21 Rainbows

After three months and 19 days I am finally back sitting in snowy VT. And I don't think I'm that jet lagged...Granted, it's 7 in the morning and I feel wide awake and no one else in my house is up, but hey, I can nap. I can say without a doubt in my mind that going to Ireland was one of the best experiences I have ever had. As much as I pretend not to think I've changed, I know I have. I'm much more responsible and on top of my life than I was before, and know I can travel anywhere I want to because I have the skills to do so.

I left when home looked like this and summer was still gracing us with her sun. Honestly, I didn't expect to miss the mountains so much, but flying in over the beautiful green mountains of Vermont last night almost made me cry as much as leaving Ireland did. Maybe it was the fact that I had been on a plane for 10 hours already, or that I knew everything I hold dear was just a few minutes away, but those mountains really never cease to amaze me.  My day yesterday was a really really long one, with leaving my hotel at 5:30am Ireland time (midnight here), and not going to bed again until last night around 11pm Vermont time (4am Ireland time). LONG DAY. But I think I handled it like a pro, and didn't complain or stress or break down.

 Now in Vermont it looks like this. All sticks and bare. But I think it's just as beautiful...alright it could use a little more snow, but after not seeing that tree for four months I am loving every minute of this.

I could go on and on about how much Ireland has helped me to grow, but honestly I think that reading through my blog is a pretty good way to understand my time there. I started out dreading it, and knowing I would miss everything about home more and more each day. And through four months I fell in love with Galway, and transformed into a real galway girl. It still feels like a dream that I'm not going to just turn around and be on shop street, or have the chance to walk into any pub at any time of day and order a beer and not be alone in drinking. Mostly though, I'm going to miss my friends. These girls went through so much with me, and unless you go abroad you'll never understand the bond we have. I know without a doubt in my heart that I could fly to Minnesota or drive Rhode Island or walk to New Hampshire and have a place to stay and fantastic company. They became my family abroad and I'll always love them.

While I was in Ireland I saw exactly 21 rainbows, and loved every single one. But now, I'm home and I can hear my mommy moving upstairs which means I can go officially wake her up cause I've completely forgotten how to use the coffee machine and need her help :) :)

Thank you to those of you who have trucked along with this entire blog and put up with me while I was abroad. I'll never forget this.

Goodbye,
K

The Final Getaway

This weekend Danielle and I wrapped up Ireland with one last trip. It was more of a vacation, because we stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast and didn't do much. Other than ride horses for two hours on the beach and relax in seaweed baths. :)
Okay, so it was WONDERFUL. Horseback riding? On the beach? In Ireland!? My life is so fantastic right now, except for that fact that I can barely walk and my legs have some lovely bruises. Let's see. The last time I rode a horse was probably...oh back when I was something like 14 or 15? Maybe even earlier. Sure, I took lessons when I was little but that was a loonngg time ago. When asked if we had riding experience we may have exaggerated just a little...but hey, we got up on the horses and managed to cling on for two whole hours AND somehow miraculously cantered across the beach. That's right. I honestly had no idea what a canter was until he told me to just go with it and hold on...right, go with it and hold on. I'm lucky I'm not dead. But posting apparently is something like riding a bike and by the end of the time I was looking like a pro...yeah right, but I wasn't terrified anymore :)

After completely using all our energy on that wonderful experience, we crashed super hard and took a looong nap. We went to dinner at a fantastic italian restaurant and discussed how depressing it's going to be when we go home and can't order wine to go with our pasta. :( life's hard. Sunday was another really tough day. We went to a spa. Danielle got a full package complete with massage facial and seaweed bath but I opted only for the soak in the bath. Which looks DISGUSTING, and sounds disgusting but apparently does magical things to your skin.

Literally, you soak in a bathtub full of seaweed for an hour. Just having a bath was nice because every muscle in my body was screaming at me for that ride yesterday, but an hour is a long time. I got kinda bored and may have pretended to be a mermaid and made a lovely dress out of my seaweed. See, totally grown up. 

Overall this weekend was everything I needed to come to terms with the fact that I'm leaving in 6 days. It's time to wrap all my loose ends up and start saying goodbye. The christmas shopping has been done, the katie shopping has been done, and tomorrow night is our goodbye christmas party. 

Time has gone fast but as of right now I am ready to run to that plane and head for snow :)

Love,

K

There once was a girl named Katie...

