Marvelous Mardi

As the first day back from a long vacation, I dreaded getting out of bed this morning. The one thing making me feel the slightest bit better was the beautiful sun rising into the cloudless blue sky.* After seeing all the statuses from back in Michigan talking about the white-out conditions and the gross snow-rain combination that the mitten is known for, I happily jumped out of bed and got ready to face the day of assisting.

My first class today was my best class I have had yet here in France. I took 12 students for an entire hour and they were attentive, curious and gushing to participate. It was so nice that my lesson, which involved describing people, kept their attention and evoked conversations of new vocabulary. I first had them describe various celebrities, like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, etc. They had to each say one sentence about the stars, and say something that hadn't been said before. That was not a problem though, as they had so many opinions of these people that they could've talked for hours! After, we played Who Am I, the game where you pick another person in the class and describe them as if you were them, while the whole class guesses who you are based on the description. This proved to be a good review of vocabulary and they had fun describing their friends.

After a successful lesson, I walked out into the crisp air to the loge, or the front gate, and found a package from my parents! Although life in France is amazing, care packages from home make this place even better, as they sent things that I can not find here, like my acne face wipes, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (my favorite cereal), Buncha Crunch (my favorite candy), and Fantasy Bars made with love by my mother. AND, most importantly, they not only sent me pumpkin filling, but all the other necessary ingredients to make a pumpkin pie! Including pie pans and the recipe itself! As Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I have been a little blue that I will be missing it this year, I am so happy I can have a little piece of it here in France with me. However, we don't have an oven here at the apartment, so I am on the hunt for an oven to use and people to spend this Thanksgiving tradition with.**

EEK!

Even down to the spices pre-measured and mixed in a container, everything to make the delicious Thanksgiving dessert! I wonder where I get my organizational skills from...

Mom's famous Fantasy Bars (aka Seven Layer Bars, Crack Bars, etc)

Goodies! My parents are the best

Happy girl!

After lunch and basking in the sunshine a bit, I returned to class. Except, after waiting 5 minutes in front of my classroom, with neither the teacher or the class there, I was told by another English teacher I work with that they were at the cinema this hour. In Apt this week, there is a prestigious African film festival. As the school supports the town in its ventures, during this week, there are many classes going to see the films. I had already known one of my classes tomorrow was going to see one, but was unaware of this class. So I was free to go, but instead sat in on another class for the hour, where he worked me into the lesson talking about progress. Mostly, this just required me to answer questions about freedoms in America, and got into a heated debate about the right to bear arms. Never know quite what to expect during my days as an assistant, but today was definitely a good day, or as I am dubbing it, a marvelous mardi.

*I know I am constantly talking about the sunshine here, but I honestly don't think I will ever get sick of it! Or talking about it.
**FRENCH FRIENDS - Tradesies: I will give you an amazing, delicious, homemade pumpkin pie if you give me access to your oven and will put up with me as I exercise this Thanksgiving tradition. Deal?

Home Improvement

The past four days have been a lovely long weekend here in Provence. I am sitting in my kitchen looking out onto the sun setting over the hills. Although the blue skies and sunshine never seem to fade, there are some autumn traces starting to show, with the gusting chilly wind and the colors of the foliage starting to yellow.

View from my kitchen window this evening.

On Friday, Amy and I ventured into Avignon to try and figure out our phone situation. Originally, we had planned to just keep our pay as you go phones, as it seemed the cheapest option. However, rates changed and it made more sense for us to go to a different store and sign up for a monthly plan. When we got there though, we were told that we would have to buy a new phone entirely to take full advantage of the internet that comes with the plan. Not expecting the prices of the phones to be so high, and while re budgeting my entire month's allowance in my head, the salesperson ran back in telling us he had a solution: the Telib. Now, the velibs are quite popular here in France: they are public bikes you can pick up from their various stations along the street, after it reads your credit card of course. You can ride the bike around town as much as you please, just as long as you put it back in a marked velib spot once you are done. If you don't return it, that is when you get fined and your card gets charged. Besides this, it is entirely free!

