The hills are alive...

Tonight was another session of hill repeats at Lock & Dam #1.  We were given the goal of doing 6-8 repeats and so I did 8 with Mercedes (my fantastic new running partner).

Last Saturday's run was tough but overall really great.  I was responsible for providing one of the water stops (since I'm a mentor), and so I was very thankful that Steve was willing to help out.  We were running around Lake Nokomis and then out towards Minnehaha Falls.

When we started our run around Nokomis, I realized I was getting caught up with a bunch of runners that have a much faster pace than me and that I needed to slow down. This has been a fairly common occurrence this season because there seems to be a larger proportion of participants training for the half marathon and those that are training for the full are just plain faster than me.  In the first couple team trainings I tried keeping up with these people but I've realized that I can't sustain that level of exertion for the entire full marathon. 

I ended up running and talking with another TNT participant, Mercedes, and figured out that we have a very similar pace.  Mercedes is also training for the Nike Women's full marathon and so she became my running partner for the whole 9 miles on Saturday.  If I hadn't been running with her, I probably would have turned around at the 8 mile mark and overall the run would have felt much more difficult.  But running with Mercedes, the run really didn't seem that bad.  We are officially running buddies and she even signed up to TCM with me too!

National Running Day

Tomorrow, June 5th, 2013 is National Running Day.  We will be having our typical Team in Training group run, but we are inviting family and friends to join us and then we will be having ice cream treats after the run.  The marathon group is going to be meeting at Lake Nokomis at 6:30 p.m. - so feel free to come run or walk with us.  We meet at the parking lot that is right off of Cedar at the North Beach -- not the one by the rec center.

On Sunday I did end up going for a run and doing two sets of the stairs instead of taking a rest day.  My legs were really tired afterward and I had to do quite a bit of stretching throughout the day.  I ended up taking Monday as my rest day, but then my legs felt restless at bedtime.  Tonight I will likely do some stationary bike as part of my cross training.

Also, congratulations to all of my fellow teammates that ran in the Minneapolis Marathon or San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon over the weekend.

I want to give a big shout-out to my anonymous donors.  I wish I knew who you were so that I could thank you personally, but please know how grateful I am for your support!  Once my offline donations get process, I should be at close to $3,000 raised out of my $5,000 goal.  For those that haven't donated yet, I can still accept donations after the June 9th target deadline that I had set, so please consider making a donation -- no amount is too great or too small!

10k run

This morning the team met at Upper Landing Park in St. Paul for our weekend run.  I planned on doing six miles, since I am training on the Twin Cities Marathon schedule.  But I ended up going a little bit past the turn-around point and so I probably did about 6.2 total, which is equal to a 10k.  This was the farthest I've run since my half ironman event last July.  I can tell that my legs are tired but I think overall it was a good run.  I used the stick on my legs just a little while ago, which hurt in a good way, and so I'm hoping I won't be too sore tomorrow.  Usually tomorrow would be a "rest" day, but I told someone that I would do a short run and some hills/stairs with them - so I guess I will have to "rest" on Monday.

Also, my fundraising is going pretty well.  With the offline donations that still need to be processed and posted, I should now be over 50% of the way to my goal of raising $5,000.  I'm really proud that I've been able to raise so much money is just a month and I'm very grateful to all of the people who have donated and are supporting me in this crazy endeavor.  But I still have a long way to go in order to meet my goal of $5,000 and so I will be continuing to fundraise past my June 9th goal.

Hill Repeats

One of the staples of training for Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran, or the Twin Cities Marathon, is to do some hill training.  On the Nike marathon course there are a couple tough hills, mostly within the first 6-7 miles of the course, but there are also some more hills around miles 18 and 20.  I haven't done TCM before, but based on what I hear, there is a steep hill on Mississippi River Blvd. as you near Summit Ave, and then Summit Ave is a steady climb for a couple miles - all of which is within the last 6 miles of the marathon.  So if you haven't done hill training, you could really be in for some trouble during both these races.

Team in Training helps prepare us by doing hill repeats at the Lock and Dam near Ford Parkway.  Tonight was our first session of hill training, and we started out strong with five hill repeats.  For those that have never tried running up and down this road, it is not easy - especially with the humidity that we had tonight.  Luckily I have been doing some hill training for the past couple weeks near our house.  There is a specific pathway that leads out of the creek bottom and it is even steeper than the Lock and Dam road.  Usually when I've tried running up the creek pathway hill I hit my absolute maximum heart rate.  That came in handy tonight because in the past a session of five hill repeats has been very difficult, with multiple breaks.  Tonight it was tough but bearable, and I didn't take any breaks between doing the repeats.

Our next group training is on Saturday and I think we are bumping up our mileage from 4 miles to 6 miles.  That is basically a 10k, which is 6.2 miles.  That will be the farthest I have run since last July, and I'm looking forward to running it with the team.  I'm already meeting some really cool teammates that I enjoy running with and it helps make the runs more enjoyable, which is part of the benefit of training with Team in Training.  In the meantime, I will need to do a session of cross training and a shorter run (2 to 3 miles) - so hopefully the weather cooperates!

