Lebdawho

So after a very long hiatus and rather hectic 2 months, the quater is over and I can finally relax and enjoy a 2 small break from school. As other graduate students and Masters holders would tell you, grad school is the part of the education process where you never really stop working. Reading has to get done, presentations have to be made and presented, final term papers of 5000 words have to be written and so on. I have paid my dues and spent way too many nights not falling asleep before 2am to tell you that it is a long and very tiring process. I have really enjoyed my classes this quarter, but I am really looking forward to my much lighter quarter that gives me Mondays off! Maybe I will be able to ... read more

On the official 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and the 6 month anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, I flew into Sendai airport, the airport that shown around the world being almost submerged by the Pacific Ocean. I flew into an area that is still recovering, still surrounded by empty and broken businesses. The first very prominent showing was the fact that the Airport Line still isn't running, a full 6 months after the disaster. After having to take a rather expensive taxi ride into the city, I could still see the destruction even in the dark. Ghost businesses span the distance from the airport to the highway and just over the edge lies the ocean that made them. As I was making my way into downtown every changes came up. E-Beans is still unusable, ... read more

After another day full of train travel, this time adding another train connection at the train station across town from Dublin station. Riding right along the water gives you a striking first impression. Waterford is one beautiful city. Beautiful historic warehouses, that have since been turned into shops, line the water and are only blocks away from the pedestrian shopping center. One of those beautiful buildings was our hotel. Granville Hotel used to be the mansion of a wealthy Irish merchant family whose son later designed the modern Irish flag. We arrived, late in the evening, only to find out that where had been a mistake in our reservation. They thought that there was only 2 of us when we actually numbered 3. To correct their mistake we were given one of the penthouse suite that ... read more

While I was in Japan, I received a rather odd e-mail from my Mother. It said, rate these 4 places in order of where you want to go: Vancouver, St. Edward Island/ Nova Scotia, Tuscany, and Ireland. It took me .3 seconds to put Ireland at the top of the lis. I've had enough friends tell me how amazing Ireland was to know that if I was going to get some respect points from them, I had to go. I had to see the shades of green, I had to meet the people, and I had to drink a lot of Guinness. That's how, a month after moving back home from Japan, I ended up on a plane to Europe. Specifically, Ireland. "I am going to drink so much Guinness" might have crossed my mind a ... read more

Intimidation. The first feeling I felt coming into the Beijing International Airport. Lot's of, "God, I hope I can get around" and "I know 1 word of Chinese, let's hope that it's good enough" were going through my head on a fairly regular basis. Figuring out the train system really wasn't that difficult, it was the street crossings that I had the most trouble with. To go, or not to Go. When I did go, let's just say that here wasn't much room for me and the cars on the crosswalk. I stayed in a hostel that was situated in a traditional hutong. My directions to get to the hostel from the subway stop were as follows: "When your leaving the subway turn left until you reach a small electronics shop. Turn left and go down ... read more