jam-packed weekend

This weekend was so much fun, but so tiring. My roommates & I signed up for two tours, one on saturday and the other on sunday. Waking up early, riding around in a bus, getting in and out and in and out, well it all got pretty tiring. We went to some many beautiful places, but by the end I was daydreaming of my bed.

On Saturday, our main destination was to the Blarney Castle and Gardens. SO gorgeous! Along the way we stopped at so important cities like Cobh (where the Titanic made its last stop), Kinsale (which had the best fish and chips restaurant), and lastly to Blarney. The Blarney Castle and Gardens covers such a huge area you could spend hours there. Check out the pictures below.

the boy is pointing to NY, where there's another boy statue pointing back (Cobh, Ireland)

Cobh, Ireland

Blarney Castle

making my wish on the "wishing steps"

Kelly & I in front of some castle in the Blarney Gardens...someone actually lives there!

kissing the blarney stone for good luck. one of the scariest experiences ever. this was at the top of the castle and you could look directly below you when you were kissing it! 

Then on Sunday, we got up extra early to meet the bus @ 8 AM to head out to the Cliffs of Moher which were a couple hours away around Limerick, Ireland. So happy it was a clear day...gotta fully appreciate all of God's beauty! :) Thankfully we had a bigger bus this time so it was much more comfortable for the two hr drive up there. Our friends Patrick and Sean joined us as well. We had a great time...i don't know if i've laughed so much in the longest time. such a great time! 

Pictures are below: 

it was crazy how different the landscape was over to the west, lots and lots of limestone! 

this is one of the many portal tombs found around Ireland...the archaeology class i'm taking here
is pretty handy whenever we go around to these sites ;) 

on the edge of the cliffs of moher! pretty scared. 

Kelly, Lily, & I 

it was so incredibly windy it was hard to stand up straight. 

Me, Lily, Patrick, Sean, & Kelly 

our luxury bus ;) 

lots of hair complications
from left to right: Patrick, Lily, Kelly, Sean, and Me

finally-- the cliffs of moher! 

now i'm taking it easy and recuperating from such a full weekend! time to catch on my readings for class, maybe...haha ;) 

exam timetable

I'M BEYOND EXCITED RIGHT NOW!

just checked my e-mail not thinking there would be anything of great importance to it, but I found an e-mail from my school saying there was an error on one of the exam schedules...this made me think to myself, "well if there was an error that must mean the schedules are up!"

proving my theory right...there it was in all it's glory, my exam schedule!

I honestly couldn't think of a better schedule, well I could, but this is pretty good. Finals cover the entire month of May, so I could've gotten a schedule that had one final on May 1st and one on the 15th and say one of the 25th. It really would've made it hard to travel.

Luckily, this is what i got! In this way I'll be able to travel a little better more for my spring break and not feel as rushed to get back, as well as the option to travel and do whatever I want after the 14th. If I've seen everything i've wanted to see I can come home early or I can continue to wander around -- i have a feeling it might be the second of those two ;)

Got my archaeology final on my birthday, but fortunately it's in the early AM. Turning the big 2-1 in Ireland! :)

beginning the climb

Joined my first club the other night! Well they call them "societies" here, but they're clubs. It's the mountaineering club. They go on hikes every Sunday and get together at our gym's climbing wall every Monday and Wednesday night. You have to have pretty good hiking boots to go on the hikes cause of the Irish landscape, but I'm just doing the climbing right now.

They have a small section for bouldering, but a huge portion of the wall is dedicated to climbing with harnesses and what not. (for those that don't know--bouldering is just rock climbing without a harness) The club meets for two hours, but time goes by so fast! I didn't get to boulder at all cause they had to reset the wall, but it's definitely on my to-do list.

