Mardi Gras

Celia, Me, Andrea, Violeta

For Mardi Gras the school was having a party for the Erasmus students..... they are the students who are here on exchange and basically from every country except the US. the US has their own program because we are study abroad and not exchange students. Anyways, Andrea and Celia invited me to go with them. We wanted to dress up but realized none of us owned anything fun to wear...

The party began in the student centre so Jackie, Violeta, Andrea, Celia and I headed over. They had free (Jamaican) beer for us..... it was 'best before Jan 08'.... I didn't have any, haha. There wasn't really anything going on and people were just talking to the groups they came with. Since it was only 8:30pm, Andrea and Celia had not eaten dinner. After a few minutes Celia decided "vamos!" and we left... with some extra beers in Violeta's purse and Celia's pocket.

We stopped at Centra to get some bread, wine, and diet coke. Andrea and Celia made us some dinner and we drank calimocho- red wine and coke. I did not want to try it, but I actually enjoyed it! I provided the music and cookies for dessert, haha

Celia made me wear her hat for awhile because she was sick of it....

Around 11:20pm we decided we should get going. Jackie didn't come with us but we picked up Violeta on the way to the bus. Once we were on the bus the three of them opened some more expired Jamaican beer, I still passed. The school rented out Turks Head for us. I had never been there and it was actually a really nice place. It was 1euro to get in and we had the place to ourselves. The dj was pretty horrible. I even went up and asked him to please play some better music, he really didnt. Andrea was surprised, she said they usually have good music there.

Example of an unflattering picture I took of Celia, haha

I was the only one who brought a camera so Celia borrowed it and took a ton of unflattering pictures of everyone. When she gave it back I made sure to take just as many of her. We also took a bunch of group pictures and Celia didn't have a normal face in any of them... it truly is hopeless!

This would have been a nice picture if it didn't look like Celia was eating my hair

At 2:30am the pub was closing so we made our way out to the line of taxis.... we got a group of 7 and took a van back to campus.

London!

sorry it has been so long! once I got back from London I was very busy, but it is the weekend now and I have some time to catch up on the past week....


Ally, Heather, and I left for the airport around 6pm thursday evening. we only brought a small bag each, no checked luggage, because it costs a lot for even one bag. we got to the airport, checked in, and through security no problem. grabbed some dinner at the food court and boarded the plane. It was very nice because it was not a full flight and I had the aisle and another guy had the window and nobody sat in the middle. The flight was just long enough for me to listen to like five or six songs on my ipod before electronics had to be stowed away again for landing, haha.


We bought an oyster card at Heathrow.... it gives you discounted rates on the tube, I put 10 pounds on it to start with. the three of us got on the Picadilly line and headed to the city. Ally was staying with a friend so Heather and I got off at our stop and changed to the District line... our hostel was right across from the Bayswater station (one stop after notting hill gate, which made me want to watch that movie so badly!).


So, my first hostel......the main area was pretty active when we arrived with people hanging out, playing pool, drinking, etc. Since this was the first time Heather and I had booked a hostel, we did it seperately. Not a good idea, we were in seperate rooms. good thing only one person booked for everyone for all the other hostels from now on. We got our keys, sheets, and tag to put on our bed and headed in. There was a weird smell everywhere, hahaha. We were each in a room of 14. My room was packed, and everyone was already sleeping! I had to get Heather to come help me find the bed that was open because I couldnt find the empty one in the dark. Bottom bunk in the corner... I put my sheets on in the dark and shoved my bag under my bed. We walked around the block but pretty much everything was closed so we just went back and went to bed.

The London Eye with Big Ben in the center

We woke up early the next morning and got our free breakfast, which turned out to be toast with butter and jelly, hahaha. We took the tube to Westminster and took pics of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Since Heather had never been to London I decided it would be best to just do the hop on/hop off bus tour so we could see everything. We found the stop and a man was selling tickets that were valid for 48 hours, perfect! He gave us a 4 pound discount for paying in cash! We hopped on the bus and started seeing the sights, haha. We didn't want to actually go in to everything because we didn't have much time so we would just get off and take pics and get back on the next bus.

