Dublin, Ireland - kmr788
Remember back in elementary and middle school when each new school year seemed to begin with the same assignment: Write an essay entitled "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." I had some pretty good...

And So It Begins...
Boston, United States
I woke up around 8am, having only gone to bed two hours earlier. Yet with only a couple hours of sleep in me, I still did not feel tired. I was like a little kid waking up on Christmas morning- the excitement was enough to wake me up instantly!
Before leaving for the airport.
In only a few hours I would be saying goodbye to my routine life in Boston and heading out for an eight-week adventure in Europe. So imagine my disappointment when I threw open my window curtains to greet the morning, but was instead also forced to greet the rain that had come in overnight! Of course the day I have to move all my boxes to storage is when it decides to rain (and after a previous week of beautiful weather). Therefore, the morning was a mildly stressful one with my friend, Chante, and I throwing garbage bags over all my boxes so they wouldn’t get soaked in the bed of the pickup truck we had rented.
But I did not lose hope! My adventure was still getting ready to take place-- I just had to jump through a couple of hoops before I could get there. All in all, moving all my things to storage only took a little over two hours and was relatively painless – take that, Rain! You tried to foil my plans but I have proved superior!
Before I left for the airport I ran into two of my good friends and was glad I was able to say goodbye. One of them, Kristen, will be attending Trinity University in Ireland in the fall for her PhD. so she may take a week to come visit this summer, which would be tons of fun! It wasn’t until I said goodbye to my friends and walked into my newly emptied apartment that it really hit me… Starting a new adventure is great, but it also means saying goodbye to the people and places that have been my home for the past school year. The only thing that comforts me is knowing this it is not a permanent goodbye. Yet before I even left Boston, I already felt homesick for it, however I was comforted to know I would only be gone a short three months.
But still as the cab pulled away from my apartment building I felt the urge to scream to the cab driver, “Wait! Slow down- you’re driving too fast and I need more time to say goodbye!” I know that I’ll be back in three months, but I also know that I will be coming back to a completely new environment in the fall. I will no longer live in South Campus, many of my friends will be spread out across the globe at new universities, and I have yet to find an apartment for September.
When I was in the sixth grade I went on a weekend school trip to Camp Maclean. When I returned, just a mere three days after having left, I found that the 7-11 that once stood behind my house was gone. It’s windows were boarded up, its sign taken down, a small piece of my childhood lost. This was just one of the instances where life took me by the shoulders and shook me hard saying, “See! Things change, nothing is forever.” And so I left Boston this morning with a sort of sweet sadness- knowing the adventure waiting for me on the other end was well worth whatever I may have to say goodbye to at my university home, but missing it all the same… It’s the same feeling I get every time I must leave my real, true home in Chicago.
I arrived at the airport and found three other girls that were also part of the Boston University trip. We sat together and talked before boarding the plane and it was comforting to know that when the plane’s tires hit the tarmac 3000 miles away, over 6 hours later, I already had new friends to join me in my adventure.
As the plane pulled away from the gate at Logan International Airport and it’s tires lifted from the runaway to glide through the sky, I said goodbye to Boston once more and I said hello to the possibilities I had waiting for me on the other end of my flight. As my dad told me before the plane took off: This is a once in a lifetime experience- enjoy it.” And I can’t wait!
written by  kmr788 on May 27, 2009 from Boston, United States
from the travel blog: Dublin, Ireland

No...Sleep...'Till...Dublin!
Shannon, Ireland
It is currently about 6am Ireland time, which means its only midnight for those of you back in Chi-town, and 1am for my Boston people. This time difference thing is sure to be tough at first. We have just landed in Shannon, Ireland
From the plane at the Shannon Airport before heading to Dublin!
where we have about an hour layover before our final half-hour flight to Dublin!
I’m once again talking with the same girls I met back at Logan airport- Megan (who I already love!- she’s from Texas and attends the University of Texas there), Lindsay (a real sweetie who attends University of Michigan), and Tara (also a BU student), and another girl who’s name I sadly forget, she attends Cornell though so that’s how Megan and I now refer to her. Already we’re discussing what each of us wants to do over the summer- some of us are already planning trips we may take together!
I think the best thing about taking a trip like this is all the new people you get to meet that your world would not otherwise know. I mean we have someone from Texas, Michigan, New York, etc.- and all of us have been brought together because we all chose to spend the summer outside our little boxes of comfort back in the US and instead embark across the Atlantic Ocean for a summer abroad. Truly amazing!
Another shot of the plane.
Megan and I hit it off really well and her, Lindsay, and I especially seem to be in tune on the types of side trips we’d like to take! We’re not sure of our housing situation yet but Megan and I are hoping we can room together!
The flight wasn’t too bad and I think I actually got about two hours of sleep. I had the cutest old Irish man sitting next to me. When he came to take his seat the first thing he did was hold out his hand, and in his thick Irish accent, introduce himself with his full name.
We’re only supposed to be in Shannon for about an hour but while originally we weren’t supposed to be switching planes, we now are so we may be here a bit longer. I’ll just feel better when were in Dublin and settled in our rooms!
written by  kmr788 on May 28, 2009 from Shannon, Ireland
from the travel blog: Dublin, Ireland

Céad míle fáilte go hÉirinn
Dublin, Ireland
(Stop! The blog you're about to enjoy should be read after "No Sleep 'Till Dublin". The order got screwed up.)
"A Hundred Thousand Welcomes to Ireland"
I write this latest blog from my dorm room at the Dublin City University! We arrived in Dublin around 9am and got to the apartments shortly thereafter. I unpacked my things and then went with Megan, Lindsay, Tara, and ‘Cornell’ (still need to find out her name!) to get some coffee. We were also joined by one of my suitemates, name not remembered, who is really great.
The apartment is as follows (see the pics too!) We have five bedrooms connected by a long hallway.
There are two people in each bedroom and then we all share a common room that has a kitchen.
The common area.
But each of the bedrooms has its own bathroom so all in all its really not bad!
My bedroom.
Unfortunately, our housing was already decided for us so Megan and I couldn’t room together like we’d hoped. She’s not in my suite either, but is instead on the floor below me. However, I’m rooming with a girl named Neesha who seems really sweet, though we haven’t had too much time to talk yet. (She’s currently taking a nap on the bed behind me!)
We got a chance to see a bit of the university on our quest for coffee and we talked some more about what types of side trips we’re all interested in. My suitemate (Why can’t I remember her name?!) and I are both interested in taking a day or two in London. Megan wasn’t interested in that trip but its something ‘Suitemate’ and I may do.
Megan, Lindsay, ‘Suitemate,’ and I all want to go down to western Ireland as well. Megan has been to Ireland twice before and she knows some great places down there. All of us want to go to the touristy places too, such as the Blarney Stone. We were thinking of staying in hostels to save on hotel fares- plus we know this would be a much more ‘real’ experience than staying in some hotel. Plus who doesn’t love saving money?! A couple of us also talked of side trips to Scotland and Paris. But I’ll be the first to admit that my bank account funds are currently pretty low so my trips will have to be kept to a minimum. :(
Given my lack of sleep I’m actually pretty awake right now- though that’s no doubt due to the coffee and excitement currently in my system! We have some type of meeting at 2p but then I’m not really sure what else we have to do today. My guess is that most of us will probably be going to bed pretty early since we basically skipped right over Wednesday night because of the time difference.
I sent out an e-mail to my sister earlier telling her to go online if she got the e-mail relatively soon. Then I realized it was only 6am her time even though it was noon here!! So I had to send her another e-mail saying, “Never mind, you’re probably asleep!” Like I said- it will take a bit of getting used to.
(Wooh- I just found out that ‘suitemates’ name is AMY! Yay. Now I just need to figure out “Cornell’s’ real name!”) Oh and I just saw some of the other girls rooms and mine is a lot bigger- yay! Haha.
Okay- done for now I think. I’ll write more either tonight or tomorrow. Don’t worry, once classes and the internship start up I won’t have as many blogs up each day to bore you with!
written by  kmr788 on May 28, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland
from the travel blog: Dublin, Ireland

First Night Out!
Dublin, Ireland
Dublin = amazing! Originally my plan for my first night here was to go to bed wicked early because I was so tired from my long day. Also, with the time difference I basically didn’t have a Wednesday night. But Megan wanted to go to City Centre for some dinner and drinks so I figured sleep could wait! I’ll sleep when I’m dead, right? Or my new motto: I’ll sleep when I’m back in Boston! Plus we found out it was our suitemate- Bobby’s- 21st birthday so of course we had to celebrate! (We have five bedrooms in our suite with two people in each and four of them are all girls and then we have one room with two guys.)
We took the bus down to City Centre and then wound up at a place for drinks and dinner.
The first Dublin bar we hit up on our first night in Dublin!
Bobby chose here because apparently the name had “a lot of vowels in it” according to him, which apparently made it a good place. (Oh yeah, I should probably mention that prior to heading downtown Bobby, Megan, and I had a couple beers so some of us were already a little tipsy.) Anywho, Bobby found out I’d never had a Guinness on tap (actually I’d never had a Guinness at all, or any other type of beer on tap). So he ordered a round of Guinness for everyone (there were 10 of us there!) We tried to explain that you’re not supposed to buy the drinks on your birthday but we figured if he wasn’t going to argue then neither were we! Also, there were more rounds we figured we could buy later! I had to laugh though because there’s a movie called 'Penelope' where James MacAvoy’s character is talking with Christina Ricci’s character and he asks her if she’s ever had a beer. And she replies, of course I have. He asks if she’s ever had a beer on tap and she says no. “Then you’ve never had a beer.” So I guess I have only now officially had a beer according to the James MacAvoy logic! But of course since I’m not 21 that was the first time I’d ever had an alcoholic beverage in. my. life! Honest. :-P
It was a pretty chill bar and we were able to take up a corner of it and all sit and talk. We wound up staying there to grab some dinner and I had a burger, which was delicious! Ooh, and yummy onion rings too! That combined with another drink made for a pretty amazing first Dublin dinner. After dinner we asked the waitress if she could split up the bill for us. Her reply? “It’s already been taken care of.” My reply? Um, what?! So naturally every head turns to Bobby with a questioning look. He claimed he didn’t take care of the bill, that would be crazy wouldn’t it? Another suitemate of mine, Jahna, asked the bartender and found out that yes, Bobby was the one who paid the bill. Okay, we are talking about TEN people who each had at least two drinks and everyone had dinner. So 5 euro a drink, 10 euro for dinner (and that’s on the low estimate) we’re still talking about 200 euro!? Crazy!
After dinner most people went home because I guess they were tired but Megan, Jahna, Bobby, and I went to another couple bars. The first was a great little place that had an acoustic guitarist who sang a song for Bobby’s birthday! Haha. We only had a drink or two there and then moved onto a different, pretty laid-back bar. By this point I knew I’d reached my limit so I didn’t drink anymore (see, don’t worry, I’m a smart gal!) Bobby had also reached his limit a couple shots of whisky ago, but he’s a guy so of course he wasn’t going to admit it and he ordered another beer. But by the time he had a couple sips I think he realized his limit was reached. Jahna and Megan had moved elsewhere in the bar so it was just Bobby and me as he sat with his head down holding the beer, looking like he was about to pass out! I stood with him for the next twenty minutes or so to make sure he was okay- I guess I was the ‘babysitter’ for the night! Haha, but no worries – still so much fun! Every once in a while Bobby’s drink would begin tipping forward in his hands so finally (after much coaxing) I convinced him to just give me the damn drink!
I motioned to Jahna and Megan that we should go because Bobby wasn’t doing too well and they said we’d leave after the next song – but of course that song lasted like ten minutes, I swear! So we finally got Bobby down the flight of stairs (of course we had to be on a second floor bar! Wth!) with Megan on one side and me on the other. So we get him downstairs and Jahna turns to him and says, “So are you ready to go to the next bar?” My thought process: Are you F’ing kidding me? He can barely stand up, I’d been with him for the last half hour, and I’m pretty sure he actually passed out/fell asleep at some point! I tried to talk some sense into him but like I said before, he’s a guy (!) so its not like he’s going to say no. But thank god on the way to finding another bar he admitted that we should probably go home. So then began the fun drama of finding the bus back to campus!
We weren’t quite sure which number bus we had to take so when one pulled up to the curb I ran to ask the driver which bus we should take. Well somehow (and I’m still not quite sure what happened), I completely (!) wiped out! Right in front of the bus! So embarrassing (but luckily I was in no state to actually be embarrassed). I now have this huge bruise on my right leg- but luckily that was the only harm done! Finally we just decided to take a cab home, which I tired to pay for but when I handed the cab driver my money Bobby took the money out of his hands, gave it back to me, and then paid for the cab! (Oh and did I mention, he paid for all our other drinks too!) Now here’s the real kicker- we paid 60 euro (!!!) for that twenty-minute cab ride. And why did we do that? Because we were drunk and didn’t know how much it should be and the cab driver was well aware of that. And what should we really have paid? According to the locals I’ve talked with, about 20 euro (F!). Kind of made me glad I didn’t pay for it! Haha.
written by  kmr788 on May 29, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

Having Great Craic!
Dublin, Ireland
Well yesterday was another great day in Dublin- what a shocker! In the morning we had some orientation stuff, which I thought would be a lot worse than it actually was. Some parts of it were pretty cool actually; we had a woman come in to teach us different phrases in Gaelic. I think everyone’s favorite was “Craic” (pronounced Crack). In Ireland if you’re having a good time you would say, “We’re having great crack!” Which of course would have a whole different meaning back in the US!
After our orientation meetings we went down to City Centre for a “treasure hunt” where we split into groups and had to walk around the city answering questions. Before heading to that though a couple of us started off at this place and had some drinks and all talked for a bit.
Great bar we grabbed some drinks at before our afternoon orientation on Friday.
The treasure hunt was kind of cool though because we got to see different sites and what not and learn a bit about the city. We were allowed to use maps and ask the locals (who are all so nice and friendly!)
Monument to James Joyce?
At one point my group was standing around trying to figure out the answer to one of the questions when a local came up and told us he’d tell us the answer if we donated to his charity! Haha. He was probably early to mid twenties and was collecting donations for a children’s foundation- I forget which one. So we all gave him a bit and then wound up talking to him for a little bit.
Remembrance Park.
The thing I love about the locals here is that not only are most willing to give you directions and what not. But then most of them actually take the time to stop and talk with you. Ask where you're from, how you like Dublin, etc. And they all usually have tips for us on what we should check out while we’re here! It’s great!
After the treasure hunt Amy and I split off on our own to get cell phones and do some shopping to get some things for the apartment and what not.
Another side street in Dublin.
We also wound up catching up with a girl from a different suite, Hannah and then another girl Jess joined us on the way back.
We headed back to the apartment and grabbed some dinner, then around 9:30p went back down to City Centre for the night.
Standing on a bridge in City Centre looking out over the river.
By now we were back in our big group of six or seven of us girls. As we were leaving some of our other suitemates were just getting back to the apartment so I guess they were having an early night.
We met Jahna and Megan at a bar down in City Centre but it was a little too quiet for most of us, so we left there and headed down the Temple Bar District. So this is the best part- we didn’t really know where we should go so one of us decides we’ll “stalk” this group of guys in front of us and go wherever they go. Well I guess one of them heard us say that so two of the guys stopped and turned around and was like, “Are you stalking us?” Haha. So we wound up talking with those two- James and Michael. But they were both from England and it was their first trip to Dublin so they couldn’t help us much on where to go. Still, they wound up hanging out with us the rest of the night!
We finally wound up at a place called “Doyle’s”, which I loved!
One of the pubs we went to our second night out.
Let’s see though- by this point Ellie had been talking with Michael the whole time and they were off in a corner, then Denise wound up with James and they were off on the dance floor! Megan, Jahna, and Amy were at the bar talking to some guys too! Haha. It was beginning to look like Noah’s Ark. Lindsay and Kelsey were there somewhere too.
At some point I decided to go outside and get some air, so I was standing outside the bar sending a text on my cell phone when this guy behind me asked if I was okay. I just gave him the brush off because I didn’t wanna deal with it but then he said I looked upset or something, and I was like nope, I’m fine (which I was.) Well I have no clue how, but somehow he actually got me talking. And we wound up standing out there for like a half hour talking. His name was David and he was a native Dubliner and freaking adorable! Haha. He’s a photographer and I was telling him that I wanted to be a history teacher and he asked what type of history I was into. When I said American history I found out that he’s actually really into the American Civil War. I thought this was so cool- because I’d never met someone from another country that was interested in our history and stuff. I don’t know, it was just really cool. He was wicked smart too- he knew more US state capitals than I did, he had me quizzing him! I actually felt a little stupid after talking to him! Haha.
The best part was when he spent twenty minutes trying to guess Chicago’s football team because he couldn’t remember what it was! First he kept saying the Chicago Braves and I was telling him that A. the braves are baseball and B. that’s the Atlanta Braves! Then he said so confidentially, the Chicago Bulls!! And I laughed and said except that’s our basketball team! He did know the Cubbies though, which made my day! Finally I had to tell him the Bears because he couldn’t remember!
So you know in movies when the girl is in a different country and she starts talking with someone and then out of nowhere one of the guys girl friends runs up and starts talking really fast about whatever drama is happening in her life, and then they stop their rambling to turn to the other girl and say hi and introduce herself, and its just all so funny. Okay, maybe you think I’m making this up but I swear in like every movie where some chick winds up in England or something, that’s what happens. And that’s exactly what happened while I was talking with David. One of his friends came up and was going on about how she got locked out of her house, and something with her ex-boyfriends bike being there and her roommate is out of town and now she has to spend the weekend at her ex-boyfriends family’s house or something! Haha, I don’t know but she was so adorable!
The bar was two floors and after talking outside for a bit David and I went to the second floor where I met all his other friends.
We had a couple drinks and I got to talk with all of them, which was a lot of fun. And for all my loser friends out there- no, nothing happened besides him buying me a Guinness, and my family is reading this blog so get your head out of the gutter! :-P hehe.
Finally the night dwindled down and I made my way back to campus with the girls. By now it was past three and I’ll omit how many drinks I’d had (though I will say Denise and I did a couple of tequila shots throughout the night!)
written by  kmr788 on May 31, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

Don't frown. You never know who's falling in love with your smile.
Killiney, Ireland
I’m attempting to take it a bit easy today- so it’s currently 1p and I’m still hanging out in my pajamas! Basically I’ve been working on my blog since I woke up for all of you to enjoy! We may go out again tonight, but for now I need some rest!
The weather has been great since we got here and all the locals tell us how lucky we are to have such great weather.
Coastline at Killiney.
It’s been in the mid to late 60s but with no rain so I guess this is great weather for Ireland. Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head to a beach in Killiney.
At the train station before heading down to Killiney.
All the people in the photo went and we took the train down there.
We took the bus to City Centre and then walked all the way to where we thought the train was, only to find it was the wrong one! Then we found that the train we needed was basically right where we had started with where the bus let us off. So we did a lot of unnecessary walking that ate up a lot of time, but we were all enjoying ourselves and no one was on a time limit so we actually enjoyed getting “lost.”
Killiney is about a thirty-minute train ride south of Dublin and is sooo beautiful! At first though we got on the wrong train (Apparently the rail we were on had both a commuter train and then the one we needed to take- The Dart). Luckily we got on the commuter rail and a local told us where to get off and which train to take to get to Killiney. So we wound up stopping in Dun Laoghaire
and getting on the Dart there to head down to the beach.
Okay- Amy and Jahna just knocked on my door and want to head to City Centre for some shopping so I’m gonna head down there with them! I’ll finish this up later!
Alright- I’m back. Shopping turned out to be not so much fun because I was so bloody tired. But anyway, back to what I was talking about…
The day at the beach was great, though I wound up with a bit of sunburn. I didn’t put any suntan lotion on because I stupidly didn’t think I’d need it.
Hanging out at the beach in Killiney.
Though it’s good weather in Ireland terms, it was still only about 68. But I guess that’s hot enough to get burned! We came home after the beach and all grabbed some dinner, then headed back down to City Centre for the night.
We wound up at a great bar called “The Auld Dubliner,” which was two stories with live music on the second floor.
On the bus before heading out our first Saturday night.
So here’s the best part- Amy and I went up to the second floor and grabbed a seat as we waited for everyone else to make their way up. While we were waiting we saw this guy walking up to us. And both her and I were sort of liked, ugh we don’t want to deal with being hit on right now. Well then we looked at his face and saw that it was James! Okay, remember the other night when we were “stalking” the English boys and two of them wound up hanging out with us?! That James, the same James that Denise made out with figuring she’d never have to see him again!
Oh my gosh, it was the greatest- I started laughing my head off!! Well remember they got separated from their bachelor party the other night, well they were actually at the Auld Dubliner with that party so we got to meet all their friends. We actually wound up hanging out with their party the whole night, and we were basically the only ones on the second floor so it was actually a lot of fun.
The bachelor was adorable too (or as they call it in English- the Stag.) We were talking for a bit and comparing slang dating/hooking up terms in American and Britain, haha. We were talking about what 1st base, 2nd base, etc are in Britain- I forget exactly what he said, but he said a “homerun” was something silly- ugh, I wish I remembered! And then we were talking about how “making out” in America is “snogging” in Britain and a bunch of funny things like that. He was actually a really great guy- he reminded me of one of the boxing coaches where I workout back in Boston actually with some of the things he said, and his whole positive, life-is-great attitude! It was just a fun night overall. We hung out there until around 2 or 3 and then made our way back home for some major SLEEP TIME!
written by  kmr788 on May 31, 2009 from Killiney, Ireland

Nudist |'n(y)oodist| : A person who engages in the practice of going naked wherever possible
Dalkey, Ireland
Okay- be honest! After seeing the name to this blog you just can not wait to read it, right!?! Well, enjoy...
Yesterday was a “Bank Holiday” in Ireland so we didn’t have class or internship things to do. It’s amusing because no one here actually seems to be able to tell me what a ‘Bank Holiday’ is other than the fact that the banks are closed. Most people describe it as a Sunday because the banks are closed, and most places open late.
It turned out to be another great weather day so some of the girls decided to head to the beach again.
Dalkey Shoreline
The locals had told us about this little beach called Whitecliff (or something like that), which was a bit off the beaten path so it was less crowded and had more locals over tourists. So we decided to take their advice and we took the train down to Dalkey,
which was just one stop before the last beach we went to.
The town was gorgeous! One of those little towns that you just have to fall in love with immediately.
The town of Dalkey
In fact when we got off the train the town was blocked by a building and when we all turned the corner and got the first view of the town we all let out this unanimous, ‘Awww!’
It was a bit of a walk to the beach, but we enjoyed seeing more of the town and all the houses.
The thing I loved was how each house was uniquely different from the one next to it. Unlike a lot of the suburbs in Chicago or Boston where they’re built by developments that basically plant the same house down next to each other.
When we looked up Dalkey on the Internet to find this beach it read that Dalkey is the “Beverley Hills of Ireland!” Haha, too cool.
Dalkey is said to be the "Beverly Hills of Ireland"- after seeing some of the houses we understood why!
At first I didn’t understand why this town would be given that reputation, but as we walked more and saw some of the amazing houses I completely understood!
We finally got to the beach and had to walk down a bunch of stairs and through a couple paths to get to the water.
Heading to the beach in Dalkey.
So we turn the corner to see the beach and what greets us? Why, about fifteen completely naked men!! Turns out- we wound up at a nudist beach! So here we are, about seven girls, with a bunch of naked men all at least forty years old! Can you say: AWKWARD! But we’d travelled all that way so we weren’t about to turn around- haha, so we wound up staying the whole afternoon and still had a great time! I was talking with Megan towards the end of the day and we were saying we didn’t know what was scarier: That we were surrounded by a bunch of naked men, or that by the end of the day it didn’t even bother us! Haha, a naked guy walks past us and it’s just like, “no biggie!”
We later found out that the beach we stopped at was not the one the locals had told us about. (At first I thought they just told us about the nudist beach so they could get a big laugh out of it!) But it turns out that the beach we stopped at was an informal beach before the other one.
Shoreline at the beach in Dalkey.
We may take a weekend to go back there and actually find the other beach the locals had meant us to go to, but we’ll see.
Although it was a beautiful day out and I got lots of sun, the water was absolutely FREEZING!!
At the beach in Dalkey.
A couple of the girls went in and came out about two minutes later with all their limbs freezing, and as Jahna put it- with their internal organs about to shut down! A little while later they decided to jump back in and since I was pretty warm from the sun I figured I’d go in too. I was used to swimming in cold water so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal and I’d just stay in for a bit. However, there was one MAJOR thing I forgot about… and that’s a little thing called: asthma!
So I jumped in the water… My lungs immediately closed up… And I wet into a massive asthma attack! There are a couple of places where you really don’t want to go into an asthma attack and I would say that the water would be at the top of that list! So I’m now in this freezing water, and I can’t breath, nor can I easily swim because I’m too busy not breathing. To really top it off, my breathing is so bad and my lungs are so tightly closed that I can’t even scream for help! I was literally doing my hardest not to drown (seriously!) and I’m desperately trying to get gasps of air as I kick to stay above water!
People on the beach began to notice that I was having trouble and somehow I was able to spit out that I was having an asthma attack. (Why I didn’t just scream ‘help’ when I could actually get breath to talk, I don’t know?!) Well luckily I hadn’t swam too far from the coast (mainly because I didn’t have any time to before my lungs closed up and I stopped breathing) so I was able to pull myself out of the water!
Of course because I’m the biggest idiot in the world I didn’t have my inhaler with me! (And I know Mom, it is now permanently in my purse and will not leave there and I know I’m a big dumb-dumb for not having it with me!!- Trust me, you’re voice was in my head the whole time!) Luckily there was a guy there that had an inhaler and I didn’t have time to think about whether I should take it or not, because I knew I needed it!! So I took two quick puffs of the inhaler and once I sat down and was out of the cold water, my lungs were able to open up and it was much easier.
It was seriously one of the scariest situations of my life. Because like I said, not only was I fighting the fact that I couldn’t breathe but I was also fighting the fact that I was literally beginning to drown! OMG!! I swear just thinking about it makes my lungs close up again!
After leaving the beach the other girls decided to walk around the town a bit. But once I got up and started walking I felt like my lungs were going to close on me any second, and since I didn’t have my inhaler with me I just wanted to get back to the apartment. So I headed back, completely exhausted, and did absolutely nothing the rest of the night! It was actually great- because after spending the past four nights out late at the pubs, I knew my liver (not to mention my wallet!) needed a break!!
Earlier today we had our first class at Dublin City University- it was great! But I’ll write more on that later… right now I have to head to some internship meetings!
written by  kmr788 on June 2, 2009 from Dalkey, Ireland

Turn Your F'ing Music Off
Let’s see- what has happened since the last time I wrote?
Well I had my first couple classes in my ‘History of Ireland’ course- which have all been fabulous! I’m so excited to get to experience taking a college course in a different country. I’m interested to see what kinds of similarities and differences I see between the American and Irish teaching styles. Also, I’m interested for the overall subject matter. But even more than that, I’m interested to learn the history of Ireland from an actual Irish perspective. (But mostly I’m interested in finding another word for interesting because I just said that one about five times!) Anyways, I’ve obviously taken history courses on other countries and regions before but they’re still always from the foreign, American perspective so it’ll be cool to take this Irish history course in Ireland!
The first thing to note is that in Ireland college “professors” are called ‘lecturers.’ The term professor is saved for someone who is truly accomplished in the academic field and is not tossed around as much as in America. My lecturer is great and she really makes all the lectures interesting. Plus, she always ends with a full-class debate/discussion where she really works to get everyone involved, and I really love this. The first day she addressed how many mixed abilities there were going to be in the room because everyone was from different colleges, different majors, and different ages. I liked this because catering to mixed abilities is something we talk about so often in my education classes. So to hear this Irish lecturer address the issue was actually kind of cool. So far I think she’s done a good job of catering to the different abilities. Although I’m a history major I don’t find the class too easy and I think it is probably a great level for those that haven’t taken history in a couple of years.
We recently had our lecture on the Irish potato famine, which led to a great discussion on if it was misguided policy or passive genocide. I tend to lead towards the former of the two. We also watched a bit of Irish Riverdancing, which I loved! The first week of July the history class is taking a walking tour of Dublin while the music class is going to see Riverdance. Well the history class is now really interested in going to that also, so some of us are going to look into how much it would cost for us to go!
Outside the Natural History Museum of the National Museum of Ireland. (Please note: This picture was taken from the internet and not by me.)
I also had my interview on Wednesday for my internship. For those that aren’t aware, I’ll be doing my internship at the Natural History branch of the National Museum of Ireland. I was a little bit nervous because the day before we had someone come in to talk to us about the interviews. He was talking about the differences between the Irish and American workplace and for the first time I really began to grasp that I’d be working in a culture entirely different from my own!
Some of the things he brought up seemed so weird to me. For instance, in Ireland it’s customary to ask a question three times, because once just isn’t enough apparently. So if I were to ask someone if they wanted a cup of tea- I’d have to ask it three times if they say no the first time. Because apparently chances are they really do want the tea but it’s polite to say no two times first. So do you want some tea? No I’m good. Are you sure, it’s no problem. Oh no thanks. Oh come on, how about you have some tea with me? Okay, that sounds nice. I thought that was pretty funny when he told us about it!
He also talked about how the Irish are less direct than Americans. So in the past they had an intern who was listening to her iPod at work and the boss said, “You really like your music, don’t you?” The intern assumed he was just making conversation and said that she did. Apparently, what he really meant by that was “Turn your F’ing music off” and the intern was let go after that! Crazy!
So I was pretty nervous going into my interview- but it wound up going great! I talked with the ‘keeper’ of the Natural History Museum for over an hour and a half! He gave me a tour of the museum, which is currently closed for renovation.
Apparently about two years ago one of their staircases collapsed (with eight people on it! Luckily they were all okay). Well after that the microscope was put on the building and they found that it wasn’t up to many fire codes- though it was built back in the 1850s so that’s to be expected! Finally they had to close the building in order to take care of all the problems.
The building is supposed to reopen in September but with only the first of the three floors opened. Apparently to bring the second and third floor up to code is still going to take another five or ten years! So they figure in the meantime they’ll open up the first floor. Which means they now have to decide what exhibits to bring down to the first floor and display, and which to not display at all.
Inside the Natural History Museum of the National Museum of Ireland. (Please note: This picture was taken from the internet and not by me.)
It sounds like I’ll have quite a few tasks throughout the summer, including cataloguing items and assessing exhibits. The keeper, Nigel, is really big on the idea that I’m free labor, which means he’s very open to whatever I’d like to do. He said that if he has me on a task but I see another one that looks interesting to just tell him and then I can do the other task! He also said that he could get me into the other museums for a couple of days if I want and other areas as well- such as their educational programming department and preservation of artifacts. FYI there are four branches of the National Museum-- Natural History, Archeology, Decorative Arts & History, and Country Life.
I start Monday and I can’t wait! It should be such an amazing experience!
written by  kmr788 on June 4, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

Me... at a monastery?! I guess it can happen!
Glendalough, Ireland
The last two days have been great fun, but I’m glad it’s the weekend so I can just relax! We all went out last night but by the time we had a couple of drinks we were all exhausted and wound up calling it an early night!!
Today, I really just want to lay around- do some reading, writing, maybe watch a movie. Everyone is always so shocked when you say you just want to relax and not go out- “But you’re in Ireland!!!” Yes, and I’ll be in Ireland for another seven weeks! Lol.
Ellie and Jahna at the racetrack.
Anyway, Ellie had heard about horse racing going on Thursday night so some of us went to that for a couple hours. I’d never been before so it was kind of cool.
At the racetracks.
The track was freaking huge! But the horses only ran half of it. We didn’t make any bets- though I should have because the horse I picked for the second race actually won!
On the train ride home it was a bit weird though… we had some Irish guy come up and talk to us (with this crazy thick accent so he was hard to understand). He’d clearly been drinking a bit and was with some of his friends. He started making fun of one of his friends and that friend got mad and took it out on us! He said some mean stuff to Denise and then called my other friend a whore. It was rather interesting… like I said he was clearly drunk! And we basically told him he should go home and sleep it off! We were a little worried they were going to follow us when we got off the train since we got off at the same stop- but luckily they went their own way.
We went to Captain America’s after that, haha, and got some drinks and dessert. Then we made our way to Cassidy’s where we met up with a bunch of other people. They have a really great acoustic guitarist there and we spent most of the night listening and talking with him.
Jahna and the Hugh Heffner wannabe at Cassidy's
There was one old guy there that I swear was Ireland’s Hugh Heffner! Haha. Somehow he kept getting the girls to dance with him- but as I told him, I don’t dance!
Dancing at Cassidy's
(Though Bobby did get me to dance for the last one of the night… a rarity, trust me!)
Yesterday we went to Glendalough, which used to be a monastery. It was a monastery about 1400 years ago! And I think was one for about 900 years.
The Round Tower at Glendalough- one of the tallest in Ireland!
There’s a really tall, circular building there- over a hundred feet high! It was originally a bell tower but was probably used as a lookout during the Viking attacks as well.
There’s also a cemetery there with graves ranging from 1400 years ago (!) to today!
The cemetery at Glendalough- some graves are 1400 years old!
(Mom, you would’ve of loved it!) They’ve closed the cemetery so that no one else can buy plots; however there are still some people alive that have plots there. I guess about thirty years ago they made a list of all the people that were still to be buried there and their name had to be put on the list.
The cemetery and cathedral at Glendalough.
Today, there are only seven people left! On the way in, during our guided tour, there was an elderly gentlemen that we let pass who stopped for a minute to say hi to our tour guide. We later found out that he is one of the seven people to be buried there! Apparently his wife is buried there as well, and he comes in most days to see her grave… he also used to be the caretaker of the cemetery!
This is a picture of the monastery’s cathedral.
Pretty plain for a ‘cathedral’ right? Well, I guess it was built back in the 10th or 11th century!
The cathedral of Glendalough's monastery.
We learned that for a building to be a cathedral it doesn’t have to be big and grand- all it needs is for a Bishop’s throne to be there. I guess this monastery had a Bishop for hundreds of years- at one time Glendalough was higher in religious status than Dublin.
"Inside" the cathedral of Glendalough's monastery.
"St. Kevin's Kitchen" - really it's a church though but was originally misnamed!
This is a building called “St. Kevin’s Kitchen” I believe. It was misnamed because originally they thought that small bell tower was a chimney and they assumed it had been where the monks used to cook. In fact, this was actually a small church. It’s really famous in Ireland and some even refer to it as the “Mount Rushmore of Ireland.” Btw, it’s named after St. Kevin because he is the priest who founded the monastery back in the 6th century!
Looking down at the lake at Glendalough.
I actually wished we’d had more time to look around the cemetery but with the guided tour it was sort of hard to do. Then afterwards we went on a two-hour hike up the mountain.
Beautiful waterfall at Glendalough- little dark because my flash wasn't cooperating.
At first I wasn’t going to go because it was already thinner air and the night before I’d woke up not being able to breath. But I had my inhaler with so I figured I would give it a shot.
Pretty stream in Glendalough.
It wasn’t too bad, but I did need my inhaler a couple of times. I think it was only about three miles, but the scenery was beautiful! I kept trying to take pictures to capture how beautiful it was- but I think it was one of those scenes where you truly can’t capture it unless you’re actually there!
Looking down at the monastery from a couple miles up.
(Oh and our good weather has finally left us- the cold came in yesterday, and the rains began today. Welcome to Ireland!)
written by  kmr788 on June 6, 2009 from Glendalough, Ireland

