The rest of that first whirwind day

After adventures at the Queen's residence, we ventured over towards Big Ben and Parliament. First stop was Westminster Abbey, and was it ever beautiful! The Gothic-style church reminded me so much of Notre Dame. I have been so blessed and have seen so many things! We did not go in b/c there is a charge, but, service is free. We are all about the free and were up to checking that out, but that's for another day's telling. Right next to the Abbey we crossed the very busy street (street crossing is quite interesting, you just go when you see a clear shot when there is no real crossing). The park we crossed to had statues of great men, my favorite of which was Nelson Mandela who I had to take a picture with. From Nelson, we had the best view of Big Ben!

Since beginning to 'grow up' I've always talked about how if I want to go to London, stand on one of Big Ben's hands, look to the second star on the right and fly on straight 'til morning. It was amazing and of course Peter Pan songs got stuck in my head. We ventured closer and were further awed by the beauty of Parliament. I love the yellow stone and all of the delicate details (Check out my facebook photo albums for the photos). I believe this area was Mandy's favorite, and quite possibly mine as well. From the Westminster bridge we caught sight of the London Eye, the huge ferris wheel. NO need to pay 35 pounds to get on, a look and a pic were plenty.

By now we were hungry and went back towards Piccadilly Circus in search of food. I was determined to get Indian food while in London, and Indian food I did get. I felt sort of bad because Chelsea wasn't up to Indian, but I was determined. I knew that while in London I would buy at least one thing and that was going to be it. It was Mandy's first Indian food experience and I believe she liked it. I LOVED my vegetable dish and naan (which was sweeter since I got the nutty naan). Delicious! Although, the service was REALLY slow, the only sourness to the meal was the rudeness of the waiter when we asked for our bill. It was odd how frustrated his rudeness made me, but maybe it's because my father always taught me politeness... anyways...

We then got Chelsea and Mandy Cinnabon and I had a fun chat with the woman working the register there about Cadburry's Chocolate, true story. From there we went to Trafalgar Square to visit the National Gallery. Outside the Gallery, while Chelsea ate her cinnabon, Mandy and I watched a street performer do some silly stuff. Not quite the juggling Rachel, kayla and I caught in Paris, but hilarious nonetheless. The gallery itself was impressive. Mandy was really cute. About halfway point she said she had the chills in realizing just then that these were the original copies. That we were looking directly at some of Monet's paintings, that he did, not a replica. The coolest example of this were the few unfinished paintings that went up. I have to admit, it is pretty cool that they were the real deal.

Off to Oxford street we went. (I think). It was suggested that we check out a store with cheap shopping along there by my high school friend Megan Madrigal. Sadly, I did not find it, no biggie though. We did find a cool bookstore that we later returned to on Saturday and Mandy bought books 1 and 7 of the British Harry Potters. We walked to Tottenham Court Road, mentioned in the HP books for a pub they went to. We didn't find the pub but a very nice professor and a student noticed we were looking at our map to find our way home and gave us some lovely directions. I truly love meeting kind people and we met so many in this adventure!

On our way home we passed by the British Museum and noticed parts of it were still open, so of course we went in! The first exhibit we hit was Living and Dying, which showed how cultures throughout the world deal with daily challenges. With my love of worldy cultures, I was in heaven. Anecdote time! So I went into the room by myself, the other two a ways behind me, and I started flashing my camera on the Andean case of devil costumes used at carnavals (made me think of Rachel and her Kechwa studies). Suddenly a guard started to approach me quickly, I thought I was in trouble for using my flash like I'd done in the Louvre once or twice. I started to apologize and he started to reach out as to grab my camera, smiled and shooed me to go stand by the display so he could take my picture by it. Then he told me to follow him to the Easter Island statue he'd seen me gawking at a minute before and took my picture there. He just brightened my evening! I truly loved the display, it was phenomenal, so much culture, history and tradition in one room.

We also caught the Africa display right below that exhibit. Africa was amazing. The pieces that stood out were the Throne of Weapons and the Tree of Life. Both were made from decommissioned weapons after the war in Mozambique. The chair was sort of eerie because it made me think of an electric chair at first. After reading about it, it was sort of beautiful because it made something beautiful and useful out of something that had caused death and suffering previously. The tree of life was particularly amazing because it symbolized hope to me. The decommissioning project bought back weapons in exchange for agricultural goods to help promote growth in the post war country.

Our whirlwind day brought us back to the hostel. I took my first hostel shower, it was hot and I was happy. Going upstairs to ask the front desk a question with Mandy, we wound up watching this crazy British show called Skins. We met a guy who had been listening to Mandy explain to me the plot line of One Tree Hill, thinking we were talking about Skins and thanked us for explaining that tricked out show. After clarifying things, we wound up all sitting together, exchanging travel stories. Curt was studying for a year in Germany. We were joined by another guy and all wound up talking until about 2. Mandy and I had made arrangements to meet up with Curt again, if not for breakfast, which we did, then on Saturday at Platform 9 and 3/4 when we returned from Cambridge. How cool is that, to meet up there? I'm such a HP fan :)

That night, although Mr snores a lot had left, it took me a while to fall asleep. Probably because I was so excited after the day's adventures!

