Time to buy a castle.

I love the city of Galway, but it's always nice to get out of the city and explore the countryside.
Yesterday I was able to go on another field trip! This time the trip was with my archaeology class on castles. I almost didn't go.. just because I already feel overwhelmed. But I'm only in Ireland once.. YOIO? Anyways, I'm really glad I did go because it was an awesome trip!

Pallas Tower House, Co. Galway

View from Pallas Tower House, Co. Galway

Our first stop was Pallas Castle in Galway. This castle is called a towerhouse. The towerhouse was the main stone tower structure enclosed by the walls. There would have been a lot of wooden buildings surrounding the towerhouse back in the 16th century when people lived here--the wooden structures do not preserve well, unfortunately.  This site was really exciting because we actually got to go up into the tower! The tower isn't open to the public, so we got special access. Archaeology perks.

Portumna Castle

Portumna Castle Grounds

Portumna Castle - view from the back of the house

Back of Portumna Castle

Portumna Castle was so cooooooool! I want one of these castles. This castle was used during the 17th century. It's huge! There is a basement, ground floor, first floor, and second floor. This building is not meant for fighting enemies, it's meant to look appeasing the eyes... which it still does even in the 21st century. The house burnt down and was not repaired until about 20 years ago. Something noteworthy about this house is there is a plaque on the back dedicated to a dog named Fury. Apparently, some lady fell out of a window and crushed poor Fury and broke his back. I said, "Oh, I can only imagine all of the children that cried that day" and my lecture said, "The children?! Imagine the what the stone masonry said when he found out he had to carve a plaque for a dog!". Laughter ensued (Archaeology nerd jokes heheheheh). This is the point when Anne & I decided that we had to be BFF's with our lecturer. Back to the dog! Archaeologists uncovered Fury's body and it sits on display in a case inside the castle. I took a picture but I haven't cropped it yet so IOU a dog skeleton, dear reader.

View of the Shannon River from Clonmacnoise, Co. Roscommon

St. Ciarán's Church, Clonmacnoise, Co. Roscommon

Clonmacnoise, Co. Roscommon

Clonmacnoise, Co. Roscommon

Our next stop was Clonmacnoise. Clonmacnoise is a  major Christian monastery in Ireland. It dates to around 500AD so it's really, really old! It sits on the river Shannon, which is a perfect spot to control trade. The first church was built by St. Ciarán and it is said that if you take dirt from foundation of the church and put it around the corners of your field, it will help to yield a very successful crop. Apparently Clonmacnoise was attacked 23 times by the Irish, 6 by the Vikings, and 4 by the Anglo-Normans (I'm trying to remember this off the top of my head, but you get the picture). It held up until about the 12th century. Around this time, a castle was built.

Clonmacnoise Castle, Co. Roscommon

Clonmacnoise Castle, Co. Roscommon

Clonmacnoise Castle, Co. Roscommon ... In action.

Clonmacnoise Castle, Co. Roscommon .... Yay, trespassing!

Not much is left of the castle, as you can see. Today it's not open as a tourist attraction and it's not noticeable since the Clonmacnoise visitor center directs your attention to Clonmacnoise and not Clonmacnoise Castle. We were all super stoked to check out the castle. It was really interesting to check out the stone work and the defensive equipment of this castle. This castle would have served a defensive purpose, more so than the previous 2 castles we saw that morning. What made this castle fun to get to was that we had to trespass. Archaeology just isn't as fun unless you trample on land you aren't suppose to.

Top of the Motte where the castle would sit.

View from the Motte. Looked up tags on Instagram & it came up as "Middle of Nowhere"

Typical Irish Farmland

Our last stop of the day was to check out a Motte and Bailey Castle. These castles are super old--like 12th century! No structures remain of these castles, just because they were made of wood. All that is left is the giant hill that the castle was built upon. We climbed up it and realized there would be no way you would survive climbing the hill before taking an arrow to the knee.

That's it for now. I have one more week of school and then exams start! It's incredible how time has flown.. I mean March is almost over! x

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was able to celebrate St. Paddy's Day on the Emerald Isle this weekend! Let me tell you.. it was something out of this world.

Green tights. Check.

