P.S. I Love Ireland

So this last weekend I went with our group of friend to Dublin and was able to get some free Guinness, stand in the same spot Gerard Butler stood in, and take in some beautiful scenery in Wicklow National Park.  We headed out for Dublin early Saturday morning so that we would have the afternoon to take in some of Dublin. Dublin is a large city the consists of various districts from the ghetto like, to the rich, and then of course Temple Bar. They even have horse drawn carriages that will take you anywhere in the city. I stole an opportunity to pet one of the horses while the driver was away :) I have been missing my Casey boy and it was nice to have the familiar scent of horse on me. After getting checked into the hostel we decided to hit up the Guinness Factory tour, a must see while in Dublin.  The tour takes you through all the ingredients needed to make Guinness and the entire process of making the treasured Irish beer. At the end of the tour you are able to go up to 360 bar where you get a free pint of Guinness and can take in the views overlooking Dublin. Now I'm not a huge fan of the honored drink of Ireland but hey it's a free pint and you can't waste that. So I drank up my Guinness and took in the views around me.  Once we had all finished our pints we decided to get ourselves a Irish dinner. I decided to get some traditional fish and chips as this is one of the only traditional Irish meals I hadn't had yet. The meal was really good and then to top it off we all got some dessert to share. I shared an apple crumble with Nina and it was delicious! That night we took part in a pub crawl, we figured it was the best and cheapest way to find all the best pubs in Dublin. We just had to pay 12 euro and we got into each pub without having to pay the cover charge, which can sometimes be over 10 euro in a single pub, we also got a free Guinness at the first pub and free shots at every pub after that.  A couple of the pubs we went to had live music which was really cool. I could sit in those types of pubs all night and listen to the Irish musicians. The last pub we went to though was by far the highlight of the crawl, not because of the music or the drinks but because of simple the place itself. It was Whelan's, the pub that was featured in P.S. I Love You! The pub where Gerry is singing Galway Girl and Holly walks in wearing his leather jacket and he follows her around singing.  This is one of two spots that I was at this weekend where Gerard Butler also stood, I was one happy girl! :)
Sunday morning we were up bright and early for our tour through Wicklow National Park. We went on the Wild Wicklow tour, which was a excellent choice, our guide was a younger fella who was extremely nice and very funny. The tour started with a stop at Dublin Bay, where we watched some people swim in the freezing water. It is though that the water there is somehow healing and will give you strength. The bus then stopped just outside of Dublin in a cute little oasis for some tea and coffee. To give you an idea of how fun the tour was when we got back on the bus if you had some coffee or tea you were asked if you wanted to make it a irish drink by adding a shot of Jameson whiskey to it. Part of this tour included a fifth of Jameson that had to be finished before the end of the day. We made our way up into the mountains of Wicklow and our next stop was the monastery at Glendalough.  The monastery itself was interesting but the real beauty was past it at the lakes of Glendalough and the waterfalls found there.  It was a short hike to the two lakes, the really pretty one was the second of the two.  This lake was also the lake that was filmed in the movie Leap Year, the scene after the wedding where she is drunk sitting looking out at the lake. Part of our group then decided to take a little more difficult of a hike to some waterfalls in the distance. The hike was well worth it. The falls were so pretty especially with the sun shining on them. Yes I said the sun! We ended up with a gorgeous day where we actually got to see the sun! After Glendalough we moved onto Wicklow National Park. Our first stop in the park was Guinness Lake. This lake was named because of the owner of the land at the time who was part of the Guinness family but it also is believed to be in the shape of a pint glass and is dark in color like the beer.  At this lake is where it was our job to finish off that Jameson whiskey. The entire tour group stood overlooking the lake while our guide gave an Irish toast after which we all took a shot of the whiskey. I have to say it did help warm ya up a little bit cause it was pretty cold up there. Our next and final stop was in the middle of the park where yet again I got to stand where the sexy Gerard Butler stood. We stopped at the bridge where Gerry and Holly first meet in the movie. At this time of the year the purple flowers haven't bloomed yet, they don't until July and August, so it didn't look exactly like the movie. A lot of the scenes from Braveheart were also filmed in this park. On the way down out of the park our guide taught us all a little song about the bog, which is the type of habit the park is considered. It went a little something like this.
 "O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
 And in that bog there was a tree, a rare tree, a rattlin' tree
With the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o
 O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o....(it continued for a couple verses ending with this)..
Now the flea on the feather, the feather on the bird, the bird in the egg, the egg in the nest, the nest on the leaf, the leaf on a twig, the twig on a branch, the branch on a limb, the limb on a tree, the tree in the bog, the bog down in the valley-o." 
Now imagine a whole tour bus group singing and clapping along to it. It was great craic!
Overall it was a great weekend filled with lots of fun and beautiful scenery.  Here are some pictures for ya.

Me with my Guinness overlooking Dublin.

Dublin Bay

Upper Lake at Glendalough.

Waterfall in Glendalough.

Guinness Lake.

The group at Dublin Bay. 

The girls on the P.S. I Love You bridge. <3

Farm Girl's Weekend

You know you're a true farm girl when your best weekend in Ireland yet was spent out in the country visiting dairy farms!  This weekend I took a 6 hour trip north to stay with the Thompson family. We know the Thompson's from back in Wisconsin where they run Gold Dust dairy. Uncle Paul had told them I would be studying here and they gave him all their info so that I could go visit them some weekend and since I had nothing on the agenda this weekend I decided to go for it.  I headed out Friday afternoon and caught a bus into Dublin city, that was a 4 hour bus drive. Then I had to catch a bus from Dublin to Banbridge, which is where the Thompsons live, that was another 2 hours. When I got to Banbridge I realized my phone no longer worker because Northern Ireland is technically part of the United Kingdom. Thus with no phone I was not sure how I was going to let the Thompsons know I had arrived. First I asked another person who got off with me if they had a phone I could borrow, no such luck. Then I asked for a payphone and they pointed me in the right direction, however the phone only took pounds and I only had euros. I then headed back to the bus stop knowing that the Thompsons knew the approximate time I was suppose to be there so I hoped they would just show up eventually lol. But then I decided to take a chance across the street at a church that seemed to be having some get together, so I wander into the entryway where some younger kids were and asked if any of them happened to have a phone I could borrow. A young gentleman kindly offered me his so I was able to finally call the Thompsons to let them know I was in town. Within a couple minutes, well after 10oclock, their youngest daughter was picking me up from the bus stop. I was rather proud of myself for getting myself all the way there by myself. The Thompsons were very welcoming and I spent my first night there getting to know each other and I got to do some snuggling with their dog Josie :)
Saturday I got up and had the option to go to Belfast for some shopping with their oldest daughter or I could go and see some farms in the area. Guess which I chose?  Haha of course I chose the farms! First we went to go see the farm the Thompsons use to farm on which is just up the road from the house they are in now. It's a decent size farm for Ireland, they probably were milking around 250 cows. I was just so glad to be on a farm, taking in the sight and smell of the cows! I have really missed the farm and it felt so good to be back on one even though I wasn't getting my hands dirty or anything. Maybe I'll have to go again and see if I could help out some. The farms seem to be pretty similar to ours. The cows are in a freestall barn and their parlors are similar as well. They mily 2-3 times a day all year long. Although I know on some of the smaller farms they only milk part of the year, drying up and freshening in all their cows at the same time so that they don't have to milk in the winter months.
After visiting this first farm we went into town where the local high school's rugby team was playing. It was my first time watching a rugby match and I have to say it was pretty interesting. I can see why it can be such a dangerous game. We watched the match for a little while then went to a relatives farm where they had both dairy and sheep. Got to see some newborn lambs, which were adorable!! Once we got back home I decided to take a walk with Josie so that I could take some pictures of the countryside. We took a good 45 minute walk around the back roads, it was simply beautiful.  For dinner we had Irish Stew another first of mine in Ireland, although I have to say it's just like beef stew if you ask me. I ended my day snuggling in bed with Josie, who kindly snuggled with me all night. (Don't worry Candy she hasn't taken your place she was simply a fill in since I can't have you here with me.) 

Miss Josie

Finally some Dairy Cows!!!

Rugby Match

Little Lamb=pure adorableness

The countryside surrounding the Thompson's home.

Today I spent most of the day on the bus back from Banbridge to Limerick. It was a long bus drive, but it was so worth it. I had the best weekend yet just relaxing with the Thompson family and getting to see some farms. Lord knows this farm girl was definitely missing the country life. A big thank you goes out to the Thompson family for allowing me to stay with them and being so welcoming. I hope that I can maybe get out there again sometime.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle

view from one of the Castle windows

view from the top of the castle

me kissing the Blarney stone

another view from the top, you can see Cork in the background

Well it's official I kissed the Blarney Stone and now shall be granted the gift of gab! Our whole group decided to take a two day trip down to Cork to see the town and visit Blarney Castle. We left Limerick Friday afternoon and spent the night at a hostel in Cork. Our hostel was pretty nice and we had enough people that we didn't have to share a room with any random people. We spent the night out on the town, got a traditional Irish meal, I had cottage pie which was delicious, then we hit up a few pubs. In the first pub we had a Englishman start a conversation with us and asked us if we all wanted to get "pissed" with him (that's the word they use for drunk), but we kindly declined his offer and moved onto the next pub. The next pub had some live music and it turned out the guy was actually from Minnesota, he was pretty good. After he was done with his gig a DJ played music and we spent the dancing dancing with some Irish locals.  The next morning we all went out for a Irish breakfast and I tried black pudding for the first time. It is a traditional Irish dish that is made with pigs blood, I believe, so I told myself if it's a tradition of Ireland I had to try some. It was actually pretty good it was kinda like a stuffing, I would totally get it again. After breakfast we headed out to Blarney Castle.  Again it's hard to describe the beauty of it so I post pictures. :)  I love being able to take in the history surrounding me in this country. It amazes me that we are able to walk through these castles and see the land that those who once lived here saw. It was at the top of the Castle where I kissed the famous Blarney Stone and was granted the gift of gab or eloquence. The legend is that the Lord of the castle asked a goddess to help him win in court and she told him to kiss the first stone he came to on his walk there. He kissed the stone and won his case. He took that stone home with him and had it built into the Castle. So now all those who kiss the stone are suppose to be granted the gift of eloquence just as he was.  We also walked the wishing steps, which are steps that if you can walk up and down them with your eyes closed while thinking of a wish the entire time that wish the come true within the next year. The story behind this one is that there was a witch that took firewood from the Castle using these steps and as a payment she had to grant all the castle visitors a wish. I successfully walked up and down them with my eyes closed so we'll have to see if my wish comes true! After a couple hours on the castle grounds we headed back into Cork where we had dinner and headed back home to Limerick after a long two days. I think we were all passed out on the bus for the hour drive. Even though it was a long two days and the weather was kinda crummy it was a awesome experience to take Ireland in on our own without a guide by our side. It made it feel a little more real and a little more like we were actually living in Ireland.

Missing Dad's Cooking

Well I have been in Ireland for a little over two weeks now and one of the things I am missing the most from back home is Dad's cooking. My first two weeks here I was living off pasta, ham sandwiches, apples, lettuce, and peanut butter. I was so sick of having sandwiches and pasta for dinner! So when I went grocery shopping this last Sunday the majority of my basket was filled with meat! At home I am so use to having some sort of meat every single day; either beef, chicken, pork, or venison (which I think I miss the most cause I know I can't get any of that here). Needless to say I think I was suffering withdrawals from not having enough meat in my diet. So I bought myself some chicken breasts, pork chops, hamburger meat, and beef tips. I was so excited that I would finally get to make some meals with my favorite food group in them-meat. So Monday night I made myself some mashed potatoes with beef tips and gravy. It looked just like something dad would make. Then Tuesday I made rice and chicken, which was delicious. Last night was tacos and tonight I'm making mashed potatoes and a pork chop. None of it so far as been anywhere near as good as Dad's cooking but I'm trying and I'm thinking I may need to have a skype date with Dad soon so that he can give me some tips on how to make some things.
Other then being excited about finally getting some good meals, I am also now into my second week of classes. My Irish folklore class seems interesting, we learned about a festival that just took place yesterday called the Festival of Brigid. It signifies the beginning of spring and planting season for the farmers. I'm kinda excited about my Irish music class cause I'm going to get to learn how to Irish dance, which is cool. My Global Economy class however is not exciting. I have a feeling I'll struggle in that one just cause I don't really care all too much for economics, but it's a class I have to take for one of my general education requirements back at St. Norbert. I'm still loving my equine and Ag classes. In equine we are learning about some diseases that horses are affected by. And in Ag we are learning about animal welfare and will be moving onto nutrition soon.
Besides classes I haven't been up to much. I did find out that we get free membership to the gym here so me and Marlo went and worked out in the fitness center on Tuesday. It felt good to get a workout in, although I had to use the eliptical machine which I don't care for too much but I can't run due to my shins so I'm stuck using that. I hope I'll get over there at least once a week if not more to get some sort of workout. Although the smell isn't too pleasant in there. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet or not but I don't think the Irish are users of deodorant, it can be found in the stores but apparently they don't know how to use it.
We've made really good friends with the group that I'm neighbors with. We go and hang out at their apartment a lot. We all get along really well and have lots of fun together. The other night we sorta had a girl's night. We played some cards and Marlo tried teaching us all how to dance. Oh and on Tuesday night we all went to a pub on campus where an Irish band was playing. I think they were just some students that had a band, but they were really good. It was the first time I really felt like I was in a Irish pub.
Ok I think that's all I've got for now. We might be taking a trip down to Cork this weekend so if we do I'll be sure to post an update after that with some pictures.