Travel Writing

So, I started this blog as a travel blog since I was moving overseas and all.  But I haven't actually written much about traveling.  So let's do that now...

Barcelona!  What a spectacular city.  The architecture is amazing, the night life is amazing, the sangria is amazing, and it has a beach where you can get 5 euro massages... Amazing!

There is also a fantastic fountain show, an amazing market, and feral parrots. 

We stayed at a pretty sweet hostel that had its own pub crawl which we went on on Sarah's birthday!  She got 2 extra shots (2 came with the pub crawl), and by the time we got to the 2 euro shot bar (see picture above for a partial list of the 2 euro shots available) she was a happy camper.  We partied it up at a club until 5 in the morning, though getting my foot stepped on by a girl in heels brought back traumatic memories from one night in 2007 at Club Cuba in Galway.  That time, I ended up with a huge lump and a nasty bruise that lingered on my foot for a good week.  This wasn't nearly so bad.

Barcelona is definitely a place I'd go back to if the opportunity presented itself, but I'd like to see more of Spain in general.  And next April, I'm going to get the chance!  My aunt Rita and my cousin Sky will be visiting Madrid, and I'm going to pop over for a few days to hang out with them!

So Barcelona was in September, and in October I went to Oktoberfest in Munich!  I also got to hang out with Sarah, Sarah, and Ariel at their apartment in Landstuhl, and go on the airforce base which sold American food.  I snatched up root beer and cheez-itz, but they were sold out of Dots.  It was a sad moment.

I arrived in Landstuhl at around 9 in the evening, and at around 10 we ate dinner, and on the way back to the girls' apartment, we stopped at a bar (an Irish one, go figure...).  We ended up going to sleep at around 3:30 am... and left the house at 5:30 am in order to catch a 6 am train to Munich!  Of course, not much sleep happened on the train either, as we had to make good use of the time for some predawn pregaming: 

We also made friends with older German ladies in drindls who gave us pretzels.  Om nom nom.  Once in Munich, we had a bit of time to wander around and see the city, but I was so tired that I couldn't really comprehend much of it.  I do remember very affordable and very delicious berries being sold by fruit vendors.  Once at Oktoberfest, we learned that lots people of all ages really do dress up in lederhosen and drindls.  And it's normal.  The costume nerd in me was in heaven.  Too bad the drindl I had bought for myself had not arrived in time :(

At Oktoberfest, they have roller coasters.  I had read that they had rides, but the picture on the website just showed a carousel, so that's what I was expecting.  What I got was the Loop de Loop:

Now, I'd never had the guts to go on a super loopy upside down roller coaster before.  Ever.  And when we first arrived at Oktoberfest, I said absolutely not.  Then, after going on the tamer Alpine ride and the mysterious mining ride that was hidden inside of a dark building, I was convinced that the Loop de Loop was my destiny.  And I am so glad.  The entire time I joyously yelled "LOOP DE LOOP!"  Which, by the way, is the name that I gave the ride... not the "official" one.

So Oktoberfest is a fantastic mix of pretzels, beer, and carnival rides.  The best mix ever. There are also cookies.  On ribbons.  That you wear around your neck.  Cookie necklaces!

 

See the girl in the drindl behind me?? Alles gute!  We took the party train home from Munich, which had 3 bars with dance floors that stayed open all night long.  Unfortunately, my body finally quit working from exhaustion after hardly sleeping for several nights in a row and I had to snuggle down on a very uncomfy train seat.  At around 4 am, I woke up hungover and ate my cookie necklace.  Another sad, yet happy moment as a piece of memorabilia was destroyed but delicious cookieness entered my body.

In November, I did manage to take a very quick trip to Dublin where I met up with Chris on his last night in Europe.  We drank, ate delicious kebabs, and I fell down.  The cobblestone streets are vicious when you're in heels.  One of the best parts was the Christmassy atmosphere in the city:

So those have been my travels thus far, but I want to go so many more places between now (well, January, really, since I'll be in the States over the holidays) and when I go home next fall.  So here is a list:

Amsterdam - Supposed to be beautiful and awesome!

Norway - Must see the Northern Lights!

