Edinburgh

Hello!! On the 18th my friend Katie and I took a flight over to Edinburgh, Scotland. We thought it would be a cool trip and we found really cheap plane tickets. Once we got there we realized what a pretty city it actually is, and it is fairly cheap as well. Our first day we wandered around the city and happened upon the National Gallery which is an art museum. It was free so Katie and I wandered around that. We then got some lunch and took a free walking tour of the city. We learned a lot about the city, but it rained on us a lot. At one point we were near the castle and it was absolutely pouring sideways. Luckily Katie and I had both brought umbrellas so those really came in handy. We learned about this dog named Bobby that was a police man's dog. When the man died the dog sat by his grave everyday for 14 years until he died. That is one loyal dog. We also got to see the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The next day Katie and I got up early and we went to the Museum of Scotland, which is also free. That was a really cool museum because it wasn't just stuff to look at, you could actually interact with a lot of the stuff. We also went to Edinburgh Castle, which is enormous and sits on top of a mountain. I thought that was incredibly smart on the Scottish part, that is the best way to defend the castle. We also went somewhere called The Scotch Whisky Experience where we learned how whisky is made and we got to taste test some. I found out that I really do not like whisky. It burns way too much. We did get to walk away with a cool whisky glass though. While in Edinburgh my dad told me that I should try Haggis. Do you know what haggis is? It is the parts of the lamb that you don't normally want to eat like the liver chopped up and cooking inside the stomach of the sheep. Needless to say I didn't try haggis. Lastly we walked up this hill called Calton Hill and saw beautiful views of the city. We also got lost, well kinda lost, trying to make our way back to our hostel to get our bags, but we found it ok. I would reccommend Edinburgh to anyone looking for a city to spend a couple days in.

Hey everyone! I recently found out that one of my pictures from Berlin was chosen to be on a tour map website about Berlin. They found my picture on Flickr and asked me a few weeks ago if I would approve them putting the picture on their short list of possible pictures, I approved, and a couple days ago they sent me another email telling me that my picture was chosen! Here is the link they sent me, the picture is on the right hand side of the screen. http://www.schmap.com/berlin/introduction_history/p=26506/i=26506_23.jpg

Hello Everyone! This past weekend the SMC girls and I went on an overnight trip to the Aran Islands, off the western coast of Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful and the pictures are up but they don't do the views justice. We started out on Friday and took the long 3 hour drive to the town of Doolin. This is a cute little town on the Western coast of Ireland. We were really just there to spend the night. We took the time to go to this pub in town that was supposed to have the best traditional Irish music in the country. It was really fun to just sit and listen to the music and have a pint. The next morning we got up early and drove to the Cliffs of Moher, which we found out is in the running to be part of the new 7 Wonders of the World. They are absolutely beautiful, just to see the waves crash against the cliffs. After taking some time at the Cliffs we had to drive all the way to Galway. We almost thought we were going to miss our ferry in Galway because we were already cutting it close and we were missing one girl on the bus, and she forgot her phone on the bus. Fortunately we did make our ferry and oh my goodness it was a choppy ride. I don't get sea sick but I was starting to feel nauseous on that ferry. Once we got there we settled into our hostel and we took a bus tour around the island. We stopped at a ring fort called Dun Aengus and took lots of pictures hanging over the edge of cliffs, sorry if I worry anyone. Luckily you can't see how I am actually taking the pictures. It was gorgeous up there, I guess they think that it used to be a little community, but they thought that they were going to be attacked. We finished our tour around the island and went back to our hostel. I went with a few of my friends to this pub called The American Bar and watched a rugby match. For dinners while we were on the island we cooked family style and Saturday night we had tacos. As a group we hung out and watched movies in the tv lounge. Sunday we had all to ourselves. My friend Katie and I got up early and started our day by hiking up a huge hill on the other side of the island looking for another ring fort, we didn't find the fort but we did find a beautiful view on a cliff. As we were up there it started raining on us. We saw a rainbow, but it was too faint for a picture. The view was breathtaking. When we made our way back down we got some lunch and then went sweater shopping. I found a great cardigan for myself and sweaters for both my parents. Katie and I then rented bikes and biked around the island. We were on the island of Inis Mor, which is the biggest of the three islands, Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Oir. We took a route that was right along the coast and it was beautiful, sorry to keep using the same word but I can't think of anything else to say about it. There were quite a lot of hills and I am not good at biking on hills. It was a lot of fun to ride a bike around the small island. We went back to Dun Aengus, but instead of making the trek back up to the fort we just looked around at the shops and stopped at the cafe for tea and cake. We then rode back into town. We helped with dinner, curry (which I am not a fan of), and then spent the night watching movies with the girls. We took a 7 am ferry and pretty much slept the whole 3 hours back to Maynooth. It was really a great weekend and I would really love to go back to the Islands.