London Adventures, part 1

So, Wednesday I printed off the paper, did some stuff on the computer. Managed to throw my belongings into my backpack right before leaving, forgetting my cell phone in my apartment, but making it to the bus stop in plenty of time. Mandy and I rode the bus out to Shannon Airport (Chelsea met up with us later, she had to take the later bus). At the airport, coming off the coach, we met a girl named Ifa.

She wound up joining us during the wait and flight. She looks much older than her 17 years. Quite an interesting story, quickly summarized: she is young, lived in Ireland by herself for quite some time working and schooling it and now decided to move to England and see where life takes her. She was a sweetheart who introduced me to the Bueno candy and offered each of us a toblerone which made me think lovingly of Kayla. We sadly parted ways at the Stansted aiport when she went to go meet a friend and we went to the train to take us to London.

We changed train to the underground. There we were blessed by the information imparted upon us by a kind worker who informed us that we'd best be sleeping at the airport our last night because we'd miss the transport to the airport otherwise. Thank you kind sir! We made it to our hostel without a hitch and sort of called it a night around midnight or so. It was a cheap hostel with 18 people to our room. It was warm, but felt good to me since I'm always cold. My only complaint was the guy snoring right across from me who I passionately wanted to smother. Don't worry, I do not want to visit prison or the hospital and I was too tired to try and figure out how to do it without getting caught. I eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, we ate our free breakfast of toast and cereal and went off exploring! It was sort of this weird "I'm in London!" realization about every ten minutes or so for me. We went off towards Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards at 11:30. We walked through Picadilly Circus area and saw some amazing sights, China Town, stores galore and globalization at its finest (Cinnabon, Starbucks, McD's... you get the picture). We walked through Green Park to get to the palace. We arrived plenty early to get near the gate. I wound up walking around and sort of lost my front row 'seat.' It was okay though, I got to see the soldiers on horses leave and return and sort of had some nice "this is crowded" conversation with the people who moved in front of me when I'd left. The actual changing of the guards ceremony itself was a little anticlimactic. But that's ok, it was still interesting. It was quite the ceremony, topped off with a concert, that included, no lie, ABBA songs like "Dancing Queen" and "Mama Mia."

Ok, I'm exhausted, I'm stopping here for the night.

I'm leaving for London!

Ok, so I finished the paper this morning at 3:46. Went to school, printed it and my tickets off.

Last minute online checking... gotta throw my stuff into my backpack and make a run for the bus station.

so excited!
I'll have new stories soon.

My first test

So yesterday was probably my first day of hard core work. I had three classes with an hour break in between each and spent each hour in the library reading for one of the classes. After going through three books on desk reserve, you can only check one out at a time, I finally got my last book on reserve and came home.

I spent the rest of the day reading for one class, cooking beans, and studying for the test I had today.

Can I just say cooking those beans really reaffirms the fact that smell is the best sense tied to memory? The smell of the pinto beans cooking made me feel like I was in Memo and Pepo's kitchen, standing next to Pepo as he told me some story (possibly a new one, possibly one I've heard a hundred of times) while cooking beans in the pressure cooker. Definitely an enjoyable slow cooked meal. Although, I do know for next time to use more liquid so I have more caldo to enjoy later.

I got to Skype with my nieces which was very fun! And then I went back to studying more. The studying, even if a little last minute, was worth every hour and minute! I went into today to Cooperation and Conflict and I'm pretty sure I aced that test!

Back at 'home' I saw that Irene got a package from home. She is allergic to gluten and gluten-free products are more expensive here. I guess in Italy she can get them for free at the hospital. So her mom sent her a HUGE box full of breads, cookies, all tons of great Italian stuff. Irene is a doll and on my desk I found some Italian candies. One is "Galatine" a very yummy milky, almost candy, and the other is "Pocket Coffee" and I actually like it despite my so-so feelings towards coffee. Hmm, help me think of an American goodie to have Rachel bring in the suitcase full of food to me that I might be able to share with Irene... I can't think of anything.

And now, after buying my bus ticket online from Galway to Shannon airport and looking at maybe buying my train ticket from London to Cambridge, I approach the time in which I need to start working on that paper due tomorrow. Yet all I can think about is how I'm going to London and I get to see Ellen soon!

Croagh Patrick

Friday: the marathon was long, but fun. The "free food" was a bit of a joke. 3 pizzas for all of those people, I got a slice and was lucky!

Sat: lunch at the market= delicious bean curry! I love Indian food, although not sure how authentic that was... either way, I love Indian food. Then a lot of me blowing off hw, skype and watching an action-flick.

