A promise for more.

I have a ton to tell you all, but I will be home in a week from today. I am going to miss it here soooooo effin much, but I can't wait to see family, friends, and of course, baby Kelsey.

I promise to post more about my adventures here next week when I get some down time.

I have just finished working a very hard week which included working days of 12-19 hours long.  I was very tired and got today and tomorrow off, so I slept.  I wish I could do something amazing, but I really needed the sleep.

Lunch with Larri (who "helps" new people learn her name by saying, "like Jeremy, but with an L".  Anyway, this poor new girl rommate asks me, "so is it Jeremy, or Laramie?"  and I said, "it's Jeremy, but you can call her Jerri". hahahaha. She did it to herself really. hahaha. classic

Nicola is here visiting. And I have missed him and Yannis sooooo much! But the day after I leave, he also has to leave, and Jerri is going with to see Paris! I'm so jealous! But I must return. 'MERICA!!

I'm working on sending the boxes home of souveneezies and stuff, but I wanna make sure I don't have to add anything more to them before I send it. Like some of my clothes.

Anyways, the point of this post was to promise you more stories soon, (Cork, cliffs of Moher still i think/Doolin, work, yadda yadda) I have a ton to catch up with.


OH!!! and I have a little special video that will look great on here of none other than Jerri herself. You will all pee your pants. prepare. Go get your Depends now. hahaha


love you!!!


Kazza

(work has begun calling me kazza. i like it)

Dublin Life Episode 1

Social life is amazing here.  Simply amazing.  Pub life is one of the best cultures I have ever experienced. People just start singing or playing an instrument and then a ton of others will join in and pretty soon the whole place is dancing around and whistling and shit.

There's this place called Diceys that has 2 euro drinks every Tuesday. Needless to say: my favorite place on Tuesdays.  And our international flat mates love it too.  So that's convenient.  They mostly like clubs and stuff, and I honestly would rather not have to comb my hair to go out... of my house.... ever. Haha.  But my roomie, Marie likes to comb and braid my hair, so I got lucky. Wa la! (she says that when she's done. She's French, it's cool. NBD).  So I'll introduce you to a few of my fav internationals:

Luca and Morrison (French boys. Luca has the best pinching cheeks ever. Luca is Larri's roomie and Morrison is Erica's)

Yannis (badass French man and Larri's roomie)

Classic Larri face (she looks this way when she doesn't get chocolate... or beer)

Luca and Adrien (we used to call Adrien "Sweater" because he always wears the same man sweater. who are we kidding? we still call him Sweater).  We love them so much. They really just make me smile way too much when I see them.  Not to mention their cute little accents that just hit the spot. Luca calls me "Mi amore" and Adrien always says, "romantic" but pronounces it ro-man-teee-k and it just kills me. Xoxo.  They have a bromance that will last a lifetime.

Me and Larri. I just love this one.

"The Boys"- Yannis, Adrien, and Sebastian (Sebastian lives in the most amazing flat I have ever seen. and he bought us pizza when we were there. I want to live there. Plus it's right on the Liffey next to the Jameson Distillery. Yum)

Larri and her new roomie Alexa from Berkeley (she's a funny fish if i have ever found one)

Apparently I don't have any pics of my own flat mates.  That will be my mission for my next episode of Dublin Life.

This is a band at a bar in Temple Bar called Porter House.  They brew their own beer including Galway Hooker, which is my fav.  But the band sucked.  He was an American singer and was just... too out there for me. bad dancing, awkward moves. Just too much.  But good beer. And that's all that counts.

k. til next time.

xoxo K

Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin 17.06.12

Kilmainham Gaol is the old jail in Dublin where all these crazy tortures and stuff went down.  The tour itself was kinda boring but it was a really cool building to go into.  It was in use until just not too long ago and crazy stuff was goin down. I'm not really sure of the story.  But you can google it if you really wanna know. I was more interested in the architecture and the carvings on the walls from the prisoners and stuff.  Oh! I remember. During the hard times, like the potato famine, I think, people would steal a loaf of bread and get caught on purpose so that they would be sent to jail where they were fed and sheltered but it was like extremely full and people were sleeping in all the halls and it was just really full.

They killed some people against this wall....

 I also got to lock Larri in a a cell for like.. 2 sec. Bummer, I know. I tried to see if we could leave her in there a bit, but the guy made me let her out. Plus I bet someone died in there.

This is the inside of the building!  Freaking awesome right?? It was such a cool building. And there were all the old wing off shoots from here which is the new wing or whatever, but none of it is in use anymore.  Except for in movies and for tourists like me :)

After I let Larri out, she retaliated with putting me in there. It was a little scary. I will admit.  But she let me out cuz she loves me.

We also got lost on our way there and found this super cool bike festival. Hard to pass up and not watch the old guy do cool tricks on his bangin bike.  Eeeeeempreseeeeve.

That's our jail day in a nutshell. Gotta see it all once.

ta ta for now, amigos.

K

Howth 16.06.12

So a few weekends ago me, Larri, Erica, David O'Reilly (bartender whom I will get to later), Nichola (Larri's French man flat mate), and Yannis (another of Larri's French man flat mates) all went to Howth together. It's just a quick 30 min Luas ride to the coast of Dublin. Great seafood and views.

We went wandering around on the rocks and found caves and waterfalls and it was awesome.  We sat on the docks for a while and took pictures and drank beer. (duh.)  We saw this seal with a "dodgy eye" and I named him Frank.

 

This is Yannis on just a normal day. He always looks this badass. He gets so embarrassed when we call him a badass and it's super cute. He blushes kinda in his French way.  Love him.

This is the cute, tiny little Howth town with the best fish and chips yet!

Seal with the "dodgy eye". All credit to David O'Reilly. Haha. O the things Irish people say.  Today Jenny (a girl I work with, or kinda work for this week) and I got super dirty and she said, "Dang K-Dub, we are manky!" Manky we were indeed. :)

That's your quick intro to the gloriousness that was Howth.  We had a blast!  Wonderful day or beer-drinking on the Luas, beach of stones, and docks of Howth.

xoxo, Happy Fourth of July, Merica!

K-Dub :)

Wicklow Mountains 09.06.12

Wicklow is a place just south of Dublin.  It has amazing mountains and scenery and rolling hills and. ugh. Just gorgeous.  We went on a tour bus that makes a few stops along the way to show you all the cool stuff, and the guide talks the entire time and tells you stories and stuff.  It's kinda nice because you learn things you never would have known before.

Anyways, you get to stop on the bridge where the lovers met in P.S. I Love You (which I love).  I took a picture. It's cute, right? :)

Sorry that this post has taken so long, I have kind of forgotten some of the details.  We also stopped in the National Park at this church/graveyard in Glendalough.

There was a cross that if you could reach your arms all the way around, then you get to make a wish while you're hugging this cross.  Larri go there Mama-Long-Arms around it in one try, I had to resituate a few times to get it but finally made it work with the corners strategically placed in my elbows.  Good thinking on my part.  So I made my wish ;)

There was also a look-out tower that they say if you run around 3 times counterclockwise, then you will be married within a year.  (and 3 times the other way and you'd be divorced).  Decided to give it a shot so me and Larri gave it a little jog... Prepare yourself, Papa.

Finally we ended up at this amazing lake that reminded me of Switzerland so much! It was out of this world pretty.  Me and Larri got artsy fartsy with our picture taking... but then we had to pee and there were waterfalls all the way back to the town where the toilets were, so... we ran. First workout in Ireland. You'd be proud, Ma. I ran... once. Haha

Like I always say, every good tour ends in alcohol. The bus driver gave us shots of Jameson for our ride home. WOO HOO!

I only have 3 weeks or so left.. and I'm not ready to leave. I think I'm coming back to work after graduation for sure.  I guess I have time between now and then to think about it.

Tomorrow is the start of UKCRF Conference at Trinity College.  I love working at Trinity because it's so close to my house, and it's beautiful "scenery" everyday.  (So many hotties getting coffee next to our registration desk).  And next week starts the big huge conference, ESOF, which I'm really excited about. It's going to look amazing on my resume and I've been working really hard on it to help get it ready.

I'll write about my trip to the Cliffs of Moher now.  Sorry I've been slacking at writing.  I'll catch up now. :)

love you and miss you all!!!!!


xoxo k