What's to come

Finally, I’ve come to my last post of the night. Yes, I’m maxing out at four of them tonight.

I just wanted to take a few minutes to fill you in on what I’ll be up to for the next three weeks or so. Michelle’s leaving today (just under three hours from now… I guess that’s what happens when I’m up doing homework all night!), and she’s taking a bag full of stuff back to NYC with her. Among that “stuff” would be my laptop, so I likely won’t be posting anything else on this blog ‘til I get back to ‘sota.

Sadly, our time in Ireland is over on Saturday, December 4^th. Myself, Molly, Erin, and Taylor have a flight booked for Paris on Sunday morning, and for the next week, we’ll be in France. Afterwards, Molly and I will continue down into Spain (Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla? Not quite sure which ones yet) for about three days, then Italy for another three days (we’ll probably just stay in the northern part of the country). Then we head up to London for two more nights, and fly home to MSP on December 18^th.

Until then, I’ll share two bits of Irish wisdom that I picked up along the way:

May you have:

Walls for the wind

And a roof for the rain,

And drinks bedside the fire

Laughter to cheer you

And those you love near you,

And all that your heart may desire

~Traditional Celtic blessing

And a bit less traditional…

You guys are now starting to get the depressing cold rainy weather,

so drink early and often to battle the cold!

Slainte!

SNOW

While I'm in the festive spirit, I may as well fill you in on another fun fact!

Friday evening, we saw our first snowfall! Yes, snow in IRELAND! In fact, it snowed SO MUCH (1/4 inch) that one of our professors can't make it down to Galway, so it's a (partial) SNOW DAY!!

Apparently no CSB/SJU program has ever seen snowfall in Ireland in the 24 years it's been going on. WOO-HOO!!

Thanksgiving!

What can be better than...

family;

Michelle came to visit for five days!

friends;

and fellowship? (a good game of American-style football on a hurling pitch in Ireland)???

Oh yeah, how 'bout a fantastic turkey dinner;

Or enjoying the company of a good Irishman?

Or even seeing some spectacular views on our last full weekend here in Ireland?

Yeah, I think I had a good Thanksgiving!

Quick one on Dublin

We went to Dublin a few weeks ago, so I'm just going to give you a brief synopsis of what we did.

Thursday: Kilmainham jail, the place where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising were "tried" and executed. Also, we went to the Abbey Theater for the play "John Gabriel Borkman." Afterwards, we got to explore/wander/indulge in the Temple Bar area.

Friday: Newgrange, a megalithic tomb. Newgrange was built over 5,000 years ago (older than the pyramids at Giza). The pictures can show how spectacular it was (sorry, not allowed to take pics inside)!

Saturday: Bus tour of Dublin. <--- Very bad. We had a pretty poor guide. Bummer.

Leprechaun museum <--- Very good.

We literally turned into leprechauns!

Sunday: Hill of Tara, the crowning place of the high kings of Ireland (and a pretty sweet place to chase sheep).

Yeah, this is a short one. Dublin wasn't really my favorite city, so I don't really have a ton to say about it.

An Spidéal

I figured I'd just toss out a few pics of the local neighborhood.

"Monks don't get angry; Monks get even."

On a chilly morning in November, our group left the Park Lodge Hotel just as the sun rose. Our destination? Glenstal Abbey, a Benedictine monastery located just outside of Limerick. I think I can safely say that the experience we had at Glenstal was probably one of the coolest I've had in Ireland to this point.

We arrived about fifteen minutes before the Sunday mass, so we joined the monastic community and the rest of their parish for mass. I don't know what it is about Benedictine masses, but they are always really appealing to me. Afterwards, we met up with the monks for coffee and biscuits and a bit of socializing. Soon, we went on a mystical adventure through the forest with Brother Anthony.

Brother Anthony has been the caretaker of the forest for the past forty years, and he is absolutely HILARIOUS. I had no idea whether I should be taking him seriously or not, because some of the things he was saying were soooooo outrageous that we couldn't help but laugh. We wandered the forest with him for about an hour and a half, listening to stories of the forest.

