Just a few more pictures. Sierra and I kissing a green door in Dubling! Amanda and I. My ring and the village it's named after, the sunset setting behind the tallest "mountains" in Ireland and Michelle and I at the Dingle Penisula:) ENJOY!!!!

The Craic is Tight in Southern Ireland

Hello again everyone!
Sorry for such a delay in posting. I am just getting back to reality (in my castle), after a week off which i spent on our Paddy Wagon tour bus going all over Southern Ireland. It was amazing! I am very glad I chose to do the tour for my week break. I will do my best to explain everything I did. We saw so many beautiful places, i am struggling to remember exactly what everything is called.

Amanda and i left of Newcastle on Friday afternoon so we could get to our hotel and enjoy a night of relaxation before having to catch our flight to Dublin @ 7:55 am the next morning....or so we thought that was when our flight was scheduled, more on that later. Our hotel was AMAZING! We had very comfortable bed, a pool, sauna, hot tub, steam room, workout room, bar, and resturant...and free shuttle service to the airport! Amanda and i thought we could be content spending our whole week in Newcastle at our very posh hotel...forget about Ireland. Well, before going to sleep Friday night we double checked our flight information and discovered that our flight didnt leave till SUNDAY @ 7:55 am...ooops. But we thought we would get up early, go to the airport and see if we could get it changed. It didnt work...it would have cost us over $500 to change it...so we decided to get a room back out our hotel again...for a lot cheaper. So we called up the shuttle service and the picked us up again and brought us back to the hotel. Amanda and i decided to take a nap before deciding what we would do the rest of the day....it was only 7 am....i slept till noon! That afternoon we took a bus to Blyth and did some shopping and exploring for the day. Then we went back to our hotel, swam, ate and went to bed early so we could get up @ 5 to get to the airport for our flight. The flight went well. It was a little delayed, but that was no problem. When we got to Dublin we found the bus we needed to get to our hostel and then we got a little lost in Dublin, but eventually found where we were to stay the night, checked in and then hung out with Sierra and Alexis and did some sight seeing the rest of the afternoon. I got to eat at my first "Hard Rock Cafe" in Dublin. It was very expensive, we all got appetizers and it was still pretty spendy...but that was the way most of Ireland was. At least we had a little better exchange rate:S
Monday morning Amanda and I got up early to pack up our bags, eat some breakfast (of fruit and toast...very common we would find out the rest of the week...) and then headed just down the road to Paddy's Palace to get on our bus. The tour brought us to the Guiness Brewery where we got to walk through the process of how beer is made and then we got a free pint at the bar. The view from the bar was amazing, it was at the top of the building and the walls were all glass. Our next stop was Gallway...this is where we stayed our first night. I bought a @"Claddaugh love Ring". The hostel was quite loud, most of our tour was made up of 18 year old south africans and austrailian GAP students. Tuesday we loaded the bus did more sight seeing. We stopped at a castle where the myth is if you walk around it counter clockwise you can regain your virginity. Interesting... For lunch Tuesday we ate by the ocean in an area that was at one point covered by glaciers and iceburgs. That night we stayed @ the "Randy Lepricon. It was a good time. Around 2 am we heard a chorous of "pirates"...it's a had to be there story, but it was an eventful night to say the least. From that night on we always locked our doors....to keep the pirates out;)
Wednesday we headed through the Dingle Peninsula, it was so beautiful. By this time Amanda and I had started to get to know Barbara, Michelle and Samona and spent a lot of time with them. We are looking forward to them visiting the castle later in March! Wednesday is the day i should have worn my wellingtons but didnt. We had to walk through a little marshy area...but my tennis shoes faired okay. For lunch me and my clan at by the harbor in the town of Dingle. It was a picturesque place to have our "fish and chips" (YUM...I had chicken and chips). A little more sight seeing and then it was back on the narrow roads. We stopped at a beach and i was able to run in Atlantic Ocean! It was cold, but so much fun! I wish we had more time there. Next we took a ferry over to our next destination. We stayed in Killarney 2 nights.
Upon arrival at our hostel a small group of us took the oportunity to have a carriage ride through Killarney national park. We had to ride through on a carriage, or horse, b/c no cars are allowed. It was a very beautiful park. We got to see the sun set over the tallest mountains in Ireland. They weren't that tall...but it was beautiful. (If you havent figured out yet, this whole country is amazing and beautiful....i loved it!!!!) That night for dinner a few of us just went to the supermarket and bought noodles and sauce. We made plans to do a cheaper lunch the next day and got stuff for sandwiches.
Thursday, Valentines day, we got to see the gap of dunloe, very pretty and did some dangerous driving in the mountains. We saw lots of sheep. We also stopped at Torc waterfall. Then it was back to the hostel for some down time. Me and the girls went shopping around Killarney and then had pizza for dinner. Then we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out that night. It was a good time. We all wore our Ireland green gear. It probably looked like we were celebrating st. patricks day and not valentines day. We later found out that wearing green on valentines day when you are single is not such a good thing. think about it...green...go...single? Get the connection? lol:)
Friday...let me think....we went to Balarney and i kissed the Balarney stone. It means i have the ability to lie for the next 7 years? haha! The crazy thing is you have to be tipped upsidedown and go over a ledge to kiss the stone. Dont worry there are assistance to help you. But it was a rush for me:) We headed to the town of Cork that night. We got there about 4. By this time i could feel myself getting a bit crabby and knew i needed to take a nap. So Michelle and I slept, for 2 hours, while the others watched Rugby or went exploring. That night the gang and i went out for a nice dinner at a rather posh resturant, and it wasnt to badly priced:) Then we came back and I read my wuthering heights, did some e-mailing and went to bed pretty early.
Saturday, our last day in Ireland we stopped around 10am in Killkiney and did some exploring. there was a castle there as well...THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! The girls and i got lunch stuff together and by 12:30 we were back on the road with our destination of Dublin. We arrived there about 3:30, checked our bags in at paddy's palace so we could go do some more exploring/shopping in dublin before we had to catch our bus to the airport.
At the airport Barb, Michelle, Samona, Sean, Amanda and i all hung out till slowly we all had to get on our own flights back to reality. It was sad to say good bye the the girls who we were just getting to know. The flight from Dublin to Newcastle went well, we were able to catch the metro to the bus station no problem and were on our way back to Alwnick just before 11pm. We got back to town a little after 12 and we both could not WAIT to be back at the castle. We looked silly with our backpacks walking through alnwick, right when all the pubs were closing and the crowd was heading over the the squash club, but we didnt care, we just wanted to be home!
When i got home i thought it best to just stay up and get all my laundry done. by 2:30am i was finally in bed, dreaming of the wonderful time I had just had in Ireland! I loved it! The pictures above are of me at the Guiness bar, the cliffs of moore, Barb, Michelle and I at the Dingle Penisula and a picture of me and barb. I will add more pictures to another blog:)

