weeek 4! new home!

(views from my new home!)

I am having a much better week than last! For starters, I have moved villages. I moved from Kilmurry village to Thomond Village (pronounced tomond. I'm the American that pronounced with with a "th" sound and got made fun of... what else is new!) I am so much happier being in this village. Kilmurry was nice, but it was a big party place. People were constantly blaring music and yelling til about 5 or 6 in the morning. Its a fun place to visit, but not to live in! Plus I'm living right next door to Lauren and Mallory's apartment building now. The 20 minutes commute across campus has been reduced to about 1 minute. It's fabulous! I must say I do miss my old roommates! The good news is that I have an Irish step dancing class (yup, I am step dancing... you can laugh at it. I do everyday. I also have to preform in front of a class at the end of the semester. excellent.) in my old village once a week, so I can stop by and see them! Mare also has a best friend who lives in Thomond so she'll be visiting from time to time! My first night here I woke up at noon and was amazed I had slept the entire time without one drunken interruption! It's so nice! My new roommates are really nice too. I live with all Irish kids again. It's 3 boys and 2 other girls! They are all first years, so I am the oldest. It's so cute to watch them because they all hang out in our common room for hours on end. It brings back good memories from my freshman year at Bridgewater when I first met my best friends now! (woodward, 3rd floor. let's go back?) Speaking of time flying, I can not believe I am already in the 4th week here! I'm already getting upset about having to leave in December. That's going to be a long plane ride home!

This past week was pretty boring until the weekend. We finally felt comfortable to let loose a little more. Thursday night we went out to this place called the Lodge. It's the club near campus that everyone goes too. They let you in free some nights with your school I.D. We started the night off at Mallory's apartment because her roommates had planned a house party. We were all in their kitchen and common room area having some drinks and talking. One of the Irish guys there started asking us questions about America. He said the only thing he knew about American culture was from the movies Grease and West Side Story. We responded, "so basically, you know nothing about American culture." (obviously we didn't stop making fun of him there. We're usually the butt of all the jokes so any opportunity to poke fun at them we take and go overboard with: "yeah, we all coordinate song and dance segments, the girls wear poodle skirts, and when we get angry at each other we snap.") We decided to head out a little while later. We ended up walking there because there was a large group of us. It's probably about a 20 minute walk there. On the walk over there this Irish guy who was at the party came up to me and started talking to me again about American culture. ( I don't know why this was such a hot topic this night. I think we were the first Americans these guys had met.) He asked me if I was a cheerleader. I thought to myself, do I look like the cheer leading type?? I didn't want to be rude so I answered with, "no, I played sports." He then went on this tangent about cheer leading and football players. I'm not sure what American sitcom or movie he had just watched, but I tried to explain that there's more to being American than football and cheer leading. After that awkward struggle of a conversation I waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Lauren, Mal, and I started to have a conversation, not minding the rest of the group. In the middle of our conversation I overheard a different Irish guy that was in our group exclaim, "I love listening to them talk!! I love their accents!!" After I realized he was talking about us, I couldn't help but laugh. It's weird to be told that for once I have an accent! Usually it's us telling them that we love to hear them talk! I officially got the worst pick up line I have ever heard in my life. The kid who was talking to me about Americans and cheer leading, started talking to me while I walked over to the ATM. He said, and I quote, "How about, in American terms, we hook up tonight?" .....yup. He was serious. I nearly fell over laughing, and responded with my go to phrase for awkward situations here, "NAHH". I felt like saying, "How about, in American terms, you F*** off." but Karen and Bob raised me better than that. I walked away to catch up to Mal, and I heard him say to his friend, "WHAT? It's an American term, Hook up is an American term!!" Mallory informed the other boys in the group that he was being an idiot and they walked next to me the rest of the way!
We finally made it to the lodge. This was the craziest place I have ever been too. The line or "que" as they call it, was wrapped around the area sectioned off, and then out to the street. We ended up cutting the line by sliding under the railings, and we made it in quicker. The place was PACKED. We went out on the dance floor and we couldn't even move. People were shoving us all around. My feet hurt so bad from walking over with heels! At one point I got pushed and my ankles rolled in my boots. My feet were so sore I couldn't even straighten myself out. One of the boys in our group came up behind me, grabbed me from the shoulders and placed me back on my feet! Mal switched shoes with me a few minutes later, and I was back in business! We started dancing again, and this one random boy from the crowd came over, grabbed my face, and kissed my cheek. He wished me a Happy something or other. He did the same to Lauren and Mal. He did it 2 more times. Later on we were talking to some of the boys in our group and explaining what he had said and did. They started laughing and informed us that it wasn't an Irish holiday at all. What a clever guy! The boys were good all night about helping us out. We started getting tossed around a lot because people were shoving. Mallory ended up being shoved and fell on the ground 3 or 4 times. They boys instantly picked her back up! They also served as a good means of crowd control. When the crowd got really pushy they would put all of us in the middle of them and stand on the outside of us. We've learned not get on the bad side of the boys! We would be royally screwed without them!

Friday night we took it easy, and just hung out in Lauren's apartment. We headed back to Galway Saturday to celebrate Erin's 20th birthday! We had so much fun! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Abbey. It was so cute. We took their family sized room upstairs, that slept 7. It was such a nice place to stay! We grabbed some dinner, and then headed back to the B&B to get ready for the night! We were all in the process of getting ready when we heard the fire alarm go off. We all just looked around confused, thinking maybe it was a smoke alarm and we could shut it off. Finally Lauren said, "Guys its the fire alarm, you can't shut it off, we need to get out." ( we keep her around for her common sense.) We all ran down the stairs and went outside to find that we were the only ones who did! A woman who works there came to shut the alarm off finally. Erin asked her why no one else had left the building, and she told us because they realized there was no fire! Ah, and the world makes sense again! (Silly Americans...)

