It's over...

Wow. Four months later...here I am. I have to say honestly that a year and a half ago I would not have seen myself going abroad, but I'm definitely glad I did it. There's a sense of accomplishment when you've realized you've lived in another country, attended a different university, traveled a fair amount, and really stepped out of your comfort zone. Scratch that, there's a HUGE sense of accomplishment for me.
Sure, in the grand scheme of things, Ireland is not that much different from the United States; but baby steps, right? I don't think though that it would be easy for anyone to completely throw themselves into a new setting with a new group of people and no familiar faces, regardless of which country you're in. Maybe I didn't experience as much culture shock this time around, but who said I won't be traveling anymore?
You would think I'd have some big post to sum up all of the life lessons I've learned through my experiences in Europe, but the truth is I don't. (Ironically, I had saved this post as a draft and Miss Critchley decided to tell me she expected a post with, of all things, life lessons. Sorry Sarah!) All I can say is that when I look back through these posts I've written throughout the semester, I can see I've been through a lot. When I think back to the first few days that I was here, it seems like forever ago. I almost can't believe that I made it all the way through. I wish I could explain this better but I feel like you must study abroad yourself in order to understand what I'm trying to convey. To sum up, I've seen a lot of things, met a lot of people, and best of all I had a fantastic time doing it.
These past few days have been filled with packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye to my friends. As excited as I have been for a couple of weeks to go home, I now have mixed feelings about leaving. I never thought that I would be as close as I was with the people in my study abroad group, and I also never thought I would be as sad as I was to see people go.
Some of the people I was abroad with this semester will be lifelong friends. Some I may never see again. But to all of the Butler kids, I love you guys and I wish you all the best. You all are the reason my experience in Ireland was so amazing and I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else. I hope that we are all able to be together again one day. I miss you already.

So with that, I bid the Emerald Isle farewell. USA, here I come!

Palma de Mallorca

To start, I must explain that Mallorca is a Spanish Island situated between Spain (to the west) and Algeria (to the south) in the Mediterranean Sea. It is home to many Germans and Algerians as well as the Spanish themselves, and proves to be a very touristy place with its hostels and restaraunts lining the coast of a cove in a city called Palma.

Here is a brief recap of the week first:

Saturday: Touched down in Palma and immediately took cabs to our hostel. Found that our "room" was actually an apartment-style living quarters complete with a kitchen (no oven and only two burners on the stove but hey, I can't complain), 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and of course a balcony. Even better than this was the fact that we were literally like 100 feet from the shore of the Mediterranean. Perfect. Dinner and drinking on the balcony completed our first night.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Thursday: Hung out on the beach. The weather was around 22C most of the time we were there and there was a nice breeze over the shoreline so it was a pretty perfect time to sit on the beach all day. Our routine was to get there around 11am, lay around, play soccer, take a dip in the water (disclaimer: if you ever go to Palma, or presumably anywhere in the Mediterranean, BEWARE OF JELLYFISH. There were too many to count when we were there. Seriously.), lay out more, go home to shower, and get dinner. It. Was. Awesome. Sunday I think was the only day when we started out our morning by walking the strip along the beach, which is actually where I got my sunburn from. Other than that, pale Kate only got a little color because she was a good kid and used SPF 40.
Wednesday: Decided to break up the beach routine by renting bikes for a couple of hours, costing us around 4 euro. It was probably the best decision that we made the entire trip, even though my butt felt like it was bruised for about 3 days afterwards due to extremely hard seats. It was a fantastic way to see more of the coastline, though. We broke up into groups, so four of the guys and I went over to the southeast side of the cove, which turned out to be much more hilly and less populated than the northwest side. We went as far out to the tip of the cove as humanly possible before riding downhill the entire way back to the rental shop. It was a fantastic workout and we deservedly collapsed on the beach after returning our bikes.
Friday: The other three girls and I took a bus into city center to explore a little bit. We had heard that there was great shopping in the area, but to our dismay discovered it was closed due to the Spanish Labor Day, I believe (Sarah -- true?). Nevertheless, we were able to walk around and check out the Palma Cathedral before sitting down to a nice lunch and finally heading back to the hostel. From there it was the typical dinner and drinks on the balcony night we'd been having all week, followed by pictures on the beach at sunset.

Highlights of the week: biking, Del Sol restaraunt, tequila (eek), cheap and delicious gelato, beach, soccer, the balcony, and a serious bonding experience with the 9 other people on the trip.

We returned yesterday, and as we landed it was freezing and pouring rain. Welcome back to Ireland. We did, however, see a triple rainbow on the way home, so that was pretty cool.

It's so weird to think that I will be returning to the states in just over two weeks. All that stands between me and that plane ride on Aer Lingus home is a week off and then four finals. Wow. Yikes.

Anyway, I will throw a link in here when the pictures have been added on facebook, I've just been waiting to steal more from people since my stupid camera died.

Mallorca Bound

Well, not yet...but I will be in like 6 and a half hours!!!

Here is the link to the dance video...you have to be friends with me on Facebook to see it, but I think everyone who reads this blog is: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/video/video.php?v=518120799956&ref=mf

It's really slow, but it kind of showcases the basic steps of Irish set dancing (three step, seven step, and a little tap)

I went to watch my housemate Ciara in her performance ensemble the other day (she's a flute player who apparently has played a gig with the Chieftains before...). We also watched competition dancers who are first year dance majors at UL...and they were AMAZING. It was really intimidating. These girls were just all over the stage. There was also one guy, and apparently he danced with Riverdance recently. Pretty amazing, huh?

Also, I have a job! YAY! Talk about stress relief. Now onto VACATION!!! Be back in a week!

The Last Week of Classes

So, it's the last week of classes, and it has been uneventful thus far. That being said, there is a lot to come: the Bon Voyage dinner tomorrow night, dance recital on Wednesday, handing in my very last paper on Friday, finding out if I have a job, and Spain on Saturday!!! It's weird to think that I'll be back for just over 2 weeks when I return from Spain, seeing as there won't be much going on when I get back. I have another week off (study time!) before my exams, which last over the course of a week, and then exams for a week. I'm sure it'll all go by really quickly, but right now it doesn't feel like it. Weird.
There's not much to report other than that...our dance will be taped (yikes) so that will be online soon.

