Hi all!

So I am back in the United States, as you all now. Im so excited I could suprise everyone. The reactions were absolutly priceless. I missed you all way too much.

But the big news, I am going to continue blogging but I am going to switch back to the other one, because well I'm not in Ireland anymore!

so the link is.... http://layingunderstars.blogspot.com/ <-- check it out

So for the last post of the Ireland blog,

Like the warmth of the sun
And the light of the day,
May the luck of the Irish
shine bright on your way

Italy

Im just going to post a short one for now. I'll do a more detailed one later.

I loved Italy. It was the most amazing place I have ever been. Seriously I cannot imagine skipping that trip. I loved every single second. Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice. I was able to take some really pretty pictures, and my favortie one I have taken all of study abroad, I wish I could put it up, but alas with the broken laptop it makes it hard.

It almost makes me wonder if I should have studied in Rome. But thats hindsite now. To bad you can't study abroad more than once, I would love it. I love Europe and I wish I could come back more often. Apparently RyanAir is going to start having international flights to America. If they will still be super cheap, I definatly see myself coming back. I really want to go to Croatia.

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Leaving

I was glad to leave Ireland exactly as I found it over the precious four
months: Warm, accomidating, and enjoying a drink

I finally finished a book Kate gave me right before I left, "Round Ireland with a fridge." It was very fitting to finish it as I am finishing my time in Ireland. With less than three weeks left, and one of those being spent in Italy, me and Rose have been reflecting on our time here. The book is about a Man who was bet that he couldnt travel around Ireland with a fridge in under a month. It was very good and all about the journey through Ireland and the things he learned along the way. I started reading it on the plane ride here and I finished it last night. It's quite poignet for a funny book, and I think it ment so much to me becuase I can see the similarities in my own adventure here.

I had learned not to worry; to make choices and allow things to happen. For the most part they turned out to be good, and when they weren't - like the hostel from hell - they were character building. There weren't any wrong or right paths to choose, just different ones, and where they led was governed by the attitude towards them.

As much as I have said I have wanted to come home and been upset about missing things happening without me, I would never trade this experience. I learned so many things about the world and life while I was here. This was the first time I ever lived completly on my own. I was so far away from everything I knew and was familiar with. Though Ireland speaks the same language it is a different place then the states, and I have grown to appreciate it. This passage of time has been long and short. At times it felt like it was flying and other moments it seemed to drag on. But the most shocking thing, as big as it is to say now, "I lived in Ireland for 4 months", later in life 4 months will seem like nothing. I just hope I will be able to appreciate it then. I wouldn't give up this opportunity for anything. It's been hard at times but overall it has been amazing. And as much as I am excited to come home, I can't believe it's almost over. I probably won't be able to post again until after Italy, like the 11th or 12th or something but I miss you guys so much.

I was leaving Ireland. The affair was over, but the friendship was just beginning.

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I felt like I was in Harry Potter....

So if any of you have read this book, I now know where JK Rowling got her idea for the final exams. You know how in the book all the kids go into the big room at single desks and just take a test with a big clock at the front, and a guy announces when the test is starting and over. Its just like that here. I seriously felt like we were in the book. hahah. There were like 400 people in this huge theater taking the test. Craziness.

In other news regarding this exam. I AM DONE MATH FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I took my last calculus exam today. I think I did enough to pass which is all I really care about. But its so exciting knowing I never have to take another math test in my entire life. So cool.

My roomie Sarah came back today. She has been in Spain/Italy/Greece for the last 20 days. Its nice to have her back, especially cuz this means the straightener is back and I can do my hair again!:-D Its also cool, because she is super tan. Meaning when I go on my trip I can finally get some sun and not look like a ghost anymore.

I also saw my one Irish friend, Liam, today. I haven't seen him in awhile so it was nice to talk. I'm said though because I'm gonna miss the show that he is directing, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare". I was really looking forward to it, but I will be getting ready to get on a plane the night it opens.

Speaking of which! I COME HOME IN 19 DAYS! How awesome is that! That's under 3 weeks. I'm so excited for Italy and home. ggeeeezzeeee. Only one more test to go and I am FREEE!!

Anyways love and miss you all.

Slán agat

The roomies are back...

So the two roomies, other than Rose, have been on vacation for the past 2 weeks and finally came back. BOOO. It was so nice just the two of us, we never had to worry about pissing anyone off, and I got a hot shower all the time.

In additon, the days here are getting so long. I guess cuz we are farther north, but seriously the sun doesnt set until like 9:30! Thats rediculous, it has totally messed up my sense of time.

Thats it. I need to study.

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Almost there.....

Paper: DONE

Study for calc and take exam: On Monday

Study for sci revo and take exam: On Thursday

Go to Italy: On Thursday

Come Home: 22 DAYS

That is all for now.

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Story

So you know at the end of a bad story some one will add " and then I found a dollar"?

Today I actually found 5 euro!!!
Yipee Skipee!

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Procrastination

I am the worst procrastinator. ever.

Seriously, I cannot bring myself to write this paper. It is taking me ages. I think I am spent a combined 18 hours on the computer in the last 3 days and only have 1500 words. I still need another 1500. And I can't let it take another 3 days. I have other things I need to do.

But even as I sit here typing I can't bring myself to actually continue writing. Granted today I have been much better, I have already written 600 words, yesterday I only managed to write 200.

Not only am I procrastinating with writing, but I also am with sleeping. I don't know whats wrong with me lately, I seriously lie in bed for about two hours or more before I can actually fall asleep. Its craziness. I just want papers to be done, and exams to be done so I can go to Italy.

Eight days till Italy. If only I didn't have to do all the work in between.

Maybe I'll try and do some writing now.

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more...

More things I will miss about Ireland

• The swans in the bay
• Runs around the bay
• Pilates with Rose
• Being able to go anywhere in Europe whenever I feel like it
• Garlic Chips
• Cobblestone Streets
• SHEEP!!!
• Irish Accents

More things I will not miss about Ireland

• Creepy french men looking in our windows.
• Living underneath the rood deck
• Looking like hell all the time
• Weird crisp flavours
• My bedroom door opening and closing by the ghost
• Gross fish smell outside
• Loud docks behind the apt.
• Creepy landlord

friends

its crazy how much this is true.

distance makes the heart grow fonder

i loved my friends and family. but i guess i never realized how much until i was cut off for 4 months. i say this like im coming home tomorrow. its not for another 26 days but it feels so soon. and i am so excited. i want to be able to call my friends and not worry how much it is costing me. i wont to be on the same time zone. i want to be able to drive and see them.

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A List...well actually two

Things I Will Miss About Ireland

• The pretty walk on my way to school
• Being able to watch friends/scrubs whenever, because it's on constantly
• Cadbury Chocolate
• Being able to drink legally
• Bulmers
• The easy education system
• Really good Cheese
• My cute apartment
• Penny's
• 2 for €3 Pizzas
• Shop Street
• Galway Bay
• The cross walks that beep
• Watching Rugby on TV

Things I Will Not Miss About Ireland

• Cold Showers
• The supermarket only being open till 8
• Stupid room mates
• Not having all of my clothes/shoes with me
• Missing my friends all the time
• Lack of Internet
• The Rain
• Crazy drunk people all the time
• Riding on the wrong side of the road
• Cryptosporidum
• Having to pay for or boil water
• The crappy library hours

I cant believe its almost time for me to come home. Its so close I can taste it. Not literally but you know what I mean.

29 Days!

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I went to school today

So I went to school today for the first time in ummm 3 weeks. My o My has it changed. Like seriously, there are leaves on the trees, different flowers changing, and a huge lack of people. Its kinda weird.

I hope opening night went well for everyone! I wish I could have been there. But break a leg to everyone preforming tonight, Im sure it will be amazing.

Today me and Rose realzied we only have 3 more saturdays in ireland! CRAZY!
miss you!

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Ok Ok Ok

Ok kids heres a post. You people complain alot. Haha. Anyways the reason for no post is my lack of internet avalibity. My rents have been here since the last post so it was hard to do one while I was touring the country.