Virgin has taken this idea and applied it to phones: for 20 euro a month, I will get unlimited calls, texts, and 10 Go of internet on a smartphone with all apps provided. And the best part, I am in essence borrowing the phone, so I don't pay for it! When I am done using it at the end of this school year, all I have to do is return it to the store. Pretty awesome, right? Not so awesome: they were out of these phones when we were there, so we are returning Wednesday afternoon to officially get this plan.*

After the visit to the phone shop, Amy and I indulged a bit and went to IKEA. As I had never been to one before, it was quite overwhelming! But I was happy to get many things to make the apartment feel more like home. After sprucing this place up, I do have to say that it feels much better to spend time here.

New bedding, rug and blanket. And yes, the color theme was on purpose. Not pictured but also part of the home improvements: a new lamp, cinnamon candle and a new shower caddy!

Saturday morning was another typical day of wandering around the market. I happened to notice the amount of stares I was getting though - as since it was a beautiful day, I was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sandals. Passing by a vendor visibly shivering while bundled in a winter coat and scarf, hiding his hands underneath his legs for extra warmth, I thought only one thing - you think this is cold?! Come to Michigan, man! That morning we also spent some time at our favorite Bar l'Aptois, where I checked off another thing from my bucket list here: I tried a cafe au lait. I wouldn't say I liked the first sip, but as I kept drinking it, I did learn to enjoy the taste quite a bit.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent at home, reading, relaxing, cleaning** and watching movies. During these past few days, I have also been trying to plan many trips, which I will reveal later on. But there is one trip that I can't hold in, because I am so excited about it! I am so grateful that as my Christmas present this year, my family has helped me a buy a ticket back home for the holidays! Though I was not planning on going back to the States until next May, I cannot say how thrilled I am to be able to see family and friends, especially during the holiday season! I am enjoying my life here in France and traveling around Europe, but there is nothing like being home for the holidays.

Also part of the home improvement. Can you tell I am excited for Christmas??

Today, Amy and I decided to make a little hike to a nearby town called Gargas. After walking for an hour, we stopped for refreshment and a bit of discount shopping and then, having realized we didn't really know where we had to proceed to get to the town, we turned back to Apt. Either way, it was a nice way to get out of the apartment, enjoy the beautiful weather and exercise a bit. And we decided to practice our French on the way back, something we are going to try to push ourselves to do more often when we are around the apartment.

Tomorrow ends our long weekend of relaxation, with classes once again. I quite enjoy going back to teaching after the week end though - it gives me something extra to busy myself with. Until then, enjoying this lovely evening here in the South of France.

*Typical day here in France: don't ever expect for things to be done the same day you go out to take care of a certain task. You will almost always have to return.
**I see your face reading that, Mom. Yes, I know - it is hard to believe.

Ups and downs

Thursday always seems to be the worst day of the week here. Comparatively so, I have six hours of work on Thursday, so it is my busiest day.*

This morning though, I awoke happy and ready to attack the day. My three morning classes were my three best classes yet: my students were eager to participate and use English, my lessons seemed to work perfectly (being both entertaining and educational), and my teachers were very clear with instructions for next week's classes. I had a nice lunch at home and even got to bask in the sun for an hour, as I had a small bit of time without classes. Maybe this Thursday would not be so bad, and I had finally gotten a hang of this assisting thing.

Once returning to the school in the afternoon, everything had changed. For the worse. Before even reaching my first class, ran into another teacher who I work with, asking me why I hadn't been there the previous hour. I said that I am with her every other week and, not believing me, I showed her my timetable. Upon seeing it, she just shrugged and said "humph."

With that omen, I knew the afternoon would be a bit rough. All of the students were not interesting in my lessons at all. In one of the classes, I could not get them to stop talking, to the point where I was yelling over them. It is so discouraging here to see the difference in the interest level of the students, though I know that this difference also exists in America - I just never have experienced it before. I feel there is a lot less discipline in classrooms in general here too, having experienced students talking over not only me when I teach but their normal teachers as well. I literally had students running through the hallway screaming to come meet me at my classroom, leaving other teachers to open up their doors and say something, but no detentions or other type of punishments given out. And, oh yeah, you probably guessed it: walked in to two wrong classrooms again because they keep changing what rooms they are in without telling me.

