Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Dublin was a frenzy of green excitement. I've never seen anything like it. I tried to capture the sea of green leprechaun hats, but it was just impossible through a camera lense. My group of friends and I made shirts for the occasion. The back of mine said "Kiss me I'm a ginger" in Gaelic :) Our bus picked us up from the Uni at 8am and we arrived in Dublin right before the parade started at noon. People were all over the place; sitting ontop of stop lights, bus stops, statues, eachother's sholders, etc. My friend and I climbed ontop of a stutue to get a better view of the parade, it was incredible. They had a carnival type event with rides, and my friends and I went on one where it swings you into the sky and flips you upside down aver and over again, great views of the city :)


We eventually made our way to Temple Bar area and enjoyed a few drinks with some new friends. Everyone was exhausted by dinner time, but the bus didn't pick us back up until 1am. Overall it was an unforgettable experience and will by far be the best St. Paddy's Day ever.

Krakow, Poland

Wow, where to start?! First off, the family we stayed with was so great and helpful. Thank you Adrienne for setting it up! Anne and Tim have 3 boys: 12, 10, and 5 years old who are friends with Carsten and Lucy. They work in the American Consulate in Krakow and their job allows them to travel all over the world. Emily and I had our own room and actual beds that weren't covered in plastic!! It was the best sleep of our lives. We were so excited to go to bed every night that we didn't even go to any bars or clubs haha :) We felt like grandmas...no offense Granny.


We adventured through town and saw the Wawel Castle (pronounced Vavel) where the King and Queen of Poland used to reside. We went up inside the bell tower which felt like an attic. We had to crawl through little openings and steep stair cases. We also went to an underground museum that was just opened. The town square was built ontop of a bustling midieval city which was recently discovered. We also took a bus trip to the famous salt mines where there are statues, prayer rooms, a church, chandeliers, and amazingly detailed decorations all carved out of salt. You would think that artists came down to the mines and created them, but it was actually the miners themselves. They wanted a place to pray while at work so they began by carving a statue of the cross, Jesus, Mary, and other religious figures.

That night Emily and I had a relaxing romantic dinner for two! The currency in Poland is the zloty. One pound equals about 5 zloty, so it's REALLY cheap. We had wine, salmon with cepers, steak, pierogi, and pear pancakes with carmel and vanilla sauce. HOLY MOLY it was such a treat and it was affordable.

The next day started with a large family breakfast with waffles and 5 year old Teo running around telling us the history of Poland. We went to Auschwitz which took up the whole day. On the bus there, they showed a very horrific yet informational video of footage taken during the Holocaust. It was the most sickening part of the trip for me because it was footage taken by an 18 year old boy who is still alive and was being interviewed in the present day. The man said during the entire war, the events that took place in Auschwitz and Birkenau (Birkenau is basically an extension of Auschwits that is much bigger and had 4 gas chambers, Auschwitz only had 1), were the most horrifying images he recorded. There were parts of the video that captured doctors examining dead prisoner's bodies after the liberation. Many of them babies, toddlers, and children. It was hard to watch and I had to keep looking out the window of the bus to remind myself that the sun was shining and it was a warm beautiful day outside.
Once in the camp, we saw a what a typical block of the prisoner's living quarters looked like, Block 11 where the Nazi's experimented with inexpensive ways of exicution, punishment rooms such as the Black Room (room with total darkness), and the Standing Room (tiny room where prisoners had to crawl into and stand with up to 5 people squeezed together for weeks at a time with no food, water, or toilet).


The other most difficult part to see was the entire hallway filled with shoes on both sides. Some were high-heels, shiny men's shoes, sandels, work shoes; these were such personal items that told so much about the people who were killed. Did you know that once off the train, if you were a Jew and under the age of 14 you were automatically sent to the gas chambers without even being registered in the camp? Pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and the disabled had no chance of surviving. It is heartbreaking that most of these people believed they were just being relocated to new living quarters and would be reunited with their families and belongings after their "showers". The gas chambers looked clean and inviting from the outside. They were painted white and had flowers in the windows. The buildings were surrounded by beautiful, green, blooming trees.


After realizing they were losing the war, the Nazis tried to conceal all of their crimes by burning down and destroying the gas chambers and housing blocks. There are only burnt remains of the gas chambers, but it was impossible to destroy all the blocks. To me it seemed that living arrangements, if you can even call them that, were worse in Birkenau. The wooden bunks had straw mattresses that were infested with rats, mice, bugs, lice, disease, and human feces. Each bunk slept up to 12 people. The Nazis would come into the blocks every 2 days and drag out the people who were too sick or weak to move and take them to the gas chambers in order to make room for incoming prisoners. Their "motto" was you can stay here as long as you are working. As hearbreaking and horrifying as it was, I am very thankful I had the opportunity to experience it.


On a lighter note, that night the family, Emily, and I went out to dinner and enjoyed playing with the kids and getting icecream afterwards. It was a lovely end to our trip.

Happy March!