Ireland weather.. rained 5 minutes after this was taken

Some fun facts: No one dyes their beer green here and the pinching is unheard of. Americans are way more into the green thing! Gotta love how Americans have to put their own spin on things :p

Saturday night we got together to make a super awesome St. Paddy's Day themed dinner. All of the dishes had to contain Guinness. We had Guinness salad, Guinness bread sticks, Guinness corned beef grilled cheeses, Guinness stew, Guinness macaroni & cheese, and Guinness brownies. I made the mac n' cheese and it was absolutely delicious.

First serving -- Guinness Mac n' Cheese, mashers, and Guinness corned beef sammie

I'm gonna give you the recipe for the mac n' cheese right now because it blew our minds:

3.5 cups pasta (we cooked a whole bag, YOLO)
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups mature cheese (sharp cheddar in America) / other assorted cheese
a bit of shallots
3 tsp butter (we probably used a lot more)
3/4 cup Guinness stout or draught
breadcrumbs

Pretty much you cook your pasta while also browning the shallots in 1 tsp butter. Pour the cream into the shallot pan and reduce to half. Pour the Guinness into the same pan and reduce to half. Throw half your cheese in this mixture and let it sit for 10 or so minutes. Brown your breadcrumbs with the remaining butter. Drain your pasta. Mix pasta, cream mixture, and remaining cheeses and then put it in a baking dish. Put da crumbs on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F. This has been cooking with Amber.

We enjoyed our meal while watching Inglorious Basterds. I ate and ate and ate.. too much really. I couldn't even sleep later because my stomach was still stuffed, oops.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early to catch the parade in town. Anne picked me up and we wandered the streets until we found an awesome spot to watch. We were there really early so we had front row seats--worth it. The only bummer was it started to pour (or piss as they say in Ireland) rain. Weather in Ireland is super unpredictable--it was just sunny! I left the house with a small jacket and instantly regretted it once I started to get pummeled with rain. Anne and I kept close for warmth and tried to stay strong. The parade finally started and the streets were absolutely packed with people. It was by far the largest amount of people that I've ever seen in Galway.

SO COLD MAN

The parade was full of a lot of dancing, awesomely dressed children, and circus stuff. I'll just show you some of the highlights:

They force children to learn the recorder here too! This is the school I tutor at.

Only in Ireland...

Awesomely dressed kids

Laying on the wet ground. I call that dedication.

First set of bagpeipes I've in Ireland.. it's more of a Scottish thing

AMERICA

This one is for you El Cap'ees. I pretended those alpacas were llamas.

Traditional dance

Adorable children everywhere.

They were shooting people with water guns. Notice the crowd? Everyone ducked out. #aintnoonegottimeforthat

I'm so glad I got up and saw the parade! I understood a lot of the cultural references and that made me feel like a bit of a local :)

After the parade ended, everyone flooded into the pubs and started drinking. This was at about one o'clock. Anne & I ended up joining up with her roommates and a few other friends. We ended up pub hopping for the afternoon. All of the pubs had trad music (traditional Irish music) playing. I'm starting to recognize the songs, but I cannot sing with as much gusto as a true Irishman! Met so many awesome people on St. Pats! St. Patrick's Festival was probably one of the best experiences I've had thus far in Ireland!

Anne, Mags, Erin, and I

New friends & old friends

I have something like 9000 words to write in the next two weeks. So I may or may not have a blog post next week, we'll see. I hope everyone had a grand St. Patrick's Day--I know I did. x

A Third Home.

This week I wanted to write about something a little different. I've realized that I haven't actually spoken that much on the city of Galway, or even Ireland. So let's start with a map and a bit of history.

Putting things in perspective

As you can see, Ireland is an island. The island itself is made up of The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Basically, Northern Ireland is part of the UK and The Republic of Ireland is not (a result of political tension.. google "The Troubles" if interested). The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland together are about the size of California (if we're talking about land). So I live in the Republic of Ireland, which is usually just called Ireland. Ireland has 4,487,000 residents and California... well, has 37,691,912 residents (both as of the 2011 census). Currently I'm sitting in Galway, right where the red marker shows.

