Leaving the Republic for the Day

Depending on how knowledgeable you are on Irish history, you may be surprised to discover that Ireland is actually is two different countries. There is Southern Ireland which is just the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

We took a day trip to Northern Ireland, which included a stop at some of the Game of Throne (GOT) sights. I actually do not watch GOT so that was not the most exciting part of the day trip.

Our first main stop was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in County Antrim.

County Antrim easily became one of my favorite places, because of the views. I fortunately, do not have a fear of heights. If I did, this probably would have been a difficult day.

Another key part about this day trip is that I managed to not look like Cousin It in any of the pictures. This was a huge accomplishment for me.

Literally a 10 minute drive from the bridge, is the Giant Causeway. At this point in time, Sydney decided to confess a secret. She announced, "Patterns are disgusting. Like you know, honeycombs those freak me out and make me want to vomit". Well, since we were at the Giant Causeway there were some patterns so she was struggling, but was always a good sport about it.

 

Until tomorrow's adventure,

Hannah



"Barcelona, I still long to hold her once more" -Play on Repeat

The title of this blog post is completely inappropriate, but also very fitting since it is from George Ezra's song Barcelona. I am going to be embarrassingly honest, and admit that I had this song playing on repeat the entire time I was in Barcelona.

Barcelona was a special trip because I was meeting up with my friends Rachel and Mackenzie. The plan was for us to meet in the airport since our flights landed within an hour of each other. Ryan Air had a different plan for me since after we boarded the plane, we had to actually switch planes. This resulted in a two hour delay. With no way of telling Rachel and Mackenzie, I was not sure what to expect when I got off the plane in Barcelona.

If you have ever seen the movie Love Actually, you know airports can be an emotional place. Well, I have never been so happy in an airport, when I saw Mackenzie waiting at the gate for me. My reaction included me running to her as if we were long lost friends and me screaming, "Macadamia!". It was dramatic in all of its glory and I can now say I have experienced an "airplane scene" firsthand.

Despite the bumpy start we were able to have a fantastic dinner that of course included paella. 

  I'm a firm believer that the best way to see any city is by foot. So our first night, Mackenzie and I walked around after dinner for hours. Immediately, I knew I was going to like it there.

The following morning, we headed to the beach. The beach is my favorite place in the world, any beach really. I love the feeling of the sand on my feet, and I always have to put my feet in the water. It's something about it that really just makes me beyond happy.

Something that is also awesome about traveling with Mackenzie is the fact that she is a wizard, genie, or some type of magical being with languages. When we went to Italy in high school, she saved me on more occasions than I would like to admit. Traveling with her in Spain was equally comforting.

When you go to Barcelona there are two things that everyone will tell you to go see: Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. Sagrada Familia is a famous church that has the most amazing architecture.

Architects around the world will probably scream that I said this, but if you have ever seen Spy Kids, you know the castle in the movie. The Sagrada Familia kind of reminds me of that, except it is much better.

While we were walking through the church, Mackenzie turns to me and states, "It is places like this that really make me want to be religious". I was thinking that is probably the case for everyone, and while abroad--especially in Europe--you will find yourself walking through churches everywhere you go.

Our next stop was Park Guell, and think of it as a park that was accidently themed as Candy Land. I say that because the mosaic tiles and the structures really do remind me of the board game.

The park provides you with a view of the entire city.

Going into the weekend, I was mostly excited about the food. I was having dreams about paella, seafood, and of course tapas! Barcelona did not disappoint.

 

During my final full day, I finally got to see Barcelona in all of its glory, since the sun was actually shining.

 

 

 

I also realized how hard it is to take a picture in front of the Arc de Triomf without having an awkward tourist behind you--I mean look at the woman to the left of me. Well, I am going to be realistic, and assume that I am probably the awkward tourist in a lot of photos. 

 

We ended the day at my favorite place...the beach.

 

 

Until tomorrow's adventure,

Hannah  

 



Cork was Popping (note pun)

So, I have completely failed you. I have been absolutely horrible at updating the blog, but I am making a commitment right now. If you are wondering what I have been up to for the past month you are about to find out. It all goes back to Cork.

Cork is one of those places that if you are in Ireland, you will probably think of going. They have the Blarney Stone and it is another major city. Our trip started off at 6am when we left campus to go meet our tour bus.

