P.S. I Love You

So needless to say....things are crazy busy over here. The school staff and their families have kept alll the students moving to help us get over jet lag, so I have hardly had any time to catch things up on here.  When we arrived in Ireland on Wednesday night, my lost bag had arrived and so I GOT IT BACK!!!! hooray!!!! I know ;-) Then we met with my roomate Katie and her cousin who took us back to their home and we stayed with them overnight. We walked to Trimm Castle, where part of Braveheart was filmed, and toured around.  Then we made our way onto Galway.  It was sooo beautiful. We checked into our hostel then went exploring. We got really good Irish food at a pub and then ran into some other franciscan students while I was giving Marc and Katie the silent treatment ;-) so we hung out with them the rest of the night. It was amazing. Friday we toured the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. It was absolutely breathtaking!!!!!!!!!! Words cannot even describe.  Saturday took us to Knock where we prayed at the shrine and then headed to Dublin. It was so muc hfun. Dublin isvibrant and full of life. We met up with another of Katie's cousins and toured around the city on Sunday after going to mass in a beautiful church tuckedaway in the heart of the city.  We even got to watch a celtic football game. It was super intense! I found out that I did not like Guiness, but loved Bulmers and Aspall hard cider, for fear of sounding like my mother, it was like an adult apple juice ;-).  the trip was amazing and we then made it safely to the Kartause, where they have been running us ragged these past few days. Teusday we went to the Melk Monastary and toured as well as scaled the side of a mountain going to durnstein. I didn't have the right shoes on and I paid dearly to the tune of like 5 new blisters in addtion to the exhisting ones. LOL, life goes on!!!!!!!!!! classes started today with Christian Marriage, and that brings you up to speed with what I have been up to!!!!

all my love,
maddie

Oh the Places You'll Go........and fall in love with

So, this last week has been SUPER CRAZY and SUPER GOOD. First, I made it to Dublin with only one of my two chacked bags, and thanks to Marc I got everything taken care of, and we left for London, without my bag......AAAAAAAHHHHHH to say the least.  We got to London, without much trouble besides that until what I thought was a 4 or 5 block stroll in the city turned into a 1.5 hour 2.5-3 mile treck with our 22+ lbs. backpacks. SORRY MARC ;-) Englad is soooo beautiful. We went out to Oxoford one day, and came back and walked through Hyde park, which was a 2 min walk away. We were really close to Notting Hill and Kensington Palace, which I referred to as my home. On Tuesday we went to see the Wilton House, which is the home of the Early of Pembroke, who just got married, (I was sad I missed my chance =D) and was filmed in Pride and Prejudice. And then we topped the night off with another walk throught the park. We wanted to rent bikes but couldn't because the British hate us !!! lol it was an adventure to say the least!!! Wednesday we toured the city and went to all the sights. It was sooo amazing!!! Its super late here now, so I'm gonna go clean up my room, and then get some sleep. But tomorrow I will write about IRELAND =D

With Love from Gaming,
Maddie

I'm About to Show You Just How Missing Me Feels, In My Sperry Topsiders????

Today the goodbyes continue and packing commences.  Last night we had a sort of fair-well party at Kelly's house where we hada giant slip n' slide going and we also square danced ;-). The rest of the week will be wal-mart runs and packing, sprinkled with family and friends. Also, fatima up @ Maria Stein Kicking off my semester of deeper devotion to Mary. Stay tuned for more updates as I travel to England through Wednesday of next week and head into Ireland the 19-23.

Still Stateside,
Maddie