Friday, April 30, 2010
The Second Week
Non-stop. That's a good word to describe the last two weeks we've had here in Gleann. This week we've done: poetry, Gaeltacht studies, archaeology (exploring dolmens), beach walks, weaving, knitting, dancing, singing, among other things. The Prance House has continued its tradition of grill cheese nights, as well as exploring new and 'spiced' foods like fajitas and fried rice. We have been so extremely lucky with the weather, having blue skies come out almost everyday. Tomorrow Cid and I are going to hike up to the tower again, and then see how far we can get, to find an old abandoned village. This weekend will be our first days off, and we are all excited to sleep in. That is all for now, but I will update soon with more detail.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
A brief update
First let me preface this by saying that I will update more often! This will be short--
I'm in Gleann Cholm Cille! And it's the most beautiful part of Ireland that I've been to so far! It's situated snugly in a valley between two mountain (hills perhaps more accurately). On the west end of the valley is the ocean, with stunning sunsets every night.
Cid, Haley, Alysa and I live in a small little cottage right in downtown (which consists of a small food mart, gas pump, three bars, a small cafe, and a handful of other businesses). We're next door to the Catholic church and it's graveyard. Our landlady is a sweet old woman named Cait (pronounced Cawtch, which is Irish for Kate). We have deemed the cottage the Prance House, after a word substitution game Miranda and I play (girl=squirrel, dance=prance etc. etc.). We eat loads of grilled cheese and drink Bulmer's quite often. It's great. I love my squirrels.
I will write more later, and include photos! Miss you all!
I'm in Gleann Cholm Cille! And it's the most beautiful part of Ireland that I've been to so far! It's situated snugly in a valley between two mountain (hills perhaps more accurately). On the west end of the valley is the ocean, with stunning sunsets every night.
Cid, Haley, Alysa and I live in a small little cottage right in downtown (which consists of a small food mart, gas pump, three bars, a small cafe, and a handful of other businesses). We're next door to the Catholic church and it's graveyard. Our landlady is a sweet old woman named Cait (pronounced Cawtch, which is Irish for Kate). We have deemed the cottage the Prance House, after a word substitution game Miranda and I play (girl=squirrel, dance=prance etc. etc.). We eat loads of grilled cheese and drink Bulmer's quite often. It's great. I love my squirrels.
I will write more later, and include photos! Miss you all!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Oslo-Arendal-Stavanger-Utbjoa-Haugesung-Bergen-Oslo
My journey across Norway!
Sunday-Oslo
I left Dublin around 9:30am and arrived at the Rygge airport at about 12:30pm (with a 1 hour time zone change). I couldn't find Glenn at first, but he showed up! The first bus to the airport didn't leave until my plane landed. So we left the airport and went back to his apartment in Oslo. We just hung out there, and I went to bed early to FINALLY catch up on sleep. Which I wasn't able to do yet.
Monday-Arendal
We got up around noon, and took the train to Arendal. This took maybe 4 hours, I don't remember. Per Erling met us with the car and we went to Emma's house. Partied/hung out there, and fell asleep.
Tuesday-Late Start to Stavanger
Another late start, we got up around 12:30p and weren't going to be able to make the 2 o'clock train to Stavanger. So we ate an excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. There was coffee, but I didn't listen to Sean and drank it anyways. My mistake. It wasn't horrible, but I really will just have to wait until I get home to drink it again. After breakfast Glenn, Emma and I walked down into town (Arendal) and took the little tiny ferry (Glenn called it a school bus boat) across to the cafe where we were going.
We had some hot chocolate (varm sjokolade) and then Emma and Glenn's friend Marthe gave us a lift to the train station. We took the 5pm(ish) train to Stavanger. No one was in our compartment so we were loud and obnoxious all we wanted! We arrived in Stavanger around 11pm and Glenn's friend Arne met us at the train. We took a cab back to his place and hung out. The boys made burritos with ground beef and zucchini, because they were out of everything else. But this was surprisingly delicious.
Wednesday-Stavanger to Utbjoa
Surprise! We got up late again! Around 12:30. So we walked downtown to be tourists and just see the city. First we walked up to this tower, which is apparently the best place to smoke in the city. Then we went and got MacDonalds, which is the first time in a while that I've eaten there. It tasted the same as in the States, but wayyyy more expensive. Then we walked down to the middle of the city. Arne told us the story of how the water came to be there. Once there was a troll who threw rocks around. One time he threw this giant rock because they were building a new church. The rock landed next to the church and he picked it up and threw it again. But the rock left a giant crater, so it filled up with water, and that's why there's water in the middle of Stavanger.
We then drove out to the Viking Village and looked at all the buildings. It was pretty cool, but nobody was there because everything closes for Easter week here. So we just walked ourselves around. After seeing all this we went back into town where we met Glenn's sister, Michelle, for food at the restaurant where she works. Glenn got another burger and i got a cheese-steak type sandwich. Delicious. Glenn and I went out for drinks after dinner and had a lot of fun, and then walked home in the rain. We stayed at Michelle's apartment, where I had a bed, and Glenn got the couch.
