Don't Blink.

Life couldn’t be better after a month back in the States. I live five minutes from the beach, I love my waitressing job, I've seen concerts with my friends, and I am now a published writer in the magazine “South Shore Living”. I began my internship there three days after landing back in Boston; but after five months of blogging, I knew I had nothing to worry about. 

I tell anyone who will listen about my travels through Europe. Yes—Post Traumatic Study Abroad Disorder is a thing and yes you will experience it when you are back in the States. It feels so odd not to be taking off on a tiny Ryanair plane every weekend to go explore a new destination. It feels even more weird not to be able to go walk down to Shop Street in Galway and listen to the buskers and street performers whenever I’d like. I miss the store Penny’s like you wouldn’t believe. It was the most incredible place in the entire world; the best clothes and accessories and shoes and home goods you could find for the best price. It was like T.J. Maxx but with the prices of… well half the price (there’s rumors it is coming to Boston)!

I miss the Irish people. I miss how friendly and welcome I felt wherever I went. I miss the music in Taffes and hearing the song Galway Girl played at least once a night despite the band’s protests. I miss The Front Door, the only pub where you would find just as many Americans as Irish, and I miss Irish Set dancing at Monroe’s on Tuesday night. I miss the market every weekend and the delicious doughnuts made by Boychick. I miss sitting in my bedroom watching Friends on Netflix and listening to the rain spatter against the windows.  I have been home a month now and the nostalgia hit me probably on day three and still has yet to go away.

The last week I was in Ireland I could not wait to get home. I knew that once I was home I would want to turn right back around to the little green island. But still, I couldn’t wait to see my family and my dog and be in a queen sized bed again FINALLY (twin beds don’t work too well when you’re 5’10”) and have sunny days more than two days in a row. I couldn’t wait to be home. But, after those three days I realized that I know had two homes. I had my home in Plymouth, MA in the USA, and I had a home where I spent five months of my life learning and growing more than I have in my entire collegiate career. I know Galway like the back of my hand. It only takes getting lost once at 7:30 in the morning after trying to walk back from the immigration office to learn that all the major roads will eventually lead you to downtown. Shop Street was as familiar to me as downtown Plymouth and I have lived here for all 21 years of my life. No matter where I travelled during my time abroad, Galway was still the place I couldn’t wait to return home to. Galway was my home.

I have been home for forty days now. Forty days from the day I landed in Ireland was about Valentine’s Day. Forty days after I landed in Ireland I was in the country of Belgium exploring a new place, a new culture, and plenty of chocolate and waffles. Finn, my director, had told me that once Valentine’s Day came around my time in Galway would fly by so fast that before I knew it I would be home again. Well, I am home again. I am sitting in my queen sized bed in my air conditioned house. It’s raining outside; the droplets are spattering against my window. If I close my eyes I am right back in Galway in Gort na Coiribe apartment 109. I know that as soon as I blink, I will once again be back in the States. Don’t blink.

Forever a Galway Girl

Today is officially my last day in Ireland. It is such a bittersweet feeling. I am so excited to be going back home to my family, my friends, and my dog. But, I am also so sad to leave this beautiful place that has been my home for the last 4 months. So before I go I wanted to give you 10 pieces of advice about the magical land of the leprechauns.

1.      Galway is the best city on Earth. Yeah sure, I may be a bit biased just as everyone is who studies abroad in a different country; but out of every city I have visited in my travels around Europe, Galway is still number one. I feel safe here; I can walk down the street any part of the day and know that I won’t encounter any harm. I also won’t ever get lost on those walks because the city itself is so quaint and yet is the third largest in Ireland. Shop Street is so cute with its cobblestone road, little shops, and old Irish pubs. And of course, the people here are so incredibly nice.

2.      You aren’t going to see every castle in Ireland; there are hundreds of them. I can remember driving down the road with my parents when they came to visit and being out in the middle of farmlands and we drove by at least three ruins of castles. Along the motorway between Galway and Dublin, the M6, you pass by two of them just out in the middle of fields. They are everywhere! Of course the best ones to go to are the ones that have been restored such as Bunratty, Ross, and Blarney, but there’s something so hauntingly beautiful about the ruined castle towers also. It is incredible that these stone structures are still standing after hundreds of years and without any residents. They have stood the test of time and although you won’t see them all, you can’t come to Ireland and not see any!

