One Week To Go

I've resurrected this blog (which was last used three years ago, on my trip to Tanzania) to keep everyone updated on my post-grad trip to Europe! I've only got a week to go, and I JUST booked all my hostels... still gotta book transportation!

Here's the route I've got going:
Stop 1: Ireland - Clockwise route from Dublin, hitting Kilkenny, Dingle, and Galway before going back to Dublin and up to Belfast.
Stop 2: Great Britain - Starting in Edinburgh and then taking a train down to London for a week or so.
Stop 3: Northern Germany - Kiel and Hamburg to visit old friends.
Stop 4: Southern Germany - Dresden and Munich

 I'm going to be gone for about 5 weeks, from October 16th through November 21st, and I honestly can't pick one thing I'm most excited for. But I'll try to narrow it down...

 I am unbelievably excited for Ireland, more than any of the other countries. Way back in 1st or 2nd grade, I was filling out a little questionnaire about myself (possible a get-to-know-you thing that the teacher passed out, or maybe a grammar exercise sheet), and one of the questions was one place that I wanted to visit. Well, I was probably no older than 8, and the internet was definitely not advanced enough for me to have explored travel blogs or google images. But I knew I was Irish, (I'm a quarter Irish, which is more than I can claim for any other part of my heritage) so I said I wanted to go to Ireland. I knew very little of the country itself and there was really no reason for my answer other than it was a country I had heard of. But for those of you that know me, I am very loyal, I don't make or change decisions easily, and I pride myself in doing what I say I'm going to do. So, since I was 8 years old, Ireland has been #1 on my list of places in the world to visit. I have literally spent dozens of hours looking up pictures on Google: I don't care much about the cities, but I can't WAIT to see that Irish countryside. The rolling green hills, quaint towns, rocky coastlines... I could go on forever.

 Did you not just sigh at how beautiful that picture is?

 I also can't wait for Edinburgh, largely because it is the city that inspired Harry Potter. Yup. Hogwarts is supposedly modeled after Edinburgh Castle, and those who know Great Britain's geography know that taking a train north from King's Cross station for about 5-6 hours puts you in Scotland. And JK Rowling wrote large portions of the first book while sitting in a coffee shop in Edinburgh, The Elephant House. I'm going to have tea there and try to gain some inspiration from the aura I'm sure her genius brain has left behind.

 Sure, pretty close. The film-makers took some artistic license.

 Finally, I'm super stoked to see Dresden. In high school German we learned about how it was a center of arts and culture in Germany until the fire-bombing of World War II. It's been re-built in the same old style, and I can't wait to explore the beautiful architecture and learn about its history. I'm especially excited to the Dresden Frauenkirche (essentially, "Church of Our Lady"), which was completely destroyed during the war, then left as a memorial by the East German government, before being re-built almost exclusively from its original materials after the reunification. Dresden as a city represents Germany's culture and tumultuous history, including everything from arts and literature to the World Wars to the Cold War division and reunification.

One week from now I'll be on a plane to Dublin and today I got so excited I almost started crying. No joke. 

Bis gleich, lads and lassies!