These birds:
and these blokes:
Could life get any better?
Probably not.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
EXCITEMENT!
In the next two days, I will be seeing:
These birds:
and these blokes:
Could life get any better?
Probably not.
These birds:
and these blokes:
Could life get any better?
Probably not.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Good Craic!
This is going to be long.... you are warned!
Friday night Jenny and I went to Ireland to visit our MCAD friends studying abroad in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. A small town of just over 200 people on the west coast of Ireland. I HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME! It was a really needed change of pace to be in such a small town just filled with open fields, fresh air, roaming animals, and familiar friendly faces!
We got in to Shannon airport pretty late, about 11:30 at night and Zach and Sean (an incredibly nice grad student at the Burren College of Art) came to pick us up and drive us about an hour to Ballyvaughan. When we got there we went to Orchard house, the house where 11 of the 20-something undergrad students stay. Suchhhh a nice big house! We sat around and caught up with everyone and then Jenny Ben and I went outside in the DARKEST DARK night I have ever experienced! Not only is it pitch black so that you can't see a foot infront of your face, it is completely silent at night except for the occasional cow's moo. It's pretty incredible.
Saturday was a busy fun day, not to mention Jenny's BIRTHDAY! YAY! In the morning Jenny, Ben, and I walked into town and explored a little. We went to the pier and looked at some old boats, petted some horses, and then headed back into town to eat a delicious breakfast at the Tea Junction. After breakfast we headed in the opposite direction to go visit a "Fairy Fort". As we walked, we saw a field of sheep and noticed some adorable baby sheep, so we decided to jump the fence and travel into the field to visit the sheep. Not only did we see some super cute baby sheep, we saw one literally 10 minutes old take his first steps! Eventually we made it to the fairy fort which was pretty magical! It is so green and pretty and just such an unusual hunk of land that it's really mystifying in a great way.
After the fairy fort we were planning on going to an abandoned church but as we were walking there we went through this field of clovers and decided we needed to take a quick break from our walk to search for four-leaf clovers. And what started as a "quick break" turned into about an hour and a half of serious clover searching! We became addicted and were peering over the ground like crazies. TOTALLY WORTH IT THOUGH, cause I found two four leaf clovers, one five leaf, and one six leaf clover! Pretty lucky, eh? Well Jenny found about 8 four leafs and Ben found 20! Definitely a lucky field!
We ended up skipping the church for that day because we didn't have much time. We went back to town, bought some meat, and headed over to Sean and some of the other lovely MFA students' house for a barbecue! By then the sun was out and the weather was beautiful and it was really nice to relax and hang out with everyone from MCAD and Burren! Right next door was an abandoned house with everything left in it so after the bbq we decided to explore that place a little which was pretty interesting.
After that a few of us headed back into town to buy some things form the local grocery store and as we left we met a friendly dog who we eventually named Walter Gropius, founder of the Bow-wow Haus. He was the friendliest dog ever and followed us all the way to the other house called Marie's House where Zach and the other half of the students live. We visited with everyone there and played with Walter for a nice long time which was lovely. Then everyone headed over to O'Loclainn's pub where we celebrated Jenny's 21st and played a lot of Boggle. Fun! After the festivities, Ben, Jenny and I walked back to Orchid house in the super dark which was20% terrifying, 80% awesome. The stars were incredible and so when we got to the house we all sat out in the backyard eating cookies and looking at the stars. I saw 3 shooting stars :D The starry sky was absolutely without a doubt one of the most incredibly beautiful things I have ever seen in my life and probably will ever see.
