The Grady's have arrived.

 This has been a great weekend, my parents came to visit! It was so great to see them and show them everything I've been doing for the past few months.

They started out their trip in Dublin, sightseeing and what not. Then on Thursday they drove their tiny blue tin can to good ol Limerick. I met them at the front of my apartment complex, showed them my apartment, and took them on a quick tour around campus. 

That night we went to dinner with my friends Colleen, Ana and Hannah.
We ate at this small Italian restaurant in Limerick city, let's just say that Ireland isn't too sharp on their Italian cuisine. We all had a really great night, it was nice to introduce my parents to the girls that I have been spending so much time with.

On Friday we got up, jumped in the car and headed to Galway. I absolutely loved this city so I was anxious for my parents to see it. We pulled up to a small B&B right outside of the city center, got a beautiful room, and then headed out for the center of town. 

I found it really interesting that I haven't seen many rainbows since I've been here, but I saw one EVERY day that my parents were here!

 After walking around the center of town, we headed towards Galway Cathedral and the  National University of Ireland. The scenery around that area is breath taking! This is a picture on the bridge right before you get to Galway Cathedral.

  The rest of the night was spent just walking around, and hanging out in the pubs. We got a drink before dinner and decided to stay at that pub until we ate. Once we were finished eating we thought it would be a good idea to head back to the room, rest up, then head back out to listen to some traditional music. If you know my parents and I at all I'm sure you can guess what happened. We all fell asleep. Big surprise. It was nice to get the rest though.

Then we woke up on Saturday, had a scrumptious Irish breakfast and headed back to Limerick. 

Ana, Hannah and I took my parents to the milk market during the day, then my mother took me food shopping which was greatly appreciated. It was nice to not have to  walk 3984702385710837 miles with heavy bags! We ate dinner in my apartment that night then headed for the one and only, O'Connell's!

Here are my parents and I enjoying our time at O'Connell's.

Kath is breaking it down. Work it girl.

On Sunday my parents and I walked around Bunratty Castle. I expected to go into the castle, take pictures and that's it. I was so surprised there was a whole village you could walk around in before you got to the castle! I was really impressed. It was nice to take my Dad to do these things too since he's never seen anything like this. He was really impressed with everything, as was everyone else.

 Kath found the flowers.

 Overall it was a really great weekend, like I said it was very nice to see them, spend time with them, and travel this beautiful country with them.

I've spent this whole week trying to get ahead on school work because I'm never home on the weekends. The one thing I really wasn't prepared for was balancing a full semester of classes that are run totally different than what I'm used to, while traveling the world. My life is so hard, sigh. Just kidding, I get stressed then I step back and realize how blessed I truly am!

This weekend I am going to be traveling to Berlin with Colleen. I'm very excited because we are going to be taking tours around the city and to a concentration camp, but I'm also a little nervous. It will be my first time navigating my way through a country where I don't speak the language. Ham and cheese, here I come!