Afterwards, we were treated to a gourmet lunch, courtesy of the boarding school's cafeteria. This was yet another opportunity for us to socialize with the monks, so my table got to know Brother Cuthbert pretty well. Turns out that he was leading the tour of Glenstal right after lunch!

Oddly enough, the abbey was built in the 1800s, but modeled after an 11th century castle. If you ever wanted to go to school in a castle, Glenstal is the place to be. With spiral staircases and tower libraries, it has everything you could possibly desire and then some more! After the tour, we broke into two smaller groups. One group went with Brother Cuthbert to tour the library; the other group met up with Father Gregory to examine the relic chapel. Both were fantastic.

After we finished the tours, we went to (another) coffee/tea/cookie reception. We had the next 30 minutes to chat with the monks about whatever we wanted. Turns out several of them have connections with Collegeville already, and they hope to continue an exchange between the two monasteries. Fr. Gregory was absolutely fascinated by the concept of walking on lakes in the winter, so we were more than happy to tell stories about the cold Minnesota winters! Kind of makes me want to be home in the snow already!

Time to get caught up

After a rough night (exactly 86 minutes of sleep), what better time to catch my loyal readers up on some Irish stories than now? I'm warning you in advance, the quality of writing may not be up to par for this one. Actually, it's more likely that I'll resort to bullet points. Yeah, that sounds good.

The last significant post you got from me was the last leg of our travel break. Here's a bit of what I've been up to since then:

• Story: Undertook specialized training and became a master cow herder.
  Reality: Some old guy asked myself, Will, and Ted to stand in front of a cow with a big stick so it wouldn't run off.
  
  
• Story: Conquered the Galway Bay crabs
  Reality: Rory, the local taxi driver (and likely the coolest old Irish guy I know), decided to drop off a bag full of crab claws for our cottage. After much confusion, we ended up boiling them, cracking the shells between the table and a chopping board, and eating them. Messy? Yes. Delicious? Incredibly.
  
  
• Story: Celebrating a 21st birthday of a good friend with much class and style.
  Reality: Take out the class and style and it's pretty much dead on.
  
  
• Story: Mourned the loss of any chance of a productive government for the next two years.
  Reality: See above.

In addition, I undertook a few adventures revolving around a scuba diving trip:

• Braved the stage ten winds (roughly 78 mph) and rain while waiting for a bus
• Spent an incredibly boring seven hours in the village of Letterfrack, which is complete with two pubs, a hostel, and a county market. The dive was cancelled, but I had left Spiddal before they could get ahold of me. Oops.
• FINALLY enduring the 50 degree waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Included in my adventure would be hermit, velvet, and edible crabs; starfish; pollock; and finally...

...this guy.

MNF: Monday Night Fail?

I'm procrastinating. Surprise???

Seasons of the Year

Departing from Austria was bittersweet; I had come to really love that country. But it's not like we weren't going on to other great things. Next stop, Switzerland!

The train ride from Salzburg to Bern was gorgeous. In Munich and Vienna, we couldn't see any of the Alps. From Salzburg, we could see some of the mountains. On the train, we went THROUGH the mountains, spanning rivers and gorges, threading between the peaks. As we travelled, we went from an Austrian fall, with the changing leaves of trees, to a snowy winter, with snowflakes whirling in the sky. Then, a mere five minutes later, we were in what seemed to be a beautiful spring day! It was remarkable how much it changed as we proceeded.

This is the best pic I was able to get from the train.

Welcome to the Alps.

About five hours after we boarded the train, we were getting off in Zurich to switch trains for Bern. Molly and I, feeling a little bit more adventurous, chose to explore the city for a few hours before we went on. Zurich was a nice town; we didn't see a ton of it, and I really don't know much about the history. Surprisingly enough, they had lots of Swiss army knives and watches for sale. Who would've thunk?

We pulled into the Bern train station just after 7, and after wandering for about half an hour, we stumbled across our hostel in the heart of the old town. There were already two guests in the room; an older man and a young Canadian girl. We started talking with the girl, and then she joined us when we went out to see the night-life of Bern. SO MUCH FUN. We were in one of the bars when six younger men came in. Apparently they had all just finished their medical school final tests, so they were out celebrating. Made for a great evening!

