all of it. exams, the terrifying lack of motivation i have, the incessant rain, the negative amounts of snow, and the fact that i am leaving so sooooon.
don't get me wrong. i am VERY READY to be home. home will be fantastic. and i am so excited to get back to vandy i can hardly stand it. but leaving this place feels a little weird. wow, i guess i got used to it...
as for exams, i have a 30 page study guide, a heart that might just leap out of my chest (will be pumping the brakes on the caffeine asap), and absolutely no desire to learn anything. it's so uncharacteristic. but after i stare at the same page for 10 minutes, a wave of suddenly panic comes over me and a little voice starts, "failure is not an option, get it together you idiot." and then the world is right again.
oh, florence was magnificent and everything i could have hoped for and more. deets to come.
12/08/2009
11/30/2009
see ya never, irish history.
i have a theory about learning history. you either have to a) really, really love it; b) have a fantastic, hunky (cougherickstreelmancough), energetic teacher to make it fun; or c) you must learn it through song. "we went to the moon in 1969, not 1968 but a year later..." anyone?? well, in the school that i'm in at ucd, the american study abroad students have to take an irish history class - from colony to republic blah blah blah. i was actually looking forward to it. ya know, learning some odd facts to enhance my sporcle-playing abilities. improving my christmas dinner small-talk. increasing my chances of winning jeopardy. since i don't exactly love history to begin with, i hoped for a hunky teacher or lots of songs. sadly, neither were in the cards. my teacher was a BIZARRE canadian woman with a fake irish accent and a terrible wardrobe. it was almost painful to watch her try and teach. she knew her stuff, i'll give her that, but she had no idea how to relate it to us. anywhoodle, i picked up a few things on the anglo-norman invasion and the formation of the united irishmen, wrote two essays, and finally kicked that class to the curb last wednesday. HALLELUJAH! the world is now a much brighter place.
but since we are on the topic of culture and history, happy belated thanksgiving!! some of the girls thought it would be fun to cook a thanksgiving dinner and invite our irish friends from the apartment across the quad (remember the ones who's party we crashed? turned out to be a good thing!). they made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, carrots, apple pie, and bought some sliced turkey. everyone decorated hand turkeys and made an 'i'm thankful for...' poster, just like the elementary school days. it was a blast! there were about 20 people in this itty bitty living room and we all had such a great time! it definitely made me miss home, but our irish thanksgiving is something i'll never forget.
on thursday, we left for the ifsa butler trip to belfast. it was seriously one of my favorite trips of the semester - i LOVED it!! it really deserves it's own post, so that will be coming soon. and it is reading week here, so i'm technically supposed to be studying for finals, but i figured i would just go to italy for three days instead. finals shminals, right? so tomorrow i'm off to rome and florence! SO EXCITED!!! also, i'm home in 17 days. whaaat? i can't believe how fast time has gone by! but i've gotta say, i am really looking forward to snowy reno and all of the comforts of home!
but since we are on the topic of culture and history, happy belated thanksgiving!! some of the girls thought it would be fun to cook a thanksgiving dinner and invite our irish friends from the apartment across the quad (remember the ones who's party we crashed? turned out to be a good thing!). they made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, carrots, apple pie, and bought some sliced turkey. everyone decorated hand turkeys and made an 'i'm thankful for...' poster, just like the elementary school days. it was a blast! there were about 20 people in this itty bitty living room and we all had such a great time! it definitely made me miss home, but our irish thanksgiving is something i'll never forget.
on thursday, we left for the ifsa butler trip to belfast. it was seriously one of my favorite trips of the semester - i LOVED it!! it really deserves it's own post, so that will be coming soon. and it is reading week here, so i'm technically supposed to be studying for finals, but i figured i would just go to italy for three days instead. finals shminals, right? so tomorrow i'm off to rome and florence! SO EXCITED!!! also, i'm home in 17 days. whaaat? i can't believe how fast time has gone by! but i've gotta say, i am really looking forward to snowy reno and all of the comforts of home!
11/14/2009
it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...
eeeverywhere you goooo.
it really truly is. i went to the dublin markets today in temple bar, and the wonderful, shiny christmas decorations were all starting to be put on display!! i'm so excited to see them in all of their glory as the big day gets closer. it really is the most wonderful time of the year! and a sidenote on the dublin markets - possibly my most favorite place in this whole town. there's this itty bitty apple cider stand, and it's basically god's gift to freezing market-goers. mmmMMM good!
these past two weeks have been crazy (cue three presentations and three group papers - YUCK), but the visit from mom and dawnie was so spectacular and just what i needed! i showed them around town, took them to a pub, and introduced them to all of my favorite shops. we had such a great time! and paris... holy smokes, i can't even begin to describe how much i loved it!! just a quick recap:
-- it is a LARGE city, and you definitely need a good week to see all of the sights.
-- the french do have a bit of a body odor problem. jus sayin'.
-- however, they are not as snooty as everyone says - i found them to be friendly and nice!
-- the eiffel tower is as majestic as it looks in pictures.
-- the gypsies that come after you while you are trying to take pictures of the eiffel tower are not as majestic.
-- also, watch out for the old "i found this ring on the ground, is it yours?" gypsy trick.
-- the metro is fantastic and very useful! if you're lucky, a group of frenchmen will be down there with a full band singing loads of beautiful french songs.
-- GO to the musee d'orsay. i can't even describe how great it is! the fifth floor is the place to be.
-- seeing mona is essential! even if she is relatively little and behind like 3 panels of bulletproof glass.
-- the louvre is enormous, crowded, and full of so many great pieces of art it's hard to figure out where to even begin. even if you want to go only for mona, you will be in there for at least two hours.
-- notre dame is breathtaking.
-- the crepes are outta this world good.
-- a common sandwich in paris is a baguette stuffed with two hotdogs and cheese... i don't understand.
-- strolling along the seine is always a good idea.
-- the galeries lafayette is monstrous and packed to the gills with serious shoppers. however, the shopping is to die for. and talk about a rockin' christmas display - what's up, 3 story tall christmas tree!
-- cafes are on almost every corner.
-- doggies are allowed everywhere!
-- french men know how to dress.
future summer trip? i think so.
it really truly is. i went to the dublin markets today in temple bar, and the wonderful, shiny christmas decorations were all starting to be put on display!! i'm so excited to see them in all of their glory as the big day gets closer. it really is the most wonderful time of the year! and a sidenote on the dublin markets - possibly my most favorite place in this whole town. there's this itty bitty apple cider stand, and it's basically god's gift to freezing market-goers. mmmMMM good!
these past two weeks have been crazy (cue three presentations and three group papers - YUCK), but the visit from mom and dawnie was so spectacular and just what i needed! i showed them around town, took them to a pub, and introduced them to all of my favorite shops. we had such a great time! and paris... holy smokes, i can't even begin to describe how much i loved it!! just a quick recap:
-- it is a LARGE city, and you definitely need a good week to see all of the sights.
-- the french do have a bit of a body odor problem. jus sayin'.
-- however, they are not as snooty as everyone says - i found them to be friendly and nice!
-- the eiffel tower is as majestic as it looks in pictures.
-- the gypsies that come after you while you are trying to take pictures of the eiffel tower are not as majestic.
-- also, watch out for the old "i found this ring on the ground, is it yours?" gypsy trick.
-- the metro is fantastic and very useful! if you're lucky, a group of frenchmen will be down there with a full band singing loads of beautiful french songs.
-- GO to the musee d'orsay. i can't even describe how great it is! the fifth floor is the place to be.
-- seeing mona is essential! even if she is relatively little and behind like 3 panels of bulletproof glass.
-- the louvre is enormous, crowded, and full of so many great pieces of art it's hard to figure out where to even begin. even if you want to go only for mona, you will be in there for at least two hours.
-- notre dame is breathtaking.
-- the crepes are outta this world good.
-- a common sandwich in paris is a baguette stuffed with two hotdogs and cheese... i don't understand.
-- strolling along the seine is always a good idea.
-- the galeries lafayette is monstrous and packed to the gills with serious shoppers. however, the shopping is to die for. and talk about a rockin' christmas display - what's up, 3 story tall christmas tree!
-- cafes are on almost every corner.
-- doggies are allowed everywhere!
-- french men know how to dress.
future summer trip? i think so.
11/04/2009
watch out, paris.
the moore women are coming!! mom, dawnie and i all head out on friday. CANNOT WAIT!!
and just throwing this out there, the irish LOVE halloween. holy smokes. rumor has it they invented it? i don't know if that's the correct word, but i guess they were the first to celebrate it like we do today. again, not entirely sure this is true, but it's nice to think it is. either way, everyone was so into it - shops were decorated, people came up with the most creative costumes (take a hint america. creative, NOT slutty), and the whole town was out to celebrate. two of my friends who are studying in florence were in town visiting, and we most definitely joined in on the fun. sadly our night was cut kinda short due to some unfortunate rain (we shouldn't have been surprised) and ridiculously high cover charges to get into typically free places. 10 euros? see ya never.
oh, and of course we added to the cultural experience! le jameson distillery AND a rugby match:
counting down the minutes until crepes, wine, neutral tones, museums, and eiffel. eeeek!!
and just throwing this out there, the irish LOVE halloween. holy smokes. rumor has it they invented it? i don't know if that's the correct word, but i guess they were the first to celebrate it like we do today. again, not entirely sure this is true, but it's nice to think it is. either way, everyone was so into it - shops were decorated, people came up with the most creative costumes (take a hint america. creative, NOT slutty), and the whole town was out to celebrate. two of my friends who are studying in florence were in town visiting, and we most definitely joined in on the fun. sadly our night was cut kinda short due to some unfortunate rain (we shouldn't have been surprised) and ridiculously high cover charges to get into typically free places. 10 euros? see ya never.
oh, and of course we added to the cultural experience! le jameson distillery AND a rugby match:
counting down the minutes until crepes, wine, neutral tones, museums, and eiffel. eeeek!!
