Hannah's Study Abroad to Trieste, Italy: Dublin

Showing posts with label Dublin. Show all posts

06 September 2013

To the Cliffs and Beyond

Galway, Ireland

I have always seen Ireland as this foreign place that I would only ever seen in romance movies like P.S. I Love You, but today it was real. I was fortunate enough to catch an Ireland Tour to the Cliffs of Moher and other stops on the way. Today seemed like I was in a dream, driving through the county and seeing the most vibrant shades of green, pinching myself to remind me "this is Ireland, I am actually here!" My dream came true today when I was able to see the Cliffs of Moher outside of Galway, Ireland. That desktop screen saver that everyone has was in front of me and I was engulfed with the beauty of the land and sea. Before arriving at our final destination, we made many stops along the way of our day tour from Dublin, Ireland. We departed Dublin at 7:00 headed towards the West Coast of Ireland. There were some other American's other than the group that I am traveling with and many other foreigners from around the world. The city of Limerick was our first stop where we learned the history of the fights between the English and the Irish. We then went on a few other stops along the way. Today was filled with history memories as I traveled across Ireland. Tomorrow we depart for London! If you want to follow my photo adventure, please view HannahSwickPhotography!

Poulnabrone Dolmen, Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

05 September 2013

A lost Adventrue

As we arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 7:30 it took 2.5 hours to finally contact our landlords and figure out the international SIM Cards. After a few taxi rides, we decided to refund our original apartment and find a hostel downtown in Temple Bar which just so happened to be packed with Irishmen and Swedish getting ready for a futbol match tomorrow. It was much more exciting to be in the heart of Dublin! It has been over 29 hours since we woke up and now we are sitting peacefully in our hostel to sleep a few hours before experiencing the nightlife of Dublin. I would say the most amazing part I have experienced in the last few hours of the beginning of my Journey across Europe is how nice people are here! We walked the majority of the main downtown and I haven't met one rude person. I am in love with this town! Tomorrow we are off to see the West Coast of Ireland to visit the Cliffs of Moher. I am over excited. The land is beautiful and the people are amazing. Everyone here is proud of being an Irishman...too bad we are only here for a few days.

Our Hostel We Stayed In

11 Days Til Trieste, Italy (Home for the 100 some odd days!)
-Ciao

04 September 2013

Four Countries to Pass Through Before School!

Left to Right: Ivanna, Me, Bryan, Kayla

Today I leave for Dublin, Ireland to start my journey to Trieste, Italy to study not only my major, but to learn about cultures and ultimately myself. If I have learned anything in my 20 years of living, it is that I was made to travel the world. I have been counting down since November 2012 to when I will be studying in a different county, and when I woke up this morning I could hardly believe that I would be leaving the town that I have lived in practically all my life and saying good-bye to my loving parents who have raised me to be the woman I am today. With all the excitement rushing through me today, I am glad to finally say that I am no longer going to count down the days to graduation or even my birthday because I want to enjoy the time I will be living in Italy, far from anything or anyone that I will know. I wasn't really nervous until I realized that no matter how prepared I thought I would be to live for the first time in a different country, I would never be prepared enough for everything I will be taking in for the next 120 days.