i'm moving up to co. donegal

so i'm taking a break from my weekend of reading to write about my abfab week in donegal with the club :)

it was bloody amazing. donegal is so gorgeous, i want to move there. even if their accents are funny.
so monday morning we met up like usual and 16 of us set off for the bus trip up north.
so a little over an hour into the trip there was a mishap outside of limerick when amanda went unconscious and an ambulance was called. luckily of the 16 of us on the bus more than half were cpr/first aid certified so the people next to her took charge and she was responsive after a few minutes, but they still took her to the hospital. so we were slightly postponed in limerick, where we went grocery shopping, lunch and walked around the shopping centre for a few hours while we waited. luckily everything turned out ok for amanda and pj's (the bus driver) wife was going to come and pick her up. so we continued on our adventure.

pj is the best bus driver ever, honestly. he was giving us any fun info as we drove up. it was actually funny because none of us had ever been to donegal. it really makes me laugh though for such a small country people don't travel around it, ireland is about the size of indiana which isn't a super huge state, it is the 38th in rank of size, which is pretty small jersey is 45th. anyway the trip to donegal was about 250 miles away but it took us about 9 hours. which makes sense why the irish don't travel to the other end of the country, the road are horrible.

anyway so on the way through we stopped at w.b. yeats grave in drumcliff, co. sligo and it was gorgeous. in the background is ben bulbin, these fabulous mountains and the sun was setting so it was so picturesque. so we continued on our way and finally reached killybegs at about 9. we settled into our rooms, the hostel was sooo nice! made some food and then just spent the next few hours talking. my room was pretty funny. karen and i like usual shared a bunk bed. her on top, me on bottom - like the other 3 club weekends away all year, it is actually pretty funny. then brian/tim, richard and tom. so it was pretty fun room.

tuesday woke up with the sun kinda shining and we were ready to go hike the blue stacks. they were about 45 minutes away and it was looking to be a good day. the first bit of the hike was along the road, then a path so it was pretty easy going, there was a gorgeous waterfall, which we climbed down to the bottom to look at and then started the bog. most of the hike was just bog, bloody boring bog. and it was a hard bog to walk through, we stopped for lunch along a stream by the lake and then after lunch was fun, there were these awesome rocks like almost vertical rock slabs that you could walk up, it was really cool. and the boys found some boulders which of course had to be climbed. so then back to the bog for the hike down to the road. a group of people decided to go swimming in the pool by the waterfall but i was tired and so karen and i hightailed our way down the path and road to the bus. it was so nice to take off my boots, the bog was just so soul destroying, more than usual. after getting back to the hostel and making dinner we just sat around talking again and laughing about everything and anything.

wednesday was seriously one of the best days ever. it was bright and sunny when we woke up :) we were climbing slieve league, these bloody fabulous sea cliffs, they are the 2nd highest in ireland and in my mind prettier than the cliffs of moher. so after a long road walk into the parking lot and seeing the cliffs in their glory i knew it was going to be a fabulous day! we set off up the mountain and each view was just better and better, there was some great conversation and it was just spectacular views of the cliffs, the ocean and the valley below. you could also see ben bulbin and the blue stacks in the background, so it was really cool. so after a little lunch along the top of the mountain we went back down, and followed a little stream to possibly the most gorgeous place on earth. seriously i thought i died and found heaven here. a view of most of the cliffs, the ocean was so turquoise/bluey and there was nothing else there. just so peaceful and i wanted to just sit there forever. there was a great big flat rock, we all were sitting on just soaking in the wonderfullness. so after about a half hour of savoring the view we set off for the rest of the hike. and the views were still pretty and we could see the beach where we were ending the hike which was nice, because we were going swimming! so as we were coming down the final hill and the road walk to the bus it was starting to drizzle, but that didn't stop us from swimming. we met up with the 5 people who were climbing and almost all of us went swimming. it was sooooo cold, but totally worth it. i usually don't do crazy things like that but, when am i going to get the chance to go swimming in the north atlantic in march after a hike like that? i was only in the water for about a minute, i ran in and splashed around a bit and swam a wave in. and then immediately started to change into my dry clothes. i don't know how a few people stayed in for a few minutes. seriously. but i guess i am the girl who gets cold after 10 minutes in the ocean in august, oh well. so the hike goes down as my 2nd favourite ever. the first would be the epic curve gully in the snow hike from february and 3rd was the PnP hike in 1998 with camp. so just a fabulous amazing day :)

