SNOW!

It SNOWED last night! Really! Gorgeous flakes of snow sailing out of the sky and coating cars, bushes, and phone boxes. Rania, Laura, Dana and I walked home together and couldn't have been more excited. Even the slush in my shoes (which were still sopping the next morning) was fun. We were positively giddy!

Can you tell there were mixed reactions to the snow?

Opera, Soup Kitchens, and Stonehenge (to name a few)

Well, it HAS been a week, hasn’t it? Every week seems to be busier than the week before!

Monday:

Mondays always consist of Historical Dance, Movement, Dramatic Literature, and Stage Combat. I don’t know why they stick Dramatic Lit in there right after we’ve had lots of moving around and then lunch. We’re exhausted by then, and have a hard time sitting and focusing for two hours. We do, of course, but not without significant effort and caffeine. By the time Stage Combat rolls around, all anyone really wants is a shower and bedtime. Thank goodness the class is fun, otherwise I don’t think we’d make it through. There’s something very satisfactory about the way the blades clash together, and we’re learning more and more moves that make that happen.

Movement is always a challenge, as I seem to distinctly lack any strength whatsoever. I don’t understand! I carried beach bags, library books, and snacks around all summer. I swung children around in circles. I played on playgrounds. Why do I have no strength? My current challenge is learning how to do a handstand. Sue as determined that this is required, so learn it I will. Monday found me kick my legs fruitlessly into the air like a particularly annoyed donkey. I promised Sue I would know how by next Monday, though...

The big news of the week is that a student from our programme was expelled for physically attacking other student. (It was not unprovoked, but was still absolutely unnecessary.) It was a lot of drama for a long time, and it’s a relief that it’s over.

Tuesday:

By the end of Tuesday I was absolutely drained. I started out my day bright and early by heading for a soup kitchen. “What?” you are wondering. “Why is she going to a soup kitchen? Is food in London really that expensive?” If you are my parents, perhaps you are also thinking, “We should send that girl some money! Or maybe just a care package with lots of food!” If, by chance, you happened to have those thoughts, please don’t hesitate to act on them.

In fact, though, I was going for an acting assignment. Kathryn, my acting teacher, told me to go to a soup kitchen, a poorer area of London, and try to get state aid from the government. The kitchen was infinitely depressing, and involved more religion than I could really swallow. I don’t mind religion; I think it has its place. If you’re religion inspires you to help people and live ethically and happily, then I think that is absolutely wonderful. I do take issue with soup kitchens forcing people to watch videos about the Bible before they give out food, though. Doesn’t that seem a little, well, self-serving? And the people there were terrible condescending. I felt like pointing out to them that the people they were serving were homeless, but were nonetheless human beings, and deserve respect. I didn’t, though… I was just a fly on the wall.

After the soup kitchen I headed off to Shakespeare class, and then to the Tate Museum. At the Tate we saw the painting from the Lady of Shalott! Does anyone else find that poem as glorious as I do? I was thrilled to see the painting in person. They also have a beautiful collection of Turners. We could only spend a few hours, but they were very lovely hours indeed. In the museum shop, while searching for postcards, I came across a set of… get this… soap crayons! Yes, they are crayons that you can use to draw on yourself or on the walls of your shower/bathtub. Normally they are used to lure reluctant children into the tub, but I was pretty impressed myself. After a brief but intense internal debate, I returned them to the shelf. “No,” I reminded myself, “You’re 21 years old, and you like showers already. You have no need for such silliness.” Feeling very responsible (though quite disappointed) I left the shop and headed home.

Later that evening I headed upstairs to find Kari and Dana for a walk to the opera. (Yes, we went to an art museum and the opera in the same day. Aren’t we fancy?) There, are Kari’s counter, I could see a box of soap crayons. Naturally, I told her that I highly approved of her choice to buy them, and that I was delighted that she owned them. “I don’t,” she replied. “You do. I got them for you.” What I wonderful surprise! Kari is a very sweet individual, and one of my baking buddies. (You may recall the nectarine crumble we made.) She has invited me to be her nanny after I told a particularly enthusiastic story from the summer, and now introduces me to her friends as such. And now, now she has gotten me soap crayons. Someone get this girl a gold star.

