Btw, I'm still alive

Wow. My bad. It's been way too long since I posted. If you add up the days you may notice that I should be in Ireland at this point. I am happy to inform that I am happy and safe at Dublin City University, just north of Dublin proper.

I got in Friday morning at about 9:30 Dublin time, got a taxi to the University, got to my room, dumped my stuff, changed into climate appropriate clothes and ran back to meet the group for our first tour. We took a bus down to O'Connell Street where we got a walking tour of the City Center. There we saw the historic landmarks associted with the 1916 Easter Rising like the General Post Office and the Customs House.

We also checked out the statues of the great Irish Leaders of the past like Pharnell, Larkin, and O'Connell himself.

The rest of the day was walking around the downtown areas. We had lunch in the Temple Bar area (awsome chowder). We did what shopping we needed to do and headed back to DCU. That night was Crotia v Turkey at the pub. It was a sad game.

The next day was a trip to the Government Buildings and Trinity College. This is the where the Taoiseach (the Prime Minister, pronounced te-suck) has his office and it is directly attatched to the Dail Eireann (the Parliament, pronounced doll erin). The Taoiseach's office was interesting because it was very modest. As the Head of the Goverment, one would expect the office to be some grand affair, but it really wasn't. It had a feel of a real person working there, not some demi-god on high placed by divine right. *cough* GW *cough*

Trinity College is where the Book of Kells is housed. Its a transcription of the Four Gospels in latin along with some other texts but the text itself was the beautiful part. It has survived since about 800 a.c.e. and is decorated extensivly. I saddly could not take pictures.

Due to a late wake up, Sunday changed from a trip to Sligo with one group (which actually was changed to Wicklow) to a trip to Howth. Howth is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Its tied with Manuel Antonio right now. After looking out over the port, we walked along the beach and climbed on the rocks with our dog guides. It was quite windy and there were a few falls, but we all survived and enjoyed every minute of it. The fish and chips were great too.

Since Sunday it's been class every day, so i'll let you know whats coming up soon. Tonight is a trip to the theatre and tomorrow is more tours.

Peace

Breathe...

Must. Remember. To. Breathe. For the last two days I have been acting as a volunteer for the Obama for America Campaign while they train their Organizing Fellowes on the UF campus. It's 10 hour days with no pay but they need local people to get them around campus and town. I've been able to get a few things done. I need to pick up my watch tomorrow and run a little bit of laundry to get everything packed. I might need a haircut too. But all this buisiness is keeping my sane. Plus it keeps me distracted from my anxiousness about leaving the country in...

4 Days

Cram Time

It appears that in the span of a few days, all of my remaining time in the states has been booked. For the rest of today I am cleaning the suitcase I got from my parents, starting to pack the cold weather stuff i won't be wearing till I leave, folding laundry, and attending the Alachua County Democrats Meeting. Tomorrow I have more tabling for the campaign and an attempt to get my watch repaired. Friday I'm headin back to Jax to help clean up around the house before the weekend. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I hope to attend the the Obama Fellowship Training. And somehow between tuesday and thursday I will need to have taken my car to Jax, myself to Orlando, and my ass on a plane.

But once again there's a plus side. I have found an apartment! It's decently cheap for the move-in and nice and roomy. And my bank now knows i'm leaving the country so they won't freeze my account when they see my card being used overseas. Looks like I have a few loose ends to wrap up (i need soap) but I actually think I'll have it all done in the next...

8 Days

Knocking It Out

I believe Ican now say that I have all the clothes I need for the trip except for some new sneakers which I have only waited to purchase because of a financial tight spot (i.e. waiting for payday). I still need:

New Glasses
Watch Repaired
Luggage
STA Discount Card
New Apartment

I'm playing responsible adult for Cameron's UF Preview (without all the boring seminars for parents that are trying to cope with their loss of their darling baby boy/girl) so this places me between the Reitz Union and work all day tomorrow but gives me the chance to get the discount card. Saturday morning Cam and I will figure out our lease for the apartment. I'll check out some luggage my parents have that I can borrow on saturday as well as take care of my glasses. And I have all next week for the watch. So I will be at the point of figuring out how to pack all this stuff up very soon. One major plus right now is that i can now say I leave for the Ireland in two weeks making the remaining time...

14 Days

In the Beginning...

...there was a Junior UF Political Science student who wanted to see the world. Or at least a fun part of it. That had some academic value to it. Yeah, lets go with that. Anyway, the idea here is to let people know whats going on with me while I am studying abroad in Ireland this summer. For now I guess there will be a nifty countdown as I get my stuff together and get ready to go. If you have come looking for something deep or original, keep looking. This will be for me to keep my thoughts organized and to help keep in touch. Plus, 50% of my grade is based on a research paper so i'd like to have some of my thoughts down before I have to write a paper worth half of my grade. I'm sure I'd forget something good without this.I'll post pictures, let you guys know how I'm doing and what I'm up to. It'll be fun. SO. Let the countdown begin...

17 DAYS