What would I do differently?

I am most likely going to Europe this summer to complete a program similar to the one I completed this past summer. This is a list assuming most everything I experienced will be similar, what will I do differently.

Clothing:

1.  1. I would pack less work clothes and more play clothes. I did the opposite this past summer and I wished I had more clothes to travel with because I don't wear big tees on the regular basis. 
   
2. I would bring a smaller suitcase so I could have the option of traveling around, either that or find it a place to leave it. Unfortunately a lot of airports do not have that option anymore, some bus and train stations still do though.
3. I would bring less clothes as a whole, so I could buy clothes over there because I found some good deals and things I liked but I didn't had hardly any weight room available.
4. Bring clothes for different seasons, I sorely wished I brought shorts with me.

Food:

1. I would bring peanut butter with me and ritz crackers. The food is expensive on top of the exchange rate. My friends and I wanted to 'eat the culture in' when traveling but it got to hurt our wallets. They give a lot of food but a lot of the places we ate at didn't allow 'doggy bags'. I also don't remember ever seeing kids meals.
2. IN MODERATION- Not eat and drink as much as I did daily. It was neither easy on the wallet nor my waistline.
3. Find cheaper options to eat because you still need to think about the exchange rate depending on your home country.
   

Travel:

1. Don't plan so much- This past summer I learned this, because I was saying how I will be here x amount of days/hours. That really never happened.
2. Although if you are planning on traveling on a Friday, buy the ticket so it isn't so expensive. I was going to go to Edinburgh and I was waiting the entire time for the night before to buy a ticket to anywhere. When I went to buy a ticket to Edinburgh it jumped from 85 pounds to near 200 pounds. I had to give up that portion of the trip.

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What Trim, Ireland taught me.

As many of you know I stayed in Trim, Ireland for 5 weeks total, what you do not know is that I felt at home in this town and I felt as if I had lived there.

1. History- Aside from the obvious learning dates of when places of interest were founded and by who. It was amazing to actually be in that area and seeing the past and present stand together as a collective unit. To see massive structures that had been built by human hands without the machines we have today. Allowed me to see the innovation and ingenuity of humans and of our ancestors. I am now empathetic to my ancestors who lived in the middle ages. I was always told that Ireland and UK were cold and wet, especially their castles. This was no lie.
   
2. Culture - Movies and TV shows are big fat liars. There is no old man who gives you superstitious advice, the only thing they give you is HORRIBLE directions (and it is not a set of cultural directions). I literally got pointed in the wrong direction. The drunks I encountered were the Americans and Canadians I was with, the Irish in the pubs were not drinking excessively nor were they loud and obnoxious. I learned quite quickly that #publife is only meant for socialization not excessive drinking (the pubs made a ton of money off us).
   
3. Hospitality- This could be defined with culture but Irish hospitality is not unlike Southern hospitality where the visitors are very welcomed. This is perhaps why I felt very at home, because I felt welcomed and their definition of hospitality is somewhat like mine. We both serve tea and cookies to guests, well sometimes I serve coffee but mostly it's sweet iced tea. I really missed iced sweet tea, A LOT. I tried to make some and I failed miserably.
4. Pride - I learned to accept my quirks and where I come from. 
5. Dreams - I found my true passions and found my direction in life, where I would like my career path to lead. 
6. Weather - Despite me living in Fl and everyday is a 30% chance of rain, I learned how to prepare for weather in Ireland and UK. It is cold up there for a Southerner like myself, I will never use an umbrella in Ireland again; only raincoats and rain boots and don't bother with the umbrella. Trust me, it'll just end up inside out. RIP Mr. Purple.
   

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Ireland: Aran Islands Part 2

My friend and I decided to head for the black fort on Inis Mor. We had asked a store owner and received the most confusing directions ever. Despite having been in Ireland for 6 weeks there were still some things I found confusing. Instead of streets, he gave directions in markers. For example: instead of telling us to keep going straight until we hit the turquoise house, he told us to make all these turns, but in reality it just were markers. Fortunately we figured that part out after the first mistake. That's one thing to keep in mind when visiting the area is realize the context in which they give directions. Very important, this must be part of what people call 'culture shock'.

The town off into the distance

Our cow friends, they were extremely friendly and liked to be petted. They must be used to passerbys because they ran up to us. When we began walking away they stood there and watched us walk away.

Rocks!

Rocks that are shaped like an arch!

More Rocks!

Fields of rocks!

Our friend coming to greet us on our way back to town

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Aran Islands, Ireland - Part 1

    My very last destination of travel before returning to the U.S was to the Aran Islands. I met with a friend of mine from site and we met in Dublin to take the bus out to Galway so we could take the ferry the next day. We had some misfortunes that day because our bus ended up breaking down and we had to wait 45 mins for another bus to pick us up and take us to Galway. So we were 45 minute behind schedule and we ended up making another stop along the way in a town for about 20 mins. In total we were over an hour off schedule and we would not have been able to make the ferry that day, so we held it off and just waled around Galway a bit.
    Galway is a nice seaside town but honestly I dislike it very much, not really at any fault to the town but the fact that every time we visited something went wrong.

The ferry to the Aran Islands leaves from Galway which is why we were there. We bought our tickets for 26Euros and met the bus at 9am. The company is named Aran Island Ferries (straight and to the point, I like it.) We visited the island Inis Mór because that best fit our schedule and it is the biggest of the 3 islands. These islands are known for their wool which they make into sweaters, hats, gloves etc etc. I have a scarf and a sweater that I bought in Dublin that originates from these islands.

