So now, after spending over 4 months here in Ireland and living in Limerick for nearly the same period, the time has finally come to say goodbye to life here. And at this very moment, I really can’t wait to go home, as it’s been getting more and more quiet over the last week.

We finished packing and are bringing our parcels with our books to the guys’ as we weren’t able to send it back home today, so they will send it to us as soon as they get back from the holidays. We cleaned the apartment during an all-nighter last Thursday/Friday, as we got our deposit back on Friday. We also had our last exam last Friday, after cleaning all night and saying goodbye to Tove and Lisa in the morning, so it wasn’t that great to have an exam. But I think we passed anyway, as father Sean told us to make sure we wrote Erasmus on the sheet, and he’d make sure we’d get a good mark.

And now we really are ready to go back to the Netherlands, go home, as this no longer feels like home with the apartment so terribly empty and practically everyone gone. Abby and Peter are leaving tomorrow at 5am, Mandie at 8 and we will follow shortly after, taking the bus to Dublin. On Monday our plane will take off at 2.15pm, and we will set foot again on Dutch soil at 4.50pm.

I want to thank everyone for being supportive and leaving responses on my blog, and I will see you all soon!! And of course thanks for all the people that have become part of my life here in Limerick, I’m gonna miss you guys!

This is possibly the worst week of my life, or at least the worst I can remember. After having spent these last months with so many amazing and amazingly crazy people, the time has finally come for goodbyes..

Last Friday, Akili and the B-Boys had a bye bye Akili party, as he would be the first one to leave. So we had a nice party, a lot of booze (didn’t have that much myself, only 1 bottle of wine) and just having a great time while we still can. Don’t quite remember what time it was I went back upstairs, but somewhere around 3 I guess.

Saturday the people from shared housing had a Christmas party, starting at 4pm. Don’t ask me why they came up with that time, but we left City Campus around 10 past 6, walked to Lidl with about 14 people to do some shopping (still had 100 euros left from the society, bought mainly mulled wine, beer and pizza’s) and finally arrived at their place around 7-ish. It was fairly okay, but nobody was in a real party mood, and most people were kinda blue this evening. Around midnight a few of us decided to go to Costello’s, so it was time for Akili to say the first, and most, goodbyes. We then took taxi’s to the centre, partied, danced and drank some more, until one of us kept falling asleep while standing and another almost passed out. We walked back home which took us 45 minutes instead of the usual 10, and I told Akili I wouldn’t say goodbye to him just yet. The next morning I had my alarm at 8, got up around half 8 and Linda and I went down to the b-pad to say goodbye. So from this moment on I’ve been feeling like an emotional wreck, starting to cry at random moments (like while sitting in Burger King) every time I think about saying goodbye to more people. So this is the official beginning of the end, and it sucks!!

In the evening Magda had her B-day party which was nice, as people had drank enough alcohol to be in a cheerful mood, or well, the Spanish and French people who’re not that close to anyone else anyway.. We decided to kick them out of the apartment around half 2, as we were all really tired, all had headaches from crying all the time. Besides this, Alicja had to get a bus at 7.30 next morning to go to Dublin. Verena, JB and Benita left about an hour later, as Verena and JB had their second home here in our apartment and it took a bit longer to say goodbye. Eventyally the four of us went to bed around 4 in the morning, only to wake up again before 7.. Nice..

So we woke up early in the morning to walk Alicja to the bus station. This was another very difficult goodbye, as she has been such a wonderful roommate and become a really close friend. When we walked off City Campus, Gottfried was just passing, also having to take the bus to Dublin to fly back home to Germany. So the five of us walked to the station and we said goodbye to them. And Alicja was the only one of the four of us not crying, being strong, but about an hour later we got a text that she finally broke down. At that moment Linda and I were sitting with Thomas, and we started, again.

And another hour later, it was time for another goodbye… This time it was Thomas who was leaving us. And although this was one of the most dreaded goodbyes, I know it is only temporarily and there is no doubt whatsoever that I will see him again. The two of us decided this would not be a goodbye, merely a ‘see you later’, but still it was hard to see him go and neither could stop the tears..

After saying goodbye we were feeling so miserable again that we went back to bed, only to have Linda wake me up at 3.15pm, asking me if I wanted to go to the Christmas gathering at school. We took our time, I took a shower and we went some time after 4. Mandie already joined us in the apartment, also needing to adjust to the fact that Thomas is no longer here. The ‘party’ was kind of boring and scary at the same time, as we got in, got a glass of mulled wine pushed into our hands and we were ushered to take a seat. After about 45 minutes we were freaked out, so Mandie, Benita and I left for Fennesey’s to get a pint and relax a bit. Been sitting there talking, and around 6 we left, making a quick stop at Lidl and then going back home.

