A little bit of a lot of things

According to my widget, it is currently 52 degrees and raining here. By peering out my window, I can confirm that the latter is indeed true, and I did in fact walk back from class this morning without putting my jacket on. Did you hear that? I walked from point A to B wearing a short sleeved shirt and I didn't get hypothermia. This is ridiculous. Anyways, my main point is that my widget also tells me that its 45 degrees at home. I still consider this a win, even if its only the middle of the night there.

My good friend, Ericka, from Point Loma visited last weekend. She's studying abroad in London so it was just a short trip over to do some serious leprechaun searches. I showed her downtown Limerick & King John's castle and then we visited Cork for the day on Saturday and saw the Blarney Castle and kissed its stone.

Unreal  

  Gift o' Gab

Smiling meat, just for kicks 

We went to a rugby game this past Friday after indulging ourselves with 6 homemade Ryan pizzas, including  the DESSERT kind, yum. This was followed by chasing after the bus for our dear lives and realizing I can't consider the walk to and from class my daily exercise anymore. As far as the game goes, I still have no idea what actually occurred other than men running from side to side, tackling each other, and then doing it all over again. Nonetheless, It was entertaining to be surrounded by all the diehard fans and drool over our future husbands.

 Cinnamon sugar and icing. Oh, Yes.

 The most inappropriate and scary mascot I have ever witnessed. This thing was HUGE and wobbled, not walked.

The next morning we hopped on a bus with tickets (scratch that, we ran, yet again, to catch it) to Kenmare, stoked on going to a town in the middle of gorgeous nowhere. Clue #1 something was wrong: There was no bus number or times on the website. Not important, we didn't let this get in the way and jumped on another bus that was supposed to take us to a bus stop which would then be followed by yet another bus to another stop, and then finally a camel ride to Kenmare, or something of that sort. So fast forward 2 hours later and a layover and we start to board our second bus to Killarney. Best case scenario: The bus driver looks at our tickets and laughs. LAUGHS. No busses to Kenmare on the weekends. Really. So the man offers to drop us off right outside the city and tells us we can "hitchhike" into town. I don't know about you, but that word automatically equals me dead in a ditch somewhere. "I guess this means we're going to Killarney."
Another hour later we pull into Killarney and decide to reward ourselves with sweet treats from a bakery stand. Over eating my strawberry-rhubarb cake, we get laughed at AGAIN by  the stand owner as a response to our questions about what's open. The National Park? Closed. The Tourist office? Closed. "Yeah, well I've had better sweet treats."
SPOILER: She was completely wrong: Everything was open and we ended up having a wonderful day o'fun biking around the gorgeous park, eating pb & j's while hanging out at a castle, and adopting a dog for the afternoon newly named Fred.

 A perfect sunny day drive, listening to music and getting to stare at gorgeous scenery

 Entering the Killarney National Park

Freddie! 

 Part of the fam.

 Ross Castle. Beautiful in all senses. Those swans made the craziest sounds and hissed at Fred.

 Biking near Ross Island

 Sun!! It always comes and goes, but it was still a warm day for Ireland's standards

Downtown of Killarney.

The next day we did a Ring of Kerry Tour and got to see constant beauty driving around the coast and cliffs of this part of the Country.

 We stopped for lunch in this beach town and this sweet lil ol' Irish man talked to us. His dog was 20 years old! Don't get any hints, Bailey.

It was hard to take pictures while driving through, but it was seriously one of the prettiest places I've ever been and I just tried to soak it up.

And as if this isn't completely ridiculous in every way possible, I'm going to London this weekend and get to see Lauren Rae Mudge, who will be visiting from Sicily. Simple words don't state how crazy it is.

Off to Irish dance class where I put shame to my last name. Here's the dance I'm learning/everyone else pretty much has down.