Slán go fóill

One month of free time. What would you do with it? May at UCC for most students is a long month of studying most of the time and some free time. I’m the lucky duck who had all her tests at the end of March so I had lots of free time J For the first two weeks I went to the pool most days and walked around Cork a lot. I then went for a weekend to visit the Cahalans once more.  That was followed by a week of packing and cleaning, then Sam came to visit for my last week in Ireland J But first, the Cahalans.

This time my visit to the Cahalans was more hands on. After having visited them a few times before, I felt much more comfortable just being there for a few days. I loved being able to just chat with whoever was around and see what was happening around the farm. I did learn a few things and did lots of stuff I’d never done before. I think the coolest thing was that I drove the tractor. Now, I’ve only driven a manual once, and that was a tiny car in a parking lot. So when David moved over and said, “you drive” it didn’t hit me until he had to walk me thru it all that I was driving a very big vehicle. Either way, I wasn’t the smoothest driver but I didn’t crash the tractor or smash into anything J I also learned a lot about horse fertility, including how far a vet has to stick his arm up their asses to get a reading for follicle size. Other farm-like activities I learned: I conquered the gates, got shocked by the wires, helped dose a foal, and helped put up fence posts. Now, I’m sure any Cahalan farmers reading this blog are chuckling that these are accomplishments for me, since they grew up doing these things, but I really enjoyed learning about the farm and tagging along to see how everything works. I’m really glad I took another trip to visit them; I had a really good time and got to know them much better.

After my visit to the Cahalans, I had a few days to pack up and clean up before Sam arrived. Sam was coming for my last week here. She arrived on the morning of the 22^nd and I was going up to Dublin a few days before to see people off. Apparently my body had a different idea though and I was too sick to handle a bus for a few days. But! I made it in time to meet Sam, which was really the important part. It was great to have Sam here for my last week- since most people had earlier flights than me, I would have just been watching people go home and probably been a bit jealous. But since Sam was here, I was very happy to stick around J We had one day in Dublin, where I was still not feeling great and she was jetlagged, so we walked around and went to the Guinness factory and Sam tasted her first Guinness…not a fan. That was my third time to Guinness…it’s a cool tour,

but I think I’ve had enough to last me a lifetime. While in Dublin, we ran into a few familiar faces: both Nordic choir and the Notre Dame Folk choir were singing there. So we went to the concerts and said hi to my cousin Sarah in Folk Choir and Marissa, Erin, and Logan in Nordic. It was an odd 24 hours in Ireland. After Dublin, we made our way down to Cork and camped out there for most of her stay. We did a few day trips, one to Blarney on my birthday (extra eloquence for the birthday girl) and one to Waterford. The day in Waterford was my favorite. The tour of the crystal factory was really cool. We actually got to see the crystal blowers at work in every step of the process and the things they make are just incredible. The following day was a cleaning day, and it was gorgeous outside, so Sam and I hiked up a big hill to sit in a park overlooking the city. I think we even got a bit of sun :P Our last full day in Ireland, we made our way back to Dublin and found Slattery’s pub in honor of Mr. J Slattery, Sam’s boy :P It was a cool pub and I had my last pint in Ireland there L I very much enjoyed my Smithwick’s.

I sent Sam off to the airport this morning at 4:30am and have been bumming around Dublin today, waiting for my flight tomorrow morning. I am so glad Sam was here for my last week here. She made even the boring stuff fun and it was great to show her how different my life has been here. It made me realize how much this semester really has impacted me. Up to this point, Sam and I had had similar life experiences. We grew up together. But this, this is different. I’ve spent 5 months adjusting to a different culture, figuring things out here like I’ve never done before. I’ve had an amazing time and would love to come back and visit, but it also makes me appreciate my life at home so much too. I miss knowing the system. I miss not sticking out. And mostly I miss my friends and family. I wouldn’t trade this for anything, but I’m ready to be home.

In 12 hours, I will have been in Ireland exactly 5 months. I flew in with a group of 20 students who were just as lost as me in this intimidating city of Dublin. I’m now preparing to fly out, having made many solo trips, backpacked around Europe, and made lots of new friends, feeling at home in this country. I’m going to miss so many things here; I can’t even imagine it yet. As I was leaving Cork yesterday, it finally hit me that I’m really leaving, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I know I will. I can’t imagine not coming back. I need to share this with the one I love. I’m going to go back to Ballingarry and see how the Cahalans are holding up. I going to go back to the Fran Well, and maybe if I’m lucky, One Horse Pony will be playing there that night while I sip on some Rebel Red. So Ireland, thanks for the amazing semester. I will be seeing you again. Slán go fóill, goodbye for now.

