Luck of the Irish

This weekend Mara and I became Irish for the weekend as we embarked on our journey to Dublin. I got there Friday night and Mara and I met up with her two friends from college, Zane and Jeff, and we all headed out for the night. Even though you are legal to drink in Ireland at 18, some clubs and bars have a 21 age minimum. Why that is so, I couldn’t tell you. But I wasn’t going to let an age limit ruin everyone’s night, so I put my sneaky skills to the test and ended up getting past the bouncer and into one of the clubs. Besides that minor speed bump the rest of the night felt like a typical night out in a European club.

view of Killiney Bay

On Saturday Mara and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed down to Dalkey, which is a small town on the hill overlooking Killiney bay. We got off the tram at Killiney, a stop past Dalkey, so we could walk up the cost to enjoy the scenic view. We were also tipped off that we would be passing Bono’s house on the walk, so we kept an eye out for an extravagant house. Well, little did we know that all the houses on the coast would be stunning with gorgeous gardens and massive property overlooking the bay. So with our hopes of knowing which house was his shot we continued on to Dalkey admiring different properties we passed. Once we climbed the hill in Dalkey we were stunned by how cute of a town it was. After walking around a little and seeing the remains of old castles we headed for lunch at The Queens, where it was rumored that Bono hung out. And as our Irish luck would have it, right as we were paying our check Bono walks in and sits at a table directly behind us! Not wanting to disturb him too much, we listened in on a few of his quick phone conversations, whoops! But to our amusement he greets his friends on the phone by saying, “Hey, it Bono.” Hmm, if Bono was calling me I think I’d know who he was! Anyway, after mustering up the courage, well more like getting caught taking a sneaky picture of him by his friend, we had a short conversation with him and his blonde long haired friend about castles in Dublin. After our awkward encounter with the rock star Mara and I met up with her friend Jeff and he guided us to a cliff where we could see the entire city of Dublin. The view was incredible. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Mara looking over at one of the properties we passed

"Hey its Bono"

view of Dublin from the top of Dalkey

Malahide Castle

On Sunday, we had a very low-key day. We started it off by watching Jeffs soccer game, he plays for an Irish club team, and ended it at the Guinness factory. The factory was pretty cool, and it made Guinness start to grow on me, but I’d have to say the Heineken factory was much more entertaining. Mara and I made up for our low-key Sunday with a tourist packed Monday. It started with a stop at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. After that we took a 3 hour bus trip to the northern castle Malahide and a small fishing port. At the castle we learned a lot about the nobles in Dublin and the history of the Irish. It was also very interesting to hear about the Protestant and Catholic disputes from a Catholic Irish point of view. After our excursion we walked around Dublin, saw he Temple Bar area (which wasn’t that exciting) and then ended our day with a romantic Farris wheel ride.

There are two things about Dublin that struck me as noteworthy. One, the people are very friendly! Everyone we met on the streets gave us directions and advice on what to do and see in Dublin. Plus the strong Irish accents were refreshing. And two, they sell an amazing (alcoholic) cider called Kapparberb. It’s actually made in Sweeden, but the Irish love it (and did I)! Today I leave for Copenhagen to see Lauren and then after that its off to Vienna and Budapest!

Prague, Czech (Check!)

Last weekend eight of us girls from Amsterdam took a 4 day trip to the enchanting city of Prague. As soon as I stepped off the metro and walked up the escalator into the night there was a gothic style church dimly lit and cobblestone streets. This was only the outskirts of the city, yet it was already charming.

            Once we checked into the Czech Inn (a pun we severely overused throughout the weekend) we all got ready and headed out to Karlovy, the biggest club in central Europe. Its reputation proceeded itself, as the club was five stories with two sections on each floor. It is also safe to say that every one of us had a good time because there were so many different choices when it came to music and the crowd.

Imagine Wall

            The next morning we woke up and planned to take a free 3 hour walking tour of the city to learn its history and our way around. But before the tour started we made a stop at the Lennon Wall, Imagine, and then the lock bridge. The Lennon Wall is a graffiti wall that anyone is allowed to contribute to dedicated to spreading messages of peace, love, and hope. The wall is owned by a church, and the monks allow people to continue contributing to the wall. Besides it being inspiring, it was really interesting that the wall changes so frequently. Not far from the wall is the lock bridge. We took a quick stop at the bridge because Nicole’s boyfriend, who was in Prague last spring, bought a lock and added it to the bridge. So after a half hour of looking for the little blue lock on the crowded bridge we had to give up and meet in Old Town Square for our tour.

Love, Love, Love

            During our 3 hour tour our guide brought us all around the city pointing out historical buildings and telling us historical stories of the events that took place where we stood. The Czech history was very interesting to learn about, especially because of how far it goes into history. The most fascinating part for me was how recently they came out of Communism. Only 30 years ago they were still under the influence of the Soviet Union. After our tour we went to a restaurant called Café Café and the food was delicious. One of the best things about Prague is that everything is so cheep! Our dinner, drinks included, was just about half as expensive as it would have been in Amsterdam.

