Cliffs of Moher

As I slipped and trekked up the Cliff of Moher, I prepared to see an army of Elves were on the other side of the rocky mountain. My hair was whipping my face and the bipolar wind was pushing me up the climb, at this moment. Sounds of forceful waves traveled four hundred feet up the cliff to the edge of the Ireland, where I was standing. Today, I was standing where every fairy tale ever occurred.

Dungaire Castle!!

Cliffs of Moher...

The countryside of Ireland is glorious and more heavenly than I could have ever thought.I am so thankful to have been able to take this trip. Because AIFS awarded me a scholarship, I was able to go on this journey that surprised me with culture and beauty. 

I couldn't ask for Moher. ;)

A Day Away in Galway

Today. Was. Perfect. And also, unlike any other perfect day I've ever experienced!

It all had to do with great people and the wonderful relationships we created today. 

It started off with a bright morning at 7am to catch our rather confusing tram that was supposed to be a bus. Once at the Houston train station, we indulged (i indulged) in a slice of fresh baked, Irish carrot cake. The train left at 9:25 am and I decided to be a rebel and take chances on getting caught not sitting I'm the assigned seat. Luckily, (yes, it must have been luck) I was able to sit with Yvonne for the three hour train ride from Dublin to Galway! Cows, sheep, trees of every green, grey clouds and blue skies: all took my breath away. We finished the cake fairly quickly, as I think the lady facing us took note. 

We worked on our laptops for a bit; Yvonne researching and I blogging. Reaching a large body of water, we arrived to Galway and also, more Atlantic Ocean.

After a short walk to our hostel, we were informed of free (yay free!) activities to participate in. We walked around the bay (and I mislead us to the wrong sights, poo). Finally, we found our way to the port, grassy fields and beaches of Galway.

The bay at Galway!
 

We couldn't help but to buy wool from a Sweater Shop so that we could knit scarves as our souvenir from Ireland! It's so homey and cultural: the best souvenir I could ever imagine.

After seeing gorgeous sights for a few hours, we then joined a free walking tour, and we had the best tour guide I could ever imagine! Thank you, Keeva! I usually wipe my mind clean of all history, but I was able to pass her quiz at the end with an A+++! I told myself, anyways.

Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas from our walking tour. They began building it in 1958!

Then, we were starved (as always) and bought what would look like too many vegetables for two, but I believe there is really no such thing. We cooked up a storm in the brand new kitchen replica of Ikea. I asked a few questions about where the cutting boards were and how to work the stove to another girl cooking in the kitchen and as she was traveling alone, I invited her to sit with us for dinner. Two other girls joined our conversation at some point and I just had a marvelous time talking about our travels. We all did!

Our topic turned to our culture differences; these two girls, Sandra and Jaquelin, were from Canada and Maiko, was from Japan. We didn't even realize there were such differences between Canada and the United States--even the way milk is sold! They have milk jugs. Milk in Canada is sold in plastic bags (whhaaaat?) and then cut a slit and the whole bag is placed inside a sort of cylinder jug, and that's it! No cartons. They all have basements and were astonished to hear that in California, we don't! Since that's where they place all of their winter wear and gear, we figured California houses are built differently because we don't have snowy winters. Also, for the first time, I realized that the houses in the Bay Area are only one floor, unless ridiculously rich and in the mountains. In Canada, toddlers begin ice skating on frozen lakes and everybody has their own pair of skates (where they store it in the basement).

In Addition, they have maple trees that they hammer a pipe and bucket into and they'll have twenty trees with twenty full buckets of maple! Ahhhhh, so jealous! So maple is a big thing in Canada. Apparently, maple is served with practically anything. Jaquelin was telling us how disturbing it is that Sandra puts maple syrup on her eggs and pasta. Though in the coffee or tea is normal. I asked if she's tired of maple and she said, "God, no, I love it!" I feel the same and want to travel to Canada now!

Showing us their Canadian dollars, I realized we are a bit behind with dollar bill technology! Their "new bills" are waterproof and TEAR proof! They tried to tear it and it wouldn't rip! We could use those. I told them about the time my puppy ripped up three $20 bills. (Don't worry, I was able to tape the many pieces together.) It's interesting hearing someone's opinion of how they see things from another culture--they were saying how our American dollars look ancient because they're all the same color, which they found very inconvenient to sort the bills because it takes longer to figure out which bill is which. I understand that, now that they've pointed it out! I never would have thought about that before. We have kept the same style/color of bill since the beginning.

