Wicklow with Peters Family!

My favorite weekend in Ireland was spent with my roommate Peters family in Wicklow. I was shocked that he even invited his two crazy roommates back to his house and our good pal Ryan. The three of us departed to Dublin early Friday morning where we would catch the dart and meet with peter in Blackrock where he picked up his new car! He has been shopping around for a while and finally found what he was looking for! We walked around this beautiful rock beach in the freezing weather (which I think made it cooler) and waited to pick up his girlfriend Trish at the dart stop.

Trish is amazing! Evita and I were so excited to see her because it has been a while. We greeted her with big hugs and stories about what she has missed. Peter became a tour guide when we got in the car as we ventured to one of the largest gardens, Powerscourt. It was absolutely beautiful, minus the pet cemetery, which I found creepy. At the garden I was absolutely shaking, worried about meeting his family and making sure they would like me. It was really ridiculous thinking back to it now; his parents and two brothers greeted us warmly as we walked into their wonderful home and sat down by the warm fire.

Saturday was a little different. Peter schedule was completely packed with work in the morning, straight to his Gaelic Football match, and then back to work again. This is a day where Evita, Ryan and I spent wandering around the beautiful place and hanging out with his amazing family. This was my first taste of a family since I left the U.S so I was absorbing it as much as I could. Peters Gaelic Football match was absolutely awesome. It is such a face-paced game and he played so well. He is so quick! Evita was cracking me up at the match because she was stealthily trying to take pictures of him, but of course he knew, and I think was even a little flattered J. Saturday night we got snowed into his house and he got snowed into work so we didn’t get to see him much! We went out to dinner with his family and enjoyed a pint where I met a fellow Washingtonian and painter, Lance Neal, look him up his work is amazing!

Sunday we went out and enjoyed some history with Peter’s father pat, and drove around Wicklow. We went hiking to the beautiful upper lake where we spent hours taking pictures and absorbing our surroundings. Ryan climbed every dirt hill possible, Evita walked slowly and enjoyed everything around her and captured some great shots, and Peter and Trish had snowball fights.

The weekend was absolutely amazing, and I had a really hard time saying goodbye to an amazing family that is so dear to my roommate. I got to see where he came from, and really appreciate him so much more after meeting everyone so important around him.

Until Next Time,

Lex

Edinburgh Scotland!

Hey Everyone,

This is not an excuse but I have been extremely busy! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I plan on making up for it the next two weeks by posting every other day. This past weekend I spent my time in the capitol of Scotland! I think I may have fallen in love...the buildings are incredibly old, ancient statues stand at every street corner, and my group that travelled includes some of the most amazing people!

Friday we arrived in the evening. We had a little bit of a chaotic stretch trying to check into the airport, eat dinner, and arrive to our tour on time. When we did though, boy did we see the most amazing castle. Our tour guide was a traditional Scottish woman, who explained a lot about the history of Scotland. After the dark stroll, we were famished. We stopped into Rabbies (a local pub) and had our first Whiskey! The smell of it made my eyes water, and after drinking it, it didn't get any better! I am glad that I drank it, but decided Whiskey would probably never be the drink for me.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early for a tour of Mary Kings Close. This was probably my favourite tour of the entire trip! Why you ask? Because it was entirely underground and reminded me of Seattle! Our guide acted as if she was born in the original Scotland and told us all about the history of this place. The rooms were small and dusty, but held their original plaster and reaped of their history. We were told a ghost story and educated on the black death. I think my family would have loved this place! The rest of Saturday was a blur of museums and a daylight walking tour of the castle we saw Friday evening. Here is a picture of me and my friend Scott enjoying the castle. Saturday evening we went "pub crawling" on our own. We ended up meeting two girls from API Dublin group and inviting them out for the evening. We shared in good conversation, old school music, and excellent long island ice teas! The night life in Scotland wasn't all that different from the nightlife in Galway, so it felt like home pretty quickly. 

Sunday we woke up early, ate, headed out for a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia and had tea with the Queen :) The boat was awesome! We had an audio tour with these giant phones that looked like they were invented a thousand years ago. In the picture I am standing on the deck at the bottom of the boat playing around with my giant tour phone. I couldn't get enough of that thing, and was extremely sad when we had to part. The second half of the day we spent walking around the old bridge. It was a beautiful place and had a rocky beach where we all spent too much time trying to skip stones in water and soaking each other with large rocks. That was the moment when it really hit me. I am so lucky that I get to be in a group where every individual is extremely unique and brings so many good things to the dynamic. I feel very fortunate to have each and every person in API and can't believe that two months have almost flown by.

The plane ride home Sunday evening was not the craic ("fun" in Irish). I got extremely sick and ended up being sick the whole bus ride home between Dublin to Galway. Fortunately for me the people in my group were extremely helpful and supportive and I made it back to Galway with out getting sick on top of anyone!
Bloopers of the Weekend:
Evita helping a man out and then accidentally telling him he had man boobs.
Ryan elbowing Evita in the forehead at the airport.
Me running into a cement peg coming out of the ground.
Alysse casually falling on the rock beach (no one noticed really, maybe sort of :)

Until Next Time,
Lex