It's all over already?

Claudio and I are now counting down the days until we fly back to Seattle. WHAT? Already? It's amazing how quickly the two semesters flew by (minus a few assignments that I'm currently knee-deep in!). We're headed back on April 15th so I can write my dissertation from there. Ironic that my actually dissertation will NOT be written in Dublin, contrary to the blog title!

We had an amazing time living in Dublin (though its awfully cold and dark, why did we skip summer?!). We had the chance to travel to 5 countries total (Spain, France, England, Wales and Scotland) but we skipped a lot of our dream destinations (ISTANBUL! Croatia! Rome! Greece!). But that was OKAY, because now we are comfortable in Europe and will come back to hit all of our dream spots. We ARE students and couldn't do everything.

I've been reflecting recently on everything I've learned in my program and I've realized how much I've learned. And trust me, I could have tried much harder to absorb more. But I gave my all in my assignments and have grasped some difficult theories and debated over policies. Overall, I'm grateful that I've been able to grow as much as I have during our short stay in Ireland.

You may have heard me complain a bit over the past year of frustration in Ireland. Like, water heaters? Space? The darkness of winter? etc... but there are a lot of things we'll miss.

Firstly, the food. Not bangers and mash, but the food that normal people buy..

Literally, life is not complete without taco fries. How will I live without this disgusting addiction? Thick cut fries/chips, smothered in "meat sauce" (basically chili with no beans), then covered in Taco Mayo (idk even know how to explain it) and cheese. YUM.

Taco Fries

Garlic Mayonaise. Europe must be so inventive with their mayos... because it's kind of like ranch, but its on a different level.

garlic mayo for the win.

The Hot Chocolate. the HC here is made with steamed milk and melted chocolate, so, you can imagine its deliciousness. 

I'll miss this beautiful campus!

I'll also miss walking through the parks and green-spaces on my way home from school

Dublin itself is alright TOO I suppose....

And of course, all of the tourists. Just kidding, there's so many of them and they walk too slowly when I'm rushing XD

No, what I'll really miss are some amazing friends I've made while here in Ireland. Unfortunately we're careless and never took a group photo throughout the year, but here's Bashayer, the best study-mate a girl could ask for!

Now, all that's left is to stop procrastinating my theoretical analysis of Affirmative Action, finish packing our last few items, and finally cleaning my apartment... though it's the size of a shoebox so it can't possibly take that long.

Friends all over the world

After we returned home from the Canaries, we went back to school, the left for the United Kingdom! We were honestly a little burnt out on traveling, but Lukas Parra, one of Claudio's good friends from University in Chile (and the Guitarist for Chilean band 'Casino Paris'...!), met us there to explore!

We saw London...

 

Then drove to Stonehenge..

And visited the historic Cities of Bath and Cardiff,

Bath

Cardiff Bay

The best castle - Caerphilly Castle! It was great!

Then went to Birmingham, which didn't have anything worth to photograph..... but had Mia! A wonderful new friend who is Claudio and Lukas's other Chilean friend's girlfriend. Yeah, TOO complicated I know. But she was great!

Theennnnn we took an overnight bus up to Glasgow. Our favorite places were definitely Cardiff and Glasgow... even if it was snowing the entire time.

More than the places that we SAW in the United Kingdom, it was the people that we met (Marie, James, Mia!) and spent WAY too much time with (Lukas, my new best friend basically). We had an amazing time!

Now the twist. We flew back to Dublin, and two days later hopped onto ANOTHER flight to Barcelona! We're crazy, Right?? 

We were invited to Barcelona by Claudio's Aunt Alejandro and cousin Jano. They were on a stopover from Chile before embarking on a cruise around the mediterranean to celebrate Jano becoming an official doctor! Way to go Jano! 

Barcelona was so alive, we had such a great time! 

 

Although we saw a lot of the city, we spent all of our time catching up with family. We wouldn't have had it any other way! 

Now that we've travelled so much, we're 'plumb tuckered out'. No more traveling for us, we have to concentrate on final assignments now and THESIS proposals. What a horrifying thought.  

Trapped on a desert island!

Did I say trapped? It was much more of a vacation than that!

Now, I'm almost a month late on posting this, but I've been busy busy! Our trip consisted of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the two most Eastern islands of the canaries - only 120 miles from Western Sahara, a non-independent region next to Morocco.

