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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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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London- Part 3 - Madame Tussaud's, Eateries, Shopping

On my last day in London I had a little bit of time left on my 'Original Bus Tour' pass, since I bought it late in the day before so it would end 1 pm; 24 hours after I had originally purchased the pass. I decided to go see Madame Tussaud's, with the pass I was able to buy it at a discounted rate. I paid 28 pounds for the ticket at  the bus stop near Marble Arch. Madame Tussaud's took a large chunk out of my day and since my pass expired I took the tube 'metro or subway' back to Edgeware Rd where I was meeting my friend for lunch.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Charlie Chaplin

Picasso (we share the same birthday)

Madame Tussaud

MLK Jr.

A portion of the tube line

Baker Street- Quite a pivotal street in the Sherlock series.

Edgeware Rd

This amazing Arab restaurant - Maroush, located on Edgeware Rd. I found it to be quite affordable. I would love to eat here again!

The famous Portobello Rd, as seen in the movie 'Bed nobs and Broomsticks'.

They have these adorable shops and also carts of people selling things. Very affordable. They sold in my opinion good souvenirs if you're looking to bring home items that aren't too touristy looking. I bought a dress for 5 pounds. Which I couldn't believe. Primark is another store in England that sells items cheaply, I bought shorts (the heat wave was nearly unbearable) and a strapless top, for 8 pounds total.

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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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Terms I learned in UK/ Ireland

This is a list of terms that will help you during your travels in the U.K and Ireland

Half (30 mins)- Like Americans say quarter after/ till the hour. In the U.K and Ireland  they use half, for example: 'half 3' means 3:30.

Just down the road - If someone tells you this ask for specific mileage because this could mean any amount of kilometers. My SD card broke and I needed a new one, but it was Sunday and it seems Europe shuts down on Sunday. The girl at the hotel desk told me that it wasn't a far walk to the nearest open shop. I then asked how far of a walk it was, her answer was 18 km. Now I am not being a lazy American here but 18km is a far walk.

Chemist / Pharmacy - Drugstore. I learned the hard way because my first day I arrived I had a cough and wanted cough drops. I asked this employee at the hostel who I realize barely spoke English (she was Russian). So when I asked for the nearest drugstore the horrified look on her face told me that she thought I was looking for a fix.

Lozenges-  cough drops

Toilet - Restroom: I asked for this and then this dude tried to argue with me about how it is stupid how Americans call it the restroom when you don't go rest there. I was not amused.

Concessions - Student, if you see a sign at a tourist location and it says this word, it is a student ticket. Oh which reminds me BRING YOUR STUDENT ID if you have one. I saved a bunch of money on attractions because I brought it with me. Some of my friends didn't and had to pay adult fees which sometimes was 5 euros more.

The floors in multiple storied buildings- Floor 0 is equivalent to the 1st Floor in the U.S. So when I was told my room was on the first floor. I went on my way to what I thought was the first floor and tried unlocking the door of some poor and most likely frightened occupants. The European 1st floor is the American 2nd floor.

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London, England - Parliament Square

For this post is going to be separating this city into several parts considering how large it is. I had stayed with a family friend so I had saved a bit of money doing that. I loved how easy it was to travel around the city by using the metro and bus system. My friend let me borrow her 'Oyster' Card which allowed me to put money on the card and use it for the metro and buses without having to take out the cash. It is cheaper to either buy a pass or get an Oyster card.

Although my first day in London I wanted to be a tourist so I opted to use one of the tour buses. The one I used was the 'Original Tour' company, the reason I chose this company was because I found the other buses employees to be extremely rude. Most of the companies were around the same price, I paid 25 pounds to use this service and it was for a 24 hour ticket. I bought my ticket pretty late ( around 1pm), so that meant I could use it for a good amount of the next day. Yippee!

The Marble Arch, a location where the tour bus drops and picks up at.  The arch is based off the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and was meant to be used as the ceremonial entrance into Buckingham Palace but was dismantled in 1851 and put in it's current location in front of Hyde Park.

Parliament Square

Around a square of greenery and statues of notable figures are Westminster Abbey to the South, Houses of Parliament to the East, Whitehall to the North and The Supreme Court to the West. I only visited the first 2 mentioned because of the massive heatwave passing through Europe and the large amount of tourists who were in the area.

Houses of Parliament

A statue commemorating King Richard I aka The Lion heart.

Big Ben! - The tower is named Elizabeth's Tower after Queen Elizabeth but the bell that is housed inside the tower is called Big Ben.

Westminster Abbey - built in the 10th century.

•  It is the final resting place for most of England's monarchy
•  has been used for the coronations of  English and British monarchs since 1066
• Also is used for weddings. The most recent wedding being between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011.

St. Margaret's Church - consecrated in 1523, it is still used as a parish church today and is gorgeous. To preserve the sanctity there are no pictures inside.

The Jewel Tower - One of the only two surviving portions to the medieval royal palace. Originally built in 1365-66 to house the treasures of King Edward III. It was detached from the main palace which is why it survived the fire in 1834 that destroyed much of the palace.

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