SPRING BREAK 2013 Pt. 1c: Liverpool, England

Day 8. Sunday, 31 March
Today, we bid adieu to Ireland, and made our way to England! We took a bus to the airport at five in the morning for our flight - and what a quick flight it was. It took less than a half an hour between takeoff in Dublin and landing in Liverpool! By 9 in the morning, we had stored our luggage at a train station, and set off to spend the next six-ish hours exploring Liverpool.

It was Easter Sunday, so we weren't sure what exactly would be open. We had planned on trying to see a lot of Beatles landmarks, but it turns out that Liverpool was a lot larger than we realized... Many of the landmarks we wanted to see were quite a distance away. So instead, we found The Beatles Story museum, and went to town. There was also a little Elvis exhibit down the road a little that our tickets gave us access to, so we spent most of our time between those two places. It was a simply gorgeous day in Liverpool - especially compared to the freezing days we had been having in Ireland.

At 3 in the afternoon, we boarded our bus that would take us from Liverpool back to Glasgow. It was quite the ride, but thankfully it went by pretty fast. We were back in Glasgow by about nine that evening, and despite sleeping pretty much the whole ride, I was exhausted.

The next three days were spent lazing around and then preparing for London!

And that is the conclusion to Part 1 of our fantastical Spring Break!

SPRING BREAK 2013 Pt. 1b: The Republic of Ireland

The continued adventures of Ireland!

Day 4. Wednesday, 27 March

Today we left Northern Ireland and headed back down into the Republic of Ireland. We first stopped at Sligo, and then at the grave of a national poet - Nobel laureate W.B. Yates. It was pretty awesome! After these stops, we drove to Galway. We stayed at a hostel called Sleepzone, where for the first time in Ireland, we didn't have to sleep in our leggings and sweatshirts! Sarah and I wandered around Shop Street in Galway for about two hours. Sarah's main goal in terms of souvenirs for Ireland was to find a Clauddagh ring. We checked out a few stores, and then ended up going back to the first one, where we both picked out our favorite. We ended up matching... oops. I am absolutely obsessed with mine.

(I just realized I hadn't taken a photo of the ring, so I just took this one. So, here is a photo of my favorite Ireland souvenir, taken in our London hotel...)

We checked out a few touristy shops, and then took an hour or two break in the hostel before meeting up with the rest of our Paddywagon tour for a pub night dinner. We all ate together at The Skeff. This was the first time I'd really spent time in a pub this trip, and I was loving the atmosphere. I got the Steak and Guinness pie, and it was delicious. After the pub, Sarah and I wandered off in search of live music. We were not disappointed! We went into Taaafes Pub and each ordered a beer - at the advice of the bartender, I decided to try a Smithwick's red beer. I quite liked it! We nursed our drinks for a little less than an hour before the live music came on at about 9:30. It was a guitarist, a violinist, and an irish drummer. They were great, and it was the perfect end to the day.

Day 5. Thursday, 28 March

Thursday we hit two major Irish landmarks - The Cliffs of Moher, and the Blarney Castle. I was fortunate enough to have been to these places before, with my family during our European travels but it had been quite a while! We ended the day in Kilarney.

The Cliffs of Moher were as breathtaking as I had remembered. They are unbelievable - I had to just stop and stare for a while. It was a real reminder of how small we all are in the scheme of things. The Cliffs are probably my favorite landmark from the entire trip.

A memorial. They also had a sign that read 'Need to talk?' with a hotline to call.

After Cliffs of Moher, we drove to Blarney Castle. I remember kissing the Blarney Stone when I was younger, but I don't remember seeing the rest of the castle, so this was really fun for me. We kissed the stone, wandered through the Castle, and even spent some time in the Poison Garden - a new personal favorite! They had a lot of poisonous plants that I had heard about before, and it was really cool to read about them and recall specifically what they each did.

For dinner, we ate at Eddie Rockets - it was a diner style restaurant that made me miss the US! At the hostel, Sarah and I had our own room - it was awesome. 

