It's a bittersweet symphony

I can't believe it, but this is it. The last day. The last supper. The final countdown. The end. The fat lady's singing. It's over. Donezo. It's a fact, listening to Bing Crosby's rendition of "Galway Bay" on repeat does not help the situation.

I spent this morning shopping in town a bit, yesterday I had a perfect day. I read by the Spanish Arches (and got a ridiculous sunburn) and went shopping, lunched at 4, ate banoffi pie, had a pint, and then went for my last trad at the Crane Bar. It was perfect. Today, I'm obviously procrastinating packing by writing this last post. I had coffee and a muffin by the bay today after I finished getting some last-minute items, and it was glorious. Still though, I guess Mom's right when she says I'm melodramatic. I kept thinking, "This is the last time I'll..." fill in the blank with every possible thing I can think of. But I think I'm just emotionally attached to life and people. I took this quiz online that said I'm too emotional because sometimes it can take me days to get over a story from a movie or book. So I guess it will obviously take awhile to stop missing Galway. Running around with rugrats in Maine all summer should help.

Things I'm leaving behind (on purpose, of course...they're just 'misplaced')
a pair of my favorite earrings
half of a pair of another favorite
4 earring backs (not including the aforementioned earrings)
facewash, that could have been stolen by an Australian couple in Cinque Terre
holey sheets and socks
old towels
2 umbrellas, snapped by the Irish wind
a couple pictures that were eaten by the wall behind my desk
a camera case
a pair of flats, mourned in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
a sweet bike...that wasn't really lost though it was returned for 50 euro (Score!)

So really, Ireland can never forget me because I have all this crap all over the place.

I could write a list of what I'll miss, or what the high points of the semester has been, but that would be too long. I'll just have to talk non-stop about Ireland for the next 5 years, and maybe then you'll hear the whole story. Maybe even the non-censored version! (Yeah, I'm wild and crazy and hitchhike and stuff) (I'm kidding, I don't hitchhike).

Tonight the last meal will be fish and chips at McDonagh's and pints at Tigh Coili. Can I just say I am so sad to leave my Irish bartenders? What lads. They're class. I don't know what I'm going to do about it...maybe Fairfield or Rutherford will get an influx of Irish bartenders? Maybe Shane will open a proper Irish pub in NJ instead of Poland? We'll see.

I cannot wait to see everyone. I am so excited to be home even though I hate to leave. I miss everybody so much, that is why Galway could never be perfect. I am so glad there are two family events before I move to Maine so I can see everyone. and of course, First meal of beefsteak! First breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes! First chance, hugs for all! I miss the U.S. of A.

In parting, lyrics to 'Galway Hooker' (remember, it's a boat, not WT)

At the end of the day down in Galway Bay
We set sails for the very last time
Now I cannot believe for you and me
It's time to say goodbye...

oh yeah, seasonal affected disorder

What I MEANT to also add in that last blog is I think I have seasonal affected disorder (SAD), because I get infinitely happier when the sun is out. Apparently it is an obvious transition when the weather changes. I guess I'm never going to live here for life.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN...Derry, Iron & Wine , and seasonal affected disorder

All I have been hearing in my head the last week has been the lyrics to the Final Countdown...like the part that sings "IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!" I need that out of my head, because every other minute it's this:

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door (Dunaras student accommadation)
I hate to wake you (roommate) up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breaking
It's early morn
The taxi's waiting
Hes blowing his horn (calling my Irish cell)
Already I'm so lonesome
I could die

So kiss me and smile for me (little leprechauns)
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
cause I'm leaving on a jet plane (Aer Lingus Airbus)
Don't know when Ill be back again
Oh babe (Galway), I hate to go

Sometimes I feel a little sick over it.

Sorry for the blogger delay, but this has actual been a hectic week. Last weekend I visited my friend Kyle from high school in Derry where she goes to school - and is graduating soon! In Europe college is only 3 years. Then I had a final Tuesday, Wednesday, and a paper to write that I need to hand in tomorrow. Wow who can believe it. I actually did so much work this week that I went out Friday in Derry and that not again until the other night..in other words, a week in between being in a pub. It's the closest I will come to detox in Ireland, I think.

Derry was fun. It is a medieval city with walls all around it, which we walked. The cannons are still intact in many places, and the walk is quite lovely. What is crazy in Derry is that the separation between the Unionists and Nationalists is still pretty clear. On one side of the wall, you can see the "waterside" where the Protestants live. Some neighborhood streets are painted in red, white and blue and Union Jacks are EVERYWHERE. Then you walk around the wall a little more and can see the "bogside" where the Catholics live, and where I was staying. There, part of the neighborhoods are painted with orange, white and green on the sidewalks. Kyle told me she was once in the waterside neighborhood for a school event with friends - with her "Southern" friends - and they got bottlecaps thrown at them. Derry is where Bloody Sunday took place, after all, is what she said. Two of her friends told me separately to not wander around Derry by myself, just in case. AH. Sunday we went to the Giant's Causeway. It's a World Heritage Site where all of the rocks are pentagon or octagon shapes, from a volcanic eruptions eons ago. Apparently on a clear day, you can see Scotland! Obviously, it wasn't a clear day when we were there. It was very beautiful, though. Very special. And there are many legends about the giants who made the causeway. Apparently the Giants on either side, one in Ireland and one in Scotland, had a fight, so the Irish giant (forgot his name!) scooped up mud to throw at him and voila! the causeway. It was beautiful. It was incredible to be in another country, really, but still in Ireland. The Northern Ireland accent is very tricky, I felt bad because my cab driver to the bus station was asking me question and I had to say "Excuse me?" at least 3x in the 7 minute cab ride. Whoops. It was so worth going though, and the 5 hours each way on the bus = optimum study time for my philosophy exam.

I had 2 exams this week, philosophy and Northern Ireland politics. Luckily, Kyle's friend Fiona told me all about Northern Ireland on a walk back from the pub one night, so that helped me catch up. I am a class crammer, that's for sure. Anyway, both went well. I went to the Claddagh by Galway Bay after philosophy and got sandwiches and a farmers tan with some of the other Fairfielders. What a fabulous day.

Also, no one in Ireland celebrates Cinco de Mayo. A lot of people don't even know what it is! But never fear, we Americans set the Dunaras population straight. The Corona was totally wiped from Dunnes that day, I had to get San Miguel instead, because the boys had bought it all. Never fear, pseudo-Mexicans are here! Feliz Cinco de Mayo.

Last night, Iron and Wine came in concert to Galway at the Blackbox Theater. I love it, Dad hates it, Mom likes it. It was a CLASS concert, absolutely incredible live. It was cool, I'm old enough to take beer into a concert now! I don't think they expected an encore either, because I have never clapped so long before the band reappeared onstage and then only half of them came back. He seemed pretty surprised and was really grateful for the applause AND that people were standing and dancing. I'm so lucky, I've seen 3 awesome concerts this semester. Wow. Anyway, they're kind of an indie folk sound, very relaxing, if I listen to it while I'm driving I'm likely to fall asleep. Check them out! http://ironandwine.com
Anyway, I think today might be a day to start packing. I had my last doughnut from the fried doughnut man at the market. I had my last Friday and Saturday in Galway. I had my last ride on my bike last week, it's returned. I probably rented my last movie in iTunes. (Thank goodness, they gouge you so bad). Somehow I have to figure out how to get gifts back to the United States without breaking them. Let's see, when I see you next, I'll probably talk to you about living in a risk society and the modern conservative view, because that's what I'm about to finish my paper on. Or how a chair is a Communist relationship.

Lots of love. One post to go. See you this weekend, or in 3 weekends. Cheers.

Finals Begin. Dum dum dum daaaaa

Who wants to take a final when it looks like THIS out?


not me!

Unfortunately, finals start today. I've already handed in papers for two classes and have 3 exams to sit plus 1 more paper (with no word length OR due date, so that's last). I have to leave in an hour to catch the bus because lecture finals are in the community center or the Racetrack. In order to get there, you have to pay 3 euro to take the bus to your mandatory final. These Irish are connivers...not even Fairfield stoops that low! I've been studying for a few days and am surprised at how well I know the end of the 100 Years War (although don't ask me about the beginning or the middle of it) and am definitely ready for history. Philosophy and Northern Ireland politics are next week - one week at a time!

This weekend I'm going to visit my friend from home, Kyle, in Derry. That should be lots of fun especially because I haven't gone to the north of Ireland or Northern Ireland at all yet. That is my last trip outside of Galway until I take the bus to Shannon Airport on the 15th. Yikes! Two weeks from Thursday!