There isnt much to write. We went everywhere basically, Belfast, Dublin, Derry, Sligo, Donegal, Waterford, Athlone, Tipperary, Limerick, Cork, and Kilarney. And many more in between. It was very fun and I took lots and lots of pictures. In Donegal we meet a long lost cousin/aunt relative person, which was cool. I saw where my great grandmother grew up before she immigrated. Fun times.

In other news school work begins again. I have lots of stuff due soon:(. And working out has begun. The week after I get back I'm going to the beach and I need to be able to get into a swim suit.

Thats all for now, I promise more later. Miss ya kids!

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I Can't wait till next semester

Despite all of the work that'll I'll be doing, and the lack of money I will have. I am so excited for next semester. I decided on my nutrition class instead of art. Im pretty excited, its all about the part of biology that I actually enjoy!

And we got our townhouse. A15! Im so freaking excited.

Ok thats all for now. I have a paper to write.

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50 days

Today is the start of the 50 day countdown till I come home. Ah! Thats so crazy. I've been here 87 days already. This time is flying by so fast. I want to come home but I also want to stay. Not for the people, but when will I ever get to live in Europe again. Other than that, I'm ready for home. Like if I could, I probably would come home tomorrow.

Things with the roomies are a little better. We had a little switchero, Im with Rose and Beth and Sarah are together. So it seems to have helped some. Tomorrow is super homework day. I need to get a 2500 word paper written. I hope I can do it.

I register for next fall's classes is today. Yipee for being considered a junior for registration and that I get to do it a week earlier than everyone else. I can't decide between art class or nutrition. Its very difficult. On one hand if I start taking nutrition classes now I can probably get a minor in by the time I graduate, that would make me a Chemistry/Biochemistry Double Major with a minor in Nutrition. Which I think would look pretty good on a resume. But that also means alot more hard work. My other option is a Digital Art class, which I think would be so much fun, but wouldn't look so hot on my resume. So if you read this in the next 20 mins, let me know what you think.

Im really excited because IHOR picks the townhouse for next year on friday! Yea. We will be absolutly official with a place to live.

O yea...I'm done with classes for the semester. Ireland's got on thing going for it.

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Blah

I'm in such a mood lately. That isn't my fault. I hate that people can bring you down when you know they shouldn't be able to. I'm having major roomie issues, that I did nothing to bring on, and I'm being targeted through passive aggressiveness. Now I know I am not god incarnate on earth, but I see myself as a pretty nice person, and I'll give everyone a chance. I'll be nice to you even if you have screwed me over a thousand times. I just hate that I can't do anything about this because they won't bring the issues up to me, they'll just talk behind my back. And as you all know, I don't do confrontation. So I just have to wait this out. I basically have 1 month left with the roomies, other than Rose(who I actually like). So I will survive. I just hate that I am letting this get to me and it's ruining my time. I need to be happy no matter what.

In other news. I had fish and chips the other day. It was actually really really good. I haven't had fish in about 10 years so this was a big jump for me. I'm proud of myself for trying it. I've gotten over a bunch of my weird food things, I eat peanut butter and jelly now, which I previously didn't do. I also eat my cereal with milk. That's huge for me because I have never done that. And I had fish. I'm just knocking everything out.

Other than that I still miss home, a lot. I'm excited because my family will be here in less than a week. I'm so excited to see my mom. Like really excited. And Ivan turned 18 on Friday so that means he can drink legally in Europe, which means I can take him out!! So I just have to get through this week, which is also the last week of classes, and it should be fine from here. I just want the drama to end. Blah

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yes...they do cut hair in ireland.

For those of you who dont get the reference, before I left Pam asked in all seriousness if they cut hair in Ireland. Which all of us responded to with utter silence to the silliness of the question. Anyways beyond a doubt they do cut hair. Check it out. I was getting so fed up with the long hair that I cut it all off!

Thats it for now.

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i forgot something

there is a cryptosporidium outbreak in galway. meaning we have to either drink bottled water or boil water. we can't even brush our teeth with the bad water. the other day i looked in one of cups and it had stuff in the bottom of it, it looked like an agar plate with a culture growing on it. how nuts is that? one of my roomies got really really sick and another one was feeling bad. i really hope i dont get sick. silly galway.

heres to hoping I dont get sick.

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a deserted island and hail

So Laura is here to visit. Yipee Skipee its so nice to see her. We have been having so much fun. Yesterday we went to Inis Oirr in the hail. It was a very interesting trip. Fun but everything was closed on the island so it was hard to really enjoy ourselves becuase we were starving. We were so loopy from the hail excellent quotes insued, including Laura "Sutable for vegetarians, but wait it has vegtable oil in it?" and me "Shipjacking, hahha he's trying to steal the boat" o so funny. Some LaSalle ladies also visited from Rome. It was so nice to see LaSalle faces even if I only knew one of them but the other girls were very sweet and nice. We had a good time. Makes me miss home alot. I just got my exam scheduale. Im done, like complelty finished everything inculding exams on the 3rd of May. Afterwards I have one trip to London and thats it. After that im gonna be bored as hell and really really anxious to get home.

But before home, I had St. Pattys Day. Which was alot of fun. I enojyed it in the typical Irish fashion, a parade and then alot of time in the pubs. Wow what a fun time. It was crazy here rediculously packed in every pub. But I think its nothing crazy when compared to the states. I think it is definalty crazier there, but I mean I cant complain, I had St. Pattys day in Ireland! Yeaaa!! Ok Im off maybe i'll go to class later. Miss you all!

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Im a momma and a wife!!

Again this is for masquies. If you arent one than you will not understand this at all.

Anyways!! Yipeee Skipeee! Im so excited. A wife and a kid all in one day, this is so much to take in. Yea for wifey kate and baby liz. I wish I could be there for this. I miss you all so much. And baby week is only going to make me start missing more and more things, like the show, formal, and then kiss the wall. booo.

Side note: Everybody let me know who you have! I know Val is chris and amy's kid. (Val thanks for letting it be known on facebook!) Everybody else get on it!

<3 you all!!

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Feeling Accomplished

I am very happy today. I got a B+ on my first Irish assignment. Apparently I'm not going to fail out. I also discovered that I only need a 1.0 to maintain my scholarship. Yipee. And I went to all three of my classes today!!!! I havent done that in ages!

I also found out today that I have to take classes at LaSalle this summer. Like no choice, I'll be there. I'm excited about it. I'll have the first half of the summer with home friends and then I'll be able to spend time with my LaSalle kids. It's the best of both worlds.

And I talked to 4 of my lasalle favs last night. It made me very very very happy. O ya and I'm giving birth tomorrow:-D And Laura arrives on saturday. This is going to be a good week I can tell already.

Miss you all like whoa!

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O-la-la Paris

Paris. Wow. It may be the most beautiful place that I have ever been. It was absolutely amazing. All of the things I have seen in textbooks, that I never thought were actually real. And then to finally see them with my own eyes. There is no way to explain it. It is by far the best place I have visited. Ok now on with the whirlwind 39 hours that was my Paris trip, again this will be super long.

So we arrive in Paris, to the smallest airport ever, and take the hour long bus ride into the city. So we arrive in a plaza, that we have no idea where it is. It’s not on our map. Yikes. Then we find a metro and a map and figure out where the hell we have to go. At this point it is 12:15am. We have to catch the yellow train and then the purple one and find our hotel, by 1 am otherwise we cant check in and we have no where to sleep. So we get the yellow train, but by the time we get to the purple one, it’s not running anymore. So we go back up to the Paris streets, find a map and then proceed to walk the fastest couple of blocks in my entire life. Me and Gina make it to our hotel in time, 10 minutes to spare. We get up to the receptionist, and the guy looks at us because we are sweating to death and because we are freaking out that we made it in time.

Now for the real fun. I tell him my name and who we are and he says, “You were supposed to check in at 11am, I have already given away your room.” So I freak out. Not like yelling or anything. But in my head my mind is racing like wild because OMG we don’t have a place to stay. So I tell him that I am positive that I put 1 am on the thing and he told us that he could help. He had one room left and we could have it for just a few more dollars then we had originally thought of paying, however we didn’t not have a room for the next night, but he would find it for us. How nice. So we get up to our room, and it was gorgeous. It overlooked a cute city street and we had two double beds and a shower inside of our room. How nice. So we sleep. And the next morning we get up to conquer Paris in a day.

