lets see what i can get accomplished.
8 now.
last night at the pub was a great deal more fun than the night previous. i was starting to get my bar legs back again and moving around got easier as i remembered where everything was, had to go as well as what the hell everyone was saying to me. - the Cork accent is a hard one to understand.
i don't know if i've said that already, but it is and bears repeating.
7
we might have a house. it isn't likely though because 25 other people also think they have a house.
6
i finished reading there is a house. it was about a house and a guy that had a drinking problem. he was a writer and couldn't write anthing more than the words there is a house. he was a very entertaining writer.
5
i spoke with a girl from ireland just now who lives in france and is back here travelling. (4) she has a friend who lives on the coast who lives in a bus converted to an appartment on wheels. he is a grown up camp councillor (not the therapy kind if that is what i spelled, nor the gov't kind either). she has her undergrad in arecheology (terribly spelt) (3) and wants to do her masters in heritage management.
very cool.
2
time to go, love you all. talk again soon.
1
Thursday, October 4
Tuesday, October 2
paragraph four, section 3
the interview would have gone well had i have gone and i would have gone except i didn't want to. the reason i didn't want to is because my BC friend informed me that the job was to be a door to door .. or person to person .. sales associate. which wouldn't have been so bad except for the traveling, unpaid, from city to city and never knowing where you'd be. which would have been so bad except for the product i was pushing and the product i was pushing was make up. my BC friend had a good little laugh as we all speculated on what the response from home would have been had i have taken this particular placement. matty was especially excited to know how dad would have reacted, and the rumors that would have started about how i went over sea's to find myself and eventually come out of the closet.
regardless to say i have not taken the job, but i will be bar tending in a few hours and that should be great. i'll send out a few more CV's and try for something else ... perhaps a coffee shop or internet cafe. i'll keep you posted.
the place i visited today reminded me of grandma connelly's old place except bigger and containing people who mostly spoke a version of english that wasn't as much english as it was french or german. the whole place has carpeting (which puts me in mortal peril considering dust has a personal vendetta for me and causes my asthma to fly off the handle) so i don't know if we'll take it. it's cheaper to stay in the hostle, and the hostel is closer to the city centre ... but it would be nice to learn a little french from the new flat mates. count them .. 4 (+ matt and i). but it's not like we're strangers to a situation like that.
because, you see, matty and i went to school together for four years and for three of them we were roommates. in first year we lived in residence together in an apartment room with 4 other guys, one of whom, dan, went on to live with matty the year after while i was still in residence. the year following that i moved into a house with matt, dan, and three other guys (total of six) and that remained relatively the same for the year after that, save for a complicated moving about of people that is best explained by not explaining it at all.
in fact, if you're still reading i commend you because you have absolutely no reason to have made it this far, and i imagine you would have only been reading every other or every tenth word. i invite you to re-read the above statement because you are likely to laugh rather hard. if this is your second time through please continue on to what is below which shouldn't be much more, but i haven't decided yet.
or rather i've completely forgotten. although i would like to thank dan for pointing out that my first post had matt's birthday wrong, and being a good friend he cleared it up politely. thank you dan. what is important is the members of the house i lived in while at brantford. the team included, in addition to matt, dan and i: josh, steve, tommy, brandon and adam.
i know that equals eight, please refer to paragraph four for a complete explanation.
this is post number two of today. please read post number one by clicking here or reading it below.
regardless to say i have not taken the job, but i will be bar tending in a few hours and that should be great. i'll send out a few more CV's and try for something else ... perhaps a coffee shop or internet cafe. i'll keep you posted.
the place i visited today reminded me of grandma connelly's old place except bigger and containing people who mostly spoke a version of english that wasn't as much english as it was french or german. the whole place has carpeting (which puts me in mortal peril considering dust has a personal vendetta for me and causes my asthma to fly off the handle) so i don't know if we'll take it. it's cheaper to stay in the hostle, and the hostel is closer to the city centre ... but it would be nice to learn a little french from the new flat mates. count them .. 4 (+ matt and i). but it's not like we're strangers to a situation like that.
because, you see, matty and i went to school together for four years and for three of them we were roommates. in first year we lived in residence together in an apartment room with 4 other guys, one of whom, dan, went on to live with matty the year after while i was still in residence. the year following that i moved into a house with matt, dan, and three other guys (total of six) and that remained relatively the same for the year after that, save for a complicated moving about of people that is best explained by not explaining it at all.