Yesterday we had our Fairfield "farewell meal" and went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park for a medieval banquet. Although no Medieval Times, this was definitely fun. We ended up at the table right next to the king! Who got really into his voluntary surprise role by the end of the night..I think maybe he had too much of the free flowing wine and mead? We had to eat with our hands and drink our soup; unlike Medieval Times we got the benefit of a "dagger" (steak knife that was made in Brazil). I really just felt so barbaric stabbing my food and eating it off the end of the knife. It was a little too Errol Flynn-Robin Hood for me. The castle is very cool and the entertainment was medieval ballads, Irish songs and ended with 'Danny boy,' of course. One of the madrigals they sang I sang in high school! There was a bagpiper outside at the end in full bagpiper attire - I didn't know bagpipers had attire but they do including big fluffy hats - which was interesting, and once my friend did some step dancing to it, you kind of forgot it sounded like fighting cats. In general, a grand evening.

"Stop the drama, vote Obama"

It is SO FRUSTRATING to be in Europe and not at home in the middle of all of this political primary craziness. What is the deal with the Democrats...at this rate Senator McCain could just skip into the White House because Hillary and Barack are already telling the country why not to vote for each other..and one of them will be the nominee..so really McCain's campaign staff just magically lucked out. Ahhhh. And the Irish just can't stop talking about it.

The St. Nicholas Market

These are displays from one of my favorite things about Galway - the Saturday St. Nicholas Market. The market is all day Saturday behind St. Nicholas Church in a sweet alleyway. According to local hearsay, Christopher Columbus stopped by for a prayer on his way to "Asia" in 1492 (when he sailed the ocean blue).
The market has crepes, chili, hand knit sweaters socks gloves and hats, jewelry made of wood silver glass and pottery, doughnuts, muffins, fresh fish, flowers, organic vegetables, handmade ironwork, fruit, pies, homemade apple juice, vegetarian specials, south african sausages, cheese, fruit compotes and honey----I can go on and on. I live for the Saturday market.
Yesterday was a great day because I got there around 10, pretty early, and could buy all of my vegetables early. I usually bring a backpack and fill it up with vegetables for the week - it's cheaper and tastes better than the veggies at Aldi or Dunnes. Then I make sure to get some food! Since I was there in the morning I decided to go with an apple-pecan homemade muffin and bought a white hot chocolate at Butler's Chocolate Shoppe (mixing it up! usually a mocha coffee from Cafe Express). Sigh. I bought a present and got something for free so that way I would remember Peter and Bertie and remember, "make sure you come say hello now, when you're at the market like."
One of my favorite things is the doughnut man. He has a green and white striped tent w/ his daughter and they fry doughnuts and then toss them in sugar for you. Cocoa powder or cinnamon is optional. It tastes like funnel cake a little bit, and they are delicious. The doughnut man wears a straw hat with a flat top and a band around the edge and is always singing, no matter what. If you go to the market by the end of the day, there's a 1 in 2 chance he's already drunk! In the afternoon you could probably sit and watch the levels in his pint of Guinness all afternoon as he slowly works his way to happy drunk straw hat doughnut man.
Today was a lazy day. Last night we had a Passover sedar in my apartment because my roommate Lea and our friend Jake from downstairs are Jewish and they decided they wanted to host a sedar. There were 15 of us and we made huge quantities of food and had maybe 10 bottles of wine. It was so lovely, we cleaned and cooked all afternoon, Lea and Jake said a couple of prayers and we passed around herbs and charoset and horseradish and salt water--the boys from downstairs even put on collared shirts and ties! Or a sweater instead of a tie. It was all very adorable. Lea made matzoh ball soup, we were all very proud of her. We went out for some drinks afterwards, it was a great celebration!
In general though, I am getting homesick. I miss everyone terribly, especially because Mom left. I had been seeing my friend Liz almost every 2 or 3 weeks since I came over and I miss the girls from FU TERRIBLY as well. I had to call Sarah today. Sorry Mom I will give you $$ for that phone call. Anyway, I miss everyone at home. I will see the Carrolls at Jess's graduation and the Strahles at Jenn's wedding and I am so excited. Watch out, I am a professional drinker of Guinness now.
love. me.

Drinking Guinness with Mom.

.
Mom came for an incredible week - she must have brought the sunshine because we had one twenty minute hailstorm all week! Every other day was sunny - literally sunny. We had a tough agenda! When I went up to meet her at the hotel, the bellhop said to me, "Be easy on her, she looked pretty tired when I moved her up before." Well, obviously he doesn't know anything.
The first day I took Mom to O'Mailles shop on High Street to look at all of the Aran knitwear. O'Mailles' tailors made the costumes for the movie The Quiet Man and are the best shop in County Galway to buy knitwear, I promise, even better than the Aran Islands. I am now on a first name basis with the owners because I go in so much. I've bought a lot there and have taken friends to spend money too - I think I'm pretty close to getting a commission now...

Mom bought a gorgeous purple sweater that she wore the rest of the week. She fits right in! Of course, our first stop in Galway was to get lunch and a Guinness! We went to the Quays (great pub) for lunch before we started shopping. Early dinner at the Park House Hotel, a great restaurant and where Mom was staying. She was tired, it was an early night! We were able to go to an early music session at Taaffes so she could hear some traditional music.

The next day we took a day tour of Connemara. Even though Mom rented a car (much to my fear? nervousness?) it was better to take a bus tour, because then she could see the scenery of the wild west! We toured all over with a bus driver named Steve, who sang us songs in Irish. A main part of the tour was Kylemore Abbey and its gardens. The Abbey is actually a castle, originally built in the 1600's by a man named Henry for his wife. I hope there are still men in Ireland who want to build castles for their women! That was beautiful. I think Mom's favorite part of the day was when we went outside Maam Cross to the bridge where John Wayne looks out on his cottage in the Quiet Man...it was a five minute walk to the bridge and she quoted the whole way. Let me tell you, I got in a lot of trouble for not seeing the movie in a long time!

We spent the next day in the Aran Islands biking, with perfect weather. On the island we saw my friend Jake (random) and his parents and then realized his uncle was my fifth grade teacher!! How wild can this get? I've been living with him for 4 months and we finally realize it. Again..it's a small world. I won the $5 by default. Anyway, we biked all over, to the fort, 7 churches, cemeteries, seal colony. The next day we went to Cong, where the majority of the Quiet Man was filmed, and Ashford Castle for tea. Unfortuantely we were not allowed in for tea because we weren't staying in the castle----bah, humbug. It was supposed to be served in the drawing room! I stayed over in the hotel Thursday night and the next day we drove 3.5 hours to the Dingle Peninsula. It was some of the most beautiful country I've seen in Ireland -incredibly green, lush, sheep, seashore, sweaters, flowers - it was perfect. That night we stayed in the hotel in Shannon. It was awesome! Mom rented a car...she can tell you about driving on the left side of the road, I've promised to keep it allllll on the DL.

Finally - what you are probably wondering. HOW much Guinness did Mom have, exactly? I can tell you that she definitely held her own! I can tell you that we did in fact pub crawl and eat fish and chips! I can tell you that YES she did have a Tullamore Dew and we DID go to my favorite 4am coffee place for after dinner food and beverage (wine and cheese for Mom, baileys coffee and a brownie for me). Mom loved Tig Coili the most, as I do -we are related, after all- and loved Salthill, and everything. She told me she didn't think about work once. I think that means a great vacation.
To end the description of Mom's trip, I think this conversation that took place a little before midnight on Thursday will be entertaining:

Katie and Mom are sitting at the bar at Tig Coili, listening to trad and drinking.
MOM: (picking up her tumbler of whiskey) Ooh! How much is left in this?
KATIE: I don't know. Mom just knock it back!
MOM: I need a shotglass, I can't drink this.
KATIE: Mom, just drink it out of the glass why do you need to dirty another?
MOM: Because this is more than a shot! I only wanted a shot!
KATIE: Mom, if you wanted a shot you should have ordered a shot! You ordered a Tullamore Dew.
MOM: Oh. Eee. (Mom knocks it back like a champ)


This video is from the traditional music at Taaffes.

The Rat Race of Guinness

I've decided to embark on a journey. This past week has been fabulous because everyone has come back from spring break and there were 3 birthdays! and Mom is coming tomorrow, I cannot wait for her to be here. Basically, that perfectly sets the scene for me to continue my going out journey of Guinness...at least two weeks straight of going out every night. Tonight, Sunday, will be the only challenge because I have to write a paper--but luckily the Hanley Oaks Hotel and Bar is right next door! Won't that be fun...

I've officially booked my plane ticket home for May 15. Now that I officially have a booking for a plane ticket home on May 15-------it's so close! I can't imagine leaving and yet at the same time I really want an American crumb bun....no. I really can't imagine leaving. If I thought my body could handle it I'd hit the 5pm,6pm,9pm,10pm trad sessions nightly until the Aerlingus Aerbus takes off.

Since it's approaching the end, I have also decided-to hell with it! I will buy the not-sixty-cents-cheese if I want to. In fact, I will buy the good cheese! And I do not have to buy the sale wine or beer for my apartment. In fact, I will buy the 11 euro bottle of shiraz and 750ml of Hoeegarden! Unfortunately I have already noticed the budget crunch. This pattern may not continue for long, but by God I hope so.
My room is vacuumed and dusted for Mom's visit, so I need to go write the paper that's due...until later this week!

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN!

that is me on the Salzburg bull!! If you ride up the funiculaire in Salzburg to the old fortress Hohensalzburg, you learn the story of the Salzburg bull. When we got to the top, it was early in the morning and we stepped off, seeing the Austrian mountains, and and empty fortress. It was about 9AM. All of a sudden a random man steps around a corner and says, "Museum this way, bull that way." Wh-hhhhat? We thought he was playing a joke on American tourists until we rounded the corner and saw the actual, wooden, freshly painted, Salzburg bull! Basically, when the fortress was under siege 500 years ago, the people ran out of food and the only meat left in the entire place was one bull. So the industrious commander paraded the bull on the battlements to prove there were still animals inside. Then the townsfolk washed the bull and painted him black! And paraded him on the battlements again. The enemy realized the fortress could withstand the siege for much longer, packed up, and went away. Thus, a bull saved the fortress. Let me tell you...that is a hefty bull. It took a little assistance for me to finally get up there, equestrian extraordinare I pretend to be!

Austria was my favorite country to train through. I couldn't stop looking out the window, Julie Andrews was just constantly in my head. It was beyond all words. Snow capped mountains, Super high bridges over gorges, deliciously accented English. Our hostel played the Sound of Music daily at 8PM so we caught the end of it after our first sampling of apfel streudel. What could make less than 24 hours in Austria better?

Maureen and I left Kym and took a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, in Germany on Monday. Well. The reason we got such a good deal at our hotel is because winter tourism is over! and summer has not begun! We arrived to find out that we missed snowshoeing by TWO days and nordic walking by ONE day! Then we were one of four rooms in the humongous hotel, a little creepy but not too creepy until we were handed our room key which had a heavy brass voodoo man on it! I really just couldn't figure out what it was...vaguely Native American, maybe? But I would expect that from a hotel in Arizona, not a hotel in the middle of snowy (allegedly?) Germany. So we took it off of our key ring and put it in the wardrobe...then I thought about the Indian in the Cupboard all night.

Trying to discover our fun new town, Maureen and I went out to find food to see town deserted. Literally, it was a little eerie. Do Germans not eat out on Mondays? Someone, please explain. We were wandering around after dinner, homesick for Galway and sad (I mean, I had been away 13 days by now) and we found a pub called Glaus Haus. We just wanted a drink with PEOPLE for goodness sake! I looked on the outside menu and noticed they served Baileys on the rocks so we went in and what did we find---------JESUS. or God. Or Santa Claus. One of them was definitely there, because allllll of the tables had a Baileys insert card between the salt and pepper shakers with three Baileys drinks! Even the candle votive was Baileys. So we had two Baileys coffees each and I had apple streudel. The first night in Germany was a little intimidating, to say the least.

The next day, we went hiking in the woods by ourselves after a mostly unsuccessful trip to the tourist office. The famous tram to the highest glacier in Germany was not running because it was so cloudy (really? was this actually happening?) and did not run all day. One of the main Garmisch attractions. So we hiked for the morning to some old ruins, and a lake, and saw pretty mountains and lots of elderly people near the bottom of the mountain who we smiled at because we could not answer their obvious greetings in German (although I think I heard a Gutentag at least once, which was exciting enough, but by the time I realized what was said he had passed us and we could not respond in kind). What a great morning! Endorphins flowing, there was a great free breakfast with a British waiter, greatness, and a delicious lunch. Then we decided to use our free bus pass to visit the Olympic Skistadion in Partenkirchen.

Well, I've never seen the movie Deliverance but once when I was going to a wrestling match at Perth Amboy high school, the wrestling coach made a comment like, "Wow, this looks like Deliverance." Well, if Deliverance ever had an Olympic Skistadion, we saw it in Germany. Lots of construction + middle of nowhere in Partenkirchen + dirty snow + no ski jumpers + NO OLYMPIC RINGS ANYWHERE and signs in all German = a big letdown. Skistadion? Not worth a visit, if anyone's going to Garmisch soon.

Dinner was nice, we went to the town casino and had pizza (I had Hawaiian, I really needed some fruit) and we each had a liter of German brew, mine was called something Ludwig something. I remembered to pronounce the 'w' as a 'v', so that was exciting. We decided to wake up early the next day and just go to Munich...where we were supposed to meet Dad's colleague Peter Johnson and his traveling companion, David Rockefeller! Germany might be looking up!

Well of course it was raining in the morning and we were wearing nice clothes, because we were going to meet good ol' Dave. Hour train to Munich, we found a luggage locker, and then the highlight of Germany so far (besides the streudel, obviously) was the Starbucks in the train station. I am sorry to sound so American! But we had been separated for 4 months! It was like almost being divorced. Anyway...after the way the last couple days were just comically ridiculous, it rained all day in Munich on us and my cell phone had died, so I did not receive the messages from Peter Johnson saying don't come to the hotel at 3, come at 4. We missed Pete and Dave by 15.

Unfortunately, poor Maureen realized in line to check her bags at the airport that she booked her flight home for last week in March instead of the first week in April.

What's the moral of the story? Well, there's two.
Why go to Germany when you can spend three days where the Sound of Music was filmed?
and
Go to Germany when there are things to do.
Oh, and a third.
Germans really do not smile often.

Well, that's the end of my spring break saga. Being in Galway really was like coming home. I feel so lucky that I have a place in Ireland that I can say is "home" and truly be excited to visit my favorite places when I returned to the city. I listened to "Galway Girl" almost the whole way home. I've never felt more like a Galway girl then on that bus home from 'the continent.' I can't even imagine leaving.

Italy Holiday

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy..."

Yes, the first lines of Bohemian Rhapsody were caught in my head the entire vacation. I couldn't believe where I was or where I was going next..two countries in one day or on the coast or wherever, it was incredible. This picture to the left is of Manarola, a village in Cinque Terre in Italy. There are five villages in the cliffs like that and are 9km apart. The thing to do is hike through all five villages along the water, taking in the sights - the blue blue water, the cliffs, cacti, rose bushes, orange and lemon trees, and just imagine you're somewhere in heaven. At least that is what I did.
When we met up with Maureen in Nice, we realized we couldn't get onto the train to Genoa (we had to trade there to get to La Spezia, then a 7minute train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore, the village we were staying in. Rio-ma-JOUR-ay!) The thing with Eurail passes is they only allow a certain number of people with a pass on every train. So the ticket woman in Nice told me I had to buy an 80 euro ticket if I wanted to get on the train ($120!) When Maureen arrived, we went back to the ticket window, this time a guy, and decided just DO IT so we can get to Italy. Then the French ticketman said, just get on this local train to Ventimiglia over the border, then go to Genoa. What? This is okay? So we got on a local train to Italy and then bought tickets (or in my case, a reservation) on the SAME TRAIN coming from Nice...how was this going to work? We were confused, but if we had read our tickets which said No guaranteed seat we probably could have figured it out......we stood the two hours from Ventimiglia-Genoa. I imagine that is what a cattle car looks like.
We finally got to Riomaggiore around 8pm. Our landlord (we were staying in a holiday apartment) decided to go home, so he left us a big sign that said: MAUREEN. YOUR KEY IS HERE (big black arrow) UNDER THE FLOWERPOT WITH DIRECTIONS. Hmmmm....
Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful. We only did 4 terre, we skipped going to the last town because the 4th was beautiful and it looked like rain. So we did what everyone does in Italy. Ate pasta and drank lots of wine! The three of us loved it.
After two days we woke up and took the first train to Florence and began the journey! Kym and I had been there already, but it was Maureen's first time. We tried to go as many places as possible. My favorite was the Uffizi Gallery, so I could see the Botticelli. Seeing something like that in person makes everything sort of fall away and out of focus and for one minute you realize that Zephyr was painted 500 years ago and Venus is one of the most famous paintings in the world--
We also went to a wine tasting on Saturday night. The four of us, we were staying with a friend Danielle, went to a place, 4 wines, proscitto and bread for 10 euro. The building was part of the old prisons in Florence, so the basement was all brick and arched, you could see the windows and where people would be walled up into little cells (now it's just all open). The wine was delicious! and I think at a traditional wine tasting you are literally supposed to taste the wine - like have a sip? This old man must have liked us, because between the 5 of us we must have drank 3 bottles of wine. There's no way. He was very generous with his wine! Then he decided to open a new bottle of the same wine but a different year so we could taste the grape difference (I think we may have had too much grape to really care by then). It was definitely cool, though. We went out for dinner after that and had some Florentine adventures! Those are funnier in person.
The other thing about Italy that I totally forgot -and was warned about by a South African woman living in Italy on the train- is Italian men give new meaning to the words pushy, forward, flirting, and intense. Especially if you are walking through the markets!