The next day Zach, Ben, Jenny, and I decided to climb the mountain that is pretty much in their extended back yard, haha. As we walked there we met another friendly dog we named One Love after Bob Marley because she had accidental dreads. One Love followed us the entire way to, up, down, and back from the mountain, it was pretty impressive. Climbing the mountain was quite a feat but it was so much fun and I had such a blast doing it! It was really nice to be adventurous and have fun jumping on rocks and stuff. As we climbed we found goat and ram skulls, as well as some animal's pelvic bones. The we got to the top, sat and admired the view, and then threw rocks around which is surprisingly entertaining. The trek down the mountain was just as fun and as we got to the bottom we found 3 donkeys that we tried to befriend, sadly we failed. After that a few of us went to town to eat some delicious milkshakes and crepes, then we went back to Orchid house and watched some movies and took it easy. Then we made a DELICIOUS pizza together and hung out a while more before calling it a night.
Monday morning everyone went to school and Jenny and I met them there a while later. Their school literally has a castle on the campus, about 50 feet from the building. It was open so me Jenny and Ben went in and climbed up all the winding steps and had fun finding all the "murder holes" which are secret little holes in the castle used to fire arrows at intruders on the floors below. We next headed over to the abandoned church which was really beautiful and eerie. It still had the holy water container thing and was kind of crumbling and had vines all over it. After looking around there for a while we went to the fairy fort out back behind it and had fun jumping on tree branches and petting soft moss-covered trees.
We walked back to the school where we had a nice lunch in their cafe place and then we laminated our four leaf clover findings. Oh and it was pretty funny because all the MCAD students and the teacher that came with them, Aaron, decided to take a class picture together and me and Jenny were included in it! First we took a normal one, then one of everyone holding up Aaron, and then everyone in a giant 10-person pyramid with me right on top, ahaha! It collapsed before I could properly get on top but I was pretty darn close, it was hilarious! Later we went back to the house and hung out and packed before heading to the airport and eventually making it back to Brighton around 10 pm.
All in all, a fantastic weekend, I can't wait to go back to Ireland some day and explore more!
A BIG thank you to Ben, Zach, Allegra, Emily, Matt, Kelsey, Kay, Katherine, Aaron Van Dyke, Sean, and every other wonderful person we met in Ireland!
Lots more pictures can be found HERE.
Friday night Jenny and I went to Ireland to visit our MCAD friends studying abroad in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. A small town of just over 200 people on the west coast of Ireland. I HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME! It was a really needed change of pace to be in such a small town just filled with open fields, fresh air, roaming animals, and familiar friendly faces!
We got in to Shannon airport pretty late, about 11:30 at night and Zach and Sean (an incredibly nice grad student at the Burren College of Art) came to pick us up and drive us about an hour to Ballyvaughan. When we got there we went to Orchard house, the house where 11 of the 20-something undergrad students stay. Suchhhh a nice big house! We sat around and caught up with everyone and then Jenny Ben and I went outside in the DARKEST DARK night I have ever experienced! Not only is it pitch black so that you can't see a foot infront of your face, it is completely silent at night except for the occasional cow's moo. It's pretty incredible.
Saturday was a busy fun day, not to mention Jenny's BIRTHDAY! YAY! In the morning Jenny, Ben, and I walked into town and explored a little. We went to the pier and looked at some old boats, petted some horses, and then headed back into town to eat a delicious breakfast at the Tea Junction. After breakfast we headed in the opposite direction to go visit a "Fairy Fort". As we walked, we saw a field of sheep and noticed some adorable baby sheep, so we decided to jump the fence and travel into the field to visit the sheep. Not only did we see some super cute baby sheep, we saw one literally 10 minutes old take his first steps! Eventually we made it to the fairy fort which was pretty magical! It is so green and pretty and just such an unusual hunk of land that it's really mystifying in a great way.
After the fairy fort we were planning on going to an abandoned church but as we were walking there we went through this field of clovers and decided we needed to take a quick break from our walk to search for four-leaf clovers. And what started as a "quick break" turned into about an hour and a half of serious clover searching! We became addicted and were peering over the ground like crazies. TOTALLY WORTH IT THOUGH, cause I found two four leaf clovers, one five leaf, and one six leaf clover! Pretty lucky, eh? Well Jenny found about 8 four leafs and Ben found 20! Definitely a lucky field!