Will just have to get used to these things I guess, though I hope the bad behavior starts to improve. Another interesting tidbit, looks that there might be a strike here next week... la grêve finalement! I knew it would happen at least one time while I was here, the French LOVE to strike. The teachers are up in arms about not getting paid for a day of work that they already performed (at least that is what I understand about the situation....) so many are striking next Thursday. I heard them loudly organizing in the salle de profs the past few days and a large petition with many signatures is now proudly posted in the common room. Amy's teachers have already all told her to not show up next Thursday, and with Monday already off for Remembrance day, she works a grand total of 3 hours next week.** Oh well, c'est la vie!

Tonight, I am trying to relax into my long weekend by watching a French movie I rented from the bibliothèque, called l'Auberge Espagnole. I have heard many great reviews of this movie, with many friends saying it is hilarious - hoping to have a light-hearted film after this Thursday craziness! Tomorrow brings a relaxing day, with a trip to Avignon to get our phone situation sorted... and maybe some shopping at IKEA and H&M too. Ahhh... le week-end....
 
*Again, as I have said in past posts, I am very sorry to all Americans reading this and smacking their heads as I complain about my lousy 12 hours a week work schedule. I am truly apologetic, and I feel bad about your 40 hour work week.
**And when I say that our hours may be cut from next week, our monthly pay does not get affected by strikes. So there you have it, less hours for same pay!

Disorganization at its finest... la France!

So school has started once again here in Apt. Though Monday, it didn't start for me.

See I work only every other Monday, and since I worked on Monday before break, I didn't work this Monday. Or next Monday for that matter either, as it is un jour ferié, or a vacation day. I see you reading there in the United States, thinking because I just had a two week vacation that this could not be possible. Well folks, there is no other way to describe it: it's just France.

And I was thankful that I didn't work Monday, as when I woke up, it was one of those very rare days in Provence where it was cold and rainy. I was going to go into town and take care of some errands... but then I decided to just have a duvet day, as Amy would call it. I stayed in, did laundry, watched Friends and read. In fact, I checked something off my bucket list on Monday - I finished reading Harry Potter in French! Now onto the next book in French, L'étranger by Albert Camus. Seemed fitting as he is being celebrated in France this year, for 100 years ago he was born. Plus, I have read this one in English as well, and loved it. I also got to skype Katie Monday night, which helped me kick me out of my home-sick funk.* We discussed some travel plans here in the near future... but won't talk about those until a later post!

Tuesday morning brought my first real day back to work. I made sure I set my alarm before going to sleep before and when I was awoken in the morning, I hit the snooze button. 6 times. Half an hour later, showing 8:15 on my phone, I open up the blinds to my room to see the beautiful sunrise of a typical Provence morning. Then, I looked at my clock on the wall. It said it was 7:15am. I suddenly realized that my phone was an hour ahead, some malfunction with daylight savings time. Either way, reset my alarm and went back to sleep for another hour.

Didn't mind waking up an hour early (accidentally) to see this!

Once arrived in class, Marc, one of the teachers I work with, gave me a list of students to work with. As the students filed in the class, he looked distraught and asked one of them which class this was. He realized he had made a mistake, and this class had a test so I couldn't work with them. First class back, and dis-organization strikes again - trop typique. So even though it wasn't in my schedule, I came back the following hour and worked with those students. After that confusion, I went to spend time at Bar l'Aptois, one of the places we frequent for Wifi. It is nice that they are starting to recognize me though, as when I paid this time, he gave me a Milka bar with a smile.

This little chocolate bar made my day

After this, classes in the afternoon continued. I would like to say that my lessons are going better.. and in some cases they are. But it annoys me how loose some of the teachers are here with everything. For example, in most classes I take half for half the time, and then switch. I would think carefully about what half I would send, taking in account personalities, level of language, etc. But some teachers here don't do that, leaving one group to be completely silent, and the other to be nearly uncontrollable. Maybe its just my education pedagogy talking to me... but this is just one of the things that makes my job a bit more difficult, due to cultural differences. My second class of the afternoon was quite nice though: a small class of seven, the teacher and I. We just sat and had an impromptu conversation about American cities and compared them to European ones. Was a nice way to end the day, as well as being given information for someone who wants private lessons! Hoping that this will turn into something else to keep me busy around here, as well as a little extra cash.


