Homeward Bound

Well, today was the last day on the island.  We all had a fabulous time and spent way too much money (maybe enough to pull Ireland out of its bit of a recession).  But all that aside, I wanted to give a quick summary of the week here.

Obviously, some of my fellow travelers were here to see the St. Paddy's (that's how they say it here) Day Parade.  They had a blast watching people walk from all over the world.

When we arrived on Monday morning, our first stop was at The Bald Barista - a fabulous coffee shop.  And yes, he actually is bald... and he has a tattoo on the back of his head that says "The Bald Barista."  To each his own I suppose.  We then walked around St. Stephen's Green, which was absolutely beautiful.  Guinness Brewery was the next stop.  Most of us opted out of the full pint of free Guinness, as we really couldn't handle its strong flavor.  But, the city views from Gravity Bar were absolutely breathtaking.  Later that night, we hopped onto a train to Howth, a small town on the coast.  We hiked (I know you are finding it hard to believe I even went outside) up a large hill to see the rocky hillside coasts.  We ate at a local pub, socializing with swanky locals. 

On Tuesday, we toured the National Museum and the National Gallery, to give ourselves time to catch up on Ireland's history.  We then proceeded to Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral to learn more about how religion has shaped the history of Ireland.  At Christ Church, we were able to explore the crypt, which contained a mummified cat and rat - gross, I know.  On Tuesday evening, I attended the Abbey Theater's production of King Lear.  While I was quite tired, I was able to get into the play after the first fifteen minutes.  Considering we were the fourth row from the stage, it may have been embarrassing if I had fallen asleep.

Wednesday morning - trip to Wicklow, the mountain country.  We first rode to Malahide Castle, and while some members of the group thought the word Malahide reminded them of formaldyhyde, I can attest that it was nothing like that awful smell.  The desserts served at Avoca were fabulous, and we ate those first.  We brought our sandwiches on the bus - that was quite interesting.  One classmate found a stick in his piece of bread... Yes, you did read that correctly, a stick.  You thought you ordered a turkey sandwich.... Err, no, you really just ordered two slices of plain turkey. Moving on.  The mountains were fabulous, and a friend and I were able to sport the ever famous UC pose in the middle of the Upper Lake at Glendalough.  A ghost tour completed our Wednesday activities.  While waiting in line to head to the most haunted place in Dublin, two young boys were creepliy lurking near our group.  They then proceeded to throw rocks at us.  These kids were certainly not the typical, super-friendly Dubliners we had met previously.  The kids asked us if we were from America, and one of the my fellow travelers frankly replied saying, "No, we're from Canada, and we eat little f****** like you."  Scared the living daylights out of them.

On Thursday, we went to Trinity College to tour the Book of Kells.  We also visited the Long Room, which was a library containing over 200,000 books, many of which probably haven't been opened in the past 500 years.  The stick-in-the-sandwich friend and I posed outside Trinity College doing another UC pose, and we're pretty sure the Trinity student thought we were the weirdest tourists ever.  A few of us then went to Kilmainham Gaol, the prison that was used during the Easter Uprising of 1916.  It was a fantastic, but also quite sad, tour.  Our professor suggested we check out the old hospital right across the street from Kilmainham.  On our way to the hospital, we passed an art museum, a building with a facade similar to Kilmainham, but we could not find this old hospital.  We asked for directions, and we were sent up this giant hill... to the real-life, functioning hospital... yeah.  We obviously got out of there as soon as we could, and took a bus back to Dublin City Center.  We got on a bus, the 46A, which would take us to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced as Dun Leery).  It literally took an hour and a half to get out to the harbour town, but we met some local school children along the way.  They were hurling players, and stick-in-the-sandwich friend got a pretty sassy remark when he asked the one boy if he was a hurler.  Yikes!  Dun Laoghaire may be the coldest place in Ireland, and the wind whips right up off the ocean.  The waves were so high, and the wind kept pushing us closer to the water.  After a warm dinner, which we paid for in mostly coins (it was embarrassing, but my roommate needed to get rid of some change) we got on the train, which cut down our transportation time by over an hour.  We then headed to see the Woman in Black at the Gaity Theater.  It was.... interesting.

