So, I haven’t written on here in awhile (minus the lovehate blog., but\u00a0 that one doesn’t really count) and so much has happened that I can’t fathom getting all the good details out.\u00a0 So I’m just going to have to skim what I’ve done and mention a few highlights!\u00a0 Following the week that I started to really get sick, that Tuesday my class went to the play that I had mentioned.\u00a0 It turned out to be a total bummer; more of a sleeper of a lecture than a theatrical experience.\u00a0 We went to a pub together however, so it was all worth it!\u00a0 That Friday, however, was great!\u00a0 It was the day of the IES-affiliate hike to Glendalough.\u00a0 About 30 of us went nearly\u00a0an hour outside of Dublin to County Wicklow to see this beautiful view of the two lakes (which is what Glendalough actually means; two lakes).\u00a0 It was a heck of a time getting up to the top though.\u00a0 One of my housemates, Helen\u00a0and I were nearly at the end of the crowd as we slowly ambled our way up the path to the top.\u00a0 I felt nauseous for a while because, well, you know that little hiker that some people have living inside of them?\u00a0 Mine died long ago.\u00a0 And I’ll blame it on the mitral valve-prolapse, yep that’s why I’m instantly red in the face after going ten feet uphill…\u00a0 Anyways, so it was beautiful!\u00a0 It was just what I was looking for in coming to Ireland.\u00a0 Misty, rolly hills of various greens and deep blue lakes\u00a0resting below\u00a0plummetting cliffs amidst\u00a0unexpected crests.\u00a0 It was gorgeous, to say the least.\u00a0\u00a0Even the weeds were arabesque in their purples and golds.<\/p>\n
The following day Helen, Jess and I went out on the town to go shopping!\u00a0 Sure broke that shopping seal; haven’t stopped since.\u00a0 And yes, the purchases at the 3-floor American Apparel were necessary.\u00a0\u00a0Jess and I then continued on our city-outting to see the\u00a0Guinness Storehouse.\u00a0 It was actually\u00a0much more interesting that I had\u00a0expected.\u00a0 The inside\u00a0is shaped like a\u00a0pint glass and the layout of the place is made so that you\u00a0begin by learning a lot\u00a0about each of the four ingredients within Guinness: water, barley, hops and yeast.\u00a0 They have large displays of each of these things, including a giant pit of barley, a luscious hops display, a refrigerator with an original strain of yeast of sorts (wierd, I know) and an icy-cold waterfall to complete the deal.\u00a0 The tour continues with more details about how the process of making Guinness is done.\u00a0 There is a lot to it!\u00a0 They even let you in on all the details about the barrels that are used to store their creation.\u00a0 One of my favorite parts of the tour were the old Guinness advertisements.\u00a0 They were so cute and funny, one of the more well known of which\u00a0featured a toucan with a Guinness that said “Lovely day for a Guinness.”\u00a0 \u00a0Finally, you can make the choice to either drink your “free” (or rather,\u00a0included in the\u00a0ticket fee) Guinness pint after learning how to\u00a0pour it yourself OR you can go up to the very top and get your\u00a0drink while\u00a0enjoying a complete view of Dublin and beyond at Gravity Bar.\u00a0 We chose to pour our own pints, but we were also able to go to the top (we just couldn’t have another drink, obviously).\u00a0 The view was grand.<\/p>\n
The next day we went to a HURLING game!\u00a0 This is legit my favorite sport\u00a0now because it was so damn intriguing and hilarious to watch!\u00a0\u00a0It reminded\u00a0me of Harry Potter\u00a0in a way, with people running around with sticks (rather than brooms of course) hitting each other and running around carrying the “slither” as the ball is called, atop the same multi-purpose sticks, or “hurlies.”\u00a0\u00a0One can hold the slither for up to 3 seconds with their hands and run with it, they can carry it on their hurlie, or they can bat it like in baseball to get it across the field.\u00a0 This game was the final as well, Kilkenny versus Galway.\u00a0 Kilkenny won, which I hear, is no surprise.\u00a0 I was\u00a0rooting for the underdog, but it didn’t help.\u00a0 Anyways,\u00a0not only is the game interesting, but it looks\u00a0entirely difficult!\u00a0 There are two ways to score, either\u00a0through\u00a0 football-like goal posts (one point) or in a soccer-like goal (three points)!\u00a0 There are two\u00a0men on either side of the goals wearing long white lab coats; there is a\u00a0science to this game really.\u00a0 This\u00a0very unpredictable and amalgamated sport is mesmorizing, even for someone like me\u00a0who is not that into sports!\u00a0 It was a great time.<\/p>\n
