Limerick

Hello My Fellow Americans!

Sorry again it has been a really long time since I've updated.  I'm a little behind...

I turned in two papers last thursday and another one today.  I only have one more left due this thursday.  I feel so relieved to have these out of the way before my bigger trips to Scotland and London which are coming up soon.

I'm also sick again for my second time being here.  I think my immune system is still adjusting...hopefully this will be it.  (knock on wood)

I had a lot of work due these past two weeks.  Other then that things have been pretty calm.  

Saturday the 7th Allison, Erik and I went to Limerick for the day.  It was a very productive day trip.  We went to King John's Castle, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Hunt Museum, and an art gallery.

We left around 9 in the morning and it was a hour and a half bus ride to Limerick.  I've become very familiar with the bus system here.  I haven't taken the bus this much since high school lol.  Some of the trips are really bad...I've learned not to sit in the back or else I feel sick.

So our first stop in Limerick was at St. Mary's Cathedral.  It is the oldest building in Ireland that is still used for it's original purpose.  They still have mass there every sunday.  The inside was very pretty...though not as grand as some of the Cathedrals in England it was still nice.  You can tell Ireland is very proud of their history no matter what the size.  

After we were finished there we went to King John's Castle.  This was definitely the highlight of my day.  I love history so much and this was such a treat for me.  They had a short little video 

about the history of the castle before we went into the court yard.  One of my favorite things 

about Ireland is there lack of security.  I managed to get some really funny pictures with some of the props and

 displays.  We had a really great time there.  Also at the top of one of towers we got a great view of the city. 

 After we were finished exploring the castle we headed to the hunt museum.  This museum is from a families private collection of artifacts. 

 They had a lot of ancient history including Rome, Greek, and even Egpyt.  But the majority of the exhibits had to do with Irish history.  Unfortunately I do not have any photos from the museum because there was no camera allowed and unlike most other places they were very serious about the no photos.  We walked around for about an hour and ate lunch in the cafe before heading back into the city.

Our final destination was the Limerick art gallery.  Before we went inside though we walked through this park that was right next to the gallery.  It was a beautiful day out, very sunny and comfortable.  The art gallery was really great because it was free :) and that is always a good thing.  It was more modern art but still very interesting.  This one collection was drawings on pieces of trash. 

 It was really funny stuff.  My favorite was these charcoal drawings done on one of walls.  It made me want to draw really badly.

We headed back to Cork around 5 or so and had a relaxing evening.  Surprisingly I do not go out much on the weekends.  My friends and I prefer going out during the week because things are less packed.  I've gotten really close with my roommates and I'm making some really good friends here.  It makes it alot easier when you're with other people going through the same experiences.  I really lucked out in having 5 of the best roommates possible.  I thought for sure with 6 girls in one place we would have problems, but so far we haven't had a single one.

We are all really good about buying stuff for the apartment together and we all share alot.  Some of the girls have been getting care packages from home with treats but we all share...it's surprising what things they don't have here.  American peanut butter is really hard to find!  My grilled cheeses aren't the same either...no one makes them better then my mom...I just don't have that special something lol.

Anyway...I'll be updating again soon about out trip Sat. 14 to Waterford soon!

Love you all!