St. Patty' Day!!!

Well this last weekend I got to have the ultimate St. Patty's Day experience! It is still surreal that I spent St. Patty's in Dublin, Ireland! Our adventure really started on Friday night when we headed up to Dublin for the weekend. We left Limerick after I was finished with my afternoon class, half the group went earlier in the day to spend some extra time in the city but you know me I couldn't skip class :). We got to Dublin city around 6:00 and decided we would get some diner before trying to find our way to the hotel. We ended up eating at this nice little bistro, where I had a delicious ham and cheese sandwich with chips. After diner it was time to find our way to the hotel where the rest of the group was already waiting for us, and this is where our adventure really began. All us girls wanted to just catch a cab cause we knew that would be the easiest and quickest way, and the other girls did the same thing and said the price wasn't that bad. Well Colin and his friend Conor refused to take a cab and said that we should figure out the Luas (it's a tram that goes throughout the city and outskirts) so that way we could use it on Saturday. So we finally gave in and decided to try out the Luas. We asked some security guards nearby if they knew if there was a stop for Bewley's Hotel and they said there was and gave us the name. One of the girls that we met up with in Dublin said she had taken it earlier in the day and no one had checked any tickets the entire time she was on there, so since we were in a hurry we could get away with just quick catching the tram and not having to wait for the next one to come. So we all got on and were off, well about half way through our ride some gentlemen got on and began checking tickets. Oh no! Naturally we played the stupid Americans, cause really we were dumb for not getting tickets. At first the guy was really mean and was going to make us all pay a pretty heafty fine but then Michelle asked him if he could just give us a break, that we had just gotten into the city and were still figuring out how things worked and that we were getting off at the stop the tram was at right then. So he graciously let us get off and pointed out where to get tickets for the next time. We got lucky! Well then once we finally reached the stop the security guards had told us would take us to Bewley's we walked up to the Hotel only to find out that there are 5 Bewley's in and around the city and this one was not ours! Finally a cab was called and we arrived at the correct hotel! Needless to say we blamed this entire little adventure on Colin because he is the one who refused to take a cab in the first place and if we would have just gotten a cab right away we would have avoided the almost fine, arriving at the wrong hotel, and then ending up having to take an even further cab ride to the right hotel. By the time we got to the hotel it was late and everyone decided to just chill in the hotel bar and talk, then we all headed to bed relatively early since we knew Saturday would be a big day.
St. Patty's Day we were all up and ready to start the festivities by 8 in the morning. We started the morning off the Irish way with a drink and some good Irish breakfast. After breakfast we headed into town early so that we could get a good spot for the parade. We stood waiting for 3 hours but in the end it was totally worth it to say that we watched the St. Patty's Parade in Dublin. The parade is a whole different story. It was the strangest thing I have even seen. They had the traditional marching bands and army and those sorts but then they had these incredibly random groups of people dressed in all sorts of weird costumes. The theme this year was science which sort of explained some of the exhibit but it was more like science on acid. We could not figure out the point to any of the groups, what they were advertising or suppose to be for, we had no clue. I'll post pictures so you can see for yourself. Anyways, after standing in the cold for a couple hours watching this trippy parade we decided to go warm ourselves up with buying some sweatshirts and drinks :) The first pub we went to was a lower nightclub type that was dark with black lights and had life music playing. We had good craic dancing there for a couple hours. We even broke out into our Irish reel that we learned in our dance class! Once we decided it was time to find a new pub we walked outside only to realize that it was still mid-day out! It was so weird having spent the last couple hours in the dark drinking to walk outside and realize it was only 3:30 in the afternoon! But alas it was onto the next pub! They had life music there as well, just about every pub in town had life music. We spent a little while there and then it was on to pub number 3. We walked in and the place was so packed that we decided we weren't going to stay long. Some of us went out onto the street to wait for the others to finish there drinks and that's when we met an Irish Packer fan! An Irish guy came up to us and asked where we were all from and when me and Marlo told him we were from Wisconsin he got so excited and asked if we were Packers fans and when we told him we were he gave us this big hug and started talking about how he had been a Packers fan since he was a wee boy. What are the chances of finding such a big Irish Packers fan lol. It was now around 6:00 and time to get some food in our stomachs. We found this little pizza place and all got down for some noms. After eating about half of us decided that we didn't want to spend anymore money in town and would rather head back to the hotel and just drink our own alcohol. The other half still wanted to stay so we split up, with 6 of us girls going back. We got back to the hotel probably around 7:30 and decided that we wanted desert! So we went to the hotel restaurant where they told us we could only get the desert of the day and they proceeded to bring it out to us without even asking. It was the horrible cheesecake like desert, it tasted so bad. Somehow we got off without having to pay for it though so it was ok. Since that desert was a disappointment we went to the hotel lounge and ordered some good desert. I had an apple pie that was amazing, or maybe it just tasted so good cause I was feeling pretty good :). After desert our initial intentions were to drink some more up in one of our rooms but the lounge had a guy playing live music and instead we just sat and talked and listened to him for like an hour while we all sobered up. At the end of the night we were all in our rooms getting ready for bed at 9:30 on St. Patty's day, but to be fair we were going since 8 that morning. I was perfectly happy with how the day went. We had a good morning, a good time watching the really weird parade, and an awesome time in the pubs. Oh, I almost forgot besides drinking all day we also spent the day doing Ellen Degeneres' Dance dare by doing Irish jigs behind unsuspecting people. We took lots of videos of it and intend to send it in to Ellen telling her that we were thinking of her in Dublin, Ireland on St. Patty's Day and that we even seen her assistant Andy in a very short green skirt in the parade and cheered for her. So who knows maybe if we actually get it sent in she will put us on her show! 
Sunday was spent shopping on Grafton St. in Dublin, which is the main shopping center of the city. The streets was filled with people! There were a couple different entertainers either dancing, singing, or do some sort of tricks. I also got to love up on a beagle! She was so cute and reminded me of Candy so of course I was giving her lots of loving. She was a shelter dog that they had there along with two others. Adorable I tell you, I wanted to take her home to Limerick with me! After walking Grafton St. we decided to go check out the Book of Kells and the Old Library at Trinity College. The Book of Kells is a book of the four gospels that includes very intricate design and portrait pages. The book was believed to be written by monks in Scotland in the 9th century. Along with this book there were also multiple other books that came from around that century. It was very cool to be able to see such old pieces and parts of history. We also seen the long room of the Old Library. This room is 65 meters long with bookcases from one end to the other floor to ceiling. All the wood is this gorgeous dark wood, it was built between 1712 and 1732. Not only was every bookcase filled with old books from that time period, at the end of each case was a sculpture of some famous man of history, including figures like Socrates. The collections of sculptures began in 1743.  Not only was this room just simply gorgeous it was also used in the Harry Potter films. In the films this room is was used for the filming of the restricted section. We couldn't take any pictures in there but I did buy a postcard with a photo of it so I could have proof of how beautiful the room was. After a day filled with walking around Dublin we were ready to head back home to Limerick.
It was an awesome weekend and it's still amazing to think that I spent it in Ireland! I wouldn't have changed any part of the weekend, except for maybe the part where we all were freezing waiting for the parade to start. But it was all some great craic and I don't think this St. Patty's Day will ever be topped!!

Me with Nina waiting for the parade to start <3

normal parade participants

these horses were ginormous!

and here begins the weird parade participants.

we really didn't get the point of any of the following groups.

can anyone tell me what those white things are suppose to be?

i'm pretty sure these were oompa loompas

Ring of Kerry

So this weekend me and Marlo both were dying to get out of Limerick. We have stayed in on campus for the last two weekends because of Charity week, so this weekend we needed to go somewhere.  Mostly everyone else was busy doing papers for a class they are all in so it was just me, Marlo, and Marlo's roommate Colin with his girlfriend and friend that were here visiting.  At first we weren't sure if we were going to be able to find something for a day trip planning it all so last minute (Friday night, going Saturday morning!).  We were able to find a tour of the Ring of Kerry that left right from Limerick and still had spots open, so we booked it! We ended up seeing some of the most beautiful scenery, the trip was well worth it. We made a couple stops along the coast overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, including a stop at Dingle Bay and the town of Waterville.  At one of the stops overlooking the ocean there was a man who sat there all day with his pet lambs, a baby goat, and a little dog.  This guy just sat there with all his animals playing around him, none of them ever wandering too far.  So as if the gorgeous scenery wasn't enough to make the day amazing, on top of that we got to hold some baby lambs and a baby goat! They were all sooooo cute! I could have stayed up at that lookout sight all day just staring out over the beautiful landscape and playing with the baby animals! After stopping along the coast we made our way back down into Killarney National Park. One stop was at a point called "Ladies View". This is the spot that it is said that when Queen Elizabeth visited the island her ladies in waiting would go up there and sit.  It was a pretty view overlooking the lakes leading down into the city of Killarney.  Our last stop was at Torc Waterfall in the park.  We got off the bus and began walking into the woods, along a path leading to the falls. This walk seriously felt like we had entered some magical world. The trees in that woods were covered in the greenest moss I have ever seen, and they were covered from roots to their very tips.  Walking through that canopy of trees I felt like I was in a fairytale.  The falls themselves were breathtaking, especially with all the green surrounding them. I'll post some pictures so you all can see for yourselves, but honestly pictures do not do this country justice. If you want to see the true beauty of Ireland do yourself a favor and book a trip here at some point in your life, trust me it is well worth it!
Other then being able to get out of the city and enjoy some gorgeous scenery, my week was rather standard. Classes are going well, I'm keeping busy with doing lab reports and readings, and coming up I'll have some papers to write. Not gonna lie I do have a case of senioritis though, and being in this gorgeous country known as Ireland I think only makes it worse!

