It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. ― Ernest Hemingway

Hey! So this will be the last post concerning my Easter Break trips (Woohoo!!!). Don't get me wrong- I feel enormously blessed and beyond thrilled that all this stuff happened, that so many amazing adventures were had and places visited that this is the 5th post I've needed in a string of very long posts to tell everyone about it. It's not that I don't like telling people, or writing my thoughts down at all- it's just that it takes lots and lots of time. Not sure if you realized this, but I did word-counts of the last four and each one of them have surpassed the 2500 word mark. So basically what that means is I've essentially written four ten+-page papers in the span of a week and a half, and now I'm started on the 5th. I suppose it's a good thing that writing is my profession of choice, then. : )

Now, on to the good stuff. And it is, I assure you, good stuff. Bath is officially one of my favorite cities. It almost ranks as #1 in fact, except that I have also been to Edinburgh(as you well know) and I'm having trouble figuring out which one I actually like better. I guess it depends on the day/mood. Bath, too, some of you might know, is also a writer's city. Specifically, Jane Austen. Yup, she lived there! One of her novels, Northanger Abbey, also partially takes place in Bath. So woohoo Jane Austen!

I didn't actually realize how much I would like Bath. The first day we got in past three, and since we were kind of hungry and needed to check into our hostel yet, and as some of you may know, most things start dying down around 5/6 in the UK, we decided just to walk around the city that day. It. Is. Beautiful. Just so... calm, I guess. Not in the "nothing's happening" way that Inverness was, but refreshing and good for your soul. I can understand why in all of those 1800s setting stories they were like "they went to Bath for their health."

The river has what I think is called a weir, or a low dam type of thing, which is really cool. I have to admit, though, that my first thought was the scene in Les Mis where Javert jumps off the bridge and there's that really awful crack, even though that was Paris and this is Bath. Still, though, I've never seen anything like it in person. The town is very Georgian, too, and just really really pretty and old. It's the kind of place that, like Edinburgh, I'd just love to have an apartment or something to go to just to write or even just to get away for a while. Our evening was passed wandering the streets and popping into little shops.OH! And we went into the gorgeous Bath Abbey, too. Mmm. I love cathedrals. They are just so beautifully built and decorated, and have the best acoustics ever.

Look at all the pretty colors! 

You know, thanks to that silly Beauty and the Beast Christmas
 movie, pipe organs actually used to frighten me.

hmm. Weir(d)

It was in Bath, too, that I had my most thoroughly enjoyable hostel experience. I met three Australians, a New Zealander, a Polish guy, two Canadians, one Romanian, and another American who lived in Italy working as a firefighter-paramedic, and they all seemed to be stationed in Room 8 with Anique and I (we were obviously the coolest room). So it was quite a little party we had going on.  After it got dark in the evenings, we all kinda hung out. The first night we decided to have a movie night, which was great except that a few nights later I severely regretted the movie choice; our Canadian friend really wanted to watch Taken. Just... while traveling in Europe, I suggest adding that to the "don't watch" list. I'll tell you that story later. The second night we went downstairs, because our hostel was situated over a pub and we got discounts there, and just sort of chatted for a while. It was really nice, and all of the guys had lots of stories to tell, most of them having done tons of traveling before Bath and had a determined passion to do more traveling after they left.

Our second day was a very full one- not as full as London, but still wonderfully packed. We woke up early to go catch a tour bus. To where you ask? I'll tell you. STONEHENGE! THAT'S WHERE! Yup, and actually the guide was telling us about the area too, and we drove through the Avon valley, which is absolutely gorgeous. I have to tell you, I actually expected Stonehenge to be bigger. Like, don't get me wrong- you're still super dead if one of those things falls on you, just:

Not as dead as we woulda hoped.

But really it's pretty rad. And it looks epic from basically every angle. I was walking around it, and yes, even though I just took 20 pictures, I did in fact need another thank you very much. Also, I now know all sorts of fun facts about Stonehenge, except for you know, a solid knowledge of what the point of it is. I actually always thought it was a druid thing, but apparently it's too old for that (I LOVE that it is "too old" for one of the oldest known types of people in the area. That's just so cool.). It might have been a sacred spot, or a festival spot, or a type of calendar, but as much theorizing as has been thrown out there, they legitimately have no idea. Whatever, it was still really cool. Oh, and did you know some of those stones came from Wales??? Yeah, and when I did the little "pull this rope to see how many people your size would be needed to pull a stone," thing I discovered that apparently you'd need 99+ of me. Fun times.