3.      To shift is not to move side to side and crack is not an action but rather a thing; and not a negative thing. The Irish have their own lingo, sayings and expressions and some of it is so fun to say. To shift actually means to kiss someone and crack is actually spelled craic and loosely means fun. I don’t know where the term shift came from but craic is actually an Irish Gaelic word and they use it A LOT. “Where’s the craic?” “What’s the craic?” “Oh it was good craic.” Trust me, they’re just talking about having fun. College students don’t ask if you’re going to class, but rather “are you off to college?” And to say hello and thanks it’s “hiyya” and “thanks a million”.

4.      Saturday and Sunday are donut days at the market! Boychick’s donuts are the most delicious pieces of fluffy fried dough your taste buds will ever try. Every Saturday and Sunday by St. Nicholas’s church off Shop Street is the market. There are crafts, jewelry, fresh produce, sweets, and oh yes there are donuts. And Boychick looks like the typical Irish man with the white shirt under a button down, knee length pants with high socks and dress shoes, and the flat cap with a little pompom on top. He even has a gold tooth! He will talk to you while he makes your donut fresh right in front of you or he will hum a classic Irish tune. And best part of all the donut is only 80 cents! Great for a college budget! So go get your donut , walk down Shop Street and listen to all the street performers lining the cobblestone road.

5.      On the topic of food, you can’t go to Ireland without trying Garlic Cheese Fries. The Irish fast food chain is called Supermacs, but in my opinion if you really want some amazing garlic cheese fries at 3 am when the pubs close, you have to go to one of the many kebab houses around the city. These aren’t typical skewer kebabs though; these kebabs come in a pita pocket with cabbage. But anyways back to garlic cheese fries, they are a heart attack in a to-go container, but they are worth every single calorie. You get warm crunchy fries covered in a garlic sauce that is simply indescribable that is then layered in cheese that melts a bit over the top of it. Is your mouth salivating right now? Because mine is.

6.      The mumps are coming; the mumps are coming! Remember that disease that doesn’t exist anymore in America because we all get vaccinations? Well, there was an outbreak of it while I was in Galway and I was unfortunate enough to contract the illness as so many of my American friends did DESPITE the vaccinations. Well, or we all had some variation of it. Basically, I looked like a chipmunk. It was like getting my wisdom teeth out all over again; my jaw was swollen almost completely shut, I couldn’t eat anything because I just couldn’t chew, but other than that I felt totally fine! I woke up one morning looking like this and thank goodness some of my friends had already had this happen to them otherwise I would have most definitely freaked out. So along with all the positives of Galway I will throw in this one negative that will someday make a hysterical story.

7.      Time is not a real concept in Ireland. First of all, the Irish are always late; if you have a class that starts at 12:00 don’t expect your professor to show up until 12:05 at the earliest. And then, you will always be let out 10 minutes early; so when you freak out because you have class from 2:00 until 3:00 and then another one all the way across campus from 3:00 until 4:00 like I did, take a breath because not only will you have time to make it, you can make it to the bathroom and also grab yourself a cup of tea.

8.      Yes, I said tea. Coffee as we know it does not exist in all of Europe. There are lattes and cappuccinos everywhere but unless you see filtered coffee on the menu, don’t ask for it. They will try to give you an Americano which is espresso with water. It is NOT coffee. It tastes AWFUL, so don’t be confused. You will miss Dunkin Donuts I promise you, but hang in there; you’ll get used to the instant coffee that they sell in stores by the end of the semester.

9.      The Irish are the nicest people in the world. And I know I’m not biased on this one because I hear it from everyone. Maybe it’s the accent that makes them so charming and trustworthy, but whatever it is it works for them. Dubliners were my favorite because they are known to be witty and sarcastic and every Dubliner I met lived up to that. The bus drivers from Dublin were the best; not once did I ever get on a bus without the driver being a bit of a smart mouth and giving me a little bit of a hard time. I finally got so used to it that I could banter right back by the end of the semester. I’m smiling now just thinking of it. And those accents—you just never get sick of hearing it. I think out of everything in Ireland, the accent and the people are what I will miss the most

10.  The most important thing I learned in Galway had nothing to do with Ireland itself, but rather the experience of studying abroad. I learned how to be an individual. It sounds so cliché doesn’t it; like, of course I am an individual. But, being abroad was the first time I went on a plane by myself, it was the first time I had to cook for myself and go grocery shopping, I had to buy all the necessities like toilet paper and tooth paste that I’m so used to being provided by my parents, and I travelled to new places and even explored much of Galway by myself. I have always been a person who needs companionship or at least another person with me to go somewhere or do something. But, this semester taught me that doing things by myself isn’t the worst thing in the world; in fact, sometimes it’s better because even though I’m not sharing the experience with someone, I can run on my own time and schedule and not have to worry about anyone else besides myself. I learned a lot about myself while living in a different country. I hope to someday go back and have the chance to walk up and down Shop Street, to see the Long Walk and the Salthill Prom, and to once more taste those garlic cheese fries and Boychick’s donuts. I left a piece of my heart in that city and for that reason I will forever be a Galway Girl.