Night at the Museum
Well the first week of my internship has come and gone and so far it’s been great. The first two days were the best as I feel I got to see a lot of the different museum aspects. On Monday the Keeper (/curator) of the Natural History Museum took us with him as he ran some different errands among the different Museums. (The National Museum has four branches along with several storage facilities.)
First we went to the Museum of History at the Collin’s Barracks and got to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff. The Museum is always closed on Mondays so we got to see a lot of the internal work that goes on. We went past the conservation room and saw them repairing some old furniture, and then saw the small Natural History exhibit they had there (since the main Natural History Museum is closed) and met some of the people who are working on cataloguing all the Museum’s specimens.
Next we went to one of their storage facilities, which is massive! There are so many boxes of specimens and artifacts there that Nigel (the Keeper) told us some of the crates that they acquired as far back as the 1960s still haven’t even been opened! Crazy! It was amazing to realize that the “small” amount of artifacts and specimens the Museum has on display is really only one small portion of all that they really have.
We got to see one area where they were working on cleaning different bones they had gotten and a store room that was filled with animal bones, such as huge antlers and whale ribs and what not. I don’t think I ever mentioned too that when I went in for my interview and took a tour of the Natural History Museum I got to see some of Charles Darwin’s actual collections that he himself gathered and labeled and then donated to the Museum. I LOVE working in a place that has so much amazing history! Even the building itself holds tons of history with it being over 150 years old.
Tuesday we worked a little bit in the galleries helping to catalogue specimens. It was amazing- we were opening cases and handling specimens that literally hadn’t been touched in a hundred years! Then we closed up the cases that probably won’t be opened again for another hundred years! It’s just amazing for me to look at some rare coral specimen and see the record number on the side of it’s base, knowing that I was the one who placed that label there! Hehe.
We also had an opportunity Tuesday to take a tour of the Archaeological Museum, which is just down the street from the Natural History Museum. I was actually a little disappointed in this Museum- I had been so excited because I’ve always been interested in archaeology, but I was actually a little bored with it. Plus the tour wasn’t very good. Instead of giving a tour of the expanse of the museum they really just focused on ten or so key items and really went in depth with them. I would have rather the tour been highlighting more items and not going as in depth.
All my coworkers are really nice and really good at including us in on tea breaks and whatnot. Oh, that’s the other thing I love! The Irish LOVE their tea breaks! Which means not only do I get an hour lunch, but also a half-hour tea break around 11a- it really helps to break up the day. They’re all really chill and relaxed here too. We were asking how long our lunch break is and they said they at least take a half hour, but normally an hour or two! Then they said if we ever wanted to take a three-hour break or something to go have lunch with a friend in town then that would be fine! The other day we all went to the café in the Archaeological Museum and had an hour tea break! Hehe
By the way, when I keep saying “we” I mean Blair and I. I’m not sure if I mentioned before that there’s another girl from the BU/Dublin program who is also interning at the Natural History Museum with me. But Blair doesn’t actually go to BU but some small liberal arts college in North Carolina (?). It’s kind of nice having someone else there with me as we experience all these new things together.
Wednesday and Thursday were much less eventful as we basically spent the entire day cataloguing and archiving old museum correspondence. This is fun for the first couple hours, but then gets pretty boring after that. I’m currently working with the correspondence between 1966 and 1970. So what I’m basically doing is reading all the letters that were sent to and from the museum during this time period and then writing up the key information (date, sender, receiver, letter summary) in an excel spreadsheet. Nigel says the point is basically so if some family member of a contributor ever comes and wants to get a specimen back that their great-grandfather or whatever gave to the Museum, we can easily find the correspondence showing the grandfather actually donated, not lent, the specimen to the Museum.
A lot of what we read is people wanting different things identified though, or scientists looking to borrow different specimens for their research. Some of them are pretty interesting though- I got to read one letter from Charles Darwin’s great-grandson! My favorite by far though is the person who sent in a spider asking for it to be identified. The Museum proceeded to send him a letter back saying they couldn’t identify it given that it was actually a fake ‘joke’ spider from a toy store! Haha. I laughed pretty hard at that one! Imagine how stupid that guy must have felt when he got that response back!
After work on Thursday Nigel said we’d be working on some different things next week to help diversify the day a bit- so hopefully next week will have a bit more variety!
written by  kmr788 on June 11, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

I always want to be where I know I can't go.
Malahide, Ireland
In front of the castles door in Malahide.
We started off the day with class from 10a-1p where we had a quiz- it was pretty basic and I got a ten out of ten on it! Then we took the Dart (the local train) north to Malahide to spend some time in their town there. We went on a walk to a local castle there that was beautiful. On the way to the castle though we got a little distracted by a playground we found! Yes, a playgound! And it was seriously the coolest one ever! Hehe. It had a HUGE slide
Lindsay going down the slide at the park in Malahide.
and this really cool contraption thing where you sit on a little disc and slide along a cable.
Fun swinging, cable, contraption thingy! hehe
It probably sounds weird but was so cool! Hehe.
The park was great- it was as though we had all suddenly turned five years old again! We were all joking around that here we were, a bunch of twenty year olds, on their way to a castle but getting distracted by a park instead!
Oh to be five again!
It was fun though to just fool around for a little bit and pretend to be a kid again… Do you remember that guy David who I met at Doyle’s one of our first nights out? Well while I was talking to him that night he mentioned that he had been in Florida and had gone to Disney World. I told him that Disney World was pretty much my favorite place in the world and he asked me why. “Because it’s the only place where you can be five years old again!” I told him. And he asked me why I wanted to be five again. Because life was so simple back then, wasn’t it? He told me he wouldn’t want to be five again, that he liked where he was now- he had a job he loved, owns his own house, life is good. Maybe he’s right; maybe I wouldn’t really want to be five again… there are defiantly a few upsides to being older. But still, every once in a while, it really is nice to get to feel like a kid again!
Well we finally did turn back into grown ups and we made out way to the castle.
A castle at Malahide.
It really was beautiful! I wish we’d been able to take a look inside but it was all closed up for the day.
Yeah no big deal- just me chillin' in front of the castle! hehe
Lions, and Tigers, and Bears... oh my!
We made our way into town after that to grab some dinner at one of the local pubs then took a walk down by the beach. It was a bit of an overcast day though so it almost seemed more depressing than it should have been.
The beach at Malahide.
We were walking along and we saw this little strip of land on the other side of the water and Lindsay looked at it and said she wanted to go there. “I always want to go where I know I can’t,” she said. I think that’s part of the human condition though, I told her. And then I said, “What a great name for a blog!” hehe- so that explains this blog’s title!
Tomorrow we’re heading to Galway for a two-day trip that I’m uber-excited about. The only downside is that the bus leaves at 7am so we have to leave the apartment by 6! Oy, I think the only thing that’s making us all feel better is the thought of sleeping on the bus! Well since I have to be up early tomorrow I guess I’ll cut this blog short!
In front of the castle at Malahide. (L-R: Ellie, Amy, Me, Lindsay, Kelsie, Jahna, Meghan).
written by  kmr788 on June 12, 2009 from Malahide, Ireland

Stag who?! Stagdoo!
Killarney, Ireland
I’ll break this past weekend up into two blogs. This one will focus on Saturday.
Throughout the summer there are three school-sponsored trips that you can go on that will take you throughout Ireland. One to the North, West, and South (and then we live in the east!) The problem is they’re 200 Euro each and my friends and I knew we could do the same thing but cheaper! So that’s what we decided to do!
At the burren. (L-R: Amy, Lindsay, Kelsie, Me, Jahna, Meghan, Ellie).
This past weekend we booked a tour to Galway, which mean being downtown by seven in the morning so we had a pretty early start! It wasn’t too bad though because I went to bed relatively early (around midnight maybe) so I got a few hours of sleep. Plus I think what helped was knowing we’d be able to sleep on the bus.
Our bus driver was great! And he told some great, funny stories throughout the day that kept us laughing. One of the first places we went on our tour was The Burren,
Standing out on a rock at The Burren.
which is an area with a bunch of limestone covering the landscape. We spent some time there and was able to get some great pictures. It was a bit tough walking in places because the rocks didn’t exactly make for a stable surface.
Ellie standing out on a rock ledge at The Burren.
Of course, Ellie was our adventurer (as always) and took the pic out on the protruding rock… the rest of us worried it would fall!
At some point in the day we switched bus drivers and moved onto a smaller bus for the overnight portion of the trip. Here we picked up a new bus driver and were now on a small bus with only about seven other people (plus the seven from our own group).
Meghan and Jahna at The Burren
Although the bus felt a little cramped at first because we’d just moved from a much bigger bus, I actually liked this one better. It was really nice being in such a small group and it allowed us to meet the other people too.
After switching buses we headed to the Cliffs of Moher, which were absolutely amazing!
At the Cliffs of Moher.
There were two ways you could climb up to look out at the Cliffs and Amy and I
Amy and me at the Cliffs of Moher.
went to the left while most others went to the right- to the right were lotttsss of stairs that I wasn’t willing to trust my asthma on!
Sitting at the Cliffs of Moher.
I suppose technically you weren’t supposed to go to the left but everyone did anyway. Really they should just pave it and make it safer for us since they know we’re going to go that way anyway.
Oops- we must've missed the sign! :-O
Instead we actually had to climb over a mini-wall and walk on some unsteady surfaces to be get to a point where we could look out at the ocean.
The whole while I was up there all I could think was how beautiful it was… and how much my dad and grandma would have hated it! We were sooo far up and when you look over the edge it’s just a straight shot down to the rocky waters. Dad might have been able to make it took look out a bit, but I’m not sure Gran-mi-ma would have made it as far up as we did!
We headed to our hostel after visiting the Cliffs of Moher, which for a hostel actually wasn’t too bad. It was in the town of Killarney, which was a pretty small town with most of the main pubs and shops on just one little road. Five of us were able to stay together in one room at the hostel and then Kelsey and Lindsay staying in a different room with three other people from the tour. The only downside was that their hot water wasn’t working so they could only put it on for an hour at night and an hour in the morning. Which mean very cold showers! Us smart ones just decided to shower when we got home the next day- but Meghan and Jahna braved the cold water and we could literally hear them screaming the whole while they showered! No thanks!
That night the fourteen of us from the tour met at a local pub for dinner, along with our bus driver. It was nice because the tour we used (Paddywagon Tours) goes there often so we actually got a deal on our drinks! Always a plus! After dinner then our driver took us to another local pub to hear traditional Irish music and then at 11 a live band came on.
This second pub was actually a lot of fun. We also wound up running into three (!) different bachelor parties! We love our bachelor parties because it’s a whole group of guys out looking to have fun… it meshes well with our whole group of girls out looking to have fun! Hehe. Oh but I forgot, here they’re not called bachelor parties they’re called “Stagdoos” because the bachelor is a “stag.” We learned that from our first stagdoo way back in our first week- remember that? Oh, good times!
While we were there Kelsie caught the eye of someone but was having a bit of trouble breaking the ice! He’d come over to talk to us for a bit but then the conversation sort of broke off. So when I saw him and his friend were up at the bar I pulled Kelsie up there to get them talking. It turns out I’m actually a pretty good wingman, hehe! I got the conversation going and then sort of passed him off to Kelsie so they could talk as I talked to his friend. He turned out to be Scottish and though he was adorable, there was something about his accent that actually made him less cute to me when he talked! Haha…. I guess I prefer those Irish accents. Anyway, he turned out to be not so exciting after we actually talked to him so we moved on to other people throughout the night… though I did get a free drink out of them!
I spent the rest of the night with Meghan talking to a guy named Shane; he was also with a stagdoo! We had a good time but at one point he said he had to ask my age, even though you’re never supposed to ask a woman that, and I think he was a little unnerved to find that I was only twenty-one… he was twenty-nine. Oh well.
I actually wound up having to leave the pub early because I went to the bathroom at some point and when I came back Meghan was somehow about to punch the “stag” from the party, who had been bothering her all night. I didn’t want to leave because I was still having fun talking to Shane but you gotta put your girls before your boys, ya know? So I got her the heck out of there and we headed back to the hostel a bit before everyone else.
The bed was the most uncomfortable thing in the world… but by the time I hit it at past 2am- and with too many drinks and shots in me to name- it basically felt like the best thing in the world!
written by  kmr788 on June 15, 2009 from Killarney, Ireland

A Waterfall, Two Rocks, and a Stone
Cork, Ireland
Finishing up my blog about this weekend…
I should probably note that things never really go according to plan for us, which meant we never did actually make it to Galway! Haha. It turns out the tour we booked went to Cork instead of Galway (though I still say they had it listed wrong on their website!) In the end it didn’t really matter since Cork was also a place we wanted to visit at some point… plus this mean we got to kiss the Blarney Stone! I guess you should be worried- now that I officially have the “gift of gab” this blog could go on forever!!
Well we woke up the next morning completely awake and refreshed! Okay, that’s a lie. Let me rephrase. Well we woke up the next morning to a freaking bright room all suffering from too much sleep and a major hangover! Yes, that’s more accurate. I did actually have to wake up around 4am though to let the rest of the group in because we only had one key to the hostel’s main door, which Meghan and I had taken when we headed home early. So the girls called my cell phone and after about the third ring it finally woke me up and I very sleepily made my way down the stairs to let them in. The more I though about it I was kind of annoyed that we had to leave the pub early the night before. But I knew if I had been in Meghan’s position I would have appreciated someone leaving early with me, so in the end I know it was the right thing to do. And lord knows there will be other nights out in the pub!
So that was my first hangover of the trip so I guess I should at least be proud that I was able to go that long without getting one. It really wasn’t too bad, just a bit of a headache. And once I was able to get a bit more sleep on the bus I felt much better!
We visited a couple different places yesterday- the first was a waterfall in Killarney, which was beautiful!
Waterfall in Killarney area.
There was a stairway by it that we assumed would bring us closer to the waterfall, I only made it about halfway though before I had to turn around because the stairs really suck for my asthma!
At a waterfall in the Killarney area.
Ellie, Lindsay, and Kelsie continued on though but they never made it to the top either.
After the waterfall we had about an hour and a half drive to Cork, which was a perfect time for us to grab a nap and really hammer out that hangover! At Cork we visited Blarney Castle where we got to kiss the Blarney Stone! Yes ladies and gents that means exactly what you’re currently terrified of- I now officially have the gift of gab!!
At an entrance to some cellar areas / small rooms of Blarney Castle.
Just in case we weren’t sure I had it before! Actually, I even kissed the stone TWICE so I guess that means I have double the gab.
Blarney Castle- home of the Blarney Stone.
I kissed I the first time and my friends missed taking a picture so the guy felt bad and had me kiss it again. The pic wasn’t taken on my camera though so I still have to track it down.
For those of you that don’t know, kissing the stone is a bit of a feat in itself.
At the top of Blarney Castle where you kiss the Blarney Stone.
In order to reach the stone you have to lay down on your back, then put you hands behind your head and grab onto a railing as you literally lean off the side of the castle to kiss the stone.
Blarney Castle- come get your gift of gab!
Luckily they have someone there holding you as you do all this. It really sounds and looks scarier than it is! Still though I saw a number of people that chickened out once they got up there!
After the stone we had some time to grab lunch in town so we went to a little café and all got breakfast. Most of the group got the traditional Irish breakfast but I went for some traditional pancakes and eggs instead… sooo good!
We actually had pretty good weather for most of the trip, and although the rain came down pretty good at times it always happened to be when we were in the bus travelling to our next destination, so all in all we were pretty lucky!
After Cork we made our way back to Dublin and were supposed to stop at two rocks along the way (see, we already hit the waterfall and the stone, now it was time for the two rocks). We stopped at the side of the road to get a picture of the Rock of Cashel, which is where the kings of Munster County sat for hundreds of years.
The Rock of Cashel- where the Kings of Munster used to sit.
We all had to laugh because when the driver said we were stopping at the Rock of Cashel we all thought it was an actual rock instead of a castle! We were supposed to stop at one other ‘rock’ too but we were running a bit behind schedule so we skipped stopping there. So I guess in the end the day consisted of a waterfall, a rock, and a stone.
Even though we’d only been gone for one night it felt like we had been gone for days (!) and it felt great to get into my comfortable bed! I went to bed about nine and so I was able to get lots of rest after our great weekend!
written by  kmr788 on June 16, 2009 from Cork, Ireland

