Just a really fast update because I'm EXHAUSTED, and so ready for sleep!
1. I swear I'll update on Hamburg and South Jutland soon....
2. Tali and I laid out in the sun for four hours on Saturday, and it was absolutely lovely. I've really enjoyed being back in our little house in Hvidovre.
3. I didn't fail that Photojournalism test! I got a C...I honestly can't believe it. That professor is still a total jerk, though. He sent everyone an email that started with ''You failed..'' or ''You will fail if...'' ....no joke. Everyone got one. And people laughed at me when I said he sent mean e-mails....
4. Yesterday Stefan and I saw his father and baby Sylvester again...we walked around the park and Kaj bought us ice-cream....I swear, I'm going to gain weight by being around them. Had a wonderful time, though.
5. Stefan and I found our new favorite bar - a place I walk by every day. It's called Bar 7, and it's run by a guy from London and one from New Zealand...but really, it's amazing, check it out!
6. I am so far ahead of my work in some classes - example: I wrote a paper on Monday that wasn't due for a week. Gross. But wonderful! I felt so accomplished.
7. Lene and Lars are home! We had a really happy reunion.
8. Their daughter, Mille, is awesome. I love hanging out with her and talking to her. We always have a really great time. Picture this: Lars and Lene put their 19-year-old daughter in charge of a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old. Pretty hilarious. She did a good job taking care of us, though.... yeah. She's definitely the host sister I dreamed of having.
9. Return to Copenhagen has been lovely. Weather has been WONDERFUL. Almost skirt weather. I don't think the Danes wear flip flops. Gladiators are in - this makes me SO unhappy. I guess I'm working on getting used to them. Seriously, though? Ugh.
10. I think I've passed into just rambling. I'm really tired, and have taken some sleeping pills to get rid of a sniffle - so on that note, I'm headed off to bed. Just thought I'd let you know I'm still alive!
Lots of love,
K
4.22.2009
4.19.2009
Amsterdam
The next morning I got to Schiphol Airport in search of Stefan. After stressing around trying to find a payphone that took cash or card (because they ONLY take a specific phone card made for payphones...lame), I finally caved and bought a card for five Euro. As I was trying to figure out how to make the phone work, Stefan walked out of baggage claim and found me instead.
For me, it was a really happy reunion - two weeks seems like a pretty long time, though I realize it's not so terrible. Still, it was good to see the person who reminds me the absolute most of Denmark - the place I'd been missing so much.
We happily made our way out of the Schiphol (which sounds like...Sk(roll tongue)eeee-pole...Dutch is REALLY complicated) Airport, and onto the subway to get to central station. When we walked up out into the city center of Amsterdam, chaos seemed to ensue. A man fell up the escalator, slurring wildly while a friend attempted to help him stand. On the second set of escalators, he fell again, creating a scene and flailing crazily. Slightly overwhelmed, we stepped out into the fresh air. Suddenly, right in front of us, two bikes collided head-on...Yikes. We swerved around them, as they got up from the ground, saying things aggressively in Dutch to each other. Ah. We walked on, laughing shakily, but not long after, we were pushed to the sidewalk, as two bike-cops zoomed by us, dinging their bike-bells urgently. Welcome to Amsterdam, right? Almost as warm a welcome as Wonderful Copenhagen. Anyway, despite the intensity of our first few minutes, the city was absolutely gorgeous. Filled with beautiful architecture, canals, and interesting people everywhere:
From Central Station, we made our way to our hostel, which we had all good reviews for, despite the fact that it was far, far from the middle of town. We took a train for something like 11 stops (and all the while, wondering how the train systems in Holland work), then got off at a station called Holendrecht that was way out in the middle of nowhere. That ride took around 25 minutes. Then we waited for the shuttle that would take us to our hostel, Lucky Lake. It comes every hour, so we didn't have very long to wait. This shuttle is a 17 minute ride from the place, so it DID take a while to get into town. I think it was worth it, because it was an absolutely beautiful little place. While it was frustrating, I really appreciated it, because I was so sick of city noise. At night it was nice and quiet, just the way I'm used to. The hostel was comprised of little cabins and caravans (a nice word for teeny little mobile homes), but luckily we got a cabin - a bright pink one:
Behind is the lounge where we hung out with a couple from Spain for a few nights. The hammocks were really cozy when the weather was nice - the entire hostel was really wonderful.
It was just a short (and nice) wander down to the water, and the scenery was absolutely lovely. The waterfront was a little park, but there were docks where people lived canal-side (I guess?) all over the place. It was so picturesque - someday I'll remember to thank Stefan for taking so many a pictures - really, you should too, because this will be a much more photo-packed entry than I'm sure you're used to from me. The weather was alright for some of our stay, like the days where we decided it would be fun to explore the surrounding area:
Out on a little teeny fence in the middle of the water being an idiot:
We found a friendly kitty on our walk! Hooray! My face is absolutely ridiculous here.
