Ireland and England

Well since I’m in Spain now I figured I should let you know about at least Ireland and England.

Are you excited?

You shouldn’t be

Ireland:

So at this point Ireland was like a century ago! As you know we sailed for 7 days on rough seas till we made it to land. IRELAND!

Our first port of call was Galway, a very quant, small, tourist town. We had to tender into the harbor and onto land. It’s like Seward! We got in our lifeboats and went to shore. Once on shore it was a 5 minute walk to the center of Galway. Lots of shopping and WALKING! I WALKED MY FEET OFF. They jumped off, looked at me, said F you, and left me.

After that the group I was with went to Dublin for the Notre Dame vs. Navy game. They already had their hostel and everything so my roommate and I decided to enjoy Galway night life together. We went to a lot of different bars but ended at the King’s head. There was a local band playing there and we spent the rest of the night dancing. There were a lot of SAS students and locals there which made for a very interesting mix. The band would play some American songs then some Irish pop songs. We ended the night with Galway girl and Sweet Home Alabama =D

The next morning we got on a bus to go to Cork. I don’t have much to say about Cork because we basically just slept there. We wanted to get up early for the first bus to Dublin so we had a few drinks with the other SAS people at our hostel and headed to bed. Only we didn’t get to go to sleep till about 1am. We were sharing a room with a young Irish guy who was travelling around Ireland, and a young retired us soldier who was staying there while he studied at the university. We had very interesting conversations about politics.

We headed to Dublin early in the morning and when we made it to Dublin we walked about an hour to the ship. My feet still hated me. We made it to the ship, dropped our stuff off and headed right back out into Dublin. Then I spent the night drinking at Temple Bar with some friends. I lost my voice and got sick haha a sure sign of a good time right?

The next day I went to Trinity College by myself. I’m a little bit of an introvert so at this point I really wanted a chance to do my own thing and get a little me time.

In fact I’m using my “me time” to write this for you guys, I’m so nice ;)

If you don’t know anything about Trinity College all you need to know is that you should go visit it if you get a chance. It is a functioning university and the long room library is also a functioning library, not just a tourist attraction. The university also has possession of the Book of Kells. Go check it out. I don’t have any pictures because you’re not allowed to take pictures, but my jaw dropped when I saw the book of kells display. Then my jaw hit the floor when I walked into the long room.

Finally I ended my trip in Ireland the way I have in every country. I got some Wi-Fi checked Facebook and all that jazz then hopped on the shuttle back to the ship, had dinner with friends, and watched the sunset on Dublin as we left. It’s my favorite way to say goodbye to a country I have decided.

England

Well as some of you know I have been to England before so I wasn’t in a hurry to see everything I could in England. I had already seen most of it. The first night Connor, Ainsley and I went into London from Southampton and walked around. We took a lot of pictures of the town and made a big loop through the major tourist attractions.

The Paralympics were in London while we were there. In Trafalgar square there was a huge screen set up for live viewing of the Paralympic events. We watched the US beat the UK in murder ball. That was awkward when we won because our initial reaction was to cheer for the US then we had a wait that’s not the greatest idea since NO ONE ELSE IS CHEERING haha.

After that it took us 3 hours to walk back to the train station. We weren’t that far away from the train station we were just very A.D.D. on our walk back. Every 15 minutes we stopped at a shop or a monument or looked at a map to figure out where we were.

We made it back to the ship then went out into Southampton for some drinks. Our friend Brooke had a rough day and after 2 beers she was stumbling drunk lol. BUT in her defense she didn’t eat that day and she spent the day lost after her field lab was a colossal fail. Speaking of fails, on our walk back to the ship I tripped off the side walk and scrapped up my knee. I can still see where I did it!

The next day Connor, Brooke and I went to HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can’t tell by the 13 exclamation points, I LOVED harry potter world. So far it is the highlight of my trip. SO FAR! Everything in Harry Potter world was actually used in the movies. Well everything except the number 4 on the house. Ya know Number 4 Privet Drive. Turns out Rupert Grint stole it and has the original. I think he has a right to keep/take at least one thing! We entered the exhibit through The Great Hall. The actual great hall! The floor that was there was the same floor that had been used in ALL of the movies! As soon as the guide said that I took a picture of the floor and nearly fainted. Later on in the exhibit I was reading a placard that had information about whatever I was looking at. Suddenly I realized I was leaning against something. I looked up and I was leaning against the gate to the Hogwarts grounds! Yeah my mind went KABOOOM at that point. All I could think is HOLY CRAP WHAT IF DANIEL RADCLIFFE/ EMMA WATSON/ RUPERT GRINT/ANY BODY FROM THE FILMS HAS PLACED THEIR HAND THERE! Kabooom, Rachel has no more brains. I took about 250 photos there and 4 videos because there was just sooo much to see!

I don’t remember what happened that night. I was on a Harry Potter World high.

The next day Connor and I had another tour. I had high hopes for this one since harry potter had been so great, but it was honestly the WORST tour I have ever been on. I was on a tour titled “London and the Olympics” Now I’m assuming that any normal tourist would think that I was going to go into the Olympic park, get a guided tour and learn more in depth knowledge about the Olympic games impact on England. Not So. We rode around in a bus for 4 hours and looked at walls, and got terrible glimpses of the Olympic stadium. Our tour guide would say “look look look you see the triangle shaped structures just behind this wall? If the driver slows down and you stand up you might get to see it…that is the top of the Olympic stadium yeah? We won’t get to go there.” I honestly don’t think I can describe how awful it was. Everyone on the trip was pissed off that we paid $100 to ride around in a bus!

