And the countdown begins!

Hello! I am so excited to talk at you. It's been a while (as usual)!

And again, as usual, these past couple of weeks has been pretty eventful. Classes are starting to wrap up because ... dun dun dun ... I only have one more week of school left! WHOA! I'm trying to work up enough steam to seriously sit down and study. And let me tell you, it's not going so well!

I registered a couple of nights ago for next semester's classes. I had a fabulous registration time although Claremont McKenna's psychology department had to make things a little difficult. I still ended up with a pretty cool set of classes. I can already tell I am going to be pretty busy, especially compared to this semester. I guess that's what the Scripps Off-Campus Study Office meant when they told us about the possibility of experiencing culture shock when we come home.

I went on my last international trip last weekend. I stayed with another fabulous Scrippsie in Edinburgh, Scotland. Let me just start off by telling you how much I LOVE that city. A lot. I was hooked within minutes of arriving there. I got there pretty early Friday morning, and since LeeAnn had class until 11, I had a few hours to do whatever. I actually had a lot of work to do, so I went to the Elephant House Cafe where J.K. Rowling  wrote Harry Potter!!!!!! I originally didn't want to go there because I thought it would be really touristy but it wasn't at all. I was actually the only person there for a while. Granted, it was 8:30AM, but still. Sitting in a cafe seems like a pretty ordinary thing to do, but it was actually a pretty amazing experience. I was able to find the cafe all by myself, and since I had to walk from where the airport shuttle dropped us off, I was obviously able to see some of the city. It's absolutely amazing. ALL of the buildings are so OLD (and so pretty!) - it's awe-inspiring. And then to sit in the same cafe as J.K. Rowling and be writing a fabulous piece of literature (well, not really, it was just an essay), it was just a really cool feeling. And to top it all off, Edinburgh just exudes Harry Potterness. It's like the modern-day, city version of Hogwarts and definitely forever cemented in my 10 Favorite Places list. LeeAnn and I went to a museum, a cafe that had beautiful peach tea, did more homework, went to a pub for dinner, and then went to another pub and had yummy mulled wine. We went to the town of St. Andrews on Saturday and saw the cathedral ruins, went to a couple of cute craft fairs, had famous ice cream (Carmel Coffee flavored - YUM!), and ended the day at a used bookstore. Absolutely wonderful.

I'm glad I went to Scotland and saw LeeAnn, but I'm also glad I don't have any more international trips planned. I didn't realize how exhausting these weekend trips would be! I do have a fieldtrip with my archaeology class (we're going to County Roscommon to look at ditches and mounds that were once moats and walls with maybe a few castles and churches thrown in) this Saturday, and then a trip to Northern Ireland with Butler next weekend. And that will be the end of my You-went-where?! trips. I guess my stay in Galway would count as one of those trips too.

It's funny - after next week (my last week of classes), I have Study Week, then two weeks of finals, and then I come home! It's almost unbelievable. I can't believe how fast my time here has gone by. Though I will admit that ever since the beginning of November I've been pretty ready to come home. To be fair, I think that it has a lot to do with my impending finals. As Timon says to Simba, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going!". But even without finals, a semester abroad is just the right amount of time. I can't even imagine how I would be feeling right now if I had decided to stay for a whole year. I can't wait to just be with my family and friends. There's something to be said about physical proximity and knowing that my mom or sisters or friends are in the next room or right down the hall. Ahhhh, I'm so excited to come home!

I haven't posted pictures in a while so here are a few snapshots of my trips!





Me being silly next to a statue of Nicolas de Condorcet in Paris (only Scrippsies would understand)

  



Blarney Castle, Cork

  




ME IN THE FAIRY GLADE!
Blarney Estate

  




This was literally the only place in the Elephant House Cafe that was Harry Potter themed.

  




For Ms. Stenberg

  




Me and LeeAnn at the St. Andrews Town Hall (the old one - they obviously built a new one)

   Wow, I completely forgot how long it took to upload photos. It wasn't just because I've been too busy. I hope you like them!

love always!

