Into the Emerald Isle

I did so much in Ireland I don’t even know where to start. I had a really great time. The country was beautiful, the cities were lively, and the Guinness was fresh. I met really cool people as well. I’ll just run through everything I did and go into some of it in detail.

I left for Ireland on March 21^st with Paul Russell. I was actually in the same suite with Paul freshman year; we both were originally planning on going to Ireland alone until we realized we both were going of course… So we decided to travel together. He wasn’t the most adventurous or wise travel buddy—he read alone at night and rushed through a lot of the places we visited. Ryan Air was the airline we took. It is really cheap and they generally run on time. It’s a free for all trying to get seats on the plane because they don’t assign them to you on your boarding pass. The flight only took 40 minutes.

We arrived in Dublin airport and spent the night there. I met some Americans on their way out, so we chatted and hung out until the early hours of the morning, when I caught a City Link Bus (really affordable) to Galway city on the opposite side of the country. Galway was my favorite city. It’s right on the bay and very lively. The main street was a pedestrian street where every other building was a pub if not a restaurant. The hostel we stayed at was called the Nimmos (never ever book there). We were roomed with some American tourists; they were juniors in college and I went out with them the first night to go to a pub and hear some authentic Irish pub music (all of the music was live)!

The next day we booked a bus tour with Lally tours to see the Burrens (which means the rocky lands) and the Cliffs of Moher (not sure what that means it’s just an amazing place). We saw a burial site, Aillwee Caves, and Doolin as well. I bought a Claddagh ring in Doolin so that I would have something similar to my parents’ wedding rings. My favorite site was definitely the cliffs. I walked along the main path of the site until I reached a sign that read “Please do not cross this sign” so I did… So many people venture beyond the sign that their feet pressed the earth flat into a dirt path that is as solid as stone. I walked about a half a mile to one of the highest peaks where I unzipped my jacket stretching my new fleece wings as wide as I could, stood about three feet from the edge and leaned into the wind allowing the updrafts to hold my footing. Dangerous, slightly, but simply breathtaking.

After two nights we took another bus to Cork. It was quiet on Monday because of the bank holiday. McDonalds wasn’t even open… But here is where I met one of the most interesting people I met on the trip. His name was Scott. He was a young Englishmen from Manchester who looked more Irish than any Irish person I saw the whole week. He had a ginger complexion, red hair, and a hooked nose. Mistakenly thinking he was a ‘native,’ (Allan will appreciate that jargon) I asked him for directions to the local TI. He had no clue, but together we found it. Later in the day we ran into him again, being one of the few people on the streets in this dead city. We all had lunch, and then we planned on meeting for dinner at St. Patrick’s Bridge (literally a bridge where we rendezvoused). After dinner, Paul returned to the hostel, while Scott and I went out to Brewery Bars. We picked the Franciscan Well, which just had a beer fest a few days earlier. It was really fun and the beer was all made right on location. After, we parted ways and the next day Paul and I went to Blarney to see the castle and the grounds. Blarney is really worth a visit. There is a lot to do on the grounds of the castle. Our last night at the hostel was slow but I met some South Africans and Australians. We talked about our home countries.

The bus ride to Dublin was long and it rained all day and everyday we were there. But I didn’t let that put a damper on things. We really had to stretch our imagination to make Dublin work for us. There are some worthwhile sites like the Guinness factory and Trinity College (Book of Kells), but really not much else—St. Patrick’s Cathedral was under slight renovation but there was scaffolding everywhere. Paul and I definitely had the best Hostel experience in Dublin. We met really cool people, I played chess with an Italian chess wizard, played cards, the receptionist gave me a ticket to see a live DJ, which was sweet, and we met an American girl name Camey who was traveling with her mother all over Europe. They were a nice breath of fresh air from all the Europeans. Paul and I finally learned how to eat cheaply while traveling—it’s called Tesco, the value store, and microwaves or ovens in the hostel kitchen. 3 euros we had a full dinner! The Guinness tour was well worth the money. We got a free pint of fresh Guinness which covers half the price (maybe more, because it was so damn delicious) and you get a tour. Normally a pint = 5 Euro in bars!

