KELLY IN IRELAND

There are just not enough hours in the day! Between spending too much money at my favorite Thai restaurant, reading fairy tales for my Gothic Fiction class and taking pictures of the swans that live in the canal next to my apartment, it's hard to find time for me to blog!

The past two weeks have been extremely busy. Here, midterms consist mostly of papers and projects rather than exams, all of which seemed to magically pile up onto each other once we'd returned from Spring break. Here are other exciting things that happened:

Field trip to Causey Farm in County Meath: aka a day of playing with puppies, baking Irish bread, milking cows, walking in bogs, learning how to play hurling, and lots of farm animals.

Food Network should be calling me any day now...

Me and a new pal!

Silent Disco: exactly what it sounds like. A large group of people in headphones dancing around to music only they can hear. Not sure how else to describe it other than the fact that it must have looked extremely funny to everyone watching...

Hiking through Glendalough in County Wicklow: this was absolutely beautiful. Lots of nature and fresh air despite the fact the foggy weather - when we got to the top of the mountain we could see....absolutely nothing! Also a great form of exercise, even though the calories I burned off were probably put right back on after our program leaders bought us a pint after...

The view from the top of Glendalough can be seen best on an overcast day......

This past week was filled with even more anticipation as this past weekend was ST. PATRICK'S DAY! On Monday we went out to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday, despite the fact that here she is legal to drink! I always wonder how we look to the locals - a group of Americans screaming and shouting at midnight to celebrate the fact that one of our own is turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age is 18.

On Wednesday we took a class field trip to see a series of plays called "Tiny Plays". The plays are written by the people of Ireland, lasting anywhere from 1-5 minutes, and performed by a cast of 5. Some were happy and some were sad, overall it was a really great night. I would tell everyone to go and check them out but I'm not sure how many of you will be in Dublin in the next couple of weeks...

St. Patrick's weekend in Dublin is even better than it's cracked up to be. On Saturday there was a carnival all day in Merrion Square. I ate what may be the greatest crepe I have ever tasted and also managed to come home with a myriad of Irish items (including, but not limited to, a foam finger!) On Sunday we woke at dawn to begin the day - felt just like home! From the parade to finding puppies on Grafton Street to finally coming home that night and feeling thankful that St. Patrick's only comes around once a year, it was a day i'll never forget.