Germany, (Too Much Of) Switzerland, Galway, and Dublin....again.

Ok, because I have been slacking a bit keeping this updated I have a few weeks to update you on, so this will be in 3 parts. If you get bored, just scroll to the next part, there will be more photos with descriptions that may keep you interested. :)


Part I
To start this one off, I'd like to clarify that I didn't actually travel to Switzerland, as the title may imply. I merely travelled through Switzerland. Let me explain. First off, I began planning this trip to Germany and Oktoberfest in the early spring of this year. A few friends from SJU and myself decided that while we were all going to be abroad in the fall, it would be a great idea to all meet up in Germany for Oktoberfest. At that time, we decided it would be really fun and cost effective to go camping in Munich as opposed to paying for a hostel which were quite expensive during Oktoberfest. We reserved a few spots at a campsite adequately called "The Tent - Munich" and had our first part of the trip planned. For me, the next step of planning didn't come until the last week of August when I was travelling around The Emerald Isle with Dad and Lisa. I was sitting on my computer (not literally, thank goodness....I'll explain later) when I found a pretty reasonable flight to Munich for $250. I bought it, and my trip to Munich was set! Unfortunately the prices continued to rise and not everyone was able to find as reasonable prices to get there, so some of the original people that had planned on coming were no longer able to join (sorry guys!).


My journey to Munich entailed a 4 hour bus ride from Galway City to Dublin Airport, a 2 hour flight to Zurich, an 8 hour layover in Zurich, a short flight to Munich, a 1 hour train from the airport to Hauptbahnhof (central station), and a 20 minute tram ride to my campsite. My bus left from Galway at 6 AM, and after a couple hours of delayed flights I ended up getting into Munich at about 11 PM. After the train ride I caught the tram towards the campsite and slowly became surrounded by overly intoxicated Germans sporting their festive lederhosen. Not that I wasn't expecting this, but this is one of the last things I wanted to experience after a very long day of travelling. I stuck it out and eventually made it to my campsite, where I checked in and was led in the general direction of the "tent area," where those who were camping could pitch their tents. I had purchased a tent the week prior in Galway, so I was prepared for camping, but I hadn't opened the tent yet, and didn't quite know how it was designed. Don't get me wrong, I have pitched quite a few tents in my day, but this tent was unlike any other I have ever seen. I struggled immensely, to say the least, attempting to set up the tent in the pitch dark at about 1 AM by myself. Eventually, however, I did succeed and was able to get some rest after a very long and frustrating day of travel (just wait 'til I get to the part about my trip back to Galway).


The next morning, my friend Will from St.Joe's and his two roommates arrived at the tent. It was great to see a familiar face, and after pitching their tent, we embarked on our first journey to Oktoberfest. We found our way to the festival, and walked around for a while just soaking in the atmosphere. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before. I didn't even come close to seeing all of the different parts of the festival over the weekend, as it was massive, but the parts I did see were incredible. There were rides, games, tons of food, biergartens, souvenirs, just about anything you can picture at a fair/festival. My personal favorite part of Oktoberfest was the tents, which were huge and absolutely stuffed full of people (pictures to follow). Will, Matt, Andrew and I wandered around for a bit in awe before we actually decided to try and make our way into one of the tents to have our first Oktoberfest meal and bier. After a few failed attempts to find a table inside some of the more popular tents (you have to be at a table to be served), we decided to have a seat in the biergarten of Lowenbrau. Lowenbrau is one of the famous Munich breweries that had a tent at Oktoberfest. The biergarten was outside of the tent, but had many more available tables than inside. We sat down, ordered 4 steins, 2 half chickens, and 2 Munich Weisswurst (white sausage). The steins are the tankards in which beer is served at Oktoberfest. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is an oddly satisfying feeling when drinking German beer out of a stein. 


