[insert creative blog title about Ireland here]

Hello to all!
Here I am in ireland and we have just been going nonstop since we got here! We started our coach tour of Ireland in Galway. Yesterday we started with a tour of the home of Irish poet W.B. Yeats. It was a neat little house with a thatch cottage and a tower attatched to it.

Sadly enough Yeats only lived in this house for a short time because of health reasons and I almost had a heart attack climbing the tiny winding staircase that led to the different rooms of the tower and a fantastic rooftop view.

After Yeats home we went to the home of lady Gregory. I did not know who she was but apparently she was an irish author and playwright. Her house isn’t even there anymore because some Irish nationalists tore it down. But she had a beautiful garden and lake as well as an autograph tree. It was signed by the likes of Yeats, Browning, and others.



Next we headed out to the Cliffs of Moher which I kept calling the cliffs of dover because of that guitar hero song. Ummm it was freakin windy up there. I could lean into the wind and it would hold me up. Our bus driver, Seamus, said that people have been blown off the cliffs because they crossed over the guardrails that are up there.



The view was fantastic too…














Yesterday (Saturday), we went to one of the Aran islands, Inishmore. It’s a place that has lots of ruins and the people there speak Gaelic (English too). Well you could either rent a bike or ride a van for 10 euro (15 dollars-ish) to get to the fort Dun Aenghus (sp?) we were supposed to visit, or walk. Well we decided to walk the NINE MILES round trip to this fort and back. The walk was beautiful

And this is a picture about halfway through the walk there. We were trying to get to that fort that’s in the distance.

The fort was a cool place. It has supposedly been there since 4,000 BC which is just insane. It’s cool that in Europe everything is just older. American history only goes back to like 1500 at the most. But I think we were just happy to finally get there.


Today we spent traveling mostly from Galway to Derry. We made a stop in Sligo to see Yeats’ grave. Actually he was first buried in Monaco I believe because he died over there while world war two was going on so he couldn’t be sent safely back to the states. Not until 9 years later was he finally moved to the church of Duncliffe where one of his relatives had been priest or something important there.


Hopefully I will have more later. I want to update everyday, but the internet is so spastic. The hotels don’t always have it for free unfortunately and it can get pretty pricey.

Look out Ireland, I have arrived!

Well, I finally made it after what feels like a million years of traveling to Galway, Ireland. I haven't slept in about 28 hours so i'm just trying to make it a few more until I can collapse! Luckily the plane ride and everything was uneventful. I didn't sleep one second on that stupid plane! Today we drove across Ireland from Dublin to get to Galway and we stopped at this cute little restaurant that was actually a castle originally. Cool. So now I'm looking forward to a hot shower and hopefully a filling meal. I tried to take pictures of the view outside my room. It looks out onto a garden an the river runs by it (forgot the name of the river though!). Hopefully I'll have time to take pictures soon and I will try to post them.

Ready or not...

Holy moly. The time has come. I'm leaving tomorrow for the UK! I'm gonna be honest, I'm nervous. I think this trip is one of those things that you try not to think about. I mean, I'm excited to be going but I get overwhelmed thinking about how I won't see anyone until December! Also preparing for this trip has been SO STRESSFUL! With me, it's always like "everything that can go wrong WILL go wrong"! First of all, my computer broke 2 days before my trip. So I drove to the apple store. Guess who's closed for renovations until September 4th? HA! Well I found someone else to fix my broken hard drive thank goodness. Now if I could only get all my files safely back on my computer from my external hard drive...

So my adventure begins! First tomorrow I'm flying to Atlanta to meet up with my group to fly to Galway. We spend awhile in Ireland and then move over to Scotland and England. I'm going to try to update this blog with where I'm going and what I'm doing for anyone who cares to follow. This is going to be one of those life-changing experiences. And I can use all the prayers I can get too!

Ok, I'm really hoping this video works. Anyway I made this little short in response to Andrew's Blog on youtube (youtube.com/urintown). He made some cool shorts of cities and challenged his viewers to make one of their own showcasing their own city and he would feature the best on his blog. I am no man to turn down a challenge! So I toted my brand new high def camera around the city and pieced together a video. Well, whaddya know when I upload it on youtube the audio gets muted because of COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. Needtobreathe, I am not stealing your song and I do not claim it as my own! So I'm hoping it may play here!

The Blind Side

I am beyond excited for this movie to come out. This is the story of Michael Oher who grew up in Memphis, went to my rival high school, went on to play football at Ole Miss and is now in the NFL. The movie is based on the book which is a true story (mostly). Actually they mention my high school in the book, but I think it's funny that they don't keep the name of his high school (Briarcrest) in the movie. Fine with me, I don't want my rivals getting publcity and attention. It is such a touching story, but I feel especially close to it because I have been watching Michael play football since I was in high school. Read the book and then go see the movie! It looks like they did a really good job making it, and I cannot wait to see it!

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry...

So because of my fantastical obsession with all things Harry Potter, I am currently running on four hours of sleep after working from 9-5 today. BUT I did get to see the midnight premiere of the Half-Blood Prince movie! I'm one of those people who compares everything to the book, so this movie did not quite live up to my expectations. Now, I think it was good just as a movie, but still, it's based on a book for crying out loud! They changed too many IMPORTANT things that they didn't have to change. Also don't read this if you don't want to hear any spoilers.

Things I did not like/were changed too much:
1. The Burrow was destroyed?! Um, don't remember THAT in the book. Kinda important considering the Burrow is like headquarters and a safehaven in book 7.
2. Harry is not lurking underneath everyone's feet while Dumbledore is killed. He is petrified by Dumbledore so that Harry is not released from the curse until Dumbledore dies. So by the movie standards he could still be alive.
3. The Death Eaters don't just walk in and out of Hogwarts. The DA and the Order put up a heck of a fight in the book.
4. Ginny and Harry. Or maybe its that I just don't like Bonnie whatever her name is. They played up too much romance.
5. Ok at the end Dumbledore's wand was sitting on his desk. YOU DO NOT LEAVE THE ELDER WAND JUST FLOATING AROUND! It has to be buried with him for the 7th movie. ugh.

Things I liked:
1. I thought Jim Broadbent was a really good Slughorn. A little less annoying than I pictured him in the book, but I still thought he did a good job.
2. The kids who played young Tom Riddle. Creepy, but he was absolutely perfect. And haunting.
3. They did keep the scene in the cave pretty accurate. I love how the whole cave was giant quartz. And the inferi were so gross!
4. I also really liked Narcissa Malfoy. I think they stayed true to the book on her character. She isn't all bad but she cares about Draco. I would have liked to see Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy). I REALLY like him.
5. Rupert Grint.

Overall I say, as a movie, it's good. As to following the book, not so much.

I have been changed...for gooooood.

Well it is official. I saw Wicked. I went last Sunday for my birthday (July 5th, I'm 20 ahhh!). And you know what, I did not want to love this show. When it came out like in 8th grade I was obsessed. Like I was dying to see the show and I had the cast recording playing 24/7. Now everybody likes it, so I guess I was trying to be all "I'm different" (cool, huh?). Well, too bad because it was AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. So I've got this big long review to give and I just want to throw out a disclaimer that I do not claim to know anything about acting/singing/dancing/musical writing technique AT ALL! This is just my personal opinion!

Ok let's start with the actors

Helene Yorke and Marcie Dodd

Helene Yorke (Glinda)- Um, love her. I actually had heard her before seeing Wicked on some Youtube videos, so I already knew she would be phenomenal. She was SO FUNNY! Helene's comedic timing was impeccable and she made Glinda so flighty and carefree, but could be serious when needed. Her singing started off a little rough in "No One Mourns the Wicked" when she went into some high soprano notes. Then again it was the last show in an 8 show week! But when she belted, look out! Loved it. Also, I got to meet her at the stage door. Well, first somehow I met her mom (random) who was there to see her. Helene was so kind and I'm always impressed when an actor is willing to talk, sign autographs and take pictures after a show even when I'm sure they are exhausted. We talked about the Battery's Down, Andrew's Blog, and her visit to New York City. More than I ever expected!

Marcie Dodd (Elphaba)- Funny story, my program had a slip that said Carrie Manokalos, Elphaba's standby, was on that night in Marcie's place. Well, my mom and brother did not have the slips. It wasn't until after the show that I realized it was Marcie and not her standby! Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. She came straight off of doing Elphaba on Broadway too. Her voice was a little nasally at points, but her belt was fantastic! This girl brought me to tears over and over again.

Wizard (Tom McGowan)-He was good. Actually he was in the Disney Channel movie Heavyweights with Ben Stiller. He was the camp counselor guy.

Fiyero (Colin Donnell)- He was really cute! And a good singer.

Olivia with Fiyero (Colin Donnell)

Nessa (Kristine Reese)- She reminded me of Dana Steingold in her looks and her voice. I was really excited that Nessa sings more in the show than on the cd and I was actually surprised by the role she plays in the show.

One thing that stuck out to me was the orchestra. They were so good! I know that they don't have to sound like the cd, but usually I can hear mistakes or the tempo is like light speed but I didn't notice anything.

Ummm, look at how much stuff they brought in just to go around the stage!

The set was also really cool. I heard that it was scaled down for the tour, but it was freaking awesome! They brought in practicaly the whole stage, and some animatronics across the proscenium. There were clocks everywhere (did I miss that symbolism?). How on earth do they move that stuff?

I'm glad that I was surprised by the story because I thought I knew the whole plot from the soundtrack. There were some plot holes, but I don't think people are really paying attention to that. Like if Elphaba loved Fiyero, how did she not recognize him as the scarecrow? She had him trapped in her dungeon but didn't recognize him til later? Also, Nessa all the sudden just decided to be the Wicked Witch of the East? I kinda missed where that was coming from. Sometimes the pacing was weird, like they would sing 3 songs in a row and then talk for 20 minutes.

LOVED IT. If you have the chance to see it ever in your whole life...you should.