Well friends, the end of the most memorable semester of my life is here. I am currently typing this on the flight home… only 2 hours left, ughhhhh. So far I have tried to sleep, had a chicken dish for ‘dinner’ although it is not dinner time in either time zone, watched the movie seven pounds, read some magazines, and played Sudoku on the screen in the headrest in front of me, now I will recap the last few days of Ireland and if my computer has enough battery and they don’t come around with our light snack too soon I will keep typing probably random stories that nobody really wants to hear, awesome!
Ok so the majority of the last 2 weeks of my life have been spent at the library. My library buddy Celia and I had quite the intense schedule. Andrea usually made her way there at some point during the day but her exams were not as coordinated as Celia’s and mine were. Ally showed up a couple days too! So every day I left Roebuck around 10am and left around 2pm for lunch. Returned to the library at 4:30 and stayed until about 8 or 9 when we left, had dinner, and hung out until we went to bed only to get up again and do it over.
Ally and I went out once during the study week with the other Americans and it was so much fun! I really didn’t hang out with them that much all semester so it was kinda sad to start hanging out when we only had a weekish left.
While most people finished their exams on like Wednesday or Thursday, I was fortunate enough to have the last final on the last day. It helped that a lot of the other Americans I know were in it as well as Violeta and Celia. Celia had an exam at 12 that day so she didn’t want to leave the exam center and waste all that extra time so I went to the city centre in the morning to do some last minute errands and picked up some lunch for both of us. I got there at around 2:30, we ate together, then studied on and off until the exam at 6.
We obviously went out immediately on Saturday night after the exam. We ended up at Turks Head for the ERASMUS party. It was fun, as always, especially because it was a party held by the ERASMUS so all the international students were there. That also meant that Celia knew absolutely everybody.
For my last night the girls and I went out to dinner. We went to the Hard Rock Café because I wanted to go to dinner and they had been wanted to go there. We met Sandra there because her parents were visiting so she was already in the city centre. Celia brought a bag to our apt and didn’t leave it there but brought it to the city centre. I asked her what was in it and she said it was something for Sandra, I totally accepted it. When we were all sitting down after Sandra arrived they told me they had gotten me a little something for my birthday. I was so surprised! They got me a little Ireland stuffed animal and a giant 21st birthday card that they wrote in and all signed. It was the cutest thing. It was completely Celia’s style, starting with “Hey American!” and everything, haha!
After dinner we got a giant brownie sundae, it was delicious. Then we headed to Blackrock to the Wicked Wolf to say our goodbyes to the Spaniards. It was karaoke night and a lot of fun, but the place closed at 12 so we were only there for about an hour when it closed. Afterwards everyone congregated outside. It was a very long process for Sandra to say goodbye to everyone and Andrea, Celia, and Vio to say goodbye to all the people who would be gone by the time they got back from Germany. I know most of the Spanish but am closest to Maria, Blanca, Fifo, and Vicki so I only had 4 people to say goodbye to. Eventually we exited before the water works started but the taxi ride back to campus was pretty somber. It was starting to set in that we were all leaving. =(
We hung out in Andrea and I’s kitchen for a few hours because none of us wanted to say goodbye. The girls were leaving at 7am for the airport and Sandra had to wake up to meet with her parents, I had to finish packing, vacuum my room, check out, etc but we didn’t care because it was our last night and sleep was not important.
We finally got too tired to avoid it any longer and I started to say my goodbyes. It was the worst moment of my entire trip. We were all so sad =( I promised to visit Spain and they promised to visit the US. Someday we will see each other again, until then we will have to get by with Tuenti, Facebook, MSN, and Skype.
The next day I finished packing, vacuumed my room and bathroom, tidied up the kitchen, and checked out. I called a taxi to take me to the airport because I had way too much stuff to handle myself. My cab driver was so friendly and talked to me the entire way to the airport, he was so funny!
I got to the gate pretty early; luckily another kid from my program, John, was on my flight too. He got there early too and we talked for an hour while we waited for our plane to start boarding. It was a good time killer, I know I would have been bored out of my mind sitting there alone.
That brings me to the flight which I described at the beginning…..
