Traveling Ireland and Getting to Germany

Oh my gosh, Ireland is beautiful!!! I highly recommend leaving Dublin and spending time in the country-side. We drove from (and by we, I mean Tom) Dublin to the Cliffs of Mohar and on the way were some adorable towns, beautiful green pastures and lots of sheep and cows. We stopped at a small castle on the way and a beautiful lookout on Galway Bay. Then we found a cute little spot for lunch in one of the towns. There may have been a lot of folks at the Cliffs of Mohar, but geez were they amazing!!

After the Cliffs we headed to Kilarny, our sleeping location. There we met Pauline at the Parkfield B&B and followed her recommendation for a delicious dinner at Mac's. There we had some amazing food and spectacular ice cream. I had a baked hake that was amazing!! and a sticky toffee pudding with homemade ice cream :) We left Mac's very happy but very full! Our next (and final) stop for the night was Murphy's Pub (in honor of Brian Murphy, one of my classmates traveling with me). There was Murphy's Stout and live music (yes, it was even Irish). By the time we made it home we were quite ready for bed. The morning brought with it a full Irish breaky and even some sunshine.

Today we drove from Kilarny (although we could have easily stayed a few more days) to Blarney, home of the Blarney castle and Blarney stone. We got to the castle while it was still relatively early, so the crowds were light. We hiked up the castle, and kissed the stone known for blessing those who kiss it with the gift of eloquence :)  

Finally we had to make our way back to Dublin for our flight to Frankfort. Tom was an excellent driver and stayed on the wrong side of the road the whole time (even when we weren't sure where we were going or where the GPS was sending us). We made it to the airport with plenty of time and our flight brought us safely to Frankfort. Now we've settled in our home of Weisbaden.

Tomorrow...school :-P 

Dublin - Day 1

It was an early start this morning, but I'm now in Dublin!! And so far I can't complain. My classmates are sleeping off their jet lag, but we already did quite a bit.

Once I got in to the hostel, we started trekking around the city by finding Christchurch and St Patrick's Cathedral. Both are quite beautiful, but you have to pay to go inside...we did go into St Patrick's but not Christchurch. Then we found a random, and I mean random, pub for lunch on our way to the Guinness Storehouse. At this point, my poor classmates are starting to get very tired since they didn't sleep well on their trip over...but we still made it to Guinness since our room at the hostel wasn't ready yet. Guinness was possibly the nicest brewery tour I've ever done!

 We started with the 9000 year lease signed by Mr Guinness himself and went through some standard stuff (ingredients, process etc) but then we got to take the opportunity to learn how to pour the perfect pint. I, of course, volunteered to be the first one up. And it really wasn't that hard once our 'professor', he looked like he could barely drive, broke it down for us. And then it tasted amazing!! Finally we got to go up to the 7th floor which has a panoramic view of Dublin...quite cool even on a less than stellar day.

Today might end a little bit more low key (we're all tired) but tomorrow we're going to the Jamison distillery and planning on a pub crawl...oh and a day tour too...

Cheltenham Spa

Cheltenham Spa is where my good friend from Purdue, Brienne, lives. I'm so happy to see her and her new home is a cute town in the Cotswold area of England. I got to her town around 5p yesterday and we went out for a delightful dinner, then I learned about the game of Snooker (no, not Snookie...). It's a billiards like game, but with lots more rules. 

Today Steve had to go to work, but Brienne and I took the time to hang out and explore town a little bit. This even included a full tea with finger sandwiches, scones and delicious deserts. Oh and the tea was pretty tasty too. 

 After our tea we continued exploring and walked through some beautiful little community gardens.

Now its time for some relaxing before dinner and then tomorrow, I'm heading to Dublin!!

Almost on the move again

I can't believe it, but I'm about to start another one of my crazy journeys...


This time it will be for a study abroad at the European Business School in Weisbaden, Germany. But first, I'll be going to England to see a good friend of mine who recently moved there. And then to Ireland to meet up with some of my classmates.


And we even are planning our weekends already! One to Prague and the other to Munich!


I can't wait...but at the same time there is so much to do before I leave (like finish classes and pack up my apartment).


I promise more...if you're still out there (it has been a while after all)

9th residential state

I'm sure there are people out there that can beat this, but I was pretty surprised to realize that I've now lived in 9 separate states (some multiple times and locations).