thursday we were up early to go climb errigal. it was about 2 hours away and it was pretty cool looking. it looked like a volcano and was just neat. after the first hour of hell climbing up a bog it got better, which was surprising because it was all skree. the skree was actually pretty easy to hike up and there was some scrambling :) the top was gorgeous and there were views for miles. so after a fun lunch and about halfway down there were 2 options, to hike onto another mountain next to it or head down. i had a headache and my knee was killing me, so i decided to hike down, and i was the only one, so it was so peaceful. i miss being outside in nature by myself. it is something i am so used to at home, just taking my car and driving. at home it was just for the drive around sussex, at college it was to the dock or the river/bay and at each of the camps i worked at i had places in the mountains or along rivers. and i miss that more than anything right now. so having almost an hour to just be alone was amazing. after the rest of the group came back we drove back and the hostel owner told us while we were cooking that there was going to be a quiz night at a local pub. so we all went and it was hilarious. karen and her captain were having a great night, and we broke into 3 teams for the quiz. i was on the kevin baconettes with ger, shane, and geraoid. and we came in 4th, but 1st for all the club teams :) it was funny with all the jokes among the club, calling out completely wrong and funny answers and just being ourselves. the bartender was getting a kick out of us and we closed down the place. had some laughs back in the hostel before we all went to bed.

friday was a day in the bus. nothing too great, i read a thousand splendid suns and it was amazing. i was crying most of the book and i love books like this. i am interested in islamic culture and i find books like this interesting and i think they are good for most of the western world, especially with everything going on in the world, even though it is fiction. they show how we all are people and the different struggles we all face. i still liked the kite runner better, but this hit me on a different level because the main characters were all female and just the differences between our lives and how i have the option to go to college and grad school and move 3000 miles away and everything i have done so far in my life.

so this weekend i have just been attempting to read for my paper. it is due on the 23rd and the only thing i have done is a topic and bibliography. so i've been reading like crazy the last 2 days
in an attempt to get most of the reading and notes done before greece, so i can write it over the weekend when i get back from holidays and then meet with cindy to talk about it. bah, doing work in gradschool. seriously this one paper a semester thing isn't really working for me. i don't even want to think about writing the thesis, though i pretty much am starting it as soon as i hand in my immigration paper.

so i'm busy busy monday and tuesday, working all day both days and then getting some readings finished and then packing and getting ready for my greek adventure :)
YAY!!

pictures :)

i'll add some pictures at work tomorrow, since my internet connection is circa 1999 dial-up at home.

sitting along the cliffs at slieve league

in the ocean :)

from the summit of errigal

errigal

ben bulbin and yeats's grave

waterfall on the blue stacks hike

slieve league cliffs

some of the group along slieve league

fav. picture of emer, karen and i sunbathing along the cliffs

donegal

off to donegal for the week with the mountaineering club :)

YAY!!

i do not live in a fraternity house

so thursday evening the girls in my house held a party. i was going to head over to kara's for a few drinks but the weather was so crappy and i wasn't really in the mood to drink. so i did some reading and watched a movie and fell asleep. to be woken up when the girls and friends showed up around midnight, i think the bis masters were all at my house. and since i live on the ground floor and i am a light sleeper, i hear everything. so i was pretty much awake all night, due to the doorbell, screaming outside my door, people dropping glasses and bottles, people opening up my door, doors slamming... i don't know anything and everything. the piece of cake was the bloody fire alarm going off at 5.30. so i go out into the entrance and see a few people trying to fiddle with the alarm and just the state of the house, honestly i love parties, but never have my friends and i completely trashed our places, i was disgusted. there were cans and bottles everywhere, beer all over the floor, glass everywhere. we figured how to turn off the alarm and 2 of my housemates were like maybe we should kick everyone out, i was like geee, sounds like a good idea. i was not in a happy mood, especially when we were trying to turn off the alarm and i said something and one of the guys was like where are you from, i was not in the mood for jersey/soprano jokes. not in the mood at 5.45 when i hadn't gotten any sleep and my house was trashed.

