Farewell?

Last night we had our farewell dinner at a restaurant downtown. I know it's a little early to start saying goodbye, but some people are already done with finals and leaving early. I don't get it. I mean, I miss home and everything, but I don't want to leave a day earlier than May 22. Who knows when I'll be able to get back here again, I want to enjoy every minute I have left.

It is kind of hard to enjoy it when I have so much work to do though. I have barely had any homework this entire semester, and now I can three final papers to finish by May 10th as well as a test on the 6th and the 10th. I've been trying to work on my papers, but it's like I forget how to do work! The smallest things keep distracting me, like writing a new blog post for example.

We also booked a spontaneous trip to County Mayo for next week. Sunday we're leaving to go to Westport and then we're spending two nights on Achill Island. When we first got here, we met a man from Dublin at a pub, and he told us that we could not leave Ireland without going to Achill Island. According to him, it is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland. I guess it has really nice beaches, so I'm praying for good weather! We also might go for a hike and go canoeing or something, I'm really excited!

Thats enough procrastinating via blog for now, I guess I'll get back to the essay writing....

Spring Break: The Never Ending Journey

I'm back!!! And thank God. It feels so good to be back in Galway. I'm happy to not be living out of a duffel, not having to share a bed with anyone, and to be able to cook my own dinners. I know I shouldn't complain, Italy was great, I just hated being stranded.

Ok, so here's an abridged version of my extra long spring break trip:

BARCELONA: The weather was perfect the whole time we were there. We got there really late the first night, so just hung in and woke up early the next morning to explore the city a little. We walked along the main road, Las Ramblas, and went to this really cool fruit market. There were hundreds of different fruit stands, candy stands, nuts, and dried fruits. We bought a bunch of strawberries for really cheap for the beach. Right next to the fruit market was a.....DUNKIN DONUTS! I got a large iced coffee, for euro, but it was worth every penny. We finally made it to the beach, and it was so nice! We met up with our friend Tony, and got dinner at an outdoor cafe near the ocean. I got paella and chicken, a Spanish rice dish, it was so good. We went out for drinks and got lots and lots of "Special Sangria" and had a great night.

The next morning we woke up early to get to the beach, and spent the day there. We were joking because we were in this amazing city, with so much cool history and architecture, yet our only concern was getting to the beach and lying in the sun. Honestly, it was much more enjoyable than looking at buildings! We had to get up early to catch our flight to Italy the next morning, so we spent the night roaming around looking for churros, and finally found some.

FLORENCE: I was so happy to get to see my roommate, Stacy! We stayed at her apartment, and she took us out for a great time on our first night. We went out to dinner at a restaurant near her apartment, and got some great Italian food and wine. Apparently, at restaurants in Italy, if the waiter likes you, he'll refill your wine liter free of charge. I think ours really liked us, because he kept it flowing! We went to her usual bar after dinner, which was of course, an Irish pub. I ran into a bunch of Roger Williams kids, and it was great to see them all.

Stacy had to go to her classes, so Mary, Lindsey, and I spent most of the days just wandering around Florence. It was such a cool city, and there was so much to see. My favorite was the leather market, where they sell all sorts of leather jackets, purses, wallets, and other stuff. They also had tons of cool jewelry, and it was easy to bargain with the people. I got myself a purse, and a few bracelets. Just about every day we got a gelato (or two). There were so many different flavors, there was no way I could try them all. I think my favorite would have to be fragola (strawberry) and melon. We also had plenty of pizza, and pasta, and the Italian food definitely lived up to it's standards!

VENICE: We left Florence to head to Venice on Friday. At this point, we had heard about the volcano in Iceland but had no idea how much trouble it would cause us. We were supposed to fly out of Venice on Monday, and didn't even consider that the ash would hold off flights until then. The train ride was about three hours long, but as soon as we stepped out of the train station we realized it was well worth it. It was literally the coolest place I have ever seen. Instead of streets, there was just water. The only way to travel through the city was either on foot or by boat, there wasn't even bikes. We took a water taxi to our hostel and were greatest by two of the nicest Italian men I have ever met. They were so funny, and even upgraded us into a private room free of charge. We walked around and went out for dinner that night, and had some more amazing Italian food.

The next morning I unfortunately woke up to a message from Stacy letting me know that our flight had definitely been cancelled. Even though Venice was so beautiful, we could not fully enjoy it because we kept worrying about how we were going to get home to Ireland. We explored Venice more, and tried to decide what we were going to do. We didn't know how long we were going to be stuck for, and whether we should go back to Florence and stay with Stacy for free, or pay to stay in our hostel. After talking to a bunch of people we met who were also stranded, and calling the airport dozens of times, we realized that flights would not be going out until the end of the week. We decided to go back to Florence on Monday.

FLORENCE (again!): Even though we were upset that we were stranded, we still had a great extra week in Italy. Lindsey celebrated her 21t birthday, and we had a special dinner, cake, and went out for the night. We went to the leaning tower of Pisa, and took some cool pictures. At first, we didn't think we were going to be able to get a flight until Monday, but after checking online numerous times, we finally were able to book one for Friday out of Rome, so back on the train we got...

ROME: I'm really glad we ended up getting to go to Rome. Even though we were only there for less than a day, we managed to see a lot. We went on a bus tour, and it took us all over the city. We saw the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. It was cool to get to see the Vatican, but we couldn't go inside because admission was way to expensive and there was a three hour line. The Trevi Fountain was my favorite, it was so pretty! We had some of the best pizza I've ever had for lunch, and managed to see the main sights in a day. I wasn't sad to go though, because we flew home to Ireland that night! We were so happy once our plane took off, and excited to get home. I had a great time in Spain and Italy, but I definitely am an Irish girl for sure!

