The Island Life...

A little more than a month ago I boarded a plane leaving behind one of the best experiences I ever will have in my life. Leaving Ireland, I gained a new perspective about the world, some amazing friends I will have for life and 15 extra kilos in oversize luggage. I was only "home" to see my friends and family for about a week and a half when I quickly dusted off my summer clothes and headed for another place I call my "home", Martha's Vineyard.

I can't remember the first time I went to the island, but I think I was about six when my Auntie rented her first house in Edgartown. It's funny that when you are little, everything looks a lot different then it does now. I remember renting bikes with training wheels, going to my now favorite place The Seafood Shanty, and my 4 year old brother discovering his favorite food was lobster at an alarming young age. Ever since then, I've been back almost every summer and its amazing how the experience is completely different each time.

This summer, I came to the island to live with another family and embark on another unknown experience. Although I was in the same country, state, and only within a few miles and a short ferry ride away, I still found myself having the same nerves and feelings as if I was going abroad. Since then, I've settled in and realized I had absolutely nothing to worry about because so far it's been an amazing summer.

I've seriously lucked out living with a great, welcoming family and being able to babysit such funny and cute little kids! I've also been working on an internship for a company called What's Up Martha, doing social media work, public relations and throwing some fun events on the island! I've met new friends and met up with some of the old while just thinking how lucky I am to experience such a great place for the summer. During the day while the parents are at work, I take the kids to the beach, library or any other adventures they might feel upto. I have a new found appreciation for my own mom taking us to the beach when we were little. It's not easy carrying boogie boards, towels, pales, shovel, coolers, and kids to the beach and then packing it all up again after a few hours!

Right now, my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, and cousin are here to visit for the week :) Last night, we were talking about graduation and I couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed thinking about leaving St.Mike's and traveling into full force adult-hood. I'm so excited to get back to St. Mike's and see all of my friends that I haven't seen in almost a year! But at the same time, I don't want to be wishing away anything and I think I have so much more to learn. I'm so excited for the incoming freshman because they have the best years of their lives ahead!

So that's just a little update for now! Here are some pictures I've been taking the past few weeks. The island has had amazing weather...perfect for artsy pictures! Another reminder to anyone at all if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me (mmcgonagle@smcvt.edu) , formspring me (on the right) and ask away. Talk to you all soon!

A beautiful beach in Chilmark, up island...

Edgartown harbor at night

The kiddies hard at work at the beach :)

There's no place like home...

Hi Everyone!

So huge delay in postage and lots to catch up on!! Biggest news being....I'm FINALLY home!!

I have been home for exactly one week...and its taken me this long to actually realize I'm not in Ireland anymore and my severely overweight baggage isn't going to unpack itself...

My last days in Ireland were amazing. My parents came for a week and we were able to visit relatives in Belfast, Dublin, and had a great time visiting Galway. The vacation went far too quick though and I think we all wished that we had more time. It was so nice to see family, with my family. I loved hearing all of the funny stories from my uncles, meeting some cousins, and showing my brother, mom and dad all about my new life here in Ireland.

I had my last final dinner with my API program and our resident directors, Finn, Kevin, and Maeve. We had an amazing meal at one of the nicest restaurants in Galway and then we were able to spend our last night out and watch the sunset by the bay. I was so grateful to have them here for all of us the last 5 months and they truly made our experience that much better!

My last week in Ireland was crazy to say the least. Everyone was packing, people were dropping out like flies and I had to pack up everything I owned and quired these last 5 months. It was stressful but we all helped each other through it. The last day in our apartment looked like 5 bombs hit my room! It was crazy, my bags were so heavy and I needed to somehow make it to Dublin City to meet my very hospitable friend Fiona! The last few days were so stressful trying to pack and make sure I hadn't forgotten anything so it was SO nice to be able to relax and spend time at her house. We went to see her college, Trinity College in Dublin, went to the seaside Hoath during their hottest few days they had seen in years and then her mom dropped me off at the airport early Monday morning.

Since I've been home, I have gone through many bags of Tostitos chips and taken several trips to Mary Lou's coffee :). I've loved spending Memorial Day with my family and helping out getting the house ready for summer and seeing all of my friends. It's also so weird being 21 here! I feel like I'm seriously getting old...

