Last week in Ireland

Hello!

I am sitting here in my almost packed room after a crazy week of good-byes and fun, but not going home for another two weeks. It is a very weird feeling that takes a toll on the emotions that is for sure. This week was my last week in Ireland! Tomorrow I leave for Italy at noon and come back for a day after my vacation, so have had to cram a lot of things into this week and tried to have finish up my experience the best that I can! I did have two final exams this week, which was kind of a bummer, but I finished them both and think I did ok on them! It feels great to be done with school, but it is also very weird because I now am going into my very last year of college, and now have to look forward to student teaching in 4 months! Just going from one major life experience to the next I guess.

This past week everything was emotional and a big deal because it was the "last time" we were doing everything. On Tuesday we went to Monroe's, the pub we have gone to every Tuesday for 18 weeks and either watched or sometimes even participated in Irish dancing. It was the last time, so almost every single one of us got up and danced with Mike, the little old man who teaches us how to dance. I had done it twice before, but I got all teary this time. It has become the most important thing to my week, and what I look forward to. The people there know us and recognize us, and we all even got to give the owner of the pub, Mr. Monroe, a hug before we left. He is kind of a sleaze ball and basically just an inappropriate old man, but we have come to embrace it haha. On Wednesday night all of my closest friends here got together and made dinner for the last time together because my friend Maggie had to get on the 3:30am bus to catch her plane home. We made up our own pub crawl to hit most of our favorite places, and celebrated our last night all together in style until she had to get on the bus. It was such an emotional experience, after being in very close quarters with the same people for four and a half months and getting to know everything about them saying good-bye is not a fun thing to do, especially not knowing when the next time you will see them again. We went to a few pubs, to a club, and then to Supermacs, the fast food restaurant that becomes totally PACKED at 2:30am after bar close with all of the intoxicated people who are hungry for greasy food. Then we sent Mags back to New Jersey!

On Thursday morning Erin and I woke up and grabbed a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The tour took us around the Burren, or the rocky hills of Ireland, and then to the Cliffs. We had the most PERFECT weather, no wind and warm temps, which made the day so mich more enjoyable. The cliffs were so amazing, something I had been looking forward to doing since I arrived here. My parents said it was one of there favorite parts of the country, and I can totally see why.

Since then it has been a lot of good-byes to a few of the Irish girls I have become close with, and doing all of our favorite things one more time. Today we went to the market and walked to the beach, trying to soak up every last minute we have here. I am so excited to go to Italy, but this has become my home as much as I complain about it and am excited to come home. It is going to be tough to leave, but I cannot wait to see my family and friends, and be back in the same time zones as everybody, and have a cell phone that I can make calls on for free! Skype is great, but I cannot wait to hear everyones voice clearly and not have to worry about it cutting out every four minutes, or have to wait up until midnight! There are so many things that I take for granted at home that I am so excited for, and I know these next two weeks are going to fly by. I come home May 17, and will send you all an update about Italy and being home once I get there! To give you an idea I will be in Florence from May 3-7, the Amalphi Coast from the 7-10, Rome from the 10-13 and then finish in Venice from the 13-15. It is going to be a packed 12 days of pasta, warmth, and churches and I am so excited!

Love from Ireland!