C'est la vie à Paris: Guinness, grass, and water: Ireland

Before I get into Ireland, here are a couple of pictures of the crown of thorns - la couronne d'épines - the relic known for being worn by Jesus when he was crucified on the cross. It is brought out at Notre Dame on the first Friday of each month and the first Friday of Lent, so Devan and I went the day before we went to Ireland. I feel like we pretty much live at Notre Dame at this point. Maybe they'll let me take up permanent residence in the one of the bell towers with Quasimodo.

The security was tight, and when we went up to kiss it, people were thankfully less agressive than when receiving communion. You can't actually see much of the actual crown because it is enclosed in an ornate gold and glass case, but you can see a little bit of it at the bottom. The pictures are a little blurry because I couldn't take a picture with the flash and it is so dark in Notre Dame, and because you can't take pictures from the pews; we had to walk to the side aisles and zoom for a photo.

First picture of Ireland! Actually, I took more photos on my old camera because my nice one was packed in my bag, in the belly of the bus. So those ones won't be up until I get back to the states. These photos are from Galway, a three hour bus ride west of Dublin located on the coast of the country. Ireland was confusing. At first, I kept speaking French in response to other people ("Pardon," "Désolée"). I believe this was due in part to two reasons, one being that obviously I have spent the past two months in France so I have become accustomed to automatically responding in the language, and the second reason being that I could NOT understand Irish English and it might as well have been an entirely different language. The accent is so heavy and there are so many different expressions, that I truly had a difficult time understanding what Irish people said when they talked.

There is something very unsettling about not being able to comprehend what is supposedly your own native language.

I guess it was a nice break to hear and speak English, but I was oddly comforted when we returned on Sunday and I started hearing French again.

These photos were taken along a canal next to the apartment where we stayed with our friends who study at the National University of Ireland - Galway. Mostly Fairfield students, there are about three of them in each apartment in the complex. It was really fun, a completely different vibe than life in Paris, and especially different than our program. The kids in Galway we got to hang out with were great; they are so much fun and so genuinely nice. That is the one thing that I really envied about Galway; even though I would never change my decision to study in Paris, I am jealous of the social life that the kids in Galway have. They all seem so close and for lack of better word, chill. That sense of "camaraderie" or whatever it may be is definitely lacking in our Paris program (which this is probably due partially due to the homestay aspect, which I wouldn't change either; you just can't have the best of everything and I'm thankful for where I am. There are simply so many different experiences you can get in different locations abroad). I got to meet a few people from Fairfield I didn't know before, and got to know the ones I did know even better. I am really thankful to them for being such great hosts to Devan and me; it was beyond generous of them to let us stay with them and they really showed us a great time in Galway.

It usually rains in Galway, but we lucked out. We experienced some of the best weather that they've had in Galway this semester. The first and last days we were there, the sun was shining and the weather was fairly warm.

These are taken at Galway Bay, a five minute walk from the apartment. The grass in Ireland is unbelievably green. I assume this is because everything is so damp all the time so when the sun finally does appear, it sheds light on how brilliantly alive everything is.

There were also lots of swans in Galway, definitely better than the pigeons in Paris.

This is the administrative building at NUIG. The rest of the buildings on campus aren't especially impressive, but this one is an old castle - need I say more?

The engineering building. Our friend John Perry told us that it has won awards and acclamation for its design.

A Catholic cathedral in Galway. In typical Danielle and Devan fashion, we walked in thinking we'd be able to look around but were greeted at the door by an Irish man who handed us each two prayer cards and sent us to a small section of the church to pray.

Empty kegs on the sidewalk outside of a club in the morning. The stereotype that the Irish drink a lot is as false as the stereotype that French people eat a lot of baguettes - that is, it is SO true.

There is a Target-like (or for the French, Monoprix-like) store called Dunne's and inside of one of their Galway locations it opens up into a small mall where parts of a castle are also located. Normal.

Also, a great milkshake place was in this mall. I think I mentioned in my last post that Devan and I accidentally went to an Anglican service our first Sunday (surprise). My Cadbury Cream Egg milkshake served as my truly religious experience for the week. YUM. And hallelujah.

On Tuesday, Devan and I took a trip to the Cliffs of Moher. This was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Along the way, the tour bus stopped at a few other different places. Our first stop was an old castle not far from Galway, pictured here.

Rolling Irish countryside. Literally everywhere we drove outside of Dublin - everywhere - looked like this. Everywhere.

Our second stop was at an old abbey.

The valley is surrounded by hills/ mountains of limestone, which you can see in the distance here and better in other pictures. The Irish countryside reminded me a little bit of New Hampshire, except that instead of trees on the mountains, it was all rock.

Our next stop was by the bay at a small restaurant for Irish coffee. I ordered tea, which later in the week I found out was a good idea because when I finally did order an Irish coffee I couldn't even drink it because it was so strong. I had never had whiskey and I don't like coffee so I don't know why I thought ordering it was a good idea, but at least I can say I tried it. The same went for Guinness. I don't know how I stomached it. Yuck. That's some heavy stuff.

