Christmas in Dublin

I was lucky enough to spend my Christmas with my friend Paul.  His family lives about 45 min. outside of Dublin in a town near Drogheda.  Paul's family was very nice to invite me, and I was very excited to visit Ireland.

The Journey,
As most people read, travel in Europe around Christmas was nuts.  The snow meant that most flights were being cancelled.  I was taking a train and a ferry, so I knew I would be fine.  This did mean that the train stations were packed.  At about 8 pm I had a train out of London to the ferry port in Whales.  I was shocked by the method for catching the train.  An announcement is made, and everyone runs.  It is crazy, and truly survival of the fittest.  I was lucky enough to get on the train and leave (roughly) on time.  My train had some problems so we switched to another train at Wolverhampton.  That made us about 15 min. late for our ferry, but luckily there was another one waiting for all of us that were late.  The ferry ride was nice, and lasted about 3 hours.  I arrived in Dublin at 6 30.  After taking a bus from the port I found a train out to Paul's house.  45min. later I saw Paul waiting for me at the station, and I knew Christmas was beginning.

Christmas time,
Being at Paul's was great.  His family welcomed me and I really felt at home.  Most of the time before Christmas was spent relaxing.  We did some last minute shopping and ate tons of food.  Paul and I went for a walk on the beach when I first arrived, and spend our nights playing Mario Kart with his friends.  I was pretty much doing what I would want to do if I was back in the States.  On Christmas Eve we visited Paul's aunt and her family.  After visiting for a while we then went for mid-night mass.  The church was amazing and it really put me into the Christmas spirit.  After mass most of us went to bed, and Paul woke me up in the morning to see if Santa had come.  He had come, and the morning was spent opening our gifts.  There was even a stocking and a present for me.  It was a great Christmas morning.  Paul, his sister, his father, and myself went for a walk on the beach after opening presents.  Paul and his sister even jumped in (with their feet).  I could not be persuaded.  It was cold.  That night was Christmas dinner, and I have never eaten more in my life.  There were a lot of potatoes, ham, and turkey.  There were tons of deserts that were all new to me.  It was great food.  We took a break after eating to relax, and watched "The A Team".  It was a terrible movie, but we had a great time laughing at it.

My last day in Ireland was spent in Dublin.  Paul showed me around town, and I was able to check out his old university (Trinity).  It was a beautiful campus and I see why Paul loves it so much.  Dublin has a really great feel.  Everything is very close, but there is still a bigger city feel.  Not as busy as London, but not a tiny town.  After checking out his uni we stopped by the Guinness brewery.  That was a great tour with lots of information.  It ended with a pint on top of the building.  On the 9th floor Guinness has a bar with one of the best views of Dublin.  I was able to see almost all of the city and I could see the mountains outside of town too.  It was very nice.

At 8 I said good bye to Paul and set out for my ferry.  I thought the trip home would be easier than the trip out to Dublin.  The ferry was alright, but when I got to the station in Whales(12:30 AM) I found out the next train wasn't until 4:48 AM.  It was cold in the station, but I made some friends and we chatted for a bit.  I was even able to get about 2 hours of sleep on the floor.  I got the train, and after about 4 hours of drifting in and out of sleep I was back in London.  It was great to be back after the long journey home.

I am so thankful for Paul's family opening up their house to me and making me feel so welcome.  It was one of my favorite Christmases yet.  I can not thank them enough.

(it was hard to decide what photo's to include.  Here are two.  One from Dublin and the other of Paul on the beach by his house.)

The End of the First Term

So my first term in grad. school is over.  The lectures at least.  These past two weeks have been crazy.  I have been going to work, classes, and tons of parties.  There were parties for the end of term, and Christmas parties.  All around, a very busy time.  I now have about a month off from school, but unlike in the states, I still have work to do.  There were no finals, but I have two essays to write over break.  I hope I can get motivated.

London is covered in snow today, which is bad news for most of my friends who are trying to travel home today.  A lot of flights got cancelled, and when we ordered a pizza it took 2 and a half hours.  I don't think there is a single plough in London, so the whole city kind of shuts down.  This is strange because it normally snows once or twice every year.  You would think they would figure it out.

For the next few days I get to work and then come home and work on essays.  I leave for Dublin on Wed.  I will be there for Christmas and about two days after.  I will use that time as my break, and come back to London ready to work on my essays.

That is all for now.  I am sure I will post some pictures of Dublin when I get back.  Merry Christmas.

Trip up North.

Last weekend my friends Sam and Mike and I went up to Edinburgh, Scotland.  Sam used to go to school there and she had some friends that let us stay in their flat.  We took an overnight bus up on a Thurs. night. The bus ride was very long but we survived.  Edinburgh is beautiful.  It had snowed that week and the entire city was covered in about 6 in. of snow.  I mean the entire city because they don't shovel anything.  It feels really small, but there are a lot of places to check out.  It is a very old city and it has a wonderful character.  We walked all through the city and found some really nice art museums.  I guess I would describe Edinburgh and "cozy".  One of the highlights of our weekend was a church we stumbled into.  As we checked it out choir practice was being held.  We got to look around with some wonderful music filling the chapel.  The trip ended with another overnight bus trip.  This one was awful.  There was no heat in the bus and no one slept.  It was one of the worst experiences of my life.  All I can say is that I am glad it is over.  I won't let the chilling bus ride ruin that weekend though.  It was filled with wonderful sights, Sam's even more wonderful friends, and a small break from the goliath that is London.

Thanksgiving abroad.

So about two weeks ago was Thanksgiving.  This was my first major holiday outside of the states.  (I did spend New Years in Tokyo, but I think Thanksgiving is more important).  Some of my ex-pat friends and I decided to cook a dinner ourselves.  Since we did not have time to cook a turkey we just bought some chicken and cooked some of the rest ourselves.  It actually turned out pretty well.  We had rolls, cornbread, asparagus, green beans, mashed potatoes and of course pumpkin pie.  We invited some non ex-pats as well for their first Thanksgiving.  All and all it was really great.

Something I am very thankful for, besides my family, is my new job.  Along with the Thanksgiving pic (minus Mike, he was taking it) there is a shot of my new shop.  Dose Espresso.  I have been working there about two weeks and I love it.  I am sure there will be more about that in the future.