The Netherlands Day 6 & 7

(Thursday)- I got to sleep in again! I ate breakfast and then they went to get groceries while I relaxed. I had lost my red notebook at some point during the week so they went to check the shops for me. They got back and we ate lunch then they went on a bike ride. A longer one. I showered and got ready. Worked on a paper I was writing and my journals. 

It was a pretty relaxing day. Around 6 Laurens and Mandy came over for our last dinner. We ended with the same thing we had when we first got there, the salad. We all just talked, had sparkling wine, and ate. It was very pleasant, and the food was amazing as usual. It was bitter sweet, but I was ready to go at the same time. I had been gone for two months and was ready to go home.

That evening we packed everything and relaxed. Our last night. 

Friday morning we got up around 5:30 am and got ready to leave. I always feel sick that early, so I couldn’t really eat anything. About 6:30 we were on our way back to the airport. We check in (everything was under weight!!!) and headed to security. We said our goodbyes. Lots of kisses and love. Goodbye Europe, it has been quite an adventure!!

The Netherlands Day

(Wednesday)- Haarlem! Mom and Pete went for a walk after breakfast and I relaxed/worked on my blog. I think I wrote my last Dublin blog that day.

It was another cheese lunch. They put me on the bus and they rode bikes to meet me. After getting off the bus I wait for them in the sun, just reading. The buses are a lot different in the Netherlands. They are only one story and much smaller. 

Once I met up with them we walked around for 3 hours looking at Alms houses. Alms houses were house built by the rich for the poor. There was a a little courtyard. The houses were all little and cute. But, you can only see so many of them. After a while they all just kind of blend together.

I headed back on the bus again and the driver gave me a call so I would know. I sat and read on the wall outside of a library waiting. That night we had a chicken dinner. It was almost a peanut sauce but all Moroccan spices. The next day was our last day in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands day 4

(Tuesday)- We woke up late an ate the usual breakfast. We walk around Heemstede (Pete’s village) then headed back home for lunch. After a lunch of cheese, ham, and jam on rice cakes we headed back to Amsterdam. This tim we were going to see Milan and Floortia. They had moved into a new apartment about 10 months ago. It was just built, so it was pretty modern. 

Before we went to their place for dinner we went to the popular area of Amsterdam. It was the first time I had ever seen the prostitutes in the window. Most of them looked really bored. And you could smell the weed from the street. I also learned what coffee shop REALLY meant. lol. I kind of knew but didn’t make the connection when I was looking for the American version.

I finally bought my one and only pair of Birkenstocks. They are super comfy but it may take me a while to get used to how they look. I also got a really cute skirt. It is full length and red.

For dinner we had a special Dutch dish. It was two kinds of mashed potatoes. One also had carrots, mustard, and spinach. The other had bacon and endive.We also had meatballs. It was just good and will definitely try it when I get home. It is on the list of new recipes! We stayed until nearly 10. 

We headed home on the tram to the train, but we took the wrong tram so we had to go from one train station to another in Amsterdam before we could head home. At home it was bed almost right away. The next day was a trip to Haarlem.

The Netherlands- Day 3

Monday)- Today was the day we were going to Amsterdam to Tobias and Joost. We spent some time just walking through the Dappermarkt on Dapperstraat. It is there everyday and it has everything you could possibly want. Clothes, produce, medical supplies, shoes, etc. 

Tobias and Joost live in the east part of Amsterdam. They live on the top floor of a really old three story building. The stairs are almost vertical. We met their cat Zita and waited out the rain eating ham and crisps. 

After a while we just had to give up and hope it stayed light. No such luck. About half a block from their apartment it started down pouring. We hid in a doorway to try not to get anymore wet. It stopped for quite a while as we continued onto the zoo. The next 2 hours was spent walking around the zoo. I got to see a baby elephant and a baby lion. So many cute animals.

Our day did not end there. We took a long walk around their part of Amsterdam and headed home. I had left over chili while their had a shrimp dish.

The Netherlands- Day 2

(Sunday)- This was a pretty long day, but it was a lot of fun. We slept in and relaxed. We started our day with yogurt and fruit then got ready for our walk. We went over to a forested area. We walked for quite a ways along a beautiful path. It ran along a river. We saw ducks and deer and bunnies. It started to rain, but we just kept walking and taking pictures. 

At one point we stopped at a shelter that had been put up for hikers. We ate a little fruit and crisps for lunch. It was peaceful. Once we were done eating and the rain stopped we started walking towards the beach.

By the time we got there the sun was out and it was nice and warm. The water was very shallow so I walked quite far out while mom and Pete satin the sand. We collected a bunch of shells and sat in the sand for a while.

Next we walked up the beach. Boy, that was a loooong walk. In town we stopped for ice cream before walking the last half hour to the car. In all it took about 5 hours. Let’s just say I was feeling it that night.

Pete made a VERY good chili. It definitely hit the spot after such a long day. We had to get up early the next morning.

The Netherlands- Day 1

(Saturday)- Get up between 5 am and 6 am. Go to our taxi and 7 am. My friend Lexi joined us for the ride. Through security really early. Chill out and eat since we didn’t know which gate ours was yet. Saw my friend Brandon. He was going to Amsterdam too, but at a different time.

Slept whole flight and taxied for a long time. Our bags were the first ones and got through customs quickly. Pete was there waiting for us with a big smile and lots of kisses. We packed her small car to the gills with our suitcases and headed to her place. 

We had an amazing salad for lunch. It was probably the best salad I had had all summer. It was lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green beans, mini-potatoes, and mozzarella balls. I threw on a tiny bit of italian dressing and it was golden. I’m definitely going to try and make it at home.

After “lunch” (it was about 3 pm) we headed off to one of Pete’s son’s new place, but first we went to the village he and his girlfriend used to live in. It was ity-bity and there was no way two cars could drive down the same street. We walked around, up and down the canal for about an hour. Then, we drove to the village next door and went to a memorial fora church. It had a spot where you could sit down and look at nature while listening to some classical music. Right across the street was the smallest candy store in Holland. It was about the size of the bathroom in my last apartment. About 9 ft. sq. It was really cute :)

At about 5 or 5:30 we were at Laurens’s and Mandy’s new house. They had designed it and had it built. They made fun of my for not eating fish, which seemed to be a theme the whole time I was there. It was fine, just playful slagging. I just ate the spinach and the potatoes they had made in their new unit. It was a big black block that had a streamer, coffee maker, and small oven on top, and a freezer, refrigerator, and dishwasher on bottom. I had never seen anything like it before. It was really interesting.

After dinner we hung out until the others got there because we all were celebrating Laurens’s birthday.We stayed until about 10:30 talking with people, eating cheese, and drinking plenty of wine.

A Day in the Life- Going to work

Heading to the Bus 

Church by the bus

My Bus stop to Work

On the bus

Things I see on the Bus- Guinness Is everywhere

Where I get off- a church in the right

The street my work is on

What I see walking down to work

The Front door

My work space :)

Goodbye Dublin!

Goodbye Dublin, Ireland,
  This trip has been a really great adventure. I have met some amazing people and made some really great friends, both from America and Ireland. Most of the experiences have been great and a some not so. I have laughed harder than I ever have and cried with much more feeling than I ever thought I could. I will miss you a ton. But I know that I will now forever be a little Irish. I will always have Ireland in my heart. Thank you again for such an amazing adventure.

Alyssa

Tourist for a day

Friday, August 3rd

Today is my last day in Dublin. My mom and I get up to go on some small trips. I was exhausted from a long work week so we started around noon or one. We decided to wait to pack until later.

We caught the bus and headed to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. I had seen it once before and it was kind of boring. When we arrive there was a huge line! Super long. As we waited we chatted. It rained a bit but I was so used to it that we never opened our umbrellas.

Once inside it was actually a lot more interesting than it was last time. I took the time to read the explanations on the walls and looked at the pictures. I also watched a video on book binding. It was really cool to see how they used to bind books. Makes me wish I could. It also reminded me of Mo from "Inkheart". He was a book binder. Made me see how he actually would have done it.

I moved onto the room with the actual book, but it's not that exciting. I glanced at it, but spent most of my time in the Long Room (library). Beautiful. Inspiring. I really love libraries. It even smelled inspiring. I just sat there for a long time and waited for my mom.

After Trinity we walked to St. Stephen's Green. It was beautiful and green. We walked around the water. There were two little ponds. Most of them were filled with sea gals. lol. While walking around we saw a guy sitting with the swans. It was kind of cool. He was just sitting there in the middle of them feeding them.

On the way home we grabbed a mailing box so I could ship some stuff home, grab the souvenirs I needed from Pennys, and picking up the little airplane earring I really wanted.

Back home we packed that box and took it to the post office. The post office guy was really nice. He was truly Irish in the way he acted. Very kind and happy. Joked around with us a little. And this was even right about closing time.

From there we headed to the bus again and went down to Carroll's Souvenir shop. I got my Irish pub songs CD and a few things for my friends and family. Not far from there we headed to one of my favorite restaurants, Nandos. It is a chicken place where the food is cooked in Peri-peri sauce. It is a Portuguese recipe. Everything there is delicious.

After a VERY filling meal we headed home on the bus. We stopped at Spar and my mom got to finally try the YUMMY soft serve. Next came packing and cleaning. I passed out at about 2 am and got up between 5 and 6 am. My mom didn't sleep at all.

THE SHOWCASE

It was here! It was time to begin. Everything was set up and it was fabulous. The parents and kids were given some time to wander around and buy stuff. One of the kids brought us(the interns) a card. It was a thank you card. It wished us safe travels back to the states. I am only sorry I left it there because it was really sweet. Then they began to give out awards. I got to hand out the awards for the film camp because that was the one I was most in charge of (think screaming dictator, jk). It was so cute, and all the parents were so proud. Aftwards they all went down to watch the film. I had seen it about 10 times and decided not to go. I knew it would be chaos anyway.

Everyone came back from the cinema room and Gina gave out badges/awards. They were usually for completing a camp or being the best at your camp. Well at the end of it Gina had a few surprises. They had made a Badge for all the interns. It was a "You are a star" badge but it had a heart with wings and a keyhole. After I got mine I nearly cried. That was when Kelly decided to give me a hug and I started crying. I couldn't stop. I took a few breathes.

Next came the performance. It started out With Luke singing telephone. A few dances and songs later and the tributes started to come. Most of the kids dedicated their performance to all us interns. They kept doing more performances in honor of us after they were supposed to be done. It was really sweet. They all got together and sang Lazy Song for us, Natalie and I sang it a lot because it is one of my favorite songs. Then a few more performances. Finally Jade and Zoe went up to sing a song. They sang "World's Greatest" (I'm tearing up now thinking about it). They couldn't finish the song because Zoe started crying. Then all the other girls started crying and we had one big messy crying group hug. Even some of the boys started crying.

That is when the pictures started. Basically I sat and took a photo with every kid there. they came up one after the other with a hug and wanting a picture with me. The song could not be sang and it was time to say goodbye. It was really hard for all the kids but the fact that they all have Facebook (some are only 8) will soften the blow. They are all great, creative kids. One of them even brought her mother up to talk to me. She was so sweet, and gave me a hug before they left. I think we really have made a difference with these kids.

They all left one by one and it was time to clean up a little. We all hung out a got a few photos before saying our final goodbyes. It was rough. I had spent my last to months with these people. there are lots of photos of hugging and that's truly the relationship we left with. A joyful loving one. I would love to go back. I hope to keep in touch with these kids, and everyone I worked with on this adventure.

Afterwards my mum and I stopped at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland (1198). Had a pint of Bulmers then headed home to get ready for the busy next day.

P.S. If you would like to see the film will be on youtube sometime ( I don't know when). It is called "Young Heros"

Edit, edit...edit

Thursday, August 2nd

Today was a really hard day. It was my last day. Ever. The upcoming days many of the kids asked us when we were coming back. We had to tell them that we may never be back. It was the hardest thing because they knew we were leaving, but most of them didn't know we weren't coming back next summer. If I was getting paid, and had enough to live on I would totally come back to help out next summer, but it just isn't going to happen.

Anyway, I got up early because I wanted to be there around 10 or 10:30. I got there at 10:20. I knew I had to stay behind and not go speedboating. I needed to help Les finish editing the film that kids had been working on. the three other interns went boating with the kids at 10:30. I stayed behind and helped get things set up. At 11:30 Les got there and we started editing right away. Fortunately, Razvan got there around 11 and would help with the setting up while I went to edit. The kids had done a little editing that Tuesday, but it wasn't much to help us.

Now, one thing that you have to understand is how different Les and I operate. I wanted to get all the takes selected and then started cutting time and adding transitions. Less kind of wants to do it scene by scene. So, in the end we went back and forth between the two. the script had been cute a lot, so we knew it was going to be short, but, BOY, I did not expect to spend that many hours editing.

At about 1:30 my head was hurting from concentrating on the screen for such a long amount of time. My mom had been organizing and cleaning and making jewelry. We went out for lunch at Mannings. I got two salads and some cheese (the usual) and she got the spanish omelet with two salads. There they have sooo MANY salads. There are a lot that are creamy, though. Anyway....We talked about varies things. I told her about the film and how Gina had felt bad putting her to work (truthfully my mother loves that kind of work). It was relaxing and we finished with plenty of time to walk around. I walked down to some charity shops just to look in and around. She took lots of pictures of the buildings, yes I was embarrassed.

Also, on the way back to work we saw some of the kids mothers. I awkwardly waved at them and then we had a short conversation which I then awkwardly left. Even though it was, well, awkward I feel like they appreciated me stopping and saying hi. We see the kids everyday, but we do see the parents when they pick them up. We don't see them long but we do notice them. Some in good ways and some in bad, but mostly in good ways. At least from the parents that I have met.

At 2:30 I was back with Les editing. He had grabbed a quick lunch so he could continue editing. He got a good amount done but we still had a while ahead of us. We need up editing until about 5 pm. It was about 4- 4 1/2 hours of editing. ON the bright side, we got it looking pretty good and I learned how to use the editing part of iMovie. On the bad side, it could have been better if the kids had worked better. BUT what can you do? They are all around 10. They can't concentrate for 2 hours at a time on a film (we filmed it in only 3 days, less than 6 hours).

After we were done it was time to finish setting up. Kelly had gotten there by that time and was a great help. The awards had been made and everything was displayed well. It was almost time for the kids to arrive. The DVDs were burning for the film and the cases were ready for them. It was time for the showcase................

The finally days of order amongst chaos

Wednesday, August 1st

Unfortunately, I did not make it into the top 30 of the contest I was in :( I was really trying for it, but getting votes is not my thing. I hate trying to get votes and I always will. The day started out a little weird. My mom had to get up at 5 so I ended up waking her. Her alarm had not worked and mine had, but she wasn't used to the sound. After she left for her countryside bus tour I grabbed my blanket and pillow and slept in the bed until I woke up on time, maybe even early. I felt pretty well refreshed. I got ready and headed for the bus.

I was the first one at work other than Johanka. Gina ended up not feeling too well. She had stayed much later and I think the late night exhausted her after spending so much time getting ready for the showcase. During the "morning" section we let them practice their performances. Two of the boys were singing so they practiced their songs. I was sooo proud of them. They are both good, confident singers/rappers. After a few practices we had to let Brandon take over the music room. We was adding background music to the kids songs we had recorded the previous week. He spent the whole day in there. Zoe and Alex practiced their dance, and while they were doing that I worked on more bracelets. I made a lot of the girls because they liked how I did it.