in fact, if you're still reading i commend you because you have absolutely no reason to have made it this far, and i imagine you would have only been reading every other or every tenth word. i invite you to re-read the above statement because you are likely to laugh rather hard. if this is your second time through please continue on to what is below which shouldn't be much more, but i haven't decided yet.
or rather i've completely forgotten. although i would like to thank dan for pointing out that my first post had matt's birthday wrong, and being a good friend he cleared it up politely. thank you dan. what is important is the members of the house i lived in while at brantford. the team included, in addition to matt, dan and i: josh, steve, tommy, brandon and adam.
i know that equals eight, please refer to paragraph four for a complete explanation.
this is post number two of today. please read post number one by clicking here or reading it below.
leaf tossing championships
last night matty and i had dinner at our BC friends house. her and another girl made us chicken and other vegetable stuff and we polished off two bottles of wine. we then toured out to a pub and found more canadians: a couple from Ottawa who are licensed chiropractors looking for work in that field, and another girl from Toronto who also is a chiropractor but not looking for work in that field. We all shared a pint or four and laughed over the pop culture game that was going on around us. Had we have known what the server had said when she came up to us offering the game for us to play we might have joined in, but as it turned out we hadn't a clue that what she had said was english so we politely declined and proceed to regret that decision soon after. it didn't seem as though the game was about answering the questions but rather who could have the funniest team name. we decided to go back again next week with a name prepared and a proper answer prepared for the server: yeathad be grand. the name we're toying with is "George Bush is our neighbour, not our leader; the kind of neighbour you'd though your leaves over the fence to".
it's a work in progress, and the other names shouldn't be recorded in any kind of blog.
before it got too late i had to get matty back to bed so he'd be up for work this morning. he got up, i didn't.
it's a work in progress, and the other names shouldn't be recorded in any kind of blog.
before it got too late i had to get matty back to bed so he'd be up for work this morning. he got up, i didn't.
Monday, October 1
aka the irish talk a lot
at least this particular irish man i was chatting with last night. the conversation was 44 minutes too long and i was aware that this conversation was going to be too long for me to continue to enjoy it just over a minute into it. needless to say (because you can do the maths*) that it was three quarters of an hour that i would rather have been watching the trad session going on in the pub, mostly because i was more interested in the fiddlers who were moving faster than i had ever seen before which was pretty fast when you take a moment to consider that it was the slowest 45 minutes of my life to date.
don't bother doing the maths because your head will likely explode.
regardless, i have found a pub that will feature trad sessions regularly, which i am excited about, and i have found a pub that wants to give me a shot at pouring pints of guinness, murphy's and beamish for the locals. they are not the same pub, which is nice, because if they were i might be required to get a bolt through my lower lip. and with dad coming to visit eventually i'd rather not have it pulled out upon his arrival.
*maths is how they say math
don't bother doing the maths because your head will likely explode.
regardless, i have found a pub that will feature trad sessions regularly, which i am excited about, and i have found a pub that wants to give me a shot at pouring pints of guinness, murphy's and beamish for the locals. they are not the same pub, which is nice, because if they were i might be required to get a bolt through my lower lip. and with dad coming to visit eventually i'd rather not have it pulled out upon his arrival.
*maths is how they say math
Sunday, September 30
BORING!!!
i meant to get out to the coast for the remainder of my days in france but apparently the public
transportation staff would rather spend the last three days of my trip marching through the streets of paris, hanging off each other while yelling vive la france and drinking one and a half times their body weight in expensive french booze. however, because of the strike i was able to spend some actually time around the great monuments i had rushed over the past few days. and instead of viewing paris through the lense of my camera, i enjoyed them the way most of the people around me weren't ... sober.
transportation staff would rather spend the last three days of my trip marching through the streets of paris, hanging off each other while yelling vive la france and drinking one and a half times their body weight in expensive french booze. however, because of the strike i was able to spend some actually time around the great monuments i had rushed over the past few days. and instead of viewing paris through the lense of my camera, i enjoyed them the way most of the people around me weren't ... sober.that image is the arc de triumph. i didn't take it, but it is pretty much the same image that i would have taken a picture of. i found this image through a search engine. i took a lot of pictures, or at least i started to take a lot of pictures of buildings. However pictures of buildings are boring and I quickly stopped. i realized that i could do exactly what i just did, that is search online, and i'll come up with enough pictures to create a 3d model of most monuments in paris.i got bored and didn't want to finish this thought. paris was great. and i can't wait to go back because then i'll get to see the coast.
of course, i don't know what most of that last sentence means either, nor do i have the time to learn what it means, explain it and then carry out the task that it likely instructs me to do. instead, we can discuss how many pictures exist of any given tourist attraction.
