It Finally Rained!

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Warning: This is a long blog post with a lot of pictures

Now, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns)...

It finally rained today/last night! After almost 5 days of nearly perfect weather, it was actually nice to have the reality of where I'm living this semester set in. Monday through Thursday were all at around 70-80 degrees and sunny. Friday got a little cooler, and then it rained last night. This morning it was comparatively cold, at about 50 degrees. Of course, being from Chicago, 50 degrees is still good weather, so I'm not complaining.

So today was a pretty cool day. Earlier in the week I signed up for a day trip into County Wicklow to go to the national park area. The bus left UCD at 9 am, so I was up pretty early. The international office bussed us to Glendalough and the Wicklow National Park. When we arrived, we were taken to a monastic city by our tour guide. It was pretty cool to see the old buildings and headstones. It made me wonder how these structures were built of stone so long ago. Also the artistry involved in each piece was extraordinary.

 The craftsmanship on this cross is pretty astounding

After the monastic city, we proceeded into the national park. It was very similar to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. I learned from our tour guide that Glendalough means "Valley between the lakes". So naturally, we passed between two lakes surrounded by mountains. Also at the time we were passing the second lake, there was some event going on where people were swimming from one end of the lake to the other, and back. It was a total distance of 4km in frigid water. Those people are crazy if you ask me. We then circled back to the bus for lunch in Wicklow Town.

View of the first lake "Lower Lake"

 

 Pretty weird looking tree if you ask me

 It's hard to see, but there are swimmers in the lake

 And I was just getting ready to take the plunge...yeah right

 Saw some cows chilling on the way

Last view of the monastic city

So after the park, we went to Wicklow Town for lunch at The Bridge Tavern. There I had a vegetable soup, a cucumber/onion/cheese sandwich, and fries. I also met another American, a Canadian, and some Italians. Now, I have to say, when the Italians spoke Italian, it sounded normal. But when they spoke English, they sounded so funny! They didn't use as many hand motions as Russell Peters says they do, but they were still really fun.

After lunch we drove to the Powerscourt Home and Gardens. I'm not really sure what the function of this place was, but basically it's this enormous estate, with a big mansion and sprawling gardens. The place is so big that they have different types of gardens. First we saw the Japanese gardens, then we went to see this tower, and lastly we passed through the Rhododendron garden coming back. We didn't have time to check out the entire place, but it was still pretty cool. It's the kind of place in which my mom could spend 2 days walking around admiring the gardens.  Now these pictures don't quite do it justice, so once I have them uploaded to Picasa, I'll provide a link.

                                                           This just seemed like a really cool place for a picture

                                                                       The Japanese Gardens

                                                      The mansion behind the pond/fountain
 

            The rhododendron garden - there were a lot more pictures but not all that exciting unless you're my mom

We finally came back at about 4:30 and now I'm just relaxing after a long day of walking. I think I'll make some stir fry tonight for dinner. Tomorrow is more of a relaxation and preparation day, as on Monday I start classes. I confess I want them to start, because I need a regiment and schedule. Since school starts soon, and the basic orientation/initial fun things are over, I may not be posting as often, but I'll be sure to update as frequently as possible.