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Home.

Home!?

I'm being SO bi-polar about coming home tomorrow. On the bus from Killarney to Limerick I went back and forth at least 20 times thinking, "I can't go home yet, it's too amazing here!" and "Everyone and everything I love is at home and I miss them and want them back with me!" It's quite confusing.

Leaving Killarney was sad too, because Shelby and I had to say bye to Grandma Norma. Grandma Norma doesn't actually exist, because the lady that runs the B&B's name is Nora. But we decided she was our Grandma, and Shelby decided her name was Norma.

In Limerick, we got to hang out with Ruth and Lisa, two University of Limerick students that we met here and wanted to say goodbye to. And now we're in a hotel right across from the airport.

Tomorrow we have our flight and won't be home till 10pm (3am to our minds and bodies) with an hour drive home. It's going to be a long day.

Do I want to leave?! I don't know!!!!

P.S. I had dreams last night about people setting up more tours around Ireland for Shelby and I, and they wouldn't get it through their heads that we were leaving, no matter how many times I told them. I feel this dream was a symbol of my bi-polarness regarding leaving.

P.P.S. Still don't know what's up with my package. I'm still really worried.

The Ring of Kerry

Today, Shelby and I went on a tour of the Ring of Kerry which is a route around Country Kerry that circles around the mountains in Kerry. It had some amazing sights and once again I just wanted to fold up everything to stuff in my suitecase and bring back with me.

We also had a very funny bus driver who told us some awesome jokes. Shelby wrote one down and I'm going to steal it from her when I get the chance. There was an older lady on the bus too, who was kind of funny at first and then became increasingly annoying. She commented on everything the driver, John, said, even if it wasn't the correct response to what he was talking about (a lot of "wow"s). She also had a tendency to ask pointless questions. When our driver was talking about a Irish speaking community we were passing through and how everyone in Ireland has to learn Irish in school she said, "Bus driver, do you speak Latin?" He was very good about it, but at the end of the day, after he dropped her off, the driver said, "Free at last, free at last!" (I think that was the biggest laugh he got from the tourists too ;P ).

Though it was a good day, and I had another one of those "I never want to leave Ireland" moments, the Ring of Kerry was no where near as beautiful at the Cliffs of Moher tour, and I'm getting tired of paying such high prices for everything. I bought a fish dinner again on the tour for 13eu this time. Last time, for 15eu it was totally worth it: the best fish I've ever had. This time it was just bad. Shelby didn't like her salman either. I should have told the driver that he should find another place for lunch for future tours. Oh well.

Also! I'm terrified my package isn't going to make it home. I've been tracking it online and it made it to the US, and for the last couple days it's status has been something like "on route to destination." Today the status changed to "return to sender" !!!!! There is no sender because I didn't have an address in Ireland! And I have no idea why there would be a problem. I wrote my home address on the package three times in three different places. One of them should be legible. I'm so worried about it!

Back onto Limerick tomorrow. Our good ol' home base. We're going to meet up with two girls we met at the university, and then head to Shannon so we can be right by the airport for Tuesday morning. Home is so close I can almost feel the heat and humidity from here.

Purple = My favorite Color, Heather = the Building I Stayed in at Limerick, The Purple Heather = Meant to Be

So, I've made it to Killarney and am currently staying in a bed and breakfast called The Purple Heather. However, it was a roller coaster ride to get here.

Let me sum up as well as I can, so that I don't ramble on too much (which is bound to happen).

We started off by going to Galway on Wednesday, but it was SUCH a bad start. We were supposed to pick up a bis to the airport so that we could store our luggage, but the bus never came! We waited around till about 11:10 when another bus came, but that was going to the Dublin airport, and the guy couldn't tell us why the other bus never came through. He said we could wait for another one, but we were so frustraited and tired from dragging our luggage around that we hitched a ride on a bus into the city and went to the bus station (with our luggage through a big city mind you) and caught a bus from a different company.

We did finally make it to the airport, but it made us late for a cruise tour we had to see the Cliff od Moher again. It would have been awesome, but at that point we were ready to go to Galway and find our hostel so we could just have a break.

Our hostel in Galway was kind of nice. We had a big room to ourselves and a private bathroom. We ended up not doing much there because we were so tired, but we did go to a cute bar where an old man was playing live music.