We met up with Ally in the shopping area between oxford circus and bond circus. We ate lunch and then shopped til we dropped at H&M. The prices on their clothes are in Euros and Pounds and since the pound is weak these days it was so much cheaper than buying things in Ireland. By the time we finished browsing in the other stores we had to go back to the hostel to get ready for our night out.

Big Ben and Houses of Parliment

Heather and I met Ally at the South Kensington tube station and we walked together to her friend Tiffany's apartment. A group of us went to dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant down the road and stopped at Tesco afterwards to get some wine. We hung out until 10:45ish and then all 11 of us headed out to the tube station. We went to Fabric nightclub. It was crazy. Soooooo much techno my head was hurting, but it was fun! I made the mistake of wearing heels and my feet were killing me by the time we got there, yikes! The place was cool and had a few different rooms along with a vip like section. we ended up in a less crowded corner by a roped off section with only 4 people in it! As one of them was walking by us to go get more drinks he asked if we knew who Blondie was.... Heather said yes, and he said she was right there. After he walked away we looked at each other and realized neither of us knew who this person was, hahahaha!! I still don't.

The bus Heather and I needed to take home definitely flew by us as we were trying to wave it down, along with a few other people at the bus stop... so we took a different bus to hyde park corner because we figured it would get us closer at least (our hostel was on hyde park but we didn't know how close to hyde park corner it was because it is quite a large park). When we got to Hyde Park corner we got a cab to take us to the hostel.... we were definitely on the opposite corner of the park, hahaha!

We got up early on Saturday, had some free toast for breakfast, and went off to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. After that we went to Harrods and rode the bus some more, haha. We were going to get tickets to a musical, but they were all sold out at TKTS. So we had some time to kill. We had a yummy meal in notting hill at a tex-mex restaurant and then walked back to the hostel. We stopped at some little shops along the way. Once at the hostel, I definitely took a nap. When I woke up heather and I got ready for the night and went to get dinner. I got a waffle with gelato, hahahaha. It was soooooooo good. heather had a cheeseburger from McDonalds. We walked around the mall that was across from McDonalds and tried to kill some time.

Buckingham Palace- changing of the guards

Finally we went to meet up with Ally and her friends again. This time we went to the Ministry of Sound. it was even more crowded and loud and sweaty than the first night! Benny Benassi, a dj I have never heard of, was playing in one of the rooms. I guess it was a big deal but I definitely couldnt not have cared less, it was just more techno to me. ally and I went to get some fresh air outside and ended up spliting a hot dog from this cart in the smoking area that was delicious. We made friends with the men working in the cart and ally even took a picture with them, hahahaa!

This time there was a direct bus to Queensway... a 3 min walk from our hostel, so that was really nice. Another late night and another early morning... this time to catch the plane. Heather and I had our last free toast breakfast and packed up our things. we got on the tube and headed back to Heathrow. I returned my oyster card to get the 3 pound deposit back and we headed to the gate. The plane was full this time. I had a man all in my space most of the time but since I found an US Weekly magazine near the hostel before we left I was perfectly happy just reading that.

We got on the bus when we arrived back in Dublin and I was actually really happy to be back. I just wanted to have my own bathroom again, and sleep in my bed. Once I got back to my room I took a very long nap to make up for my lack of sleep in London.... it felt great!

Off to London!!

Be back on Sunday =)

Misc

FACT: The paper here is longer and it really annoys me because it sticks out of the top of my folders and binders. Also, I have to write a 20 page paper (in a group) for one of my classes and the longer sheets mean I have to write more..... just great.

FACT: Andrea and Celia made me lunch today. It was delicious. I have no idea what it was called, I even had them repeat it twice and I saw it written down. Oh well, not important. They said their moms make it better and it would be better if we had an oven and not just a microwave so I can only imagine how good it is supposed to be.

FACT: We made crepes again on Sunday. I actually cooked some of them this time, and they were good! I watched Cecilia make the batter too so I could probably do it myself by now. Yummy!

FACT: On Friday evening Ally and I took a dinner adventure to the city centre to find traditional fish and chips. We used her handy little map to find Leo Burdock's. It was right across from Christ Church Cathedral. It was strictly carry-out so luckily it was a beautiful night and we sat at a picnic table outside a nearby pub... which we weren't really supposed to but oh well. I don't usually eat fish so I was skeptical but really wanted to try it. They give you a HUGE piece of cod that is all battered and fried and a good amount of chips, put some salt and vinegar on it, and wrap it up in paper. It was REALLY good! I could only eat half of it but it was definitely one of my favorite meals here.

FACT: I just wrote a lot of facts about food, haha!

FACT: I went to the library yesterday and checked out not one, but FIVE books! I have to do a research paper for my Irish History class and we can't use internet sources.... I know, crazy. Four of the books are falling apart and a couple are from the early 1900's, this is what I get for picking a topic from 1768.

FACT: Tesco delivers groceries and it is amazing. Jackie, Ally and I combined our orders and split the delivery fee. It was cheaper than the bus fare would be and we didn't have to worry about only getting as much as we could carry across campus. We will definitely do it again.

FACT: I need to invest in more scarves. They are definitely the thing to wear here.

FACT: Celia made my day today when she was describing to me the meal she wanted Andrea to make us. She said she didn't know how to say it in English so her and Andrea talked about it for a minute in Spanish and Andrea said she didn't know it either. So Celia says "ok, so... it is like a ball.... of meat...." to which I replied "A meatball?"
hahahahaha!!
She was like "Oh my gosh, really? English is so simple! We have very specific words for everything and you just say 'meatball'?!?"

FACT: Last week I went to the Copi-Print center in Quinn and printed out all the lecture slides from the beginning of classes until now. I'm glad I got a start on that so I can look them over and write on them... it is so much easier than reading from my computer.

Sangria Party!

Clockwise from left: Marine, Me, Violeta, Celia, Sandra, Andrea, Cecilia

After taking a nice siesta, I was ready for the St. Valentine's Day Sangria Party!

Andrea and her friends had invited Cecilia and I to come along so I knew I was in for a real Spanish treat! We paid ahead of time and Andrea told me afterwards they bought 67 bottles of wine, yikes! I had never had Sangria before but I actually liked it.

Since the buses weren't running we had to catch a couple cabs from campus to the Blackrock campus. My cab was Cecilia, Hoi, Marine, Andrea, and Celia in shotgun. The driver didn't know exactly how to get there and poor Celia was trying to tell him but didn't know street names so she was yelling to Andrea in Spanish to the way back seat and the driver was getting so confused. They worked it out and we got there perfectly.

The party was fun. I was glad there were a lot of non-Spanish there also. I met a girl from Connecticut, and two other guys from the States. Our German friend showed up too. Hoi was so funny. She brought a carton of OJ for herself and her really nice camera. After the first 5 mins of the party Andrea asked me if I had seen Hoi and Celia ran by and told us Hoi had taken charge of the Sangria... sure enough little Hoi was holding the huge jugs of Sangria and pouring for everyone that came to the table, hahaha! She was very good at it.

Hoi pouring the Sangria for everyone!

I met a lot of Andrea and Celia's friends. The first girl they introduced me to- I stuck my hand out to shake hers as she was coming in to kiss my cheek. Awkward. So I asked Andrea and Celia what I should do when I meet new people and they said they always give two kisses on the cheek, to everyone. Cecilia told me the French do the same. So I became more observant and sure enough everyone was greeting each other like that. I adapted for the evening, it wasn't awkward once I was expecting it.

