Irish Céilí

Today was my last day of work for my internship. I knew I was going to be sad to leave, but when my coworkers surprised me with a pizza party at lunch, it all began to hit me. They were incredibly kind and gave me a very thoughtful gift: a necklace and a bag full of Cadbury creme eggs. It was quite obvious they had picked up on my love for chocolate over the past seven weeks, but it meant a lot that they remembered the details. As I was leaving, the physio who I had spent the most time with tried her American accent once more, and I could only laugh as it sounded so unnatural. I feel incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to meet such wonderful people, and I know that I will be back in the future. I was told to come back and work once I am qualified, and with how positive the experience was, I certainly cannot discount it at this point. Who knows what the future holds?

After work, I came back to DCU for a quick dinner and Molly, Tara, Melissa, Meghan and I headed out to the city center to meet our dance teacher, Mary Beth for the Irish Céilí. She explained to us that in Dublin, the tradition attracts an older crowd, whereas in other parts of the country a greater variety of ages would be present. This fact did not bother us at all, for we were too determined to show off our moves. We arrived shortly after 9:30 and had a drink while we waited for the accordion player to arrive and learned some quick tips in the meantime. The first set was one we had not learned, but Mary Beth offered to dance the male part and led me through the set. The music made me feel light on my toes, regardless of how I actually looked to the rest of the crowd. I was definitely moving in the opposite direction at times, but with the help of a positive teacher, we made it through all sets and I ended with a smile and a new appreciation of the art. The girls were nice enough to snap some photos!





This move is called "Christmas" and was by far my favorite of the night. With interlaced arms, the object is to spin around as fast as possible, while still looking graceful, and boy does everyone move quickly. The graceful aspect needs some work on my part, but I enjoyed the move nonetheless.

Meghan was quite the photographer and managed to catch some of my moves!



Melissa relieved my position and took a go at the end of this same set. She was a pro and caught on very quickly.

The next set was the Connemara set, the one we had practiced in class. It was time to show off what we had learned in dance lessons. We had two different sets dancing, sixteen people in total. I was the lucky one and danced the male part and Meghan was my beautiful partner. With only a few glitches, we made it to the end and had impressed a couple of the locals in the process. It's quite the form of exercise, and we were all soon tired. It was the perfect event with the end so close, and we all had a blast experiencing a unique form of Irish culture!

All Kinds of Music

I had to start the goodbye process at work today, as some of my coworkers will not be in tomorrow. It was a very odd reality shock when I realized that it could be quite some time before I am able to come back. I am looking forward to enjoying my last day tomorrow.

After work, I met Molly, Meghan, Tara, Mary and Melissa for dinner. We decided to go to Green 19, a little modern restaurant Melissa had suggested and it was perfect. I had a gourmet club sandwich and we relaxed as we heard about each others days. We were stuffed to the brim before we knew it, and it was soon time to head back to campus.

Tonight was our last Irish dancing lesson of the semester. Tomorrow, our teacher is going to take us all out to a Céilí, a Irish dancing session, in the city center. I'm really looking forward to hearing the music and trying out our new moves. More on that will come! After dancing, we quick hopped back on the bus for a silly night of Karaoke. We all had a blast singing songs from the 90s, and realized at the same time that none of us will be entering the music business anytime soon! Regardless, it was a great time!

Just a Little Slagging

Before we started our internships, we had a brief meeting to discuss our upcoming placements. In general, we were warned that the Irish tend to "slag" or pick on one another in social situations. I thought this was great, mainly because I know I can take a joke and think it makes the workplace much more fun. Today made me smile as I realized how comfortable I have become in such a short time. As we were all walking back from lunch, one of the therapists commented on the way the other had developed an American accent as a result of spending so much time with me. Hearing her say "awesome" or "o man!" in a poor attempt to imitate me just made me laugh and they all got quite the kick out of listening to me in my best Irish accent. After hearing it for over three and a half months, you would have thought I would have perfected the tone, but I still have work to do. Guess I will have to make a trip back in the future.

After work, we went for our weekly tennis outing in Herbert Park. As we pulled up to the courts, the sky greeted us with dark clouds and we debated whether or not we should go through with the game. We're in Ireland so I'm sure you can guess the decision. They certainly do not let a little bit of rain stop them from the fun, and we ended up having a very entertaining hour of tennis!

Queen of Tarts

This morning as I scrambled to leave my room at 7:45, it hit me how routine my commute has become. I can honestly say that I really enjoy the hour or so that I have to myself before the hustle and bustle of the day kicks in. I looked a little silly taking pictures so early, but I know I will enjoy this later. Here is what the morning consists of....

I catch the bus on Ballymun Rd, right outside of DCU.

