Dublin

We could tell it was almost St. Patrick’s Day the moment we exited the plane. Tourists donning large green hats and wide grins were scattered throughout the airport. While we were not quite in the spirit after an entire day traveling, we did appreciate the enthusiasm that our fellow Irishmen possessed.

After we checked in and unpacked our bags at the hostel, John and I ventured downtown to find some “pub grub.” Unfortunately, we could not decide on that perfect pub before they stopped serving food. So what did we do; went to a Chinese buffet (which was quite pleasant). While roaming the streets, though, we found more people in ridiculous green outfits clamoring about. If someone didn’t know any better, they may have thought it was St. Patrick’s Day. But alas, it was only Sunday night: two days away!

The next morning, while wandering through the city, we came upon another Free Tour. Since our last Free Tour in Berlin was a success, we decided to give this one a try and ventured into the vast crowd (St. Patrick’s Day remember). By shear luck of the Irish, we received tickets, while many were left without. While there were less touristy sights to see in Dublin, the history was still present. Out tour guide, a native of Dublin, gave us the lowdown on the tumultuous history of the Irish Republic. In all, a good tour; much more informative and exciting than a classroom I would say. Now I can say that I really am “studying abroad.” (Your money is not going to waste Dad)

After the tour, we ventured over to the Guinness Warehouse for another tour of a slightly different kind. Again, we had to contend with long lines on the eve of this big celebration. The tour was extremely informative and entertaining. The best part, though, was the brew in the Sky Bar over looking the entire city (after learning the art and science of making a great Guinness, that is).

That night, we were finally able to get our authentic “pub grub.” I had Irish stew which consisted of lamb with brown bread and mashed potatoes on the side. Pretty authentic I suppose. After our meal, we decided to hit the hay early so we could get a good start in the morning. To our dismay, the next morning was nothing like what we had imagined. We thought that the pubs would open around eight and that everyone would be having a great time; that was not the case. They, the pubs, were not allowed to serve until after noon. So, we grabbed breakfast with a huge Red Socks fan (I had to tell him how much better the Cubs were) and then got a spot for the parade.

The parade was really fun. Apparently, different groups around Ireland (like a 4-H group or something) would create a theme and act it out along the route. My favorite was the group that was on the set of King Kong. After standing in a crowded place for about 2 hours, we decided to get our St. Patrick’s Day on! For our afternoon break, we visited the St. Patrick Cathedral to give thanks for his service to Ireland: getting rid of all the snakes….and converting the island to Christianity.
At the next pub, we decided to start a pub crawl with these two fellows from Austria! Many people were very excited with the idea and joined us on the event. Although we had a limited crawl (3 pubs) we had a good 30 people by the end. We ended the night at the famous Temple Bar, a good end to a good day (until McDonald's called my name).

I was glad for the opportunity not only to visit Dublin, but to experience St. Patrick’s Day in all of its madness, something I will not soon forget.

Berlin

Sorry to all of you who have been checking up and have found nothing new on my blog. I been strained for time and, as you can tell, have not posted for a while; my apologies.

The story starts on Thursday when John and I head to Edinburgh to catch our flight to Frankfurt-Hahn. We had been sucked into this trip a month before by these two girls; one of which said she “knew” someone in Frankfurt. We said, alright it will be a fun trip before we set off to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. About three days before we leave, the girls decide that they want to go to Berlin instead. That’s fine, I guess, there’s more to do in Berlin anyways. So we find the cheapest way to travel from Frankfurt to Berlin by using a ride share. This means we ride with someone who is taking that journey, which is convenient and, as we found out, fun. To make the story short, they stayed in Frankfurt one night and then took a nine hour bus ride to Berlin and beat us there by only a couple hours when we started a day later and paid way less.

Anyway, we found this ride share place and were finally on our way to Berlin. We had the opportunity to ride along with a guy who lives in Berlin but works in Frankfurt during the week. We also had two other guys with us, one of which was very entertaining. It took us five hours but it really didn’t seem that long because we heard some great stories to keep us amused.