Later that day my good friend Melissa, also from St. Joe's, arrived from Spain. I met her at the Hauptbahnhof and took her to our campsite. After she got situated, we decided to have a quick bite to eat and a beer at the hostel/campsite before heading back to Oktoberfest. As we were sitting there catching up, a girl came up to me and asked if I knew her friend Eryne. I looked over and saw an old friend from my 8th grade math class. I couldn't believe it. What a coincidence! It turned out she and her friends were staying in "the tent" hostel as well. They were all visiting from Paris, where they are studying for the semester. It was an awesome coincidence that added a lot to the whole experience. Shortly after going back with them to the festival, I got a call from my friend K, who is also studying in Galway for the semester. She had just arrived at Hauptbahnoff, so I met her there as well and showed her the way to our awesome campsite. Finally, everyone who was going to Oktoberfest had arrived! We headed back to Oktoberfest, met up again with everyone, and continued the festivities! 


Remember how I mentioned NOT literally sitting on my computer, and that I would explain the clarification later? The week before going to Munich I did, quite literally, sit on my camera, which I had not-so-intelligently placed in my back pocket. Thankfully, this didn't completely ruin the camera, as it was still able to take photos, but it did completely ruin the screen. As my camera does not have a viewfinder, this made it impossible to tell exactly what I was taking photos of. While I was in Munich, the camera stopped working entirely, so I was only able to take a few pictures on the first day. Here are those photos:

Will, Matt, and Andrew walking through Oktoberfest for the first time.

This crazy ride was the first thing we saw walking into Oktoberfest. We rode this after the tents closed on our first night at the festival . 

One of the many overwhelming views of Oktoberfest. There are roller-coasters in the distance and the famous bier tents on the right and left. 

Lowenbrau, where we enjoyed our first taste of Munich. 

The inside of Lowenbrau tent, where we couldn't find a table. 

I think this might be the Augustiner. It's one of the many tents we walked through looking for tables before we decided to sit in the Lowenbrau Biergarten.

They brought in the casks of beer by horse-drawn cart. The cart was also flanked by 'guards' wearing lederhosen. 

This is the Hofbrauhaus probably the most well-known of all the tents. If you were unfortunate enough to walk under the giant pig-looking thing in the middle, a brigade of men would grab you by your underpants, lift you up until they ripped, soak them in beer, and proceed to throw them up onto the pig-thing. Needless to say, I avoided this area. 

 This is Haupbahnhof, the central station in Munich. 

So that is the majority of the photos I took before my camera broke. If you'd like to see the rest you can find them here! I walked around the city quite a bit on my last day, after everyone else had left, but unfortunately I have no photos to show for it. It's a sad thing, because Munich is an awesome city. 

My flight left Munich after 9 PM on Sunday, a solid 6 hours after the last of my friends left. After exploring the city a bit, I caught the train to the airport. I flew from Munich to Geneva, Geneva back to Zurich, and finally Zurich to Dublin. Here's the kicker: I arrived in Geneva at roughly 10:30 PM on Sunday, but my flight to Zurich wasn't until 8 AM on Monday. That night in the airport goes down in my personal history as one of the worst nights ever. I didn't want to leave the airport and risk getting lost in Geneva and stranded there for more time, and I didn't want to spend money on a hotel or anything so I slept in the airport. 'Sleeping' on an ice cold tile floor is not my idea of a night well spent in Switzerland. Not much sleeping actually ensued, and I 'woke up' the next morning feeling quite exhausted and frustrated. I eventually caught my flight to Zurich, continued on to Dublin, and hopped on the first bus back to Galway City. As exhausting as the travelling was on my trip to Munich, I wouldn't change a thing. It was all well worth it, as it was one of the most fun weekend's I have had in quite a while! Prost!

Part II

Now that I've spent some more time here in Galway, I've been able to explore the area a bit more. For this part, I'll just post some photos with descriptions. Enjoy! 

This is shop street, which is about 2 blocks away from my apartment building. This is where the vast majority of pubs are in Galway, as well as the grocery store, many gift shops, and various other 'shops'.

This is a statue in Kennedy park, just at the end of shop street. The park is named after President Kennedy because he once gave a speech there. 

My roommate Dan and another friend from St. Joe's, Kate, on a causeway. We aren't sure what is at the end of the causeway other than an island with some buildings. Notice how low the water is on either side of the causeway. The tides here change drastically on a pretty regular basis. You'll see what I mean...

This is the same causeway with the waves coming over top of it. The water is a solid 10-20 feet higher here than it was in the previous picture. Also, it was incredibly windy on this day, as you can see from the spray.