Some of the cute little canals with houses directly on them - so adorable.
I think this is right around sunset - such a romantically cozy little place for our hostel to be!
Anyway, that's basically our hostel. The next couple days, we explored the city center, checked out the Red Light District (awkward...especially because we kept getting lost there), walked across the city (so around 4 miles? away from Central Station?), and went to the Heineken Experience - biggest waste of money on the trip. I guess entertaining, though, but only because we had someone to make fun of it with. Like Guinness in Ireland, people say that Heineken is better in Amsterdam - not so true. I think it's disgusting everywhere. So I'm really glad that we got three ''free'' glasses of it on our tour. Really lame - and ridiculous that we had to pay 20 Euro for it. Oh well.
In Amsterdam, Stefan and I had the bad habit of getting lost in the same areas over and over again. We really did end up in the Red Light District pretty often, but this is another place that we kept passing:
Read on the top of the building - for the longest time, we were convinced that it was trying to say "God robs you...Jesus Loves you." We finally asked the owner of a little shop, and she told us that it it actually says, "God helps you. Jesus loves you." We weren't quite sure why it was half in Dutch and half in English, and we never found out. Interesting building though, and a very Amsterdam-y look. This isn't necessarily the beautiful architecture that I'm talking about, but it's a different style than in the States. This type of building reminds me of a lot of European buildings, actually. On second thought, though, I say that it doesn't really remind me of the states, but really, it might remind me a little of something you'd see in Burlington. Either way, I like the style.
One of the more memorable trips we took was to Keukenhof - the world's largest flower gardens. It's not really in Amsterdam, so we spent a day there, but unfortunately, this was one of the days with terrible weather - as you'll see in some of the pictures, we may look a little wet:
Really, it was an absolutely gorgeous place - it was really too bad it was raining. It made out of our pictures come out kind of bad, so these are the best ones I have. The gardens were really pretty, and at this time of year, everything is starting to bloom. Fun place to wander around, and it really shows a different side of Holland - Amsterdam is a place where the atmosphere will change on you so fast - one minute you'll be in a really cool and relaxed environment, and all of the sudden, things will shift into some high techno beats with upbeat energy that you can't help but want to dance around. Just one second later you'll be in a nice Italian restaurant where you feel like Venice is right outside, and then again, you're standing in the center of a world of people in a red-eyed haze. Pretty cool to see the changes so fast, but then, out in the country, you see the real Holland - beautiful flowers, peaceful people, with the gorgeous nature every place you look. Personally, I loved Amsterdam - the city was comfortable and clean, much like Denmark. It may not be a place to LIVE, but to visit, it's definitely a lot of fun. Next time, I might want to stay in a hostel a little closer to city center, but I would say this trip was definitely a success. Good company, and lots of fun adventures. In fact, we loved Amsterdam so much, that we booked our hostel there for another night and ended up staying for four nights total. We were trying to catch up with some good weather, but unfortunately, it was only there for the first two days. On our last day, we caught an expensive train to Hamburg at 5pm, and started our slow path back north towards Denmark.
For me, it was a really happy reunion - two weeks seems like a pretty long time, though I realize it's not so terrible. Still, it was good to see the person who reminds me the absolute most of Denmark - the place I'd been missing so much.
We happily made our way out of the Schiphol (which sounds like...Sk(roll tongue)eeee-pole...Dutch is REALLY complicated) Airport, and onto the subway to get to central station. When we walked up out into the city center of Amsterdam, chaos seemed to ensue. A man fell up the escalator, slurring wildly while a friend attempted to help him stand. On the second set of escalators, he fell again, creating a scene and flailing crazily. Slightly overwhelmed, we stepped out into the fresh air. Suddenly, right in front of us, two bikes collided head-on...Yikes. We swerved around them, as they got up from the ground, saying things aggressively in Dutch to each other. Ah. We walked on, laughing shakily, but not long after, we were pushed to the sidewalk, as two bike-cops zoomed by us, dinging their bike-bells urgently. Welcome to Amsterdam, right? Almost as warm a welcome as Wonderful Copenhagen. Anyway, despite the intensity of our first few minutes, the city was absolutely gorgeous. Filled with beautiful architecture, canals, and interesting people everywhere:
From Central Station, we made our way to our hostel, which we had all good reviews for, despite the fact that it was far, far from the middle of town. We took a train for something like 11 stops (and all the while, wondering how the train systems in Holland work), then got off at a station called Holendrecht that was way out in the middle of nowhere. That ride took around 25 minutes. Then we waited for the shuttle that would take us to our hostel, Lucky Lake. It comes every hour, so we didn't have very long to wait. This shuttle is a 17 minute ride from the place, so it DID take a while to get into town. I think it was worth it, because it was an absolutely beautiful little place. While it was frustrating, I really appreciated it, because I was so sick of city noise. At night it was nice and quiet, just the way I'm used to. The hostel was comprised of little cabins and caravans (a nice word for teeny little mobile homes), but luckily we got a cabin - a bright pink one:
Behind is the lounge where we hung out with a couple from Spain for a few nights. The hammocks were really cozy when the weather was nice - the entire hostel was really wonderful.
It was just a short (and nice) wander down to the water, and the scenery was absolutely lovely. The waterfront was a little park, but there were docks where people lived canal-side (I guess?) all over the place. It was so picturesque - someday I'll remember to thank Stefan for taking so many a pictures - really, you should too, because this will be a much more photo-packed entry than I'm sure you're used to from me. The weather was alright for some of our stay, like the days where we decided it would be fun to explore the surrounding area:
Out on a little teeny fence in the middle of the water being an idiot:
We found a friendly kitty on our walk! Hooray! My face is absolutely ridiculous here.
Some of the cute little canals with houses directly on them - so adorable.
I think this is right around sunset - such a romantically cozy little place for our hostel to be!
Anyway, that's basically our hostel. The next couple days, we explored the city center, checked out the Red Light District (awkward...especially because we kept getting lost there), walked across the city (so around 4 miles? away from Central Station?), and went to the Heineken Experience - biggest waste of money on the trip. I guess entertaining, though, but only because we had someone to make fun of it with. Like Guinness in Ireland, people say that Heineken is better in Amsterdam - not so true. I think it's disgusting everywhere. So I'm really glad that we got three ''free'' glasses of it on our tour. Really lame - and ridiculous that we had to pay 20 Euro for it. Oh well.In Amsterdam, Stefan and I had the bad habit of getting lost in the same areas over and over again. We really did end up in the Red Light District pretty often, but this is another place that we kept passing:
Read on the top of the building - for the longest time, we were convinced that it was trying to say "God robs you...Jesus Loves you." We finally asked the owner of a little shop, and she told us that it it actually says, "God helps you. Jesus loves you." We weren't quite sure why it was half in Dutch and half in English, and we never found out. Interesting building though, and a very Amsterdam-y look. This isn't necessarily the beautiful architecture that I'm talking about, but it's a different style than in the States. This type of building reminds me of a lot of European buildings, actually. On second thought, though, I say that it doesn't really remind me of the states, but really, it might remind me a little of something you'd see in Burlington. Either way, I like the style. One of the more memorable trips we took was to Keukenhof - the world's largest flower gardens. It's not really in Amsterdam, so we spent a day there, but unfortunately, this was one of the days with terrible weather - as you'll see in some of the pictures, we may look a little wet:
Really, it was an absolutely gorgeous place - it was really too bad it was raining. It made out of our pictures come out kind of bad, so these are the best ones I have. The gardens were really pretty, and at this time of year, everything is starting to bloom. Fun place to wander around, and it really shows a different side of Holland - Amsterdam is a place where the atmosphere will change on you so fast - one minute you'll be in a really cool and relaxed environment, and all of the sudden, things will shift into some high techno beats with upbeat energy that you can't help but want to dance around. Just one second later you'll be in a nice Italian restaurant where you feel like Venice is right outside, and then again, you're standing in the center of a world of people in a red-eyed haze. Pretty cool to see the changes so fast, but then, out in the country, you see the real Holland - beautiful flowers, peaceful people, with the gorgeous nature every place you look. Personally, I loved Amsterdam - the city was comfortable and clean, much like Denmark. It may not be a place to LIVE, but to visit, it's definitely a lot of fun. Next time, I might want to stay in a hostel a little closer to city center, but I would say this trip was definitely a success. Good company, and lots of fun adventures. In fact, we loved Amsterdam so much, that we booked our hostel there for another night and ended up staying for four nights total. We were trying to catch up with some good weather, but unfortunately, it was only there for the first two days. On our last day, we caught an expensive train to Hamburg at 5pm, and started our slow path back north towards Denmark.4.15.2009
Mon retour à Paris: Making Mme. Sorrell Proud
My flight out of Dublin to Paris was small, but nice. Though I really enjoyed Ireland, it was really exciting to be headed back to France - and to see places I'd seen five years ago. I met some really nice people who were taking the same flight - two older ladies that hung out with me at the gate, and then the young man sitting next to me, Gregoire, on the plane. He was so obviously French that I wanted to talk to him - but was intimidated. I ended up starting up a conversation by offering him some medicine, because he sounded sick. By first impression, he had a seemingly unbreakable serious air to him, but as soon as I started talking, his face lit up, and we had a wonderful (albeit short) time. At the gate, he waited for me to get my luggage (which took about 20 minutes longer than his), and made sure I had directions to get from Charles De Gaulle to the center of Paris - very sweet. I never learned his last name, nor did we exchange contacts - so he's yet another person that I'll never see again. I regret that - and at the same time, think it's really cool. I think I'll always remember him, whether or not he'll remember me - weird that he'll never know how much he helped me get ready for Paris.
