This sign was on my garage door when we got home!!! Thanks Hannah- I love my little sister!!
My lovely friends came to meet us for food at the MOA!! Kari, Kjersti, Me, Hannah, ArnieWednesday, December 23, 2009
WELCOME HOME COMMITTEE
This sign was on my garage door when we got home!!! Thanks Hannah- I love my little sister!! My lovely friends came to meet us for food at the MOA!! Kari, Kjersti, Me, Hannah, Arnie
and... HOME!
After my finals I had about a week to enjoy in the lovely island of Ireland before heading home.
We celebrated my friend Silvia's birthday and after a very nice weekend of lighting the advent candle and watching ELF, I headed to Spain.
Monday, December 14, I left for a fun little adventure to visit my friend Meg. I arrived in Spain and was to get on the C6 bus to Oscar Espla. Since I do not know Spanish, Meg told me to write it down and show the bus driver and ask him to tell me when to get off and she would meet me there. Easy enough...or so I thought. The bus driver told me that he wouold let me know when to get off.. well, he didn't. I ended up getting off the bus a couple stops too late and walking around for 2 hours in the dark in a country where I do not speak the language. Needless to say, I got a little scared and walked into an office building--after much difficulty and use of hand signals, I was allowed to use their phone and got ahold of Meg and she came to where I was. After not the greatest start to my mini-vacation, the rest of the time went wonderfully!! That night we just chatted and caught up a bit. The next day, Meg had to work, but I explored Alicante. I got to spend time along the Mediterranean Sea and went to Castillo de Santa Barbara and saw the most beautiful view of the city and sea. It was a great day! That night we went out to eat and had a marvelous time with a few of her newly formed friends. I returned to Galway late Wednesday night and went to bed.
Thursday was packing day! I got up and began the not so exciting adventure of packing my life into my 2 big suitcases. I had boughten quite a few gifts and so it was quite interesting to make it all fit.. BUT, I did it. Thursday afternoon was a "girls' day" where we did facials, painted nails, chatted and read Cosmo. It was a lot of fun to spend this last afternoon with these wonderful ladies that I have gotten to know so welll over the semester. We went out to eat at a fancy little restaurant and spend some time exchanging contact information. Thursday night was a night of goodbye. A bunch of people got together to say goodbye at Massimo's and have a final night of debackery.
Friday was my last day in Galway. It was really quite bittersweet! I went into town and spent much of the day with Erin and Rachel. We then decided to use up the rest of our food for supper. We put all of our food together and made a delicious meal.. it was actually quite surprising what we could do with the stuff we had! After dinner, I went into town with Linde and our suitcases! We met some people at King's Head for the last time and just had fun before we got on the 1:30 am bus to Dublin. There was quite a crew that came to the bus station to say goodbye and many many tears were shed.
After getting to Dublin it was the waiting game. Shannon and I had to wait in the airport until about 7:30 when we could check in. At check-in we were informed that our flight would be an hour delayed... we were not too excited about this, but found a Bagel Factory and had a sort of breakfast. More waiting... We finally loaded our plane and began our 9 hour ride to Chicago. We landed in Chicago at 2:00 and finally got off the plane around 2:30- the time we were supposed to be boarding our next plane. As we were super bummed that our connecting flight was missed we headed through customs and to grab our bags for re-check. As we were waiting for our bags I overheard a lady from the airlines talking about Minneapolis and I asked her what she had said. We found out that they were holding the plane for us, there were about 20 people from Dublin that were also supposed to be going to Minneapolis. We had to get our bags and RUN through the huge, confusing Chicago airport and get through security one more time. We were the second to last people to get on the flight and we were so happy to be able to just get home! The flight was pretty quick and I was so happy to see my mom and dad waiting for me by baggage claim!!!!
I learned a lot this semester about myself and about traveling and about Ireland and about life..... (i could go on)
What an opportunity! I would promote studying abroad to anyone and encourage this experience!! I would go back to Ireland in a heartbeat!
Thanks for following my blog! I appreciate all the thoughts, support and prayers as I journied through the semester!
I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We celebrated my friend Silvia's birthday and after a very nice weekend of lighting the advent candle and watching ELF, I headed to Spain.
