Saying thanks and goodbye

Hey there,

so this will truly be the last post on the blog. And it saddens me because it means that my time in Galway is over.

at An Pucan

While being there I had a truly amazing, lovely and wonderful time. I saw a lot of the country, I made new friends, Irish and American, and I learned a lot as well. I can confidently say that it was one of the best times of my life. And for all wondering: I probably would have stayed a bit longer. Even some of the customers at ibroke saw that I didn't necessarily wanted to leave quite yet.

A special thanks goes out to Nora Freaney who organized it all for me. Without her I would have never been placed at ibroke or Niland House.

A thanks also goes out to Heiko, my trainer here in Germany, as well as Manu and Ingo, also my trainers, for deciding to put their apprentices into the class who is given this opportunity of a work placement as part of the apprenticeship.

The most likely to be the biggest thanks goes out to John who not only showed me how to fix phones but also gave me time to explore Ireland as much as I could. I really gained a friend in him. So t'anks a million. See ya.

me, Darragh and John

And before I start crying now I will leave you to it.

Goodbye everyone. Thanks for joining me in this wonderful experience. See you all.

Cheers!

Juliane

My last week :(

Hey there,

so the updating you before going home didn't work out. But I had a great last few days. 

So Friday was pretty much the same as the other days before. I helped the customers, cleaned out some phones and just had a nice day at work. After work I walked home to get a ticket for the citylink bus to Clifden for Saturday. When I came to Ireland I had my mind set on going on a horse trip. And that is exactly what I did on Saturday. I found The Point Pony Trekking and Horse Riding Centre (http://www.thepointponytrekkingcentre.com) online and booked an one hour ride with them. They are located about 15 km away from Clifden so I had to go there.

On Saturday I packed all my clothes for the horse trip and then got on the bus to Clifden. The ride was nice enough and on arrival at 11:30 I first walked around the city centre and bought a pouch that I could take on the ride as well. After that I got some lunch (Irish stew) and enjoyed the very sunny weather. Since the trip was at half two (14:30) and I was told to be there 15 minutes before And I new it would take the taxi about 25 minutes to go there I tried getting a taxi at about half one. I needed a taxi because there is no public service going there. And let me tell you getting a taxi in an very small town (2.500 people) isn't quite easy. I ended up calling 5 different numbers before someone picked up. The cab picked me up and I told the driver where exactly I want to go. Also while doing so someone asked if we were going to Ballyconneely. Since the driver knew by then he said yes and the guy asked if it where okay if we shared. So that is how it came that I shared a cab with a complete stranger for the first time. On arrival which was just in time I had to change and fill out a form on my experience with riding. After that I got pointed to a horse. He was named Joey and he was really cute

Joey on the right

my group 

view on the trip

Afterwards one woman was nice enough to take me back to Clifden. But while driving I realized that one of my rings was missing. So she drove me back there and left while I searched for my ring since I had a rough idea where I lost it. Unfortunately I didn't find it. So Anne, the tour guide drove me back to Clifden since she had to pick up her grandson there. I still had sometime until my bus left, so I got some shortbread in a bakery and waited for my bus, enjoying the view of the Twelve Bens. 

parts of the Twelve Bens in the background

On arrival in Galway I met Maxines mom. They had arrived back in Galway earlier that day and would leave the next day to go back to the States. We cleaned up the apartment some more and then Maxine, Mackenzie and me just talked and just talked about anything and everything before heading to bed at some early hour of the morning.

On Sunday I went to the little Street Market next St. Nicholas Church with Mackenzie because I wanted to get a new ring. I didn't find one there so we went to different stores on Shop Street until I found one. After that she asked me if I would come with her to the Black Rock, a diving tower at Salthill, because she wanted to jumped down but needed someone to film it. Our next destination was home and then the Black Rock. 

Source: http://www.aledowenthomas.com/index.php/blackrock-diving-platform-salthill/#lightbox[group]/2/

First we were both worried a bit about the tide but we figured it should be because high tide was only about 45 minutes away and also some else jumped in and some locals assured us that it would be fine. So she jumped in and after coming out of the water she said that the cool water was quite nice and whatever possessed me, made me say I would do it as well. So that is the story of how I jumped from a diving tower in Galway straight into the Atlantic ocean. Guess I could have done worse, but it was quite daring since yes people jumped in from there but you never know how deep you go and if there is a stone because of some weird reason. But Mackenzie was right. It was really nice to feel the cool water because it was about 25 degrees Celsius. we then hurried back home because I had a Skype date waiting with my parents and my brother  before also skyping my boyfriend. 