So we start by walking to find a croissant. I mean hey, we are in Paris and we can have a pastry. We find delicious ones. Omgoodness. So amazingly delicious. As we eat our croissants we walk to find the Pantheon to find Lauren. We get there walk around and she finds us. And it was soooo exciting. You know how you and your friends from high school are always like one day we will meet up in Europe and travel together. It was so cool to actually do it. So we meet up and head off to Notre Dame.

Notre dame was absolutely gorgeous. The windows, the rose ones, you all know which ones I am talking about, were stunning. We walk all around inside and then decide to climb the bell towers so that we can see the view from the city. We climb the thousand billion stairs to the top and the view was gorgeous. You could see the entire city. I think it was really cool because you could see the Eiffel tower in the view. After taking in the view we walked down the stairs, which was super scary because they were really tiny and it was a spiral staircase. It took a lot not get really dizzy.

After Notre Dame we went back to the hotel so that we could find out where the receptionist had found our new hotel. We get there and he found us one right up the street that was only 16 euro and had a toilet en suite. Whoopieeee. So we go and find it and it was so nice. Very pretty and cute. We then decide it would be cute to have a picnic in front of the Louvre. So we find a super market and buy Wine, strawberries, brie and a baguette. Then we walk to the Louvre, find ourselves a nice little grassy spot. It was so cute. We felt very European. We sat and talked about our lives, and caught up a little because we hadn’t seen each other since Christmas time.

After our picnic we decided to walk to Sacra Coer, which is super super far. We walk and as we do so, we see the Opera house, you know the phantom one. It was so pretty. As we continue on we see Moulin Rouge. It was a very cool walk, until we hit the hill. Now Sacra Coer is located on the highest point in Paris. Now this hill was intense, like super super steep. We climb to the top and see this cute little town with an artist’s square. Really beautiful stuff, of the city and the various monuments in Paris. I bought a print of Sacra Coer, with a city street in front of it, and then proceeded to leave it in the airport. Boo, but my friends still haven’t gone to Paris so I am going to have them buy me one. The church was so pretty inside. I think it might be prettier than Notre dame. You just walked in and you were struck by the mosaics and paintings. It was gorgeous.

After Sacra Coer, we decided to take the metro to the Louvre because we were really tired at this point. At the Louvre, we saw all of the famous paintings and sculptures that you only ever see in textbooks. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Madonna on the Rocks, The coronation of Napoleon. It was absolutely amazing. You could never believe that they were real until you actually see them. I got goose bumps just because my mind couldn’t grasp the fact that I was seeing them for real. We did quite the abbreviated tour, because well the Louvre is huge. You can’t imagine all of the works in this museum. It took us like two hours just to see what we wanted to see, we had to pass over so many other things.

Following the Louvre we walked back to Lauren’s hotel to rest our tired feet a little. After a little break we went to McDonalds to get big Macs because we were starving. So delicious. We chowed down, bought a bottle of wine on our way back to the hotel, and proceeded to have some before we went to the Eiffel tower. Again we were against the clock. It was like 11:15 and the subway again closes at 12:15. So we get to the Eiffel tower. It is amazing. During the day you are just kinda like wow it looks nice, a symbol of Paris and all. But once night falls, it just looks so beautiful. I was completely awestruck. We stayed for like 15 minutes. Enough time to see it twinkle, which it does every 15 minutes and then we headed back to the metro. On the metro me and Gina had to depart from Lauren. We said goodbye on the subway as she got off to transfer trains and we continued on to the hotel. It was so nice to see her. I was so happy that we had the opportunity to have an amazing day in Paris.

Again me and Gina were basically running to catch our next train, which we did. Afterwards we walked quickly to our hotel so that we could get there before a curfew, which we weren’t sure there was one or not. Then it was bedtime, we had to get up early the next day.

The next day we get up and get another croissant and take the metro to the Champs Elysses. Again absolutely amazing. We bought crepes and walked up to the Arc de Triumph. Again amazing, it so hard to believe that you are seeing those things when they are right in front of your face. After the Champs Elysses we found our bus to take us back to the airport.

Even with our flight being delayed almost two hours, and me losing my poster in the airport it could not dampen such a wonderful trip. It was stunning and so much fun. It is by far the best trip that I have been on so far. I loved it so much. And would love to go back some time. It so different traveling with people you know so well. I also think that is a reason why I loved it so much.

So that’s Paris. I’ll post later about the trip me and Gina made to the Aran Islands. And the rest of her week here. It was so nice to see someone from home. I can’t even describe.

But anyways I miss you all like crazy. Pictures of Scotland, Paris, and Aran Islands will be up on facebook today.

Slán agat

To masquies:

To my masquies who I love (If you're not lasallian this post probably has absolutly no importance to you.)

I just have some advice. I know I'm not in the country and you all can take it or leave it. I've been being a creepo and spying on all of you and getting emails about stuff that is going on. I know I'm not there so I dont know the context of everything. But it seems everyone is beginning to hate each other and I hate that. People have differences thats true, but everyone in general in the Masque are pretty good friends, and I hate that things are falling apart. I want to come back to this organization next fall with things at least running and people being able to be in the same room.

Eboard elections seem to have destroyed everything. I admit last year I wasnt around for them so I dont know if the same free for all occured after them. But it seems this year the 'shit' is hitting the fan. Can't you guys all just have a big meeting and talk and get over this.

So heres my advice. Looking from the outside in. It seems to me all of this is petty. Who is running things doesnt matter. The point is the Masque is there so we can all do things we love; act, direct, do tech type things, and in general have fun with each other. Dont let stupid things get in the way of everything we all hold so dear. You dont all have to be best friends, but be civil.

And that ends my motherly type rant. I miss you all so much.

Slán agat

Another quick one....

Gina is coming to visit. In less than 48 hours. She will be the first person from the USA I will see in 2 full months. I am so excited. And I'm going to Paris on tuesday to see Lauren. Goodness Im so glad its March.

Tonight me and the roomies are making sloppy joes. I am sooooo excited.

Ireland is beautiful today. I didn't have to wear a coat. Its sunny and warm.

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The strange and the absolutly adorable

Two posts in two days? Is it the end of the world? No, I just decided I wanted to update a little more. This probably won't last very long so enjoy it.

First for the strange. Today I was walking to the supermarket, because I was absolutely out of food. Literally I think I had half a loaf of bread and an egg. Not exactly the sustenance needed to live on huh? I diverge, anyways, I see this man as I am walking, with the worst comb over.....ever. No really, I don't think anything, anything will be able to beat this. The comb over consisted of maybe 20 hairs, maybe, I might be exaggerating. And these hairs were not long enough to stretch over this mans bald head, they stopped short of the half way point. The poor man looked ridiculous. His wife needs to help him out there.

Next, for the adorable. I meant to include this in yesterdays post, but I figured it was unnecessary. So when I was at the Glasgow airport preparing to come back to Ireland, a younger man, and his two children came and sat down in front of me. The little girl had a Ribena juice box (kinda like Ireland's juicy juice) and then set it on the table. When she wasn't looking a mean cleaning lady came and threw it away because she thought it was trash! Shocking I know! So the little girl goes back for it and its gone. She gets all upset and her dad is like I'll phone the guards. So he pretends dials his phone, and talks to them. And he says to the little girl 'They're going to find it, no worries love' and the little girl answers 'Please don't let them take me away.' Which I found to be absolutely adorable. So freakin cute, I couldn't help but crack a smile. I love little kids with accents.

Anyways today as been blah, I only have one class a little later and then I think we are going out to the pubs tonight. Yea :-D!

I did see a rainbow on the way to school. Ireland is pretty.

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Here we go...Scotland update

So Scotland was absolutly beautiful. For our five day adventure to the land of the kilts and an accent that makes english sound like a completly different language we managed to visit 3 towns, Edingburgh, Dunblane and Glasgow.