Day 6. Friday, 29 March (Good Friday)

We started the day with a horse-drawn carriage ride through Kilarney National Park. It was absolutely freezing outside, but the view was so beautiful that I (almost) didn't care. After, we drove to the Dingle Peninsula, where we had lunch, took pictures with Fungie the dolphin, and wandered the town. We had a quick stop at Kilkarnie Bay, where you can see a mountain known as the Sleeping Giant, because it looks like a man laying on his back. Nice, calm photo stop... and then it got interesting. We had met up with another Paddywagon bus tour at this photo stop - the other bus driver, Sean (not our Seanie) decided he wanted to touch the Atlantic Ocean. So, he took off his shoes and got into the water... Mind you,  it's freaking freezing out side and that water was outrageous. It all started okay, but then took a turn for the worse. An extremely powerful wave came up the bay and he couldn't get out of the water fast enough - he was completely knocked over and soaked head to toe. When the wave retreated, we saw him kind of just crouching where we had last seen him. He couldn't move. Two brave souls had to run in and help him out. After some chaos, it ended up that our bus driver Seanie had to take him (and his bus with his group) to the nearest emergency room while our bus hung out and had to wait for another driver to come from about an hour away to take us to our hostel for the night. Turns out the other driver tore some ligaments and will be out of commission for a while... but no concussion so that's good.

The Atlantic Ocean!

Tragedy struck...

We stayed the night at a Paddywagon Pub named The Randy Leprechaun. I tried Heineken, and then Sarah and I decided to each do a Car Bomb - what that was: A half pint of Guinness, and then a shot glass with a shot of Bailey's and some Jameson whiskey. You drop the shot glass into the Guinness, and then you're supposed to chug it and it theoretically tastes like chocolate milk? I am basically incapable of chugging anything (including water) and I just tasted the Bailey's, but it was fun and yummy so that was cool. We also tasted a little bit of whiskey (as in, a sip and decided that nope I was good) a little later in the evening. We hung out with other Paddywagoners for a little, and actually met some Ohioans who were studying in Florence. Then, it was off to bed. The next day would be our last with Paddywagon, sadly.

Day 7. Saturday, 30 March

Today was a pretty short day - we stopped at Adare and saw some thatched roof cottages, and then it was off to the Guinness Storehouse! We went through and saw how Guinness was made, and then got a free pint! I couldn't drink more than half of mine - I am apparently not a fan of Guinness. After Guinness, we drove the last little bit back to the Dublin Paddywagon hostel, and said goodbye to Seanie... sad day! But we had a great time touring with him - I really couldn't have picked a better guide!

Seanie and "The Sister Act" (as he called us...)

We had dinner with a lot of our new Paddywagon friends at O'Shea's Pub, hung out and played some games in the pub, and then headed out. Early the next morning we were off to Liverpool, England!!

SPRING BREAK 2013 Pt. 1a: Northern Ireland

Here at Glasgow, we have a beautiful three weeks for our Easter Break (UK equivalent of the States' Spring Break).
Sarah and I decided we would rather spend quality time at a few places rather than do a billion different day trips. We planned one week in Ireland, on a 6-day tour of the entirety of Ireland plus one day in Liverpool, England, and then five days in London followed by two days in Cardiff (Wales).

Ireland was AMAZING. It was quite... chilly... but it was fantastic. We went on a tour with Paddywagon tours - and that was the best decision ever. Each night we stayed in a different hostel, so we now have a lot of experience with hostels!

Prepare for a really long post... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. In my defense, it was 8 days of doing like two or three places a day... I'll break up the posts by Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, and then Liverpool.