We ended up skipping the church for that day because we didn't have much time. We went back to town, bought some meat, and headed over to Sean and some of the other lovely MFA students' house for a barbecue! By then the sun was out and the weather was beautiful and it was really nice to relax and hang out with everyone from MCAD and Burren! Right next door was an abandoned house with everything left in it so after the bbq we decided to explore that place a little which was pretty interesting.
After that a few of us headed back into town to buy some things form the local grocery store and as we left we met a friendly dog who we eventually named Walter Gropius, founder of the Bow-wow Haus. He was the friendliest dog ever and followed us all the way to the other house called Marie's House where Zach and the other half of the students live. We visited with everyone there and played with Walter for a nice long time which was lovely. Then everyone headed over to O'Loclainn's pub where we celebrated Jenny's 21st and played a lot of Boggle. Fun! After the festivities, Ben, Jenny and I walked back to Orchid house in the super dark which was20% terrifying, 80% awesome. The stars were incredible and so when we got to the house we all sat out in the backyard eating cookies and looking at the stars. I saw 3 shooting stars :D The starry sky was absolutely without a doubt one of the most incredibly beautiful things I have ever seen in my life and probably will ever see.
The next day Zach, Ben, Jenny, and I decided to climb the mountain that is pretty much in their extended back yard, haha. As we walked there we met another friendly dog we named One Love after Bob Marley because she had accidental dreads. One Love followed us the entire way to, up, down, and back from the mountain, it was pretty impressive. Climbing the mountain was quite a feat but it was so much fun and I had such a blast doing it! It was really nice to be adventurous and have fun jumping on rocks and stuff. As we climbed we found goat and ram skulls, as well as some animal's pelvic bones. The we got to the top, sat and admired the view, and then threw rocks around which is surprisingly entertaining. The trek down the mountain was just as fun and as we got to the bottom we found 3 donkeys that we tried to befriend, sadly we failed. After that a few of us went to town to eat some delicious milkshakes and crepes, then we went back to Orchid house and watched some movies and took it easy. Then we made a DELICIOUS pizza together and hung out a while more before calling it a night.
Monday morning everyone went to school and Jenny and I met them there a while later. Their school literally has a castle on the campus, about 50 feet from the building. It was open so me Jenny and Ben went in and climbed up all the winding steps and had fun finding all the "murder holes" which are secret little holes in the castle used to fire arrows at intruders on the floors below. We next headed over to the abandoned church which was really beautiful and eerie. It still had the holy water container thing and was kind of crumbling and had vines all over it. After looking around there for a while we went to the fairy fort out back behind it and had fun jumping on tree branches and petting soft moss-covered trees.
We walked back to the school where we had a nice lunch in their cafe place and then we laminated our four leaf clover findings. Oh and it was pretty funny because all the MCAD students and the teacher that came with them, Aaron, decided to take a class picture together and me and Jenny were included in it! First we took a normal one, then one of everyone holding up Aaron, and then everyone in a giant 10-person pyramid with me right on top, ahaha! It collapsed before I could properly get on top but I was pretty darn close, it was hilarious! Later we went back to the house and hung out and packed before heading to the airport and eventually making it back to Brighton around 10 pm.
All in all, a fantastic weekend, I can't wait to go back to Ireland some day and explore more!
A BIG thank you to Ben, Zach, Allegra, Emily, Matt, Kelsey, Kay, Katherine, Aaron Van Dyke, Sean, and every other wonderful person we met in Ireland!
Lots more pictures can be found HERE.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Oh Stevie G, If I could Return the Favor I Would...
Liverpool 4 - 1 Man United
DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE, KIDS!
CLOSING THE GAP.... ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE TITLE!
I had a spectacular time at the pub where I sat with two nice middle aged men who bought me a pint of pop and talked Liverpool FC, Chicago, and Brighton with me. England is so friendly... Liverpool is so great!!!!!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Yesterday was a class trip to London to see the Changing Face Of Letterpress show at the London College of Communications that our letterpress technician, Rose had work in. But since we weren't supposed to meet until 3pm, Jenny and I decided to go get a full day's worth of entertainment in London!