And now Magda is packing her stuff, as she is leaving for Dublin tomorrow morning to meet Alicja and to fly back to Poland. So another goodbye tomorrow… And at the moment I’m really wondering how the hell Linda and I will get through this week, as we’ll be here to see everyone off, and we’re the last people to leave. Maybe it would have been easier to be the first one to leave and get it over with all at once, but we’ll never find out. This week really is going to be hell.. And at the moment, I really can’t wait to go back home, just to get this all over with. But we’ll deal with it, as we have dealed with every other thing that has come across our path these last months.

Right now, I’m going to continue packing my stuff, see if it’s all going to fit (surely hope it will, though there is some doubt) and clean my room a bit. And then I’ll probably watch a movie with Magda, Verena and Mandie, as I don’t really feel like going to Abby tonight for yet another party.

Even after already having said some goodbyes, I still can’t imagine being back home this time next week, even though I really don’t mind it anymore. It’ll probably hit me with full force when we’re back at Schiphol and we hear people talking Dutch all the time.. But we’ll see next week!

So Linda and I wanted to take the bus at 13.25 last Saturday to go to Galway.. We would meet everyone at 6 at the hostel, and people could decide for themselves if they wanted to spend the entire day in the city or not. We had already been there a couple of times, so we chose not to be there the entire day and catch up on some sleep instead. So we went to the station (we were running a bit late) and the bus was still there. And usually you can just buy your tickets in the bus, but this was the occasionally asshole busdriver, and he told us we had to go inside. We bought the tickets, walked out again and… yes, the bus left! At moments like these, I really want to beat people to a pulp (but as he was already gone, we couldn’t). So we went back inside, bought some food and drinks for on the bus, Linda went to the Meteor store to buy some top-up for both of us (didn’t feel like walking all the way to the store) and after an hour we took the next bus, with Andrea and her friend from Germany. Had a nice and bumpy busride, but did manage to fall asleep after some time. I mean, what better thing to do in a bus besides sleeping?

So we were in Galway around a quarter to 5, and some people were at the station waiting for us. Walked around the city a little bit, bougth a new shirt, as we forgot to take a clean shirt along. Well, what can I say? Just love Penneys.. About an hour later we decided to go and look for the hostel, which took us about 45 minutes, as we walked in the opposite direction and had a nice tour through the city (the hostel was about a 100m from Eyre Square). At half 6 we were finally there, after having made a short stop at Lidl to buy some wine and beer (and they actually asked all of us for our IDs, even the 24 year olds!). Turned out we weren’t allowed to have any alcohol in the hostel, so we took it back outside, went to a pizza place to get some food (me, Akili and Brittany), went back to the hostel, got dressed, went out, got drunk… And then we went out to this place called Cuba, which was on 2 different floors. Ground floor was your standard club music (though they did play Hot Chip and Cansei de ser Sexy) and on the first floor there was rock music and at one point even a live band. So when there was crappy music upstairs, we went down, and the other way round. Had a nice night, took some crazy/drunk pics, but nothing really worth seeing.. Anyway, this was one of the last times we’re going out here in Ireland, so we had a good time!

Sunday we went back to Limerick, after not having had a lot of sleep, so didn’t really do anything the rest of the day.

Monday idem. We had to get started on our History, but didn’t feel like it, so we didn’t.. Instead spent some time on facebook, procrastination station #1!! Tuesday idem.. Though today Linda and I actually printed a shitload of reading materials for Early/Medieval Ireland. So much in fact, that we first ran out of paper (I bought some new paper when I did groceries an hour later) and then ran out of ink.. So we managed to print about 65 pages each, and tried to start reading them..

Wednesday I planned on getting up early, which I didn’t, and then started reading history. The pages we had already printed took me about 4 hours, as it was extremely boring and I had to read parts over and over again to register what was written there. And besides the text being completely mind-numbing, there were a lot (and I mean a lot!) of writing errors, which makes it even more annoying to read.. So I finished this part around 5, decided to take a short break from studying, which lasted till 1.15am, when I went to bed.

