Limerick Strand Hotel

i have a strange feeling that i will not be staying on top of this until i get home...i've been crazy busy with school and trying to maintain somewhat of a social life. well anyway, my mom will be here on Friday! i'm so excited, i just can't wait. my aunt and my cousin are coming too and we're going to have so much fun! well time to get more work done so that i'll be able to have fun while they're here! love you all and i'll be home a month from today!

Today we went to Muckross Gardens. So get this. There was a picket line at the front of the park, and the strikers were all striking against "poor veterinary procedures" to animals in the park. We wanted to have lunch at this restaurant called the Muckross House and even after the 30 old men picketers asked us if we reallly wanted to cross a picket line, we figured why the hell do we care, we arent even Irish. So Nicole cannonballs through the picketline ...

so i haven't updated in a while and i have about 6 entries that i need to post, but i've been super busy with midterms! i miss everyone and this weekend i will hopefully be posting pictures and entries of everything that i did while i was in the UK. i just wanted to let everyone know that i'm ok and just trying to power through all this school work.

We got up early yesterday and drove down to Cork, stopping in Blarney on the way down. There Frank kissed the Blarney stone in Blarney Castle, ensuring him the "gift of gab"- we'll see!<br><br>We stopped in Cork and went to an art museum there and had lunch in the museum cafe. I must say we have been blessed with outstanding food on this trip.<br><br>From there we drove to Cobh, the port from which almost all of our ancestors emigrated from Ireland to the US, as ...

... cash. The manager had already sent a bottle of wine to our room (of course not knowing we do not drink). They have been trying to catch up to us for 2 days, with us off galavanting around the countryside. <br><br>The resort feels so bad that this happened here. Officer Buckley said it may be a staff member so they are eager to track it all down. As I offered my theories about ...

... fun. It all happened really last minute because the team's 3rd baseman dislocated her knee a few days ago and won't be able to play. I had been talking to one of the guys at orientation and he knew I played 3rd base so he just asked if I wanted to come! I don't think he really expected me to say yes, but I'm going!<br><br>I've been meeting tons of Irish people and they are a really fun group. The only downside is that they don't really sleep very much and the lack of sleep is catching up ...

Driving from Dublin down the southeast coast towards Waterford in our rental car was quite an experience. Scooter was getting along very well behind the wheel, but I had a death grip on his arm and felt it my duty to scream and shut my eyes whenever anything slightly scary happened. It wasn't even that scary- just very different. Three full days of driving later, I can finally relax in the passenger side ...

... fantastical descriptions are often applied to keening women, either by themselves or by observers, and Partridge suggests that this behaviour expresses a withdrawal from society. Thus, the keen allows for the keening woman (bean chaointe), as well as her audience, to disconnect from the grief of the death of a loved one and allow their emotions to play out. Once this grieving has been completed, the restoration to normal life can begin. Besides the aforementioned themes ...

... to the good times I'm used to having in Butte on St. Pat's, Limerick was pretty dull. We got decked out in all our green gear and headed to town at about 11:30 to see the parade. When we arrived, a huge crowd was piled in to O'Connell Street (the main street in Limerick town center). Soon, the parade progressed by our location. There were displays from the military, many pipe and ...

... Treaty of Limerick was signed in 1691. Our welcome dinner was at BUNRATTY FOLK PARK. We walked around the park first. There were 10 farmhouses, a schoolhouse, doctor's house, merchant buildings and shops. There was a bridal party walking around too. We got some pictures of the outside of BUNRATTY CASTLE which was built in 1425 by the MacNamara Family but we didn't go inside, instead doing a traditional Ceili, with ...