Much Needed Relaxation

This weekend I did a whole lot of nothing and it was brilliant. Especially after having two challenging exams back-to-back on Friday. I needed some time to myself and I was so happy and grateful to finally have some. Kieran's mom was in town this weekend so, I was a little sad to not have my partner in crime with me. There is a sunny side to this story. Saturday, while they were out, I went to the hotel, took a bubble bath, and read a book for pleasure. I repeat, I read a real life book and it wasn't school related. It was raining outside all day Saturday, even though it was sunny (tricky weather). After my bath, I went to a restaurant and ate lunch while looking out the window watching people rain dash. People watching is so much fun. Then, I went back to the dormitories.

The rest of my weekend, I filled with watching documentaries about medical anomalies and chatting with Jason.

Life is good. =)

Now back to work...

Noah's Egg

I'm really excited that this post has a little bit of a story around it. Maybe, I'm just overworked from being in the midst of midterms. I like the idea of an adventure. Here we go...

Kieran, my roommate, very early in the semester, asked me, "Where is the egg?"
"What egg?" I replied. She pulled a website up on her iPhone and this is what we read...

"Noah's Egg Represents the beginnings and potential of life, and symbolizes both the field of veterinary medicine and the scholarly pursuits and ambitions of the Veterinary students and staff... Noah's Egg sits outside the UCD Veterinary Faculty's new state-of-the-art premises at Belfield."

Lots of questions followed: We're in Belfield, where's the egg? If it's so big why don't we see it? How big is this egg? Is it supposed to be right in the front of the vet building? Do you think there is another front to the building? Is it around the back? How could we miss a giant bronze egg?

This all lead up to one epic decision... We MUST find the egg.

I'd like to say we went on some big vast adventure in complete mission mode, including flashlights, juices boxes (or cans of diet coke), snacks, and a hand-drawn map of campus, to search out this egg. But, in actuality we didn't. Before we knew it we were studying daily and trying to find as much socializing time, to regain sanity, as possible. We cooked lots of desserts, tried new dinner recipes, avoided multiple near-disaster situations, and went on trips to far away lands (United Kingdom).

And while our egg-hunting ambitions flickered and dimmed our friendship flourished. Cheesy, but it felt necessary to say that.

All was forgotten, until late last week....

As we were leaving the vet building, following lecture, the sound of beeping construction equipment drew our attention to a small mound to the left of the vet school's entrance. There we saw men rolling the egg into place (for theatrical reasons, the egg was rolled... in real life they dropped that bad boy in with a crane). Questions from the surrounding crowd of peers rose. "Is Lady Gaga on campus?" "Why are they putting an egg on that hill?" etc... But Kieran and I knew the truth and we were so excited!!!

At last, we found the missing egg. Turns out if we had done a little more research early on we would have learned that in 2011 the egg was removed from campus to repair a crack. But, now it is safely returned =). If you look closely you can see sperm on the egg. 

Also, on the inside of the egg, there is a "planetarium-like effect." So cool.

And there it is. The story of the missing egg. We may or may not have jumped up and down and yelled yay when we "found" it. The end. 

Side note: Today is UCD scarf day. We rocked it. 

Now, I need to get back to studying for the second week of midterms!

<3

Midterms!!!

This means all I've done for the past week is study, study, study. So not much to write here. But it's nice to keep up with weekly updates.

I'll have a life again soon =)

London Calling

The best part about living/studying in Ireland is that it is so easy and cheap to travel to other European countries. This weekend I took a trip to London, England. (Eeeekkk How cool is that! "Oh, I just hopped on a plane and went to London for the weekend.") The flight was through Ryanair. They have super cheap flights between European countries. It is amazing. Also, once again... groupon.ie. Always check out groupon. I found a Jack the Ripper tour on the website and it was beyond interesting (Especially since I gravitate towards weird things).

Friday night Kieran, Nikki, Gabby, and I went to Dublin Airport on air coach (recommended) and arrived in London really late that night. Friday also happened to be the 1 year anniversary of my passport and I was a little sad that no one stamped it for me when we arrived. Then, we got in a taxi, arrived at the Royal Hyde Park Hotel, and checked in.

We booked our stay at hotel through expedia. It was a decently priced hotel (one of the cheapest for the area of London we were in) and I found that I liked it. The rooms were what some people may consider small but, after living in a dorm room for the last month, it seemed big to me. Also, I got a double sized bed. I shared, but it was a luxury nonetheless. We were served breakfast  every morning which is a minimum requirement for me when I stay somewhere. Also, the shower had real life doors... it's the small things in life. I was satisfied.

Saturday, we started off the day early after getting our Original Tour Bus pass situation situated. I love tour buses. You get history and a ride around the city. Hop-on hop-off tours are truly the best. Our first stop was Buckingham palace for the changing of the Guards. I was most excited that the orchestra played the James Bond theme song during the ceremony. Unfortunately, I did not meet the queen, nor did I make Prince Harry fall madly in love with me.

We bought some discounted tickets for the London Dungeons and the London Eye from the lovely workers of "The original tour." Afterwards we headed directly to the London Eye. Much to our surprise though (only slight sarcasm), when we got there, the line was ridiculously long. Instead we decided to cash in our fast lane, discounted tickets for the London Dungeons which was not disappointing. It was so much fun, I just wish that more people jumped out and tried to scare you. I MISS NJ/PA HAUNTED HOUSES =( =(. After that we took the long route back to the city centre on the tour bus and made our way to the Jack the Ripper tour. I loved it. I managed to get a good amount of halloween/ fall satisfaction that afternoon.

On Sunday, we woke up early and took a very circuitous route to the London eye, due to a marathon that was going on in the city. The third largest ferris wheel in the world (135 m tall) is really quite impressive. It was fun to ride on and the weather was sunny, clear, and warm which made for some good picture opportunities. Once we got off we headed on to the river cruise (that was free with our bus pass ticket) and walked around for a bit before heading back to the airport to go home.

The weekend was a really good one. The weather was fantastic all weekend. There are so many nice cars in London that are fun to look at. Overall, there is simply too much to see in London and it is impossible to squeeze it all in a two day period. But, I think we did our best.

 This picture belongs by itself. That statue was majestic. What I did may or may not have been completely legal.

Note to self: Don't trust hot dogs outside of the US... I shouldn't really trust hotdogs anywhere... but they're especially disappointing away from home. 

Belfast in a nutshell

I'm surprised at how fast another week has gone by! As usual I've been studying my butt off... but, I did squeeze in some fun...

This past Saturday a couple friends and I woke up before the sun and got on a train to Belfast. Irish Rail has fair student prices. =) Belfast is an awesome city nestled in Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK). It was tons of fun and by the end of the day we were all overly exhausted to the point of random giggles the whole train ride home at 10 o'clock at night.

Some highlights from the trip: 

Victoria Square: An amazing mall with a stupendous view at the very top

St. George's Market: typical farmers style market, indoor. Also included random crafty things. So much fun. I was sad I couldn't bring home any seafood. The price was amazing but I don't think the fish would have enjoyed the 2 hour train ride. 

Bus tour: It was ok. Problem with the tour was that part of the city was closed down due to a parade, unfortunately. I was still able to learn some about the city. So yay!
Leaning tower of Belfast: aka wee Ben. It's sinking into the river...

Titanic Museum: Fantastic, as expected. Titanic love <3.
Titanic Studios: We didn't go in. but, I saw it!!! It is where some of Games of Thrones was filmed!!!!

Hashtag mania: There was hash tagging nonstop. It was semi ridiculous. Video that started it all can be seen below... 

Here are some pictures =). I am lucky to have friends who take lots of pictures that I can steal for my posts. Thanks Ben, Colleen, and Gabby!!!

And, here is the video that left (mainly) Ben on a hash tagging rampage all day long. Seriously though, this video is kind of hilarious.

In conclusion, I'd recommend Belfast to anyone. It was well worth the visit.

Honestly, I am most excited for this upcoming weekend!!! I'm going to London!!!! Can't wait. =D

Note to self:
  Don't overfill bread pan with banana bread then leave to do laundry.
 *Kieran may need some serious therapy after what she endured today all on her own. I'm proud of her.

Alas, there's the finished product. it looks a little sketch but it was the most delicious banana bread I ever made. Definitely worth the near crisis situation in the kitchen.