Amalfi: The Dream Place

John Steinbeck exposed the beauty of the Amalfi Coast in Italy to the tourist world when he wrote an article in 1952 in Harper’s Bazaar about the town of Positano. He most famously said, “It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone”. Positano and the Amalfi Coast are now beckoningly real to me. I spent my last abroad trip there this past weekend alongside my best friend from home whom is studying in Florence. It was a weekend of fun in the sun, but I never think Steinbeck would have predicted his article to cause as much of a boom in tourism as it has in the villages that sit on the hills of the coast.

I decided that the best and easiest way to see everything that Amalfi has to offer (as well as travel there in the most inexpensive way possible) was to try out one of the various student tour groups in Florence. It was great being able to sit back, relax, and just enjoy each of the activities that our tour group Smarttrip coordinated for us and I would totally recommend trying one out if you plan on studying in Italy. We left from Florence late on Thursday and after six hours of travelling from Florence, we finally arrived at the town of Sorrento where we would be staying for the weekend. The other benefit of using the tour group was the awesome hotel they set us up in! It was right on the cliff overlooking the ocean and we had breakfast and dinner included.

After just four hours of sleep, it was time to begin our day’s activities. We headed off for the ferry in Sorrento to take us to the island of Capri off the coast. Capri is just beautiful; it is like a massive rock that was just plopped right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The sides of cliffs plunge straight down through the waves and disappear for who knows how long down into the depths of the ocean. We took a boast cruise around the island to see all of the caves and caverns hidden in the rock walls, as well as the incredible houses probably owned by celebrities that sit precariously along the cliff’s edge. By far the most incredible part of Capri though is the Blue Grotto. This cave was discovered by the Romans thousands of years ago and what is so unique about it is not the cavern itself, but the color of the water inside. To get into the cave, you have to clamber into this tiny rowboat with just two other people and a native who paddles it. When you reach the cave entrance, the driver has to judge when the waves are low enough to allow the most height between the water and the top of the opening because the entrance is THAT SMALL. Then, everyone has to lie down in the boat and the driver has to pull the boat through by a rope attached to the cavern wall. With a rush of wind you enter the Blue Grotto and instantly you are dazzled. The water within the cave looks as though someone dropped millions of blue glow sticks into the bottom of it. This florescence is caused by the way in which the light enters through cave and bounces off the rocks and water underneath the surface. My friend was courageous enough to actually jump in and swim in it, but because I could not see the bottom at all I told her I’d take the pictures. The Blue Grotto is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world and it is no surprise why; it is simply mesmerizing.

Day two was spent at Steinbeck’s Positano. Positano is known as the beach town of all the villages because of its Black Sand Beach. We spent the day relaxing in the sun and swimming in the still chilly waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The houses that dot the side of the cliff are an array of sizes and colors and you can truly see what Steinbeck was talking about in his article. The town itself is made up of a few small streets for pedestrians only and there are plenty of shops, restaurants, and gelato stores for everyone. There is one road in and one road out of the village and you will sit in some traffic during tourist season in order to get to the beach. I had the most amazing lunch at a place called Capricci and found out that I love gnocchi with pesto. We did some shopping at the ceramic stores which are plentiful along the streets, and ended the afternoon with a gelato on the steps to the beach overlooking the sea.

Our final day was not actually spent in Amalfi, but at a town without any inhabitants but plenty of visitors. Pompeii was jaw dropping. I have of course heard of the town that met its deadly fate in 79 A.D. with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, but seeing it in person was both incredible and unnerving. Walking through the streets, first I was amazed at how well preserved the ruins are, and then I was equally amazed at the size of the village. I couldn’t believe that these ruins were still standing after both the eruption of a volcano and a time span of nearly 2000 years. It was impossible to fathom just how terrifying the eruption must have been; it must have seemed as if the world was ending. The town was layered in residue and soot, and the sky covered by the cloud of ash sent up by the eruption. And after all these years, we can still visit and see the buildings that once stood in the thriving town. Along with the buildings we saw the preserved forms of the bodies of humans and a dog that were imprinted through the years in the ground. It was chilling.

