St. Paddy's Day, Dinglin', Race Day, and ESPANA!!!

So this time I have epically failed at writing in this blog not because of laziness but because of busyness (I'm having a hard time believing that busyness is actually a word but I'm going to leave it in here anyway, since the tyrannical Red Line of spell check hasn't attacked it yet.)  But this has not been like the kind of busyness that awaits me at home, where teachers actually take attendance and I'll have to find a way to replenish the funds I have so easily burned through here.  This has been a much better kind of busyness and I hardly know where to begin recapping the past month.

I think that St. Paddy's Day in Dublin deserves at least a few words.  My friend from high school, Pressly, and two of my friends from USC, Kendra and Emily, came to visit for St. Paddy's Day weekend.  We also met up with another friend from USC, Ellyn, once we got to Dublin.  It was soooo great to see people from home.  We all got up around 5 a.m. on Saturday so that we could catch the first morning bus from here to Dublin.  Once we arrived in Dublin we decided to explore for a bit before finding our spot for the parade.  We figured it would be fitting to try to find St. Patrick's Cathedral.

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin

??

After visiting the cathedral, we made our way back to the busy streets to find a spot to watch the parade.  The parade was awesome and also really, really weird.  The theme of the parade was "Science." Someone told me that Irish kids in school were asked questions about science and the floats were designed based off the answers they gave and the pictures they drew.  I don't know if that is actually true or not, but I think it would only makes sense if the kids were also on hallucinogenic drugs.  Here are a few pictures to help capture the essence of the parade:                                                                    

Rhino in a Wheelchair

Eyeballs, of course

 After the parade, we spent most of the day wandering through the streets and soaking up the insanity.  We made it into a few bars, which were so crowded you could barely move.  There were, of course, plenty of interesting characters in the city that day. We met the Pope having a Guinness, which was pretty sweet.

We also met a few other fellow Gamecocks (and by fellow Gamecocks, I mean random guys in wigs who decided to jump in our picture.)

Go Cocks!

We had a bit of a misadventure trying to get home from Dublin when the bus we were supposed to catch never showed up at the bus stop.  Luckily we ran into my friends from Limerick and were able to get on the international students bus with them, even though we hadn't previously signed up to ride it.  I imagine that if the same scenario had taken place in America we would have been out of luck.  I was feeling extremely appreciative of the Irish and their willingness to bend the rules.  I don't know how else we would have gotten home that night.

The next of my mini-adventures was a day trip to Ennis, Ireland on the Tuesday after getting back from Dublin.  My friend, Ellyn, was in Ennis for the week visiting her relatives and she invited me to come for the day to show me around the town and have dinner with her family.  The town was so cute and her aunt made the most delicious lasagna I have ever had in my life.  I was really happy that I got to make it there because one of my goals for the semester was to be invited to an Irish family's house.  I don't know if it counts exactly, since I already knew Ellyn before coming to Ireland, but I'm going to tally it as a win regardless.

So now for the Dinglin' part of my blog.  Dinglin' is a term that was coined over the next weekend, when I went to Dingle, Ireland on another trip with the Outdoor Pursuits Club.  We arrived at our hostel on Friday night and it was immediately dubbed the very best hostel in the world.  It was cozy, CLEAN, and the view from out back was breathtaking.

Best hostel of life

On Saturday morning we left our hostel to start our hike up Mount Brandon.  I stupidly imagined that we would be gone for maybe three or four hours.  I was wrong.  It was a pretty intense hike and we went all the way to the very tip top of the mountain.  There were times that we were literally on our hands and knees, climbing from rock to rock, and I kept thinking to myself how easily and quickly I would die if I only tripped a little (and tripping is a pretty consistent habit of mine.)  And somehow we didn't have to even sign a waiver to go on this trip???  But all the walking and the time spent wondering which step was going to be my last was definitely worth it to see all that we saw. The weather could not have been better; it was sunny and warm, an unheard of combination in Ireland.  I also got the distinct feeling at one point that I had to be one of the Von Trapps hiking through the mountains, and if I hadn't been surrounded by people there is a 100% chance I would have burst into song.  These pictures don't do it any justice at all, but I will include them anyway.

