Relaxing in Waterford City

After the examination month was officially over it was again time decide to do something...

And at this time we came up for an idea to go Waterford for a weekend with my friend Christina. Waterford is located southern coast of Ireland and actually is the oldest city in Ireland established by Vikings around 900AD.

Leaving there was the most interesting part of the weekend because we realized on Thursday a little mis-coordination since we were assuming going there on different weekends but after all changes for timetables were possible to do and trip became possible...

So on Friday afternoon it was time to head towards Waterford. After arriving there and checking into a hotel it was a real "shock" ... Room was huge as an apartment, absolutely biggest room I've ever been in. And after it was time to get some dinner and I ate a real portion of fish & chips and realized that it was first time since my stay in Ireland -- It was about time to!

Waterford in general was a nice cozy town with some interesting history in it. Weekend kind of passed by just walking around city (when it wasn't raining like pouring water from the sky) and visiting some sightseeing like world famous Waterford Chrystal, Bishop palace and Medieval museum. It was a great relaxing weekend in total and one more city in Ireland discovered!

Trip to Brussels

January is the examination month which in my case mean a rather quiet month because I only have got two exams. So what would be better way to spend some time than go to visit in Brussels, specially when the flights were sponsored by Ryan Air by costing only 40e return ticket. Let me just ask, does this make any sense? From Maynooth to Dublin Airport 45min cost 5e, Dublin to Brussels 1h15min 20e and Brussels Airport to city 1h30min 15e. Whats the logic? :D

I went to Brussels with Katharina and of course by couchsurfing... Oh wait, except the first night we stayed in 4 star hotel because it was amazing offer 50e double room with a breakfast - we were in Heaven ^^
Then our first host was Anna, Finnish girl who was doing an internship at European parliament. With her we went to eat in Lebanese restaurant to try out some vegetarian dishes, very interesting & delicious combination of tastes. And second host was Arno, Dutch guy who was studying film industry to become a director. He showed some places around in city and cooked some Belgian dishes to us (smashed potatoes with spinach and sausages) and then I cooked some Finish dish (Oven baked pancakes & fish soup) at next evening.  So I just need to say that couchsurfing worked well and we had a great time.

So what else about Brussels, it was a nice city mixing up with some old history & buildings with very modern architecture almost side by side. We mostly walked around city & parks to just see and discover places, one day we found a Sunday market where was the most famous fries (over 60 years of experience), yummy :P
Then of course we experience different kind of cultural activities, museums, exhibitions, beer tasting (and yes, Belgian beer is one of its kind). Can you imagine a bar where they are serving around 1000 different kind of beers? Amazing temporary exhibition called the art of the brick was also quite stunning, could you think for example a T-rex made from lego bricks... yep believe or not, it is possible.

So it was a great trip in general and and after that was time to return to reality and pick up notes to start prepare myself for the exam that take place actually tomorrow so I guess I better go to study a bit.

First Exam Down, One More To Go...

So this was it then, "highlight" of my first semester in Ireland: The first exam!

Preparation & recap of the topics... I actually did study during the week everyday but the effectiveness of studying is then another story. Mainly because I really needed to look for a motivation to study (and still didn't find it completely..) so I read what I read and took the attitude "Keep Calm & Trust Your Luck" with a thought in my head that I simply can't fail.

The situation reminded me my final examinations in Järvenpään upper-secondary school. So it was quite amusing, a whole sport hall full of study desks, lots of regulations and "important" people telling don't talk, don't do this, don't do that etc... I accidentally looked the exam paper on the table before the exam has started and good that they didn't kick me out of the room... a supervisor came stand in front of me and said "Don't EVER do that again in the future in your exams." Creepy :P

 The exam itself, it was easier that I was expecting but it was just a good thing. I answered totally 60 multiple choice questions based on my knowledge ("memory") or guesses in a way that I should pass it (we'll see). But I would say that the most difficult thing was to remember which date actually it way, anyway I think I wrote a correct date on a paper and if not, I'll probably fail... :D

And because completing the exam what would be the better way to award myself than going visit in Brussels for a few days. So I'll go now to pack my backpack and tomorrow morning I'm going to take the airport hopper to Dublin airport with Kate and enjoy Brussels (and Belgian beers)... Bon Voyage!

The (Stormy) Return To Ireland

After spending relaxing Christmas break in Finland just sleeping, eating, doing nothing that special than just hang around with friends and family, it was time to pack my backpack again and takeoff from Helsinki. My first destination was London where I planned to spend New Years Eve, it was great time over there and really worth of seeing.

When the New Years Eve celebration was over I needed to check out from Hostel at 10am (after 5 hours of sleep...), day was windy & rainy and I needed to spend that whole day carrying my backpack around city until clock did strike 11:30pm and I hopped into the bus that took me at Stansted Airport. "Sleeping" there for next 5 hours since departure of my flight to Dublin was at 06:30am, so yes I was so tired at that point that I fell asleep before takeoff and basically woke up when the plane was landing :D

Easy transfer by airport hopper from Dublin airport to Maynooth and I was back home again, well almost because I needed to get keys to new house and move my stuff from old house to that new house. Luckily it was only 5min walk from house to house so it was rather easy project. Now I'm then living in a single room in a international house with 3 other erasmus students: Julia (German), Melissa (French) & Laura (Spanish). I like the room and the house even that it really feels like a fridge until we will have some more oil that should happen luckily within few days.

Weather in Ireland has been terrible for these first days of January, wind has been blowing 30-40 km/h and once in a while it has been very heavy rainfalls. Luckily everything is okay here in Maynooth but some other cities has been flooding rather badly and on the coastal winds have reached even the speed of 100- 120km/h... And according the news, there'll be another storm arriving again tonight...