Being on cooking crew is more time consuming than I had expected, but it is so much more fun. For lunch today we only made sandwiches and salad, but everyone liked it. For dinner we made pizza. We thought it was going to be a catastrophe because the dough was not wanting to rise (because we may or may not have killed the yeast on accident), but it turned out fine. Everyone loved it, and there were absolutely no leftovers of our 5 huge sheets of pizza.

Working Mama Bear’s taught me at least one very worthwhile skill: how to wash dishes efficiently. We had the dishes clean and sanitized and dried and put away in record time. After which, we made pasta salad and cookie dough for dinner tomorrow night. I was in charge of the cookie dough, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever made (perhaps not because we haven’t baked it yet):


Brown Sugar Cookies
2 cups of brown sugar
2 cups of butter
2 large eggs
6 cups of flour
1 tbsp of vanilla
2 ½ tsp of ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Bake cookies at 375 for 6 to 8 minutes.


Tonight I was able to Skype with people, which was great. I also downloaded music from iTunes because I was absolutely dying without music. It’s funny how I had to pre-order the U2 album on the iTunes store, but I could buy the actual CD here in Ireland and already have it. So I’ll have to wait for that CD until it is released in the States on Tuesday.

We had our final exam for Celtic Christianity today. After our papers that are due tomorrow, we’re practically home free for the next week and a half when it comes to day-long classes.

Before leaving the hotel at quarter past 9, we had breakfast. The restaurant had nice breakfasts like a full Irish breakfast or French toast, but I settled for cereal and yogurt. When it was time to go, Brian came into the lobby and commented on how he couldn’t park the bus outside for very long. One of the boys said, “Is this a subtle hint for us to start boarding?” Brian looks at him with all seriousness and said, “No, this is me telling you to hurry the bloody hell up and get on the bus.” We all laughed and got moving.

Our first stop was Cahir Castle, and the first stop at the castle? The restrooms, which were located actually in the castle. This led to a stream of comments in the girls’ restroom: “We’re peeing in a castle!” “I’m on a throne!” After the bathroom break, a few of us paused for a quick photo shoot with the portcullis before meeting up with the rest of the group for the tour.

After the tour, we had a chance to explore on our own…and climb up the narrow, unprotected stairs. One misstep and you’d be falling from the castle wall to the green courtyard below. In America, there would be signs everywhere telling you to keep off this and not to climb that because otherwise stupid Americans would be falling and suing out the wazoo. In Ireland, however, you can climb wherever, it’s just at your own risk. We had too much fun taking pictures and exploring.

The next stop was the Rock of Cashel. We expected another fun castle to play around in, but the Rock of Cashel is the ruins of a cathedral not a castle. We don’t get very excited about cathedrals anymore, so once our guided tour ended, Dr. Harbin, Elise, Matt, Aric, and I descended the hill and went to the ruins of an old abbey that we saw from the top of the hill. We jumped a stone fence and crossed a muddy, uneven field to get to the ruins. Sure we’ve also had our fill of abbeys, but this one was different because it was unmanned. This means no rules…climb wherever you please. The boys loved this...

Our last stop was Holy Cross Abbey, which was more of a pit stop than anything else. We walked around the building, saw its piece of the True Cross, and left. We had a late lunch at McDonald’s (I know, very Irish) before heading back to Greystones.

“Kilkenny—a glimpse at medieval Ireland…or in other words, Ireland 9 years ago.” – Monty, Pastor at Greystones Presbyterian Church

Driving through the Irish countryside is hard to describe in words and to do the varying landscape justice. We left Greystones at half eight going south to Kilkenny. As we crossed the Wicklow Mountains, the sun silhouetted the “peaks” to our left. The pass between the mountains brought us to boulder-ridden hills that look like there were straight out of the Lord of the Rings. According to our bus driver Brian, part of the film (pronounced fil-um) King Arthur was filmed there. Soon the hills became the picturesque green pastures with grazing sheep and divided by hedges and stone fences. A cloud of light mist gave this third scene a mysterious glow in the sunlight.

Our first stop was Jerpoint Abbey. We were all so ready to get off the bus after our nice naps (by nice, I mean absolutely horrible because we all got motion sickness to some degree, and I never get motion sick). Our tour guide was more than knowledgeable when it came to the abbey. Having been trapped on a bus for so long, however, it was very hard for most of us to pay attention because our minds were already doing the independent exploration we so desperately wanted. Being a biology major, the only thing I caught on the tour was her reference to the abbey as the nucleus of the surrounding countryside. All the other details kind of went in one ear and out the other as the tour seemed to never end. (Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, I bought a visitor’s guide for future reference on all things Jerpoint Abbey related.)

The pictures I took could not capture the wonderful smells of the countryside. It smelled absolutely foul, and there was no escape from the putrid stench of something that was far worse than your average manure. Despite the smell, the day was gorgeous, and once we were free from the tour we were able to explore and take pictures.

Well over an hour and a half later, we boarded the bus only to be roasted alive the rest of the way to Kilkenny. When we arrived in Kilkenny, we went to St. Canice’s Cathedral. We had a short tour (which was fantastic after the previous one), and then we climber the high tower.

It’s a little nerve-racking going up one ladder after another to reach the top. As you get closer to the top, the dust that coats the tops of each step becomes more scattered with pigeon poo. (Needless to say, we all scrubbed our hands when we got back down.) The view from the top of the tower was nothing spectacular, and having 10 people crowded around a place that is about 7 feet in diameter was nothing to write a memoir on. The adrenaline rush of the trip up was luckily not repeated in the descent, but the bird poo was still there.

Finally by 4:20 we checked into the Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel and were free to explore on our own. I walked around the quaint city streets, popping into the cute shops. I bought a couple of books and CDs (yeah, not very Irish souvenirs, I know). Then I went into a little hole-in-the-wall gift shop full of little Irish shirts and trinkets. I was the only person in the store, so I struck up a conversation with the owner—a nice elderly Irishman. (More so, I said hello and my American accent gave me away.) He was so nice and showed me on a map where Braveheart had been filmed in Wicklow County. I told him about the Irish Studies Program (people are always so interested in this and desire a full explanation) and how I was liking Ireland thus far. He also told me what pubs were good and what types of music they would have tonight.

We went to dinner at a restaurant that was incredibly delicious. I got breaded chicken with salad and chips. We all got desserts, of course. It was hard to bypass the chocolate desserts, but the apple tart with vanilla ice cream sounded so great. It was delectable.

After dinner, Aric and I walked around and met up with Emily, Heidi, and Kirstin at Ryan’s, one of the pubs the Irishman had recommended. The music was okay but nothing special. (I still need to go to a pub with authentic Irish music.)

We’ve had class with Dr. Harbin all week for Historic Celtic Christianity. Class 9 to 10:30, Break for coffee, Class 11 to 12:30, Lunch at 1, Class 2 to 4. What a grand daily routine. Tomorrow we’re leaving for a weekend trip south to Kilkenny, and we are all more than ready to be out of the classroom and on the road.

For church this morning, I went to Hillside. I definitely think I will be going there from here on out. I really enjoyed it. Eric played guitar and Kirstin sang with the praise band because had gone to Hillside last week. Before the service started, Chris noticed that the band had a drum set, but no drummer. He went up to the lead singer/guitarist and told him that he could play drums for the service next week. Julian, the leader, told Chris to come up and play for this service. So Chris played the drums. The message was also good.

After lunch, a few of us went to a pub in Greystones to watch the Ireland v Italy rugby match. All of the boys have their O2 Ireland jerseys on, sporting the green and white. Ireland killed Italy, of course, 38 to 9. I am very impressed with the sport, but having no idea what the rules are or even what the real goal of the game is, I am still quite confused. It’s like a combination of American football, soccer, and hockey. I’m very intrigued.

This morning Jordan and I went into Dun Laoghaire to go shopping. After a long bus ride to be able to catch the DART (as usual), we were more than ready to walk around and explore the city. We were planning on making it back by one, but we decided to aim for 2:30 since the traveling bit takes so long.

Tonight we had our pick-a-date for Valentine’s Day. We went to Diva Restaurant down the road for dinner at 4:30. Around 6:30 we had a bus pick us up to drive us downtown to the National Concert Hall. When we got to the concert hall, we were told the location of our seats: in the choir seats behind the orchestra. In other words, everyone in the audience could see us. (Then again, we could see all of them, which was great for people watching.)

^ This is a picture of the program. ^

^ Eric and Ben loved the concert. ^

The concert was so much better than I expected. I knew it was love songs by the likes of Frank Sinatra and the swing era, but I did not think there would be singing along with the songs. This was a pleasant surprise, and the guy who sang had a great voice for the type of music. I now want to buy a Frank Sinatra CD because I can’t get “Come fly with me. Let’s fly, let’s fly away” out of my head.

After the concert, we came back to Greystones, then Elise, Matt, Ben, Andrew, Jared, and I went to the Joker’s to get some chips (in American, that’d be fries). We walked along the coast, listening to the waves of the Irish Sea crash on the beach in the darkness.

Today we had our midterm for Celtic Christianity over A Faith for All Seasons. It was a lot easier than I was expecting, which was nice considering it was an essay test.

Jordan, Elise, Caitlin, and I went into Bray. While they went to a coffee shop to read, journal, and write letters, I walked around to explore the streets right around the coffee shop. We made it back to the house just in time for dinner.

