Today was a rather boring day of regular classes, but I did attempt knitting, and failed miserably. I think I'll stick to embroidery. I am procrastinating, as usual, on my assignments. The deadline was moved back, which might be the worst possible thing that can be done to a procrastinator. Instead of working on them tonight, I had some of my new friends (how corny that sounds!) over for dinner and we talked until 10:45. Now I'm catching up on important internet stuff rather than looking at the other open window on my desktop, the comparative paper I'm writing on my school vs. the schools here.

Yesterday we had a church field trip. That's not what it was officially called, but that's certainly how many of us felt by the end! I didn't mind as much as some because I love the architecture of old church buildings and the history piece. Plus, I like the spiritual aspects of houses of worship. The first part of the trip was to Clonmacnoise, the monastic settlement of Saint Kieran (Ciaran). It was destroyed in the sixteenth century, so it's just the ruins now. It had an interesting history, and some cool high crosses. The monastery is on the bank of the Shannon River, so I got some pretty scenic pictures. From there we went on to Clonfert Cathedral, which has an incredibly intricate doorway. Donal (see previous post) was our guide, and he's such a hoot! He loves churches, and would have taken us to about seven more if he could have.

I continue to be Bee Girl. It's a strange nickname because I'm not quite sure how it came about. I was talking to one of the TAs (for lack of a better descriptor) about photography because he was giving me a hard time about taking lots of pictures. I told him about my flower picture obsession, and about how I managed to capture bees on some flowers at Versailles. Then we talked about bees for awhile (as if I know anything!) and then I took a picture of a bee on a flower at Kylemore Abbey. I told him about it, just as a joking (flirtatious?) way of continuing the conversation, and now I'm Bee Girl. So I made sure I got a picture of a bee yesterday too. And then today, when I asked him about the dress code for the theater, he told me I didn't need to wear my bee tiara. He's quite attractive, so I'm more than willing to continue the flirtation.

Tomorrow, it's off to class and then a tour of the Nora Barnacle house. She was James Joyce's wife. Then the theater on Wednesday. Hope all is well for all of you.