Ireland - Pubs, Pubs, and ... More Pubs.

Hey guys,

Well... this is almost it. The second to last blogpost .. do your best to hold your tears back. I know I am. I'm going to try to treat you guys to one of my best blog posts ever. Sitting here in my room, I don't have much else better to do for the next few weeks of my winter break. I'm not trying to call my shot here, but just giving you guys a heads-up that this is the best I got. That's all.

We got to Dublin late the first night, around 11. Quickly hopping on a bus, which was relatively easy to find seeing that everyone spoke English for the first time in a long time, we made it into the city. Most people would have thought the most difficult part of their journey was over, but not us: no, we had to pick between Burger King and McDonalds, stationed right across the street from each other. No wonder Ireland's economy has been doing so bad, when people can't bring themselves to choose between greatness and more greatness. Geez.

After, we found our hostel pretty easily and headed out early the next morning. It worked out really well, actually: one of my roommates, who I was traveling with (Chris Kerner), had 2 of his brothers come out to Dublin and meet up with us. Patrick, the older brother, had decided to rent a car, and was nice enough to allow us myself and Halley, a good friend of mine who was traveling with, to hop in as well. That day, we drove across the country to Galway, eventually ending up in Doolin, where our hostel was.

The next morning, we jumped in the car and made it down to the Cliffs of Moher, which my casual blog reader will probably either know by "the CLIFFS of INSANITY" or the cliffs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you don't know who Andre the Giant is or what a Horcrux is, well, you know the cliffs by their proper name then. Which is probably for the best, for the average muggle. Does anybody want a peanut, by the way?

In any case, they're pretty magnificent. We stood there, breathing in some great-tasting air and taking in the drop-dead gorgeous sight for about an hour or so. I don't know if I've ever felt so alive. Also, I think part of appreciating something like the Cliffs of Moher has to be done internally. Sure, you can stand there next to someone and remark "Hey man, those cliffs are pretty big, huh" but to me a natural landmark like the Cliffs has something to say too: "Listen man, you're pretty small." Just food for thought, you know.

For the remainder of the day, we took a beeline down to Cork, by way of Blarney Castle. The drive down was magnificent. I know I probably sound a bit like a little fairy thus far ... "Oh the landscape is just so pretty, words would not be able to do justice to it!" whole attitude, but it's true. Ireland and Greece were the two countries with the grandest landscapes that I saw, but in two different senses.

You could tell the Blarney Castle was a major tourist attraction even from a cursory glance of it. The turnstiles, the spiked metal gate surrounding the grounds, and the perfectly manicured landscape gave it away all too readily. I was hoping for more of an abandoned castle, the sort of thing that when you happen upon, it becomes yours. Not in a physical sense, obviously. What I'm getting at, is that it's not commercialized in any sense at all. Instead, what we got what a worn path to a bad-tasting rock we had to smooch so we could tell people about it. But hey, we did it. It's just one of those things.

Cork, where we spent our 2nd night in Ireland, was a pretty boring city, as much as I hate to say it. Ireland is pubs, pubs, and ... more pubs. The only other thing that Cork offered us was an amazingly easy place to get lost, as well as some disgruntled fellow hostel-stayers who were ticked off I never returned their adapter. But that's a story in itself.

The next day we decided to check out Cork before our bus out of town (i.e. this is where the Kerner brothers got a little sick of us and left). If it's midday, you're in Cork, and you don't feel like going into a pub, you're out of luck. We walked into that town at a slow, leisurely pace, and about an hour later, we speed-walked out of it.

Catching our bus around 1, we returned to Dublin around 4. More beautiful sights, a quick hamburger stop, and viola, we were there. Our first stop in Dublin, seeing as we hadn't seen much of it that first night, was the Guinness Factory. It was pretty cool. The beers there seemed to taste more deliciously creamy than anywhere else. Guinness was my favorite beer in the world, by the way. Some of those Belgium ones are pretty good too ... I don't consider myself a beer expert by any means, even after my semester studying abroad, but I think it's ok to name a few favorites.

Next, while Chris and Halley went back to the hostel, I headed over to some of my family friend's place, Keiran and Siobhan. They put me up for the night, and were very nice. Their kids, Richy, Thomas, and Daniel, I think, were alot of fun. We hung out at a local pub near our hostel for a couple hours, and called it an early night.

The following morning, before our flight later on that afternoon, we met up at the St. Patrick Cathedral. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but Europe without phones is an experience in itself. Agreeing with a fellow college student beforehand to meet up across an entire city, that neither party has ever explored with no method of communication in between, can be a little bit sticky to say the least. I was probably waiting outside in the snow for about an hour ... but I can't say I haven't done the same, or worse, to my friends during the semester at some point.