It was verrry windy. This is Dan holding on for dear life. Easily one of my favorite pictures. 

This is the marina area near my apartment. When the tide is low, these boats sit on the rocks that make up the ground beneath the water. 

The high tide also has a large impact on the water level of the River Corrib. Most of the time, you can see the bottom of the piers of this bridge. Clearly not in this picture. 

Finally, this is the street on which I live. My apartment building isn't actually in this photo, but this just across the street from it. 

Hope you enjoyed Part II, and if you'd like to see the rest of my photos from Galway, you can see them here!

Part III

This past weekend, Dan and I travelled to Dublin for a night. We had both already spent some time there, but our good friends Joe and Diana and some of their friends were visiting from London for the weekend, so we decided to meet up with them. We went to the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, and explored the Temple Bar area. It was really great to see them again, and we had a blast together. I had already visited these places with Dad and Lisa when we first arrived in Ireland, but they were just as fun the second time around! Here are a few of the pictures, and again, if you'd like to see the rest just go here.

Joey and I outside of St. James's Gate, the birthplace and home of Guinness! 

Dan, Joey, and I after crafting 'the perfect pints'! Sláinte!!!

Christ's Church at sunset. Awesome place. 

We discovered this old museum on our long walk to Kilmainham Gaol. We didn't go in, but we walked through the courtyard. 

This is a pretty neat tree grove just outside the museum. My attempt at being arty. 

Joey and I inside Kilmainham Gaol. This is one of my favorite places in Ireland. 

This is the oldest pub in Ireland. We didn't have time to go in and have a pint, but it is definitely on my list of places to go before I leave. It looked awesome on the inside. 

This is for Edward. Just because. :)

That's it for now! Hope you enjoyed it. I will be travelling to London this weekend with a bunch of friends from Galway. I am very excited for the trip!! I promise I will not wait as long to update the blog either! I miss you all! I'll be in touch soon. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend and keep me updated on anything going on at home!

Also, happy early birthday to Carly and Brandon!!! Have a great one!!

Until next time....arrivaderci!!

(Almost) Finalized Schedule and Aran Islands - Bikes, Sunburns, and Great Times!

I have officially completed my first week of class here at NUI - Galway, and although schedules are not finalized for another week, I know now (pending any unforeseen complications) what my schedule is going to be this semester. I have made a few changes since my last post, and with this new schedule I am not using any of the 2 (that's right, two) electives that I get at SJU. I am still taking Ancient Philosophy and Classical Social Thought, which count as philosophy and sociology, respectively, to fulfill my General Education Requirements at SJU. New to the schedule is Literature and Culture: Romanticism, an Art/Literature requirement and finally, we were able to get Management approved by SJU, so I am able to fulfill one of my business requirements as well.

These classes make up my final schedule for now. I still have another week before registration, and another week after that to change any courses, so it is not yet official, but I think I will be sticking with all of these classes. It will be a well-rounded semester from an academic point of view to say the least! One of the best things about this schedule is that all of these classes meet on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, so I have no classes on Monday or Friday! This will be really nice when it comes to weekend trips and various adventures around Ireland.

Speaking of weekend trips, we made our first one this past weekend to the Aran Islands. They are three islands that are just outside the Galway Bay, so fortunately not too far. Of the three islands, we decided to spend our weekend on the biggest of the three; Inishmore. We reserved our places about a week in advance and hopped on a bus early Saturday morning! We continued on a 45 minute or so ride to the Aran Island Ferries (there are currently no ferries that leave from Galway City to the islands), jumped on our ferry and embarked on another 45 minute ride to the islands. We landed, checked into our hostel, and were set for a great weekend on the island.

I must add at this point that the weather was exceptionally nice this weekend. Prior to our departure for the island it had rained, even if only for a bit, just about every day. During the two days on the island, there was barely a cloud in the sky. The sun was out, and it was very warm. I had never thought I would need sunscreen during my semester in Ireland, but after this weekend, I wish I had some! I got a nice sunburn all over my face and arms (thankfully, it is not anywhere near as bad as some of my past burns). I will happily make that sacrifice for a weekend of awesome weather like this one!

