I have Christmas music stuck in my head because everyone's been singing them around here. Rome is finally starting to get into the Christmas spirit (or maybe I just haven't noticed yet). They started building the nativity scene in St Peter's Square, but apparently they don't reveal it until Christmas Eve. Athens and Dublin were much more decorated for the holidays, but I think I just haven't been around the really touristy parts of Rome lately (or the major shopping areas) so I haven't seen it. Either way, it doesn't really feel like December, more like late October. It started raining today and it's not supposed to stop until I leave on Monday. The thunder is actually why I'm still up right now.
I have my last final in art and architecture tomorrow, and its the only test that I was nervous for. I just read our entire text book tonight though, so I should be okay. Yesterday I went to San Paolo Fuori la Mura (St Paul outside the walls) because its one of the major Vatican basilicas and they sold chocolate that monks made. It was huge (the church, not the chocolate). I mean, I've been in St Peters, but every other church I've been to in Rome hasn't been that big because there isn't enough space. But since this one was outside the walls, they had plenty of room. Most of the places left in Rome that I want to go are churches (Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni di Laterino and San Lorenzo Fuori la Mura) and they're all the major seats of the Vatican. I hope I get to all of them, and I think I will because they're all off of metro stops. The only hitch in my plan is that there's a public transportation strike on Friday, so I'll have to hit things semi-close to me. I think San Giovanni is walkable, but I might just go back to the Vatican museums and get an audio guide so I know what I'm looking at this time. I also want to go to the Galleria Borghese...where did all the time go? At least I'm going to St Peter's again tomorrow for mass with the Pope for University students. I hope I don't do anything wrong. I've never been to a Catholic mass before.
I'm getting away from myself...Tuesday night I went to another soccer game. Roma vs Bourdeux and we won! It was a lot of fun, because I love watching the people watch the games. Everyone is completely into it, and yelling things at the players and at the fans for the other team (which are sectioned off and guarded by police) and no one looks at you funny if you stand up and yell profanities. I threw a couple in this time because the Roma team was sucking for the first half. The hand motions are important too. One of the French players made an inappropriate gesture to the Roma crowd and everyone gave him the bird, Italian style. There was also a lot of booing. My friend Kelsey and I tried to sing along with the chants, but there was no way I was going to understand the words. We figured out that if you end with a vowel you have a pretty good chance of sounding like you know what you're saying.
We got stuck at the stadio for about an hour afterwards because the buses we needed just weren't coming. We had to go to "bus heaven" which is a bus terminal close to the stadium and wait on a bus for twenty minutes to leave. It was really annoying.
So other than that, this week I've had finals and sleep and studying. My religions final was a complete joke, because he asked us two opinion questions. One of them, I kid you not, was "If you could meet any founder of the religions we've studied (save Christ), which one would it be and why? Give three questions you would ask and what you think they would say" First of all, we didn't study any religions because he never taught us anything. I'm so glad I'm done with that man.
Last weekend I was in Ireland, and it was incredible. We didn't get into our hostel until about ten because we took a public bus from the airport and two of our friends got abandoned by the bus driver (he shut the door on them) so we had to wait at the bus stop for them because we weren't sure if they knew how to get to the hostel. Where we stayed was very nice because it was within walking distance to almost anything, and I never felt in danger. We had to eat fast food that night because everything else was closed (Dublin closes down around 11) but then we grabbed a pint before heading home. Ireland guinness is so much better than any other guinness. There's just something a little better about it and its hard to explain.
Friday we tried to see the Book of Kells, but it wasn't on display. No explanation either. My roommate, Kate (Gallagher) was really disappointed because she used to Irish step dance, and they designed their dresses after the Book of Kells. At the very least, we got to see Trinity College, which makes me jealous. It looks like a real college.
After that we went to Grafton street and did some shopping. We had a bit of a time crunch because we were going to the Guinness storehouse at 1, so we ended up skipping lunch (bad idea) and we walked from Grafton street all the way to the storehouse. We passed by Christ Church, which, after Rome, wasn't that impressive. I just liked walking through Dublin. The actual storehouse was okay...really touristy but informative. They had a whole section on the marketing of Guinness (I took a picture of the Guinness is Good for You campaign because it reminded me of Mom's friend Ewan) I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness, which I think is an important skill, and then we drank them up at the sky bar, which has a great view of Dublin. It was a little cloudy so it was hard to see too much, and too crowded to take pictures from every view, but I still loved it.