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Not a lot to write about these days :)

A couple weeks ago Emily, Sergio (my roommate), and I went to Belfast to visit our friend Tobi. The next day Emily's sister and 2 friends came to visit and we rented car. It was very scary because none of us has driven on the left side of the road before. Emily almost killed us 3 times but it was an adventure to say the least! I went to the Carrickfergus Rope Bridge with them which was incredible. When you look down all you see is the ocean crashing against these huge rocks. You can swing and jump on it and its really scary but fun.

Last weekend I was walking on the beach and eating fish and chips on a bench watching the surfers with my friend. It was a gorgeous day, clear skys and sunny! I realized later that I had left my wallet on the bench and walked away. It was gone when I went back to find it, so naturally I prepared myself to never see it again. But miraculously, a friendly Irish girl emailed me and said she had it! I got it back today and we had coffee together. It's true what they say, Irish people are so friendly.


Last night my friends and I went to a masquerade ball and dressed up all fancy like. Black dresses, heels, sparkling jewelry, and for our masks we all wore black sheep masks hahaha :) It was good craic, but we didn't win the best dressed prize. Also not sure why I'm making a weird face in this picture...

Emily and I go to Poland next weekend! Then to Dublin for Saint Patricks Day which will be CRAZY. They have a parade, and did you know that St. Paddy's Day is a national holiday here? Thought that was pretty great. More updates soon...

Happy Valentine's Day xoxo

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Valentine's Day :) Mine was really fun! A few of us girls and our guys friends (our new second semester family) went to an international student gathering. They had tables full of stickers, tissue paper, construction paper, slitter, buttons, confetti, and markers to make valentines with! It was great, I felt like I was in elementary school again! I suggested that we all make shoe-boxes and decorate them, but nobody had shoe boxes haha. We also made sugar cookies with chocolate hearts which were DELICIOUS. I had 3 and then a stomach ache. My friend's and I went to the student bar and watched people get auctioned off for charity. The highest bid got to take the person out on a date. My roommate Sergio signed up and got sold to a cute spanish girl!

Mom, thanks for my valentine! I love it, it was so fun opening it and having the heart confetti fall out. Love you!

I guess the only thing that was missing on my Valentine's Day was Alex :)

Also, happy belated birthday Kim! How did you celebrate? Hope it wasn't too snowy where you are.

I have a project coming up in my Food and Wine Tourism class. A partner and I are researching and presenting the food and wine of Southern Spain. I don't know much about it yet, but as soon as I'm an expert I will share all my wisdom and knowledge with you :)

Much love to you all!

Cork!

This last weekend 3 friends and I were band groupies! We hoped on a bus with some Irish friends of ours who are in a band and were heading to a music festival in Cork. It was great craic, on the bus ride there the band got their instruments out and played some tunes for us. I was so happy and it made me realize how much I'm going to miss Ireland when I leave. We all got to Cork, which is the very most southern tip of Ireland, and settled into our hostel (all 20 of us). Friday night we went to the bar that was having the traditional Irish band competition and listened to music all night! It was brilliant, I loved it. Unfortunately our band didn't win, but they should have!


Saturday Emily, Bridget, Joy-Lynne and I went exploring in the city. We found an inside market and took a bus to the Blarney Castle! The castle is famous for it's Blarney Stone at the very top. You are supposed to kiss the stone and you will have life-long eloquence. It was built in the 1400's and occupied by the Macarthy family. Queen Elizabeth actually made up the word as a way to be rude without hurting someones feelings. For example, blarney would be like asking a woman how old she was because you want to know at what age women are most beautiful. Get it? Sneaky huh :)As we walked around the grounds of the castle we kept discovering little underground passageways and what felt like secret rooms. It was such fun to try and imagine what the people were like who actually lived there. I like to imagine what went on during their lives. We climbed to the top on some VERY narrow, steep spiral stairs and kissed the Blarney Stone! We were literally the only people there because it was rainy, cloudy, cold, and in the middle of February when no tourists are in Ireland, therefore we skipped all the imaginably long lines that would have been there during summer months.
In order to kiss the stone, you have to lay down, side upside down while someone helps hold you, and reach down to kiss it. It's scary! But well worth it. Granny, Dad was saying that you've been there. Did you go upside down and kiss it? Wish we could have gone together!



Saturday night we went out to the Opera House and listened to more bands play. We struggled the next morning to wake up in the early and get back on the bus to head home Sunday. It's about a 7 hour drive, but didn't feel so long because I was entertained the whole time. After our long journey it was time for a much needed nap. Now school has started again and it's back to reality. It's not much of a reality though because I keep thinking of all the travelling left to do. I'm going to Poland March 10-13, Dublin for St. Paddy's Day, Edinburgh April 3-5, and London April 21-24. Whew, I'm going to be exhausted :)

One last thing before I go to bed: CONGRATULATIONS DAD!!! On starting a new adventure in Alaska! Like father like daughter. I'm so excited for you :) Principal Holcomb...it's got a nice ring to it.

Off to bed now, I hope you all are doing well and have a little adventure in your lives as well.

A Case of the Sniffles

I'm sick! I'm all feverish and achy, and my bed doesn't help at all. I made home made chicken noodle soup today, and I was more than pleased with how it turned out. Still nothing compared to yours, Mom. Plus it's a lot different when someone else makes it for you. I don't have that luxery here! Makes me miss home :)

This last Saturday my really great family friend, Paul, came up to visit me from Belfast. We did some touristy things like Bushmills Distillery, Giant's Causeway, walk on the beach, and a nice lunch in Portrush. What a treat it was! I found out I really like Hot Toddy. Thanks for a great weekend, Paul. Hope the rest of your trip went well.

