Giant's Causeway

I spent my last day as a teenager at the Giant's Causeway. It was also Valentine's Day! While some might hesitate taking a group of single people hiking along the Irish coast -- with huge cliffs every which way you turned -- on the year's most romantic day, we fared pretty well and didn't lose anyone. ;-) If you haven't heard of or seen pictures of this place, you should follow the link on my bog to the Giant's Causeway sight! (Right after you send me mental thoughts of thanks for being such a nice blogger. ;-) ) Most Irish locals refer to the Giant's Causeway as the 8th wonder of the world. It was also declared Ireland's first World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1986. Needless to say, these people LOVE their causeway.


There are a lot of local legends about how and why these formations formed, but the most popular involves two giants, Finn Mac Cool and Benandonner. The two giants had been talking smack about each other for a while but had never actually fought because whenever one would schedule a fight, the other would come up with some excuse to blow it off. Apparently they were giants of the "flaky" variety. Anyways, one day Finn decided to build a causeway from Ireland to Scotland so Ben would be able to walk across on dry land. Well on the day of the fight when Finn saw Ben coming he freaked out and ran to the hills, surprised by his opponents size and strength. Finn's wife (not wanting to be widowed and pillaged) came up with a plan. Like grease lightening she made a giant bassinet, told Finn to lay in it, then covered him up with a blanket. When Ben arrived, she politely invited him in for tea and asked him to be quiet so as not to disturb Finn's son sleeping in the bassinet. When Ben saw how big and strong the baby was, it was his turn to freak. He politely excused himself from tea time with Finn's wife and ran back across the sea to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he went. He left in such a hurry that he his boot came off and it is still here today.

*Yes, this legend does differ a little from the legend posted on the official Causeway's site, but I heard this version in my student orientations and well, I just like it better.


Although the legend is very entertaining, there is also a scientific explanation for these funky formations. Most scientists believe that they were formed about 55 million years ago during the early Tertiary period when lava flowed from a nearby volcano onto the shore.

Abair cias!... (That's Gaelic for "say cheese!)





A closer shot of those super cool hexagonal rocks...


Kayli and me trying to "fill Ben's boot" that he hurriedly left behind.


Climbing on the causeway... One of our cheesier moments...don't you think we could give N'Sync a run for their money with this album cover art action?! ;-)

After our climbing fun, the Kent Staters kept reminding everyone just how good they were at spelling O-H-I-O with their arms (it's some weird mid-western thing) so, I had to show some Sun Devil love and put up the pitchfork. Go Devils!! :-)

I had such a fantastic time and I can't wait to go back with my good friend Lauren we she comes to visit!! We're going to have a blast Laurs!!

BONUS: A biology fun fact for my dad! The Causeway is also home to over 200 varieties of plant species and birds such as the Chough and the Peregrine Falcon.

Ooooooh! Yet another reason for you to come visit me! ;-)

All this Beauty

This past weekend all of the exchange students here at Ulster were invited on a walk along the beach with an organization called International Friends. Irish people are probably the friendliest, most welcoming people you could ever meet, and this organization's members are definitely no exception.

First we walked along the beach for a little while...

It was super cold but absolutely beautiful. (As usual in really windy situations, my hair comes alive giving the allusion that my head is being attacked by a brown, curly-haired beast. Cute.)

What do you get when you walk along the beach, with eight giggly, excited girls??... A picture of eight giggly, excited girls holding hands!!

What you're not seeing in this picture is our friend Alan, who got suckered into taking this picture eight times with eight different cameras....girls. :-) At least he was a good sport about it.

In the not-so-epic battle of the exchange students v. the north Atlantic winds, we definitely did not fair well. So we took our stroll inland a bit and got to see some even more beautiful views.


This is the part where I felt like we had walked right into Tolkien's imagination.


I kept expecting to see a gorgeous woodland elf and a strapping ranger jump out from behind the marshes to save us from an eminent orc attack....no such luck. (That double-reference to Lord of the Rings is just for you mom!)