10/26/2009
corky times.
events that occurred this weekend:
-- went to cork. fo free. thanks, ifsa!
-- stayed at a BALLIN' hotel. i have never slept more wonderfully or in such an incredible bed. what i would do to bring that thing back to dubtown...
-- saw some of the greatest little bands. fo free. including, but not limited to, a bob marley wannabe, a 90s cover band called 'smash hits' (they did backstreet's back and it was epic), a tap dancing 80-year-old man who sang along to a cassette tape, an incredible jazz band who just set up shop on the sidewalk, another jazz band made up entirely of cute men aged 65 or older, and possibly one of the greatest swing bands i've ever heard.
-- saw a man i'm pretty sure could pass as cousin it. he was the saxophonist in said swing band.
-- mama got a new bag. and it is b-e-a-uuutiful.
-- rang the bells at st. anne's cathedral. played 'three blind mice' to be more specific.
-- climbed to the top of the bell tower at st. anne's. got to wear some sexyyyy headphones. and in the words of martha, "paid 5 euro to touch some bird shit." we had to climb up the itty bittiest staircase, past the clanging bells, and out a mini door where we were nearly blown away by the gale force winds, but it was pretty much worth it.
-- walked through two wonderful markets and picked up a few christmas prezzies. speaking of, i still need to find a good market here...
-- saw more varieties of meat, ie lamb's kidneys and an entire pigs head, than i'd really like to ever see again. i understand now why vegetarians exist.
-- found a store whose little treasures NEED to be in my house. they are of the old, sparkly, and brightly colored variety.
-- we fell back. god, i love falling back.
-- read a book.
-- realized how thankful i am to be in dublin and not cork. don't get me wrong, it was a great town, just too little for my liking.
events that will happen this week:
-- a leinster rugby game.
-- halloween celebrations.
-- EMILY IS COMING!!!!
a top weekend for sure. and i'm so excited for this next one that i can hardly stand it. but i've gotta say it, i am missing fall in nashy - there's something about it that makes me smile from ear to ear. maybe it's the super crunchy leaves, or just how it smells so fally. either way, there are days when i wish i was walking across peabody bridge, seeing 1000 different shades of red and yellow leaves around me, and not sloshing through rain puddles. but no matter, i'm carpe-ing that diem, baby.
-- went to cork. fo free. thanks, ifsa!
-- stayed at a BALLIN' hotel. i have never slept more wonderfully or in such an incredible bed. what i would do to bring that thing back to dubtown...
-- saw some of the greatest little bands. fo free. including, but not limited to, a bob marley wannabe, a 90s cover band called 'smash hits' (they did backstreet's back and it was epic), a tap dancing 80-year-old man who sang along to a cassette tape, an incredible jazz band who just set up shop on the sidewalk, another jazz band made up entirely of cute men aged 65 or older, and possibly one of the greatest swing bands i've ever heard.
-- saw a man i'm pretty sure could pass as cousin it. he was the saxophonist in said swing band.
-- mama got a new bag. and it is b-e-a-uuutiful.
-- rang the bells at st. anne's cathedral. played 'three blind mice' to be more specific.
-- climbed to the top of the bell tower at st. anne's. got to wear some sexyyyy headphones. and in the words of martha, "paid 5 euro to touch some bird shit." we had to climb up the itty bittiest staircase, past the clanging bells, and out a mini door where we were nearly blown away by the gale force winds, but it was pretty much worth it.
-- walked through two wonderful markets and picked up a few christmas prezzies. speaking of, i still need to find a good market here...
-- saw more varieties of meat, ie lamb's kidneys and an entire pigs head, than i'd really like to ever see again. i understand now why vegetarians exist.
-- found a store whose little treasures NEED to be in my house. they are of the old, sparkly, and brightly colored variety.
-- we fell back. god, i love falling back.
-- read a book.
-- realized how thankful i am to be in dublin and not cork. don't get me wrong, it was a great town, just too little for my liking.
events that will happen this week:
-- a leinster rugby game.
-- halloween celebrations.
-- EMILY IS COMING!!!!
a top weekend for sure. and i'm so excited for this next one that i can hardly stand it. but i've gotta say it, i am missing fall in nashy - there's something about it that makes me smile from ear to ear. maybe it's the super crunchy leaves, or just how it smells so fally. either way, there are days when i wish i was walking across peabody bridge, seeing 1000 different shades of red and yellow leaves around me, and not sloshing through rain puddles. but no matter, i'm carpe-ing that diem, baby.
10/18/2009
reunions in europeland. and a couple diggers.
FUN weekend, y'all!! one of my best friends, hannah, is studying in barcelona this semester and she came to visit!! she and her friend elsa, who goes to asu (shout out to momma and richie), stayed at my apartment. we had the best time! on thursday night we went to the whelan bar, which is where part of ps. i love you was filmed. sadly, no sightings of gerard. i guess they have great live music thursday and friday nights, so i'd love to go back and check it out. but we shut the place down - checking that one off the list - and had a blast!
on friday we toured around the city and i FINALLY saw a lot of the dublin sites! everything is so walkable, i love it. we meandered along the river liffey and into temple bar, then over to the castle. let me tell ya, this castle is a shame to all other castles. it's basically in the middle of an office complex, surrounded by a massive parking lot, and parts of it are painted bright colors. NOT what i was expecting. i will say that the chester beatty library and front lawn are pretty cool and worth seeing. but honestly, when you call something a castle, it sure as heck better be large and castley and not overtaken by an ugly office complex. and that's the world according to kendra... after that less than climactic experience, we headed over to st. patrick's cathedral. TOTALLY made up for the castle. it's stunning, and the park next to it is perfect and precious. we went inside for a second, but it cost like 5 euro to tour around it. nooo, thank you. after pictures, we walked to st. stephen's green and tried to soak up all we could of the gorgeous day it turned out to be! it was sunny and warm - the perfect day for a stroll in the park. next we walked grafton st. and did some window shopping, then met grace and her friends who were visiting from florence for some sushi. also a bit of a let down - they make it fresh, but then stick it in a fridge where you go and pick it out? strange. later that night we went to WAR - a rockin' club where they paint your face when you walk in the door. there was a group of like 5 guys dressed like gypsies... ha, the things you see at night in dubtown. ridonkulous.
oh, also ridonkulous is the girl who TRIPPED HER SWEET, OLD GRANDPA IN A FIT OF BRATTY RAGE. yes. it happened. during our little sightseeing tour, hannah, elsa and i happened to be walking behind this family and the girl was throwing a fit. her grandpa and grandma were holding her hands and basically dragging her down the sidewalk because she refused to walk. the mother was behind them with 1000 bags, clearly struggling and embarrassed. then outta no where, the child sticks her foot out and grandpa goes down. hard. we were all in shock. he was on the ground for a while as grandma had that little hot mess to deal with, and the mom had those 1000 bags. luckily he was ok, but i thought he was going to strangle that little girl. let me tell you, if my child displays any sort of tantrum like this one did, helloooo boarding school.
on saturday, hannah and elsa headed down to cork to see some other friends, and grace and i went off to explore the national gallery. they had a ton of great pieces, but it definitely wasn't as good as scotland's. also, WAY more confusing. grace and i got turned around so many times. however, they have an awesome gift shop and i need to go back there asap.
but let's please just talk for a second about the exceptionally high levels of procrastination that i've reached. it's pretty terrible, even for my standards. for example, i chose to fill out spring break applications, write postcards, vacuum, clean the kitchen, shower, and blog all before i even considered touching the mountains of homework staring me in the face. i blame it on the fact that EVERYTHING is closed on sunday. sunday is my work day where i pack up my longchamp and head off to a nice little study spot. i'm just not a room worker - clearly i get a little distracted - and need a library or cubicle. ucd, why do you not provide these services? i'm blaming you for the state i'm in...
and now that that's covered, i am blaming my laundry and laundry bag for the bump on my head. much like gramps, i took a bit of a digger except it was into my bedroom wall and not a sidewalk. possibly one of the most embarrassing things i've ever done. writing about it is therapeutic. and if it's not an indication i need to do laundry, i don't know what is. over and out.
on friday we toured around the city and i FINALLY saw a lot of the dublin sites! everything is so walkable, i love it. we meandered along the river liffey and into temple bar, then over to the castle. let me tell ya, this castle is a shame to all other castles. it's basically in the middle of an office complex, surrounded by a massive parking lot, and parts of it are painted bright colors. NOT what i was expecting. i will say that the chester beatty library and front lawn are pretty cool and worth seeing. but honestly, when you call something a castle, it sure as heck better be large and castley and not overtaken by an ugly office complex. and that's the world according to kendra... after that less than climactic experience, we headed over to st. patrick's cathedral. TOTALLY made up for the castle. it's stunning, and the park next to it is perfect and precious. we went inside for a second, but it cost like 5 euro to tour around it. nooo, thank you. after pictures, we walked to st. stephen's green and tried to soak up all we could of the gorgeous day it turned out to be! it was sunny and warm - the perfect day for a stroll in the park. next we walked grafton st. and did some window shopping, then met grace and her friends who were visiting from florence for some sushi. also a bit of a let down - they make it fresh, but then stick it in a fridge where you go and pick it out? strange. later that night we went to WAR - a rockin' club where they paint your face when you walk in the door. there was a group of like 5 guys dressed like gypsies... ha, the things you see at night in dubtown. ridonkulous.