I'm trying and failing to come up with something witty to say right now. But seriously how cool! 

Meeeee! 

I'm not sure why, but all I can think of right now is my brother Tony's middle school presentation on Stonehenge, and the one slide with the epic background voice (recorded by him I think) going "ET-Y-MOLOGY!"

So yeah! I saw Stonehenge *checks off bucketlist*. Oh, something I will mention here, is that all along the way I'd been kind of plucking flowers I thought were pretty and pressing them in my diary. I may or may not have stolen a buttercup from around Stonehenge.

What we did when we got back to town, actually, may have trumped Stonehenge in my book. You may be wondering why Bath is called, well, Bath (or you might not, I don't know). Well, it's because it actually has Roman baths! Like, a hot spring that was built around in the first century A.D.(!!!!)  by the Romans, and made into a temple for the goddess Sulis Minerva. IT WAS SO COOL OH MY GOSH!!!! Just- audhfoaisdpfjaksdjfaljsdansdf. Mmhmm. Exactly that. ; ) 

Seriously, it was awesome. You get to go in and there's a little museum with artifacts that were found in and around the baths, then you get to go stand in the main room, see diagrams of what everything originally would have looked like, and then before you leave you get to have a cup of "bath water." I know that sounds gross, but I did it anyway. It was warm and tasted a little tangy with a twinge of sulfur. The Romans thought it had medicinal properties, as did one of the people who used to work there apparently, who I'm told drank at least a cup a day (eew).  

What was really fun for me (other than BEING THERE AT ALL) was trying to translate some of the Latin on the stones and artifacts. I'm pretty rusty, but I was super pleased with myself that I remembered any at all, and did a marginally not-awful job at some of the translations. OH! The gift shop cracked me up- they had various books on reading Latin, and then they had two different Harry Potter books in Latin! The whole thing, from the entrance to the gift shop was just really really wonderful and I can't even tell you how excited it makes me.

LOOK AT IT OH MY GOSH GUYSSS!!!!!!!

Not gonna lie, if I could have, I totally would have jumped in. It was chilly out
and the steam coming off that water looked so very inviting. 

Heh, there was a guy dressed as a Roman. I did the touristy thing and got a picture.
 It was awkward, but I'm thinking it was worth it. : ) 

Unfortunately after this moment, my camera died because I hadn't expected how heavily I'd use it, and so didn't charge it the night before like I should have.

Mmmm, Bath. <3 It was a very, very good time. I got to do some really cool things and meet new people, but at the same time it was a welcomed relief from the never-ending bustle of London. Unfortunately, two days was the entirety of our stay, but I fully intend on visiting again some time in the future. It's just too lovely of a city to only visit once. 

Now, the next city we visited was Bristol. Now that was an adventure. Bristol is a lovely city, okay, just... we got off on the wrong foot. Getting to Bristol was fine, even the forty-five minute walk to our hostel was fine. The hostel itself, though... word of advice: just because it's cheap and named after a spy does not mean it's a good idea. You know how I said a couple days later it became apparent that Taken is not the wisest movie to watch while traveling? Bristol is the reason why. 

So we got to our hostel after having to turn around three times before finding the right street. Once there, we opened the door to find a dimly lit area, the reception desk to one side littered with piles of papers and trash. Through an opening to the left was an area with couches and a TV, around which sat a handful of Eastern European people, none of whom we could understand a word of (and Anique knows a bunch of languages, so...). The receptionist wasn't very nice at all until we'd paid for our beds, and then she showed us to our dorm. Rather than normal bunks like in every other hostel, there were squares cut out of the wall that were painted a number of bright, mismatching colors, into which mattresses were shoved.

 Alright, so it was already sketchy enough, and Anique and I decided to get settled in and go out on the town instead of staying in (We really only stopped in Bristol because getting a hostel there was cheaper than getting a hostel in Cardiff, where we'd be the next day).  Another person, a sweet little French girl, was in the room with us, and we were all going to head out, but when we tried the door- nada. It was locked. Each one of us pulled, twisting the lock and the handle every which way, but we could not make the door even budge. There we were, Taken and all its kidnapping glory fresh in our minds, locked in a room in the sketchiest hostel we'd ever been in; we were freaking out just a little. 

