Sunday, 20

Set my alarm for 9, got up around 10 and got ready. I came out around 10:30 for breakfast. His mom made BLT's except she used spinach instead of lettuce. They were great! She put this relish on them which was to die for! Just a spectacular way to start off the day. Then we went to pick up Stephen and then we went over to Fairyhouse Market that happens every Sunday at the Fairyhouse racing grounds. I went there over Christmas and that is where I got the ring I am going to use for one of my horcruxes for the monopoly game. So I was on the lookout for a locket, for Slytherin's locket. So while Steven and Andrew looked for tools, Stephen is an expert mechanic and he KNOWS cars and tools and what not (it's all Greek to me), I kept my eyes peeled for a locket. But no luck on that front. Nobody seems to have lockets, I found one but it was more than I wanted to pay for it. I did however get a cheap little phone that is unlocked so I will be able to use that I think to talk on, yay! A phone!!! Back in the 21st century, well almost- when I work out how to get it working I will be. Andrew got a butt-load of tools, and a rugby ball, and some beer glasses. We then came back and the boys played with the car for a while and I took the time to draw draw draw! I need to practice, and I am trying to draw at least one thing every day to keep my skills up and sharpen them :) It is easy here because everything is so picturesque.

Stephen went home after a bit and then I had an apple and came out back to write this. In the evening there was a barbecue. I did not drink though, even though I am told it is the thing that is done. Quite a few people came over, Stephen and Eoghan, and a few of Matthew's friends. I made some Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I doubled the recipe and doubled it right until I came to the egg. One egg for the normal recipe, so I put in one. They were a bit dry because of that I think. It made 2 batches, and the second was mainly just crumbles, but I think they would be good sprinkled over ice cream. Anyway they were still a big hit, everybody loved them. Andrew made some burgers on the barby, and they were good. He poured beer over the patties while they were cooking....hmmm. We talked, had some fun. Then Played a little passing with the rugby ball and then they pulled out some hurling sticks and I hit the bass every time it came to me! Ha! I gave Eoghan his scarf I had made over the winter. He loved it, I am glad. Then I went to bed.

Saturday, 19

Got up at 12, well set the alarm for 12 but did not actually get up till 1. Then went to Lough Ennelle for a swim. Its about a 45 minute drive, lovely. Lake was gorgeous. Cold but not terrible, not like some in Seattle, i didn't even shiver. It was nice and sunny and warm by then so I got in a bit of tanning. Got an ice cream, a mint/chocolate one very yummy.

Came back to the house, I then got changed and went for a 30 min jog around the block, if that is the right term. Came back, took a shower and then time for dinner. I was craving a salad, I know weird, exercise makes me crave fruits and veggies. so we went to the store and i got some spinach and vanilla yogurt. "Come on Over" by Christina Aguilera was playing over the store speakers and so I was boppin around to it and I think I got some curious looks from a few dudes. Haha. We came back and I made my salad with carrots, celery, spinach, apple, pear, and my yogurt dressing :) LOVE IT!

I had some skype talk with mom and dad and by then it was 8 or so. So Andrew and I went in and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3, not the best one in my opinion, the first one is by far the best. I was also using that time to rename some of my music files so my zune wont freak out when it plays them. Then when he had to go pick up Matthew from work I went to bed. I had a lovely sleep.

Friday the 18th

Today, after my crazy night, I had some breakfast/lunch- a yummy morning sandwich with "rashers” (or bacon), and then we worked out how to get to Powerscourt and then what movie to see later on. Powerscourt is about an hour drive but it was nice, Andrew has a sat-nav so it was really straight forward to get there. We went to the house and gardens first. The house was nice, a bit stone building, slightly reminiscent of a castle with big stone walls and big heavy wooden doors. The house is mainly a large extended gift shop. Outside though the gardens were amazing. You walk through the back door onto a large graveled walk bordered with sculptures of Grecian angels. Walking down the broad stone steps down to a decorative stone inlaid base which then splits on either side in stairs leading down to a glassy lake with a Poseidon like merman figure spouting a great fountain of water from his mouth. Guarding the lake are two great silvered statues of Pegasus, facing each other. A s you walk around the lake old twisted trees line the walk and a small wooden sign points you in the direction of Japanese Gardens, Pepperpot Tower, and Killers Hallow. Following the path to Pepperpot Tower leads you through both manicured gardens and wild forest growth. And then a stone tower emerges from behind the trees. Not a particularly tall tower, but imposing just the same. It is ringed in by a small spiked wall and 10 to 20 cannons. Following the path to the door, you descend some steps through a metal wrought iron gate and then climb the circular stairs that spiral up to the crown of the tower. Emerging onto the roof you get a panoramic view of the surrounding forest and the great house. Birds call out and the sun shines down on the green trees and colorful native flowers of Ireland. I felt like a princess, like Rapunzel locked in the tower. It was magical.