(In an English Accent) "Is the building really on fire? Because that would be a shame."
Well my second week of the internship has come and gone and I think it was probably a bit better than last week. We had to do a bit less if archiving this week, which was nice! Monday we did some archiving in the morning and then Nigel worked with us a bit on how the Museum recorded all the specimens given to the collection and what not. I found it all really interesting. Right now I know so little about museum work and museum curation that I’m really just open to learning about it all!
Twice while we were working with Nigel the Museum's fire alarms went off so we had to exit the building for obvious safety reasons. One of the times when we exited Alice came with us. Alice is this adorable women, probably mid-twenties, from England. She came to Ireland about a year and a half ago and is actually moving to CHICAGO at the end of the summer with her boyfriend who's going to be working at the planetarium. Anyway, were all standing outside and in her adorable accent Alice looks at the building and says: "Is the building really on fire? Because that would be a shame." Haha, too cute! Luckily the building wasn't on fire! but the alarms did take up about ten minutes each from our work day!
Tuesday was a lot of fun because Nigel took us to the museum at Collin’s Barracks for a meeting they were having there. About ten of the “bosses” got together to walk through the museum and look at the signage- what worked well, what was confusing, what was too wordy, what had too many colors. We spent over an hour just looking at the signage and only made it through two areas of the Museum. It was really nice though because they also asked Blair’s and mine opinion so we were really able to contribute to the meeting!
Blair was sick on Wednesday with strep throat so it was just me and Nigel for the day. We went back to Collin’s Barracks where they were hosting a school class that had one some kind of contest, which gave them a day in the museum. It was fun to get to see Nigel and some of the other people work with this group of ten year olds. I could really tell that Nigel had his own children and grandchildren because he worked with them so well. Matthew, the museum geologist, on the other hand was obvious that he didn’t often work with kids! Still though, he did a really good job with them. Katherine was also there and she’s the head of the Museum’s educational programs so obviously she worked great with them also!
It was funny because once I spoke they could obviously tell I wasn’t Irish. At lunch I saw a bunch of girls whispering around their table and then finally one of them came up to me and asked if was American. I said yes and she skittered back to her group where they whispered some more. Than another girl came up and asked where I was from. Once they realized I was open to asking questions about seven or eight of them came running up to me asking me all sorts of things. It was actually a lot of fun- they were so adorable!
We spent most of the conversation talking about the differences in our language. Such as the Irish calling it “toilets” while we call them “bathrooms.” The kids were really perceptive too and noticed things that I had missed. For instance, they always call stores “shops” while we often say “store” – I’m heading to the grocery store.
Our day ended around two-thirty and Nigel knew I had class that evening and normally left early anyway so instead of having me head back to the Natural History Museum for an hour and a half he just let me go home, which was really nice. This gave me some time to catch a nap- the only problem, however, was that I woke up from my wonderful nap with a wonderfully awful migraine!
Class was pretty brutal and I had to force myself to make it through the first half of class, which was the lecture portion. Luckily the second half was watching a movie and when Caroline (our lecturer) saw how sick I looked she told me to just go home and get some rest.
I was hoping to knock my headache out overnight but I woke up this morning to find it was still there! I forced myself to go to work but we were cataloguing all day and looking at a computer screen for hours on end wasn’t exactly conducive to getting rid of my migraine. I actually wound up leaving for the day around one and came home to nap. My headache’s probably a little bit better but I’m definitely not heading down to City Centre tonight! It’s just so annoying because obviously I don’t want to be cooped up inside when I’m here in freaking Ireland!!
I have class tomorrow morning but no internship, which is good. I’m hoping one more good night of sleep will be enough to knock this headache out for good so I can at least go out tomorrow night and enjoy my weekend! Here’s hopin’!
written by  kmr788 on June 18, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue, So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl, And I lost my heart to a Galway girl.
Galway, Ireland
This weekend we decided we wanted to head over to Galway since we never actually made it there last week.
Welcome to Galway!
Our original plan was to rent a car and drive, mainly for the sheer adventure of it. Of course, no car company in their right mind would actually rent a car to a bunch of 21 year-old American tourists so we were forced to go with Plan B and take a bus instead. (Much less fun!!)
When we got there we took an hour bus tour of Galway- because the three hours we’d just spent on a bus from Dublin apparently wasn’t enough for us! Hehe.
Eyre Park- the center of Galway City.
The tour was okay but Galway isn’t that big to begin with so it’s not like there was a whole lot to see. We stopped at Galway Bay and got some coffee and then just saw some various sights throughout the city.
One of the many cathedrals in Galway.
Mainly cathedrals and a couple college campuses they have there.
"St. Mary's College"- An all boys secondary school... freaking huge!
Originally the reason we wanted to go to Galway this weekend was because we wanted to go to an event in Sligo this morning. Sligo is about two hours from Galway though so we really needed a car in order to get there- hence the real reason we wanted to drive. Apparently the Irish Cancer Society was having an event where they were trying to make a world record for the most women skinning dipping in the ocean! I think their goal was 300 and it was called “A Dip in The Nip.” So we were going to go to support that organization but like I said we didn’t really have a way to get there. Honestly, I was kind of glad! Because although I would have done it I was with four girls that basically disappear when they turn sideways so I’m definitely the “fluffy” one of the group and would have felt majorly self-conscious. But it would have made one hell of a story! Hehe.
Since we knew we wouldn’t be able to make it to Sligo this morning we figured there was really no reason to stay overnight in Galway because there wasn’t anything we were going to do there during the day today.
Galway Bay
We found out the bus that runs to Dublin runs every hour starting at midnight so somehow we decided it would be better to just take a 3 or 4am bus home after we were done in Galway instead of wasting time and money on a hostel. This would have been a great plan if we had actually planned ahead… but as you may have guessed, very little planning went into this trip! So we got to Galway and decided we weren’t going to stay the night yet everyone had a duffel or backpack so that complicated things a bit. We grabbed some dinner and then went to a pub that we thought looked good and we were able to get a corner booth and stuff our bags back there.
It was still really early though at this point- only about 7pm. But we hung out there for a while and had some drinks and eventually the place got busier and we were able to mingle with some other people. We met one group that was there for their friend’s birthday and we talked to them for a while. Ellie and I talked mostly to Connor, who was the birthday boy, and his friend Kyle who was adorable. At some point in the night they left though and I joined Jahna in talking with this guy Paul.
Well Paul decided that he really wanted to go dancing and he wanted us to go to a nightclub with him (even though I repeatedly told him I don’t dance! Haha). Jahna and I kept trying to explain that we had all are bags so it wouldn’t really work. So he suggested putting our bags in his car while we went to the club. Okay, can you say shady!?
At the end of the night in Galway as we get our things from Paul's car! haha
Well Jahna decides that’s a great idea but only if we can keep his car keys for the night to ensure the safety of our things! She’s a smart gal!
So the five of us that went to Galway put our stuff in Paul’s car and then went to a local nightclub- Central Park I think was the name, or “CP” as they called it. Haha. We actually had a pretty good time there and I even danced! Shocking, I know! I think as long as the place is dark, really crowded, and I’m with friends then I actually don’t mind dancing because I feel a little less self-conscious about it. I think it’s more when we’re just hanging out in a bar and there’s only a little bit of dancing going on where I feel really uncomfortable!
Claddaugh (like the ring!)- an area by Galway Bay close to the center of Galway City.
I’m constantly reminded while in Ireland what a small country it is. While we were at the nightclub we ran into the first group of guys from the other bar- the one with Connor and Kyle. This was cool at first because we’d had a good time at the first pub. But… have you ever had one of those moments where you think you really want something until you have it and then you realize it’s not what you wanted at all? That’s the moment I had last night. I was dancing with all my friends and we were having a great time, and then I started dancing with Kyle and realized that while he seemed really cool at the pub and I wanted to hang out with him more once I had that opportunity I realized it’s not what I wanted at all. Does that make sense?
Well anyway, we didn’t stay at the club very long and then we went to Paul’s car and got our stuff. He stayed at the club so we just got our stuff from his car and left the keys in the front seat for him! Haha. We had some time to grab some food then- greasy fast food is always the best when sobering up! Then we took a 3:45am bus back to Dublin.
The bus ride back was actually great, I basically fell asleep the minute I sat down and when I woke up it was suddenly three hours later and we were in Dublin. We caught a cab ride back home (the buses weren’t even running yet) and then I collapsed in my bed and got some more sleep. I could probably easily still be sleeping right now but I purposely made myself get up after a couple hours or I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. I’m hoping I still will be able to!
The Galway group in front of Galway Bay (L-R: Ellie, Me, Kelsie, Jahna, Lindsay)
Well for a weekend that basically had no pre-planning into it, it actually turned out to be a pretty great “day” trip to Galway. Before we left for Galway yesterday morning we were standing at the elevators with all our stuff and Kelsey just turns to everyone and says, “Guys, what are we even doing?!” We all had to laugh because we realized at that moment we really did have no concrete plan. But I guess sometimes those spur-of-the-moment decisions make for the best times!
written by  kmr788 on June 21, 2009 from Galway, Ireland

Creepy Museum Stalker = Awesome! (but not really.)
Well the third week of my internship has come and gone and I’m very happy to report we’re finally getting past the archiving / correspondence portion of the programming! Blair and I were beginning to get a little frustrated with all the archiving we’ve done of old museum correspondence. Between us we’ve done something ridiculous like 1500 letters, whew! So we decided to sit down with our boss and talk about what the rest of our internship would entail and our concerns over having done so much archiving. While we both understand this is an important part of the job, we also both needed something a bit more educational for our internship experience.
So we talked with Nigel and now Blair and I are going to be heading up a type of focus group. Mainly we’re going to be going to the main Museum at Collins Barracks where we’re going to walk through it and see how ‘user-friendly’ it is, particularly in regards to signage and navigation.
We headed over there Wednesday and it was kind of cool because Blair walked through the whole museum trying to find all the different exhibits only asking people for directions and ignoring all signage. I, on the other hand, walked through the museum trying to navigate with only signage and a floor plan and wasn’t allowed to ask anyone for directions. This allowed us to assess how easy it would be for a map-illiterate person to walk through the museum versus the ease for someone who may not speak English and thus must go strictly off the map.
It was actually frustrating at times because I found there were some exhibits I couldn't easily find, and all the maps seemed to have incomplete data and contradict each other. At one point I was standing at a point where two walls meet and on each of the walls was a floor plan map and then I also had a floor plan in my hand- and all three of the maps said something different!
We later found out many of the map troubles- such as the floor plan and wall maps being different, and certain exhibits not being on the map at all- were due to lack of funds. I found out the floor plan I was using was over two years old! Which meant it didn’t have many of the recent exhibits the museum had opened.
So now it’s our job to try and figure out how the museum can make navigation easier when they don’t have the funds to do the easiest thing- which is print new maps! Next week we’re going to walk back through the museum and come up with a list of what we’re calling “cheap fixes.” Basically it will be simple things the museum can do to make navigation easier for its visitors. In some cases it’s as easy as printing out a laminated sign and posting it to the wall to give direction to an exhibit or whatnot.
Oh man, yesterday when we were walking through the museum I had a museum guard stalking me! Sooo creepy! I was on the third floor walking through the exhibits when I had this younger security guard come up to me and we had the oddest conversation as follows:
Him: Where are you from? (No hi or how are you- simply this blunt question!)
Me: America.
Him: What are you studying?
Me: History.
Him: What type of history?
Me: I don’t really have a focus yet, but mainly American history.
Him: Have you studied the Indians? (What is he talking about?!)
Me: Yes.
An awkward goodbye occurred and he went on his way. I continued walking through the third floor but ran into the same security guard in a different exhibit. So I’m walking past him to the doors to head to the next exhibit when he stops me…
Him: How long are you here for?
Me: Until the end of July. (At this point I’m trying to figure out why I keep answering truthfully!)
Him: That’s a long time. Are you studying here?
Me: Yes, at DCU.
Him: Oh. (Brief pause) I’m an artist (Okay, random!)
At this point I nod and smile and continue on my way. So I get into the hallway and breath a sigh of relief as I walk towards the next exhibit because at least now I know he’s behind me… or so I thought. I continue into the next exhibit and all of a sudden he’s standing in front of me! I honestly have no idea how he got there! I swear he should have still been in the room behind me… creepy! Once again he approaches me…
Him: I have a book launch here in July do you want to come? (What?)
Me: Um, when is it? (Why did I not just say ‘no’ and walk away?!)
Him: Sometime next month.
Me: Um, I don’t really know what I’ll be doing next month. It’s here?
Him: Yes, it’s at the museum. I’ll be here just come back.
I nod and smile, miss out on the rest of the exhibit and whatever else is on that floor, and then proceed to run down the stairs to the Café to meet Blair for lunch. And that is the story of my creepy museum stalker. I’m praying I don’t see him again while I’m working there these next few weeks- especially since I don’t want him to think I’m there to see him!!
We ended our week with the signage project I talked about above. The beginning of the week though we helped one of the museum workers (I can’t remember her name) catalogue… SPIDERS! Ick. Katie would have hated it! We had to open up their cases and lift up these huge, ugly spiders so we could put their information into the computer for later cataloguing. The woman asked if we would help her because she really hates spiders. I said they didn’t bother me as long as they were dead but once we got up there I realized those things were too creepy to deal with even if they had been dead for a hundred years!! Luckily Blair was less squeamish than me and she picked up any spiders that needed to be. The more we worked on them though the easier it was to deal with them. Still, all I could think about was how much my sister probably would’ve freaked out at them- Seriously, Katie, gross!
The beginning of the week was also a bit rough because I woke up Monday with a bad chest cold. Blair had strep throat last week so I’m really hoping I didn’t catch it from her! I went to the pharmacy though and got an over-the-counter decongestant to hopefully break up this cough before it gets too bad. Although I’d love to go out tonight I’m going to give myself one more night of rest and then I should be good for the weekend. I’m already feeling better from Monday so hopefully the meds I’ve been taking have been working!

Do you want to see my boa? ;-)
Friday night was tons of fun… Saturday morning, not so much!
Friday night I went out with Jahna and Meghan down to City Centre where we went to a bunch of bars. We started off at a place called Palace Bar that Jahna and Meghan go to ridiculously often and then went to some club that was filled with mainly all gay guys! Apparently this weekend was a bunch of gay pride parades and all the gay guys decided to go to this one club! Haha. Well Jahna decided to get a martini and we were sitting at the bar when this one very gay guy walked past us with a feather boa… Jahna looked at him and told him he looked fabulous (which he did)! So he proceeded to stop and buy us all drinks! We all did jaggerbombs and then talked for a bit. He gave me his feather boa too, which I was pretty stoked about! It’s the color of the Irish flag (Green, White, and Orange) and will be a great (free!) souvenir to bring home!
In order to get into that club you had to let them put two streaks of red face paint on your cheek. Whatev! We didn’t really care but then after the 'gay' club we went to another bar that looked cool and were told they were “too classy” a bar for face paint. Seriously?! A 'classy' Irish Pub- isn’t that an oxymoron!? But again, not a big deal, we just moved on to the next pub! Hehe
We wound up at the Stag’s Head but they were closed. Luckily, Jahna is our sweet talker and she got the bartenders to give us a bottle of beer. We stayed there for a bit and talked to the bartenders as they closed up, and they actually wound up giving us a couple of free beers so it worked out well!
On our way to the next pub we ran into two guys from America and one of them was from Chicago! It turns out he’s from the Barrington / Schaumburg area!! Small world!! We talked to them for a bit and then headed to Doyle’s to hang out there, plus I think Jahna wanted to dance a bit. Around this point Meghan had gone home and it was just Jahna and me. We wound up meeting two Irish girls there and went back to their apartment for a couple of drinks, which was a lot of fun. It’s amazing how friendly the Irish are! We hung out there for a bit and then finally got back to campus around 5am… yeah, it was a looong night! But so much fun… until the next morning that is!
I counted it up when I was talking with my mom and it turns out I had eleven (!) drinks Friday night… luckily I only paid for about three of them so little harm came to my wallet. But I woke up Saturday extremely sick! I’ll save you the gross details but in the words of my dad, I spent most of the morning ‘praying to the porcelain god.’
I assumed I was just hungover but at the same time found this odd because normally I can hold my liquor and rarely actually get sick from it! Plus I didn’t have any other hangover symptoms, like a headache or anything. It wasn’t until about 7pm last night when I was still feeling sick that I began to realize something must be wrong. I began to notice that my throat was hurting really bad, which again I had just put off to being hungover and sick. But once I looked in the mirror I realized I had strep throat! I went to a clinic that night, which only confirmed what I already knew!
Unfortunately the pharmacies were already closed so I had to wait until this morning to be able to go and get my meds. Of course if I had realized earlier in the day that I was sick and not hungover I probably could have caught it sooner… but oh well! I was just glad to know that I can still hold my liquor after all! ;-)
I’m going to take tomorrow off of work because I’m still contagious and don’t want to get any of my coworkers sick. Also I don’t want to push myself too hard and just make it worse, missing one day certainly won’t kill me! I was just glad that the strep came this weekend and not next weekend when I’ll be in Germany! Oh, have I mentioned that yet? I’m going to Munich, Germany next weekend, which should be TONS of funs!! I’ll make sure to take lots of pics and update my blog once I get back… Hopefully I’ll be feeling much better by then!
Still though being sick in a foreign country so far from home certainly isn't the greatest thing in the world! Whenever I'm sick it obviously just makes me miss my parents and family even more, especially my dad! You know when you get to that point of being sick where you should eat something or it's just going to make you more sick (about the point I'm at now) but you don't want to because it either hurts to eat (owie, my throat!) or you're afraid it will make you more sick? Well I don't know how he does it but whenever I get to this point my dad is the only person that can ever get me to eat something! It's like a talent, hehe. My mom will tell me over and over that I need to eat something or I'm just going to get more sick and I never listen because I'm too busy thinking about how sick I currently feel. But somehow my dad will start talking to me and before I know it I'm eating the scrambled eggs he's made for me. Yummy, scrambled eggs! Anytime I'm sick and away from home all I wish is that my dad was there to make me scrambled eggs! Or when I got my wisdom teeth pulled a few winters ago and I wouldn't eat anything- my dad made me mashed potatoes I think three times a day for a week! My dad makes the best mashed potatoes!!
Anyway, being out on my own means that being sick on my own is just one of the many things I have to manage through... Like I said, hopefully I'll be feeling much better soon! Until then, I'll just imagine the mashed potatoes I'm eating were made by my dad (even though I know if that were true they'd taste much better!)

Hee'sss Baaccckk!
Alright, let’s see… what happened this week at the museum? I’m afraid nothing too interesting, honestly there’s probably little point in writing a blog about it at all but yet I’m writing one anyway… so bare with me!
I was actually home sick both Monday and Tuesday with freaking strep throat. Grrreeeaaatt! Unfortunatley I think what made it worse was that I probably waited too long to go to the doctor. Instead of just going last week when I first started getting sick I stupidly thought I could just get rid of it on my own with over-the-counter meds. Not exactly my brightest idea. So by the time I finally realized it was strep it was much worse than it normally is. This of course meant that the antibiotics seemed to take foorreevveer to start working!
By Tuesday I was feeling a little bit better but I worried that if I went to work I would push myself and just feel sicker the next day. So instead I gave myself another day of rest and watched “Pride and Prejudice” for about the billionth time… yeah, it was rough!
It was sooo annoying being sick though because here I am in beautiful Ireland, stuck inside with strep throat! And of course both Monday and Tuesday were gorgeous outside!! Plus by that point I’d really been cooped up inside since Saturday so I was actually pretty glad to get out of the house and make it to work Wednesday. The weather wasn’t as nice out yesterday but I wore a dress anyway- I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be stuck in jeans and a t-shirt my first day out in four days! Hehe.
After work on Wednesday I went to the pub with some coworkers because one of them was actually leaving the museum and it was her last day. I actually had a fun time and talked with Alice (the adorable English girl I may have mentioned before). She’s moving to Chicago at the end of October so I had a blast talking to her about that. We also actually got into a really good conversation too about Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and the London subway attacks too- random, I know. But it started with my discussing wanting to be a history teacher and my interest in WWII and somehow it just evolved into this really great discussion.
Today Blair and I went back to the museum at Collin’s Barracks to finish working on our signage project. Unfortunately my two-day absence has put us a bit behind so we’ll probably need to work on it next week as well. Luckily my boss is really understanding and was fine with it.
Here’s where it really started to suck though… remember my museum stalker? Well heee’sss baaaccckkk. Crap.
I had told Blair about him before and how he would just magically appear in front of me when I swore he was in a different part of the museum. She didn’t believe me until she saw it for herself! We were in one of the exhibits when he came up to me and exclaimed, “I’ve met you before!!” Yes, yes unfortunately he had. Luckily Blair realized he was my ‘stalker’ and she got me out of the situation pretty quickly. But then two seconds later we turned the corner and suddenly he was in front of us again! Finally Blair understood what I meant when I said he would come out of nowhere. We had to work the rest of the day to avoid him and luckily we were rather successful. Now I just have to hope I don’t see him again next week when we’re back at Collin’s Barracks!!
Well it’s getting late and I leave for GERAMNY tomorrow so I should end by update here! So excited to be heading to Munich. Though my sister brought up a great point when she reminded me I don’t like German food: “Kelly, you’re going to starve.” Crap. Well I’m sure I’ll be able to find something that I like… hopefully!
(Oh and can I just add… it’s JULY?!?! How the hell did that happen!?)
written by  kmr788 on July 2, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

What the hell happened to my beer?!
Munich, Germany
I’ll do what I did a couple weekends ago and split my weekend into two blogs. This covers Friday.
We had to leave for the airport pretty early because our flight to Germany left around 9:30. We flew into a small town called Memmingen about an hour and a half outside of Munich. When we landed I think we all had the same obvious realization- ‘F! We don’t speak their language!’ Luckily enough people at the airport spoke English that we were able to find out the best way to Munich was a train and somehow me managed to get to the train station and get a ticket to Munich.
Amy showing off her German coke on the train from the Memmingen Airport (which has a whole four terminals!) to Munich.
We were actually pretty excited because what we thought would be a thirty euro round-trip bus ticket turned into a fifteen euro round-trip train ticket! So we figured the trip was already off to a pretty good start!
Our good start went downhill, however, after we arrived in Munich and it was pouring rain. And I’m not just talking rain here; I’m talking crazy loud thunder and huge streaks of lightening with torrential downpour rain. Luckily we found another English speaking person and found our way to the tram that would get us to our hotel.
Amy, Kelsie, and Lindsay as we head to the center of Munich for our first night out.
(After some of the girls at a bad hostel experience in London we decided to splurge and stay in a Holiday Inn instead- when split between the four of us it actually turned out to be cheaper than a hostel!!) We thought were doing dandy (yes, I just used the word dandy) until a nice young lady informed us we were going the wrong way on the tram. So we had to get off, in the torrential downpour mind you, to get back on the tram going the opposite way.
Finally we made it to our hotel and our first order of business was dinner! We ate at the hotel’s restaurant where we all ordered pizza. Yes, we flew thousands of miles to Germany to eat pizza- but it happened to be the menus cheapest and also sounded the yummiest! For dessert though we got Bavarian apple strudel, which was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. It made me laugh because whenever we go to the German restaurant in Disney World about the only ‘German food’ I like is their apple strudel! This actually turned out to be the only ‘German’ food I ate during the trip, not counting their soft-baked pretzels that seem to be very popular (though I’m not sure that actually counts as ‘German’ food, but yummy all the same!)
Where should we go next?!
Given that we were not in the beer capital of the world it only seemed right to go out for the night and grab some drinks.
Amy and Me on the way into the Munich city centre for our first night out.
While we still had a couple hours of daylight we decided to walk around the city. Oh my gosh- it. was. beautiful! I basically fell in love with it instantly and we had such a fun time walking around. We stopped at their City Hall,
Munich's town hall.
which was freaking beautiful. And also went to the Residential Palace and Museum (though we didn’t go inside either since they were probably closed for the night).
In the gardens of the Residential Palace area.
After walking around for a bit we ended up at Hofbräuhaus- a huge beer garden in the center of Munich.
At the Hofbräuhaus in Munich!
We got huge pints of beer (I think these are double pints actually) and had a great time just sitting around and talking for a couple hours. I should add that it took me ten minutes to finish my beer… it took the other girls about an hour and ten minutes.
I'm on the right ten minutes after getting my beer, Kelsie is on the left!
What can I say? I know how to drink my beer! And it definitely was some yummy beer! We also got one of their huge soft-baked pretzels to split between us!
What happened to my beer?! I just got it ten minutes ago!
After we finished our beer (though I had been done for quite some time) we decided to head back to the hotel because we had to be up early for a tour we were taking in the morning. On our way out two guys called us over to have a drink with them. We sort of ignored them since we figured there would be a language barrier but I stopped to ask if they spoke English. The one said he did a little and it turned out so did the other. The other girls weren’t sure what to do so finally I just made the executive decision that we were only in Munich for a couple days and should take advantage and we went and sat down with them. (I also knew the bar was closing so we couldn’t get another drink, which was good because I didn’t want one. Hehe, I know, I’m sneaky.)
It turned out they were from Austria and I forgot their names once they said them since I couldn’t even begin to pronounce them! We had a good time talking to them especially once we stopped being frustrated by them having their side conversations in German. We realized we were basically doing the same with our English since they couldn’t understand us when we talked fast to one another. It was amusing though because every once in a while we’d be talking and they’d have to stop and say, “Wait, how do you say [insert German word here> in English?” as they were trying to explain something to us.
One of the streets in Munich.
In Germany they say Munich differently than we do- they spell it München and pronounce it completely different. That whole day we had been trying to figure out how they pronounce it. So I asked one of the guys how they pronounce ‘Munich’ and he looked at me and said, “What’s Munich?” I laughed and responded, “The city we’re in!” And he looked at me very confused.
At a fountain in Munich.
So finally I asked him what city we were in and he said “Oh! München!” and pronounced it the German way. “Okay, well we pronounce it Munich!” He got a big kick out of that and it was a pretty funny conversation all the way around!
After the beer garden closed the guys wanted to go out for aonther drink, which Kelsie and I were completely up for.
Outside the Residential Museum (I think, hehe).
Unforunatley Lindsay and Amy were tired and wanted to head back to the hotel. Since we knew we had to be up early the next morning anyway Kelsie and I decided that was probably for the best and we all headed back together. We knew Saturday was going to be a long day…
written by  kmr788 on July 5, 2009 from Munich, Germany

How many more are there we don't know about? ...how many more without a name?
Dachau, Germany
In March of 1933 in a small town in southern Germany named Dachau a man named Adolph Hitler opened what was termed a ‘concentration camp.’ Over the course of the next decade hundreds more of these camps would be opened across Europe with Dachau serving as the prototype and model for the others that followed…
Words can never express the depth of emotion I felt on Saturday morning when I took a trip to that small town in Germany, to that camp…
Amy, Lindsay, and Kelsie wanted to take a tour of some castle in the Alps (apparently it’s the one Walt Disney based his Sleeping Beauty castle off of). Although this sounded like fun we only had limited time in Munich and I didn’t fancy spending four hours on a train to go see some castle (it was two hours both ways just to get there and back!) Also, I was interested in visiting Dachau, especially given my background in history and particular interest in World War II.
Amy had found an all-English guided tour that brought us from the train station in Munich to Dachau and then gave us a guided tour of the camp- overall the tour was over five hours! Though it was only about a ten-minute train ride to Dachau and then another ten-minute bus ride. So the three other girls went to look at a castle and I went to see where Hitler’s “final solution” truly began.
In the days leading up to my tour I spent some time trying to mentally prepare myself for what I would see and feel once at the camp. As we took the short train ride to the camp I prepared myself for the rush of tears I was sure would come once I stepped foot in the camp… once the true emotion of what happened there hit me. Our tour guide immediately pointed out how the camp is just off the main road of Dachau- He posed the question, “Did the locals know the camp was here?” “Yes, they couldn’t have missed it.” But he also explained how well the Nazi propaganda had led the locals to believe it was something completely different from what it was. How the SS Soldiers had actually invited them to see the camp as they set up mach portrayals of the camp, basically using the prisoners as actors. Still I had to wonder- did these townspeople really not know what was going on there?
The original building that served as the main entrance into the concentration camp.
We walked the same road the prisoners walked to the camp’s entrance and already I could feel the emotion welling up inside of me. We stood outside the original building that is the entrance to the camp with the phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” on the prison’s gates – translated literally in English as “Work Makes (one) Free.”
I expected to step through those gates and immediately burst into tears… but I didn’t. In fact though there were times when I cried some, there was never a point where I really bawled like I honestly expected to. At first I didn’t understand… How could this not affect me- am I that cold a person, why am I not crying?
One of the statues in the Museum that is at the site.
And then I understood. Even as I stood there and saw what I saw, heard what I heard, understood as I understood- I could never fully comprehend the depth of what was before me, the depth of what had happened there. If I were to be able to fully comprehend it all, I never would have stopped crying…
We walked through the gates and entered the prison and I suddenly became very aware of the ground I was walking on… because I suddenly began to think of all the prisoners who had walked on that same ground.
The main square of the camp where roll call was taken every day. The camp was originally built for 4-5,000 prisoners, by the time of it's liberation it held nearly 40,000 men.
The camp was originally built for a capacity of 4,000 – 5,000 political prisoners; by the time of its liberation it held over 40,000 prisoners of all types.
There were originally about thirty barracks but after liberation they were knocked down. When the camp became a memorial they rebuilt a set of barracks to show the visitors what they were like. They actually did a good job of showing the transformation of the camp from 1933 as a prison for political prisoners to the full-blown concentration camp it was by 1945. The barracks were set up so that each room represented a different period of the camp’s time.
At the beginning the barrack rooms actually provided a lot of space for the prisoners with about fifty men in each room... by the end 500 were crammed into this same sized room.
The first room was set up to house about 50 men and they actually had quite a bit of space with a small “common area” of benches set up.
By the end the barrack rooms that were supposed to house 50 men now held over 500.
By 1944 when the camp was liberated that same sized room now held over 500 men…
After the barracks we were taken to the prison cells in which there were about 140 in a row. Before heading into that building though we stopped in an alleyway type of space between what used to be the main building of the camp and the prison cells.
The courtyard between the main building and the prisons... the place where punishments and executions were carried out.
Here is where our tour guide talked about the executions and torture that occurred at the camp… he looked around at where we stood in this small space between the two buildings: “Here are where the executions and torture took place,” he said. And then he pointed to the wall behind us, the wall no one had even noticed before, the wall that was riddled with bullet holes. I thought I was going to be sick.
The prison cells at the camp. Used mainly for punishment and then to house "high profile" prisoners.
We walked through the prison and got to hear about some of the more “notable” prisoners they kept there. Among them were mainly priests and rabbis but also was a man who had tried to assassinate Hitler and other political prisoners.
Illuminations they put on walls of certain prison cells with quotes from survivors. "Around two o'clock in the morning the key rattles in the lock of the first cell door at the other end of the corridor. We're all awake at once. The unlocked metallic f
In some of the cells they had put paper over the window so that it was dark and they beamed a light on the wall with quotes from prisoners who had survived the camp… each more gut wrenching then the one before it.
After seeing the prison cells we watched a twenty-minute movie about the camp that basically relayed everything our tour guide had told us but this time with actual footage and pictures from the camp. In this darkened theater is where I cried for the first time. After the movie we took about a half hour to spend in the memorial’s museum, which was set up in what used to be the camp’s main building.
It was actually very emotional being at the camp on Fourth of July- obviously such a notable day back home in America. As our tour guide mentioned the camp’s liberation by U.S. troops, and as I read about it in the museum, I was never more proud to be an American. Yes, we were not the only ones fighting in the war. Yes, it was not solely us who made the liberation possible. But yes, it was American troops who walked through the camp’s gates in 1945 to bring liberation to the camp that had been open for twelve years. Standing in the museum, reading about the camp’s liberation and first-hand accounts from both the liberators and the prisoners being liberated, I began to cry again.
After visiting the museum our guide spent some time discussing the camp’s actual memorial.
The sculpture in the center is supposed to represent the twisted bodies of the dead, while the posts represent the prison’s walls.
The memorial: the statue in the middle is to represent the twisted bodies of the dead, the pillars represent the fence that kept them imprisoned in the camp, the gravel in front represents where the prisoners had to go each day for roll call.
The two blocks of gravel in front of the memorial represent the place where the prisoners had to walk for roll call everyday- often so sick and hungry that simply walking to the location was a feat in itself.
Part of the memorial- the sign reads "Never Again" in five different languages. This is the main theme throughout the memorial.
To the left of the memorial is a stone wall that holds the ashes of some of the prisoners who died at the camp- on the wall in five different languages reads the message: Never Again. The main theme throughout the entire memorial.
The colors of all the different triangles represent the different countries present in the camp, they're connected to represent the solidarity between the prisoners, the chain that links the three circles together represents their imprisonment in the camp
We then walked down the long road that used to house all the barracks to the back of the camp. The walk only took us three, maybe five minutes.
The walk from the last barracks to the front where roll call took place each day. For us it was a simple three minute walk- now imagine being starved and sick and having to complete this walk...
When we got to the end our tour guide had us turn around and look at the distance we had travelled. “Not long at all, right?” he said. “Now imagine walking that distance in the snow, the rain, the cold. Imagine walking starved from not eating properly for weeks, months, years. Imagine walking it sick, injured, dying.” I thought about it, I looked at that distance, I tried to imagine… and I cried once again.
At the end of the camp are four different memorials. One for the Catholics, one for the Jewish, one for the Russian Orthodox, and one for the Protestants.
The protestant memorial at Dachau. The architect purposely avoided right angels because he said the prisoners constantly had to live in that rigid 'right angle' atmosphere.
The Protestant memorial captured me the most because the building held very few, if any, 90-degree angels. The architect specifically avoided them because he said the prisoners lived their lives in that “right angle” mentality. They had to do everything just so, had to take orders from the guards, had to live their lives in that strict pattern. So the architect avoided the ‘strict pattern’ of right angels.
Our tour guide showed us a re-creation done of the security measures on the camp.
A re-creation of the 'security measures' at the camp. If any person stepped on the grass they were immediately shot from the guard tower- many stepped onto the grass as an act of suicide.
He explained that if a prisoner even stepped foot on the grass they would immediately be shot dead with no questions asked. He then explained how many soldiers would purposely step onto the grass if only to end their own agony.
The last part of the tour was by far the hardest. We walked over a small bridge that went over a small stream of water and it was so peaceful you almost forgot where you were for a minute. Then you continued walking and you hit the sign: “Krematorium.” Right, I remember now.
We saw the old crematoriums first, the one’s held in a small shed that only had two.
The 'new' crematorium that was built after there were too many bodies for the original crematorium.
The ones they used before they could no longer ‘keep up’ with the amount of bodies. Then we saw the long building that held the new crematoriums- the crematoriums that the prisoners themselves had to build. The crematoriums that sat right next to the newly built gas chambers, also built by the prisoners.
Our guide explained how the gas chambers worked- he showed us where the chemicals were put in and where the soldiers looked through to see if everyone had been killed.
The mechanics behind the gas chamber. Some claim the gas chamber was never used at Dachau, however others believe this is unlikely.
He explained it all but what he could not explain was the questions that had been eating me up inside all morning- How could this happen?! How could the guards do this?! How was it not stopped sooner?! Our tour guide could not answer these questions… nobody can answer these questions. And so I entered the building with the most important questions forever unanswered.
I saw where the mechanics for the gas chambers were held. I saw the room where the prisoners waited to be brought in to the “showers” the guards claimed they were going to, and then I saw the gas chambers.
The gas chamber at Dachau- I literally thought I was going to be physically sick upon entering this room. By far the saddest, hardest part of the tour.
I walked in to the small concrete room, with the ceilings so much lower than everywhere else, and I truly thought I was going to be sick. It’s a feeling I have never felt before, a feeling I can never describe, a feeling I prey I never feel again.
I walked to the next room, the room where the dead bodies were brought after being in the gas chamber. I walked past that to the ‘new’ crematoriums and then I walked to the final room where bodies were piled when there were too may to be burned. The sick feeling, though not as intense, came back.
Our tour guide explained that after liberating the camp the U.S. troops were so angry at the local townspeople for allowing this to happen that they brought them to the camp to see the bodies. During the film we saw the locals being brought into this same room where bodies were piled in the corners- the look of pure shock and horror as they left that room was a sight I will never forget. I feel as though every person who leaves that room has that same look in some very small way.
Men in the barracks at the time of their liberation by U.S. forces.
Dachau was liberated on April 29, 1945 by U.S. troops. A recorded 30,000 people died during the camps twelve-year existence. However the camp had been open for several years before deaths began to be recorded and many deaths were not considered “worth” reporting. For instance, no Jewish person killed was reported nor were many executions. The estimated total deaths are 40,000- many people go as high as 120,000. Some say a quarter million people died at Dachau- its very possible that number is not far off from the true total.
A few years ago they decided to dig up the mass graves that lay behind the camp in an effort to identify the bodies. Between the two mass graves there were nearly 7,500 bodies- only 200 could be identified.
As I left the concentration camp I knew that those five hours spent within its walls would leave me changed forever. I looked at the pictures I took and tried to think how I could use this experience in my future classrooms. I tired to think how I could explain my experience here, how I could make others understand and I realized I couldn’t because even I don’t understand. Even now I don’t believe the full depth of everything I saw and felt at the camp has hit me, I’m not sure it ever fully will or ever fully can.
I left the camp proud to be an American, proud of our soldiers who liberated the camp sixty-four years ago. I left the camp thinking of those 30,000, 41,000, 120,000, people we were too late to save.
Liberated April 29, 1945; Memorial dedicated May 3, 1992. Bless those who liberated this camp and those who we were not able to save.
I also left the camp ashamed, ashamed to be a world citizen who allowed such an atrocity to occur. I left the camp thinking of those 30,000, 41,000, 120,000, people we were too late to save and I prayed it would never happen again. Then I thought of the atrocities currently happening in the world and I wondered if we would ever learn from our past…
written by  kmr788 on July 6, 2009 from Dachau, Germany