We were both wearing red! Celia takes awful pictures, this was our 6th or 7th try... she was determined to get a good one, haha!

It got very sweaty and loud in the dining room so we moved into the kitchen area.... Blackrock has all their shared kitchens downstairs so there were just like 15 kitchens randomly that people started migrating to. There was much more air in them, it felt good. We found an iPod with speakers so we started playing good music and it was much better than the main dining room mess.


After the Sangria ran out (at 11pm) we headed out to City Centre for the pub. Andrea told me that it was a pub she didn't like and they played bad music. I figured it would be fine...


This time the cab was Celia, Violeta, and I. The driver knew where the Temple Bar area was so we got there fine, haha. We walked past a random pub and of course Celia knew some of the people who were outside smoking, so we stopped to give kisses, etc. We continued walking and ran into Andrea, Cecilia, Marine, and Sandra. We walked together to the pub. The good thing was they didn't charge cover, so I was fine with staying there.


Andrea was so right. The music was awful. I think it hit rock bottom when the Star Wars theme song came on. Jackson 5 played as well as Frank Sinatra. Not kidding. Nobody really seemed to care though, haha! Celia came up to me at one point and she was holding her heels... not like the whole but just the heel part, she was still wearing the shoes. I don't know how it happened but she walked like that for the rest of the night, oh Celia! The pub closed at 2:30am so we slowly made our way out. We got back around 3:30ish. Andrea, Celia and I hung out until like 4am in our kitchen, mostly laughing at Celia for breaking her shoes.

My roommates Andrea (Spain) and Cecilia (France)

I was exhausted! But it was definitely a vey fun day!

Malahide Castle and a beach

We had lunch at the Cafe when we arrived. It was sandwiches, soup, and delicious cake.

Once again we were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle. The tour was a mix between self-guided and tour guide. We started in one room and a lady came in and told us to listen to the recordings and when it was over to enter the next room and the next recording would begin. A few rooms didnt have the audio and she told us to just walk around and check them out.

The castle is said to be haunted, but unfortunately they didn't talk about it. That would have been so much more interesting than listening to Talbot family history!

Then we headed to the beach. It was a typical cloudy day in Dublin, as you can see from the photos. I am actually getting used to it. It was definitely too cold to swim or anything but we took pictures and some people collected shells.

Croke Park

Saturday was a VERY busy day for me!

First up: Stadium tour of Croke Park- the National Stadium for the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Since their remodelling they have begun host a lot of events at the the Park but it is still mainly used for the Irish sports of Gaelic Football and Hurling. I learned that the two games actually have the same basic rules just different equipment. For Gaelic Football you use what looks like a soccer ball but the players can pick it up and dribble it or throw it. Hurling uses a stick and smaller ball... I tried it out and can honestly say I am not good at it. We were told that anyone can play Gaelic Football but Hurling takes a lot of skill and most of the best players start playing when they are 3 or 4 at their local GAA clubs. So I started out a little too late.

Croke Park is the 4th largest stadium in Europe.... and it is for a club organisation! (notice the lack of z, haha!) It holds 82,300 people!! An interesting fact is that all the players are unpaid. They play because they really love the game.

The tour guide was telling us about how the GAA is an identity here. Everyone supports their local team and usually if something is going on in the town, it is at the GAA club. We watched a short video about their sports so we could see them being played. Then we walked through the service tunnels and into the players lounge, dressing rooms, practice rooms, and then onto the pitch and up into the very top of the stands. We basically covered it all. They even played sound effects of cheering and screaming fans when we walked out of the tunnel onto the pitch, haha! One of the teams that was playing that night was on the pitch and they all laughed at us as we walked out. Then we sat in the stands to hear some more info and the team went and pressed the sound effect button 2 more times, haha!

Players Lounge: the winning and losing team usually comes in here after a game. Since they are unpaid they get free drinks and food. The light fixture is made from Waterford Crystal and symbolizes the hurling ball and football. The lights change to the color of the winning team.

Random Happenings

I know I have a lot of posts from today but it is because I finally have time to type everything! This is just a list of things that have happened recently that don't really have anything to do with a particular post.

Most of these are things with my roommates. They keep me on my toes. Being American and fluent in English makes them so curious. They are always questioning my choice of words and giving me blank stares when I use new phrases. It is very fun to hang out with them though, they are pretty great. Their friends are pretty great too. Here are some funny stories...

• The Spanish have a hard time saying the letter J. For example, my name sounds more like Hen- thanks a lot Mom! Another example is that Andrea always tells me that her goal for this semester to to understand her professors hokes and laugh when everyone else does. hahaha!
  
• I told Cecilia and Andrea that I was going to 'hang out' and they said they had been wondering what that meant. Then they asked me to explain the what the difference was between 'hang out' and 'hang up'. Now they prouldy say 'hang out' and even taught their friends!
  
• I learned that American's open their mouths wide when they talk and I am no exception, but it is ok because it makes me easier to understand. I also annunciate very well and am easier to understand when I use a higher tone.
  
• Elodie loves rap music. I heard her jamming to "whatever you like" and told her she got it stuck in my head and I couldn't get the words out of my head! She told me she only knows a few words because TI goes too fast. I wrote the lyrics out for her and I now hear her practicing at night. She promises that one day she will sing it for me =)
  
• On the same note I really sent Andrea the Soulja Boy instructional video from YouTube. She watched it and said her and her friends would learn it and then show me. hahahahahaha! I can't wait for that!
  
• Ally and I are going to try to learn some French for Morocco. Cecilia has volunteered to help us out so now we just need to figure out what will be the most useful sentences. I already learned how to say 'how much money' and I am very proud of myself.
  
• One of the lines in 'whatever you like' uses the word 'chick' and Elodie asked me what that was- a girl. Cecilia said she was reading a book in English and they used the word 'kiddo' and she didn't understand- slang for kid. Marine watched a show and they said they would 'break it down' and she wanted to know what that meant- cut into smaller pieces. I am getting very good at this.
  
• After beer pong and flippy cup when we were singing to the iPod Celia told me I was a better singer than anyone we were listening to, and everyone agreed! Talk about an ego booster! She said it was because she could actually understand what I was saying but I will take any compliments I can get!
  
• I watched the FRIENDS episode where Joey trys to speak French with Marine, Cecilia and Elodie and they LOVED it. They were cracking up! Even funnier is that when they saw that episode dubbed in French, Joey tries to learn Spanish. hahahahahaha!!
  
• I also watched the clip from The Pink Panther where Steve Martin trys to say "I would like to buy a hamburger" with them and they loved that too. The funniest part of that is they actually have a hard time saying hamburger.
  
• I am kicking it back to my high school days and learning all the words to my Juanes songs so I can serenade Andrea and company someday...
  
  

The Moon

For Abby-

As we were driving home from Kilkenny I noticed the moon for the first time since I got here. I thought of you =)

It was a very clear night and I actually jotted down what it looked like in my sudoku book as I was half asleep!

It looked like a full moon, or at least very close. It was very bright and since it was so clear it was shining right in my eyes as I was trying to sleep!

I didn't have a tool like you to measure the degrees but it was pretty high, haha! I am not an expert or anything but I think it was a good moon.

I miss you!

Kilkenny

Kilkenny Castle

Saturday morning the bus pulled out of town with Dorothy and 37 American students headed to Kilkenny. Heather, Ally, and I were among the students. We probably drove through some nice scenic areas but I wouldn't be able to tell you because I was sleeping for most of the time. I did wake up once while we were in Kildare county and Dorothy told us about all the championship horses that were bred there and Ireland's most famous stud lives there. It is a very expensive county to live in. Next thing I knew we were in Kilkenny!

