Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

Sunday, we didn't do very much during the day, because of the weather. Originally, we had planned on going to the festival at the next town over. But, the weather was just too nasty, and we didn't really feel like going. Instead, for dinner, we had some pizza at Pizza Dog, and went on a walk through campus. It was definitely a walk of appreciation.

Maynooth Castle

Behind campus

Candids

Sara even took us to one of her favorite spots on campus, next to a river through one of the wooded areas. It was very peaceful.

Sara's Spot

Warming Up In The Ring of Fire

By ten, we were heading to the bus stop to go into Dublin. I'd been wanting to go to the zoo for months, and now, after many failed attempts to go in America, I was visiting the Dublin Zoo! We walked through the famous Phoenix Park to get there, and there were many beautiful flowers blooming, even though it was chilly out. Once inside, we walked through practically every exhibit. Many of the animals weren't awake, probably because it was so cold.

These flamingos were so funny with their turning heads

So close!

Close enough to touch

My favorites!

Afterwards, we headed to a nice bar down the street to warm up with a very late lunch. Lucky for us, it started raining as we got on the bus, so it didn't ruin our outing. As we passed The Roost on the way home, I remembered that there was going to be a Johnny Cash impressionist there that night. Even though it was raining, we all decided to go, and I'm so glad we did. It's nights like those that I now realize I enjoy the most: sipping a few drinks, watching a good show, dancing a little bit, and laughing the whole time. The singer was really good, and Sara and I even danced during Ring of Fire.

Once, he talked to me from the stage (I'm pretty sure because I had a huge smile on my face). He asked if I was enjoying the show and if I wanted to hear some Elvis. I said hell yeah. So, after a few more songs, he played Heartbreak Hotel and, feeling complete, I went home for the night. 

Great show!

The Most Gloomy Friday

I was very aware of what little time I had left with the kids at preschool, so I was playing with everyone when I got the chance. We played matching games, we talked about our families, and the kids tried to teach me some colors and numbers in Gaelic. One of the girls, Emily, really liked me and drew me a picture of me with half of a butterfly. Don't ask me why there's only half, I don't really know. 

You best believe I brought it back to America

On the way home, I noticed the sky doing what it does so often, dark clouds on one half of the sky, and clear and sunny on the other. It's so bizarre. But this time, as I walked home towards the cloudy side, out of no where it started to down pour. I protected my new drawing, but I was amazed when even the sun moved to my side, it was still raining!

You can see the clock tower on my campus

I ran home and changed out of my wet clothes. After a little lunch and some messing around on the computer. I realized that now would be a pretty decent time to go through papers I had and the things I had hanging up to see what could be tossed. It was sad to watch my room slowly become more bare. It was like watching a part of me slowly fade away. And, in a way, that was what was happening. 

I'm No Chicken: I'm a Roost-er

After another fun day at preschool, I ran to the store to buy cake mix for Bridget. A promise is a promise, and I was going to make that cake. Luckily, when I got home, I found that all the girls were out for a walk, so the cake could be a surprise. Yet, they came home just in time to see me frost it, but it was still surprising to them. Although it's not as grand as my mother's cakes, I think I did a pretty decent job. The mix I used came with edible things with Frozen characters on them, and the girls got celtic knot tattoos, which I failed to make with my icing, but hey, I tried.

Cake Boss here I come

We all enjoyed the cake while we watched Suze dye Sara's hair with the henna dye she bought in Dublin before the girls got their tattoos. Everyone was going through changes! That's when we realized it would be our last student night at The Roost, and while we were sad, we were still really excited for one last party at our favorite pub. 

That night, Carl came over to join our mini party before we went out. I brought out the tripod, in honor of Sara's new hair and our last night out, and we got some pretty good gems out of it. 

We'll call you when we drop our mix tape

Trying to pick up Carl

We may not have always gotten along, but we'll always be friends

The Roost rocked, and it was sad knowing that I'd never have another Thursday Roost night again. But, I'll never forget all my times there, both good and bad. 

Let's Get Tatted

Ireland must have decided that a day of sun was too nice, so she punished us with a rainy day. The kids couldn't go outside, so we had a blast playing musical chairs instead. When kids got out, they had to dance in the corner with me, and I learned, as well as taught, some pretty cool dance moves.

After a while of sitting at home, I got up to walk to the kitchen and walked into a conversation about Bridget being scared to get a tattoo. She and Kat wanted to get them and Dublin, but Bridget was nervous about the pain (and I don't blame her!) and not having Kat by her side. I offered to go to hold her hand, and told her that if she got through it alive, I'd bake her a cake. Bridget really likes cake. Sara agreed to do the same, and then we were all headed to Dublin. This was my first time in a tattoo parlor, and it was pretty much what I imagined it would be. Loud scream music with...let's say... interesting... art all over the walls, and shaved/mohawked, bearded, tatted men welcoming us with needles in hand. The men working there were very nice and polite, which eased my nerves. I don't know why I was so nervous, I wasn't getting my skin cut open. But, just as Bridget feared, she and Kat were separated for the process, but that was why I was there. As backup Kat, I talked to Bridget the whole time, asking her different questions about home and school. Two minutes in though, she tells me she's not even worried anymore, because it just feels like an annoying tickle. She finished strong, and it turned out beautiful.

Nearing the end of the process

By the time they were done, it was dinner time. We needed somewhere cheap, and Kat and Bridget had never been, so we went to The Boar's Head. It was my last Boar's Head meal, and I was pretty sad. If I ever do go back, I'll certainly visit there again, and relive all the memories it gave me. 

The sun came out for a split second before we headed back to Maynooth, and it was the perfect end to the day.

I'll always love a Dublin sunset

Mr. Sun, Please Shine Down On Me!

I continued to do the tests with the kids in the morning. I had a great time asking the questions, but the kids were getting so tired of it. I was able to read the kids another story, which they enjoyed. At recess, I was fought over to play with different groups of kids. It's always nice to be fought over.

For once, the sun was finally shining. When I got back to the apartment, I tidied up for a bit. Cassie, Sara, Kat and I all sat out in the sun after lunch to work, study, and write postcards. After a while, I joined Cassie and Sara on a short walk to make the most of our beautiful weather.  and enjoyed the blooming flowers.

Tulips and roses behind campus

Little rose

Isn't it beautiful?

Thank you, sun!

Alone In The City

Bridget had mentioned that she wanted to join me with Roberta, so in the morning she tagged along with me to head over to Tiddlywinks and Scallywags Preschool. Bridget got to play with the kids, but this time Roberta completely let me run her study while she observed. I knew the kids were getting bored of doing similar tasks over and over again, so I kept asking them questions about their favorite animals and their home lives to distract them or make them laugh. I got to spend more time with the kids, especially during story time.

Miss Bridget reading the story

When we went to the garden, the kids were wondering why the petals from the flowers on a tree were on the ground. I shook the tree to show them how they fell, and the instantly started giggling, and squealing, "SNOW!" As I shook the tree, they pretended to make snow angels and ran around. It was one of the cutest things in the world.

I came home and had lunch, then decided that I would go to Dublin to buy my souvenirs. I wanted to buy them early so that I could measure the weight of my suitcase. No one wanted to come with me, which was a bit sad, but I didn't mind. It was nice to walk the city alone. I was really taking it all in, thinking about how cool it was that I knew the streets of Dublin so well. I'm really going to miss being an hour away from such a nice city. I feel like I could live there if I did live in Ireland. 

My favorite city

 When I did get home, I ate dinner and went straight to bed so that I could be ready for school in the morning.

Slow Sunday

Everyone was pretty tuckered out from the night before, so we were all rather quiet the next day. I went through all the photos we took and cleaned the kitchen for the first half of the day. I kind of like that I wake up before my room mates, it's a nice peaceful time to do things. All the girls got up and we hung out in the kitchen for brunch together.