We had a few drinks before heading out for the night. We ended up walking down the main stretch in Galway. They had club promoters up and down the streets! We knew it was going to be a good night! One of the promoters brought us to a club called Coyote. Similar to Coyote Ugly in the states. They had American flags everywhere, we felt pretty comfortable. Except for the fact that we were literally the only females in the place. The club was filled with guys aged 25 and up. Needless to say, we attracted a little attention walking in, being six 20 year old girls. We went up to the bar and got one of the guys sitting near us at a table to buy Erin a drink for her birthday. We took pictures with some of the other guys sitting up near the bar. Then decided to check out the downstairs. It was a dance floor and then they had a mechanical bull. Erin hopped on the Bull for a celebratory 20th birthday ride. It ended rather swiftly and even left a bruise the next morning! There was a group of guys from a Bachelor party dancing on the dance floor. We dared Kim to go out and dance with one of them. Soon a few more of his friends came out and danced with her. When I looked again she had so many of them around her I could barely see her! We all started laughing and then went out to join her. They played a song from Grease, which made us all start laughing more! All though we weren't hating the attention, we decided it was time to try somewhere else. We walked back down the main stretch and found another club promoter who told us he could get us in and get us some free drinks. He brought us over to the club, but it wasn't open yet. He handed us a free card and told us to wait. We decided to make a pit stop at McDonald's. One of the better decisions we made that night, American fast food has not disappointed us once since we've been here. We walked back to that same club after McDonald's . On the way we met up with a club promoter who started talking to me about the states. He asked if I watched baseball. I asked him who his favorite team was and he responded with the Yankees. I told him, "Wrong answer" and walked away! We finally got back to the club and realized we wouldn't get in for free and we would have to pay 5 euro. We knew there was another club down the road that was letting people in for free and decided to go there instead. It turns out the promoter we had to get a stamp from was the Yankees fan from earlier. He came up to me and told me he was just kidding and he doesn't even watch baseball! I started laughing!I told him I was kidding as well, but next time someone asks him that the answer should always be Red Sox! He walked us to the club, it was called Cuba, and we got in for free! It was really fun in there and they played a lot of good music! I noticed the club had three bars in it and suddenly was hit with a brilliant idea! I dragged Erin to each bar with me and asked them if she could have a free shot for her birthday! 2 of the bar tenders were happy to give one out, but the 3rd one was a jerk! He practically yelled at us to go away unless we were going to pay! We shook off the rejection and went downstairs to keep dancing! We ended up leaving the club around 230 and headed back to the B&B!

(Laur & I before going out!)
(the series of events of Kim dancing with the Bachelor Party, she's in there somewhere!)

(erin bull riding!)

The next morning we woke up to the smell of a full Irish breakfast and ran downstairs to eat! It was so delicious! After breakfast we decided to head out and shop for a little before going home. I had fallen in love with a ring I saw in one of the shops earlier so I figured I would go back to check it out. I was so disappointed that the shop wasn't open when we went back! I'll have to find another one somewhere else! We headed back to Limerick absolutely exhausted.

I planned on having a relaxing Sunday night, and head to bed early. I was in my PJ's when I got a text from Lauren asking if I wanted to go to the Lodge with her and some of the boys. I jumped out of bed, got ready, and headed out. Let's just say we had a very long and interesting evening out. I was exhausted when we were leaving, and I took my heels off for the walk home. One of the boys looked at me and told me that wasn't a smart idea, but thinking I knew everything I continued with it anyways. We had almost made it all the way home when all of a sudden I heard one of the boys say "Ow that hurts!!" I turned to see what he was talking about when I felt something smash on my neck. I was covered in egg. I had it in my hair, all over my shirt, in my ear, down my jeans, and in my shoe. I wasn't even upset though, I just started laughing! I'm surprised I wasn't upset, but at that point I was so slap happy that it just seemed like the funniest thing ever. In the process of hysterically laughing, I stubbed my toe on the concrete. It hurt really bad but my main concern was getting home. I walked the rest of the way covered in sticky egg. When we got home we decided to hang out in Lauren's apartment for awhile. We go into the elevator and Lauren's roommate looked down at my foot. He yelled "OH MY GOD KELLEY YOUR FOOT!" I looked down and I was standing in a pool of blood from my toe. Her roommate got me a band aid, cleaned out my cut, and bandaged up my foot! He told me to take the bandage off and clean it the next morning and put some antibiotic ointment on it because it has a good chance of getting infected if I don't. He also scolded me for walking barefoot, and said that the blisters I would've gotten from me heels wouldn't have hurt as bad as this! (I wasn't kidding when I said we would be in big trouble without the boys!) The night doesn't sound that fun to an outsider, but it was one of those you had to be there nights. It's one we talk and laugh about all the time now.

I think I am taking it easy this week, staying in, and getting some sleep! I have my full day of classes today, and Irish step dancing tonight! This weekend we plan to go to Cork! We don't have to pay for accommodation because we'll be staying with one of Lauren's friends from home! I'm looking forward to another fun weekend!

oh by the way,

Happy 20th Birthday Er :)

rough week!

