Last stop as a group Limerick Ireland

Today as a group we made our last and final trip to our last destination Limerick, Ireland. The morning started off with a three hour bus ride to Limerick from Dublin. To our surprise we were the only seven individuals on the bus which was nice because that meant we could really spread out. At this point in the trip I think we all need it...tensions run high at points! I think its just due to being with the same people almost 24/7 for 3 weeks! I know I needed the space because I have been extremely annoyed with some people and the space really seems to help but things into perspective.

Once we arrived in Limerick I had my last and final far haul of my heavy suitcase...I am lucky Aunt Kathy is coming to pick me up at the hotel so I don't have to drag them as far! Every time we have to lug those suitcase somewhere I think we all dread it! After lugging those suitcases on a plane, buses, trains, up stairs, downstairs, up hills, and just long distance I am very excited today was the last big day of hauling that bag around! I mean the airports are one thing but suitcases do not like cobble stone streets, or many other things so it makes it even more difficult! After walking to our uphill hotel we finally arrived at the Strand Hotel come to find out we cannot check in until after 3 p.m. and its like 10:45 am....so we dropped our bags off and walked back into town.

Our hotel is like a 5 minute walk across a bridge to shops in Limerick. After walking back to the heart of Limerick we broke off for lunch and shopping for two hours! I went to lunch with Dave, and Lois we went to a bakery called O'Conners. The shop is a small hole in the wall shop that serves delicious sandwiches and also has an array of desserts! After lunch I went off on my own which something I really needed! IT WAS WONDERFUL! I mean in all honesty all I did was walk around Limerick and look at some shops but mainly just walked around exploring! It was FANTASTIC!!! That hour or so of free time I had to myself was wonderful it really allowed me to just do things I wanted to do and not worry about anyone else but myself! I LOVED IT!

We then met up at 1:30 to walk to a bus stop to head to the University of Limerick. While we were on the bus a girl began talking to us and she is in her 2nd year as they call it over here of University. One of the boys asked her about her uniform she was wearing and she made a sad but funny comment to it...She said as more girls get pregnant the longer our skirts get...It was just a surprising answer but very honest! Once we arrived at the University of Limerick we waited for an hour to meet with the lecture lady we were meeting....while waiting I took a short nap on my hands! After the hour was up we headed to the building where we were meeting the Professor. The professor was from the Computer Science Department and other aspects of computers. Besides figuring out some of the differences in the education system, asking questions about housing and student affairs everything else went way over my head!

After our meeting with the professor was over we met up with a tour guide and her boss to have a campus tour. The tour lasted over an hour and a half it was very long but our tour guide was interesting. She is a 19 year old girl from Ireland who is doing a 12 month internship with the Study Abroad office. If our tour guide was not so interesting the tour would have stunk but we were asking her all kinds of questions and she answered them all. One question we asked her was about what sort of music does she listen to because in case you did not know they mainly only play American music in Europe! After asking her that question all of a sudden she starts talking about Biggie, Topaque, Kayne West, and Jay Z. She loved Jay Z the best part was when she started rapping in her thick Irish accent! Once our tour was done we caught a bus to the hotel, grabbed food and had the night to ourselves!