                                   




As if what we saw on Saturday wasn't enough, Sunday was possibly even more beautiful.  On the bus ride into the town of Dingle, our bus stopped on the side of the road so we could get out and look over the bluest water I've ever seen.  Soon after, we stopped at a beach that was surrounded by cliffs.  It was sunny and would have been warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt if I had thought to wear them.

















The amazing weekend of weather in Dingle brings me neatly to the next part of the story, which takes place during the following week of school back in Limerick, a week that could fittingly be titled, OH MY GOSH WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY IS IT SO BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE IS THE WORLD ENDING???  Okay, so maybe it seems like I am exaggerating a little bit, except that I am not exaggerating even a little bit.  It was in the high 60's all week long and sunny ALL DAY EVERY DAY.  The Irish students were taking full advantage of the weather and my village was practically covered with people playing games outside and lounging in the grass.  It could easily have been a normal spring week in Columbia, but the difference is that nobody in South Carolina would have ever appreciated the weather like people were appreciating it here.
On Thursday of this gorgeous week was Race Day in Limerick, which was basically the Irish version of Carolina Cup, but without the Lily Pulitzer dresses.  It was fun to get dressed up and spend the day in the sun.

Race Day

 I promise that this marathon blog post will end soon...so congratulations (and sorry) if you've made it this far. The only thing I have left to talk about is my Spring Break in Spain, also known as the week in paradise that I could not possibly have deserved.  We spent a week in Moraira, Spain living the high life in a gorgeous villa.  There were twelve of us there, so when we divided up the cost for the week, it actually ended up being cheaper than it would have been to stay in hostels for a week.  The villa had a huge pool, plenty of room to sleep everybody, a spacious wrap-around porch, and a beautiful view overlooking the town, complete with mountains in the background.  And we were only about a fifteen minute walk from the beach.  It could not have been more ideal.

View from the porch

Our villa

View from the roof

My week in Spain was made up of equal parts of relaxing by the pool, relaxing by the ocean, playing beach volleyball, drinking sangria, laughing, and doing a whole lot of wonderful nothing.  We also invented some stellar games, played some hide and seek, did a little star gazing by the pool, and even had a few sing-a-longs around the fire in the living room.  It was too cold to swim, although the Canadians of the group actually did make it into the water most every day.  We also split into teams for making dinner each night, so each person ended up spending relatively little on food for the week and we still ate like kings.  Seriously, it was the best I've eaten since I've been abroad and everything was fresh and homemade. I could probably go on and on about how wonderful of a time I had and how beautiful Moraira was, but I will spare you any more jealousy inspiring details.  I will, however, share a few more photos and then end this insanely long blog post before it cuts me off or the Internet runs out of space.

Team dinners on the porch

Star gazing by the pool

Standing in the Mediterranean - as far as I made it in

So basically this past month has been great and I truly wanted to cry when I had to leave sunny Spain.  I am also already grieving for the fact that I only have about one more month left here. But I'm consoling myself by remembering that I still have at least a few more places to visit before I leave, including Paris, Austria and Italy.  And, from what I've heard, they're supposed to be pretty cool as well.

Carolina in My Mind

So before I say anything about anything, I would just like to urge anyone who might be reading this (all two of you probably - thanks Mom and Dad!) to go and watch this video if you haven't already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Kony 2012

I have watched it twice already this evening and cried both times, which really is saying a lot considering that I am that heartless witch who didn't even cry in Titanic.  Or The Notebook.  Not kidding.  So just watch the video.

