Fáilte roimh (That means Welcome in Irish)

 Part One: Traveling (One Long Journey)

View out the plane window

     Three flights, starting at 10am in the morning on Wednesday June 4th, and ending at 10am on Thursday June 5th. To be honest, the journey was not that bad; I have flown enough that the whole process does not really bother me. The only bad part was the last flight--the one to Dublin. We were supposed to start boarding at 8:30 for the 9:15PM flight. We did not start boarding till 9, despite the plane being there and ready for hours. The person I sat next to was nice, some middle age man, Tom, and his friend, Joe. They were really, really friendly, and I probably know more about them then I would like, but they were fine. Joe is convinced that I look exactly like Leann Rimes. Once we were on the plane, we were waiting and taxiing for about an hour and a half, so we did not take off time about 10:30-11. They told us from the beginning that we were going to arrive late because of that, which worried me as I was supposed to meet people at the airport at a certain time so that they could take me to our flat. Strangely--and this is really strange if you know anything about me--I did not freak out; if I missed the group, I had a number that I could call, the flat's address, and I could just take a taxi if I had to.
      Skipping the 'dinner' that the plane served (is it really dinner at 11:30PM? Not that it was really anything I could eat: chicken, chicken salad, or vegetable pasta), I put on my eye mask and put in my earplugs and tried to sleep. I would eventually wake up to 'breakfast', which I did eat; not my normal breakfast, but it wasn't bad. How can I rage against Greek yogurt and a semi-decent croissant? When I finished my tea I opened the plane window shades and I saw a beautiful sight: Ireland. It was spreading out beneath me like a quilt of mismatched green cloth, dotted with little houses, and divided by stone walls. There were lakes, mountains, and we even flew over what I believe was the Irish Sea as we turned to fly into Dublin Airport. I swear I could see the coast of my beloved England in the distance, though there is a good chance that it was a mirage. As we disembarked, the couple in front of me turned around and asked me stuff about me stay in Ireland. "I came here when I was about your age to study too, and I ended up marrying an Irishman," the American wife told me. She studied at the same college that I will be taking my class at. They were both very kind, but everyone I have met so far here has been.
     As we had arrived an hour late, and I practically ran towards immigration, where the line was not long, despite only one worker stamping non-EU passports.
     "How long are you staying?"the official asked.
     "Nine weeks," I replied.
      "Why?" He questioned.
       "I am going to be studying here?" I told him, ready with my University College Dublin (UCD) admission letter and other documents of proof.
     "What will you be studying?" he wanted to know, and I replied with "History." "Is that going to make you rich someday?"
     "No," I responded; it is not. "I just really like it." With a smile he stamped my passport and sent me on my way. My bags were some of the last out, but they arrived, and I made my way past customs, not sure if anyone would be on the other side to greet me. To my relief a nice young woman names Sarah was there, and she took my by taxi to our flat, where I met my roommates, Alana and Kevin. Alana is from Pennsylvania and studying nursing, loves healthy food, and is extremely kind and outgoing. Kevin is from Minnesota, studying finance, and swears he is a lot more talkative when he is not so tired. The place is small, but it will be fine, it has all the basics. The shower is the most problematic part. A half hour before you use the shower, you have to turn on the hot water heater and set the timer for up to two hours, so we are going to have to create a schedule. There is also no clothes dryer, so we have a drying rack, which probably means we will not be doing lots of laundry often.
      After I had freshened up, to staff members for Arcadia, Kate and Steven, took us out to lunch and showed us the area. It is called Rathmines (pronounced rat mines as the 'h' is silent). It is a lot nicer than it sounds, and conveniently close to the city centre and anything we might need. After a wonderful lunch at a cute cafe where I had a delicious sweet potato and artichoke salad, we were taken to a few stores for the necessities and then left on our own. Alana and I unpacked as Kevin took a nap, and after an quick adventure to get  some more stuff, and we found the most amazing health food store, called Whole Foods(but it is not the American one, it just has the same name). Alana talks to everyone so we made friends with a store workers who was making her smoothie; she is from Australia. Once back we decided that we were in Ireland and needed to get out and explore

The living room. It is a small apartment (or flat), but it will work.

The kitchen is tiny, and the clothes washer is also there.