Besides the photos put up onto facebook, there's not too much to say about our beach vacation. It was absolutely wonderful and relaxing. It wasn't really warm enough to swim too much in the ocean, but we were amazed at how inexpensive the accommodation on the islands were. We drove around some death-defying roads, learned about salt ponds, ate some distinctively amazing pizza (Hawaiian Pizza in Costa Calma, we're pointing at you!) and just celebrated our two years of marriage. It's happened so fast, but each day has been better than the one before.

What accomplishment feels like

Announcement: I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED MY ESSAYS! They aren't due for another week or so, but we're hopping onto a flight at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow, so I had to get them all finished! WHAT  a relief.

I had three final essays this semester. For my course on Israel and Palestine, my essay was entitled, "Under the Olive Tree: An analysis of the symbolism of trees in Israel - Palestine". For my course on Labour, Migration and Conflict, my essay was entitled, "Right Wing Xenophobia and Sweden's Mosque Arson". For my FINAL essay that I just finished (!!!) for Human Rights and Global Issued I wrote "Indigenous Self-Determination as a Human Right Set Apart in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples". BOOM. I feel like I accomplished a lot, and I really liked what I produced this semester. 

 

That plane we're catching tomorrow, you might ask? The Canaries. Sunshine. Sand. Waves. HEAT. Oh how I'm excited, I'm already packed (<- one of the ways to procrastinate writing essays, y'know.)! Our itinerary is all done, since I'm an obsessive planner, and we're ready to go! Except that leaving-to-the-airport-at-5am part... that's not very exciting. 

Christmas was wonderfulllll. If you remember, we went on a tour of South-Western Ireland. Although it was quite cold and windy (which can be expected in December in Europe...) we had a great time. There was 12 of us total on the tour, and we saw so many things! 

We saw castles...

and Cliffs...

and lakes...

 

 

Cute towns...

and went on horse and carriage ride...

It was so fun, and a great mix of education and a good time!

In the next month, I'm going to be on 8 different planes.. So stay tuned for more adventures!

It's December already?

Whoa! So, I've heard from some people telling me to update my blog since my last post was in October. yelp. Well... we have good reasons for that! Masters degrees!

As of today, all my classes are finished up and I'm busy just writing some papers. This semester I took the following courses ...

1. Labor, Migration and Conflict - Final Paper to be written!
2. Race, Ethnicity: Theoretical Concepts - DONE
3. Colonialism, Conflict and Liberal Intervention - DONE
4. Conflict Zones: Israel-Palestine - Final Paper in progress!
5. Research Methods - DONE
6. Race, Ethnicity and Social Policy - DONE
7. Human Rights and Global Issues- Final Paper to be written!

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of my courses and have learned so much! Claudio, as of today, has finished 2/5 of his classes! Those being Derivatives and Quantitative Methods. From what I gather, he has finals left for Capital Markets, Econometrics, and Corporate Finance. How exciting does that sound? (The answer is not! But he's doing well :) )

Christmas in Dublin is quite nice! here's some shots that I stole from google, since I'm never wise enough to take out a camera and get photos.

Dublin Christmas Market at Stephen's Green

Grafton Street adorned in lights

Popular student hangout, the Ginger Man

I've set myself due dates for the 3 last papers that I have to do, but here's what I get to look forward to during my month long Christmas vacation!

My mom & dad are GREAT and felt bad that we didn't decorate for Christmas and didn't have any plans, so they're gifting us a tour of the west coast of Ireland for Christmas! How wonderful are they?

We'll see sights like these...

Cliffs of Moher

The Burren

Historic village of Dingle

The Ring of Kerry

These partly are for your guys' enjoyment, but also for my motivation.. the quicker I finish these papers, the quicker I get to go see these beauties!

The "Christmas" vacation Claudio and I planned actually takes place in January, because of the cost of flights and things. We'll be headed straight for the sunshine in the Canary Islands! The canaries are basically the Hawaii of Europe, just a LOT cheaper and most Spanish than anything. We'll be visiting Lanzarote and Fuerteventura... which are the two most Saharan looking islands, as opposed to the more lush islands. Here's some photos for everyone who wants to get a case of jealousy.

A little stark, yes, but this is when the new episode "Kill the Moon" on Doctor Who was filmed, so I'm up for a lunar beach escape!

After we get home all suntanned and relaxed, I'll be back at Trinity for my second half of classes. I'll be taking

1. Race, Ethnicity: Theoretical Concepts - (second half)
2. Colonialism, Conflict and Liberal Intervention - (second half)
3. Research Methods - (second half)
4. Forced Migration and Ethnic Cleansing
5. and another elective I haven't decided on yet?

Hopefully you guys are all excited now to see my POST-TRIP photos! Thanks for reading! 

Where else do you think we should go in Europe?