First Team Training

Yesterday was the first official team training for the fall season of Team in Training.  We ran once around Lake Calhoun and it was very windy.  The high temperature for the day was supposed to be 50 degrees, so it was not the most pleasant run, but it definitely could have been worse. Our next group run will be Wednesday night.  We are doing some "try-it-out trainings", so if you think you might be interested let me know and you can come run with us and see what Team in Training is all about.

Graduation Countdown

In less than one month I will be done with law school and have my J.D. degree. The reality hasn't fully hit me yet, but I have been starting to realize it in bits and pieces. For instance, tomorrow begins the last full week of classes and today was my last day of Legal Bowling.

Overall I'm really excited to be graduating and starting the next phase of my life. It will be nice to once again be a full-time worker and not carry around a ton of books in a backpack. No matter how old you are, people don't quite take you seriously when you have a backpack.

But there admittedly are quite a few things I'm going to miss about law school.

The people. I've made some amazing friends and acquaintances over these three years. While a number of them will be staying in the area, many are moving to other parts of the country. Even with those remaining local, proximity does not necessarily mean actual time spent together. It's sad to think that many of these relationships will dwindle to simple updates through Facebook posts.

The varied opportunities to learn something new. I have no doubt that a career in law will be a continuing learning experience. However, the learning opportunities in law school came from so many different avenues. There were numerous course offerings available, and not just limited to law classes. Several of my friends took a Reiki Healing class - something I had never even heard of before. There were also the blackboards continually filled with postings of all the speakers, presentations, debates, and seminars being hosted by the various student groups. And then there were simply the conversations going on within and outside the classrooms. Every student at the school is special and unique, providing their own perspective on things and introducing others to something they didn't know before. The things I've learned through talking with and listening to my fellow students and the professors have been invaluable.

Spring/Summer breaks. Really, who doesn't love vacations?

There are tons of other things I'll miss, but I wasn't really intending this to be a sentimental/reflective post. There are still too many fun things planned between now and graduation to start the grieving process already. Plus whenever I think of "graduation countdown," I end up with the chorus of Europe's "The Final Countdown" song in my head.

Springtime!

With my final "Spring Break" being next week and the weather (which, despite rumored forecasts of a blizzard for today, is markedly feeling like springtime - with the sun shining and snow melting), I am suddenly feeling very ready for spring and getting back into the outdoors.

While I finally managed to appreciate the winter by learning to ski, I am now in the mindset for spring to begin. I've started breaking out my dresses and skirts without the fear of my legs going numb from the windchill. Today I went shopping for more bike shorts and have been doing research to purchase a road bike online. I'm starting to think about what endurance events I might train for and participate in. And I'm definitely looking forward to bonfires and pool parties.

Steve, the boys, and I have also started more seriously talking about what breed of dog we'd like to get in the next couple months. Mostly we're looking at Poodle-mixes because of their low-shedding coat and temperament.

I will admit that I'm a bit disappointed right now though that I don't actually have any travel plans for Spring Break. For the past couple years I've been fortunate enough to join my mom on some amazing trips to Italy and Australia during Break. I realize that I just spent 4 months abroad in Ireland, but I guess I have the "travel bug" like my mother.

Just can't escape the snow storms

My law school has a "Winter Break" and so I didn't have any classes last Friday or yesterday. Steve and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend by flying out to Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday night and visiting his parents in Sun City West.

Our days were filled with activities like visiting estate sales, going to the 2011 Arizona Wheels of Italy, driving around the streets in a golf cart, consuming yummy food and drinks, playing the slug-bug game, and a lot of hiking (White Tank and McDowell Sonoran Preserve).

Steve was the camera master, so unfortunately I don't have any photos to post yet. But there were some amazing views from the hiking trails.

We originally planned on going up to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, but turns out Minnesota wasn't the only state having a snow storm. We got to around Sedona and the highway troopers closed the roads. The drivers out there really did not know how to deal with snow on the road and there were a couple times when I worried we were going to be hit by some out-of-control car. Finally we decided to just turn around and save the Grand Canyon experience for another trip.

On Monday evening we flew back and arrived home at about 12:30 a.m. It was a great surprise to discover that one of our neighbors had snow plowed the driveway! Though we had to deal with the Arizona snow storm, it was clearly nothing compared to what had happened back home.

Pizza and Fries in skiing?

Last weekend I went skiing with Steve and the boys. Just to give some perspective, I've skied probably a total of three or four times in my life - two of these instances were in middle school and the last time was about three years ago. So to say the least, I was a bit nervous about my ability to stay upright and return home without any broken bones. However, I am happy to report that it all went really well and was a great trip!

