London... Second Time Around

Today I woke up to Tiffany knocking on my door to get up about 7:30, with hopes of catching the early train out of Cambridge. Well, after breakfast and because of how long it takes the girls to get ready, we ended up catching the 9:30 train, which was the train after the one we wanted... but I really didn't care either way.

When we arrived at Liverpool Street Station in London we hopped on the tube and headed straight to the Tower Hill stop. My list of things to do for the day included going to the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge (often mistaken for the London Bridge), Shakespeare's Globe Theater and Westminster Abby (which I missed last week).

We quickly made our way to the Tower of London which was like walking into the 14th century... The whole place was and old village, surrounded by a 15 foot deep moat (dry now and turned into a beautiful grass field surrounding the walls). Our first stop was the torture chamber, where we saw old torture devices like the one that stretches people out until they either talk, or die...



Our next stop was the King Henry VII exhibit. It gave the history of his reign and showed all of his armour from when he was a boy all they way up to the time of his death... the originals! There was a lot of interesting stuff in the tower, like the actual chopping block where many of people lost their lives including Anne Boleyn! We got to hold replica weapons that the soldiers used throughout the history of the tower. It was really neat and I was amazed to walk in a building that has been standing for thousands of years!

After we saw the Henry VII exhibit, we went to see the crown jewels. It was pretty fascinating to see a lot of the crowns and maces from different kings and queens, but I was more impressed to see the King Henry stuff. I did get to see the largest diamond in the world though... the girls really liked it!

By the time we got out of the Tower of London it was already after 1pm. We knew that Westminster Abby closed at 3:30, so Alan and I decided to take the tube to Westminster and postponing the crossing of the Tower Bridge and seeing the Globe Theater until later in the day. The girls went to St. Paul's, which ended up being closed.... sorry girls.

Alan and I never did get a chance to return to cross the Tower Bridge, or see Shakespeare's Globe, but we both agreed that taking our time to see Westminster Abby was all worth it.


When we arrived at Westminster, we convinced the ticket office that we were currently enrolled in a university to get the cheaper admission rate, although our ID cards didn't have any dates on them. But we were not lying! Once we walked inside we were handed little handheld devices that looked like cell phones. They had little screens on them and a keypad. Everyplace you went in the cathedral there was a number. You pressed the number and then you were told about what it was and the significance. The first stop was the high alter, where every coronation since the 1100's was conducted. It was most recently used in the 50's for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and in 1997 for Princess Dianna's funeral.

Some other notable tombs in Westminster, among many, are every King and Queen since the 1200's, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and the coronation chair (used for every coronation since 1296). The building itself is over 900 years old! To say I felt like just a tiny speckle in the long life of the earth and mankind is an understatement, but I don't know how else to explain how it feels to be surrounded by thousands of years of history in one place... This picture is William Shakespeare's monument. Although he it was decided not to move him from Stratford von Avon, they did erect this beautiful memorial in his honor.



After we departed Westminster Abbey, Alan wanted to go eat at Piccadilly Circus where he claimed to have the best burger he ever tasted. Because I am a burger lover I happily obliged! We ate at a Mexican restaurant which did have very good burgers. I don't know if it was worthy of being called the best, but it was one of my top rated that I have had in a while!

As I stated earlier, we planed on crossing the Tower Bridge and see the Globe, but when we took the tube back to that area of town, the heavens had opened and rain pored down onto the city. Since the tube was so overcrowded and because we were both tired, we decided that it would be best to head across town back to the train station to meet up with McKara and Tiffany.

After waiting at the train station for a bit, the girls met up with us and we headed back to Cambridge. At the train station we took a taxi back to the Warkworth House and I went up to lay down and relax. This was the first day that my feet and legs actually hurt me... which says a lot since Alan and I have made it a point to walk or run a few miles every night after dinner.

I really enjoyed my first trip to London, but am very thankful I went back for a second round! Below is a picture from my first trip to London on the London Eye! Don't get too dizzy mom!

Friday Night Fun

Friday couldn't come soon enough! After school, Mechelle and I got a ride home from school from another teacher. The ride seemed to take longer than usual because there was a ton of traffic in route to a free concert on Jesus Green, which is a few blocks away from our house in Cambridge. We got home about 4:45 and I tried to rest for a little while.

Tiffany had made some plans with some of the teachers from her school to go eat dinner at a local restaurant and then go out for some drinks. We were all invited, but Alan and I decided to go to a different restaurant around the corner because we didn't really like the food at Nandos, the place everyone else went to eat. After dinner McKara caught up with Alan and me to go to the Boathouse Pub, the LAST of my 8 pubs required to complete the Cambridge Pub Crawl.

The Boathouse was a little farther than I though (about a 30 minute walk), but I was determined to complete my goal. When we arrived I ordered a Green King IPA and asked for my final stamp in my booklet. The gentleman behind the bar happily stamped my booklet and went to go get me a shirt. To my surprise, he came back empty handed and explained to me that they were all out of shirts! I thought "All this traveling and walking around to these 8 pubs for nothing!" Then I realized that I did have a good time doing it, and did get to sample a lot of beers...

