"If You See Something You Really Like Buy It"

So our on ship e-mails have been shut down for all of Ireland, since we
left Scotland. Here is 2 days of Ireland (my homeland!) in one post.

Day One:
We had a city tour of Dublin to see some sites. We went to Guinness
first. That was a pretty cool experience. We went through a little tour
I guess to learn how the beer is made. We went onto the 4th floor for
the best schooling ever. The Guinness Academy. They showed us exactly
how to pour and craft the perfect pint. Everyone in our "class" got to
try and we all graduated with our pints. After the academy we had lunch
which was amazing beef and mashed potatoes. I got my dad this really
cool mug and I BROKE it. After Guinness we toured St. Patrick's
cathedral which was so pretty. I love old churches because of the
architecture and the stained glass windows. By the time we finished at
the church, JoEllen and I signed off of the field program and went off
on our own. We got to see Trinity college (mom and dad I could go to
grad school there!) Our plan for the day was to: shop, pub, shop, pub,
shop, pub ... and on and on. We did our shopping and did our drinking. I
got hit on by an Irishman at a cigar shop, not really making it any
easier for me to leave this country. Back to the important stuff, we did
not have one bad drink in Ireland. One of the drinks we got was a
blueberry frozen margarita. It was basically an alcoholic slurpee in a
margarita glass. While we were at one of the bars it started pouring and
would not stop. JoEllen bought a broken umbrella and with that we
decided to walk to the shuttle that takes us to port.

Day Two:
The next day was our overnight trip to the Cliffs of Moher, which I was
so excited about. To sum up our 2 day and 1 night trip in a sentence : I
paid $300 to nap on a bus. The first day was spent hopping on and off
the bus a few times during a 3 hour ride. We saw the Devil's Punch Bowl,
rivers, and a castle. I can't remember the castle name, but Mary and I
decided to walk around the castle on the path and there she almost fell
off the side of the hill. We could not stop laughing after she death
gripped me and stayed put. We finally got to the hotel around 5 and it
was a nice place. I felt like I was in the Lizzie McGuire movie. After
making it to the hotel we had dinner and I had chicken curry, in
Ireland? Weird to see on that menu and to have in this country. We ended
up going out to a few pubs that were in this little town with 2 of the
guys that we were sitting with on the bus. One is from New Jersey. I
don't know what it is, but all of us NJ kids seem to find each other and
flock together. After drinks we slept and my bed was horrible. It was
99% springs and I felt like I was sleeping on a pile of scrap metal at
some points, but I passed out anyway. Oh and I burned like 3 layers of
skin off in the shower because it would just drastically change
temperatures on you. It was an interesting night.

Bagpiped Out of Port

Today was our last day in Scotland and not one part of my body wants to
leave. I am writing this while sitting in the window watching us sail
away. I could start crying right now. I see some sheep still!!

Today we got to sleep past 7 because we didn't have anything planned. We
got up and walked 30 minutes to the Greenock train and headed to
Glasgow. We basically wandered all day. We got steak pie and it was sooo
good. It was actually really warm out. We did souvenir shopping and
finally got our croissants. That makes 5 countries and 5 croissants. No
one is going to stop us. We are on a mission to get 11/11. We made the
train again to be back on board by 6.

We just got back into the room because we were watching the boat pull
away from port. It was the coolest thing ever. While the crew got the
boat ready, bagpipers came out of the port terminal. They played for a
good 30 minutes. It was so amazing and such a legit Scottish experience.
They had people on the dock at the port waving with flags and they kept
playing as we got further away. It was probably the coolest experience
so far. It was pretty hard not to jump off the ship and stay in
Scotland, but Ireland is next. I don't know how I will leave there.

Loch Lomond featuring Chicken Wing

So today we had to be up earlier than usual to catch the bus to Loch
Lomond. We are currently on the bus as I type this first half. This is
one of those field programs where we got graced with a boxed lunch from
the ship. Our cardboard boxes included an unidentified cube of cake, a
hard boiled egg, Capri Sun, 2 Oreos, a cheese and mystery meat sandwich,
an apple, and finally last but not least a chicken wing. Yea a chicken
wing/drumstick wrapped in plastic wrap. I will be eating well this
afternoon.