take Notre Dame for example. as i walked around the building i admired every bit of it, and took a few pictures too. it has flying buttruses, which is both cool and complicated and explaining either would take up too much time and use too much of your valuble attention. instead, watch disney's hunchback and search flying buttruses on your favourite search engine or encylopedia series for the proper spelling and meaning. it'll save us all a lot of time.
as i took my pictures i came to the realization that i wasn't alone. a quick count told me fifteen others were doing the same. then i looked back at the shot i had composed and wondered ... why? what makes this shot i'm taking so much more interesting? why am i bothering to take it. it is hardly worth €0.25 in developing to see a picture a few clicks can find for me. so i took a picture of another person taking the same picture and put my camera down. i could have run through eight rolls in an hour with all the action around the cathedral. so i started to wonder ... is it possible to know how many pictures of Notre Damn there are?
Friday, September 28
and now for something work related
waiting on an employer to get their schedule together so that i can know if they want me to trial is currently the biggest annoyance known to this man.
in other news, i revieved a phone call from another company who is interested in an interview. i had applied online just this morning and the call came this afternoon via my new mobile phone (they call them mobiles ... that is mo-bye-ul ... not cell's) through the head set i was listening to irish radio on. what a concept eh!: make the phone a radio.
none of them are job offers yet, but they are a start.
... in other news i'm back on face book. please forgive me.
in other news, i revieved a phone call from another company who is interested in an interview. i had applied online just this morning and the call came this afternoon via my new mobile phone (they call them mobiles ... that is mo-bye-ul ... not cell's) through the head set i was listening to irish radio on. what a concept eh!: make the phone a radio.
none of them are job offers yet, but they are a start.
... in other news i'm back on face book. please forgive me.
Thursday, September 27
Disney will bring us together
the one thing that all the travellers around the pub table had last night was their memory of childhood cartoon movies, and the ability to regurgitate mass amounts of useless knowledge that can only be used in situations like the one we all found ourselves in last night.
i didn't notice when it began but once it got going it was hard not to. we were in the pub that i'll be trialing (having a try out) at next monday, enjoying a pint of Beamish (a knock-off version of Guinness that the locals drink because it's cheap and brewed in the city) when i heard a familiar tune. i put my conversation on hold and turned my attention to the rest of the party. there were two girls singing a song that i had heard before ... in french ... ... or at least i thought it was french. as it turns out one was singing in french and the other was in spanish.
the german girl i was speaking with before the musical number broke out joined in ... in german. the three of them were singing as much as they could between laughs ... ...
and then it hit me. the tune that was so familiar was originally performed by Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book. So matty and i joined in too. we only knew the chorus so we kept singing that over and over again. after it was all said and done there were five languages layered together one of which i knew was a language and no bit of the song could anyone not at the table make out. french, spanish, german, english and swedish. all together. all singing our hearts out and laughing our throats dry.
love, and now disney, will bring us together.
i didn't notice when it began but once it got going it was hard not to. we were in the pub that i'll be trialing (having a try out) at next monday, enjoying a pint of Beamish (a knock-off version of Guinness that the locals drink because it's cheap and brewed in the city) when i heard a familiar tune. i put my conversation on hold and turned my attention to the rest of the party. there were two girls singing a song that i had heard before ... in french ... ... or at least i thought it was french. as it turns out one was singing in french and the other was in spanish.
the german girl i was speaking with before the musical number broke out joined in ... in german. the three of them were singing as much as they could between laughs ... ...
and then it hit me. the tune that was so familiar was originally performed by Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book. So matty and i joined in too. we only knew the chorus so we kept singing that over and over again. after it was all said and done there were five languages layered together one of which i knew was a language and no bit of the song could anyone not at the table make out. french, spanish, german, english and swedish. all together. all singing our hearts out and laughing our throats dry.
love, and now disney, will bring us together.
