Final Exams

Ok so here’s the deal. It’s May 16th and I just took my first final exam. Um yeah that’s correct, a Saturday! I took a final at 3:30 pm on a Saturday!!! This place is INSANE!!!

The final was excruciating!!! First let back up a few weeks. I got a package in the mail from the examination office with a list of rules and regulations for the final and a form that I have to present at every exam. There were many rules and regulations. Among them were assigned seating, you may not leave within the first hour of the exam or the last 20 min, if you need to use the restroom you must raise your hand and be escorted out of the room by one of the moderators etc. etc. These finals are all essay format and you must use a pen not a pencil. Oh and you have to arrive 15 minutes early cause once the clock hits time you aren’t getting in.

So…… after stressing out and reading every textbook I could get my hands on it is time! I arrive 15 min early with my pens, admittance slip, and student id so that I may see my assign seat number. They let everyone in and repeatedly tell us no talking even though no one was talking, I was afraid to breathe little lone talk. Anyway they tell us to begin. You may now touch your booklet so I take a glance and panic struck. All around me people were busy writing. I was blank! OMG I thought what do I do??? I took a deep breath and then everything started to focus thank heavens.

So I am writing vigorously, I don’t know why because they gave us three hours but I needed to get it all out before I drew a blank again. So I am regurgitating everything I know about Roger’s theory of Personality when I get sidetracked the moderators, there were like 10 of them, were walking up and down the isles. Up and down up and down!!!! This for some reason bothered me, it made me anxious which incidentally according to Rogers anxiety stems from the incongruence or gap between your real self and your ideal self. Don’t ask there are so many theories to personality. Anyway at this point I am coming into tune with the fact that this is really really starting to irritate me, looking around no one else seems to be phased by this but really why would they be this is their norm. I don’t believe I have ever had a professor Hover over the class like that but then again we have much smaller class sizes. One point to Western

Ok to continue, periodically I would have to stop writing because my hand was starting to cramp; I will have to give Western another point for their multiple choice tests and scantron sheets  Well I guess that’s sort of two more point! Anyway one hour and 45 min later I have answered three questions and filled 10 pages front and back. It’s only 5:15 what do I do? I feebelishly raise my hand to attract the attention of the moderators, she looks at me like I am crazy so I ask her if I need to give this to her. She looks at me like I’m an idiot and says well yes then she escorts me out of the room. I’m telling you they are very paranoid about academic honesty here.

Honestly it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it was still pretty intense! I never understood why some people got anxiety over test taking. Now I know!!! I vow here and now to never again complain about a test at home. I welcome all tests completely. This has definitely been an experience. The bad part is that I won’t know what grade I receive until the end of August

Oh so I should show you the grading scale. You are going to be amazed at this………
First Class Honours 70-100%
Second Class Honours Grade I 60-69%
Second Class Honours Grade II 50-59%
Third Class Honours 45-49%
Pass 40-44%

This is one area that I am seriously liking! If we adopted this grading scale I would have a 4.0 and I wouldn’t have stressed so much about Chemistry!!! On the other hand though I am glad that our scale is different because when you earn an A you literally earn it! I am a little anxious to see how our grades here will convert at home. All in all this educational experience, however unconventional, has been just that an experience! It has definitely made me appreciate Western and my wonderful professors who don’t just tell you to read a million different textbooks they teach you! As Dr Wann would tell you, he is going to give you a concrete example and he does! I have also learned to appreciate homework and the fact that going into a final you know where you stand in a class and your entire grade is not dependant on one single test. Well I only have one final over and three more to go so I better end this and get back to work!

PIctures!!! Lots and lots of pictures!!!!

Ok folks I finally realized I can share all my pics with you via my facebook photo albums!!! So here are the links …….I took like a gazillion pics. I couldn’t help it Ireland is gorgeous!!!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037148&id=108004303&l=5d57979b0e

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037355&id=108004303&l=93601005f6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037550&id=108004303&l=8f3b20d6da

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037557&id=108004303&l=7f48f6676a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037558&id=108004303&l=d083e05cfa

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037559&id=108004303&l=903080626d

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039189&id=108004303&l=e033d86357

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039191&id=108004303&l=0f813650da

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039192&id=108004303&l=677bbd59a3

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039193&id=108004303&l=ab697233e4

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039194&id=108004303&l=240cf919cb

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039195&id=108004303&l=8cfe178a71

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039196&id=108004303&l=b133491184

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039199&id=108004303&l=a1e3b0fe28

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039200&id=108004303&l=b302b7552e

Irish Roadtrip!!!