Finally we actually left the flats, and got ourselves to the opera. I won’t say much about that, except that it was performed in English (why? They had subtitles anyway) and that one of the lines was, literally, “Tony, you screwed me royally.” Think what you will.

Wednesday:

You may recall that last week I wrote about observing meerkats. I took a couple videos of them, and spent every day leading up to Wednesday scuttling around my flat as a meerkat. I would scuttlescuttlscluttle then- oh!- what’s that!- sit up on my back legs (ie knees) and peer fixedly up, then to the side, then in front, to the other side. If things looked particularly interesting, I would stand up on my tiptoes and stare some more. Yes, this was really, truly required for class. I promise. It all came to fruition on Wednesday, when we performed our animals for the rest of our class. In our class of twelve we had: a giraffe, lemur, kangaroo, meerkat, bear, lioness, tiger, gorilla, otter, flamingo, bearded pig, and okapi. Some were pretty obvious, and easy to figure out what the person was doing. In fact, most were. People had done their research, and were quite good. I only got to see half, because the other half of the time I was busy being a meerkat. We hadn’t told Kathryn beforehand what we were going to do, so she was pretty much guessing. Some of them were obvious: kangaroo, meerkat, and otter, for instance. Very few animals move like those do. She got most of the rest also, but the crowning glory of the day was when she turned to Dana and asked, “Were you an… okapi?” Dana had been very uncertain that Kathryn would have any idea what she was (quite reasonably, really—I’m not sure everyone’s even heard of an okapi), but she got it right away. We were very impressed.

That evening, Dana sent me a message about 6:45, asking if I wanted to go to see Vanessa Redgrave’s one woman show, A Year of Magical Thinking. I wanted to So Much. I’ve been dying to see that show. But… I did promise myself that I would finish my first draft of my dramatic lit paper by the time I went to bed on Wednesday. What to do, what to do? After a very careful re-assessment of my available time before the due date (Monday), I used an age-old strategy for making a decision. I flipped a coin. Heads was “go see the play,” Tails was “stay home and write the paper.” (Which one you’re cheering for probably depends on how much money you have invested in my education.) Well, I went—and I am so glad I did. The show was truly remarkable, a 100 minute long monologue, with no intermission. The power that Vanessa Redgrave has is absolutely stunning. Her presence, her skill, and her charisma carried what could have been a depressing, weighty show into being an always-touching, sometimes-funny story of a very real woman. It was absolutely worth it. (To those of you wondering what happened to the essay, don’t worry. It’s done, and ready to be printed out at school tomorrow.)

Thursday:

Let me briefly explain my schoolwork system to you. When things get tight, I decide when I will get what work done. Once my work for that day is done, I get to play. If the work isn’t done, though, no playtime.* I’m pretty good at estimating how long it will take me to get stuff done, so I rarely come up against the problem of not completing my allocated amount. Therefore, I spent Thursday morning catching up on the paper I’d neglected the evening before, and then after class on Thursday I wrote out my notes for a discussion later this coming week. It was hours of work, but then it was done. And that meant that I got to play!

I headed upstairs to Flat 3, my home-away-from-home-away-from-home. I happened to arrive at the same moment as Rania (who genuinely lives there, and is not just a constant visitor like myself). She pulled out her keys and smiled, “Welcome home!” as she ushered me inside. I found Dana and Sevita doing a Norwegian folkdance (I wasn’t as surprised or confused as you might think), and Liz doing something on her computer. My buddies were busy. Nevermind. I went over to the section of wall I will always associate with handstands, and started practicing. Then. THEN! MY FEET HIT THE WALL! All action in the room came to a stand-still. “You did it!” cheered Dana. I did a little happy dance, and did it again. And again! I can do handstands! Well, I can do them against a wall if someone catches my legs and props me up before moving way. But I am so much closer than I was. Huzzah!

