Goodbye Ireland.....my last thoughts

My Last Thoughts,...

It is my last day in Ireland, really, my last few hours. To be honest, I have never been so sad in my entire life. The experience was beyond anything I could wish and hope for. Six weeks was not enough time. I want to stay, I want to travel Europe, I just want more time. Although I was apprehensive about teaching (especially after my first day. ah.), I found myself crying my eyes out as I left the school. I had boys giving me hugs at the end of the day. Some of the boys made me cards and gave me gifts. As my teacher was saying goodbye, she gave each of the boys two Rollo chocolates to celebrate. Chocolate is like gold to these kids, they went crazy. One little boy came up and gave me one of this Rollo's. How do you stop tears from coming when they give up something so important? I know it was just a piece of chocolate, but it was a huge gesture for these kids.

As for my host family, I haven't said goodbye to them yet, but I am crying about just thinking about leaving. I feel like I have become a part of their family. I believe that having a wonderful host family makes a huge different when staying abroad. The mother treated us as if we were her daughters.

As for Ireland, I will miss everything. To say it has grown on me is the understatement of the century.

My advice to anyone who is reading this blog: Travel abroad! I do not think just visiting is enough, however. Live in another country, get to know the people and culture.

Would I come back to Ireland? In a heartbeat.

How has this trip changed me? I have a burning desire to see the world now. I was always curious before, but now that I know what is out there I want see everything. I am not afraid to step out of my little bubble. In the future, I want to live in another country for a year. Is this possible? I don't know. I guess I will try to get a one year teaching position in another place. All I know is that it is at the top of my bucket list.

I am blessed to have had this experience. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get here. Thank you to everyone who has read my confessions over the past few weeks as well. I wish you could be here.

I guess that is all that is left to say is GOODBYE IRELAND.....

London Baby!!!!

HELLOOO LONDONNNN

Spending a short two days in London was a good weekend trip. As you can see from all my pictures, we tried to see as many sites as possible. My favorite event was watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace. There were thousands of people surrounding the area as the guards paraded through the palace gates. Everywhere I moved, I got an elbow in my back because it was so crowed. It was like this all over London, however. It reminded me of New York City actually. Traveling the tubes was also an experience. At times it was so crowded I could barely breath. The weekend was fast paced and tiring. I slept like a baby at the hostel on Saturday night.

Altogether I had a good time in London. I am happy I went, but I have to say that it didn't live up to my expectations. I guess I was expecting something more European, but it was actually very similar to the US.

Nights in Dublin

Apologies everyone. I have been slacking on my blog for the past week.
Everything has just been so crazy lately. I can't believe there is only one week until I go home! Where has the time gone?

For the past few weeks I have just been soaking up the sites in Dublin. It is wonderful to see all the Christmas lights showering the streets. Everywhere you look, you can see people caroling and performing. One of the pictures I posted is of a man posing as a statue. Initially, I thought he was a statue, until he started to move. It was funny to watch the pigeons fighting on his arm while he just stood there.
Let me just talk about food for a moment. Tuesday, December 8th was a Holy Day so my school had off. I spent the day meandering in the city again and came across the most amazing crepes. I spent about 7 dollars on a banana and nutella crepe. OOOO and Starbucks robs people. I bought the largest hot chocolate and paid about 7.50 dollars.....robbery. Yet so amazing. I would do it again. I bought it because I was in a Christmas mood. I should probably quell that Christmas mood because it is making me spend way too much money. It is so hard to resist when there are street vendors everywhere!
Aside from my spending excursions, I have been teaching everyday at St. Mary's. I posted a picture of a few of my second grade boys during a singing performance.
The last picture I put up is of my host family's living room. I just want to lounge in this room and sit by the fire all night.

The final days of my Thanksgiving trip

For the final days of my Thanksgiving trip, we visited Burren Area, the city of Galway, and an early monastic site. The Burren area is right on the coast of the Atlantic. Everything surrounding this area is made out of broken up rock. Throughout the years, water froze in between the cracks of the rock and separated them. The result=a scenic area where it is very easy to break your ankle if you are not watching your step.

Afterwards, we spent our time walking around Galway. The city was bursting with activity!

On our long ride home, we stopped at one of the most famous monastic sites in Ireland at Clonmacnoise. One last thing I want to comment on is the flooding around Ireland. I included a picture of the River Shannon. It is sooo flooded that it looks like a lake, not a river. Even the sidewalks are disappearing! Apparently, this is the worst flooding Ireland has seen in a long time. We actually had to take an hour detour because some of the roads were closed off.

Check out my pictures.

A few more pictures from the Cliffs

Here are a few more picture from the Cliffs. You can see the no trespassing sign I passed by on my way to the other side. Check out the warning sign they posted along the path! In order for me to obtain these amazing pictures, I had to trek through piles of mud. Look at how dirty I was at the end of the day. You can only imagine what the back of my pants looked like after I sat down on the edge.

I played with fate this day, so I will treasure these pictures forever!

Cliffs of Mohr

The Cliffs
Check out the videos (click on the pictures to view videos).
Basically, this is why I came to Ireland.
Don't judge me when your watching the videos. I sound and look like a complete idiot. I am out of breath because I basically ran up the mountain to catch this shot. My first camera died, so I went all the way back to the bus to get another camera. In short, that is why I sound so silly.
The day was absolutely perfect. I only wish I had a better camera to capture the shots. It may be hard to see some of the cliffs because the sun was so bright. Apparently, our tour guide told us that out of the 12 years he has been taking people to the cliffs, this was the most calm, perfect day he has ever seen! We were so lucky. Also, the wind was really calm this day. Normally, the wind is so bad it is blowing people over. Unfortunately, this is also the cause of many deaths each year. Tourist will hop the no trespassing sign (oops,..much like I did) and lean over the cliff while it is windy. I think you know what happens from here,....

Friday: The 9th Most Beautiful Place in the World (according to National Geographic)

Friday:
The Dingle Peninsula
According to National Geographic, the Dingle Peninsula is the 9th most beautiful place in the world. I would have to say that I agree on the beauty! Just look at my pictures...
P.S. Take a look at the sheep. They are everywhere in Ireland. I know we have sheep at home, but it is just different here. Everywhere you look sheep are grazing in fields. There have been several times when we have had to stop the bus because of sheep walking in the road (our driver called this "rush hour"..hahah)