oh, also ridonkulous is the girl who TRIPPED HER SWEET, OLD GRANDPA IN A FIT OF BRATTY RAGE. yes. it happened. during our little sightseeing tour, hannah, elsa and i happened to be walking behind this family and the girl was throwing a fit. her grandpa and grandma were holding her hands and basically dragging her down the sidewalk because she refused to walk. the mother was behind them with 1000 bags, clearly struggling and embarrassed. then outta no where, the child sticks her foot out and grandpa goes down. hard. we were all in shock. he was on the ground for a while as grandma had that little hot mess to deal with, and the mom had those 1000 bags. luckily he was ok, but i thought he was going to strangle that little girl. let me tell you, if my child displays any sort of tantrum like this one did, helloooo boarding school.
on saturday, hannah and elsa headed down to cork to see some other friends, and grace and i went off to explore the national gallery. they had a ton of great pieces, but it definitely wasn't as good as scotland's. also, WAY more confusing. grace and i got turned around so many times. however, they have an awesome gift shop and i need to go back there asap.
but let's please just talk for a second about the exceptionally high levels of procrastination that i've reached. it's pretty terrible, even for my standards. for example, i chose to fill out spring break applications, write postcards, vacuum, clean the kitchen, shower, and blog all before i even considered touching the mountains of homework staring me in the face. i blame it on the fact that EVERYTHING is closed on sunday. sunday is my work day where i pack up my longchamp and head off to a nice little study spot. i'm just not a room worker - clearly i get a little distracted - and need a library or cubicle. ucd, why do you not provide these services? i'm blaming you for the state i'm in...
and now that that's covered, i am blaming my laundry and laundry bag for the bump on my head. much like gramps, i took a bit of a digger except it was into my bedroom wall and not a sidewalk. possibly one of the most embarrassing things i've ever done. writing about it is therapeutic. and if it's not an indication i need to do laundry, i don't know what is. over and out.
10/12/2009
met my future hubby. he goes by adam the braveheart.
it's true. he gave me his business card and everything. i'm thinking it will be a late-spring wedding in the highlands. kilts mandatory.
since i am a terrible blogger, this little entry might just go on for miles. i advise you to use my preferred method of reading - skimming and paying attention to the bold words. gets the job done, right?
let's start with saturday morning. grace and i left for our day in the wicklow mountains, where we got to hike around glendalough and see the ruins of the monastic settlement started by st. kevin. it was absolutely stunning. i thought i had seen some pretty places before - growing up with tahoe right next door, traveling to park city in the winter, going to family reunions in the smoky mountains and in san diego, and working in montreat this summer. i've been so fortunate to see all of these great places so often, but i really do take it for granted most of the time. lesson learned, because glendalough just took my breath away. it's only about an hour south of dublin, but it feels so different. the name literally means 'the glen of two lakes', and sure enough, there are two lakes. creative names too - the upper lake and the lower lake. the upper lake is MASSIVE and surrounded by some equally impressive mountains. we started our hike on one of the penance roads - looong, gravel roads the monks had to walk if they had been naughty. however, i think that kind of goes against monkish nature... hmm. we turned and headed up a not-so-easy trail to reach the top of the mountain. it reminded me a lot of the movies ella enchanted or ever after; kind of medieval, and very forresty and green. we reached the top very winded and followed our guide back down. oh also, the whole time we were being smacked with a heavy mist/rain. not the nicest day i've seen, but no matter. when we reached the bottom, we were literally standing on the edge of the lake. we made our way around the lake on this itty bitty trail, took some pics on the beach, then headed up to see kevin's cell and a pretty little waterfall. let's talk about kevin for a second. homie lived in a cave he carved into the side of the mountain and meditated a whole lot. not much of a people person. we toured around the cemetery, the ruins of the old cathedral, and learned about the round tower. this place is SO old - it's just amazing to me how it's still standing in such good condition after all these years. the cemetary was awesome, too. normally they really creep me out but i could appreciate this one, mainly because of all the pretty celtic crosses. overall, an AWESOME experience in little glendalough and something i'm very thankful i got to do! take a looksie at my pitchas --
and now, it's edinburgh time!! ohmyGOSH - one of my favorite cities on the planet!! first of all, it's pronounced 'edinburra.' if you say 'burgh', people really judge you. noted. we arrived latelate thursday night, and went right to our b&b. let me tell you, b&b's are totally the way to go! we stayed at this little place called the valentine guest house and it was so great. martha, grace and i had our own room with three little beds, complete with scottish flag bedding. makes the claddagh hostel look like a halfway house. we had a great free breakfast every morning and the people were super nice. oh don't worry, i was served a full scottish breakfast the first morning, complete with haggis and black pudding. didn't get near that nasty biz. grace and i did have a bit of a sausage situation though... we thought we were biting into a perfectly good breakfast sausage, ya know, ihop style. FALSE. we literally had a piece of meaty mush into our mouths and almost caused a major scene trying to swallow it. i now understand why those people on fear factor make such strange noises while trying to swallow the terrible things they had to eat. needless to say, sausage might forever be on the blacklist for us.
on friday, we hit the town hard. before we went to the castle, we did a little shopping on the royal mile. hello cashmere and tartan. i bought a blanket (i know what you're thinking - a blanket, really, kendra? really. i needed to bring back some authentic scotland with me, and i'm certainly not wearing a kilt.) i also bought a cashmere scarf, and a set of mini bagpipes in the tartan belonging to the farquharson clan. it was the coolest name i could find. after our little shopping adventure, we went into the tartan mill at the bottom of the castle. it. was. AWESOME. we watched the fabric being made, and saw the walls and walls of the bajillion kinds of tartans. very neat. then we made it to the castle - it's really like it's own village, but it looks so majestic on top of that hill. we toured around, took pictures on top of cannons (for you, momma - 11 years later!), and went into some of the exhibits. next, we meandered down the royal mile, aka high street, and saw my husband, adam the bravehart. adam dresses up in full scottish gear, large furry boots included, and hangs out at the bottom of the castle. he's hilarious and very chatty, and has some large swords you get to hold when you take a picture with him. oh and fun fact, his bum is all over scotland. he lives off royalties from this very famous postcard pictured below:
yep, that's adam's bootay. and he proved it to us. it's a very detailed tattoo. after adam and his bum, we visited st. giles church, the mercat cross, and loads of other famous sites. next, we went to one of my favorite places, the elephant house. it's where jk rowling wrote harry potter! we stopped in for a bit, and it really has an awesome view of the castle. hogwarts wouldn't be hard to imagine after looking at that all day! after that, we went to the national gallery. kind of a let down since the top floor was randomly closed for the day, so we didn't get to see any of the good stuff including degas, da vinci, and monet. sad. we checked out the walter scott monument, and then went to a great italian dinner with some of grace's family friends. that night, we went on a ghost tour around the old town. i was scared outta my mind before it started, but thankfully it wasn't that scary! we heard some great stories, and went down into these vaults, which are supposedly the "most haunted area in all of britain". not gonna lie, i believe in ghosties. thankfully i didn't see anything creepy down there, otherwise i would have probably had a heart attack.
on saturday, we woke up and could hardly move. edinburgh is not a flat city in the least, and our little leggies were feeling it! we explored the shops in grassmarket, and found the most miraculous bookstore EVER. don't worry about it, i bought a copy of emma by jane austen, my most favorite book, that's from 1872. ohmygod, i almost had a heart attack. after, we walked down the other end of the royal mile to the holyrood house, the royal palace of scotland. it's a working palace, so a bunch of official royal stuff goes down all the time. some of the rooms are ridiculously extravagant, but it was all so awesome to see. got to walk through mary queen of scots bedroom, and see the dining room where queen elizabeth actually eats dinner and hangs out. gosh, i want to meet her! thankfully it was a beautiful day (unlike friday - GROSS), and we got to spend a bunch of time outside on the grounds. the palace sits right below arthur's seat, which we were gonna hike it but it is no small endeavor. after, we stumbled onto some strange parade going across the bridge, i think it was celebrating women's rights? but it literally just came out of no where. so we followed it across and got to listen to the accordion band. pretty rockin'. later on, we went on a pub crawl (they love those in area of the world), but grace and i just followed the tour and hung out. call us cheap, but 10 pounds wasn't worth it. ps, the old town is 1000x better than the new town. just throwing that out there.
sunday was st. andrews day! we took the train along the coast and got in that afternoon. it's only an hour away, so it's a perfect day trip. it was a really pretty ride, too! we walked around the ruins of the cathedral on the harbor, and saw the ruins of the castle, and then made it to the big bad golf course. it was gorgeous, and the six courses are probably bigger than the size of the entire town. it's definitely pretty snooty but that's expected. very glad i saw it though! we took the train back a couple hours later, and then hopped on our flight back home! gosh, i just loved it so much. i had to keep telling myself that it was colder and more expensive than dublin so i wouldn't feel so sad leaving! edinburgh - i'm coming back asap, baby.
since i am a terrible blogger, this little entry might just go on for miles. i advise you to use my preferred method of reading - skimming and paying attention to the bold words. gets the job done, right?