In orchestra we're playing a peice by Richard Wagner called Siegfried Idyll. Youtube it, it sounds really beautiful but its extremely difficult to play in the key. It's growing on me though the more I listen to it. I hope all is well with everyone! Talk again soon.

Week One

I had my first class on Monday, the Food and Wine Pairing class. I'm really looking forward to learning about wine and my professor is relaxed and knowledgeable. He has travelled the world as a wine tourist! That's his job! Can you believe that actually exists? Talk about dream job...

A few nights ago a lot of the second semester kids got together. There's a picture of us all above. There are about 60 students this semester, and last semester there were 150! This semester more than half of them are American, and last semester there were only approx. 15. I was a little disappointed to learn that they're all American because I didn't study abroad in Ireland to hang out with other boring Americans haha :) They seem like nice people though.

Emily and I are planning our trip to Poland in March. We are hoping to stay with Adrienne's friends who live there which would be really amazing if that worked out. Also Mom, Adrienne has friends in Paris, Christy and Bill, so maybe when you come we could take a trip to Paris and stay with them! We might even be able to fly out of Paris. We can figure it out later.

So those of you who don't know, Easter is really late in April this year which means my university has no breaks in between this semester. We go for 12 weeks straight, and then we have 2 weeks of spring break. After the spring break we have one week of no class for "revision" week before exams start, and then the next two weeks are exams in May. That's FIVE consecutive weeks of no class that I could potentially be here with nothing to do :( Don't get me wrong, I would love to travel the world during this time, but my finances are a little low...or a lot of low :) So what I'm trying to do is instead of stay in Ireland for my exams, I'm asking my professors for an alternative exam that I can turn in either before the end of class or via email once I'm home. This way I'll come home end of April, save a bunch of money, and get to celebrate my 21st birthday at home! I'll update ya'll when I know what the end results are.

On Sunday I had a DELICIOUS dinner with my Irish host family, Pearl and Mervyn. They are really great people, both teachers who enjoy music and travelling. They have 3 kids who are all out of the house, their youngest is 23. We had a nice time visiting and eating and Pearl made a melt-in-your-mouth pie that was similar to a giant malt ball. Wow, it was amazing. It had layers of chocolate with homemade whipped cream and maltballs on top. I'm going to ask her for the recipe and make it when I'm home. Dad, they gave some great insight about how we should travel together when you come visit. They suggested renting a car in Ireland for a few days, and then leaving the car and going to Scotland without one. We'll talk more later, there's a LOT to plan! Very exciting :) They also said they want to take me to their beach trailor in Donegal! They showed me pictures of the sandy beach and huge caves that they are right next to. We'll probably go in April because that's when the weather is better. Less rain and more SUN!

I hope everyone is well and has been enjoying their January. More later!

Welcome New Students!

Last week was filled with travelling and touring cities. Meagan and I went to Derry, Belfast, Giant's Causeway, and to many Irish pubs. We managed to fit both of us in my tiny room; one on the floor, and one on the bed. It was good craic :) Above are some pictures from Giant's Causeway and Belfast adventures. The one of the mural on the wall is painted on a Protestant apartment building. We took a picture in front of it smiling, but I don't like it because I feel like nobody should feel happy looking at such seriously intimidating murals like this one.

This week Emily and I were relying on each other for company since all our first semester friends left to go home for good. It was just the two of us for a few days, and then new students started to come! We actually gave them the tour of campus and met a few of them. There are many from America and France, a few from Germany, one from Canada, Nigeria, Poland, and Mexico. All in all there were probably 60 new students that arrived yesterday, and we have many more to meet. It feels good knowing that there are other people around campus now. It's not so lonely and dead quiet. After the tour, I met with my Irish mom, Pearl, and chatted for a bit. We are going to have dinner on Sunday at their house. Tonight I have orchestra, and I get to play my own viola thank goodness. The one they provided was in poor condition.

Yesterday I met with my advisor and figured out my schedule. If all the classes are approved by my home university in Washington then I will be taking a Food and Wine Tourism class, a Business class called Organizations and People, and a Humanities class called Urban Europe. I'm VERY excited about the wine class! I talked to the professor and he is enthusiastic and helpful. Cross your fingers that it all works out!!

Home Sweet Home Away From Home

Happy new year! I am back in Ireland now. The flight back was so long, but I had my friend Meagan with me because she is visiting for 10 days! In Newark we met some guys in a band that were touring Ireland and Scotland. They had banjos and fiddles with them, and when they saw my viola they started chatting with us. I am going to try to go see them perform in Derry sometime in the next 2 weeks!

I had a wonderful 3 and a half weeks home in Seattle. Alex picked me up at the airport and we spent as much time together as possible. Christmas was wonderful as always. At home we had homemade eggs benedict for brunch and at Dad's we had orange cinnomon rolls and bacon. We eat well in this family :) New years was uneventful for me, I was sick so I watched the fireworks display at the Space Needle on tv.

