Hi everyone!
This past week has been pretty eventful even though I have stayed in Ireland. Last Wednesday my friends and I got to go to a real ball! At my school it is broken up into broad departments, and each department has a ball for its students. We went to the biggest one for Arts students (English, Psych, etc.) and danced with 1200 people! It was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go to the pub before hand, then get to go and dance with all of the Irish students. They are crazy! Most of them go home after the ball at about 3:30 and take a quick nap then wake up early in the morning and to go the College Bar in their dresses and drink all day there as well. Needless to say I am not that strong haha so I did not partake in the second half.
This weekend I had a field trip with my Medieval Castle class around surrounding counties and got to see four castles that I would have never seen without this trip, and it was with my professor who is totally crazy but very knowledgeable. It was a lot of fun! I will attach the link to pictures in my email.
Sunday I woke up with a yucky cold that I am trying to fight off:( My friends and roommates have been good caretakers and I have been putting A LOT of Vitamin C in my body, but it was bound to happen sometime. This week at our school is RAG week which began as a week to raise money for charities. The school has different games and programs set up throughout the week to raise awareness and money which has really good intentions. Instead the Irish students have transformed it into a week of 24/7 drinking and more reasons not to go to class. So far there have been NO Irish students in any of my classes yet this week, it is not really my scene but it is pretty crazy to see!
On Thursday I am leaving for London for five days! I am SO excited, and bought my tickets to the musical Spring Awakening today which was the 2007 Tony Award Winner for best musical and would be really expensive to see at home, but I bought my ticket for 18 pounds! Alexa and I are staying with my friend Angie to save money and get a great tour guide! It is going to be a great weekend, expect all the news from it early next week.
I hope everything is absolutely wonderful at home and that everyone is healthy and well. I miss you all like crazy, and am really sad that I missed the Oscars with my husband hosting haha! It's the simple things in life:) I love you all, drop me a line soon!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Happy Valentines Day!
Hello everybody!
This week has been a nice needed break from traveling and being super busy both for me and for my bank account! My friends and I had a fairly relaxed week but still had a lot of fun! Last week I went to the NUI Galway musical, and was slightly unimpressed haha. It wasn't quite up to Woodbury High School or St. Norbert College standards, but it was a fun experience and a chance to hang out with Alexa's Irish roommates. We also celebrated my friend Sheila's 21st birthday last week with another big group dinner party where we made fajitas! It is so much fun to enjoy a homemade meal, and my friend Erin and I both love to cook so are in our glory!
This weekend we stayed in Galway, and had so much fun. On Saturday Alexa, Erin, and I woke up and went downtown to run some errands and then went to the farmers market which we had been missing because of all of our traveling. I was in HEAVEN. There were beautiful craft stands, some produce stands, bread stands, bagel stands, a crepe stand, a great sushi stand which Erin and I enjoyed thoroughly, and finally my favorite gourmet food stand. There were buckets and buckets of olives and hummus and peppers and sun dried tomatoes and cheese and so much more. Erin and I decided we should have a picnic for lunch so we bought bags of food and went and sat outside a restaurant to eat and it started to pour! At the time we were totally not fazed, the food was perfect, even eating it wet off of plastic bags getting glared at from the woman who worked inside the restaurant we were squatting outside of. It was so much fun, and I cannot wait until I get the chance to do it again. It is something that my family and I always do on our vacations, so I took my dads advice and 'did what dad would do" and bought all the yummy food, including some of the best fresh mozzarella I have ever had. YUM!
For Valentines day, since we are all either single or far away from valentines, my friends and I had a dessert potluck where we all brought a different dessert. It was really yummy and a lot of fun! I introduced my Irish roommates to puppy chow so I am now the favorite roommate.
This next weekend I get to go on a field trip for my castle class where we get to see four different types of castles in the area. I am really excited! This class actually ends Friday, which gives me a lot more free time because it meets four times a week. After this week I won't start until 4 on Mondays and have no class on Fridays which makes traveling for longer periods of time so much easier! Alexa and I have a trip booked for the following weekend to London from Thursday evening until Monday afternoon which I am really excited about. London has always been a place where I have dreamed of going, and we are planning to see at least one show while there, I cannot wait!
I know last week I said I was having a bad day, and all of your emails and letters helped SO much. Today is a good day, but I still appreciate the emails:) Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers, I promise they are being returned! I miss you all so much!
Love from Ireland,
Melissa
This week has been a nice needed break from traveling and being super busy both for me and for my bank account! My friends and I had a fairly relaxed week but still had a lot of fun! Last week I went to the NUI Galway musical, and was slightly unimpressed haha. It wasn't quite up to Woodbury High School or St. Norbert College standards, but it was a fun experience and a chance to hang out with Alexa's Irish roommates. We also celebrated my friend Sheila's 21st birthday last week with another big group dinner party where we made fajitas! It is so much fun to enjoy a homemade meal, and my friend Erin and I both love to cook so are in our glory!
This weekend we stayed in Galway, and had so much fun. On Saturday Alexa, Erin, and I woke up and went downtown to run some errands and then went to the farmers market which we had been missing because of all of our traveling. I was in HEAVEN. There were beautiful craft stands, some produce stands, bread stands, bagel stands, a crepe stand, a great sushi stand which Erin and I enjoyed thoroughly, and finally my favorite gourmet food stand. There were buckets and buckets of olives and hummus and peppers and sun dried tomatoes and cheese and so much more. Erin and I decided we should have a picnic for lunch so we bought bags of food and went and sat outside a restaurant to eat and it started to pour! At the time we were totally not fazed, the food was perfect, even eating it wet off of plastic bags getting glared at from the woman who worked inside the restaurant we were squatting outside of. It was so much fun, and I cannot wait until I get the chance to do it again. It is something that my family and I always do on our vacations, so I took my dads advice and 'did what dad would do" and bought all the yummy food, including some of the best fresh mozzarella I have ever had. YUM!
For Valentines day, since we are all either single or far away from valentines, my friends and I had a dessert potluck where we all brought a different dessert. It was really yummy and a lot of fun! I introduced my Irish roommates to puppy chow so I am now the favorite roommate.
This next weekend I get to go on a field trip for my castle class where we get to see four different types of castles in the area. I am really excited! This class actually ends Friday, which gives me a lot more free time because it meets four times a week. After this week I won't start until 4 on Mondays and have no class on Fridays which makes traveling for longer periods of time so much easier! Alexa and I have a trip booked for the following weekend to London from Thursday evening until Monday afternoon which I am really excited about. London has always been a place where I have dreamed of going, and we are planning to see at least one show while there, I cannot wait!
I know last week I said I was having a bad day, and all of your emails and letters helped SO much. Today is a good day, but I still appreciate the emails:) Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers, I promise they are being returned! I miss you all so much!
Love from Ireland,
Melissa
Monday, February 9, 2009
Crazy week of travels!
Hi everybody!
This past week has been packed with lots of things, thus the reason I haven't had a chance to update you on all of them. Last Friday I went with a school group to Connamara, the Western region of Ireland, and got to see Kylemore Abbey and other important sights. It was couldy and misting (of course) but was really beautiful! They also took us to a little town called Clifden, and a famous furniture college which used to be a reform school for boys. There is a graveyard and memorial behind the school because while this school was opened the boys were tortured and beaten so many of them died. It was eery and sad but very interesting at the same time.
Last weekend twelve of us girls took the bus to Cork on Saturday morning (4 hour bus ride!) and stayed there over night. We went to Blarney to visit the castle and kiss the stone which was really pretty and touristy and so much fun. I now have the gift of gab, which I probably didn't need more of! We got back to Cork in time for dinner and were going to go out that night, but as we were walking around we found that most of the pubs and bars were not letting us in, and they told us that they had a over 23 rule, which we found crazy! I never expected to be carded while in Europe where the drinking age is 18, and I think I have been ID'd more times here then I ever will at home! I survived my first hostile experience with little trouble, it was actually not bad at all. I think I will learn more about traveling simple every time I go. The next day we couldn't really find a lot more to do in Cork so we came back to Galway pretty early. It is always nice to get away, but more and more I am loving just staying in Galway.
On Wednesday of this week I went to Dublin with Alexa and her roommate for a protest against the Irish students having to pay tuition for higher education. Right now third level education is free but the Irish government is trying to implement fees. I honestly really do not have an opinion if they should be paying for school or not, but the trip was through school and it was 4 Euro for a trip to Dublin, two meals, and two t-shirts. I wanted to experience the atmosphere, but I realized I am a terrible protester. There were 25,000 students marching the streets of Dublin which was really cool to be a part of no matter what the cause!
That night was one of my friends 21st birthday, and we celebrated by making homemade pizzas and taking her out for the night. It was so much fun, and I am loving all of the friends that I am making here. We really have a great group of girls who work really well together. We have pretty much made it a weekly tradition to get together one night and make a big potluck type dinner, and spend the evening having fun. I am really starting to cherish those nights!
This past weekend I went to Scotland from Friday through Saturday. It was my first time out of Ireland since I got here, and my first Ryanair trip, and it was a wonderful weekend. We flew into Glasgow about 6:30 on Saturday night and had to take a train from the airport into the city. We found our hostile and were all starving so went out for dinner at a really fun sports bar type place. It was dark by the time we got there so we rally couldn't do a lot of sightseeing that night, but had fun experiencing a little bit of the night life.
The next day we got up a little bit early and took the hour bus ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Edinburgh was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It is definitely in my top five of favorite European cities that I have been to so far, and I had a really great day there. We were lucky because it was neither snowing or raining, and it was only a little kind of cold (at least I thought so, my West coast friends disagreed a little bit). We were able to go to the Edinburgh Palace which is really cool, and gives an unbelievable view of the city. We walked around and saw all of the old architecture and the city. There was a huge four week long rugby tournament going on beginning that day in Edinburgh so it was packed! We couldn't get into any pubs to eat or enjoy, so we went back to Glasgow earlier then planned. We had a great dinner at this fantastic Italian restaurant, and found out how nice Scottish people are. I though Irish people were nice, but they are nothing compared to the Scottish! Everyone we spoke to was so into helping us in any way they could, and joked around with us when we had questions.
Sunday we had some time to explore Glasgow and got to see a beautiful Cathedral and some of the other sights. Glasgow was more dirty and industrial, and we had a little bit more trouble finding something to do. We found the Peoples Palace next to the Winter Gardens. It looked like a children's museum and was set up that way, but the floor we were on was all about the historical influences of alcohol and why it is both good and bad. It was a cultural experience haha. Finally we got home safely after a train ride, a plane ride, and two bus rides.
I cannot believe I have officially been here over a month, some days it feels like it is going so fast and others I feel like I am never going to make it. Those are the days I eat a lot of chocolate:) I miss all of you more then you could imagine, honestly I would love to hear anything that is going on at home, an e-mail really really brightens my day. I love you all!
This past week has been packed with lots of things, thus the reason I haven't had a chance to update you on all of them. Last Friday I went with a school group to Connamara, the Western region of Ireland, and got to see Kylemore Abbey and other important sights. It was couldy and misting (of course) but was really beautiful! They also took us to a little town called Clifden, and a famous furniture college which used to be a reform school for boys. There is a graveyard and memorial behind the school because while this school was opened the boys were tortured and beaten so many of them died. It was eery and sad but very interesting at the same time.
Last weekend twelve of us girls took the bus to Cork on Saturday morning (4 hour bus ride!) and stayed there over night. We went to Blarney to visit the castle and kiss the stone which was really pretty and touristy and so much fun. I now have the gift of gab, which I probably didn't need more of! We got back to Cork in time for dinner and were going to go out that night, but as we were walking around we found that most of the pubs and bars were not letting us in, and they told us that they had a over 23 rule, which we found crazy! I never expected to be carded while in Europe where the drinking age is 18, and I think I have been ID'd more times here then I ever will at home! I survived my first hostile experience with little trouble, it was actually not bad at all. I think I will learn more about traveling simple every time I go. The next day we couldn't really find a lot more to do in Cork so we came back to Galway pretty early. It is always nice to get away, but more and more I am loving just staying in Galway.
On Wednesday of this week I went to Dublin with Alexa and her roommate for a protest against the Irish students having to pay tuition for higher education. Right now third level education is free but the Irish government is trying to implement fees. I honestly really do not have an opinion if they should be paying for school or not, but the trip was through school and it was 4 Euro for a trip to Dublin, two meals, and two t-shirts. I wanted to experience the atmosphere, but I realized I am a terrible protester. There were 25,000 students marching the streets of Dublin which was really cool to be a part of no matter what the cause!
That night was one of my friends 21st birthday, and we celebrated by making homemade pizzas and taking her out for the night. It was so much fun, and I am loving all of the friends that I am making here. We really have a great group of girls who work really well together. We have pretty much made it a weekly tradition to get together one night and make a big potluck type dinner, and spend the evening having fun. I am really starting to cherish those nights!
This past weekend I went to Scotland from Friday through Saturday. It was my first time out of Ireland since I got here, and my first Ryanair trip, and it was a wonderful weekend. We flew into Glasgow about 6:30 on Saturday night and had to take a train from the airport into the city. We found our hostile and were all starving so went out for dinner at a really fun sports bar type place. It was dark by the time we got there so we rally couldn't do a lot of sightseeing that night, but had fun experiencing a little bit of the night life.
The next day we got up a little bit early and took the hour bus ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Edinburgh was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It is definitely in my top five of favorite European cities that I have been to so far, and I had a really great day there. We were lucky because it was neither snowing or raining, and it was only a little kind of cold (at least I thought so, my West coast friends disagreed a little bit). We were able to go to the Edinburgh Palace which is really cool, and gives an unbelievable view of the city. We walked around and saw all of the old architecture and the city. There was a huge four week long rugby tournament going on beginning that day in Edinburgh so it was packed! We couldn't get into any pubs to eat or enjoy, so we went back to Glasgow earlier then planned. We had a great dinner at this fantastic Italian restaurant, and found out how nice Scottish people are. I though Irish people were nice, but they are nothing compared to the Scottish! Everyone we spoke to was so into helping us in any way they could, and joked around with us when we had questions.
Sunday we had some time to explore Glasgow and got to see a beautiful Cathedral and some of the other sights. Glasgow was more dirty and industrial, and we had a little bit more trouble finding something to do. We found the Peoples Palace next to the Winter Gardens. It looked like a children's museum and was set up that way, but the floor we were on was all about the historical influences of alcohol and why it is both good and bad. It was a cultural experience haha. Finally we got home safely after a train ride, a plane ride, and two bus rides.
I cannot believe I have officially been here over a month, some days it feels like it is going so fast and others I feel like I am never going to make it. Those are the days I eat a lot of chocolate:) I miss all of you more then you could imagine, honestly I would love to hear anything that is going on at home, an e-mail really really brightens my day. I love you all!
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