Dublin

Well, this past weekend I went to Dublin. I went to meet up with Joanna Morton, however my flight arrived at 7am and she couldn't meet me until 6pm. So I had a day to fill. First of all there were no trains out of Cambridge past 11:19pm the night before, so I had to take it and hang out in an airport until 6 am. I pretty much stayed awake the whole time. When I arrived in Dublin, I got off the bus at Trinity College and just started walking.

The first thing I did was go see the Book of Kells. It is the oldest account or at least it is old, or the New Testament Then I got to see the long hall of the library and it was awesome. I know, exciting right.

Then I walked around town, found St. Stephens park and took a nap. I have been blessed by the weather in England and Ireland, no rain and all sun. I woke up a little while later to a concert being played in the park. I sat and enjoyed it and then moved on.

I then tried to find the Guiness tour. I took all these nice Irish peoples directions and I got lost. ( If you ever in Ireland and you are lost, I have been told it is better to ask someone walking your direction because they will proably take you there). Finally found it, got my free pint , that I paid for and headed back to meet up with Joanna.

Joannna, I can't say enough about her and Richie. They were the best hosts and tour guides. They are fun, easy going, and just good people. If you know Joanna, you should try to go visit her before she moves back to the states next year. Awesome time.

Anyway back to it, Joanna took me back to her flat and cooked veggie enchiladas, they were awesome. Then we were off to Odonohues for a couple of pints. It is a pub where local musicians come in and play for free!! We had a good chat with Flavian and Alva, their friends, and headed back where we discovered an irishman under took parked cars passed out. We got someone to take care of him and headed back for some taco fries.

The next day I slept in till half 12, or 1230. Joanna and I went to eat and then on to the Jameson factory. I of course got to do the tasting and had a few shots with a fellow american.

We also stopped off at a pub called the Church, which is a huge converted church that is now a pub/nightclub. We met Richie at home and then headed for a country drive where we saw the foothills and an overlook of Dublin. I got to see a rainbow in Ireland as well as a bunch of sheep. Then we headed back and picked up some KFC and Budweiser in honor of the 4th of July. Richie got out his accordian and played an irish jig for me. Apparently like 12 of his cousins and stuff play fiddles, banjos, guitars, and accordians and they always play together.

It was time to go to Goggartys, a pub in temple bar, where we danced a jig, sang traditinal irish pub songs and met a few other americans. Amazing time.

The next morning I woke up at half 8 and We head to what is called the Forty Foot. It is the bank next to the ocean that local irish folk come to every morning and swim in. The thing is, the water is freezing. They just like to take a bit of a dip and then start their day. I know not every tourist gets to do that, so I was pumped. (Forty foot is not a cliff, it is just forty feet deep in high tide, I thought it was a cliff too.)

Then I headed back.

God is Good

Day5 Heading to Dublin

Right now I am in London Luton airport.. It was a bad idea to make plans at the last minute because my flight leaves at 6 and i have been in train stations, and now the airport since 11. Seems like a long time for such a short trip... well if I hadn't taken those trains early I wouldn't have been able to make it here until after my flight, which is non refundable. but I'm here so no worries.

Um Yesterday or 2days ago yesterday, my class took a field trip of London. We went to the Tower of London first which is in sight of the London bridge and it houses the crown jewels. It was pretty cool, I got in trouble for filming the crown jewels, another video you have to wait for, and saw armor, and prisoner walls with old writing scratched in them. Then we went to the St. Pauls Cathedral which has the 3rd largest dome in the world. It was beautiful. Next we went to the British Royal Courts and saw a few guys walking around, not in costume but uniform, robes and wigs.

Then we ate, British food is not very good and since it has been so hot, none of it is that appetizing since it is all hot food.

After that we walked like 20 blocks saw Lord Nelsons tower, stood in the place where Charles the I was beheaded, and the eventully got to Parliment and BIG BEN. We actully sat in parliments House of Lords and House of Commons to hear some of their session. Then I went home, cuz I was tired and talked on Skpe to a few of you.

THe real yesterday, we just had class, and I was trying to figure out how to book this flight and trains etc... not real interesting. However you will all be happy to know that the other day, I ripped my pants, go ahead and laugh Nutt, right in the crotch, but I wanted to wear them so I got out a mending kit and fixed them. Take that Ryan.

ANyways more to come..

God is Good!

Day 3- Museums, Church, and Plays.

Well, Today we have done a lot off stuff. I was out late last night until about 2am with one of my classmates and funny enough all we talked about at the pub was class stuff.

We had an eventful day. We had a full day of class, as well as went to the wren library which houses some of the oldest texts there is... including Issac Newtons handwritten notes.. Parliment role calls that are illustrated... Shakespere's handwritten books..etc... It was a big deal. And we weren't allowed to take pictures, there or anywhere else pretty much... but I did anyway.

Then we went to the Fitzsomething museum and saw a whole bunch of different stuff... Monet, picaso, Darwin stuff, Eygptian mummies, greek and roman armor, and a bunch of other stuff. It was pretty cool. I did get yelled at once by a caretaker because I touched a table under a painting that was apparently an artifact also.

