Haha, hey guys!....greetings from...Los Angeles.:( haha It's good to be home though. I tried to use the interent the morning I left to leave another post but it wouldn't work. It's so good to be back. Mom, Dad and David picked me up. The flight was a good 11 hours long, but not too too bad. Sarah and Netty made an amazing dinner when I got back. Jenn was also over with the kids, it was so good to see everyone, especially the little guys. I woke up this morning at about 430am and almost stayed up...haha, it's gonna take a little while to get used to the time difference. Today I need to do some laundry, relax abit and run a bunch of errands. I can't wait to see all of you for Missy's wedding!! I'm so excited! Anyway, I just wanna thank all of you for reading and replying to my blog all this time. Believe me, it was just as entertaining for me. To be quite honest, I'm gonna miss writing in this thing. If I get enough requests, I'll keep it goin:) hahaha. Well I'm off for the day. I love you all so much and I cannot wait to see you!
Go Raibh Maith Agat!!
Slan mo clan!!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Last Night in Ireland...
So, pretty much I'm feelin every emotion in the book right now. Us girls are so irritable, and anxious to get home, tired, exhausted, and going to miss it here like crazy at the same time! Haha, we're gettin on each other's last nerve, lol, it's pretty funny. I can't tell you guys enough how excited I am to see you all!!!!!! Tomorrow's flight is gonna be pretty tough, 11+ hours tough...but at least this time around I'll have some company. I'm so excited for you guys to meet Amee, Mom and Dad, you're gonna love her!
Today was fun. We got up early for another full irish breakfast at the hostel and had to deal with switching rooms afterwards, but we finally got settled at about 1pm. First we started off with some lunch at the same Italian restaurant we had the day we got to Dublin this time. It was good. Then.....haha......we decided to WALK to the Jameson Distillery. When we left our hostel it was beautiful...sunny flip flop weather. haha, then as we've been walkin for about 15 minutes, we hear thunder, don't feel rain just hear thunder....within minutes it starts Pouring, the hardest rainfall we've seen the whole trip! My feet we're so slippery I was walkin soooo slow! It was raining so much we had to stand under an awning of a store for about 10 minutes. All of us girls were so drenched. After a few minutes, we stood around, looked at each other, and started busting up laughing! Despire the uncomfortable wetness, it was a funny moment. Finally it lightened up and we were able to finish the walk. The Jameson Distillery was really interested. We even got a free Gingerale and Jameson at the end of the tour! When we got back to the hostel, Colleen made us girls some Irish Coffees...so there ya go, I had one for ya Ma:)
Now Caitilin and I are downstairs, on the interent, but soon I have to go upstairs and repack, because the situation i have goin on right now, is NOT gonna work. Dad, I hope you've been workin out, because my bags are 10 times heavier then they were on the way here, lol!
I cannot wait to see you all when I get back! I'm so looking forward to it, you don't even know!!!!
Love you all so much!
Unfortunately this will be probably my last blog posted in Ireland, but don't worry, the mock posts fromIreland...I'll keep 'em comin! haha, love you guys!!
Today was fun. We got up early for another full irish breakfast at the hostel and had to deal with switching rooms afterwards, but we finally got settled at about 1pm. First we started off with some lunch at the same Italian restaurant we had the day we got to Dublin this time. It was good. Then.....haha......we decided to WALK to the Jameson Distillery. When we left our hostel it was beautiful...sunny flip flop weather. haha, then as we've been walkin for about 15 minutes, we hear thunder, don't feel rain just hear thunder....within minutes it starts Pouring, the hardest rainfall we've seen the whole trip! My feet we're so slippery I was walkin soooo slow! It was raining so much we had to stand under an awning of a store for about 10 minutes. All of us girls were so drenched. After a few minutes, we stood around, looked at each other, and started busting up laughing! Despire the uncomfortable wetness, it was a funny moment. Finally it lightened up and we were able to finish the walk. The Jameson Distillery was really interested. We even got a free Gingerale and Jameson at the end of the tour! When we got back to the hostel, Colleen made us girls some Irish Coffees...so there ya go, I had one for ya Ma:)
Now Caitilin and I are downstairs, on the interent, but soon I have to go upstairs and repack, because the situation i have goin on right now, is NOT gonna work. Dad, I hope you've been workin out, because my bags are 10 times heavier then they were on the way here, lol!
I cannot wait to see you all when I get back! I'm so looking forward to it, you don't even know!!!!
Love you all so much!
Unfortunately this will be probably my last blog posted in Ireland, but don't worry, the mock posts fromIreland...I'll keep 'em comin! haha, love you guys!!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
I miss Galway already...
Good morning guys! So i'm feelin a bit better today, although I woke up kinda out of it, our hostel has complimentary Full Irish Breakfast's for everyone and boy was it good.
So last night didn't turn out like we wanted it to, but it was still okay. We were supposed to meet the group of people who were in Dublin at the Temple Bar District at 10am. When we left the hostel, the very nice man told us to be careful but to have fun and to not come back til 3am...being as tired as were all were, that definitely wasn't the plan, more than anything we just wanted to say goodbye to the rest of the group. As we begin to walk, it starts to rain, which whatever, I'm used to it. But me being the only one who brought an umbrella, everyone wanted to use it...which would befine except from day one my dang umbrella doesn't stay open, so it was a bit difficult. We finally got to the Temple Bar, but it was so insanely packed that we literally could barely walk through. It was ridiculous. I told everyone that we needed to meet earlier than 10pm, but they insisted, lol:) We were all so exhausted from yesterday that we all said, ok 10 more minutes and then we outta here, we took a couple more glances and in less then 10minutes we were. After awhile I just said to hell with my umbrella and all of us girls within 5 minutes we sopping wet! We decided to stop by at a little market on the way home and pick up some chocolate so we could have a movie night. Once we got back to the hostel and the man at the desk saw that one we were drenched and two it was only about 10:30pm on our last Saturday Night...he said that he was gonna lock us out and that we couldn't be back until 3am, jokingly of course, not to worry ma:) Us girls met in mine and Amee's room and we watched the really good movie with Ashley Judd, Double Jeopardy, it was relaxing and we all got a very much needed good nights rest. Today we have a couple things to do, we might go check out the Guinness factory, cause we did all the super touristy stuff last time I was in Dublin, should be fun.
I hope you all have been having a great weekend. I cannot tell you enough how much I miss you all. Don't worry Aunt Debbie, no little leprachauns tricked me, they tried and as difficult as it was, I got out of it:)
Oh and Aunt Leanne, haha, how about I just pretend I'm inIreland and I'll keep writing in my blog when I get back...haha, whattaya say.?! :) Well, do know I now have the travel bug, and I'll be keeping this blog set up for quite some time, so when I do travel next, you'll be the first one to know!!
Haha, love you all!
So last night didn't turn out like we wanted it to, but it was still okay. We were supposed to meet the group of people who were in Dublin at the Temple Bar District at 10am. When we left the hostel, the very nice man told us to be careful but to have fun and to not come back til 3am...being as tired as were all were, that definitely wasn't the plan, more than anything we just wanted to say goodbye to the rest of the group. As we begin to walk, it starts to rain, which whatever, I'm used to it. But me being the only one who brought an umbrella, everyone wanted to use it...which would befine except from day one my dang umbrella doesn't stay open, so it was a bit difficult. We finally got to the Temple Bar, but it was so insanely packed that we literally could barely walk through. It was ridiculous. I told everyone that we needed to meet earlier than 10pm, but they insisted, lol:) We were all so exhausted from yesterday that we all said, ok 10 more minutes and then we outta here, we took a couple more glances and in less then 10minutes we were. After awhile I just said to hell with my umbrella and all of us girls within 5 minutes we sopping wet! We decided to stop by at a little market on the way home and pick up some chocolate so we could have a movie night. Once we got back to the hostel and the man at the desk saw that one we were drenched and two it was only about 10:30pm on our last Saturday Night...he said that he was gonna lock us out and that we couldn't be back until 3am, jokingly of course, not to worry ma:) Us girls met in mine and Amee's room and we watched the really good movie with Ashley Judd, Double Jeopardy, it was relaxing and we all got a very much needed good nights rest. Today we have a couple things to do, we might go check out the Guinness factory, cause we did all the super touristy stuff last time I was in Dublin, should be fun.
I hope you all have been having a great weekend. I cannot tell you enough how much I miss you all. Don't worry Aunt Debbie, no little leprachauns tricked me, they tried and as difficult as it was, I got out of it:)
Oh and Aunt Leanne, haha, how about I just pretend I'm inIreland and I'll keep writing in my blog when I get back...haha, whattaya say.?! :) Well, do know I now have the travel bug, and I'll be keeping this blog set up for quite some time, so when I do travel next, you'll be the first one to know!!
Haha, love you all!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Globetrotter Hostel...
Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile. I've had a busy few days and today's been my first chance to post a blog. My Literature final, despite my uneasiness before, actually went real smoothly. This past weekend was "Raceweek" in Galway. It's the famous "Galway HorseRaces" that started on July 30th and go through today actually. Thursday was "Ladies Day" and everyone in the town was all decked out in their fancy dresses and big hats, and the guys were all spiffy in their suits, it was pretty neat. Friday was a pretty chill day during the day, but I had to make sure I left enough time to pack. I was totally freaking out that I wasn't gonna fit everything, but somehow it all worked itself out. Friday night the program director held a banquet for us at the Forster Hotel and we had one amazing final dinner, it was awesome. Unfortunately it was raining last night so we couldn't do all the walking around we wanted to do on our last night, but it's okay. I woke up early this morning, finished some last minute packing and headed over to Colleen's with Amee for another breakfast. BTW...Mom and Dad it was hell carrying my probably insanely heavy bags!! I really hope it doesn't cost too much! In retrospect, I guess I must have looked funny, having the most difficult time out of all the girls trying to get my luggage in and out of shuttles and buses!
The morning started out great...but it was quite long...we started off carrying all of our many bags to reception and called a van taxi to take us to the bus stop, unfortunately we couldn't fit all of ourselves as well as our luggages in the taxi, so we had to take 2 trips, which is fine. Then we were about 10 minutes late for missing our bus, so we had to chill for about 45minutes waitin for the next, which is fine too....then, there was a real meanie on the bus when asking for our money to buy our tickets, which I got over, but kinda annoyed me. Then as I was uncomfortably trying to sleep all of us girls got rudely awaken by the mean bus driver once we got into Dublin from Galway, which was a 4 hour bus drive and a REALLY COOL bus....btw, sarcase at it's best:)....to hop of the bus and onto a new one for some unknown reason. Now I'm pissed. There were 5girls and probably 10 bags of luggage, hence, not a quick hop off and hop back on manuever. Not only had no idea that they were gonna switch us midway, our bus driver was late so along with the "no help" from the first bus driver, the second bus driver was especially frusturated with us girls cause first off we had SO much luggage and secondly miscommunication between bus drivers means, laugh and be rude to the cute American girls who have no idea where the are goin. Oh and a little side note, both of my bags were so heavy, that my taxi driver asked if I had a body in each bag...ha ha....Then he dropped us off at a random corner and we had to wave down a taxi, that Amee and I did perfectly, but the other 3 girls got mad because only Amee and I could fit, and i guess they had no idea how to wave down their own taxi, so Amee and I had to do it....Amee and I booked a hostel for 3 people, turns out a fourth wanted to try and get in without letting the hostel know ,which made me, the credit card holder look like and idiot...anyway it worked out and we're stayin at a really neat Hostel, called the Globetrotter. In a little while us girls are gonna go get some dindin, because we haven't eaten since breakfast and it's now....630pm....hence, i'm grumpy. There's actually about 10-15 people from the group who are in Dublin tonight, so we're all gonna get together....last night, there were a couple of sad goodbye's but all in all it was good.
This post, despite the rushed kinda crappy day is meant to make you all laugh, because I'm now out a point where I'm done venting and, like noted earlier, in retrospect, it's pretty frickin funny...haha
Mom and Dad, thanks for helpin me out....:) I really miss you guys today. Had a mini breakdown on the bus, not a bad one, but like I've told you Mom, I think about Jimmer and Miah more than I ever have over here and sometimes it's tough not havin the fam around. All I know is that I'm super stoked to get home and see you all and also...come baring gifts....:)
I hope you all had a less frantic and more relaxed Saturday then myself, hahahaha:)
God bless you, I Love You!
The morning started out great...but it was quite long...we started off carrying all of our many bags to reception and called a van taxi to take us to the bus stop, unfortunately we couldn't fit all of ourselves as well as our luggages in the taxi, so we had to take 2 trips, which is fine. Then we were about 10 minutes late for missing our bus, so we had to chill for about 45minutes waitin for the next, which is fine too....then, there was a real meanie on the bus when asking for our money to buy our tickets, which I got over, but kinda annoyed me. Then as I was uncomfortably trying to sleep all of us girls got rudely awaken by the mean bus driver once we got into Dublin from Galway, which was a 4 hour bus drive and a REALLY COOL bus....btw, sarcase at it's best:)....to hop of the bus and onto a new one for some unknown reason. Now I'm pissed. There were 5girls and probably 10 bags of luggage, hence, not a quick hop off and hop back on manuever. Not only had no idea that they were gonna switch us midway, our bus driver was late so along with the "no help" from the first bus driver, the second bus driver was especially frusturated with us girls cause first off we had SO much luggage and secondly miscommunication between bus drivers means, laugh and be rude to the cute American girls who have no idea where the are goin. Oh and a little side note, both of my bags were so heavy, that my taxi driver asked if I had a body in each bag...ha ha....Then he dropped us off at a random corner and we had to wave down a taxi, that Amee and I did perfectly, but the other 3 girls got mad because only Amee and I could fit, and i guess they had no idea how to wave down their own taxi, so Amee and I had to do it....Amee and I booked a hostel for 3 people, turns out a fourth wanted to try and get in without letting the hostel know ,which made me, the credit card holder look like and idiot...anyway it worked out and we're stayin at a really neat Hostel, called the Globetrotter. In a little while us girls are gonna go get some dindin, because we haven't eaten since breakfast and it's now....630pm....hence, i'm grumpy. There's actually about 10-15 people from the group who are in Dublin tonight, so we're all gonna get together....last night, there were a couple of sad goodbye's but all in all it was good.
This post, despite the rushed kinda crappy day is meant to make you all laugh, because I'm now out a point where I'm done venting and, like noted earlier, in retrospect, it's pretty frickin funny...haha
Mom and Dad, thanks for helpin me out....:) I really miss you guys today. Had a mini breakdown on the bus, not a bad one, but like I've told you Mom, I think about Jimmer and Miah more than I ever have over here and sometimes it's tough not havin the fam around. All I know is that I'm super stoked to get home and see you all and also...come baring gifts....:)
I hope you all had a less frantic and more relaxed Saturday then myself, hahahaha:)
God bless you, I Love You!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Fourth Day in a Row...
Yes, a fourth day of sunshine! Woke up this morning and it was raining on my way to class, figured all we would get were a couple days of sun which was fine, but it's cleared up and beautiful again! I just put a load in the laundry and I'm gettin ready to take a nap:) I can't remember if I told you guys or not, but the Gaelic oral couldn't have gone better! Now I have one more thing to worry about which is my Literature final manana...it's actually gonna be pretty difficult so I'm workin on gettin some studyin after my nap.
I'm so anxious to get home. I know it's gonna be so tough to leave and get back into the routine of things back home, but I miss you all so much, I can't wait! I'm excited because the program director set up a banquet at the end of the week for a last get to together with all of us, really looking forward to that, should be fun. Myself, Amee, Caitlin and Colleen are gettin up early on Saturday and taking a bus back to Dublin to spend a few days there. I'll letcha know how the trip is...nothing better then sittin on a big charter bus for 4 hours! haha.
Okay, my nap is slowly callin my name...But, a Happy Birthday shout out to the Aimster!! I hope you are havin a great day Amy, can't wait to see you too!!!
Slan!
I'm so anxious to get home. I know it's gonna be so tough to leave and get back into the routine of things back home, but I miss you all so much, I can't wait! I'm excited because the program director set up a banquet at the end of the week for a last get to together with all of us, really looking forward to that, should be fun. Myself, Amee, Caitlin and Colleen are gettin up early on Saturday and taking a bus back to Dublin to spend a few days there. I'll letcha know how the trip is...nothing better then sittin on a big charter bus for 4 hours! haha.
Okay, my nap is slowly callin my name...But, a Happy Birthday shout out to the Aimster!! I hope you are havin a great day Amy, can't wait to see you too!!!
Slan!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Salt Hill and now, the 3rd Prettiest Day of the trip...
So It's about 945am on Tuesday and the sun is shining beautifully. Corny, I know but it's about dang time Ireland started havin some good weather damn it:) Sunday afternoon, it's was beautiful, sunny on and off because of clouds, but still beautiful. Issac knocked on mine and Amee's door and asked if we wanted to go to Salt Hill, the nearest beach. Amee and I had loads of homework to do but we still took him up on his offer. Her and I locked ourselves in our room and worked till about 3pm then myself, Issac and Amee took the shuttle into town and then the bus town to the beach. The tid came up on us pretty quick, but I still got to put my toes in the sand for about an hour, it was great. Afterwards I had the best softserved icecream of my life!! Then we walked into town and took some amazing pictures of our little town on a nice day. We stopped by the seafood place and all decided to go have some dinner, pretty good, but i do miss my seafood from back home:( We also stopped by a record store and talked to the guy who owned the place, he was really cool.
Monday was even more clear and beautiful. Unfortunately I had another bad nightmare in the morning, but the day was so amazing I couldn't let it bother me that much. Amee and I got up and both finished our papers that were due at 12. She went running and then I went running, it was so beautiful...I needed a "by my lonesome" run:) We hopped in the shower and her and I took the shuttle in to town to finish some shoppin for you peeps and we decided to get some pizza at this restaurant that we really wanted to go to. It was so hot! We got to sit out on the patio and believe it or not, we got a little sun! We actually ran into a local friend of ours, Darragh, who saw us on the street...it was so cool to run into someone, haha, he came up and gave us the double kiss thing, one on each cheek, haha, i know, totally Euro right? haha Anyway he works at the "Front Door Pub" and told us to come in for a "pint" after lunch. We came in afterwards and got into a really good conversation with the older bartender who worked there. for the most part the people here a friendly, we've ran into a lot of hostility as Americans, so when you do have a good convo with one of the locals, it totally sticks. Anyway, after that I came back and study some Gaelic with a few of the girls because we have an oral today;(
I'm actually on my way over to Caitlin and Colleen's to make breakfast and study Gaelic, wish me luck!!!
It's another beautiful day, and I'm so happy. I didn't have a nightmare this morning, but when I finished reading this morning for my Lit class, I put my Jimmy bookmark in my book and remembered I had ANOTHER dream about Jimmy. It was a good one. He was holding my hand and smilin the whole time, it was good. I'll tell ya about it more soon.
I'm thinkin of you today Grandpa! Happy Birthday! I hope you're having an absolutely wonderful day, wish I could be there to give ya a hug, soon tho! Have a good day everyone!
Love ya!
Monday was even more clear and beautiful. Unfortunately I had another bad nightmare in the morning, but the day was so amazing I couldn't let it bother me that much. Amee and I got up and both finished our papers that were due at 12. She went running and then I went running, it was so beautiful...I needed a "by my lonesome" run:) We hopped in the shower and her and I took the shuttle in to town to finish some shoppin for you peeps and we decided to get some pizza at this restaurant that we really wanted to go to. It was so hot! We got to sit out on the patio and believe it or not, we got a little sun! We actually ran into a local friend of ours, Darragh, who saw us on the street...it was so cool to run into someone, haha, he came up and gave us the double kiss thing, one on each cheek, haha, i know, totally Euro right? haha Anyway he works at the "Front Door Pub" and told us to come in for a "pint" after lunch. We came in afterwards and got into a really good conversation with the older bartender who worked there. for the most part the people here a friendly, we've ran into a lot of hostility as Americans, so when you do have a good convo with one of the locals, it totally sticks. Anyway, after that I came back and study some Gaelic with a few of the girls because we have an oral today;(
I'm actually on my way over to Caitlin and Colleen's to make breakfast and study Gaelic, wish me luck!!!
It's another beautiful day, and I'm so happy. I didn't have a nightmare this morning, but when I finished reading this morning for my Lit class, I put my Jimmy bookmark in my book and remembered I had ANOTHER dream about Jimmy. It was a good one. He was holding my hand and smilin the whole time, it was good. I'll tell ya about it more soon.
I'm thinkin of you today Grandpa! Happy Birthday! I hope you're having an absolutely wonderful day, wish I could be there to give ya a hug, soon tho! Have a good day everyone!
Love ya!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Another stupid bad nightmare...
I don't know what it is, maybe because I'm in the magical land of fairies and leprachauns, but I keep having bad nightmares. The other night I woke up screaming, not cool right? This morning I woke up at 8am and regretfully fell back alseep having bad nightmares for like 2 hours straight then waking up at 10am. I find that if I fall back asleep, thats when I usually have the bad dreams, so from now on once I get up I will stay up!
Anyway, how's everyone doin this Saturday? It's inly 6:06am, so I'm guessin most of you are asleep. I'm startin to get real anxious about gettin home. I keep lookn at that photo album that you sent with me Jenn. You don't even know how much I appreciate that. Not only do I show everyone possible all the pictures you have in there, but I myself look at it at least on a daily basis. That picture of you an I lying on mom's bed is my favorite! miss you so much!
I went for another run today, by myself. It was a good one, felt like I ran harder than I have been, so the workout was quite a release. Just before I got back to my room, James Blunt, "So Long Jimmy" started playin. I felt as though I was about to get upset during my room for some reason, but then as I was looking down toward my feet as I was running, I totally felt Jimbo's own two feet runnin right beside me, so from then i just looked up at smiled. When I got back to my room, especially with that specific song playing I got real upset. For the most part I try and think positive even with tears. Today, it was a good cry but man do I miss him. I kept thinkin about his hands and those freckles. I miss 'em. Miss the little things, ya know? Anyway, everytime I go for a run or I'm by myself, I seem to always get into deep thought mode:) lol, and I had a little moment today that I wanted to share with you guys. I hope that you all have a wonderful Saturday Night and send some prayers to help me with my homework, I'm having writer's block!
Love you guys.
Anyway, how's everyone doin this Saturday? It's inly 6:06am, so I'm guessin most of you are asleep. I'm startin to get real anxious about gettin home. I keep lookn at that photo album that you sent with me Jenn. You don't even know how much I appreciate that. Not only do I show everyone possible all the pictures you have in there, but I myself look at it at least on a daily basis. That picture of you an I lying on mom's bed is my favorite! miss you so much!
I went for another run today, by myself. It was a good one, felt like I ran harder than I have been, so the workout was quite a release. Just before I got back to my room, James Blunt, "So Long Jimmy" started playin. I felt as though I was about to get upset during my room for some reason, but then as I was looking down toward my feet as I was running, I totally felt Jimbo's own two feet runnin right beside me, so from then i just looked up at smiled. When I got back to my room, especially with that specific song playing I got real upset. For the most part I try and think positive even with tears. Today, it was a good cry but man do I miss him. I kept thinkin about his hands and those freckles. I miss 'em. Miss the little things, ya know? Anyway, everytime I go for a run or I'm by myself, I seem to always get into deep thought mode:) lol, and I had a little moment today that I wanted to share with you guys. I hope that you all have a wonderful Saturday Night and send some prayers to help me with my homework, I'm having writer's block!
Love you guys.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The 22nd was Great...
Hey guys, how's it goin? So gettin back to you about the rest of my birthday. After I finished the blog, Cailtin and Colleen asked me over to their place and they cooked a really yummy pasta dinner for me, it was very nice. Once dinner ended, I headed back to my place and got started getting ready for my night out. Us girls bought a fun dance music CD so as we were all gettin ready we were playin fun "dance while we get ready" music...haha, good times. As I was getting ready I heard a bunch of commotion going on in our small little kitchen and I noticed that the door was shut, which it never is. Amee saw me trying to take a peek and she yelled at me to go get ready in my room. I called mom a little while later and was tellin her all about my fun day so far and then Amee came in my room and asked to see me in the kitchen....even though they weren't the most quiet group that were stuffed in my kitchen it was still probably the sweetest gesture some of the kids in the group could've done. I walked in the kitchen and with the lights out and everything, they yelled surprise and had a birthday cake and candles waitin for me on the table. Once they sang I looked around the kitchen and there must have been at least 20 people with balloons and Happy Birthday signs all over! It was so great. Followed by the fun little surprise, we went to a local pub and finished up with some dancin at a NightClub...it was so cool because despite the 20+ group we did have, the entire group stayed together till the end. It was so much fun!
Last night was the play that I was able to attend with the Theatre class. Being that it was a very dark and totally bizarr play and didn't really enjoy it too much, but it was still fun to get out. Four of us girls decided to get a pint at the famous pub called "FibberMcgees." They are famous because they were the first pub in Ireland to ban smoking inside, interesting huh? haha.
Today I got up early with the Gaelic class and took a field trip to the Gaelic Television studio..TG-4. It's really famous in Ireland as a program trying to promote and continue the language of Gaelic prospering within Television. It was fun. Then we did some shopping in Spideal on our way back. I just made my self a delicious sandwich for lunch and now I'm in the computer lab typing this blog. Tonight some of us are going to go watch our friend Kevin play the tin whistle at a local pub, I'm really lookin forward to it.
Anyway, I hope this blog finds you all doin well. Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon!
Mom, give me a call if you get a chance today. I had a dream about you, Dave and Jimmer and I wanted to talk to you about it and almost gave you a call this morning, but then I realized that it was 1am your time, haha wouldn't have been good:) Anyway, talk to you soon!
Last night was the play that I was able to attend with the Theatre class. Being that it was a very dark and totally bizarr play and didn't really enjoy it too much, but it was still fun to get out. Four of us girls decided to get a pint at the famous pub called "FibberMcgees." They are famous because they were the first pub in Ireland to ban smoking inside, interesting huh? haha.
Today I got up early with the Gaelic class and took a field trip to the Gaelic Television studio..TG-4. It's really famous in Ireland as a program trying to promote and continue the language of Gaelic prospering within Television. It was fun. Then we did some shopping in Spideal on our way back. I just made my self a delicious sandwich for lunch and now I'm in the computer lab typing this blog. Tonight some of us are going to go watch our friend Kevin play the tin whistle at a local pub, I'm really lookin forward to it.
Anyway, I hope this blog finds you all doin well. Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon!
Mom, give me a call if you get a chance today. I had a dream about you, Dave and Jimmer and I wanted to talk to you about it and almost gave you a call this morning, but then I realized that it was 1am your time, haha wouldn't have been good:) Anyway, talk to you soon!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Cliffs of Moher and Inishmore, the Biggest of the Aran Islands...
