, we finally hit the road. As we left the city we got the talk about basic rules and some guidelines for enjoying the tour. The we ferried across the English Channel, seeing the White Cliffs of Dover along the way. Then we sat on the bus for the long drive up to Amsterdam. After checkin at the hotel we did a canal cruise. It was fun, but really meant to get everyone drunk before the Red Light District. It was an interesting place, but more than one visit isn't really necessary.

Tulip Market

We made our way back to the hotel by ourselves that night. In the morning, the coach took us back into city centre so we could explore the city in daylight. JUst a couple hours in the city was enough to see a lot, but not really experience it. A good enticement for coming back. Then onto the coach gain for the drive to the German Rhine Valley. There we stayed in a small village, precisely because of the wine that is made there. A special German Eiswein. The place was beautiful and quaint. We also took the time to sign up and pay for the extra activities throughout the tour, such as the canal cruise and wine tasting. There were a lot that I couldn't do because of expense. Plus they didn't sound particularly interesting, some of them.

Dachau Concentration Camp

During the previous few days, much of the valley had flooded, so when we set out the next morning toward Munich, a lot of service stops were not open. It may have gotten us closer to our goal faster, but it sure made the drive seem longer. We gained some extra time while driving so we had time to stop and see Dachau Concentration Camp on the outskirts of the city. That was quite the experience. Unfortunately we only had an hour to explore. Definitely not enough time at all. But it wasn't in the plan originally. Then straight into the city. We had a couple hours to explore before the coach headed back to the hotel. There was a bar downstairs, but because the drinking age is 16 in Germany, it was full of young teens all night, and not particularly interesting.

Glacial River in the Austrian Alps

Once again, off early in the morning, this time to Austria. The first optional activity for the day was white water rafting. Unfortunately, for the people who didn't pay for it had to waste the day waiting for the rafters. Then when we got to the stopover site, a large portion of the group took off for paragliding. This time those who didn't pay got to do what they wanted around the village. A friend and I went for a bike ride. It had been a few years since I had seriously ridden a bike, so naturally I met the sidewalk once or twice. Actually, it was a wooden fence that I met, but close enough. Our first party was that night, themed Tight, White and Bright. Not as exciting a party as I expected, but still fun. I was hoping for a more interesting theme, really. And to stay out late and party is silly since every morning we start early.

The next morning was the same. Each day the drive seems to become longer. This time we were headed to Venice, Italy. The first thing we did on arrival was gear up for a walking tour of the city. There are no cars allowed, so we had to take a boat to get from the campsite to the city. Some of us didn't take the walking tour, so we got to actually explore the city by ourselves. We saw St. Mark's Basilica. Then we meandered down some random streets...and went off the edge of the map. Oops. Luckily we found our way back just fine. And in time to make it to our gondola ride. Again, not as spectacular as I expected, but still fantastic. The sudden warmth took a bit of adjusting. Same with the mosquitoes.

Looking through the Waterfall

Come morning, we headed off to Switzerland. We took a break to explore Lucerne, a beautiful little city. Quite scenic. The single hour was more than enough to see the sights and try some chocolate. We stayed two nights in Switzerland. The second day many people ascended to the highest railway station in Europe. That was the most expensive excursion and way out o m budget range. Instead I decided to climb a waterfall. A friend and I discovered it while we were going for a mid-morning walk. Since we couldn't climb a mountain, why not a waterfall? That night was another party. This time the theme was Swiss-co Disco. I think the themes are designed to force us to buy souvenirs from the campsite and drinks at exorbitant prices from Contiki campsites.

Our last drive day was Sunday. This must have been a record-breaking length. A full twelve hours. With only two short breaks. Because we were sort of late coming into the city and it is fairly large, we did a bus tour first so people had an idea of what they wanted to see. We started Monday morning by taking a group photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. Then we hopped on the coach to get to the other side of the city to visit a perfumery. We got four hours to explore the city after that. Then back to the hotel to get ready for our final dinner. Once we returned to the city that evening we headed up to the Sacre Couer, then to a five-course dinner. Following dinner was an optional cabaret show. Again, too expensive for little ole me. After the show we all headed to an Irish pub right next to the Moulin Rouge for a last night out with everyone before we all went our own ways in the morning.