Friday:

This Friday my Shakespeare class got out at 3:45. Each week it alternates: one class gets out at 3:45, and the other gets out at 6:30. It’s pretty clear which class you want to be in. Afterwards, Dana and I planned to celebrate “Just for the Heck** of it Day (meaning that we’d do something fun just because we wanted to). After get ready for our excursion, I went upstairs to find her. She opened the door and told me she wasn’t quite ready, but would be shortly. I sat down on her couch and waited for her. “Close your eyes!” she called out from her bedroom. Vaguely amused, I did so. “Hold out your hands,” she said, this time much closer. I did as I was told. Something soft was put into my hands, and I opened my eyes. This is what I found there:

Slippers! Dana had knitted me a pair of slippers! I immediately put them on and did some sliding around on the wooden floor of her flat. Then I did a little prancing, and thanked Dana profusely. I love my slippers!

Our JFTHOID excursion was to a knitting store in south London. We found some great yarn! She’s making mittens, and I… well, my primary goal is just not to make a whole lot of knots. It was a fun adventure, and I’m excited for our next JFTHOID.

That evening we went to see the ballet Manon. It was breathtaking-- extremely talented dancers, beautiful choreography, everything. Elizabeth, my friend from Scripps, came along with us too. I’m glad that we happened to have extra tickets so that she could come along. I can’t emphasise enough how visually stunning the performance was. Here’s a picture of some of us before the show.*Clearly this system isn’t foolproof. Things like seeing A Year of Magical Thinking come up.
**Observe how I keep my posts solidly G-rated. Are you impressed?

Saturday:

Saturday morning found us crawling out of our beds bleary-eyed and unenthusiastic about being awake so early. My alarm went off at 7am, and I entertained some grumpy thoughts before remembering that I always get up at 7. I guess it was just the fact that it was a Saturday that made me feel like the situation was somehow unfair. Anyway, after some groggy showering/dressing/breakfast eating, we found ourselves on a bus headed for Stonehenge!

Why yes, over ever seat there was a little tea/wine button.

It’s true. I spent Saturday at two rather incredible places in England. The first was Winchester, the old capital of England. We explored the town, had a tour of the cathedral, and ate lunch before boarding the bus again.

King Arthur's Round Table, as commissioned by Henry VIII

About an hour away from Winchester you are in the middle of no where. There are sheep, fields and… well, then a small tourist oasis—café, gift shop, and the opportunity to purchase tickets to go on a stroll around Stonehenge. The programme provided us with admission, and we happily swarmed around the stones. It’s impressive. They aren’t as big as I’d imagined, but the weight is phenomenal (17-40 tonnes). And they’ve been there for thousands of years! How did people get them there? Why? You must have a fairly pressing religious reason to go to that much work.

They weren’t created as a tourist attraction, but they are now. Of course, we took lots of photos.

Saturday night involved “Juno” and baking chocolate chip cookies. I really do bake a lot, don’t I?

Sunday:

This morning I woke up early, got dressed, and headed out (in the rain) for a big grocery store journey. I say “big” because there is a small grocery store about 5 minutes walk from my flat. The big grocery store (that has all kinds of exciting food, as well as fresh flowers) is more of a 20 minute walk. Normally, this is not a problem, but the rain made it mildly un-fun. I was soaked by the time I got there, and (here’s the punch line) the shop was closed. Really.

Doesn’t open until 12pm on Sundays.

Humph.

And now, over to Luna!


Here I am in front of the Tate Museum. It's a huge art museum with paintings, sketches, and sculptures by hundreds of different artists. I could spend hours wandering through and looking at everything. There's so much to see! It makes me want to try doing some art myself.

Here I am with my friends Dana, Anna, and Melanie right before we went in to see the ballet. The ballet was called Manon and was absolutely beautiful. The dancers are very graceful and flexible. This was one of my favorite things I've ever seen... and I've seen a lot of theatre by now, because I go everywhere with Litza!

We got to play dress-up in Winchester, the city that used to be the capital of England a long time ago. Unfortunately, they didn't have any hedgehog-sized hats for me. I don't understand! Hedgehogs are a native species in the UK. I think they should have armor for us too!

This is a view of Winchester from the rooftop of another building. Isn't it a cute little town? Some of the shops have signs with pictures of what they sell, just like a long time ago. People did that so shoppers who couldn't read still knew where to go.

