Make New Friends Whom You Meet Through The Old.

Every day I'm in this gorgeous country I fall even more in love.
In the past few weeks I took a full day walking tour around Dublin (on accident) and I went to Galway for a night away. I gained two more friends and have planned for my birthday weekend in a week and a half! Oh and if you haven't heard, I'm going to Spain with Helena for Christmas!!!
   
I honestly am not sure how I feel about Dublin. We took a bus in to go shopping and we ended up visiting just about every landmark there is there. SO, if you asked me where a certain building was in Dublin, I could probably direct you to it. We saw the castle, city hall, Saint Patrick's (Padraig) Cathedral and some places where Vikings used to live. I swear we walked for maybe 6 hours of the total 8 hours we were there and I have seen enough of Dublin for a lifetime. I'm ready to go there for some fun!
   
Galway on the other hand was grand! We only stayed for one wee night because most of us had to be back on Monday to watch the kids but that night was pretty fun. We stayed in a hostel right in the city center but it was more like a hotel. We had our own bathroom in the room and the mattresses were pretty comfortable. Get this, it was called SNOOZLES. hehe. I met up with Helena again and she brought to other Au Pairs, Jules and Hermance, who are from France! Their English was also really good and the language barrier is almost unapparent. We did some shopping and took a free train tour around the city which was absolutely gorgeous. I wish we were there for longer but the kids come first!

We were there to celebrate Hermance's 20th birthday and we were all carded for the first time ever in Ireland! We went to the Coyote Bar which is Ireland's take on Coyote Ugly! The bartenders even dance on the bars and there was a huge poster of Tyra Banks and the rest of the cast from the movie. Of course I was doing all the line dances to the country songs they were playing so people kept telling me to get on the bar but that was not an option haha. There were loads of stagg and hen parties there and I actually met another person from County Louth who didn't believe that I live here! haha. 

I'm planning to go with the girls to do something for Halloween and then the next two nights we will celebrate my birthday! I was thinking maybe to do my "ginger bread wo-man" costume here since it was such a hit in the states and Halloween just started to become a big thing for the Irish. The kids here get two weeks off of school for Halloween because it's a "bank holiday" which is pretty great for the kids. I've had the house to myself the last two days and the peace and quiet has been nice but I miss the constant smiles from the kids. They'll be back tomorrow tho and I'll get to take care of them all weekend. 

I would say I'm becoming a tourist but there's loads of other places I need to see! My birthday is on November 2nd and it takes approximately 8-14 days for packages or letters to get here so if anyone wants to send me a birthday gift you better hop to it! haha just kidding! 

I doubt anything eventful will happen between now and Halloween/my birthday weekend but if it does I will definitely write about it! Oh and I still find it hard to understand the different Irish accents sometimes, but I'm getting there! haha. And for those of you wondering about Nathan, I tried multiple times to see him again but got no return for my efforts so off to the next!

Stay tuned ya'll!!

Eyre Square, Galway

Obviously I wasn't prepared for the rain in Galway

Helena and I in our room at Snoozles!

My new French friends, Hermance and Jules

She loves her Icecream

Cillian loves to swing

Trying to get a picture of all 3 of them.

Cillian eats everything

A panoramic view of the Dublin Castle.

More of the Castle

Trinity Uni in Dublin

There's plenty of water here!

Belfast was a Bel-Blast!

My first weekend away was so class like!

I met up with another Au Pair who lives about two hours west of me and we met at the bus station in Belfast. Her name is Helena and she's from Spain but her English is AMAZING!

Belfast is also part of Northern Ireland so it is considered part of the UK so they use Sterling there so I literally had to learn how to use a different form of currency AGAIN! 

So we decided to stay at a hostel because it was super cheap like. We each paid about 20 Euros each night which would probs add up to about 35 dollars a night. Our room was literally only big enough for one bunk bed and a sink but it wasn't like we were in there much. Everything was in walking distance it was grand!

The first night we were there we went to a pub called Laverys and we were just checking out the Belfast scene. Its great being from America because I never run out of stuff to talk about and for some reason, Irish people love the American accent! I'm definitely not hating all this attention. But there were these two guys standing next to us claiming that some chick was trying to rob them and they were freaking out. I ended up starting up a chat with them and this guy Nathan ended up being hillarious. He had me laughing all night! Helena was definitely appreciating the love she was getting for being Spanish as well. I can tell that she and I are going to be lifelong friends.

