Friday, April 30, 2010

The last day

Today was our last day in Ireland and it was a great one.

We started off with finishing our portfolios and handing them in to officially complete our academic years. A few people are seniors, so they are now really done for good. For the rest of us, it just meant summer vacation.

The program threw us a farewell lunch at DCU, where we ate with some professors and Mary McCloskey, the woman in charge of making sure we're taken care of in Ireland.



She even got us each a stuffed Ireland bear as a souvenir.







As we were leaving the lunch, Jack, Jake and Mike surprised us with a water balloon attack. I'll give credit where credit is due; it was a really funny idea.


After packing for a bit, a bunch of us headed into the city center to give our home away from home, Messrs Maguire, a proper sendoff. It's been our go-to pub given its convenient location right on the O'Connell Bridge, and its usually pretty good craic. We all had some Guinness and Jameson and reminisced about the first day and first impressions.

Then it was back to DCU for more packing and cleaning. Some goodbyes have been said since not everyone is on the group flight tomorrow, so it's all really hitting me that it's over. I hate to be sad because it was one of the best experiences of my life and I don't want to leave on a sour note. We're all trying to be happy and upbeat, listening to Irish music and trying to sing along. But the cloud of tomorrow morning's departure hangs over everyone, and the songs make us nostalgic already.

Our bus comes to pick us up tomorrow at 6 a.m. for our 9 o'clock flight. I'll actually land in Newark at 11:20 a.m. because of the time difference, so it will be like I was only in the air two hours. Except not really. Then it's a layover and back to good old T.F. Green and Cumberland in time for dinner. CHOP's anyone??

The next time I post, I will be stateside. How bittersweet.

DONE DONE DONE

As I handed in my internship portfolio today, I officially finished my junior year of college!

Translation: I'm done with school work until September. Four months of summer bliss, here I come.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Our first Céilí

Tonight Molly, Colleen, Tara, Melissa and I joined our dance teacher Mary Beth at O'Shea's Pub in the city center for some Irish set dancing. It was so much fun and it was a great way to spend our second to last night in Dublin. Tomorrow night might be full of packing and cleaning, so we were all glad to get out tonight to give the city a proper send off.

We all knew the Connemara set, but Colleen got pulled into an earlier dance because they needed one more person. She went in completely blind, but she did great!

Then our song came on, so we all joined in the sets. Colleen was my man and we did wonderfully. It was so much fun! Plus, it just felt so authentic and traditional, like it was natural to be in a pub spinning around in a circle to the sounds of an accordion. That's probably because in Ireland, it pretty much is.

In denial

I absolutely cannot believe that this amazing experience is coming to an end in less than 48 hours. I'm mid packing at the moment and it just seems like I'm going on another trip, not THE trip. The trip back to America, back to the same world I've known for 20 years. In less than four months, Ireland has become a home to me and I get teary just thinking about leaving it behind.

That being said, I am looking forward to going home. I've missed my friends and family, my mother's cooking and one dollar bills. I'm looking forward to warm, sunny weather, beaches, Del's lemonade and Ice Cream Machine's mint chocolately goodness.

But to list everything about Ireland that I'm going to miss would be impossible. The accents, the pubs, Irish boys in track suits, Irish girls with bad haircuts and fake tans, hearing "doyaknowwhatImeanlike?", pints of Guinness and being able to request "Galway Girl" whether or not they actually indulge the Americans and play it. I'm going to miss watching Friends every night with the suitemates as Tara makes fish, Mike eats a box of cereal with half a gallon of milk out of tupperware and Taylor eats an entire bag of pasta and jar of sauce in one sitting.

Everyone has become so close on this trip and it's insane to think we're all going our separate ways for the summer. And even still, some people do not go to BU, so it really will be strange to not see them around campus when September rolls around.

So to make the most of the last few days of the program, we have all had a week devoted to the craic.

Tuesday, I went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art after work. It wasn't my favorite museum that I've been to because it wasn't as modern as I was hoping, but I'm still glad I went to see it.

Wednesday, Molly, Melissa, Colleen, Mary, Tara and I met after work for dinner at Green Nineteen. We had a lot of laughs, both at the restaurant and on the long bus ride home.


Then Molly, Mellissa, Colleen and I went to Irish dance lessons. Our teacher, Mary Beth, prepped us for tonight's big ceili (pronounced kaylee) in the city. It's a traditional dancing gathering at a pub and we will be there swinging with the pros.

Today was my last day of work, and my coworkers were sweet enough to get me a few parting gifts. First, we all had muffins from Queen of Tarts. Mine was chocolate and banana and oh so yummy. Then, they gave me a card, a celtic style necklace, some adorable magnets and some Irish soaps. Everything was made in Ireland, they wanted to give me a real send off.

I had one last lunch at the Queen of Tarts and enjoyed it thoroughly, of course. The waitress I have gotten to know from going in so often was actually training a new worker today as she is heading home next week to Virginia. The place just won't be the same without us.

They let me leave work early, so I hopped on the bus back to DCU. I thought I'd take a few last pictures of O'Connell Street.


I'm not ready to say goodbye.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Tea for two



Today after work, Colleen and I met for tea and pastries at Queen of Tarts. We shared a pot of black tea, a chocolate chip scone and some warm apple crumble. It was a nice way to end the workday and get some delicious goodies in the process. Plus, we could talk to each other for hours, so naturally we chatted up a storm and had quite a few laughs.


Dubs: the last weekend

This past Saturday, we all decided to head down to the Temple Bar farmer's market one last time. I think practically the entire class was down there, everyone stuffing their faces with lamb kabobs, crepes, smoothies, bratwurst, quiche....the list goes on. I had a goat cheese and vegetable quiche and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Yummy!

