girlbits

happy new year! okay, 12 days late. but still.

and happy 4 monthiversary of my arrival in this country. 4 months! they just keep piling up. and my irish accent is really not coming along at all. i'm quite disappointed. bollocks!

well, let's start with new years. i didn't really have many plans, but a couple guys from work decided to take me out to a pub in rathfarnham, a town about 10 minutes from tallaght. it was really packed, but very casual and fun.

i may have had a few drinks so i didn't take many pictures. but we had a great night and i racked up quite the phone bill calling everyone i know back home. i guess it's a little weird when i call up at 4pm drunk saying happy new year. the time difference is slightly confusing still.

but we really had a great time, and i managed to get home by 2am and up for work at 10. me? responsible? what's going on here?

anyway, it was a fabulous new years eve and a great way to bring in 07.

after new years i tried to lay low for a bit and save money and my liver until the students started arriving home. christophe came home on the 6th and finally home feels like home again. until he leaves for good next saturday, anyway. boooooooo.

louise finally came home too and we had a great night out last weekend when we went for a great dinner in temple bar, then a few drinks at our favourite spot, fitzsimon's. as you can see, louise was very happy to see me too.

and now finally all the students in the building are home and it's noisy and full of life again. we visited our local, molloy's, the other night to reunite everyone with a guinness, as we do. it's exam time now so they don't come out much.

i swear i didn't drool on clemens' shirt as it may seem. unfortunate placement of a raindrop.

then i had two days off. i decided it was time again to get out and see something new and interesting in dublin which, in turn, gives me something new and interesting to share with all of you.

so i decided to go to Kilmainham Gaol, an old prison built in 1796.

i was expecting it to be a little creepy, but really was not prepared for what was actually there. when you first walk in, you're in the west wing which is the old part of the prison.

it was cold, dark, and completely eerie. the cells were tiny and had nothing but concrete floors and walls and one small window at the top of the back wall. prisoners didn't have a mattress of any kind, only one blanket and one candle they had to make last 2 weeks.

usually i wouldn't have much sympathy for people in prison because normally you would think of murderers, rapists, and generally horrible people. and of course this place housed many of these people as well, but they also kept women here, as well as children as young as 8 who stole food. most of the prisoners were political and were revolutionaries serving time for crimes against the government.

anyway, then as you walk through the small corridors and a few 4 foot doorways, you get to the east wing, or the "new" wing. this room was enormous and built so that a guard could stand in one certain spot and have a full view of all cells in that wing.

apparently they added the skylight because:

a) in the old wing, prisoners were dying of diseases associated with lack of vitamin D (sunlight) and

b) to remind the prisoners of God.

it was really an amazing place though with some great stories.

afterwards we went out to the courtyard where some very famous political heroes were executed. it was just a big stone courtyard with tall cement walls, but you could see where the walls were worn away from bullets. one small black cross sits in the corner and a plaque on the wall comemorates the people who died there.

needless to say it was a very moving experience. i think it was even scarier because i was there alone and just standing in one of those cells by myself was chilling.

so, after that i needed a walk outside and finally the weather was nice again. so i walked through the grounds of the irish museum of modern art.

i had the intention of going inside, but i spent too long walking around outside and taking pictures and by the end i was tired and hungry and not in the mood for modern art.

but the whole time i was careful of any sheep...

or hedgehogs...

at least i think that's what those are. not quite sure what the signs are for, but i thought they were funny.

at the end of my little adventure i stopped at this old graveyard, because i seem to have developed a strange and slightly creepy fascination with old graveyards.

so now i'm back at work again. boring as usual. kiki leaves next saturday and i'm really not looking forward to it. although, i have a new lovely american girl coming to live here with me for a few months so hopefully she can fill kiki's shoes! (melinda, you have to speak french. hopefully that's okay.)

but, the end of exam week also means big party chez britt & kiki! i'll hide the table this time.