Here I am at Stonehenge. Stonehenge was built thousands and thousands of years ago. The rocks are from over 200 miles away, and had to be brought to this location. This was long before automobiles were even thought of, so how do you think they got all these enormous rocks? It would have been quite a journey!

In Which Litza is Quite Busy (as usual)

Happy Monday! I'm sorry that I didn't get around to this yesterday. This weekend was a wee bit busy, and I made the executive decision that you could all wait for a life update. I hope that's ok.



This week has been, like every other, kind of insane. Good insane, though-- definitely good. I keep making the discovery over and over again that theatre people are just fun. I tossed a balloon up in the air on Wednesday, and before I knew it we were having a full-on game of "let's keep the balloon off the floor." How old are we, anyway? It was great. Lots of laughter and silliness. Other pre-class activities include handstands, backwards summersaults, and bubble blowing.



Monday:

Life as per usual. Historical dance, movement, and Dramatic Literature. I still cannot do a hand stand, but I'm going to be able to! I am! I'm practising, and I will learn.



Tuesday:

On Tuesday we went to the British Museum. Before getting there, Kari, Dana, and I had a picnic in the park. It looked something like this:



The British Museum is huge, overwhelming, and not really organised in a logical fashion, but is terribly interesting. We were given a list of all the things we had to see, and so we meandered about for a couple of hours finding giant winged bulls and mummies. Quite the experience!



Wednesday:

...was not particularly noteworthy. Carry on.



Thursday:

Thursday was a fairly high-stress day, due to a complete failure of communication with my Alexander Technique teacher. I don't know what she wants from me! That evening things got better, though, as there were no particularly pressing homework issues, so Dana came over and we made Cadbury's chocolate chunk cookies. They were delicious, and earned us much praise from my flat and hers. Notice our adorable aprons as well.

Friday:

Class all day, followed by Joel's birthday party! There were cupcakes, there was singing, there were handstands and backwards summersaults. Sometimes people who weren't in the programme showed up, and I felt sorry for them... how are you supposed to cope with this insanity if you don't see it every day of your life? Here's a picture of Joel, and all the ladies in our programme:

After things had calmed down a little, the fiddles were brought out. Anna and Laura played their fiddles, and Alex accompanied them on a drum set (that looked very much like an ironing board to most of us).

Saturday:

Saturday morning found me at the zoo. Though I love the zoo very much, I wasn't there just for pleasure. I was there to find an animal that behaved physically similarly to the character I'm studying for acting class. I finally settled on a meerkat, and watched them for about an hour. I have many videos of them on my computer now, and several photographs. Here's one, for your viewing pleasure:

I also really liked the pygmy hippo, but that doesn't really have anything to do with anything:

After an adventure at the zoo, I met Kat at King's Cross Station and we went venturing off to Cambridge to celebrate Lu's birthday. (This celebration was over a month late, but who's counting?) There we had an adventure that consisted of pink champagne, a unicorn pinata, and funny crowns and masks. What's not to love?

Oh yeah, we also did normal stuff, like go out to dinner. Here's Poppy, Kat, and Lu at ASK:

We did go out for a while after dinner, and returned somewhat late in the evening. Then, behold! We ran into Rupert (I didn't even know people were truly named Rupert) coming down the stairs. He agreed to a midnight concert in the Trinity College Chapel, and off we went, sneaking across campus. Rupert, being the chapel organist, had a key. He let us in, and we sat there for an hour and listened to him play "Edelweis," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and more. It was lovely. I've posted a video, and we'll see if that actually works. [Edit: No, it doesn't. I'm not patient enough to let it upload completely. You can just imagine it. Darkened chapel. Softly played piano.]

Sunday:

On Sunday we got up late and hauled ourselves off to Tattie's for breakfast. Yum. Then we stuck Mark on a bus and Kat and I got on a train back to London. By 4:00 I was home, and went on a brief expedition to a craft store with Dana before heading off to dinner at Elizabeth Gibbs' house. Dinner was delicious, the company was exceptional, and the evening was a great success. We're having her over for dinner next Sunday, so hopefully we can live up to her example!

Lu, Kat, and me right before we dashed madly off to put Mark on his bus and Kat and me on our train:

And now, some Luna!

