London

Greetings my friends!

Here is my London blog!  Allison, Erik, and I spent 4 days in London, England.  I got a chance to see some stuff that I missed last time.  I got to go into Parliament, went to a cool market and spent lots of time on the underground.

I'm really glad I decided to go back a second time.  We arrived in London very late Thursday night or I guess you could say Friday morning.  But that didn't stop us from getting up early and heading out into the city.  

We went straight to Parliament and Westminster Friday morning.  Lucky for us, Parliament was open to the public and we decided to go inside and view members of the House of Commons during a session.  We also got to see the old great hall that was used when Parliament was a castle.  After leaving Parliament, we walked the short distance to Westminster.  I got some illegal pictures from inside the

 Abbey.  I just couldn't resist!  It really is amazing.  I got to see Chaucer, Handel, Mary, Queen of Scots, Queen Elizabeth 

I, and Bloody Mary.  My favorite part has to be the stained 

glass.  After Westminster we headed to the famous St. Paul's Cathedral.  Along with some more amazing illegal pictures from inside we saw the resting places of many famous 

Britains, including Horatio Nelson.  

After we left St. Paul's we went the Globe Theatre.  It was not the original but it was still very fun and different.  This was something Mom and I did not manage to squeeze into our time in London.  Erik, Allison and I walked around a lot even after everything closed.  Most nights we dined on McDonalds or Burgerking...nothing fancy for us.  We tend to spend very little on food.  Lunch everyday consists of PB&J sandwiches and we would probably be sick of them but we burn so much walking by the time we stop and eat we are starving.  But that is the life of a poor college student traveling through Europe.  :)

The next day we went to the Portobello Market.

  It was huge!  I've never seen a market this big.  It was divided into several sections.  Including a flea market, antiques, new and retro, and even

 food.  We didn't get to see half of it.  I bought some really cute jewelry pieces and a small dress...very English lol.  We hung around the

 market till about noon then decided to head back into central London.  Our next destination was the Tower of London where we spent 3 hours looking through towers and learning some of England's fascinating and bloody history.  Mom and I had visited the Tower when we went 2 years ago, but surprisingly there were some 

things new that I hadn't seen before.  We had lots of fun exploring the Tower and taking fun pictures.  Here is a picture of me in my favorite English King's Chair.  We all know Henry the 8th

 is a bad ass!  After seeing the incredible and most prized crown jewels we walked across Tower 

Bridge and I got a great picture of myself in the same spot that I was two years ago.  Looks the same but completely different at the same time.

After Tower bridge we walked down to Fleet St. and took many more photos.  We found some very cool buildings including the Australia House.  London has a building for each of it's old territories and some still current.  Althought I noticed America was not there lol.  I guess they are a little bitter about that one.  We met a friend from Cork for dinner that night and then headed back to our Hostel to prepare for another long day.  The first thing we did was head to King's Cross and get a picture with 9 and 3/4s.  For all of my Harry Potter fans you will understand the significance.  There was actually a line of people waiting to take their picture with 

it.  They even had half of a cart sticking out of the wall.  The 3 of us studious college students

 then headed to the British Museum and spent 3 hours on our own exploring the famous museum.  I know I've choosen the right major when I didn't want to leave the place.  I got to visit the exhibits I missed when mom and I visited there.  My major is still the Egyptian section.  I know I have to visit Egypt before I die.  My life would not be complete without it.  

Around 2:30pm we headed to the British Eye.  Something I didn't have a chance to do when Mom and I went but I was sure to book tickets in 

advance.  It was definitely a worth while thing to do.  I would recommend it to anyone who ever visits London.  You get to see the entire city.  The sight is breathtaking.  Here is a great picture of me with Parliament and Big Ben in the background.  I know you're all sick of see my beautiful face but this is my best picture with this background.  The Eye took about 30 mins and then we just walked around the city some more.  We watched some entertaining street performers for a little while and even went over to see Cleopatra's needle.  Hopefully we're not cursed now!  Our final destination for sunday was Trafalgar's Square.  Another thing I missed when I visited last time.  We spent some time just enjoying the afternoon air and sitting beneath Nelson's Monument.  