After that we went directly to the Kings college church. It was beautiful and we weren't allowed to take pictures. I of course took some video while inside, which I will post later on. Inside the church we listened to a sermon and the boys choir sing. Talk about hearing angels in a majestic hall. There has never been it's equal in my life. You will get to hear some of what I heard on the video I will post later.

Then I had decided I wanted to go to a play ath the Cambridge Arts Theatre called Write me a Murder. It was kind of a murder mystery, thriller play. I enjoyed it very much.

Then for the first time on this trip all of all but one of us got together and went out to the pubs. We had an incredible bonding experience, as well as we met some locals finally. I was outside with one of my classmates and we got into a conversation with a couple of Brits and they were nice guys, so I said come on in and join us. Needless to say we all hit it off, loving eachothers accents and common expressions. Then we moved on to another pub, where we sang happy birthday to someone, talked about twilight and started imitating eachother. It was awesome.

After all that we headed home, and some of us, not going to name names, ran into the forbiddon master's garden and streaked as well as took pictures in groups.

It has been a long day and I want to get up early to get a shave tomorrow before we go to London for a field trip.

Look for pictures to come and videos. Love you all.

If you see a turtle on a fenchpost someone put it there.

Just keep L-I-V-I-N.

God is Good.

V-Log 1 (arrival)

Finally Here!!!!

Hey everybody, I'm alive!!

Sorry but we had to wait a while to get internet and it was kind of a hassle but here I am. I am writing this from my personal room in Cambridge Sidney of Sussex College. I have a view of the Masters Garden and am listening to a String Quartet warm up for some event that I am not invited too.

Well let's see. My flight went pretty smooth. I was able to sleep a little but there was always something that woke, plus I don't get much room in the seats, i'm kind of big. I sat next to some Jimmy Rogers, he was a head to Germany to hike for 9 days in the Bovarian Alps. A gentlemens hike, where you go from hut to hut. He was pleasent and allowed me to sleep better than most of the other folks. It was also a pretty cool flight becaue we went straight up from Chicago through Cananda up next to the Artic Circle, where the sun never went down... it was like a 6 hour sunrise or sunset, not sure which.. beautiful.

Upon Landing we had to take a couple of trains, I was glad to be with people who knew where they were going because it was confusing. The money looks like monopoly money. It is pretty hilarious handing people my coins and saying just take how much I owe you. But I'm used to it now. We miss our bus and had to wait but evetunlly had got to Cambridge. Oh real quick I got off on a stop that I thought was a bathroom break and the bus tried to leave me and I had to run after it.

We took a tour of our campus and pretty much all the colleges at Cambridge and stopped off at some pubs. Where one of our crew was accused of conterfeiting bills, turns out that he got them exhanged in Atlanta and they were old bills, but nonetheless it was exciting.

Cambridge has this thing about their grass, it looks beautiful and is cut like a nice fairway, but you aren't allowed on it. Of course i ran on it late at night when no one was looking.

When we went out late last night we had fun, saw a couple of British guys get into a little fight with their girlfriend screaming at them knocking them into cars and stuff. It was pretty funny to hear them yelling in their accents. It also made me feel safer, because they were terrible at fighting.

Anyhow, I miss everyone. I am having fun and now that I have internet access plan to skype a few of peeps soon... actully Deb just interuppted my blogging on a skype.. love ya Deb.

Mom, I am going to try and go to the Barber Tonight , if not I will tomorrow for sure.

God is Good.

Skype

Hey real quick. Skype is a program that you can download to talk to someone on the internet from anywhere for Free. My family has it, I get to talk to my awesome cousin Deb in Aubi Daubi everynow and again. Some of you have already added me as a contact on it. IF you haven't and want to my name is arkansasjones just do a search and add me and it should work out. IF you have a web cam we can video chat. The program is free to download too.

I will try to Skype as much as I can but no promises. Email me for a time you will be on.

God is Good. nate

6 days away

I am starting to panic a little bit. I need to get finished with my papers and I am starting to worry that I don't have everything together for my trip. Panic, worry and stress are words that I never use and certainly never feel those emotions. What I will say to you readers is don't worry, the one thing about me is that I always find a way get things done and done well.

Today was Father's Day! I was ablet to spend some of it with my family. Dad had to work but made it for lunch. To those who don't know him he is a great dad and I'm lucky to be able to call him that. To those of you who do, you know what I am talking about.

The treasure of the weekend that distracted me from my work was Adalynn. I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with her, take her to the park, and just play. She is a doll and I don't think I could love her more. It's amazing how a child can take you back to a place where being silly and other simple things make sense again. I got to pretend to be a tiger and a dog which got a laugh from Little A. She is what makes the world go round.

As the countdown continues I hope I get a chance to say goodbye to everyone before I leave. If you are in Fayetteville I Wednesday night and want to come to a going away party at Ryan Gills house let me know and i will try to give you directions.

God is Good.

(also I just got a Moose reminder for my trip: Just Keep Livin)