Since April it has been warmer here in Dublin. This sudden change in the weather inspired me and my friends to venture out in Dublin. We decided to go to Phoenix park (which happens to be the largest enclosed park in Europe!) for a picnic. We decided that this monument would be a great place to eat, so we climbed the slanted steps to the top. From the top we could see people playing football all over the park while we ate our lunches.
After lunch, a few of us decided to go to the Dublin zoo. This was a lot of fun! We saw an adorable baby orangutan that I fell in love with! We also saw a baby elephant which was beyond cute! The zoo was really huge. It had a whole African safari where there were rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and plenty of other animals! The chimp exhibit was really cool too, it was outside on an island in a pond that had little tree houses and fun things to swing on! I really loved the penguin park of the zoo and there was even a petting zoo in it which had ponies, bunnies, cows, dogs, cats and so many other animals that I never thought I'd see at a zoo!
My friend Ali and I spotted a gorgeous flowering tree by the Red Panda exhibit. I thought this tree would be the perfect tree to pose under if I was going to prom and even though neither of us were going to the prom, we decided to take a picture underneath anyway!
Later, when we were in the petting zoo we spotted this wishing chair! I was very excited about it, so I wasted no time getting to the wishing chair and making a wish! It was a lot of fun!! I especially liked the painted sheep on the background!
After the zoo, I had a few friends over for dinner at my apartment. We managed to cook chicken, stuffing and mashed potatoes. I was really impressed with our meal, especially considering I did a good portion of the cooking and it still came out edible!
The next day, my friends Colleen, Tara & I went to church in the city center. The church was gorgeous, but I have to admit, the service was not all that impressive. After church, we had heard about some event in Dublin involving horses, so obviously we were very interested! We took a walk down Henry St all the way to the Old Jameson Distillery when we saw hundreds of horses in a square! It turns out this was a horse selling/trading event that happens the first sunday of every month! I cannot even explain how much I loved it! There were horses of all shapes and sizes! I met one man who had a lovely red horse! He asked me if I liked his horse and I told him I loved it. He then told me I could have her and take her home to New York with me! We ended up talking to the man a while and he even let me hold onto his horses reigns. It turns out his horse was named Peggy. He had brought 5 horses to sell that day and had already sold 3 by 11am! Peggy, he told us, was his most expensive horse and would easily sell for 2500 euro, but I could have her for free! He told us all about the trading and selling. I really enjoyed talking to him and learning about horses and the farming suburbs of Dublin. I especially liked petting Peggy!
Lately it's been very busy here on the DCU campus as next week is the last week of school! I've been writing a lot of papers and studying my fair share. I am very excited for the last week of classes! I am even more excited for my 20th birthday which is occurring on the 26th!! Also, my friends Ali, Hillary and I are taking a trip to Barcelona and Alghero from April 28th-May5th as a bit of a break before studying for exams! I'm really excited to see Spain and Sardegna. I have never been to either place, so it should be loads of fun!
As always, I hope everyone is doing well! I'll be home in a little over a month!! See you soon!
On the weekend of March 28th, our group of 40 American students set out to discover the west of Ireland! Our first stop was in the beautiful (but expensive!) Galway! In Galway we had some lunch (I had apple pie!) and shopped around for an hour or so. We didn't have much time in Galway because it was just a stop on our way to the gorgeous Aran Islands!
We took a very rocky ferry ride to the island of Inishmor, the largest of the 3 Aran Islands. We stayed at the only hotel on the Island right on the beach. We learned that the island consists of 800 people, 1 ambulance, 3 policemen that trade shifts, a doctor and a nurse (who live right next to each other) and a bank that is only open on Wednesdays! It was so secluded and beautiful. While on the island we saw the sight of the 7 churches. It is really just a site where 7 old cobblestone churches runes lay and there are many gaelic headstones. We also traveled to Dun Aengus, a prehistoric fort where a celtic tribe lived. Dun Aenus is a bit of a climb to get to, but once up there it is a 300 foot drop off of a cliff! It was so windy that I was afraid to even get close for fear of falling off, so I got on my hands and knees and crawled to the edge to look off! It was absolutely breathtaking and I could never describe it with justice. The fort built around this huge cliff is equally as magnificent, and I give the members of the ancient celtic tribes a lot of credit for building a fort so dangerously close to the 300 foot drop and living there! While on the Aran Islands we also had a lesson in Irish. The native people of Ireland do not refer to speaking their native language as speaking Gaelic, they refer to it as speaking Irish! I can now say my name and ask for a pint in Irish!
After we left the Aran Islands we came back to the mainland and took a long drive to the town of Westport in County Mayo. On the way to Westport we stopped for lunch at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara. We learned that this private girls boarding school run by Benedictine Nuns (which Madonna's daughter attended) was actually built by Mitchel Henry in 1866 for his wife for her birthday. His wife saw the area and fell in love with it when they were on their honeymoon in the area. Unfortunately, his wife died early, and Mr. Henry never stepped foot in the Abbey again. He built a memorial chapel on the grounds though and had his wife buried there, and he too, was eventually buried there. Then, in WWI, the Benedictine Nuns bought the estate because they were refugees from Belgium. Needless to say, I loved this amazing Abbey. My birthday is coming up, perhaps someone will build one for me!