After our little talk session, we went to go get groceries, and then chill for a while. I started writing down all the gifts I had gotten for my family, and those that I still needed to buy. Then I had a pretty walk down to the church, where I had my second to last mass here in Ireland. I will definitely miss it.

When I got home, I started packing, as did everyone else. It was sad to watch everything disappear, like my life was going to end. Technically it is, I'll never live in Europe again, nor will I ever be the same as I was here. This part of me is ending, and I'm really sad to see it go. I've loved my life so much here, and though I miss my family, it's going to be hard going back.

Dancing In The Street: So Much To Celebrate

I got to sleep in since it was Saturday, but right after breakfast, I started working on Kat's cake. I think it turned out pretty swell, Cassie did the writing, but I drew the little cat.

Happy birthday, Kat!

I had a quick shower before I went to go take Elise and Jon's photos. They were incredibly cute, and we went around the beautiful south campus, as well as stopping in Maynooth Castle to take some shots. Elise and I are both photographers, and I could tell she had made Jon a subject many a time. It was an easy and fun shoot, and I'm honored they asked me to take their photos.

At the castle

Love birds

After a few hours of photography and my card had finally filled up, I headed back to celebrate Kat's birthday. When I arrived, I found that Kat and Bridget had already gotten the party started by having their own little jam session, which I happily joined.

We all got a little dressed up and planned on having dinner somewhere in town. We set up my tripod and took a few pictures before we left, and we may have gotten a little silly.

Sometimes we like each other

The first restaurants we wanted were all full, but we were able to get a table at McMahon's pub to enjoy some nice chicken. We came home and started to get ready for our night in Dublin. We knew it was going to be crazy, since we found out that the referendum had indeed passed. Many people would be going into the city to celebrate, but we didn't care. With the tripod still set up, we had a few drinks, played some music and had a photo booth of our own for the night.

Bein silly

Holding up the birthday girl

The city was packed, but everyone on the street was really friendly and happy. There was music everywhere, long lines at every pub and people dancing all over. We had a great night in Dublin and were able to give Kat an awesome birthday.

Smicks!

Fun times in Dub city

Smart Cookies: Young and Old

I woke up early and headed back to the preschool. This time, Roberta wanted me to help with testing some of the children's abilities to categorize objects. They could choose between animals or fruit, but most of them picked animals. First, Roberta would ask them the names of the animals, to see if they could get that far. Then, she'd hold up a card and ask if it was a certain animal for a yes or no answer. If they passed both those tests, they would sort two animals in boxes, and then be asked, "Are there more dogs or more cows?" or "Are there less sheep or less cats?" and have to count and decide. A few of them were quick to understand, while others struggled with the concept. I was recording the data, so while Roberta would set up the trial, I'd talk to the kid about his/her favorite animal and why. I got some pretty great answers, considering that the kids are 3 and 4. When we went to the garden, I taught them how to play duck duck goose. That soon became a class favorite, though some still didn't get that you can't be the person who says duck duck goose and win.

After school was let out, I headed to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for a cake, since it was going to be my room mate Kat's birthday. The town was really busy, for everyone was headed home to vote in the referendum on gay marriage. People were all over the street and in their cars to go back to their home towns to vote.

When I got home, I saw that I had received a message from my Saint Mary's friend, Elise, who is also studying here. Her boyfriend had come to visit and proposed to her the day before, and they wanted me to take some engagement photos for them while we were still in town. I told her that I could take them on Saturday, and it became a date. I was really glad my skills could come in handy!

I was extremely disappointed that I was missing Ashley's birthday and the graduation of Heather and Nikki. All three have been my close friends for the longest time, and not being with them was incredibly hard. I am incredibly proud of all they accomplished though, with Ashley and I both now juniors in college, and Nikki and Heather surviving high school at the top of their class. I was bummed I missed out, but I know I'll be able to celebrate with them once I get home!