So onto the hike that occurred this afternoon. It was not well
described. We got there with our hats and gloves that they told us to
bring and it was chilly but hot once we got moving. It looked like it
could have stormed but it didn't and it got pretty warm. Everything they
told us to bring was not needed and just made my backpack heavier. They
also said a hike around the lake, but no it was a hike up a 1000ft.
mountain to see a view of the hike. Eric you would have been in hiking
heaven. JoEllen started getting a sinus cold yesterday so it was already
going downhill from the start (get it? it's punny). We made it halfway
and the view was so beautiful. Once again mom and dad I am not leaving
Scotland. It was so green and beautiful and I saw a sheep frolicking
around. It was very steep for the most part and there were areas that
basically seemed like rock climbing to me (not as vertical, but kind of
tricky).

JoEllen was not feeling well at the halfway point so being the fabulous
friend I am (I'm so funny), I went back down with her and we were also
joined by 2 life long learners. Junko and Lareida are from Hawaii, and
said they had been friends for 40 years. They were so nice and funny, it
was like seeing the older version of us two in the future. We made it
down with them and we walked around the lake and found a pretty dock.
They took pictures with us and JoEllen and I of course took a selfie
with them. Luckily JoEllen started to feel better and we stopped into
this little cafe called the Oak Tree Inn. It was so cute, like the
cutest place ever. There were all these different grandfather clocks on
the walls and tons of logs stacked up. They had pictures of guys on the
wall with huge fish that they caught. My favorite part was that all of
the chairs were different, like all old and mismatched. Our table was
actually an old sewing machine table. We all just had a coffee break,
and Junko insisted on paying which was so nice of her. We ended having a
really nice day without killing ourselves on the mountain.

P.S. - The cube of cake was later identified as pound cake.
P.P.S - My mom is pointing out mistakes in past blogs to me, but I
cannot change them because I cannot get onto my blog site. I update my
blog by email and I can't do much else. So I am sorry for my mistakes
everybody. "Nobody's perfect, I gotta work it again and again til I get
it right" - Hannah Montana

Tatties or Naw?

Drowning in tatties. That's the Scottish word for potato for those who
have their mind in the gutter. So yea I'm kind of hilarious. We have
potatoes available everyday on the ship for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner. We are not exactly jumping to try any Scottish or Irish potatoes.

Anyway we got into port at Greenock, Scotland yesterday morning. The one
bad thing is that when we pull into port the boat makes these really
loud noises at like 6am. We hear it all because we are the first room
towards the front.

So a few things.
First: They are so super nice here and I love the accents.
Second: It is very green.
Third: Sheep. That's all.
Fourth: This weather is insane. Rain, chilly, sunny, and hot all within
the span of a minute.
Fifth: There is a clan called Blair, so even though it is spelled wrong,
my name (sort of) is on stuff!

So we had a walking tour yesterday and it was really pathetic honestly.
We did run into an orange parade which was basically celebrating the
Presbyterian religion. We had about an hour and a half maybe of this
"walking tour" of Glasgow and we were taken to a church and an
acropolis. The acropolis was basically their nice way of saying
graveyard so we went to a city of dead people for the most part. Some of
the graves were really old and from the 1800's. We got a little free
time and I found black currant Capri Sun!The tour itinerary was like
here is a church and here are some graves, now go home. After the tour
we went food shopping because we are hungry a lot. Like all the time,
especially when at sea. I complain to my mom like everyday about the
food here on-board and I don't really want to eat potatoes or pasta ever
again in my life. I am a very picky eater, but once we get in port and I
am basically ready to eat anything that is not pasta. I mean seriously I
had liver in Spain, still not getting over that. Gross. I don't think
food should be grey.

Today we went into Edinburgh and saw the city and castle. It was on this
volcano and some of the rocks were I think over 350 million years old.
The science nerd in me thought that was pretty fricken' cool. The castle
was really old and pretty. I wouldn't mind having my own castle. Eric,
if you are reading this, could you take care of that issue of me not
having a castle? For the most part, I just couldn't get over the old
rock thing. We wandered around and found a dog cemetery, which was
pretty interesting. We had like 4 hours of free time so we wandered
through cool shops and got food. Real food! I had a Scottish beef burger
and I almost died. Real meat. Heaven.

Reflections and Croissants

So I decided to start sort of reflecting on the countries. In my classes
we always talk about what we saw or felt about the ports on our first
day of classes after a country. I have already been to 3 of my 10 (plus
France) so I will do it in groups. So I'll give this a try. And I guess
while I am at it I will rate croissants (1 to 5), since we have one in
every country.

