Summary of study abroad trip

I have updated a summary of my study abroad trip. Enjoy and please consider going abroad. It was a fabulous learning experience.

Going up north: Belfast

During the exam period in May, I had 5 days where I didn't have any exams. So one day, I took the train to Belfast. The train ride was about 2 hours. I spent the day walking around the city. It was a nice day. 

Kilkenny: a medieval town

UCD's International Office planned a trip to Kilkenny a few Sundays ago. Kilkenny is about an hour or south south east of Dublin. 12 euros paid for lunch (tea sandwiches & soup), transportation, and a castle tour. We also had about 2-3 hours to explore the little town after lunch.

It was a gorgeous day to go out. The castle has a big park open to the public and it was full of families and friends spending a day out in the sun.

Kilkenny is advertised to tourists as a medieval town. There is one main road into the city with only one lane for each direction of traffic. The streets around the town are narrow and has small alleyways around.

Pictures under the cut

Cork: The Rebel County

Several weeks ago, my friend and I took a day trip to Cork City.  I had a 2 euro voucher for a bus ride to Cork and didn't want to waste it since a normal ticket costs 22 euros. So even though Cork is 4 hours away from Dublin, my friend and I decided to go down anyways. We woke up at 6:30 am to catch the bus into the city for the 7 am bus to Cork. After 4 hours we arrived in Cork City. We walked around the city for about 6 hours looking at the different buildings and what not before hopping on the 5 pm bus back to Dublin. We got back around 9 pm and waited for the bus to go back to Belfield.

Despite the 8 hours spent on a bus I did enjoy Cork. We went to the UCC campus and I absolutely loved that place. University College Cork was my second choice in my study abroad application. Both Laura and I agreed that while we love how the UCC campus looks we would rather live in Dublin.  We also walked to the city gaol (jail) and other tourist spots.

It was supposed to rain the entire day but luckily the heaviest rain did not occur until we were on the bus back to Dublin.

Field trip to Ferrycarrig: a blast into Ireland's archaeological past

For my archeology class we went on a field trip to Ferrycarrig Irish Heritage Park. The park has different sites that highlights the archaeological history of Ireland from the pre-historic period to historic period (medieval and viking). History, according to my professor, in Ireland begins with the introduction of written work around the time of St. Patrick and the arrival of Christianity.

They have recreations of things associated with life in Ireland during the Mesolithic period (pre 4000 BC), Neolithic period (4000-2500 BC), Bronze Age (2500 BC - 700 BC), Iron Age (700 BC-400 AD, Medieval period (400 AD - 900 AD, 1100 AD - 1600AD) and Viking period (900 AD-1100AD).

The park is in Wexford which is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive south of Dublin.

Powerscourt Gardens

UCD International Student Office took about 50 students to Powerscourt Gardens in February. Powerscourt Garden is a large country estate located in County Wicklow (about 45 mins from UCD) with beautiful gardens. Unfortunately we went when nothing was in bloom but the estate itself was beautiful.

West Coast of Ireland: Cliffs of Moher & The Burren

This past weekend my sister came to Dublin. She's currently on her spring break so she flew from Florence to Dublin to visit me. We took a bus tour to the west coast of Ireland with my friend Emma and her friend, who is also on her spring break from her university in Rome.

One of the most common comments I got from Irish people was that I had to get out of Dublin and go to the west coast in order to experience the true Ireland. They were right. While the bus tour was long, I enjoyed the sites I saw and was happy I went on it. The Irish countryside was beautiful and experiencing it with my sister was an added bonus.

We decided to do an overnight tour with The Galway Tour Company. First we did the Cliffs of Moher and Burren tour on Saturday and then the Cong and Connemara tour on Sunday.

I'll talk about our Cliffs of Moher and Burren tour in this post and Cong & Connemara in the next post.

Spring Break

Since the 5th I have been on Spring Break. I don't have classes until the 21st. With such a long break (2 weeks) I decided to travel. From March 6th to 9th I went to Edinburgh and Manchester. I flew out of Dublin on the 6th and landed in Edinburgh, Scotland. The flight was only 1 hour. On the 7th I took the train down to Manchester. On the 9th I flew back to Dublin. The flight was also only 1 hour long.

