Green Rolling Hills Éire!!

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Hi Home!
I know it’s been some time since I’ve written, but it’s just been some time since I’ve had interesting things to write, and now I have loads! At least…I think they’re interesting! 😉

So, I left off last time telling of our adventures to Coventry, Birmingham, and Stratford-Upon-Avon. We have since travelled a little more, we went on a day trip the next weekend to Blackpool. Big mistake there let me tell you. I barely took pictures because it was on the sad and depressing side of English scenery and weather, all in one day! We met some friends there who ended up leaving right after we got there because they had left earlier than us and were definitely ready to go. Ok, so first things first, it was Aubrey and I travelling to meet Elizabeth (Kentucky), Jori (Kentucky, and Spring Break travel buddy), and Carly (California). It was a rainy, cold and gross English morning, mark number one against the day. We get to Blackpool and it’s still raining. Yay.
We catch up with the other girls, and they were by the beach they said…however the mile wide beach that had been there at low tide disappeared in the high tide, when the water came right up to the cement stairs leading down to the ‘beach’. This is not the beach poor Carly or any of us was quite expecting, but of course, it is England. In February. In the rain. Fun, right?
As we are walking, even the buildings seem sad, and the streets were dirtier than normal, but this was probably just because of the dreary day. Let me explain something here, Blackpool reminded me of my brief visit for my best Julia’s birthday at the Jersey Shore, with the boardwalk and the vendors and the game shops and all of the carnival, touristy fun things to do. It is apparently a lovely place to go for a night out or in the summer time, when the sun is shining and the weather is warmer to go with the family to play the arcade games and see the Pirate adventure activities, and they even have a theme park further South from us.
I imagine I would have enjoyed it had it been one of those warm summer nights, but in the so-so gray and wet weather, it was not so much fun. In fact, it was honestly depressing. We still walked around of course, we paid (not too much fortunately) to go and see Blackpool, so why not. We did see some pretty and cheerful streets that made us smile, and we got to see in the opera and theater house a sample of some of the carnival side shows, called the Ghost Train. That was ehm interesting, if a bit creepy in itself. We decided to walk back the train station and back to lovely (if rainy) Preston.
Then, started another week and the same old fun I’ve been having here. Nothing special, but nothing worse than Blackpool either. J

Next comes what I think my favorite trip so far has been if you don’t know already….IRELAND!!!! I decided that I shouldn’t wait for one of the people in my group to want to travel with me to Ireland, soooo I would just have to go myself. And I did! And as nerve racking as it was at first, it really turned out to be one of the best things I ever did…aside from coming to England in the first place of course.
My first worry was the fact that I wasn’t checking a bag on the plane, I was packing everything I would need for the weekend (I left on Saturday morning and didn’t get back until about 11:30 Tuesday night to Preston) in a small carry on bag. I am allowed a limit of 10 kilos, or kilograms. Do you know what a kilo is, and what 10 of them feel like? Chances are, if you live in the states and most of you do, you don’t. Yay! I was so worried that I would go over, I didn’t even look at the scale when the lady weighed it. I guess it was ok, because she let me on the plane. J Aubrey let me borrow her bag, which had wheels and everything on it (not that I needed it, it wasn’t heavy at all.)
Here is the travel itinerary. I started out having to take an hour long train ride to Liverpool, then a bus to the airport, get on the plane to Shannon (west coast of Ireland), take a 2 hour bus ride to Galway (where there was a hostel for me to stay in cheaply) then walk around to find my hostel. Needless to say, I got up very early in the morning. No problem, I was excited to be going to Ireland!
I ended up taking a taxi from the train station and not a bus to the Liverpool airport with two other girls going there also. One studies at my school actually, she is from Spain and the other was a girl from France who was on holiday. (She was at the Lake District, where I am going this weekend!) They were very nice, and we got to the airport with so much time to spare we ended up relaxing together before our different flights took off. It was already starting out to be a great adventure with wonderful people!

Things from then on were pretty uneventful, the plane was on time (I was so early!) and we landed ahead of time and with no problems at all. I had a bit of a panic when trying to get out of the airport…certain doors don’t work! And trying to find the bus stop. After finding the bus stop, I realized I had left my papers behind on the bus company desk inside the airport. Yay! I hustled back to get them, and thought I had missed the bus for suuuure but I was lucky, there was a long line of people so the bus was still there and though it was raining and a bit chilly, I was in Ireland! J The bus ride continued to be rainy, but I got an eye full of the countryside and heard a couple of fun accents on the way.

I got off and found my hostel without any problems, I had really good directions and a good map so I was just fine! Good thing I know how to read maps, right Dad!?! The hostel I stayed in was really neat, set up a bit weird but it gave it character. The man at the desk was very nice and everything was in order. In my room, I met a roommate who was trying to nap but we chatted a little bit and introduced ourselves. We were both travelling alone, and I invited her to dinner with me after her nap. She agreed, so I left her to it and I went to go explore the wet city. The couple of hours later, I looked like the city too…wet! It was very pretty, I saw the harbor and Shop Street with the little stores and shops and pubs. I wandered wherever my feet carried me, and got myself lost. I have learned you sometimes find the best places and things when you get lost!
I had a bit of trouble finding my way back to the hostel, but not to worry I wasn’t late and I did find my way! My roommate, Emilie from France, knew the city fairly well already as she had studied for 2 years there 5 years ago. We had fish n chips at McDonough’s, a famous restaurant my guidebook even recommended. It was delicious and great portions for the price! They say our American portions are huge?! I think they are the same, a lot of food no matter what country you’re in! We wandered a bit more, trying to find good traditional Irish music. Unfortunately, with it being Saturday night and a huge rugby match as well on-Ireland vs. England!- pubs were packed to the gills. We headed back to the hostel for some shut eye, and met our other roommates! 3 girls from Dublin were staying in our room, they were in town for their friend’s birthday. They were fun girls, and invited us out. While Emilie was tired and had a big day the next day of trying to find a job, I decided to take them up on their offer. I am so glad I did! While it was a bit on the expensive side, I got to know some pretty cool people and had a great time. We started out meeting the other people in their group, the birthday girl and her boyfriend and a group of friends of theirs, we moved on to a pub for a while and then on to the club. We danced and even sang the night away, having a grand ol’ time! We have some funny stories, including some funny guys in the club, a rose vendor outside the club, getting back to our hostel where we met an Irish water polo player (yay!) and hanging out in the cafeteria/great hall wearing a water polo cap eating chips (crisps as they are called over here).
Enjoy trying to picture these scenarios….as it is just after 3 am as I am writing this, I am going to bed! I head to the lake district tomorrow, and I will write about the rest of Ireland and the latest England adventure a little later.

I miss you all, and I love you so much more!!!

Love your Irish American gal,
Cass

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