Good News

I found a place to stay.  Now I'm at the Travel Joy Hostel in London.  It's actually a pretty cool place to have found so last minute.  There's a bar downstairs with great prices and an interesting crowd of people hanging around.  This might actually work out better than staying in the hotel would have.  As much as I truly appreciate that my family was willing to book that hotel for me, it might be easier to just stay here.  Plus, at least I have someone to talk to here.  (=  That's the great thing about hostels.  Although, I did try to talk to one guy who turned out to speak mostly German and not a lot of English.

However, I did get to see a bit of London today that I wasn't expecting to see:

I just stumbled across good ole Big Ben on my quest to find a hostel.  Haven't seen that since I was 12.  I kind of forgot how big that building actually is.

Now, let's rewind a bit to my last week or so in Ireland.  I actually think wrapping things up at work was one of my favorite parts of the last week.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't because I was happy to leave.  I just really enjoyed our last day of work.  Eoin took us to lunch, which was a really good time, and there were a lot of compliments and "we'll miss you"s going around the office.  Also, I think our final presentation went very well.

I think the best part about working at Lily O'Brien's this summer, aside from the work experience, was that everyone there made us part of the team so quickly.  There aren't a lot of places where you could show up for 6 weeks of work and end up with such good connections to the team.  They were very willing to work with us, make some jokes at our expense (in good fun of course), and even play a practical joke.

Plus, even if the team hadn't been great, there was always this:

Not too shabby.  (=  Plus we had the sheep to look forward to every day.  We actually drove into the field to play with them on the last day.

I don't understand why they let you get so close in the car and run away when you just walk towards them...

My last few days in Ireland were fairly relaxed.  We went to a few of our favorite spots and spent a bit of time in the city before heading out.  Then we thought it was a good idea to end the trip on the same note a lot of us started in on: we went to O'Rourkes.  This was our favorite local pub.  By the time we left last night, we knew the bartenders fairly well.  So we all stopped in for a final pint before saying goodbye.  And my last drink in Ireland was the same as the first.

Oddly enough, my first drink in London was also a cider.  Apparently, I'm hooked.  I'm very much looking forward to getting out and seeing the city tomorrow.  I haven't been here since I was 12, so I don't remember much, but on the walk down to the hostel, I definitely noticed some things that looked familiar.  Luckily, I know some Londoners who have given me some advice on things to do tomorrow.  It's kind of nice that I have my laptop actually.  I can check in easier, and it definitely came in handy today.  (=

Until next time,
KT

An Interesting Start...

I tell you, I have never been so happy to see a Starbucks.  I am, in fact, having a rather interesting day.  It started off quite well.  I got up in time, was early for the shuttle, and found a place to print my plane tickets at the airport so I wouldn't get charged.  I got a window seat on the plane and managed to fall asleep before it was completely boarded.  I made it to the train station just in time to board the train.  And then, with only one minor slip in directions, I got to my hotel.  This is where things went bad.

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, the family I intended to stay with is not in London now.  However, they were kind enough to book me a room at the Hilton at Trafalgar Square.  Unfortunately, the Hilton won't let me check in because it's my mom's side of the family and they therefore have a different last name than I do.  I tried to argue my way in, show them the confirmation email, and just about everything I could think of to get into my room.  And here I am in a Starbucks down the road, using the WiFi (because the hotel wouldn't even let me do that) to try to find a hostel to stay in while I'm here.  An interesting turn in events to be sure.

Nothing like some exceptionally last minute changes in plans to kick of my trip with an adventure.  I'll make sure to check back in later with the last of my Dublin stay and how I'm doing here in London.

Until then,
KT

The Countdown Begins

Somehow it seems as if I just got here and I've been here for a long time all at once.  It's weird.  I only have a week and a half left.  It doesn't seem like it's been 6 weeks already, but at the same time, I've settled in to a pattern that makes it feel like I've been here much longer.  Anyway, stories.

