You Never see a Hearse with a Trailer

January 31, 2010 8:26 pm

First of all I want to say WOW! I can't believe tomorrow will mark me being in Ireland for a whole month. That is insane to me. I am sad to see it go, but at the same time it is drawing me closer to new adventures and the reunion with all of you back home!

My title is a saying that my Irish friend Graham said to me last Tuesday night and I liked it. He said it and I just looked at him not understanding what the heck he was talking about. He didn't know why I was confused (he forgets we are American a lot I think). It is a saying from his home town in Wicklow about living life because you can't take anything with you.

For those who know about my eye I will give you an update. For those who do not I will catch you up (it is NOT a big deal I promise!) Thursday morning I woke up with cloudy vision and I just assumed it was a typical morning and me being blind I didn't really notice much. Throughout the day it kept getting worse, I assumed it was my contacts. When I got home I took out my contacts to discover that it wasn't my contacts. My left eye was completely fogged over. It was really scary. As time went on it started hurting and throbbing. I called my mom in a panic and she assured me that I probably scratched my cornea. I went to the living room and hung out with my roomates for awhile. Our French roomates showed us how to make something amazing that is horrible for me to know about. Fried bananas with butter and sugar..YUM! After indulging in those and watching a few minutes of Finding Nemo with Meghan M. and Kristen, my eye was red and watery and I couldn't even move it without being in intense pain. It hurt REALLY bad. Around 9:30 I took some sleeping pills and went to bed. The next morning I woke up with blurry vision in my left eye and it was swollen halfway shut. I looked like a troll. I decided that it would be smart to just wear my glasses all weekend no matter how awful I look in them! The next day my eye was back to it's normal self so all is well!!

This weekend was fun and very very successful. Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. Kristen O. and I caught a bus to Cork to visit Kristen G. After a four hour bus ride we saw Kristen waiting for us at the stop. It was a fifteen minute walk to her apartments and on the way we got to see how cute Cork is. It is the second largest city in Dublin but it is remarkably different. It is a college town but it is so easy going. You see only 1/3 of the people on the sidewalks and the street as you do in Dublin and everyone had a smile on their faces. It was a beautiful weekend with beautiful weather so that could have had something to do with it as well! It was so relaxed and very pretty since it is set right next to the ocean. After dropping off our stuff, Kristen G. took us on a mini tour and brought us to a really pretty park. We walked around taking in the greeness and then she took us to the English Market. WOW! It was awesome! It's a market that is open everyday and has every type of food ever. It has fresh fish (with eyes and all so a little scary), fresh fruits, a homemade chocolate booth (of course we stopped here) and much much more. It's open everyday and she lives about 10 minutes from it. She is a lucky girl! After buying chocolate and some apples, we headed back to her apartment, which is very nice by the way, and started making lasagna. That's right, I helped make lasagna and I have the recipe...I'll be like Rachel Ray before I come back! While it was cooking, we met some of her roomates. Two of them were going to Dublin for the weekend with their school, so we traded places pretty much. They were all really nice. We ate our lasagna which was delicious by the way! Then got ready to go out and view the nightlife of Cork. Britney, a girl from UNI, came with us, as well as one of Kristen's roomates, Ally. It was really fun. We went to a pub called the Washington Inn and they had karaoke! During Build me Up Buttercup the lady came over and stuck the mic in my face so I sang along to that for awhile! After a few hours of that we went to another pub where a man was playing live music. That was really fun as well. We headed to McDonald's after that and saw Leah, another one of Kristen's roomates and some of her friends. We stayed and talked to them for awhile then all walked back together.

We were all exhausted so we pretty much passed out when we got back to the apartment. I got to share Kristen's full size bed that night. It was so comfy! The next morning we got up and bought a bus ticket to Blarney. After the 20 minute bus ride we arrived in the very small town. We bought tickets to the castle and walked around the grounds. It was very pretty. There is a brook that runs through the grounds, surrounded by trees with little foot bridges on it. The day was sunny and the sky was clear as well, making it all the more beautiful. Looking into the distance you could see the stone Blarney Castle rising into the sky. We wandered the grounds for quite awhile before actually going into the castle. We were the only ones around for some time, until we met some other American's and we took their picture and they took ours. The woman told us to be careful when we went into the castle. We didn't understand until we actually went in.

After some fun photo ops, and pretending we were queens/damsels in distress/dungeon prisoners/archerers protecting the castle we walked into the Blarney castle. There were signs all throughout the castle saying they weren't liable for anything happening, including if we died. That was a little scary and then we found out why they had that. After poking around and reading about the different rooms, we started the ascent to the top. To reach the top, you have to climb up very very narrow stone steps that spiral upwards. You have to hold onto a rope on the side so you don't fall. SCARY. It really wasn't that bad, but that is really what happened. On each floor there were rooms you could get off and look at. They all started kind of looking the same because all they were were stone rooms with a hole in the wall for a window. It was interesting though to read each plaque that described what happened in each room. When we finally reached the top, you climb out to see very pretty views of the courtyard. We walked around towards the Blarney Stone. The Kristen's told me I had to go first (apparently they were scared). A little old man was standing next to it. He instructed me to take off my glasses and sit down next to him. I then had to take my arms behind my back, above my head, and hold onto a metal bar. I got tipped backwards by the man. You have to do this in order to reach the Blarney Stone. I kissed it and got pulled back up. It was quite a ways down there! The Blarney stone was white compared to the gray stone around it. Apparently, if you kiss it you are supposed to be able to talk more eloquently. I haven't felt it yet, but you can all be the judge :) . When I got pulled back up, the man told me that I should go out that night and practice my kissing skills. These Irish men, they are so ornery! I laughed as i put my glasses back on. The Kristens told me I was lucky I was blind while I was doing it, because if you looked straight down you saw how far up you were being dangled.

After exploring the grounds some more we headed back to Cork where we got some fresh chicken at the English Market and made pasta with fresh chicken marinated in garlic and herb dressing. SO GOOD again! That night we were going to go out, but throughout the day I started getting sinus problems (surprise surprise). I told them that they could go out, but I thought it would be best if I stayed in. They wanted to save some money so we all stayed in and watched Hercules and we made Kristen the fried banana amazingness that our French roomates taught us how to make.

We hit the hay early, and the next morning we headed out to Midelton. Midelton was about a half hour bus ride away and is the home of Jameson Whiskey. We took a tour of the factory which went through the history of Jameson. It was really interesting. At the end of the tour 6 people are picked to be whiskey tasters. I got chosen to be one. She had us compare scottish, american, and Jameson whiskey. Honestly, I hated them all, but Jameson was by far the best. In our group we had an older Irish couple, a woman from the Netherlands, 2 Americans studying at Cork. And an Irishman and American studying in Dublin. We all sat and talked for over 2 hours in the bar. It was a lot of fun! After heading back, we ordered Four Star Pizza which really hit the spot and watched Chocolat. It was a good movie. Unfortunately, on the website you watch it on you can only watch 72 minutes, then take a half our break and watch the rest of it. That was ok though because during the break we planned out what we were doing and when in London for this coming weekend. We have our itinerary down to a t. We all stayed up and talked until around 2 then went to bed.

This morning we got up and went to Finn Bar's Cathedral. There has been a church in that exact spot since the 600s. How crazy is that?! It was beautiful, with carvings in the stone. It was an Angelican service so I really didn't know what was going on, but it was awesome to see the inside. I miss my Baptist church back home though. It will be interesting to see different churches throughour Europe though.

