London

The Canadian flag in the background is misleading. I was in fact in London this past weekend! We were a little apprehensive about this trip because it was our first trip we had planned outside of Ireland. We left from Shannon Airport on Saturday afternoon, and we were in London by about 2. We took a bus from the airport to London, it was about an hour drive. We got dropped off and maneuvered our way around London to go find tickets to a play for that night. Because it was so late in the afternoon we had trouble getting the tickets we wanted. Originally, we wanted to see the play Wicked, but no seats were available. We decided to go for Chicago. We had really nice seats! The play was amazing, and I'm not really that much of a play person. I was so impressed by their set as well. It was all black with not much going on. I kept thinking to myself that it was really plain looking. After the play began, I realized it was anything but plain! After the play ended we walked to grab a bite to eat and headed back to the hostel early for our big day ahead.

Sunday we decided we were going to take a tour because we didn't have that much time to spend in London. We chose a company called the Big Bus Tour Company. It's a double decker bus that has two lines that take you all over London. You pay for your ticket and you can hop on and off anywhere between these two lines. A Boat cruise down the Thames river was also included, and two free walking tours. I'd say we got our money's worth. Seeing everything we wanted to see on our own would have been an impossibility. We stopped at Trafalgar Square first. They have these huge lions, which is obviously a perfect place to be touristy and take a picture! We all took our turns climbing up on the lions and snapping a picture. The thing is that these lions are pretty hard to climb up on. It looks way easier than it actually is. There is little to no footing, and not much to grab on to. (probably done of purpose so tourists stay the hell off it, but as Americans , we're always up for a good challenge) On this particular morning it had also rained a little, so the stone was very slippery. Lauren climbed up first, we gave her a leg boost. Then I climbed up and joined her. We came down and Mallory decided she wanted to give it a go. Now, people are lined up behind us to take their turn with the lion. Mallory has a bit of an audience. She goes to put her leg up and boost herself up, and it turned into the most uncoordinated, ridiculously ungraceful attempt of anything I have ever seen. She is about 4 ft in the air, flailing her body around yelling "GUYS I CAN'T, I CAN'T, IT SOOOOO SLIPPPERY!!" The rest of us are now laughing so hard we can't even attempt to help her. She gained a crowd of onlookers now, all pointing and laughing at her stuck on the lion. At this point I am actually crying of laughter, and I can't breathe. It was almost one of those laugh so hard you might throw up things. Finally, Christy goes over and gives her a push up onto the lion. I was fortunate enough to catch the aftermath of the push on camera. It's one of those moments that I think about in class, and break out laughing in dead silence. (Thank you for being as graceful as a baby giraffe taking it's first steps Mal. you've provided a life long hysterical memory.)
After that fiasco, we hopped back on the bus and toured all around London. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower, the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and a ton more. We took the boat cruise over to the side where Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey were.


We hopped back on the tour and headed to Buckingham Palace. We watched the guards march around, took tons of pictures, and took a couple minutes to relax.

After our tour ended we were starved! It was Mal's Canadian Thanksgiving, so we decided to splurge a little on our dinner. We stopped at a pub called spice of your life on the way home. Everyone got fish and chips, except for me! (not a big seafood eater!) I went with a vegetable quesadilla instead! Our food was delicious, and we all shared some desserts after! After dinner we headed back to the hostel and got ready for the night. We headed out to the Absolut Ice Bar. It was so cool! An entire bar made out of ice! They give you special jackets, and gloves to wear in so you don't freeze. We were allowed one drink with our admission ticket. I ordered a drink that had vanilla vodka, apple juice, cinnamon, and something else that I can't remember but was delicious! Our drinks even came in Ice cups!

(Outside the Ice bar!)

After the Ice Bar we were exhausted and headed back to the hostel to get some sleep! The next morning we were waking up early to go to Abbey Road!
We took the underground to the Abbey road stop. While waiting for the T, I saw a happy little reminder of home :)


Abbey Road was really cool to see. I think we picked a bad time to go. As it was early on a Monday morning, so the traffic flow was pretty heavy. I did get a few pictures of me walking across though!

After Abbey Road I was supposed to meet Lauren and Christy outside the underground station at Russel Square. I realized I was running a little bit late walking back to the T and I still had to get my ticket! Mal and her friend Hilary already had there tickets so I told them I would hurry ahead and grab mine while they walked back. So I practically ran to the station. I was waiting in line to buy my ticket when Mal caught up to me. I turned around and said to her that I just had to get my ticket, and she nodded. I got my ticket, turned around.. and NO ONE was there. Mal and Hilary had disappeared. Instant panic set in. The other really nice part about this story is that my cell phone had stopped working because I forgot my Pin number, and had to shut it off on the plane ride over. So here I was, lost, in London, with no cell phone. I had no way of contacting Lauren to tell her I would be late, or to tell her I was lost. Then I thought maybe I could just go to a pay phone and call them. I realized that a.) I wouldn't know how to dial out from a London pay phone to an Irish cell and b.) that even in the rare chance that I figured that out, I don't know any of the girls numbers by heart. After having a mini panic attack, I realized I needed to figure something out because panicking clearly wasn't getting me anywhere. So I thought well maybe they just already went out to the T and they are waiting for me to get on. So I ran down the escalator, to find NO ONE again. Even more panic set in. I decided I would just have to figure it out on my own and hope the Lauren and Christy are where we said to meet/ hadn't left yet because I was so late. I hopped on the T and had to sit for about 15 minutes in a state of complete anxiety. I must have looked so distraught to other passengers because I could feel their eyes on me. I felt like I was either going to start bawling, or throw up. On the T ride over I began to think of alternatives in case Lauren and Christy happened to not be there. The worst part is that when I finally reached my stop, there's only two options of exit...walking up 175 steps or waiting for the elevator. I knew for sure in the state of panic I was in that 175 steps would probably kill me. So I waited a few for the lift. The elevator doors opened and I spotted the girls! An overwhelming feeling of relief set in. Lauren and I locked eyes and I smiled hugely at her. She gave me a death glare and started shaking her head. See, they had been waiting a good amount of time for me. With no communication, Lauren thought I blew them off, was being completely irresponsible, and I was making us late for our 100 dollar train ride to Paris. I would've given her the same face is the situations had been switched. However, her death glare sent me into a hysterical fit of tears on the sidewalk as we were running now to catch our train. In between sobs I was saying "But Lauren you don't understand, I was LOST" I am not an emotional person, and especially not a crier. It took me kind of a long time to pull myself together. Eventually, she understood the situation and translated my sobs into a comprehend-able story. All tension was lost, and they sympathized with my traumatic experience. Not only did we make our train, we did it with time to spare. I will say that I am pretty proud of myself for navigating back to where I was supposed to, in London, with no cell phone, and no real clue of where to go.