Deignans come to the homeland

By the time I reached Cork after my April travels, I was pretty traveled out. I was getting tired of unfamiliar places and customs. I was ready for something or someone familiar. Good luck for me then, since my family was on their way to Ireland almost as soon as I reached the island J My parents, Emma and Aunt Marilyn came to visit me for a week at the end of April and it was a great week in Ireland J


We started off our trip in Dublin, me meeting them at the hotel. I don’t remember the last time I was so excited to see my family. I mean, I see them on a regular enough basis at home that it’s not a big deal. But even though there were a few missing, it was still great. I wish Jimmy and Ryan could have joined and it would have been perfect. Anyways, we spent our first day exploring Dublin, seeing the book of Kells and St. Stephen’s green. Emma wasn’t feeling great so it was a low key day, but great nonetheless. We finished our first day in Ireland together with some trad music at a pub J 

The following day was supposed to be lunch in Ballingarry with the Cahalans but the car we were renting had gotten into an accident the previous day, so we had an extra morning in Dublin. So we hit up the Guinness factory; my second of what would be three trips to Guinness during my time here :P After finally figuring out the car situation, we slowly pulled out of the car rental place, all of us holding our breath and Dad probably more nervous than he showed. I’m happy to report that we did not crash into anything or anyone and stayed mostly on the correct side of the road. Emma and I even took short turns behind the wheel J We arrived in Ballingarry in time for a wonderful meal that Emma later declared her favorite of the trip. I loved catching up with the Cahalans and my family really liked hearing about Cahalan life in Ireland. Emma and I also found an admirer in Tom’s young daughter Cora. She took a liking to us and was very cute- even when refusing to eat (much to the chagrin of her immediate family) It’ll be interesting to return in who knows how many years and see how that spirited girl turns out ;) I’m really glad that was one of our first stops, I know everyone really liked trading stories. We climbed back in the car after dinner to finish our trek to Cork, arriving in time to find our beds and pass out.

This trip was different for me for a few reasons. One of the biggest was that I wasn’t responsible for much, which was just fine with me. I didn’t have to worry about the plan, didn’t have to worry about money or timing, I just went with the flow. We also had a car, so I didn’t have to worry about transportation at all, which was very different. I didn’t even journal about it, so the days are blurring together a bit for me, trying to remember it a month later. So the rest is going to be a general timeline.

While in the Cork area, I showed them around Cork itself, my favorite part being the clock bell tower. The interesting part about this tower is that they let you play the bells. They have 8 pulleys numbered with a major scale and a book of common songs. While mom and Marilyn were still up near the bells, they yelled down for us to play something so they could see the bells. Dad decided we should try the Notre Dame Alma Mater. I have to say, it turned out pretty well, only a few oops notes :) We also went to Cobh and Blarney while in the area, both of which I’ve been to and told you about before. The thing is, I didn’t mind going again and seeing the same museum and castle as before, because I got to show them around. I know this is cliché, but I probably would have been happy doing just about anything because I was doing it with Mom, Dad, Emma and Marilyn.

That week we did a lot of driving, a lot of talking and it rained a lot (surprise surprise). Emma’s birthday also came and went, and it included her kissing the Blarney Stone (which I coincidentally did on my birthday as well) and driving on the wrong side of the road. Following Cork, we went to Sneem, where a family friend had a house that we were staying in. Sneem is a cute little town and the house was gorgeous but what I think I’m going to remember about Sneem is sharing a room with Emma and catching up with her, and having some really good conversations. From Sneem, we drove the Ring of Kerry and hiked around a beautiful island. After Sneem came Doolin and some more trad music and the Cliffs of Moher. We tried to go to the Aran Islands the next day, but the weather wasn’t cooperating and the ferries weren’t running. So we decided to go to Galway for the day and explore there. After Galway, we headed back to Dublin and we parted ways there- the fam back to America and me back to Cork for one more month of Ireland. If you want more details about our trip, come talk to a Deignan. I’m just glad they came and I had a great week with them. It gave me some time that felt like home away from home.

Sangria in Spain :)

After traveling on my own for a bit and with a huge group for the other bit, it was really nice to be back with only two other people. Our time in Barcelona was a lot of wandering around the city and taking in the sights, but we didn’t stick out like Choral would have. This is the way I like to travel.

We had 5 full days in Barcelona. We ended up with this because flights into and out of Spain were much cheaper in Barcelona than anywhere else, so both our flights were there. We had originally intended to maybe do a day trip to a nearby city or something, but Barcelona has so much to do that we just stayed there the whole time. It made for really well spaced sightseeing. We didn’t feel rushed to hike across the city two times a day. We conquered the city in sections and took it all in at our own pace.

