Wallowing

I want to go home...

So it's been about an hour since I posted that first, rather whiney, sentence and since then, I've showered, put on some clean clothes, eaten breakfast, and overall decresed my wallowyness.  It stemmed in the first place from sadness that Phil had gone home after his week long visit, and morphed into homesickness and a bit of jealousy that he got to go home but I didn't.

But rather than focus on all that, I'll talk about what we did while he was here!

The afternoon of his arrival we ate at a pub (the super touristy King's Head), and then I had to have a group meeting for my Bosnia project group at my house, but that was alright because Phil just ended up sleeping.  The next day, I fed him porridge and tea to get him started with the Irish breakfast food (which I think he is now obsessed with).  We then wandered around town, but the weather was horrible (typical Irish weather...) so we didn't do that for very long.

Saturday and Sunday we spent on Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands.  I have been to all three of the islands and the smaller ones have less tourist influences, but there is also less to do.  We stayed at Noirin Ui Ghoill's B&B and it was great.  Our hostess was friendly and helpful and the breakfast was perfect.  Phil had a full Irish breakfast (something he's been looking forward to since I told him about it last summer) and I had beans and toast, along with cereal and brown bread.  Phil became jealous of the fact that I had beans and toast and he didn't, and insisted that we have it another two times for breakfast while he visited.

We rented bikes on Inis Mor from the place underneath Supermac's, and the first day rode past the seal colony, up to Dun Aenghus, and then went to the Wormhole.  Those are the three main must-sees on the island.

Phil looking down at the Wormhole

We had dinner at Ti Joe Watty, which is a surprisingly lovely pub.  I had vegetable soup and Phil had seafood chowder which amazed him.  He got seafood chowder at two other restaurants while visiting but nothing matched up to the chowder at Joe Watty's.

The second day we rode to the southeastern tip of the island and wandered around the beach and cliffs.  There was nobody around and it was gorgeous.  The weather took a turn for the worse that afternoon, but considering we'd had over 24 hours of clear skies, we were pretty damn lucky.


That was the main event of Phil's trip.  Monday I did homework, Tuesday we wandered around town and I did homework, Wednesday I went to class and then did some homework.

But Thursday was St. Patrick's Day!  I didn't even think about doing homework.  I had heard that St. Patrick's day in Ireland is actually a much smaller event than in the US, and while this was true, it was still a much bigger celebration than what we have in Tucson.  Phil and I went into town in the afternoon and watched the parade, and the crowd was full of people wearing green leprechaun hats and being silly.  We had some Guinness cake at a tea shop, and then wandered around the streets and had shamrocks painted on our faces by a random lady.  We got a pint with a couple of my classmates at a pub, then bought some frozen pizzas and beer and went back to a classmate's house to celebrate the evening.  While that might seem lame, it was actually the best choice because all of the pubs were PACKED with people that evening.

While I am writing this blog from Ireland, I know that stuff about Ireland is actually pretty lacking here.  So that is a little bit about traveling in Ireland!  Go to Inis Mor and come for St. Patrick's day and it won't be lame!  I also went to Portugal a couple of weeks ago, and that was awesome!  Go to Guimarães!  There's a castle!

Castle!

I'll probably do another travel review looking in more depth at everywhere I've been in the summer, but until then my posts will be rambly and random :)

So what is Shannon doing, anyways?

Well, today, I woke up at noon, and really haven't done anything in the 7 hours since then.

During the nearly two months since my last post, I've... finished the first semester of my master's program, gone home for a while, and now I'm back for more studying.

But what am I studying, anyways?

This may seem like a silly question, but whenever anyone asks, the answer is never clear.

So let's just say I'm studying geography.  I am getting a Master of Arts degree in Geography.

This was labeled as "Geography Fail" in the google search...

So a master geographer!  That means I should know all about where places are, right?!  Like these places:

 

Hmmn...  I'm gonna be like this guy!:

And how about a map to go with that?  Geographers love maps!:

Now that I've gone a little video crazy... we'll say that I am studying Environment, Society, and Development.  Or more like... Geopolitics, Intervention, and Development.  Yes, I'd say that's slightly more accurate.

I'm not studying maps, I don't know where places are, but I can tell you that in a couple of months, I'm going to a country that didn't exist in Yakko's World!

I'm actually just spending hours getting through this list:  http://youshouldhaveseenthis.com/

Spectacular.



P. S. - If you cried a little bit while watching the first video, you're not alone :)

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!