Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Araceli

Over the holidays, I went to a beautiful photo exhibit dedicated to the one and only Audrey Hepburn. I didn’t realize that Audrey spent so much time in Rome throughout her career. Her photo display gave me the chance to truly appreciate and admire both her professional and personal life. Especially her goodwill efforts with UNICEF! Love one of her quotes, “For some trips all you need is one piece of luggage. Your heart.” Brava Audrey for continuing to inspire women today from all over the world with your style, grace and talent!

My Trip to Ireland Part II: University of Cork, Blarney Castle, and Green Ireland

By: Amanda Hughes



The next day we went to the University of College Cork. Quite possibly the most beautiful college campus I’ve ever visited. The students attending this university really make the most of their campus. I saw many of them sitting outside studying, reading, talking to friends, riding bikes on the paths, etc. I really could see myself coming back to Cork one day to teach (they have an American Lit department, so it wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea).We spent each weekday morning on the campus listening to mini-lectures from various faculty. And each weekday afternoon we took mini-field trips.

The first afternoon field trip was to Blarney. Yep, you guessed it, home to the infamous Blarney stone. What you don’t know about said stone until you go to Blarney……it’s at the top of a castle. No problem, right? Yeah…this place was built over 800 years ago. The stairs 1) wind up for about eight flights and 2) are so narrow you have to walk up sideways. Needless to say, I was not enthusiastic about kissing the stone by the time I got to the top. And I was even less enthusiastic when I saw the Blarney stone: there, above and to the left of the man’s hand – where the stone is noticeably darker than the rest of the wall – is where you plant your lips. Given my history of illness (apparently, when I get sick, I GET SICK) and knowing about half the world had been there before me, I declined to kiss the Blarney stone. My inaction caused a lot of reaction back home. I was told I would regret not doing it. I’m happy to report I’m very glad I didn’t. I did, however, get some pretty nice pictures of the castle

Other than visiting Blarney castle, we visited Blarney Woollen Mills – the largest family owned business in the Republic. The current CEO is the daughter of the founder. When she was 16, her father put her with a cart full of knickknack type of souvenirs at the base of Blarney Castle and she sold these goods to tourists. When the mill went bust in the 70s, her father bought it and turned into a much larger version of the cart. It was highly successful from day one. About ten years ago, the current CEO visited the U.S. Impressed with the way stores such as Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn were laid out, she changed the entire layout of the mill. Along with souvenirs, she incorporated goods marketed toward the locals of the area, such as bedroom furniture and kitchen staples. She also turned part of the mill into a cafeteria type restaurant, similar to what IKEA stores have – only they serve traditional Irish food.

The next day we again had a mini-lecture and a mini-trip. This time we went to the Tyndall National Institute. It’s a research facility owned by the university. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the place, but I gotta say, as someone who is not scientifically inclined, I was seriously impressed by the work they do there. What made the trip even more cool - the Queen of England had been there only a few days before us.

On Thursday, we took a day trip to Kinsale. It is a Sweet little town, with a harbor full of ships and old buildings.

Our next field trip took us to what was probably my favorite place, Killarney. Why was it my fave? I fell in love with this little lady (pony) and I met this barn kitty……and this one. Did I mention how green Ireland is? There are literally so many shades of green, you cannot count them all.

Thanks for reading about my trip to Ireland. I hope that you make a trip there one day. If so, contact me. In the meantime, have a look at my slideshow above!

My Trip to Ireland Part I: Arrival

By Amanda Hughes from Taking Chances TX

Before I even arrived on the Emerald Isle, I knew I would be exposed to a lot of differences from my home country (and by home country I mean Texas, of course). However, I didn’t expect the differences to begin at the airport and I certainly didn’t expect them to begin in the bathroom…see the toilet in the slideshow above. That’s right, the first picture I took on this trip was of a toilet in the Dublin International Airport. It just looked, well, strange to me. So I took a picture. And now you know what a toilet in Ireland looks like.

After taking the above picture, I changed into more appropriate attire. Dublin was a good 40 degrees cooler than San Antonio (even at the end of May) and let’s just say, it was a welcome change to walk down the sidewalk and not feel like it was sautéing me. At the same time, walking around Dublin in the normal uniform for Texas in the month of May (t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops) would have sent me into hypothermia within three steps outside of the airport, so a change of clothes was definitely necessary.