Anyways, he explained that they may be getting more shirts in during the week, and I could also try any other pubs that I already visited to see if they had any of the shirts. Well on the way home, which we found a shorter route for, I stopped at another one of the pubs. Unfortunately they were also out of shirts. I decided that instead of walking around the whole town all night, I would just stop in during the week.

I talked to Tiffany and she told me that her and some other girls from the trip were at a nearby pub with a few of their teachers from school. We navigated our way through the crowded streets and found them at B.Bar. We had a few drinks and then Alan wanted to meet up with some other folks at a salsa club about 15 minutes away (walking). Alan loves to dance and runs the salsa club at USF. He told me if I wanted, he would teach me how to salsa. I still had to finish my pint and told him I would wait for some others and then catch up to him. He walked McKara home (she was tired) and then met up with some other girls to go to the club.

Meanwhile, two other girls from my study abroad class and I took up one of Tiffany's teachers on a ride to the club. We arrived about the same time as Alan and the other girls. We went inside, which was the only bar I had to pay a cover charge at the whole time I was here.

Because I was never in a salsa club and felt a little out of place, I found a more familiar place... the bar. After I got a pint I joined up with the rest of the gang just off the dance floor. Alan gave me a crash course on the basic salsa dance, and I before I knew it I was dancing with some of the girls in our group! I had a great time, but the steps get a little confusing after a while!

After about an hour and a half, I ended up walking home with Natalie because we both wanted to get up early the next day and were really tired. It turns out that Natalie and her husband are good friends with Mike and Amy Martz. Mike and Amy just happen to be the brother and sister-in-law of Lauren Frederick, one of Megan's best friends!

The next day, Tiffany, McKara, Alan and I were off to London... again!

Third Week of Teaching

Hello everyone!

The third week of teaching was very busy. I taught for a majority of the time I was in the classroom, with the exception of Tuesday which was Sports Day. Sports day here is a simple as it sounds. I called it Field Day when I was in elementary school, but it is called Sports Day here. Basically there are 4 teams, with a mixture of 1st through 6th year students on each team. They all compete in races (sprints, relays, obstacle courses, etc). I was in charge of Team Saturn, who ended up winning Sports Day (I blame it on the leadership!). The children were very excited throughout the day, which took place on the green outside of the school. The parents from the village came out and sat across from the groups of students who were competing. It was great to see all of the students (called pupils here) cheering on their teammates. They made flags, banners and other creative signs. I even taught them the basic American cheer (Let's go Saturn... Clap. Clap. Clap Clap Clap!). They loved it. We could have not asked for a better day... Sunny and about 75 degrees.

I also had my second of three formal observations. My lesson was about estimating and measuring. The lesson went well, but I had a little trouble keeping the lesson within the time that was planed, so it was rushed at the end. The students learned what they needed to learn, and I was happy with that.

On Friday I taught Country Line Dancing again. It was fun this week, especially since the students were excited to see that I was teaching it again! (We get the same groups of students each Friday). During the afternoons on Fridays, the students participate in 'Golden Friday'. They get to choose two different activities to participate in such as Art, Dancing, PE, etc. The neat thing about this day is that every student from 1st through 6th year are in the same classes. So the older pupils help the younger ones, it is truly a great thing to experience.

Another week down, and one more to go. Hopefully things keep going smoothly!

New Pictures & Video

Hello everyone!

Today I figured out how to upload more than one photo to my blog posts, and how to position them too. I also uploaded my Introduction Video I made for my class to view before I got here. You should be able to view it, although it is located in the middle of my posts, not the most recent post. So if you would like to revisit some of my earlier blogs you will see that I have added some additional photos and a video that mostly align with my story!

I'll update you soon! Enjoy!

Second Week & London Day Trip

Hello everyone!

I know it has been over a week since I last blogged, but things are pretty busy over here... who would have thought!?

My second week of school went great. While I am here teaching, I have three formal observations by my USF professors and last week I had my first one. I taught the first of three lessons on People of Faith, Courage & Commitment. My lesson was on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the students really seemed to enjoy learning about him. I showed them his speech and even separated them up into two halves and did some simplified segregation activities to show them how it felt to be judged by something other than there character. It went really well.

Friday I had a lot of fun teaching the students line dancing! That's right, U.S. Country Line Dancing!!! It is a simple as playing a cassette tape that instructs them what to do, but I still needed to practice with them. I actually ended up dancing with one of the students who didn't have a partner. We had a blast.

Friday night we went out to a few pubs and I crossed two more pubs off of my pub crawl list. Now I am only one pub away from my t-shirt that says "I did the Cambridge Pub Crawl." Isn't it funny what some people will do for goofy souvenirs?

Saturday the whole house woke up early and we all headed to London. Luckily there is a big discount for a group of 4 or more people, that cuts the train ticket price in half. It also included a free Tube pass for downtown, which would come in handy.