let's start with saturday morning. grace and i left for our day in the wicklow mountains, where we got to hike around glendalough and see the ruins of the monastic settlement started by st. kevin. it was absolutely stunning. i thought i had seen some pretty places before - growing up with tahoe right next door, traveling to park city in the winter, going to family reunions in the smoky mountains and in san diego, and working in montreat this summer. i've been so fortunate to see all of these great places so often, but i really do take it for granted most of the time. lesson learned, because glendalough just took my breath away. it's only about an hour south of dublin, but it feels so different. the name literally means 'the glen of two lakes', and sure enough, there are two lakes. creative names too - the upper lake and the lower lake. the upper lake is MASSIVE and surrounded by some equally impressive mountains. we started our hike on one of the penance roads - looong, gravel roads the monks had to walk if they had been naughty. however, i think that kind of goes against monkish nature... hmm. we turned and headed up a not-so-easy trail to reach the top of the mountain. it reminded me a lot of the movies ella enchanted or ever after; kind of medieval, and very forresty and green. we reached the top very winded and followed our guide back down. oh also, the whole time we were being smacked with a heavy mist/rain. not the nicest day i've seen, but no matter. when we reached the bottom, we were literally standing on the edge of the lake. we made our way around the lake on this itty bitty trail, took some pics on the beach, then headed up to see kevin's cell and a pretty little waterfall. let's talk about kevin for a second. homie lived in a cave he carved into the side of the mountain and meditated a whole lot. not much of a people person. we toured around the cemetery, the ruins of the old cathedral, and learned about the round tower. this place is SO old - it's just amazing to me how it's still standing in such good condition after all these years. the cemetary was awesome, too. normally they really creep me out but i could appreciate this one, mainly because of all the pretty celtic crosses. overall, an AWESOME experience in little glendalough and something i'm very thankful i got to do! take a looksie at my pitchas --
after we got back from glendalough, it was literary pub crawl time. we got to the duke and met our guides upstairs. they were two professional actors who knew loads about joyce, wilde, beckett, yeats, and other people who i've never actually heard of. personally, joyce fascinates me, yeats is a genius, and beckett is too strange for me to even begin to comprehend. nonetheless, all important people! our guides performed little scenes and told us short histories of each writer. we hit up four different pubs - the duke (loved it - lotsa character and pizazz), o'neill's, davy byrnes, and another whose name i forget. at the end, kathleen won a t-shirt for being a pop culture genius! very exciting.
and now, it's edinburgh time!! ohmyGOSH - one of my favorite cities on the planet!! first of all, it's pronounced 'edinburra.' if you say 'burgh', people really judge you. noted. we arrived latelate thursday night, and went right to our b&b. let me tell you, b&b's are totally the way to go! we stayed at this little place called the valentine guest house and it was so great. martha, grace and i had our own room with three little beds, complete with scottish flag bedding. makes the claddagh hostel look like a halfway house. we had a great free breakfast every morning and the people were super nice. oh don't worry, i was served a full scottish breakfast the first morning, complete with haggis and black pudding. didn't get near that nasty biz. grace and i did have a bit of a sausage situation though... we thought we were biting into a perfectly good breakfast sausage, ya know, ihop style. FALSE. we literally had a piece of meaty mush into our mouths and almost caused a major scene trying to swallow it. i now understand why those people on fear factor make such strange noises while trying to swallow the terrible things they had to eat. needless to say, sausage might forever be on the blacklist for us.
on friday, we hit the town hard. before we went to the castle, we did a little shopping on the royal mile. hello cashmere and tartan. i bought a blanket (i know what you're thinking - a blanket, really, kendra? really. i needed to bring back some authentic scotland with me, and i'm certainly not wearing a kilt.) i also bought a cashmere scarf, and a set of mini bagpipes in the tartan belonging to the farquharson clan. it was the coolest name i could find. after our little shopping adventure, we went into the tartan mill at the bottom of the castle. it. was. AWESOME. we watched the fabric being made, and saw the walls and walls of the bajillion kinds of tartans. very neat. then we made it to the castle - it's really like it's own village, but it looks so majestic on top of that hill. we toured around, took pictures on top of cannons (for you, momma - 11 years later!), and went into some of the exhibits. next, we meandered down the royal mile, aka high street, and saw my husband, adam the bravehart. adam dresses up in full scottish gear, large furry boots included, and hangs out at the bottom of the castle. he's hilarious and very chatty, and has some large swords you get to hold when you take a picture with him. oh and fun fact, his bum is all over scotland. he lives off royalties from this very famous postcard pictured below:
yep, that's adam's bootay. and he proved it to us. it's a very detailed tattoo. after adam and his bum, we visited st. giles church, the mercat cross, and loads of other famous sites. next, we went to one of my favorite places, the elephant house. it's where jk rowling wrote harry potter! we stopped in for a bit, and it really has an awesome view of the castle. hogwarts wouldn't be hard to imagine after looking at that all day! after that, we went to the national gallery. kind of a let down since the top floor was randomly closed for the day, so we didn't get to see any of the good stuff including degas, da vinci, and monet. sad. we checked out the walter scott monument, and then went to a great italian dinner with some of grace's family friends. that night, we went on a ghost tour around the old town. i was scared outta my mind before it started, but thankfully it wasn't that scary! we heard some great stories, and went down into these vaults, which are supposedly the "most haunted area in all of britain". not gonna lie, i believe in ghosties. thankfully i didn't see anything creepy down there, otherwise i would have probably had a heart attack.
on saturday, we woke up and could hardly move. edinburgh is not a flat city in the least, and our little leggies were feeling it! we explored the shops in grassmarket, and found the most miraculous bookstore EVER. don't worry about it, i bought a copy of emma by jane austen, my most favorite book, that's from 1872. ohmygod, i almost had a heart attack. after, we walked down the other end of the royal mile to the holyrood house, the royal palace of scotland. it's a working palace, so a bunch of official royal stuff goes down all the time. some of the rooms are ridiculously extravagant, but it was all so awesome to see. got to walk through mary queen of scots bedroom, and see the dining room where queen elizabeth actually eats dinner and hangs out. gosh, i want to meet her! thankfully it was a beautiful day (unlike friday - GROSS), and we got to spend a bunch of time outside on the grounds. the palace sits right below arthur's seat, which we were gonna hike it but it is no small endeavor. after, we stumbled onto some strange parade going across the bridge, i think it was celebrating women's rights? but it literally just came out of no where. so we followed it across and got to listen to the accordion band. pretty rockin'. later on, we went on a pub crawl (they love those in area of the world), but grace and i just followed the tour and hung out. call us cheap, but 10 pounds wasn't worth it. ps, the old town is 1000x better than the new town. just throwing that out there.
sunday was st. andrews day! we took the train along the coast and got in that afternoon. it's only an hour away, so it's a perfect day trip. it was a really pretty ride, too! we walked around the ruins of the cathedral on the harbor, and saw the ruins of the castle, and then made it to the big bad golf course. it was gorgeous, and the six courses are probably bigger than the size of the entire town. it's definitely pretty snooty but that's expected. very glad i saw it though! we took the train back a couple hours later, and then hopped on our flight back home! gosh, i just loved it so much. i had to keep telling myself that it was colder and more expensive than dublin so i wouldn't feel so sad leaving! edinburgh - i'm coming back asap, baby.
10/08/2009
sorry folks.
i have so many fun things that i need to update bloggerland on, but a) it's 1:20 in the am, b) i'm going to EDINBURGH this weekend and i feel like i shouldn't waste a perfectly good update or my energy just yet, c) i still have to pack, and d) i just don't want to right now. i will say that i had a great time in glendalough for the day last weekend, and managed to snap a couple of pretty pics while i was not being pelted in the face by mist/rain. also, the literary pub crawl was a blast, even though there weren't any dressed up actors. boo. so watch out for glendalough, pub crawl, and all things edinburgh very very soon!
lastly, and of no real importance, here are some duckies from glendalough. bye bye.
lastly, and of no real importance, here are some duckies from glendalough. bye bye.
10/01/2009
jeez louise, i'm practically a native.
just kidding. but i have been here for over a month! cuh-razy! i remember the beginning of this little journey like it was yesterday - frantically taking clothes from my only-slightly overweight bag, meeting everyone for the first time on the awkward group flight, getting my butt KICKED by jetlag. and now i'm spouting off bus routes, shopping at the moore st. fruit market, and going to rugby games. sometimes class. (kidding mother, i've only skipped one). gosh, i knew dublin and i would be friends. off topic, but making it over here with one suitcase UNDER 50 pounds is seriously one of my proudest achievements in life. now it certainly doesn't mean i will pack light forever - a girl's gotta have options - but at least i know i can. in other news, it hasn't rained in 20something days. a modern miracle i'd say.
but now let's talk guinness!! ohmygoodness. september 24, 2009 will certainly go down in the record books. it was a day to celebrate, that's for sure. classes were let out early, the city centre was swamped, and arthur guinness and his beloved drink were toasted to affectionately (sloppily...) all night long. the big 250th celebration was no small event - pubs had been selling tickets for a while, and all of them were sold out. typical, i thought we could just show up sans tickets, or at least buy them there. not so much the case. we got to temple bar and every place was jam packed. we stood in the plaza and joined the countdown until 5:59, the official time of arthur's day. it was like new years - as the clock hit zero, people threw their pints in the air and cheered their little hearts out. since every place was packed we couldn't get a pint to toast with, but just watching everyone raise their glasses at the exact same time was so, so fun. a little while later, we got our paws on a pint and went back into the crowd. of course by then it was starting to get a little rowdy. people had formed a big circle and were throwing their pint glasses into it? dunno why. and then a few really thought they needed to show off their white hineys and moon us all, so that happened quite a lot. shortly after, the garda came around to do a little crowd control. we stuck around a while longer, but then made our way to dame st. where there were places to get in. overall, one of the most fun times i've had. it sure is a great time to be in this town - there's so much going on!