Then came the hell that is known as currency exchange. If you think you’re financially strapped in our country, then I don’t recommend a trip to any country within the EU anytime soon (or the UK). I seriously had to pick my jaw up off the exchange counter when the $100 I handed over came back to me at a much lower denomination and minus a processing fee. It was like being at a gas pump when gas was almost $5 a gallon – that kind of feeling (you know, the bent over one). Taken advantage of doesn’t even begin to cover how this experience felt. Once I semi recovered from the sticker shock, we were on our way to locate the bus that would take us to Cork. I was pretty disappointed when we were told we would not be taking this one (see slideshow)……cause, come on, how fun would it be to ride around Ireland in this bus? But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

I wish I could tell you the bus ride to Cork was breathtaking, magical, and filled with awe at the beauty of the natural landscape. I’m sure it was every bit of those descriptions, but I fell asleep and slept pretty much the whole way there (thanks a lot jet lag). All I managed to stay awake for was this (view from bus).In case you forgot what that is, that’s rain. Don’t worry, I had forgotten what it looked like too. We did stop for lunch on the way to Cork and you know I did wake up for that (those that know me best know I don’t miss a meal). And so, in the sweet little town of Cashel we weary travelers stopped for a bite to eat and to take in some of the sights, which included, A charming street in Cashel, An old castle, the Rock of Cashel, a street sign in Gaelic and English, oh and lunch!

The Irish clearly have their priorities in order. I’m seriously considering opening one of these in San Antonio (News and Booze drive-thru) Although we only spent a couple of hours in Cashel, I really enjoyed the visit. It was the beginning of a dream come true. With a heavy heart, I got back on the bus (I seriously could have stayed there the entire trip – it was like Jewett, only much more charming) and promptly fell back asleep. Waking up to the vision of our hotel both startled and relieved me. Believe it or not, I didn’t take any pictures of the hotel (oops). So in lieu of personal pictures, here’s a link to The River Lee Hotel:

http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/cork

The rest of this first day was pretty uneventful. I ordered room service and was not expecting my 7-Up to come in a glass bottle, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Dancing with the Mop: Lessons Learned from Studying Abroad

Photo: Museo Nacional del Prado

By Bethy Hardeman, follow her blog on Yahoo!

I walked out of my third- floor apartment in Madrid, Spain to the sound of Antonio's birds chirping above me. I looked up after shutting the door to see Antonio himself cleaning in the hallway. He looked up and a smile crept across his chubby face.

"What are you doing, Antonio?" I asked in Spanish.

He stopped his cleaning briefly and smiled bigger. "I'm dancing," he said, winking, "dancing with the mop." He immediately swooped the mop up in his arms and commenced a funny little dance, humming merrily as he did so.

That was my study abroad experience. It wasn't filled with loud dorm rooms full of other American students or large universities packed to the brim with English-speaking young people. No, my experience involved a small language school in the center of Madrid, weekend adventures around Europe and, of course, friendly Spanish faces.

My program at Tandem, Madrid kept me on my toes with classes taught completely in Spanish. Apart from an intensive language course each day, we could also choose from a variety of cultural classes, such as Art and Architecture and Spanish Film. Through my Art and Architecture class, I enjoyed taking walks with colleagues through old and new sections of the city, exploring the architecture we were studying in person.

Excursions around Europe during my study abroad semester allowed me to experience culture outside of the classroom. I learned how to travel independently, despite limited language knowledge, travel frugally by staying in hostels and going by train, and travel thoroughly by experiencing destination cities by foot and immersing myself in the culture.

But at the end of the day, my favorite part about studying abroad was the people I met there. Antonio was the doorman of my apartment building. When not "dancing with the mop," he could be found sitting at the front desk, building a wooden cage for his birds. He would inevitably stop me to pull out a picture of the biggest fish he ever caught, proudly pointing out how large it was. And then there was Jaime, my language exchange partner. We didn't just get together to help each other with our pronunciation. Jaime gave me a real-life language learning experience when he took me car shopping one afternoon. Then there were of course my fellow students at Tandem. Since many of them didn't speak English well, we could only communicate effectively by practicing our Spanish together. I learned how to properly drink beer from a German dentist and how to have fun doing just about anything with friends in the city from a skinny French student. But most of all, I learned how to be confident in speaking the language that will always have my heart: Spanish.