Tuesday, September 25
landed
we've arrived in Cork after a grueling four and a half hour ride from Dublin, we enjoyed a pint of Murphy's stout (b/c the locals don't drink the Guinness) and shared a pint with a new friend from BC. Angie, our new friend, is the first Canadian we've met who speaks more than English. in fact she speaks Spanish and Japanese too! our party grew as the night wore and soon included a few Swed's, Spaniards, French and I think an Auzzie, but I never got talking to him.
today is the first day of job hunting, and that means getting together a CV, or resume as we call it at home.
wish me luck,
cheers,
today is the first day of job hunting, and that means getting together a CV, or resume as we call it at home.
wish me luck,
cheers,
Monday, September 24
godfather me
the weekend before i departed my parents and sisters and i visited my dad's brothers house, mark, and his family ... as well as gran and pop murray, aunt mary, aunt marilyn and cousin
devin (dad's brother allen's son) and we had one of the first murray family jamm sessions. i was quite proud to be able to teach my cousin carolyn the first few notes of John Lennon's Blackbird (the only song i know completely) but proceeded to be humiliated by my goddaughter, and cousin (showed in the image to the right) Josie, who turn six that weekend, on the drums. t'was all in good fun and proved to be a wonderful warmup to my trip to come. we may have to look into getting that kickdrum loaded ... into the backseat folded down.
the pub crawl i spoke of earlier showcased the type of jam sessions, simly called sessions, that can be found in small pubs around ireland. i haven't found one yet that did appear to be packaged for the tourist gaze, (i'll explain the significance of the bolded words in a later post if i can remember it ... thanks prof hennebry and cs 403), perhaps Cork will have more to share.
matt and i head for Cork City this afternoon.
there are a few pictures up on my flicker (link found in the side bar), they come care of Nat, my french friend, and aunt mary from the north.
cheers,
--(bb)b
devin (dad's brother allen's son) and we had one of the first murray family jamm sessions. i was quite proud to be able to teach my cousin carolyn the first few notes of John Lennon's Blackbird (the only song i know completely) but proceeded to be humiliated by my goddaughter, and cousin (showed in the image to the right) Josie, who turn six that weekend, on the drums. t'was all in good fun and proved to be a wonderful warmup to my trip to come. we may have to look into getting that kickdrum loaded ... into the backseat folded down.the pub crawl i spoke of earlier showcased the type of jam sessions, simly called sessions, that can be found in small pubs around ireland. i haven't found one yet that did appear to be packaged for the tourist gaze, (i'll explain the significance of the bolded words in a later post if i can remember it ... thanks prof hennebry and cs 403), perhaps Cork will have more to share.
matt and i head for Cork City this afternoon.
there are a few pictures up on my flicker (link found in the side bar), they come care of Nat, my french friend, and aunt mary from the north.
cheers,
--(bb)b
Friday, September 21
serendipitous
last night we went on a musical pub crawl, which was awesome, and we found out a bout it from two girls from ten minutes outside paris, which is also awesome because not only will we have a place to stay in paris when we go we might also have some visitors to ontario too. they are pretty excited to speak to my four sisters who are fluent(ish) in french!
but enough about the girls, back to the story of the pub crawl. the group, about 40 tourists, gathered at a pub called oliver st johns something something, met our guides, a fiddler and guitar/drum/singer player, and set out around the city stopping at traditional irish pubs. well, we learned that the second pub we stopped at, and the pubs that followed, were traditional and the first one, olivanders (or whatever), was not at all. it is the kind of pub we (the tourist group) would find in our home countries. it seems that "traditional" irish pubs do not have fiddles on the walls, guinness posters on the walls or sells shirts that say the leprechauns made me do it.
at oliver's we got to chatting with a few of the folks with us, a couple from texas who wanted their picture taken and i was happy to oblige. another girl, who i was happy to realize soon into our conversation that she was from Mississauga and we had a common acquaintance from laurier brantford, a couple from a little town outside new mexico called Los Alamos of which he said, and i kid you not, "you might know us from when we bombed japan".
matt and i laughed for a good fifteen minutes about that. "who says that?" was all matty could say.
the crawl came to a close around 10:30 and then headed to another pub where some real trad music session was happening. it was great fun, grand as they say here.
today we had lunch with matt's dads bishop connection who paid for it all too. it was nice to speak with irish natives, and what's more he gave us some connections in Cork to call when we get there (which is set for monday). and of course, being as this is dublin, pop. 1.5 million, who shows up at the same second story restaurant at the same time as us?... but the texan couple from the night before! i went to their table, they hadn't seen us yet, and started speaking ... she looked up with the expression of a woman who was getting prepared to speak to a waiter ... i told her i'd be happy to take their picture again if they'd like.
we had a good chuckle over the whole situation, and then i wished them a happy lunch.
matt's party for tomorrow night is growing in numbers. the two kiwi's i met a day ago are coming, norm from edmonton, and jaka from italy ... the two french girls can't make it cause they travel tomorrow morning which is especially disappointing seeing as the one has the exact same birthday as matty - day and year!.
that's all for now, cheers!