After seeing Pompeii, we then ventured to the cause of its ultimate demise. I can now say that have I hiked up Europe’s most dangerous volcano. Since 79 A.D., Vesuvius has erupted 8 times, the most recent in 1944. It is also the most densely populated volcanic region due to its close proximity to the city of Naples as well as smaller towns with a total of 3,000,000 people living miles from its base. These are the reasons for it being considered the most dangerous volcano and Europe. Today, it is closely monitored and for this reason it is visited by tourists all around the world. Reaching the top and looking down into the crater, it is incredible to imagine that this mound of earth without any visible lava or smoke has killed thousands of people. But, standing there at the top I could see for miles all of Naples, the coast, and out to the Mediterranean Sea. In that moment, looking out over the Italian coast during my last abroad excursion, I could only think about how lucky I was to be standing there at the top of a volcano, in Italy, studying abroad, living in Ireland, and having had all these incredible experiences. My abroad experience is the dream place that Steinbeck wrote of. It hasn’t seemed to be quite real this entire time I have been here; but now that I am coming to the beginning of the end, this experience is becoming beckoningly real and the nostalgia is hitting hard.

Barcelona Beach Bum

“Let’s go to the beach-each, let’s go get away!” I finally got to have my first proper beach trip of the semester! I say proper because the weather in Barcelona was “Sunny and 75” (Let’s see how many more songs I can reference in this post)! Barcelona was such a fun weekend getaway and a complete spur of the moment trip! I had nothing to do last weekend and the flights were so cheap that I couldn’t pass it up! I think the most amazing part of this mini vacation though was the view from my hostel. I walked out the front door and I was just inches from the sand. Yes, that is my view! I stayed right down the beach from the famous W Hotel where all the celebs stay and I paid about 1/20^th of the price per night!

My first morning in Barcelona I spent exploring. I hadn’t had much of a plan, so I went for a walk up the boardwalk. Cute little restaurants lined the edge of the sand and I could see the surfers distantly in the waves preparing themselves for the next swell. I walked back and decided to go take a look at the giant tower that stands over the beach and Port Vell. Turns out it was a cable car air tram that takes you from the beach up to Mount Montjuic. At the very top of the mountain there is an old fortress called Montjuic Castle which was built in the 17^th century. There is also the Olympic Stadium built for the 1992 Olympic Games held in Barcelona, beautiful gardens with fountains and flowers, and at the base of the mountain sits the stunning palace-like building which is the Catalan National Art Museum. Think Cheetah Girls II, “you’ve gotta strut like you mean it; free your mind!” That is the palace shown in the movie.

So anyways, I took the tram up to the mountain and let me say it was not for the faint hearted! You are in this little cable car with ten other people travelling over nothing but water about 350 feet in the air! But, the view was spectacular. You could see from the beach all the way to the top of La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s famous basilica! It was only about a 7 minute journey, but I was holding on for dear life the entire time. At the top, I disembarked on an adventure, having no idea where I was headed. I didn’t end up getting to see the Montjuic Castle because it required another tram ride farther up the mountain and the line was an hour long. So, instead I wandered through the beautiful gardens and took a peak at where the Olympic ceremonies were held. I found my way to the beautiful museum and even got to see the Magic Fountain. The fountain is supposed to be this incredible light and water display in the evening and I was sad not to have been able to see the show at night.

After the tram, I decided it was time for a little siesta in the sun. I grabbed my bathing suit and towel and headed to the sandy beach; I wish I could say it was as relaxing as it sounds. On the beach there are many people walking around trying to sell you things such as tapestries, pre-made drinks, henna tattoos, hair braiding, and even massages! I broke down and bought a tapestry because they were just so beautiful, but the massages and pre-made drinks were a bit… strange. Just a fair warning if you’re ever on the beach at Barcelona— make sure you bring some headphones!

After my attempted siesta, I met up with my friend who had just arrived. We went and took a look around the famous tourist street called Las Ramblas. It is a cute tree-lined, cobblestone walkway with little shops, restaurants, souvenir stands, and markets. The statue of Christopher Columbus marks it’s beginning, and we went as far as the Plaza of Cataluña in the heart of downtown. It is a very touristy spot, but it was still a blast to walk down. The best part though was finding a DUNKIN DONUTS! As a Boston girl, Dunkin coffee is a must on beach days in the summer. I got so excited that I didn’t even care paying the ridiculously over-priced amount for an iced coffee. I hadn’t had anything other than lattes and macchiatos in 3 months! I think I melted when I took that first sip. Right beside the Dunkin Donuts was this adorable market filled with fresh fruits, meats, and sweets. There were so many homemade juices that I had to try one! I quickly learned that caramel iced coffee and kiwi coconut juice aren’t the best together.

