BMX Racing Became an Olympic Sport in 2008 in Beijing....now that I have answered that question, read my post!

This is my post about my observations of the Olympics abroad. Enjoy!

First off let me start that I generally have not been the most avid Olympic sport or world competition watcher before coming to Europe. But being abroad has really made me appreciate not only the competition but the hardwork that people have put into it, the training, and the whole other world that surrounds the Olympics that I never knew. I think the reason that I was never a big watcher of the Olympics was because I found it so egocentric watching it in the States. "Oh there goes America again. Is America in all of these sports? And winning all of them? Boring!" But my friends, that is not the case! They don't win everything, (although at this point in time they have 94 medals and it is day 16 out of 17) to be quite honest, they aren't even in ALL the millions of sports that the Olympics has to offer us, we just think they are!

I started watching the Olympics in Italy. I unfortunately did not get to watch the Opening Ceremony since the kids I was with were watching cartoons.The beauty about being in Europe while the Olympics are on is that....I'm almost in the same time zone as when the actual events are on (although being in London now I am obviously in the same time zone). But being in Italy and watching it live and not have to stay up til 3 in the morning to watch it live has totally made me appreciate the proximity of the games to where I was and am in the world.

In Italy I watched the Olympic sport of Fencing for women although it is not called that. But whatever, it was fencing. Italy took home the gold, silver and bronze. It was pretty awesome to see them kick ass like that. I also watched Fencing for men but did not get to watch as much of that since I was babysitting and Simone, he 8 year old I was watching, didn't seem so in to it. Although when Italy was not in the sport like swimming or running, we would watch anything that had Great Britain or the US in it. But it was really neat to see other sports that the US or GB (that is what everyone is calling Great Britain by the way. Team GB!) I was only in Italy the first two days of the Olympics so I did not get to experience much of the international beauty of watching the Olympics in Italy.

After Italy I went to Ireland. Oh Irelaand! I did not get to watch much in Ireland either because we spent a lot of time in the car driving from once place to another but I did see a lot of boxing. We were watching one of the matches that Ireland won in one of the pubs in Dublin. It was favored that Ireland would win in boxing so it was natural that it was on all the time. It was fun to watch it with the Irish as the boxers advanced into the finals. I would also watch portions of soccer and running in Ireland too but it was more background noise in the pubs. Running seemed to be a common theme that ran (pun intended) throughout all of the countries I watched the Olympics in now that I think about it.

Then from Dublin I went to London. YES! I am in the same city as the Olympics. I was actually there as it was happening right before my eyes. I took a bus from the train station to my hostel and before I arrived we drove by the actual center of the Olympics. There were so many people and it just felt so overwhelming to be so close to the excitement and then fans and spectators. It was just amazing. However that was as close as I got to the O2 arena and other events. Later that night I overheard that there were Olympic events that were free and so I looked them up and had decided that I would go to the sailing one later in the week and just do my touristy things the next day especially since part of the events would be going by the touristy attractions.

So the next day I awoke to go to Buckingham Palace. When I arrived I found out that they weren't going to be doing the Changing of the Guard because....oh I don't know the triathlon would be coming by. Oh well! I guess I'll have to stay and get a good spot to watch the Men's Triathlon. So I watched it live. Only the cycling portion though because to watch it start or end, you had to have tickets for that part of the arena and I unfortunately did not. But what I did get to see was pretty exciting and I got some good video to show my friends and family back home.

During my time in London, I met very few Americans. Wearing my Italian blue jacket around London, I was often mistaken for being Italian which benefited me from people trying to sell me items or get me to try something. However, because I was able to blend in to the not English speaking crowd I was able to meet some rude Americans. As I was waiting for the Changing of the Guard on my second day in London, I was about a foot and a half away from this woman. Granted being an American that is kind of close when you don't know that person but its a popular event and crowds gather so I didn't think I was that close. Since I had my jacket on, the woman I was standing next to starts talking about me to her friends. How I'm too close, what a bitch I am etc. I just completely ignored. So after a while, she starts talking to me like I'm an idiot and telling me I'm in her space and to back up. All I respond with was "ok" because I knew that it would get more crowded. Wouldn't you know it? Two little kids soon come up to her and stand right behind her, so close that their hands are on her back trying to lean in to the bars. All I could do was look at her and the little kids and smile. I wanted to say something but karma was already kicking in and I didn't want to ruin the magic.

And since I had just left Ireland, I was noticing a lot of Irish things and people. The Irish people at the Olympics dressed in their Ireland gear did not represent well. They literally all dressed like leprechauns. I'm not joking nor was it an exaggeration. Come on people, you are coming to a place where you can represent your country and that is the message you want to leave behind? We are a bunch of stereotypes? No Ireland. No. Stop it.
Irish people in London not representing well

In England though, I watched the sports that I never thought to watch in the US as an Olympic sport. I watched the equestrian games. I mean it makes sense. You always think of them riding arond in their riding gear in movies and on TV but I never thought of it as an Olympic sport NOR ever have seen it in the US. But yes, it exists! I also watched a lot of sailing, kayaking and canoeing. I don't recall ever watching that in my life as a precursor to the Olympic games or during the Olympics ever. And I think its because the US is just involved. Although I was glad to watch it because Ecuador (whoop whoop) was represented. Although they did not advance to the finals, it was nice to cheer for them. The sailing and the equestrian games all seemed very British and very White upper class and so it was exciting to cheer for the underdogs like Ecuador or like Mexico who weren't known for those types of sports. I also watched a lot of boxing in the evening because that's all I remember being on when I was at the pubs.

I watched the closing ceremony at the pub I liked O'Neils. There were hardly any Americans there. There were a lot of Irish, Dutch, Brazilians and few English now that I think of it because they could stay home and watch it. But it was cool first of all to see it before all my friends and family but to be in the culture and the area that the Olympics were representing. It was just an awesome experience that I won't ever forget. So awesome I want to go to Rio. I want to make it happen! I don't even need tickets but just being there with the people made this trip to London totally worth it. And if I can't go to Rio, I would like to watch it while traveling through different countries because it was just fun to be with people from all over and get a different experience from them.

But Rio 2016! Let's make it happen.

Do Not Ask an Irish Person to say "Top of the Morning to ya"

Don't worry, I did not ask an Irish Person to say "Top of the morning to you" although they should for the tourists. This blog post comes from one of the first days I met Kevin and I asked him to say something really Irish and he asked me for an example and before I could say "Magically delicious" (which is also a little wrong to ask but I felt like it would be less insulting to ask that because I was betting that they did not have Lucky Charms in Ireland but anyway) he stopped me to say "Oh and Irish people do not say top of the morning to you'". And I was like, that didn't even cross my mind, although technically he still said it to tell me that Irish people don't say it.

On one of my days in Ireland I asked Kevin if I looked like a tourist. He said yes, that my skin tone gives me away. And I laughed because much of my friends and family would say I was light compared to them. Although I have a tan now, I still think I'm pretty light but in Ireland I'm dark. I even noticed it as we were walking around.

Anyway, I really liked Dublin. The city feels really young, is not too big but not too small. It really just has a calming/welcoming feeling. Kiah and I have already discussed returning next summer as we both would like to continue our travels abroad. What I forgot to say about Ireland previously is that they are like the UK and drive on the opposite side of the road. Having only seen this in Ireland I was totally tripping out and just kept constantly looking both ways so I wouldn't die. In Dublin, as you are crossing the streets, they have in white painting either look left or look right for people such as myself that are not used to looking to the other side of the street upon crossing. Thank God for those signs. Although, if you are like me and have been drinking, those signs mean nothing. On our first night out, I had to hold on to Kevin because I was not going to be able to cross those roads by myself and survive.

Oh yeah....it makes sense but no one ever mentions it...there is a river that runs smack in the middle of Dublin. Yes, I should have assumed there was a river as it is an older city, with a lot of history and they needed it for transport and etc. but NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THE RIVER. Not only is there a river, but they have canals that connect to the river. Yes, I know, it seems so obvious but it should have been mentioned in pictures or in a sentence such as "as you cross the river" or "as you cross one of the bridges"  but nope, never been mentioned.

On our first day in Dublin we arrived by bus in the early evening and then went to a pub to get a drink. We walked through the really touristy part of Dublin and found something more off the beaten track to get a drink and watch Gaelic/Irish Futbol. When Kevin first told me about it, I was like "Yes, I want to watch that" because that is so cool and cultural and I had NO idea that such a thing existed. It is played between the different counties in Ireland. It played with 15 players on each team on a soccer type of field and the players have to score by either kicking it over the goal posts like in American football and they get one point or kicking it through the goal posts and they get 3 points. they can carry, bounce, throw, kick, pass or solo which is a drop of the ball and a toe-kick back up into their hands. It was kind of cool and really past paced. I really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. I mean, come on, I'm in Ireland at a pub watching an Irish game with Irish people, totally cool. We went to a couple of more pubs (and is it bad if I can't remember what we ate?) and spotted out some Starbucks to go to in the morning and went back to the hostel to sleep.

The next day, we did more the touristy things, walked the river, walked up and down the touristy areas, got my Starbucks (yes, yes, I did get my frappe), walked by St. Patrick's Cathedral, went to Stephen's Green, went to Trinity College (totally beautiful, I would love to work there) where there was this spinning golden statue and my Star Wars reference was lost and I was sad.

For those of you that don't know, I started collecting Harry Potter books from different countries in different languages as kind of my souvenirs from where I traveled to. I told Kevin  I wanted a Harry Potter book in Irish and he didn't think they existed. I looked it up and they did. Although when I did further research in the morning of our second day, I found out that some of the corporations that do this are not in Ireland. One is in the United States! Buying one from the US would not satisfy me. So I decided to look at the covers and if they were different then to buy one cause it'll work. Anyway, we found paperbacks that had totally cool covers and none I had seen before. I got the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince one because on the cover were the Cliffs of Moher and that just fit the whole Irish theme and Irish book so I was pretty happy. As I pointed out a book, Kevin points out the Harry Potter books next to the book I originally pointed out that was in IRISH! Now I had a dilemma. Which book?! They both fit perfectly so what did I do? I got both of course! I was in love with both of them too much to put one back.

This probably will not help anyone but I'm going to throw in this little blurb because if you know me, you know this is totally my style and it'll also give you a better idea about my Irish friend. Earlier in the week, I had asked Kevin one of my favorite questions. Who would play you in the movie of your life? And I was surprised I hadn't asked him before. But anyway, at first we came up with Justin Timberlake, Neil Patrick Harris and people like that. No one we were completely satisfied with so the question still hung in the air. As we were walking around and waiting for the rain to subside we walked into a CD/Movie store. I don't remember what movie it was but he turns to me and says "Jude Law. Jude Law would play me." And as I had just seen the same movie title, I thought the same thing. I don't know if we ever came to a conclusion for me but I would like to think Tina Fey and I'm going to pretend that was our conclusion.

So as previously mentioned, I love Harp. It is one of my favorite beers and I didn't think it would be hard to find in Ireland since its an Irish beer. But of course, it was. I wanted to go to a pub and listen to an Irish band play Irish music so we went to the touristy area of Dublin known as Temple Bar (there is also a bar named Temple Bar which I will soon mention) to have our beers and listen to music. The first pub we went into was crowded. Not only for the music but because Ireland was going to be on the TV in the Olympic sport of boxing. But as I was looking for seats or a place to stand....low and behold there was Harp! So we had to stay of course and have a pint or 2. And to be quite honest, Kevin and I weren't overly loud or talkative or that energetic but I just had so much fun being there and people watching and just in  a pub with Irish people enjoying Irish beer and music. After our pints, we went to THE Temple Bar. This is a bar that is so photographed and is like the representative place for the whole area and we were trying to find out why this one pub was so popular and everything kind of circled around it. The only thing we found out was that its big, (they also had Harp) expensive, and know for their Whiskey,...and that was it. I think people were in there like we were, "why are you famous Temple Bar? Let's go in and see." But it was still fun despite the costs.

I would have to say that my second day in Dublin might probably have been my favorite day abroad. Despite being the first day that I wanted to text people back home sooooo badly and starting to get homesick, it was just a good day with my Harry Potter books, the Irishness and just being with someone you like to be with. The day wasn't too tiring or too touristy, it was just a good day.

Thank you Kevin and thank you Ireland!

"Never Trust Irish Weather" - Kevin Healy

So my second day in Ireland was very laid back. I learned that they do not have Dr. Seuss in Ireland. As I was telling Kevin that my last post was a Dr. Seuss quote, we talked about how he kind of knew the movies (Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc) but not any of the books. I was so sad to learn that fact and was telling him about how as a typical graduation gift, people give "Oh the Places You Will Go" and how I thought that was perfect for traveling.

We went to Ceide Fields. According to Wikipedia it means "fields of the flat-topped hill." It is an archaeological site that is the most extensive Stone Age site in the world and contains the oldest known field systems in the world. Unfortunately we did not get to walk too much of these fields because of the weather. We also drove around, saw some gnarly cliffs and kind of just planned our next few days. Speaking of depressing from an earlier post, my friend was telling me how the cliffs were known for their suicides. Depressing! The day ended with TV watching and general relaxing.  


Things I learned. Ireland, particularly in the North, the wetlands are covered in what is known as bog. I would say bog looks like black tar that has been solidified. But driving around, you don't see much of it because it is covered by fields. I would say they were the type of fields that on a beautiful day you would run through like in the movies. Bog is basically millions of years of deposited plant life compressed together. So what happens is that people dig it up, dry it out and use that to burn for fires. How greenly efficient is that? I thought that was pretty cool to help planet earth. 

Side note from Kevin- I read your blog and found it quite entertaining, in fact I got my sister to read it too.  The whole bog and turf cutting isn't eco-friendly at all, it's a fossil fuel that burns and emits emissions which isn't too good for the environment as far as I know... 

There is also a musical bridge that we only stopped by once but drove by three times. Apparently when you roll a rock across the bridge it plays musical tunes. We found clips on youtube and I really wanted to try it. Next time right? 

Anyway, on my third day in Ireland we went to the Cliffs of Moher. My friend Lyndsay had recommended them as she had spent a summer in Ireland. The selling point was that they were featured in the 6th Harry Potter movie and so I kind of had a general idea of what they looked like and I was like "I'm a little tired of museums, I can see some nature." Kevin never been to the Cliffs himself despite his university being not far arranged for us to go. From his house, we drove two hours to Galway which is kind of a young, college, beach town (a total party feel running through) and we caught a tour bus from Galway to the Cliffs. Before leaving the car, we were deciding which items to take or not take. With his jacket in hand, Kevin looks at the sky and says "it should be a nice day, I'm going to leave it here." and returns his windbreaker/rain jacket to the backseat of the car. Luckily I took the sweatshirt he let me borrow with us. 

So my mistake. I was thinking that they might be more environmentally friendly since they weren't chopping down ton of trees for burning wood and were using other materials that were abundant but didn't serve any real purpose. Oops. 