Edinburgh. It was absolutly amazing. It was a city but still had a very old world charm about it. It's kinda how I would envision Boston to be, I hear thats how Boston feels. Anyways so we get to Edinburgh at like 7 oclock at night, so its dark out. And we try and find out hostel. Turns out its like 20 minutes away from the city and we have to catch a shuttle there. Great. Ok so we get to where we think the shuttle picks up and its under construction and all buses have been rerouted to a new station. Ahhhh. What to do? So we walk around. For ages. I think we crossed one intersection like 8 times. That might actually be fewer than what we did. I think the construction workers were actually laughing at us. So we finally get to the point where we are like, well lets just wait at the stop they said and maybe it will still come. As we are walking up we finally see the shuttle pulling up! Thank goodness! So we meet the nice shuttle man and he gives us tips about what to do the next day in the city and such. Super nice and he had such a cute accent. So we get to the hostel, which was absolulty gorgeoues, probably the best one we have stayed in thus far on our adventures. And it was so empty that we had our own room, a room that was supposed to have 6 people in it. So nice. Then we had dinner in the hostel becuase we were to tired to do anything else.

The next day we decided to go to Edinburgh castle and walk around the rest of the city. So we get to the castle as it opens, and get a tour and then proceed to walk around for the next 3 hours in side the castle. Thats just how big it is. Its so crazy. Like I cant even explain it, there are like 7 museums inside and it also holds the Crown jewels of Scotland, and a memorial dedicated to all soliders of Scotland. It was awesome. If you ever make it to Edinburgh I totally suggest going there! Next we walked around the Royal Mile, basically an old street with lots of old stuff and bunches of Kitchy toursit shops. We proceeded to go into all of them. Hey we are american tourists we can do it! Then we went to the Elephant House. Which for any of you Harry Potter nerds, was where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book on napkins while sipping coffee! HOW AMAZING! It was so cool. And we met the owner as I was taking a picture of the place. So I got a picture of him too. He was soooo sooo nice! He talked to us and got us a table and told us to have a wonderful time in Scotland. It was really nice and we had a wonderful view of the castle outside of the window. Just think I could have sat at the same table as her! Wow! You could just feel the vibes. Anyways, after that we went to the Royal Museum of Scotland and had a very interesting tour about the Alliance between Scotland and French against the British. It was very cool. After the museum we just walked around town more and stopped at a grocery store to pick up pasta so we could make dinner at the Hostel. Back at the Hostel me and Rose made a delcious meal of Pasta and bread. Talk about carbo loading. It was delicious though! Yumm.

The next day we decided to go to Dunblane, becuase it is the place of Dunblane Cathedral and Rose's dad's namesake. So we took the bus up to Dunblane and walked around and took pictures of one of the most beautiful Cathedrals I have ever seen. It was so pretty and me and Rose found a little stair case in the back that we climbed up and could get a few of the church from a higher level. (Pictures should be up later today, if I find the energy to walk in the rain to the pub). After the Cathedral we just walked around the town and got lunch at the cutest little cafe. I had the most delicious sandwich ever, A panini with mozzerella chees, pesto sauce and red onions. Omgoodness so good. Next we went to the tesco(supermarket) and bought peanut butter and bread, that way we could spend less money on food. Then we got the train to Glasgow. Btw trains are so cool. I wish the ones in the states werent so expensive!

Anyways, Glasgow. It was pretty, like architecture wise, but it was soooo dirty. For a city that is under a million people you would think they could keep it a little cleaner. It was so gross. Anyways we get to glasgow and try and find our hostel. Once again its one that is five bazillion miles outside of town and we have to go to the toursit office so they could help us find it. So we get on a city bus and get to where we think the hostel is, key word think. Turns out the address they gave us was wrong, 80 Firhill street is actually a Rugby stadium. Yep so at this point we were freakin out. So we walk around and then finally finally find it. The hostel is actually in a student aparment building, and the only sign letting you know that is a little computer printout. So we finally get in there, which turned out to be a fairly nice room and then get the bus back into town.

Once back into town we meet up with other girls who were traveling in Scotland because everyone is going to the Dave Matthews concert, except me. Im not a huge Dave fan so I didnt get a ticket. So me and my friend, who also didnt have a ticket, walked around the city and took pictures and then went to a pub for a pint till the concert ended. It was all fun, and Im happy I didnt buy the concert ticket, I think it would have been a waste of money. So me and Rose try and find a bus to get back to the Hostel as we walk by creepy old men, and drunkards. I have to say Glasgow maybe the drunkest city I have ever been in. Like seriously it was rediculous. We also saw a man get searched by the Guards(police) because they thought he was selling drugs. I know crazy, I felt like I was back in North Philly. Finally we got back to our hostel and had a nice sleep.

The next day me and Rose walked around the city, went to another cathedral and the necropolis. Which is basically a huge cementary. Very pretty but also very creepy. It was the tallest point in Glasgow so it had wonderful views. I liked it alot. Next we just proceeded to walk around. Glasgow we took as more as a vacation then a we need to go here, here and here. And if we dont see these thinsg we will be upset. We also did alot of window shopping. Next we went to our hostel for that night (we changed hostels to one more in the city) and dropped of our stuff and napped before dinner. For dinner we went to the Goose. Super cool pub that had great deals. A sandwich, chips(fries), and a pint all for a £3.50. So awesome. So we ate and talked. It was nice. Next we walked more and then went back to the hostel to sleep. It was a nice relaxing day. As was the next, where we basically did the same thing.

The last day we went to the goose, again, becuase it was so good. And then we got the train to the airport to catch our 10 oclock flight back to Ireland. When we got back however there was not another bus to Galway till 1:15. So we slept in the airport for awhile, and then slept on the bus till we finally got home at 3 in the morning.

So overall a very fun trip. Im very glad we went becuase not many people make it to Scotland and it definatly had some pretty things to offer. The only thing I wish is taht we could have spent more time in Edinburgh. But overall it was awesome.

Ok thats it for now kids I have to run to class! Love and miss you all!

Slán agat

Spain = one of the prettiest places...EVER

So I know you guys have been dying for ages and ages for an update, and you shall not be disappointed. This one will be long. Very long...so brace yourself.

So Spain, we left Thursday morning on a bus to the Shannon airport and then boarded the plane to fly to Madrid. The flight was very small and cramped, because its Ryan Air but conisdering it only cost €0.01 you cant really complain. The flight was so pretty though, we flew over the Pyrenees (Pam-- I was just imaging Lance riding up and down them!) I took some pictures, I'll put those up at some point. So we land in Madrid, and get off the plane onto the tarmak, I always love doing that I feel like a movie star. Anyways so we step off and it was warm. See for me this is a huge deal becuase Ireland is cold and rainy and gross, and Spain was warm sunny and beautiful!

So we board the subway to take us into downtown and it was crowded and noisey but overall very clean, much better than the broad street line in philly. So we get out of teh subway and come onto a huge street with lots of peopel and buildings and gorgeousness. It was dark as well, so it was all the more prettier. So we walk to our hostel, which was basically downtown, for anyone who knows Madrid or wants to look it up, we were right off of Plaza Mayor, in 'Cats Hostel'. I also think this part of Madrid was the Fabric district or something becuase there were fabric shops everywhere(this made me think of you Klaz).

So we get to our hostel. It was absolutly beautiful. It used to be a Spanish Palace, and is know protected by the spanish government. There are pictures on facebook or the yahoo site. We get situated and then we head out to experience the spanish night life, that goes on till 5 in the am. Crazy I know. The spanish get on average an hour less sleep then the rest of europe. First we went to Buger King, for dinner, silly I know but we were going to go out later, for Tapas(i'll get to those). It was pretty interesting trying to order Hamburgers in spanish, and another interesing fact...you can get beer at a fast food place! How nuts? Anyways so we walk to the Plaza Mayor a big square in the center of the city that was sooo pretty. Funny thing was we passed a Chicago Hot Dog place, and people stopped to eat it was pretty wierd...hot dogs in spain? doesnt seem to fit. So we get to the plaza and walk around and such, and meet up with my roomie Rose's friend who is studying abroad there. She was so nice and gave us a little tour and such and took us out for Tapas and Sangria.

