Kilkenny

This past friday on our excursion we went to the Kilkenny Castle, Smithwicks Brewery, and the Cathedral Church of St. Canice. The castle was beautiful overlooking the river and apparently the Butler family was the last family known to occupy the castle. Once they hit bankruptcy they fled and the castle was abandoned for thirty some odd years and left deteriorating. Many renovations were made with flooring, ceilings and interior decor. The pictures and paintings were all the originals and to me it was surprising to learn that the dog held such importance of symbolism in the pictures. For example, a larger dog would show strength, while when a woman had a dog in the portrait with her it usually symbolized fidelity. On our way to Smithwicks Brewery, I had the chance to experience an Irish funeral in process. I learned that the people will follow on foot behind the hearse without the use of motor vehicles, and the wake most often takes place in the homes of the families so they can celebrate around the body and cherish the life.
The brewery tour was wonderful, I truly enjoyed that there was a chapel on site, as well as my free pint of beer at the end:) The cathedral of St. Canice was also absolutely gorgeous with all of the history behind.

October

October is here. The leaves are changing just as they would back home. The past couple day's have been pretty good days... went to Glendolough, made some new friends, found out I got the internship I had hoped for!!! I think I would really enjoy going back to Glendolough to explore a little deeper as well as take a scenic hike through the mountains. Maybe i'll go tomorrow and see if any of the girls would like to join. Now that I am finally getting better I really want to get back into the swing of working out and experiencing as much as possible. Just the other day I bought grape fruit juices at Superquinn and a friend of mine said to me as we were cashing out, "Is it grapefruit juice that prohibits antibiotics from working to their full potential?" My jaw completely dropped at that moment. I went ahead and bought it anyways because we could not be certain at the moment whether it was antibiotics or the contraceptive pill. And now I am on a steroid so my tonsils will go down, I don't think the grape fruit juice is affecting that at least.  I guess the doctors didn't expect me to be chugging down liters of grape fruit juice though huh? hahaha wow... but all you can do is laugh.

I've arrived safely:)

I aint here for a long time, Im here for a good time. If you love country music like i do, then you'll recognize those lyrics by George Strait- Here For A Good Time. It seemed pretty fitting for my outlook on this trip, i didnt know what to expect, but at the same time i did not want to go in with any expectations. Either way im going to enjoy my time here because i know it is limited. 

I feel like i've been waiting for this trip for so long! All summer I attempted to plan for this trip but I knew that i couldnt make any plans to set in stone. And I still want to just slap myself and say, "am i really in Ireland?!?!!?"..."is there really thousands of miles of ocean between me and where I like to call home?!" to me this is so very exciting.

My plane ride here wasn't too bad. I sat next to a girl from Dublin and she was quite nice, hard to understand because her accent was so thick, Or maybe it was just me because i felt as if i was mesmerized just by how different it was. The first week here has been amazing! my computer hasn't worked like i had hoped it would but I've finally figured out a way to get my internet working. If i set my cell phone on the window i receive pretty good internet! The people here are very nice, at first we werent sure how to feel because we've never been the outsider! 

Half way through the first week/towards the end i became ill with Tonsilitus! ahhhh not how i had hoped to spend the beginning of my trip but I know i'll get better soon. Im on another weeks worth of antibiotic because the first antibiotic my body did not seem to react to. unfortunate but i feel a heck of a lot better than i did last week. We will be going to Wexford tomorrow for our second excursion and we will be seeing the beach where saving private ryan was shot on. Sounds exciting. Gotta run, will keep you updated now that i've found a reliable source for internet!