When we arrived we headed straight for Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. My group consisted of McKara, Tiffany and Alan (who had been to London the week prior and would basically be our guide for the day). There were thousands of people who also wanted to see the famous ceremony in front of the palace, so it was packed. However, it was still special to see the royal band march down the street and into the palace gates, followed by solderers on horseback with their tall, black bearskin hats waiving in the wind.

The ceremony inside the gate was a little difficult to see, but I was able to understand what was going on.... somewhat anyways. After the ceremony, the band played a bunch of classic songs including the Beatles. What better a place to hear the Beatles than on the lawn of Buckingham Palace being played by the Queen's Marching Band (I guess it would have been better if it was the actual Beatles, but c'mon, be realistic here).

We walked for miles around the city to Big Ben, the London Tower, the Tower Bridge, Westminster Abby and even took a ride on the London Eye. The Eye moved very slow, but took us far into the air where we could see almost all of London.

I only had one regret from the trip. I passed on the opportunity to go inside Westminster Abby. It was only 1/2 hour before the entrance closed, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money to get in for a half hour.

Well, it ended up that although the front doors closed, the people who did go inside were able to stay for almost 2 & 1/2 hours longer... So I missed the tombs where every King & Queen were laid to rest, Issac Newton and even Charles Darwin (who is the grandfather of evolution, which is hard for me to understand why his tomb is in a church?). Although I didn't go inside, I did get a picture in front of it that I posted above!

We also visited a few landmarks around the city, including a monument that was protected by 4 very large lions. After we admired how large they were, we decided we should get a nice photo with them, thus the photo below!

Like always, we had a blast, but we were happy to get home and go to bed after 12 hours of walking around!

Sunday we spend the day walking around Cambridge and really took the time to admire and learn about some of the historic buildings we walk past everyday on our way to teach. I think we all started to realize that we were taking advantage of what we are surrounded with everyday, which is thousands of years of history right under our feet! In the evening we purchased tickets to an event called 'Singing on the River' performed by the King's College Men's Choir. There were about 10 young men who stood on a few punting boats in the middle of the Cam river. Meanwhile, the audience sat on the river bank that was owned by King's College. I am not sure if I have ever been in a more beautiful piece of land which was surrounded by the college and the famous King's College Cathedral. The choir was amazing and there was a great am mount of humor throughout the show, planned and otherwise.

This week I will be doing my second observation in the classroom and hopefully reporting back to you all very soon!

Cheers!

End of the First Week

Hello out there everyone. It has been a few days, but I wanted to catch you up to the goings on here in Cambridge.

The end of my first week of teaching nearly mirrored the first few days, with me teaching a lesson or two a day on the fly, supporting the teacher when appropriate. I did get to conduct an experiment on Thursday with the 4th year students about friction. It was a fairly simple experiment with jelly (known as jello in America). The jelly came in cubes, which I cut up and separated into two different bowls. I poured vegetable oil all over one bowl of the jellies, and left the other bowl alone. Then, each student would try to pick the jelly up with chopsticks (we used pencils). Obviously the oil covered jellies had less friction on them because they were lubricated by the oil, which was what all of my smart 4th year students predicted.

The children also made me a boat out of foil, so I thought I would Include it for your enjoyment!

Anyways, the weekend came quick and after a 3 hour nap on Friday afternoon I decided that it was a great night to start the "Cambridge Gallon Challenge." This challenge is to drink one pint of any Green King Pub Company beer at each of the 8 locations around Cambridge. You go to any of the participating pubs and pick up a stamp book and map of where the pubs are located. Then, you have two weeks to visit each pub, have yourself a pint and get a stamp in your book. Since I was feeling good, I decided to go to 3 on the first night and then 2 more on Sunday afternoon. Therefore I only need 3 more pints to complete the challenge!

This weekend there was also a Town & Country Festival at Parker's Piece (a giant green across the street from where we are staying) that we wanted to attend. But before we got there on Saturday we needed to do some laundry. We took the city bus about a mile and a half to the nearest coin laundry facility... what an expedition. After spending about two and a half hours and about $25-$30 American, we finished washing & drying our laundry... I wish I didn't have to do that anymore...

We did get to the festival on Saturday for about an hour. There were some nice shops inside these large tents and there was even an American Potato Pancake Stand! There were also some old steam engines, horse and donkey rides, rides and giant inflatable mountains for children to climb.

We ate some lunch there and then I came home and took a nap. I stayed in the rest of the night and caught up on some much needed sleep!

Sunday I got up early to catch breakfast and joined three girls from our house and went to 10:45 mass at an old catholic church with dark Gothic construction. It was such a beautiful building and has been there for hundreds of years. It was also the parish's First Holy Communion for the girls, so mass ran a little long, but it was neat to attend a mass here. A lot of the mass was similar to the states, but there were some noticeable changes. One example was the scented thing that is usually burned during holiday mass and special occasions. It was burning through the whole mass. I mean there were plumes of smoke on the alter while the mass went on. All I could think of was that if my mom was with me, she would have to leave. I say this because I always remember her sneezing in church whenever they light that thing...

