Mar 2007

*they say mother earth is breathing with each wave that laps the shore
her soul rises in the evening just to open twilight's door
her eyes are the stars in heaven watching o'er us all tonight
but her heart, it is in ireland, deep beneath the emerald isle*

Well, in the beginning of this week, my mom and I's blissful weekend in Bath came to an end, and she had to go home, so I was a little blue. But it was a pretty good week- I did a presentation in my LMU class, and felt like it went well.

But the best thing about this week- I went to Ireland! It was so amazing! Me, Chelsey, Katie, Hilary, and Whitney flew out Thursday night and arrived in Dublin around 8:00. We went to an Irish pub, tried some Guiness (they're like obsessed with it there because Dublin is where it's made), and checked into our hostel. This was my first true hostel experience and let me just say...yuck. It was a 20-person dorm room, and I had this creaky bed with bed bugs. It was very odd-I slept with all my stuff around me, holding onto everything.

The next morning our Shamrocker tour began- basically, these two girls who are Irish take us on a tour bus around everywhere. Very cool- and not a bad way to travel at all! Our tour group was about 40 people, ranging from age 19-30-ish. It was really cool to talk to everyone- they were from Germany, Canada, Italy, New York, etc etc.

One of our tour guide, Ivonne, was really nice. She even went out to dinner with me and my friends. She was about Kate's age (my sister, Kate) and has just been traveling around for like the past 5 years. With no wish of settling down. It's strange- I totally don't have that nomad spirit in me, but it was interesting to talk to someone who did.

Our other tour guide, the head guide, Karen, was very annoying. She like was happy happy all the time, but it kinda seemed fake, because one on one, she was very unfriendly. And she would scream into the microphone to wake us up when we were sleeping, and then laugh. It was so bizarre. She'd like get mad at us for sleeping, and want us to sing songs and play games. We were like, lady. Give it a rest. Oh well...can't have everything, I suppose.

Some of the cool stuff we saw:

• Blarney Castle- Gorgeous castle, with a beautiful forest all around it. Got to kiss the Blarney stone- supposedly gives you the gift of eloquent speech. We'll see, I guess! It was scary doing it though, you basically hang up upside down 300 ft in the air and lean backwards. Yikes. It was funny though- this little old granny did it, so I figured how bad could it be? Went up the Wishing steps too...it's funny, Irish people are very, very superstitious. Like some of them actually believe in fairies and all that.

• The Rock of Cashel- Ancient old fortress. Very cool- looked very Lord of the Rings.

• The Cliffs of Moher- probably the most stunning views I've seen in my life. The Atlantic Ocean crashing up on these huge rocks- wow. Plus, we went at sunset. It was amazing.

• Irish Beaches- This was crazy- we went to this warm, sunny, sandy beach in Ireland- I never really thought about them having those- but it was so cool! We all just played around in the water, and it was such a nice respite from foggy, rainy London town.

• Irish disco- This was funny- it was actually much nicer than some American clubs. There's no smoking allowed, and it was this big group of us from the tour all dancing together, so it was really fun! Chels can bust a move- her mom's a dance teacher, so she's danced like her whole life, and she just went crazy- it was hilarious.

• Clomacnoise- The ruins of this ancient monastery. It was really cool- Celtic crosses everywhere, amazing views of the countryside.

• The Most Westerly Point of Ireland- This was cool- it was commemorated with this big statue of Christ on the cross. In the Old World, it was the most westerly point of the world.

Also, I didn't know that there's an Irish language? Like some people actually speak Gaelic. I knew it existed, but I didn't know people still spoke it. It was pretty cool. All the road signs had the other language on it as well. Our nice little taxi driver on the way to Dublin airport told me that they have to take the Irish language in schools, and a lot of jobs require that you speak it.

Overall, it was a great trip. The Irish people on a whole, are just very unusual. Far more different than American to British. It was great place to visit, but it would be hard to adjust living there. Probably the most beautiful countryside and beaches I've ever seen. I'm so glad it all worked out, and that we're all home safe and sound, but now I am pretty tired. Our flight and ride home got done around one o'clock last night. Ugh. Darn late flights being cheaper!

So glad I got to go back to my roots. Here's to Ireland!
Cheers!
Love you all
Everlee

Oh, I was so so happy this week because my wonderful mother and sister came to visit me! It was Katie's 23rd birthday, and so, for a heckuva birthday present, mom and her decided to come up to jolly old London!

I got to really play tour guide this time- planned itineraries, tube map instructions, and the like. It was fun, but kinda weird. Usually my mom's the one who has everything all planned out, but this time, it was all on me. But thankfully, everything went really well and we had a terrific time.

