Friday, August 05, 2005

Countries - apologizing, telling them I'm from Canada.. not the US..

Ah I do love travelling to other countries..I recently added Netherlands to the map last year. And Iceland. Sort of. . I could see the lava fields from the airport by pressing my face against the window and took pictures. I think it counts. Next on my agenda - budget permitting - Brazil, Argentina or France.

Missed Opportunities - Egypt and Israel. School backed out due to political instability. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic (I still rue missing out Prague). The US and NATO were dropping bombs in the former Yugoslavia.. School balked cos a large group of 25-30 Americans tramping around like nobody's business might upset some Eastern Europeans according to the school's rationale.

Memorable places -

Munich, Germany - many deafies our age and the Beer Garden. Attended a meeting for standardization of Deutsche Sign Language. Vicious and hissing among the older adults. Us young-uns (low 20s at the time) drank and mingled in the bar while the older adults fought among themselves. Criticism and protection of regional sign languages. Those from Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin, etc jealously guarded their regional signs. Don't blame them cos they're usually distinct and homegrown. That's repression of Oralism for you..

Rothenburg, Germany. Very pretty city - one of the few cities in Europe with nearly complete Roman (or was it medieval?) wall surrounding the city.

London, the UK. A friend and I decide to take a bus for a 24 hour visit to London to visit another friend. We were awake for more than 24 hours. Woo!

Lucerne, Switzerland - the Old Swiss. Alpine. Lederhosen.

Salzburg, Austria. The Salt Mines and "Sound of the Music". Amazing Deaf Club House up in the Alps overlooking the city.

Limerick, Ireland - lived there for 9 months. Most difficult yet best year of my life.

Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dead industrial city reeling from the Troubles. As per Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the UK had removed most of barbwire fences and police/army posts. But you can still see the indentations.

and that's the few of the many...




create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

you're hot.

8/09/2005 9:06 PM  
Blogger Kate O. Breen said...

oh my goodness.. Limerick. *eyes misting*. Just glanced at your blog - me like!

yes it was a study abroad - all independent. no sister school crap with Poughkeepsie. I wouldn't know where to begin re: best and worst - will defo email you. Many good memories. How's the Dolan these days?

8/09/2005 10:35 PM  
Blogger Kate O. Breen said...

Yes - I remember a large group of undergraduate Americans both semesters. Avoided them like the plague. I didn't come to Ireland to hang with Americans.

That reminds me - I met this guy about five years ago and didn't like him at all. I heard about him last month when he got married in this town. A perfect example why this guy and I clashed:

One of his recent travels - he flew to Iceland, went to a small town for several days. He shacked up in the hotel ordering Dominos pizza. In short - he goes to places in name. If it was me, I'd be exploring the lava fields and the Thingvellir (place where the earliest form of Parliament was recorded in Viking times). Ah well.

8/11/2005 7:32 PM  

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