Thursday evening fun in the City

This is the Liffey River about a 5 minute walk from the National College of Ireland where Jarod and I are staying. :) When I'm awoken during the middle of the night it is usually because of seagulls cawing outside my window.

Dublin: Merrion Square Park, being a little leprecaun and hiding in the foliage. :)

The World Championships of Street Perfomers was happening in Merrion Square in Dublin, so Jarod and I just had to go see what they were offering. Here are some pictures of opening night. http://www.spwc.ie/

I was a fun squiggle for my backyard. :)

Watching one of the more pitiful versions of a street performer. He tried soo hard, but failed misserably to be funny.

So much like Florida...in Ireland it just rains out of no where. It will be sunny and then a little misty and then a downpour. Jarod and I took refuge in what he called "Nature's umbrella" the foliage of the park and waited it out. When it stopped and we emerged the most beautiful ROYGBIV rainbow was staring out at us. So amazing!

This guy was from Canada and was hilarious! I really think he might need to make a trip to Butler. He was a silent performer and would get people to act out things that he wanted to do. Really funny!

His specialty was luring children with Chupas (lollys or lollipops as we would call them.)

This festival really focused on kids too and I loved these signs that they had around the park. :)

Lots of people waiting for the rain stop so their umbrellas and ponchos could be packed up again.

After the show, Jarod took us to Grafton St. (the shopping district). Sadly all of the shops were closed by the time we arrived. We've been eating dinner at like 9 at night and everything shuts down here at about 6 or so. :( But we had great Gourmet burgers at this restaurant here that he loved. Yum!

Then on our walk back, we passed a Famine Memorial near the Liffey River. It is very haunting! They are supposed to be walking to the ships to emigrate from Ireland

We headed to bed after this and then hit the road for Belfast on Friday afternoon. But not before visiting the Book of Kells http://www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/kells.php at Trinity. We also got to meet with one of the students in the Student's Union so I was able to squeeze some work stuff into the trip as well. :) The campus is so beautiful it is hard to put into words. I'll add some pictures of that as well.

Then after lunch, we headed to the train station and were on our way to Belfast.

I'll post all of those pictures later! There are a couple hundred! YIKES!

Need to shower now though as we are enjoying another day of touring here, but just in Dublin: Kilmainham Jail, Guinness Storehouse, National Museum, and a few other places.

Talk to you soon!

Meg

Sligo and CSSI conference pictures

Organ, stained glass, and the church pews...all stone walls and lots of natural light! The way a church should look. :)

Also, you can see the tombs that people dedicated to their family members that line the walls. They were so beautifully written about the wonderful accomplishments and deeds that the person had done in their life. Awesome way to memorialize someone.

This is the wall above the alter in the St. Columba's church, Sligo.

Very neat cemetary! I saw gravestones that dated back 100+ years on the outside, and some catacomb tombs in the walls on the inside that were 150+ or more on the inside. You can still see Benbulben Mountain in the background.

View from the church corner.

For the really nerdy, dork, English major in me... W.B. (William Butler) Yeats' grave. He was moved to this location, but is from Sligo and his Grandfather had been the caretaker of the church when he was younger.

St. Columbas.

Church where William Butler Yeats was burried. It had very cool old stones for graves that were flat pieces of rectangle rock that were etched in with the details of the death of the person, almost in a lyrical or poetic way. I couldn't get a picture where you could actually see it though.

This is Benbulben Mountain. It is so large and heads out toward the sea near Sligo. http://www.sligotown.net/benbulben.shtml

Cool Celtic cross in the cemetary at St. Columba's church, Sligo, Ireland.

Jarod, Meg, and Colleen at the Confederation of Student Services of Ireland Conference, final day...Job well done!

Jarod and Meg, the yanks, at the conference.

More adventures to come in 36 hours...

This morning we're headed over to Trinity to see the Book of Kells, the Harp that is one of the symbols of Ireland and maybe tour their Student Union. Thank you Deirdra for your hospitality!

This afternoon Jarod and I head to Belfast on the afternoon train.

YAY!

The Shining Hotel

Jarod, "the Gargoyle" likes to hide in small nooks and crannies and jump out at the guests as they walk by. It is a form of intimidation and psychological torture at the hotel.

As you can see, there are two watchtowers that overlook the front lawn, just to be sure that no one escapes.

Front view with scary ominous lights and clouds in the background.

And again...

Back in Dublin!

Hi Everyone!

Back in Dublin again! :) This time I have a home for 8 days...yay!

I've checked into National College of Ireland in Dublin's Financial District and I start my official University College Dublin meetings tomorrow. I can't chat long tonight because I have to be up at 6am, showered and ready to catch the bus by 7:30. For those of you who know me well...this is very difficult for me. I'm not a morning person...tea and bickies here I come! But I'm excited to learn some more about Irish Student Services. And I know have a better base for asking questions after attending the conference.

I'll write more tomorrow. Sorry so short. Gotta go to bed...only 6 hours until I have to be alive, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Meg

Ps. I'll post pictures of "The Shining Hotel," the conference sign with all of the Butler peeps, and tell you about my conference presentation in the next post. But for now...it went really well, and I was very excited that Jarod and I were accepted so well and had great attendance. I'll leave you with these final details to make you come back for more... a. there almost weren't enough seats in the room, b. we had a very high profile American Higher Education Theorist in our presentation...and c. we rocked it out!

Conference Presentation Tomorrow!

Wish Jarod and I luck tomorrow at 10:30 am Ireland...or during your dreams in America. :)

We worked tonight for about 4 hours on our presentation tweaking and twisting it into what we hoped to explain about America, First Year Experience and Programming in 20 minutes. Lord help us! Oh well...I'm sure it will be fine. We have fun pictures and stories to tell...now just to be able to answer their questions.

Sorry I haven't posted recently, but really I haven't done much beyond attend conference sessions, take notes with tons of questions to ask the people I will be meeting with later this week and next, and then visit with the other people from the Irish schools. :)

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, so I have to pack, and get ready to head back to Dublin to move into my new digs at the National College of Ireland in Dublin's Financial District downtown. Jarod and I will be neighbors and get to hang out some more after work hours. I'm so thankful that he's around and we can catch up and learn about Irish universities together. We've also made friends with locals around here from IT Sligo, and will be trading post and treats with a woman named Tarha. We were talking food recipes for sweets and savories this whole weekend...and she mentioned she can't get some things here and we said the same. So we'll have our own little international food exchange. YAY!

Jarod and I took some creepy pictures of the hotel tonight after our conference dinner, so those will be posted soon.

Otherwise, I'm going to go enjoy a nice bath in the tub here before I head to bed.

Talk to "yous" (another new Irish term) soon.

Gnight!
Meg

Disclaimer for the post that follows this one...

Gerard and Meeghan would like to make sure that everyone knows they aren't being insensitive...we are just observing and absorbing as much Irish as possible and want to share with everyone. :)

Take that the post was written after 7...yes...7 cups of tea throughout the day and a sugar coma...it takes some getting used to. But we do like tea. Here are Gerard and Meeghan's tea and chocolate bickies to share with you.

A Stereotypically Cliche Irish Week eND

Jarod and Meg's adventures...

First, Week eND is literally pronounced as such. Two separate words and emphasis on the end. :)

Anyways...so here is what has happened on this week eND:

1. In a very "Bridget Jones" kind of way that Meg always gets herself into "dramawkard" situations, Meg had to travel by bus and then train to meet Jarod in Town aka "Dublin." She made it on the bus and was dropped off at the train tracks to find her way. Colleen in her infinite wisdom had given Meg a little scrap of paper map to show which side of the tracks she needed to be on to make sure to arrive at the right station in Dublin. Meg got confused. Cue turnstyle and her ridiculously large, American, suitcase. Meg walked to the ticket machine, bought a single pass into the city, as directed, and then headed for the turnstyle. She would like to note that her outfit of choice was a breezy, jersey skirt, sandals, and a colorful top...these are important details to remember as part of this story. Meg proceeds to push her suitcase through the turnstyle, at which point it gets stuck and she can't get through herself. A very kind, elderly, Irish woman arrived and helped me pick up her 50+ lb suitcase over the turnstyle. Meanwhile, she still has to make it over the wheel herself, at which point she just straddles the bar of the turnstyle and takes a little hop over, only to discover, she is on the wrong side of the track, quite literally. SO, yet again, Kindly Elderly Irish Lady helps Meg to collect her suitcase and lift it yet again over the gate. Meg then again has to lift her skirt slightly and jump over the 4 foot gate to go to the other side of the track. She looks like a stupid American Tourist, like the luggage. At least she gets a good belly laugh and a shake of the head out of it.

2. Meanwhile, back at the ranch (also known as NCI), Meg has given Jarod (or Gerard) a ring on his mobile letting him know that she is on her way. Jarod believes that this is a good opportunity to finish up a few work tasks before heading to the train station to pick her up. In an attempt to respond to emails, he fails to find proper directions to the train station--although he does receive some very good directions on how to get to a Tesco Market on Baggot Street (this, too, will come into play momentarily). Jarod receives a call that Meg has arrived at the train station and needs to be collected--much as one would collect the Post, a piece of baggage from a carousel, or bodies like a serial killer. He sets off on his supposedly four block walk to collect Meg and makes it to the bus station. Since Gerard has been to the bus station a couple of times, he knows that there are no trains that arrive there. Perhaps he missed the station on his way? Continuing on his quest, he walks back toward NCI and approaches a building that looks much like a train station. He enters, walks completely the building, and realizes again, that this is not the station. He must, again, turn around and makes his way back toward the bus station. Maybe he has missed the train lines. Finally, nearly 20 minutes later than he was supposed to pick Meg up, Jarod hollars a warm "Failte" (pronounced "Fall-dza" Welcome) and collects Meg from the station. Apparently, putting two stations of different modes of transportation one block apart from each other is considered good practice. Nonetheless...Meg is collected safely and is escorted back to NCI.

3. or said like "Tree". Meg and Jarod spend a blustery and blistery afternoon together, walking to Upper Baggot Street--which is, strangely enough, more lower than Lower Baggot Street--to have lunch with a couple of Butler students. During this excursion, they cross the River Liffey, make polite conversation with a couple of Gardai (policemen), see many Georgian doors, and add a few blisters to their feet along the way. A "short walk" becomes 40 minutes each way.

4. After finishing up his internship, Jarod and collected Meg board a commuter train to Greystones. Despite whispering, they are still the "loud" Americans because everyone else is silent on the train. As they approach Greystones, County Wicklow, the land opens up and they were parallel to the ocean and the bay. Enter Fog into the lush, green, rock walled countryside and land.

5. Colleen collects them, drives them to her home. And they have tea.

6. Jarod and Meg much to their own terror, experience Fish and Chips (~ Delicious, they decide later...) at a local take away Chipper next to a dodgey amusement shop and the dilapadated underfunded and in need of much loving docks of the bay. (They're actually under construction.)

7. Jarod and Meg meet Colleen's "cheeky" yet hospitable, husband Pat. He is a delight to verbally spar with. And then they have tea.

8. Plans are discussed for Jarod and Meg's week eND o' fun and Belfast is quickly becoming their destination of choice.

9. Exit Sun 11p.m.

10. Put on eye mask to sleep.

11. Enter Sun Four : Tirty (4:30) a.m.

12. Fix eye mask to cover eyes instead of forehead. Exit Sun.

13. Meg awakes, showers, and gets dressed before going downstairs at about 9:tirty. No one appears to be in the house, so she makes Irish Soda Bread toast with jam, and then she has tea.

14. Pat returns from the market and Greystones with the morning paper. Verbal sparring commences. 10a.m.

15. Jarod awakes, showers, and gets dressed before going downstairs at about 10:tirty. Colleen returns from getting her hair done and brings brunch items with her. And then they have tea.

16. Jarod and Meg, with much terror, experience wild boar and apple sausage. Irish Soda Bread toast, scrambled eggs, ta-mah-toes, and then they have tea.

17. After round robin reading of the newspaper and other reading materials, Gerard, Meg, and Colleen walk to Greystones.

18. At the Super-valu, Gerard and Meg pick out a sugar coma of treats including: bickies (biscuits), teacakes, snowballs, almond fingers, jaffacakes (which has it own Jaffacakes Anonymous- If you think you have a problem, call in the strictest confidence- UK 0500 0117 10 or the Republic of Ireland 1800 409 317 M-F 9am-5pm), and fancies. Much nibbling ensues and then they have tea.

19. They want to take a nap, but they have tea instead.

20. A drive through the country of the Wicklow Moutains produces sheep, horses, green grass, rolling hills, and Avoka Handweavers while testing their ability to pronounce Irish. If they were to be graded, they would most likely receive a "Haych," two letter grades lower than an F.

21. They, begrudingly, work on their presentation for the CSSI conference, even though they look longingly at the sunshine and clouds outside their Irish lace curtained windows into the backyard garden that is tended by Pat, of Wexford.

22. After dinner, they watch "Man on a Wire" about a crazy Frenchman. "ZutAlo!" said in the accent of the Little Mermaid Chef. Alas...the movie and the characters and the story are too too french and cannot be included. And then they have tea.

23. Gerard and Meg read late into the night as the sun sets at 11pm.

24. Enter the sun at 4:tirty.

25. Meghan and Jarod get ready to leave for their car-ride to Sligo also can be pronounced Shligo. They eat thrashers, beans, wild boar sausage again...it was tasty, and hard boiled eggs in their own egg cups (these are french, it must be said along with the tiny teaspoons that are German). With Yanks, a man from Wexford, an Irish/Yank, French egg cups, German teaspoons, English breakfast beans, and Irish thrashers they have quite the International Continental breakfast.

26. And they have tea. (Meg three cups.)

27. They bid Cheeky Pat goodbye with a Cheers and a million T-anks ("thanks").

28. Operation Road Trip to Sligo begins in the small Renault Clio.

29. Two hours later...Meg and Jarod are embarassed at the local McDonalds by the Taste of America that is circling the Irish country. It includes the New York Burger, the Miami, the Arizona and the Chicago burgers as well. Don't forget the onion rings...and Oreo McFlurry. Their country is so grand for their culinary contributions.

30. And they have tea on the banks of the River Shannon.

31. Back into the car they go, for another drive through a rainy, two lane, country drive to Shligo.

32. Finally they arrive at "The Shining" Hotel formerly known as the St. Columba's Lunatic Asylum. http://www.sligotown.net/lunaticasylum.shtml (This is fact.)

33. They each have a suite complete with tree (3) rooms with tree (3) windows, tree (3) beds, tree (3) couches, and a brilliant view of the former running yard for the inmates.

34. Met by red-haired, Dubliner, Stephen Kennedy and a Spanish Hotelier, Catherine, they drive to Rosses' Point. They worry a bit, that all of these details are leading them to become victims in Stephan King's next grand murder fil-em "film."

35. With a view of sailboats, crumbling rock walls, a moor where a boat collapsed and died, and a gentle mist out the window of The Waterfront restaurant, they couldn't help but feel that they were close to seeing lepracauns, faeries, and a rainbow just over the next hill with a four leaf clover nearby in a field.

36. Meeghan and Gerard write this blog.

37. AND THEN THEY HAVE TEA.

RIP Vidal Sassoon Hairdryer...

You always made my hair so soft. Sorry for thinking I could just plug you into the adapter in the wall. Oops. I heard a pop and you smoked just a little before dying.

I will find a new you! :)

Watching the Irish sunset!

So I finally made it! YAY!



I arrived this morning at 10am finally! It was a bit stressful as my plane was unlucky yet again. My flight from DC to Atlanta was re-routed to Augusta, Ga due to weather yesterday. We got stuck on the runway for two hours while they re-fueled us and we waited for the chance to finally make our destination. I was getting very worried that I would miss Ireland again. But we arrived in time, I had just enough time to check to make sure that my luggage had finally made it on this flight and would follow me to Ireland. I got a quick dinner to eat on the plane, got my seat assignment at the gate, and boarded in about 30 minutes time total. Phew!

I got an aisle seat with only one other person beside me (who ended up moving right before we took off). So I was lucky enough to have two seats to myself...unfortunately they didn't recline as they were in front of a bulkhead, but at least I could stretch out my legs while we were in flight. I watched two movies: "Last Chance Harvey" (Highly recommend with Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman) and "Yes Man" (very funny!). Dinner was surprisingly delicious (chicken, rice, carrots, salad, bread, cheese and crackers and a complimentary bottle of white wine.) After dinner and after my glass of wine (Thank you Delta!), I started to fade out during the movie. I grabbed my eye mask and got some shut eye. Unfortunately it wasn't completely restful...stupid legs falling asleep (*pins and needles aren't fun at about 3 am), and being awoken by the reading light of the woman in front of me...but at least I got a few hours. I awoke to a breakfast tray on my table and a cup of tea. I had just enough time to eat, finish my movie and we landed.

I breezed through Customs and Passport check. While waiting to get my bags I think I saw a fairly notable actress. I recognized her from "Far and Away" (http://i40.tinypic.com/2h6t83k.jpg a movie with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman about Irish people immigrating to the United States). http://services.windowsmedia.com/vidpic/pic200/drV000/V010/V001014N51Y.jpg
So strange...this movie was on tv about two days ago and my mom and I watched it. After I finished being a bit star struck and staring I found my bags and was greeted by the smiling face of Colleen. We drove through Dublin quickly and arrived at my Res Hall this morning. She was very gracious and had some breakfast items for my mini fridge, so we shared a cup of tea, I got refreshed and we were on our way. I survived through a couple meetings, and visiting around campus before I needed a nap this afternoon. I kept getting introduced as "This is Meg, she just finished a transatlantic flight, doesn't she look fresh?" I guess I appeared alive and perky to everyone...that's a good thing! I hoped that I would have blood shot eyes or smell a little funny. :)

I made plans to meet up with Colleen for the NASPA conference dinner being hosted here at UCD this week. I took a nap for about an hour and got a shower. It made all of the difference in the world. I met up with Colleen and some of her colleagues to walk to the on-campus pub for the NASPA dinner. It was lovely! We had shrimp (also known as prawns) salad, lamb with three different kinds of potatos (mashed, boiled, and mashed again in the color scheme of the Irish flag: mango- Orange for Protestant, white- convergence of Protestant and Catholic, and cabbage- Green for Catholic). Then we had a Bailey's toast that was done in "Irish" or Gaelic, a scrumptious strawberry desert, followed by Irish coffee described as Coffee with whiskey, another shot of whiskey, a drop of whiskey, and some more whiskey by Martin Butler the VP of Student Affairs at UCD. I had had my fill before the Irish coffee...maybe another day though. :) This was followed by some dancing! There were Trad players (known as traditional music of Ireland). An acordian, a fiddle and an acoustic guitar played for a young woman who danced with the Irish clogs made popular by Riverdance. She didn't dance in that style, but the shoes were the same. After her performance there were five other young women who were in highschool to elementary school who did perform in the Riverdance style. To watch their feet move was mesmerizing! I love it. Then finally the UCD students have created a community musical theater production that is in its second year running. They performed a few songs from "Guys and Dolls" and from "Rent" which I can only assume will be their next piece of work. I excused myself after all of this lovely entertainment to walk back to my Res Hall and watch the sunset. It is beautiful! Even now, almost two hours later it is still slowly disappearing into the horizon. So beautiful! The reds, yellows and oranges can only warm your heart against the green of the hills.

Tomorrow I will meet up with Jarod to work on our presentation for the conference in Sligo, and then we head to Greystones in County Wicklow for the weekend with Colleen and her husband, Pat. Hopefully I will be able to post some more...and maybe pictures next time!

Love to you all! :)
Meg

Well my predictions came true.

Alas dear friends, your good thoughts and hopeful wishes did me no good.

I am at home still as I got to the airport and was weather delayed enough that I would miss my connecting flight in Atlanta. So after 5 hours at the DC airport, I was rebooked and my dad picked me up and brought me home. I leave (for real) tomorrow in the afternoon. Hopefully my bags made it to Atlanta and/or Dublin.

Right now I'm working on laundry so that I can re-wear the outfit that I had picked out for my plane ride (since those are the only clothes to my name right now). I'm sleeping in borrowed pjs and will head to bed soon.

Make some more good thoughts for me! Maybe if everyone thinks good thoughts at 3pm tomorrow there won't be rain and thunder/lightning storms that keep my plane grounded. PLEASE! :)

Thanks!

Karma...Bad Travel Karma...

I don't know what or how I have offended the powers that be in the travel world...but I swear they are out to get me. It never fails, I always end up on the flight that is delayed, overbooked, or gets cancelled. And inevitably I am the passenger that gets rebooked on a later flight, or gets bumped completely.

Dear Airport Adminstration, Airlines, Security Personnel,

I swear I am a good traveler. I come early, check in with bags under weight requirements and with my name on the tags so my bag is easily identifiable. I don't bring liquids in bottles. I wear slip on shoes and put them on the belt the appropriate way. I don't wear any metal other than jewelry. I unpack and repack my bags quickly before and after the x-ray machine. I will gladly submit myself to a public inspection with the little magic beeping wand if my name pops up in your "random" selection system. I won't stomp my feet or take deep heavy breaths and sighs if you need to recheck my stuff.

I will wait patiently in line to get on the plane when my section and row is called. There is no need to push, everyone will get on the plane and get a seat, we're all headed in the same direction. I'll smile at you when you take my card. :) When I get on the plane, I will sit in my seat quietly. I will bring items that fit under the seat in front of me, and don't take up space in the overhead bin. More than likely, I will fall asleep before we even taxi off the runway and sleep for most of the 2 hour flight when we are in the air.

So is it too much to ask that I make it on the plane? I swear I will be a good patron!
What did I ever do to you that was so wrong?

Can you show me a little travel love? Or at least tell me some insider secrets to get into your good graces?

Sincerely,

a traveler, namely: Meghan Haggerty (Please fix your system and take my name off of your naughty list!)

Today's traveling mis-adventures:
Today I arrived over two and a half hours early for my flight, checked in, got my bags to the counter, and was about to walk through security when I realized I didn't know what gate I was looking for. I went to the monitors and found the DC listings and there was a cancellation. It was my flight of course, but here's the thing, why didn't the Delta rep that handed me my baggage tags and wished me a safe flight tell me before I walked all the way to the atrium in the airport? Hmmm...Delta rep that was not a smooth move. Since I had gotten to the airport so early I had tons of time to just wait in line, but my bags had to get rerouted. I am still on a direct flight, but I've just been hanging at the airport for about two hours already and have another hour or so to go. Thank goodness for my laptop and free WiFi! :) I just wish that instead of sitting next to a floor to ceiling window of the beautiful weather I could be outside. Oh well.

Also...at least it is here in Indy and not waiting for my international flight to Dublin.

So if you have some connections to the powers that be at Delta, or have some good juju for travel that you could send to me...start it now. I need all the help I can get. :)

My bags are packed...I'm ready to go

So the last 24 hours I have felt a little frazzled. I feel like I was very prepared to get all of the details pulled together and have lists of things to pack, gathered materials for work, giveaways of Butler gear, and all of the personal items I will need over the next month. Yet, today, I felt like I was missing something. It is a nagging, overwhelming feeling and can make you feel a little breathless at times. I've double checked everything though and I can only prepare so much and just let everything play out now. :)

Before I left work I found a picture of Colleen, my UCD contact, so I will recognize her in the Dublin airport. Then I emailed her a picture of myself. Its a little odd to do, and feels a little narcisstic, but I would much rather be able to find one another instead of yelling Marco-Polo until we meet at the baggage claim or something. :) She emailed me back right away and said that my schedule has even more meetings on it now...so a few more people to meet and greet while I am there. I finished up what I could do for work before I left on this trip, and then put up an out of office message.

3 Weeks...I will be gone three full weeks! I came to this realization today when I was leaving the message on my phone and computer that said, "I will return your calls on July 1st." Wow that is a long time! I bet in the future I will think it just flew by though...so I'm not complaining now. :)

I came home this afternoon and snuggled with the cat. She kept giving me the evil eye like she knew something was up. Either that or my guilty conscience was making her nervous. :) Also...confession...I didn't have the heart to put the Kitty Cat Lee Press-on nails on her. I trimmed her nails and gave her a scratcher with Kitty Cat crack (AKA Catnip) so I'm sure she'll be fine. She is now staying at Aunt Laura and Chase's house. Thank you for taking care of her! Hopefully they'll be friends soon and won't hiss at each other when they walk around every corner stalking each other.

Tonight was spent watching "So you think you can dance" (that show always makes me cry...the dancers have so much passion...I'll have to watch epsiodes online or something while I'm gone)and packing from my endless lists. I tried my hardest to get everything into one bag and one carry on...I packed, folded, repacked, and refolded...But I knew that I would totally surpass the 50 lb weight limit. I would get branded the heavy bag with the extra tag that the desk workers put on and give you a dirty look. I don't want to be that girl.

So now I have a bag of clothes for me, and a bag of giveaways and my padfolio and other work stuff. I think it will work out okay. Plus...now I definitely have extra room for shopping, goodies, and gifts. Any requests?

With nothing else to do but wait until I can get on my jet plane, I'll just head to bed and have dreams of the Emerald Isle and home with my family!

It is bedtime for this Irish lass...

Happy Friday!

Irish Myths and Legends

http://www.paddywagontours.com/guidetoireland.php

If you want to know about Irish Lore and Myths take a look at this website in section two. It makes reference to the freckled Irish skin...the best definition of freckles ever. :)

One more day of work...

Tomorrow is my last day at Butler for almost an entire month! Yikes! It is so weird to think of being gone for that long. There are so many things to try to anticipate needing to either bring with me to be able to edit or work on for Orientation and Program Board while I am gone. But it is overwhelming to try to anticipate it all. I'm sure it will be fine, but I want to make sure that I can do it all between travels and my job back at Butler.

I have a few things I need to take care of before I go so that I don't go crazy with emails. I also still need to do some more work on my presentation for the CSSI (Confederation of Student Services of Ireland) conference http://cssi.spudmurphy.ie/. I've got Butler data, some pictures of Program Board events, and some basic information about First Year Experience programs...now I just have to format it well into a 20 minute presentation. I'm going to be the voice of American First Year Experience Programs during this conference, so no pressure or anything. :) At least I'll have Jarod with me to help present and talk about America and Butler. We finish each other's sentences, so we can definitely handle 20 minutes in front of a crowd.

Final Preparations are underway! T-minus 36 hours until I leave Indy to go home...
I've collected publications and brochures from Butler to share with all of my meetings for the University College Dublin http://www.ucd.ie/. And I've got to bring all of that, along with some free Butler swag to pack in my suitcase to share. Plus I need clothes, accessories...and SHOES. :) I might need a small miracle to pack everything into one suitcase.

Working on my checklist slowly but surely to get ready...

Right now my apartment smells so fresh and so clean with Gain and Downy as laundry hangs to dry. (Which is a great combo if you're looking for new detergent and softener...just my two cents...Mama Shauna knows how to pick sweet smelling clothes to curl up in.) I've got to have all my clothes clean so I can pick the cutest, while also wrinkle free clothes to bring and stuff into a suitcase. :) I've heard that I will be headed into late spring like weather in the mid 60's so I should be good to go. No sunscreen needed while I'm there! Finally I'll be in a country where freckles are the norm, freckled fair skin is normal...and I won't feel ghostly around all of the fake tanners here in Indy. :) My people!

I'll pack up my clothes tomorrow after I drop off my cat. Teensie tends to freak out and try to climb into my suitcase to travel with me when she sees the bags being packed. I've also endured some war wounds in my arms and hands to get her out of the bags. Its nice to feel loved...even if it sometimes makes you bleed a little (I guess?). I can't bear her little green eyes when I have to throw her on the floor and say no. It breaks my heart. I'll drop her off at my friend Laura's tomorrow. She is my personal hero for taking care of Teensie for the 3 weeks that I am gone. She is saving me a ton of money, so I'm trying to make sure that Teensie isn't too much of a pest. And hopefully Teensie can become friends with Chase (Laura's cat) too. I'll bring litter, toys, food, and some other stuff from home for her to Laura's apartamento. Also...I bought a new fangled invention at Petsmart today so that Teensie stays in Laura's good graces. They are like Lee press on nails for cats. I'm not kidding. I bought clear because that is all they had, but I think it would have been funny to get one of the other various colors like Hot pink or electric blue. Hopefully they work better than the real Lee press on nails...ladies you know what I'm talking about. You'd run your fingers through your hair and the nail would fall off your finger, but get stuck in your hair. Awkward. :) Watch the comercial that Petsmart uses to attract buyers... http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754502 Click the video underneath the picture...I doubt it will be as easy as the woman in the video to put them on. Her cat looks either drugged or catatonic. My cat tends to live life on the feistier side when it comes to touching her paws. So I should have a lot of "fun" equipping her with her new rubber talons. We'll see if it works to keep Teensie from scratching!

Otherwise...then I am ever closer to my travels and trips. I will have to gather everything together, pack it in the suitcase, sit on the suitcase to make it zip, lift it to make sure that I don't get the stupid extra weight fee...while also leaving sufficient space for trinkets, treasures, and presents from the land of my family! Maybe I can find a little leprechaun and a pot of gold to bring home with me too. :) We shall see...

So for now, I will just have endure a scrolling to do list of things popping up in my head.

Oíche mhaith (G'night!)

Two weeks in Ireland...? Yes, please!

In less than a week, I fly to Dublin! YAY!

I've been sent on my way by the VP of Student Affairs at Butler...(Thank you LJ!) to Ireland to visit the University College Dublin, National College of Ireland, CSSI conference, and also learn about Student Affairs in Irish Universities.

Don't forget...I fully intend to have some adventures along the way! Do you want to come with me?

Since I won't have a cell phone for calling or texting I decided that I could tell you some of my stories along the way through a blog. You know how the Irish love to spin a yarn...and I definitely got the gift of gab along the way. If your name is Meghan Haggerty (also sounds like Me-gun Hegarty (daughter of Joseph Patrick and Shauna- can you get more Irish...and are C/O County Cork and County Donnegal) you know you're Irish.

I hope that I can re-tell some of my dram-awk-edies AKA Drama Filled Awkward Comedies. (*Barnes, you're my eternal confidant in these strange, funny, and weird times...) Pictures, stories, and links to my adventures will soon follow.

TO DO (before I leave Indy in two days):
*collect BU gear, publications, and work to get done over the month of June
*work on/finish my first international presentation/talk for the CSSI conference
*pack lots and lots of clothes to prepare for conference gear, work gear, and fun Dublin exploring
*say goodbye to the cat :( for a whole month...thanks Hamilton for being a pseudo mom for her...
*say hasta luego until July...bye Friends! bye Butler! bye Indy! I'll MISS YOU!
*visit the fam in Maryland for a few days...Haggerty's and Elletts here I come!