Day 1 objectives: La Rambla, walking tour, Sangria.

Our first day, we aimed to La Rambla, the main walking street in Barcelona, and a free walking tour. The tour started at a bar off La Rambla at 11, 1, and 3 so we wandered up and down the street watching the artists and glancing in shops until making our way over at 1. But before we got there, we got distracted by the Boquera Market. This market is the oldest market in Barcelona and had the most wonderful food in it. We walked up and down the aisles, our eyes popping like kids in a candy store. The fruit looked so delicious and was all over the place. We all got some food and decided to wait for the 3:00 tour. The tour itself was a really good tour. It was a 2 and a half hour free tour. Which means that in order for the tour guide to get paid, he needed tips. So he turned out to be a really good guide and even us poor college kids tipped him well. The tour turned out to be very historical, and I’m really glad we started off with it. We learned about lots of the Medieval buildings still standing today, some history of the bombings and protests Barcelona is famous for, and also the Jewish quarter. We also got our bearings a little because we covered a big portion of the historical city centre of Barcelona. After the tour, we were famished so we went in search of the all-famous Tapas. Tapas are basically appetizers that come with most meals. At this restaurant, we got 2 tapas and paella for 7 or 8 euros, so we all tried different tapas and tasted each others’. While I liked the tapas and the paella was pretty good, I have to say that my favorite part of the cuisine in Spain was the Sangria. At this meal, we splurged for the mugs of fruity wine that is so well loved in Barcelona. And I see why. It was so delicious, and perfect for drinking outside with a meal.

Day 2 objectives: Cathedral and Antique market.

Our second day, we didn’t have a huge agenda. The main cathedral in the city centre was free to enter before 1 each day, so we wanted to get there before then. Our days in Barcelona tended to start a bit late because our hostel wasn’t actually in the city centre. When booking hostels, the ones in the city centre were about 10 euros more each night, so I picked this one. I had found a T10 pass for the metro that would get us in and out of the city for 5 days and we could get one more to split for our last day. This actually worked out really well, thankfully. This hostel also had free dinners instead of the normal free breakfast, so most mornings we went to a nearby café for cheap sandwiches to start our days. So we actually got to the cathedral around 11:30 and made it in for free, which was all according to plan. The cathedral was pretty cool, and it had the crypt of St. Eulalia in it. Our tour guide had told us the story of St. Eulalia, who is one of the patron saints of Barcelona. She was actually martyred on one of the streets we walked along. We stopped at the top of a hill and the tour guide stopped us and said to look down the hill. He proceeded to tell us that St. Eulalia had been martyred by being rolled down the hill in a barrel of broken glass and knives…ouch. After the cathedral, we looked around at the antique market out in front of the cathedral. Most stuff was out of our price range, but it was cool to look at all the old stuff. I did get a United Nations patch to add to my collection though J The rest of the day became a shopping day. I got the beautiful wrap around skirt and a gift for Emma, both of which I was very excited about. That night we returned early to the hostel and read in the hostel until the free communal dinner, where we met lots of other traveling students studying all over the world. It was quite the mix of travelers.

Day 3 objectives: Flea Market, Sagrada Familia, Bohemian shopping neighborhood.

Our third day took us to a different part of the city than the normal city centre. We were aiming for the neighborhood of the Sagrada Familia. First stop though, was a huge flea market. There was so. much. stuff. Anything you could think of, and it was probably being sold there. The most memorable part of the market was that Katie and Julia got leather jackets. In Barcelona, they speak Catalan, which is similar to Spanish, but different enough that we usually couldn’t understand. But most people in Barcelona spoke Catalan as well as either English or Spanish or both. The guy selling the jackets was speaking only Spanish to us, so Julia and I got to practice our Spanish skills. We both successfully haggled the jackets down from 30 to 20 euros in Spanish J I know we probably could have gotten them down more considering it was a flea market, but I was happy with our efforts.

After the flea market, we made our way over to the Sagrada Familia, said to be the next wonder of the world. This was my favorite sight of the whole trip. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and definitely unlike any church I’d been to. We got the audio tour, and I’m really glad we did. It was amazing to learn about how Gaudi planned it out and the factors that influenced his art. The building itself had two incredible facades of the front and back, depicting the nativity and the passion, in two totally different styles. The inside looked like a forest canopy and had incredible color and light. It was amazing to see how Gaudi looked at nature and somehow replicated it and rearranged it to fit into his vision of a church. We spent 2 hours working our way through the Sagrada Familia, just soaking in the incredible detail of a building that is still only half completed.