Sun: Croagh Patrick with the Mountaineering Club! This is actually the trip that made me decide I wanted to join. Ever since I hear that people made pilgrimages to St. Patrick's Mountain where a church stood at the top, I told myself I would go there, and now I have!

The bus ride there was a looong one. Mandy and I opted for the short walk, glad we did as always. This was was different. For one, there was a trail. Two, it was a very rocky trail at some parts. Not big huge rocks of limestone like The Burren, but rather loads of smaller ones, making for a bit of a slippery climb at times. Pat and Anne, our friends from the first hike joined us. (I'm a fan of those two). We had a fun bunch of people, but the going was really steep and a lot of it was you just at it on your own. The walk up took a good two hours, two very steep hours. It was interesting because you had people coming down the mountain, encouraging you along the way: children, older adults, people with dogs, completely different than our other treks.

Luck was truly at our side because when we made it to the top the clouds went away and we had the most spectacular view of the bay, beyond the bay, the fields and it was breathtaking! Oh it made the struggle worthwhile for sure! I can't even really describe how beautiful the scenery was. On the bay, not only did you have a lovely blue next to the stunning green of the fields, but there were tons of little islands popping up all throughout the bay. At the top there was a church, no idea how they managed to build that up there (poor donkeys and other labor animals, I'm sure). And we saw St. Patrick's tomb, can't remember if it is his legit tomb or just "his tomb."

The descent down was completed in half the time, although coming down the steep rocky part was slow going for me--I'm overly cautious. Not only did I visit Croagh Patrick, but I also saw the famous Famine Memorial. It was so eerie. Just thinking about how Ireland's population decreased by 3 million during that time, oh, it was just sort of heartbreaking to visit. It also kind of pissed me off when three of the boys from our group started climbing on it. I'm not even Irish and I know not to desecrate the Famine Memorial! Boys...
We followed up the hike with a pub visit like always. We caught the tail end of a rugby match, Ireland vs Italy, in which Ireland dominated, yay!

After an exhausting day I enjoyed my flat 30 minute walk home in my tennis shoes (nothing feels as good as taking off those boots after a hike!). Now I'm uploading pictures, looking at train costs from London King's Cross to Cambridge and bidding farewell to Stonehenge for now---it's just not going to work in our short three day London tour. The way I see it, I'm not dead yet, don't plan on dying soon, and that means there are more days in my life left for seeing it. And I will, just not next weekend. ; )

It's Friday the 13th, good thing I'm not superstitious

So I've had some luck with the Africa research, although most of it continues to point to the negative. How hard it is to find some evidence saying that the natural resource depletion in Africa is not all due to Africans, but that the western world is one of the primary reasons that said resources are extracted at such high rates? Well, evidently it's harder than I thought.

Nothing terribly exciting. I've mostly been researching, unsuccessfully. Today however, I'm really excited to take a 12 hr break. That's right, I'm a nerd and there is a Lord of the Rings marathon today at college with free food and a free t-shirt for those who survive it. I'm totally getting a free t-shirt.

Random: when people have to go to school they say "I'm going to college" not school or the university, but rather college. I kind of love it.

Another random, in Irish we learned how to order from the bar. Although Irish is VERY different from English and other languages in many respects, ordering from the bar isn't too hard at all. For example: Pionta Guinneass, cupán tae, cupán caifé, gloina uisce (that one is actually not whiskey but water. In Irish, ¨whiskey¨is water of life¨). That was your Irish lesson for the day, enjoy!

Gold medal for procastination

I finally got it onto my computer! Sadly though, I tried to let the video upload onto here.... 6 hours later, still no luck.

Oh it sounds like we've got some crazy and/or drunk people having fun outside. Silly Irish.

Hmm, I think I've discovered that in Ireland I have achieved whole new levels of unproductivity! Today, I woke up and worked out, finally! Not that it was much, but at least I did something... goodness I am out of shape! When I tried to take my shower, the water wouldn't get hot for quite some time... grrr. So I wasted time eating breakfast. Really, I don't get my shower. Whenever I go in at 8:15 ish, the water is hot right away. Whenever I try before or after, like today at 9, it's a no go. I think the shower is laughing at me.

I managed to procrastinate splendidly for an hour until I started working on Irish. I should study a little bit regularly, but I never do. I just look stuff over before class. Today in class we learned how to say, "my love" like I tend to at the end of sentences and how to order from the bar. No joke, "Pointa Guineass" and "cupan tae" the easiest thing so far!

After developmental Geography I made the trek back home, ate dinner, watched Scrubs, and then proceeded to procrastinate on the internet watching NCIS, finding a bunch of articles on Africa and only bookmarking them and of course facebook. I also looked at stuff to do in London and thought about maybe visiting Stonehenge. I completely forgot about Stonehenge until today... tsk on me. I don't know if it will work out this time, we'll see.

Anywho, I'm devoid of scholastic motivation and I'm sorry I couldn't get that video up.