Kilkenny!

So this weekend was our first real trip outside of Dublin. A group of us booked a hostel in Kilkenny for 2 nights since we heard the city was a great place to visit. We had a great time and everything went pretty smoothly. Friday morning we took a 2 hour train ride there. Kilkenny is south of Dublin, about halfway to Cork. We got off the train and went to find our hostel called Lanigans- this was my first hostel experience, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It ended up that our hostel was in a great location, but wasn't so great in condition. The lady who checked us in looked completely miserable with her life, and it is up for debate if she really speaks English. There were 7 of us in a room that was pretty crammed, and the doors didnt exactly lock when you shut them- so on a couple of occasions strange men who were also staying in the hostel came in to say hello. Anyways, it was fine.

The first touristy thing we did was go to Kilkenny castel, which was awesome. Here's a picture:

After the castle, we walked around the town a little more and got ready to go out. The nightlife was pretty wild. The boys in the room next to us were from Waterford, which is in the south of Ireland. We went to 2 pubs listening to live music and basically going crazy. I never expected a band of men in a random pub in Kilkenny to play Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, but it was great. There was a promotion for Bulmers (an alcoholic cider) going on at one bar, which everyone was happy about. It was fun to experience a nightlife with the majority of the people being Irish, since in Dublin there are often a lot of tourists at the bars we have gone to so far.

Saturday was more walking around, and pretty low key. The town is really nice and has over 250 pubs, so we were ready for round 2 on saturday night. We had a delicious meal of Tapas for dinner, then hung out a little before heading out for a pub crawl. I'm pretty sure we walked into about 8 pubs that night. Each had a different feel, especially the one we ended up enjoying the most. We went to a pub called the Field both nights, but saturday night it was PACKED. I felt like I was in a moshpit. The men were pretty creepy that night, but everyone is very willing to buy you a pint. Irish men also have a strange habit of picking us girls up (literally, in the air) when they greet us. It makes for good stories. This place was so packed that even the miserable hostel lady was there. We saw her dancing by herself in a corner, which was hilarious.

This morning we got up, checked out of the hostel, and went to breakfast. We had some delicious bagels and coffee then got on the train to come home.

Overall, it was a tiring but fun weekend. I'll have more pictures to come in the next few days. Tomorrow we start real classes, and we head to the west this weekend!

la di da

so I've been trying to write at least once a week so here's an update. Last weekend we went to the MGMT concert, which was awesome. They sounded fantastic live. We had a pretty standard friday- didn't do too much and went to the pub at night. On saturday we went to the Dublin Castle to see what it was like. It seemed pretty cool but we had to wait a long time for a tour so we didn't bother. Instead, we walked to the national irish museum, which is actually very close to our building. It used to be a barracks and is now a HUGE museum. There was way too much to see in one day.
Yesterday and today we just had class, but today we took a trip ti the Leinster House, which is where the Irish parliament sits. We got to see the rooms the senate and house use for legislation, and even met a senator who talked to us for a little. The president of the Labour Party also passed our tour.
Nothing else is very new, just experiencing going to different restaurantes and whatnot. This weekend we go to kilkenny! This is the first trip my friends and I have planned on our own, so we'll see how it goes.

fun is for sharing

the name of this post is a random advertisement we saw. thus, an example of how things here are different and sometimes just dont make sense.

nothing too exciting has happened in the past few days. last friday, we took a trip down to the docklands which is an area in the east of dublin. it was flourishing a few years ago as developers came and invested in it, but since Ireland is having terrible economic troubles, all the projects that were underwar have been deserted. It was interesting to hear how the collapse of the Anglo-Irish bank has left the country in a very tough economic position.

This weekend we went to both the Jameson whiskey distillery and the Guiness brewery. Both of these were lots of fun, and had delicious drinks for us at the end of the tours. Yesterday was another field trip, this time to the Glencree center for peace and reconcilliation. It was a very long day, but we learned a lot more about the conflict in Northern Ireland and the violence that took place in the 70s and 80s. I don't have any pictures to share right now, but I'll try to post some in a few days. Tomorrow is the MGMT concert, which I am very excited for. That's all for now!

I wanna know where da gold at!

Before I start writing about the alst 2 days, here is a picture of some of the group from the hike we went on sunday:





It finally stopped raining yesterday and the sun came out. It will randomly rain here for a few minutes then stop, but today was beautiful. It was nice even enough to go running in a park nearby.


Yesterday we didnt have class until the afternoon, so we we to the National Leprechaun Museum in the morning. Basically, my dream come true. I love leprechauns. I was one for halloween last year. It was a pretty small museum but fun to go to anyway. We actually elarned more about fairies than Leprechauns, but it was interesting hearing some stories and there was an entire room with huge furniture so we would feel like little people. Here's a picture of the massive kitchen table and chair:

We had class today and started planning some weekend trips, but that's all for now.

Here's a fun video about leprechauns (adults will most likely not find this funny. friends, please watch if you haven't seen it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8

stopppp rainingggg

the past 2 days have been pretty gross. the rain just wont stop. It's not exactly heavy rain- it's pretty light but very windy and doesn't stop. i want an umbrella for my entire body.

yesterday we took a train into a small town about 30 minutes outside of the city for a cliff walk. The town was adorable and we went on a pretty easy hike for about an hour. the view was awesome though! it was really windy but great. heres a picture:

We had fish and chips at a local place that was also great, and I got some fudge at the farmers market by the train station. We were all really tired and started heading home. However, the amateur hurling championship was on tv yesterday afternoon, so we found a pub to watch it. Hurling is kind of a cross between lacrosse, rugby, and football almost. its pretty intense and was really fun to watch at a bar. one old man at the bar wearing a funny hat was really into it. he got verrryyyy excited when the underdog won. it was cute. by the time we got home i was ready to pass out. last night was actually the first night we didn't go out, so i was very content going straight to sleep.

today was our first class of the foundation course. our history teacher is pretty cool, and we only had class 9-11 so we were able to get lunch after. now I'm just hanging out until dinner. We are eating as a group, hosted by DBS. free food=great.

my back hurts

the past two days have been a blur. aside from the ridiculously terrible bed I have, everything has been great! yesterday we had an all day orientation where we learned more about dublin business school, our foundation course that we take for the next 3 weeks, and the various trips we can go on during the adventure. the walk to the school is kind of long- about 25 minutes, but there is a lot of shopping and nightlife in that area. One the way there yesterday morning we saw a girl who literally looked like an avatar. I hope we see her again so i can take a picture. FIE also took us to a very nice (and free!) dinner. It wasn't traditional irish food, but still very good. After dinner everyone went back to the apartment to get ready for the night.
There are two international students living in our complex as well who wanted to come out with us. A large majority of the FIE students got together before going out which was fun. The two international boys told us about a fun bar in temple bar area so we went there and it was great. It was a three level building with a club in the lowest level. It was especially entertaining since there was a majority of boys there rather than girls, which is NEVER the case at Elon. It is a very different atmosphere here in the bar- people stand in groups singing and drinking, and there is almost always an american pop song playing. People also stay out extremelyyyy late which would be great if we didnt have to get up so early and I wasn't still jetlagged.
After last night's adventures, we woke up this morning to go on a bus tour of the city. This has been my favorite activity so far, other than the pub, because we really got to see where everything is in relation to one another. We also found out that the area we live in really isn't great. There's only a few bars around, but apparently many hookers walk around our street. Dublin also has a large heroine problem, so we were warned we may see people shooting up in the street. lovely. however, we got to drive through the nicer part of the city and phoenix park, which is pretty close to us. I have a lot of cleaning in my room to do and whatnot since tomorrow is a very packed day as well, but classes start monday and I'll finally get into a routine.

finally here

Well, it is 5pm in Ireland and I still haven't slept. The flight over was fine, I sat next to my good friend dawn which was nice. After the flight we met our program coordinator who told us we would be waiting a few hours before going to our apartments. At this point I was getting pretty tired, but some coffee and a reunion with jordan and others helped. The bus ride into the city was a lot of fun- just looking at the city for the first time was so exciting. The weather is also a lot nice than I expected- was very comfortable walking around in the sun with leggings and a t shirt on.
We finally arrived at the apartment and got our keys. I have my own room, and it is actually a decent size. My clothes all fit but my bed is extremely uncomfortable. Our shower also is flooding right now, so hopefully that will be fixed soon. The first thing we did was venture to Pennys, the local department store, to get bedding and a hair dryer/straightener. (obviously, the essentials.) We also passed the leprechaun museum which I am soooo excited about. This is on my top list of priorities. We didn't have much else to do today, so now is naptime before dinner and nightlife. Tomorrow is an all day orientation and a welcome dinner which I am looking forward to. thats all for now!