--b
but enough about the girls, back to the story of the pub crawl. the group, about 40 tourists, gathered at a pub called oliver st johns something something, met our guides, a fiddler and guitar/drum/singer player, and set out around the city stopping at traditional irish pubs. well, we learned that the second pub we stopped at, and the pubs that followed, were traditional and the first one, olivanders (or whatever), was not at all. it is the kind of pub we (the tourist group) would find in our home countries. it seems that "traditional" irish pubs do not have fiddles on the walls, guinness posters on the walls or sells shirts that say the leprechauns made me do it.
at oliver's we got to chatting with a few of the folks with us, a couple from texas who wanted their picture taken and i was happy to oblige. another girl, who i was happy to realize soon into our conversation that she was from Mississauga and we had a common acquaintance from laurier brantford, a couple from a little town outside new mexico called Los Alamos of which he said, and i kid you not, "you might know us from when we bombed japan".
matt and i laughed for a good fifteen minutes about that. "who says that?" was all matty could say.
the crawl came to a close around 10:30 and then headed to another pub where some real trad music session was happening. it was great fun, grand as they say here.
today we had lunch with matt's dads bishop connection who paid for it all too. it was nice to speak with irish natives, and what's more he gave us some connections in Cork to call when we get there (which is set for monday). and of course, being as this is dublin, pop. 1.5 million, who shows up at the same second story restaurant at the same time as us?... but the texan couple from the night before! i went to their table, they hadn't seen us yet, and started speaking ... she looked up with the expression of a woman who was getting prepared to speak to a waiter ... i told her i'd be happy to take their picture again if they'd like.
we had a good chuckle over the whole situation, and then i wished them a happy lunch.
matt's party for tomorrow night is growing in numbers. the two kiwi's i met a day ago are coming, norm from edmonton, and jaka from italy ... the two french girls can't make it cause they travel tomorrow morning which is especially disappointing seeing as the one has the exact same birthday as matty - day and year!.
that's all for now, cheers!
--b
Wednesday, September 19
kiwi and other fruit
matty and i meant to get to the guinness brewery today, but we slept to late and as it turns out they don't let people through the doors past 5 pm. we had our orientation in the morning (wihch we did make it to, but only b/c our american friend woke us up). i lost matty last night, but as luck would have it he found some locals irish and they took care of him. he turned the wrong way coming out of the bar and walked the distance to the hostel we were staying at, ... just in the wrong way. luckily at the spot he expected the hostel to be there was a mcdonalds, and where his bed was to be there was a bathroom. all ended up well!
tonight we're going for a few pints with a couple of girls from seattle, matty is packing a map to ensure he gets home.
matty made dinner tonight, and it was grand. our first home cooked meal since we got here - that is, the closest we can get. we cooked beside a Kiwi who was really full of energy and gave me hell for giving her cooking secretes away to a bunch of other girls. (you may have noticed by now that there are very few boys in my stories .. but that's just cause there are very few boys here!) The Kiwi's buddy, Tresa (TREES-ARE-GREEN ... but leave off the RE-GREEN) offered us some of the cheese because, and i quote, "we have a f*** load of it".
oh, and i lost my voice last night singing at the pub. it's back just in time to be lost again.
cheers,
--b
tonight we're going for a few pints with a couple of girls from seattle, matty is packing a map to ensure he gets home.
matty made dinner tonight, and it was grand. our first home cooked meal since we got here - that is, the closest we can get. we cooked beside a Kiwi who was really full of energy and gave me hell for giving her cooking secretes away to a bunch of other girls. (you may have noticed by now that there are very few boys in my stories .. but that's just cause there are very few boys here!) The Kiwi's buddy, Tresa (TREES-ARE-GREEN ... but leave off the RE-GREEN) offered us some of the cheese because, and i quote, "we have a f*** load of it".
oh, and i lost my voice last night singing at the pub. it's back just in time to be lost again.
cheers,
--b
Tuesday, September 18
day one
matt sleeps like a bear. he doesn't move. and just sleeps there. i can move the metal drawer from under our bunk, of which he has the lower bunk, which lifts the bunk considerably, without him so much as moving.
this does allow me to leave a beer cradled in his arms for when he wakes up.
in other news, dublin is grand. everyone walks fast. very fast. and there are pubs everywhere. apparently, a radio station was giving €100 to anyone who could plot a path that avoided passing by a pub. the winner said that any path would do, simply enter everyone along the way.
we had a pint of stout this morning at some pub, i don't remember the name but that hardly matters, we had our pint anyways. our new american friend, TJ, whom we met in the terminal at Newark, who heading off to Belfast tomorrow to coach basketball, enjoyed a pint with us. we were all very tired after that, and rightly so ... stout is heavy on a tired stomach.
