work is going really well. i love the people i work with, the job is fairly easy (other than trying to understand the accents), and it's so close to home. but seriously, have you ever talked to a scottish person on the phone? that's not even english.

louise and i went to the city on wednesday for a couple pints. back to fitzsimons! that pub is so great because there is a bar on the main floor with live music, a rooftop terrace upstairs with music and 2 bars, and a dance club downstairs. all you could possibly need in one place! we love it there.

we ended up staying out a bit later than we had planned, but were too busy dancing to think about going home. on our way out, louise went up to the singer and told him that i want to marry him. sure, i may have said that... but that's not something i wanted him to know. anyway, he invited us back for his show next week.

other than that, nothing has really changed. my apartment is still lovely and my roommate is still fabulous.

i've had a few requests for pictures that i finally got around to taking. if you have any other requests, please let me know.

here is my work:

the courtyard of my building as seen from my bedroom window (that is the building next door, which is really the same building, just separated by the courtyard):

my kitchen (those dishes on the counter are clean):

and a view of the whole balcony (that's my apartment there on the left):

and here's a picture of a rainbow i saw today. my first thought was "how original, Ireland, really":

and that's it! i think we're heading out to temple bar tonight to go to a new bar i heard about. apparently good bands play there, so we'll check it out. if it's not good, fitzsimon's is always close by.

written by  girlbits on October 21, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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i started my job this week, which is going really well. it's so close to home, the people are great, we get paid well, and don't have to do much. perfect!

i guess the next thing to talk about would be the party last night. and what a party it was! i was expecting a lot of people because the guest list had 80 people on it, and people were bringing people... but i really wasn't expecting what actually happened.

there was a "pre-party" that started at about 7:30, and the apartment was already full. then people just kept showing up as the night progressed. at about 2 i tried to count, got to about a hundred and stopped counting. there were people in our apartment, the apartment next door, and all along the balcony. crazy.

so, as you can imagine, it got a little rowdy.

there was a dj with a huge set-up upstairs (and a microphone, which came in handy), two rooms full of dancing, lots of food and drinks, and lots of drunk people. myself included.

it was truly the best party i have ever been to, and it was in my apartment. so fun! and it was great to meet all the people in the neighbourhood. christophe and i are legends now.

so other than the...

crazy polish guy...

there were really no disasters.

well, okay, we learned that you can't have two people doing an irish jig on a wooden coffee table.

but, overall, the party was quite a success. today christophe and i woke up around noon (did i mention the party started clearing out around 6am?) to people cleaning our apartment. how nice! i made breakfast for us and the people next door, then we had a pretty lazy day.

... and let me just say, that will be our first and last party...

back to work tomorrow!

written by  girlbits on October 15, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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then today it's "mousse au chocolat" that i caught him preparing with claudia.

just thought i'd share the picture. i should have taken a picture yesterday when he was wearing the flowery apron, but this one will have to do.

written by  girlbits on October 11, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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so lots has happened... i moved on saturday into my beautiful new apartment. my roommate, christophe, is the cutest and i think it's going to work out well with him.

i took a couple pictures of the place...

here is the sitting room...

this is my messy, disorganized bedroom. but notice the giant bed... that is actually two beds pushed together. why do i need two beds?

notice that you can also see the pumpkin on the window sill. now it's okay, but people are going to start thinking i'm weird in december.

this is my beautiful (and kinda creepy) view from the balcony.

i'm sure i'll get more pictures as time goes on, especially at our (what looks like it's going to be huge) housewarming party. the building is so cute because it's all students (the university is next door) so everybody knows eachother and has been very nice to me.

anyway, after moving on saturday we all decided to go out to our favourite pub, fitzsimons, in temple bar (notice all the pints of bulmers on the table.. jealous, dan? :))

from left to right that's louise, thomas (louise and preben's brother), preben, annette (thomas' girlfriend), morten, and behind is some creepy drunk guy we couldn't get rid of (as a side note, he was passed out in his chair about an hour after this picture was taken).

we had a great night there filled with maybe a couple drinks, lots of laughs, dancing, and a stumble home with no shoes on. i stayed at morten and preben's place that night, as i couldn't really get home, and we had thanksgiving the next day!