After the market we walked up to the Plaza of Cataluña. There were just way too many pigeons there for us though and we did not stay long. Down the street that runs opposite to Las Ramblas are tons of boutiques that lead you straight into the heart of the Gothic Quarter. This is the original part of Barcelona where the Gothic architecture is beautifully shown in the buildings surrounding the majestic Barcelona Cathedral. This part of town is what I always imagined Barcelona to look like. I had seen countless movies in Spanish class showing the cathedral and the elegant old buildings and it was just so much more breathtaking in person. It is the history and the architecture of every city that makes me fall in love with it. It is incredible to think how long those buildings have stood there, and I was just another tourist passing by to marvel at their beauty.

We spent the next morning sitting at the beach, soaking up the rays before the rest of Barcelona woke up after their crazy nights out. I sprouted quite a number of freckles and turned a lovely shade of pink which I’m still willing to turn into a tan. After the beach, my friend and I joined a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city because it is just much too big to walk in two days’ time. The bus tour was very informational and sitting up top on the double-decker bus in the sunshine was perfect. We took the bus to La Sagrada Familia first. Pulling up to it all we could think was how much it resembled a beautiful, intricate sand castle. It is still under construction after more than a century of work, but the modernist architect Antoni Gaudi would be proud of what his dream has become. The beauty doesn’t stop there; walking inside the basilica, you are mesmerized by the brilliance of light coming through the stained glass windows. Every color of the rainbow touches the floor—and so did my jaw. The colors are nothing a camera can even come close to capturing, and what is so amazing is that each window and light display represents a story of the bible. Looking up you get lost in the intricate pattern of the ceiling. It was the most incredible and memorable church I have seen in all of my travels through Europe.

Another one of Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces is Parc Guell. Again, flashback to the Cheetah Girls II, this is the place with all the mosaic benches, lizards, and monuments that they “strut” through. Unfortunately, we didn’t book tickets in advance and in order to see the mosaics up close you had to pay for a time slot. It was a 2 hour wait because it was so late in the day and we were restricted to seeing the monuments from the path that goes around the top of them. That was definitely a disappointment and I would recommend to everyone to buy tickets in advance and go in the morning! So we hopped back on the bus and toured the rest of the city. Everywhere you looked you could find more and more of the modernist architecture that makes Barcelona the most unique and vibrant city I have been to yet on my travels. It was a bit of old and new meshed together and it was a wonderful spur of the moment vacation!

Ciao Bella!

This past week has been a whirlwind as I explored the beautiful country of Italy for spring break. I visited two regions, three cities, and five villages all in the course of four days. Despite the time crunch, I saw more history than in any other country I have visited; I also ate more pasta, pizza, and gelato than I ever have in my life. The first stop of the trip was an overnight stay in the small city of Pisa. You can’t go to Italy without seeing the infamous leaning tower and taking the cliché picture of pushing it back in to place! The day we went was Easter Sunday and the streets were bustling with people shopping at the local flea market taking place in the city square. There was much more to the city than I had anticipated, and snapping that one picture was definitely worth the overnight stay.

The next morning, my friends and I made our way to the city of Florence. Easter Monday proved to be yet another busy day in Italy. The streets were once again filled with locals and tourists travelling around and visiting the sites that downtown Firenze has to offer. In the heart of the city is the majestic marble church, the Duomo, and from here you can find your way anywhere. We had been planning to go inside and gawk at the beauty of the church, as well as the spectacular views from the top, but there was a three hour line just to get in and we had not dressed for the chilly wind we encountered in the northern part of Italy. We had thought that the Tuscan sun would be a welcome from drizzly Galway, but it was actually warmer in Ireland last week! So, after marveling at the Duomo’s elegance from the outside, we walked a little ways farther in search of a man named David.

My mouth hit the ground when we finally got to meet David after our hour and a half wait in line. I knew that he was handsome, but I had no idea how large he was! Yes, I am talking about the statue! Michelangelo’s David is a work of art; it stands front and center in the Academy Gallery of Florence, and he commands the room. Up close, you can see every detail of his marble body; the abs, the biceps, the veins, the buttocks, and yes even the… man parts. David is a fine specimen of art but boy is he also a fine specimen of man! I wasn’t aware of the sheer size of the statue until I saw it for my own eyes and I just couldn’t believe the talent it must have taken to create such an incredible piece of art.

