Wishing I was REALLY a "Galway Girl"...

That's a great song by the way if you haven't heard it. They play it in P.S. I Love You... and also in Temple Bar quite often! Yes, I went to Ireland this weekend and tried to see all I could within the two days I had. So, here it is:

To get there, my group of 7 girls including myself had to take a few trains and a ferry, with the departure time around 7:30PM and arrival in Dublin at about 6 or so the next morning. Very tiring, to say the least. But sleep is for the weak! After dropping off our bags at the Holiday Inn, we took the tour bus around to several different churches and other places of interest. ome highlights included Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Both gorgeous, with beautiful painted glass in incredibly tall windows. These Europeans sure know their architecture. In Christ Church, they have a crypt... creepy, I know! What made it worse was they had a mummified cat and mouse on display that were apparently fossilized (?) inside the church organ for years... so weird!

After doing the tourist things, like buying Guinness t-shirts and checking out the malls, we headed back for the hotel to nap (c'mon, we're not robots, we had to rest eventually) and then out to Temple Bar! This place gave me quite the culture shock. It's a very touristy area with a main bar and several surrounding pubs and clubs. It's packed to the brim every night, but it's worth it for the Guinness at perfect serving temperature, and also for all the variety of people to meet, tourists and locals alike. I met several Dubliners, some people from Sussex, and even a guy from Newfoundland (he's a Newfie!) The most interesting thing about this area is that its a popular site for "hen parties and stag nights" or bachelor and bachelorette parties. Oh no, this is not just your normal veil and beads and matching t-shirt situation. Each group dresses up in coordinating costumes. In one night, I saw a Wonderwoman with her band of superheroes, a Chicken with her baby chicks, and Sheriff with lots of cops around her. The cops were my favorite because each one had a nickname on the back of their custom-made shirts. Some of my favorites were Lusty Luanne and Tasty Tracey (haha!) and I'm pretty sure one of them was the mother of the bride-to-be. These folks really know how to have some fun.

So then Saturday we woke up early and headed off on the DART (railway train) to Bray, a quaint little coastal town. Fortunately for us, Bray had great weather and a festival that weekend! So that provided lots to do and lots to buy. Very cute place with a gorgeous beach. We headed back later that evening for Round 2 of Temple Bar with just as many hens and stags as the night before. Quite the cultural experience.

It was a great weekend that went by way too quickly! I wish I could've seen a lot more, especially of the countryside, because if it's anything close to as beautiful as the coast it must be amazing. Well, tomorrow it's back to class and papers and just pure fun. Goodnight all!

Love,
Megan

There's Nothing You Can Sing That Can't Be Sung

The British Rail system is quite the experience!

This weekend was jam-packed. First we hopped on a train (a big trend for the weekend) to the birthplace of Shakespeare. Stratford-upon-avon is a tiny little town that didn't feel like giving us such good weather. But we made do and saw his birthplace, his old school, and his grave. Mostly a historical town with pretty scenery and little shops. During the sunny moments, we walked along the river Avon, with beautiful birds and boats strewn across the length of it. It was absolutely beautiful to walk along and look at all the bright green grass on the riverbank. From there, we hopped on another train to the city that didn't let me down... Liverpool. I had been warned by our Program Director that it would be lame and that was reenforced by a few other side comments. When I pictured it, I thought of the recent movie "Across the Universe": Frigidly cold port town made up of lots of dock workers and a few tourguides to pump up the Beatles history, but I still had high (maybe idyllic) hopes. Little did I know, Liverpool was named Cultural City of Europe for 2008, which, according to all the posters proclaiming it around the city, is a big deal. There are huge museums easily seen right across from the train station and a beautiful port scattered with shops. The highlight of our weekend was definitely the private taxi tour of The Beatles Story. Our tour guide, Lull, showed us sights from Penny Lane and Strawberry Field to the childhood homes of both Lennon and McCartney. We even saw the Cavern Club (where the Beatles were known to frequent and perform at) and the school where Paul and John first met on July 6, 1957. (The school was having a Summer Fete across the street from St. George's church, whose cemetary has a grave of a certain woman, Eleanor Rigby...the boys later borrowed her name for one of their popular songs.) The sightseeing, although fabulous, had nothing on the nightlife and our experiences with the locals. First of all, we stayed in a hostel. I slept on a bunkbed only a few feet away from a man we dubbed "The Phlegm." Enough said. Secondly, I haven't met people as friendly as those "Liverpudlians" outside of the South. Their local dialect is so interesting! These so-called "Scounses," the locals speak with an accent more similar to the Scottish/Irish accent than the posh English one. It took a lot of concentration to understand what they were saying, but we somehow managed. (The fact that the people we talked to just happened to be cute university boys also helped our focus...)