So now that I have said that, I can refocus once again selfishly on my own little life! Whew!
I brilliantly titled this blog post "Carolina In My Mind"to allude to one of my favorite songs from home and because Carolina really has been on my mind lately - both North and South.  I guess I was too busy and excited about studying abroad during my first month to register any kind of homesickness.  But now that I have been here almost two months, I have finally started to realize all of the things that I miss.  Here is an abbreviated list of the things I miss from home:

1. The weather.  I know that I have already wrote about this before on here but, sorry, I'm not done.  I feel like I have talked about missing South Carolina's weather so much that everyone here probably hates me.  I can't help it.  To be fair, the weather has actually been much better here lately than it was at first, and there were some incredibly beautiful and sunny days last week.  And when it is sunny here, it is gorgeous because the grass really is so much greener than the grass at home.  And there are yellow flowers all over campus that have started to bloom and those are really pretty too.  But I still just miss the relentless South Carolina sun.  I went for a run this afternoon while it was sunny outside and ended up getting hailed on.  What is that?????

2. Chickfila.  I MISS CHICKFILA.  I've always loved Chickfila but I had no idea that I loved it this much.  It's embarrassing, really.  My friend here, Meg, and I have spent probably a combined total of twenty hours talking about how much we miss Chickfila.  We decided the other day that we have to stop because no one else knows what we are talking about.  They probably think we belong to a creepy American chicken cult.  I would absolutely join a creepy American chicken cult if it meant I could have a chicken biscuit right now.  And if people would actually know what I meant by a biscuit!

3. My car and just being able to get anywhere without having to take the bus.  I never thought I would feel so much love for my balding 1999 Honda Accord than I do right now.

4. My friends and family.  My Nana's house.  And my dog.  Awwwwww gosh I miss my dog.

Alright so now that my whining is done, I will say a little bit about what I've been up to lately.  Last week was rag week here, which pretty much consumed everybody's lives.  Rag week is one week of the year when the school plans a bunch of events to raise money for charity and everyone skips class and it is pretty much a marathon party all week long.  There were concerts, a nearly naked mile for charity, a bungee trampoline in the middle of the student union, beer drinking marathons, and the list just goes on and on.  There were security guards standing at the front of my village all week long, I guess to try to keep things under control.  It still amazes me how much more lenient this school is than USC would ever ever be.  There is a beer drinking club here that had advertisements for rag week events (such as drinking a yard of beer) posted all over the inside of the main classroom building.  The lecturers pretty much expected that no one would show up for class.  Some of them just went ahead and cancelled class.  Obviously none of this would ever fly at home.  People would pitch a fit and it would be all over the news.  But rag week was fun, for sure.  I was sort of glad when it was over, though.  I don't think I could have lasted through any more of it.

I took a day tour on Sunday to the Blarney castle and to Cork.  I kissed the Blarney stone, which is supposed to give people the "gift of the gab."  So hopefully you can detect its eloquent side effects in this blog post???  It was an incredibly lovely, sunny day, which made the tour so much better.  Walking all around the castle was just too beautiful.  Here is a picture of one of the places where we walked.

I will be staying here at school this weekend and writing all three of the essays that I have due really soon...and hopefully I'll find I can still remember how to do school work.  I will probably spend most of next week in a constant state of unhealthy excitement about seeing my friends who will be visiting Ireland for St. Paddy's weekend!!!  I'm not going to bore you by describing my excitement so I will just stop now.

So one last word to everybody in either of the Carolinas: go eat some Chickfila!!!!  But then please do not tell me about.  My jealousy will actually make me hate you.

Glendalough and London

I must apologize again for continuing to be such a huge blog failure and taking so long to write a new post.  I am sure this has been especially difficult for those of you who cling to my every word and anxiously await new installments of my life...I hope you've managed to find an alternative way to keep going.
So two weekends ago I went to Glendalough with the Outdoor Pursuits Club.  We got to our hostel on Friday night and left for our hike on Saturday morning.  We hiked for most of the day and even though it was pretty cold, it was absolutely worth it.  These are some pictures I took on the hike, although they don't really do it justice.

