We aren't caught up in your love affair

So this is the last part of my trip.  I will be kind to you and just give you pictures with just a small description.  Enjoy

Day 1

We first had to go to the discovery island center to collect my Dublin pass.  The pass allowed us to go in 30 attractions free and over great discounts.  I had a really big scare because four days before I was supposed to leave for Dublin, my mother told me my passes had made it to the house.  I couldn't use passes that were sitting in the Unites States. Luckily, the mistake was on their part and I was able to pick up a Dublin Pass at the center. This was a dry erase wall that people could write on, we left our mark!

 

Okay I am going to be honest and say that Anna takes amazing photos.  For that reason, I am going to use some of her photos if mine to not suffice.  This is one of them. Before we made our way to the Museum of  Archeology, we stopped into the city library.

This was the Museum of Archeology, and I must admit it was crazy cool.  As you may have guess, the corpse was my favorite.  We got four free postcards as well.

 

This was the Church of Christ Cathedral. I feel bad because I didn't learn much while I was there but it was extremely beautiful and my pictures do not do this place justice.  I apologize

Our last stop of the night was the Guinness Storehouse.  I thought it was the coolest guide in Dublin. My favorite part was going to the tasting room.  We walked through a dark hallway and then was ushered into this white room to shock our senses.  We were then given instructions on how to properly taste beer.  It was the worse thing I ever tasted. So you can guess that I opted for a coke instead of the complimentary pint of beer.

Day 2

First thing on day 2 was the zoo. I am not going to post every animal because we have all been to a zoo before.  However, this was the Dublin Zoo! I was really impressed with their area for the zebras, antelopes and giraffes.  For once I didn't feel like they were caged,  they had a taste of freedom.

This was the castle that we went to. I was very disappointed because we went on Halloween and the castle was actually booked and we couldn't look inside.  We were able to look around the  botanical garden but I wasn't in the mood to look at it.

Day 3

 

Was the Kilmainham Gaol, the oldest unoccupied jail in Europe. I have to say that I enjoyed this place the most.  This jail is important to the inhabitants of Ireland because it hold so much history.  If I could tell you just a small fraction of it, you would love it too.

Lastly, this was the Trinity College Library.  This is said to be the largest library in Ireland.  Due to the fact that we were not to take pictures in majority of the Library, I only have these two pictures.  I had to use the bathroom so bad that I really couldn't appreciate this place.  We were also not allowed to touch the books so I was ready to go within ten minutes.  Anna loved this place though and I am glad that she enjoyed the library as much as I enjoyed the jail. Well that's it and I really appreciate you suffering though this and taking this journey with me.  He are a few more pictures. 

 

We crave a different kind of Buzz...

When people first asked me how my trip was going, I got a little uncomfortable.  I was having a great time.  And for a minute was I questioning my loyalty to Estonia. I kept thinking "If ISEP had a program in Ireland,  that would have been my first choice." Then I started to realize that I do not regret coming to Estonia at all.  Tartu and Dublin are both amazing for their own reasons.

To be completely honest, I was worried about coming to Estonia because I was black.  I googled "Estonians," in hopes of finding pictures of black people in the mix.  Of course I found none. I researched but I only found stories that put a little fear in you.  I never said a word about it because I didn't want people to discourage me from taking this journey.  I wasn't going to let something as superficial as skin color stop me studying abroad.  In Tartu, there may be four other dark skinned people here.  Out of all of us, I am the only African American female.  So as you may have guessed, yes, people stare.  It's not that they mean anything by it; it's just that we are not considered the norm.  As the months go by, the stares are less frequent and I am just as unimportant as anyone else living in Tartu.  Because Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, it pulls in tourists from all over the world.  I feel as though I could blend in there and I enjoy my rare trips to Tallinn.

In comparison to Tartu, Dublin is extremely diverse.  The city felt like a huge mixing pox with a little of everyone in it. It reminded me of home.  The fact that it was an English and Irish speaking country was the cherry on top of a banana split sundae. I could say hello and not feel bad about speaking English.  Though it was funny that someone said hello to me and my response was "Tere!"  Yes, it was five seconds of extreme awkwardness.