I'll give you all a little sampling of what we did every day:

Friday- Kate and Mom arrived, and we had a little problem all finding each other- I told them to meet me at the Starbucks at Victoria Station. One problem- Victoria Station has three Starbucks. It was pretty funny- we were all three Starbucks hopping, and kept missing each other. Teehee. Eventually, we met up and went to Kensington Palace and Gardens. So pretty, and very interesting. After that, we went and rode the London Eye as night fell- gorgeous. By that time, they were getting pretty tired and jet laggy- so we went and settled into our very cool hotel. Literally, you walked out the door and could see Westminster Abbey. Incredible.

Saturday- We took a tour of Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover, and Greenwich. Leeds Castle might be one of my favorite places I've been so far- it's this ancient old castle that was totally renovated and revamped, so it has modern decorations interspersed with older stuff- so cool. Canterbury was this quaint little town with a HUGE cathedral. Dover was incredible- we saw the famous white cliffs. Wow. Greenwich we just kinda ran through on the way to Thames River Cruise. We got to see all of London as the sun was setting. Breathtaking.

Sunday- Kate and I went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum while Mom went off and explored London by herself. We all met up in Trafalgar Square, and just kinda explored that area for awhile. That night, we met with Chelsey, Katie, and Stace for church and afterwards, yummu yummy dessert. It was so fun for my family to meet my awesome friends that I've made while I'm here.

Monday- Kate's 23rd birthday! I had boring old class in the morning, so mom and Kate went to the Tower of London. Afterwards, I took them to East London, to see how the other half lives. I don't think mom liked it too much- for once, she didn't talk to strangers! Hahaa- I cured her at last! After that, Kate and I went to Camden Market and shopped til we dropped- it was super fun. We found all these cool hats, these old Ramones t-shirt with this crazy embroidery, shoes, etc etc. Mommy took a little nap while we did this. After that, we went and saw "Wicked" and it was amazing, as always. It nearly made me cry, the fact that I was seeing my favorite musical, with my family, in London. So surreal.

Tuesday- Kate and Mom went to the Tate Modern and St Pauls while I was in class again- it was pretty funny- they walked all the way to the top (900-plus steps) and were definitely paying for it later! We all went to the British Museum, and saw the amazing Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections- including the Rosetta Stone. Wow. After that, we were pretty beat- so we went and rested until that night, when we got to go see "The Phantom of the Opera." Seriously, the best live singing I've ever heard in my life. They were so talented- it blew me away.

Wednesday- Katie left- boo. And i got a cold- double boo. I basically had a sickie day, watching TV and just chilling in our new hotel in South Kensington while mom went out and about.

Thursday- Feeling better, so I went to work. Mom and I met for lunch at the Tower of London- it was so cool! We just shopped around, walked around the Tower, and got Ben and Jerrys ice cream. I could get used to this, haha. It was such a fun day- we saw "Becoming Jane" that night to get us in the mood for Bath- Jane Austen and her sister lived in Bath for about five years.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday- We left for Bath! Mom and I have just been having the best time here- we just went to Bath Abbey and saw this amazing three hour concert- oh. my. gosh. Incredible singing in this ancient old church- wow. We saw "Factory Girl" which was very good. This city is so amazing- it's just a great mix of the old and new. Architecture is all beautiful- we're staying in this great little bed and breakfast- and it's a total college town, because Bath University is here, so it's mostly all college students. I just love it here. I don't know if they're going to talk me into leaving...

That's all for now!
Love you all
Ev

So I just got back from Germany, and boy howdy, do I have alot of stories this week!

Okay, Thursday night, me, Chelsey, and Hilary took our Ryan Air flight from London to Frankfurt, which is about an hour flight. Everyone's told us horror stories about Ryan Air (basically a super-discounted airline), but everything went swimmingly for us, so I don't know what all the fuss was about.

We arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn airport, and Garret, our unofficial tour guide, met us there. Garret lived with my roommate Hilary in Michigan when he was a teenager on a study abroad program, and they've stayed in touch. It was so great to have someone who 1) spoke German 2) had a car and 3) planned out an entire weekend for us! He was the best tour guide ever- every morning, he had a little itinerary of all the sites we needed to see. On long car trips, he even brought us treats! And, other than the first night in a hostel which was a renovated castle (more on that later), Garret arranged for us to stay with his parents and then at his apartment, so we had free accommodations!

