Ireland

Wow, I could probably go on for a few pages about Ireland but I'll try to condense it! Ireland is beyond beautiful and everyone I met there (including cabbies and random strangers) were nothing but friendly and helpful. It is truly an unbelievably gorgeous place and I was very sad to leave it. Now I think I will have to return before I go back to California.


Dublin - Patrick and I spent Friday night and most of Sunday in the city center. On Friday night we got to have a few drinks with my Aunt Patty and Meighan and some of my family Tom and Freida. Even though my aunt has insisted that they would already be asleep when we landed, we stayed up pretty late drinking.

He always lets me have the window seat!

At the Ballyhaunis train station

Ballyhaunis - Located in County Roscommon, is where some of our family lives. Veronica graciously welcomed us into her home, which is a beautiful farm with acres and acres of land. I couldn't quite get an American answer (acres/miles) of how big it actually was. There were horses, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, and even a cow. It was so rich, green, and peaceful there; I really felt like I was looking at a postcard. We had taken the scenic train ride to the village of Ballyhaunis, which actually turned out to the on the opposite side of Ireland, literally western Ireland. And it was cold! I am so spoiled with the sunny SoCal weather, everyone thought it was funny how cold I was and kept trying to give me more sweaters and blankets. It was really nice to visit with all of them and see their land. It was really fun seeing all the animals, especially the 1 month old kitten that I was ready to take with me! On Saturday night, we went into town and ate a perfectly cozy restaurant/pub and just enjoyed each other's company. Ballyhaunis is such an amazing place, so far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, I was incredibly sad to leave.

Dublin, again! - After the train back into Dublin, Patrick and I checked out the rest of Dublin for a few hours. We walked over to the Guinness Factory where you could literally smell the beer a couple of streets over, it was pretty overwhelming too. Before we had to take the bus to the airport, we managed to get in a couple more sights that we had missed on Saturday morning (St. Andrews Church, Trinity College..) and had an awesome burger and fries. That is something that I miss from America...its hard to find a real burger here in Germany! Which reminds me: when walking down the main street of Dublin (O'Connell Street) there were 2 Burger Kings and 2 McDonalds within probably 70 yards of each other. Which is a little ridiculous but useful for the free bathrooms!

Airplane "Ride" - I love to fly and view flights as fun rides. But this "ride" was a little bit scary; we had pretty rocky turbulence most of the flight back to Berlin. When we got close to Berlin Schonefeld Airport, we had to taxi in the air since there was a storm passing through. It felt more like the storm was passing through us and that we weren't avoiding it at all! It felt like I was in a movie because the lightning was flashing all around us and the ride was so bumpy. Do you know how in the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, the car lurches all around and feels like its skidding? That's exactly how our commercial jet landing felt like. A few people threw up but luckily, no one around us. Our flight was actually diverted to Berlin Tegel Airport (which is actually Berlin's small, crappy airport) and we got to wait an hour and a half on the landing to just get off of the plane and get into the airport. It was a longer flight than I wanted, but we got home safe and sound.


All in all Ireland was so beautiful and amazing, I felt really attached to it. I honestly did not want to leave. If my program wasn't so intense and allowed for class absences, I probably would have stayed another night. Well I have a few more months to figure out how I'm going to get back there!


P.S. It's Patrick's 21st birthday tomorrow, he's a little bummed since turning 21 isn't as big of a deal as it is in America, but don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!