And then on Monday my last week at work had started. I again helped John wherever I could, served the customers, cleaned out phones but also started testing phones that came in to be sold. Also I did take the second language test required by Erasmus. When I came home I wanted to get a head start on packing but this plan was cancelled as Mackenzie asked me to come out with here. First we went to An Pucan, the supposedly first pub of Galway, and then we went to the Quay's to watch the band playing there. We had a few drinks and enjoyed the music before going home after the set ended.

at the garden of An Pucan

On Tuesday I served customers but also John and me took a first look at the europass we had to fill out. Otherwise I helped John wherever I could. Also I finished testing the phones and put them all out onto the shelf. In the evening I started packing and it was a really weird feeling. It was kind of heartbreaking to pack everything back up knowing that I won't get it back out until I would be back in Germany. Also I cleaned up all dishes that weren't cleaned up.

On Wednesday Shane came into the shop to help John and I since we were swarmed with phones that needed to be repaired. So I went about my day in the usual manner and served the customers. Also I put away an order that came in containing a lot of screens but also tempered glasses, pop sockets and other accessories. Other than that I gave John the printed out europass as well as my weekly reports to sign, checked into my flight and booked my bus down to Dublin. At around half three-ish John let me go to finish up packing before we met in the evening to kind of give me a going-away party. We started out in O'Connell's at Eyre Square where we wanted to get some Dough Bros. With us was one of Johns friends and we were also joined by Johns girlfriend. Since the Dough Bros pop up there was closed we decided to change locations after the first pint to get Nachos and chicken wings at An Pucan. There we sat with some people of fonez (biggest competitor of ibroke). Johns girlfriend headed out when the food came but John stayed since he had the ibroke money to spend on our drinks. When Darragh arrived he thought about leaving but ultimately ended up staying while his friend left. We had some more pints there before changing locations. But before we went to the next pub Darragh and John helped me getting the trash out if the apartment. Thanks again for that one guys. Darragh wanted to go home afterwards but he drove John and me to Carroll's for  some more entertainment, pints and a game of darts. Afterwards we walked down to The Quays to have a last drink before he brought me back to the apartment like the gentleman he is and we said our goodbyes with promises of meeting again. He then went on to a friends house. I myself went to bed to get some sleep in.

credits to John for taking this picture

On Thursday I got up a bit earlier than strictly necessary. I packed up the last of my stuff and wrote all the postcards I wanted to send out. When I glanced at my watch I got a bit of a shock since I really needed to go to the bus station already. I guess it took longer than I thought to write all the postcards. So because of that I hurried and got all my roughly 55 kg of luggage, divided into 4 items down to the New Coach Station all the while looking around for a pillar box. I didn't find one and worried that I wouldn't be able to send them of. But firstly I had to worry about making my bus. I got to the coach station and dropped off my luggage to one of the stuff of citylink. I also told him that I had one extra bag because normally you can only take two suitcases and one on-board luggage. He said it didn't matter and that I didn't even had to pay for it. Also when I asked him about a pillar box he said there was one down at Eyre square and described exactly where it was saying I could make it. His colleague overheard it and offered to drop the postcards off for me in case they all have stamps on them. I told them they have and they took a look at them renewing the offer which I gladly took. So after checking all the addresses once more I boarded the bus and waited for it to leave. As soon as we left the coach station I fell asleep and slept all through the journey to Dublin. Arriving at the airport terminal I checked my luggage in and printed of another boarding pass for me. I went through security and had about two hours on my hands. So I followed Johns advise and got another pint. I sat down and just said my goodbyes to Ireland. When it was time I went to my gate and waited some more since boarding started late. Also we left about 50 Minutes after we were supposed to. But with a flight time of only 90 minutes we made it to Berlin almost on time and I landed in Tegel at 21:35 o'clock and met my parents who were waiting for me.

sunset on the plane

Yesterday I was busy getting all my stuff out of my suitcases and spending time with my parents which I intend to do after finishing this up as well. 

So following this up I will post a recap about my time in Ireland. So it's not quite goodbye yet.

See you. Stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane :)

A weekend with 3 guys

Hey there,

like I said here is the next post coming at you. This is about the last weekend that I spend with Steve, Tom and Dorian.  But first let's talk about Friday. Since I knew I had to go down to Shannon to get another rental car I asked John if I could have at least half a day off and he very kindle gave me the whole day off.  So I had a nice lay in before just packing my stuff. Also a girl I met while studying in Regensburg arrived in Galway so we met for a tea. At five o'clock I then got the bus down to Shannon to get the car for our trip. So Steve and me first talked about the possibility of a trip while we were still back in Germany but we didn't know which trip exactly we were about to take. So in the weeks before we all talked about it and came up with the Cliffs of Moher and the Ring of Kerry. So this is the route I took in the end:

made with https://www.falk.de/routenplaner

The guys on the other hand took the train from Dublin to Galway in the evening while I took the bus down to Shannon Airport and was picked up by Jordan who finalized the rental agreement with me and then I drove back to Galway. This time round I again didn't get exactly the car I rented. I rented a Ford Focus and got an Citroen Cactus which in hindsight was way better suited for this trip.

Citroen Cactus

Since my bus was half an hour late I only arrived back in Galway ten minutes before the guys arrived as well. So I just got my small suitcase and drove to the Rail Station. After getting everyone into the car with Dorian in the passenger seat, Tom behind me and Steve next to him we started our way to our first hostel which was in Lisdoonvarna, which is about 12 km away from the Cliffs of Moher. Since I already drove the way there back on Monday I had a rough idea where I had to turn and what the road was like. After going up the serpentines we made a quick stop at the same place where normally the bus tours have a photo stop.

view from our stop

After that we went to the hostel and checked in. The guy checking us in was German as well. He asked us where we were from and Steve answered Berlin. We talked a bit more before he suddenly asked me where from Bavaria I am. I just had to laugh at that. I will probably never be able to disguise my Frankonian heritage while talking German. He then showed us to our room and told us about a pub just down the road. We went there hand had a pint before going back and get some sleep in before the first and biggest sight of the trip. The next morning we all got up and ready before getting some breakfast. As it is in most hostels, a continental breakfast was included. So we all ate some bread and cereals before getting into the car and going to the Cliffs of Moher.

We first went to O'Briens tower again before then taking the path into the other direction going South. Also this time round I also went a bit more to the edge than last time. And I think Tom found the perfect term for it. It is a weird mix of fascination, death and excitement when you look right over the edge. So here are some pictures:

me sitting on the edge, photo credits to Steve

look over the edge

Cliffs of Moher

group picture

After wandering around there for quite some time we decided to leave it behind since we had a longer drive ahead of us. Next planned stop was Killarney. But we were all hungry after walking around so we had a quick stop in Lahinch and got some burgers (and pizza for Steve) from a small take away shop. We enjoyed our lunch right next to the sea side on some stones and watched  multiple surfer either learning or waiting for their wave.

view while having lunch

We got back into the car afterwards and started the long way down to Killarney which is part of the Ring of Kerry. We arrived there and checked into the hostel Tom booked for us. We freshened up a bit and then walked into the city centre. On our way we all got some ice cream from McDonalds and just explored the city. 

St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney

We came by this church and were about to discuss were else we would go when Dorian told us that we needed to get food for him for his blood-sugar-levels. So we didn't see much more of Killarney and went back to the hostel where we played some cards before discussing our route for the next day and going to bed since it would be an early morning the next day.

We got up the next morning at seven and had another continental breakfast before starting our journey.  Our first stop of the day was Ross Castle. We didn't go in but the view over the lake was quite stunning. Especially this there was a rainbow involved

Ross Castle

lake view at Ross Castle

me at Torc Waterfall, thanks Dorian for taking it

Next stop was the Torc Waterfall about 10 minutes away from the castle. This was the first time I was happy we got the Cactus instead of the Focus because the street was more of a cart road than a normal road. Also we took a short walk from the parking lot to the waterfall Since the way there was all downhill it was no surprise to me that on our way back the guys were way faster than me and had to wait every once in a while.

