No, wait, yes I do.
SCHOOL GOT HARD.
After a blissful semester of minimal homework (I only had homework in my O'Connell House classes, so I was essentially only taking two classes...) I was met with tons of 3,000 word essays worth half (or all of) my grade, tons of friends coming to visit, and finals fast approaching. Stressful as it was, it was an absolutely wonderful semester. Exams have just begun (I had my first one yesterday...it went fine. I think.) and they won't be over until May 24th, but my family is coming to visit on May 18th, thank goodness.
But anyways, in case you want a little synopsis of what my semester was like, let me break it down for you.....
FEBRUARY
Saturday, February 12th:
Mike, Mary, Josh, Alice, Adriana, and I spent a lovely morning at the Temple Bar food market. It's become a Saturday morning tradition--I go have a bread bowl of sweet potato soup, or a smoothie, or a crepe, and I buy a loaf of soda bread at "The Bakery."
After our trip to the food market, we headed to a southern seaside town called Bray. I actually might have liked it even more than Howth! There was a lovely little beach, and a hiking area just like at Howth. Except this time...we took the road less travelled. After enjoying a leisurely hike up the sunny hill, we saw a little path making its way UP, the hill. Like, straight up. Instead of going round and round the hill gradually, we decided to save time and destroy Clare's lungs and hike up at an around a 70 degree angle. I was doing alright at first...in the middle/front of the pack, working my legs hard, enjoying the sunlight. But you know what? Being 6 feet tall with freakishly long legs has its disadvantages. Turns out I don't have the best balance ever. Thus began the hands and knees portion of the journey. I was doing alright...but then I realized our group was just barely halfway up the hill. Lungs started to burn. Breathing was a bit difficult. I wish I could tell you that I didn't sit down on the hill and pretend to tie my shoes several times...but I did. Thankfully, I made it to the top alive. And boy, was it worth it.
The sun was beginning to set, casting a wonderful golden light over our triumphant finish to the hike. At the top, I felt like we were miles and miles away from Dublin, not just a mere twenty minutes. Lovely green Irish hills, and a huge, beautiful white cross looking over the town below. Truly a spectacular view. Afterwards, we headed back to Dublin and had a pint at one of my favorite pubs right next to Trinity, called Kennedys. We ended the night scarfing down some of the most delicious bread and most creamy butter I have ever tasted. Ireland is not helping out my diet....
February 14th: Valentines Day
Siomha and I figured that all the single girls from ND in Ireland would want something to do, and all the girls in relationships would be missing their boyfriends from back home. So we had ALL the girls over and made girly drinks and watched He's Just Not That Into You. The room looked fantastically girly. It was a really fun night. However, I kept thinking about everyone back at ND who was at Chicago (the PEMCo show, not the city). I definitely felt nostalgic for PEMCo and everyone back at Notre Dame...
Friday, February 18th: Joe Edmonds arrived in Dublin
I met up with Jedmonds at the O'Connell house. What a joyful reunion it was!! After some tea and digestives with some of the O'Connell house staff, we grabbed a little lunch at Cornucopia. After wandering around Dublin for a bit, we were feeling a bit cold and blustery, and decided to head inside early and play a little drinking game to The King's Speech...drinking every time he stutters (we're allowed to, since we're stutterers...right?). Later that night, Mary and Kacey came over from UCD and we all made dinner. It was so delicious. Almost too delicious. We all ate far too much of the pasta dish, and then WAY too much of the dessert. When it came time to go out, Joe and Siomha and I could barely have one pint. So. Full. We ended the night being lazy in my room and listening to music.
Saturday February 19th: Trip North
Joe took a bus to Cork to see Flan pretty early in the morning, while Siomha and I headed to the O'Connell house for the trip north. Not too much to tell about this trip--we did practically the same itinerary as the Trip North last semester, and to be honest, it felt like a cheap imitation of the original. We went to Belfast, spent the night at the same hostel in Balintoy, then headed to the Giant's Causeway, and ended in Dingle. The only big difference (and therefore, one of my favorite parts of the trip) was the great night of karaoke in Balintoy. Last semester, the Karaoke bar had been closed. But this semester, things got a little silly. We even got Joe Stranix up on the stage to sing Build Me Up Buttercup. However, just like last semester, KWhelan led a few students out to the beach in Balintoy to enjoy the dark, beautiful night listening to the waves crashing against the huge rocks on the beach. And again, just like last time, we all sang songs on the beach. Unfortunately, this time, the singing did not begin quite as organically as it did last semester, and it was therefore a bit less magical. But when Kevin Whelan demands singing, he gets singing. It was still a lovely night, but I felt incredibly nostalgic for last semester, when it was just a few of us on the beach, and we spent 2 hours down there, just wandering around and looking at the stars and talking about music. The people I went down on the beach with last semester became some of my best friends in the program, but I don't even remember who was down there this time. I'm sure I would have loved it if it was the first time...but I don't know. I guess I was a bit jaded. Never try to recreate something that was unique and unexplainably perfect. Lesson learned.
