Epilogue

 As mentioned in my last post I went ice skating with my remaining roommates Wil and Krisztian on Saturday night. We were joined by Anton, Derek, Sami, Chandler, and three other girls. It was a great way to pass the time as we awaited the morning, even if I was terrible at it and have the scars to prove it. The few hours that we had left were spent watching movies, making food, and socializing. I took a quick nap and before I knew it five a.m. rolled around and it was time to leave. An Irish friend of Wil's drove the two of us and an additional guy to the airport. I ended up crying again as I looked back at the UL flagpoles for the last time.

Shannon airport was the first stop on my trip, which is a very small airport that is comparable in size to Gerald R. Ford airport in Grand Rapids. I was able to get an earlier flight than expected and in a few short hours was on my way to Heathrow in London. The experience at Heathrow was not as enjoyable. It is a huge airport and I ended up getting lost a few times heading to the wrong terminal right off the bat. However, with a five hour wait before my next flight it was not a really big deal. The lines were very long due to the holiday traffic, but eventually I made it onto my transatlantic flight. The plane was not as nice this time, but we still got plenty of great food and movies on the flight. After several hours we landed in Chicago where I met up with my college friend Jenny. She treated me to dinner at TGI Fridays and after a few hours she dropped me back off at the airport. My flight to Grand Rapids was not scheduled until the following morning, so I ended up sleeping in the airport in a big chair. After an awkward night of sleep I was finally able to get on my flight home on Monday. I was very anxious during the thirty minute flight, and once we landed I ended up crying from the joy of being home. I raced out of the terminal to meet my waiting loved ones.

To my surprise when I exited the gate my family was not waiting there for me. After a bit of confusion I decided to walk to the other terminal to see if they had just gotten the wrong gate number. I found the entire crew sitting at a table that did not have a clear view of the terminal entrance. It turned out that the airport never announced the plane's arrival, so my family was not prepared for me. Those who showed up were (from the left) Xiomara (my brother's girlfriend), Nicole (my older sister), Nate (my younger brother), Stuart (my boyfriend), and my mother (the photographer). My mother is a believer in capturing the moment, so fresh off the plane she had me pose for a picture. Once we collected my baggage and after plenty of hugs and kisses we headed to my house.

My sister had not slept for long the night before, so she took a nap while the rest of us headed to Applebee's for lunch. After lunch began a race around town to see some of my greatest friends. I began with my friend Krystal who had a baby boy on December 11 while I was away that I was anxious to meet. After some much needed time with Krystal and her family I headed to my friend Betsy's apartment. I spent the rest of my day with my family building gingerbread houses, unpacking, and wrapping souvenirs that were my Christmas gifts to others.

 
The next day I went to breakfast with my family at my old workplace Russ'. It is a Dutch restaurant that has terrific food. We had one of my old coworkers and friends for our waitress. After breakfast the kids went shopping for my mother's stocking stuffers. Later that night I got in touch with my friends Caylie and Jenn and the three of us plus my brother and his girlfriend went to 5/3 Ballpark to see the Christmas lights. Jenn had also just had a baby girl a few days before Thanksgiving, so I was able to meet her that day. Caylie told me that I had changed and that she couldn't wait to see what life had in store for me in the future.

 Christmas Eve was spent with family and my boyfriend. We all went to the evening service at my church, which is full of great music and plenty of singing. It was nice seeing church members again and they were all curious about my trip.

Christmas morning I woke up early and helped my mom put the presents under the tree and began to look through the pictures I took on my trip. My sister and her husband arrived at our house and all of us plus my brother opened our presents. In my stocking I found a package that welcomed me back to America and had a pair of cheeseburger earmuffs that were hilarious. My mom felt that I needed a bit of Americana for Christmas. My mom's family as well as Stuart and Xiomara joined us for an additional Christmas where I received several handmade jumpers from my grandmother. Overall it was a wonderful Christmas and I was happy to spend it with family.

The remaining week was spend with family and my boyfriend. It did not take too much effort to switch back into my normal life and routine. Driving again was a bit scary, but after a warmup I was driving like a natural again. Honestly Ireland is beginning to feel like a dream. Everything is so normal at home, but then I will notice a small change in my town and be reminded that I was gone for four months. I have kept track of my roommates and friends from Ireland for the past week and found that they are adjusting to home life as well. Kaitlyn actually became engaged this week, which is awesome and I wish her and her fiance the best. Although I missed some events at home I will never regret my decision to go to Ireland. I grew as a person there and was able to gain an experience that almost no one in my hometown is able to.

