+81

Long time, no post....my bad! Things have been getting kind of crazy with final essays and the like being assigned, birthday parties, and planning for Thanksgiving!
We only have one week of classes left, which is a relief, but then I have 5 days to finish up A TON of stuff before I start travelling...from the 30th to the 8th, I'll be going to London, Rome, and Prague...I'm super excited!!!
I still have to do a little recap of our trip to Dingle (which is gorgeous, by the way), but I thought I'd leave you with this little bit:

The Galway Christmas Market opened yesterday in Eyre Square, and it's super cute! Lots of crafts and international foods (What am I having for lunch today, you ask? A kangaroo burger, of course). We walked around yesterday, and stumbled upon the 400-person capacity beer garden set up in a tent the size of its circus brethren selling 1L steins of beer...only in Ireland, right?!


Also! Killed some time in Elvery's again the other day and walked out with this magnificent specimen of both a sale and an excellent shirt:




A NEW YORK GAA HURLING JERSEY!


Okay, off to the library ALL day.

+66: Northern Ireland Recap

I suppose it's about time I got around to doing this!

Last weekend we went up to the North; we left at 9, had a two hour lecture on campus, and then headed out; we stopped in Sligo for lunch around 1:30 (I have to say, whoever plans our trips REALLY like dropping us off in random cities to find food and fend for ourselves. Just saying). We stopped to see Yeats' grave, and then continued to our HOTEL, which was this resort center in the middle of nowhere (no, really. NOWHERE).

Saturday, we went to Belfast. After some confusion about when breakfast actually was, we headed to the city. We took a driving tour, partially to cover more ground, partially for safety (we heard two shootings/explosions during our 7 hours there). We stopped to see the murals on Falls Rd, and to see the peace wall, which was really moving.

Murals on Falls Rd.


Bobby Sands Mural




The Peace Wall


...and what I wrote on it.




After that, we went to the Stormont estate, which is where the Northern Ireland Assembly meets. We had a great tour of the chambers (I ended up sitting in the Sinn Fein whip's seat...go figure)...and then we had tea. IN PARLIAMENT. How fantastic is that?!

Then we had a few hours free in the city, so Court & Kelsey & I went shopping (of course) and got milkshakes (of course). Then we headed into the town by our hotel for dinner, and had some pretty decent pizza (for not being in New York, at least) and then had some fireworks thrown at us by some rowdy drunk guys. Then we went to this haunted woods thing that someone had set up; it was a long wait, but a lot of fun, even though I was terrified at first.
Then we went back to our hotel and had our class halloween party, which was a lot of fun!


Court & I did the classic "Risky Business" costume:






aaand we also had: an angel, a rugby team, -Ory world (such a long story!), a lax bro, an Amish woman, the Minister of Silly Walks, a witch, a pumpkin, Pochahantas, a cowboy princess, and some Whos:




Sunday (HALLOWEEN!) we went to Derry for a few hours. Way too little time, honestly. But anyway, we went on a walking tour and went to see the murals in the Bogside, which was really, really interesting. We ended the tour at the Bloody Sunday memorial garden, literally in the middle of where it actually happened.








Aaaaand here are some random pictures from the weekend!

It rained for most of the weekend (hello, rainy season!) but we were prepared!



My realll halloween costume: (with Kaylyn the cowgirl princess and kelsey the angel)




Out on Halloween:





goofing around before the haunted woods thing in Draperstown:






That's all for now, folks...my mom comes tomorrow! SO EXCITED!

+64

Wow, we've already been here for two months (and we only have about a month and a half left)! How absurd!

We spent the weekend in Northern Ireland, which was a lot of fun--and included having tea in Parliament. Just saying. I have to say, I really, really enjoyed Belfast. More on that later.

Let's seee...most of our group is off to either Barcelona or Brussels this weekend, so Gort will be even quieter than usual. But it's really okay BECAUSE MY MOM ARRIVES ON SATURDAY! I am beyond exited!!


Also super exciting: Zach and I are going to see the Arcade Fire. IN LONDON. no big deal.

+59

Here's a little recap of my night:

1:15- Finish packing for trip; go to bed.

1:30- People start setting off fireworks outside.

2:45- Screaming begins outside

3:00- MASSIVE fight outside/in the house next door (one of my bedroom walls is one of their living rooms walls...LOUD!)

3:20- Security shows up

3:22- Girl next door starts yelling at guy who started fight; he tries to tell security that he lives there.

3:25- Girl starts yelling about friend who got caught up in fight & probably has a broken rib.

3:35- Girl still yelling; someone screams that the Gardi are on their way.



Seriously, it was ridiculous. I'm starting to notice that there are a lot more drunken fights here? Maybe it's just because it's a student complex, but I'm not sure...

+58 (Again)

The internet here is SO slow!
All I want to do is download "Double Double Toil and Trouble." Really, it's not much to ask!
We're off to Northern Ireland in the morning, which should be fun, although I have to say I'm disappointed we're missing Halloween in Galway...

+58

This evening, Zach and I were in Courtney & Kelsey’s kitchen making cookies when the fire alarm went off in the building. We went outside in the hall and noticed it was smoky, so we went outside; as it turns out, someone had set off their fire extinguisher, which is super, super dangerous. SO, we’re standing outside, and Court went back in to make sure everyone was out of the building. We’re outside for a good 10 minutes with the alarm still going off and Irish kids just moving the party outside before one of Gort’s security guards finally shows up and walks in; he starts asking around for the people who live in the apartment in question and then leaves. No cops, no fireman, no poison control, no actually authority to make sure everyone was okay.
Zach and I both felt the effects of whatever CO2 exposure (even though we were only in the building for like 3 minutes and covered our noses and mouths with our shirts, so we left right away and spent a good deal of time trying to convince certain occupants of a certain apartment building to sit in our building until the smoke/fire extinguisher/whatever had dissipated.
The lack of response is really terrifying—what if there had actually been a fire? No official went in to make sure everyone was out, there were no fire fighters or anything; it was all up to a student who has emergency response training. That’s way too much for one person to handle, and, quite frankly, is completely irresponsible of both our apartment complex and local authorities.

As usual drunk kids are STUPID. I guess it doesn’t matter which side of the pond you’re on.

+56: Bank Holiday Weekend Recap!

...There really aren't any words to describe my bank holiday weekend. It was fantastic, ridiculous, and draining. It started out with champagne at work on Thursday afternoon, and ended with watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The middle is kind of a long story, but it was fun!

I got my Halloween costume(s), had an excellent crepe (caramelized banana, chocolate, & Baileys!), went shopping with Court, and was fairly productive.

Now, off to finish my history midterm (the professor spontaneously cancelled class this afternoon, which I really appreciated (JUST KIDDING!))..