And today we actually did wake up rather early, around half 10 (yes, this is very early for me!) after a very bad night’s sleep.. I mean, when your throat is all swollen and your nose is blocked, it’s really not that easy to breathe. So when I was awake I sat at my laptop, reading (or at least, trying to) the last part (about 150 pages) of history for the exam today at half 3. After reading for about 2 hours I gave up and quickly had a look at the powerpoints that we took from the lan. Pretty much the same information, though a bit less detailed, but way easier to go through when you don’t have that much time left! At a quarter to 3 we left the apartment, walked to school, bought a bottle of water and tissues and walked to the gym.. Only to find a huge amount of people waiting to register for the exam and to find out where to sit! Yes, they actually have lists here with all the people who are taking an exam, you have to sign next to your name and you have an appointed table. It went from A to O, seats 1 to 25.. Mine was K21.. But all in all there were about 375 people taking this exam, so yeah, a LOT of people! The exam consisted of 5 essay type questions, of which you had to answer 2. Very nice if you’ve never learnt to write an essay! Anyway, after about an hour and a half I left, as I didn’t know what to write anymore, had been looking around about half the time I had been sitting there and the Irish people were getting to my nerves as they all just kept writing and writing and writing. And unlike back home, you can’t leave your sheets on your table, which was apparantly mentioned in the rules on the answer sheets, but which were in my case in Irish. And my understanding of Irish is not as good so as to understand what it all meant. After about 5 minutes of waiting outside, Linda joined me, also having fucked up the entire exam. We had some fun about it while walking back home. And Linda’s rules were in English, and she told me that if you have to go to the bathroom, someone will walk with you, and if you have a cellphone or calculator with you on the exam, they can kick you out of school for 12 months.. What the fuck?!?! Yeah, next exam I’m going to try to take the rules with me, as they’re absolutely ridiculous. But anyway, now we know the rules, sort of, and we also know that bottles of water are allowed in, and you have to have your college card on the upper right corner of your table.

And some time ago Linda made us some dinner, not wanting me to cook and make her ill as well. Had some lovely pasta, which did taste very good, despite the fact that I’m unable to smell anything at the moment.

And right now it’s 10 to 9, and I’m going to bed, trying to get rid of this flue before tomorrow, as it’s Akili’s goodbye party tomorrownight! And on Saturday there’s a Christmas party at shared housing, Sunday probably Magdalena’s birthday party and Monday we have a Christmas gathering with all the internationals at school, including mince pies and mulled wine. And after that, I think I might start packing my stuff, as I only have 11 more days before I’m back home!

Monday morning I had to get up early, as I had a flight to London at 13.05pm. So at half 10 I checked what time the bus would go to the airport and discovered I wouldn’t make it in time as there are only 2 buses, one at 25 past and one at half, the first taking 30 minutes and the second taking 50 minutes (and it’s only 24km). So to make sure I wouldn’t miss my flight I took a taxi instead, more expensive, but at least I was on time this way.

I had already checked in online, so I could go straight through security and to the gate, where I had priority boarding. Nice! Once at Gatwick I took a train to Victoria station and from there the tube to Edgeware Road, where our hostel was. Checked in, got a text from Linda that they were at Notting Hill Gate, so took the tube there. Walked around Notting Hill for a couple hours, then took the tube back to the hostel where we had some dinner (hostel was above a pub, The Green Man). Stayed there the rest of the evening and had some drinks while having a craic with some people working there.

Tuesday we went to Oxford Street and did some shopping there. My favourite shop: Borders!! Never seen a bookstore this huge! So yeah, walked around all day, went to Picadilly Circus to meet Linda and Felicitas who went to Madame Tuseauds (no idea how you spell it).

Fountain at Picadilly..

And view from the fountain..

We bought some tickets for the Lion King musical, went back to our hostel, had some dinner and took the tube back to Picadilly..

On the escalator in the tube..

Lyceum Theatre in West End. One of the many, and I mean MANY theatres, in this area of London. The musical was absolutely wonderful, and at the beginning I almost started crying (didn’t, but almost). I definitely don’t regret going here, and I want to go back to London to see more shows (like Lord of the Rings).

That night we were in the pub of our hostel till half 3, playing pool with Andre and Julian, two Romanian guys (and brothers) who were working in the hostel and pub.

Wednesday morning we went to Camden Town, which is really my kind of place! Lots of alternative stores, shoes and clothes. But also very expensive, so the only thing I bought was a scarf, which was 3GBP.. If only I had the money…

Having some food at Camden market (hmm.. falafel!)

Waiting for the tube.. (we spent a lot of time waiting for the tube, but still.. it’s better than walking the distance)

After Camden we went to the British Museum, and after about 5 minutes I lost the others, so I walked around for 2 hours on my own. Only seen the Egyptian parts of the museum, and then I didn’t feel like absorbing any more information any longer, so I went out.

British Museum main entrance..

They also had this small exhibition about the Divine Cat, which I thought worth taking a pic of..

And of course, mummies!! Lots and lots of dead people who had their brains and intestines cut out, and then put back in in packets, and after that being wrapped in cloths and displayed behind glass.. Nice!