that was three hours ago. matt is still napping with his beer.
oh, and we're in a 16 bed dorm room tonight. HA. and better yet, in three days we'll be in a 24 bed dorm room. anything to save a buck.
cheers,
--b
this does allow me to leave a beer cradled in his arms for when he wakes up.
in other news, dublin is grand. everyone walks fast. very fast. and there are pubs everywhere. apparently, a radio station was giving €100 to anyone who could plot a path that avoided passing by a pub. the winner said that any path would do, simply enter everyone along the way.
we had a pint of stout this morning at some pub, i don't remember the name but that hardly matters, we had our pint anyways. our new american friend, TJ, whom we met in the terminal at Newark, who heading off to Belfast tomorrow to coach basketball, enjoyed a pint with us. we were all very tired after that, and rightly so ... stout is heavy on a tired stomach.
that was three hours ago. matt is still napping with his beer.
oh, and we're in a 16 bed dorm room tonight. HA. and better yet, in three days we'll be in a 24 bed dorm room. anything to save a buck.
cheers,
--b
Tuesday, September 11
t minus five days
over the past week i have been forced to arrive at a startling reality: everything in the world does not revolve around me.
let me explain.
I leave on the seventeenth, only five days, 23 hrs, 34 mins, 33 seconds ... approximately. Yet despite this fact, which is common knowledge to everyone everywhere, some of these people still find need in scheduling events that will occur after my departure. Until recently I had thought that I was somehow being unclear to the rest of Ontario that they needn't worry about things like that becuase i wasn't going to be here.
then it hit me. even after i am gone the rest of you will continue to function quite normally, barely pausing while i fly overhead. this is a very tough idea to grasp. i wish it was easier for me.
i was just called for supper. i'd better go. because there is only five more like these left for me until a year from now. tonight will be the best supper i've ever had ... until tomorrow.
let me explain.
I leave on the seventeenth, only five days, 23 hrs, 34 mins, 33 seconds ... approximately. Yet despite this fact, which is common knowledge to everyone everywhere, some of these people still find need in scheduling events that will occur after my departure. Until recently I had thought that I was somehow being unclear to the rest of Ontario that they needn't worry about things like that becuase i wasn't going to be here.
then it hit me. even after i am gone the rest of you will continue to function quite normally, barely pausing while i fly overhead. this is a very tough idea to grasp. i wish it was easier for me.
i was just called for supper. i'd better go. because there is only five more like these left for me until a year from now. tonight will be the best supper i've ever had ... until tomorrow.
Saturday, September 8
and introducing ...
... brad.
Hi Mom and Dad! and thank you mandy for letting me share this space with you. i don't know if i'll be able to be as witty with my writing as you are ... you're one heck of an act to follow: like hearing John Lennon sing Imagine followed by a live performance from Art Alexikas of Everclear.
perhaps that is a little esoteric. so, onward and upward.
Irlenad is quickly approaching, nearing the one week count down. Matt and I depart on Sept 17th to arrive in Dublin the morning of the 18th. I beleive our first act of buisness will be to find where in the world it is five o'clock and toast a Guinness to them.
Matt is the brains behind this opperation, has been a friend of mine for over four years and a roommate for three. I jokingly made a remark about my wanting to go to ireland after school back in Dec of '06, and when we came back from Christmas Holidays in January he asked how serious I was. Matty has been the one to get the ball rolling with the trip with his constant badgering (that I beleive has been fueled by his mother's constant badgering) and unrelenting drive to get to ireland to celebrate his birthday (on sept 21st). Thank you Matty, we'd still be in the planning stage if you didn't step up.
The realization hasn't completely set in that we are going to be in Dublin, Ireland within a fortnight, and I am told that it won't until the plane is in the air, but what has set in is excitment and fear, occasionally knocking me over for the dog to pee on me.
Unregardless, thanks for tuning in.
cheers,
--b
Hi Mom and Dad! and thank you mandy for letting me share this space with you. i don't know if i'll be able to be as witty with my writing as you are ... you're one heck of an act to follow: like hearing John Lennon sing Imagine followed by a live performance from Art Alexikas of Everclear.
perhaps that is a little esoteric. so, onward and upward.
Irlenad is quickly approaching, nearing the one week count down. Matt and I depart on Sept 17th to arrive in Dublin the morning of the 18th. I beleive our first act of buisness will be to find where in the world it is five o'clock and toast a Guinness to them.
