February 27, 2011

It was rainybut a little warm which later cleared up to little patches of blueish sky. Also Jasper went home today after only one night. Tonight Ellie, Rachel, and I went to Usher's concert at the O2 in the city centre. Usher's performance was good from his dancing, to backup dancers, to pyrotechnics and to keeping the audience on their feet. I took even more pictures and I found my uploading chord but I am too tired tonight so hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures up.

February 26, 2011

Today the sky had patches of blue inbetween big, puffy, white, clouds and dark clouds. So when I went on my run this morning I took a little different of a route and went the opposite way on the beach towards Dalkey. The ocean was really interesting today because there were absolutely no waves today and the water seemed like it was further out than it normally would be. I continued running and I looked out once more to the ocean and to my surprise there was this magnificent glowing rainbow in the middle of grey-blue ocean. This rainbow was humongous and bright, it was my first time seeing a rainbow in the middle of the ocean. Another moment when I wished I would've had my camera. But oh well, I am positive I will remember that rainbow forever. Today Ellie got another dog, its name is Jasper and he is an old black lab. We only have Jasper until tomorrow evening, it belongs to Aoife, a girl from school.

February 25, 2011

Today five of us went to town, it was me, Ellie, Rachel, Isobel, and Dana. We got to the city centre at about 2:30 and we walked through Trinity College to O'Connell Street to go shopping . On O'Connel Street there are designer name brand stores and Forever 21. We went back up to Grafton Street to walk for a little ways. Once it was starting to get dark out, which was around 6pm, we headed back home and caught the Dart. Ellie's parents were off at the rugby match while Rachel is at a sleepover, so Ellie and I returned to and empty house where dinner was waiting on the stove. Dinner was pasta with meatsauce, it was great. I took more picture but I can't find the chord to upload it to my computer. It was pretty warm today, I only wore a long sleeved shirt with a sweater and jeans with normal socks and tennies and I was completely comfortable.

February 24, 2011

Today was really warm and beautiful! I was wearing what I would in California; jeans and a t-shirt. I went for another run today but the grass was soppin wet with patches of hidden slushy mud so my feet got soaked and my running pants got really muddy. Isobel, a girl from school, slept over last night because Ellie and Rachel went to X Factor (U.K. and Ireland version of American Idol) last night and took one friend each. So today Ellie, Isobel, and I met with our friend Rachel in Dalkey at a park with five other people. We played with a rugby ball and soccer ball for about two or three hours. We just wanted to stop by the park in Dalkey because I really wanted to get this amazing bagel in Dun Laoghaire, but time just flew by. Once we realized it was five Ellie and I, because Isobel stayed at the park, took off for the Dart station to get to Dun Laoghaire. We hurried up to the bagel shop and they were closed and had just started mopping the floors. I was disappointed and walked to the nearest centra, basically a healthier 711, and picked up a chicken sandwich and yoghurt. Ellie wanted McDonalds so I ate my food in there. We took the Dart home and were greeted with delicious lamb steak, steamed veggies, and mashed potatoes. Ellie left for babysitting and her parents went to dinner, so it was just Rachel, her friend and I and we decided that we were going to make a cake. We wanted to be creative and not follow a recipe. The cake ended up having plain flour, egg, caster sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla essence, baking powder, baking chocolate, and my made up filling that consisted of icing sugar, butter, and vanilla essence. Rachel and I were the only ones who found it good. I mean it wasn't going to win any kind of award but it wasn't horrible. Rahel's friend Tessa after one bite said no thankyou when we offered her more, but Ellie and her parents thought it absolutely awful when they got home. But I liked it, so more for me!