Rome - I studied Latin for 4 years.  I have to go here.

Southern France - My childhood neighbor Jill is currently living here, so hopefully I can go with my sister, whenever she gets around to visiting me!

Istanbul - I've wanted to go here since high school for some reason, but I really don't know much about it.  The professor of an art history class I took for my Medieval Studies minor was always very excited about it, though.

Scotland - Ariel says we must go to the fringe festival here.

Shetland - I know it's random, but that's kinda why I want to go.  I am hoping I can convince Ariel while we're in Scotland!

Egypt - Ariel's also put this one in my head.  I am thinking maybe in September, before I come home?

There are also more things in Ireland that I'd like to go to:

One of the music festivals in summer - these are supposed to be spectacular.

Northern Ireland - I've got to see the Giant's Causeway at some point.

Ring of Kerry - Supposed to be absolutely beautiful.

I know there are more places that I don't even know about yet that I want to visit, so let me know if you have any suggestions.  I am getting a Master's degree, but I could have done that in the States.  The reason for moving this far was so that I would be in a position to travel to awesome foreign places!  I am going to try to keep up with the visiting a place each month, and hopefully I'll get a loan soon to make that possible, because I am woefully broke now.  :)

PS - Many pictures in this blog were stolen from the albums of Sarah Henry and Ariel Anderson!

Heyyy, Homework...

I have hit a homework wall.  And so I am blogging again!

First thoughts:  should I cut my hair?
It is a very important decision.  I have been agonizing over this for the past hour (part of my homework denial scheme), and am torn between a funky new short haircut and keeping the length. It's finally getting long and looking nice, and I thought that my layers still had split ends but upon examination tonight, I've realized that they are actually healthy hair, it is just the longest layer that is split at the ends.  Here's what I have in mind for a haircut:

Or maybe this:

Or maybe something else.  Or maybe not short at all.

In other news, I'm excited for the holiday season.  Christmas parties!  Christmas party with my class...

MES students party it up (Team Afghanistan:  Winners!)

and then a party at home!

Like this but with Christmas sweaters!

And I am going to bake delicious things and drink egg nog and it'll be great!  Woot woot nog!

There is apparently going to be a Christmas Market in Galway this year, opening this Friday.  It should have spectacular foods and mulled wine and I have high expectations.  It's supposed to look something like this:

But I think that picture's from Germany as this based on the German ones and this is the first Galway Christmas Market.  But there better be lights and chalets and Christmassy costumes!

Random picture from Germany!  Oktoberfest!

With all that said (written...), I can't think of any more rambles, which means it's time for 703 précis number 10.  Boo.  But just 8 précis remain to be written before it is Christmastime!  Woot woot!

November: Month Number Nine

I don't usually take baths, but today I took a bubble bath and that was a good decision.  I've been obsessed with the idea of taking one for the past few weeks after seeing an episode of Friends where Monica convinces Chandler that baths are a good idea... She convinced me too.

Luckily mine did not end up like this

A month ago,  I tried (and kinda succeeded, but mostly failed) to get ahead of school before Chris arrived.  While Chris was here, we mostly just hung out, which could have been lame if that wasn't what we usually did anyways.  We did try to take a day trip.  And by try I mean we talked about it, looked at the car rental website, talked about it some more the next day, looked at the car rental site, talked about it again, and finally packed our shit and went into town to leave... without looking at the car rental website.  When we got to the agency, the dude was a dick and there were no cars, so we decided to take the bus back to my house.  Seeing that we had 20 minutes to kill, we went to get a pint:

Giant pint glass.  I am aware that that doesn't make sense.

35 minutes later, after missing the first bus, we went back to the bus stop, and saw that we had another 35 minutes to kill.  So we went to another pub and had another pint!  Then we took the bus home.  Good day trip.

As for school... Each of my classes had a midterm assignment, with two being 3000 word essays and the third a map project with a 1500 word discussion.  And each of them had their deadlines pushed back.  And I still turned them all in late.  The first just 15 minutes late, the second an hour and 15 minutes late, and the third 1 day 2 hours and 15 minutes late.  Very nice...

