WIMBLEDON

WHAT a weekend.  I decided this would be way better if the days were separated by posts, and since they feel like two completely separate trips anyways, it'll be easy.

To start, WE MADE IT TO WIMBLEDON!!! We left the Shannon airport at 9:30, and between flight delays, trains, night buses that smelled like vomit, and a 30 minute walk to the Queue, we made it to the Queue (place where people camp out to get tickets) at 3 a.m.  I had hopes that since we were getting there so early we might get Centre Court tickets, but when we got there and saw rows upon rows of tents, I realized we'd be lucky if we got tickets at all.  Apparently people set up camp the day tickets are released and camp for the ENTIRE 2 weeks so they can go to matches every day.  The volunteers told us that we could camp out all day Friday and that we'd for sure get Center Court tickets (which I was strongly considering), but we decided that watching tennis was going to be cool either way and we'd rather get our Wimbledon experience and then have some time in London too.  Here's a summary of our day!

Phase 1: Camping

We found our spot in line, got our Queue tickets, and set up camp.  The volunteers told us that they'd wake us up at 6:30 to pack up our tents and the line would start moving around 7:45 - we just laughed because we definitely hadn't packed tents, and only 3 of us had blankets.  The guys who were staying in the tent next to us thought it was really funny (not only did they make fun of us, but we also heard them talking about it when they got in their tent to go to sleep.  Turns out tents aren't soundproof).  

We all fell asleep with no problems because we were so exhausted, but it didn't last long.  I woke up to the sun shining and more people getting in line - I felt sure that it was time to pack up.  Turns out it was only 5:00 a.m., so I think we got a whole hour of sleep! 

Victoria was well prepared with a blanket AND pillow.

Phase 2: Standing in Line
We stood in line from 6:30 - around 10:00.  It wasn't bad at all - they did a really good job at moving us every so often, and we met some really cool people in the lines next to us that were fun to talk to!  When you enter the queue (aka when we started camping) you are assigned a queue number - this number is what gets you a ticket once you've waited in line for 3 hours and finally reach the front entrance of Wimbledon.  Until you've bought your ticket, there is no guarantee that you will get one.  The tickets are given out first-come, first-serve: the first 500 go to Centre Court, next 500 to Court 1, next 500 to Court 2, and then the remaining 500 or so go towards the non-show courts (3 through 17).  We had initially been told we would be on Court 2, but when we got to the front of the line, we had made it far enough to get tickets to Court 1!!! To say we were excited is a HUGE understatement,  but it didn't match the feelings we had when we found out our tickets were all together on the 6th row right at the net.  It was unbelievable and made camping, standing in line, and the price of the ticket TOTALLY worth it.

This is how we get through standing in line
at 7 a.m....

The line-up for the day

 Phase 3: Watch tennis
We got our tickets and got inside the club around 10:00.  They didn't open the grounds until 10:30, so we grabbed food and headed to the gift shop.  I don't know what I was expecting, but Wimbledon was pretty much just a big country club.  There were the big show courts, and then the other courts were normal tennis courts with a couple benches along the sides to watch the matches.  You could walk through these courts and watch several matches at once, and since the matches on court 1 didn't start until 1:00, that's exactly what we did.  I got to watch a men's doubles match (I sat in the "reserved for players" section because no players were sitting in the seats... it was a quality view), and then at 1:00 headed to Court 1 to watch Li Na, the #2 women's player in the WORLD, play her match.  She ended up losing to Barbara Zahlavova-Strycova (try saying that 5 times fast)... it was a GREAT match.  The coolest part was the first rally when the entire stadium was silent during the point.  It was crazy - a giant crowd went from very loud to zero noise as soon as the players stepped up to serve.  I enjoyed Wimbledon because it was a very respectful environment.  While it was clear that people had picked favorites to cheer for, people cheered for every good point regardless of who won.  When Dogopolov lost to Dimitrov (the 2nd match we saw), he received a standing ovation when we walked off the court because he had played so well.  I very much appreciated it.  The only problematic fans were the 8 college students who would occasionally doze off to sleep, but we had a good accountability system of elbowing each other when we saw the eyes closing and heads nodding (I got really good at watching tennis with my eyes closed! I could follow the sound of the ball and everything).