the next morning (around noon) morten and i had to go shopping for breakfast and dinner food, and we were pleasantly surprised to see jack osbourne signing books right there in the dundum shopping center!

that was a little weird. but we got lots of food (and some bedding for my new apartment) and went back home.

apparently they don't celebrate thanksgiving in europe, and i was a little sad about missing mine at home, so i offered to cook what we traditionally eat at home for thanksgiving.

they don't sell turkeys here either. so that makes it difficult.

but, i was still able to pull off a lovely thanksgiving dinner for all the danes (and one irish guy) and it felt a little like home.

so i finally went home on sunday night, made up my room a little bit, slept for a long time, then monday i set out to discover my new neighbourhood. i have all the necessities nearby, which is great, and a huge mall within walking distance.

christophe and i hung out a bit last night with some of the neighbours (our patio isn't separated from anyone else's on our floor, so we can all just walk around to eachother's apartments) on the patio and i got to meet the people in the building, which was nice.

then i had an interview today for paddypower and i JUST got the phone call that i got the job! seriously, i just got off the phone with them. that's so exciting! i start thursday morning... and it's even better because it's about an 8 minute walk from home.

i'm so overwhelmed! if i weren't in a library, i would scream.

so that's that! i don't have the internet in my apartment yet (they say this week) so that's why i haven't been on msn or skype recently. but don't worry, i'll be back in no time.

written by  girlbits on October 10, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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everything is happening so fast now! i can hardly keep up.

so i moved into this place on tuesday. it's a cute, old house, but i'm sharing it with about a million other people and that gets a little irritating. so, yesterday i continued to look for places and found the best one ever!

the new place is a little far from town, but on the tram line, so that's not a problem. it's brand new, never lived in, i have my own huge room and bathroom, and a big patio. it's so perfect... almost too good to be true. my roommate is a cute french boy who is studying in dublin at the university next door. we talked a lot, looked at the place, and agreed that i would move in on saturday. how exciting! he doesn't even live there yet, so we're both moving in on saturday... then the housewarming party is next saturday. you're all invited.

and i have a spare bed and couch. so bring on the visitors!

i'm sad about leaving morten and preben's house though. those guys were so fantastic and we had so much fun. but at least i'm still close by... we have a date on saturday, yes?

morten gave me a very thoughtful and beautiful going away present. a fabulous addition to any home. and i'm pretty sure my roommate right now is very excited that i have displayed it on the fireplace in our room. thanks morten! i'll cherish it forever.

so that's pretty much all the news. i won't even talk about what i did last night, because some people seem to think i "go out too much" (don't give me any of that "when i was your age..." crap, henrik, we partied in Denmark too ;)). louise and i just can't resist a pint of bulmers and live irish music. who could?

can you believe it's been almost a month since i left? time really does fly. what an experience i have had so far though. and so many more to come!

written by  girlbits on October 5, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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funny how things can change so quickly.

yesterday i got a job AND a home! well, the home isn't fabulous but it's somewhere acceptable on a temporary basis while i look for something great. paradise poker called me yesterday and was very excited about my experience and that i'm canadian... but then this morning, an irish gambling company called "paddy's power" (i think) called me and offered me more money and it's in a better location...

so i think i'm going to take the second one. it sounds like a fun job, actually, and it sounds like a good place to work.

i'm very excited!

so, to celebrate, louise and i went out for a "couple drinks" last night... we checked out a few different pubs, a club in a basement, louise got her purse stolen, then we went home. other than the purse stealing, we had so much fun... then got home and i tried to cancel her cards and phone but all the customer service was in danish. that didn't work so well.

so today is moving day! i'm not exactly feeling up to it, but i guess i have to... can't very well hire movers to move my backpack and guitar.

(did i mention i bought a guitar?)

anyway, i hope everything is well at home and thanks again to everyone who comments, i really love them.

written by  girlbits on October 3, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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a blurry picture, i know, but you get the idea.

anyway, we had dinner and then i had to get back on the train to head back to aarhus to catch a plane in the morning.

a nice visit, but much too short.

so i got on the train for a three hour ride back to the city. i made it back to aarhus at about midnight, henrik and i had a glass of wine, then went to bed.

i had to wake up early to go to the airport, and made it there with time to spare. i made it to london, dreading the fact that i had about 5 hours at the airport before my flight back to dublin. i will spare you the details to keep me from looking as stupid as i actually am, but in the end, i couldn't fly out that day and was stuck in london.

it was going to be 200 british pounds (about 500 canadian dollars) to get a new ticket or to change mine, and about the same to get a hotel room to stay the night and fly out the next day for free. after a bit of a breakdown in the airport, i remembered someone telling me that you can take a bus from london to dublin...

and that's what i did.

14 hours later, i was home! it really wasn't as bad as it sounds... i slept most of the way, was on the ferry for 4 hours, and met some really interesting people on the way.

anyway, i got back to morten and preben's house at approximately 7am and fell asleep pretty much immediately. we went shopping, ate dinner, and got ready for a night on the town.

it was a good night, up until we waited over an hour in the pouring rain to get a cab. apparently cab drivers don't stop for people in this city... seriously.

so now i'm still looking for a place to live. it's not looking good. i've had a lot of appointments that didn't work out, people not calling me back, and apartments that are not fit to live in... it's getting very discouraging and i'm not really sure what to do now.

maybe i'll go somewhere else?

we'll see how tomorrow goes, but if i don't have any opportunities by tuesday, i might just relocate for a little while. no other options, really, and i'm starting to stress.

written by  girlbits on October 1, 2006 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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okay, okay... settle down everyone. finally i have some time, a computer, and loads of pictures and stories for you. this could take a while.

well, i managed to wake up at 3am in london to go to the airport. my hostel was nice, but i forget that if you're sharing a room with 7 other women, you're probably not going to get a lot of sleep. but, either way, i woke up at 3am and (very quietly) left to take the bus. i felt a bit worried and a bit like an idiot walking down finchley road at 3:30 in the morning with my suitcase, but it turned out fine.

i arrived in århus with no problems. i met henrik (just in case you don't know, henrik is my grandfather's wife's niece's son... very close relation) at the bus station and he walked me back to his place. even though i was really tired, he decided we were going out to see some things.

so first we walked down to this open market they have down the street to buy some vegetables and things. then we went back, had lunch, and walked over to "dem gamle by" which is a collection of 18th century houses from all over denmark that they moved into this one "town".

the town was really neat, and we got to go in all the houses and walk around them. then henrik found some stilts and walked around for a bit.

he says he got the hang of it... but i beg to differ.

anyway, we walked home and they started preparing dinner. they also invited ash, henrik's ethiopian friend who lives in denmark (we are quite the international bunch) to dinner who ended up coming out with us afterwards.

after dinner, we went out for a beer to a local pub, then tina (henrik's girlfriend) went home and the three of us carried on to another bar (did i mention i woke up at 3am?). the bar, "waxies", had a live band called "on the radio" which was a cover band. they ended up being pretty good, and henrik and i did some great dancing.

we finally stumbled home around 4:30am and went to bed.

the next day, we both slept quite a bit, as you can imagine. but we did end up going out still, as we had plenty to see. i think that day we went to the art gallery and then took a walk down to the harbour.

we got to bed relatively early that night, i believe, and planned another big day when we woke up.

henrik had to go to the university to do some work, so i took it upon myself to go out and do some shopping in the city. i found a couple good stores and bought a few things, then met up with henrik to go for lunch, and then to the train station as we were going out to see his parents.

we met up with tina, then all caught a train to "horsens" where we were picked up by henrik's dad. we had a lovely dinner at their place, and talked a lot about my family history and my grandparents, which was really nice to do, as i don't get that side of the story very often.

we borrowed their car and drove home that night.

which brings me to tuesday, when henrik and i drove over to the west coast of denmark (about a 2 hour drive) to go to "holthstrom" (okay, i think i spelled that wrong) where his aunt lives.

there was some beautiful scenery on that side, and henrik brought me to see the old german army bunkers that are now lying in the sand on the beach.

