Last few days

Well I can't remember the last time I blogged because I have been SO busy these last few weeks and I've seen so many things. I flew back to America yesterday on a  2 hour drive to dublin, three hour flight to germany, and another 10 hour flight to atlanta. and then 2 hours to get home. SO I AM TIRED. I would not trade this experience for the world. I cannot wait to see Ireland again someday(because I haven't even seen half of it) and I can't wait to see all my friends again. Best thing about Ireland? The people. It is also the most beautiful place I have ever seen but the people make it the best place I will ever go. I feel like I have met my best friends in 5 weeks, who just happen to live across the world. I am going to miss them terribly, I don't know what I am going to do without them. On our last night we had a great dinner with our group, followed by some traditional Irish music and some stuff that our group members played. We all danced and had an amazing time. We also had a photo competition which i won several prizes in, I'm happy to say. So that was cool. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with the guys. Who have made my stay an amazing one and i was heartbroken to part with them. They gave us irish flags which they wrote on for us, we all took pictures together and It was truly one of the best nights I could have asked for. They stayed until the buses were literally pulling out of the school. It made me cry. Haha.

I found out that was good at pool a few nights ago. That was funny, we also went out dancing last saturday, that was amazing and I had the time of my life just dancing. It's nice cause everyone doesn't booty dance the whole time, they just have alot of fun, the guys spin the girls around and it's great. We "Rocked the boat" and sang a whole new world. Last weekend we also stayed in Dublin for two nights and that was fun! I didn't get to see much of Dublin because on Friday we saw Cliffs of Moher and the Western side of Ireland. THE most beautiful place I've ever seen. It is a big tourist sight but it is truly breathtaking and very worth it to go there. It was about a 14 hour bus ride all together and it took the life out of me so when we actually went to dublin to go out, i was exhausted and couldn't do much. But maybe I'll see it again soon. We went to some pubs in dublin and girl talked and that was fun. We also had sushi which made me feel alot better, I haven't had it in so long.
I have now tried gravy and chips and a chicken fillET burger and both of those were amazing.

I am trying to think of all the things I have done but I can't think to save my life. Maybe I'll come back to it but anyways, the biggest point is, I have not NEARLY had my fill of Ireland. I would go back right now in a heartbeat. I cannot WAIT to see it again and the people again. This experience has been truly unbelievable and I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do than just go back and stay there. It has been a blessing of a lifetime. Ireland, see you after, and slan!





Love always, Mary Glynn

Carramore house, Cork, Killarney, Kerry

Hello all.

This week was kinda crazy and always gogogo! So I haven't had time to write. But I'm taking this opportunity while I can. Tuesday we went to the Carramore house and Portlaw. Those were both pretty interesting. They were right outside Waterford. The Carramore house belongs to a wealthy family, Lord Waterford and Lady Waterford. All of it was old and many things look like they haven't been touched in years. The place has been lived in for centuries and all of it is still how it was originally. It was pretty neat but I almost died because of asthma haha. The house was originally supposed to be burned by a few men but the symbol of the family is a stag with a cross in between the antlers. So one of them men looked up and saw the cross and being a good catholic man (haha) he decided not to burn the house, but to burn some other houses a little ways away.  Glad they didn't because that would have burned everything amazing IN the house.  They had really cool things in there such as an authentic Chinese painted chest which hardly ever have anything painted on the inside too but this one did. We also saw Marie Antoinette's original changing screen that was beautifully decorated, that she wanted to use so she could be separated from the commoners whilst being beheaded. It was amazing! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building or else i would show them. Also, one of the previous mistresses of the house, Lady Katherine, wanted to be remembered there so she built this little cottage a few steps away from the house and the whole inside is COVERED from top to bottom to sides in sea shells. Amazing colors, textures, this was my perfect Mermaid grotto. It was beautiful. I wanted to live in there. Portlaw was cool, it showed the industrial side of the town, but it was more like a history lesson and with the little sleep I get here, I fell asleep. haha.

Wednesday was 4th of July and they had a little dinner for us set up at the college and it was delicious and really cute how they set it all up. It was really nice of them to celebrate for us. That night most of our group went out to T&H Doolans, a local pub and met some of the german foreign exchange students that were also studying at WIT. That was fun, meeting some of them. We all went to Masons to dance afterwords and it was fun. Alot of people got too drunk but overall it was a fun night.