You can’t travel to Italy without visiting the beautiful Tuscan landscape and exploring a vineyard or two! My friends and I booked a tour through a great study abroad tour group out of Florence called Smart Trip. They took us through the Tuscan countryside and we got to visit two gorgeous, rustic vineyards of the Chianti region. Of course there was a bit of wine tasting in which I learned that red wine STILL is not my thing, but what impressed me the most was the homemade Italian salami and the olive oil that the two vineyards also offered for us to taste. Now, I am not much of a meat-eater, but this salami I swear was the most delicious food I have ever eaten on a cracker. It was made with home-grown fennel and it melted right on your tongue. The olive oil was so fresh that I could taste the earthiness of the olives and breathe in their pungent scent. Don’t let the beautiful skies deceive you, though; it was cold up there in the hills of Tuscany!

In one day I saw five villages. I didn't actually get to walk through them all, only three, but I did see them all from the boat we took from one village to the one at the other end of the peninsula. The Cinque Terre means “five villages” in the Italian language. These five villages sit atop the side of the cliffs that fall into the Mediterranean Sea on the west coast of Italy. The houses are all varying colors of peach, blue, coral, tan, and pale green and from the boat, the blend of colors up on the hills is mesmerizing. The smaller villages were quaint with a few restaurants and shops, but the village that I enjoyed the most was called Monterosso. We got off the boat ride here and you could immediately see the size difference of this village compared to its smaller neighbors. There was more hustle and bustle, though not too much because tourist season was just beginning, but you could still feel the vibe of community. The sun was shining and the weather was finally warming up and so my friends and I had a perfect little lunch outside on the beach at one of the local restaurants. The Cinque Terre is famous for their pesto, so of course I had to get the pesto bruschetta. They weren’t kidding! The pesto was creamy and garlicy and so delicious! I wanted to order a second lunch, but I decided that buying a jar of the pesto was a better idea. After lunch and a bit of exploring, we headed toward the beach and parked our bums in the warm sand. The Mediterranean water was still a bit chilly, but I dipped my toes in regardless so that I could say I had done it. We let the sun soak our skin and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to head back to Florence and pack up for Rome the next morning. I left with sand in my shoes and a lovely red sunburn on my face.

They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but a day was the only time I had to explore this incredible city, and I fell in love. If I could do the study abroad process all over again…. I would still study in Galway—it’s my second home—but I would definitely have spent closer to a week in Rome. I felt like Lizzie McGuire walking down the streets of the Eternal City; granted I wasn’t riding a Vespa or singing as a foreign pop star, but hey I’m on a budget here! Sadly, I wasn’t able to see the Vatican City or the Sistine Chapel because the Pope was in town visiting and people were lined up for three hours waiting just to buy tickets for the museum. Instead, we headed for the Coliseum and the ancient part of Rome. The history, the architecture, and the romance in the air all stopped me right in my tracks. The Roman Empire had been one of the greatest of its time, and to see it all still there, even in ruins, proves the strength of the city. The only disappointment was the Trevi Fountain; not due to the fountain itself, but the scaffolding that covered it due to the construction being done that won’t finish until October. Even that one eyesore though couldn’t take away from the utter beauty and magnificence that is the city of Rome. I want to go back and visit again someday and really spend a significant amount of time seeing every part of the city that I can. When in Rome!

The Motherland

The month of March has been all about exploring the beautiful country I have been living in for the past two months. I've had visitors along the way to go on these adventures with, and this past week I was lucky enough to have my family along with me. I took them to a few places I had already been, the must sees of Ireland, Blarney Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. But I also was able to travel to new parts of the country I would not have seen otherwise (thanks to Dad's need to have his own car despite having to drive on the other side of the road). My mom's family is where my Irish roots are. My Nana is 100% Irish; her parents actually met on the boat coming over to America from Ireland when they were just 16 years old. Griffin and Sullivan were their surnames and they came from County Kerry.

The town of Annascaul in the heart of the Dingle Peninsula of County Kerry is most famous for being the birthplace of the Antarctic explorer Tom Crean. But, it is also the birthplace of my Great Grandmother, Ellen Griffin. The town has one main road with a gas station, a bank, a post office, one bed and breakfast and three little pubs. It isn't much, but it is the place of my ancestry. After our 2 minute drive through downtown, we decided to off-road a bit and go find the Annascaul Lake. There really wasn't much to the lake, but what we did find down that road was an old cemetery. Many of the tombstones were so old that they were no longer legible. But, of the few that you could still make out, one of them had GRIFFIN written across the top. I had chills walking through there; it's crazy to think that there are ancestors of mine who have walked that very ground a hundred or more years ago that I was then walking on. We began our drive out of the village and toward the town of Dingle. My great-grandmother had always told my mom that her house had sat along the road from Annascaul to Dingle; there were only three, and one of them must have been the house Ellen grew up in.

