Last blog entry from Dublin

This marks my last blog entry from Dublin. I'm leaving campus tomorrow at 6:30am, and I'll be in New York at 1pm. My experience abroad has been incredible and saying goodbye is definitely bittersweet. While I can't wait to see my family and friends and eat American food, Dublin and Ireland will always hold a special place in my heart, and I am truly sad to say goodbye. I can't believe all of the amazing places I've been able to travel to both in Ireland and throughout Europe. I'm grateful for the amazing friendships formed with Notre Dame and international students. I am also very grateful for Notre Dame's O'Connell House and all of the trips and events that they sponsored. Finally, thank you for reading my blog and caring about my experiences! I hope the entries weren't too lengthy - I wanted to make sure I remember everything from this semester. I'll probably blog again next week about adjusting to America. Until then, slán! Go raibh maith agat!!

Irish Philosophy

I saw this when souvenir shopping and thought it was hilarious:

In life, there are only two things to worry about,
either you are well, or you are sick.

If you are well, there is nothing to worry about,
but if you are sick, you have two things to worry about;
either you will live, or you will die.

If you live, there is nothing to worry about,
if you die, you have two things to worry about;
either you will go to heaven or to hell.

If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about,
but if you go to hell,
you'll be so busy shaking hands with your friends,
you won't have time to worry!

Trim Trip

Today Kelly and I took a trip to Trim, County Meath. That was the last place that I really wanted to visit in Ireland since it is where my dad was born. I didn't think it would be possible to visit since no tours really go there and I feel better on tours then winging it myself. I ended up figuring out the bus schedule from Dublin, and we decided to try and see what happened. It worked out really well because the bus dropped us off very close to the castle. We had a nice day there - lunch at a nice little restaurant, a tour of the castle, sightseeing around the ruins, and walking around town. The castle is one of my favorites that I've seen. It's the biggest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, and it's very impressive. It's also very pretty since it's on the River Boyne. It has the claim to fame of being where Braveheart was filmed in 1994. It's cool because they have pictures of the castle dressed up as the set with people on it. They also point out the key places in the tour: it was used for the castle of York in the battle, the window where Longshanks threw the son's friend out, and the outside area was used for London when Mel was tortured. I took way too many pictures as usual, but it was my last trip in Ireland! :(

Irish Exams

The exam process in Ireland is very different from America. First, there is a lot more down time. At ND, we get a few study days then a week of exams. Here there is a week off before exams start, and the exams are over a two week period. That leaves a lot of extra time. Another difference is that at ND we take our exams on campus. At UCD, we take them at RDS, which is a good 40 minute walk from campus. I actually enjoyed the walk to RDS since the weather here has been gorgeous. It's really relaxing to just put on some music and walk before an exam. Exams are in a giant room that literally has 3,500 people taking different exams at the same time. It's a bit difficult to find your assigned seat since there are so many. For my first exam, I was seat number 712. A lot of ND kids complained that it's more stressful being in that testing situation since it seems like the SATs only a lot worse. It didn't really bother me that much. They are also very strict about not bringing anything into the exam room, which I guess is good. I have three more exams left, then I'm home.

Saying goodbye to Dublin

It's really sad that my last two weeks in Dublin are mostly spent stuck in my room trying to study. I'm getting really excited to come home because I miss my family and friends and I'm really excited for American food. At the same time, I know I am going to miss Dublin a lot. I love this city, and it's finally hitting me that I'm leaving it so soon. It's definitely going to be a bittersweet goodbye. I'm just glad I have an awesome summer lined up so it's not like I'll have time to be missing Ireland too much.

Yesterday Kelly and I went into the city for a Starbucks break. It was the first time I've had Starbucks since I've been here. There's something strangely comforting about going to a place that's the same as it would be at home. My java chip frappuccino tasted more like a milkshake than an American frappuccino, but it was still nice to have. After that we went to Carroll's and I started my souvenir shopping. It was so nice to get out and hang around the city instead of sitting in my room writing papers. I'm going to miss being able to hop on a bus and be in the city in 15 minutes.

This morning I went to mass at UCD, and I realized how much I'm going to miss Irish masses. The priest explained the parts of the mass as he always does, and he asked which "Our Father" to sing and started singing a couple different versions for people to choose. He kept saying he had a "long sermon" today... mass was still over in less than 45 minutes. The masses here are so entertaining that it's going to be strange going to mass back home.

While I'm counting down the days until my finals are over and I can see my family and go to all of my favorite restaurants, it's definitely going to be difficult to leave Dublin.

Revision Week

2 weeks from now I'll be on a plane to America. :)
3 weeks from now I'll be turning 21. :)
Right now I'm studying for an Econ final. :(

On the bright side, yesterday I finished my second really long paper, so now all I have left is 5 finals, and I'm an expert in the Celtic Tiger and the development of the papacy in the early Church.

Wild Wicklow

Kelly and I went on the Wild Wicklow tour today. We went to Dun Laoghaire, Lough Tay, and Glendalough. We ate in Lyman's pub which is in the Elders' "St. Kevin" song. It was a beautiful trip. The only really "wild" part was when they gave us a shot of Jameson on the way back into the bus. I added pictures here. The album includes pictures of margarita night at Fridays where we went on Thursday for 12 euro drinks to celebrate the end of classes.