Final Goodbye

I didn't have time to post yesterday so i'll start with that:

we had our last day of class. film we just did some reviews and then we went it the library and came down early to have pizza with the group. it was really good and their pepperoni here is just seasoned ham. then we went and bought some bulmers from the off license and they guy there was really funny. he was talking about how having to be 21 is the stupidest law he's ever heard of and that it's even worse than dumb muslim laws. he then asked to make sure we weren't from canada. after that we came back and hung out until dinner. we had potpies with mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. it was super good and then we got ready to go out with the group. we were supposed to meet at 8:30 but we knew people would be late so we didn't show up until 8:45 and we were the first people there. we met one of the aha staff and it actually worked out good being early because he bought us a drink and then no one else. finally everyone started showing up and we had fun. i started talking to some irish guy for a bit and then a really really ugly italian guy but he was nice. we then left and met a guy at the bus stop. i whispered to him about a girl in our group that's really weird and was at the bus stop with us. it was funny and then nick and him had a convo about football. when we got back in made a sandwich, we had chips and then cookies and hot chocolate. it was good and a fun night :)

Today we had lunch/brunch with mark and anita. they were really nice and it was a good little cafe. after that we packed and hung out until dinner. we had pizza and then strawberries and ice cream. we then went and walked the pier for the last time. i've been ready to go home these last few days but now that the time is actually here i know i'll miss being over here. it's such a beautiful country and i wish i could just take people from home and bring them here for another month or two. a lot of changes have been going on at home and we'll be busy right up until we go to school so i'm excited about that. we've met some cool people and i'm sure i'll still see a couple of them. since nick and i came here together we really didn't get to know the rest of the group very well which i'm ok with. being gone has made me appreciate what i have at home and how lucky i am to have the people in my life that are there on a daily basis. it also really shows you the people who will make an effort to talk to you while you're gone, even with a 5 hour time difference. i will miss our host family and it's really weird to think about how i will never see them again after living with them for 5 weeks. overall i just can't wait to come home and see my family and my bfff :)

Last Excursion

Today i had cereal again for breakfast and then we were off to the jail. it was really cool and historical at the same time. it was awful some of the conditions people had to live with and the age some people were put in there. the youngest boy was only 5 years old and served a 3 month sentence for steeling part of a wagon. the youngest girl was 8 who stole some bread. these are the youngest there were in there on their own for their own sentence but many others had to go with their parents because there was no one else to care for them outside. one lady had to spend 3 years in solitary confinement in a cell that didn't even allow you enough room to stretch your arms. the only sunlight she seen was once a week or month not sure which for an hour. they even gave you breakfast/dinner meals at random times and mixed up the meals so you couldn't tell what time of day it was. other people got special treatment such as parnell who had a huge room and food delivered to him from restaurants and even got to attend his nephew's funeral in Paris without being accompanied. after that we went to the jameson distillery and that was cool. they don't actually make whiskey there anymore so it was just models of everything but you still got to see all of the steps. at the end we all got a sample of it and you had the option of straight up or mixed with cranberry juice, gingerale or sprite. i tried it with cranberry juice but i don't like it. i got a flask from there and nick got a glass. after that we came back and hung out and worked on our papers for the rest of the night. for dinner we had pizza and fries which was good. tomorrow is our last day of class and we get pizza for lunch :)

Winding Down

Waffles for breakfast and then class. Seamus extended the date on our papers to Thursday due to some people not reading the syllabus and assuming they were due on the last day of class. i was annoyed by this seeing i actually did my paper on time but it was quite entertaining hearing him rant about those who didn't get it done. a couple of people also finally got yelled at for walking in late every single day. him going off on people was probably one of the best parts of the day. people also didn't read the syllabus to see that their reviews were also due on tuesday not thursday so he wasn't happy about that either. since all of that happened we did what he had planned for thursday today instead and watched the movie "the commitments". it was another movie about a band and it was good but i wouldn't watch it again. in lit we watched some movies and i fell asleep. from then on we just hung out at home and worked on our papers. for dinner we had chili and white rice and it was good. we watched some of x-men and i just found out nick watched the rest of it without me. little arse. but tomorrow the distillery and jail should be fun :)