I am now at home and still unpacking. Trying to get used to the time but no matter what time I go to bed… even past 1am… I always wake up between 7 and 730am. This has to stop asap. I am missing all my Dublin people and places already. What a great semester it has been. I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it for you. I don’t really know who reads it but if I see you around then let me know! Since the blog is called jen in Ireland I guess this will be my last post.
I have had the experience of a lifetime. I will never forget the places I have been, the people I have met, and the things I have learned. I know I am a better and more well-rounded person because of this semester. I am much more cultured and less of an “ignorant American”. I’m glad to be home but I will talk your ear off about Europe if you let me. I recently found a quote from James Joyce, I think it is a good finale to my blog. Bye bye!
Love, Jen
“When I die, Dublin will be written in my heart” –James Joyce
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Finals
Finals have taken over my life.
This is the only studying we have to do all semester so you can only imagine how much material I have to go over.
They are all essay exams and 2 hours long.
I have taken 3 already, including my Irish History final I took the last week of classes, and have two left to go.
The testing center is honestly an oversized barn with 3000 desks set up in rows of about 125. Several subjects take their exams at the same time in the same location. When you arrive at the center.... which is off campus so you have to catch a bus, shuttle, or walk...... you have to find your name on the list and memorize your seat number.
The first exam I was seat 556 and today I was 1398.
One perk is they have free bananas and lollipops! woot woot! banana before the exam and lollipop after is how I roll.
my last exam is of course the last exam the university has, saturday from 6-8pm. Then I am done! we are all going out afterwards =)
I have the 17th to pack up everything into two suitcases and a carry on..... yikessssssss
May 18th I am heading back to Chicago. It is definitely bittersweet because I am VERY excited to see everyone at home, eat non-boring food, sleep in my bed, etc but I am also really sad to be leaving Dublin and all the friends I have made here. I know I will keep in touch with them and some live as close as Wisconsin..... but then I have the Spanish and French and who knows when I will get to see them again. We are dreading saying goodbye. =(
Well back to studying for me. I have procrastinated long enough!
This is the only studying we have to do all semester so you can only imagine how much material I have to go over.
They are all essay exams and 2 hours long.
I have taken 3 already, including my Irish History final I took the last week of classes, and have two left to go.
The testing center is honestly an oversized barn with 3000 desks set up in rows of about 125. Several subjects take their exams at the same time in the same location. When you arrive at the center.... which is off campus so you have to catch a bus, shuttle, or walk...... you have to find your name on the list and memorize your seat number.
The first exam I was seat 556 and today I was 1398.
One perk is they have free bananas and lollipops! woot woot! banana before the exam and lollipop after is how I roll.
my last exam is of course the last exam the university has, saturday from 6-8pm. Then I am done! we are all going out afterwards =)
I have the 17th to pack up everything into two suitcases and a carry on..... yikessssssss
May 18th I am heading back to Chicago. It is definitely bittersweet because I am VERY excited to see everyone at home, eat non-boring food, sleep in my bed, etc but I am also really sad to be leaving Dublin and all the friends I have made here. I know I will keep in touch with them and some live as close as Wisconsin..... but then I have the Spanish and French and who knows when I will get to see them again. We are dreading saying goodbye. =(
Well back to studying for me. I have procrastinated long enough!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Update!
I am at the library right now and I am sick of studying so here is my attempt to catch everybody up a little. I will begin with Portugal. Ally and I were flying out at 7am, so obviously we decided to just not go to bed at all….. I went to Sandra, Violeta, and Maria’s apartment with Andrea and Celia because Blanca was making crepes! Since they are all Spanish they obviously didn’t start preparing them until after 9pm.
By the time they were sitting down to eat Ally and Jackie were drunk and waiting for me to go out so I told them to come over. We were going to go out but never made it off campus, haha. After crepes we were hanging out in the apartment and at midnight Ally decided she was tired and needed to go home so she left. Jackie was sleeping on the couch. I was looking through a Spanish gossip magazine with Andrea and Celia… they read me my horoscope and everything, hahaha. Jackie went home soon after Ally and eventually the 3 of us decided to go back to our apartment. Thanks to them I was able to stay awake. They were determined to stay awake with me and I appreciated it.