So we get to the bar and she orders us a bunch of food and drinks for us all to try. Tapas are the spanish version of hors'devours. We got croquettas, which are deep fried cheese and jamon and potato. So good omgoodness I cannot even express how delicious it was. We also got this really good bread stuff that had tomatoes, jamon, and cheese on top that was all melted together. Jamon is salt cured ham that isnt cooked but is oooo so tasty. We also had Sangria. Which is a red wine alcohol concotion that was absolutly delicious. I dont even know whats in it, but it was amazing.

Next we continued the food tour of Spain and went to get Churros con Chocolate. Which is basically hot hersehys syrup, this is what they call hot chocolate, and then you dip Churros in it and eat. O My it was absolutly amazing delcious glorious. It was so tasty and amazing I cant even explain. I want some right now. I might go back to Spain at some point during this trip just to get more. Anyways after the deliciousness we went back to our hostel to go to bed, becuase we were super tired and wanted to get up early the next day to see the sights.

Ok so the next morning comes we wake up shower, get out free breakfest from the hostel and go out exploring. We never really went anywhere specific, just kinda walked around and saw what Madrid had to offer. We did however got the Prado, the big spanish art museum. And i saw my favorite paining, Las Meninas. I was soooo excited. It was beautiful and everything to me to actually get to see it. Then we went to the Royal palace. So pretty and huge. Geeze makes the White house look like a hut. So we took lots of pictures there and then layed in the little park area in front of it becuase it was warm and we wanted tan faces so cool. We also foun Botanical Gardens, everything was dead cuz its winter, but it was still pretty. We did find some flowers though.

We also got lunch at little place. I got an empenada. Which is some kinda of fried sandwich thing. I know it had meat and onions in it, other than that I don't really know. but it was tasty. And of course we had sangria. O yea and we got ice cream. Not as good as irish ice cream but still tasty. From there we just walked around and then went to a bar. And since we are loser americans/irish kids, we went to a place called the Dubliners. Becuase we really wanted people who spoke english and such. Lame I know but we were tired and just wanted a beer and some food. So we got nachos and chicken fingers and beer. Or cerveza. Which is spanish for beer. And for me I alway think cerveza is my last name becuase it look so similar. But anyways the beer was good, and cheap. It cost the same as 1 beer in ireland for 3 in spain! My kinda country! So anyways after that we went to catch the bus. Becuase we decided to take an overnight bus from Madrid to Barcelona.

LONGEST most uncomfortable bus ride ever. Omgoodness kill me now I think I got like 3 hours of sleep. But I cant complain I was in spain for goodness sake. So we get to Barcelona and find out hostel so we can check our bags and drop of our stuff. We go in check in to a beautiful hostel, with a marbel staircase, with free delicious breakfest. Yummy so good. Kiwi's, cereal, yogurt, muffins and juice. Delicious and even better because it was free! Anyways so we leave and then tour barcelona. We saw La Sagrada Familia. A huge church started in the 1880's and still not done. Its crazy big. Just look at the pictures. Its going to have 18 bell towers when its finally done, probably not for another 200 years but thats the plan. Then we saw the Spanish Cathedral and the triumphent arch. And then we tried to find the Mediterrean Sea.

So in the pouring rain, we try and find the sea. Becuase well we are in spain and we are going to see it gosh darnet. Even if we are soaked from head to toe. So we start walking, probably for about an 1 and we go in a circle. A big circle, when it should have only taken 1/2 hour to get to the sea. SO nuts! But anyways we finally get there in the pouring rain and darkness and take pictures by it. I didnt even get a chance to put my toes in becuse we were on a pier. Boo! So not cool, but i'll get another chance in greece, italy and croatia. It was pretty I just wish it weren't raining. Then we walked down La Rambla a big rambling street with alot of shops and such back to the hostel. Where we found some irish people and drank with them till we decided it was bedtime, becuase we had to get up at 5 the next morning to catch a bus to the airport to get our flight home.

So we get to the airport. And it was foggy. Like couldnt see my feet foggy. All of the flights were getting canceled. And then for some reason it all cleared up and we got to leave. One flight left before us and then us. It was amazing. I slept on the plane so it was nice and short.

So basically it was amazing trip. So much fun, history, adeventure in such a small amount of time. I hope Scotland can live up to this.

Anyways off for now! Miss everyone!!!

Slán agat

a baby update

Im going to spain tomorrow! Im super excited. It should be a good time. Im going with my two flatmates and then some guys down the hall. Madrid and then Barcelona. It'll be a whirlwind of adventure and fun. Maybe I'll send a joint postcard to lasalle. You guys can sit around the table and read it together and miss me. Haha not really, this is me boosting my own ego that you guys miss me. Haha

As I said this is a baby update. Im off to eat dinner and pack! Update and pictures when i return!

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Long time no update

Hi everybody! Its been awahile since an update, becuase well not much has happened in a week. Mostly just going to class, laying around the apartment, and watching movies. Speakig of movies and TV the TV here stinks. OMGoodness you guys would be shocked by the commercials especially. The drunk driving ones literally show people getting hit by cars and then them dying on the side of the street. Like up cloce, you can see blood. And most of the time we all search for old american tv that is on somewhere, like friends and scrubs. The one awesome channel we have, Discovery. With mythbusters on at least 4 times a day, which is pretty awesome.

Since all of us here are so poor, I can barely afford to go out. Though we did go out on wed for 80's night at GPO. It was pretty fun, except for the creepy Irish men that wouldnt leave us alone. It sure would be nice to meet some irish guys that I didnt find completly sketchy.

Other than that this week has been pretty much just like home, not doing much of anything. The other day though I did go to the bay with my sketch book and oil pastels becuase I was in an artsy mood. I drew a picture of the bay with the sun beginning to set. The drawing isnt half bad but its no Monet.

This weekend will be spent in Galway, writing papers. BOOOOO. so not fun at all. I have a paper due monday, a midterm on Wed and then another paper due in two weeks. But since I wont be here for the next two weekends I have to get it done now. It just stinks. But I guess I can trade one bad weekend for two in spain and scotland.

To the masquies, thanks for the nomiantion. I'll be sending my platform over for one of the golden girls to read. VOTE FOR ME! Also, break a leg/actor to all those involved in The Drawer Boy, Im sure it is going to be amazing!

Ok thats enough rambling about nothing. Off to the library to start my paper.

Slán agat

The Best Night in Ireland thus far....

Last night I went to a Celtic Band Concert. Charlie and the Bhoys. It was absolutly amazing and so much fun. They played traditional irish songs, like patriotic stuff and everyone was so into it. We got there so early though, like 2 hours so we just hung around till it started to fill up. And then they started playing and it was amazing. It was so exhilirating to see people so pumped up about there country. They were literally jumping up and down and being crazy. And they were dancing and had flags and they were all in green. It was so cool. I loved being so immersed in the culture. It was group of us girls and a guy I kinda knew Liam was there and he got us all into it and we were dancing around under irish flags and doing jigs. This is what I imagined study abroad to be like. And I loved every minute of it. I was really upset with my friends when they wanted to leave early. But I couldnt walk home by myself. So I had to go. boo on them. I really wish I could have stayed. But thats all for now. It was so much fun. I want to do it again, so bad. I guess I just need to make more irish friends.

He said is this the first time you’ve been to Ireland
I think I’ve seen your face before my friend you know
He said is this the first time you’ve been to Ireland
Well I hope we meet again before you go.

Pictures will be up on facebook soonish.

miss you all like whoa!

Slán agat

Hi guys

So not much new is going on but I figured I would post so you all know that I am still alive. The weather here as been super nice for the past week and a half, sunny kinda warm. It hasnt rained in ages, I kinda forgot I was in Ireland. And the nice thing is it's just going to get better and better. Since we came in the worst weather it can only go up? Right?

In other news, I talked to Gina and Lauren (usuals-friends from home) and when Gina comes we are definatly going to go to Paris for like 2 days to visit Lauren on her vacation. How cool is that? I think its just so awesome that I can be like hey, I think I wanna go to Paris this week, and just do it! So cool!