Liverpool will always be one of my favorite experiences here... I doubt I'll be able to top it!

By the time we made it to Manchester, we were completely worn out. We attempted some shopping, but crowds and prices are always a deterrent, so we ended up not seeing or doing much there. Oh well, if that's the worst part of the weekend, I'd still call it a great weekend! Trains on the way back got delayed so the long way home was made even worse. Thus, today was probably the laziest Sunday of my life!

P.S. Let me know if you've got a passion for the Elizabethan Church... haha, I can hear you all thinking "yeah, right, like my intense interest in watching paint dry." Well, I tried.

Love is all you need!
-Megan

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yep, I jinxed myself. It's been raining and chilly for the past few days now. I had to break down and go to Primark (the cheapest store here, but cute stuff for the price) and buy two long sleeve shirts and a jacket. Also bought a shoulder bag today for travel; all I brought was a big black tote I use for class so I had to find something a little smaller. I was so happy I found cheap stuff today, I got pasta salad at the market for 30p! I'm finally figuring this place out.

I have to write a paper for Mass Media tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. Soon I'll be trekking in the rain to the library to look up something to write about. Tomorrow is also my second History tutorial; I'm actually looking forward to it because I feel like I've prepared :) yay! But I'll probably keep studying for that once I finish my paper... and who knows when that will be.

Looking forward to the weekend! The plan is to head to Stratford, Manchester and Liverpool. I was told by my Program Director (who's a Brit) that Liverpool is a dumb idea, but I think that all the girls are just enamored with the fact that that's where the Beatles are from. We already booked the hostel so we'll see!

If tomorrow is a less-gloomy day, I will try to walk around and take pictures of what I see in my day-to-day experience here. I'm sure I'll be going out tomorrow night to celebrate the finishing of my paper so hopefully I'll get some good shots.

Can't think of much else to say. If you want a souvenir or something from anywhere I'm going this weekend (or even just from Oxford) please let me know! I don't want to forget anyone!

XOXO Megan

Happy Fourth!

Today a few of my friends and I went to Bath for a day trip. It was a really beautiful place... all the buildings are made of this beige brick from the area that looks goregous when it's new but gets so dirty and gross when it ages. I guess it adds character. The big rolling hills (or "downs" as they say... not ups, oddly) are amazing to take pictures of. Interestingly enough we were there the night of a Meatloaf concert. I had no idea the guy was still around.

Anyways, we saw Bath Abbey, a really big church with beautiful stained glass windows. Then we went to the Roman Baths where you tour what used to be a communal bath during the Roman Empire. You can even touch the water! They have an audio tour to go along with the whole museum to explain everything they've excavated. It's crazy to think the stone carvings I was looking at were incredibly older than the old church I had just been in.

Just to further the definition of the Lazy American, we paid for a 2-for-1 bus tour so we could sit and sight see at the same time. One tour took us all around the town and the other took us into the hills and up to Bath University. We were really looking forward to the hills tour for great pictures... but all the trees were in the way! It was so sad. By the end of the second tour we were pretty tired, so we headed back on the train for Oxford.

We went to a place called Old Orleans for dinner. The longest and most ridiculous dinner I've ever had. I ordered the chicken fajitas just to see what they would be like, since this place was supposed to be the all American food. It was actually pretty decent. However, the beverages in this country are insane. You're lucky if they have Coke at most restaurants and if they do, you get a small glass, no refill, and very little ice. It drives me crazy because I want a soda but I know I'm not getting my money's worth. Then when we ask her to split the bill, everything went haywire. In this country, I don't know why, but separating checks is unheard of. Us college kids aren't rich and we're only going to pay for what we ate, so you should accomodate us! Our waitress seemed to believe splitting the check was the hardest thing she's ever done. It took over an hour to get everything sorted out. I still don't get this country!

At least they gave us little American flags to celebrate the fourth. However, I think it's just made me more sad to know I won't be seeing any fireworks this year :( It's making me really homesick!