Dingle was a quaint town much bigger than Annascaul but nowhere near the size of Galway. It had a waterfront and marina, and then up a street was downtown with tons of little shops, restaurants, and pubs. Dingle is toward the very end of the peninsula, and there is a drive called Slea Head that you can take to follow the peninsula all the way around and back to Dingle. It was breathtaking. Other than being five feet away from the edge of a cliff while you drive along a narrow winding road, the drive is simply beautiful. County Kerry is known as the most mountainous region of Ireland and let me tell you, I never expected to see so many of them. From the peninsula, you could look to the left and see a magnificent mountain range seeming to come right up from the ocean. There were beautiful ruins, the greenest grass I have ever seen, and plenty of sheep and cows. Annascaul and Dingle were by far my favorite little towns in Ireland; they felt like home.

It wouldn't be a trip to Kerry without a visit to see the ring! I didn't know that the ring of Kerry is actually a drive around the entire peninsula that is directly below Dingle. Because we had already seen the ocean views of Kerry from Dingle, we decided just to stick to the top part of the ring and explore Killarney and the national park. Ross Castle was the first stop we mad along the way. It was a beautifully restored tower house, similar to Blarney, but not quite as magnificent and enormous. It overlooked a lake with mountains visible in the background. There was definitely a lot of remodeling that happened in the castle, and it was made to show what the life of the Lord and his Lady would have been like 500 years ago. I will say that although I admire the effort of the conservation of the castle, nothing will ever compare to the beauty of Blarney and its raw form that has been preserved without the aid of renovation.


From the castle, we continued the drive up through the Killarney National Park. The man who had bought Ross Castle also owned the 16,000 acres of the park, and when he sold the castle and land back to Ireland, his only request was that the land become the National Park that we see today. Because of this, there are no developments of any kind on those acres. Any buildings standing are very old and beautiful and even those that have crumbled are still majestic. There were lakes visible from the road throughout the park, and we even saw deer and wild goats on our short adventure. First we came to the stunning Torc Waterfall hidden up in the mossy landscape. After, we ventured to the park's peak known as Lady's View and looked down over all of the lakes we had passed and the
winding road we had just come up. Our final stop was at Muckross House, a mansion built in the 1800's. We didn't have the time to go inside and explore, but we did walk around the grounds and saw the gardens. By then, it was time to head back to Galway to the gorgeous apartment my dad found for us overlooking the bay (with that view, of course I stayed there with them all week!).

Our last family excursion was to the Aran Islands. I had been there once already, as I wrote about in my last blog, so this time, I wanted to explore one of the other two islands. After a bit of research, I chose to take the family to the smallest island, Inisheer. Although it is the smallest geographically, there are actually more people living on this island than there are on Inishmann, 297 to 160. I had thought that Inishmore, the big island, had been small, but boy was I in for a surprise. The small island had just one pub open, one little bike shop, one tiny market... and that was all I saw in terms of shops. It was even more traditionally Irish than the big island had been and much less touristy. I found, though, that the small island actually had a lot more sights to see than Inishmore had. On Inisheer there is an old stone fort, an older stone castle, and an even OLDER church in a cemetery. There is also a lighthouse, and a shipwreck called The Plassey. Out of everything, the shipwreck was by far the most incredible spectacle. The ship had seen the world in its hay-day, but in 1960 the ship crashed against the rocks off the shore of the island in a bad storm. All of the crew survived thanks to the people of Inisheer and the boat eventually washed up on shore of the island and has sat there ever since. Despite all the rust, you can still see the beauty that the vessel once held.

I can't leave out our little friend who followed us around the island, either. We named this boy Brownie and he just followed us along to the shipwreck as we rode our bikes. He led us for most of the way, and it was clear that he has travelled these roads many times in his life. He even jumped right up onto this rock he's sitting on as if he had done it hundreds of times before. He is an old soul and he was a great companion to have as we explored the island.


I came to Ireland because it is where my roots are. To have been able to explore this country over the past month and see exactly where my ancestors came from was an experience I will never forget. I have seen all the great sites of Ireland besides one, The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, and I hope that I will find myself there in the next month and a half before I have to leave this beautiful place. If not, I guess I will just have to come back for a visit!