Along the way, the tour guide does his job and tell us about the area and the history and so on and between stories we listened to traditional Irish music. Kevin proceeds to tell me that the people in the south are more into the traditional music. Everyone he knew from I think Clare county except for one plays traditional Irish instruments. What are traditional Irish instruments you ask? Pipes, flutes, bodhrans and harps. So I said "Oh, I didn't know harps were traditionally Irish." Kevin stops, looks at me and asks me "Isn't your favorite beer Harp?" (Harp is an Irish beer by the way). And I respond with "well yeah." And he proceeds "The Guinness logo is a harp. How have you not noticed this before? You didn't see that there was a pattern?" And then I stopped and could only laugh. How did I not notice the blatant signs that harps are traditionally Irish? DUH! I laughed about it the entire duration of my trip because after that, I saw the harps EVERYWHERE. I could even get little harp earrings if I wanted to! But I think the reason I found it so funny was I felt like I was in the shoes of the other people that I'm usually with and often find myself asking them "how have you not noticed that before?" It was a very humbling moment that I shall forever appreciate.

Depending on the tour bus that you take you can either stop at some caves of a birds of prey area. We stopped at the Aillwee Caves. The Aillwee Caves are some of the oldest in Ireland but were only found quite recently when a dog ran into the caves and his owner ran after him. Apparently the caves were used by bears who would come in to hibernate because the only remains they found at this time were of bears. No human remains had been discovered. Our tour guide proceeds to tell us that Ireland does not have bears, they all died out on the island. And I leaned over to Kevin and said "I didn't know you didn't have bears" and his response was "I didn't know we EVER had bears." (There are also no squirrels in Ireland).

Correction from Kevin-And apparently we do have squirrels in Ireland, two types in fact! So that was news to me as I've never seen one here, although judging by Google they seem to be in other parts of the country. So I don't know if you want to alter the blog then or not, but thought I should fill you in on those two tiny things! 

Finally we get to the Cliffs of Moher. It's a little rainy, more sprinkling and as we notice the weather Kevin says "I don't know why I didn't bring my jacket. Never trust Irish weather." And I appropriately gave him the sweatshirt he let me borrow since he was kind of nursing a cold and temperature wise I was ok. The cliffs are 8 kilometers long which is about 4 miles I believe. They are beautiful! However, the mood is a little dampened by signs saying "Need to talk? Call us at....-Samaritans." I can only assume it was to prevent suicides.

We walked the appropriately labeled paths with the railings since its Ireland everything was a little wet. If I had better balance, I would have walked along the cliffs that were off the protected path but with my bad balance and the muddy, slippery path, decided against it. Then as we decided to turn back, it started raining. Not the light "oh its sprinkling, it might start to rain" that I had been in the last few days but the rain came down in big, cold raindrops and we walked to jog back to the gift shop or the general enclosed area to wait until our tour bus left. We looked at coffee table books and little Irish facts.

The bus took us past a lighthouse which was really pretty and then to a small town called Doolin. I had soup to warm up and after we ate, of course the sun was out so we sat outside to enjoy the sun and dry off a little bit. I don't know how we got into the subject of naming objects but he had very strong opinions of naming objects that weren't people or pets but it only went as far to cats and dogs. I then told him about our office and naming Clare (the plant) and how she was part of the office. I didn't mention the birthday balloon or the pictures of her, I think he would have thought we were too crazy had I mentioned them. Anyway, he believes that the naming of objects is an overly American idea and as he previously said I could name his car, decided against it. Sad day.

The day ended with us going to Supermacs which is an Irish fast food chain but partnered with Papa Johns. It was good and had skinny fries which I hadn't seen much of here. On the way home, we talked about how the day was a bit "Irish" which really is what I wanted. And then it dawned on me, I hadn't seen a rainbow yet. Then, as luck would have it, I saw a rainbow and was completely happy. That was the ending of a really good day.