After church we ate leftovers, then Kristen and I caught a bus back to Dublin. Tomorrow I have to go become an official immigrant in Ireland. Crazy.

School

January 26, 2010 11:02 a.m.
First of all i just want to say I'm sorry for my pictures taking so long to upload and being in twenty million different albums...the internet here can be awesome or really slow.

School started yesterday yay!! I have 2 classes on monday 3-5 and 8:00-9:30 at night. Both classes went really well. You can tell it's not America though. My first professor kept apologizing because he is going to make us write an essay half way through the semester. As it seems things should be pretty easy :). On Monday I have Organisation Psychology and History and Schools of Psychology. Today I have Abnormal Psych from 1-3 and tomorrow I have Irish Drama from 1-3. No class Thursday or Friday!! 4 day weekend!! I will be able to do so much traveling during that I'm so excited!! This weekend I am going to Cork with Kristen O'Connor to visit Kristen G. We are planning on going to County Wexford where the Kennedy's are from, Waterford where Waterford Crystal is made, and go kiss the Blarney stone. It should be an awesome weekend!!

Tonight there is Aussie night at a pub called the Wool Shed where the show American Football. I think a lot of us are going there. Wednesday night Trad Fest starts at Temple Bar. That is traditional music!! I am very excited about that! Thursday morning Kristen and I will then leave for Cork!

Northern Ireland! (Derry and Belfast)

January 24, 2010 9:10 pm

I am SO sorry that this is going to be so long but I have to describe everything!! I wrote down journal entries during my trip to Northern Ireland so I will just copy those down!

January 21, 2010 9:39 a.m. Bus
Excitement for this weekend has been with me since arriving in Dublin. That excitement has only grown since being in the foundation courses, especially politics and history and hearing the stories behind the division of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

This morning started out slightly stressful. Our roomate Meghan M., just got shingles and wouldn't be able to walk on this trip. We all feel awful about it. As we left our apartment with our bags loaded down the walk seemed really long but no matter how much our shoulders hurt and no matter that it was still dark at 7:30 a.m., excitement kept us going. Kristen left her travel book at the convenience store we had stopped at half way there so she had to run back. I was worried that we would be late meeting the bus but we found a lot of our classmates who were just as confused as we were. The only directions we had been given was a google map sent to us and Elizabeth's words, "It's where we met the tour bu that first day, kind of." It still amazes me how unorganized Europeans are. Or at least it appears that way to this detail oriented American. We made it to our bus on time though despite vague directions. I am now currently on a bus heading towards Northern Ireland. It is raining and the things we are supposed to do are weather permitting stops, so hopefully the rain lightens, but it's Ireland so who knows?

Entering Northern Ireland
It isn't an instant difference. It is noticeable once you get into towns. It is very colonial!

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this amazing walk. The view is breathtaking with the winds sweeping the waves towards us, the earthy masses jutting out against the angry turrents of the ocean. The wind swaying the bridge was terrifying, yet thrilling. As I took each step onto the shaky little thing I was terrified. The winds were shaking it and the waves were roaring underneath me! It is supposed to close on windy days so if that was not a windy day I have NO idea what would count as one. We could barely stand the wind was pushing us so hard! On the rocky walk back I was literally blown down the pathway. I was making no effort whatsoever to move!

Giants Causeway
I literally just proved I can do anything! The wind was terrifying here!! Despite that it is beautiful, mysterious, and wonderful. It consists of rugged rocks rising into the air out over the ocean. These mysterious rocks were formed thousands of years ago from a volcanic eruption. We climbed on the rocks and the view was amazing! On the walk back the wind was awful. We could barely move and it was raining. With the wind hitting our faces with the rain it felt like cold slaps. It was very very much worth it though despite that!

Derry
We have arrived in Derry. All of us tired, hungry, Americans piled off the bus. Kristen and I were the first to get our room assignments. We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel, it's really nice! We opened the door to our room after some minor elevator problems. Our room is good sized. One full bed and one twin bed which Kristen and I rock paper scissored for. Kristen won...A couch and two chairs and a table are set up around a tv. The bathroom is very nice as well with hot water, hallelujah!!! I thought I was in heaven while I was showering! It was hard to force myself out of it! But I am glad I did, supper was amazing! I was expecting a cold sandwich and chips. We walked into the hotel's retaurant to find 3 course menu selection on glass plates next to a roll and wineglasses. For an appetizer I got 3 huge grilled chicken strips on top of a tasty salad. For a main course i got salmon served atop mashed potatoes. We were also brought mashed turnips. I found myself actually enjoying them too! Strange I know...And then dessert! Chocolate cake! My world was then made complete. Wow..and not only was the food amazing but it was one of those places that makes the food pretty on the plate too. You don't get a lot of that in Iowa!

Tonight a lot of people are going out, but our friends are all hanging out and staying in. We have breakfast at 8, and a bus tour at 9. I love that I have friends who are perfectly ok with staying in some nights. I want to be fresh to take in all the information in the tour tomorrow...this town is so rich in history...I can't wait to hear more details and see where things took place!!

January 22, 2010 3:39 pm
Londonderry/Derry or Stroke City
The beauty of htis town is hard to describe. It holds 106,000 residents but it has that small town colonial feel! Our breakfast this morning was amazing...a buffet of Ireland's best breakfast foods!

After stuffing myself full I set out with my bus group on a walking tour of Derry. Our guide was a sweet older man, the type that you just want to hug. He spun some humor into Derry's dark and bloody but fascinating history. In two hours my attention was held the whole time while the view of Derry took my breath away. The hills rise up majestically in the distance while houses with their colonial red roofs dot them. The walls surrounding Derry are the originals and Derry is the only town in Ireland with the towering stone walls surrounding the whole thing. Tragic tales were told of the horrors of "the troubles" as Northern Irelanders say. While looking down into the bogside from the walls, or the lower part of Derry, many murals that Derry is famous for could be seen. One such mural was that of Annette. She was a 13 year old girl on her way to school who becae caught up in British crossfire and killed. Her father was so grief stricken that he went to the wall day after day, just sitting and talking to the mural erected in her memory. He recently died, but for over 20 years he went everyday to talk to her mural. The mural is titled Death of Innocence" and was made to show that the children always suffer during a conflict. Many more murals with tragedy leaking out of them were shown to us that I will explain under each picture. One mural was filled with hope and joy. It was designed by Protestant and Catholic children together! That hopeful attitude is what Derry shines with now.

On top of the wall we saw several cannons, the most mighty was nicknamed Meg. On top of one stretch of the wall many Catholic men and women used to walk to church in their best clothes. That is where the term catwalk came from. I had to strike a pose of course.

We were shown the Bloody Sunday memorial statue that held the 13 names of the dead in it. Our tour guide's father's best friend's name was carved into the stone. Within an area smaller than a football field, in less than a half hour, 13 were dead and 13 more men and women were injured. That is where our tour ended, with our sweet old tour guide pointing to the corner where a father figure to him had been shot and killed while trying to help a fallen stranger.

British soldiers claim they were shot at first and the investigator from Britian claims the same. 13 innocent people died in 1972 and the investigation, which they had in 1998 is still going on. It was promised results would be given in 2002. They then promised 2004 and so on and so on. Now they are promising March of 2010. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen or if it does, a British man has already been hired to go over the statement and take out parts if he believes it may endanger someone's life. Therefore, the kind people of Derry may never know the truth behind Bloody Sunday. They may never be able to move on past it.