I spent a day and a half in Dublin before flying to Brussels, Belgium on the 11th. There I met up with my sister, who is studying in Florence. We took the train and spent 2 days in Brugges and a day and a half in Brussels. I flew back on the 14th at night. It was great seeing my sister. I started to miss home and seeing her was sorely needed.

This weekend I will be going to Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. I'm quite excited.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day too so it should be a quite exciting day.

Bray & Dalkey

About 2 weeks ago, I went with my friends Juleah and Alex to explore cities the south of Dublin. We decided to buy a hop-on/hop-off day pass for the DART (€8.20). The DART runs along the coast and reminded me of the train rides I would take from Los Angeles to San Diego. It was a beautiful sunny day when we first left for Bray. However by the time we go to Dalkey (located between Bray and Dublin) the sky had turned cloudy and it started to drizzle. 


I walked to the Booterstown DART station (25 minutes from UCD) and met Alex & Juleah at the Blackrock station since they live in Blackrock. We then took the DART to Bray in County Wicklow. Bray has a old-school boardwalk feeling to it. We walked along the beach, pebbly and not sandy, and then walked up a hill to get a view of the whole bay. The hill we were climbing is called Bray Head. We wanted to reach the summit where there is a large cross erected but I wasn't wearing the right shoes and the trail was too long. 


After we walked down from Bray Head, we found food a small Indian restaurant. We then took the DART to Dalkey. Dalkey is a small medieval town. The main attraction is the Dalkey Heritage Castle. Since it was too late to do a tour we decided to explore the area. We tried to find a way to the coast but it was getting late and cold so we got as close as we could before heading back home. We did find a cool Abbey on the way.

Howth

Several weeks ago, I went with a couple of my friends to the city of Howth (rhymes with both). We met in the city and took the DART to Howth. The DART is similar to Metrolink back in Los Angeles. The ride to Howth took 30 minutes from the city centre and a return trip cost €4.60.

Howth is a small town with a harbor. While we were walking around the town, a stray dog started walking ahead of us. Every so often, the dog would stop, turn around, and walk back to us if we were falling behind. We decided to follow this dog since he seemed like he wanted us to. After following the dog up the hill, he lead us to this unmarked path down the hill. We wanted to see the coast and heard the view from Howth Head was spectacular so down we went. The dog ended up staying with us until we went to a restaurant and had lunch. After lunch we walked to Howth Castle. Sadly we couldn't explore the castle as it is a private residence.

Dun Laoghaire with Amélie

The first Thursday of school (Jan. 20th), my class was cancelled so I spent my free day in Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary). It is a seaside suburb of Dublin, easily accessible by bus. Amélie came with me to explore the area. First we went to the shopping center and then walked around the town. We went up random streets to look at the different buildings, businesses and homes, and eventually made our way down to the harbor. We walked down the West Pier and made our way to the light house at the very end of it. From that area we were able to look out at the harbor and the entire town.

After stopping for lunch, we visited the tourist highlights of Dun Laoghaire (People's Park and James Joyce's Tower). We found People's Park easily but did not know where to find the tower. Luckily a nice woman told us where to go. Unfortunately, once we got there the tower was closed. Despite the setback we still took a picture with the tower. We then walked back to Dun Laoghaire and took the bus home.

Blackrock!

January 14, 2011 or as dates are written over here: 14 January 2011

School didn't start yet so I decided to visit Blackrock, where UCD's other campus is located.. It's a 45-50 minute walk or a 10-15 minute bus ride.

I met some friends (Laur and Amelie, both from France) for lunch before we took the bus to Blackrock. Once there we met up with my other friend (Juleah, who is in my program). We walked around a nearby park, found a path to the sea, and then went to the campus. We also walked around Blackrock Center which is an open air mall.  Juleah took us to the Blackrock campus where we met up with another friend, Alex. Afterwards we waited for the bus to back to UCD for the International Office's Movie Night.