After church, McKara & Tiffany (surprise) were waiting for me to go to the market that was a few blocks away. We browsed around and then ate at a pub called The Eagle. In addition to being one of the bars I needed to complete my Gallon Challenge, it was an old World War II bar. They actually still have the original ceiling that was there during the World War. This is important because solderers from both the British and American Air Force used to write on the ceiling with lipstick and by burning letters with lighters. There are all old pictures and patches all around the pub and somehow you can still read the original writing on the ceiling! It was so awesome to see some of the messages, like the squadron numbers and names of pilots who flew during WWII. Too bad the food stunk, but the beer was good.

I was then on a mission to try to find a new pair of brown shoes. For some reason the ones I brought with me are not holding up like I thought with the massive amount of walking I have been doing and the sole is starting to wear away. However the shoes over here cost between 80 and 110 pounds, which is about $120-190 American (Yea Right!). I quickly realized that I would have to look at some other stores outside of the touristy downtown area of Cambridge to find a better deal. Oh well...

The rest of the day I devoted to writing my lesson plans for Monday, for which I was being formally observed by my course teacher from USF. Monday I taught a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of the people I picked to teach my children about in a 3 week series I am doing with them called "People of Faith, Courage & Commitment." It was a really good lesson, if I must say so myself, for which I used examples that related to their everyday lives to help explain what segregation was. It was very beneficial and I am pretty sure the children understood what the U.S. was like during the time of MLK and what he did as a leader who displayed faith, courage & commitment.

I hope you enjoyed catching up with me. I am going to chat with Meg on the computer and head to bed. Thanks for reading!

England Intro Video

This video is the Introduction Video I made for my class to view before I got here. I need to thank Meg for letting me use her computer!

2nd & 3rd Day at School

It seems like every day gets better and better at my school. I am starting to learn every one's names and feel more like part of the Icknield family instead of just a temporary intern. My classroom teacher, Mrs. Setchel is so much fun and keeps assuring me that I have chosen education as the right profession. Yesterday when she was driving me to my bus stop after school, she told me that good teachers learn how to be good teachers, but excellent teachers are born as excellent teachers and that I am excellent. I realize that I am still in school and have not experienced everything there is to offer, but it made me feel good to hear that from a 20 year veteran teacher.
The students are really starting to like me too (I am pretty sure at least). Today during lunch it was raining more than usual, so the students stayed inside instead of playing outside. A lot of the students used their time to draw me pictures. They are such nice children and are so thoughtful. One student drew me a picture of a dog because they know I have one. Another student, who is from Slovakia, drew me a picture of the USA Flag because he noticed that my flag has the same colors as his flag (he later drew me a picture of his flag to prove his point). The whole class even made me a book out of paper that they all signed. The title of the book was "WE <3 Mr. Morgan.

A lot of things are different here to, like spelling and meaning of words. One example is color, which is spelled colour here. They also call erasers 'rubbers', underwear are called 'pants', pants are called 'trousers' and much more. It was a little awkward when they asked me for a rubber on the first day, but I was warned in advance of this particular translation.

Another thing that the students do is change for Phys Ed in front of each other. Yesterday they were told to get the PE clothes and then they came inside and just started undressing in front of everyone. I asked if I needed to leave, but Mrs. Setchel said that it is common for school children to change in front of everyone, including the teachers. I am not sure if I will ever get used to this practice...

The biggest difference I see in the schools here is that they barely ever use text books. It is all learning by discovery and exploration. The classroom teacher not only teaches all the subjects, but is the PE teacher, Music Teacher, Swimming Coach, and everything else (besides the cricket coach, who comes on Tuesday to teach my class cricket). There is a lot of cricket played here, and the cricket coach is actually a professional player who plays in Swaston. It is in his contract to teach cricket at school during the week when he is not playing. I thought that was neat. So on Tuesday and Wednesday I have another man at the school with me!

I just really enjoy my school and everyone at Icknield. They truly put the students first and are completely focused on student creativity and learning. I look forward to the rest of my time there!

Cheers!

Sunday & the First Day of School!

Sunday we spent most of the day wondering around Cambridge. We had a brief class seminar in the morning and then Dr. King (our other adviser) drove us to our schools so we can learn the area. I was paired with Mechelle at Icknield Primary school in Sawston, England. It is about a half hour drive from our house, so we estimated at least a 40 minute bus ride each way during the week.


The rest of the day we just prepared for Monday and hung around the house. Tiffany let me borrow her Mac computer to Ichat with Megan. It was great to see her and Lilah while we talked and I even got to say hello to Megan's mom, Judi.

Monday morning I woke up about 6:45 and got ready for my first day. I went downstairs and had my English breakfast that is included with our stay. It is so delicious and the food is cooked to order and not from a buffet or anything of that sort.

Mechelle and I decided to leave for the bus together around 7:30, but the bus didn't arrive at our stop until about 8. The estimated 40 minute bus ride turned into a 2 hour expedition to another county north of our school. The one minor factor that we missed on Sunday when we went to our school was where the closest bus stop to our school was. We also took a different route on the bus than we did when we drove out there the day prior, so nothing looked familiar. It also may have had something to do with our bus stop being over ONE MILE away from our school!

