The Emerald Isle and Me

May 27

I am a terrible blogger. I do apologize for my terrible lack of posting recently. I was in London with Garrett last week and then my dear parents got here shortly after, so I’ve been busy!

Moving out of UCD was really hard. Funny, I didn’t think I liked it all that much. The housing, I mean. It was nice to leave the kitchen which was forever filthy and some of the roommates I never really liked that much (don’t worry, if you’re reading my blog, you aren’t one of them). But I spent a lot of time in that tiny room, and I guess I got attached to its faintly sweaty smell and dysfunctional vent fan and nightly chorus of drunk Irish singing. Well, maybe I won’t miss the room or the hideously grey cement school buildings that much.

What I will miss are the people I met here and the things that happened here. Everything from the tree that’s good for climbing to having to climb the fence after having had a few drinks. All of it.

I can’t believe I have to leave Ireland for good soon. I’ll just try not to think about it, I guess.

Not to be cheesy or anything.

I’ve been having a great time in Dublin with Mom and Dad. It is absolutely great to see them again after so long. I promised myself I’ll never be away from home for such a long period ever again. It’s just too long. I love being able to show off all my favorite things around Dublin. We had drinks at Messer’s and ate lunch at O’Niels. I have saved two things all semester to do with the folks: the Viking Splash tour and the Jameson Distillery tour. We have done both and they were fantastic.

For anyone traveling to Dublin and looking to get a good view of the city while wearing a ridiculous hat and screaming at pedestrians on the sidewalk, the Viking Splash Tour is the one for you. Our guide gave us a particularly humorous tour of Dublin City. He instructed us to boo the Department of Finance and informed us that St. Patrick did not get all the snakes out of Ireland, as there are still a few in the Houses of Parliament. He also told us that our job was to do our Viking yell at unsuspecting “Celts” on the sidewalk. Especially the ones holding coffee (we were meant to make them spill it) and what he called “Competition Celts” (rival bus tour companies). It was an absolute blast.

The Jameson Tour was also great fun. Dad and I both got picked as volunteers to taste the difference between Jameson, Johnny Walker Black, and Jack Daniels. We even got Irish Whiskey Taster certificates!

Giant’s Causeway

Yesterday, I went to Giant’s Causeway, but was too tired to post when I got home. So here it is now!

We had to be in town horrendously early. 6:30am. Ugh. We ended up on one of the larger coach buses, rather than the smaller vans which Extreme Ireland tours usually uses. The view on the way was fabulous as usual. However, those windy sea-side roads are NOT made for large coaches, and our driver was a bit enthusiastic with both the brake pedal and the steering wheel. I also had not consumed anything in the last 12 hours except coffee, beer, and toast, so I was not feeling well at all. All in all, I spent the first several hours of the bus ride trying not to vomit. Sarah eventually made me drink some water and I felt a lot better. I should listen to her more often.

Near Giant’s Causeway is a pretty intense rope bridge which was built by fishermen several hundred years ago. Since the fishing wasn’t too good on the main land, they built this bridge out onto a sea stack. The bridge has been replaced since the, I was assured. I’m not too scared of heights, but it was still a bit of an adrenaline rush to start out the morning. 

After the rope bridge, we went to the Causeway itself. What’s interesting about this particular National Treasure is the shape of the stones. They are almost all perfect hexagons. I’m not sure what caused this. The scientist inside my head reaallyyy wants to know.

May 13

Went to Giant’s Causeway today. Am very salty and tired.

May 12

At last, the finals, they are done!

Had a fancy date with Garrett at fantastic Japanese restaurant whose name escapes me. I ate entirely too much. 

Went for drinks with the lads from fencing after to celebrate Kev’s birthday. Quite a good time it was!

I wish I didn’t have to be in town for the Giant’s Causeway tour in 4 hours. Better be one hell of a causeway.

Someone told me once that if you’re sleeping on your semester abroad, you’re doing it wrong. I must be doing it extremely right.

May 11

Today, everything went right. I powered through my Materials Science final in 35 minutes and had time to check over my answers like 57 times. The wonderful and terrible thing about multiple choice tests is that either you know your stuff or you don’t. And I did this time. I walked out of the testing center and the shuttle bus was right there, waiting for me! Which was great because it was thunderstorming, even though it had been bright and sunny when I got up. Typical Ireland.

I told myself I was going to study for this last exam. I really did mean to. I swear. But…now it’s T-9 hours until the exam and I have done about an eighth of the studying I wanted to. But at this point, it’s probably better to just go to bed. A lot of Mechanics of Solids I is repeating what I learned in Statics last year. Thank God for  Professor Silva! 

Anyway, all this will be over in 11 hours! Yesss!

May 10

I’ve been staring at this blank screen for several minutes, unable to think of a single thing to write. I can’t tell if it’s because I did so much studying of materials science today that my brain has finally BECOME a polymer, or that I really did nothing interesting. Perhaps both.

The internet is filling me with rage as always. All I’m trying to do is look at slides and listen to Beethoven. It can’t be that difficult!

May 9

The hardest part is over! Applied Dynamics down and only two to go. I studied Materials Science for three hours today, and my brain now feels quite like a polymer. I almost wish the exam was tomorrow so I could just get it over with. Memorization is like my least favorite thing. At least with Dynamics, I can do fun example problems. I hate memorizing material properties and obscure formulas. Well, I suppose I had better do it anyway, otherwise my planes will fall out of the sky.

May 8

I can never tell if it’s a bad sign when I feel prepared for a test. Either it means I have studied effectively, or something has gone terribly wrong.

May 7

What a productive day of studying! For once I actually studied for the whole day with minimal procrastinating. I am so proud of myself! I’m feeling fairly confident about Materials Science and Mechanics of Solids, but still a little iffy on Applied Dynamics. I’ll get there in the end, I always do.