We got to the islands and it is lovely, a small town with a population of 800, it is known for their pride of everything Irish, they even speak it there. We had gone into a pub for lunch and we heard the customers speaking to the bartender in Irish. It was awesome to hear the language spoken.

For people wondering where to leave your luggage, you can leave it on the island and pay one of the shopkeepers 1 euro and they'll take care of it.

The town in the faroff distance when walking to the Black Fort.

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The Southern preps guide to packing for 6 weeks of Ireland's summer

Now to let you guys know my personal style is more preppy but in a southern sense.  Southerners are known for being very colourful with their outfits. The best example I can think of is Lilly Pulitzer, most of my items from her are not clothing but accessories because I like Tommy and RL for clothing. This is what I packed and wish I packed for the trip. It was an archaeology field school so my clothing options were limited and I wore certain clothes for the site and others for outings. Perhaps I'll do a post on what to bring for an archaeology site. I had to bring the large suitcase so I could have clothes to where for different occasions when not on site but the non-site clothes I brought would have fit into a carry-on.

I also brought a backpack with me which I carried on the plane. I had 2 shirts, a weeks worth of undergarments, some basic toiletries, and pair of shorts. I did this just in case my luggage got lost and I still had some clothes with me to get by until I could get it back. I learned that part through a friend's experience whose luggage got lost when en route to Italy.

I had brought 4 pairs with me. The boots I wore for site and some of the hiking I did around. Since they were bulky I wore them on the plane and a pair of Sperry in my backpack's bottle pockets.

I brought 2 swimsuits because the condo had a pool and I was planning trips to places where I could go swimming in the Lakes/Oceans. For Glendalough, Fowey, Tintagel.

2 AE Artist jeans, Adidas shorts, Yoga pants, AE shorts. I also wore the Adidas and Yoga for sleeping.

4 Button-up shirts; they're classic and in style no matter where you are in the world

A sweater, I also brought a raincoat with me.

4 regular shirts that are for nice dinners and lounging around

All in all I chose clothes that I could mix and match and make different outfits with, so I chose the colours to be blue, white and pink. All of which I could mix together and jeans, yoga pants go with everything. Don't forget your sunglasses, I brought wayfarers and aviators with Lilly Pulitzer croakies. 

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Cliffs of Moher

Located in County Clare, Ireland near Galway, and the Aran Islands can be seen in the distance on a good day. The cliffs are a 5 mile stretch along the Atlantic. The day we had gone it was misty and windy, it was so windy that I felt like I was going to go over the cliffs.
After doing some research on the cliffs I found out that they can be seen in pop culture, they are in movies like The Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Leap Year.
There is also something worth mentioning, apparently the Cliffs are a known suicide spot and I saw a couple of signs and barriers.
Cliffs of Moher is known for bird-watching and there is a puffin colony nearby, and other varieties of birds can be seen.
They have student priced  tickets, so make sure you bring your ID with you!
Unfortunately my camera had died on the trip so I apologize for my lack of photos.

O' Brien's tower in the distance, he believed in developing tourism as a way to boost the economy at the local level.

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Labour Day! Food Appreciation post

So tomorrow is labour day, which means I am off from classes and I get to eat some delicious barbecue. I would then like to dedicate this post to the food I had eaten when I was abroad in Europe. It was delicious and I cannot wait to return to eat them again!

Ireland:

Fish and Chips

The cheaper version of Bailey's that we had nicknamed Failey's (Fake Bailey's). It was delicious! I wish I had brought a bottle with me

Corned beef with 4 different kinds of potatoes and cabbage from O'Neilly's near Trinity College

Cheesecake and Ice cream with raspberry syrup

Nando's- I want to go back, I wish I had a one near me! It was grilled chicken with mango sauce, garlic bread and coleslaw

I don't have pictures of these but other things to try when visiting the Emerald Isle: Bulmer's Cider, Galway Hooker (a light beer), Irish breakfast (black and white pudding with bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms and beans). Something else I tried was Apple Cider soda; thought it would taste similar to ginger ale. I was extremely incorrect and it was disgusting.

UK:

Fowey, Cornwall- Tea, Scone with jam and clotted cream

Fowey, Cornwall- Cornish pastry

Tintagel, Cornwall  - Coffee with a scone

Tintagel, Cornwall - Cornish crab sandwich, chips and salad

London - An Arab restuarant called Maroush. There is lamb meat on hummus, salad, rice, pitas, and a vegetarian dish that had garbanzos, tomatoes and other veggies.

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Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland churches

They are both named St. Patrick's and the only word that differs is the name; whether it is a 'church' or 'cathedral'.

 St. Patrick's church-

(As seen from Trim Castle)

                                It was built in the 19th century and is Roman Catholic. 

I attended a mass here and it was fastest mass I have ever attended. Instead of being an hour is was between 30-45 minutes, there was no singing and no homily. Also instead of walking up in single file to the priest for the Eucharist, everyone just walked up in any manner they chose and up to the fence in front of the altar while the priest walked left to right.

 Commemorating St. Bernadette and the Virgin at the grotto.

St Patrick's Cathedral-

  

It is Anglican and is the Church of England, unlike in England where it is the Church of England. I did not attend mass here but I imagine it is similar to the Anglican churches I have attended.

The tower was built in the medieval ages and is a remnant of the Church of Trim

Ceremonies to become bishops have been here since the early 1500's

On this land supposedly St. Patrick originally founded his church. It did not survive most likely because it would have been wooden and if it was stone it was rebuilt during the medieval ages. There are several stories about this, some say it was his nephew but others say it was the famous saint.

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