Long Overdue...

Hello Everyone!!

So it has been over a month since I gave you all a legitimate update of my life here in Europe. And an exciting month it certainly has been! As the weather continues to get nicer and nicer, our options for what we can do here grow expansively. Let's see, I really have to think a while back as to remember everything I have done the past couple of weeks. I went to Walibi World in Southern Holland, about a 2 hour car ride from Amsterdam. That's right, I was in a car! My friend Puck just got her license, so to celebrate she drove Danny, her little brother, and myself to an Amusement Park named Walibi World. It was a former Six Flags until they changed their name, but it was just as fun and similar to any amusement park you would find in the U.S. In a matter of a few short hours, I think we went on every ride in the place. We had beautiful weather and really had an awesome time. I also got to see some areas of Holland that I had not yet seen, and probably wouldn't have otherwise. I also got to go to Puck's house and meet her family, which was really nice.

I also have had lots of friends coming to visit me here in Amsterdam. My friends from high school, Natalie and Jill, who are studying in Florence, Italy and Cordoba, Spain came to visit in the beginning of April. It was really fun showing them around the city and taking them out for a couple nights roaming the city's nightlife scene. And more recently, as in this past weekend, my roommate next year at Ithaca, Sean, his roommate from London, and two other of my friends from Ithaca that are studying in Vienna came for the weeekend. We had a blast together, but I will get back to their visit later. Other than hosting visitors and trying not to forget that I am still an actual student here (trust me--it gets pretty hard sometime), I have just been exploring Amsterdam, exploring the cities and towns around it, meeting lots of new people, and just having an overall amazing time. With the broken bike issue taken care of, once again all of Holland is accessible as long as I'm willing to cycle there. I've been to Durgerdam, Ransdorp, Holysloot, Zunderdorp, Amstelveen, Diemen, Utrecht, Oostzaan, Almere, and the Amsterdam Woods (which is byfar the biggest park/wooded area within the metropolitan Amsterdam area). Each little town or village is different from the next, but they all share this amazing cozy, Dutch vibe that makes exploring these places really fun and entertaining. Next up on my list is Haarlem and Zaandvoort, which are two little cities about 50 km west of Amsterdam, on the western coast of Holland. Haarlem is supposed to be a very nice, mid sized city, while Zaandvoort is a small coastal town with amazing beaches. So definitely when the weather really starts to heat up, I will be heading to the beaches of Zaandvoort. Let' see, what else? I also went to the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium which was really cool to check out since the Olympics weren't in Amsterdam since 1928. Also I've been to the Amsterdam Historical Museum, which was probably my favorite museum so far. Amsterdam is a city RICH with history dating back hundreds of years, and I think this museum does a great job of giving you a good sense of all that history with fun and interactive displays. You really can never know enough about the history of this city. I have still yet to see the Anne Frank House, but of course I will get there before I leave. I also still need to go to the Rembrandt house, the house where Rembrandt used to live, and the Dutch Resistance Museum (especially considering I am doing my final paper for my Dutch History class on the Dutch Resistance to the Nazi's in WWII). I also haven't yet been to the Heineken Brewery. I will go there before I leave, it's just been pretty easy to find more sensible things to spend 20 euro on than a tour of the Heineken Factory. Anyways, my quest to go to every park in Amsterdam is well on its way to success. I've been to Vondelpark, Oosterpark, Flevopark, Sarphatipark, Florapark, Westerpark, and the Amsterdam Woods. There are still a few left on my list, but I am confident I will find my way to all of them eventually. It's been really fun feeling like I am becoming a local--knowing my way around pretty well, knowing cool places to go, learning basic phrases in Dutch, being recognized by bartenders at certain pubs...it's all really amazing, and seems really surreal to me knowing that in less than 7 weeks I will be heading home back to the simple life in Western Mass. (Not that I'm not looking forward to seeing everyone at home, of course. There is just certainly going to be an adjustment period). It's also weird knowing that most of my friends at Ithaca are all going to be out of school in a matter of a two weeks or so. It's going to be particularly hard to focus on school, when the weather is amazing here and I know that all my friends back home are already on summer break. But there is only one thing I can do--and that is enjoy every moment I have left here in Amsterdam.

Now before I get into my trip to Dublin (the most epic trip to Dublin in the history of trips to Dublin), I first must tell about my trip to Keukenhof this past Friday. So my friend Sean, and a bunch of other Ithaca kids arrived here in Amsterdam Wednesday night, a mere four hours after I myself had arrived back in Amsterdam after a 7 day stay in Dublin. Thursday, I was busy trying to catch up on school related business, so I didn't really hang with them but Friday we embarked on an adventure to Keukenhof, the world's largest flower garden and according to them, the most photographed place in the world. Over 7,000,000 bulbs are planted each year in this place and it is only open for two month each year. Middle of March to the middle of May. It really was a spectacular place. I have never seen so many flowers, smelt so many amazing smells, and just truly been in awe of what people can do with fertile soil and a little creativity. I didn't even know flowers came in as many colors as I saw. Not to mention that on four sides surrounding the actual park were endless fields of flowers being grown to go to auction. As Amsterdam is home to the world's largest, most productive and lucrative flower auction market in the world. Anyways, we spent almost 5 hours walking around the park exploring everything it had to offer. The weather was perfect, and when we weren't looking at flowers we were engaging in some world class people watching as Keukenhof attracts a diverse crowd of people from every corner of the earth. Other than that, I showed them around the city, took them to the Van Gogh Museum, took them to some parks, showed them some of my favorite pubs, etc etc. Overall, it was a real good time. I think they had a lot of fun, and I did as well. Now it's Sunday, my day of rest, relaxation, and blogging. Which brings me to the last part of this blog-- tales of my trip to Dublin.

I arrived in Dublin airport at about 4 in the afternoon, and hopped on a bus that would take me right to my friend Nate's apartment. When I arrived there, I met Nate's roommates and then found out that in less than an hour we were all heading off to the farewell dinner their program was putting on for them. Seeing as their program was IES and my program was IES, we figured it would be okay if I joined. Luckily for me, a number of kids were missing from the dinner and the program directors were more than happy to let me join. So my first night in Dublin I got a free three course meal at a fancy restaraunt. The sirloin was delicious! After dinner, we took to the town for a wild night out in Dublin. Looking our collective best, we went to a few clubs in the popular nightlife section of Dublin. Needless to say we were out very late and had a drink or two...or three. The next day after we felt adequately recovered from the night before, Nate, his roommate Alex, and myself made our way to the train station where we hopped on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) and took that until we got to Bray. Bray is a small Irish town, that was greatly recommended by a number of locals. The main attraction--Bray Head--a large oceanside hill/cliff overlooking Bray, another small town on the otherside, and of course Dublin Harbour and Dublin city. Also, at the top of Bray Head is a massive wooden cross visible from quite a distance. So we hiked to the top. The view was absolutely amazing. The weather started out cloudy and windy but would eventually clear into a beautiful blue sky and sunset. We hiked along the trail atop Bray Head for almost two hours exploring everything we could find. We ran into some cool old Irish dudes and their collies, a pack of random horses grazing amongst the bushes and rocks, a flock of feasants, some guy with a parasailing off the cliff, and a weird stone monument with nothing but the sun and the moon painted on it. Overall it was a great hike, and it lived up to everything I hoped it would be. Eventually we made our way down the hill back into Bray where we went to the Harbour Bar, a bar recommended to us, by their RA, as his favorite pub in Ireland. We grabbed a Guinness, chatted with some locals, and headed back out to find some food and a train back. That night we went out looking for some good fun (or some good crack as it is called in Ireland), and we found it, and had a great night.

The next day was Friday, and again after taking quite a while to get going we eventually made our way to St. Stephens Green, a beautiful park right in the center of Dublin. It was unbelievably nice out that day so we literally spent most of the afternoon laying in the grass, kicking a soccer ball around, or just simply people watching. That night, we had plans to go to a professional Rugby match played at a stadium just minutes from Nate's apartment. Dublin's professional team is Leinster and Dubliners really, really love Leinster. So we grabbed some Guinness and headed to our seats in the grandstands for what was sure to be a hell of an experience. And it was nothing less. The game was incredibly close and well fought, the crowd was rowdy and enthusiastic, and the weather was fantastic as the game played on as the sun set and the stadium lights came on. The match was awesome, and was a perfect way to start out a Friday night. That night we went out to really popular bar that hosts live music all night every Friday night. That place was a blast, and I talked to a lot of Irish people there, as it is a popular hangout for the locals. The Irish are an incredibly fun and friendly people from my experience.

Saturday was probably the most touristy day I had in Dublin. Nate and I walked around the city going to all the tourist destinations and eventually ended up at the Guinness Factory. The tour of the factory was really cool, and was highlighted by the free Guinness they give you at the end in the Gravity Bar, a bar at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Dublin. It had an amazing view 360 degree view of the city, and was the perfect place to enjoy the best Guinness I have ever had. That night was probably the rowdiest night I had in Dublin. I was supposed to fly out of Dublin at 7 am Sunday morning but due to the volcano, the flight was cancelled. So I rescheduled for Monday and geared up for a wild Saturday night. We ended up at a really popular bar called the Bernard Shaw, and a bunch of us all bought a bottle of Buckfast for ourselves (as Danny highly recommended we do). Buckfast is a fortified tonic wine made by monks somewhere in southwest England, that you can only buy in Ireland and England. It is 15% alcohol and contains the equivelent of 8 cans of coke worth of caffeine. Need I say more? Nevertheless, it was a very fun, very wacky night out in Dublin.

The next day was by far the laziest day I had in Dublin. We didn't exactly manage to do much. And by that I mean, we all laid around and watched about 50 episodes of the office on their 40 inch plasma TV that came with their apartment (a far cry from the accomodations I have here in Amsterdam). We eventually did make it out of the apartment to go down the street to a sports bar to watch a Gaelic Hurling match and grab some food. Gaelic Hurling and Gaelic Football are both insane by the way. I have no idea how to explain them, but look them up or youtube them or something because they are cool sports and are ONLY played in Ireland. After finding out Sunday night that my flight for Monday was canceled I rescheduled for Tuesday. That night we actually got a good nights sleep for once, and found ourselves awake really early heading to the bus station to go to Kilkenney. The bus station was absolute madness. People were trying desparately to replace the plans to travel by plane with busses and ferries, which is enough just by itself to create chaos, not to mention that busses and ferries were overbooked for days to come. Luckily, it didn't really effect us at all as we boarded a half empty bus for the two hour bus ride inland to Kilkenney. We didn't really have any plans for what we would do in Kilkenney, but we figured we would find something. The bus ride was actually really cool, as it took us through proper Irish countryside and when we got there we found ourselves in a very cool little Irish town, whose main attraction (aside from being the Gaelic Hurling capital of the world) was Kilkenney Castle. So we walked around the town and made our way to the Castle which was pretty cool. It wasn't as cool as the castle in Utrecht, Holland or some of the Irish castles I had seen pictures of but nonetheless it was worth seeing. We walked around Kilkenney more, exploring the little Irish town, until we found ourselves at a massive Cathedral whose steeple rose high above everything else in the town. We went inside and sat down in the empty church, and I immediately felt like I was in the most peaceful, tranquil place I'd ever been. We took it all in for a few minutes, then decided to move on in search of food. We eventually found some decent grub, but realized we still had almost an hour until the last bus went back to Dublin. So we went in search of the coolest pub we could find to have ourselves a famous Kilkenney Ale in the one and only Kilkenney, Ireland. And that's exactly what we did. We all passed out on the bus ride home, until I got a text message to my phone that my flight for the next day had been canceled (third time). So that night before we went out, I rescheduled for Wednesday and hoped and prayed it would fly.

But instead of getting pissed at all these cancelations and inconveinencies, I committed myself to making the absolute best of my extra time in Dublin, and I really think that is precisely what I accomplished. As the next day, we hopped on the DART again and went in the opposite direction of Bray, north to Howth. Howth is an amazing little Irish fishing village set right out on a penisula just north of Dublin Harbour. In Howth we explored the fresh fish market, the sealions chillin off the pier looking for people to throw them fish, the little village itself, and eventually we embarked on Howth Trail. A really long hike along an oceanside cliff with the small village of Howth and the ocean on one side, and Dublin Harbour and Dublin City on the other. Though, it sounds a lot like Bray Head, it was actually a very different hike with a lot of unique sights and experiences along the way. It was a really fun day, and probably one of my favorite things that I did while in Dublin. That night we went out for drinks at a really popular, and very classy sports bar to watch Barcelona play Inter Milan in the Champions League Semifinal football (soccer) match. Despite arriving back home relatively early, it was a really fun night, that concluded with a rather large, and very friendly wrestling battle royale on the grass in the courtyard of their apartment complex. I hope the neighbors enjoyed it as much as we did. The next morning I woke up bright and early to discover that my flight had NOT been canceled and all signs indicated that it would actually fly. So after a short bus ride, and arriving at the airport 4.5 hours early, I passed out on the ground in my terminal and awoke to hear the beautiful sound of being told it was time to board!! After an uneventful flight and train/bus ride back to my apartment, my epic journey to and from Dublin was over! And I can happily say it was definitely the best trip I have taken so far, and some of the most fun I have had yet in Europe.

Well, that blog just took me about 3 hours to write. I think I need to make myself dinner now. This Friday is Queen's Day!!! The biggest party in the world. All of Amsterdam shuts down to celebrate the birthday of our Queen! The party starts Thursday night and probably wont end until the sun rises on Sunday. Wish me luck, I have a lot to get done this week before the party starts. Hope you all enjoyed reading this mini-novel I just wrote.

With peace & love from Amsterdam as always....

Keegan

ps--there will be a whole post devoted to pictures put up in the coming days, so check back in.

update from Dublin

It has been far too long since I have posted anything here on the Chronicles. I promise that when I return to Amsterdam, whenever the hell that may be, I will update you all on everything that has happened in my life over the past few weeks. As you may have suspected, I am trapped in Dublin due to the massive ash cloud that is hovering over Europe. My original flight that was scheduled for Sunday was canceled, so I rescheduled for Tuesday. That has also been canceled. So I have rescheduled for Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this also doesn't get canceled. I have lots of stuff to do when I return to Amsterdam, but as inconvenient as this has all been, I am having WAY too much fun to say that it has been a burden being trapped in the amazing country that is Ireland. I love it here. It rivals only Amsterdam, for my favorite place I have been to so far in Europe. Luckily, my professors have all been very understanding of my situation so that hasn't been an issue. But I certainly am going to have A LOT of stuff to do when I get back. So let's hope that I can actually fly out by Wednesday! You'll hear from me again soon.

Cheers!

DUBLIN!!

In what likely will be the last trip I am able to do here in Europe, I will be going to Dublin in exactly two weeks....and NO this is not an April Fool's Joke, hahah...Anyway, April 14 I depart from Holland on roughly an hour and a half plane ride to Dublin. I'm staying there until Sunday, unfortunately much like Barcelona, when my plane leaves Sunday morning at 6 am. Just like Barce, I waited too long to make my reservations and got stuck paying much more than I would've liked to and a 6 am Sunday morning flight. Oh well, you only live once, so what the hell, right? I'm really excited. I'm going to be staying with my friend Nate, from Ithaca, whom I entertained when he visited Amsterdam. Also it is his last weekend in Dublin before he gets on a plane Sunday afternoon to head back to the States. That especially made me realize how lucky I am to be staying in Amsterdam until June. In other news, I've been really, really busy with school work lately. I've still been finding time to go out and have some fun, but it's been a little more toned down recently. So I apologize that's its been so long since my last legitimate post, but I have been pretty busy, and nothing too too extraordinary has happened. I have however acquired a new bike, which I'm pretty excited about. It's nice to be on two wheels again. Since I got that taken care of my explorations of the city have continued as the weather has been getting nicer and nicer (with the exception of that last two days when it has rained, hailed, sleeted, and blown 40 mph wind gusts)....but what can ya do? I'm here to June, so I've still got plenty of nice weather ahead of me. 10 weeks to go!!! Can you believe it?! This weekend should be good, I think I've got some pretty fun stuff planned. So I will be sure to update sometime next week, so be sure to check back in. Hope everyone is well back home! with love from Amsterdam...

keegan