Ok, so back to the details. After checking into the hostel, we decided to rent bicycles, the #1 mode of transportation on the island. They were a great deal, at 6 euro per day, and by far the easiest way to get around the island (although it is the largest of the three islands, it has an area of only 12 square miles, so the whole island can be explored by bike quite easily). We grabbed a map and set off on our journey! There were 17 of us, so we made up quite the bike gang on the little island. On our ride, we discovered all kinds of neat stuff.  

This was the first stop of our bike journey, the highest point of the island. Most intelligent people park their bikes at the bottom of this mountain of a climb, and walk to the top. I wasn't having that...I figured a hard ride to the top would be a worthy sacrifice for the extra-speedy decline. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea, but I had a blast doing it, and it was a heck-of-a workout!

 I am climbing on the ruins in this picture, and posing awkwardly for this photo. Behind me is a lighthouse that has an incredible view across the whole island. (You may notice my pants are rolled up...this is because of the unexpected weather. I was planning for weather comparable to what we've experienced in Galway, but as you now know, I was happily mistaken)

 

Our next stop on the ride was the infamous Dun Aengus cliffs, the main attraction of Inishmore. This photo is of the climb up to them. The people in this photo comprise the majority of our group, but we managed to lose a few due to bicycle malfunctions and detours. Note the view behind us, we are about 100 metres from one coast of the island and you can see the other coast quite clearly behind us.

Alright, be prepared to be wowed. These are the Dun Aengus cliffs. The wall you can see at the top is one of the many layers on the ancient fort that was built on the highest point of the cliffs. At any point along these cliffs, you can walk quite literally right up to the edge, where there is no barrier or safety protection whatsoever. This was a stomach-churning experience. Prior to climbing up to the cliffs, we read that on very windy days in the past, tourists have been blown off the cliffs, and fallen 100 metres to their unfortunate deaths. Scary.

The only way to really appreciate the height of the cliffs is of course to look over the edge. For obvious reasons, we crawled on our stomachs to the edge in order to look down. These are two of my friends doing so.

Here is my attempt at taking a picture over the edge. I probably could have made it better, but I did not want to remove both of my hands from the death grip I was giving the rocks.

Some of our group admiring the incredible view, mere feet from the 100 metre drop.

Dan and I near the edge. Just as soon as this was taken I high-tailed my way back away from the cliffs. I was getting nauseous standing with my back to that drop.

After the cliffs, we tried to find The Wormhole, another main attraction of the island, but it is much more remote. We went on a little excursion and found this instead. Although we never found the wormhole, we were quite satisfied with this discovery.

These are what the roads all over the island were like. We biked almost all of them.

Here is Dan posing outside our hostel (K walking past trying to avoid the picture...oops). It was a great first hostel experience.

This is the view from our hostel into the Marina. Also where our ferry dropped us off. Notice the horse drawn carriage, for those who wish not to bike, they can opt for this mode of transport. Twas quite the place.

Dan is standing on this old building that we came across on our second day on the island. Not exactly sure what is was originally used for, but it is abandoned now.

We made a second failed attempt to find The Wormhole on our second day on the island and this was our discovery...again not too shabby, but unsuccessful nonetheless.

Color shot of the same as above.

After our second day, we were all pretty exhausted. We sat outside our hostel on this wall and basked in the sun while waiting for our ferry to arrive to take us back to the mainland.

The view of the town from our ferry, right before departing the island.

Alright, well I apologize for the incredible length of this post, but it was quite the busy weekend! If you know me at all, you know I could never only take as many pictures as I posted above, so if you would like to see the rest, you can find them here! 

Everything is still going great here, and I am loving every bit of it. I will be registering with the Garda National Immigration Bureau next Monday, and after that, I will be able to leave the country and re-enter legally. Just in time for my weekend trip to Munich for Oktoberfest! 

Until next time, I love you all, miss you, and think about you often! 

I have a phone here, in case anyone is dying to talk to me...it will be free for me if you call me, but unfortunately not for you. Here is the number just in case: 353 0879917614. 

Always, 

Shane

First Day of Class!

