This past week was full of various fiestas, meaning I only ended up having 2 ½ days of school, which was awesome. Monday was a half day because of lunes de agua, and there was no class on Thursday because it was Día de Castilla y León (Castilla y León is the region of Spain where Salamanca is), and I spent most of the day outside in the sun trying (and mostly failing) to study. And Tuesday was free scoop day at Ben and Jerry’s—even in Spain!—which I was sure to take advantage of…more than once. Also, all the various schools in the university have their own fiestas during the school year, and the history school had theirs on Wednesday. It was really amusing because all the history students were dressed up as funny historical characters all day, like Roman soldiers and flappers. Spaniards are really into dressing up whenever they get the chance! I liked that they got so into celebrating, because for the most part it seems like Europeans aren’t all that into school spirit or school-wide activities and festivities the way American universities are. So it was nice to see all the students getting together to celebrate their school.
Friday was the last day of classes at Georgetown, and also Georgetown Day, our annual celebration/carnival/general day of craziness and fun celebrating the end of classes. It was so weird to not be there for Georgetown Day with all my friends. It’s even weirder that they’re all in the middle of studying for exams while I still have a week of class and then three weeks of studying and exams after that. I won’t get home until more than a month after all my friends at Georgetown! However, I had my own fun on Friday, which was the day the Georgetown group left for Asturias, the central-northern region of Spain. It’s always nice going on Georgetown-organized trips because 1) I don’t have to pay anything (it comes out of my tuition) and 2) I don’t have to plan anything! We left early Friday morning and drove to Oviedo, the capital of the province of Asturias. We toured the city, had lunch in the park, and saw some cool Roman buildings and the city’s cathedral. I’ll be honest, I barely listened to our tour guide Antonio because I was really tired and cold (we all were), so I didn’t really learn that much about what I was seeing, but I enjoyed seeing it regardless. That night we drove to the small town of Cangas de Onís, checked into our hotel, and had a nice dinner before crashing in bed.
Saturday was a very outdoorsy day: we visited the National Park Picos de Europa and hiked through the beautiful mountains all morning. The scenery was pretty spectacular, full of lakes and waterfalls and caves and green fields. We even got a sprinkling of snow! On the way up the mountain into the park our bus got stuck behind a herd of cows, which was kind of amusing—cows are a really big deal in Asturias. We had lunch in town, where I sampled some of the local cider and had some cider-cooked sausage for lunch. Cider (“sidra”) is a really big deal in Asturias. Traditionally, the bar tender holds the bottle above his head and pours the cider into the glass below, which produces bubbles as the cider falls. We didn’t get to see that but just had a fancy little contraption that poured it for us instead. After lunch we toured the countryside a little more and went to a cheese museum and learned all about Asturian cheese, which is called Cabrales and is soft and very strong. It was pretty interesting to learn about how they make the cheese, which they store in the caves in the mountains as it changes from milk curd to cheese. We ended the day with a quick tour of the town of Cangas de Onís. Sunday we drove to the city of Gijón, which was really beautiful. It’s right on the ocean’s edge, and the juxtaposition of the blue ocean, the green fields, and the grey mountains was really stunning. We had lunch at a beachfront restaurant, where I had fresh-caught fish for lunch and tried some of the best paella I’ve ever tasted, before heading back to Salamanca. It was a nice little trip and nice to get away before the studying gets too serious. I have one more trip this upcoming weekend, to Barcelona, then I actually have to buckle down and study for the rest of May!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Un día precioso—a lovely day
Yesterday was one of those days that was full of a bunch of little things that put a smile on my face, making it overall a very nice day. My new roommate is a 23-year-old German girl, and she’s the first roommate older than middle school or high school age that I’ve had since my first batch of roommates in January. We chatted during breakfast yesterday, and it was so nice to not only have a roommate that actually talks to me, but that has about the same level of Spanish as I do, so we had a really nice conversation! Plus, she told me I don’t speak Spanish with an accent, which is good—I may not have the Spanish accent down, but at least my American accent doesn’t come through!
