"If Ireland had a motto it would be: Whatever."

So friends, the title of this particular entry is a real quote from a real, live, Irish man. His name is Andy. Kelly is my witness. This quote took place on January 29, Friday, but more on that later. I've decided that unless I pick a day to update, I will fall behind. So, Sundays will be the day for new posts (unless something SUPER exciting happens that I need to tell everyone right away) and they will be like a weekly wrap-up. They will be pretty lengthy so I apologize, but at the same time you're getting a lot of info about Dublin through my eyes. Also, my mom said she wants details so that is what she is getting! Once in a lifetime experience here folks! So without further ado, the weekly wrap-up (that was actually only 5 days long...)

January 27: Wednesday
So the flight over was awesome because we had these little personal tvs (I watched some of "This Is It" and all of "Phantom of the Opera"). They were so cool. Also, the food (dinner/breakfast) wasn't all that bad! So, we got to the airport and went through customs and got our bags. Then we found this little place called the Bagel Factory and it was really good. Me and the four other girls I flew with just sat there eating our bagels and talking for about and hour or so. Then Roberta walked up with a sign that said SMC and she took us to the bus where we waited for the other 10 girls or so. We drove to Maynooth and got our rooming all situated and had about two hours to situate ourselves or nap or whatever. Then Roberta took us to the main street where the Roost (Pub) and Dunnes (store) and all that is located. We went to this nice little restaurant and apparently it was open just for us. It was awesome. I had some type of smothered chicken that was really good. It was probably the most food any of us had in awhile which was good because I don't think I ate again until thursday morning when I ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast...but I was full until then so it was great. SO then we went to Dunnes and got some essentials and got our phones worked out and all that. Then I went back to my room and put my clothes away and everything. When I was done I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen which is when I locked myself out of the room and had to run to the front desk and get a temporary key. The really cute desk worker complimented my "jumper" and gave me the key while the other one just looked exasperated. Now before I continue I have a bone to pick with the word "jumper." When I first heard the word I thought it meant a coat, then my mom texted me and said on Who wants to be a millionaire they said it meant a sweater (at least in the UK), and then the desk worker complimented me while I was wearing my Ireland long-sleeved shirt. It's very confusing! I now assume that a jumper is anything with long sleeves...When I got back to my room I just sat there trying to figure out what to do with myself and around this time was when the loneliness set in. We didn't have any internet or anything and it was also around 730pm (give or take) so I had no clue what to do. I decided to go to bed and I had a pretty good sleep. I woke up a few times during the night because my body temperature kept fluctuating from hot to cold. It was weird.

January 28: Thursday
Anyway, since I went to bed at about 630-730 I woke up around 330am and couldn't go back to sleep so around 4ish I wrote in my journal about the first day and then I decided I can't fall back asleep so I watched The Proposal on DVD and cried every once in awhile about my pathetic situation. Pathetic mostly because I usually would've just gone online or something. It was a mix of loneliness and homesickness since I didn't have any connection to anyone really. I mean everyone who was in Maynooth with me was probably asleep so I couldn't talk to them. It was just a sad situation. My mood improved considerably when we finally got internet connection and I could connect with my parents, grandparents, and others again. Now contrary to all this loneliness talk, I am actually enjoying myself thoroughly it's just hard at night since my roommates aren't here yet (I've only met one, Louise, and I think she went home on Friday) and the quiet is so loud (ohhh that's deep). The first two weeks are apparently the hardest so my moods will probably fluctuate a lot. So after the movie was over I got up and showered and ate then had the first day of orientation which was...pretty boring honestly. So after that was all over I came back and napped because I was falling asleep during the orientation. I think it has something to do with the lighting in the room we were in...it's kind of low and calming. So then we got up and walked to Tesco (kind of like a super wal-mart, target, wawa hybrid) and bought a bunch of stuff then I came back after a less than pleasurable walk back (since it's kind of far away) and put my groceries away and then headed over to Kelly's to help her clean her kitchen since her roomies are disgusting. That kitchen had so much grime it was revolting. It was like her roommates cooked exploding Asian cuisine every night... So by the time we were done cleaning it was like 8-830 when we started cooking and we ate around 845-9. We had bread, spaghetti, salad, and vegetables...and wine. It was pretty good except I really don't like the taste of wine. I can only stand the taste of a little bit. They were all saying how good it was for $4 wine and such and I was just like GROSS. Anyway, I came back to my room around 945 and wrote an email to my mom I think and then went on facebook a bit and put up pictures. By the time I got done it was 1130 so I went to bed.

