just a quick post...

i wanted to write my dream down... you probably don't care but it was a little interesting so whatever ... i also wanted to make a short post in between my longer ones... anyway, here goes.

i was at a hotel with two of my friends from Ireland, Kelly and Ashley. we were attending a lecture seminar about journalism presented by george clooney's dad.
all of a sudden geo cloons ---;) beck!--- shows up!
we chat and laugh like old friends, he likes my wit, i can tell. he wants to be my friend.
THEN in a pause in the seminar, i look to my left and PRINCE HARRY is staring at me, i did a flirty thing with my eyes and look away.
after the journalism thing is over he comes up to me and asks if he can take me on a date tonight.
"Of course!" i say.
i spend the rest of the day on cloud 9 -- the prince LOVES me ! he can't resist me! it's going the be great! we'll be in love and have so much fun! la la la !!
then he leaves the hotel and i go up to my room with my friends and i decide -- you know what? george would LOVE to hang out with me and my friends, let's go find him. so we go up to the top floor, which is not full of penthouse rooms as one would expect. instead, it's full of stations that are separated by curtains, like the recovery room at the hospital or the clinic. there are a lot more celebrities up there too.. all men though i think jim belushi was one.
anyway, geo is on his-- yeah, geo... we were tight remember?-- geo's on his phone but hangs up quickly when ashley, kelly, and i get to his room/stall. we chat for a while and make plans to hang out one day. he laughs at everything i say and it thoroughly charmed by me.
the girls and i head back to our room and i start to get ready for my date !!
i decide to wear my black dress with the new red belt i got, with my leopard print flats (all of these clothes i really do own, the belt is new)
it looks amazing on me in my dream of course but i start to get worried because my hair looks like crap and i have no makeup on - scary!
i wonder if i'm running late and then realize that Harry never gave me a time he was picking me up!! nor did he take my number or give me his!!! OH NO!!!
so i'm racing to get ready and look out the window every couple of minutes to see if i can see him outside- i might lose my chance with the prince if i'm late!!


THEN I WOKE UP.

yeah... i know ...

just a quick post...

finally... blarney and belfast!

hi everyone!

sorry it's taken so long, i have a whole list of excuses including a laundry fiasco, crappy internet, and a walking tour...

so let's backtrack - i went to Blarney on the 18th for the day. it was UNBELIEVABLE and definitely ranks in one of my top ten days of my life. we caught a bus in cork that took us right into the town center at Blarney. here's something to know about the weather in ireland... you NEVER know. the internet could tell you that it will be raining and you look outside... it's not. or, you could see a ten percent chance of rain for the day and as soon as you walk outside it pours. so, when i got up it was POURING torrentially, and if you heard the wind, you would have turned over and went right back to sleep. but, i let the weather deter me once, and it wasn't happening again. so i got up and got dressed - in your favorite outfit :) my spandex and hot pink rain boots. let me tell you, i looked hip. but the stares i got as a i walked through the city could tell you a different story. i wanted to be prepared nonetheless and when i walked out the door, the rain stopped.
mom- i had my awesome rain jacket anyway and it totally came in handy later in the day.
we picked up some breakfast on the way to the bus, it was only 9:30 so we got bagels and i was going to get a bacon egg and cheese, but the bacon here is SOOOOO not bacon. it's like really fatty ham, so i passed and went for cream cheese instead.
the town of Blarney seems so small when i look back, but i'm sure i couldn't have seen all of it. there were just a couple of restaurants and a hotel, aside from the tourist magnet of the castle.
the castle is not that big at all, not what i pictured a castle to be like at least.

but there were a lot of gardens and grounds around it.

there were some parts of the grounds, like this one...

that were almost torn apart because of the storm i mentioned before. there were branches all over the ground because of the wind and rain.

the castle looks almost like just a section of a larger castle, but there were a lot more rooms inside than you would have expected from the outside.

there were some cute spots for photo ops on the way up to the entrance, so i took advantage :)

once you get inside the castle walls there's a convenient gift shop that you have to pass going in and coming out. and just like 6 flags, when you get finished kissing the stone, you can buy a picture of yourself doing it on the way out.

... i did it... please don't judge me for it... but none of my friends got good pictures of me doing the actual kissing, so the one the staff took was the best i could get...

given my claustrophobia, i led the way up the castle. the stairways were incredibly narrow and steep. there wasn't even room for a railing, you could grab onto a rope that was hung from the middle of the tower if you needed it. the windows along the way made the climb a little easier for me to handle, but i still couldn't breathe all the way in until we went into the rooms off of the staircase, and i took a big, deep breath once we reached the top.
along the way, there were rooms you could stop off in, like the kitchen, the dining hall, a few bedrooms. the signs that guide you along the way are really cute. they have witty sayings on them that keep you interested...


it had been raining on and off since we got the bus but when we emerged at the top of the castle it was clear and there were rainbows! i know it doesn't sound that exciting but in that moment, i was so caught up in the fact that i was at the top of a castle in the middle of ireland with rainbows all around it really was amazing. i had to stop for a minute just to look around and actually BE in the moment. there were sheep in the field in the distance, everything around was green and i was so caught up.

unfortunately, at this point, my camera started dying, i guess it was tired from taking 90 pictures in less than an hour.
this is me kissing the stone... i went too quickly ...
so we went over to the kissing stone and an older man is there to help you lean over backwards and reach the stone. it was thrilling being upside down that high! there are bars under the opening so there's no way you're falling through but it is a little disorienting.
my friends said they were scared the whole time. i didn't mind it though. i had this feeling of like, just full happiness, at that moment, when we had all kissed the blarney stone at the top of a castle in rural ireland under rainbows, that i was filled up with joy and excitement, and that the moment couldn't get much better.
the walk back down through the castle was even more steep and narrow, if that's possible, and when we got out, it had started raining lightly again.

they had these really cool benches right outside the exit...

we decided that since we had already paid, we'd walk around the gardens anyway. we were all well equipped with raincoats and rainboots so we started touring the gardens.
at one point we got to this totally secluded area that seemed like a secret. it had a thick canopy from the trees so we could still hear the rain hitting the leaves but we weren't getting wet, there was a stone wall with a door behind us and it was darker in there because of the shade on such a cloudy day. we were surrounded by bushes and stone statues and we were totally alone. it was a magical moment because it was almost an out of body experience. i can remember telling all of them to just stop and listen for a second. take a minute to breathe it all in because it was a "check yourself minute". i literally had to stop in my tracks, close my eyes and appreciate EVERYTHING around me. it was unbelievable, what that moment felt like. it was so peaceful and beautiful and quiet.
after we appreciated our circumstances, we continued on through the gardens to see the waterfalls and pathways.
there were these weird dead things with leaves that were HUMONGOUS! i couldn't help but think of the children's books i read when i was younger that told about frogs and other animals who would float down streams and rivers on rafts of leaves. i'm pretty sure that if those things were real, these leaves would have made damn good boats.
behind this one waterfall there was a stairway built into the rock. the legend there says that the owners of blarney castle allowed a witch to come to the property and take some firewood, as long as she made the wishes of visitors come true. so what you have to do is climb the stairs up and back down, backwards, and think only of your wish, the whole time. then, she'll grant it.

sorry! i can't tell you my wish! otherwise it won't come true ;)

it started raining harder after that so we made our way to the giftshop!!!

this is where i ran into a problem, because the gift shop was called the Erin Giftshop...
since you all know me so well, you can probably see why this was an issue.

i wanted EVERYTHING ... i mean, how often do you come across a giftshop that shares your name??
i know now aunt cacky, that they're pretty common here, and my friend's haven't let me hear the end of it. they saw a bus the other day that was named erin and they all turned at the same time and said "WOULD YOU BUY THAT TOO????" and i turned right back and said, "YEP!"
:)

i got a few things there, i won't tell you everything but meg, caitie, and chelsea, you'll be pretty happy with what i got ;)

mom, i've honestly been trying to only get things that i can't find anywhere else, like in the blarney giftshop i got a mini blarney stone - hokey i know but i had to ... well not had to.. you know what i mean...

daddy, i promiseeeee i'm not going crazy, my account won't be empty too soon

deirdre, shauna, dec... i go into basically EVERY giftshop i pass trying to find awesome souvenirs for you guys, so basically, you'll be the reason i come home with no money because you make me go into these places that hold so much temptation for me.

after the shopping excursion we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back home to cork. yes, i had money left for lunch, even if it was just a salad.
it happened to be my friend from montana's birthday that day but she spent the weekend in Galway, so when she and her friends got back we had a mini birthday party for her

all in all, a TERRIFIC day.

now, since it's 1:30 am i'm going to bed... but i promise not to make you wait so long for my Belfast update. if everything goes well, i'll have it up on friday!

love you all! xoxo

january 20th, 2008

I am so lucky, and proud to be an American. i will never forget this day as long as i live. this is just a short post, but i wanted to get it out there that i have hope that Barack Obama will do great things with this country. i know not everyone who is reading this agrees with me and i respect that, but i am excited for the future of america, and i'm jealous that i couldn't be in washington d.c. on one of the most historic days in our country's history.

love you all!

i'm back from my movie, time to continue

.:. saw bride wars with anne hathaway and kate hudson - really cute but kind of short - anyway.:.

back to business

ah, yes, classes. like i said, most are made for international students so i think they understand that we have a huge desire to be traveling and they don't make the course load too heavy. for most i have one essay and one test, others there are two essays... TOTAL... for the whole semester... cool huh?

one downside - it takes at least 20 minutes to walk from my dorm to class... i know deirdre i know, that's what you walk anyway... but quinnipiac spoils me, and its a long time to walk with just my thoughts in my head and no one to talk to. luckily i only have to walk to class alone once a week :)

so when we got here i had brought my berkshire blanket (!) tricia! and thought that would be enough... NOT SO .

the first night i was like having seizures in the bed i was shaking so bad. i had on a sweatshirt, two pairs of pants and socks. i even slept with the hood of the sweatshirt up all night. the heat hadn't been on in a month or so, so the room was COLD. i finally broke down and spent the 7 euro on a duvet the next day and i've been fine since then. i'll just leave it behind for the next girl to use if she wants.