Last weekend I made a new friend in Dublin.  His name was Liam and he's probably not at all what you're imagining, so I will share the story.  Almost every weekend, I go to Dublin and check out the local artists at Merrion Square.

On the weekends, paintings line the bars around three sides of the little park here.  There are some really fantastic artists here.  I always stop to admire the work of some.  Last weekend when I stopped to see the work of a favorite, a little old man came up and started chattering away.  I would guess he's in his late 70s, rather short, and very white-haired.  He was telling me all about his life.  Because of his job, he got to do a lot of travelling, and has been to something over 50 different countries.  His wife (the painter) would go along with him and paint in local parks.  Apparently, she looks like a woman to ask advice from, because she spent a lot of her time giving love advice to the young men in towns.  Liam had a lot of wonderful stories and we chatted for about half an hour before I decided to take off.  So I asked him for directions to Iveagh Gardens. His eyes instantly lit up and he asked how I had heard about it.  It turns out, he proposed to his wife in those gardens, having met her in the building next to them years before.  So, of course, before I got directions, I got that story as well.  But I must say, he picked a beautiful place to propose.

This park was definitely a good place to spend some time reading and just enjoying a beautiful day.  And conveniently, there was a dog park at one end, so I got to watch some dogs play for a while too.  Of course I would find the dog park.

Yesterday, for a change of pace, I went to the Dublin Zoo.  It was an interesting group to go with (Dan, Lu, Jin, and Chi Hsien).  With the exception of going to the zoo lights in Columbus, I haven't been to the zoo in quite a while.  It was a really fun day.  I actually learned some interesting facts.  For example, male Orangutans have a pouch of fat surrounding their face that lets the females know they are sexually mature and ready to mate.  This guy must get all the women...

I personally liked the other monkeys better.  They had a cute family...

I would have to say though, that my favorite animals there were the giraffes and the red pandas.

Unfortunately, my camera died before we got to the red panda, so I didn't get a great picture, but he was a fun little critter.

It was definitely an interesting group to spend a day with.  Very different personalities.  Made for a fun day.

Today, I went with Megan to Powerscourt Estate.  I had heard of Powerscourt before I came here and it seemed very "Pride and Prejudice"-esque.  Today we went out to see the gardens.  Thankfully, we had another beautiful day in store.  We also saw some dolphins jumping around in the water on the way there.  I was unaware there were dolphins around here.  Anyway, we took a train and a bus down to the estate, which was beautiful.

That's a view of the house from fairly far away and across the lake.  I've always thought I would have enjoyed living in this time period.  It's interesting to think about how different things were in those times.  Although I'm pretty sure the gardens didn't look quite like this back then.  I did really like the Japanese Garden, though I found the palm trees weird.

There were a ton of little paths, tiny bridges, and stone arches in this area, so we spent quite a while exploring it.

It was pretty peaceful and somehow, there weren't many people in this area when we got there, so we actually got to enjoy that side of it.

After the Japanese Garden, we went around to the pet cemetery.  This was kind of an interesting thing.  The headstones all said fairly unusual things.  For example, there was one for Eugenie the Jersey Cow, who had 17 calves and gave over 100,000 gallons of milk over her life.  And this one for Tommy the Shetland Pony and his wife Magic.

I kind of wondered how people felt about their pets back in these times.  I think the engraving on one headstone said a lot.  It read, "Doodles the Chow - Loved and faithful friend for 14 years.  You've gone old friend, a grief too deep for tears fills all the emptiness you've left behind.  Gone is the dear companionship of years, the love that passed all love of humankind."  I would say they cared about their pets a lot.

We went through the walled garden after that.  Some of the flowers were really pretty, so I'll share just a few.

After touring the gardens, we sat down for one of the best lunches I've had in Ireland.  The whole dish was cold, fresh, and absolutely delicious.

All in all, a beautiful day, and a terrific way to spend a Sunday.

Now I have just nine days left in Ireland.  I will do my best to fill it with interesting things so I have plenty to report back.

