Pancake Tuesday

In Ireland and several other countries in Europe  Pancake Tuesday is celebrated like Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in America.

In similarity with Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday is celebrated before the start of lent which was February 9th this year.

Vincent, Tom, Iria and I (from left to right in the picture) decided to get creative with our pancakes and turn them into faces before eating them.

Running Ireland

This past weekend I did my first international road race. It was a small 5k organized by a rugby club in Ballyshannon (the next town over). I have been running a bit but not training much for speed so I was happy in the end with the result of the 24.26.

Scandinavia Travel Video

Here is a video I made of my travels through Denmark, Sweden and Norway:

Tis the Season

This Christmas marks the second Christmas I have spent abroad. I have been living in Bundoran, Ireland for just under two months now and have made some pretty good friends here. However, most everyone seemed to go home or travel elsewhere for Christmas and the town became deserted. 

When Christmas morning came around I slept in, had breakfast and then headed to main beach for the annual Christmas day swim. I didn't think there would be many people there since the town was so quite but to my surprise I it was probably the biggest gathering I have seen thus far in Bundoran. Just after noon we all ran to the waters edge and submerged ourselves in a bone chilling water that was 8 degrees Celsius.  

In the evening I face timed my mom and brother and then my dad, brother. We were even able to include my grandma on the call just through a regular phone call while my dad and brother were on face time with me. It is a tradition for her to always come up with fun puzzles and trivia for everyone and we did them over the pone and face time. Although this year the questions were different from previous years. Usually if we were at her house for Christmas everyone would pay attention and count decorations scattered around to try and be prepared for questions like, how many snowmen are in the bathroom or how many saints are in the living room.
This years questions included things like:
What is known as the "stinking rose"?
Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner? Year?
How many stores does Kroger have?

Overall I had a good Christmas and have amazing people in my life.

Black Wednesday

On December 10th the biggest storm in 10 years was said to hit Ireland and was named Black Wednesday. There were 50+ knot winds and 40+ foot waves in parts of Ireland. Iria, Johanna and I decided to do the cliff walk to see how Tullin Strand and Bundoran bay were affected. It was extremely windy which made it hard to walk when we were going against the wind not only because of the force of the wind but occasionally bits of hail and rain would fly into our faces. All of main beach was covered in ocean foam which made it look like it had snowed but it was just spew from the ocean covering the ground and flying around in the air. Tullin was a huge mess of white water across the entire beach and the waves were pushing around huge amounts of sand. It was incredible to see how drastically different the beach could look when mother nature was letting out some frustration.

      

Galway Getaway

About a month into my time in Bundoran it was time for an exciting trip to Galway. Johanna, Iria, Annie and I were all able to get a couple days off work, courses and other obligations to spend some time exploring other parts of Ireland. It was really nice to see Galway during the Christmas season because they have a Christmas market with food, gifts and decorations. The entire town seemed to light up at night with the Christmas spirit. When we went out there was always live music not only in the pubs but along the streets and around almost every corner. We wandered around the town during the day and explored the Christmas market and local pubs in the evening. It was an amazing place and had a lovely time on our Galway Getaway!

An American Thanksgiving Potluck in Bundoran, Ireland

Thanksgiving is easily one of my favorite holidays and regardless of where I am I always celebrate. Last year I celebrated with two Argentinians and a South African in Nepal eating chicken burgers and buff momo on a beautiful sunny day. It was among one of my favorite Thanksgivings mainly because when we went around the circle to say what everyone was thankful for they were the most sincere words I have heard at a Thanksgiving gathering. This year I celebrated with 10 nationalities including Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Welsh, Australian, English, South African, Dutch and of course American. It was a potluck style meal so initially we were skeptical if people would actually contribute and there would be enough food for everyone attending. My contribution was making two turkeys, stuffing and cranberry sauce. I had never made a turkey before and know from previous family thanksgivings that things can easily go wrong when cooking the turkey but I was very attentive while cooking and they actually turned out great! I was more than thrilled and it was rewarding to see everyone enjoying what I had made. We did not go around saying what we were all thankful for because there were so many of us but the positive fun atmosphere was enough to make me happy and really appreciate where I am presently not only in location but in life in general. The majority of people that were at the Thanksgiving dinner were all surfers and there happened to be an asp surfing competition on that evening so after dinner we watched some surfing and relaxed by a fire. It was a great night with amazing people, delicious food, good surf and a cozy fire.