St. Patrick's Day and Alana/Aaron

Hi everyone (if anyone is still reading this... haha)

So I figured I'd recap St. Patrick's Day in Ireland and my friend Alana visiting with her boyfriend, Aaron. Both events were pretty epic and I've decided I need a solid week of sleep and detoxification before I can even think about sleeping less than 8 hours a night or drinking again.

So for St. Patrick's Day, my friend Kiel was in town. Kiel was originally my year at ND but is aiming to become the world's first quintuple Domer. So, for non-ND readers, the term "double Domer" is frequently used to mean someone who got more than one degree at Notre Dame. A bachelor's and a master's, bachelor's and a JD, whatever. Kiel discovered that although there have been many double Domers and a reasonable amount of triple Domers (I'm thinking probably bachelor's/JD/MBA or something along those lines) there have been only four quadruple Domers and NO quintuples. So this is his goal now. He has two bachelor's (one bachelor's of science and one of arts) and is currently working on his first master's. After this, he's thinking another master's, followed by an MBA. See, here's the thing. He's completely not kidding about any of this. This is actually his life goal. It's not like, "Ha! You know what would be funny? If I got five degrees from Notre Dame." No, it's like, "I AM GOING TO GET FIVE DEGREES FROM NOTRE DAME, END OF STORY."

So anyway, for this master's (something to do with engineering... I was totally paying attention) ND flew his entire program over to Ireland for spring break. Apparently the program is funded by one of the wealthiest families in Ireland, the Naughton family or some nonsense. So over they came, and it coincided with St. Patrick's Day, which was awesome. He was in Dublin, so I went into the city to hang out with him. Here are the things I did (for FREE... the instant I arrived, I got swept up into the Notre Dame "we have more money than GOD bubble" and I didn't have to pay for anything):

1) We stayed at the Merrion, the nicest hotel in Dublin. (http://www.merrionhotel.com/) It is the kind of place where, when you order two coffees in the morning, it costs you 40 euro. How do we know this? Well, we may have accidentally done it. But then ND reimbursed us, so no harm, no foul.

2) Kiel got us: free tickets in a grandstand to the SPD parade, free tickets in a box to the All-Ireland hurling and GAA championships, and free tickets to a Jameson's-sponsored party in the Lord Mayor's house.

3) Everything we ate, Notre Dame comped. Everything we drank, Notre Dame comped. Basically I spent no money once I got off the bus.

4) I got to hang out with Domers and just talk about Notre Dame. It was awesome. Oh yeah, and I got to see Kiel. Minor detail, ha.

So when he left, I stayed in Dublin on Friday night because my old roommate from NYC, Alana, was coming in on Saturday morning. I needed somewhere to just sit and study on Friday, so I showed up at the Notre Dame Center in Dublin. I basically just showed up and was like, "yo. I'm an alum. I live in Galway but need a place to chill in Dublin for the day," and the receptionist was like, "of course, honey, this happens all the time." Seriously, Notre Dame. Also the Notre Dame Center is in Daniel O'Connell's old house. How do we do this nonsense? It is absurd and I LOVE it.

So Saturday Alana showed up with Aaron! It was so incredibly wonderful. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Dublin and then they were in Galway from Mon-Thurs. We just had really good times. I sent them out to the Connemara and the Cliffs of Moher on the days I had classes, but when I didn't have class we hung out and cooked and ate and drank and I showed them around Galway and took them to my favorite places and it was really, really fun. I can't think of anything in particular that was especially amazing, but it was just so good to have friends around and to get to show off my new city. I never love Galway as much as when I'm showing it off to someone who has never been. (HINT TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T VISITED ME YET)

So they left this morning and that was sad. But I have Kyle Barrettsmith and Australia coming up! Life is still pretty sweet.

Katy and Tara Visit Part 2

And so on to Dublin.

I am typing this in the Dublin airport after Katy and Tara left me to go back to America. I am being brave and strong, I swear. I'm killing some time before my flight leaves for Berlin and so am updating this because realistically, what else am I really going to do?