Ally and I got a cab around 4:30am and got to the airport very quickly…. not much traffic at that time. Ally was still slightly intoxicated and after we got past security she fell asleep on the floor of the Dublin Airport, hahahaha
I slept the entire flight. I have never slept so well on an airplane before! We arrived in Lisbon and it wasn’t even 10am. We took a bus to our hostel, which was right in the middle of the city on a very cute pedestrian street with lots of good shopping, souvenir shops, and cafes. It was one of the nicest hostels I have been to. We dropped off our things and immediately went to eat. Then we changed and ventured out to find a beach! It wasn’t super nice out… the temp was good but it was getting late and it was cloudy. We didn’t care. I didn’t have any sunscreen but figured I would just buy some there. We didn’t pass anything and I decided to just buy it the next day, no big deal.
Ughhhhh such a bad idea!! I definitely got burnt on one awkward line down the front of each leg and arm, hahaha. After we left the beach we hit up the local mcdonalds for some mcflurries and noticed that the mcdonalds in Portugal definitely serve beer, like draft in a plastic cup, hahahaha. So funny.
That night our hostel had a Portuguese sausage dinner thing for 4euro so we had that. It was so good! They had all different kinds of sausage and some of the best cheeses I have ever had, bread, ham, olives, wine, ya know. Needless to say, we went to bed early that night, I was exhausted.
We got up and had our breakfast that was included in our hostel…. Cereal, eggs, toast, juice… not bad at all. Heather arrived that morning so we waited for her to get in and the 3 of us went to the beach. We ate at a café on the beach and I ordered a hamburger… and not only was bread not included so I had to pay extra for a bun, but apparently a fried egg on top is included, hahaha! That night Ashley and Tiffany flew in to meet us from London. We all met up at an Italian restaurant and had dinner then went out. It was so funny because nobody stayed in the bars. You just bought your drink there and people were everywhere on the streets just holding their drinks!
The next day was sightseeing! We walked up and down the hills of Lisbon to castles, churches, monuments, etc. it was a very nice day and I had to roll up my shirt sleeves because I didn’t want any more awful tan lines, haaha. For anyone who has never been to Lisbon let me just tell you that all you need to do is go to San Francisco and you will get the main idea…. Things they have in common: cable cars, very steep hills everywhere, the golden gate bridge….. well in Lisbon it isn’t golden but it looks the same otherwise.
We signed up for a night tour through our hostel and that started at 9pm so we grabbed some sandwiches for dinner and met up with our guide. He took us to the modern part of the city where the world expo was held and then to the old part of the city and a pasteleria with the best egg tarts in the country… they really were fantastic. We learned a lot about Lisbon and definitely enjoyed the tour.
The last day all 5 of us hit up the beach. It was beautiful! I got burnt again because I am dumb… this time it was all on the back of my arms, legs and my back. I was so mad at myself because it hurt! Luckily my face never got burned =) Ally and I managed to do some damage at Zara and H&M during the trip, I got a shot glass for my collection, and caught up on my gossip magazines. good stuff.
Heather, Ally and I left for Dublin on Tuesday. Ashley and Tiffany were continuing on to Madrid. I got back to my room in the Dub, unpacked, showered, and got ready to go to The Fray concert!!
Jackie, Ally and I went to see The Fray right in the city centre. I think we were the only people over the age of 16 there besides the dads that obvs wouldn’t let their daughters go alone, hahaha. Whatever, it was a really good show! They sound exactly the same live as on their cd. I got some good pictures and videos too.
I was going to start being productive and study for finals on Wednesday but that most definitely did not happen… oops! It is so hard to get motivated when you still have 9 days before your first exam. It’s ok though, I made up for it yesterday. I left for the library with Celia and Andrea at 10:30am. We studied until our lunch break at 2pm. We ate at the student restaurant just to do something different, it was pretty good. We took a short break in our rooms and met up again at 4:30pm to head back to the biblioteca. Around 9:30pm we packed our stuff up and headed home. At 10:30pm we ordered pizza for dinner! Yummy!
