Playing Catch-Up!

Hey everyone!

Yes, I’m still alive and well. It’s just been a REALLY busy week and a half. I can’t believe that this program is already halfway done. It still shocks me how much we’ve learned and how much we still have to learn.

So just to briefly fill you in on the past 1.5 weeks…:

·         Educate Together gave Derek and me the day off on July 4^th, which was extremely nice of them. They apparently do that for their American interns every year, but no one else in our group had the day off. Derek and I definitely took advantage of the free day and went to three different museums (all equally fascinating), walked along the Liffey (for about 1.5 hours total, I’d say), and had sushi in Merrion Square Park and ge-la-la in St. Stephen’s Green. So much fun. :) Later that night, all of us had a really nice dinner in Howth with Bill and Suzanne.

·         Sahil’s 21^st birthday this weekend! We surprised him with a cake and all sorts of festivities. We also had five extra people over (three of Sahil’s friends, and two of Derek and Mischa’s friends), so it was oodles of fun and excitement all weekend.

·         Spent the weekend in Dublin! Went to the Guinness Storehouse and sat around in Phoenix Park before all the crazy concert stuff went down.

·         Went to two hurling matches on Sunday with the separated minors. SO INTERESTING. Look up a youtube video of hurling. It’s literally like lacrosse-without-the-scoop-part + football + American football + field hockey + baseball. The Galway vs. Kilkenny championship match was SO good. They’re the two best teams in Ireland, and normally Kilkenny wins everything, but Galway completely owned them this time. The first half was 18-4.

·         Went to the National Gallery today with the separated minors and also went to a UNHCR photo exhibit about refugees. So powerful and heartbreaking. It was hard to focus and take in everything because there were so many people, so I definitely plan on going back to I can really absorb everything.

Anyway, work has been super super busy. Two research projects plus other things have definitely turned out to be much more than both Derek and I expected. I’m exhausted now, but here’s to hoping that a more insightful post will following in a couple of days.

Much love!

Smiles,

Anna