Matt is the brains behind this opperation, has been a friend of mine for over four years and a roommate for three. I jokingly made a remark about my wanting to go to ireland after school back in Dec of '06, and when we came back from Christmas Holidays in January he asked how serious I was. Matty has been the one to get the ball rolling with the trip with his constant badgering (that I beleive has been fueled by his mother's constant badgering) and unrelenting drive to get to ireland to celebrate his birthday (on sept 21st). Thank you Matty, we'd still be in the planning stage if you didn't step up.The realization hasn't completely set in that we are going to be in Dublin, Ireland within a fortnight, and I am told that it won't until the plane is in the air, but what has set in is excitment and fear, occasionally knocking me over for the dog to pee on me.
Unregardless, thanks for tuning in.
cheers,
--b
Monday, April 2
edinburgh to belfast, ireland
so, we had a great time in edinburgh because it was such a student town and the night life was out of this world.. there were tons of things to do during the day and it was awesome..
we took a flight from edinburgh, scotland to belfast, ireland that lasted 15mins.. we were up most of the night before partying and whatnot and i was planning on catching up on some sleep on the flight and i only slept for about 5 mins when the pilot said we were landing. my ears didnt even pop.. we didnt get up very high before we had to come back down.. no wonder it was such a cheap flight. haha..
so, we arrived in belfast, ireland (still on the pound which was 2.5 times the canadian dollar and 1.5 times the euro) and it was STILL cheaper than living in paris and buying things in paris. we were shocked that drinks were cheaper in scotland even with the conversion than they were in Paris..
we were planning on renting a car in belfast so that we could drive around Ireland. we got to the car renting place and they told us that they cant rent a car to anyone under the age of 22 and the driver (jordanna) was 22.. so, we walked around to the different stations to see if anyone would rent the car to us. we found one but it was going to be almost 6 times more expensive for us to rent this car than we had thought.. we had a huge discussion about it in the airport trying to decide if it was worth still getting the car.. and we decided that it was. so, Vivian (our car's name) was to be ours for the next week.. and I'm SOO glad we got the car because there were so many things we wouldnt have been able to do had we not had the car..
we took a flight from edinburgh, scotland to belfast, ireland that lasted 15mins.. we were up most of the night before partying and whatnot and i was planning on catching up on some sleep on the flight and i only slept for about 5 mins when the pilot said we were landing. my ears didnt even pop.. we didnt get up very high before we had to come back down.. no wonder it was such a cheap flight. haha..
so, we arrived in belfast, ireland (still on the pound which was 2.5 times the canadian dollar and 1.5 times the euro) and it was STILL cheaper than living in paris and buying things in paris. we were shocked that drinks were cheaper in scotland even with the conversion than they were in Paris..
we were planning on renting a car in belfast so that we could drive around Ireland. we got to the car renting place and they told us that they cant rent a car to anyone under the age of 22 and the driver (jordanna) was 22.. so, we walked around to the different stations to see if anyone would rent the car to us. we found one but it was going to be almost 6 times more expensive for us to rent this car than we had thought.. we had a huge discussion about it in the airport trying to decide if it was worth still getting the car.. and we decided that it was. so, Vivian (our car's name) was to be ours for the next week.. and I'm SOO glad we got the car because there were so many things we wouldnt have been able to do had we not had the car..
Sunday, April 1
highlands and Nelly
we went on a tour of the highlands and the loch ness area on our last day in edinburgh. it was absolutely breathtaking. the highlands is a huge area in the south of scotlands where they have millions of mountains and lakes. it was gorgeous. we drove around in a bus and stopped at a few places throughout the day to take pictures. Everywhere you turned, you felt like you were looking at a painting. If you turned in a circle the scenery changed so much. you would have mountains on one side, a valley and then a huge lake on another side. it was gorgeous.
we went to where the loch ness monster was supposed to have been seen a billion years ago. Unfortunatly, we didnt see nelly (or nessie, eh!??!?).. i really thought i was going to get to see her so i stood watching the lake for a while assuming that the monster would appear. it didnt. and i was crushed.
so, anyways, the tour was fantastic. i didnt realize that scotland was so beautiful. i had always heard that ireland was gorgeous but scotland is as well.
we went to where the loch ness monster was supposed to have been seen a billion years ago. Unfortunatly, we didnt see nelly (or nessie, eh!??!?).. i really thought i was going to get to see her so i stood watching the lake for a while assuming that the monster would appear. it didnt. and i was crushed.
so, anyways, the tour was fantastic. i didnt realize that scotland was so beautiful. i had always heard that ireland was gorgeous but scotland is as well.
