The Netherlands!

I have always heard about the beautiful canals in Amsterdam, but I never thought I would be able to see them in person! Myself & three friends Amber, Alyssa and Kevin booked a trip to Holland. We used Ryan air which is one of the cheapest Irish airlines to fly all over Europe. Our flight was at 7:30 am leaving from Dublin airport going to Eindhoven Holland. We left Galway and got on the bus to Dublin at 2:30 in the morning, this way we would have enough time when we got to the airport. It took us three hours to get to the airport then we went through security quickly and waited to board the plane. I was very excited especially because the only country I have been to outside of the US is Ireland!

                                                                  Eindhoven Train Station

Luckily my three friends fell asleep on the bus to Dublin and on the plane to Eindhoven, unfortunately I did not. I usually cannot fall asleep on buses trains or planes so I was exhausted once we got to The Netherlands. I also lost another hour because The Netherlands are one hour ahead of Ireland. Once we got off the plane we noticed signs in Dutch then in English, which was great because none of us speak Dutch. We took a cab to the train station and bought our tickets to Amsterdam! It is great because Ryan air is cheap but they never fly into big cities so you get stuck paying for transportation to the city, although it was not too bad. Once we got to the train station all of the machines were in Dutch, luckily there was a nice man who spoke English that helped us. The train ride to Amsterdam from Eindhoven was an hour and twenty minutes, and the ride was absolutely gorgeous! I did not even want to sleep I was too busy looking out the window.

                                                                  Beautiful view!

Once we got to Amsterdam Central we got off the train and got a map. The four of us wrote down the directions to our hotel from the train station but we still had a little trouble. First person we asked did not speak English second person we asked used her GPS to help us which worked out so well! The hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the central which was very convenient. Our "hotel room" ended up being our own apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom a living room and a kitchen. We dropped our stuff off and all went to sleep for a few hours because we were so exhausted. When we woke up we went out to the city and got lunch. We looked at the menus confused and before we could ask the waitress came over with the English menus.  Lunch turned out great & they even had the best coffee which we needed from all of the traveling and no sleep!

After we decided to go to The Anne Frank House. This was one of the most popular places to go in Amsterdam, I knew it was going to be very interesting. When we got there it started raining and I could not believe the line to get in! Wrapped around the corner and everyone was patiently waiting in the pouring rain. It was only 8 euros to get into the house which I thought was a great deal.

                                                                     Long line!


Right after entering the house I saw several times on the wall "A museum with a story". I learned about Anne Frank's history years ago, but I still learned more from visiting all of these exhibits in the house. It was very interesting to be where Anne Frank was hiding in history. The part of the house that stuck out to me the most was the windows with the black curtains on them. We learned that she was never allowed to open the curtains not even a little bit which made her room very dark and dreary. There was even a bookcase left in the house which made me realize how authentic everything was, also the fact that we were not allowed to take pictures in the house made it clear how ancient everything was. This was such a great experience, although it was very sad I learned so much and got to see all of the exhibits up close and in person.

We also went on a canal tour which was beautiful! It was at night so all the canals were lit up & they served cheese and crackers, and wine on the boat.

                                                              Canal right next to our hotel

Overall I absolutely loved Amsterdam! Experiencing a different part of Europe was so much fun & very interesting. Taking the trains in The Netherlands was an experience, hearing the beautiful language, learning more about their culture and seeing such beautiful scenery was all amazing!!! I definitely plan on going back one day :)

                                                     Train ride & Dutch labels I could not read!

Rome this month!!! Very excited.. I also still have so much more to blog about - I will keep updating as much as I can - classes are ending in a few weeks and finals start pretty early, but I will keep adding :)

Leitrim & Cavan

Can't come to Ireland without visiting all of my family! I have been to Leitrim many times now visiting all of my Dad's family. I also visited my Mom's family in Cavan twice. It is so nice seeing all of my aunts, uncles and cousins since I do not get to see them as much as my family in NY. I have a house in Leitrim so whenever I come over on vacation with my family that is where we stay. Because I am here by myself I usually stay with my cousins, which is nice because I can get away for the weekend. It took alot of research to figure out how to get to Leitrim from Galway. Getting to Dublin, Cork, Limerick and other bigger counties is very easy from the coach station, but Leitrim is alot smaller and would not be a place where many students go. Luckily I found out there was a college bus that ran every Friday and Sunday provided for the students through NUI. 12 euros each way is definitely a great deal and I even get dropped off directly across the road from my apartment!