View From the balcony.

View from our window.

Alana and I's room. 

    

Craziness: Kauai

     Well, we have been back for a few days now. We had to leave our condo by 10 AM on Saturday morning, but our flight was not till 6PM. So, we packed up and left, deciding to just drive around and explore the island. We flew from Lihu'e to Honolulu, then to Seattle, then to Minneapolis, then to Grand Rapids. It was a long, two day process, but now we are home.
      Back to the beginning...our condo in Kauai was beautiful. The day we got there we just settled in and stayed by the pool, but the next day my father and sister went sky diving. I do not understand why anyone would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but they seemed to enjoy it. The next day we went to Princeville and Hanalei, where there are cute shops and restaurants.  One day we attempted to hike in the canyons. Kauai is home to the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", but due to rain we did not attempt to hike, but simply took in the views from lookouts. On our way back we came across a Russian Fort(I kid you not). It was one of three Russian forts on the island that was set up by a German businessman who was backed by Russia in the 19th century. As Kauai was to be our 'active' island, the next day we went on a kayak and hiking journey. We kayaked about two miles with a group and then after getting out we trekked through the rainforest to a beautiful waterfall. We had lunch there and enjoyed the supposed healing powers of the waters. Then, we trekked back to the river another mile and then kayaked back. One day we did a Napali Coast tour. It was about a 8 hour catamaran ride and they took us around the coast and then we snorkeled.  Overall, it was a wonderful time in Hawaii and we really enjoyed it. My parents really want to go back to Hawaii at some point as they loved it. I am not usually like beaches or warm weather, but it was rather nice being somewhere different.(Side note: Unfortunately, I do not have pictures from the  kayak and waterfall adventure as I did not bring my camera due to the wet environment.)

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

A panoramic view. It looks beautiful now, but in about ten minutes it would be raining. Kauai gets about 400 inches of rain a year!

Dad on top of Fort Elizabeth; the Russian fort. It overlooked a beautiful beach and the ocean. The Russians promised an overthrown Hawaiian  king that they would help him gain power again if they would be allowed to build forts on the island and use it as a place to keep ships.

Lindsey and Dad above to sky dive.

Craziness....

They survived!

Boating on the Napali Coast. It has some of the steepest rock faces in the world.

Much of the Kauai was used in the making of the Jurassic Park movies. They filmed some of the helicopter scenes on the coast.  Also, in the ridge between the two mountains there is a valley where ancient Hawaiians used to live. It can only be reached by boat.

Lindsey and Dad swimming after they finished snorkeling. It was wet and windy and an easy environment to get seasick, but we really enjoyed it.

 

Days in the Clouds

  We are now on Maui, and after a bit of a delay with our flights on the way from Honolulu to Maui, we finally got there and went grocery shopping.  Our resort was beautiful, and I wish that I had pictures that I could show you. We were on the first floor and could walk right out into the grass and out onto the beach. The pool was stunning and we enjoyed lots of sunny days. I got a bit sunburned, but the rest of them just got tan.
      On Thursday we went to one of the local National Parks, and we went for a short hike. It was up in the mountains and was only about 45 minutes. There was a stream and some beautiful mountains and plants. One of them was Needle Peek, which was a huge mountain and apparently the accent Hawaiians would climb it and use it as a look out position. I cannot imagine how they would do that. After that we went back to the hotel and spent the day at the pool.
   The next day on Friday we did Maui Hike's. We met up with a guide and he drove us up 10,000 to the top of the mountain so that we could look over the valley at the craters what were created by volcanoes. It was so extraordinary and looked like we were on Mars. We had tons of snacks and our guide seemed very knowledgeable and knew a lot about everything it. One moment it would be sunny and bright and the next minute the whole crater would be covered with clouds. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.We had a wonderful day and think it was one of the most unique things that we have ever done.

Hakes in Hawai'i: Oahu

Aloha!

     As you have probably noticed, I am not in London any longer. For about the last month I have been home, but now I am on vacation with my family in Hawaii. For the next two weeks we will be in Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. We left the house about six AM on Saturday, and after flying to Minneapolis, then Los Angeles, we flew to Honolulu. It was nearly seventeen hours of travel, and we were very tired when we arrived. But, due to the six hour time difference it was only about seven when arrived at our hotel. I am not a huge fan of beaches and the tropics, but Hawaii is very beautiful. Wanting to stay close to the hotel we ate at the restaurant there that served steak and seafood. At about nine, we called it a night and went to bed.