Day 1. Sunday, 24 March
We were up by 2 a.m. on Sunday to take a taxi to Buchanan Bus Station, where we took a bus to Prestwick airport for our 7 a.m flight. We didn't have any problems with our flight (thankfully), and we had arrived in Dublin, Ireland by about 8 in the morning. We got some food while we waited for the 10 o'clock Paddywagon bus to take us to the hostel. We were told to look for a bright green bus... but we never saw it. Turns out the bus was white that day... Rude. But, we took a different bus and were even refunded the cost - horray! It was a freezing morning, and we were a bit grumpy from having to wait out in the cold wind, but it was okay. We got over it! After some trial and error, we found the Paddywagon hostel and dropped our suitcases off. Then, we were off to brave the freezing Ireland weather to explore Dublin for a few hours. We lasted a little while, but there wasn't much to do other than souvenir shopping, so after about two or three hours, we headed back to our hostel to warm up and relax. Our tour officially starts tomorrow!

Day 2. Monday, 25 March
Our 6-day tour of Ireland started today. We loaded up onto a bright leprechaun green bus and off we went! Our tour guide/bus driver was named Seanie, and he's the absolute best. There were about 32 of us on the tour. Our first stop was in Drogheda, where we stopped and saw St. Peter's Cathedral. Inside the cathedral was the preserved head of Saint Oliver Plunkett, who was drawn and quartered in 1681. That was some old head...

After Drogheda, we headed to Northern Ireland to see Belfast. Since Northern Ireland is part of the UK, it uses pound sterling (£) while the rest of Ireland (The Republic of Ireland) uses the euro (€).

In Belfast, we took a Black Taxi tour, which took us around Belfast and we learned about the tensions present in Northern Ireland - both religious and political. I knew that there was a Protestant/Catholic divide that was a big deal, but I guess I didn't realize just how big of a deal it was. In addition, there is the divide between people who agree that Northern Ireland should behave like the UK and people who say Ireland is Ireland, and are not fond of the British identity. We saw the Peace Wall and a lot of political murals, and learned about terrorist bombings between the two factions and related hunger strikes. It was pretty heavy stuff.

After the taxi tour, we had lunch and hung out with some tour friends in the hostel lobby while we waited for our toes to thaw - we were so cold it felt like we had never before been warm in our entire lives. Ireland felt so much colder than Scotland - though it was probably due to the high winds and the fact that we were just outside for a really long period of time. We spent the evening in the hostel, and Sarah read Harry Potter out loud to me... it was a nice evening in, especially since we were freezing and exhausted!

Day 3. Tuesday, 26 March
We started the day by going to Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge - it was really windy there but it was gorgeous and we did a bit of a mini-hike that kept us pretty warm. We didn't cross the actual rope bridge (it was way too windy for me to feel safe doing that...) but we got some really good photos of the scenery.

After Carrick-a-Rede, we headed to Giant's Causeway!! We apparently took the hard way down - a long, cliff edge walkway. It was exhausting! We spent some time exploring the rocks and taking fun photos. Then, we found an easier way to get back up..... oops. We ate lunch, got ice cream (yeah, I know... we got ice cream when it was absolutely freezing out? yes. yes we did.), and then back on the bus!

We drove to Derry (sometimes called Londonderry - but not all appreciate that name...), where we learned more about the tensions about 'Irish' vs. 'British' from an awesome walking guide. After the walking tour, we grabbed some dinner and then stopped at Tesco to pick up some snacks and wine coolers, and then back to the hostel! Sarah read Harry Potter out loud for a bit while we enjoyed our wine coolers, and then she read HP by herself and I read more of The Fault in Our Stars. The hostel had two acoustic guitars laying around, so I took five minutes and kind of just held one and strummed a single chord... Even though I really can't play at all,  I miss my guitars and pretending to play! There was also a black cat sleeping in the hostel living room - it was basically dead to the world, and hardly moved when I started to pet it. It also made me miss my baby - I love you, Tiger! I'm coming home soon!

Science Fiction, Double Feature...

To prove Sarah wrong, I decided to pause my episode of Community and write another blog post before going to bed.

So, my 20th birthday was the 26 of February (a Tuesday). To celebrate, we ate part of a fantastic cake that Sarah got for me and watched a movie.

It took us like two weeks to eat all of it.. but it was sooooo goood.

