I'm Kaitlyn, a junior double major in Psychology and International Studies, with a minor in French. Normally, I study at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. For Spring '11, I'll be studying at Universite Stendhal-Grenoble 3, in the Cultures d'Etudes Francaises (Language and Culture) program. I'll be living with a host family in beautiful Grenoble, also known as the "Capital of the French Alps". I depart from Boston January 9th, and won't be back in the States till May 28th. Follow me as I wander around Europe and try to speak French 24/7. For itinerary/contact/questions, use the pages right below!
June 8th, 2011
Wallingford, Connecticut, USA
I’ve been back in the States for about 11 days now. And I’m still finding that I need more time to adjust being back here. The jet lag wasn’t too bad, but I was falling asleep quite early and waking up earlier than usual. The first morning, I woke up at 6:45am wondering if the hostel bathroom was free.
Even though I was speaking English in Ireland, I still find myself wanting to speak French first rather than English. I also interject little French phrases when I’m speaking to people too (“pas bon”, “d’accord”, etc). American money has also been throwing me off. It just looks so BIG and monochrome. I find single bills perplexing and confused by the thickness of the coins. The other day I was at work and had to give a customer twenty cents in change. I stared at my cash drawer for a minute until I realized there’s no such thing as a twenty center coin here in the States. My wallet is still filled with 1, 2, and 5 centines and I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with them yet.
While there are still things that I need to adjust to, there are also things that came back naturally. I thought driving would be a challenge, but it seemed as natural as ever. I was able to assimilate back to work easily and have been engaging in the normal activities of my home town: going to the movies, the beach, friend’s houses, etc. But at the same time, I almost feel like I’ve outgrown my hometown. After spending a semester traveling and living in a foreign city, it just seems bizarre to come back here and do the same things as I’ve always done. It just feels like something’s missing. There’s no upcoming trips and no more trips to be planned. I’m just here.
As for the semester, here’s a final round-up of where I’ve been:
France:
-Grenoble
-Choranche (visited the caves)
-Lyon
-Nice
-Eze
-St. Tropez
-Vizille (visited the chateau)
Belgium:
Germany:
Austria:
Czech Republic:
Italy:
Netherlands:
Ireland:
There you have it, eight countries and twenty-six cities and places. Click on the city names to get to the entries I wrote about them. I didn’t link the Grenoble entries because there’s so many of them. Overall, I took 13 flights, 2 trains, 2 ferries, 4 cabs, and so many buses that I don’t even want to count them.
I was asked how much money I spent during my semester. I had $4,000 in my bank accounts that I had saved up myself. I charged $1100 to a credit card which covered my second break trip (Italy and Amsterdam) as well as hostels and some tours in Ireland. And finally, I received about $1000 from family for birthday and a last minute emergency cash influx (the Wednesday I was in Ireland, I had no cash and no money in the bank. Whoops). In total, I spent about $6000.
For those of you reading my blog about to study abroad yourselves (and for those of you going to go travel), here are my top travel tips:
1. Plan, plan, plan. Look, traveling spontaneously is fun. But I found that if I didn’t have a plan, I was nervous. Nervous that I wouldn’t have enough money, nervous that I wasn’t going to fully experience the place, and nervous that I was going to miss my next form of transportation.
2. Check ALL times and remember that Europe uses military time! If you have a good memory, you’ll remember that I watched my bus to the airport pull away and I had to take a 160 EUR cab to get there. All because I thought the bus left at 12:30pm and not 12pm. One of my friends thought her plane left at 7pm, but didn’t realize that if that were the case, it would be 19h00 on the ticket. Needless to say, she didn’t make that flight.
3. Save as much as possible as early as possible. I spent my fall semester working 30 hours a week on top a five class course load on top of my regular activities of dance and volunteering. And let me tell you, it was HARD. While I saved up the summer beforehand, it wasn’t enough. And there’s nothing worst than worrying about an $1100 credit card bill and then being told your summer job is fully staffed. Or realizing you literally have NO cash and sending desperate emails to your parents for enough money to get you back to the States. Over save and then just go CRAZY.
4. Buy one of those nerdy neck travel pillows. This is one of my biggest regrets. I really wish I bought one. It’s necessary to sleep on every form of transport (plane, train, and automobile) and my neck would always have the biggest crick in it. One of these pillows would have been perfect.
5. Write about your experience! This blog has been a wonderful way for me to share my stories to keep everyone updated, but also so I can go back and remember what I’ve done. And besides the blog, I also kept a personal journal. I couldn’t tell you guys everything ;). I plan on keeping the blog up and I know that between the two, I’ll be able to look back on my experience for a very long time.