 That's about as far as everyone who has attempted a Limerick has gotten. They were inspired by my trip to Limerick to visit the fabulous Dawson family. Anthony, who is a fresher at NUIG and one of my best friends here, kindly invited Molly, Megan, and I down to his house a few weekends ago (like last weekend, but my sense of time is REALLY out of wack).
It was FANTASTIC. His mother was absolutely the sweetest woman I have met, and his sister was a doll. His father almost killed us with his driving, but I know his heart is in the right place :)

We took the train, which was a first for me in Ireland, and also a last because it was craaazzzyyy expensive. Friday night was pasta, and for the first time all semester I joined the "Clean Plate Club". If you've ever seen me eat you might have noticed it is a rare occasion when I clean my plate completely. It's not because I'm trying to waste food or anything, I just have a tiny stomach. But that friday was so wonderful, the food was great, the company even better, that I gleefully finished it all. And then Mrs. Dawson won my heart even more by serving apple crumble for dessert :) automatic favorite person ever.


Saturday was spent outside, exploring the cow fields that surround their very beautiful house. We walked in a large circle through fields and played spud, and 500 and Anthony learned that when I said I was competitive I really meant it. But hey, mud doesn't kill you :)

It was a fantastic weekend to just be silly and relax and have fun with three fantastic people. I wouldn't have done anything differently about this weekend. Sunday was spent kinda seeing the sites, but it was raining so they were more like drive-by's. Then came the amazing part. Sunday Dinner. It was a lamb roast, with cheesy cauliflower and potato's and turnips, and trifle! Yummm. Just thinking about it is making me hungry. Anthony's grandmother came over for the feast and it made me feel special because she knew who all three of us were- meaning Anthony talks about us. :)

The weekend was just filled with one good thing after another. Comfy beds, even more comfortable couches, no pressure to be on time or on a schedule anywhere, DOGS, great food, even better company and the feeling of home. It amazed me how even just being at someone else's home made me feel better about not being at my own.

Overall, yet another fantastic trip to add to the magic that is Ireland.

:)
K

Remember that one time...

This is going to be a little out of order because I'm waiting to write about Limerick until I have the pictures I want to show you, because they really do make the weekend. So today we're gonna talk about CORK! and the Blarney Stone!

Cork was officially my favorite trip I have taken in Ireland. I went with Colleen, Danielle, and a lovely girl named Lauren. Lauren studies in Spain and had come to Galway to visit one of her friends here. But he kinda kicked her out and she had no where to stay, so she came to Cork with us! It was fantastic. She fit in with us as if she had been here the entire time, which was great. We left on Monday and stayed until this afternoon, and had more adventures then I ever thought possible.



We...

got rained on...


and....



                                                    ...had some cocktails....

anddd....

saw some christmas decorations....

and!

saw the really pretty Blarney Castle and Grounds...




...And kissed this random rock that's meant to give you the gift of eloquence.

Obviously, that has yet to take effect within me cause I'm still stumbling over my speech left and right. But it was a really fun experience. The man holding you steady made it fun, and the castle was filled with interesting nooks and plaques that kept the trip exciting. I think that's something that really is lacking in Ireland, especially at tourist stops. At all the other places I've been I've felt really rushed and maybe that's because I've done a lot of tours and at Blarney we just spent the day wandering but they also had multiple facets to the castle grounds and other interesting sites to see.

We saw a poison garden, in which they had only poisonous plants and were supposed to have marijuana, but the Garda had repossessed it because they didn't have the "proper licensing"...

My favorite part (other than kissing the stone) was walking through the rock close. It was basically just a wooded area with waterfalls and wishing steps and fairy trees and if you don't get that this is right up Katie ally it's time to learn a few things about me. I still believe in fairies, wishes DO come true, witches exist and magic is all around us. Fun Fact: I got into college with an essay on magic.

The Irish Fairy Tree...looks nothing like the Vermont one

Point being, I loved strolling around taking in the nature with my friends.

Well I've officially got 10 days left in this magical land, and I have checked off all of the must see's in Ireland, plus some. I feel like I've gotten to know the people, and the country, and am so glad I picked this country to spend a part of my life.

All the touristing is done, now all that's left is shopping, one last relaxing weekend in the country, christmas parties, final exams, teary goodbyes, and a long journey home.

I'm spiraling into the end, and while I'm ready to come home, I wish this could also never end.

