Kilkenny

me, Maggie, and Brittany in front of Kilkenny Castle

I apologize for the lack of creativity with my post titles but that has never been my strong suit.


Saturday morning the Quinn School of Business organized a trip to Kilkenny, considered the most beautiful inland city in Ireland, and I brought my “cousin” Maggie who also brought her friend Anna. Dorothy, the nicest woman who organized all this, said that it would be ok if I brought my “cousin” because the bus was not going to be filled with Quinn Students. I was so glad that they could share that with us because seeing Dublin is cool but you really get the Irish flavour when you head out of the city and see the small Irish towns.

The drive was about an hour and a half and we arrived at Kilkenny around 11:30. Our tour of Kilkenny Castle was supposed to start at 11:45 so we just went to the bathroom and walked around the courtyard of the Castle and took pictures. It was a really nice castle remodeled in the late Victorian style but the downside was that we couldn’t take pictures of the inside. There was no tour guide but there were two experts in the castle that gave us some information about the castle and its inhabitants. One elderly male expert started talking about the Battle of New Orleans and how he thought that fighting a battle after the war had ended was something the Irish would do; I was cracking up.

Stacy me, Maggie, Brittany

After the tour we headed over to Kyteler’s Inn for lunch with everyone. Dorothy ordered us all chicken and chips, plus we got desert! The inn itself was founded in 1323 and we ate in what was like the basement. The whole room was stone and had stones arches giving you the feeling that you were in the catacombs. The food was great and we even got a little history with our chicken and chips.

The inn was founded in 1323 and passed down to the Alice Kyteler, who had four husbands that died of mysterious causes; it is thought that she poisoned them. She was tried for witchcraft and found guilty after her maid confessed that Alice was a witch and she was a follower. Alice was sentenced to be burned at the stake but escaped, so her maid was burned at the stake instead; talk about bad luck. This was the first burning at the stake for witchcraft in Ireland.

Alyscia, Stevie, Stacy, me, Brittany, Maggie

After lunch we went on a walking tour of Kilkenny with a historian. It was very cold but I still enjoyed hearing about the history of the town.

The Black Abbey. It is called the Black Abbey because the Dominican friars that live there were black cloaks over their habits. This church was left as just a shell after Oliver Cromwell came through (the Irish are not a fan) and was rebuilt after. The stained glass window, called the Rosary window, shows scenes from Christ’s life and contains 10,000 pieces of glass! We got a lot of this information from a friar that we met when we went in; I love the Irish outgoingness!

The tour ended just in time for us to catch the second half of the rugby game being played at Croke Park which is in Dublin. Rugby is a very big deal here, as are other sports, and this match was Ireland v. Italy. We found a pub in Kilkenny and cheered Ireland on with the locals. We are still a little unclear of the rules but it was fun to partake in such a slice of Irish life, and Ireland won!

Maggie watching Rugby. Go Ireland!

We headed back to Dublin around 5 o’clock that night and when we got back we got ready to go out for dinner and the pub life. Brittany, Maggie, Anna, and I headed into the city centre to find some grub and ended up going to The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which had good food and continued my streak of burger eating (I’ve had a burger every day for the last three days because they are cheap and I love beef.) We ate outside on the heated patio in the Temple Bar area and it was nice to soak in the atmosphere.

After filling ourselves up with “gourmet burgers”(I had the Cajun burger to compensate for the lack of flavor in most Irish cooking) we walked over to the Porterhouse because they always have live music and they also brew their own beer. We sat there listening to the band White Chocolate until we very tired from the day’s adventures and took a cab home.

Dsig Love!

Now we have been worried that the cabbies of Dublin have been ripping us off because we’re American so I hatched a plan to pull out my brogue and pretend to be a local (although I am a local.) So we got into the cab, and I said in barely passing Irish dialect, “UCD Belfield please.” We rode along in silence until “Wonderwall,” a personal favorite of mine, came on the radio. If you know me, you know that when I song comes on that I know the words to (and sometimes when I don’t know the words to) I must sing along. That’s when I bust out “Today is gonna be the day that they’re gonna throw it back to you” in my brogue, causing the cab to cover their mouths as they hold back laughter to avoid blowing my cover. Now, I don’t know if my “Irish local” identity saved us any euros, but they cabbie did tell us exactly why we took that route, so I like to think it helped.

