Weekend #2 Adventures

It has been quite a busy weekend! Friday night was Mathilda's last night so we all went out to pub for one last hoorah together. We talked to some locals and enjoyed a few pints and then decided to go home a bit early...the locals thought we were crazy for not staying into the wee hours of the night...I guess we just aren't quite to their level yet. On the way back home we were walking up O'Connell street to the taxi cue and Mathilda was telling us how back home she and her friends would go to McDonald's at 3 or 4 in the morning after a night out. Even though there was a McDonald's around I decided to drag her into the next best place...Burger King! We got our Burger King and went home to enjoy. So there we were sitting in the kitchen having a grand time eating Burger King and drinking Coors Light...I am so proud of Mathilda for loving these two things! And I will mention that the chicken sandwich I had from there was 10x better than anytime I have had it in the U.S...anyway, I will miss Mathilda, but she wants me to come visit her in France, so maybe I could arrange a quick weekend getaway...it was a great last night with her though, full of tons of laughter and fun!

Saturday started off by going to a little street festival/show here in Dublin that the women's group was performing at. They have been working for weeks on personal poems so Saturday was the day they finally performed them for a crowd. They had so much fun with it and I was really proud to see them all work through their nerves to share their own personal thoughts and stories. Here are some of the women posing!

I headed straight from the performance to the train station to catch my train to Mullingar because I went to see Emmet Cahill in concert! He is a member of the group Celtic Thunder who (thanks to mom and dad and PBS) I am now a fan of. I'm going to be honest, though...Emmet is my age and is very attractive so that is part of the appeal :) Anyway...Mullingar is a very cute little countryside town that is about 50 miles from Dublin. I stayed at a place called the Maples B&B. It's a cute little place run by an elderly couple who were just absolutely lovely. They welcomed me in right away and made me feel very comfortable. Once I got settled in Terry, the guy, drove me into the town center and showed me where the arts center is that the concert was in. I forgot to take a picture of the B&B so I found one on a website...it's obviously not snowy right now though.

Here is my bedroom I stayed in. It was seriously the comfiest bed I have ever slept in!

So Terry dropped me off and for a couple hours before the concert I just walked around checking out the town. I grabbed a drink in one pub and skyped mom and dad from there! (yes, I was that person). Then I grabbed some dinner and walked around a bit more and finally went to the show.

This made me think of Aunt Pam for whatever reason haha

This is a statue of a guy named Joe Dolan who was a famous singer and entertainer 

Dolan! (my grandma's maiden name for those who don't know)

Fish & Chips for dinner!

A cute little jewelry shop with my niece's name!

And finally...it came time for the concert!

I had the best luck because my seat ended up being exactly front and center!

The concert was great! Emmet has one of the most gorgeous voices I have ever heard! He can sing everything from oldies, musicals, pop, and even opera. I was just in awe during the whole concert, not only because of how gorgeous he is, but because of the mad talent he and all of the musicians have. I have always loved music and wanted to sing or play an instrument so I always really enjoy good musicians. It was a really fun concert and all of the proceeds went to a local hospice, so it was for a good cause! After the show I waited around and got to meet him along with two other members of Celtic Thunder!! They were all incredibly nice gentlemen...unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the actual concert or with the guys. I'm still kicking myself over it...I just felt a little strange being a lone American girl. I didn't want to come across as a crazed fan, but I still should have asked for a photo. Then, they all went to a pub and I really wanted to join, but when I got there it looked like it was in a private suite type area so I didn't go in...I should have just gotten the confidence to go in and chat with them more, but again it was strange being all alone. It was a really good night, though, and I'm glad I went. At least I don't have the regret of not going at all. I got to meet him which was pretty sweet...now I just need to get tickets for the Celtic Thunder concert in Colorado later this year or even better the Celtic Thunder Cruise in November!! *coughChristmasPresentcough*

When I got back to the B&B last night, the lady was still awake and asked me what time I wanted breakfast. We agreed on 8:30 so when I woke up this morning I went downstairs and had a wonderful breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs and some veggies prepared for me along with toast, fruit and yogurt options, and of course...TEA! It feels like the option in Ireland isn't whether you actually want tea or coffee...it's an option of which one you want. 

I booked an early train so I unfortunately did not get to go around Mullingar anymore (an excuse to go back and find Emmet...??) When I got back I caught a bus and went to Phoenix Park to walk around. According to the website the park is over 1700 acres so needless to say I barely covered any of it. I walked around a bit though and it was beautiful. The Dublin Zoo is right there as well so I decided to spend some time there. I must say that the Denver Zoo is much more impressive. The Dublin Zoo is really big and pretty, but there is not a huge selection of animals to look at...I didn't stay very long because I was tired, a little bored, and it was raining a lot on and off. So, now here I am just sitting at home relaxing for the rest of the day. 

I learned tonight that I can actually cook some delicious meals for myself when I don't have my mom to rely on for din din. I made rice with chicken, spinach, broccoli, and green peppers in a mushroom cream sauce...good stuff. The macaroni and cheese I found in a can...not good stuff. I made it for lunch because I've been a bit homesick today and thought mac and cheese would be a good comfort food. It was so disgusting. I will not be buying that again! 

so here are some pictures from the park and the zoo. There were hippos of course which I was happy about and then there was a baby rhino which was so adorable!! I think that's about it for my weekend. I'm trying to do as much as I can over the weekends because my weeks are spent working, so sorry these blog posts get kind of long. 

It's Wednesday

This will be a short one today...I just have a few things on my mind I want to share.