Both Saturday and Sunday we went skiing in the morning for a couple hours, took a lunch break, and then skied a couple more hours in the afternoon. I'll fully admit that the boys and I spent the entire time on the same hill, which had various green and blue runs. It was nice though because I was able to spend time developing my stopping skills and moved past the "pizza"/snow plow technique to the "fries"/parallel turn style.

Hopefully we'll get to go again before the skiing season ends!

A Christmas miracle!

I am officially back home and law school classes have started up again. The holidays went really well and I've been fortunate enough to see most of the people I had been missing during my time abroad.

Getting back to the U.S. from Ireland was quite a feat, due to all the bad weather in Europe. I really believe it was a Christmas miracle that I actually made it back in time to spend the holidays with my family and friends.

On Tuesday, December 21st I was scheduled on the 1:00 p.m. flight from Dublin to Chicago, where I would then get a connecting flight home. I had made it all the way through security, customs, and immigration and was waiting at the terminal gate. Just as we were getting ready to board the airplane, they said the flight was being delayed because it had started snowing faster than they could clear the runways, etc.

After several hours of being "delayed", we suddenly heard announcements over the speakers that passengers on canceled flights should leave the airport and re-book their flights online. It was only then that we saw on the departures board that they decided to cancel our flight.

On my way to reclaiming my luggage, I called Steve and asked for his help in getting my flight re-booked. At the same time, a couple suggested to me that I go and try talking to an agent in person, even though they were telling us we should leave. As I waited in line, Steve called to tell me that the earliest flights he could get me out on (without having to pay at least $2000) was on Sunday, December 26th -- meaning I would be spending Christmas alone in Ireland. I decided to wait in the line anyways to talk with an agent in person and see if there was any other possible solution.

I finally saw an agent after 4 hours in line and there was essentially nothing else they could do for me. He even said I was lucky at that point to be on the Sunday flight because other people were already getting pushed to flights that didn't leave until January 1st! He did say that I could try coming to get on standby though - but that if I took any flight to the U.S. other than the one to Chicago, I would be responsible for getting my own connecting ticket home.

I waited another hour in the line where they were giving out rooms at nearby hotels. When I spoke to that agent, she saw how upset I was by the idea that I wouldn't get home until after Christmas. She suggested that I come back to the airport at 6:00 a.m. the next morning and beg/plead/cry/etc. to try and get on standby.

The silver lining of the ordeal was that they put me up in a really swank hotel and even gave us free dinner and breakfast. I missed the free breakfast, however, because I had a taxi pick me up at 5:15 a.m. to head back to the airport.

The woman who put me down on the standby list said I had a good chance of getting on the flight to Chicago because of all the other passengers who wouldn't make their connecting flights in from many other parts of Europe. However, I later found out I was number 26 on the list!

Trying to make a long story shorter, with only thirty minutes before the plane was scheduled to take-off for Chicago, my name finally got called off the stand-by list. I was so excited that I literally ran through the airport to make sure I didn't get left behind.

When I arrived in Chicago there were a number of other problems that cropped up and almost forced me to spend the night there, but ultimately I arrived home that night around 9:30 p.m. It was a good thing I got out of Dublin when I did too, because the airport was closed again the next day due to weather.

Twelve pubs of Christmas...

This officially marks the end of my last weekend in Dublin. Colleen, Adi and I have been all studying for our exams. I have two, both of which are tomorrow. First is Media Regulations at noon and then Employment Law at 6 pm. Why they force us to take exams that don't even start until 6 pm (ending at 8 pm) I don't understand. But after a semester here, I've decided that it's probably unreasonable trying to understand because they don't make decisions based on logic.

Anyways - Friday was pretty quiet. Ha - the sad thing was that going to get dinner was probably the highlight for that day. Luckily Saturday was much better. Saturday afternoon Colleen, Adi and I went to Cafe Java in Blackrock to have a study group session on Media Law. Overall it went pretty well until Adi ended up in a fit of giggles and we realized we had clearly "hit the wall" for the evening. So we went back to the dorms and made plans to go see Trad (Traditional) Irish music.

Little did we know, City Centre was completely overtaken by Christmas party-goers. People dressed in tinsel and Santa hats packed every street and sidewalk. The bar we had originally planned on going to was so packed that by 9:30 pm they were saying that no one else would be getting in for the night. We realized it was unrealistic to limit ourselves to Trad music pubs, so we set out to find a pub in general. That's when I remembered The Bar with No Name. I was hoping that since it 1) has no name and 2) is up off the street and, in general, is kind of hard to find - that we'd have enough luck to at least get in. And we had success!

Basically this bar is like a house party but with bartenders. For the Minneapolis people - it may be comparable to the Kitty Cat Klub. It was still really packed but we managed to find a small area to stand. I don't know how it started, but we apparently felt like we needed to guard/protect our space - which resulted in Adi and I acting a bit tougher than we really are and Colleen got some really fantastic photos.

