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 :)

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.

Going to Kilkenny and Dublin

Hey there,

I'm back. I just couldn't update earlier because I was busy exploring Ireland. But let's start where I left off.
On Sunday, the 15th of April, I didn't do a lot. The girls all came back and Oliver came by as well  to tell us that he found a plumber who should come on Monday which usually means Tuesday. So we thought that maybe if we were lucky on Wednesday the problem would be fixed. Sadly I got a bit of a headache so I just laid down for a bit and afterwards went to Boots to browse around before meeting up with Anna and Emma at a cafe. we then went to the guys apartment to cook and eat. Oliver also told us that it was okay to use the kitchen but we were kind of skeptical about it.

On Monday I went to work and put all the iPhone parts in an Excel worksheet. Other than that I cleaned a few more phones before leaving early. Also Heiko, my trainer from Germany, arrived in Galway on Monday. First we had plans to maybe meet up in the evening. But after arriving at his hotel we found out that it is a bit far away to meet somewhere near and so I finished packing for my upcoming plans and went to bed. On a positive note I can tell you that the dripping had stopped when I came home. Oliver hasn't said a piep to us but we know that there was a plumber in the apartment above us and in the afternoon the dripping stopped and it hasn't started again (fingers crossed it won't ever start again while I'm here).So this problem was solved. Now there are only the nasty stains on the ceiling left.

On Tuesday Heiko came to the shop in the morning and had a chat with John. After that we left to go to Kilkenny. In Kilkenny we went to the Smithwick's experience. There you can learn about the history and the brewing of the beer coming from Kilkenny. The brewery was founded by John Smithwick in 1710.

John Smithwick 1690-1768

information about Smithwicks Ales

The best known beer is the Smithwick's Red Ale which in Germany is sold as Kilkenny. Even tough they change it up a bit to get an alcohol level of 4.8 Vol%. But there are also two other Ales. The Pale Ale and the Blonde Ale. The Pale Ale was launched in 2011 and the Blonde Ale in 2014 making it the latest addition. Today Smithwicks is part of Guiness and isn't brewed in Kilkenny anymore but rather in Dublin at St. James' Gate (next to Guiness Store House). The last Smithwicks was brewed in Kilkenny in December 2013. As part of the guided tour through the former brewery one gets a free drink. Having tried them all by now I can confidently say that my personal favorite is the Red Ale followed by the Blonde Ale and Heiko said his favorite was the Blonde Ale. Also, Heiko is waiting for the Blonde Ale to be released in Germany, which probably says it all. So on the left there is a bit more information about all the Ales.

After that we went to Kilkenny Castle, which was built from 1195 to 1213 and was home to the Butler of Ormonde family for 500 years starting in 1391. It has a nice library room containing 2430 books and has a long room called Picture Gallery. This Gallery contains a lot of paintings but it also has a painted roof. It looked quite amazing.

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Kilkenny Castle

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nursery at Kilkenny Castle

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painted roof at Kilkenny Castle

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garden fountain at Kilkenny Castle

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two pints of Smithwick's Red Ale

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In true Irish fashion we went to Langton's pub for dinner before walking back to the hotel and having pint or two there and talking about pretty much anything and everything.

On Wednesday we started the short journey to Dublin for him to go home and for me to explore Dublin and meet up with the guys from the German Bundestag and one from the Federal Administrative Court. But before that I got some food. I went to Nando's for lunch. Nando's is a restaurant chain from South Africa and is famous for its chicken cooked in piri-piri sauce (chilli sauce from Portugal). Currently there are now restaurants in Germany but I hope that there will be some in Germany/Berlin soon because I really love it. Afterwards I went to the National Leprechaun Museum but unfortunately the next available tour was too late. But next time I'm in Dublin I wanna go there. So I just went to Temple Bar and browsed some shops and menus there before going to Chistchurch Cathedral. This is dated back to 1030, which makes it the oldest church in Dublin. Also it was built by the Vikings.

Here are some pictures I took in Dublin: 

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Ha'penny bridge

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Christchurch Cathedral

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Oscar Wilde statue
at Merrion Square

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quote of Humphrey Bogart
at Foley's

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the Spire of Dublin or
Monument of Light (An Túr Solais)

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house in Dublin

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Sláinte!

After a quick stop back at the hostel to change into something more fitted for a dinner and a nice get together I met with Steve (blog) at the Oscar Wilde statue at Merrion Square. We talked for a bit while waiting for Tom (blog). Together we walked to our meeting point with Dorian (blog) and Patrick (blog). The fourth guy from the German Bundestag, Tobi (blog), didn't come along because he didn't feel as well so it was just us 5. For food we found this restaurant called Bunsen which serves Burgers. The menu is very short, only consisting of a hamburger and a cheeseburger, the respective doubles and three kinds of chips as sides but it tastes really good. Afterwards we went to Foley's, a pub Heiko recommended to me, and had a couple of pints. It was a quiet and chilled evening out. Steve and Tom left a bit earlier than the rest of us since they had to get up earlier than us as well.

On Thursday I took the bus to go to Howth. The weather was great so I decided to go even if I didn't have a lot of time. So I took the bus to Howth and went on the hard tour. The hard tour is 10 km and takes approximately three hours. Since I stopped quite often to take some pictures it took me 4 hours. The trail was nice and I got lucky. The guys warned me about mud and said I should weear stuff that I don't want to wear again anytime soon but because of the weather the trail was mostly try and I had next to none muddy sections. The view was incredibly beautiful. But just watch for yourself:

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cliffs and beach at Howth

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clouds covering the cliffs

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map, I took the purple trail

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me at the cliffs

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water bumping the cliffs

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Baily lighthouse

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signpost for the telegraph cable

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bird posing for a picture

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fog at the cliffs

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cross for someone who died at the cliffs

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stone at the trail

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I had to be back in Dublin at 17:00 to get my luggage from the hostel I stayed in and to board my coach to Galway at 17:45. To do that I took the DART back to Tara Station which was kind of a whole new experience. And I almost didn't get back out of the DART. But luckily for me I was at the coach station on time and boarded mine to go back to Galway. 

When I arrived at the apartment only Acadia was there since the other girls had already left to Korfu in the morning and she followed them on Friday morning. I also felt like I had a sunburn which was confirmed by a look in the mirror. So I put some moisturising crem on and went to bed.

Friday I got up at 8 o'clcok just like every workday and went to work after getting ready. Since there wasn't really anything to do for me I had time to figure out how to put these wonderful slideshows you've already enjoyed on here. This took me about all day and I got a bit frustrated from time to time but I worked it out in the end. Also I fixed the till. Somewhen on Thursday the receipt-printer stopped working and the guys called for their IT-service who fixed the problem. But ever since the till wasn't opening up when a receipt was printer. I first checked that the cable was put in correctley. After that I googled how I can change printer-settings on a MacOS which I had never done before. I found a chat forum where someone was having a similar problem and just followed the steps written there. I was so happy on finding out that it worked. On another note, Darragh came by shortly and said that the pizza and pints are pushed up to next week because of some things that came up. So after work I went into boots to buy some after-sun-lotion for my sunburn/windburn-mix and got some food as well. Also while I had a catch up on tv shows there was suddenly a ship parked right outside our window. Got a little shock there.

boat outside our window

Yesterday, Saturday, the 21st of April, I didn't do a lot. I slept in, skyped my parents and tried to wash my clothes. 'Tried' because while putting my clothes in the washing maschine a different problem arose which was bigger than atticipated: the dryer. I found that most of my shirts aren't alright to tumbledry which makes it impossible to dry them in the apartment without buying a stand for them which I didn't want. So I put in what I could and then went out to search for some new shirts (dryable of course). I wasn't really succesful in that mission yesterday so I went back home to plan my next weekends as most of the stores were closing up.

Today I went on a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour throughout Galway to not only see anything but also to get some stories to some of the buildings or Galway itself. There I learned that Christopher Columbus stopped by in Galway on a trip to either Iceland or the Faroer Islands in 1477 and that the Cromwellian forces sieged the city for nine moth before an agreement was made. It was a nice trip and I learned more about the history of this city. Also I got to say that Tony, the tour guide, was quite funny and - if I dare to say so - adoreable. Made the whole tour. Afterwards I went to Dunnes and there I finally found dryable shirts. So now I seriously need to consider buying another suitcase and upgrading the checked luggage for my flight back to Berlin. On a side note the Celtic Explorer, the ship that arrived Friiday night, departed again. Otherwise I wrote this blog and played a bit with anything regarding these slideshows. 

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first pub of Galway

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former jail now used as a cafe

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house of president Michael D. Higgens who spends his weekends here

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That's it for my second week in Galway. So here is back to work.  

Stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane