This is So-Long and Not Goodbye.

As I right my last entry, I have so many things going on in my mind; my new friends, my family, my home, Christmas, exams, packing, and saying goodbye. This trip has been the experience of a lifetime and I can honestly say that I truly have no regrets. I will remember this trip for the rest of my life and cannot wait to see where this experience will take me. I have learned so much about myself in these few short months and it is amazing how much I have changed for the better as a person. As I said, I have a million and one things on my mind but the most prominent thing is always: I have some of the best friends in the world. Literally, the world.

France, England, and A Little Magic

Our last trip, taken by Cait, Shawna, and I was to France and England! We didn’t sleep the night before due to an early bus that we had to take and quite a few drunken houseguests that we had. We didn’t mind them at all though! They were all good craic! We flew to England, spent some time there, and then took the Chunnel to France. In London, we saw the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, red phone booths, and so much more! And perhaps my favorite part, Platform 9 and ¾ from Harry Potter! London was outstanding and magical! And Paris was even better! The Louvre, the Lovelock Bridge, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, the Windmills, and again, so much more! And the most magical part of all was seeing the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle at night! The language barrier was not a barrier at all because I knew a little French before I went. I loved every single second of this trip. We even almost got to see Wicked in London, but the tickets were too expensive. I had the time of my life on this trip. We wearily got back to Ireland and soon had to study and prepare for our final exams and presentation. And it is now, that I am reminiscing on all of the experiences that I have had in Ireland. At first, time was going so slow and we were counting down the days. And now, time flying and it seems surreal. I cannot believe that we have come to the end of our trip. Wow. On a chipper side note, I have received 15, yes 15 packages since I have been in Ireland. My friends are saying that my family and friends back home are all elves that send me things every week. It made me realize even more how much of a wonderful family I have. I cannot wait to see them!

I am Truly Thankful For...

My friends from America came to visit me! Amy is studying in Florence and Robyn came to visit her from the states. And they both came to visit me! It was great to see them both and allow them to experience and enjoy Ireland. They came over Thanksgiving and we were all able to go to Sister Mary’s house for an amazing dinner. It was so delicious and as we sat in our food coma’s, I realized how thankful I was for my friends, this experience, and the opportunities that I was given. As I said before, I have finally found my own little slice of happiness in Ireland. The new friends I have made are in large part responsible for this and I am so very grateful to them for it. Even going to the horrible Foundry was made fun by Jenny, Shawna Dos, Ann Marie and Maggie. Maggie and Ann Marie, Jenny and Dos along with a few other friends, are what is going to make saying goodbye to Ireland so bittersweet. These girls have come into our lives for a reason and will stay in our lives for many years to come. They are all truly beautiful girls, inside and out. We have experienced so many things with them. From emotional highs, to emotional lows, to birthdays and shopping trips, to nursing one back to health, to broken faces, going to a ball, hair falling out, boy troubles, falling in love, movie nights, cooking dinners, getting “Anne-Marie-d”, tears and laughs and beautiful new friendships that were made. I will never forget these girls and hope with all my heart that they will never forget me.

Italia!

Josh, Cait’s boyfriend came to visit her in Ireland! And we all went to Italy together. Italy was stunning. We did so much in the 5 days that we were there. The language barrier was difficult but we brushed up on our Italian and we did just fine! We went to the Coliseum, the catacombs, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain and so much more! We walked so much. It seemed like we literally walked for days! We met up with Jackie and she showed us some cool places. Our bed and breakfast was amazing and the owner, Sabino went out of his way to make us feel at home. Taking the metro was also quite the experience. But Josh was our fearless leader and he did very well with being a human GPS.  We also went shopping! Shopping, shopping and more shopping! I barely had enough room to bring everything home! But I did get so many Christmas presents, so that’s a plus. One thing that was a setback was that I got sick. Even still, I loved Italy! The food on our last night there was absolutely amazing and it was totally worth the wait! And the Gelato was amazing and the pizza…ah! I cannot wait to go back! We are going home soon. It is really unfortunate because it is turning out that the last month that we are here, is when we met the best people and have realized that we have some really great new Irish friends. We are finally enjoying our time here and we don’t even have much of it left. Personally I am trying to enjoy every last second of it and cherish the moments I have with my new friends.

Haunted Dublin, Family, and Traveling, Oh my!

