So anyway, will have to just summarise things as I've missed so much and also am procrastinating right now from doing work on the 6 various assessments I have due this week :S In a quick summary, what I have missed since my last (proper) post: Republic of Ireland, Skyfall, Wales, Guy Fawkes Day, rugby matches in Edinburgh, Stammtisch, Katie's visit. And now I should briefly expand on these things! In no real order...
Skyfall: Ended up going to see it twice, here in Dundee with Jo and then again in Swansea with Meredith. Lucky it was such a good movie! I also put it down as experiencing yet another small part of British culture :) In fact it made Jo very patriotic, and also very fervent in her desire to be a Bond girl :P Another interesting thing is that like Germany, sweet popcorn is a common thing here in the cinema. But unlike Germany, they seem to also have butter/salted as an alternative option.
Guy Fawkes Day - So I'm guessing it's less of a deal in Scotland, judging by photos I've seen of Guy Fawkes Day celebrations elsewhere, and I would love to go to celebrations in England some day, but it was still nice here as well. Got to trek through a large park and stand in the freezing cold and see a bonfire and some fireworks :) Reminded me a little of Skyfire, without the picnic and the lake and the warmer weather. So actually not much like Skyfire :P But I guess they were the last fireworks I saw before then, so I automatically thought of it. It also made me sad to realise that I won't be hanging with my cousins seeing the fireworks in Wollongong for New Years Eve this year. Even though Hogmanay (Scottish name for NYE) in Edinburgh will definitely be awesome - would be even more awesome if they could be there with us!
Republic of Ireland - Ok so I talked at length about Northern Ireland in my last post, but will hve to be a bit shorter with the second half of that week I'm afraid. Went to Dublin first, where I met Meredith. Then the next day we wandered around Dublin a bit with a girl from Perth we met in the hostel, and also went to the Guinness Storehouse. That was pretty cool, and Meredith was more than happy to benefit from the fact that I don't really like Guinness! But we both got certificates for learning to pour the perfect pint of Guinness :) Then after planning a quiet dinner and a movie back at the hostel, we ended up going on a pub crawl in Dublin, as we were in the Temple Bar area. That was fun, met some random people and went for a bit of a walk around. The highlight of that though was definitely the last place we went to, which has this guy doing live music who was amazing! Started to get a bit of a sore throat from cheering and singing along! Then the next day we got a bus to Limerick, which turned out to be even more awesome than we thought. Stayed at the Robin's Nest Guesthouse, which I most definitely recommend to anyone headed to Limerick! Dave and Rosie were the people who owned the place and they were lovely hosts. We went on a Paddywagon tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren - it was pretty amazing, just for all the beautiful scenery! Took a scenic drive through County Clare as well, and also got lovely views of Galway Bay. Saw an ancient tomb in the Burren, and also just the weird landscape was interesting - I think the guide said people say its similar to what the surface of the moon would look like. We also managed to run into a girl who from memory was from Wollongong, that we met on the pub crawl in Dublin while at the Cliffs. Also, fun fact that I may have also put under the pics I put on Facebook, but the Cliffs of Moher were the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride! :) Anyway, that night Dave and Rosie invited us for dinner, which was lovely - a home-cooked meal and some real Irish company! Got to try my first Irish coffee, and we ended the night watching Downton Abbey. Then the next day they gave us a lift into town, and ended up keeping our bags for us while we spontaneously went to the rugby match that was on. That was awesome - the atmosphere of joining the crowds streaming down the street to the stadium, and then being there for a home win. Munster, which was the home team, was playing Edinburgh. Was slightly conflicted about who to go for, but had to go for Munster, as they were the home team and I was also inadvertently already wearing their colours! So that was awesome, and afterwards Dave and Rosie came back in with our bags and gave us a lift to the bus back to Dublin - some of the nicest people I have met, and I can't recommend their guesthouse enough! Got back to Dublin, and had close call with printing my boarding pass for Ryanair - something to be careful of in future, as I hadn't realised if you don't pre-print it they charge like 60 quid for them to print it for you! But we got that done at an internet cafe, and then just headed to the airport and spent the night there - actually managed to get a bit of sleep, as they had some padded booths in the food court that were free :)
