Belfast

Hey! Sorry this is late but on the 24th of May until the 26th I went to Belfast with my friends Katie and Jacki. It was a lot of fun. We traveled by train since it is just North of Dublin. The day that we got there we weren't really sure what to do so we found that they had Botanic Gardens, so we walked down there. We got some really cool pictures of flowers in the greenhouses (all the photos are up). After that we just kind of roamed. It was kinda cool because there was a festival going on in the main part of town, so we were able to eat for cheap. That evening we found a fountain and hung out there for a while. The next day we went on a bus tour of the area including Giant's Causeway which is a buildup of lava that makes a cool rocky area.

There is legend that there was a giant that lived in Ireland and one that lived in Scotland, well the one from Ireland wanted to fight the one from Scotland so he walked across the sea on these rocks. When he got to Scotland he found out how large the Scottish giant was, much larger than himself, so he got scared and ran back to Ireland. Once home he asked his wife what to do because he knew that the Scottish giant had seen him. His wife said that when the Scottish giant comes that the Irish giant should dress up like a baby so that the Scottish giant thinks he is the baby. Sure enough the Scottish giant did come over. He took one look at the Irish giant dressed as a baby and thought, "If that is the baby the dad must be enormous!" This freaked him out and he ran back to Scotland so fast that he ripped up the path leaving what we see today at the Causeway.

Not only did we see the Causeway that day we also saw a rope bridge where it was raining. We also stopped at the Bushmills Distillery, but I didn't want to take a tour since I had just taken a whiskey tour in Edinburgh and actually I don't like whiskey. The bus tour was really nice because we were able to see the country side as well as the coast. The last day we were there we really just went shopping. Belfast is a city of shopping centres and in one we found a Build-A-Bear. They had a cute Ireland bear so my friend Katie and I each made one. I named mine Aoife (EEE-fa) and she named hers Eoin (owen). That afternoon we had a nice train ride back home to Maynooth.

There are pictures of both Edinburgh and Belfast now in the Abroad Pictures Section.

Love everyone!! See you all soon!

Edinburgh

Hello!! On the 18th my friend Katie and I took a flight over to Edinburgh, Scotland. We thought it would be a cool trip and we found really cheap plane tickets. Once we got there we realized what a pretty city it actually is, and it is fairly cheap as well. Our first day we wandered around the city and happened upon the National Gallery which is an art museum. It was free so Katie and I wandered around that. We then got some lunch and took a free walking tour of the city. We learned a lot about the city, but it rained on us a lot. At one point we were near the castle and it was absolutely pouring sideways. Luckily Katie and I had both brought umbrellas so those really came in handy. We learned about this dog named Bobby that was a police man's dog. When the man died the dog sat by his grave everyday for 14 years until he died. That is one loyal dog. We also got to see the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The next day Katie and I got up early and we went to the Museum of Scotland, which is also free. That was a really cool museum because it wasn't just stuff to look at, you could actually interact with a lot of the stuff. We also went to Edinburgh Castle, which is enormous and sits on top of a mountain. I thought that was incredibly smart on the Scottish part, that is the best way to defend the castle. We also went somewhere called The Scotch Whisky Experience where we learned how whisky is made and we got to taste test some. I found out that I really do not like whisky. It burns way too much. We did get to walk away with a cool whisky glass though. While in Edinburgh my dad told me that I should try Haggis. Do you know what haggis is? It is the parts of the lamb that you don't normally want to eat like the liver chopped up and cooking inside the stomach of the sheep. Needless to say I didn't try haggis. Lastly we walked up this hill called Calton Hill and saw beautiful views of the city. We also got lost, well kinda lost, trying to make our way back to our hostel to get our bags, but we found it ok. I would reccommend Edinburgh to anyone looking for a city to spend a couple days in.

