Finals and Packing Up

As I sat down to start writing this post, I realized that this will most likely be one of my last posts. How sad! While I am not the greatest writer, it has been really fun getting to share all that I've learned and experienced over the past few months. I am actually currently packing up my room, getting it ready to check out of the residence hall... TOMORROW!! While I am super excited to get home and see everyone, I am also really sad! I love Ireland, Dublin city and all of the wonderful friendships I've made. Enough about that, or else I might start crying!! In case you're curious, this blog post is going to be about May 1 - now! Haha, enjoy!

Ciara and I at the Sticky Fingers concert in Glasgow!

School: Two weeks ago was the start of Revisions Week here at UCD. It was really nice as it gave me loads of time to study and prepare myself for my upcoming exams. Honestly nothing crazy happened during that week school wise, I just did my best to not procrastinate (and failed most days)! This past week was the first week of the two week exam period. I was fortunate (I think?!) enough to have had all of my exams during the first week! My first exam was Plants and People on Tuesday, Fundamentals of Horticulture and Crop Science on Wednesday, and I finished out the week with my Early Irish history exam on Saturday. I think they all went pretty well which is good! The weirdest part about taking finals at UCD is that we have to go to an off campus location to take them. The building that we took the exams in was like a giant convention hall. It kind of reminded me of a building that we use for fairs in Iowa to show animals! It was so strange. I think the room could hold up to 2,500 students at a time which was so crazy to me! I've never taken an exam with that many people in the room before. There were also invigilators that would walk up and down the aisles as we took our exams. When I first went into the exam hall, I was really worried that the presence of all these students and the invigilators would distract me, but the room was SO quiet that I actually could focus better than I can in some of my other exams at ISU! While I didn't enjoy the fact that I had to take a shuttle bus to take my exams, I kind of liked the atmosphere of the exam hall. It kind of reminded me of Harry Potter when they take the OWL exams! I absolutely loved my courses here at UCD and am sad to be leaving so soon! There is still so much more to learn!!

Willow Tea Rooms featuring their signature black tea and a Victoria sponge cake!

University of Glasgow

Tourist Fun: During Revisions Week, Ciara and I went to Glasgow for two days. We decided to take this quick study break trip to see a band, Sticky Fingers, and fit in one more adventure together before going back home! We left UCD at 4:30am to get to the airport, so it was a really long day as the concert was later that night. Once in Glasgow, we walked around a lot, taking in the industrial city and eating some delicious food! The concert was SO awesome! Sticky Fingers is an alternative band which is normally not the kind of music I listen to, but I absolutely loved it!! The concert hall was quite small so the entire room was like the mosh pit. It was great. I keep listening to their songs, reliving that awesome night! The next day, we continued walking around the city going to the University of Glasgow, an art/history museum, the People's Palace, the Glasgow Necropolis, the Glasgow Cathedral and the Willow Tea Rooms. It was so fun getting to walk around and chat with Ciara. My favorite part of the trip was probably the concert and the tea room! It was my first European tea room experience, and it was SO fun!! Love tea!! As I was concentrating on my exams after Glasgow, I did not do anything touristy until just yesterday! I finally went to Powerscourt Estate and Gardens and Glendalough. As most of my friends were either traveling or studying, I went on this trip alone. Glendalough was SO neat. It was a monastery that was built in the 8th century and parts of it are still standing today! The weather was absolutely beautiful which made the trip and the hike around the lake amazing! After Glendalough, I headed to Powerscourt where I walked around the beautiful grounds. I think it was rated the 3rd best garden in Europe (behind Versaille in France and Kew Gardens in England) by National Geographic last year. It was so stunning! Every part was meticulously designed and taken care of. My favorite part of the garden was the walled in garden that had tons of beautiful tulips in bloom! I will attach a photo below of them!

Tulips in bloom at Powerscourt!

More tulips at Powerscourt!

Something New: My something new for this week would have to be traveling by myself. While I did fly to Madrid by myself a couple months ago, I had yet to go on a trip alone. It was actually really refreshing! While I would almost always rather go on a trip with other people, I enjoyed having the opportunity to do things at my own pace and take it all in without any distractions. Plus it was a great way to unwind from the stresses of packing up my entire room!

Stain glass window in the Glasgow Cathedral!

What I've Learned This Week: As I am getting ready to leave, I have thought a lot about the past semester and all of the opportunities I was able to have! Though most things never worked out exactly how I thought they would, I had a really great time in Ireland. I have thought a lot about the importance of taking the time to really get to know people and spend time with them. While I'm not saying you should always drop everything to go have fun with friends, but it is important to spend quality time with those people because time goes by so fast! I've made some amazing life long friendship while at UCD, and I will be forever grateful to have these wonderful people in my life! This experience has taught me to enjoy and cherish any and all times spent with others and encouraged me to take the extra time out of my day to spend time with a friend! I am so thankful for my time here in Ireland!

For my last blog post in a few weeks time, Emma and her friend Sarah will be featured as I will be meeting them in Europe to do some traveling! So exciting!!

*Weekly Tea Trivia: Traditional English Tea is served between 3-6pm. The later it is served, the more substantial the food that is offered.

Cheers,

Anna