Everybody..I'm 22!! I was tellin Mom in an e-mail that this time around I actually do feel older, but in a good way. It's so weird being all the way over here and not with you guys, bittersweet ya know? But I'll be sure to enjoy it! I did mean "Singing IN the rain" Mom..haha..things are different here, but not that different, typo:)
So about these 2 really cool trips I took...On Sunday, myself, Amee, Colleen, Issac, Nick and Jon got up really early a took a huge bus to the Cliffs of Moher. First we stopped at this really cool Cave exhibit, not sure the name of it but it was neat. Kinda reminded me of those ones we saw when we were at Lake Shasta. Anyway we also drove by a really old famous Rock, a tomb-like natural formation that has been dated over 6000 years, old huh? It was neat. Luckily we had some decent weather of the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs were unbelievable. I really cannot explain that enough. I took loads of pictures, so when I get back I'll try and explain it some more. On Monday, the whole group took a trip to the largest of the Aran Islands called Inishmore. Another bus ride plus a ferry ride, and Kel still didn't get sick!! haha, I'm on a roll!! The day couldn't have been more beautiful, probably the best day we've had so far. The hiking was intense, but I would have to say that the cliffs here, although smaller then compared to the Cliffs of Moher, were my favorite place so far in Ireland. I'm pretty sure the sunny day added to me liking, but nonetheless, the place was amazing. The water was so clear, I almost wanted to do some cliff jumpin, like in Klammoth remember Nett? But these cliffs were a bit too high. If anyone has access to Myspace, haha, you should check some of my pictures out, they're pretty neat.
Today, Tuesday July 24th, is my Birthday, for those of you who don't know....:)....and Mom, I finally had the Real and Full Irish Breakfast you were tellin me about. Myself, Amee, Caitlin and Colleen got up early and took me out to breakfast, they asked me last night what I wanted to do and that was one of the things had to do while I was here, so they all got up early for me and joined me. They paid for that and a taxi ride back to school cause we were a little late for Gaelic class. After this post I'm gonna go back to my room, and probably go back into town with the girls for some shoppin. Tonight a bunch of the kids are gonna go out with me into town. Should be very exciting! I'll tell ya all about it manana. Thanks to all who sent Birthday wishes, you've made my day. I'm thinkin of you all so much today, wish you could be here with me.
I Love you and Thanks:)
So about these 2 really cool trips I took...On Sunday, myself, Amee, Colleen, Issac, Nick and Jon got up really early a took a huge bus to the Cliffs of Moher. First we stopped at this really cool Cave exhibit, not sure the name of it but it was neat. Kinda reminded me of those ones we saw when we were at Lake Shasta. Anyway we also drove by a really old famous Rock, a tomb-like natural formation that has been dated over 6000 years, old huh? It was neat. Luckily we had some decent weather of the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs were unbelievable. I really cannot explain that enough. I took loads of pictures, so when I get back I'll try and explain it some more. On Monday, the whole group took a trip to the largest of the Aran Islands called Inishmore. Another bus ride plus a ferry ride, and Kel still didn't get sick!! haha, I'm on a roll!! The day couldn't have been more beautiful, probably the best day we've had so far. The hiking was intense, but I would have to say that the cliffs here, although smaller then compared to the Cliffs of Moher, were my favorite place so far in Ireland. I'm pretty sure the sunny day added to me liking, but nonetheless, the place was amazing. The water was so clear, I almost wanted to do some cliff jumpin, like in Klammoth remember Nett? But these cliffs were a bit too high. If anyone has access to Myspace, haha, you should check some of my pictures out, they're pretty neat.
Today, Tuesday July 24th, is my Birthday, for those of you who don't know....:)....and Mom, I finally had the Real and Full Irish Breakfast you were tellin me about. Myself, Amee, Caitlin and Colleen got up early and took me out to breakfast, they asked me last night what I wanted to do and that was one of the things had to do while I was here, so they all got up early for me and joined me. They paid for that and a taxi ride back to school cause we were a little late for Gaelic class. After this post I'm gonna go back to my room, and probably go back into town with the girls for some shoppin. Tonight a bunch of the kids are gonna go out with me into town. Should be very exciting! I'll tell ya all about it manana. Thanks to all who sent Birthday wishes, you've made my day. I'm thinkin of you all so much today, wish you could be here with me.
I Love you and Thanks:)
Saturday, July 21, 2007
"I'm singin on the rain..."
Hello All. So today was an awesome day so far. I woke up at a decent hour this time as opposed to yesterday's way too much sleep deal. My 3 roomates, plus my friend Issac and the birthday girl, Ashely, all made some delicious breakfast!! Probably the best I've had over here. It's kinda difficult to cook cause they don't have too many cooking utensils and we don't have all the good spices like we do back home, but man, did we whip up a tasty brunch. I started the scrambled eggs, then Matt finished them:) Amy made delicious potatoes, Katie made Biscuits and Gravy, Issac made bacon and we topped it off we a nice cup of OJ...it was so good, we were all a little unsure of how it would end up, but it surprised us all at how good it was!
Now, about the play I was tellin ya about yesterday, I walked into town with Amee to meet her instructor with the other girls, but it turns out he had an extra ticket for another play, not this one, anyway I took a 5minute walk to the park that was close by. I watched a couple little kids skateboard in the skatepark, it was cool, made me a little sad cause I wished I was watching David, but nonetheless it was quite enjoyable. Not to mention, I got a little bit of a tan sittin in the sun watchin 'em...which i miss;) You should see the play grounds in Ireland, the things they have are one not only dangerous, but look like so much fun! haha. From there I figured since I was so close to town I would just take a little walk, maybe do some shoppin. I picked up some stamps at the post office, bought myself an early birthday present and spent quite a lot of money on a very cute and desperately needed jacket. I definitely did not pack well enough for this rainy weather, picked up some powder cause mine was all out, and just a few cheaper tops, don't worry, it wasn't too much money, plus like I said, it's ok, it was an early birthday present:) Anyway on the way back it started to sprinkle on me, and I thought to myself, "Jimmy and Miah, you two better not make it rain on me" and within literally, seconds, it started pourin!! Luckily I had just purchased and nice comfy jacket, but it was so funny, i was like "hey you guys, you better knock that off!!" with the biggest smile on my face. I've come to the conclusion that we all need to walk in the rain every once in awhile. I was walkin through campus, btw campus is beautiful, but there is the really foresty path at one point that we have to pass in order to get back to the dorms. As I was walkin I looked up, closed my eyes, and smiled as it was raining. It was so relaxin, lol, I was laughin at myself:) Anyway moral of this one, I was thinkin of you all on my walk home. Today if any of you get the chance, do that, rain or shine, close your eyes look up and smile, life is beautiful.
Love you guys. Miss you, have a great weekend...holy crap it's already another weekend, haha:)
Now, about the play I was tellin ya about yesterday, I walked into town with Amee to meet her instructor with the other girls, but it turns out he had an extra ticket for another play, not this one, anyway I took a 5minute walk to the park that was close by. I watched a couple little kids skateboard in the skatepark, it was cool, made me a little sad cause I wished I was watching David, but nonetheless it was quite enjoyable. Not to mention, I got a little bit of a tan sittin in the sun watchin 'em...which i miss;) You should see the play grounds in Ireland, the things they have are one not only dangerous, but look like so much fun! haha. From there I figured since I was so close to town I would just take a little walk, maybe do some shoppin. I picked up some stamps at the post office, bought myself an early birthday present and spent quite a lot of money on a very cute and desperately needed jacket. I definitely did not pack well enough for this rainy weather, picked up some powder cause mine was all out, and just a few cheaper tops, don't worry, it wasn't too much money, plus like I said, it's ok, it was an early birthday present:) Anyway on the way back it started to sprinkle on me, and I thought to myself, "Jimmy and Miah, you two better not make it rain on me" and within literally, seconds, it started pourin!! Luckily I had just purchased and nice comfy jacket, but it was so funny, i was like "hey you guys, you better knock that off!!" with the biggest smile on my face. I've come to the conclusion that we all need to walk in the rain every once in awhile. I was walkin through campus, btw campus is beautiful, but there is the really foresty path at one point that we have to pass in order to get back to the dorms. As I was walkin I looked up, closed my eyes, and smiled as it was raining. It was so relaxin, lol, I was laughin at myself:) Anyway moral of this one, I was thinkin of you all on my walk home. Today if any of you get the chance, do that, rain or shine, close your eyes look up and smile, life is beautiful.
Love you guys. Miss you, have a great weekend...holy crap it's already another weekend, haha:)
Friday, July 20, 2007
One more thing...
I miss you all so much and it is such a pleasure to hear from you.
Dad, that was a great conversation, I'm glad you picked up the phone:)
Miss you and I love you.
Don't forget to take the coop to work one of these days!:) haha, love ya.
Dad, that was a great conversation, I'm glad you picked up the phone:)
Miss you and I love you.
Don't forget to take the coop to work one of these days!:) haha, love ya.
A quiet, relaxin day...
Hey all, how's it goin? So it's actually kinda late tonight, about 12:41am, but i'm not that tired, cause I slept in way too late and pretty much relaxed all day. Except, Amee and I did go for a run today which felt real good cause i was indoors for the majority of the day. Not too much goin on this weekend. I'm gonna try and work on a paper I have for my Lit class and just a few of us are gonna check out a play manana. For about I think it's 2 weeks, Galway has their very famous Art Festival goin on so they're are all sorts of street performance, art exhibits and tons of shows and plays goin on. The Theatre class only has about 3 students in it, but my roomate Amee is in it and she said they had an extra ticket so I'm gonna join the theatre class tomorrow to check out the play, i'll bore ya about that one later:) Other then that tomorrow one of the students is having a little birthday celebration so that should be fun. Sunday we are either going to check out the Cliffs of Moher or stay in town for the huge Parade they have, we'll see, but like I said I'll get back to you one that. I just wanted to say hello to you guys.