We checked out the Cathedral and roamed the city for a couple hours. Dublin is a modern city, yet retains much of its traditional Irish roots. I really liked it. I bought a Guinness shirt my mom was sure to disapprove of, and had my last Guinness.

I definitely mean to come back someday. A couple of the places I went to spoke to me, but not many more so than Ireland. Hanging out in a pub, listening to some Irish folk song, I felt right at home. And even if I didn't know that I was Irish, I think I would still feel the same way.

James

P.S. Thanks for staying tuned ... I know, I know, that was a long time to ask someone stay tuned. But you did.

P.P.S. Pictures here.

Finals Week - Ireland and a Papal Audience Coming Right Up

Stay tuned.

Barcelona baby

Hola chicos y chicas,

First off, I'd just like to mention that spanish is not the primary language of Barcelona, which is incredibly annoying. The primary language is Catalan, and has only been so for the past 10 to 15 years. The reason why this is, is that the province that Barcelona is in wants to be independent from Spain. Therefore, they force this language upon the region, although it sounds nothing like spanish: actually, it's more of a combination of German and French than anything else. Not knowing this, me and my friends were very confused when we couldn't understand many of the signs in the airport, although most of us could speak spanish. Oh well.

Once we got off the plane, it took us some time to find where we were sleeping. We were staying with my family's very good friends who live in the city, but the streets in Barcelona are confusing to the max, and we didn't get there till 1AMish. This family, the Oriol's, were so nice. Matt and I had no complaints whatsoever.

For our first day in Barcelona, we headed out to La Sagrada Familia. It was loopy. It's design was the type that your supposed say to "Yeah Gaudi, that's a great idea you got there. But..." Instead, they actually built it. In all seriousness though, it is pretty cool. The statues in the front of the church are definitely unique. Looking at churches like La Sagrada Familia though, I can't help but thinking that the art of sculpture has gone backwards since the time of the greats.

Our first night in Barcelona, we went out to a party outside of the city. On our way there, we actually were part of a car accident on the highway. The driver was looking for something in the car, and swerved into the traffic coming the other way. Our car just missed another car, and both lost their mirrors. I was pretty scared.

The party was alot of fun though. We made many friends and ended up hanging out with a girl we met in the city the next day. She walked us around, and showed us much of the city that Matt and I had missed the previous day. That night, the Oriol's took me and Matt out to dinner. What he had was called: "Tapas," which where you order many different dishes of food, and share them all. It was absolutely delicious.

Our last day, the Oriol's went with me and Matt on a tour of the Barcelona FC stadium. For me, it was the coolest part of Barcelona. I definitely want to go back to a game one day. We toured the locker rooms, the press conference room, etc. They even had the actual World Cup Trophy there! It was the coolest thing. I probably took more pictures of the stadium than the rest of Barcelona to be honest.

Jacimo.

Pictures: aqui.

Italy Class Trip - Florence, Venice, and Assisi

Hey guys,

This past weekend my entire class went on a trip to Florence, Venice and Assisi. All three of those cities probably deserve a blogpost of their own, but for brevity's sake, I'll try to cram them into this one.

Florence was one of the most, if not the most, beautiful cities in Italy that I've been to. The city was filled with magnificent statues and massive palaces, left behind from the ages. As we walked around the city, we learned about the interesting rivalry between the Medici and Strozzi families that over time, made the city one of the world's elite. The Medici would built a palace on one side of the city, and on the other side the Strozzi would try to build a bigger one. As the battle for control over Florence escalated, the city grew and became more prosperous as a result.

The river going through Florence was also pretty cool. Apparently at one point, violence between the two rivaling families of Florence was so great that the Medici family constructed their own private bridge over the river, in order to avoid street fights. Pretty intense stuff.

In Florence, at La Accademica, they had the David by Michaelangelo. I honestly spent 45 minutes to an hour looking at it ... it is easily the most perfect statue I have ever seen. Me and my good friend, John Bascom, were saying that we thought the statue was about to jump off the display stand it was on. (It didn't.)

Venice was incredible. From taking the watertaxi out to the island, to walking around, the entire time we spent there was an experience of a lifetime. I felt it was our class, and then just old, retired couples there. Stumbling across the random waterways filled with gondolas, hidden piazza's with beautiful violinists, and delicious gelato shops, Venice was a real treat.

