FINALLY HOME!

Hi guys! IM HOME :) i cant explain how happy it feels to be back! 

I typed this up yesterday on our 24 hour journey home so I thought I'd share the ending of the trip and really FINISH this blog :) it was a long day, but we made it!

so we left the hotel this morning at 7 sharp and we thought, “wow for once something is right and on time!” when we got to the airport we weren’t surprised to find out that we could ONLY have ONE carry on item…not a carry on and a personal item, no just one item. so all of us had 2 bigger bags and purses or backpacks. we ended up having to move items around so things wouldn’t break or get ruined and then we had to check another bag. THANKFULLY they didn’t make us pay for it because on the way here we were allowed to have a carry on and a personal item. I ended up just carrying my computer, wallet and ipod. all my other stuff, including some breakable gifts im bringing home are in my checked bags and im just hoping they don’t break…if one was intended for you and it breaks, I apologize in advance. ANYWAY. we thought our troubles were done after that and happily headed to our gate to wait for  our 10:35 flight. after about and hour and a half of waiting we found out that our flight was delayed for “technical difficulties” AGAIN…the shocker is that it is delayed til TWO PM. that is 3.5 hours more and the kicker is we have to rearrange our flights from Chicago to LA because we are going to miss our connecting flight. they couldn’t fit us all on the same flight so we are all divided between 3 different flights. luckily I got on the one that leaves first and gets into LA at 9:15, but I will not be surprised WHEN that flight is delayed as well. the one thing that we ALL learned on this trip is DO NOT FLY AMERICAN. I don’t know how its possible to mess up 3/3 flights and most likely 4/4…this makes me never want to travel again! I know that I need to be positive and think, “okay, at least they are fixing the problem,” BUT its hard when this has happened before and I am with 35 other people who are cranky and just want to get HOME! we thought Ireland hated us before, but now we realized it just loves us so much it doesn’t want us to leave. I guess murphy’s law didn’t want to reverse itself on this one. anyway,on a happier note- we got a 10 euro lunch voucher. thank goodness because I have NO more euros. it is currently 11:31 AM and im sitting in the airport just WAITING. im sure ill have more to talk about later, but for now that’s all. 

so when 2 PM came along we boarded and took off. throughout the whole flight there was a lot of turbulence, but it was never TOO bad. when we landed in Chicago about 8 hours later we were ready to get off the plane when the pilot told us to take our seats again because we were too far from the terminal. we had to have a "tow tractor" come lift us over so there would not be a gap. this took about 20 minutes--we were almost clear, but of course something had to go wrong. when we got into the airport we had to go through customs which wasnt bad at all then we got our luggage and checked it again. our flight was at 6:45 and was scheduled to be on time. we were so excited and were thinking to ourselves, "this flight better not get delayed!" it felt nice to be on US soil and we were just that much more close to home! we ended up boarding at about 7pm...NOT BAD, but when we were all seated the captain informed us that the plane was too heavy so we had to take a different route because the one we were supposed to take off of was too windy and we wouldnt have been able to lift. on the other runway we were about 10th in line for take off and for every 2 that took off one had to land. we waited on the runway for about 30 minutes or so and then we were off! we landed in LA at 10:10 PM and that was the 24 hour mark. its strange to think that when i got home that night and was going to bed i really should have been waking up. 

anyway, it was so nice to see my parents...they were waiting for me with a sign and everything! i got home just in time to eat a homemade burrito and see my brother come home from midwinter :) it was a great night! sleeping in my own bed was DEFINITELY a plus :) 

I CANT BELIEVE ITS OVER. thank you all for reading my blog...i had SO much fun writing every day! God bless! :)

GOOD MORNING :)

hi guys! so its 6:15 AM and we are ready to go! breakfast is being served early for us and the bus comes at 7! off to the airport yet again. i feel like the last time we were there was months ago. i look back at all my blogs and cant believe what i have been through in 3 short weeks. the theme of this trip seemed to be murphy's law...lets hope that changes today...all that can go wrong, WILL TURN OUT RIGHT! haha anyway, i have a mixture of emotions today. im so sad to be leaving a place i have ended up loving, but am SO overwhelmingly excited to get to that airport and see my mom and dad. 

