Castles, Rainbows, and Best Friends!

The week before Rae Ann got here was spent cleaning and preparing for her arrival. I got my English essay done a whole week early so I wouldn't have to worry about it when she got here. It was about Pride and Prejudice, and I actually really enjoyed writing it and felt that it was well-written when I finished it (which is a new thing for me here). I was pretty proud of myself!

So I had arranged to meet Rae Ann at the bus station in Dublin (because it saved me 12 Euro by not meeting her at the airport). I got there about an hour and a half after her flight was due to land (because I knew it would take her awhile to get through the airport and to the bus station), but after waiting for two hours, I started to get a bit worried. I didn't have her flight number, and she didn't have my mobile number, so that worried me even more. But I called the airport and was able to figure out what flight she was on. I found out that her flight was delayed (Rae Ann ALWAYS has trouble when she travels, so I wasn't surprised), but I was still worried that I hadn't given her accurate instructions on how to get to me. But she finally showed up, and after wiping the water from the corner of our eyes, we rolled her suitcase to the train station and hopped on at Platform 6 for Maynooth. It was SO weird to have Rae Ann in Ireland with me!!! We had quesadillas at my apartment and then went to Elizabeth's room so Rae could meet my friends (where I tripped over Cillian's stereo cords and almost died in slow motion and where Rae and I both met Katy's friend Lucy who was visiting that week from Georgia and who is FABulous, by the way). We mixed and mingled for a bit, and Emma bought us candy, but Rae was tired from traveling for a day and a half and not getting ANY sleep and we had a trip the next day, so we headed back to my room where Rae Ann expressed her intense amusement upon seeing the size of the outlets here and the wrappers on the nutri-grain bars before we showered and caught some Zzzzz's.

Saturday we got up REAL early to hop on Eugene's bus once again to travel to County Tipperary (which is clearly the best county because it has the greatest name). Our first stop was Cahir Castle (Rae Ann's first castle!!!) Cahir Castle, one of the largest castles in Ireland, was built in County Tipperary in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, on an island in the river Suir. In 1961 the last Lord Cahir died and the castle reverted to the state. We learned about machicolations and Oliver Cromwell and saw a stellar audio-visual show before heading over to the River House Cafe across the street for a delicious carvery lunch (carvery is my favorite food in Ireland... I'm not sure if I've ever explained before what it is... carvery is available at almost any pub in Ireland and many restaurants or cafes during lunch time. You tell the lunch lady what kind of meat you want-- usually roast lamb, beef, chicken or turkey-- and they carve it right off the bone for you, or you can chose from other main courses like baked cajun chicken or fish or other choices depending on the pub. Then they serve you a plate with mash and veg (mashed potatoes and vegetables including anything from turnips to carrots to roasted potatoes to my favorite: cabbage) and delicious gravy. It's always good home cooking, and it's ALWAYS delicious. I go get carvery at the Roost whenever I'm feeling homesick because it tastes like something my dad would make!)

Our other stop in Co. Tipperary was The Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock , is a historic site in Ireland's province of Munster, located at Cashel. The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion, though few remnants if any of the early structures survive. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century A.D. The grounds around the buildings are home to an extensive graveyard, which includes a number of high crosses. The cathedral was beautiful and definitely one of my favorite architectural bits I've seen in Ireland.

On the way back we stopped at St. Brigid's Well. (Saint Brigid was a Celtic Goddess). The well is reputedly a 'healing well', one of many in Ireland. The well is still a popular place of pilgrimage where healing liturgies are often held. St Brigid's well is situated where the location of her double monastery once stood in Kildare Town.

We saw a rainbow on the way home, and Eugene stopped the bus for us to take pictures! We also had to make a potty stop in the middle of nowhere for Elizabeth and me where we walked past a large group of rugby players who laughed at us when we took a picture by a funny sign and also were astounded to find paper towels in the bathroom.

We had stir-fry with all my chicas in my room that night and headed to bed early once again for an early Sunday.

Sunday we awoke at the crack of dawn and met up with Emma to try and take a train to Dublin to catch a bus for Glendalough. However, I had the wrong train time, which meant that we knew we'd miss the bus. But we knew that the Elizabeths, Katy, Lucy, Laura and Matt were going to be in Dublin that day, so we killed an hour or two shopping in Temple Bar and H&M and then met up with the crew at Dublin Castle. (Matt was wearing sandals, and when Rae asked him why, he casually replied: "oh, I was out of socks." It was FUNNY.) So we sat in the courtyard and waited for the castle to open and then toured the castle. Our tourguide sucked, and as this was my 4th time on the tour, I gave Rae all the juicy details of each room as the group moved onto the next room. After the castle tour we shopped a bit more and Rae purchased a high-waisted pencil skirt from H&M which she looked hott in, I must say :) We scampered back to Maynooth that evening to a delish dinner of pasta, chicken nuggets, and brussel sprouts (my fave!)

To be continued...