From London we took the Euro star to Paris. I will write my blog for Paris a little later. I am absolutely exhausted, and preparing for another trip for this weekend right now. We are headed to Kerry. We paid 165 euro and a hotel, all transportation, and all meals are included for the weekend! They are even picking us up at our university! We are all excited to finally stay in a nicer hotel, and have things planned for us instead of going through the stress of planning. It should be a relaxing weekend :)

cork & blarney!

Our trip to Cork started off a little rough. We missed our first bus, and had to hop on another one to get into the station downtown. Then as we were pulling into the station we saw a bus labeled Cork just leaving. (what an awful feeling that was!) So we sat and waited inside the station for another hour. We had some tea, and got some snacks! All and all it wasn't so bad that we had to wait.

The bus ride was not as long as I had thought! It took about an hour and a half. We got off the bus and waited for Lauren's friend Brennan to pick us up. We were going to stay with him for the weekend. Although I don't think he really knew what he was in for, hanging around 3 girls by himself all weekend long. (We're still really sorry Brennan...) Brennan had brought his friend Rory along for the walk. Rory instantly began talking to us and he has a very animated, in-your- face personality. He's an absolute riot, but on first impression, after our chilled out hour and half bus ride, we were a little overwhelmed with him. He began pointing out all these important buildings and streets in Cork. He spouted off so much information from the top of his head that we actually thought he was making it up (not like we'd ever know the difference?) We had our own personal tour guide, but the rate at which he was speaking mixed with his accent made it almost impossible for me to comprehend. (Plus I'm not even sure I was awake yet from that bus ride. )

Our tour ended at Brennan's house. He goes to UCC and lives in the student accommodation. It was really nice, and somewhat reminded me of our apartments here. I was so relieved to stop walking and put my things down and relax. The boys didn't have the same mind set. They were ready to head out the second we got in. Lauren, Christy and I locked eyes and were all in agreement. Lauren smiled at them and said, "guys, would you mind if we just sat down for about 5 minutes..." They understood and let us sit. Although, Rory did look like an impatient child sitting in front of presents on Christmas morning. We asked them where we were headed that night to a pub or to a club. They asked why it mattered, and we explained that you would wear two entirely different outfits depending on the place. They wanted to go to the clubs, so we said we would have to change. The boys decided they would head to the liquor store, or "Off License" while we got changed. I think their patience might have been wearing thin. Upon their return, we had changed outfits, put make up on, and did our hair. I was proud we had gotten ready in that short amount of time. Brennan's room had been torn upside down with our clothing, and hair products. It looked like the backstage of a fashion show. The boys walked back in the room and the first words out of their mouth was, "It smells like girl." We weren't sure at that point if it was a compliment or not...

We stopped at Rory's place before we went out to the clubs because he wanted something to eat. He made peppered steak, and fries. There was no way he was going to eat that in front of the three of us, who hadn't eaten since the morning, and not share! It was absolutely delicious! He was a good sport about sharing, and even made us our own batch of fries!

After we chowed down, we headed out to the club. The first one we went to was called Liquid Lounge. It had a weird entrance that was upstairs, and there was a different pub underneath. Christy somehow didn't see us walk up the stairs, and headed straight into the pub. I realized at the top of the stairs that Christy was missing. Then remembered she had no cell phone on her because she had left it at Brennan's. In a panic, I began to look around everywhere for her. Finally Brennan said ever-so-calmly, that he saw her walk into the pub. (information that would've been helpful before the panic set in...) So we all ran down to find her. She came walking out of the bathroom with tears in her eyes exclaiming, "I thought I lost you guys!!!" Needless to say, we kept an eye on her the rest of the night. I think we should invest in one of those leashes people put on children who wander, as this is not the first time Christy has gone missing.

The next club we went too was called Gorby's. It was really fun, and reminded me of some of the clubs back in Limerick. We stayed there for awhile, and then we decided it was time for food! There is the best pizza place ever in Cork! It's called Fast Al's! It's a little place on the corner of a street, and they sell pizza by the slice. It was amazing! After our pizza we walked down and ended up by a fountain in the center of Cork. We hung out here for a while, mostly people watching. At about 3 we decided to call it a night and head home.

The next day I woke up with no voice, and I was absolutely exhausted. I had not been feeling well all week, and I think the night out had done me in. We attempted to head to Blarney, and headed for the bus station. All of us looked like zombies on our walk there, and the thought of going one more step took a lot of convincing. When we got to the station we bought tickets and tried to go find the bus. We walked around the station 3 times, and still could not find it. we looked at all the bus names and numbers, and there was not one that said Blarney on it. We missed the first bus, and decided to wait and try again with the next bus. The same thing happened, we walked around, looked at all the buses, nothing! Were we missing something?! Was there a trap door, or secret passage way we were supposed to know about?! At this point we were all so tired and frustrated we decided we'd put Blarney off until Sunday and headed back to Brennan's.

We relaxed and hung out there until the evening. We decided we would keep things relaxed that night and just hit up a few pubs. We had a couple drinks at Brennan's before heading out. The first pub we were at was really cool. I liked the atmosphere there a lot, and they played really good music! We stayed there for some time before heading to the next pub. The second pub was a lot bigger, and they didn't play as good of a tune selection. It was still a really good time though! We didn't stay out very late this night as my eyes were struggling to stay open.

