Dublin, Ireland

November 21, 2014

Dublin, Ireland

Time for the last 10 day! The plan for this 10 day was Dublin, Paris, and then finally ending in London. I was meeting my dad and uncle in Dublin to see the Ireland vs Australia Rugby game. I left everyone else early flying in Friday night with them coming in Saturday night so I could have an extra day with my family. I landed in Dublin Friday night, saw everyone then turned in for the night.

Saturday November 22, 2014

The three of us; my uncle, my dad, and myself, thought we had gotten up early but really woke up at 1:45 in the afternoon and we were meeting all of my uncles friends at 2. We got ourselves together and made our way to the bar to prepare for the 5:00 game which was 2 ranked Australian team vs the 3rd ranked Irish...in the world. I say without a doubt that it was the coolest sporting experience of my life. Not only was the stadium absolutely amazing, the atmosphere was incredible as well as the game.

Once the game ended, which Ireland won, everyone goes from the seats straight to the bar. We met up with a couple friends who live in Dublin and I do not understand how they do it. From drinking two hours before the game, during the game, then for another 5-6 hours after. My dad and I made our rounds, had a couple drinks then turned in. I could not keep up with these guys and they were all around 60. 

Sunday November 23, 2014

My uncle left early Sunday morning so it was me and my dad until we were leaving Tuesday. After my uncle left I laid around for a little bit while my dad did some work then we left to go explore Dublin during Christmas time. They had a very cool little Christmas Market right off of Grafton street so the Holiday Spirit was there. We talked around a little until we went to Trinity University, the famous university in Dublin, to look at the Book of Kells. My favorite part about seeing the Book of Kells was not the book itself...but the amazing library. 

Once we finished with the Library and Book of Kells we went out to a bar for some drinks and dinner then back to the hotel to turn in. 

Monday November 24, 2014 

I woke up relatively late again and originally had no plans for the day. My dad had to go to a meeting so I met up with Jack and walked around the Christmas Market and Grafton street for a few hours, admiring what it all looked like in the fading daylight. Jack and I walked around for a few hours exploring everything we possible could until it came time to eat. Everyone was meeting us at my hotel and my dad took us out to dinner as a one final hooyah to the trip. Once dinner was over the 4 of us hopped in a taxi to meet up with Jacks friend from high school who goes to school in Dublin. We met him at this recording studio and played around in it for a couple hours till we all had to leave. I went home and back to bed after that because I had an early flight in the morning. Paris next!

Krakow, Poland

November 14, 2014 

Krakow Poland

The plan for this weekend was Krakow. A group of 22 of us were going to Poland to celebrate a birthday there as well as going to see Auschwitz. After the exam we all went to the airport to catch our plane that left at 3:30. We landed in Poland around 6 and it was a lot different then I had expected. I suppose I didn't know what to expect with Poland but Russian influence was very visible. We walked around the city center for a little while...our hostel was in a great location. Once we all ate we decided to stay in and hang out for the night because a couple of us were going to Auschwitz the following morning and needed to get up at 7. 

Saturday November 15

A group of 10 or so of us got up at 7 to get dressed and walk to the bus station. It was about a 2 hour ride to Auschwitz and we wanted to make sure we didn't miss the bus. Once we got there the tour we had scheduled fell through so we just hopped in on a different one. Walking through the concentration camp was one of the most chilling experiences of my life. The sheer magnitude of what the Germans were doing is sicking. We went from Auschwitz 1 to Auschwitz 2...which is just acres and acres of open fields with wooden buildings, gas chambers, torture chambers, and a whole number of other nameless things.

After the concentration a camp we all headed back for the birthday celebration. We had all chipped in on a giant party bus that took us all around Poland, from a Casino to a bar then to a club. It was quite a wild night.

The following morning we packed up and went home to finish up the last couple weeks of classes. 

Zermatt, Switzerland

This next trip came with a new set of classes and new set of responsibilities, Management was over now it was on to BIT. With the first week of BIT classes over Jack, Casey, Brendan and myself decided to make a trip to Zermatt, Switzerland one of the most famous skiing locations in the world. Too get there you have to take a private Swiss train so our rail passes didn't work and absolutely no cars are allowed...everything was electric. As soon as I stepped off the train I fell in love with Zermatt it honestly felt like the North Pole...that's how cool it was. We arrived there pretty late because of so many trains and busses but it was worth it. We settled into our Hostel and got ready for the night because the whole point of this trip was the 13 mile hike we planned for the next day. 

We woke up around 9 the next morning and hit the trail. We all packed sandwiches for the whole weekend because as beautiful and cool as Zermatt is..with that beauty comes cost and it was the most expensive place I had been since coming abroad. We were on our way towards the hike around 9:30 straight up the mountain. Being out of shape made the hike much more difficult but up until that point I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. The mountains, the snow, the clouds..it looked like something you see in a magazine or a computer desktop. 

  We walked hiked for hours sometimes going off course to do a little exploring. As we reached the top we came across a frozen lake a what looked like a relatively abandoned town which was really cool. We did however run into problems. Eventually losing the trail we wander off course and had to slide/fall down the mountain following the phone poles before it got dark and we got stuck...but no big deal it all worked out. After doing this hike I really don't think anything else will ever satisfy me hikingwise ever again.

It was an extremely painful day..especially having to slide down the mountain but it worked out perfectly because after the hike we went to Zurich we had a spa day scheduled for the 4 of us and on Sunday we spent from 10 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon getting pampered.