On Tuesday I went to the British Museum. It's so big! I saw lots of interesting things inside: mummies, and hieroglyphics, enormous statues, and pieces of the Greek Parthenon. I felt smarter just being inside! If I stayed there for years, though, I don't think I'd ever get to see all there was to see.

Here I am with my friend Kat! We are at Trinity College, Cambridge. Cambridge is one of England's very best universities... and it's very pretty as well! Cambridge is celebrating its 800th birthday next year. Can you believe it? The buildings are all very old, of course, and right behind me is some water that runs all through the university. You can go punting on it. Lots of famous people went to Cambridge, including A.A. Milne. He wrote Winnie-the-Pooh!

This is another picture of in Cambridge. I told you the buildings were pretty!

In Which the Girl from the Emerald City Heads to the Emerald Isle

Have you got some tea? A nice, comfortable blanket? Maybe a week’s worth of rations? You’ll need them. It’s been a very busy week, and I’m not willing to scrimp on the details. (Well, I’m willing to scrimp on some of them.) I’m writing this update a whole day early, because I fear that if I wait until tomorrow, task of writing out my adventures my just seem to daunting. Right now I’m still quite excited to share them with you. So, with no further ado… my week!

Monday:

This is the part where I scrimp on the details. Monday was great, but not particularly noteworthy. Sue, once again, turned us into quivering messes. Once again, we could not for the LIFE OF US execute “The Happy Pair” in Historical Dance, but did quite well on “Dull Sir John’s.” Alex and I are improving at La Volte (sp?) but we recognise we have a ways to go. Perhaps a long ways. And that was Monday.

Tuesday:

Similar scrimping. We went to see the National Gallery (again!), and had a “lecturer” (apparently they don’t answer to “tour guide”) talk with us about three different paintings. Delightful! That evening we went to see Brief Encounter, which was very good. It’s the first time I’ve seen multimedia actually work in a play, and not come off as a pretentious director’s idea of being edgy. Characters stepped in and out of a movie; it was clever, and just beautifully done. The actors were 100% committed, and even the non-central characters made their roles important. It was a treat to behold!

AND they gave us a piece of a scone at intermission. Not that I allowed that to bias my opinion.

Wednesday:

Wednesday morning found me trundling along Clerkenwell street with my enormous rolling duffle bag stuffed full of my various treasures. Was I running away? No, though to an outsider that may appear to be the case. What I was actually heading toward was an Acting exercise. In this exercise we have to behave as ourselves for about 10 minutes, using a series of objects and actions in order to display some of our “inner” characteristics. We are not allowed to act.

Now, I challenge you. Get a group of twelve people, and have them watch every little thing you do for ten minutes. Then tell me if you did anything naturally. It’s really hard to do, especially because the whole time you’re up there your mind is saying, “Ok, now don’t pay attention to those people out there. Just focus on what you’re doing. Wait, but this action is supposed to make it clear that you feel capable. Are you looking capable? Maybe you need to make that clearer. But if you make that clearer, that’s acting. But maybe you would be doing it differently in real life. Is this really how you sponge of the counter?... etc.” In order to help us actually behave naturally, we were supposed to recreate our home space in the Marlow room. This is not possible. Nothing you could ever do to the Marlowe room would make it feel like home. But hey, nothing like a challenge! So of course I dragged along stacks of books, a comforter, a pillow, photographs, postcards, and everything else I could think of that might make me feel like I was in my kitchen and bedroom. Hey, I tried.

That was quite the event, let me tell you.

Then, after school, Sevita, Caroline, Marielle, Liz and I flew to Ireland. It’s an hour away. Seriously. And guess how much our tickets cost.

No, really. Guess.

Fine, don’t guess. I’ll tell you. Including EVERYTHING (all the fees they could think to add, and the ticket itself), my ticket cost £25. I find that absolutely unbelievable. I was surprised when I bought it, but I was even more surprised when I actually got to Ireland. I was sure there was going to be a catch somewhere, that at some point someone would jump up and say, “Ha ha! Fooled you! There’s no way you could ever get to another country so cheaply, you optimistic little twerp!” It didn’t happen. We got there.