London England:
I only had a day here, but I still loved it like I did the first time.
The city is so clean and for the most part everyone is really friendly.
It is like a cleaner version of New York, but with funny accents. I love
their accents. Even taking the tube (their version of the subway) was
good. It wasn't scary and dirty like it is in our cities. We walked
around and everything is so old and beautiful. It is nice seeing all of
the different buildings and old landmarks instead of skyscrapers.
Croissant rating - 2

Lisbon, Portugal:
I loved Portugal way more than I was expecting to. I did not know what
to expect, but I really liked it. The streets and quarters of the city
were so nice and small. It was like walking around a little old town
that you read about or something. The people were friendly and many
spoke English. I did learn some Portuguese though. The homes and
buildings were really colorful and I loved the brightness. I was also
fascinated and in love with the tile work and the insanely detailed
ceilings and buildings. I wish I could post pictures, but these emails
can't handle attachments. I really liked wandering around Lisbon and
finding new hidden things down old small streets. There was a lot of
history in the city and it was cool seeing things that had been around
since the 13th century. The one thing I did notice that I did not like
was all of the cigarette smokers. Almost everyone. And what I hated even
more is how they just threw them on the ground and dropped them
everywhere. I also liked how the older women (like grandma age) had
their hair dyed like blue and purple. It was interesting. Croissant
rating - 4

Bilbao, Spain:
I liked Portugal way better than Spain. It was not the country that I
had imagined, but I guess because I was in Basque Country and not the
cities. It was not a scenic by the port but once you got into Bilbao it
was really nice. The buildings were really old and close together. It
sort of reminded me of London. It was quieter and there wasn't as much
to do as the other places. It had a bunch of little streets and shops. I
had a lot of trouble eating in Spain. I could not get used to their meal
times (like dinner at 9-11). When we were hungry for dinner, it was hard
to find a meal. We usually could only find tapas. For the most part I
did not like the tapas. I am not a seafood eater so it was harder for me
to find food. I also hate mayonnaise which they seemed to use a lot of.
The rest of the area was really nice. It was very mountainous and had
tons of greenery and really great views to look at. Croissant rating - 3

Biarritz and Saint Jean de Luz, France:
Saint Jean de Luz was not that exciting and basically everything was
closed. This is also were we got lost in France. Compared to Biarritz it
was not very great. So Biarritz, was awesome. Everyone loved it. it was
basically a beach town and the views were insane. There were tons of
huge rocks out in the ocean and tons of little downtown-ish and beach(y)
shops and places to eat. Compared to being in Paris before, it was such
a huge difference to city. I really liked it there a lot and it was nice
to see a different part of France. Croissant rating - 5

"To the Window to the Wall"

Yesterday we left port at 6 and then went a little bit and dropped
anchor. The port is still visible and we found out they did this because
A. they had to leave the port and B. if they stayed close they could
have satellite still to stream the world cup game. So we are still in Spain.

Last night was really interesting because of sitting in the middle of
the water. We were rocking from side to side and like crazy. Our stuff
was falling over and our drawers were closing themselves. JoEllen began
singing the song that goes like ... "to the window, to the wall, to the
wall" because we were literally sliding in our beds as our room sea-sawed.

Adios!

So Sunday we took a shuttle ride to Sopelana (hope I am spelling that right) for a festival. It was pretty cool. It started off as a parade that everyone basically followed and then they went to church. JoEllen and I went in search of food and wandered the streets and found a cool candy store with some interesting things. At about 12 they had little vendors set up with crafts and toys for the kids. JoEllen got her hair wrapped and I added to my dream catcher collection with one in the colors of the Basque flag. Afterwards there were children that danced and the festival continued again.

Yesterday we had our wine tasting in La Rioja. It was not what we thought it would be. We visited 2 wineries and in one we went into the wine " cemetery ". It had wine from every year since the place opened. Everything was covered in mold, like covered, some of the bottles could barely be seen. The wineries and vineyard were really pretty and there were so many of them. We only actually tasted 2 wines on our wine tasting experience, which was strange. We had lunch and I had veal for the first time. After we went back to the port and got on the shuttle to the town in Bilbao. In every country we have been trying to collect a key chain. We want one from every country and then we can make something at the end. Unfortunately, I am already missing a country. I could not find one for Spain. Maybe I'll have to order a cheap one off of Amazon for Bilbao, Spain. (Dad if you are reading this you should help me out). I fell asleep really early and now classes are started again.

We are actually half way through classes already which is crazy. After class we plan on sitting up on the main deck, and yes mom I am using sunscreen and purell. We have a project and test tomorrow and 2 papers due this week. Overall, I liked Portugal way better than Spain. I found myself starving everyday in this country. They eat at way different times than us and I did not really like the food here. We are still docked in Spain and will be leaving for Scotland next. We should be in Glasgow by Saturday.