My afternoon classes were cancelled yesterday because it was lunes de agua, a holiday that only takes place in
Also yesterday afternoon, I met with my intercambio José for the first time. An intercambio is basically a language partner; a native English speaker and a native Spanish speaker pair up, and you practice speaking each other’s languages. We had a nice chat, and I was really proud of how well I held up when we were speaking in Spanish. I think that the magic of the Blarney Stone may actually have worn off on me, because I’ve been feeling much more confident about my Spanish lately. Even after 3 full months in
When I got home for dinner, my host mom served me some lunes de agua wine, and we watched a bit of Sex and the City (or Sexo en Nueva York in España) on the Cosmopolitan channel (aka the American TV channel), which was a nice little taste of home. All in all, a very lovely day!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Spring break abroad, in London and Ireland!
MK, me, Jen, and Kristen at Abbey Road Crossing
Jennifer, Kristen, Mary Kathryn and me at a retro diner in Soho
fun at Big Ben
Standing on the Prime Meridian, in the eastern and western hemisphere!
Beautiful County Kerry, Ireland
Biking through Killarney National Park
Enjoying my pint of Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse, with Dublin in the background
Easter Sunday in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin**For those of you reading both mine and Kristen’s blog, sorry if this is redundant, but we were together for all of break, so we did all the same things!**
I spent my weeklong Easter vacation in London and Ireland, and I had a fantastic time! Given the length of this trip, the following post is going to be pretty long (even longer than usual) so I apologize in advance, and I thank those of you who actually read the whole thing! : ) Other than Switzerland, this was the only international trip I’ve made since being abroad, and my only trip that’s been longer than an extended weekend. Mary Kathryn, Kristen, and I departed from Salamanca on the morning of Friday April 3. While we were in London, we stayed with my cousin Beth and her husband Josh. After the bus to Madrid, the metro to the airport, the plane to London, a train to the Tube, and a little bit of walking, we finally made it to Beth’s flat around 9pm, about 12 or so hours after we had started our journey! My friend Jennifer, who is studying in Paris and joined us in London for the weekend, was already there, and after settling in, all six of us ate dinner together. Saturday was packed with sightseeing, starting with Notting Hill in the morning. We had breakfast at an adorable tea room then browsed through the Portobello Road market. This market was much closer to what I imagined a European market to be; there were lots of antiques, vintage posters, and cool jewelry. We stopped at a book store and stocked up on English books, and after lunch in a pub (fish and chips!) we saw Kensington Palace and wandered through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We got some ice cream at Harrods department store and roamed through the store, but by that point we were exhausted and headed home. After a relaxed dinner at a pizza place in Beth’s neighborhood, we crashed.
Sunday morning we went to Abbey Road crossing, where the Beatles took their famous photo. We hogged the intersection for a while from all the other tourists and tried to—rather unsuccessfully—reenact the photo, while also trying to dodge the cars that patiently (in most cases) waited while we played the part of annoying tourists. We then went to the British Museum, via Regent’s Park, with a lunch stop on the way. I went to the British Museum when I was in London last year, and both last year and this year I enjoyed seeing items from my art history classes as well as famous artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra’s mummy. By the time we were done with the museum we were again exhausted (walking all day does that to you) so we stopped at a cutesy ’50s diner in Soho for some sweet treats to rejuvenate us. We had planned on doing the Harry Potter London Walk after that, but when we reached the tour meeting spot and saw that there were about 50 people on the tour, we decided to do our own impromptu tour (which involved decidedly more walking than the other tour must have!). We saw the building that was the basis for Gringotts Bank and Leadenhall Market, which was the inspiration for Diagon Alley. We wanted to go to Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station, but we were too tired by that point. We said goodbye to Jennifer that night since she was getting up early Monday morning to go back to Paris and classes. It was so much fun seeing her and traveling with her!