“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.” ― Dr. Seuss

I am currently at the Bergamo airport in Italy waiting to go to Dublin. I was excited to go to Dublin for the colder weather, see my friend Kevin and just be with English speakers. But holy toledo Batman, it is freezing in this airport. Did you know there are online reviews about sleeping in airports? Like if they are open 24 hours, the types of chairs, etc. Anyway, they did not mention that this airport was freezing. I look like a fool right now with how I'm dressed by the way. And let's not forget that I have a cough that the cold is making worse. And it's 3 in the morning and I want to sleep! But it's too cold. I think its to discourage people like me to sleep in the airport.

On my way to the airport, I ended up running into 2 girls and a guy. One of the girls was Italian who spoke really good English and was able to translate for us that the bus stop that said "airport" was not the right now we were waiting at but should go around the corner to the other bus stop. The other girl was from Amsterdam complaining (in a really nice way) about Italians and Americans that go to Amsterdam to party and was like "hi, there are other things to do in Amsterdam." She was on her way to Portugal to go blow off some steam. The guy was a Moroccan Italian guy just going back to Morocco to take care of some things. Together, the 4 of us stayed together and survived the night in that freezing airport. Luckily, it didn't take forever and we were able to get on our flights and be on our way. Once on the plane, in the slightly warmer temperature, I closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep.  I flew RyanAir which is really cheap, but poorly laid out signs and a million instructions that you have to read to avoid being charged. They charge for drinks on the plane even. Anyway, as I was sleeping, I kept waking up to announcements about things that were irrelevant to me since I was not planning on spending any money.

Anyway, I arrived safe and sound on what felt like the shortest flight of my life since I slept almost the entire trip. I flew into a small airport called Knock and went through "customs" of where a dog sniffed me. However, because I am not an resident of the EU, I was questioned more thoroughly before they stamped my passport. Right after that, I met my friend Kevin right outside the door and together we walked into the cloudy, rainy, windy Irish weather. It was so nice to just not be sweating as soon as I walked outside, or even being inside of a building. Whew.

Anyway, went to breakfast since I hadn't eaten anything  since the night before. He then took me on a mini tour of a bunch of the little towns in his county. Kevin lives in the county of Mayo in the north west of Ireland. So on the way to his place, we stopped or passed through little towns like Castlebar, Foxford, (which is not known for their foxes, or their Fords) Westport and Ballina. All the signs here are in English and Irish (which is Gaelic but none Irish people call it Gaelic apparently). Kevin's closest town is Belmullet and he lives in a little village called Glenamoy. The house is super quaint with fireplaces on and wooden floors. I really like the house and the feel of the house, it just feels really welcoming. After lunch, we went for a drive down to the beach which he does not live far from, but unfortunately too cold and windy to walk around and enjoy it properly.

We also drove around to little known places that only if you were local would you know about. Kevin took me to this monument for this Irish Children's story called the Children of Lir which was super depressing. He has this book "Things you didn't know about Ireland" or something like that and "A Brief History of Ireland" in his car that we used as additional information for whatever we went to go see. Anyway, the Children of Lir story is about this man and woman (I think king and queen and can't remember but oh well) who had three kids. The woman died and so the man built a special bond with the kids. Natural progression. Anyway, soon he meets this woman and they marry. This woman was a witch and was jealous of the bond that the father had with the kids so she turned them into swans. They were to live 300 years in one location, 300 in another and 300 in the final location. Then they were turned back into humans and it had to be a monk to transform them back. BUT I was thinking, oh then they could go and live normal lives but nope, they are old, and wrinkly and haggard and die! You know, because they are 900 years old. WHAT THE EFF!? That is so depressing. It's a fairy tale, they don't even have the chance to have a normal life in a fairy tale? Anyway, in the 90s, there was an architect who designed a monument representing the Children of Lir. Kevin described it as "something that was put together with old bits of metal". Yes, I did agree but it also looked like a manger with animal stalls. (Pictures to come.)

Anyway, because of the wind, and I didn't really care what we did, we had an early night by eating dinner and watching Friends and 30 Rock. What a great ending to a nice relaxing day right?

Lemon out!