Durham, the Beach and Rugby

This past friday our field trip was to Durham. It was nice because we didnt have to leave till 8:30 in the morning and the bus ride was just over an hour! The bad thing was, it SNOWED all day. And when it snows here, it's just like rain...SO WET! It was not a very good day to walk around and shop during our free time. But i did enjoy the Even Song church service we were able to attend at the end of the day. The entire service was sung by a choir...very beautiful! After getting back to the castle around 7:30, Alexis, Sierra and I changed our wet socks and huddled under our blankets to watch a movie, "Waitress". It was a good night.
Saturday I got to go to the North Sea and got my feet wet! It was cold, but SO MUCH FUN. After the beach we went to watch a rugby match. I had never watched Rugby before, so it was a bit confusing, and funny i thought. But really it's a pretty cool game. The match we watched was Ireland vs. Italy. We were cheering for Ireland because my friend i was watching it with is from Ireland. They won! WHOOT! Saturday night I went out on the town again with my friends James, Richie, and Dink. Had wonderful time with them.
Sunday was a pretty low key day. I have been struggling with a cold, so i tried to sleep and get over it...but it didnt work to well. I had dinner at my homestay family again and chatted with them a while. It was Super Bowl Sunday, so ofcoursing being AMERICANS we had to watch the game. The pub in town, The Hairy Lemon, set up a lock in just for us to watch the game. It did not start until 11:30 here...i only made it to half time before i was to tired to stay up for more. I was sad to hear in the morning that the team i was cheering for, The Patriots, had lost:( and that the game had been good. Another disappointment about watching the Super Bowl here is...they dont run the great american comercials that half the world watches for:(.
This week is pretty busy preparing for my Ireland Paddy Wagon Tour. I am very excited for my trip and cant wait to get there! When i come back two other girls and i will begin to plan our two week trip together. The planning never ends!
The pictures above are of Alexis, Sierra and I out on a Thursday night (in our matching Select tops), Sierra and I in Durham in the snow, the beach and me getting my feet wet in the north sea!. ENJOY!

Love you all
Connie XxX

Okay, i lied, the pictures will come later...it is taking way to long to load and i want to go to sleep.