Today I met Celia at the library 10:30am because she got here early and Andrea was staying home. Vicki came to study also and we studied until 2:30pm then went to Celia’s to have lunch. We made a big salad and Andrea decided to show up by then, haha. After our break we headed back to the library where I am now…. .not studying. It’s ok though, I don’t think my brain can take any more right now. Vicki and Celia have left to go play football…. I passed even though they said I could be the goalie and wouldn’t have to do much because they were so good, hahaha.
By the time they were sitting down to eat Ally and Jackie were drunk and waiting for me to go out so I told them to come over. We were going to go out but never made it off campus, haha. After crepes we were hanging out in the apartment and at midnight Ally decided she was tired and needed to go home so she left. Jackie was sleeping on the couch. I was looking through a Spanish gossip magazine with Andrea and Celia… they read me my horoscope and everything, hahaha. Jackie went home soon after Ally and eventually the 3 of us decided to go back to our apartment. Thanks to them I was able to stay awake. They were determined to stay awake with me and I appreciated it.
Ally and I got a cab around 4:30am and got to the airport very quickly…. not much traffic at that time. Ally was still slightly intoxicated and after we got past security she fell asleep on the floor of the Dublin Airport, hahahaha
I slept the entire flight. I have never slept so well on an airplane before! We arrived in Lisbon and it wasn’t even 10am. We took a bus to our hostel, which was right in the middle of the city on a very cute pedestrian street with lots of good shopping, souvenir shops, and cafes. It was one of the nicest hostels I have been to. We dropped off our things and immediately went to eat. Then we changed and ventured out to find a beach! It wasn’t super nice out… the temp was good but it was getting late and it was cloudy. We didn’t care. I didn’t have any sunscreen but figured I would just buy some there. We didn’t pass anything and I decided to just buy it the next day, no big deal.
Ughhhhh such a bad idea!! I definitely got burnt on one awkward line down the front of each leg and arm, hahaha. After we left the beach we hit up the local mcdonalds for some mcflurries and noticed that the mcdonalds in Portugal definitely serve beer, like draft in a plastic cup, hahahaha. So funny.
That night our hostel had a Portuguese sausage dinner thing for 4euro so we had that. It was so good! They had all different kinds of sausage and some of the best cheeses I have ever had, bread, ham, olives, wine, ya know. Needless to say, we went to bed early that night, I was exhausted.
We got up and had our breakfast that was included in our hostel…. Cereal, eggs, toast, juice… not bad at all. Heather arrived that morning so we waited for her to get in and the 3 of us went to the beach. We ate at a café on the beach and I ordered a hamburger… and not only was bread not included so I had to pay extra for a bun, but apparently a fried egg on top is included, hahaha! That night Ashley and Tiffany flew in to meet us from London. We all met up at an Italian restaurant and had dinner then went out. It was so funny because nobody stayed in the bars. You just bought your drink there and people were everywhere on the streets just holding their drinks!
The next day was sightseeing! We walked up and down the hills of Lisbon to castles, churches, monuments, etc. it was a very nice day and I had to roll up my shirt sleeves because I didn’t want any more awful tan lines, haaha. For anyone who has never been to Lisbon let me just tell you that all you need to do is go to San Francisco and you will get the main idea…. Things they have in common: cable cars, very steep hills everywhere, the golden gate bridge….. well in Lisbon it isn’t golden but it looks the same otherwise.
We signed up for a night tour through our hostel and that started at 9pm so we grabbed some sandwiches for dinner and met up with our guide. He took us to the modern part of the city where the world expo was held and then to the old part of the city and a pasteleria with the best egg tarts in the country… they really were fantastic. We learned a lot about Lisbon and definitely enjoyed the tour.
The last day all 5 of us hit up the beach. It was beautiful! I got burnt again because I am dumb… this time it was all on the back of my arms, legs and my back. I was so mad at myself because it hurt! Luckily my face never got burned =) Ally and I managed to do some damage at Zara and H&M during the trip, I got a shot glass for my collection, and caught up on my gossip magazines. good stuff.