I went to see Alex's house at Snoqualmie where he works and we went tubing and walked around in the snow. I also got stiches because I cut my hand! He had to take me to the Urgent Care Center and they sewed me up. It's healing really well now. Dad, BB, and I went out for a few dinners and caught up on stuff. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I keep telling myself I will see them soon and hopefully once classes start it will keep my mind busy and make time go by fast. The homesickness is already kicking in. :(

Granny, Kim, Brad, and Greg it was great skyping with you over Christmas! You look great Granny, your new Irish scarf is perfect for you.

Now all thats left to do is figure out what classes I'll be taking this semester. This week I will be a tour guide for Meagan. I think we are going to visit Belfast, Derry, and the beach! Hope she enjoys herself. Last night we took a 4 hour nap, then went bowling with some fellow study abroad students who are still here for exams. More later! These are some pictures from my time at home.

Amsterdam Adventures

Since our flight was at 6am, we had to take a taxi from Coleraine to Belfast that left at 3am. Needless to say the 6 of us pulled an all-nighter. Once we got to Amsterdam there was a blizzard outside! We couldn't even see where we were going because the snow was blowing in our faces. It was miserable and all of us thought, "What are we doing here? Take me back to Ireland so I can sleep." Eventually we got on the right tram to take us to our hostel, but after about 15 minutes it stopped because the tram ahead of us broke down because of the snow...perfect. Miraculously we made it to our hostel and got warm and dry. We walked around the city and went to a Christmas market, coffee shop, and a Greek restaurant.


The next day we went on a canal tour of the city, which is surprisingly gorgeous. I had no idea. It is similar to Venice with all the canals, but I think its prettier, more lively, and diverse. We also went to Anne Frank's house where she lived for 2 years in hiding with 7 other people. It was really interesting, but the whole house was empty. Otto Frank, Anne's father who survived the camps, wanted to leave it empty forever. That part was a little disappointing, but I saw her original diary with her hand writting and doodles in it! It was amazing.
Once she filled up her diary she started writing on pieces of paper and created short stories that she wanted to eventually publish. Her, her sister, and her mother all died in a concentration camp, but Otto went back to the house to collect Anne's diary and decided to publish it for her. It's a touching story. There are clips of him talking about her after her death in the museum. He said he never knew that she had such deep, sad thoughts about the political situation at the time because she was only 11 years old. Its very sad to think about some of her quotes. One of them she says she longs to ride a bike, run outside and yell, sing, play, and feel free again.


Monday we saw the red light district. It is so insane! There are girls standing in full length windows waiting for people to come in their room. Then they just pull the curtain close. I still can't get over it, but it was interesting to say the least. The bridges in Amsterdam are lit up and provide a romantic atmostphere. I noticed too that everyone travels via bike. There are bicycle parking lots!
It was a fun trip, and now I am a broke college student again :) Good news is I come home in 2 days!! Saturday the 11th, I can't wait to see everyone. There is about 7 inches of snow here so it will be a nice break from all the slush that I have to trudge through. And people say it never snows in Ireland...liars.

Turkey and Chocolate

Dear Family,

TURKEY! Happy belated Thanksgiving. I talked to many of you on Thursday and it sounded like you were either in the middle of cooking or taking a nap. My friends and I had a fun dinner togher. We invited some of our Belgium ,German, Canadian, and Irish friends over so all in all we had 22 people, 2 turkeys, and a table full of desserts. Of course, we had all the other neccessary dishes as well. I wanted to share the gravy song with them but didn't get the chance to. Don't worry, I sang it with Mom, Laurie, Tootsie, Evan, and BB through skype :)

I would also like to thank you for passing down the strong love and passion for not only music, arts, academics, adventures, and food, but most importantly chocolate. Thank you Judy for your very 'sweet' package :) I finally received it and I've enjoyed tasting all the treats! My friends will love you as much as I do when I share with them. Every April I get to enjoy one of my favorite kinds of chocolate in the shape of a Cadbury Egg. To my surprise, Ireland's version of Hershey's IS Cadbury! Needless to say, Cadbury and I have formed a special relationship that will end in sorrow as I get on the plane to come home.

In 2 days I go to Amsterdam! I get back on Tuesday and then I only have 3 days until I come home for Christmas! I will fill you in on my trip when I get back. Enjoy the week to come.

Galway and the Aran Islands!

Incredible! Magical! Perfect :) I love Galway. This has been my favorite trip so far because our hostel was great, it was just three of us travelling together, the city is friendly and cute, there were breathtaking sites, and plenty of adventure. Galway is in the south of Ireland on the west coast. James Joyce's wife, Nora Barnacle, lived in Galway. We went to see her house, it was very modest looking. It was a small, two level house that was crammed in between a whole row of identical looking houses. It had a blue door and cute lacy curtains, which I'm SURE are the same ones she had in the early 1900's :) We couldn't go inside because the tours were closed for the season.

The first day we were there we went to the grand opening of the town's Christmas market! It was a huge attraction and so much fun. There were french crepes, spanish candies, german sausages, danish dooughnuts, a bunch of handcrafted items, Christmas carols, Christmas lights, little kids running around, and everyone was so friendly.