Week 16 - The Finale

We have reached the end. I did not think that this day would come so fast. I am still convincing myself that I have more time in Ireland. Not that Sunday is the flight home. A year ago I had decided to study abroad in a foreign country and chose Ireland. It was a lot of work getting here, but this experience has been such a blessing to me. I believe that it is the people in our lives that define who we are. I have gained many amazing friends during my time here from a variety of backgrounds. Many of the bonds that I have made will continue on even as we have gone our separate ways. I have changed, and will continue to better myself based on this experience.

 Monday night was my house's final pizza night, and a chance for all of us to spend time together before we had to leave. Wil had surprised us all last week with shirts from his family's business, which we all thought was very sweet of him. We decided to put them on for a group photo of House 6. After dinner I went over to my friend Allison's for a mini party in honor of my last week here. There were several other international students there who were leaving as well and our mutual friends Emily and Derek (not to be mistaken with Texas Derek. This one was Irish Derek). I stayed the night and was treated to a TRUE Irish breakfast (as Allison put it) of rashers and toast with tea in the morning.

About a week ago Julia (Austria) and I wanted to have a final get together with the people in the Anime and Manga Society, so we arranged for a dinner at one of the Japanese restaurants in town called Akasaka. It was a beautifully decorated place with a bunch of red lanterns that made the place pretty red. Thirteen of us ended up going, and we all had a great time. I ordered sushi (of course) and it came out looking like a flower. I was very impressed. At the end of the meal we asked the waiter to take a picture of the table, and the chef just happened to get in the background. After the meal I gave goodbye hugs (thankfully with no tears) and promised to attempt a visit in the future. Derek (Irish one) gave me a gift of Kinder chocolate because I had never had it before, which was really unexpected and touching. I will miss this group of nerds who really made my time here special.

Wednesday night my roommates and I went out to the Locke Bar in the City Centre. This was a place that was well like by all of us, so we thought it would be a good choice for our last meal together. Chen was due to leave the following morning. After dinner we all went back to the house to play some cards and then some of us headed to the Stables to enjoy the music and the company of each other. Chen ended up writing a long note addressed to all of us talking about what a great time he has had. He is the only one that is staying in House 6 next semester, and he said that no one could replace us. Honestly it has been such a blessing being assigned to this house and living with these people. We all have completely different personalities and come from different place, but we were all able to become really close and get along great. I am really going to miss all of them. We have become a family, and this is the last time that we will all be together.

Thursday I met with my UL Buddies Zoe and Marion at Scholars. Again this is my last time seeing them. Zoe was the Irish native assigned to Marion and I, and we all got along well and enjoyed spending time together. We just spent our time reminiscing about our time here and talking about our plans once we get home. Zoe asked us what we will miss most about Ireland, and I wasn't entirely sure. My answer was the people, but not everyone is exclusively from here. If I were to study abroad for another semester here it would be an entirely different experience because the people will change. The other thing that I said I would miss was the place itself. Ireland is just a beautiful country and I have loved playing the part of the tourist as well as the resident.

Friday was the last day that I had to spend with most of my friends here. Almost everyone left this day. During the morning I walked around UL for the last time with Julia, Monica, Caroline, and Caitlin. We found the second ruin that was on campus and explored it for a bit. The rest of the day was spent packing and spending time with anyone and everyone. During the evening we all spent some time playing cards and walked over to the last International Party. After the party we came back and sat around talking and trying to forget that everyone was leaving. Of course this was impossible and we all just turned into blubbering messes. I stayed up until the morning to see off my great friends and roommates Stephanie, Vince, Selke, Julia, Jill, and Kaitlyn. As I hugged each of them I just became more and more emotional and ended up sobbing by the time I reached the last one. Goodbyes are always so painful when you have become like a family. The goodbyes at the beginning of the week were much easier, because it had not yet sunk in that it was the end. Now it has become real and I feel a terrible mix of sadness and excitement to be heading home.

I am writing this post after a few hours of sleep Saturday afternoon. Tonight I plan on going iceskating with my remaining roommates and friends Wil,  Krisztián, Derek, Chandler, and Sami. We will probably stay up most of the night, and in the early hours of the morning I will be taking off with Wil to the airport. I should be arriving home Monday morning if the weather is kind. I really want to thank everyone who helped me to have this experience and who made my time here so incredibly special. I will never forget the people I met here and the lifelong friendships that I have formed.

Final Few Fun Facts:

#1: During my time here my housemate Wil came up with nicknames for everyone. My nickname was Burt and Ernie (It sort of sounds like Brittany). Other names included Wincent (Chen could not pronounce the 'V' in Vince's name, which Wil loved and kept), Stirfry (Stephanie), Boolia (Julia), and Mernicker (Monica).

