St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the mornin' to ya! Well, I woke up early and got decked out in green before I headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Dublin! I went with a group of international students and meet up with some more once arriving in Dublin.

Shamrocks anyone?

Kiss him, he's Irish

We meet St. Patrick!

She just wanted to see the parade!

Cheese!

Me, Kristen, and Claudia

Kristen and Claudia

We walked around for a bit before we found a good spot to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade! Still was not able to get super close, but could see what was going on for the most part. Unfortunately, I discovered that the parade was not very Irish at all--it appeared to be more of a international parade than Irish. I soon discovered that we celebrate St. Paddy's Day more Irish than they do in Ireland--there was no corn beef and cabbage, Irish Step Dancing, or all those things that go with the day. Nevertheless, I tried to make it as Irish as possible! :)

After the parade, we made our way to the Temple Bar area and walked around for awhile before we ended up at Oliver's--St. John's pub, where we were able to listen to tradional Irish music and have a grand old time! We stayed at St. John's for the whole night even though there were so many people in pubs and in the streets! We took the 1am bus back to Belfast and I slept the whole way back! It took about 3 hours until we got back to the Student Village.

Smile

And The Dance Goes On

Who needs to go to class when you have a chance to go to Killarney? Well, I decided to skip two days of classes to go watch Maggie Dufficy dance in All Ireland's--an Irish Step Dancing Competition--in Killarney, Republic of Ireland. It only took about 8 hours on a train (my first train ride) to get there, but oh so worth it!

When I finally arrived in Killarney, I walked about a mile to the Riverside Hotel to meet up with Nancy and Maggie Dufficy. The guy at the front desk probably thought I was crazy when I was asking to leave a message for them and trying to explain why I was there--however, Maggie walked in right after I left them a message. It was so good to see family friends from Denver, CO. Maggie and I were able to catch up while Nancy was off doing who knows what--just joking, she was picking up Hannah from the bus station with the Radcliffe's.

Maggie Dufficy

The next day we got up and got ready to go watch Michael Gardiner dance in the competition. He ended up in 5th place for his age group and qualified for Worlds again. (The Gardiner Family used to live in Denver and went to Notre Dame Elementary School before moving back to Galway, Ireland four years ago.) After his dance, the Radcliffe's, Dufficy's, Hannah, and I head off to go for a horse ride through Killarney Park. It had been about two years since I had been on a horse and my first time riding English--I prefer Western style of riding. My horse was named Dingo and the name fit him well--overall, he was a good horse, except when he went a little crazy and almost threw me off. The hour that we were out there, we had beautiful weather and scenery!

We made back in time to hear the results of Michael's age group, he ended up placing 5th and qualifying for World's again! Afterwards, all of us meet up at Danny Mann's--a traditional Irish Pub that seemed to be the place to go in Killarney! We had some good craic (pronounced 'crack' for those who might have been wondering)! There was live traditional Irish music in the background; which just added to the atmosphere! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel so Maggie and Julie could get a good nights rest before the big day!

My horse, Dingo


Killarney Lake


Ready to ride!


I don't know how they were able to walk in such a narrow path

Giddy up!

Lovely Day!

Finally, the big day was finally here--the day Maggie and Julie danced! Their age group was quite a bit bigger than Michael's; so, it took a while to get through all the girls and you had to listen to the same song each time. The competition is broken into two parts: hard shoe and soft shoe; and has six judges. The hard shoe was first and unfortunately Maggie kind of rolled her ankle at the very beginning; so, she was not able to do her best. But, she made up for it in her soft shoe! Julie did well in both of the shoes. However, neither one of them got recalled in the end to go onto the next round; it was a learning experience for them. They were happy to have it over with and could finally relax a little bit.

We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant--boy were we hungry! After dinner, we went over to Tesco to get some snacks for the bus ride back for me and car ride back for them. The six of us headed to Danny Mann's to listen to some traditional Irish music on last time as a group. On the way back to the hotel, we ended up going to another Tesco to look for some last minute things they forgot to get. (Tesco is similar to Wal-Mart/Albertsons). We got back to the hotel, where we got all packed and ready to leave in the morning. Sadly morning came and I had to say good bye to Nancy and Maggie; I had a wonderful time with everyone and it was nice to have a break from school! I took my time going to the train station as I walked around Killarney--it is such a cute town!

The BIG day is finally here--reading some Psalms


All Irelands 2010

The picture I really was not suppose to take...don't tell anyone

Smile Big!

Calling number 130...

Sad because she didn't get a recall

Look at all that hair
(Maggie Dufficy and Julie Radcliffe)

Cheese!

Our entertainment at Danny Mann's


Oh Maggie...

Maggie and that camera...


Riverside Hotel

Scenery along Muckross Road

Nancy's favorite beer--Murphy's

Carriage ride anyone?

A poster at the rail station...it made me laugh

Just for you dad :)

Adventures with Alissa (Part 2)

Sorry for the very long delay for the second part of "Adventures with Alissa" blog; I just got busy with school and what not--but, it is here now!

After class Friday morning, Alissa and I had lunch on campus at Zest before we caught a taxi to Carrickfergus Castle. I had to be a translator for Alissa because she had a difficult time understanding the Irish accent at times--even thought she has fallen in love with their accent. As usual our cab driver was very friendly, he told us about buildings we were passing, where we need to visit if we had more time, and where we should go for dinner. We had an absolutely beautiful day for sightseeing. Alissa and I toured Carrickfergus Castle while we took more pictures than we could count and we soaked up every minute of sunshine! After the castle we went for a walk around the harbor--or as the British would spell it, harbour--and we had perfect weather the whole time. Next, we took a stroll through the town Carrickfergus, where we found a funny wall mural and a beautiful church/cemetery. We made our way to Brewer's Fayre for a very yummy Irish Pub dinner and enjoyed each others company. The entire time that Alissa was in Ireland with me it seemed surreal and went by too quickly!

I couldn't help but smile due to the great weather and company!

Who knew they had trucks back in the day!

What shall we shoot today?

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Loving it!!!


Smile!

Who knows? Quite a big Castle you have

Say Cheese!

I spy with my little eye...

King John in the John

Good doggie!

A knight's gear

The staircase that Alissa tried to push me down...what a friend!



Working hard!

The Harbor

Such a model!

Very cold water!

Carrickfergus Castle from Afar

Silhouette


Palm trees in Ireland...okay?

Try no to fall in Alissa!

Celtic Cross in a cemetery

On the side of a building!

She deserved it....

...I did not!

Irish coffee...yummy!

Brewer's Fayre

Alissa thought it was a real bird!