Thursday we went to Dublin and went on the Guinness tour, which was better than I thought it would be. Not sure it was worth 11eu, but oh well, I still had fun. We stayed the night at a hostel there, which wasn't as nice as the one in Galway. We had a public bathroom, which would have been okay, except there was no way to take a shower and get back into your clothes without exposing yourself, so I waited till no one was in the bathroom. It was also a little shady in parts.

If that wasn't that bad, it ended up much worse as Katie (one of the two CMU students I was traveling with) got sick from a stomach problem she's been having. It was a roungh night from that alone, but it could apparently get worse as the next morning I spend a couple hours throwing up for no apparent reason, other than my body wanted to. Because of this (and some travel planning issues) we decided to skip the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and back to Limerick. That way we could rest someplace familiar and Katie could make plans to find a plane home for today.

Today was much better though. I didn't throw up (I think mostly due to the anti-nausea medicine Shelby got me), and Katie made the bus, and hopefully the plane (still waiting to hear from her).

Shelby and I then came to Killarney which is a cute little town. We walked around a bit, but it was really tiring with our backpacks to we went up to our B&B which is exactly what we were hoping for. Somewhere a bit more comfortable, away from big cities! It's got a view of some mountains, and is about a mile and a half away from the Gap of Dunloe, which is a pass through the mountains. We walked up there a little after we arrive and took amazing pictures. We only got about 3 miles in (no idea how long it is, but a lot more than 3 miles), but it was totally worth it. Then we ate at a place called The Coffee Pot (mmm fish) which is right at the mouth of the gap and came back where we've been hanging out the rest of the time.

Tomorrow we're going on a Ring of Kerry tour. The Ring of Kerry is just a path around County Kerry (that we're in now) that apparently has amazing sites. Then we get to come back to the B&B before heading back up to Limerick and Shannon and then HOME!

Here's to not getting sick for the rest of the trip.

P.S. Apparently I'm marrying a guy named Jeff Obiwankanobi and I am taking his last name
(Mr. and Mrs. Jeff and Richelle Obiwankanobi).

Farewell Limerick City

What? A short post?

So, I didn't get any sleep last night. I know what you're thinking, it's because I'm excited/nervous about this week. Well, yeah, but it's really about the fact that my roommates came in at 2am from partying and continued the party in my room until 5-ish. However, once they finally calmed down, people outside getting ready to head to the airport for early flights started getting rowdy. Bah! I'm tired.

Yesterday was good. I got up and took my exam, which wasn't too bad, but I'm still nervous about how they grade here. We had an attendance ceremony where we actually got a certificate that said we went to class (there were probably a handful of people who got them who shouldn't have). It was an actual ceremony. They called our names and we had to go pick up the certificate and shake our teachers hand and everything! Then I packed, sent a package home (I paid 55eu ($75) to get it shipped!! It better make it!), and then went to our final BBQ dinner thing. It was decent, but the karaoke made me laugh for sure. Especially when one girl from the group I hang out with sang Dancing Queen, my groups apparent theme song.

Then it was goodbyes :( But I think we're going to try some road trips in the future to see people.

Now I have to get ready to leave and say good bye to Limerick (though I'll be back through on Monday). See you all in a week!

Ah! There’s not enough time for writing posts!

I’m going to try to sum up a lot in this (a week’s worth), but it’s still going to be a long post (more blathering on. Sorry!).

Last Monday I only had a half day of class and we watched a film called The Field. It had Richard Harris (original Dumbledore) and Sean Bean (Boromir in Lord of the Rings). It was neither of their best acting. The movie was just ridiculous. To sum up: Sean Bean’s character dies because he’s not smart enough to know you shouldn’t stand in between a stampeding herd of cows and a cliff edge, and Richard Harris’ character tries to beat the ocean away from his dead son’s body with a walking stick after he made his cows run off the cliff.

Tuesday we watched a movie called The Butcher Boy. This movie was highly disturbing, but really good. It also had a Harry Potter actor in it—the lady who played Petunia Dursley—but she wasn’t in the movie a lot. The movie was about a mentally disturbed boy who couldn’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy and didn’t have anyone to look out for him.

Wednesday we had our last excursion. We went back to The Burren (the limestone covered landscape in Ireland), and to a beach on the west coast:

and the Ailwee cave:

I was told by cave goers that it’s not the most exciting cave, but I enjoyed it because they turned off the lights and I really wanted to see that (or not see ;P ). It was also interesting because they found some bears bones in the cave and bears are extinct in Ireland.