Ok so I know I haven’t blogged in awhile things have been pretty mild here, not a lot of traveling. However I just spent the last week on a road trip covering pretty much all of Ireland!!!!!! Where to begin??? Well Sunday my BFF Bri came to visit and we rented a car!!!! Crazy I know but you do get used to driving on the left side of the road LOL. Oh I must describe the car. We were givin a tiny little car called a Micra, I believe it was made by Toyota but IDK. So the hubcap on this car was attached with a zip tie and was flapping in the wind. The GPS was confused by the new road construction so we drove around Dublin for 6 hours and about 10 people stopped us at the intersections to tell us the hubcap was about to fall off. LOL to which I rolled down the window and replied “Yeah, we know…..it’s zip tied on!” HAHA We got back to Maynooth in one piece!

Monday- So Monday morning we got up and headed out. Our destination was Killarney National Park in the Kerry Co. We did not know at this point that we would road trip for 3 days straight so we really had nothing but the tour guide books our purses and a map! So as we are driving southeast to the park we see a huge castle on a hill and decide to pull over. We were in Cashel and the Castle was the magnificent Rock of Cashel! The Rock of Cashel is 200 ft high on the hill looking down at the town of Cashel. Once a defensive fort, three sides of the castle are very cliff like and would make it most difficult for enemies to approach! Moving onward…..our hubcap finally fell off in Mallow and a nice gentleman stopped to tell us it fell of a couple hundred meters back. We pulled off the beaten path so that we could walk back to get the hubcap and found another adventure. While Bri was getting the hubcap I was intrigued by the remnants of Mallow Castle, Desmand Castle and the white deer. I had never seen a white deer! The Mallow Castle was the home of the Munster clan and the white deer are descendants of the deer given to the Munster’s by Queen Elizabeth I. As the day went on we saw many remnants of old castles on our drive. However we did not stop to look at all of them or we would not have gotten very far! We arrived at Killarney National Park at about 7:00 pm and it was closed for the day so that is when we decided that we would stay in Killarney and see the park first thing in the morning. This began a three day road trip with nothing but our purses! We had to stop at a store for the bare necessity supplies LOL but we did make it for 3 days with virtually nothing!

Tuesday- We left early Tuesday to see Killarney National Park we didn’t know it but this would turn out to be much much more then just a national park. When you finally catch sight of something through the tree lined driveway you will see Muckross House. The house is a 19th century neo-Tudor mansion designed by William Burn. They poured 40 tons of sand into the yard just to get the grass to grow properly. Along with the house you can see a living history farm!! But there is more!!! We took a jarvey ride, this is kinda a horse and buggy sorta thing. Anyway we took a ride with a jarvey-man named Robert. He was a delightful old man who told us the history of the house and the park as he navigated Susie, the pony, through the tree lined shore of the lake up to the Torc Waterfall. The waterfall is magnificent to see but Robert assured us that it was not comparable to Niagra Falls ( I realized there is a lot in the states I still need to see). Again Robert was a delightful old man who gave us the complete history of the house and the castle. He encouraged us to continue up the road to see the Ladies’ View. The Ladies’ View is a point on at the top of one of the mountains where Queen Victoria and her Ladies in Waiting looked across the lakes to the Gap of Dunloe. The view was amazing!! The Gap of Dunloe is a glacial pass in the mountains providing an even more magnificent view!! If you ever get to Ireland the Killarney National Park has so much to offer and is the last stop on the famous Ring of Kerry. LOL we thought we would see the “Ring of Kerry” until we found out it was several places along the shoreline of County Kerry and not just one visitor attraction. After this amazing morning we set our sites on the town of Cong. Cong supposedly had the cottage that was featured in John Wayne’s The Quiet Man!! I am a huge fan of John Wayne and The Quiet Man is one of my favies!!! I have wanted to see this since I arrived in Ireland! Well we got there and you can take tours of all the places used in the movie and you can see The Quiet Man museum but they tore down the original cottage I was pretty disappointed but at least I can say I was there right. So after the disappointment we were on the road again. We went to see the ginormous Ashford Castle! Ashford Castle is now a working hotel and you can actually stay in a castle for a slightly unaffordable on a college student’s budget fee, so we snapped some pics and moved on. We stopped in some town along the way to get a bite, as we waited on the food we talked and I mentioned a tv special about haunted places and that there was supposedly some haunted castle in Ireland. So of course we set out to find this castle. It turns out that there are two haunted castles and they are both in the county of Offaly. So the waitress pointed us to Offaly county and the Kinnity Castle. Although Kinnity Castle was said to be haunted it was not what we were looking for. Kinnity Castle is another castle that has been made into a hotel but the castle we were looking for was Leap Castle. We were now on a mission to find this castle and it was getting close to 11:00 but what better time to see a haunted castle then the approach of the witching hour!!! I know we are a little weird but that’s ok. Anyway we cannot locate this castle on our GPS all we have is a location of what used to be the town of Leap. We drove in circles forever. Apparently this castle is in the middle of nowhere and we were so close but couldn’t see it because it was pitch black. And apparently they take their “Community Alert” very seriously. We circled and circled and then gave up, as we were headed into the town of Birr we were stopped by the Garda (Police) because someone on the community alert called us in. The Garda were really nice though and kinda surprised to see two girls in a Micra trying to find a haunted castle! It was actually really really funny! LOL we will never forget getting pulled over by the Garda haha. Ok so they asked us where we were going and we told them we were lookin for the haunted castle. They were happy to give us directions to this castle but we really just wanted a hotel for the night so they pointed us in the direction of the hotel and we crashed for the night.

Wednesday – We head out excited to actually find Leap Castle!!!! We find it just to discover we were literally just feet from it the crazy night before! Figures huh! So this is just a private residence but we just walk up to the door and ask this guy if we can see his haunted castle! Let me give you a little background. This castle is supposedly one of the most haunted places in all of Europe. Google it! Anyway this guy Sean Ryan bought the castle in 1991. Sean is a very well known tin whistle player which apparently is how he can afford a castle! Ok so we walk up, knock on the door, and this nice older man answers the door and invites us in! We enter into…….ok we were in a castle!!!!! I can’t even describe it! He had tons of antiques and is totally committed to restoring this castle and preserving the history! It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen! So we are invited to just sit by the fire because there are a couple of other people coming (they made an appointment LOL). So I, being a bit inquisitive and a bit of a smartass at times proceed to ask Sean a seemingly valid question that turned out to be kind of a stupid question I guess. Anyway I asked him, “ So……how does one come to acquire a castle? Do you just look in the real estate ads??” To which he just looked at me like I was an idiot and replied with a very solemn “Yeah”. I tried not to laugh but Bri was chuckling under her breath and the entire situation was kinda funny. Needless to say now my life’s ambition will be checking the real estate ads to find a castle for sale! He did tell us that he got the castle pretty cheap though……however cheap a castle is, I don’t really know the going rate for a castle these days! Ok I’ve digressed. So the other ladies arrive, they are three ladies from Philadelphia, PA. So Sean gives us the history of the castle starting from the beginning, he is intrigued by the history and it turns out that the castle has a lot of ties to the US. The castle was owned by the O’Connels and the Darby’s and now him. I can’t tell the whole story for it would take a few hours, but do google Leap Castle. Anyway we got a tour of the castle, what he has restored so far, the castle was gutted in the civil war here. As we are in one of the towers along comes Bob the neighbor just sayin hi! Bob was a lovely fellow who told us the story of when he himself seen one of the ghosts. He was very detailed in his story telling and if anyone wants to hear the stories just ask and I will recount it all for you. Moving onward, Bob and Sean were both lovely and they both played a piece for us. Bob on the piano and Sean on his tin whistle. Then we sat by the fire and chatted some more. SO a brief ghost story….. There was a little girl that died a tragic death by falling off of one of the towers very accidently; it was not a heinous death. So there are three ghosts. One is the little girl who fell, the other little girl is her sister and then there is a French looking lady that is thought to be the Governess of the two girls. SO Sean and his wife and daughter have seen the little girls who run around and play and seem to be oblivious to the family being there. However, the Governess is not oblivious and is interactive with the family. Sean’s daughter is now 18 but when she was about 12 or 14 she was playing in the main area and dancing around when she felt a poke. The poke scared her and she recalled the event to her father. After some research they discovered that the poke was an old Irish custom of approval, like a pat on the back for a job well done. So after learning this, his daughter felt more comfortable with the Governess being around. The daughter can also communicate with the girls in the house. The Governess is the ghost that Bob and a Nun saw and Bob says that you know the Nun wouldn’t lie! So Sean says that the ghosts are just a part of the family and they all kind of go about their own business! I waited to see the ghost but never did. So we went on our way again. We stopped off briefly at the Birr Castle just to snap some pics then we headed back to Maynooth.