The Old Clock

Thursday found us exploring the city of Bern (named for the bear). It's an old city, and as the capital of Switzerland, it had some pretty cool things going on there. We walked to the Einstein museum (would've cost 18 francs to get in, so we passed), wandered towards the bear pits, and up to the rose garden overlooking the city. After a fantastic dinner (Swiss sausage and potatoes), I had no complaints about the city.

Seriously, the city has BEARS for pets...

On Friday, we went to the city of Interlaken (literally meaning "Between the Lakes"). A very tourist-oriented town (I'd say it's similar to Estes Park in Colorado), there wasn't a ton to do just looking around in the city, so we took a train to either end of the lakes. We went to Spritz and Brienz, where we had some beautiful weather and spectacular views of the mountains. Seriously, it felt like a Minnesota summer.

By the end of the day, we arrived in Lucerne and immediately went to bed. We spent the whole next day wandering the streets, but I never really got a good feeling about Lucerne. It was a nice city, but there didn't seem to be anything special about it. I think Molly would probably disagree with that, but I wasn't entirely impressed. What WAS cool, though, was the bicycling we did. We rented bikes from our hostel and just rode along the lakeshore. Now I can officially say I went biking in the Alps!

But soon enough, the time came to head back home (to Ireland). We woke up early on Sunday morning and caught a 6:30 train to Frankfurt. Arriving at noon, we found out that the airport we were supposed to fly out from was APPARENTLY not the international airport that is so convenient to get to. No, we were supposed to take a two hour bus ride to the airport, and the next bus (which would cost us 24 euros apiece) was leaving at 1:30. Perfect. With a 3:20 flight, that just didn't work out too well, eh? In the end, we rented a taxi (costly, to say the least) and made it to the airport in time for our flight. Two hours later, we were touching down at the Dublin International Airport, catching a bus to Galway, and enjoying the (illegal) firework displays and bonfires celebrating Halloween. Time of arrival at the Park Lodge Hotel: 9:00 PM.

What a vacation.

Oh, Switzerland...

And the journey continues...

Our next stop in our Germanic adventure is actually in Austria: Vienna! This was my first experience on an ICE train, and it was phenomenal! Not only did it get us from point A to point B, but it was quiet, smooth, and very comfortable. I absolutely loved the train, a theme that carries through across the entire trip.

Arriving relatively late in Vienna, we checked into the hostel and walked down the main street towards the city center. This was a good hour-long walk, so when we got back to the hostel we enjoyed our COMPLIMENTARY drink from the in-house bar, then headed up to bed.

The next day was very full. We left the hostel around 8:30 so we could find the chapel where the Vienna Boys Choir sings. Every Sunday, they sing at a mass in the Imperial chapel, so we were hoping to find some standing room just outside of the chapel (it costs 30-some euros to actually sit in the chapel during the mass). After getting lost several times, we found the chapel during the preparation of the gifts, so we stayed and listened 'til the end. These boys can SING, that's for sure. It was really cool. After the mass ended, Molly and I went to a High German mass just next door. Although I didn't understand 95% of what was being said, it was still a pretty cool experience.

Vienna Boys Choir in their Postlude.

The rest of the afternoon, we walked the Ringstrasa, the circular road that encompasses the entire city center. Nearly every major sight-seeing place is located along this road, so we got to see some pretty cool buildings. Once it started raining, we went to the Museum of modern Austrian art and spent about an hour there.

Haufburn Palace

That night, we also decided we needed a bit more culture than simply looking at the art gallery. Molly and I were able to buy some three euro tickets (standing room only) to the Vienna ballet that evening. For me, it was the first ballet and I had mixed opinions as for what to expect. Turns out I didn't have to be worried at all; it was pretty cool! I even recognized a bit of the music!