I wish my camera could have captured just how beautiful this scene really was! It was simply stunning.




This picture is by far my favorite because you can see the fields in the distance. It also captures a rarity here, a bright blue sky!


After our walk, we were all invited back to the church International Friends is a part of for some biscuits and hot chocolate. Here all the exchange students ate and drank their weight in homemade sugar goodies and yummy hot chocolate...well at least all of the American students did. I may have seen one of the Frenchies pop a biscuit or two. ;-)

Over all it was a beautiful Irish day!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

One of the hardest things about studying abroad is being away from all the people I love back home. This feeling is even more pronounced on special occasions...like my dad's 49th birthday!! Today my dad turned 49, and I could tell from our phone date earlier today that he was very excited about this event. I wish I could be home to celebrate the big 4-9 with him and to remind him just how old he really is, but I'm pretty sure my cute younger brothers have that front covered while I'm away. Check out all of that gray hair!! ;-)

Happy Birthday Dad!!! And don't worry, I'll definitely be there next year when you turn 50!!! I love you!!!

Putting the "Study" in Studying Abroad

A central part of the orientations exchange students are required to attend before embarking on our adventures is quite simple: remember to study while you're studying abroad. Sounds obvious enough right? But the goal of most exchange students is to travel and see as much as possible, so in retrospect I am thankful for the reminder. Especially since my workload over here for only 3 classes will probably be equivalent to the workload of the 5 classes I'm used to taking each semester at ASU. I have noticed that over here that the majority of "lecturers" (if you refer to them as professors you get strange looks and people laugh at you) are HUGE fans of the all-students-need-to-read-a-LOT-before-each-lecture concept. At ASU professors know full well that when they assign outside readings, only about 7% of their students will actually make the effort to set up camp in the library and read. While I haven't received the official numbers yet on my "Do-you-read-everything-or-slack-off" poll, so far it looks like just about everyone over here reads at least half of the outside readings. And talking to the other American exchange kids the general consensus seems to be that over here students are responsible for a large percentage of learning. Kind of a "self-study" method, which is a little different than the way things are done back home at ASU.

We are in our second week of school here and I almost have my routine down. It was a little stressful getting registered for class and making sure the "time tables" don't over lap. So after some stressed out nights and a very slow registration process, my classes are Medical Cell Biology, Winning the Peace: European Literature and Film, and Mother Ireland: Representations of Women in Irish Literature. Each class consists of a lecture and a seminar. Seminars are made up of extra time for the lecturer to have workshops, hold discussions and student presentations. Here is what my class schedule looks like:

I am super excited though to only have class Tuesday-Thursday! Four day weekends will make it easier to explore and not miss class. ;-)

Another difference is the size of the campus here. At ASU's main campus in Tempe, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk across campus, even further if you are lucky enough to have lake view parking in Lot 59. So while I was expecting that campus to be smaller, I was shocked when I learned that there were only two main building where classes are held. Here are some pics of the campus!

This is part of the central building where I have most of my classes...


Here is another view of the central building. The covered walk way is definitely nice when it is snowing and raining like it has been this week.


I'll try and take more pictures of campus while I'm here. I don't have too many so far because I'm really trying NOT to be the dorky girl with a camera walking around campus and taking pictures of everything...I'm fairly sure the students on exchange here from Hong Kong have that department covered. ;-)

BONUS: While I've been here I've been keeping a list of funny sayings and all of the just plain weird stuff they say over here via the stickies application on my macbook. Here is what I have so far...

• The Fire Department is known as the Fire Brigade
• A closet is referred to as a cupboard, as in "electrical cupboard"
• A "stone" is roughly the equivalent of fourteen pounds
• The word "Yous," as in "I hope yous had a good time."
• Referring to University as "Uni" (I spent a good 3 days on this one trying to figure out what my house mates were talking about)
• French fries are called "chips"
• Potato chips are called "crisps"
• The elevator is referred to as the "lift"
• Instead of saying thanks, most people just say "cheers"

Spellings over here are different too, which will make it super fun when I'm writing papers for class. For example...

