Ooirland!

Yes that's right. I am now a multi-country study abroad student (ish). ahaha so Celine Dion "It's All Coming Back to Me" just came on my iTunes and reminded me of the time that I thought it came in at a club here (clearly good dancing song) and I got overly excited. There was waaaay too much excited, it was almost embarrassing. 

SO, I'll try to keep this organized before it gets too scary. I have now officially gone to all my classes and now have about eight sessions per class left before I'm done for the semester - ENGLAND IS RIDICULOUS!! I'm not pos, but I believe I will be writing two, 2000 word papers for my four classes. Can we say score? Can we say... extended vacation time for k10? I'm planning to do a lot of hiking, because it usually works out so well for me. 

My last two classes, on Friday, are Climate somethingorothergeography and ROMAN DRAMA. Essentially I have taken almost all of my classes already, in one form or the other. I've gotten to the point now where I just know EVERYTHING, which is such a burden sometimes. People will start calling on McCarthypedia instead of Felkipedia. Although my pedia is not as easy to say, so maybe not. 

Climate Variability was initially interesting, but it seems more like a physical geography and less of a social science... I thought it would be more "this is how geography affects society" and it seems to be more "this is a greenhouse gas" which I've learned about in two classes before. But the professor seems pretty clueless so that should still be fun. Roman Drama is quite excellent! I've translated one or two of the plays already and, more importantly, I made friends with some natives! Look at me, bridging the gap between cultures, being a true cultural ambassador. I am so incredibly excellent. 

Moving on from my self-compliments (hey, since CERTAIN PEOPLE are intent on insulting me at every opportunity, I figure I need to do it:-)) and into the weekend. Good news, everyone! You are cordially invited to the nuptials between Molly and Bartender. The date will be after she confesses her love for him. I will give the toast. "I remember it like it was yesterday... she saw him and couldn't tear herself away from the bar. No literally. It was 1:30am and she was still sitting there, staring at him dreamily, while Jenny took covert pictures on her camera. He is just such a gentleman - always asking if we need something, if we're doing all right. He truly cares! He also has a sense of humor - for example, when creepy, old British man came over to win us with his charm by asking if we were 15 (ALWAYS a compliment, gentleman, take note), Bartender chuckled with glee. He really is a catch. And we just can't stay away!"

No really. All of that is true, unfortunately. Molly continues to force us back to the pub, although he is easy on the eyes so I enjoy it. I'll keep you posted on updates and save the dates, etc. By the way as a complete non-sequitur, I was just giggling after typing MOLLLLLY because not only is she hysterical, but Jenny will randomly just turn to me and say "BITTY!" in the same way. If you don't know, I'm sorry. If you do, epic win. 

Then... I flew over to DUBLIN! Quite an enjoyable, if truncated, trip. I left the airport Tuesday morning, bleary-eyed from having gotten only an hour of sleep (I know), but only an hour later, I was in IRELAND! As I was only there for a short time, I did just the quickie version of sights to see, but as Dublin is tiny (yet lovable) I feel I got the taste of it (and not just the Guinness). Lauren, my lovely host and owner of the couch I slept on Tuesday night, kindly showed me to her campus, Trinity, while she went to class. Can we talk about what a GORGEOUS campus it is? I feel like I have a really distorted version of campus beauty because I attend such a fake-campus school, but it really was gorgeous, as the Ooirish would say. Arches, walls, grass, cobblestone, Irish boys, all of my favorites. I mostly wandered around aimlessly while she was in class, took gorgeous (I'm just going to keep saying it) pictures, and of course almost got killed. What it is with me and traffic? In my defense the sidewalk and the street flowed seamlessly between each other, and I was gazing around in wonder. And I'm still alive so all is well. Sadly this time there wasn't a kindly older woman to ask "Honey, are these boys bothering you?!" but maybe next time. 

Tuesday afternoon, we did a lot of wandering - mostly to find the JAMES JOYCE CENTRE. Interesting to find out about his life, and most of all, Ireland is obsessed with him. Obsessed. Now, just because he wrote arguably the greatest book of the 20th century, is that a reason to be obsessed? I mean really. But I purchased Dubliners whilst in Dublin so that makes me awesome. 

I'll say this about the city- very similar feel to London. I feel like most big or biggish cities all feel the same, but it definitely had the London-y feel to it. Organically arranged streets, churches popping up randomly when you least expect it, people speaking English in a strange accent. OMG though, I am desensitized to the British accent! It no longer affects me like it did! Also, Jenny and I were discussing it and British people (men especially) are TALL. I am essentially on the upper echelons of height in the States, but I feel like a delicate little girl in London. The women all (mostly) range from a little shorter than me to a few inches taller, and the men are almost all taller. Standing on the tube is an adventure. Why are they so much taller than Americans? Genetics? Environment? Go, Felkipedia, go! 

Anywhere, I keep interrupting myself. Ah yes, mostly just walking around the city before dinner, stopping to take pictures at some sights, but it was just a lot of catching up as well. I completely respect the Dublin transportation system. It's all trust-based, so they just assume you purchased a ticket. Of course I always did because defying authority scares me. But still. I did take one ride for free! 

Lauren also lives about five minutes away from the LARGEST SHOPPING CENTER IN EUROPE! (supposedly). No matter how big it is (that's what she said) I still spent a bit of time in a mall, in Ireland. I don't know if that's impressive or pathetic.

After a lovely night at a pub and a GREAT night of sleep, we headed back to the city to wander around St Stephen's Green (GORGEOUS! I love finding places I would like to read in. Just wait, London. come spring, me and St James Park are going to be BFF), finding the Fag on the Crag, of course. I have been dreaming about him since senior year. Then to the Guinness Factory, where I was thoroughly brainwashed and now know everything about its history, advertising, and production. It's disgusting. But at the top of the factory is a lovely "gravity bar" which commands a 360 degree view of Dublin, and you get a free ("Free") pint of Guinness. I'm such a beer connoisseur now, I will DEFINITELY be let into a fraternity at GW. It's bound to happen.

After Guinness (aka lunch), I sadly had to head back to London, and here we are. I'm getting all of my trips and shows in London lined up, so it should be a PACKED next two months, before we embark on the EUROPEAN ADVENTUREEEEEE!!! Too much excitement. 

Oh and you'll be glad to hear that I bothered a professor through email so much that she definitely hates me. This will call for some significant sucking up. I might do the whole "innocent wide eyed American girl in the strange city" bit.