This One's For You, Sarah Critter

Hello all of my (like, 7) readers! Apologies for the lack of posting, I just hadn't had much to write about for a bit and then I got busy all of a sudden, but I will update you on the goings-on in Limerick and elsewhere. You have to admit though, I was doing pretty well on the posting till the last few weeks. I'll just blame it on the fact that I had schoolwork for the first time all semester and was doing that instead. Thank Sarah for giving me the kick in the arse to post something though!

So on March 30th, my family came to visit me! Let me just state here that they came during the drunkest college week of the year, known as RAG week. RAG, I learned, stands for "Raise-A-Grand". While the official purpose of the week is to raise money for charity, the Irish use it as a week to drink (surprised?). Every college has a RAG week at a different time, and essentially everyone just gathers on one campus and goes absolutely crazy. Most people don't go to classes, they just drink their lives away all day. Literally. I'm fairly certain that all of my (18 year-old) Irish housemates were drunk for the entire week. This is not an exaggeration.

Anyhow, when my family arrived on Tuesday my parents came and picked me up once I was out of class and brought me to Adare for the night, where they stayed in this absolutely fabulous villa. At some point I'll have to steal pictures from them so you all can see but it was really very nice. We just hung out that night, and then I had to go back for class all day the next day.
On Wednesday, my family went to the Cliffs of Moher (and I believe by the Burren as well?) while I was in class, and then came and got me so we could go to dinner at a real Irish pub, Dolan's. Unfortunately, there was no music that night because there was a match on, but at least my family got to go to one traditional pub while they were here.
Thursday after class I took the family down to Limerick to look around and I got a chance to show off a bit of my navigation skills (note: I have absolutely no sense of direction but I can get around Limerick fairly well now) and we just essentially explored the town a bit and did some shopping. We then ended up at the Mill Bar that night I believe (my father's favorite place) and then I was dropped off back at Cappavilla so I could take my sister out for the night. It was a grand time...we went to the usual club I go to, called the Lodge, with a couple of my American friends and then met up with some of my Irish ones as well. It was especially funny because most of the people I was with that night were closer to Kara's age than mine.
On Friday I was picked up nice and early (due to a cancelled class) and we went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park over in County Clare. The castle was brilliant and the folk park had some very nice grounds that we could explore. I think apart from the castle my favorite part was the pigs that were running around in their little area. I believe my parents have pictures of this so I will steal them when I get the chance. I then left Cappavilla for the weekend to stay with my family in Adare.
On Saturday we went to Cork City, about 2 hours south of us. There's great shopping down there, and we spent the afternoon walking around and taking pictures as well.
Sunday we walked the grounds of Adare Manor (really class) and took some pictures of the gardens and whatnot. The Manor was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see from my pictures. This was the only day I think I actually had my camera with me. After a walk on the grounds we went to King John's Castle in Limerick City. It's actually really cool because you go through a mini museum where they tell you a bit of the history of the castle, and then you can go out into the courtyard and up to the towers to look over the city. I think my favorite part though was the excavation site, where they found 800 year-old sunken houses under the castle. Really quite cool.
Monday was the last full day that the family was here, so we took our time getting out of Adare and then went back to campus so I could show everyone where my classes were and such. I'm not sure that anyone took pictures but I will be sure to before I leave, because I think UL is a nice-looking campus (I think the fam will agree with me on this).

I stayed in Cappa on Monday night since the family was leaving early the next morning, and then stayed by myself for the next few days watching all of the episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (yes, I watch that show now) and writing my paper that is due tomorrow. I'm so glad I did it early because all of my friends that came back from their trips are pulling all nighters tonight to get it done.

On Saturday I went up to Galway to stay with my housemate Ciara for the weekend. She lives about 15 minutes outside Galway City, so when I arrived we walked around for a bit before going to her house. The city is absolutely gorgeous and I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to go up with my family, but that's alright. It was really nice though. We also went to her Auntie's house in the city to visit for a bit, and she gave me a chocolate bunny for Easter!! It was very cute. We went to the "Tav" that night for Ciara's friend's album launch party and while the music was not really my style it was still a lot of fun. We sat and had a few pints and rocked out to their music with all her friends, and I got to see my other housemate Libby which was great. We returned to her house round 1am and then went back out to the pub down the street (literally a 30-second walk) to meet up with her dad and uncle. Her dad was pretty drunk by the time we got there, but he was great to talk to. It was funny because I had a hard enough time understanding him without the drunken slurs, so the alcohol didn't really help me in that sense. We had a couple pints there with him though before we went home at half four (can you believe it?).
Sundays are quite lazy for the Irish, I've noticed, as nobody was out of bed before half twelve the next day. Even though it was Easter Sunday, her family expressed no interest in going to Easter Mass, which I found a bit ironic since Ireland is supposed to be so Catholic. I've been told though that many people consider themselves Catholic, but never really go to mass. We had a nice little breakfast and a shower before Ciara's friend Natasha came, and then her dad took us out to Cong to see Ashford Castle. We took a walk for a couple of hours, and then drove around the countryside for awhile. It was magnificent. There were some really huge hills that we drove around as well as a lake (see my photo album). We made a couple of stops along the way to get out and take pictures (at which time Natasha and Ciara would yell "TOURIST!!!" at me). We didn't return home till around 8, had dinner, and then Ciara and I went out to Ballinrobe in County Mayo with a bunch of her friends. We went to the Tav first to see the pig roast, and then ended up taking like an 18-seater cab or something to Ballinrobe, where it seemed everyone they went to school with was. We stopped at a bar to have a couple of pints and talk with people before going to the Valk Nightclub down the street. Talk about crazy. We even ran into a couple of teachers at the Valk, probably in their late twenties, who were just as drunk as anyone else in the place. It was an interesting thing to see, for sure. Ciara and I ended up staying at her friend Gillian's house that night, since her house was fairly far away.
Today was another lazy day, as we got up at twelve and went back to her house for breakfast, showers and packing so we could come back to UL, and now here I am! I haven't got a lot coming up in these next couple of weeks, as I only have 9 days of class left (!!!!!!!!!!!!). I am going to Spain on the 25th though so I will probably update once more before I leave.
The weekend overall was grand. Ciara's family was so welcoming and friendly and I just felt like I was at home by the second day I was there. They were also interested in what I was doing with my schooling and such, and we were able to talk a lot about that. If I get the chance, I will absolutely go back and visit them.

