Day Eight (11/9-11/27)

Alright so I got a little behind in my blogging, but I will try to catch you up!!

Thursday 11/9- After school on Thursday night I went into Dublin to meet up with my friend Rachel from Saint Mary's. Rachel is studying abroad in England, but had come to Dublin for the weekend to get some sights in. I couldn't find Rachel (it turns out her plane took off an hour later than planned), but I was able to get some shopping in on O'Connel street. Dublin looks really neat at night because they have all of the Christmas lights on.

Friday (11/20)- The infants get out at 1:15, but the rest of the school gets out at 2:15. Saddie let me leave at 1:15 so I could have more time with my family. I took the bus all the way into Dublin and was able to see more of the countryside during my ride. I did not have the world's most helpful bus driver, but I eventually was able to find my way to my parents hotel at the Harcourt Inn.

It was great to see my family! It was also my mom's birthday!! Our hotel was right by St.Stephens Green, a nice park area that we were able to walk through. Then we got on Dublin's Hop On-Hop Off bus tour. This bus allows you to get off where ever you want and then get back on when you are ready. While you are on the bus they have headphones so you can listen to the history of the town. We stopped and looked at Trinity College. We also walked along Grafton Street which is a street with great stores and just for pedestrians (it is also lite up with Christmas lights). We had our first meal together at the restaurant at the hotel.

Saturday 11/21- We woke up in the morning and did the Hop On-Hop Off bus again. Our first stop was the Guinness Storehouse. It was interesting learning how Guinness was made and the tradition behind it. The Gravity Bar, is a bar at the end of you tour where you get your free Guinness and a good look at the city. It is the highest building in Dublin. We then got on they bus and went to the Modern Art Museum. There was some really cool and really funky art work. We then got a tour at Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). We had a super tour guide, he knew his history and you could tell he liked what he did. I liked the tour because not only did we learn about the jail but we were able to learn about Ireland's history too! We took the bus to O'Connel Street, walked around a little, and then had dinner at good ol' Subway. Oh, and if you want chips, make sure to say crisps!

Sunday 11/22- We went to Avis to get our rental car and from there the adventure really started. My dad did a great job driving on the left hand side, not to mention the narrow roads and many round abouts! But we did have some stressful moments too ;) We drove to Dun Laoghaire, a port town near my families house, to find our first Bed and Breakfast. Unfortunately, there were some complications and we had to wait around 1hr. 30min! Apparently they had our arrive date wrong and we had to find somewhere else to stay. We then went to my house in Killiney and I was able to introduce my family to my host family! Then we went to Einniskerry and I was able to show them my school!! We drove around Einniskerry's countryside until it got dark and then actually stayed the night in the B&B right next door to my school! We had dinner across the street at a place called Emilia's.

Monday 11/23- In the morning we had our first B&B breakfast experience. We were able to meet the other guests in the house and were served an excellent breakfast by Josie the owner. We then went to Powerscourt Gardens in Einniskerry. It is Ireland's best garden! The weather was not very nice, and so we basically had the entire grounds to ourselves. We tried to drive to Powerscourt Gardents, but the cost to see it was high and so we decided to head to Wicklow. We made a quick stop in Wicklow and then went to Lake Glendalough. Lake Glendalough is in the Wicklow mountains with two small beautiful lakes. This is where scenes from P.S. I Love You and Bravehart were filmed. The sun goes down around 4:30 and so our days touring are ended a little sooner than we would like. But we drove back to Dun Laogahaire and stayed at the Kingston Hotel. We at dinner at the hotel and watch some live music put on by some elderly Irishmen. They were great!!

Tuesday 11/24- When we woke up we had breakfast at the hotel and had a great view of the Irish sea. Then we walked Dun Laogahaire's piers and were able to see the awesome ports and yacht clubs. I had school off because their was a country wide strick. My family tried driving up to Malahide Castle, but when we got their we were told that it was closed because of the strike. The people there suggested another private castle. When we got to that castle we were told that it wasn't actually private and was also closed because of the strike. So we kept heading further north and ended up in a river town called Drugerda. We got out walked and window shopped. We then drove back down towards Dublin to a city called Howth. Howth is on the northern limits of Dublin's suburbs and is on a peninsula. My family checked in at Deerpark Hotel and then we went down to a restaurant called The Oar House. This city is based on it's fishing community and so we had a great seafood dinner. It was then time for me to say goodbye to my family. I was dropped off at the DART station and headed home.

Wednesday 11/25- I felt like I had been on a long vacation with my family and felt like I had been out of the classroom! The kids were squirly from having the day before off because of strick. It turned out that one of the other teachers was sick and Mrs.Honner was going to have to teach our infant class and the 4-6graders. So instead I taught the infants while she taught the other class. It was great being the teacher :) After I got back to my house I went out for a run and was able to see more of the neighborhood. Nola and John (my host parents) had left town with their friends and so Nola's mother came to our house to make dinner. She is a very kind woman and fun to listen to.

Thursday 11/26- Thanksgiving Day!! I went to school that day and was able to teach the kids a little bit about our Thanksgiving tradition. One of the other teachers was really cute because during lunch time she googled restaurants that had a traditional Thanksgiving meal (she even found a place with the NFL games on!) Mrs. Honner gave me a ride to the DART station and it was enjoyable chatting with her and finding out about her life outside of the classroom. It was a long DART and bus ride to my parents hotel at the airport. When I got to the hotel my family was away droping off the rental car. I was able to just hand and read my book (Lord Of The Rings). We had our Thanksgiving meal at the hotel's restaurant. I had a burger! Ha ha, probably will be the most unique Thanksgiving I will every have!

Friday 11/27- In school today the whole school started to get ready for their Nativity Program. Two people from the community came in to work with the school. It was so much fun listening to all of the children singing (my kids were hilarious!) At the end of the day Mrs. Honner's daughter came and it was nice getting to know her. She is in her first year of college, going to become a teacher too! After school I took the DART all the way to Malahide. It was about 1 hr. 15min. train ride. I got off and sped walked to Malahide Castle. I got their just in time for the last tour. I really enjoyed the tour and castle (it looks just like a fairytale castle!). On my tour with my was a couple with the baby from Ohio. I walked back with them to the DART station. I was glad they were with because when you are walking back through the castle grounds you have to go through a section of trees and it is really creepy in the dark. I got home and made myself dinner. I also made plans to get together with another student teacher from South Carolina. Tomorrow my plans are to go walk Killiney Hill and then meet up with her in Dublin. On Sunday, we are going to do a day trip to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone!