So I´m sorry it´s been a while, but I am alive and doing well!
I´ll post details later, but the short of it is that the Ireland wedding was fabulous, St. Patrick´s day was fun fun fun with the cousins, and the rest of the McGivney visit to Ireland was great. It was really fun to see everyone and show them around my new hometown of Galway.
A week ago my mom and I flew to Madrid and met up with some chicas and had a great time there. Activities included the Prado, Retiro Park, Segovia, Toledo, the Royal Palace, flamenco dancing and Tapas. Muy Bueno!
Then on Wednesday Katie, Colin and I took an overnight train to Barcelona which was interesting. We´ve been hanging out here for the past couple days, despite difficulties with hostels and now knowing whether or not there is still a strike on the trains in France (which would strand us here). Anyway cross your fingers, I´ll be on a train to Paris tonight where I will update you a little more. Right now I´m going to meet Katie and Sarah at the market, then the Picasso Museum and Sagrada Familia are on the schedule for this afternoon. Miss you all and PLEASE post your addresses in my comments or email them to me at emcgivn2@uiuc.edu so I can send postcards!
Eileen ´Hablan Ingles?´McGivney
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Sweden, Cont'd...
So to pick up where I left off, the wedding was absolutely stunning. (Sorry Shelley, no digital pictures but I'll bring some to Spain to show you!) The ceremony went completely smoothly, Denise looked gorgeous and had this white cape with a hood with fur- I mean I felt like I had time-warped to 1500. Then the reception was in a castle that was up on a hill, surrounded by all these snowy woods. Mmmm, it was great!
We got to the Castle and did a Champagne toast, then had dinner. All the speeches were really sweet and moving (I even got a shout out for coming all the way from America haha), the dinner was absolutely delicious, and the whole place looked beautiful. Colin was the Toastmaster for the night, so all throughout the dinner he had to introduce everyone who spoke, and he even teared up a little when he gave the last toast of the night. It was precious!
Then we went into another room for cake and some Bailey's before we headed into the reception with the dance floor and everything. Then some of Colin's cousins performed singing and Irish dancing. Brian played the accordian and Mary sang and danced, it was really cool. Then a couple Swedes performed as well- it was all really nice. Then we just basically danced the night away! I spent most of the night with Colin's cousins and got to know some of the family better. Everyone had such a great time.
Then Sunday we all woke up really late, and Colin and I took his cousin and his girlfriend to try sushi (again haha), but I'll tell you it's not the best food to eat when you've had a late night. They liked it though. A bunch of Colin's family went downtown, but we were all exhausted and decided to stay around the apartments and play in the snow instead! I wish I had seen everything in the downtown since it's supposed to be gorgeous, but I just couldn't be bothered that afternoon.
Then Monday morning we flew out back to Dublin, Brian and Mary drove me back to Galway and it was all wonderful! I watched the Oscars on Monday night (actually, here they do the Oscar 'Highlights.' Soooo much better! They only play the main awards and the fun in-between bits, and it's only like 2 hours long. Seriously I think they should do that in the states. Then you don't have to stay up until midnight to see who won best picture! Plus they use a British announcer which always sounds better).
Then on Tuesday morning Ray flew in and I went and picked him up at the bus station and showed him some of my favorite places in Galway. Then we went back to mine, hung around and then met up with my friend Grant to go out to a couple pubs. And of course at the end of the night hit up the BEST kebab place in the world I'm pretty sure. If you ever go to Galway, go to Charcoal Grill. You'll only be able to die happy after that.
Yesterday we did about the same thing except then we went out with my friend Katie. Originally we wanted to go to this place called The Crane which is supposed to have the best 'trad' (traditional Irish music) in Galway, but the downstairs was packed and the upstairs you needed a ticket for some reason, so we went to another place around the corner that had some good music too. We made it an early night though since Ray had to catch an 8 am bus. I dropped him off this morning, then went home and worked on a paper, went to class and now I'm waiting for my 5:00. Everyone caught up on my life? Good.
These next couple weeks/weekends will be spent writing papers mostly. I have a ton of my final essays due over break/right when I leave for Spain, so I want to get them all done before the parentals get here. There are a few classes though that still haven't said when the exams/essays are which is really frustrating. I think by early next week I'll know my full schedule hopefully!
Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is gearing up for St. Patty's Day!
We got to the Castle and did a Champagne toast, then had dinner. All the speeches were really sweet and moving (I even got a shout out for coming all the way from America haha), the dinner was absolutely delicious, and the whole place looked beautiful. Colin was the Toastmaster for the night, so all throughout the dinner he had to introduce everyone who spoke, and he even teared up a little when he gave the last toast of the night. It was precious!
Then we went into another room for cake and some Bailey's before we headed into the reception with the dance floor and everything. Then some of Colin's cousins performed singing and Irish dancing. Brian played the accordian and Mary sang and danced, it was really cool. Then a couple Swedes performed as well- it was all really nice. Then we just basically danced the night away! I spent most of the night with Colin's cousins and got to know some of the family better. Everyone had such a great time.
Then Sunday we all woke up really late, and Colin and I took his cousin and his girlfriend to try sushi (again haha), but I'll tell you it's not the best food to eat when you've had a late night. They liked it though. A bunch of Colin's family went downtown, but we were all exhausted and decided to stay around the apartments and play in the snow instead! I wish I had seen everything in the downtown since it's supposed to be gorgeous, but I just couldn't be bothered that afternoon.
Then Monday morning we flew out back to Dublin, Brian and Mary drove me back to Galway and it was all wonderful! I watched the Oscars on Monday night (actually, here they do the Oscar 'Highlights.' Soooo much better! They only play the main awards and the fun in-between bits, and it's only like 2 hours long. Seriously I think they should do that in the states. Then you don't have to stay up until midnight to see who won best picture! Plus they use a British announcer which always sounds better).
Then on Tuesday morning Ray flew in and I went and picked him up at the bus station and showed him some of my favorite places in Galway. Then we went back to mine, hung around and then met up with my friend Grant to go out to a couple pubs. And of course at the end of the night hit up the BEST kebab place in the world I'm pretty sure. If you ever go to Galway, go to Charcoal Grill. You'll only be able to die happy after that.
Yesterday we did about the same thing except then we went out with my friend Katie. Originally we wanted to go to this place called The Crane which is supposed to have the best 'trad' (traditional Irish music) in Galway, but the downstairs was packed and the upstairs you needed a ticket for some reason, so we went to another place around the corner that had some good music too. We made it an early night though since Ray had to catch an 8 am bus. I dropped him off this morning, then went home and worked on a paper, went to class and now I'm waiting for my 5:00. Everyone caught up on my life? Good.
These next couple weeks/weekends will be spent writing papers mostly. I have a ton of my final essays due over break/right when I leave for Spain, so I want to get them all done before the parentals get here. There are a few classes though that still haven't said when the exams/essays are which is really frustrating. I think by early next week I'll know my full schedule hopefully!
Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is gearing up for St. Patty's Day!
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