But now that all is done and I am back on track.  I go home in less than a month.  Back to America, where stuff is cheap!  I <3 the $!!!  Especially since I now have just 19 euros in my bank account.  Spectacular.  Or maybe it's... Spooktacular?!

My pumpkin!

 

Chris' pumpkin!

Galway AboOoOo!

Holy Crap I'm... done?

So.  How about them immigration regulations?

When you come to Ireland, you can be here for 30 days, it's your free 30 days card.  Well, there's no card, but you get the idea.  After that you're supposed to leave or else be registered with the garda, and to do that you have to have a legitimate reason to stay.  My reason is school.

In order to prove that I am fo realz and won't be a burden on the Irish State I needed:

My passport

My NUIG student ID card

A letter from the International Affairs office at NUIG verifying my program and its start and end dates

A proof of address, eg a bill or letter from the landlord or in my case, the signed lease itself

Proof of finances in the form of an official bank statement with a balance of at least 1000 euros

Proof of comprehensive medical insurance that includes hospitalization cover

A credit or debit card to charge 150 euros to because that's what the card costs

Already had my passport, picked up my student ID card second week here (because it wasn't available at my orientation because I'm not super special like the little study abroad students), picked up a letter from the office after I had signed my lease, had the lease when I signed the lease, and then I hit the wall.  I wanted to open a bank account here right after I arrived, but the international office said I'd need my NUIG ID card to do so (which turned out to be false), and I needed a permanent address anyhow, so I did that my second week here, the same day I signed the lease.  Then I had to wait until the end of the next week when the materials came in the mail to activate my account.  At that point, I realized that it was cheaper for me to withdraw money from the atms here in 220 euro increments and pay the $5 fee than to transfer it all and pay Wells Fargo's 3% commission, so I did that over the course of the next week and deposited it all into my account last Friday, and went to ask for a printed statement.

"We can't do that."

"You can't just print out my account info and stamp it?"

"No.  You have to order it and it'll come in 3-5 business days.  We do have a statement printing machine out there, hopefully that's good enough!"

Well, I ordered the statement and hoped it would come on Monday or Tuesday.

As for the health insurance, I looked at a couple of different plans and talked around, and last Thursday I decided to go with VHI, which has an office right in town.  I went down to the office, bought my plan... and discovered that they couldn't give me any proof of the policy.  Once again... I'd have to wait for it in the post.  Oh, but she'd write out a receipt with the policy number and start and end dates and stamp it, that'd work.

So by Tuesday nothing had arrived, so I called the immigration office to ask if the bank statement from the printing machine and the hand written insurance receipt would suffice.  Apparently those are just ridiculous questions, of course not.  Logical substitutions don't fly here.

So I only had permission to be here until tomorrow, Friday October 1, and I am also leaving the country early tomorrow morning, so today was the last day I could register, and the lovely office is only open from 7:30 am - 2:00 pm.  By Wednesday, the insurance info had arrived but still no bank statement, but I figured it'd come today and then I could go down to the office and register, although I'd have to skip class.  Then my housemate told me that on Tuesday, a classmate of hers went to the immigration office at 4:30 am and there were already 6 people ahead of him in line.

Then I freaked out a little.  I decided that calling the office again would be the thing to do.
"Do you have an account with an Irish bank?  Oh, well you can just go to the office and they'll print you out a statement and stamp it."  I very anxiously replied that I had asked for that and they had said no!  "Well, people are coming in with those from the bank, and normally we wouldn't accept them but we are because there is such a backlog right now."  So I marched myself down to the bank.

"Oh, I'm not supposed to do that, but I'll go ahead and print one for you," the teller said when a very flustered me explained the situation.  With my new stamped and printed statement in hand, I was ready!

To leave my house at 3:15 am and sit outside, in the dark, for 4 hours.