last night was a lot of fun. we had dinner at a traditional irish place and met everyone in the group for drinks at Temple Bar at 7 :) it was nice to get everyone together one last time...before the big travel day. after drinks we came back to the room and me, brittney, maddy, katie, maritza, megan and stacy all watched mama mia and ate snacks. we were all in there and brittney said, "this is exactly what i imagined my last night in ireland being like." and we all couldnt help but agree. after the movie we finished packing and sat there realizing that this really is our LAST night. 

this morning we all got up with ease. i think everyone is finally ready to be home. after drama, fun, laughs and tears we have all grown a little bit closer together and learned a lot. i have experienced my first world travel and i know this is just the beginning :) 

i keep thinking about that play we went to and how the message simply says, "GOD WINS." I think that is another theme of this trip. through everything that went wrong it was always okay in the end. i just wanna thank HIM for it all, especially the strength he gave me when all i wanted was to be home...i knew i would be eventually. i enjoyed EVERY minute and well, now we are 'on the road again!' see you all so soon. 

I CANT WAIT.

OH MY GOSH ITS OUR LAST DAY!

hi guys! i am sitting in the lobby and it is currently 2:22PM...i look out the window and i see grey skies and wetness. it isnt raining at the moment, but it has been drizzling on and off all day. i am thankful that the weather here is not half as bad as at home! it is strange though because it should be! oh well :) from one rainy country to another. i cant wait! i hope all of you are safe and sound and not drowning!

yesterday was a relaxing day, i have been a bit sick so i slept in then brittney and i went to the national museum of ireland. it was interesting, but a little bit like reading a history textbook. the coolest part was the "dead zoo" where there were tons of stuffed animals! it was really interesting and took me directly back to my childhood when my grandpa would take me to UCR to look at the dead animals. he used to work there and we would go all the time after the botanical gardens :) after that we found a random pub and i had the best broccoli cream soup! it was delish :) we then came back to the hotel and relaxed all afternoon. last night was the play "The Seafarer" it was REALLY good! the first part was boring and we were all kind of falling asleep, but when the climax hit it sure it hit! the last part of the play was really good and really funny. it was all about religion and the devil and how in the end God wins...a great message :) after the play we came back to the hotel and maddy and i proceeded to eat a whole container of tea biscuits along with a whole block of cream cheese (dont judge us...we were made for each other) haha :) then I SKYPED WITH MY MAMA :) that was the highlight of my night, it had been so long and i realllllly miss her! i also got to see my grandparents and david :) he was telling me all about the college visits he has and will be going on! it is so exciting to know that he will most likely be playing football in college :) i am so proud! 

today we slept in a bit then went to the BEST little cafe ever. it is called the queen of tarts and WOW, we pigged out and had dessert for breakfast. its our last day--that was our reasoning :) between brittney, maddy and myself we got a lemon merangue, baileys chocolate chip cheesecake, strawberry shortcake AND a chocolate scone :) oh and also 3 hot chocolates. it was AMAZING. after we were so full and couldnt believe what we just ate, but it was soooo worth it. we then went to the shops again to finally finish up getting souvenirs for everyone...people are going to have issues with packing haha, but im good! :D i hope my bag doesnt exceed 50 lbs! we are planning on going to one last traditional irish dinner then ALL of the group is meeting at temple bar to have one last drink together :) i will be in bed early tonight because we have to be up and ready at 6:30 AM. 

everyone pray that we get home safe, sound and somewhat on time! i know that we will most likely get delayed at some point, but i really hope that it is not as bad as the flight over. 

I CANT WAIT TO BE HOME. looking forward to seeing you all! ina, joe and jeff i cant wait for the 30th! mom and dad i cant wait to see you in the airport! auntieeeeee i cant wait to get to LB and swim to the front door in my floaties :) hahaha friends and family i just cant wait to see you and tell you all about this amazing trip! chipotle here i comeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! along with SO many other things :) we were all talking about how we are pretty sure we will be gaining more weight the weekend we get back than we did on this whole trip :) looking forward to it! ha :)

looooooove! see you soon :)

2 more days!