We had a field trip to Dublin this week and because my family was coming to visit me this weekend, we stayed in Dublin for the weekend! First, we went to the Kilmainham Jail. It was really interesting and had a lot of history to go along with it. We then went to Trinity College. This was also really cool! It was in the center of Dublin City and the stone paths in the college were very neat to walk on. We saw the Book of Celts which was awesome because it was so old. And then the library that was above the book was also really interesting. There were so many walls lined with so many books! It was incredibly! Friday night, the girls and I decide to go on a haunted ghost tour of Ireland because it was Halloween Weekend. The ghosts were scary and the pictures we took have so many orbs in them. Somehow, the ghosts were not the scariest part of the tour. We came across a group of very young drunk children from the Northside of Dublin. They would not leave our tour group alone and ended up harassing us. The police got involved because the children went and told their mothers that we were “being mean” to them and that one of the girls in the group hit one of the kids. It was a big misunderstanding. However, the police got involved. It was amazing because it was like we were helpless against these young children. Even after the police came, the kids starting throwing rocks and Shawna got hit with one. She has a really big bruise on her leg. We finally got rid of the kids and our tour was pretty much ruined, but it was quite the experience. One coo thing we found was that one of the kids on the tour was also studying in Ireland and was from American. But not only from America, from Pennsylvania and he lived close to where we all lived! That was refreshing! We found our hostel and it was very difficult to sleep. My sister, my best friend in the entire world, was coming to Ireland to see me tomorrow! I was ecstatic!!! We got to the airport and waiting for them to walk off of the plane was taking forever. And then, I saw her! I ran to her and we cried and I gave her the biggest hug I could have possible given her! Ashley and Brandon were here with me in Ireland and I loved it! We tried to fit as much as we could into their time here. We went to the Guinness Factory and learned to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. We went to the Jameson Whiskey tour in Dublin. This was neat because it was different than the one in Middleton, Cork. We went to the Giants Causeway and Belfast. I loved Belfast!! It was amazing! Our tour guide for this tour was hysterical and we all loved him! We also went to the Carrick-a-reed rope bridge. Terrifying, but a really great experience! And the perfect way to end our trip was taking a trip to Blarney. The weather was much nicer and my pictures look a lot better minus all of the rain! My friend Jackie, who is currently studying in Rome, came to Ireland to visit us and she came to Blarney as well. We all loved it! And Blarney has the best hot chocolate I have even had in my entire life. Not kidding or exaggerating in the slightest bit. We travelled as much as we could and even had a traditional dinner in the Brazen Head Pub. And right before they left, I got to go to the Chocolate Garden of Ireland. It was fantastic and the chocolate is amazing! We got to make chocolate cats and I bought tons more Christmas presents! Saying goodbye the second time was even harder than the first. But we bid each other ado and knew that we would see each other soon enough.

Guten Tag Fraulein!

We went to Germany for the week! It was AMAZING. I loved absolutely everything about it! The culture, the food, the people, the language: I LOVED IT ALL! Germany was fantastic!! I absolutely loved it here! We flew into Stuttgart airport in Germany. The flight was good but as soon as we stepped off of the plane we knew that we were not in Kansas anymore. (Kansas=Ireland.) Because Stuttgart is not as touristy as an area as Berlin, everything was written in German with no English whatsoever. Soon, we found Shawna’s family. His name is Rolan and he was very friendly! He is an amazing person: he knows many different languages that he taught himself. His English was a bit shaky, but as the week progressed, he was speaking phenomenally. We did so much in Germany! We went to the zoo, went to an old village called Schwebish Hall, it was beautiful and fantastic and unlike anything I had ever seen before. We went to a genuine German dinner with all of Shawna’s family and ordered in German! (Not very well, I may add!) And AnnRosa, Rolan’s wife, cooked a traditional dinner for us that was so delicious! We went to a pumpkin festival at a castle which was fantastic, even in comparison to America’s pumpkin festivals! The whole thing was amazing and fun and it made us miss Autumn back home a little less. At the festival, we met a man named Scott Cully. Scott is an American farmer that carves outstanding and beautiful and enormous pumpkin for fun! He was invited all the way from Washington, USA to carve pumpkins in Germany for this event. He was so nice and it was welcoming to see another American in such a faraway place. He gave us giant pumpkin seeds and told us to plant them. He was so nice! At the festival, I was surprised to actually hear a lot of English being spoken. We hadn’t realized, but this festival was huge and attracted a lot of locals as well as a lot of tourists. We went to see Shawna’s grandmothers grave in the cemetery. This was very sentimental to her and we are all glad she got to do this. On the way there, we got to dive on the Autobahn! It was so cool! And we drove so fast…I loved it! We also went t anther castle with a giant museum. To get there, we literally had a climb 1,000 steps. Our legs were hurting! We bought souvenirs and were wrapping up our Germany experience. Germany was an amazing trip considering it was our first out of Ireland trip. I loved every second of it and would go back in a heartbeat! The welcoming arms of Shawna’s family made us not want to leave.