The famous Piazza San Marco was probably the coolest part of Venice. We didn't get to see it flood, but it was cool nontheless. Saint Mark's is right there in the piazza, as is the Palazzo Ducale, the palace of the royalty of Venice. Inside there was the world's biggest painting, as well as rooms filled with gold, famous paintings, and weaponry. Venice's history is very interesting .. they stole the bones of St. Mark from Alexandria in order to gain legitimacy in Italy as a major power, as every other big city had a patron saint.

And finally, Assisi. Assisi was so beautiful and quiet. We saw the tomb of St. Francis, some of his belongings, where he died, the rose bush he jumped into (cool story behind that one), and the chapel he built with his own hands. Loads of really sweet stuff. We also hiked up to where he lived for awhile (a hermitage up in the mountains). I wish we could have stayed longer.

I don't know if you guys can tell, but I'm defintely running out of gas on this blog thing.

Jacimo.

Pictures: here.

The Vatican Museum and Monte Casino

Howdy,

A little while after getting back from 10 Day, our class was taken on a class trip to the Vatican Museum, which is full of some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures: Raphael's School of Athens, The Discourse, and Transfiguration, Lacoon, the Sistene Chapel, and many other famous works. It was incredible seeing them in person.

The Sistene Chapel is was probably my favorite thing in the museums, although the School of Athens was equally cool. There's so much to see in the museum that it's completely overwhelming, however. I was lucky enough to be walking around with one of my friends who had been there a couple times in his life, so he knew his way around pretty well.

A week or so afterwards, I decided to go to Monte Casino over the last free weekend I had. It turned out to be an awesome decision. Monte Casino is so incredibly peaceful; I would probably be a saint too if I lived up there.

Jacimo

Pictures: here.

10 Day - Munich

Hey Guys,

Munich is in southern Germany, near Mad King Ludwig's famous castles in the Swiss Alps. I didn't get to the castles, but did do an awesome self-guided walking tour of the city. Munich is a very up-scale, rich city, and there's some pretty awesome stuff to see.

In Marienplatz, the main square of Munich, stands the Old Town Hall and the New Town Hall. Which is actually very confusing, as the New Town Hall looks ancient and the Old Town Hall looks like it could have been built yesterday. Right around the corner are the famous Beer gardens, where people can be found hanging out and drinking beer pretty much whenever.

There are some pretty cool churches in Munich, too. St. Peter's is right by Marienplatz, as well as the massive Frauenkirche cathedral, a spectacular building that is one of the best known symbols of the city. Inside, it's one of the most majestic, massive structures I've ever been inside. But perhaps my favorite church lies about a 10 minute walk from Marienplatz, called the Asamkirche. It was built by 2 brothers to be their own, private chapel but was found out one day and opened to the public. See the pictures.

Bringing us to the beer halls: Munich is home to some of the world-famous beer halls, most notably Hofbrauhaus, where my friends and I spent some time our last night over 10 day. We had an awesome time, and most of my class was there, as it is a UD tradition to meet up at the Hofbrauhaus the last day of 10 day. All in all, Munich might have be my favorite city in Europe.

Jacimo.

Pictures: here.

10 Day - Prague

Ladies and Gents,

My first thought on Prague (no lie): "Why does this city even exist?" I had learned nothing about it during any of my studies of western civilization, and hardly knew it existed before I traveled there. Turns out, Prague is loaded with history and is dirt cheap, and I'm very glad we went.

One of the interesting things about Prague is that it relies on its own currency: the crown. 1 USD = around 18 crowns, and it was extremely hard to keep track of how much things were worth. It was probably the strangest thing that has happened to me so far in Europe when I took out 1000 crowns from the ATM at the train station in Prague, and it gave me ... 1 bill back. A 1000 crown bill. Chris took out 2000 crown, and got back ... a 2000 crown bill. Most places didn't have enough money in their cashiers to give change back for it, so it was annoying. Not to mention very tempting, as most shoe places sold Nikes for around 2000 crowns. I was drooling.

On a serious note, as Prague was one of the only major cities not bombed during WWII, most of the city survives in its original state. There's an incredible castle that Chris and I walked to, as well as an incredible bridge spanning across the massive Vltava river that Prague is built on. I also went to the Rudolfinum, home of one of the oldest concert halls in all of Europe. Also, the tower of the main square in the old center of the city has one of the most amazing clocks on it I have ever seen. Back when it was first made, it was such a world wonder that the people of Prague blinded the man who made it, to ensure they were the only city to get one. Be sure to see the pictures on that one. Apparently later on in his life, he went into the machinery of the clock and pulled out a vital piece. The clock was so intricate that it took the master engineers of the time 100 years to fix it.

Prague turned out to be one of my favorite places during 10 day. The Czech Republic is a beautiful place, and I'm glad I went.

Jacimo.

P.S. Pictures hurr.