When we arrived we found our hostel and then tried to find a bit to eat; a hard thing to do in a city with “wild” night life. The following morning we enjoyed a German strudel while we waited for our tour to begin (where I met another group of Illinois students). The tour of Berlin was very good. We saw the Wall, Check Point Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, and many other historic sites. Then, John and I wandered around the city until it was time for us to meet up with the girls for dinner. We ate at a very small and very authentic German pub. The food and beer was very good; I had sauerkraut and sausage.

The five of us enjoyed an old-school pub crawl in Berlin’s less touristy section. It was very interesting, but very scary at the same time. I felt bad, because the next morning they had to ship off for another nine hour bus ride while we enjoyed more of the wonderful city (more of the Wall and other historical sites). That evening we met a couple of soldiers who were stationed in Germany...interesting to say the least.

Early on Sunday morning, we took a train to Frankfurt, a bus to the airport, and then a plane to Dublin. Although I only spent two whole days in Berlin I really loved it. It was, quite possibly, my favorite city thus far. It was so clean, had so much history, and did not feel like a big city what so ever. But my weekend was not over yet, so I’ll see you for St. Patties Day!

London

So, I am 2 weeks behind and need to catch up!

A couple weekends ago I attended the University of Illinois London Weekend. This involved all of the university students who are studying on the British Exchange Program to met in London on the 5th of March to do a little sight-seeing in the nation’s largest city. Although there are over 100 students from Illinois in the UK and Ireland this semester, only about 50 are part of the exchange program. It is still a pretty large group I would say. As well, these students came from all over Britain (Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, and the like). The main objective was to meet our UK resident student advisor, Ryan Lorenz, and to befriend other students abroad.

I flew out of Aberdeen early Thursday afternoon. I was again in a hurry to pack my bag and get off (a reoccurring theme it seems). But, again, no problems, and I was of to “London Town.”

When I arrived at Heathrow I immediately bought an Oystercard for use in the Tube (Underground). Looking at the map of the Underground is quite overwhelming, but luckily enough, my stop was on the same “line” as the one that left from the airport. And, after quite a long ride, I reached my stop at Russell Square. From here, I had no clue where to go, but after walking around the block, I finally found the hotel (paid for).

After checking in, I laid down for a quick nap before we gathered for dinner. I kept the television on in my room for two reasons: one, because I never get to watch it, and two, because I love the English accent.

At about 7:30, all 40 of us met downstairs to grab some pizza (paid for). The rest of the night was uneventful as we just hung out and got to know each other better at a pub near the hotel.

After a meeting about safely while studying abroad the next morning (a little late since I was about 5 weeks in at the time), we hoped on our bus for a tour of London (paid for). It was really nice seeing all the sights in relation to the city. After that, we were given the rest of the afternoon to ourselves, so a few of us ventured off to see Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, The House of Parliament, Big Ben, and a quick stop in the British Museum.

That night, we had the chance to meet some Alumni that now reside in the UK. I swear, four out of the 15 or so that were in attendance had been to Mt. Morris. I was astonished! Anyway we had a good meal (paid for) and good conversation. The next morning we received a personal walking tour of the river by Ryan himself. Afterwards, we all grabbed lunch at this awesome outdoor market; I had a baguette and cheese. Then a couple of us headed over Tower Bridge to the Tower of London (our Beefeater was hilarious and the crown jewels were amazing) and then to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We met for diner that night (paid for) and took in some of London’s famous theater. The “play” was called Rumors (paid for). I would describe it as a mix between acrobatics, modern dance, a hint of comedy, with basketballs and skateboards mixed in. Overall, I was really impressed and enjoyed the show immensely.

On Sunday morning, four of us ventured to Camden Market to gaze at all of the crazy antiques and to grab a great bit to eat (goat curry). Then, it was off to the airport again and back to Aberdeen.

I really enjoyed my trip to London. There is so much to do and see that one weekend was not even close to enough, plus everything was paid for! Hopefully I will make it back soon because it is such a astonishing city.

Apline Skiing Adventures

First, I must apologize to everyone for the wait between posts. I only had one day of internet access last week and found the time was too short to write about my weekend. But now I'm back and ready to rock!

Two miles really doesn't seem like that much. We can drive 2 miles in about 3 minuets, right? We could even bike it in about 10. Heck, we could even run......wait, scratch that, I hate running. All I am trying to say is that 2 miles does not seem that impressive until you are standing on top of a mountain that high!