Album from when the family was here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011758&id=1083330009&l=028a81b284
Album from Galway: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012078&id=1083330009&l=42273b9acf

Ronan O'Gara, You Are A Legend

For those of you who don't know, Ireland had a huge victory on Saturday.

For the first time in 61 years, the Irish National Rugby Team clinched not only the Six Nations Championship but also the Triple Crown and the ever-elusive Grand Slam!

Six Nations Tournament: A tournament comprised of six European nations - Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, and Italy. In the spring each year, these six teams compete in a tournament to determine which country has the best rugby in Europe. This championship is not based on one single game, but rather a points system based on wins and losses. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the tournament wins. This year, in winning the Six Nations, Ireland has become more recognized as among one of the best rugby teams in the world. It was their first championship win since 1985.

Triple Crown: The Irish team won all of their games against the other three teams competing for the Triple Crown - Scotland, England, and Wales.

Grand Slam: Probably the most distinguishable award of the tournament. Ireland went undefeated in the tournament for the first time since 1948.

For all of you rugby fans out there (Calvin), I'll give a quick rundown of the game.
Wales came out with a 6-0 lead in the first half off of two penalty kicks, and Ireland remained scoreless until the first minutes of the second. Halftime did the Irish well, as they came out of the gates flying and scored two tries and connected on both kicks to make the score 14-6 (one try was off a beautiful kick to the wing and the other off a steal from the Wales backline). Wales clawed their way back with a series of penalty kicks (stupid British sir) to make the score 14-12. Wales couldn't miss; they were scoring from at least 45m every time...one kick was even 57m!! Then, to Ireland's horror, Wales scored on a conversion with five minutes left to take the lead 15-14. Ireland kicked off, regained possession of the ball, and advanced the ball with crashes by the forwards for several phases. FINALLY, with just over 2 minutes remaining, the ball swung out to the backs and none other than Ronan O'Gara scored on his own conversion, regaining the lead for Ireland at 17-15. Just when we thought Ireland was safe, the sir called a (pardon my French) BULLSHIT penalty at the 48m in the center of the field and awarded a kick to Wales with just ten seconds left in the match. Galven Henson hesitated, and missed the kick short by about a foot. The uproar in the pub was insane; even I was jumping up and down and screaming with everyone.

It was definitely one of the most memorable moments I have ever had in Ireland so far.

Paris and Paddy's Day

Hello all! I'm finally back from Paris (well, I got back at about 1am on Monday...)

Let me say first of all that there is no way in hell anyone would ever be able to cover even all of the main attractions of Paris in 4 days. Even though Annie and I started our days at 8am each morning and ended at 2am each night, we did not even come close to seeing everything, but we certainly did see a lot. I will give you a day-by-day breakdown of what happened:

Thursday: Upon arrival in Paris, we immediately found our hostels. Well, Annie found hers right away, and then we spent an hour or two looking for mine because it was on some tiny unmarked side street. After check-in, we made our way down to Cafe Luna for dinner and then up to Avenue Clichy to see the Moulin Rouge and the rest of the sex district. After our tour there, we attempted to make our way over to the Arc de Triomphe. I should mention here that if you ever go to Paris and you run into women who are asking you if you speak English, you should either ignore them or look confused and shake your head. If you answer yes, they will hand you a card and hound you for money. I was advised of this before I went, and I'm glad I was because the place was swarming with them. Anyway, back to the story: Being the cheapskates that we were, we didn't want to take the Metro everywhere so we decided to walk. It turns out that Paris is an extremely large city and the distances on the maps are deceiving. Not only that, but we had a really hard time navigating around that area so it took us a good three hours to finally find it, take pictures, and walk back. We finally returned home with plans to wake up at 7.
Total walking time for Thursday: 7 hours

Friday: After waking up at 7, falling back asleep, and getting up at 8, we took our time getting out of the hostel and finally left at 10am for The Louvre. This meant taking an hour stroll to the Arc de Triomphe, taking daytime pictures, and then walking down the Boulevard de Champs to the museum. On the way, we ran into some really awesome structures, such as a monument reminiscent of the Washington monument, but with heiroglyphics on it (turns out it was a gift from the Eqyptians, as we would later learn) and a fountain. We took more pictures and then proceeded into The Louvre, which consists of walking through a pretty large park before actually getting there. We then spent 9 hours exploring paintings by the Italians and French, as well as sculptures by the Egyptians and Greeks and other artifacts. I was able to see such famous works as the Mona Lisa, Orphan Girl (for all of Motter's Philosophy students out there!), and the Nike of Samothrace. We also had the opportunity to see a few paintings by Monet, which were absolutely breathtaking. It was unfortunate not to be able to read about any of the works, as everything was in French. That being said, The Louvre was the experience of a lifetime. Even though we spent so much time in the museum, we really only got to about 1/4 of it (if that) but the things we did see we were able to explore fairly thoroughly. After leaving The Lourve we went to dinner and did some more exploring around the city and then back to my hostel, where we again arrived at 2am.
Total walking time for Friday: 11 hours