Ah, memories

Getting Back To The Classroom

On Wednesday, it rained all day, so I had plenty of time to think of things to do. In that time, I remembered that Roberta had said that once my exams were done, that I was welcome to help out at the preschool that she owned just a block from town. I emailed her and she said that I could start Thursday.

Which is exactly what I did. I got up early and when I arrived, I was put right in with a bunch of girls who were pretending to be stylists in a salon. You can see how well it went for me...

While half the class was in play, half was doing work, and then after an hour they would switch. So, I was really pretty by lunch time. At lunch we talked about how old we were and I tried to learn names.  After they ate, Roberta let me read them stories until it was time for them to play outside. They were so well behaved to go outside to show me "the garden". The backyard had a few little push bikes, two slides and a sandbox, but the kids went crazy in the small space. I was pulled in so many different directions to play pretend, but it was incredibly fun. I think they liked me, because they wanted me to come back, which I agreed to. 

For the rest of the day, I was just excited about playing with the kids, and couldn't wait to go back the next day. 

Sometimes You Need A Sleepover In The Middle Of The Day

So, as everyone else finished up finals, I was goofing around. I made tons of little videos for my own entertainment, and I found myself pretty funny.

In the afternoon, I started running up and down the stairs for exercise since it was way too cold to be outside. As I was doing so, I found that my neighbors were laying in the middle of the hallway with all their blankets and pillows. Apparently, this was their way of de-stressing from studying for exams. I didn't have any, but, of course, I joined.

I was glad I could actually spend some time with them before they all left to go back to their homes for the summer. Plus, they gave me something to blog about ;)

Pitches Take Dublin

In the morning, I woke up to a message from Sara who had just dropped her friend off at the bus and saw that there were no kids on the playground. Living in Maynooth, this rarely ever happens, so I threw on clothes immediately and ran to join her. We played on all the slides, the monkey bars, and even the swings.

Just swingin

After being little kids for a while, we decided to be adults and grab ourselves a nice meal. We stopped at one of the cafes in town, and had ourselves a traditional Irish breakfast.

Yum

When we got back home, we found Kat who asked us if we wanted to go see Pitch Perfect Two with her and Bridget. We had nothing else to do, so....yeah! We hopped on board the bus and when we got to Dublin, we stopped in Kat and Bridget's favorite little shop for frozen yogurt. I had peanut butter ice cream with blueberries on top, and it was surprisingly good. We then headed to the movie, which was incredibly funny, but definitely trying too hard to be so. I'd still suggest that people go see it. When we walked back to the bus stop, it was raining and sunny at the same time, which isn't unusual for Ireland. But, as we walked across the bridge, we saw a rainbow over the Liffey, and had to stop to take a photo. 

Thank you for the picture, God

The rainbow made us all get a little emotional, seeing as Dublin wouldn't be an hour away soon. When we arrived back in Maynooth, we treated ourselves to pizza and listening to Taylor Swift before heading off to bed. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I didn't have much to do here, but luckily I had Cullen to call me and entertain me for a bit. After we talked for a bit, I walked around a bit out in the sun in the afternoon because it was finally shining. I tried to get a tan, but that's hard to do here. I started writing a few of my last postcards so that they could get home before I did.

We're actually best friends

I went to church and realized I could only do this a few more times since I was leaving so soon. Sara had a friend visiting, and she was going home the next day, so after dinner we all went to The Roost and enjoyed a few pints and watched a rugby game. When I got back, I called Mom for her birthday, and I got to sit at the table while they ate and she opened her presents. I was really upset that I couldn't be there, but I felt a little closer by Facetiming all of them. Of course, I took plenty of incredibly flattering pictures.

Eleri's working on her modeling

Aidan's the coolest kid I know

Drag Queens Are A Girl's Best Friend

Remember how I said I was going to start doing more with my life? Well, I decided to do something I'd never done: a gay bar. Our neighbors asked if I wanted to go out with them, and, since no one was really in the house, I agreed. During the day, I once again cleaned and sat on my bed. But that night, I was ready for fun. We boarded the train at around nine and headed out to Dublin.