Maggie left today around 5 am and I was so glad that she could spend time with us in Ireland. It was a comfort to have someone familiar here and to show her around our city. She is such a fun girl and I wish she was going to be in Paris when we are visiting, but if she wants to come back to Dublin my couch is always open.

Frat Brothers and Guinness

Look who showed up on my doorstep:

Maggie, me, Brittany-Dsigs take over Dublin!

It's my friend and frat brother Maggie Stremel, just in from Paris, France! She came in for the weekend and is currently sleeping on a couch I dragged into my room because we had a busy day.

She arrived around noon and Brittany and I headed into the city centre with her and her friend Anna to get the full Dublin experience. We took her on the scenic tour, lead by Brittany, that included walking through St. Stephen's Green, Graffton Street, and along the River Liffey. We ended up eating lunch at an authentic Irish restaurant called The Quays (pronounced "keys") in the Temple Bar area. I had the burger along with Brittany, while Maggie and her friend Anna had the beef and Guinness pie (always an Irish favorite.) Stevie had a cajun chicken caesar salad and her friend Alyscia had a panini. As you can tell remembering meals is very important to me. And each of our meals was only 10 euro and was really filling, something us poor college tourists are looking for.

After lunch we headed over to the Guinness Storehouse, a completely touristy thing that we had not done since being in Dublin and we wanted to share it with Maggie and our other guests. If there is one thing that the Irish are more proud of than their writers and St. Patrick it is Guinness. (They are also really proud that the Titanic was built in Belfast; at least it didn't sink due to shoddy workmanship.)It was a good exhibit and most certainly something that you have to do while in Dublin. The stout is no longer made in the storehouse, but they have a multimedia exhibit showing how it was done. You also get to taste 7-10 day old Guinness, which is as fresh as it comes. I thought it was very bitter, but then again the most beer I've ever had is equivalent to about three tablespoons. After the tour you reach the Gravity Bar on the top level which has great panoramic views of the city.

Roasted barley. It tasted a lot like Guinness.

Brittany and Maggie sampling very fresh Guinness Stout

Various Guinness bottles

Guinness Ads

It's got a blonde head just like me!

We went back to my place, the apartment that everyone seems to congregate in, and talked until dinnertime, and then dinnertime was nothing special; we just went to the Centra and got a few things and each made our own dinner. Afterwards Maggie, Brittany, Anna, and I went downtown to hit up some of the bars in the Temple Bar area. We ended up sitting on an outside heated patio at Fitzsimons for a while then headed over to the Porterhouse briefly for about ten minutes of live music. Everyone was super tired, especially Maggie who had been up since 5 am, and we have a big day in Kilkenny tomorrow, so we headed back to Roebuck Hall and now I sit writing this as Maggie drifts to sleep on the couch I stole from my common room.

Karaoke Update

I'm sure you're panting with anticipation with what I sang for karaoke. Brittany and I did duets of both "I Will Survive" and "Oops, I Did It Again." We chose "I Will Survive" and we did such a great job that the DJ put on some Britney for us.

We took a taxi back from the Wicked Wolf and remained in the car about twenty minutes after arriving at Roebuck Hall because the Iraqi taxi driver would not stop talking about how much he loved George Bush. He was talking about religion and George H. W. Bush and Hussein and how everything is not perfect in Iraq, but at least they have a democracy. He also said that he was a descendant of Muhammed, and we asked if that was a big deal, and he said "Well look at me. I'm driving an Irish taxi." He is the rebel of the family because he drinks and is not religious. He also studied robotics (I think that's what he said) POLITICS (which make a lot more sense than robotics) at UCD and helped the Americans in Iraq and was on TV. As you can see this was a very in depth conversation. If he celebrated Christmas I would be on his Christmas card list.

After talking with our friend we attempted to find some pizza, but places close early here and we were unable to locate any. Instead I ate grapes and cheese.

"One Short Day"

One of the double decker buses I take everywhere

Today I had to go into the city centre. I didn't have anything I needed to do there, but I just had to go downtown. I needed to be independent, somewhat courageous, and, as they say in the song, “everything’s great when you’re downtown.” So I got out my 1.80 euro, put on Wicked (after all, Dublin is my Emerald City), and began my journey.