Heather, Ally and I left for Dublin on Tuesday. Ashley and Tiffany were continuing on to Madrid. I got back to my room in the Dub, unpacked, showered, and got ready to go to The Fray concert!!
Jackie, Ally and I went to see The Fray right in the city centre. I think we were the only people over the age of 16 there besides the dads that obvs wouldn’t let their daughters go alone, hahaha. Whatever, it was a really good show! They sound exactly the same live as on their cd. I got some good pictures and videos too.
I was going to start being productive and study for finals on Wednesday but that most definitely did not happen… oops! It is so hard to get motivated when you still have 9 days before your first exam. It’s ok though, I made up for it yesterday. I left for the library with Celia and Andrea at 10:30am. We studied until our lunch break at 2pm. We ate at the student restaurant just to do something different, it was pretty good. We took a short break in our rooms and met up again at 4:30pm to head back to the biblioteca. Around 9:30pm we packed our stuff up and headed home. At 10:30pm we ordered pizza for dinner! Yummy!
Today I met Celia at the library 10:30am because she got here early and Andrea was staying home. Vicki came to study also and we studied until 2:30pm then went to Celia’s to have lunch. We made a big salad and Andrea decided to show up by then, haha. After our break we headed back to the library where I am now…. .not studying. It’s ok though, I don’t think my brain can take any more right now. Vicki and Celia have left to go play football…. I passed even though they said I could be the goalie and wouldn’t have to do much because they were so good, hahaha.
Ok this is very long but I just wanted everyone to know I haven't forgotten about you! Enjoy and have a great weekend!!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Be back later
I am off to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend!!!
I will be back on Tuesday.... then I will most definitely have time to completely update this because I have no more classes!
Sorry for the lack of updates. The last week of classes killed me with all the projects and papers due.
I will be back on Tuesday.... then I will most definitely have time to completely update this because I have no more classes!
Sorry for the lack of updates. The last week of classes killed me with all the projects and papers due.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Galway
I went to Galway for a night with Sandra, her boyfriend Salvo (Salvador), Violeta, and Nadine. I left the same morning Michelle went back to Chicago. We spent a LOT of time in a bus but the Cliffs were BEAUTIFUL and so worth it =)
All the US girls went to Galway the day before, this did not work out for Michelle and I, so I planned the trip with the Spaniards. Story of my life, haha. I was a little worried because Salvo doesn't speak English, Vio has the least English ability of the girls, and Nadine is here for a month to improve her not so good English...... sweet. It turned out fine though!
Vio is actually decent at English and initiated a ton of convos with me. She said she doesn't have a chance to usually because Celia speaks so quickly in English that she can't keep up or get any words in to me. I told her we would just tell Celia to shut up next time so she can talk too, haha.
Sandra is a very good translator too and I felt like I was actually talking to Salvo at some points, haha. She said she was speaking so much English she was dreaming in English! This from the girl who is fluent in Spanish and French, wow.
It was Easter Sunday so Galway was pretty much closed. We walked along the beach and stopped at a pub and walked through the city. We visited the college and church and had pizza for dinner! We were all tired so we decided to just go to bed..... apparently this was a crime because Galway has great nightlife, oh well, I am already over it.
The next day we took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Mohr. It is about 1.5 hrs from Galway but a lot longer when you add in all the extra stops we had. Random places that none of us really cared about but the tour company added them in so their tour looked better than the others. ugh.
It rained on and off the whole way and we were worried it might be raining when we arrived. It was not. It was so beautiful!! It did rain the whole drive back to Galway though...... Once back in Galway we took a bus back to Dublin.
When I arrived I was planning to pass out immediately because I was exhausted, however, Andrea and her boyfriend Raul and Celia and her friend Dan were here. They had 11 cups of instant noodles stacked on the table and invited me to dinner, hahahaha!! It was 11pm, no big deal. I was actually hungry so I agreed. Maria came over and we ate 10 of them. They were good, I tried every kind. They were so weird though cuz you add hot water but there is also a packet of either soy sauce, tomato sauce, or mango sauce that you add too. I was disgusted but it tasted fine so I got over it.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Recent things
REUNITED!! =D
UofI ladies
My Spaniards Ok so I have decided that I will post about my trips once I have time. I don't want to keep falling behind so I am just going to jump to now and fill in things later.