There’s was also some Irish set dancing that was learned. I got a ton of footage of people dancing, but unfortunately the blog site is having some problems uploading just one of them. Those who have facebook can watch them on there under my videos.

Thursday I had class but we didn’t actually watch any movies. Instead we talked about The Field and then gender issues in film. I was surprised to find that pretty much no one in my class considered themselves a feminist (in a class with 8 girls and only 2 boys). I also found out that though Ireland is amazing, I’m glad I was born in America. From 1932 to 1973 women who worked as teachers or in a civil service job (or any type of public job) had to leave upon getting married. They simply were not allowed to work, even in till the 70s, because they’re supposed to be "good" wives. Contraceptives were illegal till 1990, and there was a ban on divorce till 1995. They didn’t have any type of equal employment act for anyone (not just women) until 1998.

Friday, we had another half day and we watched a movie called In The Name of the Father. At first the teacher told us we might get out late, or maybe even have to watch the end of the movie on our own time because it was long and we were all annoyed, but when it was 12:30 (when we get out) and the movie was still going not a single person got up to leave (there were only 6 minutes left, but we didn't know that). The movie was great, and I’m now a huge fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, even though that’s the only movie I’ve seen him in. It was about his character and the character's family being arrested in Northern Ireland (which is under British rule) for being Irish terrorists and apparently bombing London. Everyone’s sent to prison, even some kids who had no idea what was going on.

Saturday we went to Blarney Castle and Cork. Yes, I did kiss the stone. Here’s a picture from beneath the stone:

At the bottom of where those bars are is where the stone is, and you have to lean backwards in the gap to kiss it. When thinking about how high that is, keep in mind my camera is zoomed in.

Here’s a picture of a another girl, Molly, kissing the stone (I have an official Blarney Castle photographer picture of me, but no one could get a picture on their personal cameras because I was the first to go, and where you stand in line doesn’t give you a good view):

Then we went to Cork and searched for a park that we did not find. The internet lied to me and told me the wrong location. Outside of that it was a cool place. It was much less touristy than Dublin, which was really nice, but also meant we had no reason to go into any of the stores, since it’s too expensive to buy stuff here when we can get it at home for a lot cheaper (once again, everything is SO expensive here). I would definitely go there to shop if I lived in Ireland though. The best part was it actually has sidewalks, unlike Dublin! People can actually fit on the sidewalk without worrying about a car being 3 inches from them.

And though this is cliché for Ireland, when we were heading home we saw a rainbow! And the search of the leprechauns' pot of gold can now begin:

Today was good apart from my typical personal social problems that seem to have flared even greater over the weekend and today. In class we watched Pavee Lackeen and Ballroom of Romance. Pavee Lackeen is a docudrama on the Irish traveler community (kind of nomadic people who are highly discriminated against in Ireland). Ballroom of Romance was a short movie that was a social critique of gender roles in Ireland through a storyline of a woman who settled for a man she didn’t want because she basically had no other choice.

Tomorrow we have our exam (wish me luck, I'm going to need it!) and a BBQ/final dinner thing and the program ends. Most people are going home Wednesday, but as most of you know, me and two other CMU students are sticking around for a week and traveling Ireland. Because of this, I doubt there will be another post here for a while, and no more pictures. I will have some limited internet access, but I’m not bringing my own computer with me.

Here’s the plan:

-Back to the Cliffs of Moher and then onto Galway. Stay the night in Galway on the 17^th.

-Back to Dublin for a tour of the Guinness factor, a haunted Dublin tour, and some bar from the movie/book P.S. I Love You. Stay the night in Dublin on the 18^th.

-Up to Northern Ireland to see the Giant’s Causeway, and stay the night in Omagh, with the intention of seeing a girl we meet in the program who will be there, on the 19^th.

-Back through Dublin (you have to go through Dublin to get to Northern Ireland) and on to Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula on the 20^th.

-Killarney and the Ring of Kerry on 21^st.

-Maybe back to Limerick then up to Shannon to stay the night close to the airport on the 22^nd.

-23^rd HOME!

-24^th Pizza Hut for dinner

These plans are subject to change (except the Galway and Dublin part because we already booked our hostels).

P.S. For those expecting postcards, I’m sorry to say you won’t get them until I get home. It cost about $3 to send each card and I have a lot of people I’m supposed to send them to, so I just decided that it was too expensive. Sorry.