So the whole coming home process was draining in every sense of the word. Emotionally, I cried far more than I expected and used one too many people as my own personal tissue. Physically, I was exhausted. I had 2 1/2 hours of sleep before my flight home and I didn't sleep at all on the 7 hour flight. Boy howdy, did I try but alas, I could not. Mentally, my thoughts were conflicted and left me either happy and smiling or sad and crying. The most random thought could trigger one or the other. The only good part about coming home and going straight to a graduation party was that my whole family was there so all the questions happened all at once; I'll use any excuse I can get to mention Ireland and my Irish friends!
My daily routine as of the past two days is: waking up, eating breakfast, walking to Wawa with Jess, running some type of errand, and then some nighttime activity. Monday, it was the Phillies game. Tuesday, it was frisbee in Rose Tree park then Dairy Queen. Tonight will probably be sitting around doing nothing...If only I could make a Dunnes run for a roll...
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
14 days.
About 4 months ago on January 6th I blogged about how I had 2 weeks exactly until I left for Ireland. To save you the trouble of going back and reading that post, I talked about how I was preparing myself to leave, packing, etc. That seems like a lifetime ago. But here I sit, another 14 days away from something and I have to say I'm not looking forward to the end of this countdown. Not even a little bit. I have not even thought about packing and am considering waiting until the Saturday before I leave to do it...this could have so many negative effects, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited to see my family and friends back home but at the same time, I don't want to leave Ireland; mainly the people I have met. I've been dreading the day when I have to look everyone in the eye, say goodbye, and give them a final hug until I see them again. The hardest part will be the fact that I don't know the next time I will see the majority of them after I say goodbye. It's very up in the air. Even the ones I know I will see again this summer or next school year, I'll still be a blubbering mess saying goodbye. I'm fairly certain of this fact and I am giving everyone plenty of notice. Okay well, this is as sentimental as I'm going to get on a public site for the time being. The real good stuff...the meat and potatoes, if you will, will happen the day before I leave or when I'm back home in good ol' Delaware County. Again, fair warning to all you people who have high emotional reactions.
On a happier note, I found twenty-some dollars in one of my wallets. Doesn't do me much good right now but OH, when I get back to America, I am going to tear Wawa a new one with that twenty-some dollars. Wawa hoagie and peach iced tea? Yes please.
As you might suspect, this has nothing to do with Ireland other than I was in Ireland when I found this on todaysbigthing.com That site is a gold mine, people! Basically, this picture is meant to lighten the depressing mood. Necessary? Probably not. Strange/Random/Hilarious? Absolutely. Enjoy! :)
On a happier note, I found twenty-some dollars in one of my wallets. Doesn't do me much good right now but OH, when I get back to America, I am going to tear Wawa a new one with that twenty-some dollars. Wawa hoagie and peach iced tea? Yes please.
As you might suspect, this has nothing to do with Ireland other than I was in Ireland when I found this on todaysbigthing.com That site is a gold mine, people! Basically, this picture is meant to lighten the depressing mood. Necessary? Probably not. Strange/Random/Hilarious? Absolutely. Enjoy! :)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
I play Ultimate because I am awesome
I'm just going to come right out and say it: joining the Ultimate Frisbee team has been the absolute best decision I have made while in Ireland. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world. The people I have met on the team are some of the greatest people I have encountered. I have made lifelong friends with them. Since I'm choosing to write letters to most, if not all, of the members of the team, I'm forcing myself to think of the day when I have to finally say goodbye to them all and leave our next meeting up to fate. As one might imagine, this is a depressing experience but it has to be done and I'm trying to make the best of it. They have become my family over here; teaching me about Ireland and the culture every day and looking out for my SMC friends and I. I can not thank them enough and find it quite difficult to put into words exactly how much they all mean to me. Hopefully this post (and the letters) can give them all some insight. So to the frisbee team, if you're reading this, thank you all for everything! Can we make this last month and 3 days insanely mind blowing? That would be just GRAND.
"Can I live here!?"- Aran Islands
Our last Saint Mary's trip (and bus ride with Eugene) was to the Aran Islands. We left on Friday afternoon and stayed over night in a hostel. The next morning we woke up and headed for the Cliffs of Moher. They were, in short, epic. There really aren't any other words to describe them...perhaps beautiful and enormous would work too.
This one is for you, mom!
The most exciting part for me was when we actually arrived on Inishmore and rode bikes to the beach. I was reunited with the Atlantic Ocean and boy howdy have I missed it! We probably spent close to two hours on the beach. My second favorite part of the whole trip was the heart-to-hearts a friend and I would have. We would sit on a stone wall that faces Galway Bay and the view was just beautiful. I would have been completely fine with spending the entire trip sitting on that wall and looking at that view.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Natalie visits Ireland and epicness ensues.
I suppose it's about time to update this!
Natalie and I enjoying some Rocky Road bars on Easter. Happy Easter to us!
So about a month ago on March 31st I turned 20 (and my parents celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary)! I received the best present I could have hoped for besides my family and it came in the form of Natalie Burkart! She and Laura arrived from Rome for their 10-day long visit around 3pm. Kelly and I went to meet them at the Maynooth train station and it was probably the cutest reunion I've ever been a part of. That night, we had a taco extravaganza for dinner. My lovely flatmates joined my friends and I for dinner! Bless their hearts, they decorated with balloons and got me a cake! It was so sweet and I really appreciated it. Overall, it was a good night even though some people could not attend/went M.I.A. For the rest of Natalie's visit we kind of just hung around and enjoyed the time together. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed sharing a room with someone again...I miss my roommates! Natalie and I watched some much need roommate movies (but not Forrest Gump...what is THAT about?) and relished in the fact that we didn't have anything to do academically. The whole week with Natalie was fantastic. It felt like we were back in South Bend again. If only our ginger, clarinet-playing roommate and our little athlete could have visited too. It would have been the absolute perfect week filled with roomie bonding. On that note, Holy Cross Room 222 next year is going to be INSANE. CLOSESTS! WINDOWS! ETC.! I will see you all before you know it!
A video we recorded on Easter:
Natalie and I enjoying some Rocky Road bars on Easter. Happy Easter to us!
So about a month ago on March 31st I turned 20 (and my parents celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary)! I received the best present I could have hoped for besides my family and it came in the form of Natalie Burkart! She and Laura arrived from Rome for their 10-day long visit around 3pm. Kelly and I went to meet them at the Maynooth train station and it was probably the cutest reunion I've ever been a part of. That night, we had a taco extravaganza for dinner. My lovely flatmates joined my friends and I for dinner! Bless their hearts, they decorated with balloons and got me a cake! It was so sweet and I really appreciated it. Overall, it was a good night even though some people could not attend/went M.I.A. For the rest of Natalie's visit we kind of just hung around and enjoyed the time together. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed sharing a room with someone again...I miss my roommates! Natalie and I watched some much need roommate movies (but not Forrest Gump...what is THAT about?) and relished in the fact that we didn't have anything to do academically. The whole week with Natalie was fantastic. It felt like we were back in South Bend again. If only our ginger, clarinet-playing roommate and our little athlete could have visited too. It would have been the absolute perfect week filled with roomie bonding. On that note, Holy Cross Room 222 next year is going to be INSANE. CLOSESTS! WINDOWS! ETC.! I will see you all before you know it!
A video we recorded on Easter:
Howth is magic
On the first Saturday of Natalie's visit a group of SMC girls traveled to Howth in Co. Dublin. I was beyond excited to see a large body of water and beach. The whole day was perfect. It was a bit chilly but fairly sunny and everyone enjoyed themselves. We saw some seriously beautiful sights. Ireland never ceases to be beautiful and I fall a little more in love with it every day. We did a cliff walk while in Howth and while it was extremely tiring and I doubted we would ever see road again, it was incredibly rewarding. I also really appreciated the wind. I don't know why or when it happened, but I developed a love for wind...it's so strange but I can't explain it so basically, I really enjoyed the gale force winds that were happening on the cliffs.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Florence > Rome
I love Florence. It is my favorite place I have visited (behind Ireland, of course) so far. It was so much cleaner than Rome and very picturesque. The population of creepy guys is much lower than Rome which I appreciated.
Tuesday, March 16th :: Travel to Florence
Kelly and I bought train tickets to Florence the day before and so we got up fairly early, took advantage of our last free breakfast from the hostel, and walked over to Termini station. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:15am but we did not see any trains leaving for Firenze S.M.N. It wasn't until about 8:15:30 am when we realized the train we were supposed to be on was going to Milan but stopped at Firenze S.M.N. When we realized this, we ran to get our ticket validated just in time to watch our train pull out of the station. I can't think of a better use of 44 euro...so we had to buy another train ticket which was leaving at 8:43am. We waited around and once again couldn't tell which platform our train was at. Around 8:40 we realized platform 1 also has platforms a-e so when the board said 1E, we had to run for it. Thankfully, we weren't the only ones running (and I mean RUNNING) late and the train was held up. I've never been more grateful for a 3 hour ride. We both got some much needed rest. Our next adventure in public transportation was trying to figure out the bus and find our hostel. The directions said to take bus 22. The problem with those directions? They didn't say what stop to get off at...after a struggle to figure out our location via map and google, we ended up getting off at the correct stop and then walking in the complete wrong direction. The bus stop was directly across from our hostel but instead of looking across the street, we walked away from it. Around 2pm we were finally settled in the hostel which was more like a little apartment. It was really very nice (and we had two balconies!) but the internet left something to be desired...I felt like I was using dial-up again. Around 5 we both decided we were starving. We took bus 22 to the city center and stumbled upon the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. This soon became my favorite Piazza. At this Piazza I was able to have Penne Alfredo (the menu actually said "Alfredo"! I almost jumped for joy! It's so difficult to find cream (alfredo) sauce in Europe.), peanut butter gelato (I definitely DID jump/scream for joy), and see an Irish pub which made me feel better about my Saint Paddy's plans.
Sadly, I do not remember specifics about what happened the rest of the trip, as it was a long time ago. I CAN tell you that I saw the David while in Florence (he is gigantic! His calf muscles are ridiculous! The overall detail in the statue is astounding; and all carved out of marble!), ate far too much food, and enjoyed Florence a lot. I do not have any pictures from this trip since my computer's final resting place was Brugges, Belgium (more on that later)
Thursday, March 18th :: Travel to Rome
Kelly and I went back to Rome so the next day Natalie and Laura could leave with us for Brugges. While in Rome, Natalie and I met up with a friend from elementary school who is also studying in Rome and we made a pilgrimage to the Saxophone Pub. It was well worth it. I just wish they sold t-shirts.
Friday-Sunday, March 19-21st :: Belgium
I really liked Belgium. The people were a lot nicer and Brugges was the cutest little town. Our trusty tour guide, Rick Steves (his book, obviously), told us the best places to see and visit in Brugges. We went to a candy shop called Dumon. The little old woman was one of the nicest ladies I've ever met and reminded me of my Mammom (My grandmom, for those of you who don't know that I call her that) if she was Belgian. She asked, since we are American, if we knew Rick Steves. We said yes of course and told her his son went to our school (more or less true) and that we are in the band with him (Irish Guard). In short, we told this woman we're friends with Rick Steves' son which is, in fact, not true but it was a little white lie and it made her very happy. I did feel slightly bad when she gave us free chocolate (only a piece each, otherwise I would feel horrible!) but I quickly drowned my bad feelings in the aforementioned chocolate and felt better. Overall, I really liked Brugges which is a good thing because there were a lot of things going against it:
1) Our hostel left something to be desired, namely, everything. The front office gives you the appeal of it being really clean and hip and cool but then you get to your room and use the sink and mystery sludge comes bubbling out...yeah, gross. Apparently it was rated "Best Hostel" three years in a row but I'm now thinking the hostel gave themselves that award...St. Christopher's Bauhaus Budget Hostel. DO NOT GO THERE.
2) St. Christopher's also happened to be the final resting place for Capitán, my computer. My computer just kept shutting down on its own but it would restart after a while. Well, one time it didn't restart and it has yet to come back to life. When I arrived back in Ireland I took it to the doctor and was told that the ac adapter plug lies right next to the motherboard in Dells and so if it surges, the motherboard could be damaged. Well guess what surged and guess what fried? Exactly. If it sounds expensive, that's because it is.
Next week I will try to get caught up on my blogs but I make no promises. Assignments and school work are piling up. It's that time of year I suppose!
Tuesday, March 16th :: Travel to Florence
Kelly and I bought train tickets to Florence the day before and so we got up fairly early, took advantage of our last free breakfast from the hostel, and walked over to Termini station. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:15am but we did not see any trains leaving for Firenze S.M.N. It wasn't until about 8:15:30 am when we realized the train we were supposed to be on was going to Milan but stopped at Firenze S.M.N. When we realized this, we ran to get our ticket validated just in time to watch our train pull out of the station. I can't think of a better use of 44 euro...so we had to buy another train ticket which was leaving at 8:43am. We waited around and once again couldn't tell which platform our train was at. Around 8:40 we realized platform 1 also has platforms a-e so when the board said 1E, we had to run for it. Thankfully, we weren't the only ones running (and I mean RUNNING) late and the train was held up. I've never been more grateful for a 3 hour ride. We both got some much needed rest. Our next adventure in public transportation was trying to figure out the bus and find our hostel. The directions said to take bus 22. The problem with those directions? They didn't say what stop to get off at...after a struggle to figure out our location via map and google, we ended up getting off at the correct stop and then walking in the complete wrong direction. The bus stop was directly across from our hostel but instead of looking across the street, we walked away from it. Around 2pm we were finally settled in the hostel which was more like a little apartment. It was really very nice (and we had two balconies!) but the internet left something to be desired...I felt like I was using dial-up again. Around 5 we both decided we were starving. We took bus 22 to the city center and stumbled upon the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. This soon became my favorite Piazza. At this Piazza I was able to have Penne Alfredo (the menu actually said "Alfredo"! I almost jumped for joy! It's so difficult to find cream (alfredo) sauce in Europe.), peanut butter gelato (I definitely DID jump/scream for joy), and see an Irish pub which made me feel better about my Saint Paddy's plans.
Sadly, I do not remember specifics about what happened the rest of the trip, as it was a long time ago. I CAN tell you that I saw the David while in Florence (he is gigantic! His calf muscles are ridiculous! The overall detail in the statue is astounding; and all carved out of marble!), ate far too much food, and enjoyed Florence a lot. I do not have any pictures from this trip since my computer's final resting place was Brugges, Belgium (more on that later)
Thursday, March 18th :: Travel to Rome
Kelly and I went back to Rome so the next day Natalie and Laura could leave with us for Brugges. While in Rome, Natalie and I met up with a friend from elementary school who is also studying in Rome and we made a pilgrimage to the Saxophone Pub. It was well worth it. I just wish they sold t-shirts.
Friday-Sunday, March 19-21st :: Belgium
I really liked Belgium. The people were a lot nicer and Brugges was the cutest little town. Our trusty tour guide, Rick Steves (his book, obviously), told us the best places to see and visit in Brugges. We went to a candy shop called Dumon. The little old woman was one of the nicest ladies I've ever met and reminded me of my Mammom (My grandmom, for those of you who don't know that I call her that) if she was Belgian. She asked, since we are American, if we knew Rick Steves. We said yes of course and told her his son went to our school (more or less true) and that we are in the band with him (Irish Guard). In short, we told this woman we're friends with Rick Steves' son which is, in fact, not true but it was a little white lie and it made her very happy. I did feel slightly bad when she gave us free chocolate (only a piece each, otherwise I would feel horrible!) but I quickly drowned my bad feelings in the aforementioned chocolate and felt better. Overall, I really liked Brugges which is a good thing because there were a lot of things going against it:
1) Our hostel left something to be desired, namely, everything. The front office gives you the appeal of it being really clean and hip and cool but then you get to your room and use the sink and mystery sludge comes bubbling out...yeah, gross. Apparently it was rated "Best Hostel" three years in a row but I'm now thinking the hostel gave themselves that award...St. Christopher's Bauhaus Budget Hostel. DO NOT GO THERE.
2) St. Christopher's also happened to be the final resting place for Capitán, my computer. My computer just kept shutting down on its own but it would restart after a while. Well, one time it didn't restart and it has yet to come back to life. When I arrived back in Ireland I took it to the doctor and was told that the ac adapter plug lies right next to the motherboard in Dells and so if it surges, the motherboard could be damaged. Well guess what surged and guess what fried? Exactly. If it sounds expensive, that's because it is.
Next week I will try to get caught up on my blogs but I make no promises. Assignments and school work are piling up. It's that time of year I suppose!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I now PREFER creepy Irish guys.
*NOTICE* There are not many pictures up yet but I will add more soon!
So I've been in Rome for about a day and a half and it has been amazing. I have a feeling that the stories from this trip could be equal parts hilarious and slightly traumatizing but more on that later.
Friday, March 12th :: Travel Day
The cab was coming for Kelly and I at 3:45am. Since I am a procrastinator, I had to finish packing Thursday night and didn't get to sleep until about 1:45 and I was waking up at 2:45. The best part was that a couple was having a very large fight in the hallway and I'm fairly certain the whole building could hear them. Anyway, we get to the airport and are ready to find our gate around 4:30 when we look on the departure board and see our flight was delayed to 11:15. First I complained a little bit about how I could've slept longer and then laughed at the situation in general and decided to just go with it. At least we weren't running to our gate because it was closing. I'd much rather be there far too early than have to rush.
When we finally arrived in Rome it was 4 or 5 something in the afternoon. We took our first adventure on public transportation and made our way to Termini station and our hostel. Our hostel is directly across from the Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) which is the first church built in Rome and the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. It's awesome. Also, our room has a BALCONY. Kelly and I may have freaked out a little bit. So after we composed ourselves, we rested a bit and then went to meet Laura and Natalie at the Tiziano. I have missed my "Little Guy" so much and we had a heartfelt reunion. After our little reunion Laura, Kelly, and I went to Pascucci's for a quick sandwich and a frulatto (WHICH ARE AWESOME) and then met up with Natalie and her parents to get drinks. After that, we went to Abbey Theater (an Irish pub! In Rome!) for fries and drinks...again.
After that, Kelly and I had our first gelato experience at the Frigidarium (It was magical!) and then made the trek back to our hostel.
Saturday, March 13th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 1
We slept in a bit and met Laura for lunch at L’insalata Ricca where I had my first Italian meal. It was crepes with ricotta cheese and spinach and then creme brulee for dessert. Holy crap. It was so good. After lunch, Laura took us around to see the sights of Rome. This consisted of: Campo di Fiori, Piazza Novana, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. On our way to the Spanish steps we walked along a road that was the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York City. If you’ve never been to New York City, there are basically a TON of shops. It was cool to see Italy’s version of a shopping district. The stores are so small and almost everything is behind glass. My favorite of everything we saw was the Trevi Fountain. Walking the way we did, you hear it long before you see it and then suddenly the buildings part and there it is in all its glory. I’m a big fan of fountains in general, but this is most definitely my favorite. It’s just magnificent. Fun fact: Kelly was almost pick-pocketed at the Trevi! Kelly caught the girl, thankfully. We kept seeing the pick-pocketers around the city but that’s probably because they had incredibly distinguishable sequin hats on that were obnoxious. If they were trying to blend in, they failed. Geez, I could be a better pick-pocketer… After our sight-seeing, we decided to meet up again later that night for dinner.
ATTENTION: This next section contains adult themes and could potentially make people feel very awkward so if you don’t like being an adult or feeling awkward, skip this part.
The bus ride back to our hostel was reason number one for the title of this post. The bus was extremely packed but I luckily landed a seat after a stop or two. While I was standing, a guy behind me started rubbing his elbow against me so I moved away as much as I could because I thought I was in his way. Well, he got closer. After I landed a seat, Kelly came closer to me as did the elbow rubber. He started rubbing both of us with his elbow and breathing really heavily and tried to grab Kelly’s rear. We both shot him dirty looks (while I simultaneously prayed to Mary, who I again, brought on this trip. She’s a great lady.) and he moved away, but when we turned around he came right back. We’re both fairly certain he was touching himself in a place that is definitely not appropriate to touch in public, let alone on a crowded bus. So gross. The whole walk back to the hostel we talked about how grossed out we were and how these creepy Italian guys made creepy Irish guys look downright saintly.
Reason number two happened after we got off the bus and started walking back to the Tiziano. We were walking by the bus stop and I was just minding my own business when I notice a man in sunglasses. I see him pull his jacket up and it takes me a minute to realize it, but yes, he flashed us his wiener. I almost ran into it with my hand. Needless to say, after these two experiences, I was ready to stay in my hostel the rest of the night and do something that could help me get back my innocence (like watch a Disney movie or something along those lines) and wait to leave for Florence. It took a few minutes for the shock of what just happened (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND!) to wear off but when it did (and when Natalie stopped laughing/consoling), we left for dinner.
AND WE’RE BACK!
I can’t remember where we went but I do remember it was great. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was huge. I ate a whole pie by myself which sounds really gross but actually is completely doable because they’re a lot thinner and lighter than in America. Later, I tried a nutella crepe. I am now a firm believer that nutella will taste good with almost anything. After our crepes and gelato we went to Scholars which is another Irish pub in Rome!
Here is where the story of Dean and Chaos ensues. It took some searching but we were able to find ourselves a place to sit. While doing so we apparently made a friend. Here is his background story: His name is Dean and he and his brother, DJ, are meteorologists who live in Naples but were in Rome for some reason with their father (who was back at the hotel) Dean is apparently from Ohio. DJ is apparently from Indiana or Texas. DJ is going to be the governor of Texas someday. Dean has lived in Australia, Scotland, Africa, and now Rome. He said if he would ever move back to the states he would live in Seattle. Dean had a journal called Chaos. He asked us to write one entire page in it but we gave him two because we are giving people. Obviously, we changed our names from Kim, Natalie, Kelly, and Laura to Andrea (or Beautiful, since he couldn’t remember my name and I told him to give me one he would remember…what a charmer…), Natasha, Claire, and Kristen. In his journal we noticed other people wishing him a good time on his trip but since it was called Chaos and he told us to write the craziest thing we could think of we all contributed our own parts. We wrote about the flashing incident earlier that day and how he should not do that to attract ladies because it most likely will not work…at least not on any respectable woman…we also wrote about how he probably picked the four most awkward people to write in his journal. We’re all kind of hoping he publishes it and makes it into a book. So we talked to Dean for awhile longer and tried to help him land a lady-friend by telling him to use the pick-up line “I want to get married in a church” and then walk away. Now, none of us actually believe this will ever work on a girl, but he could do a pretty convincing Scottish accent so you never know. We Americans do love accents. I’m not really sure why, but he bought us all a round of drinks. Out of nowhere he asked what we were all drinking and bought them. I refused but he bought it anyway so I went with it. Unfortunately for me, I was drinking Guinness. One pint is enough for me but as soon as I sipped the second I decided I don’t like Guinness as much as I thought I did and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drink it again anytime soon…Dean tried to get us to go to the Abbey Theater with him but instead we just left and ended our hilariously traumatizing evening.
Sunday, March 14th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 2!
I’m not really sure what we had for lunch but I’m sure it involved something Italian and gelato. The big news is that we visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum! They were both exceedingly cool and ancient.
After that, we met Natalie, Laura (the other Laura! She is Natalie and Laura H’s roommate. She is awesome!) and Natalie’s parents. We had gelato (BEFORE dinner!) and then went to Abbey Theater for the traditional hamburger and fries before Sunday night mass! The hamburger was as big as my face but I ate it all despite the aforementioned gelato. Mass was quite…cozy because it was in a small little chapel that the Saint Mary’s program utilizes. After mass, we got more gelato…when in Rome!
Monday, March 15th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 3!
I felt very Catholic this day.
Kelly and I decided to get up early and finally utilize the free breakfast we’re offered. It was great! The cappuccino man put a heart in the foam! I didn’t think that ever actually happened! After that, we decided that since Mary has been so good to us (and what a coincidence that we’re right across from the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore…), we would go visit the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. It was a great decision on our part. It is a beautiful basilica and I won’t lie, I almost cried. After I walked around its entirety I sat down and said a prayer to Mary and was near tears. It is truly one of my favorite things about Rome. After that we decided to try the gelateria next to our hostel which was a GREAT decision.Caffe and tiramisu gelato was a fantastic idea on my part. We proceeded to go to our room, sit on our balcony overlooking the city, eat our gelato, and bask in the warm, sun-shiny weather. It was a great start to the morning. Later, we ate at L’insalata Ricca and then made our way to the Vatican. My first experience at the Vatican was stepping in some kid’s throw up, which was not a very promising start, but once inside the basilica I forgot all about that. I felt more Catholic just being in Saint Peter’s. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I had no idea who a lot of the statues were of but that did not take away from its sheer magnificence.
After Saint Peter’s, we went back to the Tiz, met up with Natalie and browsed the shops. We also got gelato (surprise, surprise!) from Giolitti’s. It was ______ (if you guessed awesome, you are correct). Almost immediately after that we went to a really good pizza place and ate again. I swear, after this trip I will either have to run 10 miles for a week or play Frisbee for about 4-5 days straight. No sleeping or eating, just Frisbee.
Tomorrow we are headed for Florence! Natalie tells me it is what she expected Rome would be like so we’ll see how it is. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it so it can’t be bad! Plus, David is there! I’m very excited.
So I've been in Rome for about a day and a half and it has been amazing. I have a feeling that the stories from this trip could be equal parts hilarious and slightly traumatizing but more on that later.
Friday, March 12th :: Travel Day
The cab was coming for Kelly and I at 3:45am. Since I am a procrastinator, I had to finish packing Thursday night and didn't get to sleep until about 1:45 and I was waking up at 2:45. The best part was that a couple was having a very large fight in the hallway and I'm fairly certain the whole building could hear them. Anyway, we get to the airport and are ready to find our gate around 4:30 when we look on the departure board and see our flight was delayed to 11:15. First I complained a little bit about how I could've slept longer and then laughed at the situation in general and decided to just go with it. At least we weren't running to our gate because it was closing. I'd much rather be there far too early than have to rush.
When we finally arrived in Rome it was 4 or 5 something in the afternoon. We took our first adventure on public transportation and made our way to Termini station and our hostel. Our hostel is directly across from the Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) which is the first church built in Rome and the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. It's awesome. Also, our room has a BALCONY. Kelly and I may have freaked out a little bit. So after we composed ourselves, we rested a bit and then went to meet Laura and Natalie at the Tiziano. I have missed my "Little Guy" so much and we had a heartfelt reunion. After our little reunion Laura, Kelly, and I went to Pascucci's for a quick sandwich and a frulatto (WHICH ARE AWESOME) and then met up with Natalie and her parents to get drinks. After that, we went to Abbey Theater (an Irish pub! In Rome!) for fries and drinks...again.
After that, Kelly and I had our first gelato experience at the Frigidarium (It was magical!) and then made the trek back to our hostel.
Saturday, March 13th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 1
We slept in a bit and met Laura for lunch at L’insalata Ricca where I had my first Italian meal. It was crepes with ricotta cheese and spinach and then creme brulee for dessert. Holy crap. It was so good. After lunch, Laura took us around to see the sights of Rome. This consisted of: Campo di Fiori, Piazza Novana, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. On our way to the Spanish steps we walked along a road that was the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York City. If you’ve never been to New York City, there are basically a TON of shops. It was cool to see Italy’s version of a shopping district. The stores are so small and almost everything is behind glass. My favorite of everything we saw was the Trevi Fountain. Walking the way we did, you hear it long before you see it and then suddenly the buildings part and there it is in all its glory. I’m a big fan of fountains in general, but this is most definitely my favorite. It’s just magnificent. Fun fact: Kelly was almost pick-pocketed at the Trevi! Kelly caught the girl, thankfully. We kept seeing the pick-pocketers around the city but that’s probably because they had incredibly distinguishable sequin hats on that were obnoxious. If they were trying to blend in, they failed. Geez, I could be a better pick-pocketer… After our sight-seeing, we decided to meet up again later that night for dinner.
ATTENTION: This next section contains adult themes and could potentially make people feel very awkward so if you don’t like being an adult or feeling awkward, skip this part.
The bus ride back to our hostel was reason number one for the title of this post. The bus was extremely packed but I luckily landed a seat after a stop or two. While I was standing, a guy behind me started rubbing his elbow against me so I moved away as much as I could because I thought I was in his way. Well, he got closer. After I landed a seat, Kelly came closer to me as did the elbow rubber. He started rubbing both of us with his elbow and breathing really heavily and tried to grab Kelly’s rear. We both shot him dirty looks (while I simultaneously prayed to Mary, who I again, brought on this trip. She’s a great lady.) and he moved away, but when we turned around he came right back. We’re both fairly certain he was touching himself in a place that is definitely not appropriate to touch in public, let alone on a crowded bus. So gross. The whole walk back to the hostel we talked about how grossed out we were and how these creepy Italian guys made creepy Irish guys look downright saintly.
Reason number two happened after we got off the bus and started walking back to the Tiziano. We were walking by the bus stop and I was just minding my own business when I notice a man in sunglasses. I see him pull his jacket up and it takes me a minute to realize it, but yes, he flashed us his wiener. I almost ran into it with my hand. Needless to say, after these two experiences, I was ready to stay in my hostel the rest of the night and do something that could help me get back my innocence (like watch a Disney movie or something along those lines) and wait to leave for Florence. It took a few minutes for the shock of what just happened (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND!) to wear off but when it did (and when Natalie stopped laughing/consoling), we left for dinner.
AND WE’RE BACK!
I can’t remember where we went but I do remember it was great. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was huge. I ate a whole pie by myself which sounds really gross but actually is completely doable because they’re a lot thinner and lighter than in America. Later, I tried a nutella crepe. I am now a firm believer that nutella will taste good with almost anything. After our crepes and gelato we went to Scholars which is another Irish pub in Rome!
Here is where the story of Dean and Chaos ensues. It took some searching but we were able to find ourselves a place to sit. While doing so we apparently made a friend. Here is his background story: His name is Dean and he and his brother, DJ, are meteorologists who live in Naples but were in Rome for some reason with their father (who was back at the hotel) Dean is apparently from Ohio. DJ is apparently from Indiana or Texas. DJ is going to be the governor of Texas someday. Dean has lived in Australia, Scotland, Africa, and now Rome. He said if he would ever move back to the states he would live in Seattle. Dean had a journal called Chaos. He asked us to write one entire page in it but we gave him two because we are giving people. Obviously, we changed our names from Kim, Natalie, Kelly, and Laura to Andrea (or Beautiful, since he couldn’t remember my name and I told him to give me one he would remember…what a charmer…), Natasha, Claire, and Kristen. In his journal we noticed other people wishing him a good time on his trip but since it was called Chaos and he told us to write the craziest thing we could think of we all contributed our own parts. We wrote about the flashing incident earlier that day and how he should not do that to attract ladies because it most likely will not work…at least not on any respectable woman…we also wrote about how he probably picked the four most awkward people to write in his journal. We’re all kind of hoping he publishes it and makes it into a book. So we talked to Dean for awhile longer and tried to help him land a lady-friend by telling him to use the pick-up line “I want to get married in a church” and then walk away. Now, none of us actually believe this will ever work on a girl, but he could do a pretty convincing Scottish accent so you never know. We Americans do love accents. I’m not really sure why, but he bought us all a round of drinks. Out of nowhere he asked what we were all drinking and bought them. I refused but he bought it anyway so I went with it. Unfortunately for me, I was drinking Guinness. One pint is enough for me but as soon as I sipped the second I decided I don’t like Guinness as much as I thought I did and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drink it again anytime soon…Dean tried to get us to go to the Abbey Theater with him but instead we just left and ended our hilariously traumatizing evening.
Sunday, March 14th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 2!
I’m not really sure what we had for lunch but I’m sure it involved something Italian and gelato. The big news is that we visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum! They were both exceedingly cool and ancient.
After that, we met Natalie, Laura (the other Laura! She is Natalie and Laura H’s roommate. She is awesome!) and Natalie’s parents. We had gelato (BEFORE dinner!) and then went to Abbey Theater for the traditional hamburger and fries before Sunday night mass! The hamburger was as big as my face but I ate it all despite the aforementioned gelato. Mass was quite…cozy because it was in a small little chapel that the Saint Mary’s program utilizes. After mass, we got more gelato…when in Rome!
Monday, March 15th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 3!
I felt very Catholic this day.
Kelly and I decided to get up early and finally utilize the free breakfast we’re offered. It was great! The cappuccino man put a heart in the foam! I didn’t think that ever actually happened! After that, we decided that since Mary has been so good to us (and what a coincidence that we’re right across from the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore…), we would go visit the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. It was a great decision on our part. It is a beautiful basilica and I won’t lie, I almost cried. After I walked around its entirety I sat down and said a prayer to Mary and was near tears. It is truly one of my favorite things about Rome. After that we decided to try the gelateria next to our hostel which was a GREAT decision.Caffe and tiramisu gelato was a fantastic idea on my part. We proceeded to go to our room, sit on our balcony overlooking the city, eat our gelato, and bask in the warm, sun-shiny weather. It was a great start to the morning. Later, we ate at L’insalata Ricca and then made our way to the Vatican. My first experience at the Vatican was stepping in some kid’s throw up, which was not a very promising start, but once inside the basilica I forgot all about that. I felt more Catholic just being in Saint Peter’s. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I had no idea who a lot of the statues were of but that did not take away from its sheer magnificence.
After Saint Peter’s, we went back to the Tiz, met up with Natalie and browsed the shops. We also got gelato (surprise, surprise!) from Giolitti’s. It was ______ (if you guessed awesome, you are correct). Almost immediately after that we went to a really good pizza place and ate again. I swear, after this trip I will either have to run 10 miles for a week or play Frisbee for about 4-5 days straight. No sleeping or eating, just Frisbee.
Tomorrow we are headed for Florence! Natalie tells me it is what she expected Rome would be like so we’ll see how it is. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it so it can’t be bad! Plus, David is there! I’m very excited.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
2 Weeks Behind
Well I have just been downright neglectful. Sorry to disappoint all my fans! Since the weekdays aren't too exciting, I'll write about the past two weekends!
Saturday, February 27:
Another exciting edition of a Roberta trip! First we had to meet at 8:15 in the morning. Oy. We boarded the bus and drove to Clonmacnoise. It is a monastery that was founded by St. Ciaran. We were able to see loads of high crosses and take tons of really awesome pictures (the weather was just fantastic!).
After Clonmacnoise we drove about an hour and a half (or more) to Trim Castle. Before we toured the castle we were treated to another fine lunch. The only thing that could've made it a better meal was if I had about 10 extra minutes to eat it and enjoy it. I was one of the last people in line and so, the other girls who were also at the end and I had about 10 minutes to literally inhale it. The food was fantastic as usual. Banoffe pie is a glorious thing.
After lunch we toured Trim castle. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights anymore because it is a very tall castle. The best part was when we got to the top and you could see everything. It was easily one of the prettiest sights I've seen since I've been here. Fun fact: Braveheart was filmed here!
I'm holding the key to the castle...and standing next to some thing which has some kind of importance...I think it may have been in Braveheart?
So yeah after that, we just came back and I think I watched a movie or something and on Sunday I did my usual cleaning/shopping routine.
Saturday, March 6:
My first frisbee tournament! It was in a town a little north of Dublin so Caitlin, Laura, Con Man, and I caught a bus into Dublin and another into the town where the tournament was (Santry? I could be wrong...). The day as a whole was extremely fun although I did not play...at all, really. I've been having some serious back pain which makes it impossible for me to run at full tilt without intense pain. I've been walking/running like I have a stick up my butt for the past week or so. I felt pretty useless/like a pansy the whole day, but I still had fun. Sadly, we didn't win any of our games but I attribute that to the multiple injuries our team had and the fact that our team was made up of mostly girls and we were playing teams of all guys. You could be the biggest feminist in the world and would still have to agree that is not an even match but that is a different argument for a different day and I don't want to shine a negative light on the tournament. So. Yes, great craic at the tournament.
The past few weeks have just been great. I've spent a lot more time with my Irish friends which is awesome (because they are awesome!) and have seen some amazing things. I'm very lucky to have this opportunity and am thankful for it every single day, seriously. Speaking of opportunities, I'm going to Rome TOMORROW. I will once again be reunited with my favorite "little guy" and best friend, Natalie, and I COULD NOT be more excited. Apparently, there is a pub in Rome called the Saxophone Pub and Natalie, Emma and I are going to find it and eat and listen to jazz and it will be splendid. I'll be in Rome Friday-Monday night, Florence Tuesday-Wednesday night, Pompeii Thursday, back to Rome Thursday night and then Belgium from Friday-Monday morning. Back to Dublin on Monday morning. Just in time to go to my classes! This next week will be insane, I am sure of it. I will try to post pictures, etc. as much as I can!
My life is unreal.
Saturday, February 27:
Another exciting edition of a Roberta trip! First we had to meet at 8:15 in the morning. Oy. We boarded the bus and drove to Clonmacnoise. It is a monastery that was founded by St. Ciaran. We were able to see loads of high crosses and take tons of really awesome pictures (the weather was just fantastic!).
After Clonmacnoise we drove about an hour and a half (or more) to Trim Castle. Before we toured the castle we were treated to another fine lunch. The only thing that could've made it a better meal was if I had about 10 extra minutes to eat it and enjoy it. I was one of the last people in line and so, the other girls who were also at the end and I had about 10 minutes to literally inhale it. The food was fantastic as usual. Banoffe pie is a glorious thing.
After lunch we toured Trim castle. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights anymore because it is a very tall castle. The best part was when we got to the top and you could see everything. It was easily one of the prettiest sights I've seen since I've been here. Fun fact: Braveheart was filmed here!
I'm holding the key to the castle...and standing next to some thing which has some kind of importance...I think it may have been in Braveheart?
So yeah after that, we just came back and I think I watched a movie or something and on Sunday I did my usual cleaning/shopping routine.
Saturday, March 6:
My first frisbee tournament! It was in a town a little north of Dublin so Caitlin, Laura, Con Man, and I caught a bus into Dublin and another into the town where the tournament was (Santry? I could be wrong...). The day as a whole was extremely fun although I did not play...at all, really. I've been having some serious back pain which makes it impossible for me to run at full tilt without intense pain. I've been walking/running like I have a stick up my butt for the past week or so. I felt pretty useless/like a pansy the whole day, but I still had fun. Sadly, we didn't win any of our games but I attribute that to the multiple injuries our team had and the fact that our team was made up of mostly girls and we were playing teams of all guys. You could be the biggest feminist in the world and would still have to agree that is not an even match but that is a different argument for a different day and I don't want to shine a negative light on the tournament. So. Yes, great craic at the tournament.