Lions and Tigers and... Seals? Oh my!
Wow, have I already been at my internship for five weeks?! We got another intern at the museum this week and I was honestly really annoyed at first. It seems like Nigel barely has enough time to supervise Blair and me so I couldn’t understand why they would give him another intern. (Although things have been better for us lately but that’s really only because we took the initiative and it didn’t have much to do with Nigel at all.) But it doesn’t really matter because now that it’s the end of the week I love our new intern!!
We got to spend most of our week over at the storage facility at Beggars Bush, which was great because we hadn’t been able to do a lot of work there before. The first two days I worked with the new intern, Rory, as we re-shelved the small library that’s held there. Although there wasn’t a whole lot of educational value that went into this task I still really enjoyed it.
The library in Beggars Bush that Rory and I reshelved.
For one we got to deal with books that were as old as 1847, which was honestly just a really cool thing. Also I really enjoyed the time I got to spend working with Rory because we got into some really great discussions and actually had a blast!
Having some fun while re-shelving the library... "Who ya gonna call?" "Bookbusters!"
She’s also from the United States (a small school in Maryland) and also an educational history major so we already had a lot in common. I told her all about my trip to Dachau last weekend and since she’s also a history education major she understood what I was talking about when I started discussing how I could use that experience of mine in a classroom. It was just nice getting to talk to someone that was on the same ‘level’ as me. She had also visited the camp when she was much younger so we got to compare and contrast our visits, each occurring at such different times of our lives.
I also got to spend some time cleaning bones this week! I felt like I was an archaeologist from Jurassic Park or something, haha. Sitting there in my white lab coat, with my gloves and dust mask… and of course my paintbrush for wiping away the dust! Rory and I worked on a skeleton together that we originally thought was a dolphin, then someone said it was some type of big cat (puma, lion, or tiger), it was later changed to a deer and we finally found out it was a seal!
Working on cleaning Bubba Odysseus.
Rory named it Bubba Odysseus!!
Blair and I also took this week to finish up our report on the signage problems at the History Museum- I don’t remember if I talked about it in previous blogs. But anyway it was basically just a report on what problems we found with signage in relation to the ease of navigation at the museum and what we thought could be done to remedy the situation. It came out great and with all the appendices and results wound up being ten pages! I’m actually rather proud of it, haha. We were even able to add graphs by using the data we complied from some visitor surveys we did- it looked quite spiffy if I do say so myself.
Last night was Rory’s twenty-first birthday so I went out with her and a bunch of her friends to this great thai restaurant. (First time having thai and it was yummy!) It was a really cool atmosphere and the food there was great! I actually only ordered an appetizer because the food was kind of expensive. But then one of Rory’s friends realized the meal he’d ordered had shrimp in it, which he’s deathly allergic to, so I told him I’d switch if he wanted to. So it was actually a pretty sweet deal- I got a main course for an appetizer price, hehe.
After dinner we went to a pub called The Porterhouse and had a few drinks there. I couldn’t really afford to stay out too late since I had a quiz this morning in class (which went okay I guess). It was kind of funny because one of Rory’s friends wanted to go home after dinner because he had to be up early. Well we convinced him to come to the Porterhouse with us for an hour then when Rory and I were leaving at one he still wanted to stay out! He said since he was out he was going to stay until closing, which was at 3! We gave him a hard time since he was the one that hadn’t wanted to go in the first place but he said it was all or nothing and now that he went out he was staying until 3… because that makes a lot of sense! Haha
It was cool getting to hang out with a group of kids that aren’t the normal people I’ve been hanging out with these past six weeks (even though I love hanging out with all of them.) Some of Rory’s group were from Seattle, others from Ohio, and a few from Rory’s school in Maryland. Overall it was just a really fun night! Jahna’s twenty-first birthday is tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll be out late for that and having tons of fun!! Stay tuned…
written by  kmr788 on July 10, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

With my hands, I give you my heart, crowned with love.
This past weekend was a blast because it was Jahna’s twenty-first birthday on Saturday so we did lots of celebrating!!
I should begin though by talking about Saturday morning where I went and got another tattoo… yes, that makes three for those counting.
My new tattoo!
I got the clauddaugh symbol on the back of my neck (something I’ve been wanting for a long time!) And what better place to get it than in Ireland!? Originally I was going to put my grand-dad’s initials in the middle of the heart but unfortunately I would have had to make the tattoo much bigger than I wanted so I scratched that idea.
Kelsie and Lindsay had been talking all summer about getting a tattoo so I told them I’d go with and get one also. I didn’t talk about it much throughout the summer though because I was set on what I was getting and where I was getting it. (Where as they talked non-stop about it trying to decide where to put it and what to get.) So I think they were actually a little surprised when I actually got mine since I didn’t talk about it much but that’s only because I was so sure about it.
I kept joking with them all summer that I’d be the only one to leave the tattoo parlor with a tattoo… and I was. lol. They both backed out when they couldn’t decide exactly what they wanted, which I guess is the best thing to do. With something as permanent as a tattoo you sort of have to be sure about it! Lol (Oh and the neck, definitely hurt worse than my wrist or ankle for those wondering. But still, it wasn’t too bad considering.)
A couple different people had told me that tattoos in Ireland are expensive (like everything else here I suppose) so I was trying to decide what my spending limit would be. I decided I would go up to 120 euro (about $170), which I’ll admit was still probably way too much but oh well. That’s what the guy at the tattoo place told me it would be so I figured I would splurge (I’m only in Ireland for this whole summer once, right?). But when I went to pay he only charged me 80 euro (about $110) so it really wasn’t much more than I probably would’ve paid in the states. And now I can say I got it in Ireland! hehe
Anyway Saturday night we went out for Jahna’s birthday and ate at this great Lebanese Restaurant, since she’s Lebanese herself.
Jahna and her brother, Saade, on Jahna's 21st!
Her brother, Saade, flew in on Thursday so it was nice that he got to celebrate with her. Our dinner lasted about three hours (typical for a traditional Lebanese meal according to Jahna) and it was all really good!
Jahna had been in the restaurant once before so they knew her there and knew it was her birthday. We asked for the check but still hadn’t gotten it after a while.
Jahna being surprised on her 21st birthday by yet more delicious treats from the waiter... and 'Happy Birthday' over the restaurant loud speakers! haha
That’s because the waiters came out and surprised Jahna with a great dessert platter that we all shared! Then a little while after that they came out with another dessert platter of all ice cream where they also played ‘Happy Birthday’ over the loudspeakers in both English and Lebanese… Jahna was pretty embarrassed but it was great! Finally they came out a third time with some Persian coffee for Jahna. So an hour after asking, we finally got the check but at least we understood why it took so long… and we got lots of free goodies out of it!
At the Lebanese restaurant for Jahna's 21st birthday!
After dinner we wound up going to the thai restaurant I went to for Rory’s birthday on Thursday. Jahna knew the owners there (she really is one of those girls that makes friends everywhere she goes, I love it!) and so we went to have a few drinks at their bar. We each ordered a couple cocktails that were delicious! And what made them even more delicious was that they were on the house! Considering they were 10 euro (nearly $15!) cocktails we saved quite a bit! Lol We ended the night at the Palace Bar, one of Jahna’s favorite pubs in the city. Jahna knows all the bartenders there really well (of course!) so we stayed past closing and had some drinks.
Sunday was one of the final games for Gaelic Football so we went back to the Palace Bar to watch the Dubs play during the afternoon. (We won of course!) Before that though Jahna and I stopped off at Cassidy’s (another favorite pub) and watched the first half of the game while we had some lunch, which was a lot of fun.
After the game Jahna, Meghan, and I walked around the city for a bit while we waited for Saade to meet up with us (he went rock climbing at one of the local colleges for the day). We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to Palace Bar to finish off our night. I got tired pretty early though so Saade and I headed back to campus around 1a before everyone else. Considering I had work this morning I didn’t want to stay out too late and make it too brutal of a day (all in all work wasn’t too bad though!).
This weekend was actually probably one of my favorites of the trip! Obviously it was great finally getting the tattoo I’ve wanted for so long but I also just had a really great time for Jahna’s birthday. Sitting down for such a nice meal was a lot of fun too and Sunday was a blast. Next weekend we head to Paris, which I’m sure will be amazing as well! Then the weekend after that I’m home… how crazy is that?!
written by  kmr788 on July 13, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

because pneumonia is the cool thing to have.
Only one more week left of my internship- crazy!!! I spent most of my time over at Beggars Bush again this week. We went back there on Monday so that Rory and I could finish up Bubba (the seal we were cleaning). I wound up not getting to see Bubba finished after all though because all the dust from cleaning the bones started to upset my asthma quite bad. Leona was supervising us however, and she was really great at finding me tasks I could do that would minimize my interaction with all the dust. Truth is I probably stayed with him a little bit longer than I should’ve and I definitely paid the price for it. Even though we were wearing dusk masks, when I took mine off the white had turned to black and I had to wonder how much dust got past the mask and into my longs? …eeew!
After the dust started to bother me though I worked with Leona on topping up the IMS jars. Which basically means we poured a preservation solution into all the jars with specimens in them, such as the fish. At first I was really grossed out by having to look at all these gross fish while I refilled the jars but after a while I realized I’d grown used to it.
Another day I worked with Leona and Rebecca as we switched out the insect traps they have all throughout Beggars Bush… fun. Really though it wasn’t too bad because it was another experience where I was really opened up to the little tasks that have to be done to make the museum work and really to keep the specimens safe. Leona explained the importance of monitoring the insects and bugs in the museum and storage facilities because infestations of certain bugs can cause a lot of damage to the specimens. It was something I had never given much thought to but once she mentioned it I really began to think about the kind of damage that could be done if this type of care wasn’t taken.
The beginning of the week was pretty hard on my breathing with all the dust we were working with but I thought it was just allergies so I didn’t worry about it too much. But by Tuesday afternoon my breathing was pretty bad and I hadn’t even been working with dust for a while. I wound up leaving work after lunch and went home so I could get some rest. When I still felt bad on Wednesday I decided to go to the doctor in the morning and just head into work late. And what did I find out? I have the beginnings of pneumonia! Of course, only me. First strep throat and now pnemonia?!
I went back to work after visiting the doctor and the first thing my boss said to me when he saw me was, “Go home.” Apparently I looked as bad as I felt. I told him that I didn’t want to because I felt bad that I’d already missed two days from strep. But when he asked what the doctor said and I had to reply ‘pneumonia’ it really wasn’t up for discussion anymore. In fact he even gave me a ride back to campus, which was so much better than having to take the bus! I was going to go in yesterday but he suggested that I take another day of rest and just come back Monday (since we don’t work on Fridays.) Again I told him I felt bad for having already missed work because of my strep, but like he said, there’s not much you can do about being sick!
I slept basically allll day yesterday, which meant I felt the teeniest bit better today. But still my wheezing was pretty bad so I went back to the doctor- especially since I’m going to Paris tonight!! The doc basically said that my lungs don’t sound worse but they also don’t sound better so she put me on some more meds. She said Paris will be okay I just have to take it easy and go to a doctor out there if my lungs get bad, but I think I can make it through the weekend- at least I hope I can! Lol. We leave tonight at 8 and I’m supppper excited! Look for my next blog about my trip with lots of pics!!
(Oh and Nigel sent Blair and me an e-mail earlier today to tell us he read our signage report and found it very good and also very useful. He asked that we send him an electronic copy of it so he can make some suggestions and then sign off on it. He plans to submit it to the ‘front of house’ group that will be meeting in August! I was so excited to hear this because one of my worries was that the project would just wind up on somebody’s desk and not be valuable to the museum. Instead it looks like its at least being taken seriously and hopefully some of our suggestions will even be implemented at Collins Barracks!)
((Double oh- I guess I have a lot to say for this blog- but anyway I had my final for my class today so the class portion of the trip is at least over. I think it went pretty well, in fact I think it went really well- oy, I hope I didn’t just jinx it! I was a little worried because with being sick and all I didn’t have a lot of time to study. But it was just two essays we had to write and I think I did a pretty good job with both of them so I guess we’ll see. Okay, done now… off to Paris! hehe))