February 23, 2011

We woke up at 8:30 am as planned to head for the U.K. My host dad surprised us by coming along, he drove the entire time. It did take us two and a half hours as planned to reach Belfast. Our first stop was Victoria Square it's a humongous mall about five or six stories like Dundrum but this one has this huge glass globe about eight or nine stories high. To get to the glass globe you must take the escalators all the way up to the highest floor in the mall and then either take the lift or three or so stories of flights of spiraling granite stairs. At the end top of the stairs there is just this little walnut looking landing that you stand on. When you're standing on the landing it feels like your byself in a giant snowglobe with a 360 degree view of Belfast. Opposite of where the stairs are is the H&W shipyard where the Titanic was built and a view of the bay. There are many old brick buildings with bright green tops that dont really show up in photos surrounding this modern mall. The people of Belfast have a different accent than the Dublineers I have been used to. Their accent is kind of British like, mixed with a tad of Scottish, and the rest is Irish. This mall contains the only Hollister in Ireland, well on the island of Ireland. It is still a touchy subject here, the Protestant Catholic IRA business even though there claims to of have been a peace treaty. But anyways Belfast has the only Hollister which is the reason we came to this mall. Belfast has a completely different feel than Dublin, it feels more built up and older. Like a more cityish city centre. It's difficult to explain. Once the shopping in Hollister was done we headed off to New Grange.
New Grange is absolutely fascinating! It is the biggest man made of rock mounds in it's area. That's not just the big whoop though, this man made mound of dirt and stone is huge! New Grange was built in 3200 B.C. which means it's 5,000 years old! It is much like Stonehenge, or I should say Stonehenge is much like this because New Grange is 1,000 years older than Stonehenge. But New Grange was thought to of have been built as a place to store cremated bodies and the only window inside the mound lets in full light only for a couple of hours on the winter solstice. So when we went in today it was pitch black inside with all the lights off except for a little line of dim light on the floor. The graffitti inside dates all the way back to the 1600's and has many many names listed with the years in the 1800's. Unfortunatley pictures arent allowed inside and is really difficult to explain in words it's much easier and makes a lot more sense to draw it out and explain. But it was very enjoyable and I cant wait to explain when I get back. I am posting pictures of the outside.

February 22, 2011

I forgot to mention that this week is midterm break. This morning we woke up at 8 am to catch the right Dart so we could have a going away breakfast for Laurna before she left for the airport in her mom's cafe. It was just Ellie's cousins (they'e all sisters) and Rachel, Ellie and I. We ate French toast, sausage, and bacon. The meal was delicious. The aunt's cafe is in Monkstown which is right next to Dun Laoghaire, so we walked over to Dun Laoghaire to get on  a bus that would take us to Dundrum the mall.  Ellie and I only stayed at the mall for a little over an hour because we needed to gogrocery shopping because tonight was our turn to make dinner and desert, while Rachel and one of their cousins stayed for about four hours. Ellie and I took the Luas, a train system, home. After our long walk home from the Luas station we started on dinner and desert right away. Ellie and I agreed that tonight she do dinner and I do desert. She made this really good shrimp sausage bacon spaghetti tomato cream dish. It sounds gross saying the main ingredients but it was amazing! I made these weird little biscuit cookie things with filling in the middle and icing on top, all from scratch. The recipe told me it would only take ten minutes, well it took me about an hour and a half. Tomorrow we are going to the U.K. We're going to Belfast the capital of Northern Ireland, just my host mom, Rachel, Ellie, and I. Were planning on leaving at 8:30 am to get there at 10:30 am.

February 21, 2011

I started today out with a run. I didnt have to run very far or fast to prove how out of shape I am, especially from my three week break of absolutely no exercise! I am absolutely tired from my jog and am not looking forward to tomorrow's run. I took the dogs on a walk afterwards but it turned out not so good. The dogs had way too much energy so they were constantly pulling on the leash and as I passed by a long driveway they both took off up it. I unded up being dragged on my side a couple of feet. While I was hitting the concrete I landed on the side with the deep pocket that had the set of keys in it. Did that hurt! I got an immediate bruise on my thigh. To top it off a couple people witnessed my being dragged on the floor on my side with both arms up clenching leashes with two big dogs on the other end. Then it started pouring not even a minute after that so I took the dogs back home where I was greeted with a freezing shower. But I didn't hop in thank goodness I felt the water befor doing so! Ellie got home from staying at her cousin's house and then her dad came home and then her mom woke up. (Her mom's a nurse who works nights.) We later had dinner and the water was hot again so I enjoyed a nice warm shower.