Thursday we went to Cork for about 2 or 3 hours and saw the art gallery there, which was really cool! Then we went to Topshop and I bought a few things. Little did I know I could get a discount there for students. ANGRY! next time. We then had lunch at a cute little pub afterwords. Cork has some great places to shop! I definitely want to go back there and have a look around when we have more time. After that we continued our trip to Killarney. Saw Ross Castle and Muckross House, both beautiful picture opportunities.. We went to a few stops. Finally we got to our hotel. Which was AMAZINGLY NICE.  We had a terrific view of the mountains from our dining room. We had a 4 course meal both nights we were there. Both were super nice. The next day we went to the Ring of Kerry as well as Ladies View, and some other places. We saw several gypsies, some playing music, some with animals to pet and pick up. I got to pick up a lamb!!!! It was the best thing ever. It was so cute. SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE! Ring of Kerry was fantastically beautiful. I've never seen such a sight. I climbed the hill which was really steep but if you commit, it's totally worth it. You can see for miles and miles. It was great. I'm definitely going to be sad when I go home. I want to live here! Only bad part is the rain and humidity that makes my hair suck ALL THE TIME. We just got back from Blarney and we went to the Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone. It was scary but fun and maybe now I'll have good luck! I need it. I've gotten hurt so much on this trip. hahah.

Until next time...
Cheers!

First free Weekend!

Update on my weekend!  On friday we went out to an Irish gay bar called Dignity and it was interesting to say the least. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN! Irish people are crazy. I absolutely loved it. You can dance like a total idiot and no one cares what you look like. Well maybe they do but they don't show it. It was a pretty cool gay bar, there was a big mix of gay and straight. There was a singing competition. One girl was exceptionally good. It reminded me of susan boyle when she walked out on stage. Her look doesn't match her voice...but her voice was absolutely beautiful. She didn't win unfortunately but it's okay because she had all her friends cheering for her the whole time. Actually she had the whole crowd cheering for her. Anyways, they played new nicki minaj and played old school backstreet boys, hanson and even the YMCA. I've never danced so hard in my life. It was awesome, or brilliant as they would say here.

Yesterday Beth and I went with this other girl named Mary in our group to go horseback riding. There was a marathon running all across waterford and tramore yesterday so it was very hard to get a bus. When we were waiting, we met this other girl studying at WIT for a few months. She is German and her name is Ann. She is really cool and we talked to her for quite a bit, even on the bus ride. She isn't hanging out with anyone here so I think it was nice for her to get to know some people. The only reason she was going to tramore was to get a bike but talking to us, she came horseback riding with us! The horseback riding was really cool! I thought it was going to be on the beach but it was in the countryside which was awesome too. I kept imagining myself in lord of the rings. The music kept playing in my head. Cause I'm a huge nerd like that XD. Although, my horse named Marley, was a poker and I kept having to catch up and then slow down. And kept drooling and farting. It made me laugh. Not as majestic as Shadowfax....but what can you do.  We went by a beautiful lake and some mountains. All of it felt a little surreal, as does most of this trip to me.

When we finished horseback riding, a lady who's daughter was taking lessons there offered to give us a ride back into town because it was a bit of a walk. She was amazing. I wish she were my best friend. Her name was Amanda; she is actually British, who settled with an Irishman and has 4 kids as she told us, 3 dogs, 2 cats, a tank full of fish and 1 husband. She made me laugh. She showed us around the town, showed us where we could watch all the 'handsome fellas walk around in their wetsuits' at the beach  and where we could take surfing lessons if we wanted to. YES i want to, of course all the other girls think it was too cold. I mean it is too cold, but it has never stopped me before. Hahaha. Surfing in Ireland? Of course! My favorite line she used was when we said everyone has dogs here and she was like "yes! and they SHIT everywhere!" hahaha she was a riot. I loved talking with her. Anyways, we went down to a little surf shop/eatery and ate a good little lunch there. We then went down to the beach and i collected some sea glass and rocks. Girls were out there in bikinis! I know it feels pretty warm to them but still, are you crazy?! Alot of people surf over there. It was really pretty and cool to see the town. Ann came with us through all of it, it was nice to have her tag along!

It feels too surreal to be here sometimes.

Dublin/Missing the Ferry

Yesterday was quite an adventure. It started off wonderfully but quickly turned into a nightmare. For our field trip yesterday, all of the classes went to Dublin.  Amazing city, I would go back there in a heartbeat. We spent most of the day going to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and saw The Book of Kells at trinity college. We saw some of Monet's and Degas' famous paintings. We saw Irish modern artist works too. The Book of Kells was amazing; we couldn't take photographs but if I could I would show you. The amount of work and color that are still on these books is very impressive. Very beautiful. After that, me and my friend Allysa went to scope out some shops. Of course American Apparel had everything cute that I ever wanted to buy in my life but was about 58 euro a shirt. #hates. There was some middle school/high school girl in there trying on spandex shorts that exposed ALL of her butt cheeks and people were telling her it was cute, which it wasn't.


