Hey! I'm currently in my hostel in Warsaw, today is the first full day here, and it's great. No exclamation mark. I mean... the place is beautiful, and different, but it is soooo effiiinnnggg hoooootttt!!!!!! Even last night when I got in around 8:30pm (local time), it was really humid. But I think today was about 35-37 deg. cel. Pahhhh.... far cry from the ever-rainy Dublin. It's funny to think.... in Dublin, I always wish it would stop raining, and when I'm finally in a place where it's not raining, I WANT it to rain! Well, I guess the grass is always greener on the other side...
Anyway... didn't do much today except for walking a loooot. Saw a bunch of monuments, sat in a cople of parks. To be honest, Warsaw isn't all that great. I'm super excited to go to Kracow tomorrow though! I met a couple of travellers along the way and they all said Krakow has been their favourite Polish city they've visited. So...yay! My travel buddy is great, except for the fact that all she does is complain and ask random people for directions, even though I know where we're going. Oh well...
Anyway... I think the Indian-French guys here want to use the computer again. They are allllways using it. There's only one. So it's okay. I'm gonna go write postcards. Ta!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
J.S-F
I just realized I have only written two entries this month. Two!! Apologies all 'round. It's not that I'm even that busy, I just didn't have too much going on recently. Work has been routine, and going well. I actually just finished my last day before heading off on my FIRST out of country trip!!!! It's been two months, getting settled, and nursing my bank account. For those of you who don't already know, I am heading to Poland on Monday afternoon for 8 days. First flying from Dublin to Warsaw, and meeting up with Zosia, a Polish girl I met here. I'll be staying in Warsaw for two nights, then hopping on a train to Krakow for 3 nights. I've heard wonderful things about Krakow, so I'm am super excited! One of those days, we will head to Oswiecim, which is about an hour bus ride away from Krakow to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. I'm a bit apprehensive about going there, but excited as well, because I've always wanted to visit it. After Krakow, we'll be heading north to Gdansk, and hang out there for the remainder of the trip. Gdansk is supposed to be beautiful, because it's so close to the sea. We'll be able to go to the beach, if weather permits! Hopefully, while we're in Gdansk, we'll also be able to visit Gdynia and Sopot, which are like neighbouring cities. Then we'll head back to Warsaw,and back to Dublin I go!
Exciting times!
In other news, I finished reading this book Suzi lent me last night. It's called Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (PS... yes, I Wikipedia-ed it. So sue me). Basically, it is about a 9-year old boy whose father died in 9/11, and one day he found a key in the closet, and goes on a journey to find the lock it opens. Along the way, the reader learns about the family mystery and past, which eventually leads to the little boy finding the object which the key opens. I totally recommend it to everyone! It is such a wonderful read, and it will break your heart! I think I've cried about 3 separate times throughout the book. :( Cursed a couple times out loud as well, because some parts of it were just so incredibly unexpected and different,... and amazing! I'm going to try to find his other book, Everything Is Illuminated, but I've heard it's kinda confusing and weird at times. Hm. We'll see.
Anyway, not much else going on. I guess I'll just put up some pictures from Monday night's potluck dinner at April's new flat.
(April and Joie)
(Haha cuteness)
(April and I)
(Suzi, Ray, and Emily on the porch)
(Trying to take a bite out of J-Brown's dinner)
(Will this be the last time I see Ryan in Europe?)
(Emily's new tat)
(April, Suzi, and the Australian)
(Whoop Emily and JB)
Exciting times!
In other news, I finished reading this book Suzi lent me last night. It's called Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (PS... yes, I Wikipedia-ed it. So sue me). Basically, it is about a 9-year old boy whose father died in 9/11, and one day he found a key in the closet, and goes on a journey to find the lock it opens. Along the way, the reader learns about the family mystery and past, which eventually leads to the little boy finding the object which the key opens. I totally recommend it to everyone! It is such a wonderful read, and it will break your heart! I think I've cried about 3 separate times throughout the book. :( Cursed a couple times out loud as well, because some parts of it were just so incredibly unexpected and different,... and amazing! I'm going to try to find his other book, Everything Is Illuminated, but I've heard it's kinda confusing and weird at times. Hm. We'll see.
Anyway, not much else going on. I guess I'll just put up some pictures from Monday night's potluck dinner at April's new flat.
(April and Joie)
(Haha cuteness)
(April and I)
(Suzi, Ray, and Emily on the porch)
(Trying to take a bite out of J-Brown's dinner)
(Will this be the last time I see Ryan in Europe?)