Thursday – Sadly Thursday I had to say goodbye to my BFF Bri However, I did not have the travel bug out of my system yet. So Keenan and I rented a car for the remainder of the week. However, I spent Thursday recovering and missing my BFF Bri.

Friday - Ok so road trip part duex! We are now headed for the northern part of the country. The thought of crossing the border into Northern Ireland was pretty exciting, it’s a different country! We thought we would get another stamp on our passport but we were wrong. SO our destination for the day is Giant’s Causeway at the very northern tip of Ireland. First stop is the Hill of Tara. The Hill of Tara was the seat of the High Kings. Also The Ark of the Covenant is said to be buried deep under the Hill of Tara for protection. All in all this was one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever seen. You can see for miles in every direction from the hill! Next stop….Newgrange. Newgrange is said to be possibly 1000 years older then England’s Stonehenge. It is a passage-grave that sits on a hill overlooking the snake of the Boyne (Boyne River) . The mound is 35 ft high and has a diameter of 330 ft! From Newgrange we continued to the Giants’ Causeway stopping briefly in Belfast to see the Belfast Castle and snap some pics. We reached the area around nightfall and stayed in a near by town.

Saturday- We started Saturday by going to the Giant’s Causeway. Not only is the causeway spectacular but the drive to the causeway had an amazing view of the northern coast! The Giant’s Causeway was magnificent to see and although it was a bit foggy we could see Scotland!!!! So the story is told that the Ulster Giant Finn built it to walk across to Scotland so that he could fight his rival Benandonner. The story goes that he would see his rival standing on the coast of Scotland and he wanted to fight him but when he finally got to Scotland and challenged Benandonner to a dual he realized that his foe was much bigger then he anticipated because he was seeing him from the distant shore of Ireland. He challenged Benandonner by hollering out to him so Benandonner had not seen him. SO he goes home and he tells his wife about the challenge and that his foe is much bigger and they devise a plan. When his foe came to Ireland to commit to the challenge Finn was in a baby crib and Benandonner asked Finn’s wife if that was Finn’s baby and she said yes that is Finn’s baby. So legend has it that after seeing Finn as Finn’s baby Benandonner got scared as to how big Finn would have to be if the baby in the crib were Finn’s child so he took off running back to Scotland and that is how the causeway got broken! After the Giant’s Causeway we headed in the direction of Glenveagh National Park. This was another great outing! The park itself is 25000 acres of scenery!!!! There are many many lovely Gardens, you can go on a nature walk or hill climbing, and then there is the castle! The Glenveagh castle is a castle with very very rich American ties. For a few euro you could take a guided tour of the castle. This is where we met Geoffrey. He was very inquisitive about our culture and we grilled him about not only the castle but Ireland in general. Anyway Geoffrey took us on the guided tour explaining the history as we went. The castle was very well preserved with the furnishings of the time. The castle was built in the mid 1800’s by John George Adair he had plans for a hunting estate on his land surrounding the castle. Adair was infamous in the area for being a horrible landlord. He evicted many many tenants and even killed one fellow. He immigrated to America where he met and married his wife Cornilia who was the daughter of an American Civil War General. After Adair’s untimely death his wife returned to the estate and made several renovations to the castle and planned out the gardens that are still there today she also introduced deer stalking (deer hunting) to the estate. The castle sat empty for several years until a Harvard University Professor by the name of Arthur Kingsley Porter purchased the estate. Porter was studying the Irish culture and had purchased the island of Inishbofin as well. The Porters did not live in the castle long, it is said that Mr Porter was lost at sea after a trip to the island. The next owner was another American, Henry McIlhenny of Philadelphia the grandson of a local Donegal man. He was said to be a great host and placed a gentlemen’s weighing chair by the door to weigh his guests. He measured his hospitality by how much weight his guests gained while visiting. He was a great entertainer and also loved to hunt the deer of the estate. The entire estate has a deer theme throughout with several chandeliers made of antlers and several deer busts on the walls as well as artwork portraying the wildlife of Glenveagh. I was very impressed by this! The antlers were unlike anything I have ever seen at home!! After McIlhenny’s passing the castle was taken over by the state and is now the National Park. The only problem with the castle is that it is said to be a barren castle. All of the tenants of the castle never had children so it is thought to be cursed. The scenery was beautiful the tour was great. Deffinatly a must see if ever in Ireland! From Glenveagh we headed to Westport for the night.

