The Last Week

    I never thought this week would come. After three amazing months in Ireland, I am in my last week of my experience abroad. I have made incredible friends, traveled around the country as well as four others, and made memories that will never be forgotten. The next couple of days will be filled with papers and exams, but the rest of the week will be spent enjoying my last days here. I fell in love with Ireland when I visited three years ago and my love for this country has grown so much more. It will be so hard to leave, but being able to have this experience is amazing.

    In just six short days I will be back in California to see my family and friends! Can't wait! <3

Edinburgh, Scotland

View from the Edinburgh Castle

YIKES

  A couple weekends back I went on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet up with a friend from home. My day started bright and early on a Thursday when I had to get on the smallest plane I think I have ever been on.




  Our first night we walked around and ended up finding a Christmas celebration with a parade, tons of people, the most frightening Santa Clause I have ever seen and fireworks.

Hey there Santa

Our next day was St. Andrew's Day so entrance to most places was free so we went and spent three hours at the Edinburgh Castle. This is by far my favorite castle I have seen while being abroad!

Edinburgh Castle

The rest of our weekend consisted of sightseeing, whiskey tasting and going on the search for Nessy the Loch Ness monster!

The Scotch Whiskey Experience

Highlands

Highlands

Loch Ness

Loch Ness

 The Highlands and Loch Ness are gorgeous and we were so lucky to have a good day without fog or rain. Scotland was amazing and a great weekend away.


 Oh and we also ate haggis...

Go here if you're interested to learn what is in haggis. It is a traditional Scottish dish and I don't plan to make a meal of that ever again. At least I tried it, right?

Friday's Classroom

Yesterday our Irish History & Culture class made a day trip up to Belfast. It was a cold and rainy day to say the very least, but it was awesome to get to see another part of the country. We spent some time in the city center at the Christmas market, looked at all the political and historical murals throughout the city, and visited the Titanic Museum.

The Titanic Museum

Happy December!

December has got to be one of my favorite months, but this year it is a bitter sweet month. Just a few short weeks until I will be leaving this place I've learned to call home. I've spent the past couple weeks traveling around so blog posts to come soon I promise!

Nollaig shona dhuit!



Grafton Street

It's official, the holiday season is in full swing! No Black Friday shopping in Ireland, but the shops have become busier and the Christmas decorations are everywhere!

"Nollaig shona dhuit" means Happy(Merry) Christmas in Irish. This next month is my favorite time of year and I can't wait to be celebrating it in Ireland. I'll soon be joining the masses to get my Christmas shopping complete.

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying all their leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Ireland!! I hope everybody back at home has a great day spending time with family and eating fantastic food. Luckily Mom and I were able to find a turkey dinner in Galway which made today perfect!

Turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, baked potato, and vegetables. I'd say a pretty good turkey dinner while in Ireland. Yum!

Going With the Flow

Kilkenny: 2
Newbridge: 1
Me and Mom: 0

   Mom and I are spending some quality time together in Ireland this week!
Tuesday morning we made our way to Kilkenny, a cute little town close to Waterford with a local Irish feel.We had high hopes of seeing the Smithwicks Brewery and the Kilkenny Castle unfortunately the Winter Season tourism has kicked in. The brewery has changed their tours to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday only, which meant our visit on Tuesday and Wednesday were non-tour days. It would have been helpful for the website to provide this information. Even the concierge at our hotel was unaware of this change.

So close, but so far away.

   So with a few extra hours to spare before our train we made our way to the Kilkenny Castle thinking we can take our time checking it out. As we arrive to reception we hear the man informing the couple before us that due to the Winter season only guided tours were available and the next one wasn't until 2:15pm. We had to get back to the hotel and leave for the train by 3pm so an hour long tour wasn't going to fit into our schedule. Instead we spent some time roaming the outside of the castle, taking photos, and enjoying the beautiful weather, but even this didn't take up enough time.

Kilkenny Castle

At least it was a beautiful day.

   Now that we had even more spare time we decided to head to the train station early to catch an earlier train to have lunch in Newbridge (Our connecting stop to Galway). Sadly, Newbridge had nothing to offer. We walked out to the main street and there was no sign of food forcing us to hang out at the itty bitty super cold and lonely train station. We sure do know how to include some exciting mother daughter bonding time into our vacation.

   An hour or so later our train arrived! Lucky for us, the train has wifi which means I'm able to finish an assignment, update you all on our adventures, and Mom is able to send a few work emails.

   We will be spending the next few days in Galway which is a great city. Can't wait to explore and see all that it has to offer, especially the Christmas Market opening on Friday!
 

A Week Full of Travels

Last week I packed up my backpack and made way to Amsterdam and Berlin. Early Monday morning a group of six of us flew out to Amsterdam where we stayed at the Flying Pig Hostel. As my first hostel experience, it was much better than anything I would have expected. It was well kept and had a very fun vibe. We spent the first day walking around the town and in and out of all the little alleyways. Day two we rented bikes and got to see most of the city.

One of the many canals throughout the city

Amsterdam is a gorgeous city with a really great atmosphere. We were only there for a day and a half before two of us took a painful six hour train ride to Berlin.


Of course we needed some snacks so before we left we stopped by a Dutch cheese shop and bought some of the best cheese I've ever had.

 I of course had to buy an entire wheel of cheese. I mean who could pass up the opportunity to buy delicious traditional Dutch cheese?! SO GOOD!

 

 

Our train ride meal. Giant cheese wheel and smoked cheese. YUM

  

We arrived in Berlin around 7pm and made our way straight to the Heart of Gold Hostel. After some direction confusion and a language barrier we made it to our cozy home for the next few days. Luckily for us there was only a couple other people staying in the room so it was like we had it and the bathroom to ourselves.

  On Thursday we went out for some sightseeing in the beautiful city of Berlin. I am completely in love with this city, such an amazing place with so much to see. The only downside was that it was freezing. Literally freezing. It was never warmer than 32 degrees Fahrenheit and there was no sign of sun, ever. Other than the cold it was a great trip and I am so glad I got the opportunity to go!

Berliner Rathaus. Similar to a town hall.

Reichstag. Government Building.

Part of the Berlin Wall

There is an entire area of painted pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Whats left standing of the Berlin Wall

BRRR

The Soviet War Memorial

Brandenburg Gate

Check Point Charlie

Check Point Charlie.

Lasagna and Tortellini at Roma Italian Restaurant

  We had a plan that while we were Germany we would eat German food, but that turned out to be much harder than we thought. We asked friends for advice on where to go and not a single place was German related so we ate some very delicious non German food.

Burritos at Que Pasa Mexican Restaurant

   


          





    For the temperature shock we were in I'd say we got in a lot of great sightseeing. We definitely put some serious miles on our feet. Our "study week" from Griffith was an incredible week of traveling to places I wouldn't have been able to see if I wasn't studying abroad. It makes me more and more grateful that I was able to spend an entire semester in Ireland.