um, October is crazy.

Okay.  I have a confession.  About that blog dealio... woops.  I feel like this hasn't been updated in, oh, AGES.  Where has the time gone????  I swear somebody put my life on fast-forward and I can't find the pause button for the life of me!

I could re-cap this month... but you don't want to be here forever, so I'll just keep you guessing while I update this thing over the next week or so.  Ready? Set? Okay GO:

October 2 - 3: Dublin
Woah. CITY LIFE.  Even though Ireland is considered a "small" country, it sure makes up for it in Dublin.  This was almost too much to take in in just a short weekend.  I'm anxious to go back with the fam in December and see more!  But for those of you interested in a Dublin trip on steroids, let me tell you about this weekend -

Item 1 on the agenda - check into the hotel and be overwhelmed: check!  Can I just say right now that I now have a new appreciation for our small study abroad group in Limerick?  Don't get me wrong, I love meeting people, but the other API groups were so large that I can't imagine ever getting to know everybody!  We all headed to Trinity College (the Yale of Ireland, apparently), to check out the Book of Kells, which is one of the oldest Irish manuscripts preserved over time.  Definitely one of those moments where I said to myself "Holy cow Batman, this is a BIG deal".  The history is just so raw... it's incredible.

[This is where Allie would normally insert a wicked awesome picture so you could all go "Ooooooh... Ahhhhhh", but no pictures allowed of the Book of Kells!]

Item 2 on the agenda - Lunch. ... um, Bailey's Cheesecake = Heaven.  Just in case you were wondering.

Item 3 on the agenda - Viking Tour.  Okay, so I told myself I would never wear one of those Viking hats unless I was at a WWU basketball game.  But....

Needless to say this was a lot of fun.  Sometimes being silly and obnoxious is good for the soul.  Never hurts to be a little kid again. 

This is the point in our journey where I would like to take a moment to explain to you what it means to be "cold" in Ireland.  For all you in Wyoming, -20F may be cold, but be grateful it's not humid.  For all of you in Washington, if you were outside at all during Fall 2009 finals week, you know what I mean.  Yes, I remember back that far.  It was THAT COLD.  This tour was great but OH MY GOD.  I don't ever want to be that cold again.

Item 4 on the agenda - (I promise I'll speed this up.... there won't be 100 "Items on the Agenda" - promise)
Celebrating Oktoberfest in Ireland.  Grand time.  Enough said ;)

Item 5 on the agenda - finding the Guinness Factory/going to the Guinness Factory.  Shout out to Andrea: at least we burned off those calories beforehand during our search for that stinkin' Storehouse.  The tour itself was pretty awesome.  Everyone laughed when we got to the barley section and I said the room full of oats smelled like my barn at home.  Yay for being from the 307!

If you ever make it to Dublin, this tour is a must.  So interesting.  And so rewarding.  Whether you appreciate the beauty and taste of Guinness or not, the view is worth it. 



Oh Dublin....

 So I guess that was Dublin in a nutshell!  Add in a few perks along the way (Leprechaun Museum - What?! ... Avatar spottings - need proof? see below ... seeing U2's official recording studio ... ordering raw salmon for breakfast) and you have a wirlwind of a trip!!!  Can you believe that was only my first weekend in October??? 

True that.

Christ's Church, Dublin

Well ok then, can I come see your hometree??

Hokay, so here's my plan.  So as not to crash the blogging network, I'm splitting October up into multiple catch-up blogs.  Which means that if you want to learn about ITALY (yeah, that's what I said) and BELGIUM (yup, go ahead and start screaming) and LONDON (yeah, I know, you just fainted) you'll have to keep checking back!

Until then! 
Your little travel buddy :)