Saturday: After waking up nice and early yet again, Annie and I left the hostel at 9 because we had big plans for the day. We ate breakfast outside at a little cafe (very French of us) and then made the long trip to Notre Dame, stopping along the way at the Republique. The walk to the Notre Dame ended up being about 2 hours, as we got sidetracked for about 20 minutes at some little shops. When we got there though, the walk had been well worth it. We were able to take a free tour through the massive cathedral, which was just amazing. I'm not sure if I can put into words how incredible that church was. I suppose I'll let the pictures do the speaking for themselves. Post-tour we decided to stay for the 6:30pm mass, which was all in French, but being raised Roman Catholic I was able to follow along reasonably, so that was cool. After mass we took a walk along the Seine looking for boat tours for the next day, and then headed to the Eiffel Tower. I would like to be the first to say that I have a weird obsession with it, because I must have taken 50 pictures of the tower alone. It really is glorious at night though. We had the chance to see it do its little light show that it does every night. We only took a quick visit at the tower before taking the two-hour walk home, since we wanted to have some energy to go up it the next day.
Total walking time for Saturday: 8 hours

Sunday: Sunday morning we met up at 8 at the Moulin Rouge and took our last visit to the Arc de Triomphe before our tour of the Eiffel Tower. We only had to wait in line for the tower for about 20 minutes (I think we just got there early enough) and took the elevator up to the second level. We were disappointed that the very top was closed due to construction, but I was secretly happy because the second level was definitely high enough for me, and we weren't even halfway up. Looking out into Paris from the tower was probably the highlight of my trip. The city stretched on for forever and there was so much to see. I think that one of the cool things about Paris is that it lacks the skyscrapers of the American cities; instead, you can see out for miles and buildings just kind of pop up in random places. It really is a sight to see. We spent about an hour up on the second level taking pictures and then decided to take the stairs down instead of the elevator. That scared me more than anything even though we were caged in. I had previously described to Annie that being on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower was "cartoonishly high" and that it wasn't as scary. However, upon climbling down the tower, I found myself gripping the rails tighter and tighter because I realized just how high up we actually were. Needless to say, it was a relief to step onto the pavement. We then took some pictures in front of the tower and headed down to the Seine for our boat tour. It was alright, but we realized we had already seen everything that they were showing us. We did enjoy being able to sit back and relax on the boat, although we both ended up a bit sunburned from it. After the boat trip we hopped on the Metro back to the Le Palais des Congres de Paris in order to catch our shuttle to the airport. After a hellish trip home (not something I would like to relive on this blog...) we finally made it back here.
Total walking time for Sunday: 6 hours

Total walking time in Paris: approximately 32 hours

Yesterday was Paddy's Day, as you probably all know. Whoever said the Irish don't do Paddy's Day was an absolute liar, because I have never seen a crazier celebration. I won't go into much detail unless asked to, but essentially the day boiled down to us getting up at 7:30 for car bombs and beruit (the other Americans here call it beer pong but that's wrong, obviously. There's an ongoing debate about it.) and then the parade at noon. Though the parade was unimpressive, the Irish definitely took the drinking part of the holiday seriously, as did we. Post-parade I went back to bed for a bit, woke up around 4, went back out to some random party, came home, drank like 3 liters of water, did an assignment, Skyped my family (I was sober), and went to bed. It was a long day.

Anyway, that's about it. I have 4 albums from Paris up if you want to check them out.

Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010347&id=1083330009&l=8687117449
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010350&id=1083330009&l=757e5146dd
Album 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010363&id=1083330009&l=6e4a00960e
Album 4: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010365&id=1083330009&l=6ef7a602d3

Belfast etc.