While downtown I wanted to go see the relics of St. Valentine (who would have guessed they were in Dublin?) at the Whitefriar St. Carmelite Church so that was my first destination. I got there and looked around for about ten minutes before mass started. I did not take into consideration that they might have mass at 1 o’clock on a Thursday but they did. I didn’t think it would be appropriate for me to continue looking around/taking pictures during mass and I couldn’t locate the relics, so I might have to finish that adventure some other day.

Afterwards I went to the grocery and got some hamburgers for dinner as well as enough groceries to last me a week. Things went well and then I headed to the bus stop to go back to campus. And on this whole trip I only looked at a map twice! Once on the bus going there and once on my way to the bus stop to go home to make sure I was going the right way (and I was). I am becoming quite the Dublin local.

Here is what I bought so my mother knows:

• grapes
• sandwich stuff
• soup
• tea
• chicken nuggets
• milk
• yogurt
• ramen noodles
• crackers (for peanut butter, although I have been eating the peanut butter right out of the jar)

Brittany came over for burgers and green beans and we booked our hostel for London next weekend. Tonight I’m probably singing karaoke at The Wicked Wolf, so I’ll let you know how that goes ("Lady Marmalade" is my specialty.) Maggie Stremel is also coming tomorrow for the weekend and I am looking forward to seeing her so much!

Student Pub

I just got back from the student pub at UCD. Yes, there is a pub on campus that is run by the school located next to the business building. I went there with Brittany, Stevie, and Stevie’s roommate Annemarie, who is from Ireland. There are a lot of Americans and other non-Irish in my dorm and I was excited to chat it up with Annemarie.

It was just a chill night listening to the Beatles cover band, who called themselves "The Classic Beatles." And when I say cover band they pretended it was 1967 and referred to themselves as John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They also wore wigs and various costumes, including the Sgt. Peppers jackets. I considered asking if Yoko was backstage but I thought it might be a touchy subject. It was a nice atmosphere and Brittany and I talked about our upcoming trip to London, Dsigs, and scoped out good-looking guys, which was fruitless.

I can call landlines with my skype although the connection is often very bad during high traffic times. I just called home to talk with my family and my dad told me to call back around 8 CST. We’ll see if I’m up at 2 am…

Three Things About My Laundry

After over three weeks in Ireland the time came to do laundry. I don’t have a lot to say, only: 

1. I used my small rolling suitcase as a hamper/laundry basket. I could just put my clothes in there and when it was time to wash wheel it over to the launderette. I thought this was pretty clever. 

2. I cannot figure out if I am using detergent or fabric softener. It says it conditioner, so I might have bought softener by mistake. Oops. And I don’t really like how it smells.

3. I wanted to air dry some of my clothes including all my underwear. I had three weeks worth of panties hanging on everything. During the day this girl came to the door and couldn’t find the person she was looking for. She asked if she could use my phone and I invited her into my room before realizing it looked like a Victoria’s Secret store exploded.

Cork and Blarney-Day 2

Breakfast at the Meadowbank

Day 2 began in the cutest bed and breakfast- The Meadowbank. We had a full Irish breakfast, which includes toast, cereals, sausage, eyes, bacon (which is like salty ham here), and a tomato. I also had tea and orange juice. This has definitely been the biggest breakfast I’ve eaten since I got here and was perfect fuel for the day. And I love Carol and maybe I will make it back to the Meadowbank someday.


We wanted to take a little walk around the town, but the town was so little the walk was very short. We really wanted to go walk around the grounds of Blarney Castle but it cost eight euro to get in, and we are poor. Jen is our designated local-talker so she decided to try the poor student card on the woman running admissions. Jen just let her know that we had only been on the grounds about an hour yesterday and wanted to see more and because the Irish are a benevolent people she let us in. It was still early and frost was blanketing the emerald ground and it was just gorgeous. We took about an hour long hike and it was just the perfect thing to do that morning.

Blarney in the morning frost

I encountered a horse who I named Buttercup. He, however, would not eat Brittany's apple.

Everything is so green

I'm very tiny compared to the castle

After a hike we headed over to Blarney Woolen Mills, which is a large store in Blarney. We browsed around there for a little while and then took the bus back into Cork. We planned on walking around there a little but lunch took longer than we thought. We stopped in a little café and had sandwiches, which is about what we eat every day. Afterwards we caught the bus back to Dublin and arrived in the city 3.5 hours later.

For having nothing planned except kissing the Blarney Stone planned the weekend turned out picture perfect. And since I have plenty of people coming to visit me I have a feeling this won’t be my last pilgrimage to Blarney.