When the cabbie dropped me off he was a bit concerned, but I assured him that I really meant to sit there alone, and then did just that for the next hour and ten minutes.  In the dark.  And cold.  In a strange industrial area.  For the first 40 minutes I literally just sat there and tried not to be freaked out, then finally pulled out Manchester Park and calmed down with some Jane Austen.  At about 4:25, it started raining, and did so in sporadic drizzly showers for the rest of the morning (and I of course had forgotten my umbrella, but I did have my fancy raincoat, several layers of clothing on, and most importantly, gloves). At 4:35 am, a taxi pulled up and a young man got out, who tried to open the doors before making small talk with me and resigning himself to the 3 hour wait.  He even stood close to me so that his umbrella protected me too for a while.  After that, it was insane, a new person arrived every 3 minutes until 5:00, at which point there was a break until 5:30, when it happened again.  By the time the doors opened at 7:30 am, there were about 40 people waiting.  And I was first in line!

At this point I was still freaking out.  I kept thinking, "I know they said 1000 euros (I had 1115 in my account), but what if that was just for the one semester study abroad students?  Are they going to give me grief for not having enough money for a year?  And what if they get mad because my health insurance does not include day-to-day coverage?"  I also just assumed they'd be grumpy and rude based on my past experiences at the Dublin airport and on the phone with the office.

So what a surprise when the man who helped me was friendly, courteous, and made jokes and small talk throughout the registration!  He laughed at the picture in my file that was taken at the Dublin airport and asked where my fancy hat had gone, and talked about how handy claddagh rings are for showing your heart is taken (he noticed mine as he took my fingerprints on the fancy fingerprint machine).  He glanced at the bank statement and said, "Yep, that's grand," before handing it right back to me.  And he didn't even ask me about the health insurance.

By 8 am, I was packing my stuff back into my bag (including my super spiffy garda card with a picture where it is very clear that I had been awake since 2:30 am) and the immigration officer was wishing me good luck and a good day.

I make one unhappy lookin alien

I got myself some hot chocolate (I had been shivering convulsively throughout much of the registration process as my body recovered from its chill), and walked home.

So good times!  After all that time, it was actually a pleasant experience (when I finally got inside and was not sitting frozen in the rain).  I'm gonna go sleep now, and then pack for Deutschland.  My classmates are all going out on the town tonight and I'm torn about whether or not I should join them, as I have a 6 am bus to catch and a 2 mile walk to the bus station, but either way, this weekend is gonna be AWESOME!  And I'm totally gonna just sail through immigration on my way back in with my fancy card.  Awww yeah.

K, so...

A week and a half ago, the reception for my program took place.  It was at 4 in the afternoon.
I left the hostel at 3:20, got to campus... and got horribly lost.

I eventually found the room of the reception in the geography department, buried in the maze that is the arts and sciences building.  With bloody seeping blisters on both heels!  I blustered in, 20 minutes late and very distraught.

And was handed a glass of wine.

3 glasses of wine and 2 pints of bulmers later, I was discussing the education systems of Ireland and the US with my classmates and a professor.  Good times.  

The next day, I moved into my house:

The back yard is even better

Lovely living room

My room!  That painting has been replaced...

Yay!!!  I love it :)  I have one housemate at the moment and a second one is moving in tomorrow, plus there's Morgan, the boxer/collie mix who I get to give hugs whenever I want and he doesn't think I'm weird.  That's why dogs are the best.

The first week of classes went well, although I did manage to get lost... again... even though my class was in the very same room as the reception.  I'm smart like that.  Turns out that only 9 hours of classroom time and 3 classes a week doesn't mean much, as this week I was assigned an average of 90 pages of reading per class, plus a written reaction to each set of readings.  Not exactly hard, but very time consuming.  I am trying my best not to procrastinate.  The first week we had readings and I ended up being up most of Tuesday and Wednesday night to do them, and that's not how I want to live the next year.  So I have decided that a job is not going to happen, especially if I want time to travel.  And I do!  So that just leaves the question of money, and the answer is a loan.  A big loan.  Yayyyy.  I am going to Oktoberfest in a couple of weeks, then I think I'll be going hiking and climbing in Scotland with the mountaineering club, then Chris comes to visit!  So it's going to be a busy/awesome month.

Our wi-fi will (hopefully) be set up on Wednesday, so I will probably update this again around then.  In the meantime, I'm going to have fun!  I mean, read about maps...

That was easy...

Barcelona was great.