Tuesday afternoon, I spent time in the library, one of my new home away from homes here. I also indulged in a new pastry of the week: tarte confiture. Specifically, this one was of framboises, or raspberries. I love this specific patisserie's tarte crust, but I wasn't the hugest fan of it. I mean, trust me, it was delicious - but maybe a bit too much jam for me.

Raspberry heaven

Today awoke with a start. I saw the light peeking in through the blinds and, having slept soundly, decided to open them before my alarm. Once raised, I glanced at the clock. It was 8:30. My first lesson began at 8:55. I shot out of bed, got dressed and quite literally ran to my first lesson. But of course it didn't matter, the teacher was 10 minutes late. Again, France wins. I don't mean to always be complaining about the work side of this experience, as there are some moments that I love and it keeps me busy here. But the second lesson of today was further proof of how French dis-organization doesn't solve anything.

I work on an every other week schedule. Before break, the time slot for my second lesson today had been switched to accommodate a test one of the teachers had. I had discussed it with one of the teachers and she said the switch would be permanent. When trying to find her classroom today, I ran into the other teacher who said "you are with me today, right?" Explaining the situation to her, she told me to go ask the other teacher to make sure. Reading my schedule and finding her classroom number, I walked into the class, meeting the eyes of 30 students who were not my own and a very perturbed French teacher. Finding out the classrooms had been changed while pointing me down the hallway, I proceeded to walk into another wrong classroom, where I had to embarrassingly duck out murmuring a quick "pardon". Going back to the original teacher, who assures me that she wasn't waiting for me (even though I knew she was), I just decided to have class with her this week. And to top it all off, later this afternoon, I received an e-mail from one of my teachers asking me to prepare a completely different lesson for tomorrow morning. Again, since I checked my e-mail and have time, I was happy to do it. But still, the disorganization and throwing things together last minute.... may be the French style, but definitely not mine.

This afternoon was calmer. I went to Pizz'Burger to catch up on a few American shows as well as spend time with my favorite French woman. The woman who waits on me there is more than kind, and always ready to sit down and have a chat with me whenever I come in. Today's chat was about the weather today and the next few days: sunny and around 70 degrees Farenheit. November in Provence people... and I was wearing sandals. Pretty amazing. Really, I shouldn't complain, as I am living a life people only dream about. With the sunshine today and an amazing salmon dinner tonight, I think I will have enough strength to face my 6 hours of lessons tomorrow. Pending that I can find my ever-changing classrooms. On verra.....

*In general, I have been doing a lot better these past few days - probably because I have been keeping busy

Le mal du pays....

Tonight is the last official night of vacation, as our contract says we begin teaching again tomorrow. However, as I work every other Monday, I get one more day of relaxation and planning, which will probably be consumed running errands and cleaning. Maybe a stop by Pizz'burger to catch up on some American TV... who knows.

Thursday, my first full day back at home, I mostly took care of odds and ends - grocery shopping, laundry, blogging, etc. I was trying to ignore the fact that it was Halloween and I was in a country that does not seem to acknowledge it. However, when I was at the grocery store, I did see a small Halloween section, or what had been one. All of the costumes and holiday-related items had been bought out! Guess the French might celebrate it more than I thought. However, I still didn't see anyone roaming around in costumes and with no Hocus Pocus to watch, I was feeling a little deprived. Later that night, Amy decided to add a little Halloween flair to the apartment to celebrate. Have to admit it made me laugh, convincing me to eat a Reese's Pumpkin* and watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and enjoy the best of my French Halloween.

Amy's Halloween ghosts. Aren't they scary?!