Friday-Bergen
We woke up at 7:15am! We had to catch the bus up to Bergen so we could have time to look around before the last train left at 4pm. This bus also went on the ferry, but this time it was not sunny out. So we stayed inside. We got to Bergen around 11am and ate MacDonalds! It may be expensive for fast food, but it's the cheapest food we could get. We walked around for a while, looked at all the buildings. Then we took Fløibanen up to get an aerial view of the city. We found snow! And a tourist shop. oh yeah, and a troll!
Sunday-Oslo
I left Dublin around 9:30am and arrived at the Rygge airport at about 12:30pm (with a 1 hour time zone change). I couldn't find Glenn at first, but he showed up! The first bus to the airport didn't leave until my plane landed. So we left the airport and went back to his apartment in Oslo. We just hung out there, and I went to bed early to FINALLY catch up on sleep. Which I wasn't able to do yet.
Monday-Arendal
We got up around noon, and took the train to Arendal. This took maybe 4 hours, I don't remember. Per Erling met us with the car and we went to Emma's house. Partied/hung out there, and fell asleep.
Tuesday-Late Start to Stavanger
Another late start, we got up around 12:30p and weren't going to be able to make the 2 o'clock train to Stavanger. So we ate an excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. There was coffee, but I didn't listen to Sean and drank it anyways. My mistake. It wasn't horrible, but I really will just have to wait until I get home to drink it again. After breakfast Glenn, Emma and I walked down into town (Arendal) and took the little tiny ferry (Glenn called it a school bus boat) across to the cafe where we were going.
We had some hot chocolate (varm sjokolade) and then Emma and Glenn's friend Marthe gave us a lift to the train station. We took the 5pm(ish) train to Stavanger. No one was in our compartment so we were loud and obnoxious all we wanted! We arrived in Stavanger around 11pm and Glenn's friend Arne met us at the train. We took a cab back to his place and hung out. The boys made burritos with ground beef and zucchini, because they were out of everything else. But this was surprisingly delicious.
Wednesday-Stavanger to Utbjoa
Surprise! We got up late again! Around 12:30. So we walked downtown to be tourists and just see the city. First we walked up to this tower, which is apparently the best place to smoke in the city. Then we went and got MacDonalds, which is the first time in a while that I've eaten there. It tasted the same as in the States, but wayyyy more expensive. Then we walked down to the middle of the city. Arne told us the story of how the water came to be there. Once there was a troll who threw rocks around. One time he threw this giant rock because they were building a new church. The rock landed next to the church and he picked it up and threw it again. But the rock left a giant crater, so it filled up with water, and that's why there's water in the middle of Stavanger.
Glenn and I walked to the bus station to take the next bus to his parents house in Utbjoa. But we missed this by 30 seconds and it drove right by us. So instead we walked into the "Viking Pub" and had a beer while we waited an hour for the next bus. We took the bus up from Stavanger to Aksdal and Glenn's dad and brother picked us up and drove us up to the house in Utbjoa. We had hamburgers for dinner. Burgers for lunch, burgers for dinner.
Thursday-Haugesund
We woke up late AGAIN and had a leisurely breakfast of eggs and toast and yogurt with fresh blueberries made by Glenn's dad. It was so delicious! After hanging out for a bit we drove out to Haugesund, the closest city to where Glenn's family lives. We saw all the tourist stuff; the monument to Haarald Fair-Hair who in the 9th or 10th century swore that he wouldn't cut his hair or beard until all the kingdoms (Fylker) united. And they did. So there you go.
We then drove out to the Viking Village and looked at all the buildings. It was pretty cool, but nobody was there because everything closes for Easter week here. So we just walked ourselves around. After seeing all this we went back into town where we met Glenn's sister, Michelle, for food at the restaurant where she works. Glenn got another burger and i got a cheese-steak type sandwich. Delicious. Glenn and I went out for drinks after dinner and had a lot of fun, and then walked home in the rain. We stayed at Michelle's apartment, where I had a bed, and Glenn got the couch.
Friday-Bergen
We woke up at 7:15am! We had to catch the bus up to Bergen so we could have time to look around before the last train left at 4pm. This bus also went on the ferry, but this time it was not sunny out. So we stayed inside. We got to Bergen around 11am and ate MacDonalds! It may be expensive for fast food, but it's the cheapest food we could get. We walked around for a while, looked at all the buildings. Then we took Fløibanen up to get an aerial view of the city. We found snow! And a tourist shop. oh yeah, and a troll!
We walked around the waterfront in Bergen and looked at more buildings and churches and decided it was time to buy some food for the 6.5 hour train ride back to Oslo. But oh no! The restaurant was closed because of Easter! So we went to the grocery and bought Wasa crackers salami, cheese, chocolate milk and wayyy to much chocolate for later. We made it to the train, and Glenn slept for about 3 hours and I watched as we went through the mountains. Beautiful! We made it back to Oslo around 10:30pm and had Burger King for dinner, hooray!
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