Here is a scene that happened multiple times:
Katie and Maureen walking through the market to buy food for dinner. They are walking through pashmina, leather, knick-knack stalls. Men are catcalling and trying to get their attention. All of a sudden-
Random man: You dropped something!
Katie and Maureen think: Oh, no, did we? Let's look just in case...
Random man: My heart.

Wow.

Wow.

There are hardly words (except if you're an Italian man, of course).
More later on Germany and Austria my eyes are tired (I actually WROTE a paper today! A real one! Five pages! I was in the library and everything..maybe I should win a prize). The sun is still out and its almost 7, it doesn't get dark here until 9PM. Someone once told me Ireland really is a little piece of heaven that fell into the sea, and every day it's easier to believe that.

Art highlights in Florence:
The Birth of Venus, Botticelli
La Primavera, Botticelli
David, Michelangelo
Brunelleschi's duomo
Four unfinished captives, Michelangelo
Adoration of the Magi, da Vinci

The return home

Who could ever stand in front of the Eiffel Tower and not take a twirl?

Well, I made it. Through four countries, seven cities, a bajillion and a half trains, a handful of buses and two airplanes. It was an incredible 15 days and I cannot believe that I am so lucky that I could do it all and go visit such incredible places! I have no idea how to express everything to you all...I would be writing blog after blog for days. I am definitely going to post the high lights here, and I suppose you could all read my journal at one point...or just have a loooooong dinner!

The most surprising thing of the trip? I LOVED FRANCE.
If someone told me a month ago that I would love France, I probably would have laughed. I have never had a desire to go visit, except to see Versailles and the Louvre. So I figured, well my friend wants to go to Paris, I guess that's okay. One of my best friends is studying in Aix-en-Provence, I guess that's okay, because she's there. I'll just get through it.
What a ridiculous thought that was. Probably on par with people who think the world is still flat or something.
Paris was gorgeous. I could have stared at the apartments all day. The entire city was white and can I describe architecture as just ...clean? Because it was beautiful. My favorite place we visited was the Paris National Opera House. That was incredible...I thought the Grand Foyer put the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles to shame and I could imagine the phantom and crinoline at every step. I had to imagine because (as I realized) I am sadddly behind on my French literature. I couldn't even drag Kym or Amanda to Victor Hugo's house in good conscience because I have not read his books. Summer reads, stat.
I wish I had more time at the museums, the Louvre is free for under 26s on Friday nights and the Musee d'Orsay is on Thursday, but we didn't get to spend a lot of time there because we had to meet our hostess, Amanda, for some vin on the town. Winged Victory was beyond words, for me. I was getting so annoyed with everyone looking at Mona (the Mona Lisa!) because tourists literally SHOVED their way to the front and then looked at her through their camera lens, maybe tried to get in a picture that had their head in the bottom, and left. And it was packed. It was a little heartbreaking, really.
For Easter, Kym and I travelled to stay with one of my best friends Liz in Aix-en-Provence. I think that was one of my favorite cities--it was all dusty yellow stone streets and medieval allies. Her host parents were Bruno e Veronique, lived in a tiny apartment but many stories high, in town, raised guide dogs and did all sorts of cool stuff. They cooked us dinner on Easter (we brought dessert) and the menu was sea urchin, oysters, lamb, sweet potato, regular potatoes with cheese, salad with beets, mushrooms and apples and bread (pan). It was awesome. They made us try roquefort cheese (GROSS, sorry blue fans) and Bruno is a recovering alcoholic, so no wine at dinner. Instead he drinks a menthe syrup water combo that tastes like listerine (I don't know where this culinary courage came from within me). Then after dinner we played the card game bullshit for almost two hours with them and Bruno's son and his girlfriend, who also came to dinner. It was one of the best days I've ever had---and I'm forgetting the morning! We went to mass at the cathedral, had a two and a half Easter lunch complete with the rose wine of the region and crepe.
In Aix, Liz randomly decided to come to Nice with us for the night. We stayed at Chez Brigitte, which is actually Brigitte's home! Like her legit house, and she rents rooms. Wild. The tub was pink and deep with a handheld shower spray, I kept thinking I was Melanie Griffith in Shining Through, ready for Michael Douglas in a WWII uniform to carry me off at any moment (don't forget he literally carries her off because she steals valuable info from the Germans and gets shot up, thats true love). Nice was beautiful by the sea, with palm trees and tangerine buildings everywhere. Vieux Nice, the area with the alleys and markets was pretty...the rest of the city was kind of just city. Since Liz had nothing with her, we decided wouldn't it be fun to shop for some clothes and then go out and have a bangarang night???
Of course.
It was excellent.

From Nice we met our friend Maureen and traveled to Italy...and today at Dunnes stores there was a sale on Pepperidge Farm Cookies, 2 for 4 euro so I need a computer break to go eat some. More later! I'll upload pictures to snapfish soon. For now...the Eiffel Tower is a tease!

Art highlights in Paris
The Lacemaker: Vermeer
Arrangement in Grey and Black: Whistler
The Mona Lisa: da Vinci
Winged Victory
Starry Night, Arles: Van Gogh
Blue Water Lilies: Monet
Marie Antoinette: Vigée-Le Brun (I think)

Paddy's Day, spring break and runs on Wall Street

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Well, what a celebration. Apparently St. Patrick's Day is celebrated more hardcore in America, as according to the commercials I would see on t.v.:

(deep voiceover)
"Do you want to have the best St. Patrick's Day EVER? Then text the answer to this question, St. Patrick is the patron saint of which country?
a) The United States
b) Ireland
c) France
Answer correctly and you will win a trip to....(enter me thinking, Dublin, Galway, Cork) NEW YORK CITY!"
However, St. Patrick's day in Ireland is fun and crazy and wonderful. There was a parade at 12:30 to the town square, which I went to. It was adorable, local parade, the theme was "tribes" and there were lots of local groups marching. The pubs were open early, although not the ones on the parade route until after the parade. My day started at 9:30AM because our friends across the hall kindly hosted the start of the morning with a 'Kegs and Eggs' party = bring your own alcohol and maybe we'll eat eggs, to start off the day. I brought over cream puffs for breakfast and Galahad...the cheapest beer any of us can find, 80 cents for a pint can. Maureen, Lea and I also tried the legal moonshine I bought, potcheen, before the walk to town. Somehow I remembered it going down MUCH easier when I tasted it at the winery...
Then we walked to town for the parade and pub crawled until 6 or 7PM, the longest pub crawl I have ever done but I've never crawled for six or seven hours straight! We started with Tig Coili, then the Quays (keys), Monroes, the Front Door, Freeneys, the King's Head and ended with a Bailey's coffee in Tig Coili again. Unfortunately we forgot the Crane and Taaffes. I'll just make up for it this week...anyway I'm sure all of the family members reading this blog who don't want too much information, it was a very successful day. Very successful. Definitely ended with ordering pizza and I found Father Goose online and watched it from my bed...with a large glass of water. The Carrolls represented!