We finally made our way to the school after we rode the bus back down the route and got off at a stop I thought was near where we were suppose to go (knowing that we had already called Dr. King and he was on his way to find us). We walked for over a mile to get to our school and arrived a little after 10am, one hour and five minutes after school started and one hour an twenty five minutes after we are suppose to be there. Everyone understood what happened and it turns out that only 2 out of the 20 of us on the trip got to school on time (some were almost 3 hours late!).



As soon as we got to the school, we were greeted by the head teacher (principal) at Icknield who was very excited to have us at her school. She showed us around the grounds and advised me that I was the only male adult in the whole school. This included not only teachers, but lunch staff and teacher's aids... She also informed me that because of this, there were no Men's rooms. Therefore, I had to share the regular bathroom with the students, which thankfully is a single toilet restroom and has regular sized appliances...

I was then introduced to my class and one of my teachers who I will be teaching with, Mrs. Setchel. She was such a burst of energy and I could tell from the moment I met her she was a seasoned veteran. The class has 22 students, with a mix of 3rd & 4th year students who have adorable British accents. I think I was an immediate hit with the students and the rest of the teachers in the school!

The British schools are much different from American schools. They don't use any text books, don't rely on standardized tests, and have a ton of free/play/exercise times. There are a lot of other differences, that I won't elaborate on at the moment.

Within the first hour, I was already teaching the students about electricity and helping them build circuits with light bulbs, buzzers and switches. I showed the students my introduction video that I made on Megan's computer back in April, which I took a lot of pride in. They loved it and then got to ask me all of the questions they wanted to get to know me, it was a lot of fun!

I did my best to get acclimated to my new class, teachers and school throughout the rest of the day. The staff took advantage of every break and we had tea breaks three or four times throughout the day with the rest of the teachers while the students played outside. It was great.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Setchel felt bad about how far our bus stop was away from the school and she gave Mechelle and I a ride to our stop. My teacher is very outgoing and I feel like she is going to be a great influence on my teaching skills and a great role model for me throughout this experience.

I got home around 4:45 and went to our class seminar. Tiffany, McKara, Alan and I went out for dinner at a local pub. Alan is the only other boy on the trip with me and the pubs are the only places open after 5 in Cambridge.

We were all kind of tired, so I came home to update my blog. After that I went up to bed and fell asleep watching an American movie on BBC.

Trip to Cambridge

Saturday we woke up about 5am to catch our bus at 5:30. When we arrived at the airport, it was very different from the states. There were check-in kiosks in rows throughout the whole airport and automatic baggage belts that got your bag from my side of the counter to the other. We stopped at a Duty Free shoppe to get some souvenirs and then McKara & Tiffany left to board their plane about an hour before me. Although my flight changed terminals twice, we departed on time.

When I landed at London's Heathrow Airport I was a little worried about the passport check. McKara & Tiffany said they had some trouble getting into London a few days prior because they didn't have a student visa (we were told by our advisers we didn't need them). So I spent some time worrying about going through the checkpoint, only to realize that by time I got my luggage and walked through the airport, I was already out of the terminal and on my way for the bus terminal, no passport check was required. This was the case since I already had my passport checked in Ireland and since Ireland is part of the UK, I was good to go.

I quickly made my way to the bus terminal, thinking I had a 2 hour bus ride to Cambridge. Well, it was more like 3 & 1/2 hours... which was not what our trip coordinators had said...

Anyways, when I arrived in Cambridge I made my way to our Bed & Breakfast, the Warkworth House. Luckily it was only about 100 feet away from where the charter bus dropped me off! I was greeted at the door by Jennifer, one of our trip advisers who showed me to my room on the second floor. She told me that McKara & Tiffany were the first students to arrive and they reserved me the nicest single bedroom in the whole house. When I got to the door, I saw a note from the both of them which said "In Greg we Trust". They adopted this slogan in Ireland because I was the only one who ever knew where we were going and how to get home. I was also like a body guard for them for the whole trip.

Anyways, my bedroom really is the nicest room in the whole house. I know this because everyone in the house came by on Saturday to gawk at how lucky I was. It has a queen size bed, a flat screen TV, beautiful furniture and a larger bathroom. I realize how lucky I am compared to some other people's rooms that are half the size.

I met McKara & Tiffany at a pub around the corner for lunch. (It didn't take them long to find food or beer!) It may have been the best tuna sandwich I had in a while.

The three of us (Surprise) went for a walk around town to familiarize ourselves with the local sites and then I unpacked and settled in. All of the students on the trip, our advisers and our advisers family all went out for dinner at a restaurant that was half dance club and half TGI Friday's. The food was good and we all had some drinks. Then we all split up and about 7 of us decided to go to a local pub by our house while everyone else went for a walk on the river. We had a good night bonding and enjoying the local beverages until about 11. We all took the 2 minute walk around the corner and I gave Megan a call to chat & catch up. Then I had about a 15 minute conversation with Jennifer (advisor) and her husband about education and how happy I was to be here. Jennifer & her husband are really nice and they brought their two girls along for the trip. The girls actually attend Tiffany's primary schools during the day, which I think is splendid (1st & 4th Grades I think).