You can also see the chocolate she got me - my favorite Cadbury!

She's a keeper, this one.

But, the fun was just beginning. A few weeks back I had found out that a live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show was coming to Glasgow. Needless to say, I was excited out of my mind. Sarah agreed to go with me, and we got tickets! So, on Thursday the 28th of February, we walked down to Kings Theatre and spent the evening singing/screaming our hearts out with the rest of the audience and cast. I had never been to a live showing of Rocky Horror, but I kind of knew what to expect. Sometimes a live showing of Rocky Horror consists of actors acting/singing along onstage while the movie plays in the background, but what we went to was an entire theatrical performance with set changes and everything. it was AMAZING.

Now, there are certain things the audience is supposed to yell and throw during the performance. Unfortunately, the throwing of things was not allowed in this performance, but we still got to yell the traditional parts.  (Near the end of the performance, Sarah and I could sort of hear the Scottish accents drifting back to the performers' speech, but until I heard that, I didn't even notice that they were speaking with an 'American' accent... how soon we forget.)

Here's our view from the Gallery seats we had. 

We were waiting for the curtains to rise - shivering with antici.........................pation.

A shot of the set! 

This was taken during intermission, before they dropped the curtains back down to reset the stage.

We struggled to get a picture, but this is probably the best one :)

It was so much fun, and one of the best experiences for me. It was exhilarating to be surrounded by the energy and chaos of Rocky Horror and just a live performance in general. I am so glad we got to go!


(so there, Sarah. I do NOT sit on a throne of lies, and YOU smell like beef and cheese.)

Isle of Skye!

I know, I know... I'm terribly late with this. TERRIBLY. Like, three weeks late. In my defense, I did have an Organic Chemistry test today... So, this post seems extremely long - but it's really not that bad, honest. There are just a lot of photos, to make it seem long. Power through!

So, 23-24 February I went on a bus trip to Isle of Skye! It was a fantastic experience and I only got slightly motion-sick once, yay! Isle of Skye is a good five or six hours away from Glasgow, so instead of just going straight there, the bus stopped at a lot of different places along the way.

Day 1. February 23rd
We left Glasgow at about 8 in the morning, and drove for about an hour until we got to Luss. Luss is in Loch Lomond, and I had actually seen this place before when we went with Gary and Student Tours Scotland. But, we saw it from a different angle and it was still just as beautiful. It was, however, eight fifty in the morning and freezing.

I had fallen asleep on the bus (as per typical Becca fashion), and was quite chilly.

After Loch Lomond, we drove until about 10:30, when we stopped at Loch Tulla. Loch Tulla is a pretty small loch, and it's located in the central highlands. It was (as is all of Scotland) beautiful. It was just so... open and huge. I had another one of those "Oh my goodness, I'm in Scotland" moments.

(Loch Tulla is actually to the right of where this photo was taken)

After Loch Tulla, we drove to Glen Coe, also known as the Three Sisters view point. This is one of the more famous Scottish landmarks, and is the location of the Massacre of 1692. There is a song (click to listen) about this massacre that you should really hear. Much like the Loch Lomond song, it is such a pretty-sounding song, until you listen to the lyrics. Then it's just downright depressing. Needless to say, I have heard these songs more time than I can count since I've been here (in fact, I'm listening to them right now). I'm not complaining though, I love the songs, and I especially love listening to the way the words are spoken by these singers. It's fantastic and always makes me picture the vast open space that I now associate with Scotland. Fun fact - parts of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and some of the James Bond film Skyfall were filmed here at Glen Coe.

Following my new tradition, a 'Becca Jumps Through Scotland' picture at Glen Coe! 

I have an entire facebook photo album dedicated to this series of photos. 

This may be my best one yet. I should crop that guy out... he ruins the effect.

We had a quick pitstop at Fort William for lunch and some photos, and then on to Loch Garry. This loch is unique in that, due to a "quirk of perspective" the loch looks like a map of Scotland, with a bridge marking the Scottish/English boarder. This photo may not be the best representation of that, but Sarah and I look good, so... The loch (lake) you see behind our heads is Loch Garry.