I even found my twin whilst here.

After that, we all met up at the buses. Beth and I had already planned to take a ferry to London for the weekend and visit her friend, Andy. The previous day or so, she had ordered the tickets online to get a ferry through Irish ferries to Stena Line (a company of ferry they use) but it said unconfirmed online, so her friend Andy called the next morning to confirm it. WELL, just to be safe (about knowing where we were going) we went to a tourist information center in Dublin, so she could tell us if we were going the right way. We had 4 hours. We thought we'd be okay. She called the company, they said Dun Laoghaire was the correct port to go to. We take the Dart(a train) to Dun Laoghaire and arrive right outside the ferry port. But it was closed....Weird you might think but we asked a local and he said he didn't know much but that it would open about an hour or so before we were supposed to be there. SO we hung out in a coffee shop for a bit and about an hour before, we went back out there and it was still closed. We knew something was up so we asked more people but no one seemed to know anything. Then finally we saw a guy and his dog and another couple walking the same irection and we stopped and asked, and they said that ferries had stopped coming to that port except once a day at 1. And we needed quickly to be at the only other ferry port in dublin. All the way back north. In an hour. We took a train to Connely then rushed to a taxi to Dublin port. The guy was kind of an idiot and didn't know which port to go to, he took us to all these different ones. Irish ferries had already left. We needed Stena line so we finally made it there with 25 min to spare and they told us they couldn't find us under registration. Our names weren't anywhere on there. The registration code the website gave through the travel agency was incorrect. They couldn't look it up so we would either have to pay to get on there AGAIN or we were sol. We weren't going to pay again, so we went outside to wait for a taxi and this wonderful, older man helped us get on his computer to look at the info. He suggested riding with him on the 2:15am ferry which was better than nothing. Our tickets still weren't coming up so we called the Stena Line company and they didn't open until 9am so there was no way we could have gotten it switched over. Our only chance was to hopefully find the group that was still in Dublin because they were going to a play. We used the man's phone and called a taxi and found the group finaly and went back to Waterford last night. Long day.

As for the weekend, I'm not sure what our plans are. I guess we aren't going to London. There might be something else fun in store. Atleast now we know what to do...if by chance we get into this situation again. Don't book ferries online. Just don't do it. Also, when asking directions, get someone who knows what they're talking about.

All in all, eventful day. Praying today will be better :)

Day 5.

So I got to Ireland about 5 days ago and it really is pretty fantastic. We've had some pretty crazy adventures already with some interesting people but for the most part, everyone here is really very lovely. They actually love to talk to us, especially the older folk. It is a great experience. This country is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, THE most gorgeous, green land I've only dreamed about. Definitely worth coming here. It has stayed partly cloudy for us most of our stay so far and the sun has even come out some. So when we went to the cliffs by Hook lighthouse in wexford, and the sun was shining, it was a brilliant sight. Pictures do not do it justice.Way too beautiful to be real.

Top adventure so far, we almost got mugged the first day by this old cracked out woman asking for money on the bus stop. Well asking is not exactly what she was doing. It was more like cornering people and mumbling to them at the bus stop. WAY too close for comfort. Me and Beth almost had to go Spartan and kick her in the chest. She started mocking us and following us past the bus stop but we walked away as did some of the locals because this was obviously not normal here. This boy was nice enough to lead us to another bus stop but we ended up walking because the bus didn't come soon enough. We got home soaking wet because of rain. YAY! But it really was interesting. I've tasted pub food which is to die for. I've been to a little bistro in town. I've bought a few clothes and some of the clothes here are really cute! Depends on where you go! Penney's was my favorite place to go there but everything closes pretty early...at 6 so it was hard to stay long anywhere... They had a forever 21 vibe with about the same prices. There were also some cute little thrift finds downtown too, where old Irish folk loved to talk to us about our stay here. There are some great laughs to find in the people here, that's for sure.

We met some younger locals too and I exposed to them my "weirder side" right off the bat but they seemed to have fun with us. They called me "mad but a brilliant mad" and we tried speaking in each other's accents and that was super fun. I would be happy if I could do that every night. The country and the people seem fantastic. I'm going to see a play tonight with the theater group. Stephen King's Misery? Should be good or at least interesting. More adventures to come. :)