Yesterday Mathilda and I got lost on the buses for an hour and a half trying to make our way to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. When we finally made it we discovered that it was closed for renovation...except for one tiny exhibit that was so flipping strange...we didn't understand it at all. So, in conclusion we spent over an hour trying to make it to a place that we spent a grand total of 10 minutes at...it was fun, though. I'm really sad because Mathilda and I are great sightseeing and travel partners, but she's going home on Saturday. :( She did say that I could come visit her in France one weekend, though, if I wanted to so I may have to look into that...

Yesterday at SAOL I was with the women and they have been working on poems for a couple of weeks. They are having a street performance this weekend so they spent their time yesterday rehearsing...it was great because we were at a little theatre, and the "director" had all these warm ups and activities. It took me back to my theatre days which was great. I'm really excited to watch them perform...it makes me miss theatre.

I learned yesterday that when applying for a job in Ireland, they usually require a background check. The process takes 16 weeks to complete!! 16 weeks! I couldn't believe it...that is a horribly long time to wait to start a job! I'm really starting to realize how inside my little U.S. bubble I was...you start to think that things are the same everywhere, and you get used to a certain way of living. It's so intriguing and really cool to learn what life is like in other places. It either makes you really appreciate what you have, or in some cases, makes you realize what could use improvement.

Today was a good day. The kids were so energetic and I was exhausted, but I still ended up doing some shopping after work. I just bought a few clothes for myself, not too much. I think I just needed a little retail therapy. Now I need rest. So, goodnight.

Cliffs of Moher/Burren Tour

**Just a fair warning before you delve into this blog... it will be long! Yesterday was so incredible so I will probably have a ton to say! Ok, where to begin?

Mathilda, Manuela, Lorena, Eva & I (those are the girls in my house right now...I'm not sure if I have said their names before) planned a trip on Sunday to go to Galway and then take a tour to the Cliffs of Moher. I was stoked because these were top of my list coming to Ireland! So, at the bright and early hour of 6:45 we caught a bus to Galway. The ride was about 2.5 hours so I just listened to music and slept a little. When we got to Galway we only had about 45 minutes until we had to catch our tour bus so we found a cute little cafe to grab an espresso (which I discovered I don't really like) and, at least for me, a second breakfast before starting our journey.

I loved our tour guide right off the bat. He was funny and entertaining, and of course the Irish accent only made it that much better. I felt kind of bad for the other girls who don't understand as much English because they were probably getting annoyed with his hours upon hours of rambling and story telling...but I enjoyed it. Anyway, here is the route we took:

I absolutely love the green hills and stone walls!

This is a fairy tree. People tie ribbons and leave offerings here for the fairies or spirits asking for healing, good health, and other well wishes.

12th century church that was absolutely beautiful! 

Burial ground inside the church

Galway Bay. The tide was down so many boats in the area were just on solid ground but by the time we came back it had risen and they were floating.

Fairy Fort. It's the same idea as a fairy tree but it's in a circular area of trees

Offerings for the fairies

This guy was making necklaces with your name written in an ancient Celtic language

Tomb where the remains of at least 33 people were found

And finally.....the beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, incredible, stunning, breathtaking Cliffs of Moher!!

I could go on and on about this beautiful sight. I was so amazed by the beauty of it all I just wanted to cry. Pictures do not even begin to capture the amazing sight that is before you when you are standing above the ocean and looking out and around at these magnificent geological structures (which I'm sure Josh could tell me all about!) I was so sad that we only had about 1.5 hour to spend because they are so grand that you could spend that time just walking around one part of them. I wanted to just sit and soak it all in for hours...but I also wanted to walk around and get all the different views. I think I have found my new favorite place. I just can't even begin to explain how intense and wonderful it was. I get emotional just looking at the pictures again and thinking about it. After hours upon hours on a bus, to finally stop and have this in front of you was just incredible. There were two paths that could be taken along the cliffs...one pathway had a stone wall as a guard and was a bit further back and then there was a pathway that was right along the cliff edges that had no barrier. We decided to take this path which was super scary because of my extreme fear of heights but we felt like it was the right way to go. It was awesome to look down and see all of the boats going along. It would be really cool to see the cliffs from that view also...next time. I could just keep talking about the cliffs because they were just absolutely stunning, but I will stop now and move on to the rest of the tour. I will end this by saying that I will return one day and I hope to bring friends and family because this is a sight they should see...I really wish everyone could have been with me here! 

Ok, moving on...at the cliffs I bought myself a ring at the cliffs. The stone is Connemara Marble which is only found in a remote area of Ireland and the trinity symbol on either side is a well known Celtic symbol

My next favorite part of the tour (and it was probably because I missed the cliffs as soon as we left) were the Ballyreen Cliffs. They weren't as grand and majestic as Moher, but they were still beautiful nonetheless and the vertigo wasn't quite as bad 

The rest of the drive back was pretty quiet...a lot of people fell asleep. We drove back up along the coast which was beautiful. This spot is called leprechaun's head because if you look carefully you can kind of make a leprechaun's face...the two holes are the eyes...

 This is one of my favorite pictures from the tour! This, I believe, is Dunguaire Castle. When we drove past in the morning the tide was down so the ground was all brown and not very pretty...by the time we came back it was so beautiful. Oh my gosh. I was just overwhelmed with all of the beauty and splendor that I came across on this tour. It was a super long day, and the bus was uncomfortable at times, but I would really recommend this to anyone who wants to see a ton of wonderful sights! (Plus it only cost 20 euro which is maybe about $23 or $24 for the entire day!) Anyway, if you made it through this blog, thank you! I have gotten really positive comments from people so I'm really glad everyone is enjoying it! I know I said I wanted to do this all alone, but I really kind of wish I could have had all my loved ones with me for this tour...everyone deserves to see this beauty!