They also had mummified cats, and the sign said that some people even broke the necks of their cats to have them mummified as this way they had some divine meaning.. Poor kitty! The small one is a kitten.

And, weirdest of all, a mummified fish.. Not kidding.. Then again, there were also crocodiles and even a baboon, so yeah, people were really fond of dead animals back then.

As I didn’t know where the others were and I didn’t have any money on my phone to text or call them, I decided to go to Harrods to pass the time. Walked around for about 3 hours, bought a few small (and not very expensive) things, and was again amazed by the things they have here. Even went to the Christmas department, as I wanted to buy some crackers, but after seeing the prices (6 for 499GBP were the most expensive) I decided not to. When I went back out at 5, the lights were on and they even had a snow machine on the roof to get everyone in the Christmas atmosphere.

I went back to the hostel, sat downstairs in the pub for some time, until the others returned at half 6. We had some dinner and been sitting in the pub the rest of the evening. When we went to bed around 11 it turned out that one guy in our room didn’t have a reservation for that night, and we were a bed short. It took about an hour and a half to solve the problem, and then we could finally get some sleep!

Thursday we packed our bags, put them in the basement and went to Oxford street again to have some breakfast at Starbucks in Borders. Did some more shopping, went to Soho and Chinatown and then returned to the hostel to get our bags and say goodbye to the people with whom we’d been hanging out during our stay in London. Exchanged email addresses, Facebook accounts and finally took the tube to Victoria from where we would take the bus to Stansted Airport.

Andre, Julian and Alex..

We were back at Shannon around half 11, took a taxi back home and then my fob didn’t work! So I had to call Ron out of bed, get my fob reactivated and then I could finally get into my bedroom and go to bed.. The first descent night’s sleep I’ve had in a week!!

And this morning my alarm went off at 9, cause I wanted to get a shower first and we had our EFL exam at 12pm. The exam was piece of cake, and the essay part was 450 words of complete bullshit about Ireland. And when we got back around half 2 I sat down at my laptop and didn’t really do anything else, except clean my room a bit. And now it’s already 10pm, and you’re all up to date again

Tomorrow we’re going to Galway to party and we’ll be back on Sunday. On the 13th of December I have my next exam, Early and Medieval Ireland, the 21st Léann Dúchais. So in between the exams we have parties almost non-stop, as the Akili is already leaving us on the 16th! We’re no longer going to Apocalyptica, as we want to spend as much time as possible with the people here and not waste a single moment. Just 2 more weeks and 3 days and then I’ll be back home as well..

Yeah, and now I think I’m going to catch up on some sleep…

So on Friday we were supposed to take our bus from the bus station at 6 in the morning. On Thursday evening some guys from Mary I had a gig, so we went out and instead of going to bed I decided to stay awake all night, it would after all take about 5 hours to go to Belfast. In other words, enough time to catch up on some sleep. Around 5.45am most people who were coming were waiting downstairs, except for the guys.. So we called their apartment, no answer.. Decided to knock on their door to see if they already left or were still asleep. They weren’t just asleep, but in a deep coma Really funny to stand not even 1 metre from someone sleeping on the floor and having to yell to wake them up.. But around 6 all of us were at the station waiting for the bus.. and waiting.. and waiting some more.. Around half 6 we called the bus company to see what took them so long, and it turned out they thought we were leaving the next day!NOT nice!! They would arrange a bus for us asap, and it would take about an hour. So I went back to the apartment, grabbed some dvds (which I forgot to pack during the night) and went back. And about 15 minutes later our bus was there (by this time it was half 7) and we were finally on our way to Belfast!

We arrived in the city around 2 in the afternoon, went to our hostel, checked in and went to the city centre. And of course, like everywhere else, Christmas decorations!

And next to the ‘continental’ Christmas market they had the "Belfast Eye" (nice little rip-off from the London Eye), which was about 60m high. But it was a nice first sight of the city.

After walking around in the city and doing some shopping (the guys are even more shopaholics than the girls, unbelievable) we went to Tesco, bought some drinks (bottles of wine and cider) and went back to the hostel and started our little party there. But the atmosphere was great! People talking, drinking and giving each other massages

And of course just acting crazy..

Thomas being all proud of his (still full) bottle of vodka

Sitting in a small and cramped but very cosy dorm.

And almost falling asleep while drinking whiskey

Sometime in the evening (have absolutely no clue what time it was) we went to this club, The Box, about 20 minute walk from the hostel. And while walking there we saw this nice (but in a half drunken state of mind, weird) statue at the side of the river. And then try to take a sharp picture of it!

Ready for the party!

While we were out I didn’t really take any pics, due to the fact that I really liked my bottle of wine earlier that evening and the club closed at 1am.. Yeah, not kidding! That really sucked.. But hey, we still have more time to party!