The past few weeks have just been great. I've spent a lot more time with my Irish friends which is awesome (because they are awesome!) and have seen some amazing things. I'm very lucky to have this opportunity and am thankful for it every single day, seriously. Speaking of opportunities, I'm going to Rome TOMORROW. I will once again be reunited with my favorite "little guy" and best friend, Natalie, and I COULD NOT be more excited. Apparently, there is a pub in Rome called the Saxophone Pub and Natalie, Emma and I are going to find it and eat and listen to jazz and it will be splendid. I'll be in Rome Friday-Monday night, Florence Tuesday-Wednesday night, Pompeii Thursday, back to Rome Thursday night and then Belgium from Friday-Monday morning. Back to Dublin on Monday morning. Just in time to go to my classes! This next week will be insane, I am sure of it. I will try to post pictures, etc. as much as I can!
My life is unreal.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The gift of the gods
Nutella. Although the kind I have is not actual Nutella but it is chocolate hazelnut and "milk" which is basically vanilla and chocolate swirl and it is FANTASTIC.
Anyway, this past week was pretty uneventful but I'm in Ireland which automatically makes normal uneventful-ness awesome by default.
Monday, February 15:
English and History. I'm pretty sure I did nothing the rest of the day.
Tuesday, February 16:
No classes so I slept in and watched The Bachelor. Man, Vienna sucks. I had frisbee practice and then Roberta's class where we finished the movie we started watching previously. Again, it was very boring. Here in Ireland, instead of Fat Tuesday they have Pancake Day! Now, their pancakes are more like what Americans know as crepes but they are fantastic. I attended a little Pancake Day party at a friends house and it was a lot of fun. We played Twister and the card game spoons. This is a result of me losing a round of spoons.
Magical!
Thankfully, it was only face paint and it came off. Otherwise, I would've had to go to my Theology class with a blue beard and the priests would probably hate Americans even more than I already assume they do.
Wednesday, February 17:
Theology, English and then Frisbee practice. I tried to go to mass for Ash Wednesday but the parish church was absolutely packed so we were going to go later. We ended up just going to the quiet room in the arts block where we distributed the ashes ourselves which was different. Later, I determined that I am a bad Catholic because I ate in between meals, didn't actually go to Ash Wednesday mass, and ate meat...After that, a bunch of us went to the media society "meeting" where we watched the Truman Show. What a great movie, it's definitely one of my favorites. After that we went back to a friends room and hung around awhile before going to Brady's. It was my first time at Brady's so I didn't really know what to expect. The only thing I could think of was what our tour guides told us which was "Only ugly people go there to pick up other ugly people" but it was quite fun and the ugly people were at a minimum so I suppose it was a good night all around. The creepy men were also underrepresented but I believe that is only because there were guys in our group. As soon as they would leave to go to some other part of the pub, some random kid would jump in the middle and try to dance on us. Not with, on. Nonetheless, it was a really fun night.
(Sidenote: I feel like now would be a good time to say that one of the "creepy guys" from the Roost last week...or however long ago it was that I wrote about some...is not actually a creepy guy. I know him now and it turns out he is a pretty nice guy. He was one of the guys in our group keeping away the other creepy guys at Brady's so I feel he has redeemed himself. However, he has now picked up the nickname "Creepy Guy" (complete with hand motions) which is kind of unfortunate, but at least it's a story, right?)
Thursday, February 18:
English and Theology again and Irish Language! That class just fascinates me. There is a field trip organized where we would go somewhere for a weekend (I think up near Donegal) and we would attend an Irish lesson at an all-Irish speaking school. It's an awesome opportunity which I unfortunately can not take part in because of a Roberta trip. All I have to say is this Roberta trip better be awesome...Since it is Thursday that means The Roost! My favorite night. Although this Thursday it was just strange. It seemed like the crowd was much older and much more drunk than usual. The best part was when a girl flipped over the little railing onto the dance floor into the arms of some guy who had no idea what just happened or why. I also had my first experience with Maximus (which is a food place- "chips", burgers, etc.).
Friday, February 19:
Morning Frisbee practice was very chill. Only a few of us showed up but that's probably because they were all preparing for Limerick (Which I found out too late I could've gone to if we had just informed Roberta. Cool. Caitlin and I definitely regret not going. It sounded like a lot of fun!) English was uneventful as usual. After English I took a nap and when I woke up I went over to Kelly's to have dinner. We had tacos. The fact that I've had tacos 2 times in the same month is mind-blowing but I love it. These tacos were exponentially better. I'm going to attribute it to the fact that taco seasoning was involved. After that I came back to my room and started to watch Phantom of the Opera on YouTube. It was a great decision.
Saturday, February 20:
Up at 7 for our Bert trip to Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel, and Dunmore Caves. The drive took forever. It was only supposed to take about 2 hours but it took us almost 3. Basically, we arrived at Cahir Castle and got the super speedy tour and then ate almost immediately which was fine by me. The best part about the Bert trips is the food, hands down. We get a hot meal, tea, and a dessert guaranteed. It was so good.
I was only able to take a few pictures at the castle:
After we ate, we got back on the bus and drove an hour or so to the Rock of Cashel. I'll never forget my first view of it. There were a bunch of houses blocking the view and then all of a sudden nothing was in the way (except for a small souvenir shop...lame) and against the blue sky it was just a magnificent sight. It's absolutely massive. Many people think the buildings are the Rock of Cashel or that they are a castle, but the buildings are ON the Rock of Cashel and they are actually not a castle at all but religious buildings. As you can probably tell, we had a great tour guide here. Believe it or not he was the only one to tell us where we were in Ireland, meaning town and county. Strange.
After that, we drove another hour or so to Dunmore Caves. Apparently there were over 700 steps we walked to get around it. I most definitely felt it on the way back up I can assure you of that. The cave itself was pretty cool. It was used as a hide out at one point when the Vikings invaded. Unfortunately, the Vikings pretty much killed everyone who was hiding there because there was only one way in and out. I thought we had an American tour guide by the sound of his accent...no matter his nationality, he was a weirdy.
buffalo!
I am the walrus! (goo goo g'joob)
Guinnes, hand, Irish flag
"Irish flag" up close
The way out is painful.
After the caves we journeyed back to Maynooth. I always feel relief when I come back. It's a good feeling. Caitlin and I went to mass. We're still very confused on when to sit and stand and kneel because it seems like everyone just kind of does it whenever so we just follow everyone else. After mass I came back to my room and finished watching Phantom. Great movie and music right there. Andrew Lloyd Weber sure does know what he's doing!
Sunday, February 21:
Weekly Tesco trip was an ultimate success because not only did I have access to my stipend money, but I bought stuff for tacos. Tacos that will be made like home. Granted, they will not be made until my birthday (March 31st, feel free to send presents), I'm still really excited about them. After Tesco I cam back and I have to be honest, I don't know what I did. Probably something insignificant. That night, Kelly made gyros which were FANTASTIC. Man, I sure could go for some of them again.
Until next Sunday (or Wednesday?), Erin go bragh!
Anyway, this past week was pretty uneventful but I'm in Ireland which automatically makes normal uneventful-ness awesome by default.
Monday, February 15:
English and History. I'm pretty sure I did nothing the rest of the day.
Tuesday, February 16:
No classes so I slept in and watched The Bachelor. Man, Vienna sucks. I had frisbee practice and then Roberta's class where we finished the movie we started watching previously. Again, it was very boring. Here in Ireland, instead of Fat Tuesday they have Pancake Day! Now, their pancakes are more like what Americans know as crepes but they are fantastic. I attended a little Pancake Day party at a friends house and it was a lot of fun. We played Twister and the card game spoons. This is a result of me losing a round of spoons.
Magical!
Thankfully, it was only face paint and it came off. Otherwise, I would've had to go to my Theology class with a blue beard and the priests would probably hate Americans even more than I already assume they do.