Last Week: 25 - 31 May

While Scotland was amazing and gorgeous, I had to return to Cork. There was still an exam left to take, and an entire five months of life to pack and ship home. My plan for Saturday was to finish reading the material for Democracy so I could break from studying on Sunday, and simply review on Monday. That would also eliminate the need to cram before the exam on Tuesday. During breakfast I learned I needed a costume for the National Stereotype Party we were hosting that night. Therefore, instead of studying, I spent my day designing an American cowboy costume, including a brown paper bag hat, a belt, a holster, and a ribbon lasso. It was going fairly well, until I put it on and decided it looked ugly and ridiculous. So I thought maybe an American cheerleader, but that didn't work either. In the end I settled for Scottish Highlander. Unfortunately, the impression was incredibly poor and only the other Americans had any idea what was my ultimate goal. However, for doing this in one afternoon, I think I did quite well. 

Sunday was my last Mass at the Honan Chapel. That was a bit depressing because it signaled the beginning of my goodbyes. I didn't really get much of anything done that day...

Since I had been lazy the previous two days, Monday was the only day I had for studying. What a boring day. But on the bright side, the ankle I injured felt much better than any day up to this point.

Tuesday was the big day: final exam. And the hardest of the semester. I had no idea what I was going to face when I headed out for the test site. Fortunately I left early because it took me longer to get there than I thought it would. It would have been better if the building had been marked on the side I was on. All-in-all the exam went fairly well. I made up a few answers, but it sort of made sense by the end of the essay. To celebrate the end of the exam month, and the end of the semester, a group of us went to Blarney for our last trad music session. It was a lot of fun, but bittersweet as well. Several of the girls danced but my ankle kept me from it. One last dance would have been fantastic, but it was not meant to be. Of course, I'll have to go back some day to have that dance. 

For some reason I woke up quite early on Wednesday. It was nice, despite being 5 in the morning, because I watched the sunrise. And after sleeping a bit longer, I was quite awake when I needed to get out of bed. I decided to spend most of the day at college. I met with a friend for coffee for the last time, then printed my tickets and directions for the rest of my time here. I also posted the pictures that had been piling up. I returned my textbooks for cash, bought pounds sterling, and closed my bank account. When that was all done, I went home and did some cleaning and packing. I didn't get everything cleaned up because one of my friends, whom I hadn't seen in six years, happened to be in the city for two weeks doing a class. So we made a date to meet up. Unfortunately she was sick and we couldn't go out. However, we did still catch up at her place. Maybe a better decision than the pub anyways. And to make the day even longer, it was also the decided date to call my family back in the States. Essentially I was awake for close to 24 hours by the time the conversation ended. But that's ok because so much was accomplished and I felt good about it.

I woke up early Thursday morning to do my laundry before anyone else got up. I had actually planned to do it the night before but was too tired. After my laundry finished, I did some packing. We also went into city at one point to do some "last time"s. These included O'Connaill's hot chocolate and Auntie Em's Sweet Shoppe. I also bought boxes to ship some of my things home. Then home to do more packing.

Friday was the day everything had to be done. I sent my boxes home, my suitcases were filled, my room was clean. Jocelyn's bus was leaving really early in the morning, so we hosted an all-night movie-night. I couldn't stay for the whole night because I, too, was leaving in the morning, but I was going to a strange city, not home and wanted to be alert. Turns out my cousin was also in the city this week. So we made arrangements to meet up at a pub. I planned on staying for just under an hour, but it was closer to two when I actually left. Then I stood around chatting with everyone in the apartment for longer too. Which means I didn't go to bed nearly as early as I was hoping. Despite that, I was satisfied with how well the day went. Especially since the fire alarm went off for most of the day because of a malfunction. Yeah, I forgot to mention, we had to evacuate twice, once on Thursday night, really late, and once really early on Friday morning. Then we had to listen to it the rest of the day. Obnoxious. But there was nothing to be done about it.

