SAINT PATRICK'S DAY (aka the last day)

*sorry for the late post, I went to bed late and got up early*
St. Patrick's day in Dublin will be a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. It's not just because of the holiday, it's because it was the perfect way to end a perfect trip. It was busy, noisy, crowded, colorful, and beautiful. Cassie and I got up early so we could do our face paint and hair. Cassie painted her entire face the Irish flag, she also put the Irish flag on her lips and eyelids on top of that! So many people came up to her to take pictures of her. I only painted my eyelids, lips, and some shamrocks on my cheeks. I also had a green jumper and an Irish flag around my shoulders. We all looked really patriotic. We got the dart into town, which wasn't that packed because we got an early dart. We went with some of Cassie's friends as well as Alyssa and the New York girls. We all had face paint, flags,and lots of green. Town was packed, everywhere I looked there was people. I heard so many different languages and saw so many ethnicities. Everyone really went all out on the clothing. I only saw a few drunk people, but it was early. We were there for the big parade, but even though we were early we didn't have very good seats. There were so many people we could barely see at first. Gradually, we wiggled our way to places where we could see. It's at times like these when being 6ft tall really comes in handy. The parade was really good, there were lots of American marching bands there. There were some pretty weird floats and costumes, but it was all visually stunning. The best band in my opinion was the band from Purdue. They were huge! They were really excellent. I even saw a few after the parade walking around town. After the parade Cassie and I went to buy my mom a shall from the sweater shop and take one last look around. Did I mention it was pouring rain? Good ol' Dublin. We were going to meet Cassie's parents and grandparents for lunch at a hotel a few streets down. Unfortunately, Cassie and I got quite lost. It didn't matter though, because it gave me one last chance to take in Dublin. Lunch was lovey, and the warm hotel was welcome after being soaked in the rain. When we got home I had to do some final packing before my last dinner. For my last dinner we had chicken fajitas and watched the Voice of Ireland. After dinner the whole family gathered into the living room to watch Skyfall. Skyfall is a great movie, and I loved watching it again. Before I went to bed I had to say goodbye to Cassie's family, because I wouldn't be seeing them in the morning. We planned to wake up early so I could have enough time to check in at the airport. To be honest, I didn't sleep very well. I was up most of the time just thinking back upon my month in Ireland. I walked through all the things I would miss, all the people I wouldn't get to see again, and watched as the hours ticked by. I don't want to leave, but I know I have to.

St. Patricks Day Prep in Dun Laoghaire

Today started off with sleeping in and bacon sandwiches. The Kirwans enjoy bacon and egg breakfast sandwiches, however I tend to prefer one over the other. We decided to join Alyssa, Genevieve, and Megan in Dun Laoghaire for some pre Paddy's day prep. We went to a few €2 shops to get some cheap accessories. Cassie and I both bought Irish flags, face paint, and green hairspray. I also bought a green jumper at Penny's and a green tiara. Cassie also got these massive shamrock sunglasses which she wore on our way back home. The stopped to get some nosh at McDonalds at which point Sorcha and Sadhbh joined us. We shopped for a little more before parting ways, eager for the parade tomorrow. For dinner we had swordfish and rice, with apple crumble for dessert. Cassie's grandma joined us, it was really nice. After I'm done writing this blog I we are going to watch Skyfall. A nice ending to my second to last day here in Ireland. I'm so excited for tomorrow. We are getting an early dart in so we will have a good spot for the parade. It is Cassie's first time going to parade, so everything will be new for the both of us! It's going to be my last day and then I'm back home!!!! How did that happen? I should be packing right now...

The Last Day of School

*apologies, entries from Fridays are always late!*
My last day of school here in Ireland started out like any other day. I reluctantly woke up to the sound of my iPad alarm. I had rice crispies for breakfast and took a euro for soup at lunch. We rushed to get to the dart on time where I read the Metro Herald. I did all things I would normally do, except I was doing them for the last time. Throughout the day I was feel quite sad because I knew that after today I wouldn't be coming back. Rebecca, Molly, Golddy, Alyssa and I had a weird feeling all day. It was a sunny day, completely sunny, it wasn't even interrupted by spontaneous rain. There was an assembly to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it was almost completely in Irish, we were so lost. There were two Irish dance performances, one was by the lovely Norah from Holy Child Rye. The entire assembly was celebrating Irish culture, we even got little Irish flags! We also got to perform Locked out of Heaven in Irish. I stood in the back, but something tells me they could still see me. There were some Danish students visiting that were watching the assembly, which sent the girls into quite the frenzy. At lunchtime Rebecca and I went to the pottery room to get our finished pieces. The pottery teacher was nice enough to leave us instructions so we could take our pieces to take home with us. I'm really happy with how mine turned out. I was worried about Maths class for nothing, everything was fine after Rebecca helped me with my homework. After school I said my goodbyes to all the girls that I wouldn't be seeing again before I left, it was so sad. They are all so nice and I am so glad I had the chance to meet them. Since it was such a beautiful day Cassie and I walked along the beach,which leads directly to her house. We even saw a rainbow! I tried to take a picture of it with my iPad but it didn't turn out that well. I looked really odd though because I was trying to carry a box of pottery and each a chocolate bar at the same time. We went to Polly's house for dinner because we were going to Sorcha's house after for the weekly get together. Polly's mom made pasta with meatballs and sauce, it was amazing. We had homemade apple tart a la mode for dessert, there are no words that can describe how delicious it was. Sorcha's house was pretty fun, I suppose I am going to miss those weekly gatherings (but not much!). Tomorrow we are going into Dun Laoghaire to do some saint Patrick's day shopping with Alyssa, Genevieve, and Megan!