Monday morning (my dad’s birthday!) we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which mostly involves watching the soldiers march by then trying to see over the heads of the people in front of you for the actual changing). We wandered around downtown London for a while until it was time to meet up with my friend Angela, who is studying at the University of Kent, about an hour or two away from London. It’s so nice having so many of my friends abroad at once! After lunch, we saw Parliament and Big Ben, but unfortunately missed the tour of Westminster Abbey that we had wanted to do. We did, however, see a huge demonstration of people protesting violence in Sri Lanka. It lasted all night and into the morning, completely shutting down traffic around Parliament. It seemed pretty harmless, although apparently some people were threatening to throw themselves into the river, and two guys actually did. In the afternoon we toured the Globe Theatre, one of my favorite sights in London (even though it was built in the 1990s; the previous Globe was destroyed in the 1600s, so London was without the Globe for 350 years!) Then we went to Covent Garden Market, where we found the much anticipated Ben’s Cookies shop. Alexandra came to London during Georgetown’s spring break, and she had posted pictures online of “Ben’s Cookies,” these delicious-looking American-style cookies that Kristen and I decided we simply must try (those kind of cookies are hard to find in Spain!). After much hoping and searching, we finally found the shop in Covent Garden, and the cookies were delicious! Although I had to escape from a one-legged pigeon who was maliciously eyeing my cookie before I could sit down and eat it. I think we caused a bit of a scene trying to run away from the pigeon…We went back downtown in the evening with the intention of riding the London Eye (the huge Ferris wheel on the river) but to our dismay we had missed the last ride of the night. So we rode a nearby carousel instead, which was quite possibly just as fun, and 15 pounds cheaper! After that it was time to tell Angela goodbye, and Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I went to an Indian restaurant in Soho before heading home.
Ever since we planned our trip in January we were hoping to see a show in London, and Tuesday morning we were finally able to get our tickets to Les Misérables! After buying our tickets we joined London Walks tour of Greenwich Village. We took a lovely boat ride on the Thames then had a tour of the maritime village of Greenwich. After the tour we went up to the observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time (the basis of standard time for the rest of the world) and the Prime Meridian (0˚ longitude), and we stood on the line and were in the eastern and western hemisphere at the same time. After returning to London from Greenwich, we tried to take the Tube out to Wimbledon, only to find out that it was a lot farther than we thought it was, so we weren’t able to go, much to Kristen’s dismay. We headed back into town to see Les Mis, which was definitely a huge highlight of London! As most of you know, I love Broadway musicals, and I was singing all the songs from the show for the rest of our trip. It was a great close to our time in London.
We left for Ireland Wednesday morning, which I was extremely excited for. As I said in my last post, I’ve dreamed of visiting Ireland since I was in middle school. My mom informed me that I’m not ¼ Irish as I thought, but am actually closer to ½, but regardless of the percentage I’ve always identified pretty strongly with my Irish heritage. I look Irish, and my mom always told me about how my great great grandpa Charlie Cronin came to America during the potato famine and other such Irish tales. So I was pretty delighted to be in Ireland and spent a lot of time bursting out with the few Irish songs I know and repeatedly telling Kristen and Mary Kathryn (to their great annoyance, I’m sure) that I was returning to my homeland. Even when it rained, I didn’t care because it was Irish rain! And an interesting little fact that I found in my guidebook: Ireland’s population is 5.7 million. Before the potato famine, the population was 8 million. 150 years later, and they still haven’t recovered from all that emigration and death.
Anyway, we flew into Dublin on Wednesday and took a 4-hour bus to Cork. While the weather in London was perfect (it didn’t rain once either of the times I’ve been there!) the weather in Cork was cold and rainy. We got there in the evening and after checking into our hostel summoned our energy to venture out to a pub for some dinner, after which we immediately went to bed (complete exhaustion was a common theme of this trip). Thursday morning we took a 20-minute bus ride out to the village of Blarney to see Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone. It was much more difficult to kiss the Blarney Stone than I imagined; I had to hang over the edge of the castle with a guide holding my legs and kiss the stone on the bottom of the overhanging ledge. I still don’t know why they would put such an important stone in such an inconvenient place. In any case, it’s supposed to give me “the gift of gab,” which I hope means that I’ll now be able to speak Spanish flawlessly and pass all my exams with flying colors. Ha. After returning to Cork we tried to do a bit of sightseeing. We went to St. Anne’s Church, where you can ring the church bells, and we climbed up into the bell tower, but we didn’t last long at the top because of the freezing rain and wind. After that we gave up on sightseeing and spend the rest of the afternoon shopping and having tea and scones. The rain cleared up by that night, but my umbrella unfortunately did not survive.
Friday morning we made the 2-hour bus ride to Killarney in County Kerry. I was especially excited to visit County Kerry because it’s where my Cronin ancestors are from and why my cousin Kerry spells her name the way she does. Cronin is still a prominent name in the area, and I saw lots of signs for businesses like Cronin’s restaurant and Cronin’s hardware. County Kerry is known for its lakes, and we took advantage of the scenic landscape by spending the day biking through the Killarney National Park. It was absolutely beautiful and very much the type of scenery people imagine when they think of Ireland. It was a pretty easy trail, but by the afternoon we were tired and sore, so we spent some time exploring the town of Killarney. We had an early dinner because we knew we had a bike ride back to the hostel ahead of us, and our tiredness resulted in a very giggly return journey as we laughed over how pathetic we were. But we biked about 10 or 12 miles total, which I think is an accomplishment!