The name Kilkenny comes from two words of the Irish language (Gaelic). Kil means church and Kenny is for St. Canice's Cathedral- a 13th century cathedral. We started our day at Kilkenny Castle which was primarily a residential castle. The famous Butler family lived there from the 14th century until 1935!! At that time most of the items in the castle were auctioned off and the people at the castle have tried to get as many things back as possible. One of the most famous paintings on the tour had ended up in a residence in New York and a visitor from New York was took a tour of the castle and tipped them off as to where the painting was. They found it and bought it back, haha!

One side of the castle was knocked down in an attack long ago but the other three wings still remain. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle but my favorite room was the gallery. It had all the original family portraits that they were able to find. At one point there were 200 portraits in the gallery but they have only been able to get about 46 back. That is still a lot of portraits to see.

After Kilkenny Castle we walked down the street to Kyteler's Inn for lunch. It was delicious! We had chicken breast and chips (I tried mine with vinegar first but ended up using the ketchup) and for dessert we had Bailey's cheesecake. Our walking tour guide, Liam, met us at the restaurant. The first story he told us was about the restaurant and apparently the woman who used to live there, Alice Kyteler, was a 14th century witch! She had 4 husbands and all of them mysteriously died from poisoning. She went on trial and her maid was killed but she ran away to England and nobody saw her again. Awesome. By the way, at one of the tables in the basement (which is where our party was sitting) there was a witch sitting at a table. After the story I understood why.

Creepy Witch

Liam with two of the girls on our tour. He was so cute!

Liam took us past the shops of Kilkenny and through some narrow medieval streets on our way to The Black Abbey. The church was built in 1225!! At one point it was 4 times the size it is today but they went through some rough time. It was even a courthouse in the 16th century! The stained glass windows were beautiful.

A seriously old church

I couldn't fit the whole window in the shot, it was HUGE

We also saw the place where James Hoban grew up. He is the architect who designed The White House. He lived in Kilkenny before moving to America.

Funny story, his house is now a hair studio, hahaha!

We got some time to walk around so I bought postcards. One of which I am sending to my cousin Kenny. =) Ally found a Claddagh ring she liked. We went to the 2 Euro store... kinda like a dollar store but everything is 2 Euro. I bought some very cool things like hangers and dishwashing soap. By then it was time to head back to the bus. The driver put on the Ireland vs France rugby game because it was kind of a big deal. I put my headphones on and slept the whole way back, haha! Elodie, Marine, and Cecilia actually went to the game and told me France had lost but they still had a good time. I apologized to them for not caring and sleeping through their big match =)

Guarda, Guinness, and Beer Pong

Friday I set out on a mission to get my immigration card from Guarda. When I arrived in Ireland they only stamped my passport for one month. I had to go to the Guarda office downtown and register/pay them for a card that would let me stay for the rest of the semester. This card is also the only thing that gets me back into Ireland after my weekend and spring break trips so it is pretty important. So Ally and I took the bus to Lower OConnell street and it was a short walk- some of you may like to know that the Guarda office is located on the same block as the huge Heineken building in Dublin, haha!

We got into line, there were a lot of people already there, great. In the first line I showed my papers, passport, school ID, etc and they gave me a number. My number was 266, at that point they were on number 215.... fantastic. We sat down and waited. About 20mins later I realized that we were moving at a snails pace because all but 2 of the clerks were gone! Their lights were shut off and they weren't helping anyone! ugh. The Irish and their breaks! So we waited for them to all go have tea or something and when they all got back 15 mins later it started moving again. Finally it was our turn, Ally was 265 so she went first and then I had to wait for what seemed like forever until someone was available.