Until then,
KT

The Curragh

Every day, on our way to work, we drive through what is known as "The Curragh".  Basically, it's a flat plain that covers about 5000 acres of land between Newbridge and Kildare.  I realize that that sounds fairly boring.  The area actually has a lot of interesting history.  The site has hosted several battles over the years; some real (in the battle between Ireland and England in the 1300s) and some not-so-real (battle scenes from the movie Braveheart were shot here).  It is also famous for horse racing, many birds, and rare plants.  But none of this is what interests us about The Curragh.  What does?  A flock of sheep.

As you may have noticed, there's no fence around these sheep.  Must be well trained sheep I guess.  Not even close.  It turns out, because of the history of the Curragh, you're not allowed to put a fence around it.  So the sheep have free reign to do whatever they please.  Sometimes, they decide to cross the road right in front of you and then stop, blocking your way.

And sometimes, they completely lose their minds and go for a long stroll.  Now this wouldn't be such a problem if the sheep could remember when rush hour was.  Our journey home one night last week was a bit longer and a lot more entertaining.  We came around a corner to find this blocking our way.

It's probably difficult to see in this picture just how long that line of sheep is.  It went down that hill and all the way back out to a field by the main road.  Of course, once they got to the main road, they had to cross it, too.  Thankfully, most of them decided to let us through before they crossed.

These sheep do provide some pretty good entertainment for us every now and then.  As long as I don't hit one, I'm completely okay with it.

Last weekend, we went to see a hurling match.  If you aren't familiar with hurling, it's kind of a weird mix of football, lacrosse, field hockey, and some other things.  It's one of the more entertaining sports I've seen.  The game is fast paced and hard hitting.  It's hard to really appreciate the sport without seeing it, so here's a clip I came across that does a pretty good job of showing the sport.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzivRetelE

Also, our seats weren't great, but they were close at least.

The Irish really get into this sport, which makes it a great atmosphere as well.  Since we went to the semi-finals, emotions were running high in the crowd.  Most of the group decided to root for Waterford, the underdogs, but a few of us (myself included) decided to go with Kilkenny, the team favored to win.  The game was actually close for a while and we got into it, chanting with the crowd, even though we didn't know the words.  In the end, Kilkenny won.  So, after a quick celebration from those of us cheering for them, we headed out.  I will say though, that this is one sport I would go to again if I had the chance.

I do have a couple of stories from this weekend, but I'll save them for the next post.  

Sláinte! (Cheers)

KT

A Little Bit Late

So I'm a little bit late on my update this week.  I wasn't kidding when I said time flies by here.  

Work has been going fantastically well.  The other teams are convinced that the number of fun stories our team has means that we're just not doing any work.  So we make sure they see pictures like this:

Last week we got to do a dessert tasting at work.  Here we have an award winning Passion Fruit Posset, An "Uglies" Double Chocolate Pot, and a caramel and chocolate dessert.  Delicious.  My favorite was by far the last one.  

Contrary to the popular opinion of the other teams, we are doing a lot of work.  I'm actually getting to do a lot of marketing and imaging projects, so I'm really enjoying the work.

Last weekend, I did some walking around and exploring.  I started off in Blackrock.  As I mentioned before, I really like the doors over here, so I took some pictures.  Not sure exactly what I'm going to use them for yet, but I do like them.  Although I must say, I felt a little weird standing outside of people's houses taking pictures of their doors.  I almost got caught once.  Luckily, I was still digging for my camera when they walked out the door.  Here are a couple of my favorite doors around town (no editing done yet).

I also spent some time wandering around Dublin.  It was kind of nice to spend a day by myself, walking around the city.  My main goal of the day was to make it to St. Stephens Green.  Although not as big as Phoenix Park (I'll get there eventually), it is a beautiful park.  Unfortunately, because I was there on a holiday, it was hard to get many good pictures without too many people in them.

That's just a quick update for now.  I'm planning an entry about the Curragh in the near future.  We drive through every day on our way to work and I think it's kind of interesting.

Until then, 

KT