So we arrived in Dublin midday on New Years Eve. All the stars oddly aligned for us. We got the early bus that we wanted to get, we managed to get dinner reservations the day of NYE, and we got tickets to a nightclub, also day-of (much more on this later). On our way to dinner (this is not a stars-aligning story, this is a "this is weird" story) we were stopped by a man on the street who asked us if we smoked. When we said no, we thought he'd just let us go, like he was looking for a lighter or something. However, then this exchange occurred:

man: ah, from the States, huh? Whereabouts?
(we all tell him. He seems confused.)
man: How do you all know each other?
us: we went to college together.
man: ah! Where?
(at this point we're starting to think this is a little too personal, but we also didn't really know how to end the conversation. So we kept going.)
us: Notre Dame.
man: Oh! Indiana!
us: ...yes.
man: What did you study?

This was becoming not only oddly personal, but we were going to miss our dinner reservation. So I turned to Katy and said, "Do you remember the name of the restaurant?" in hopes of dropping a hint.

man: Oh, don't worry. I mean no harm. What did you all study?
me: English.
Katy: political science
Tara: pre-medicine.
man (to Tara): Now, you have a quite exotic look to you. How did that happen?

My jaw actually dropped at this point. I mean... really?

Tara: both my parents were born in India.
man: Wow. I really don't know what to say about that.

Okay, two things here. One, you probably don't need to say anything because it's not any of your business and also you shouldn't have even asked in the first place. Two, what in God's name were you expecting her to say? "Oh, my parents are blond Germans?" No. I mean, use your head. Come on.

Anyway. We finally broke free of him and had a really delicious dinner - if you are ever in Dublin and craving Italian, we would all three highly recommend Il Baccaro - and headed off to our nightclub.

Oh. My. God.

Club M.

There is no way to completely explain this nightclub. We all agreed it was never going to translate - you totally had to be there. The best way we can explain it - and this is not doing the hilariousness of the situation justice - is that it was sort of like Club Fever (MICHIANA'S HOTTEST DANCECLUB!) transported to Dublin. But that doesn't really capture Club M. It was... hilariously awful. It was dark and there were smoke machines and we kept running into these same three girls from County Meath and it was the kind of place the stars of The Jersey Shore might frequent... I honestly cannot explain it. At some point we decided to just embrace how bad the club was and we ended up having a riot, mostly because we were laughing at the place. But... if you're ever in Dublin, it is TOTALLY an experience.

We left Club M basically at midnight because after the New Year struck, we lost any mild interest we may have had in being there. We went to the Mint Bar, which was in the basement of our hotel and is actually my new favorite place. We met these three Americans who were lovely (sidebar: I've actually decided that I really like some - key word SOME - Americans abroad because if you meet the right kind they aren't obnoxious jerks and you can bond over your shared Americanness) and we hung out in the Mint Bar until it closed. Then Katy said probably the most clever thing she has ever said. We got back to our room and she was gchatting with someone back in America - I want to say it was roughly 10:30 where this person was - and he said something like, "I wonder what 2011 will be like." Katy's response? "Well, speaking as someone from the future, I can tell you that it's a lot like 2010." It was hilarious.

New Years Day was devoted to some sightseeing. We went to Dublin Castle, tried to go to Kilmainham Jail, walked around the city, etc. We also went to the Guinness Storehouse which was borderline the most intense experience any of us have ever had. First of all, it was awesome, but all these overwhelming things kept happening. We were accosted by a jester on the way in who made us drink fake rubber Guinness with him and then made us take a picture. I know that's a really weird sentence, but it's actually the only way to explain what happened. Tara has pictures of it I trust she will put on facebook.

So now into the factory. The first thing you do in the factory is have this orientation on the ground floor. This really cheerful and upbeat woman named Liz gave us ours, and at one point she said something like, "and on the 5th floor, we have a quiz where you can see how much you know about how your body reacts to alcohol." I thought she was going to keep talking, so I said to Katy and Tara, "ha. Mine reacts negatively." However, Liz did NOT keep talking, so I said this out loud into silence to this large tour group. After orientation, you are turned loose into a self-guided tour of the factory. Liz showed up on every floor that we were on, and every single time, she changed her shirt. It was totally weird. Each time, it was this striped polo that said, "STAFF," on the back, but each floor she was wearing a different color. At one point, Katy remarked how comforting this was that her shirt was marked, "STAFF," because it made her feel like she was at summer camp and would be able to locate a staff member in case she was ever lost or afraid. Which, to be honest, sort of happened a lot. The Guinness factory is totally overwhelming, but in a really good way. Definitely go - it's just huge sensory overload and a lot is constantly going on at once.

