The Healy family continues to enjoy the Irish experience. I’m about to finish my first semester of classes (a final essay due in a few days) and look forward towards next semester, which will offer me the opportunity to take several courses of specific interest. My first semester lecturers were incredibly knowledgeable, always prepared and constantly willing to answer any question I had. I’m sure the second semester will not be any different. I couldn’t have asked for a more pleasant experience than the one I’ve received thus far at DCU. The school is great and the friends I’ve made are even better. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year here, but not before I celebrate the end of this semester with friends.
My parents came over the Christmas break and we all enjoyed a great visit. I took the opportunity to show them around Dublin and then we visited the countryside for a few days. We spent two days in County Galway and rented a car to see as much of the “Irish countryside” as possible. We took in the Cliffs of Moher, the Irish coast, Galway City, a number of castles and old monasteries and of course, saw a whole bunch of sheep. Although it was a challenge on narrow roads (driving on the opposite side of the road offers a number of interesting experiences for anyone who’s interested), my dad did a great job and we all enjoyed taking in the breathtaking sites. My parents continued on to Cork (from where the Healy ancestors came from) and couldn’t stop talking about the great time they had. Unfortunately, my wife and I had to return to Dublin to take care of the kids (the puppies and kitty cat) so we were unable to join them. Overall, though, it was a great visit. We’re hoping more friends and family can make the trip in the future to share some time with us.
Aside from studying, Carolyn and I are continuing our goal to do as much traveling as possible. We recently traveled to Stockholm and Copenhagen last month and are trying to plan a trip to visit Rome and Venice this month. We’re certainly not going to miss the opportunity to see as much of Europe as possible. We’re also planning on seeing more of Ireland once the spring rolls around. Weekend trips to Cork and Wicklow are certainly in the planning phases. We’d like to try to go camping in Wicklow so we can bring the pooches, but we’ll see how it plays out. I’ll be sure to keep you updated about it. So far, so good though, and I’m hoping this experience only gets better.