lookie lookie, it's everyone toasting!
and now they're doing it with shoes!
the poor street covered in glass from the crazy irish shenanigans:
this weekend i'm going to glendalough and doing a half-day hike with a group of u.s. study abroad kids. it's this beautiful valley in wicklow county, like an hour away from dublin. there's a bunch of old, historic monuments and churches in the valleys, and two gorgeous lakes. definitely won't forget the camera. then i think a literary pub crawl is on the agenda? ha my friends and i have been dying to do one - people dress up like james joyce and oscar wilde and take you to all these different pubs in the city centre. i'll be like a chautauqua, but clearly 1000 times better. i haven't actually done many of the dublin sites yet, dumb, so that's what this weekend's all about! i am stoked.
but now let's talk guinness!! ohmygoodness. september 24, 2009 will certainly go down in the record books. it was a day to celebrate, that's for sure. classes were let out early, the city centre was swamped, and arthur guinness and his beloved drink were toasted to affectionately (sloppily...) all night long. the big 250th celebration was no small event - pubs had been selling tickets for a while, and all of them were sold out. typical, i thought we could just show up sans tickets, or at least buy them there. not so much the case. we got to temple bar and every place was jam packed. we stood in the plaza and joined the countdown until 5:59, the official time of arthur's day. it was like new years - as the clock hit zero, people threw their pints in the air and cheered their little hearts out. since every place was packed we couldn't get a pint to toast with, but just watching everyone raise their glasses at the exact same time was so, so fun. a little while later, we got our paws on a pint and went back into the crowd. of course by then it was starting to get a little rowdy. people had formed a big circle and were throwing their pint glasses into it? dunno why. and then a few really thought they needed to show off their white hineys and moon us all, so that happened quite a lot. shortly after, the garda came around to do a little crowd control. we stuck around a while longer, but then made our way to dame st. where there were places to get in. overall, one of the most fun times i've had. it sure is a great time to be in this town - there's so much going on!
lookie lookie, it's everyone toasting!
and now they're doing it with shoes!
the poor street covered in glass from the crazy irish shenanigans:
this weekend i'm going to glendalough and doing a half-day hike with a group of u.s. study abroad kids. it's this beautiful valley in wicklow county, like an hour away from dublin. there's a bunch of old, historic monuments and churches in the valleys, and two gorgeous lakes. definitely won't forget the camera. then i think a literary pub crawl is on the agenda? ha my friends and i have been dying to do one - people dress up like james joyce and oscar wilde and take you to all these different pubs in the city centre. i'll be like a chautauqua, but clearly 1000 times better. i haven't actually done many of the dublin sites yet, dumb, so that's what this weekend's all about! i am stoked.
9/23/2009
on that point, madam.
you know when you do something especially exciting or fun, and you think to yourself, "i really hope i remember everything about this when i'm older?" well that was tonight. nerd alert - we're talking politics and treaties... you were warned.
so around this time last week, i joined the literary and historical society. in essence, the debate club... it's actually super cool and not just for bookworms - they sponsor rockin' nights out in bars and bring in tons of awesome speakers that you can see. fo free. well tonight at 7 the good ol' l&h put on a debate about the lisbon treaty, a referendum that ireland is going to be voting for on oct 2. it's a HUGE deal - there are posters everywhere for both campaigns, yes or no, and people are very passionate about it. seeing as this isn't really breaking news in america, none of us know what exactly this treaty is about. kathleen and i decided it'd be a good way to get a little educated. perk: no reading long newspaper articles. so here it goes. this is the second time ireland is going to vote on the referendum, and they voted 'no' the first time. the treaty was signed in 2007 by the leaders of the 27 countries who are part of the european union, but it hasn't been ratified yet because the people of ireland previously voted 'no'. this second time around, there are significant changes and legally-binding guarantees on the big issues, all in hopes that irish citizens will feel more secure with the provisions of the agreement. basically, the 'yes' campaign feels that this will create a stronger ireland with jobs and a good economy, and will make the eu as a whole more democratic. a 'no' vote in the 'yes' campaign's eyes means that ireland doesn't really appreciate europe - they aren't especially committed. bad news. on the other hand, the 'no' campaign feels that this treaty will "militarize" the eu (and consequently ireland), will be a terrible idea economically, and will reduce ireland's power within the eu. the 'no' campaign also feels like this second referendum is just a way to bully the irish - they already voted no once, they don't want to have to go through the process again. (warning: these are just things that i gathered during the debate - they could very well be wrong or biased. i tried to keep it all straight, but just saying!)
so that's what the treaty is all about, but the actual debate is where the story's at! ohmygosh, i have never seen anything like this in my life! it was in one of the lecture halls and the place was packed to the brim. kathleen and i came in about 15 mins late, but luckily they hadn't started yet. we sat on the stairs in the back of the classroom - the perfect spot to watch it all go down. so the chairman of l&h is just a normal kid at ucd, probably my age, and is the moderator - he has a bell, introduces everyone, and sits in this plush chair on the side of the room. then there were the debaters. they were BIG shots, let me tell ya. one of them was the former president of the european parliament, there was another guy with a beard who was clearly a big deal, and two wayyy up-there professors. students also got to debate, and those guys were GOOD.
but quick clarification, debate means something very different here. there is no tom brokaw to moderate, and there is not really a question you answer. you have a topic, a speech you prepare, and you speak very quickly for 8 minutes. the kicker is, you do this while yelling at audience members (ie other students just chilling in the crowd) who are perfectly allowed to stand up and shout "on that point!" to try and prove that something you just said is wrong. the typical response by the debater is "no, thank you" and to just keep rattling off their speech. but as the debate got going, "no, thank you" turned into "don't you dare interrupt me" and "sit the hell down and get your facts straight." wow, alright. my personal fave was when one big shot said to another, "on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the greatest, what chance is there that we'll get kicked out of the union if we vote no on lisbon?" to which the reply was, "on a scale of 1 to 10, it's a fuck off." haha i died!!!
so aside from loving the craziness of it all, i was just in awe of how passionate people were about the debate. these extremely well-educated and respected people - doctors, ex-presidents of parliament, party leaders - were literally blue in the face from screaming at each other. and they all had excellent arguments and points to make. i couldn't tell ya who won, or if this was even about winning. all i know is that it was a great thing to see, and something i'll always (hope to) remember! so on that note, gute nacht! and i'll let ya know if i ever recover my cool factor, seeing as it pretty much just plummeted to the ground with this little diddy...
so around this time last week, i joined the literary and historical society. in essence, the debate club... it's actually super cool and not just for bookworms - they sponsor rockin' nights out in bars and bring in tons of awesome speakers that you can see. fo free. well tonight at 7 the good ol' l&h put on a debate about the lisbon treaty, a referendum that ireland is going to be voting for on oct 2. it's a HUGE deal - there are posters everywhere for both campaigns, yes or no, and people are very passionate about it. seeing as this isn't really breaking news in america, none of us know what exactly this treaty is about. kathleen and i decided it'd be a good way to get a little educated. perk: no reading long newspaper articles. so here it goes. this is the second time ireland is going to vote on the referendum, and they voted 'no' the first time. the treaty was signed in 2007 by the leaders of the 27 countries who are part of the european union, but it hasn't been ratified yet because the people of ireland previously voted 'no'. this second time around, there are significant changes and legally-binding guarantees on the big issues, all in hopes that irish citizens will feel more secure with the provisions of the agreement. basically, the 'yes' campaign feels that this will create a stronger ireland with jobs and a good economy, and will make the eu as a whole more democratic. a 'no' vote in the 'yes' campaign's eyes means that ireland doesn't really appreciate europe - they aren't especially committed. bad news. on the other hand, the 'no' campaign feels that this treaty will "militarize" the eu (and consequently ireland), will be a terrible idea economically, and will reduce ireland's power within the eu. the 'no' campaign also feels like this second referendum is just a way to bully the irish - they already voted no once, they don't want to have to go through the process again. (warning: these are just things that i gathered during the debate - they could very well be wrong or biased. i tried to keep it all straight, but just saying!)
so that's what the treaty is all about, but the actual debate is where the story's at! ohmygosh, i have never seen anything like this in my life! it was in one of the lecture halls and the place was packed to the brim. kathleen and i came in about 15 mins late, but luckily they hadn't started yet. we sat on the stairs in the back of the classroom - the perfect spot to watch it all go down. so the chairman of l&h is just a normal kid at ucd, probably my age, and is the moderator - he has a bell, introduces everyone, and sits in this plush chair on the side of the room. then there were the debaters. they were BIG shots, let me tell ya. one of them was the former president of the european parliament, there was another guy with a beard who was clearly a big deal, and two wayyy up-there professors. students also got to debate, and those guys were GOOD.
but quick clarification, debate means something very different here. there is no tom brokaw to moderate, and there is not really a question you answer. you have a topic, a speech you prepare, and you speak very quickly for 8 minutes. the kicker is, you do this while yelling at audience members (ie other students just chilling in the crowd) who are perfectly allowed to stand up and shout "on that point!" to try and prove that something you just said is wrong. the typical response by the debater is "no, thank you" and to just keep rattling off their speech. but as the debate got going, "no, thank you" turned into "don't you dare interrupt me" and "sit the hell down and get your facts straight." wow, alright. my personal fave was when one big shot said to another, "on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the greatest, what chance is there that we'll get kicked out of the union if we vote no on lisbon?" to which the reply was, "on a scale of 1 to 10, it's a fuck off." haha i died!!!
so aside from loving the craziness of it all, i was just in awe of how passionate people were about the debate. these extremely well-educated and respected people - doctors, ex-presidents of parliament, party leaders - were literally blue in the face from screaming at each other. and they all had excellent arguments and points to make. i couldn't tell ya who won, or if this was even about winning. all i know is that it was a great thing to see, and something i'll always (hope to) remember! so on that note, gute nacht! and i'll let ya know if i ever recover my cool factor, seeing as it pretty much just plummeted to the ground with this little diddy...