My newest residence is Cupertino, CA in 'Silicon Valley' south of San Fransisco. I've started an internship at Lab126, which does research & development for amazon.com's Kindle. I'm one of the first interns to start for the summer and I'm already enjoying the company, people and pace. Amazon is a different type of company and I like being a part of it (even if they aren't my direct employer). They don't spend all their time making powerpoint presentations, they instead invest time in their vetting their ideas through white papers. They have some crazy and peculiar ways centered around their customer, but they stick to them and live by them. Its way more relaxed that I could have imagined.

I've got a cute lil apt to myself and there's a pool (and sunshine to take advantage of) and I even got a bike to use for the summer. I'm definitely excited to start meeting other interns and making plans for discovering the area (here I come Napa!).

So far all is good, can't wait to share more :)

Dubai - the american city in the desert

So I feel like I've been neglecting my blog, but really I haven't been traveling as much so there was fair reason for the lack of posts.

I was granted the opportunity to go to Dubai as part of the interview process for a program called Executive Track at the business school Hult that I have been accepted to. I've been accepted to the London campus which would be a fantastic adventure! This less than well known school has 5 campuses cross the globe; Shanghai, San Francisco, Boston, London and Dubai. The Executive Track program is a mentoring program for those lucky enough to be accepted. Dubai was the final evaluation.

I left Seattle at 1pm on Friday, arrived in Washington DC at 845p and left for Dubai on a 777 at 10pm. It was a long 12.5 hour flight, but I kept busy with movies (RED and Unstoppable), my book (Through Painted Deserts), sudoku and sleep (but not much). Sadly I arrived at about 10pm so I couldnt see the fabulous island designs as we landed. We were staying at the Holiday Inn by the Mall of the Emirates and it was really nice. There was a beautiful rooftop pool and nice rooms. My roommate was a wonderful lady from San Fran (originally India) but sadly, she had come down with a nasty cold. I did a little exploring of the hotel (I could see the sail hotel from the roof) before hitting the hay and getting some rest before the big day.

I wont go into the details of evaluation day other than it was a mix of individual and group activities and it left me wondering if I want my business career in the hands of this particular school. By the end of the day I was feeling my jet lag and feeling the onset of a nasty cold.

Monday we had to ourselves, so after breakfast and the realization that I couldn't afford to go up the worlds tallest building, my roommate and I ventured out and over to the Mall of the Emirates. It was a pretty impressive, expansive and expensive!! But I must say it was pretty darn cool to see the infamous 'Ski Dubai', an inside ski area. Possibly the most interesting thing you could have in the middle of the desert.

After exploring the mall, we decided to try to venture to the creek front where there were supposed to be markets and lots to see. We took the metro system which was pretty nice and easy. The only fault was that I was turned around at the exit so it took a little bit longer to find the creek. By the time we found it we were hot, tired and needed to get back to the hotel to check out. On the way back we stopped to take pictures of the worlds tallest building. It is pretty impressive, and reminded me somehow of the Empire State Building in NYC.

Back to the hotel we found ourselves exhausted and ready to go home, but with about 8 hours left before our flights. We spent some time on the roof (taking naps) and in the lobby (chatting and drinking tea). But eventually we just gave up and went to the airport. I was sad to go without doing more but when you're sick there's only so much you can do.

The airport was quite the experience. I think my luggage was scanned 3 times before being searched at the gate....I won't be complaining about US security for a while. I did get a chance to write postcards before leaving though :) And it is quite a pretty airport with palms and gorgeous decor.

It was a long trip back to the states, but I was glad to be back so that I could recover from my cold in comfort. Now I have some very cool passport stamps and a new experience.

new adventures

Wow, happy 2011!!!

So my life has changed once again. I've moved back to Washington (state, not capital) and so happy to be around my friends again. I lucked out and was able to not only transfer my job, but get a promotion in the process too! The new store is a little bit smaller and slower but the women who work there are just as fantastic.

And now I've just learned that I've been accepted to Hult International Business School (http://hult.edu/). Its a really exciting program because in the one year MBA program there is the opportunity to spend time at three of their five campuses. I have been accepted to the London campus which means I can spend the first six months there and then I hope to rotate to the campus in Shanghai and then San Fransisco.

Now I'm moving on to figuring out how to fund my MBA which is a whole new challenge to start attacking.

Its been a fun week to say the least.

Hugs & love :)