The next day JB walked into our room to wake us up around half 9 in the morning, and I really wanted to kick him! But at least this meant that we had a long day ahead of us, and therefore a lot of time to do some sightseeing. So in the morning we walked through the city with some people, and we saw some nice things.

And the weather was reasonably good, though very, very cold! (Or that was just for a lack of sleep and alcohol..)

On our way to Queens College, trying to read a map.. (Turns out not only women turn a map upside down, some men have this habit as well

Fooling around on walls in front of the College

Nice college building.. Very different from Mary I

And no rain!! WHOO!!

In the Botanic Gardens. Ville trying to explain something about Kelvin, as there was a statue of Kelvin in the park. Not sure if he got through to the others though..

In the greenhouse where it was nice and warm (and where we spent quite some time just not to be outside and freeze our asses off)

After the botanic gardens we took a black taxi tour that would take us to the famous murals in Belfast. We were walking around the city with the 10 of us, so we took 2 taxi’s. Nice and cosy, and also a good way to stay warm.

One of the murals..

And another one (I have all of them on pictures, but not going to put them all up here). The middle painting is an optical illusion, as it doesn’t matter from what point you look at it, it always seems like the rifle is pointed directly at you.

And a mural of the famous Ulster hero Cú Chulainn

And our two black taxi’s..

This wall is between the Protestand and Catholic areas of Belfast, and it has been raised twice in during the 80s and 90s. No way in hell anyone is going to be able to climb over this one now!

A memorial with the Republican flag and the flags of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht.

There was one big wall where there were contemporary murals, including this one of Bush drinking oil with his straw being supported by the British Support hook.. Very funny and very true..

After the tour we went back to the centre, walked around a bit and to warm up a little we went to the christmas market and had some mulled wine, which was very nice (even at 6 in the afternoon)! We could really use something to get warmed up, as it had been raining for quite some time, in addition to just being very cold outside.

After the glühwein we (Ville, Peter, Andy and myself) decided to take a ride in the Belfast Eye, which was very funny due to the different buttons in the ceiling of the cabin. After only one round it stopped, they opened our doors and asked us if we wanted to get out, as Ville accidentally pushed the operator button twice (he tried to turn up the volume of the music, but missed the right button). But the view was very nice!

In the night we went out to a place called ‘the bunker’, which was kind of nice, and where I got another little ego boost (2nd in 2 days, not bad at all! I love Belfast!

In his drunken state of mind Ville saw a big, orange traffic cone, and decided he wanted to take it with him as a souvenir. So he walked across half the city carrying the thing on his shoulder, but when in the hostel he thought it would be a nice experience to carry it upstairs on his head.. Which is not very handy if you have finally climbed up all the stairs and when all of a sudden someone is sitting on the floor in front of the stairs.. So we had a good craic when he fell over Brittany, still wearing the cone on his head

And the next morning we again had to get up early, as check-out was at 10.30. We had about half an hour to pack our stuff, which sounds easier than it is, as this was what our room looked like after 2 nights..

We could leave our bags at the hostel, walked into the centre again, looking for a place to have some breakfast and coffee (or in my case, hot chocolate). We found a Starbucks and waited outside for half an hour till it opened. Ordered our drinks, went upstairs and have been sitting in the best chairs ever for about an hour and a half, trying very hard not to fall asleep..

By this time the shops opened and we went to do some more shopping. Lisa and I walked around together, and this time I couldn’t resist to take a picture of the idiotic police cars.. They just look so tempting to boost and drive around the city and bump into every car!!

Sunday evening our bus was waiting for us at 6 in front of the hostel. We got in, had one half hour stop in Kildare (don’t ask, somewhere close to Dublin I think) and drove back to Limerick. We were back home at 11.15pm. I took a shower, packed my bag and was talking with Thomas and Mandy who joined us to our apartment. We said goodbye for now, as I was to go to London the next day and would come back Thursday night, when they would already be in Paris, to return on 13 December.. Not nice!! I eventually went to bed around 2am, all my stuff packed and boarding pass and passport at the ready.

Ok, so last Friday we left for Belfast as one of the trips for the International Society, and we had a fucking brilliant time there! Love the city, love the people, no doubt whatsoever that I’m going back there. We partied till we dropped, did some sightseeing between the drinking and my body’s never felt this sore. But I love it! We came back about 2 hours ago (11pm, Sunday night), I took a shower and packed my bag, cause I’m leaving for London in about 11 hours. And just now, finally, the internet check-in managed to pull through, so already got my boarding pass.

