Limerick and Killarney

I spent the last week in Limerick with Lisa and her family and had a great time!

We went to a Munster rugby match where we saw them win so they are now in the Heineken Cup quarterfinals. It was a big game which made it even more exciting (still in the process of learning the rugby rules though!) We arrived early and had a few pints in the team clubhouse before going to the game. It was there that we met Mick Galwey, somewhat of a legend here in Eire :) Lisa and her dad kept telling me to ask him for a picture, but I didn't know which guy he was or why he was famous. Now I do :)



Lisa got really excited for the match



Thomond Park





We spent a day in Killarney and went to the national park which was absolutely beautiful!












I also got to try some new foods courtesy of Lisa's parents. Cabbage & bacon (bacon = ham sooo delish!), hummus, roast veg, Christmas cake and Irish coffee to name a few.

I love you Tobey <3

DONE!

Three essays and one exam later... I am now done with my first semester at DCU! It feels so nice to be done, as I've been working like crazy the past two weeks! Now the fun will begin... my next couple of weeks consist of:

1) Going out tonight to celebrate!!! :)
2) Spending a weekish with Lisa in Limerick, where I will attend my first Munster rugby match as well as explore that part of the country
3) Spending five days in Belgium & Amsterdam

I also realized I've now hit my halfway mark, as I'm having a lot of mixed emotions about this. Nonetheless, it has been a fabulous first four months :)

P.S. I've solved a lot of my money issues THANK YOU MOM!!

Bitching Session

Yes... this will be the first negative post I've written since being here, but a little bit of venting is much needed at the moment.

First of all, I'm having money issues. I still have money, I just can't use it which is frustrating as hell! Before leaving for Spain I made a transfer to my Irish bank account with a large amount of money, hoping to be the last time I have to make a transfer as this will be enough to last me for the rest of the year. I also did this large amount of money because each time I make a transfer, B of A charges me 35 dollars. The same information I had used previously which successfully transferred my money to my AIB account was what I used again as it was saved on my online banking. I assumed there would be no problems. I WAS WRONG. While in Spain my money still hadn't gone through to my surprise, as it should only take one week. So I had been using my American cards, which charge me outrageous fees for each purchase as well as a ridiculous amount for withdrawaling money. I had no other choice, so I dealt with it. I came back to Dublin and realized that the transfer did not go through, to this point I still don't know why. But I was confused as they put the money back in my account, only I was missing over 150 dollars. Then I realized what happened: the euro-dollar exchange rate was higher when I made the transfer. When it didn't work, the currency exchange rate was lower, which meant I received less money back. Not to mention they kept the 35 dollars for the transaction that did not even work. So now I have to go to the bank here and get the correct information (which I already have) to start over. I need to accept the fact that I lost that money which could have been used on much-needed new clothes. But it still isn't that easy. In order to do a transfer of over one thousand dollars, you need a special card which I ordered months ago (btw B of A charged me TWICE for that card and I have yet to get to the bottom of that problem). I could only send this to an American address, so my parents currently have it. But to my luck, their skype isn't working and there is no way I'm able to make the transfer without speaking to them. And as I'm losing money each day, I'd rather not waste more on ridiculous international phone charges. I think the fact that I currently have no income makes things worse.

Of course all of this is happening during the most stressful time of the year; the end of the semester. Thankfully, I already completed and turned in two essays that determined half of my grade. Now I am currently writing the essay from hell, which btw is what my entire grade for that class is based off of. Not only was this class extremely boring with a three hour lecture each week, it was complicated as hell. I thought I had been missing something, like maybe there was a prerequisite for the class because I didn't understand a thing. Not to mention all the students in the class didn't seem similar to me or like the ones in the rest of my classes. After doing some research, I realize that DCU enrolled me in a post graduate course, without having any knowledge of it. A course that I have absolutely no interest in and that doesn't even transfer back to Sac State. I am taking this class for no reason at all, suffering through the boring lectures and now this extremely difficult essay for nothing. Awesome. It also leaves me no time to study for my final exam which is looking to be pretty difficult. Oh yeah and this stress has given me a zit, looking like a massive mountain growing on my face. All this plus PMS, not a good combination...

Okay I feel a bit better now getting all of that out... only a few more days and I will be done with the semester, thank goodness!!!

I was considering posting a picture of me pissed off to add to this post, but I decided against it as I will probably regret it later.

Snow in Dublin!

We have snow in Dublin!! I have never lived in the snow before, so this is extremely exciting for me! It is for everyone else here too, as it rarely snows in Dublin. This year it is actually referred to as "The Big Freeze" in Ireland because it has not snowed this much in over 60 years! Some days the buses are actually cancelled and traffic is crazy... we have come to the conclusion that the snow really isn't that bad, just the Irish aren't used to it and go into panic mode. It's rare to walk across campus without finding yourself in the middle of a snowball fight and we've found a little bit of time here and there to enjoy it.