Strycova when she beat Li Na

Dimitrov and  Dolgopolov at the end of the match.

Overall, Wimbledon was an incredible experience.  It was beautiful weather and I was with amazing people watching world-class tennis at a place that I've grown up watching but never expected to actually get to.  It was a great start to a weekend full of LITERAL dreams coming true, and I left, once again, extremely thankful to have the opportunities that I've been given this summer.

Our seats!! 

Whoaaaa, we're halfway there

The summer is officially halfway over! At least school wise.  We had our final today, which marks the end of the "first semester" of the summer.  I REALLY like these 5 week semester things.  I think it's exactly how I was designed to learn:
Week 1: Decide you're getting an A in all your classes this semester. Sit in the front row, pay attention, take great notes and stay very organized with all your material.
Week 2: Start getting bored of the material, but then the midterm is coming up so you have to prepare for that.
Week 3: Midterm!! Study because after this test, you're halfway done with the semester
Week 4: Recover from the midterm.  While studying for the test you realized that you should have paid more attention and taken better notes, so you spend the week after doing that.
Week 5: Finals week!! Cram everything in that you've been learning, study because you're motivated by the fact that you need a 120% to get an A and you think that's possible, and then take your final! (I estimated the 120... I think that was an overestimate).
In summary, in terms of Marnie-motivation, 5 week semesters are GREAT.

So because it was week 5, I really have nothing new to write about.  I got back from an amazing week and spent time catching up on things at Tech and studying for the final.  We have a flight tonight at 9:00 to head to London, and we'll spend the night camping outside Wimbledon trying to get tickets for tomorrow!! Fingers are crossed for no rain...

More to come later. Just wanted to send a quick update that life is good, Ireland has returned to typical rainy weather, and I'm officially halfway done with the semester!

For your entertainment.... here's what happens when you drift a car on the beach

Trav & Marnie Take On Ireland

I'M BACK!!! As the title suggests, I've had an AMAZING week TRAVeling (thanks Carey for that one) Ireland.  I've seen more of the country in a week than I have in the month that I've been here (Thanks to the Harris family for the rental car!!!) and have gotten really cool glimpses at places I'd like to go back to for the rest of the summer. In an effort to keep you entertained and to not write an entire novel, here are some highlights from the week!

SATURDAY: Northern Ireland! (don't tell the rental company): Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, and Larne beach.
Ireland Fact #1: People are incredibly nice (because you've never heard that one before)
Picture of the day: Flat tire in Northern Ireland (and the guy in the red jacket changed it for us while we went and saw the bridge!!! So nice)

SUNDAY: HECK of a road trip from Northern Ireland to Limerick.  

Things that make this picture unbelievable: 

1. Trav is in Ireland

2. It was the end to a sunny, cloudless day

3. The sun was setting over the Cliffs of Moher

Hitchikers we picked up on the way to Sligo! An Australian brother and sister and an Irish girl who they'd met in a Christian community who had joined for the weekend. So cool!! 

Conversation with my dad when he found out: 

Me: "We picked up hitchikers!!"

Dad: "You did what??"

Me: "It's okay, they were Christians"

Dad: "Marnie, Christians have guns too" 

Happy Birthday/Father's Day to the greatest dad there is! 

MONDAY: Rock of Cashel & Kilkenny! We came back early Monday night to watch the US/Ghana soccer game in the city of Limerick. 

From the view of St. Patrick's cross & the Rock of Cashel. 

TUESDAY: Road trip to Galway.  Stopped by The Burren on the way out! The Burren is just a bunch of rolling hills made up of rock.  Think Stone Mountain, but real and WAY cooler.  I never thought rocks could be so pretty, but the scenery was BREATHAKING.  Galway part 2 was SO fun.  We went to Monroe's Tavern for Tuesday night dancing.  I was expecting live music and swing dancing.  We got live music, but instead of swing dancing there was a group of ~16 locals who come to the tavern for traditional Irish dancing every Tuesday night! One woman took us under her wing and "made" us dance every 4th song.  Neither of us had any idea what we were doing (I don't even have rhythm when it comes to American music), but it was a really fun experience! 

