sitting in starbucks again. i hate it because it's exactly the same as american starbucks, but i love it for the free wifi and proximity to campus. ah, well.
well, this week certainly has been fun. and interesting. i'm finally feeling at home here and have (also finally) made some friends among my fellow classmates. it always takes me a couple weeks to get acclimated. luckily, the majority of my trip is ahead of me and, therefore, there is lots more fun to be had with this great group of girls i've become a part of!
after classes monday, we were treated to a traditional irish music concert right in our very own gmb. we've found that we're spending much more time in the gmb than anywhere else and, of course, it's become a sort of home for us. the hour-long concert left time for relaxing and catching up on classwork for the rest of the week, and an early night was well needed for an early morning on tuesday.
we left at 9am for the countryside on an archaeological field trip. we didn't know what to expect and, as such, i forgot to grab sunscreen and a jacket on my way out of my dorm. big oops. sitting here now is the remnants of an erin lobster. luckily, my burns here in ireland seem to clear up exponentially faster than those i get in america...for this, i am eternally grateful.
anyway, the field trip. we arrived at loughcrew after a 1.5-hour coach ride, during which i found myself enjoying my company for once. i've been very quiet up until now, taking in my surroundings and trying not to get too cliquey. it's been an interesting transition for me, going from knowing everyone and being surrounded by friends to knowing absolutely no one and having to start from scratch. now that i've had a conversation with almost every girl on this trip (in our group of 35, there are 8 boys, none of whom seem particularly interesting or worthwhile conversationalists...but maybe that's just my elitist view.) however, the group of girls i sat with on the coach have, in turn, become my new best friends over the course of the last two days.
at loughcrew, we saw the famous passage burial mounds. there are four mountains in the area, with a total of 32 burial mounds spread throughout. of course, this meant an intense midmorning hike that no one had prepared us for. so, an interesting way to start the day. we made it up the hill to one of the most beautiful sights i've ever laid my eyes on. from the top of the mountain, you can clearly see 18 of the 32 counties in ireland, and we lucked out with weather. though it had rained heavily the day before, resulting in a slick grassy hike, the sky was blue and there was nary a cloud. glorious. (yes, we had our first real irish rain on monday. and by real, i obviously mean that it was spitting enough to be a nuisance, but not enough to really elicit any need for my still-unworn rainboots.) so, we snapped some pictures, took a look around, learned the history of the site from joan, climbed the mound, made wishes on the hag's chair (according to joan, every wish that has ever been made from the chair comes true...here's hoping!), and took a look at the ruins on the inside of the passage. awesome.
back to the coach for an hour's drive to tara. we were told that we had a limited amount of time and that we needed to eat quickly in order to make our tour time. we were then let free towards the one sit-down restaurant in the area. they didn't know we were coming and were ill-prepared to seat a group of 40, let alone the other patrons of the hour. thus, we were late to our tour (but my sandwich was well worth it.) of course, we all know about the hill of tara. seat of the ancient high kings of ireland and all that. it was a very mystical site and we were, once again, led about with a great knowledgeable guide. i stood in the beautiful sunshine, feeling my skin fry and convincing myself never to forget my spf again. big oops.
on the coach once more, we made our way to the town of trim, home of trim castle. we've been told about fifteen times now that one of the scenes in braveheart was set at trim and, therefore, that is their claim to fame. so exciting. the castle was magnificent, as was the little town. we got to explore a bit and wandered down the river shannon before touring the castle. by that point, we were all sunburned and exhausted, so our poor tour guide was spewing information to a very uninterested crowd. nonetheless, the castle was great and some awesome pictures were to be had from the top towers.
back in dublin, i crashed,but not before noticing a little note that had been pushed under my door. a package had arrived! so, i walked ten minutes across campus to pick it up and was finally able to relax afterwards.
wednesday was full of classes (2.5-hour visual culture lecture, followed by history, critical issues, and gaelic culture), trip planning (i'm trying to get my weekends set so that i don't have to do any more last minute planning), and a lecture by frank mcdonald, environmental editor of the irish times. he spoke about the celtic tiger, which is what ireland named their economic boom between 1996ish-2006ish. of course, they've had just as bad a time of it as america has, and everyone's focused on the horrors that are this recession. frank was an engaging speaker, talking about the urban sprawl that ireland experienced during their boom and the unfortunate circumstances that much of the countryside has been left in.
after the lecture, we decided to go out to nineties night at porterhouse for the second week in a row, and this is where i truly fell in with my group of girls. like i said, i'm finally feeling at home with this group, trying to avoid drama and still hoping to have the time of my life in this amazing country. i'm trying not to be too cliquey, talking and hanging out with a bunch of smaller groups. my bouncing around has proven interesting in the last couple of weeks, but i've realized i'm not here to please a group of american students, but rather to live a dream i've had for my whole life. in short, i love being the social butterfly that i am, and i'm finally feeling able to come out of my shell.
as for this weekend, most of us are staying in dublin. we've decided to do karaoke tonight, go to the guinness factory tomorrow, take the train to the small fishing town howth on saturday, and have a fourth of july picnic in phoenix park on sunday before going to croke park to watch the hurling national championship game! a solid weekend is to be had by all, and i'm just glad to have some good people to hang out with now.
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