Ok. Sooo there's a lot to cover so I'm gonna try and summarize everything without going on and on about it all! haha
First- RAG Week. Rag stands for Raise And Give, which is a week-long fundraiser for local charities around Galway. While it does raise a lot of money, it's kind of become a "spring break" for students. Most of the Irish students skip classes all week, drink all day (and night if they're still walking), and some dress up in crazy clothes and costumes. On Monday, the first day of RAG week, there was a MASSIVE mob outside our building. And when I say massive, I mean upwards of 300 to 400 people. It was like there was a rugby game going on outside our building with how loud it was! Bottles were being thrown, people were climbing on everything, some fights broke out, and someone managed to light a tree branch on fire! It was crazy! That is till the fire department and the Guarda (police) showed up and started arresting people. I was told that our "celebration" even made the Irish news!
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| Notice the smoke? |
Next up is my trip to Connemara. My friend Matt, roommmate Kelly, and I took a tour of Connemara, Cong, and Kylemore Abbey. So far this may have been my favorite thing I've seen. The tour was more for the scenery than for things to do. The Abbey was built by a man for his wife after they both fell in love with Ireland. Their story is actually quite tragic considering their child got sick, so they moved to Egypt, where the mother got sick caught some Egyptian sickness and died. After they left, Nuns converted it into a school for girls who wanted to become nuns. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The building itself is so grandiose and beautiful nestled into the mountains and woods. It was epic. The Abbey also has a beautiful garden. Though since we went while it was still too cold for flowers, it didn't look at all like the google pictures. But with some imagination, you can imagine how pretty it would have been.
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| Kylemore Abbey |
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| The Abbey's Gardens sans flowers :( |
Now onto the papers and planning section of this rant. My roommate Paige jokes that every other conversation we have is about homework, which is kinda sad, but true. I have more papers to write all at once than I would at home. It's kind of awful. 8 papers (2 of which are done and turned in at this point) plus a multiple choice final, and 2 in class essay finals. This should be interesting. Even though the papers are a big pain, I have to say I am enjoying most of my classes. 2 of them are "kill me now" classes, but other than those I actually like my classes' topics haha.
As for what I'm planning, there's actually a lot. I'm going to London March 26-28th with some friends. Then possibly out to Austria to visit my friend Kat for a few days, then onto Germany to visit Bernadette, a native German friend who lived in my hall last year :) Scotland and the Ring of Kerry are also on the planning list and are happening sometime in April, which I'm super excited about as well. I'm also trying to plan the EPIC trip my sister and I are going to be taking at the end of April when she comes to visit. And by epic I mean we're going to a ton of places in like 16 days. Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Venice, Rome, Switzerland, Austria, and of course Ireland are all on our "to do" list. Now if only Holly would get back to me on what she wants to see....hahahaha. :)
I would also like to add in that my parents are awesome. They've sent me packages with Mac and Cheese (which I think I've already explained doesn't exist here), breathe right strips (since my nose has been ridiculously stuffy), and thin mints!!! Which I was SUPER excited to see. They're totally my favorite Girl Scout cookie :). AND in the card that came witht the package I got yesterday, I was informed that I'm finally getting my own car, aka my Mom's old one, which is totally ok with me. I love that car! Can I just take a moment and say I'm excited?!?!
Now seeing that next week is St. Patrick's week (yes, its St. Paddy's WEEK here), I'd like to finish as much homework as possible so I can enjoy myself! I'll leave you with a pretty picture :)
Slán go foill
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