On Friday, we ventured to Avignon. Amy's boyfriend was in town this weekend, and they were planning on going to visit there anyway, but we are also looking into getting new phone coverage and the store we needed to go to happened to be there. One thing that I had thought about in advance but thought it would not be a problem: it was November 1st. As in, jour de la toussaint - the reason we had a two week vacation was for this holiday. So as you can imagine, we reached Avignon and the store was closed. After using free wifi and wandering in some shops for a few hours, I came back to Apt empty handed. Amy and I are already planning a trip for next Friday to get this sorted, and maybe a trip to Ikea is in store as well.

Saturday is always the same, spending hours meandering through the market. Not like I mind it - I find it to be comforting constant in my life here. I am starting to recognize the vendors, and some are starting to recognize me as well. It makes this place feel a little more like home. 

Had been dying to try the pizza from a specific vendor who is always packed and sells out by 10:30am (Note: there is a bite taken out already... I couldn't wait until after the picture.)

Macaroon type of day.

However, the rest of Saturday was not a good day. Ever since I have been back to Apt, I guess you can say that I have been extremely homesick.** This stemming from my wish to be back home for State Finals on Saturday to see my students perform as well as many of my travel plans seeming to fall apart beneath my eyes. And also, some unexpected news from home didn't help either. I couldn't help but feel how incredibly alone I feel here. At the beginning, I liked that feeling - it made me feel independent and strong. But now, I just feel a bit lost.

My parents are seriously the best in the world. Why, you may ask? They knew how sad I was and skyped me into all three performances for each of the groups that I instructed/choreographed for this year. Although I was up very late staring at a computer screen, I went to sleep with a smile, the first time that's happened in awhile.

NOTE: Not saying that I don't feel absolutely blessed to be here, because I do. I just feel like it is equally important to write about the harder times, as it makes the amazing times here that much more important.

*Thanks Mom!!!
**Again, probably a huge understatement.

"Are you ready to see the castle island?!"

Sunday was another day of travel, this one bringing us back to France finally. It also brought a day of high winds, making the already flight anxious me go crazy on our flight into Nantes. Seriously folks, that flight was TURBULENT, even Katie said so after the fact.* We arrived Sunday night, grabbing dinner at a local brasserie, which may have been the best burger I have had since coming here. Alright France, you got something right.

The following day we decided to explore Nantes. Honestly, when I booked this trip I picked Nantes because it was the cheapest option to fly into and still reach Mont St. Michel. After spending the day exploring, I couldn’t help but liking the city the more I saw of it. It was quite small but still had copious amounts of shops and restaurants, as well as La Loire running along one of its main streets. The architecture and lay-out of the city reminded me of Paris (which makes sense as Wendy Anne told us that the designer of Paris also designed Nantes). Quite fun to walk around and get a little lost in.

At one point, we turned a corner and saw a massive cathedral. We took ourselves inside Cathedrale de Saint Pierre and we enthralled by the massive height of the sanctuary. One could find chapel after chapel, filled with paintings and sculptures. The sheer beauty and feeling of peace within this building truly moved me, drawing me to sit down at one point and be drawn into prayer. It was a great find that we just happened to run into while wandering, or maybe something drew us there.

Later that evening, we took the bateau bus across La Loire to the Ile de Nantes. It was like we had entered a different city entirely. The architecture reminded me a little of Provence, and everything was incredibly residential. You even found palm trees – I don’t know how they survive in the cold weather of the North of France, but hey, they were there!

Waking up early Tuesday morning, we took a train and bus to Mont St Michel. As the day before had been mixed with sun, rain and cold winds, Tuesday started out more promising with a clear blue sky that warmed all of us waiting outside. Upon arriving at the Mont, I was awestruck by its size. Maybe that is in relation to everything around it, as there was just sand around it due to the season.** But besides that, it was amazing to see it just as I imagined, looking exactly like a castle island.

After taking a few obligatory photos, the sky opened up and decided to pour on us. And blow us around with freezing cold wind. By the time we ran into the Mont, we were frozen to the bone. However, one nice thing about the Mont is that there is only one way up to the Abbaye – down one main alley-road. I am calling it an alley-road because it obviously is a main street, filled with shops, restaurants and museums, but it is about the width of 5 feet across, leaving one to squeeze in between other tourists trying to make their way. Needless to say, we warmed up pretty fast.