Crepes in France really do taste so much better!
Paris, France
This weekend was pretty normal… you know, just jetted off to Paris for a couple days! We left Dublin around 8 Friday night so didn’t arrive at our hotel in Paris until past midnight. Our hotel was right off the metro line though so it was super convenient! It was a cute little place with a lot of… character? By character I mean the floor of our room slanted so much I literally thought I was going to roll off my bed in the middle of the night. But still, I loved it! It was a quad with four single beds but since there were five of us we snuck one person in, haha. Then we pushed two of the beds together and Lindsay, Kelsie, and Ellie slept on our makeshift queen sized bed.
Saturday morning Lindsay, Kelsie, Ellie, and I headed into the city centre to grab some breakfast (Amy was doing her own thing throughout the day). We ate at this great little café where we all ordered crepes and coffee!
The cafe we had crepes at our first morning in Paris!
Luckily Ellie still remembered some French from her high school days and helped us out a lot during the trip!
The café was right by Notre Dame so that’s where we started off our day.
The doors at Notre Dame.
It was amazing- with such intricate work around the doors and all over the exterior. It was a pretty long line to get inside so we decided to just stick with seeing the outside of it since we had only a short time in Paris.
Standing in front of Notre Dame- one of our first stops of the morning.
(Now I really wish I’d taken the time to go inside though! Oh well…)
After Notre Dame we walked around a bit as we made our way over to the Louvre.
The main entrance to the Louvre... down through the glass pyramid.
It was so much bigger than I’d ever realized!! And so gorgeous too! The entrance way is the giant glass pyramid that actually seems a little odd with the old architecture of the rest of the building… yet somehow it works! Haha.
Kelsie, Lindsay, Ellie, and Me at a fountain at the Louvre.
We took some pictures of the museum and the girls then seemed satisfied to go to our next location. I couldn’t believe they didn’t want to go inside! I may have passed on Notre Dame but I wasn’t about to pass up on the Louvre- it was one of the main things I wanted to see in Paris!! So I told the girls they could do whatever they liked but I was going to spend sometime in the museum, at least a couple hours. “A couple hours?!” It was sort of funny how much shock they had at my wanting to spend time in the museum… but I am a history major, right? It was 11:45 so I said I was going to stay until about 1:30 and then grab lunch. Ellie said she wanted to see the Mona Lisa so her and I went into the museum while Kelsie and Lindsay went off on their own for a bit.
Two hours was not nearly enough time to see it all- which I knew it wouldn’t be! But I got to see the main highlights of what interested me. Ellie was great because all she really cared about was seeing the Mona Lisa so she let me direct us through the museum to the areas I was interested in.
I got to see the Venus de Milo, which was amazing of course!
Venus de Milo... at the Louvre.
And also spent some time looking at the other Roman and Greek statues. We were both amazed at all the artwork that was on the walls and ceilings of the museum.
On the ceiling in one of the rooms at the Louvre- amazing!
We kept joking that you could walk through the museum looking at only the ceiling and still see so many amazing things! One of our favorite rooms was the one that had the coronation crown of King Louis XV.
The coronation crown worn by King Louis XV.
The entire room, from floor to ceiling and including the ceiling, was covered with gold! We walked into the room and both looked at each other with the same expression of awe and both saying the same thing… Woooooow!
Probably my favorite room in the Louvre- gold was everywhere!! Literally floor to ceiling (and including the ceiling too!) so beautiful!
Of course our next stop was the Mona Lisa!!!
Lots of people in the room with the Mona Lisa.
It was so much smaller than I ever realized but so amazing to see! I stood there with this feeling of awe as I thought about the fact that I was looking at the actual painting of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa… amazing!!
The Mona Lisa!! So much smaller than I realized, hmm...
After the Louvre we met back up with Lindsay and Kelsie and made our way to the Eiffel Tower.
Notice the Eiffel Tower in the back!
From a distance we kept saying how small it was compared to what we had thought it would be like… but once we were actually underneath it I think we all changed our minds on its size! So big!
No explanation should be needed. :-P
Again it was one of those moments where I kept having to remind myself that I was standing in front of the actual Eiffel Tower.
At the base of the Eiffel Tower.
Kelsie, Lindsay, and Me... the background should need no explanation, haha
We went to a small café for dinner after that where I had some great pasta, bread, and wine… really, what more could I ask for?! Ellie ordered frog legs, something she’s always wanted to try, and so I got to have a taste. They don’t necessarily taste like chicken as everyone says, but they really weren’t too bad! Amy met up with us for dinner and we all headed back to the hotel after that to freshen up and change.
The Eiffel Tower at night (though with the flash it doesn't look like it).
We made our way back to the Eiffel Tower so we could see it lit up at night and take the elevator to the top.
It was freezing up there and so windy! And we had to wait outside on the second floor for about a half-hour before we could get to the top! Really the views from the second and top floor were pretty similar and going only to the second floor probably would have sufficed. But at least now I can say I’ve been to the TOP of the Eiffel Tower!!
Ellie, Kelsie, Lindsay, and Me at the top of the Eiffel Tower!!
The night ended rather early, around 1am; I figured I should take it a bit easy given that I’m still trying to get over this ‘pneumonia’ bug! All in all it was a pretty great weekend and I’m glad I had the chance to go to Paris. I was telling my parents though that it’s not really a place I’d be interested in visiting for a long period of time. I wouldn’t take a trip to Europe just to go there like I would to Germany or Italy. Instead if I ever head back to Europe I may take a couple days and go to Paris in between wherever else I visit so I can spend more time at the Louvre and see more of the sights. But really, I wouldn’t be interested in more than three days or so.
I’m also happy to report that the French weren’t nearly as mean to us Americans as everyone said they would be. We actually met quite a few nice Frenchmen that helped us out along the way. That had actually been something I was worried about because I didn’t want to deal with that rudeness, but luckily we didn’t have to!
It’s hard to believe this is my last week in Dublin, I’m going to be so sad to say goodbye to it on Saturday! (Even though I’m stoked to see my family and friends back home!) I’m especially excited to be able to celebrate my 21st birthday at home with my friends next week. Even though my real birthday is tomorrow I feel like it’s going to be rather anti-climactic and I’m pretty sad that I can’t spend it with my family and friends back home. I guess I’ll just have to settle for celebrating it twice: once in Ireland and once back home in Chicago!
written by  kmr788 on July 20, 2009 from Paris, France

Life is for living, so f**king live it.
I write this latest blog as a legal-to-drink-in-the-United-States 21 year-old!! My birthday was absolutely fabulous and I now have the joy of always getting to talk about turning 21 in Europe! Wow, do I have it tough.
I was actually a little worried about my birthday because I wasn’t sure how it was going to be away from home without my friends and family. Especially since it was on a random Tuesday night and we all had work the next morning I wasn’t sure who would actually want to go out and celebrate with me. Plus without my friends and family it almost didn’t seem like there was a point in actually celebrating my birthday. Then there was the whole anti-climactic part of not turning 21 in America and having been able to legally drink since I got to Ireland in May. Luckily though I’ve met some great people here in Dublin and they made it an amazing birthday for me!
Monday night I went out to some pubs with Denise and Jahna and we ended the night at our favorite pub- The Palace Bar. They gave me a free shot at midnight to ring in my first legal drink (of course we’d already been drinking since ten but it was the symbolism behind the drink that mattered! Haha).
My first drink as a legal 21-year-old!
We didn’t stay out too late Monday night since we all had work the next day and we knew we’d head out again Tuesday night to really celebrate my birthday.
Tuesday morning my supervisor let me and the other intern, Rory, come into work late so we could go out to breakfast for my birthday! We ate at this great little crepe restaurant that was delicious.
Walking to Beggars Bush after my birthday breakfast... we got soaked!
Unfortunately the weather was really crappy in the morning with lots of rain (gotta love that Irish weather) so we then had to make our way to Beggars Bush in the pouring rain and subsequently we got soaking wet (it was one of those rains where umbrellas do you little good).
Work was good and they let us go a bit early so Rory and I walked around in City Centre for a bit before meeting up with the rest of my friends for dinner. I’d been craving Italian food since I got here and Rory knew of a great Italian restaurant so that’s where we went for dinner (it didn’t compare to Spaghetti Warehouse but was still delicious). I had some delicious brushetta with the most amazing fresh tomatoes and some yummy ravioli along with tiramisu for dessert of course. A couple people couldn’t make it to dinner so it was actually pretty low-key with about six of us.
Rory and Me at dinner... with the huge birthday pin she made me wear! hehe
At breakfast Rory had surprised me with a huge 21st birthday pin that she insisted I wear so I had it on throughout dinner! haha
Ellie, Meghan, Me, Lindsay, and Kelsie at dinner for my 21st birthday!
We went back to the apartment after dinner to freshen up and then Meghan and I headed back to city centre around ten for the night. We went to Palace Bar and it was pretty low key but tons of fun. I actually kind of liked that it was just Meghan and me and we had a blast! It’s funny actually, this whole summer when I would talk about my birthday and how I wasn’t sure how it would be since I was away from my friends and family and already legal to drink here Jahna would be the one to tell me that we would make it a great birthday and go out and all that. But in the end she wasn’t able to come to either dinner (because of a work thing) or drinks (because she was exhausted). She did take me out Monday night though, which was great. It’s just funny I guess because I always thought Jahna would be the one I’d spend my birthday with instead of Meghan- but in the end I wound up having a bbllaasst with Meghan!!
We listened to some music at the Palace and had a bunch of drinks and shots of course! Since we know all the bartenders we stayed past closing and hung out for a bit. After that we walked over to Doyles and had a couple shots there as well- (I’m not sure whose idea tequila shots at two in the morning was but somehow even with that the next morning wasn’t too brutal.)
We headed home around three and I was dreading having to get up for work this morning but it actually wasn’t too bad considering. It also helped that I really didn’t do much at work, haha, but more on my last week in a later blog.
Now I can’t wait to get home and continue my birthday celebration with my family and friends!! I guess in the end I realize now that I get the best of both worlds- turning 21 while in Europe and then coming home a week later to celebrate with everyone back in Chicago!! Can’t wait!

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
My final week at the museum was a great wrap up to my summer. Blair finished early on Monday because she was leaving for India Wednesday morning so the staff had a going away party for her and me during break that day. When we got to Beggars Bush we told them it was Blair’s last day and they all felt bad that they hadn’t gotten cake or anything. Matthew left for a few minutes and when he came back he was carrying a bunch of boxes of desserts for us!
Me, Blair, and Rory.
So we took an early afternoon tea break and were able to all sit together and have some tea and cake to celebrate Blair’s and mine last week. They really are amazing- all these people I got to work with. It was a pretty relaxed workweek overall and I think it was a really great way to end my internship.
I did a couple tasks for Matthew this week, especially on Monday. I still wasn’t feeling the best Monday from my small case of pneumonia and Matthew (and everyone else) was so good about making sure I was feeling okay. I was working on the computer in the breakroom typing up some manuscripts for Matthew and he kept poking his head in to make sure I was feeling okay. He kept telling me I could go home if I didn’t feel well and he would even drive me back to DCU if I wanted. Although I did feel really sick, I actually felt better just knowing that everyone here was looking out for me.
I really wish that Matthew had been our supervisor throughout this whole summer instead of Nigel. Especially because in most ways he basically was! I barely ever saw Nigel and never really worked with him, plus he was gone three of the seven weeks we were interning and was even gone for our last week. He always seemed too busy to be bothered to deal with Blair and me and so the two of us were often on our own in finding tasks to do. But Matthew took us under his wing and always made sure he had work for us to do over at Beggars Bush. He was always so grateful too! Even when I was doing something as simple as typing up a manuscript he would tell me how much he appreciated it, how important it was, and how much it was helping him out. I think a task, any task, is so much easier and more gratifying when you feel like it’s actually helping someone and you’re a benefit to the organization. That’s what Matthew does, he makes me feel like I’m really valued here and that’s something I never felt from Nigel.
Alice, Rebecca, Me, and Emir... I miss them already!
Honestly I think it’s the people I got to work with this summer that really made the entire experience so much better! On my last day I started off at the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street so I could say goodbye to my co-workers there. We took some pictures, including a bunch of funny ones with the animals. I also got to take a lot more pictures of the museum and also went up to the galleries to take some pictures of the different specimens I got to work with throughout the summer. As I was standing there, on the top balcony looking down at the museum, I really started to get sad at having to leave it. And not just sad at leaving the museum in general, but also having to leave all those people.
Alice is moving to Chicago at the end of October and I gave her my contact information so we could get together when I’m back home for Christmas. She said she definitely wanted to get together for a drink so I really hope we do.
Alice, Rebecca, Emir, and Me in front of the Hippo!
I’m already thinking about how I want to come back and visit the museum once its reopened and get to see everyone again. A friend of mine is starting her PhD program at Trinity College in the fall and I’m already making plans to come visit her. Hopefully during these visits I can head back to the museum and visit there too!
I ended my internship at Beggars Bush where I took more pictures and said some more goodbyes.
Rebecca and me on my last day :-(
Honestly I didn’t actually do anything on Wednesday (my last day) except really say goodbye to everyone. (Which was perfect since I’d had a late night the night before, haha).
Leaving this internship behind is by far the hardest part about leaving Dublin. I thought leaving the actual city, leaving the pubs, leaving the sites would be the hard part. But instead it’s leaving behind this museum and these people. Saying goodbye- that’s definitely the hardest part. When I left the musuem and then Beggars Bush for the last time I was surprised at how emotional I felt at having to say goodbye. But in the end I was grateful- because I’d rather be sad at having to leave because it was such a great internship than glad its finally over because I had a bad time there.
I guess it just all goes back to that old saying- don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened. And I’m definatley smiling.
Smiling on my last day as I leave the museum because it really was an amazing summer!

Sheep Chaser! (Named by Katie, Inspired by Todd)
Fisrt let me explain the name of this blog because it goes back to before I was even in Ireland. Back in Boston there's a boxing club I workout at and before I left I was talking to one of the coaches, Todd, about how I was going to stay in shape over summer. "They have hills in Ireland, right? And lots of sheep? Perfect! Just chase the sheep up and down the hills!" Yeah, right, perfect. I told my sister about this and told her I would have to talk about my chasing sheep in one of my blogs. You can name it, "Sheep Chaser!" she said... and so I told her I would but would have to save the name for a really great blog. I would add "Named by Katie, Inspired by Todd" to the title I told her. And so I decided to leave this great name to my last Dublin blog- So here it goes...
I sit here in my Dublin apartment with a cab coming in less than an hour to take me to the airport where I will fly back to Chicago… I’m not quite sure how I feel about that yet. This summer has been so amazing in so many ways that I’m saddened to have to leave Ireland. At the same time I can’t wait to be back home and see my friends and family.
My last night in Dublin was pretty amazing though, which I guess is fitting considering how great the rest of my summer was! Let me give you the cliffnotes to help you understand: I got home from the night at 7am = awesome night! I leave for the airport at 8am = rough morning! Luckily I had just enough time to get home, jump in the shower, and sit here to write my last Dublin blog.
We didn’t get downtown until nearly midnight last night. U2 is playing in Dublin right now and the concert had just gotten out so O’Connell Street was a mess with 80,000 people emerging on it at once! We went straight to Palace Bar, our favorite in Dublin, and spent our night there. The bar was open until two, though it normally closes closer to twelve; I think with the U2 concert most pubs stayed open late.
We met some interesting characters last night and at one point Meghan and I had a gentlemen come up to us and ask us back to his apartment… in case he wasn’t clear enough by this gesture he clarified further, “You know I’m taking about sex, right?” Yeah, we got that. Thanks. Shockingly enough we kindly refused his offer, but hey we did get a free drink out of it… and a lot of laughs too! I swear the pub was filled with all of Dublin’s creeps last night and they all seemed to come up to me! Eh, I guess it made for an interesting last night, haha.
Although they made the last call a dozen times after closing at two most of the people didn’t actually leave until past three. Since we had been there so much throughout the summer we knew all of the bartenders and stayed past closing to hang out with them for our last night. After everyone left around three Willie, the owner’s son, asked us we wanted to have a nightcap of some Jamison. Although we tried to decline he wouldn’t let us, “When is the last time the five of you are going to be sitting at a pub together in Dublin?!” And he proceeded to pour us our whiskey, haha. Followed by another one later in the night of course. He also gave me a ‘Palace Bar’ t-shirt, which I was very excited about!
We had a fun time just all sitting around talking about whatever it was we talked about. Of course every time I looked at the clock I though, “Okay now I have four hours before my cab comes, nope three hours, sweet two hours!” But I would much rather have had it that way because it really was a great night!
Around 6am we ate “breakfast” in the bar, which consisted of another Jamison and a quarter of a bar sandwich- yummy! Finally around 6:30am we realized that we should probably get going since some of us hadn’t even packed yet! We said goodbye to our lovely bartenders and in turn said goodbye to Palace Bar and downtown Dublin… aw, I miss it already!
Well now my cab is going to be here in about twenty minutes and I have to finish throwing the last of my things (including this laptop) into my suitcase. I’ll put up one last blog tomorrow when I’m back in Chicago to properly wrap up my summer. But I guess this will be my last blog from Dublin… can we give one big “Awww!”

