BACK IN IRELAND!

My favorite part of the trip. I got to go back to Cork! (And Blarney, Kinsale, Midleton, and Dublin)We flew into Ireland on Christmas Eve. Our flight left London at 6am or something ridiculous, but by the time we got into Cork I was kind of like a little kid in a candy store. I wanted to see EVERYTHING again! We dropped our stuff off and went to the English Market to get everything to make Christmas dinner. The English Market has some amazing butchers, bakers, and lots of great produce. In short, it's the perfect place to shop for Christmas dinner. That night we went to one of my favorite pubs which I think is now one of John's too.

Christmas Day we got to sleep in for a change. We spent most of the day cooking dinner and then took a long walk around Cork. I've never seen Cork so quiet! It was beautiful with all the Christmas lights on.

London pictures

Time to start adding some photos from all of my winter break travels!

These are all from my first day in London, wandering around while John was at work. I was doing my best to adjust to the time change...yuck.

The huge rabbit (because I don't know it's real name) is pretty close to where John works (near liverpool street station, etc) I think all of these pictures are within a few blocks of Liverpool Street Station and the financial district.

This last one is one of my favorite neighborhoods in London, close to the theatre district. We took the tube over for dinner my first night in town.

Growing up, moving on and all that other big kid stuff.

I graduate from college about a month from today! How scary is that?! No definitive summer plans, but right now I think I just want to take it easy and enjoy my last few months in Iowa. That’s right…the last few. Not sure I’m ready to announce plans to the whole blogosphere but I am very very excited about what the future holds for me and for John as well. He’ll be home to visit in late May and home for good on August 8^th. FINALLY! I wish he could be here for graduation and some of the other big “senior moments” but I’m excited about next year and excited to see what it brings for both of us. I can say I've been accepted to a masters program and I've accepted a job offer that I'm SUPER excited about...now it's just dotting the I's and crossing the T's and hoping for no last minute snags! I’m going to miss some things about Iowa...but it is time to move on for a little while and see what else is out there.

It's a scary time, an exciting time, and a little sad too. I've made so many amazing friends in 4 years in Iowa City and a big part of me is sad to leave. But it's time to move on to some bigger and hopefully just as amazing things. No matter what though...I am a proud Hawkeye and will very soon be a very proud Iowa Alum :)

p.s. Hopefully I'll get the blog caught up soon...so much to post! Amazing pictures from London, Ireland, Athens, Rome and Venice (and lots of funny stories too).