After returning to the hotel, Elizabeth took us to the Free Derry Museum. It was fascinating reading the history of the place. One thing imparticular caught my eyes. It was a letter sent to the parents of a man killed on Bloody Sunday from the soldier who shot him. It was awful. It talked about how he didn't regret killing their son and used awful words to describe him. It was heartbreaking. Both owners of the museum had had a brother killed on that awful day. One man showed us bullet holes in the side of the museum from Bloody Sunday, and pointed out places where we were standing where men had died. His brother had asked to go march in the Civil Rights March which took place that day. His mother wouldn't let him, but eventually his father talked her into letting him. She stood on the balcony watching her son. She waved farewell to him, not knowing that the soldier who would eventually shoot her son was standing right below her.

After we were shown those spots, Elizabeth informed us that the McCrossan tours had called and were being filmed for the first ever documentary of Northern Ireland to promote tourism. They wanted to use our group for it. I guess I just tend to be in the right places at the right times! We went back to the memorial and the tourguide (not ours, it was the other group's one) redid that part of the tour. They filmed our group a we walked by and I couldn't help but smile into the camera. I had to refrain from screaming Go Iowa!!.

After my two seconds of fame we were taken to the community center to watch a 45 minute documentary on Bloody Sunday. It was fascinating. It was told from both sides of the story and by a Canadian so there was no biases. It's heart breaking because the poor families of the victims just want the truth, but they are being denied it again and again.

We were given two hours of free time after that. The nine of us (Meghan, Kristen, Kevin, Kevin, Brian, Corinne, Kate, Maryl, and I) went to McDonalds. It hit the spot! After walking around all day it was well deserved. We ditched Kristen and went to get her some birthday cards while Corinne and Kate took her to get sneakers. I also bought some chocolate because for some reason over here I have a constant never ending urge for chocolate! We met up with the rest of them and they peer pressured us into buying ice cream from a homemade shop. I got one huge scoop of Cherry Mania and chocolate chunks in a waffle cone for 1.5 pound! So worth it! It was amazing!

We are now on the two hour bus ride to Belfast for more adventures! We get our supper paid for tonight and then we are going out. It will be fun to see Belfast's night scene tonight and tomorrow and then see it during the day. I am now getting ready to crack open the paper Kevin C. bought and read about Obama's decisions regarding the banks. It made front page here! It's amazing how in the know Europeans are on our affairs and how unaware many of us Americans are on our own affairs let alone other country's affairs!

January 24, 2010 10:51 a.m.
We are on the bus leaving Belfast, or we will be soon. Belfast reminds me of a cleaner version of Dublin. Full of history that was ruined by the rise of modern concerete buildings. I felt very small in Belfast. The bus tour we went on yesterday morning was all about the tour guide pointing out random things, mainly pubs, and talking about them. There is literally a wall dividing the Catholics and Protestants. It is insane how people use thie religion to define and divide themselves when really it is an issue of a matter of opionion. None of my pictures turned out too hot since we were on a bus, but that's ok. We got done with the tour around 10:45 and had free time until supper at 6. We all napped until 12 then set out to find lunch. We ended up in the Victoria shopping center eating at O'Brien's mainly because it's Maryl's last name and we couldn't decide. I just had ice cream because 1) I have the worst sweet tooth here! 2) I had just gorged myself on the fabulous breakfast buffet at our hotel. After lunch we climbed spirly stairs up several flights to the very glass covered top of the mall. The view was amazing! You could see the shipyard where the Titanic was built and all the other amazing views. After climbing down and shopping a bit, we went back to the htoel to get ready for going out for Kristen's 20th birthday!

We went to a pub/dance place called The Empire and it was really fun. It was a fun interesting night to say the least!

Overall, Northern Ireland was majestic and fantastic!

Another Day in Dublin

January 20, 2010 8:56 pm
The past few days nothing too exciting has happened but I wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive so I figured I would blog!
Last night our French roomate Laetitia and Charlotte made our roomates supper and invited 6-8 of their friends over from France. It was so nice of them! We ate frozen pizza and for dessert they gave us bananas and nutella. I have never heard of nutella before but it is AMAZING!!! I might bring some home with me because I don't think Iowa has it! It was so interesting to sit and "talk" to these students. They all have been learning English since 7th grade but really had no way of practicing it until they came here. For thinking they are bad at it they are pretty good! They love American tv shows but it is so strange because it is in English but they do French voice overs, yet that is what they are used to. One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and many many more shows and movies are here like that. We talked about the movie the Hangover and to them they call it A Bad Bad Trip. That is how it translates for them in French. How crazy is that? Charlotte had her laptop out with itunes playing and it amazed me how many American songs she had such as Lady Gaga and many more. Kristen and I asked them about it and they said they love American music because it is so so good. I was mouthing the words to a song hoping no one saw me. One of the French guys, Steven, pointed me out and said, "I saw you on MTV the other night! Taylor Swift!" They all tried to teach us a little French but I am horrible at it so I think they gave up on me. They stayed until 9:30 or so and then we cleaned up. It was really nice to meet them when they are not being crazy. One French kid has already been fined 200 euro due to playing with the fire extinguisher. They are very loud but that is their culture, I am slowly getting used to it! They were extremely nice last night and were generally interested in getting to know us. One guy was fascinated with me being a farmer's daughter. I have no idea why.
Today we had class from 10-12, 2-4, and 4:15-6. It was a long long day! Kristen, Meghan D., and i went to look at Celtic rings during the first break. It is a souvenier that I have really wanted since arriving and I figured that will be the one souvenier I buy myself and will really cherish. I bought one. It i two hands holding a heart with a crown on it. The heart stands for love, the hands are for friendship, and the crown is for loyalty. If you point the heart towards you it means your heart is joined with anothers (that is how I have been wearing mine). If you point it outwards it means you are available!. The orgin of the Claddagh ring as they are called comes from Richard Joyce. I will type the explanation card out for everyone!:
The Joyces were one of the famous "Tribes of Galway" who settled in the Connemara region between the Twelve Bens and Lough Corrib. They were descendants of the Norman families who came from Wales with Richard de Burgo when he took Galway from the O'Connors in 1232. The Cromwellians during their conquest sent young children from Galway to work in slavery on the plantations of the West Indies. The boat on which young Richard Joyce found himself was captured by Moorish pirates. His new master, a Moorish Goldsmith, taught him his craft and when he returned to Galway in the late 1600's he set up a workshop in the Claddagh region. What the Claddagh motif signifies we cannot be sure, but by tradition it is believed to denote that Friendship and Love should regin supreme. Two hands cradling a crowned heart; the Heart for Love, the Hands for Friendship, the Crown for Loyalty. The popularity of the Claddah spread with the mass exodus from the West of Ireland during the Great Famine of 1847-1849. The Claddagh is worn by people all over the world including many famous.
How cool is that?!
Meghan M. has been having shooting pains in her leg for two days now, yesterday it was so bad she couldn't go to class. Today a rash broke out. She went to the doctor and he did nothing for her. He gave her medicine pretty much saying it may or may not help. I hope I do not get sick because that is ridiculous. I talked to my mom about the symptoms and she said it might be shingles. Kristen and I looked up the symptoms, talked to Meghan and decided that that is pretty much exactly what she has. The poor girl just got over tonsilitis and now that happens. We are leaving on a trip at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow for Northern Ireland but she cannot go. We all feel awful about it! I feel really bad but I don't know what to do for the poor girl! The trip should be really fun though...we will have to bring Meghan something back!