HI GUYS! warning: i am not going to type correctly in this one cuz i only have a short while but so much has gone on i just have to tell you all!



to pick up from where i left off yesterday...dinner was good! we ALL got nachos! can you tell we are missing mexican food hahaha. after we were done we decided to play a little game called "bigger and better" on the way home. for those of you who dont know this is when you split into teams (we had teams of 3) and you start off with an item that is really lame and small...in our case it was a STRAW. we then proceeded to go off in dublin to see what we could find that was bigger and better. we asked pubs, hotels and random people on the streets. we went from a straw to 2 coffee stirers and sugar to a hotel brochure to a subway bag to a bigger bag with handles to A BOUQUET OF ROSES after that we knew we were as big and best as we could get so we headed back to the judge who was waiting at our hotel. when the others got back we all had to give a speech on why we should win and present our item. people had a book from starbucks, a disposable camera and HUBCAPS. yes you heard me right. they won...just cuz it was SOOOO random! after this we played a game called mafia with like 14 of us in the middle of the hotel. they really love us here :) it was probably one of the best nights we have had and i am glad we have all gotten a chance to hang out together.

TODAY was a good day as well. we woke up early had another great breakfast and thennnn we went on a James Joyce tour. it was interesting cuz it corresponded with what we have been reading for class. after we went to trinity college and saw the BOOK OF KELLS. it was really incredible and something i really dont regret paying for. after trinity, which is a BEAUTIFUL campus in the middle of everything we went to a jail...a jail that at the moment i cant remember the name of :) hahaha this is what i get for blogging in a hurry...anyway it was really cool and i feel like we really learned a lot! after the jail maddy and i had dinner at harry's...it is a burger place and for the 1st time i felt like i was at home haha. they were REALLY good burgers and didnt tase like meatloaf. we then went on a GHOST BUS TOUR. it was a bit expensive, but a lot of fun! i got really scared and we learned a lot about dublin that we wouldnt have learned otherwise...even if they were silly ghost stories. while some of them were silly we did learn about the people who snatch bodies from the graves and a professor who used them in his classes to scare his students. EW! we went to a graveyard and the oldest site in dublin which is a church. it was a fun day of touring and i really am happy because we are getting a lot out of our few short days here!

currently we are back at the hotel and ready for bed. tomorrow we get to sleep in and we are SO excited! plans for tomorrow include a free museum and a play at night! i am really excited for that, it should be really interesting...hopefully we will be able to understand them!

okay have to go for now! home so soon i misssss you all so much! cant wait to get back :D


GOODNIGHT!

DUBLIN!

Hi guys! You don't realize how crutial internet is until you have to pay for it! Man it is so hard to be in another country and have no phone OR internet access! I MISS HOME! Only 3 more days and then I'll be back! I can't wait! We got here yesterday after a long day on the bus. It wasn't too bad and seeing the green countryside made it worth it. We are staying at the Jury's Inn and it is pretty nice! Me, Maddy and Katie Hall are rooming together and we have been spending a lot of time with Justine, Steph and Jenn. I think we make a pretty fun group! Yesterday when we got here we decided to roam the city and since it was Sunday it was pretty busy all over! We saw a street band that was really good and went into quite a few shops. Dublin is a big city and so different from Limerick! It is like I would imagine New York in some places...except when you see the giant, beautiful cathedrals on every corner :) We went to dinner at Madigan's and mine wasnt so great, but it was still fun. After we were tired so we came back and watched The Wedding Date then chatted til about 11pm. I think that's the earliest I have been to bed this whole trip! It is sad that I'm finally getting used to the time and we will be gone in 3 days! I have a feeling I'm going to be a disaster when we get back!

It was amazing to wake up and come down for a FULL breakfast! We got eggs and sausage and bacon and toast and scones and juice! NOT JUST TOAST! We loved it hahaha. After we all met and walked to the Guinness Factory where I had my first sip of Guinness. After that ONE sip I gagged for about 5 minutes and I can say I will never have another again! The factory was fun and interesting, but I think someone who appreciates it would have enjoyed it more...oh well, they can be jealous of me :) After the 6 of us got a horse and buggy to take us to Pheonix Park! It was soooo much fun and worth every euro it cost. When we got there we walked for hours, this is the biggest park I have ever seen! The pictures are beautiful :) After the park we decided to go to a tea house! It was so cute :) We then came back and when to Christ Church. The churches here are gorgeous!

We are now getting ready to go to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Good American food! It is nice to be walking so much all day because we get tired at night. After dinner we will probably just come back, watch a movie then go to bed.