Thursday Thursday Thursday

It almost seems like I am running out of things to blog about. The school days have become a routine that I'm so used to, only small things start to stick out. We had classical studies, i'm really sad that my last classical studies class is tomorrow. I have had so much fun in that class. In maths today I was actually called on to complete a question.Unfortunately, in Maths I am completely, utterly, and helplessly lost. I am not looking foward to the double Maths I have tomorrow at the end of my last day. Today the whole school was preparing for an open house, which meant in some classes I had to help teachers get ready. Cassie stayed behind to help, so I went home with some of my other friends. The pictures from today were taken at the top of the bridge that you have to take to get to the other dart platform. It was beautiful for most of today, then on my way to the dart station it started to rain! The rain stopped only a few minutes after but it was so weird. I was crossing my fingers that it wouldn't be raining in Greystones because I had to walk home today. Luckily, I stayed dry for most of my commute. I had a lovely chat on the dart with Carmen, she is an international student from Spain. She has a wonderful accent that is a combination of Irish and Spanish. Today was also Pi day, which I celebrated by eating some apple pie flavored yogurt ( it was actually really delicious). I It is really hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day of school here. This week has really flown by. This entire month has flown by, it feels like I only arrived here a week ago! I am really going to miss everyone here, I hope I don't cry tomorrow!

Bollywood Dancing and More Irish Weather

One of the things that I've loved most here are the social and cultural activities on Wednesday mornings. They have been the highlights of my weeks, from Glasnevin to the Criminal Courts. To especially like the level of freedom and independence that the students are given in these activities. We have to find our own ways there, and once they are done we are just given a time to be back at school by. Today we did Bollywood dancing in Bray. It started late, which meant I got to sleep in this morning! We were in a huge studio, and our instructor was really nice. She was also a fantastic dancer. We learned a mash up of two short hip hop routines and one Bollywood routine. The hip hop ones were set to Scream and Shout, and We Found Love. I may not be e best dancer, but I had a blast. After a while I stopped over analyzing and feeling self conscious and just had fun. Alyssa and Rebecca were much better than I was in my opinion. These gangly limbs can't exactly pop and lock. It was a beautiful day, so when we got off the train we took a slight detour and spent some time at the beach before we were expected back at school. It wasn't a long walk, the beach is literally beside the train tracks. It was sunny and lovely and Alyssa was kind enough to send the pictures she took so I could post them here. After we got back to school we hung out for a few minutes with our classmates before going to our next class. The girls from New York are really cool and I wish had more time to get to know them. We had first aid, in which Alyssa and I demonstrated our double jointed capabilities, in addition to our normal study periods. Alyssa and I had planned to return to the beach after school, but a sudden bout of rain thwarted out plans. The weather here is so unpredictable! It was sunny, then rainy, sunny and rainy at the same time, then back to cloudy in the scope of an hour! We hope we can go tomorrow. After school I FaceTimed with Gaby, Halford, and Mazelin in Dr. Rauterkus' class because they were watching the live feed about the new pope (they totally didn't tell me to give them a shout out or anything). Tomorrow Cassie is helping with an Open House at the school. She asked if I wanted to help, but I probably won't be any good because they need people to give tours and I don't even know my way to my classes. We have been trying to decide what to do with my last days here to make them count. It so hard to believe that I'm going to be leaving!

The Final Pottery

We only have 5 days left here! (Not including Monday when we travel) Tuesdays have always been really easy days for me, they consist of study, pottery, and usually homework club. Today was my last pottery class, we had to paint and glaze our pieces, which was really fun. Thankfully they should be done in time for us to take them home with us. Golddy made a stunning blue mug by combining the processes of a week into one class. Alyssa and Rebecca will be modeling it below. We didn't have homework club today because they had too many volunteers. Which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to it. *heavy sarcasm implied* instead we were sent to our second home, the library. Alyssa finally updated her blog ( irelandwithalyssa.blogspot.com) and yours truly makes an appearance. Tomorrow for our social and cultural activity we will be learning a Bollywood dance. I am really looking forward to that, it should be really fun! I'm trying to take more pictures to make these more interesting, but it's hard when the only way you can is by holding up a giant iPad.

More Snow

Today did not get off to a good start, I didn't wake up to my alarm and was rushed in the morning, resulting in me eating toast on the dart. It was freezing today, cold, windy, and it snowed every five minutes. Charming. School went well, the girls from the holy child school in Rye NY came today. We took a picture because it was the first time that students from three holy child schools had all been at Killanny (Rye, Anaheim, and Pasadena), that was pretty cool to be apart of. We had classical studies again today, which is really awesome! I wish I could stay longer so I could read the whole thing with the class. The only bad part of my day was getting home. The walk to the dart station from school is right next the ocean, I almost got blown away! The dart ride itself is warm and full of good conversation, but Cassie had choir today so I had to walk home. Normally, this isn't a big deal, it's a short walk, but with today's weather it felt like a trek through the ice planet Hoth. Reaching home and snuggling up in my covers was better than a tauntaun carcass. We have began to make plans for the weekend (St. Patrick's Day!) it should be a very memorable day. Cassie is filling out the subject that she will take next year, which is a really big deal, the school system is really different here. The subjects you choose are really important to how you do on your leaving certificate, which dictates the college you get into, which dictates your LIFE. So it's a bit of a stressful time in the house. I've been talking to the girls back home, I can't wait to see them again. Tomorrow I have my last pottery class (boo) and my last homework club (yay). Now if it would only warm up!!!