I'm American and I am learning and laughing over here!

I'm sitting at my desk, drinking a cup of tea, dancing in my chair to "Kiss You" by One Direction and reflecting back on the past few days. I've been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift and One Direction, lately. The songs are so catchy and keep me in a grand mood!

I know I just wrote 4 days ago, but some more exciting things have happened since then!


February 14th. I woke up, showered, got dressed, put my headphones in, turned on a good song and walked outside. I had to shield my eyes because of the SUN. Right away I thanked God for giving that day sunshine. It gave me such happy feelings! And I'm sure it helped all of those singles out there who dread this day, fill up with happy feelings, too. God gives the greatest gifts at the perfect moments. I went to class, smiling, and jamming out to my tunes. When I came out of my 3rd class, it was cloudy and then it started to rain. Of course, but I didn't let it put a damper on my day. After class I went to a friend's apartment, another friend joined us and we made scones and just chatted while we waited for them, and then ate up the goodness. They were delectable! We had them with butter and jam. So perfect. I think I ate one too many scones because my stomach wasn't feeling very good the rest of the night, but that still didn't put a damper on my day! After taking a nap, one of my other friends and I got together to bake cookies. We had all of the ingredients except brown sugar, butter and chocolate chips. We went to Aldi and got brown sugar and butter, but we couldn't find chocolate chips. Do they even have chocolate chips in Ireland? Uh oh... what if they don't? We went to a grocery store that was close by and after searching for several minutes, we could only find this very small bag of chocolate chips that was far too expensive. Hmmmm. We searched the store up and down. While looking at the chocolate candy I stopped these two women and asked them if they had ever made chocolate chip cookies. They hesitated, thought about it and laughed and said that yes, they had made cookies before. I asked them what they used for chocolate chips. They told us there were chocolate chips over by the baking goods. I proceeded to say, "Yes, but are there any bigger bags? In America they come in bags this size (I showed them with my hands)." They laughed and said, "Well everything in America comes in large size. Not here in Ireland. It's downsized." I felt SO AMERICAN at that moment. They're totally right! So instead of getting that small bag, we used my leftover chocolate bar and cut it up. We ran into another "problem". I had the recipe memorized from making it so many times at home, but the measurements are different here, and we had no measuring cups... So I eyeballed everything. They didn't turn out too bad! The dough - which kind of looked like batter - tasted good! After making cookies I headed back to my apartment, put in a movie and fell asleep.

Friday. I slept in and it was glorious. Not having class on Fridays is the greatest! We (friends) left around 3pm to catch a bus to Dublin. I picked up a letter from my sister before we left and read it on the bus. It was wonderful and so comforting. We stopped at the ATM and in a store to get a card for the bus. Once we got to Dublin we went to double check we were booked for the trip that we signed for. After a phone call and waiting, we were golden! We then went to the Jameson Distillery to meet up with another friend. Then we checked in at the Hostel that we were booked for. It was my first Hostel and it was grand! Everything was so nice. The people, the atmosphere. In this hostel they had a bar, a game room and a mini cafe. It wasn't your typical hostel (well that's what my friends told me!). In the beds they had outlets and night lights! Once we dropped off our stuff in our room it was time to eat. We were all SO hungry, so we went to the first place we saw. It was a Pizzeria just across the way. I got soup. It was delicious! (I know, I describe all of the food as delicious. It's the truth! I love food.) I love that soup always comes with bread. The bread always tastes so fresh and flavorful. We all went to bed around between 8-10pm. We were so tired and we had to get up at 5am to catch the bus for the trip. We all woke up and got ready. Since we had to leave so early, we ordered the night before, for them to have breakfast boxes for us. They were so nice! They came with a scone, roll, jam, orange, orange juice, and a granola bar. It was all tasty, of course. We waited outside of the building for the bus while eating our breakfast.

The guy who drove the bus was also our tour guide. He was hilarious and so nice! He talked as he drove and he even sang Irish songs! It made the trip that much more wonderful, when it was already wonderful! We went to the Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, an Abbey, drove by castles, drove by a sports facility, and more! It was a long day, but it was filled with so much! I went to the Cliffs and The Burren a couple weeks ago and it was very cold, windy and rainy. This time it was a lot more clear and not as cold. It made the experience much more enjoyable (not that I didn't enjoy it last time). I was able to get better pictures (without my fingers freezing) and walk around without getting blown away. Between destinations I wrote in my journal as the tour guide talked. I learned so much! Here, I'll make a list:

