thursday, 9 am, dublin

oh man the time is just fading away...yesterdays class was so boring. however, most of the class skipped to go do the papers that are due today. everyone was freaking out and maureen was crying about hers so i went to margaret (the head lady) and told her to talk to the class and reassure us that this is just summer school and we will all do well. she did just that. she told us not to worry, that they are not expecting phd papers. the only thing they can grade us on is whether or not its 1500 wds, does it answer the question and did she use 4 sources. so i dont care. i was worrying but now im like hey its not like ive always gotten a's right? anyway, im sure we will all pull an a in both topics. last night the roommies and i just hung around because we were all done our papers. we chatted about our first kisses and what our houses look like. it was special. they are all leaving for killarney and dingle peninsula tonight, although maureen cancelled and shell be staying behind with me. tonight were gona have some pizza downstairs to celelbrate no more papers. and i think tomorrow ill hop on a train over to st. brigids cathedral and then just relax. so im pretty sure that i have the vacation figured out! the whole mini-vacation that you keep telling me is throwing me off though (i hope its not a ploy!) i talked to mr. durkin and he said they have lost every game :( oh well! mom im glad you told me what present you want, how about meg and laur? any suggestions? i will be shopping this weekend so let me know. soon we will have to relay my flight info again just to double check--im so excited! yesterday i talked to everyone from work and they made me happy but homesick :) i miss everyone a lot...but ill be home before you can say bunreacht na heireann. (thats the irish constitution) alright i will talk to you all soon!
love you
bridget rose

wednesday, 11:30 pm, dublin

good morning everyone! yesterday we had a lot of fun. our acting class went well again, and we had our class picture taken (it looks so cute!) after school we were invited to a potluck dinner at 3 of the girls flats. everyone made meals, cookies, soda, desserts, everything. mostly everyone came and we all just hung out and told stories and really had fun. then a few of us girls went to another flat to watch sex in the city together. it was just a great night. today is week 5! only 1 and a half left. this weekend we are just exploring dublin, i think im also gona start on the packing so i know how much room i have for presents! the whole program is involved in figuring out my vacation...im investigating but i need more hints! everyone is really excited to find out where im going. i tracked the package but it said no record of this account. ??? anyway, mom, i would like everyone to come and pick me up at the airport. i was thinking since you dont want to go to the mets game maybe meg could drive you and sean up and meet dad and lauren there. i think sunday i will be passed out most of the day, since on my time ill be getting home around 5 am. anyway, im very excited to come home. dublin is very boring now that ive been to paris! papers are due friday (but i think ill hand them in tomorrow if i get finished) tell carmen i will try to look for jen at orientation! p.s.-tell suzanne i saw like a million ladybugs at tour de france, i videotaped one for her! :) ive been thinking about her a lot on this trip so let her know. any requests for presents let me know! this weekend will be all about shopping. hope everyone is having as much fun as me!!! i will see you all soon...
love and miss you
bridget rose

monday, 9 am, dublin

what a wonderful weekend! we got to brussels around 11 pm, i didnt see much of the city though because i left friday around 7 am. i took a train for about an hour and a half to paris and met a kid named steven at the platform. he took me everywhere-hes kind of cocky and annoying, but he knew exactly where to go on the metro. so we went to the louvre and mona lisa, arc de triomphe, picasso museum, rodin museum (where the thinker is) champs elysees, latin quartier, notre dame cathedral, river seine, sacre couer chapel, ile de cite, montmartre and the hard rock cafe for dinner. we got home at like 11, just in time to see the eiffel tower light show right outside the hotel window. saturday i was up early to meet my arcadia roommate and her friend at the airport (i got there all by myself too!) unfortunately, we lost kate on the metro, so we waited like 2 hours for her at the hostel. by the time we got out, it was around 5 pm. we went to the eiffel tower and stood in line for the lift. finally we got to the top. it was amazing! it was just so cool to be standing on the eiffel tower. when we were coming down all these firefighters were rushing up and when we came down everyone was pushed back. we looked up and there was some crazy guy scaling down the tower! they had to shut it down for like 3 hours while he made his way down. the girls and i took a boat tour down the seine and when we came back around 10 pm, he was still climbing. we went out to dinner and came back to see the sparkle show and finally they let everyone back in around 11 pm. i met up with maureen (who i came with) back at our hotel and everything was wonderful. sunday was relaxing. maureen and i went to mass at notre dame, the organ was heartstopping. then we found the tour de france on the rue rivoli. we found out they would be coming around at 4 pm and they would circle 6 times around. so we waited about 2 hours for them and finally they came around..it was so exciting! they went by so fast, but i got a really good picture of lance (check it on the site) then we just went shopping for some souvenirs and got on a train back to brussels. our plane left monday morning at 9:15 and we were back at home around 11:30. i had such a great time! the weather was amazing, it was 87 degrees and sunny. i wasnt jealous of lauren anymore! i really got by with the french i remembered from dougherty. i did pretty good actually (that french award came in handy.) now we are back at school and have to go to our acting workshop again (a lot of people are skipping it, but i really liked it last time!) anyway, i will be home so soon its not even funny. i cant wait!
love and miss you
bridget rose

thursday, 9 am, dublin

brussels here i come! i am leaving today at 6:55-i gave the rest of my flight and hotel info to dad. wish me luck! i have a feeling that something is going to go wrong, like me and my friends wont meet or i wont be able to see what i want because of something. but oh well, im gona go with the flow. yesterday was so much fun! we had our acting class and i loved it. the guy was really great. i volunteered to do this thing where i had to pull something out of a box and answer all of his questions about it, like stream of consciousness. it was really funny, everybody is asking me if i ever took acting before :) then i finished my paper, ready to be handed in. last night we went to see the shaughraun? at the abbey theatre. it was really funny, but i still dont really get the plot. something about a guy who was a british rebel and they had to save him from being arrested again, i dunno i was laughing too hard to follow anything. the one part i enjoyed was that the main escape scene took place at st. brigids abbey! i was happy to hear my name again. this morning i was trying to call brussels to extend our hostel reservation and my roommate like yelled at me that i was dialing wrong so i told her to just chill out, and i was just trying all the buttons because weve had so much trouble getting in touch with them. she liked freaked out and was like your not dialing 011! i dont know what her problem is today...oh well! im still in ireland and i still dont care! we are running so short on time now...everything is just being rushed to go see. i think the long weekend we are just staying in ireland, maybe even just in dublin. i really wanted to go somewhere, but i think ill be able to get some reading and packing done for that week. ill also be able to see the things we havent seen yet. so that will be ok. any more hints for me mom before i leave? i will be sending an email this wknd instead of calling because the rates over there will eat up my money. hope lauren had fun down the shore..i cant wait to come home and see everyone!!
love you
bridget rose

wednesday, 9 am, dublin

good morning everyone! today is week number 4--only 2 and a half left and theres still so much to see! today we have acting class which i am so excited for-the teacher once taught colin farell! woo-hoo! anyway, a lot of people arent as excited as me, but i have a lot of experience from my role play class so ill be fine. well, last night i chopped my hair off! not really, i just cut off the bottom of the mullet. i wanted this other girl to do it but she started drinking so i didnt think that was a good plan. it looks surprisingly good! :) i am pretty happy. i will send a picture through email. yesterday we had fun, we went to a pizza party with the cea office, and just chatted with everyone and caught up. then the girls and i went on a, well, lets call it an "adventure" (haha i too have a secret mom! you will have to wait until i get home!) then we went to haagen-daas for ice cream, i figured dwight would be proud! after hanging out with the roomies, we went downstairs for a girl party and just hung out together. everyone loves my hair though! they were like "i cant believe you did that yourself!" im proud of it. i went to bed around 11, unforutnately waking up again at 1 and 3, first to let my roommate in, second because the rest of them came home from the clubs.  but oh well...i got your pictures dad, i will look around next time i go shopping. very creative by the way. have you traced my package by the way? i asked arcadia and they said trace it because sometimes the ups or whoever guy will just drop it off at the post office so that ill have to go pick it up. see if you have the reference number to do that. having a blast-hope bball camp is marvelous (which i m sure it is in that heat) cya soon!
bridget rose

tuesday, 1 pm, dublin

hey again guys! how is everything going? yesterday's class was not so great-considering i didnt read the assignment :( oh well. then we went to the dublin writers museum and had a headphones tour. there was just too many authors and poets and history i just couldnt follow-i skipped through most. last night was spent reading, writing, researching, just hanging out in the flat. i handed in my paper to the director of the program for her to comment on and she gave me back like 6 packets of photocopies for me to look at-it was so very nice of her! im hoping to use some of the information, but im running short on time. we are leaving in a few minutes to go the arcadia office for a pizza party-exciting! they wanted to catch up on what we were doing and what we plan to do. is lauren having fun down the shore? tell the maxwells i said hello. i figured out my bank account, i think. everything is going pretty smooth over here. still no sign of the package, but from what i hear other people havent received theirs in over 2 weeks either, so im going to ask arcadia today what they think. anyway, hope all is well...talk to you before i leave for brussels and paris!!!
love you
bridget rose

monday, 9 am, dublin

what a great weekend! friday we left at 8 am to hop on the paddywagon bus. our drive, coincidentally named paddy, was so awesome! he told so many stories and jokes and knew everything about ireland. he had 3 rules, #1-if you have any suggestions on where to go, tell him because this trip was only about having fun, #2-you must sit next to someone different each time you get back on the bus. #3-dont be last on the bus or you will have to sing im a little teapot. i met people from australia, new zealand, england, scotland, texas and iowa. it was so much fun. the highlights of the trip were, playing baseball with hurling sticks in pheonix park, clanmacnoise old monastic cemetery, galway, siamsa-an irish music and dancing show, cliffs of moher, the burren area, a wishing well, 2 leprechaun houses, lahinch-a surfing beach, lakes of killarney on a horse and buggy ride, st. marys cathedral, cahir castle, the rock of cashel-the most photographed place in ireland, the blarney castle (We already did it so we went to church), and i think thats it! it was so much fun...i went with one other girl so me and her really got a chance to know each other and it was just great. my favorite part of ireland was the siamsa show because it revolved around the story of st. brigid! it was awesome...pictures should be on the website today, check it out!
love you all
bridget

wednesday, 2:30 pm, dublin

week number 3! last night we went to singin in the rain at the olympia theatre...it was a lot of fun! it was a last minute idea, but i really enjoyed it! there was about 6 of us girls that went, and all had a great time. we got back around 11:30-12. this morning we had literature class where we reviewed james joyce's short story the dead. i didnt really get that story, but obviously i wasnt the only one. then we took the dart into sandycove to see the joyce tower, where the first part of ulysses takes place. it was actually more like a round cement hut then a tower. it wasnt very good, but we did see some naked men swimming in the freezing cold water...ewwwwwwwwwww. we ate lunch at fitzgeralds and now were back at ipa because we need to start researching our papers. hope everyone got the website for my pictures
enjoy!
talk to you all soon..
love
bridget rose

tuesday, 9 am, dublin

well it was so good to hear from my family again! dad, im working on building a picture website. this girl is helping me out, so i will try again soon. i wasnt sure what you meant by "why does the book remind me of you?" what book? spain is too expensive, were thinking well just go to italy-milan, pisa, rome and a beach somewhere. i really want to get everything planned though. we also need a hostel for france, but only for one night since maureen has a friend in brussels. anyway, i thought the westwoods werent moving until august!? i didnt say goodbye to them, but tell them for me...especially the boys :) we heard on the news today that the marching in belfast that started yesterday ended in violence, people throwing bottles and stuff..so im glad we got outa there asap. i have never heard of st peters square? is it in dublin? ive heard of st. stephens green, but maybe im missing something. anyway, if i have time one of these days ill go look in trinity for ancestors. yesterday after class my friend stephanie and i decided to go get tickets for singing in the rain and as we were walking we met 2 other girls who wanted to come and when i got back home, alana was depressed because she loves that movie! so we walked back and got her a ticket too. the show is tonight at 8 pm. then last night at 5:$5 we went to st patricks cathedral to hear the choir mass. it was so beautiful. alana and i just hung out in the park area before church and had a nice little conversation about life and family and stuff. cathedrals are my new thing though, i cant wait to go see st. brigids in kildare. anyway, so we had a pretty good class yesterday too, we reviewed the playboy of the western world and wb yeats poems. today we have history again, but at 2:00 we are meeting again to watch the movie "the dead" which is something we have to read. the girls are booking b&bs for this weekend in galway, hopefully we will see the cliffs of moher, dingle peninsula, ring of kerry, lakes of killarney, maybe even go horseback riding. im having such a great time! im thinking a lot about travelling in the future, and i was even considering spending a summer with aunt pat in cali...mention it to her next week! i got a card from meaghan in the mail yesterday, it was so nice of her. but still no sign of the package. im thinking tomorrow hopefully. other than that, i guess i will talk to you later...keep posting dont forget about me!!!
love
bridget rose

monday, 8:30 am, dublin

what a great weekend! yesterday i went by myself on a 4 hour bus ride to our lady of knock shrine. i wish it would have been worth it, but im glad i went. the area was very touristy, with every shop being full of mary statues and holy water bottles. i had 3 hours to explore a st. jude shop. but i went to mass and that was pretty cool, but other than that, i was expecting more. anyway, i finished the first book we had to read, so thats good news considering the paper is due the 29th. no one has really started to do any work, but we are just now starting to buckle down and get working. today we have literature class which we are excited about because we are hoping that it will be much more intereting than history. we are going to review the playboy of the western world by singe (i think thats his name) and w.b. yeats selected poems. the book i read is called amongst woman by john mcgahern. i enjoyed that story because it reminded me a lot of daddy! anyway, well im jealous you are having the best summer vacation yet! i told you to have no fun!!! no, i am glad you guys are having a good time because i am having an even better time over here :) just remember to have fun when i get back on august 7 too! are you planning on getting yankess tickets for the saturday or sunday (like would i be able to go?) i guess not...anyway, is aunt pat coming next week? i am so jealous, i miss the shore. but we are planning our long weekend away now, and were even thinking just hitting the beaches in barcelona. it all depends on the airfare. i hope that you guys can still post back, whatever is wrong with that. i think the message i sent you was too large because it failed to send to family, sean or work. i guess ill try again. ill hear from you soon hopefully!
love you
bridget rose

saturday, 8 pm, dublin

hey guys! this weekend is going great. on thursday my roommates left, so i was all alone...me and the rest of the girls bought our tickets for waterford after school. friday we left at 7 am and got to the factory around 10:30. the tour was pretty cool! i was amazed at the men's work. they etch everything from memory, each piece, each design they have to memorize. it was really interesting. then we spent a few or more euros on presents for everyone. they will be arriving in 3-6 weeks, so im hoping they wont get there until i get home, but if they do, wait until i get home!! we got back in town around 7 pm and just went to bed-the bus ride wore us out. this morning we were at the paddywagon bus stop at 8 am to leave for belfast. our tour guide was funny, he kept trying to worry us about entering northern ireland, but it really was no big deal. it was eye-opening to see every other car with a caravan or a roof top luggage carrier because they were all leaving town for the marches, which start on monday. it was like going down the shore. when we got there we went on a black taxi tour, we saw the murals in the protestant area, the peace wall which divided both sides and the sinn fein (political party) office on the catholic side. it was kinda scary to be somewhere where they burnt down peoples house because they werent welcome. we got to sign our names on the peace wall, but i didnt want to write anything political...so i wrote a message for dad!! keep an eye out for an email with a picture of it :) then we got a chance to walk around and see city hall, war memorial, titanic memorial (it was built in belfast and left from belfast) a leaning clock tower (like that of pisa) and just explore...but not for too long. we didnt see any marches, our tour guide was pleasantly surprised that everything was quiet. then we went to monasterboice which is an old monastic site with a current cemetery, a round tower and 2 high crosses. rumor has it that if you can ut your arms around the one cross and touch your fingers together, your wish will come true. but it was impossible to do! the cemetery should have been named bridgets cemetery because everywhere i looked there was a bridget-kinda sad because that was the first time i saw my name, but still exciting. then we went to the drogheda cathedral, which was beautiful, and it holds the head of saint oliver plunkett. i just thought that was weird. but i lit a candle and said 3 hail marys and we headed home. we just got back around 7 pm, and all my roommates are home early because they stayed in a hostel from hell! i wanted to laugh because they didnt invite us on their weekend and i was happy that i had an awesome time. i might be heading off to our lady of knock shrine tomorrow, but its a 4 hour bus ride, so im not so sure. anyway. if i cant send the pictures tonight, look for them on monday morning. i had an awesome weekend, its getting sad that theres only 4 weeks left!!! see you soon!
love
bridget

thursday, 9 am, dublin

have you guys forgotten about me? no emails, no posts...im lonely!!! anyway, yesterdays class was pretty good. we had politics and the guy started class asking us where we grew up and people were getting into debates about some of the constitution, so it was a lot more interesting that the other lady (who turned purple because she would talk so fast and so much she didnt have time for a breath) after class maureen and i went grocery shopping because she had invited some boys over for dinner. they live in our complex, but i really wasnt too happy about having to pay and cook and clean for people that i didnt invite and i didnt want to hang out with. it was a very uncomfrotable situation for me (picture this, 4 guys, 4 girls) i didnt want them to pair off and then me get stuck feeling awkward, so i went downstairs with the other girls and one of them took my place. i would much rather sit around and have girl talks then flirt with some weird men. anyway, yesterday maureen and i booked our tickets for paris. we are flying into brussels in belgium on thursday, and then friday we will hop on 1-2 hour train over to paris, and leave again on sunday. we are still not sure what were gona do for the long weekend (july 29-august 2) but i have been looking into rome. i just wana go somewhere! we also have plans for this weekend: tomorrow we are taking a bus down to waterford and probably spending too much money, saturday we have booked a bus day trip to belfast from dublin, and i think that will be a lot safer than getting there ourselves. sunday we have no plans, but a girl annie and i might do ring of kerry, or giants causeway. i guess well see on saturday night. we are not spending the night in any hostels this weekend, so i will be home if you need to reach me at night. i just sent postcards in the mail, so look for them in about a week and a half. i guess you guys are having a fantabulous summer! i will be sending lots of pictures on monday from the weekend. dont forget to write me!
love you
bridget rose

wednesday, 8:45 am, dublin

hey guys...today is week 2. it feels like weve been here forever! yesterday after the police and fingerprint investigators came (And found nothing, except they told us that our apartment complex was robbed 3 times last night (we were the fourth of the weekend) anyway, we went to the movies to see the notebook. it was so good! i recommend to any woman who is reading this to go see it but dont forget your tissues! all of us girls were sobbing and sniffing, it was a great movie. then a couple of us stopped for some good pizza and got back home around 9:30. our classes are really not great at all! weve only had history with this one lady and she speaks so quiet and so fast! a few of us have given up, but we are looking forward to literature because hopefully that will be a lot better. today is politics with a different lecturer, so we are all praying that he/she will keep us awake. im glad you got the picture, that was of me at the upper lake at glendalough, where we went on an excursion last thursday. i will send more as soon as i take them! i hope you are all enjoying your summers, i know dad is :) keep posting!
love you
bridget rose

tuesday, 8:40 am, dublin

good morning all! oh my goodness, last night was amazing. we went to riverdance and it was above and beyond all my expectations. it was by far my favorite thing weve done so far. it was so awesome! the theatre was tiny too so everything just boomed. awesome awesome awesome. the other girls saw the bridget that you guys know-the loud, crazy and excited one. i totally could have snuck my video camera in, but i didnt want to risk them searching our bags. have i mentioned that it was awesome!?!? anyway, today we have a short class, only until 11 and then we are going to the jail that we already visited. im hoping that maybe i can sneak away and just explore elsewhere while everyone is doing the tour. i guess well see! we still have no plans for the weekend yet, maybe giants causeway, im not sure. but all i really have to say in this email was holy crap riverdance was awesome!!!! hey i havent received any comments, have you forgotten about me already?
love you guys
bridget rose

monday, 9 am, dublin

hey everyone! i am back here in dublin, unfortunately also back at school. yesterday was the fourth of july and we spent it at a traditional irish hurling match. it was crazy! the stadium was packed with crazy purple and yellow painted faces. wexford won and everyone stormed the field because that means they are in the final four. i wish i knew what was really going on, i only knew when they scored...it poured a lot but it was still fun. yesterday was also one of the girls birthday so we bought a scooby doo cake and sang happy birthday downstairs, but we were exhausted and i went to bed around 9:30. while we were in cork, our apartment got robbed. my flatmate had some friends over and they left the balcony windows open and we are assuming our next door neighbors climbed in and stole a digital camera, 400e and a coach wallet. thank goodness none of our stuff was touched. we are being super super careful now, and we have not opened the windows at all since then. but oh well. tonight is riverdance!!! i am so excited! we are meeting at the gaiety theatre at 7:30 for the show. i am going to take a picture no matter what the rules are. :) tomorrow we are going to kilmainham gaol, which we already went to before but its unfortunately one of our excursions for class. then the girls have planned a movie night to see the notebook, which i would really like to see. i am excited for all my presents that i hear im getting in the mail..thanks guys! can you please write me pop, aunt marie and suzannes addresses? i want to send them all a postcard. i guess thats all from me, i should be posting again tomorrow.
have a good day!
love and miss you,
bridget rose

friday, 1:50 pm, county cork

hello family! i am in county cork right now in our hostel called the kinlay house. yesterday we went to the avondale house and glendalough. the avondale house wasnt that good, it was very tiny and not enough time to explore. our bus driver got lost like 8 times. but glendalough was beautiful. it wasnt that far to walk to see the upper lake. the mountains were in the background and a few waterfalls..it was great....until..it started to absolutely downpour! we were running and everything was soaked. we went home on the bus with shoes and socks off, pants rolled up, hair soaking wet. it was funny. yesterday i had an uncle steve day. first, the avondale house smelled like theirs on thanksgiving, then i saw flannerys gift shop (but couldnt take a picture) then i saw a giant turkey in some field. make sure you tell him that! so then we went straight to train for 3 hours (not so bad) and got to our hostel around 11 pm. its pretty nice for a hostel, we haveour own room and bathroom, and breakfast is served. this morning (friday) we woke up around 6:30 to get ready for blarney. we made it there around 9, and had no lines to wait in :) one by one we kissed the blarney stone! it was pretty cool, some people didnt like it as much as me. but hey, i kissed the blarney stone! they we just roamed around and we are back here now. some people are going to the butter museum, which i have no interest in, but other than blarney, theres not a lot to do for the rest of the time here. me and steve are thinking about hopping on the train home tonight, but well see. im getting really tired of the big group-everyone is very indecisive and we have no leadership. i think from now on im just gona do my own thing, whoever wants to come can come. but travelling with 20 people is outrageous! today i went off with the 2 other boys becuase the girls were taking so long shopping and we just left. im starting to think some of the girls arent big fans of me, but i dont care im in ireland! theyre not gona ruin this trip for me...i am taking some marvelous pictures mom! i dont think i will forget what they are, but i am also saving everything for a scrapbook. tell meg that aran sweaters are 129 euros...sorry but i dont love her that much! dad, i have the perfect handmade present for you!!! i have to go on an adventure to get it, but im sure you and some other friends will certainly enjoy it! another reminder about praxis results..anything come in yet? hopefully soon. ok, im gona go look at some bus schedules and stuff. im excited to finally be travelling elsewhere!
love you
bridget rose