Wait, I have a blog?

Yeahhh, okay, so I haven't blogged in a bazillion years. Go ahead, jeer on, jeer on -- the thing is, London life is so busy and blogging is work. However, I'm making amends. Right now. So, read on and stop being whiney.

FALL BREAK:

It was fabulous. Tyler and I boarded our Ryanair (beyond cheap tickets... but you get what you pay for) flight to Dublin on the Thursday after classes ended. Our plan was to go see my relatives in Ireland (meet them, I should say) and then hop back on a plane to Milan, Italy, to hang out with one of our theatre professors (aka stay in his house for free) before heading back to London. Believe it or not, our trip went as smooth as smooth could be! It was somewhat amazing ... no huge mishaps, no lost passports, no delayed flights, no smelly people or babies sitting next to us, it was rather eventful and pretty great!

Soooo, here go the pics!

Euros? Or Monopoly money? You decide.

Train to Gatwick Airport

Wheeee!

Pics from my window ... Ireland is so green!

So, we arrived, to be met lovingly by two of my relatives - Gerard (pronounced Jared) and Joan - I think we discovered they are my 2nd cousins, so that made their kids my 3rd cousins. Tyler and I would be staying with my grandma Theresa's brother and his wife, Uncle Christy (coincidence?) and Aunt May. I'd met them before, but I was very little ... it was amazing to be reunited and catch up on the family history! I've never looked at so many pictures in my entire life! It was fantastic to figure out my roots and connect the dots ... Tyler and I went to bed dizzy that first night, so many names and faces!

Our precious purple room!

Part of the family tree - pictures were very helpful!

There's my fam!

Aunt May showing Tyler pictures

Gerard and Joan also took us to a super high hill to see the lights of Dublin our first night there. My favorite part? Being in a car! I didn't realize that I missed it so much! :)
 

The lights are a little fuzzy ... but pretty!

The next day, Ty and I took a walk around Uncle Christy and Aunt May's suburb and discovered we couldn't read Irish. Awesome.

Just a quaint walk for two in the suburbs of Dublin

At least they provide the English too

GRASS! YAY! There's none of this in London

 We also went to one of my relatives' favorite restaurants - Joels - and had the most delicious banoffie pie I've ever tasted. If you don't know what this is, you're missing out. 

I also met more relatives! (This is a recurrent theme whilst I was in Ireland)

Aunt May's dessert. Excellent life choice!

More relatives! Frank and Mona

Cousin love aka I'm short and he's TALL!

One of the highlights of my Ireland trip was the day that Gerard and Joan took us out-on-the-town to see the sights and soak up all we could in Dublin! It was amazing, we went to a jail that I can't pronounce the name of and learned about Ireland's history and saw the town, Grafton Street, went to eat at Captain America's where they advertise "American" burgers and fries, not chips! We ended the day at the Guinness factory!

yayyyy jail?

We look a little too enthused to be in this cell

Irish roots, baby!

The best busker (person who performs for $) I've seen! So lifelike!

My 3rd cousin Paul busks on Grafton Street (you don't need a permit and it's reeeeally busy) with his band. We went to visit them and be their groupies and they sang "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" for me!

Isn't he good? Anyway - back to Dublin sightseeing pics...

Ty waving in front of Trinity University!

Us and the mayor's car! Note the #1 license plate

St. Patrick's!

Me with Miss Molly Malone - or "the tart with the cart" as she's more affectionately known...

Us at Guinness! Please note my hair. WOAH it was windy.

 

yay! getting our free samples first!

What do you think.... new spokesgirl?

Gerard, Joan, + I

They have precious advertising. Too bad the beer is so bitter!

The American Embassy

Baby deer! Crossing the road in Pheonix Park!

Family photo time + Tyler

They were such fabulous hosts :)

Going to mass with Uncle Christy and Aunt May

 One of the last things we did in Ireland was really special - Uncle Christy and Aunt May drove us out to the country to visit County Wicklow which is where the original O'Reilly homestead is still standing - and my cousin lives there! It's so nice to come from such a fabulous clan ... so many cousins! My late grandma took the trip to the same house when she found out about her brother living in Dublin and took a picture by the house in almost the exact spot as I did! It was amazing.

The Irish countryside? Gorgeous.

We even passed a horsey!

There it is! The photo with my house :)

Hellooooo dog-cousin

He liked Tyler. I think this picture is really cute.

Me sitting in the chair my great great grandmother used to sit in, with Lily, the lady that helped my grandmother locate her roots in Ireland!! Crazy.

The Ireland trip was amazing  ..... and to risk doing too long a post on one topic, I'm going to switch to Italy in another post! Bu-bye!