After Kylemore Abbey, we went onward to Westport. Just outside of Westport we stopped at this memorial statue. It is a huge ship with starved bodies and bones all over it. It represents the ships that left Ireland during the Great Famine. These ships were often known as "Coffin Ships" because so many people died on the ships from starvation and disease before they ever reached their destination. We had studied these ships in class, however it was even more moving to see this memorial. It is in County Mayo because this was the county that was most affected by the Famine. To this day if you ask someone from Mayo where they are from, they will respond "County Mayo, God help me!"
After the sadness of the memorial, we made it into the actual small town of Westport. After dinner, my friends and I went into town to see the local pubs. We ended up in the Porterhouse just having a pint when a group of men started setting up instruments 2 feet behind me. It was a small pub, so we were pretty cramped and the band introduced themselves to us. They were extremely friendly and it turns out they're a rater popular folk band in Ireland called The Mulloy Brothers. They are a group of 3 brothers (they're 4th brother had just died last summer) who play old Irish songs. They were very impressed with my knowledge of traditional Irish songs (all of which I know from my dad singing them all the time!) and told me I look very Irish! Throughout the night they played all of the songs I requested and even let me sing with them! I sang Molly Malone and Wild Rover with them! At the end of the night they gave me a DVD of themselves playing in their hometown. I hope I run into them again someday, they were absolutely the best! Altogether, I loved the west of Ireland, especially my new friends, The Mulloy Brothers!
I hope everyone at hope is doing well, I miss you all!
Next time I will tell you about my adventures at Phoenix Park and the Dublin Zoo!!
As I told you in my last entry Danielle and Rob were here from March 13th-18th and Matt was here from March 17th-24th. So I was lucky enough to have all of them here on St. Patricks Day for the big parade! My favorite float of the whole parade was one of St. Patrick riding a Harley. I immediately thought of my dad and knew he would love this float too! I wish he could have come to Ireland to visit me because I know he would have just loved everything just as much as I do. Anyways! The parade was so crowded and people were doing anything to see it, one man actually climbed on a street sign just to see! I swear people were absolutely crazy but it was just so much fun! So we all enjoyed the parade and afterwards we headed to my favorite pub (which is now Matt and Robs favorite pub too!) for some lunch. Then I let Matt nap while Danielle and Rob did some shopping. Later we had dinner and did our share of drinking to celebrate! After Danielle and Rob left, Matt and I went all over Dublin in the next 6 days. We went to the history museum and the art museum, the Guinness storehouse, went on a tour of the Wicklow mountains, visited St. Stevens Green, saw the Dublin Castle, and he even went shopping! Matt especially enjoyed the day tour of the Wicklow mountains. We saw Guinness lake and the spot where the Beatles wrote the song "Yesterday." We also went to Glendalough, so I was able to show Matt around since I had already been there. After Glendalough, our next stop was in Ballykissangel for lunch and then we went to the site "where the rivers meet" in Avoca which is where Tomas Moore wrote the famous poem "The Meeting of the Waters." It was a gorgeous area with beautiful stone walls and trees waiting to blossom.
After seeing Guinness Lake where all of the water to make Guinness comes from, we went to the Guinness Storehouse and learned even more about the Irish liquid treasure. Once we reached the 7th floor of the Storehouse, we enjoyed the gorgeous view. It was much less crowded in the storehouse when I went with Matt than with Danielle and Rob. So we were able to get seats and look upon Dublin while Matt drank both our of glasses of Guinness. We also enjoyed Easter together while Matt was here. A bunch of my friends got together and we all made easter dinner, so Matt was able to meet my friends. Best of all, my mom sent me an easter basket!!
I hope everyone had a great easter and I will write about my trip to the west of Ireland and the Aran Islands next time!!
Since April it has been warmer here in Dublin. This sudden change in the weather inspired me and my friends to venture out in Dublin. We decided to go to Phoenix park (which happens to be the largest enclosed park in Europe!) for a picnic. We decided that this monument would be a great place to eat, so we climbed the slanted steps to the top. From the top we could see people playing football all over the park while we ate our lunches.
This was a lot of fun! We saw an adorable baby orangutan that I fell in love with! We also saw a baby elephant which was beyond cute! The zoo was really huge. It had a whole African safari where there were rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and plenty of other animals! 
The chimp exhibit was really cool too, it was outside on an island in a pond that had little tree houses and fun things to swing on! I really loved the penguin park of the zoo and there was even a petting zoo in it which had ponies, bunnies, cows, dogs, cats and so many other animals that I never thought I'd see at a zoo!
My friend Ali and I spotted a gorgeous flowering tree by the Red Panda exhibit. I thought this tree would be the perfect tree to pose under if I was going to prom and even though neither of us were going to the prom, we decided to take a picture underneath anyway!
Later, when we were in the petting zoo we spotted this wishing chair! I was very excited about it, so I wasted no time getting to the wishing chair and making a wish! It was a lot of fun!! I especially liked the painted sheep on the background!
He then told me I could have her and take her home to New York with me! We ended up talking to the man a while and he even let me hold onto his horses reigns. It turns out his horse was named Peggy. He had brought 5 horses to sell that day and had already sold 3 by 11am! Peggy, he told us, was his most expensive horse and would easily sell for 2500 euro, but I could have her for free! He told us all about the trading and selling. I really enjoyed talking to him and learning about horses and the farming suburbs of Dublin. I especially liked petting Peggy!