We settled into The Dublin Bunkhouse, pleased with the location and excited for the next day.

Look, it's almost like I never left Seattle.

Thursday:

Our first full day in Dublin! We tiptoed into our clothes and out of the hostel by 8:30 in the morning. As we crowded out of the building, we were all tossing out ideas of what we should do. I wanted to go to Christchurch Cathedral, Caroline wanted to see St. Patrick’s, everyone was dying to go to Trinity College, and the list goes on.

For, as far as I can tell, no particular reason, Trinity College was chosen as the first location. We spent a while wandering around the campus and taking pictures of and with different architectural phenomena. The buildings that make up Trinity College are absolutely beautiful, but they are nothing compared to what is within. Marielle and I decided that we were willing to fork over the €7 in order to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room of the Trinity Library, and I am very glad that we did.

The Book of Kells is a book of the four gospels of the life of Christ. It was written in the 9th century by four different monks (now known only as monks A, B, C, and D) who painstakingly copied all four gospels and then illustrated the entire book. The illustrations are elaborate and beautiful, and include pictures of different saints or their animal representations and decorated emphasis on certain letters. It’s really impossible to describe what an experience it was to see this book. I can’t get over how much work went into it—the four gospels, carefully handwritten and illustrated on calfskin that had to be cleaned and stretched in order to be used. In the same exhibit there was a display of brooches from the 1st and 2nd centuries. It’s overwhelming how much history is buried in Ireland’s earth.

After seeing the Book of Kells, we headed into the Long Room. At this point it is essentially a gallery of books—the books are too old to touch. The whole room, though, looks like something out of Beauty and the Beast. There are ladders to reach the books with, and they are connected to tracks on the ceiling, so you can push them along and reach what you want. There’s also a spiral staircase that twists tightly and goes up through the ceiling onto the next level. Along the center of the room there is a display of herbals/botanicals, all carefully illustrated and researched. These people really struggled for knowledge… it’s becoming pretty clear how much is just handed to me.

No pictures allowed in the Long Room or of the Book of Kells...

...so we just took lots of pictures outside!

After leaving Trinity College, Marielle and I wandered over to the National Gallery. We never made it, though. They wouldn’t let her bring her coffee inside (reasonably, I suppose), and so we ended up strolling through a garden that we stumbled across. It was very peaceful, and a pleasant break from the city.

When we got back to the National Gallery, we ran in to Caroline, and instead of going to look at the paintings, we decided to head off to see Dublin Castle. We wanted to go inside, but entrance was by tour only. Tours are a) something that can only be obtained if you hand over money and b) 50 minutes long and we were starving. Instead, we decided to appreciate that Dublin HAS a castle, and headed off to lunch. Conveniently, that particular group is all some degree of vegetarian (pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan) so we found it pretty easy to agree on a place to eat: “Oh! They have stuff we can eat! We can have a choice! Let’s eat here.” It’s called Juice, and I highly recommend it.

We appreciated Dublin Castle from the outside. It worked out pretty well.

This is one of the many things I love about Ireland. Modern streeet...
with a really old building at the end of it!

After lunch we launched off to Christchurch Cathedral, which was huge and stunning. There was some entrance fee, but by the time we realised that we had accidentally slipped in with a large group. On one hand, why on earth would someone have to pay to go into a church? Should religion be at least somewhat free? On the other hand, we just (accidentally) snuck into a church. How bad is that? God has yet to strike us down, but I’m convinced it’s only a matter of time. Christchurch Cathedral was, like many other cathedrals, a monolith of stained class and carved stone. We went down to the crypt too, which was absolutely vast. There was one grave/memorial that talked about a man that “found happiness by bringing happiness to others.” To me, that sounds like the best kind of life one can lead.

Christchurch Cathedral

Following that, we swung by St. Patrick’s Cathedral; again, stunning from the outside. Again, cost money to go into. So we appreciated the outside.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

During our wandering around after seeing St. Patrick’s Cathedral, we can across a door that had a puzzling sign stuck in the window. I’m putting a picture up so you can all appreciate it. (And yes, I know what they mean. But still, appreciate what the sign says.)