Hey everyone! I recently found out that one of my pictures from Berlin was chosen to be on a tour map website about Berlin. They found my picture on Flickr and asked me a few weeks ago if I would approve them putting the picture on their short list of possible pictures, I approved, and a couple days ago they sent me another email telling me that my picture was chosen! Here is the link they sent me, the picture is on the right hand side of the screen. http://www.schmap.com/berlin/introduction_history/p=26506/i=26506_23.jpg

Hello Everyone! This past weekend the SMC girls and I went on an overnight trip to the Aran Islands, off the western coast of Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful and the pictures are up but they don't do the views justice. We started out on Friday and took the long 3 hour drive to the town of Doolin. This is a cute little town on the Western coast of Ireland. We were really just there to spend the night. We took the time to go to this pub in town that was supposed to have the best traditional Irish music in the country. It was really fun to just sit and listen to the music and have a pint. The next morning we got up early and drove to the Cliffs of Moher, which we found out is in the running to be part of the new 7 Wonders of the World. They are absolutely beautiful, just to see the waves crash against the cliffs. After taking some time at the Cliffs we had to drive all the way to Galway. We almost thought we were going to miss our ferry in Galway because we were already cutting it close and we were missing one girl on the bus, and she forgot her phone on the bus. Fortunately we did make our ferry and oh my goodness it was a choppy ride. I don't get sea sick but I was starting to feel nauseous on that ferry. Once we got there we settled into our hostel and we took a bus tour around the island. We stopped at a ring fort called Dun Aengus and took lots of pictures hanging over the edge of cliffs, sorry if I worry anyone. Luckily you can't see how I am actually taking the pictures. It was gorgeous up there, I guess they think that it used to be a little community, but they thought that they were going to be attacked. We finished our tour around the island and went back to our hostel. I went with a few of my friends to this pub called The American Bar and watched a rugby match. For dinners while we were on the island we cooked family style and Saturday night we had tacos. As a group we hung out and watched movies in the tv lounge. Sunday we had all to ourselves. My friend Katie and I got up early and started our day by hiking up a huge hill on the other side of the island looking for another ring fort, we didn't find the fort but we did find a beautiful view on a cliff. As we were up there it started raining on us. We saw a rainbow, but it was too faint for a picture. The view was breathtaking. When we made our way back down we got some lunch and then went sweater shopping. I found a great cardigan for myself and sweaters for both my parents. Katie and I then rented bikes and biked around the island. We were on the island of Inis Mor, which is the biggest of the three islands, Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Oir. We took a route that was right along the coast and it was beautiful, sorry to keep using the same word but I can't think of anything else to say about it. There were quite a lot of hills and I am not good at biking on hills. It was a lot of fun to ride a bike around the small island. We went back to Dun Aengus, but instead of making the trek back up to the fort we just looked around at the shops and stopped at the cafe for tea and cake. We then rode back into town. We helped with dinner, curry (which I am not a fan of), and then spent the night watching movies with the girls. We took a 7 am ferry and pretty much slept the whole 3 hours back to Maynooth. It was really a great weekend and I would really love to go back to the Islands.

Day Seven (April 18, 2009)

I have decided that Brussels, while an important city as it houses the EU and the European Parliament, is not the city for me. I haven't found much in this city that interests me. This morning Molly and I set out to find the famous Mannekin Pis, a statue fountain of a little boy peeing. When we found it it was slightly disappointing and really quite small, it couldn't have been more than a foot and a half tall on its perch. We found our Belgian waffles and set out people watching. We have tried to have the local drink and famous food of every place we have gone. In Berlin we had beer, got chocolate, and had a bratwurst. In Paris we drank wine, got crepes, and had drinks at a cafe. In Brussels we got chocolate, beer, waffles, and fries. I found out that french fries were actually invented in Belgium but popularized by the French. We got pretty bored pretty quickly today and ended up doing a lot of people watching and wandering around Brussels. In our wanders we came upon an English bookshop. We spent a considerable amount of time poking around there. I ended up buying a copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle because I found a section of classics for between 4 and 5 euro. I chose between that, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I knew that I needed something to read to keep me busy at the airport tonight seeing as Molly and I are spending the night here. Getting to the airport was a trick though. We caught the metro to the train station and then couldn't figure out where the shuttle was going to pick up to go the hour drive to the airport. We thought we had missed the last one and didn't know what to do so we asked information at the train station and he directed us straight to the bus, which was in the opposite direction we had been looking and even though it was supposed to leave at 8:30 it was 8:45 and it was still there, we actually waited until 9:00 to leave and Molly and I ended up being the only ones on the shuttle. We are now in the airport with many other travelers spending the night. It is 2:15 am and right before I wrote this I woke up from my nap since Molly and I are only sleeping one at a time for an hour at a time. I can't wait to be back in Maynooth!