And as I haven’t had a lot of sleep in the last 3 days, I’m gonna hit the sack now. So when I’m back from London (coming back Thursday night) I’ll update my blog again, but with more details and pics (took about 300 in Belfast, so be prepared!).

.. and again, nothing really extraordinary happened..

Monday we had our classes as usual, and for the first time ever, Linda and I had some dinner at school! It was around 3pm, so we turned out making dinner anyway when we got home. But still, she fish and chips were nice, and so was Linda’s lasagna.
On Tuesday we had our classes as usual, and don’t remember anything else that’s happened..

Wednesday we had another day of regular classes (wait, did I even go to history? hmm..) and in the evening the One World Society had organised an intercultural concert, where a few of our fellow internationals performed! And just to give you a little taste of what it was like:

Naomi also sang with a group of Irish people (a song in Swiss, so I didn’t understand any of it), and Abby and Felicitas also sang a song, which I do have on video, but haven’t put on youtube.. (the one video took 12 hours to upload, so I don’t really feel like putting anything else on there). But I have about half of the concert on tape, including Ville’s other song..

After the concert we went to a pub to have a drink with a lot of people, and then it really hit me that I have to say goodbye to everyone here.. So Linda crawled onto my lap to comfort me and a moment later I went back home (while listening to really depressing music), sat on the couch, watched part of the video I took and fucking cried my eyes out.. I’m really going to miss everyone here so badly (and one person in particular)!! And then my sweet roommates came back home and we were just sitting there, talking and talking.. And as usual, we went to bed around 3.

Thursday was same shit, different day.. More classes, and our last Gaeilge ab inito theory class. But otherwise, nothing worth mentioning..

Friday we had class in the morning, and after that Linda and I did some shopping.. We also did some groceries (for about the first time in 2 weeks) and at one point we really didn’t like the paper bags you get here everywhere.. We forgot to take our Tesco bags, so we put the groceries in Penneys bags instead. And while walking from Tesco to the taxi stand, one of the bags got a mind of its own and decided not to last till we were back home. So a lot of our groceries were all over the sidewalk (in front of Penneys even!).. Linda and I just laughed our asses off, and she went in to get a new bag. Took a taxi back home and by the time we had everything upstairs the other bags also decided to tear down the middle.

In the evening Julia had a birthday party (it was funeral themed, as she deemed her life nearly over), so for the occasion we bought a bottle of tequilla and some lemons. We started drinking around half 9 (Katharina and Felicitas each had 1 shot), went to the party around 11 and around 12 Linda and I had finished the bottle. Linda started drinking water instead, I drank some more vodka, had a sip of wine (it was disgusting!) and drank about half of Ville’s can of beer. I remember him putting his coat on me because I was standing outside in a tanktop (and it was minus 6 degrees) and after that it’s kind of a blank… until the moment we got back out of the taxi and we were home again (around 4 or 5 am).. Went to bed at 6.45, woke up at half 9, went to the toilet, got something to drink (energy drink), went back to bed and woke up at 11.. (the worst thing I did was just hugging a lot of people, so it wasn’t that bad even!)
So then we had a really lazy day, and we didn’t do anything at all!! Just sitting in the living room, trying to fill in the blanks of the night before (one of my roommates also has a blank of a few hours, so at least I’m not the only one! . And I did my laundry.. which was the most active thing of the entire day..

Yesterday we started studying Irish, as we have the exam tomorrow. In the evening Thomas and Verena came over and we watched some of the videotapes, which was nice, as some parts were really crazy. Linda discovered that Apocalyptica is having a gig in Dublin on December 15, so she got all hyperactive (again). Verena and Thomas left around 2am, after which I was just sitting at my laptop watching some videos on youtube (while waiting for it to finish uploading the one video), and around 4 I decided to just go to bed..

And then it was today again, and we had an aural exam of our EFL class today, which was ridiculously easy! We had our last real Gaeilge class today, as we’re having the exam tomorrow, which was kind of weird, cause at the end of class Ian started talking about sending him emails and if we come and visit to drop in on him sometime. Yeah, this is how it’s going to be from now on probably.. We made a list of the dates people are leaving, and Linda and I were first to arrive and last to leave again. So we will probably have a huge goodbye party on December 14, as we won’t be here on 15th, and 16 December the first person is leaving already!

Well, as you can see, this was another interesting week of my life here in Luimneach, NOT! This might also explain why I don’t update my blog on a regular basis anymore, it’s just not very interesting to know about the things I get into here. In a few days we’ll be leaving for Belfast (the bus is leaving at 6am, that’s gonna be fun..) and after that I’m off to London. So maybe I’ll have some nicer stories and pics next time..

Wednesday evening we didn’t really do anything, Thomas, Mandy and Verena came over to watch a movie (The Illusionist) and then we watched American Pie as well. So went to bed around 2 (again).