...and so it concludes.
Chicago, United States
I’ve been back home for about a day now. Yesterday I was saddened to have to say goodbye to Dublin, yet at the same time I was excited to say hello to Chicago… and more importantly to my friends and family! It’s weird to sit here in my bedroom in the States when just yesterday I was sitting in my apartment in Ireland.
For my internship portfolio I had to write a paper on how living in Ireland for this summer has impacted me as a person. I began the paper by explaining how difficult that is to do. I think when someone is still in the midst of a life-changing experience it is difficult to see the full meaning of what that experience will one day mean to them. Ask me a year from now, five years from now and I may have the answer they’re looking for. But ask me today and you will only get the jumbled mess of emotions I’m feeling after just having left Dublin and just having said goodbye to the country that had become my home these past eight weeks.
I can still remember when the plane landed on the tarmac at Dublin Airport back in May. I stepped off the plane knowing that the experiences I was going to have this summer would leave me changed forever. I suppose I realized that the person stepping off the plane at Dublin Airport in May would not be the same person stepping back on it in July. Part of that feeling left me a little scared I’ll admit. It’s always scary to change because you’re not always sure who you’re changing into. A better person, a worse person, a stronger person, a weaker person? I’m still not sure I can say exactly what type of person I’ve been changed into but I hope it is for the better.
I made friends more easily than I ever expected going to Ireland. By the time I’d landed in Dublin I’d already met two of the people I would hang out with the rest of the summer. When someone lands in a new country by themselves it only makes sense that they are going to gravitate towards those people who are in the same position as them and hold on for dear life. So that’s what I did. And by the end of the summer I had a group of girls that I spent the last eight weeks of my life with. I know I will always look back on them fondly because it was these friendships I created that made this experience not only easier, but also so much more enjoyable.
I think it would be hard to have an experience like I’ve had this summer and not remember the people who were around me as I was experiencing it. All the people I’ve met on this trip, whether they’re the group of girls I regularly hung out with or the random stranger in the pub, will have a lasting impact on my life because they were there when this summer changed me. They have a unique view of me that no one else will have because they saw these changes occur as they happened. I left my family one person but came back another. The people in Ireland, however, have been able to see this small transformation as it was happening. Though, I’m still not completely sure who I’ve been transformed into.
It’s not just Ireland that’s changed me though; it’s the travelling outside of Ireland too. Travelling is such an eye opening and life-affirming experience that I feel it is impossible to do so without it having a great impact on your life. Especially when it’s in a foreign country so far from home.
Of course the trip that had the most impact on me was Dachau. I feel that visit changed me more this summer than any amount of pub hopping or site seeing in Dublin will. It amazes me to think I spent eight weeks in Ireland yet I think the eight hours I spent in that camp will change me far more. Of course, spending the time in Dachau wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t come to Ireland to study abroad. Maybe that’s what Ireland really was for me- an entranceway to newer and greater possibilities.
Of course my internship also had a great impact on me! I feel like everyday I had an experience there that changed me. Sometimes it was the silliest of things too, such as getting to hold a book from 1846. Something so random for any other person and yet so meaningful for me.
Also, I always felt like I was leaving my mark on history when I was working in the museum. I was opening up exhibit cabinets that hadn’t been opened in a hundred years and then locking them back up where they probably wouldn’t be opened again for another fifty years. It’s odd, and somehow powerful for me, to walk past one of those display cases and know I was the person who handled the specimen and affixed its registration number to it. I can go back in five years, ten years, twenty years and stand at that same specimen remembering back to when I picked it up and held it in my hands. The little experiences like that are actually what I feel impacted me the most and will stay with me the longest.
Actually maybe its not that those little experiences impacted me the most I think instead it’s that those experiences are the easiest for me to see the impact of right away. Maybe because they are so simple and small. It’s the bigger experiences that will take me a little bit longer to process. Even just thinking about all the great people I got to work with this summer and all the different tasks I got to do. I think a few years from now I’m going to look back on this internship and say, “Wow! I actually did that?!” In fact, I think that sums up this entire summer- wow, I actually did do that!
There are still times when I can’t believe I actually spent my summer living in Dublin, even while I was still there. Even now, eight weeks after getting to Dublin and a day after heading home, I can’t believe that I actually lived in another country for a summer. It’s something that I think will take a while before I can ever fully process it.
And then it was time to head home- that was a whole other experience in itself. It’s all so bittersweet too because while I was so excited to be heading home and seeing my friends and family, I was also sad at having to say goodbye to Dublin, which has become my home these past eight weeks.
This feeling of sadness is probably the best indicator of how much Ireland has changed me and I think it shows how I’ve been changed for the better. If I had a poor time while here or thought it had negativley changed who I am then I’m sure I would have felt more relief at leaving. Instead I wanted to continue the amazing expereinces I had in Dublin and that means that I was sad to have to say goodbye.
So what did I get from my time in Ireland? Memories mostly, memories of a summer when I was twenty that impacted the rest of my life. Experiences too, I have lots of those. Experiences of a new culture so different from my own that became my culture for a short period of time. The biggest thing I got from my time in Dublin though is the new person I have become from these memories and experiences. A person that I may not fully understand for another five, ten, or twenty years.
I’m still not sure if I wrote the type of paper that my professor wanted for my personal project on how Ireland impacted me. I could have talked about the differences in the Irish and American workplace or the differences in our culture- but most of that I talked about in the weekly entry journals I also had to submit. I could have made up stuff about how this experience has changed me instead of fully admitting that I’m still not sure yet of its impact. I could have done all that and maybe it would have been what he wanted. But that’s not me, this is. And this is me admitting I still don’t fully know what this summer has meant to me… but I sure can’t wait to find out in the years to come.
Thanks all for sharing this summer with me and taking the time to read my blogs and look at my photos. It really was one hell of a ride…
written by  kmr788 on July 26, 2009 from Chicago, United States

Before leaving for the airport.

Notice the Shamrock?

Another shot of the plane.

From the plane at the Shannon Airport before heading to Dublin!

My bedroom.

The common area.

The common kitchen to our suite.

Remembrance Park.

Great bar we grabbed some drinks at before our afternoon orientation on Friday.

Monument to James Joyce?

Another side street in Dublin.

"The Spire"- finished in 2003 to commemorate the new millennium.

The post office.

One of the hotels downtown.

The first Dublin bar we hit up on our first night in Dublin!

Downtown Dublin. Off the main street are all these great little streets with tons of awesome stores!

Trinity College- great college downtown where one of my good friends is going in the fall!

City Centre.

Standing on a bridge in City Centre looking out over the river.

Downtown Dublin.

On the bus heading to City Centre

Great two-story bar with awesome music and a dance floor on the second floor.

One of the pubs we went to our second night out.

A cool building- I think it was some type of parish.

At the train station before heading down to Killiney.

The train station.

The Dart. The train we took to Killiney.

One of our stops. Got on the wrong train so had to get off here and wait for another!

Coastline at Killiney.

Hanging out at the beach in Killiney.

The hills of Killiney.

On the bus before heading out our first Saturday night.

Beach about 30 mins south of Dublin in Killiney

At the beach in Dalkey.

Lindsay and Denise.

The town of Dalkey

The small town of Dalkey.

A pub in Dalkey.

Fun sign on one of the houses

Dalkey is said to be the "Beverly Hills of Ireland"- after seeing some of the houses we understood why!

The sign leading to the beach we were heading to in Dalkey.

Looking out over Dalkey.

Dalkey Shoreline

Heading to the beach in Dalkey.

Dalkey, Ireland

Shoreline at the beach in Dalkey.

Ellie and Jahna at the racetrack.

Scoreboard of the different races.

The horses heading out to the starting gates.

Where the horses started- HUGE racetrack, but they only went around half.

At the racetracks.

Horsey!

Densie, Kelsey, and Lindsay at the racetracks.

Denise and Lindsay trying to get warm at the racetracks? No clue! haha

Jahna and the Hugh Heffner wannabe at Cassidy's

Dancing at Cassidy's

Outside the Natural History Museum of the National Museum of Ireland. (Please note: This picture was taken from the internet and not by me.)

The museum is currently closed for major renovations- it's been closed for two years but the first floor will reopen in the fall. (Please note: This picture was taken from the internet and not by me.)

Inside the Natural History Museum of the National Museum of Ireland. (Please note: This picture was taken from the internet and not by me.)

Walking into the monastery at Glendalough.

The Round Tower at Glendalough- one of the tallest in Ireland!

The cemetery at Glendalough- some graves are 1400 years old!

Looking at Glendalough's cathedral, with part of the cemetery in the forefront.

The cathedral of Glendalough's monastery.

"Inside" the cathedral of Glendalough's monastery.

"St. Kevin's Kitchen" - really it's a church though but was originally misnamed!

Beautiful waterfall at Glendalough- little dark because my flash wasn't cooperating.

Waterfall at Glendalough.

Pretty stream in Glendalough.

Looking down at the lake at Glendalough.

Looking down at the monastery from a couple miles up.

From our hike in Glendalough.

Grabbing some lunch on our hike in Glendalough.

A Unicorn!! (Or a white horse, but a unicorn is much cooler!)

Amy, Denise, Lindsay, Kelsey

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears... oh my!

Ellie "falling" down the embankment while Meghan "saves" her

Fun swinging, cable, contraption thingy! hehe

Yeah no big deal- just me chillin' in front of the castle! hehe

In front of the castles door in Malahide.

A castle at Malahide.

The beach at Malahide.

Oh to be five again!

Lindsay going down the slide at the park in Malahide.

A castle in Limerick on the River Shannon.

Ellie standing out on a rock ledge at The Burren.

Standing out on a rock at The Burren.

Meghan and Jahna at The Burren

At the Cliffs of Moher.

Cliffs of Moher.

Oops- we must've missed the sign! :-O

Amy and me at the Cliffs of Moher.

Sitting at the Cliffs of Moher.

Waterfall in Killarney area.

At a waterfall in the Killarney area.

At an entrance to some cellar areas / small rooms of Blarney Castle.

Blarney Castle- home of the Blarney Stone.

Blarney Castle- come get your gift of gab!

At the top of Blarney Castle where you kiss the Blarney Stone.

The Rock of Cashel- where the Kings of Munster used to sit.

Welcome to Galway!

Eyre Park- the center of Galway City.

Center of Galway City.

One of the many cathedrals in Galway.

"St. Mary's College"- An all boys secondary school... freaking huge!

Galway Bay

Claddaugh (like the ring!)- an area by Galway Bay close to the center of Galway City.

At Cassidy's in City Centre (L-R: Lindsay, Me, Kelsie, Meghan).

At Cassidy's in City Centre (L-R: Lindsa, Me, Jahna, Meghna, Bobby).

At the burren. (L-R: Amy, Lindsay, Kelsie, Me, Jahna, Meghan, Ellie).

At the end of the night in Galway as we get our things from Paul's car! haha

The Galway group in front of Galway Bay (L-R: Ellie, Me, Kelsie, Jahna, Lindsay)

Amy showing off her German coke on the train from the Memmingen Airport (which has a whole four terminals!) to Munich.

Amy, Kelsie, and Lindsay as we head to the center of Munich for our first night out.

Amy and Me on the way into the Munich city centre for our first night out.

Where should we go next?!

Munich's town hall.

One of the streets in Munich.

Lindsay and Kelsie in Munich.

In the gardens of the Residential Palace area.

Outside the Residential Museum (I think, hehe).

Drinking lots of beer at Hofbrauhaus. The empty glass is mine, which I finished in about ten minutes... the other girls took over an hour.

The original building that served as the main entrance into the concentration camp.

Crap. Now how do we get down from here without trampling the flowers? Answer: you wind up trampling them anyway. Oops!

At a fountain in Munich.

The main square of the camp where roll call was taken every day. The camp was originally built for 4-5,000 prisoners, by the time of it's liberation it held nearly 40,000 men.

At the beginning the barrack rooms actually provided a lot of space for the prisoners with about fifty men in each room... by the end 500 were crammed into this same sized room.

Men in the barracks at the time of their liberation by U.S. forces.

By the end the barrack rooms that were supposed to house 50 men now held over 500.

The courtyard between the main building and the prisons... the place where punishments and executions were carried out.

Looking at the inside of a cell from outside the closed door.

The prison cells.

The prison cells at the camp. Used mainly for punishment and then to house "high profile" prisoners.

Illuminations they put on walls of certain prison cells with quotes from survivors. "Around two o'clock in the morning the key rattles in the lock of the first cell door at the other end of the corridor. We're all awake at once. The unlocked metallic f

Illuminations they put on walls of certain prison cells with quotes from survivors. "Four months in the bunker, four months detention in darkness, four months with hot food every fourth day! Time crawls by, I only count every fourth day, and I'm amazed

Illuminations they put on walls of certain prison cells with quotes from survivors. "It was strict detention, a full 8 months. In darkness. No exercise. Hard bed. Bare wood. Three days: water and 1 pound of bread. Then 1 day prisoner's food. Just

A map of all the concentration camps and extermination camps at the height of Hitler's regime.

One of the statues in the Museum that is at the site.

Part of the memorial- a representation of the twisted bodies of the dead.

The memorial: the statue in the middle is to represent the twisted bodies of the dead, the pillars represent the fence that kept them imprisoned in the camp, the gravel in front represents where the prisoners had to go each day for roll call.

The colors of all the different triangles represent the different countries present in the camp, they're connected to represent the solidarity between the prisoners, the chain that links the three circles together represents their imprisonment in the camp

The walk from the last barracks to the front where roll call took place each day. For us it was a simple three minute walk- now imagine being starved and sick and having to complete this walk...

The protestant memorial at Dachau. The architect purposely avoided right angels because he said the prisoners constantly had to live in that rigid 'right angle' atmosphere.

A re-creation of the 'security measures' at the camp. If any person stepped on the grass they were immediately shot from the guard tower- many stepped onto the grass as an act of suicide.

The mechanics behind the gas chamber. Some claim the gas chamber was never used at Dachau, however others believe this is unlikely.

The gas chamber at Dachau- I literally thought I was going to be physically sick upon entering this room. By far the saddest, hardest part of the tour.

Brausebad... Gas Chamber.

The 'new' crematorium that was built after there were too many bodies for the original crematorium.

Liberated April 29, 1945; Memorial dedicated May 3, 1992. Bless those who liberated this camp and those who we were not able to save.

What happened to my beer?! I just got it ten minutes ago!

Amy and Me at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich!

Amy and me on the way into downtown Munich our first night out.

At the Hofbräuhaus in Munich!

I'm on the right ten minutes after getting my beer, Kelsie is on the left!

At the Lebanese restaurant for Jahna's 21st birthday!

Old pic- from during orientation I think...

Jahna and her brother, Saade, on Jahna's 21st!

Jahna being surprised on her 21st birthday by yet more delicious treats from the waiter... and 'Happy Birthday' over the restaurant loud speakers! haha

The cafe where we had breakfast our first morning in Paris. So cute!

Standing in front of Notre Dame- one of our first stops of the morning.

The doors at Notre Dame.

Notice the Eiffel Tower in the back!

One part of the Louvre... so much bigger than I ever realized!!

The main entrance to the Louvre... down through the glass pyramid.

Venus de Milo... at the Louvre.

The sphinx at the Louvre.

On the ceiling in one of the rooms at the Louvre- amazing!

The coronation crown worn by King Louis XV.

Probably my favorite room in the Louvre- gold was everywhere!! Literally floor to ceiling (and including the ceiling too!) so beautiful!

The Mona Lisa!! So much smaller than I realized, hmm...

Lots of people in the room with the Mona Lisa.

No explanation should be needed. :-P

At the base of the Eiffel Tower.

It was too tall to get a close up shot with the entire tower!

Kelsie, Lindsay, and Me... the background should need no explanation, haha

The Eiffel Tower at night (though with the flash it doesn't look like it).

The Eiffel Tower at night when it does its sparkling light thing, haha

The cafe we had crepes at our first morning in Paris!

View of the city from the Eiffel Tower at night.

Close up of my new tattoo on the back of my neck.

My new tattoo!

Ellie, Kelsie, Lindsay, and Me at the top of the Eiffel Tower!!

Ellie, Amy, and Me on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower... soooo cold!

Kelsie, Lindsay, Ellie, and Me at a fountain at the Louvre.

My first drink as a legal 21-year-old!

Rory and Me at dinner... with the huge birthday pin she made me wear! hehe

Walking to Beggars Bush after my birthday breakfast... we got soaked!

Ellie, Meghan, Me, Lindsay, and Kelsie at dinner for my 21st birthday!

Alice, Rebecca, Me, and Emir on my last day :-(

Alice, Rebecca, Emir, and Me in front of the Hippo!

Big whale.

On the top balcony of the main area of the museum... so gorgeous!

The hallway to the offices at the Natural History Museum.

ick... spiders. You get used to 'em after a while... glad they're dead though!

The stairs that collapsed two years ago with eight people on them... luckily no one was seriously injured. Museum's been closed since then.

Leona and me on my last day!

The ground floor of the Natural History Museum- clearly closed for renovation.

Smiling on my last day as I leave the museum because it really was an amazing summer!

A fossil of some animal still stuck in the rock- lots of these at Beggars Bush.

Hanging out with the fish specimens- you really do get used to the grossness after a while.

Lots of fish in IMS preservative solution... there are rooms upon rooms filled of cabinets upon cabinets of these jars.

Some of our specimens in an IMS preservative solution.

Behind one of the huge doors of one of the rooms that used to house gun ammunition or something back in the day.

Hangin' out with the antlers Rebecca was cleaning- I forget what she named them though.

Rebecca and me on my last day :-(

Alice, Rebecca, Me, and Emir... I miss them already!

Me, Blair, and Rory.

Working on cleaning Bubba Odysseus.

Having some fun while re-shelving the library... "Who ya gonna call?" "Bookbusters!"

Another room in Beggars Bush.

The library in Beggars Bush that Rory and I reshelved.

One of the rooms in Beggars Bush