In the Land of Leperchauns

Seeing as it is March and Saint Patrick's Day is right around the corner, what better way to spend the month than travelling around the beautiful country that I am calling home for four months? All of March I am exploring every inch of this very green country! I had a travel companion for this stretch of the journey... a "friend" of mine from back home spent 10 whole days in Ireland with me! And I say "friend" in the quotations because he didn't leave here as just my friend. He asked me to be his girlfriend sitting in the gardens at the Blarney Castle! Romantic right? Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty lucky. And yes, that's why the first picture is of some cutie giving me a kiss on the cheek in front of a castle! So we started our adventure and travelled to a few places I had already seen, Galway, Dublin, and the Blarney Castle, but everywhere else we explored was new to me and I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy!

Our first stop was the beautiful Wicklow National Park. Here, we got to visit an old monastic site at Glendalough where they actually filmed scenes from the movie "Braveheart". The ruins were beautiful. Just beyond those ruins were the Upper and Lower Lakes of the Glenalough region. The term "Glendalough" in Irish Gaelic actually means the "valley of the two lakes" and you can see exactly why from the picture. The views were breathtaking. From there, we drove through the Wicklow Gap where scenes from one of my favorite movies, "P.S. I Love You" was filmed (the scene where Hillary Swank meets Gerard Butler for the first time and he holds her to keep her safe from the "wild" dog). It was gorgeous travelling through the countryside of Ireland; a very different view from the thriving city life of Galway.

I didn't think that anything could top the breathtaking views of the Wicklow Mountains; and then we went to the infamous Cliffs of Moher. Now I understand why they are so famous.Never in my life have I seen a more beautiful sight. I really, truly felt as though I was standing both on top of and at the edge of the world. Everything was so green and the ocean crashing against the rock below was as blue as the Caribbean Sea. Get there early enough and you will see the puffins... YES I SAID PUFFINS! I didn't get to see them sadly because I wasn't there early enough before they flew off for lunch and dinner. But, even without the puffins, it was still a magical place.


When the English Cromwell's took over Ireland in the 17th Century, they forced all the natives off their lands in the east and pushed them to the very edge of the west coast. "To hell or to Connacht" was what the English would tell the Irish as they swept their lands up from under them. So out to the west the natives marched to Connacht, specifically in the region of Connemara. Connemara is one of the most native Irish speaking regions of the island because of this. The Irish language was once known for this reason as the poor man's language, and the Irish would attempt to teach their children only English so that they could have better futures. The language was almost lost entirely, but somehow it held on, and now every street sign in Ireland is written in both English and Irish. But despite the rejuvenation of the language, the remnants of the poverty of those Irish people can still be seen throughout Connemara. It can be seen by the rock walls that crisscross the rocky terrain of the region; these walls depicted the perimeter of land each family owned, and the land was barely big enough to build a house on, let alone have a farm, crops, or livestock in order to survive. The terrain is still barren, and you don't even feel as though you are even in Ireland. But, these were the lands of many of my own ancestors and it held its own unique sense of beauty.

Hidden away amongst these rocky mountains is a beautiful castle that was built by a man who loved his wife. Mitchell Henry bought the land for his wife after she fell in love with Connemara on their honeymoon. He built the castle for her and after her tragic death, he built a cathedral as well as a mausoleum to put her remains as well as instructions to lay him beside her when he passed. The castle was owned by one other family who lost it to bankruptcy because they loved to gamble just a bit too much, and finally in 1920 it was sold to the Benedictine nuns and became Kylemore Abbey. The nuns still reside at the Abbey and up until a few years ago, it also acted as a boarding school for girls. But because of low enrollment, the school was shut down and now the Abbey is open to the public for tours. And as beautiful as the castle is, the gardens that Mitchell Henry planted for his wife were just as majestic. Walking hand in hand with my new boyfriend felt like taking a stroll through the scene of a Jane Austen novel.

Our last stop on the list was the gorgeous island of Inishmore of the Aran Islands. Let me tell you though DO NOT take the ferry on a windy day; it is terrifying! We made it safely ashore, but I swear there were a few times I felt we were going to capsize. On the island, there is one ATM, one grocery store, one shop, one tiny police station, three bike rental places, five hotels, and seven pubs/restaurants. It is tiny. We rented bikes for the day at a great price and rode down the old country roads through the farmlands. Of course, I had to pick the pink bike with the basket on the front; it had so much character! The sun was shining and the cows were mooing and everything was so peaceful. I know I say this a lot, but once again I felt as though I had stepped back in time. That's how Ireland makes you feel; it removes you from the stress of every day life in the modern world and brings you back to a time when life was simpler. Ireland really makes one appreciate both life and the land.