Sunday – We started Saturday off by going to the Kylemore Abbey, once an Abbey is now a girls boarding school but does welcome guests to the gardens. It is a very picturesque sight to see and rather fairytalish in its appearance! Like you can picture Cinderelly coming down the steps! Next we went to Connemara National Park set in some of the most beautiful mountains. Unfortunately it was raining so we did not take a nature walk but the rain running down the side of the mountains was rather beautiful to see. Now we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. When we first arrived at the cliffs we couldn’t see much of anything because the fog was so thick but the fog lifted and revealed the magnificent cliffs and the Obrien Tower! Although it was a spectacular sight I think that I much rather prefer the view of the cliffs on the Aran Island of Inishmor. Incidentally, the smallest of the Aran Islands, Inisheer, can be seen from the Cliffs of Moher. If you can get to the Aran Islands GO, but if you can’t deffinatly go see the Cliffs of Moher! We continued our trip with a drive across the Burren. The Burren is a desolate area composed almost entirely of limestone. The mountainsides are not the lush green and pine scattered mountains that one would think of. They are merely humongous mountains of limestone! We made our way back to Maynooth where the journey ends.

Along the travels there were numerous castles, abbeys, cathedrals, forts, and gorgeous scenery of mountains, coast lines, cliffs and the green green pastures of the midlands. The people we came in contact with were all very lovely, friendly, helpful people. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see all of these amazing sights!!! If you have any questions just ask! I will get my pics up but there are like 400 so it may take a bit for them all to upload LOL. In the mean time google some of the sights, check out the pics and history, and just imagine what it looks like up close and personal!

Aran Islands!!!

Amazing, Breathtaking, Beautiful, Magnificent, Gorgeous, ………….these are just a few words I would use to describe the scenery of Inish Mor!!! When you hear of the fences made of stone they are probably talking about the county of Galway!!! It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen and Inish Mor, being off the coast of Galway, was full of stone fences, stone fields, and an amazing coast line!!!

We took a weekend trip to the Aran Islands in Galway Co. This was an amazing trip. We stayed in a hostel Thursday night at Galway. The night life of Galway was amazing, they block off the streets and the party begins with pubs and restaurants lining both sides of the street. The next morning we left Galway and went to the port to catch the ferry. The ferry ride was amazing, before we even set sail we seen the seals swimming in the water not even 50 yards from us, it was great. Watching the islands get closer and closer the anticipation mounted. When we finally landed it there was a quant little village with our hostel within walking distance. Right of the ferry there were tour buses waiting to take us on the tour of the island. We checked in to our hostel and were greeted by Marco the hotel caretaker. Marco was amazing, we got to spend a lot of time with Marco at the pub, the islanders are very friendly and very hospitable.