For once, crying over leaving Ireland,

K

The Adventures of Katie and Megan

Hello my lovely readers.

Lots has happened in these last few weeks. And yeah, I know- it's only been a week since my last blog. But it feels like it's been months! I went to London on Monday with Megan and had a wonderful experience.  We saw Les Miserables, walked across the city, navigated the tube like PRO'S, walked around the city, toured the Globe theatre, had lunch with two of my SMC friends, spent some quality time in the hostel bar, wrote two papers, avoided repercussions from the nationwide strike, and saw Stonehenge.

The light shone in really cool at the Globe

Fantastic show. But the little kid died again.

An exact replica of the real deal! It was incredible

Paper writing on the bus

Ok, so Stonehenge was exactly like everyone told me it would be....a bunch of rocks stuck in the ground. But I've always had a fascination with it, and I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't go, so we went. However, it was without a doubt the biggest let down of my time abroad. It took us three hours on a bus to get there (no biggy, we had papers to write!) But the minute we got there it started raining sideways at us, and it wasn't just any rain. Oh no, this was November rain- the kind that is like pieces of ice cold water that leave red marks when they hit your face. Miserable. We were cold, we were wet, we were sick of sitting, and we weren't even allowed to touch the stones. You're kept back by a rope about 50 yards from the actual rocks- what, like I'm gonna try and steal them or something?!!? Ridiculous by any definition. We were not impressed. And then we had to sit on the bus for ever, switch over to a train to the airport, sit in the airport, then on a plane, and finally run to catch another bus to bring us back to Galway. What I wouldn't give for a car in this country...

WOO does that seem like a lot to you too? Yeah, it was a busy three days and we had to take train, plane, and bus to get home Wednesday, and I finally landed in my bed around 3:30am.
But I learned a lot in those three days:

• You don't sweat the petty things and you don't pet the sweaty things.
• I don't need to have everything planned in advance in order to have a joyful trip.
•  you always should write down the post code of your hostel, even if all you're asking for is directions to the street.
• I learned that the tube, isn't that scary. And I can read tube maps.
• There is still a TON that I would like to see in London, and I could go back any time.
• I'm can plan and execute a trip to one of the largest and busiest cities in the world without a single hitch
• i'm not a kid anymore...that one still scares me.

So that was London. I got back, organized myself and slept, hosted a dinner at my house with some lovely people, decided I don't really wanna leave this magical place and never see them again, woke up on Friday and traveled to Limerick with Anthony Molly and Megan to spend the weekend with Anthony's family.  

That deserves it's own blog, so maybe tomorrow- which I shall spend most of on a bus to the lovely city of Cork wherein I shall fulfill my desire to kiss one of the worlds most disgusting germ-filled stones. :)

Love,

K

Once upon a time...

...in a land far far away (seriously, Dowra is pretty far up there), there was beautiful young woman named Mary Eliza McGovern. She lived in a land called Tullynamoyle with her family and walked across fields and hills to go to school and church. When she about 18, in 1912, she took the journey of a lifetime and travelled across the ocean to immigrate to America. Once in the promised land of New York, she met and fell in love with Mr.Costello. Once married, they had children, one a handsome son named John Costello. He in turn met and fell in love with Ulilla. They married and had a wonderful family. Enter my father. Enter my mother. Meet Kathryn Teresa Costello. Who is also a McGovern.
(When I get home, I'm gonna have to go over some names with Nana because as of right now this story is kinda lacking on my part)

However, today I got a chance to travel back in history to meet my great aunt ( i think that's right...she's grandpa's cousin...) Margaret McGovern. Margaret's father is Joseph McGovern, who is Mary Eliza's brother.

I started my journey this morning while it was still dark. I had arranged with Margaret to have her daughter Caroline meet me in Galway so I could travel up to their home. After the long drive (about 2 hours) we arrived at her home and I met the lovely Margaret and her husband Pete. After a delightful cup of tea, Margaret Caroline and I were off to explore the wilderness of my homeland...feels weird saying that.

Our first stop was at the road leading into Mary Eliza's (and Margaret's) childhood house. Ireland has this initiative where they plant a forest, let it mature, and then cut down the trees for lumber. Sadly, the house/ruins is located in the middle of one such forest. So we couldn't walk out and see the actually stone foundation, but it looked like a lovely forest. Margaret explained to me that if I come back in about three years they will have logged the forest and I would be able to see the actual foundation. I really would like that, because after today I've uncovered my serious interest in my family history. Random fact: Did you know I could get an Irish passport because I can locate my great-grandmothers home, and name my relatives.

