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!