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.