Vlad, Ina, Gareth and I using the selfie stick on the way to the train

Ina and I

On our way!

When we got into town, it was a short walk to the bar. It was a very big week in Dublin, for on Friday, the whole country was to vote on whether or not gay marriage could be legal. There were yes and no signs up all over, but it was very clear that most of Ireland was for the yes vote.

The window says YES

I didn't take any photos at the bar because my phone died, but we ended up going to the top gay bar in Dublin: The George. It was incredibly fun, two very eccentric drag queens were the emcees of the night and they were shouting compliments to everyone and being sassy as ever. We enjoyed watching some of the men try their hand at karaoke for a while, which was incredibly funny because they couldn't really sing. We all went home in great moods after dancing our butts off. 

Wait, What Do I Do Now?

In the morning, I came to the crushing realization that I now had nothing to do. My exams were done, but the other girls' weren't. I could do plenty of things by myself, but where was the fun in that?

So, after sorting through all of my new photos, eating, and sitting around made me bored, I became crazy and started cleaning things. I cleaned my room top to bottom, even scrubbed my bathroom. I volunteered to wash all the dishes, because I wanted something to do.

I took myself for a walk, determining this was a better use of my time. Which it was, for seeing people made me feel less crazy. Slowly, I'm becoming more and more appreciative of what little time I have left here, and realizing I really need to make the most of it, and sitting on my butt isn't doing that. So, I promised to be more productive with each day so that I can look back and remember more about my experiences abroad. 

She's Coming In Twelve Thirty Flight

For our last day, we treated ourselves to a delicious traditional breakfast at the hotel next door to our hostel. It included crepes, honey, tea, yogurt, muffins, bread and full tummies.

Fancy

After that, we had plenty of time to kill before it was time for our flight. So, we went around the souks again, buying gifts and souvenirs. I'm in love with my new flowy pants. I also grabbed Moroccan nut oil for my hair since it was so cheap. Once we finished our shopping, it was already too hot and time for lunch. We wanted to have a nice meal, so we decided to go back to The Henna Art Cafe. The owner was so happy to see us again, and she chatted with us while we ate. I even got a second tattoo, since it was so much fun.

A couple of hours later, we walked to the gardens by the mosque to soak in the sun before we returned to our rainy home. We passed the time by messing with the street vendors and talking about home. I also had a bit of fun when the call to prayer started blaring...

When it started nearing the time for us to be at the hostel, we decided to look at the shops nearby to pass the time. While the girls were shopping, I was trying to think of a way to get rid of the little dirham I had left, since it would only mean getting a penny back. And it was during this thinking that I had an idea that prompted one of my favorite parts of my entire trip (besides jumping off of waterfalls, of course). I went to a vendor and bought as much of the traditional bread as I could, which I was something like seven pieces. I took four and gave them to an elderly woman holding an infant that I had passed sitting on the ground for the entirety of my trip. Her eyes lit up when I kneeled down and opened the bag for her, trying to convey that two were for her and two were for the child. As I stood up, she blew me kisses and thanked me, breaking the bread and feeding the baby. As we walked along I eventually found a blind man and put a piece in his dish, then one sleeping man in dirty sheets, and one who was trying to attract attention by playing music. I felt so happy that they were able to eat that day, though I wish I could have done more. 

Finally, it was time to go back to Ireland. We got a cheap taxi, and left early in order to be on time for our flight. After we exchanged our money though, we found that our flight was earlier than we thought! We were rushed through security, but luckily made it just in time to board. We didn't have time to eat dinner, but the snacks on the plane got us through. The flight was a little rough, but I still managed to sleep through most of it, as Suze so graciously captured.

I didn't get into bed until three in the morning, but the trip was completely worth it, and definitely one of my favorite memories of my study abroad experience.