Thanksgiving and Londontown

Thanksgiving away from home was actually a little bit harder than I thought it would be. I've always been in HUGE Christmas fan, and honestly Thanksgiving was just a fun little part of the lead-up. But on the day of, I really missed the parade, eating zucchini bread and doing massages with Norah, being able to go to MEGA 80s for the first time ever, Pat and his friends hanging out at the house after football, seeing all the family, mom's delicious cooking, etc. Luckily, the Notre Dame center knew how homesick we would all be, and they prepared a truly wonderful evening.

Some of my favorite girls of the program

We had a magnificent four course dinner at the fancy shmancy Merrion Hotel.  Mr. Naughton, one of the owners of the hotel and a huge part of the ND community (he and Dr. Keough bought the O'Connell house for Notre Dame) was there. We had a beautiful little mass before dinner, during which our makeshift choir performed Deer's Cry. I think it sounded pretty good! At least I hit all the crazy high notes. We sang it AGAIN (after stuffing ourselves with salad, pumpkin soup, turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, soda bread, and apple pie) as a part of the post-dinner entertainment. It was a really wonderful night.  I forgot that I was missing Thanksgiving with my family, at least for a few hours, and I really appreciated the Notre Dame family. Yes, I said it. Notre Dame family.  Cheesy, but it really felt like it!  I'm especially fond of the ND-Dublin program. It's going to be hard to see all the kids in the program I've grown close with leave, but I'm thankful that I get another semester in Dublin with with Siomha, Mike, the funny O'Connell personalities of Joe Stranix, Kevin Whelan, and Eimear, along with a whole new gang of Notre Dame kids. I sang the Notre Dame fight song with everyone whole-heartedly. The only downside to the evening was the lack of Thanksgiving leftovers. Unfortunately, the Merrion Hotel did not box up any delicious food for us to take home.

Trinity kids--the dynamic trio.
 (I feel I need to explain this picture. Mike has a theory that at any given time,
 person 1 is laughing at person 2, and person 3 is laughing at both of them. In most cases,
I'm person 1, Mike is person 2, and Siomha is person 3. We think we're really funny.)

I raced home to skype with my family--so much fun! And such wonderful news from Meghan!!!!!! I got to see everyone's smiling faces (including Ollie!) for the first time since I've been abroad. They finally installed a camera! It was good to see the house--I can't wait to be home by the fire. I felt so happy and fulfilled going to bed that night. Seeing them was better than I thought it would be, but unfortunately it did make me feel even more homesick.

I left for the airport around noon, since my flight wasn't until 2pm. Thank goodness I got such a late flight--I was up so late packing and cleaning! Upon arriving in London, I made my way to Farringdon, where the ND-flats are located. I was going to stay at my friend Matt's (one of the canadian guys I met in Edinburgh), but for reasons that are still very unclear to me, he got evicted! So, thankfully, my friend Anne Kaifes offered me a couch in her flat at the ND-center. Getting to the flats was a struggle, since the direct train from Gatwick airport to Farringdon closed just minutes before I arrived--apparently a car hit London Bridge, interrupting the train route. Awesome!! So, I had to do a lot of messing around on trains and the tube to get there. It all worked out ok. That night I went to a Jonsi concert with my friends Kyle and Karyn. Jonsi, for those of you less cool than me (that was a joke), was the lead singer in the band Sigur Ros. Apparently, he's working on a solo career now. And he's doing quite well! The show was incredible. Very cool, otherworldly, energetic vocals. Trippy lights/background affects. I recorded a little video of the show that you can check out here. 

The next day Anne and her lovely friend Erin and I wandered around Portobello market in Notting Hill. I LOVED it! I wanted to buy about a million things, but I settled on a pair of light purple leather gloves (12 pounds) and a new wallet (7 pounds). Not bad. Very pleased with my thrifty purchases. I wanted to search around Notting Hill for the Travel Book Shop (it exists, apparently!) but I resisted. Next we headed to Hyde Park for a Christmas market. It was so beautiful! Although it was much more than your traditional Christmas market.... a Christmas extravaganza would be a more appropriate description. There was a Christmas-themed haunted house, roller coasters, a terrifying talking moose, and a gigantic statue of Santa. Is it just me, or has Christmas gotten a little crazy? We got hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts (on an open fire...) to keep warm.