Scotland: 18 - 24 May

Things are wrapping up quickly. After the trip to Scotland I have just a week in Cork and ten days in Europe then I'm home. The trip to Scotland was kind of a weird time, but it was the only chance I had for the tour I wanted. And it broke up the studying, which was really nice since the only exam I have left is the political theory one. It was supposed to be citizenship and human rights but was really just about the concept of democracy. So I went to Scotland instead of trying to understand what the course was about. I left on Saturday morning at about 11, walked to the Cork bus station and got a roundtrip ticket. I took a bit of a risk with that because my flight home was a bit late and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get the bus at that time. But in case I could, it was cheaper that way. The driver was friendly...and helpful. I actually got off at the wrong stop because everyone else got off. He stopped again and told me I wasn't at the airport yet and let me back on. That was embarrassing, but at least he was good about it. While I was waiting for the flight, a man approached me and asked me to do a survey. Since there was no harm in it, I obliged. I had to chuckle at him trying to find other people willing to participate. He was really struggling. The flight went quite smoothly, although I really don't fly well at all. After checking in at the hostel, I decided to walk a bit and see what I could see. I got as far as Edinburgh Castle when it started to rain hard. I was forced into a souvenir shop until it stopped. By that point I was quite hungry, so I made my way down the Royal Mile to a pub recommended by the hostel. There I tried haggis (it was stuffed inside my chicken) and Magners. First off, Magners is not nearly as good as Bulmers. Secondly, the haggis neither looked nor felt edible when I stabbed it. It was quite good though. I don't particularly want to know what's in it. It really bothers some people, so I'm avoiding the answer. Anyway, I went back to the hostel for a warm shower after all the rain and did some studying. Yeah, I studied on my holiday, but not a lot. Just in my free time. At about 3 in the morning, a couple came in. The guy was trying to comfort the girl, whose bed was right next to mine. He was comforting her because she was terribly sick...all night...I had to put my iPod on and turn the volume way up. She didn't look too bad the next day, so I don't know if she was actually sick or just really drunk. Whatever it was, I wasn't particularly happy I had to listen to it all night; she kept waking me.

At breakfast the next morning, the guy serving it had an accent. My first thought was Australian, but it turns out he was actually British. I apologized, so we got a chuckle out of it later. His name was Paul, by the way. He pops up again. I set off early because I booked a tour of Loch Lomond. It was just a day tour. Most of the day was foggy, so some of the views weren't very good. Like, can't see past my nose foggy. But on the Loch, it was beautiful. The fog just added to it. When I got back to the hostel, I again studied. Dinner was amazing. Paul, the Brit, was serving cheeseburgers. Oh my goodness, I have not had a cheeseburger that good in a LONG time. After dinner I couldn't bring myself to study anymore, so instead I started a book. ... Not the best book in the world, but it was a free download. And since I started it, I'll finish it...eventually.

Next morning, once again I headed out early to check into a tour. This time, though, it was an overnight (5-days) across the country. Our bus driver was Alan, who also happens to be a professional musician. Other tour members (I don't actually know everyone's names, just how we called them all week) were Team Canada (Gina and Andie), Jean Claude (Ivan, also Jean-Luc, TinTin, and Pascal), Sweden (Frida, also Ikea), Wing Nut (Wei-Min), Team America (Edward and Susan, also Susan and James), and Team Germany (Anton and his mom and sister). I don't think my name was used more than once or twice. Instead I went by Nebraska or Penny. Canada, Sweden, Jean-Claude and myself sort of formed into a group. Alan called us the Crazy Mob. It was fitting. The rest of the week is better told through pictures. There were so many places we saw, castles and lochs, and cities. You name it, we probably saw it. I will put out that we got to ride the Jacobite Steam Train (the one used as the Hogwarts Express). And we saw Skye, which was absolutely beautiful! I think I may have gotten a bit of a sunburn...it was sunny just about every day I was there. My flight back to Cork was delayed, but I still managed to catch a bus and use my return ticket. While I was away, it occurred to me that Katherine was going home...and I wasn't going to see her before then. She made it back safely. One of Jemma's friends was coming during the week, and since I wasn't going to be there, I said she could use my room. I forgot to tell them when I was coming home, so I had to knock on my own door to make sure no one was sleeping in my bed.

I'll link the pictures once again. A lot of them are similar, and some seem to be missing. Not sure what happened there. Others have reflections and are a bit blurry. That's because I was taking them through the coach window. Yay!

Study/Exam Month: 11 Apr - 17 May

Ok. This will be a really weird format. The month and three days between returning from Northern Ireland and going to Scotland weren't particularly interesting. So what I did here was sort of list what I did. The lines with numbers after them happened on that specific day. The other lines were sort of happening the entire time beginning at that point. I apologize, but it was boring enough to live through. Writing about it doesn't make it any more interesting.

