Goodbye Dublin, Ireland

Me, John Martin, and Riona selling teddy bears and displaying the diamond necklace auctioned off for charity.

This is my last day here in Dublin, I cant believe my time here is nearly exhausted. I chose to show this random picture of the Dublin Central President's Ball because I just realized I never talked about it, and it was a cool night. Anyway, today has been kinda chilled. I finished my research at Trinity, just in time too. If i had waited until today instead of yesterday to go to the manuscripts department, i would have been very disapointed casue they shut down that side of the library so the Australian Prime Minster could visit the Book of Kells and the long room. But, i was on the other side, in early printed books, so i was ok. Then isobel, dee, and I ate lunch in the Powerscourt center, then back to the library to finish up, then isobel and I met andrew at Eddy Rockets for my goodbye dinner. Not the healthiest choice, but that's where Andrew and I went the first night i moved in, so it has nostalgic value. Then we went to the Bull & Castle, our 'local' and had a great pint of guiness before heading back to the flat where we are enjoying a great lineup of television. I'm all packed up and heading to the airport tomorrow morning around 7:30. I hope the day is well for traveling cause its been rainy and cold here for around a week. Bon Voyage Dublin!

Out on the town

After our last class at the centre, us gals went out for some vino, then went home, changed into our sassy attire, and met again at Juipur, an Indian restuarant. Sadly isobel couldn't make it, but she was there in spirit. We had a feast! IT was so wonderful, i should really eat indian food more often. What a fun day/night.

'beach trip'

Looking at the wicklow mtns. from the beach on Vicor rd.

Me at the beach

A regatta in Dublin Bay

Joyce's Castle, the one mentioned in the beginning of his Ulysses.

After the late night out, I actually woke up quite rested, went to work out, then got a fahjita, then came back and watched some tv. Then around 2ish, Dee picked me up and we went driving along the coast, getting out to walk along the pier in the Dublin bay. It was kinda windy, but really nice. Then we got, what was explained to me as an Irish staple, a Teddy's ice cream cone. It was yummy. Then we went driving along Vicor Rd. which is where all the big shot rich people live (including bono), and even though we got lost for a while, it was still a relaxing afternoon and a great break from the library.

A tribute to Mary McDermott

The class at lunch

Mary Mc, Catherine, and Mary M. with a very strange statue behind them

Gill, dee, and isobel at bia bar

Gillian and I at cafe bar deli

more bia bar fun

The class got together last friday to celebrate the end of the year, and to show our gratitude to Mary Mc, one of our lecturers who is just wonderful. We went to Cafe Bar Deli and had some really good food, then went to bia bar then to the Front Lounge, where the night, as always, ended with us gals dancing. As you can see from the pics, it was a good time had by all!

Edinburgh, Day 3...last day

Gill showing off our HUGE hot chocolate cups at the Plaisir Du chocolat


Walked through the meadows in the morning to get to the chocolate place, very cool area in the middle of the city.

The Botanical Gardens, it was a long walk, but worth it! It was such a warm day that we layed around on the lawn and chilled. This was before that posing in front of the cherry tree.

Cool view of the castle seen through the graveyard

When we found out that the flight was delayed....


So, after sleeping in as late as possible, we met up at the yummy chocolate shop like the one from the movie 'Chocolat.'mmmm, good stuff. Then we did some shopping around town, then went to the Botanical Garden and enjoyed the nice weather. Later we met up at this cafe/hangout place/hippie lair. Basically it was the worse lunch ever because the manager was American and pretty much thought he ruled the world. He was just so incredibly rude. The thing with this place was that people volunteer to work there, so the money they recieve from the food goes toward getting more food and paying for the building. So, since he was volunteering, he thought he was just far superior than anyone, and thus an ass. Needless to say, i was not a happy campter after the lunch, but i got over it and we got our luggage and walked around the town back to the weird statue thing where we were meeting the gals. Then we headed off to the airport for our ten o'clock flight. But, after our bus broke down on the way there, we arrived with 5 seconds to spare till the desk shut down, then ran to the turminal, only to realize that our flight was delayed by like 2 hours. We had already exchanged our sterling for euros, so we had no cash for food, so we used what change we had to get chocolate and crisps from the machines. After that, we were pretty hyper and probobly anoyed everyone waiting in the room. Finally, after forever, we got back to dublin and crashed.

Edinburgh, Day 2

Coming down from Aurthur's seat

This store is on Princes Street, and that was a real scottie dog sitting in the window but it moved right when i took the pic. I thought it was cool since we were in scotland...i'm a dork.

Isobel, Gill, and Dee contemplating continuing about halfway up. Later the wind would knock isobel over while she tried to sit on a rock, and that big blue skirt almost went over her head. It was probobly one of the funniest things i've ever seen, like something out of a movie, crazy girl.

The four of us at the top of the 'mtn' with Edinburgh in the background.

Nice man that gave us directions, he was on his way up, guess he needed a wee rest.

So, for day 2 we ate breakfast at a cafe called The Elephant House. This is where J.K. Rowling wrote part of her first Harry Potter book on napkins, and they had awesome shortbread biscuits and mochas. So, we headed off on our day's adventure which was to climb a hill that overlooks the city called Arthur's Seat. This 'hill' turned out to be pretty challenging, but dind't seem to phase Anita, gill's austrian friend who bascially leaped up the rocks. We finally made it to the top, and it was a really neat view of the city and surroudning area, but the wind was so strong that we only stayed there for a bit. We carefully made our way down and found ourselves back on the main boulevard, Princes Street. We stopped off in a really cool pub called the Brass Monkey and had some vino. Then we met dee's friend for dinner at a yummy mexican place (it was no mexicali, but it sufficed) b/c it was her birthday. Then we went on a somewhat scary (we had been drinking wine, so not too scary) ghost tour of the vaults below the city. It actually was pretty freaky down there, especially when Isobel lunged forward swearing that she felt something on her neck...verdict is still out on that one. Overall, day 2 was fabulous, and we were exhausted by the end of it.

Edinburgh, Scotland: Day 1

Us calls having lunch in the Baked Potato Shop. Not as big as Jim N Nick's 'pig in the potato patch' but it was close

Isobel entertaining my dorky photo ideas

Dee and Me drankin a pint after touring the castle

I took this picture of my irish gals right as we were leaving the castle. that storm cloud went right over and never did decide to pour down on us. Still, what a neat pic.

The old town of Edinburgh taken from Prince Street.
A while ago, me and the girls (dee, isobel, gillian, and roseumd) decided to make a trip over to edinburgh b/c it's a cool place, and 3 of them have good friends there for us to stay with (so its a relatively cheap trip). Unfortunately Rosemund wasn't able to make it, but the four of us flew over (at 6:30 in the morning, b/c it was cheap) for 3 fun-filled days in the lowlands. From the moment we got there, the city enchanted us. The large castle on the hill, the Romanest architectural style, i was a big fan. Gillian and i stayed with her Austrian friend Anita, who was extremely nice and was a most gracious host. We met up with the others for lunch and tried to stay awake while we visited the castle. That was one of my favorite parts because i had just finished reading a book Jordan got me on Queen Elizabeth and there was a lot in it about Mary Queen of Scots, her cousin, who, along with her son James VI was born in the castle. After that we 'nested' in a pub and then went out for a yummy tapas dinner. We decided to call the first night an early on b/c we were exhuasted from a day of touring.

I'll miss this

You Know You're From Dublin When...

You say "I'm Grand" all the time. You drink Guinness as if it is a sixth food group. You disagree with above - Guinness is the FIRST food group. You're pale and white... yet compared to others your suntan looks good. You say "Are you grand?" all the time. You say "Isn't it grand?" all the time. You say "That'd be grand?" all the time. You can pronounce names like Eoghan, Niamh and Siobhan You take 4 hours to get home on a Saturday night and think nothing of it. You don't eat anything cold, uncooked or not resembling meat, bread or potatoes You say "Your man" all the time. You say "Your woman" all the time. You say "It's grand that your man asked if I'm grand" all the time. You find yourself still living with family and having dinners cooked for you by someone's mammy - at thirty. You talk about 'dinners' and 'mammys'. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Dublin.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

Limerick

Rosemund found this hat in some shop we dodged in to get out of the rain. When she put it on, she looked just like our professor Mary Mc. I think she might have bought it...

Me with the Limerick Shannon Rotary President

I haven't had bar-b-q since i got here. I thought it didn't exist in Europe, well apparently, i was wrong...
A few weeks ago I took a day trip to Limerick to speak the a rotary club and to meet up with my friend Rosemund. It was a bit of a dreary day, but got off the train and met John Deagan a member of the club. His wife, Catherine is in my class at Trinity. After the meeting, we met Rosemund for coffee. I wish I could have spent a bit more time there, but it wasn't in the cards for this trip.

And I'm Back.

So, its been 2 weeks since i last posted, and its actually been quite a busy time. I've been in the Trinity library non-stop trying to get my research done before I come back home. I also have had side trips to Limerick, Galway, and Edinburgh. I'm gonna try and post as many pictures as possible and try and explain, although some of them are very self explanatory....