03-04-05  How Time Flies!

	Mike, Tito, Kelly, Juli and Jon in Dublin on St Patrick's Day.

Hey guys!

Where did March go?  Right now I am savoring the last few days of Spring Break.  It was a long one. We finished classes May 16th and have had about two and a half weeks off.  I had my last class Wednesday morning, grabbed my backpack and took off straight for Dublin with one of my flat mate, Juli.

Not surprisingly, our flight was packed as everybody was heading to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day.  We landed in Dublin around 10:30 at night on the 16th.  Customs was crazy.  Before the customs officer would let me pass he sarcastically asked me, with his Irish accent, why I had not dyed my hair green instead of red.  We woke up the next morning and had a huge Irish breakfast, which consisted of eggs, ham, sausage, and beans (they really like their beans here).  The streets were overflowing with people dressed in just about anything orange, white and green, and with huge leprechaun hats.  More importantly, it was about 68 degrees and sunny which was great!  The parade was huge and was about 2 hours long.  We ended up running into some friends from Canisius who are studying abroad in Spain this semester.  The atmosphere was really unbeliveable. Everybody was smiling and just loving life.  I loved hearing everyone's Irish accent and they apparently loved hearing ours too!  Before we knew it the day was over.

The next day we headed out to see the sights before our flight back to London. We saw the Dublin Castle, walked through the famous Trinity College, took pictures overlooking the Canal and said we would definitely be coming back next year!  The group from Spain came back to London with us and we were nice enough to let them have our couches and floor that weekend.  We had a great time showing them around London and taking them out to our favorite places.  Saturday was the warmest day we’ve had.  It was 75 degrees out, so we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, bought a football for 2 pounds and walked to Hyde Park.  London is completely different with warm weather.  Everybody was out in the park that day: in row boats on the Serpentine (a lake in Hyde Park), rollerblading, horseback riding, dancing in the middle of the park and even just lying down and getting some sun.

Jess, Kelly, Juli and Chrissy in Hyde Park.

On Monday we took a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath (where the famous Roman Baths are) and the next day my flat mates took off for a one-week trip to the Canary Islands.  I stayed in London to once again play tour guide, this time to my mom and sister. However, we had a great time and it was nice to see my family after more than 2 months.

Things are going back to normal here in London.  The girls got back yesterday and have great tans (not me) and I just put my mom on a tube to the airport.  Next weekend we head to Paris and as I write this we are planning our final trip to Spain to maybe visit the Canisius group.  I will keep in touch and let you know how Paris goes.

Cheerio for now,

Kelly

Kelly's February 2005 Journal
Kelly's March 2005 Journal