So the French girl suggests we call the front desk, which we did. We called, said "Hi, yeah, we just checked in?" and we gave them our name, "and we're kind of... locked in our room. We can't get out." Instead of answering, the woman hangs up the phone. I was just like "Crap, crap, this is it, we're gonna die. Liam Neeson is not our father, we are done for," and I'm not even kidding when I say we were seriously considering climbing out the window. The receptionist gets to the door then, and we just hear her tugging and pulling on the lock like we did, until finally she wrenches it open. Looking a little chagrined, she apologized, telling us that if we were going out or something, she'd have it fixed by the time we got back. We promptly left and didn't come back until it started getting dark out. 

Our hostel situation aside, though, Bristol is quite nice. We strolled a bit, found this really lovely little park, saw a gallery, and visited the cathedral. THE CATHEDRAL OH MY GOSH! Okay, so we found this room that had the most beautiful acoustics I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. My little choir-girl heart was soaring and I simply couldn't leave without singing something, preferably in Latin. So I did.

I am so sorry for my awful technique/breathing (because really it is so bad)

 but seriously how beautiful is that?!?!?!

It. Was. Glorious. I stopped by for a minute later, too, to hear part of the choral evensong even though I'm not Catholic, because singing, especially choral, in that building is just...*strangled noises*. 

The park was really beautiful too! It has a tower that you can climb up (we did) and it has the most spectacular view of the city and surrounding countryside. It was also super windy. That didn't stop the random guys who thought it might be fun to throw a football down from the top, though it did make me wary to not have something nearby to grab in the event of a heavy(er) gust. 

England is just so pretty! 

Also had some really great paths. This might be a good time to note that
we found a street sign that said "There and Back Again Lane."

After that we got dinner, but then we didn't know what to do. We didn't want to go back just yet, for obvious reasons, but we had no idea what people do in Bristol. We were looking at a map, hoping to find a clue to just that, when a guy(who sounded like Mr. Tumnus, just FYI) found us looking confused and kindly directed us to a nice little place that locals frequented called the "Canteen." There, Anique and I decided to chill for a bit, and discovered that Cadbury chocolate compliments cider surprisingly well. Finally, though, we headed back to the hostel-of-doom, stayed up for a little bit, then went to bed, thankful that our bus was early the next morning. 

So off we were again, this time to Cardiff, Wales. We successfully hit every capital city in the UK and Ireland (go us!). Cardiff, too, is a nice little city, with a frankly BA castle wall to greet you first thing when you enter. What we were really so eager to get to Cardiff for, however? The Doctor Who Experience. *Grins madly.*

I can not describe to you how stoked I was when this ticket was put in my hand.

While most of my other "nerding out" sessions happened in response to what I think of as "intellectual pursuits," this one... well, wasn't. Not one little bit. I turned full out "DOOWEEOOO!!!! VWORPVWORPVWORP! ANYWHERE IN TIME AND SPACE-WHERE DO YOU WANNA START??" Doctor Who nerd. I wore my "exploding TARDIS" shirt and everything. And it was glorious.

UGH there were just so many PROPS and COSTUMES and THEY HAVE THE CONTROL ROOM FOR 9 AND 10!! AND the TARDIS, and just so much from the show! Not only that, before you get to the exhibits, you get to go on a mini-adventure in with the Doctor! You start out in this room with a screen and you're like "What is this?" and then suddenly you're talking to one of those face-information-node things from the "Silence in the Library," standing in front of the telescope from the werewolf episode, and then the 11th doctor cuts in and "needs your help...shoppers." I know it was just a room with fancy mechanisms and stuff, but I GOT TO GO IN THE TARDIS AND I GOT TO HELP FLY IT. It. Was. Awesome. 

ALL THE DOCTORS

My First Doctor <3 

Ten <3 <3 <3 

I'M IN TEN'S CONTROL ROOM OKAY I'M A LITTLE EXCITED ABOUT THIS

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

THE FACE OF BOE! 

Exterminate! Exterminate! 

You will be assimilated. 

Time And Relative Dimension In Space

That was really why I wanted to add Cardiff to our trip itinerary in the first place, and it was totally worth it. After that, we stopped to peek into the castle, then found a park (I almost got brained with a tree branch- it was crazy windy out), then mostly just wandered in the shops, spending most of our time in bookstores (yay!). We found Doctor Who references and paraphernalia everywhere.

In the park before I was almost murdered-via-tree branch. What a cute little spot! 

I will say, Cardiff really knows how to do a good castle. 

See? Look at this! Perfect. I expect a daring rescue of a princess to take place any second. 

