March Madness... & April Too

March has begun and in a few days, it certainly will begin to move quickly.

In retrospect, these past seven weeks have been slow compared to what Phillip and I have ahead of us. Starting on Friday, we begin our mini-Eurotour. This weekend is London. Neither of us have been, but our plans are set and we are completely ready to leave. Plus, I get to see my roommates (and Kyle) there which will be such a nice treat! Our schedule for London is packed from 8am Saturday to 5pm Sunday.... and then we head back to Limerick for just enough time to do our laundry and talk to our families.

Then we're off to Paris! This is probably the trip I'm most looking forward to because I get to re-live and re-experience my trip from five years ago while playing tour guide to Phillip. We're even staying in the same hotel that I stayed in during my trip! Plus, I get to see Lauren and maybe even Cyrielle, the girl I stayed with in France, while I'm in the city. That will be a wild four days of touring, eating, drinking, and spending money but will be completely worth it.

Once back from Paris, St Patrick's Day celebrations begin in Limerick. Festivals, parades, music, a strongman competition, and more will fill the streets of downtown. I have a two days of class and then we're off for St. Pat's Day. Plus, I get to see Chelsea who will begin her student teaching in Ireland on Monday!

After St. Pat's, Phillip and I have just enough time to confirm our trip to Brussels that weekend, and then Friday we leave for that city. Neither of us have been to Belgium and honestly, we're just looking forward to eating all their specialities there: mussels, chocolate, beer, waffles, and more will certainly be calling our names.

Then we come back for a few days again before heading off to Liverpool, our last non-Ireland trip. We really just want to do the Beatles Bus tour and see what the city has to offer. That certainly will be our most laid back trip.

After all of this, March is over! But the madness doesn't stop there.... The weekend following all of this begins our Spring Break, where we have plans to travel to the Aran Islands, Bunratty, and Dublin at the very least. After all of this, we will have our final two weeks of classes and our first full week of classes in over a month! After classes are over, it is Study Week, but my family is coming to visit then. Then it is our final few weeks, and we return home.

It is probably a good thing that we had a semi-quiet weekend in Limerick this past weekend. We went shopping at the Market, checked out the University of Limerick's Campus, attempted to go to Ennis (but it was closed... literally), and had a nice dinner out on Sunday.

We have barely started our trip just looking at all that is ahead of us... but at the same time, it is going to go so quickly, its almost like we're already on our way home. With two and a half months left, I'm looking forward to every minute of it. I'm blessed to be able to do it all with Phillip. I'm blessed to have so many friends that I get to see while I travel and I'm here. I'm blessed that my family is coming to visit me for an entire week.

...and I'm certainly looking forward to it all.

Phillip and I by the river that runs through University of Limerick's Campus.