The guy who gave me the number was totally confused by my American bank account, I guess he didn't realize he could easily convert that into Euros and see I still had enough money in the account. Luckily this guy was not confused, haha. He looked at my letters from the school, my receipt from tuition, passport, school id, proof of residence here, etc. He asked what I was studying, when I was leaving, for some contact info, took my fingerprints, and more. I paid and he took my picture. Then I had to go wait for the card to print. Although I am leaving on May 18 he was nice enough to give me through the month of June in case I wanted to travel or something. I know this is very uncommon and usually people would only get like one day extra, or a week tops. Then I finally got the card! yay! I legally can stay!

Afterwards we walked to Upper OConnell Street to the bus company to meet up with Heather and Jackie and buy a bus pass! It was so overdue. It is very hard finding coins every time you have to take the bus. Then we put our bus passes to good use and jumped on the 123 to Guinness Storehouse!

Guinness is a self-guided tour thing. It starts on the first floor and goes up to the gravity bar on the 7th floor. At the top is a really beautiful view of Dublin. Since we went late it was dark by the time we got to the top and my pics didn't do it justice. So anyone who wants to see it will just have to come visit me =) On the 5th floor they had a smaller bar where you could pull your own pint. They taught you the proper way to fill it and then you got to do it yourself. It was pretty cool, and I even got a certificate!!

The new bus pass put to use again to go back to upper oconnell to search for solos and ping pong balls for Ally's beer pong party. We had no luck. We got tall, clear plastic cups that would be decent. The real kicker is our ping pong substitute of wiffle golf balls, hahaha! I would urge you to not try this at home, it gets messy. The balls are definitely heavier than ping pong balls and will knock down almost every cup you hit. oops!

I invited my roommates over to learn the art of beer pong and flippy cup. Elodie had a babysitting job and Natasha said she wasn't feeling well. Cecilia and Marine were the first to come over. I think it was a little intimidating for them to walk into a party that was already going on with all Americans who were mostly rowdy boys. They were champs though and mastered flippy cup! It was so fun to teach them. I went to change my shoes and Andrea's crazy friends were walking downstairs telling me they wanted to come to my party. Andrea's boyfriend is visiting and he doesn't speak English (this is becoming a common problem in my life) but all of them headed over with me.

Just when we were walking in Ally's roommates and their rowdy American friends were leaving to go out. It was perfect timing because then I explained beer pong to them and had them get into 4 teams of 2. Heather helped me but she isn't as used to talking to them so they didn't quite understand what she was saying. So they asked me again and I used simpler words, gestures, ya know. Cecila and Marine played against Andrea and Celia's roommate. Sandra and I played against Celia and her friend. Mateo watched and laughed at us. Heather was in charge of rules at the game I wasn't playing in. It was very fun. They got into it and were excited to learn a new game.

After the games were over we played flippy cup. They really enjoyed that game too. My team was Andrea, Celia, and their friend (she is the only one I don't really know). We were pretty good. They are really funny because when it was Celia's turn she would drink a little then pour the rest into Andrea's cup and flip it. Then Andrea would drink a little and pour the rest into my cup and flip, and I was like "no!" this isn't how you play!! hahaha!! Then Heather peaced out and it was just me and my roommates and their friends in Ally's apartment, hahaha. We sat around laughing and listening to music. Gasolina was a fave because all the Spanish girls knew all the words, I asked what it was about and they said it was dumb, haha. Soulja Boy was also popular and they assumed I knew the dance and asked to see it. I told them nicely that I don't dance but I would show them the instructional video, haha.

Celia decided that we all needed to have a big dinner one night. Andrea told me I should make Chicago style pizza, hahaha. I told them I can't make it, especially without an oven, and I would take them when they visited me in Chicago. If anyone has any suggestions on something I can make for them then let me know!

Overall my day was a success! Got my registration card, went to Guinness, and my roommates and company had a good time at the party!

Also, thanks to Ally for the pint pouring and st. james gate pics!

Some stuff I have been doing, and snow

On Saturday Jackie and I met up with Matt from Baxter in Blackrock. We went to a really nice pub and had a good time!

