To my SAOL Team

It feels a bit unreal that yesterday was my last day at SAOL. I want to say thank you again for the card and the gift...I'll try this crazy beans and toast concoction and report back to you all! I really appreciate all the kind words from everyone. I wanted to share my thoughts about these past two months with you all, and I knew I could do it best through writing so here goes...

I am really thankful for the opportunity to have interned at SAOL. If I'm going to be completely honest, it was hard for me at times, and I wondered if I was really being a help to the team or just being more of a burden. As you all know, this was a huge adventure for me and I'm sorry if I let some of those emotions get in the way of my work. 2 months is a difficult amount of time to work with because I feel like right as I was getting completely comfortable and starting to feel like this was becoming home, I have to pack up and leave. I learned so much, though, and I would not have traded my time at SAOL for anything else. While the children really wore on my energy most days, they also tugged at my heartstrings and I will miss them all. Working with the women was also great. I learned a lot from them by listening to their stories and I wish them all the best! 

I just want you all to know how much I enjoyed getting to know you. I have a lot of respect for you all and will miss you! Thank you for everything. Thank you for the laughs, for teaching me, and for making me feel like I was a part of the team and not just coming to work every day to see my coworkers, but to see friends. I wish you all the best in your lives and I do hope we stay in touch! (This is one of the few pros of facebook!) If you ever come to Colorado, know that you will have a friend to get in touch with! 

A Weekend with the Reddy's

I want to start this post off by saying a huge thank you to Aisling and her husband Matt for everything this weekend! Thank you for feeding me, giving me a super comfy bed to sleep in, and for taking me on some grand adventures!

So here goes...

On Saturday Michelle, Aisling and I met up to go to the Powerscourt Gardens in Wicklow. I feel like I have said beautiful way too much in my posts, so let's just say it was stunning! Like many places in Ireland, the estate has been around for centuries. I always think it's kind of fun to imagine what life would have been like way back when people were actually living in the castles or estates here.. so I thought about how neat it would be to walk around the beautiful gardens in old Victorian dresses and have fancy tea parties...except in reality I'm pretty sure it was much more comfortable to walk around in my jeans and a t-shirt...and I had hot cocoa there that morning...

Anyway, the gardens has a bunch of different "sections" I guess you could call them. I honestly could have spent all day there if I were by myself. I would have brought a book and explored even more and soaked it all in...but I still had a wonderful time walking through with the girls! Really all I have left to say about the estate is this is definitely a place I could live...waking up to this every morning wouldn't be too bad.

Japanese Gardens

As Michelle said, it kind of felt like we were in Lord of the Rings or something

The Pet Cemetery...that's right. Everything from dogs to Shetland ponies...

...and even cows

Michelle and me

Aisling and me

Not too far from the gardens there is a waterfall that we drove up to. I love the sound of waterfalls...so peaceful!

After our long day out, Aisling, Michelle and I went out for some drinks and then Aisling and Matt had prepared a delicious lasagna dinner for us! We decided that I would stay the night because on Sunday they were going to Carlow, a good ole country town, where Aisling grew up. I met Aisling's parents and one of her brothers (who is going to marry me, move me to the country and have 6 kids with me...I pinky promised so we're pretty much engaged...haha!) 

 I loved the country town though. There is one thing that being here in the big city has made me realize....I need my nature! Also, I have really become more aware of how much I love cemeteries...only in the daytime...but especially all of the really old ones here. We went to a 12th century monastery, Aghowle, where some of Aisling's family is actually buried. Imagine this...walking through a cemetery where there are graves from the 2000's and then all of a sudden you come up to one from the 1700's and then these ones that date back to who knows how long ago...it's pretty cool! 

Supposedly if you can reach all around this cross you get good luck for life...I couldn't reach all the way...and the well in front never dries up...it's magical!

In a field across from the monastery is this stone where they would grind the berries for wine...you can still see the stains in the stone.

After a nice walk around the monastery we went to the local pub. All I have to say is that the Guinness there is really, really good...so is the Smithwick's...and the Bulmer's. Thanks again, Aisling and Matt for taking such good care of me and contributing to my great memories from this trip! You two are awesome! 

It's starting to set in that I leave in 11 days, I think. Last week I was really homesick, but this week I am feeling really sad about leaving. I cannot believe the time went so fast...I feel like I have so much left to do in the short time I have left here. I know I won't get it all done, so I guess that just means I will have to come back! 

Thursdays with Lacey

I really got to thinking the other night how incredibly cool it has been to meet different people from all over the world. When I was planning this trip I was under the impression that I would mainly be surrounded by Irish people...which I am...but Dublin is so much more diverse than I ever expected. I got a good taste of different cultures from all of my housemates (and of course my trip to France) but I am constantly meeting new people which is just so cool. 

The other night I met up with a girl named Cinzia. She is a student and is staying with Barry (a guy I work with) and his family. So, he exchanged our info and we went out the other night with a big group of other students in her class. The were from all over...Italy, Belgium, and even Lichtenstein, which I didn't even know existed to be honest. I am usually kind of shy and nervous about going out in large groups of people, but I have broken out of my shell a lot here and I have really enjoyed meeting and talking with people from all over. I realized very quickly that I needed to break out of my comfort zone and push my limits here or else I would be absolutely miserable. Back home, I would be hesitant to go out with a new group of people, even if I knew someone in the group. The other night when I went out I hadn't even met Cinzia yet but I just went for it and I am so glad I did! 