Following is a picture of our Very Favourite Place in Ireland… Butler’s Chocolate. I can’t even count the number of times we went there. I think I went at least five times. I’m not even kidding. (Right after I wrote that sentence, I had to get up and get myself a chocolate from my stash. White chocolate. Mmm.) If you’re looking for a way to be my Very Best Friend, don’t hesitate to send me some chocolate.

Doesn't Caroline look sweet?

It's not as all as if she would mortgage her soul for this chocolate.

For dinner that evening we went to a pub recommended to us by the people working at our hostel. It’s called The Church and it’s, well, a church. Rather, it’s a church that was converted into a pub. (Sacrilegious? Maybe. But great.) There we got dinner and drinks, and hung out appreciating the atmosphere and the music.

There's an organ and everything!

We all agree-- it's a great place! Go, if you get a chance.

Clearly this picture of Luna with a Guinness was taken more

for my amusement than for my Mom's elementary school.

After some further wandering around that evening we found ourselves a dessert place called Sheebeen Chic. The walls were mosaic-ed with glass, plastic forks, random letters, and everything else the creator could find and clotheslines crisscrossed the ceiling. I got an apple tart and Caroline got a “runny bun.”

It took forever for a waitress to see to us... in the meantime, we took pictures.

We headed back to the hostel, set our alarm, and curled up for sleep. Hours later we were awakened by loud conversations. What? For those of you who have never stayed in a hostel, it is important to note that this extremely inexpensive form of accommodation usually means sharing a room with multiple other somebodys. In our, very unlucky, case, these “somebodys” included a group of very loud, inconsiderate British boys. They yelled to each other, fumbled noisily with their suitcases, and were generally obnoxious….
For
Three
Hours.

Seriously. That is not an exaggeration.

Oh well. Welcome to hostel living, I suppose!

Friday:

We roused ourselves out of bed at about 7:40, and after breakfast at the hostel we went to meet our tour bus. We booked our tour through Day Tours Unplugged, and had a very enthusiastic, chatty guide named Damien. He kept making comments “to the ladies” about the kind of wedding presents we like, how we see an Irish round tour and think of Rapunzel, and so on. For a while I felt stereotyped, and then I just felt amused. Sure, all ladies want a house right here! Of course! Naturally I was thinking of Rapunzel! How could I not?
We took off through the city, making a brief stop by the sea and some sailboats (with a rainbow!) before winding up into the countryside.

Marielle, me, Sevita, Kip, Liz, Caroline, Marken, Laura, and Abby. LDA takes over Ireland!

After driving past Enya’s castle (really) and Bono’s house, we found ourselves on vast, sprawling terrain. The air was misty and cool, and everything felt steeped in magic. It became immediately apparent how Ireland became filled with stories of faeries, brownies, sprites, elves, leprechauns, and so on. It’s the sort of country that makes you feel like there is a very real possibility that you might see something magical, might actually find that elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

At one point, as we were stopped on a hillside overlooking a glacial lake, Kip asked—to no one in particular—“Where are we?” It was entirely apt. We were in a place that none of us had really, I believe, thought existed outside of wall posters and perhaps the occasional documentary.

One of the places we stopped was Glendalough, a valley in County Wicklow that contains a monastic city founded in the 6th century. It was destroyed eleven times by Vikings, English royalty, and so on… and yet, the Irish just kept rebuilding it, every time. In the “city” you can see an Irish round tour, used for storing various manuscripts and other items used for worship, a 12th (?) century stone church, and countless gravestones. I wish there was a way to put into words what it feels like to see something like this… I hardly felt like I was really there. It was absolutely surreal. People lived here, worked here, claimed sanctuary here. Over 1,500 years ago this was a very real place for many people; their ghosts haunt it. I don’t mean this to sound like I bumped into the ghost of St. Kevin or anything, but it’s a feeling that surrounds the place. It’s rich with history, and free from many of the trappings of tourism. There are no ropes—you can rub your fingers across the stones that monks laid in place. You can dip your hands into the water collected in the stone tabernacle, and kneel and read the names on the gravestones. It’s not just a history book.

The window ledge was actually the alter, and near the back right corner of this room,

you can just barely see the stone tabernacle. The room is full of tombstones as well.