at 6 am, i was headed to bed, hoping i could really get some sleep, but it was difficult because i used to be up at 5.30 most of my final year of college with student teaching, then crew. finally was able to sleep and when i got up the house was 'cleaned' aka all the bottles/cans put in recycling bags... i felt as if i was in talbot, seriously. i was sticking to all the floors, and the house smelled like beer. i do not live in a fraternity house. so i was so excited when everyone left for the weekend so i could clean the house, seriously. i cleaned saturday morning and now my house is all nice and clean :) yay i no longer live in a fraternity house!

but friday afternoon kara and i were going to go for a walk in the park, but as we walked there it started to pour! and earlier it was gorgeous, blue and sunny. stupid weather. so we just hung out, cooked dinner and then watched atonement. which i loved. it was funny because i totally read the book, it was one of those things as the movie was happening i was like this is really familiar. but i enjoyed the movie and james mcavoy is such a cutie.

then after kara left i found a way to watch march madness online :) YAY!
so i watched the carolina game, which was fabulous. buuut my brackets are totally fucked because bloody uconn. seriously. i had them going to the final against carolina, my entire side is screwed. grrrrr. oh well. the tar heels are still in, so i don't care.

i've been watching scrubs most of the afternoon, instead of reading... i really need to get focused. ahhhhhh. but i'm meeting up with kara for a pint now, so it should be a fun saturday evening :)

i'm not cheating on my nalgenes

it is such a dreary day without it actually raining.
which is sad because yesterday was a fabulous sunny day.
made me very happy.
i wore sunglasses, which i never wear here.

woke up and checked my email to see that cindy needed to cancel class and instead of being the good person and going to the library i took advantage and slept, oh well. then i met up with kara for lunch and then i went into the city to run some errands.
i went into waterstones to look at a greece guidebook and i was getting really excited, seriously need to plan a bit more. like figure out what exactly i want to see, so many choices. and i'm just hoping for nice weather. YAY!

i finally bought a source pack for hiking, yay for easier water. i'm not cheating on my nalgenes, just making it easier for hiking. i still love my nalgenes.

last night was the mountaineering club AGM. cute slideshow by orla and emer, which featured a lot of my photos :) yay!
congrats to the new committee, should be an awesome one and it was kinda what i expected the committee to be. we all knew karen would be captain, which i think is a fabulous choice. quiet night at the pub, but was still fun :)

almost done with work, then i'm off to the library for the afternoon, where i will attempt to read 2 books. ugh, i am so not wanting to do work.
then i think kara and i will be going to the pub tonight, should be fun, as thursday nights always are.

annd MARCH MADNESS starts today, YAY!
even though i really won't be able to watch any games it still should be fun and to see how my predictions lie.

reeks ridge and st. patrick's day

wow!! what a weekend.

with clubs and socs on thursday, the epic reeks ridge hike on sunday and st. patrick's day on monday.

so saturday after the horrible rugby loss, my housemate aoife and i sat around watching horrible tv and kinda doing work and talking.

sunday i was up nice and early for the last official uccmc hike. where we would be hiking the reeks ridge.
it is the hardest hike the club does all year and the 2nd longest.
it was a pretty nice day, mostly cloudy but most importantly it didn't rain or wasn't windy! yay!

there was about 27 people there and we broke into 2 groups and it was great fun.
conor's group did benkeeragh up while the one i was in did caher up to carrauntoohill.
lots of talking and laughing, sam and i are becoming good friends, which is nice because we both kinda understand each other and we talked about out respective sororities a lot. had lunch at the top of carrauntoohill, then continued down, to only go up and down.
beasted ourselves up the hell mountain (i don't even remember its name) before doing the ridge, which was great fun.
i was wearing big red though, so it made my knee awkward and huge, so scrambling had some added fun. plus looking down and knowing if you fell you would fall far = go slow. but it was class.
had 2nd lunch at the grotto.
which was built because some guy was innappropriate with a sheep. seriously.
don't know why he built a grotto on a peak in the reeks about 950m up... but he did.
then ran our way down and up and down again. finally ended at the bog before stracheen, where it was nearing dark. but we were going to do stracheen, the stupid hill it is, even if it is 1.5 km across the bog to it. i walked with jack and catriona just laughing the entire time. seriously i felt as if i was drunk, but it was such a epic and fabulous day!
YAY!
finally got down to the bus and kate kearney's at about 8pm. seriously never so glad to see the bus :)
changed into comfy clothes, took off the knee brace and went and enjoyed a nice hot drink and dinner with everyone.
some halfhearted singing and then a little nap on the bus.
finally got back to cork about 11.30. where i was just wrecked.