This trip actually started off on Thursday night (26^th) when my friend, John, and I left for Edinburgh via bus. Since all of the low cost airlines fly out of Edinburgh, it makes sense for us to take the bus from Aberdeen and then catch the airplane. It was unfortunate, though, that the flight for this trip left at eight in the morning. No buses run from Aberdeen that early, so we had to book a hostel in Edinburgh that night so we might be able wake up the next morning and arrive at the airport on time.

Nothing real exciting happened on our journey to Innsbruck, Austria. It was actually a bit cloudy on Friday so we couldn't really see the Alps as our plane started to descend upon the city. We could see the few mountains that lined the valley as we came in, which was amazing at the time, but nothing compared to Saturday’s views.

Anyway, after following a bus, (too cheap to pay) that would have lead us to our hostel, in the opposite direction for about a half an hour, we finally got our bearings and trekked ourselves to the other side of town (again too cheap to pay). At this point, John and I were too tired to do anything except wait for Matt Carton to arrive. At about 9 o'clock, I got a call from Matt saying that he had arrived at the hostel (an old Olympic athlete dorm). I thought this was odd because even if he did have my stellar directions, it still took us forever. Come to find out, he copped out and took a cab!

After settling in, we wandered downtown to find this restaurant from our travel guide, Theresienbrau. The food here was excellent and so was the home brewed beer. It was a true Austrian dinner! After grabbing a few more brews at the college hangout right next door (same owners), we called it a night so that we could rest up before our big day on the slopes!

Early the next morning we drug ourselves out of bed and caught the Ski Bus that stopped by our accommodations. We jumped on another bus at the connection point and were off to Stubaier Gletscher! The weather was even foggier than the day before and we were a little disappointed that we could not see any of the mountains. But as we climbed higher, I mentioned to Carton that the sun was trying to break through. About 2 minuets later we were out of the fog and sunshine filled the bus. We could finally see the mountains in all of their glory!

After a scenic hour bus ride to the ski resort, we got off and immediately started taking pictures. I saw the ski lift run over the crest of the mountain and then disappear for view. At this point, I concluded that that was the top, because it sure was high. Little did I know that it was only a third of the way!

We got our gear (coats, pants, gloves, skies, and boots) at the ski lodge 2/3 of the way to the top. Then we made our ascent to the top! The view at 2 miles up was an amazing experience. This was the first time I have even seen mountains of this magnitude, other than in pictures. Apparently a person could see three countries from that point! It was truly awe inspiring and I was in amazement of the views the entire day.

I won't go into to much detail, but after the first run we all lost each other and spent the rest of the day skiing by ourselves. The glacier that we skied on was so big that we did not see each other for the rest of the day! It was fun though; I had a good time tackling the "easy" slopes and the 3 mile long runs. They actually got so tiresome that I had to take breaks midway down. I will also admit that I fell........but only like once. Maybe.

After meeting up at about 3:30 we had another little photo shoot (pretty entertaining) and then rode the lifts back down to the valley below. All exhausted from skiing all day, we took naps on the way back. Even back at the hostel we had to rest before we went looking for a place to eat.

The next day found us touring the Swarovski’s Kristallwelten (Crystal World). Swarovski is the world leader in crystal production and has their headquarters in Innsbruck. Crystal World had colorful displays made up of different crystals. The theme was something about Brazil. It was also home to the world's largest crystal (3000 carrots). After that, we ate lunch on top and took in the views of Innsbruck from the ski jump that was used in the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. We then saw Carton off at the train station because he had to get back for his internship. Then John and I walked around town and took in this amazing little city for the rest of the night.

We went to another ski resort on Monday where I snowboarded. This was equally amazing, although I did fall quite a bit more (like 4 times (if that)). The next morning we headed to the airport after another quick walk around town. Unfortunately, our plane could not land and we were delayed for a couple of hours. We then missed our connecting flight to Edinburgh. And this made us miss our bus back to Aberdeen. So we got on a later flight, stayed another night in Edinburgh, and got on the bus the next morning.

In all, this was a trip of a lifetime. I got to ski with real Alpine skiers and snowboarders! I loved the mountains and the atmosphere of this quaint little city.