We kind of had to rush out of the Guinness factory because we had a scheduled tour of the Old Jameson Distillery at 4, and we knew it would take about twenty minutes to walk there. It was kind of hidden, but we got there on time. It was pretty cool because the first part was a movie, and then there was a guided tour through a recreation of the distillery. Some of it was dumb, and really scripted, but it was interesting information nontheless. At the end of the movie, they asked for volunteers, and Kate and I were chosen for our enthusiasm (remember, no lunch, Guinness skybar) so at the end of the guided tour we got to be taste testers. They gave us a bit of Johnnie Walker Black, Jack Daniels, and Jameson. It wasn't blind, so we knew which was which. I did not like the Scotch at all, and JD is an old friend, so I was really interested to see how the Jameson would be. I actually liked it the best. Mom, you should be so proud, I'm a certified whiskey taster now.
We got dinner directly after that because we were all starving. We went to the Quay in Temple Bar. It was really good (I had Irish stew) and then we explored some of the pubs near Grafton Street. We went to one that Ewan recommended, O'Donoghues. I saw why he liked it. It was pretty dark but lots of people and no one was being obnoxious. The music wasn't too loud either. We also went to Dawson's lounge, the smallest pub in Ireland. I think it held 20 people.
It was hard to get up Saturday morning, but we did, and we caught a bus to Cork. The bus said it would take 3 hours, but it took 4, so we arrived around 2 and almost missed the bus to Blarney. We literally ran down the street and the bus driver opened up the doors in the middle of the street. He was really nice about it though, and made a couple jokes like, "Look how I make all the lasses breathless. Oh look, now they're throwing money at me!"
Blarney was beautiful. It's what I think of when I think Irish countryside. Everything was green and misty and clear and wonderful. I took more pictures there than anywhere else, and we were only there for two hours. The castle was fun, but a little dangerous. We had to climb these stairs that were absolutely tiny and slippery.
At the top we kissed the Blarney stone, which no one ever warned me about. You have to hang backwards upside down out of the castle to kiss it, with some guy holding onto your back so you don't fall out of the castle. Luckily they installed handle bars so you can hold yourself a little, but I still almost had to do a backbend. My pictures aren't great because they try to get you to buy official ones for ten euro, but you can kind of get the idea.
We almost got stuck in Blarney (we would have missed the last bus back to Dublin) because the bus to Cork never came. We had to run into a pub and ask them to call a cab. They were so so nice about it though because the bar tended called the cab company from his own cell phone, and the guy came within ten minutes. We only had 25 minutes to get to the bus station, so we asked the driver to go fast, and he was just like..."Get in the cab. Let's go."
He ended up being awesome though, because he works in the historical society of Blarney, so he studies the castle and Irish history in general. He told us all about the history of the castle, and how it changed hands and why it was falling down, and the history of the village of Blarney. It didn't even matter that the cab was more expensive than the bus because we got our money's worth. He got us to the bus station with ten minutes to spare. Best cab ride ever.
When we got back to Dublin, we ate at Gallagher's Boxty House (because Kate really wanted to) and had a really good Irish dinner. This restaurant was also at Temple Bar, and we had the window view, so we could see across inside the Auld Dubliner. There was some sort of Bachelor's party going on because there were about twenty young santas in the building, and one of them got arrested outside while we were there. It was great.
We hit the Temple Bars after that, because we felt like we should. Its totally geared to young people, or people who like loud music and huge crowds and drunk Irish men. I thought it was really funny because we kept attracting the drunk Irish men. One guy told Kate that her eyes were like "an Irish meadow after a soft rain" We laughed so hard. I met a guy later that actually lived in Huntington Beach for awhile, on Beach Blvd. He kept talking about Chronic tacos. I had a lot of fun and I was sad to leave the next morning.
I'd love to go back to Ireland when it's not so flipping cold, maybe see a little more of the countryside. I kept looking for Carney related things because Mom told me it was Irish, but I didn't find any. I might have been in the wrong area, but hopefully I'll get to look again.
I'm not ready to start packing yet! I only have four days left! Ah!
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