July 3

We checked out of the Killarney Hostel this morning, thankfully- I was getting tired of the see-through showers and the low bunk bed. I did love the windowsill in our room however. I was a little carsick this morning and was feeling a little blah, but we just finished at Blarney Castle and I'm now feeling much more pumped for the day. I liked this castle best of all- it had a more ancient and ruin-y feel to it... crumbling walls, caves and crevices to crawl in, and... the Blarney Stone! I kissed it! Way scary- leaning over backwards and upside down over a ledge of a castle, but worth it- now I have the luck of the Irish and the gift of eloquence, according to the legend. There's a group of us that I'm staring to feel more comfortable with- we all took pictures together and Will, who reminds me of someone, possibly John Ericson, even waited for me to go to the bathroom and we took pictures of each other throwing our pennies into the river to make a wish. With the others, I think playing the game last night helped breka the ice- a couple people commented about it. I think we'll all get even closer over the next few weeks.

After Blarney we went to the Rock of Cashel, which is in fact not a rock, but a castle, and a pretty cool one too. There's like a St. Patrick's monument cross thing, and the castle was mostly all opena nd in ruins, it was really pretty. I was proud of myself- I saved money today by taking my apple from the hostel breakfast and buying a cheap muffin at a stop this morning and ate that for lunch instead of buying more expensive food. I did exchange some more money at Blarney for hte next couple days because I was completely out.

I slept pretty much the entire way to Dublin, where we arrived this evening. The hostel's not bad, there are 10 of us in a room but it's pretty open, and the window is amazing. We wandered around a bit looking for a place to eat and ended up at Burger King, kinda nice. I gotta say though, I miss the quaint towns we've been in- the big city is just not for me, I'm too paranoid. There's finally (slow) internet here so I'm just waiting for Denise to finish so I can use her computer- I'm kinda wishing I had brought a laptop. There'll be a computer lab in London though so that should be ok. I've loved Ireland, but I'm kinda excited to get somewhat settled in London- at least not living out of a suitcase. It'll be nice to have regular access to a computer/internet. I'm sure my family must be going crazy not knowing what I'm doing. I've been sending my mom a text each night so she'll at least know I'm alive and well.