Monday, December 14, I left for a fun little adventure to visit my friend Meg. I arrived in Spain and was to get on the C6 bus to Oscar Espla. Since I do not know Spanish, Meg told me to write it down and show the bus driver and ask him to tell me when to get off and she would meet me there. Easy enough...or so I thought. The bus driver told me that he wouold let me know when to get off.. well, he didn't. I ended up getting off the bus a couple stops too late and walking around for 2 hours in the dark in a country where I do not speak the language. Needless to say, I got a little scared and walked into an office building--after much difficulty and use of hand signals, I was allowed to use their phone and got ahold of Meg and she came to where I was. After not the greatest start to my mini-vacation, the rest of the time went wonderfully!! That night we just chatted and caught up a bit. The next day, Meg had to work, but I explored Alicante. I got to spend time along the Mediterranean Sea and went to Castillo de Santa Barbara and saw the most beautiful view of the city and sea. It was a great day! That night we went out to eat and had a marvelous time with a few of her newly formed friends. I returned to Galway late Wednesday night and went to bed.
Thursday was packing day! I got up and began the not so exciting adventure of packing my life into my 2 big suitcases. I had boughten quite a few gifts and so it was quite interesting to make it all fit.. BUT, I did it. Thursday afternoon was a "girls' day" where we did facials, painted nails, chatted and read Cosmo. It was a lot of fun to spend this last afternoon with these wonderful ladies that I have gotten to know so welll over the semester. We went out to eat at a fancy little restaurant and spend some time exchanging contact information. Thursday night was a night of goodbye. A bunch of people got together to say goodbye at Massimo's and have a final night of debackery.
Friday was my last day in Galway. It was really quite bittersweet! I went into town and spent much of the day with Erin and Rachel. We then decided to use up the rest of our food for supper. We put all of our food together and made a delicious meal.. it was actually quite surprising what we could do with the stuff we had! After dinner, I went into town with Linde and our suitcases! We met some people at King's Head for the last time and just had fun before we got on the 1:30 am bus to Dublin. There was quite a crew that came to the bus station to say goodbye and many many tears were shed.
After getting to Dublin it was the waiting game. Shannon and I had to wait in the airport until about 7:30 when we could check in. At check-in we were informed that our flight would be an hour delayed... we were not too excited about this, but found a Bagel Factory and had a sort of breakfast. More waiting... We finally loaded our plane and began our 9 hour ride to Chicago. We landed in Chicago at 2:00 and finally got off the plane around 2:30- the time we were supposed to be boarding our next plane. As we were super bummed that our connecting flight was missed we headed through customs and to grab our bags for re-check. As we were waiting for our bags I overheard a lady from the airlines talking about Minneapolis and I asked her what she had said. We found out that they were holding the plane for us, there were about 20 people from Dublin that were also supposed to be going to Minneapolis. We had to get our bags and RUN through the huge, confusing Chicago airport and get through security one more time. We were the second to last people to get on the flight and we were so happy to be able to just get home! The flight was pretty quick and I was so happy to see my mom and dad waiting for me by baggage claim!!!!
I learned a lot this semester about myself and about traveling and about Ireland and about life..... (i could go on)
What an opportunity! I would promote studying abroad to anyone and encourage this experience!! I would go back to Ireland in a heartbeat!
Thanks for following my blog! I appreciate all the thoughts, support and prayers as I journied through the semester!
I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Friday, December 11, 2009
DONE!!
I just finished my last final!! I'm so excited!!
These finals weren't the hardest tests I've ever taken (thank you Concordia College) but definately most stressful! Two questions in two hours and that determines your grade for the entire semester?! AHHHH! Needless to say, it's been a stressful week, but now I'm done. I think they went okay... hopefully :)
I'm looking forward to a weekend of not studying and enjoying the nice weather (the sun is shining here today and I have the window open)
I have to start saying goodbye this weekend. It's so weird how you get to close to people over 4 months and then have to say bye.. not knowing if you'll ever see them again. I think that's why it's so different from when I came here. Coming here, I knew I would be coming back. Although it was sad to leave my friends and family, I knew that I would see them in December. Now it's saying goodbye and hopefully see you sometime in the future. It's not, see ya later... but all in all it'll be nice to get home for CHRISTMAS!!! --the most wonderful time of the year :)
A week from today I will be getting on a bus to Dublin so that I can hop on the plane in the morning and head home. This time has gone sooooo fast!