I also helped them practice the words to a song. It is a silly song I learned in elementary. Miss Susy had a steamboat the steamboat had a bell, Miss went to heaven.....etc. I'm pretty sure the parents were going to hate it so I wouldn't repeat it. lol.

We took our lunch in. I grabbed some stuff from the Spar for lunch. Some cheese and lunch meat that I could full up together, then I also got my favorite yogurt and potato wedges. It was probably all terrible for me but oh, so yummy. Aisling came in to get something signed and ended up just hanging out with us for a while.

After lunch the chaos started. We literally had nothing for them to do. They war running around like crazy. One kid, younger than most of the others, was squirting paint everywhere. I told him you could not use anymore because it was all over the table. He got mad and yelled at me. He even shoved me because he didn't want to talk to me. I went in and hung out with Brandon because I couldn't deal with the noise anymore. He came to apologize and get more paint.

Once all the kids were gone we cleaned. We were all exhausted from the night before (did I mention Anne was back!). It was the evening of our going away dinner with EUSA. We left work early, but really there wasn't anything else we could do. We walked there and ate dinner. After dinner there was a trivia game and my team came in 3rd :( We didn't get anything, but one of there girls on our team won the bonus game. She had to pronounce a bunch of Irish street names. She did really well.

I hung around a little after and talked to some of my Chapman girls. I told the two who had gone with me to Galway the first time about my second trip. We got an extra glass of wine because some people didn't show up and I went to meet my mom on O'Connell.

This was the first time we had really seen each other since she had gotten there. We headed off to grab a CD of photos from a photo shoot. We then walked around. Got a title lost but it was really peaceful. Once finally on the bus we were able to really relax. I was very tired from the busy last couple days I had so we pretty much headed to bed. Thursday was the day of the showcase and about a 10 hour day. Little did I know what would be in store.

Goodbyes, good wines, and a bundle of laughs

Tuesday, July 31st

My mum came today. Unfortunately, I had work all day. Last week I made her a map on google docs on how to get to a few places while I was working. I got several calls throughout the day from her with questions, but I was excited to have her there.

Tuesday was a very exciting day at work, well after work. Anne was sick :( I started out the day meeting the new guy. I had started Monday and would be there for 10 weeks. He is from Romania. A pretty chill guy. He'll be good there, but unfortunately it was our last week. After that we started to get ready for the showcase. Some of the kids went in to edit with Les, but we pretty much had to entertain the rest of them. It was tough. They didn't have anything to do, so they kind of just ran wild.

I stayed in for lunch. I had my last rice and egg meal. It was as yummy as always. I would have gone to lunch with everyone, but Pauline wasn't there so I was supposed to go with the kids to swimming. It wasn't until after lunch when I realized swimming had been canceled. They were cleaning the pool. How silly of me. The next two hours were spent trying to keep the kids under control.

We had them work on making bracelets for the showcase. They used beads that some of them had made a few weeks earlier. Originally the beads were to be used for wind chimes, but they didn't balance to well. One of the girls got so upset she yelled that Gina was meaner than the Devil. Before she had not been attached to the chimes. Not until they were being taken apart. Well we dealt with it. I wouldn't let her use them for something other than making jewelry to sell and she said I was meaner than Gina. The funny thing was at the showcase I was her best friend. She came up to hug me about 4 different times during the beginning go the night (that is another story). In the end she was mad, but she got over it.

After we got off about 5 pm the three interns headed off to Arthurs. It the pub on the corner we turn onto for work. It was cute and comfortable. The bartender/waiter was really nice and patient. I ended up getting a cheeseburger with not bun (big surprise..). We spent the next hour and a half laughing and crying. We had some emotional discussions about politics and past experiences. We pretty much covers every topic you could think of. It was great and made me realize how much I was going to miss everyone. I love everyone I had met on the trip, but the three people I work with are amazing and will be hardest to leave.

After dinner we head back to the Clubhouse. We had an "adult" going away party. It was the inters, the new guy, Les, Gina (the boss), Ivanna, Johanka, and Pauline. It was a lot of fun. We drank wine and listened to music. Talked and danced. It was a deadly four hours. Deadly in the good way, of course. A little after 11 I headed out to catch the bus. I got home around midnight and showed my mom around the place, even though she had been there for several hours. I just wanted to show her a few things she may not know about the apartment. That night I slept on the floor on couch cushions. It had been a challenging day with the kids and an interactive day with my fabulous coworkers!

Olympics at Nubar

Monday, July 30th

I slept through my alarm. I slept a lot this weekend, so maybe it was because of that. I don't know. Maybe I overslept this weekend and it made me extra tired. Whatever the reason was I woke up feeling super groggy. And I know it wasn't the wine from the night before because I didn't have that much. It was mostly just hanging out. I ended up staying home from work and sleeping even more hours, if that we even possible. When I eventually got up I didn't know what to do. There wasn't anything I could do from home fore work and I was caught up on my blogs.

Well, do you want to know what I did? I chatted on Facebook messenger to friends I had just begun to know. Yup, that is pretty much all I did. I had been invited to go out to Nubar with people to watch the Olympics. It was about a 5 minute walk from where we lived, so it was convenient. I didn't feel much like drinking so I only had 2 ciders over the course of about 3 hours. Nothing more special that that. It was great craic watching the swimming and gymnastics. No wonder these are our olympians.

I walked home with some of my girls, and tried to get to sleep early. No luck, unfortunately, but I did get some good reading done.

Lazy Days

Saturday, July 28th-Sunday, July 29th

I didn't do much. I watched a lot of Even Stevens and a few films. I cleaned my room and did some cooking. I chatted with friends back home. I cooked and got a few things from the Spar to eat. I sent a lot of e-mails. The usually catch-up days for the apartment and blog. I have almost finished all the chocolates the kids gave me. lol. Maybe I should eat another kiwi....

I decided I wanted ice cream and saw one of my friends in her apartment window. We chatted for a minute, but then i went to get my ice cream. I stopped back at her place and we did a catch up on everything we had not told each other yet about the past few days. Her and her roommates told me they were going over to a new friend's apartment for hanging out and wine. It was a lot of fun. We just relaxed and talked. All the students were international and  were taking classes in Dublin to learn english.  They were from Russia, Italy, and France. I headed home about midnight and went to bed feeling happy. I was glad I had seen some of my friends after they had all been gone for the weekend.

Good Craic- From Dublin to Galway and back

Thursday, July 26- Friday, July, 27th

Last day of the work week, and the last day of filming. On the way to work I saw one of the kids. Her mom had brought us all gifts. We each got a sparkling juice drink, chocolates, and flowers. It was so sweet. We even got  a little card. They were going on holiday and would not be back before we leave. It was so so sweet. I felt so blessed.

This was the last day of filming. Two kids had the wrong outfit on and it was terrible. I had to yell every ten seconds. We cut a bunch of lines because they jet could not concentrate. After one change into superhero costumes we were done and it was lunch time.

I stayed in again and Natalie brought me some fruit. I mostly sat inside with Les and talked about the film and how we were going to edit it. We just talked until they all got back from getting their food. We sat outside for a while but I was wearing black so I was steaming.

When we went back inside I made a map for my mom. It was telling her how to get around to a few places near my apartment. It didn't take too long, thankfully, because we had to record more songs. A few of the boys hadn't been there the day before to record.

 Finally done with recording I had to leave to catch the bus. I said a quick hello to Natalie's parents and left. I was going to Galway for the evening. I had made a friend the last time I was there and he invited me out to his roommate's birthday party. On the bus to my bus to Galway I was glad to be able to say goodbye to Julia. I hadn't seen her much lately because we had both been super busy.