We could not find Killers Hallow, but the name sounded so cool! We then went off the the car, hopped in and drove off the Powerscour waterfall. We got there, it was grand. I had to laugh when I saw the sign along the road leading to the waterfall. “No Antisocial behavior,” it is just a phrase I would not expect to see on a sign. But, the fall originated from high rocks and streamed down in many individual falls. It is nowhere as big as Snoqualmy falls, but it was lovely just the same. We then hopped back in the car to make the movie. On the way out of the waterfall area I saw a little dear in the woods. A real Irish deer! Ha! Driving back was lovely, breathtaking. We drove through the countryside, with sheep and great barren moor-like landscapes. While on that road, there were some guys having quite a bit of fun pushing their car down the road. It was quite funny and we pulled over to ask if we could help. They replied in there very Irishy-Irish accents that they were “out if petrol” (gas). There was not much we could do and they looked like they were having fun anyway, so we drove on.

We drove to the mall where the movie theater is which was playing the movie we were going to see. But because we got there an hour and a half early, and since we had not had any dinner, and because it was already 7, we went to this little buffet restaurant cafe place inside the mall. I got some delicious vegetable soup which came with some amazing brown bread which had some seeds and goodness in it. Then we went to the movie, we saw “Wild Target” which does not open in the US till October! Ha! It was good, cute, and funny. It was not all there plot-wise but it held together enough. J After the movie we came back to the house and Andrew’s mom had made duck for dinner. I t was delicious, I had never had duck before, and I also had scallops I think for a starter. Odd but good.

After dinner Andrew got a text from Stephen asking if we wanted to go out for a few drinks. I thought sure why not! Might as well go out and have fun. I made up my mind to have only one beer though. So we went over to Andrew’s friend Fiona’s place for a “drink.” We played drinking games and I got a bit drunk, but it was fun. Didn't get back till 6 in the morning! What influence are these Irish people having on me?

Thursday the 17th, night

So I was so freaking tired, I had stayed up for 30 hours straight due to the planes and then arriving at 8 in the morning. So my 9 pm I was wiped out. My phone hadn't changed itself to Irish time so I kept getting confused when I looked at it and being so tired it was hard to do the math to figure out the real time. So, smart me, I set the alarm on my phone for 10 because that was when I wanted to get up. But I didn't realize I had set it for 10 pm and that of course when my phone said it was 10 it wouldn't really be 10. So feeling intelligent about my sweet alarm setting skills I set my phone next to me then pulled out my book because I wasn't feeling particularly sleepy, just exhausted. You know the feeling when you are past tired? Yea, that was me. So I am laying there and realized I had been reading the same line about 20 times without taking any of it in. I thought that was a good sign that it was time for sleep. The second my head hit the pillow I was out. I awoke to my vibrating phone telling me "it's 10! get up!" So after I had turned off the first 4 alarms, I got up on the 5th. I went and took a shower, got ready for the day then went into the kitchen, and saw the clock. It was 7:30! So I did not want to be up that early, I was still very tired. After fixing my phone so it was on Dublin time which for some reason was an hour off, I set the alarm again. But because I am so smart I set it for 9 and not 10 because that would alert me when it was actually 10 because the time was an hour off. So I went back to bed for a needed 2 ½ more hours. When the alarm woke me, I turned it off, all five alarms, annndddd....fell back asleep. I had a dream that I had woken up and walked out into the house and Andrew and Matthew were out there and I was telling them that after a crazy night, at least I made it out by 10. When I awoke next my phone said “oh yea, by the way...it’s now 11.” (and yes I like to give my phone an attitude, and no it doesn't really talk to me) So I jump out of bead, being that its an hour past when I thought I would be up. I go out in the kitchen and look at the clock, its really noon!!!!! Ahh nnuts!