When I say that, I simply mean that the French are slightly intimidating. We all know their stereotypes, and some of them are true. They're unwilling to speak much to you in English, which is why the entire time I was there, I tried my hand at French. I actually succeeded - cheers to all my French teachers! It really did come back easily, and it was really wonderful to be able to speak a different language conversationally - because for me, Danish is frustrating because I can usually only get out half a sentence or so. I was complimented fairly often on my accent and knowledge of the language, so that was really nice. When I say that Gregoire helped me, I mean that he managed to erase many of my fears just by being friendly.
As soon as I got my luggage, we split so he could find his family (he had been in Ireland for the past five months, studying and practicing English), and I met a girl named Kelly, who was as jetlagged as I had been on my first day in Denmark, and looking for a way out to the city as well. I helped her figure out some of the public transport, and never saw her again either - but I do have her contacts. She was an interesting character and told me I acted older than I really am - but I hardly believe it.
I met up with Deni, who was the most wonderful tour guide. We hung out in Luxembourg Gardens for a little while, which was BEAUTIFUL - the weather the entire time I was in Paris was great. She showed me my hostel, and I got settled, then we went out for dinner and dessert, which was fun. The next day, we met up and took a trip to Mon Martre, which was interesting because I'd already been there. It was the one place I REALLY wanted to go back to - things like the Eiffel Tour, the Louvre, and L'Arc de Triomphe held little or no interest for me, but beautiful Sacre Coeur and Mon Martre, certainly. We walked around for some time, while I refamiliared myself with the French culture. It was so beautiful - the views from the top were gorgeous.
After that, I went back to Luxembourg Gardens (because it's right by where Deni lives), and hung out there and read/people watched for an hour or two - then we went back to her host parents' house to cook dinner for ourselves. I got really lucky, because Deni's host parents, instead of making me find a hostel for the night, let me stay with them, and their adorable little dog, Samba:
The next morning I was up bright and early (so I could leave when Deni left at like 7:45), and so I hopped on a train, took a walk on the Seine, and got some breakfast. Musée D'Orsay opened at 9:30, which is another place that I wanted to go. Unfortunately, museums just make me realize how much I DON'T get art. I went up to take a look at all of the impressionist artists, and I find that even walking alongside Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne, I just don't get it. Sad, I know. I left after about an hour to meet up with Alex Klikunas - we had a great time wandering around the city, getting lunch with his girlfriend, and finding this absolutely gorgeous park that Deni had recommended to us - Parc des Buttes Chaumont:
Alex also took me to a place where I could grab some French-food souvenirs for Stefan's family, where I encountered the most giant toblerone bar EVER, as well as buckets and buckets of Nutella. As you may have realized, I'm not one for taking lots of pictures, but this was necessary:
When we finally split around five, I met up with Deni again, and we made dinner, then headed out to Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge where all the Parisians hang out, to talk, chill, and drink some wine - the most lovely and picturesque way to end my trip to France.
Meeting up with Deni and Alex was so wonderful - I had SO much fun in France. I got to see their lives while abroad, which was really cool. Deni is currently in Copenhagen, so hopefully I'll be able to see her and her boyfriend while she's still around. Having tourguides from Vermont was really special to me - it's cool to meet up with childhood/high school friends in Europe - a totally different experience. I also got to see two really close friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was nice, and of course, fun.
The next morning, I checked out of Oops! Hostel, and attempted to catch a train to Brussels, but unfortunately it was 86Euro - a little bit too ridiculous for an hour and a half train ride. Not only was it that expensive, it was to Bruxelles Midi - not even Bruxelles Central. I heard English behind me, takling about how terrible Bruxelles Midi was, and turned around to ask. I ended up meeting this awesome couple - Lauren and Michelle from LA. They were touring around Europe for a couple weeks, and were headed to Amsterdam. They suggested I hop that train with them, because it was only 110Euro, which, compared to the ridiculous cost of Brussels, sounded good to me. We ended up getting assigned seats near each other, and found it surprisingly easy to pass the time chatting with them for our four hour train ride through the northern tip of France, an entire country (and they weren't lying, our train stopped at Bruxelles Midi, and it looked really sucky - like NOTHING to do there), and the southern part of the Netherlands. Beautiful place to see - and as soon as I stepped off the train into Amsterdam, I realized I was in some completely different place and atmosphere. I ended up exchanging numbers with Lauren and Michelle, and then found my nice hotel for the night, and went to bed early, so I could find Stefan at the airport the next morning bright and early.
