Ireland

Hello all,

Last last night I arrived back from Ireland. It was great! I wish I would have had more time there. On Saturday I flew into Dublin. After quickly dropping my bags at the hotel I set off to explore the city. In order to get my bearings, I hopped on a tour bus that goes all around Dublin and stops at all of the major attractions. Halfway through the tour I stopped off in the area of Temple Bar to have lunch. I ended up at a pub called Stag Head for an irish lunch consisting of fish, chips and a pint. Mmmmm..... After being fueled up, my plan was to tour the Guinness Storehouse. However in my rush to get going I left my ticket at the hotel. So I changed gears and decided to tour the Jameson Distillary instead. It was very education and I learned much about making whiskey. In order to make sure that my education was complete, I sampled a few as well.

Next morning I quickly toured the Guiness Storehouse. I could have spent hours in there as that was much more interesting to me when compared to the Jameson distillary. The views of Dublin from the Gravity Bar are amazing. I took some photos on my new blackberry but am having problem downloading them. But as soon as I have them I will post them for all to see. After chugging a pint of Guiness it was time to head to Galway. And that is where my sightseeing fun eneded. I worked the whole time I was in Galway. All I saw in Galway was Accellent's manufacturing site and the inside of a few pubs. I need to plan a proper holiday there and see all that the island has to offer. Hopefully it won't be long before I get back there.

Saturday I leave for holiday. I am traveling to Mitterfels Germany which is in the Barvarian Alps for a week of hiking, biking and relaxing. I haven't had a vacation in over a year so it is going to be a welcome break from the madness that is known as my life.

Cassie

First Post

Hello! After talking about blogging for months I finally have gotten the site up and running. In the interest of time I am not going to go back and chronicle the last 5 months of my life in Germany. I do have some interesting stories to tell but I would need to spend the next week in front of my computer to write it all down. Not to mention I have already told many of you my stories and don't want to bore my audience. Here is a quick recap of events:

+sold most of what I owned and moved to a foreign country
+started working for the same company but with a new boss
+moved in with boyfriend who turned out to be a douche bag (Erb, thank you for the nickname)
+broke up with aforementioned boyfriend
+still living with gobshite boyfriend but looking for a flat of my own (Anki, thank you for this nickname)
+joined a health club with a co-ed sauna area...very European
+few encounters with the authorities (2 parking tickets, 1 speeding ticket, stopped at a police checkpoint and "met" the US military police in Heidelberg)

Ongoing events include:
+obtain a German drivers license
+learning a to speak German. my ability to speak the language is in direct proportion to the amount of beer that I have consumed (just ask my mother)
+making new friends at the Irish pub who in their own way are helping me with my language skills. You will start to hear new swears (gobshite, wank bag etc...) and words from me like tele, knackered, mum etc...). All of which are the result of my new English, Finnish, Irish, Canadian and Scotish friends.
+trying to join a running club in Heidelberg. I keep getting lost on the way. Yes, I do have a naviagion system in the car. To give you an idea on how well it worked see above statement about US Miliary Police. I blame the Audi navigation system entirely for that encounter.
+getting out and seeing EU. For work I have traveled to Paris, Copenhagen, Milan, Stockholm etc...but not seen a damn thing. This is going to stop and I am going to take advantage of being in EU.

That is about what I can remeber at this point. I will post on a regular basis going forward so that you all can keep up to date on life in Germany from the perspective of a good ol' Wisconsin girl.

Miss you all and wish you were here.
Cassie