      The next day, after getting a little lost, we made our way to Pearl Harbor. While waiting for the 12:45 tour to the USS Arizona Memorial, we followed the audio guide tour around the memorial. The many exhibits explained about the causes of the attack and how it was carried out. At 12:30 we lined up and waited for the park ranger to let us into the theatre. We entered the theatre and we watched a 30 minute movie about the December 7th attacks. After that we got onto a boat that took us near Ford Island where the memorial is. For about a half an hour we walked around the memorial and looked out at the ocean. Once back we went back to the condo after stopping to buy food for the night. We spent the afternoon by the ocean, reading, snorkeling(in Dad's case), and running(in my case). Now, as we eat sushi we are celebrating Mother's Day. Tomorrow we will get back on a plane and go to Maui.

We saw a rainbow welcoming us to Hawaii as we drove to the condo from the airport.

The sun setting as we arrived to the hotel.

Chuck's where we had dinner later.

The anchor of the USS Arizona

The WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument. They brought us out there on a boat.

This is a list of all the dead. There are special lists on the bottom left and right where the list of survivors of the attacks that asked to be cremated, then interned in the USS Arizona once they died. The sunken ship is now a reef for fish. Oil is still leaking from the ship and can be seen on the surface sometimes.

The beautiful and very moving, USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Missouri

The stunning beach outside out hotel where we spent the afternoon.

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

     Well, after two long days of travel, I am finally home. London was a wonderful experience. I loved every single minute of it. I am glad that I went. It was not exactly what I thought it would be, but it was worth it.I had to get up for the airport at 4 AM, but I stayed up all night, which was a bit rough. The coach arrived about 5:30, but we did not leave till 6:30 because the bus had problems. We arrived at Heathrow and checked in, but our flight was not till 10AM. It was a very long flight and I was terribly tired. I watched Argo, which was really good, and I tried to sleep. When we got to Newark, we went through the normal customs and immigration. All my friends were running to see their parents, but I had go catch another flight. Newark is a very nice airport and I got to my gate with an hour to spare. I was in desperate need of a coffee since I was so tired, but it was so hot out(strange, I know), so I got an iced coffee. When I eventually got to Chicago, it was snowing and cold. I met my parents at the airport. It was so nice to see them after so long. We stayed the night in Chicago, which is pretty much under water and drove back this morning to Grand Rapids(also under water). It is so strange being back in the United States. I loved London and want to return at some point. A semester was a long time though. I hope you enjoyed my blog, I very much enjoyed writing it. Thank you all so much for your support!

Samuel Sightsees

Today, Angelica and I went to some of the touristy places in London and took pictures. Sammy came with me and got his picture taken. He loved the Tube, and he thinks London is the most beautiful and wonderful city in the world. He is even developing a British accent. Silly boy...

The London Eye.

Parliament.

The River Thames.

Big Ben. It was ding-donging as we took the picture.

Tower Bridge.

Spring is in the Air

    It is finally spring here in London, and we have had almost four straight days of sunshine(which I think is a record or something for London). Last week I had my Arcadia class exams, which I think went really well. Now, all I have is my City essay(which is written, but not yet turned in), my City exam(on Tuesday the 16th) and my Arcadia online reflection class, GCR. Overall, the end is near, and I really, really, do not want to leave London. I love it here, and I feel more comfortable here than I have anywhere else. It is wonderful, and I feel so independent.
    On one of the sunny days I took a break and went to Hyde Park/ Kensington Gardens for a walk. I took some pictures. I know I have showed a lot of pictures of the park and gardens, but as it is my favorite place in all of London, I really love it there.

This is where I begin my route; walking down the lane, towards Kensington Palace and the pond.

Kensington Palace with its statue of Queen Victoria.

Bridge over the Serptentine.

Lovely deer statue that flanks one of the gates.

This is overlooking Hyde Park. In the distance is the Shard (a building) and the London Eye.

London is in bloom.

Peter Pan statue.

The Italian Gardens.

More beautiful flowers.