Afterwards we made a stop at Ladies View. From there one can see three of the lakes of Killarney National Park. But the way there wasn't as easy as one would imagine. It was very curvy and a lot of rocks and cliffs to go around. An additional challenge were all the cyclists. A few were going our way but there was a cycle tournament going on in the opposite direction. These cyclists come out of the curves at a speed that can only described as crazy and border lining suicidal. So I thanked whoever is up there that around Bayreuth we do have similar roads. After our stop there we went on to drive to Moll's Gap. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as good anymore and there was a lot of fog blocking our view of the gap. Also we got a peak of the road we were supposed to go down from there. There were also still cyclists coming up this road. On a positive note we stopped right where a track marshal was positioned. I asked them how many more of the cyclists where coming up because I wouldn't have wanted to go down a one car wide road into the fog with the prospect of a lot of cyclists coming my way. Fortunately the track marshal told me that there were only about 5 cyclists left so we all decided to wait for these and then go down there. It was quite an interesting experience. We had to wait for oncoming cars rather often and at one point we were trapped behind a horse carriage while going up some serpentines. So here are some pictures of ladies view and the road we were going down and up and everything in between.

view at Ladies view

waiting for the oncoming car to pass, photo credits to Steve

But it was totally worth going down and up this Street because along the way there was a stunning view over the Gap of Dunloe was awaiting us. Here are two pictures:

Augher Lake at the Gap of Dunloe, photo credits to Steve

view up to the Black Lake, taken on the Wishing Bridge

Unfortunately I wasn't able to park the car anywhere other than next to the Wishing Bridge but Steve took some pictures while I was waiting for the oncoming cars to pass us. Yet it was truly amazing to drive through this and it was worth every second. 

After going through the Gap of Dunloe we  started our way back up to Limerick where the guys would catch a train back to Dublin. But before that we all got some food at Boojum (a Burrito place) together and also walked around Limerick a bit (as much as the weather allowed us). Therefore we walked to King John's Castle before we took shelter from the rain.

King John's Castkle, Limerick

The only thing left to do was to get the guys to their train and then giving back the car. So that is what we did. I drove the guys to the Rail Station and we said our goodbyes. I then drove the car back to the Shannon Springs Hotel where Easirent has its branch for Shannon Airport. There I met Frank again and he took the car in before driving me to the airport for my bus.  If you want to read more about the trip I'd advice you to read Steve's, Tom's and Dorian's blogs.

Back in Galway I said my goodbye to Anna who left early Monday morning before getting into bed since I was knackered again.

Monday it was back to work. I served customers again and John showed me how to change a screen on any iPhone between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone SE. Also the weather was really nice. 

Tuesday, Wednesday and today were pretty much the same. John showed me hoe to change iPhone 6S and 7 screens and I cleaned out some charging ports. Also today I started testing an order of used phones that came in. Also I put together a order John placed with Baseus for different accessories. And I was told that I'm a miracle girl today. It was a very nice older lady who is here for holidays. Her Samsung phone wasn't showing her pictures anymore. She could take them but as soon as she looked at them and swiped through them they came up black. All I did was updating the gallery app of her phone but she was so happy I did it that she said I'm a miracle girl. Mainly because she and her grandson feared they would have to wipe the phone to make it work again. I have to say it was very nice to see how happy she was.

So now you are all caught up on what's going on again. I will update you again at some point after Saturday but before I go back home (obviously). I can't believe that at this time next week I will be in back in Berlin already. It's so surreal to think about going back. I feel like the time went by way too fast.

Stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane

Long weekend and another short week

Hey there,

so first I want to apologize for not updating at all last week but I was quite busy and also didn't watch all through my pictures, so I didn't know which pictures I wanted to upload. But here it is. So this post will be about the weekend of the 12th of May and the following week until Friday. For the last weekend there will be an extra post tomorrow.