In classes news, things are finally getting under way. I have two midterm papers and a test I need to get started on, which I think I am going to do this weekend, since everyone is leaving. I swear this weekend there are going to be like 3 people left in my apartment complex, my roomie and our other friend. Everybody else is going on trips, some to Paris, some to Dublin and others to London. Not me though, I am going to stay home with my sick self and get all of my homework done that way I won't have to worry about it when my travels begin. I think it's a good plan, though I'll probably be kicking myself by sunday becuase I am so bored. Whatever I'll survive.

O this past week was fun though I saw Little Miss Sunshine. Omgoodness soooo incredibly funny. The film society was hosting a movie night. So you just went to one of the lecture halls and watched the film for free. Super cool and the lecture hall was packed, there must have been like 300 people there, maybe more, Im really bad at estimating people. Other less exciting news, I tried to go to the library yesterday to check out books for my paper and I could not figure it out to save my life. Its organized completly different from home librarys and I could not find my books. So I am just going to go back today, play the stupid american and have the librarian help me. Thats what he/she's there for right?

Ok enough of my rambles. Miss you Guys!!

Slán agat

i hate computers...part II

Ok so I know this doesnt have to deal with computers technically but I am going to blame this badness on them anyways. I forgot my jump drive in the computer lab! i am sooo mad omgoodess i cant even explain. So not only are those picks gone for good I now am going to have very limited ways to get pictures up on facebook. I'll try but if it takes a little while, dont hate. Ok thats it...im not in a good mood. Last night was kinda crappy, o well. I'll get over it.

Slán agat

I hate computers!

So today I was on my laptop transfering my dublin photos to my jump drive...and what should happen? I managed to delete half of them! I am so so mad. And the ones that got deleted were the best ones, from the top of the guniess brewery where you could see all of Dublin, and the ones of Dublin castle at night! The Castle ones were the best becuase they weren't very touristy, but artsy, sara you would have died. They were so pretty and now there gone. I guess I can steal from others but they will not look the same as mine. boo. Anyways if anyone (cough davey cough) knows how I could ever possibly get this pictures back I would love them forever.

In other news today we are booking flights to Scotland! We are going the last weekend in February. A bunch of people want to go see DMB in concert there so, since im not a huge fan, Im just going along for the ride and I'll go to a pub instead of the concert. I think we are staying 4 days 3 nights. It should be really really cool. Im so excited for all of these trips. Hopefully I wont lose those pictures too. Anyways I think thats it for now. Dublin pics, what i have, are up! Have a look see! Miss you all!

Slán agat

Im going to Spain!!

Im so excited. Me and some friends just booked tickets to go to spain the 15th-18th of february! How cool is that? The tickets only cost 60 euro, and we have free places to stay, so the trip is only going to be like 100euro total!! It should be so much fun. We are going to madrid for a night and a day and then barcelona for the remander. I cant wait to go. My favorite painting, Las Meninas by Velazquez is in the Prado in Madrid and im going to get to see it, I really cant wait. Im also working on my trips for Croatia, hopefully the last week in feb, Scotland, the first week of feb, and Paris when Gina comes...maybe...depending on how much money she wants to spend. Im up for it though. And the big journey sometime in april when i hit up germany, itlay, greece and so on! I cant wait to go all these places and see all these things. The only thing is when i get home i am going to be so broke, and probably in debt. O well i think its worth it.

In other news, Sarge is back in action. Today I went for an hour run around galway bay. It was so pretty and it felt so good to run again. And it even helped my cold, I was feeling awful and now I feel wonderful, I can breath! I saw some pretty swans and the bay was so pretty in the morning. I think I am going to try and make a habit out of it. I need to keep the beer and butter off me. I think 6 minute abs will be coming back too, its bunny time!!(haha golden girls i expect you to be able to do these when i get back!). Need to be in good shape for bathing suit season when i return. Okie dokie i think that is it for now. More posts to come and Dubin picks hopefully I'll remember to put up tomorrow.

Slán agat

80's night and Dublin....warning this will be long.

Ok hi kids. So I haven't posted in awahile, therefore this is going to be very very long.

First, on wed night me and Beth and a bunch of our guy friends attended 80's night at a local club, GPO. It was amazing. Think of masque party but with a bunch of Irish people. Thats basically the best I can describe it. Of course it would have been better if you guys actually had been there. So anyways we danced all night to crappy american 80's music, while the boys protected us from any unwanted irish boys. It was so funny anytime a creepy Irish guy would come up to us, they would just elbow them away. I must say I am a pretty big fan of the body guards. O yea, also before we went out we pregammed and I taught them fuck you pyramid. Which I was shocked to learn, none of them had ever heard of. Anyways I taught them the wonderfulness of the game and we proceeded to the club. So much fun but it made me miss you guys like crazy.

Next, the following day was unevnetful, made some good dinner, chicken pizza patty thing, it was delicious, I must say I'm turning into a pretty good cook. Roomies, next year we shall be eating well. After good food I basically packed for the weekend and such, we went to bed early becuase we had a bus to catch at 6 am the next morning. Once on the bus the adventure to Dublin began, and boy was it crazy.

Ok so we get to Dublin by like 9 o'clock in the morning. We get our barrings and head off to our hostel, Brown's. Now I don't know how many of you have ever been to a hostel but I found it kind of creepy. It wasnt all bad but it definatly was not as clean as I was suspecting. Two of the girls we were with, were completly creeped out and decided right then that they would only be spending one night. Ok so after checking the hostel, and dropping of our bags we walked around Dublin and took loads of pictures (will be put up on facebook in the near future.) We went everywhere, St. Patricks Cathedral, Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Stephens green, the book of Kells and more places I cant even remeber because I don't have my camera in front of me. Next we headed off to the Guiness Brewery. I could not come to Dublin and not go there. I think we probably spent like 2 hours there becuase it was so interesting, and people were enjoying there free pint. I didnt get mine becuase well, Guiness is gross. I really do not enjoy it at all, so I gave mine to my friend Gerry. The best part about the Guiness factory was that it had a 360 degree room at the very top so while you sipped your Guiness you could look out over Dublin and take photos. Very cool. After Guiness we went to Dublin castle. But it was closed so we just took pictures of the outside. Very pretty (Sara you'll be proud of my artsy stuff). Next we walked around for like an hour just trying to find a cheepish place to eat that wasnt fast food, becuase we were not coming all the way to Dubln and eating at McDonalds. Thats just lame. Finally we found somewhere and then headed off to buy some beer and sandwhich stuff for the next day.

Upon our return to the Hostel we got ourselves pretty and went down to the common room to pregame before heading to the pubs. Ok this is where the story gets creepy. Lots of older foreign men were hitting on us the entire time. It was so gross. We chugged faster than I ever have in life and then proceeded to go to Temple Bar area to see the pub scene. It was very cool, a little upsetting because some of the places wouldnt let us in. Did you know some places over seas are 21 to enter? Rediculous I know! But anyways we ended up meeting some very nice american boys, Matt and Pat. Matt talked with my one friend while me and Pat chatted the entire night. Pat is from Hartford, Conn, he is a photographer, and takes mainly sports photos. He is also a magician. it was super cool the tricks he did and so creepy. Like he made ashes go from his friends cigarette, into my hand. Needless to say I was freaked out. It was really nice to talk to him, and he ended up coming back to the hostel and we talked until 3 in the am. Its just so nice to find someone you really enjoy talking to, we exchanged emails and hopefully we will stay in touch. I know i'll probably never see him again but it was amazing.

The next morning proceeded in sleeping in and then getting ready for our next excursion. We made peanut butter sandwiches to eat along the way and headed out to find phoneix park and the presidents house. Tip for any of you ever going to Dublin, bring a really good map and something that will make you impenitrable to water. We got lost, got bad directions and ended up walking 2-3 miles in the pouring rain before we eventually found the house. We talked with a garda officer outside of the house who was super nice and helped us find where we wanted to go. Remember at this point we were compeltly drenched from head to toe, tired and the one girls umbrella had broken. So we contiued on and as we were walking we saw the president of Ireland pull into her house. How cool is that? Pretty awesome. By the time we reached the visitors center we walked in to get some hot choclate and it started hailing! I cant even imagine if we would have been outside for it. By this point the two girls who had decided to leave that night were feed up and decided to do the tour and then get a taxi to catch there bus. I can't imagine coming to irealnd, wearing jackets w/out hoods and bad walking shoes and not having a good time? I mean really. I dont understand why you dont plan appropraitly and enjoy your time. But anyways. We took the tour of the presidents house, very cool. And let me say its so different then the US. They told us she was in the house, we didnt have to go through any metal detectors or anything. It was so laid back and casual. But I guess no one wants to kill the Irish President. From there we went to the National Museum of Ireland and looked around for awahile. It was cool because they talked about stuff I am learning about in my two Irelands course. From there we went back to the hostel to take a quick nap so we could go out again.