It’s so sad to say that this is the end. I suppose I’ve put off this entry because I didn’t want to admit it. But I’ll have you know, I’m already plotting my return to Europe as well as adding so many other places to my list. How about Latin America? Africa? Asia? Australia? Antartica? There’s an ENTIRE world out there and I want to see it all.
I wanted to thank you all for being there along with me for this amazing journey. It’s been such an incredible opportunity and I can’t believe I’ve gotten to experience all of this. And for those of you who’ve messaged saying they’re heading to Grenoble for a semester, I’m not even going to wish you luck. You are going to have an absolutely amazing experience in a wonderful city. If you start a blog, send it to me so I can live vicariously through you!
If anyone has any questions or wants to keep in touch, my email is kaitlyn.nolan@yahoo.com.
Merci et au revoir!
June 8th, 2011
Hi there! Will you be attending the CUEF within Stendhal? I only know about the options for there and about the ones that were offered my semester.
My electives were politics, economics, and history. I really recommend history as well as politics. I really, really disliked my economics class. Culture and Society was also an option that my friends took and mostly enjoyed. The literature classes I heard were good, but difficult.
Between vocab and translation, my program told me to take vocab. It all depends on your level.
If you have any other questions, feel free to message me at kaitlyn.nolan@yahoo.com! Thanks for reading =)
May 28th, 2011
Galway, Ireland
Galway, Galway, Galway. This was my second trip to Galway as it was also our last stop last year. It’s a great little college city with apparently 35,000 students here during a week.
We wanted to make sure we got to Galway in order to visit with some Stonehill friends before they left for home. Stonehill has a direct program with NUI-Galway and it’s pretty popular with the student body. That would be the program I almost chose over going to Grenoble.
After we got back from the Aran Islands, we met up with some of our Stonehill friends and went out to dinner for pizza. We then headed to the Latin Quarter for a night out. Naturally, we started at The Quays which is a pretty popular bar in the area.
Stonehill friends!
It was a pretty successful evening with our friends bringing us to another one of their favorite bars. The next day, we stuck around the city to do a little souvenir shopping and to catch up with our friend Cat. Here’s a little peek at the Latin Quarter. The blue sky is horribly deceiving. It torrential downpoured at least 14 times during the day.
This is apparently where Christopher Columbus decided there was land past Ireland. Pretty nifty. And then there’s a Spanish arch hanging around there.
We took in the scenery.
It was Galway for Japan day so we ran into a little street fighting demonstration.
And then I got scandalously close to my BFF Oscar Wilde.
That evening, Cat, Megan, and I went out to a pub for some Irish music.
Then yesterday (Friday), we took a Cliffs of Moher tour. It was an alright little tour. I just wanted to see the Cliffs and not really drive through the Burren. But that’s what one gets when signing up for a guided tour.
First, we stopped by Dunguaire Castle.
Then we stopped by a fairy fort. Megan and I didn’t really understand it. You just walk around the perimeter and then we got back on the bus. Our bus driver, while amusing, also mumbled a lot so I’m sure I missed some of the story.
Then we stopped by this ancient tomb. I don’t remember the date, but I’m pretty sure it’s from some ancient cave people. The name, Poulnabrone, translates into “hole of sorrows”.
Then we went to go look at some Celtic high crosses.
And then we FINALLY got to the Cliffs of Moher. And guess what? I couldn’t see a damn thing because of all the fog. I was pretty disappointed.
We headed back on the bus for about an hour’s ride back into Galway. Megan and I spent the evening reorganizing our stuff and eating dinner. We didn’t go out as I had to get up at 6:30am. I’m currently sitting in Shannon Airport waiting for my plane to board in about an hour and a half. It’s bittersweet leaving, but I suppose I’ll wait until I’m back in the States to make one final roundup post.
Goodbye Ireland! And goodbye Europe =(
May 26th, 2011
Inis Mor, Aran Islands, Ireland
It’s said that the further west in Ireland you go, the more “Irish” it is. One cannot get any further west than the Aran Islands. And I’m pretty sure that it’s now my favorite place in Ireland. Have you seen the movie “Leap Year”? That was filmed in Inis Mor and I even visited the same cliffs. Anyways, Inis Mor is a fantastic place. The ground is made up entirely of rocks. The locals have removed the rocks to build stone fences (they’ve been up for a thousand years, and if you were to stretch them out straight, they’d make it to Boston and back again) and then hauled up sand and seaweed in order to grow grass. And the entire place is just absolutely beautiful. There are also plenty of thatched roof cottages. There’s a total of 800 people on Inis Mor (it’s the biggest of the three islands). Another cool tidbit is that they drink only rain water. It collects and they leave it in a reservoir to get it to their houses. Super cool.