Kilmainham Gaol

January 18, 2010 9:08 pm

Today was a beautiful day, with a whopping 50 degree temperature it felt like summertime! We headed out to class this morning and were sweating even due to the beautiful day..it was awesome! We got to class and it was culture class the one that is not interesting at all. It was the first time Meghan D. had been there and she just kept shaking her head at the teacher. He let us out 20 minutes early today though so that was a plus! We had a field trip to the Kilmainham Gaol at 3:00 and it was noon so we decided that since it was such a beautiful day my roomies and I were going to pack a lunch and take it to the War Memorial Gardens which is near Kilmainham to enjoy the weather. That plan was a crash and burn. We took a wrong turn and ended up in Kilmainham totally passing the Memorial Gardens. After the half hour walk to Kilmainham we were starving, so we sat on some steps in front of the Kilmainham Courthouse and ate our lunches. My PB & J was mighty delicious by that point.
Due to us getting lost we were very early to Kilmainham. Meghan M. wanted to go check out a pub near it called the Patriot Inn. Meghan D. led the way and when she entered she stopped. The rest of us were confused until we turned the corner and saw that the pub was filled in its entirety with 80 year old men. The second we entered all eyes turned on us and just stared. One particularly old man looked at us and in a gruff voice shouted, "Wheres ya from?" We answered him with the United States and he asked again so we each said each state which is what we thought he meant until he asked about ten more times. The bartender just told us not to mind him, so after looking at each other and laughing awkwardly we made our way to the far corner away from the old men. We looked at the wall and saw a painting of a two year old child carrying around a rifle. That is when we realized we may have accidently stumbled upon a terrible terrible ordeal. I brought up our trip to Northern Ireland and was immediately hushed...we were pretty sure the old men would try and kill us if they found out we were going there.
We made it out safely thank goodness and after taking a picture in front of the pub we made our way to the Gaol. It was amazing! It is a 200 year old jail. The \biggest not being used jail in Europe. Due to that fact it has been used in several movies and music videos of Irish artists. To begin the tour we were brought into the chapel, into the area and on the very benches where the imprisoned men used to sit for mass. It was kind of creepy to think that men who are long dead had sat in the very spot that I was just sitting in. While sitting there our guide told us of Mr. Joseph Plunkett and his wife. Mr. Plunkett was one of the main rebels in the 1916 Irish Uprising which helped get Ireland it's freedom. He was imprisoned but wanted to marry his girlfriend of two years. They let him in the very chapel that I was sitting in, on the day he was to be executed. After they were married the men who were to be shot were given 10 minutes with any loved one. Plunkett chose his wife and they had ten minutes together which was constantly interrupted by the guard every minute to tell them how much more time they had together. As Mrs. Plunkett was walking out the door she heard the shots that took her husband's life. It was a tragic story that set the mood for the rest of the tour. We entered into the basement after leaving the chapel, having to duck due to the doorways being so small. I even had to duck and I am 5'6! Those poor people who lived there. In the basement it was FREEZING, yet the sad thing is was that there were window covers now. When people were actually imprisoned there there was not glass, only bars in the windows. It had to have been awful. The jail was made to hold 200 people but in one year, during the potatoe famine it housesd 9,000 individuals. That means no sitting at all in the cell. People were imprisoned left and right for stealing food. Children even as young as 5 were imprisoned and beaten. Each prisoner was given a candle every two weeks for heat and light. If you did not use your candle wisely you were stuck in the dark and cold. No matter how awful it was in the jail though, it was better than starving on the streets. From the basement he took us through the hallway, into the second level of the jail. On the second level was where the majority of the 1916 uprising leaders were held before being executed. It was absolutely fascinating and horrible to see the names of the men who are so important to Ireland's history above cell stalls. To be walking in the very place that so many important people before me had was an experience I will never forget.
From the second level we were brought to the newer part of the jail in which the prisoners could be for the 2 hours they were not being held to clean their dishpan or to exercise. Women who were forced to do hard labor had to cook all the meals and send them up to the prisoners at meal times. Men who were forced to do hard labor had to break rocks into gravel for the roads. We got to look inside some of the cells. Mrs. Plunkett had a cell there. She was imprisoned a few years after her husband died due to being against the Irish treaty. I could go into so much detail on Ireland's history but ill let you do that yourself if you are interested...I do not want to bore anyone! In her room she had painted while imprisoned a mural of the Lord Jesus and Mary. Another cell had a huge twig ball in it. I asked the guide what it was and he said it was supposed to be modern art. In 1995 they had a art exhibit that prisoners from anywhere put together. That one was a ball of all the sticks that the prisoner had found at Kilmainham...I guess anything can be considered art these days! '
After looking around the cells for awhile we were taken to the outside part of Kilmainham. That is where men were shot. The important people of the 1916 uprising were shot in that very place in which I stood. There are two shots of crosses, one of them is where O'Connell died. He had been wounded in the uprising and taken to the Dublin Castle in which he was nursed but he was not getting better. Due to his condition in order to be executed they had to bring him through the front door, tie him to a chair because he could not stand/kneel like the others, was blindfolded, and had a piece of white paper placed over his heart as a place to aim for the guards. They couldn't carry him over to where the rest of the men were killed so he had his own corner. It was an amazing tour which brought to life what I learned in history. I will not have any more classes due to my teacher's mom passing away this weekend. It is a sad deal not only due to the circumstances, but due to not learning more as well. It was a great class. We returned to our apartment with Katy Hood, she had walked there and hadn't gotten lost so we thought it would be a great idea to follow her! On the way back she was telling me a story about one of her friends. Her friend Molly had been walking back from a pub with one of their friends when they heard a cry for help. They looked and saw a girl in the River Liffey. They called 999 (Ireland's 911) for help and they had to come rescue her. How crazy is that?! Oh Ireland, crazy place. Tonight a bunch of people went out but I want to do not want to be sick and I am scared that I might be if I do not get any more sleep. 7 hours total in one weekend isn't enough for this girl!

I'm going to be famous!!