On Sunday morning Colleen and Adi were moving out of the dorms to spend the last few nights at a hotel in City Centre. But since they had 5 pieces of luggage, 2 backpacks, and 2 Ikea bags full of stuff to donate, I ended up going with to help out. After dropping the stuff off we went to the Dublin Christmas Market. Adi and I both had bratwursts, Colleen had a crepe, and we all got to sample what was probably the best brownie in the world.

After going through the market and getting to see some kids put on a dance show, we went to a coffee shop in the nearby mall for some tea/hot cocoa. Then Adi and Colleen went back to their hotel and I set out on a mission of shopping. After getting the things I had wanted, it was back to the dorms to pack. Yes, I am basically packed up and ready to go - which feels really weird.

I've had an amazing time here in Dublin and I really am going to miss parts of it. But at the same time, I am ready to get home. It will be nice not having to wear flip-flops to shower or worry about how much of my food was stolen from the fridge overnight. I'm also excited to have my car back - though I will have to re-orient myself to driving on the right side of the road (which seems wrong now every time I try to picture it). Then of course there are the people that I have been missing and am anxious to see. So yes, I'm ready.

Once I get back, I'm sure life will be busy. There are the holidays, concerts, and tons of other things. But I will try hard to blog about the things that I did this Fall but didn't manage to write about yet. And at some point I will manage to organize the 1500+ photos that I took and share them with people.

So Merry Christmas* and hope you all have a great New Year!

*Side note: over here it seems to be "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas", and I really can't figure out why. I know they mean the same thing, but it just feels wrong to say it that way.

London: Day 1 - We've arrived!

We said our goodbyes to Kelsey and Dan, since they flew home to Minnesota. The rest of us arrived in London, crammed ourselves and the luggage into a taxi, and went to the Hilton London Euston Hotel. It was a gorgeous hotel and our rooms even had little balconies. My mom, Rita and I were sharing a room, so they brought in a cot into the room for me to sleep on. The weird thing was that it had a belt...like I'd need to be strapped in so as not to roll out of the bed.

After unpacking and having some lunch, mom, Rita and I decided to go take the "Ghosts by Gaslight" walking tour around the area of Trafalgar Square. Our tour guide was fun, though he sure kept a quick pace! There were times when we were literally jogging to catch up to him. But he seemed to really know all the nooks and crannies of the area. We saw:

the Benjamin Franklin House
the recently re-opened Savoy (and yes, that's a Bentley parked in front)
Somerset House
The George bar
Temple Church
and Royal Courts of Justice

Once the tour was done we hopped the London Underground (mind the gap) back to the hotel area to meet Gram & Gramps for dinner. We ate at a place called Prezzo, which was just a couple doors down from the hotel. It was really great Italian food and I had the "Bianca" pizza: goat's cheese, asparagus spears, semi-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and tomato. Definitely something I'd love to try making back home with Steve. After that it was time to go back to the hotel, climb into my cot and get strapped in for the night ha.

Family Visit - Dublin

After driving around Ireland for a couple days, my family spent a few nights in Dublin. And they were right in the thick of it too - Temple Bar. The second night they were in Dublin I met them for dinner at O'Neill's. We all had a few pints, some tasty food (I had the Beef & Guinness Stew), and then enjoyed some live music. It was fun because I actually know enough Irish songs now to make requests, like Whiskey in the Jar.

For the last day in Dublin we all got tickets for the Hop On - Hop Off bus. I decided that I really wanted to see Kilmainham Gaol, especially since it's not something I can see straight off the DART. My grandparents, Kelsey, and Dan also joined me on the tour. It was really interesting and we had a great tour guide, but I still think the Alcatraz tour might be better. The bus then took us through Phoenix Park, which I hadn't seen yet. It's one of the "largest enclosed recreational spaces within any European capital city" and also has the Dublin Zoo. There wasn't really much else worth noting. The next day I met my family at the airport and headed off to London!

In Prague!

Well today I landed in Prague and in less than 12 hours, Steve will be joining me here. I have to admit I was actually nervous about coming to Prague even though it's been on my list of places to visit. Maybe it's the combination of horror stories about pickpockets and scamming taxi drivers, or having watched the movie Taken. Regardless, I was happy when my airport shuttle driver told me that it really is a safe city. Sure there are pickpockets, but apparently there is very little violent crime. So here's hoping I make it through the weekend without any issues!

Steve and I are staying in an apartment hotel, so the room is more like a studio apartment. There's a kitchen with fridge/freezer, stove, microwave, and dishes. I actually walked to a local grocery store and cooked myself some pasta for dinner tonight. But there is one odd thing about the room - there are two different bathrooms. The one off the living room area only has a toilet and sink, while the bathroom off the bedroom only has a shower and sink. I guess it makes sense on some level, but still seems a bit odd to me.

The last couple days I have been busy trying to finish an essay for my Employment Law Contracts class. Of course, there has been a fair amount of procrastination - including a day of shopping in City Centre with Colleen. I think my internet issues at the dorms are finally resolved, so upon my return there will be more blog updates about my family's visit and our trips to London and Paris. I also am trying to organize my photos, but considering I've taken over 1600 photos thus far, it has been a challenge.

