Kiliney, Dalkey, and Howth! Springtime is finally here!

April 12, 2010 9:38 a.m.

Hey guys! I'm sorry I have been so terrible at updating this blog! I have been extremely busy trying to get last minute homework done since this week is my last week of classes. I also have been trying to pack the last semester of my life into two tiny suitcases and my carry-on, difficult task! I am also trying to figure out the last minute details for my coming up soon trips to greece and italy and trying to fit 15 days of my life into a tiny carry on bag, which is not very easy!
I can't believe that this is my last week of classes and saturday I will be leaving on a 15 day adventure! This is what I have been planning for for a year and it is insane that it is finally here! I am going to be sad to leave my new friends here, but I am ready to get home to my friends and family I miss so much back home!
On Saturday my friends and I were going to rent bikes and ride around Phoenix Park all day. This past week's weather has been beyond beautiful, high 50's and mid 60's. For Ireland that is amazing! No rain whatsoever! So we figured that this weekend would be the perfect time to do that. I got up early Saturday morning to go to the library to print off some of my homework essays that I had written and while I was walking back I noticed that all the places to rent bikes were empty. All the bikes had already been rented! That was disappointing but my roomates and I knew we couldn't waste the beautiful weather, so we decided to hop on the DART (train) to go on an adventure. Meghan D., Meghan M., Kristen, and I ended up in Kiliney, a beach town where Bono and Enya live. Unfortunately, I did not see either one of them..we were hoping though! We hung out there for an hour or so just people watching on the beach then hopped on the Dart again and ended up in Dalkey. Dalkey is a small cute little town with a castle and fun little shops. I bought a book at a second hand shop. It also had a farmers market going on! We spent the majority of the day there then headed back that night.
Sunday was an exciting day for everyone because we had been planning on going to Howth forever now! 9 of us ended up going, and it was so much fun! Howth is a peninsula that is absolutely breathtaking. It is where W.B. Yeats lived, no one would get excited over that but me! He is a famous poet that I have learned about since I have been here. Howth was made for hikers, so that is what we did! When we first arrived we went to a farmers market there then were staring at the ocean and saw some weird things bobbing in and out of the water. That is when it hit us! SEA LIONS!! There were probably 8-10 of them just hanging out in the harbor people watching. It was the coolest thing, and I took probably ten million pictures so I apologize for that! But they were so neat! After watching them forever we went and got some ice cream. It was the most beautiful day of the year and everyone in Ireland seemed to have come to Howth. 100's of people were picniking, boating, playing vollyball, and tons of little kids were running around playing. It was a great, fun atmosphere. We headed up the hiking path after eating our cones and admiring the beauty. I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was hiking with the ocean on one side right next to you and a hill covered in heather on the other side. We hiked and took pictures for about 2 hours then headed back into town to eat. We didn't end up getting back into Dublin until about 10. We missed our stop on the DART, whoops! But we knew where w e were at the next stop so all was well. Needless to say, it was a great great weekend!
This will probably be my last post before I leave on Saturday so I will just give you a quick scoop of what is going on! This week I will be packing my life away and finishing my last paper as well as saying goodbye to everyone. Saturday is my roomate Meghan M.'s 21st birthday so we will be celebrating that with her! And I'm sure throughout the week everyone will be doing things here and there. Saturday night I leave to fly into London where I will stay in the airport until Sunday morning, I will be flying into Athens Greece. From Athens I'll be taking a ferry into Santorini, an amazing island off the coast of Greece. We will be in Greece until the 23, then we will fly into Rome where we will be traveling Italy for 10 days. May 2nd we fly back into Ireland and Amanda Buckingham will meet us at the airport. Kristen and I will show Amanda around Dublin for a day then we are taking her to Cork where we will stay with Kristen G. for a few days. May 4th we are going to go travel Dingle Peninsula then the 5th we are taking a bus from Cork directly to the airport so we can get on our flight on May 6th in the morning. Whew it's going to be a crazy ride but I'm excited for it!! May 6 is going to be crazy. When Kristen and I get home it will be 6:30 p.m. Iowa time, but it will feel like 12:30 a.m. to us. So I apologize in advance if I am cranky! I bet I won't be though, I'm so excited to see everyone!