I know I'm a little behind on the writing, but last week was so stressful!
The week started off great! My one and only girl roommate asked me if I wanted to go into the city with her. Thinking she just wanted some company I said I would tag along! Turns out she brought me into the city so I could get some more things to get settled (bedding, more towels, etc) and then she showed me the cool places to shop. Which in hindsight could've been a bad thing haha! They have this really cool store here called River Island. I loved almost everything in it and wanted to buy the whole store. Unfortunately, they are a little pricey so I made the wise choice to just poke around! She also took me to a store called Penneys. It kinda reminds me of a Forever 21 at home. They have a ton of stuff and its reasonably priced! She also took me to a store called Brown Thomas because she had to get some new makeup. This store kinda reminded me a Macy's. We walked in and when Mare was trying out different make ups, I wandered to take a look around. I was trying out all the products, and smelling the perfumes. By this point Mare had made her purchase and as a reward for buying the product she got her eyebrows threaded for free! Mare sat down in the chair to get it done. I walked over to the booth and started trying out all the lotions around it. She was deep into conversation with the sales associate when I suddenly broke into laughter and got both of their attention. I noticed I had just tried a brand of lotion entitled: "Fat Girl Scrub" (Fat Girl Scrub) I could not contain myself! Who on earth would buy a product with that name!! After I had their attention, the sales woman started a conversation with me. She asked me where I was from, and made some more small talk. After she finished threading mare's eyebrows she asked if I had ever had mine done. I said no, and she told me she would do them for free because she was bored. I sat down and she started to give me a facial. She proceeded to tell me my face was horribly broken out and what I needed to do to clear it up. (basically she insulted me into buying one of her products, I got suckered in. Dad I'm not as clever as you, I wasn't able to get a free blue ray dvd player out of her!) As she was about to thread my eyebrows she came really close to my face to look at them. She was right up close, when she backed up with a shocked look on her face and exclaimed, "are you half Chinese?!?" .... me and mare locked eyes and started dying. I had just explained to her on the bus ride there that I get mistaken for being Asian all the time, and It's
an ongoing joke with my friends at home! I responded with "No, but I see how you could think that..." After the laughter wore off I thought about what she had said. Who asks if someone if they are half of something?? Seemed like such a strange question to me! Like being half Chinese didn't count under the Chinese category. She started to thread my eyebrows, and MAN did that hurt. At one point she asked me if I missed home and my family. I said yes and that it has been pretty hard some days here. As I was explaining this she tugged tightly with the rope and ripped a patch of hair out, which made my eyes water. So I brought my hand up to catch the tear. She looked at me and said "Aw, it brings tears to your eyes to talk about??"... no lady, you're just ripping patches of hair out of the fine skin under my eyebrow! It hurts! I was standing, and practically running out of the store the second she told me I was all set.
We got back from our shopping experience, and Mare decided she would cook me dinner! My roommates make fun of me for diet. Which alternates from grilled cheese, the Irish equivalent to ramen, salad, nutella (no, not with bread, straight from the jar!) a turkey sandwich, honey nut cherrios, the occasional frozen pizza and the most biggest staple in my diet here, pasta. Now this might shock some of you, but keep in mind, I alternate the sauce choice for the pasta. (pesto one night, garlic and butter the next, regular red sauce, and sometimes I even throw some garlic in the red sauce.... BAM! move over Emeril!) Mare made me a delicious chicken Marsala dish! It was so good, and definitely a welcomed change to my usual dinner!
If only the rest of the week could have gone as well! Friday we had to register for classes here so I had to get in contact with people from Bridgewater. This was a real struggle, and there was a great lack in communication, not on my part. It became this huge overwhelming frustration of a thing. I couldn't get in touch with anyone from Bridgewater, and they wouldn't register me here until I did! Also I came down with the equivalent of the black plague in this process. My throat was so sore, my nose was clogged, I was having terrible constant headaches and my entire body ached. I got to the point where I was so stressed I figured I would head to the international department here and tell them my situation. They were so helpful when I told them what was happening at home, and they even booked me a Dr.'s appointment! I was so relieved someone was actually helping me that I began to cry in their office haha. Apparently I left an impression because one of the women Sinead, still emails me to ask me how I am doing. I want to email her back explaining that I'm really not that emotionally unstable, I was just having a tough week! I went to the Dr's the following day and they gave me some antibiotics for a sinus infection. Mal came with me to pick up the prescription. The pharmacist asked me if I had an allergies to medication. I responded with, "Yes, Penacillin." Her face had a look of concern on it and she proceeded to tell me that the antibiotic she was giving me was a relative of penacillin. She said I had pretty good odds of having an allergic reaction. Great I thought, instead of feeling better I'm going to die. Mal said she would stay with me for the night, just incase I died. Those Canadians sure do have a way with words... The good news is I'm on my 7th pill, and still no allergic reaction! (knock on wood.)
Right when I thought things were getting back on track, we decided to plan a day trip for this past weekend! A lot of the girls had their immigration appointments Friday evening so we couldn't plan a whole weekend trip. Mallory and I met to plan a short day trip to Cashel. We wanted to go see the Rock of Cashel. We soon found out this short little day trip was a lot harder to plan than we had imagined. For starters, we couldn't find a bus stop anywhere near Cashel. We didn't originally think not having a car here would be a big deal until we started planning these little side trips. Mal finally found a bus that would take us there and we were ecstatic. We realized seconds later that the trip would take 6 hours,took us to Dublin first, and then down to Cashel. I could not wrap my mind around this. We have to travel 5 hours north to go 20 minutes east?? Their had to be a flaw in our logic! I was so frustrated and slap happy at this point, that I began to laugh so hard I actually started crying again. (twice in two days, butter me up I'm on a roll.) We decided to give up planning a trip to Cashel, and picked a new trip to Adare.
We had just begun planning that trip when I got a phone call from Danielle from home via Skype. She asked me if I had heard the news, and then told me two of my friends from home had been in a bad car accident. The news hit me pretty hard. It's hard to be so far away when something like this happens. (wishing and hoping for the best, Cal! Stay Strong<3) My friends at home have been doing a really good job of keeping me updated! Mal and Lauren have also been so good to me. They've been an amazing support system to have here, regardless of the situation. That night they invited me over to watch movies, and I ended up sleeping at Mal's.
The next day we decided our day trip would be a trip into the city instead of planning to go elsewhere. I took them to all the shops that Mare brought me too! Although shopping in the city on the weekend is quite the experience! It's totally packed! I did find a cute store called paper dolls! (Sarah I thought of you, I'll have to take a picture next time I go in!) We shopped around a little, and then met up with one of Lauren's friends for lunch. It was a really fun and relaxing day. After shopping I headed back to my dorm and basically crashed instantly. I was so exhausted, and emotionally drained!
The next afternoon when I woke up, Mare knocked on my door. She came in and asked me what was wrong because she said I looked upset! I told her the week I had been having, and that I was just really stressed out. She told me she was going to the grocery store and asked if I needed anything. I declined. She came back about an hour or so later and burst into my door. She said, in the most excited voice,"Kel, how does FAJITAS sound?!" I told her she didn't have to make me dinner again, but she insisted. She also exclaimed as she walked downstairs to start cooking, "and I bought you an American brand of Ice cream to cheer you up for dessert, Ben & Jerry's Phish Food!" I started laughing, decided to stop moping and get out of bed. She made some of the best fajitas I've ever had, and then we watched the Kerry vs Cork Gaelic football game. Kerry won! That's not who Mare was rooting for, so she too ate away her sorrows with some American ice cream! I'm so lucky to have her as a roommate! She has been so sweet, and has really gone out of her way to make me feel comfortable here.
Sunday night I hung out with Lauren and Mal in Lauren's apartment. We had some drinks with her roommates, and cooked up some grilled cheeses! We made her Irish roommate try a bite because he had never had one. He took the smallest little nibble of it and then tried to spit it out with the most disgusted look on his face. He started to flip out because the cheese was so melty it got stuck to the roof of his mouth and he couldn't get it out. It was quite the sight to see, and It made for a good laugh!
Also please don't hold it against me if I come home saying the words: "That's dear" "That's grand" "That's brilliant" "That's class"(all meaning it's good. and phrases I think the Irish say 9 billion times a day.).. or "What's the craic?" (meaning whats up..) "pissed" (means someone's drunk) "pissed off his head" ( someones REALLY drunk) or Mallory's Canadian:"eh?" "Pardon?" and "smokin-okin"
Today starts a new week, and hopefully a better one! We're headed back to Galway this weekend to Celebrate Erin's birthday. We took so many tours the last time we were there that we didn't really get to spend that much time in Galway! It should be a good time and I'm looking forward to it!