Then of course, the weekend was up.\u00a0 The week went by with\u00a0nothing too exciting happening; the internship is great, but sometimes there is a lack of work, or rather,\u00a0un-monotonous work.\u00a0 But I am grateful for it and for the\u00a0company of the\u00a0other interns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This\u00a0most recent weekend Jess and I went to Cardiff, Wales.\u00a0 The plane\u00a0ride was only about an hour-long and provided for\u00a0a great little GRE study session both ways!\u00a0 Yay!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude1b\u00a0 Once landing, we\u00a0slowly came to realize just how small the place was.\u00a0\u00a0There was\u00a0no stamping of our passports.\u00a0 The one ATM machine was out of the way and upstairs next to the one restaurant in the airport.\u00a0 The airport itself was quite small.\u00a0 And when we finally went outside there was only\u00a0one taxi!\u00a0 Which was only there, thank God, because it was dropping someone off!\u00a0 The country is probably the\u00a0size of Rhode Island, and thus, we learned, that the capitol is not entirely\u00a0exuding with things to do.\u00a0 The very sweet and\u00a0geniune cab driver gave us a few helpful tips though.\u00a0 He told us\u00a0that the beer of\u00a0Wales\u00a0is “Brains,” that cockeles\u00a0are one\u00a0of the fewer remotely Welsh foods that\u00a0you should probably try\u00a0in Wales, and that there is a lot of great farm-made ice cream all over.\u00a0 Conveniently, there was a\u00a0festival occuring that weekend at the Mermaid Quay (pronounced\u00a0“key”) where\u00a0we could try the ice cream!\u00a0 YUM.\u00a0 I got banana toffee crunch of\u00a0sorts.\u00a0 Tasted like one of my favorite desserts from\u00a0my best friend Vy’s\u00a0restaurant,\u00a0fried banana\u00a0and ice cream.\u00a0 De-licious.\u00a0 Oh\u00a0My God.\u00a0 I know, dramatic.\u00a0 But still.\u00a0 Okay, moving on.\u00a0\u00a0So the festival was nice.\u00a0 The\u00a0people were curiously friendly.\u00a0 We saw Cardiff Castle, the\u00a0Parc outside of Cardiff Castle\u00a0and the\u00a0National Museum of\u00a0Wales.\u00a0 I also found a great place with two-for-one dranks on Friday night…long islands and rum\/tequila mixers!\u00a0 Great choices…We went\u00a0home on Friday night after that dinner and wanted to go swimming, only to find that the pool closed at like 8:30 or some\u00a0crazy time like that.\u00a0 Pretty much sums\u00a0up the life of Wales.\u00a0\u00a0Oh Wales…if I ever go back, it will be to the north, possibly Snowdonia (I hear that’s pretty) or some other part of the country-side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, this past Sunday, after getting back from\u00a0our Wale of a time from the Rhode Island of the Isles,\u00a0Jess, Helen and\u00a0 I went to a little town\u00a0on the water, known as Howth, only 20 minutes\u00a0north of Dublin.\u00a0\u00a0We took the Dart (the train) which only cost us 4.20 Euro roundtrip.\u00a0 It was\u00a0a darling little place\u00a0with\u00a0tons of sailboats, colorful\u00a0edifaces,\u00a0seals that bob up and down awaiting an easy catch, a lighthouse, a church and a couple little shops and pubs.\u00a0 It was quaint and a perfect day weather-wise.\u00a0 I\u00a0even got an “I love Ireland” jumping photo taken\u00a0there!\u00a0 Can’t miss out on that!\u00a0\u00a0A plus of\u00a0going on a Sunday was that there was a little market happening at the time, which we were pleasantly surprised about.\u00a0 Tasty treats, fudge and cupcakes, jewellery\u00a0such as the malacite shamrock ring I bought there,\u00a0breads, nuts\u00a0fruits, veggies and many other things were being temptingly sold.\u00a0 As we made our way back to the train station we realized it was quite a satisfying weekend, especially that particular day.\u00a0 Sitting on the train next to a nun for the next 20 minutes was just the way to take it all in and let it silently absorb (*arcasm,\u00a0sarcasm*).\u00a0 I do\u00a0love trains though, which is why I am extra excited to go to Cork this weekend!\u00a0 They are\u00a0a great way to let your\u00a0mind just fly away with each passing\u00a0idea\u00a0that\u00a0catches your subconscious eye.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyways, I’ll of course update about Cork, especially as it is going to be the last weekend of my study abroad program!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude41\u00a0 This is\u00a0very sad to me.\u00a0 I’ve met great people here\u00a0and don’t really want to face the fact that I likely won’t see them again, at least\u00a0in the\u00a0“non-Facebook” world.\u00a0\u00a0Speaking of which, today at my internship the crazies that I work with were\u00a0absolutely nuts!\u00a0 We were having\u00a0a lot of fun being goofy while working today.\u00a0 Being tired really does make everything more fun.\u00a0 On top of that, we all get\u00a0along really well in the first place.\u00a0 I wish\u00a0they all went to UPS.\u00a0 I’m jealous of the Iowa students here because they will all be able to hang out\u00a0after the program is through considering they all go to the same university!\u00a0 Lucky.\u00a0 I will, however, probably be going to the Jameson Distillery with two of the other interns tomorrow which will be great!\u00a0 Good times ahead.\u00a0 And I can’t wait for my family to get here in a week and a half!<\/p>\n
Well, I can’t hardly let myself stop writing because there is SO MUCH MORE TO SAY!\u00a0 But alas, I must.\u00a0 I need to go to bed so that I can actually wake up for my internship tomorrow!\u00a0 Yayyyy!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Good night\u00a0Europe and\u00a0good afternoon Tacoma!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, I haven’t written on here in awhile (minus the lovehate blog., but\u00a0 that one doesn’t really count) and so much has happened that I can’t fathom getting all the good details out.\u00a0 So I’m just going to have to … Continue reading