Day 11: My Feet Hurt

So silly me went on a 4-hour walking tour today. Ouchie! But today was the only day I was going to be able to do it because they start at 11 a.m. every day and I am usually in class. It is this company that offers free tours in most major European cities and I did the Edinburgh and London ones this past Christmas and loved them. Today was just as good. You really learn a whole lot and this tour is aimed at younger people so you get to learn the funny stories too. And what I learned is that the Irish are funny people and half of what they do and their history just doesn't make any sense! But I had a really good time!

Day 10: The Irish Love Their Round-Abouts

Today I went to Cork and it was the first day of real Irish weather.. aka cold and rainy! I miss the sunshine already. Anyway, we took the bus (its cheaper!) which took about 4 hours with all the stops. One thing I learned is that the Irish love their round-abouts which are soo annoying! I really want to introduce overpass exchanges! So once we got to Cork we just walked around a bit and stumbled upon the most AMAZING donut shop ever. We were drawn in by the smell and the guy made us our donuts fresh in front of us! We then went out to Blarney Castle which was soo pretty. Because of our time crunch to catch the bus back to Dublin I didn't get to kiss the stone but I figure I already have the gift of gab so I'm okay!

Day 9: Movie Road

Today we went on a day trip to County Wicklow and Glendalough as a class. It was so much fun. This was the first time I saw how I've always pictured Ireland in my head. We were split into two vans and our van was definitely the party van thanks to our driver Tony. He played us some good ole Irish music! It was also really cool because the road we drove down drove right by where Braveheart was filmed and where Saving Private Ryan and P.S. I Love You had scenes shot. I sat on the bridge from P.S. I Love You!! (see below) All in all it was a beautiful day!

the bridge from P.S. I Love You

Day 8

Sorry, no cool title today. We didn't really do anything. We had class then went to a meeting with the Irish Health Services Executive who we are working with for our class project. After that we just came home and hung out at the dorm until bed. I know, so exciting! I guess not every day can be overly amazing.

Day 7: Boston College Boys

So today we got our group assignment for our class and yay I'm with Torey, Sally, Maia, and Lindsay. We are all in 378 so our project is going to rock! After class we had a site visit to Edelman PR which was kinda cool. We learned that nobody here trusts the government or media or businesses so that sucks just a bit.

After Edelman we popped into "our" pub, The Wellington and had a pint. When we got home we headed down to Chris' room to meet the BC guys who were super cool. We all played cards and just hung out. I am now reconsidering my parents' requests for me to go to Boston College for grad school. :)

Day 6: Tree, Catolic, Potato

So today was the first day of classes which was pretty uneventful. We were only there for about an hour then I spent the rest of the day at the beach in Bray. It was so beautiful down there! The water was so blue and there were green rolling hills surrounding us. There has not been a drop of rain since I got here..... and now tomorrow it will start pouring!

Anyway so to explain my title for today the 4 of us went into this tiny shop on a back road in Bray and each got a shirt with something written in Gaelic! Mine has the lyrics to "Jump Around" which the shop keeper played for me -- Léim Thart! Anyway so we were discussing the lack of pronounciation of the "heches" in the Irish accent.. like "three" is "tree" and "Catholic" is "Catolic" and then as he is thinking about it saying the words out loud he goes "Tree, Catolic, Potato." We just look at him and are all like there is no "H" in potato! You probably had to be there but it was hilarious!

After we got back from Bray, I worked on my homework and did my laundry. Big oops was that I accidentally washed my bus pass so we'll have to see tomorrow if it still works since you have to scan the bar code.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Day 5: Sports Bras Have Not Made It To Ireland Yet

Today we moved into the dorms. It's good because now I feel more settled and I have my own space to unpack and everything but it also means we are now outside the city. We didn't really do much, it is a Bank Holiday here so everything is closed so we all just stayed on campus and hung out in the dorms. We did go check out the Women's Mini-Marathon (really a 10k) that ran by campus which was kinda funny. It's the largest women's even in the world and men sometimes dress up like women and run in it. We also figured out that sports bras haven't made it here yet. I mean just watching them hurt sometimes! The few women that were wearing them we figured they were foreign. Some women weren't wearing any sort of bra at all!! Ouch!

Well that's about it for today. We have our first day of class tomorrow so we'll see how that goes...