i'm sure all of you have heard at this point that i didn't have internet for the first WEEK!!!
it was rough. i wasn't able to talk to anyone or set anything up. i didn't really feel settled in until i got it hooked up. but now, i am officially all settled in except for all the things i keep trying to hang up on these door hooks i bought. they keep falling down in the middle of the night and waking me up.

oh! i guess you would probably want to see what the school looks like... here...
{well technically this is it at night, and you can't see it clearly. when i get a better one i'll post it.}

also, here's what some of the surrounding houses look like ...this is on the way into town... or well the city, but it's hard for me to call Cork a city after being around NYC so long.

well... its about 2:30 am and i'm going to Blarney Castle tomorrow, so i'm off to bed but i'll catch you up more tomorrow! night!

it's pouring out... are you surprised?

well.

i'm here. it's a saturday afternoon and it's pouring, according to the news last night, yes dad, i'm watching the news here, there are supposed to be 70 to 80 mph winds!!! i kind of want to go outside just to see if i can stand in it without blowing away. i had plans to go to Cobh today which is a little town nearby. it's actually the port where the titanic left on it's fated maiden voyage. anyway since it's pouring, that's not going to work out. hopefully it won't be so bad tomorrow because i'm planning on going to the Blarney stone. i was supposed to go there last sunday too but the weather got in the way.

now, speaking of the weather. oddly, it seems to only really rain on the weekends. out of the two weeks i've been here, i would say it's probably rained 4 times. not as bad as i thought.

so, on to what i've been doing. well, i got here on saturday january 3rd, that you knew already. my flight left the US at about 6:45pm, it was a little delayed. it was a long flight... 5 hours shouldn't seem bad especially since i had an aisle seat which, given my claustrophobia, was a very good thing. anyway, it was pretty boring because most of the time i was trying to sleep but it wasn't working. there was this weird movie on about people who lived under the ground and never saw the sun. the plane only had like 3 tv's so there was no choice in what i got to watch. the people that flew out of boston had their own tv's on the seats in front of them. oh well, maybe on the way back.

when we finally got in, it took about an hour for us all to get through customs.
then, we piled onto buses and took a 2 hour ride to school. we went mostly through the countryside which was beautiful, it was like a big green patchwork quilt.
two things that struck me immediately: the driving on the opposite side of the road. i'm used to it now, but when we were leaving the airport it looked like everyone was trying to pass us on the wrong side of the road, it was very disorienting. second, EVERY house we passed on the way in was adorable. even if they were small they were tidy and well kept but there were a lot of really nice houses that wouldn't be out of place in America.

when we got here, all 56 of us had to get our suitcases out from under the bus and across a busy cork city street. it was quite a sight, all the quinnipiac girls trying to lug their 100 pound suitcases across before the cars came. we all made it safely at least. my room is on the 4th floor, thank God there's an elevator because there was NO way i was getting 80 pounds worth of stuff up that many stairs. Some of my friends were not so lucky.
my room is set up really weird. i opened the front door to apt. 70 and immediately said out loud, "Whoa this is weird!!!" i still don't know if that's the first impression i gave any of my irish roommates, i hope not. you open the front door and it opens to a mini hallway with 6 doors. 5 bedrooms and a common room -- that's another story in itself!
my room is number 1, right behind the front door. i have my own bedroom and bathroom which is nice. here's what they look like.














i literally have one tile of walking space in my bathroom which is kind of crazy but since it's just me, it's manageable.


















now, on to the common room.
there's a kitchen and a sitting area in the common room. last monday, the day after i arrived, the sink somehow clogged and no one could wash their dishes FOR A WEEK. the guy came to fix the sink this monday. so, needless to say, i've been using other people's kitchens and avoiding my own as much as possible because the smell was awful. this is what it looked like.















it still smells but i think it's because of the things other people are cooking in there. i've made some good friends who let me use their kitchens which is great! because mom and dad would not be happy if i just sat in my room and ate popcorn all day ;) -- only sometimes! i promise!

as for the real reason i'm here--class-- hahahha! no, really, it's good. i have 4 classes and i go to class 6 times a week. i don't have class on wednesday and friday which is actually really good because the biggest nights to go out here are tuesday and thursday. weird, i know but all the irish college kids go home on the weekends so their moms will cook for them and do their laundry. they actually told me that. so here's the schedule,
monday: i have introduction to irish traditional music at 5pm. good because i could stay somewhere a little longer if i was traveling for the weekend
tuesday: aspects of irish folklore and intro to irish history for visiting students. both of these classes are really big, especially for international students.
wednesday: sleep
thursday: marriage, women and society in early ireland. then folklore again, then marriage women society again. my teacher of m,w,s in early ireland is an american guy and his fingernails are longer than mine - weird! plus he has a lot of nervous energy, his hand are always shaking and it makes me nervous as a result
friday: sleep again
not too shabby

well i have to run for now, it's time to go to the movies! but i will definitely add more soon! xo!