The next day we took an hour ferry ride to the Aran Islands and took a bus tour. I would have much rather rented bikes and gone out on our own, but it was real cold and windy. The bus was fun though because we learned some history and we stopped to get out and explore whenever we wanted. The first thing I noticed were the incredible looking stone walls everywhere! There are huge pastures filled with knee high hand made stone walls from the 1600's. There is no concrete filling to hold the rocks together, they are just balancing on eachother. Isn't that absolutely amazing that they have lasted this long? These stone walls cover the entire island, and I learned why they were built in the first place. My first thought was they were meant for dividing properties, but this reason actually came secondary. When settlers first came to the island, it was covered in sheets of limestone. They needed green grassy pastures to farm, so what they did was break apart the limestone into little peices in order to clear out room for grass to grow. Since they were so heavy, there was no other way of getting rid of them than to stack them ontop of eachother, thus producing thousands of miles of winding stone walls.

We continued on and saw a few thatched roof houses (the roofs are replaced every 60 years or so), some sheep and cows, and ruins of 17th century stone houses. Our first stop was the fort of Dun Aengus. It was built to protect the villages if ever they were invaded. It is a huge semi-circle wall that stops literally at the edge of the 330 feet high cliffs that jet out into the ocean. This was the most spectacular and magical feeling I have ever felt standing at the edge of these cliffs. There are no ropes, fences, or signs that stop you from going right up to the edge (and right over the edge if you're not careful). All you can see beyond the cliffs is the ocean and the sunset :) I took tons of pictures, but I just wish everyone could have experienced it like I did because it's impossible to capture that feeling in a photograph. Afterwards we went to a cafe (the same cafe that was filmed in Leap Year) and had some Irish stew and vegetable soup to warm us up. We went to the 3 tiny shopping stores there and I bought a hand made crouchet headband from the nice little lady that that makes them.

Along our next busride we spotted some seals and snapped a few photos. We then got some coffee, got back on the ferry, and made it home to our friendly and conveniently located hostel. I used the last of my own money on this trip! So thank you Mom, Dad, Granny, and everyone who has helped me pay for this! I am now waiting for my 400 pound check from my financial aid to get cashed :) Dad I haven't checked my mail yet for your package but I will tomorrow. I'm sure it's here by now! So exciting!

I can only post 4 or 5 pictures on this blog, but if you want to see all my Ireland photos, go to this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050463&id=1578300060&l=b6cfd6158b

Just copy and paste it into your Internet browser.

Essay Shmessay...

Today I been very productive. I went to class all day, got home and cleaned my room very thoroughly, made some food, watched an episode of Glee, and pretty much anything besides my essay that I need to start. I've run out of things to distract myself with, any ideas?

Tonight Siri, Emily and I are getting together to plan a trip to Gallway and the Aran Islands. London isn't going to work out this semester because it was too expensive. I will definitely go in the spring though! Next weekend we might all go to Belfast and do the touristy stuff there...and see Harry Potter!! 2 of my friends are English majors and they worship the Harry Potter series. Dad, I will go again with you when I get home, since its tradition and all :)

Right now I'm living off left over lasagna, ham sanwiches, and this really dilicious cereal I found. But my milk is about to expire, so cereal won't be an option. Haha I'm trying to wait till Saturday to go grocery shopping because there's a free bus that comes- instead of paying to take a taxi.

Thanks Mom and Paula for your Halloween cards! They are hanging up on my wall. Alright, its about time for my skype date. Update you again soon!

Wait...I'm here to study??

Well this week was a toughy. I managed to finish 2 essays on time and now I only have one more to worry about that is due in 2 weeks. If ever you need someone to educate you on Oscar Wilde's life or what Yeats' sybolism is in his poetry, I'm your girl. Thursday my friends and I went out to celebrate our completed work. This week our classes start again, and I have been trying to figure out what courses to take next semester. I need 3 classes that are pre-requisites for my Global Wine Studies degree so hopefully Ulster will offer them. If not, second semester is going to be semi-unproductive. I am going to meet with my advisor to figure it all out this week. Cross your fingers!

On Saturday night, the international students and families gathered to learn traditional Irish dances! They were more like jigs, it was a lot of fun and surprisingly a good work out. After we learned about 10 different dances, we watched 2 girls dance something similar to Riverdancing. I have ALWAYS loved Riverdance! I remember being on Dad's couch and watching them dance on TV. He was always so leniant with the TV remote :) Thanks, Dad. After the dancing was over, can you guess what we did? We had tea and cookies hahaha, I love this country. They have tea for every gathering- for a break during long classes, after church, after meetings, after dinner, before dinner, during dinner...

Well anyway, I have been in this bad habit of going to bed late (4 or 5am) and sleeping until 2pm- it's terrible I know! It is hard because there is not much to do during the day so I have no reason to wake up early. But lately I have been feeling bad, getting homesick, getting bored, and sad. I decided that my sleeping patterns have a whole lot to do with that, so this morning I woke up at 9:30am, went to work out, made a nice breakfast, went rowing (it was SO rough and very frustrating), had dinner with friends, and went to a mass with them and sang church songs. Overall, I feel so much better today. Being productive and busy is an important part of keeping my mind entertained while I'm here since there is not much time spent on school.