This morning, we went to Kildare, which is horse country.  We were able to see the Irish National Stud Farm, a place to breed and train the next champion horses in the racing world.  The facts and figures of operating such a place are ridiculous, but the horses were beautiful.  We got to see a horse that was born yesterday.  It was awesome!  We took the scenic route back to the hotel, and ended the night with last-minute shopping activities and a group dinner - an interesting potato soup, salmon, and a variety of desserts. Gelato rounded out the evening, where we ran into some young guys from England.  As soon as they dissed One Direction, we peaced out, leaving them behind in the dust. 

Although it rains evey day in Ireland, there is nothing better than getting to experience the city, the beach, and green spaces all at once.  This has been a trip I will never forget, filled with many great people and wonderfully hilarious stories. 

Keep living your dream!

The Oddities of Europe Continued

I've decided a week's time is just not enough to completely understand European differences. 

Yesterday I complied a list of things about Europe that I'm struggling with.  After another day of walking around, here are a couple more:

5.  Euro coins (I generally just lay them out on the counter and have the server/shop owner count the correct change)
6.  The lemon (Did I ask for a lemon in my water, my Diet Coke?)
7.  Smoking (It's everywhere!)
8.  Ice (Upon arrival, I forgot the Europeans like warm drinks.  I ordered water the first day at breakfast, it had 1 ice cube...  The second day, they put more in once they realized we thought it was a bit warm.  Now, they always ask if we want extra ice, aka the normal amount given in the States)
9.  The accents (I love them, when they talk slow enough to understand.  The cab drivers - they talk so so so fast that generally I have no idea what they are saying)

Well, that's all for now, but with three full days left, I'm sure there will be more.  Let's hope I can start to get a handle on things!

Keep living your dream!

The Oddities of Europe

****PLEASE GO VISIT MY NEW BLOG****

Things I just can't quite get used to:

1.  Cars on the opposite side of the road (pay extra attention when crossing the street!)

2.  Steering wheels on the opposite side (it's just very odd)

3.  The Euro (can I really justify paying that much?!)

4.  Co-Ed Bathrooms (that's just plain awkward)

Thank goodness I haven't had to pay to use the toilet (yes, that's what they are called in Ireland - pretty abrupt  ehh??)

Keep living your dream!

Let the Fun Begin

The party has arrived in Dublin!  And by party, I mean the lovely people who got to spend an extra night with me in Cincinnati.  

We had an easy ride to Newark, and had great views of New York City, followed by an extremely long flight to Dublin.  We arrived this morning at 5:30am, 1:30am USA time.  After two hours of sleep on the plane, I realized being tired was easier to deal with than a stiff neck.

First thing we do upon arrival in Dublin (besides Customs, checking in and breakfast) is coffee of course!  We went to The Bald Barista (highly recommend) and he opened his shop an hour early for us!  So delicious and he even makes coffee art for you!  

I had a great day exploring the city - the sights, sounds, people, and food.  We also had a grand time at Guinness, although many of us weren't too fond of the beer itself.  

While I have many other stories to share, you'll have to wait for another day.  I'm too tired (I fell asleep on the Dublin Bus...) but I will update you with stories and photos soon!

Keep living your dream!

Off to Dublin... Tomorrow

Greetings from... the hotel at CVG Airport!  HUGE shoutout to the fabulous hotel managers and shuttle drivers at the Double Tree Hotel.  They couldn't be any more accommodating.  Plus, who knew that hearing the words "Here's a password for free internet access" could completely brighten your day?  Thanks, fellow Westside resident manager!   

What a day it has been!  I decided to try out a new method of transportation, as The Met isn't exactly equipped to travel across The Pond. 

