DJ at the Pub and Hikes up the Mountain

So it's the last funsie weekend before the real work starts! Yesterday was a lazy lazy day where everyone, exhausted from the busy orientation week, slept in until about 12 and then finally crawled into the kitchen looking for food. It was rainy and cold, typical Ireland, so instead of our plans for being productive, aka food store and laundry, we all pretty much stayed in the house until we had a dire need to leave. Casey, Hannah, a couple other friends, and I finally decided it was quite important that we make a food run, so unwillingly we left the house to do what we needed to do. The trip was a success but we came home soaking wet from the rain. The rain did not, however, stop us from excitedly getting dressed up and going out to the pub down the street where a DJ, finger food, and the rest of the art peeps in our program awaited us. We made some dinner, got ready and headed out and it was all we could have hoped for: drinks, craic (the irish word for fun times), and lots of awkward art students dancing around in the middle of the dance floor with an audience of the locals sitting around the perimeter.

It was insanely wonderful and such a great time. We danced all night and headed home, again despite the cold and rain. The night started with me and Hannah requesting the song Barbara Striesand by Duck Sauce and ended with us very happily devouring our newly acquired Vienetta mint ice cream logs with a few of our other friends.

This morning we were pretty exhausted but it was SUCH a beautiful day so there was no question that we were going to go on some kind of adventure. Everyone was out and about today despite how tired we were. It took us a while to get started but we finally headed out, Me, Casey, Hannah, and Emmerson along with his friend from Limerick. We ventured off to climb the mountain near our house.

We started off by picking up a border collie that lives near by. We stopped to pet her and she decided to she wanted to continue on with us and follow along. Then we went the wrong way, missing the path, and decided to ascend the mountain anyways, the dog still following us. After we got past the barbed wire it was quite the incline. We basically rocked climbed up the mountain the entire way. We girls were left behind by the boys who were just too fast for us, but the dog stayed with us and made sure we got up alright, very loyal dog. We got very close to the top (the boys actually made it up there) and then decided to head back down after walking through a heard of cows. It was quite the adventure. The dog stayed with us the entire way and the view at the top was incredible. We are definitely going back to have a picnic sometime soon. The air was crisp and fresh and we had an amazing view of Ballyvaughan, the school, and the bay. We finally made it to the bottom, lost the boys, found the path, and brought the dog home. It was a wonderful trip.

Now we are all sitting in the kitchen recouping and eating food. I'm going to be so sore in the morning, but it's a good thing there is a van to pick us up and bring us to the school! I'm definitely going to bed relatively early so that waking up at 7:50 won't throw me for a loop.

Classes start tomorrow! I'm wicked excited, although I still am not quite sure what kind of art I will do this semester. It's all a big question mark so hopefully I can figure myself out soon.

That's all for now, I will post pictures of the hike soon!