Hey y'all!
Wow! What an awesome week! I got so much done!
As of Monday, I'm officially registered with the Garda (police) here and immigration. It's still weird to me to think that I am the foreigner. I definitely don't feel that way. It's so easy living in Ireland. I love it! I know I keep saying it but I am honestly so thankful for the amazing opportunities God has blessed me with. I never would have dreamed I'd actually be living in another country!
As I'm sure y'all know, Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Well, I've been wanting to go to my first Catholic mass but I haven't gone yet. So, I figured Wednesday I could kill two birds with one stone! So I headed to church (sorry this is such a crummy picture... I thought I had a better one)!
And it was actually pretty neat! It was definitely different from the laid back style of southern Baptists but it was beautiful in its own way. There was no music and the service went by super fast. I wasn't too sure what was going on but luckily I had three Catholics with me and I survived without looking too ridiculous!
Thursday rolled around and I ended up with a surprise Valentine! The hottest one in Ireland:) His name is Hammy and sure enough, he is the biggest ham on the island!
A couple of my American friends found him Wednesday night and tried to find his owners and reported him to every pet authority in town. Unfortunately, the no kill shelter is full so we have taken him in. We take turns watching him so we can all carry on our normal schedules. I've had him two nights and he's just about the sweetest dog you'll find. However, he is spoiled rotten already. He has taken over my bed... I'm definitely not used to having a sleeping buddy so it has been interesting having this small dog take over! But he's cute enough to get away with it!
Oh! Random awesome fact! The laundry machines here have to be from the 50s and they take tokens which are over three euro each. We have been told by so many students that they wash their clothes in buckets... Well, that might be doable except I don't have hot water more than 50% of the time. But to be honest, I'd much rather have a machine wash my clothes! I found this laundry place in town which is AMAZING! You drop off your dirty clothes and they sort them, wash them, dry them, fold them, and put them back in your bag. You pay based on the weight of clothes. And you drop them off in the morning and pick them up that afternoon! It's brilliant! If being a teacher doesn't pan out I might bring this idea over to America! I love it! And it's way cheaper than on campus! Not to mention, I don't have to sit in a laundry room all day to make sure my clothes don't get stolen!
Saturday was AWESOME! The ancient Irish studies professors offered the international students a field trip. We went to four sights! It was great! The first stop was the Hill of Tara which is an ancient site of hills and a couple of monuments from later ages. It's a holy site from the pre Christian era dating back thousands of years ago. It was so beautiful out there and it only rained once! Here are some pictures!
The man made mounds and the church that came after Christianity arrived.
Legend has it that ancient kings came to this stone before they were crowned and placed their hand on it. If the stone sang then the man was worthy to be king. If it didn't sing then he was out! And yes, it sang when I touched it;)
Here are two fairy trees which are trees that appear in a field or area where there are no other trees. It's believed that fairies live beneath them and if you cut them down the fairies will wreck havoc in your life. People come to these trees and leave something tied to the tree with a prayer and the fairies grant it to them. Another one of the pagan beliefs that lives on (but I call it superstitions)!
The old church and cemetery. The church is now a visitor center but the cemetery had old and new headstones. It was beautiful.
I just liked this:)
Next it was on to Newgrange which is over 5,000 years old making it older than both the pyramids and Stonehenge.
I learned today that the rocks and stones used to build this burial/religious temple were brought in from up to 80 kilometers away. I also learned that there are two other monuments that look like Newgrange right near it. Each monument also has multiple smaller tombs around them.
We learned about the carvings and the type of people who would have built this amazing structure. I really was surprised at the size of it.
There are two openings; a door at the bottom, and a window at the top (as you can see). The pathway is very tight but once inside there's a room with three little cutouts in the sides. The pathway is in the shape of a cross and each of the three cutouts has basins in them where the bones of important people were put. And during the week of December 21st (my birthday!) the sunrise rises right in front of Newgrange and the light floods into the window and lights up the entire chamber. Evidently it's very bright and an amazing sight. I can't imagine!
They don't allow you to take pictures inside so here is the closest I can get you!
Next it was on to Monasterboice which is an old ruins from the ninth and tenth centuries. It is now a cemetery but it is beautiful. Again, we were blessed with sunny weather which was great for pictures!
The tower is really awesome and in really good condition! The door used to be like five meters off the ground so when invaders came the people could climb into the tower and raise the ladder and no one could get in to them. However, we can't go in these days and over the years the ground has raised and buried quite a few feet of the tower.
Then there are the church ruins.
I always can't help but to wish the walls could talk. Or wonder how many people have passed through the doorways...
This site is most known though for Muiredach's cross which is one of the tallest and oldest crosses in Europe. There are two and they both picture stories from the Old and New Testaments. They're huge and very pretty.
Here are my two favorite pictures from there
Our final stop of the day was on to the Mellifont Abbey ruins. It was beautiful! And very big!
To be perfectly honest, by the time we finally reached the last stop I was all lectured out. I walked around on my own during the final (never ending) lecture. So I can't tell you too much about it! But I can tell you this, the abbey was built after Monasterboice burned down in the 11th century and it was the main abbey in Ireland until the 16th century.
The only original abbey remains still there is the lavabo which is where the monks who lived here washed their hands.
It never ceases to amaze me the amazing structures that people were capable of building so many hundreds of years ago. And not only that, but if it weren't for human destruction, I bet most of these amazing structures would still be here today and not just ruins.
So, as you can see, Saturday was awesome and filled with adventure! Needless to say, by the time I got back to my room, picked up Hammy, showered, and ate dinner, I was ready for bed! But once Sunday rolled around, it was time for my second trip to Dublin!
It was nice being able to just take my time walking around the city with Rachel and go shopping. And the weather was PERFECT!!!
And finally, I figured Monday would be a boring lazy day BUT it wasn't! I've been trying every week since I got here to get in the church on campus (the one with the big bell tower) but it's always locked because they only use it for special occasions. But last night, I was walking around campus with a friend and we saw the lights on in the church so we went in. As we approached the church we heard beautiful singing. Turns out, there's a performance there next week and the choir was practicing so we not only got to sit and listen to them but once they were done we got to explore the whole church with no one in it (meaning PERFECT pictures)!!! I was SO excited!!! Here are some pictures!
All in all, it was a WONDERFUL week! And I know this week will be wonderful as well! Already have a few adventures planned!:)
xoxo,
B