Do the circles represent the fanciful morphologies of mollusks?

 Although I was terrified about reentering the country.

As I was on an EU-EU flight, the non-EU passport line was actually only 4 people long this time, and I only waited about a minute before I approached the very same counter where I was yelled at a week before.  I told him how long I was to be in Ireland, he asked why, I told him I was studying, he asked if I was registered with the gardai, I told him no, he asked why, I told him I did not yet have a permanent residence but had a lease signing scheduled for Friday, he looked at my passport a minute more, then said, "OK," handed it back to me, and that was it.

Crazy..

Then I had 30 minutes before my bus left (yay no missed bus), time enough to grab food.  Of course, the only restaurants in the airport open at that hour were McDonalds and Starbucks.  Yayyyy America everywhere.

The Adventure Begins?

So.

After 19 hours of traveling, I arrived in Dublin.
After waiting in line for an hour, I went to the immigration counter, told him I was a student and handed him the only receipt NUIG had ever given me.
At which point he yelled at me, insulted me, and belittled me.
And said to make sure that my paper had a phone number next time.  WTF?
"Are you registered?"
I thought he was referring to the school and said yes.
"You're registered with the Gardai?"
Now this made no sense.  You register after you arrive.  How could I have done that if I hadn't entered the country yet?  I handed him the receipt.
"You really are giving this to me right now?  You expect me to use this as proof that you're a student?  A printed out e-mail!  I could have typed this up myself!  There's not even a name or signature!"
If you're typing it up yourself, sir, I'm sure you'd have no qualms adding the name and forging the signature.
"I can't believe this, you should know better!  You were here studying 2 summers ago!"
I never ever brought proof before.  I always just said I was a student staying for 30 days and they stamped my passport, then waved me on.  I told him last summer I had not had to register or bring proof.
 "THAT DOESN'T MATTER!"
I told him that was all I had.
"I've had plenty of other students come through here going to NUIG, and they have a lot more!"
Erasmus and visiting (study abroad) students get an actual letter in the mail and a lot more info.  Postgraduates don't get anything in the mail.
"Who were you in contact with at the school?  No one!  What's the school's phone number?  You don't have it!  I can't believe this!  Now I have to find the phone number and call them because you were too lazy."
Then, with contempt, "And you already have a degree!"
I told him I had been in e-mail contact with John Morrissey.
"Who?!  What's his name?!  And who is this guy?"
I explained that he was the head of the master's program and a professor in the department.
He huffed and puffed a bit more, took my picture, wrote in some info, didn't call anyone, then told me to register with the Gardai or I'd be deported.
"Are you confused about anything?" he asked me sneeringly.
I assured him I wasn't, took my passport, and stumbled away.

Good times.

Then I went to get my luggage, looking worriedly at my watch because my bus was to leave in 10 minutes.

No big green backpack.
"It never left Denver.  It'll come in to Dublin from Frankfurt tonight at 6, it'll be delivered to you tomorrow."
Ok, that's cool, I guess.

My bus was scheduled to have left 10 minutes before this point, but I decided to go out and see if it might have been delayed before buying a new ticket.
"Excuse me miss, can I help you?"
I told him that I thought I'd missed my bus and showed him my ticket.
"Oh everyone's going to Galway!  It's a lovely city, isn't it?  Just go over to that man there and he can help you!"
I went to the other man and said the same thing.
"Yep, you missed it, but I'll put you on the next one!  It's a 3 hour ride, it'll get you there at the same time.  The driver's not there yet but you should be able to load your luggage."
This seemed to good to be true.  My ticket was a special cheap fare, supposed to be non-refundable and non-transferable.  I waited until the driver got onto the bus, then approached him and explained that the other man had said I could go on this bus.
"Well, we'll see about that!  You're going to Galway?  Yes, you can go on this bus, lovey!"

So, now I'm in Galway, just got my luggage, and am still homeless, though hopefully that will not be the case much longer.  Until then, I'm at Snoozles.

So, boating...

Just a warning... this is a long one.

It's been a good week.

Although I did do a bit of crying.