We also talked about the distance between places; in Canada, it's a $400 flight to another city, half way across Canada. So Sandra raved about what a deal she found for $125 bus ride...three days long. It's like the MegaBus, but $124 dollars cheaper and it takes five times longer to arrive to the destination. And that's just a comparison of the country and it's distance between cities. Phenomenal.

After talking about the cultural differences between the U.S. and Canada, I was beyond intrigued in the Japanese culture. I am half Japanese and have been dying to live in Japan! That is my next big trip after this. :) I plan to teach English in Japan for a year, after graduating college. So focusing now on Maiko, we conversed awhile about our countries. Then I remembered: I have a twelve page research paper on two cultures. The two of us at the table represented each of them. I grabbed my laptop from up stairs and asked her questions about the topics I am to cover. A few of the topics were gestures, voice and touching.

One of the astonishing cultural differences we found out was the difference between touching. There's the stereotype that Japanese people are refined, but we had no idea how little they hug. Maiko told us that her family members have definitely not hugged in the last ten years. Even when her friends met up with her in Europe after five months of not seeing them, they didn't hug, she just waved her arms in the air, she showed us. It was hard for her especially because of all the different cultures she been visiting, it seemed difficult to suppress her urge to hug them--probably an urge none of her friends from Japan had.

I've always thought my family was less "loving" than others and I finally realized why. I think my mother's Japanese culture of little physical contact was what we grew up with and are used to. I think I can count how many times I've hugged my family members...haha, that sounds so strange! I think it's not far off ten? The only times my sisters and I hug are when someone leaves for a long trip. It  feels uncomfortable, though, because I'm not used to hugging them. I love hugs, don't get me wrong! This conversation with Maiko illuminated the contrast between my father and mother; a characteristic I hadn't pin pointed before. My dad and I hug pretty often. Learning of the Japanese culture has made me understand more of my family's own culture. I am half Japanese and European American and so is my culture.

Yvonne and I decided to ditch the plans of going out and talk more to our fellow travelers, and I felt so satisfied with that decision.It was wonderful meeting three new friends from different parts of the world, who were all so excited to talk about our cultures. I learned so much about the three cultures.

We shared some Irish golden coins and then headed to bed.

A typical sunset in the land of the Irish.

  Unbeknown to me, I must have run across some shamrocks on this Friday in Ireland.

Little Howth on the Prarie

Closing my eyes, I think of today and wonder if it was all a dream. 

It sure looks like it, doesn't it?

Howth Bay was the priority on the agenda today. I know we are staying in Dublin, however, Yvonne and I were, quite frankly, ready to escape to nature in Ireland. And we were so ready for it. As exciting and artsy the city is, it also is exhausting. 

There could be no other extreme opposite of London than where we went today. It was just what we needed. Fresh air, ocean, sail boats, seagulls,  bushes, hikes, hikers, grass, trees, leaves, and the colors of autumn everywhere. (Yvonne could have lived without the seagulls, actually. And the balloon from yesterday. Different story, nevermind, anyway...) IT WAS PERFECT! A tear might have fallen and added to the salt water bay, I can't be sure. The dock was homey; it really did remind me of Santa Cruz and Fisherman's Bay in Monterey. 


But there was nothing that could compare to the scenery I saw on our hike. I've only seen pictures of the glorious sights I saw today when I became assured that all these myths and legends of magical countrysides are real. Bah. We walked up a small town road with cottages and blackberries. We picked a few, until Yvonne worried they might not actually be blackberries. I still ate a couple. Hey, I didn't die! But I do have a stomach ache...probably from our take-away dinner ahah. But anyway. STILL A PERFECT DAY. 