Saturday we made the 6-hour cross-country bus ride back to Dublin and arrived in the mid-afternoon. The thing about Ireland is that there isn’t a ton of stuff to actually do; even in Dublin, there’s a lot less going on than in other European capitals. The biggest appeal of Ireland is the scenery, and I really enjoyed just wandering around and appreciating the country’s beauty and charm. I would love to go back someday and explore all the little tiny villages in the rural areas of Ireland. Also, I never believed people when they told me this, but the Irish accent really can be impossible to understand. Half the time I didn’t know what our cab drivers were saying, and sometimes sitting on the bus I honestly couldn’t tell if the people around me were speaking English or not! We spent our first afternoon in Dublin exploring Trinity College and St. Stephen’s Green. After dinner we went to Temple Bar, the cultural/artsy area of Dublin, which has a really fun pub scene. I got a cider at the Temple Bar pub, but it was so much more expensive than what I’m used to; in Spain, drinks are dirt cheap. Ireland is actually one of the most expensive countries in Europe because their cost of living is so high. Lucky us. We caught the very end of a performance of Irish music at the pub, and I really wish I could have heard more Irish music while I was there, I love it.
Sunday was Easter and the first time I haven’t gone home for a major holiday. It was really weird not being home and celebrating with my family, especially because holidays are always such a big deal in my house, but the place I actually would have liked to be was Spain. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a HUGE deal in Spain; there are tons of processions, costumes, gatherings in the Plaza, and celebrations for the whole weekend, and I was kind of sad to be missing such a big aspect of Spanish culture. It was kind of funny to think about what was happening in Spain in comparison to what I was doing in Ireland: to celebrate Easter, all I did was go to church and buy a Cadbury egg. It was surprisingly hard to find a Catholic church in Dublin for Easter Mass; even though 90% of the country is Catholic, Dublin is almost 50% Protestant, and most of the major cathedrals in the city are Protestant. We went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which we thought was Catholic but is actually is Episcopalian, and the service was really nice. After church we met up with my friend Brian who lives in Dublin and who I met when working in Senator Kennedy’s office last summer. He took us around Trinity College, where he studies, and got us in to see the Book of Kells and the college library for free! The Book of Kells is a vellum illuminated manuscript from the 800s of the four gospels, and the library is where the library scenes in Harry Potter are filmed! It’s a huge, long, arched room with walls completely covered with books, and it’s very beautiful. We hung out with Brian a little longer, stopping at a pub for lunch and to see the big rugby match on TV, then we parted ways. It was nice to have a chance to catch up with Brian, and to have a native Dubliner show us around a bit! We three girls went on to the Guinness Storehouse, where Guinness has been made for 250 years. The tour was really cool, and it had a good balance of how the beer is made and the history of the company. At the end, we went to the bar on the top floor and saw views of the entire city and got free pints of Guinness. I actually really like Guinness now; I hadn’t tried it since I was in London last year, and when I tried it then I hated it. My appreciation for beer has definitely increased since turning 21, because I’ve had more opportunities to actually try different beers. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around town and grabbed a quick dinner before heading out to the airport. We spent the entire night in the airport because we had a 6am flight and didn’t want to pay for an extra night in the hostel, and I was surprised at how many other people were spending the night too. I didn’t sleep at all, but as soon as I got on the plane I fell asleep before we had even finished boarding. I finally made it back to Salamanca around 3pm Monday afternoon, and I now have only 3 more weeks of class and then 3 weeks of studying and exams before I’m done, then have 3 weeks of travel before heading home. I can’t believe it’s going so quickly. I know I’m going to miss Europe terribly, so I’m trying to appreciate my remaining time here as much as I can!