Well who knows if I will be able to write again! We will just be here in Dublin...the weather has been amazing, the hottest it has been. It is apparently supposed to snow on Thursday and be clear on Friday for our flight. Let's hope so, I really don't want to be traveling for another 28 hours. I can already taste the Chipotle! hahahaha :)

I miss you all so much! Hope you are all great! Can't wait to be home :)



OH funny story before I log off...When we got here we were in the elevator and there were 6 of us...the capacity was 8...it was a small elevator. We stopped on a floor to pick someone up and there were 3 people. Clearly there was not room for them, but the guy proceeded to walk on then he said to the 2 others, "there is plenty of room!" I was smashed against Justine and we were all shocked. Apparently these people know nothing of personal space. All we could think was THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN AMERICA! :) Oh the experiences we are having! PRICELESS :)

OK enough for now. Off to explore Dublin!


LOVE YOU and MISS YOU!

Our last day!

WOW I can't believe we are leaving Courtbrack Accommodations tomorrow! This place has seriously begun to feel like home! It will be strange being in a hotel where we won't see each other as much. Although sometimes it is a lot, it is fun to all be together all the time. It has definitely made me see what it's like to live with so many girls! I'm still not fond of it, but it did bring me close to some pretty amazing people. 

Today we got to sleep in and then we all went to a pub to watch the Munster rugby game! It was so much fun, but rugby is definitely a strange sport. I am going to have to do my research! Our teachers bought us lunch...they are so thoughtful :) After the game we walked back in the rain and stopped at the store right by the dorms. We bought snacks for our movie night! When we got back some of us put or PJs on and then we watched movies all night. I had pizza for dinner, a Kopparberg of course and ice cream for dessert! We watched 27 dresses and Under the Tuscan Sun. Now I really want to go to Italy...I think that's next :) Now I have to go pack. You might be wondering if I have started and all I have to say is go back to my 1st blog...the answer is NO :) hahaha This trip has done nothing to fix my procrastination problem. OH WELL! 

I am excited for Dublin tomorrow! The bus ride might be a bit long, but we are going to watch movies! YAY! Off to pack then sleep :) GOODNIGHT! Home in 6 days...I'm really excited to see everyone! Already have plans with Ina, Joe and Jeff...can't wait!

P.S. One of the girls on the trip got really sick today and had to go to the hospital. An infection that she had about a year ago came back and it is really painful for her. She is here now and on medication, but still not doing so great. Keep her in your prayers. Thanks!

"You CONQUERED the stew!"

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY.

We had class this morning and it was fabulous simply because it was our LAST one! I can't believe we had only had like, OH I DONT KNOW 8 class meetings! Class got out around 1ish and we headed to the dorms to relax for the afternoon. Around 6 PM we all headed into town to go to this pub called Nancy Blake's where our professors were meeting us and buying us all a half pint of either Guinness or Cider. It was really fun and nice of them to do that for us. Hanging out with them was a good time. I decided to get Cider and it was a lot better on tap than when I got it in a bottle. We were only there for a little then left to go to Dolan's for dinner. Since we had been going there so much they decided to give us a deal and charge 10 Euros a person for either a starter and main course or a main course and a dessert. OBVIOUSLY I chose to get the main course with dessert. I got Traditional Irish Stew (again) and a Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce :) it was absolutely DELICIOUS. Probably the best dinner I've had. I ate the WHOLE thing and when I was done Maddy yelled, "YOU CONQUERED THE STEW!" It was sooooo nice to eat MEAT and VEGGIES and POTATOES and DESSERT. Yummmmmy :) After we ate everyone who got a Dolan's shirt took a picture with Neil, Dolan's son. They said that they are going to put it on the front of their website :) We were pretty excited! 

When we got back Maddy and I were changing out of our 10000 layers and I decided to show her the silliness of my leggings and socks. From there we got the fabulous idea to put on our most RIDICULOUS items of clothing...TOGETHER and go downstairs acting completely normal. Maddy's outfit was good, but was nothing compared to mine. Head to toe, this is what I am wearing...leopard print headband and scarf, black tank top, green and blue plaid long sleeve shirt, bright polka dot pants to my knees, bright pink leggings, reindeer socks AND tie dye flip flops. IT IS MARVELOUS. Pictures are being put up on Facebook as we speak. We were doing the dishes, talking on the phone, reading books, napping, walking outside, etc. Anyway, now I am doing laundry and procrastinating. We have 2 more assignments due online and then all that's left is the final project, which can be a scrapbook! 

Off to get stuff done...maybe :) Tomorrow we get to sleep in and at 11:30 we are going to a pub to watch the rugby game...I am really excited! Dublin on Sunday morning then HOME Friday :) Can't wait to see my family and eat mexican fooooood! :)