Thursday we had some apple pie at Verena’s, and we were planning on watching a movie, but instead JB brought some of the good stuff (not alcohol) and we smoked some and then went to the party at Lisa and Tove’s around midnight.. And to be honest, I’m not quite sure what time we went to bed, probably around 4 or 5 again.. Then again, I’m not sure what happened, as my mind was one big blurr, even the following day.

So as you could very well guess, we didn’t go to class on Friday, as I woke up around 1 and got out of bed at 2.. Didn’t do anything all day long (don’t you just love those lazy days?).. I can’t even remember if we did anything that evening. Don’t think we did..

Saturday we had to get up early, because at 8am our bus would be here at City Campus.. Today we went to Cork and to the famous Blarney Castle. It took us a little over an hour to arrive at Blarney, as we didn’t exactly leave at 8 (it was too early, and some people were a bit late, but who cares?).

Blarney Castle from a distance..

And from up close..

We went all the way up, because apparantly kissing the Blarney Stone is one of the 99 things you have to do before you die… Right.. Don’t mind castles, don’t mind the winding stairs that come with castles, but these I really didn’t like! Very steep, very small steps and very narrow.. And besides all, very, VERY high! Damn, you wouldn’t like to slip and fall, because you’ll be down in a few seconds with every single bone in your body to pieces.

All the way up.. (and yes, you can actually see a small part of the floor inside the castle, and even thát floor was some way up..)

Abby kissing the Blarney stone.. after first having screamed her lungs out! I first didn’t want to do it (UGH!), but Linda made me.. I think there might be a pic of it somewhere, but I don’t have it just yet…

Pretty view from the top.

After wandering through the entire castle, we went to some sort of park, and Austrian people just can’t seem to resist cold ponds..

And other people just can’t resist climbing trees when they see one.. Or dangling on the branches like a monkey

After about 2 hours at Blarney, we went to Cork to do some shopping.. But most of all, trying to stay inside as it was pouring outside. Not the best way to see a nice city. But then again, you do get funny looks when a grown-up crawls inside a kid’s thingy.. (People looked at us as if we were crazy, still don’t know why

And then we were just waiting for the bus to go back to Limerick again, being very tired and almost falling asleep on the floor in the shopping centre.

We got back to City Campus around 6pm, went up to our apartment, took off our shoes and wet socks (Allstars are nót waterproof) and just sat there.. trying to stay awake (which we did manage, as everybody had been sleeping in the bus on the way back). We had some dinner (petit pains with boiled eggs, didn’t feel like making proper dinner), and then Thomas called to see what we were up to. So he, Mandy and their new flatmate came over, we had some drinks,Linda went to the off-licence and then we had some more drinks. And around 10.30 we went to Julie’s apartment because she was having her birthday party! So the 5th party within a week.. But the party wasn’t that great and the music was terrible, so Mandy and I went upstairs to listen to some decent music. Linda and Tove also came up, and some time later Mandy went to bed. At 3am Thomas called to ask us if we’d like to come downstairs, because one of his friends was coming over for a drink. And so we did.. Just sat there, being exhausted and almost falling asleep, went back up at 5, made some food (garlic ciabatta), watched an episode of The Tudors and went to bed at 6..

Yesterday we didn’t do shit.. Slept until 11am (good huh?), sat at my computer till about 1.30am, and I watched a few tapes I recorded in the last months.. And then I went to bed, and just now we’ve had another class of An tSean Ghaeilge, and now we’re going back to school to have our other classes.. yeah!

Oh, on 30 November we’re having a trip to Belfast, and we’re coming back on Sunday evening (late!). On Monday I have a flight to London at 1pm, where I’ll be meeting some of my fellow students who are going to London on Sunday. So I probably won’t be able to update my blog.. Just so everyone knows..

And it’s a really strange and disturbing thought that at this moment in 5 weeks, Linda and I will be on our way to Dublin airport for our flight back to Holland.. Don’t want to think about it just yet!

Okay, so last week we had the Léann Dúchais trip to Lough Gur, and what better opportunity to (finally) make a picture of our grandpa teacher?

We went to the Grange circle where we performed a small Samhain ritual which included burning some newspapers and an image of the Goddess of summer. After the ritual we walked around a bit, and Father Sean explained a lot of things that we have previously discusses during our classes.

When we returned to Mary I, I walked back home immediately, grabbed my other bag and my cameras and took off again, this time to the bus station to go to Dublin. When I arrived at the station the bus had also just arrived, so now it was time to sit in a bus again for 4 hours! And believe me, you do get used to it..