January 17, 2010 12:19 pm
(I'll explain the title within the story).
I apologize in advance for this being extremely long. Ms. Kristen Granzow was here visiting so we were having a grand ol' time this weekend..doesn't leave much time for updating everyone :).
Thursday night was when Kristen arrived to begin our adventures. Kristen O and I went to pick her up from the Louis stop which is what she took from her bus stop. The louis is like an above ground subway that runs east to west across Dublin. After giving her a giant hug we walked back to our apartment. This is when we met our 2 French roomates for this first time, Laetitia and Charlotte. They are very nice and their English is improving! I'm hoping I can pick up some French while here. We got ready to go out with some friends of ours, Maral, Corinne, Kate, Kevin, Kevin, and Brian. Kevin brought his french roomate and he brought his friend Magalie. We all just went to the Glimmerman (a pub near us) for a low key night of talking and hanging out. I talked to Magalie a lot and got some advice on where to go in Europe. She is from Paris so of course that is very high on her recommendation list. It is very fascinating to hear her talk about other places and how they can just hop on a plane and be anywhere in a matter of minutes or hours. That is a huge advantage of living over here in Europe. She told me she believed that Americans just look in upon themselves because our country is so big, and do not know much about other countries. That sounded harsh but she said it in a kind way I promise! We discussed health care and our president and it was fascinating to hear a French girl's view on such matters. I have found that many people in Europe know SO much more about America than I do...it is quite sad really and I am determined to change that. She was telling me how awful our health care system is and was asking me many questions about our government and such...she just shook her head at a lot of things. It as a great insightful conversation!
Friday morning came too soon. Our first class of the day at 10:00 a.m. was literature which is an excellent class. I will probably come home with a suitcase full of Irish literature just because it is so wonderful. I have found I am quite fond of poetry. The professor is such a great guy too...he has been to many places and if you ask him about anywhere he will tell you the cheapest and best places to go there...a great resource! Kristen G. due to her love of literature, joined our class and really enjoyed it (or so she claimed). After that a few of us went to Goodness to Gracious, an amazing sandwich shop that has cheap and amazing paninis. On Fridays they have a sloppy joe special (Kelsey be jealous!). We did a little shopping after that before our next class. While Ms. Granzow was frolicking around Dublin, we had to hit the books. After class we met up with Kristen, shopped some more, then went back to the apartment where we got ready for a fun night out. It was a girl who goes to DBS birthday on Thursday so many people were celebrating by going to Fitzsimon's, part of Temple Bar, Friday night. It was a blast! It was pouring rain when we left and it is a good 15 minute walk. We took the Louis part of the way but my hair still looks awful...I really think I am going to give up on my hair while I am here.
A huge group of us (our friends and a lot of the french students) walked in and there was a live band playing great old American classics!! It was SO much fun! Another band came after that group was finished and played well into the night. We got home around 2:30 a.m. falling asleep around 3:15 a.m.
Saturday morning at 11:30 we were all ready for a day of doing the touristy things. It was SO much fun. Corrine, Kevin, Kate, the Kristens, and I started off at a cute little cafe in a hostel. It was SO good. We ordered a mocha coffee drink and it was the most amazing thing ever. It was chocolate coffee with a whipped topping and chocolate designs on the front! I also had a hot ham and cheese croissant and it was DELICIOUS. A few tourists were taking pictures of the building we were in and we started making faces at their pictures, I think we made their day. It will be a wonderful place to go inbetween classes to journal and do homework...I'm glad we found it.
After the cafe we headed to the Dublin castle where we took a tour at 2:00. It was SO interesting. I wish I could remember all the details. The rooms were fabulous and impressive. We actually got to go below the castle and see the wall that was originally built around the city when the Vikings were there (thousands of years old!) We learned Dublin got it's name from a Norsh term meaning Black Pool due to a lake of black water being behind the castle. We walked the courtyard where the water used to be but it now runs below the castle and empties into the River Liffey which runs through the center of Dublin. It was amazing to get to be standing in such a historical place where so many great people had walked before me. I really do not feel right standing in a room where they slept, danced, or even died!
After the wonder of the castle we entered into a whole new wonder which was the Chester Beatty Library. Chester Beatty was an American diamond miner who became the first honorary citizen of Ireland. He traveled Egypt for many years due to having bronchial issues from mining. In Egypt he was given many many many many many amazing priceless gifts which now are housed in his library. Actually, less than 1% of his collection is in the library the rest is scattered throughout museums..but the library took us close to 2 1/2 hours to go through but i could have spent 2 whole days in there! It started off with several rooms dedicated to the religion Mani. Mani was a lost religion that at one time was HUGE. An archeologist accidently discovered the manuscripts fairly recently, the 1920's maybe, in a dirt pile. It was a religion based off of the power struggle between good and evil. It was fascinating to me to see the thousand year old passages and read what they had to say. After browsing those rooms we moved onto the rooms where all the other religious priceless artifacts were held. I found myself wanting to read every single description next to the ancient words. I didn't have time but I think I will go back by myself sometime and read it all. It touched my heart to see the original manuscripts of John and the teachings of Paul..how amazing is that?! Those glassed in shelves hold so many treasures and secrets and wonders that scream to you from behind the glass. Many religions I do not understand how anyone follows them. I want to be someone to help people who do not understand..I want God to use me while I am here. I am SO excited to go to other museums and see the rest of his collection.
After returning from a long day of sightseeing, us tired tourists came home. We made pizza, ate it, got ready, then the Kristens and I headed out to do the Literary Pub Crawl. Do not be scared by that! It is not crazy! It is 2 actors who do skits and take tourists 4 of Dublin's Pubs that hold great literary significance. It was SO cool to be hearing monologues from pieces were are reading in our literature class. Upon arriving at The Duke which is the pub in which it begins. We walked upstairs and were asked if we were looking our best. We all looked at each other and he laughed and said well of course you are I can tell that! I really don't know if it was an insult or not BUT he asked us because NBC was there to film the beginning part of that specific pub crawl. It will air during the Saint Patty's Day Parade in the U.S.!!!!! I might be on TV!! I doubt it..but hey i can say that i was there!! Everyone with us was all older but it was still really fun. All but one person was American and the other person was a Canadian who was living in the United States. It was a lot of fun! We finished with that around 10:00 p.m. We walked back and Kristen G. and I were hungry..surprise surprise. We walked to Centra near my apartment and got an apple pie and a candy bar. The apple pie we devoured while watching mama mia! It was a great great time singing to Abba while eating some pie! We sat up and talked until 3 or so. Unfortunately around that time the pie caught up with Kristen. She has been a sick sick girl since then. She is laying sleeping currently in my bed. I feel so bad. She is worried she won't make it back in time for school tomorrow, but she needs to rest. I guess that teaches us not to eat a whole pie in one sitting.
While talking last night though we have many plans figured out for the coming up weekends. Hopefully we will be attending a 6 nations rugby tournament, going to London, going to County Wexford and Cork, going to Scotland, and next weekend going to Northern Ireland, all in the coming weekends. I am SUPER excited!!

School Day Number 3

January 13, 2010 5:45 pm
Today was school day number 3. At ten this morning Kristen and I walked to classroom 2.1 in the building on St. Williams Street to partake in the joys of learning. The first class was history which we have had 3 days now, but it is very very interesting so that is ok! That class got over at noon so we sat in the classroom and ate the pb&j sandwiches I had made us that morning :). I felt so maternal and they were pretty darn good too (at least I thought so!) We went to the bank after that so I could order my bank statement so i can go register as an immigrant here in a few days. It is so strange to think of myself as that! After that Kristen and I went shopping at Dunnes which is like Target, except SO much better. The clothes are very very cheap! I got 2 sweaters and tights. That was fun :) . We returned to the classroom to go to our Culture class. Ugh it is awful! It would very extremely interesting if it weren't for the teacher. He walks up and down the aisles between us and pretty much talks to himself and jumps around in his sentences like a mad man. For example, today he said we were going to talk about religion and somehow we ended up talking about tv shows and people having affairs...it is everywhere and no one knows what is going on!! Finally, we were set free. Kristen and I went to pick up some milk and get her a notebook and returned home where we made supper. That is about all today has consisted of..its a shame there is actual studying in the studying abroad (just kidding mom). Kristen Granzow comes tomorrow so that will be awesome!!

First Day of School!