Not that great of a map, but you get the picture

This map shows city center. I live about a fifteen minutes walk from the center of town, right by NUIG University. It really isn't too bad of a walk at all and it's VERY convenient to go to school--I walk out the door and the entrance to Uni is right across the street. I do have to walk into town when I decide to get groceries, and this plays a lot into whether I really need to purchase certain items at the store... I think I've mentioned that before, but I'm just going to reiterate ("I can't buy juice and milk because I don't want to carry them both home" ... first world problems, weh).

Galway is named after the river that runs through town, which is called Gaillimh in Irish and the River Corrib in English. The River Corrib runs through town. It's a really crazy river. If you fall in... well just don't do it because you'll probably drown. There's also a series of canals that also wind through town--those are much more peaceful. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say swans are pretty cool to see. Swans are rare in California, but they swarm the canals here. They are like the pigeons of Galway. There are also a lot of mallards around and I can't wait to see the babies in the next month or so!

So why Ireland and why Galway? People ask me that all the time and there's really not just one answer. I really like a sense of community & a college town feel and Galway definitely offers that. I wanted to be on the west of Ireland because I really love the countryside (when you think of Ireland... the scenery is definitely on the west side!). I also have roots here (insert red hair joke here) and my ancestors are from Ireland. It's an English speaking country and the accents are awesome! The people are grand. AND when am I ever going to get six months to live in a foreign country?! This is a bit of a laugh: I did not come to Galway because of P.S. I Love You .... I've been asked that at least 10 times (the Irish, at least the ones I've talked to, aren't a big fan of the movie because Gerald Butler does a really bad Irish accent--the more you know!).

There really is something special about Galway. I realized this after I visited Dublin, and even Edinburgh. Maybe it's the romance of the canals or the kindness of the people. Whatever it is, it feels like home now. My third home. I love it. I made the right choice.

I've realized that I'm actually half way through my journey here. It hasn't been the easiest experience, but it's not suppose to be. It's hard stepping off a plane, boarding a bus, and then trying to find accommodation. It's even harder to secure a house and put down a security deposit before even meeting the roommates. It's difficult to be 5,000 miles away from familiarity and everything you've ever known. I miss my family & friends, of course. But this is something I had to do. It's cliche, but I am apart of the most amazing experience. I'm not even at the end of my time here and I believe that this is one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you're reading this and thinking about going abroad--do it!

Next weekend will probably be my last in-depth blog for awhile (after all, it is St. Paddy's Day!). After that, I will be dedicating most of my time to focus on papers and exams. See you next time. xx

Adventures in Edinburgh!

Hello!

My post is a little bit late because I was in Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend! & wow, it was freakin' amazing. In the short span of 4 days, it became one of my favorite cities. Prepare for a long blog! :)

After a 3 hour coach trip I made it to the Dublin Airport and successfully checked in. I flew with RyanAir (a budget airline in Europe) and it definitely was an interesting experience.. The whole hour we were in the air they tried to sell you e-cigarettes, lottery tickets, perfume, and other oddball items. Guess people actually buy that stuff on planes here or they wouldn't still be selling it!

Anyways, I landed in Edinburgh where my friend Cammi so graciously picked me up from the bus station so that I wouldn't have to walk Edinburgh alone. After meeting some of her roommates and friends, we went out to a club called Silk for the night. It was really fun! At the club, someone told me I sounded American with a bit of an Irish twang. Naturally, I exclaimed WTF (why the face, hehe) I wish! The next day I saw Edinburgh and THE SUN. It was 49 degrees out.. which felt like summer to me. I so appreciate the Santa Barbara weather after living on this side of the world. We ate some paninis and checked out The Meadows, which is where all of the Uni students hang out.

The Meadows, Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of the prettiest cities. It has a huge castle on a hill that pretty much overlooks the whole city. City Centre is divided up into two parts: Old Town and New Town. Old Town has amazing architecture and New Town ain't too shabby either. Beautiful cathedrals are sprinkled throughout the town and even the high schools are in buildings from the 1800s. Insane.