So here is the route my boyfriend and me took. All in all I drove about 1000 to 1100 km:

made with https://www.falk.de/routenplaner

So first thing on Friday morning was taking the bus down to Shannon Airport. Since I'm not 25 the only wayto rent a car was to get it at an airport and since we didn't want to pay the one-way-rental-fee I had to get the car down at Shannon airport. I rented the car through the easirent.com website. On arrival at the airport I called the branch in Shannon and was picked up by Jordan who works for Easirent. We booked an Fiat 500 online but got an upgrade free of charge to a Ford Fiesta.

our Ford Fiesta

So after getting the car I made my journey up to Dublin airport where I met Michael after parking the car in one of the parks there. We then took the bus into the city and I put my suitcase into a luggage storage. Since it was raining a little bit we decided to go to the Long Room of the Trinity College Library first. Also as part of going there we went through the Books of Kells exhibition which was quite fascinating considering that it was written at some point of the 9th century. Up in the Long Room one can see a model of the Irish Harp as well:

Long Room of the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin

Irish Harp 

After finishing there we thought about going to the Teeling Distillery. Unfortunately there weren't any open spaces for the remaining tours that day so we decided to walk to Jameson Distillery in Bow Street and see if we got into a tour there. On arrival we learned that we would be able to join a tour but it would have taken a bit longer than we wanted keeping in mind that we wanted to check into our AirBnB on time. So we decided to come back there on Saturday morning and instead went around town with me steering us to the National Leprechaun Museum. It is a tiny museum and it is all about the mystic creatures in Irish folklore. We went in there and learned about giants, fairies and leprechauns and their origins.

Michael and me in the giants room

inside the show

So after this we went to get my suitcase and after that to our AirBnB which was located with in the Temple Bar district. After checking in we went out to Nandos to get dinner and than made plans for the next day before having a bit a of an earlier night because we were both up since early in the morning.

On Saturday we first went to Jameson Distillery  and got into the 11:15 tour. It was very interesting but I liked the tour back in 2014 better because now it is an all media sourced and one doesn't see anything of the actual distillery anymore. But it was still interesting. Afterwards we went to the food court of a shopping centre for lunch before taking a bus out to the airport at about half one (13:30) and starting our journey to Belfast. In Belfast Michael wanted to see the Murals which are graffiti. So we took a taxi tour through it and the driver told us all about the history of the risings and the IRA. Also he told us how there was a period of peace before the troubles started up again. Also he told us about the hunger strikes and how John F. Kennedy was the first person ever to write something on the peace wall. Now thousands and thousands of people have followed him and we did as well:

one of the murals

my writing on the wall

We finished the tour at around 18:45 and than after getting some petrol and sandwiches at a petrol station we began our journey to Ballymoney. After taking a wrong exit we had to drive through some back roads before we arrived and had a late dinner while talking to our host, Alan, about Northern Ireland and our plans for the next day. 

On Sunday we wanted to visit the Dark Hedges and the Giants Causeway. So our first stop were the Dark Hedges. This is a tree-lined road were a scene of the Game of Thrones was shot. So here is a picture of it:

the Dark Hedges

After that we made our way along the coastal road down to the Giants Causeway. On the way there we met a lot of cyclists who almost had me going mad because of how many there were and the missing opportunities to overtake them. At the causeway we had a small lunch and then went down to these basalt stones that are building the Giants Causeway ever since 50 to 60 million years ago. But according to an Irish legend the causeway was built by a giant of the name Finn MacCool, who was challenged to a fight by Scottish giant Brenandonner,  in order to meet the Scottish giant. To go down the hill and see this fantastic sight was truly breathtaking and also made me feel quite small thinking about it all.

middle causeway

grand causeway

small and middle causeway

After that we drove down the coastal road a bit more to go down to Galway again. I wanted to make a stop in Londonderry at first but it was quite late so we didn't do that and only stopped in Ballyshannon to get some food before going straight back onto the road again. We arrived quite late in Galway and since I drove the whole time I was a bit knackered so I opted to go straight to bed after some light dinner and a quick talk about Monday. Also on this day we reached the peak number of roundabouts per day of the trip counting 23 at the end of the day. My level of confidence with them changed from 'Oh my god! I don't get these Irish roundabouts!' to 'Come on! He's taking the exit, you can go in!' within these 23. So it's save to say I'm now a roundabout pro.

