Update....FINALLY!

So sorry for taking so long to post an update. I realize my last post was on January 19th which was forever ago, but I've actually been pretty busy. Since then, I've been on a two trips: one to Galway and the other to Dublin.

The Galway trip was only a day, but was pretty fun. I ate at Supermacs which is the Irish equivalent of McDonalds and was surprisingly pretty good (their sodas are so small!!!) Afterwards, we walked up and down Shop Street which is literally a street with shops. It's a super cool street filled with every type of shop you can imagine. There are colorful buildings, pubs, cafes, street musicians/artists and even a cool little farmer's market. It was really fun. I even went to see a movie, which is good cause I was having withdrawals...just kidding!! But it was fun!

My friend, Maggie, and I walking down Shop Street

Some guy handing out store catalogues to passing cars

Kennedys Pub!!!

Some pretty church

Amazing hot chocolate from some pub

Our next trip was a two day trip to Dublin. We stayed in a hostel called Barnacles which was pretty nice, I've never been in a hostel so I don't have anything to compare it to. We left bright and early at like 7 in the morning on a Thursday and all day Dublin was spent in museums and galleries. I know I should have this appreciation for all art, which I do, but there is such a thing as too much art--particularly when it comes to museums and galleries. Also, most of it was modern art which sucks because it's the type where there'll be one pencil mark on a page and it'll be called "art". And then it was freakin hot in every museum we went to which made it suck a billion times more. Sorry for being such a Debbie Downer--on the brightside there were a couple redeeming qualities to these museums. One of the museums had these musical pieces that were beautiful and also had a gorgeous garden. Another one did have some amazing paintings, amazing stained glass art, and a cool statue. But that's pretty much it! Oh, and i found another Kennedy's Pub =]

pretty [boring] museum

so i took photos of the cobblestone

and again

the museum with gorgeous stained glass

and a cool fountain

i forget the story of the fountain, but these people (sister's i think) are

being turned into swans. (i'm sure you know it, Olivia)

another Kennedy's Pub!!!

So after the galleries we split up in a few different groups and went to different galleries (I went on the one that was photography based, obviously). And that wasn't even that cool either!! I felt that most of the stuff was a waste of space. The first gallery we went to was amazing though, because it was historical photos of Ireland and those were awesome. But a couple of the other galleries were these huge rooms with like two photos in it--like what's the point? 

After that, we had free time. It was so much fun! Our hostel was in Temple Bar which, if you don't know, is "kind of a big deal". haha! It was next to a bunch of pubs and things to do. My friend, Mandy, and first went to a movie and saw Black Swan, then we went and got milkshakes (we'd been craving them for soooo long) and then we went pub hopping. All the pubs had awesome traditional Irish music and we met a lot of interesting (drunk) people. I also found a type of alcohol I like (yay)! And don't worry, Mom, I'm not gonna become an alcoholic, I promise. Anyway, I had tried Bulmers (an alcoholic cider) before, but I didn't like it, but it turns out they have flavors of Bulmers. I tried the pear flavored one and loved it!! Apparently there's also a berry flavored one which I want to try. So that was all fun and good...

The next morning we had one more museum to go to and then the rest of the day was ours until we left around 6. This museum was super cool though because it was a history museum full of cool stuff from Rome, Egypt, Ireland (obviously), and a few other places. Everyone was super excited about the bog people (look it up NOW). They are awesomely creepy....or creepily awesome. Either way it was cool. So after that I went off on my own to take some photos for an art project. I went on a search for cathedrals and graveyards (I had no such luck with graveyards) but I found three cathedrals and they were all so gorgeous! And I also went to Dublin Castle, but I could only stay a wee bit since I had to get back to the bus =[ Oh and guess what I found? Another Kennedy's Pub!!! 

yes, we found the starbucks. and yes we went to it

for you, Olivia, my dear

the first Cathedral I found, and i'm blanking on the name right now

I feel like it's something like church's cathedral or something

and again

and again

and again

St. Patrick's Cathedral

and again

and again

a pigeon flying off a fountain at st. patrick's cathedral

oh i found a door for Adrienne!!

I forget the name of this one too, which I stumbled upon by accident. 

I think it's like St. Augustine's or St. Jude's Cathedral I think

another Kennedy's Pub

Dublin Castle

and again

So that's what I've been up to the last couple weeks. School's been going good. Had/Have my first critiques this week so we'll see how that goes. I like the environment here because it's very "do what you want as long as you can back up why you want to do it". So even if something is completely ridiculous, you can just B.S. something. And as Olivia and my mum know from my letter writing to Wonka and that bean company, I can B.S. really well. =] just kidding!! but really! 

anyway i didn't take any photos from going out in dublin, but mandy did so i'll steal a couple pics from her and post them. i also walked to the top of the mountain behind the school and i've been walking around town talking pics which i'll post in another blog since this one is really long. enjoy!!!