This morning we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a Eucharist service at 11:05. Afterwards we had a tour of the Cathedral. I didn’t know this church had so much history going from Protestant to Catholic to Protestant, depending on the governing power.

We also went to Marsh’s Library, which is still a working library with 4 collections of books that date before the 17th century on every subject from medicine to history to the East to mathematics to witchcraft to law. I would have enjoyed seeing it more if I weren’t already a little bit tired. The smell of old books is very calming, and had I sat down, I would have been out.

Getting up early on a Tuesday morning was not the most pleasant thing in the world, but our site visit today was totally worth it. We went to Glendalough, which is about an hour away from Greystones. The only bad thing about the trip is that we were literally walking on ice. Because Glendalough is located in the mountains, there was still snow, and it was going nowhere fast. The snow on the main paths around the site had been packed down so much that it was just pure ice. The only way around the site was by either skating in hiking boots on the uneven ice or jumping across the paths to stay in the snow and holding on to the old gravestones for dear life.

After exploring the site, we went on a hike. I don’t know if I would actually qualify it as a “hike” because the path was at least 5-ft wide. Most of the path was fairly clear of ice, which was nice especially considering there was a fairly steep drop off on one side.

A few of us turned back mid-way through because we were absolutely frozen and the bottoms of our jeans were soaked. We went back to the hotel and drank tea. It was a very relaxing day overall.

(One thing about the video... the titles at the end decided they wanted to malfunction and cut of the last letter of the last words. I couldn't figure out how to fix it.)

Music is blaring from the kitchen where Colin, Heidi, and Tot are baking chocolate chip cookies (with broken up chocolate bars because the Irish apparently don’t believe in chocolate chips). Today we had our first “class.” It wasn’t too bad; I’m still not in the school mindset, thought. This afternoon Elise and I went to a coffee shop in Greystones called Nosh Coffee. We studied for a couple of hours.

Tonight our site group (Aric, Mary, Alix, Ben, and me) met to write our paper on Newgrange. The requirement for a site paper is as follows:
1) History of the site
2) Historical significance – How does it answer the question: Who were the Irish?
3) Significance for modern Ireland – What does it mean to the Irish today?
4) Personal (collectively as a group) reaction to the site (thoughts, etc.)

Needless to say that we took the liberty of adding a little bit of humor to our paper for Vance Maloney, who has probably read hundreds of student papers on the site. This is a sample of our paper on the significance for modern Ireland:

For modern Irish culture, Newgrange and its builders are significant because it shows how long people have inhabited the island of Ireland. The passage graves of the Boyne valley symbolize the timelessness of the Irish culture. Newgrange itself says “Wassup, wassup!?!” to the Irish people, a calling for them to remember their Neolithic heritage. This reverberates off the burial mounds in the valley. The significance of Newgrange has been best explained by one anonymous Irish teen: “Newgrange represents how Ireland used to be, but no one goes to worship there anymore.” The student went on to say that Newgrange had important implications to the pride of the Irish. The site is a major tourist attraction, and the triple-spiral has become a recognizable symbol of Ireland here and abroad.

Back at home in Indiana, waking up to snow is not unusual. I’m sick of the winter, so I probably would hate the sight of snow even if it were to be expected. Waking up to a snow-dusted Ireland this morning was a quite unpleasant surprise. I thought the irregularity of snow in Ireland would be a one or two day exception every twenty years or so, but I guess I was wrong. The sight of snow was also unwanted in the fact that we have to walk to church. This coupled with the fact that I was tired, I honestly contemplated the old standby of Bedside Baptist. I was already out of my warm toasty bed, so I decided to go to church. I went with a few people to Greystones Community Church. We walked through the slush—that had nothing on the nastiness that we have back home—up to the main street.

I found it mildly ironic that the church was located in the same place as the concert I went to on Friday night. I don’t think I’ve ever been to church in a place where the bar was ten feet away and within eyesight. Actually, I know I never have been. Once I got past that first impression of the church’s local, I loved the service. Because of the snow, Ireland practically shuts down. This meant that the normal pastor wasn’t able to make it in. The music was great, and, given he had a few hours notice, the assistant pastor (not sure on his actual position in the church) had a good message over Psalm 13.

The afternoon finally felt like a normal Sunday afternoon. Many of the girls took long naps after lunch, and some of the guys went into Greystones to one of the coffee shops. I sat in the Coffee Room and read. I finished my book There’s No Place Like Here (which is a very strange read. It’s by the author of P.S. I Love You, which was a really good novel.) I started on a paper we have to write by Friday and read a little bit of the book that our Friday midterm is over.