January 11, 2010 7:43 pm
Today was the first day of our foundation class. All this week and next week until Wednesday we will have class from 10:00-12:00 and 2:00-4:00. Rotating these times are 3 classes including Irish politics, Irish history, and Irish literature. Today I had Irish politics and Irish history. It is quite fascinating stuff and I can not wait to dig deeper into it! A big group of students from Blackhall met downstairs this morning at 9:15 and we ventured our way over to the building. I guess if we thought we had a lot of us we wouldn't get lost. There were probably about 35 students all walking together. It was fun to talk to people and get to know them. A lot of them consider UNI a huge school which is strange to me!
About 50 students (all american) were in a long room listening to two different professors teach. I found myself very much intrigued and engulfed into the material. We are studying the history of Ireland dating back all the way to 10,000 years ago. It is crazy that I have researched a lot of the places and have seen many places I am now learning about in a classroom. America does not have history like this place does...it is amazing! After school a few of us went to a bookstore to look at Irish books which a professor suggested we do. Afterwards we came back to our apartments and Kristen and I made pizza and corn. Our roomate laughed at us and said that we were typical Iowans (not that she even knows!) A guy that I know a couple nights ago told me that I was the first Iowan I have ever met and a lot of people agreed with it haha.
Last night we went to a sports bar to watch the patriots game. It was really neat! It was one of three places in Ireland that show American Football. It was a cool place. It had 3 levels and one level was a huge screen being projected on a wall with bleachers going up the side. That is where we sat. A lot of Irish guys were actually watching it too! After Kristen and I left one of our roomates asked the guys behind us if they liked the patriots and they said they don't have a favorite team they just like watching American Football. Kristen and I left early so we could get to bed and my throat has been hurting. On the way back a huge semi drove past us and hit a huge slush pile and threw it all over both of us. I got the worst of it since I was right next to the road. I thought that only happened in movies!! I did not know that happened in real life but of course it happened to me! All you can do it laugh about it haha. I got the mud out so all was well. After getting back I went to bed decently early due to me not feeling well..hopefully it goes away! I think it is the Irish air finally catching up with me. I hope all is well in Iowa..keep in touch!

Thank the Lord and the Fairies!!!

January 9, 2010 7:04 pm
That phrase was used by our bus driver today after we arrived in Kilkenny safely. He had been explaining the Irish lore about fairies on the way down. In Ireland it is believed that fairies are of a magical realm and children up until the age of 8 can see them. The fairies are there to protect the people of Ireland, but if you make them angry, they will curse your family line for five generations. For example, there once was a family in which they had a fairy burial ground in their field (the Irish pagens believed in fairies but not God so these fairy burial grounds are legit!) During the potatoe famine they were having horrible times so they wanted to sell their property and move to America. They believed if they plowed over the fairy burial ground their land would sell better. After a few days grass began growing beautifully over the land that used to be a burial and a potential buyer came to the door. He offered the family twice of what they asked for. They thought that was strange because it was a time of hunger, but they took it so they would have enough to send their whole family over to America. Soon, they became one of the most influential families in America, but it was obvious they were cursed. It was the Kennedy's. Crazy isn't it?! The Irish blame the fairies for everything that has happened to the Kennedy's.
Anywho...this morning I got up at 6:10 a.m. to partake in my first real shower in this apartment. The water stayed warm for 3 minutes!! That was long enough...I was in and out of there pretty fast! My roomates, Katy Hood, and her roomate Meghan all journeyed over to the Paddywagon bus station to catch our bus to Kilkenny. The weather said it was supposed to be sunny with a few flurries. WRONG...it was if the sky bust open when we were walking over there. It was a beautiful snowfall however, big fluffy flakes that gracefully cling to everything making it beautiful. Dublin received 3 cm of snow, but you would have thought the world had stopped moving! People refused to drive and go to work, but our bus was still running! These Irish individuals aren't as tough as Iowans! Due to the weader (as Irish ppl say) we did not get to go to Glendough which is where Braveheart was filmed, and a beautiful part of Ireland..that was disappointing. But to attempt to make up for it, our busdriver brought us to Brownshill Dolmen which is a huge pile of rocks in the middle of a field that the King of Carlo from 5,000 years ago is buried under. They have found arrowheads and pottery around this but they haven't ever excavated it so they do not know exactly what it is. It was cool. In this 20 degree weather the walk was very very chilly but a lot of pretty photo ops presented themselves.
After the Brownshill Dolmen we got back on the bus and headed for Kilkenny. After an hour and a half ride (we all slept) we arrived to discover that the castle and cathedrals were shut down due to the 3 cm of snow. That was disappointing as well but I got some good pictures. We had two hour free time in which we went to a tea shop and ate. I had DELICIOUS seafood chowder there with bread. It warmed me up quite a bit and then the 6 of us went out to face the cold again! We took pictures of the Kilkenny castle which was once owned by the Butler family. They had been Butlers to the King and Queen...they bought a beautiful castle and took care of the people of Kilkenny, and the people took care of them. I wish we could have had a tour, it was breathtaking from the outside. After taking pictures of the castle we were mortified at what we saw next. Cannibal birds of Kilkenny!! The birds are confused as to the weather, therefore they have no food. We saw a crow attack and kill a poor robin. It was awful and brutal and we all stared in complete and utter shock for quite awhile..it was awful. It is burned into my memory and I will probably never forget it. After that excruciating experience we went and walked around St. Canice's Chathedral. It was neat from the outside. There was a graveyard surrounding it that had some of the grey stone tombs above ground (creepy). We then saw St. Mary's Cathedral which was neat on the inside. I love the architecture of old churches..the beams and the gothic look amazing and the history behind them is fascinating. I would tell you the history but I do not know it due to it not being open for tours...i'm not bitter I promise :) . It was great to get out of Dublin and see a smaller quainter town for awhile!
Tonight some of us are going to Temple Bar to meet Kelsey (my cousin!). I'm really excited about that!

And down I went

January 7, 2010 5:18 pm

I had my first fall today..hence the title of my blog. My roomates and I were walking to orientation and on the sidewalks is about a 1/2 inch layer of ice totally covering them. It is about a half hour walk to the buildings where classes are held but with the ice it makes it a 45 minute walk. I was leading because I knew the way (everyone is surprised i know, I was surprised too!) I was looking both ways to cross a street and all of a sudden my feet weren't on solid ground anymore. I caught air time as Jessica Fischer would say haha. It didn't help that there was a huge group of Dubliners right across from me and saw everything. It made me feel better because my roomate Meghan D. fell literally right behind me. A man crossing the street stopped in front of me and said, "Oh, I am sorry," with his Irish accent and kept walking haha it was pretty funny! After a couple more people fell, we made it to the class (twenty minutes late) but a bunch of people came in behind us!! The head lady said she was very impressed that all of us even made it because Ireland hasn't experienced any type of weather like this in over 30 years and they don't know what to do about it. I guess they dont believe in street and sidewalk salt?? The orientation was good, we learned a lot and met lots of people. My roomate who is sick currently went to the doctor right after it and discovered she has tonsilitis how awful is that?! Hope she feels better soon!
After the orientation Kristen and I went grocery shopping again because apparently we do not get two meals a day as we were told by our study abroad advisor. But, we bought a bag of pasta and pasta sauce that should last us twenty years so I think we will survive!!
Tonight we are going to go eat supper and hang out with some girls we met today that live below us and another girl named Katy from UNI. That should be fun!
I guess I probably should have explained yesterday before I started talking about today though. Yesterday morning I woke up to scary sounds coming from my window (my bed is pushed up against it). Upon investigating after putting my contacts in I discovered it was hailing and snowing like Iowa! It quit hailing long enough for us to make the 45 minute walk to the DBS building we were meeting in thank goodness! Upon arriving, we had our pictures taken and were given our student ID's. Afterwards we were put on a tour bus and sent off on our way to tour Dublin. The bus driver was a funny man and made jokes while we were riding along. It started hailing again and at one point we were sliding backwards down a hill because the breaks couldn't get any traction on the ice...that was scary!! We drove past many sights of Dublin in which I will be revisiting so I will take pictures then! But, he let us get off the bus and get back on to take pictures if we so desired or to just get off at a stop. By the end it was just me, my roomates, and a couple other girls left. We got off the bus at 2:00 and went shopping to get our nccessities such as a duvet cover, towels, blankets for our freezing apartment, toilet paper, groceries, and vice versa. After getting food we started attempting to make the about two mile track back towards our apartment. Due to us not having our reusable bags with us we had to put all our groceries into the bag we were carrying our blankets and things in. About halfway to the apartment i put down my stuff to look at a map to see where we had to turn. After figuring it out (or so we thought) I went to pick up my bag and heard a rip...the whole side of my bag had ripped open so I had to cradle my bag in my arms to walk back. I had an old Irishman look at me and laugh asking if I had bought enough stuff...I started laughing and pointed to my ripped bag in which he just started chuckling more. Meghan D's bag then proceeded to rip as well and by that point we were lost. We asked some people how to get to our road and when we walked away we could hear them laughing at us. If my arms hadn't been so sore from lugging everything around I probably would have laughed at us too. So here we were, four American girls trying to keep our balance on the thick ice, all the while balancing about seven-8 pounds in each arm. I thought we were going to die before we made it back, but we didn't! After unpacking our stuff (which took forever because for the first ten minutes no one could feel their arms!) we all attempted to take naps for a little while. After getting up we all just sat around in sweats and talked. We had the intention of going to a pub to listen to music but the first time we looked at the clock it was 10 and the pubs close at 11:30 and we didn't want to get ready. It was really awesome though getting to know the Meghans more, they seem really cool and we all get along pretty well. One of them thinks she has ghosts in her room and as she was explaining this to us our electricity card was used up so our apartment went black (scary!) Somehow we all ended up in a corner almost holding onto each other. Meghan M. was brave and ran to the end of the hall and opened the door so we had a little light and then we reinserted an electricity card.
Those cards are messed up! We have 50 units of energy on each one and each of us was given 20 cards. One card is supposed to last two days and the cards heat the water for us, heat the rooms for us, and give us electricity in general. We finally had warm water last night, but this morning when I got up our electricity card was out again! Which is so strange because no one used electricity last night because we were all sleeping, so we don't know what is going on. Therefore, I didn't get a warm shower. I took my louffe and washed my body down in the sink and washed my hair. I feel like a pioneer!!