Our next stop was up the road at the Tullynamoyle National School, where both Mary Eliza and Margaret went to school. I heard that when Margaret was there, there were only ten students in the building, but at times there could be up to thirty. I couldn't even imagine going to school in a building like this one. A man has bought it and currently lives there so we couldn't get out and go peek inside, but his dogs gave us a lovely welcome.

The most moving place we went to visit was without a doubt Doobally church. That was the church that my family attended so long ago, and most of them are buried there today. I got to see the grave of my great great grandparents, Mary Eliza's sister, and many many more McGoverns. We went inside and got to light some candles in the name of family and remembering those we've lost. Uncle Dan has a candle burning in Tullynamoyle, Ireland for him. 

Oh! I forgot our real first stop. Driving through Dowra, we stopped at Mary McGovern's house. Mary was married to Luke McGovern, whose mother was Ellen McGovern- she was Mary Eliza's sister. Mary is in her eighties and was a delightful woman. She welcomed us in from the rain and we had a lovely chat...well Margaret and Mary had a lovely chat- I just kinda sat quietly and awkwardly. She didn't really pay any attention to me after greeting me and saying how lovely it was to meet me. We didn't get any pictures but it was a nice and unexpected addition to our trip. 

Anyways, Nana there are a million more pictures on my computer to share with you in 3 weeks when I get home, and Caroline made a video of our trip that she's going to post to me.

Next up- a trip to London during their proposed country-wide strike! Who says I don't live on the edge.

Thinking of family tonight,

K

Fin

Yesterday, was my last day of classes. WOOHOO! But I still have two more papers to write. BOO.
I thought that with the ending of my academic part of "study" abroad completed I should enlighten you as to what these past two and a half months have been like. Lets start with a quick description of each class and then let you enjoy a few images.

It is an "abstract metal sculpture" by the artist Brian King...everyone calls itArchimedes' Balls or the Big Yellow Thing.

Literacy Through Service Learning: It's possibly my favorite class only because it reminds me of my education classes back home. I didn't really learn anything new in this one, other than having a quick look into the irish education system- and let me tell you, they are severely lacking on that front. The professor has us call him Dermot, and he's one of those people who never really grew up. He has a quirky sense of humor and connected with each of us. I think this is the class I'll miss the most.

Stories of Medieval Wales: Without a doubt my favorite class! We analyzed the four major stories in the Mabinogion, a text that contains the most famous stories that have been preserved in time. I LOVED my professors voice, and so below you'll hear a snippet of it. I could listen to him talk for hours. Also, the stories were just as interesting so that I was never bored in this class.

Plays Players and the Playhouse: I wasn't really excited to take this one at first, it's a theatre class, and it is a major requirement that I could fulfill abroad. But after taking it I can say I enjoyed the class. It was set in this small blackbox theatre, which means the room is just a small room with no official stage, and we sat in a circle. It was my smallest class and the one I felt I was most connected to the other students in.

Phenomenology: Fen-Nom-En- Ology. Yeah, I had a hard time wrapping my mouth around it too at first. But now I'm throwing out words like phenomenological left and right. It's fun to say really fast :) Oh, the class? It was a philosophy class that I'm still not sure what it was about. Something about transcending the natural attitude into the philosophical one....

Health Psychology: The only class in which I have an exam, even if it is an in class essay. This was an interesting class if only because it taught me about doctor patient relationship and that if you have a strong sense of self and are confident you won't get sick as much. YAY KATIE! haha, but seriously, I didn't learn anything that I will carry with me in the rest of my life- it was more of a "i need a 5th class, this looks interesting" kind of thing.


Ok, so to help you picture my campus (mom keeps asking if its pretty...) I put together a little video of my time at NUIG (National University of Ireland- Galway). Enjoy:

So what do you think? A pretty campus? Exciting classes? Do you understand why I haven't blogged about it?

I've decided studying abroad in Ireland is more about learning the culture and exploring the land. So tomorrow I'm going on an adventure into Tullinamoile to see my family's homestead and meet a relative or two...I promise, you'll get a blog on that by Sunday night.

Peace,

K