Spring Break Wanderings

Spring break started at 3:45 am Monday morning, March 29th. I was up and out of my hostel by 4:00 am. Don't expect me to replicate that any time soon. I got to the Dublin airport without a hitch and landed in Vienna later that morning. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day, and after following directions to the hostel that were so detailed it felt like I was following a treasure map ('Walk through the train station, down the stairs, and out the door to the right. You should see a Chinese restaurant across the street'), I met up with Katrina, Michelle, and Michelle's sister.

We took the tram out to St. Marx's Cemetery, a huge, sprawling place with unbelievably ornate grave stones. It has three different stops along the tram line, that's how large this place is. We walked around for a bit just admiring all of the unique memorials, but out real goal was to find the Zentralfriedhof, the central part of the cemetery that includes a group of famous composers. After a bit of searching, we stumbled upon it almost by accident.

Beethoven:

Strauss:

Brahms:

Schubert:

Mozart:

The next day we spent the morning wandering around the Museumsquartier, an area of Vienna known for its interesting and diverse architecture. We also went into St. Stephen's Cathedral, but we didn't have time to go through the catacombs or climb the towers. It was fun to just get a feel for another city. Compared to some of the other places I've been to over the past few months, Vienna felt much more like a working city rather than a tourist destination. It wasn't industrialized to the extent that Belfast is, but I still got the sense that most of the people we saw were doing something or on their way somewhere. They weren't rushing though, so the city didn't feel busy and hectic like New York does. We didn't have much time since we were taking a train to Prague that afternoon, but we still had a very enjoyable morning.

Having fun with Jumbo's cousin, perhaps?

The first train we were on that afternoon was fun: we were in our own little compartment, and more than a few references to the Hogwarts Express were discussed. Our second train was nice too, but we sat in a cafe-type car with tables instead of a compartment. While it was fun to listen to the different languages surrounding us, it wasn't as cozy.

We picked up a map of Prague while we were in the train station, but since we only had an address of our hostel and not exact directions, navigating through the winding, cobblestone streets with suitcases got a bit tiring. We managed to find the hostel soon enough, and after several trips in the claustrophobia-inducing old-fashioned elevator, we settled into a very nice room.

While the weather wasn't as nice as Vienna (actually, it was pretty miserable), we still elected to take a walking tour of the city the next day. Our guide was a really nice student from the nearby university, and she took us all over the city, pointing out interesting sights and telling stories of the history of the Czech Republic along the way. At one point we all stopped in a cafe for a bit to warm up with some delicious hot chocolate. 

One of the most interesting things was the Astronomical Clock, which is famous for disappointing tourists with its hourly puppet show. It's built up quite a bit as a must-see attraction, but I had read enough to not expect too much. Still, it was fun to see and I'm glad we were there at the right time. To be honest though, the clock is so ornate that it's almost difficult to read the time, and I certainly couldn't figure out any other information the clock is supposed to display.

And a closer look at the puppets:

Since the weather miraculously cleared up a bit, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Easter Market. I think my favorite thing about Europe is probably the infinite number of open-air markets selling everything from fish and meat to jewelry and scarves. This one focused pretty heavily on beautiful hand painted eggs, touristy knickknacks, and crystal jewelry. 

I bought an egg and carefully carted it around, even carrying it on my flight rather than checking it, but I somehow managed to lose it between getting off my plane in Dublin and getting to the hotel. It was pretty disappointing, but it was really inexpensive, so in the long run it doesn't really matter all that much. 

There were several stands selling a simple pastry made by wrapping dough around a wooden pole, cooking it over an open flame, and coating it in cinnamon and sugar, which crystalizes onto the dough.

It was DELICIOUS - definitely rivaled the fresh doughnuts I ate in Galway.

The next day we hiked through the city, over the river, and up a massive hill to visit the Prague Castle. We were greeted by the self-proclaimed 'World's Smallest Orchestra' at the entrance:

The name 'Prague Castle' is almost a bit of a misnomer, since it's really a huge complex containing a number of different government buildings, a massive cathedral, and a small village. It's no longer used on a regular basis for executive functions, but I guess they still hold important government ceremonies there.

Part of the outside of the cathedral:

And the inside:

Since the castle is up on top of a hill, you get an amazing view of the entire city and all the red roofs:

We spent some time that afternoon going through the Communist Museum, which was pretty interesting. I knew absolutely nothing about the Czech Republic's political history, so I definitely learned a lot. There was so much reading though that it was almost exhausting.

The next day we wandered around a bit more in order to pick up some last minute souvenirs, and then we headed out to the airport to catch our flights to the next stop: Copenhagen for Michelle and Katrina, back to Dublin for me!

Adventure Weekend with IFSA!

After being bogged down with essays and coursework for the past few weeks, I am now officially finished with classes (except for a review session and a rescheduled lab, but I'm not really counting those) and I finally have a chance to post about what I've been up to lately.

So let's rewind to the last weekend in March...my study abroad program took all their exchange students in Ireland to Killary Harbor, Ireland's only fijord. It's in Connemara, a very picturesque and beautiful part of County Galway.