Galway Girls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lcnvd8BNFE (if you're really feeling into it)

So first off I should start by saying we could not have asked for better weather this weekend. Sunny as anything, without one cloud in the sky! On our tour bus the bus driver said they had only had four days, prior to this weekend, this summer that had been as nice! All of Lauren's hard planning paid off, because I honestly could not have had a better time.
We started this weekend by picking up a bus to Galway from one of the campus' parking lots. I had scribbled down some walking directions to our hostel before we had left. (good last minute thinking.) It was about a two hour ride to Galway. We were thrilled we were actually going some where and the planning was actually happening now! We had full confidence on the bus, we were going to Galway! We did it! We got off the bus and were dropped off right in front of Eyre Square. There we were 7 Americans (yeah, Mal's not from Canada anymore, we told her she should be from Maine. No one really knows the difference anyways.) standing clueless on the sidewalk with a crumpled piece of paper with abbreviations and arrows scribbled across it. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore Todo. Just before I was about to crawl in the fetal position and rock back and forth, I decided to breathe and take a look at my crumbled, now sweaty directions. "Look for Dunnes Store and Dunnes Liquor" I read aloud. Lauren pointed to a store across the way and away we went. The panicky feeling began to fade as the directions started to make more sense. After taking only one wrong turn, we finally arrived at Woodquay Hostel. Not bad for first timers...

I have never been to a hostel before so I was a little nervous what to expect. We walked in and we were greeted by the owner. He reeked of booze, and was a little odd. He was a little high strung. He tried to crack a few jokes, but they were basically "stupid American" jokes. Naturally, we didn't find them amusing, but laughed away at them either out of sheer nervousness or awkwardness. He showed us upstairs to our room, and then told us to come down before we went out and he would show us how to unlock the door. Our room wasn't bad at all. There was 4 bunk beds spread throughout the room, and a bathroom with a shower. Of course none of us used the shower. We thought we would "rough it" this weekend. Now realize that 7 girls' term of "roughing it" should be used very loosely, and I'm more than certain that if we had known ahead of time we could shower we would've packed the towels and hair dryers too.

(us in the TV room of the hostel)

After getting situated, we went down to learn how to lock the door and then to try to go out for dinner. The drunken hostel owner said he'd show Mal, the Canadian, how to lock the door. He said 3 numbers and told her to enter them from the right. Mal did it and the door didn't open. He then proceeded to crack jokes about Mal not knowing her left from her right. He then said tried to show her left from right, and said something along the lines of hoping they don't ask her that question at immigration so she can stay in the country. Guess we lucked out, two for the price of one: a hostel and a comedy club! Mal eventually got the door to unlock, and we were on our merry way.
We walked up and down the streets looking for a cheap place to grab some food. We eventually settled on a pub called Paddy's. Our waitress was so nice. She was from Greece, and that night was her first night of work. She spoke broken English and apologized to us for it. She told us she was really nervous and to bare with her. Being in a new place, and not understanding things... yeah, none of us were able to relate...

We all ordered burgers, beers and chips (aka fries). We were in the mood for some good American food after all the traveling we had done. Although I must say I'm a little frustrated with the lack of mustard on sandwiches or burgers here. Mayo comes on everything, but you have to ask for mustard or put it on yourself. I'm contemplating bringing a little bottle with me now. After using all the ketchup and mustard packets on the table we saw a condiment called "brown sauce" and decided to pass it around for a taste. Not something I think I'll try again. After reading the ingredients and seeing dates listed first we all understood why it was so gross.

After the waitress took our order I realized she didn't ask us how we wanted our burgers cooked and got nervous I was going to get undercooked meat. Our burgers finally arrived, and I realized after my first crisp bite, that was an impossibility. Christy interrupted our chowing down time with "guys there's foil on my burger." She peeled it off and continued to eat. At that point we were all way too hungry to care about crisp or foiled burgers.