This week, I need to unpack, repack, clean, organize and do everything I can in preparation for my other big move back to the Vineyard for the summer. I'm so excited because a lot of my friends will be returning and I think its going to be a great opportunity to Nanny and spend time out on my favorite Island! I also have to go through my tens of thousands of abroad pictures and upload them...So look for a few picture and quick little blogs coming soon!

While I've returned home I have realized how many of my friends and family have been anxiously following all my blogs, adventures and stories abroad. It's so nice to hear how people have been reading and truly makes me realize how ridiculously lucky I was to have such an amazing experience. Although I'm so happy to be home, I miss Ireland and the amazing places and people I met there. Keep reading for my adventures on Martha's Vineyard (I promise to post more than last summer..hehe) and my transition back into reality! Talk to you all soon!

The days are winding down...

Hi again!

My semester is winding down, and I can't beleive how fast everything is going by! People in our program have already started to leave and the number of people who are still here is dwindling down. Now that I'm all done with college, I've still been having so much fun here and taking advantage of my time left in this beautiful place!

Last week, my roommate and my friend here both turned 21! We were able to go out to dinner at a mexican restaurant in town ( I've missed mexican!), have a little party at our house and then go out with everyone here. The weather has been really nice here. I've been able to wear flip flops around and it makes me excited and miss Sagamore Beach a little too!

This weekend I had some of the best times I've had so far here. On saturday we went to a part of Galway called Salthill. It's not too far at all but they have such a pretty beach with a diving board! It was a little windy the day we went but the sun was still out. The water was FREEZING but my crazy friend was the only brave one to jump off the diving board. You'd think with me being on swim team, I'd be all for it but really you couldn't pay me to get in that water! I was able to take lots of pictures too. Here's a picture of all of us at the beach and I was able to figure out how to take black and white pictures on my camera! woohoo

On Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays Galway has a market downtown where local artists, farmers, and anyone who wants to can set up a stall and sell things. On Saturday before we left for the beach we went and got delicious crepes and bagels, (there are also donuts too!!) On Sunday we went down to the market again, and sat along the bay and walked around town. I've also been working on a scrapbook I've been making of my time here. I've saved a bunch of random receipts, pamphlets, stickers, train tickets and odds and ends of all the places and things I've done this semester. It's been taking me a few days to go through everything but it's going to be so good (and sad) to look back and see how much I've seen and done here!

This week I'm VERY excited because my parents are leaving Wednesday and will be arriving early Thursday morning! I'm meeting them in Dublin and then we are traveling to Belfast, Donegal, Giants Causeway and then back here to Galway. It's going to be so nice to see my mom , dad and my brother. I think they are really excited too! Tomorrow, we have one of our last program meetings and we are going to have pizza together and maybe participate in some irish dancing...I haven't practiced in a while so I'll have to see just how rusty I am haha!

My friends at SMC have already finished their semesters and all of their finals! I hope everyone made it home safely and that they've already started a great summer! :) I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on the family's visit and everything to follow in my last few days! Talk to you soon!

One month left???

Hello again everyone!

So a few days ago I woke up and realized I only had one month left in Ireland. It was the weirdest feeling I think I've ever had. One, I'm really excited to go back to the states and see my family and friends and start a great summer again on the Vineyard. But two, I really don't want to leave at all and it's going to be so sad leaving this country. Really. It's such a bittersweet feeling and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle it...(Here's a picture of the light shining down on one part of a hill in Connemara..also very weird!)

I feel like I saw and did so much but I still need to see and do so much more. I went on amazing trips to London, Paris and Italy. And I especially love that I got to see and do so much in Ireland, the real reason I went abroad. Everytime I went somewhere, it was so nice to be able to come back to my my FAVORITE country and I realized I really did pick the perfect place for me.

Another "weird thing". I've been around the friends, my roommate, and the people in Galway since January. It's going to be so different to just go back to our own schools, go back to life in the US and not see them every single day.

And of course I'm going to miss Ireland life. The friendliness, Irish humor, and most importantly, Garlic sauce for my chips (fries). Oh and seeing cows/sheep on a daily basis...