After Sagrada Familia, we decided to add the Gaudi park to our day. It turned out that the shops we were aiming for were all closed from 2:30 to 5 because of their weird lunch hours, so that didn’t ever happen. But the park was really cool. It was up this huge hill and overlooked all of Barcelona. The entrance was flanked by two buildings that looked like buildings from CandyLand. We walked up to the overlook point and relaxed there a bit, soaking in the sights of Barcelona. Miraculously, we watched a storm roll in over Barcelona but didn’t get hit by any rain on our way back to the hostel. When we got back we were greeted by our new roommate and her boyfriend, who stayed up in the bunk bed “napping” most of the night. Awkward hostel moments. Priceless.

Day 4 objectives: Beach J

On our fourth day, Julia was still feeling sick so she decided to stay in for the day, so Katie and I also ended up having a chill day. We went into the city and stopped at a grocery store for lunch supplies, aiming for the beach.  Unfortunately, the weather in Spain was not as warm as we would have liked and we were wearing pants and a sweater on the beach, but the sun was still warm and the ocean was beautiful. We followed our beach picnic with almost 2 hours of reading in a big park in the city. At one point, two guys came up trying to sell what we’re 95% sure were hash brownies. According to the tour guide, Marijuana is legal in Barcelona as long as it’s one plant per person. You can’t sell or buy but if a plant lands in your lap, you’re good to go :P We did not buy, but we got a kick out of the experience. After awhile, we exited through the Arc d’ Triomf, and worked our way back to the hostel. While sightseeing is awesome, I enjoyed our relaxation day a lot as well.

Day 5 objectives: Mass at Santa Maria Del Mar, Picasso Museum

Katie and I had decided on Santa Maria Del Mar for mass, and it was a good thing we left with plenty of time because we got a bit turned around. From the metro stop, we should have gotten there within 3 minutes, but we walked the total wrong direction coming out from the metro. So we walked in a big circle to find this church. But we made it with 5 minutes to spare, so it worked out. Mass itself was really interesting. I think that it was a mix of Spanish and Catalan, or else one priest had a really thick accent that I just couldn’t understand. Either way, I did understand bits and pieces of the mass, and I got almost the entire gospel about doubting Thomas. It probably helped that I knew what the story was about, but I really enjoyed that mass. After mass, we met up with Julia, who had been reading in the park Katie and I were at the day before. Our plan for the afternoon was to kill an hour or two and hit up the Picasso Museum at 3 because it’s free Sunday afternoons after 3. We didn’t really think this through because we got there at 3. We didn’t think about how all the other tourist in the area would probably have the same idea. The line was enormous. So we waited for about 15 minutes in line, but it didn’t move more than 5 feet the whole time. When it started raining in earnest we gave up and decided to go get our last dinner in Spain. I liked this dinner too, but still maintain that Italy was definitely my favorite food place and the thing to hold out for in Spain is the Sangria J

The next day we made our way to the airport and back to Cork. It was such an odd feeling; to be returning to Cork and have that feel like the normal place. That was our familiar place. Our weeks of travel were incredible. I saw things I’d never imagined and learned countless things, big and small. I formed lifetime memories and great friendships. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity that has been given me and I know these are experiences I’m going to remember the rest of my life.

Belgian Chocolate + Belgian Waffles + Irish Choral Society= The Perfect Mix

So. Belgium. Well, My time in Belgium itself was quite fun and I got to know a lot of cool people from Choral society much better. Getting to Belgium, though, was a whole different ballgame. A train, a bus, a plane, a bus, a train, a tram, and an Irish pub all worked together (not so smoothly) to get me to Ghent, Belgium from Venice, Italy to meet up with Choral. Let’s start at the beginning.

5:10am- I wake myself up 5 minutes before my alarm and realize that I’m going to be walking with all my stuff, alone, through the streets of Venice to get to the train station. I promptly freak myself out and calm myself down in a 5 minute time span. But we were literally a 5 minute walk down a main street, so I just grit my teeth, said goodbye to the other girls, gripped my lifeguard whistle and walked myself to the train station. My train was at 6, and I got there at 5:40, so I had plenty of time, but here’s the thing about Italian train tickets. They say your destination and that’s about it. It doesn’t say which train you should be getting on (your destination may just be a stop on the way) it doesn’t say the time, it doesn’t say the platform: all this is supposed to be known to you. So when I got to the train station, I looked around in the main area for someone who was working to help me get to the right train, but I literally couldn’t find anyone working at the station besides the magazine guy. Soooo I stood around for a while hoping “Treviso” would show up on the departure list. But by 5:55, it hadn’t shown up and I began to freak out again. I looked harder for someone working and finally found a lady who told me to hop on a train that had been sitting near where I was standing the whole time. I made it with 2 minutes to spare. What a great way to start my long day of travels.