I'm currently safe in Copenhagen again, overjoyed to be back home, and to be with my computer again. I'm going to have a happy reunion with my bike & Tali now, so I'll update on Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Easter soon. Lots of love from COPENHAGEN (Hooray!!)!
When I say that, I simply mean that the French are slightly intimidating. We all know their stereotypes, and some of them are true. They're unwilling to speak much to you in English, which is why the entire time I was there, I tried my hand at French. I actually succeeded - cheers to all my French teachers! It really did come back easily, and it was really wonderful to be able to speak a different language conversationally - because for me, Danish is frustrating because I can usually only get out half a sentence or so. I was complimented fairly often on my accent and knowledge of the language, so that was really nice. When I say that Gregoire helped me, I mean that he managed to erase many of my fears just by being friendly.
As soon as I got my luggage, we split so he could find his family (he had been in Ireland for the past five months, studying and practicing English), and I met a girl named Kelly, who was as jetlagged as I had been on my first day in Denmark, and looking for a way out to the city as well. I helped her figure out some of the public transport, and never saw her again either - but I do have her contacts. She was an interesting character and told me I acted older than I really am - but I hardly believe it.
I met up with Deni, who was the most wonderful tour guide. We hung out in Luxembourg Gardens for a little while, which was BEAUTIFUL - the weather the entire time I was in Paris was great. She showed me my hostel, and I got settled, then we went out for dinner and dessert, which was fun. The next day, we met up and took a trip to Mon Martre, which was interesting because I'd already been there. It was the one place I REALLY wanted to go back to - things like the Eiffel Tour, the Louvre, and L'Arc de Triomphe held little or no interest for me, but beautiful Sacre Coeur and Mon Martre, certainly. We walked around for some time, while I refamiliared myself with the French culture. It was so beautiful - the views from the top were gorgeous.
After that, I went back to Luxembourg Gardens (because it's right by where Deni lives), and hung out there and read/people watched for an hour or two - then we went back to her host parents' house to cook dinner for ourselves. I got really lucky, because Deni's host parents, instead of making me find a hostel for the night, let me stay with them, and their adorable little dog, Samba:
The next morning I was up bright and early (so I could leave when Deni left at like 7:45), and so I hopped on a train, took a walk on the Seine, and got some breakfast. Musée D'Orsay opened at 9:30, which is another place that I wanted to go. Unfortunately, museums just make me realize how much I DON'T get art. I went up to take a look at all of the impressionist artists, and I find that even walking alongside Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne, I just don't get it. Sad, I know. I left after about an hour to meet up with Alex Klikunas - we had a great time wandering around the city, getting lunch with his girlfriend, and finding this absolutely gorgeous park that Deni had recommended to us - Parc des Buttes Chaumont:
Alex also took me to a place where I could grab some French-food souvenirs for Stefan's family, where I encountered the most giant toblerone bar EVER, as well as buckets and buckets of Nutella. As you may have realized, I'm not one for taking lots of pictures, but this was necessary:
When we finally split around five, I met up with Deni again, and we made dinner, then headed out to Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge where all the Parisians hang out, to talk, chill, and drink some wine - the most lovely and picturesque way to end my trip to France.
Meeting up with Deni and Alex was so wonderful - I had SO much fun in France. I got to see their lives while abroad, which was really cool. Deni is currently in Copenhagen, so hopefully I'll be able to see her and her boyfriend while she's still around. Having tourguides from Vermont was really special to me - it's cool to meet up with childhood/high school friends in Europe - a totally different experience. I also got to see two really close friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was nice, and of course, fun.