Jeff, thanks so much for callin today, it was so good to hear from you! And David, my goodness, it was probably the highlight of my week talkin to you mr!! Mom, thanks for listenin to me yap for over an hour, haha, did you know it was almost an hour? lol! Hope everyone has a great weeekend!
Guess what, someone's gonna be 22 next week!!! Whoo hoo!!
Haha, Night!
Jeff, thanks so much for callin today, it was so good to hear from you! And David, my goodness, it was probably the highlight of my week talkin to you mr!! Mom, thanks for listenin to me yap for over an hour, haha, did you know it was almost an hour? lol! Hope everyone has a great weeekend!
Guess what, someone's gonna be 22 next week!!! Whoo hoo!!
Haha, Night!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I can't wait to be a teacher...
Good Morning Los Angeles! Haha, hey guys, well it's goin on 7pm over here and I'm about to get ready for dindin, but I always write in this thing thinkin socal time:) I had to do a presentation today in my Literature class on Liam O'Flaherty's novel Skerrett. A pretty dark and not so optimistic novel, but nonetheless it was pretty good surprisingly. My group members kinda left me hangin lastnight when finishing the project, but I really enjoyed talking in front of the class. Can you imagine that? Voted as "most shy" in high school, I now look forward to group presentations, i love it! A couple girls came up to me and said I should definitely be a teacher, lucky for me, that's what my future plans entail:)
I just got back from a beautiful run. "Beautiful" - an interesting choice of adjective for a run you'd say? haha, well my dorm is located on the river banks of the Corrib River, so there's a nice little path right along the river that you can run. I've been goin running with Amee, but she's in music class right now so I was able to enjoy a run to myself, with my iPod, a nice breeze, no rain and the bluest skies you'll see. Today was on and off cloudy as well as rainy day, but I picked a good time to go running. When it's not pouring rain, but rather cloudy, the on and off sprinkles are quite annoying, but the blue skies you get in between are amazing. Do you guys remember how blue the skies were Mom and Dad? It so cool, cause on the path where I go running, right across the river there are ruins of an old church with a bunch of greenery all around it, it's beautiful even from afar. It's crazy how many ruins of old houses and churches there are around here, there all over, nothing compared to Beautiful L.A...haha.
Just got back to my room, popped open my windows and i'm blasting Bob Dylan on my iTunes:) Myself, Caitlin, and my friend Erin have to go into town tonight for our Gaelic class to get some street names in Gaelic and I think on our way we're gonna stop at that amazing Fish n'Chips place, cannot wait! I loved the reply you and Tor sent Aunt Leslie, definitely made me smile:) I hope the summer is kickin butt over there!
Love you all, and miss you so much today...:)
I just got back from a beautiful run. "Beautiful" - an interesting choice of adjective for a run you'd say? haha, well my dorm is located on the river banks of the Corrib River, so there's a nice little path right along the river that you can run. I've been goin running with Amee, but she's in music class right now so I was able to enjoy a run to myself, with my iPod, a nice breeze, no rain and the bluest skies you'll see. Today was on and off cloudy as well as rainy day, but I picked a good time to go running. When it's not pouring rain, but rather cloudy, the on and off sprinkles are quite annoying, but the blue skies you get in between are amazing. Do you guys remember how blue the skies were Mom and Dad? It so cool, cause on the path where I go running, right across the river there are ruins of an old church with a bunch of greenery all around it, it's beautiful even from afar. It's crazy how many ruins of old houses and churches there are around here, there all over, nothing compared to Beautiful L.A...haha.
Just got back to my room, popped open my windows and i'm blasting Bob Dylan on my iTunes:) Myself, Caitlin, and my friend Erin have to go into town tonight for our Gaelic class to get some street names in Gaelic and I think on our way we're gonna stop at that amazing Fish n'Chips place, cannot wait! I loved the reply you and Tor sent Aunt Leslie, definitely made me smile:) I hope the summer is kickin butt over there!
Love you all, and miss you so much today...:)
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Whoo hoo! Another Sunny Saturday...
Good Morning guys!! How's it goin? So it's definitely 6:15am on a Saturday over there and I'm guessin most of you are sleepin. I'm in my room right now trying to read an entire novel and I got bored so I wanted to say hello. A group of students went to Brussels and some went to Venice, so there's only about 15 of us or so still in town. Then most of them decided to go to a Hurling match today. This sport is insane, if you don't know what it is, you have to do some research on it, it's awesome! I really wanted to go, but I decided to make the right decision and stay to do homework...:( Hopefully Galway will win, because if they do, there'll be another match next weekend that I can check out. Anyway, I need to get back to doing some homework, but I just wanted to say Hi. Again, hope you all are having a great weekend.
God bless you, Love you.
God bless you, Love you.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Harry Potter, Aidyn Quinn, and "In the Name of the Father"...
Hey guys, how's it goin? Okay so I have a bunch of cool news to tell ya about. Wednesday morning I got up early with a bunch of the other kids in the program to go into town to watch this movie called "In the Name of the Father." Being over here in Ireland, has made me more aware of the history, culture, and the lifestyle. One of the most surprisingly of these is the history. I'm still a little confused on it all, but some of the things I've learned are so interesting. Despite the earlier Famine, and the War with the IRA and the Nationalists, later in history, there was a time of much turmoil between, obviously, Britain and Ireland. There were many bombings that took place and one was at the Guilford Pub in London. The film I watched was about the wrongfully accused "Guilford Four." Several other innocent people were accused and sentenced for many years before anyone took notice or chose to help them out, there was also the Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven to name a few. This film was absolutely incredible. Dad if you haven't seen it, you MUST, must go get it as soon as possible. So many of you would just love it. Since we're on the subject of movies, Wednesday night a group of about 15 of us went to saw Harry Potter at midnight on Thursday, of course still one of my favorites! Take David as soon as you can!
Now to probably the most exciting news, at least for me, was the third movie I watched. We had to go for the Gaelic class, because it was all in Gaelic and it was part of the famous Arts Festival Galway has every summer. It was a movie called "Poitin" where for some of you who don't know it, was the illegal making of a very strong type of vodka, that was a big issue in Ireland a long time ago. It was a short, kind of indie type film, a little odd, but good. The producer's name was Bob Quinn, yes that's right Aidyn Quinn's brother!!! Mr. Aidyn was literally right next to me!! It was great. Being the silly starstruck American that I was, me and one of the other girls who was just as excited were smilin and being silly trying to go and ask him for a picture. He was laughin at us a bit. Even though we did not end up doing that, it was still definitely the highlight of my week, next to the "In the Name of the Father" film that each and everyone of you NEED to see. I just woke up a little bit ago...I have some errands and jogging to do, but I had a dream about all of you! Yes all of you, the whole fam was at the weird castle type place for a family party, haha, it was funny, woke up thinking of all of you and missin ya. Sarah, you were so cute in it, but I didn't see the big belly, which is making me sad cause everyone is tellin me how big your belly has gotten, i've decided that I need to see pictures, lol, so send some when ya can.
Have a great weekend everyone, say some prayer for me...I have a huge novel I have to finish by Sunday mornin...oh dear:)
Miss you Love you!
Now to probably the most exciting news, at least for me, was the third movie I watched. We had to go for the Gaelic class, because it was all in Gaelic and it was part of the famous Arts Festival Galway has every summer. It was a movie called "Poitin" where for some of you who don't know it, was the illegal making of a very strong type of vodka, that was a big issue in Ireland a long time ago. It was a short, kind of indie type film, a little odd, but good. The producer's name was Bob Quinn, yes that's right Aidyn Quinn's brother!!! Mr. Aidyn was literally right next to me!! It was great. Being the silly starstruck American that I was, me and one of the other girls who was just as excited were smilin and being silly trying to go and ask him for a picture. He was laughin at us a bit. Even though we did not end up doing that, it was still definitely the highlight of my week, next to the "In the Name of the Father" film that each and everyone of you NEED to see. I just woke up a little bit ago...I have some errands and jogging to do, but I had a dream about all of you! Yes all of you, the whole fam was at the weird castle type place for a family party, haha, it was funny, woke up thinking of all of you and missin ya. Sarah, you were so cute in it, but I didn't see the big belly, which is making me sad cause everyone is tellin me how big your belly has gotten, i've decided that I need to see pictures, lol, so send some when ya can.
Have a great weekend everyone, say some prayer for me...I have a huge novel I have to finish by Sunday mornin...oh dear:)
Miss you Love you!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Yeats Tower and Lady Gregory's Coole Park...