but it was such a fabulous day, and YAY for the reeeeeks ridge!

monday i got to sleep in (yay for patrick's day being a national holiday) and it felt soo good. i was so sore, like my knees were done and it hurt to walk, and i was bruised alll over. but it was totally worth it.
met up with kara to experience a cork, st. patrick's day.

it was hilarious.
there is a parade in the city centre and it was interesting to say the least.
every minority group in ireland was represented (except the americans in ireland) and then the weird circus like things....
there were only like 2 marching bands and bagpipes, a few irish dance schools, a few soldiers and fire departments, totally not what i was expecting. but it was still fun.
everyone was covered in green and the tricolour and crazy irish things.
then kara and i went for a pint and caught up on our fun weekends!

didn't really do anything in the evening, most people i knew went out sunday night, because no class on monday, so just relaxed in front of the tv with my housemates and ice cream :)

i've been at work all day today, because no tuesday class, so i've caught up posting pictures, looked at all my crewies spring break photos, i miss it so much. looking at all the pictures and the banana river, the boats, the hands, the dinner at the in-laws, the beach, team dinners, the pool, funny night and even the bridges. florida was always fabulous.

can't believe tomorrow is my last class for a month, then i have to hand in my paper (better get started), and my last 2 official classes for my masters in april, then it is just my thesis!

omg, this morning i received the funniest thing ever from amy. seriously. i saw the post as i was getting out of the shower, and there was a small envelope to me from amy... in it was a pair of silver hoops with the funniest postcard ever. i laughed for a good 10 minutes straight. it made me excited because i was sad i misplaced those earrings.

and YAY for march madness starting thursday. i made my bracket up and i'm excited, even if i'm 3000 miles away from it, and will be in donegal/greece for most of the tournament. oh well.


writing out CORK! on the top of carrauntoohill. YAY! favourite picture of the day.
sam and i doing the 'sorority girl' pose.. hhahahaha!

the grotto...

people all decorated and festive on st. patrick's day!

girl guides at the parade :) YAY!

irish dancers in the parade :)


pog ma thon - funniest thing at the parade.

clubs and socs ball

soooo thursday night was the clubs and societies ball and wow was it a fab night :)

thursday was such a crazy day! work was mobbed, like i thought it would be. dave was out and about all day doing last minute things with the hotel and so he was calling me every 30 minutes and asking me to call people and to do other things for him, while dealing with the normal things. oh well. so i met with karen for lunch, to grab her bag to leave at my house, and then ran over to kara's where eibhlin did my eye makeup for me :) and then back to the house to get ready before people were coming over for the pre-party. jack, colin, sam, and maggie showed up and we had some fun drinking wine and singing, jack wearing high heels, using wine bottles as light sabres and other fun :)
we then caught the bus over to the rochestown, where we met up with amanda, orla, karen, and catriona and started with the baileys. there was free bailey's in the reception and well we had fun with it. i had about 6 of them and we were all double fisting (hahaha) and at a point i was joking with everyone and someone was like i bet you can't get 8 from the bar. so i went up and took 8 bailey's from the bar. it was pretty funny. after the bailey's we went upstairs for the awards and dinner. that was fun, lots of pictures and had fun joking and talking with everyone :) then after dinner i went over to talk to everyone from work, i finally got to meet dave's wife mel, and had fun talking over there. before i left, dave handed me a few drink vouches and i also ran into brendan who also gave me drink vouchers. so we knew erin was going to be having a fun night :) so i had a great night of dancing and talking with everyone and just having fun. i love dressing up and dancing :) brian and karen were crashing at my place and meaghan and jack came back as well and we had a hilarious chat and tea and toast. it got to the point where i was so tired, that i was just laughing and they all found it funny. aoife also joined in the fun, i didn't get to bed until after 5. yay for a great night :)
there was no repeat of last week, though we did run into each other a few times and talked. oh well. it still was a fabulous night :)

friday morning waking up at 8.00 for work wasn't the best, but luckily work wasn't too bad. i actually wasn't hungover, just exhausted. which is amazing, as i hadn't drank that such since wac. sooo work was quiet and only a few people came in. dave was completely hungover and hid for most of the morning.

after work on friday, i went home to relax and sleeeeeep. today i was going to get work done, but i went with aoife to watch the ireland-england rugby game, which was depressing. they lost big time. oh well. super excited for the reeks ridge tomorrow and lots of hardcore hiking :)


maggie, colin, sam, me and jack (in heels)

quadruple double fisting

karen and i

jack, tim, orla, catriona, me, karen and meghan

YAY for a fabulous night :)

postgrad ball and cloon lake

fun fun weekend :)

friday was the postgrad ball and it was a lot of fun. after work i relaxed and then went over to kara's to get ready, her roomate eibhleen did my hair and makeup, as well as kara's. we had fun drinking a bottle of wine while getting ready. so around half 6 we headed over to classic where the pre-party was. and it was funny because neither of us really knew anyone going, but we each ran into a few people. i first saw dan, who is also a history postgrad, but doing something different than us and i know him from work, because he is on the societies guild so talked for a few minutes. then kara pointed out a girl beth- who she met at registration, who was also american and then she came over to talk to kara. then i pointed out a girl, and i was like i think she was my friend val's roommate 2 years ago, and then emily actually came over and was like i think i know you, and i said you were val's roommate.. so we laughed and talked about being postgrads and such. it was actually pretty funny :)

so after the bus to rochestown park hotel, where the ball was, we had a great time. i also ran into an american girl i knew from the mountaineering club, who was here with a friend. so dinner was great, lots of funny conversation and laugher, our table wasn't full so we named the 2 empty seats and just split the food among ourselves and made up a great story about the couple. so after dinner was the dancing and it was great fun, i miss dancing like that. the band was pretty good and then after the band was a DJ. i ran into a bunch of people i knew from work from the guild, so was laughing and hanging out with them too. so it was a fab night of dancing and having fun! so after kara and i headed back home, it wasn't until 3.30 i got home, so i was exhausted but had such a super fun evening :)

and in more exciting news, barbara and scott had the twins :) yay! they were born friday night, a girl - erica grace and a boy - daniel john. so yay! for new baby cousins, who knows when i will see them probably christmas, when they will be 9 months old. oh well. but i can't wait to see pictures.

saturday slept in and it was fabulous :) then i watched the ireland-wales 6 nation rugby game. silly ireland, they played pretty crappy, but it was a close game they lost 16-12. they were saying it was going to be a close match, but grrrr. then kara and i ventured off to big tesco in wilton, it was a fun adventure, it really wasn't that far, and for it being a big tesco, there wasn't much more there than the one in the city centre. oh well. then after we made dinner and i had a chill night, because i was up to hike in the morning!

sunday we were meeting at 7.30, the extra half hour really does make a difference, wow. the forcast wasn't the best and it was kinda rainy and cold. 26 people showed up for cloon lake, which was supposed to be an epic 27 km. so we get there and break up into 2 groups a shorter, fun group, which we kept calling easycore, because softcore just doesn't sound right, then the easier 27km hardcore group. i wanted to do the whole thing, but i was in a blah mood after the bus, so i started with them, but after about 5 minutes i was like nope, as much as i want to do the whole 27km i don't want to be sprinting it and not enjoying it. so i walked back a bit to where the easier group was behind and joined them, i was in the mood for a fun hike. and as we walked we picked up 6 other people, so we grew! the hike was fun we laughed and joked and threw snowballs and enjoyed the view of the reeks, at the top there was snow :) and also we hit a ton of hail and then it was snowing, so no rain until we were coming down. yay! took a ton of amazing pictures, the reeks just looked fabulous next to us, we tried to get orla to hike the reeks instead driving down, but i am SOOO looking forward to the reeks ridge hike next weekend! YAY! unfortunately k2 sprained her ankle about 3 km away from the bus, luckily it was just going down through bog, so catriona and i helped support her, sam gave her piggybacks and colin fireman carried her over the river. then we had a while to wait for the other group, so we attempted to go for a walk, but some cows got in our way, so we went and bouldered and talked, until it started to rain. so all in all it was a fabulous day :) yay for hiking!