The tour guide started by telling us that the island was less then 8000 acres and that the main source of income was tourism and fishing. The first stop was a beach were the seals were sun bathing, we could walk down to the shore line and take pics, it was awesome. It was there that there were two cow calf pairs just walking down the road so the tour guide just removed some of the stones on the fence and we put the cows in the lot. LOL this was awesome I felt more at home with the cows.
Our tour continued to show us 7 of the ancient churches that were still partially standing. About midway through we stopped at Dún Aengus. Dún Aengus stands on the edge of a sheer cliff nearly 100m high on the edge of Europe. You will be amazed by the imposing stone wall of the inner fort, an almost semi circular enclosure on the cliff edge. It has outer defences eclosing a total area of 14 acres. Outside the wall is the remains of “Chevaux -de-Frise, large stones set at differing angles in the ground. These stones were placed to make it difficult for attackers. We got enough time to go to the top and back. Looking at it makes you feel like you have just climbed a mountain but the hike isn’t bad at all. On the other side of this circle fort just laying around was a herd of cattle!!! It was the craziest thing ever. The pics are amazing.
Our tour continued to show us the well kept cottages and the leprechaun village. The tour also pointed out a college that teaches nothing but the native Irish language. You will find Inish Mor is a place where they still use the native language on a daily basis and the names of the towns people are still very traditional Irish names. When you step on the island you are literally stepping back in time with there being as many minimal modern changes as needed. The island electricity is powered by wind turbans of the coast of Inish Meain, a smaller island in the Aran Islands.
As the tour continued we made one last stop at the beach that is said to contain enough pebbles and rocks to be able to build a road to America. I’d believe it! It was a sight to see. The tour left us back at the hostel and those wishing to catch the ferry were early enough to do so.
After our great day of sight seeing and “mountain” climbing we took in a bit of the night life at a local pub that had live music. We were integrated into the local seen even more by the embracing town’s people. And by embracing I mean they literally just give you a huge hug!!!! We met some of the younger crowd who were anxious to hear of what we thought of the island. They are very very proud of their heritage and of what they do. We meant some fishermen who were as proud of being a fisherman and proud of their island as anyone I have found. I can understand the sense of community and the way that being a fisherman is not a job or a hobby for them, it is a way of life and they embrace that. It reminds me of home, we are a small community with open arms, a community based on agriculture and preserving traditions. I am proud that my father is a farmer, and every generation before him as well, and that my brother will carry on the family tradition and will maintain the family farm. Our farm and the community of Powersville is like the Inish Mor and it made me feel so much at home.
So with a little rest and a little sobering up…we are ready to take on another day. This time we headed off on foot with no particular place to go, just sight seeing. After an hour or so of walking, stopping for pictures and just taking it all in, we ran across children playing on the beach with their Auntie. The children were adorable and loved having their picture taken!! The Auntie told us of a path up to the top of the island and a path to the shoreline with a great view of the other islands and of some cliffs. As we continued on our path the children ran after us racing to see who would beat who and just loving it up.
We took the footpath up the to the center of the island climbing over stone fences and moving stone fences just to put them back again admiring the livestock that were just hanging out in the fenced in areas. We were worried about trespassing but were told that there was not trespassing on the island. The island was our playground and we explored it!!! We made it to the tope of the island!! It was one of the most amazing feeling ever!! It was gorgeous! You could see everything and you were surrounded completely by the ocean!!!! If there were any place other then Missouri for me, it would be Inish Mor. I can not even describe the scenery you will just have to check out the pics even though they don’t even compare to seeing it first hand.
It was nearly dark fall but we weren’t done yet!! We took the path to the shore line only too see an even more amazing view then before! The tide was coming in and the beach was dwindling away. As the tide came in more rapidly the clapping of water and the showers intrigued us, so we made our way around the edge to some of the most amazing cliffs ever. We sat and watched the tide rise, listening to the ocean as it hit the cliffs and watching as the sprays melodically entranced us!!! OMG this place literally brought tears to my eyes!!! I love the scenery of home and had never imagined a place more beautiful, Inish Mor is an entirely different beauty!!
After a brisk walk back to the hostel it was time for another night at the pubs with dancing and live music followed by an after party that lasted for hours. Then up early to catch the ferry back to the mainland with the weekend vividly etched in our minds and a burning desire to return again as soon as possible. As we sat on the ferry we both realized that the appeal to the island was the hominess of it and the welcoming islanders.
The day trip back to Maynooth was also filled with amazing scenery that reminded so much of Missouri in the spring and summer months. Staring out the window at the green hills and the distant tree lines brought the first true pains of homesickness as I longed for Missouri!! For home!