(Emily's new tat)
(April, Suzi, and the Australian)
(Whoop Emily and JB)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
New Friends/Newgrange
This week has been full of ups and downs, and I've been keeping busy with work and going out, haha. Well, work has not really been busy, but it's alright. Better than no work. Actually, sitting around and not doing anything is really a bummer, I feel so unproductive. All I do is read the newspaper online, check facebook, check email, and repeat.
Lately, I've been hanging out a lot with Jeff and Aaron, whom I met about two weeks ago through April. They used to be roommates, but April moved out now. Anyway, Jeff is from Seattle, and Aaron is from Hawaii. It's pretty cool, and they are great people to hang out with. Once I told Aaron about Veronica and Spencer's wedding in Hawaii and that I wanted to go island hopping while I was there, he offered to let me stay at his house on one of the islands! YAY! Jeff is super cool as well. Him, Kathleen, and I went out last night and met up with Chris (the guy I was going to live with, but didn't) and his gf and some other new USIT people. We were originally going to go to this posh club near my flat, but I guess on a friday night when eeeeveryone was out, the bouncers were ID-ing everyone, and a bunch of people in our group were not 21. So we ended up going to a 19+ bar in the temple bar, and just hung out there. It was "legit"... as Jeff would say. Haha... Americans. Yeah, it was definitely a good time. Here are some photos:
(Me and Kathleen)
(Kathleen and Chris)
(Me, Jeff, and Sherri, from London Ontario)
(Me and Chris)
(Haha, this is a great photo! We're trying to be gangsta.)
Anyway, getting up this morning proved to be difficult, but the extra two hours I got to sleep in was better than nothing. Today, Martin, a coworker at the DDDA, took me to this place called Newgrange. Basically, it is an old Irish ruin built around 3200B.C and housed an old tomb. The structure was also built with one entrance, and in a way that the sun will enter only 6 days a year, during the winter solstice. The tribal people at the time worshipped the sun like a god. It was really neat. According to our guide, the window above the entrance is exactly the same level as the horizon, so that during those days when the sun rose at the exact angle, the rays would shine directly into the passageway right as it comes up from the horizon. I thought that was pretty genius. The whole area of Newgrange is beautiful as well, though not overly vast.
(Cows)
(Me and Martin)
(Sideview of Newgrange)
(Entrance to the passageway)
(The window above the main entrance is the same height as the horizon, on the opposite side)
(Newgrange actually sits on top of layers of rock, something like a foundation to any regular building. Except this foundation is huge!)
(At the main entrance. As you can see, it is not very big at all.)
(Entrance to the visitors' center)
When we first got there, we watched a short video clip on basic astronomy; how the Earth is tilted, causing seasons and day and night. Then with that information, they explained how the Newgrange mound relates to the axis of the Earth and the direction of the sun as it rose and fell each day. To get to the actual site, we had to walk about 15 minutes across a small bridge and through a pretty path that reminded me of vineyards.
Once we got inside the narrow passageway of the tomb, we weren't allowed to take any video or photography, so it's unfortunate that I have no photos of inside the tomb. It's mainly out respect. Immediately after our short tour of the passageway, it started to rain! Ahh... not again! But luckily, this only lasted about 10 minutes. On the way back to Dublin (oh yea... Martin drove us. No buses or trains! How luxurious!) We passed by a town called Drogheda, and that was where Martin grew up, apparently. So we drove through it, and he pointed out where various family members and friends lived, his elementary school, and even the hospital in which he was born! It was a really a nice little tour :) To learn more about Newgrange, click here!
Anyway, once he dropped me off back home, I just hung out in my room and read this book Suzi lent me. It's called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safron Foer. Excellent writer. The story is incredibly heart-wrenching. I love it! And then eventually, Jeff texted me about hanging out, so I ended up going to their flat, just me, Jeff, Aaron and Suzi. Watched a movie and ate popcorn. I got back about an hour ago, and can't sleep, thus this post. But I am going to sleep now, it is 3:40am.
Lately, I've been hanging out a lot with Jeff and Aaron, whom I met about two weeks ago through April. They used to be roommates, but April moved out now. Anyway, Jeff is from Seattle, and Aaron is from Hawaii. It's pretty cool, and they are great people to hang out with. Once I told Aaron about Veronica and Spencer's wedding in Hawaii and that I wanted to go island hopping while I was there, he offered to let me stay at his house on one of the islands! YAY! Jeff is super cool as well. Him, Kathleen, and I went out last night and met up with Chris (the guy I was going to live with, but didn't) and his gf and some other new USIT people. We were originally going to go to this posh club near my flat, but I guess on a friday night when eeeeveryone was out, the bouncers were ID-ing everyone, and a bunch of people in our group were not 21. So we ended up going to a 19+ bar in the temple bar, and just hung out there. It was "legit"... as Jeff would say. Haha... Americans. Yeah, it was definitely a good time. Here are some photos:
(Me and Kathleen)
(Kathleen and Chris)
(Me, Jeff, and Sherri, from London Ontario)
(Me and Chris)
(Haha, this is a great photo! We're trying to be gangsta.)