The next day we woke up and decided to grab some breakfast. We went to a bagel place and sat outside to eat and drink some coffee. This man came across the street with some instruments. Thinking nothing of it we just continued to eat and chat. A couple of minutes later we realized he had two instruments. A fiddle he played normally, and then a guitar. He laid the guitar out at his feet, and then strapped a crazy looking device to his foot and began to play that and his fiddle! It was the most bizarre, and coolest thing I have ever seen. I can barely pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, and this guy was his own one man band. He also had the cutest little dog who came over and sat with us while we watched the man play. We decided we definitely had to leave the guy some money, and I was voted to go up and give it to him. In the process of turning back to the table, I swung my body around in an awkward way. Christy happened to snap a picture of it, and it's produced a hysterical picture of me that we laughed at to the point of tears. It almost looks like I'm dancing a jig in front of him. (which is humorous because I am actually learning a jig as we speak in Irish step dancing.)

We headed to the bus station after breakfast with a sense of determination to find and get on the bus to Blarney. We bought our tickets, and walked around again. We couldn't find it again. I walked up to this group of older bus drivers and pretty much yelled at them to help me. They said the buses for Blarney line up down the road a little ways, and said it in a way as if it was common sense! We walked down the road, and sure enough, the bus stop for Blarney was there! We waited for the bus, and I honestly don't think I've ever been so excited to see a bus in my life!


We got off in Blarney and followed the signs to the castle. We paid the 8 euro to get on the grounds, which we thought at the time of payment was a little pricey. The castle was really nice, it was interesting to walk around in it and getting to the top was a fun journey! Lauren and I struggled through a few panic attacks while climbing up. The stairs were tight and spirals, and the steps themselves were often not even bigger than your foot. The view at the top was breath taking! We had been debating the entire way up whether we were actually going to kiss the stone or not. We had been told people pee on it, and then once we saw how you actually had to kiss it it seemed like I was going to have to decline. Something about hanging upside down that high up, while holding on to bars and some random old man, wasn't settling right with me. But then that little tourist devil popped up on my shoulder and talked sense into me. I have to keep reminding myself that all these opportunities are once in a lifetime, and I am only here, for sure, right now. I need to push myself to do things I wouldn't normally be comfortable with at home. So I laid down, held on to the bars & random old guy, and gave that stone a big smooch. I now go forth with the gift of eloquence.... and Irish piss.

After the castle we walked around the grounds. It was amazing. I felt like I was in a different world. It gives off a very fairy tale feel. I easily could've spent a majority of the day there. Every picture I took there, I loved. I even took a picture of the ground and it still came out beautiful. The 8 euro was very well spent. We headed back to catch the bus, and then back to Brennan's to grab our things and say goodbye!

We thanked Brennan for being such a good host, and listening to 3 girls talk and complain all weekend long! We got to the bus station and got in line for the bus back to Limerick. In front of us there was a mother with 4 children. The youngest was an infant she was holding. There was a girl about 10, and two boys about 7 and 8. The younger of the boys was being an absolute brat. He started giving the bus drivers a hard time, and they actually looked at him and told him to go away. Which made me bust out laughing, I've never seen a child spoken to like that. Her kids were basically just out of control. All she was doing was yelling there names at the top of her lungs. This made her baby start screaming and the kids didn't pay her any attention and continued in their deviant ways. When the line started moving the little boys started kicking over the suitcases of the people walking in front of them, and then smiling when they turned around as if they were proud. Lauren asked when we got closer to the bus if this was the one to Limerick. I responded, "based on what I've just seen I'd say we're headed in the right direction." Back to good ol' stab city we went!

Next week we have two days off so we've planned a longer trip this weekend. We're leaving for London on Saturday, and then we're heading to Paris until Wednesday. Our flight back lands and Cork so we're unsure if we'll spend the night there again or not. Depends on how exhausted we'll be! I'm excited because this is our first big trip outside of Ireland. It's also my first time to both London and Paris! Wish us luck!

p.s. It's beginning to look a lot like... faaaaallll :) my favorite season!

weeek 4! new home!

(views from my new home!)

I am having a much better week than last! For starters, I have moved villages. I moved from Kilmurry village to Thomond Village (pronounced tomond. I'm the American that pronounced with with a "th" sound and got made fun of... what else is new!) I am so much happier being in this village. Kilmurry was nice, but it was a big party place. People were constantly blaring music and yelling til about 5 or 6 in the morning. Its a fun place to visit, but not to live in! Plus I'm living right next door to Lauren and Mallory's apartment building now. The 20 minutes commute across campus has been reduced to about 1 minute. It's fabulous! I must say I do miss my old roommates! The good news is that I have an Irish step dancing class (yup, I am step dancing... you can laugh at it. I do everyday. I also have to preform in front of a class at the end of the semester. excellent.) in my old village once a week, so I can stop by and see them! Mare also has a best friend who lives in Thomond so she'll be visiting from time to time! My first night here I woke up at noon and was amazed I had slept the entire time without one drunken interruption! It's so nice! My new roommates are really nice too. I live with all Irish kids again. It's 3 boys and 2 other girls! They are all first years, so I am the oldest. It's so cute to watch them because they all hang out in our common room for hours on end. It brings back good memories from my freshman year at Bridgewater when I first met my best friends now! (woodward, 3rd floor. let's go back?) Speaking of time flying, I can not believe I am already in the 4th week here! I'm already getting upset about having to leave in December. That's going to be a long plane ride home!

This past week was pretty boring until the weekend. We finally felt comfortable to let loose a little more. Thursday night we went out to this place called the Lodge. It's the club near campus that everyone goes too. They let you in free some nights with your school I.D. We started the night off at Mallory's apartment because her roommates had planned a house party. We were all in their kitchen and common room area having some drinks and talking. One of the Irish guys there started asking us questions about America. He said the only thing he knew about American culture was from the movies Grease and West Side Story. We responded, "so basically, you know nothing about American culture." (obviously we didn't stop making fun of him there. We're usually the butt of all the jokes so any opportunity to poke fun at them we take and go overboard with: "yeah, we all coordinate song and dance segments, the girls wear poodle skirts, and when we get angry at each other we snap.") We decided to head out a little while later. We ended up walking there because there was a large group of us. It's probably about a 20 minute walk there. On the walk over there this Irish guy who was at the party came up to me and started talking to me again about American culture. ( I don't know why this was such a hot topic this night. I think we were the first Americans these guys had met.) He asked me if I was a cheerleader. I thought to myself, do I look like the cheer leading type?? I didn't want to be rude so I answered with, "no, I played sports." He then went on this tangent about cheer leading and football players. I'm not sure what American sitcom or movie he had just watched, but I tried to explain that there's more to being American than football and cheer leading. After that awkward struggle of a conversation I waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Lauren, Mal, and I started to have a conversation, not minding the rest of the group. In the middle of our conversation I overheard a different Irish guy that was in our group exclaim, "I love listening to them talk!! I love their accents!!" After I realized he was talking about us, I couldn't help but laugh. It's weird to be told that for once I have an accent! Usually it's us telling them that we love to hear them talk! I officially got the worst pick up line I have ever heard in my life. The kid who was talking to me about Americans and cheer leading, started talking to me while I walked over to the ATM. He said, and I quote, "How about, in American terms, we hook up tonight?" .....yup. He was serious. I nearly fell over laughing, and responded with my go to phrase for awkward situations here, "NAHH". I felt like saying, "How about, in American terms, you F*** off." but Karen and Bob raised me better than that. I walked away to catch up to Mal, and I heard him say to his friend, "WHAT? It's an American term, Hook up is an American term!!" Mallory informed the other boys in the group that he was being an idiot and they walked next to me the rest of the way!
We finally made it to the lodge. This was the craziest place I have ever been too. The line or "que" as they call it, was wrapped around the area sectioned off, and then out to the street. We ended up cutting the line by sliding under the railings, and we made it in quicker. The place was PACKED. We went out on the dance floor and we couldn't even move. People were shoving us all around. My feet hurt so bad from walking over with heels! At one point I got pushed and my ankles rolled in my boots. My feet were so sore I couldn't even straighten myself out. One of the boys in our group came up behind me, grabbed me from the shoulders and placed me back on my feet! Mal switched shoes with me a few minutes later, and I was back in business! We started dancing again, and this one random boy from the crowd came over, grabbed my face, and kissed my cheek. He wished me a Happy something or other. He did the same to Lauren and Mal. He did it 2 more times. Later on we were talking to some of the boys in our group and explaining what he had said and did. They started laughing and informed us that it wasn't an Irish holiday at all. What a clever guy! The boys were good all night about helping us out. We started getting tossed around a lot because people were shoving. Mallory ended up being shoved and fell on the ground 3 or 4 times. They boys instantly picked her back up! They also served as a good means of crowd control. When the crowd got really pushy they would put all of us in the middle of them and stand on the outside of us. We've learned not get on the bad side of the boys! We would be royally screwed without them!

Friday night we took it easy, and just hung out in Lauren's apartment. We headed back to Galway Saturday to celebrate Erin's 20th birthday! We had so much fun! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Abbey. It was so cute. We took their family sized room upstairs, that slept 7. It was such a nice place to stay! We grabbed some dinner, and then headed back to the B&B to get ready for the night! We were all in the process of getting ready when we heard the fire alarm go off. We all just looked around confused, thinking maybe it was a smoke alarm and we could shut it off. Finally Lauren said, "Guys its the fire alarm, you can't shut it off, we need to get out." ( we keep her around for her common sense.) We all ran down the stairs and went outside to find that we were the only ones who did! A woman who works there came to shut the alarm off finally. Erin asked her why no one else had left the building, and she told us because they realized there was no fire! Ah, and the world makes sense again! (Silly Americans...)

We had a few drinks before heading out for the night. We ended up walking down the main stretch in Galway. They had club promoters up and down the streets! We knew it was going to be a good night! One of the promoters brought us to a club called Coyote. Similar to Coyote Ugly in the states. They had American flags everywhere, we felt pretty comfortable. Except for the fact that we were literally the only females in the place. The club was filled with guys aged 25 and up. Needless to say, we attracted a little attention walking in, being six 20 year old girls. We went up to the bar and got one of the guys sitting near us at a table to buy Erin a drink for her birthday. We took pictures with some of the other guys sitting up near the bar. Then decided to check out the downstairs. It was a dance floor and then they had a mechanical bull. Erin hopped on the Bull for a celebratory 20th birthday ride. It ended rather swiftly and even left a bruise the next morning! There was a group of guys from a Bachelor party dancing on the dance floor. We dared Kim to go out and dance with one of them. Soon a few more of his friends came out and danced with her. When I looked again she had so many of them around her I could barely see her! We all started laughing and then went out to join her. They played a song from Grease, which made us all start laughing more! All though we weren't hating the attention, we decided it was time to try somewhere else. We walked back down the main stretch and found another club promoter who told us he could get us in and get us some free drinks. He brought us over to the club, but it wasn't open yet. He handed us a free card and told us to wait. We decided to make a pit stop at McDonald's. One of the better decisions we made that night, American fast food has not disappointed us once since we've been here. We walked back to that same club after McDonald's . On the way we met up with a club promoter who started talking to me about the states. He asked if I watched baseball. I asked him who his favorite team was and he responded with the Yankees. I told him, "Wrong answer" and walked away! We finally got back to the club and realized we wouldn't get in for free and we would have to pay 5 euro. We knew there was another club down the road that was letting people in for free and decided to go there instead. It turns out the promoter we had to get a stamp from was the Yankees fan from earlier. He came up to me and told me he was just kidding and he doesn't even watch baseball! I started laughing!I told him I was kidding as well, but next time someone asks him that the answer should always be Red Sox! He walked us to the club, it was called Cuba, and we got in for free! It was really fun in there and they played a lot of good music! I noticed the club had three bars in it and suddenly was hit with a brilliant idea! I dragged Erin to each bar with me and asked them if she could have a free shot for her birthday! 2 of the bar tenders were happy to give one out, but the 3rd one was a jerk! He practically yelled at us to go away unless we were going to pay! We shook off the rejection and went downstairs to keep dancing! We ended up leaving the club around 230 and headed back to the B&B!

(Laur & I before going out!)
(the series of events of Kim dancing with the Bachelor Party, she's in there somewhere!)

(erin bull riding!)

The next morning we woke up to the smell of a full Irish breakfast and ran downstairs to eat! It was so delicious! After breakfast we decided to head out and shop for a little before going home. I had fallen in love with a ring I saw in one of the shops earlier so I figured I would go back to check it out. I was so disappointed that the shop wasn't open when we went back! I'll have to find another one somewhere else! We headed back to Limerick absolutely exhausted.

I planned on having a relaxing Sunday night, and head to bed early. I was in my PJ's when I got a text from Lauren asking if I wanted to go to the Lodge with her and some of the boys. I jumped out of bed, got ready, and headed out. Let's just say we had a very long and interesting evening out. I was exhausted when we were leaving, and I took my heels off for the walk home. One of the boys looked at me and told me that wasn't a smart idea, but thinking I knew everything I continued with it anyways. We had almost made it all the way home when all of a sudden I heard one of the boys say "Ow that hurts!!" I turned to see what he was talking about when I felt something smash on my neck. I was covered in egg. I had it in my hair, all over my shirt, in my ear, down my jeans, and in my shoe. I wasn't even upset though, I just started laughing! I'm surprised I wasn't upset, but at that point I was so slap happy that it just seemed like the funniest thing ever. In the process of hysterically laughing, I stubbed my toe on the concrete. It hurt really bad but my main concern was getting home. I walked the rest of the way covered in sticky egg. When we got home we decided to hang out in Lauren's apartment for awhile. We go into the elevator and Lauren's roommate looked down at my foot. He yelled "OH MY GOD KELLEY YOUR FOOT!" I looked down and I was standing in a pool of blood from my toe. Her roommate got me a band aid, cleaned out my cut, and bandaged up my foot! He told me to take the bandage off and clean it the next morning and put some antibiotic ointment on it because it has a good chance of getting infected if I don't. He also scolded me for walking barefoot, and said that the blisters I would've gotten from me heels wouldn't have hurt as bad as this! (I wasn't kidding when I said we would be in big trouble without the boys!) The night doesn't sound that fun to an outsider, but it was one of those you had to be there nights. It's one we talk and laugh about all the time now.

I think I am taking it easy this week, staying in, and getting some sleep! I have my full day of classes today, and Irish step dancing tonight! This weekend we plan to go to Cork! We don't have to pay for accommodation because we'll be staying with one of Lauren's friends from home! I'm looking forward to another fun weekend!

oh by the way,

Happy 20th Birthday Er :)

rough week!

I know I'm a little behind on the writing, but last week was so stressful!
The week started off great! My one and only girl roommate asked me if I wanted to go into the city with her. Thinking she just wanted some company I said I would tag along! Turns out she brought me into the city so I could get some more things to get settled (bedding, more towels, etc) and then she showed me the cool places to shop. Which in hindsight could've been a bad thing haha! They have this really cool store here called River Island. I loved almost everything in it and wanted to buy the whole store. Unfortunately, they are a little pricey so I made the wise choice to just poke around! She also took me to a store called Penneys. It kinda reminds me of a Forever 21 at home. They have a ton of stuff and its reasonably priced! She also took me to a store called Brown Thomas because she had to get some new makeup. This store kinda reminded me a Macy's. We walked in and when Mare was trying out different make ups, I wandered to take a look around. I was trying out all the products, and smelling the perfumes. By this point Mare had made her purchase and as a reward for buying the product she got her eyebrows threaded for free! Mare sat down in the chair to get it done. I walked over to the booth and started trying out all the lotions around it. She was deep into conversation with the sales associate when I suddenly broke into laughter and got both of their attention. I noticed I had just tried a brand of lotion entitled: "Fat Girl Scrub" (Fat Girl Scrub) I could not contain myself! Who on earth would buy a product with that name!! After I had their attention, the sales woman started a conversation with me. She asked me where I was from, and made some more small talk. After she finished threading mare's eyebrows she asked if I had ever had mine done. I said no, and she told me she would do them for free because she was bored. I sat down and she started to give me a facial. She proceeded to tell me my face was horribly broken out and what I needed to do to clear it up. (basically she insulted me into buying one of her products, I got suckered in. Dad I'm not as clever as you, I wasn't able to get a free blue ray dvd player out of her!) As she was about to thread my eyebrows she came really close to my face to look at them. She was right up close, when she backed up with a shocked look on her face and exclaimed, "are you half Chinese?!?" .... me and mare locked eyes and started dying. I had just explained to her on the bus ride there that I get mistaken for being Asian all the time, and It's
an ongoing joke with my friends at home! I responded with "No, but I see how you could think that..." After the laughter wore off I thought about what she had said. Who asks if someone if they are half of something?? Seemed like such a strange question to me! Like being half Chinese didn't count under the Chinese category. She started to thread my eyebrows, and MAN did that hurt. At one point she asked me if I missed home and my family. I said yes and that it has been pretty hard some days here. As I was explaining this she tugged tightly with the rope and ripped a patch of hair out, which made my eyes water. So I brought my hand up to catch the tear. She looked at me and said "Aw, it brings tears to your eyes to talk about??"... no lady, you're just ripping patches of hair out of the fine skin under my eyebrow! It hurts! I was standing, and practically running out of the store the second she told me I was all set.
We got back from our shopping experience, and Mare decided she would cook me dinner! My roommates make fun of me for diet. Which alternates from grilled cheese, the Irish equivalent to ramen, salad, nutella (no, not with bread, straight from the jar!) a turkey sandwich, honey nut cherrios, the occasional frozen pizza and the most biggest staple in my diet here, pasta. Now this might shock some of you, but keep in mind, I alternate the sauce choice for the pasta. (pesto one night, garlic and butter the next, regular red sauce, and sometimes I even throw some garlic in the red sauce.... BAM! move over Emeril!) Mare made me a delicious chicken Marsala dish! It was so good, and definitely a welcomed change to my usual dinner!
If only the rest of the week could have gone as well! Friday we had to register for classes here so I had to get in contact with people from Bridgewater. This was a real struggle, and there was a great lack in communication, not on my part. It became this huge overwhelming frustration of a thing. I couldn't get in touch with anyone from Bridgewater, and they wouldn't register me here until I did! Also I came down with the equivalent of the black plague in this process. My throat was so sore, my nose was clogged, I was having terrible constant headaches and my entire body ached. I got to the point where I was so stressed I figured I would head to the international department here and tell them my situation. They were so helpful when I told them what was happening at home, and they even booked me a Dr.'s appointment! I was so relieved someone was actually helping me that I began to cry in their office haha. Apparently I left an impression because one of the women Sinead, still emails me to ask me how I am doing. I want to email her back explaining that I'm really not that emotionally unstable, I was just having a tough week! I went to the Dr's the following day and they gave me some antibiotics for a sinus infection. Mal came with me to pick up the prescription. The pharmacist asked me if I had an allergies to medication. I responded with, "Yes, Penacillin." Her face had a look of concern on it and she proceeded to tell me that the antibiotic she was giving me was a relative of penacillin. She said I had pretty good odds of having an allergic reaction. Great I thought, instead of feeling better I'm going to die. Mal said she would stay with me for the night, just incase I died. Those Canadians sure do have a way with words... The good news is I'm on my 7th pill, and still no allergic reaction! (knock on wood.)
Right when I thought things were getting back on track, we decided to plan a day trip for this past weekend! A lot of the girls had their immigration appointments Friday evening so we couldn't plan a whole weekend trip. Mallory and I met to plan a short day trip to Cashel. We wanted to go see the Rock of Cashel. We soon found out this short little day trip was a lot harder to plan than we had imagined. For starters, we couldn't find a bus stop anywhere near Cashel. We didn't originally think not having a car here would be a big deal until we started planning these little side trips. Mal finally found a bus that would take us there and we were ecstatic. We realized seconds later that the trip would take 6 hours,took us to Dublin first, and then down to Cashel. I could not wrap my mind around this. We have to travel 5 hours north to go 20 minutes east?? Their had to be a flaw in our logic! I was so frustrated and slap happy at this point, that I began to laugh so hard I actually started crying again. (twice in two days, butter me up I'm on a roll.) We decided to give up planning a trip to Cashel, and picked a new trip to Adare.
We had just begun planning that trip when I got a phone call from Danielle from home via Skype. She asked me if I had heard the news, and then told me two of my friends from home had been in a bad car accident. The news hit me pretty hard. It's hard to be so far away when something like this happens. (wishing and hoping for the best, Cal! Stay Strong<3) My friends at home have been doing a really good job of keeping me updated! Mal and Lauren have also been so good to me. They've been an amazing support system to have here, regardless of the situation. That night they invited me over to watch movies, and I ended up sleeping at Mal's.
The next day we decided our day trip would be a trip into the city instead of planning to go elsewhere. I took them to all the shops that Mare brought me too! Although shopping in the city on the weekend is quite the experience! It's totally packed! I did find a cute store called paper dolls! (Sarah I thought of you, I'll have to take a picture next time I go in!) We shopped around a little, and then met up with one of Lauren's friends for lunch. It was a really fun and relaxing day. After shopping I headed back to my dorm and basically crashed instantly. I was so exhausted, and emotionally drained!
The next afternoon when I woke up, Mare knocked on my door. She came in and asked me what was wrong because she said I looked upset! I told her the week I had been having, and that I was just really stressed out. She told me she was going to the grocery store and asked if I needed anything. I declined. She came back about an hour or so later and burst into my door. She said, in the most excited voice,"Kel, how does FAJITAS sound?!" I told her she didn't have to make me dinner again, but she insisted. She also exclaimed as she walked downstairs to start cooking, "and I bought you an American brand of Ice cream to cheer you up for dessert, Ben & Jerry's Phish Food!" I started laughing, decided to stop moping and get out of bed. She made some of the best fajitas I've ever had, and then we watched the Kerry vs Cork Gaelic football game. Kerry won! That's not who Mare was rooting for, so she too ate away her sorrows with some American ice cream! I'm so lucky to have her as a roommate! She has been so sweet, and has really gone out of her way to make me feel comfortable here.
Sunday night I hung out with Lauren and Mal in Lauren's apartment. We had some drinks with her roommates, and cooked up some grilled cheeses! We made her Irish roommate try a bite because he had never had one. He took the smallest little nibble of it and then tried to spit it out with the most disgusted look on his face. He started to flip out because the cheese was so melty it got stuck to the roof of his mouth and he couldn't get it out. It was quite the sight to see, and It made for a good laugh!
Also please don't hold it against me if I come home saying the words: "That's dear" "That's grand" "That's brilliant" "That's class"(all meaning it's good. and phrases I think the Irish say 9 billion times a day.).. or "What's the craic?" (meaning whats up..) "pissed" (means someone's drunk) "pissed off his head" ( someones REALLY drunk) or Mallory's Canadian:"eh?" "Pardon?" and "smokin-okin"
Today starts a new week, and hopefully a better one! We're headed back to Galway this weekend to Celebrate Erin's birthday. We took so many tours the last time we were there that we didn't really get to spend that much time in Galway! It should be a good time and I'm looking forward to it!

Galway Girls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lcnvd8BNFE (if you're really feeling into it)

So first off I should start by saying we could not have asked for better weather this weekend. Sunny as anything, without one cloud in the sky! On our tour bus the bus driver said they had only had four days, prior to this weekend, this summer that had been as nice! All of Lauren's hard planning paid off, because I honestly could not have had a better time.
We started this weekend by picking up a bus to Galway from one of the campus' parking lots. I had scribbled down some walking directions to our hostel before we had left. (good last minute thinking.) It was about a two hour ride to Galway. We were thrilled we were actually going some where and the planning was actually happening now! We had full confidence on the bus, we were going to Galway! We did it! We got off the bus and were dropped off right in front of Eyre Square. There we were 7 Americans (yeah, Mal's not from Canada anymore, we told her she should be from Maine. No one really knows the difference anyways.) standing clueless on the sidewalk with a crumpled piece of paper with abbreviations and arrows scribbled across it. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore Todo. Just before I was about to crawl in the fetal position and rock back and forth, I decided to breathe and take a look at my crumbled, now sweaty directions. "Look for Dunnes Store and Dunnes Liquor" I read aloud. Lauren pointed to a store across the way and away we went. The panicky feeling began to fade as the directions started to make more sense. After taking only one wrong turn, we finally arrived at Woodquay Hostel. Not bad for first timers...

I have never been to a hostel before so I was a little nervous what to expect. We walked in and we were greeted by the owner. He reeked of booze, and was a little odd. He was a little high strung. He tried to crack a few jokes, but they were basically "stupid American" jokes. Naturally, we didn't find them amusing, but laughed away at them either out of sheer nervousness or awkwardness. He showed us upstairs to our room, and then told us to come down before we went out and he would show us how to unlock the door. Our room wasn't bad at all. There was 4 bunk beds spread throughout the room, and a bathroom with a shower. Of course none of us used the shower. We thought we would "rough it" this weekend. Now realize that 7 girls' term of "roughing it" should be used very loosely, and I'm more than certain that if we had known ahead of time we could shower we would've packed the towels and hair dryers too.

(us in the TV room of the hostel)

After getting situated, we went down to learn how to lock the door and then to try to go out for dinner. The drunken hostel owner said he'd show Mal, the Canadian, how to lock the door. He said 3 numbers and told her to enter them from the right. Mal did it and the door didn't open. He then proceeded to crack jokes about Mal not knowing her left from her right. He then said tried to show her left from right, and said something along the lines of hoping they don't ask her that question at immigration so she can stay in the country. Guess we lucked out, two for the price of one: a hostel and a comedy club! Mal eventually got the door to unlock, and we were on our merry way.
We walked up and down the streets looking for a cheap place to grab some food. We eventually settled on a pub called Paddy's. Our waitress was so nice. She was from Greece, and that night was her first night of work. She spoke broken English and apologized to us for it. She told us she was really nervous and to bare with her. Being in a new place, and not understanding things... yeah, none of us were able to relate...

We all ordered burgers, beers and chips (aka fries). We were in the mood for some good American food after all the traveling we had done. Although I must say I'm a little frustrated with the lack of mustard on sandwiches or burgers here. Mayo comes on everything, but you have to ask for mustard or put it on yourself. I'm contemplating bringing a little bottle with me now. After using all the ketchup and mustard packets on the table we saw a condiment called "brown sauce" and decided to pass it around for a taste. Not something I think I'll try again. After reading the ingredients and seeing dates listed first we all understood why it was so gross.

After the waitress took our order I realized she didn't ask us how we wanted our burgers cooked and got nervous I was going to get undercooked meat. Our burgers finally arrived, and I realized after my first crisp bite, that was an impossibility. Christy interrupted our chowing down time with "guys there's foil on my burger." She peeled it off and continued to eat. At that point we were all way too hungry to care about crisp or foiled burgers.

After we were done stuffing our faces, we sat for awhile, talked, and finished our beers. Our discussion was interrupted when 3 children walked into the room. 2 boys probably around 7 or 8 and 1 girl around the same age. They were all excited and were blowing up balloons. One of the boys balloon accidentally flew out of his mouth and shot at the end of our table by Christy. We laughed and gave it back. The other boy looked over and said "ARE YOU AMERICANS?!" ... were we that obvious?! The little girl looked up at me and said "we're Irish" trying to be polite I answered her with "oh really?" what else was I supposed to say to that. In the mean time the boys had been scheming. One of them came right up to our table and drew direct attention to himself as he blew up his balloon and proceeded to let it go... in our faces. Kim and Erin jumped and screamed. The rest of us i think we're just in shock of what was going on. The balloon zoomed around us and landed in my lap. The boys at this point were loudly laughing and talking about their prank. I handed the balloon back to them, (yeah good idea kel, give the ammo back) laughing. As the boys ran out of the room still giggling and yelling, I couldn't help but think we had just been mocked by a group of Irish 8- year -olds.

After dinner we decided to head back and get some sleep because we had a long day the following morning! 7 am came early, and we got out the door as quick as we could. We grabbed breakfast at this bagel place and ate it on the square. We walked back to the hostel and got picked up by the tour company for our day! The countryside on the ride there was amazing. Little did I know what laid ahead that day! Our tour stopped at several places before the cliffs. At Poulnabrone Dolmen Christy got her foot wedged in between some rocks and almost took a digger. After some wiggling, she was freed and we continued on our way. Everything was so interesting, but I couldn't help but feel anxious to finally see the cliffs! They were the last stop on our tour. We had been traveling around all day and we were all pretty tired. Despite these factors I think we all did a full out sprint to the top of the hill to see them. Now I know people use that expression "breath takingly beautiful". This was the first time I have ever experienced anything like that. I literally stared in complete awe at them. I could've stared all day long. We traveled up and down them taking pictures from all different angles and with all different poses. We got to the end that said "Do not go beyond this point" with several warning signs with people tumbling off cliffs. Mal and I decided our lives were pretty important. We chose to stay behind and take pictures of the girls in our group who decided to go on the un-railed side of the cliffs. Fortunately, none of them decided to take the plunge, and we all headed safely back to the bus.

( @ Poulnabrone Dolmen)
(christy with her foot lodged between the rocks)

Once back in Galway we decided we would grab a quick and cheap dinner before our night tour. I had brought some coupons they handed out the first day here for Domino's and Subway. We grabbed a pizza and subs and ate them again at the square. While we were waiting for our pizza to be ready we grabbed some Irish candy, which was absolutely delicious. There was also a car show that night on the square so we were entertained while we ate. (not that any of us knew much about cars but we like the variety of colors!)

After we ate we had some time to walk around. We headed down one of the main streets with all the pubs on it. We wanted to get a preview of what it was all about since we are planning a return trip for Erin's Birthday! On our walk back up the streets and to our Hostel, this old, drunken, homeless man came up to me. There was a group of boys behind us who started to yell at him and tell him to leave us alone. He grabbed my arm and told me to come with him. Normally, I would've been a little frightened in this situation. I was so exhausted and slap happy at this point that I just stuck my hand out, shook him off me and said "Naaaaahhh... thanks". We realized minutes later how ridiculous of response that was to something like that and broke out laughing. It's not like he was handing me a brochure, he was trying to steal me. Lauren-"Nahhhh, walking down that dark alley with you, a homeless drunk man, isn't so much for me. Thank you for that option though."

