an irish summer: so far so good!

why hello there my beautiful family and friends,

it has been a VERY busy week and a half since i last relayed some groovy info back to ya. groovy; lets bring that back, shall we? k. done.

so last week? maybe two weeks ago? days are a blur here. anyways; at some point i got very sick with a fever and possibly strep throat. while everyone was touring the BEAUTIFUL Aran Islands, i was in bed with theraflu and a blanky. i can't decide who got the better end of that deal. just kidding. i'm upset i couldn't go but it was worth feeling better for the rest of this quick little trip. so lets see, what's been going on?! so much but i don't know how much is worth really telling.

i also don't have many pictures to show you, as i use film and can't develop it yet.

but i do have a few.

so last week i presented my video project and it was well received to my relief :) i enjoyed making it, despite how long i stayed up to do so!

the day after our critique we went to learn Irish Ceili dancing. let's just say it isn't exactly the sharp cheerleading hip hop i'm used to, nor the beautiful and rhythmic bar dancing i've been graced with in the past two years. the 57 year old couple with serious skills did help me quite a bit, but once the spinning started, it didn't stop. thank you sir Jameson and Diet Coke.

Ceili Dancing

The night of Ceili dancing was absolutely eventful meeting new people from the towns and spending our last night with the other group that was studying at the school along with ours. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were given to us to go wherever we wanted or just to have a weekend to ourselves and break from school. a few people went to London, while i few stayed home. Three of my friends and I all decided to go to Dublin for Saturday night and it was absolutely wonderful! like New Orleans, but more pleasing to the senses; especially the nostrils.

homemade cappuccino <3

before we blindly entered the city without a hostel, a bus ticket, or an idea of what we were about to do, we were offered a ride to the bus station by one of our new friends who owns a restaurant in the village. we were a little early so he opened his restaurant and made us homemade lattes and cappuccinos; wonderful way to start a 4 hour bus ride.
(p.s., caffeine and Dramamine aren't exactly best friends.)

Dublin

When we arrived, we were greeted by a Mardi Gras sized party for Gay Pride Week. One of the craziest parties i've ever been to as well as the most fun. First, we stopped and had lunch at this little place called Elephant and Castle. BEST BURGER EVER. and homemade ginger ale that was pretty fantastic. Before we headed down to party for the evening, we stopped and toured St. Patrick's Cathedral (the most beautiful and breathtaking place i've ever been, by the way), as well as Trinity College Garden, the Guinness Brewery, Temple Bar (French Quarter) and all around the city.

Elephant Burger..

...didn't last long

Outside the Brewery

We then headed down to a pub and met some awesome people from Australia, Brazil, Canada, and lovely Wisconsin. They were all attending an organized pub crawl. We somehow ended up not paying for it and tagging along the entire night! it was so much fun. We met some fantastic and hilarious people all while experiencing some incredibly interesting pubs. some like raves and nightclubs while others were almost historical. After a very exciting and hectic night, we headed back to our last minutely found hostel, which doubled as a pizza place. so we got half off food which was lovely.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and ate a cute cafe called The Queen of Tarts, drank coffee, ate an omelet, and headed down for a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery where we ended the tour with a complementary beverage. Love. Jameson. It's a wonderful thing here.

We took a very long bus ride home, and then a very odorous cab ride back to our little (or not so little) Orchard house.

The rest of the week looks like lots of water color paintings and sculptures that i have barely made a dent in, but i decided to take a little break to update on life! however, there wasn't much school info in this, it has continued to be an amazing trip of a lifetime.

Pub Crawl!

tomorrow we're doing a guided hike in the mountains and later in the week we'll meet up with the LSU in Ireland group for dinner and drinks in town and we'll end the week in Galway touring once again!