Following Loch Garry, we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle - aka one of the most iconic images of Scotland. This castle is the one often shown on postcards. We didn't get to go inside, but we got to explore the outside. It was impossibly sunny - in fact, the weather this entire weekend was unreal by Scottish standards. I actually needed to wear my sunglasses for the first time since we've been here!

Saturday night was spent in a really nice hostel in Bradford, in Isle of Skye. We spent the evening in, and then went to bed to prepare for day two!

Day 2. February 24rd

We started the day at Sligachan, where we saw the Sligachan bridges and the Cuillins mountains. So pretty! This was just a really quick photo stop to snap some shots and admire the scenery. Here is a photo of Sarah and I with the Cuillins mountains in the background.

After Sligachan, the day got a little more athletic. We hiked up the Storr - a "rocky hill on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye." In other words, an icy, steep, rocky and treacherous climb to the top to see Old Man of Storr - a famous Isle of Skye landmark. I only slipped once, thank goodness - and then it was just a nice slide on some ice before I was back up again. I've become quite the short-distance hiker since I've been here - something my family probably will not believe :) Sarah and I can take these hills at a pretty rapid pace, except when I slow down so that I don't break my neck on an icy patch :) It was chilly when we were at Sligachan, but by the time we made it to the top of Storr, we had taken off like three layers. Phew! I felt like I was on top of the world once we stopped, though. It was gorgeous.

We then proceeded to three other quick photo stops - Kilt Rock (the rockside looks like a kilt! but, I was more fascinated by the vast water) and Mealt Falls & Mealt Loch, and Lealt Falls.

There was just so much water... Mealt Loch!

You can sort of see Kilt Rock on the left, there.

At Lealt Falls. This man (yes he is wearing an actual kilt) is a sheepherder. 

Every Sunday, he brings his sheep here and just lets them wander. 

We got a photo with him, but it's on Sarah's camera... I'll get that soon :)

Our final stop was in Portree - the main town on Skye. Most everything was closed, as it is a pretty small town and it was Sunday. But, we grabbed some lunch from a convenience store and ate while we walked around the town. 

A storefront in Portree.. We were extremely entertained by the 'ish' and 'sometimes'.

These coloured houses are a pretty typical postcard photograph for Portree.

Then, the long journey home to Glasgow! It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend, and I'm so glad I got to go on this trip!

Dunoon and Argyll Forest Park

Dunoon and Argyll Forest

Today, it was up bright and early to go take the coach to Dunoon and Argyll forest!

Before getting to Argyll forest, we made a quick bathroom/photo stop at another part of Loch Lomond. I cannot express how grateful I am for this stop. I was pretty much two seconds from throwing up the contents of my stomach from motion sickness when the coach parked and I sprinted out onto solid ground. I'm very prone to motion sickness, and I usually take Dramamine, but I'd been find on all the trips so far and it makes me sleepy so I hadn't taken any.. that was a mistake. But, with the cool, fresh air of the beautiful day (and a very helpful bench), I felt better in no time and was able to enjoy the stop.  Today was a near perfect day, weather wise. The most gorgeous day I've seen here so far. I didn't wear my rain jacket at all - just my CNU sweatshirt and a scarf. We spent some time at this part of Loch Lomond, taking in the beauty. Though there were clouds, the sun was shining and it was almost painfully bright! As one who feels like she hasn't seen proper sunlight in weeks, this was really exciting.

Jumping photos are my favorite. 

I've decided that this will be the 'thing' I do at each place we visit.

We found the sad remnants of snow at Loch Lomond! 

Someone had attempted to make a snowman at some point... 

GORGEOUS DAY.

