Ireland and half of my last week.

I have Christmas music stuck in my head because everyone's been singing them around here. Rome is finally starting to get into the Christmas spirit (or maybe I just haven't noticed yet). They started building the nativity scene in St Peter's Square, but apparently they don't reveal it until Christmas Eve. Athens and Dublin were much more decorated for the holidays, but I think I just haven't been around the really touristy parts of Rome lately (or the major shopping areas) so I haven't seen it. Either way, it doesn't really feel like December, more like late October. It started raining today and it's not supposed to stop until I leave on Monday. The thunder is actually why I'm still up right now.

I have my last final in art and architecture tomorrow, and its the only test that I was nervous for. I just read our entire text book tonight though, so I should be okay. Yesterday I went to San Paolo Fuori la Mura (St Paul outside the walls) because its one of the major Vatican basilicas and they sold chocolate that monks made. It was huge (the church, not the chocolate). I mean, I've been in St Peters, but every other church I've been to in Rome hasn't been that big because there isn't enough space. But since this one was outside the walls, they had plenty of room. Most of the places left in Rome that I want to go are churches (Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni di Laterino and San Lorenzo Fuori la Mura) and they're all the major seats of the Vatican. I hope I get to all of them, and I think I will because they're all off of metro stops. The only hitch in my plan is that there's a public transportation strike on Friday, so I'll have to hit things semi-close to me. I think San Giovanni is walkable, but I might just go back to the Vatican museums and get an audio guide so I know what I'm looking at this time. I also want to go to the Galleria Borghese...where did all the time go? At least I'm going to St Peter's again tomorrow for mass with the Pope for University students. I hope I don't do anything wrong. I've never been to a Catholic mass before.

I'm getting away from myself...Tuesday night I went to another soccer game. Roma vs Bourdeux and we won! It was a lot of fun, because I love watching the people watch the games. Everyone is completely into it, and yelling things at the players and at the fans for the other team (which are sectioned off and guarded by police) and no one looks at you funny if you stand up and yell profanities. I threw a couple in this time because the Roma team was sucking for the first half. The hand motions are important too. One of the French players made an inappropriate gesture to the Roma crowd and everyone gave him the bird, Italian style. There was also a lot of booing. My friend Kelsey and I tried to sing along with the chants, but there was no way I was going to understand the words. We figured out that if you end with a vowel you have a pretty good chance of sounding like you know what you're saying.

We got stuck at the stadio for about an hour afterwards because the buses we needed just weren't coming. We had to go to "bus heaven" which is a bus terminal close to the stadium and wait on a bus for twenty minutes to leave. It was really annoying.

So other than that, this week I've had finals and sleep and studying. My religions final was a complete joke, because he asked us two opinion questions. One of them, I kid you not, was "If you could meet any founder of the religions we've studied (save Christ), which one would it be and why? Give three questions you would ask and what you think they would say" First of all, we didn't study any religions because he never taught us anything. I'm so glad I'm done with that man.

Last weekend I was in Ireland, and it was incredible. We didn't get into our hostel until about ten because we took a public bus from the airport and two of our friends got abandoned by the bus driver (he shut the door on them) so we had to wait at the bus stop for them because we weren't sure if they knew how to get to the hostel. Where we stayed was very nice because it was within walking distance to almost anything, and I never felt in danger. We had to eat fast food that night because everything else was closed (Dublin closes down around 11) but then we grabbed a pint before heading home. Ireland guinness is so much better than any other guinness. There's just something a little better about it and its hard to explain.

Friday we tried to see the Book of Kells, but it wasn't on display. No explanation either. My roommate, Kate (Gallagher) was really disappointed because she used to Irish step dance, and they designed their dresses after the Book of Kells. At the very least, we got to see Trinity College, which makes me jealous. It looks like a real college.

After that we went to Grafton street and did some shopping. We had a bit of a time crunch because we were going to the Guinness storehouse at 1, so we ended up skipping lunch (bad idea) and we walked from Grafton street all the way to the storehouse. We passed by Christ Church, which, after Rome, wasn't that impressive. I just liked walking through Dublin. The actual storehouse was okay...really touristy but informative. They had a whole section on the marketing of Guinness (I took a picture of the Guinness is Good for You campaign because it reminded me of Mom's friend Ewan) I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness, which I think is an important skill, and then we drank them up at the sky bar, which has a great view of Dublin. It was a little cloudy so it was hard to see too much, and too crowded to take pictures from every view, but I still loved it.

We kind of had to rush out of the Guinness factory because we had a scheduled tour of the Old Jameson Distillery at 4, and we knew it would take about twenty minutes to walk there. It was kind of hidden, but we got there on time. It was pretty cool because the first part was a movie, and then there was a guided tour through a recreation of the distillery. Some of it was dumb, and really scripted, but it was interesting information nontheless. At the end of the movie, they asked for volunteers, and Kate and I were chosen for our enthusiasm (remember, no lunch, Guinness skybar) so at the end of the guided tour we got to be taste testers. They gave us a bit of Johnnie Walker Black, Jack Daniels, and Jameson. It wasn't blind, so we knew which was which. I did not like the Scotch at all, and JD is an old friend, so I was really interested to see how the Jameson would be. I actually liked it the best. Mom, you should be so proud, I'm a certified whiskey taster now.

We got dinner directly after that because we were all starving. We went to the Quay in Temple Bar. It was really good (I had Irish stew) and then we explored some of the pubs near Grafton Street. We went to one that Ewan recommended, O'Donoghues. I saw why he liked it. It was pretty dark but lots of people and no one was being obnoxious. The music wasn't too loud either. We also went to Dawson's lounge, the smallest pub in Ireland. I think it held 20 people.

It was hard to get up Saturday morning, but we did, and we caught a bus to Cork. The bus said it would take 3 hours, but it took 4, so we arrived around 2 and almost missed the bus to Blarney. We literally ran down the street and the bus driver opened up the doors in the middle of the street. He was really nice about it though, and made a couple jokes like, "Look how I make all the lasses breathless. Oh look, now they're throwing money at me!"

Blarney was beautiful. It's what I think of when I think Irish countryside. Everything was green and misty and clear and wonderful. I took more pictures there than anywhere else, and we were only there for two hours. The castle was fun, but a little dangerous. We had to climb these stairs that were absolutely tiny and slippery.

At the top we kissed the Blarney stone, which no one ever warned me about. You have to hang backwards upside down out of the castle to kiss it, with some guy holding onto your back so you don't fall out of the castle. Luckily they installed handle bars so you can hold yourself a little, but I still almost had to do a backbend. My pictures aren't great because they try to get you to buy official ones for ten euro, but you can kind of get the idea.

We almost got stuck in Blarney (we would have missed the last bus back to Dublin) because the bus to Cork never came. We had to run into a pub and ask them to call a cab. They were so so nice about it though because the bar tended called the cab company from his own cell phone, and the guy came within ten minutes. We only had 25 minutes to get to the bus station, so we asked the driver to go fast, and he was just like..."Get in the cab. Let's go."

He ended up being awesome though, because he works in the historical society of Blarney, so he studies the castle and Irish history in general. He told us all about the history of the castle, and how it changed hands and why it was falling down, and the history of the village of Blarney. It didn't even matter that the cab was more expensive than the bus because we got our money's worth. He got us to the bus station with ten minutes to spare. Best cab ride ever.

When we got back to Dublin, we ate at Gallagher's Boxty House (because Kate really wanted to) and had a really good Irish dinner. This restaurant was also at Temple Bar, and we had the window view, so we could see across inside the Auld Dubliner. There was some sort of Bachelor's party going on because there were about twenty young santas in the building, and one of them got arrested outside while we were there. It was great.

We hit the Temple Bars after that, because we felt like we should. Its totally geared to young people, or people who like loud music and huge crowds and drunk Irish men. I thought it was really funny because we kept attracting the drunk Irish men. One guy told Kate that her eyes were like "an Irish meadow after a soft rain" We laughed so hard. I met a guy later that actually lived in Huntington Beach for awhile, on Beach Blvd. He kept talking about Chronic tacos. I had a lot of fun and I was sad to leave the next morning.

I'd love to go back to Ireland when it's not so flipping cold, maybe see a little more of the countryside. I kept looking for Carney related things because Mom told me it was Irish, but I didn't find any. I might have been in the wrong area, but hopefully I'll get to look again.

I'm not ready to start packing yet! I only have four days left! Ah!

Greece

I swear, I'm not a complete slacker. I haven't been updating for a few reasons: I was really sick last week so I was barely functioning at all, and then I had all kinds of projects and papers due and then I went to Ireland. Being sick in Rome sucks because theres no easy way to get soup, and I live in a dorm with everyone that I go to school with, so if I look like a hot mess, everyone knows about it. i missed a class last week and everyone in the class vouched that I was really sick and I didn't see more than half of them. Anyway, I'm better now after much vitamin C and lots of sleep and water. My friends here were really good and made me food for two days so I didn't have to go out into the cold. It was really nice. I wasn't feeling 100 percent before I went to Greece, and I didn't really hold back while I was there, so when I got back I got bad.

Anyway, on to more important things. Our Athens trip was really last minute because we'd been searching for cheap airfare all semester and nothing was below 300 euro, which is above our price rage. Then,, finally we saw that some fares went down for Thanksgiving (we noticed the Sunday before, so there were three of us that literally looked at each other and went, "just book it. We'll think about it later") so we ended up paying about two hundred euro with taxes, and it was on a real airline instead of RyanAir. There were supposed to be four of us but one girl had to back out because her sister was coming and had a strange schedule.

We flew Swiss Air, the nicest airline I've ever flown with. Our flight was a little ridiculous because we flew north to Zurich, and then south east to Athens, but it was cheap. I'm getting really good at sleeping on planes, because the last couple I've been on I've passed out about five minutes after take-off.

We stayed in a hotel in Athens because it ended up being cheaper than a hostel and it was great. It was really close to a metro stop and pretty walkable from the acropolis. The guy that traveled with us, Travis, had to take an earlier flight so he got there first, and Kate and I got in around 7, so it was already dark when we started exploring. We just headed towards the acropolis because you could see it in the distance and found this cute little restaurant (there was a guy standing outside, and he said, "You're hungry? I feed you." It was great. The restaurant was obviously for tourists, but it wasn't too over-priced. There was live music, and about half way through our meal, the singer got a bunch of women out in the middle of the restaurant and made us dance (she narrowed in on Kate and I because we were the youngest people there). It was really funny. That was our Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner, we explored around that area a little. It was right by the Roman forum, so we got to see a few of the ruins. We couldn't get up close, but we took some pictures anyway. It was pretty late by then, so we walked home. One of the great things (I think) about Athens is that there are packs of dogs roaming the streets at all times. They're really relaxed dogs that don't bother you, unless you show them attention or give them food. A lot of them had collars, but were still hanging around the streets. We saw them a lot over the course of our trip.

Friday we did the tour of the acropolis and the theaters, and we climbed this huge hill looking for something called the "Tower of the Winds" (which we found out later we had seen the first night at the Roman forum--felt stupid) and found a mausoleum to a Spanish guy. I hadn't realized it, but seeing the Parthenon was definitely on my life goal list because I felt such a sense of contentment once I'd seen it. I studied Greek mythology and history IN DEPTH in middle school, so I know the significance of all of those buildings and it just kind of hit me that I was doing something that I'd unknowingly dreamed about since sixth grade when Dr Landes filled my head with Greek gods and the freaking Greek alphabet that I can still recite. The whole Greece trip was like that for me--Athens was a place that I needed to go at least once in my life so I could see where these ancient people used to live. I kind of get the same in Rome, except that I'm learning the history as I live here. I didn't have a Roman history background, but I have a Greek one. I want to go back again later and hit all the museums and really learn what everything was about.

The Agora was pretty nice too, where we saw the temple of Hephaestus and a statue of Hadrian (a Roman emperor that is freaking EVERYWHERE I go) and then we had lunch at a nice tourist cafe. I couldn't get enough of the Greek food. I've rarely met something Greek I didn't like. After lunch we climbed the hill of the muses to discover that the tower of the winds was not there, found a flea market (I bought a Greek dress that I will be wearing for New Years) and then it got cold so we went back to the hotel.

That night we had a pretty Greek dinner and then went to another restaurant by the acropolis and drank Ouzo while some Greek people watched soccer. Ouzo is really strange--its licoricey but when you put it over ice it turns cloudy. I didn't really like it, but then again, I really don't like drinking liquor straight. I preferred the Greek beer, which was really good.

Saturday we took a bus from Athens to Delphi, to see the ruins of the ancient oracle there. It took three and a half hours to get there when it was only supposed to take two, but the ride was pretty incredible. It rained for the first two hours, but the last was when we were getting up into the mountains, and the rain started to clear up and I saw the most spectacular views. I kind of got good pictures, but they don't do it justice. At one point there was a full on rainbow in the sky. So pretty.

Delphi is up in the mountains (we passed a couple skiing towns) and by the time we got there we were starving, so we ate at this really good taberna that overlooked the mountains and had homemade everything. Turns out it was kind of a bad idea because when we got the ruins at 300, we saw that they had closed down at 245, because Greece doesn't really operate in the off-season. I was really bummed, but then I realized I could kind of see the ruins from where we were, so we got an idea of what they were like. There was also other stuff to see, like the gymnasium and a temple to Athena. I still really liked Delphi, and would love to go back. The town itself is tiny, and really cute. Lots of stairs though.

Sunday we had just enough time to see Parliament and the ruins of the temple of the Olympian Zeus (massive), and eat lunch before we had to be off to the airport. We also got lured into a restaurant for lunch--there was a man standing outside who was like, "You eat here. It's been here 50 years, and we never change the recipes. I would never lie to you, I hate liars, and I don't work on commission. You know car salesmen? Liars that work on commission. Terrible. You eat here." It was actually really good and not expensive. One of the greatest things about Greece was that everyone was nice and hospitable. Our hotel concierge man kept teaching us Greek words and telling us what buses to take. Everyone was very helpful.

Our flight home is when I noticed my downfall, because I slept through both plane rides so deeply that I woke up feeling like crap both times and when I woke up Monday morning I felt like someone had sucked all the liquid out of my body and deposited it in my head. I think it was worth it though, because I felt fine most of the weekend, and I had two really sick days before I went to Ireland, and now I feel pretty good. I think Guinness really must be good for you, because I don't feel sick anymore.

I'll try to update this thing again tomorrow night, but I have to go to bed. I have errands to do before the end of the week (I have to start packing for home and I'm so not ready for that at all) and send off Steve's birthday/Christmas package. I'm completely done with two of my classes, and have one final tomorrow and one on Thursday. I can't wait to be done with my religions class and never see Father Murray ever again. Even the Catholics in the class hate him because he doesn't teach the tenants of Catholicism right, and he only teaches other religions in the terms of "what's wrong with them" or as he said "Islam is attractive to terrorists because it differs from Christianity for a, b, and c reasons" and "Jews will never have peace because they won't accept Jesus as their savior" I know I live five minutes from the Vatican, but I've never had such exposure to clergy before. I think I wasn't ready for it. Although, every nun I've ever met has been perfectly nice. I don't know, but I am going to a papal audience on Thursday because its directly for University students. I'm going to get my friend's rosary blessed, I think? We'll see. I'll report back. Now I'm off to bed.