Monday, March 26
edinburgh
we got off the train in edinburgh and got to our hostel were we met 4 canadians who went to trent and were on their spring break and were doing a super fast tour of the UK... we went on a ghost walk with them (which was super freaky.. they talked about the history of the town, all the ghosts they have there and they took us through a cemetary..) we went out to the bar with them that night and had a wicked time. in edinburgh, you had to show ID at every bar.. i dont even know what the drinking age is there but you had to show your ID anyways.. well, Maria hadn't brought any with her.. so, as a joke, after i had shown the bouncer my ID, i handed it over to Maria right in front of him. i was expecting the bouncer to laugh at us and then tell maria to get her ID.. but, he didnt.. he didnt even notice me give it to her (even though we were standing RIGHT in front of him) and he thought the ID was maria and let her in. It was ridiculous.
we stayed in edinburgh for 3 nights.. this was my favorite city for sure. everyone was so super nice and it was such a student town (kind of like london..) and there were always tons of young people around and the night life was amazing. we bar hopped like crazy.. one night Maria and I went to 5 different bars. It was great.. and we'd meet cool people along the way and then we'd change bars. this one bar we went to was called espionage and we went there the second night and then again on the third night and it was great. there were about 6 different levels and it was built into a hill so you went in at the bottom of the hill and at the end of the night you exited at the top of the hill, on level 6.. so, each level was a different type of atmosphere.. they had a club level, a chill level, a pub level and others.. it was great..
on the second day, we went on a bus tour of edinburgh which was really cool.. we got to see the castle, some old buildings, some museums (were Dolly was cloned..) the castle in edinburgh is the main thing there and its in the center of the town on this huge hill.. its odd because the rest of the city is pretty flat except for this huge hilll with the castle on it..
we stayed in edinburgh for 3 nights.. this was my favorite city for sure. everyone was so super nice and it was such a student town (kind of like london..) and there were always tons of young people around and the night life was amazing. we bar hopped like crazy.. one night Maria and I went to 5 different bars. It was great.. and we'd meet cool people along the way and then we'd change bars. this one bar we went to was called espionage and we went there the second night and then again on the third night and it was great. there were about 6 different levels and it was built into a hill so you went in at the bottom of the hill and at the end of the night you exited at the top of the hill, on level 6.. so, each level was a different type of atmosphere.. they had a club level, a chill level, a pub level and others.. it was great..
on the second day, we went on a bus tour of edinburgh which was really cool.. we got to see the castle, some old buildings, some museums (were Dolly was cloned..) the castle in edinburgh is the main thing there and its in the center of the town on this huge hill.. its odd because the rest of the city is pretty flat except for this huge hilll with the castle on it..
glasgow-edinburgh
the next day, we went on a very cold bus tour of glasgow.. most of which i forget about now.. it was cool to see the city and its history. we went to the pub again to eat and met some more scots. UK's and irish people are so nice. we stayed another night in glasgow and then went to edinburgh the next day via train. the country side was beautiful on the way to edinburgh.. it was constantly changing with really nice mountains, churchs, old abandoned castles and whatnot... it was really nice.
Paris- Glasgow
so, we took a flight from paris to glasgow, scotland and had no trouble getting into the country. we got to our hostel with no problems. our hostel was a really huge room for about 8 people but the 4 of us were the only ones in it, so that was nice. Maria, who was still jet legged from just returning from Canada, slept for a few hrs while Dominique, Jo and I walked around the city a little bit. we found a nice bar and went back to wake Maria up to go and eat at this pub. There were tons of scots there watching a rubgy game and it reminded me of being at Molly's at home, hanging out. it was a really relaxed atmosphere and lots of fun. we met a few scots at the bar and turns out scots love Canadians so we were the hit of the bar. our hostel had a bar as well so as soon as the pub closed, we went back to the bar where there were tons of irish people there celebrating after the celtic win. the irish are crazy. it was one huge party with everyone laughing and singing and having fun. we started talking to these irish guys from dublin who came to glasgow to see the celtic rugby game and they were telling us about the history of the celtic (most of which i forget..) we ended off the night by staying up way too late as usual.. so late in fact that we slept through most of the next day..
Friday, March 16
internet/phone
alright, so I got back from Ireland and Scotland safely. I dont have internet or phone right now at my place and so it's going to take me longer than I thought to get my posts up to date but I will get there. basically, to sum up everything, I loved Ireland and Scotland. the car we rented in ireland was the best and we all returned safely to Paris. best kind. there will be more posts to come later on when i have a day off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)