This past weekend was our IFSA-Butler sponsored Northern Ireland trip. After piling on a bus and taking a 5-hour drive north, we arrived at our destination of Jury's Inn at Belfast. Post-unpacking we headed downstairs for a nice (free) dinner before the pub. We drank in mine and Megan's room for a bit before heading out to a pub called Robinson's down the street for some traditional music. The band was a lot of fun, and it was a good time dancing around while all of the old women stared at us (crazy Americans).
On Friday morning we got up nice and early for a bus tour. After getting out of the city, we drove into the countryside; it is insanely gorgeous, with the green rolling hills and the mountains looming behind them. After stopping in a small town in County Antrim to look around for a bit we drove along the coastline to Carrick-a-rede. The Northern Ireland coast road wound us around the Irish Sea so that we could see both the water and The Glens (mountains in Co. Leitrim) and valleys. The sights were nothing like I imagined Ireland would be, but they were nonetheless amazing.
Once we arrived at Carrick-a-rede, we took a hike up the coast to the famous Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. The walk up was breathtaking; everything was green and lush (as it should be in Ireland) and the ocean was the green-blue that you only see in movies. The walk itself is a tourist attraction, and for me it was one of the prettiest things I have seen thus far in Ireland. The rope bridge is suspended 30 meters over the water and connects the mainland to this tiny island just off the coast. Being that I am terrified of heights, it was a huge accomplishment for me to walk across. After coming back across the bridge, we walked around a little more and as we were leaving we saw a beautiful rainbow over the sea. No trip to Ireland is complete without one.
After lunch at the Ramada hotel in Portrush, we went off to Dunluce castle. The castle, home to the McDonnells in the fourteenth century, sits on a cliff overlooking the Irish waters. While much of the castle was destroyed, we were still able to see what the basic structure of it was, as many of the walls were still standing.
Our last stop of the day was at the famous Giant's Causeway. Legend has it that the stones were created by an Irish giant known as Finn, and that there had once been an entire causeway that stretched all the way to the coast of Scotland (which you can see from the causeway). The story is that a Scottish giant (whose name escapes me) came across to Ireland to fight Finn, but then saw Finn's child and how big he was and ran all the way back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he ran. Scientifically, the stones on the causeway are explained by three lava outflows that were subjected to accelerated cooling, resulting in columns of hexagonal rocks that taper off into the ocean. By the time we got to Giant's causeway, the weather started to take a turn for the worse and we were hit by rain and wind. This being the case, the waves on the coast got much bigger, resulting in more than a few people getting soaked. As intense as it was, the causeway itself was amazing.
Friday night the group from UL (my group) and a group from the University College at Dublin ended up hanging out in the hotel for awhile before getting in trouble with security for "being too loud," so we decided to go to Robinson's again. A small group of us ended up at some really sketchy club somewhere in Belfast, and we weren't there for more than an hour before the boys we were with got freaked out by the guys at the club who were following around, so we decided to call it a night.
On Saturday we took our time getting up in the morning and went to St. George's market, which is this great indoor farmer's market in Belfast. We must have spent at least three hours there, looking around at the different crafts and sampling all types of food. I had a GREAT cheeseburger while I was there, which was awesome because I had been craving one for awhile. After the farmer's market we stopped at the mall for a little bit to kill time before our Black Cab tour. There was a fashion show going on, so we watched that and then went back to the hotel.
Our Black Cab tour started later that afternoon. Apparently, it is the only way to see the real Belfast, and having taken that tour I can now see why. Our cab drivers took us in groups of six not to see the "touristy" sights, but to see and explain the Troubles between the Catholics and the Protestants. The first part of our tour was on the Protestant side of the city, which seemed to make our cab drivers not too happy. (Although they said that their job was not to be biased, we could all pretty much tell they were Catholics.) They took us to a townhouse complex on the Protestant side, where there are giant murals painted on the ends of each building. One we saw was for a man known as "Top Gun" who died in 2000, who was allegedly a serial killer. It is said that he killed one Catholic per week for 4 years before he finally died of a cocaine overdose, but in the Protestant community, he is a hero. Other murals depicted historical figures such as Oliver Cromwell, who believed that Catholicism was not a religion but a political power and should therefore be crushed. Once we left the townhouse complex, we were driven to the memorial garden, where the names of Catholic soldiers and civillians who were killed by Protestants were listed. The tour guides showed us the giant rubber bullets that were used in the killings of some of these people, which was very eerie to me. Down the street we went to see a mural of Bobby Sands, who was the leader of one of the hunger strikes as part of the Republican Movement. There was also another mural dedicated to other men who partook and died in those hunger strikes. We also visited the wall that separates the Catholic side of Belfast from the Protestant side, known as the Peace Walk. All of us had the opportunity to sign the wall in hopes that some day the groups will see the support that is behind peacemaking. The final stop of the Black Cab tour was at the international mural wall, which contains several murals about Americans and George Bush (shown in my photo album). There isn't as much anti-Americanism right now, however, because Obama has come into office and the Irish are very optimistic about his time in office.
That night a few of us went out to a pub at the Botanic Gardens Hotel for a few drinks. Nothing really special happened, except for some Irish boy around our age puking in a pint glass. I thought it was funny, but I decided to try to play mom and got him a glass of water and then another empty pint glass. It didn't really do much though because he got kicked out about five minutes later.

I have put two albums of pictures on Facebook from this trip:
Chapter 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009821&id=1083330009&l=d4a54
Chapter 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009824&id=1083330009&l=65fb9

This weekend I am off to Paris, so I will let you all know how that goes when I can!

I've saved this best picture for last:

This is the view of the Irish Sea from the walk around Carrick-a-Rede.

Ireland Forever

"Erin Go Bragh" means "Ireland Forever." I've decided I like that title better.

Tonight we went to Dolan's pub down by the River Shannon in downtown Limerick with most of the Americans from my group and brought two of my roomies with us, since they were here for the night before they go home tomorrow. I really like it at Dolan's because it has live traditional music on a nightly basis and the beer is typically cheaper there. I did, however, break down and had a pint of Bulmer's (hard cider) before my Guinness. I also got a free Guinness pint glass tonight (how authentic!) and I will hopefully get a couple more...like maybe a Carlsburg or a Smithwicks or a Bulmer's. I'm glad for the time being, though, that I ended up at least with a Guinness glass.

Also, I just booked a flight for le Pareeeeee (Paris) for the second weekend in March. Score!! As my father put it, I'll "really be doing Europe."
These next three weekends are going to be booked. I'm doing work all this weekend, Belfast the weekend after, and Paris the weekend after that. I have like one weekend off to finish all of my papers that are due at the end of March (no worries, mom, I've started them already) and then my family visits!!!!!!! I'm starting to build a list of places to go while they're here: Bunratty, Angela's Ashes tour, Cork/Blarney, Galway, Lahinch, Cliffs of Moher, and possibly the Ring of Kerry. Although, if it's warm enough, I might suggest the Aran Islands (off the coast of Galway) because I hear they're amazing. I just don't know how long of a trip that would be, ferry and all.

I just found out that my senior thesis advisor will be none other than Johnny Vaughan himself, which is way exciting because it means I get to do a lit review on autism and I get to have an internship at an autism center...I'm SO excited.

Reasons why I wish I had my best friend around for so I could spew out random thoughts:

I've started drinking tea. What is this world coming to?

Then again, I'm not sure you can say you've truly lived in Europe unless tea becomes part of your everyday routine.

I've been a big waste of life this weekend but I don't mind it so much because it's been fun to not have a schedule for a couple of days. It's funny that everyone always says to make the most of your time here and do as much traveling as possible, but what's the point if you're going to be miserable doing it? Taking time for yourself is important no matter where you are.

I should really be savoring all of this time off because I know when I go back to Hamilton my life will fall into the chaos that is the dreaded Senior Thesis. Not that I'm not looking forward to it (if I get my first choice...) but it's going to be a LOT of work and I'm thinking there will be several sleepless nights.

There's not much to update here in Ireland right now except that the weather is starting to warm up a bit. Of course, as soon as I say that it's going to get chilly and rainy. But for now, the weather is nice and it's going to be cool to see everything bloom here. I'm excited for when my family visits because by then everything will be greener than green and it will make sightseeing that much more enjoyable.

I still haven't decided what I want to do for my spring break. It seems like all of my American friends here have picked where they want to go and everything but I have no plan whatsoever. Several places have been suggested to me; it's just a matter of choosing a location and committing to it.

Also, I need a job. Eek. It's really hard to get hired when you're in another country. I'll probably just end up at the hospital again but who knows.