That about sums up my week. How was your week? Anything exciting happen? Keep me up to date! I miss all of you. I'll see some of you in only FIVE WEEKS! :)

Bye for now

Happy Halloween!

Well hello again, my Halloween was very fun. It was more of a Halloweek because there were activities every night of the week. Monday there was a dress up party at my school, Wednesday was dress up night at a dance club we go to, and Sunday was a huge celebration in Derry. Yesterday I dressed up as a lumberjack man wearing a plaid shirt, an axe, and a big ol' mustache. There was a bus that took people from the university to Derry, which is about an hour drive. We got there and watched this really fun parade and everyone was dressed up and dancing! There were a bunch of spooky floats and people on stilts walking around :) I saw a bagpipe group in the parade and took a video of them playing. After the parade we went by the river and watched fireworks for a while, it was so pretty and exciting. Apparently Halloween is a big deal in Ireland. There were a lot of kids and parents that were dressed up, but I didn't see any trick-or-treating. I think once the Troubles started trick-or-treating stopped, which makes a lot of sense. We all socialized and danced for a bit and came back to Coleraine. I saw Carsten's toilet costume, thats hilarious! He should have won something for that. And Adrienne, I didn't know Lucy had glasses! She looks very intelligent for a 6 year old.

Today I have been in the library for 9 hours working on my essays. I have 2 essays due on Thursday that are worth 50% of my grade. Geesh! I finished one today and hopefully will start and finish the other tomorrow. Wish me luck. I don't have classes this week since it's study/reading/slack off week.

I book a flight to Amsterdam with my friends the first weekend in December, and Emily and I are planning to go to London the last week of November. Sometimes I forget that I'm here to study, but weeks like this one reminds me...don't worry Dad :)Hope all is well! Remember, don't forget to comment because you should all know how to do it now!

Pictures!

The first one is of me and my costume. Dad said it looks like him in 1974 just with longer hair :)

The second is of my friends and I waiting for the parade. Emily was Sandy from Greese, Siri and Alanna were greek goddesses, and Erica was a hippy.

Third is of the pretty fireworks!

The last one is of our pumpkin carving night. Mine is the one with a goofy face.

Lazy Day

Today I slept in far too late to tell anybody. Lets just say I had breakfast around 2pm. I got up and went rowing for an hourish with our soon to be new coach. His name is Chris and he coaches the younger team just down the river. That team has been rowing since they were probably in middle school :) This upcoming weekend, Halloween weekend, the team and I are going to meet up with the other campus' rowing teams and have a night out together. Should be some good craic. I came home and read and began to feel a little homesick. I get homesick when I'm not busy and I am alone for most of the day. I try not to think about it and focus on my school work or cleaning my room. It's really not that far away till I can see everyone again! My friends and I are trying to plan a trip to Poland to see Auschwitz. We are all very excited even though the trip may not be extremely happy. Mom I know you visited Poland with Gigi when you graduated. Where did you go? Tell me about it! If anyone has any friends or family or people they know that live there it would be neat to meet them.

I went shopping in Derry yesterday with Emily. We bought a ridiculous amount of clothes and shoes and spent a ridiculously small amount of money :) It was great! I bought some 4 inch high heels so I can fit in with the Irish girls when we go out. Emily and I have to practice walking in them so we don't make fools of ourselves. Hopefully when I come back I will look very European and high-fashion haha :)

It is getting so cold here, whenever I go outside and am not wearing a huge winder coat with gloves and a hat I am chilled to the bone for the rest of the day. Brrr!!

I'll leave you with some more interesting facts about Irish lifestyle:
They pronounce the letter 'H' as 'Haytch'
Usually, when someone pronounces it 'Haytch' they are from the republic. This is another way people can figure out where you're from/what religion you probably are. Freaky huh?!
They don't use different flavored salad dressing, they usually only have one that is similar to something like mayo, water, and sugar. Blech...
No one has ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Irish peanut butter is terrible compared to American Jiff peanut butter.
They only have about 3 options for sugared cereal: Frosted flakes, chocolate hazulnut crisps, and honeynut cheerios. Out of any country in the world, I though Ireland would at least have Lucky Charms.
Most of their fresh fruits and vegetables are pre-packaged.
Their grading scale is different. A mark of 63-73 is an A, 48-62 is a B, 33-47 is a C, and so on. I won't worry about the rest of the marks because I won't get below a B :)
They call the marks First, Upper Second, Lower Second, Third, and Fail.

Hope everyone is well! Talk to you all soon! If you want to skype me, my skype name is ellie.holcomb I'd love to hear from you.

Te amo Espana!

Yet again, it has been a while since I've written and I apologize! I feel busy all the time which is odd since I only have 9 hours of class a week. What to catch you up on? How about my trip to SPAIN!!! I had a blast, it was so much fun. The weather was perfect. It was cool in the mornings and evenings, but in the afternoon it got hot sometimes. Even if it was just warm the sun was always out which was a nice change from dear old cloudy Coleraine. The hostel we stayed at was the nicest one I've seen. Each room had it's own mini kitchen and living room, all newly furnished with ikea furtiture and artsy photographs on the wall.

