Germany, here we come!

So, last weekend we went on another SMC daytrip. Our first stop was Loughcrew (which we were expecting to be a lake, but wasn't. There probably was a lake there somewhere, but we didn't see one). We had to climb up a mountain (well, it was really a hill, but it seemed like a little mountain to us). When we got to the top, we could see lots of Irish countryside and lots of sheep. It was really beautiful (the countryside, not necessarily the sheep). At the top of the hill was a giant megalithic tomb that we got to climb on and even go inside! There were ancient carvings on the rock inside, and we did some Crayola rubbings. They're pretty cool.

After Loughcrew we had a delightful soup and sandwich lunch at the little cabin at the foot of the hill. Then we were off to Trim Castle. Trim Castle was by far my favorite castle so far. There's still a lot of it left, so it's easier to get a good idea of what it was actually like in its prime. (Parts of the movie Braveheart was filmed in/outside the castle... which really means nothing to me because I've never seen that movie, but it might appeal to some of you). When we went inside the castle, there was a choir singing; they were having a concert or something, and we just caught the end of it. There was enough of the castle left for us to climb up the levels to the very top and look out over the land. The whole experience was really cool.

That night we went into Dublin to watch the Notre Dame game with the Notre Dame kids that go to Trinity and UCD in Dublin. Before the game, we went to a cute little coffee shop that Kelli had read about in her travel book. Kelli and I went upstairs and sat down and had a smoothie and a tea. We sat right by an open window, and we could look out and hear the harpist and flute player right below us and see all the people walking by. It was pretty cool! And on the way to the ND building, we saw this hilarious man playing accordian. He was just dancing around the street and having the time of his life. It was inspiring...

The ND building in Dublin is really cool-- it used to belong to Daniel O'Connell (who we've been hearing a lot about in history class... he was a famous Irish nationalist). ND bought it several years ago and refurbished it. Now the Notre Dame kids have classes in there, and the Notre Dame professors and program coordinators have offices in the building. Seeing the buliding, however, was probably the best part of that night. We walked in and this nice guy said hi to us, but everyone else COMPLETELY ignored us. I mean, I guess we're used to a little discrimination, being from Saint Mary's, but seriously? We're in a foreign country! We're all Fighting Irish fans, and we should all be united. For real.

We later found out that the nice guy that said hi to us was the program coordinator or something like that. Yeah, figures.

But we left at halftime and went to the train station and sang show tunes and ate candy from the vending machines. We had forgotten how socially awkward lots of Notre Dame kids can be, and we are now appreciating the Irish here a little more...

Sunday we had dinner with Karen Chambers, our coordinator from Saint Mary's. She was in town for the week to visit us. I had the most AMAZING steak at a restaurant in Maynooth-- seriously MADE my weekend. And she brought us chocolate chips and American candy! Yay!

The rest of the week was mostly filled with boy troubles, which I'm sure none of you want to know about in detail. In summation, I was very very close to being Niall's girlfriend until he realized that I'd be leaving in 8 months, and he just decided he didn't want to get close to me. It was all much more drawn out and romantic than that, but now that's all over, and I'm actually very okay with it. I'll always have memories of my little Irish romance. And today I bought a really cute hat and it cheered me up an awful lot. It's now known as my therapy hat.

Plus there's way too many things to be happy about in my life right now for me to be sad about Niall. I'm pretty sure Morgan and Jim (two of my best friends from high school, for those of you who may not know them) are almost definitely coming to visit me in the spring which I'm STOKED about. My family's coming for Christmas, my boss at the YMCA resigned (a good thing), AND we are now allowed to take backpacks and purses into the Noble Family Dining Hall (the dining hall at Saint Mary's... so now I have something to look forward to upon returning). AND today Elizabeth and I talked to Johannes on Skype and made some plans for our Germany trip next week! We leave on Monday, and we're going to visit him for a few days before going down to Bavaria to visit Fussen (which has a castle that was the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Walt Disney World), Munich, and Nuremberg. We're getting really excited now, even though we don't have a lot of plans made. But we know we're staying with Johannes the first few nights, and he said we should just wait until we get there to plan out the rest of the trip. We're scared beyond belief, but SOOOO excited! Our friend Tom might come with us now, so that would make traveling a little less scary, I think. But either way, it will be quite an adventure!

Overall, it's been quite the week. I'm definitely looking forward to a break from classes and from going out here in Maynooth... but I'm going to miss everyone here too! And I still miss everyone at home! So much missing going on, and so much excitement, I don't even know what to think about next. I think I'll just lay down, put on some Josh Groban, splurge a little bit and turn on my heater, and sleep until noon (well, not noon, because I have class at noon... plus they don't say "noon" here... so I'll sleep till "half eleven," as the Irish would say).

Germany, here we come!