Monday was our final day in London and it was less then half a day.  We had to head to the

 airport pretty early for our flight back to Cork.  We got up earlier enough to go see the changing of the Guards and get some pictures of Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and the Wellington Arch

.  London was a very successful trip and not even close to my last in Europe.  I am currently in Paris and will be heading off to Madrid very soon.

I have some amazing stories and photos from Paris!  I love the city so very much and can not wait to share my experiences with you all.  Promise to update very soon with Paris!

Love you all!

E

Edinburgh, Scotland and the Highlands

Hello friends and family!

Trying to knock out another blog entry for Edinburgh!!!  It was so unbelievable and amazing, I had the best time ever!

This trip was probably my favorite so far since arriving in January!

We had five days to explore Edinburgh and the highlands of Scotland.  We saw so many historical sites and we even got to see Loch Ness!  Although I did not get to see Nessie.  This first picture is my "I think I saw her" face.

Friday, our first day in Edinburgh we decided to explore Edinburgh Castle and do some other things on the Royal Mile (the main historic st in Edinburgh).  

However, we started out by booking a 12 hour Highland tour for Sunday.  After we took care of

 that, we climbed the mound up to Edinburgh Castle.  It reminded me alot of Windsor Castle.

  The castle is built on top of an old volcano so it was really far up and very windy at the top.  We

 spent about 3 hours exploring the grounds and learning alot about the history of Edinburgh.

After we finished at the castle we headed to the Scotch Whiskey Experience to whether Irish Jameson is truly the greatest of all whiskeys!  We

 learned about the brewing and 

blending.  I think my favorite part of the tour was

 the 2 free shots of whiskey we got at the end :)

Our last place of the day was something called Camera Obscure.  At the top of this tower was a small mirror that went around the whole city.  It was surprisingly focused and we got some great

 views.  They also had a bunch of crazy pictures and illusions.  We had a quick meal at McDonalds and headed to bed early for another day in Edinburgh.

On Saturday is was also fairly nice out so we took the bus to the Botanical Gardens.  I found that there is a plant named after me!  I was very excited.  We walked around for a really long time 

and went into the glass houses with lots of exotic plants.  The gardens were really refreshing and I also bought a small plant for my room.  It's a chives plant and so far it's still alive.  After we left

 the gardens we headed back into the city an 

went to the National Gallery.  Surprisingly, they had

 some really famous painters in their collections including Rembrandt and Rubens.  We got kicked out at 5 and later met a friend from Washington College for dinner and some drinks.

Sunday was our long 12 hour tour up to the

 highlands.  The scenery was amazing and my pictures could not compare to the landscape that I got to witness.  I even had a haggis sandwich in the morning...blah one and only.

Loch Ness was amazing but I'm sad I didn't get to see Nessie!  I got a nice necklace and we got to ride a boat on the Loch.  We saw a small castle on the Loch which you can see in the picture.  This tour was extremely long with alot of riding on the bus.  The trip took up the entire day but it was totally worth it.

On Monday we walked the Royal Mile and hit up even more cool historical sites.  We started out at St. Giles Cathedral.  Very grand and beautiful.  We quickly headed to my favorite part of

 Edinburgh, Mary King's Close.  It is an underground street that was paved over.  I've never seen anything like it!  We were not allowed 

to take pictures but it was amazing.  I did take a picture of a model of the street.  We heard some local ghost stories and history of how the city used to be.  Let's just say I would not want to live in that time!

After our guided tour through Mary King's Close we went to the National Museum of Scotland.  Not much different then any other museum but still interesting.  They had the first cloned sheep in the museum...I forgot the name.

The last thing we did that day was go to Scottish Parliament.  The building was designed by an architect from Barcelona.  It was extremely

 unique and creative.  It makes me excited to go to Barcelona which is famous for their amazing architecture.  The day was very productive and we still had all of Tuesday to finish up some more stuff before our flight that night.  Our last night in Edinburgh we had a 12 person hostel room with just the 3 of us in it.  So Allison and i decided to build a fort using the extra sheets and comforters.  It was really fun!  I really enjoy staying in hostels...it's quite an experience.

Tuesday morning we went to Holyrood Palace that is occupied by Queen Elizabeth II when she visits Scotland.  We saw the rooms of Mary, Queen of Scots.  She is really big in Scotland...weird.  

