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Just a quick note to say that I will once again be moving out. Crazy story... but I think it will be for the best. I'm excited about moving though! It's a studio room, so I won't have any roommates, but I've got my own little kitchen and bathroom, so... yaayyyy. And I'll have neighbours in the same building. It's like a big house with diff. units, so I won't really be on my own, even though I am. Best of both worlds, eh! The new address, effective Feb 1st, 2008, is as follows:

32 Garville Avenue
Apt. #6
Rathgar
Dublin 6
Ireland

Note: Make sure it's Avenue, because there is a Garville Road and a Garville Drive, all within less than a km in the same area.

~~~

Anyway... it's been a fairly rough week, but it's Friday (!), and things seems to be looking up again! 'Til next time...

Hm... it's been about 3 months since I've written an entry, and I probably would have posted some photos earlier, but I never got around to doing it. Guess I'll give a quick update:

- I'm currently in Toronto; came back for the holidays for two and a half weeks to visit family and friends. It's been a pretty good time so far, but I think it's about time I get back out there in the world. I'm flying tomorrow night. It's been an eventful Christmas and New Year's.

- November in Ireland was starting to get chilly, although there were still days where we had great weather. I hung out more with my new USIT friends, Dave, Paul, and Kerri from Scarborough. There was also John, from Indiana, and Kyle, both of whom I went to Cork with. November, a small group of us spent a weekend in Kilkenny. It was okay, although not as vibrant as I expected. It still had it's Irish small-town charm, and spending the night in a "haunted" castle hostel 8kms away from the city center was definitely an experience! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) we had no ghostly encounters.

(Outside Kilkenny bus station)

(Kilkenny in Irish)

(Best name for a sandwich shop!)

(Kilkenny Castle)

(Outside Kilkenny Castle)

(Paul; one of my favourite photos taken that weekend!)

(Outside Kilkenny Castle)

(No joke, this was our hostel)

(Front door to the hostel)

(Dining room)

(Self portrait, inside the dining room of the hostel)

- In Ireland, before I came back, the single most important event was probably moving out of the crappy, too-small apartment. I am now living in a house, in a gated estate (Ireland-English for neighbourhood) and with my OWN ROOM! It took about a month and a half to successfully get the place, as competition for accommodation was incredibly fierce. I went to sooo many viewings, all over Dublin. It was extremely frustrating and stressful. The good thing that came out of it though, I suppose, is that I am now way more familiar with the different Dublin areas. I went to loads of neighbourhoods I've never been before, and realized that there is more to Dublin than the City Center.

(guess which one I live in)

(Now, guess)

(My new room!)

- In early-mid December, I took a couple of days off work (I had some vacation days left) and went to Belgium for 6 days. It was amazing! I loved Belgium, and the chocolate, waffles, and beer were certainly delicious! My trip started with flying from Dublin into Brussels, where I stayed for two nights. I did some sightseeing, and hung around Grand Place, which was beautiful, with its huge square and Christmas lights and music. I also checked out the European Union business buildings, but they weren't too eventful.

(First night in Brussels)

(Atomium, for all the Chem/Physics nerds!)

(EU Buildings. Not the most attractive.)

(Brussels at night! A whole different story!)

(Attempt at an artsy shot)

(The Grand Place at a distance)

(My first real Belgian waffle!)

(I found Jesus)

(And there's more where this came from!)

(Grand Place!)

(They were playing music in the square, and lights changed accordingly. Spectacular show!)

(All's well that ends well!)

From Brussels, I took a train North-West to Brugge; my favourite Belgian city (of those I'd been to, of course). It was much smaller and way more quaint. It was almost like stepping back in time! It was sooooo beautiful, and especially then, with all the Christmas decorations up, and the skating rink. It reminded me of those ceramic models of old Christmas towns you can buy at various Hallmark stores, and such, but only in real life! The only thing was, although it rained pretty much everyday of my trip, the weather was the worst in Brugge. It really sucked, because I wish I could have done more with my one day there, which didn't involve trying to duck into shops to avoid the storm.

(Waiting for the train to Brugge... for 2 hours!)

(In Brugge; a choir in a church)

(A new friend I met at the hostel; we sought refuge here from the rain)

(This menu contained 400 different types of beer. It was a huge menu)

(This photo was taken to illustrate how incredibly rainy and windy it was! A storm!)

(Me and my 3euro pasta, as recommended by my city guide map)

(What's your interpretation of this?)

(The next day, it starts out beautifully, weather-wise)

I stayed two nights in Brugge, but the second day, I took a day trip to Ypres, to visit Flander's Fields. It was such an adventure, going to places I only read and learned about in school. It was like, the ultimate school trip. I fell in love with Ypres, it was sooo quaint. Even more than Brugge. It was tiiiiiny as well. By the end of the day, I didn't even need a map to get around. Being in Ypres as a Canadian, you appreciate being Canadian. There were Canada flags scattered around the town, and in souvenir shops. It was cool. My hopes of a rain-free day were dashed as it started late afternoon, and worsened as it got darker and later. Around 5:45pm, I took a regular public bus to Passchendale, hoping to snap a shot of Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in Europe. I figured, as this was a major landmark, it should be fairly safe going there. Apparently, Tyne Cot was located in the middle of nowhere. After I got off the bus, literally by the side of the road, I had to walk almost a kilometer to the cemetery entrance doors along a dark and deserted road, in the pouring rain. Details aside, it was a pretty horrible experience, but I can now say I've been to Passchendale (even if it was only 2 hours)!

(Ypres, in Dutch)

(Ypres on a Sunday afternoon)

(Cloth Building, one of the main structures of the town; housed the Flander's Fields Museum)

(This was really cool; cities of WW1)

(More cities)

(Ypres main square)

(Caramelized waffle!)

(The Menin Gate)

(Words on the Menin Gate)

(Souvenir shop. Note the Canada flag)

(Ypres Reservoir Cemetery)

(Ypres at night)

(The Menin Gate at night... looks way different)

(Names of soldiers in the Menin Gate... over 53,000 of them)

The next day, I took another train to Antwerp, not knowing what to expect since I didn't do much reading on this city. It was actually huge! Well, huge compared to all the tiny towns I've been in lately. Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium, after Brussels. In a nutshell, I basically walked around the entire day, window shopping and such, since most of the museums were closed on Mondays, and I didn't feel like shopping in the rain. That night, I stayed in the hostel, which was the most unique hostel experience of my life so far. It's privately owned, with only one room for guests. It can take up to only 6 guests, and that night, there were 3 of us: a girl from Taiwan, a guy from Brazil, and myself. Peter, the Brazilian guy, and I just ended up staying in for the night. Bought some cans at the shop around the corner, and watched a movie. The Taiwanese girl, whose name escapes me at the moment, arrived as we were starting the movie, and joined us halfway through. It was a pretty cool night, as we were literally the only ones in the whole place. The owner, Brigid, went out with her boyfriend and didn't return til really late, then went to sleep. It was pretty funny. The next day, Brigid had already left the house by the time we woke, and left us a note saying thanks for staying and would we please leave the keys in the mailbox. Haha.. okay... what kind of hostel owner does that? Good thing we were decent honest people! So I left with Peter, since he had to go catch a train to Brussels. I ended up spending the morning going to one museum (the painter, Ruben's mansion/art gallery) and shopping. Good times! Caught a train back to Brussels and went to see Mannekin Pis, my last touristy thing before heading back to the airport and back to Dublin.