Anne and a terrifying Santa

It was already getting dark by 4 o'clock, so we hurried over to Parliament so I could see Big Ben, Westminster, and the Thames in the fading light. Spectacular. After seeing the sites in so many movies (namely Peter Pan and WINNING LONDON), it was so surreal to see it all in real life. I went out with Anne and her friends that night, and I have to admit that London nightlife is much more lively than Dublin's. That being said, I prefer the pub scene of Dublin over the clubs and Time Square-like activity of Pacadilly Circus.

Sunday morning, I braved the tubes by myself and met up with a tips-only tour group at 11am in Hyde park. I LOVE the New Europe walking tours. I highly recommend them. In a mere 2 hours, I was able to marvel at/listen to stories about: Buckingham palace, Trafalgar Square, the guards, Green Park, St. James' Palace, statue after statue, and monument after monument. Around 1 o'clock, when the cold had permanently numbed my toes, I ducked out of the tour early (after tipping my guide, of course) and hurried back to beautiful Trafalgar Square to meet Nicole. We made our way to Herrods, the famous London department store. So decadent and Christmasy, packed with shoppers and sparkling with jewels and twinkle lights. After exploring for about 20 minutes, Nicole and I made a fatal error: we separated. In the maze-like Herrods, overflowing with people, the odds of us finding each other again were slim to none. I waited in a nearly 20 minute line for the bathroom, and when I arrived at the designated meeting spot, there was no Nicole in sight. Uh. Oh. After ducking my head into random rooms for 15 minutes, it was nearly 3pm, and I wanted to go to mass at Westminster Abbey at 4. So, tragically, I left. My phone had no service, not to mention it had about 50 cents left on it. After attempting to call Nicole about 40 times, I FINALLY a call got through. Unfortunately our schedules weren't going to match up, since she wanted to shop and head home around 5:30, and I wanted to go to mass.  So I raced to the tubes and met Anne in Leicester Square.

Beautiful Trafalgar Square! 

The Westminster Abbey mass was the absolute highlight of the trip. It was the first sunday of advent, so it was a very special hour and a half long candlelight mass with an entire boy's choir. I wish I could have taken pictures inside, but I probably would have gotten kicked out. It was so magical--the entire congregation holding long, white candles, all the lights in the Abbey dimmed. The clergy and choir stood at the entrance to the church, millions of miles from the alter at the other end of the massive building. After the opening songs and readings, they slowly made their way down the aisle in the most grand procession I've ever seen. After a few moments, Anne and I realized that the congregation around us was standing and moving to follow them. We hadn't seen nothin yet! We had been sitting in just the first half of the Abbey! The alter, the choir section, and the "arms" of the cross-like body of the church had been completely hidden from our view. Anne and I followed the congregation in awe, taking care that our candle wax did not drip on the floor. We passed beneath a spectacular, ornate archway in candlelight, the clergy and choir boys looking idyllic on either side of us, and settled in the arms of the church for the rest of mass.  The readings, the music, the candles, the ornate Abbey itself--what a magical experience! As we filtered out of the great church at the end of mass, Anne and I peeked around hopefully, just in case the queen or the princes had been hiding somewhere. After all, it WAS the first sunday of advent and it WAS Westminster Abbey! But, unfortunately, we didn't see anybody. Maybe next time....

Anne and I spent the night being lazy and attempting to do a little homework. The entire tube system was shut down, due to a workers' strike, and the Farringdon train was still down due to the accident on Friday. SO, I took a bus at 6am Monday morning to Victoria station downtown, where I caught the Gatwick Express to the airport. Luckily, everything worked out. The bus trip took far less time than I expected, and the Gatwick Express was up and running. I was about 2 hours early for my flight! Better safe than sorry.

Now I'm home in Dublin, with two tests and two papers looming ahead of me. I'll get it all done... really, I will. I still remember how to be a student.  I think.

In other news, it snowed about an inch or so last night in Dublin. CRAZINESS. People are freaking out. Snowball fights galore, snowmen in Front Square, rumors that we're going to have a snow day. I find it all very funny. A snow day? Are you KIDDING me, Ireland?? Apparently there's only three snowplows  in all of Ireland, so the city shuts down if they get much snow. I think it would take about 4 feet of snow for Notre Dame to call a snow day. Dublin looks like a little winter wonderland--Grafton street and Trinity especially look so picturesque.  However, I have a feeling this lovely white dusting will look like brown slush within 24 hours....

16 days and counting,
Clare Mairead