Wales - This was my first prolonged experience of typical UK weather - rained at some point every day we were there. But it was still nice :) Flew into Cardiff in the morning, so had most of the day to wander around there which was good. Found a Wetherspoons right next to the bus/train stations that had very decent prices for food - we ended up going there several times while in Cardiff! - and that was our first stop of the day. Then we went to Cardiff Bay, and from there started our own self-guided Torchwood/Doctor Who tour of Cardiff - which you can see from pictures I have put on Facebook. The highlight of this was the shrine to Ianto Jones that people made where the entrance to Torchwood was - some people are far to obsessed with TV shows, but it was certainly interesting and a little amusing to see - and also the church from the episode where Rose's dad dies. Then went for a walk down Cardiff's high street after dropping our bags off at the hostel. It was pretty cool - they had lots of different flags along the street, and we also found a market where we got some curry, cheese and chips, and also some UK flags. Best thing we found was definitely the dalek sitting outside a costume shop in a little arcade though! There was a massive line around it though cos of Halloween, so we went back the next morning to be touristy/nerdy and take pictures! Anyway, the next morning we met Barbara - who I met on the course in Freiburg and goes to uni in Wales - and we went to the Doctor Who Experience! It was amazing - only slightly disappointing thing being it was very much orientated around the current Doctor, so there wasn't half as much tenth doctor as I could have liked! But yeah, that was awesome. Then afterwards we headed to Swansea, where we stayed with Barbara for most of the rest of our trip. It was quite nice - there was a nice beach that we went for a walk on, as well as going for a wander around the town itself. That's also where we went and saw Skyfall, and I was also a nerd and spent a few hours in the Swansea Uni library working on an essay I had forgotten about until just before we left! Altogether it was nice and relaxing, and nice to catch up with Barbara again :)
[Ok so this is not staying as brief as I would have liked, which is definitely not a good thing for the amount of work I'm getting done...! :S But oh well, it's nice reliving these memories anyway :) And we're on the home stretch now!]
Rugby matches - these were awesome! Both were at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. The first one was definitely the best - the All Blacks vs Scotland, with a sold out crowd. Went with my flatmate Calum - who I also stayed with - his brother Rory, and my other flatmate Camilla and her boyfriend. We also were with a bunch of friends - all exchange students - at first, but weren't sitting with them as they bought their tickets separately. But yeah, both of them were great, I love the atmosphere. As you may have gathered from my comments on the pictures I put up on Facebook! Bagpipes, kilts, and some rugby thrown in - whats not to love?! Actually that is definitely one thing I love about Scotland - how Scottish men will use any occasion as an excuse to wear their kilt. That and the fact that in Edinburgh you will always find at least one busking bagpiper, and usually more than one. But anyway, the rugby was definitely an awesome experience, from the meandering there past stalls with match day scarves and street percussionists and young boys playing bagpipes or fundraising for their rugby clubs in a crowd of people wearing jerseys and kilts, to the walking back afterwards in a crush of people who use their people power to just walk in front of the traffic. Love it all. We also went to an Australian bar the first weekend in Edinburgh, which was funny - I swear there were more French than Aussies in there cos they were showing the live broadcast of the Wallabies playing France. Was pretty gutted that they didn't have twisties as was advertised on their website, but had a Bundy rum and coke with Beth, Meredith and Maria as an alternative taste of home :P
So that was the last 2 weekends, and then this weekend I was in Edinburgh again with Jenna as our friend Katie, who we met in Freiburg and has been working there since, came to visit :) That was fun, we did slightly more touristy stuff like going to the foot of the castle, going to a whisky bar and trying some of the whiskies, having a look in St Giles Cathedral, and just walking around Edinburgh a bit. Then went to dinner with some of Jenna's friends before going back to her friend Rachel's place for the night. All in all was a good day, and a good weekend back in Dundee - didn't do anything too major, just hung out and went out on Saturday night.
Lastly I have to mention Stammtisch - which I may or may not have mentioned before I'm not sure. Basically its just a bunch of German speakers and learners of German meeting up for a few drinks at the pub every so often - in theory to speak German, though gotta be honest thats more rare than it should be... Its a great group of people and its been fun hanging out with them every few weeks this semester! But I'm reminded of it because our last one for the year, and my last one ever :( will be in Edinburgh next weekend, cos they have a German Christmas market! Should be fun, I'm looking forward to it. Can then compare it to the christmas markets we'll go to in Frankfurt soon!
But anyways, given the length of this post it is definitely time for me to stop procrastinating and get back to work! That's me all caught up for now, and there will probably be no further news for at least a week or so while I get past the next week or so of assessment hell, and then the two exams I have left. But after that is when the real travels begin - definitely something to look forward to! So until then ;)
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