I'm not sure what most of this has to do with Ireland but I felt the need to update so there it is. Hope all is well at home!!

Diggy called me the most Irish American he's ever met, apparently because I don't overreact to the things he says and I just have that "fuck off" attitude, to quote him. Honestly I think it's just because I can't understand him half the time.
Diggy, by the way, is my roommates' friend.

So I'm thinking of going to Berlin in a couple of weeks. Thoughts?

Also, I'm going to Galway on Saturday for a little preview of what I will see when my family visits. Not that I will have any idea where I'm going the second time around because I have absolutely no sense of direction.

I don't really know what I'm going on about. I think it's time for bed...

Edinburgh

Yes, I'm back from Scotland! We really only did one full day of touring and such, but it was definitely a great time and I think that we made the most of it. Immediately upon arrival, we checked into our hostel (by the way, if you're looking for a good hostel, I definitely recommend Budget Backpackers) and headed to the pubs. I don't know if it was where we were or what, but the pubs we went to in Edinburgh were...ew. Let's just leave it at that.
The next morning we got up nice and early to go out and explore the town. After walking by a few shops, we decided to go to a free art museum (very cool, but we couldn't take pictures). The museum housed everything from portraits to landscapes to abstract art, oil on canvas and wood panel and sculptures. We even ran into an art school class, sat in for a few minutes, and realized that we had no idea what the professor was talking about so we decided to leave. Next door to the art museum was this amazing tower called the Scott Monument. I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I was really not feeling well so I didn't climb to the top, but a bunch of my friends did and they took pictures which you can view in my album. After the monument we walked around for awhile up to this random hill that overlooked the whole city, which was absolutely beautiful. We sat there for a bit and then headed to Edinburgh Castle to see the cannon fire. We also got to walk around the grounds and check out all of the museums they had; there were a ton of war artifacts and paintings everywhere and it was really interesting to see the pride that the Scottish have in their history. We also got to see the crown jewels, which have a whole museum dedicated to them. They were breathtaking in person, and I'm definitely disappointed that we weren't able to take pictures of them because they were the best part of the whole castle, hands down.
Post-touring the city we went to some random pub who gave us 2-for-1 on lunches. That's right, two meals for the price of one. Unfortunately, I was with a bunch of boys who actually wanted their own two meals so I had to pay full price. Bummer. After lunch we took a little break to recharge our batteries (by this time it was about 4pm) and while some of us relaxed and napped, others went up to Arthur's Seat. I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to go to Arthur's Seat, but I'm not sure that I would have been physically capable to get up there because I was so tired. We all met up again around 7pm to go on a famous Edinburgh ghost tour, where we heard some history about St. Giles church, witch burnings, and peasants living in underground vaults. Apparently there is some paranormal activity known to have taken place in the vaults, although it seems nobody really experienced anything. There is an active Wiccan church that is located in one of the vaults, which is really creepy because there is nothing else down there but stone, water, and slime. We did, however, get scared to death by a woman who ran up to us in one of the vaults, screamed, and ran away. It was part of the tour, so I guess at least we didn't pay money to not get scared. That's right, double negative. After the tour we went to a pub crawl that was absolutely insane and as I said before, most of the pubs were horrible. So, word of advice, if you ever go to Edinburgh, beware of the pubs.
Lastly, as always, here is the link to my photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008463&id=1083330009&l=85124

Spring Break

My new thing now is looking for places to go during my spring break. My family will be here for a little less than half the break, so I would like to take the other half and go somewhere. Some of my American friends here are going to Italy and Spain, so those are options. Leave suggestions for me!!

I can cook!!

Okay, by I can cook I mean I made one dish successfully and I had to email my mother about it to ask how to make it. But the big miracle is that I didn't burn anything and I didn't undercook anything. AND, as an added bonus, the three boys I made it for (plus myself...don't think I didn't eat my own food!!) loved it and ate the whole thing. I think the only downside was that two other girls were supposed to join us for dinner decided to go to the gym and the boys got antsy and wanted to eat early, soooo they kind of missed out. Oh, by the way, it was chicken casserole.

I would update more but I don't have much to say other than classes are going swimmingly but I'm starting to get bored of the social scene. There is just so much going out and drinking like 4 or 5 nights a week and I definitely can't keep up with that. Plus, the same clubs over and over again get kind of boring after awhile so I'm thinking of taking a mini hiatus from all of that and just chilling out like I did over the weekend (I literally slept like 30 hours between Friday and Saturday nights). In terms of class we learned today about the Merry Wake, which is essentially when a LOT of Irish people get together for three days (between the death of the individual and his or her burial) and drink their faces off and play lots of games. Kind of makes you laugh, doesn't it?

This weekend a group of us is headed to Edinburgh, Scotland for a couple of days (thank you, RyanAir) since it's Valentine's Day weekend. It's a bummer I won't be in Tanzania and Calvin won't be here but there's not much I can do about it so I'm just going to go have fun in Scotland and hopefully see Robbie and Hannah!

More when I return from Braveheartland.

A little piece of home

I got a little update from one of my rugby teammates today :-)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20255776&BRD=1630&PAG=461&dept_id=188010&rfi=6

FINALLY. This one's going in the scrapbook.

Irish Dance

I finally finished Angela's Ashes the other night. Absolutely loved it. I of course have to thank Leigh and Roy for that book because it's been a really long time since I've enjoyed a book that much. It was fun reading it while I was here too because I could sort of build a map in my head of where Frank went throughout the story...pretty cool. But yeah, for those of you who haven't read it, I definitely recommend it.
Also, one of my roommates' friends called me "the American....girl" the other night. It was actually really hilarious because everyone was silent, thinking that I would have been offended by such a comment. Much to their relief I laughed it off because its so funny actually being the foreigner...the FES. Ha.
Today was my first day of performance class for my Irish Music and Dance class. Yes, performance class. As in, I go to class in sweatpants and socks and learn how to do Riverdance moves. It's actually quite fantastic. I hated it at first because there were girls in my class that were all like "oh, I've had 13 years experience in ballet" and "I took several Irish dance courses at school in the States." Turns out they all SUCK. That made me feel better. This is only the first class though so I'm sure I'll be struggling just as much in a week or two...we'll see. Oh, and at the end of the semester, we actually have to do a performance. It should, at the very least, be interesting.