Fun little slice of America that has nothing to do with spring break: on Tuesday, Obama gave a speech about the economy at Georgetown. I was kind of sad that I wasn’t there to be a part of all the excitement, but my chances of getting a seat were highly unlikely, and the vast majority of students that actually are on campus didn’t get to go. On Wednesday afternoon, I was watching the Spanish national news during lunch when who do I see on TV but Jack DeGioia, president of Georgetown, shaking Obama’s hand! I started screaming, “That’s my university! That’s the president of my university!” It was really cool to see my school on the news when I’m 4,000 miles away. Apparently the speech—and Georgetown!—was all over the international news, which made me very happy. It’s hard to believe that I saw Obama speak in the same hall in fall 2006, and now he’s the president, and came back to Georgetown to give such an important speech! Just one of many reasons why I love my school.
I spent my weeklong Easter vacation in London and Ireland, and I had a fantastic time! Given the length of this trip, the following post is going to be pretty long (even longer than usual) so I apologize in advance, and I thank those of you who actually read the whole thing! : ) Other than Switzerland, this was the only international trip I’ve made since being abroad, and my only trip that’s been longer than an extended weekend. Mary Kathryn, Kristen, and I departed from Salamanca on the morning of Friday April 3. While we were in London, we stayed with my cousin Beth and her husband Josh. After the bus to Madrid, the metro to the airport, the plane to London, a train to the Tube, and a little bit of walking, we finally made it to Beth’s flat around 9pm, about 12 or so hours after we had started our journey! My friend Jennifer, who is studying in Paris and joined us in London for the weekend, was already there, and after settling in, all six of us ate dinner together. Saturday was packed with sightseeing, starting with Notting Hill in the morning. We had breakfast at an adorable tea room then browsed through the Portobello Road market. This market was much closer to what I imagined a European market to be; there were lots of antiques, vintage posters, and cool jewelry. We stopped at a book store and stocked up on English books, and after lunch in a pub (fish and chips!) we saw Kensington Palace and wandered through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We got some ice cream at Harrods department store and roamed through the store, but by that point we were exhausted and headed home. After a relaxed dinner at a pizza place in Beth’s neighborhood, we crashed.
Sunday morning we went to Abbey Road crossing, where the Beatles took their famous photo. We hogged the intersection for a while from all the other tourists and tried to—rather unsuccessfully—reenact the photo, while also trying to dodge the cars that patiently (in most cases) waited while we played the part of annoying tourists. We then went to the British Museum, via Regent’s Park, with a lunch stop on the way. I went to the British Museum when I was in London last year, and both last year and this year I enjoyed seeing items from my art history classes as well as famous artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra’s mummy. By the time we were done with the museum we were again exhausted (walking all day does that to you) so we stopped at a cutesy ’50s diner in Soho for some sweet treats to rejuvenate us. We had planned on doing the Harry Potter London Walk after that, but when we reached the tour meeting spot and saw that there were about 50 people on the tour, we decided to do our own impromptu tour (which involved decidedly more walking than the other tour must have!). We saw the building that was the basis for Gringotts Bank and Leadenhall Market, which was the inspiration for Diagon Alley. We wanted to go to Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station, but we were too tired by that point. We said goodbye to Jennifer that night since she was getting up early Monday morning to go back to Paris and classes. It was so much fun seeing her and traveling with her!
Monday morning (my dad’s birthday!) we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which mostly involves watching the soldiers march by then trying to see over the heads of the people in front of you for the actual changing). We wandered around downtown London for a while until it was time to meet up with my friend Angela, who is studying at the University of Kent, about an hour or two away from London. It’s so nice having so many of my friends abroad at once! After lunch, we saw Parliament and Big Ben, but unfortunately missed the tour of Westminster Abbey that we had wanted to do. We did, however, see a huge demonstration of people protesting violence in Sri Lanka. It lasted all night and into the morning, completely shutting down traffic around Parliament. It seemed pretty harmless, although apparently some people were threatening to throw themselves into the river, and two guys actually did. In the afternoon we toured the Globe Theatre, one of my favorite sights in London (even though it was built in the 1990s; the previous Globe was destroyed in the 1600s, so London was without the Globe for 350 years!) Then we went to Covent Garden Market, where we found the much anticipated Ben’s Cookies shop. Alexandra came to London during Georgetown’s spring break, and she had posted pictures online of “Ben’s Cookies,” these delicious-looking American-style cookies that Kristen and I decided we simply must try (those kind of cookies are hard to find in Spain!). After much hoping and searching, we finally found the shop in Covent Garden, and the cookies were delicious! Although I had to escape from a one-legged pigeon who was maliciously eyeing my cookie before I could sit down and eat it. I think we caused a bit of a scene trying to run away from the pigeon…We went back downtown in the evening with the intention of riding the London Eye (the huge Ferris wheel on the river) but to our dismay we had missed the last ride of the night. So we rode a nearby carousel instead, which was quite possibly just as fun, and 15 pounds cheaper! After that it was time to tell Angela goodbye, and Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I went to an Indian restaurant in Soho before heading home.
