Bristol and Dublin Part 2

Although its been awhile since our trip, I haven't posted part 2 yet! So here goes.

I was (well we all were) pretty excited about going to Ireland and I think we overall had a pretty "Irish" experience while there. We first arrived on that Friday night. We had to wait quite awhile for a taxi since we got out of the airport just after the last bus had left to the city. Therefore, the taxi line was pretty long but very efficient. Our taxi driver was a cool old man who talked to us about how all the rabbits in Ireland were exterminated by a medical experiment... who knew. We put our stuff at our hostel and walked around a little bit, soon discovering that we had severely underestimated the number of tourists in Dublin that weekend (U2 was performing every night that weekend and since they are from Dublin, it was basically a mecca for all U2 fans). That's also why when we got back to our hostel (interestingly named "The Shining") and found that our room was already taken. We had to switch rooms, but it was okay considering the new room had a bathroom adjacent to it. It was my first experience in a hostel, sharing a room with about 18 other people. But you can't beat 20 dollars a night in Dublin.

Our Hostel: The Shining

The next day found us pretty tired, so we decided to take it easy and visit Trinity College and some museums (Book of Kells, Yeats exhibit, Museum of Archaeology, etc.). That night we went to a traditional Irish pub where we listened to Irish music and saw a great performance by a traditional dance group. I discovered I quite like the Irish style of music. I forgot to mention the great parks that Dublin has. There are plenty of awesome gardens/parks to walk around in and sit and eat, whatever really.

Trinity College

Sunday was a long day filled with some more great experiences and walking a lot. The great thing about Dublin, however, is that you can walk from one end of the city to the other and not have to take a bus, taxi, or anything else. We began the day by visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral. We actually attended the service as well and the sermon spoke of the treatment of women in the Church... it was neat and a great experience going to church in an Irish cathedral. We had lunch in a nice cafe afterwards and watched some skateboarding boys trying to do ridiculous stunts so the Monster energy drink truck would give them free energy drinks. We had some time to kill and it was entertaining. Towards the afternoon we did what every tourist in Dublin does: go to the Guinness brewery. It was quite a walk to the outskirts of the city where the brewery was located but it was definitely worth it. The visitor center itself was about 7 stories high, complete with an interactive tour of how Guinness is made and a skybar at the top that had a 360 view of the whole city.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Skybar at Guinness Brewery

Our flight was leaving at 4 or 5 the next morning so we ended up going to the same Irish pub, hanging out for a bit, and then catching a taxi to the airport around 12. Most of you know I can't sleep unless I'm in a bed somewhere so 3 of us stayed awake at the airport getting coffee and trying to do some homework, which failed. We were all feeling exhausted on the plane and train rides back but we finally made it back to Oxford at around 10:00 am. I'm glad I didn't have class that day... I took a nap for a few hours after getting back to my room.

So to recap: Dublin is a great city, the people are really nice, and I would recommend a visit. Maybe don't go on a U2 weekend though!

Bristol and Dublin Part 1

So, finally got back from open mic tonight at the Half Moon Pub in Oxford. Some of the people I've met at Oxford played guitar and it was quite good. But more on that later... Our trip this past weekend:

Our trip to Dublin was quite an experience, a little complicated at times but overall pretty enlightening. I (and 3 friends from the program) took a train to Bristol to spend the afternoon there and then flew to Dublin with Ryanair (a cheap European airline). Bristol is a nice place although I'm not sure if I would like to live there... It's more of a port town and a little more rustic and industrial in character than other cities in England. We basically spent the day walking because although there wasn't too much to do, we decided we had to see Bristol's famous landmark: the suspension bridge. The bridge was on the outskirts of the city so by the time we got there, we were all exhausted and ended up laying out in the meadow adjacent to the bridge. It was such a nice day outside, so why not?

We went and saw Castle Park in the main city of Bristol after the bridge, layed out in the grass again, and talked about why in the UK, a store is called "TK Maxx" instead of "TJ Maxx". We also discussed what needed to be improved in Atlanta (segregation, public transportation, etc.). Being in a different country definitely opens your eyes to thinking about problems and solutions back at home. But anyway, it was getting late so we headed to dinner before we had to take the bus to the airport (which, incidentally is in the middle of nowhere).

Bristol, although being quite nice, is a city consumed with crazy people. There was a bar fight in the restaurant where we were eating and police had to be called. Not to mention the numerous bachelor and bachelorette parties going on the streets that evening. Oh well. We were glad to be going to Dublin soon! The Bristol airport is about a 40-minute ride by bus and it really is in the middle of the farmlands. I looked out of the bus window and saw airplane tails sticking up over the hillside. Security is fairly loose at Bristol, putting it lightly, because they didn't check our passports in security AND they didn't even have immigration checks when we came back. But more on that later. We were soon going to Dublin and we couldn't wait. Part 2 to come soon...

Will Be Posting Tonight

Well, I think I've done more this summer than all past summers combined :) This past week has been so busy that I haven't had too much time to get on the internet! I had an 8 page paper due on Thursday night and then we were off to Dublin on Friday until Monday. Didn't have internet access while there and then we were off to see a Shakespeare play (As You Like It) last night in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Overall I have a lot to do as well as upload my pictures from the trip before writing, so stay tuned for a post a little later tonight...

Thanks so much for reading the blog everyone!

