...Tell a tale of Leprechauns, Drape yourself in green, And have the best St.Paddys Day, The world has ever seen!

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Well, I made it back alive and well from my trip to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick's day. Me and almost everyone in my residence left on Tuesday and returned Friday afternoon. Getting there was fairly uneventful. We took at cab from Bath to the Bristol airport. The roads were winding extremely narrow and I thought we would surly die, multiple times. But we got to the airport on time and alive. We arrived to the Dublin airport and got a bus to the center of the city. We then had a bit of a hike to get to our hotel. We soon discovered that in Dublin, at a cross walk, when it's your turn to cross there's no way you could miss it. They have these sound things that beep at you to let you know it's your turn to go, except it sounds like a laser gun followed by a machine gun shooting continuously until you crossed. And it didn't matter how many times I crossed the street, it always scared the livin daylights out of me. The highlight of the trip was probably the St. Patrick's Day parade. We had on our green shirts and headed for the crowds. We quickly learned that a green shirt worn under a coat was not festive enough in the least. So we went to one of the many St. Patrick's Day shops and bought us some hats. Here is a picture of Matt, Hillary (both Texans) and I at the parade, Hillary and I with our hats.
Our hats were miniature versions of the popular St. Patty's day hats. I have a picture below of what most of them looked like. The floats and acts from the parade were very interesting. Many of them seemed to have quite an artistic flare. It was almost impossible to see. However we got lucky when we went to a crossing point. They had them various locations along the street and they would pause the parade and let the people do their dancing and what not while they let a mass of people cross to the other side. Well they cut us off right before we were about to cross. So we were right there in front. Here are a few picture of the parade:



So all in all Dublin was good fun! Went to some Irish pubs, heard some great live music (Rattlin' Bog, Irish Rover etc.) Heard some lovely Irish accents and had some famous Irish Guinness. We actually went to the Guinness factory and had a tour. That was pretty neat. On our way back from that tour I asked our cab driver why there were so many Scots walking about in their kilts, as I had seen quite a few. He said they were getting ready to watch the big Ireland vs. Scotland game on Saturday. He then asked if I knew how to tell if they were truly Scotsman. I responded, "no, how do you tell?" And he replied "they wear nothing under their kilt. You'll have to look for yourself." I don't quite remember how I responded to that one. :)
Well, I will leave you with one of the most exciting finds in Ireland. There was a convenience store across from our hotel and we went there often for food. (Everything was ridiculously expensive in Dublin). As I was walking through I glanced down, and a small packet of sugar caught my eye, then some straws, then I stepped back and saw an entire booth! Behold!!
I was so excited. I shouted to the Texans, "Look, a Tim Hortons! In Ireland!" they of course responded "Tim who?". I then tried (and failed) to describe the significance of a Timmy's. Ah well. I must say, I didn't actually buy anything from it. The maple dip donuts had chopped nuts on them, and I was very unimpressed.
Well, that's all I have for now. The Texans and I are heading to Italy (Venice, Florance and Rome) and Greece (Athens) for Easter break and am leaving this Wednesday. So I will be back April 9th and will hopefully update my blog then!

Busy Bee

Busy busy busy. School is starting to pick up, and rugby playoffs have commenced. I am starting to remember how hectic life can get. But it's a good hectic. I am so busy I don't have time to get lonely or homesick! So, due to my busyness, I have not regrettably taken many more exciting pictures, or done anything terribly exciting. Last week, the Texans who live across the hall all went to Oxford, Liverpool and Manchester. I had a poster project to do, so I did not join them. However, I managed to finish up my project fairly quickly, so I made my own day trip to Bristol. Bristol is a bigger city to the west of Bath, and is about a 10 min train ride away. It was a beautiful day so I did snap a few pictures of which I will post below.
The top picture is a shot of inside the Bristol Temple Meads train station. The one below is from the outside. You can see all the taxis sitting at the entrance. The are all very funny looking. The taxis in Bath are all different, but it Bristol, they tend to all be the same funny looking model.

So in Bristol, the only thing to really do is shop. There were a few things I really wanted to pick up. Some good walking shoes, some rugby spandex for under my shorts, and a green top for St. Patricks day. I ended up with only the spandex, but it was a fun day none the less. What's really cool about Bristol shopping is that they have what the Texans call an "outdoor mall". It's really neat actually. I tried to take a picture to give you an idea of what it's like.So it sort of looks like you're inside, and it sort of feels like you are, only it's cold and the roof is more of a screen. And it doesn't extend the whole way. It will randomly stop, and all you have is sky above you. It's odd, but neat. The shops in Bristol are a little more low key. Not as many high-end fancy brand name shops. Which is nice for those of us who arn't willing to pay a semesters tution for a pair of shoes.

So, the only other exciting thing that has been going on here is rugby playoffs. They started last week, however because our team did really well throughout the season we had a bye. The playoffs are set up as knockoffs. So once you lose you are out. So our first game was yesterday and we played Bristol. They are one of the lowest teams in the league. The result? Well, we beat them. Pretty badly actually. It was more of a slaughter. The score was 98-0. That's right. 98. For those who don't know much about rugby, that is a ridiculously high scoring game. However from here on in the games will get tougher and tougher. So wish us luck! Here are some pictures from our game in Cardiff two weeks ago. I think I wrote about it last time. The pitch was very muddy. The first picture is warming up before the game, and the second is sometime during. You can see the how nice and clean we were before.
Well, that is all I have. Hopefully the next post will be more exciting. Next week I am heading to Dublin for a few days and will be there for St. Patricks day! So I'll be sure to update this once I get back.

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