After we were done stuffing our faces, we sat for awhile, talked, and finished our beers. Our discussion was interrupted when 3 children walked into the room. 2 boys probably around 7 or 8 and 1 girl around the same age. They were all excited and were blowing up balloons. One of the boys balloon accidentally flew out of his mouth and shot at the end of our table by Christy. We laughed and gave it back. The other boy looked over and said "ARE YOU AMERICANS?!" ... were we that obvious?! The little girl looked up at me and said "we're Irish" trying to be polite I answered her with "oh really?" what else was I supposed to say to that. In the mean time the boys had been scheming. One of them came right up to our table and drew direct attention to himself as he blew up his balloon and proceeded to let it go... in our faces. Kim and Erin jumped and screamed. The rest of us i think we're just in shock of what was going on. The balloon zoomed around us and landed in my lap. The boys at this point were loudly laughing and talking about their prank. I handed the balloon back to them, (yeah good idea kel, give the ammo back) laughing. As the boys ran out of the room still giggling and yelling, I couldn't help but think we had just been mocked by a group of Irish 8- year -olds.

After dinner we decided to head back and get some sleep because we had a long day the following morning! 7 am came early, and we got out the door as quick as we could. We grabbed breakfast at this bagel place and ate it on the square. We walked back to the hostel and got picked up by the tour company for our day! The countryside on the ride there was amazing. Little did I know what laid ahead that day! Our tour stopped at several places before the cliffs. At Poulnabrone Dolmen Christy got her foot wedged in between some rocks and almost took a digger. After some wiggling, she was freed and we continued on our way. Everything was so interesting, but I couldn't help but feel anxious to finally see the cliffs! They were the last stop on our tour. We had been traveling around all day and we were all pretty tired. Despite these factors I think we all did a full out sprint to the top of the hill to see them. Now I know people use that expression "breath takingly beautiful". This was the first time I have ever experienced anything like that. I literally stared in complete awe at them. I could've stared all day long. We traveled up and down them taking pictures from all different angles and with all different poses. We got to the end that said "Do not go beyond this point" with several warning signs with people tumbling off cliffs. Mal and I decided our lives were pretty important. We chose to stay behind and take pictures of the girls in our group who decided to go on the un-railed side of the cliffs. Fortunately, none of them decided to take the plunge, and we all headed safely back to the bus.

( @ Poulnabrone Dolmen)
(christy with her foot lodged between the rocks)

Once back in Galway we decided we would grab a quick and cheap dinner before our night tour. I had brought some coupons they handed out the first day here for Domino's and Subway. We grabbed a pizza and subs and ate them again at the square. While we were waiting for our pizza to be ready we grabbed some Irish candy, which was absolutely delicious. There was also a car show that night on the square so we were entertained while we ate. (not that any of us knew much about cars but we like the variety of colors!)

After we ate we had some time to walk around. We headed down one of the main streets with all the pubs on it. We wanted to get a preview of what it was all about since we are planning a return trip for Erin's Birthday! On our walk back up the streets and to our Hostel, this old, drunken, homeless man came up to me. There was a group of boys behind us who started to yell at him and tell him to leave us alone. He grabbed my arm and told me to come with him. Normally, I would've been a little frightened in this situation. I was so exhausted and slap happy at this point that I just stuck my hand out, shook him off me and said "Naaaaahhh... thanks". We realized minutes later how ridiculous of response that was to something like that and broke out laughing. It's not like he was handing me a brochure, he was trying to steal me. Lauren-"Nahhhh, walking down that dark alley with you, a homeless drunk man, isn't so much for me. Thank you for that option though."

I think we laughed the entire way back to the Hostel, where we then got ready for our night tour. Decklin was the tour guide Lauren had been emailing back and forth to set up arrangements. We had several ongoing jokes that they were dating due to the amount of times Lauren ended up emailing him about questions. Once after she apologized to him for sending so much mail he sent back a wink face and said it wasn't a problem. We were all in our hostel room chatting away and had lost track of time when we heard a knock on the door and a man's voice say "Is Lauren there?". Imagine our excitement to learn this strange man was Decklin himself and he would be driving us to our tour bus. Now in our jokes, Decklin had been some old, bald, awkward Irish man. He wasn't really any of those. He was older, probably in his 40s, and he was a riot. He said something about Lauren being his special friend, and Erin jokingly responded with "why does she get to be your special friend?" He turned around and gave her a big hug and continued making jokes about their "special" friendship for most of the ride over. He turned on music and told us all to start dancing, and then he started to turn the bus lights on and off to create a strobe light. He drove like a mad man, and openly admitted to almost smashing into a woman in a cross walk on the way. We were pretty pumped up by the time we had gotten to the other bus. This was a good thing because the night tour was on the history of Galway, and I probably would've been to tired to really listen had it not been for Decklin. The night tour was really cool. It took us by cemeteries, told us about certain executioners, the story of the Lynches, and even a true scandal story about a University in Galway. We kicked the wall at black rock for good luck, and drove by some of the main streets and got a feel for the night life.

(kicking the wall @ black rock)

Now after a day like that, you think we'd crash as soon as we got back to the hostel. Instead we got to talking, and realized Mallory knew quite a bit about the U.S. Quite honestly, none of us knew more than 3 things about Canada. Which we made a list about for Mallory entitled, Things we know about Canada. "one: "OH CANADA..." two: you like hockey... three: there's a red maple leaf on your flag." You'll be happy to know that after a good hour of grilling Mal with questions, our list is now far into the teens. ("what is it like topographically", "now, how big is Canada is cubic meters", "if I was to go into a restaurant, what would they place in front of me") Mal also informed us extremely nonchalantly that she owned a farm and had 3,000 pigs. Lauren responded with "Mallory... You have 3,000 pigs, and this is something you're just telling us now. I feel like that should've been that statement directly after "Hi my name is Mallory.""

