Slower Week

Hello, everyone!

I apologize for the delay in posting. It's been pretty quiet around here lately! We went to Cork last weekend, and I don't have a whole lot to report on that trip. I was pretty home-bound - Cork is a city built entirely on hills, so it was not easy navigating on crutches! A lot of guys on the trip (and my roommate Katelin!) gave me piggy-back rides, so that helped. It was a low-key excursion, which was good, because I was tired from the eventful week previously. Cork is a great city, though, and I will definitely have to go back when I have two good ankles!

I took this picture for my Aunt Sheila:

This week was pretty easy. I had to write a paper and go to the doctor - sounds pretty ordinary, huh? I could be doing this in the States! Three of my roommates left for Scotland this weekend so it was just Katelin and me in the cottage. I caught up on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Weeds" - yes, I have found a way to watch TV over here.

On Friday, our director Chuck and I went into Galway to try and find me a wheelchair. Three hours later, we found the Wheelchair Association. For those of you who don't know, Ireland will never be known for their excellent directional signage. In fact, I have just come to expect that the places and roads I am looking for will not be labeled. It is always truly an adventure because they just keep us guessing! When we asked for directions to the wheelchair place, we were told "It's quite hard to find." That was it; they don't give directions over here either! We drove up and down this one street for a couple of hours, stopped at several places, and found up finding the Wheelchair Association housed in a building we had pulled up to three different times! It looked entirely abandoned and there was no signage. Once we went inside, the woman, Eileen, was nice as ever. They're always friendly - you just can't find 'em! Regardless of how frustrating it was, Chuck and I had a good time talking about everything from problems in university administration to how to ace O-Chem tests. It was a fun and eventful afternoon!

The wheelchair came in handy as I rode around Galway all afternoon today for church and shopping. Now, it is raining again like usual and we are having hamburgers for dinner.

I hope all is well with all of you!

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The Hills are Alive...

I went to Salzburg, Austria this past weekend. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! Lindsay and I took a taxi into Galway at midnight on Wednesday, left on a bus for Dublin at 1:15am, got on an airplane to Munich at 6:40am, took the S-Bahn from the Munich airport to the Munich train station, and then got on a train to Salzburg and arrived in the city at 3pm Thursday. We literally took planes, trains, and automobiles! We went to visit our friends Chris and Teresa who are studying abroad there for the semester. The train ride was one of my favorite parts - the whole countryside between Germany and Austria looks like it could be a jigsaw puzzle! Salzburg is one of the cutest and quaintest cities little cities.

The main things we did on this trip were eat and see "The Sound of Music" sites. We indulged (a couple of times!) in the famous Mozart balls (this being Mozart's hometown, and all), which are chocolate balls filled with marzipan. They are delicious! There are knock-offs all over the city, so we sought out the only three stores that sell the "originals," which is a place called Fürst. We also sampled weinerschnitzel (which is breaded pork) and apfelstrudel (apple strudel) with vanilla sauce.

One afternoon, we took a bus to a little village outside the city called Mondsee. This is the location of the church where the wedding scene from "The Sound of Music" took place. It was such a neat little town, and seeing the church was completely surreal. We also walked by the front of the von Trapp house, danced around the gazebo, channeled Maria in the ivy-covered tunnel where they go biking, imitated their imitations of the large statues in Mirabell gardens, and had "confidence" down the dirt path Maria did. It was so much fun to see all these places in real life! If you get the chance, go to Salzburg. It is one of the greatest and most picturesquce cities, and besides, isn't everyone's favorite movie "The Sound of Music"?

Aside from all of the sightseeing, it was so much fun to just hang out with Chris and Teresa again. It felt like we were back at St. Ben's (especially because they had homework, and as you know, I never really do...). As some of you may know, we also had a little bit of an accident and I broke my ankle in Salzburg. So far, everything is working out just fine, seeing as how I am kind of a pro at this whole broken bone thing. I have terrific friends who have been helping me a lot and I am not letting this slow me down too much. I still had a great weekend and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Bonus: We got to see real fall colors in Salzburg! They just don't have them in Ireland like they do back home, so I got a little taste of Minnesota in Austria.

This weekend: Cork!

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The time has come...

There is just as much anticipation over here as there is in the United States. It feels like the whole world is waiting with baited breath. Will history be made? What kind of changes are we awaiting?

This was my first chance to vote for the president, and my absentee ballot was safely sent weeks ago. Now, it is your turn. I know who Ireland is rooting for. What about you?

In the words of an Irishman from a pub in Belfast:

"Obama fo' yo' mama!"

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Ordinary Update

Cat, Bat, Pacifist Pumpkin, Supermac (her name is Makenzie - clever!), and Cowgirl

Last week was my first "ordinary" week here at the Park Lodge, so I guess that alone makes it unusual! It was the first time we have had an entire week without any planned travel, excursions, or cancelled classes. As much as I love our busy travel schedule, it was so nice to relax here for a full week.

I gave my first (and only) presentation of the semester last Thursday. It was for Senior Sem. and entailed me having to review the chapter we read in Guns, Germs, and Steel and then posing a discussion question for the class. Tough, I know, right? Still, it did give me something more to do than usual!

I registered for classes for next semester this week, so that added to the things I needed to do. I figured out that I have room to pick up a Communication major, so I juggled my schedule and added some Comm classes. I'm really looking forward to them! I figured I might as well take advantage of the extra space I have in my schedule - it can only make me more marketable.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Cottage 5 had everyone over for a Halloween party on Thursday night and then we all went into Galway afterward. All of the college kids go out on Thursday night here, so we got our costumes on and joined them. I went as a bat - you can see a picture of my roommates and me above. On Halloween, then, JP opened the pub here and our directors even joined us for some Halloween celebrating! The funny thing was that Chuck and I had the same costume - he bought a bat hat, too! You just can't resist the 2-Euro store here!

The day after Halloween, a group of us walked into Spiddal for an All Saints' Day mass...or what we thought would be. We walked into the church just before mass was supposed to start and slipped into a back pew. Alex leaned over to me after a few seconds and said, "There's a coffin up there." Yep - we walked right into an Irish funeral! Then we thought that maybe it was symbolic, seeing as how it was All Saints Day, but I looked outside and saw the hearse and then saw how the pallbearers were struggling to carry the casket, and we figured out that it really was a funeral. It was different than our funerals, though. A few family members sat in front, but the rest of the church seemed to be normal mass-goers like ourselves. There wasn't any special time for family members to get up and speak or anything. Then again, the whole thing was in Gaelic, so we really didn't know what was going on anyway. Needless to say, it was a really awkward situation, but kind of funny looking back. Here we were, just trying to be good, Catholic kids and going to mass, and look what happens! But I can say I've been to a funeral in Ireland, which I'm pretty sure is not something most people who come on this trip are able to say.

Yesterday, we went into Galway and watched a hurling match. It was so much fun! Dad - I finally figured out what sport they use those sticks for - it's hurling! My roommates decided that it is a cross between hockey, baseball, soccer, and rugby, with a little tennis thrown in as well. We didn't really understand what was going on, but the atmosphere was awesome and it was cool to see a live Irish sporting event. Naturally, I forgot my camera, so I can't even share pictures of it. Take my word for it, though - if you ever get a chance to see hurling, take it. It's a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah. And my computer has a virus, so I am trying to find a place to take it and get it fixed. Grrr...

Take care, everyone!

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10 Days

Hello, everyone!

I have returned from my 10-day mid-semester break! It is so hard to believe that I am over halfway done with this program and that I will be returning to Minnesota in just over a month and a half. Time is absolutely flying over here.

As many of you may know, my parents came to visit me for the first part of my break. I met them in Eyre Square in Galway on Friday, October 17 and showed them around my little corner of Ireland. We took a bus tour of The Burren and visited the Cliffs of Moher. It was so much fun to see their reaction to those legendary landmarks! My Dad could not stop talking about "The Burn" as he called it for the rest of the trip. He also got his obligatory shot of the Cliffs, which are simply breathtaking - even the second time you visit them! I realized just how lucky I am to have visited the Cliffs of Moher period, let alone twice in one trip!

