Allison + 1

This past weekend we went to Bunratty Castle to celebrate Thanksgiving IN A CAR. We drove successfully across the country and back without any nicks or dents or any lost rearview mirrors! Pretty proud moment for us given all of the horror stories we have heard from other fellow travelers met along the way. Bunratty Castle was  everything we had hoped for. We were greeted with a glass of "Honeymoon" mead at the door and entertained throughout the night. It was lovely to learn more of the Irish history through this folk park as well as how in America we have adopted different customs as our own. The next day we woke up and headed straight to the Cliffs of Mohr and successfully got our  almost over the edge picture without being blown away by a gust of wind. After this we had a beautiful panoramic view of the cliffs while eating lunch and later tried relying on our irish GPS to take us to the Burren at dusk. Sure, we may have been there but it was quite hard to tell in the evening hours as well as because our GPS kept rerouting about every 30 seconds. It was quite an experience and we truly enjoyed the view, as well as being independent with our travels. It felt good to get behind a wheel from what had been a 2 month hiatus.   I also had the chance to get Ray at a Bodhran lesson! And we also luckily inherited a mass amount of Irish music from my friend Martin. By the way, I am still taking violin lessons here and am completely loving every minute of it!

Paris////Ray's here!

Paris was amazing last weekend, we went on a 3 1/2 hour free walking tour and I was most impressed with The Louvre. Our tour guide said if we had wanted to get through the whole thing, we would spend ten seconds at each painting, and this would still take 3 weeks to complete. We walked 2/3 of the Eiffel Tower and boy oh boy by the end of this trip was my feet aching haha, ALL WORTH IT!. I tried Escargot! I was a little apprehensive about it at first, but after hearing wonderful things I had decided I could not pass up this opportunity. And yes, I loved every single snail. I cannot wait to have them again, will be looking to see how I can get them back in the States.
Ray arrived Monday! It is so great to have a familiar face, and it is still hard to believe he is here. We have already been to Cork and went to Blarney Castle, as well as the Jameson Distillery Tour. Tomorrow we will be going to Galway for my 22nd birthday. Here we will try Oysters and go to the Aran islands! I dont think there could be a better way to spend a birthday. I feel so blessed.

Cant believe its November already

We had our last excursion this past friday. We went to the Chocolate Garden! I had a wonderfully sweet time;) hahaha. It was pretty neat because we did the chocolate workshop and actually learned what they do with the chocolate and how they make it all, even the truffles! We all decorated and molded a milk chocolate cat to take home with us. And after learning all about the chocolate and eating a good amount of it, we all decided to purchase some for our family to take home since it will last from 6 months to a year. It's going to be pretty hard to keep my hands off of it until then. Next weekend I am going to Paris, France with my girlfriends for the weekend and then after that my boyfriend, Ray comes to celebrate my birthday with me! I cannot wait.

Recent Events

Last week we went to Dublin for our excursion and toured Trinity college where we saw the Book of Kells in the Long Room,  Kilmainham Gaol where we learned the harsh conditions of the prisoners and also how unmerciful the guards were on young children, and we also had a look around the National Museum in Dublin. Here I was very intrigued by the famous Bog bodies.

On Halloween day I went on a tour with my friend Jamie to the Ring of Kerry. Absolutely gorgeous!! It was well worth it and a great deal was learned of the west coast. We made many stops for us touristers of the group to take pictures, and we were very fortunate to have weather cooperate with us. In the morning it was raining but once we got to our destinations it subsided and the sun came through the clouds. One place I would love to go back and have a longer walk around would be Killarney National Park. I had no idea we would be stopping here as well as to the site of the Torc waterfall, so we were very much surprised/pleased with our tour.

London

Last week I had my first violin lesson since about 8th grade and i've completely fallen in love with it again:) I could not be more ecstatic to bring this hobby back into my life. I also went to London this past weekend with a couple of my girlfriends. I have to say that the elaborate architecture is one of the most memorable things to me. We took a 48 Hour "Big Bus Tour" which had a blue and a red bus touring the city making stops everywhere, giving you a chance to hop on and off at your leisure. We also stayed at a swiss cottage hostel and this was most likely one of the nicest hostels around. I almost did not want to leave because the bed was even more comfortable than mine at my apartment! hahaha yes that made it hard. We also went on a ferry tour on River Thames where we went under the "London Bridge" saw the beautiful Tower Bridge, Watergate house, the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare!, and much more. The weekend was full of tours because we also went on the Harry Potter walking tour which gave us a lot of interesting facts. I had no idea that J.K. Rowling was three times as rich as the Queen in London. Good for her! Especially learning her background and everything that she had dealt with in the past. We also went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour around 6:45 as the sun was going down. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and humorous and it was neat to learn that he actually lives in the Tower of London with his family. We toured the streets of Victorian London and tread where Jack the Ripper, his victims, and the police once had. We also went to all of the different crime scenes as well as a couple bars in the area that were up in running back in 1888 that still are! Such as, The Princess Alice and The Ten Bells. I enjoyed my trip in London and hope to be able to go back some  day.

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.