The first few days weren't productive - finished a timetable for studying on Sunday (14)

Found a radio station and listened to the news for the first time all semester...on the day of the Boston bombing; stuck to timetable for the first day but sort of gave up by the end of the week

Took Wednesday to do nothing: wore a skirt and danced around the house (17)

The explosion in Texas; dinner with Jocelyn's family for her brother's birthday then evening at the Franciscan Well (19)

Tried to study in the library: "Can't do socially unacceptable things like put your head on the table and cry" -Me (21)

Struggle with the research paper

"one of the few perks to being home alone is the freedom to look and act stupid" -Me (23)

Hot chocolate with a friend in the city, returned papers with good marks (24)

went to movies, spent all day in the city, Jemma came home from Turkey (27)

Bouts with homesickness

Finished the paper, Muccy made dinner, played Monopoly and watched Walking Dead (29)

Began studying for two exams and reading Jane Austen

School at home finishes, graduation, etc (3)

read all day: 2.5 books (4)

found a tree branch in the house: I mentioned in passing that I liked the blossoms on the tree and someone was nice enough to break off a branch and bring it back (5)

forgot the day and thought I missed the exams (6)

First two exams; it was sort of like taking the ACT but essays and not bubbles and my pen died in the middle of a word so I switched from black to blue ink; rain! a lot of it; traditional music in Blarney - I sang Danny Boy (7)

got a cold, went looking for tailor to do measurements for the wedding = fail; begin studying for democracy - awful because I actually have to worry...about a 30 (8)

made a snickers cake for fun (homemade caramel too!) (10)

Jocelyn came home; watched Once Upon a Time; celebrated two birthdays in Blarney (12)

Planning on seeing Blarney Castle but the buses were on strike (13)

Found a friend willing to drive so spent the entire day in Blarney with trad music afterward (14)

Saw Iron Man 3, made another Snickers cake for Martin (the man who taxis us to Blarney and back) and the big Thank You we did for him at the pub (15)

Celebrated another birthday with dinner and drinks then to the pub (17)

The British Are Coming!: 4 -10 Apr

The second part of my vacation I traveled by myself. Actually, part of it was on a tour, but I didn't know anyone on the tour before it started, so I was sort of by myself. Since I was so close, I had determined early in the term that I must see England. And since Northern Ireland is on the same island that I've been living on for the last four months, that too had to be visited. The two fit together quite well because they are both a part of the United Kingdom. (The pictures can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinked headings)

England:

Newcastle:

Thursday: I posthumously gave this day "It's a Jolly Holiday With Mary" from Mary Poppins as the SOD. I was actually by myself the majority of the day. It was the beginning of my "British Isles" journey. I had an early afternoon flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle. The girls stayed for another night in Amsterdam. So while I was off to England, they saw more of Amsterdam through bike rides, frozen winds, food poisoning, etc. In comparison my day wasn't nearly as interesting. Basically I wandered the city, following the street signs. The party of the city I was in was called Grainger Town. It was fairly close to the river, which was really beautiful. I found an art gallery so to waste some time until dinner, I thought it might be a good stop. However, as soon as I went in an alarm went off (not because of me!) which told us to evacuate the building (in a British accent of course). So apparently I was not supposed to see the artwork. After exploring all day, I decided to try one of the pubs I found because I really wanted bar food, you know, burger and fries type thing. But the seats in the pub were all full so I sat in the actual restaurant adjoining it. Um...it was really nice. Like, I felt like I should have worn a dress. Instead I was in a t-shirt and jean capris. And to make the situation more awkward, there was no one else in the restaurant. Just me and two waiters. ... Uncomfortable.

Alnwick:

Friday: The SOD, which totally gives away the entire day, was "Hedwig's Theme", also commonly known as the theme from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". So what I did was catch a bus (which took three hours although by car it would have been just a half hour) which took me to Alnwick (pronounced Ann-ick) Castle, also known as the location used by Warner Brothers for the shooting of the first three Harry Potter films. That's right, I saw the Harry Potter Castle. It was an absolutely beautiful day. First I wandered the grounds, looking at all the museums, and admiring the state rooms and the family that owns the castle, etc etc. But then I happened upon the Harry Potter tour which showed us some of the filming tricks and specific set locations. At the end we ran across some wizards getting ready for broomstick training. They were a fun lot, and the kids were too cute. The gardens weren't in bloom yet, so my day was shortened a bit. So I caught another bus, I think this one took four hours (oh, and by the way, both were double-decker). Because I was feeling a bit lazy, and didn't want a repeat of the night before (being the only one in the restaurant), I settled for McDonald's. Original, I know. I didn't stay out too late because my train across the country was leaving early in the morning. 