That night after the hike there was a Valentine's Day Ball.  I'm not a huge Valentine's fan in general, but it was a fun night.  Everyone got dressed up and we walked to a bar just a few minutes away from the hostel.  We left on Sunday afternoon after walking around a little more to see some ruins and an old graveyard.  It was a great trip and the weekend flew by.  It all feels hazy now, like it happened a month ago.  But I am glad I have the pictures to remember it by because it was all too beautiful.

 The second of my recent adventures was a weekend trip to London!  I went with two friends, Meg and Claire.  We got in our taxi at 4:30 last Friday morning to get to the airport for our 6 am flight.  Our original plan was to spend Friday night in Leeds with my friend from USC, Kendra, who is studying  there now.  But, due to poor planning (on my part, of course) we were sadly not able to make it to Leeds.  So we had to book a different hostel for Friday night.  We were exhausted by the time we made it to our hostel and desperately wanted to take a nap.  However, we realized almost immediately that we were going to want to spend as little time as possible in this particular hostel.  Everything in our 18 person room was a pale, hospital-blue color and I would not have been surprised to have seen a "Quarantine" sign on the door.  The bathrooms were essentially indoor porta johns and I think I made a wise decision in opting to be greasy instead of catching any number of diseases by showering there.  Maybe you think I am being dramatic.  I AM NOT BEING DRAMATIC.

So, after paying one pound to secure our backpacks safely in lockers, we decided to go exploring.  We had no idea where to go or how to get there so we just started wandering.  Wandering, getting lost, and eating were really the three main events of our trip.  However, we managed to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the London Eye all during that first afternoon and evening.  We debated whether or not we should spend the money to ride the London Eye, a HUGE ferris wheel overlooking the city, but we decided it was the kind of once in a lifetime event that would be worth it.  The view was truly spectacular, especially since it was nighttime and the city was all lit up.

We spent Saturday doing a whole lot of getting lost again but we managed to see some cool places along the way.  We walked through Kensington, which was an obviously very ritzy part of London.  We also visited Platform 9 and 3/4.  We happily checked into our second hostel that afternoon and took a well-deserved nap before going to dinner.  I ate traditional British fish and chips for dinner, which was delicious. We went out into the city that night, although we never ended up actually making it into any bars or clubs.  I think we were in a bit of a too touristy area and every place was incredibly expensive to get into.  We were mostly content with just walking around and seeing the insanity of London at night.  I have always liked big cities, but this trip made me question whether I would actually want to live in one. It was definitely fun to walk around there, but all those people made me feel like my head was going to spin off.  About every seven and a half seconds, someone would pop out and try to convince us that he was offering us the best deal in the world to get into the most fun club that has ever existed.  At first, I was more polite, gracefully saying "no, thank you" and walking away.  By the end of the night, I was power-walking through the streets, hunched over like an animal, and barking "no" in response to anyone who said anything.  (So maybe I'm not cut out for true city life.)

We slept in a little on Sunday and then spent the day doing some more wandering, getting lost, and eating.  We made it to the Natural Science museum and also did a little shopping, although I didn't buy anything because traveling is making me so broke it isn't funny.  We also stopped at a cute cafe and ate some delicious pastries there.  We took a nap again that afternoon (seriously, we deserved it, you would not believe the amount of walking we did every day.)  We went to dinner at a cool Mexican restaurant that night and then went to bed early because we had to be awake by four in the morning to catch our bus to the airport.  Overall our trip felt less like a vacation and more like a challenge.  I had to throw away my favorite brown boots that I brought with me because all of our wandering literally obliterated them.  I learned some valuable lessons on this trip, like how important it is to always have the exact address of the hostel where you are staying, and how it might be beneficial to do a little more planning in advance when you're going to a huge, strange city in a foreign country.  But overall I was pretty proud of our navigating skills and our ability to endure sleeping one night in the grossest place that has ever existed.  We decided that we will be creating an audition tape for the Amazing Race soon, so make sure to look for me on television!  I'll probably be the girl who is wandering and lost.  Or eating.