• organization vs. organisation
• theater vs. theatre
• eukaryote vs. eucaryote

That's all I have so far but I'll keep them coming as I hear them!! :-)

Go for it Cards!!!

I would just like to give a quick trans-Atlantic shout out to the Arizona Cardinals!! I'll be the first to admit I am not a huge football fan BUT when your home team is in the Super Bowl you gotta be supportive so GO CARDS!!!!

Belfast Baby!

I was most excited about studying abroad so I would finally have the chance to explore new cities that, until now, had always seemed so far away. Well yesterday myself and my new friend Rana, also on exchange from the States, decided to take the train into Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital.

There was definitely a TON of stuff to see and do in Belfast. But, since I am still a tourist at heart, I thought it best if we got the true "tourist-y" stuff out of the way first! So about 20 minutes after getting off the train and hailing a taxi we found ourselves in the center of the city waiting in line for Northern Ireland's version of London's "Eye." The spectacular views of the city were totally worth the £6.50! Here are some pictures from our ride...


There were statues of some famous "Ulster Men" all around this awesome building that serves as City Hall.

Of course the classic "myspace" pic...


Some more views of City Hall...





Some views of the busy town below...



If you look closely you can see cranes in the background of both these pictures. They're left over from Belfast's glory days as one of the world's premiere ship builders. Their most famous masterpiece sank on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic when she hit an ice berg.


As the people of Belfast proudly say, the Titanic "was fine when she left here!"

I'm not quite sure what this building is but check out the clock on the upper-left hand corner of the building!


After our ride we walked around for a bit looking at the statues and admiring the architecture.




We decided to go all out for lunch and hit up McDonald's for a classy meal of cheeseburgers and mcnuggets with "chips," or french fries for those of us native to the other side of the Atlantic. Back home, the food at McDonald's is greasy and gross but over here it is actually pretty good! It is really fresh and the meat is delicious since the UK has restrictions on the standard of meat it allows into the country. And yes, as John Travolta reports in Pulp Fiction, over here people do LOVE to smother their "chips" in mayonnaise. I'm not sure that is a custom I'll attempt to experience.


After lunch we walked around for a bit trying to decide what to do and what to see.


This is Albert's Tower and NO my photography skills aren't that bad, the tower really does lean to the left. Which is why we photographed it from the right... ;-)


Ireland's unofficial motto...


One of my favorite childhood authors was C.S. Lewis. Thanks to my mom and Scholastic's monthly book orders I read his most popular work, The Chronicles of Narnia, when I was in grade school. Now as a Lit. major, I consult his literary criticisms quite frequently when writing papers or doing research. So when I discovered that not only was he from Ulster but that there was also a statue of him in Belfast I HAD to find it!


The statue is of C.S. Lewis (the C.S. stands for Clive Staples, even his name rocks!) opening his infamous wardrobe and entering Narnia. Needless to say, the dorky girl sitting on the chair is ecstatic. :-)


After all my dorkiness, Rana and I decided to visit the Belfast Castle. It was absolutely gorgeous. Our tourist ambitions were slightly thwarted by a wedding though, and we were only able to see parts of the castle.


The castle's luscious gardens are a huge attraction.


Apparently there is a myth about a "castle cat." It is believed that ever since the castle was first built a white cat has roamed the grounds so there are seven contributions to this feline throughout the gardens.



A view from the back...


As I said before, our tour was very limited because of the wedding crap, er... "celebration" taking place but here is a peak of the cellar...


One last glimpse!


After our trip to the castle we went back into the main part of Belfast and had dinner and a movie! We saw Revolutionary Road and then stopped at a local pizzeria for some pepperoni pie! The pizza was really good and so was the movie but is is definitely NOT a "feel good" film to say the least. Then we got on a train and headed back to Portstewart.

My first trip to Belfast was awesome and I can't wait to go back! :-)