Monday I leave for my mini-vacation to Spain to visit my friend Meg. I will be back in Galway Wednesday night and then have to begin packing up!
Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!! :)
These finals weren't the hardest tests I've ever taken (thank you Concordia College) but definately most stressful! Two questions in two hours and that determines your grade for the entire semester?! AHHHH! Needless to say, it's been a stressful week, but now I'm done. I think they went okay... hopefully :)
I'm looking forward to a weekend of not studying and enjoying the nice weather (the sun is shining here today and I have the window open)
I have to start saying goodbye this weekend. It's so weird how you get to close to people over 4 months and then have to say bye.. not knowing if you'll ever see them again. I think that's why it's so different from when I came here. Coming here, I knew I would be coming back. Although it was sad to leave my friends and family, I knew that I would see them in December. Now it's saying goodbye and hopefully see you sometime in the future. It's not, see ya later... but all in all it'll be nice to get home for CHRISTMAS!!! --the most wonderful time of the year :)
A week from today I will be getting on a bus to Dublin so that I can hop on the plane in the morning and head home. This time has gone sooooo fast!
Monday I leave for my mini-vacation to Spain to visit my friend Meg. I will be back in Galway Wednesday night and then have to begin packing up!
Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!! :)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
December!
I still can't believe it's December!! It's crazy how fast time has gone..
What have I been up to lately?!
STUDYING..... :(
I have an exam on Wednesday and one on Friday and then I am done! Wish me luck :)
What have I been up to lately?!
STUDYING..... :(
I have an exam on Wednesday and one on Friday and then I am done! Wish me luck :)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Last week of class, THANKSGIVING, etc...
I can't believe it, today, I have officially been in Ireland for 3 months and only have 3 weeks to go. The time here has been going by so quickly it's hard to believe! I'm excited to come home and see my family and friends, but I will most definately miss it here on this beautiful island!! I have experienced so many things in the last 3 months and I am hoping that these last 3 weeks will be just as amazing!
Some random info: I am currently addicted to the song, "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble- check it out! Also, I no longer feeling silly about listening to Christmas music :) --currenlty my favorite is "It's the Most wonderful time of the Year!" or anything that Bing Crosby is singing!!
A few things that have been going on here:
I went with a bunch of girls to the midnight showing of New Moon. No, I have not read the books, but I thought it would just be fun to go with them and check out this anticipated movie. I would have to say my favorite Cullen is most definately Emmett, he's not really in the film but twice, but he's the best! haha.. All in all, ther were about 7 of us girls that stood in line for about 2 hours with some crazy Twilight fans and got to enjoy the movie. I had a lot of fun and even though I'm not the "scream when the lights dim" girl, it was really funny to be there with all of those girls! haha..
This past week was the last week of classes at NUIG! SO WEIRD!!!! I am officially done going to class in Ireland. Next week is a study week so we can prepare for the 2 weeks of finals that follow. I have two 3000 word papers due on Monday and I'm happy to say, THEY'RE DONE! I just finished the last one today. I didn't think I would be done until tomorrow, but it sure feels good to have it all finished.. now, just to print! Printing is a little bit of a challenge around here! I think that the NUIG Library has just about as many printers as Concordia (with about 10 times as many students!). I guess I'll haveta head out early tomorrow! Next on the agenda, STUDY!
Last, but most definately not least, Thursday we celebrated THANKSGIVING! I hope that you all had a fabulous day, ate too much, and enjoyed the company of loved ones! Although it was weird not being home , my new friends made it seem like Thanksgiving all the way across the globe! The other Americans and I decided that we wanted to have a traditional Thanksgiving. We then all invited some of our other friends and it ended up being a feast for about 30 people. It was potluck style with all the Thanskgiving yummies! I made stuffing for the first time ever! It takes a lot of stuffing to try and prepare for 30 people! haha.. I am happy to say, it turned out quite lovely and I am currently enjoying leftovers!! My friend Erin, was in charge of the turkey, and although at the beginning of the semester was living off of peanut-butter sandwiches, did an EXCELLENT job of preparing the bird :) Needless to say, I ate way too much! I'm so glad that I had all these people to help it feel like it was Thanskgiving for real!
I am so thankful for this experience and for all the people that are supporting me as I venture on this amazing trip! I have definately found a love of traveling and would encourage anyone to venture to Ireland if they have the chance! :)
Have a lovely weekend and I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 16, 2009
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