We wanted to take bicycles for the day, but the lady in the tourist office said we shouldn’t take the risk with the weather and lose our money. Instead, we took a mini coach with a charming driver named Patrick. What was nice about this was that there were only 5 of us so we could stop wherever we wanted. So we headed to the cliffs and Patrick got us there before the tourists came up. We hiked up to Dun Aonghasa. The wind was brutal, but at least the rain kept off. And there was also an old medieval fort up there.
The best way to get pictures (safely) was by lying down. Have you ever laid at the edge of a cliff? It’s amazing. Go find a cliff and do it. Here are some awesome pics.
We then headed to the ruins of the 7th century monastery. It was pretty awesome.
Later on, Patrick brought us to the coastal drive.
We then went to go visit the seal colony. Apparently, four seals showed up about 20 years ago and now there’s about 60. We only got to see one.
These little house were EVERYWHERE. Patrick kept calling them “leprechaun houses”. One family even had a whole village in the back with a “leprechaun store and church”.
After a few hours, our tour ended. And Megan and I were in love. I never, ever want to leave. Also, our hostel is the coziest little place ever. I love it. We found out about this whole deal through a man we met in Killarney. We started talking to him because he was from Worcester, MA and he found out about this whole Aran Islands/hostel deal. And it was perfect. I really wish we could stay longer, but back to Galway we go!
May 24th, 2011
Killarney, Ireland
So we got into Killarney late Friday night. It was to be our base for the next few days. As I’ve already written, we spent Sunday doing a tour of the Ring of Kerry and Monday we visited Dingle. On Saturday, it DOWN POURED. It was just straight rain all day. But we didn’t want to let that ruin a day so Megan and I took our two new friends from the hostel and headed to Killarney National Park. One of the girls, Christine, wanted to visit the Muckross Traditional Farms. It was not what I was expecting. I was picturing a sort of museum documenting the farms. But instead, it was walking back into time which was AWESOME. If you’ve ever visited Sturbridge Village or Mystic Seaport, you know what I’m talking about.
We started our visit at the very beginning. The farm was a giant loop. We started at this farmhouse where a woman, who reminded me greatly of my Grandma Nolan, explained the way Irish soda bread was made traditionally over a peat fire. She also went through the two room house explaining the different rooms and the objects inside the room.
Later on, we looped back to the first house to see a cow milking! My suburban self was quite impressed.
As we moved onto the next farmhouse, we found it empty. I was quite disappointed as we were supposed to learn how to churn butter there, but what could we do? However, I was for some reason drawn to the back of the house. And what did we find there? PIGS. I was so excited. I did pet some of them of course.
Mama Pig was HUGE.
We moved onto the second cottage where we found another sweet old lady making more Irish soda bread. We were quite excited to have more free food and let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS. All the ingredients were made on the farm so it was nice to eat something so natural.
The farm itself was also absolutely beautiful.
We found the last farmhouse which was also the biggest. I would have loved to live there. It was absolutely cozy.
We left the farm and went to find our other companion, Illiana. She had found the Torc Waterfall and she led us back there. Along the way, we found the Muckross House.
After 2km, we found the waterfall. It put the one that we found in Wicklow to shame.
The rain on the walk back finally let up. And it gave me these beautiful pictures.
Later on, Megan, Christine, and I went to go find some Irish music. We ended up in a pub named Sheehan’s with a GREAT band. They were lively and played all the traditional songs. Granted, we were the youngest people there. But it was absolutely packed and everyone was enthusiastic. Have you ever sang traditional Irish songs in a crowded pub? It’s awesome; put it on your bucket list. I also enjoy it because no one can actually hear me sing so I don’t have to worry about giving anyone an earache. In this picture, Mike is the man with the cane. He kept doing ballin’ hard shoe dances.
After the Ring of Kerry tour Sunday, I went back to Killarney National Park with Megan and Christine. This time, we were in search of Ross Castle (oh heeeey Amanda!). It was closed as it was evening, but I took lots of pictures. Here you go!
We ended up playing cards that night with Christine and heading to bed relatively early. After Dingle yesterday, we searched for more music, but it was pretty dead. We called it an early night as we had a LOT of traveling today. I’m currently on Innis Mor, which is one of the Aran Islands. I can tell you already, I’m either A. Never leaving or B. Coming back ASAP. The girl that works here at the hostel is interviewing another girl right now. I think I might put my application in…
May 23rd, 2011
Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
In all honesty, I think I enjoyed the Dingle trip much more than the Ring of Kerry. The problem with the Ring of Kerry trip was that it was VERY touristy. We just followed around other tours buses all day and kept getting dropped at tourist shops, etc. But with Dingle, it’s such a remote place that I really didn’t see much of anyone. There was one other bus that I saw, but we never stopped with them.
Our first stop was at Inch Beach. It was VERY windy, but absolutely beautiful.
And then we ran into a little traffic problem. Those would be sheep in the road.
The countryside is just absolutely beautiful. The whole saying about 40 shades of green? Completely true.
Oh and then we ran into another traffic jam. Those would be cows this time.
We took another stop to admire more beautiful Dingle.
So Dingle, as well as some other areas in the far west, is known as the “Gaeltacht”. That means that Irish Gaelic is the first language and everyone is fluent in it. If you want to learn Irish, as I’ve learned French, you go to Dingle to study. While throughout Ireland the signs are both in English and Irish, in Dingle they’re only in Irish. “Siopa” means “shop” and “tabairine” means tavern.
This is the second oldest church in Ireland. It was built in the 5th century.
Megan didn’t really fit.
This is Fungi, the adopted dolphin of Dingle. I don’t really know the story, but apparently he’s well loved and hanging around the bay somewhere.
Dingle town is super cute.
I really, really loved Dingle. I would love to go and just stay there for a while. On a side note, our driver Barry looked JUST LIKE my Grandpa Nolan. To the point that I really wanted to take a picture to prove it to everyone, but I refrained. So you’ll just have to take my word. And take my other word: go to Dingle.
May 23rd, 2011
Ring of Kerry, Ireland
So from Killarney, Megan and I have taken a bunch of day trips. Sunday was supposed to be to the Dingle peninsula, but they ended up deciding not to go. So instead, we were switched to the tour for the Ring of Kerry. That would just be the peninsula to one side that’s also quite pretty. Mike, our tour guide, picked us up from our hostel and off we went.
Along the way, I learned that Kerry is the most popular tourist destination for Americans in Ireland. It has something to do with the fact that many ancestors sailed off this course for the States. While gorgeous, it’s still a poor area. We saw schools for sale and a new housing development with only one house bought. Apparently, the kids my age are constantly leaving Ireland to look for work.
Onto the pictures.
This is King Puck. He’s in Killoglin (Megan’s fave name) and is the king of the festival that’s there every August. Apparently it’s some sort of horse/drinking festival and the goat is king. It had something to do with the English.
Here’s the Atlantic Ocean from the other side of the pond.
This was pretty cool. This is where Daniel O’Connell was born. He was the reason why the Penal Laws were repealed in the late 1800s. We like him.
Megan and I tried having a picnic lunch here. It didn’t really work out as it started to rain. Thanks Ireland.
Here’s more prettiness.
This is Ladies’ View. Back in the 1800s, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting decided this is the prettiest place all in Ireland. I think they judged incorrectly as I’ve already seen many beautiful places earlier in the day.
Megan got to drive the bus.
Overall, it was a pretty successful day. It barely rained and we got a nice ride around the coast. Mike was a pretty good driver, but he got cranky towards the ends. Whoops.
May 21st, 2011
County Wicklow, Ireland
We signed up for the Wicklow tour from the recommendation of one of friends in Grenoble. It was an all day excursion and we were the youngest people by a good forty years. However, our driver Kevin was fantastic and the entire day was BEAUTIFUL. We went to the Glendalough National Park where they filmed PS I Love You, Braveheart, Black Stallion, etc etc. After lunch, we were given two hours to explore a different park. Megan and I had a field day with pictures.
Hanging out by the Irish sea outside of Dublin.
We went to a really bizarre pit stop. I thought we were just stopping by a coffee shop, but it was this extensive store. We enjoyed the puppets we found.
This is a cemetery that actually belongs to Germany. They plots are filled with German soldiers that crash landed in Ireland during the two World Wars. Germany asked that the bodies be exhumed and to be returned to their mother land. Ireland offered to make that cemetery official German soil rather than disturb the dead.
The park!
Kevin called this his “little slice of heaven”. I’m going to agree with him on that one.
See that green field down there? That’s where the movies were filmed.
This is the gate that leads to the Guinness estate. The driveway is 33 miles long.
This is the second park.
This is me playing with the settings on my camera. It was awesome. I personally look like a ghoul.
Here’s a pretty waterfall.
I REALLY enjoyed the tour. The countryside was absolutely breath-taking. Apparently, the national park is covered in purple flowers in July and August. That scene in PS I Love You where Holly’s lost in the park? She claims she’s cold, but she lies. We now know that was filmed in July or August. Anyways, this was an awesome little tour and if you even go to Dublin, I’d recommend taking it.