The first day, after eventually figuring out how to ride the metro, we went on a bike tour and saw all the major sites. It was brilliant as the Irish would say! Our tour guide was a girl from Arizona that decided she wanted to up and move to Europe and do something exciting with her life before she turned 30. She was funny and very knowledgeable. We biked to the castle which used to be the home of Isabel and Fernando in the late 1400's. Isabel was the woman who funded Cristopher Columbus' trip to sail arcoss the world in order to discover America. Archaeologists recently discovered an underground city underneath the castle which visitors are allowed to walk through. These workshops, factories, and rooms that were found were for washing, dying, and drying clothes, making wine, salting fish, going to church, and shops. You could see the 'very modern' drainage system that ran through the little city. I snuck some pictures you can see at the top. We also saw Sangrada Familia which is a cathedral that looks like a drippy sandcastle. It is very impressive and extremely intricate. We went to the beach at the end and we got to learn about the man made beaches that were created for when the Olympics were held in Barcelona. We went out on the town that night with some people from our hostel and drank calimocho, which is red wine mixed with coke. Sounds disgusting but it is actually quite tastey.

The next day we were all tired and decided to spend the whole afternoon on the sunny sandy beach. We packed some sandwiches and laid by the ocean for a couple or 3 hours. These beaches are clothing optional...that was interesting. After the beach we went shopping for some touristy things and headed back to the hostel. We planned on seeing the Magic Fountains (fountains that shoot up water that has music and lighting) but they were closed. We ended up sitting on our deck playing cards in our sweatpants :)

The next morning we took the bus to Girona which is where we flew out of. It was a wonderufl town! I enjoyed it more than Barcelona because it was quiet and cute with parks all around and everything felt very simple and relaxed. That could have also been because it was a Sunday, and Spainards apparently just hide out for the whole day. I'm not exactly sure why. So we had a delicious inexpensive lunch out on the street under the sun listening to the birds chirp and the Spanish people walking past. It was lovely.

On our flight home I learned a very valuable lesson thanks to Ryanair. Leave PLENTY of time between connecting flights, because if you miss your flight (like we did) you have to either pay a 100 pound fee for changing your ticket or just buy a whole new ticket which turned out to be 75 pounds. That was disappointing and stressful, but we made it home eventually and it was so good to be back. I missed Ireland, I really do love it here.

Tuesday night I met my International Friend's family! This is just a family who is active in the church that runs this program. Each student who signs up is assigned to a family and that family can invite you over for dinners or take you out and show you around. My family, Mervyn and Pearl, are so sweet and friendly. Pearl reminds me of you, Mom :) I brought Siri along with me and the four of us had a cozy sit down home-made dinner in front of their crackling wood burning stove. Pearl made chicken, potatoes, salad, and bread for dinner, home made crepes for dessert, and tea and cookies to top it all off. By the way, I am loving the tea here. I put cream in it and it is calming. We chatted about politics, Irish history, the differences in cultures, school, and their 3 kids who are all graduated from college. It was a delightful evening!

Pictures:
The first one is of the wine vats that were in the underground city. It was a huge complicated process of fermentation and production. Pretty cool!
The second is me on the beach :)
The last one is Sangrada Familia, which had scaffolding on it but it was still incredible.

Now that I have just written an essay telling you about my life, I'd love to hear what everyone else is up to! If you don't know how to leave a comment, I will tell you now:
1. You have to sign up to create an account with Blogspot. It is SO simple and they won't send you annoying emails. It is only to allow you to comment on blogs.
2. Once you enter your email, name, and other info, you can sign on using your username that you created and password.
3. Once you are signed on to you account, you can search for my blog using the web address or the search box.
4. Once you find my blog page, scroll down to the bottom of a post and click 'comment'.
5. Write away! Let me know if you have any questions by emailing me. I use holcombe@cwu.edu the most.

Ok, I am loving life here but I can't wait to come home for Christmas and see the family, friends, and Chloe and Cleo!!

Ready, Set, ROW!

Today I had no class, but instead 3 hours of rowing practice! Today was my first time getting to go out on the water in my own boat by myself. Before I was in a boat but it was attached to a string and so I would take 3 strokes and they would pull me back in. So today was really fun and I am getting the hang of it. It's hard to get all the technique down because there's so much to it. It's a whole body movement- like dancing or something- that has to be perfected in order for you to be good at it and not hurt yourself. It's very graceful when you see someone experienced do it. There are only about 8 people in the club, but not everyone is at every practice. It's pretty relaxed about attending practices because most people are just doing it recreationally, which I find odd because I am used to having strict practices. For instance, if you get there late you get in trouble and you can only miss a certain number of practies. The weekend of Halloween all 4 rowing clubs at the Ulster campuses are getting together to row and hang out, just for some good craic. I am hopefully going to be able to go! My hands are getting blisters on them, and my muscles aren't very sore except for my back. We have conditioning in the gym twice a week and that is the really hard part. Rowing for 15 minutes while keeping up a ceratin pace, running for 15 minutes, and biking for 15 minutes. Then we all do abs and stretches together. I really like it. And my coach Charlie said we should make sweatshirts, I was ALL about that! I volunteered to design them and get the process started.