The next morning, I checked out of Oops! Hostel, and attempted to catch a train to Brussels, but unfortunately it was 86Euro - a little bit too ridiculous for an hour and a half train ride. Not only was it that expensive, it was to Bruxelles Midi - not even Bruxelles Central. I heard English behind me, takling about how terrible Bruxelles Midi was, and turned around to ask. I ended up meeting this awesome couple - Lauren and Michelle from LA. They were touring around Europe for a couple weeks, and were headed to Amsterdam. They suggested I hop that train with them, because it was only 110Euro, which, compared to the ridiculous cost of Brussels, sounded good to me. We ended up getting assigned seats near each other, and found it surprisingly easy to pass the time chatting with them for our four hour train ride through the northern tip of France, an entire country (and they weren't lying, our train stopped at Bruxelles Midi, and it looked really sucky - like NOTHING to do there), and the southern part of the Netherlands. Beautiful place to see - and as soon as I stepped off the train into Amsterdam, I realized I was in some completely different place and atmosphere. I ended up exchanging numbers with Lauren and Michelle, and then found my nice hotel for the night, and went to bed early, so I could find Stefan at the airport the next morning bright and early.
I'm currently safe in Copenhagen again, overjoyed to be back home, and to be with my computer again. I'm going to have a happy reunion with my bike & Tali now, so I'll update on Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Easter soon. Lots of love from COPENHAGEN (Hooray!!)!
4.01.2009
Ireland Part II
So this computer just deleted my whole post...and I'd gotten like three days into my journey in Ireland, included with links. Maybe this will have to be a three part entry to finish - dammit.
Alright, starting over then.
On the bus to Galway (Gaillimh in Irlandais), I met a girl named Maria who was from Spain and studying in Dublin to practice her English. She was spending a weekend to see the Cliffs of Moher, and meeting some friends there. She told me about her hostel, and that it would lead me straight to a tour to the cliffs, and that I should check it out.
After the 3.5 hour busride, tired out as usual, I followed her to her hostel, just a two minute walk from Eyre Square (the city center in Galway) which turned out to be a wonderful place - The Kinlay House was voted for the Hostel of the Year in 2007, so I decided that I should make sure to book all three nights in Galway there. I guess I really lucked out, because the first night I stayed, I got the last room. It turned out that my roommates were three guys from Iowa - luckily they were really cool. Tyler, Phil, and Chris are engineer students studying abroad in Cork, Ireland, traveling with two girls, Christina and Liz. They invited me out to dinner with them, and we had a nice evening with great food. It was really nice to have some company, because as I realized, traveling alone can get pretty lonely.
I went back early that night to get some more rest (seriously, bus trips exhaust me), and the next morning, got up to go on a tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. The tour (check out that link) I went on was absolutely wonderful, and I totally fell completely in love with the western coast of Ireland. It is, without a doubt, the most breathtaking place I have ever seen in my life. I don't regret any of the 20€ for that tour - mainly because that's not that expensive (from 10 - 5:30), and because seriously, it was gorgeous. I had a so much fun, and despite the rain and fog, still thought it was the most beautiful place. I met a girl named Liz on this tour, and when we got back to Galway, we decided to hang out the next day as well, exploring the city.
The city turned out to be lots of fun, and we spent the day wandering around, getting lost - or as lost as you can get in a teeny city - having a wonderful lunch, and shopping. I am now the happy owner of a Claddaugh ring - something I'd never had justification to buy, but now, having been to Ireland, I feel that it's somewhat validated, and a wonderful souvenir. That night Liz and I went out to the bar to meet the locals, other travelers, and have a Guinness - and yeah, it really IS better in Ireland.
It was a lot of fun, and again, nice to have some companionship. The next morning, I checked out of the Kinlay House and headed the 3.5 hours back to Dublin. I went straight to Temple Bar , what I call the Church Street of Dublin (I guess). I actually saw Maria (the girl from my bus TO Galway) in a smal cafe there - tiny world! She doesn't actually even live near Temple Bar. Anyway, it's a great little place, and I found this GREAT hotel for just 50€ a night - Fitzsimmons. Wonderful place, cheap, and they had wake up calls, so I could be on time for my flight to Paris the next morning.
I'll update on Paris in one big entry - because now it's past 1am, and I'm exhausted. I've had a WONDERFUL time in Paris so far, but should have a fairly busy day tomorrow.
Some quick revelations:
In retrospect, traveling by myself to Ireland was a wonderful thing to do. I didn't necessarily enjoy myself the entire time that I was alone, but I learned so much. There were times when it was lonely, times when it was exhausting, times when it was frustrating, times when it was scary, but never a time when it wasn't exciting. So, some final things I've learned:
-To eat alone in a restaurant
-To deal with airports - bookings, tickets, baggage, security, etc., etc., etc.
-To use public transportation with confidence
-To ask directions if lost
-To always carry a book (Currently: The Deptford Trilogy)
-To observe the world quietly, BUT
-To be outgoing
-To make new friends
-That the world is mine - I can travel, I can explore, and I can take my time. No rush.
And with those few, simple thoughts, I'm headed to bed at Oops! Hostel.
Sweet dreams & lots of love from PARIS! (:
Alright, starting over then.