Heather came to visit! We celebrated "The Lanuti Family and Friends Irish Spring Break Adventure 2009" and it was great!!
The Lanuti's with Irish pride!!!
Food
Heather, Haley, and I hit up the UCD Spring Fling at Tripod and I am pretty sure we were the only non-Irish people there. Good times.
As for the family... we took it easy and did a pretty chill tour of Dublin. Not too many touristy things, mostly just hanging out. I enjoyed it a lot.
We went to Belfast with my school for the day and that was very cool.... we even saw where they built the Titanic!
YAY!They took some of my friends and I out for "real food" and it was great!! I had the Irish stew, yummy! I was glad they could finally meet all the people I talk about.
At dinner my dad wow-ed Andrea, Celia, and Sandra with his knowledge of the Spanish language- una cerveza- and that is it, haha! =)
My mom became Celia's first fan for her future Hannah Montana-esque singing career... Celia still talks about having a fan.
Kelsey had an entire conversation about bowling with Andrea and Celia before we realized that Celia thought she was talking about baseball, hahahaha. Andrea had to set her straight.
Dad showed Celia the "American" way to eat Irish Stew and had her doing crazy things with her bowl and spoon, bahahaha!! She knew he was messing with her and just didnt care, oh man.
Kelsey, Ally and Heather all ordered the Dublin Double Burger.... it was the biggest double burger I have ever seen in my life! Good news for me because I got to bring home an entire burger that Kelsey didnt eat!
Michelle!!I had a few recovery days to catch up on sleep and organize my life and then Michelle came!
She is here now and has a very busy schedule for herself if I do say so myself.
We had a great weekend!
Dublin loveOn Friday we went to Newgrange with my school, Andrea came too. We saw the Neolithic Tombs and they were very cool! They are older than the pyramids!
We went out Friday night and Saturday night.
I got together the combination of Ally, Heather, Michelle, Violeta, Celia, Sandra, and Andrea for Friday night. It was so fun! We played circle of death spanish style, hahahaha. It is the same idea as the way I would normally play except they have a "toast to the queen" card, "bomb" card (my personal fave), "despertaco!" card, "rabbit" card, and others.
Celia is a bad influence on meSaturday we had a similar crowd of Michelle, Ally, Sandra, Andrea, Celia, Violeta, Julie, Rachel, and Lauren. We played cards at Ally's apartment before hitting up three different pubs/clubs. I guess we just couldnt make up our minds.
Hahahaha, sleeping standing up?
I love group pics with my Spaniardsthere are so many funny pictures! Usually we dont bring a camera out because nobody thinks about it but Ally and Michelle were all over it this weekend. Ahhhh! I have added a few cute ones and a few funny ones =)
I have no words for this pic....
Friday, March 27, 2009
Family is HERE!!
mom, dad and kelsey arrived today!!!!! I was sooooo happy to see them!
They are all sleeping now but did a very good job of not falling asleep early. mad props!
Tomorrow we are going to be traveling to Belfast with the school, I am looking forward to it!
Heather and her parents will be back from London tomorrow night so we will try to all get together before they leave on Sunday.
My family brought some Garrett's popcorn for me... yummy!!!! Along with other things I missed from home. However, the most important things were.... pancake mix and maple syrup so I can finally make my roommates the 'American' pancakes they have been dying for. They also brought me a waffle iron, hahaha, because my roommates are fascinated by them also and really want to see me make them. oh man.
They are all sleeping now but did a very good job of not falling asleep early. mad props!
Tomorrow we are going to be traveling to Belfast with the school, I am looking forward to it!
Heather and her parents will be back from London tomorrow night so we will try to all get together before they leave on Sunday.
My family brought some Garrett's popcorn for me... yummy!!!! Along with other things I missed from home. However, the most important things were.... pancake mix and maple syrup so I can finally make my roommates the 'American' pancakes they have been dying for. They also brought me a waffle iron, hahaha, because my roommates are fascinated by them also and really want to see me make them. oh man.
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