Tomorrow afternoon 4 friends and I are going to fly to Bercelona for 4 nights. I am SO excited about this trip! I will tell you all about it when I get back. Hope all is well in the states :)

Dublin

This weekend was very busy! 7 of us took a bus and train (about a 5 hour trip) down to Dublin and stayed in a hostel for 2 nights. The hostel was nice but in order to save money we decided to stay in a 16 person bedroom. It was HUGE and way too many people, I didn't like it. The first day we got there (Friday) my friend Siri came to my room and said she had a surprise for me. Then one of my friends from high school peeked her head around the doorway!! My friend Becky was staying in the same hostel on the same weekend, how random is that?? So that was nice to see her for a while. She is studying in London so I will eventually go visit her as well.

The first day we walked into town and grabbed some take-away fish and chips, then headed towards the pub crawl meeting spot. There were about 70 people on the pub crawl! We went to 3 different bars and ended at a dancing club. I didn't really enjoy any of the bars or clubs except one who had a live band that played Bob Marley songs :) The next morning we pulled ourselves out of bed and went to enjoy our free breakfast downtairs in the hostel. It was a lovely plate of 2 peices of bread, butter, jam, tea, coffee, and orange juice. I could have probably had 8 peices of toast but I held myself back. Then we all went on a free walking tour of downtown Dublin. We saw the GPO, General Post Office, which was the big meeting place of the Catholic Rebellions. It was attacked by the British and you can still see bullet holes in the columns. We walked through the courtyard of the castle that housed all the British Parliament, saw the museum of the 'Bogside People' (bodies dated from the 1800's that were preserved in the bogs throughout Ireland), and walked through the St. Stephen's Green Park. It is so peaceful and magical inside the park, that was my favorite part of the trip. One night we also went to the famous Temple Bar, super crowded but the live music was fun.

Other than that nothing is new. I wish I had more classes though! I only have 9 hours of schduled class a week, which is a lot less that at home. Some days I don't know what to do with myself (besides read, I know Dad). This week one of my classes got cancelled so now I only have 6 hours of class, and 2 of them I won't be able to attend because I am leaving to go to Spain on Thursday!!! Hooray! I am so excited to see Spain and be in the warm weather and sun. My 'host family' emailed me today and asked to meet sometime soon. That should be fun! I don't know anything about them yet, but when I do I will let everyone know. I am trying to get over a chest cold I had this weekend. Last night I slept for 16 hours straight. I woke up at 4:15 pm and was shocked!

I also want to say HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to Carsten!! I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you cuz :) Hope the Connolly's are doing well, and everyone else too. Love you guys!

Pictures:

1. The view of St. Stephen's Green park. There is a lake in the middle with ducks and seagulls and swans all swimming in it. Kids were feeding the pidgeons and it was very peaceful.

2. I thought this was ironic :) I saw it on our way to the park.

3. The fresh pint of Guiness at the end of the tour. I was in the very top, glass room that overlooked the whole city!

4. Infront of the castle on our walking tour. There are 3 kinds of architecture here built at different times. I wish I could remember the names of them. The middle is medieval, I know that :)

5. This is the GPO that has the bullet holes in it.

Glens of Antrim

It's been a while, I'm sorry!

First of all, before I forget, thank you to Tom and Paula for your card! I love the artwork, what an incredible background of the artist. For everyone else, the card was drawn by an Autistic 40 year old man who has been drawing all his life. It is of a castle on a hill and looks very much like Ireland :) And you're right Paula, I love getting mail! So thank you again.

The Glens of Antrim trip on Saturday was nice. The views were great but I would have rather gone to the coast. We ended up hiking 7 miles to see a waterfall and the highest look-out spot. That was rough, and I'm still debating if it was worth it. It probably was haha. I posted some pictures of the trip up above.

Tonight my friends and I went to see a movie, The Town. It was really great! And it was fun to go to a movie theater, especially since Tuesdays are only 3 pounds to get in and students get free popcorn and a drink! Woo! After the movie was over I forgot where I was and had to remind myself that I wasn't going to go out, get in my car, drive home and see Mom. That was a little strange. School is going well so far. I read the second book for my Irish Lit. class called Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth. Short but classic, I enjoyed it. Tomorrow I have rowing in the afternoon (I'm officially part of the club) and it's my roommate Elaine's birthday. We are baking cupcakes and having a little party before we go out on the town to celebrate. The cab driver who drove us home tonight was telling us about bars that we should stay clear of and ones that are okay for students and tourists. This was helpful and interesting because most of the bars we should stay away from are either very Protestant or very Catholic depending on which side of the river you are on. It is strange to have to think about where you should and should not go in the little tiny city of Coleraine.

Today there was a car-bombing in Londonderry. No one was killed but a few were hurt. Don't worry about me please! Coleraine is safe and sound. Even though it is a terrible thing that happened, I find it intriguing to learn about. Well, I hope there are no car-bombings in Seattle, Granbury, D.C., etc! Ha, ok sorry to make light of things, but it is all fine and dandy here. I miss everyone. And remember, you should comment on the blogs because I like hearing what you have to say!