Magowna House Hotel Ennis

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!

... deck, and room service, oh yes, room service. This is how we roll when we are backpacking. We took the time, obviously, to shower, striaghten, shave, and beautify ourselves in order to take fulladvantage of the luxurious suite we ACCIDENTALLY booked. We told each other we were going to do this once or twice this tripand here we are, three days in, enjoying this luxury. Hahaha nothing but downhill from here. We'll just take a night or two sleeping in ...

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.

Sorry I havent posted in about a month... I have been very busy, but mostly I've just been lazy and my internet really sucked before so I couldnt upload pictures. However now it is fixed and I am hoping to do alot of bloggong in the next couple of days, so we'll see. Lets step back in time to Sept 20th. Me and the rest of the Villanova kids decided to do a tour of The Burren. This included the Cliffs of Moher, the Aillwee caves, and Dunguaire Castle ...

... up going horseback riding in the Irish countryside—and following a trail up to the top of the Cliffs. To say it was amazing and beautiful is a complete understatement. The man who owned the horses even drove us back up to the tops of the cliffs so we could look around more after riding. The hospitality of the people in Ireland is crazy—Americans could take a thing or two from them. Afterwards, the three of us ducked out of the ...

... Chairman, asked Tom to take over the Clan website. Not surprisingly Tom agreed. He doesn't yet know any details but there is still a day or so of the get together which means, according to Irish mentality, there is plenty of time. At night we attended Bunratty Castle for a banquet, which is always good fun, with plenty to eat and drink. Another late night.

... and headed on to the Gap of Dunloe. The gap was absolutely brilliant, and very fun to drive through. And to think we almost missed it because I suggested staying on N70 after Moll's Gap! Luckily, and after only a little hardship (Jake, God love him, wasn't the best navigator, so we ended up turning around, taking a different road only to find we were on the correct road in the first place, and backing up around a small, windy ...

... the lads arrive, and I'm back to square one - having no bloody idea what any of them are saying as they speak quickly with their thick Irish accents. They copped onto this, and decided to use it to their advantage - but I gave as good as I got! The weather was nice, alot nicer than last time I was there, however I think I was being a little too game in wearing thongs, and not bringing proper shoes, as Sunday wasn't a real ...

... play the guitar - but apparently it's the banjo that does it for me. The banjo player was so cute and fun to watch. I started talking to an older couple from Maine, then when they left, an older couple from Ennis actually started talking to me. The man was really interesting and the woman was hilarious saying she only went to the US once, to NY and said anyone who lives there is young and crazy. They had lived in Ennis all their life ...

... those pages aren't fluent, or something.) The hot news at the moment are an issue of pay-per-weight garbage pickup, which is slowly being adopted by local areas, and a housing development given planning permission in a small County Kerry town without the inclusion of a language requirement (i.e. must be Irish-speaking) for new residents. This requirement seems pretty authoritarian from a Canadian point of view...it's one of the ways small ...