I can't believe I have already completed my second week of school at UCD. What a week. My main goal for this entire study abroad experience has been to relax and do things that I wouldn't normally do. So far, I would say I've accomplished that goal... almost on the daily. As my good friend Ciara from New Zealand pointed out, I have been writing quite a bit on these posts so far... so I'll try to keep it short and sweet this week. :)
School: So far, so good. The past two weeks have been very relaxing, and I am beginning to enjoy all of the classes I am in. My favorite class at the moment is Intro to Crop Science. My teacher does a great job at making the lectures fun and educational. The biggest change in the school category would be that I attended Refresher's Day yesterday which is essentially a club fair. I ended up officially joining UCD Christian Union and the UCD Mountaineering Club. Ellen and I are currently debating whether or not we should join the dance society or badminton club... stay tuned for that decision and please let me know your thoughts on which one to join.
Tourist Fun: This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Malahide Castle and Gardens. It was very beautiful, and I had an amazing time walking around the stronghold and the breathtaking gardens. What this castle lacked in grandeur, it made up for in a lengthy yet interesting history. The Talbot family lived at Malahide for 800 years before the castle was bought by the county and turned into a museum. There was only 10 years of the 800 when a Talbot did not reside in the home. After the family regained the right to live there, they redesigned the outside of the castle to make it look more like a home than a military stronghold to discourage the British military from taking it over again. No other castle in Ireland has had the same family residing in it as long as Malahide has. The Talbot family lived in the castle until 1975 when the last remaining Talbot sold the castle, the grounds, and everything inside it. I really enjoyed getting to step back into time and visualize what it might have been like to live in a different time period. Malahide was very beautiful, but I am extremely excited to visit more castles and grand houses while here in Europe.
Something New: This week, I decided it was time to learn how to cook a real dish. I had my mom send me several recipes which I recorded in a mini spiral notebook that I bought at my favorite store, Tesco. For the past two weeks, I had been eating toast, Bran Flakes, sandwiches, salad, and pub food. While this isn't a terrible combination, I figured I should put at least a little more effort into what I am making. So, my three major dishes that I made this week included stir fry, garlic spaghetti and chicken chili. I have never made any of these dishes or even boughten the ingredients, so I headed to Tesco to pick them up. It took me an hour to get about half of the ingredients and then I had to call in reinforcements... aka my mom, Kristi. After about 45 minutes of talking with my mom, I was able to get almost all of the ingredients needed. My stir fry turned out alright, but I'm definitely going to work on it for next time. I didn't use a recipe, so that was probably my first mistake as I am an amateur chef. Garlic spaghetti was better than the stir fry, but still not amazing. I'm not quite sure how my mom can make everything taste SO good at home! I had to FaceTime her the entire time to make sure I didn't mess up on the different recipes! After that dish, I decided my mom needs to give me cooking tips before I head back to ISU in the fall. While the first two did not turn out how I expected, the chicken chili was absolutely delicious, and I have tons of leftovers. I FaceTimed Jonny that night and told him about my cooking endeavors and announced that this will be the first meal I make for him when we go back to school in the fall... I couldn't tell if he was excited or slightly worried. Either way, I'm pumped.
My other "Something New" from this past week was going to Whelan's on a Tuesday night for the final round of Battle of the Bands. For those of you who know me well, you all know that I am not a big fan of doing things on school nights. However, Dublin Anna thought it sounded like a great idea. And man was she right. It was such a blast getting to hear the bands again and hang out with my friends! There is something very special about listening live music and having the opportunity to experience it at Whelan's was incredible. Whelan's is known for having live bands and artists such as Ed Sheeran and Hozier. So it was a cool night. I won't say I wasn't tired the next day, but it was definitely worth it. I will share a video of the winner of the Battle of the Bands in the photo section of my blog. Just a heads up, they are a heavy metal band are a bit... intense, but so fun to watch live!
Be on the look out for photos from Malahide and my other adventures of the week! This weekend I am heading to Galway with some of my friends - the main reason why I actually got the post done on Thursday night - so I'll have loads to share with you all next week!
*Weekly Tea Trivia: An experienced tea picker can collect around 32 kgs of tea in one day, enough tea for 14,000 cups.
Cheers,
Anna