#2: When writing dates in Ireland the day comes before the month, it should be DD/MM/YY. This gave me a bit of trouble when I applied to go to UL, because I wrote that my birthday was in March instead of July.

Week 15 - The Rocky Road to Dublin

This was my final week of exams and papers for classes, as you well know by now. Monday was my Folklore exam, which was answering two essay questions. On Tuesday my major essay for my Study of a Major Irish Author (Joyce) module was due. Friday was the due date for my completed Language Profile Project on ASL for  Linguistics, as well as an additional group assignment analyzing dialogue in a tv show. Everything is pretty nerve-wracking at the end because all of the exams and assignments are worth a large portion of the overall grades.

Although the week was stressful, I was able to get my work done quickly and enjoy the end of the week a bit more than the beginning. On Wednesday I wanted to relax and spend time with my friends who were just as stressed out as me, so we had a movie night. It was Julia, Kaitlyn, Stephanie, Jill and I who began with the movie "Christmas Cupid". We agreed that it was not very good. Selke and Derek joined us for the second movie, which is one of my favorites "While You Were Sleeping." Kaitlyn had brought over Kraft macaroni and cheese to share earlier in the evening, which I really appreciated because it is my favorite food and remind me of home.

 On Friday Julia, Jill, and I decided that we wanted to have a final trip to Dublin. I did not have enough time to explore the city when I went there for Eirtakon the first time, so I was glad that I was able to plan an additional trip. Our first stop was to see the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library. If you have never heard of the Book of Kells there is a really great animated movie that talks about some of the history of it. The name of it is "The Secret of Kells," which I first saw in my Mythology class at CMU. The pages are all hand written, and there are such detailed artwork and drawings in the book that is just exquisite. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the book, but it was still a really cool experience. The next area that you go through in the library is the old portion of it. This place had thousands upon thousands of ancient books lining the shelves, and busts of different philosophers, authors, poets, artists, and famous figures running along the outside of the shelves. In the center of the room was a variety of old and new books on display on different thing like mythology, religion, children's literature, and so on.

The next thing we wanted to do was grab a bite to eat at a well known bar called O'Neill's. The food area reminded me of a cafeteria where you grab your own tray and ask the person behind the counter for a certain dish that has already been prepared. I had a free meal voucher, so I ordered a heaping plate of Guinness beef stew with mashed and boiled potatoes with a crispy outside and a Coke. The beef was corned beef, and the stew was absolutely delicious and really filling. We stayed for a good long while in hopes of defrosting. It was very cold and windy outside, so we could only really enjoy the inside activities. Dublin is unique for all of its canals and bridges. It is very beautiful.

At lunch I had happened to glance out the window and saw that we were right by the Molly Malone statue, so we went to see her next. There is a ghost song about Molly Malone that is very popular in Ireland and really all around the world. You have probably heard about her selling cockles and mussels as she wheels her cart around. Usually the song is played in an upbeat tune, even though it does talk about a woman dying and becoming a ghost.

Our next stop was at the National Museum of Ireland. There are several different buildings of the National Museum scattered across Dublin, and the one we chose to go to was the Archeology one to see the bog bodies. Bog bodies are quite famous in Ireland, Scotland, and other parts of Europe. Bogs are places in the land that are similar to swamps and are able to preserve objects for thousands of years. People would leave valuables in the bogs to protect and preserve them. Today bogs are full of archeological treasures and historic items like cloth, wood, gold, food, and so on. One item that was common and which they had at the museum was bog butter. I kid you not there is actually preserved remains of butter. The proof is in the picture of the mug with butter in it on the right. The bog bodies themselves are dated around 300 BC, and have been completely preserved. There were four bodies total in the museum in various states. The first one the man still had a full head of hair that was clearly orange in color. The second one was only the top half of a person, but you could see the outlines of the bones through the skin and the hair again. The third man was very special and is the one that I have a picture of below. He is known as The Oldcroghan Man. The hand is perfectly preserved with even the fingernails and skin still intact. Evidence on the body suggests that he was killed in a surprise attack and tried to defend himself. He was then decapitated, tied up, and thrown into a bog. He still even has the rope on his arm. The fourth body actually had a bust nearby that was a recreation of what he looked like based on the remains. 