Then I went inside, talked with the girls and went to bed. It was a great first day in Cambridge.

Dublin, Day 2

The second day we were in Dublin we woke up after 12pm because I guess we were not as acclimated to the time change as we thought... We got ready and decided to get some breakfast and head outside of the busy downtown area and out into the country. On the recommendation of some local gentlemen we met the night before, we decided to go to Malahide Castle, a few miles outside of Dublin.

I do have to mention that we ate breakfast at a small convenient store on O'Connell street for cheap. During our 15 minute breakfast at a table on the street, we were harassed twice by beggars looking to convince us to donate .50 cents (euro cents I guess) to them. When we said we were sorry, as we were trying to be nice, they got angered and raised their voice to me.... This story will be revisited later in this post...

When we finally found where the bus to Malahide picked us up, we got on with our 3 day pass purchased at the airport and went on a bit of a sight seeing tour to the outskirts of the city. We didn't really know where we were going or how long the ride would be, we were sure to keep our eyes open for signs. After about a half hour, we saw a billboard for the Castle and attractions. We hopped off the bus and started to hike up this dreary path through the woods (a little scary, but it was the direction the advertisements pointed us in). After walking up this path for about 3/4 of a mile, out of nowhere we saw this huge castle tucked back in a clearing in the trees. We took some pictures and entered into the front door. Since it was late in the day, the front hallway leading to the ticket office was about as far as we got before we were kicked out because it was closing time.

Although we didn't get to tour the Castle, we did learn about it. It was over 800 years old and is known to have ghosts wonder the grounds after dusk. There was a story about the family who still owns the property today. Apparently there were 12 men, all relatives, who were going to fight in a war. They ate breakfast together in what is now the Tea room about 8am on the day of the battle. By nightfall, all of their lives had expired. We did get a peek at their tombstones that still were erected in the cemetery behind a church next to the castle. As we walked back towards the bus stop, I couldn't help but think that we were walking in the footsteps of people from more than 800 years prior to our arrival on the grounds. With the breathtaking views of the fields and agriculture across the castle grounds, I had a lot of time to reflect on what we were experiencing.

When we got back to the downtown, we decided to get some dinner and hit up a pub before we left the following day. We stopped at a small pub where I had a traditional Irish Stew and was introduced to Bulmer's Irish Ale. We then decided to stop at another bar named Maddigan's (different from the one we ate lunch at the previous day) where we met a friendly bartender who just got back from a vacation in Las Vegas. His name was Steve, later to be known as Stevie-G. He was very interesting and poured me a real Irish Car bomb, which is way different from how we Amerian's make them. Instead of pouring Jameson and Bailey's into a shot and dropping it into a 1/2 pint of Guinness and drinking it before it curdles, he simply poured a pint of Guinness and added a shot of some liquor that I can't recall at the moment. It was really good, and to me it had the same affect!

We had some good conversations with Stevie-G about how he used to be the overnight guard at the Malahide Castle, which we just toured hours before. He told us about how scary it was to be the guard at the castle and how the paintings displayed in the castle were worth over 3 Million Euros alone!

The funny part was that we asked him about the beggars who stopped us during breakfast. He told us that he once gave a man $.50 and then saw him selling watches down the street that night. He went up to the beggar, demanded his money back and took a watch from the guy because he lied to him. The beggar tried to charge him for the watch and Stevie-G simply replied "do you want me to slap you?". Also, Stevie-G is about a 6'6'' Beast-man who is training to box in an upcoming match later this summer...

We left the bar around 12:30am (also known as "half twelve" in Ireland). We packed our bags, set our alarms, and prepared for our trip to the airport at 5:30am. The next day, we were off to Cambridge!

Dublin, Day 1

When we landed, I was very relieved because I had just spent the better part of an entire 24 hours on a plane. Shortly after leaving the terminal I experienced boarder patrol, which in Ireland was a piece of cake. They asked me my name, where I was from and what my pleasure was. Then, they said “sounds good, good luck, welcome to Ireland”. The agent also made a comment about me being a first time traveler since my passport didn’t have any stamps in it, but with the combination of me being tired and his strong Irish accent, I just gave him a smile and a nod before I went for my bags.

When I got my luggage I looked for our meeting spot, the Jameson Bar. (By the way I’m using Megan’s suitcase that is covered with a girly design of flowers…my suitcase was broke and Meg was happy to lend me her bag which is bigger anyways) I had a rough time finding the bar, but luckily I finally found it. It was also around 11am, about 3 hours after I was already suppose to be there. Before I had a chance to get inside, Tiffany had seen me emerging from the crowd and came up and gave me a hug. She looked very relieved to see me, as I was to find her. She then said that we should go get McKara, who we found sleeping in a booth inside the bar with their luggage.

The next task at hand was to exchange our US currency for Euros. For those of you who are new at this like us, you give them $100 US, and they give you roughly $66 Euro… Isn’t that great….

