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!

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.

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!

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:)

"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:)

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.

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!

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...:)

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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:)

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:)

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...:)