Belfast

So I'm back from my week-long trip to America and enjoying Ireland in full bloom! Spring is upon us, and the Emerald Isle is finally living up to it's name! Everything is green. Everything. I've been trying to take as many pictures as I can, but that's proven to be a harder task than I imagined. The other day I went around campus with my DSLR and snapped some shots of my favorite places. There's a secret little garden behind my religion classroom that I'd visited in February, but it wasn't anything to look at back then. Now it's covered with green ivy and vibrantly colored flowers. I love this town and I'm gonna try to take even more pictures of downtown Maynooth later this week.

Anyway! The point of this post was that I went to Belfast yesterday with Brendan and Katt! It's the capital of Northern Ireland, which is a different country and part of the UK. The train ride over was breathtaking; we followed the sandy coastline of the Irish Sea up into the rolling hills of Ulster. Once we arrived, we had to immediately find an ATM to withdraw some pounds! It was different from English pounds though, because it's the only currency in the world that says "Ireland" on it. I almost kept 5-pound bill as a souvenir, but it's worth like seven dollars... so the one-pound coins were enough for me ;)

We took a short bus into the city and walked around a bit, admiring City Hall and Victoria Square. Once we located the tourist office, we arranged to have a bus tour after a quick bite to eat. I had a traditional Irish lunch of bread, cheese, and and tomato. Yum! Then we got on the bus, snatched a seat on the upper level, and prepared for a flash of Irish history.

Northern Ireland is a separate country from the Republic of Ireland, which is mostly Catholic-dominated. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, is mostly Protestant. In the 1970s a conflict arose between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles. The Catholics, or nationalists, wanted to unite with Ireland and the Protestants, or unionists, wanted to stay in the UK. Many people were killed as the conflict escalated, and the deadliest city at the time was Belfast. As a result, peace walls have been erected to prevent the two opposing groups from fighting. They were quite a sight and reminded me of the Berlin Wall.

On the tour, we passed by the headquarters of the Ulster Volunteer Force, which was the main army for the unionists during the troubles. Bus tours had previously not been allowed to pass by the area, because it was so probable that they would be a target for violence. Oddly enough, it was located right next to a KFC and I was traveling with my friend Katt, who's from Kentucky ;)

There were murals up all over the city commemorating those killed and the people involved in the troubles.

 We also passed by the Stormont parliament buildings of Northern Ireland. I was pretty excited about going to Belfast because Brendan and I had just learned about it in history class on Monday. In class we discovered that the parliament buildings are waayyy too big for Northern Ireland (it's a tiny, tiny country), but they built it anyway because they wanted something impressive. After that, we found out that the Titanic was built in Belfast. It's a popular saying that "The Irish built it, but the English sank it". Ha! -here in Ireland, I've come to hate the English just as much as they do ;)

I got plenty of pretty pictures of the city and thoroughly enjoyed its history. I'm thrilled that I got to go to another country, even though it's still on this tiny, little island. Well, I have a busy week ahead of me, full of religion papers that need writing and English finals that need studying. I miss you all and I'll see you again in FIVE WEEKS!!

An Irish Prom

Well, for the first time ever NUI Maynooth held a Prom!! Although they have a similar dance for Irish students in secondary school, they have never experienced a Prom. Being an American, I was pretty excited to go! Meagan, Mary, and I found out about it in the school newspaper, and quickly arranged some dates. Mary went with her boyfriend, Ben; Meagan with her French friend, Tom; and I with my German friend, Hendrik. We immediately ran into Dublin upon deciding to go and got some super cute dresses, shoes, jewelry, the works.

So, once Tuesday night rolled around, we all got ready in our dresses! I wore a coral-colored cocktail dress with black shoes. I had a white corsage and pinned a white boutonniere to my date, Hendrik. Once everyone was ready, took a huge taxi over that fit our group of ten. Once we got there, we took couples pictures and sat down for a three course meal of delicious Irish food. After dinner, we danced to a live band, followed by a fun night in the dance club next door. I finished the night on a wonderful note with all my friends. It was a delight reliving my Prom experiences and finally going to one more!

