Christmas Holidays 2009: Dublin

Thats it! The title of the blog told you this post is about my Christmas holidays after the hectic exams..
First stop: Dublin (18th to 21st December 2009)

~18th Dec 2009
It took me 2 and half hours of journey from Galway to Dublin and I arrived at the right time because it as snowing.. My first snow!! =) Hosanna met me at the city centre and after leaving my luggage at her place, we went for Chinese lumch buffet (9.90 euros eat-all-you-can*). After lunch, we decided to go to the Christmas Carnival bt I stopped at a salon because it was offering haircut for 9 euros which was really cheap. I popped in and trimmed my fringes for Christmas. We then walked towards the Christmas Carnival where there were lots of Chirstmas goodies and kiddies' rides. We spent almost one hour at the carnival when Jed texted me that he and Alvin had arrived. Hosanna went back first while I went to Avalon Hostel to meet both the guys. We then went for dinner together at McDonalds since its the cheapest fast food available.. =) The night was spent roaming around Grafton Street and St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre with Alvin snapping pictures all along the way.

night view of Dublin

~19th December 2009
The day started of with Jed, Alvin and I strolling along St. Stephen's Green. We were lucky to be able to see swans swimming in the lake despite the cold winter weather.. Then, we headed off to Chirst Church Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Ireland, dated back to 1030. The church looks nice and really old but it wasnt as nice as St. Finbarr's Cathedral in Cork. They have a mini museum where all the church treasures are well kept underground and that was the most fascinating part of the church. Next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral but we didn't enter the church because the entrance fee was a bit pricey.. But we did take lots of beautiful pictures at St. Patrick's Square. We then met up with Gladys and Nigel for lunch at Supermac's. After lunch, Gladys brought us to Trinity College Dublin (TCD) which was my dream college once upon a time.. The college wasn't big compared to other universities but the Harry Potter ambience is enough to keep everyone feel like they are part of TCD..=) TCD also houses the Book of Kells, the oldest manuscripts in the world.. Last stop of the day was Dublin Castle, which houses the government offices at the moment. We each paid 2 euros for the guided tour around the castle and I was quite shocked because Blarney Castle charged 8 euros. However, the castle is not really a castle since the original one was burnt down and the one we see today is the restored castle.. Dinner was at Hosanna's house where Nigel prepared a splendid meal for all of us..

St Stephen's Green

Trinity College Dublin (TCD)

~20th December 2009
Nigel and I went to the Carmelite Church while Jed and Alvin went to Chirst Chruch for services. We the meet up for lunch and later to Guinness Storehouse at St. James Gate. The tour around the storehouse was nice and I got to pour my own pint of Guinness but i couldnt' finish even half of it.. 3 hours were spent at the storehouse and since its a Sunday, most shops closed early. Nigel went for a movie with his friends while Jed, Alvin and I hanged around in Hosanna's place since its our last night in Dublin..

I poured my own pint of Guinness

with the Magical Irish Leprechaun

p/s: full album can be viewed on Facebook..

Connemara..

15th December 2009.. the official date of freedom after 2 gruellling weeks of battle against exams and I was glad that it ended with a not-so-tough Anatomy paper.. Swee San was in Galway since Sunday but I couldnt meet her earlier.. Hence, I decided to make up for it by bringing her to NUIG and also Connemara which is part of county Galway... After a host tour around NUIG, I brought Swee San and her friends to my house for a short visit while I called up the tourist agency to pick us up from my house.. *the best way to save taxi fares* At around 1030am, we were on our way to Connemara, where I met the other Malaysian girls as well.. It then became kind of a Malaysian trip because there are 13 Malaysians including us on the bus!!

view of Salthill

The view along the way was describable only in ONE word - MAGICAL.. It was really awesome and the tour guide told us that the views will be different every season, green in summer, brown in winter, orange in autumn and probably yellow in spring.. We made a few stops in Maam Valley where the most scenic landscapes of Connemara are situated, Scriob Waterfall, Ros a'Mhil and the famous Kylemore Abbey.. By the way, if anyone fo you have read about the Irish Potato Famine, I have seen ruins of these villages along the way to Connemara and it saddened me how they have nothing to eat during the famine..

ruins of the famine villages

Kylemora Abbey was once known as Kylemore Castle and it dated back to 1800 and it has a beautiful love story behind it.. Ta daa.. Story telling time ^ ^ Mitchell Henry built the castle in the 19th century for his wife, Margaret and their kids. However, Margaret passed away due to fever two years later and Mitchell never remarried. Years later, Mitchell moved out of the castle since he felt that it was incomplete without his belove wife.. *how romantic*

Kylemore Castle

After 2 hours of tour around Kylemore Castle and the Gothic Cathedral, we hopped on the bus and went back to Galway.. On our way, we saw lots of sheep painted with multi colours on their wool.. According to the bus driver, the owners let their sheep roam all over the valley and foe identification purposes, they paint their sheep with different colour.. Sheep are cute but they arent friendly, unlike the Connemara ponies.. The ponies are so friendly that they dont mind me stroking their soft fur.. =)

sheep around the valleys

Exams..

Its my first exam as a medical student in NUIG! And what more can I say except that exams are infinitely torturing.. Enough with memorising every single detail about muscles and drugs nerves but I just couldnt identify them during Spot Test.. =( Anyway, I passed and just cross my fingers that I will do better in my final which is next week.. I'm so gonna work on Biochem and Anatomy!!