After Laverys we went to a night club right across the street and it was so crowded like. I love to dance but there was no room on the dance floor! We ended up staying out pretty late and then when we got back to the hostel we had to show our room keys to get in and the staff guy named Gary started up a chat with us. He works the night shift so I'm sure he enjoyed getting the opportunity to talk to two foreigners. He ended up being super cool and saved us from this creepy dude who was like 40 and staying at a hostel. Like who does that?

The next day we only slept til about half ten and then we went to go eat food. Then this tour guide approaches us and asks if we wanted to take a hop-on hop off-tour for 10 pounds and I was like hells yes. Especially since none of the shops were opened til 1 anyways. This tour literally took us around the whole city of Belfast and we got to go to the Titanic museum! Definitely my favorite thing by far. We also drove by Queens University which is absolutely gorgeous. Oh and we drove by the Parliament building. NBD. Then we went back and took naps and got ready for the night!

We went back to Benedicts which was the night club before but it closed at Midnight because it was a Sunday. So we ended up going to another bar/club called Filthy McNasty's and that's not a joke. We ended up just being able to meet new people and got a free cab ride home! Gary was working again and he gave us a mini tour of the hostel at 3am and showed us one of the rooms with like 12 bunks in it. I was like this would not be fun to sleep in. We checked out the next morning at 11 and I walked with Helena to the bus station and then hung out with Nathan until my bus left at 4. Overall it was such an amazing weekend!

However, I took the wrong bus and missed the last connecting bus to my town so I had to take a taxi all the way from Newry to Tallanstown which would have been like 45 minutes. It only cost be 30 quid which is about 38 Euros. I guess it was the American accent haha.

When I got home, the kids were so excited to see me and I realized how much I missed them! Cillian crawled over to me with a huge smile and in the two days I was gone, his walking has improved so much! Tonight is my first night by myself with them so I have to rock Cillian back to sleep every time he wakes up so I'm a little nervous about that and I'll probably be awake by 7 since the kids like to get up early haha. So wish me luck! 

Every day I fall more in love with this family and this country. I am literally so blessed.

Stay tuned ya'll!

The parliament building!

Just hopped on the bus!

TITanic museum!

Our favorite staffer at the hostel, Gary

Saturday Night

Grand Opera house

The view from our room

Este es Helena

A picture of the babies sleeping

Queens University!

Dressed in their Sunday best at a football match :)

Is It That Obvious I'm American?

Seriously!
Ireland gets better every day. I'm telling you. I really do live out in the country tho. Like today they were fertilizing the neighbor's field so we thought that one of the kids had missed the toilet or something hahaha.

I bet you're all wondering how I'm getting on here right? Let me tell you, I've never truly been happier in my post-college life. (Don't freak out mom and dad, I will come home, EVENTUALLY). Most of my weekdays are spent home with the kids helping Sinead out when I can or just chillin out maxing, relaxing all cool. My favorite thing to do tho is run around outside with the kids because the weather has been class all month! (Class means great or awesome, just some lingo I'm picking up hehe). 

On the weekends tho, thats when I really let go, haha not really but I do try to get out when I can.
Ana, who is another Au Pair up the road from me, has really become an awesome amiga. Oh and Eugenia who lives just about 20 minutes away from us. These are the girls that I get together with on the weekend and they are both from Spain! So thank you Sra. Binney, you would be so proud of me! They help me better my spanish while I help them learn better English. they are just two really awesome gals. Last weekend we went shopping in Newry which is part of Northern Ireland so its part of the UK and I was technically in another country. It was awesome. Then we went to Carlingford for the evening on Saturday and went into one of the pubs and met this awesome group of guys who invited us to their table and the whole not we all were just having laughs and it was just really cool to have all these people interested in who I am and where I come from. It was also great getting to hear that they had all been friends since childhood haha. They also said they want us to come back but we'll see if they'll hold up on that offer when the time comes.

This weekend, my host family went away for the weekend so I had the house to myself. On Friday it wasn't too bad because I went out again with Ana and Eugenia in Dundalk and we went to a couple pubs. We were sitting there sitting on some drinks and all of a sudden "Yeah" by Usher comes on and since I know all the words by heart, I was having a field day just dancing how Brittany does and I could tell there were eyes on me. That's because I was literally the only one out of 100 people maybe dancing. haha. But that's just how I do. So I went up and talked to a couple people and they told me they could tell I was American because Irish girls wouldn't be brave enough, no crazy enough to show off her awesome dance moves. haha. They assured me it was a good crazy tho. 

Guys here are way shy and definitely not bold like Americans. But its a good thing because its forcing me to go up to people and make the first move which I guess shows how confident and independent I am. I guess it also gives me a boost of confidence knowing that for some of these people, I'm the first and maybe only American girl they will ever meet so I know that there will always be something to talk about. I haven't found my husband yet but hey, I've only been here for a month so I still have plenty of time hehe. 

I'm literally so excited for what my future in Ireland holds and I'm loving every minute of it.
Stay tuned ya'll.
Love,
Brittany 

Ps It's 5:45 pm here and 9:45am in California

Best hott chocolate of my life

Yay new friends

Hair twinsies

Have fun in Canada Tony!

The backyard from my room

Mi nueva amigas

Dundalk is already ready for Halloween!

Eugenia and Ana and our Warrenpoint homies

2 and a half weeks in!

Wow!
So much has happened since I've been here!
On August 23rd at about 10am I left America to start my Au Pair adventures!
I landed in Dublin at about 3 am the next day which was really 11 am Ireland time and it was full speed ahead since then.
I was off to Claremorris in Co Mayo Ireland. 
(we are 8 hours ahead of Cali but I no longer experience jetlag!)

The first family I was with picked me up from the airport and we were off to see a Gaelic football game. This sport uses a volleyball on a soccer field and the goal is to kick the ball into a soccer goal or a football goal post. Its a pretty intense game but the only thing I could think was "I didn't know they made men this big in Ireland," but boy did this get me excited. Its an amateur sport so no one gets paid but it is bigger than the superbowl in America and people are very territorial because you can only play for the county you live in so it was a pretty cool thing to experience on my first day here.

There was also a Spanish Au Pair next door named Maria who was finishing up her run here as an Au Pair, but before she left, she was able to show me around Claremorris a little. She took me to a local pub where a bunch of old men bought us drinks and made me sing! Then she took me out on a Sunday night and I kid you not, it was more busy than downtown Santa Barbara on a Thursday night!

The kids in that family were 10 and 13 so it was pretty rocky from the start.

The family wanted me to cook every night and clean the whole house and I was just not feeling comfortable. The 10 year old had her tonsils taken out so I was basically home alone with here for a week and it was just getting to be too much for me, so I decided to look for other options. On Friday the 5th, I called the agency and they gave me the contact information for another family who I immediately called and talked to the mom for about an hour and we decided that I would be a good fit for their household. By Sunday the 7th, I was on my way to this new home and its been amazing ever since!

The kids are Aodhan (Ay-den) who will be 6 in December, Realtin (Ree-ull-tine) who will be 3 in December and baby Cillian (Kill-eeee-un) who will be a year next month! Their dad, Joe, works in London so he's gone for weeks at a time and their mom, Sinead, is a nurse who works 2 days a week. So basically I have it pretty easy. I help Sinead with the kids when she's not working and on days she does work, its pretty hard but the kids are starting to take to me so its getting easier to get them to listen to me. 

Now I'm living about an hour outside of Dublin in Co Louth and am finally unpacked and settled in. There is a Spanish au pair down the road, named Ana, who I plan on making trips with so I will be getting time to travel soon! This new family made me feel more comfortable since the moment I stepped in the house and I feel like this is a perfect fit for me. I no longer feel like a stranger and I'm sleeping in a full bed again!

I am overwhelmed by the amount of redheads in this country and I love it! I am so excited for what this year has in store for me and I know God is watching over me! It is so green here and the countryside is beautiful. Oh and the weather has been GORGEOUS. I must have brought the Cali weather with me!

Here's to the next 12 months!

Stay tuned ya'll!

Double Decker bus in Dublin!

My New Room!

Ireland Countryside!

They eat Crepes in Ireland too!

Croke Park. This is where the Semi-Final football game was played between Mayo and Kerry and they ended up in a tie.

The streets of Dublin are as busy as San Francisco or New York!

Such a beautiful sunset.

My first friend, Maria, who went back to Spain last week.