Bath:

Saturday:

Unfortunately, my night turned into a really long one. Someone came back at about 2:30 am, singing and laughing. I couldn't tell if it was a giant group of slightly drunk people, or just a couple of really drunk Brits. Whatever it was there was one guy who laughed like a flying monkey from the "Wizard of Oz". I don't know if I can ever watch the movie again now. Since it wasn't too much longer until I was getting up anyways, I sort of just lied in bed listening and drifting in and out of sleep for a couple hours. They were still up when I left at 5:00. Crazies. In case you were wondering, train stations are very cold in England at 5:30 in the morning. Being the idiot I am, I got to the station like an hour early. ... And the train ride was approximately six hours. I feel like a lot of sitting on transportation was done. I was really excited for this day because I was going to Bath. I found lunch, first off, in the "Smallest Pub in Bath" and ate a Lovett pie. I just kept singing "Try a Little Preacher" from Sweeney Todd. Then I set off to find Jane Austen. The exhibit was a bit expensive, but I got a map out of it, and a couple pictures with a man in correct dress. After exploring for a while, I meandered to the river. Amazingly the sun came out so I sat by the river for quite a bit. It was almost warm at that point, which was absolutely wonderful. Then I got bored, bought a Cornish Pasty and sat in front of the Abbey to people watching. There was a wedding and tourists and people taking the waters. AND the sun was still out. The train to Bristol, where I was staying that night, was only about a half hour. Finding the hostel was a pain. The directions weren't very clear, but after finding the place, I realized they were as clear as they were going to get. It was still a bit early when I headed for bed, but I didn't have anyone to go out with.

Bristol: 

Sunday: After traveling by myself for a few days, and searching out the sights alone, I was starting to get bored. The map of Bristol provided by the hostel wasn't the greatest. So I walked for a bit, realized I needed to do something different because I was on the verge of being lost, safely made it to the train station and bought a ticket for an open top bus tour. The tour wasn't very long, but it did have good information. By the end I was ready to go back to Ireland, so I got a bus to the airport and waited like four hours to check-in. I should have booked the earlier flight, but I had no idea how long I would need in the city. Apparently not very long. Don't get me wrong, I liked Bristol, just not by myself. It was a relief to land in Dublin. There were a couple guys talking behind me as we made our way to customs after the flight, and I wanted to turn and say how glad I was to hear the Irish accent again. But it was late and I thought it might be a bit creepy so I just kept walking and secretly enjoying their conversation. While I was waiting for the bus to get to the city, a scene arose. Some guy had been loitering and causing problems at the airport for a fair bit of the day. He decided to come bother us because he got kicked out of the building. Eventually the Gardaí showed up and threatened him, saying "the bus or a cell". He got on the bus. I had to chuckle and think "Good to be back in Dublin". The hostel was easy enough to find. However the showers were a different story. My bed too. It was late and so the room was dark and everyone was sleeping. Usually the beds have numbers on them, but I could't figure out which one was mine since there weren't numbers on these beds. I chose an empty one and prayed that it was going to be vacant all night. The showers were hiding in the room, not with the sink and toilet. Of course, I found them in the morning, but I didn't have time to shower if I was going to make it to the tour office on time. Only me...

Northern Ireland Tour:

Dublin to Belfast:

Monday: To make my life easier, I decided to just book a tour of Northern Ireland. That way I didn't have to do any hostel searching, my luggage was taken care of, and there were other people. I'm going to say now, the tour was quite good. The schedule was a bit jumbled, but considering they had to put four different tours on a single bus (there were a lot of accidents that week that took out a lot of the bus drivers) it was understandable. And we saw most of the same things but in a different order. So there was a one-day of Belfast, a two-day and three-day of Northern Ireland and a six-day All-Ireland. I was on the three-day since I had been to much of the Republic of Ireland already. So Day One, we drove from Dublin to Belfast. It didn't take very long, like four or five hours is all. We stopped once to see an abandoned monastery. As soon as we got to Belfast we did the "Black Taxi Tour". The taxi drivers don't like the name since it has a lot of political connotations and associations with the IRA. But it was sort of fitting because the tour was political. We saw both sides of the peace wall, the various murals created by each side, and learned the history of the Troubles. Afterwards a group split off and went to the Titanic Museum. Since that seems sort of a random thing to have in Belfast, the Titanic was actually built there. Makes more sense now, doesn't it? Anyway, I wasn't in the mood to see a museum, so instead I got lunch. Priorities, doncha know? So, picked up everyone who went to the museum and headed for the hostel. After the fiasco in Dublin when I couldn't find the shower, I prioritized and immediately sought them out. Boy, those showers were amazing. I mean, it did try to  electrocute me once or twice, but if I avoided certain pieces of metal, I was totally fine. Then we all went out to dinner as a group and a pub afterwards. All-in-all it was good time.

Belfast to Derry:

Tuesday: It seems I sort of gave up on the SOD. ... They come easier when no one is around. But I'm not complaining. I would rather have the people. We saw a couple of sights today before getting to Derry. There was the Carrick-a-rede bridge (which is £10 to see/cross) and the Giant's Causeway. That was pretty cool. There's a story to go with it since a similar natural phenomenon exists in Scotland. When we got to Derry we did a walking tour. Technically it's Londonderry, but the two sides of the river call it by two different names depending on loyalty to the crown. Politically we were still in the United Kingdom. Everyone went out again that night. Dinner first then a couple pubs. There were some pretty good drunk stories in the morning, but I won't put the details on the Internet to spare those involved any embarrassment.

Derry to Galway:

Wednesday: This was an incredibly boring day. More hours spent on transportation. The entire day was traveling to Galway. The three-day tour was supposed to see Donegal instead of Galway, but that's ok. Maybe next time I'm here I'll get the chance. We stopped for one sight, a castle that is essentially falling off a cliff, and then for lunch. No wait, the castle was the day before. We saw that between the bridge and the causeway. So the only other stop before getting to Galway was a bathroom break. Probably a good thing it was just driving because so many people were hungover. They were planning to do it again that night on the pub crawl that we did when we were in Galway in January. We had a bit of time in Galway, like an hour maybe, then the three-day-ers were put on a bus and sent back to Dublin. Which was a two to three hour drive. Since I didn't book a hostel for that evening, I had to get back to Cork right away. Unfortunately, the earliest bus I could catch wasn't until 10:30. Which means I had another three hour bus ride (I was the only one on the bus) and didn't get back to the apartment until after 1:30.

And end Easter break.

WWW.HittingUpTheMainland: 29 Mar - 3 Apr

So begins the adventures; this week's destination: Europe. Our journey begins in the fair city of Dublin, flies to the romantic city of Paris, busses to Brussells for chocolate and waffles, then on to Amsterdam which could probably be called the bike capital of the world. 

Dublin:

Friday: This really is a beautiful city, but there are only so many "tourist-y" things to do. When we arrived at our hostel, we were planning to book a tour of the Wicklow Mountains for Saturday. Unfortunately, the tour deal was only for Monday-Thursday. Bit of a letdown. So we asked about the free airport shuttle for Sunday morning. The deskman told us he didn't think we would make it on time, even if we took the earliest bus. So there went two of the "free" things out the window. In disappointment we decided to just walk the city. Dinner was in Temple Bar, just a burger joint, but quite good actually. Fun fact, alcohol is not sold on Good Friday in Ireland. The people were going a bit crazy. Midnight was big moment for the bars, therefore, because it wasn't Friday anymore, but Saturday. Since none of the pubs were open until midnight, we decided to head back to the hostel, where we made the decision to institute Song of the Day. We'll call it SOD from now on. Throughout the day a great nmber of songs had been stuck in our head. This made for confusing, jumbled songs by the end. So to fix the problem, anytime we had a song other than SOD, we sang the SOD. Makes sense, I know. We decided Friday's had to be Wagonwheel since it seemed to be following us.