I was so nervous walking in. Neither of my roommates wanted to go with me, so I headed there on my own. Luckily, it's less than a 5-minute walk from my apt so it's completely safe to walk. There were so many people at the wall already...I had no idea who to talk to. Immediately though one of the group leaders saw how confused I was, so he started to help me. Right off the bat they got me into a harness and got me some climbing shoes -- they cost 2 euro to rent! but i'm gettin' my mom to ship mine over.

I started out on a super easy section that was completely straight as a mild warm-up. Then Harry, one of the club leaders -- he's super good at climbing -- pulled me over to a harder section of the wall cause I told him I'd climbed a little bit before. I told him it'd be awhile since I climbed last, but he wouldn't let me leave. He said I needed a challenge. I'm so glad I did though! I barely got half-way on this section, but it has a pretty good incline so it's a tough one. My strength isn't as great as it should be, so I need to build that up to get better. I did about three climbs, but I made improvements each time.

I can't wait to get back there on Monday to try it again. It's like an addiction! I only did about 4 or 5 climbs before my arms felt like they were gonna fall off. Pretty sore today, but I know it's gonna be worth it in the end.

The club is such a great way to meet other students and get involved. I'm looking into joining more! Hopefully when I get back home I'll have developed good climbing form and really get into it.

Finally out and about

Hello!

So I've decided to start a separate blog dedicated to my semester aboard because I've been running into too many difficulties with my e-mail accounts -- photo uploading, mass messaging, and all that jazz. It was just taking so long. This is a place where not only I can look back on in years to come, but it can keep you guys up to date on all the different trials and tribulations I may encounter within the next 5 months! 

I've finally gotten into the swing of things here on campus and am not getting lost as often, although the architect of many of my school's buildings must have thought it'd be fun to build classrooms in a maze format. I'm taking four classes this semeser: Irish Archaeology, Philosophy of the mind and consciousness, History of the media in Ireland, and an English class on The Canterbury Tales. The class structures in Ireland are much different from those in the U.S. Almost all my classes here only have one assigned essay and a final exam...the rest of the time is merely lectures and reading. They hardly outline either, in most of my classes they just give a long list of books I should be reading till the end. The Irish students are big procrastinators! I'm beginning to enjoy my classes and most are with a majority of Irish students in them. 

As far as my dorm goes, i'm not as happy but i'm surviving. I get my own bedroom, but the whole sharing a bathroom and kitchen with 5 other girls has become a little tiring. I have 3 roommates who are from Shanghai -- they keep to themselves very much and I hardly see them! However, I get along very well with my other two roommates. Lily is from San Francisco and attends UC Davis and Kelly is from Australia! Us three mostly hang out together while the other three girls hang together too, i guess, if they ever leave their rooms. haha My cooking skills have even gotten a bit better. I successfully cooked Chicken Tikka Massala with Basmati rice the other night! They love curry over here. 

Here's a picture of us three in front of the main quad on campus. 

Kelly is on the left, Lily in the middle, and of course me! :) 

I haven't met too many Irish students yet, but i'm hoping to get involved in some clubs here on campus soon. I'm most excited to join the rock climbing club here! My school has a wonderful gym less than a 5-minute walk from my dorm and it has its own swimming pool and rock climbing wall! I've been so sore the last couple days from taking a fitness class that i'm slightly limping. hahaha people must think i'm pretty strange. My two roommates and I went exploring around downtown Cork last weekend and I finally got my camera out to document it. It's so beautiful here. The weather is much like Seattle -- always raining or looking as if it's going to rain. When I do see a little blue in the sky it makes me so happy! Below are some pictures from this weekend: 

DOWNTOWN CORK

MY CAMPUS

UCC'S HUGE LIBRARY! 

MAIN QUAD

BLUE SKY! 

VISITED THE JAIL...CREEPY

This weekend Kelly, Lily, and I are hoping to visit Blarney Clastle and the Cliffs of Moher. We won't know if the trip is for sure until enough people sign up. i'm crossing my fingers! More updates to follow soon. I'm hoping to make entries weekly, if not daily!