Family Visit - Day Three: Dingle to Limerick

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but since my return from Paris I got sick for several days and have been having major internet issues at the dorms. Let me preface this post by saying that the day I'm blogging about was probably one of the days I feel best defines Ireland and what I love about this country. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

After breakfast in the B&B, we loaded up the van with our luggage and set out to drive around the Dingle Peninsula. It was my mom's first day driving in Ireland and for the most part she did really well - though we're still not entirely sure where the bottom chunk of the passenger side mirror ended up.

On our journey around the Peninsula there was so much amazing scenery. The day was foggy/overcast but lately that seems to have become the normal weather. Along the way we ended up stopping at a "famine" exhibit. It was basically a plot of land where the owner had rebuilt some structures and put up information about the Great Famine. But there were also some mannequins that I can only describe as creepy. They made me think of the movie Child's Play. I mean, I understand the purpose they were serving, but they were still creepy. See for yourself:

Anyways, we continued on our drive. There were tons of scenic stops to make along the road. We pulled onto the should a number of times to snap photos - which wasn't exactly easy considering the size of the van versus the size of the roads. Here is a small selection of the images I captured:

We made a couple other stops while we were driving around. The first was at a little cafe where we all shared some pie. None of us were actually hungry, but some people wanted to use the bathroom and they are very strict in Ireland about bathrooms being for customers only ha. We also stopped at a pottery shop. After taking a pottery wheel class this past summer, I have a new appreciation for just how hard it is to create some of the pottery pieces.

At one point we stopped at a pier/boat launch. My grandpa and I ventured down to the water while almost everyone else stayed up by the road. It was fun being down there, collecting rocks together. Kelsey and Dan ended up joining us. Though our fun was cut short by the bored passengers up at the van, we were able to collect enough interesting rocks so that each person could have one.

Since some people were more interested in going back to Dingle for shopping, that's where we headed. Back in Dingle for a few hours, we all set out on our own to explore and shop. There was a really cute store called Mad Hatters which, as you can guess, had a bunch of really interesting and stylish hats inside. They seemed pricey and I'm not a huge hat person, so I didn't get one, but I still think they were grand. I ended up running into Kelsey and Dan while they were getting some take-away food at a place called Harrington's. Kelsey got some seafood chowder and it actually came with what I'm guessing were mussels still in their shells.

Departing from Dingle, we headed for Limerick. We were staying the night in Limerick so that the next morning I could catch the bus back to Dublin in time for my afternoon Arabic language class. We ended up booking rooms at the Clifton House B&B. Upon our arrival we had tea and coffee and talked with the owner, Michael. Then we met his adorable dog, a boxer named Jake. It'd been so long since I had been around a dog, I had forgotten how much I love them.

For dinner, we were trying to decide whether to drive into the city centre area and deal with parking the van. Ultimately we decided to check out the Woodfield Hotel/Bar & Restaurant across the street from the B&B - and that was one of the best decisions we made. The food, drinks and prices were reasonable but it was the atmosphere that made it brilliant.

As we were eating our meals we kept seeing this little, old Irish man (who we later found out was named Willie) in a beige suit coat with stark white hair and big, dark bushy eyebrows coming through the bar area. Once in a while he would stop and give us some grief like, "You're all still here?" and then run off. Eventually, a woman named Theresa came in to order drinks at the bar and started talking to us. She seemed a little tipsy but she was really sweet and personable. Apparently I reminded her of herself when she was younger, so she took a liking to me. She ended up leaving her husband sitting outside with their friends and joined us at our table. From there, she gradually introduced us to all her friends as they came in the bar for drinks.

I don't know how it really happened but suddenly we seemed to know everyone in the bar and we were all drinking, laughing, and talking. Then my grandpa started singing songs with some of the people there and they didn't stop singing until hours later. It was so grand. Here are some YouTube links to a couple short snippets of everyone singing:

Singing in the bar - clip 1

Singing in the bar - clip 2

Singing in the bar - clip 3

The people there were so genuine and welcoming. Theresa ended up deciding that since I'm staying in Ireland without any family around, she was going to take care of me and be my "Irish Mama". She kept insisting that I put her down as my emergency contact at school because she could get to me a lot faster than my own mom in the U.S. Plus she has a brother-in-law that is a doctor in Dublin, so if anything ever happened to me, she'd make sure I was taken care of and looked after. Another woman, Frida, also gave me the contact information for her son who lives in Dublin.

At some point the bar was supposed to close, but since we were all still wanting to buy drinks, they opened up again ha. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning we made it back across the street to our B&B. When we got in Michael was there to great us and said, "Oh was that you all singing over there?". Then it was off to bed since we needed to be ready for breakfast early in the morning.