School

So today i had some type of cereal that was kind of like honey oats. it had the corn flakes and honey and peanut pieces and it was good. in film class we watched the movie "once". it was about a singer guy that plays on the streets and then meets a girl. it was really good and the songs in it were good too. we went to the library as usual for our break and nick had a really hard time with printing our papers off. nothing was working but he eventually got it figured out. i'm really glad he dealt with it and not me. in lit we talked about more stories that neither of us had read and then we watched a documentary on bridget cleary. her husband burnt her alive because he believed she had been taken over by a fairy. i think this was in 1895 so it was at the time where everyone knew it was ridiculous and yet it still happened. the film definitely drug on though. it could have been half as long and we still would have known everything. after class we came back and just hung out. i should have been working on my essay but oh well. i'll get it done. for dinner we had the noodles with sauce and sausage/ham. we also had a twister pop again. after dinner i watched zookeepers and then multiple harry potter interviews. i can't wait to see the movie. soon we'll probably make some hot chocolate and then maybe head to bed a little early :)

Chill

For breakfast we had some waffles and then we hung out in nick's room for a bit. we've both been really tired lately so we didn't do much today. we went into dun laoghaire and walked around along the coast and on the pier. there was a little festival thing going on in the park and it was kind of like at in the park except a lot more food stations. we then went and got the last of the groceries that we're going to need here and then headed back home. we watched thor and then hung out until dinner. for dinner we had chicken, potatoes, vegetables and stuffing. it was super good and really filling. for dessert we had this layered thing. it had pudding, cream and then spongy type jello. it was good. we have a 1500 word paper that's due on tuesday and we have to print it off tomorrow so we were working on that most of the night. i was at about 600 words and then i read nick's paper and talked to him about it and i had gotten the entire assignment wrong so i started over. it really wasn't bad and after i forced myself to sit at the desk in my room i started over and got it done in about an hour and a half. i did work. we then got some hot chocolate and cookies and then just hung out the rest of the night. not really excited to go back to school tomorrow but it will make the day go by fast. we've got a 2,000 word essay due on thursday so that will be fun. i'm excited to go home but i want to enjoy my last few days here :)

Views

For breakfast we both had some bread and cereal. then after chilling out for a while we headed to Killarney Hill again. we just went and explored around and it was a fantastic day. we got to see some dolphins which was cool. we weren't close or anything but you could definitely tell what they were. we got some cool pictures and nick had a song that he made up that he sang a few times. something about taking steps and making the world go round. we went and walked the beach and nick almost used some really sketchy bathrooms but when he walked in he walked back out and said there was no toilet paper, no toilet seats and it smelt awful. that's what he gets for going into a sketchy looking area. we had another rock skipping contest on the beach and nick won this time with 4 skips. neither of us did very good. we ended up going up a hill and we fell asleep for about a half hour in the sun. we took the dart back and hung out until dinner. we had breakfast which was eggs bacon sausage beans and these other things that evan called pudding patties. we've had them every other time but never known what they were called. after dinner we finished watching transformers 3 and we're going to try and get some of our papers done. it's so hard to concentrate and finish them but it has to be done by monday and i only have 300 out of 15,000 done so i should probably get to work. we'll probably end up making some hot chocolate later :)

This looks like a good place to play my ukulele

For breakfast i had coco pops (chocolate rice krispies exactly like at home). then we headed into dublin for our blarney tour. we got to the office and then we had to ride in the little bus that smelt like BO and it was just nick and i and the driver and we were afraid we were going to get stuck riding in this little bus with this man the entire way there but he just took us to where the aircoach picked us up which is a big coach company. the bus we were supposed to take ended up having a dead battery so we had to wait another half hour for a new bus and then headed to cork. it was about a three and a half to four hour bus ride. it sucked. then we got there and got on another little bus with just us two and the driver and headed to blarney castle. this driver was cool and actually told us about the castle and he said that michael jackson wouldn't kiss the stone and he thought it was because he was afraid his nose would fall off and fall down the castle wall. the castle was cool and the steps to the top were very narrow and kinda freaked me out but we went and kissed the stone. as soon as we went to walk down nick said "did you kiss the actual stone?" and i was just informed that it's literally a stone you have to kiss and i thought it was just that general area so i may have or may not have actually kissed the blarney stone but oh well. there's lots of gardens and areas to explore but we didn't have long to be there. i wish we could have done a day trip just to the castle but oh well. we got to see the poison garden and then some dungeons and a few really big trees. we then went to this little town that's pretty much the same as every other little town except this one had an awful tiny carnival. we just sat in this little park and looked at the harbor that hardly had any water. we then went back into cork and had a while to walk after before we took the 4 hour bus ride back. we found a pennys and i got a shirt. nick got a sweet zip up from a sports store that says "manchester united" which is a really well known team. then we headed back home and when we finally got here derek had stayed up and he made us some pizzas. it was really good but i was so hungry i ate it even though it was hot and i can feel how tore up and raw the roof of my mouth is right now. we both had twister pops too which is a combination of a popsicle and ice cream. i'm extremely tired now though so i'm heading to bed and i get to sleep in tomorrow :)