As part of the Literature class, myself and several other students went on another field trip yesterday. It was very cold and very raining, but nonetheless, for the most part I enjoyed it. Some of you may be aware of the famous poet, William Butler Yeats, as a Literature major, I'm very aware of this guy and have had many a lecture on him, so for me, this was quite interesting:) A group of us checked out his 14th century Tower that was used as a summer home for him and his family in the early 1900s. We sat and discussed several of his poems that were said to have been written by him in the same room. It was different, but neat. The tower itself was amazing, it has this winding staircase all the way to the top with some bizarr rooms located all in it. Mom, can you imagine if Dad told you, "Honey, we're moving to a 14th century war tower for the summer, pack up?!" haha, it was really interesting. We didn't stay there too long, but the next stop which was super close was the famous playwright, Lady Gregory's, once beautiful home and garden at Coole Park. Both Lady Gregory and Yeats helped start the now famous theater that I watched The Crucible in, The Abbey Theater, which is located in Dublin. Once we got here, we were forced to sit outside in thee Fa-Reezing and rainy cold to watch one of the students do a presentation on a play we were to have read. The premises themselves, were beautiful, the gardens, again, we're stunning, but the weather made it hard to enjoy. Beyond that, my Monday was good. Myself, Amme, Colleen and Caitlin had a fun Sunday night too, we were getting a little homesick for food at home so we decided to have a Mexican dinner! It was delicious! Before I wrote this blog I finished a response to a Literature piece I was to read and now I have to go to campus to print it out before class....on that note I'm outta here. Hope you guys have a great Monday.
Thanks for talkin yesterday Mom, God Bless you, Love you all.
P.s. Thanks so much for the reply Eddie, of course I remember you! Keep readin the blogs! Slan!
Thanks for talkin yesterday Mom, God Bless you, Love you all.
P.s. Thanks so much for the reply Eddie, of course I remember you! Keep readin the blogs! Slan!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Finally, A Sunny Saturday...
Hey guys! So this morning was finally a day where I was able to sleep in. I got up at abou 11am and me and my roomie Amee got up, made ourselves some breakfast, and went running with our friends Nick and Issac. I had a tough time keepin up, it's the first time I've gone running in awhile, but it felt real good, like it always does:) There were a bunch of students who are on the crew team that were practicing on the river, it was cool to take a break and watch them. One our way back Amee pointed out a dragon fly on the bridge! It was the biggest dragon fly I've ever seen, so pretty much Jimmer was checkin up on me:) I told her how special dragon flies and bull frogs are to the fam and told her all about Miah man too. She's really sweet, today is actually her birthday, so myself, her and a couple other girls went out for a sandwich today at this really good cafe in town. We just got back a little bit ago, and we're planning on having some people over to order some pizza, should be fun. We have had rain, every single day since I got to Ireland, but luckily today we woke up to beautiful blue skies! It was such a better day!!! So there ya go Aunt Linda, I'm really missin the west coast heat wave, that's for sure! I hope everyone's weekend is goin great so far.
Love ya...dia duit!
Love ya...dia duit!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Connemara...
Woke up early and went to breakfast with my roomate Amie. Then we all met back here and we took a bus ride through the area of Connemara. My friend Issac, who lives right in the other hall next to me had some Dramamine handy and since he knew I wasn't feelin so hot last time I was on the bus, he let me have some:) I didn't feel sick once, it was awesome! haha! The bus ride itself was incredible. Everyday, no matter how much time goes on I'm just mesmerized by the beauty of this incredible country. We first stopped at Kylemore Abbey, wow, absolutely amazing! Again, I have some great pictures, but I still have to figure that out...I know, i'm workin on it ma, sorry! I'm gonna try and get on yahoo today so look for me! After that quick stop we went to this sheep and wool museum, located right in the heart of Connemara, had a 12Euro lunch..but this time at least it was good - Irish stew...mmm!!! Then we continued on the bus ride home, so pretty! Got back a little bit ago and my friend Amie and I watched a movie together. Some of us are talkin about goin to place some pool, that's actually at the place we're stayin at, they have like a couple of video game machines, pin ball, and a restuarant. Some of the group are goin to these dog races in town...?....haha, but I just wanna get another good nights sleep, maybe do some homework, watch another movie, just a relaxin night is in store for me:)
There is this girl in the program who came to class the other day, the first day of classes and she was talkin about how she never got her bags and no one else seemed to notice, but her eyes were fillin up with tears. Anyway, throughout the week I kept askin her about them and she said they still hadn't arrived. I kept prayin for her, cause I don't even know what I would do without my bags! Oh man, can you even imagine mom??!! haha. Anyway I was just in my room and she lives in the building next to me and I saw her walking into her hall with luggage and she was crying. I yelled out my window, "YOU FINALLY GOT YOU BAGS!!" She was so excited but upset at the same time. I ran up to her room and told her congrats on gettin them in. I told her I was prayin for her all week. She was smilin with tears rollin down her face, it was so cute. All of us are just super excited that her trip will now be a bit more easier.
Anyway, that was a random story, but still something that just happened so I wanted to share. TGIF! huh?! Like I said, tonight I'm just hangin out at my place, whatever you all decide to do, I hope you have a wonderful Friday night and an even better weekend! Love ya guys, and thanks for those lasts replies to those last couple of emotional blogs:)....typical kel:) haha!
There is this girl in the program who came to class the other day, the first day of classes and she was talkin about how she never got her bags and no one else seemed to notice, but her eyes were fillin up with tears. Anyway, throughout the week I kept askin her about them and she said they still hadn't arrived. I kept prayin for her, cause I don't even know what I would do without my bags! Oh man, can you even imagine mom??!! haha. Anyway I was just in my room and she lives in the building next to me and I saw her walking into her hall with luggage and she was crying. I yelled out my window, "YOU FINALLY GOT YOU BAGS!!" She was so excited but upset at the same time. I ran up to her room and told her congrats on gettin them in. I told her I was prayin for her all week. She was smilin with tears rollin down her face, it was so cute. All of us are just super excited that her trip will now be a bit more easier.
Anyway, that was a random story, but still something that just happened so I wanted to share. TGIF! huh?! Like I said, tonight I'm just hangin out at my place, whatever you all decide to do, I hope you have a wonderful Friday night and an even better weekend! Love ya guys, and thanks for those lasts replies to those last couple of emotional blogs:)....typical kel:) haha!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Content...
10:10pm over here and my butt is sittin in bed. There are about literally, 15 people in my little common room kitchen area right now partying and being way too loud! in each hall there are 4 rooms and each hall has there own common room. my roomate whipped out his banjo and started rockin out so that intrigued the whole program to come check him out! haha, dad, it was awesome! he was really good. Had a hard time waking up this morning. As mom knows i got a little upset with her on the phone yesterday, one cause i'm always missin everyone, two it was the fourth and i wanted to be with you all, and thirdly, cause Jimmer was on my mind moreso then he usually always is. I was in my Gaelic class and ya know, we all have those days and today was one of those days for me. I don't look at those days as bad days, cause the really help make me sane, i gotta cry every once in awhile like we all have to. My Gaelic teacher called on me and asked me a question, I answered the question and did great but i was zoning thinkin about Jimmy and it just kinda caught me off guard, cause I didn't even realize I was. Anyway, I seriously had no control over it, all of a sudden tears came rolling down my face. I know you all know that feeling. The teacher saw me and came up to me and asked if i wanted to take a break. I took her up on the offer and went into the bathroom to try and cool down. My friend Colleen followed me to make sure i was okay. Mostly everyone over here knows about Jimmer. Maybe I tell people about it too much, but it one thing that helps me personally. Anyway, my friend Caitlin decided her and I should go into town to get some lunch. She's so sweet and is always willing to talk to me about it, it's great. I did some grocery shopping and got back to my place and like I said earlier my roomate was playing his awesome banjo...so now everyone is over here hangin out. I decided I needed to catch up on some sleep so i passed on hangin out with everyone. They were all teasin me while I was washing my face and brushing my teeth, haha, you'd be proud ma:) anway I hung out with them enough to have a good couple of conversations and now i'm in bed tryin to get some beauty sleep. I wasn't going to go into so much detail with this blog, but I couldn't help it. I'm so content, I'm sittin here smilin alone in my little room and I just wanted to tell ya all about it. Tomorrow we're going to Connamara! I can't wait to go and when I get back, I'll tell ya all about it. I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July, like I said I thought about you guys so much! Have a great Thursday and I'll be back soon.
Give Dave a hug for me when ya can:)
Give Dave a hug for me when ya can:)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The Fourth of July...
So I just got back from a few hours of strollin in the city with so far one of the coolest girls, Caitlin. Her and I did a little bit of shoppin and finished with a yummy cup of coffee from one of the cool Bagel bars they have all over.
It's 6:30pm over here and usually on the fourth we would all be playin maybe a game of baseball on the golf course. I know we didn't last year, but obviously it's probably somethin you all think about. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday and I have to say I'm a little bummed today cause I wish I was with all of you. I hope that whatever you guys have planned is safe and fun.
Love you guys, i'll be back manana.
Slan! - Bye:)
It's 6:30pm over here and usually on the fourth we would all be playin maybe a game of baseball on the golf course. I know we didn't last year, but obviously it's probably somethin you all think about. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday and I have to say I'm a little bummed today cause I wish I was with all of you. I hope that whatever you guys have planned is safe and fun.
Love you guys, i'll be back manana.
Slan! - Bye:)
Monday, July 2, 2007
I'm Ba-ack...:)
Guys! I've missed ya! I hope you all are still going to check up on me, everyone keeps lettin me know that i've let them down for not keeping up on this:) But I'm officially signed in and ready to go in my cute little apartment where I'll be for the next 5 weeks. It's great, I'm gonna take some pictures and show you all where I'm staying, not to mention post the incredible pictures I've taken thus far. My pictures amaze me, I'm not one to take good pictures but I don't know what's happened, being in another country makes me like this professional photographer or something, even the other students were tellin me. Oh and just to let you know, I do have an extra bed in my room, so if anyone wants to come visit me....That would be Brilliant...that's a word they always say here.