After our bus tour, we braved the wild roadways of Ireland and rented a car for a little country exploration. Let's just say that we are all very grateful we still had a car in (almost) one piece to return to the Budget Rental place. If any of you know anything about travel with the Tate family, you can probably imagine how well driving on the wrong side of the road went in a tiny red car my Dad likened to "driving an empty pop can." On our first day, we took off for Coole Park and Bunratty Castle and Folk Park (which was awesome!) and lost a hubcap about a half an hour into the trip. Yeah.... Both of my parents took turns driving, and I was the officially appointed navigator. While a bit bumpy at times, the road was nonetheless a fun adventure! :)

The highlight of the trip was probably visiting Blarney Castle and kissing the Blarney Stone. I don't know if you are familiar with Blarney Castle, but the Blarney Stone is located at the very top. You have to climb a lot of very narrow stone steps to get up there, and the safety equipment is limited at best. The fence on top of the castle comes up to about your knees! There is very little keeping you from falling right down - but it keeps things authentic, right? In order to actually kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to lay on your back and lean out over the edge of the castle wall as a man working there holds onto you and tells you when to kiss the stone. All three of us did it! My Mom kept saying how "magical" she thought the whole place was. We decided that Grandpa Murray would have loved it.

That night, we took off for Killarney, one of my very favorite towns in Ireland. It was a very relaxed night. We stumbled upon this AWESOME B&B and wanted to just spend our time there! (The night before - aka The Night From Hell - was spent in Limerick at a dive of a hotel. We were grateful for a nice bathroom and clean sheets!) The next day, we road tripped back to Spiddal and I showed them around my little area of Ireland. They liked that part the best.

We ate lots of great Irish food, did some serious gift shopping, met some fun people at different pubs and B&Bs, and got to tool around Ireland's country side for a few days. All in all, it was a very successful trip, and I am so glad they were able to come and share part of this experience with me. Thanks, Mom and Dad! :)

On Wednesday, October 22, I left my parents and headed to London where I met up with my friends Katelin and Lindsay. I could write for days about my experiences in London, so I will try and keep it brief. As you may be able to imagine, I LOVED IT. It is my very favorite city. On Thursday, we met up with my friend Jen and roommate from school Ashley at Big Ben and walked around the city all day with them. Jen is studying in London for the semester, so we got to see her flat and eat dinner there - that saved us some sterling! It was so much fun to meet up with some familiar faces in such a fun city.

I saw Big Ben, Parliament, the Globe, walked around the Tate Modern and the British Museum, went to Evensong in Westminster Abbey, walked across Abbey Road, saw "Avenue Q," "Six Characters in Search of an Author," and "Rain Man" in London's famous West End, visited the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Natural History Museum, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, had lunch in Hyde Park, strolled through Kensington Gardens, bartered with street vendors at Portobello Market in Notting Hill, saw the Travel Bookshop, mastered the Tube, visited Platform 9 3/4, saw lots of Double-Deckers, fell in love with theTower Bridge, visited the Tower of London, and took a picture inside one of those famous phone booths.

All in all, I cannot wait to go back.

...and now, I just have to share my star-struck story. So, we saw "Rain Man," and it just happened to be starring Josh Hartnett. Now, I am not a huge fan, but he is from Minnesota, and he is pretty famous. (I mean, he's worked with Ben Affleck in the major motion picture "Pearl Harbor." Seriously.) So, after the wonderful show, I went to the Stage Door, as I always do. In short, I saw Josh Hartnett in person! We didn't get his autograph because we were too far back in the crowd, but I did get a couple of pictures! We waited around a little longer after Josh left and actually talked to Adam Godley and got his autograph (you may know him from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and his numerous stage performances). As we turned to corner to return to the Piccadilly Circus line (I love Piccadilly Circus!), we saw these escorts swiftly bringing a disguised Josh Hartnett out a side door to get in his car! He had on big glasses, a ski cap, and a black jacket. They yelled at him to get in the front seat and then they took off. It was all so official and Hollywood! Needless to say, it was a very fun night. :)

All of our flights went well and we made it back to Galway in time to do a little grocery shopping (with all of our luggage that we had to carry across town!) before returning to Spiddal to settle down and relax.

It is good to be back! This is my very first full week at the Park Lodge. So far, classes are going well. It feels good to know I don't have to pack a suitcase for at least a week.

I hope all of you are doing well! It's getting cold here - how about wherever you are? Take care!

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