The next morning we pulled ourselves out of bed to grab tickets for the bus and ferry to the Arann Islands. We were disappointed and shocked that our delicious bagel place was closed, and wouldn't open until noon time! We grabbed a muffin and coffee at a Spar down the road, and headed to catch the bus for the Ferry. It was an hour bus ride there, an hour ferry ride over, but it was very well worth it. We decided to go to Inishmore, the biggest and more touristy island. Now we didn't quite catch the concept of what to do on the island before we got there. I pretty much just assumed we would walk around and maybe shop a little. So we get off the ferry and see shops lined up. Before the shops there was bus tours, 2 bike rental shops, horse drawn carriages waiting. We didn't really pay much attention and just headed into the tourist information desk. While there we realized to get to the top of the island to see the sites, it would be an hour and a half walk, or you could take a tour or ride a bike. We all were pretty toured out, and Helen couldn't ride a bike, so walk it was. It was a beautiful day, and we liked the idea of taking our time. Until about 20 minutes into it when we realized we couldn't take our time because we would miss the ferry home and wouldn't have time for lunch. People were whizzing by us on bikes, and bus tours. I kinda started to lose faith in our decision to walk but continued anyways. About halfway up the island we found a path off the main road and decided to walk up it, the view was already incredible. We noticed a tower in the distance and looked on the map to locate it. This was the highest point of the island and we started debating whether or not to keep trucking along to see it. We had all our stuff from the hostel and purchases from days before with us and we had already been walking for a fair amount of time in the sun. As tired as I was I knew that would be an amazing opportunity. Lauren, Mal, Helen, and I decided to keep going! It was so weird because eventually it just went from being touristy to people's homes. I couldn't imagine living with that view in my backyard everyday. It was incredible. We finally made it to just outside the tower. The only thing that stood in our way was one of the largest and steepest hills I have ever seen in my life. At one point while climbing up it, our bodies were parallel to the ground. Every muscle in my body was burning, and I was actually panting. At one point Lauren cracked a joke, and I told her to stop because laughing exerted too much of my energy. We finally made it to where it leveled out. I could see the entire island! We took some pictures, and a seat. Then we looked up at the tower and decided we had made it this far we might as well... one small problem Lauren and I are a little afraid of heights. We went inside and climbed and old rusty spiral staircase. I'm not sure what I was expected to be at the top of it, but that was definitely not it. I came out from the entrance at the top and there was literally enough room for my one body even pressed tight against the concrete wall behind me, and then an old rusty railing holding you in, about 200+ feet in the air. I felt a little panicky, but the view is something I have never seen before in my life. You could see the mainland from that high up. I was so happy I had climbed to the top of that. That experience is one I know I will never forget, and definitely one of the best I've had.

(view from the highest point of the island!)

As the adrenalin finally wore off we headed back down the hill and down the island. On the way we stopped at Joe Watty's. A pub that was recommended in one of my travel books. I ordered a chicken ciabatta sandwich with pesto and vegetables in it! It was so good. I washed it down with my first of many Smithwicks! (Dame, best beer I have ever had...) After lunch we headed back to shops where I bought some gifts and souvenirs. We went to the beach for a few and waited for our ferry. The water looked so tempting that we had to go stick our feet in! It actually wasn't too cold, and at that point it was refreshing. Our ferry came and we headed back an hour, then an hour bus ride, followed by a 2 hour bus ride back to Limerick, and then a 10 minute taxi ride back to our apartments. Talk about exhausted! I crashed almost instantly and woke up at 1 in the afternoon today. Even as tired as I was, it was still one of the best weekends I have ever had. I had so much fun, and I felt a lot more independent. (Thanks Lauren for all your arrangement making!) We're meeting in the next couple of days to decide we're we are off to this weekend! I'm sure it will get easier as we go! As for now I'm off to bed, class at 9 am tomorrow!

I uploaded all my pictures to my webshots account: http://community.webshots.com/user/semesterinireland?vhost=community

I'm really not good at titles...

I am absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure if I can keep up with the Irish students drinking schedule. I asked my roommate what the big drinking days are. She answered, "Well Sunday, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are pretty big. And then Some people go out on Mondays and Wednesdays... and the kids who stay the weekend will go out on Fridays." I don't think she realized she had listed everyday...

(some of the girls: Mal, Lauren & Christy!)

Sunday night we went out to a club called the Trinity Rooms. (sas, I used a hyperlink... be proud!) It was really nice. Most of us wore a pair of jeans and a nice top. I felt like I had dressed very casual and conservative compared to the Irish girls. Most of them were dressed in short dresses with high heels, or leggings with a really fancy top. How they go out in just that blows my mind because it's way too cold!! All their hair was straightened, they even have hair straighteners in the bathrooms that you can pay a certain amount to use for a few minutes! (something I think we should get in the states haha) Another thing I notice is that the girls seemed to be wearing a lot more make up then us. So overall we kinda stuck out like plain jane thumbs. We had fun nonetheless and even got to flirt with a few good looking Irish guys :)

(Lauren and I busting some moves...)

The dancing here was alot different then at home. I usually hate going because I just feel sleezy. The guys dance here, but they dance in big groups with their friends. It kind of reminded me of a middle school dance with the seperation. And when one of them did break into our all girl circle, it was more to get a laugh out of us than anything else. It was just really fun.

Outside of the dance floor, not all the Irish guys were as well mannered. We've all noticed in our short week of being here that Irish guys are VERY forward.I was discussing this with my male Irish roommate, Conlin, and he asked what the difference between an American and an Irish guy was. I said they don't approach us like an Irish guy would, they don't get that close to your face, or touch you right away. He repsonded with "thats because they're scared of rejection, we're usually drunk.. so there's not really any fear." He makes a good point. We also discussed P.S I Love you today over lunch. He said that movie was "Rubbish" and "False advertising"... Thanks Conlin, You just killed millions of American girls hopes and dreams. Couldn't even play it up a little...

Monday night I had some of my American/ 1 Canadian friends come over for a pasta dinner! We all sat around the kitchen table, shared a meal, stories from home, and a lot of laughs! It gave a very homey feel, and I think it's something were going to continue once a week while we are here. We've all seemed to click really fast, and I definetly feel like I've known them for way longer than a week. I guess in this environment bonding happens a little faster!