After the market, everyone split up a bit to do different things around the city. Casey, Colleen, Kirsten, Eileen and I headed toward Merrion Square. We ended up walking around the park nearby, then just sitting amongst the tulips and chit chatting.




Then we put the self-timer on my camera to good use. It was a great day spent with even better friends.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Done with finals!

We're done!

Today, we all had our final for our elective courses, which means that we are officially done with schoolwork for this year. We still have a pesky internship portfolio to finish and four more days of work, but the next class I take will be in my senior year. I can't even believe it.

I decided to run a couple miles on this beautifully sunny day, and when I was done I found a bunch of my friends playing ultimate frisbee in the park next to our school. I joined in and it was so much fun! We ended up playing for a few hours and I think everyone is absolutely exhausted. But it was so worth it to take advantage of the sun and warm weather.

Oh, yeah, and this is pretty much what we looked like...pretty much.

Gone already

This week with my parents flew by, I can't believe they are already headed to the airport. They swung by my campus to pick up a suitcase for me to take home, and it was so strange saying goodbye, but knowing that I would see them in a week. A week and I will be back home! I can't even wrap my head around it.

So here's what they have been up to the past few days.

After I got out of work on Wednesday, we walked to the Old Jameson Distillery. I'm not really a fan of whiskey, but even I recognized that the tour was pretty good. This tour had a guide, as opposed to Guinness where there are signs to give you the information. We learned about the whole process of Irish whiskey making, and what makes it different from the Scottish or American whiskey makers.


At the end of the tour, Mom and Dad were two of eight whiskey taste testers. They had to smell, taste and compare three different whiskeys, the point of which is to prove that Jameson is the best.




While Dad may prefer Jack Daniels, both he and Mom passed with a diplomas to show for it.


Then we headed out to the Glasnevin Cemetery in Glasnevin, the area of Dublin in which I live. We went for drinks and dinner at John Kavanagh's Gravediggers Pub. Established in 1883, it's one of the oldest pubs in Dublin. It's still family owned--our waiter was 8th generation Kavanagh. His uncle, the chef, came out and talked to us for a while. He explained that the pub has been home to many an Irish beer commercial, and several movies. It has that rustic, old feel because well, it is old. There were even snugs, areas walled in, with a small window to be served through, where the women used to have to drink their small glasses of beer.

Of course we signed the guest book.


Thursday, Mom and Dad met me for lunch at the Queen of Tarts, where we ate like kings. This is the one place I am sincerely going to miss when I go home. The waitress knows me, I'm in there so much.

I got the tart with roasted chicken, red peppers and zucchini. It came with bread, salad, potato salad and some cous cous. Delicious! It's my favorite lunchtime meal. And of course, we had tea and scones to top it off.

I went back to work, but when I was done, we headed over to Phoenix Park. It was quite a hike, but it was worth the sore feet. We just walked around and enjoyed the uncharacteristically beautiful weather.

We opted for a bus on the way back to save our feet. We sat in my favorite spot, front seat of the top floor. Here they are with a license plate that Dad bought earlier in the day.

Once we got into the city, we walked down O'Connell Street and Grafton Street, stopping to get some Ladurée macaroons at Brown Thomas. They were scrumptious, of course.

Then, unfortunately, I had to head home to study for my mass media final, which is at noon today. Yes, this blog post is serving as a procrastination tool.

I'm just so thankful that their trip was not interrupted by the ash cloud (as I knock on wood for their return flight). It was great being able to show them around the city and show off all that I've learned in the past three months!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Book of Kells

Today I met up with Mom and Dad after work. They had been out and about all day at the James Joyce Center and the National Writers Museum. We had a short walk over to Trinity College.


Our first stop was to see the Book of Kells, which is a Celtic text of gospels and the New Testament, written around the year 800. Before we saw it, I found a carved rock with Ogham carved into it. It's a language predating letters and words, where each hash mark along the side of the rock stood for a different letter.

Then we went into the room with the Book of Kells. There was an incident. Let me preface this by saying that most of the pictures shown on this blog are essentially illegal. Most were taken amidst several "no cameras" signs, but with the flash off, I do no damage to the art.

Well, I whipped out my camera to take a picture of the book, fully aware of the security guard in the corner, but the worst she can do is tell me to put it away. And I was right.

What I wasn't expecting was the tourist to my right to hit my arm and yell, "NO PICTURES IN HERE! NO NO NO!" I very politely thanked her for scolding me in public and walked away. Well, then Mom overheard her tell on me. That's right, she felt the need to tattle. Mom was then very afraid I was going to be arrested or something, but here I am, safe and sound. I was not hunted down by the Garda or a group of angry librarians. But both Mom and Dad agreed that it wasn't their proudest moment. All in the name of the blog, I say!

And here's the picture, where you can clearly see how my arm was hit by the tattletale.

We headed upstairs to the Long Room (another illegal picture), which was the coolest library I have ever seen. It reminded me of the one in Beauty and the Beast. I just wanted to climb the ladders to the two stories of bookcases. If I could build a dream house, this would be my study.

After we left Trinity, we walked around and stopped in a few different shops. I introduced Mom to Butler's hot chocolate and she loved it, of course.

Then we went into a store where I got an adorable Wedgwood china set of a tea pot and two cups and saucers. They are so dainty, I can't wait to have a tea party with them.

Our last stop of the day was dinner, where we had beef and Guinness pie at Madigan's Pub on O'Connell Street. It's easily the best pie around, and they even give you a shot of Guinness to pour over the top.

It was a wonderful ending to another fun day with the parents.