Pics

Ok for pics of the south campus and Carton House you can go to photobucket.com/awesternstudentinireland.Enjoy!!

Carton House and Liffy Valley

Friday we took a walk down a secluded lane to get to Carton House. It was amazing. The lane was beautiful even if it was a lot farther then it looked. Basically we walked about 5 miles into the middle of nowhere to see this ancient house that was once home to the Duke of Kildare. Kildare is the county in Ireland that Maynooth is in. Anyway it is called Carton House and it is now a hotel, spa, and golf course. Even with the renovations it is still amazing. They have preserved most of it to its original state. We got to see the Duke’s Library, the Duchesses Study, and other magnificent rooms. I have pics of all of this and as soon as I figure out how to add them to this blog I will. It was a great outing.

Saturday we took a bus into Dublin to the Liffy Valley shopping center. It is HUGE, way bigger then anything in St Joseph or Kansas City. They also have a massive multiplex theatre inside with Apex screens. We saw He’s Just NOT That into You. It was a good movie and really who doesn’t love a love story gone completely wrong. It felt more like home being able to go to the cinema.

So today I start the adventure of doing laundry. The tokens for the laundry are 3.2 Euro per token. That means one wash and one dry is 6.4 Euro. Ridiculous!!! I know they must not have a water shortage because they are surrounded by the ocean and it rains here constantly!!! It must be the electricity then because I know it isn’t the cost of the high quality machines since they are tiny and ancient. Oh well I have to have clean clothes to wear so I will buck up but not without protest.

Well, again sorry no pics yet. Hopefully they will be on here soon.

Greetings form Ireland

Ok so I've never blogged before but I will make an attempt at it. Where to begin...... well first let me thank Julie in our Study Away office for all of her hard work to get us here as well as Cindy Heider and all of the Profs in HPG and Psychology you guys are all so great to help, it is greatly appreciated. Well this whole thing started in about September/ October, somewhere around there, when we decided to broaden our horizons and now we are finally here. First impression? LOL I was so tired from the plane ride I didn't even care. However, after we slept for 20 hours and got a hot meal we were good to go. It is the middle of Winter and everything is soooooo GREEN!! It is gorgeous! And our campus is AMAZING!!!! The south campus was an old abby of sorts, the buildings are tremendously old and beautiful!!!! PS you can get lost very easily but it’s an adventure. The cathedral is so amazing I almost cried. There will numerous pictures posted randomly of our outings so look forward to that.

It snowed here this last week. Apparently it doesn’t snow here very often and when it does it is never very much. There are a few pics of the students going crazy playing in the snow. They commented that they loved it when it snowed, to which we replied that if you came from Missouri and had to deal with inches at a time on a daily basis the new would ware off quickly!!! They are nuts!!!!

So the people are very friendly but the campus is a bit different from home. Everything is so open at home whereas here everything is so closed. You go through a door just to see another door before you get to a staircase. Then when you go to a professors office there is no Admin. Assistant to greet you and guide you, all of the Profs are in different office and the doors are all shut so you kind of feel as if you are bothering them. At Western there is always a friendly face to greet you and direct you and the Profs usually have an inviting open door. I miss that.

The academics here are very different. The majors are very one tract and do not require Gen Eds. Being an upper level Psych major I have found that all of my lectures are simply review. This reminds me to thank the Drs in the Psych department for the ample knowledge this far. Thanks. Anyway they refer to classes as lectures here. I was saying to one of my “flat mates” that I had a class at 1:00 and she laughed. I will be talking funny when I get back I just know it. Ok now that I have digressed, as Dr Wann would say, let’s get back on track. So… all of the classes have an essay. The essay is anywhere between 2500 and 4000 words. You answer a question given to you by the Profs at the beginning of the semester. The info may or may not be covered extensively in lectures so you may have to do additional reading on your own to write a good essay. I am a little confused because in the Psych classes at home we have never written essays worth so much of the grade. Also the final exam is basically broken down into about 4 essay questions and you chose from 2 of them and just write. There are no multiple choice tests!!!! Yikes. There is no homework or mid term tests for a cushion!!! Very Very different. It will be ok just maybe a little harder to study for. Oh while on the subject of classes…… The Profs are always late!!!! I told one of the students that if a Prof was 15 minutes late for a class at home they would arrive to find practically no one left waiting. I guess it is really laid back here. And students kept coming in late, I’m talking 20, 30 minutes late to an hour long lecture. I thought of home livid some of our Profs would be if we straggled in like that. You know who you are! LOL They only have 2 hours of classes per week and the time structure has no organization to it. Also opposed to one Prof the whole semester there are different Proffs giving lectures every other week. I guess we will be getting a very wide range of views.