Family Visit - Day Two: Cork to Dingle

In the morning at the Garnish House, we had one of the most fantastic breakfasts ever! It all started with a bowl of porridge that was topped with a bit of Baily's Irish Cream. Then there was a full Irish Breakfast - though once again, I skipped the pudding. Hansi, the owner, even wrapped up some freshly made scones to take with us. It was absolutely fabulous and I would highly recommend it for anyone staying overnight in Cork.

Then it was off to the Blarney Castle. During our visit we checked out the various parts of the castle grounds. It was especially pretty because of how far you could see from the top of the castle and some of the leaves were changing, which provided a colorful backdrop to the gray stone.

Of course, we were determined to kiss the Blarney Stone. So we maneuvered our way through the winding staircase, until we finally reached the top. Now, to kiss the Blarney Stone, it is really quite a process. First, you sit down on the ground with your back to the wall:Then, while holding on to some metal bars and being helped by a man holding your waist, you lower yourself backwards so that you are basically hanging upside-down over the edge:
Finally, you plant a kiss on the stone - trying not to think about all the germs:
The rest of the day was spent doing some shopping in the nearby wool/gift stores and driving on our way to the Dingle Peninsula. As I was driving, I had originally wanted to do the Ring of Kerry. Unfortunately, it would have taken too long. Plus I realized that most of the van passengers were sleeping, so there wasn't much use in taking the scenic route anyways.

However, we did make one interesting stop. I can't remember exactly what town we were in, but we decided to make a pit stop and grab a pint. That's where we met John. We walked into this pub, which was completely empty except for this guy (John) sitting at the end of the bar. Although it was only about noon, he looked like he'd been there for quite a while and was clearly drunk - like in a stupor drunk. After returning from the restrooms, I found out that he was also apparently our bartender. I don't know what John's deal was, but he acted like he had multiple personality disorder. One moment he'd be chatting away with us about how he came over from England 20 years ago, then suddenly he'd stop talking, walk away, turn up the radio, and just stare at us. It was creepy to say the least, but also quite entertaining.

Arriving in Dingle, we ended up staying in a B&B called Coastline Guesthouse. The rooms were great and had a really nice view of the water. Here's a picture from one of the room windows, which also includes a view of the big, red van. That night for dinner we went to The Dingle Pub. I never knew it, but apparently my grandma enjoys Southern Comfort straight-up ha. We originally wanted to hear some traditional music, but unfortunately it wasn't starting until several hours after we'd finished eating. So we ended up making our way back to the B&B and calling it a night.

Family Visit - Day One: Dublin to Cork

On Friday morning my family arrived in Dublin airport. "My family" meaning my mom (Kim), sister (Kelsey), brother-in-law (Dan), grandpa (Ron), grandma (Gloria), and my mom's friend (Rita). The original plan was that we would rent two cars, with my mom and me driving, and head down to Cork. When we got to the rental car counter, we found out that even with two cars there was no way we were going to fit all 7 of us and the luggage into the two small cars they had reserved. The solution? A big red van! Yep, we all piled into a big, red passenger van, with me behind the wheel.

Along the way to Cork we stopped in a town called Cashel. We had some really tasty soup and sandwich at a little place named Ladyswell Restaurant and then headed to the main attraction of the town - The Rock of Cashel. It was an amazing place to visit and look out over the countryside. And there was actually someone buried there just a year ago. Here are some photos from our stop there:


When we arrived in Cork, we ended up going around almost the entire city before finding our B&B - The Garnish House. It's not that the B&B was really that hard to find, it's just that we got diverted onto the wrong street and then there were a ton of one-ways, etc. But it was well worth it to get to The Garnish House because it was absolutely a brilliant place to stay. The owner, "Hansi", generously welcomed us with tea, coffee, raspberry jam, fresh baked scones, and various other baked goods. It was like an afternoon feast.

After settling into our rooms, some of the family took a brief nap. Then it was off into downtown Cork for dinner - which ended up being much more of an adventure than originally anticipated. Now remember, I'm driving around a huge van and the streets were made much more for compact cars. So after not finding any street parking, we finally decided to enter a parking garage. Then we noticed the vehicle height clearance bars. Slowly, I creeped the van under the first bar - success! As I got about half way under the second bar we heard it hit the top of the van and saw the bar start swinging. But at that point we were already basically in, so why turn around - right? Plus we had managed enough foresight to get the insurance coverage with no deductible ha.

We ate at Clancy's Bar Restaurant on Princes Street. I guess there wasn't really anything special about the place, but the food, drinks, and prices were decent. People were still pretty jet-lagged so we made it an early night.

Ireland might as well be called Neverland

Today I joined Colleen and Adi on an afternoon trip to Malahide, Ireland. It is on the DART line, with trains coming about every half hour. So after Colleen got back from class and we ate some lunch, we set out to see what the town had to offer.

Upon our arrival we decided to check out the Malahide Castle. However, we were soon distracted by something even better - a fantastic playground. That's right, we may be some of the oldest students in our classes but we still know how to enjoy a big saucer-swing and some of the largest slides I've ever seen. For the slide, you actually had to go up a small climbing wall to get up towards the top. Not to mention the zipline!