The last day it was raining and Paul and I were seriously out of options so we headed to the airport five hours early. But that was alright I learned how to make friends in airports. Learned another card game from a group of Americans called 10-1. As soon as I got back to Wroxton I ran to the North Arms for food and a warm welcome from Gary and Nicky! Traveling is really fun, but exhausting. I went to sleep as soon as I returned to the Abbey because I eagerly awaited Carrie’s arrival. She was in Italy all week. The whole week cost just under 900 American dollars.

The Paris Trip

The days leading up to the Paris trip were semi eventful. March 4^th was Steve’s Birthday. He, like Josh, drank a yard of beer to mark the occasion. But the trip to Paris was approaching quickly and everybody was trying to do laundry. Now, it wasn’t that I was waiting to the last minute to get ready for Paris, I was just waiting to the last possible moment to do laundry (it costs a lot). I had no underwear for the next day let alone enough clothes for an entire extended weekend. Because I couldn’t use the laundry facilities at school, I had to take Nicky up on her offer to do laundry at the Pub. Surprisingly they allowed me to do two full loads and didn’t charge me a dime—sorry pence. Gary even gave me a pair of his old jeans so that I could wash the ones I was wearing. I even told him I would wear my sweats but he insisted. I asked if they would autograph the jeans as a souvenir. Nicky and Gary are awesome human beings.

The next day I had a class trip. We went to Oxford, to watch the Birmingham Royal Ballet. They were performing three suites in honor of Duke Ellington (the Jazz composer). The Shakespeare Suite was the main reason for going, but I enjoyed the Orpheus Suite much more. I have never been to a ballet before, and I would have to say that it is a rather impressive art form. These dancers were incredibly agile and graceful. They had complete control over their bodies; and when two of them came together, the way they played off of each other and moved together defied physics.

I was only able to take a quick nap that night before hopping on a bus at 2 in the morning. We drove to Paris using the Chunnel. What a marvel. The bus drove up into a railcar and a train rocketed 95 miles/hour under the English Channel and plopped us out onto French soil. It looked like something from a Sci-fi movie. We stopped at many World War I sites on the way to Paris. I highly recommend going to see the Canadian War Memorial if you are in France. The thing reminded me of the Kings of Old in Lord of the Rings (the two statues at the edge of that waterfall). It was the most impressive site we visited. We arrived at our hotel after being lost for a few hours. We really only had enough energy to find a place to eat dinner before passing out with my roommates Josh and Steve. The room, however, was cramped and there was no shower curtain for the bathtub, but our windows did provide access to an awesome rooftop that we used to relax out on. A lot of our peers joined us when we told them about it.

The next day I went on a bus tour provided by the school coach service, I spent a lot of money on food, and I figured out what my traveling souvenirs are going to be—patches—I have a Paris and France patch, I just need to grab a London, England, and UK patch to catch up. I climbed to the top of Notre Dam; it was a far better experience and view (believe it or not) than climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I would recommend just doing the cathedral. The Eiffel Tower was really just nice to look at. I went into the Louvre, saw the Obelisk and the Arc de Triumph… pretty much everything. The last night we were there I took Carrie out for a romantic dinner. I even bought a nice shirt for the occasion in a flee market. We walked to Chez Clement in the Opera district. Carrie was embracing the roses I bought her while pinching the back of my arm, which she does when she is excited. She loved them; no one ever bought her flowers before. We ate Escargot, had a duck entree, and shared a crème brulee for desert. The best dinner I had in a long time…

Tips:
Paris was a very beautiful city and almost everyone spoke English.
Don’t talk to Bulgarians who ask if you can speak English, they are annoying beggars or pickpockets.
Not all French people suck asshole, only the non-white French gave me problems (probably immigrants from Pakistan or somewhere around there).
The Paris subway is faster, cheaper, and easier than taking a cab before 10pm.

The bus ride home was funnier than all hell. Brian and Stewart, the two bus drives, were probably the most cynical comedians I have ever met. They worked well off the other. Brian loved singing his own lyrics to songs generally expressing his love to Wendy Hart, our professor chaperone. They loved using mildly gay humor, pretending the two of them developed feelings for each other over the weekend. I am definitely going to adapt them into characters for something I write in the future.

Finally, I want to catch you up to date. I have been writing papers non-stop. I have 4 papers due by the end of next week before I leave for Ireland on travel break. Each one needs to be about 1500 words. My brain is fried. In fact, I am writing this to take a break and recollect myself. I’ll talk to you all after Ireland.