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

After heading into the heart of the city, I met up with Crystal (if I haven't mentioned her, shes another student from my program who happens to also go to UCSB). We stayed at the Caledonian Backpacker's Hostel and it was phenomenal. The whole place was colorful and fun (and clean). There were a lot of owls painted everywhere so that won me over. I was tired and cranky and Crystal arrived around 11pm so we just went to McDonalds because we didn't want to walk a long ways. I can proudly say that was the first time I had McD's since being on this side of the world.

Yay! Trip Advisor didn't lie!

Hostel Artwork

My life story.

The next day we met up with Eris for breakfast at our hostel. They actually had Nutella (& like 10 other spreads) and Crystal was obsessed with the granola for some reason. So another positive for this place. We explored Edinburgh a bit before we met up with our program for lunch and a trip to the castle. Lunch was at a place called Ghillie Dhu and it was so yummy. I had a steak and ale pie and then a fruit/meringue/whipped cream concoction for dessert. Some how I finished all this food even though I have a tiny stomach.

Nom nom nom nom nom.

It was then time to explore Edinburgh Castle. This place was so cool. It's said that JK Rowling got her inspiration for Hogwarts from this castle. Looking at this thing... I wouldn't doubt it. We checked out the castle and it's incredible views. There was lots of posing on cannons and making fun of people taking selfies with a camera attached to a long stick. There was a lot of educational things to read about, but for the most part I just looked at the funny sewn tapestries and re-enactments. I did teach everyone what the hall was for (thanks to my castles class, yeahhhh!).We also saw the Scottish Crown jewels and the security guard befriended up after someone in our group tried to take a picture. He made it known that he hates Macbeth and Shakespeare and that romance makes him sick--guess that's what happens when you stare at precious jewels for eight hours a day. But it was a grand time!

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh

That night Crystal, Eris, and I met up with a few people from our hostel and one other guy from our program and we went on a ghost tour. At first I honestly thought it was going to be so-so, but it was great! Our guide took us around the city where he told us different ghost stories and things that had happened in Edinburgh. There was a story about witch burning and how if you were red haired or had a third nipple, they would tie you to a chair and throw you in the ocean. Of course, our tour guide finds me (because I'm always picked in these kind of stories) and basically says that if I sank then I wasn't a witch and if I floated then I was a witch. If indeed I did float, I would have been burned at the stake. Souless and a witch.. #gingerproblems
We also learned about a dude who killed his friend and drank his blood to try to become a vampire. Oh, & that was in 2004.

Eris left for Glasgow that night so Crystal and I went to some party that our hostel was throwing. It was tribal themed so we painted our faces, naturally.

Tribal Night, Edinburgh. We so tired :( .. but check out my lightening bolt

The next day we took on our next task: hiking Arthur's Seat. I put on three pairs of socks and my boots (darn shin splints) and we walked down The Royal Mile until we hit our destination. Arthur's Seat is an dormant volcano and if you make it to the top, you can check out some killer views. We went the wrong way at first but ended up taking hilarious pictures.

Superman 'dat rock

Half way up!

After about an hour and fifteen minutes--we made it to the top!

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh .... gotta sit on the seat?

After making it down, we hit up the National Museum of Scotland for a bit. There were cool things there, for example, Narwhal fights.

Pretty intense I know.

It was then time to go to The Elephant House!! I was really, really stoked to go to this cafe. Why? Because this is where JK Rowling penned Harry Potter. It was the cutest little cafe that overlooked a graveyard. Out the window and in the distance you could see Edinburgh Castle. My hot chocolate was absolutely incredible as well. Crystal and I also shared a piece of lemon cake, but we devoured it before pictures were able to be taken.

Elephants everywhere!

Yay!!! <3 <3 <3

After we finished our drinks, we checked out the graveyard and found the grave of "Tom Riddell". So cool.

Coincidence?

We finished off the night at a tex-mex restaurant called Illegal Jacks. It was good--but it still has NOTHING on Californian Mexican food of course.

At this point, we were extremely tired. That night we stayed in and just had a drink at the hostel bar. I ended up getting a ginger beer called Craggies that is brewed in Scotland. It was quite tasty.

Check out Crystal's awesome braidwork oh yeah

We spent Monday shopping and travelling. All-in-all, it was an amazing weekend and I was sad to leave wahh.

Well I think that is enough for today! Hope everyone at home is doing grand! x