Natalie's and Mari's Grand Adventures! Part Two

Here's the rest of the featured photos from our adventures!

If you ever get the chance to drive the Ring of Kerry, you totally should.

Seriously, mountains of Ireland on one side...

...the sea on the other. Best done with awesome friends. BTW never take a pic of yourselves at the same time with two different cameras. You'll look at your own. 

Stunning. Just stunning. 

AND OH YEAH WE GOT STOPPED BY A SHEEP. 

A REAL SHEEP WHO GAVE US A LOOK WHEN WE STOPPED AND STARED AND LAUGHED B/C WE GOT STOPPED BY A SHEEP.

Another Ring of Kerry. Notice the look of bliss on my face. The cold look of bliss.  

This is a couple of days later. We visited Inishmore of the Aran Islands. My nails were painted the same color of this house. The man who was working on the roof waved at us. 

See those two dark spots right in the middle? THOSE ARE SEALS PLAYING WITH EACH OTHER! Because the Aran Islands have a seal colony. Sadly, these two were the only ones we saw.

Just us, on the Aran Islands. It was an amazing trip!

Again, sorry these posts took so long. Not only am I in the last week of classes with all sorts of tests and papers, but my grief requires a lot of sleep. Also, I can proudly say I haven't been homesick the whole trip! Except, I am really ready to go home. Not to leave Europe! But I also need to be home. Complicated emotions.

From this day, I have 22 days till I leave Ireland for London, and just 29 days till I fly home.

Baci,
Mari

Natalie's and Mari's Grand Adventures!

First off, again, my most deepest apologies for not posting sooner. Especially this post. This post is full of awesome.

You see, the beginning of March one of my bestest friends in the whole world came to visit me here in Ireland. You know her, Natalie, we studied in Rome together last semester. As I may have said before, she's still in Rome! So she visited and we did a whirlwind tour of Ireland. Seriously - whirlwind.


View Nat and Mari's Southern Ireland Adventure in a larger map


I'm dividing this post into two because I have a lot of pics I want to share with you. But as always, you can view all of them at my Shutterfly site.

So to begin....

We met up in Dublin. Walked around. Went to Temple Bar area. Saw this awesome 'advert'.

This strange orb is on the Trinity Campus in Dublin. There is another in the Vatican Museum. It's actually a sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro and there are several more around the world. No one is quite sure what it means.  

 

 ME AT TINTERN ABBEY. There's another, more famous one in Wales. But I didn't know that. I thought this was the one from the poem. Guess what. I don't care. It was absolutely beautiful.

 Our friend Rosemary is in the band! We visited her in Cork where she has been studying all year. It was so nice to go to a pub with her and listen to her play the fiddle with other Irish musicians playing various instruments. 

 That's right. Blarney Castle. And guess what...

 (Tehehe - we loved this as Capri was one of our other great adventures)

 (This was a neat little place where people who explored the areas beneath the castle left their marks)

 WE KISSED THE BLARNEY STONE! Had to literally bend over backwards to do so. However, we were thus gifted with the gift of blarney. 

 The Blarney Castle grounds are about a lot more than just the Stone. There are amazing gardens. They had a poison garden. There would have been  a marijuana plant but...well, you can read.

 The trees were so huge! And gorgeous and nifty.

This is us in the Fern Gardens. I felt like I was in dinosaur times. Roar.

In the Fern Garden. Another large tree. Awesome lighting. 

This is her "Are you seriously taking a picture of me?" face. Yes. Yes I am. 

See my head there?! Another super duper awesome tree. 

This is in the Rock Close, my favorite garden on the grounds and so magical! These are the wishing steps. If you go up and down them backwards without opening your eyes thinking ONLY of your wish it will come true within the year. 

I might have peeked. Stay tuned for part two!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (yes, a bit late)

So...I've been overwhelmed with stuff.

But I had a lovely St. Patrick's Day!

Did you?

I can bet mine beat yours...for the simple fact that I'm in Ireland. Not Dublin, but still...

We celebrated. The French boys got all dressed up. See Tommy in the background with a hula skirt?

Aren't those some awesome glasses? Never mind that I haven't seen a single clover, let alone a four leaf one...

Not gonna lie. I find this odd. Really really big guns...and smiling soldiers casually riding next to them...he's about to wave...

A LEPRECHAUN!!! FOLLOW HIM!!!!

It was a very multinational parade. This is the Filipino group! There was dancing and everything!

That's right. It's not a St. Paddy's day parade until someone breathes fire.

Erm....Did we travel through space to Scotland? Who cares! Kids in kilts playing bagpipes (semi)decently!

Raise your hand if you dressed up your dog for St. Patrick's Day! Really?

You know what a national holiday parade needs? A protest.

What?!

Okay, these dancers had skillz. Sadly they did their dance before they passed us so I didn't get a great pic. Actually, my friend Magnus snagged this one for me.

Here's the rest: 

Click here to view these pictures larger

Afterwards we went home for a couple of hours to lay low...then to a pub for a couple of drinks followed by a trip to a friends apartment! Fun times. 

Hope yours was just as good ;)

Baci,
Mari

P.S. The past few days have been GORGEOUS. Definitely a mood improvement. It's been a hard past few weeks emotionally, plus midterms now followed by the wrapping up of a semester...eek.