How I feel at the end of this week

WEDNESDAY: Galway to Roundstone to Clifden. We stopped in Roundstone for lunch - it was a cute town on the coast. Really colorful, the world's BEST seafood chowder, and homemade icecream! These pictures are pretty indicative of the time we spent there.  But then we rented bikes in Clifden to make it all worth it! We biked through a completely different of Connemara than we did with the group the first weekend.  This bike ride was shorter (14 km), but the first 7 km were ALL uphill with the wind blowing in our face.  The plus side was that we were getting killer views of the coast and it was sunny and beautiful! We stopped in a pub in Clifden after we got back.  It might have been the result of being hot, sweaty, and exhausted, but I had the best cider I've EVER had.

THURSDAY: Limerick to Dingle to Ring of Kerry to Killarney
We roped Victoria, Vince, and Bobby into a spontaneous road trip to Dingle after class on Thursday.  Dingle is a town on the coast (Mom, I think it's going to be your favorite town).  It's a small, colorful port town with craft shops, tourist shops, regular shops, cute pubs, and ICE CREAM EVERYWHERE!!! On the way back we stopped by the beach.  Turns out you can park straight on the beach!! Just make sure you don't get stuck in the sand...

After the beach, we drove the Ring of Kerry.  The Ring is essentially just more beautiful views of the mountains, valleys, and coastline.  It's funny because every time I think I'm used to the beauty here, we go somewhere slightly different that is just as breathtaking.  My goal for the summer is that I don't take that for granted.

We spent the night in Killarney.  I feel bad because we didn't get into the city until 11:30 p.m. (we found a hostel right as reception was closing).  I'd heard really good things about how cute the town was and how the night life was really fun, but I think Thursday night was teen night.  We didn't make it out until 12:30, right in time for the pubs to be closing and the clubs to open.  We were by far the oldest people walking around by about 4 years, and Victoria and I were definitely the most clothed.  We lasted for about 30 minutes before we decided sleep was a much better option than watching a less fancy version of a high school prom.

Stuck in the sand! At least we had a real tire at this point...

FRIDAY: Dublin!! We didn't get into the city until the afternoon, so by the time we had gotten settled into the city it was already 10:00.  The nicer cheap food options were closed, so we picked up Subway (because we have to have something to compare it too - it was delicious) and walked around until we found a place that looked to.  I'm naturally drawn to live music so I walked into the first bar where I could hear a guitar, but it was pretty chotchky (is that a word?).  We headed to Temple Bar, and what I had expected to be awful and touristy and crowded ended up being my favorite pub!! We ended up meeting a Canadian and Italian and spent 2 hours talking to them about their jobs, poetry, human rights, and loooove (he was Italian. It was bound to come up). Really cool experience and it made me a huge advocate for Temple Bar!  

Because this is the only picture I have from Friday. Fries for breakfast! 

SATURDAY: Dublin take 2! As we were walking around the city, we stumbled upon the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin! We celebrated by getting the best Irish coffee's I've ever had.  We continued walking around the city, where we saw Trinity College (really old, REALLY pretty, the library holds the Book of Kells.  The line was long and it cost money to go into the library, so we decided looking at pictures would have to do), picnicked in the park (the BEST brownie I've ever had and Ethiopian coffee. I was a happy picnicker), and watch Ghana tie Germany in the world cup (soccer is way more fun to watch when everyone else thinks so too)!! 

SUNDAY: Trav caught a 6 am flight back, so I got to spend another early morning at the airport.  Luckily, at 6, April answered her phone, so I got to taxi over to where she was to hang out with her in Dublin!!! Only in Ireland would hanging out last from 6 am - 8 am.  I was exhausted, so I headed back to Limerick while she went to explore Dublin.

and this one is just for kicks. It's actually a candid. But it makes it cool because it's outside the oldest pub in Dublin!!!

This was by far my favorite week of the trip.  I was with amazing company and getting to see some incredible sights.  I can't remember the last time I've laughed for a week straight or explored as much as I got to throughout the week. AND I came back to the last week of school (these 5 week semesters are the best).  Today - Weds. will consist of a lot of studying, and then Thursday we're heading to London to try to get tickets to Wimbledon!! Will try to post some more throughout the week (esp. pictures from Amsterdam!!), but no promises (it's test time. You're welcome mom and dad!!)

Sketchy Ireland, complete.

Sorry it's taken me so long to post! We had a test this week (yeah, I forgot I was here for school too) so I decided that I should dedicate some time to that.  I'm always surprised with how smart Tech students are. I start getting to know people and they're goofy and fun, and then all of the sudden we're studying and they go into serious mode and whip out crazy knowledge that makes me question how I'm at the same school as them. It's cool.

Anywho, Friday night in Enniscorthy proved to be the definition of a non-touristy experience. Victoria and I arrived at the b&b to be greeted by Kenneth, our host (see below picture. He's the one with the video camera). I thought he was a mute when we first walked up, but after he had guided us upstairs to our bedroom (literally a room with a bed), he greeted us. He was nice, but the whole time I was thinking about what an adventure the night would be when we got to be characters in a real life horror story. After he had given us the tour, Victoria and I sat in our room and decided we were only staying if a) we had a solid escape plan (jump out the window onto a tree and use it to break our fall. We were only 2 stories up) and b) if we could find a way to barricade our door (we did, there was also a chair in our room). I promise I'm making this sound more sketchy than it actually was, but this is the product of 2 girls traveling by themselves for the first time and not wanting to disappoint all the people who had told them to be extra careful.
After we had carefully mapped our escape route, we headed out to the city for the Opening Ceremony of the 7th annual "Music and Dance Street Festival". It was Victoria's birthday weekend, so we wanted to celebrate by going to a cool festival in the heart of Ireland. An hour later, all we had found in our exploration of the town (it had about 3 main streets) was a fast food restaurant with milkshakes. As we were finishing up, we heard tambourines playing from outside. We excitedly got up to see the parade that would kick off the festival, and we see what reminded me of my high school's homecoming parade, just with participants ages 8-75. I saw Mickey, some Not very believable Disney Princess, and baby bop riding in the back of a convertible. This was followed by 3-4 groups of what looked like community theater groups. The walkers were laughing and talking with each other as they beat their tambourines off beat and walked to the central square.  It was about then that we realized that we'd come to Enniscorthy for a community gathering rather than a cultural festival.  The night continued with a cheesy announcer, a couple of performances by the groups, and the announcement of Baby Bop's birthday party tomorrow at the castle. We headed home when it started drizzling and all the kids had just gotten called onto the state to "break a world record" of the world's biggest hokey pokey.

All that being said, I'm REALLY glad it's how we spent our Friday night. It was cool to see that Ireland isn't just nice people pretty scenery, and good Guinness. It has communities that are trying to engage their embers and youth. It has parents who are supporting their kids in doing ridiculous things because that's what you do when you're a kid. I ended up just sitting and people watching for out of the festival, and it was so cool to see the way a community functioned outside of what's put on for tourists. I probably wouldn't say it's a critical thing to see if you're thinking about coming to Ireland, but it was a really cool experience, and the fact that it was slightly sketchy will make it a story that we continue to tell when we get home.

We went to Cork on Saturday and were graciously hosted by Sarah, one of the girls my sorority. More on that next post!!

Kenneth is the dude with the black beanie and the video camera 

Our barricade!

This guy was really into it...

The directions we followed to get to the hostel. They were actually pretty accurate!

And then there were 2

Quick post before the weekend starts! Not much changes during the Monday - Weds day.  Monday & Tuesday = class, talk to GREAT people, exercise, and plan the next weekend trip (I'm still waiting for the notification that my bank account has shut down, but we're on a roll so far). Weds = take a 4 hour nap because you realize you haven't slept in a week in a half (you know it's bad when you take that long of a nap and you still have zero problem going to sleep that night).