So Astrid was already in Dublin and had gotten lost for 6 times trying to find the hostel, which was about a 3 minute walk from the bus station. But now she was waiting there for me, and we went back to the hostel and I checked in. Straight after we went to a pub, had some dinner, and of course, Astrid had her first real pint of Guinness!

We spent the rest of the evening in another bar, had some drinks, were being harassed by some strange guy and went back to the hostel.

After breakfast we went to Trinity College to see the book of Kells. This was my second time, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This may very well be because there was some information which I already knew from my classes here. We also went to Christ Church Cathedral, and then we went to do some shopping. But first: coffee! (or in my case, hot chocolate). We loved the big mugs, and as it was ridiculously expensive, we decided we paid enough to keep the mugs.. We did some shopping, bought some new clothes and shoes, had a lovely dinner in a little restaurant and went back to the hostel, where I fell asleep almost immediately.

On Friday we took the bus at half 9 back to Limerick, where we arrived around half 1. Walked home, and spent some time in the apartment. We went to the city centre for a bit, where I showed Astrid around for some time.

Saturday morning we went to the Milk Market here in Limerick, a market like back in Holland, with all kinds of things being sold (but mainly food). We had some great pancakes (not American, but French like thingies) and bought some freshly made bread and some nice cakes and stuff.

In the evening we would either go to Costello’s (a nice bar closeby) or go to a party at the house of a Polish classmate with the rest of the people. So we ended up going to the party where everyone was already drunk when we finally arrived. It was the first (and hopefully last) party where the Garda came crashing in It was a nice enough party, except for the fact that there were some really creepy Polish guys whom we didn’t trust at all. But nothing bad happened and we ended up walking back home for about 45 minutes.. I still don’t know why we didn’t just take a taxi back.. Anyway, ended up in bed around 5am.

On Sunday Astrid wanted to take a daytour of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, which would leave at 9.45 from the Tourist Information Centre. But as we woke up at 11, that plan didn’t really work out too well. So instead we didn’t really do anything worth mentioning.. Astrid did go to Tesco for a bit, to get some salad to go with our falafel.

Monday I walked Astrid to the bus station, because she would get back to Dublin and fly back home. We said goodbye, and I told her I’d see her in 5 weeks! (Which was a mistake, as it was 6 more weeks, YAY!) Walked back home, cleaned the walls (because there were still marks on the walls from the Halloween decorations and someone would come and check the apartment), got blisters and went to school.

Late in the evening Linda and I decided to do our homework for Irish, and then we had some drinks with Verena and her brother who was visiting for a few days. He had a plane to catch around 7, and he didn’t feel like going to bed for only 2 hours, so we kept him company and went to bed around 4.15.. not good!

Tuesday we went to classes as usual, did some shopping afterwards as we still had to bake stuff for the bake sale. In the evening I made 2 apple pies, then went to a party at the guys, where Thomas made me a drink called Irish Trashcan. It was like the best drink ever!! It consist of 6 different shots (vodka, gin, light rum, triple sec, peach schnapps, blue curaçau) and a can of Red Bull upside down in your cup. You don’t taste any of the alcohol, but after only one drink you’re tipsy, and I had 3.. So it would be a lie to tell you that I was sober. Went to bed at 6am, while having to get up again around half 8 as we would have a bake sale next morning…

And instead I woke up at 11, still feeling drunk and being very thirsty. I got dressed, put my pies in a bag and walked to school with Alicja and Magdalena. Went to the library to put down my bags, went to the shop to get something to drink . Eventually we’ve been sitting in the library until half 3, counted the money we made (€245.15) and packed all our stuff again and went back home. And when we got back I was really tired, so I went to bed for some time.. And now I’m back among the living again

Today it’s exactly 3 months since I came to Ireland, and we have only 5.5 more weeks to go before we go home.. *I don’t wanna!*

Okay, so now I’m in Dublin again, but this time with my big sis! She arrived yesterday, and I came to Dublin by bus around 8pm (first had the trip with Sean).

She picked me up from the bus station (not the way it should be, right?) and we went to our hostel, which is grand! We went to my ‘favorite’ pub to have some food, and of course had some drinks there and in another bar as well, where there was a very annoying guy bothering us and trying to persuade us to visit his pub.. He was talking with a very heavy Irish accent, and it took us about half an hour to figure out what the feck he was saying.. Anyway, no way in hell we’re going in there!!

We went back to our hostel, went to bed and had the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had in a hostel! And just now we woke up, went downstairs and had our lovely full Irish breakfast, vegetarian option ofcourse for Astrid..

Now I’m going to finish this quick update, as we’re going to Trinity College and Christ Church Cathedral and god knows what else.. Check out Dubhlinn anyway..