London and Weekend Highlights

The Oxford Countryside

Well this weekend was fairly eventful. On Friday, we left for London bright and early at around 8 am. Tour bus was great and we got to London from Oxford in only an hour. Each class broke off into small groups and after a brief ride on the Tube, my "abolitionist movements in Britain" class walked through the financial district to the Docklands Museum. There was a great exhibit on the slave trade in the 1700s and the rest of the museum had tons of WW1 and WW2 memorabilia.

Next, we headed back to the river where we would be watching Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida at The Globe, a theatre that is designed to look and feel how people in Shakespeare's time would have experienced it (that means we had to sit on a hard bench for 3 hours... oh well). Overall, it was a good play and although I didn't understand a word of it, the characters were good!

I was able to eat lunch and dinner for a total of 7 pounds which is great for London (A deli sandwich and then Greek food :) We ended up heading back at rush hour (taking 2 and a half hours to get back to Oxford... I love the place but the traffic is terrible). We got back just in time to celebrate one of the students' birthdays. Happy Birthday Arjun! To celebrate, we went to a club called Mood. It was really fun even though they only played hip-hop. Something I discovered: I found out clubs here are much cheaper than in the US. Its usually only a 5 pound cover over here...

I have been doing work for most of Saturday and Sunday, besides a little shopping. We ended the weekend on a high note, going to Aziz, an awesome Bangladeshi restaurant right on the river in Oxford. Hopefully I will get some pictures from that soon. A few of us set our eyes on the perfect apartment. Balcony, river view, overall very awesome.... Until next time!

On the Millenium Bridge in London

Courses and Rhodes House!

I've had a lot of work to do the past few days, which means not as much going out and taking pictures. So, classes I'm taking... First I'm taking a class on the Beatles and their influence on postwar Britain. Really interesting stuff so far and due to a loophole, I get a music minor credit out of it. Whoops! Anyway, I didn't know that much about the Beatles apart from hearing their songs coming into the class but we've had to listen to some interviews, songs and analyze them in context of the 1960's and 1970's.

Secondly I'm taking a course on British anti-slavery. This has been surprisingly interesting. My favorite part was when we toured the Rhodes house today in Oxford and got to sit down with the researcher of one of our books, John Pinfold. He showed us some pretty ancient documents on the British slave trade including diaries from sea captains and plans of slave forts in Africa (which we got to hold and look through ourselves!) All this in the Rhodes house where Clinton, Mandela, and others have been. Pretty neat.

Have been meeting some of the guys who work here at the University and discovered the University pub which is on campus. It's like an underground bar with neat places to sit and cool colored lights everywhere. Plus, they play music that I actually listen to (You know I have random UK bands all over my ipod...) Hopefully can get some pictures to show you when I have more time.

That's all for now. Have to catch up on Z's before my 9:00 class tomorrow. We had a formal dinner tonight complete with a four-course dinner of roast duck and this amazing orange desert but I'd say the highlight of this week has been the Rhodes house so far.

Weekend

So the first weekend at Oxford has passed. I had no idea that there would be this much to do in a small city. We began Friday by visiting a few different pubs in the area which were actually pretty classy. Pubs here are much different from American bars. It's not so much about drinking but more about hanging out with your friends and relaxing (a coffee-shop kind of environment). In some, people even have meetings work on their laptops. Pubs here also close quite early at 11 which is about the same as restaurants and coffee places do in the US.

Most stores also close around 5:00 or 6:00. Pubs and stores closing early means many people have dinner pretty early too (at least for what I'm used to). Breakfast starts at 7:30, Lunch is at 12:00 and dinner is 5:30. This means that I'm usually hungry when I go to bed because I've been up almost 6 hours after dinner... But it's all good. We discovered a great variety of restaurants on the opposite end of the university (it's away from the touristy area so that means much cheaper). 5 pounds for Cambodian curry, a side, and a drink!

Speaking of tourists, I don't recommend going outside the campus on the weekends. The streets are basically overrun with everyone who's not from the UK. I and a few other students went to Blackwell's book and coffee shop yesterday and we met a bunch of American's there. They call it he "American corner". They were all here for graduate school though.

Will post next about the courses I'm taking and where I went Saturday and Sunday but I have to go and do laundry at the moment. They have the same laundry and drying machines as they do at Emory. I can't get away from those dang things!

First impressions

I've been getting used to my room now. It is very old and there are plenty of spiderwebs in the lofted bedroom where I sleep (I'm an arachniphobe so it was interesting waking up with a spider on myself in the morning). Oh well! It's kind of neat having a private room with two floors. Here's a picture of the view of Oxford from my room.

I discovered when I got to the UK that my Verizon phone does not work here even though my dad said it would with an international plan or calling card. I apparently could get my phone unlocked but don't know the code. I ended up getting a pay-as-you-go plan from Vodafone which included a free mobile phone. It allows me to call the US and the UK. I love it so far. I was literally in and out of the Vodaphone store in two minutes... doing things like buying a phone are so much easier here. No lines and no providing sketchy information either.

Anyway, I also went shopping for a few things. I thought at first that Oxford would feel like a pretty small and quaint city, but I was wrong. There are tons of people everywhere during the day and very high density. The grocery store was pretty neat... had everything I needed. They did charge 5p for a plastic bag which was interesting. I don't know if this is for environmental reasons but the bag said some of that money goes to an environmental group.

Thanks for reading... will update again soon.