We got our money and then went to the Traveler’s Information Kiosk, which was a great resource. We found out what bus we needed and where we needed to go. We also made the decision that instead of buying a round trip ticket for 10 Euro, we would by the 13 Euro pass for 3 days. This was the best financial decision of the trip thus far. We got on the bus and headed for O’Connell Street in Dublin Central City.

When we arrived, we had a little trouble finding out which direction to go, but a nice local pointed us in the right direction and off we went to our hotel. We couldn’t check-in yet because it was too early in the day, but we left our stuff in storage at the hotel and started to walk around town. We ate lunch at a bar called Maddigan’s. There were about 50 bars on the street and we couldn’t choose, so I just suggested Maddigan’s because it stuck out to me. Maddigan is Jimmy Butler’s mom’s maiden name. Jimmy is one of my best friends, and since the name was familiar, I thought to myself that it would make for a good story… and I think it does.

There was also a spectacular experience for me at lunch when I, Gregory Morgan, had my first pint of Guinness in Ireland! Tiffany also ordered her first Irish dish; it was ‘eggs, beans and chips’. By chips I mean French fries, by beans I mean baked beans, and by eggs, I mean sunny-side up eggs… very delightful…

Speaking of Guinness, we went to the Guinness Storehouse after lunch. It is over 250 years old and pumps out something like 3 million pints a day! We toured the entire storehouse and learned all about the history and how Guinness is made. We got to pour our own ‘perfect pint’ for free and sit down and relax as we overlooked most of downtown Dublin from the 5th floor of the storehouse. It was really breathtaking. McKara is allergic to almost anything, so I got to drink her beer in addition to mine. We then proceeded to go to the top of the storehouse to the bar where it had round glass walls that gave us a 360 degree panorama of Dublin City… it was truly spectacular. I had another free beer and we proceeded to make our way back to the hotel.

We finally checked into our hotel, the Belvedere Hotel at Parnell Square. It was a nice hotel with a bar attached on the first floor. As we entered into the lift (aka elevator), I began to become more cognizant of how much Europe is different than the US. The three of us barely fit in the elevator with our luggage. When we got into our room, we started to settle in. McKara and Tiffany showed me how we had to put our room keys into a docking station in the wall in order to turn on the electricity. They also began to tell me about how they already struggled with the European to US electrical converters and that it took them 45 minutes to figure out that you had to insert your room key into the wall for the electricity would work. McKara would later blow the circuit breaker in our room in Dublin, as was reported to have happened two times during their stay in London the night before.

The room consisted of one single bed and one double bed, perfect for the three of us to sleep. I was then introduced to European bathrooms, with two faucets on the sink (hot & cold), which you could never quite get warm water. It was hot or cold, no in-between. There were some other minor details, but not that important. However, my bed was very small and I remember falling out of it at least twice.

We hung out in our room for a while, but then went back out for dinner. We ate in the Dublin Bar district at a place called Quay’s Irish Pub, which is another pub with the same name as one of my friends, Ryan Quay. I wasn’t that hungry and got a salad, but McKara got an Irish Stew. We also sat next to the American actor Ethan Suplee. He was Ashton Kutcher’s roommate in The Butterfly Effect, played one of the big linemen in Remember the Titans, and was in other movies that I can’t think of at the moment.

After that, we went to the actual Dublin Bar, which was very crowded and over priced. I ordered a whisky & coke, but didn’t specify the coke. I got Jamison whisky. I was thinking, “there is about 400 different Irish whisky’s here, and I just had to get Jameson” The drink, in total, was about 14 Euro, or about $18 US dollars. We then realized that we needed to budget a little better and left after two drinks.

While we were walking home, we got our picture taken on the streets of Ireland. The photo is hysterical and features the three of us with our heads through one of those boards that has a scene painted on it and you just stick your head through the other side in the spot where the character’s face goes. We did that and have the photo to prove it. The picture was the Irish Flag, with three leprechauns dancing, drinking and playing the fiddle. McKara and Tiffany looked good, but many were convinced that I was actually a leprechaun because I looked so realistic with my head in the cutout.

I was proud that I took Megan’s advice and stayed up the whole first day I was there and easily fell fast asleep after I talked and laughed with the girls for a while. One last thing to note, the sun went down at about 10:30 pm and came up about 3am… It was very difficult to judge the time in addition to changing time zones so much on the way over.

My Trip Overseas

If you know me well, you know I usually pack my bags a few hours before my flight. This was the case, but did pack the night before instead of Wednesday morning before my flight. On Wednesday, my splendid girlfriend Megan took the morning off of work to take me to the airport. We of course brought our puppy Lilah, who seems to think that everyone she sees, including every single stranger in the Tampa airport, is her best friend who she hasn’t seen in ages… Anyways, I get to the US Airways desk, and my passport wouldn’t scan properly, so it took forever to check in with the attendant. Meanwhile, Megan is trying to keep up with Lilah and make sure she didn’t potty on the carpet inside the airport. Since check-in was such a long process, I think the attendant let it slide that my bag was 7 lbs over the limit and didn’t charge me extra (so thanks to you Mr. US Airways Check-in guy).

