Friday, June 29, 2012

Day 3 - Cork, Ireland

Today, we woke up bright and early (again) to go back to Dublin so that we could take the bus to go to Cork. We first stopped at St. Kevin's, which was the utmost creepy/beautiful/whimsical place I have ever seen and been to. It was so Robin Hood-esque and simply felt like were fairy tales and ghost stories take place. On our way to Dublin, the driver randomly stopped at the Brey train station, gave Mireille and I 5 euros and told us to take the train to Dublin since he had to stop. We were quite confused, as was a nice young german family. The general confusion made us become fast friends. The couple was lovely, as was their 2 year old daughter. She was quite the cute little thing.

We finally made it to the train station and figured out how to get to Dublin. After a few minutes, I realized it was my very first time on a train, which got me really excited. However, the adventure only started as we left the train. Getting out of the station was a quest in itself. Mireille and I laughed so hard as people from the general public simply pointed us towards the exit ( we actually needed directions from three people)...we were tired ok?

We finally made our way to the bus and then left for Cork. Hurray for wi-fi on a bus, since it was a 3 hours long drive to the small city. Once we got there, we made our way to the Bru Bar hostel (the coolest hostel so far) and met our roommates (1 from Australia and 3 from France). We then got some groceries, made ourselves super (went on a quest to find a can opener, but returned empty handed). We then went downstairs for a drink and then started to make plans for the night, but then realized we were waaay too tired to do anything. And this is it from day 3 in Ireland!

 

Day 2 - Glendalough, Ireland

How much good can a good night of sleep do? A lot! We woke up bright and early this morning to get ready to walk to the bus stop (by the way, I packed waaayy too many things! My backpack felt like a ton) and head over to Glendalough. The scenery on the way there was marvelous! Beautiful green pastures full of sheep and cows! My parents would have loved it!

When we finally got to out destination, the lovely people from the information center gave us directions to our hostels and we were on our way. Once we were all settled in, we got ready and took off for our day's activity.

Not too far (in general) from our hostel is Wicklow mountain. I added in general because by car, it would maybe take five minutes to get to where we went. However, hiking there is a whole other story. There was at least a gazillion stairs to climb and a thousand kilometers to do (I'm not exaggerating one bit ! ;) . But despite the five hours long hike, or the fact that I could barely feel my legs and that I nearly fell asleep in my macaroni bowl once we got back, it was worth it.

Never have I seen such a beautiful scene. You can judge for yourself, but I'm pretty sure it's nature at it's best.

 



 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Day 1 - Dublin, Ireland

For the sake of saving some time (I do need to sleep), my posts will be written in english, but if and when I post little videos, they will be mostly in french.

 

So! Day 1 in Europe proved to be quite the adventure. If this is a preview of what's to come, I'm almost scared...just kidding...well just a little. It all started with my flight from Canada being delayed by 2 hours, which made it so that my connecting flight to Dublin had to be changed. However, despite running (and taking a bus AND an air train) through the Frankfurt airport ( it is HUGE by the way!), I got to my gate just a few minutes late. The lady ( who was extremely sweet to me as she could probably tell I was on the verge of bursting into tears....hey! I'm sleep deprived here) explained to me how to get a new boarding pass. Long story short, after wondering around for about an hour and a half and getting lost at least three times, I finally got myself a brand new boarding pass and am now waiting patiently for 4 o'clock to come...it's just past noon.

If there is one thing that I learned from my first day abroad, it's that the world is extremely small ( I met a couple from a city at about 30 minutes from where I grew up and a girl from even closer), and that I should not be afraid to ask for help.

I finally board the plane and we take of for Ireland. The two hours fight actually went by pretty fast, since I was going in and out of sleep. As one moment, I caught a glimpse of an island off the coast of Dublin and I actually had tears in my eyes. Never have I so strongly felt about a dream of mine and have officially realized it.

Passport control was a real pain in the ***, but and hour and a half after landing in Dublin, I was picking up my backpack and hugging my bestest friend, who had waited for me THE WHOLE DAY at the airport. The 15 minutes of cab ride to our hostels was full of "OH MY GODS,", " I can't believe your finally here", "I can't believe I'm finally here", and "we're going to have so much fun!".

 

And fun we did have. We quickly changed and met up with some of Mireille's friends for a "hen's party practice". We danced the night away and had fun... So much so that despit my jet lag, we stayed up until past midnight.

I unfortunatly don't have any pictures to post immediatly, but will have some soon.

Yours truly, Bien à vous,

Martine

 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

And so it begins...

I can't believe it! Here I am, finally waiting for My flight to Frankfurt, Germany. This is the moment I've been waiting for all my life. Yes, it was quite hard to say goodbye to Loverboy, but despite the tears, I already know this experience will be so rich in events and so fulfilling. As I sit here, at gate 28, it doesn't even matter that my flight has been delayed by two hours...I'm listening to little kids playing together...some speaking german, others speaking english...and I know, at his moment, this is where I am meant to be.

 

***


Je ne peux pas le croire! Je suis ici, en attente pour mon vol vers Frankfurt, Allemagne. C'est le moment pour lequel j'ai attendu toute ma vie. Oui, c'était difficile de dire aurevoir à Loverboy, mais malgré les larmes, je sais déja que cette expérience sera tellement enrichissante. Pendant que j'attends, ici aux portes 28, Peut importe le fait que mon vol est retardé de deux heures...j'écoute des jeunes enfants jouer ensemble.... Certains parlant l'allemand, d'autres, l'anglais...et je sais que, en moment, c'est ici que je suis censée être.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

3 dodos!

Only 3 more sleeps before I get on that plane and jet out to Europe!! I just said my goodbyes to my parents (it was tougher than I thought it was going to be) and am now on my way to celebrate a high school graduation. The last few weeks have been quite crazy; end of school year (also emotionally tougher than I was expecting it to be), a gazilion graduations to see, a trip to prepare...anyways it'll all be worth it when I'm sitting in Paris drinking some coffee, even if I despise the taste, or in Rome eating a gelato. I'm guessing my next post with be from overseas....Eeeeeeehhh!