Wednesday, 16 - Thursday, 17, 2010

These two days turned into one really really long day. My plane was scheduled to leve SEATAC at 11:20. So I had to get there at around 8:45. Mom and I went to go check in and we were standing at the new electronic kiosk check in's for a while just trying to work out how to scan my passport. I was holding it up to it, opening different pages and pushing it around the darn thing for a while with no satisfactory result. One guy was being helpfull and trying to tell me where to put it but it didn't work. So eventually one of the check-in people came over and he actually just signed me in himself which I was relieved about because I had no idea what i was doing.

So he checked me in then asked me to put my bags up on the scale so he could check them in. I had one chack bag, and I was also checking my guitar. I thought I was being really clever the night before by wrapping it in butcher paper and then taping it up tight with packing tape. This is because I didn't really trust the one little lock to hold the whole thing closed in all the transport. But as it happens, the man asked if I had loosened the strings before I put it into the case. I said no I had not, and why, does it really matter? He said well yes, because they might snap due to the pressure, or lack of it, or whatever, when it is in the luggage area on the plane. So I said well then I suppose I had better loosen the strings. He cut open the tape, my lovely clever packing idea, and I opened the case and began loosening. Once I had loosened them all he taped it all back up and was very funny and kind and then checked both bag and guitar.

I went off to have one last hour with mom at Starbucks. Then, after some tears, I went through security and was on the other side. Dum, dum, DUM! I went to Starbucks, got a water and a sandwitch. I used to water to take an airbourne, and the sandwitch I tucked away deep in my bag for future consumption J

I got on the first plane, no problem. Everybody was loaded in and ready to go. The plane began to move, to back up and turn around, and then…it stopped. The captain came on the overhead speakers and announced that it would be delayed 45 minutes, he didn’t say why. So we were sitting there for 45 minutes, and all the international connection people who had flights that left with less than an hour layover (like me) were getting very worried. Once we finally got going the captainsaid we should make it on time because the flight was actually shorter that it says it is on the tickets. And when we landed in Philidelphia it was 8:20, my flihgt started boarding at 8:20. So I had to race from the gate I was dropped at, A22, all the way down to A10, which may not seem like very long, and I though no surely it wouldn’t take that long, but no, it was a crosscountry marathon to get from A to B! And with 2 heavy backpacks on my back, one almost as big as me!

So I got on my plane with time to spare, only just. I sat all the way at the back in the middle seat of 3. A girl, slightly older than me sat on the isl (I think she was a dancer) and a boy of 16y sat to my right against the window. He was nice, his name was Gillen, and he goes to school in Georgia. Fun person to talk to, he is also travelling around Europe this summer, a fun trip it sounds like. But back to what happened. We were stuck on the tarmac again because of a plane line, they all wanted to leave at the same time, and we were 30^th in line! Another hour or so waiting around in Philidelphia this time, then we were off, flying through the air for 6 hours and 45 minutes. Good conversation for a bit, no good movies. I read most of the time. Tried to sleep for some of it but I couldn’t. And then the sun began to rise. We landed in Doublin at 9:10, only 20 minutes after our scheduled time. I helped Gillen get through customs and the airport, because I have been there before, ha! I was a little smarty pant in the airport, I felt so important! It’s the little things in lifr, it really is.

And then I met up with Andrew at the exit, said goodbye to Gillen, and then I went back to Andrew’s. I took a shower and got the canned air out of my lungs. Then we went to a park which is actually closed till tomorrow for a cemetary something or other I think.

