Final Days

The time is nearing so closely I can't believe that it is almost time for me to leave, which is only two days left. According to my newly found friends I have changed a lot since they first met me. So, I hope when I return home that this new attitude will continue for the positive. I have also grown more tolerant of people which is a good thing in my eyes. Because of being here I have been able to connect more with my family especially my brother and his girlfriend.. but also it has brought me and my mother close which makes me happy I talk too. Also, I feel that it brought me and my boyfriend closer together and are able to appreciate each other more. I cannot wait to go home but I'm also sad because I am leaving my new friends in Ireland except the ones that I made from Carlow, that I thought I would never be friends but if it wasn't for them I would never be able to get through this trip and I am grateful that I got to know them. 

DECEMBER!!!!!!

Today is December 1st if you guys did not already realize, which means 15ish days until I will be reunited with my mother and family. Before I get to excited about going home I have to buckle down and get some work done. I have one last paper to finish up, that isn't not writing itself like I politely asked it too, 4 finals and a presentation to do before I get ready to pack up and head to the states. I due know one thing that I will have walked away with a better understanding of the world than most people do and know a little bit of the Irish history and some songs to go along with it. On the plus side some of my gifts arrived in the states the other day by ups so now I don't have to worry about them getting broken.
This more an likely will be my last blog until I am back in the states. So wish me luck on my finials I'm going to need it since they are in all essay style format.

THANKSGIVING DAY

Thanksgiving is today back at home. I can't wait for tonight since Sr.Mary is being so nice and inviting us into her home and cooking the whole dinner for about 25 people. There will also be real pumpkin pie and the turkey was just killed and plucked yesterday for our dinner today. Which seems weird to me because I have only had turkey bought at a store and pumpkin pie from a can so it should be interesting since everything was home grown. I can't wait!! I'm actually really exciteed!! even though I won't be able to skype my family because their dinner is happening about the same time my dinner here is happening.

On the depressing note I'm missing the Macy Day parade and Santa clause coming to town part. I missed Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving special.. and also baking all the goodies the night before with my grandma.

23 more days until I am home =)  I can't wait to be back with my family!! I'm so thankful for them and all their support since I decided to study aboard.

One month left

The last few weeks have been sort of busy and sort of me just lounging around due to a massive headache that sparked a couple days ago. However, before all this started I went on a weekend get away with a couple of friends of mine aka my roommate! We went to Cork, but we didn't just stay in Cork, must people went to see the Blarney stone which they are known for and we didn't want to do something that most people wouldn't of think of doing. We caught a train and went to Fota and Cobh. Fota is a wildlife park with free roaming animals but some animals where behind electrical fences that way it was still safe for people to walk through. While there we saw monkeys, got to hear the monkeys do their monkey sounds because they were hungry. We also got to see baby animals as well. They even allowed us to feed the ducks which was fun. After spending what seemed like 20  mins there which really it was an hour or 2. We went on our journey to Cobh which is the last place that the titanic docked before leaving for America. We saw the museum for it which was really cool because it felt life like almost. My roommate and I decided we would spend the rest of the day in Cobh thinking it was a big town and all well that wasn't the case we found a tourist office looked at a map and the center of the city was really only 4 blocks long. So, we decided to see all the different things around town. We went up to this cathedral and looked over to the lake and you could see for miles and it was really pretty. After viewing the cathedral we just sat outside looking over the lake for awhile deciding on what we should do next. Well we just decided that we should go shopping around and head back to Cork. When arriving in Cork the whole city was full of energy and life that it made you feel like you were in a complete different country. We ate at this fancy restaurant that was really good, better than expected.
On the next day we returned back to Carlow. The last week has been pretty uneventful because I have been dealing with a migraine all week and all the over the counter stuff for it isn't working and the weather we have been having hasn't been very helpful either. It has rained for about three days straight now and at home it is snowing which is more of a happy sight than rain.

On a plus note there is only 29 days left until I will be back in the states and back to a normal lifestyle for me once the jet lag is minimal.

Final Field Trip

Friday was our last field trip, the weather was amazing and beautiful. I also did a lot of climbing too. 
The first place that we went to was called Browns Portal tomb, which is known to be the largest stone left in Europe. 

Some irish people say if you walk under it right that you will get good luck, other say its bad luck if you walk underneath it all. So, I decided instead of finding out which luck I would get I decided to climb it. 

Me and Shawna on the rock! Photo was taken while I still inch my way up to the top. The view was amazing you could actually see the morning mist, and a lot of farm land! 

Our next stop was off to a chocolate factory called the chocolate garden, where we learned how the chocolate was made and processed. We also got to try samples of each white, milk and dark chocolate. After the learning process was done we got to make our own molds of chocolate!!!

Then after that we went to a mall place and had lunch. They had their christmas stuff up and it made me miss home more then I already do, because Christmas is a big deal for my house trying to find all the things for it and putting them in their stockings. The tree is always the best part because we have to move furniture around to get it in the middle. However, I found nothing that I liked to buy for my grandma yet :( maybe when we go to Dublin again I will. 

After that we went to Ring of Rath which was fun. It is this ring that is huge and people can only go in the second and first ring because it has been excavated yet. They had electrical fences up so people would  go off and steal or tamper with anything. Also, during which we did a panoramic of the whole group where two people where in two different places in the photo. 

Hopefully I will get more pictures up for this post! But that will have to be later in the week. 

As far as my weekend went it was an emotionally roller coaster. But on the bright side I got to play world of warcraft with my boyfriend a couple times. I also stayed up until 3am one night to play Smartass the board game which I won because I used google to look up the answers, and we played uno, that game I lost at because I think my sister-in-law was cheating. 

Not much is happening the rest of the week expect for the weekend where my roommate and I are going to go to Cork. We want to see Cobh, it is the last place that the Titanic ported before going down.  Other than that we probably will look for free things to do. Hopefully it will be fun. Also, something else that I forgot to mention, we decided to put up postie notes across our room on how many days we have left. Yeah, that might sound depressing but in away it is helping us get through this time. If you were wondering it is down to 40 days. 

Hopefully the time will keep going by fast I'm ready to be appreciative of the things I have at home. 

Update!

There was no Friday field trip on the 21st. So instead Alicia and I went to Dublin with Sister Mary, to go see where Sr. Catherine McAuley was buried. We also got the full tower of the convent there as well. While there we got to see a wall that had plates, that had places/people who donate to them.

Then I spent the whole weekend by myself because they either went home or on a trip. So, I got no sleep at all.. it also rained for three days straight so I didn't do much but sit around go to class and watch it rain. 

 this the river in town after it stopped raining. 

Thursday night we decided to carve pumpkins trying to keep our culture well alive here. 

Alicia's is the one that looks amazing while mine looks like a four year old did it. then we ate the pumpkin seeds after baking them. 

Now it is Friday and our field trip was back to Dublin, to visit the jail, the book of kells and sometime type of museum that I don't remember what it is called. Then we came home sat around and ate pizza and I tried to learn how to open a glass bottle with a knife, I failed every time. 

Now we are on Sunday which is PJ PARTY DAY!!! and maybe ordering out..uploading photos and playing video games today. 

47 more dayz!!

Kilkenny

The fourth excursion happened last Friday on the 14th we went to KilKenny. I got to see a really old castle that was in the Bulter family for centuries until the last family to live in it went bankrupted and sold everything away. Then in about the 1900's the family gave it to the government to fix up and have it shown to the public. But we weren't allowed to take a pictures so I have none of the castle. The next stop was a brewery called Smithswix and again wasn't allowed to take photos of everything just somethings, after the tour we got a free drink. Then we went to a Cathedral  that was so beautiful. I also got to climb up a round tower, I was scared going up and then I was terrified when I go to the top because I was soo high and the rocks were uneven that it felt like you were falling which I didn't like at all. But here is a picture of the view.