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!!