On Monday I had the day off since we wanted to go down to the Cliffs of Moher before returning the car to Shannon Airport. So we got into the car and started our trip. The road was very curvy and also held some serpentines. Also I questioned once more why the Irish have signs up that allow you to go 100 km/h when you can barley drive 60 km/h without risking an accident. On arrival we paid our entry and parking fee and first went to O'Briens tower on the left side coming from the visitor centre. Also we listened to the free audio guide which is available after downloading an app to ones phone. Thereby I learned that the cave they shot Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in is located right in the cliffs. Also I had a good view of the Aran Islands:

view of the cliffs taken on the way to O'Briens tower

beach next to O'Briens tower

Aran Islands

After that we went to the other side and enjoyed some more good views

O'Briens tower

Cliffs of Moher

We spend quite some time just sitting there and enjoying the sun before we went back to our car and started the drive back to Shannon to bring back our car. Again Michael made me take some back roads because according to him Google said so. Well, on one of these back roads the passenger side of our car suffered a little bit from some of the bushes there. Fortunately for us I took the full cover insurance so we didn't have to worry about it. Back in Shannon we met Frank another employee of Easirent who looked he car over and then took us to the Airport where our bus would leave. He is very nice and also told us that Shannon Airport was used as a emergency landing field for the American Space Shuttles. Which is quite impressive taking into account that Shannon isn't a big airport at all even though it is an international airport. We then took the bus from the airport back to Galway and had a nice dinner. 

On Tuesday I was back at work while Michael roomed the city and took in the sights of Galway even though the weather had changed and it drizzled down. I did my normal stuff of serving customers and helping John out in every way possible.  Also John let me off of work earlier than usual since he knew that Michael was still there. We then proceeded to cook dinner and before he went on to pack his bags.

On Wednesday Michael and I said our goodbyes and I worked the whole day doing what I do best by now: serving customers and giving them first ideas of what we will do with their phones. Also I learned how to change batteries and John showed me how they do the till every day.

On Thursday I tested some phones, served customers, finished some phones off so that they can go into sale and went about my business while helping in every way possible. But the biggest achievement of the day was when I found a way to get the information off of a Samsung that wasn't recognized by the computer. After that now I'm also in charge for that kind of stuff and I stayed a bit longer to help another customer with his phone. This customer bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 from us and wanted to transfer his data from his old S6 onto the new one. Only problem was that Smart Switch didn't work because it was to much data. Also the phone wasn't recognized by the computer iBroke has and with the iMac we had the same problem with Smart Switch as before. So I tried it on my PC and it worked. So we new that if we could get the pictures off the phone in any other way, the smart switch would work. So we wanted to just cut and paste the pictures from the phone onto an SD card. But all the folders appeared to be empty on the computer. So we had no other choice but to delete some apps and download another that I had discovered earlier that allows you to get access to your phone from your computer without a physical connection. So thats how I did it then. And let me tell you downloading 11GB of pictures takes a while. After that I went home and just enjoyed my evening.

On that note I want to end this post. the next post will be up tomorrow (probably also late in the evening)  and it will be about my weekend trip with three of my colleagues who are currently located in Dublin.

So I will see you then and stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane

P.S.: I actually got used to driving on the other side of the road fairly quickly and now I'm not sure how easy it will be to go back. But in the end of the day the driver sits on middle-of-the-street-side. So really there isn't too much difference.

Inis Oírr, Bank Holiday and short week

Hey there,

how are you all doing? I really should write more often but I just kinda forget about it sometimes and when I think of it I don't have the time. But here I am again. So what happened this last week?

On Friday I got my tickets for the bus and the ferry to Inis Oírr (Inisheer), another island of the Aran Islands, before I went to work. At work I pretty much do the same stuff every day. I serve customers, help  with software problems on phones and also I got to call everyone who had a phone in the "done"-box that got there within the last two weeks. It was actually quite nice to do and I got to practise my English some more, especially regarding the understanding a thick Irish accent department got some boost there. Also the software part makes me kinda grateful that my phone is totally fine, on and running. Up until today I saw a lot of people loosing some data because there phones were disabled. Also there are some iPhones that are just stuck in restore mode and telling people that their phone is basically never gonna work again isn't the happiest thing to do. But back to the my Friday. After work I got some groceries and just enjoyed my evening.

seawater lake at Inis Oírr

On Saturday I got up around the same time as when I work because I booked a tour to Inis Oírr with the same company I booked the trip to Inis Mór. And let me tell you just because this island is smaller in size (only about 3 km on 3 km) it isn't smaller regarding anything else (except probably population). The ferry took about an hour to get to Inis Oírr with a stop at Inis Meáin. When I got of the ferry I already saw a few horse and trap rides and I wanted to take one. Since I was alone I shared mine with a couple from Limerick. First we were told about the school on Inis Oírr. It is complete run by solar and wind energy and hosts first grade until the children are leaving for college.