I stopped to take way too many pictures, but then again, how can you take too many pictures on a perfect day. There should be a question mark on that sentence, but I decided there shouldn't be one, even if it were a rhetorical quesiton. :) 

On the way up the hike/cliff, all five passerbys wished us a "good morning". The instant they were behind us, Yvonne and I would turn to each other and be like, "WHAT! THEY SAID GOOD MORNING!" So happy. I started hollering it to fellow hikers probably a little too ecstatically by the end of the morning. We have missed this small communication so much in London. The culture in the city is not so friendly--everyone's in a rush to make an earning so they can live! (What is the definition of living? Not sarcasm, something to worth thinking about.) 

We ate our salad bar lunch on gorgeous rocks looking out to the ocean. Yes, even the rocks were beautiful. They were cracked with turquoise something growing on it. More friendly people came by and saw us eating and just straight out offered to take a picture of us. Who does that! I think travelers, hikers, country-siders, are usually ridiculously friendly. And I want to make friends with more of them. 

We spent the whole day hiking through bushes that sometimes were the height of our heads, but most time revealed the 200 degrees view of the ocean and 160 degrees of mountain. And 100% satisfaction. 

While returning to the town, Yvonne said this song from Legally Blonde was stuck in her head, and I think it is not coincidental...

"On this peeerfeeeect daaaay, nothing's standing in my way..." 

By the way, I saw my first marsh today! So happy. We got into town, stopped by Olde Candy Shoppe and bought a candy cane (almost time! not really...) and a lollipop. Then we found a Chinese place to do "take-away". Walking down the cutest city streets I've ever seen, we saw Christmas lights and flags and pots of flowers as decorations. Hopping into the movie theater, we spontaneously decided to see The Fifth Estate with Benedict Cumberbatch and Dan Stevens, OH MY. It was...an interesting movie we decided.

Then to the study room/basement (study room sounds better) we went.

 Throughout the day(s), Yvonne and I had wonderful conversations about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. It sounds corny, but as we decided, sometimes corny is what we need. And plus, I like corn.

What a long, marvelous Thursday.

Escaping Paradise

 Yesterday, (was it only yesterday?) I hopped on a bus with Yvonne to Dublin, Ireland! Oh my. That sentence is unreal. That's how I felt about this whole day, really. But anywho, we jumped onto a bus that took us to the London Luton Airport that after only an hour flight, took us to Dublin for another short bus ride to the City Centre. We walked a short distance with our small carry on luggage transported through Ryan Air and found our hostel. 
 I am so lucky to have the opportunity to take this trip with Yvonne! She studies at Berkeley and studying abroad through them at King's College. I appreciate her taking charge of the plans and directing us to the right places. Nothing has gone wrong on our trip (yet)! *Knocks on wood* Background info: I'm from Los Gatos and she's from Santa Clarita, but we met during the summer through some friends. We get along so well and I'm really happy we have the chance to explore England and Ireland together. Who knows where else!

This hostel is different than any other I've stayed at before.  Isaacs Hostel is a youth hostel, which means it is a supervised, rather inexpensive lodging place with a communal kitchen and bathrooms, study room, and TV room. It feels like I'm at camp! Haha it's fun. There are seven bunk beds in our room, but luckily only five beds are full, besides us two. (That means we're less likely to be woken up late or early by others.) 

So upon our first night arriving, we had time to walk around the main street in the city and find ourselves a Tesco. Yay, Tesco! We cooked an amaaaaaaaaaazing dinner in the kitchen of which four men and another woman was already cooking in. But there was room. And I found it interesting that the majority of the people cooking were men. Was this a cultural influence or just the same as what a hostel in California would look like?

Back to dinner. We had carrots, bell peppers, and snow peas seasoned with Pesto on top of Quinoa with delicious, vegetarian sausages. UM, YUM. I'm so grateful Yvonne and I like the same sorts of food! It makes it easier to travel when peoples can agree on where to eat or what groceries to buy. :D Also, we ate dinner sitting on log benches...I feel like the wooden logs are important. *It's culture* :) 

Culture Joke: I asked reception where the kitchen was and he said with his accent, "Kitchen? What's a kitchen?" I began, "It's a place where you..." He cut me off laughing and pointing me in the direction. I felt awkward. Oops, he got me good with his joke! I wonder how many times he tells that joke a day? The fun you get to have at hostel boarding international people.