The last place we decided to visit was the Old Jameson Distillery. We had heard from several people and on a lot of travel websites that it was one of the top places to visit in Dublin. I am not really a fan of whiskey, but I thought it may be fun to see what a distillery was like. I have never visited a brewery or winery or distillery before, so it was definitely a new experience. Upon arriving I was surprised to find the place to be quite refined and well decorated. There are three restaurants on location and a gift shop. They also were being quite festive and had a Christmas tree made up of the green Jameson bottles. It looked amazing. The tour that we were given was a guided tour and began with a short video that "introduced" you to John Jameson and his son in 1780. It was really cheesy, but cute at the same time. The tour guide began by mentioning that the distillery was no longer a working distillery, and was actually a museum. It had moved in the 1970s to Cork. We were then walked through the eight stages that the whiskey takes before it can be sold. After we learned how it was created we were lead into a room to taste test Jameson compared to Johnny Walker Black Label and Jack Daniels, which are the best selling whiskeys in Scotland and America. Jameson ending up winning, but it was very biased. After the tasting we were given a free beverage with Jameson in it (we all got their Jameson and ginger ale with lime) as well as a certificate for being an "official taste tester." The tour overall was very informative and well done. I really would recommend going on it, even if you are not a fan of whiskey. By this time it had gotten dark outside and we were all exhausted, so we decided to head back to Limerick. We all agreed that we were happy that we could take one final trip before heading home. I now have seven days before my flight leaves. Now is the time for me to say goodbye to the friends that I have made and goodbye to Ireland.

Fun Facts:

#1: It is well known that names with 'Mac' in them are Irish. This is because the term 'Mac' means son, so it is like son of a certain man. An example is MacDonald. MacDonald is the son of Donald. In the 13th century the 'Mac' became a permanent addition to family names. 

#2: There are a lot of misconceptions about fairies because of their potential to cause harm to people. It is sometimes believed that they are malevolent. However, this is not true. Fairies are neither good or evil, but live outside of the concept of right and wrong. They just do what they feel like doing. 

#3: There are four festivals that coincide with the four seasons of the calendar in the Irish tradition. They are Imbolc (The Festival of Brigit) in February, Bealtaine (May Day) in May, Lughnasa in late July or early August, and Saimhain (Halloween) in October. Each festival is unique and there are traces of each in the current era.  

Week 14 - It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

This week was something known as Reading Week where students study and write papers in preparation for the two weeks of exams that follow. I promise that I did not waste my time this week watching the tele and such. Actually, I went to quite a few Christmas themed events or parties in celebration of the holidays approaching and the end of semester drawing to a close in addition to studying. Mondays my house usually does pizza nights, but because everyone is traveling this week only a few of us got pizza. After eating Julia, Monica, and I decided that we needed a bit more Christmas cheer, so we watched Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas.


Tuesday was really special because UL hosted a Christmas event to celebrate turning on the Christmas lights on campus. Members of the general public were invited to celebrate with us, and they had special guests attend and perform. Julia, Monica, and I had decided the day before to go together, so we all headed to the middle of campus where the tree was located about forty minutes before the event was supposed to start. They had the farmer's market moved to this area, so we were able to peruse the different stands. There was also an additional craft fair going on, so we went inside the Foundation Building to look at all of the crafts and such. Also located in this building was Santa's Grotto. This was where later that night the kiddies could get their pictures taken with Santa Claus. My friends and I were considering getting pictures done, but we did not want to be scolded incase it was only meant for the kids to do. We headed back outside when the event was supposed to begin and found a spot near the stage. We did not realize beforehand that there were going to be performances before the tree lighting. The first group to come out was a group of people who did different tricks with fire to the beat of drums. One guy juggled flaming sticks and spun a flaming wheel, two woman twirled balls on a rope that were on fire, and the most awesome of all was the fire-breather. When this guy performed you could feel the heat on your cheeks. It was incredible. He also stuck a flaming stick in his mouth to extinguish the flames. It was intense. The performers actually made me a bit nervous because of the whole twirling fire thing.


Next to perform was a children's choir. They performed about four songs and were absolutely precious. After them the fire performers came out once again, and then it was time for the president of UL, Don Barry, to come on stage. He was wearing the most adorable Christmas hat ever that had reindeer antlers on it, and mentioned that he did not get a choice in the matter. He also mentioned that the mayor of Limerick was at the event, which was pretty awesome of hear. After a bit of a speech he took out a giant remote and we all counted down the lighting of the Christmas tree. Once the tree and surrounding lights were lit the next person to come on stage was a well known performer by the name of Liam O'Brien. He is a singer and actor I guess, although I have never heard of him. His voice was pretty nice, and I enjoyed listening to it for the rest of the night. The event was also serving free food and drinks, so us girls got in line before it got too long. They served us sandwiches (which were a bit strange), mince pie (not very tasty in my opinion, but apparently very popular in Ireland), potatoes, some type of mushroom pastry (so delicious), and coffee. Stables Bar also had a stand that was serving mulled wine, which is like that German wine that I tried last week. It was spiced and absolutely delicious. By this time it was getting dark and very cold, so we headed to Scholars (a campus bar and restaurant) for a minute to defrost. Before heading there though Monica and I got a picture with a campus landmark known as Brown Thomas. This is a statue that is in the main area of campus right in front of the Main Building where they put the Christmas tree. That explains the strange looking person in the picture to the left. After about an hour at Scholars the two of them headed back to Plassey Village and I met with Nancy for our final book club meeting. We had decided that after finishing "The Spinning Heart" we wanted to read another famous work by an Irish author. This lead to my first encounter with "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. It is probably one of the funniest things that I have ever read, and it was a riot discussing it with Nancy. We may try to get together again before I have to head home, but we will see. Either way I will miss our book discussions.