Here is a picture outside my bedroom window capturing the beginning of a snowball fight:



and here is the same picture, but with snow heavily falling:



One of the best things is that two deadlines of some essays that I have been frantically trying to write have been extended due to the weather, library being closed and people unable to leave their homes (once again it really isn't that bad). Actually, a lot of the snow has melted in the last few days.

Sevilla, Spain

My third and final week was spent in Seville with Angela and her family. The city was one of the most amazing ones I've seen and I had so much fun!







This is a typical Spanish house. Almost all have balconies and are similar colors.



The streets in Seville are very narrow... sometimes you can walk through them and touch both sides at once.





The Cathedral at night... such an amazing site!



The Castle - it was huge inside and my favorite part was the gardens. There are these horse carriages everywhere instead of taxis, so cool!






This day we took bikes all around the city. We got them in the afternoon and rode until the evening. It was really fun and a good way to see the Seville!



On New Years Eve we had a huge dinner with the family before going to a pub for the rest of the night. In Spain, everyone eats grapes in the last 12 seconds of the year. If you finish all 12 grapes in 12 seconds, you are expected to have good luck for the new year. It is really difficult and most people don't finish on time... but I did!







The Cathedral in Seville is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. We went inside and spent a few hours looking at all the different rooms. It was amazing! The rooms were all so differnet, in one of them I saw Christopher Columbus' casket. We climbed the top of the tower where we saw amazing views of the city. This is just one of them:





One of my favorite things about Seville is that there are orange trees EVERYWHERE!



I thought that everyone was gathered around here for some special occasion, but it is like this every day around lunch time. We had lunch with tinto de verano (my new favorite drink - wine and lemon fanta yummm!) here



On my last day, we went to Orsuna which is an hour drive from Seville to see our friend Belen (who goes to DCU as well).

Tenerife, Spain

For my second week I took a boat to Tenerife and stayed with Indira and her family. I got to try more new food - typical canarian wines, cheeses and meat. Along with some Venezuelan food because Indira's parents were originally from there until a few years ago. The only name I can remember is croquetas and they were delicious!

The first day Indira and I went for a hike.




We visited various places around Los Realejos, the city where she lives.



The oldest tree on the island






On Christmas Eve Indira, her dad and I went to Santa Cruz (the capital of Tenerife). We saw a bit of the city, but spent most of our time on the beach. We played volleyball, swam and played patas (a game with paddles and you hit a ball back and forth... similar to tennis in the sand). It was such a fun day!





That night we had a big dinner with the whole family. In this picture are the abuelas, primos y hermanos. Not in the picture are Indira's parents and aunt. After dinner we opened presents and then went to see a live Belen. I loved all the Spanish music! Later on we went out. In the Canary Islands EVERYONE goes out on Christmas Eve. It was ridiculously cheap, only 3 euros to get enter and a free drink when you do. In Spain they don't get to the club until 2 am and don't end until 6!



Christmas day the whole family went to the mountains and had a bbq. Sorry I have no pictures from this day.

The next day we took a boat to LA GOMERA, a different island. We stayed at Naza's house and the first day drove around the ENTIRE island (it is pretty small)





We ate lunch at this cute little place





And we went out to a club that night and had sooo much fun!

Gran Canaria, Spain

My three week vacation in Spain was amazing! It was so nice spending an entire week in one place and in a house - compared to my usual rushed weekend trips in hostels. My first stop was Gran Canaria, where I stayed with Miriam and her family. Gran Canaria was amazing! It was was 25-30 degrees celcius, which I believe is about 75-80 degrees farenheit for you Americans :) Miriam and I went to the beach every day, along with visiting various cities around the island.

I also got to eat all the typical Canarian/Spanish food - rabbit, empanadas, turron, fried bananas, octopus with mojo (canarian sauce you can only find in the islands), papas con mojos, spanish omelet and chorizo to name a few.

Arucas (the city where Miriam lives) and the cathedral






Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria. In Spain it is more common to make a Belen for Christmas than decorate a Christmas tree. A Belen is basically a nativity scene, but much bigger with landscape and all kinds of characters. In Spain they usually give presents on January 6th, the day of the wisemen. This is celebrating the day the wisemen brought the gifts to Jesus. Spanish children don't write letters to Santa Claus, they write to the wise men or sometimes just their favorite wiseman. This is a picture of a Belen that was made of sand on the beach in Las Palmas. Very impressive!



We saw a museum about Christopher Columbus. It was located near the church where he went and prayed right before settling off to discover America. There were parrots inside :)







This day Miriam's parents took us to the south of Gran Canaria where the best beaches are. This is La Playa del Ingles, my favorite beach filled with sand dunes! (notice the swimsuits... yes in DECEMBER!)





This day we drove up to the mountains. The views were amazing! All the green is banana trees... the best ones in the world are grown in the Canary Islands.



Then we went to an old town where there was a huge farmer's market



... and I tried chorizo! Soooo good!!