The grounds also had the ruins of an old Church.  It was very beautiful.  I really love Great Britain's history!  After we left the palace we went to the Aquarium!  It was nothing compared to the Baltimore Aquarium but it was still nice. 

After the Aquarium we went back into the city to see Nelson's monument, the National Monument and this old cemetery in the city.

We flew back into Shannon airport late that night and had to sleep in the airport till 7am the next morning to take the bus back to Cork.  It was not an experience I wish to repeat but I survived.  Edinburgh was an amazing city!  I would recommend going to Scotland even before Ireland!

I loved Scotland!!!

Dublin!

Hey Everyone!

I'm finally getting my Dublin blog up!  It was a great city.  Allison, Erik and I did so much while we were there.  We took the bus to Dublin on

 Friday and by the time we got into our hotel and headed back into the heart of the 

city we had a small amount of time to do something.  We decided to head to the famous Guiness Storehouse and find out how the drink was made.  Guiness has been around for 250 years!  My favorite exhibit was the advertising part.  They had so many pint glasses and posters.  I have

 way to many pictures.  I got a great Guiness shirt which you all can see me in above.  I also got some gifts for my family.  It was an amazing building and we got a free pint of Guiness at the end of our tour.  This photo I have is a the top of the storehouse looking down onto the city.  It was a incredible view and this

 photo does not do it justice.

We had a delicious and exotic meal of Supermacs 

(the big fastfood place in Ireland).

The next day was filled with lots of walking and lots of sites.  We started out going to the National Museum of Archeology.  It had alot on the Vikings and Irish history.  Unfortuneately we 

were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum.  We spent a long time in there and decided to head back out onto the streets.  We headed to Christ Church Cathedral and found it was not to far from other great sites.  As big as Dublin compared to other cities in Ireland it was nothing compared to London or Edinburgh. 

 Christ church was beautiful and had the largest crypt in all of British Isles; it spanned the entire foundation of the Church. 

 After we finished walking through the Church we headed to Dublin Castle and booked a tour for later in the day.  We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral to pass some time before our tour.  It was not a grand as Christ church but still

 beautiful.  

We did a guided tour of Dublin castle. 

 It is no longer an active castle but used by Parliament for government events.  The day seems to slip by so quickly when you have to walk everywhere. 

 On our way back to O'Connell St. to catch the bus we walked about Trinity College.  My one problem with site seeing is that everything closes at 5 and we never seem to have enough time to squeeze everything in.  We had another great dinner from the great King aka Burger King.  

Sunday we decided to take things a little slower since we had already gotten so much done the day before.  We bought tickets to view the Bodies exhibit.  I remember it had toured in the states and I was excited to have a chance to see it.  We had time before we would go into the exhibit but we felt better about getting our tickets in advance.  So to add to our relaxing day we headed to the Dublin zoo.  Some friends of mine had gone when they were in Dublin and said it

 was fun and it was a good day with little to no rain.  It was really fun and just what we needed to end our trip in Dublin.  The bodies exhibit had a line when we showed up at 3 to go in (very glad we had bought our tickets that morning).  It was very interesting and hard to believe that the bodies were real.  My favorite was the slices they had of the human body.  It was really cool!  (I sound very weird but I don't care it was fasinating)  I would definitely donate my body to something like that.  After we had finished there we decided to catch the 4:15 bus back to Cork.  Dublin to Cork is a 4 hour bus ride.  I had a great time in Dublin and saw alot of the sites.  I'm nearly done my traveling through Ireland.  The only city I would like to go to would be Belfast but I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze it in.

I finally have my spring break planned!  I have all of April off but I'll only be traveling for 20 days.

April 1-6 I'll be in Paris, France

April 6-9 I'll be in Madrid, Spain

April 9-12 I'll be in Barcelona, Spain

April 12-15 I'll be in Venice, Italy

April 15-20 I'll be in Rome, Italy

I'm so excited!  I can't wait for April to get here.  I will probably going to Greece and Amsterdam in May in between my finals but I still have to work that out with my friends.

I was in Edinburgh in the beginning of March and I should have that blog post up quickly.  This coming weekend Allison, Erik and I will be going to London.  I shall try not to fall behind on my blogs again but no guarantees lol.