9/20/2009
today i fight the swine. tomorrow i take over the world.
according to web md and numerous other internet resources, in addition to my own vast knowledge of public health (ha), i've diagnosed myself as a victim of the swine flu pandemic. h1n1 if you will. actually, i probably just have a really bad cold since i'm able to move around without feeling like i have sandbags attached to me. this is probably a good thing.
in other news, i won TWO battles against frighteningly large bugs today. one's still on my ceiling though. small victories.
tomorrow's the big merville soccer game - it's us (house 16, the lovely americans) against a team from one of the other houses. we are clearly going to get our butts handed to, but there's nothing better than a little friendly competition on a beautiful fall day, right? heck, maybe i can frighten the other teams away with my man voice and pigpen-like appearance. could be a good strategy.
and i had a bit of time on my hands today, so i started reading the time traveler's wife. INCREDIBLE. not to get too deep or anything, that's just not my style, but she opened the novel with one of the most beautiful poems i've ever read. it kinda goes against my fundamental beliefs to be one of those people who 'blogs', and now to be one who blogs AND leaves poetic entries... ick. but i really think this is worth the hit to the ego. the brilliant four stanzas are what i'll cap this with. also, read the book. you won't be disappointed.
LOVE AFTER LOVE
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott
in other news, i won TWO battles against frighteningly large bugs today. one's still on my ceiling though. small victories.
tomorrow's the big merville soccer game - it's us (house 16, the lovely americans) against a team from one of the other houses. we are clearly going to get our butts handed to, but there's nothing better than a little friendly competition on a beautiful fall day, right? heck, maybe i can frighten the other teams away with my man voice and pigpen-like appearance. could be a good strategy.
and i had a bit of time on my hands today, so i started reading the time traveler's wife. INCREDIBLE. not to get too deep or anything, that's just not my style, but she opened the novel with one of the most beautiful poems i've ever read. it kinda goes against my fundamental beliefs to be one of those people who 'blogs', and now to be one who blogs AND leaves poetic entries... ick. but i really think this is worth the hit to the ego. the brilliant four stanzas are what i'll cap this with. also, read the book. you won't be disappointed.
LOVE AFTER LOVE
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott
9/13/2009
my new sweater smells like an animal.
and so begins week three. but who's counting, really? i still feel a lot like a lost and confused american tourist, yet i could have sworn orientation was months ago. le strange. this week wasn't anything too special - just a whirlwind of classes, hunting for books in secondhand stores, and learning how to use the ginormous library. i had quite the encounter with the library security guard. he called me an imposter (and i laughed - imposter, really?) because the back of my student id wasn't signed. i told him it was the access card to my apartment too, and that it didn't have a place for me to sign. he then grilled me about what i was doing at ucd, and how long i'd be here, etc. he really was pretty aggressive for a library security man. glad he takes his job seriously though. anyway, i was shocked to find that people for real use this place. at home you can stroll into one of the libraries, search for your book, and like 95% of the time it's there. but here there are waiting lists, and reserved lists, and a whole lot of other lists that generally make it impossible for you to check out a book. kids here often don't buy books - they just take them out for like 3 days, photocopy pages/take some notes, return them, and then reserve them for later. not so much my style, but i guess i've got to get used to it. 'it's not bad, it's just different' - thanks, lindsay j.
aside from this boring nonsense, i finally booked a few trips for the semester - woot woot! hello paris, edinburgh, and copenhagen! i'd like to point out that my flight to edinburgh was like 14.99, yet taxes were 35... hmm, guess little ryanair has to make some money one way or another. but i think my sweet guidebook and i are going to be bff for a while - gotta find the good (ie, cheap) places to go. sadly, oktoberfest got nixed. apparently that thing is like 90% booked up by june. i did not get that memo. meh, maybe another time. i have friends here that are going, so at least i can live vicariously through them.
but let's please discuss this past weekend. while we were doing all the hunting/booking of our other trips, kathleen, grace and i spontaneously decided that going to galway this weekend was a good idea. our other friends martha and teddy were already planning on going, so we knew we could meet up with them and tour around the city. so we looked up the train schedule and booked a hostel. ohh the claddagh hostel. more to come about the claddagh hostel. on friday we were all packed and ready to go, but ran into a minor printing issue. a sweet first-year from galway told us that the train was a waste of money, and we should just take the gobus - it's 18 euro round trip and is non-stop dublin to galway. perfect! so we looked online, and figured it was probably best to buy it on there. we went through the whole process, thought we were a-ok, but then discovered we had to print out our tickets. small issue. we were planning to leave ucd at 3 to make the 4:15 bus, but due to our running around merville/trying to work the printers on campus, we didn't end up leaving until 3:45. oops. we got off the bus on o'connell st. at 4:13 and literally sprinted to the other bus stop, a good 8 blocks away. we show up and the bus is miraculously still there, so we wave our tickets obnoxiously at the bus driver, hoping he'd let us on. didn't happen. so we turn around and waited with the 50 other gobus hopefuls, hoping we'd catch the next one at 5. thankfully we made it on, and then were lucky to endure the coldest, most miserable 3 hour ride of our lives - literally sat there and shivered the entire time. rough. when we made it to galway, we defrosted a bit and walked over to the good ol' claddagh hostel. it smelled a lot like incense but seemed legit enough. we put our stuff in the locker and headed out for dinner. we had the greatest fish and chips ever, by the way. after that, we stopped in the king's head and heard a sweet cover band. around 12:30, we got back to the hostel and were ready to hit the hay. issue - our stuff was still locked in the locker and there was no one around to let us in. we banged on the door, pressed some buttons, turned the nob. nothing. guess we were sleeping in our clothes, awesomeee. the cherry on the sundae was sharing a room with 6 dudes since kathleen and i got split up.
the morning couldn't have come fast enough. we finally got our stuff and then headed out to tour the cliffs of moher and the burren, both about two hours away. seriously one of the coolest places i've ever been! we drove around the bay and through the burren, stopping first at the aillwee cave. it's this monster of a limestone cave that some farmer discovered. neat. after that was lunch in this little town called doolin, and then it was cliff time. like an idiot, i forgot my camera but this place was remarkable. they're the third highest cliffs in ireland, but probably the most well-known. and fun fact, they're in latest harry potter movie! COOL. it's just stunning though - there are these beautiful green pastures all around you, and a mini castle on one end, but then you look down and oh hey, there's the ocean 700 ft. below you. definitely a place i'll never forget. we moseyed on back to galway after that, sat and chatted in a park by the river, and then hit up a pub called the quays. we learned our lesson earlier and were actually able to put on our pj's and brush our teeth when we went back to the hostel.
aside from this boring nonsense, i finally booked a few trips for the semester - woot woot! hello paris, edinburgh, and copenhagen! i'd like to point out that my flight to edinburgh was like 14.99, yet taxes were 35... hmm, guess little ryanair has to make some money one way or another. but i think my sweet guidebook and i are going to be bff for a while - gotta find the good (ie, cheap) places to go. sadly, oktoberfest got nixed. apparently that thing is like 90% booked up by june. i did not get that memo. meh, maybe another time. i have friends here that are going, so at least i can live vicariously through them.
but let's please discuss this past weekend. while we were doing all the hunting/booking of our other trips, kathleen, grace and i spontaneously decided that going to galway this weekend was a good idea. our other friends martha and teddy were already planning on going, so we knew we could meet up with them and tour around the city. so we looked up the train schedule and booked a hostel. ohh the claddagh hostel. more to come about the claddagh hostel. on friday we were all packed and ready to go, but ran into a minor printing issue. a sweet first-year from galway told us that the train was a waste of money, and we should just take the gobus - it's 18 euro round trip and is non-stop dublin to galway. perfect! so we looked online, and figured it was probably best to buy it on there. we went through the whole process, thought we were a-ok, but then discovered we had to print out our tickets. small issue. we were planning to leave ucd at 3 to make the 4:15 bus, but due to our running around merville/trying to work the printers on campus, we didn't end up leaving until 3:45. oops. we got off the bus on o'connell st. at 4:13 and literally sprinted to the other bus stop, a good 8 blocks away. we show up and the bus is miraculously still there, so we wave our tickets obnoxiously at the bus driver, hoping he'd let us on. didn't happen. so we turn around and waited with the 50 other gobus hopefuls, hoping we'd catch the next one at 5. thankfully we made it on, and then were lucky to endure the coldest, most miserable 3 hour ride of our lives - literally sat there and shivered the entire time. rough. when we made it to galway, we defrosted a bit and walked over to the good ol' claddagh hostel. it smelled a lot like incense but seemed legit enough. we put our stuff in the locker and headed out for dinner. we had the greatest fish and chips ever, by the way. after that, we stopped in the king's head and heard a sweet cover band. around 12:30, we got back to the hostel and were ready to hit the hay. issue - our stuff was still locked in the locker and there was no one around to let us in. we banged on the door, pressed some buttons, turned the nob. nothing. guess we were sleeping in our clothes, awesomeee. the cherry on the sundae was sharing a room with 6 dudes since kathleen and i got split up.
