Leaving

Its hard to leave the friends and life you built up the past three months with the thought that you may not see them anytime soon o at all. However I do not regret making close friendships with them or going whatsoever because it is with them and with this experience that I stand as the person I am today and will carry this with me from now on in my life.

Food Stamps

I am a fan of food and these food stamps were genius because they gave us the chance to have hotel quality meals once a day five days a week. At first I was having trouble because I would use them all and have none halfway through the week, therefore I began saving them. That caused me to have an excess of food stamps at the end of the trip where I found myself eating twice a day at the Hotel.Whats even better s that I got to try the Sirloin steak at the hotel...it was sooo worth it. I was bug and tender, on a bed of mushrooms and onions with pepper sauce on the side cooked to perfection. I had steak for 3 night in a row using two tickets each time. Win.

Painting

Because the Dungarvan town has been so nice to us I decided I would paint them something to give them in return for their hospitality. I presented it to them on the evening of the 9th at Merrys pub in our goodbye party. I hope they liked it.

Camera Issues!

I have a big problem. For this trip I found myself buying a camera to replace my phone considering I would be travelling all over I wanted neat images. However cameras are sold without the memory card that you need to be able to take istures, so for the first few weeks with my camera i was loaned one. When the owner needed the slot card back  had to buy a new one. Little did I know you had to format the card before you use it and i went on to Italy and took 700 pictures with it. Somehow the camera all of the sudden decides to tell me that the card is not formatted and before i can keep using it i have to format it although in order to format the slot card i need to deleta all the pictures!!! I am looking for a way to access my pictures and make a copy of them before i need to delete them, if not i have to delete them...and have no images from my Italy trip. Ill keep you posted, wish me luck, if you have any information on how to fix this let me know!

Italy: Rome and Vatican

After Venice we headed of to Rome in a sleeper train which is the best way because you get a bed and you travel without taking up hours of the day therefore we were happy to find that train. We went and checked into our hostel and I can say it was great because we were just five minutes away from the Colosseum and had a nice not to busy street of restaurants and bakerys all around us. Rome brought us the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Scalinata, Piazza Navona, Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colosseum of course, the Roman Forum, many monuments to ancient Romans and the FOOD. I tried every form of pasta in Rome from cannelloni to tortellini from lasagna to fettuccine pizza and tiramisu all you can think of we had it. All of it was scrumptious. Gelatto again we took in in our doses of 5 per day, we had so much food at one restaurant the owner came out to us and bought us limoncello which is liquor with lemon flavor and later on took us out to the city and see the night life. It was fun.
The Vatican was a highlight in Rome because we got to skip all the lines with a tour we bought and got to see the Sistine Chapel, many frescoes and masterpieces by Raphael, Bernini, Michelangelo, and many other scultors and artists. We went into St Peters Basilica that is some church. The details in the sculptures and moldings and mosaics everywhere is heavenly i suppose. It is impressive and humbling. We got the chance to climb all the way to the top where we enjoyed of the best view of Rome then go to chill in the roof terrace of St Peters where we found a souvenir shop ran by nuns, which translated to better prices. I bouth atrons in that souvenir shop. By the time we got down there was mass going on and I got to join, have communion and have the blessing of the Lord bestowed on me in the Vatican. I felt in like a saint after that. n the way out  I dipped all the souvenirs I bought in the Roof top terrace in Holy Water to have them blessed, Im taking those back with me.

Italy: Venice

Of the places we visited, Milan we basically just flew into and then took a train to Venice
Disappointed however not distraught. Venice we came in and began our what would seem to be a neverending walk through alleys and more alleys and canals and then some more alleys. We saw the Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge, several Piazzas and quaint churches, Piazza de San Marco one of the most impressive,. We had our first italian pizza in Venice, it was amazing, nothing like it in America. We had gelatto about 5 times a day, not kidding, and we never seemed to be bored by it. Italian gelatto is unique in the sense that when it says it tastes like blackberries, that IS what it tastes like, hazelnuts, pistachio, dark chocolate, melon, strawberry, you name it, all of them were good. I got to see the famous venetian masks and venetian glass. Impressed. We also decided to take a gondola ride through the canals, and everyone who goes should go, even if the price may seem steep. The way Venice is layed out, it is very easy to get lost, however with a book I decided to check out from the library in Dungarvan we had a route layed out for us that we followed and got to see and know about many feats in Venice without getting lost once. I was proud of myself.

No more flights to Venice? Ill just take one to Milan then...

Well the last week after finals all of us Mercyhurst students decided to scurry around Europe. Some decided to go to London, Paris, Barcelona, Switzerland, The Netherlands, but I wanted to go to Italy.  I had been looking forward for this tri since we planned it, then D- Day comes along and we make it all the way to Dublin and surprise, our flight was at 6 AM...not PM!! I was lucky to be travelling with as i call them now, young adults because instead of freaking out we solved the problem. We weighed our options and decided that booking another flight into Italy was the best. This is where i felt like a billionaire or something because we were supposed to fly into Venice but it happened that there were no more flights going there, so we all just went, "Oh, well just take the one to Milan" carefree and as cool as you can imagine. The funny part as that inside we were hurting a bit as well as our savings, but nothing would stop us fom getting to Italy. After that the rest is history

Aran Islands Revisited

Here are some promised pictures

Cliffs Of Moher

WI FI!!!

Its interesting how in our basic needs we have come to include WI FI. Take Egypt for instance, they tried shutting down the use of internet in egypt and everybody thought it was outrageous. I can understand and sympathize now. We have become so accustomed to be able to be on-line whether it is skyping or on social networks that we no longer see a life without the convenience. During our Ireland trip and all the other side trips around Europe its funny how one of the decisive factors on where to eat or book a hostel was....Does it have Wi Fi? Back in America we are spoiled puppys because we have wi fi everywhere :)! No more excuses, no more trips, MAY 10, Im back on line , let me show you what you have missed.