Ever since we planned our trip in January we were hoping to see a show in London, and Tuesday morning we were finally able to get our tickets to Les Misérables! After buying our tickets we joined London Walks tour of Greenwich Village. We took a lovely boat ride on the Thames then had a tour of the maritime village of Greenwich. After the tour we went up to the observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time (the basis of standard time for the rest of the world) and the Prime Meridian (0˚ longitude), and we stood on the line and were in the eastern and western hemisphere at the same time. After returning to London from Greenwich, we tried to take the Tube out to Wimbledon, only to find out that it was a lot farther than we thought it was, so we weren’t able to go, much to Kristen’s dismay. We headed back into town to see Les Mis, which was definitely a huge highlight of London! As most of you know, I love Broadway musicals, and I was singing all the songs from the show for the rest of our trip. It was a great close to our time in London.
We left for Ireland Wednesday morning, which I was extremely excited for. As I said in my last post, I’ve dreamed of visiting Ireland since I was in middle school. My mom informed me that I’m not ¼ Irish as I thought, but am actually closer to ½, but regardless of the percentage I’ve always identified pretty strongly with my Irish heritage. I look Irish, and my mom always told me about how my great great grandpa Charlie Cronin came to America during the potato famine and other such Irish tales. So I was pretty delighted to be in Ireland and spent a lot of time bursting out with the few Irish songs I know and repeatedly telling Kristen and Mary Kathryn (to their great annoyance, I’m sure) that I was returning to my homeland. Even when it rained, I didn’t care because it was Irish rain! And an interesting little fact that I found in my guidebook: Ireland’s population is 5.7 million. Before the potato famine, the population was 8 million. 150 years later, and they still haven’t recovered from all that emigration and death.
Anyway, we flew into Dublin on Wednesday and took a 4-hour bus to Cork. While the weather in London was perfect (it didn’t rain once either of the times I’ve been there!) the weather in Cork was cold and rainy. We got there in the evening and after checking into our hostel summoned our energy to venture out to a pub for some dinner, after which we immediately went to bed (complete exhaustion was a common theme of this trip). Thursday morning we took a 20-minute bus ride out to the village of Blarney to see Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone. It was much more difficult to kiss the Blarney Stone than I imagined; I had to hang over the edge of the castle with a guide holding my legs and kiss the stone on the bottom of the overhanging ledge. I still don’t know why they would put such an important stone in such an inconvenient place. In any case, it’s supposed to give me “the gift of gab,” which I hope means that I’ll now be able to speak Spanish flawlessly and pass all my exams with flying colors. Ha. After returning to Cork we tried to do a bit of sightseeing. We went to St. Anne’s Church, where you can ring the church bells, and we climbed up into the bell tower, but we didn’t last long at the top because of the freezing rain and wind. After that we gave up on sightseeing and spend the rest of the afternoon shopping and having tea and scones. The rain cleared up by that night, but my umbrella unfortunately did not survive.
Friday morning we made the 2-hour bus ride to Killarney in County Kerry. I was especially excited to visit County Kerry because it’s where my Cronin ancestors are from and why my cousin Kerry spells her name the way she does. Cronin is still a prominent name in the area, and I saw lots of signs for businesses like Cronin’s restaurant and Cronin’s hardware. County Kerry is known for its lakes, and we took advantage of the scenic landscape by spending the day biking through the Killarney National Park. It was absolutely beautiful and very much the type of scenery people imagine when they think of Ireland. It was a pretty easy trail, but by the afternoon we were tired and sore, so we spent some time exploring the town of Killarney. We had an early dinner because we knew we had a bike ride back to the hostel ahead of us, and our tiredness resulted in a very giggly return journey as we laughed over how pathetic we were. But we biked about 10 or 12 miles total, which I think is an accomplishment!
