Final Day in Dublin

Molly Malone- the Tart with the Cart

Posing with Molly Malone + Carroll's Bag = Tourist

Unfortunately, on my last full day in Dublin I had a final exam in The EU and the Business Environment, so I sent my sister into the city with Brittany and Stacy while Stevie and I took the essay test. Grace was going to go to the restaurant Queen of Tarts with them and then head to the Jameson Distillery while I wrote all I knew about Copenhagen Treaty.

After Stevie and I finished with the exam we too decided to get lunch at Queen of Tarts, while Grace and the other girls finished up at the distillery. The food was very good but the service was slow. After we finished (and Stevie was kind enough to treat me), Brittany, Stacy, and Grace arrived and we divided and conquered Dublin, but only after we did some shopping.

Stevie, Grace, and I opted to go to what most Irish considered "Ireland's greatest treasure," the Book of Kells. It is an illuminated manuscript made by Irish monks and housed in Trinity College in the centre of Dublin. The three of us arrived in the gates of Trinity kind of late in the day and I was worried (shocker) that we were too late to see it and I threatened to use tears (another shocker) to make sure that they let us in. Things turn out better than expected, though, when we were waiting in line and a women walking by with some poster board asked if we were American. We replied yes in our obvious American dialects and she said "Don't worry, we'll get you in." I thought that this meant that she would make sure we got in before it closed but it turns out that she works for Trinity and used her employee powers to get us in for free. Let me say it one more time, I love the Irish!

The manuscript itself was amazing (through not 8 euro amazing so I'm glad that we didn't have to pay)! It was so intricate and amazing that someone could do that with their own hands. I am really glad that I went and got to show it to Grace.

After that (and a stop at Supermac's) the three of us did some more shopping before the farewell dinner planned for that Wolf Pack that night. I had to go to Carroll's, the Irish souvenir shop that is on every corner of Dublin (not an exaggeration) to stock up on everthing Irish I could. The thing I found when I was shopping, though, was that none of the souvenirs really captured my time in Ireland. At least I have all the pictures, memories, and jewelry.

And then it was time for the final dinner at our favorite Irish restaurant O'Neill's. Grace was very excited to be back at an Irish carvery and both of us got corned beef. I also had cabbage for the full Irish effect. After dinner the complete Wolf Pack headed out in the streets of Temple Bar in search of live traditional Irish music and found some in Gogarty's so we stayed there a while singing along to all the songs that we learned by heart after four months in Dublin. After "Wild Rover" we decided to try a find another place to go, but were unsuccessful and we were faced with something that we knew was coming since Day 1- goodbye.

Little JMatch

Flash forward to all six of us (and Grace) standing in the cobblestone streets on Temple Bar crying and hugging. It was rough to say the least. Those five other girls were the only ones that knew what it was like to live at UCD for the Spring 2010 semester and I will always have a special connection with them (and an excuse to visit Melbourne and White Horse).

We all headed back to UCD and I started the impossible task of packing my life away before Laura, Grace, and I left to tour Ireland the next morning. Luckily, I was coming back to the apartment before leaving for good so it all didn't have to be packed away, although I wanted to make a good start.

Farewell Dinner II and Elections

Tuesday was an uneventful day that involved going to EU and the Business Environment class and reading the new book I got at the Dun Laoghaire farmers' market. The Study Abroad Program sponsored a farewell dinner that night and I am always down for free food. The sweeten the deal they even added a free gift, which turned out to be a UCD t-shirt.

The dinner they served was a nice buffet and really good cheesecake. They also served all-you-can-drink wine, something that still shocks be because that does not happen at University of Illinois. We also had entertainment after dinner which included the Irish House Party performing again. We even had some performers from our program go up and sing! We also did a dance where we got to meet different people but it made people who were partaking in the all-you-can-drink wine a little dizzy.

After the farewell dinner I just headed back to my dorm. It was the night of elections back in the realm of the Upsilon Chapter down in Champaign so I wanted to chat with Gia a little bit beforehand. We were running for Vice President Professional together and I wanted to make sure everything was ready for the big presentation. It is so hard being away from campus during these things because I want to be there to help Gia make the presentation, give my pros for people running for positions, and be able to vote.

But to make up for my lack of physical presence I woke up at 4 am to attempt to be part of the process. It was really nice having many of the Dsigs on Gchat (everyone's preferred form of communication) so that I could chat with them and watching the sunrise out my window. The downside is that right now I am extremely tired; the position Gia and I were running for didn't come up until about 7 am. At 5:30 I went into my kitchen to discover the fuse was tripped and the fridges were not on. I reset the fuse and was a hero.

At 7 Gia gave the powerpoint and speech and at the end there was a little video of me (16 seconds to be exact). Lindsay came on Gchat and said that I looked beautiful during it which boosted my spirits a little. I was also chatting with Olivia but after my speech they weren't chatting with me (because they were talking about the candidates) and it took a suspiciously long time. At one point I was convinced that I had lost and no one had the heart to tell me so they were just giving me the cold shoulder.

At about 7:45 Olivia came back on and told me that we won! What a pleasant surprise! Laura told me to wake her up when I heard so I flung open her door at 7:50 am to tell her the good news and she was happy to. Laura knows quite a bit about what happens in the frat and was glad to hear that Danny and Tiffany won as well and wanted me to send along her congratulations.

Gia and I have a lot of work ahead of us but it is so exciting. I was so happy and, although I tried to sleep a little before my 9 am class I couldn't sleep.

Tonight Britt and I went out to celebrate. We searched for traditional Irish music and ended up a VAT House for a little while, then O'Gogarty's. At O'Gogarty's they played "Take Me Home Country Roads," which seems to be a favorite of the Emerald Isle. We also think we may have stumbled upon a pub crawl because they fed us free chicken fingers. We took advantage of this and had about 5 each, which somewhat set off the price of our very expensive drinks.

Laura got me flowers with a lovely note:

"Congratulations on being elected Professional! You deserve it!"

I love her.

Farewell Dinner

Tonight we went to a farewell put on by the Quinn Business School for all the study abroad students. It was at the Arlington Hotel downtown and a lot of good craic.

We got treated to a three course meal which worked for me. One of the highlights was when the waitress came around taking drink orders. I ordered a coke and she asked if I knew that drinks were being paid for by the school and then asked why wouldn't I get an alcoholic beverage. I told her I would just stick with the coke, thanks anyway. Then she felt kinda bad. Everyone at the table thought that was pretty hilarious. I did however try a Bailey's with dessert and that was delicious!

We also had entertainment during dinner. First a band came on stage and played some traditional Irish tunes, which always make me smile (unless its one of the really tragic ones, and there are quite a few of those). After the band four Irish dancers took the stage and preformed. It was a great show, although they may not have been up to Riverdance standards. They did play "Lord of the Dance" quite a few times which had Stacy and I singing along. Here are some videos:





After dinner we tried to meet up with some classmates at The Porterhouse but there must have been a change of plans because they we're there so we took the bus home. And we have Farewell Dinner II tomorrow.