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The student life has kept me busy throughout December finishing up work for my classes. As such, I haven’t had much time to update my blog, and with three days left until Christmas, I’m going to have to postpone the finale of Eurotrip II until I return from Eurotrip III. I leave tomorrow for Germany to spend Christmas with Carsten and his family in Leipzig. After that I head to Munich to visit Verena and witness Andi and Huyen’s wedding. And after that, I fly to Spain for New Years to visit Ramón in Madrid and Bakio.

Today presented Delft residents with the perfect winter photo op. It was really beautiful, so before I leave again, I wanted to share some photos and a video. Have a very prettig kerstfeest en een gelukkig nieuwjaar (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)!!

Yesterday was the Q-Santa-Run in Rotterdam, where 2,000 people dressed up as santa and ran a 5K. Naomi, Alex, and I ran the race decked out in the provided santa suits; the hardest part surprisingly involved staying warm and managing to run with the oversized santa pants.

Since Dublin is relatively isolated from many of the traditional Irish destinations, I chose to spend my full day in Ireland visiting the nearby Boyne Valley and taking in the the countryside. Specifically, I joined a tour by Mary Gibbons that took us to the Hill of Tara and Newgrange.

The Hill of Tara dates to Neolithic times (~3000 BC). It’s most popularly known as serving as the seat of the Irish kings (~600 AD), and more recently (~1900) it was excavated by British Israelites who thought that the Ark of the Covenant was buried there. Currently (October 24, 2007), it’s basically just a hill.

Newgrange is part of the Brú na Bóinne complex (a collection of Neolithic chamber tombs). Built between 3300-2900 BC, it’s an UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s 500 years older than the Great Pyramid and predates stonehenge by 1,000 years. The Newgrange tomb was excavated and restored between 1962-1975, and it was discovered that on the Winter Solstice, the sun’s light illuminates the inner chamber for 17 minutes. I joined the tour group and squeezed through the entrance to see the inner chamber firsthand (no pictures allowed), and I entered the lottery for a chance to watch the Winter Solstice in person.

Based at Barnacles Hostel in the Temple Bar district, I spent three days touring Dublin and the surrounding area. I liked the city, and the people I met in the hostel made it easy to adjust to traveling solo again. Here’re some photos from Dublin.

From October 23 – November 3, I traveled solo on my second major trip through Europe. Over 11 days, I managed to visit four countries (Ireland, Norway, Scotland, and England), explore a monument older than the pyramids, experience an aborted plane landing, meet new people through CouchSurfing, sail across the North Sea, celebrate Halloween in Edinburgh, and spend a night on the streets of London. My goal is to have Eurotrip II blogged before Christmas.