Immediately, we were off to an interesting start as our driver began to sing all the classic songs like Molly Malone and also a few fan favorites such as "Don't go chasing leprechauns"--if you don't know that one refer to the song "Waterfalls".

Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel which includes the ruins of a castle--of course.

Later that day, we made it to Blarney Castle where if you kiss the Blarney Stone, you are given the gift of eloquence.

My friend Morgan as we were making our way up the castle turns towards us and announces, "I'm actually afraid of heights". This was not the ideal time to make this announcement, but we survived with a few deep breathing exercises.

We eventually made it to the actual stone, and I kissed it first. I was not sure how far down the stone was so I was a little slow making my way to the stone. The guy kept on saying keep it coming, keep it coming, and finally I had my chance to kiss the stone.

Morgan is absolutely going to kill me for telling this part of the trip, but I am going to go for it anyways. When it came time for her turn, she put her head back and immediately popped right back up exclaiming, "I can't do this". The older man was like of course you can, but it was no use...Morgan was already scurrying away.

Blarney Castle is definitely worth seeing since there is a large outdoor area that you can walk around and see unique things like a witch's kitchen.

When I look back at the weekend in Cork, I realize it is probably one of my favorite weekends since I have been abroad. It was still early on in the program, but it felt like everything was falling into place. The picture above features the fantastic four (Morgan, me, Emma, and Sydney). We call ourselves that because we really are the best travel companions.

While abroad, you are bound to make new friends...or if you don't you should probably think about what you are doing wrong. Anyways, soon you find yourself--or at least I did--with new friends that you feel like you have known your entire life. I think that is what traveling does to people; it brings you a lot closer in a much shorter amount of time.

As we eventually made our way to Cork City, I would like to say I fell in love immediately. I did not and the city actually reminded me a lot of everyone's Copenhagen pictures. Not necessarily this picture, but other parts of the city certainly looked like Copenhagen.

We actually had booked an airbnb in Cobh, which is outside of Cork City and was by far our best decision during this entire trip. Cobh is a cute beach town where everyone would definitely notice the 4 American girls walking around the town.

Cobh was also the last stop the Titanic took before hitting the iceberg so there is a small museum in town. After spending the night in Cobh, we headed back to Cork City and rang the Shandon Bells. The view from the top provides you a view of all of Cork City and definitely provides you with an "abroad moment".

Until tomorrow's adventure,
Hannah

"Ch, Ch, Changes"

Studying abroad makes everyone think and ponder over life a lot. You find yourself sitting on the bus, train, or airplane having these deep, almost "come to Jesus moments"--except you are not coming to Jesus you are just being very deep. I often think about who I am as a person and I will see something, whether it be a river, painting, a cliff, etc. and I look at it as if I am a seeing the sun shine for the first time. I cannot speak for everyone, but these are my study abroad moments where I am just silent for 5,10, even 15 minutes--and that's rare if you know me--because I am really just taking it all in and thinking "I'm here and this is amazing".

 I have gotten a few messages from family members being like you have changed since you've been abroad. When I read those messages, all I think is no I haven't...not even a little. The thing is everyone is a little different while abroad and that's because you have to be. There have been times during my travels where I was like if I was home, I would be totally freaking out. But here, I just take a deep breath and go with it.

 Sure, I could totally freak out about having to stay with two 40 year olds in a hostel, but really who would that help? I could totally freak out about how I jumped a fence, or how my friends and I were approached by two convicts in a pub and actually talked to them for over an hour, but freaking out is not helpful. It's actually the least helpful thing you can do.

 I think everyone I know has gone through something while abroad that would have normally sent them over the edge. Case A is my friend Rachel from home. She got BED BUGS in her apartment this past week! That's right folks the little ginger I was with in London, had to deal with bed bugs, and she still has all the bites to prove it. Home Rachel would have been on the next bus back and snuggled with her dog for the next 48 hours.

 But, we aren't home and there is no bus back. So what do we do, we cope and then we thrive. Plus, these crazy stories are the ones we end up telling everyone back at home, because everyone loves a ridiculous story (I don't want to talk to you if you don't love a ridiculous story).

 Okay, maybe you are wondering well it's kind of odd that you would not change at all while abroad. So maybe I lied a little bit...you do change. You become an insanely independent person and you get a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) because you want to have as many adventures as possible and collect as many ridiculous--and I hope dramatic--stories as possible. I do not think I would call that changing, but I would call it growing up.

Until tomorrow's adventure,
Hannah