Cinzia and me

That night was also Greer's last night in the house so I was sad. We stayed up late and had deep conversations with the housemates, though, which was pretty cool...until I realized it was 2am and I had to be up at 7:30...

Then last night, I met up with Helen's (from SAOL) husband and his daughters to see the play Tuesdays With Morrie. I had heard of it before and knew there was a book, but I didn't know much about it except that it's supposed to be really good...and it was great! We saw it in a very small theatre...maybe only 50 people, which made it very intimate. The show was so good! It's just two actors and they were brilliant. The story is about a guy who, after 16 years, gets back in touch with a college professor and they begin to spend every Tuesday together. The show was really funny, but it had it's really emotional and thought-provoking moments also. I will admit that by the end I was crying...if you ever get the chance to see the play, please do! I really want to read the book now and see the movie too, just for comparison, but nothing quite compares to live theatre for me! 

And to end this day's ramblings, here is a list of Dublinesse terms given to me by Barry

 

Catching Up

A new week has started and I will say that I'm definitely feeling better than last week. Sorry for having a bit of a depressing post the other day, but I created this blog to share all of my experiences and thoughts...good and bad. With that out of the way, I have a bit to catch everyone up on from the past week so here goes.

First of all...it's been two weeks but I know some people are not on facebook...I got a tattoo! It's a celtic symbol I have wanted for 2 years so I kind of had it in my mind that I would get it here, but actually doing it was impulsive. I went with my other friend to get hers and the guy said he had time to do mine, so I impulsively acted and said yes. My other friend had to leave, though, so I was all alone. I actually asked a girl at the front desk to sit with me and she was so sweet! She is 17 and it turns out she is the daughter of the guy who owns the shop. She held my hand for me and got me a lollipop to bite on when it hurt...and it did hurt a bit but I'm happy I got it.

Early last week I went with the women's group to a short play called Dublin Tenement Experience: Living the Lockout. The women are doing research on women of the 1913 Lockout, and it's the 100th year anniversary of the event, so it was a given to go see the show. It was really cool because it took place in an actual tenement building. There were only 4 actors in the show and it was very interactive. We moved from room and room and would watch a scene take place. It was so incredibly intense and powerful. You started to feel as if you were actually living in that tenement experiencing the events. The one room that really got to a lot of the women was a dark bedroom where there was a mother with her two sleeping children. Now, the "children" in the bed were just dolls but there were sound effects of breathing which made it so realistic. The mother talked about living in this place and having to provide for her children...thinking about selling the bed...it was really hard not to cry. There was another scene in the hallway where two guys were yelling and fighting and sound effects started to play of a baby crying and other people talking and making a ruckus...oh  my gosh it all seemed so real. You just wanted to rush into the room and get the baby to stop crying. It becomes very clear what living in a tenement with up to 100 other people would be like. It was one of the most powerful pieces of theatre I have ever seen...and it only lasted about 20-30 minutes max.

Then, one day after work I met up with Katie and Greer and we went to Dublin Castle. Unfortunately, all of the tours were booked so we didn't actually go inside. It was cool just to walk around the grounds though. In the courtyard there were sand artists who made these amazing sculptures...

 On Friday night Katie and Greer were both gone so I was a bit sad and didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew I didn't just want to sit around at home. Luckily, Aisling from work had a friend who had 2 tickets to a comedy show that nobody could use...so I got free admission and a cocktail to a show at the Laughter Lounge. There were three main comedians and then an emcee. They were all hilarious. One of the comedians was American, so that was cool. It was really funny because he was talking about sitting in traffic over here and how a couple of guys in the car in front of him just got out of the car, in the middle of stopped traffic, and went to eat berries that were growing on the side of the road. He meant for this to seem like a totally weird joke, but the Irish people found this totally normal!! It was hilarious. Then, he started to talk about the family decals that Americans have on the back windows of their cars...you know with the stick figure parents, kids, and pets...they had no idea what he was talking about, so I was laughing to myself over that. It was a great night, though. Another lady from work and her husband were there also so I sat with them and they kept buying me drinks...(cultural handbook rule #1- don't refuse a drink)

Saturday I did nothing. I felt strange just sitting around...I felt like I was wasting my weekend time not doing anything but I honestly just needed a day to relax, watch Modern Family, and do absolutely nothing.

By Sunday, though, I was ready to get out and about. Helen from work took me to lunch in Malahide and then we did a tour of the castle there which was pretty cool. She then drove me to Howth which is beautiful. We did a walk up the cliff/hillside. Such incredible views...

Afterwards she took me to here home where I met her husband and son and she cooked a lovely meal. She really took care of me! 

And finally, today after work I did a little exploring around the College Green/Grafton Street area. I still need to go to Trinity College...but here are just a few pics from my walk. 

Human statues

With only 3 weeks left, I think I am ready to come home. I do love many aspects of being here and I have had such incredible experiences, but I miss the comforts of home. I had a dream the other night about being home which made me that much more anxious. I still have some adventures planned in these next 3 weeks though so I'm sure the time will fly by quickly!