6:10 am- I arrived at the Treviso city train station and realized that I wasn’t at the airport, which is where I thought I would be. Add a bus to the list.

7:30 am- I made it to the airport, finally! And it was only 7:30. Ok, so I got in line for my flight and realized that they’re being really picky about bag size. This is an issue because my bag, while quite small, isn’t the right rectangular shape for Ryanair carryons. This hasn’t been an issue for the 3 other Ryanair flights, but this time, they didn’t let me take it. So I got in the other line, to check it. Then they shooed me to another line and by then I was worried about being late and when they told me to go wait in another line to pay 50 Euros to get my bag on the plane, I was in tears. I paid to carry on an oversized bag and went through security. On the bright side, I’ve never gone so fast through security. Who knew that tears worked wonders on airport security? I didn’t even take off my coat or shoes, and they let me go with a sympathetic smile. Despite all my worries, I made it to the gate before most of the other passengers did. My 9:15 flight took off with me blaring the music as loud as I could stand it, but miraculously still on track.

10:45 am- The plane arrived on time, and my bag made it with me.

My next step was a bus. Of course the automated ticket machine wasn’t working and the line for the ticket booth was astronomically long, but I eventually got a ticket and was on the bus into Brussels.

12:30 pm- This marks the first good transportation moment of the day! I got dropped off the bus right at the train station where I could catch the train to Ghent. Yay! The second good thing was that there was a Subway sandwich shop there and they had regular potato chips! What a good hour of my day. So after that lovely interlude I hopped on the train to Ghent and guessed which of the 3 stops in Ghent I was supposed to get off.

2:30 pm- I got off too soon. I shoulda waited one more stop and I would have been right in the City Centre, but alas, I did not. So I asked the student worker at the desk how to get there and she said Tram 1. But when I got to the stop for the tram and asked all the locals there, they pointed to Tram 2. So I trusted them and hopped on that one. I didn’t pay for the tram cuz I couldn’t find where to get a ticket, but no one checked, so I didn’t feel too bad. I tried to figure out where to get off, but mostly just ended up waiting. It turns out that the end of the line was where I wanted to get off, and with the help of a nice mother/daughter duo, I alit in the right place. (they say alight in a lot of transportation places- it’s a cool word and I like it :)

3:30 pm- I was on the right street but was going the wrong direction. I spied an Irish pub and decided to ask directions here for 2 reasons- 1) it was familiar and 2) I half expected to bump into one of my Irish friends who I was meeting in the area. I didn’t run into anyone but I got headed the right direction. After walking for 5 minutes or so, who should I see but Aaron, one of our Choral committee members. I had finally made it.

My time in Belgium itself was much better than the journey there. We were in Belgium for an international Choral Festival, which turned out to be a very small festival (us, a choir from Russia and the home choir) I got there on Thursday and our days were pretty full- Friday a trip to Brugge, Saturday a concert in one of the grande churches in Ghent and Sunday the actual festival (which I thought was odd, cuz who’s gonna want to go to a choral concert on Easter?) Anyway, we started our trip with a jaunt to Brugge. It’s about an hour away and it was a very pretty town. We did a boat ride on the canal and I took a picture of two swans that I think is one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. We also went to a lot of chocolate shops, climbed the bell tower for an amazing view and tried our first Belgian waffles. So good. We came back for dinner at the B&B and then split up to get ready to go out. Now remember, I’m here with Irish people, so lots of the girls got very dressed up. But actually, a lot of them didn’t. So I felt better about that, since I didn’t have anything dressy. We went in search of somewhere to get a pint and where should we end up, but at an Irish pub. Leave it to a group of Irish students to go to Belgium and find the Irish pub :P It turned out to be lots of fun and I mostly chatted with a small group of people and just got to know people a bit better.

Saturday was our first performance of the weekend, an exchange concert with the Russian choir. It was held in St. Nikklas church, and it was a beautiful place to sing. Our first encounter with the Russians did not go well. They went way over on their rehearsal time in the space and when we had finished our sound check (15 minutes before the concert started) They had taken the back room to change into their outfits and were literally barring the door to the single bathroom and not letting any of us in. Their director was the one leading the charge. We were not thrilled with their manners, to say the least. That night, I headed out for Easter Vigil mass with about 8 other people. The mass was in Flemmish, but it was actually really cool because they had all the readings written out on the worship aid. I was sitting next to Melanie, who is from Austria, so between her knowledge of German and my mix of bits of languages, we pieced together was all the readings were about. They also had a really good choir and ended the mass with the Halleluia Chorus J