Galway, Biscuits, and Why it's Hard to Keep up with Blogs

So, as predicted, Galway was amazing!  Our hostel was cute and clean and we managed to score a four person room with two sets of bunk beds, which was perfect.  The hostel was right in the middle of the city  so we were able to easily walk everywhere to explore.

The hostel

We got there after dark on Friday night and we were absolutely starving.  Unfortunately, most of the restaurants were already closed so we spent what felt like a million hungry lifetimes wandering around on a desperate food search.  Luckily we didn't give in to the tempting options of open fast food chains and we eventually found a nice little Irish restaurant serving traditional Irish meals.  This was the first traditional Irish meal I had eaten, so I was really excited.  I had shepherd's pie, chips (aka french fries), cabbage, and rutabaga.  It was delicious, and not only because I would have eaten a guinea pig in that state of hunger.

Potatoes are big here.

After dinner, we visited a few different pubs around the city and listened to some live music but we didn't stay out too late because we had to be up early the next morning for a bus tour.  The tour lasted the whole day and not even the nasty weather (...no, I don't think I'll ever get used to it) was able to keep me from appreciating all that we saw!  One of my favorite stops was the ring of fairies, a place in the woods where some people believe that fairies meet at night to discuss the problems of those who leave them there.  It was a really beautiful place, even though I was slightly disappointed not to see Tinker Bell.  But I don't think she's that kind of fairy anyway.

Ring of Fairies

The last and main stop of the tour was the Cliffs of Moher and there is no real way to describe it, so I won't try.  

Cliffs of Moher

The tour guide warned us not to walk past the railings up to the edge because apparently pieces of the cliffs will periodically just fall off into the water.  He described the edges of the cliffs like thick layers of icing on a cake that eventually just plop off.  It was not a warning I needed to hear twice.  

When we got back from our tour that evening, we were exhausted but also not about to let that stop us from going out again in the city.  We went to a place called the Hole in the Wall and danced until they finally kicked us out at closing time.  It was impossible to leave because they kept playing the best/most unexpected songs ever, including country songs!  When the DJ played Wagon Wheel and Chicken Fried, I had to seriously look around to make sure I wasn't actually in Columbia, South Carolina.  I simply could not get over it.  We left Sunday morning, exhausted and pledging to make it back to Galway again before the end of the semester.  

The past couple of weeks since Galway have flown by and I can't believe I've been here four weeks now.  I spent last weekend mostly just relaxing in Limerick.  I watched some of the Super Bowl on Sunday, although I was disappointed to realize that the funny Super Bowl American commercials were, of course, not airing here.  I have been eating biscuits (which would be called cookies in America) with Nutella like it is my job.  I have also not been keeping up with this blog because it is not my job, and I usually do not know where to even begin.  But hopefully I will write another post next week when I get back from Glendalough, which is where I am going this weekend!  It is a trip organized by the Outdoor Pursuits Club and I got a spot after getting to the sign up an hour early and waiting in a huge line filled with other students who wanted to go.  We'll be hiking on Saturday and there is a ball on Saturday night.  Apparently there is also a possible outdoor swim on Sunday, although I am hoping that that is some kind of Irish joke that I do not understand??  But I can't wait.

Having a Craic at it...

                                                         

I have had a hard time deciding which kind of background to use for this blog, since I am rather artistically challenged and fall within the one percent of the female population that doesn't enjoy making things look cute.  I have decided to use this sunny blog post background ironically, since the place where I now live is quite far from being sunny.  It hasn't actually rained as much as I was expecting, but it seems to be cloudy about ninety percent of the time.  Fortunately, thanks to my mother, I arrived here armed with a hefty bottle of Vitamin D "sunshine supplements."  Also fortunately, Ireland is awesome, which means I've fared pretty well even without the Carolina sun I'm used to.

I have now been here for a week and two days, although it feels like I've been here a month.  Being an exchange student feels disturbingly like being a freshman in college again, except this time I don't have a meal plan.  And it's amazing how much of an ordeal getting groceries can be when you don't have a car and when you keep forgetting to bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store (because they charge you extra here for shopping bags, can you believe it?!)  I have already learned an awful lot in this week/month, such as how when Irish people say they are having a "craic" (pronounced "crack"), they are talking about having fun, not doing drugs.  I've also learned how to get to my classes (mostly) and how not to use a hairdryer from home (hint: you should probably not try to use it without a converter - R.I.P. my exploded hairdryer.)

Kilmurry Village (where I live)

I arrived here last Tuesday morning and spent most of last week getting settled in and attempting to buy all the basic things (towels, sheets, a cell phone, etc.) that really killed me to buy, since I have all of those things just sitting at home.  However, the process of having to buy everything was beneficial because I was able to explore the city with some other exchange students I met.  On Tuesday night, when we got back to campus after an exhausting day of shopping, we really wanted to go somewhere cool on campus to eat, but discovered that everything was already closed.  So we ended up ordering a pizza.   I ate Dominos and drank Coke for dinner on my very first night in Ireland.  The next day I met some of my housemates.  I live with five girls - three Irish students and two other Americans.  I decided to go out with some of them that night and we went to a pub in the city.  The bouncer at the door pretended that he did not believe that North Carolina was a real place when he looked at my ID, and it wasn't until he was laughing that I realized he was kidding.  I was a little surprised to find that most, if not all, of the music they played in the pub was American music.  A lot of the music was also old American music.  (I have found this to be true so far pretty much anywhere I have gone and have heard a lot of The Killers, the YMCA song, and even some S Club 7.)  While I was at the pub, I met an Irish guy who spent about twenty minutes telling me how dumb I was for leaving America.  I finally asked him if he had ever even been to America, and he said that he had once been to New York City.  He cited "all those American movies" as evidence for why American parties are more fun and why I am crazy to have left there.  There have been several other people I have met who have mentioned American parties that they have seen in movies, and I have also been asked about the "red cups" that people use in America.  (I have suggested you-tubing the video for "Red Solo Cup" to several people.)  He also asked me where I was planning to visit in Europe and after every single city I mentioned he just shook his head and said, "Oh no, you don't want to go there."  I decided not to let this discourage me, since I still think the world's general consensus is that there are some pretty cool places to see in Europe.

I had orientation on Thursday and Friday, which consumed most of both of those days.  On Saturday morning there was a free bus for international students into the city so that we could go to the Milk Market.  The Milk Market is basically a farmer's market in Limerick city and it was great.   I bought a bunch of fruits and vegetables for fairly cheap and there were so many delicious looking pastries that seriously tested my self control.  I definitely plan to go back to the Milk Market again many times this semester.  After we bought our food, we decided to walk to find King John's castle.  It was incredibly windy and bitterly cold but it was worth it when I finally got to see my very first castle!

King John's Castle in Limerick 

On Monday I started my classes.  I am taking five English classes, which is going to mean a LOT of reading this semester.  Fortunately, I have already read some of the books we are studying and my professors (or lecturers, as they are called here) all seem pretty interesting.  Today after one of my classes, I went to the on-campus pub (yes, Ireland is awesome) with an Irish girl who studied at USC last semester and a couple of her friends.  We then went to try to find (or stalk) the Irish rugby team because apparently they practice here sometimes.  As we were walking by the sports center, she saw two of the players and we asked to get our picture made with them.  It seemed that one of them must be the Irish equivalent of Tom Brady, in the sense that he is the one that girls here love.  The excitement was probably wasted on me a little bit, since I've never watched rugby, but I thought it was still pretty cool, considering that I've never met a famous person in America in all my twenty years.

 I am leaving tomorrow evening to go to Galway for the weekend with some of the other international students I've met, and I'll be staying in my very first hostel.  It is supposed to be really beautiful and incredibly fun in Galway so I can't wait!  Because I titled my blog "Limericks from Limerick" (...always desperately trying to be clever), you might think that I should include a limerick in my blog post.  I believe I am a little too tired for limerick composing right now, but that might just be some craic to save for another time!!