I found the bus and was one of the first ones on. The ride was pretty relaxing. I check my e-mail and talked to the lady next to me. She was Celiac as well and carried a book with her everywhere that told her what she could eat. She had two kids and was living in Galway but used to live in Dublin. She had gone back to Dublin the night before to watch her brother play a gig. She was really nice and we had a great conversation.

I arrive in Galway and hung out at my friend's place until his roommate got back. We headed out to a pub called the Skeff. I met a lot of really cool people, and it was good craig (good fun).  We all stayed up pretty late, so I slept nearly the whole day the next day.

A few of us grabbed an early dinner and then I grabbed the bus back home. My iPod was almost out of battery and the internet connection was not working very well so I half slept the majority of the ride. Once I got back in Dublin it was about 10 pm and I grabbed a postcard and an ice cream. I got on the bus and headed home. Once I got home I relaxed. Watched TV (Even Stevens is on Netflix here). Made food. The usual.

Awake and ready to...record?

Wednesday, July 25th

I woke up feeling wide awake. I knew I must've been better. Especially, because I had gone to bed so late. One of the first things I do after getting ready is make breakfast (one egg with cheese and ketchup). Unfortunatly, none of my roommates had done their dishes from the night before, so the sink was full. It was ok because I normally try to wash my dishes right away, and I knew they would do them a little later.

On the way to work I got off a stop early to grab some water. I haven't been doing well with staying hydrated here because the water that comes out of the tap doesn't taste very good. I stopped at a Tesco (the most common grocery store) and picked up a 2 liter that was only 49c. That's pretty amazing if I do have to say so.

Today was another music day. While everyone else was working upstairs, or should I say trying to control the kids who were in utter chaos, I was downstairs recording people singing their songs to that they could add them to the tracks they had made on garage band. I found out the first hour I had been recording it hadn't been working....so we had to start all over. We ended up finishing only one song that session.

Lunch we headed out to Mannings as a group again. It was Gina, Natalie, Brandon, Anne, Jade, and me. I got two salads and some cheese. It was actually a REALLY good decision. Brandon sat at a table separate from us because our table was pretty crowded. We talked about nonsense and then headed back to the clubhouse for the afternoon camp.

Everyone else worked on crafts and I continued the records. We got almost everyone done this time. Some of them were REALLY cute. The songs varied immensely on subject and how well written they were. The end of the day was spent not he computers relaxing. Gina listened to the records. In the end it had been pretty successful.

After work Anne, Brandon and I decided to grab some food. It had been a long day and we were hungry. We ate at Eddie Rockets. It was actually pretty good. I got a burger in a bowl (a salad with a burger and cheese on top) and Anne and I split a chocolate milkshake. It was pretty satisfying. I headed home from there and said bye to my roommates that evening. Two of them were leaving to travel other places, and then head home. Their program ended a week earlier than mine did.

Last Tuesday- filming, bullying, friends

Tuesday, July 24th

I guess I'm still not used to how early the sun comes up. My blinds were closed, but there was enough room at the bottom for light to get through. I had gone to bed at about 10 to 11 the night before and ended up getting up around 9:45. That is another way you can tell I need healing. I can fall asleep earlier, but I stay asleep longer.

I felt better when I got up, but still a bit off. Today was a film day so I had to be there a little earlier. It seems that whenever I get on the bus nowadays it has to stop and change drivers. It doesn't bother me too much, but it is slightly annoying if I'm late. Fortunately, I wasn't late that day.

We got quite a bit of the film done. One kid forgot his clothes, but we just had to make due. There wash't an option for him to go home and get them or wait another day. Overall, the filming was pretty good. A bit frustrating because you are trying to get 9 year olds to act and be quiet, but good all the same. I spent a lot of time sitting the script. Cutting things out, changing lines. All that lovely stuff.

After that was lunch. I ate in again, as usual. Had tea and my egg/rice combo. It was relaxing and pretty yummy. One of the girls grabbed me a few chocolates. We started watching the movie again, but I was asked to go with Des to swimming. They need one male and one female with the kids when they take them swimming. It's a child protection legal type thing.

Des and I just sat there and talked while the kids were swimming. We ate crisps and I drank my water. Quite peaceful and relaxing really. Unfortunately, there was some bullying between the boys. I'm not going to talk about it on here but it was very saddening. They are all so young, and already starting to bully each other. And this is not slagging or joking around. This is straight out of the textbook bullying. Hopefully, things were fixed. I know they were talked about but it's at least being talked about. I think they are going to do an anti-bullying program soon. Just so they know what is allowed and what will happen if they do bully.

After all that I headed off to the usually place. Diceys was packed. Some of my friends didn't get into the penthouse because too many people had heard about it and gone past the number. Even one of the guys that works for the guy who gets us in got there too late to get in. It was sad. Mainly, I was there to hang out with people because it was going to be my last time. I'm not going this Tuesday because of a work party, and my mom is going to be here. Both very god reasons to not go. I am going to miss everyone I normally see there.

On the way to the bus I always stop and get food. At my bus stop a woman was begin for money and food. We wasn't like everyone else who just stand there with a cup she was going up to people. When I told her I didn't have change she said she'd take my food. I was insulted. It was the first thing I was eating since lunch and I told her that, then walked on. Later she rudely yelled at these guys, saying that they were, "gay anyway." They yelled that there was no problem with being gay, but she yelled it about 3 more times. Then she got on a bus and left.

The rest of the ride home was peaceful. I talked to some people I knew and when I got home I spent about 3 hours searching for houses. I sent out a bunch of requests, then fell asleep at about 3 or 4 am.

Glutened...

Monday, July 23rd

I had a lot of trouble sleeping sunday night because I had slept the majority of the weekend.I got up later than I should have but got to work on time. As I dressed I chose my new flare jeans, and they made me feel like  hippy :) I've always wanted to be a hippy.

Waiting for the bus I was nervous. I was taking the same number of bus that we met the vicious people on Saturday night. I looked totally different and doubt they would have done anything even if they were on the bus that early in the day. It was a little silly anxiety.

At work we worked with some new students on music. There were a few that had never written anything, so it was really hard to get them going. After the two hours I was a bit frustrated, but two out of the three had lyrics, even if I ended up writing half of them.

At lunch I brought food. It said it was wheat free, but I didn't check the package closely enough because it must've had gluten. By the end of lunch I was really not feeling well. I got sick, but mostly my headache was what bothered me. Drinking a lot of water really helped. I had to warn everyone because when I get glutened I get really moody and irritated.

During art the kids worked on making octopuses out of gym socks. I helped a little, but mostly folded cards that they were going to sell. Some ended up being really cute.

It was a long day so one of the young kids stayed and the normal older kids were there. We just hung out and kind of worked on projects. There was a lot of slagging going on, but that has become pretty normal in our office.

I still wasn't feeling my best, so I think I just headed straight home. I can't quite remember, but with how I was feeling that would make the most sense.

Sunday Funday

Sunday, July 22nd

I got up. Watched Tv. Relaxed. Wrote 6 blogs. Did my laundry. Made food. and talked to people. That is all I did today and it was nice :) A good way to end my weekend. AND I finally used the machine to do my laundry. Not just hand washing it :D

A night on the town

Saturday, July 21st

Ok. Woke up at 3 pm. Watched movies, ate, relaxed. Went outside at about 8 pm because I saw some friends out there I hadn't talked to much. They were all getting ready to go out and tried to convince me to join them. Finally I agreed because one of the guys wanted my help with a girl and I hadn't really gone out with them much.

We get on the bus and there is already trouble. There were some drunken Irish girls in the back and the guy with them called one of the guys I was with a fag because of his jacket. These girls were really feisty and some small fights ended up happening. One girl tried to kick one of our girls in the head for laughing and another hit one of our guys in the face about 3 times for no reason. He just sat their and took it because he wasn't going to hit a girl. The whole ride they were saying stuff and there were a few times where people stood up to fight but we stopped it for the most part.

They were about to get off when one of them said another comment and our guys were on them. After the scuffle they finally got off and one of our guys punched a window. He barely touched it and it broke. We got off the bus at the next stop, and fortunately did not see them again that night.

Our group got separated. Some of us headed one way and the others a different way. A small group of us went to one pub and then we headed to Flannerys. We met up with everyone there, coincidentally. Then we went to a club called the Village. After a few hours there I was in a ton of pain, so we grabbed a taxi and head back at about 2 am. I had been wear new shoes and 4 hours of walking and dancing was a lot for them.

I went straight to bed. I was exhausted. It had been a good night. Maybe a little too eventful at some points but still really good.

Tour guide and eating down

Friday, July 19th

Today I get to hang out with my sorority sister Laurie! I am so excited. They day started out pretty late because we all were up pretty late. Around noon I head out to a charity shop that I had wanted to visit for a long time. I pass it every day on the way to work on the bus. In Ireland they call them charity shops instead of thrift stores. The one time I asked about thrift stores they had no idea what I was talking about.

Anyway, the main reason I wanted to stop was because there was this gorgeous black dress in the window. I tried on a few dresses that I found and the lady got me a few that looked like the one in the window. Unfortunately, none of them fit and they were a bit too dressy. I need up getting a really cute dress. I reminds me a mix of the 50s and the Navy. A great dress for pin-up. I also picked up a book because it was only 20c. It's called "The King of Torts." Does anyone know if it is any good? It looked interesting. And I've heard John Grisham is a really good author.

After I got my purchase, which included running down the street to the ATM and back, I hoped onto the bus and rode down to temple bar. They weren't ready when I arrive so I just hung out with them and talked until they were ready.

Our first stop of the day was at Trinity college. We walked around and took pictures then got in the LONG line for the Library. Actually the line was for the Book of Kells, but we wanted to see the library. The book of Kells was ok. Not too interesting. A guard told me yawning wasn't allowed, but we was joking. Once we entered the Library, though, it was totally different. It was so breathtaking I almost cried. Beautiful dark wood bookcases reaching up two floors. It was like walking into a dream. I was almost sorry I had to leave.

After Trinity we headed off to grab a bite at McDonalds (I eat there WAY too much). Before we left I saw one of the students I work with at the clubhouse. I waved as we were leaving and he kind of squinted at me then there was a dawning of understand. He waves real big and yells "Hi Melissa!" Haha, close enough. He's only met me two or three times, and even the kids who have been there for longer have trouble remembering my name.

The last stop before going out was Penneys. It was a good time :)

We headed back and talked to the other girls who came for a bit then got ready. We grabbed a pizza and fries (I got all the fries;)) and started with some whiskey and sprite. It was gross. Close to midnight we finally left.

The first club we went to was called club Sin. A person got us all in for free, but it wasn't very good. The DJ was off a bit with mixing. We ended up leaving after half an hour. Next was Club M, we got in there for free as well. I was a lot of fun. We were having a girls night, so we had to keep warding off boys. Finally around 1:30 we went to Madonna. We walked in and then walked out. It was terrible.

We decided to head back to the room for a while just to chill. About 2:45 we went back out, but everything was closed so we got fries and went back to our rooms. The next couple hours we were. We  watched some TV and tried to stay awake since they had to get up at 5:30. I ended up sleeping on and off from 4 am to 5:45. So, I got maybe an hour and a half of sleep. We all got packed and they got ready to leave. I said my goodbyes and headed to see if the bus was running yet. It was, fortunately. I didn't think it would be so I scouted the opening times for Starbucks and McDonalds.

I got on at about 6:45 am and headed home. After getting back to my apartment I skyped my mom at 7 am, my time. After getting off at 8 am I fell asleep for the next 7 hours. It had been a really good night. I am so glad my sister was able to come visit after her travel course.

Lights, Camera...paper?

Thursday, July 19th

Today we were to actually start filming!! A few kids didn't show up so we worked on one-on-one scenes mostly. It was so cute how much they tried. I was sooo proud of all of them. They kept concentration most of the time and we got a good bit of it all filmed. It was absolutely adorable. I can't help but smile thinking about it :D

I ate lunch in. My normal egg fried rice with tea. Everyone went to go grab food but they came back and ate in the kitchen. We ended up watching some of "Fun with Dick and Jane" on my iPod. It was fun. We all made little commentaries here and there, but we'll have to finish the movie another time.

After lunch we made paper! Well we didn't make paper. We used things to make designs on paper. It was a lot of fun, but the kids got bored with it. How can you get bored blowing bubbles? Maybe it was because there were rules about it... There were two ways we made the designs. There were several different bowls that had paint, water, and soap in them. Then you blow bubbles with a straw until the bubble are higher than the top of the bowl. You let the bubble touch the paper so that they pop and leave color. You then do this with what ever colors you like and let it dry. I made like 10 of them. It was kind of awesome.

The other type of design you could make involved shaving cream. You spread a thin layer of shaving cream on foil then put a few drops of paint. Then smear the paint around to create a design. Then lay the paper on the shaving cream. Lastly, scrape of the excess shaving cream. Let dry. I cannot tell you how much fun I had with both of these designs. After clean up, which was quite a process, we all left and Kelly lead me to the piercing place I went to the week before. I wanted to pick up some individual earrings for my new piercing. I ended up getting four really cute ones. a green butterfly, a pink ladybug, a multi-colored ring and a shamrock w/ a heart.

Now it was time to meet up with Laurie! One of her friends joined us, which happened to be a girl that I knew. We went out and grabbed dinner. In the middle of dinner I realized I had forgotten my wallet at the piercing place. I ran all the way there and they had it! Thank goodness :) On the way back to the restaurant I got a little lost, but I always find my way :) I also met some of the other people who had gone on the history trip with her. All Chapman students, of course. After dinner everyone else split for a nap and Laurie and I went out to a few places.

I showed her Porterhouse (central), the old storehouse, and we stopped into O'Sullivans. Quays, and a few other pubs to listen to the music. It made me really realize that I would have to get a CD of all the Irish pub songs before I left because I would miss them. After all that I had to grab the bus so we said our goodbyes. I was going to spend the whole day with them the next day and crash at their apartment so i could say goodbye in the morning.

Home. I relaxed and stayed up too late. Then fell asleep.

Working hard or hardly working

Wednesday, July 18th

We all thought today would be a pretty easy day for the music camp. Normally a guy comes in and works on making instruments with the kids. So, before he came we made it our mission that each kid would have a song of their own that they had written. We all, including the kids, got so carried away that we didn't even notice that Ed didn't show up. One thing we can say is that we succeeded. Now, a few of them still need to type their songs up and most need to use garageband to add background music. Some kids were a little tougher to get going but we did it!

Lunch as out day. We went to a cafe that I call the "Blue Cafe" because I don't know its name. I had been looking forward to getting the Irish breakfast there for the last couple days. It is always yummy, but sometimes a little too much meat to eat. The three of us girls went and then Pauline and Gina joined us later. We had a fun chat and enjoyed our meal, but it was back to the grind.

In the Art Camp today we were making signs to advertise for the showcase/crafts fair. These signs would be hung around Dublin 8 to try and get people to come and buy what the kids had made. Of course the kids got bored quickly but we did get some signs done. I really do hope we can get people in, so that the kids can feel successful. After working on that for quite awhile it was time for the meeting. There was a meeting with the parents about having a kids fun run to raise awareness and funds. It was mostly a planning meeting to see how people felt about it and what they might want to take place.  It was short so we hung out with Kelly and Jade for a little while after.