Move in day!

January 5, 2010 8:12 pm
Today was the day that we were able to move into our apartments! We got up this morning giddy with anticipation of what the day was going to hold for us. After gathering our stuff, rolling out the door, and checking out of the Trinity Capital Hotel we were in a taxi on our way to the BlackHall Apartments. The taxi driver was a very nice man who was eager to tell us about all the sites in Dublin and explain how close they are to where we are living now. When we got on BlackHall place road the taxi driver was unsure as to where we were to go, we finally found the place though (it is hidden!). He carried our stuff to the door, we paid him and looked at the huge black wrought iron gate in front of us not knowing what to do. A lady peeked out the window at us, smiled, then pushed a button which opened the gate (so cool!)
I just have to say that it is quite the task rolling two bags on cobblestone sidewalks all the while balancing a twenty pound bag on your back and a purse!! We eventually made our way in and the woman explained the electricity cards to us but we had no idea what she said because her accent was strong and she really didn't do that great of a job explaining but we were so excited to see our apartment we just nodded our head like we understood and she pointed us to our place. We have a penthouse apartment if you will. There are 5 bedrooms, and I have my own room! I have never had my own room this is going to be quite the experience! The living room has a cool view since we are on the fourth floor (there is a lift so don't worry!) There was going to be no way we could finangle our bags up four flights of stairs!) Our living room has a table, a side table, chairs, and two couches very nice for a college apartment! All the rooms are carpeted except the kitchen and the living room..they are wooden floors. They aren't as nice looking as the pictures but that is ok..what place really is? The kitchen comesequipped with a fridge, toaster, oven, stove, and all the tools needed for those things.
Kristen and I were unpacking our stuff when we heard the door open and in walked our two roomates from Elon University in North Carolina. They are both named Meghan and seem nice. We haven't seen to much of them..one is sick and they both are very tired which is understandable! They must not have listened when she explained the electricity cards either because the four of us stood there staring at the huge black box near our ceiling with a million buttons wandering what in the world to do. Meghan D. stood up on a chair and tried to hit buttons to see if it would work after inserting one of the ten cards each of us get.
Kristen and I went grocery shopping which was an experience in itself. A woman gave us wrong directions so we ended up walking a good extra 2 miles more than we needed too. Two men stopped and talked to us, they were trying to raise money for some fundraiser but when they heard we were studying abroad they quit trying to get us to give them money and just talked to us. One was from Canada and the other was from Russia. They pointed us towards Lidl supermarket saying it was a lot cheaper than Tesco. It wasn't too bad 28 Euro for quite a bit of groceries.
With our arms loaded down with the reusable bags filled to the brim with the necessities of diet coke, milk, cereal, chicken nuggets, random toiletries, water, and apples we attempted to find Argos, to buy a straightener and hair dryer. We found it and immediately noticed something was different, at Argos you flip through a catalog, look at the number of what you want, put the number into a machine to see if it is available, write down the number, then bring it to the front to pay. After paying you sit and wait for your number that the cashier gave you to appear on the screen then go forward and pay. I went up to pay first while Kristen gaurded our grocieries. But neither of my cards could be read. I signaled to Kristen to go up so we could trade places and neither of her cards could be read either. We sat down and counted out our money and we had barely enough..but we made it! With our arms loaded down with even more stuff we navigated our way back to BlackHall. I saw a man in the front office so I asked him if he could explain the electricity cards so he followed us back to our room. He was kind of a grumpy man. He explained what to do, you insert a card then rip it up because it is no good anymore then your electricty should work, but our electricity worked before so I have no idea what is going on. And did I mention our apartment is like the arctic? All of us have been wearing our winter coats and shoes around. I have the warmest room because I turned my vent up all the way. The heat in the rooms work but not in the hall or the kitchen area. It is literally 30 degrees in that area of our apartment. Right now I have the warmest room but I am still cold in my columbia, cuddle duds, and fuzzy socks.
While attempting to put our food away we realized our fridge and freezer weren't working. It said they were on but it definitely wasn't..our apartment was colder! So we set our chicken nuggets and milk next to the window and as of a few minutes ago they were pretty frozen if that tells you anything! We asked the man and he said that it should be on (great that is a lot of help) then he left. We finished putting our food into our cabinets and started figuring out the internet when we heard a knock at the door. It was only Kristen and I here at that point, the Meghans had left to find food. We ran to the door and we have no peephole but we heard guy's voices. We attempted to open the door for probably a good minute. It is strange, it has a lock and a handle and weird things on it. As we were doing this we heard laughter in the hallway. Eventually we got the door open and Tomas and Graham introduced themselves. They are our neighbors who live across the hall. We invited them in and they stood and talked to us and eventually our other roomates when they got back for quite awhile. They are Irish and were wondering why we would want to study here. As we listed off the places they just kind of shrugged their shoulders and I said it was probably because they were born and raised here that they didn't find things as exciting. We compared it to the Neil Smith for us haha. They laughed. It was nice to get to know our neighbors, they seem really cool and fun so hopefully we will be seeing more of them! They said the people who lived here before us were French and didn't like them at all so they were excited that we were friendly. The boys even said that our room was warmer than theres, crazy!
After they left we killed some time talking to our roomates and then made some chicken nuggets. They were delicious! Meghan D. came out and talked to us while we were doing dishes and we got to know her more. She is a junior, but is our age so that is cool. Over 80% of their school studies abroad before they graduate! But she said that only 5,000 people go to their school. I am excited to get to know more people! Tomorrow we have an orientation at 11:00 at our school and at 12:00 we have a bus tour of Dublin for 2.5 hours. That should be pretty neat!!

