My favorite hugger! :)

So, with a half of a day to recharge my batteries (both literally and figuratively), I woke up on Friday morning to meet Jim, once again, at the bus station in Dublin. (And for those of you who don't know, Jim and Rae Ann are two of my best friends from high school). We rode the train back to Maynooth and came back to my apartment where I caught up on facebook and emails and Jim took a 5 hour nap. After he woke up, we went to the Roost for dinner (where I got some FAB chicken fajitas and Jim had his first Guinness, fell in love with the Polish waitress, and was going crazy over his hamburger with pepper sauce). We then came back to my room for a bit and did a bit of trip planning before meeting my Irish friend Emma and returning to the Roost for some evening drinks. Another Irish friend Micheal (that's Irish for Michael and is pronounced "MEE-hall") met us a bit later, and we had a really fun time chilling and chatting for the rest of the night. I even got to meet the new president of NUIM, Henry and got a picture! He's apparently friends with Micheal, and he's pretty much a celeb around these parts, so I clearly had to get a pic. with him. But it was an early in for us because we had to leave early Saturday morning for....

Killarney! We took a train to Dublin and a bus to Killarney, admiring the beautiful scenery on the way. A little old lady with an old-school scarf on her head and very few teeth boarded the bus near Killarney and was thenceforth acting as my tour guide and telling me all the facts about hte Killarney Mountains and Killarney town. She bade us farewell as we got off the bus in Killarney with a warning to be careful and a "many happy returns." She kind of smelled like an elderly facility, but she was CUTE and pretty much made my day.

Anywho, when we got to Killarney we found our hostel but couldn't check in yet, so we re-adjusted our heavy traveller's backpacks and headed over to check out Killarney National Park. Killarney National Park is one of the very few places in Ireland that has been continuously covered by woodland since the end of the most recent glacial period, approximately 10,000 years ago. It was SUPER beautiful, and we wandered around looking at the mountains, streams, and fields of green until we stumbled upon a castle deep in the forest. There happened to be one more tour left for the evening, so we hopped on it! Ross Castle is the ancestral home of the O'Donoghue clan. It was built in the late 1400s by local ruling clan the O'Donoghues, though ownership changed hands during the Desmond Rebellion of the 1580s. The castle was amongst the last to surrender to Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads during the Irish Confederate Wars, and was only taken when artillery was brought by boat via the river lane. It was a really good castle to tour since it was not just in ruin but had been restored to look like it actually did in the 5th century. It was much easier to appreciate without having to imagine everything.

After the castle tour, we walked the LONG way back to town (by which time my back was pretty much killing me), we checked into our hostel and met an Australian guy who we thought worked there but later found out was just sitting in the lobby drinking beer all the time, and then went off down the street to find something to eat. We ended up choosing a really cute little restaurant called Caragh's where Jim got some classy Irish stew with lamb and his second Guinness of the trip and I had my first shepherd's pie. Both were delicious! We stopped at O'Maera's Pub for a drink and then stopped at Dunne's to get some food for the next few days. We made nutella sandwiches back at the ranch, and I journalled and showered while Jim nursed his bloody nose. Jim had bought a Kopparberg Pear Cider at Dunne's because he apparently has this weird pear fetish and wanted to try it, but we weren't allowed to drink past 9pm at the hostel. But, the English guy at the front desk told Jim he could just have one. So, we sat in the lobby for awhile while Jim sipped his cider and I read my book and we chatted with the English guy, the Australian guy, and another Irish guy that was working at the front desk. After that, we returned to our room with two random Polish guys and went to bed. Over all, it was a fab day, and we were exhausted.

Sunday morning we got up early and went on an AMAZING bus tour around the ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a tourist trail in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. The route covers the 170 km circular road, starting from Killarney, heading around the Iveragh Peninsula and passing through Kenmare, Sneem, Waterville, Cahersiveen and Killorglin. We stopped in a little village built to re-create Irish life 100 years ago. We drove through MILES of GORGEOUS Irish countryside. I can't even put into words how incredibly beautiful the mountains and the ocean were. Our tourguide/bus driver was incredibly cute as well although he had a funny hair-do. (I mean, seriously, WHY would any man have a comb-over? one of life's great mysteries). We stopped periodically on the bus tour to take pictures, and then stopped for lunch at a cute little restaurant on the sea. It was another really nice day-- Jim didn't get a very accurate representation of the Irish weather while he was here... which was a good thing!

After the bus tour, we came back and took a nap because we were BEAT. (Traveling takes a lot out of you!) We grabbed some pizza for dinner and got icecream for dessert. We were then discussing St. Patrick's Day in Limerick, but realized we didn't have the mobile number for the people we were going to meet (my friend Jaci from high school and her friends that she was visiting), and we didn't want to be stuck in Limerick (aka "stab city" by locals) on St. Paddy's Day with no one to go out with. So, in an attempt to save money, we cancelled our hotel reservations for the following night and decided to depart the next day for Maynooth instead, stopping in Limerick for the parade and a post card. On our last night in Killarney we went to see an Irish film with Colin Farrell called "In Bruges." My friends from SMC were actually in Bruges while we were seeing the movie! Crazy! (Bruges is in Belguim, FYI and is ADORABLE). The movie was actually really good and really funny, which I wasn't expecting. We stopped at Danny Mann's Pub for some traditional Irish music and a Bulmers for Jim which he ate (and drank) right up before retiring for the evening.

And on Monday morning on our way to the bus station we ran into my friend Molly Daluga from Saint Mary's who is studying in Rome this semester!!! Such a crazy-small world we live in! She was with a bunch of SMC girls, and we could only chat for a bit before we had to depart for the bus station. Once we got to Limerick, we explored a bit and followed the people with children to the parade site. There were SO many people it was hard for me to see, but Jim (who's much taller than me) enjoyed the parade! We grabbed some quick paninis at a convenience store and a postcard at the bus station and wrote a Limerick for our high school English teacher (who had taught us about Limericks) and sent it to her on the post card.

Back in Maynooth that evening we grabbed some pizzas at Dunne's for dinner and hung out in Beth's room for a bit before going to the Roost to celebrate Saint Paddy's Day. However, it was Monday, and none of the pubs had late liquor licenses, so they all closed at 11.30 (or so we thought... apparently one of the pubs was open later, but we thought it was closing, so we went home around 11.30). Apparently St. Patrick's Day is NOT a big deal in Ireland. I ran into my roommate from last year, Sarah, on the way to the Roost which was crazy again! She's also studying in Rome and I had no clue she was going to be in town! SOOO Jim and I headed back to my room where we had a fun time chatting all night (he was a bit tipsy to say the least, and had a LOT to say :)