Anyway, getting up this morning proved to be difficult, but the extra two hours I got to sleep in was better than nothing. Today, Martin, a coworker at the DDDA, took me to this place called Newgrange. Basically, it is an old Irish ruin built around 3200B.C and housed an old tomb. The structure was also built with one entrance, and in a way that the sun will enter only 6 days a year, during the winter solstice. The tribal people at the time worshipped the sun like a god. It was really neat. According to our guide, the window above the entrance is exactly the same level as the horizon, so that during those days when the sun rose at the exact angle, the rays would shine directly into the passageway right as it comes up from the horizon. I thought that was pretty genius. The whole area of Newgrange is beautiful as well, though not overly vast.
(Cows)
(Me and Martin)
(Sideview of Newgrange)
(Entrance to the passageway)
(The window above the main entrance is the same height as the horizon, on the opposite side)
(Newgrange actually sits on top of layers of rock, something like a foundation to any regular building. Except this foundation is huge!)
(At the main entrance. As you can see, it is not very big at all.)
(Entrance to the visitors' center)
When we first got there, we watched a short video clip on basic astronomy; how the Earth is tilted, causing seasons and day and night. Then with that information, they explained how the Newgrange mound relates to the axis of the Earth and the direction of the sun as it rose and fell each day. To get to the actual site, we had to walk about 15 minutes across a small bridge and through a pretty path that reminded me of vineyards.
Once we got inside the narrow passageway of the tomb, we weren't allowed to take any video or photography, so it's unfortunate that I have no photos of inside the tomb. It's mainly out respect. Immediately after our short tour of the passageway, it started to rain! Ahh... not again! But luckily, this only lasted about 10 minutes. On the way back to Dublin (oh yea... Martin drove us. No buses or trains! How luxurious!) We passed by a town called Drogheda, and that was where Martin grew up, apparently. So we drove through it, and he pointed out where various family members and friends lived, his elementary school, and even the hospital in which he was born! It was a really a nice little tour :) To learn more about Newgrange, click here!
Anyway, once he dropped me off back home, I just hung out in my room and read this book Suzi lent me. It's called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safron Foer. Excellent writer. The story is incredibly heart-wrenching. I love it! And then eventually, Jeff texted me about hanging out, so I ended up going to their flat, just me, Jeff, Aaron and Suzi. Watched a movie and ate popcorn. I got back about an hour ago, and can't sleep, thus this post. But I am going to sleep now, it is 3:40am.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Canada Day
So yesterday was Canada Day!
Pete, Dan (new USIT kid) and I took the DART to Malahide. There was supposed to be some Canadian celebration up at Malahide Castle, but when we got there at 3:15pm, the guards told us that it ended at 3. GAH! We walked up to the castle anyway though, because we were there anyway, so might as well. The walk took about 15 minutes, and all throughout, we heard bass coming from the grounds. They were having a concert there that night.
(Walking to the castle)
There were definitely less people there than I thought there would be, which was disappointing. It rained on and off all day as well. We reached the castle, and that was grand. The Irish flag as well as the Canadian flag were both flying on top of the castle; it was a pretty awesome sight. So we went inside, looked around, and had a coffee break. There wasn't much to see, since mostly everything was closed.
(Irish and Canadian flags)
(Us standing outside the castle)
(The hallway inside the castle)
(Castle garden doorway... before it started to rain)
After about 30-45 minutes, we all got kicked out because the castle was closing for preparations for the concert on their grounds that night. We decided to head to the little village for some food, and then try to sneak back into the grounds to catch a bit of the concert. Unfortunately for us, at the time we got kicked out, it started pouring. We had no choice but to go outside though. Both Pete and Dan had their rain-resistant jackets, and I had.... oh, nothing. So I got pretty soaked. Well, at least my zip-up hoodie had a hood. Haha. We took a wrong turn and walk for about 30 minutes before realizing there wasn't going to be any pubs or cafes or anything nearby, so we turned around and walked almost 30 minutes back from where we came from. We eventually found the busy village spot, and after much complaining of how expensive the restaurants were, we settled on a small pizza joint for pizza and wings (Dan). It was pretty chillin... and after that meal, we headed back towards the castle and tried to sneak in to see the concert. Well, that took a while because we didn't have tickets, so we were basically hanging around and deciding on how we were going to get past all the garda and security. Well, we eventually snuck behind some barriers (thanks to my ingenious sneaky ways) and reached a little playground, where we hung about and listened to the music from far away. The speakers were super loud so we had no trouble hearing it at all.
