St. Patrick's Day

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day! It is one of my favorite days of the year because everyone is in a good mood, and since there are not that many expectations surrounding this holiday, it always turns out to be a lot of fun.

It was especially fun in Ireland this year for a couple of reasons.  The first was that because it is a national holiday over here there were no classes held! Secondly, the weather here was absolutely gorgeous, mid 50s, warm and very sunny.  It was enjoyable to be outside, walking around, and good weather always puts everyone in a good mood.  

The morning started with a festive brunch in my apartment.  My roommates and I organized a brunch to invite people over to enjoy green colored food, and begin the day together.  I made green pancakes, Suzanne worked on the bacon, Ines helped with the green eggs and Mara and Kate pitched in with the clean up and set up.  

Green egg and pancake mixtures

Finished Product: looks gross but was very fun and festive! 

Because it was such a nice day we left the windows in our common room open and people from our apartment complex would stop in and say hi and join us all morning.  

We then left around 12:30pm to go into the city for the parade.  There was a ton of activity, and I think it was the most crowded I have ever seen the city, even including Christmas time.  There were food vendors lined all throughout the sidewalks and a big parade happening in the street.

My outfit for the day: 

Irish sweater to keep me warm and green headband and feather boa to be festive

Complete with a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" Face tattoo 

Apartment 19 Crew 

Back: Mara, Kate, Ines

Front: Suzanne, Me 

Julia and Me: Julia made these fun straws that had paper cutouts of mustaches on them so it looked like you had a mustache when you were drinking - mine fell slightly for this photo but they were a lot of fun! 

Cork City Centre Parade - I was two people deep behind the gates so it was hard to get good photos but I could still see some and hear all the great music! 

Julia and Me at the parade

Chelsea and Me at the Parade 

Our normal group was split up because some of the girls chose to go to Dublin for their parade, like Caitlin and Nicole, but the group that was in Cork had a blast! We were playing music all day, enjoying the nice weather and celebrating the holiday.  I have loved getting to know my roommates this year, and I am definitely going to miss them when I leave. We are trying to do fun things like yesterday as often as possible before we all go home to different parts of the world. 

*note* found out from lots of Irish people that it is NOT St. Patty's like we like to say in America, but the proper terminology is St. Paddy's! 

Weekend Recap: Christmas in Ireland

This past weekend was filled with Christmas festivities and I have to say I loved every minute of it! Cork city has slowly been putting up all of their lights and decorations over the past week but Friday marked the first day of Glow: A Cork Christmas Celebration.  Saturday evening, Caitlin and I took a a break from our work to check it all out.

First stop, of course,O'Conaills 

The city is all lit up, its beautiful and so festive

One of four trees this size throughout the city centre 

Next up, the Ferris Wheel

Waiting in line

As if we had not gotten into the holiday season enough, Sunday I went to Dublin for their Christmas Markets. Caitlin had read online that the Make-A-Wish Foundation was striving to beat the world record for the number of people in Christmas jumpers (that's what they call sweaters over here) in the same place. We decided that we had to be there for that to have the excellent excuse to buy fun holiday themed sweaters.

Dublin's Christmas Markets

I was #645 to register for the Christmas jumper event, it was so fun seeing the crazy, and festive outfits people had on

Its amazing how spirited the country is already, and its only December 1! I love the holiday season and I am having so much enjoying celebrating abroad; Europe definitely pulls out all the stops for Christmas. 

Friendsgiving

Last night was Friendsgiving! Caitlin, Grace, Nicole, Nicole's two friends visiting from London, and I arranged to have a holiday dinner and split up the tasks between the four of us. It was so nice having the family feel on actual Thanksgiving Day, but it was also a lot of fun to have the holiday food and festive feel last night. It was a fun night eating great food, and hanging out with great friends.

We all met up in Caitlin's apartment and she did a wonderful job decorating.  She had flowers, a tablecloth and place settings for each of us.

My contribution was mashed potatoes, both sweet and regular, a green salad, and an attempt at Grandma's apple crisp recipe with vanilla ice cream.

Appetizers

 The smorgasbord 

My dinner plate

Dessert, most important part! The apple crisp was just okay, not great but it was great to have the apple/cinnamon flavors that we expect at this time of the year. 

Before leaving for Ireland I was really worried that I would be extremely sad during the holiday season when my family was all home and I was missing it.  However, it has been a lot of fun doing something new. Instead of thinking about what I am missing, which is only one Thanksgiving out of hundreds I hope to have in my lifetime,  I chose to focus on all that I am gaining by being away this year.  

I am so fortunate to have this experience, and I am so thankful for it, but also that I only have to miss two major holidays this year, Thanksgiving and Easter, and not three, Christmas.  The end of Thanksgiving means the start of the Christmas season, which means Michael Buble's Christmas album on repeat, AND my arrival back in the United States! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had a wonderful time here in Cork on Thanksgiving yesterday.  Julia's parents took the other Holy Cross girls and I out to dinner at a restaurant called 14a.  It was a great meal, but I enjoyed the company even more.  It was so nice to be surrounded by friends, and adopted by someone else's family for the night.

However, my favorite part of the day was definitely right before I was about to go to bed. I got a quick FaceTime call from Katie asking if I wanted to say a Hello to Grandma and Grandpa before they left for the night.  It was nice to see both of them but even better when they told me what had happened earlier.  Apparently, as they were cleaning up from dinner this year they were wondering why there were more leftovers than usual, until someone else pointed out that the only thing different this year was that I was not there. I guess is was really apparent how much I eat when 3/4 of the pie is leftover and you are the only one missing....oops. Don't worry though I'll be back next year, and twice as hungry!

Even though it was not a traditional Thanksgiving I really enjoyed spending time with new friends in my city, and the arrival of Thanksgiving means it is almost time for me to come home!

Here are a few of the things that I am thankful for this year:

My family:

The Cork Group: Julia, Caitlin, Me, Chelsea and Nicole

 My HC Family: Me, Emily, Amelia, Seton, Meredith

My best friend: Caitlin

(and rainy days in our beautiful city!)

Lastly, I am especially thankful to have sisters that spoil me. Upon arriving in Cork I found a gift that was snuck in my bag before I left. Katie, with help from Beanie, made the best gift I have ever gotten. She converted Dr. Seuss's book "Oh the Places You'll Go" into a personalized story for me, filled with photos, quotes and words of wisdom for my journey abroad from each of my family members and best friends.

Everyone did an excellent job of choosing things that represent our relationship and I feel as though I can hear each person speaking to me as I read their notes. It was meant for the days when I felt homesick and needed a smile, and it really does exactly that.

Thanks again to Katie and Bean, and everyone who made a page for me! 

xo