today at work was just hilarious. all the guild people were in and out, because the clubs/socs ball is thursday, i was selling tickets all day for the ball and the philosoph society was in and going crazy because the debate tonight. they were supposed to have david irving come, he is a writer who has written historical books, with his most famous and controversial about the holocaust not really happening, and it is some interesting stuff and he is banned from a bunch of countries for his views. so they wanted to have a debate with him, and it has been achieving huge national press. so friday it was decided that he was not coming pretty much by the college and the garda (police) and so they are still hosting the debate, just on free speech. so i'm heading to that in a few minutes, especially since i have heard so much about this event the last few weeks. its been funny because philo people will be in and at the same time so would some of the organisations holding protests against him coming to campus. apparently today in the same spot on campus across from each other was the political organisations against him telling people to still boycott it, and the philo people promoting the event, so work was just funny with everyone being very punchy and laughing a lot. so it should be interesting tonight!

i'm excited for the clubs/societies ball on thursday! yay for a fun night with the uccmc and getting to see everyone all nice, and then everyone i know from work too.
my favourite picture from saturday. the reeeeeeks! how gorgeous? seriously?
i love the mountains!

the cows that got in our way, they were sooo cute :)

me hugging ireland :)
kara and i at the postgrad ball :)


and for more photos check out my photoblog - http://www.photoblog.com/speedsters

kinsale, mt. brandon, sangria

busy busy weekend :)

last week was the normal, except chapman, a friend from college was traveling around europe came to visit me on thursday evening, so kara and i took her out for a fun night :)

and then on friday kara's friend from home, elizabeth, who is teaching in france this year came voer to visit, so just hung out with them, then saturday we went into kinsale for the afternoon, which was good fun :) and then out saturday night, which turned into a pretty funny night.

sunday was a fabulous hike :) we went to mt. brandon (my favourite mountain in ireland) and the day was nice and fun, and i got tot see what brandon looked like :) and got gorgeous pictures of brandon bay, but of course about halfway up the clouds rolled in, so the top was wet, cloudy, snowy,windy, hail... but overall it was a great day and yay for my favourite irish mountain :)

monday night was amazing, went to a mexican restaurant with kara, elizabeth and kara's roomate carmen. it was soooooo gooood! the sangria was fabulous as well as my enchiladas, and the conversation and laughter was even better. then after that, we went to captain america's because they have student drinks specials - 3euro for a cocktail! soooo exciting! i haven't had a cocktail since the summer, so my sex on the beach was amazing! i'll definitely be headed there again for drinks.

tuesday, against my better judgment, i decided to go out to the club with kara and elizabeth. i had a good time, just reminded me that the club was full of 18 year olds and they were obnoxious, so clubbing = bad idea. but it still was fun, especially the drinking at kara's before.

ohhh, monday was exciting because i got my package from chelsea, with a collage of rowing and oreos! YAY!! just need to find somewhere to hang it! and i'm planning my ZTA weekend in april, which is fun, becuase i do miss it, and it will be nice to meet other ZTA's abroad. annnnnd the office is closed the week after easter, so i don't have to ask for another few days off so i can go to donegal with the mountaineering club :) yay!

going climbing and to the pub tonight, i've been kinda lazy the last few weeks with climbing. oops. i'm excited for friday because it is the post-grad ball, so i can't wait to dress up and have fun :) and then next thursday is clubs/socs ball, which i am even more excited for, because i get a ticket from work, for dealing with all the societies, and i'll be the one selling the tickets this week at work, so it will be crazy tomorrow and friday... so yay for balls and dressing up.

kara and i with the kegs

kara, elizabeth and i in kinsale

the glorious mt. brandon

brandon bay :)

kara and liz finishing the sangria