*Obama visted a small town in Ireland last year because he had a relative who lived there. They named a pub after him. (I forget what exactly it was called.)
*Limerick is a city and county.
*There is a different crest for each county.
*Each county seems to have a different accent.
*Each county has at least 2 nicknames.
*Limerick was founded by the Vikings in the 900s. They liked Limerick because there was a main waterway there so they could travel up and down the waterway to attack other villages.
*In the olden days, there were 4 kingdoms. Each one had a king.
*King John's Castle (circa 1200) is all still standing except one wall due to a battle in 1600
*There is a cathedral beside the castle (1178) and it is still being used. It was restored in 2003.
*The battle of Boyne (1690) Protestant vs. Catholic. James was the leader of the Catholics. He ran away after they were defeated. They now call him "James the shit"
*The treaty stone - The Irish asked the English to give better rights to them (Irish). They even put it on a stone after the English agreed to do it. The English decided later on that they didn't want things to change. The stone is propped up in a little town as a reminder of "You can't trust the word of an Englishman."
*After the famine, Limerick was very poor (until the 1990s). There was an economic boom called "The Celtic Tiger"
*When Limerick was poor, there was a period of time where it was called "Stab City" 25 years ago.
*Police do not carry guns, so there are not many offenses with guns. (Imagine of American police didn't carry guns.)
*There are not many sports in Ireland, but they don't like to share stadiums (the tour guide joked about this).
*You know all of those random towers that are around Ireland? They are made out of stone. Well this is the reason they are randomly around: In the 1500s, Henry the 7th was on throne in England. He wanted Landlords to show their authority, so he gave 10lbs to each to build a tower. 15-20 years later, they were taken over by the Irish.
*St. Bridget is a patron saint in Ireland. There are pictures of her carrying a bishop's staff and it is believed that she was a bishop.
*The reason some of the roads are bumpy is because they are built on bogland.
*In the 700/800s Women priests were brought to a stop.
*Our tour guide - Joe - has a baby due in 2 weeks! So exciting!
*We passed a small village. It had 2 BIG PUBS, a small shop, and a church.
*Whiskey means "the water of life"
*Houses in this village reminded Joe of monopoly.
*The movie "The Princess Bride" - there was a scene in that movie filmed on the Cliffs of Moher.
*Burren - means "great rock"
*During the famine, onlookers wondered out the people could be so thin and frail, yet the cows were fat. It is because limestone and grass were really good for the cows and they came from the earth.

The Burren! The Burren was so beautiful. It is a lot of rock. Did you know that they believe that the rock was formed because they believe that Ireland was under shallow water and this rock is left over from reef formations? I went up really close to the water and took pictures of the water below. You can check those pictures out on Facebook!

 

That's pretty much it for the facts. Joe (our tour guide) was just so funny and had the greatest sense of humor. It kept us all in a good mood. We got back to Dublin around 7:30. We were all sooooo hungry, so we went and got fish and chips. It was my first fish and chips! The guys who we ordered from were so funny, too! I love the Irish sense of humor. The fish and chips was the greatest! I got so full close to the end, but I wanted to eat every last bite! They had a tip jar labeled "staff drinking money". After the fish and chips, we went to a tourist store, then we got on the bus to go back to Maynooth. This was one of the highlights of my day. A few of us were listening to our headphones - listening to boy bands - and we'd lip sink to each other dramatically. We were all in such good moods! (Probably because we had full tummies!) Then all of a sudden the bus driver announced that the bus was overheating. So we had to get off at a bus stop and wait for another bus to pick us up. It was about a 20 minute wait. It wasn't too bad. It was kind of humorous, actually. After we got back, we all went to our rooms.

I stayed up late putting pictures on Facebook. I had to e-mail all of the pictures from my phone, to my e-mail so I could upload them to Facebook on my computer. It took forever, but it was totally worth it. I went to sleep around 3:30am. I set my alarm for 8 so I could go to a new church that had 9:30 mass. I was hoping that this church would have music, but when I got up around 8, I shut my alarm off. There was no way I was getting up! I woke up around 10 and finished uploading more pictures, then I caught the 11:30 service at the church I went to that didn't have music. Guess what? They had music at this service! It's a family service. There was an "adult choir" and there were elderly people and families, and children. I loved it! I was so happy and in such a good mood at that moment! They played some of my favorite church songs! "You are Mine", "Be Not Afraid", "On Eagles Wings". It was all in God's plan that I sleep in and go to a later service. I love the way he works! - Mysteriously. The sun started shining through the windows, the children around me kept making eye contact with me and smiling. It was such a sweet service. When I had first walked in, there was a dad lifting up his little boy to reach the blessed water and he said, "Now bless yourself, son!" It was a precious moment.

After church I came back to my room and cleaned it! I vacuumed and did dishes, folded my clothes and set aside my clothes that I was going to get washed tomorrow (Monday). I'm bringing my laundry to this laundromat that does your laundry for you. I know what you're thinking, "Why don't you do your own laundry?" I know I know. The machines on campus are not reliable, and I really want a good cleaning for my clothes, sheets and towels after being sick for 2 weeks. It is going to feel so good! It feels good to have a clean room, too! Then I went on a walk/run and worked out. Then I had soup for supper and went to a friend's apartment to meet some other friends and have "Slutty Brownies" and watch the Breakfast Club. My friend made the best "slutty brownies"! They consist of: cookie dough, brownie, peanut butter, and oreo. I know you're drooling right now. We ate the brownies, but the online movie streaming wasn't really working and we were all tired, so we called it a night. It was a great Sunday to say the least!

My lenten goals are to get closer to God and make healthier choices. I am doing this by doing a devotional and sticking to it! I am going to be working out most every morning/day and eating well. I love the lenten season because it feels very refreshing, and it's such a perfect time to get closer to our Lord. This lenten season is in Ireland, so we will see how God works through me and how I get closer to the Lord. It should be a wonderful, interesting, difficult, heartwarming experience since I am far away from my family, home and comfort zone. It has slowly been hitting me that I am going to be hear for a few more months. I know it will be lovely though. So much to experience and so much to learn!

It was a weekend full of good craic. That means "good fun". It's my new favorite word - craic. You pronounce it - crack.

Tomorrow night one of my roommates and I are ordering pizza and watching movies. It should be a grand time!

I am feeling so blessed and fortunate, especially having a hard couple of weeks. God is doing good things! I love it!
 
Have a splendid and blessed week! Try something new!