Blimey! It's London, mate!!

So I went to London last weekend!! I had an amazing time with my best friends here, Meagan and Mary. We left at a ridiculous hour on Friday morning. We woke up at 2am and took a taxi at 3am to the Dublin airport. From there, we waited until 6am to catch our flight to London! THEN we had a crazy hard time finding our hostel! You see most people might have prepared themselves for once they got to one of the biggest cities in the world by bringing a map or even looking up the address of their hostel. Us? We're too cool to bother ourselves with such trivial matters. Therefore, we just winged it and figured it out as we went along. It ended up being a fun little adventure, and we finally got to our hostel around noon. After that, we crashed and prepared ourselves for a fun night out on the town! Once we recovered, we met up with our other friend, Brendan, who had already arrived the day before. We met under Big Ben and ended up getting dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant. It was there that I tried duck for the first time! I had a duck curry, and it was absolutely delicious!! After that, we got some treats at a local convenient store and then visited Brendan's hostel, where a bunch of other Maynooth students were staying. We had an interesting night, which ended with a walking tour of Westminster at 2am given by Brendan, the history buff.

The next morning, Mary, Meagan, and I started the day a bit earlier than the day before. We headed out for our first tourist destination around noon. We figured we could just walk through town, because the destinations aren't too far apart. On a map. We quickly shifted strategies and bought a day pass for the Underground after a few blocks ;) Our first stop was at London Bridge! We got out and walked around a bit to find the actual bridge, walked across it, and passed by the Monument on our way to Tower Bridge. It was so amazing! And it was a wonderful time, because it had just stopped raining for us to take some pictures! After we crossed Tower Bridge, we headed over to find Globe Theatre upon my request. Ever since my senior English class when we Google-mapped Globe Theatre, I've always wanted to visit! Unfortunately, we didn't have a very detailed map and ended up walking in circles. As it was getting quite late and we didn't want to be wondering the streets of London alone after sunset, we decided we'd come back the next day to find this mysterious theater. Anyway, we had a game to watch!! It was the finals for Six Nations that night, which is the biggest Rugby tournament for the UK and Ireland. Not only that, but the final match was between

France (the best team in the league) and England! It was the perfect game to watch in London. So we headed over to a Fish and Chips restaurant in Waterloo, where our hostel was, and enjoyed a traditional English meal! It was breaded and fried cod fish served with chips, which are really big, yummy french fries! After dinner, we slid on over to the pub next door, the Wellington! It was a really big and quite beautiful pub, which had huge TVs, perfect for our game plans. We stole a table in the back and sat down to enjoy the night. Meagan and I treated ourselves to a drink and ended up talking to a few English guys during the game!! A wonderful end to a great day.

The next morning we began exactly where we left off -- finding Globe Theatre. It was surprisingly easy to find after having spent all of the last evening looking in all the wrong places. However, once we finally found it, we discovered that it costs around 10 euro to see the inside. On a tight budget, we decided to skip going inside and just admire it from the outside. On the way to Globe Theatre, we stopped by St. Paul's Cathedral. It was HUGE. So huge, in fact, I found it impossible to fit into one picture frame. And this was not just a typical Cathedral. It was a US Capital building look-a-like!! I know, I know, we should sue, but whatever I let it go. So then we took the Underground to Camden Street! It's an outdoor market that stretches on for blocks and blocks. I loved it there! That's where I bought my very European-looking leather jacket for 10 euro cheaper than what the salesman wanted from me =) After Camden Street, we headed over to Buckingham Palace, where we spied on the guards and took some fun pictures of the palace! Then we walked down to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey one last night. There we played the part of the typical tourist and took a bunch of pictures on front of Big Ben at sunset. We headed back to Waterloo and got dinner at the Wellington, then took a bus back to the airport to endure a looooong 9 hour wait for our flight. However, we had fun passing the time with each other, and it was definitely worth visiting London =) I had a wonderful trip and would do it again in a heartbeat! I have to thank Mom and Dad for funding this thing and making it all possible =) Love you guys! I'll come back soooon!

St. Patrick's Day in Dublin!

Last week was one Irish experience!! I spent St. Patrick's Day in the heart of Dublin with a bunch of my friends from across the globe. We got up super early (8am!? ridiculous for students...) and got together in my friend Mary's room. I came decked out in my green Dunder Mifflin shirt (oh, yeah!), some green Irish necklaces (thanks, Mom!), and even sporting some face paint. After we got ready together, we caught the train into town prepared for the festivities ahead of us. The train was PACKED full; there were people sitting on the floor and standing for the duration of the 40 minute commute. But once we got there, our group of about 30 people traipsed through the streets of Dublin towards O'Connell Street. If you don't know anything about Dublin, O'Connell Street is like Michigan Avenue or Broadway, the heart of the city. 

So we stood around waiting for the parade to start! There's a St. Paddy's Day parade every year down O'Connell Street, but you have to get in line early, because, well, it's the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world! We waited for three hours, but we had a great time doing it =) After buying all the souvenirs our budgets would allow, we took lots of pictures to pass the time. Once we ran out of pictures, we began to drink the morning away ;) Hey, we're in Ireland -- might as well blend in with every other person there!

Once the parade started, we cheered and danced and watched the craziness! Afterwards, we crossed the Liffey (the main river) and started to celebrate this glorious day in the best pub in town! Although I would never make a habit of it, I did down a few drinks before 3pm ;) I ended up having a wonderful day with my friends, it's just so unfortunate that I won't be able to celebrate St. Paddy's in Ireland next year! I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day back in the States and no one got pinched ;)

Traveling the Country!

So I haven't posted anything in a pretty long time, but I've done a LOT in the past two weeks. I went on a trip with the Saint Mary's girls to Newgrange and Tara, which are different but both are super duper old. They look like mounds of dirt, but they're intricately placed stones with soil covering the top, and then grass grew all around it -- so it looks like a hill, but when you walk inside it's like a cave. And after 5,000 years rain STILL doesn't leak inside. They were pretty brilliant ancient dudes. We also went to some ruins -- they explained what they were, but we were too interested in taking pictures to pay attention =)

That week was really amazing, I started to become closer friends with the international students and even branch out to meet some Irish people, too! My Italian friend, Ruggero (or Roger), cooked me, Meagan, Mary, and Ben an authentic Italian dinner. It was similar to pizza, but wrapped up and fried. It was ssooo good! So then, the next week on the same day our French friend, Ben, cooked a French dinner! He made us bread with goat cheese, raw salmon! (it sounds scary, but was ssoooo good), and rice with chicken in an amazing sauce. Now it's our turn to make a stereotypical American meal, but we're kind of lost for ideas. I mean, seriously, what is American? We don't wanna serve them McDonald's, so if you guys have any suggestions, shoot me an e-mail =) Beyond that, my Irish friend, Eoin, has cooked me numerous meals, and they're all really, really delicious. And he uses lamb, which is so strange, but apparently quite common here. And he's also responsible for my ability to cook pasta. SCORE! Megan Reece can now cook something!!! I've also taken up baking while I've been here. It's kind of humorous how little baking the Irish people do. I made brownies, which didn't turn out nearly as well as they should have, and my roommates were thrilled with them. I'm going to bake a huge batch of cookies sometime this week, because most people have never tasted homemade cookies here!! It's a tragedy and has become my responsibility to save these poor, innocent people ;) I just need to wait til I'm feeling a bit better, because I've recently fallen ill with a cold.

Okay, so due to a lack of homework and a large, expendable amount of time on our hands, my American friends I have come up with new and innovative ways to entertain ourselves. Well, okay, we stole the idea from Eoin's friends, who pranked him, but we had some fun with with Gaelic football team's rooms while they were visiting home last weekend. While they were out, we labelled EVERY item in their rooms, including parts of the room itself with Post-Its. So Tadhg, Mickey, and Tommy now have Post-Its labeling things as "Tommy's ceiling" or "Tadhg's toilet paper." Two weeks later and they're still too lazy to take them all down. Victory. Our next victim will be Brendan. It may involve putting someone's favorite crackers in Jello... ;)

This past weekend I went on another trip with the Saint Mary's girls to Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel, and Dunmore cave. Yes, you heard me, caves! Cahir Castle was my favorite simply because I've never seen a legitimate medieval castle before. It was even equipped with a dungeon and moat =) However, the best part of the weekend wasn't the site but the company. My best friend from Notre Dame, Miss Laura Taylor, came to visit!! She's studying abroad in Rome right now, so she came up for the weekend to see Ireland with me and Meagan. We took her shopping in Dublin, travelled around the country with the SMC girls, showed her Maynooth's glorious south campus, and enjoyed dinner with our international friends. However, I have a feeling that the best part was going to a real Irish pub.

Well, those are my adventures so far! Once I get over this cold, you can expect plenty more!

Megan =)

Joining the Irish

Well it's been exactly two weeks now, and it feels like it's been two months. I feel right at home, surrounded by friends that have made my life so much more enjoyable. I have close friends from France, Germany, Italy, Austria, England, Palestine, and even America! Hopefully I'll learn from this cultural mixture and be more accepting of differences =) Oh, yeah -- and I forgot to mention my Irish friends. So far I haven't really met a whole lot of Irish folk, other than the Gaelic football team and a few other random lads. But they're absolutely hysterical. I love the Irish accent and I'm beginning to fall in love with the culture. I'm seriously thinking about moving here once i graduate from college in America. I don't know how to leave a place so saturated in history.

The architecture is just stunning as well. I love photography and took my DLSR over to south campus to shoot a few of the buildings and ended up spending 3 hours on only a quarter of the campus!! The rest of my pictures can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.phpaid=2032426&id=1166430252

Beyond that, nothing new has really happened. I've just been enjoying my time with my friends and doing everything I can to have fun! I cooked an authentic Italian meal with an Italian, had an Irish guy cook me dinner, and ate a delicious meal at a local pub. I jumped the train to Dublin and went through an epic viking museum, watching Brendan get into a fight with the gift shop owner along the way. Well, those are my epic adventures for now. I'll be back later with more stories to share =)

Birthday In Dublin

I'm now officially 20!!!! A group of us went into Dublin to celebrate on Saturday. A speedy train ride (only 20 mins) took us into the heart of the city and we headed straight off to major tourist destinations. First we visited Trinity College, one of the oldest and most respected universities in the world. It's beautiful architecture made the trip worthwhile and the cobblestone sidewalks made me love Ireland more and more =) The grassy knolls were off limits, but we sneaked in a step just to get a good picture ;)

After Trinity College, we headed over to Temple Bar Cultural Center to grab a bite to eat. We had an English meal of fish and chips in a cozy pub. Then we ran off to Dublin Castle and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Both were absolutely stunning coupled with the setting sun. Then we headed down to the mall to get some shopping in for the girls of the group, where I bought myself a nice European scarf =) Then we planned on going to a local pub when three of us decided to get a ride on a horse-drawn carriage. We were whisked around the city, glimpsing the sunset in between buildings and bathing in the orange twilight.

After the ride, we decided to hitch a train back to Maynooth and enjoy a birthday dinner in my honor. We had pasta with a tossed salad (gourmet, I know haha). For dessert, Mary and Alayne baked me some brownies, topped with 20 candles, and everyone sang me Happy Birthday. It was a wonderful dinner and I'm so thankful for all my new friends =) After dinner, we had a night out on the town. I got dressed up in some clothes I had bought earlier and we headed over to the Roost. We tried to get as many Irish boys as possible to kiss my cheeks and buy me drinks. I ended up having an amazing birthday, and it was a wonderful start to an adventurous semester! The last two days I've been going to the pubs and just enjoying myself there. No, I haven't gotten really drunk. You can just sit and enjoy the company at the pubs. It's a much calmer atmosphere than American bars.

On a more studious note, I started classes today!! I had Irish Studies (Literature) and Irish History. Unfortunately, I was quite bored in both, but I think once I get more sleep the night before, my attention span will increase ;) Well I'm having a great time here, and I can't wait to get out and travel even more!!! Love you all!!

Megan =)