See the list of weird Irish things for additions!

Weird Things About the Irish: A Work in Progress

Throughout the semester, as I find out more and more facts about the inhabitants of my host country, I will list for you the ones that I find to be weird. These are the ones I have so far:

1. They call Band-Aids "plaster"
2. They usually have more trouble understanding each other than they do understanding Americans.
3. They charge 22 cents per plastic bag at the grocery store.
4. Most pubs have at least one type of hard cider on tap (usually Bulmer's)
5. Irish boys try to get to know you before they hit on you (actually quite hilarious).
6. Dogs almost never have leashes and they can poop anywhere they want.
7. The clubs play almost all American music...that is anywhere from six months to fifteen years behind.
8. There is no such thing as a standard shower.
9. Secondary school (high school) is legitimately harder than university. This seems to be the standard across the country.
10. They call going to class "going to college."
11. There is no such thing as becoming well-rounded in school. Students know what they will be doing for the rest of their lives by age 16, so when they get to university they only take classes that pertain to their career plans.
12. Instead of saying a phrase such as "that meeting took like 30 minutes" they will say "that meeting took 30 minutes like."
13. Their roads are really only big enough for one car yet there seem to be very few accidents.
14. Anything that is half-past an hour is spoken as "half-four" rather than "four-thirty."
15. If you say something that surprises an Irish person, they usually respond with "fuck off!"
16. Fun is called "craic" (pronounced "crack"). When they use this word, it's usually in a sentence like "That was some good craic last night."
17. One common greeting in an email is "howaya" (say it out loud).
18. They don't refrigerate eggs. Seriously.
19. It is common for children to swear, and adults think it's funny.
20. A cupboard is called a "press."
21. Telling someone that St. Patrick's story isn't real is like saying Santa doesn't exist.

Homestay Weekend

Though I have returned to Cappavilla with a cold or the flu, I must say that this weekend in County Cork was nothing short of a fanstastic adventure.
On Friday, myself and my fellow IFSA-Butler students were shuttled off to the south of Ireland to live with our homestay families for a week. Stephanie and I were located in the heart of a small town known as Carrigaline with Malcolm, a blacksmith, and his wife, Amanda, who owns a boutique down the street from their house. Upon entering their quiant living space, we were surprised to find that we were not the only foreign students staying in the house; it turned out that Malcolm and Amanda were no strangers to hosting visiting students. One was named Max, a sixteen year-old student from Germany, and the other was Roman, an eighteen year-old from Belgium. They had been living at the house since the beginning of the academic year, so they were quite settled in by the time we arrived. They also had two of their own children staying in the house: six year-old Matt and 14 year-old Megan. It was quite the full house. Amanda, true to her Irish nature, told us to treat her home as our own and, although it was pretty uncomfortable to do so, it really did make us feel welcome. Oh, and also, an Irish mother's stew is absolutely amazing.
Saturday brought an excursion into the city of Cork, where we walked around for a bit before meeting up with some of our American friends to head down to Blarney's castle. We got to Blarney at around 4pm, so we really had to rush through the whole climbing to the top and kissing the stone deal so that we could explore the grounds (the grounds are open all night). Honestly, if there was ever such an attraction in the United States I don't believe they would allow people in the castle for serious liability reasons. One of the things I really like about being in Europe is that you are responsible for yourself and if you do something stupid then it's nobody's fault other than your own.
Needless to say, I did not kiss the stone (I know, I'm sorry). My fear of heights really only allowed me to get to the top of the castle, at which point I was literally clinging to the walls. I did, however, get to witness some people kiss the stone and receive "the Gift of Gab."
After the kissing of the stone we explored the grounds for a bit and then headed back to Cork, where we caught the bus back to Carrigaline for the night.
Today Stephanie and I ventured out to Crosshaven, which is a small town on the south shore of Ireland, only a few miles from Carrigaline. We took a nice little stroll around the edge of the cove for an hour or two before we had to go back to get ready to leave. Malcolm cooked for us before we left, and I must say that American fathers should really learn to cook (I mean other than frozen pizzas in the oven or macaroni and cheese).
Anyway, now I am back at UL and haven't been feeling well, so I decided to skip the Super Bowl party (yes, one of the pubs is hosting an American party) and try to get better instead. Hopefully that happens before the next time I update.

If you would like to see more pictures, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007434&l=e85b0&id=1083330009

Classes, Suitemates, Pubs, Pubs, and More Pubs

Now that I've resided in Cappavilla for a few days, I'm starting to warm up to the university quite a bit. I have three new Irish suitemates: Ciara, Elizabeth, and Emer. They seemed a bit hesitant to meet Matt and I at first but we subsequently learned it was because the Americans that lived here last semester were not so Irish-friendly. Luckily, we've managed to wash that bad first taste out of their mouths and have had a "grand" time together thus far.
Classes also begun today, which really freaked me out because for awhile there I had completely forgotten that we were in Ireland to attend school. My only class today was Civil Liberties, which was not the most welcoming environment for my Irish studies. It turns out that one requires an extensive background in European Law (who knew??) in order to manage that course, so I quickly switched out and have opted for the Applied Sports Psychology course instead. In addition, I'm taking Local Government, Sociology, Irish Folklore (a heavily favored module by the Americans). and Irish Cultural Texts.
On the social side of things, we Americans still pretty much stick together, although I've been invited out with my roomies tomorrow night (yes, I will be attending. Tuesdays here are like Thursdays in the US...except that the Irish also go out on Thursdays...). So far we've been to a couple of night clubs and have enjoyed the scene, although we were surprised to learn that almost all of the music played in the clubs is American music. It kind of makes us feel at home, but at the same time I think a few of us feel a bit cheated and wish to hear a bit more Irish originals. That being said, we still have a blast.
Homestays are this weekend. We will be traveling to County Cork to stay with an assigned host family for the weekend and get a taste of the Irish homelife. I'm pretty excited not only to gain this new experience but to do some travel as well. I'm looking forward to the semester picking up so that I can plan more trips. So far the only ones I have scheduled are Belfast and Dublin, but that is sure to change soon.

Cappavilla Village

It's been a few days since I've last updated, but a lot has gone on in such a short period of time. Upon moving out of Jury's Inn yesterday morning, we were shuttled to the University of Limerick campus, where we moved into our new residences. Half of us live in a 2 year-old apartment complex known as Cappavilla Village, while the rest live in Dromroe, which is a brisk 10-minute walk from Cappavilla.

The campus, though very spread out, is gorgeous. Everything is pretty modern-looking here, which is quite a change from the aesthetics of Hamilton. I think my favorite part about the campus is the Living bridge, which connects basically the entire campus to Cappavilla Village. One interesting thing about my residence is that it is not actually in the same county as the rest of the school; while the school and the other villages are in County Limerick, Cappavilla is in County Clare. The two are separated by the River Shannon, often described to us by locals as "majestic" and is one of their most prized attractions.Cappavilla is especially nice because the buildings are only 2 years old, so everything is pretty much brand new. I live in a 6-person apartment with one other American, one Swede, and three Irish roommates (that I have yet to meet). We share a common room with a pretty big kitchen, which is way different for me because I'm used to just popping into a dining hall and getting food. I guess I'm actually going to have to learn how to cook at some point...

My room itself is pretty awesome and not something that I would ever dream of having at Hamilton. Not only do I have a full-sized bed (AMAZING.) but I also have a ton of desk space and, if you can believe it, my own freaking bathroom. Seriously. That's pretty much unheard of in the states, as far as I know, at least within dorms.

We're still in orientation period, so I still have to get up and go to lectures from 9am till about 3pm. I'm really getting sick of orientation, but tomorrow will be the last day before classes start on Monday. The Irish students that we've met here so far tell us that this weekend, when most of the students return to campus, chaos ensues. Since it's supposed to be a pretty crazy weekend, I've decided to take a couple of days off before this ridiculous weekend starts. I'm pretty excited to see just how rowdy the Irish can get.

Once classes start and I settle into a bit of a routine, I will be able to tell you more. Comments are always welcome!!

The Cliffs of Moher

So today was the first day of orientation, and it was everything I expected it to be. We sat through some lectures on safety, as well as what life at UL would be like. It was nice though because we got a little break in the middle and I got to know some people a little better.

After orientation, we piled onto a bus (or "coach" as they call it) and a madman (seriously) hurled us through the countryside of County Clare up to the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are huge cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and have some historical significance with the Spanish Armada. None of the students here really know what that history is considering our coach driver had an insanely thick accent and was talking really fast (the Irish are notorious for this). Nonetheless, the cliffs were absolutely gorgeous; I will post pictures once I'm on my own computer. As we were about to get off the bus to walk up the steps along the cliffs, our driver warned us that if it looked like rain we should hurry down as quickly as possible or we'd "surely get a soakin'". So the 20 of us walked up the steps, taking pictures along the way, and realized that the wind was really strong. Some of us decided to ignore it, so we went out to the castle that stands on the end of one of the cliffs (don't worry mom, not too close to the edge). When we got up there, however, we were quickly greeted by gusting winds of literally 80 or 90mph. It was ridiculous...a lot of us had a pretty hard time walking up there, so we took shelter behind a castle wall until we decided to brave it out and scurry down the steps. Turns out as soon as we got into the visitors center, it started pouring and a weather warning was issued. We were pretty glad to have gotten out of the weather just in time.


Anyway, like I said, I will post pictures when I am able. Until then, I will be at program orientation and will officially move into UL on Wednesday so I can start my UL orientation (too much orienting for me).

Hope everyone at home is doing well!! I miss you all!!

Jury's Inn

I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in the city of Limerick (1 euro per hour here versus 5 euro at the hotel, Jury's Inn) and am already missing school and home. I guess that's to be expected, espeically if your flight arrives at 5:30am local time and you sleep from 8am till 1pm, only to wake up to relatively bleak weather. Either way, Ireland has been somewhat normal thus far; there really isn't too much out of the ordinary except for traffic traveling in the opposite direction than at home, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by that.

I've met two guys and three girls in my program so far, and they seem pretty cool. They come from all over; Phoenix, Chicago, Albany, Worcester, and some tiny town in western Mass that I've never heard of (but that's to be expected). Tonight we have an orientation dinner with everyone in the program, so it will be interesting to meet everyone else. Tomorrow, we have lectures and meetings that start at like 8:30 (eek!) and go until dinner time. We will be repeating the same routine until Wednesday or Thursday, when we actually move into UL. I'm not too psyched about that whole thing, but they can't really let us run rampant around the city, especially with those American students who are not 21 but have the newfound ability to purchase alcohol.

That's really all the updating I have for now...There should be more following my orientation.

T-Minus 2 Days...

This is where I will be giving updates on my semester abroad to the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland. Hopefully I do a decent job keeping this blog updated.

As winter break draws to a close and I get ready to leave for Ireland (IN TWO DAYS!!), I can't seem to get over the fact that I won't be going back to Hamilton this semester. I'm really going to miss life on the Hamilton campus, from parties in Milbank to rugby tournaments. I'm especially going to miss that core group of friends that I spend almost every day with.

That being said, I'm totally psyched to start the semester in Limerick; it's going to be a fun change and I'm looking forward to meeting all of the people in my group as well as the Irish students at UL. Becca (my best friend, for those of you who don't know) is having a blast in Thailand so I'm hoping that I get the same kind of experience when I leave on Saturday (eek!).

The nerves haven't kicked in just yet, probably because I still have so much to do tomorrow before I leave. So, on that note, I'm going to go do more preparing.