Wonderlust In Ireland

My Adventures in Ireland started off to a  rough start. Traveling from Cyprus to Dublin, Ireland with an overnight stay in Londen took a near 30 hours to get there. It was safe to assume that I was no happy camper when I finally settled into a hostel in central Dublin. After a traditional irish meal and a pub crawl, I was very content with being in Ireland. From there the wonderlust starts...

 The second day in Ireland was a magical experience.  With a tour to Northern Ireland I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever laid on eyes on.  Not to forget the stories being told from the tour guide, about the problems Northern Ireland faced back in the 70's, 80's to present.  Ireland is divided. One half under british control in Northern Ireland,which practices protestantism.  The other side, Irish Republic is Catholic. 

   

 Onward to the landscape of Ireland, The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge was a very cool site to see and cross. With a whopping 100 foot drop below to an unsettled sea and jagged rocks. It was a great experience getting from mainland to an island. While crossing, it started to hall. This hall had a stinging sensation when it smashed into our faces. It was funny to notice the groups reaction to hail. Some members taking it in, while others where complaining about pain and camera troubles  The island itself was not big. There was limited space for walking around and capturing photos. However it was amazing site to vist and experience.

View from above

Towards the later half of the day.  I ventured to the Giants Causeway, an area known for its Hexagnonal columns that stretch into the ocean. Giants Causeway was created from volcanic eruptions some 50-60 million years ago. This place was an awesome site. I had never scene rocks like this before.  From the bus drop off point, it was abround a 2 mile walk to the site. An extremely scenic walk leading up to the Causeway. Peering over steep green cliffs and hills,over looking the sea and surrounding landscape. The walk had so much to see, it was hard to focus on what to look at. With a fulfilled day of traveling Northern Ireland. Seeing everything there is to see another one of my favorite sites was this so called "fairy village" below.  It was a nice area to stop by and take in some of the countryside beauty that Ireland offersl.

 By far, the highlight of my trip was the Cliffs of Moher.  Standing up to 400 feet above sea leavel this was the sight to see! And the weather was very cooperative that second day. From the tops of the cliffs over looking the Atlantic ocean. I was able to have a clear view of the Aaren islands. I really enjoyed walking along the cliffs edges and throwing rocks into the sea. But, not being able to get close enough to the edge to watch them splash in...I was alright with that. It was a scary feeling realizing that if you misplaced your step you could easily fall of the cliffs and plummet into the ocean.

While at the cliffs, I was incomplete wonderlust taking in some of natures finner beauty.  The crazy thing is that a farmer, owns all of the land just beind the tops of the cliffs.  Now tell me that wouldn't be a nice peace of property to own.

I was in love with this view above, it was easily one of the most beautiful sites I have ever been to. I was in awe with everything that it had to offer from the roaring ocean below, wildlife, and green hillsides. Our tour only stopped at the cliffs for and 90 minutes but I could have easily stayed all day to soak in the scenery

 I snapped this photo to the left, from a comfortable ledge to looking down on the smaller sides of the cliffs.  At that point I couldn't help to pounder what could have happend if I accidentally slipped off. It was a chilly feeling to think about it... There are some signs around the cliffs saying " need someone to talk to? Call good smaratins" apparently this place has a high number of suicide rates every year.  Onto a more happier note this photo below is of me and one my backpacking partners Brianna. We have traveled to the middle east together and now to Ireland.

Truly an amazing day. While on the bus ride back to Gallaway. A troublesome cow found it very entertaining to block trafic both ways on the two lane road. This cow would not let cars pass it. When somebody would try to make a move to get around the cow.

It would block there path. This went on for a few minutes entertaining the whole bus. When the farmer came to collect his cow, it ran off. Allowing us to get back on the way. It was a very funny sight to see. Farm animals blocking trafic is apparently pretty common in parts of Ireland.

    The next day was Saint Patricks day, and the energy was flowing around the city of Gallway. With green lights everywhere you look.  Drunk people on the streets and live music comeing from surrounding pubs. It was an interesting but fun experience.  From my travels so far, the Irish people are the friendliest of folks that I have come across on. Having fun going conversations over a Guinness. To singing some 90's classics together.

The parade that day was nothing special. Considering that they where originally started in Bosten.   However It was cool to see a different countries parade but it was nothing exciting by any means. Although, the rain that cold morning was contributing to the St. Paddys Day Celebration  Towards the end of the parade, the American and Irish flag were being flown through the streets. I am a huge fan of the photo I took below. It was great to see the flags of my family's heritage flying together.  This was the highlight of the parade for me.

Ireland was a extraordinary experience. From the Northern part to the Irish Republic, I laid eyes some magnificent landscapes.  My favorite part of the trip was the cliffs of Moher. With so much to see it is hard to decide on what was the coolest place or landmark. I am so glad I got the chance to explore Ireland.

So Far in Cyprus

So far in Cyprus I have scene half of the island. On the Republic of Cyprus Side the citys I have been to are Paphos, Larnaca, and Lefkosia. On the Northen part of Cyprus (Turkish Half) I have been to Kyrenia, and Famgusta. All of these citys have been fabulous  and have many things to offer. Most of these Citys are touching the sea besides Lefkosia. The City that I have been residing in is called Nicosia, the capital. My university is on the outer part of the city hosting around 5000 students. Many of the students are foreigners from around the middle east area and from other parts of Europe. However there are the occasional Cypriots that attend the university as well. I have become good friends with some of the local students here. They tend to me caring and sincere versus students back in the states. One of them has helped me manage to get a job here at a night club called Toy. I am promoting for a wednesday night event called Loca. By selling tickets and getting the word out there I make 45 extra Euro every week... Not to bad for the amount of work. As for the education side of things, academia is much easier here than the U.S. I am in 3 Global learning courses and 2 university courses.  The Global Learning Courses are with the other americans from the program that I am in. My other 2 courses are with local students which is nice, but different. Anyways I am really enjoying School over here.

Infinity Tower on the left

Onto the more exciting things. My travels so far have taken me to United Arab Emirates Dubai, at the end of Feburary. Wow. Was that trip amazing. That city is very new, and has been booming sense the early nineties. I was there for 5 days. In that five days I went skiing, exploring through the dessert, and to the sea.  Along with seeing legendary architecture, Magnificent cars, and tremendous wealth. In Dubai they dont mess around. If a local is offended by ones actions, they can simply call the police and have you arrested. Luckily there were no instances of this from any part of my group.

 In One of two very large mall there, their is Ski Dubai, an indoor skiing facility with 3 runs. Now coming from Colorado, the runs where very small and silly to me. But it was great experience being able to ski inside were the temp is about 0 degrees and outside were it was in the 80's. I got great joy from teaching some members of my group how to ski there. Two of the girls have never been skiing and and were able to get down on their own by the end of the ski session!




Some of the  more impressive buildings there include the Burj Al Kahilfa, which is the tallest building in the world. Consisting of office space, Residential apartments and a hotel. The building stands at a hight of 828 meters coming out to 2,717 feet. My group was there for about 2 hours observing the city, the sea where there are man made islands made up of the countries of the world. This was very cool to see. After the Burj, we made are way around the shopping center below of it.

Burj Al Khalifa

The Mall of Dubai, which is the largest mall in the world. This mall had every single store you could immagine. Stores selling $30,000 phones,  to multimillion dallar jewelry, to your everyday shops.

   



In the afternoon we managed to make it to an exotic car dealer ship called Allan Classic Car. This dealership blew all other exotic car dealership out of the water back in the states.
Were the average car there was around $ 700,000. Housing 2 Buggatti's, 3 SLR Mclaren, Multiple new ferraris, A new Lamborghini Aventador, and the prize Rolls Royce costing upwards of 4 Million dollars.          

Golden Cinnamon Sand

The Driver

Extreme Dunne Buggy

After being blown away by this dealership, my group set off for a dessert safari. This was hands down one of the coolest experiences I have ever  been on. after an hour drive out of the city we where in a barren landscape of United Arabs dessert lands. Starting out the trip, the driver let a lot of air out of the tires. they do this make the wheels have a higher surface ratio on the sand while having less traction. in turn making the car much easier to drift around the sands. The experience was incredible, flying around the sand dunes at speeds up to 80km with the feeling of the car tipping at any minute. The car was not likely to tip though. The driver knew exactly what he was doing at all times and was clam as you and I would be on a sunday morning.  After an hour of wiping around the sand dunes we stopped to take photos of the group and let out stomachs settle. When all of the sudden an extrem dunne buggy rolled up next to us. This buggy was owned by a ruler of another Emirates. And his buggy,  worth 3 quarters of a million dollars. With a fully customized v10 engine, turbocharges and supercharged this thing was an absolute monster.   Flying up and down the sand dunes at insane speed, sometimes even wheeling up and down them on the back wheels.  After being blown away by some of the cars, buggys and other motor sports activities in the dessert, we settled in for an amazing dessert sunset. The sand was the color of cinnamon being so incredibly soft you could just lie down in it with out the care of getting completely sandy.  once it became dark out we set off for a traditional dessert dinner out in the middle of know where.  Before dinner started we had the opportunity to ride a camal which was very fun, but slightly painful for the guys in the group. if you know what I mean. This dinner was a one of the kind experience where we entertained by traditional middle eastern entertainers. Putting on quite the show and experiences.  On the dinner side of things I tried camel meet for the first time. The meat was very different from texture to taste from all other meats that we are used to. Once the night came to an end we where all very tired from the day. But ready to have a nice relaxing day at the beach tomorrow.

The beach we went to was right next to the Burj Al Arab which is Dubai Gem, this hotel is the only 7 star hotel in the world and costing minimum $12,000 and upwards to $24,000 a night to stay there. anyways the hotel is beautiful and i thought I would never get the chance to see it. The hotel is located in the 280 meters (980 feet) into the sea. With a tenis and hellicopter pad at the top of it. As for the beach it was very relaxing sitting on the Aegean sea, getting some arabian sun.  After a few hours of lounging and getting a tan, we headed back to the apartment we were staying at to pack up and head back to Cyprus. The trip in itself was absolutely amazing in every way imaginable. From meeting some great new friends, to the experiences we had together, to the things we saw there.

The Group