The Adventures of McKenna and Katie

The past month in a nutshell…

We returned from our Easter break to some visitors…Katie’s family came to visit!! It was actually sort of an extension to our break! We enjoyed being spoiled with a car and felt lazy because we were able to drive to the grocery store, something we haven’t done in 4 months! We unfortunately had classes to attend that week, but Katie’s family was able to explore Ireland during the day and we were able to join them for dinner at night, which was also a treat because our dinners normally consist of some version of chicken and vegetables. One night we decided to try the Chinese restaurant next to their hotel and discovered that it actually wasn’t too bad, but they were missing the flavorful sauces that we are used to in Chinese restaurants in California. But one thing was consistent…the amazing desserts at the pubs we discovered. We literally tried every dessert at the hotel pub, we are now huge fans of the passion fruit tart and the sticky toffee pudding! It was to die for! It was a great week, and we hope they enjoyed Ireland as much as we currently are! It was wonderful to have visitors and we were sad when Saturday came around (but glad they made it out of the country before the stupid Iceland volcano decided to explode!!)

The next weekend we had our last trip with the International Society to the Aran Islands. It took about 2 hours to get to the harbor, and another hour on a ferry to get to the main island. Before we continue with this story, please erase any ideas about islands being tropical, sunny, and filled with tourists. This was as far from that as it gets. The Aran Islands are basically a smaller version of Ireland, and believe it or not, way less technologically advanced. The landscapes were beautiful, but there was not much more than hills, rocks, and a few houses. We took a “bus” tour and were dropped off by the beach, and the driver said he would pick us up in 2-3 hours in a different location. And that was the last we saw of him…We spent the next 2-3 hours trying to find this new location, we even asked the 3 cars that drove by us if we could hitchhike our way, but even they didn’t know where we had to go. So we continued to wander around on little roads until we found the cafe with the other lost international students. We were driven around for a little bit and stopped at the 7 Churches, which is now an old cemetery. We drove for a little bit more and the bus driver informed us that the tour was over, and we again had no idea where we were. We walked to the main part of town, which consisted of a few restaurants and a few sweater shops. We walked along the beach, with this unbelievably clear water. On our way back we stumbled upon a trailer with a girl sitting in the window yelling for help. She wanted McKenna to somehow stop her horse from getting through the front door of her ”clubhouse.” We suggested shutting the door and continued walking, but she continued to yell that we were mean and that she needed help getting the horse out. McKenna proceeded to take pictures of this unusual event and the horse eventually decided to leave the girls alone. It was an extremely long day, but we had some interesting adventures!!

On Tuesday we went into town to Dolan’s Warehouse and Pub to see Scouting for Girls, a British pop band. We had gone to Dolan’s for dinner with Katie’s family and had seen posters on the wall advertising the event. When we found out that the Student Union was selling discounted tickets, we decided we should go!! Needless to say, we were some of the oldest ones there and were surrounded by teenage girls and their awkward boyfriends. We had a good time though, and Scouting for Girls put on a pretty good show, complete with a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”!

McKenna is Addicted, There is a Marry-ige tonight, and George of the Jungle Style

Germany…where to begin?! We arrived at the world’s smallest airport, that we jokingly said looked like a military airport…and it turned out it actually used to be! Our amazing friend Christian, who was a study abroad student at Chapman last semester, came and picked us up from the airport and took us on our first Autobahn experience. We told him we felt like we were on Space Mountain!! He took us to Dortmund and showed us around his university, then took us out for “traditional German food,” a döner kebap. We had no clue that there were so many Turks in Germany, but they sure do make amazing food!!! We met up with some of his friends at a local cocktail bar and tried some German concoctions that had random English names. It turns out the more his friends drink, the more the “English floats out of their mouths.” One of Christian’s friends, Flor, even wrote a song about McKenna being addicted to her iPhone. We had a night full of laughter with the language barrier.

We woke up in the morning with a beautiful German breakfast spread for us. Christian’s dad introduced us to his favorite breakfast creation. You take a piece of amazing German bread, first spread butter, then Nutella, then quark, then top it off with some jelly. Absolutely delicious. We hopped on a train to Köln, when we got off at the station we couldn’t leave the station without getting 5 Berliners, which are basically a better version of jelly-filled donuts. We wandered around the beautiful city, making sure we spent plenty of time in the chocolate museum. We somehow found ourselves back in line for the free chocolate fountain sample…4 times.  We also walked around the beautiful cathedral and learned that it took over 700 years to complete, just to be bombed in WWII. That night, we went out to dinner with Christian’s parents. We were rather confused when we got into the car and his dad, Werner, told us, “Ladies there is a marriage tonight, we are going to eat!” We thought we were crashing a wedding, but it turns out this pub caters for special events and always makes a little extra for people in the city to enjoy. It was the most food we have eaten since we left the States and words cannot describe how great it was!!! We learned how to play a before dinner drinking game, tried some bone marrow meatballs (which were actually really tasty!), and had a locally made after dinner shot with Christian’s mom. We were exhausted and beyond stuffed when we got back to Christian’s house that night!!

The next day, after our new favorite breakfast treat, we went with Christian and his dad to a local national park. But before we left, we asked Christian to show us around his family dairy. McKenna thought it would be fun to pet the cows…they were not as happy to see her, they spit and gave her a death stare. Christian said it was because she spoke English to them!! The park we visited is known for a large statue of a German man, who supposedly kept all the Romans out of Germany. But the reason we visited was to go to the ”climbing garden,” which was basically a rope obstacle course in the trees, where we zip-lined, tight rope walked, and George-of-the-Jungle swung through the trees. Mind you, this course was between 8 and 11 meters from the ground!! It was the most fun we have had in a while and definitely out of our normal comfort zone, which made it even better!! Friday was Katie’s last day in Germany and in the afternoon we drove to the Dusseldorf airport where Katie had a flight to Dublin to meet her family for Easter!!

McKenna stayed with Christian’s family for Easter weekend, meeting all his extended family. They were shocked when they found out she was American! They said, “How can you be American? You are so nice and smart!” Got a good laugh out of that one. Needless to say, she came home with a backpack full of German chocolate and some amazing memories. 

This spring break was better than we could have imagined and will be impossible to ever beat. We thank Christian and his family for showing us the ”real” Germany and leaving us with a lifetime of memories!!