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!

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!

"I'm giving props to Mary on this one..."

Well London was awesome and the title has to do with London, but more on that later.

Monday, February 1:
The first day of classes! I had two: Irish Studies (English) and Ireland since the 1800s (History). My English class, in a word, is HUGE. Like 100+ kids. Definitely something knew for this SMC girl. It wasn't that interesting because we went over the usual first day of class stuff like how much the exam is worth, etc. My history class was pretty interesting and it's basically all international students which is cool.

Tuesday, February 2:
I have no classes on Tuesdays! So awesome. I think I just stayed in my room, watched the Bachelor and ate peanut butter. Seriously.

Wednesday, February 3:
I had my first Theology class at 9 am. Bleh. My earliest class, thank God I only have one class that early. It's basically a class of SMC vs. Irish men becoming priests. Rather interesting...My next class was Victorianism to Modernism (English) which was again a HUGE class and it was all right. The teacher seems pretty awesome. After that, I had my first frisbee practice! Because I joined the team! It was awesome. It'll be tons of fun.

Thursday, February 4:
I had the same theology and english classes as Wednesday, but at different times. The big news is that Thursday night was my first Roost night. One SMC girl said The Roost would "become our church." I'm starting to think she is right because it was awesome and so much fun. I had a pint of Guinness and then danced the night away. For all those worrying out there, I wasn't drunk. If pictures go up at some point, know that I was NOT drunk I was just having fun. I'm also a sporadic dancer so there's another explanation for any crazy/unattractive pictures.


Note: Before I talk about London, I would like everyone to know that I was sick with a stuffy nose and a really bad sore throat. The lack of sleep probably didn't help me much. It's safe to say I was pretty cranky the whole time, but I tried to enjoy myself as much as I could and not be a Debbie Downer. I think I was half-successful. Anyway...


Friday, February 5:
I didn't have class until 2pm! This was also the day I left for London! Kelly and I went to our 2pm class which we didn't even have! We were so angry because then we could've left earlier! Ugh, so lame. Anyway, we packed (I packed my Blessed Virgin Mary statue so she would help us in our travels. This is important later.) and got a cab to the Dublin airport and we were in London by 9 or 10. We had a heartrending reunion with Laura and Natalie. We all tackled each other pretty much. People thought we were nuts. Then, we met up with Kelly's awesome friend Sabina and her boyfriend Adam. We took the tube to West Kensington, where Sabina and Adam live for the semester, and went to sleep after an exhausting day of traveling.

Saturday, February 6:
The four of us got up early and took the tube from West Kensington to...some other street...South Kensington, perhaps? Anyway, we boarded a bus that took us to Stonehenge and Bath. Both places were very old and historic, go figure. Stonehenge was kind of disappointing because you couldn't really get near it at all. I would say we were about 20 yards away from it or something like that. I wanted to get up close and personal with it. After Stonehenge we toured the Roman Baths and they were awesome. Quite the sight. It was so weird to see so much Roman architecture in England. Afterwards, we ate at a little restaurant and then boarded our bus to head back to South Kensington. I slept on the way back and it was awesome. After a quick stop at a pastry shop, we headed for the London Eye. Although it was kind of expensive, it was totally worth it. The view of the city was awesome and something I will never forget (mostly because I took a ton of pictures). After the Eye, we went to Picadilly Circus. Think Times Square but in London. Here we met up with Sabina and Adam and had some dinner at a place called Apogee. Aside from the fact that our waitress was bi-polar and the service stunk overall, it was a good meal. After Apogee we walked through China town a bit and then split from Sabina and Adam and Kelly, Laura, Natalie, and I went to King's Cross station to find Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter). There's a big London FAIL here because it's actually located between 8 & 9 not 9 & 10. Also, the cart is broken! Ugh. Anyway, after we were finished being tourists we got on the tube to head back to Sabina's. It was during this tube ride where my first use of Mary came in handy. You see, I brought my little statue of Mary with me to Ireland so she would watch over me and help keep me safe and all that good stuff. Well, I also brought her to London. She stayed in my purse all weekend and by association with me all weekend. While on the tube a scary looking man with a pizza box got on and proceeded to openly stare at us the whole time. We all proceeded to make ourselves look as angry and "not up for any funny stuff" as we could. I also prayed the Hail Mary until he got off. Which he did and he didn't say or do anything to us. (I'm sure he was a nice guy. Even with my little knowledge of horror movies, I know how stuff like that ends so I (we) were a tad paranoid) We finally got back to Sabina's and basically crashed.

