I am sitting in bed with tea right now because I acctually had to have a root canal today. I was really dreading this because it was such a downer to have one while I am studying abroad, but it was acctually still a great day because it made me realize what great friends I have made here. My two friends, Michael and Ellie came to the dentist to pick me up after the procedure, took me to get pain medicine, and set with me all day watching movies. I also had two other friends come over and bring ice cream, and once the numbing went away we all ordered pizza. At the end of the day my friend, emily, brought me a huge goodie bag with magazines, rice pudding (my new favirote) ice cream, soup and a cute note. It made me feel so happy that I have made such great international friends here.

This past weekend I met up with my friend, Melia, who goes to UNCG with me at home. She is studying in Belfast (about an hour away from me) and her and her international friends were taking a trip to Dublin, and she invited me to come along. I met them Thursday night in Belfast and I spend a few hours in Belfast by myself walking the streets and going to eat at a tiny pub by myself. I have discovered that I acctually really enjoy spending some travel time by myself. Its a really an experience that makes me feel independent and I have really enjoyed the times that I have spent doing that (dont worry mom, not at night, and not all the time:))

We spent the weekend in Bunkhouse hostel. Friday we woke up early to get a tour bus around Dublin. We saw the book of Kells, Dublin Castle, and then toured Guiness Factory. The factory was a lot of fun, and the bar at the end was glass all around and you could see the entire city of Dublin, which was really neat.

The first night we went to a pub where there was traidtional irish music playing. When the band heard my friend and I had american accents they pulled us on stage and made us learn an irish song and sing it in a microphone in front of everyone! There was about 100 people at the pub! It was so much fun!

One of the coolest things that happened...When I was in the hostel I ran into two friends of mine that I worked with last summer, I had no idea they were staying in the Hostel, or were in in Dublin. It was SO CRAZY!

The next day we saw St. Patricks cathedral, Christ Church, the Viking Musem( i learned SO MUCH about vikings) the temple bar and Jameson Distillary. It was all really fun, or as they would say here, "great craic"

The next day I was starting to get a cold, so we all woke up slow and took the journey home.

I am having dinner with my Irish parents this weekend, and maybe plannign some more adventures. My good friends and I are still working on budgeting money, figuring our the correct Euro pass, and planning our spring break europe trip! I am getting excited for this too!