Also, I am leaving for my spring break vacation tonight. I am traveling with my friend Kym for the first 8 days, then our friend Maureen is meeting us, then Maureen and I are traveling for an extra 3. The itinerary is as follows:
3 days in Paris, France
1 day in Marseille
1 day in Aix en Provence (Easter Sunday, we're staying with our friend's host family there!)
1 day in Nice
3 days in Cinque de Terre, Italy
1 day in Pisa
2 days in Florence
2 half days in Salzburg, Austria (The Sound of Music tour leaves from our hostel!)
2 days in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany

I realize it looks like I'll be on vacation forever..wahoo! We are staying for free in Paris, Aix/Marseille and Florence, which should be great and save money. I definitely bought pretty clothes for spring break...but have decided not to feel bad about it! I have been saving for this trip my entire life (or since I've had a job, anyway). The reading list for the trip includes F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and the Brothers Grimms' Fairy Tales, and maybe Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. Also maybe I'll read my homework.
So since I'll be gone so long, I won't be posting for two weeks.

I'm kind of excited and scared to be on vacation for two weeks because I'll be out of the loop. I've been reading the news everyday and the U.S. market is quite scary, to be honest. Last Wednesday, my Environmentalism professor spent the last 25 minutes drawing diagrams and explaining the current state of affairs with the banks, derivatives, selling, sub-prime mortgages, etc. in the most simple but detailed way possible. By the end of it everyone in the class had their mouths open staring at him. I hope the Fed knows what it's doing and JPMorgan does too. Yikes. In Irish they would say, "Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat!" aka, Good luck to you.

Erin comes to Galway!

Erin came to Galway this week! What a week. It was awesome to see her..we realized that is the most time we are going to be spending together until next Christmas break--I think that is a LOT scary. growing up, all that stuff. ahhh. We spent the week catching up on life, drinking Guinness, going to castles and laughing.

The week in numbers:

1 -castle visited, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park
1 -supper cooked by yours truly
1-pint of Guinness with a shamrock in the top
1 -winery visited
2 -samples each of mead and ponsheen at the winery
2 -movies watched, Must Love Dogs and No Reservations
3 -flights of stairs she pulled her suitcase up, plus a spiral suitcase
5 -days spent in Galway City
6 -pints of Guinness consumed by Erin
6 -meals eaten out
6 -shots of tequila
6 -classes I went to while she visited
7 -the number of pubs we enjoyed
+ infinite laughter do you remembers and uncountable chips (french fries)
= a successful visit

She said she was so glad she didn't go to Cabo and came to Galway! Me too.
Highlights were the Crane Bar -- a harpist sang and had a solo, so did a guitarist and so did a woman who sang a traditional Irish song acapella. Also she loved sleeping on the floor next to the heater..although Thursday night somehow I ended up on the floor and she was asleep in my bed. She came bearing gifts of heaven..People Magazine, OK! and a Carebears coloring book (no crayons, just markers, but that's okay) plus clothes from home! Only a few, but that's okay, a scarf can liven up any wardrobe and fool people into thinking you did NOT wear that exact outfit just a day ago.
Erin also noticed that I like to frequent the pubs with lots of Irish music...as a consequence she made the comment, "It seems like a much ... older crowd here. " Code for: Why is there barely anyone our age in these places??? The music is totally worth it, and more men over 65 have bought me drinks then under 30. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not, but free is always good and trad sessions are always better than good.
pictures to follow.....

LASER COMBAT TAG

So, this is us in the bunker, laser combat is a go.
we're serious.
fear the deer.

Connemara adventure camp

This weekend Fairfield sponsored a trip to Connemara, the region west of Galway city for us to go to Killary Adventure Center and experience...well...adventure!
It all began when the big white bus came to collect everyone at 7AM Saturday morning -YIKES. Luckily, I learned my lesson with the early Dublin bus and decided on staying in Friday and skipped the tequila. It was about an hour and half drive through County Galway, which was incredibly gorgeous. If you don't believe there are mountains in Ireland, drive out to Connemara so you can see them. It is a change from the green constantly and are more orang-y, dusky, brown. Once we arrived at the KILLARY ADVENTURE CENTER we were immediately given rooms and our activities began, summer-camp style.
Since it was windier than a hurricane, kayaking was canceled. Instead, I was in the first group who went on the zip line. I have done a zip before, so it was fun, of course, but not very new. We were on the zip for awhile though....wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo and then we bounced off of a tire before we smashed headlong into a large telephone pole. Very safe. Then we switched groups after an hour and changed into fabulous wet suits. As you can see from the photo, I was one of the last ones so I ended up with a retro 80s HobieCat sailing wetsuit in aquamarine. Very styling.
So, why the wet suit? I'll give you a hint..it has to do with water.
Actually, we went cliff jumping and walked up a waterfall.
WHAT.
Serious.
CLIFF JUMPING?
Yes. About 15-16 feet off of a rock jetting out over Killary Fjord, and Yes, it did start sleeting as we climbed over the rocks to jump into extremely icy water. Yes, I was still in Ireland in March when this was done.
IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER.
Then once we all swam out of the fjord and climbed back over the rocks, we went on a "gorge walk" which is really a fancy way of saying we walked up a fast flowing river that had mini waterfalls.
After lunch of soup, sandwiches, fruit and flapjacks (a chewy, sweet cookie, not pancakes) served to us by delightful French people, we changed for our afternoon games....laser combat!
Laser Combat was intense. We all had camoflague jackets and hats with two sensors on them, as well as our laser guns. When we walked to the outside course, it literally looked like whatever soldiers must train in. It was muddy, there were wooden forts, there were trees, there were hills, there were ditches and shrubbery. We played four games, including Capture the Flag and Last Man Standing (self-explanatory). It was intense and awesome. We all got into it, the group of 2 men and 14 women (yes we are finally collegiate men and women, I think). I fell into the mud no less than 4x and possibly ruined a pair of Gap jeans - they are more brown then blue! By the fourth time, I just gave up and resorted to lying in wait on my stomach in the brush, ready to laser anyone who attempted to cross the field. It should be Conne-mud-a instead.What a day...
On our walk back to the center, the sunset was beautiful and sheep were rambling over the hills and the road in front of us. We had a great dinner and for the first time in a long time -not counting my jet lag catchup sleep- we all went to bed and slept for almost twelve hours that night.
The more time I spend with the other stags, the more time I am loving our FU time. I'm having a great time getting to know them all better.

In other news, Erin is coming to visit tomorrow for a week, for her spring break, and I cleaned the refrigerator today.

Galway Girl, sung by Steve Earle

Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl

We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
And she asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl

When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue
I've traveled around I've been all over this world
Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl

Czech me out!

Welcome to Prague! I spent this past long weekend there because some of my best friends from Fairfield were there on spring break. FU Glee Club was on a European tour of Prague, Vienna and Budapest, so what better long weekend then to go and meet my best friends in Europe??
The weekend was incredible, mostly because I got to see people I thought I wouldn't see for eight months..or never see again, i.e. graduating seniors. But.
Prague was beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking, the buildings and architecture was detailed, stucco, cream, lemon, sherbert colors, red gabled roofs, bridges, gargoyles, goulash, strognosa and cobblestone everywhere. It is probably the most romantic city I have ever been in.
I arrived Friday morning with three other girls, and we spent the night at the clown and bard hostel, http://www.clownandbard.com/
That was pretty fabulous, there was free breakfast and we were in the "Nice View" room, right next to the "Best View" room with two Chileans who were on summer holiday. We went out for a good Czech dinner, we were about 20 minutes walk from the Old Town Square, which was just close enough to walk before dinner and far enough to be away from the touristy spots and legit Czech cuisine. I had strognosa, which is basically meat in brown sauce with vegetables. Of course I had a Czech pilsner with dinner...they come in half liter mugs and are cheaper than water! I have never heard of such a thing, but it was at least 10 crowns cheaper. Wow. And they say the Irish are bad....
The next day we all met up with the Glee Club (reunions are always amazing) and I became official first-class moocher. I slept in the hotel (a hotel!) and ate free breakfast everyday, which was incredibly delicious, I have never seen a hotel breakfast that good anywhere! There were considerably less chocolate croissants when I left the dining room...anyway, I also took free dinner Saturday night. The most awkward part was probably when Carol, the choir director came up to me and said, "Who are you?" HAHhh. That was interesting, but she was just glad they could help feed me in Prague.
Anyway, Saturday night we went to a five floor discotecha, which was fabulous. I loved the third floor because it was oldies, but everywhere was awesome. We chased down a AAA taxi to get back to the hotel, because apparently the taxis are extremely corrupt in Prague. AAA was recommended by the hostel and so we ran after everyone we saw until it stopped -3 of us women- and the driver said, "Eh, ah, thees ees the first time someone as run afta my taxi, a-ha!"
We ended up paying 150 crowns less than the rest of the group, so that was fabulous.
The next two days were sight-seeing mazes. We went to Prague Castle and all that entails, including Kafka's house, the cathedral, and the palace where the famous "defenestration" incident happened. (Basically, the king was mad at three messengers, so he threw them out the window!) The Charles Bridge, Clock Tower, and Old Town Square were all included in the walking tour (again, mooching hardcore). Once that was over, a group of 15 of us traveled and went to the John Lennon Wall, built in 1968, the Sex Machines Museum and the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments (I skipped this one and voted for the Charles Bridge at sunset instead....)
We also ate and ate and drank and drank...constantly. Some of the pubs we went to had cool English names, like The White Whale and some were in Czech, like the Karlozy-Lavre. All in all, it was a weekend of culture, I really think so!
I bought a beautiful pashmina as well, and Monday night, my last night was incredible because it was just the girls. Six or seven of us went back to the five floor discotecha and only two floors were open, since it was Monday. Well. We were rocking.
Czech Republic isn't so wild, they have absinthe there and you don't have to buy a ticket to get on the metro or tram, just risk a 10,000 crown fine. No one got in trouble. TMI? Sorry. :)

The best part of Prague? When I came home, that's just it. I felt like I was coming home to Galway. Maybe I can be a Galway girl after all?

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker (grocery store)

So, big news in my life as an Irish (American) independent student. As I bet everyone expects, I go to all of the bakeries constantly in Galway, because, well, it's a bakery. After working in one for five years and still getting discounts, I don't know what else people would expect, I'd probably have baked-good-withdrawal if I wasn't going to the ones here. (The Oven Door for scones, Griffiths for chocolate, O'Hehirs for bread...wow I could go on). Also -this is a surprise- I have gone to the grocery store (candlestick maker). Yes, I have been eating in Ireland and Have Gone To The Food Store.
But.
Yesterday I went to the Irish Butcher for the first time in my life. And bought three marinated chicken breasts for 7.99 euro. And have successfully cooked them! I have crossed a rubicon.

That's all.

Oh, also I am addicted to coffee as well as chocolate. Oh vice!

Austen and Dickens worked magic here...

So this is love...da da da dahhh...so this is what makes life divine

I love England. I could live there, I know it. As soon as I set foot in the country...wow. The bus driver spoke to me and I was like, yes, this is it. This is right. Not to say I don't feel that way about Ireland! Because I adore Ireland and the Irish people and our lives. But I think it's because (esp since i'm not a James Joyce or Yeats fan, although I love Oscar Wilde) I feel like I connect so closely with the heritage of England...the literature and the writers and their work is what I feel so closely there. Okay, imagination and philosophy end here.

I arrived in the London Gatwick airport on Friday and took a bus to Oxford. The bus driver had two tattoos, one on each forearm. The one on his left was a bloody knife being plunged into a skull, and the one on his right was a naked mermaid -or at least as naked as a mermaid could be. Make of that what you will...I still haven't decided if it means anything.
Once we got to Oxford, I loved it. It was pretty late because Maria, Josh and I were waiting for two other friends to come for the night. We went out for a bit of a pub crawl Friday and I am slightly embarassed to say yes, I actually waited in line to go into a club called FILTH. Saturday was the real tour, we went to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Christ Church College where Harry Potter was filmed (Maggie Smith and I walked up the same steps...) and a general tour of the town. Bodleian was beautiful, although I liked Trinity better. They had an example book that was chained to the shelves there, because they are so old and valuable you cannot take them away.
The next day we went to the Eagle and Child, the pub where the famous Inklings gathered -T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien- and ate. I had a steak and mushroom pasty...it was scrumptious. We also went punting that day in the river. Apparently British people only go punting in the spring, but Josh and I definitely wanted to go punting, so we did. I was not too great at it..I wish I was but I had a lot of trouble. It is hard to push a boat along on a stick, I promise. We hit Magdalen College, where there is a deer park because there are no deer in England, I guess, and walked along the outskirts of that, which was beautiful and Josh and I had a lot of fun taking pictures that could embarass Maria, because "only tourists do that." That night we pub crawled as well with some of Maria's friends and I tried 6 different England ales. I think I don't like ale unless with a hearty meal, but they were very good. Quote of the night that I feel sums up English quotes:

(we are discussing a friend's dad who knocked out a horse)
"Bollocks! Knock out a horse? I wouldn't even know where to hit a horse!"

It was so English.

Monday Josh and I woke up super early and took an early bus to go to London for the day. I had never been, he had been once so we decided it was totally worth it. We sat on the upper deck and watched the sunrise as we headed towards London. Once we got there, we took the tube straightaway to the Tower of London and had a tour with a real live Beefeater. I can't believe they live there! That is crazy. It was incredible and creepy (like seeing the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and buried) and went into the armory, chapel, torture chambers, bloody tower, etc. We did not go to the crown jewels because the queue was SO long, so I missed seeing that. But it was okay, we had to move on we could have spent the entire day there. We ate lunch on the river Thames, right across from Tower Bridge. Then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, toured, climbed the dome and walked in the crypt. Admiral Nelson and the First Duke of Wellington are buried there, and there are monuments to important people like William Blake and Florence Nightingale. I was embarrassed because my heart was racing so badly when we were climbing the steps to the dome...I guess I need to join the gym here.
Then we walked along the River Thames past the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and walked through St. James' Park at sunset, ending up at Buckingham Palace just as the sunset was fading into night. It was an incredible journey. Wow.
I feel so luck that I am able to do things like this...travel places and go see where all this history takes place.
I do have to say that the pound is SO EXPENSIVE, it's double the American dollar. So when I came back to Galway, it was great, because I thought, "Wow, everything is so cheap on the euro!"
What a lie.
I hope to go back one day and actually tour places like the Globe and Charles Dicken's house (I cannot believe Josh did not want to visit there). It was incredible...what a weekend.

Dubliners

Welcome to DUBLIN. what a trip. It started out fabulously, because we were supposed to leave at 7.45 am from in front of my building. almost 8:00, I get a phone call from a friend. "hey...katie?" this was what I said:
"annie? hey. wait. why are you calling me. oh my god, i'm late. that's why you're calling me. don't leave. i'll be right down. oh my god. bye."

luckily, I slept on the bus and it was fine.

We arrived and walked down Grafton Street (that to the right). It was beautiful...cobblestone street and open air-flower markets and there were people dressed up like statues, musicians, singers and even a man who was tango dancing with a doll in the middle of the street. We stayed in the Mercer Hotel which was very close to the city center and like HEAVEN. I love hotels. That was great...down comforters, free mineral water, pretty soft carpets and humongous shower. fabulous. Anyway, Fairfield U sponsored this entire trip so it was all FU, 26 of us. If was really fun because I don't know a lot of the other Fairfield people very well. AFter this trip, I know some of them quite well and really like some of them.
First we hit Dublin Castle. We had a private tour with an awesome tour guide and saw the palace. I did not realize how much the Irish love Bill Clinton, (I guess I was too young to realize how important those peace talks were) but everywehre we went in the castle was that's where President Clinton sat - That's where Tony Blair sat and they talked peace. That's where President Clinton sleeps when he visits-eats-talks, etc, etc. The palace was cool. our guide told us a lot of the history. For instance, there is a room filled with pink carpets and love seats next to the ballroom. That was where the women had to wait to be asked to dance...I cannot even imagine. It was nicknamed the "wallflower room." YIKES. Then she took us to the picture gallery. It turns out Cornwallis is in there, but his portrait is hung about 6 inches lower than the rest, because since George W accepted surrender, Cornwallis came back to England in disgrace and got sent to - gasp - IRELAND. Where he decided to take out all of his aggression and mess up a rebellion that possibly could have worked instead of waiting until 1921. So his portrait is there since Dublin Castle was under British control for hundreds of years, but since the Irish are there now, his portrait is lower than the rest. And a door opens into half of it that they keep open. I love the Irish.
We went to Christ Church cathedral, beautiful. Gothic in the extreme with the sweetest flying buttresses I have ever seen (not that I have seen many in person but there is a whole row there). This is getting really hard, side note, because I am not allowed to use exclamation points in the blog and it's driving me crazy.
Anyway. Brian Boru, the first "high king" of Ireland who united many tribes is buried here. Over the weekend we also went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (impressive, but you can't really see more than a couple of pages. Can you imagine being the person who turns the pages of a THOUSAND YEAR OLD BOOK so the public can see a new one every day? I would be scared out of my mind.) The thing that impressed me the most was the old Trinity Library. There were half-statues, I forget what they're called, of famous philosophers and scientist along the rows. I could get lost there and be happy forever, it was incredible. There is a harp there, rumored to be Brian Boru's but probably not. Incredibly intricate and beautiful. I asked the guard a few questions about the library, it's a total working library with special reading rooms. I think I may have embarassed myself a little when I said, "Isn't it so romantic...(insert exclamation point)" and he definitely chuckled in a most un-Irish more British way. oh well. No photography in there, but wow. I was awestruck.

Over the weekend obviously the big trip was the Guinness Factory. Well. Hopefully you will all see my certificate which says, "Katie Carroll has pulled a perfect pint of Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse on whatever date, blah blah." I mailed it home to Mom to put on the refrigerator, it is more important than any report card I ever got, I think. Hey, I also realized that the Guinness Book of World Records is put out by Guinness. I can't believe I am writing that in print but I am. I never connected. This was an educational experience. I learned all about making guinness - the yeast, hops, barley and fresh pure mineral water. Apparently Arthur Guinness took out a 9,000 year lease on the storehouse and negotiated for free water forever. That last part is changed now, haha. The view from the top of the factory is stunning. and of course the guinness was the best I have had in Ireland. There was a great quote there about the craic that I think is really cool:

The Craic: It is hard to define. It is about ordinary days and extraordinary days. Ordinary people and extraordinary people. It is whatever you make it.

I'm a Carroll. There is always "good craic."

We went out Saturday in the best style, and went to the Temple Bar area. I had been there earlier in the day at a book market. Temple Bar has all these cool vintage shops, record stores, eateries, pubs. It's a total tourist trap, but with one night in Dublin, that was where we decided to go. We did go to the famous temple bar. Some man sprayed beer on me. That was the cue to leave where myself and two other girls went on a search for late night mcDonalds (I'm ashamed) and we found one where there were three security guards (?) I cannot believe I ate it. But I did.

I also spent Sunday night at a friend's townhouse about a half hour from the city center, we grew up together. That was fun to see her. The cabbie got lost and only charged 5 euro, but he was donezo. In order to try and be friendly, he tried to talk American politics, but big mistake. He literally said George Bush! MWah! He is Da Bomb and said Hilary is too old to be president because she has bags under her eyes and McCain is too old too. I don't know what he wanted me to say, I was speechless from all of the ridiculous things that came out of his mouth while we were lost. He was from WEst Africa and had been in Dublin six years (why were we lost???)

Monday morning was perfect, because I spent it walking around in the early morning by myself. Merrion Square, Oscar Wilde's house, a scone...walk along the quay.

Final conclusion: I loved the things I saw in Dublin. The touristy stuff. The city itself....it's just a city. I was so glad to come home to Galway.
More about London later...I think my eyes are burning out of my head.

I am a lapsed blogger

Oh hello everyone.
Wow the last two weeks have been crazy here in Galway. I've been home three days in the past ten, so I have a FUNN couple of weekends. Two weeks ago I went to Dublin, last weekend to Oxford/London. I am going to post about those separately because then it will be so so so long.
In other news...this week is RAG WEEK at school. It is totally for charity and lots of events cost money, but basically it is an excuse for the entire university to drink itself into a charitable mood. It is CRAZy on campus, to the extent that there are extra security guards, drunk people in lectures, the college bar is packed at 1PM and the pubs in town are in overdrive. wow.
also I started a snapfish account, so if you would like to look at my pictures, I'll send out just a massive email with invites! and then just save it so as I travel more you can see. more later. i need some lunch

Foulksrath Castle

So, I finally heard the ghost stories about the haunted castle I stayed in when I traveled to Kilkenny. All I can say is, thank GOD I did not know this beforehand:

according to anoige.ie:

"Many guests gather in the evenings where they like to eat by candlelight and share travel tales. A BBC television team of British Ghost hunters visited the hostel and sent back a report to say that ‘their machines recorded the best ghostly sounds of any place they visited in Ireland’.
It is believed that the daughter of the owner (Dean Swift) fell in love with an Irish boy and was locked away by her father in the ‘Cuckoo Nest’ room to stop her from seeing him. The girl is believed to have finally been killed by her father in this room and it seems that the ghost of the girl still can be found in this ‘Cuckoo Nest’ room.

Another story has it that in 2002 an An Óige member was sleeping in this room and awoke to find her duvet moving in a wave like motion. Therefore the stories continue as to whether Foulksrath is actually haunted or not!"

I STAYED IN THE CUCKOO NEST ROOM I CANNOT BELIEVED I ALLOWED MYSELF TO GO TO A HAUNTED CASTLE.

It totally must have been haunted. When we were eating dinner, a huge dump of dust fell from the rafters for no reason. It must be true.

the PRIMARY conversation

hasta la vista....romney (baby)
(sorry daddy)
*spoiler blog alert*
this blog is totally about the primaries, in case you would rather not read how what I think of politics and my affair with the Democrat party.

the Irish are obsessed with the American primaries. Whenever I meet someone new, there is a one out of three chance they'll say, "So, are you following the primaries?" Then you have to act awkwardly and see because they have very strong opinions on John, Hil and Barack. So you can't really commit, then they tell you how much they like one of the above. Then it's safe to say, "Nice meeting you- BYE," because the next step is usually what's wrong with the U.S. of A. right now.

Being in a foreign country has been enlightening, especially now. In half of my classes, American international foreign policy has been brought up by the professors. Sometimes they ask a leading question to get students to answer with an American example. For instance, in my environmentalism class we are studying Hobbes' "The Leviathan" in order to get a basis in conservative political theory. Well, our professor (who is as British as they come) says "Can anyone give me an example of where this might be happening now? Outside, right now." It was awkward, because the entire class was probably thinking the same thing, until one brave Irish student said, "Do you mean the I-word? Iraq?" There is constant ridicule about US imperialism, war, foreign policy, arrogance.

The craziest part is that myself, and some of my friends, have such a difficult time with this. Maybe we don't approve of being in Iraq. Maybe we hate George Bush, maybe we love him (I don't love him). Maybe, in fact, we think we were bamboozled, swindled, taken advantage of and had the wool pulled over your eyes. But at the end of the day - America is our home. It is so hard sometimes to hear people criticize it - this is the country where many of the students here have grown up. It's kind of like, it's okay for you to make fun of your best friend, but if someone else does, watch out, buddy. Well, that's what it feels like here. It's strange to be on the defensive about policies you personally disagree with. It is a learning environment, that's for sure.

I have been keeping track of what's going with the primaries and it's making my head spin. Yikes. The BBC Americas is my best bet (so bi-partisan by virtue of being in another country). It drives me crazy that here I am in Ireland and such an important race is happening at home. Luckily, a few of my friends follow politics too, so we can talk, and the ones who don't, I just take the liberty of informing them anyway, haha.

I've been on all three major candidates websites, and I have to say, I think McCain might be one of the bravest Americans alive right now and he definitely loves his country. I really wish I could agree with him, but unfortunately, we happen to disagree on almost everything. Environment, Iraq, health care. Damn. I suggest checking the below for nighttime reading.

I apologize if this is offensive to anyone who's reading this, but wow. Being in a foreign country really makes you think domestically.

www.barackobama.com
www.hillaryclinton.com

Céilí Mór...more what?

Irish-ness:

"Brilliant!"
"That's Grand."
or,
"No, (don't worry) you're grand."
"You're okay."
"Cheers!"
"Love (like referring to you in person)"
"Trad(itional) music."
"Thanks a million,"
or the shorter
"Thanks a mil."
"Is it not...?"
"Quite drunk."
which is different than
"Drinking a pint or two."
neither of which means drunk
and
"good craic"
or
"just a bit of craic"
neither of which mean cocaine, but fun.

Last night was the celebration of

Imbol,

and so there was a Ceili Mor at the college bar. Ceili (ka-lee) was probably the best craic since I've gotten here. i'm glad we waited. the thing about ireland is nothing is ever on time. the people here call it "irish time." when I was in kilkenny, we met a bartender who had a pub in the bronx and said it was so hard to come back home to ireland, because he'd invite people to parties that started at 9 and really people would show up at 10.
but anyway, the ceili was supposed to start @9, but music didn't start until 10:30 and the first set at 10:45. colleen and i almost left, but it was totally worth it to stay. it was incredible - american square dancing stems from ceili. it was exhilarating - a little nuannarpoq in ireland, kind of. basically, you stand in lines, four facing four, holding hands. when the music starts you irish skip (it is totally different than american skipping, seriously) towards each other twice. then you hold hands with your partner and switch places with the other couple in your set. then.....the best part. you skip across to your partner across the way, "shake hands with your left" and hold each other on the side with your right and just spin as fast as possible for the next eight beats. it is AWESOME. then you skip towards each other again, but the second time you go under each others arms so you're facing a new group of four. look at this video from another ceili at NUIG http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VntoLATvIwk

they only do it on special occasions, so hopefully there will be another ceili while i'm here, although possibly not. i'm in love with the irish culture. every day here feels more and more like i'm connecting with everything.

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

HOORAY NEW YORK
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GIANTS

what a fabulous game. the hotel next to my student housing kept the bar open until 3 a.m. instead of closing it at 11 p.m. (which is the law) and gave us free chicken wings, chips and had the game on a huge screen.
and tom petty and the heartbreakers.

I am an american girl.
and I stood up for the national anthem.

Just another start to a four-day weekend

well, I officially have four-day weekends. this is going to be tough to go back to america. I love my arthurian literature class, it started thursday morning. I better love it, to take a 9AM class! The thing is, my professor is American. I am never going to get an Irish accent because only 3 of my professors are Irish! The others are American, German and British. Wow.
Yesterday I ran out of clothes, so I took most of my laundry to the place down the street. 10kg of laundry for 12 euro, I can deal with that. Although I washed some pajamas here. Unfortunately for me (and my roommate Colleen, who did the same thing) we forgot it wasn't same-day return, so we of course put our sheets in the laundry. So....last night we ran into a problem , because who knows how clean the mattress covers in Dunaras are?? We could get bed bites, I mean mites, or bedbugs, or worse, like the whooping cough. Luckily, my package from home has arrived with my Fairfield U blanket (stags to the rescue, fear the deer) and I put that on the mattress cover and slept on top of it. I gave in and bought new pillows from Dunnes (and pillow covers, remembered that, thanks Mom) so those were also safe, theoretically. Colleen slept in her sleeping bag. The small adventures that make life worth it. At this point, the laundromat shop is closed and I won't get my laundry until tomorrow, so tonight will also be the same. I like it, it keeps life interesting.
Today I gave in to the weather and all of the peer pressure. I bought real gloves. Apparently everyone doubted that my adorable flowered-but-fingerless gloves would last me in Ireland. I disagreed and knew they would pull through. But since it is constantly raining, damp or cold, they have suffered some small (large) holes...they are being retired. I went to a fabulous sweater shop in downtown Galway and got some genuine-state-of-the-art gloves, Aunt Marcella style. Also a purple hat that I'm probably going to sleep in because I love it so much (I'm waiting for the Aran Islands to buy a sweater). Here's the funny part of the story that makes it interesting and why I'm posting about stupid purchases...I used the credit card that I had forgotten to notify I was traveling to Europe. Good job, Katie. Luckily a phone call sorted it all, with lots of words like "security" "authorized purchase" "european stay" were used. Whoops.
Did I mention I've had my first Irish coffees? I like Bailey's Irish coffee better, definitely. definitely. When I ordered an Irish coffee at Tig Coili, I couldn't finish it. Once the whipped cream was gone, the whiskey was DEFINITELY tasteable. The barman Ronan gave me a little trouble about "there's still good whiskey in there" before he took it away.
I love Galway, have I mentioned that yet?

Shplat and the Knights-Errant

Today I fell off of my bike trying to ride up over a curb sideways.
It was completely embarrassing and slightly humiliating and my jeans ripped and I got scrapes on my knees and found more later.
The worst is a good Samaritan walked by me as I flew over the curb and weeds into the concrete and didn't even say a thing about my flight to the ground.
However the best was that a good Samaritan walked by me as I flew over the curb and the weeds into the concrete and didn't say a thing about me falling in front of the entire university.

Today I learned why the Irish, British and other crazy nations drive on the left side of the road.

Once upon a time, in a far away land named Britain, there lived kings, queens, fairies and the knights-errant. The knights-errant used to leave their kingdoms and go on adventures, questing for honour and glory. They would take to the roads with their trusty steeds, traveling for kilometers (miles) in dusty armour in the hopes of finding jewels and courtly love.
HOWEVER. Sometimes a knight-errant would meet another knight-errant as they passed each other on the woodland paths. In case the stranger knight-errant was an evil stranger knight-errant, they would draw their swords immediately from their left hips with their right hands. Since they traveled on the left side of the road, the knights-errant were in perfect formation to begin a swordfight on horseback, if necessary. And they all lived happily ever after.

Eight hundred years later, the Irish and British still think it is a good idea to drive on the left side in case a right-handed knight-errant travels their roads.

Kilkenny, Castles and the 6 hour bus ride

this weekend a group of eight went to Kilkenny, Ireland. It is a medieval city and absolutely gorgeous. I think I would have loved to be in college there too, because it is a small but defintely VIBRANT town. Plus everywhere you are, you can see the castle or the cathedral over the buildings. We stayed in an 8 person room, bunk bed style in the Kilkenny Tourist Hostel. That was my first time ever in a hostel and it was so...clean. I was surprised, I thought hostels were dirty with rickety beds and maybe some spiders. This was really nice and in the middle of everything. Friday we toured the town (The Field, Anthony (Andrew?) Ryan's, Matt the Miller's). Saturday we reallllllly toured and went everywhere possible. Kilkenny Castle, the Black Abbey, the Cathedral, the Kyterly Inn. In order to save money, we even bought food at the local grocery store for breakfast lunch and dinner ---everyone's good about the saving money thing.

So. First things first. The CASTLE WAS BEAUTIFUL. They were restoring it still, so I wish the tour was longer and showed more. The library was beautiful, bright yellow, with almost all the original works and bookshelves. I could have lived there forever, there were early editions of Shakespeare, Dante, histories....it was beautiful. the walls were covered in silk. Apparently the Butlers lived there, a very powerful family in Ireland from the 1400's until 1935, when they moved back to England. In the bottom of the castle (not the dungeons, I was hoping but no luck) there was a gift shop with nobody there and I really wanted a postcard of the castle...
But I guess the occasionally snatch from the stag didn't help as I just left my 50 cent piece on the desk and took a postcard. The Carrolls are just good like that.

The Black Abbey was Franciscan, small with crypts and stained glass, and the Cathedral was gorgeous on the outside. We didn't go in because there was a wedding!! I met the car driver - it was a Rolls Royce- outside the Cathedral. His name was Graham, and if you would like to know his life story, I will email it to you separately. But in case you're curious, I know all about wedding cars out of Waterford, where Graham grew up, what he does, what his previous jobs have been, what weddings he has done this month and which cars he drove, where his children are living, how he and a "colleague" rebuilt this car from a London taxi base and that is genuine Italian leather seats for five, even though it looks like only 3. Graham turned 65 in December, in case you are wondering, but is not retiring because he's been "working for fifty years and it took me 49 to get this job, so why would I give it up? I drive around beautiful motorcars and beautiful women, and sometimes they even give me a kiss," (picture with an English accent and you got it, don't worry he had the cap on too)

A woman named Alice used to live in what's now the Kyterly Inn and allegedly poisoned 4 husbands with arsenic (WHAT was husband #4 thinking??) and we stayed Saturday in a haunted castle 8 miles out of town, which was awesome. The rooms were stone and the steps were windy (that's windy, like winding a clock sound) and the original fortress walls were still intact.

The Irish are such gentlemen. I met Peter, who like to pantomime every single word and lip sync to every single song the dj played (60's-90's night, of course only American music). He didn't really talk until after an hour and a half of this. However, he eventually mimed buying myself and my other friend a Carlsberg, and that is 4.40 euro. So sweet deal. Isn't that a Bible something...like be patient and you get free beer...

This is a very long post! But a lot of things happened this weekend and I wanted to share some of it! Once I figure out the address of flickr I'll post more pictures.



Also, I've decided once I graduate college it will be fun to work in a hostel for awhile. Maybe in Romania or something. Maybe a haunted one.