all right, i ought to give a few preliminary details about the ireland trip. i went with eight other people: Mike and Maddy, with whom I live, Daniel, John, and Chelsi (who live together), Swilly (aka Sarah), Lauren (John's girlfriend), and Andrea.
i wrote a few times during the trip, and here it is. i might have to interject with amendments which will be in black. i didn't write about the end of the trip, which i'll do after this:
27 2 01 12:49 heuston station, dublin
so it was exciting just to get on the plane in pisa, because there were british flight attendants and all these british passengers. i sat next to an american though, who lived in florence in the winters. many (all?) of the british were with a tour group. i talked to them a little about what i was doing - i remember i said i was going "somewhere where they speak english" and the british lady in the same row said "well they don't speak english there". they were appalled that i hadn't brought a raincoat or an umbrella.
it was cool just being in the london airport, too, if only for a couple hours. it was rainy and cold out. i arrived in dublin around seven, bought some maps, and took a bus to the center of town, but i wasn't sure where to get off, so i got off at the river and just walked north till i found the hostel. the people i'm traveling with left me a note to meet them at a certain bar in the temple bar district (by the river liffey), but by the time i found it (10:30) they were long gone. so i ate at an italian restaurant. i sat next to two swedish girls, quite worried that i would never understand the irish accent until i realized they were speaking swedish when they were interupted by the people at the next table over, who included and irishman, an english woman, and a swiss man, among others. i didn't talk to any of them and i really should have.
it started snowing blisteringly while i was having dessert, and then i had to go walk around in it. back at the hostel, i arrived about 10 minutes before everybody else. we got up early this morning and it was snowing - everything covered. worse (or better) yet, it was even windier and colder. we walked down a main street and eventually stopped at a (sigh) mcdonalds. it wasn't terrible, i was hungry. then we went to a student travel agency place to find out about trains to cork. we got a bus to the station and i ate some more fast food there. and now i'm on the train. i started writing this before getting on the train, but i sort of dozed on the train for a while and now i'm not sure what time it is.
i quite like ireland.
Andrea didn't go to Cork with us, but rather went to Killarney or Kilkenny because she was interested in doing a lot of biking. Actually, I only saw her briefly today, so I don't know exactly what she did.
8:17pm
cork is cool. we arrived between 4 and 5 and found a good hostel, put our stuff in the rooms and went out to town. we just walked around for a bit and went to a restaurant. i'm back at the hostel now, and we're going to go to a pub or something. i'm actually more interested in going to one in ireland than i am in italy.
28 2 01 4:30pm
the pubs n bars last night were ok, but not great. i bought indian food but it was merely ok as well.
this morning we took a bus out to blarney, saw the castle and kissed the stone. the surrounding area was beautiful, like some fantasy land. it was terribly cold. i'm glad we're temporarily escaping the snow of dublin. the news reports are saying that the airport there is shut down; i hope they're operational by sunday.
i'm not sure where we're going next.
2 3 01 9:24pm
Swilly and Lauren had to go back to Florence to meet someone, so they left Cork for Dublin to fly out, and didn't go on to Dingle with the rest of us (now 6).
so, after two nights in cork, we traveled by bus - it took until yesterday afternoon - to dingle, on the dingle peninsula on the west coast. the town is small and absolutely enchanting. we walked along the piers, looked at the islands all around. it was just beautiful, i can't describe it. the hostel we're at is wonderful; the people are just as nice as in cork. there's an australian girl named kym who's here and she hung out with us at the bar nearby. she's incredibly nice and beautiful, and i'm sure i'm in love with her. she's been away from home for about fourteen months, and she's just done so much it seems. she's 19 and just decided to travel all round. she'll stop someplace and stay and work for months - she did that in jersey, an english island. anyway i've gone on enough.
i got my haircut yesterday afternoon too. the barber was a chap from oxford who's lived here for only a few months. he caught me up a little on the foot-and-mouth disease that's got everybody in the uk and ireland worried. i heard tonight that they shut down blarney castle because of it.
all right, so what happened after that?
i was only going to stay in dingle one night, but we all liked it so much that i decided to stay another one. the second day, the six of us (i, maddy, mike, daniel, john, chelsi) plus kym rented bikes and headed off on a 60km trail around the peninsula. it was very invigorating, and we couldn't have had a more beautiful day. there are wonderful cliffs and islands and things. we had lunch by a beach. after lunch, though, it was rather hellish because everybody got so tired, and we were sort of separated, and mike's bike chain kept falling off so he had to get a ride from some american tourists.
we went to the local pub again that night, but i didn't have as good a time as the first time, although the music was good. i think i didn't have as good a time because before i was at a table talking with john, kym, and mike, and the second night everybody went to bed earlier than i did.
we went to this one restaurant a total of three times while we were in dingle - it was our regular hangout.
we were all sorry to say goodbye to dingle. we got up early to take a bus at 7 in the morning until we realized that there wasn't one, so we had breakfast at our hangout and took the 10 o'clock to tralee. kym came along with us, as she was on her way to galway eventually. from there, john, maddy, daniel, and kym were going to rent a car, but i think they weren't successful, because from our (i, mike, chelsi) bus to dublin we saw them return to the station from the car rental. i don't know what they're doing now, as they're still in ireland. the three of us got a train to dublin and arrived at about 6:30pm. mike and chelsi had to fly from london, and it's kind of complicated how they got back, so i'll just say it cost them more than they expected. myself, i found a great hostel that gave me a wake up call and got me a taxi to the airport at 5:30am. also, they gave me toast and jam.
anyway, i made it home safe and sound without a hitch (well, there was a delay on the dublin plane, but i didn't miss my connecting flight). if there's anything else i remember about the trip that i think was at all important, i'll try to write it later.
i've got a review session for my high renaissance mid-term in a few minutes. i promise i'll write to people i haven't written in a while.
