My birthday is February 13th, obviously the day before Valentine's day, so I'm used to chocolate or hearts as gifts :). My birthday, much like the past few weeks, came up fast. It was on a Wednesday and on Sunday when people asked "Are you excited for Wednesday?" I responded with "For what?" Yup. It didn't fully sink in until I celebrated with some friends inside the convent or when I was wished Happy BIrthday by so many smiling faces and beautiful people.
The day was spectacular. I didn't know how it would be celebrating away from my family and roommates, but it was great. We went to the Catacombs of Priscilla, but couldn't take any pictures, so you'll just have to imagine. The areas has 40,000 tombs, which are excavated now, and the volcanic rock "tuff" emits radiation (YIKES), so we were only allowed down there for 45 minutes. The frescoes and symbology were wild to see. Nothing super mind blowing, but it was still cool to see. We saw some early "IXOYE fish" symbols and saw a super early fresco of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace.
After our underground tour, we were free for the day. Some of us walked in the largest public park in Rome. I don't know the name, but for those of you who know something about Rome, yes, this park is larger than Villa Borghese. Anyway, it was muddy, but there was playground equipment that we messed around on and Mother Nature treated me with a special message:
A birthday wish from a good friend...
We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Yes Chinese in Rome, I know, but we were craving something different. We had a great dinner - soup in bread bowls and cake to celebrate. I Skyped home and later celebrated with Caitlin in Ireland! It was an incredible and memorable birthday here.
Onto Ireland...
My flight was at 6:40 AM Friday, so my taxi picked me up at 3:30 AM. What a start :) I practiced my Italian with the driver who was nice, but other people that we picked up were understandably upset that he was a little late for them, but we all made it to the airport in plenty of time. Once at the airport, traveling was a breeze. Just read the boards, look for the gate signs and go. I flew Swiss Air, which was nice, and they gave you free chocolate!
After a quick layover in Zurich, I flew to Dublin next to the aforementioned Gaelic couple. I could do a whole post on them but here are some of the things I remember about them: I learned some Gaelic phrases, they had 3 girls and a boy, just like our family, they won a 2 week trip to Disney World with their kids, their son is a professor in Switzerland and their daughter is a "food scientist" who is working in Australia. Unemployment is very bad in Ireland, so a lot of the younger generation has emigrated in search of work and a new start.
Anyway, landed in Dublin, ready to see Caitlin and the city...except I had to make it through Passport control first. It wasn't quite a horror story, but I did have to wait 2 hours behind a group of Brazilians who are studying in Ireland and there was a mix up with papers or something. I cleared Passport Control in less than one minute after they moved on.
To Dublin with Caitlin. Oh, it was so great to see her and see the city with her. Dublin was easy to get around, slightly more expensive then Rome surprisingly, and had plenty of pubs and things to see:
Me on the Ha'Penny Bridge...
Fish and Chips from Leo Braddock's - one portion for two people!
Dumbfounded at Trinity College by the Book of Kells. Look it up.
Dublin isn't what you picture in Ireland. No green pastures, no heavy, mumbling accents. Nonetheless, the Irish are super nice and speak English, which was a relief haha...Anyway, we took the DART towards Greystones and stopped near Bono's house in Killiney. Yes, same guy from U2. We walked for about 30 minutes down the road where he lives and asked someone to help us because we knew we were close. Well, it turns out we passed it. Then passed it again on the way back. So, I never stopped at Bono's house, but I definitely passed it :) Caitlin has picture of me that is really similar to one on the internet, so take a look at her Facebook for it...
We made it to the Barrington's just in time for dinner. They are an incredible family. Super hospitable, loving and provided an authentic taste of the Irish culture. Their demeanor, sayings, their "brekki," their tea and their hospitality all lit up my face for the entire weekend. They are part of the scattered bright Christian lights throughout Ireland and helped shed light on the stagnant nature of many churches. They recently moved churches in searching for one that is actually carrying out the Great Commission, which forced me to examine my life and wonder if I have that same focus??
After plenty of rounds of tea and porridge the next day, Cait and I explored Greystones and ate at the Happy Pear, probably the most popular cafe spot in Greystones. Great food, great people, great atmosphere. It was a great place to soak up some relaxation and some delicious dark hot chocolate:
Belgium has some stiff competition for chocolate products...
We spent the rest of the day with the Barringtons, including their son and one of their daughters, hiking at a nearby old preserved national park in the town of Glendalough. Other than actual languages, I'm learning quite a bit about pronunciations of English words too. It's pronounced Glen-dul-ock. Interesting. It is a huge park, so our group only hiked one small portion of it. We passed by St. Kevin's bed and made it to a historic mine town.
The lake and two mountainsides where we began
View from the side of a mountainside. I climbed up some boulders to the entrance to an old mineshaft :)
So this is St. Kevin's Bed. The story goes larger hole is St. Patrick's because God and the Irish liked him better and St. Patrick struck the rock and created the small crevice beside his for St. Kevin to rest in. The spot of St. Kevin was not big enough, so he tunneled deeper below the lake and....Okay none of that is true. I was feeling some of the spillover from the Irish wit of the Barringtons, so I wanted to have some fun with you guys for a little bit. Really though, his "bed" is the smaller area next to the left of the larger cave.
Sitting in a window in the well preserved town church.
That night, I Skyped home to celebrate with my parents and we did some presents that Caitlin had brought over. I got a nice running watch, which I definitely needed and some very encouraging cards and a top-quality journal once I fill the other ones I'm working in. We watched part of an Irish movie The Guard before going out to a pub. Of course I had a Guinness at the pub, what else would I have gotten? The pub wasn't rowdy or even packed. It had people, but had an older population, mainly because a lot of younger people have left town for work. It was a great atmosphere to talk with our local friends and learn about Irish culture and what it was like growing up and how they view the US and Obama. Irish school seemed very different. There's no such thing as "No Child Left Behind" in Ireland. In fact, many teachers don't care and our friends' parents were not happy with how school went. Regardless, their kids turned out great and fit into roles in society nicely. There's not a large stigma if you don't go to college. I don't know what path I would've taken had I been in Ireland or how I would've turned out, but it made me think about how education, from early in life, can shape how you are motivated in school and in life.
I shoveled down as much porridge before leaving Ireland and said a farewell to my all-too brief stay with Caitlin in Ireland. It was great having a personal tour guide to show me around and share her love for Ireland with me.
The Dublin Airport had these models, and the scientist in me smiled.
Not that I loved O-Chem, but I miss taking science classes (but classes here are still sweet.) This is a model of the structure of caffeine; how appropriate considering all of the tea and cappuccino I've been drinking... The return to Rome was smooth as could be and I grabbed some more Swiss Chocolate on the way home.
Today was back to class :) and tonight we finalized essentially everything for Spring Break. What a relief. Miraculously, we found a drug free, CHRISTIAN hostel in Amsterdam. Considering Amsterdam, this was an answered prayer for sure.
I've been working at this post for a while, and I'm definitely needing some good sleep, so I will leave you with this verse in light of reading Dante's Inferno and our chat with the Barrington's. Not the most heart-warming verse, but this prophetic verse is blunt and wakes you up:
Revelation 3:16 - "So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
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