Saturday: Because we couldn't book our tour, we got to sleep in on Saturday. I think that may have been one of the only times while we were away. The first thing we did was choose a SOD. This was done by putting an iPod on shuffle and waiting for an appropriate song. Since we didn't have any plans, the first song Grease Lightning worked well enough. And it did. There were moments throughout the day that fit in perfectly with the song. So we explored the city a bit more. Of course, we made a stop in the Disney store. I'm always tempted to buy something from there, but not many things say Ireland so they're not very good souvenirs. Our lunch was a picnic of Subway sandwiches on St. Stephen's Green. It was so beautiful out! We sat and watched the kids playing in the fountains, admired the flowers, etc. Jemma engaged in a barking contest with a dog...and won, naturally. That gained us some funny looks, but we didn't care. We were totally in tourist mode at that point. We happened upon an amazing street performance. The guy freed himself from a straight jacket while on an 8-foot unicycle. He also did some acrobatics and juggling. The fire tricks were pretty cool too. As we wandered in the general direction of the hostel, we found a Gino's and of course stopped for amazing gelato. The flavors were ridiculous, like Guiness, Hello Kitty... Not sure what that one would taste like. Strawberry shortcake maybe. Dinner was amazing, at a 50's/60's style Irish pub. It felt sort of like we were in an arcade, with the lifted walkway and the way the lights were set up. I really enjoyed it. We went to bed early that night because our taxi to the airport was at 4:15 in the morning. Plus, Daylight Savings Time was beginning and we weren't sure if our phones would change automatically or not.

Paris:

Sunday: Our SOD was Parlez-vous Francais. I can't remember the artist off the top of my head. However, since we were going to Paris, it seemed appropriate. Maybe it would have been more so if it was Parlez-vous Angles... Breakfast, at the airport, was some bread and jelly we talked out of the hostel and chocolate MaltEasters for Easter Sunday. We flew into France mid-morning, had to get a bus to Paris, and a metro to the hostel. Lunch was pizza for the girls, and I had a chicken and mozzarella sandwich. Since we were staying in the area, we thought we would see Mountmartre and the Sacre Coeur. Not far from there was a carousel...which we really wanted to ride but talked ourselves out of. And since we weren't too far from it, we took a walk to the Moulin Rouge. After dinner and sunset we went back to the Moulin Rouge, took some really ridiculous pictures, and enjoyed the lights. And because we enjoyed the lights, we decided to go back to the Sacre Coeur to see it at night. Also beautiful. From the hilltop we could easily see the city and the Eiffel Tower. There was big news at home too. My brother got engaged and announced it to the family at Easter dinner. It would have been amazing to be there, but I knew in advance. It was really hard to keep my mouth shut and not tell anyone else. Usually I don't have an issue keeping secrets, but this was one that I wanted to celebrate.

Monday: Our SOD was Hot and Cold by Katy Perry. Not particularly relevant that I remember, but a good song nonetheless. Breakfast was fantastic, with baguettes and croissants from the hostel. We, of course, swiped a couple extra for a Parisian picnic with cheese, baguettes, fruit and wine on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower. We caught the Metro to the Saint Michel fountain in order to hop on a free English Walking Tour. However, we forgot the map and where the tour actually started. So back to the hostel, grab the map, return to the fountain, do souvenir hunting, then join the 1:00 tour. It took about three hours to complete, but it was amazing. So much information, mostly random facts about torture and the Nazi occupation. "Lunch", at 4:00 pm was the baguettes we took from breakfast and crepes we bought along the Champs Elysees. That was a really crazy street. People everywhere. At the end was another tourist trap, the Arc de Triumphe. The Parisians wisely put a nine-lane, unmarked roundabout around the Arc. Fortunately, they also built an underground pedstrian crossing to the monument so there aren't hundreds of people dying in traffic accidents each day. Naturally, we had some trouble finding the crossing, went right by it actually and did a loop back to the top of the Champs Elysees to come at it again. We thought about climbing to the top, but the queue was long and it cost a fair bit of money. So instead we went back to the Notre Dame Cathedral (near the start of the walking tour). Unfortunately, the tour that takes people to the top to see the Bells and was closed already. But I'm not going to complain about the chance to go inside the cathedral. After seeing Notre Dame, we realized we didn't get any pictures at Saint Michel fountain, so we made that happen, followed by dinner in the Latin Quarter, and souvenir shopping, again. Chocolate fondue with seasonal fruits was the highlight of dinner, as was the finding of a tiny crab in Michaela's mussel which immediately became her friend. And since we were in Paris, and it was still fairly early, just getting dark, we took the metro across the city to the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars. Lots of pictures there. As it was getting late, nearly 10:00, we realized we hadn't had any wine yet, a mission while in Paris. Unfortunately, it's not sold after 10, so we just missed it. The only serious misfortune up to this point had been the hole I discovered in my skinny jeans. My only pair of skinny jeans. But, what's a pair of pants when one is in Paree?