Once getting to the top of the Mont, we explored the grand Abbaye du Mont St Michel. It was wonderful to wander around this old abbey, exploring the copious amount of rooms, again imagining what people did when they lived there. It is amazing that this whole island is basically just the abbey, with one little road attached to it – quite a quaint place to visit. And another great thing? As we visited the abbey, the sun started to peak through the clouds, making it a beautiful day once again.

After enjoying some lunch and souvenir shopping, we headed back to Nantes. We decided to stop at Lieu Unique for a nice last dinner in Nantes. Lieu Unique*** is one of the biggest attractions to see in Nantes – it boasts a restaurant, bar, theatre, art and much more. It even has a tower you can climb to see a wonderful view of the city. As we got there too late, we couldn’t climb the tower. But I had some awesome canard instead!

Wednesday was a day full of travel to return back to Apt, including a bus, flight, bus, train and another bus to reach home. It may sound like a lot, and trust me it is, but somehow I didn’t mind it too much. I just know that when I stepped back into the apartment in Apt, I felt an overwhelming sense of home, which I haven’t felt in a very long time. Sitting in the kitchen, eating an amazing pizza from Pizz’Eric (the cart that sits outside our school), and reflecting on my trip made me realize something that I take for granted quite often: I am extremely blessed to be here.

*Also, note with this trip I completed 4 flights, 4 train rides, and copious amounts of bus rides/shuttles. I’d say my anxiety has gotten better, as I am not nearly freaking out as much as I used to. Hooray!

**In some seasons, you will find the Mont completely surrounded by raging water from La Manche.

***Lieu Unique can be shortened to LU, which is a popular cookie making company here in France. Nantes is the birthplace of LU, so they are very proud of the delicious butter cookies they produce.

“Guinness is not beer for the Irish – it is strong tea!”

Luck of the Irish? I don’t believe this to always be true. Our Ireland adventure began VERY early Thursday morning, with an hour drive to our 7am flight to Dublin. Well, our plane sat on the runway for half an hour, getting us into the Emerald Isle around 9am. Luck was not in our favor.

Once we got in the city and checked in to the hostel (and got free breakfast, score!), we spent the morning exploring the Temple Bar area, the Medieval/Viking area, and the area around Trinity College, finding ourselves at the busy, pedestrian Grafton Street for lunch. We saw Dublin Castle, the Christ Church Cathedral, and lots of pubs during this morning walk and decided to get a bite to eat at Bewley’s, a tea room that Amy’s dad had recommended.

 During the afternoon, we decided to wander around Trinity College, the oldest college in Ireland. It is said to have inspired the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge – roaming around the old buildings was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. And, just like in Scotland, Ireland boasts wonderful colors of Fall foliage, adding to the magnificent look of the campus. This campus has been used in the Harry Potter movies as well as many other popular films, as it is quite a picturesque school. 
  

While there, I got to see the Book of Kells, a wonderfully ornate Bible from 800 AD. It was one of those things you just simply could not take your eyes off of, and to think how much time, talent, and dedication it took to make such an intricate document was mind-numbing. Also, got to see the Long Room, aka the most amazing library I might ever see in my life. I felt like Belle when Beast shows her the library in his castle, except 20 times more exaggerated.*

I was in heaven.

After all that walking around, we decided to go grab ourselves a Dublin staple, a Guinness. I was asked to take a survey about Ireland when leaving the country and one of the most important questions that was on it: Did you have a Guinness? Even though I do not generally like beer**, I felt that I had to try this beer, as it is so deeply rooted in the culture. It is different than other beers in the way it is made, with nitrogen gas rather than carbon dioxide. When they pour it, they pour part of it, let it settle and then fill the rest. It is a very delicate art. Although it was not really my cup of tea (though for the Irish it is, noting the title of this post), I am really glad I decided to give it a go in the birthplace of this beer.

Where we downed our Guinness

For dinner, Amy and I went to a restaurant called Elephant and Castle. Hearing mixed reviews from several people before going, we were not sure what we would be met with when we arrived. We decided to get hamburgers, as France’s burgers have generally shown to not be great quality. We were sourly disappointed with our overdone burgers, making us think that maybe Irish food is not one of the things that are lucky.