Day Six (April 17, 2009)

Brussels has absolutely nothing to do in it. Well it does, but not a while lot of interesting things. This morning we walked out of our hostel in the rain and made our way to the Comic Strip Center which is a museum about comic strips. This year is the year of the comic for some reason, I'm not terribly sure why. The museum was kinda cool but there were like two comics I recognized, Tintin and the Smurfs. It was a great place for pictures though because there were a lot of sets like comic backgrounds. One of the greatest things is that since Brussels is the capitol of the European Union the descriptions either had the English translation on them or the receptionist gave me a binder with the English and it was in there. In that case I was actually able to understand everything but most of the actual comics because they were either in Dutch or French. For some reason there was a collection of Czech comics and all of those were actually in English, I don't know why they weren't in Czech but whatever, I was able to understand those. After we finished at the Comic Strip Center we went on a search to find the office of the map company we were using. There we were able to use free internet and figure out where the Chocolate Museum was in Brussels because we couldn't find anything on it. I was right though, there is one in Brussels. I also figured out why it wasn't advertised much, it wasn't that great. We went to it and it didn't take much time. Once we finished that we just took a walk and ended up at Grand Place, which is the most famous square in Brussels. It is lined with some pretty buildings. After the Chocolate Museum we really wanted some chocolate so we went on a search for a chocolatier. We found a cute one and got ourselves some chocolates. I got a raspberry praline, an orange praline, a couple mint pralines, a caramel one, and then I wanted to try something random so I tried a chili pepper one, it was actually pretty good. We also found a store that only sold Belgian beer so we each got one of their fruit beers. I got strawberry and Molly got passionfruit. Unfortunately we didn't think about the fact that we needed a bottle opener so that became a mission later that night. We also went to the supermarket to get other chocolate because we got a tip it was cheapest there. Lastly for dinner we had a Belgian original, Fries! Tomorrow we are going to find Mennekin Pis and walk around.

Day Five (April 16, 2009)

Not a whole lot happened today. Molly and I started out our day by going to the Grand Palais and going to that Andy Warhol exhibit. It was amazing. I didn't really realize the number of famous people he portrayed. I also didn't realize that he was a commissioned portrait artist. I really do love modern art like that, bright colors and no necessarily clean lines. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit, It would have been great to take pictures of Marilyn Monroe, or Jackie, or Judy Garland. Those were my favorite portraits he did. Once we finished the exhibit we ended up at McDonald's for a cheap meal. After our meal we got McFlurries and walked down and people watched at the Arc de Triomphe again. Molly and I started to wonder how many people's pictures we ended up in. I decided that my favorite was when we were eating crepes at the cafe by Notre Dame an Asian woman stopped and blatantly just took a picture of us and then continued walking. It was pretty funny. Now back to today. It started to rain so we made our way back to the hostel to get our luggage and go to the train station. The train ride was very relaxing and I even took a nap on the way to Brussels. Once we got to Brussels we grabbed our Metro and then had to search for our hostel, which took us a while to find. Once we got there it was like a hotel, I actually think that we may be staying in the hotel portion. We have a private room and it is exactly like a hotel room. Even if we were in the hostel portion it still would have been the nicest hostel I had ever been in. Tomorrow we are going to go to the Comic Museum because Belgium and Brussels is where the comic was born. We are also going to look up information on the Chocolate Museum because for some reason none of the maps or brochures we grabbed even mentioned it. We can get free internet at the tourist office so we are going there tomorrow (we paid for it at the hostel to email home).

Day Four (April 15, 2009)

Today was a short day. We got up a little later and headed out to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line and finally went all the way up, it was beautiful but it was windy and cold. When we originally got our ticket the top floor was closed so we only went up to the 2nd stage. While we were walking around the 2nd stage the top floor opened again so we got a ticket to that floor and headed up. The panoramic aerial views of Paris are absolutely beautiful. What I love about this city is that it doesn't have many high rises or skyscrapers so it really looks like an old city. We came back down to the ground where it was warmer and went to Monoprix to get some lunch. We then found the metro and went to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is very cool to stand on the little island amid the sea of cars zipping around the roundabout. To get to the island you have to take a tunnel underground. It wouldn't be safe to get there above ground. We walked around and took pictures and then sat and people watched for a little while. Then we decided to go to the Grand Palais because there were two great exhibits, one on Andy Warhol, the other about Graffiti from all over the world. As we walked down the Avenue de Champs Elysees we walking in a few stores including Louis Vuitton, we wanted to just look at the pretty and very expensive purses. We also went into the Disney Store where I ended up buying the cutest Minnie Mouse Paris shirt. Once we made it to the Grand Palais we found out that it was too expensive to go to both exhibits so we ended up deciding to just go to Andy Warhol, but the line was so long and we figured they would be closed by the time we got to the front that we would to it tomorrow. I had wanted to sip coffee at a French cafe since we got here so we found one just off the Champs Elysees and sipped while people watching. The Avenue des Champs Elysees is really beautiful even thought it is full of stores. We made our way back down to the Arc to people watch and kill time. While there Molly decided she wanted to get a souvenir we saw at a ship over by Notre Dame so we metroed back there and people watched at Notre Dame for the rest of our time out tonight. Tomorrow we are going to go to that Warhol exhibit and then take the train to Brussels!

Day Three (April 14, 2009)

Today was fun but as of right now my feet are killing me. We started the day off at Notre Dame, also bright and early. We walked around the Cathedral while morning mass was going on. I lit a candle to the health of everyone in the family. We then climbed the tower, those are a lot of steps but less than I remember. We ended up getting to climb for free because we were under 26. It really was gorgeous up there. After Notre Dame we found a cafe and sat outside and got banana chocolate crepes. They were absolutely delicious. It was fun to just sit and people watch and it was a great spot because it over looked Notre Dame. After our crepes we made the walk along the river to Musee d'Orsay. The museum is cool but the Louvre is still my favorite. I thought that Van Gogh's Bedroom was at d'Orsay but I must have been wrong because I didn't find it. After d'Orsay we made out way back toward the Eiffel Tower to get tickets for our tour and I finally got my Fat Tire t-shirt. We then headed back to H&M to get my dress. We grabbed some food and we back to the hostel to charge my camera and grab more layers because we were going on a night bike tour. Now, for the best part of my trip so far, the night bike tour. Our tour guide was named Billy and he was amazing. Since I had said that I had done a Fat Tire Bike Tour before he asked Molly and I to be his very first "Ass women" (they had always been men). This just meant that we needed to pull up the rear. He told the group that if they could see our asses they needed to speed up. We were also definitely the youngest ones on the tour. We started with a really long ride to Notre Dame, then we went to an ice cream place. The ice cream was absolutely amazing, it is only made at that shop, every morning. You can't buy cartons of it and the flavors change everyday. Tonight it was all fruity flavors, I got strawberry and cocktail exotic. We ate it on a bridge and there was a band playing and an old woman dancing. I taped them as they played "What a Wonderful World" and the trumpet player sang (I will show you the video this summer if I see you, it won't fit on flickr). We continued on and saw some pretty churches and a couple cool bridges, then we rode our bikes into the Louvre at night. You have no idea how cool that is. Everything is lit up and then when we got to the pyramids it was even better. We then made our way to the river and boarded a tour boat and Billy had brought wine (it was part of the tour). So we sipped wine, talked, and took in the scenery of Paris at night. It was beautiful. Our tour was pretty much finished after that, we saw the memorial to Princess Diana over the bridge she died in and headed back to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it sparkle. We ended back at the office and I grabbed a couple of brochures so that when Ian and I take the tour in London we get a discount. Molly and I then headed back to Eiffel because Billy had told us that at 1:00 am the back lighting of the Tower is turned off and it just sparkles and the tour didn't end until 12:15 so we weren't too far away from that. It started to rain while we were in Champs de Mars, but we found a covered bench and watched it from there. After it quit raining we wanted to go back to the hostel but little did we know that the metro quites running at 1:15 am, so we had to take a taxi. The taxi actually only cost 10 euro, which is a lot less than we both thought it would. Tomorrow we are going to Arc de Triomphe and we are finally going to go up in the Eiffel Tower!

Day Two (April 13, 2009)

1st full day in Paris! Woke up early and headed out at around 8:30 am. We wanted to get to the Louvre early to try and beat crowds. We ended up getting our tickets by 9:17. I was all ready to pay for my ticket and it turned out that today the ticket was free for all people 25 and under. That was pretty cool because we unintentionally saved money. We of course saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo but we also saw Psyche and Cupid and Napoleon's apartments. Those apartments were very elaborate and beautiful. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Paris so we walked all the way from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. The walk was beautiful because for a good portion we walked along the Seine River. Once we got to the Eiffel Tower we took a break in the park and I actually napped for about 20 minutes (Molly was awake writing the whole time). We then walked out farther and got some pictures then went on a hunt for ice cream. We found a Haagen Daas and got ice cream cones. H&M and GAP were on that street so we went in, at H&M I found the most adorable dress for only 30 euro and tomorrow I am going back to buy it. We walked back to the Eiffel Tower to figure out what we wanted to do next. We decided to find a grocery store and have a picnic dinner in the grass by the Eiffel Tower. We had a great picnic and decided we wanted to up in the Tower, we got in line and then decided to wait for another day. We stayed around until after dark and we watched the Tower light up and then twinkle. We then went back to our hostel and I can't wait until tomorrow for Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, and Fat Tire!

Day One (April 12, 2009)

Currently I am sitting in a hostel in Paris for my Easter Break. This hostel isn't bad, kinda tiny, but it isn't in the greatest part of town, at least not from what I've gathered thus far. I can't wait to explore Paris again and tomorrow Molly and I are going to make our way to the Louvre. There is so much to see at the Louvre, it is going to be so much fun. I have found that the worst part of traveling is getting from the airport to the hostel. Most of the time it is very trial and error unless you have very specific directions. Today for instance was fun since we had a bus ride that was like an hour long and then we had to take two metros to get here. We have to take two metros tomorrow to get to the Louvre. Luckily the Paris metro system isn't hard to understand.

Easter Break!

Hey everyone! I am going to do a bunch of entries to go over this week, I wrote in the journal that Danny gave me for Christmas to write about everyday on my trip to Paris and Brussels. So for every day that I was on vacation I will be writing a different post, even though I am writing them all today. The pictures will also be up in two different sets, one called Paris and the other called Brussels. So everyone enjoy my week traveling.

Hey! Just wanted to let everyone know that now my photos are organized much better. You can now just look at a trip if you want. There are sets that have titles that go along with the trip, Maynooth and Dublin are the only ones that don't pertain to just one trip. Hope this helps with the viewing of pictures! Also want to let everyone know that on Easter I will be heading to Paris and Brussels for the week so there should be some great pictures when I get home!!

Love you all! Happy Easter!

This past Saturday the SMC girls and I went to Clonmachnoise and Castletown House. Clonmachnoise was a monastic settlement that was set up by St. Ciaran before the Viking invasion and settlement of Ireland. He put it in a very good spot, on one of the largest rivers in Ireland, the Shannon, and on the Escir Riada. The Escir Riada was the way that the Irish were able to get around their boggy land back then. It was raised land that was there after the last ice age and it was their way of being above the bog. Clonmachnoise was set at the crossroad of the river and the escir. It became a great place for trade and everything else because of its location. Not much of it is left though. It was bombed many many times and Oliver Cromwell's troops finally finished it off and carried off most of the loot from the site. The ruins of the churches still stand and the place is now a large cemetery. It is still a place though that some of the Irish come to as a Holy site. There are services held there every year. In Pope John Paul II's last tour to Ireland he gave mass at Clonmachnoise. The doorway to one of the churches is called the Whispering Door. Because of the way it was made, which successive grooves, a person can whisper into one side and have another person standing on the other side and the person can hear them like they are actually whispering into their ear. They made it this way because at one point leprosy was so prevalent that the priests didn't want to contract it, it was their way of hearing confession without having to be face to face with the person. We also went to Castletown House, well us spring girls did, the full year girls had already been. Castletown House is pretty much just a huge mansion. For the first time it wasn't owned by the Butler family, most of the places we have seen were. I don't really have as much information about that, I also don't have pictures of the inside because we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. There are pictures of Clonmachnoise though if you want to check them out! Love you all!

This past weekend the SMC girls and I went to the Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, and St. Brigid's Well. The Rock of Cashel is a hill that has a succession of churches on it. They date back from the 15th century. It was absolutely beautiful up there but it was so windy and cold. If you look at my pictures you will see a picture of The Devil's Bite Mountain, it is a mountain that kinda looks like a bite was taken out of it. The story is that when the devil flew over Ireland he took a bite out of that mountain and spit it out to make the Rock, where the Rock of Cashel is located. Also while we were at the Rock of Cashel we saw St. Patrick's Cross. There are legends that if you can touch your fingers together while wrapping your arms around the cross that you will never have a toothache again and that if you hop on one foot counterclockwise nine times around the cross you will marry in the next year. I didn't try the hopping, but I did try the arm thing. Surprise, surprise my arms aren't long enough...haha. Next we went to Cahir Castle. While we were there we learned all about how the castle was guarded, which was pretty boring actually. We saw all the courtyards and some of the buildings, then we were free to wander. It was pretty cool but there isn't really much to write about it. Lastly we went to St. Brigid's Well. St. Brigid is the patron saint of Ireland and so she has wells all over Ireland. This one happens to be special and I was able to bless myself with the waters. These wells are considered holy sites for the Irish. There were many trinkets around that people left while praying for their loved ones. It really was a great site. There are pictures up, and they are in a set called "Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, and St. Brigid's Well" so enjoy. I go on another trip this weekend, we'll see how that goes. Love you all!!

There are new pictures...check them out!

Berlin

OK! So here is the second post! I went to Berlin after St. Patrick's Day for my Spring Break. We left on Wednesday morning and got to Berlin at about 1 o'clock. It took us forever to get to our hostel because it was kinda in the middle of nowhere. That night we just walked around West Berlin. On Thursday we took the buses out to East Berlin and took a 3 1/2 hour free walking tour of East Berlin. It was really informative, we saw a lot of things. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, Der Reichstag, The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the place where Hitler died, Gendarenmarkt, Babelplatz, The Nazi Armory, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny, and Museum Island. It was a great tour, and if anyone is in a city that has a NewEurope Tour I would highly suggest going on it. Later that night we went to some of the museums because on Thursday nights from 6-10 the museums on Museum Island are free. There were some great paintings in the National Gallery. Last thing we did that night was go to Der Reichstag. They are open and free to the public to go in the glass dome on the top. From the dome you can see down into the Parliament Chambers, and the idea is that if the politicians ever forget who they are there for they can just look up and see all the people walking around and remember that they are there for the people. I know, the people that are up there are generally not the German people, they are tourists, but I still really liked the premise. While we were there Parliament wasn't in session since it was 9:30 pm, but the views were really cool. Berlin doesn't really have that many lights at night, it was refreshing. On Friday we decided to go to the Zoo and Aquarium. There were some great animals there, some that I can't see at the Potowatami Zoo. We then travelled back to East Berlin where we took artsy pictures at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and then made our way to the TV Tower. At the TV Tower you can take an elevator to this globe and see panoramic views of the city. It was really cool up there, but it wasn't the most conducive to taking pictures. Later we went to the DDR Museum, which is an interactive museum of East Berlin. You can touch and play with anything there and they encourage to you open drawers and push buttons and all that fun stuff. It was really cool. While we were there of course we tried the bratwurst and I made the girls try a doner, which is like my favorite there (it is kinda like a gyro). After one last night in our hostel, which we were the only three people at, we made the trip back home to Ireland.

St. Paddy's Day

Hi everyone! Today I am going to write two different entries. The first one is going to be about St. Patrick's Day in Dublin. It was interesting. We left really early to catch a bus and rode into the city. To get a spot to watch the parade you have to go really early. We walked around for a little while and went to the big souvenir store to get some gear for the day. I found a great Obama shirt while I was there. We had to find a spot to watch the parade from by 10 am, and the parade didn't even start til noon. We got a front row right on the main street, O'Connell Street. The parade sure was interesting even though it started over a half an hour late. It had a lot of people that I just didn't understand the point of their parade entry. After the parade we wanted to find where the Today Show was taping, but by the time we got there they were already breaking down the sets. We walked around the city for a little while but it was absolutely nuts. It got so crazy that we didn't want to have to brave the Dublin pubs. We took the train back home and went to one of the pubs in town.

So this weekend I went with the Saint Mary's girls to Kilkenny and the Carlow Dolmen. In Kilkenny there is a very large castle that is partially restored, so we actually got to see a castle that wasn't just a shell of stone. Unfortunately, while in the castle you can't take pictures, so there aren't any of that. It was the castle of the Butler family, one of the most prominent families in Ireland. We were told that multiple kings and queens of England visited the castle as guests of the Butler family. We had a very knowledgable tour guide throughout the tour. Kilkenny is also a medevil city with a lot of throwbacks to that period, but they are so scattered about that they kind of blend into the more urban feel of the city. Next we went to the Carlow Dolmen, which is a capstone, not that I really know what that is. It was essentially a pile of rocks, very large rocks. What I thought was interesting was that it was literally in the middle of a crop field. There was a sidewalk to it and it was fenced in with grass and a couple benches, but in traditional Irish fashion of using all fertile land, they created a field around the monument. We had a lot of fun on our excursion at the Dolmen, especially when my friend Nicole decided that she wanted to climb up to the top of the capstone. It took a lot of tries and a couple scrapes but she ended up on the top with a little help from some friends.