There are also a lot of sheep:

On Friday evening, we signed up for our Saturday activities. I had checked out what the center had to offer earlier in the week, and I definitely wasn't thrilled about the prospects. I figured I would just spend my time at the archery range and leave the bungee jumping and high ropes courses to adrenaline junkies. That was not to be the case...

Saturday morning I was signed up for - and I quote - 'kayaking / gorge walking.' I was under the assumption we would choose which activity we wanted to participate in, and I planned on spending the entire time kayaking (how could you pass up the opportunity to kayak in such beautiful surroundings, even if the water is insanity-inducing cold?). We walked down to the water and were given wetsuits, life vests, and old sneakers (I chose a pair that were less sturdy than Converse and missing laces in one foot. Since I would just be walking my kayak into the water, there was no need for good, solid shoes, right? Wrong.). Sign number one that this was going to be an interesting morning: a bucket of helmets to choose from. Clearly this was not going to be a nice, relaxing kayak ride.

We're ready to go: (photo courtesy of Meg!)

A group of about 16 of us start walking towards the water, but we were split into two groups before we got there. The guide with my group had us start doing some warm-up stretches and jumping jacks (because 'the water's pretty cold today'). Then we slipped and slid through some woods (remember my shoe situation) as we followed the guide - towards the cliff. Which we then jumped off. Directly into the freezing water. Apparently, since the tide was quite low, we got an even bigger drop than normal. What a way to start the day!

I then found out through experience exactly what gorge walking is - essentially, we hiked up a large stream. This involves navigating over and around algae-covered rocks using low-hanging branches and jutting rocks as hand-holds, splashing through pools of water and occasionally wading through pools up to your waist. It was fun, but I couldn't think of anything besides how much my feel hurt from the cold (my hands had gone numb after I climbed up from the cliff jump). Any time we paused for people to catch up or to go through a particularly tricky section, I would shake violently and involuntarily. At one point I remember thinking that what I was doing would be a ton of fun on a hot, humid day in August. However, it was March 27th and somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees F, so I wasn't upset when we finished the gorge walk and were brought over the the kayaks.

Try to kayak when you can barely feel your hands since they're so cold. It's hard. Add to that strong currents and brisk wind. This was not a simple afternoon at Owenego. However, the energy needed to stay on course did warm me up a bit, and we played some games that kept our minds off of the cold. First up was a trivia game where for some reason or another I had to Eskimo kiss my kayak - in other words, touch my nose to the nose of the boat. We then played Rocks, Papers, Scissors, where the losers had to kneel on their kayak. If they then lost again, they had to stand. I only had to kneel for a bit, but my friend Erin managed to stand up and sit back down without tipping over (at least, I don't think she did. My focus was pretty firmly on keeping myself right-side up though). We then 'rafted together,' so we all lined up and held onto the boat next to us. Our guide split us into two groups of every other person and had us sing a song. While standing. I performed 'I'm A Little Tea Pot' complete with motions.

And that was all before lunch.

After changing into some dry clothes, I headed out to the archery range. I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but thanks to the UL club, I'm at least familiar with the safety equipment generally used when shooting - none of which was available. I often manage to hit my arm even with an arm guard on (to protect the arm you hold out in front of you from the string as it snaps past), so I collected a few nice bruises that afternoon. It was still good fun though, and it was a nice break after the adrenaline-filled morning.

Like 'kayaking / gorge walking,' the activity I had signed up for was actually 'archery / zip-lining.' So I put on a harness and trekked up a hill to the platform. Two people go at once, and as my friend Eliza and I got closer to the platform, we contemplated how we actually get to the top since no stairs were visible. Once we got close enough, we saw a skinny ladder leading up to big staples in a telephone pole. I am NOT a fan of climbing up ladders, but there was no way I was chickening out at that point. I made it up without a problem, thought the instructor who was clipping me into all of the equipment was pretty entertained that I was perfectly OK with the idea of jumping off the platform but not happy about ladders. Oh well. It was completely worth it - zooming down the wire was a ton of fun, and the views from up high were awesome. Caitlin got some pictures of Eliza (left) and me (right).

Once we were at the bottom of the hill, we had to lower ourselves down a rope using a ratchet. I waited while Eliza went down first:

The next day I did the Killary Challenge, which sounds much more exciting than it actually was. We hiked around the bogs completing various team exercises, but since we weren't racing any other teams (and all the guys were either hung over or still tipsy), no one really cared all that much.

At first we thought we were going to have to go through the mud puddle on the wooden skis. Luckily we only had to go from one red post to the next.

I forget the name of this one, but it involved using three boards to get from one platform to another. We'd all get on two of the boards, then pass the third one up to the front to make another bridge to the next platform.

Mission accomplished!

That afternoon I went to Dublin since I was flying out early the next morning to start the first part of my Spring Break journey. Needless to say, it was not difficult to fall asleep at 9:30 that night, nor did I wake up once, despite being in a 20 person dorm room at the hostel.