Dingle Bay

Beautiful view

this view was seriously breathtaking

thought I'd include a picture of me in case you were all forgetting what I look like :)

Sooooooooo CUTE!!!

Ladies View

So GREEN!!

Torc Falls

Charity Week

Alright so it's been a little while since I've updated you all on what I've been up to. The past two weeks have mainly consisted of doing things right on-campus. With our St. Patty's Day trip to Dublin coming up we all decided to just stay on-campus for the last couple weekends, which worked out nicely since this last week was what is known as Rag or Charity Week.  But before I get to Charity Week I would like to tell you about Pancake Tuesday. Let's see I guess it would be two weeks ago now that we were able to experience Pancake Tuesday.  This holiday takes place on Fat Tuesday or the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Prior to that day we had been receiving emails about these dinners on campus serving pancakes and we just thought it was something fun the campus did, however then in one of our classes that day our lecturer commented on how he was going out for Pancake Tuesday with his niece. It was then that we realized this was not just some fun campus activity but a nation wide celebration that everyone looks forward to. When I asked my Irish roommate about it he couldn't believe that we didn't do this sort of thing in America. I told him no we do not dedicate a day solely to eating tons of pancakes. I asked where this all started and from what I have been told it goes back to when people stopped eating eggs, flour, and milk for lent.  So before those things went bad they had to use them all up and they decided to do that by making lots of pancakes; and since then the Tuesday before lent starts is known as Pancake Tuesday where everyone eats pancakes for at least one of their meals if not more.  We did partake in this celebration by going out and getting some pancakes for dinner and they were delicious.  I believe Pancake Tuesday was really the only excitement of that week.
This past week we have been partaking in Charity Week. Every college campus in Ireland has a week where they put on lots of different events and all money raised during this week goes to a chosen charity.  We started the week off by going to a UV Paint party at a night club in town. The club was lit up with all black lights and they had people going around splattering UV paint on you that glowed under the lights. By the end of the night our faces and upper bodies were covered in paint! It was a good way to start off our Rag week. Each day during the day they had all sorts of things going on in the campus courtyard, like trampolines, a bull riding machine, beer pong tournaments, and lots more.  Most Irish students just don't go to lectures during this week and attend all the different activities and spend the day drinking. You all know me though, I couldn't skip class if my life depended on it so I did not attend any of the daytime events and just stuck to the night ones. Tuesday night was the Farmer's Ball at the campus pub, Stables.  We all dressed in whatever we had that was closest to farming attire, I wore my rain-boots or as they would call them here, wellies.  Wednesday night was UL Fest.  They had something going on at both pubs on campus as well as a life band set up in the campus courtyard between the two pubs.  Most of the night was spent dancing and having some good craic.  Thursday night we decided to take a break from all the festivities and stay in for the night. Then we ended off Rag week with international night at Stables.  All us girls got dressed up in skirts and they even straightened my hair because they all wanted to see what it would look like and how long it was straight, lol. They were all pretty surprised at how long it got once it was straight. We had a fun night of dancing and then had to walk home in the pouring rain, but it was still a night for the books. There is rarely a time when I go out with all my friends here that we don't end up having tons of good craic.  Yes, Charity week does sound like just one big excuse for all the students to basically be drunk every day of the week but all money they raise does go to a good cause. Each night event has a cover charge and all other donations and funds raised go to the chosen charities.
But yeah Charity week is definitely not something that would happen back at home. I mean here they cancel lectures so students can attend events, they move due dates of papers and assignments, they pretty much expect the students to be out drinking instead of in class.
That has pretty much been the only excitement for me in the last two weeks. In the coming weeks I'm looking forward to doing some more traveling around Ireland, we are hoping to get to Belfast at some point and we will be going to Dublin for St. Patty's Day.  We are also trying to find weekends to plan trips to London and Scotland, I'm really excited for those two trips. Till then that's all I have for now.