I love you all!  Hope all in well back home!

Waterford

Hello again!

I'm doing some more catching up...another blog!

Sat 14th us WAC students (Allison, Erik, and myself) went to Waterford for the day.  I love our little day trips.  We don't have to worry about packing or finding a place to sleep at night.  We make some PB&J sandwiches and head out for a fun filled day.  Also some of the places we visit don't have a whole lot to occupy a whole weekend.  

Anyway we spent our saturday exploring Waterford.  Unfortunately the biggest attraction, Waterford Crystal Factory, is closed after it went bankrupt and all the employees lost their pensions and started protesting.  So instead we went to the Waterford Museum of Treasures, Reginald's Tower, the People's Park, and finally another small art museum.

We left around 9am again and we got to Waterford around 11am.  The museum was right next to the Information center so we decided to go through there first.  It had a lot on Viking history.

  Waterford was one of first and largest Viking settlements in Ireland, next to Dublin.  Waterford

 is also a coastal city and it's closer to the main land.  Since I am taking a Vikings class this semester I was very interested learning more about their history.  Again I love Ireland because I got some really funny pictures with some

 props.  You can see me on a throne that I snuck onto...that red rope would not stop me :)  My favorite part of the museum was on the first floor we found this little room with benches, oars, and a front part of a Viking long boat.  As were taking pictures in the room, the door shuts automatically and this 

video starts to play.  This big face of an old man appears in front of us and 

the benches start to sway side to side.  We were not prepared for this!  It was suppose to symbolize the long voyage the Vikings embark on during their travels.  It was really fun!  

So after we learned some more Irish history we went out

 into the city to find Reginald's tower and eat lunch.  Near the water they had some nice benches and we stopped to eat our sandwiches.  Again we had another rain free day but it was a little cloudy...I'll take it!

Waterford used to be surrounded entirely by stone walls and towers.  Reginald's tower was closest to the water and it still stands intact.  It was a small little tower with 3 floors and some small exhibits.  The first

 picture up above is when I found this little whole in the tower lol.  I love exploring, it makes me feel like a little kid :)

The tower did not take a lot of time so we decided to go to the park and hang out for a while.  They had a nice fountain and more stuff to climb on lol.

We saw some exercise stuff and I tried to work on my triceps by doing to dips.  I realized my arms are not quit strong enough.  

After we went to the park we stopped by the art gallery and saw the exhibits there...it was only two on display so it didn't take a lot of time.  

We headed back to Cork on the 4pm bus.  It was not as productive as Limerick but we still had a good time.  I'm just happy I got to see another part of Ireland.  We still have to get to Dublin and Belfast.  Those are the last two big places we want to go.  I'm just glad Ireland is so small.

This coming Saturday we going to try and plan another day trip to Baltimore Ireland!  I'm so excited...not cause it's any major place or anything...just because it's Baltimore Ireland...it just sounds like fun.  They also have a ferry out to one of the Island and we might try and make it out to there.  Then next thursday the 26 Allison, Erik, and I are going to Scotland for 5 days!  I'm so excited!  Everyone I've talked to says it's suppose to be beautiful...it will probably be freezing though lol.  I only have 6/7 weeks of classes left...I can't believe how fast everything is going.  Next thing I know I'll be back on the Shore eating Crab cake sandwiches, mac and cheese, and driving my car again lol.

Miss you all!  

Limerick

Hello My Fellow Americans!

Sorry again it has been a really long time since I've updated.  I'm a little behind...

I turned in two papers last thursday and another one today.  I only have one more left due this thursday.  I feel so relieved to have these out of the way before my bigger trips to Scotland and London which are coming up soon.

I'm also sick again for my second time being here.  I think my immune system is still adjusting...hopefully this will be it.  (knock on wood)

I had a lot of work due these past two weeks.  Other then that things have been pretty calm.  

Saturday the 7th Allison, Erik and I went to Limerick for the day.  It was a very productive day trip.  We went to King John's Castle, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Hunt Museum, and an art gallery.

We left around 9 in the morning and it was a hour and a half bus ride to Limerick.  I've become very familiar with the bus system here.  I haven't taken the bus this much since high school lol.  Some of the trips are really bad...I've learned not to sit in the back or else I feel sick.