It snowed this week! A lot! Well, a lot for Ireland that is. We had about an inch, tops, accumulated at one point. Ireland hasn't had a good snow in about 14 years. It snowed a few years ago for like 10 mins and nothing stayed on the ground. So obviously it would snow now.

From my room I saw everyone running to the HUGE snowball fight on campus
The roads were a disaster and people were told to stay off of them if possible. Some schools closed for 2 days. There was a significant decrease in the number of students in my classes. AND two of my classes were cancelled! One professor didn't say it was due to the weather but the other specifically said it was "due to poor weather conditions". That was funny because she canceled the class on Tuesday night for our Wednesday night class. And Wednesday night was beautiful!! Oh well, I don't like having class from 6-9pm anyway and she probably doesn't like teaching that late and saw it as a good excuse.

Definitely not the Dundrum Shopping Centre we saw online!!
Ally and I ventured to Dundrum Shopping Centre on Tuesday. It was very nice! They had an Urban Outfitters and everything! When we got off the bus we weren't too sure about it though. We knew we had to walk a little but the first Dundrum Shopping Centre we saw was dark, old, had no stores, and I think the only thing in it that was still used was a dentist office. We got worried so I went into the bank and asked if that was the shopping centre. The lady giggled and told me to keep walking and I couldn't miss it. Phew! Sure enough, around the next corner it came into view... brand new, modern, huge, and definitely open, hahaha!
The Dundrum Cinema is right next door to the shopping centre and I plan on hitting that up sometime =)

Urban at the real Dundrum Shopping Centre!

After shopping we ate dinner there at TGI Fridays "The American Bar Restaurant". It was the only place I have been to with free refills on soda! yay! They had the same menu but everything was much more expensive. I got chicken fingers!

Travel Update!

Just booked Spring Break part 2.... Morocco!!!

Landing in Casablanca
going to Merzouga to stay in the Sahara and do the camel thing, ya know
going to Marrakech because it is an amazing city
back to Dublin
=)

Shopping!

Friday was shopping day!

No classes Friday but I had some stuff to take care of before we left. First I had to go to the Fees desk to get an official receipt that shows I paid my tuition, I need to bring it to Guarda. Then I hit up the ATM and headed to Quinn to print out some other documents I need for Guarda. I had to set up my account and put money on my card, etc. Since I didn’t bring a printer I am sure I will be at the copi-print center a lot.

Then it was shopping time! Ally, Jackie and I took the bus to St. Stephens Green. We went into more stores than I can remember and it was a really nice place to shop. At Zara I got a new rain coat (it was raining that day, shocking, I know) that was on sale, and 3 shirts that I found for only 3.95 Euro each! What a steal! We hit up McDonalds for some DC on the rocks and fries, delish!

After we had hit up all the outdoor shopping we went into the St. Stephen’s Green mall and went to T.K.Maxx (no joke) and I bought another pillow for my bed. They only came in packs of two but Jackie wanted one too so we split it! Best investment EVER! Then we stopped in one of the most interesting stores ever, and I loved it! It is called Argos and the store is literally just a room with a bunch of counters with huge catalogs on them. These catalogs are not messing around. They are over 1000 pages of everything from bedding to electronics, home furnishing to Halloween costumes, jewelry to toilet seats. You find what you want in the catalog, write the code on the ordering slips, bring it to the register and pay, sit down and wait for them to call your number, and bam! they give you the things you ordered! It was very cool and I bought a straightener (don’t have to worry about blowing it out or frying it because it is made for the Irish outlet), and a duvet cover for my bed which is another investment that has revolutionized my sleep.

Ally did some grocery shopping at Dunnes, I bought some facial moisturizer, haha! We ended the trip with dinner at a tapas restaurant. It was soooo good! We pretty much inhaled it because it tasted so much better than pb&j and pasta! We picked up the bus at Trinity College and headed back to campus. Shopping day was most definitely a success.