A Whirlwind of 2 weeks...

Hello everyone!!
These last 2 weeks have been wonderful but sooo busy with visitors. I'll take you all the way back to March 15th when 3 of my friends from UNI: Leann, Grace, and Kyndra came to visit Molly and I. They were here for a week and we had so much fun. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day which was madness: complete with a full day of celebrating, a parade and lots and lots of people. We introduced them to all of our friends here and everyone got along great. Molly and I still had a few classes to go to so the girls headed to Cobh and Blarney for a few of the days while Molly and I finished up our last week. It was a great week and we all had WAY too much fun.
They left the following Friday which was the same day that my parents were coming in. I headed to the airport to meet my parents and waited around for a while because their flight was a little bit delayed. They were all a bit tired but I was so excited to see them. We then got our rental car and the adventure of my dad driving began. My dad already stresses out enough about driving but here he was on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road. Even on the last day we had our car, my mom tried to get in on the drivers side before realizing she needed to be on the other side. We only hit a few curbs and had to give a few warnings of being too close to the edge. We started off in Cork for a few days and had a delicious Easter dinner that my mom and grandma prepared in my apartment. On Monday, we left Cork and headed to Killarney. We found our B&B with not too much trouble this time and settled in for the night. We saw some Irish dancing that night and drove around the area that I had walked previously. I was shocked at how much walking I actually did. Killarney was the trip that we trucked through water and walked miles and miles on but I hadn't realized how much it really was. We stopped in a pub that my dad had a name for because he had put windows in for back home. The woman back home had a niece and nephew that owned this pub so we went in to meet them and he bought us a round which was nice. The funny thing was that I told him that I had been there before and he remembered the group that I had come with haha. After a few days in Killarney, we headed to Galway which ended up being quite the adventure. We took a car ferry and stopped at the Cliffs of Moher along the way. We actually ran into Maggie and her parents at the Cliffs which was kinda crazy. We had a bit of trouble finding our B&B after Mary, our hostess, gave us some crazy directions and was talking a mile a minute. We ended up asking a Police Officer for directions and eventually found it. The following day, we headed to Kylemore Abbey which was beautiful. It was a nice sunny day so you could see the reflection in the lake which was amazing. At the abbey, I ran into Alyssa and Beth which was random because I didn't even know they would be traveling the same time I was. We walked around a bit but Oma had stayed behind so we went back to collect her and head into town for some shopping. While shopping we again ran into Maggie and her family, which made me begin to question how small Ireland really is. After our time in Galway, we headed to our overnight in Kilkea Castle. This was the hardest place to find EVER. After realizing that it was in Kildare County and not Kildare the city, we asked some people who just pointed "that way" and somehow we figured out the roads to take and ended up at our castle. It was gorgeous and huge! We were pretty tired from the day, so had some dinner and a drink in the VERY nice bar. I'm talking $15 drinks, nice. We woke up in the morning, had a delicious breakfast and then headed off for Dublin. Again, an adventure in the car. We came to realize that directions in Ireland are never what they seem and street signs don't exist. I had heard this but because I had never driven or had to find my own way by car, I hadn't experienced their glory. We eventually found our hotel which again was extremely nice. We couldn't check in yet, so my dad and I took the car back which my dad was glad to be rid of. We had some dinner and hung around the hotel the rest of that night. All day Sunday, we toured Dublin and saw a few of the sights that I hadn't seen last time. We saw Christ Church Cathedral and did the Jameson tour again. I didn't volunteer to be a taste tester this time haha but still had the free drink. My mom and grandma were feeling it a little bit which was hilarious. My dad and I walked around Temple Bar and did some shopping while everyone else toured the castle. We met up for dinner on our last night which was bittersweet. It had been a busy week and I didn't want to see them go but it was time to get back to Cork and prepare for my own traveling. It has been so great sharing Ireland and places that I've been with family and friends and I can't wait to see what's ahead. I only have 2 months left which is wild. I will be hanging around Cork and relaxing for the next week and then heading out on April 9th for Rome. We decided to change our travel plans a bit after realizing how much everything is going to cost. I'll be starting out in Rome to see Caitlyn for just about a week and then heading to Venice, Barcelona, Milan and then ending in Nice for the 1/2 marathon which is going to be such a joke...i will be walking the majority of it. But I'm excited to relax this week and get back into my routine and then head out on the 9th. I hope everyone is doing well and I'll try to update more often before I leave and then hopefully a few times while I'm gone. I miss everyone lots and please keep sending me your updates, i love hearing about what's going on back home!

Lots of love,
Marissa