Cliffs of Moher

Okay, Ireland is beautiful.

Really, really beautiful.

Super duper beautiful.

This was my first trip since arriving in Limerick. Several of the international community went. We got on the bus at 10AM and an hour or so later descended at the majestic Cliffs of Moher. 

Click here to view these pictures larger

After about an hour and a half we got back on the bus and traveled up the coast and stopped at a pull off giving us wonderful views of Galway and the Atlantic ocean. The rocks were stunning.

It was wonderful to get to see so much of the country everyone falls in love with. I definitely have much deeper feelings for Ireland now. 

Baci,

Mari

Well hi! From Patrick St.

And now, for the long awaited and anticipated first blog post from my new apartment!!!

I have an Irish address. As in, Ireland. How flipping cool is that?!?!

It's above an art gallery (which is why I say we have a pet dog....because during the day they play this art film that is a black lab howling inside what sounds like an echo chamber...we can hear him two floors up). It's right across from the grocery store (which is a good thing, except being able to just run in and get something isn't good for my bank account). It's right downtown amongst all the stores (again, bank account). And...right around the corner from the best pubs (I don't need to explain that, do I?).

Got these pics from Emma.

We finally have internet, we have cable, we even have a home phone (because it was in the bundle). We have a washing machine. A dish washer. We added a coffee pot.

The stuff on the wall is a map of Barcelona and post cards I got there. Working on a similar one for Limerick.

Life is going.

Except for the whole bills part...that's fricking terrifying. Frickin. Terrifying. And being responsible and what not. Which is not to say that I'm a stranger to responsibility. I'm not. But on my own, in another country...well, it can get overwhelming.

Fortunately, I have a roommate. An ausome aussie roommate.

We did some touring of the city, I suppose you might want some pictures....

Click here to view these pictures larger

Baci,
Mari

*drafted a week ago - only published once pics could be added.

So you want to live in Limerick....

Not a problem! (apparently)!

Emma the Ausome Aussie

Emma (my Ausome Aussie roommate) and I arrived Thursday night. Friday afternoon at three we saw an apartment (in a prime location I must say) and pretty much decided it was the one for us.

We submitted our paperwork and, barring natural disaster, we move in tomorrow! (at which point you'll get pics - they've taken it off the listing site).

I'm waiting for the ball to drop. This was too easy. As I said, it's in a great location near the river in the city centre of Limerick. It's right across from a large grocery store and pharmacy. It's just down the street from Penney's  - which might be more con than pro ;) - and...yeah.

I've had my eye on it for over a month. Emailed the lister, inquired about a four month lease, made an appointment for Friday afternoon, gave our reference letters (bank statement, letter of acceptance at MIC), paid the deposit...and we move in tomorrow!

I thought it would be harder. Something tells me it won't be this easy in August when I get a place in Chicago.

Don't worry, more posts to come about Limerick, Ireland, and the Irish...I'm working on compiling lists of witty observations.

Baci,
Mari

Dublin, or...

...how I almost got deported before ever leaving the airport.

Yes, you read that right.

from babypicturesphotos.com

That's how I felt (and looked for that matter) yesterday at about 12:30PM or so Dublin time. 

At approximately that time the Immigration Official (Mr. Grumpy) informed me that since I didn't have an official letter from MIC stating enrollment I was going to be sent back "to where I came from". (Which, I suppose, would have been Barcelona). 

Heart. Stopped. 

He refused to let me enter as a tourist (because I couldn't "be both student and tourist and I said I was a student and now I just wanted to change my story"?). I couldn't check my email because I couldn't register for 10 minutes of free wifi because I didn't have a cell phone for it to send my password to. I couldn't be escorted to a phone to call MIC because there was a line of people and, as Mr. Grumpy put it, "Did I expect all those people in line to wait on me to be escorted to a phone?" Also, he refused to give me my passport back. 

He told me to just go sit down. I did. I tried not to dissolve into a mess of salty water. 

After Mr. Grumpy and his partner, Mr. Unconcerned (now with his feet up on the desk - not kidding), had dealt with the other 12 or so people in line he waved me back up. He asked for the name of the school I was supposed to be enrolled at. Then he asked how much I paid for these classes I was supposed to be taking. He looked up the number, called MIC, and said "I have a young woman here by the name of Mari Lynn Thompson who is presenting herself as a student at your university for the semester but she doesn't have a letter."

OF COURSE I DON'T HAVE A LETTER. IT'S SOMEWHERE ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER AT HOME IN KENTUCKY WHERE I HAVEN'T BEEN FOR FIVE MONTHS. 

They confirmed my enrollment. As he began to stamp my passport eh said "You didn't present yourself very well here this morning."

Um, no shi* Mr. Grumpy. I've NEVER had to go through immigration when going from one EU country to another. I didn't know I needed the letter - I've been in Europe...

"And I am very very sorry." Truer words never spoken. 

Mr. Grumpy took my picture, gave me my passport back, further instrctions about having only a month to go to the local police station and get all my blah blah blah. 

I got my suitcase and dissolved into a salty water mess. 

Then, bus to Limerick where I met Emma. She's awesome. She brought me peanut butter. 

Baci,

Mari