obviously the bunkers have moved a bit because they are on sand, so some of them are upside down and sideways and half underwater. but you can walk around and climb in them and everything, which was really interesting. it was pouring rain, but i couldn't resist walking around and going in all these old bunkers.

we climbed in one that was on its side and came up through this window and decided to take a picture. henrik says there was a fly on his nose... i'm not sure.

anyway, we drove back and went out for dinner to a restaurant down the street, then went home.

so, yesterday i caught a train to copenhagen to come out and see michael and helle, and visit with peter (morten's brother, from the first night in dublin) last night. i got here around 6, we came here and had dinner, then i went downtown to meet peter at a karaoke bar. the last train was at midnight so i knew i had to go home early, but when i looked at my clock it was 2am... oops... so i finally caught a cab around 5 and made it home safely.

and here i am! still in copenhagen... i'm going back to århus tonight to fly back to dublin tomorrow morning.

thanks for your patience everyone!

written by  girlbits on September 28, 2006 from Copenhagen, Denmark
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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i know most of you are wondering what has happened to me and why i haven't been updating you. i've been really busy, and not able to upload my pictures, which is mostly why i haven't updated.

i safely made it to Denmark, where i am now, so no worries there. i will get a good, long, picture-filled entry up as soon as i can, but this danish mac is a little difficult to use and i can't figure out whether i want to "tekststørrelse" or "genindlæs" (i have no idea what those words mean, i just found them on the computer).

anyway, i promise a great update soon on all of my interesting Denmark adventures over the last 5 days. i hope everyone is well at home, and i miss you all.

written by  girlbits on September 26, 2006 from Arhus, Denmark
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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so i'm in london! how exciting!

my trip here was a bit exhausting. i left my cozy apartment in dublin at 8am to catch the tram into town. got to town around 8:30 where i walked to the "aircoach" (shuttle to the airport). now, let me first tell you that when i left the house it was sunny, so i was wearing a long skirt and flipflops. about 5 minutes away from the house it started POURING.

thank god i brought my umbrella.

anyway, the aircoach took about half an hour to get to the airport, and i was pretty satisfied that, other than the rain, things were going smoothly.

i was standing in line waiting to check in for about 20 minutes when i realized i was standing in the wrong line... a minor setback... i guess this is why they tell you to get there early.

i checked in (in the right line), found my gate, and waited. the flight was fine, only about one hour from dublin to london, then at the end the flight attendant went over the intercom and said "oh boy! it sure is pouring in london! have a great afternoon... if that's possible...".

how nice.

i was really regretting the skirt and flipflops at that point.

i got off the plane, things were pretty painless in the airport, then had to look for the bus. i asked someone who said "sure! just go downstairs and you'll see them!".

i didn't see them.

eventually, after walking back and forth through rain and puddles, i found the bus station and bought my ticket (10 POUNDS!). i was wondering why a ticket from the airport into town was 10 pounds (about 22 dollars?), but it turns out that stansted airport is actually like a 2 hour drive from town.

apparently i didn't research that part.

2 hours into town isn't so bad. but my flight tomorrow morning is at 7:30am. so, if i do my calculations properly, i have to be at the airport around 5:30 or 6, which means i have to leave my hostel around 3:30 or 4?

my roommates are going to love me!

oh well. not much i can do about it now.

well, i got off the bus (thankfully i woke up in time) and stood on the street just thinking "so... now what?". i had written directions on an old receipt that told me how to get from the station to the hostel. what i didn't factor in was that the bus stopped on the opposite side of the street from the actual "station" so i was reading my directions backwards. you can imagine the confusion.

but, i eventually found the bank mentioned in my directions and all was well.

so i haven't seen much of london. i got to my hostel absolutely soaked and exhausted, and wasn't really feeling the whole tourist thing today.

did i mention that the minute i stepped in the door of the hostel it stopped raining? yeah. now it's sunny.

anyway, there's a pub in the hostel so i'll probably have a beer and go to bed. i have quite the early start tomorrow!

i'll add photos to this entry later, and i'm sure i'll have some good stories about my trip to Denmark as well. so keep in touch!

pip pip! cheerio!

written by  girlbits on September 22, 2006 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: a britt in ireland.
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