Tuesday we ended up going out again. We hung out at Lauren's apartment before we went out and drank with her Irish roommmates. One of them could honestly drink like a fish, and still fully function. I have never seen anything like it. He tosses back bottle after bottle like its juice! We discussed Boston and New York (even a little bit of ABOOT Canadian eh MAL?) accents with them."pahk the cah in havahd yahd." & "coowwwfeee" It was hysterical to hear them attempt to say this in their Irish accents! They were heartbroken to find out that neither one of us is actually from our cities and that no one really talks like that around us! Going out was really fun except for the whole I didn't bring any I.D on my other than my student. Not very smart when you're in a foreign country! (you live you learn!) I couldn't get into the first pub we tried, Molly's, with just my student ID and the other club we tried after that was packed. We ended up back at Trinity. It's not a bad place, but I would've like to go somewhere else! Next time!

Classes started this week. I am only taking 4 while I'm here. They do this really interesting thing for exchange and study abroad kids where they let you "window shop". We are allowed to go to whatever modules (aka classes) we want for the first 2 weeks. Basically just to try them out and see what works best for you. Then at the end of the two weeks we register. I was going to take Gaelic, but the course load is pretty extreme. *Dad if you're reading this disregard the following sentence.* Even though its something that would be really cool to learn, I don't want to have my head in the books the entire time I'm here. I've chosen a lot of European history courses to take instead. We mainly focused on U.S history in school so it's something I should definitely know more about. Lauren and Mal are in about every one of my classes. We are absolutely convinced that on of our teachers is Stewie from Family Guy. We even started quoting Stewie on notes back and fourth, which caused that awkard try-to-stop-laughing-because-its-dead-silent- moment. The picture below is one of our classroom buildings!

We've also planned our first trip for this weekend! We're headed to Galway! My friend Lauren did some researching online, and emailed back and forth with a tour guide who's actually going to give us a pretty good deal. We're leaving Friday afternoon and spending the night in a hostel. Saturday morning we're doing a day tour of the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, etc etc. Then we'll do a night tour that evening, stay a the hostel again and head for the Arann Islands on Sunday! I'm feeling a little under the weather right now (which is probably due to the weather...) Hopefully it's just a head cold and I'll be fine for our little adventure this weekend! :)

I have friends! wahoo. We're all American (NY & Boston) and one Canadian!(or north AMERICAN as she now likes to describe herself after finding out Irish boys love American girls haha) This picture was taken on international night that our orientation leaders had set up for Friday night. So, they set up this little game called "Fast Friends" the equivalent to speed dating. Those of you who know me know that this is totally not my cup of tea and I would rather stab something sharp into my retina then take part in a game like this... but I'm in Ireland, It's supposed to be a life changing experience. If I'm not going to try new things here what's the point? (right dad?) So I play. They divided us all into "movers" and "sitters". My Canadian friend Mal was a sitter with me. Pretty self explanatory, we sat. People with the "movers" tag moved around in a circle to you. We were given sheets of paper to put people's names and numbers down which I had absolutely no intention of actually doing that. You were supposed to carry a conversation with them for about 5 minutes. (rough...) So the little whistle thing goes off, no one comes to me or Mal's table, this continued for about 10 minutes. We had pretty much given up all hope until our little Irish orientation leader friend says he'll bring us over some nice "Portugal boys" to sit, little did he know if he had sat down across from us we would've taken his name, number, and tux measurements. He brought over two guys, one was from Mexico and the other from New Zealand. The next girl I spoke to was from Spain, and I met a boy from Germany. It was blowing my mind how many people I was able to meet, and from all over the world. To me, international night was the equivalent to going on the it's a small world ride in Disney world, except these people could speak and weren't wooden. Some of them I wish could've been wooden though... like the boys we met from France. They were the last boys to come to our table. He asked me why I hadn't written his name down on my sheet.. I hadn't written any ones. So I made a joke and said "Oh Mal's got it, I'll get it from her later." Apparently, this offended him. He told me I am "late" and in his country they call that something that sounded very very close to you're retarded. Imagine my reaction...Then as if that wasn't enough of an impression. He got up and left and he said to his friend that he could have his seat. His friend looked me up and down and said "No I'm all set." Needless to say, I didn't want to play that game anymore.

I regained my confidence with my first legal drink, a pint of Bulmer's hard cider. Basically, heaven in my mouth. I also tried a sip of Mal's Guinness and to my surprise I liked it! I haven't tried Smithwick's yet Dame, but I did see it in the liquor store today! Had you not told me how to pronounce it I would have definitely been that American girl again... Thanks :) Oh and I also met another Damien today too. I was really excited and told him I knew a Damien at home, he responded with "cool."... well, I thought it was?

Saturday we took our first trip into the city! The international office offered us a free city bus tour. Everyone went on it expecting to see really cool things. Except there aren't any really cool things to see in Limerick... Aside from King John's castle and we saw where Frank McCourt lived. Everything else was statues and things like that. The bus moved too fast to get really good pictures, and the volume was way too low to hear the information about what you were seeing. Or maybe I'm just a really bad tourist/ don't have the attention span to sit on a bus for an hour and hear about the 13 different kinds of churches in downtown Limerick? It was a really good way to see where things were in the city though. The bus tour kinda reminded me of taking a duck tour in Boston, we probably got just as wet. Did I mention it was an open bus tour?

After getting a little wet, We went shopping in the city. I needed to get some stuff for my apartment and some more toiletries, my travel sized items were on the outs. We went to Arthur's Quay which is like a mini mall, and in there we found a store equivalent to our Wal-mart. It's called Tesco's. I finally am able to shampoo my hair, and I can actually dry off with a towel now. It's the little things in life you take for granted, let me tell you. Today Mal, Helen (my friend from Bridgewater) and I went to grocery shop. Food finally :) We took the bus there, then realized we spent 1.60 euro to go about one stop, and we could've walked. It's all trial and error, we'll get used to it soon! Our cards have trouble swiping at the stores for some reason. So we caused a bit of a scene as we were trying to pay and held up the entire line. A manager came over, said "yeah we have a lot of trouble with American cards." Excellent...

We decided to walk back and lug our groceries in an attempt to save money. Thank goodness they have these little signs that tell you "look left" or "look right" before you cross the street. I'm pretty certain without them I would've gotten run over by now.

Tonight I think some of the girls and I are going out to a bar near campus called The Lodge. Yes I'm well aware its a Sunday night, Sunday the day of rest. My Irish roommates (by the way my 5th roommate is a girl! She is really really nice and I'm relieved to at least have one other female in the house) were explaining to me that none of the Irish kids stay here during the weekends, they all go home. Thursday nights are a big drinking night here because it's the night before they leave, and Sunday nights are big because it's when they come back! I ate dinner with some of my roommates tonight they said to go out and have good crack! I paused and said I'm not really that into drugs... She explained "good crack" = a good time. Not drugs. I told her if she came to the states and used that phrase, she probably would end up having a good time... just a highly illegal one. Classes start tomorrow, I'm going to get so lost. Intro to Gaelic, History of Ireland, Irish Folklore... and one still to be decided. Wish me luck!

Well some of the girls are here now & we're off to hopefully have some good crack :)

My first days in Ireland!

Bye bye Uxbridge, hello Ireland!

These past couple days have been completely overwhelming! Tomorrow I have orientation for international students, and I'm looking forward to getting some more friends haha! So far I have only met two of my roommates, both males. (sorry dad!) They both seem very nice but I haven't really had the time to talk much to either one of them. They're both busy with their orientation stuff too!

I'm figuring out it's a lot harder than I had anticpated living in a different country! I can't seem to do anything right! If nothing else, I will be the butt of a lot of jokes for awhile! Starting yesterday morning when I was getting off the bus to my village, I walked "off" which happened to be directly onto the bus driver.He laughed and pointed to the set of doors behind me. Cut me some slack, it was two in the morning our time and in America that side would really be the exit!! When I arrived at my village they handed us all our keys and sent us on our way with little maps. Everyone else seemed to have rooms a lot closer than mine. They had apartment numbers like 9, 12, 15... yeah mine was 39. So after walking a good 5 to 10 minutes with my luggage I finally arrive at my door. I put the key in and.. NOTHING happened. I took the key out and repeat several times. It was about 8 in the morning Ireland time, so my roommates were still sleeping. I noticed some rugby players standing across the way and asked them if they could help me turn my key, silly American. Turns out none of them could get it open either. So I lugged my belongings all the way back to reception. She had to call a maintence guy, Joe. So Joe and I walked back over to apt. 39 together. I carried my luggage, joe walked ahead of me. THANKS JOE. so we get to my door and Joe opens it with his magic key. My arms are burning from carrying everything back and forth, and I see a flight of stairs. I glare at Joe, who then offers to help me carry my things. We walk down the hall and I see a door open with my poor roommate still dead asleep. Obviously the noise we created woke him up, he rolled over and said hello. Then he rolled back over and contined sleeping. Not quite the introduction I had rehearsed in my mirror at home... Joe says he has to change the locks. I figured he'd come back and do it later. Nope! Right then and there he whips out power tools and takes off the locks. My roommate got dressed, looked in the door said hello again, and left. I haven't seen him since. Awesome, I am THAT American girl.
Following the ridiculousness that was moving in, I decided I would get something to eat. I made my way down to the student center. It is amazing! They have a farmer's market and sold fresh vegetables & fruit, fudge, and even fish! I went into the bookstore looking for an alarm clock, and then stumbled into a food place to grab a premade sandwhich. It was gross, but I was so hungry I ate it anyways. It was sunny out when I went into the store, it was down pouring when I left the store.

On my way back I ran into some American kids I recognized from the bus ride over. I joined their group back to the student center. We went to the grocery store on campus. I bought some shampoo, toothpaste, etc etc. I went to pay and couldn't for the life of me understand what the guy ringing me out said for the price. So I just stood there, asking him to repeat himself about 6 times. Then I asked if he could hold on a minute because I didn't think I had enough money on me... Actually I had no clue what he was saying and needed a minute to figure it out. Once I went outside and discussed what had happened with the American kids, we came to the conclusion he was saying "16.85" not 60.85 like I had originally thought. What a relief!

Today was my second day in Limerick, and it went a little smoother than my first. I slept in entirely way too long due to the jet lag. After I woke up I decided to try my luck getting food again. I went to a sandwhich shop in the student center and ordered what I thought was a chicken sandwhich. Turns out it was turkey. She asked me if i wanted mayo or some other word I couldn't understand. Mayo it was! Then she asked me what else I wanted I said lettuce, She grabbed lettuce. I thought I was in the clear until I followed "...and onions". She looked up and said I could put 3 trees on it first. I had not one clue what she was talking about. I stared at her blankly and she just picked some things for me, and then finally added my onions. Whatever she put on it was really good, and I ate the entire thing!

After my lunch fiasco, I decided to walk around campus. It's absoluetly one of the prettiest things I've ever seen! The pictures above were taken on my journey! The first is my room from inside and out, and then the fields that are right outside my village. The bridge in the second to last picture is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It connects to points on campus and goes over the shannon river! At night it is all lit up and it looks so cool! I will try to get a picture of that... once a get some more friends to walk in the dark with haha :) The last building is a picture of our health sciences building you can see from the bridge! The architecture is unbeilevable! One of the craziest buildings I have seen! I came back from my adventure absolutely starved and decided I would make the pasta I bought earlier. So excited to have a familar meal, I ran down to my kitchen. Only to find out, I have no idea how to turn the stove on. Talk about failure. I had a nice piece of laffy taffy (compliments of kel!), and some water for dinner.

Despite the rough couple of days, I am still having a blast! I'm in Ireland, how could I not? The next couple of days will be a lot better. I have orienation, I'll get more settled, and things will start to go a lot smoother. Something to look forward too :)