After the terrible bus ride, we went on a riverboat cruise down the Thames which I believe was free hahaha. We got off the boat at the Tower of London. Connor and I had planned to meet up with friends in London but they had an equally bad day and went back to the ship so we headed back to the ship as well. That night we got together with a few more people and went to a Jamaican bar in Southampton lol.

The next day was our last one in England so we did what we always do. We got Wi-Fi, had dinner on the ship and watched the sunset on Southampton as we left =)

The end!

Next up is a blog post on my experience in Belgium and Portugal. Right now I am in Spain. Of course I’m behind on my blog, but its Semester at Sea I get a pass on keeping up with a blog!

Have a wonderful day everyone! I recommend giving at least one stranger a smile today! It might be just what they need =)

Getting There to the First Atlantic Crossing

I am WAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY behind on this, but you will know everything at one point. Be calm.

There will be no photos added to the blog until I am back in the states!

Today Im in Belgium, YES I KNOW I AM INSANELY BEHIND!  

Anyway, lets start with packing

Packing:
Honestly packing is not that difficult to me. My mom may disagree because I spend a good amount of time “pre-packing”.  I make about 5 different lists and go through and edit them until I am completely satisfied.

So I had a list, which I thought was WAAAYYYY too long, but when I got on the ship I had a little moment of panic where I thought I might not have packed enough clothes.

Since being of the ship for 2 weeks I have paid to have laundry done once, and I have washed my own once.

There were people who brought their entire closet and more, but you really don’t need that much. The ship is casual and you will feel ridiculous getting dressed up daily. Also 98% of the people on the ship are wearing clothes more than once. I have some friends that wore the same pair of pants for 1 week because all their other pants were VERY dirty. As long as you don’t smell you are within acceptable limits.

I have found febreeze, downy wrinkle release and bounce ironing spray all very useful!!! Febreeze is great for the bathroom and letting clothes air out. Downy wrinkly release helps me feel like im not homeless, and I just like the smell of bounce!

Bring the travel size spray bottles. Your roommate will love you and so will the people sitting beside you in class.

Getting to Halifax:

My next escapade was flying to Halifax. Let me remind some of you who don’t know me too well that I am from Alaska. I didn’t think Halifax was too far from Alaska because I’ve never really thought of the East coast as being really far either, BUT LET ME TELL YOU! That was the longest time I have spent travelling in my LIFE!

I had 4 different planes to catch. Anchorage to Vancouver was no big deal and Air Canada is very comfortable.

Vancouver to Edmonton was fine until we got within landing distance of Edmonton. When we got into Edmonton there was a lightning storm going on and we weren’t allowed to get off the plane for an hour and a half! Everyone was sent to their planes because they were safer than being in the terminal. I agree with that statement because I watched the terminal get struck and lose power a lot, it even happened when I finally was allowed to switch planes.  When we initially landed I was really worried I would miss my next flight to I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER WHERE because we sat on the tarmac for 3 more hours! After 3 hours the red alert was lifted and we left Edmonton…WITHOUT MY BAGS!!!!!!!

-.-

Needless to say when we got to wherever the heck I was getting on my next flight I had missed my plane and I was DELAYED ANOTHER 12 HOURS! At this point I was already supposed to be in Halifax about 2 hours ago…I was ready to beg a hotel to let me sleep in a room just for a few hours.

I went to the air Canada customer service representative and probably looked miserable and asked if there was somewhere in the airport I could lay down and get some sleep. The lady shook her head no and gave me the awh you’re a lost puppy look. She got me onto an earlier flight tried to have my bags located and make it to Halifax with me. I was just happy to be on a flight that was 2 hours earlier.

When I got to Halifax I found out my bags were in different cities. I explained to Air Canada that I was getting on a ship the next day at 11:00am and needed my bags well before then. They apologized and put a rush on my bags and I got all of them by 2:00am

Embarkation Day:

There isn’t much to say about embarkation day honestly. I met my roommate Zoe and she is awesome and we’re getting a long great. We spent a couple hours unpacking and then spent the rest of the time meeting people and talking. It was a really great day.

Atlantic crossing:

The first day at sea is essentially orientation and we spent all day in the union going through safety, honor code and rules and regulations. We got a break for lunch and then just kept going till 5:30pm.

Classes started the next day and we were all finding it really hard to concentrate because of all the rocking. I didn’t get throwing up seasickness, but I did get VERY tired, nauseous and a headache. Just about everyone was feeling the same so we just enjoyed each other’s company and tried not to focus on our seasickness.

A few days we had 16ft swells and people were falling out of chairs and draws were banging in rooms. By day 5 all I could think is “I can’t wait for a day Im not constantly moving involuntarily!”

The ship spent 7 days getting from Halifax to Ireland and it was completely unnecessary to spend that much time! The ship went off course and avoiding getting to Ireland. I know we have a certain number of class days we have to get in, but with the rough seas it was just pissing everyone off!

We were all begging to see land!

AND I KNOW YOU’RE BEGGING TO KNOW ABOUT IRELAND, ENGLAND AND BELGIUM, BUT YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT.

Im kind of busy these days =)