Thursday morning Monica and I decided to explore campus a bit more than we previously had. Why? We had heard that there were actually some ruins of a castle located on campus, so we wanted to try to find them. After a few questionable turns and a lot of muddy paths we found ourselves by a huge structure. I assumed that these remains would be small and hard to find. No way. This thing may has well had been a tower. It was really hard to miss once you went looking for it. After goggling at it for a good amount of time we headed down a path that traveled under the Living Bridge. Later in the evening Monica, Julia, and I attended the Christmas party that Plassey Village hosted. They served mince pie, mulled wine (both which I believe are very popular and common with Christmas parties in Ireland), and other snacks. Eventually Santa showed up and gave everyone giant chocolate Santas. I also was given a gift that I believe is similar to the concept of a wishbone. It is like a tube made of paper with an arm on either side. Two people pull on one side and eventually one of them will pop it. Inside is a toy and a riddle. After the party we headed back to my room to watch some movies. We decided to watch Frozen and Newsies. I had never seen the second one, but I actually really enjoyed it and was glad that it was introduced to me.

Friday was one of the last International Nights at Stables Bar (The party hosted by the International Society), so almost all of my roommates, some friends, and I decided that we wanted to go. We found out once we got there that this was the farewell night, but there would be two more International nights in the future. I mainly hung around Monica and Julia for the night, but we ran into a lot of friends while we were there and danced the night away. I really enjoy going to these events because it allows me a chance to socialize with people and get rid of some of the stress that I have been feeling this week. My favorite part of the night was when they played the Christmas song "All I Want For Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. It is a fun song to sing and dance to.

Saturday was the official start date of exams, and I just happened to have my first exam this day. I arrived at the designated exam location and was told that I could only bring in a pencil, calculator, water, eraser, and my student ID. We also had to take off our coats in order to enter. The exams here are conducted in a very professional manner, and they actually have multiple classes in the same room taking their different exams. It was organized pretty well, but was just a bit strange to see. I am used to just showing up to the same classroom that I had been in all year and taking the final exam like a normal test. This test was my Chemistry one, and it was negative marking. This means that they will deduct points if you get the question wrong. This added a bit of pressure, but I know that I will at least pass the exam. I felt confident on a good number of questions.

After the exam I went to a party that I had been invited to by Sabina (from Romania). She had invited Julia (from Austria) and I to the final gathering for the Games Society of the semester, because a lot of the members are also in the Anime and Manga Society and the three of us are heading home in two weeks. We ended up playing a ton of card and group games that were a blast. We played Werewolf yet again (by now you should know what I am talking about) and a new game that I really liked that I think is called Two Rooms. There are two teams (red and blue) and gray players that have special rules. The goal of the game for the blue team is to all be in the same room and to keep the President from being blown up by the Bomber on the Red team. The Red team is trying for the opposite. The gray cards have a different mini game that I was a part of. There are three roles: Sniper, Target, and Decoy. The Sniper is trying to be in the same room as the Target in order to kill them, while the Target does the opposite. The Decoy wants to be in the same room as the Sniper to be killed instead. I was the Target during our game, and I ended up surviving in the end. The game takes place in two physical rooms and has a number of rounds. I had a lot of fun with these guys and I will miss them a ton when I get home.

 Fun Facts!:
#1: On some cars in Ireland are giant letters in the windows such as 'L' and 'N'. I have wondered what they were for, for a while and finally have my answer. The 'L' one means that the driver is learning to drive still. The 'N' means that the driver is a new driver. These letters help keep other drivers from becoming impatient with the person behind the wheel. 

#2: I have 14 days left until my plane leaves Ireland. That is two weeks left to finish work in my three remaining classes, travel to Dublin for one last trip, and say goodbye to all of the friends that I have gained in my time here. Not exactly new information, but a fact none the less. 