Saturday we made the 6-hour cross-country bus ride back to Dublin and arrived in the mid-afternoon. The thing about Ireland is that there isn’t a ton of stuff to actually do; even in Dublin, there’s a lot less going on than in other European capitals. The biggest appeal of Ireland is the scenery, and I really enjoyed just wandering around and appreciating the country’s beauty and charm. I would love to go back someday and explore all the little tiny villages in the rural areas of Ireland. Also, I never believed people when they told me this, but the Irish accent really can be impossible to understand. Half the time I didn’t know what our cab drivers were saying, and sometimes sitting on the bus I honestly couldn’t tell if the people around me were speaking English or not! We spent our first afternoon in Dublin exploring Trinity College and St. Stephen’s Green. After dinner we went to Temple Bar, the cultural/artsy area of Dublin, which has a really fun pub scene. I got a cider at the Temple Bar pub, but it was so much more expensive than what I’m used to; in Spain, drinks are dirt cheap. Ireland is actually one of the most expensive countries in Europe because their cost of living is so high. Lucky us. We caught the very end of a performance of Irish music at the pub, and I really wish I could have heard more Irish music while I was there, I love it.
Sunday was Easter and the first time I haven’t gone home for a major holiday. It was really weird not being home and celebrating with my family, especially because holidays are always such a big deal in my house, but the place I actually would have liked to be was Spain. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a HUGE deal in Spain; there are tons of processions, costumes, gatherings in the Plaza, and celebrations for the whole weekend, and I was kind of sad to be missing such a big aspect of Spanish culture. It was kind of funny to think about what was happening in Spain in comparison to what I was doing in Ireland: to celebrate Easter, all I did was go to church and buy a Cadbury egg. It was surprisingly hard to find a Catholic church in Dublin for Easter Mass; even though 90% of the country is Catholic, Dublin is almost 50% Protestant, and most of the major cathedrals in the city are Protestant. We went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which we thought was Catholic but is actually is Episcopalian, and the service was really nice. After church we met up with my friend Brian who lives in Dublin and who I met when working in Senator Kennedy’s office last summer. He took us around Trinity College, where he studies, and got us in to see the Book of Kells and the college library for free! The Book of Kells is a vellum illuminated manuscript from the 800s of the four gospels, and the library is where the library scenes in Harry Potter are filmed! It’s a huge, long, arched room with walls completely covered with books, and it’s very beautiful. We hung out with Brian a little longer, stopping at a pub for lunch and to see the big rugby match on TV, then we parted ways. It was nice to have a chance to catch up with Brian, and to have a native Dubliner show us around a bit! We three girls went on to the Guinness Storehouse, where Guinness has been made for 250 years. The tour was really cool, and it had a good balance of how the beer is made and the history of the company. At the end, we went to the bar on the top floor and saw views of the entire city and got free pints of Guinness. I actually really like Guinness now; I hadn’t tried it since I was in London last year, and when I tried it then I hated it. My appreciation for beer has definitely increased since turning 21, because I’ve had more opportunities to actually try different beers. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around town and grabbed a quick dinner before heading out to the airport. We spent the entire night in the airport because we had a 6am flight and didn’t want to pay for an extra night in the hostel, and I was surprised at how many other people were spending the night too. I didn’t sleep at all, but as soon as I got on the plane I fell asleep before we had even finished boarding. I finally made it back to Salamanca around 3pm Monday afternoon, and I now have only 3 more weeks of class and then 3 weeks of studying and exams before I’m done, then have 3 weeks of travel before heading home. I can’t believe it’s going so quickly. I know I’m going to miss Europe terribly, so I’m trying to appreciate my remaining time here as much as I can!