After our nap we went to GPO. Now if you have been reading this whole thing you might be thinking of GPO the night club that I went to last week, but this time GPO stands for General Post Office. It's were the 1916 rising against England took place. It was pretty cool, and I mailed some postcards to family. (Dont worry guys yours will be coming soon). Next we headed to SuperMacs. A fast food place that is basically a McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, Sabarro, Subway, and Baskin Robbins mix that is absolutly delicious. We have them in Galway so I have been to one before, but i've never mentioned it before. But anyways it is asoluty delicious and if you ever go to one, have the garlic fries. They are o so good. Next we went and bought more beer to pregame with and headed back to the hostel to pregame with the creppy old men. Ewww. Ewww. But we survived we hit the Dublin night scene again and had a grand time. We met lots of Irish guys, some australian ones and even busted a 21st birthday party. The night was a success and we headed back to the hostel for sleep before mass in the morning.

As our journey in Dublin came to a close we attended mass at Our Lady Lords. The parish loved us we got a shot out in the beginning to the visiting Galway students, and also my roomie sarah was the lector. After mass we chatted with the priest, Father Jim, who get this got his MA from La Salle, is a personal friend of Bro. Mike Miginnes and served as part time pastor at our chapel! Small world huh? It was pretty cool. Following mass we went to the Mercy Sisters founding house because two of my friends, Erin and Kathleen attended schools run by them. The nuns were so nice and welcoming. Following this we pretty much ran back to our hostel picked up our things, grabbed supermacs for lunch and then ran to our bus. Which we missed. We thought it left at 3:15, nop 3. So the nice guy at the internet cafe let us sit and have a little picnic on the floor till the 4 o'clock bus came.

So that was Dublin, a crazy sometimes sketchy adventure. I decided it was nice but I definatly like Galway more. Galway feels much more Irish and Dublin has an air of americanized city. It was nice to visit but Im glad I am studying in Galway.

Ok so I think that is enough for now I have bored you all way to much. Anyways I hope classes are going well and I heard it snowed! lucky ducks! Miss you all!

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Not much new info to fill in on. Im going to Dublin this weekend so that should be super fun, I'll take lots of pics and post them. Probably not a new post till after that because of lack of internet access. Have a good first week of classes! <3 ya!

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WOW

wow is all i can say. this past weekend was absolutly amazing. if you have checked out facebook you can see that we went on a tour of western ireland on saturday. it was absolutly amazing. it rained the whole time until we reached the cliffs of moher. which were gorgeous. as i was hiking up the huge hill with 50 mph winds trying to blow me off the side i finally felt like i wasnt in the usa anymore. it sounds so corny but i really really felt it. looking out over the irish countryside it finally felt different. it didnt feel like just a vacation anymore, it felt like this is where i belong, at least for a while. it was just amazing to look out over this cliff and not be amazed by the beauty of it all of the realization that i was on the other side of the atlantic. its somthing you cannot simply realize from pictures you need to actually experience it. (**hint hint** come visit). as i was getting back on the bus, with the irish ballads playing through the bus speakers i couldnt help but get goose bumps.
other than the cliffs we also saw a tomb, which was super old i know its BC but i cant remember how old. we also saw some sheep, super super super cute. and we also went to a cave. cool but so not worth the 7 euro. along the way we looked out over the country land of ireland through bus windows and got a glimpse at the non urban areas. they are so pretty. i need to find a nice irish boy to marry and we can live there.
Other than the exciting cliffs adventure nothing else of note really happened. I got kicked out of a bar at 2 am on saturday becuase they made us turn of teh eagles game and go home:( booo and they lost. what a crappy weekend for football. maybe next year boys. on sunday i was a bum and watched like 5 hours of grey's anatomy and went to the super market. last night though i tried to make pancakes and it was a super bust. apparently their pancake mix is super super thin and it made more of a soggy creape. whatev the sausage and eggs were still good. you should see me, i'm somthing of a suzie homemaker. ok im off i need to walk home and do some wash before me next class. miss you all!

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Hen Party

So last night was freaking amazing! My roomies bday party was very very very very cool! First we got all prettied up in our fancy dresses and went to a traditional irish place for dinner, called finnegan's i should have gotten shepards pie but i opted for a delicious chicken club. it was amazing. at the restaurent the watress asked us if it was a hen party. a hen party? apparently here when a girl wears a crown and goes out with a bunch of girls its called a hen party. a hen party is bachalorette party. so the whole night we joked that she was getting married the next day. ok so after dinner we headed back the apartment and set up cupcakes and cake with candles and icecream. sang the birthday song. and drank in very heavy quantaties. deliciousness i had a liter of bulmers and it was scrumptious. following this we went to kennedys a pub, i might have wrote about it in here. there was a cool band that did beatles and pink floyd and killers it was awesome. also met a boy, named matt. we talked for about two hours. he's from buffalo it was a nice convo. got his number so we will probably hang out again. yipee. afterwards my friend sara (spelled without the h) brought home 4 irish guys and we played egyptian ratscrew. super fun and they accused me of cheating, but i won fair and square. afterwards we hit the sack because geeezeee i was tired.
then this morning i woke up to random person saying hello into my bedroom. super super scary. apparently this girl, katie, used to live in our room last semester and had a key and our land lord told her that she could be in the room agian. forgetting that he already had 4 girls in the room! so she went to dispute with the land lord and we haev an extra girls luggage in the room. next i preceded to be a waste of life. i cleaned. i now know what frats look like after parties. gross. so we cleaned. next i watched indiana jones and teh last crusade. awesome movie. so thats it for today. miss you kids.

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Fire Alarm and no rain

Yesterday....it didnt rain! Anytime i was outside, or looking out the window i didnt see one drop! its shocking but it was super cool. for once i wasnt walking around looking like a drowned rat and i really appreciate it. my hair looked pretty so it was awesome. also last night i went to the 2 euro store, kinda like a dollar store in the states, and got a huge bag of twix to feed my need for chocolate ever now and then. i think today i am going to try and find the polish store, so maybe i can get so periogi and keilbasa. that would be freakin sweet. im also going regular grocery store shopping today becuase i am out of essentials. basically my diet so far has been bread and noodles i feel like i need to break some meat, veggies and fruits into my diet so i dont come back to the usa 40 pounds heavier, that would be just gross.
Something else super gross, fire alarms at 2 am. boooo big booo. me and my roomies were all snug in our beds when the most obnoxious fire alarm starts ringing and we start freaking out becuase this cant be a drill, this is a real apartment building. so we go downstairs and outside and turns out it was nothing. the landlord just came out, turned it off and we all went back to bed. one thing that was a little discomforting, there is only one way out. there is only oe staircase, so if there really was a fire. i would most likely die. i feel safe. whatev
ok i think that is it for now. me and the roomie have to go shopping and then buy booze for her party:-D

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This will be a quick one....

So since i have class in like 10mins and i have other things to do i'll make this quick. last night was so cool. we went irish dancing. now when i say went, i mean we watched. it was so intense maybe i'll join in next week after a couple of pints. but it was so cool. i took some pictures and i'll upload them on to facebook soonish. other than that not much has happened. tomorrow is my roomies bday, she'll be 22, so we are throwing her a bash where we wear fancy dresses. im wearing my little black dress...o lala:-D i'll let you all know how it goes. i think this weekend we might be going to connemare(probably spelled wrong) so that should be cool. ok im off. miss you kids!