Unfortunately, our aircraft didn't want to make the journey today either.  As we were boarding the small jet, a malfunction occurred.  After four hours of attempting to get 20 of my classmates and I on a different flight from CVG to a connection at another port to Dublin, I am currently sitting poolside with 5 other classmates at the hotel.  Guess I should have brought that bathing suit.

  

While the rest of our class is currently flying on a squishy, extremely long flight, we are enjoying our novels on lounge chairs at the indoor pool.  The young children from the soccer team are playing (loudly) in the pool.  Those were the days.

We're hoping to get to Dublin by Monday, but until then, happy St. Patty's Day and pray for no snow!

Keep living your dream!

PS... Have a private jet?  Would you mind flying us to Dublin?!  Let us know!

And We're Off... Almost

Hello friends!

In less than 24 hours, I'll be in the air headed for... Newark, New Jersey!  Not what you guessed, I'm assuming, but good try.  I'll be off to Dublin soon after.

Need to get a hold of me while I'm celebrating St. Patty's Day in the heart of Ireland?  Here's what you can do:

- Tweet at me (and follow my journey, here)

- Email me (if you don't have my email, you don't need to contact me)
- Viber with me (FREE international texting - only when I have Internet access... LHPers this will be perfect for Asia 2014)
- Skype me (remember Dublin is 4 hours ahead)

Don't worry, I'll also be blogging, so check back often!

Peace and blessins, friends, peace and blessins.

Keep living your dream!

The Chauffeured Life... Dublin Style

So here’s the situation.  In three days, I’m leaving the country.  But, do not fear!  I will continue sharing details of my oh-so collegiate and chauffeured lifestyle, but from Dublin, Ireland!  I’m going with my class to explore the city of Dublin through works of art, architecture, and the written word. 

It will be interesting, that is for sure.  We will have personal drivers, personal tour guides, and they even provided us with membership cards for the Dublin Bus – not as awesome as my personal driver on The Met here, but it will certainly do! 

So now, not only do I need to keep track of my membership card for The Met and the new card I’m testing for The Met, but also this super bright Dublin Bus card.  Oh goodness!

Keep living your dream!

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Think back to the day you got your first phone – whether it was Christmas Day, your birthday, or just a time when your parents decided to gift it to you.  Remember how your were totally and completely obsessed with finding that perfect ringtone, alarm ring, and texting beep?  And then about a week later, you found it to be too much, so you turned your phone completely on silent?  Don’t deny it, it happened to the best of us.

Well today, I jumped on “The 46” but luckily, I was early enough to the stop that I didn’t have to run like a maniac.  Of course, today, I got the personal driver that stops to pick up food from his house/a random mini-mart?  But that’s beside the point. 

As we neared downtown, a “friend” whipped out her phone (a flip phone, of course).  So you know how we just discussed your annoyance with all of the ringtones?  Well, either this lady just got a new phone, or she just really super enjoyed enjoying everyone who had the pleasure of hearing her beeps, rings, and music.  Upon the initial flip of the phone, I felt as though I was listening to magical, rainbow unicorn-loving music.  Then, she proceeds to hit a button… BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.  You have got to be joking!  Upon the closing of the phone, the magical music played again, followed by a very random almost-ring-but-not-quite-ringtone-ring.  Let’s just say, it was a bit shocking when I heard it, but she made no move to reopen the phone.  Alrighty then.

Keep living your dream!

Shameless Plug

Hello Readers!

It's that time of year again.... time for RELAY!  As part of the committee and Luminaria Co-Chair, I want you to consider signing up as a participant or donating in honor of a loved one who has battled cancer so that someday (hopefully soon) we can live in a cancer-free world.

So why not join a team, sleep outside (yes, this is the closest thing to camping I have ever done in my whole life), and have a blast walking the luminaria-lighted track with friends!  Sign up here to participate, donate, or purchase a luminaria in honor or support of a loved one!

Thank you for your consideration... But seriously, sign up!

Keep living your dream!

MIA

I feel like I'm neglecting you.  I haven't blogged in almost a week.  BUT.... let me explain.