I am so serious when I say that I thought the world was going to stop and stare because I was so exotic.  That didn't happen, at all. I had become so accustomed to the stares in Estonia that I was sure I would be "All that and a bag of chips." In reality, there were a hundred people that looked just like me.  I quickly got it through my head that Denzel Washington and Jude Law look-alikes were not going to see me "shine bright like a diamond." Even if they did, I was only in town for five days and that was barely enough time to learn each other's first name.

Everyone in Dublin was sweet as pie.  Everyone spoke, even if you were just passing each other in the bathroom. It was so different from what I have gotten used to.  It is said that Estonians are introverts and very reserved.  I don't really interact on the street like I would at home and for those few days; I had to practice being somewhat polite again.

Food:

The food was awesome, but I feel like I spent a lot of money on food as well. We were in a tourist  city so the prices were inflated just a bit.  I would have loved to go to a market and pick up a few items but the hostel didn’t allow us to hold food in the room.  So we were forced to eat out at every meal.  You would not believe how hard it was not going to places that we could find in the US. There were McDonalds, Burger Kings, Subway, TGIF, and so many more.  We made a pact to eat somewhere new every day. We stayed true to that except for breakfast.  Across from the hostel was this place called Oscars.  Every morning I got a raspberry scone and mocha. The place had such a relaxing atmosphere that I could stay there for hours at a time.  The workers were very friendly and I tried to tip the scale every time I went in (give them a tip)

So here are a few pictures of what we ate each day.  I am not going to lie, I can’t remember the name of most of these places!

This was the first meal we had when we got into town.  It took like 30 or 45 minutes to find it because we had no sense of direction and we had to pass all of the international food chains to get to this place.  Overall, it was good... or maybe I was really hungry.  No, it was good.

This was the Oscars I was talking about. The scone was amazing and they gave us butter and jam with it.  It was to die for.  I'm sorry, I just exaggerated but they are worth going to if you are ever in town. I wish we had an Oscars in Tartu.

This was our lunch on the second day.  Apparently this was a Irish burger.  I don't know how it differed from any other burger but it was good.  I don't have a picture from our dinner on the second night.  We had pizza and we dug into so fast that there was no point in taking a picture.  Breakfast was always the same so I won't post a picture of it again.

I have no idea where this place was.  We were leaving the zoo and starving so we stopped at some place that looked to have good food at good prices.  We got the soup of the day which was like puréed vegetable soup with a chicken wrap. I was fairly impressed at the taste of the soup.  however the wrap just had chicken on it.  No one likes dry chicken so I had to drench it in mayo and mustard and top it with the lettuce and peppers they provided.  After a little "fixin' up," it was really good.

On the third night we wanted sushi.  Anna was in charge of finding this place.  Needless to say we got a little lost and I threatened that if we didn't find it, we would be eating McDonalds for dinner.  Just when we thought all hope was lost, we ran up on "YO Sushi." It was my first time going to a sushi bar with a conveyor belt.  We were allowed water, miso soup, a purple, blue and orange plate for ten euros.  It was a really good price but I wanted some dumplings so I bought an additional purple plate.  The orange plate was the most interesting.  I ordered the octopus balls.  Yes, you read right.  I can't compare the taste to anything but  fried calamari hidden in creamy mashed potatoes.  It was really good and I would get it again!

 

 

 This was a little place called "O'Brien's" I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich with the soup of the day.  It was so good and filling.  I think I was done for the day after that meal but we still had so much to do.

With the Dublin pass, we were allowed to go to this little café and get a free coffee and cake.  I got a caramel cheesecake and caramel macchiato. When I tell you that was some amazing stuff, I almost fell of my stool.  I was almost tempted to buy another one but I was trying to watch my figure.

 

This was our last dinner in Dublin.  I can't tell you want any of the items are called.  I ordered  pasta in spicy tomato sauce with salmon, shrimp & broccoli and a side salad of course. 

Airport food and it cost me around seven euros.  The drink was an amazing white hot chocolate.  I also ordered a yogurt but the oats were stale and I didn't enjoy it much. 

So that is it about the food!

 

My last post will be about everything I seen while in Dublin, so stay tuned!

Jet planes, Islands, Tigers on a gold leash

Introduction:
Let me start by telling you how I found myself in Dublin. In the 8th grade I was in Jazz band, a complete loser with no friends.  Somewhere in the room I found a girl that seem to be as lonely as I was. The rest is history and Anna and I have been friends ever since.  She is one of the only people that has been consistent, and we both put in the effort to keep in touch.  For those of you who haven't read my earlier posts, she was the reason I even found my way to Estonia. A month or so before the ISEP deadline she came home from college and we met up at our local mall. "You should really study abroad through ISEP," she said.  My automatic answer was no.  I was perfectly content with school and work day in and day out, there was no need in jumping out of my comfort zone. Long story short, we both spent six agonizing weeks waiting to see if we were accepted into the program.
When discussing our stay in Europe we would passingly say that we should meet up. I didn't think much about it and chalked it up to the coffee from Barnes and Noble messing with our heads. I don't know if I ever believed it but before I knew it, I was buying plane tickets and hostel accommodations . So, I hope you enjoy hearing about my trip to Ireland.

Transportation:
When booking, the cheapest airline was Ryan air. Overall I had a good experience with them.  I think any stress I had was self imposed.  My flatmate let me use her suitcase since all I needed was a cabin bag.  Somehow it got stuck in my head that I was really going to go out and my green dress and brown boots was crucial.  The whole time I was worried if my bag would be the appropriate weight and size.  The flight to Dublin was longer than I expected. I don't know why I though it would be an hour flight but it was a two and a half hour flight. When I arrived, the airport was design that you basically had to go to customs, collect your bags and leave. I knew Anna's plane would land with the 15 minutes so I hopped in line and hoped that it was slow enough for us to meet. I finally got connected with the airport's Wi-Fi when Anna sent me a message saying that she just got her passport stamped and she was at baggage claim.  Fear shot through me because I never seen Anna go through customs and I thought for a moment that we were at two different airports.  After a few questions and getting my passport stamped, I rushed to baggage claim to search for her.  It didn't take long for me to find her and I was at ease.  Everything was okay. 
On the way back, Anna talked me into buying souvenirs, three for 20 euros. It seemed like a good deal until I couldn't get my bag to fit in the baggage check.  Luckily after 20 minutes or so, I arranged everything in my bag well enough that it wouldn't cause a problem.
For the remainder of our trip we took buses, trains, trams and a taxi.  The Tram easily became to our favorite form of transportation and the bus was the worst.  The bus station didn't have maps or anything that clearly relayed the potential destinations.  So we had to travel by the seat of our pants and get off at what sounded good.  Our feet was the most used form of transportation.  I didn't bring any good walking shoes so my feet were hurting majority of the time.  For the most part, maneuvering around the city wasn't too bad. We had the classic "tourist" look going on but it was okay because we were not alone.

Accommodation:
 I think the Accommodation area was the most humorous part of our trip. When we first got in town, we got off at the wrong stop so we had to walk back a little ways.  We walked on the main strip until when seen some blue lights.  Anna asked did I want to walk by the lights so we turned left on the street.  Well we walked passed the lights and made a right because we thought we should head in that direction. Fast forward an hour and we still haven't found our hostel.  By this time I am getting a little nervous because its dark and we didn't know where we were going.  We found ourselves back at the blue lights. This time we looked forward and seen 5 signs with the word "Generator." The hostel was right in front of us the whole time and we totally missed it.  I don't have to tell you how silly we felt.

So we go in and the place looks exactly like the pictures. The place seemed to scream "Youth." We  check in and we realized that they had us in two different rooms. So me being the person that I am, I asked was there any way to put us in the same room. They were very helpful and put us in the same room on the second floor.  The room held 8 beds and we shared the room with six other people (men and women).  It reminded me of a dorm room. You share the room with other people and the bathrooms were communal
*Funny Story Break*
The first night we was there Anna said she was going to a shower.  Well I decided I was going to take mines in the morning because I was tired.  We discussed the shower thing for a moment or two and Anna still wanted to take her shower then.  So she got out of her towel and bed clothes and other essentials.  She took a shower and by the time that she got bad I was tucked away in bed.  So around 5:30 in the morning, and I had to go to the bathroom.  I went out to the hall and I seen a door that had boxers on them.  I wasn't very comfortable going through that door even though it was the only door on the whole floor.  I would have went to the handicapped bathroom but it was locked.  So I walked up to the third floor and there was a worker. I think he could tell I was confused  because he asked if I need something.  Standing in my pajamas, I said "I am just trying to find the bathroom."  He got on his radio to confirm the location and he said "The women showers and toilets  are on the first floor and the men showers and toilets are on the second floor."
I chuckled a little bit thinking about how funny it would be if Anna went into the guy's bathroom.  Later in the morning I asked her about where she took her showers.  She then told me about somehow there were only guys in the shower and when she got out, there were some guys snickering. You guessed right.  Anna took a shower in the Men's Bathroom