I think we laughed the entire way back to the Hostel, where we then got ready for our night tour. Decklin was the tour guide Lauren had been emailing back and forth to set up arrangements. We had several ongoing jokes that they were dating due to the amount of times Lauren ended up emailing him about questions. Once after she apologized to him for sending so much mail he sent back a wink face and said it wasn't a problem. We were all in our hostel room chatting away and had lost track of time when we heard a knock on the door and a man's voice say "Is Lauren there?". Imagine our excitement to learn this strange man was Decklin himself and he would be driving us to our tour bus. Now in our jokes, Decklin had been some old, bald, awkward Irish man. He wasn't really any of those. He was older, probably in his 40s, and he was a riot. He said something about Lauren being his special friend, and Erin jokingly responded with "why does she get to be your special friend?" He turned around and gave her a big hug and continued making jokes about their "special" friendship for most of the ride over. He turned on music and told us all to start dancing, and then he started to turn the bus lights on and off to create a strobe light. He drove like a mad man, and openly admitted to almost smashing into a woman in a cross walk on the way. We were pretty pumped up by the time we had gotten to the other bus. This was a good thing because the night tour was on the history of Galway, and I probably would've been to tired to really listen had it not been for Decklin. The night tour was really cool. It took us by cemeteries, told us about certain executioners, the story of the Lynches, and even a true scandal story about a University in Galway. We kicked the wall at black rock for good luck, and drove by some of the main streets and got a feel for the night life.

(kicking the wall @ black rock)

Now after a day like that, you think we'd crash as soon as we got back to the hostel. Instead we got to talking, and realized Mallory knew quite a bit about the U.S. Quite honestly, none of us knew more than 3 things about Canada. Which we made a list about for Mallory entitled, Things we know about Canada. "one: "OH CANADA..." two: you like hockey... three: there's a red maple leaf on your flag." You'll be happy to know that after a good hour of grilling Mal with questions, our list is now far into the teens. ("what is it like topographically", "now, how big is Canada is cubic meters", "if I was to go into a restaurant, what would they place in front of me") Mal also informed us extremely nonchalantly that she owned a farm and had 3,000 pigs. Lauren responded with "Mallory... You have 3,000 pigs, and this is something you're just telling us now. I feel like that should've been that statement directly after "Hi my name is Mallory.""

The next morning we pulled ourselves out of bed to grab tickets for the bus and ferry to the Arann Islands. We were disappointed and shocked that our delicious bagel place was closed, and wouldn't open until noon time! We grabbed a muffin and coffee at a Spar down the road, and headed to catch the bus for the Ferry. It was an hour bus ride there, an hour ferry ride over, but it was very well worth it. We decided to go to Inishmore, the biggest and more touristy island. Now we didn't quite catch the concept of what to do on the island before we got there. I pretty much just assumed we would walk around and maybe shop a little. So we get off the ferry and see shops lined up. Before the shops there was bus tours, 2 bike rental shops, horse drawn carriages waiting. We didn't really pay much attention and just headed into the tourist information desk. While there we realized to get to the top of the island to see the sites, it would be an hour and a half walk, or you could take a tour or ride a bike. We all were pretty toured out, and Helen couldn't ride a bike, so walk it was. It was a beautiful day, and we liked the idea of taking our time. Until about 20 minutes into it when we realized we couldn't take our time because we would miss the ferry home and wouldn't have time for lunch. People were whizzing by us on bikes, and bus tours. I kinda started to lose faith in our decision to walk but continued anyways. About halfway up the island we found a path off the main road and decided to walk up it, the view was already incredible. We noticed a tower in the distance and looked on the map to locate it. This was the highest point of the island and we started debating whether or not to keep trucking along to see it. We had all our stuff from the hostel and purchases from days before with us and we had already been walking for a fair amount of time in the sun. As tired as I was I knew that would be an amazing opportunity. Lauren, Mal, Helen, and I decided to keep going! It was so weird because eventually it just went from being touristy to people's homes. I couldn't imagine living with that view in my backyard everyday. It was incredible. We finally made it to just outside the tower. The only thing that stood in our way was one of the largest and steepest hills I have ever seen in my life. At one point while climbing up it, our bodies were parallel to the ground. Every muscle in my body was burning, and I was actually panting. At one point Lauren cracked a joke, and I told her to stop because laughing exerted too much of my energy. We finally made it to where it leveled out. I could see the entire island! We took some pictures, and a seat. Then we looked up at the tower and decided we had made it this far we might as well... one small problem Lauren and I are a little afraid of heights. We went inside and climbed and old rusty spiral staircase. I'm not sure what I was expected to be at the top of it, but that was definitely not it. I came out from the entrance at the top and there was literally enough room for my one body even pressed tight against the concrete wall behind me, and then an old rusty railing holding you in, about 200+ feet in the air. I felt a little panicky, but the view is something I have never seen before in my life. You could see the mainland from that high up. I was so happy I had climbed to the top of that. That experience is one I know I will never forget, and definitely one of the best I've had.

(view from the highest point of the island!)

As the adrenalin finally wore off we headed back down the hill and down the island. On the way we stopped at Joe Watty's. A pub that was recommended in one of my travel books. I ordered a chicken ciabatta sandwich with pesto and vegetables in it! It was so good. I washed it down with my first of many Smithwicks! (Dame, best beer I have ever had...) After lunch we headed back to shops where I bought some gifts and souvenirs. We went to the beach for a few and waited for our ferry. The water looked so tempting that we had to go stick our feet in! It actually wasn't too cold, and at that point it was refreshing. Our ferry came and we headed back an hour, then an hour bus ride, followed by a 2 hour bus ride back to Limerick, and then a 10 minute taxi ride back to our apartments. Talk about exhausted! I crashed almost instantly and woke up at 1 in the afternoon today. Even as tired as I was, it was still one of the best weekends I have ever had. I had so much fun, and I felt a lot more independent. (Thanks Lauren for all your arrangement making!) We're meeting in the next couple of days to decide we're we are off to this weekend! I'm sure it will get easier as we go! As for now I'm off to bed, class at 9 am tomorrow!

I uploaded all my pictures to my webshots account: http://community.webshots.com/user/semesterinireland?vhost=community