Dinner was an Italian olive oil pasta, chicken, and bruchetta. For dessert tonight we had an amazing apple crisp. After eating, some of us girls—and the couple boys we roped in—watched two episodes of the 7th season of Gilmore Girls. I’d never watched it before, and I have to say that I have a headache from such a high-paced show. I enjoyed it, but I think I’ll stick to Lost, CSI:, House, and Grey’s Anatomy.

We started small groups tonight. We just met and found out who was in our groups. There are four small groups total—two girl groups and two guy groups. I think it will be good. (Except for the fact that the guys decided to start late and therefore decided to kick us girls out of the Coffee Room, so we couldn’t use the computers with Internet.)

Now sitting sipping spiced chai tea, I’m getting a little sleepy. I should probably finish reading A Faith for All Seasons, but I know that once I start reading it, I’ll be out. Maybe I’ll go see if they’re going to start a movie up soon.

There is still snow on the ground in Dublin. According to Brian, our bus driver, they haven’t had this much snow in twenty years. They’ll usually get a dusting of snow a few times each winter, but it melts by noon. This snow, however, isn’t going anywhere. Of course, it’s nothing like the snow at home. If you tried to scrape a snow ball together here, you wouldn’t be able to without it having bits of grass and mud in it. I would say Ireland looks pretty with a soft coat of snow, but I am so sick of the cold that snow looks absolutely appalling.



Today was our first day of site visits. We loaded onto our bus around 10 this morning and drove north of Dublin to Monasterboice. It was founded by St. Buite who died in A.D. 512. The oldest monuments on the site are the three high crosses and the round tower, which all date from the 10th century. The round tower was built by the Irish in response to the Norse raids on monasteries during the 10th and 11th centuries. It served as a watchtower, belfry, repositories for church valuables, and as refuge for the community. The two churches on the site were probably built at the end of the 14th century. The high crosses may have been used to tell the stories of the Bible to the congregation. Muiredach’s Cross is one of the most perfect in Ireland. Below is an illustration of the stories depicted on the cross.



The next stop was Mellifont Abbey. It was the first Cistercian abbey to be founded in Ireland in 1142 on the banks of the River Mattock. The abbey was closed in 1539 when it was turned into a fortified house. William of Orange used Mellifont as his headquarters during the Battle of the Boyne in the late 17th century.

The third and final stop was at Newgrange in Brú na Bóinne (Boyne River Valley). Newgrange is the best known Irish passage tomb. It was built around 3200 B.C. It was excavated between 1962 and 1975 by Professor M. J. O’Kelly and has since been restored. At the winter solstice (21 December), the rising sun illuminates the inside of the burial chamber as shown below.


We made it back to Greystones in time for dinner. Around half eight, we went to a theatre in Greystones for a concert. One of the members of the band The Raglans works at the house on the kitchen staff. The Raglans are off to London at the end of next week for a record deal. If you’d like to check them out, their website is: http://www.theraglans.com/.

Murphy’s Law states, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Tell me why this has to apply now that I’m in Ireland. For the second morning in a row, Elise and my alarm has not gone off. (Not only ours, but also Heidi, Tot, and Jordan’s room has had the same problem.) Considering we were supposed to be ready to leave by 9:15, waking up at 9:05 is not the best idea ever. On top of the fact that we were rushed by the simple fact of our faulty alarm clock, a rock slide had blocked the Dart tracks between Greystones and Bray. This meant we had to catch a bus to Bray and then catch the Dart there into Dublin. Luckily, everything went fine once we left the house.

When we arrived in Dublin, we went to Trinity College to get our Irish student IDs. Then we went back to the DART station to get our DART passes for the month of February. Finally, it was time to start the activity of the day: a scavenger hunt. We split into our assigned groups. Of course, being college students, the scavenger hunt was soon abandoned and my group and another group joined together and just explored the city at our own accord. We stopped at Penny’s (which if you don’t know what that is, you can get fake Ugg Boots there for around 8 euros) then sat down at Bewley’s on Grafton Street for coffee. I was good and didn’t buy anything today. Actually, I don’t think any of the girls bought anything today. The guys on the other hand… a few of them have this idea in their heads that they are going to become “European.” So they bought new coats, hats, and scarves today. As long as they avoid wearing cardigans (which guys do wear over here), I couldn’t care less.

Tonight we watched P.S. I Love You on the TV in the Red Room at the house. Watching that movie is depressing. First of all, as Karin puts it, they took the only two good-looking men in Ireland and stuck them in that movie; and second, Ireland is not that sunny! Yes, it’s green, but we have yet to have the blue skies and sunshine.

I went to the Presbyterian church down the street this morning with most of the other students in the program. It’s funny how sixteen of us was about a fifth of their entire congregation. The churches are small here. Tonight we watched the Super Bowl. It started at 11 o’clock, so we did not get to bed until late.