Ireland was such a treat! 

My flight over was a success- and only an hour long!  I hopped onto a shuttle- made it in the city centre- got a little lost- stumbled upon my hostel at 1 in the morn---- my hostel.  Let's just say there weren't enough blankets so I got shafted with only a top sheet (yes, it got cold) and the idea of sleeping with 15 other people is a lot worse than it sounds.  Imagine 6 people snoring at the same time.  Imagine a man in the bunk next to you breathing heavy.  Imagine being balled up with a sheet doubled over you seeking warmth.  Yeah- enough said.  The next morning I popped right out of bed, took a shower, and hit the road.  Gorgeous day- bright sun and happy people.  I walked the streets- found a mall- found COFFEE- and sat down on a bench where I started a conversation with Myung Ho SEO, a lad from South Korea.  Great conversation- mostly because he was such an interesting person.  He received his undergraduate in political science, worked for the South Korean Army as a commander of some sort, and now has dreams of being high up in the government food chain so he's studying English in Dublin.  He inspired me to take a bus trip since I had all day before meeting my uncle at 8PM.  I went straight to the station and took the bus that would go farthest away and still fit my time schedule-->Limerick.  Perfect.  I went right through the heart of Ireland-- such beautiful countryside.  Limerick was a flash though- I had less than an hour before I had to catch the bus back to Dublin.  I walked- found a gorgeous cathedral- admired the small narrow streets- shops- people- (I stopped at an ATM where a jolly man started a conversation with me where I could hardly understand a word-- his accent was very thick-- I only made out that he was talking about work and having too many pints the night before? I think? haha)- so like I was saying- time was short- I popped into a pub called The Black Swan right when a rugby match started.  I plopped my little self on a bar stool right in the middle of a bunch of big, old Irish men and had a pint-- perfect environment.  I ended up being 15 minutes late meeting my uncle- whoops!- but it wasn't a problem- he was happy to hear I ventured out of the city for the day.  He then treated me to a fab dinner at a Mongolian restaurant where we chatted until closing time. 

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday's weather- beautiful sun.  (I really lucked out!)  Wayne and I toured the city by foot- walking the liffey- checking out the Temple Bar- seeing Trinity College and the Book of Kells- Grifton Street- St. Stephens Square (beautiful!)- having a cappuccinos at a cappuccino bar- tea in the afternoon- yada yada- it was fantastic.  On Grafton Street there were many, many street entertainers-- one was a marionette performer.  I was squatting down trying to get a good photo (which failed to happen) when he brought the doll right over to me- it hopped up on my knee and on to my shoulder- I looked up at it right when it was slowly turning it's creepy wooden head at me...shiver.  haha.  nah, it was really cute.  Kissed by an Irish marionette.  I made it back to the airport on time and was lucky enough to share the plane with the Edinburgh Rugby team (big thing here- I didn't realize it at the time- but when I told my flatmates their response was "NO WAY!!").  While waiting for the shuttle bus back into Edinburgh I met fellow from Sydney who I invited to sit with me. His name was Matt and he was touring Europe on his own for a few weeks. I walked Matt to his hostel and he insisted on treating me to a drink for all my trouble. Call me Miss Social Butterfly.

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Monday and Tuesday are a blur now- my head was racing about the essay I needed to finish by Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday night I stayed up late into the night and finished the beast- turned out to be 11 pages long. This Uni is going to be the death of me.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was a day to celebrate. I handed in my essay and napped for 3 hours- and had plans to meet up with Matt at the castle gates. While I was waiting for him I met a fabulous woman, Nancy, from Chicago. Since I had visited the good o windy city twice over the summer it was easy to converse. She had also visited Maine and commented on the 90 degree weather. There were so many connections- I spent the summer in northern Indiana right in the parts where she went to Uni at Notre Dame and we both were in Dublin last weekend so we chit chatted about that. Matt showed up and I almost invited Nancy along with us for pasta at my flat but I thought Matt would be put off by that. (For some reason I've been very open and welcoming to everyone I've been meeting) My dinner was tasty though- pasta w/tomato and basil sauce and sweetcorn. Luckily I bought 2 loaves of bread since I burnt one to a crisp and had to launch it out the window. (Sorry, mindless details) Well, the night continued to The Three Sisters where I met Matt's mates he had met on a tour of Scotland and he met my mates- Kendra, Dave, Eirena, Cat, etc. Being too buggered from my late night of studying,Matt walked me to my flat-- I hate goodbyes but we parted ways because I was just too tired to even stay up and talk.  He headed off to Amsterdam this morning.  

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So here I am today- phew- what an update. Nothing really planned for this weekend. Aurelie's other grandparents are coming up to visit-- I'm thinking of hitting up Bandaoke with Kendra-- but besides that I think I'm just going to camp out in the library and get some studying done. The last week of November is HELL WEEK for me. I have 4 papers due in one week. One 15 pager, two 5 pagers, and I don't even know how long the 4^th has to be yet...! Mercy! I can't get over how fast time is flying by. Does this mean I'm getting old? Months feel like weeks. Days feel like seconds. Heavens to Betsy. Where's the emergency break on this thing??.. O! I need to do my second month update...I'll work on that. [ For all you noble readers out there- I don't know who you are but I'm honored to have you reading this.  From the depth of my heart, thank you.]

Ahhhh, the memories of my own Dublin hostel experience... hahah. Sounds much like the same place. I think the name of mine was Joshua's or something like that. It was right near the train station. Glad to hear it's going well. Take care woman.

T