So our first stop in Limerick was at St. Mary's Cathedral.  It is the oldest building in Ireland that is still used for it's original purpose.  They still have mass there every sunday.  The inside was very pretty...though not as grand as some of the Cathedrals in England it was still nice.  You can tell Ireland is very proud of their history no matter what the size.  

After we were finished there we went to King John's Castle.  This was definitely the highlight of my day.  I love history so much and this was such a treat for me.  They had a short little video 

about the history of the castle before we went into the court yard.  One of my favorite things 

about Ireland is there lack of security.  I managed to get some really funny pictures with some of the props and

 displays.  We had a really great time there.  Also at the top of one of towers we got a great view of the city. 

 After we were finished exploring the castle we headed to the hunt museum.  This museum is from a families private collection of artifacts. 

 They had a lot of ancient history including Rome, Greek, and even Egpyt.  But the majority of the exhibits had to do with Irish history.  Unfortunately I do not have any photos from the museum because there was no camera allowed and unlike most other places they were very serious about the no photos.  We walked around for about an hour and ate lunch in the cafe before heading back into the city.

Our final destination was the Limerick art gallery.  Before we went inside though we walked through this park that was right next to the gallery.  It was a beautiful day out, very sunny and comfortable.  The art gallery was really great because it was free :) and that is always a good thing.  It was more modern art but still very interesting.  This one collection was drawings on pieces of trash. 

 It was really funny stuff.  My favorite was these charcoal drawings done on one of walls.  It made me want to draw really badly.

We headed back to Cork around 5 or so and had a relaxing evening.  Surprisingly I do not go out much on the weekends.  My friends and I prefer going out during the week because things are less packed.  I've gotten really close with my roommates and I'm making some really good friends here.  It makes it alot easier when you're with other people going through the same experiences.  I really lucked out in having 5 of the best roommates possible.  I thought for sure with 6 girls in one place we would have problems, but so far we haven't had a single one.

We are all really good about buying stuff for the apartment together and we all share alot.  Some of the girls have been getting care packages from home with treats but we all share...it's surprising what things they don't have here.  American peanut butter is really hard to find!  My grilled cheeses aren't the same either...no one makes them better then my mom...I just don't have that special something lol.

Anyway...I'll be updating again soon about out trip Sat. 14 to Waterford soon!

Love you all!

Galway, Connemara, and the Aran Islands

Hey Everyone!

It's been a while since I've updated.  I'm a little behind due to school.  I have 4 papers coming up next week so I've been a little distracted.  We went to Galway the weekend of the 23.

Anyway I'm ready to tell you all about my amazing trip to Galway .  Galway is probably the

 farthest we've traveled since we've been here.  I

t was a four hour bus ride and not very fun.  The city of Galway is very lively and exciting with a really pretty city center and alot of activity.  Friday night after we got settled and ate at the local Supermacs(fast food) we met up with some friends from school.  We had a really fun night.  

On Saturday we headed to the information office in the city.  They have a bunch of tours and information and maps.  We jumped onto a bus that was doing the Connemara tours.  We wanted to see Kylemore Abbey and some of the scenery.  The tour lasted from 11am-5pm and it was stunning the whole time.  We saw alot of mountains and there was even snow on top. 

 Down

 below you can see some mountains and a lake.  It was cloudy on Saturday and only very light rain but overall it was a very good day concerning weather.

Halfway on our trip we reached Kylemore Abbey which was the highlight of the day.  It was originally a castle but was later bought by Nuns and turned into a private girls boarding school.  We only got to see a little of the inside but I got some great outside pictures.  The abbey was on this beautiful lake and behind it were some mountains.  There was also a small Gothic style church near the school.

The tour guide was very informative and I learned alot of local stories and history.  One town we stopped in had this statue in the center and the tour guide told us that the statue served no purpose other then to attract people.  He said "When people see a statue they think it's important.  So they stop take pictures and maybe stay to grab a drink or a sandwich."  I think that's a smart idea when you're in the middle of nowhere.  After we got back to the city we ate at subway (we are so cheap when we travel) and headed back to our hotel.  We had to get up early the next day to take the ferry to the Aran Islands.

