Change

So I am switching my blog over to a new site because I can do more things on it!

Hope you enjoy!

http://anniemburton.tumblr.com/

Galway!

So Galway was amazing! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was a lot of firsts and I learned a lot of does and don'ts.

Don't...

Book a trip for three nights if you have nothing planned for the fourth day.

Agree to share a Hostel room if ever given the chance to get out of it.

Fall asleep with your phone on your bed when it is your alarm clock and kick it off in the middle of the night.

Eat a full Irish breakfast.

Try to look out of a moving bus on Irish streets when you know you are prone to motion sickness.

Do...

Plan ahead but not to much.

Take every random opportunity given to you.

Go to pubs called Fibber Magee's!!

Pay for tours that may seem slightly interesting and turn out amazing!!

Eat fish and chips.

We spent the last four days in Galway and every second of it was an adventure. It started with the bus ride there. I have, my entire live been prone to motion sickness but it is never consistent and I can't always figure out the trigger. I have found out that all Irish roads will give me motion sickness, all I can say is at least they are consistent! In one weekend I have gone from not really being able to fall asleep in public places especially public transportation to literally every time I was on a bus I was passed out.

Then we got there and found our hostel, which was my first ever! It was a little place called Nimmo's and we had picked it because it was super cheap and the only one open for all the nights we wanted to be there. We got there and a little old man checked us in, showed us around, and gave us a key to our room because we were going to have it to ourselves the whole time. Then we went out to find food, drinking, and dancing (in that order). We found amazing gourmet sandwiches and all stuffed our faces. Then we went to a pub called The King's Head and it had live music that was so much fun! Later we found Fibber Magee's which I really just like because of the name!

The next day after the unfortunate incident of kicking my phone, aka my alarm clock, off my bed in my sleep we didn't wake up until 9:30. We then called around and found a tour to the Cliffs a Moher that went through the Burren and had a castle! The trip out to the cliffs was the worst motion sickness I had all weekend and thank goodness my passing out technique worked! We saw lots of rocks which is basically all the Burren is(they're very pretty rocks), and then we got to the cliffs! I have never seen a more breathe taking view! It was beautiful and a wonderfully religious experience, I don't believe you can look at that and question the fact that God exists! We were only there for a little over an hour but I could have spent the entire day looking at that masterpiece!

Next we went along the coast line and everything was beautiful, then we got to the castle! I have a slight obsession with castles I am not quite sure why but I except it and move on. We couldn't go inside because they were having a banquet and didn't want visitors but I got to walk around the grounds and take some beautiful pictures!

Then that night was my roommate Claire's 21st birthday so of course we had to have a toast at midnight! We went back to Fibber Magee's and the whole place recognized our truly American nature as we made a spectacle of ourselves cheering in Claire's big birthday. That night we ended up at a club called Coyote, when I walked in I went up to Andrew and said, "We're home." The place had American flags everywhere and some longhorn heads on the walls, they also had a mechanical bull. I got to line dance, enough said.

The next day we took a bus and ferry out to the Aran Islands specifically the island of Inis Moher. We didn't really have a plan when we got there so when a man offered us a tour for only 8 euro each we took him up on it, and it was the best thing we did all weekend! He took us up to the oldest fort on the Island and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! When you looked at it it just looked like a pile of rocks and then you saw the coast line! I can't tell you which was prettier the Cliffs of Moher or these cliff that I don't even know the names of but again an amazing experience!

The whole weekend was just amazing and I feel truly blessed to be able to go on trips like this! I am lucky to have the roommates I got and so glad I have Andrew McGlothen with me!!

In Ireland!

I made it! The trip to Ireland was not bad at all! I got to watch movies for hours on end, what more could you ask for? Both of my layovers were only long enough for me to get to my gate talk with my new found travel buddy and then get on the plane.

I arrived in Dublin at about 7:00 a.m. and had the coolest taxi driver ever! He was a little old Irish man. He had a decoration hanging on his rearview mirror that said, "Grandpa's Car...0 to 60 in 1 hour!" Which was really cute... and really misleading. He did not feel the need to watch the road while he drove and gave Josh, a fellow IES student, and me the best, first, fast, tour of Ireland ever received. When he got us to my house he got out of the car and got my luggage out and gave me a peck on the cheek.

Then I met my roommates; Hannah Libby, Melanie Breault, and Claire Hendrix. The four of us are such a fun mix it is going to be an amazing semester! We spent our first day avoiding sleep in the most Irish way possible, by going to pubs. Claire became our tour guide because she had spent the week prior wandering around and discovering the place. We were at out first pub by 4 p.m. We went to 4 different pubs on our first day. One of those was where we went for our first group IES event.

The next two days were a very broad orientation to Dublin. I have been here a little less than a week and already days are starting to run together! I have done so many things and everything is so new. I have been to Trinity campus, which is beautiful. I have been to the Garda, Irish police, Station and spent hours registering. I have planned trips to London, Galway, Paris, Rome and Barcelona!

This semester is going to be unreal!

Figuring Things Out

I know as much about blogs as I do about going overseas...nothing.

I've got a lot to learn before August 31st. On that day I will leave from San Antonio headed for Newark where I have a crazy layover before heading for Dublin, Ireland and my first day of orientation.

I have been amazingly blessed to get this opportunity and I hope people will be interested in my adventures. I will be traveling with Andrew McGlothen, a fellow theatre major at TCU. Together we plan on seeing as much of Europe as we can afford. I only have three goals for my trip...

Goals:

1. See the World

2. Get good grades

3. Eat

I hope to come back with a new understanding of myself and the world. I know I will be coming home with a new understanding of being flat broke... I think that is an even trade!