Now I'm gonna back track to fill ya in on my amazing Dublin experience. Last Thursday, being that I was so excited to meet everyone, fortunately I did get up early enough to make the really delicious breakfast at my hotel. Again, it was really cool just being there by myself, I mean I kinda felt like a dork at some points:) but all in all, it was awesome. My cab driver picked me up at my hotel and took me to the hotel where I was going to meet the program director and some of the other kids. Again, my cab driver was bad ass. This time it was an older Irish man who wasn't as flamboyant as the first gal...haha. He kept lookin at me in the rear view mirror and I was like what the heck is he staring at, then he says "I got it, I know who you are!" At first I was like, what the heck is he gonna say, it was just a weird way of putting it, then he continued with "you look like Mariah Carey!" haha, I said some people back home have told me that, and I'll take it as a compliment and started laughin, then he responded with "Oh no! I think she's a beautiful one." It was sweet, made me smile:) Then he asked me what classes I was takin and I told him Lit and Gaelic, once I said Gaelic, he practically cut me off and in the cutest Irish accent said "God Bless you soul child!" Again, didn't cease to make me smile.
Okay, I'm gonna try and run through this quickly and with not as much words as I would normally use to describe these amazing places I have visited in the amazing city that each and everyone of you NEED to visit, here it goes...
THURSDAY - Checked out the incredible Christ Church Cathedral, simply blew my mind away, it was stunning. Had lunch and got to talking to some people in the group, it was quite enjoyable. Then with more people arriving we continued to the Newman House, which was a very big and grandeur famously known house in the heart of Dublin. Afterwards a group of us went to the Hairy Lemon Cafe, kinda weird name I know, and hung out for the first time and got to know each other and little better. Some of the group continued checkin out some other pubs, but a few of us girls were so exhausted, we figured we'd catch up on some sleep...
FRIDAY - Woke up early again, started out at Trinity College and saw the incredible exhibit of the Book of Kells, amazing. Once we were done there we started a 1916 Walking Tour on the campus, which took us 3 hours. It was so neat and our tour guide was great! I'm got some footage of his crazy Irish accent, so i'll have to show you all later. Exhausted we continued onto the National Museum and mom if you're wondering where the heck all my money is going is because they keep takin us to these expensive museum cafes to have kinda weird and not so good lunches..haha. The museum was real neat though. After this museum a few of us girls, walked over to the National Gallery and looked at some amazing pieces of art. We then continued back to the hotel in utter exhaustion! Some of us took a little power nap, including myself and all met up later at the same Harry Lemon Cafe for some pub grub. After we met with the program director and proceeded to take a nice stroll through the heart of Dublin to the world renowned Abbey Theatre. Suprisingly we saw an American play, The Crucible. I've actually seen a production of that play already but nothing compared to what I saw this night. The performance was simply stunning, I've never been a crazy live theater fan, but the acting I witnessed was probably the best acting I'm ever gonna see, it actually put me to tears. The play itself is pretty intense but holy crap, didn't even think a play could move me as much as this. After it was over some people went out, but at this point I was still feelin the jet lag so I decided to get some sleep.
SATURDAY - Another early morning, followed by a not so good bus ride to the Powerscourt House and Gardens. Haha, reminded me of driven up to Sac Town and gettin car sick...:) This place was incredible. The pictures I took left me speechless, and the gardens, oh my the gardens, just beautiful! Once we were done here, we ate some more expensive food and travelled to Glenalough. The drive to Glendalough was gorgeous, it was the first time I was able to see the countryside of Ireland, which was breathtaking. Glenalough is the old Monastary that St. Kevin help start. The ruins of the churches, towers and graveyards were like nothing I've ever seen. It was awesome. We then travelled through more of the Irish countryside even stopping where Braveheart was filmed, and that was so cool!! Dad, I have some video footage that I think you'll enjoy:) We got back into town and again caught up on some naps. We all decided to check out the Temple Bar district for an official night out on the town. You'd be surprised at how many foreigners are in Dublin. Us girls were being hit on by some way too drunk Norway kids and I guess we were so stand-offish, I heard one say "to hell with you damn yanks" in a drunken stamper, haha, it was funny. Nonetheless, the guinness was great and the first night out as a group was a safe and fun trip:)
SUNDAY - Surprise surprise, another unfortunate early morning:) We got on another stinkin bus that I had to sit in the front on to help with the car sickness....hahahahha. We drove for an hour or so and stopped at the Strokehouse, another wealthy Landlord home, during the time of the famine and had a chance to also see the small, but very interesting Famine Museum. This place was unlike the past museums we'd seen because in the tour of the house, we were actually able to touch and examine all the old and historic pieces that dated back as early as the late 1700s. It was neat. We had one more expensive meal and headed on to Galway. The countryside, again, was stunning. We arrived in Galway at about 5pm and were settled and ready to take our first walk into town by 7pm. I had the best fish 'n chips i've ever had at this cool place called McDonoughs, and this time around there was salt and vinegar on my "chips" Aunt Linda! The dorms here are a bit nicer then the ones we stayed in Dublin, which is good cause this will be my home for the next 4 and a half weeks.
Yesterday we had our orientation and checked out the campus at NUI, which is beautiful, and had a day to ourselves.
Today was the first day of official classes. I have Gaelic class Tuesday through Thursday from 12 - 130, and Tuesday and Thursday from 2-430 is my Irish Litertature class. So now you all know my schedule in case you wanna visit me:) The Gaelic class was really cool and I think it's gonna be a bit more tough then I imagined. I was participating in the Lit class like crazy today, which is a good start and I can't wait for that class to really get goin:) I think tonight we may be goin out for one of the students birthdays which will be fun.
....we just got the interenet connected yesterday so sorry it's taken so long to get this thing going. Hopefully now, I'll be able to get back to the daily blogs.
Everyone here is great and I've made some amazing friends that I can't wait to tell you all about.
Don't worry Jenn. I already know all your sizes:) and thank you for the nice e-mail. I'll be sure to the Banger and mashed potatoes for Unlce Jer, Aunt Leanne:)
I can't tell you had thrilled I was to hear how much you enjoyed this blog Dad, thanks:) I hope you all are enjoying it and continue to keep reading it. I love you guys and miss you dearly!
Dia duid! - - - pronounced Dee-ah Grite, with a rolling of the "r" like in french, weird huh? means be with God which is a form of a hello in Gaelic...there'll be more of Gaelic to come...:)
Now I'm gonna back track to fill ya in on my amazing Dublin experience. Last Thursday, being that I was so excited to meet everyone, fortunately I did get up early enough to make the really delicious breakfast at my hotel. Again, it was really cool just being there by myself, I mean I kinda felt like a dork at some points:) but all in all, it was awesome. My cab driver picked me up at my hotel and took me to the hotel where I was going to meet the program director and some of the other kids. Again, my cab driver was bad ass. This time it was an older Irish man who wasn't as flamboyant as the first gal...haha. He kept lookin at me in the rear view mirror and I was like what the heck is he staring at, then he says "I got it, I know who you are!" At first I was like, what the heck is he gonna say, it was just a weird way of putting it, then he continued with "you look like Mariah Carey!" haha, I said some people back home have told me that, and I'll take it as a compliment and started laughin, then he responded with "Oh no! I think she's a beautiful one." It was sweet, made me smile:) Then he asked me what classes I was takin and I told him Lit and Gaelic, once I said Gaelic, he practically cut me off and in the cutest Irish accent said "God Bless you soul child!" Again, didn't cease to make me smile.
Okay, I'm gonna try and run through this quickly and with not as much words as I would normally use to describe these amazing places I have visited in the amazing city that each and everyone of you NEED to visit, here it goes...
THURSDAY - Checked out the incredible Christ Church Cathedral, simply blew my mind away, it was stunning. Had lunch and got to talking to some people in the group, it was quite enjoyable. Then with more people arriving we continued to the Newman House, which was a very big and grandeur famously known house in the heart of Dublin. Afterwards a group of us went to the Hairy Lemon Cafe, kinda weird name I know, and hung out for the first time and got to know each other and little better. Some of the group continued checkin out some other pubs, but a few of us girls were so exhausted, we figured we'd catch up on some sleep...
FRIDAY - Woke up early again, started out at Trinity College and saw the incredible exhibit of the Book of Kells, amazing. Once we were done there we started a 1916 Walking Tour on the campus, which took us 3 hours. It was so neat and our tour guide was great! I'm got some footage of his crazy Irish accent, so i'll have to show you all later. Exhausted we continued onto the National Museum and mom if you're wondering where the heck all my money is going is because they keep takin us to these expensive museum cafes to have kinda weird and not so good lunches..haha. The museum was real neat though. After this museum a few of us girls, walked over to the National Gallery and looked at some amazing pieces of art. We then continued back to the hotel in utter exhaustion! Some of us took a little power nap, including myself and all met up later at the same Harry Lemon Cafe for some pub grub. After we met with the program director and proceeded to take a nice stroll through the heart of Dublin to the world renowned Abbey Theatre. Suprisingly we saw an American play, The Crucible. I've actually seen a production of that play already but nothing compared to what I saw this night. The performance was simply stunning, I've never been a crazy live theater fan, but the acting I witnessed was probably the best acting I'm ever gonna see, it actually put me to tears. The play itself is pretty intense but holy crap, didn't even think a play could move me as much as this. After it was over some people went out, but at this point I was still feelin the jet lag so I decided to get some sleep.
