Brenna's Ireland: Éirinn go Brách- Ireland Forever!

Today I woke up to one of the most beautiful days in Ireland thus far. I knew the minute I woke up and the sun was shining down at me that it would be a perfect day to walk down the canal to my favorite café by the water. I only have two classes on Tuesdays and then I am at the primary school in the afternoon to assist at homework club, but the kids didn’t have club today so I decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather and take a walk downtown to do hunker down and catch up on some writing about what I have been up to.

Quinn turned 21 on February 11^th so that weekend we celebrated! On the day of, it was very sunny in Galway, still windy but the sun was warm and shining. It was warm enough to take a run so I threw my Nike’s on and decided to go discover more of this wonderful city! I ran out to the bay and found this great walking path to take along the water. There were lots of people out that day with their dogs and children. Dogs are never on leashes and just run about freely looking happy as well for this glorious day. I ran out to this large causeway that extended all the way out to a restricted area with a large lighthouse. When I got to the end I just stopped and looked around. Behind me was Galway, with its brightly colored houses and cobblestone sidewalks; the perfect amount of city and the feelings of a traditional Irish small town. Surrounding me was the beautiful bay that extended out to the Atlantic. The waves were calm and the bright sun was casting glaring colors and shadows on the water. You could smell the sweetness of the saltwater from the rough ocean wind. The sounds of seagulls and moving waves created the perfect sound of this coastal town. It was so beautiful. I took out my ear plugs and walked back down the causeway so I could take in its beauty. I realized then just how lucky we were to be living in Galway city in Ireland. It is such a little gem in Ireland. I ran back to my apartment to get ready for the night. We celebrate Quinn’s birthday by inviting some of our new friends over. Before that we made him a lasagna dinner and all of the roommates sat down for a nice family dinner. Later on we went out to The Quay’s pub and all celebrated with Quinn.

That Saturday we all woke up and went to Finnegan's for a traditional Irish breakfast! It was so good, then we went to the market and I purchased some wool socks from Connemara. They are so nice! Market was great that day and I wan't too full from breakfast so I got my donut from the donut man. That Sunday, Amanda, Emily, Audrey and I all went to the cathedral for church service and after that we went to the market then did a little around the town. We discovered some great stores and I am still on the hunt to find a nice summer dress to purchase in Ireland!

Valentine’s Day was my first holiday celebrated outside of America. It was hard to get too excited about this holiday considering I was so far removed from all of those that I love. For one of the first times, I had intended for it to feel like just the other day. My past two Valentine’s Days haven’t been the greatest to say the least so for me, it was feeling like just another Monday. I couldn’t have been more wrong! First thing in the morning, reception called and said that there was a package for me down at the front desk. I had gotten a package from the Teaters (Daniel’s family) and I got the journal from Daniel! I was so excited, I tore open the package from the Teaters and I got an adorable card, M&M’s in a heart shaped container and Reese’s Cups (which I haven’t been able to find here!!). I only peaked at the latest entry from the journal from Daniel but long enough to see the Valentine’s card he put it there. It was a little kid’s card from the newest toy story movie with the horse and it said, “Hope you have a Rootin-Tootin Valentine’s Day!” and it was signed as my secret admirer. It couldn’t have been more perfect! Both of these Valentine’s Day treats were a great start to my day and I headed to school with the biggest smile on my face. I would have been happy with just that but when I got home I had gotten another package from my mom and dad! This was filled with lots of Valentine’s Day treats but most importantly a giant box of numerous appleheads (which is my favorite candy that you can’t find anywhere, except for little mini-marts)! I won’t be running out anytime soon! I was so happy. I didn’t have tutorial until five so Emily and I decided to put on some love music and make brownies with pink frosting! It was a beautiful day and we had the windows open singing along to some of the best mushy love songs you can think of. While the brownies were cooking out door bell rang. When I opened it, there was a guy holding roses and he told me he had a delivery for a Brenna Patterson. I anxiously said that it was me and he handed me over the most beautiful bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates. I opened the card, even though I had a sneaking suspicion I knew who they were from. Inside was a note from Daniel wishing me a Happy Valentine’s Day and telling me that he wished he could be there to spend it with me. My eyes filled up with the happiest of tears and I could not believe that he had gone to the trouble of sending me flowers all the way in Ireland. The roses were surrounded by greenery unlike anything I had ever seen and they were absolutely beautiful! The chocolates were pretty good too! Being so far apart, Daniel still made this day special for me, he is so amazing and I felt so lucky to have such a good guy as my boyfriend. All of the nice things from my Family and the Teaters made it feel more like home in Ireland and the space between us didn’t seem so great. For a day that I had intended to be like every other day turned out to be one of the best Valentine’s Days I have had in awhile!

Next up that Wednesday was the Arts Ball! I have included pictures of before we all left. It was an absolute blast. All the girls got ready at our apartment and we had some of our friends over before we left for Salthill hotel. When we arrived, the hotel was all decorated with complementary champagne out. We went into the venue and all of the tables and dance floor were decorated and looked beautiful. Our five course meal was delicious and we enjoyed the performance by the popluar group in Ireland called The Rubber Bandits. This Limerick duo sings the really popular song, “Horse Outside.” It is pretty ridiculous, the Irish music taste is a little different than back home but it would be worth a YouTube look up. We got our dance on and then headed home after everyone was getting a little tired. I must say that my first ball was pretty fun. Getting all dolled up and going to a hotel for a nice dinner and concert was a blast.

That Sunday I decided to take a walk around Galway and take some pictures. Our first stop, as usual was the market. As I have mentioned before, we come mainly for our weekly supply of produce and for donuts from the donut man. The market has been expanding since the nice weather had been out. More stands with intricate Irish jewelry and delicacies. It is fun every week to go and see the new stands and look around. I have taken pictures of the market and our favorite donut man. He is hilarious and always has something funny to say. Nowadays he rocking a straw hat to mark the good weather. It makes me weekend if he is there and I can get a donut, they are the best donuts I have ever had, Krispy Kreme really doesn’t have anything on this guy. I told him he should come to America and I will help him start the business because we are missing out from across the sea!

I briefly mentioned that I volunteered for an after-school homework club here. Every Tuesday I go to a primary school and spend an hour and a half playing with little kids and helping them get their homework done. It has been a couple weeks since my first day and I absolutely love it! The little Irish kids are so adorable and so much fun to talk to! They are always asking me questions about America and movies I have seen and things like that. I have the same kids every Tuesday so I have begun to really look forward to seeing them every Tuesday. They really do put me in a better mood and their carefree lives help take away the stress I may have about an assignment or something. They always manage to put a smile on my face. The other Tuesday, these two boy twins I have (which are my favorite, but don’t tell the others!) used their play time to write down Irish words for me to work on and take home. It was the cutest thing in the entire world and something I will keep forever! They are so adorable with their little freckles and accents, I am really going to have a hard time saying goodbye to all of them, including the two fantastic Irish women I work with! Until then, I am trying to learn as much Irish as I can from my little teachers!

As I am writing this, it is already March 15, 2011, half way done with my time here. My life as an Irish woman has been starting to feel much more like home nowadays. Our schedules have been set and it is a pretty nice feeling to go away for the weekend and know we get to go home to Galway when we get back. School work has been picking up a bit. We have been assigned our final essays and I had two midterms to complete recently. You can thank those classes for my absence from the blog for a little while. I recently found out that my last final is on April 13^th and then I just have to complete final papers and I am done! That was very exciting news and I finally could book my return flight home! We also could book our last trip to Italy. My roommates and I have officially booked a two week trip to Italy! We are starting in Rome (for Easter!) and then we will go to Florence for a few days then end our journey in the Cinque Terre villages right on the Mediterranean coast. We are all ecstatic and it will be the perfect ending to my adventures here abroad and I get to go with the people I have become the most close with, Anders, Cate, Emily and Quinn. We have definitely become a family in Ireland. Every night we make our dinner and sit a watch the three Friend’s episodes that are always on at 7:30! Friend’s is really popular in Ireland…I have come to love it here! I plan to rent all the seasons when I get back to the states. I have also booked my return flight and I my return to America will be May 11^th, which means I will be home in about 2 months from today. It is such a bittersweet feeling but I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family but I know that when May comes around, it will be a sad goodbye to a place I have called my home! Until then, I have much more to look forward to in the following 2 months and looking forward to the second half of this adventure!

Enjoy the pictures!