I'm Alive!

Hello long lost friends!

Yes, I am still alive and still in St Andrews, studying away. The past few weeks have seen me vegging, ergo nothing to write about, but I have just returned from the Emerald Isle, with not that many stories actually, but a ton of pictures of the breathtaking west coast of Ireland. Easter break saw Katelyn and I taking a turn back in time to the Burn House, near Aberdeen. It is straight out of Jane Austen and is one of the most beautiful peaceful places I have ever been. We enjoyed our first weekend away from classes lounging around the huge house, enjoying tea and cakes, playing croquet, tennis, golf, and walking along the river paths that run into town. I felt like Elizabeth Bennett walking into Merriton. It was absolutely beautiful.

We headed back to St Andrews while my roomie Hailey went off the London. We caught a rather nasty storm in town, confining us to the room and our shows and movies (how unfortunate...) but still managed to walk down to East Sands on the only sunny day we had, as well as have a merry time at the driving range, with me teaching Katelyn the basics of golf, and her catching on quite nicely. She was a little worried about not being good enough, but she fit right in with the other players who had come out to 'hit' a couple balls.

On Good Friday, we took the bus to Glasgow and spent a lovely weekend with JJ. We had the chance to meet her boyfriend John as well as many of her other friends from church. Kate and I spent Saturday walking Buchanan Street and browsing the shops. The forecast said rain, but it never once rained on us. Easter Sunday we joined JJ for church, where we released hundreds of colored balloons into the sky, and afterward for a lovely lunch. It was so nice out that afternoon that we walked down by the River Kelvin and enjoyed out time out before going in and watching Chocolat before getting ready to catch a VERY early flight the next morning. We woke at 3:30 am and caught a taxi to the bus, which took us to Glasgow Prestwick. While it got us to our destination, I would not recommend anyone fly RyanAir. The rates may be cheap at first, but you tack on luggage, taxes, transport to and from the small airports, and it starts to add up. Even so, we reached Dublin with little trouble, and the day ahead of us to explore the city.

Dublin was very nice. It was once again sunny for us, and we walked to Trinity College to see the book of Kells but unfortunately it was not open. The college however is lovely and we enjoyed sitting in the quad for a while. We made our way to Old Dublin, the medieval part of the city, and saw the two old cathedrals, from the 10 and 11 centuries, as well as Dublin Castle, which is sort of like a rough looking Buckingham Palace. We then walked to Temple Bar and enjoyed a lovely lunch on the river.

Another piece of advice: If you have a choice, ALWAYS fly around Ireland. NEVER take Bus Eiraenn. None of the employees talk to each other apparently. We kept getting different stories telling us that we wouldn't make the Doolin bus in Limerick that night, and then the opposite. It was awful. We were finally told we could make Doolin that night, but even then we were unsure if we really would. It took us seven hours to get to the west coast, and by the time we arrived that night, it was pouring rain, and we were exhausted. We heated my leftover pizza and fell into bed.

The following morning, we had to find food. But when we walked out of the hostel, the place looked like a ghost town. The only living things we saw were the cows. We walked about fifteen minutes, with everything that we passed being closed, but finally found a lodge that served breakfast. With our stomachs finally full, we headed back to the hostel to rent bikes to ride to the Cliffs of Moher. They were only six kilometers away, and it was a lovely day. Silly us, we forgot that the cliffs being what they are, we had to go uphill to get to them. So what would have been about a 45 minute ride ended up taking us almost an hour and a half. But it was well worth it. The cliffs are even more magnificent in person than to look at the pictures. We spent the bulk of the afternoon there, then enjoyed a much more comfortable ride back, since it was all downhill. We walked around town a bit more, finding a mini market to buy food for the week, and then down along the coast, where there isn't any beach to sit on, just a bunch of huge rocks. But it was a beautiful day.

Indeed, all of our days in Doolin were lovely. The sun came out for us every morning without fail. We took the ferry over to the Isles of Aran on our second day and enjoyed walking around the old cemeteries and castle ruins, and then sitting on a real beach. The water was so clear that we could see straight to the bottom.

Unforunately, on our third day there, Kate got sick and we spent the day close to home. However on our last day, we decided to brave the bikes once more, and this time rode to Fanore, sixteen kilometers to the north on the coast. It was still a hard ride, but the hills allowed us reprieves every now and then, and the beach waiting for us at the very end was nice. We saw some kids go in with boogie boards and surfboards, but we being California girls thought them to be total idiots. The ride back was a bit harder, but no too bad. We stopped into a pub back in Doolin for some water and hot tea for Kate. We were only going to be there for a little while, but ended up staying for almost three hours talking to some of the locals.

We were quite ready to go back to civilization and technology but had one more hurdle: the hostel did not accept credit cards, and we were down to our last bucks. The ATM was being hellish with us until Kate remembered she had gotten a PIN for her credit card, saving us from a tough spot. We caught the bus early the next morning, and while the west coast was absolutely beautiful and we had had four lovely days, we were more than happy to say goodbye to Doolin.

We arrived in Dublin around 2:30, a much quicker bus ride coming back we found. We walked around O'Connell Street, got a cheap lunch, and browsed through Carroll's. We didn't want to do too much walking; we had already walked our feet off in Doolin. We got to the Travelodge an hour before our check in time but were still able to get into our room. After what we'd had in Doolin, the Travelodge seemed like a 5 star resort! I spent two hours in the bathroom getting clean from all the dust and sweat that had accumulated over the week, we snacked on food we'd brought with us, as well as some chips and candy from the vending machine (our budget was limited) and spent the evening watching Harry Potter on TV. It was so nice.

We didn't have to wake up quite so early as we'd had to in Glasgow the next morning, and for some reason I was rather perky that morning. That lasted for about an hour, then I crashed in the airport. We got Starbucks to help wake us up, but still ended up sleeping for most of the flight and the bus ride home. The trip back was much more relaxed than going, and by the time we got to St Andrews, we were so happy to finally be home. Ireland had been a fun adventure, but I think I still like traveling pampered style...

We enjoyed a full meal at The Rule that evening, the first we'd had in a week, and promptly answered all emails and facebook notices that had accumulated over the days we had been gone. Movies were definitely on the agenda that night. While I love Pride and Prejudice, I would not be able to live without technology I've decided. Pretty pathetic, but true. At least, that has been my experience so far.

The first week back has been rather nice, not too much, but I do have my second history essay due next week, so I've been catching up on my reading for that. This is the fun one too: Pirates in the Golden Age. Hello Blackbeard and Captain Kidd! (they actually both have very interesting stories, and are not the only pirates worth hearing about...more to come later...) The countdown has officially begun to summer, and the days are already flying by. April is already halfway over!

Kate and I also had a little bit of a Shel Silverstein/missing home moment, and here's what came out of that:

West Coast to West Coast

West coast to west coast, the forecast is rain,
But Cali girls come and scare it away.
If we go inside, the sun becomes sad
But we step outside and the sun becomes glad.
There's rain when we travel,
And Sun when we stay.
There's clouds when we're sick,
And sun when we play.
And of course there is rain when we must go away.
They said, 'Be prepared for rain and storm clouds.'
But we got here, looked up and inquired, 'What clouds?'
For the sky was as blue as it is back at home,
The breeze was as cool, and the sun was a warm.
We can't boast Cliffs of Moher, or the Isles of Aran,
So what does home have that Ireland's not sharing?
Home has soft beaches and sun all year long.
Home has got hamburgers that never go wrong.
While Ireland has beautiful mountains and glens,
Home has my bed, my family and friends.

Until next time (which will probably be the next time my blogger light bulb goes on...) Cheers!