We took a train up to London and went straight to the Natural History Museum. It was great!!!! So many animals! There were some weird ones that I couldn't possibly believe were real unless they were in a museum.... some looked like pokemon, some had the spindliest legs ever and I don't know how they could walk on them... it was great! We also saw tons of dinosaur bones and fossils, as well as a giant huge baby fetus in a dark room that was incredibly frightening...
After the museum, we went to go to LCC to find the gallery show. We eventually got there and saw a few of our classmates and our two teachers there, as well as Rose who's work was amazingggg!!! The show was really nice to see, lots of beautiful work, and it makes me want to get back in the lettepress studio back at Brighton and make stuff! We got a little tour of the gallery show and then looked around before getting a tour of their actual letterpress studio at LCC, which is HUGE! It was niceeeee and big and pretty. Then, since it was an open day (kind of like "experience mcad" days), Jenny and I figured we'd take the opportunity to go exploring around the school. It was really confusing but we had a good time seeing what it would have been like if we applied there instead of Brighton.
By then it was about 5 and we decided that since we spent money on our train tickets up to London we were going to make our trip worth the money and not just go back home. Sooo we decided to see a play/musical! Off we went on the good old tube till we found ourselves in London's west end and theater district. We ended up seeing Sunset Boulevard (the musical) at The Comedy Theater. But after we bought our tickets we had about 2 hours of free time to kill, so what else would we posibly do other than find doughnuts and smoothies for ourselves!?! As we wandered in search of a good smoothie, we passed Fortnum and Mason, an incredible store which I had visited with Sam a few days before. And I just knew that it was something Jenny needed to see and something I needed to see again. So we went in and basically were in heaven the entire time. I treated myself to a giant blood-orange macaroon which I ate on the train ride home. Yummmm. Then we found this nice little place called Cilantro Cafe that had smoothies so we went in and got ourselves smoothies AND A GIANT CHOCOLATE MACAROON which basically made my life complete. Beyond delicious. Then we found a doughnut place and headed back to the theater.
sunset Boulevard was great! I only knew a little bit about the plot because it's my dad's favorite movie but I'd never seen it before so I was so excited to see it and then tell my dadddd yayyyy! The storyline was reallllllly great and the main character is FIERCE AND INSANE AND MENTAL IN SUCH A COMPELLINGLY GREAT WAY! I really enjoyed it. The theater was really nice and tiny and old and beautiful too.
Then at the end of our journey we caught the train and made it back to Brighton by midnight. Another splendid day in London!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Train Time Giggle Fest!
These last few days involved Jenny and I welcoming our good old mcad buddies Ben and Zach to England as they decided to stop on by for a visit since they are studying in Ireland at the moment.
Tons of fun ensued, including:
- Going out for Millie's lovely birthday and having a good time before with Rob and Joe at some new bar place.
- The 6 of us going to Digital to meet Millie & friends and having the fun flashing-lights-fog-machine-stay-out-till-3-club experience.
- Day tripping up to London
- SHOPPING. Hello, topman! Hello, Primark. Hello, cheap deals and bargains!
- The best chocolate covered Belgian waffles in the WORLD.
- Big Ben, House of Parliament, London Eye, fancy bridge thing at night
- Sherlock Holmes pub time
- 12:30 am train back to Brighton complete with pokemon and sims talk/giggle fest/laugh-so-hard-I-cried time
- Doughnut factory
- Trip to Brighton Pier
- British tv/Jumangi/ping pong time in the common room
- Delicious Sunday Roast with Rob's welcoming and lovely family
- Sunshine
- Thai food
- Snooper's Paradise
- More time at the Great Eastern with friends talking and having fun
SUCH A GOOD LAST FEW DAYS. Can't wait to go visit Ben & Zach & the rest of the Ireland crew in a few weeks!
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