Week 13 - Happy Turkey Day!

 This week was definitely one full of finality. Final classes, final Anime and Manga Society social events, final performance for Music, and the final days of November. Although a saddening week, I am becoming more excited by the thought of coming home. Everyone here is feeling pretty much the same way, and we are all ready to see our family and friends again. At the beginning of the week I received a great surprise from home with a care package full of my favorite snacks, some notebooks and pencils with cute characters on them, and a card filled with love from my family. This really lifted my spirits, and I have been shamefully overindulging on food ever since.

On Tuesday was the final performance for my Traditional Music and Dance module where we showcased all of the hard work we have been doing for the past eleven weeks. There were about five tin whistle groups, two singing groups, two bodhran classes, one guitar group, and four or so dance groups. I have a lot of friends that are in this module, so it was great seeing them performing and having a good time. Most of the performers are still new to the instruments and dance styles, so it certainly was not as professional as you might expect. However, I think this made the show all the more fun. We were able to laugh at ourselves and praise the moments that were spectacular. Some of my favorite highlights were the second group of singers, The final tin whistle group, the bodhrans in general, and all of the dance groups. The singers included my roommate Julia and my friend Monica, and they sang a song called "Oh Ro My Johnny," which is elegant and sad. They did a really great song with it. The final tin whistle group played the Hobbit song, which requires a bit of skill to be able to pull off. Hopefully someday I will be able to play like that. My favorite dance group performed to the song "Waka Waka" by Shakira. There were two burly guys in this group that absolutely rocked. It was a blast watching everyone perform. As for my own performance, I was a bit nervous. We were the first tin whistle to perform, and it was nerve wracking knowing that we were setting the expectations for all of the other groups. We performed the song "Britches Full of Stitches" and, thankfully, only made a few mistakes. After the performance I headed to my last social with the Anime and Manga society. I brought them some of the American candy that was included in my care package for them to try, and they all really appreciated it. We played a game called "Munchkin," which is a card game that is based on strategy and trying to best everyone else. It was great fun, but took me a bit to understand how to play.

 Wednesday my house decided to hold our Thanksgiving dinner, because Thursday Stephanie was going to be gone. Unfortunately, we still were missing Wil who missed his flight in Germany the day before and was delayed. I offered to do the turkey, made a list of ingredients for the dishes, and arranged the shopping of ingredients the day before. I took the lead for all of the cooking in hopes to make everything as stress free as possible. Everyone pitched in with some part of the cooking process though, and we were all set to eat by five o'clock. We invited several of our friends over that had no other plans to celebrate including Monica, Kaitlyn, Derek, Chandler, and our Irish friend Paul. We had all decided to dress up nicely for the occasion as well, so everything was quite elegant. The table was decorated beautifully, and most of the dishes turned out perfectly including the turkey! Thank goodness for that one. Cooking a turkey without a meat thermometer is not exactly easy. The other part that was tricky was carving the darn thing. We did not have a serrated blade in our house, so we had to get creative with our regular knives. Also, no one had a clue as to how to properly cut a turkey, so we had a lot of shredded and oddly shaped pieces, but thankfully it is the taste that counts. We also do not have a microwave oven, so we were limited to two ovens and a stove top for all of the cooking. Our meal included turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, corn, rolls, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, apple pie, and cake left over from Vince's birthday the day before. Paul was kind enough to bring wine over as a thank you for inviting him to our feast. Once we were all together Julia was designated to tell the story of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it in the United States. After eating we had Vince and Selke break the wishbone, because neither of them had done it before. Vince ended up getting the bigger section, so he won. I think the best part of the whole day was just how excited our housemates were that do not usually celebrate Thanksgiving. Chen checked on how I was doing throughout the day, and was surprised that I had started cooking so early. Selke had never tried turkey in her life, and she also was curious about what a casserole was.


On Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving!) The International office was providing a free Thanksgiving meal for all of the International students. It was held at the Sports Bar on campus located by the arena. The meal included turkey with stuffing and gravy, boiled potatoes, a veggie mix of carrots and some other unidentifiable vegetable (parsnips?), cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie, and juice. I went with Jill and her friend Megan, and along the way a fellow Chip (one of two who came to UL with me) named Brendon joined us. He knew the two of them through Gaelic language class. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but this campus feels really homey because you will always see people you know throughout your day. This was one of those instances. The rest of my day was spent working on my final online test for Music, and then I called/Skyped all of my relatives and my boyfriend to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It was a bit bittersweet to see everyone together and know that I wasn't there, but it was still great seeing them. They all seemed to be doing well and were excited to hear about my trip and hear that I would be back for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, UL has really begun to go all out with the decorating. On Thursday they moved in the Christmas tree that will be lit by the president of the University next week Tuesday. For my Friday I sent out a random invitation to my friends to binge watch Christmas movies for the evening and Sami, Julia, and Monica got back to me saying they would love to. We began with "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas" and "A Muppet's Christmas Carol." We then took a short break to heat up a German Christmas drink that is traditional to drink during the holidays called 'Gluehwein'. It is pretty much just really sweet wine that is usually topped with an orange slice. We then started to watch "The Christmas Kiss," but took a short break to find a traditional Christmas program that everyone in Ireland watches every year. It is called "The Late Late Toy Show," and has officially become a part of my personal Christmas tradition as well. The host is a talk show host, and every commercial break he changes into a new jumper sent to him by a fan of the show. The point of the show was to advertise toys that were available at stores this year, but along the way you are introduced to a ton of kids that are brilliant and talented. One of my favorites were a boy that was about eleven who knew everything about ships like the Titanic, and even had read some of the works by Shakespeare. My favorite performance was probably the grand finale that was "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" themed where all of the kids got together to sing. I also really liked when an Ed Sheeran fan was talking about a singing game that had his song in it, and all of a sudden Ed walked in with gifts for her and asked her to sing with him. So cute!

Fun Facts!:

#1: Most people have a general knowledge of what Thanksgiving is, but the United States is the only place that celebrates it (not really surprising).

#2: Christmas jumpers are all the rage here, and they can be very elaborate with bells and pop out objects. I even saw one that had a fireplace with moving flames on it.

#3: Unlike American universities, UL has an entire week of studying and then two full weeks of exams starting on Saturday the 6th of December. CMU only has two additional study days before one week of exams. I think this system makes exam week much less stressful, because I now have the time to write my papers well in advance so I can focus on studying for my exams. 

#4: Our Thanksgiving feast is a lot like an Irish Christmas feast with plenty of spuds and turkey (Paul informed us of this). 

Week 12 - Geeks in their Element

 I have been thinking a lot about the weather lately. Mainly because the nights and mornings are becoming much colder, and frost is starting to form everywhere. The first picture shows the frost that has formed on the spider webs that cover the Living Bridge on campus. Despite my fear of spiders, their webs can be quite beautiful. Although we are getting frosted and chilled here, this is nothing compared to the foot of snow that my hometown got this past week. I feel pretty blessed right now missing that nightmare. Anyways, my week was packed full of fun stuff, so I need to start talking about that or this blog post may turn into a small essay. On Monday I went with Kaitlyn and Jill to my friend Nancy's performance at Scholars. She is a member of the music society, and they have performances every now and again. She has a beautiful singing voice, and obviously can rock a guitar. She ended her set with a 'hometown' song, "Galway Girl." (Do you remember that she is from Galway? Quite appropriate I'd say).

Wednesday was a long, but rewarding day. I began the day with my Folklore tutorial where our professor taught us how to make St. Briget's crosses. It is not too difficult once you understand how to create it, but it certainly took me a while to get the middle to look right. St. Bridget has a special holiday set around her, which is why we made the crosses. for the rest of the day I movie marathoned the first two movies of the Hunger Games Trilogy, and headed with a group of friends to see the premiere of "Mockingjay: Part One" at Odeon theatre. Honestly I think it may be the best one yet and will totally promote going to see it. The Hunger Games trilogy is my favorite book series after all.

Thursday night was also another long night. The International students had a meeting about what to expect when we go home, and some information on staying connected with other students. I will face reverse culture shock when I get back, which should be loads of fun. I am not sure how I will react to going home, but I will probably write one last post after Christmas to talk about how I have been doing since returning. after the meeting I went to my UL buddy Zoe's house to celebrate her birthday and spend some time with her.

In a previous post I may have mentioned the anime and manga convention known as Eirtakon that I was going to be attending in late November. Well that was actually this past weekend, and it was great craic (fun). The convention lasted from Friday night to Sunday mid-day, and I attended with some of the people in the Anime and Manga society. We only went on Saturday though due to some errors with our accommodation plans. To make up for this, the society held another Lock-In on Friday night that was Naruto themed in commemoration of the ending of the long-running series. We watched the anime, played Naruto video games, and read Naruto manga. We also played some more Werewolf and Mafia (for more information check out previous blog posts). After a few hours of sleep we caught a bus and headed to Dublin for the much anticipated Eirtakon! Once in the city we stopped in a mall to grab some food where I witnessed the greatest Christmas display I have ever seen in the food court. There were lights everywhere and animatronic elves, Santas, polar bears, and snowmen. I was thoroughly impressed with how elaborate it was. After eating we headed to Croke Park where the convention was being held, collected our wristbands, and the con commenced!