The Tara St. DART station in city center. It's glamorous...
The infamous DART.
My destination...
The beautiful walk through Sandymount to Enable Ireland...
...and I have arrived!
The day was another quick one. I glanced at the clock around 2:45 realizing I only had about an hour left. This never fails to catch me off guard, but I know that's a good sign. After work, Meghan and I planned to celebrate the first day down and meet for tea. We chose the Queen of Tarts, a very charming cafe near her internship which Meghan especially has grown to love. It was delicious and a very fun thing to look forward to throughout the day.

We got tea for two...

...and shared an apple crumble and a chocolate chip scone!
I really have grown to love tea and will be carrying this love home with me very soon. Overall, it was a very successful outing and always nice to have time to chat.

The Book of Kells

Today was a much needed day to relax. Mary and I went to mass this morning on campus, and I have really grown to love both the service itself and the priest. A woman plays the harp and another sings, and its really a beautiful combination. We left in good spirits ready for the day.

After a laid back lunch, Tara, Mary and I headed into the city center. We went to Bewleys, a well known cafe on Grafton Street that neither of us had tried. We arrived with the intention of tea, but after experiencing the brief sun, decided on lemonade instead. I had a delicious chocolate cupcake and we sat, reminiscing mostly about how quickly the time has passed.




After our "tea break" we went our separate ways and I went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. A must see in Dublin, I could not leave without saying I had done so as well. The book was written over a thousand years ago and is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels in Latin. Very beautifully decorated, one page per day is displayed for visitors to admire. Photographs were not allowed, but here is an example.



Part of the tour includes the Old Library of Trinity, the Long room. Holding the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland, the room looked much like a scene out of the Beauty and the Beast and was neat to look through the different displays.

I let my guard down with the beautiful weather we have been experiencing and forgot my umbrella for the one day it decides to rain. After waiting at the bus stop, I was quickly soaked and glad to see the bus. I overheard one of the greatest conversations on the way home. A little boy, not much older than three, looked out the window while at a red light and saw a pub on the corner. With the most innocent eyes, he looks to his dad and exclaims, "Dad, I want a pint when I'm a big man!" Both his parents looked at each other, completely surprised and laughed hysterically. I of course did the same. He repeated this new found goal of his to which his dad answered, "do you want a pint of Guinness?" Of course he did and he was excited to tell everyone that would listen. I was only a couple seats back and could not hold in my laughter as I thought, only in Ireland would I overhear something so adorable.

Lazy Day in Dublin

With a completely free day ahead of us, we headed down to the city center to endulge in some food at the Temple Bar Farmers Market. This market has become quite the rage within our group, and we saw ran into some of our friends at the market. I had a feta cheese and spinach quiche and it was delicious. We sat around, chatted for a bit while eating, listened to the music and then continued on to enjoy the city while we still had the time.

Walking down Grafton Street on the way to Marion Square, we quickly became very distracted. Out of the shadows appeared a Chocolate Emporium which we found was holding a contest: guess how many Cadbury chocolate bars were used to create a chocolate statue in the shape of Ireland. Check this out!

We each tried strawberries and chocolate fondue and were pleasantly surprised with this treat. After walking down Grafton street, another prospective adventure caught our eye: horses! Now being from Lancaster, the thought of horse drawn carriages should not have excited me this much, but after a quick talk with the Irish man who organized the rides, we were sold. The ride was half an hour long and we were able to see some of the major government buildings in Dublin as well as some of the Georgian architecture outside of the city. Our horse's name was Dancer and was a very impressive tourguide.

Here is a line of them all waiting for the tours.

And this is Dancer...what a beauty.

The house of the Mayor of Dublin.

My favorite aspect of the Georgian architecture: the colored doors.



The Grand Canal runs all the way to Limerick!

After saying goodbye to both Dancer and our tourguide, we strolled down Grafton St and took our time browsing here and there. It was very refreshing to be living without a schedule, and we definitely took advantage of that fact. In Kilkenny, a unique store filled with creative, Irish made goods, we couldn't help but have a bit of fun.

Before we knew it, dinner time was approaching and with the temperature dropping we were all a bit cold and hungry. After a quick bus ride we were back at DCU. We couldn't help but reminisce how familiar the bus system had become. On day one, we anxiously stared out the window awaiting the sign for DCU to signal our stop. How neat it is to realize the transformation. Much of this will continue to set in this week as things begin to wrap up, but we are all doing our best for now to enjoy every bit of every day and I would have to say today was another success.

Last Final

2:00 today marked partial freedom! We have all finished our last final for our elective class and were thrilled with the sense of freedom. It's very weird knowing the trip is coming to an end, but we put these thoughts aside and enjoyed the beautiful weather in the park. After our final, we started a pretty impressive game of Ultimate Frisbee and were running for quite some time. Now my frisbee skills were not winning any awards, but it felt incredible to run and we had a blast. After our "halftime" call, most of us were pretty exhausted, and I did not last too long before I headed back for a rest.

Plans for this weekend include doing everything that we feel needs to be done. I say this in a joking sense, but everyone seems to have one thing or another that they would like to do, so here's to finishing off the checklist and making the most of the time that is left!