I attended my first few classes today. I don't yet have a finalized schedule, but I went to three of the classes that I am planning on taking. These classes are Ancient Philosophy (a 3rd level philosophy requirement), Classic Social Thought (if all goes well, this will be approved as a Sociology class which will fulfill my Social Science requirement), and Coastal Dynamics (a Natural Science course that I will be taking as an elective). As today was the first meeting in each of those courses, we didn't really do much other than speak briefly about what each course will entail during this semester. Tomorrow, I will be attending Contemporary Irish Poetry, an English course that we are trying to get approved as an Art/Literature requirement. I imagine that will be a pretty interesting course as well.

Of the three I attended today, I am most excited about my elective, Coastal Dynamics. It is a course that is partially based on field work. For this section we will go to the coast and do some surveying, gather samples, and do tests on various aspects of the samples. I don't know a lot about it yet, but as long as I decide to stay in it, i think it is going to be an awesome course.

I finally got around to taking a couple pictures of a few buildings on campus yesterday. Here they are! Enjoy! 

 

The ivy covered quad from the outside.

 

The quad on the inside. 

 

A different angle. 

 

My roommate Dan having an intimate moment with the lamppost in the quad.

 

Dan making a pose in the entrance way. 

 

Not exactly sure what this building is used for, but its covered in ivy and looks awesome. 

 

The cafeteria on campus. (I ate Subway today in between classes here).

Always,
Shane

New Discovery

I have recently discovered a very interesting little feature about our apartment. We have a water heater. Unfortunately for us, this water heater only actually heats the water for a couple hours every day. In the morning, there is no hot water whatsoever. In the afternoon there is also no hot water. However in the evening for a few hours every night we get the luxury of taking hot showers.

Its not as bad as it seems though, as taking an ice cold shower every morning does a great job of making sure I am wide awake! No worries however, a shower is a shower.

Here is a link to my next set of photos, including Blarney Castle, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher.
My Photos!!!

Also, I now know my address in case anyone wants an international pen pal. It is as follows:

Shane Kennedy
Niland House Apt 305
Merchants Road
Galway, Ireland

My First Couple Days in Galway!

I have finally made my way to Galway! Dad, Lisa, and I arrived here after our week long trip around the southern part of Ireland. Upon arriving in Galway, we went directly to my apartment building so that I could get settled in and acquainted with my new home. My apartment is quite nice really. It is a two bedroom apartment with a good-sized kitchen, living and dining area, and two bathrooms. Thankfully, the apartment is fully furnished, so moving in was really simple. I share a bedroom with my friend Dan from St. Joes, and the other bedroom is occupied by two other St. Joes students. The building is located in Galway City, about a 20+ minute walk from NUI-Galway, where I will be studying for the semester. I really like the location though, because it is much closer to the bay, the grocery stores, all kinds of local shops, and of course, the pubs! I think it is going to be a great place to live.

Orientation began yesterday morning with about 4 hours of talks from various departments and staff members of the university. It was a pretty informational session, but it dragged on for quite a while. That was the extent of our first day of orientation, and I left it realizing I have a long way to go before everything is off and rolling here in the next few weeks. I spent the rest of the day getting myself organized and grocery shopping so I have some eats! Last night my flatmates and I got together with some other people from our building (some from St. Joes and some not), and we walked around Galway and explored some of the local pubs. Many of the pubs have live bands after about 9:30 or so, which is one of my favorite things about this wonderful country! Most times the bands play traditional Irish music using an array of instruments including tin whistles, accordians, guitars, flutes, fiddles, drums, harmonicas, etc. The bands that don't play Irish music are typically cover bands, which I don't care for as much, but they still contribute to the atmosphere! Overall, it was a great first day, and I love Galway so far!

Today, we had our second part of orientation, which consisted of departmental meetings which talked about the courses and process of registration and the like. I still don't know what classes I am taking, so I will need to figure that out in the next week or two. We have until September 25th to make our final decisions regarding classes, and some classes don't even begin until the week of the 14th, so I still have some time.

That's about it so far. I've only been here for two days, so not too much has happened yet. I'm sure I will have more to talk about next time I write. Also, I have more pictures from the Blarney Castle, Killarney, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, and in betweens. I will be uploading them soon, and passing on the link. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you all soon!

Miss everyone much and wish you all could be here enjoying Ireland with me.

Until next time!
~Seamus