Fun little slice of America that has nothing to do with spring break: on Tuesday, Obama gave a speech about the economy at Georgetown. I was kind of sad that I wasn’t there to be a part of all the excitement, but my chances of getting a seat were highly unlikely, and the vast majority of students that actually are on campus didn’t get to go. On Wednesday afternoon, I was watching the Spanish national news during lunch when who do I see on TV but Jack DeGioia, president of Georgetown, shaking Obama’s hand! I started screaming, “That’s my university! That’s the president of my university!” It was really cool to see my school on the news when I’m 4,000 miles away. Apparently the speech—and Georgetown!—was all over the international news, which made me very happy. It’s hard to believe that I saw Obama speak in the same hall in fall 2006, and now he’s the president, and came back to Georgetown to give such an important speech! Just one of many reasons why I love my school.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Class Registration and Weekend Fun
This week is pre-registration week for next semester at Georgetown. I worked out my schedule this weekend, and it was blissfully easy compared to what I did in January to register for this semester in Salamanca. I’m registering for my classes months, rather than days, before classes actually begin, all the classes will be in English, the online course listings are easy to navigate, and all of the classes sound so interesting—overall, much better than registering with a completely unfamiliar system for Spanish classes the week before classes begin. Granted, registration can be difficult no matter where you are studying (this semester was by far the easiest time I’ve ever had registering; usually I agonize for hours over working out times and selecting classes) but I definitely appreciate Georgetown’s system more now—it seems so easy and familiar and logical! Plus, I just really miss the American style of classes and knowing how the system works and what is expected of me. Here, my classes are pretty much all lecture. Even in classes where professors say they expect participation, no one really participates, and the professors don’t really force us to. There’s a much bigger emphasis at home on participation, discussion, and learning how to think critically, whereas here it’s a lot of memorization of facts and concepts. Plus it will be nice to take more classes for my American Studies major (which, in case you didn’t know, I’m kind of obsessed with my major. All of the AmStud classes at Georgetown are so cool!), since it was pretty challenging finding good classes to take in Spain about America. I was practically dancing I was so excited about my classes for next semester, and the fact that all their times fit together perfectly, which is definitely not how I feel about my classes here. I’m really looking forward to being back on the Hilltop!!
This weekend we had a great time celebrating Phase 2 (i.e. the alcohol phase) of Kristen’s 21st on Friday and going to the Salamanca flea market on Sunday morning. The markets here are not quite what I expected when I think “market.” I had this image in my head of quaint little markets in Europe where you can buy vintage clothes, antique books, handmade jewelry, and quirky knickknacks. I’ve now been to the market in both Salamanca and Madrid (which is the largest in Europe, as you may recall) and it’s pretty much all knock-off designer purses and watches, cheap jewelry and scarves, and bootleg dvds. I did manage to find a cute necklace and a beautiful red dress that is apparently the style to wear at the Sevilla April Fair, so I was happy. It was freezing cold, though, so we didn’t last long. I got new roommates, again, on Sunday and they left today; I counted and this is the 10th batch I’ve had since I’ve been here. I kind of enjoy it, though, because I get to meet a bunch of French and Italian high school students.
My spring break begins this weekend, so on Friday Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I are setting off to London tomorrow! Jennifer is going to meet us there from Paris for the weekend, and after five days in London we’ll spend the rest of our break, including Easter, traipsing around southern Ireland in Cork, Killarney (in County Kerry, where my ancestors are from), and Dublin. I went to London last year for spring break to visit my cousin Beth and had a blast, and I’ve wanted to go to Ireland (which I fondly call my homeland, even though I’m only about ¼ Irish) since I was about 12, so I’m really really excited for this trip!!!
This weekend we had a great time celebrating Phase 2 (i.e. the alcohol phase) of Kristen’s 21st on Friday and going to the Salamanca flea market on Sunday morning. The markets here are not quite what I expected when I think “market.” I had this image in my head of quaint little markets in Europe where you can buy vintage clothes, antique books, handmade jewelry, and quirky knickknacks. I’ve now been to the market in both Salamanca and Madrid (which is the largest in Europe, as you may recall) and it’s pretty much all knock-off designer purses and watches, cheap jewelry and scarves, and bootleg dvds. I did manage to find a cute necklace and a beautiful red dress that is apparently the style to wear at the Sevilla April Fair, so I was happy. It was freezing cold, though, so we didn’t last long. I got new roommates, again, on Sunday and they left today; I counted and this is the 10th batch I’ve had since I’ve been here. I kind of enjoy it, though, because I get to meet a bunch of French and Italian high school students.
My spring break begins this weekend, so on Friday Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I are setting off to London tomorrow! Jennifer is going to meet us there from Paris for the weekend, and after five days in London we’ll spend the rest of our break, including Easter, traipsing around southern Ireland in Cork, Killarney (in County Kerry, where my ancestors are from), and Dublin. I went to London last year for spring break to visit my cousin Beth and had a blast, and I’ve wanted to go to Ireland (which I fondly call my homeland, even though I’m only about ¼ Irish) since I was about 12, so I’m really really excited for this trip!!!
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