Okay, so anyway- our first night, Garret picks us up and drives us to this cool town out in the middle of the German forests called Bacharach. It's now pitch black with a full moon out, and he drives us up this long winding road to a castle at the top of the hill. It looked like the castle from Young Frankenstein, with the big moon behind it. It was so surreal to go check in and go to sleep after walking down these long castle corridors. I felt like I was dreaming.

So we wake up the next morning to this spectacular sunrise over the Rhine River. It's probably the most amazing view I've ever seen. We spent the rest of the morning exploring Bacharach- such a cool little town- goats on people's roofs, little German restaurants and churches- it was so nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of a huge town like London. That was one of the best parts of having someone drive us around- we weren't stuck in big cities all the time.

After Bacharach, Garret drove us to this town called Osthofen, and took us to the first Nazi concentration camp. It was super creepy- he just dropped the three of us off there because he had to go take a phone call. There was no one else there but us- no one greeting you, no tour guides, nothing. It was just this big empty camp, quiet as a graveyard. So scary. Very eerie feeling just walking around- like something choking you. You know when bad things happen places and it just leaves an imprint of sadness behind? That's totally what this was.

Then, we went on to the far more cheerful town of Heidelberg! Again, Garret had to go to work (he's a lawyer) so he dropped us off there and we were left to explore for ourselves. It was pretty cool- everyone mostly spoke German, but I picked it up really fast! Garret even asked if I had German heritage in my family because I did a good job pronouncing the words- never would have known that skill existed, haha! The three of us went to Heidelberg castle- amazing! It was only 1.50 for admission, and it was enormous! Plus, we had our first bratwurst and this amazing butter-basted fries- oh, so bad for you but so wonderful. Plus, we just walked up 300-plus steps, so we earned them!

Then, the three of us were pretty exhausted, so we stopped in this little cafe/bar and got cocktails. It was so fun- our bartender barely spoke English, but he really took a liking to us and made us the yummiest drinks- he even put sparklers in the glasses! So cool!

We caught the bus back to Frankfurt all by ourselves, and Garret showed us around the city- including the tallest skyscraper in Europe! It kinda looked like every other big American city though- not my favorite part of the trip. Although the name kept reminding me of Dr. Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror, which cracked me up. So that was good!

Then, he drove us to his parent's house, and we took the famous highway, the Autobahn. Garret was driving 180 km/h (about 111 mph)- and people were still passing us! It was crazy!

Then we arrived at Garret's parent's house- it was so nice to just be around a mom and dad who took care of us! They made us little cots to sleep on, and basically mommied us- breakfast, snacks for the road, etc etc. It was so fun! They lived in this adorable little house, and it was so nice to sleep in a real house instead of a hostel.

On Saturday, after we had breakfast, we went shopping in Mainz. We went to an enormous H&M, and then Garret took us to German Wal-Mart. It's really funny- Wal-Mart like hasn't caught on in Germany at all, and they have to shut it down! It was nice to have a little piece of home though- even if all the writing was in a different language!

We then went to a German market and to this old beautiful cathedral where they filmed a Sean Connery movie called "The Name of the Rose." Dad, ever heard of it? I was so ashamed not to recognize a movie! Garret let me attempt to read the Latin inscriptions off the wall (Garret knows German, French, English fluently, and has good knowledge of Swedish and Latin- we felt like very stupid Americans around him!)- I did all right though.

Then he took us to a German mall that has this random exhibit in the basement of an ancient Roman temple they discovered while constructing the mall! It was so cool!

After that, we met up with Garret's best friends, this amazingly fun couple, Claudia and Christian. We met them at Claudia's parents' house, which is this amazing old mill in the middle of a German vineyard. So cool! They took us out for coffee and treats, and I fell so in love with sparkling mineral water from Germany! I hope I can find something like it back home, because I'm completely hooked!

Then, while Claudia and Christian picked up their one-year old Nicklas, Garret took us to statue of Germania and the Castle of Johannisberg. Both such beautiful places- I felt bad, because it was rainy and freezing, so we didn't really get to enjoy them as much as we should have.

After that, we went to Claudia and Christian's house and played with their adorable son Nicklas. It was so nice to play with a baby! He did this adorable little trick where he'd blow out a candle with his nose- made us laugh til we cried!

After he went to bed, we played this really fun game called Carcassone. While we played, we had German wine and schnapps- we couldn't keep up with these Germans! But it was a blast- we even saw a lunar eclipse!

Sunday morning- we slept in, had a German breakfast, and then watched "Friends" in German- it was great! Sooo nice to watch a show from home.

After that, we caught our flight and came home to London- such a wonderful trip! A perfect way to start our weekend vacations!

Until next week
Love you!
Ev