On the bus to Galway (Gaillimh in Irlandais), I met a girl named Maria who was from Spain and studying in Dublin to practice her English. She was spending a weekend to see the Cliffs of Moher, and meeting some friends there. She told me about her hostel, and that it would lead me straight to a tour to the cliffs, and that I should check it out.
After the 3.5 hour busride, tired out as usual, I followed her to her hostel, just a two minute walk from Eyre Square (the city center in Galway) which turned out to be a wonderful place - The Kinlay House was voted for the Hostel of the Year in 2007, so I decided that I should make sure to book all three nights in Galway there. I guess I really lucked out, because the first night I stayed, I got the last room. It turned out that my roommates were three guys from Iowa - luckily they were really cool. Tyler, Phil, and Chris are engineer students studying abroad in Cork, Ireland, traveling with two girls, Christina and Liz. They invited me out to dinner with them, and we had a nice evening with great food. It was really nice to have some company, because as I realized, traveling alone can get pretty lonely.
I went back early that night to get some more rest (seriously, bus trips exhaust me), and the next morning, got up to go on a tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. The tour (check out that link) I went on was absolutely wonderful, and I totally fell completely in love with the western coast of Ireland. It is, without a doubt, the most breathtaking place I have ever seen in my life. I don't regret any of the 20€ for that tour - mainly because that's not that expensive (from 10 - 5:30), and because seriously, it was gorgeous. I had a so much fun, and despite the rain and fog, still thought it was the most beautiful place. I met a girl named Liz on this tour, and when we got back to Galway, we decided to hang out the next day as well, exploring the city.
The city turned out to be lots of fun, and we spent the day wandering around, getting lost - or as lost as you can get in a teeny city - having a wonderful lunch, and shopping. I am now the happy owner of a Claddaugh ring - something I'd never had justification to buy, but now, having been to Ireland, I feel that it's somewhat validated, and a wonderful souvenir. That night Liz and I went out to the bar to meet the locals, other travelers, and have a Guinness - and yeah, it really IS better in Ireland.
It was a lot of fun, and again, nice to have some companionship. The next morning, I checked out of the Kinlay House and headed the 3.5 hours back to Dublin. I went straight to Temple Bar , what I call the Church Street of Dublin (I guess). I actually saw Maria (the girl from my bus TO Galway) in a smal cafe there - tiny world! She doesn't actually even live near Temple Bar. Anyway, it's a great little place, and I found this GREAT hotel for just 50€ a night - Fitzsimmons. Wonderful place, cheap, and they had wake up calls, so I could be on time for my flight to Paris the next morning.
I'll update on Paris in one big entry - because now it's past 1am, and I'm exhausted. I've had a WONDERFUL time in Paris so far, but should have a fairly busy day tomorrow.
Some quick revelations:
In retrospect, traveling by myself to Ireland was a wonderful thing to do. I didn't necessarily enjoy myself the entire time that I was alone, but I learned so much. There were times when it was lonely, times when it was exhausting, times when it was frustrating, times when it was scary, but never a time when it wasn't exciting. So, some final things I've learned:
-To eat alone in a restaurant
-To deal with airports - bookings, tickets, baggage, security, etc., etc., etc.
-To use public transportation with confidence
-To ask directions if lost
-To always carry a book (Currently: The Deptford Trilogy)
-To observe the world quietly, BUT
-To be outgoing
-To make new friends
-That the world is mine - I can travel, I can explore, and I can take my time. No rush.
And with those few, simple thoughts, I'm headed to bed at Oops! Hostel.
Sweet dreams & lots of love from PARIS! (:
Freaky-Deaky Chicken Fetish
After a long, LONG wait in the Heathrow Airport, I finally got to my gate...and only got lost once. Luckily someone found me wandering around, because if they hadn't, I would've ended up in South Africa...sweet. Anyway, while I was sitting in the gate, this engaged couple next to me started to argue:
Man: What?? We can't have chicken for the appetizer AND the main course...
Woman: You said we could!
Man: What? Of course I didn't. I also had no idea I was about to marry some girl with a freaky-deaky chicken fetish.
And the fight went on - perhaps for the entire flight, because at baggage, I caught the man muttering something about chicken. Reason for this story? I had written that part of the conversation down in my notebook, because ''freaky-deaky chicken fetish'' is certainly a phrase I never thought I'd encounter.
Anyway, the flight to Ireland was nice. I talked to a very nice man at the gates for a little while, and he suggested that I go West towards Galway while I was visiting, and that Dublin would get old fast...Definitely a true statement. I was completely exhausted after my flight (I don't know why traveling tires me out so much), and wanted to sleep in the first hostel or B&B I came to. After getting turned down from a few places, I was completely relieved to finally find one. At this point, I don't even remember the name - possibly because I'm trying to block out the memory forever.