                                          Father Mychal Judge Memorial in Leitrim
                                          Had to get a picture next to it because not
                                          only did his family come from Leitrim like mine, but  
                                          he went to Bonaventure! I also did a presentation on him in Cath Fran
                                                                 


After going to visit my family a few times a few of my friends here in Galway asked me if they could come. Of course I said yes and they were telling me how excited they were. I never get too excited to go because I have been there a good amount of times since I was a kid, but they told me that they wanted to see more of Ireland. Galway is very nice but we are still in the city, and my two friends have never been to Ireland before. The weekend that they came we stayed at my cousins house and they met a good amount of my family. They loved everyone and thought Leitrim was beautiful. My family took great care of us and made sure we had a blast! We went out to lunch spent time with my little cousins, who they absolutely loved! My younger cousin Conor is one of the funniest kids I have ever met & very outspoken, they got a kick out of him. My friends were happy to have home cooked meals, comfortable beds & enjoyed being in a new atmosphere all weekend. We went out in Carrick which is where most of the pubs and clubs are in Leitrim. They even really enjoyed the night life there!

                                                                  Me and my cousin Conor!

                                                            Ashley and Alyssa at Dunnes


My cousins Lisa and John who live in Leitrim, but study in England, are coming to Galway this weekend to stay with me! Should be fun :) I will be back to Leitrim soon to spend some more time with my family!

Trad on the prom!

I checked my emails and saw one from my old Irish dance teacher, telling me all about an Irish dance show that he thought I would love! He told me it would bring back old great memories from when I danced a few years ago. I told a few of my roommates and other friends and we looked into it and got tickets right away. I learned that this show was ranked #1 in all of Ireland. Trad on the Prom is the best of Irish traditional live entertainment. The show was preformed in the new conference center of the Salthill Hotel which is located on the seafront promenade over looking The Galway Bay and the Clare Hills. Not only was the dancing amazing but each of the musicians sang and played many instruments such as the violin, accordion, bag pipes and a bodrhan. Every person in the show was completely full of talent and it was clear that they were all eager to put on a great show.It was very exciting to be watching world championship Irish dancers. We were sitting in the second row with a clear vision of their feet which made it ten times better. This was one of the best shows I have ever been to, I am so happy I heard of it when I did because we went to the last show until 2012! At the very end of the show they played one of my favorite songs..

Tours and Trips !?

The first tour I went on was The Cliffs of Moher. One of my roommates, Amber, and I booked this tour online the day before. We knew it would be a whole day thing. Not only did the tour include The Cliffs but on the way we saw castles and got to even go into one. Of course we went out the night before telling everyone else about it, everyone said they wanted to come haa but in the morning it was just me Amber and Elise who trooped it.  The bus driver picked us up outside our apartment, im telling you this would only happen in Ireland- the people here are way too nice.

First the tour guide showed us important places around Galway then other places in different counties on our way to Clare. The castles we saw were BEAUTIFUL! We even got to go into one and it was amazing. The Cliffs were so beautiful as well. The wind was insane and of course it was raining but that did not matter it was still so pretty. I definitely plan on going back again :)

& MY NEXT TRIP- Myself, Amber and my friend Alyssa booked a trip to Amsterdam for Oct. 7th! I am really looking forward to that, then my 20th birthday in Galway on the 11th :)

So.. I am really living in Ireland for 4 months.

After the first few weeks I realized I should probably blog so I can remember this amazing experience for the rest of my life. So far I have been loving Ireland. Leaving home knowing I would not be back until Christmas was hard but already its almost October and the time really is flying. Once I moved into my apartment I met a big group of other Americans who live on my floor in different apartments. We all became friends quickly which does not surprise me at all because we were all in the same boat, didn't know anyone and we were all together in a different country. Little did I know class did not start until the second week after I got here so the first few nights we all went out, became more familiar with the city and got to know eachother.

First day of classes, first day of classes! I was very excited to start and introduce myself to others and get to know so many other people. The classes here are very different from Bonaventure classes. There are at least 100 kids in all of my classes and they are lecture style. I am not used to the professors not knowing who I am, and there being no tests and quizzes on a regular basis.I like the change even though it was very hard to get adjust to at first. I was so lost on the campus because its huge and the Bonaventure campus is way smaller and easier to get around. Other than that so far so good with the classes & not to mention the campus is beautiful! Even the walk to class everyday is so scenic. I live about a mile from campus which is not bad.. EXCEPT when it is raining and the wind is out of control, which is pretty much every other day! By the time I get to class I am wide awake and soaked. The first week I saw so many umbrellas thrown on the floor turned inside out. This is when I found out most people here do not even use umbrellas, they just use their hoods because it is so windy. Good thing I brought  two rain jackets..

My friend Elise and I- our walk to class in layers! Prepared for the wind

I am now feeling very settled here in Ireland and I am so happy I will be spending the rest of the semester here :) I can already tell I am making friendships that will last a lifetime, I will be getting a great education, I get to see all of my family that lives here & I will be learning more and more about the culture which means so much to me because this is where my roots are. Also I will be traveling around Europe! I can definitely get used to all of this :)