My flight left from Tampa about 2pm (30 minutes late) in route to North Carolina, my first of three stops. Since we left Tampa late, I only had about 45 minutes in between my flights to de-board, change terminals and board my next flight. I got to my flight and was off to Philadelphia. Per usual, Philly was on a delay and we had to circle the airport for about an hour before we could land. At this point, I was starting to get a little tired of flying, but knowing I had a transatlantic flight coming up, I tried to keep high spirits.

While in Philly, I grabbed a quick slice of pizza and a drink. I think took Megan’s advice and bought one of those neck pillows everyone uses for flying. That was one of my best purchases of the trip, second only to the 3-day bus pas in Dublin, which you’ll hear about later. I called Megan at a payphone to let her know I was alright and then boarded the plane on time. I should also mention that I left my IPhone at home because I didn’t plan on using it in Europe and there was no sense in bringing it and risk loosing or breaking it. This was my first step to breaking out of my comfort zone of being totally in touch with everyone and everything in America.

We boarded the plane on time and pushed back from the gate about 8:45pm EST. I happened to sit next to another guy about my age from Australia named Kane. We started talking when we both shared in the relief that nobody had claimed seat 30E, which was right in the middle of the both of us. As any two men can relate, it could be a bit uncomfortable sitting next to another man for such a long period of time on an airplane in close quarters (especially since I am not the smallest of men). But having the open seat in between us meant a little extra room, a place to put our stuff, and the opportunity to have a great conversation.

Unfortunately, as soon as we started taxiing down the tarmac, the pilot informed us that we were number 32 for departure. There isn’t a whole lot to do with a one and a half hour delay on the plane besides have some good conversations with my new friend and try to convince the flight attendants to give us free booze wile we waited to depart (which we were unsuccessful at by the way). They were too interested in talking among themselves about whatever drama comes with being a flight attendant on a long tour. It was great to talk with Kane though because he seemed to be a ‘world traveler extraordinaire’ and has been all over the America’s, Europe and parts of the pacific.

The time on the airplane also gave me some time to think about the different scenarios of when I landed in Dublin. See, McKara and Tiffany were already in England the day before I left for Dublin. Our plan was for them to fly to Dublin the same morning I was arriving and meet at a bar inside the Dublin Airport. The plan was that when my plane landed at 8:30am Dublin local time, I would wait at this bar until they arrived after 9am. With the delay in Philly and not being able to contact them, this meant that I would get there an hour after them, instead of an hour before them. I knew them both from school and they are both in sororities, but I was not that close to either of them and feared what they would do when the got off the plane and couldn’t find me. Were they going to wait? Leave? Go wondering around the streets of Dublin looking for me? But I knew regardless of what happened, the hotel was under my name, so hopefully they would be smart enough to find their way to the hotel as a last resort.

My flight was an overnight zombie plane. About 20 minutes after takeoff everyone was asleep, me included. I remember Kane waking me up for the chicken dinner (which we got 2 servings of chicken since we sat in the last row of the plane). But after that, I had a full stomach and knew I needed to be ready to go when I landed, so I passed out again.

The next thing I know, Kane is waking me up for the arrival breakfast, for which we also received two egg sandwiches (thank you flight attendants). I also got to see some of the Irish islands on the way onto the mainland, with their steep cliffs and green rolling hills. As we got closer to the ground and the airport, I was watching a car drive on the road. I then began thinking, “On my god, he is on the wrong side of the road!” I then saw another car heading straight for him and thought they were going to crash. However, I quickly realized that in Europe, they drive on the left side of the road instead of the right… duh…

And so it starts…

Hello family & friends! I was thinking of a way for me to keep in touch with those of you who are interested in my trip to Europe. Realizing that phone calls are pretty expensive and emails are tough to do when I don’t have the best internet access, I decided to start my own blog about my trip! Some other folks here, including the two girls I am traveling with have started to blog too.

It is currently Sunday, June 7th and I am sitting in my room at the Warkworth House in Cambridge, England. I have been here about one day now after traveling to Dublin, Ireland for two days prior. I would like to get you caught up on my adventures, so here we go, let me start from Wednesday after I give you some background about my trip…

I am traveling to Europe to teach elementary with 19 students and 2 advisors from USF’s College of Education. The title of the program is the British Schools Experience and is a student teaching internship for 4 weeks. We have accommodations at the Warkworth House Bed & Breakfast in Cambridge, England. As I prepared to come here throughout the spring, I decided that since I was going to be in Europe for the first time, and probably not for a long time after, I should try to take advantage of this opportunity to travel. I really wanted to see Ireland, and found a cheap flight that would get me there (Thank you Mom). Two other girls that I knew from class expressed interest in going on an adventure to Dublin with me for a few days, and before I knew it, we were all set to go. Their names are Tiffany and McKara, and I am certain they will come up a lot in this blog since we seem to be a trio who find each other quite amusing.