Stuck...

Spring break was great, but I'm definitely ready for it to end. As of now, I'm stuck in Italy thanks to the Iceland volcano until further notice. We were supposed to fly out of Venice yesterday, but our flight got canceled. The next thing we could find is not until Monday, and who even knows if that will end up going out. To save money, we took a train back to Florence to crash with my roommate Stacy until we can get back to Galway. I know I shouldn't complain about getting to spend extra days in Italy, but all I really want to do is get back to Galway. I just hate the feeling of not knowing when we'll be able to get back and no one having answers. We've heard so many different things, from flights starting up again this week or them not starting for up to four weeks. We feel so stranded and helpless. If I miss Ireland this much now, when I've only been away from it for a two weeks, how am I going to deal when I get back to the states? I guess all we can do is enjoy the pasta and gelato for now....

On a happier note, Nora had her baby! Bridget Anne Finn was born on April 14th! Here's a picture Chelsey sent me. Congrats to Nora and Uncle John! I can't wait to get home and meet her.

Hola!

I forgot to mention that my spring break started, I just arrived in Barcelona last night and am loving it!!! I must say, going from Ireland to a country that speaks a different language was quite challenging. Mary had taken lots of Spanish classes at UMASS, and I still remember a bit from high school, but it is completely different when you are actually immersed in the Spanish speaking population. So far, we´ve ridden a half hour on the wrong way of a bus trying to get to the beach, and took a few wrong turns trying to locate our walking tour. No major issues, just small life lessons.The most memorable moment was when I was attempting to ask a woman how much a bracelet costs and was supposed to say...¨Quanto questa¨ and instead said ¨Quanto queso¨...which means ¨How much cheese!¨ It was really funny, and the lady was fluent in English and laughed along with us.

After seeing a bit of the city this morning, we finally made it to the beach around 4:00, and we met up with our friend Tony, from Galway. Itś nice to have a bigger guy with us, it makes the Spanish guys seem less creepy when going out at night. Weŕe going to try to get to the beach early tomorrow, to try and work on our Spring Break tan. We were laughing on the beach joking that we scared everyone away with our glowing pale Irish bodies!

Powell's Across the Pond!

My week with my mom, dad, Chelsey and Nana was great! I hope they had as good of a time as I did. I felt bad though, because I have been raving about how perfect the weather has been and of course as soon as they get here it rains for three days straight! They were good sports though, and we were still able to do all the things we had planned. They were tired when they first got here so we just walked around Galway a bit. Of course, they LOVED Shop St. and we popped into every gift shop in sight. I took them to Monroe's on their first night to see the Set Dancing, which I think they liked.

Wednesday was my last day of classes (yay!) and I met up with them after for dinner at a delicious Italian resteraunt in Salthill. Afterwards, we found a new pub close to their condo, called O'Connor's Famous Pub. It was so cool inside with all sorts of antique decorations hanging all over the walls, I will definitely be going back there at some point. The next day we woke up early to do a Connemara day trip and saw Kylemore Abbey. Nana really liked it there and we got a lot of good pictures. The last time she was here they held a mass for my grandfather, and I can imagine how nice it must have been, the gothic cathedral is so beautiful. That night we went to An Pucan, and listened to some traditional music. Lindsey's family was also here this week, and at one point we were all up dancing to Galway Girl, it was so fun, and the band was great! When we were leaving, Nana, Mary, and I hopped in a bycicle cab and rode it all the way down Shop St. The driver was going wild and kept pretending like he was going to crash the whole way, we were all dying laughing the whole time, it was so much fun!

On Good Friday all the pubs were closed, so we took it easy. We went to mass at St. Nicholas's, and I'm almost postive it was the longest mass I have ever been to! We went out to dinner for fish 'n chips at McDougnah's and hung in for the night.

Saturday I took them to the market in town, (I ended up splurging for both my paintings!) and then headed off to Doolin! The ride was full of emotions, and there was not a dull moment. Dad did a great job at driving on the windy roads of Ireland, as well as on the left side of the road. The roads are so narrow though, and Mom almost had a heart attack every time a tour bus was headed our way. The only major issue was when there was a car behind us, and one coming at us, and a rock that no one noticed in the middle of the road. Dad drove right over it, and we all screamed. We were a little shooken up, and didn't notice the lost hubcap until we made it safely to Doolin.

Once we arrived, we checked into Mikey's cousin, Susan Daley's B&B. She was so nice, and had such a lovely place. She made us some Bailey's coffee's, and sent us right down to Gus O'Connor's Pub. We had such a great night, listening to the music, eating, drinking, and talking. It was such a fun atmosphere, and at one point a little twelve year old boy went right up to the band and asked if he could play along with them. At first he just played his wooden flute, but after some encouragement, he starting belting out Galway Girl. Everyone in the pub stopped what they were doing to listen to him sing, and join in on the chorus. He was so cute!

On Easter Sunday, we woke up for a delicious breakfast and said goodbye to Susan. She pointed us in the direction of church, and then we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. I think they really enjoyed them. It ended up being a gorgeous day and we had a great view of the cliffs. I was so glad it finally wasn't too cloudy or rainy! Once we got back to Galway, Mom and Nana cooked a nice Easter ham and we hung out for their last night.