After the quick break at Loch Lomond, we climbed back into the coach and drove for about an hour to get to Argyll Forest Park. We did about a three hour walk of Puck's Glen here, and it was simply breathtaking. Along the way, Gary told us a few stories about faeries - Puck's Glen is associated with a lot of faery tales. Sarah and I were even used as props at one point in these stories. We were each given children (played by two guys of the tour) that we had apparently given birth to. Turns out, Sarah's "child" wasn't actually her kid - her child had been stolen by the faery king, who had replaced it... It was a weird story. But awesome nonetheless.

Puck's Glen was really green, and really wet. Not incredibly muddy, mind you - just wet. There were trees, moss, and little water falls all over the place. It really felt like a faery kingdom. We wandered within Puck's Glen for quite some time - surfacing to the outside world at the end, and feeling completely mystified by the beauty. It was like it's own little world, and it felt like nothing else existed outside of this green haven. 

"None of this feels real." It was just so... majestic.

After the gorgeous walk through Argyll Forest, we drove about fifteen minutes longer and stopped in the town of Dunoon. It was a really pretty area, if calm (it was a Sunday, after all). Since Sarah and I ate on the bus, we went with Gary and a few others for a little random exploring. We were going to go on a little forest hike, but ran out of time. We still got to see some cool back areas of Dunoon though, and that was awesome. After this little trek, the group went back to the location of the old Dunoon Castle.  It was a very picturesque, green area. I throughly enjoyed just sitting and looking around at the beauty. The water was so pretty, the sun was shining, and the grass was dry enough to sit on (yay!) while we listened to Gary tell a few stories. There were a lot of opportunities for Sarah and I to use or black and white film cameras today - from the unreal greenery of Puck's Glen to the beautiful scenery of Dunoon, I was in photo-heaven. I used about half a roll of film today alone (which is good, because I need to be finished with the roll by Tuesday at 2...).

After this, it was time to head back to the bus. We took a ferry across the water (about twenty minutes) and then had an hour bus ride back to Glasgow. I pretty much slept my way through this part of the trip... But, thankfully, no motion sickness relapses! Glory hallelujah. 

Overall, it was an absolutely fantastical day, and now I am exhausted!

Glasgow Park Walks

Wow okay it's been a while. Sorry... I haven't really been doing anything too life-changing - mostly just class and enjoying the lower levels of stress I have here.

The past two Fridays, I did go on walks with Gary (Student Tours Scotland). If you're curious as to the history/specifics that I may not have gone into, feel free to check out the links - it takes you to the page where Gary has written a description of the tour.

Linn Park
Two Fridays ago, we took the train to Cathcart and explored Linn Park. Linn Park is Glasgow's second largest park. It is beautiful, if pretty muddy at times. Some people got creative in trying to avoid the mud; I basically just went right through with my converse. My feet stayed surprisingly dry! Anyway, I spent the afternoon roaming the forest and taking lots of beautiful pictures. Quick sample:

The next day (Saturday) was mostly spent in bed.. until around 8:30 when Sarah and I decided to go out. We walked down to a restaurant/bar/pub called The Bookclub. It was super cute inside, and we each got a drink and spent a good two hours people watching. We're really good at it. During that time, I think I found approximately seven thousand future husbands (Okay, not seven thousand... More like seven). I gave them nicknames based on what they looked like - a few included Hair (he had really good hair and kept playing with it), Glasses (he reminded me of David Tennant and I got really excited), Shirt (... I liked his shirt), DJ (he was the dj and was awesome), and then two boys we deemed 'Straight?' because we honestly weren't sure... but they were cuties.

I got a sort of raspberry daiquiri - it had vanilla rum, chambord, raspberry, and lime. It was yummy! Sarah's had ice cream in it... that was delish too.

Pollock Country Park
This past Friday, another walk with Gary! Pollock Country park is "largest country park inside a city boundary in the continent." The main draw for Sarah and I was the opportunity to see a HIGHLAND COW! But anyway, the scenery was gorgeous, and we got to get pretty darn close to a few Highland cows!

I love these Friday walks - they are a great way to see more of Glasgow, and to force me to leave my room and experience all Scotland has to offer!