Easter Sunday was the day of the actual festival. It was held in a small theatre in Ghent, and it was really cool to be part of a young choir, so to speak. A lot of the people in Choral had never sung in an actual theatre before, or a church like the one we sang in the day before. It was nice to be reminded how cool it really is to be able to make music with people in such a space. The concert itself went really well. We sang a wide range of things, but my favorites were the two Irish pieces we did. For everything else we stood in our two rows, but for the Irish songs, we spread out to cover the whole stage and sang without Tom directing. They felt more powerful that way. The other choirs were good as well. The Russians we had already heard the day before, but the Belgian choir was a surprise. It was a group of mostly white people singing gospel songs with more soul than I’d ever encountered. They began the concert with a 30 minute set and I really enjoyed it. They also ended the concert with more people in the choir, and it turned into an almost hour long set that went on a bit too long. But they ended on a good note, and the concert was a success.

That night, as part of the festival, we were supposed to have dinner with Russians. Believe me, we weren’t all that excited about that considering their chilly behavior throughout the past few days, but we decided a bit of a social experiment would be fun. We were there before they were, and we automatically started to sit in one big clump, so it would have been us on one end and the Russians on the other. But someone suggested that we all sit on one side of the table so that when they got there, they’d have to sit on the other side. This way, we’d be mixed up, but we’d all have a bit of hometown support on either side. So. When they got there, it was a very tense moment. We could tell they weren’t excited and they were muttering in Russian…but they all sat down and after about 10 minutes of awkward tries, the room grew louder and we all relaxed and actually chatted with each other. The night ended up with a song exchange orchestrated by the guy across from me, who seemed to have the best English of the bunch (I got lucky there). I’m really glad we did our social experiment because now we can all get past the rude bathroom incident and remember the Russians and their awesome folk songs (which they taught us the dance to). That night it was decided that everyone would gather to play Werewolves (Irish form of the game Mafia) and drink the night away. Instead, our apartment sat around talking about politics and religion for almost two hours and then heading over once the party was in full swing. That tiny apartment was so chaotic. We had arrived just as they were trying to mobilize to head out and I could tell from the amount of yelling and stumbling that I didn’t want to be part of that group. So I corralled anyone else who seemed to feel the same way and we went back to my apartment to play cards.

The next day was the day they were heading back to Ireland and I was splitting off to join up with Julia and Katie, but I had one more day in Belgium before catching my flight to Spain. I took the bus with Choral to the airport and caught a bus into Brussels, where I was staying that night. On the way to the airport, Eilin taught me the Our Father in Irish. It was a good way to end my time with Choral. J The following day I spent in Brussels, which was not all that exciting, except I went to a musical instrument museum, which was pretty cool. I didn’t learn much since everything was written in French and Flemish, but hey. (you’d think if they could do it in two languages, a third, more widely used language wouldn’t be too difficult) It also rained all day, so I didn’t do all that much. My flight was at 6:30 so I caught a train with no problem and arrived at the airport with plenty of time. I got to Barcelona airport and figured out the metro without a hitch and found the hostel, arriving after Julia and Katie, so I was greeted when I got there. It was a much better traveling day getting out of Belgium than coming in, thank goodness. Belgium overall was lots of fun and very pretty, but probably the country I was the least impressed with. I think I’ll remember it mostly because that’s where I really got to know my Irish friends, and I’ll cherish it because of that.

Pizza and Wine and Gelato, oh my!

Hello everyone! I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath, so here is my next blog post. I traveled for almost 3 weeks with my red backpack and 3 other girls from St. Ben’s- Julia, Katie and Rochelle. We spent a week in Italy, then I split off from them to go to Belgium to meet the UCC Choral Society for a choral competition, and then I met up with Katie and Julia again in Barcelona for our last 6 days. I’m going to split the posts up by country, so I’ll start with Italy and see you on the other side J

Pisa

We flew from Cork to Milan, Italy on May 29^th, starting off bright and early. After landing in the Milan airport, we took a bus into the city to the train station, where we caught a train straight to Pisa. We had a few hours to kill at the train station, so we went for our first Italian pizza. It was absolutely delicious! I think I’ve been converted. We also sampled our first Gelato as well, I went with Chocolate (Cho-co-latte) and it was scrumptious J Not only was the food great, but there was constant sunshine. Do you know how much I’ve missed that? We just sat in the sun until we caught the train to Pisa. After 4 hours on the train, we made it to Pisa and found our hostel. We finished off the night with spaghetti and white wine. Another great Italian meal.

The way we split up our traveling in Italy was in two big chunks. We had 3 days in the Pisa area and 3 days in Venice. Since Pisa really doesn’t have much to do besides the tower, we decided to do a day in Pisa, a day trip to Florence, and a day on the beach. Our first day was dedicated to sightseeing in Pisa, which means the leaning tower of Pisa. When we got there, we took the obligatory “holding up the tower” photos and we got a great group pic as well. It really was an incredible sight to see. After meandering through the stalls of souvenirs we found a spot on the lawn in front of the Duomo (basilica) and the tower. We did some more lying in the sun while soaking in the sights. That night we got dressed up and went out to dinner. Our pattern of food in Italy quickly became apparent: pizza or pasta, splitting the house wine and finishing with gelato. By the end of the week I was a bit tired of Italian food, but it was so good that there was no way I would have eaten anything else.

Firenze (Florence)

Our second full day in Italy was dedicated to time in Florence, or Firenze as they say. After a little over an hour on the train, we arrived in Florence just in time for lunch. We found a cute little café that had a great view of the huge Duomo in the middle of Florence. After lunch, we wanted to climb the tower to get an amazing view of Florence, but it was 15€ and the line was ridiculously long. Instead we walked all the way around it and admired the architecture :P About halfway around, Rochelle got pulled into a shoe store and I ended up getting the most wonderful sandals. They’re built for support, and they’re Italian leather, so I’m hoping they’ll last me a long time. I wore them for the rest of the day and they felt great the whole time. After our shopping, we headed to the Galleria Del Academia, the museum that houses the statue of David. We waited in line for a while, but it was totally worth it. I mean, he is accepted to be the perfect male form :P I was surprised by how big the statue was. I imagined him to be much more life sized. Instead I saw this huge statue surrounded by instruments measuring the humidity and temperature of the room (meaning it was the real one, not the replica). I was sneaky and took a couple snapshots even though we’re not supposed to. Actually, I’m glad I got them when I  did cuz after I had put my camera away, a man yelled “NO PHOTOS” from across the room at a woman near me sneaking a picture. The guy wasn’t even in uniform. His whole job was to stand around and look at David wearing civilian clothes to catch picture thieves. Yikes. 

After David, we walked to the Palazzo Vecchio, which is a big plaza with statues all over and restaurants lining the square. And after that, we made our way to the Ponte Vecchio which is a pedestrian bridge with houses on it. It was super crowded and lined with shops way out of our price range, but the coolest part about it was the way it looked from down the river. It just seemed very…Italian. It was beautiful and different. After sitting in from of the Palazzo Pitti (a big palace that we couldn’t see much of because of the wall) we made our way back to the Palazzo Vecchio for dinner and then back to Pisa for the night. The most incredible part about Florence was just the amount of art. Every corner you turn there are artists, or a statue, or an incredible building. We had a great day in Florence J

Our third full day in Pisa was very chill. Katie and I started off the day by heading to mass. If you’ve calculated it, you may recall that it was Palm Sunday. We worked our way over to the Duomo by the leaning tower of Pisa for Palm Sunday mass. No big deal. When we got there we received olive branches upon entering the church. Since we were there early, we got seats. And good thing too, because it was a long mass, and we didn’t understand any of it, except “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” because it was repeated so many times. There were two really remarkable things about the mass. The passion was said from the huge ambo in the middle of the church. It was one of the most ornate lecturns I had ever seen; with intricate carvings surrounding the whole thing. There was also a choir of about 40 people and they did music for a full mass. It was quite the change from Irish masses, which tend to have no music at all. So although it was long and boring at times, the mass was still really cool, and how many people can say they walked out of Sunday mass and were greeted by the leaning tower of Pisa? After mass, Katie and I swung by the hostel to pick up Julia and Rochelle and we caught a bus to the beach. The bus was hot and smelly, and we were standing for the 20 minute ride. We also weren’t sure when we were supposed to get off. But we weren’t alone; there were 3 other American students on the bus aiming for the same place as us. Sydney, Emily and Mike were studying in London and we ended up next to them on the beach, when we finally got there. The beach itself was small and sort of shut off from the actual ocean by a ring of rocks, but the sand was soft and the sun was warm, so it was great. I had bought sunscreen the day before and we slathered it on and lay in the sun for a few hours. It was so great to just relax and be warm. After figuring out the bus back into town, we found another yummy pizzeria for our last dinner in Pisa, amazed that we were already done with our first city.