Also along the path leading to the castle were various things to test your balancing skills. Like a "rolling log" that would spin around as you tried to walk across it. Adi and Colleen had both (somewhat) successfully walked on the rolling log, so I decided to give it a try. Big mistake - I fell within the first ten seconds. Luckily nothing was bruised too badly, other than my right knee and my ego.

At some point we finally realized it was time to focus and actually get to the castle before it closed for the day. That, and we'd gotten enough strange looks from parents who probably felt we were too old to be acting like children.

The castle tour was, well, a little bit of an odd experience. The outside looked fabulous and it was nice to see the inside with all the ornate woodwork and furnishings. But the tour itself had to be one of the cheesiest things ever. I mean, it's all narrated through large speakers, room by room. They don't even have a guide walking with you. On the plus side, that meant no one to scold me for taking pictures. Honestly, the first picture I took I didn't know photography wasn't allowed. But the second photo, I take full responsibility - it was just too tempting to resist.

As for earlier this week, Monday I discovered the yumminess that is banoffee pie. Colleen, Adi, Liz and I went for some tea at Avoca - a restaurant/bar near campus. However, once we got there, dessert sounded so much better than just tea. We ended up ordering three slices of banoffee pie.

Here is the before:And the after - clearly it was delicious:
This week I also had the opportunity to continue with my sports club activities. I went to both softball and archery on Tuesday. Archery is getting to be more fun now that I'm not ending up with bruises on my arm from the bow string. I'm also getting better on my form and learning the proper techniques.

Anyways, classes are starting to pick up and there are a few assignments due in the next couple weeks. My family is also arriving in Dublin in about 8 hours! I'll be gone for the weekend, driving around the country with them - so probably no blog updates for a couple days. But I'm sure there will be lots to share from my visits with them to Cork, Dingle, and Limerick.

The good, the bad, and the salty.

This weekend I was in Bundoran, Ireland with the UCD Surf Club. Bundoran is on the West Coast of Ireland and has absolutely stunning scenery. Both across the bay and back towards the interior of the island were mountains. From the moment we arrived, I spent as much time as possible walking along the cliffs and paths that overlooked the ocean. I ended up taking over 200 photographs - none of which included pictures of me surfing ha.

We left campus on Friday around 1:30 p.m. During the ride one of the guys asked the bus driver to pull over cause he needed to go to the bathroom. The bus driver ruthlessly heckled the kid, saying, "Isn't it long enough that you can tie it in a knot?".

We finally arrived at our lodging around 5:00 p.m. I ended up in a house with four other girls: Margaret, Cecelia, Deborah, and Cherry. Somehow I ended up in my own room with a whole double bed to myself. And there was still space for about 7 more people to stay in our house.

It was a self-catering lodge, so we used the kitchen to make some dinner and then went for a stroll along the "Cliff Walk". Along the path there were patches of what appeared to be wild growing blackberries and blueberries - though I didn't brave actually taste-testing any of them. We also found a bathing pool, which was naturally filled by the ocean when the waves would come in or the tide was high.

That evening there was a party in one of the houses that everyone on the trip went to. It basically reminded me of a stereotypical frat party. There were games of beer pong, beer bongs, people playing "never have I ever", and even one random couple making-out on a chair in front of everyone. Needless to say, other than drinking a total of two beers for the evening, I did not partake in the debauchery. I felt I was there to surf - not get a hangover.

Probably the worst part of the night was when they made this guy Dylan do a beer bong, but it wasn't filled with beer. No, they were quite cruel. They had put together a concoction that included beer, cider, vodka, gin, cream, milk, and even yogurt. The dairy products curdled instantly, but I guess they wanted to teach him a lesson because they said he had cheated at beer pong. All I know is I couldn't watch.

The bus picked about half of us up at 9:30 a.m. the next morning for our surf lesson. We actually went all the way to Rossnowlagh Beach to meet our instructors from TurfnSurf. After changing into wetsuits, we walked down to the beach and they taught us some basics about getting up into a standing position on a board. Then it was out into the water!

I have to say it was one of the greatest experiences. There were probably only 3-5 times that I actually managed to stand up and ride a wave, but it was fantastic. At one point I had what I can only describe (cheesy as it sounds) as a magical personal moment of reflection. I had just gotten off a wave and was turning around to head back out and try again. Suddenly I stopped and took in the amazing scenery of the beach framed by the grass covered cliffs, and realized I was actually in Ireland learning to surf. Never in my life would I have thought that would happen or guessed just how spectacular it felt. Even despite all the times I was thrown from the board and took in mouthfuls of salt water, I didn't want my time out there to end.