May 21st, 2011
Dublin, Ireland
The time I spent in Dublin flew by. I got there around 5:30pm on Wednesday and then headed into the city from the airport. Queen Liz, of England, happened to be visiting at the same time. Her visit was quite the debacle and caused a great amount of traffic. Unfortunately, I never got to see her.
This was my third trip to Dublin. During spring break of last year, I went to Ireland along with a class I was taking at Stonehill. And we covered Dublin EXTENSIVELY. It was nice to go back, though, and just know where everything was. Megan hadn’t been in about seven years so I just led the way to each place. I even found myself giving directions to people for the major sights.
Wednesday night, Megan and I ate dinner at the hostel (hamburger and a pint!) and then wandered out into the night. She wanted to go to Temple Bar so we headed there looking for some music. We ended up meeting two people that are from the town next to her so we made friends. They actually ended up coming out with us Thursday night as well.
During the day Thursday, we took a bus tour to County Wicklow. I’ll save that for the next entry though because I have a LOT of pictures.
That night, we signed up for a pub crawl. We ended up ditching the pub crawl and just meeting up with them later. They had brought us to a great little pub with music. The guy playing, Brian, was fantastic. We stayed there for three hours. And then, we went to Whelan’s. This is the pub where P.S. I Love You was filmed. Remember the scene where Holly is serenaded by “Galway Girl” in the pub? Yeah, this is where those scenes were filmed. AWESOME.
Friday morning, we got up to repack some of our things and to drop them off in the luggage locker. We then headed to the Guinness Storehouse. This was my third time going, but Megan’s first. Along the way, we stopped by Trinity College. I LOVE Trinity. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. So did Cedric.
So then we headed to Guinness. I think it’s a pretty nifty place and the Gravity Bar at the top has great views. I didn’t take a lot of pictures here as I took a lot last year, but here’s a sampling!
We headed back across town at that point to grab our luggage and head to Killarney. We never actually checked out the travel time, but it took us a total of six hours to get here. It was a pretty comfortable coach though and the ride was gorgeous.
As for today, it’s POURING. Thanks Ireland. But Killarney is super cute. I love it already.
May 19th, 2011
Au Revoir Grenoble
My study abroad experience in Grenoble officially ended yesterday at 1pm when my bus pulled away from the gare to bring me to the airport. I won’t lie, saying goodbye was HARD. Unlike leaving home for the summer, or from Stonehill for a break, I won’t be returning to Grenoble soon. And it’s a really weird feeling saying goodbye to a home of yours, not knowing when you’ll see it, or the people associated with it, again. Luckily, most of my friends are from New England or go to school near me so it won’t be horribly difficult to see them again. And those that are further away? Another reason why I need to explore the States more!
However, my last day in Grenoble was a great one. It didn’t get sad until late in the night (1:30am), when the goodbyes started. One of my best friends left and it was hard to see him leave. It hit me then hard and the next half hour was filled with teary goodbyes.
We had fun though! Julie and I went on a final photo shoot. Here are my final pictures of Grenoble. I was so incredibly blessed to live in such an incredibly beautiful place.
This is my favorite park: Jardin de Ville.
For some reason, Grenoble got very confused and thought they were Nice and put up lots of palm trees. One of my goals before I left was to sit in one. I’m glad I can achieve my goals.
Julie decided to stop and smell the flowers.
We also found the tourist train. I had REALLY wanted to ride it with everyone, but it was 7EUR. So this picture will suffice.
This is a Grenoble sunset.
This is the photographic series titled, “Scenes before/after Economics”
Greg and I are admiring the whole lion/serpent thing.
And this is a very happy Ali and Kaitlyn.
It was definitely hard leaving everyone. We had such an amazing semester. I can’t quite believe it’s over and I don’t really want to. That’s all I can really say for now. Thinking about it just makes me really sad.
At the moment, I’m sitting in Dublin, Ireland. I’m here with Megan and we’re already having a blast. I planned my Ireland trip just so I could go back to Ireland. But in all honesty, it’s a great buffer. This is the first time I’ve been in an English speaking country in almost five months. I was horribly overwhelmed yesterday by all the English and still catch myself wanting to ask questions/greet people in French. (However, there is a group of French kids sitting near me and I’m eavesdropping baha) Also, this is a place I know and love. This is my third time in Dublin, and at this point, I know it well. I can get to where I want to without a problem and feel comfortable here. Hopefully these ten days will help me decompress and I’ll be okay when I walk out of Logan. Or, it could go the other way and I’ll still be in complete shock. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