Venezia (Venice)

After two uneventful train rides, we arrived in Venice. My first thought as the train pulled in and I saw the canals was that this was my city. A city built on water? Yes please J Our hostel was a bit hidden, but once we found it, and climbed the 5 long flights of stairs, it was totally worth it. It was set up like a hotel: nice beds, full bedding, a good shower, complimentary soaps and room service. And it had a great view of the rooftops of Venice. We definitely chose right with that one J Since we got there in the afternoon, we put our stuff down and went to explore and eat an early dinner. It was really cool just walking around the tiny streets, coming up on random canals and not really knowing where we were. There’s really no rhyme or reason to the streets there, and I didn’t even try to use the map most of the time. But even when you’re lost, you’ll eventually hit the Grande Canal and can find your way from there. Once it got dark, we walked the other direction searching for a glass of wine on the water, which we found J It was a great first day in Venice.

Our second day in Venice was the day we saw the most in Venice and also killed a lot of time as well. Venice is actually a pretty small city and we gave ourselves a lot of time to get to places that we really didn’t need. We started off trying to get information about the Gondolas, which is the thing that took the longest that day. Our plan was to book a Gondola ride and see San Marco Square that day. We headed out around noon after booking the Gondola, on our way to San Marco Square, which was across the island from us. We just pointed ourselves in the right direction and followed the flow of traffic. A cool thing (and annoying at times) about the Venice streets is that there seems to be one main way that everyone takes to get places, so it’s easy to follow the flow, even when you feel lost. But there are also a lot of dead ends, and a couple times we were walking for a long time and ended up almost in the exact same place as we started. The square itself was very impressive. One whole side of the square was made up of a huge domed church that I assume was San Marco church. The other three sides were buildings with rows of columns lining the front. We took our pictures and walked along the shops around the whole square. At the other end of the square were the two pillars that I recognized from one of my favorite movies, The Italian Job. “Fine- Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.” (definitely watched it as soon as I got back ) 

 There was also an incredible view of the Grande Canal and more Gondolas. As cool as the square was, there wasn’t much to do besides shop, which we didn’t want to do all afternoon. By this time it was 1:30 and we had 3 hours until our Gondola, which was supposed to pick us up nearby. Soooooo we walked a bit and stopped to split a pizza as a snack. We sat along the canal and walked a bit more, finally stopping about 40 minutes early at the Gondola pick up spot. It was a long afternoon, but then was the Gondola ride! We were put in a boat with one couple, making 6 of us on the 35 minute ride. Unfortunately the Gondola driver did not sing for us, but it was still really cool to be on the water we’d been walking over for the past day. After the Gondola ride, we made our way back through the city, stopping for dinner and breakfast food on our way back. That night we stayed in the hostel trying to print our boarding passes for future flights and catching up on our journals.

My last day in Venice was another day that included lots of aimless walking. While that sounds like it might be boring, it wasn’t because of the setting we were in. I still can’t wrap my mind around a city existing on water even after having been there for three days. We did a lot of shopping and I bought another pair of sandals. I know I don’t need them, but they were only 10 euro and I absolutely love them J Some of my favorite souvenirs of the whole trip were in Venice. The Venetian masks were everywhere! And they were so brightly colored and beautiful that I wanted to buy them all. I ended up not getting any because I didn’t have a way to carry them for the rest of my trip, but I’ll never forget all the masks. The other thing that really drew me was the Murano glass. Murano is a nearby island in Italy where they are known worldwide for their glasswork. Just about every other shop was selling glass jewelry and other things. I loved just going into the shops and admiring the artwork. I’ve decided that if I ever 1) have lots of money and 2) am decorating a home, I’m going to come back to Venice and buy masks and glass to decorate my home. Besides shopping on my last day, we went to the Pointe Rialto, which is another bridge with shops along the whole bride. 

In this way, it is similar to the one in Florence, but beside the fact that there were buildings on the bridge, it was very different. It was definitely not as colorful and it was mostly souvenirs rather than high priced jewelry, but it had a beautiful façade on the front of it. For my last dinner in Italy, we went back to a restaurant that we had passed the night before just after eating. The man out front was very good at his job and had held a full conversation with us trying to get us to eat even though we told him we’d just eaten. We promised to return the next day and he said we’d get a free round of drinks if we did. So, we came back J It was my last dinner in Italy and I decided to try something different. Julia, Rochelle and Katie had gotten used to me ordering pretty simple dishes, like salami pizza and spaghetti, so when I ordered the seafood pizza they were very impressed. I was impressed myself :P When I got it, it had the shells of mussels and clams still on it and the shape of a small octopus was still discernable in one place. Surprisingly, I actually liked it and ate almost all of it J I’m not planning on making that my new go-to dish, but I’m glad I tried it, and now I can say I’ve eaten Octopus :P After dinner we headed back and I packed up, getting ready for my 6:30 am departure from the Venice train station to begin my long day of travels. I was splitting off from the girls and meeting up with Choral Society. But that’s another blog post. I hope you enjoyed my Italian escapades as much as I did J