Sunday, February 7:
Laura and Natalie had to catch an early flight back to Rome so Kelly and I woke up to quietly say goodbye to them and then we proceeded to fall back asleep until about 9ish. It felt awesome to sleep in a bit. Kelly and I got dressed and went to see the changing of the guards. It was so cool! The guard band played Barry Mannilow (Copacabana) and a Mama Mia! medley. So awesome. While there, we most definitely saw a mob boss/important person of some sort. There were two body guards (in plain view at least...) with ear pieces and they were talking into their sleeves like the secret service. They were standing right next to us. It was insane. I wanted to capture the moment but I thought they would put a hit on me or take my camera so I decided against it. Of all things, that is something a person can never forget...After the guards changed, we went and ate at a restaurant named Shakespeare's where I got myself some soup and tea. It was bliss. After lunch, we went to the London Tower. It was, in a word, AWESOME. So much history there. I could've stayed there for another few hours easily. We had an awesome view of the Tower Bridge, too. By the time we were done at the Tower it was starting to get dark (and rainy) so we quickly ran over to Kensington Gardens to get a picture with the Peter Pan statue and then ran over to Westminster. We come out of the Westminster tube stop and Big Ben is LITERALLY right there. It was magnificent. We walked around a little and sadly, it was closed to the public. We decided it was time to eat so we went to a restaurant called the Canteen. It was okay. I was able to order mac n' cheese so that was awesome. After that, we decided to head back to Sabina's so we could go to bed somewhat early since we had a 6:30am flight back to Dublin. Before we went to sleep we ordered a taxi to pick us up at the West Kensington tube stop which was about 3ish blocks from Sabina's apartment. It was supposed to pick us up at 345am so we could catch our train.

Before you read about Monday, it is important to know that the whole day was the second instance Mary came to the rescue. Read on to find out why.

Monday, February 8:
We woke up at 3:46am. I've never gotten ready so fast in my life. We ran to the tube stop and thankfully our cab driver waited for us. We arrived at the train station and had missed the 410am that we were planning on taking so the 440 was our next option. After a, thankfully, uneventful ride to Stansted we arrived at about 545am. Our gate was closing at 6am. We hurried through check-in, sprinted to security, and sprinted to our gate. Thankfully, there was a large line so we were able to buy some water to douse the fire in our throats and wait to board the plane. I've never been more happy in my life to be in Dublin. When we touched down, relief washed over me. After a stressful 4-hour morning, I was finally somewhere semi-familiar. It was very comforting. We strolled through the Dublin airport and got ourselves a taxi. I'm pretty sure Kelly and I were both dead asleep after about 2 minutes. By the time we got back to Maynooth it was 9am-ish. We both quickly showered and relaxed for about 10 seconds and went to our 11am class (since we're both so studious). I think it's obvious that I slept well Monday night.

The whole weekend was definitely an adventure. There were several times where I just thought "I just want to be back in my bed." or "Traveling sucks." but looking back less than a week later, I can laugh about it and realize how much I truly enjoyed the trip. I saw a multitude of things I thought I would never see in my lifetime. After all the expenses (and I mean expenses...London ain't cheap, my friend.) and stress, I had a great time. It was a truly worthwhile trip.


**I apologize for the lack of pictures, but the image uploader was not working. I will have a post of London pictures as soon as possible!**




Stay tuned for more fun in the form of Sundays wrap-up of the rest of this week!

London!

I'm leaving for London in about an hour! Kelly and I will be taking a cab to the Dublin airport and then we will travel to London, Stansted where Natalie & Laura will meet us. We will probably stop for dinner and then head to the flat where Kelly's friend, Sabina, is staying. Because of this, I will be unable to do a wrap-up on Sunday (I don't get back in Maynooth until very early Monday). The wrap-up will most likely come on Monday or Tuesday.

See you at Platform 9 3/4!

-Kim