February 20-22nd: The Return of Jedmonds
I returned home late Sunday and discovered a facebook message from Joe informing me that he would be arriving in mere minutes at the Front Gate of Trinity. Now, charming as 400 year old Trinity is, they have some ridiculous rules, old fashioned administration processes, and a nasty habit of closing the front gate whenever they feel like it. They generally close it on Saturday and Sunday evenings (why? no one knows. That's just the way it is) but they'll change it at random, just to confuse and anger their students. I pictured poor little Joe, standing outside the locked Front Gate, holding his violin in the rain, wondering if he'd be homeless for the night. The side entrance to Trinity is extremely hard to find if you're a first-timer--nowhere does it says "Entrance to Trinity," but instead has a huge sign saying "Douglas Hyde Gallery." Pretty confusing. So, I threw a note on my apartment door begging him to buzz up for apartment 9.7, while I ran to the Front Gate and began running all around Trinity College trying to find him. By the time I got back to my apartment, the note was gone, and thankfully Joe had found his way into Trinity.
He found the BACK entrance, and, seeing the guard (who is completely useless--he doesn't provide any sort of security), stood outside the entrance pretending to have an intimate conversation with "me" on his itouch. Eventually he got into campus and found his way to my apartment. I have no clue how he pulled that off, but he did. That's Joe Edmonds for ya.The next day we went to Kilmainham Gaol. After wandering around the area and having a little cup o' tea at The Lime Tree, we got into the Gaol and saw all the fascinating history inside. I'm so glad I was in Kevin Whelan's Irish History class last semester. I loved seeing all the jail cells of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. It was pretty eerie standing in the courtyard where the leaders were all shot. Definitely a worthwhile Dublin attraction if you're into Irish history. Afterwards, we took a little visit to the beautiful Museum of Modern Art. We couldn't go inside, but the museum looked like a beautiful castle, and as golden hour began to approach, we skipped along the path leading to the castle-like museum and enjoyed the sunshine.
After a night at the movies with Rachel and her friend A.J. (a movie which Joe and I enjoyed far more than anyone else...) we ended the night with a little violin playing back at my apartment (I did not play any violin. I think you know who played the violin). The next morning, Joe and I grabbed crepes at Lemon Crepe, and then, sadly, he left Dublin for the airport. I spent the rest of the day in the library, feeling lonely and nostalgic for Joe, even though he had only left a few hours before.
But I wasn't lonely for long.
February 26th: Shannon Elizabeth Eagen
My best friend came to Ireland!!! We spent the first couple days wandering Dublin, exploring record shops on grafton street, partying at UCD, having sex and the city girls nights with Siomha, watching the oscars....etc etc etc.
The tour itself was interesting (though a little overdramatic) and the gravity bar was spectacular, but I could barely drink half of my Guinness. I don't know what happened to me!
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| I know. It's pathetic. |
But since then, I've developed an aversion to Guinness, or beer in general. I actually felt a bit nauseous as I tried to drink my pint. Despite the failed pint, lots of fun was had.
After conquering Ireland, we headed to Sevilla, Spain, aka heaven on earth. Easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
After wandering the sunlit streets for a while, we met up with Jessica, our charming tour guide from California that worked for a the Sevilla tour company, Pancho tours. GREAT decision. One of my favorite places on the tour was Plaza de Espana.
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| Plaza de Espana |
The next day we went to the top of the bell tower, La Giralda, of la Catedral de Sevilla to see some incredible views of the city.
After, we visited the Alcazar, which was originally a Moorish fort, but eventually became a palace that was passed around between the many conquerers of the ancient city. Also incredibly lovely.
We spent the evening watching some Flamenco dancing and going on a pub crawl hosted by the same tour company that took us on that fantastic tour the day before. However, I lost my wallet (or it was stolen, I'm not really sure) so I spent much of the next day in tears frantically calling my brother and my parents to try to cancel all of my credit cards.
After that final, stressful day in Sevilla, Shannon and I were ready to head to Faro, Portugal.
Quiet, white-walled, English-speaking, blue-skyed Faro was just what Shannon and I needed.We wandered around the little town all day, exploring the medieval, walled city.
In the afternoon, we headed to a beach just a bus ride away from Faro.
We probably should have switched the order of those events, since it was MUCH more warm and sunny in the morning than it was in the afternoon.
As blustery and chilly as the beach was by the time we got there, it was wonderful feeling sand under our feet for the first time since the summer.
After an evening of Chinese food and chatting (yeah, I know, Chinese food in Spain is a little weird, but we had to obey the craving), we went to bed early in preparation for our flight back to Dublin the next day.
But then, sadly, after one last lovely day in Dublin, Shannon had to fly home.
Okay, well that wraps up February. On to March. And then April. (I'm really pathetic, aren't I?)
I need to do a little studying and housework today, but I'll try to get up March by tomorrow.
Thanks to whoever is still reading this, and I'm sorry I let ya down for three months....
Slainte,
Clare Mairead
Clare, I think you have just made Heidi very happy! (You made me happy too.)
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