After Cardiff, we were finally on our way to our last destination- Galway, Ireland. We didn't book a hostel, just spent the night in-transit. Getting from Cardiff to Galway is not an easy task, let me tell you. We had to get a bus, a ferry, a train, and then another bus. No fun at all, especially the Ferry part, because my socks were wet and so my feet were cold (are all ferries just generally chilly??) and it was uncomfortable to sleep(again). But we eventually made it, shivering and sleep deprived. 

Galway City, though, is quite small and easily navigable. We found our hostel in no time and decided to spend a few hours settling in like we had in London. I got a shower, we made some tea, and I got a little bit of rest and warmth, finally thawing from the Amber-sickle I'd become. Unfortunately, by this point (we suspect having its beginnings in Bristol) Anique and I were both sick- she with a cough and I with a sore throat. Kiwi-Emma-from-the-Galway-Hostel, I can not thank you enough for the honey, tea, and general hospitality you provided; it was much appreciated. 

We did go out on a walk that evening. It was so nice to be back in Ireland, back to the place that we both consider home. It was a beautiful sunset that night, in a really darling little town, amongst the friendly and welcoming Irish people we'd come to love. It was just what we needed. 

It was such a pretty sunset.

I didn't realize how completely ragged I looked. Sorry bout that, but aren't those colors lovely?

The next day we originally had plans to visit the Cliffs of Moher, because Anique hasn't seen them and I am quite frankly in love with them and their surrounding landscape. Unfortunately, due to some ill-advertised bus schedule changes, that became impossible. Instead, we spent the day walking along Galway Bay towards Connemara. It was so so beautiful, even if we did periodically get rained on. Unfortunately for us, that meant we didn't realize at all how far we'd walked until we got tired and wanted to head back. It was much farther than our bodies really cared to take us, so it took quite a while and several breaks along the way. That'd be surprising, considering how much walking we'd been doing on a regular basis, except that our bodies were just so done with traveling by that point. As much as I enjoyed everything we saw, I was really ready to head back to Coleraine and veg for a few days before doing anything productive at all except for Skyping my parents and notifying them that I hadn't died. 

Seriously, the colors in this country look like a Photoshopped desktop background. 

The water was just so sparkly and blue!  

I took a lot of pictures of the bay. 

These stones made the beach so lovely and my feet so tired. 

Before totally checking out, though, we decided to go out that night. As yummy as Irish cider is, we forwent it due to our being sick, but found a really great pub called the Quay that was having live traditional music. It was really really good, too! We stayed and listened until the band was done, watching from a balcony seat as the group of tourists (Unfortunately, Americans, I think) on the floor below got drunk and made fools of themselves. I wish they wouldn't live up to the American stereotype to such an embarrassing degree, but I will admit to it being an amusing show. 

Thank you, sirs, for the lovely musical evening.

The next day we were finally, after two straight weeks of traveling, going home to Coleraine. We were so happy we got to do everything we did, but so glad we were headed back. We took a bus that, happily for us, drove through Co. Donegal, which meant that the view along the way was just gorgeous.

It was a very happy end to our journey. 

*sings* You're as welcome as the flowers in May to dear old Donegal

We got to Derry~Londonderry and caught a train back to Coleraine, and finally our travels were over. I slept in late the next day, and then, as I had planned, did basically nothing but lie around in my room for two and a half days catching up on TV shows (Arrowohmygosh!!!)until I went to see some fireworks in Portstewart with our other friends who had also just returned. 

I can not describe to you how incredible my time traveling was, though. It was crazy, and afterwards I was so exhausted, but what an amazing three weeks! I've seen and done so much it's almost hard to keep track of it all, and I met people from all over the world and had experiences that I'll never forget. Yay. : ) 

So there you have it folks- my three weeks that I was MIA from basically everyone except for my travel-buddies, this is what was going on. I honestly can't even believe it myself. I'm sitting here thinking "Did I really do that?" It's almost like this whole semester, really. It's something I've always said I wanted to do but had always thought that I might not ever really do it. Yet now here I am, and I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed. 

After all this, my remaining couple of weeks in Coleraine and Belfast probably won't seem as exciting to you, but I hope to do another blog before I leave and then one as soon as I get home to complete my semester abroad (though hopefully not my blog totally. I'll still have that, my life just won't be nearly as exciting. I'll see what I can do to fix that, though ; ) ) Can you believe it's almost over? I can't, and I'm not really sure I'm okay with that. Still, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about all this.

Oh, wait! Before you go, I took a video of some of the music I heard in Galway. Listen, you won't regret it. 

: )

See! Aren't they great! ^_^

Talk to you again soon!