This Thursday was AWESOME though. My big got negated, it was Victoria's birthday, and we went out for our first night in Limerick!! I keep replaying last night in my head because it was SO fun. We started at the famous pub... Victoria and I had made friends with the owner, Tom, at lunch (he gave us free food for her birthday... I told him he'd made a new best friend). He suggested a bar to go to downtown, so the entire group taxi'd down (we missed the bus by 2 minutes). We walked in right as the live band started playing, and since we were the only ones there to start we got to joke around with the band while they were playing. They sang all classic American music (and butchered the words several times... It's the first time in my life I've ever known more words to "American Pie" than the people singing it). They sang a beautiful Happy Birthday to Victoria, and they would play a song, talk to us for a bit, and then play some more. When they finished, there was a dance club upstairs (and ladies night so we got in to freeeee!) I was exhausted so I was planning on dancing to the obligatory one song, but then they started playing every song that we listened to in middle school so I had to stay. It was a blast - a lot of random groups from our Tech group had shown up, so it ended up being a bunch of us dancing together (with so much personal space... Way different than America and I loved it). It's funny because big groups of Americans was exactly what I said I'd be avoiding this time around, but it's what the past 2 weeks have consisted of and I've loved it.  The night ended with a trip to the worlds best kebab place (kebabs and pizza... Not a combination I ever would have expected, but then again, they're strategically located right outside a lot of the late night hang out spots).

That being said, after the industry visit this morning (we toured Abbott in a small town called Clonmel, it was actually really cool!) Victoria and I took off for Enniscorthy by ourselves. We're spending one night there (there's a music and dance festival that looked like it'd be fun to check out), and then we're heading to Cork on Saturday! So far it's been quite an adventure - it's the kind of traveling that I LOVE - asking for directions from random people and getting back descriptions rather than street names. Waiting at bus stops that look abandoned and getting anxious that it might be abandoned and then the bus showing up 5 minutes late. Stopping for an hour to switch buses and going to a pub across the street. It was exactly what you would picture an Irish pub to be - a couple old dudes hanging out, a really friendly bar tender, walls made of old brick, and soft music playing in the background. It was actually exactly what the Irish pub was like that my dad and I went to in New York, so I guess it was good to know that things are authentic in America too? When he found our we were from Georgia the bar tender turned on Willy Nelson's version of Georgia On My Mind... It was great. It turns out an "Irish Experience" is way more do-able with 2 people than 12, so this weekend should be fun!! More to come after!

Victoria's morning birthday party!!

It was 7:30 a.m...

Finally doing Irish pubs right 

My big girl bus ticket 

Virtuous Friendships

This place is amazing.

We took a "field trip" on Friday to Galway, a town a little north of Limerick.  We got to visit Boston Scientific and the University of Galway to listen to people talk about companies, research, etc.  So there's the scholastic part of the weekend.  BUT it was a free trip to Galway, so after the tours 12 of us checked into our hostel and went exploring.  I was kind of nervous about this weekend because I'm very much an advocate of only traveling in small groups, but I WAY underestimated how cool the people I'm with are.  Tech students rock.  People are willing to step up when necessary but also let others make decisions.  While we ran into the occasional "Let's try to listen to every person's opinion and make a decision that everyone wants" discussions, everyone was willing to split off and do their own thing if it wasn't what the majority of the group was doing.  

Galway is awesome.  It's a small town on the coast, so in the morning it is INCREDIBLY peaceful to go sit by the river and watch the boats coming in.  The city has one street that's full of shops and pubs and a residential area with lots of personality. Other than accidentally walking into a funeral while trying to look at a church, the day was very successful. We went out on Friday night - I really like the night life here. We sat at a pub, listened to a live band, drank Irish cider/beer, and had life chats.  We didn't have to scream over loud music to hear each other or avoid people stumbling all over the place, we just got to spend quality time getting to know each other... it was really nice.