Plassey

The next stop was at the shipwreck of the Plassey. The ship ran onto the riff near the island in 1960 during a storm and was stranded on Inis Oírr ever since. But it doesn't just sit there. Whenever a big storm is going on the wreck moves a little bit. In the last storm in actually bend and in some places broke in two parts. But what makes the scenery at the Plassey even more special are the Cliffs of Moher. It almost seems like you could just reach out and touch them.

at Inis Oírr

After that the tour went on and we also got to learn about the seawater lake on the island which was connected to the sea during the last storm. The last stop on the ride was an old church which now seems to be built into a hill but was built on then ground level.
After the tour had ended I went up a hill and got lunch at one of the bed and breakfasts on the Island. Since I wanted to get some fresh fish I decided on crab claws. Probably won't ever eat them again ever. But it was really good to try them.


After that I just wandered around the island a bit more and also got some ice cream and some fudge. And let me tell you, I really need to get some fudge before I go back home. I love it. It is amazing.

Plassey and the Cliffs of Moher

beach at Inis Oírr

On Sunday I did my laundry and just relaxed so there isn't really anything to tell you.

view of Galway Bay on Monday

Monday was a bank holyday and I met with Sabine, the trainer at German Bundestag, and her husband. Since they wanted to go to Oslo, the origin of Galway Bay Brewery, we met there. The pub is in Salthill, which is part of Galway but out of the city centre. We met for lunch and just talked about Ireland , Germany and anything and everything in between and above. Also Sabine asked me if I'm coming back. And yes I will come back but I already know that I will miss it here. I already met some amazing people (and hope to continue to do so) and I already made such great memories and there is so much more to see and to visit here. But I will be back in June, no panic. After lunch we walked at the shoreline and through the Latin Quarter back to the city centre and  had a tea before they boarded their coach back to Dublin.  I skyped my parents that evening and went to bed afterwards.

On Tuesday it was back to work and I did what I normally do at work: serve customers, talk to them and help John in every way I can. Also John had to close up the shop in the afternoon for a short time because he had to get his younger daughter from school. Also on Tuesday I finally booked two cars. Yes that's right. I found a company and I booked cars and it actually will work out. I'm still kind of buzzing about it even though it was again coupled with a lot of frustration. But I got cars and that's what's important.

On Wednesday I talked to John about probably leaving work a bit earlier for I had to go to the post office which closes at the same time as iBroke. Work-wise it was pretty much the same as always so no surprises there. But as I was talking to John about a phone I was handling we both realised that I obviously really accommodated myself here because I start swearing. Kind of a lot in comparison to before and even more compared to how much I swear in German.  Since John had to get his daughter again he asked me if I were okay with staying longer and running to the post office in the morning also giving his permission to me coming in later than normal because of it. Of course I said yes and so I stayed even longer than normal to get everything done. He asked me to print every invoice regarding a selling of a phone since January which took me a while. In the evening I wrote some postcards and started packing for my weekend.

Today was a slower day at work so I had time to check every booking for the weekend and make sure everything was good. Other than that I was in charge of working out why an iPhone couldn't be answered when locked. First I updated the software which didn't help and a restore didn't help either. So I started goggling the problem and found put that the same thing happened to a reasonable amount of other users on different iOS versions and that apple actually says to push the home button when answering a locked phone that quite surprised me. However that didn't fix the problem completely. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything else promising so I had to explain it to the customer which went better than expected.

Tomorrow and Monday I got the day off. My boyfriend is coming to visit and we've planned a bit of a road trip. So next time I'm gonna tell you all about that but now it's time for bed.

See you soon. Stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane

P.S.: If any of you wonder about the slide shows in last weeks blog or why there aren't any in this one: I don't quite know the reason but they're not working. And I don't want you missing out on the pictures so that's why they're posted individually.