Now the Aran Islands only have one ferry that goes out in the morning and one ferry back at night and the ferry is about 45 mins away from the city so you have to take a bus.  We got up around 8 am (very early for us young people) to get to the bus.  The ferry ride to the Island was amazing.  The water was so beautiful and there were virtually no clouds out that day.  We couldn't had planned it better ourselves.  We decided to rent bikes and ride around the island ourselves. 

 It was so beautiful out we wanted to go at our own pace.  We stopped at a few beaches and collected some more rocks. 

 One of the beaches had weird rock formations it's hard to describe.  It was just so amazing!  The Aran Islands is my favorite place so far.  The combination of good weather, bike riding, and breath taking scenery just made it a perfect day.  We stopped at a few small historic sites.  One was a old church and the another was called the seven churches.  We didn't get to make it up to one of the forts because of our bikes but we were still satisfied. 

We made it back to the ferry with time to spar so we walked around till 5pm when the ferry departs.  Then we waited for the bus to come pick us up a little after 6pm.  Now we believed that the last bus to Cork was 8:05pm so we thought we were going to be fine.  But when we got to the station we learned that the last bus to Cork was actually 6:05pm.  We were not very happy about this...we had to go back to our hotel and stay another night...ugh!  We got up Monday morning at 6:30am for the first bus back to Cork.  We all slept the whole bus ride and luckily I did not have class till 4pm and Allison doesn't have class at all on Mondays.  Erik however missed his morning class...but we all decided it was worth it to see the Aran Islands.  It wasn't possible to get back from the Islands and catch the last bus.  

The weekend was still a great success...we had great weather and saw alot of Galway sights.

We went to Limerick for the day just this past Saturday and I'll update my blog from that trip later this week.  We won't be going anywhere this coming weekend because of our papers coming up.  We are planning on going to see a musical at the Cork Opera house this weekend and maybe explore Cork more.

I have gotten alot of requests for school pictures and I'll be sure to take some soon.  I keep forgetting about the school and that I have classes.  Erik, Allison and I also recently bought tickets to Edinburgh and London so we're very excited for those trips.

On a side note school is going really well and I'm really enjoying my classes.  My favorite class has to be my Vikings....or maybe my Pagans to Christians....or Hitler and Nazism (the teacher is hilarious and really entertaining).  I'm also taking a yoga class twice a week which I love.  Anyway I'm having an amazing time here.  I really like my flatmates and my new friends!

Should update again soon!

Thank you all!

Cheers!  

Erica

Blarney Castle

Hello my fellow Americans!

I hope you all are doing well.  I finally got my photos up of Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone.  Erik, Allison and I went to Blarney Castle and explored the ancient ruins and grounds.

Here on the left is me kissing the famous Blarney Stone for some special Irish good luck.  It was terrifying...if you can see from the photo it is a long way down.

The castle was really fun...you were free to roam around and we found lots of corridors and narrow passages.  My favorite room had to be the murder hole.  It is a little room with a hole in the floor.  Apparently if unwanted guests were 

coming in someone could throw rocks and other dangerous objects at them through the hole.  I thought that was very funny lol.

On the right is my best view of the castle.  On the left side of the picture is the watch tower and

 we walked all the way to the top of the castle to reach the Blarney stone.

There was alot of grounds for us to explore.  We found some caves, the battlements(also known as a defense wall) and a dungeon.  The three of us also discovered the the Blarney Mansion that is still occupied today so we weren't allowed inside.  I have decided that mom and I should buy the mansion and move there lol...hint hint mom!

We walked along this trail behind the mansion to a lake on the back grounds.  It was a little flooded from the rain but it was still a pretty sight.  

We were very lucky in that the rain managed to stay away our whole time on the Blarney grounds.  It only rained during our bus ride to Blarney and the way back to Cork.  I was very happy about a successful day of sight seeing.  I hope my Irish luck will stick with me throughout the rest of travels.  Although asking for less rain in Ireland is like asking for less sun in the desert.

Allison, Erik and I are planning our trip to Galway this weekend.  We're hoping to do a tour of the Kylemore Abbey one day and the Aran Islands on another day.  I wish we could spend more time there but hopefully we'll get alot in!  

Thank you all for being interested in my travels!  It's very exciting to share my experiences with so many!

You are all in my thoughts!

-Erica