Through the wind and the rain

Before I left for Galway, I heard a lot of "You're going to Ireland? You must like the rain." And even when I got here, when the friendly Irish learned I was from the Northwest, they would say, "So you're used to the rain!". Rain, rain, rain! That's all anyone talked about. Naturally, I expected Galway to have frequent and massive rainstorms all semester. You can imagine my surprise/delight/exasperation when I woke up (not just on Monday but on every single morning since then) to the greyest and darkest skies all semester and the accompanying rain drops. As the Irish would say, "It's absolutely lashing outside". One thing you should know about me: I am a solid fan of the romantic cliches about rain - listening to the rain hit the roof, splashing in puddles, dancing in the rain, all that jazz. However, even when it's just raining and I'm not in the mood to reenact the scene from Singin' In the Rain, the rain is totally tolerable. Yes, I hate it when my jacket or bag gets damp and the water is slowly travelling up my always-too-long jeans, but those are usually the worst of my problems and are fairly quick fixes.

What really confuses me is the wind. That's the real reason why students come to class soaked. (Ok, so maybe the rain has something to do with it too. But it really is all of the wind's fault.) You know that part in Mary Poppins at the very beginning where she literally blows all of the other potential nannies away with a huge gust of wind and several umbrellas get turned inside out in the process? If you bring an umbrella to school, it is almost guaranteed that the wind will think you are a nanny. The way to school is becoming an umbrella graveyard. The roads are just littered with their corpses. In addition to rendering one level of protection completely useless, the wind blows the rain straight into you. You become a water magnet! The water will either slide off of your rain jacket onto your pants or the rain will hit you from all directions. That is what really gets you. Or gets me, I should say. I seem to be the only person on the entire campus who walks into the main concourse looking like a wet cat. My hair is plastered to my head, there's water running down my face, and I'm dripping water like a leaky faucet, whereas the Irish girls are walking around with their perfect hair, make-up on their face and not liquified on their shirt, and most importantly, dry pants. It's absolutely mind-blowing, especially when they don't ever wear anything heavier than a cardigan. I don't understand. It's like their European sense of fashion makes them impervious to rain.

It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really just trying to colorfully describe the wonder that is Irish weather. The real sentiment behind this post is one of pure joy. Tuesday was THE BEST DAY! Of the entire semester. Probably of my entire life. Ever. I woke up to rain blowing everywhere and immediately decided to wear my rain trousers. What are these magical rain trousers you ask? They're basically like a rain jacket but obviously you put them over your pants and then your pants don't get wet. I walk out the door wearing my rain boots, rain trousers, and rain jacket, and I will admit, I was feeling a little self-conscious with all of my rain gear on. Problem? Nope! Just ask Robyn! Thank goodness for her to-hell-with-them attitude! I looked like I had been swallowed by a plastic blue and black circus tent, BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!!! It was so satisfying to be able to see the rain rolling off me instead of being absorbed by my clothes. It was also incredibly satisfying to see people on the way to school or in the hallway with wet clothes while I was as dry as an Oregon summer (as mean as that sounds). Thank you, Mr. Dennehy, for the suggestion to buy the rain trousers!! I am pretty sure I will owe you several dry pairs of jeans and dozens of comfortable class hours by the end of the semester.

In addition to coming back to the apartment completely dry despite walking through a monsoon, I FOUND A CARE PACKAGE FROM MY MOMMY!!! There it was, sitting on the coffee table, just waiting for me to open it. It consisted of nothing but food from Harry & David and a love note from Mom. SOUP AND CHOCOLATE PANCAKE MIX AND MOOSE MUNCH!!!!! Can you say best care package ever?! I am currently bouncing up and down on my bed from sheer happiness even after two days of opening this gift from heaven. (I'm pretty sure my roommate is thinking There she goes again!) I am so excited to eat everything.  

Isn't it funny how a few posts ago I was discussing my miserable, rainy day, and this time it's about my fabulous, perfect, exciting, rainy day? All I can say is I love Ireland.

Wish you were here!