 After dinner, we found a comfy spot in the basement to plan out our activities. The basement isn't as scary as it sounds; it was actually quite appealing! Made of bricks from who knows how long ago, this room had soft lighting and cute, small lamps. Five personal tables line up against the walls decorated with pictures from European travels framed by rather cheap looking frames.  (In fact, I'm sitting in there right now, so take my description seriously, people, I'm not making this part up. ;) hehe.)

Then we watched Sherlock Holmes on Netflix because...well, you don't need a reason for that.


Living in the fast-paced, electrifying city of London and traveling around the United Kingdom doesn't leave much time for blogging, mind you. (<-- ooo British phrase!) So I'll try to keep my blogs a little shorter (and sweeter?!) so that I can blog more often. There's so much happening everyday! Forgive me. But keep up with me. Please? :) I really appreciate you guys reading this.

Practing Passions

Hip Hop, Latin and Ballroom, Art, Buda, Mountain Climbing, Fencing, Scuba diving, Language Exchange, Harry Potter, Gym and Trampoline, and a club involved in current events, called New Turn: those are all the clubs I am on the emailing list for, as of Friday, when the University of London Union had Fresher's Fare! An explosion of information and flyers about all the clubs and societies we can join during the semester.

 

 Back from the fare!

 “Cha, cha, one, two, three!” The rhythm of the music moved my hips from side to side and my face showed giddiness beyond belief.  I was on Dancing with the Stars, in my eyes! For two hours, forty of us sweated our passion onto our skin and danced away the night. (One of) my favorite moment(s) of the week proved to be Wednesday night when I had the opportunity to take Latin and Ballroom dancing for the  first time! I didn’t think it was possible, but it was even more fun than I expected. There’s nothing like dancing.

Students showing us the Viennese Waltz!

On most weekdays, I have class from 9am to 3:45pm and then have a society to attend in the evening for two hours, as well as societies on Saturday and Sunday. The first society I attended was Hip Hop on Monday evening—I was ecstatic! A group of my friends participated in the class and we all died together of heat and embarrassment. 

 Me and Laura practicing the first move of the dance!

And afterward, we were almost too sore to move. Hahaha, but even a better reason to enjoy the class and come back for more! The officers were very kind and swagger-licious. They are inspiring dancers. As always, I cannot wait until next time to dance. 

So Wednesday was remarkable. 

Remarkable Moments

The course of true love never did run smooth.  –Lysander, A Midsummer’s Night Dream 

He speaketh the truth, me thinks. Oh, my dear Shakespeare, how art thou so wise? 

  

This is what we wake up to every beautiful morning. Hint hint.

I’ve always dreamed of being in love in Europe, I have accomplished just that! It’s just that it seems I’ve left my man at home. Anyway. We’ll save that topic for a different day!

 On our way to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! Notice the symmetry.

It was my English/Shakespeare class that had the most dreamlike opportunity: to attend A Midsummer’s Night Dream (by Shakespeare) in the Globe Theatre (by Shakespeare)! Our class has been reading the play this week, and I feel so lucky that our teacher is encouraging us to take advantage of what we have in London. This is the second outstanding production I’ve seen there in a week; as a Thespian, I couldn’t be more inspired and grateful for these opportunities.

A Midsummer’s Night Dream was only the most fantastic show I’ve ever seen in my life.  For one reason or another, I’m usually pretty harsh on actors, but I thought they were all perfect. Bottom…he stole the show with his dry, but cheeky personality.  I laughed so hard I cried when Thisbe was dying (“dying”). Well, that sounds heartless, but I guess you had to be there. I gave them a standing ovation, without a second thought! That is mostly because I paid for the “standing area” tickets. The show was so good, I bought the four pound program. That’s about seven dollars! Hahah. Worth it. Least to say, this show was definitely one of the best moments of the week. 

Jeff, Chris, me, and Laurel at my favorite show!! Nothing beats comedy.

 

 Two hours in, resting our feet during intermission.

You know, there are so many “best moments of the week” that I really debate using that phrase. So many things (and people)…(and places) are so wonderful, always, that it really has nothing to do with the week. Why do we have to limit ourselves to counting just what is “the best”? It is just a “remarkable moment” and I will remark all of them.

So Tuesday was remarkable.