So then we went to the Hill of Tara which was nearby. I had gone over christmas when it was covered in snow so it was fun to go when the grass was tall and green. It was lovely with the tall swaying green grass, and the whole place which is really quite seizable, was covered in buttercups and daisys, and little low lying bly star flowers. It was like it was supporting the Irish colors! With the green yellow and white J I of course had to run and frolic through the knee-high grasses singing sound of music songs! It was lovely, just picturesque. The skyes were overcast today but it was warm enough for jeans and a tee-shirt.

We came back to his house after that because I was really feeing the jet lag setting in. So then I tried to unlock my phone, but it only served to annoy me because it was not working. No phone calls for me as of yet but I am working on it. Then I had dinner with Andrew, Matthew, and their mom. It was delicious, cabbage wioth potatoes and meat and gravy, yum!

So now I am sitting here writing this and watching a football match (or rather soccer).

I am going to go to bed around 8:30 or 9 after talking on skype with mom.

2010!! The beginning!

And so it begins, the day before I leave for Europe for 13 weeks! Less than 24 hours before I get on that plane, as it happens. I am very excited and yet very nervous. I can't believe I leave tomorrow, it has seemed so far off for such a long time now that it just can't be real. I am going to miss everyone so much! But that is what skype is for... so skype me!
Ireland, Germany, England, Scotland (tentative), and Italy here I come!!!!
I will keep you posted on my adventures! So EXCITED!!!!!!

Day 19

Friday, today is my last day in Avignon. I got up around noon and I had some cereal, the usual. I got ready and at 3 Margaux’s mom took me to Avignon. She dropped me off and I spent 2 and a half hours all by my self, just being a tourist. Margaux didn’t come because of her sun burn. I walked around and went to all the shops I had been wanting to go into and I bought some lovely stuff both for me and for some other people, hehe. I was walking through one of the streets and a man with some kind of petition stopped me to ask me to sign. I said "sorry but I’m not French" he said in English "Oh! I Love this! I love you!!" Ha!! It was the funniest thing ever and I said "thank you" as he repeatedly said "I love you!" You just can’t beat those frenchies!! HA HA!!! After that strange and funny encounter, I continued on my way. After a while I stopped to watch a man who was playing the bagpipes, but the instrument looked like it was made from a pig skin! I mean it looked like a pig and everything, with the legs sticking out and all. I took video of him playing, he was very good. I had stopped to watch him play and there was a great big crowd around and by the time I got my camera out he had finished the song he was playing. Then everyone left. I was still there and I had my camera out, he saw and so that is the reason why, in the video, he is looking directly at me; because I was the only one there. I gave him a Euro because he played so well. After that I still had half an hour until Margaux’s mom was due to pick me up so I decided to sit down at a café. It was so hot and I was so thirsty that I just ordered water. The waiter asked if I wanted Evian, I said sure and he came back with a giant wine bottle sized Evian! I was taken aback because I was expecting a little plastic bottle of water. But I payed for it anyway and when he came back with my change he brought a cup with cherry flavored syrup for me though I hadn’t asked. It was nice of him, though the water was 5 Euros! I have learned my lesson, NO EVIAN!! TOO EXPENSIVE!!! Oh well, the half hour I spent there was very pleasant.
Margaux’s mom picked me up at 5:30 with Margaux and Xenya in the car. We then went to the movie store and they rented some French movie that I have forgotten the name of. We then went to the supermarket to by dinner because the "frigo was empty" and while there I went to the electronics and book store and bought a cook book that I had been looking at the first time I went to that store. It is really neat!!! Then we went back and I played a bit on my computer and then at 8 dinner was ready. We had cantaloupe, pasta salad with cucumber and tomatoes and vinegar dressing, then these spring roll type things with flakey crusts and meat and carrots and other veggies inside, then quiche with ham in it. After that some unsweetened yogurt and I crumbled some dark and milk chocolate with nuts into it along with a heavy helping of sugar. Then, of course, a nectarine, gotta have my nectarine!!!
After that I went upstairs with Margaux and Xenya and we watched the movie which was in French with English subtitles. It was interesting and had me going but it’s not the kind of movie I would watch again. Then I took my last shower and went to bed. I actually didn’t get to sleep until about 3:30AM and then I got up at 6 in the morning so I got very little sleep.