Although I'm looking forward to summer, I feel like I have another "home" here to add to my list. I have my home in Sagamore Beach with my family, my St. Michael's home that I've missed so much this semester, another summer on the Vineyard-a homey place that feels so familiar, and now my abroad home, Ireland. Each of those places give me the same friendly, homey feeling and I wonder if its possible to call four places home. So if someone asks me where are you from? am I supposed to give the long winded answer, "well I'm from Sagamore Beach, I go to college at St. Mike's, I spend summer on Martha's Vineyard, but I also lived in Ireland?" I guess I can just accept that no matter where I go, I have four favorite places in the world (so far) and I can call each one of them home. Whenever we went some place, a friend would say "I could have studied here!" or "I feel like I could live here!" but the only place that really did that for me was Ireland and it made me realize each time how lucky I was to be here.

So here I am within my last few weeks and since I've been back in Italy I've been finishing up my last few final essays and trying to do as much as possible. I finished my last essay just this morning which means I have less than a month to cram everything in and take full advantage of my family coming in two weeks! :)

In the next month, I have a trip to Dublin planned with my family and we are also going to go up North to see Belfast, where my family is from. I also want to try to take some day trips and make sure I see all my friends one last time in Cork, Limerick and Dublin. I was talking to my Aunt from Galway at Easter, telling her how much I didn't want to go home of course and she told me that I can at least try to go back once a year. Now it's a stretch and I'm not sure if my financial budget will allow me, but I think it would be a nice goal to try to come back once a year or as much as I can. My friend who studied abroad in Galway two spring semesters ago, has been back 8 times already. I guess its just that kind of place. :)

So now that I'm officialy done with school, I'm going to take advantage of everything Galway has to offer. My roommate turns 21 in a few days, we're going to take trips to the Salthill beach not to far away now that the weather is nice and just spend as much time in Galway as possible. And then eventually, my study abroad trip will have come to a close. So, I've included some little pictures along the way here of Ireland. I'll keep everyone updated and talk to you soon!

Ciao Bella!!

Hello again!

I've lots to talk about from everything that has been happening in the past few weeks!!

SO BIG NEWS...I am now 21 years old!! Who would have thought?? I had an AMAZING birthday here in Ireland. My friend Cassy came to visit from Greece, (read her blog here!) and I had about three days of celebrations! My roommate threw me a great party here at our apartment with all of our friends and they even surprised me with a CADBURY cake! (We all know how much I love Cadbury!) Althought at first I was a little sad to not be spending it with my friends and family back home it made me realize how great the friends I met here are and how lucky I am to be in such a great place! :)

After my birthday, our lectures ended for Easter break. I traveled down to Dublin to spend Easter with some family! I went to Dundalk, Carlingford, and also stayed a night in the center of Dublin. I met some of my cousins, my great uncles and aunts, and it was so nice to be with such a welcoming family for Easter! Easter is one of my favorite holidays at home and I loved being able to spend it with my family here in Ireland. They were so funny and my great aunt and uncle had a delicious dinner and showed me around everywhere. I was also able to see some more of the country and it only reinforces the idea that I may or may not leave when May 25th comes!

After Dublin, I had two days to prepare and then I went off to begin my world travels to ITALY!!! Last Tuesday, we left Dublin Airport to Bologna. We then took a train, that very much resembled the train in Harry Potter ( we were all excited) to Florence. Florence was beautiful, again I don't know how Christine ever left! It was one of my favorite parts of my trip. We were able to meet up with my friend's friends who were studying abroad there. The weather was beautiful in the 70's and we were able to drink wine and watch the sunset from these steps that overlooked the city! Here's a picture of a few of us enjoying the nice weather by the river!

The next day we went to see the statue of David, and explored some of the outside markets. We had a great dinner with all of our friends and it was such an amazing time. The entire trip I couldn't help but feel how lucky I was to be able to see and do all these things!

The next day we started our tour of the Almafi Coast! We stayed in these adorable "bungalows" that were so nice! They had two different rooms, with a kitchen and bathroom and outside with a balcony and our very own lemon trees!! The place where we stayed was also an outside camping site and I felt like I was in a movie again! We took a day trip to the island of Capri where we took a boat ride all around the island, saw the blue grotto (one of the natural wonders of the world), jumped off the boat into the surprisingly VERY cold water, and went around to the beautiful little town of Capri! We also got some delicious caprese sandwiches which I miss dearly now! The next day we took a trip to Positano Beach, the bus ride getting there was a bit dodgy. It was twists and turns and the only thing holding us back from us, the massive cliff, and the water very far down below was a small metal barrier. I was clinging onto my roommate sitting next to me to say the least. Positano beach was amazing and we took another boat ride around the sea and saw how these houses were built right into the cliffs...amazing! The next day we went to the ancient city of Pompeii and saw of the ancient preserved ruins. After that we were on our way to Roma!