the morning couldn't have come fast enough. we finally got our stuff and then headed out to tour the cliffs of moher and the burren, both about two hours away. seriously one of the coolest places i've ever been! we drove around the bay and through the burren, stopping first at the aillwee cave. it's this monster of a limestone cave that some farmer discovered. neat. after that was lunch in this little town called doolin, and then it was cliff time. like an idiot, i forgot my camera but this place was remarkable. they're the third highest cliffs in ireland, but probably the most well-known. and fun fact, they're in latest harry potter movie! COOL. it's just stunning though - there are these beautiful green pastures all around you, and a mini castle on one end, but then you look down and oh hey, there's the ocean 700 ft. below you. definitely a place i'll never forget. we moseyed on back to galway after that, sat and chatted in a park by the river, and then hit up a pub called the quays. we learned our lesson earlier and were actually able to put on our pj's and brush our teeth when we went back to the hostel.
today was just a lazy day walking around the city and getting souvenirs. i bought a comfy, wool sweater that was made in the aran islands, about 1.5 hours away. it legit smells like they sheared the sheep yesterday and made the sweater right then. heck, at least i know it's authentic. i also bought a hat at the market. it has the little ear-flappies and is quite sexy if i may say so myself. kathleen and i also bought a claddagh ring - they were originally made in galway so we thought it was very fitting to buy them while we were there, even though they're all over ireland. good little keepsake. we made it back on the gobus this evening and never have i ever been more excited for a shower in my life. dang, had to wash all of the claddagh hostel off me. in retrospect, it really was a fun little adventure there, just a new experience haha. and galway was definitely worth the spontaneous decision. highly recommended to any future ireland travelers :)
9/04/2009
bobbie flay would cry if he knew what we attempted to do in the kitchen
hello world. i am currently sitting in my clean room and am no longer living out of a suitcase. yeeea! these past couple of days have been pretty busy - meetings, banks, finding the right papers to give the bank, getting horrific id photos taken - all that fun stuff. i feel like i'm starting freshman year again, minus the awkward hall meetings and hours of camp vanderbilt. the irish know how to do it though. they have schedules everywhere of what's going on when, people are handing out free stuff left and right, you're free to explore everything on your own and get a feel for the place, and it's so well organized and timely you wouldn't believe it. random observations, i know, but i feel like this whole system is so much less bureaucratic and loopholey. really works well.
all of the us study abroad kids were invited to a welcome reception on thursday with the president of the university and the study abroad coordinators. they put us in this beautiful room, brought in a little irish band who played folksy music all night, and supplied us with a whole lot of free wine. i think everyone had a great time. the president gave a great speech, he's the cutest little man too. also, the irish really do love americans. they're very welcoming people to begin with, but they have a soft spot for us. i think that's nice. after the reception, we all headed to the pub on campus to hear a couple of comedians. fo free. i couldn't understand the announcer when he said their names, but they were both very irish. the first guy was like a flight of the conchords wannabe, and was actually pretty terrible. the second guy rocked, and i'm fairly certain he explained my own life to me in terms i could understand. glad it's possible to have a small revelation at a comedy show. but he really was a hoot, i enjoyed it a lot!
yesterday goes in the books as one of the greatest days yet. granted the day part was pretty standard, although i did learn that the ucd school i am in is organizing like 6 free trips to places all around ireland. saaweeet! it pays to be in the business program i guess. so i signed up to go to kilkenny, this cool medieval town, and also to croke park stadium and malahide castle. apparently we're going to learn about hurling, which is a wonderful, violent combo of hockey and rugby. can't wait! anyway, after the academic meetings and multiple bank runs, my friends martha and grace and i decided we were going to get started on this whole cooking adventure. we picked a couple of recipes out of a book, got all of the ingredients, and began what is sure to be one of the greatest memories of the semester. now just an fyi - i don't cook. i make toast, cereal, and maybe a frozen veggie burger. but i don't deal with recipes. guess i'm crossing that bridge though. so during orientation, this cooking lady told us to buy a slab of bacon (they are BIG on the pig here - ham, bacon, other parts that i'm not sure i want to eat...) and boil it. apparently it lasts for a while and is basically like making your own lunch meat. meh, i have to disagree. but we heeded her advice, and plopped this big ol' chunk of bacon in a pot and started to boil it. it's not doing much, but then all of a sudden, water is shooting like a mini geyser everywhere, the meat was making noises, and we don't quite know what to do. after the situation was brought under control, we thought the big guy was done, but apparently it takes more than 15 minutes to boil something of this nature. close to 50, actually. well after piggy was finally finito, we took a closer look at the recipe and realized it actually called for real bacon, like the kind you eat in the morning. oops. martha and i figured it was probably good to follow the recipe though, so we then fried our concoction. next we were told to cook frozen peas in the bacon grease, but no one told us the bacon grease would turn in to little bullets aimed directly at our hands and faces. awesome. there was no major disaster with the pasta, and by some miracle of god our meal actually turned out to be kind of good. i don't exactly think the retelling of this story would do it justice, but i assure you it would have made for a hilarious what not to do video.
later that night, we met the most wonderful cab driver after the bus never showed up who said he would take us anywhere in the city for 3 euro, ie dirt cheap. we walked to the temple bar area and somehow stumbled upon THE temple bar, as in the place that made the whole area famous. we walked in and the place was packed with locals and a few groups of tourists. an awesome band was playing and whenever they started a famous irish song, the place went nuts. it was so crazy to witness. i was pulled into a circle by a little, guinness-loving irish man and danced with him for a song. thought i was going to be spun into a wall. after that, we went to the globe for a bit, and then just back home. great night though, and the sourpuss of a cab driver on the way home who kept muttering four letter words under his breath really topped it off.
today i went to the guinness storehouse, which is actually super cool. i didn't have very high expections since i'm not a big fan of the stuff, but it was really interesting to hear about it all. arthur must've known it would be a big deal for committing to that 9000 year lease. but the views from the top of the storehouse are incredible - you can see all of dublin. and it was a beautiful, clear day so we could see on for miles. after that, we went to phoenix park and saw the giant obelisk, and then went over to o'connell street for school supplies, ie my favorite time of the year! off to bed with a james patterson murder mystery and a cup of tea. sorry mom, not teavana.
all of the us study abroad kids were invited to a welcome reception on thursday with the president of the university and the study abroad coordinators. they put us in this beautiful room, brought in a little irish band who played folksy music all night, and supplied us with a whole lot of free wine. i think everyone had a great time. the president gave a great speech, he's the cutest little man too. also, the irish really do love americans. they're very welcoming people to begin with, but they have a soft spot for us. i think that's nice. after the reception, we all headed to the pub on campus to hear a couple of comedians. fo free. i couldn't understand the announcer when he said their names, but they were both very irish. the first guy was like a flight of the conchords wannabe, and was actually pretty terrible. the second guy rocked, and i'm fairly certain he explained my own life to me in terms i could understand. glad it's possible to have a small revelation at a comedy show. but he really was a hoot, i enjoyed it a lot!
yesterday goes in the books as one of the greatest days yet. granted the day part was pretty standard, although i did learn that the ucd school i am in is organizing like 6 free trips to places all around ireland. saaweeet! it pays to be in the business program i guess. so i signed up to go to kilkenny, this cool medieval town, and also to croke park stadium and malahide castle. apparently we're going to learn about hurling, which is a wonderful, violent combo of hockey and rugby. can't wait! anyway, after the academic meetings and multiple bank runs, my friends martha and grace and i decided we were going to get started on this whole cooking adventure. we picked a couple of recipes out of a book, got all of the ingredients, and began what is sure to be one of the greatest memories of the semester. now just an fyi - i don't cook. i make toast, cereal, and maybe a frozen veggie burger. but i don't deal with recipes. guess i'm crossing that bridge though. so during orientation, this cooking lady told us to buy a slab of bacon (they are BIG on the pig here - ham, bacon, other parts that i'm not sure i want to eat...) and boil it. apparently it lasts for a while and is basically like making your own lunch meat. meh, i have to disagree. but we heeded her advice, and plopped this big ol' chunk of bacon in a pot and started to boil it. it's not doing much, but then all of a sudden, water is shooting like a mini geyser everywhere, the meat was making noises, and we don't quite know what to do. after the situation was brought under control, we thought the big guy was done, but apparently it takes more than 15 minutes to boil something of this nature. close to 50, actually. well after piggy was finally finito, we took a closer look at the recipe and realized it actually called for real bacon, like the kind you eat in the morning. oops. martha and i figured it was probably good to follow the recipe though, so we then fried our concoction. next we were told to cook frozen peas in the bacon grease, but no one told us the bacon grease would turn in to little bullets aimed directly at our hands and faces. awesome. there was no major disaster with the pasta, and by some miracle of god our meal actually turned out to be kind of good. i don't exactly think the retelling of this story would do it justice, but i assure you it would have made for a hilarious what not to do video.
later that night, we met the most wonderful cab driver after the bus never showed up who said he would take us anywhere in the city for 3 euro, ie dirt cheap. we walked to the temple bar area and somehow stumbled upon THE temple bar, as in the place that made the whole area famous. we walked in and the place was packed with locals and a few groups of tourists. an awesome band was playing and whenever they started a famous irish song, the place went nuts. it was so crazy to witness. i was pulled into a circle by a little, guinness-loving irish man and danced with him for a song. thought i was going to be spun into a wall. after that, we went to the globe for a bit, and then just back home. great night though, and the sourpuss of a cab driver on the way home who kept muttering four letter words under his breath really topped it off.
today i went to the guinness storehouse, which is actually super cool. i didn't have very high expections since i'm not a big fan of the stuff, but it was really interesting to hear about it all. arthur must've known it would be a big deal for committing to that 9000 year lease. but the views from the top of the storehouse are incredible - you can see all of dublin. and it was a beautiful, clear day so we could see on for miles. after that, we went to phoenix park and saw the giant obelisk, and then went over to o'connell street for school supplies, ie my favorite time of the year! off to bed with a james patterson murder mystery and a cup of tea. sorry mom, not teavana.