That night we went out with my roommate Siobhan (she goes to NUIG with me but is originally from Dublin and was home for the holidays) and she showed us this really cool unnamed bar that is trying really hard and really consciously to be super hip but was still really fun. The next day we did some more cultural sightseeing stuff and ended our trip with a lovely extended session in a pub. I am now in the airport waiting for my flight and they have left and I am really sad. It was the best week ever. I am so lucky to have such incredible friends.

I'm also really glad I'm going to Germany because I think if I had to go to Galway right now I'd be depressed out of my mind. I'm glad I'm going somewhere and doing something. (FYI I'm going to Berlin, to visit my cousin Jay in Heidelberg, then onto Munich and Prague). I start classes on the 17th.

Honestly, also, now that Katy and Tara have come, I feel like I want visitors constantly. Alana (NYC roommate) is coming, my friend Kyle is coming, and my friend Kiel is coming, but if you are not one of those three people, please book your flight ASAP. K thanks.

Ramblings about Dublin

I've realized I don't update this very often, and I'm sorry for that. It's just that no one wants to read a blog that consists of, "Today, I woke up and I ate breakfast. Then, I went to class. After that, I ate dinner. Then I read, then I went out for some pints, and now I am home updating this blog." And let's be realistic, that is pretty much what the vast, vast majority of my days consist of.

But I actually had a lovely little jaunt this weekend. I spent a day in Dublin! It was really nice to get out of Galway, only if for 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, Galway is great and I love it, but it is TINY. For people from home, it's approx the size of the Illinois side of the QC. Yeahhhh. For people who AREN'T from home, think of stories I've told you about my hometown, then divide that in half. Except the people are friendlier and there's more shops and restaurants and it's about 1,000x prettier than Moline/Rock Island. I sense I'm getting sidetracked here, so let's reorient.

POINT BEING I went to Dublin on Monday (which is still technically my weekend as I don't have class). My friend Erica, who was two years behind me at ND, was over for fall break. We sat in a pub and relived Scholastic and laughed over the ridiculous things our fellow staffers used to do and talked a LOT about BOB FRANKEN. (Scholastic was the
magazine I worked for/lived at in college, and BOB was our adviser. He had the best talk about libel and slander you could ever hope to hear. EVER.) Obviously, there was much talk of circuses and Britney Spears and getting the staff to respect us and meeting Captain Morgan. I mean, obviously.

So anyway, I also got the opportunity to explore Dublin a little bit. I've been there... twice now? But both times with my parents. (Who, by the way, read this, and I want to make clear my parents are fantastic human beings and I love them very much and clearly they are wonderful people to explore a major world city with.) Actually, maybe I've been there three times? REGARDLESS now that I had the chance to kinda do my own thing there I loved it! What a great city! I was almost getting angsty that I decided on studying in Galway instead of at Trinity or UCD, but then I reminded myself a) the program I wanted was at Galway and b) after a year in New York and six months in London (yes, this was a long time ago, and no, my bank account has not recovered), my finances (or lack thereof) legitimately could not handle the strain of another cosmopolitan world capital. I also discovered this exists. YES! I've already decided Katy and Tara and I will be going to this museum while they are here for New Years, so expect to see a lot of new obnoxious/potentially mildly offensive facebook pictures of us imitating the ND leprechaun outside the front doors of said museum. The pictures will probably look a little something like this:

(That's my house in college, and yes, one of the guys who lived there before us painted the leprechaun on the wall upstairs. When we first moved in, the landlord offered to paint it over for us, and we were like CLEARLY YOU ARE INSANE AND CLEARLY THIS IS SOMETHING WE WANT TO KEEP ON OUR WALL. That probably should have been a warning bell that our landlord was a nutjob, but no, that's a lesson we had to learn painfully. And slowly. And brutally. Also, this pose was Tara Brito's idea and from her facebook album, so credit goes to her. Sorry for pilfering. Sorry for partying.)

So the takeaway from that extended little ramble about my day in Dublin can be summed up as follows:

1) I went to Dublin.
2a) If you put any two ND alums in an enclosed area they will inevitably end up drinking and then talking about Notre Dame too much (Erica is not an alum yet, but this works for the purposes of this list).
2b) I miss Notre Dame and Scholastic.
3) I want to go to the Leprechaun Museum.
4) My house in college had a leprechaun in the upstairs.

That's the basic distillation of my main points, I think.

Go Irish (the ND kind),

Molly