Wednesday - it snowed like crazy.  Well, more it just came at the perfect time for me to "work" from home. I was actually at my home-home, not on campus, so I enjoyed the day eating sweets with my sister who was off school.

Thursday - I just decided to get a great night of sleep at home-home, and my dad drove me to work in the morning.  So it was like having a personal driver, only better.

Since I've been majorly slacking, I felt as though it was duty to write about my Friday night.  My roommate asked me to be her date to her sorority's formal, so of course I agreed to go!  

Unfortunately, their hired driver was not as efficient as my personal driver.  We went the most random way to our destination, and trust me, plenty of comments were made about this.  I have to agree, as a valued patron on The Met's system where I get picked up and dropped off at great locations, that the chosen routes were pretty inconvenient.  

Other than that little mishap, the night was awesome, but unfortunately, it's back to the corporate grind in the morning.  Goodnight!

Keep living your dream!

March 5th, or April 1st?

April Fool’s Day decided to come early. 

My friend and I arrived at our pickup location early today, since we had missed “The 46” yesterday.  We waited there for quite a bit, and our driver was MIA.  Since we are members of The Met’s elite club, we were able to access the schedules made by our personal drivers.  Sure enough, the our pickup schedule had been modified… clearly to accommodate the other riders more than us.  Major college student problems.

So, now our driver on “The 46” (who just happens to be the ferocious waver – just like I had predicted) arrives at 7:29am at approximately the same time as “The 78”.  This poses a major problem, as missing the first means missing the second.  I feel as though I may need to change drivers, or else, I will have many more morning exercises on Calhoun.

Keep living your dream!

Stranger Danger

Picture this:  you are driving down the road and you pull up and stop at a red light.  You turn up the radio a bit, and look out your left window, only to find the driver of that car staring you down. 

Why yes, indeed, this did happen to me this morning.  My friend and I hopped onto “The 78” at 7:30am.  “The 46” was nowhere in sight, so we assumed our driver was 4 minutes early or 10 minutes late.   

Now you must understand that both “The 46” and “The 78” take the exact same route until they reach downtown.  Taking “The 46” is much more convenient for my friend and me because our driver has the ability to drop us off right outside our offices.  When we take “The 78”, the driver is not as accommodating, and makes us walk a whole two blocks to get to work.  He doesn’t understand that we are still sleeping, and without our morning dose of caffeine, we don’t really have the energy to put in the effort.  But I digress.  

We were nearing the point where the routes split, and I happened to look out the window only to see “The 46”.  Are you kidding me?!  Where did it come from?!?!  How had we missed it?  I look closer to see a different driver, not my personal driver with the accent.  And better yet, this driver was staring at our luxury vehicle.  Directly.  At.  Me.  Waving his hand ferociously.  My parents always told me to avoid strangers, so that’s exactly what I did.  He’s not my driver, so I classified him as a stranger, heeded my parents advice, and totally blew off his hand waves.

With my luck, tomorrow, he’ll be the substitute driver for “The 46”.   

Keep living your dream!

GIVEAWAY : Ride The Met

It saddens me that many of my school friends don’t have their own personal drivers.  Most have cars on campus, but that means they have to drive themselves to work, to the market, and to other various places.  If only they knew what they were missing.  With a personal driver and “The 46” or “The 78”, I can enjoy a peaceful ride without having to worry about traffic, ice, snow, or angry drivers on the road.

I recently went to a training session at The Met (the private vehicle operating company) because I am helping to test out a new membership card program.  Basically, The Met gave me a $50 gift card to try out new routes with friends.  What’s in it for you?  A free ride on a private luxury vehicle with me!  Woohoo!  We can go anywhere in the Greater Cincinnati area. 

Here’s how it works.  You can earn chances by participating in the following activities:

• Include a URL to this post in a Tweet
• Post about it on your Facebook page, by including a URL
• Follow Collegiate and Chauffeured by entering your email here
• Leave a comment – I’d love to hear about how much you want to ride with me!

Keep living your dream!