9/03/2009
the days have been a blur, and i can't actually remember what was done when...
i was told about 2 hours ago that it was actually wednesday all day long. coulda sworn it was friday. with that said, it's been a jam packed affair lately! i am officially moved in, woot woot! and i've met so many great people these past few days - i tink (ok, this was originally a typo, but just a little tidbit - the irish say 'tink' and 'tree' etc, instead of 'think' and 'three'. it's not like it's an impediment or anything, just an odd little accent. weird.) living together is going to be a blast! also, let's talk about the SWANKYYYY place that i'm living - i love it! the complex is called merville, and it's for first-years and international kids. it's 4 or 5 to an apartment, we each have our own room, two bathrooms to share, a kitchen, and a living room. the furniture is brand new, and we have granite countertops. dang, i need to let stupid vanderbilt in on this. forget about the lame commons, better housing everywhere would make those applications soar. anway, all of the ifsa kids have taken over all three floors of house 16, so we're basically within shouting distance of each other. it rocks. the fire alarm has gone off twice in the past hour, but i'm willing to forgive and forget. oh OH, we're living with a real irish girl!!!! we had an odd number of girls, so she's our fourth roomie. she's from somewhere an hour north of dublin, i can't understand where, but she's super fun. i feel so bad though - she's literally 1 of 4 irish kids in this whole house. meh, i hope she has an okay time.
i don't really know what there is to catch up on. sleep, maybe. we went on a historic walking tour of dublin, but it was a big waste of time. it was downpouring, people didn't have jackets, and we couldn't hear the guy at all. he took us to the smallest pub in dublin, the dawson lounge. the entire place is about the size of my room at home. prettyyyy cooool. after, i walked all around gafton street with three other girls. dang, i've gotta go back - the shopping is wonderful! oh, and i picked up a mobile. glad to be back in the world of communication. after, we got dinner and ate it in st. stephen's green, which seriously is one of the prettiest places i've ever seen. naturally, it decided it downpour about 10 minutes after we sat down on the grass, thanks dubtown. after that, we went to explore dame street - it was a blast! tons cheaper than temple bar. we tried to find stag's head but by the time we made it, it was closing. sad. we ended up going a block or so down to sheebin chic? the place literally belongs in harry potter, kinda three broomsticks-esque. ridiculous and strange things were all over the wall, including an enormous 12x15 mirror, and the barman looked like hagrid. coolest place EVER. we were there for about 30 mins, and then ventured on to the globe - it's a pub upstairs and a club downstairs. we met a group there of 5 irish guys who were celebrating their friend's last night in dublin. one was literally 6'10", and another was around 5'4". they were all hysterical, and really had it in for the big guy. they tried to trip him/knock him to the ground about every 5 minutes. i thought it was a great night.
today was just move-in/buy groceries and random crap for the apartment/go to orientation day. we decided to scope out lidl, some crazy-cheap german grocery store. although we found it no problem, we couldn't for the life of us find the bus to take us back to ucd. we thought we found a good alternative route, but we actually ended up having to walk back about a mile with our bedding, pillows, and groceries. that was a hoot. after we got back, we had a president's welcome ceremony, followed by an international student welcome thing. got free scarves out of it, pretty cool. they're black with stripes of ucd's colors, turquoise and orange. it's a big traditiony deal, i guess. i am pretty glad for a scarf though, this place is COLD. my feet have been freezing all day. and seeing as i haven't unpacked my enormous luggage yet, i can't find my slippie socks and i'm slightly depressed about it. gonna get a move on that. tomorrow is more ucd orientation, schedule fixing, and id taking. i'm excited for classes soon, i really am. it'll be good to have something to do. other than that, nothing else fun and exciting to report, except that we crashed some freshie's party across the quad tonight. el fin.
i don't really know what there is to catch up on. sleep, maybe. we went on a historic walking tour of dublin, but it was a big waste of time. it was downpouring, people didn't have jackets, and we couldn't hear the guy at all. he took us to the smallest pub in dublin, the dawson lounge. the entire place is about the size of my room at home. prettyyyy cooool. after, i walked all around gafton street with three other girls. dang, i've gotta go back - the shopping is wonderful! oh, and i picked up a mobile. glad to be back in the world of communication. after, we got dinner and ate it in st. stephen's green, which seriously is one of the prettiest places i've ever seen. naturally, it decided it downpour about 10 minutes after we sat down on the grass, thanks dubtown. after that, we went to explore dame street - it was a blast! tons cheaper than temple bar. we tried to find stag's head but by the time we made it, it was closing. sad. we ended up going a block or so down to sheebin chic? the place literally belongs in harry potter, kinda three broomsticks-esque. ridiculous and strange things were all over the wall, including an enormous 12x15 mirror, and the barman looked like hagrid. coolest place EVER. we were there for about 30 mins, and then ventured on to the globe - it's a pub upstairs and a club downstairs. we met a group there of 5 irish guys who were celebrating their friend's last night in dublin. one was literally 6'10", and another was around 5'4". they were all hysterical, and really had it in for the big guy. they tried to trip him/knock him to the ground about every 5 minutes. i thought it was a great night.
today was just move-in/buy groceries and random crap for the apartment/go to orientation day. we decided to scope out lidl, some crazy-cheap german grocery store. although we found it no problem, we couldn't for the life of us find the bus to take us back to ucd. we thought we found a good alternative route, but we actually ended up having to walk back about a mile with our bedding, pillows, and groceries. that was a hoot. after we got back, we had a president's welcome ceremony, followed by an international student welcome thing. got free scarves out of it, pretty cool. they're black with stripes of ucd's colors, turquoise and orange. it's a big traditiony deal, i guess. i am pretty glad for a scarf though, this place is COLD. my feet have been freezing all day. and seeing as i haven't unpacked my enormous luggage yet, i can't find my slippie socks and i'm slightly depressed about it. gonna get a move on that. tomorrow is more ucd orientation, schedule fixing, and id taking. i'm excited for classes soon, i really am. it'll be good to have something to do. other than that, nothing else fun and exciting to report, except that we crashed some freshie's party across the quad tonight. el fin.
9/01/2009
oh hey, dublin. i think we will be friends.
ohmygoodness. i made it to dublin. holy smokes!! getting on the plane was surreal enough, but actually seeing everything - the river liffey, all of the cute brick buildings, the double-decker buses that drive on the wrong side of the road - woah. i'm a little bit in love!! still in vacation mode for sure, and i'm really not looking forward to getting smacked in the face by reality when classes start next week. i am very excited to not live out of a suitcase though, and finally see what this little suite/apartment thing looks like. all of the ifsa-butler kids are living in one 'house' on campus in merville, i think there's only like 25 of us, so yay for all being smushed together. it's kind of comforting, and as cool as it would have been to live with a real irish person, i think i like this situation. we move in thursday i wanna say? maybe wednesday. should be a good time!
well anyway, back to the beginning. yesterday we arrived around 10am, and our wonderful advisors told us that whatever we do, just don't nap. we'd be messed up for days apparently. so my roommate at the hotel and i decided to go on a little adventure, and we just started walking up the road. we walked forever, not really looking for anything in particular, and then it started to smell like the ocean. um oops, we walked to the bay - a good 4km away. it was kind of janky and smelly, but it had a cute dog park. people also like to tailgate there i guess - we saw a bunch just sitting in the back of their cars and hanging out. we found a map at the park, and figured out the general direction of where our hotel was. we walked through some super cute neighborhoods on the way back and eventually saw the beacon of light that was our hotel. hallelujahhhh! nothing like starting the day in ireland with a little 8k. we all had dinner here when we got back and man, i have never been served so many different kinds of potatoes in my life. seriously, i understand why the famine was such a big deal - they love 'em. after that, a group of us all went to a pub and i had my first pint of real irish guinness. the bartender even drew a shamrock in it. sadly, the shamrock did not make it taste any better - that stuff is roughhhh, and i don't think i'll be a fan. we'll see though.
today was a ton of 'welcome to ireland, this is what we do here' type of meetings. and then we went to see the rivals, an r.b. sheridan play, in the city centre. it was great, but i snoozed for a bit and definitely missed the first 10 minutes. it was a little hard to follow after that, but i got it eventually and it was really pretty funny. a couple of girls had missed dinner tonight before the play, so we went together to find something quick and relatively cheap. after looking around for a while, we saw the 'thunder road cafe'. ohmyGOD i am so happy we ended up here - it's chock full of strange and stereotypical american things like the statue of liberty wearing sunglasses and an american flag, harley's, creepy-weird rock records, and tons of old posters (including 4 miami dolphin ones...). oh, and it was totally empty. haha i think it's like ireland's upscale applebee's, but who knows. tomorrow's full of more meetings and orientation stuff, but the people are all really great, so i can't complain about hours of being talked at! bring it onnn :)
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