The Wroxton Hooligans

In England it’s Mum’s Day, so Happy Mum’s Day Mom, I miss you a lot, I hope you are enjoying my blog. This week was pretty drab, but we celebrated two birthdays. This past Tuesday was a girl name Jamie’s birthday. Jamie is like everyone’s mother because she acts like one: asking if we have a coat, making sure we don’t leave things lying around outside, etc. She invited everyone to celebrate downstairs in the Abbey basement. We all played drinking games, ping-pong, pool, darts, and chess. We also brought music down there and danced. It was a unique class bonding experience. The second birthday was Nicky’s, the bartender at the North Arms. My small click has become very good friends with the North Arms family and patrons. So we stayed there real late last night and celebrated her 26^th birthday. We made her a birthday card and bought her a cake; I gave her one of my farkel dice games (her and Gary loved the game when I showed them). She gave out free drinks and we all acted like nuts. At one point in the night I was dancing with Nicky and at another point I was stripping down to my boxers because some locals didn’t think I had the balls… ha—showed them. Both Birthdays were extremely fun.

Carry came down with pink eye this week. She’s getting better and I’m taking good care of her. I administer her eye-drops because she hates giving them to herself—one of the cuter things about her.

I went to Warwick Castle today. It was more toursity than Kenilworth, but just as exciting. I climb to the top of a tower for an amazing view. I went with a group of people into a haunted tour, which explained how Sir Fulke Greville was killed by his servant while actors scared the hell out of most of us. Then I went through a wax museum called Kingmaker. The exhibits were completely open to walk around in. I felt as though I was a time traveler walking through a frozen bit of the medieval time period. Madame Tassauds, the famous wax artist, was in charge of this project. Outside, there was a peacock garden, where I got so close to a peacock I could have kissed it. I was even thinking about sitting next to one on a park bench.

Yesterday was probably my best day here so far. The class went to the Birmingham City F.C. football match against the Tottenham Hotspurs. I bought body and face paint earlier this week for the game. Pat, Mike, and I, decided to paint the jerseys on our bodies. Two hours later, I would say, 65% of the class had face paint on. I did a bang-up job on Marks face—looked like brave-heart. Keep in mind Birmingham is like 4^th to last in the league and Tottenham is like upper middle (crucial to how awesome this story gets). When we got to the stadium the bus stupidly entered into the visitor’s parking lot. There were dozens of police officers patrolling the lot. Our makeup and support was so swish that the police officers thought they stepped foot onto a Blues Bus (Birmingham’s Hooligans). They couldn’t let us off the bus. So we drove the long way round and found our seating section. We were in the corner 2^nd-4^th row to the field and there is no sun. I was freezing my nipples off. Every BC fan was awestricken by our spirit. This was how they acted on first glance; wait till you hear how they treated us after the miracle occurred. Two minutes into the game BC scores off of a header during a corner kick. Everyone went wild. I put a jacket on because it was cold—no action for the rest of the first half. I took my jacket off for the second half… another goal. I kept the jacket off, another goal in five minutes. Then I put the jacket on because I have to pee. I was stopped three times on the way to the bathroom. People grabbed my arm and yelled in drunken tones, “You need to come back mate; you’re loads of good luck!!!” “Yeah, we never win a game.” If you know me at all, you know exactly what I was thinking. “I’m painted head to toe, running around like a nut, and these people think I am a lucky Idol…I am a god!”
I sat back down and the second I took my jacket off, another goal… It was like when ever the three of us had our “jerseys” showing at the same time, BC scored. We jeered at the Hotspurs fans, waved good-bye, and chanted, “It’s all over!” Birmingham wins 4:1 and the players themselves applauded us as they left the pitch. The fans didn’t praise the players for the win, they praised us. When we were leaving on the bus, people cheered and bowed down to us. We stopped at a light on the corner of the club house. A man tried to stop the bus and offered us all free rounds… I screamed, “Stop the bus!” my people want me… Most of us want to return for another game. The picture at the top of the post I actually took from the BC website. The caption for it was, “Great Fans.” None of this story has been an exaggeration by-the-by. I LOVE ENGLISH FOOTBALL.