            The next day we took a day trip to Terazine, a 16^th century fortress that was used as a propaganda concentration camp during WWII. The camp is now a small run down village, but during WWII Hitler transformed it into a concentration camp for Jews. The entire village was depressing, especially the museum and cremation area. After we returned from Terizine we decided to take a walk up Petrin Hill to catch a view of the city. The walk going up was beautiful. The fall foliage was at its best and the reds and yellows were so vibrant. Once we were at the top of the hill we had the mini effile tower staring down at us. With the last of our climb ahead of us embarked up the stairs for the view. On our way down the hill we stopped for dinner at a restaurant overlooking the city. It turned out to be quite the romantic evening for us girls as we walked back over the Charles bridge as the sun set. Here are some views from climb up the hill and from the top of the tower.

the eight of us with the palace in the background

just hanging out in a tree

Prague from the tower on top of Petrin Hill

view from Charles Bridge

            On our last day we took a tour of the Royal Palace. The Palace was more like a few royal buildings with a beautiful gothic cathedral in the middle. After the palace we all had another nice romantic sushi diner and then headed to the airport home to Amsterdam. Unfortunately I never got to meet up with my friend Michelle, but still ended up having a great time.

Cross Training

Being abroad has been amazing so far, however it is going to take a toll on my track season in the spring. Luckily, this weekend I received a visit from my fellow teammates Nellie and Katie O! While the rest of Loyola was enjoying fells fest this weekend, drinking bad American beer and peeing in port-a-potties (if you were so lucky), Amsterdam was invaded by Loyola. Nellie and Katie brought along fellow Loyola Belgiumers while Loyola New Castlers were also represented.

the beer bike

On Saturday morning us track girls woke up (after eating what a cross country team would call breakfast) and decided to do some cross training. Amsterdam cross training. To show them the city (as well as the 15 other Loyolaers visiting) we all went for a tour on one big bike. To make sure we weren't dehydrated, we brought along a keg of Heineken. Officially known as the beer bike, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam for two hours nearly avoiding trams and cars and sinning loudly as we pedaled. Because we’re division one athletes we're extremely competitive and played some intense flip cup along the way. By the end of the two hours we successfully made it back without any casualties and thanked Yan, our driver.

Loyola invades Amsterdam...woof

The rest of the weekend was spent doing rather touristy things. We walked around the outside markets, had a picnic in Vondel Park, and eventually it was time to say goodbye. Seeing the girls this weekend made me realize how much I miss Loyola, especially the team, but also reminded me how fortunate I am to actually be LIVING in Europe, yet alone Amsterdam. The rest of this month is going to crazy. Next weekend I go to Prague, and then my two-week break begins where I’ll be traveling to Dublin, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Budapest! 

Heyy Heyy Babay...

If you’ve seen the movie Octoberfest you may think you have an idea of what Octoverfest would be like. Beer. Lederhosen. Beer maiden outfits. Singing. German chanting. Well that’s just about accurate, except for the Das Boot part. But on top of everything the movie portrays it was a massive carnival with beer tents (more like houses) and rides, and food booths (chocolate covered fruit my personal favorite, but Victoria’s had loved the hot dogs and roasted chicken). It was by far much more than I had imagined. It made Craigsfest look like a joke.

The crazy Amsterdam guys we met

We spent most of our time inside the Hofbrauhous Tent raising our liter beer glasses and singing “Heyy, heyy babay, oh, ah. I wanna knowwwww if you’’ll be my girl”. A few other popular songs of choice were Sweet Home Alabama and a German drinking song that translated to, ‘Lets drink drink drink’ (not the most clever song). The atmosphere was unreal and its hard to describe the amount of people there. But somehow Mara and I ended up sitting next to a group of Italians and Dutch. The Dutch guys were dressed all out in Lederhosens. I got to talking to them and found out they’re from Amsterdam and they even offered to hook me and my friends up with tickets to an Ajax game. (I will definitely be taking them up on that offer)! Here are some pictures from Octoberfest to give you an idea of how crazy it was!

View of Octoberfest from above

The Church we went to

On Saturday the tents were full so Mara, Jaclyn, and I did some exploring. We hung out at the carnival and then made our way over to St. Johns Church not too far from the festival. The church was famous for being stuck by a plane, which caused the death of around 30 people. We ended up walking up, through the narrow staircase, 200 steps to the roof. From there we were able to see Octoberfest and a view of the city. It was incredible.

On Sunday, we got to spend the whole day wandering to a different part of Munich. We ended up taking the underground to the Olympic Village. In 1972 Munich held the Olympic Summer games (this was also where the massacre happened when the Israeli team was taken hostage). I had never seen park built for the Olympic games so I was in awe the entire time. It was also crazy to see the track where Pre had raced and was shorted of a medal in the 5000. I was in track heaven. We ended our time in Munich by checking out the BMW factory, right next to the stadium, and then headed to the train station for the 11 hour ride home that awaited us.

Olympic Stadium...haha