Last Saturday and Sunday I went camping with my family (and my 3 dogs).  That went surprisingly well!  My sister Hill and I drove up in one car with the dogs and my parents were in another.  We took a short hike, made some yummy food, and played some hearts (I kicked ass).

This is how I look after trying to sleep in a tent with 3 dogs...

When I got back on Sunday, it was time to prepare for the trip to Lake Powell with Phil.  I got back from camping at 4:30 pm and we left for the lake at 4:30 am.  Yayyyy for 12 hours to prepare and sleep.  We got to the Lake at 4:00 pm on Monday and went to where the boat had been pulled from dry storage.  Phil pushed a button the get the hatch up and it went.  It was a good sign!  The battery had life!  He pushed a button to start the engine and it started.  It was a good sign!  The boat was running!  The next morning, the boat was launched by Michael, a very helpful employee at the park.  The boat started, we backed up about 60 feet... and then it died.  So then we were stuck in the middle of the marina in a boat that didn't want to go with boats coming in and out all around us.  We ended up tying the boat to a dock and had 4 different random people try to help us.  The engine wouldn't crank, so Phil went and bought a new battery and then the engine would crank but not start.  An elderly gent named Bill came and told us the engine was flooded and unflooded it and it started!  Then it stopped and we heard water pouring in.  Not a good sound.  A mechanic that works on the rentals happened to be there and Michael brought him over.  The engine block is cracked.  Like, really cracked.  So no boat.  That's where the tears come in.  Realizing how much money I had spent on a trip that was apparently ruined was a bit of a bummer.

This is the boat that wouldn't work.  Boo boat.

 After the boat was pulled out of the water and brought back to dry storage, Michael offered to take us out on his boat for a few hours the next morning.  Hope!  Then Phil's dad Phil called and told us that he felt so bad, he was going to rent us a jet ski.  YAY!  We thanked Michael for his offer but went with the jet ski since that would allow us to have a full day on the lake, then found a swimming hole and chilled out the rest of that day.

So the next morning we go to get the jet ski.  The place opened at 8, but we didn't have the paper work and bs all filled out until 9.  And we had to have the jet ski back by 5.  Which was a bit aggravating since it doesn't get dark until 8:30 pm in Utah right now.  But that was ok, we took the jet ski and went to Annie's Canyon, Phil's favorite spot on the lake.  There, we swam a bit and I took the jet ski out by myself.

Jet skiing in Annie's Canyon

 When we left the canyon, the wind started picking up and the water got choppier.  Phil decided that we should try Lake Canyon to see if it was calmer.  While we were jet skiing around, the water went from relatively flat to have 4 and 5 foot swells.  That's intense when you're on a jet ski.  Several times, we ended up going right through a wave and getting entirely soaked.  Of course, I got cold and my hands went numb and even with a jacket on, I was shivering and miserable.  We went back to the marina at 1 and asked if we could switch to a half day rental to save Phil's dad some money, since the weather was not really permitting jet skiing.  They said no.  So we went back to camp, ate, took a power nap, and then I convinced Phil that we should go back out at 3:30 and it was great!  The weather cleared enough that we were able to get around without needles of water splashing in our eyes, and we spent another hour and a half exploring the lake.

On the way home, we stopped at the Grand Canyon.  Those bastards won't sell you a day pass!  Your only way to enter the park is to pay $25, even if you're only going to be there for an hour.  Rsrjkjlkwreo.  We had already driven about 40 minutes out of our way, so we paid it and went in a took some pictures.

Phil was not enthusiastic about the Grand Canyon stop

Now I'm home and have a dentist appointment and cleaning to do and it's back to normal life.  But yeah, good week spent doing outdoorsy stuff!

I'm outta here!

In 17 days, 7 hours, and 13 minutes, I am moving out of the country.

In the meantime, I'm going camping with my family, boating and camping with my boyfriend,  going on a spa day with my mother, having a garage sale, throwing a going away party, getting in one more Sonoran hike, plus packing and cleaning my house, on top of all the doctor appointments, mundane tasks, and random errands that must be run.

It's gonna be intense.

I am also in the process of planning my first backpacking trip for the weekend after I move.  Barcelona, here I come (after I invade Ireland, of course)!