Ready or Not

Wow. The past couple of days have been… Insane. Tuesday we went on a two hour beach walk. Which doesn’t SEEM bad, right? It was hell. I am still sore. The beaches here are NOT beaches. They are rocky and very unstable. We all were struggling to not lose our balance and break our ankles on the big, loose stones. BUT. It was beautiful. We got some great photos and even ran into some horses which we got to feed apples to.

DO NOT let the green pastures fool you. This was definitely one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. I am thoroughly surprised that no one got hurt.

We have completely launched into our studies here, as well. The seminars are long, but interesting. Yesterday we spent time learning about the Magdalene Laundries here in Ireland and in other countries. These were asylums that women and girls were put in by their families for being perceived as too promiscuous, are becoming pregnant outside of wedlock. They lasted from the 17th century until the later half of the 1990s and were run by the Catholic Church. Huge abuses of human rights took place in these laundries- including physical abuse, sexual abuse, forced hard labor, imprisonment in these institutions without trial or charge of any crime (except that against the religious social norms), lack of proper nutrition and medicine, and isolation from the outside world including family members.

We saw a play about these institutions that was performed here in Galway.

Today was probably the most amazing day I have had this week, however. We got to meet, have seminar, and eat dinner with Irishwoman Justice Theresa Doherty. Justice Doherty is one of the presiding judges over the Special Court for Sierra Leone. This little, old, red haired, fire cracker of a woman is a true inspiration. We could have sat and listened to her talk forever about her career, the discrimination she has experienced through her life as a female lawyer and judge, and the challenges she has faced working in the international justice system. She was the first female judge of the High Court of Papua New Guinea, as well as the first female to hold any high judicial position in the Pacific Islands region. In the Sierra Leone tribunal she was the dissenting judge who ultimately got rape and sexual violence recognized as a crime against humanity, and was also one of the judges to convict the Sierra Leone sitting head-of-state Charles Taylor of war crimes. Just to name a few. On Saturday she will be hiking Croagh Patrick with us, as well. I feel so lucky and honored to get to spend such valuable time with this woman! She has given us some amazing life and career advice that I will never forget.

In our free time we have been exploring the city of Galway, which you do not need a vehicle to navigate, just your feet! I am definitely falling in love with this little city and its very colorful history. Unfortunately, I am starting to get slightly sick- sore throat and stuffy nose, which has been going around the hostel. So send healthy vibes my way!

Here are a few more pictures:

This is where we have our seminars and listen to guest speakers…

A couple photos of me in the Galway Museum…

A really amazing band playing on the main strip of Galway…

Losing It. Then finding it again along with a Mohican!

I had my first honest-to-god anxiety attack yesterday. The jet lag really got to me. I went just a little crazy. The long bouts of sleeplessness and lack of appetite was not a good combo. The pub crawl of the night before didn’t help my situation either- imagine that. Emotions and stress really got the best of yesterday. After a talk with my mother and fiancé, as well as a five hour lorazepam induced coma (something I usually only turn to for bumpy flights), I finally began to feel normal again. I want to especially thank one of my roommates, Katie, who took some time to play nurse and help bring me down to earth, cold wet washcloth and all.

Later in the evening, the entire group of twenty-something students went out to dinner with our program director, professor Lorenz- something that we will begin doing almost every night from now on. We went to a place called Monroe’s Tavern:
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And I ate the most delicious steak, mushroom, and garlic mayo sandwich with potato wedges on the side. Oh yeah my appetite came back full throttle:

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One concern we students have is the water situation. We are very spoiled with great tasting water in the Pacific Northwest. The water out of the tap here is drinkable according to the locals, but a German woman who we will be working with during our time here, said no way to drinking from the tap. I made the mistake myself of doing this my first day here, it tasted so horrible and chemical-like, I immediately became nauseous. I think we all have now committed to bottled water.

Today we will begin our first program activities starting with a walking tour of Galway at 10am, followed by our first seminar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. Here is a photo of the building, which used to be a fever hospital more than a hundred years ago:

P.S. I found out that Daniel Day-Lewis lives HERE! Not far from Galway! *sigh*… My ultimate crush when I was four years old from The Last of The Mohicans, and I am within miles of him. Kind of considering stalking him… Hahaha.

Sleepless in Galway…

Well. My internal clock is royally screwed up. It’s 3:30 am as I am writing this post. I am extremely jealous of my two slumbering roommates. But it’s not just my odd case of jet lag keeping me awake. A small, but loud, drunken crowd beneath my cracked window is contributing to my sleeplessness. If the room wasn’t so hot I would gladly seal the window tight, but no such luck. I will tell you all about my night instead.