The layout of the hostel was meant for young adults, but  there were older and teenagers there as well.  I think I was more annoyed by the immature kids that we running around than anything.  Good there we were only there for four nights and the kids were there for just a night.  On a few of the evenings we would sit in the lounge and listen to the live music. I cannot  tell a lie, I was checking out all of the cute guys, but I was too shy to talk to anyone. I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the hostel and I would stay there again.  In case any of you plan on going to Dublin, it is called the "Generator"

 http://generatorhostels.com/en/destinations/dublin/
So here are a few pictures.

 

 

             This was us when we met at the airport.  I was so relieved that we both made it safely

 

  

 

                           The quality of this picture is not that great but this was the bank of Ireland

 This was the wall across from the elevator in our hostel. The hostel was designed to create this "care-free" life in my opinion.  It was a very nice hostel minus the bathroom confusion!

                               This was actually Halloween night, they had the building lit with bright lights!

Something creative we seen while walking

 

 

I will be posting about the culture and food next, so stay with me!

Adventures Pt: 2

I am so excited to tell you about my trip but I to tell you more about my "adventures" I can't have a pt:1 without having a part 2. So if this post seems a little rushed, that's because it is and I apologize for in advance. 

A couple of my roommates wanted to do a daytrip to a nearby city. I had been going back and forth in if I really wanted to go the whole week. On sunday morning around 9:30 I wake up to two girls in front of me telling me I had to get up. I had stayed up until 3 in the morning watching a stupid movie and I was tired. But of course my girls do not take no for an answer and after a couple of minutes, I found my way to the bathroom to get ready. 

Let me just say that if I knew what this trip was going to be like, I probably wouldn't have went. We took a bus to a nearby city, expecting the animal park to be close by. We ended up on the side of the highway scratching our heads and wondering where we went wrong. One of the girls I went with ran across the street to a house to ask for directions. The man told her that we should go down the road we were standing by, until we reached the end, make a right and continue until we seen a sign.  I can't help but think that when our friend walked away, he had himself a really good laugh. And hour after walking and we still hadn't seen a sign. By the second hour of walking I was about to scream when we finally seen a reindeer standing behind a gate. We had reached the promise land.

The animal park was basically a mini zoo with miserable looking animals. I don't think there is anything that I can say to make that sound better, so i won't.
Anyways I will save you from hearing any more complaining. We walked a total of around 12 miles within 6 hours. I didn't cry, and my legs didn't fall off.  Though it was not the best trip I have been on, I am extremely glad I went. That was my first time being able to brag about walking that much.  I must admit, if you are surrounded by amazing people, it can make anything awesome! picture time

 

 

Adventures Pt:1

So in the last post I said that I would get out more.  Here goes:

So the day that I work the last post, majority of my flatmates were gone.  Two was in Russia, one was in Finland and another one was in Germany.  So my Czech flatmate and I had the whole dorm room to ourselves.  Now I must admit, I enjoyed not having to share the bathroom and the toilet.  Let's not mention that the kitchen was clean for more than 20 minutes. I missed them, but I enjoyed myself as well.  Friday night my flatmate suggested that we go out. I didn't have anything to do so I decided that I should get out for a little bit.  We went to a pub and had dinner.  It was great just sitting down talking.  It was a little loud in the pub because there was a football game going on.  And when I say football I mean soccer.
The next day we decided to go to a near town called Otepaa. She asked me would it be okay if another girl came along and I agreed because small groups are usually good. I was a little skeptical because I never met this newcomer and I usually dislike a person until they give me  reason to like them.  But as soon I met her, I deemed her cool.  I think we had a really good day, but instead of explaining everything I'll post some pictures.