We stopped at a fish and chips restaurant
 that was recommended by a local for
dinner. Apparently smoked fish = fish
that is smoked and THEN fried.  At least
we tried to be healthy?
 

The pub we hung out in on Friday night! 

Victoria and I preparing for the night...
because everyone should put on fake nails
at least once in their college career.

 Saturday morning, we woke up and got on a tour bus to Connemara.  At first we thought we had fallen into a tourist trap, but the tour ended up being BEAUTIFUL.  We stopped at Kylemore Abbey, a castle-type thing that this rich dude build for his wife (I was struggling to pay attention to the tour guide).  My main take away's were that it was a beautiful old building over looking some beautiful scenery on a lot of beautiful land...  I think that's pretty accurate!

This is what happens when college students see fake sheep.

Kylemore Abbey

Take 2

George P. Burdell made it to the Abbey! 

Halfway through the tour, the bus driver dropped us off at The Connemara Hostel.  Actually, he dropped us off on the side of the road and we walked 1 km to our hostel, but that's just the next step in becoming a world traveler, so I loved it. I don't think a word was said on the walk that wasn't "WOW!" or "I can't believe how pretty this is" or "We're DEFINITELY staying an extra night".  We were hiking through purple flowers and surrounded by mountains that were green and sheep were randomly grazing as we walked by... it was amazing (sorry my descriptions are so basic... Tech doesn't really emphasize vocabulary development).  The desire to stay an extra night changed pretty quickly when we got to the hostel and realized that the restaurant we expected it to have didn't exist, so Vince and I hopped on the 2 bikes the hostel owned and biked 6 km into town. (World Traveler Tip #1: Do good research on the hostel). The way into town was GREAT - it was beautiful, downhill, and the wind pushed us all the way!  The "grocery store" was more like a convenience store about the size of my closet, but it had enough for some pasta, porridge, and PB and J for lunch!  The ride back was definitely not as easy, but it was still beautiful!

Biking to town! 

 We got back and decided to go for a hike.  Being the bunch of engineers that we are, about 10 minutes into the hike we realized that following the path was an extremely inefficient way to hike to the peak, so we just turned and started trekking straight up.   We stopped a little bit before the top because there was this ram who CLEARLY did not want to share his peak of the mountain.  We didn't want to get RAMmed (get it??), so we decided to "settle" for the view and leave him his peace. I think the best part of the hike was that everyone was starving by the time we got back, so the season-less pasta and canned corn tasted like a gourmet meal.

View from the top of the mountain

 Day 2 in Connemara was just as awesome.  We rented bikes from the adventure store across the street and went on a 3 hour bike ride around part of the Connemara Loop.  It was breathtaking.  It was slightly misty the whole time, and even though it resulted in us getting soaked, it made the scenery feel like we were biking through a dream.  I don't think I've ever been at such a loss for words.  I was doing something active with people I enjoyed getting to know who were willing to do fun things in a country that I was starting to love and it was slightly raining making everything quiet and beautiful - saying that I felt on top of the world is a completely inadequate way to describe how I felt.  We stopped at a pub for lunch and to get dry, only to realize that we had less than 2 hours to eat, bike back UP the hills we'd just spent an hour and a half cruising down, get our stuff, and catch our bus back to Galway.  Needless to say, we scarfed down food and booked it back to the hostel, making it back in PERFECT time (literally... we stood on the road for about 5 minutes before our bus pulled up) for the bus.

Biking crew!! 

The chosen spot to eat & get dry.
Tuna salad has never tasted so
good in my life.

Overall, the weekend was INCREDIBLE.  I never would have expected 12 such different people to be so uniformly down for adventure or quality conversation or "virtuous friendships" rather than friendships simply based on commonalities (credit to Robert for coining those terms).  I was in my element doing things that I loved - the weekend was a HUGE breath of fresh air (literally) and set the tone for an amazing summer.  

 

The friar we stopped in on the way
back to Galway.

Irish bank holiday tomorrow so... NO SCHOOL!!!!