After work I headed off to a Starbucks with Natalie and Anne. One of my sisters from my sorority was visiting so I needed wifi to try and get ahold of her. At about 9 o'clock I headed home. While I was waiting I had a lovely drink. It was mango and passion fruit. It had tea in it and tasted really good, and it tasted good without begin too sweet. I found out she had fallen asleep and since the sun stays up so long she didn't know what time it was when she got up. It was totally fine because I got to spend a lot of time with her the next two days.

Home I relaxed, ate a late dinner, and went to bed later than I should have (as usual).

Emotional talks

Tuesday, July 17th

We were having a meeting today, so we had to be there at 10:30 instead of 11:30. Well... my alarm sucks and I think I pressed stop instead of snooze. I got up an hour later than I was supposed to, but I'm awesome and got ready in 25 minutes. I head out to the bus and didn't have to wait too long, fortunately.

On the other hand there was an accident on the road, so we were stuck for about 10 minutes. Then to make matters worse the bus kept breaking down. It took forever to get there, but I was only 15 minutes late.

The meeting was about how we felt we were connecting with the kids. How we affect them and how they affect us. What it really means to us to work there and why we work there. It was pretty emotional.  It lasted for about an hour and a half, so the kids got there and we had to end it. It was inspiring. It reminded my why I always seem to end up working with kids.

Today was a film day. We spent the whole time reading and practicing lines. It was a tough camp because they had to concentrate the whole time. At the end we had them working on costumes for fun.

This was a staying in for lunch day. I made soup and chatted with Brandon. It was an invigorating conversation about all kinds of topics.

After lunch we came back and painted flower pots as well as working on designing mirrors and working on frames. Very fun.

After work I headed off to Dicey's as per usual. I hang out with some new friends I met there and helped comfort a girl when a guy was a jerk. Then grabbed some food at McDonalds before I headed off to catch the bus. We all went home and got straight to bed.

Learning to sew...again

Monday, July 16th

Work again. Today started off as a usually day. Alarm went off and couldn't get up, so let myself sleep in just long enough so I could get to the bus on time. I got all ready and wore shorts because it was going to be 67 (that's really warm here).

As I was waiting for the bus I was texting my photographer because I left my little point-and-shoot camera in his car. As I looked up in the middle of my text the bus passed by without stopping (Great!). It meant I had to wait at least another 15 minutes for another bus. I stood and waited in my shorts and huge rainbow colored umbrella. A homeless man was sitting their but he left before I got ob the bus. I seem to see him a lot there. There was even one occasion where the driver drove past the stop a little so that he would have to get on behind me and another girl. Then he wouldn't let him on. I can understand why, but at the same time it seemed really cruel.

I get on the bus and head up to the top floor (saloon) as usual. There is a couple up there being really loud and smoking. You are not supposed to smoke on the bus. It is one of the rules, and it was really annoying that they were doing that. If someone wants to smoke that is their business, but if other people are with you in an inclosed space that's just rude. At one point the bus driver stopped the bus and made everyone get off, including the smokers. The driver told us we could get on the next bus coming, but oddly enough once the group that was smoking walked away from the bus he let everyone else on and we continued on our way.

I ended up being a little late, but the Irish don't care. I could have called in sick and it totally would have been fine. I mean, if I were actually sick. When I arrived everyone was working on there songs, but one girl who was eleven was working on sewing her pants into shorts. I spent the whole day working with her on that. We pinned each leg, sewed it, rolled each leg and sewed again. At this point it was lunch time.

We went to Mannings and got two salads. I chose the wrong salads because they were too similar. I ended up not being able to finish it. What made this lunch so fun is that it was not just means the two girl interns the boy intern and two people who ran the club were also with us. We were slagged and did some slagging as well. It was just a whole lot of fun.

After lunch we headed back to the clubhouse and I continued to work with the girl on her shorts. We sewed on a star and started on the heart when the machine stopped work, again. Once before while we had been working the machine stopped and I had to the thins out and put new things in. It took awhile because I had not had to do that in about 4 years.

At about 4:50 I get a call. I was supposed to met the photographer at 4:30 to pick up my camera but I was so immersed in this sewing project that time had completely slipped my mind. I ran down and hopped on the first bus to city city. We met at the spire and I got my camera back! On the way back the bus broke down a few times and a nice irish gentleman talked my ear off. He was very nice, but I could only understand about 1/2 of what he said. Finally, the driver just made everyone get off and I decided to walk back because I was pretty close.

When I got back all the kids had left and we just hung out. If I remember correctly I just headed straight home that night and relaxed.

Sunday, July 15th

I didn't really do much today. Woke up late. Watched TV. Wrote two blogs. Ate. Talked to a new friend. Went to Pennys. Normally Pennys is really good. The costumer service is usually good, but today they were just not very nice. Also, things are priced differently in the different stores and there are different styles of clothing in different stores. I was pretty disappointed overall. I came home, ate dinner, and watched TV. It was an ok day, but I think I am going to go for a walk before I go to bed. I just need a little bit of fresh air. Tomorrow will be a much better day.

*Pictures once I get my camera back.

Beach Shoot DAY

Saturday, July 14th

Today was photo shoot day. I slept in because I didn't have to leave until 4 or 5 to get to the shoot at 6. I watched TV and got ready for the shoot. With everything packed, lunch and breakfast eaten, and a clean face I headed off to meet the photographer at the mall. He was giving me a ride to the beach so that I wouldn't get lost.

It took about 15 minutes to walk there, and then the car ride was about half an hour. We met the make-up artist and I started in on make-up before the other girls got there. The premiss of the shoot was a group of friends just hanging out on the beach. It was a life style shoot, which are one of my favorite type of shoots to do. I was surprised at the end of getting my make-up done because the make-up artist put barely any mascara on. I pride myself in my long lashes, so I was a bit confused. She wanted it to be natural. I know what natural is, but whenever I do natural it usually means no fake lashes, not that I am barely going to wear any mascara to the point where you can just barely see my lashes. Oh well, I'm sure the photos will turn out great, and other than that the make-up artist was really good at what she did and very nice.

The cast of models consisted of 5 of us. There were 3 girls and 2 boys. Even though all of them had been living in Ireland for years only one was actually Irish. One of the girls was from latvia and the other from Nigeria. The other guy was from Poland. It was quite a cast.

The shoot started out with us all walking on the beach to one of the locations. We sat in the sand and on some dunes. We even ran down a sandy hill about three or four times. I fell once. Toppled straight over and ended up landing on my back. Well, I kind of landed on my head and rolled over onto my back. It was a lot of fun. We also took photos splashing in the water. I even got a piggyback ride (jockey back).

At first everyone was pretty quiet but I was goofy and animated and it didn't take too long to get them animated. We were laughing in no time. As the photographer said, "It takes the American." lol. By the end of the day we felt like we were actually good friends. The rest of the night was spent eating and relaxing because I didn't get home until after 10.

Friday the 13th

Friday, July 13th

It's Friday the 13th, oh no! I slept in late because I had stayed up late trying to Skype with my mom. I haven't been able to sleep in for a while, so it was nice. Answered some e-mails and worked on my blog a little. Before I starting working on my blog I went grocery shopping, first time in almost two weeks. 

I went to Henry St. because I have not been there yet. I stopped at the Pennys quick to see if they had a pair of jeans I had wanted. They didn't, but I picked up some nail polish since the stuff from my Friday shoot was badly chipped. 