 Let me warn that this trip was for the nature, so if nature is not your thing, this is going to be boring!
When we first got there, it was foggy and we were afraid it would be like that the whole day.

 This lake is considered to be one of the most beautiful lakes in Estonia.  Legend has it that the lake is made up of the tears of a woman who lost all five of her sons in war. 

 

 

 

 After we finished our trail, we really wanted some coffee so we found our way to a spa.  The receptionist told us that there was a café at the end of the building so we went looking for it.  The café was called the "Tower café." As you can guess, we walked up stairs upon stairs to order our drinks, and then some more stairs to sit down. I was out of breath, not only because of the stairs but because the view was breathtaking.

 

 We then walked to this viewing platform.  It was a long way there and I really didn't want to go but I pressed on.  When we made it to the platform, they had stairs and the elevator cost more.  But I rummaged through my purse to get the extra money.  The view  from up here was amazing and  I could see for miles.

 

This post was longer than I originally thought it would be. So I will have to make another post for the trip I took yesterday.  ENJOY!

It's okay not to be okay

Long time, no see.  I know, I am guilty  when it comes to slacking.  It is funny because I think about posting often but other things seem to take priority over blogging. If it makes you feel any better though, things have been pretty calm since the last time I posted. I have my ups and downs.  It has taken a little while but the cultural differences and homesickness has starting to rear its ugly head.

Cultural Differences
I realize now that I have lived my life in a shell. I do what I'm told and stay away from what I'm supposed to... for the most part. My mother is a loner, so I am a loner.  I was fine with that until I got here and realized that everyone is not like me.  It took some time to adjust to just how many people could be in my flat at any given time.  If six girls wasn't enough, add their friends.  At first I hated it.  I couldn't figure out why they had to be together all the time and in our flat.  I would go in my room and lay in the bed until everyone left.  As weeks went by I came to the conclusion that it was not as bad as I thought it was.  I have accepted it as a norm for it to be 1-3 people extra in our flat.  In fact, it seems lonely if the crew is not there.  I had to give credit to my flatmates though, they take the whole flat into consideration when it comes to guests.  Sometimes they cook in our flat and other times they cook somewhere else.  That is more than fair.
The pastime around here is going out. Whether going to bars or clubs, people forget all their problems on Thursday night.  As I mentioned before, I wondered if I would hit every bar and club when I got here.  I don't like it.  My flatmates have to drag me out of the flat just for dinner and a movie.
Homesickness
It creeps up on you before you know it.  In fact, you write it off as something else because you don't want to admit that you are missing home.  I talk to my mother everyday and my father every week (he's macho). However when I am homesick I'm irritated to point that I am short and I rush my mother off the phone.  I get jealous when people tell me about the babies and all the developments they are making.  I'm angry because I should be witnessing that firsthand, not stealing glances from a bad quality skyping sessions.  It is a constant struggle between wanting to have my cake and eat it too.

If it is a rough day, I most likely won't leave the house. I stay in and look at Facebook constantly.  The only problem with that is at home its around 4 am and absolutely nothing is going on.  I read a book or spend 5 hours watching a 2 hour movie because the internet connection is so bad.  I open the window so I can receive my fresh air for the day. It is hard for me to say things because I wish so badly that everyday could be sunshine and happiness. I love it here, its just that sometimes I want to be in my own country, in my own state, in my own city, in my own house, in my own bed.  Oh, how I miss that bed.

Sometimes I feel so sorry for my roommates.  At the beginning they invited me every time they went out.  And my answer was always no.  People only accept rejection so many times before they give up. Now, I will notice how sometimes they leave for the night and I hear nothing about it.  Then I think to myself  "hey, why didn't they invite me?"  ...because the answer was going to be no.  After talking to my mother and talking to my roommates I realize that I need to go out more.  Going our does not mean that I am getting sloppy drunk or bumping bodies in the club.  However, I did not come this far from home to just sit in a room all day.  So I have made a promise to myself that I will get out at least once a week.  Starting tomorrow, I am going "hiking."