Other than all of that classes are going well and I am really looking forward to my spring break and my trip to Berlin on the 18th. I should have a lot of fun. I hope everything is going well for everyone else. Love you all!

Hey everyone! This weekend has been fun, yesterday I went on a Saint Mary's Trip to go see The Bog of Allen and Dunadea Forest Park. We were accompanied by Seamus, a local historian who knows everything. As we were driving we found out that we were driving on the straightest road in Ireland, we heard about it multiple times as he was talking. Once we got to the Bog of Allen nature center we went through a long presentation in a very cold museumish thing, and I mean cold, it wasn't that warm of a day but when we walked outside it had to have been about 10 degrees warmer outside. We then traveled to the actually bog. A bog is different. It isn't like a swamp at all, you can walk out onto it without really sinking in because of the build up of moss and dead plant life, it is just very wet. Once we walked out onto it the woman that was telling us about the bog had us all squeeze this sphagnum moss, which is the moss that grows the most on the bog. It can hold up to 20 times its weight in water, so she wanted us all to squeeze it. Well when it got to my turn I squeezed it and then looked at my hand and I had a cut, I guess there must have been a branch from the bog cotton in the moss. When I said something the woman then told me that the moss soaks up blood really well. So from then on at the bog I looked pretty weird holding moss on my hand, but it worked, I never needed a band aid and it did bleed. The bog is a very bouncy place, we jumped up and down and it felt like a water bed. Next we moved over to the cutaway bog and cut rush and made St. Brigid's Crosses, those are supposed to protect you from disease and fire. After the bog we drove over to Dunadea Forest Park and to the Castle and Church that was there. Seamus told us all about the history of the Castle and the Church. We also found out that in 455 A.D. St. Patrick actually came here and built a church. We saw the site of that church and all the other churches that were at one point on that site. We also found a memorial to the Irish that died on 9/11. I thought it was pretty interesting that there was a memorial here in Ireland. I guess it was built because someone who was originally from the area was a New York Police Officer or Firefighter (I can't remember which) and he was killed that day. Later that night I went with a few of the girls to one of the local pubs to watch the Ireland vs. England rugby match. That is a big rivalry and excitingly Ireland won, 14-13.

Today I went with my friend Katie off to the closest shopping mall, it was a bit of a bus ride but every once in a while you just need some retail therapy. I also needed some more going out clothes because this upcoming week is called Rag Week and it is just a week of drinking and partying here on campus. It should be interesting.

I posted pictures of the Bog and Dunadea so check them out!!

Love you!

I don't really know what to write in here today, as nothing has really happened in the last few days, but I thought that maybe I would blog about the differences between here and home.
First of all, I know this is a strange thing to miss, but I do miss going to a restaurant and getting free refills. I swear in Europe that concept is foreign. I also miss being able to drive if I want to, and it still very weird to see the cars on the opposite side of the street, I am grateful for Dublin labeling their crosswalks with which way you need to look because I always seem to look the wrong way. Being able to call people whenever I want is also something I miss. I also miss living with someone, always having someone to talk to. I live in an apartment with four other girls but all the rooms are very secluded.
I have also noticed some differences, like the fact that milk apparently doesn't need to be refrigerated here, and neither do eggs. The Irish don't have any idea what peanut butter and jelly is, and most think that it sounds like a horrible combination. I am also still not on Irish time, I like to actually be on time to things, and they are never on time to anything. Well, that is all I can think of right now, I'll keep you posted on other differences. Love you!

Finally!

Finally I have all of my pictures up! It took a lot of time and frustration but they are all there now. There are more of my trip to Blarney and Cork as well as some of my apartment and room. This weekend is going to be a boring one. I have decided to give up chocolate for lent, so I have to use up my chocolate chips. I guess I will be baking tomorrow. Classes are going well. Not much to report on those.
One thing that I am still not used to is the fact that the Irish are habitually late. There is normal time and then there is Irish time. For most of my classes I can get there just on time and still have another 5 to 10 minutes before the lecturer even tries to start. I am used to having to be places early if I want to be there on time, but that does not seem to be how it works around here. Well I hope everyone is well and I love and miss you all!!

pictures

ok, sorry everyone. i have more pictures of blarney and cork but my account won't let me upload them at this time. i will upload them as soon as i can!

Hello from Ireland Everyone! I just got back from a trip to Cork, Ireland! It was a lot of fun. On Valentine's Day I kissed the Blarney Stone as my valentine! We took the bus out to Blarney and saw the castle and the kissed the stone. It was absolutely gorgeous out there. I have posted pictures of the castle and stuff like that. There were adorable shops in Blarney and it is just a cute town. When we got back to Cork we went and found a Church of Ireland church called St. Anne's and we walked up to the top of the clock tower and saw the city from there, that was an amazing view. Also at St. Anne's we were able to ring the bells in the tower, that was really cool! The next day I went to the church service in the church. It was different, but there were some aspects that were the same as a Catholic Mass. Cork was a fun city, and it was my first time in a hostel and it wasn't bad. I'll keep updating you on all of my adventures here! Love and miss you all!

I finally got my internet fixed so that it is actually reliable and I won't have to go to the library to post pictures, which I don't have any new ones right now, but I will after this weekend. Stay checking and I'll post pictures of Cork!

I don't have much to post today. Not a whole lot has happened since I last posted on Monday. I am still struggling with the University to get my internet fixed and working properly. I am really only able to use my internet in the Library, which is where I am now. I am getting really excited to go to Cork this weekend and I am sure that I will have a lot of fun. I still need to take some pictures of my apartment and the other half of campus, but in order to do that the weather needs to clear up a little bit, and I need to tidy up my room a little bit. It isn't messy, it is just a little disheveled in areas. Love and miss you all!

Hi everyone! I added some pictures to the link. There are some of Dublin, some of my friends and me, and some of Maynooth and my campus. I still have to take some of my apartment and the other half of campus though. I went to Dublin this weekend, and went to a few museums, but unfortunately here you can't take pictures in the museums. Oh well. This weekend I am going to travel to Cork, so expect pictures from there next week. I am still going to lectures, and actually have one in about 50 minutes. This one is about Women in Power in the Roman World. It is pretty interesting already. I hope everything is going well back in the States. Love you all!

hello! not much to update tonight, got my internet working kind of. i am not supposed to be getting wireless in my room, but i apparently am and am able to do some stuff, but pictures might have to wait until i can get it working in the library. i don't know if i have enough of a connection here or not. i will try a little later though. it is 9:45 back at home and it is 2:45 am here, so i think i am going to go to bed. i am going to dublin again this weekend, i will update you on how that goes a little later. good night!

Dublin and Update

Hey Everyone!!
Everything is going well here, except for the fact that the snow followed me here, where it doesn't snow. It has been snowing for the past few days and I am bummed because I thought I left the snow back in Indiana. Oh well, I can't do anything about it. I am still waiting on my internet to get fixed, but as soon as I get my student card I will go to the Library and post some pictures.
Some friends and I went to Dublin on Saturday just to explore. We ended up going to the National Gallery and looking at artwork, we also walked through Trinity College, and went shopping of course. I also had my first realy Irish meal, it was Guinness Beef Pie and it was amazing, definitely hit the spot on that cold day. I am sure I will be going to Dublin a lot in the future, especially since I still haven't had my first Guinness yet.
I have made a lot of new friends, some from the States and some from Ireland. Going out has been an adventure, the girls here dress up a lot to go to a club. Well, I should go, but I miss everyone and hope that everything is going well back in the US.
Love you all!!

My First Nights in Ireland

Hey Everyone! I have made it to Ireland safely, with a few internet and phone problems. I am sorry I haven't been able to really post lately. My first day here was really long, but by the second day I was going out to the pubs. It was a fun night and I will be posting pictures as soon as I can get my internet working properly. Love you all!!
Katie

Only one week left!!! I'm trying to get packed and get everything together to leave!

Days 'Til Takeoff

Hey everyone! I only have 25 days until I leave for Ireland. I am really excited and can't wait to start my adventures abroad!