Greece, the land of Greeks: 5/11 to 10/11

My dearest mother hopped the pond and met yours truely in Athens where we spent a week with some family friends. We had amazing food and saw spectacular sites like the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora, Olympic Stadium, and the island of Aegina. The Acropolis is basically the big hill on which the city started since it was easy to defend. On it are the remains of the Erechtheion, the Theater of Dionysis, and, most famously, the Parthenon. The Ancient Agora is an area that holds the Agora (a shopping mall from a few centuries ago), the Temple of the Giants, and Hephaistos Temple amoung other things. It was an incredibly interesting clash, going from thousand year old ruins to a dance club a block away. The past and the present were so integrated together that it was mind-blowing. Most everyone we ran into spoke English, which left out a bit of adventure (but that's probably for the best!). We met some really interesting people from all walks of life and here's a little teaser of what fun we had:

The beach on the outskirts of Athens

A statue of Athena in the Ancient Agora

Me and Madre on top of the Acropolis

The Erechtheion

All photos can be viewed at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2591076&l=180eb&id=13962678

All Hallow's Eve: 31/10/08

Halloween was awesome- Derry is definitely the place to be! They had a parade and fireworks and everyone from 2 days old to 82 years old was in costume and outside, enjoying festivities. Most of the pubs doubled their cover charges so we went to two that were free in and then to our student union. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

The street was packed!


Me with one of my favorites, ever.


Robbie, me, and loads of Oompa Loompas


Robbie (gangster), Liz (Cruella), and Christine (Robin)

The Killary Adventure: 24/10/08 to 27/10/08

Last weekend, my study abroad program sponsored a trip to County Gallway where everyone who is studying through my program in Ireland went to Killary, an adventure camp. We went from Friday to Monday and stayed at Killary. They had unbelievable food and really outstanding facilities. On Saturday and Sunday, everyone was able to choose two activities to partake in out of a vast list: gorge walking, bungee jumping, lasar tag, kayaking, high/low ropes course, rock climbing, and hillwalking. The weather was not ideal, it was raining and cold all weekend except, naturally, the day we got there and the day we left. No one had really great clothing for that kind of weather, but we made the best of it.

The view from the cafeteria

I did the low ropes course and rock climbing, lasar tag, and gorge walking. On the low ropes course, we got to swing on a 60 foot high swing, climb up a 60 foot climbing wall, and do obstacle courses like wire walking and rope swinging. Lasar tag was phenomenal! Because of the rain, the mud on the course was waist deep. Really, you'd step and sink to your thighs! The courses had mounds and rivers and barriers and trees and fences all over the place. Then, there was a bachlor party that joined us in lasar tag, about 25 thirty year old men competing with us, a group of 6 twenty year old girls. We ran around, diving into the mud in army gear, shooting each other. Needless to say, it was awesome. Then, on Sunday morning I went gorge walking, which is basically walking up a river. We got wetsuits and life jackets and set off. Some parts of the river were up to my chest, but most of it was calf deep. A few times we had to climb up a waterfall. They had a rope there to hold onto and then you just leaned back and climbed. The river was absolutely beautiful and exhausting, same as the entire weekend. I made friends from the States that are currently all over Ireland so it'll be fun to visit them.

Some of the Arcadia groupies (there were about 40 of us total)