From there I headed to the Tescos across the street. I walked around a lot trying to find stuff. European grocery stores are so hard to navigate. Everything is labeled weird and in weird spots. AND they don't pizza sauce. I just made my own pizza sauce with tomato sauce, italian seasoning, and garlic powder. It didn't taste too bad. Actually, it tasted pretty good. Anway, by the time I got up to the cash register my hands were shaking. My basket was really heavy. 

I took everything home on the bus and cooked for the next hour or hour and a half. I didn't taste the pizzas, but they look good, so fingers crossed. I spent the rest of the evening blogging (I did about 5 of them), relaxing, and getting prepared for the next day. I went to bed around 2 am.

The Irish way

Thursday, July 12

Alarm goes off at 8:45. Reset it....forget to activate new time. Wake up at 10:30 (when I was supposed to leave for work). Shower, call work. They just laugh at me and tell me it's no big deal. I got slagged a bit when I got there but they were just messing around. The Irish don't care much about time constraints. Next, finished getting ready, eat, clean my room a little. My room was truly a tragedy  pretty much since I got here.

Head off to work and get there around 1:30. Kids are only a break and I "wake" some of them up by tickling them. We design our costumes and tell them what they need to bring (an extra set of clothes they can leave there). The script has been edited by the other interns and it was time for the kids to leave.

The four of us head out to lunch (a rarity). I wasn't very hungry sense I got up late and ate late. We went to Mannings and I got a Spanish Omelet anyway. It wasn't bad but I added ketchup (Did I mention that Irish brands taste a lot more vinegary than American brands?). Before we left we all got a dessert as well. I got a Meringue Cream thingy. It was ok, but not the best dessert I have ever had.

On our way back we stopped at a charity shop (thrift store) and looked at a few things. I might go back and check to see if they have a dress that I like or maybe some shoes that were really cute. We walked about in there for a long time. They had books, records, and kitchen stuff as well. I wasn't too impressed because what I was interested in wasn't my size. :( On the brighter side, new things come in almost every day.

After we got back I stayed down stairs and ate my meringue because I needed a spoon for it. Jade came down to say hi because everyone upstairs told her I was in the kitchen. We both like giving lots of hugs. WenI headed upstairs and everyone was working on frames. They only worked for about an hour then around 4 a bunch of kids left to work on photography. The few kids that left continued working on frames or mosaics. I finished two that had been started. Boy, that glue is hard to get off. After I finished both I felt quite accomplished.

Work ended about 5 and we all headed out. I rode down with the girls to Dame St. because they were going to grab dinner before their Need to Breath concert. We said our goodbyes and I headed out to O'Connell. Since I've been here I've begun to eat a lot of McDonalds. I always get the same thing. A double cheese burger with no bun and either fries or a carmel sundae, except this time I got a fruit pouch. It had apples and grapes.  It was as yummy as always:)

I headed home to drop off some of my stuff and then got changed. I went to the Palace Bar (black rum on ice) because I had been given a list of pubs I needed to go to in Dublin and that was on it. Then met some friends at the Old Storehouse Bar (Prickly Melon & Aqua were my drinks). The four of us was joined by one other person and then we met up with three other girls. It was some one's birthday. We went to the Trinity bar and got vouchers for a free shot with any drink. I got a Cranberrytini and the shot was vodka and grenadine. We all cheers-ed to her birthday. Later We also got a Baby Guinness shot (Kaluha & Baileys) and cheers-ed to her birthday again.

Most everyone wanted to stay out late so me and one other girl left to catch the bus (neither one of us wanted to pay for a taxi that night). We grabbed some McDonalds (second time that day) and were able to catch the #1 bus. It was the bus that got off closest to where we live. We chatted with some girls on the bus who were in the same program as us.

Once I got home I stayed up wwaayyy too late Facebook-ing and watching TV, but it was nice being able to relax after a long week.

Music, energy, and murals

Wednesday, July 11th

Today is a special day. I would get my phone back and the kids have a field trip to a place called ENERGY, but first we have the music camp. I got up a little early that morning and headed over the O'Connell St. I got off and found the lost properly office. THEY HAD MY PHONE! I had to pay 2 euro to get it back but I was so excited that I didn't care. BUT right after I for it a bird pooped on me os I ran around trying to find a bathroom to wash it off my jacket and umbrella. After that it was pretty smooth sailing. I got on my bus and headed off to work.

At the clubhouse we knew the guy who makes instruments with the kids was coming so we took it pretty relaxed. First we went over the cords and then started on writing songs again. It got really tough because we were expecting to go make instruments, so the kids weren't listening very well, if at all. They were all antsy and there was maybe two or three kids helping us write the song. Finally we went over and made whistles. They are the ones where you pull out the stick to make different sounds. It was slightly annoying but I think they all enjoyed it. After we finished the whistles we had the kids work on individual lyrics. After they finished two verses (four lines each) and one chord (two lines) they were allowed to spend the rest of the time messing on the computers.

We were originally told we were going with the kids to energy so my can of soup was useless, because I didn't know if I could eat it in time to make it only the "bus" they were taking the kids in, so we all went and grabbed some food. They went to spar to get bread, hummus, and tomatoes. I went to a grocer store called Lidl and got deli ham, cheese slices, and yogurt. We got back and ate quickly. We went to join the kids on the bus and then found out that we wouldn't be with the kids at all. We would be in a completely different area just hanging out, so we all stayed. That way Gina (our boss) wouldn't have to drive us.

I spent that 2 hours of time catching up on two blogs then we kind of just hung out with two girls that came in. They weren't going to energy, so they were working on frames to sell and listening to music until it was time for them to leave. After they left we ended up working on ideas for the mural. We decided to just do it on one of the walls by the clubhouse entrance instead of trying to find a wall people could see. This way it could be used for two different purposes. We would do the mural and the little kids could help. We could also have a BBQ and tape people in a more secure location. Secondly, it would help direct people to where the clubhouse was. It can be a hard place to find (I can testify to the) and would help a lot. Plus those back areas could always use more color.

We then chose an image to base it off of, and even figured out how we will write the words and everything. It was brilliant actually. As usual, it was about 7 when we got off. I went home right after, for the first time in like forever. I finally got toilet paper (was out for almost week) and 2L bottles of water.  I could only carry two. I had planned to work on my blogs (I was about 5 days behind) but then water to relax a little first. THEN I had to figure out where I was actually going on Saturday. I had to find my way to a beach for a shoot. That took quite a while.

Finally, when I was about to go to bed a got a message on Facebook from my roomie. She had found a place for the three of us to live next year. Yay! But it only had 2 bedrooms. Boo! Well, we talked about it and what needed to be done until about 2 am my time. I was so tired and had to go to bed. Once I was in bed I couldn't sleep :S So I watched a little tv to numb my mind (I know not a good practice, but when I get desperate that's what I do) and eventually feel asleep.

Beads, scripts, and new piercings

Tuesday, July 10th

I called in the morning to see about my phone and they said they wouldn't know until about 1:30 pm that day. I was so anxious to get it back, but I now I'd survive.

Tuesday was a film day, so I was helping lead. Les was really late, so we didn't have anything to discuss. Not long before the kids got there I starting typing up the script. It was only about 5 pages in all typed, but it took me nearly 2 hours. By the time I was done it was 1:30 and the kids were to leave at 2.  We had them think about costumes and look at the script for a minute. Then they went home.

I had brought my lunch but I went with Anne and Jade to the fish and chips place down the street. I ate my sandwich and apple then I got chips. After we ate we also got 2 euro soft serve. The soft serve here is really good because it is really creamy. It tastes more like whipped cream or cream you might put in coffee. A lot less milky. Anyway, it was yummy and we head back to start on art.

For art the kids worked on the mosaics again, as well as making beads. A lot of kids weren't there because it was a swimming day. At first we were using the wrong stuff for the ears, but then we finally got the right clay. The rest of the day we made cute, colorful beads to use in our wind chimes, and if didn't use them in the wind chimes we could use them to make jewelry to sell. We are really trying to get money for the clubhouse because the staff would really like to take the kids on more trips. Trips cost a lot of money and have to pay to use the van that they own (lame, but its the rules). THe beading was a bit frustrating, but we (mostly the adults) ended up making some really cool ones.

After crafts it was time to go home. We had to clean up so we got off around 5:15. Before I headed to Diceys to meet up with my friends I went with Anne and Jade to get my ear pierced. I had been wanting to do this for years and it finally was a good time, and a good souvenir. The three of us went and I was a little nervous. After it was done I was super excited about it the rest of the day. I was SOOO glad I got it done. The place was really small and in the middle of the mall. Almost like a kiosk. It was only 8 euro and would have been 6 if I had just gotten the ball instead of the "diamond". I was totally in love with it right after it happened.

I met some new people that I had not known before and hung out with the usually crowd. It was a lot of fun. The guy that gets us into the penthouse every week was there and so was one of his new employees. Towards the end of the night I was trying to teach her how to dance. It was pretty funny since she is a good 5 or so years older than me.

I headed out with my friends and we missed the bus by about 5 minutes. Then waited for what we thought was going to be the bus, but the bus ended up only going to city center (not even close to where we lived) so we had to grab a taxi. I went straight to bed. Or as straight to bed as I tend to go.

Mosaics and Chicken

Monday, July 9th

Another music day was afoot. Unfortunately, Natalie had found out some bad news about a friend and could not stay. We led the group instead for her. We spent the majority of the day writing songs. We worked on one song specifically. Some of them had worked on the lyrics the week before so we cut up the lyrics so they could reorganize them and they could add other lyrics and a chorus. Some of them actually got pretty creative. It took a lot of concentration so we gave them a break. The whole day we had been having trouble with one girl. She does not want to write songs. She wanted to learn the drums, so she was very obstinate.

The break ended after only a couple minutes because this girl and one of the boys were running and jumping on things. We decided to take them into the music room and work on beats with the drums. Each got a drum and either one or two drumsticks. We gave them each a short pattern to play on their drums. It went good off and on but they would lose their beat on purpose or on accident. Needless to say she kept acting up and got kicked out of the club for the rest of the day. We spent more time working on the same songs we started earlier and then sent them home a little early.

Lunch time! I decided to stay in because I was trying to to spend anymore money on food. I just sat and talk to Ivanna for lunch. I had my rice package and an apple.

Marketing time. Today we were making mosaics. We started out by breaking glass bottles with a hammer. Ivanna did most of the work because it was dangerous. We then went upstairs and started the mosaics. I just watched because I wanted all the kids to participate. The glue was pretty hefty and really hard to get off. The end of it I had to create a bandaid because one kid cut himself a little bit. It was ity bity but we still had to put a bandaid on it.

The time after that is Same but different, but we changed what will happen.  There was a meeting about   a program they are trying to get older kids to do, and what will happen with same but different. We are only doing a mural. We will paint a tree on a wall with Same but different written across it and a stop-motion camera taking pictures the whole time. Then we will ask people to do their hand prints as leaves, and maybe even record them answering a question. It wass all bouncing around ideas.

Afterwards I went with Anne and we met Natalie at Nandos (so much for not spending money. lol). It was as yummy as usual. I got corn and fries with my chicken. I got medium like I did last time. Cameron met up with us there and it was fun. Afterwards I went home and so did they. Unfortunately, I left my phone on the bus and had to do without it all of Tuesday because they only record lost property at 2 pm everyday. The next day was a film day.

Bus to ferry then home again

Sunday, July 8th

our hostel

The three of us got up pretty late. I actually woke up pretty early but the bed was comfortable, so I kept letting myself to fall back to sleep. We got up at 10:30, which means we missed the complimentary breakfast that need at 10. It was ok. We got ready, checked out and headed out to find breakfast. We checked one place and they had stopped serving breakfast at 10:30. We ended up finding ourselves at the Skeffington Hotel restaurant. Which is connected to the Skeff (where the pub crawl was), and the "restaurant" is actually in the bar.

I had an Irish breakfast, but a small one. It had a fried egg, fried tomato (which I didn't eat), ham, sausage, black & white pudding, and orange juice. The orange juice had ice in it. It wasn't bad. Just something I wasn't used to. Right after we ate we headed to catch the bus.

The directions to where we were supposed to meet it were a little unclear, so we ended up running to the bus. It was pretty much like the regular Dublin buses, except it had seats instead of benches. The drive was over an hour to get to the ferry, so I took lots of pictures of all the houses I would like to live in. Both Hanna and Lexi fell asleep.

what the seats looked like

Future house...maybe

When we arrive at the dock we had to wait for everyone to get off the ferry (because there are only two times to get on the ferry to go to the islands and two to get from the islands). The boat got pretty rocky because of the waves. It was like being on an amusement park ride, except oddly calming. The seats were comfortable and I took plenty of photos, of course.

View from the boat

We decided to get a little food when we first arrived. We went to a cafe near the docks and I got ice cream (strawberry, chocolate, vanilla) with chocolate sauce and tea. This is the first place I've ever tried having milk in my tea. Now, I'm fallen in love with it. I have a cup of tea w/ milk almost every day, and sometimes more than once a day. Anyway, we realized that we only had a little over an hour left before we had to be on the ferry to leave (which is not enough time to really do anything). We ended up taking a carriage tour. Unfortunately, it wasn't very long, but it was a lot of fun.

We started out in front of the cafe and rode up into the countryside. We saw the smallest church in ireland (from a distance), a lighthouse (from a distance), and a few other "important" places. Our last stop was a graveyard. Small but kind of cool. There was a old church there and a well known headstone.

The Graveyard

The popular headstone

The church

When we arrived back we didn't have enough time to check out the sweat factory or the "American Bar." We wanted to make sure we got a place on the ferry. The ride back was just as relaxing, and then onto the bus. We got back around 6 and we had to be at our bus at 7. Just enough time for dinner. I had wanted to get a claddagh ring from Galway, since that was where it had originated, but we did not have enough time. We decided to eat at a hotel/pub we had tried to eat at 2 times before.

We went in and the restaurant was closed, but they were serving all the food in the pub. It was tuck in time. I wasn't too hungry so I got a small salad and some potato wedges. I also decided to get a drink because we were in a pub. The bartender brought out the cocktail menu because it wasn't busy at the bar. I ended up getting something called a Jager Mint (Jägermeister & Céme de Mente). It was yummy, and the wedges were heavenly. I think I actually ate all of them. 

On the bus we got comfortable pretty quickly. In the bus station a guard let me use the bathroom without having to pay the 20p. Yay! I made a friend on the bus, kind of. I couldn't find him on Facebook, but oh well. I've made lots of friends here.

We arrived in Dublin and caught the 1 straight home. We were all sooo tired. It had been an amazing, yet tiring weekend.

Galway Pub Crawl

My Girls!

The beginning of the Pub Crawl :)

Our pub crawl wrist bands

First free shot- Baby Guinness (Kaluha & Baileys)

Our drinks (Lexi, Me, Hanna)- Long Island w/ Pineapple juice, Mojito, Long Island

2nd pub

2nd free shot- tequila and lime

2nd drinks at pub (Me, Lexi)- Black Rum w. Ice, Guinness

3rd Pub

3rd free shot- Sambucca (tastes like black licorice. Blehck!)

2nd drink at pub- Martini in remembrance of my Grandpa Al

4th Pub

Last Free Shot- Moonshine!

The last stop of the night was the nightclub. I was disappoint with the staff so I did not take a photo of it. It does not deserve to be on my blog.