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Invincible

Hey guys! you all are probably thinking...wow another update how exciting! or not whatever but the reason for all of this....i have internet acess at school now. so i can get online for free!!! what a concept i know. anyways along with that exciting news last night me and the crew watched invincible. yes the one about the eagles. and yes becuase i brought it with me to ireland. everybody appreciated it but most people here are not eagles fans. there is even a cowboy fan in my midst. yuck. but i guess i'll deal he's a nice enough guy so i will forgive. watching inivincible was another momentus occasion. it was the first night i had not gone to the pub! i was proud. 6 days in a row..i felt it as time for a break. it was nice i was in bed by 12 and got 8 hours of sleep. a first to happen here. another first this morning i had a hot shower. it was amazing not to be absolutly shivering while trying to shower...what a concept. what else i had 3 classes today, and all of them actually taught. scientific revolution was first, a history course on galielo and newton and such pretty interesting. next was another history course, this one on politcal ireland in the 20th century, it seems pretty cool. and my last class which i just got out of was english, a history of genres. i think i will like this one a lot becuase the professor is very interesting and he is an american so i can atcually understand him without trying to get past an accent. So thats an update on classes. tonight we are going irish dancing at one of the pubs, should be fun i might need a pint to get me in the dancing mood though. miss you all!

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Let the classes begin....

Hi all! i hope everyone is doing well. Im quite fine hanging out in an internet cafe hopefully for the last time because tomorrow i get my password to finally get on the computers at school. so no more paying like 2 euro for a half an hour or something absurd like that. yesterday consisted of some shopping, nothing exciting i got slippers, ketchup, and milk. and of course my boys played. thank god i found a pub that shows the games. they played ok, could have done better but they won and thats all that mattered..o and the cowboys lost so its a good weekend all around. let me just say though the games here suck. th picture kept going out so we would miss whole drives. like i missed most of the 4th quarter with the exception of the final 2 mins, which was the important part. so it all worked out. more exciting than that those is while we were watching the game, some eagles fans came in and i asked them where they were from, guess where...philly...they attend st.joes. so it was nice to talk to people who were somewhat familar. this next statement is for all masquies...guess where there favorite place was....lynarch! so we talked about the new managment and our favorite things to get there. it was very exciting.
in less exciting news classes began today. i attended calculus II which all he did was introduce himself so it was like 10 mins. and then i went to a history course that doesnt actually start till tomorrow and then in about 45 mins(5 here time) i have an english class. something on genres and there history, shouldnt be that bad. cool thing here though is classes are only 2 hours a week. and i dont have any thursday or friday...so i will be traveling!!! the classes dont sound that hard...i would just prefer not to sit in them. however this school is like 4500000 times bigger then lasalle and i got soooooooo lost like seriously lost. so confusing. but whatev i'll survive. ok i think i will head out now cuz i dont knw how much this costing me and i only have 5 euro. miss you kids lots!

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A croatian man, rain, and general ramblings...

Hi guys! How is everyone? Im doing just fine, loving Ireland missing you all. We started orientation this past week and i figured out some of my classes, i think i am going to have off on thursday's and friday's and i'll be finished classes because they are all lectures by the 1st of april, including exams. soooo the rest of that time i'll be traveling europe. should be super fun. ok so what have i done since the last time i have updated...the pubs of course.
haha every night so far we have gone to different pubs and visited with the natives. i have met so many nice people, drank far to many beers and had some very memorable moments thus far. we have been going to manly americanized bars, still have their irish flare but not super traditional. last night we went to a very traditional bar with music and had a blast. i had blumers again, but for me this time by a sweet old irish man who said i had a pretty smile. then i talked with a croatian man! super exciting his name was ivan, like my brother, and he had heard of my last name. he also understood me when i said goodbye in croatian! it was super cool. so the pubs have been fun we will prob go out again tonight.
In other less exciting news the apartment is pretty cool very pretty(there are pics on facebook). Our shower, one of them stopped working boo but that land lord fixed it. however i still have yet to have a hot shower. i think the irish are just used to the cold all the time. haha. but what else. the food. very similar to american food, but a lot less flavor. it tastes very bland...good but bland. the cookies are good though. i think sometime this week we are going to try and get traditional irish food. i'll let you know how it tastes.
ok i think that will be all for now becuase i still am in an intrernet cafe and this costs money! but i miss and love you all and i'll talk to you soon!

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Wow it really is super green....

hi all! im alive. right now im at an internet cafe so i am going to type as quick as i can in the next 10mins. ok so the flight over wasnt that bad, a little turbulence(thanks dave for the bad wishes on that one) but other than that not bad. and golden girls you know how we talked about sitting next to cute boys on planes. well i got one. alex he is studying in galway and get this he is a theatre major. he is studying in galway for the semester so maybe ill see him again. we landed they announced that we would be staying on the plane instead of getting off. and you know what i realized, they really do have accents. you know how you alwasys think that maybe they overdo it on movies or that they really dont talk that way....they do. its pretty cool. so me and the 20,000 other study abroad kids on the flight stayed on the plane while we dropped people off in dublin and then took the 20 min flight over to shannon. as we were flying over we realized just how green it is. like really all it was, was green for miles and miles, now i know why they call it the emerald isle. afterwards we landed in shannon we all lugged our luggage up to the bus stop and took a hour and half bus ride up to Galway, where we then walked 10mins with all of our luggage up to our house. let me tell you if you guys visit, pack light. it was a longish walk and my stuff was heavy.
so we get to our apartment, and let me tell you, disorginization is not the word for it. the landlord had no idea who we were staying with so me and my room mate, Sarah, ended up with two girls from marquette named Rose and Beth. They seem very nice. After we finally arrived we walked to the grocery store so we could buy cell phones and some food to get us through. Next we went and got dinner, guess where we got it....McDonalds. I know McDonalds as my first Irish meal. it tasted different but whatev. Following that we walked back to our apartment and unpacked. Next was the pub.
So me and my roomies, and some people they knew from Marquette all headed down to the pub. Called Kennedy's it is just one of many on the square by our apartment. I got a bulmers which is an irish beer, kinda tasted like cider very good. i wasnt quite ready for a guinness i'll get there. but we stayed and talked very cool pub feel. then we went back to our apartment and played catch phrase. awesome time. finally we went to bed and i slept for more than 12 hours because i was so tires. i went to bed at 22 and woke up the next morn or afternoon at 23:15. a very nice sleep.
after i got up though i took the coldest shower known to man. i literally could not stand being underneath it. then we made a shopping list and i am here. so thats it for now, i think today we are going to try and go to the school. and then maybe a pub so it should be fun! i miss you all so much and thanks for the comments on the last post! love you allllllllllll!

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So fitting.....

1:32 chicago time....only 6 more hours till i am on the flight to ireland. wow. i cant believe its real. it didnt even hit me last night when everything was packed and i was falling asleep. it didnt even hit me when i was on the flight to chicago. but now as i sit and wait for this plane to arrive its hitting me. my room mate will be meeting me here in about 4 hours and we will start this adventure across the pond. so today as it was hitting me that i wont be in the u.s.a for 5 more months, how would i commerate this day? i did it in a way only an american could, i got mcdonalds. as i enjoyed me chicken mcnuggets fries and a drink i embraced it because for the next five months im not american im irish. not the kind of irish that justs likes to boast that they have irish descent, im one of these as well, but an irishman(actually woman) who lives there. this is so exciting. how many people actually get to have an experience like this? not many i guess. i've known all along that this expeience is going to be amazing and i was excited but now with it actually upon me i feel like a five year old who just found out that she is going to disney world. i think finally the excitment is outweighing me missing everyone. not gonna lie im gonna miss you all like crazy but its finally dawning on me that in order to enjoy this experience i need to take full advandtage and not miss home too much. so thats what i am doing from now on im looking at this as "live these 5 months to the fullest that way when i come home i'll be able to tell amazing stories". this way i wont look back with regrets. i have only a few regrets in my past and i really prefer if not living this experience to the fullest was not added to the list. so im out cuz the battery is about to die on my laptop. but as stated in previous entry im excited. thanks to amy alot for the words of wisodm, i really appreciated them they helped to calm some fears and get me more excited. so here's to the last post from the u.s.a the rest will be from the emerald isle. love you all and happy new year.

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im excited

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