Blogs from Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 69

April 12th 2005........late, late in the day. Belfast, Northern Ireland. Yes, I'm in Northern Ireland now, but that can wait until the next journal. Much more interesting is the Magic Mushroom story. Scott threw in his lot with me and we ended up doing the magic mushrooms together last night in the common room with an audience. The mushies, which were meant to induce a general happiness and giggles, etc, were really gross and had to be followed with shots of Lucozade and then vodka......really yummy pineapple and raspberry vodka, with, get this, 20% alcohol!! How cool! Scott, who was by now not so enthusiastic with the idea, engineered it so that I ended up eating more mushies than him, but that was okay, as I'd paid for them. (Wimp, haha). So anyway, we took off ... read more

Well, the schoolwork is finally heating up, and I'm currently trying to finish a paper for my Contemporary Irish Writing in English course before I head off to London and Rome next week. But, of course, I want to take time out of my busier-than-a-few-weeks-ago schedule to post an update on the previous week/weekend's adventures! Like I mentioned in my previous entry, on Saturday I went to Waterford on the Southeast coast of Ireland with Rose and Sara (from USC). Liz (who went with us to Doolin) came along as well. I actually almost missed the 10:30 bus taking us there because the city buses that run from Castletroy (the suburb I'm in) to the city centre were running behind, but I jumped on the bus to Waterford about 3 minutes before it took off-- phew! ... read more

Living in the Southeast US for the past several years, I've almost forgotten what a glorious experience it is to traverse from the chilled grasp of winter to the wonder that is springtime. Here, though, I am able to experience that sensation again. Now, the flowers are just starting to bloom here, temperatures are rising ever-so-slowly, and the smell of spring is in the air. Yes, I stepped out the door on Sunday afternoon, the sun shining mildly upon me, took a deep breath and knew for certain that spring was on its way. And I love it! Well, besides these visions of spring (I can't wait for everything to come into bloom!), I've done some more traveling since my last update. Nothing too far or too expensive, but I went to Adare with my French ... read more

I'd wanted to wait until I could upload all my photos before posting an update on my Galway trip, but the digital photography gods seem to have it in for me. I finally managed to upload all my digital pics onto my roommate Oscar's laptop-- yay for nice roommates!--but somehow, I only managed to burn ONE of them to CD before merrily heading into campus. Only when I inserted the CD into the computer lab computer did I realize my folly. By that point, my roommate and his laptop were elsewhere. So, for now, the ONE picture I've added on a previous entry will have to suffice, as well as a vow to add more later. As for my Galway trip, as the pictures shall soon show you, it was loads of fun! There were ten ... read more

With this weekend, I have successfully began my adventures of exploring the world beyond Limerick! I promised my Dad before I left that I would travel every weekend, so as this weekend approached, I tried to brainstorm up a daytrip for Saturday that wouldn't be too expensive or too troublesome for a solo traveler. Thus, I woke up yesterday morning, donned one of the few outfits I had room to pack, and headed on a bus trip to Ennis, which is about a 45-minute bus ride from here. Ennis is a mid-sized town almost centered between Limerick and Galway. I enjoyed my day there, exploring the quaint shops and winding streets. It was quite busy because there was a hurling game yesterday at a pitch (playing field) nearby. Everyone was decked out in their team's colors, ... read more