Dublin Exploration Part 2

January 3, 2010 10:38 pm

Kristen and I went out to explore the great city of Dublin again today. The jet lag was kicking in this morning. We didn't leave our room until around elevenish to search for breakfast. After dragging our tired butts out the door we realized what an amazingly beautiful day it was outside. We wandered around on the south side of the River Liffey in search of a pub that served breakfast. While in search we found a really cool bookstore that had everything from children's books on Irish lore to Marketing around the World (Kristen loved that one! I looked mainly at the children's books on Irish lore.)

After leaving the bookstore and wandering around for a tad bit more we found a cute, quaint little coffe shop. We still have yet to figure out in which restaurants you just sit down and order and which ones you order at the counter. We sat down at our table and looked over the menu and thankfully the girl came to us!! Kristen order a breakfast panini that was delicious she said, and I ordered the full Irish breakfast which consisted of eggs which are more smooth than American eggs, sausage that is not as good as Iowa sausage, a slice of bacon, baked beans (yuck!), and black and white Irish pudding which were round compressed weird things that I cannot even begin to describe. For the most part it was all good besides the weird things and the baked beans! Kristen also had her first coffee which was VERY strong, but I'll make a coffee drinker out of her yet!

Upon leaving the coffee shop we tried to find where our apartment will be. We found Black Hall Place road which is the road we will be living on, but Irish roads are very different. They are very short and a lot of the time we will be walking and within two minutes will be on a different road without even realizing it (that is what happened today). We wandered the road for several minutes, slipping on the ice the whole way, but failed to find our apartments. We will be taking a taxi on tuesday though, and hopefully he knows where it will be at!

We gave up on finding our apartment and wandered upon the Millenium Bridge to sit and admire the beauty for awhile. If you look at my pictures you will see how amazing the view was! After a few minutes of sitting we crossed the bridge and took some random streets until we stumbled upon St. Patrick's Park/Cathedral where it is told that St. Patrick baptized the first Irish Christians in a well. How cool is that?!? We walked around the park with many different people who did not speak English, but it was an amazing experience to be that close to so many different walks of life. After several picture ops, Kristen and I decided to try and find the National Museum of Archeology and History since it was only to be open three hours on Sundays. We found it (we are getting used to Dublin roads already!) and it was pretty cool. It described Ireland from the stone age up until the Roman era. A lot of the artifacts were found in bogs fully intact which was really neat. The items that stood out to me were a 50 ft boat that the ancient Irish used to fish in which was made from hollowed oak, it was made in 1500 BC they believe, Roman coins, and mummiess which were weird. The Mummies were in a dark room so it was kind of creepy to be looking at dead bodies.

The jet lag caught up with us again around 4, so we returned to our hotel and napped for awhile. Around 7:30 Kristen and I went out for our first Irish pub experience at O'Neil's Pub. That was pretty cool! We had no idea what we were doing, and Kristen explained that to a man working there (I was kind of embarressed haha!) He led us to a place that had three men behind a counter and were serving people whatever they wanted on their plates. After carefully looking over the menu, Kristen and I decided to share Irish stew which consisted of mashed potatoes covered in lamb, carrots, potatoes, and gravy. It was SOOOOOOO good! We loved every bite!!

After sitting and chatting for awhile, Kristen and I headed back here. We meant to mingle with the locals, but the crowd was in their 30s so we decided to wait until next time! The people here are SO friendly and everything is just amazing! I hope my pictures show even the slightest view into this wonderful world, everyone needs to come sometime and experience it themselves. Everything is different and I want to remember everything. Dubliners do not wait for the crossing sign on the street, they just go when they want and the traffic yields to them. You can tell the people who do not live there because they wait for the light to turn green to walk...Kristen and I were terrified at first but now we fit right in with the Dublin crowd. There is so much more that I'm sure I will write about soon!

Exploring we Go!

January 2, 2010 7:45 pm
Dublin is wonderful! I am starting to fall very much in love with this country all ready. Kristen and I started off our morning by waking up from our 13 hours of sleep (it was much needed!!). Right away we jumped up and headed out the door to explore the city! We literally and figuratively stumbled around Dublin. The sidewalks are icy and anyone who knows me realizes that I am not the most graceful person so i was slipping like crazy! We had no idea where we were going but that is a good thing! We had no schedule, no plans, and we loved every second if it. Each street we went down brought us a whole different environment. On one street there were performers, a magician, a "living" statue, and a man carving a cute puppy out of sand. Each street is filled with shops, pubs, and stores. For not knowing where we were going we did very well! We found a grocery store where we shopped. They don't use plastic bags here (something America needs to pick up!). Some of the brands are the same...we got some doritoes yumm! We also found cheap cheap cheap stores to shop in. They had boots for 9 Euros! Which would be about $12. And shirts that would equal out to be about $3.50. We also found St. Stephen's Green which is a beautiful beautiful beautiful park! It is about a mile walk that is amazing and wonderful. There are statues and fountains and a pond with duckies. Kristen and i found ourselves looking around in complete awe a lot. We have discovered that Dublin is the melting pot of Ireland, I have seen at least one person of each nationality and have heard so many languages today! The people are also SO friendly. We went to a restaurant and our Irish waiter just chatted with us and invited us to go to Salsa dancing on Saturday nights. Their machine to take credit cards didn't work and Pheona told us to just go down to the ATM, she trusted us to do that! You would NEVER find that in America! Everyone has a smile on her face all the time and a sense of pure happiness is in the air! I love every second I have spent in this city so far!!

There has been some developments

January 1, 2010 4:48 pm
I'm here!!!! We all made it safely to Dublin after many crazy hours! Yesterday at 9:30 a.m. (back home) my mom and I were sitting waiting for the O'Connor's to come pick me up to head to Chicago. We set out not realizing it would be such a crazy eventful day. We reached the terminal in Chicago in one piece after trying to figure out their crazy airport. Kristen Granzow (one of our friends who is studying in Cork in Ireland) was supposed to meet us their at 3:30. We found her twenty minutes before we were supposed to board, the poor girl's flight had been delayed 2 hours and she barely made it, but she did and the Kristen's and I got to sit next to each other. We were supposed to take off at 7:30 p.m. but due to a life raft in our plane having a hole in it we didn't take off until 8:30 p.m. after that things went smoothly, we saw glaciers in the arctic circle and lots of clouds! The airplane food was actually kind of delicious (weird i know). Things went smoothly until we actually reached Ireland, we just flew right on past Dublin. Everyone in the plane was extremely confused until the pilot came over the intercom saying that Dublin's airport was closed down due to a snowstorm (nothing like Iowa's!). It would reopen in 2 hours (11:30 a.m. Ireland time), but we only had an hours worth of fuel left. That thought terrified us but we landed in Manchester, England to wait out the snow, refuel, and get the ice removed from our wings. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting there we were on our way and landed safely in Dublin! After a twenty minute wait on the plane we got off and took our first steps in this beautiful country! After gathering our bags, Kristen O and I hugged Kristen G goodbye and set off to find a bus. After buying our tickets with the crazy monopoly look-a-like money Europeans use, Kristen and I set out for our hotel we will be staying in for five days due to our apartments not opening up until January 5. We were dropped off about 1/4 mile away from our hotel, it was quite the experience trying to finangle 3 huge bags on icy sidewalks for that long. Yet, the whole way there Kristen and I marveled at the European life. Everyone walks here! And everything is so quaint and cute! I can't wait to keep this life up and learn all that I can from it!