More students from the UW program were trickling in all day. A group of seven of us went out for dinner at a fun little Italian restaurant near the square. Even though I didn’t have much of an appetite (I’m guessing from excitement) I ate as much of my bruschetta as possible and drank a glass of German beer called Erdinger. Shortly after dinner, we found some more people in our program and a group of about twelve of us went out to get a taste of the Galway nightlife. All of the popular pubs and clubs are located in the same area of a couple well-traveled strips. We all hopped around a bit from venue to venue, and we noticed that these places play mostly popular American music and very little local Irish music on the weekends. But we had a great time dancing and celebrating our arrival. Something that was very different than American nightlife, we found out, is that it is not very typical for men to buy women drinks. I didn’t mind much at all, but some of the other girls were disappointed. Some in the group, including myself, decided to call it a night around 12:30pm. It wasn’t too hard to fall asleep when I crawled into bed, but surprisingly, two hours later I was wide awake again. It has been a great day and a very fun night, however, after all of the traveling and after all of the dancing, I would really just love to be tired.

Here are some photos that were taken while we were out:

A gay pride event we ran into.

Some of us girls 🙂

The Beginnings

The worries of my last post have dissipated. My big pack fit the carry-on restrictions perfectly, security didn’t ask to inspect or confiscate any of my items, nor was I pulled aside for being a suspected terrorist. I even knew one of the TSA agents, a former customer who used chat with me at a restaurant I used to work at in Puyallup. I took this welcome and friendly encounter as an uplifting sign of good things to come. In fact, my only complaint is the disappointing Wi-Fi connection in the Sea-Tac airport that seems not to connect you despite the promising symbol in the upper left-hand corner of your device.
But after the (what seemed close to a mile) trek through the airport looking for my gate carrying about 30lbs of stuff, sweating and to my relief, I finally came to this beautiful place- Gate D7.
Shooting forward through my long, boring, and uncomfortable flights to get to Dublin, Jessica (a fellow student attending this program who I met up with in Chicago) and I come to our almost final destination. After getting off the plane and taking out some euros from the ATM, we hopped a bus to Galway, where our program will begin on Sunday night. The bus ride was around two hours long, and I was passed out for a good portion of it, cuddling with a pillow that I had swiped from the previous flight. But what I did see out of my groggy eyes was the beautiful Irish landscape. Green rolling hills and fields spotted with horses, cows, sheep, and beautiful farm homes. Unfortunately I was not alive enough to muster the energy to find my camera in order to take pictures for you all, but I promise to make up for that later on.
Once unloaded from the bus we made our final trek through the streets to get to our hostel, found it with ease, and immediately began to settle in. I took a short walk around the block to find some small bottles of shampoo and conditioner (something I chose to not bring for concerns about my liquid allowance on flights) and immediately returned to my room to shower my sweaty, stinky self. This brings me to the current moment, sitting in the lounge room of the hostel, with still wet hair, sipping some instant coffee, and typing away. Not too bad, eh?

Now for a few photos:

This was my lovely view on my flight to Dublin…

When we were waiting for the bus to take us to Galway…

My short walk around the block- just one of the many Irish pubs and bars. This one is for Thomas! We love Paddy Coynes in Tacoma.

And me finally relaxing and having some joe!

Determined

I am utterly determined not to bring ANY checked baggage on my flights. I cringe at the thought of losing luggage between connecting flights or having to pay a fee to an airline that doesn’t do complementary checking. This leaves me with one carry-on and a personal “purse” bag. This is what they look like all packed up:

Unfortunately, now I am left with the worry that, possibly, my pack will be considered too large to be considered an actual carry-on. This worry is at home with all the others, including “what if they think my vitamins are illegal drugs” and “oh my god, what if I’m on the no-fly list”.

Nonetheless, I am determined to take a months worth of living and travelling in one carry-on pack and a small day bag. Wish me luck!

Introductory blog post

I am a novice blogger, and therefore am just figuring out how to use wordpress and its features- bear with me! This blog is intended to inform and entertain my family, friends, and any others who have the interest, with my travels as I journey to, through, and home from Europe. My trip will begin as a three week Study Abroad program to study the international justice system in Galway and Dublin, Ireland, as well as in The Hague, Netherlands. Once the program ends I will take a solo trip to Luxembourg for one night to visit the American Memorial Cemetery of WWII, and then make a final journey to visit friends in Oslo, Norway. I leave in just two days, and am so excited to start detailing my experiences and sharing them with all of you. I hope to post as much as possible, likely at least every other day or so. So keep checking in!

Below is a photo from my last trip to Europe which was an unplanned nightmare on a whim. This photo is my favorite, however, because I was in transit with my pack, and made a side trip to the Palace of Versailles. But what was so memorable about it was the history that I was literally standing on. I could look down at the cobble-stone courtyard beneath my feet and vividly visualize the royal carriages, lords, and ladies that strolled that very place hundreds of years before. The preservation of the grounds and the palace, and that of many other historic areas of Europe, is what I loved so much about the experience. You could truly go back in time.