No plans for the rest of the weekend. I plan on reading the four books I have to read for class by Thursday... woops. Class is a whole other story. I had my first tutorial yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I was definitely unprepared. My teacher just wants us to have an opinion and be able to persuade him to agree with it. I think it should be a very interesting class.

I'll write again soon!
-Megan

Just another sunny day... in England!

Well today is just gorgeous outside! I tried to read some stuff for class tomorrow... but I came back inside because a) it got really hot and b) I ended up just chatting with everyone. So I will try to get that done before dinner at the dining commons tonight, but before that I'll give everyone a little update.

The flight here was pretty uncomfortable and after waiting for an hour to get off the plane after landing, I was ready to get off! We took a greyhound-style bus to Oxford, which was about an hour trip through some pretty rolling countryside with lots of sheep and cows. Once we got to Trinity College, I checked in at the porter's lodge and recieved my room key. I have a single with its own sink and shower, so I'm in luck (none of my other friends lucked out like me!) However, I'm kind of far away from all the girls I've become friends with. Have to take the good with the bad I suppose. The first night everyone watched the Spain vs. Germany football game at the school pub (cool, right?) but I couldn't keep my eyes open from the jet lag so I went in to sleep early.

The next day was FULL of tours. We had a great breakfast at the dining commons then headed off to our walking tour of Oxford (check the video link my mom sent you!) with a very knowledgable Oxonian lady named Debbie. We saw some amazing buildings and scenery and got to make a wish under the Hertford Bridge and see some upper level students leaving their final exams. They have to wear full dress called sub fusk for every major test and school event, which includes a black robe that has varying length depending on how far you are in school (very Harry Potter-esque). A very cool formal tradition.

A few of us then took the Trinity College library tour which is mandatory to use our facilities. The librarian, Allison, is a soft-spoken, glasses-wearing English lady who doesn't do much other than make sure you don't steal books, since it's only a reference library and you can't check anything out.

Then came the best part of the day. All of us studying at Trinity have readers access tothe Bodleian Library, an amazingly HUGE library that receives the first copy of any book published in England. We all had to recite a promise to never take any books (same thing, reference library) and to never "kindle fire or flame" within the walls of the library. They are TERRIFIED of fire here in England. I guess it carries over from the Great Fire of London and all that jazz. Afterword, a few of us Harry Potter fans checked out a few places in the library that were featured in the film, including a hall that served as the infirmary after Harry fought Voldemort, and the old part of the library on the top level (it's the "restricted access" part in the movie-lots of old books you can't touch). We didn't walk through because security is SO tight in that part of the library that you're not to have a "large bag". I did. But the super old old old old books were cool to see, especially because only "readers" (mostly students, we are very priveledged to be allowed to be readers) ever get to see that area.

Okay enough of the nerdiness. After all that I had to keep going! I had to get ready for our High Table dinner, which happens every night during the six weeks where everyone gets dressed up and has champagne on the lawn with their tutors. I'm legal here... and it was only appropriate to drink alongside these amazing professors ;) This was the first High Table, so I got to meet my tutor Ian Archer, who teaches my history class The Age of Renassaince and Reformation. He's a sweet old little man who is a professor at Keble College just down the road. We talked about random topics, including his trips to Athens and the upcoming American election. He seems really nice, but we'll see once the real work rolls around! After that we had a formal four course dinner in the dining commons, ending with tapioca that had poprocks-like sugar on the top (very unexpected and funny!) We tried to go out afterword to enjoy the nightlife of the town, but that's a difficult task for a Monday night so it didn't end up working out.

Today was the first day of my seminar, Fundamentals of Media Effects. My professor is a UGA professor, Dr. Reber. Throughout the class we will be writing a few media-related papers and doing some Oxford-style debating. Ironically, I'm on the Pro-Sexual Content in the Media group. So... we'll see how that goes. Afterwords, we did some shopping, which is AMAZING here... if you don't figure in the prices. We found a cheap clothing store called Primark that I fell in love with. There's just so much to do here! Then we all when to an Italian Bistro for lunch and came back to do a little work... except my studying turned into blogging!

I've got a little while to catch up on some reading now. Please leave comments I would love to hear from everyone! (And maybe if you ask... I can get you some chocolate from Thornton's Chocolatier... yummy!)

XOXO Megan