Mom and Dad's visit to Preston and Ireland

WARNING: This will undoubtably be the longest post to date.

I literally had to work like a crazy person the last few days before to get papers done so that I wouldn't have stuff to do while they were here. I'm paying for that now as I sit here doing this instead of my paper. But the paper shouldn't take too long since I am so prepared...

First stop: Coffee. Mom got the big one (and needed it) I mean I don't really know why they were so tired, it was only an 8 hour flight that neither of them got to sleep on since they had a two-year old crying behind them.

No excuses. Play like a Champion.

Dad didn't get coffee. His first time in England, and got Krispy Kremes. That's Dad for you.

Then we got to walk around campus. This is the Media Factory where two of my three on-campus classes are held.

So Wednesday I showed off my campus and of course we had lunch at Adelphi (my favorite Pub) at table 26!! It was quite funny watching Dad try to figure out the money and getting to watch "Football" on TV. They both found drinks that they like, Carlsburg for Dad and Strongbow cidre for Mom. It was a little overcast, but that's to be expected in England. They got to come back to eat frozen pizzas and meet the girls for a little bit before crashing. I think they headed back to the Hotel (in room 326, coincidence? I think not.. =]) around 7, but I honestly don't blame them, I wasn't the one traveling all day and I was still exhausted! We finally got going around 10:30 on Thursday morning and I got a chance to show them around everything that is Preston. It was an absolutely beautiful day with warm sunny weather. They got to see the market, a lot of shops in the City Centre, Avenham and Miller parks, had lunch at Yates' (a pub in the city centre) also at table 26, had a drink at Old Black Bull (another pub), then dinner at Old Ship Inn (yet another Pub). Who knew I'd be Pub Crawling all weekend with my parents?! Then we headed back to the Flat where I got a chance to pack for Ireland and I think Mom and Dad got a chance to really "experience" the girls haha. Then we headed back to the hotel where, lucky me, I got to make a bed out of "duvets" aka comforters since 1. they don't have roll-away beds and 2. I'm too old to snuggle with them in a Queen Sized bed. Boo. But hey, it was probably still more comfortable than the wooden plank I sleep on in my flat! But the next morning we got up, ran all of their suitcases back to be stored in my room, grabbed all of our bags and headed off for Ireland.

I think he totally enjoyed reading the British newspaper, but for some reason they didn't have NCAA scores in there which was a little disappointing haha

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sneak-Attack pretend picture taking on the plane..
This group of guys behind us were headed to Dublin for a Stag Party (Bachelor Party). They were crazy! In the 50 minute flight, they had already had two rounds while wearing their matching "Game Over" polos complete with inappropriate nicknames on the back.

HELLLLLOOOOO IRELANDD!!

Sean Fitzpatrick was our pilot. How perfect right?

I loved how green everything was!

The first thing we did when we got there was go to the Guinness Factory.

Basically, Dad was a slacker. He told us it was a "sippy" drink and tried to be all classy about drinking it, and eventhough Mom and I weren't too keen on it, we still finished way before him. It was quite cool though, the bar that we were in was on top of the factory and gave a beautiful 360 degree view of Dublin. We each got a "free" pint of Guinness with the purchase of a 15 euro ticket to get into the museum. I was all about it!


Then we headed to Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin (Founded in 1198)

 All of us had Fish and Chips with some nasty "mushy peas" which no one even thought about eating. Mom and I became quite fond of Bulmer's Irish Cidre and Dad fell for Smithwicks (pronounced Smitticks, don't say it the way it's spelled

 PAT EGAN SOUND LTD! GRANDPA YOU'RE FAMOUS!

We ended the night at Turk's Head having yet another pint and watching Rugby. Boy was that interesting. I think it was Muenster and Leinster (?) that played. Still couldn't tell you what happened or who even won. Dad would know.. 

 This is Christ Church that was right across the street from our hotel. This is at precisely 6:20 in the morning on Saturday. Needless to say the streets were pretty dead at this time.


Anyways, Saturday we took a tour around the Irish countryside. It turned out to be a pretty overcast day, but not rainy at all which was nice. A lot of time spent on the coach, but our tour-guide, Michael Murphy, was the twin of the cop in Bridesmaides and was literally hysterical the entire time. He sang us Irish drinking songs, gave us history lessons on the conflict between Britain, the potato famine, and Gaelic vocabulary lessons.

This was the first stop on our Countryside Tour. Limerick was nice, we finally got to have McDonalds for breakfast after two hours of on-and-off napping on the coach.  This is on the River Shannon.

It was funny that you would have all of these fields with sheep and cows, and then in the middle of them there would be remnints of castles from the Middle Ages. Apparently Ireland has more castles than England, Wales, or Scotland.

 Found it!

 Hard to see here, but all of the signs were in Gaelic. They all had English written underneath, but it was quite weird to see another language listed first..

This picture is here for two reasons. 1.) This group of Mexican girls got on at 7 and like the rest of us, were tired. (Understandable) However, they decided to shut the blinds and go to sleep. On a countryside tour. That we all paid good money for. Apparently they just wanted to pay for a nap. No worries though, when we were in Limerick I helped them out by opening it up for them. But no, I didn't see one of the girls laying down flat while I was opening it. Whoops! and 2.) There was a golf course that we saw where it was CRAZY windy on the coast!

The Cliffs of Moher

Dad and I went past the "Danger Zone" sign. Needless to say, Mom was less than pleased.

This was our next stop for lunch. It was just a little fishing town in Ireland.

 I had chicken, roasted potato, mashed potatoes, carrots and parsnips, and kale. Dad had the same as me but with roast beef. Mom had some mushy nastiness (which she liked) of vegetable soup, and of course we shared a big piece of Chocolate Fudge Cake

I think I've learned that I chose to study abroad in the wrong country. Ireland has Bud Light; England doesn't. 'Nuff said.

We thought the food was okay..

Quite the little tourist stopping point I'd say.

Our next stop was at the Cliffs of Brenner, whcih were absolutely beautiful!

This was our Tour Bus from above when Dad and I decided to go rock climbing. Mom, however, decided to sit on the bus. Lame.


The next few pictures are just from the coach on the way to the next stops.. 

Literally there are castles everywhere.

The way that the land is separated is by walls made of stone. There is no mortar or cement used because they "want the wind to flow through the walls, not into them" which is smart if you think about it. Maybe that's why they've lasted so long..

The next few are from Corcomroe Abbey. I had never heard of it before and I'm pretty sure that no one ever has. There was nothing to it except that it was really old and is now basically a graveyard. Except, it was a little creepy walking over headstones. Some were buried in the 1600's and others in the 1990's. One still had live flowers and fresh dirt on it. Wasn't a big fan of that..

"Insert short joke about my belonging in Ireland here"

Galway Bay

We saw a ton of sheep and I never really took pictures of them because they were everywhere. We probably saw over a thousand sheep on this tour alone. Apparently they're "Irish Tigers" haha

This basically was the last stop on our trip before returning back to Dublin. It was just a little fishing village near Galway Bay. We got a chance to grab a drink and a snack. Remember those Mexican girls that annoyed us earlier? Well, our driver left them here. Initially by  accident, but once he figured out only one of the six of them were on the bus, he told her that he couldn't turn the bus around. Hysterical! Unfortunately, when we stopped to go to the bathroom about an hour later, the bus that was following behind us had picked them up.

Mom and I spent most of the time looking for Four-Leaf clovers, but were unsuccessful. Because how lucky could one be if it was actually from Ireland??

Once we got back we went to a pub in Temple Bar for dinner where Dad and I each got one of the best steaks we've ever had. We had a chance to walk around and finally experiene nightlife in Dublin since we weren't as exhausted as the night before.

This is on O'Connell Street which is a big shopping area. It's north of the River Liffey and supposidly "isn't a great area" so we didn't spend too much time here. Quite interesting to say the least.

The River Liffey

Quay's Bar was where we ended our night. There was a Stag Party next to us, so we were entertained to say the least. At one point I had "an older gentleman" whisper in my ear that "the lady next to me had lovely hair" he was referring to Mom so she was a little out of her head for the rest of the night. Dad just liked that he was "older, fatter, and balder" so I think he was okay with the situation. It was interesting though, being in a real bar, not just a pub, with my parents. Leading them through the crowd to try and get out was, um, interesting. Let's just say they wouldn't make it long in the bar scene. They need to learn how to be more pushy =] 

Sunday was our last day in Dublin. We went to mass in the morning, which was the quickest ever. 30 minutes for a cathedral full of people. They also passed around the collection twice, you know, just in case you wanted to give more. Good ol' catholics. Nothing changes, no matter the country.

This is St. Patrick's Cathedral

We walked over to St. Stephan's Park because it was such a beautiful day! I'm talkin' like 75-80 degree weather and sunny. So everyone and their mother was at the park. Kind of nice to see all the little baby red-heads running around!

Oh the things you see on the street's of Dublin . . .

Poet and Surgeon. Maybe that's normal?

And after our last pint in Ireland at Bull Castle pub, Barry O'Brian brought us on back to England..

Monday was my birthday and I decided that since it was such a pretty day (70's and sunny again!) that we could spend the day in Blackpool. It's a city that's about 30 minutes Northwest of Preston on the beach of the Irish Sea.

It's things like this that embarass me as an American.

American Fried Dough - why is this associated with America??

This was potentially the most memorable even of the entire time Mom and Dad were here. These gypsies just randoly started riding the horses that give buggy rides into the sea. At first everyone just looked around confused. Then it became a train-wreck that no one could look away from. I mean the pier was covered in people taking pictures and just watching. We were there for 45 minutes just sitting on the steps. They were just nasty people who were hoisting themselves on to these poor horses and riding them around, while in their clothes mind you, in the sea. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I'm not a big fan of animals at all. But I literally felt embarassed for these poor horses. Then after these GINORMOUS guys rode them around for a while, they brought them out and used "washing up liquid" that one of the girls through to them from across the way to bathe the horses. Now, this was probably as close to a bath that many of them had had in a long time, but it was just mind-blowing. It was like you were in a state of shock watching this happen. Like, this kind of stuff is what people make fun of in the movies, it doesn't really happen. But it was happening. In real life. On my birthday. What a show.

After we eventually got bored of the Gypsy Show, we headed to the pier for a pint before heading back to Preston.

This was typical mom throughout the trip

But they looko kinda cute when they get all fancied up =]

Surprise!

And I got Pink and Yellow Balloons!

Someone was a little excited about my cake..

Dad took us to dinner at Tiggi's which is a very nice Italian restaurant

Then we headed to Roper Hall for Quid Night where the girls all bought us drinks. Thry're too sweet!

Typical.

I know people say this all of the time, but I am literally so blessed. I have had the best week with my parents, I'm surrounded by amazing new friends, I still get to talk to all of my friends and family back home, I'm in the best place in the whole world, and I feel like everything is going the way it should be. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my whole life and I just want to keep living it up. I know I have less than two months left in England and with all of the fun I've already had, I can't imagin what's in store for the rest of the time. Spring Break starts next week and the first week I'm headed to London, then the week after (on Easter Sunday) we leave for Amsterdam, two days later, Paris, and finally another two days later for Rome. I'm literally the luckiest girl in the world.