Brussels:

Tuesday: Our SOD this day was wildly relevant...I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. We woke up a bit late, so we rushed to the metro, going along just fine, then suddenly we realize the line that will take us directly to our bus had closed the station nearest us. So we had to jump back on the train and go around to the next station on the line, running like madwomen with all our luggage. We're praying and looking at our bus tickets, and realize we have no chance of making it since check-in is a half hour before departure, meaning we missed it by about twenty-five minutes. But by golly, we were going to try for that bus, we had tickets booked. After getting off the train, we're searching frantically for the buses (I'm just huffing and puffing from the sprinting while carrying a rollerboard), stop for directions, sprint off in a new direction, find the station (which was underground and really weird), run to the bus docks, and are told the bus left right on time. But when we looked at the clock, it actually left a few minutes early. ... Disappointment. So we go to the ticket desk, and we're trying to talk the woman there into moving our tickets to the bus that afternoon. She's having none of it, so we start discussing using another line. The ticket lady overheard and was immediately like "There are only four seats left on this afternoon's bus, so you should book them now." ... Well, since we had no idea what other services were running, or if we could get seats on them for that day, we were pressured into paying extra for another bus, when we missed the first one because we didn't know about the closed metro stations. Seeing as we had a couple hours to spare, we walked up to the street, found a shopping center, and chilled in McDonald's, mooching off the free wifi for customers. Did you know...a lot of places in Europe make you pay to use the restrooms??? I didn't, so I was unprepared for the 20c charge. Apparently, it is really common and I somehow managed to remain oblivious to it. Finally we were able to board our bus, which left late, and was four hours in length. The driver was a stickler about no food or drink on board. Everyone just waited until we were driving before pulling it out since he couldn't do anything from the front. The bus station in Brussels was a bit confusing. We actually started going in completely the wrong direction at first, but thought we should maybe check for a map inside the station. So we're going down, sort of following the signs since none of the streets are familiar but the hostel is near the tourist attraction on the sign...sort of just winging it, trusting to luck. Turns out we were on the street parallel to what our directions wanted us to be on, and the two converged right near the hostel. After check-in we went hunting for a grocery store, where we got breakfast items, Dutch waffle cookies, and chocolate. That was soon followed by a really late dinner, a wander around the city in search of Mannikin Pis and waffles. We also did some souvenir shopping and bought Belgian beer. In a single night we found the most famous parts of Brussels: Mannikin Pis, beer, chocolate and waffles. Success. So back to the SOD, despite a rough start, the day ended magnificently. And to top it all off, I was asked to be a part of the bridal party for my brother's wedding, which is so terribly exciting!

Amsterdam:

Wednesday: Ok, so most of the day was spent in Brussels, but we did get to Amsterdam in the evening, so I'm putting the information here. Basically what we did for the day was use the map of "sights" provided by the hostel, and walk from one to the next. We really had no idea what was in Brussels. It was a good stopover point between Paris and Amsterdam. Filled with chocolate and waffles. Thankfully the sights were all close together and easily within walking distance. We didn't get the history of everything, like we would on a walking tour, but we could sort of guess on some things. We got lunch right before we left on another bus. This one was like three hours or so. We checked into the hostel, which was really easy to find from Centraal Station, then headed out for dinner, and a small bit of sightseeing in the dark. But after dinner, we realized we were tired and didn't want to wander very far from the hostel since they didn't give us a map. So just looking at the lights in the river, marvelling at the massive number of bikes on the street, and noting all of the coffee shops (where the cannabis is sold) along the street. Back in the hostel we played cards for a bit, but everyone was ready for bed. Sadly, I didn't get to spend another day in the city. I had a late morning flight to Newcastle, United Kindgom the next day so missed out on the bike ride, the food poisoning, and etc.

"Wine, Waffles and Weed" we decided to call it. Or "www.thethingstodoinEurope". Sure, it wasn't quite a full week, but close enough. Really, three cities, three countries (four if you count Dublin, Ireland) in four (or six, depending on how you look at it) days isn't bad for a smalltown Nebraska girl.

Instead of putting pictures in, which requires that I actually choose my favorites, I'm just going to link to the Facebook albums.

Dublin
Paris
Brussels
Amsterdam