Conventions are set up into several parts with different activities happening simultaneously. An anime and manga convention (it may be more accurate to call it a pop culture event for nerds) has things like a video gaming area with tournaments, other gaming areas for card games like Magic The Gathering, a theme room (Pokemon), different panels with guest speakers (English dub voice actors Caitlin Glass and Chuck Huber), anime screenings, an Artist gallery, a general merchandise location known as a Trade Hall, and a ton more. They also hold events at different points during the day. When we got there immediately I headed in the direction of the Artist Gallery and Trade Hall with my friends Sabina (Romania) and Julia (Austria). In the Artist gallery are a ton of tables set up by artists with their work displayed. They sell prints, bookmarks, keychains, hats, and other things that they create. In the Trade Hall were tables offering everything you could possibly desire as a pop culture nerd. They had posters, shirts, pillows, plushies, books, manga, anime, and so much more. It was difficult not to spend a ton of money there.


After looking around at all of the merchandise and buying a few things the three of us headed to the first event that we were interested in seeing called the Cosplay Masquerade. It was an event that you could enter as a contestant if you were cosplaying, and go on stage to present your work. A panel of judges who were also cosplayers then would rate each cosplay as they were presented. A winner was picked for categories like 'best group', 'best makeup', and 'best prop'. Cosplaying is pretty much dressing up like a character from a show, movie, book, manga, or anime. The majority will be movies and anime though. They can be very simple like wearing something that is store bought, or it can be quite elaborate where each piece is created by hand and includes props. Some of my favorites were the characters from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," A few Studio Ghibli characters (No Face, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki), a group of "Fairytail" members, and all of the Disney characters. Some of the costumes were incredible and I am blown away by the talent that it took to create them. The overall winner of the contest was a cosplay of Maleficent from the new movie. She had her full set of wings, and it was breath-taking. The three of us then headed to the information desk to buy tickets for the biggest event at the convention: Hatsune Miku and Friends. We arrived at the place where they had started queuing for the show, and waited about twenty minutes until they began to let people in. They handed out some glow sticks as well, because the room needed to be dark in order to see the performer. We were in line a bit late, so we were seated towards the back of the room. Then the show began.

Hatsune Miku is a huge sensation in Japan. She is a pop star that sings all of her songs in Japanese. She is actually an animation that is projected like a hologram for special shows called Vocaloid concerts. You can find a ton of videos of her on Youtube, so I suggest looking her up. It is really awesome what technology is capable of. She also performs with a live band, which is an added bonus. Every now and again her friends will come on stage and do a song or two. She had about eight friends perform at the concert. I thought that the performance was incredible, and it was difficult to not be impressed with how well everything was timed and done. Hatsune Miku would do everything that a pop star would do, including big entrances, talking to the fans, playing instruments, and dancing while she sang. The three of us ended up moving around a lot, because she was difficult to see from the back of a room. The show really relies on being able to see her, so it is hard to appreciate it from a distance. She performed for about two hours, and then came back for an encore. By that time we were all very sleep deprived, so we skipped out on the encore, grabbed some food, and all of the society members decided that we were ready to head back to Limerick.

For my first convention ever I thought it was absolutely amazing. It was smaller than I expected, but that is only because I compare it to events that occur in much larger buildings back home, and with a larger fan base. So with this event over I have one more trip planned, and then my time in Ireland will be at an end. This coming week is my last week of classes, then there is a Reading week for studying, and finally we have two weeks of exams. The time is passing much too quickly now. I am not sure how I will be able to say goodbye to all of the friends I have made and this great country.



Fun Facts and Information!:

#1: Mockingjay actually premiered in the USA on Thursday night at midnight, so I saw it 29 hours before my friends back home did. 

#2: The Festival of St. Brigit takes place on the eve of January 31st to the 1st of February. The original Brigit was a goddess that was associated with agriculture and fertility. The second Briget was a saint. The crosses themselves are made on Bridget's eve. 

#3: I took a picture of some Christmas lights in Dublin. It reads 'Baile Acha Cliath,' which is Gaelic for 'town of the hurdled ford' or 'Dublin.'

#4: My souvenirs from the convention are in the final picture. I got an Aperture Laboratories (Portal 2) sticker, a Totoro plushie keychain (My Neighbor Totoro), a Pokemon theme song sticker, and a bookmark with owls from the four Hogwarts houses (Harry Potter) from the Artist Gallery.