Hanging at the playground was fun; we swung on the tire swings, chatted about this and that, past relationships, life, etc. Justin rang me after a bit, trying to get us to come out to a pub when we get back to the city, since it was Canada Day. We agreed to let him know when we got back, so we could meet up, but after waiting for the DART for almost an hour, I decided to just go home and sleep. The day was long and tiring, and on the way back, I had a reflecting moment, and that got me all somber. I think we were all somber though, and Pete fell asleep on the DART. Haha. When I got off the Dart, I was in a pretty weird mood. Just stuff that happened that day, and reflecting. Plus, I was still damp from getting rained on, and it was breezy. By the time I got home, I caught a cold. I still have the cold. Oh well.
(Haha Pete looks like he's lost in the middle of the forest)
April and I are going to meet up and plan to see if we can go to Turkey and Hungary together. She has a friend in Istanbul, and I have a friend in Budapest, so it would work. The only thing I'm worried about is money, since if we do do this, it would be after I come back from Norway/Sweden, and Norway/Sweden is crazy expensive. According to Justin, who just came back from Norway, a pint costs 9 euros! Plus, it would mean pretty much no income for the entire month of August. Sooo.... yeah. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway... I am gonna go see if there is any work for me to do. I am bored at the office. 30 minutes til lunch!
Pete, Dan (new USIT kid) and I took the DART to Malahide. There was supposed to be some Canadian celebration up at Malahide Castle, but when we got there at 3:15pm, the guards told us that it ended at 3. GAH! We walked up to the castle anyway though, because we were there anyway, so might as well. The walk took about 15 minutes, and all throughout, we heard bass coming from the grounds. They were having a concert there that night.
(Walking to the castle)
There were definitely less people there than I thought there would be, which was disappointing. It rained on and off all day as well. We reached the castle, and that was grand. The Irish flag as well as the Canadian flag were both flying on top of the castle; it was a pretty awesome sight. So we went inside, looked around, and had a coffee break. There wasn't much to see, since mostly everything was closed.
(Irish and Canadian flags)
(Us standing outside the castle)
(The hallway inside the castle)
(Castle garden doorway... before it started to rain)
After about 30-45 minutes, we all got kicked out because the castle was closing for preparations for the concert on their grounds that night. We decided to head to the little village for some food, and then try to sneak back into the grounds to catch a bit of the concert. Unfortunately for us, at the time we got kicked out, it started pouring. We had no choice but to go outside though. Both Pete and Dan had their rain-resistant jackets, and I had.... oh, nothing. So I got pretty soaked. Well, at least my zip-up hoodie had a hood. Haha. We took a wrong turn and walk for about 30 minutes before realizing there wasn't going to be any pubs or cafes or anything nearby, so we turned around and walked almost 30 minutes back from where we came from. We eventually found the busy village spot, and after much complaining of how expensive the restaurants were, we settled on a small pizza joint for pizza and wings (Dan). It was pretty chillin... and after that meal, we headed back towards the castle and tried to sneak in to see the concert. Well, that took a while because we didn't have tickets, so we were basically hanging around and deciding on how we were going to get past all the garda and security. Well, we eventually snuck behind some barriers (thanks to my ingenious sneaky ways) and reached a little playground, where we hung about and listened to the music from far away. The speakers were super loud so we had no trouble hearing it at all.
Hanging at the playground was fun; we swung on the tire swings, chatted about this and that, past relationships, life, etc. Justin rang me after a bit, trying to get us to come out to a pub when we get back to the city, since it was Canada Day. We agreed to let him know when we got back, so we could meet up, but after waiting for the DART for almost an hour, I decided to just go home and sleep. The day was long and tiring, and on the way back, I had a reflecting moment, and that got me all somber. I think we were all somber though, and Pete fell asleep on the DART. Haha. When I got off the Dart, I was in a pretty weird mood. Just stuff that happened that day, and reflecting. Plus, I was still damp from getting rained on, and it was breezy. By the time I got home, I caught a cold. I still have the cold. Oh well.
(Haha Pete looks like he's lost in the middle of the forest)
April and I are going to meet up and plan to see if we can go to Turkey and Hungary together. She has a friend in Istanbul, and I have a friend in Budapest, so it would work. The only thing I'm worried about is money, since if we do do this, it would be after I come back from Norway/Sweden, and Norway/Sweden is crazy expensive. According to Justin, who just came back from Norway, a pint costs 9 euros! Plus, it would mean pretty much no income for the entire month of August. Sooo.... yeah. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway... I am gonna go see if there is any work for me to do. I am bored at the office. 30 minutes til lunch!
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