We only had one day in Rome so we tried to see and do as much as possible! We went to the Vatican and saw St. Peter's Basilica but the line to get in was so long and it would have taken all day! I was kind of upset that we weren't able to go in but I was lucky just to be there! We saw the colloseum, went to the spanish steps, and threw our pennies into the trevi fountain!! Here;s a picture of me outside the fountain! We stayed another night in Rome, had an amazing last dinner, I ordered fish and lets just say it's not the cape cod fish and chips I was used to the head and everything was on my plate. Luckily, our nice waiter helped me out with that... We woke up early and took our flight out of Rome and now I am back in Galway and back to the real world :)

I can't beleive I have only a little over a month left here. As time goes on I seriously don't want to leave! I have good news for next year though and I'm just as excited to return to my life at SMC where I'll be on Student Association as the Secretary of Communications and be doing a year long internship with the Marketing and Admissions departments! I'm currently on the lookout for a summer job too. I'd love to work back on the Vineyard again but getting everything sorted while your in a different country has definitely proved it's difficulties!

I have a few final essays to do and then my parents and brother come in a month! I'm soo excited for them to come visit!! I'll be doing little trips around Ireland hopefully and taking advantage of everything in the next month and a half! I'll be sure to keep everyone updated until then ciao!! :)

Paddys Day, Dublin and Cliffs of Moher...! (never leaving Ireland :) )

Hi again!!

Lots has happened since my last post....most importantly ST. PATRICKS DAY!! Here, they call it Paddy's Day or St. Paddy's Day. Padraig is Irish for Patrick. And it just so happens to possibly be my favorite holiday...and I was able to celebrate it in Ireland!!

My friends and I dressed up in our Paddy's Day outfits (which took some serious thought and planning, mind you) and headed down to the parade in Galway! I had my green, orange and white knee socks on and my friends and I invested in some temporary shamrock tattoos from the 2 Euro store. Great investment!! The streets were filled with people with shamrocks on their faces and everyone was having a great time. We also headed down to the Spanish Arch, an area outside right on the river, where we were greeted with a mass amount of Irish college kids, with their pints of course, kicking a ball from their balcony into the crowds and shouting...doesn't take much for them to have a good time here..haha!

The next day my friend visiting from home and I went to Dublin! It was a really quick trip but we were able to see the General Post Office, St. Stephen's Green, Grafton Street and we even went to Dublin's oldest pub, The Brazen Head! Of course, I did have to visit to the Guinness factory where I had my first full pint of Guinness. I have to say for a proud Irish-American, I am not fond of the Guinness. But I dealt with it and had a pint just so I could say I did. :) For dinner, we did however hit up the Hard Rock Cafe for my first plate of nachos in about 2 months, needless to say they didn't last long! The Hard Rock Cafe was really fun and I loved walking around the city! I'm also traveling to Dublin again this weekend with my program to do more in-depth tours, to see the Book of Kells, and Trinity College! I'm so excited! I also have friends and family in Dublin that I'm excited to see.

On Saturday, I took a trip to the Cliffs of Moher. We were so lucky to have such a nice day where the cliffs for completely visible. They were really high up, my mom would not have liked the look down thats for sure, but I got awesome pictures and I was really happy I finally got to visit! We took a bus tour that brought us to The Burren, and explored/explained a few little towns and sights on the way. I was happy we did the tour because they stopped at a lot of cool places and I was able to be my typical obnoxious photographer self!

I can't believe how fast this time abroad is going by. Everyday I say to myself its going to be harder and harder to leave this country! I feel like I fit in here so well, among the disorganization, lateness, tea drinking and very proud Irish :). I do miss my friends and family at home though sometimes, but I'm excited for my friends that have visited and those coming very soon! My roomie Cassy, currently blogging away from Greece, is coming next week for my birthday! I'll be turning 21 next Tuesday....so crazy!! My family is also coming in May, which I'm very excited to see Ireland with them. My grandmother is from Belfast, so we'll be taking trips to there and visiting some of my other family all around the country!

I'm also going to Italy for a few days after Easter. I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to travel and see the world. I love my little St. Mike's but being able to see how the other world lives is amazing! :)

I hope everyone is doing well! I love hearing from everyone reading my blog! I'll try to keep everyone updated with my travels and adventures. Talk to you all soon!

Paris, Hiking, Letterfrack, and rugby!

Bonjour!

Things have been pretty busy around here :). I have so many things to write about but first, I'll start with the API program trip to PARIS!!


We did so many things its hard to even remember:


On the first night we got into our hotel a little late and we decided to just walk around the area and get some dinner. We quickly found we were staying in the area affectionately labeled "the red light district" it was very interesting...but we were right down the street from Moulin Rouge and at night the city lit up was beautiful. So at dinner, I decided to be adventurous and order the dish of the day (in french, mind you.) Our waiter told me it was fish, and made the hand signal of something swimming. I was like hey, I like fish, I'm from Cape Cod, I can handle it. Needless to say my fish was DELICIOUS. A little bony, but delish none the less. So then my program director, Kevin, told me that it was in fact Stingray. Yes. I hate stingray, in France. We then walked around and saw the, again, VERY interesting sights and headed in.



On Saturday, we walked around, took a bus tour and saw all of the sights. We drove through the city, stopped at the arc de triumph, the Eiffel tower, the opera house, the louvre, etc. I also was able to take a few artsy pictures from afar of Chanel, Dior, (Insert favorite french designer here) etc. As fashion-savvy as I am, I had to look from a distance in fear of getting too close and forgetting my study abroad college student budget.






After the bus tour, we took a small guided tour of the Louvre museum and saw all of the highlights. I was able to sneak through the crowd, (one benefit of being short), and take a picture of the Mona Lisa. Afterwards we headed to go up the Eiffel Tower. The tower was so beautiful and I am so glad we went up. It was windy, and basically freezing but a beautiful view and something I will remember forever. Here's a picture of me kissing the tower ;)

At night, a few Friends and I walked along the Champs D'Elysee, the main shopping street, but again, no bargains in Paris. We saw the city again all lit up at night and then headed back to the hotel!

On Sunday our last day, a few friends and I headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was so beautiful and something that you literally have to see in person to know how AMAZING it is. It was one of my favorite parts of Paris. Paris was such a fun city, but I was really happy to return to Galway again. I actually liked Paris better than London. It had so much culture, and the food was so good. Throughout the entire trip, I ate about 5 baguettes, 4 fromage (cheese) quiches, and so many pastries I can't even count. I would stay in Paris for another week to just eat.



When we got back from Paris, we were all super tired and went through another week of classes and hung out in Galway for the weekend. I attended a silent disco at one of the bars downtown, which was hilarious/great craic (fun) What's a silent disco you ask? Well, its where everyone has headphones, there's no music outside the headphones and their are two DJ's playing different songs and you take off your headphones and realize everyone is dancing and singing to different music!! Kind of weird, but so much fun...



This week, we had a small break in classes and my friend Meg and I traveled to the countryside with one of our friends and spent a mini "holiday"-vacation in Letterfrack, Connemara about an hour away from Galway. It's literally the smallest, but still prettiest towns, I've ever seen. We spent a day hiking up Diamond Hill, where I realized how much I miss my swimming lungs, and spent a night in the small town bar listening to the locals compete in a talent show, great fun in itself. I loved seeing the countryside, getting away from the city, and being with such fun people. Definitely made me realize why I came to Ireland and how happy/lucky I am to be here. (I will be posting pictures soon once I steal them from my friend!!)



And on a final note, I went to an Irish rugby game tonight Connacht vs. Glasgow, Scotland!!! It was so exciting and so much fun. My friends were even interviewed for an online TV channel...I think they thought it was funny that we didn't really know what was going on. They ended up tying but it was a great game and the crowd was awesome and so into it!!

Tomorrow, our API program is taking us on their excursion to Connemara. I think it will be fun and different from our own little personal tour this week, and it will be fun to be with everyone!! Next week is College week, with so many events going on for the university students to raise and give money to charity. It used to be called RAG week (raise and give) but they've changed the name this year and it's a pretty big deal around here. Google it ;). I'll have lots of stories coming up in the near future. Hope everyone is doing well and talk to you soon!