Vienna Ballet Hall

The next day, Monday, was by far the best day of the trip. Molly and I had signed up for a "Grape Grazing Tour." This is a bicycle tour of the wine region just outside of Vienna. Not only a tour, but also a wine TASTING tour. Beautiful, eh? We took three trains out to this really isolated village in a valley and met Walter, the owner of one of the taverns. He sat us down and we sampled six types of wine; five white, one red. Oooh man, these were tasty! After we finished sampling, we got on our bikes and began riding down the trail deeper into the valley! Two stops later, we were eating a wonderful barbecued lunch with marinated pork, bacon-wrapped cheesy sausage, and steak. And to drink? Well, wine of course! It turned out that we were the last tour of the season, so he was trying to get rid of some extra wine. Bummer, eh?

The group of us. Emma and Courtney (Australia),

Kay and Brian (Chicago) and Molly and myself!

After having copious amounts of wine, we arrived back in Vienna in time to catch an 8:30 train to Salzburg. Now, we had told Chris that we would be arriving in Salzburg that evening, but we never told him a time. Well, to our absolute surprise and delight, as we were getting off the train at the Salzburg station, we were met by none other than Chris himself! A good thing too, because our hostel apparently closed at 9:00, so we would've had no place to stay. Chris took us back to his dorm and we celebrated his Polish roommate's birthday!

This is actually a picture from Munich...

The following day, we wandered throughout Salzburg with our guide and got a history of the city. Unfortunately, it was an Austrian national holiday, so nearly everything was closed, but we still got a good look at the city. That night we treated Chris to a nice dinner (a leg of pork, dumpling, saur kraut!) and headed back to our hostel, having enjoyed Salzburg thorougly!

Sound of Music, anyone?

Ten day break? Let's GOOOOO!!!!

For those of you who don't know, the abroad program that I'm in right now has a fall break built into the schedule. No classes were held between Friday, October 22 and Friday, October 29th, so we had the perfect opportunity to get away from our home and travel. Some went to Portugal for the week; others went to Croatia. Some families took the opportunity to visit their sons or daughters in Ireland, while other students simply hopped over the channel to the U.K, or even over the northern Atlantic to the far-away land of Norway. Molly and I did something a bit different; we went off on our own adventure in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland!

As soon as classes were over on Thursday, Molly and I caught a taxi into Galway City to catch a citylink bus to the Dublin Airport. From there, we hopped a RyanAir jet over to the London-Stansted airport, where we had a 7 hour lay-over.

Highlights from the layover:

• Quick nap after the all-nighter we each pulled the night before
• Epic game of POUNCE (I won, 156 to 121)
• All-day breakfast
• Krispy Kreme donuts

Somehow we survived those seven hours, and soon enough, we were landing in the Memmingran airport, about 90 minutes outside of Munich. One bus ride later, we found ourselves at the Munich train station, meeting a good friend of mine, Chris. Chris is studying in the Austria program in Salzburg, but he decided he wanted to come up to Munich and hang out with Molly and myself for a little bit. I don't think we could ask for a better tour guide.

Our fearless leader, Chris Pignato!

Majoring in German and History, Chris is well-versed in German history (go figure), so he was able to show us around the city, translating for us, telling us stories, talking about the culture, etc. Best of all, he knew a great Beerhaus pretty near to our hostel, where we enjoyed some German soccer, schnitzel, and beer.

Hitler gave a really famous speech here.

I forgot what it's called though...

After a great night's sleep, we headed over to Dachau, the German concentration camp about thirty minutes from Munich. It doesn't matter how much you know about World War II; actually seeing a concentration camp gives you a whole new perspective of the experience. I'll let some of the pictures tell the story.

"Work makes one free"

Living conditions aren't the greatest, I'd say.

A memorial to the victims.

Crematorium. Because Dachau wasn't a death camp

(as opposed to Auschwitz), it is uncertain whether

this was actually used to kill prisoners.

Anticipation...

Just giving the faithful followers (or bored readers) a bit of an update on this blog. You can expect four or five new posts within the next three days. I'll be using three of them on my travel break (October 22 - October 31), one on the first week back from the break (November 1 - November 7) and the last on anything else I think of in the meantime.

After all, you know what they say about procrastination: