{ tea & laughter }

Once again, I find myself having to apologize for my long absence...time is slipping through my fingers like sand. This photo above is a photo of what has become one of my favorite paintings. It's a painting by Carol Graham. We had the privilege of meeting a very famous man here in Ireland and he gave us a tour of his private art collection - worth well over 5 million pounds. It was a fantastic evening. He was a quirky man and entertained us all night with his thrilling stories, random tid bits of information and his love for art. We sat in a crowded, cozy room drinking tea and laughing lots. Ireland has such a fascinating history, and the political world here is usually a very hot topic. I am going to miss long evenings of story telling.

One another note, word has reached me that retaliation is coming full force very soon for our last prank we pulled. I will have to keep you updated on the outcome of that...I'm a wee bit nervous. (like my use of the Irish word?) But, we have some pretty good pranks still left up our sleeve. :)

How quickly time here is passing...I will dearly miss my Finaghy family. We have already begun planning tea times together once we get back. :) I think we'll all be stuffing our suitcases with chocolate digestives and Nambarie tea!

{ oh, bliss }

I'm sorry it's been a little while since I blogged last. There's so much to say, it's hard to know where to begin. Today we traveled to W.B.Yeats' grave, and we saw a lot of the beautiful countryside as well. I love Ireland. I've been trying not to think about leaving. It will be incredibly hard. I could live here.

Some of my favorite things about being here...

1. Sheep everywhere. :)
2. Visiting places of inspiration for C.S. Lewis and other literary geniuses.
3. Dark chocolate digestives.
4. Castles along the roadway.
5. Everything is green and alive.
6. Taking a bus everywhere.
7. Student Union praise & worship Monday nights.
8. It doesn't feel like school.

...I could go on...but that's enough for today I think. :)

So this past weekend we had a "Top Chef" cooking challenge. We broke up into two teams and we had to make lunch and dinner, using cucumber in all the lunch dishes and ginger root in all the dinner dishes. It was a blast. Our team made sushi! We had never made it before and it turned out great! So yummy. We decorated the dining room with candles and we took the tables out and sat on cushions. The menu was lettuce wraps, chicken fried rice, sushi, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. It was a hit. Unfortunately we didn't win (our lunch wasn't as big of a success and the other team won more points there) but we had a lot of fun!

Speaking of fun. So...we sort of have a prank war going on in the house. I can't say much about it because some information is top secret...but let's just say...nutella and peanut butter go a long way. :)

{ He is so beautiful to me }

Tonight we went to a worship service at the Student Union. It was incredible. Exactly what I needed. Spending time with Jesus and learning to surrender.

{ mud, fireworks, and zombies }

Well, I am posting this, thoroughly exhausted. Today has been a long day. We went to a special conference this morning where Hadden was the guest speaker. It was good to go to, but took up most of the day. Then tonight some of us went out looking for adventure. We ended up going on a hike through the woods in the dark...which was kind of scary, to be truthful. But fun, nonetheless. Antony and Tripp thought it was great sport to jump out of the bushes like zombies and grab me... yeah...hilarious. Thanks guys. We hiked all the way to what's called the "Giant's Ring" which is a large grassy crater-like circle that has the ashes of famous people spread in the center of it. There were some other people there having a fireworks war with each other across the ring. We watched them for a while and tried to keep a low profile. We succeeded for a while, but we decided when they started throwing them at us that it was probably time to make a run for it. :) It was kind of fun to live a bit dangerously. haha. Oh, Ireland. So many random things have happened. I love it.

{ city adventures }

We've officially lived in Ireland for two weeks now. It feels like we've been here so much longer! I love being here. Leaving already seems too soon.

I love going into the city and having adventures...we always find something interesting. Jordan, Zac, Tripp, Antony and I walked along the river downtown - so pretty! I love watching the boats, I really want to take a boat trip. We also met a lovely old Irish man who chatted with us for quite a while telling us all about where to find the best fish & chips and Guinness. :)

Living together in the manor is so fun! The most random stuff always happens. Tonight Erin and I made brownies and had a dance party in the kitchen...complete with wooden spoon microphones. :) Love it.

God is so good, and I am so thankful for this gift he has given me.

{ First week of senior year }

Well, I've been having a hard time keeping up with this blog.

A. I wonder if anyone's really reading it?

B. We started classes this week and I've had homework...yuck.

C. There's so much to say, I don't know where to even begin!

Nevertheless, I will give it a go today. First of all, each day here seems to just get better and better. I LOVE everyone on the team, we have all bonded so quickly and I already feel like they're dear friends. We spend a lot of evenings having "tea" and being absolutely ridiculous. We have a new project...we're going to build a boat out of milk cartons...Erin (my new little sister :) ) is going to be the first one to brave a voyage on the raft. We're planning on trying it out in the lake first, then maybe taking it to the river. We've also been playing phase 10 a LOT...and having Disney movie nights. I love it.

Along with all the fun, we've of course been having class too. So far classes have been alright...pretty typical. The long syllabi are always effective in their initial intimidation. Tomorrow I am dreading Economics, but beyond excited about Irish Literature. Our classes are all three hours long, once a week...with tea breaks. :)

We're all fighting a cold, everyone's had ear aches, stuffy noses and sore throats. Sarah has us drinking several cups of airborne a day, garlic cloves, and peppermint tea. Today she even bought different flavors of airborne. Hip hip hooray.

Since my last posts we've been out and about quite a bit. We went to Giant's Causeway (one of the seven natural wonders of the world), a really cool rope bridge, and we went to the castle where the Queen stays when she visits and saw a very famous flutist, Sir Galloway play with a big orchestra and fireworks. It was cold, but fantastic. We've also been exploring Belfast every chance we get.

I love being here. It's only been a little over a week. I cannot wait to see what else this semester holds. Oh and do write...I love getting mail! - It's like a little piece of home. And we have the cutest little red post box at the end of the driveway.