January 29: Friday
So I woke up when my mom texted me to see if I was up (around 8:10am), but I was getting up in 5 minutes anyway so I didn't care. Plus, I wanted to skype with my mom and dad anyway! SO after I talked to them for awhile (it was 3am in Delco, by the way) I showered real quick and got dressed and went to the second round of orientation. Again, pretty boring stuff. The best part of this day so far was our tour. Our tour guides were two students Eoin(Owen) and Mark. They were hilarious. Mark apparently is here for his 6th year but he's technically a senior I guess because he apparently had to do his second year three times...Eoin had to do his second year twice...either Maynooth is not very well known for it's academics or the students really live by the would-be Ireland motto of "Whatever..." It's just very different from the States because if you're going to be in school for more than 4 years at home, you better be a doctor when you leave or something that requires an equally ridiculous amount of schooling. I wish the States was more laid back like it is here. I'd enjoy college that much more! Anyway, they were hilarious and knew what they were talking about. They told us how not to get caught when having a party so I suppose that's pretty useful. Eoin is one of the Vice Presidents and is in the drama society so he was pushing both of those things pretty hard. There are so many societys (non-sports) and clubs (sports) that I don't know what to join! During the tour they were telling us about the buildings that were haunted and such so at the end they said "It's an old Irish tradition that if you went on a tour and later see your guides in the pub that you buy them a drink or the ghosts will get you!" It was funny. They were great. So after that there was more lecture-ish talk then we had lunch. I just came back to my room and ate cereal. It was great. Much needed. After that we had another talk by the head of the societies and such and he told us some info but my group pretty much knew it all because of Eoin and Mark. Then the heads of the international society thing got up and told us about what they do and how there was a party at the Roost for the old and new international students with free food! FREE! Yes please! The guy who talked the most is from Harrisburg! By the way, the four people who all run this were all once students at NUI Maynooth. I was so excited when he said he was from Harrisburg. I didn't get a chance to talk to the guy from Harrisburg, but maybe next time. We were going to go and explore the south campus for our theology class and just to explore but another girl said they were completely unhelpful...and it also started raining. Then I took a little nap, ate a disgusting amount of peanut butter and bread (not in sandwich form cause I'm weird and have a weird thing for bread now...), skyped with Natalie, and then got ready for the Roost. The party started at 8 but we didn't get there until 11-1130? It was really lame because everyone started to leave so we didn't really get to meet anyone. I did partake in my first pint. It was a beer called Carlsburg which Kelly bought for me since it was my first-ever beer. It was one of the only ones they had left and it was my least favorite I've had so far, but I still appreciated it and drank it all. I had a lot of fun at the Roost. Kelly and I (but mostly Kelly) talked to this guy Andy (mentioned in the beginning). He was a very nice guy. Good conversation was had. It was a nice conversation between strangers over pints. The three of us were actually the last to leave the international private party (at around 130am) because we were enjoying ourselves so much. At the end of the night Kelly and I parted ways from Andy and said maybe we would see him around at the pubs. Kelly and I then went back to her room and had baked beans and tea because we were extremely cold and both those things could warm us up right. By the time I got back to my room it was around 2am. Since I had the tea, I was all riled up and couldn't fall asleep so I put on my heating pad (to warm me up since I was FREEZING...why they turn the heat off at night, the coldest part of the 24 hours, is beyond me) and listened to my ipod (because it was too quiet) and was able to get calm enough to start falling asleep and safely detach myself from all those electronics.

January 30: Saturday
We went into Dublin for the day to look around and all that. It was an awesome day. We took the 11am train from Maynooth to Dublin and headed straight for Trinity College. I felt like how I imagine other people feel when they come to Notre Dame. All the SMC girls we just in awe of how beautiful the campus was when our new friend, Johnny, pointed out the analogy to ND. After that we wandered down to Grafton Street for some shopping and then to St. Stephen's Green for a mosey in the park. After that we decided we wanted to look for Dublin Castle. Basically, we ended up everywhere BUT Dublin Castle. We happened upon St Patrick's Cathedral and it was just breathtaking. A truly epic piece of architecture. After that, we passed through the viking/medieval area and found a pub called The Pale. It was incredible. The had homemade vegetable soup for their soup of the day and it was delicious. Exactly what you needed on a cold day. It was at The Pale that I first took a sip of Guinness. Believe it or not, I liked the taste of Guinness the best out of all the beers I've tried (which tally to three now...). I also tasted my friend's Irish coffee that had Bailey's in it and that was the obvious winner out of all the alcohol I've ever tried in my life...including wine. After The Pale, we were going to continue our quest for Dublin Castle until we realized we should probably head back to Maynooth so we could catch the 5:50 train to get back for 7pm mass at St. Mary's Church (the parish Maynooth is in...coincidence?) After church Kelly and I ran to Dunnes since I ran out of toilet paper...and I had to go to the bathroom all through mass so when I say we ran, I mean we ran. After that, I came back and skyped with my parents for an hour, watched a movie with some SMC girls (Boondock Saints. Never gets old), then skyped with Jess for a little, then put up my Dublin pictures on facebook!
Here are some pictures to stimulate your mind and get you dreaming about Dublin (If the pictures are cut off, just click on them and they will enlarge!):

















That brings us up to the present.

January 31: Sunday
Now, I plan to go to bed and set an alarm for sometime in the afternoon. It's time for me to sleep as late as possible. Tomorrow night, I think some of us are going to all make dinner again or something and then go watch Once (an Irish movie, set in Dublin. The international society is setting it up) at 730pm in the Arts building (which is where I lost my soul to orientation. SO BORING!) After that, I have no plans besides skyping my parents (and anyone else who wishes to). Classes start Monday. It should most definitely be interesting...until next time, Erin Go Bragh!