An Irish round tower behind St. Kevin's Church (built in the 12th century)

View back to the monastic city

The rest of the hillsides were equally breathtaking, crowded with sheep or heather, disappearing into low-laying clouds.

See what I mean about expecting faeries?

Scrippsies do Ireland.

That evening, we followed Damien’s advice and took ourselves on a walk to the Brazen Head pub, the oldest pub in Ireland. It was established by the Vikings in 1198. I had a Guinness where the Vikings drank beer! That must earn me some Cool Points, right?

That night: More loud whispering from those nutty boys. At least they weren’t yelling anymore.

Saturday:

I spent this morning (was it really only this morning?) meandering through the Dublin city center, and saw the Famine Memorial and a replica of the Jeanie Johnston. I didn’t expect the Famine Memorial to actually have an effect on me; I thought I’d see it as something of historical importance, but that it would not be at all an emotional experience. The statues of starving people, though, made my stomach clench. It made it clear what had happened, and it was a very sobering sight.

The replica of the Jeanie Johnston, however, was a fairly uplifting one. The little ship sailed back and forth from Ireland to America sixteen (?) times, and not one person died on that ship. That, my friends, is a miracle considering the size of the ship, the distance it had to go, and the illnesses that often plagued people.

Then, this afternoon, I flew back to London. On the plane I talked to the girl sitting next to me, and introduced her to Luna. She was a great travel companion, and I wish I could be guaranteed such fun people on all of my flights! Eventually, after what seemed like ages of travelling, I made it back here. It’s nice to be back in my flat, but I’m already eager for my next trip to Ireland!

In the words of our tour guide, "God bless Ryan Air!"

And now, for Luna!

Here I am in the airport with my friends Liz and Sevita. We were all very excited to head off to Ireland!

Here I am at Trinity College, in Dublin. Trinity College houses the Book of Kells, a book that was created in the 9th century. It was all hand made, written by four different monks on paper made out of calfskin. The paint used for the illustrations had to be made from ground up rock. It sure makes art projects these days seem easy!

While we were wandering through the city, Litza, Marielle and I found this pretty park. It was nice to see a splash of green amongst all the buildings!

This is Dublin Castle. It's a government building, so you can't go in if you're not on a tour. Oh well, it was still fun to see the outside!

Here I am at Christchurch Cathedral. Isn't it beautiful? It's a huge church, and I even got to explore the crypt underneath, where people are buried.

Mmmm... Butler's Chocolates! We all loved this chocolate store. I got to help pick out the chocolates. Caroline's favorite was the vanilla flavor, but I think I like the dark chocolate best. Butler's is a chain of chocolate stores all over Ireland.

We stayed in a place called a hostel while we were travelling. It's sort of like a dormitory-- lots of people sleep in the same room, in bunkbeds. Ours was called the Dublin Bunkhouse.

Here I am, launching off on my bus tour to see some of the Irish countryside. Marielle and I were quite excited!

These gravestones are part of a monastic city (Catholic city for monks) that was built in the 6th century. It was like walking into a history book to see all these things, and was really interesting. Ireland has the most amazing history! Vikings came in and destroyed this whole city several times. Then, later, the English government did. The city has been destroyed a total of 11 times. Wow!

This was one of my favorite buildings we saw. It's more "modern"-- it was only built 800 years ago. This is called St. Kevin's Church.

This is the upper lake of Glendalough. Doesn't it look like a fairy is going to come out at any moment?

Here I am with Litza, Sevita, Marielle, and Caroline on a hill overlooking a lake that formed when the glaciers melted. Isn't it beautiful?

Here I am with a replica of the Jeanie Johnston. The original ship traveled back and forth from Ireland to America sixteen times... and not one person ever died durin the journey. That's an absolute miracle!

The Irish Potato Famine occurred between 1845 and 1849. During that time, half of Ireland's population vanished, either starving to death or leaving the country because they couldn't survive there. The Famine was caused by a disease that struck the potato crop, totally ruining it. These statues were set up in memorial of that terrible time.

I had such a good time in Ireland, and I very much hope to go back some day. It's so much fun!