The Luck of the Irish

A week later. Wow.

I feel like I should give some background from the last post- the Friday before I headed to Ireland, Anna and I stayed up all night and got chocolate and churros at 8am. I slept for 4 hours, and started the trip to Ireland.

Here we are- after a long night, we were rewarded with chocolate! I'm probably never going to do that to myself again, but hey, I can say I did it!

Once in Ireland, Abby showed me around the city! I think she's actually a real tour guide, because we found everything we needed to without having to search or consult a map. She lives about 10 minutes by cab outside of the city, so she spends most of her time in Plassey Village where she lives. It's pretty close to campus and as a science lady, she stays pretty close.

This one is just gonna be a bunch of pictures again, since it's easier to show than tell!

Here she is- THE Abby Wolf.

This is where Abby lives. It's just a bunch of houses with 7 or 8 bedrooms in each, with 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. They were really nice!

The flag poles for the University of Limerick.

This is the "Living Bridge". It connects the two sides of campus. It actually moves as you walk across it! (Hence the name, the Living Bridge). Here's some more info from the University- The architects designed the bridge to move in a beautifu lflowing line across the shannon, mirroring the river. The design conveys the sense of a series of bridges leaping from pier to pier, each supported by one of the existing islands in the riverbed. This gives the traveller the sense that they are crossing the river on stepping stones. It was so cool, yet such a weird feeling at the same time!

The bridge all lit up at night.

Here is our journey into the city-

King John's Castle. This castle went through quite the battles. It was actually built in 1200 for King John. But King's Island was actually run by Vikings first. The Island passed from the Limerick Vikings to the Dublin Vikings to the Munster clan. The Munsters burned down the city in an effort to keep it out of other hands. Despite their efforts, the Anglo-Normans took control and later built the Castle! This side of the river is known as "English Town", the other side is "Irish Town".

I touched the castle!!

St. Mary's Catedral

Tried a Guinness. It was unlike anything I've ever tasted. But check it off the bucket list!

Got the Fish and Chips! It was excellent.

Successful weekend in Ireland! Now I have a few days at home before I go to Belgium.

Hell on Wheels

Well I made it to Ireland!! It was literally the worst trip of my life but I made it. You aren't going to believe me after I tell you what happened.

It all started when I was packing. I'm allowed 10 kg and a suitcase that's smaller than my backpack as a carry on. I loaded it up only to run out of space or weight limit.. So I had this awesome idea to cheat the system. I would wear 4 dresses, a pair of jeans, boots, and 2 jackets on the plane! HA now look at all the clothes I can fit! Seemed like a great idea at the time.

I took a city bus to the big bus station. First I almost missed the stop so I was yelling at the driver to stop again, then I forgot one of my jackets on the bus so I was chasing him down the street to try to get him to stop. Ok, got all my stuff.

Bus ride from Granada to Malaga- I was seated net to the only person on the bus who snored like a baby dinosaur. Awesome. So much for catching up from last night..

I got to the airport and met this nice British family while I was waiting in line to check in. when they found out I was flying Ryan Air, the man laughed and said "Yea, it'll be your last time too." Great. They also said that since I wasn't checking a bag, I didn't need to stand here, I could just go to security. Well that was helpful! Thank you!

I got through security, through border control, and gave my ticket to the lady to board the plane. She said I was missing the stamp from the Ryan Air office (which I should have gotten at the check in line which those people told me to leave) and that I couldn't get on the plane unless I had it. I booked it to the office. Down 3 flights of starts and across the mile long airport (all bundled up in boots, jeans, 4 dresses, and 2 jackets no less) to get this stamp so I could go through check in and border control all over again.

Got the stamp. Check.

Made it through security. Check.

I am so sweaty at this point that it's pretty much soaked through all my 16 layers, and my hair looks like I've been sitting in a sauna. I give my passport to border control again and they ask me if I speak spanish.. ok.. this is weird..

They told me that since I didn't tell them I needed to get the stamp and come back, I couldn't go through again! As they're telling me this I'm thinking, "I did not just run up 3 flights of stairs and across this whole stupid airport for you to tell me I can't get on my plane that is waiting for me!"

Instead, naturally, I started crying.

Oh yea, straight up, hyperventilating/alligator tears/red eyes. The whole shebang. These two men who probably dealt with tears like my brothers- get away from crying object as fast as possible- looked at each other, looked at me, and one of them said it was lucky that he remembered me, just don't do it again. YES.

Got on the plane and immediately started stripping off layers. I got stuck between two Irish men who probably thought I was insane. It had to be like a bad scene from Coyote Ugly- elevator music with sweaty, frazzled, crying girl taking off an embarrassing amount of clothes. At least I remembered to stop taking off clothes when I got to the bottom layer.. Good to go!

When we landed, I had 24 minutes to find my bus to Limerick. Checking my passport took forever and I was treated to the Spanish Inquisition about why I needed to visit a sorority sister for a full week. I ran through all the way to baggage claim/exit, all the while shamelessly asking for directions to where my bus was. I got to my bus at 12:31 and this lady came off as I was running up "Oh dear, are you ok? Here, let me take your bag." The driver walked up and looked at me... I know I looked rough. All I got was "God bless your heart" and was ushered to a seat.

I've been itching to start running again now that my butt is healed. I'm just going to chalk this up to God's little push to get going on the cardio again. He sure has some sense of humor. I mean, an airport wasn't exactly my idea of getting in the miles, but I definitely think I sweated off at least one love handle after all of that!

But here we are. I'm with Abby now. She has a great place- it's like an apartment but she shares a kitchen with 7 other people. I'll keep ya posted on our adventures! I'm so excited!!

Love Maddy

Day 1

I survived the first day! What more could a girl ask for? I have all of my luggage and am navigating fairly well all things considered.

I’m navigating ok so far! I know what to ask, it’s just understanding the answer that’s killing me. Everyone speaks so fast that I can’t think fast enough to figure out what they said much less come up with an intelligent response. The first guy that I encountered didn’t answer any of my questions, but proceeded to tell me “Eres muy guapo” which I’m pretty sure means “You’re very beautiful/attractive”?? Ohhhhhh boy this is off to a great start.

I was hoping to be taken seriously, but I’m sure I just looked lost everywhere I went. I spilled coffee on my white shirt on the car ride up to the airport in Minneapolis so I was doomed from the start. TOURIST.

The hardest part was figuring out where to go- all the time. At the airport, I could either take a taxi or a bus to the train station. I couldn’t figure out the bus system on such a tight schedule so I went with the taxi. Naturally the driver spoke spanish so I’m trying to tell him what train station I needed to be at; we got the right station but I gave up trying to figure out which platform and just handed over my ticket so he could read it himself. He laughed and said in half english/half spanish “Keep practicando”. Thanks for the encouragement!

The train station itself was a totally different story. There were people everywhere. Literally, everywhere. This frantic woman came up to me and started freaking out in Spanish and I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say or what she was saying! I probably looked terrified because then this guy came up and said “Ella no sabe” and marched her away. I figured out that the guys in purple ties worked at the station (don’t ask me how, just go with it) so every purple tie I saw I asked for directions. I’ve never even seen a train station much less been on a train so I had no idea where to go or how this whole thing worked. But I made it and successfully got to Toledo!

On the train.

After the afternoon siesta at the hotel we had a meeting with the ISA staff so I could get all caught up on the stuff I missed. Then we went out for supper.. which was at 9pm. I was starving! Meals are a little wonky here- breakfast is around 8 or 9, lunch at 2 or 3, and dinner at 9 or 10. 

The food was SO GOOD. We went to this little hole in the wall restaurant with a few other kids in our group. Anna and I  split the Gazpacho and a Paella. Gazpacho is a tomato based soup and it’s served cold. It was served with peppers and croutons tonight, but can be served with many other add ins. Paella is a rice dish. It’s served in a cast iron skillet and this one had sausage, squid, and peppers in it.

Tomorrow we travel to Granada to meet our host families!

Maddy has Sangria, Anna has a Mojito.
Both were delicious!
At the bottom of the picture is the Gazpacho.

The Paella we ordered.
Super salty, but so worth it!

Adios amigos!