SATURDAY - Another early morning, followed by a not so good bus ride to the Powerscourt House and Gardens. Haha, reminded me of driven up to Sac Town and gettin car sick...:) This place was incredible. The pictures I took left me speechless, and the gardens, oh my the gardens, just beautiful! Once we were done here, we ate some more expensive food and travelled to Glenalough. The drive to Glendalough was gorgeous, it was the first time I was able to see the countryside of Ireland, which was breathtaking. Glenalough is the old Monastary that St. Kevin help start. The ruins of the churches, towers and graveyards were like nothing I've ever seen. It was awesome. We then travelled through more of the Irish countryside even stopping where Braveheart was filmed, and that was so cool!! Dad, I have some video footage that I think you'll enjoy:) We got back into town and again caught up on some naps. We all decided to check out the Temple Bar district for an official night out on the town. You'd be surprised at how many foreigners are in Dublin. Us girls were being hit on by some way too drunk Norway kids and I guess we were so stand-offish, I heard one say "to hell with you damn yanks" in a drunken stamper, haha, it was funny. Nonetheless, the guinness was great and the first night out as a group was a safe and fun trip:)
SUNDAY - Surprise surprise, another unfortunate early morning:) We got on another stinkin bus that I had to sit in the front on to help with the car sickness....hahahahha. We drove for an hour or so and stopped at the Strokehouse, another wealthy Landlord home, during the time of the famine and had a chance to also see the small, but very interesting Famine Museum. This place was unlike the past museums we'd seen because in the tour of the house, we were actually able to touch and examine all the old and historic pieces that dated back as early as the late 1700s. It was neat. We had one more expensive meal and headed on to Galway. The countryside, again, was stunning. We arrived in Galway at about 5pm and were settled and ready to take our first walk into town by 7pm. I had the best fish 'n chips i've ever had at this cool place called McDonoughs, and this time around there was salt and vinegar on my "chips" Aunt Linda! The dorms here are a bit nicer then the ones we stayed in Dublin, which is good cause this will be my home for the next 4 and a half weeks.
Yesterday we had our orientation and checked out the campus at NUI, which is beautiful, and had a day to ourselves.
Today was the first day of official classes. I have Gaelic class Tuesday through Thursday from 12 - 130, and Tuesday and Thursday from 2-430 is my Irish Litertature class. So now you all know my schedule in case you wanna visit me:) The Gaelic class was really cool and I think it's gonna be a bit more tough then I imagined. I was participating in the Lit class like crazy today, which is a good start and I can't wait for that class to really get goin:) I think tonight we may be goin out for one of the students birthdays which will be fun.
....we just got the interenet connected yesterday so sorry it's taken so long to get this thing going. Hopefully now, I'll be able to get back to the daily blogs.
Everyone here is great and I've made some amazing friends that I can't wait to tell you all about.
Don't worry Jenn. I already know all your sizes:) and thank you for the nice e-mail. I'll be sure to the Banger and mashed potatoes for Unlce Jer, Aunt Leanne:)
I can't tell you had thrilled I was to hear how much you enjoyed this blog Dad, thanks:) I hope you all are enjoying it and continue to keep reading it. I love you guys and miss you dearly!
Dia duid! - - - pronounced Dee-ah Grite, with a rolling of the "r" like in french, weird huh? means be with God which is a form of a hello in Gaelic...there'll be more of Gaelic to come...:)
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Being jet-lagged stinks...
It took me so long to get up this morning. I missed breakfast at the hotel, unfortunately because I just couldn't get up. I was totally tired, but completely not at the same time, this time change is gettin to me. Once I finally got up, showered and got out of my room it was about 1pm. I went down to Lannigans Restaurant which is in the hotel and got a water, a bowl of strawberries (which were delicious) and a bowl of chips (but I ordered them as "french fries"-the waitress giggled at me). I had some coffee in the hotel room, otherwise I would have gotten one of many of their different coffee they offer. It was kinda weird eating by myself but nice at the same time. I was a total tourist, reading the little Ireland handbook my pops gave me as I sat and ate:)
I then when back up to my hotel researched a bit, and asked someone at the front desk where I should go to shop. I went to O'Connel Street and got a bunch of gifts for many of you guys at home, I hope you like 'em!
Right now I'm sittin in my hotel room watching the news in Gaelic, this language is insane, I love it!
Okay guys, I need to find a place to eat, all that shoppin and walkin has made me hungry!
Talk with ya soon!
Kel
I then when back up to my hotel researched a bit, and asked someone at the front desk where I should go to shop. I went to O'Connel Street and got a bunch of gifts for many of you guys at home, I hope you like 'em!
Right now I'm sittin in my hotel room watching the news in Gaelic, this language is insane, I love it!
Okay guys, I need to find a place to eat, all that shoppin and walkin has made me hungry!
Talk with ya soon!
Kel
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Even the taxi driver was cool...
When I first go off the plane, I was goin nuts. I was really close to speaking with the official who needed to check out my passport, but then I realized I didn't fill out a landing card on the plane so I walked to the very end of the line trying to find someone who could help. One of the stewardesses advised me to fill one of the cards out that was located in the back of the room but they had all run out. So i had to go to the very back of the line, which kinda stunk, but it actually wasn't too bad. So when you are in the passport services line, there is a little red line that you aren't supposed to pass, until the person in front of has his or her passport stamped and ready to proceed. Well me, being a tad over zealous and a little excited stepped over the line a bit, and this stuck up European lady, held up her hand, yes held up her hand like us kids used to when we were young and would say "talk to the hand" (who does that anymore?) and said "excuse me miss!" At first, I was super shy and apologized and stepped back of course, but then once she walked through I realized how rude it was. That official then checked and processed my passport and sent me through. I hurriedly caught up the this woman got her attention and glared at her, not to be some stuck up American kid, but I just felt it very rude what she had done earlier and I just wanted to let her know, you should've seen her face, she didn't know what to do or say. I know what your saying Mom and Dad, I should've just dropped the atttidue and steppped away, but my fresh and ready "i'm in Ireland" spirit took over me! haha, Anyway, beyond that, once i got $200 exhanged for 200 Euro, I got my luggage, which went smoothly and Erin, I did it. Stood there for a sec, with all my stuff and giggled at myself while taking even that moment all in.
I was freaking out when I was in line for a taxi, I got this really crazy, extremely nice though kinda rough on the edges Irish woman who was awesome. She was tellin me that Irish people are amazingly welcoming and that I need to soak up every moment I have in this beautiful place. She told me to live every day like it was my last, little intense, but dead on, right?! Needless to say she got me to my hotel, gave me a hug and advised me to go get a Guinness:)
My hotel is really nice, but not gonna lie, it's definitely kinda weird having to be here alone. I wish Katie, Nett and Tara were here and us girls could order room service, or go down to the pool:) I went for a walk and got myself a sandwich and on the way back it started to rain on me, it was hilarious. I was laughing while trying not to slip in my wet sandals!
I miss you all so much and wish you could be here with me. On my walk I took some pictures that i'll post soon.
So far so good guys!
Love you!
Kel
I was freaking out when I was in line for a taxi, I got this really crazy, extremely nice though kinda rough on the edges Irish woman who was awesome. She was tellin me that Irish people are amazingly welcoming and that I need to soak up every moment I have in this beautiful place. She told me to live every day like it was my last, little intense, but dead on, right?! Needless to say she got me to my hotel, gave me a hug and advised me to go get a Guinness:)
My hotel is really nice, but not gonna lie, it's definitely kinda weird having to be here alone. I wish Katie, Nett and Tara were here and us girls could order room service, or go down to the pool:) I went for a walk and got myself a sandwich and on the way back it started to rain on me, it was hilarious. I was laughing while trying not to slip in my wet sandals!
I miss you all so much and wish you could be here with me. On my walk I took some pictures that i'll post soon.
So far so good guys!
Love you!
Kel
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Day Before My Flight...
So a special thanks to those who stopped by my parents house last night, it was a blast. Today, myself, Mom and Netty went and got our nails done, and did some last minute shopping for me. It's now 4:33p.m. and Grandpa will be here shortly to have some dindin with the fam. I was supposed to be packing all day, and I haven't started yet...Crap! Now I'm gonna get started, again...wish me some luck, i'm gonna need it:)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Trying to Pack...
So, my Ireland trip is now only four days away. I've done some packin here and there, but I'm starting to freak a bit, cause now I really have to get down to the nitty gritty, and it's definitely a lot tougher then I thought it was gonna be. Mom is trying to help me find the converter her and my Dad used when they went to Ireland and it's kinda makin my head hurt, haha. I just wanna be able to use my straight iron with no problems, but more importantly, my lap top, because I guess I'm gonna have to do some homework too:) For all who are in town and would like to stop by, I'm going to have some people over at my parents on Saturday, so if you're not doin anything and you want to hang out, please come by! On that note, I should probably get back to packing...wish me luck!
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