Finals

Dec. 2008 ~ Ireland

So... this is finals week(s). Here at UL the finals are spread out over a period of two weeks. Most of my finals are this week.Thursday and Friday I have exams for Irish Folklore and Irish Language. The Marketing final I took on Monday, and I just hope I don't fail the class. Then my last exam is in Irish Music and Dance on Dec. 20th (a Saturday... yuck) - the very last day of finals. I fly back to Pittsburgh on the 21st and get to spend Christmas with my sister and her family, and my parents. I can't wait!

I've been having a great time here in Ireland - not without it's ups and downs, but overall it has been a good experience, because I know it was God's perfect plan and will to bring me here. I have met and made some wonderful new friends, and some that I will be extremely sad to leave behind (but glad to know that at least most of them I shall see again in heaven). And of course since I love the country so much, I will be sad to leave because of that too. There are so many things I want to do and so many places that I want to go to, yet haven't been able to... and I have to leave... but such is life; we can't do everything we want to. I just thank God for the time that He has allowed me to spend here, the people He has placed across my path, and the wonderful opportunity He has given me just to be here in a place I never thought I would actually get to be. I have learned so much since I've been here. God is amazing. Even with all the different things I've struggled with throughout this semester, God is faithful and has again proven that He is all I need. At the times that have seemed like there is no hope... yet He reminds me that my hope is found in Christ, and Christ alone. And this semester I've been reading through and going to a Bible study on Philippians - that has been an absolutely wonderful thing, everything I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. Wow. God is truly awesome, great, and understanding.




Forgive me for my lack of faith, and my unbelief. Help me Father to strive to know You better; please continue to speak to me and change my heart.
I know You will be faithful to complete what You have started in me.

Sept. 21, 2008

Ireland is beautiful.

There are trees and bushes everywhere you look. There is such a wildness in them that I have not seen before. It seems as if there’s a special gene in them that makes them this way. It is not to say they look wild in a bad way, but they look independent and unkempt; they look as if they’d had a scraggly beard for a hundred years. But the greenery is absolutely everywhere you look, and adds to the beauty that makes up Ireland. The fields are bordered by shrubs, the roads are bordered by shrubs, there are even little shrubs growing out of the most unlikely places – for example: the steeple of a little church in the town that I’m in, Castletroy.

On Sat. a friend and I took the bus and visited Galway. You could look out the window and see lots of things. Here and there a field with a small herd of cows or sheep; every now and then you’d see a few horses. Glance out the window on the other side of the bus for a bit, and you’d see the rolling green hills in the distance, with the fields looking like a jigsaw puzzle that has been put together. Some fields are separated only by bushes, while others have the low stone/rock walls that stand out distinguished from the green all around. At one point I saw a stone wall that was quite extensive; the stones were so huge, they looked as if they could have been there for a long time, and they fit together quite well. Turn back to your own window and you find you’re looking at a small castle (That must be Bunratty). Single house dwellings grace your presence every now and then along the way. Such a difference from the houses in town, you either have the small duplexes (most everybody doesn’t have a single dwelling home) that are tightly squeezed together, or on the outskirts of town you have the larger houses that are single dwellings, but you can tell that those houses have got to cost a fortune.

The old Irish people are as sweet as they can be, wanting to sit you down and spend hours telling you stories and helping you become more acquainted with their ways, their precious history, and the struggles and hard times they’ve been through. They are so pleasant to talk to, and they fill the chatter with humor, wit and funny little sayings. In stark contrast the young people of Ireland almost pretty much ignore your existence. The old people are quite religious in their own, but the majority of the young people seemed to have thrown out and disregarded the whole possibility of there being a God and His having a better reason and a specific purpose for our lives.

~ Oct. 22, 2008

This was written during my first month here in Ireland at the University of Limerick. My camera wasn't working well then, so sorry for the lack of great pictures. I've been keeping busy with school and haven't had much time to write, but I'll try to write some more sometime... :) I'll just say that I am having a great time. It hasn't been without it's difficult times, but I'm learning and God's been helping me through them. I'm really thankful that He has given me this wonderful opportunity!