I asked for a private room (because I wanted to be really well-rested for my first full day of travel by myself), and he said that it would be 60€ - CASH ONLY. I gave him a 50€ and a 20€, but he didn't have change. On my handwritten receipt, he wrote ''IOU 10€ - Peter.'' Great. Frustrated and so tired that I had given up caring, I stormed up to a room where the walls read ''THIS PLACE IS A CRACK DEN'' and ''SARAH + HENRY = LOVE''... I walked into the bathroom not expecting much - but when I saw it, I realized I had been expecting something SLIGHTLY more. The tiles were coming up off the floor, and underneath was dirt - gross. After a very long night of listening to fighting, sex (and lots of it from not one, but TWO sides of my room), and drunken girls crying, I was ready to leave Dublin on the first train out. When I went to check out of the hostel, I showed the man at the front desk that ''Peter'' owed me 10€ still. ''Sorry miss, but we don't have any change yet.'' After a lot of me grumbling, he told me he would mail it to me. I'm not really expecting to see that 10€ ever again.
After that, I wandered around for a little while and finally got to a train station, where I sat down and started talking to a nice Irish woman whose name I never found out. She, like the man on the plane, told me to go to Galway, and sent me off to the bus station where the tickets would be much cheaper. For 15€, I traveled all the way across Ireland to the most wonderful little city - just three and a half hours. I feel in love with Galway really quickly - it's a beautiful little town all the way west of Dublin. The feel of it is cozy and open...much less stuffy than Dublin...
But let's make this a to be continued entry, because I'm typing on a French keyboard and it's really frustrating - the keys are all funny. This alone has taken me 50 minutes, which is WAY too long, and I officially give up. You'll hear from me again really soon though...it'll probably bother me that this entry is only half done.
Day 10, still alive, and missing you all!
Man: What?? We can't have chicken for the appetizer AND the main course...
Woman: You said we could!
Man: What? Of course I didn't. I also had no idea I was about to marry some girl with a freaky-deaky chicken fetish.
And the fight went on - perhaps for the entire flight, because at baggage, I caught the man muttering something about chicken. Reason for this story? I had written that part of the conversation down in my notebook, because ''freaky-deaky chicken fetish'' is certainly a phrase I never thought I'd encounter.
Anyway, the flight to Ireland was nice. I talked to a very nice man at the gates for a little while, and he suggested that I go West towards Galway while I was visiting, and that Dublin would get old fast...Definitely a true statement. I was completely exhausted after my flight (I don't know why traveling tires me out so much), and wanted to sleep in the first hostel or B&B I came to. After getting turned down from a few places, I was completely relieved to finally find one. At this point, I don't even remember the name - possibly because I'm trying to block out the memory forever.
I asked for a private room (because I wanted to be really well-rested for my first full day of travel by myself), and he said that it would be 60€ - CASH ONLY. I gave him a 50€ and a 20€, but he didn't have change. On my handwritten receipt, he wrote ''IOU 10€ - Peter.'' Great. Frustrated and so tired that I had given up caring, I stormed up to a room where the walls read ''THIS PLACE IS A CRACK DEN'' and ''SARAH + HENRY = LOVE''... I walked into the bathroom not expecting much - but when I saw it, I realized I had been expecting something SLIGHTLY more. The tiles were coming up off the floor, and underneath was dirt - gross. After a very long night of listening to fighting, sex (and lots of it from not one, but TWO sides of my room), and drunken girls crying, I was ready to leave Dublin on the first train out. When I went to check out of the hostel, I showed the man at the front desk that ''Peter'' owed me 10€ still. ''Sorry miss, but we don't have any change yet.'' After a lot of me grumbling, he told me he would mail it to me. I'm not really expecting to see that 10€ ever again.
After that, I wandered around for a little while and finally got to a train station, where I sat down and started talking to a nice Irish woman whose name I never found out. She, like the man on the plane, told me to go to Galway, and sent me off to the bus station where the tickets would be much cheaper. For 15€, I traveled all the way across Ireland to the most wonderful little city - just three and a half hours. I feel in love with Galway really quickly - it's a beautiful little town all the way west of Dublin. The feel of it is cozy and open...much less stuffy than Dublin...
But let's make this a to be continued entry, because I'm typing on a French keyboard and it's really frustrating - the keys are all funny. This alone has taken me 50 minutes, which is WAY too long, and I officially give up. You'll hear from me again really soon though...it'll probably bother me that this entry is only half done.
Day 10, still alive, and missing you all!
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