There's a face in the picture above...

Our last stop before the cliffs was a pub called Gus O'Connors for lunch. I ordered beef stew. It was really good, but I can't imagine eating it often. I was expecting the food in Ireland to be weird and terrible, but it wasn't bad. I actually found it to be very similar to American food, particularly coming from the northeast where burgers, fish and chips, chowder, and stews are familiar. I have to say, the Irish know their potatoes. Their French fries blow all others away. There was a lot of fried food in general in Ireland. One night, to try to avoid it, Devan and I ordered shrimp scampi. I thought shrimp scampi was shrimp and some sort of pasta. Apparently, the Irish do not agree. We were brought little fried shrimp nuggets...

New Hampshire license plate in the pub! Ireland is extremely tight about IDing people, especially compared to France where people seem to assume if you're purchasing alcohol or going somewhere with an age limit, you are the proper age. The two nights when we went out to bars, two bouncers made a remark about New Hampshire, said they loved it and when I asked them if they had been, replied with "of course!" Of course? Of course. Silly me.

We spent an hour and a half at the Cliffs of Moher - I was worried because I didn't know what we were going to do with ourselves for that long. It ended up being not enough time.

I can't explain how absolutely breathtaking the cliffs are. There was a moment, at some point after we started walking on the path without a barricade, that I was filled with such overwhelming exhilaration. It was fantastic.

PS - Those afraid of heights be warned.

It's also difficult to effectively show how massive and high the cliffs are in a photo. You might get a decent idea from the picture above. If you look at the leftmost cliff, you can just makeout the figure of a person standing near the edge of the cliff. Or, in the photos below, there is a viewing tower. If you can picture someone standing next to it, you can get a better idea of the scale of the cliffs.

Before we walked past the fenced off area.

Lots of movies have also been filmed at the cliffs: think Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Far and Away, and Leap Year, among many others.

It's a long way down. John said around 20 people die each year. I'm not sure what percentage of those deaths are intended.

Falling off. ;)

The whole time, I just kept thinking to myself that I could never take my parents here because they would completely freak out. I'm sure they'd enjoy the barricaded part and they view but I think if they came with my sister and me they would have panicked too much about the rest of our walk, too worried about their kids...

You can even see the Eiffel Tower from Ireland! ;)

Our last stop on our way back to Galway was at a "Fairy Den." It was a circular, banked area of land that was surrounded by a moat, thought to have been used by farmers as protection from creatures like brown bears years and years ago.

A leprechaun in the tree of the fairy den.

Cider! It is one of the two drinks I tried in Ireland that I actually liked.

Seafood chowder with that despicable Irish coffee.

More rolling Irish countryside. We spent 6 nights in Galway and two in Dublin. In Dublin, we met our friend Jenn from the Paris program and we stayed in a hostel right in the center of the city near the historic Temple Bar.

Our room in the hostel.

Occupy Dublin.

The grilled veggie sandwich I ordered for lunch. Apparently, if you don't order a hamburger patty here, they replace it with a huge chunk of fried cheese. If I studied in Galway, I would definitely gain weight. I eat plenty of pastry in Paris, but Ireland was so much fried food that sits even worse on my body, and they don't walk nearly as much as we do in Paris. We enjoyed ourselves for sure, but I did feel gross by the end of the week.

Dublin was okay. Not what I was expecting (not that I know what I was expecting exactly), nice to visit for a couple of days but after two days we were done with everything we wanted to see and it's not a really nice place to simply wander like Paris. Maybe I'll visit again someday for a couple of days, but I wouldn't want to stay there a long time. The night life is fun, and especially in Galway it was much different than Paris, as it was much more relaxed and while so busy, it was less crowded because the bars are larger and structured differently. Also, in Galway we went to a silent disco one night - 5 euro gets you into the club, a pair of headphones, and a pint of beer. While a music video plays on the wall, the room is silent but three different DJs in the room are simultaneously broadcasting different music; with your headphones, you can pick at any time which one to listen to. We had a great time and it was such a unique concept.

The parts of Dublin I liked best reminded me a lot of Boston. The similarities were kind of cool, but I didn't feel like I was in Europe, which I think was disappointing to some extent.

Irish and French flags!

Fairfield pride in Dublin.

I really liked this ad.

St. Patrick's cathedral.

SO touristy. I thought it was pretty corny.

Wife of Jonathon Swift is buried at St. Pat's, pretty cool.

Death mask of Jonathon Swift, pretty weird.

Trinity College: the interior grounds reminded me a bit of Harvard/ Cambridge.

Book of Kells. Interesting, but definitely not worth the 8 euro charge.

BUT I did also get to see the most amazing library ever which I couldn't take a picture of. But it was awesome. I want it. In my house someday.

This Irish motto seemed to be everywhere; also, check out the pic of President Obama.

We took a tour of the Guinness storehouse, too, but those pictures are on my phone because my camera died and I haven't uploaded them from my phone yet.