Wednesday, February 17:
Theology, English and then Frisbee practice. I tried to go to mass for Ash Wednesday but the parish church was absolutely packed so we were going to go later. We ended up just going to the quiet room in the arts block where we distributed the ashes ourselves which was different. Later, I determined that I am a bad Catholic because I ate in between meals, didn't actually go to Ash Wednesday mass, and ate meat...After that, a bunch of us went to the media society "meeting" where we watched the Truman Show. What a great movie, it's definitely one of my favorites. After that we went back to a friends room and hung around awhile before going to Brady's. It was my first time at Brady's so I didn't really know what to expect. The only thing I could think of was what our tour guides told us which was "Only ugly people go there to pick up other ugly people" but it was quite fun and the ugly people were at a minimum so I suppose it was a good night all around. The creepy men were also underrepresented but I believe that is only because there were guys in our group. As soon as they would leave to go to some other part of the pub, some random kid would jump in the middle and try to dance on us. Not with, on. Nonetheless, it was a really fun night.
(Sidenote: I feel like now would be a good time to say that one of the "creepy guys" from the Roost last week...or however long ago it was that I wrote about some...is not actually a creepy guy. I know him now and it turns out he is a pretty nice guy. He was one of the guys in our group keeping away the other creepy guys at Brady's so I feel he has redeemed himself. However, he has now picked up the nickname "Creepy Guy" (complete with hand motions) which is kind of unfortunate, but at least it's a story, right?)
Thursday, February 18:
English and Theology again and Irish Language! That class just fascinates me. There is a field trip organized where we would go somewhere for a weekend (I think up near Donegal) and we would attend an Irish lesson at an all-Irish speaking school. It's an awesome opportunity which I unfortunately can not take part in because of a Roberta trip. All I have to say is this Roberta trip better be awesome...Since it is Thursday that means The Roost! My favorite night. Although this Thursday it was just strange. It seemed like the crowd was much older and much more drunk than usual. The best part was when a girl flipped over the little railing onto the dance floor into the arms of some guy who had no idea what just happened or why. I also had my first experience with Maximus (which is a food place- "chips", burgers, etc.).
Friday, February 19:
Morning Frisbee practice was very chill. Only a few of us showed up but that's probably because they were all preparing for Limerick (Which I found out too late I could've gone to if we had just informed Roberta. Cool. Caitlin and I definitely regret not going. It sounded like a lot of fun!) English was uneventful as usual. After English I took a nap and when I woke up I went over to Kelly's to have dinner. We had tacos. The fact that I've had tacos 2 times in the same month is mind-blowing but I love it. These tacos were exponentially better. I'm going to attribute it to the fact that taco seasoning was involved. After that I came back to my room and started to watch Phantom of the Opera on YouTube. It was a great decision.
Saturday, February 20:
Up at 7 for our Bert trip to Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel, and Dunmore Caves. The drive took forever. It was only supposed to take about 2 hours but it took us almost 3. Basically, we arrived at Cahir Castle and got the super speedy tour and then ate almost immediately which was fine by me. The best part about the Bert trips is the food, hands down. We get a hot meal, tea, and a dessert guaranteed. It was so good.
I was only able to take a few pictures at the castle:
After we ate, we got back on the bus and drove an hour or so to the Rock of Cashel. I'll never forget my first view of it. There were a bunch of houses blocking the view and then all of a sudden nothing was in the way (except for a small souvenir shop...lame) and against the blue sky it was just a magnificent sight. It's absolutely massive. Many people think the buildings are the Rock of Cashel or that they are a castle, but the buildings are ON the Rock of Cashel and they are actually not a castle at all but religious buildings. As you can probably tell, we had a great tour guide here. Believe it or not he was the only one to tell us where we were in Ireland, meaning town and county. Strange.
After that, we drove another hour or so to Dunmore Caves. Apparently there were over 700 steps we walked to get around it. I most definitely felt it on the way back up I can assure you of that. The cave itself was pretty cool. It was used as a hide out at one point when the Vikings invaded. Unfortunately, the Vikings pretty much killed everyone who was hiding there because there was only one way in and out. I thought we had an American tour guide by the sound of his accent...no matter his nationality, he was a weirdy.
buffalo!
I am the walrus! (goo goo g'joob)
Guinnes, hand, Irish flag
"Irish flag" up close
The way out is painful.
After the caves we journeyed back to Maynooth. I always feel relief when I come back. It's a good feeling. Caitlin and I went to mass. We're still very confused on when to sit and stand and kneel because it seems like everyone just kind of does it whenever so we just follow everyone else. After mass I came back to my room and finished watching Phantom. Great movie and music right there. Andrew Lloyd Weber sure does know what he's doing!
Sunday, February 21:
Weekly Tesco trip was an ultimate success because not only did I have access to my stipend money, but I bought stuff for tacos. Tacos that will be made like home. Granted, they will not be made until my birthday (March 31st, feel free to send presents), I'm still really excited about them. After Tesco I cam back and I have to be honest, I don't know what I did. Probably something insignificant. That night, Kelly made gyros which were FANTASTIC. Man, I sure could go for some of them again.
Until next Sunday (or Wednesday?), Erin go bragh!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Roost is on fire.
Not really...more on the Roost later! Now it's time for another Sunday weekly wrap-up and since I already talked about Monday, we're gonna move right on to Tuesday!
Tuesday, February 9:
I can not even express how nice it was that I had no classes on Tuesday. I was still pretty tired/sick and I was glad to be able to sleep in and do nothing for awhile, that is until frisbee practice. We had practice outside and although the weather wasn't terrible, it was still pretty dang cold. I think I have bad circulation or something because my hands and feet are always freezing...After frisbee I had some more free time until Roberta's class and I can't quite remember what I did but I'm sure it was insignificant and involved facebook or a movie. We might've actually had tacos for dinner but they were forgettable...obviously. I don't mean to brag but I know how to make a mean taco and these were just poor but I digress. We have a "class" with Roberta every Tuesday night at 8pm for about an hour where we just talk about how we're adjusting and the trips we're going on the following weekend and such. This week we watched a movie on Newgrange and the Hill of Tara and I hate to admit it but I was falling asleep. I tried to stay interested, but I was just too tired. Luckily, I'm pretty sure we got all the same information when we actually visited the sites so I didn't miss much...
Wednesday, February 10:
Theology and English were uneventful as usual. I had frisbee practice again at 2 (inside this time!) which is always fun. Wednesday night I'm not quite sure what I did in between frisbee and going to a friend's apartment, but again, I'm sure it was insignificant. The friend's apartment I went to was a girl from the frisbee team (Rebecca). It was her birthday so she had a little birthday party! Some other frisbee kids were there so we had some great craic (pronounced crack, it means fun). I went home pretty early and I think I went right to bed or possibly skyped my mom.
Thursday, February 11:
FINALLY! My favorite day has arrived. Despite the fact that I have the most classes on Thursday, it is the best day because it means the Roost, but more on that later. Thursday was also the day I had my first Irish language class and it was AWESOME! It's going to be such an amazing class and I'm so excited. After the class Caitlin and I kept practicing our Irish phrases (we learned about...7) over and over, that's how awesome it is. I also found out that I was right about "Dia Duit" meaning hello and God be with you, so props to Google, but I also found out it's pronounced dia goo-it (rough phonetic spelling, obviously). After that some of us went to Colleen's where we had an awesome meal of cajun chicken pasta...and stove top. Best meal I had in a while I'll tell you! After that, I went to my room and proceeded to get ready for the Roost. I asked Bridget to help me pick an outfit. Apparently I looked "hot" which must of been true because I was hit on by some creepy guys, but thankfully the frisbee guys came to my rescue or would deter others away. Man, I just love the Roost. I hardly even had anything to drink but I just had such a great time dancing. The dance floor, it is my home. I'm already counting down to next Thursday.
Friday, February 12:
Morning frisbee practice. It was a struggle to feel pumped to play, but that quickly changed when we were kicked outside (due to a scheduling conflict) and the beautiful day took over. It was somewhat cold, but the sun was shining and all around lovely. Caitlin and I dazzled everyone with the Irish we had learned until they started speaking it to us and it just went right over our heads...after frisbee I took the quickest shower of my life "dried my hair" and went to english. After that, I lazed around and did nothing until I decided to watch PS. I Love You and re-copy my notes. My God, that movie makes me cry every time. Without fail. I really hate Hilary Swank in that movie though...