Also the college is FREE to all of the students here that are from Ireland. You are not required to attend lectures and all you really have to do is turn in the essay and show up to the final!?!? I was amazed to learn this!!! That’s about all I have to say about that.

Next topic… oh lets go with currency. The US dollar is not faring well on the exchange. Also coins are actually worth something here. They have a 2 Euro and 1 Euro piece. I forget this all the time. Anyway,If you were to go to the grocery you will find that things are comparatively within reason…….until you figure the conversion then it kills you. Well “ When in Rome…….or Ireland”. The restaurants are quite expensive though. We went to a pub for a bite and we had a “100% Irish Beef” hamburger with “chips”, which we call fries, and a beer and it was roughly 20 Euro. I would expect to pay that for a steak at home but not a hamburger. Oh that’s another thing… As both Kennan and I are well over the drinking age in the US we had a beer. However, the drinking age here is 18. Everyone goes to the pubs here and there is a different pub to go to each night of the week. On the weekends almost everyone goes home to work so all of the recreational activities happen on during the week.

I got off subject again, sorry I have so many random things to tell everyone. Ok so the grocery store isn’t bad but eating out is. There are a few places that are not as expensive but they are fast food or the bagel shop, which is our new favorite spot. There is a little shop in town called the Bagel Factory. They make sandwiches from bagels you can put whatever you want on them. They also have soups; you can get a bowl of soup and a buttered bagel with a hot cocoa for 6 Euro. The hot cocoa is amazing by the way. They also have all kinds off coffees and fruit smoothies. It is a nice clean place with good pricing!!!! Oh and another thing. They don’t have Mexican food here. All I wanted was a frozen burrito!!!!!! NO such luck. Oh well I am going to attempt to make tacos next week if I can find any taco seasoning. I may have to have some sent in a care package from home LOL.

Hmmm what else? Oh you walk everywhere in town but it is really compact and easy to get to so it’s not bad at all. If you want to travel you either take a bus or the train which is actually really reasonably priced between 3 and 5 Euro. There are not many cars here but the cars they do have a really compact it’s like a world of prius and geo metros LOL it’s kind of amusing. But word of advice when you are walking, do not jaywalk at any time. It is dangerous here. They drive like madmen and of course what we think is the wrong side of the road. Always Always Always use the cross walks and only walk when the light tells you too. These people are crazy and don’t slow down!!!!

Ok moving on the living accommodations. There are apartment that have 5 bedrooms. Each bedroom is furnished with a bed, a desk, shelving, and a closet. They also have their own bathroom which is nice but tiny. All of the flat mates share a kitchen and living area. There are pots and pans and dishes provided. The TV gets about 8 channels and there are DVD players in some. I am told you can get a play station or what have you and hook it up if you want but they are not provided. As far as TV they love the Simpsons and Ellen here. Every time I turn on the TV that’s usually what’s playing. They have the same shows we have too. Of course Grey’s Anatomy is big here but they are a season behind us. And then they have their version of American Idol and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Well I have babbled long enough. We are planning a trip to the countryside so I hope to have more pics and more to right about this coming week. If there is anything you want to know just ask I will try to answer the best I can. If the babbling gets to you tell me to hush. I would just like to close today by saying as weird as it may sound and as happy as I am to be here I do miss Western. The great part about a smaller University is that you do have a more intimate relationship with Proffs and you do get a set group of people that are in your major that you grow to become good friends with. I miss the Psych family I have come to know, I miss the HPG family, and I especially miss my Sisters!!!!