Friday morning, Amy and I set out for a day trip to the place I was most excited to visit during this whole vacation: the Cliffs of Moher. Although the forecast looked a little grim, we still woke up at 6am and were already fallen asleep on the bus by 7am. We awoke to the sun rising over the beautiful Irish countryside, as green as ever. The luck of the Irish continued to be in our favor, as we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day driving to the West Coast of Ireland. We passed through Limerick on the way but reached the “Edge of the World” while the sun was at high noon.

Irish green.

Looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean from the cliffs, you truly did feel like you were on the edge of the world. With it being a little breezy and a few of the pathways being muddy (with no fence at the edge, mind you), it appeared extremely easy to fall to your death. As we all know how klutzy I am, it shouldn’t surprise you that I slipped once, but as I am still here to write this post, the fall was not to the depths of the cliffs. 

The view of the cliffs is again one of those things I can’t explain – you just have to see it for yourself. As I gazed out onto the horizon, washing the waves crash into the cliffs with such sheer force, combined with the natural beauty of the rock against grass… it is a sight that everyone should experience. Again, the sense of calm I found here was something one can’t find in a bustling city like Dublin. The hour and a half that we spent wandering around was simply not enough, I could have spent a whole day there!

A five minutes’ drive down the road from the cliffs, we stopped at the Burren national park. Completely different scenery in such a short distance away – the landscape was covered in split rock, making it hard to walk around on (especially as there was a sprinkling of rain by the time we reached this stop). Again, I may have tripped here, and landed on my ankle funny, but it was all worth it to see this interesting landscape. We also stopped at the abandoned 12^th century Corcomroe Abbey, in an isolated field in the countryside.

After getting back quite late, we met up with Katie to go get dinner and drinks. However, upon going out we found a huge cultural difference: pubs in Ireland don’t sell food past 9:30pm. So it was to the supermarket we went, although Katie soon found out another cultural difference: supermarkets don’t sell alcohol past 10pm. Seriously? This actually kind of shocked me about Dublin, which seemed so progressive in many ways.

Saturday, our final day in Dublin, Katie and I decided to the free walking tour provided by the hostel. The tour ended up becoming an all-day affair, linking up with a bigger group of people to go on a 4 hour walking tour. It helped that our guide was quite entertaining and knowledgeable about Dublin, making stories come alive as we roamed the city. However, about halfway through the tour, the heavens opened and it began to pour. As neither of us had an umbrella and I only had a flimsy raincoat, we ended up soaked from head to toe. I think my boots might still be wet. At the end of the dreadful tour, we made our way shivering to O’Neill’s Pub, where I finally got to have some traditional fish and chips and warm up a bit.

That night, we had planned to go out and get drinks, as it was the second biggest party weekend of the year. I didn’t realize that Halloween is a celtic celebration, with its roots in Ireland. As we were there the weekend before Halloween, the city was as alive as it could be. However, after standing outside in the cold and rain all day, I was feeling quite ill and opted to buy tea from the supermarket and get a good night’s rest before leaving for France Sunday morning.

All in all, Ireland kind of disappointed me. I shouldn’t say that – Dublin disappointed me. It was actually quite ordinary with how it looked, reminding me of a suburb of Chicago. It had a hint of being extremely Americanized, with the shops and restaurants that were there. I had heard a lot about the Irish being the friendliest people so I was excited to be welcomed in this culture. However, I wasn’t overwhelmed with how nice the people were, and some were actually quite rude. Now, my experience in the Irish countryside was purely amazing. If I would give any advice for travelers wanting to go to the Emerald Isle, find more time to venture in the countryside, and less in the city of Dublin. I can still hear the swells of Danny Boy while looking at the rolling green hills and will never forget the feeling of standing on the Edge of the World.

*Fun fact: George Lucas copied this library exactly to use in Star Wars. He asked the college to use it first, they denied his request, then he did it anyway. Look for the Jedi library and you will see the Long Room from Trinity College.

**Yet another understatement in this blog.