Saturday, February 13:
Up at 8 for our day full of fun and excitement. First was Newgrange which was pretty awesome. We went inside the tomb which was extremely well built for something that is older than the pyramids...
Newgrange!
next was lunch. Ah, lunch. It was a buffet-type meal. I had lasagna, fries, peas & carrots, and cabbage. Quite the assortment. For dessert we had canoli-type things and some very bland rice pudding. Kelly had the idea to had brown & white sugar to it. About 6 packs later, it tasted exceptional and the sugar rush I had was like nobody's business. Between that and the tea, I was set. Until I got on the bus and crashed. After a short nap, we were at our next stop. Monsterboice! It's an abbey...or was. We stopped for literally about 10 minutes. Not much else to see really but remains of what once was an abbey.
We also took a small detour to look at some high crosses in a random cemetery. Some of the girls were INCREDIBLY annoying because they were shouting and taking ridiculous pictures and I kept thinking: "Are you serious? We're in a cemetery...have some respect." People were there visiting their loved ones and people were being so inconsiderate. A pair of girls almost stepped on a fresh grave (it had a letter that said Granddad on it, it made me sad...I said a quick prayer for them) and proceeded to shout about it. I gave them my dirtiest look. Anyway, enough of that rant.
After that we went to the Hill of Tara for about a half hour. An explanation through words and pictures simply does not do it justice. I would explain it as just a bunch of grassy knolls and my pictures can not fully show the snow capped mountains in the distance I witnessed. It was once where the High King of Ireland stayed. There is one rock (that inspired some dirty jokes...I'm not gonna lie) on top of one of these knolls and legend has it that if you sit on top of it and you hear a roar than you are the true King of Ireland. Now this rock is pretty tall. I'm somewhat ashamed to say I needed some help, but I attribute that to the fact that I was laughing and lack upper body strength. Sadly, I am not the King of Ireland.
My friends Kelly(standing) and Caitlin
After that we started driving back to Maynooth and I took another little nap. Later that night, Kelly, Caitlin and I watched the first half of the first Lord of the Rings movie.
Sunday, February 14:
Well Happy Valentine's day! I spent my day by taking a quick jog with Caitlin around campus, shopping at Tesco with Caitlin and Kelly and cleaning my bathroom! I am now planning to do some stuff for school/watch Mulan/go to bed! What a great Valentine's day!
Until next time, Erin go bragh!
Tuesday, February 9:
I can not even express how nice it was that I had no classes on Tuesday. I was still pretty tired/sick and I was glad to be able to sleep in and do nothing for awhile, that is until frisbee practice. We had practice outside and although the weather wasn't terrible, it was still pretty dang cold. I think I have bad circulation or something because my hands and feet are always freezing...After frisbee I had some more free time until Roberta's class and I can't quite remember what I did but I'm sure it was insignificant and involved facebook or a movie. We might've actually had tacos for dinner but they were forgettable...obviously. I don't mean to brag but I know how to make a mean taco and these were just poor but I digress. We have a "class" with Roberta every Tuesday night at 8pm for about an hour where we just talk about how we're adjusting and the trips we're going on the following weekend and such. This week we watched a movie on Newgrange and the Hill of Tara and I hate to admit it but I was falling asleep. I tried to stay interested, but I was just too tired. Luckily, I'm pretty sure we got all the same information when we actually visited the sites so I didn't miss much...
Wednesday, February 10:
Theology and English were uneventful as usual. I had frisbee practice again at 2 (inside this time!) which is always fun. Wednesday night I'm not quite sure what I did in between frisbee and going to a friend's apartment, but again, I'm sure it was insignificant. The friend's apartment I went to was a girl from the frisbee team (Rebecca). It was her birthday so she had a little birthday party! Some other frisbee kids were there so we had some great craic (pronounced crack, it means fun). I went home pretty early and I think I went right to bed or possibly skyped my mom.
Thursday, February 11:
FINALLY! My favorite day has arrived. Despite the fact that I have the most classes on Thursday, it is the best day because it means the Roost, but more on that later. Thursday was also the day I had my first Irish language class and it was AWESOME! It's going to be such an amazing class and I'm so excited. After the class Caitlin and I kept practicing our Irish phrases (we learned about...7) over and over, that's how awesome it is. I also found out that I was right about "Dia Duit" meaning hello and God be with you, so props to Google, but I also found out it's pronounced dia goo-it (rough phonetic spelling, obviously). After that some of us went to Colleen's where we had an awesome meal of cajun chicken pasta...and stove top. Best meal I had in a while I'll tell you! After that, I went to my room and proceeded to get ready for the Roost. I asked Bridget to help me pick an outfit. Apparently I looked "hot" which must of been true because I was hit on by some creepy guys, but thankfully the frisbee guys came to my rescue or would deter others away. Man, I just love the Roost. I hardly even had anything to drink but I just had such a great time dancing. The dance floor, it is my home. I'm already counting down to next Thursday.
Friday, February 12:
Morning frisbee practice. It was a struggle to feel pumped to play, but that quickly changed when we were kicked outside (due to a scheduling conflict) and the beautiful day took over. It was somewhat cold, but the sun was shining and all around lovely. Caitlin and I dazzled everyone with the Irish we had learned until they started speaking it to us and it just went right over our heads...after frisbee I took the quickest shower of my life "dried my hair" and went to english. After that, I lazed around and did nothing until I decided to watch PS. I Love You and re-copy my notes. My God, that movie makes me cry every time. Without fail. I really hate Hilary Swank in that movie though...
Saturday, February 13:
Up at 8 for our day full of fun and excitement. First was Newgrange which was pretty awesome. We went inside the tomb which was extremely well built for something that is older than the pyramids...
Newgrange!
next was lunch. Ah, lunch. It was a buffet-type meal. I had lasagna, fries, peas & carrots, and cabbage. Quite the assortment. For dessert we had canoli-type things and some very bland rice pudding. Kelly had the idea to had brown & white sugar to it. About 6 packs later, it tasted exceptional and the sugar rush I had was like nobody's business. Between that and the tea, I was set. Until I got on the bus and crashed. After a short nap, we were at our next stop. Monsterboice! It's an abbey...or was. We stopped for literally about 10 minutes. Not much else to see really but remains of what once was an abbey.
We also took a small detour to look at some high crosses in a random cemetery. Some of the girls were INCREDIBLY annoying because they were shouting and taking ridiculous pictures and I kept thinking: "Are you serious? We're in a cemetery...have some respect." People were there visiting their loved ones and people were being so inconsiderate. A pair of girls almost stepped on a fresh grave (it had a letter that said Granddad on it, it made me sad...I said a quick prayer for them) and proceeded to shout about it. I gave them my dirtiest look. Anyway, enough of that rant.
After that we went to the Hill of Tara for about a half hour. An explanation through words and pictures simply does not do it justice. I would explain it as just a bunch of grassy knolls and my pictures can not fully show the snow capped mountains in the distance I witnessed. It was once where the High King of Ireland stayed. There is one rock (that inspired some dirty jokes...I'm not gonna lie) on top of one of these knolls and legend has it that if you sit on top of it and you hear a roar than you are the true King of Ireland. Now this rock is pretty tall. I'm somewhat ashamed to say I needed some help, but I attribute that to the fact that I was laughing and lack upper body strength. Sadly, I am not the King of Ireland.
My friends Kelly(standing) and Caitlin
After that we started driving back to Maynooth and I took another little nap. Later that night, Kelly, Caitlin and I watched the first half of the first Lord of the Rings movie.
Sunday, February 14:
Well Happy Valentine's day! I spent my day by taking a quick jog with Caitlin around campus, shopping at Tesco with Caitlin and Kelly and cleaning my bathroom! I am now planning to do some stuff for school/watch Mulan/go to bed! What a great Valentine's day!
Until next time, Erin go bragh!
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