Sadly, after only about two hours, it did have to end. After showering and eating, I set out to walk along the Bundoran coast some more. My roommates decided they would rather nap, so I was on my own (thank goodness for camera self-timers!). While exploring, I realized the ocean swells had gotten considerably larger and made for huge waves splashing along the shore and cliffs. I don't think it's possible for the photos I took to truly capture how wonderful it all looked but here are a few pictures:

There was also a great sunset that I tried to capture:


Saturday night there was another party in the lodges and then people went out to a club in Bundoran. I managed to sneak back to my room before everyone went into town and my roommates ended up not going either. Suddenly at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning I heard a bunch of guys barge into our lodge and go upstairs. They had been drinking all night and were going around to houses trying to basically "haze" the new club members. Thankfully they didn't seem to realize there was also my room on the main floor.

Sunday morning I got up and enjoyed my first proper Irish breakfast at a place called Mello Cafe. It included toast, rashers (which I had to ask the waitress what they were - turns out it's bacon), eggs, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, and a huge pot of tea. Yeah - I skipped the pudding.

Unfortunately the rest of the day did not go well. I had been told the bus would be there to pick us up for our surf lesson at 12:30 p.m. Instead it came at noon and left at 12:15...without me on it. So when I found out at 12:30 that the bus had already come and gone, I was not very happy. Ultimately, I was able to at least ride the bus to the beach at about 1:30 so I could at least walk around, take pictures, and ask other surf shops about their lesson packages. Then at 2:15 it was back on the bus to return to our lodges. So yeah, I didn't get to surf on Sunday at all. As you can guess, I was pretty upset. Especially since two of my roommates knew I was at the lodge and didn't bother to say anything when they left on the bus early.

Then there was a huge fiasco with the bus that was taking us back to Dublin. We were supposed to leave at 4:30 p.m. but didn't end up going until at least 5:15. Then a guy got sick, so we had to pull over a couple times. Instead of getting back to campus at 8 p.m., I got off the bus in Dublin City Centre around 9 and finally got home to my dorm at 10 p.m. Needless to say, Sunday seemed very unorganized and I wasn't very happy. But overall the weekend was a pretty good time and I've definitely caught the surfing bug. I've already looked into going surfing on my own in a couple weeks when I get back from traveling with my family. Sorry for such a long-winded post, but it was an adventure filled weekend. Hope you enjoy some of the photos!

A night of great craic

Craic [kræk] noun:

• enjoyable time spent with other people, especially when the conversation is entertaining and funny
• Irish word for fun/enjoyment, usually when mixed with alcohol and/or music
• fun, especially through enjoyable company, a pleasant conversation

Last Thursday evening was a night of good craic. Adi and I started out the evening with softball club practice. I managed to have some decent hits while at bat and even scored a run. This of course was balanced out by my sincerely horrible fielding as third base, with almost every one of my throws to first base being completely off-target.

For dinner, we hung out in the dorm dinning room with Colleen and a bunch of other students. Colleen, Adi and I had originally planned on just going to the local pub Conway's for a couple drinks. However, we soon changed our minds when we learned what the rest of the students were doing for the night: going to karaoke at The Wicked Wolf.

So off to The Wicked Wolf we went. Upon arrival we were greeted by several singers in a row taking on a various Michael Buble songs. Yeah, not quite what we had pictured as the Irish karaoke scene, but I guess he's pretty popular here. Still having a grand time and making light of the situation, I decided to lip sync to some guy's version of "I Wanna Go Home." Adi took video of this - but let me say, it will never be made available for viewing.

After a little while Holly and the rest of the Blackrock Residence crew showed up, which resulted in us all basically taking over the bar and karaoke scene. Adi kicked it off with "Sunshine of Your Love" and got the crowd going. Unfortunately, Holly, Colleen, and I soon followed that up with Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About," which apparently none of the other students knew. Either she's not popular over here or we're really just that old...probably the latter. Regardless, there are videos of these two performances that will also not be shared ha.

From there on out, the major karaoke staples came up one after another -Mama Mia, YMCA, etc. For YMCA Adi and I did our best at crowd participation. This photo would have worked if we'd just switched spots and Holly and Colleen had properly participated. Alas, we just looked like fools. But fools that were having a grand time.

Since the karaoke was ending and the bars would soon be closing, the four of us decided to head across to the street to Flannigan's (**The name of the pub has been changed so they can't get in any trouble for what happened that evening**). Upon arrival, the bartender/owner gave us some grief for not having been at his pub all night. We profusely apologized and convinced him to serve us all a drink, even though it was past last call. That was when Holly made a new friend - no idea what his name is, but apparently he was Nelson Mandela's cook. Yeah, isn't that a great pickup line?

As we sat around chatting and meeting some of the others in the pub, we didn't seem to notice the majority of the staff leave. Suddenly, the lone bartender was asking us to move into the back bar area and it became official: we were experiencing our first "lock-in." That's when the bar has to legally close, but doesn't actually kick everyone out. Instead, they have everyone go to the back area, "close" the front of the bar in case any Gardia (police) go by, lock all the doors, and continue to serve the customers. Some lock-ins have been known to go all the way until dawn the next morning. After realizing what was happening, we decided it was probably a good time to go home. And so ended a great evening.