Ireland...and my first Italian museum

Ciao a tutti! Yes, I have returned to Rome from Ireland and am back to speaking Italian on a daily basis until my brain can no longer form intelligent English sentences. It's funny how your grammar can just get away from you when you are completely immersed in another language...

Ireland, if you haven't heard, is a very quaint country. The entire week I was there was filled with Irish brogues, almost-Americanisms (such as TkMaxx and Eddie Rockett's) and (sometimes green) beer. I flew into Dublin on Wednesday the 16th with the rest of the Americans and Australians who were studying abroad in Europe and were ready for an epic St. Patty's Day. Along the way, I met and held conversations with many people. In and of itself, this wasn't really out of the ordinary, but it took me a little while to figure out why it felt so odd...the reality was that I hadn't really had an introductory conversation with anyone in English for almost two months. Ah, how the time passes! After walking around and exploring Dublin for awhile (and witnessing everyone starting to hit the streets decked out head to toe in green), I met a friend from UD, Katie, and her family, as they were also visiting for the week. We wandered back to her apartment so that I could leave my bag, but then we went out to eat and explored the Temple Bar area, which is one of the larger tourist neighborhoods of Dublin. The morning of the 17th, we all dressed in green and headed to Trinity College to catch the infamous parade. All of the stores up and down the street were closed, with storefronts dressed in green, and people were filling the streets - meaning that although a good number of the streets were completely closed, it was still hard to push through the people. After the parade (and most of us didn't even last that long), we stopped into a bar for a pint - green, of course.

We spent the rest of the day walking around and watching (but not fully partaking) in the shenanigans that have made St. Patrick's Day in Ireland such a tourist trap. After spending the afternoon altogether, Katie and Courtney and I split off to join the rest of the tourists and college students at Temple Bar before heading home.

The next day (Friday) I got up early to catch a bus to Galway so that I could see the Cliffs of Moher. There's really only one phrase I can use to sum up how standing on the edge of that cliff felt: breathtaking. As my new friends Bryan and Elliot decided, God did a pretty great job on that one. Travelling for about 8 hours on a bus that day (to Galway, on the bus tour, and then on to Cork) was completely forgotten once I got up that hill and was able to see the overlook. I'm adding a picture, but I can't accurately convey how awesome they truly are - hope that my crutch of a photo helps! (take a moment to appreciate that I can't even fit their entire length in one picture. think over 600 feet high)

After this amazingness, I jumped on a bus to visit Maureen, another friend from UD. She spent her weekend showing me around her new city, Cork, and it was so much fun learning about a new place from someone who is obviously so in love with her entire experience. We ate fish and chips, scones, the best hot chocolate I've ever had (yes, I was sorry to finish it), watched some rugby, and went to a pub to hear some trag (traditional Irish) music with her friend Carrie. After a few beautiful days in Cork, I headed back to Dublin Sunday evening for one more day of tourism without the madness of St. Patty's. While Katie was at work, I made a second round to some of the tourist spots, but also a first trip to the Guinness factory - who knew that they would include a complementary pint with that entrance fee? That evening, we went out to eat together and then I jumped on yet another bus to the airport, where I hit the climax of every cheap-student-studying-abroad's trip - spending the night at an airport while waiting for an early morning red-eye flight. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, I again, met a lot of interesting people. Travelling from place to place on cheap airlines makes for experiences that are never wanting for people who just want to travel, have fun, and learn about others. I love it!

Overall, Ireland was so much fun - I got to see a whole new part of the world, some more friends from UD, and even got a little bit of family time (not the same as my own family, of course, but it was nice to semi be a part of that dynamic for a while). For the first few hours back in Italy, I almost missed that Irish brogue. However, upon landing at Ciampino (the airport) and having to navigate my way back home in Italian and recognizing sights around me, I realized that there is definitely a reason that I chose to study in Italy - I love it!

Over this last week and a half, life has continued semi-normally. I've gone to classes, wrote my first paper (in Spanish, for my History of Spanish Culture class), went to the Immigration Office to file for a permesso di soggiorno, which is basically permission from the government to live here, and been going on all sorts of little trips around the city with friends from school to discover all sorts of new things. Oh yeah, and my friend Elyse was here this weekend! Elyse is from Boston, but we met in Spain when I was studying Spanish in Salamanca, and she came to Rome this past weekend for a visit. I didn't realize until she came and I became her tour guide how much I know about the city now - not only the sights, monuments, and gelato shops, but also how to get around a city that is twice as big as Columbus (square area) and has around five times the population. One of the most memorable spots (at least for me) was finally making it to the Vatican Museums. Technically not in Rome but in the Vatican City, these museums were the first that I have visited in Italy (and after living here for a month and a half in Rome, I find that somewhat impressive) and they were amazing. The last Sunday of the month is free day in the Museums and they open at 8:30 (and just to make things even more complicated, the spring time change happened this past weekend here), so Elyse and I decided to go along with Marie (Foy, friend from UD). We got there around 7:30 and got inside within the first 20 minutes they were open, unlike those at the end of the line that had to stretch for at least a mile (literally). I think that by spending four hours inside, we were able to see over half of the whole place, but once we got through the Map Room, Raphael's Rooms, and the Sistine Chapel, we were fairly exhausted. But if you ever make it to Rome, this is one stop that shouldn't be missed. I was so impressed by everything that I saw. We finished out the day (after a nap, pizza, and gelato) with Vespers and Mass at San Pietro...and a little shopping. Overall, it was a great weekend, and I'm glad I got to spend it with Elyse.

Well, I'm headed to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to play catchup on homework, and maybe start even working ahead. There's another transportation strike tomorrow, and it's just not worth the headache trying to fight my way into the city along with the rest of the population in order to get to a class that probably won't even happen (because no one else in the class is going to try to go). 

Until next time, or a dopo,

Heidi