Mom and Scotty arrived!

Sunday, September 25th: I woke up this morning and thank God my bathroom was not on fire however it did feel like a sauna and luckily all my clothes were dry...YAY! Then I cleaned my room, got ready and waiting for my parents to call me. When they finally got to Galway, they realized they had left one of their bags at the airport so instead of picking me up they went to the hotel to call Delta and I just took a taxi to the hotel. After all that was figured out we went to dinner at The Kings Head (where else) and mom got muscles which were delicious and Scotty and I got fish and chips :) Then we walked around shop street for a little before I showed them my apartment and then they went back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep and get adjusted to the time zone. Tomorrow they are picking me up at 8am because we have to drive to Dublin to get the bags and then we are going to go look at some historical sights :) I am so happy they are here!

Gettin' readyyyy

Saturday, September 24th: Today I woke up, got ready and then needed to clean, buy groceries and do laundry. The first two were fairly easy. I put some things away straightened up, and everything was pretty much cleaned. Then I went to Dunnes; our giant grocery store/target. Now, every time I have been to Dunnes when I buy alcohol I have been carded (even though the legal age here is 18...and I do not look 17!) But that's fine. So when going to check out my friends and I try to avoid the older, miserable looking female cashiers because they tend to always card you and are kind of a pain in the ass. Instead, I found a male cashier who looked in his earlier 20's. I knew he'd probably still card be but he probably wouldn't stare at the ID forever. WOW, was I wrong.... He asked for my ID so I gave him my brand new Ireland ID from immigration; he gave it a very, very confused look so I offered him the copy of my passport. He then checked all the information on the two IDs with each other (I gave him the passport to check my birthday not to compare to see if I had faked the damn immigration ID). Finally, after he studied my IDs he gave them back to me and rung up the rest of my groceries. Then when I went to pay with my credit card he a) didn't know he needed to swipe it and then b) asked for my ID AGAIN! So this time I only gave him the copy of my passport and he studied the credit card information with my passport again! Then when he gave me the receipt to sign he kept my ID and card and then compared all three signatures. Like Jesus Christ dude all I'm trying to do is buy some hard cider, pasta, and milk. Give me a f***ing break!!

Needless to say I got out of there pretty fast! Then I had to do laundry. Which was another big hassle. I had to put my clothes in two different washers because literally I'm not sure I could fit my head in one they are so small...yet I could probably fit in the dryer its so big...stupid. Anyway, and because I didn't want to shrink or hurt my clothes I put it on 30 degrees meaning delicate (that's what I wash my clothes at home in). Well turns out, delicate means they soak your clothes in soapy water for 30 minutes and then just spin them really really really fast to get all the water out. So dumb, and didn't really clean my clothes...just made them smell like soap. So I said, screw this and took all my wet clothes to my room and hand washed anything that needed to be hand washed in my sink and then hung everything up in various places around my bathroom and turned on the bathroom heater. I'm leaving it like that over night...wish me luck that everything is dry!

Well that was basically my day....and now I am getting excited because MOM AND SCOTTY COME TOMORROW!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3

Connacht vs Dragons

They lift those guys really high!

Friday, September 23rd: Today I caught up on some serious sleep and essentially did nothing until about 4pm when I made breakfast/lunch/dinner and then got ready for the "day" before Emily, Elizabeth and I went to the Connacht (our county in Galway) verses the Dragons (some other county) Rugby game! Before we left we map-quested where the Galway Rugby/Greyhound racing stadium was however we ended up taking an extremely long route and didn't necessarily get lost...we just took the longest way possible to get there (like an hour of walking to get there....and then only 20 minutes to get back to the apartment once we figured out where we were).

By the time we got there the game was about a quarter of the way through which was totally fine because the stadium is standing room only so all 80 minutes of the rugby game probably would have been a little much. None of us know how to play rugby so we just decided to cheer when Connacht (aka the people in green) cheer and boo when people started yell about Dragons. Additionally, there was an eagle looking mascot walking around which the Dragon fans were calling a pigeon and the Connacht fans were yelling an unintelligible word that we couldn't figure out. Most of what Irish people say at sporting games is so slurred by all the beer coursing through their veins that you are lucky if you can figure out anything they are screaming besides "F**K". Quite hilarious.

Right before the smack into each other as hard as possible

At one point two guys totally collided and we all hear a really loud bone crushing type sound and one guy was laying on the floor while the paramedics (stretcher and all) game to the field. He ended up being fine but when he stood up one eye was already swollen shut and looked extremely black and blue...which is definitely going to hurt tomorrow. Another thing we realized about rugby is when a player gets hurt; no matter where they are on the field the game continues and everyone just plays around the paramedics and the player on the ground. Luckily no one got tripped over but they don't stop until the player is ok, the game just continues while he lies on the ground getting help... very strange.

 Then half time came during which there were two mini games of rugby with 7-10 year olds and it was really adorable! Then the second half kicked off and finally one fan decided to enunciate what they were trying to say and yelled "Go Griffin!" Which is when we realized the eagle/pigeon was a griffin which made a lot more sense. Close to the end of the game Connacht made a "touchdown" and a "field goal" bring the score from 3 v 10 to 13 v 10. Therefore we won the game and everyone was extremely excited!

GO CONNACHT/GRIFFINS/GREEN TEAM!!!!

On our much shorter walk back to the apartment we decided to stop at McDonalds because we were all craving McFlurries. I got mine with "Smarties" which originally I thought were like sour skittles, only to thankfully find out they were just like mini m&ms. So good!

Tomorrow I have to clean my room and do laundry and study/get my work done for the week because MOM AND SCOTTY ARE COMING ON SUNDAY!!!! I can't wait!!!! <3

Arthur Guinness Day 2011 and Turkish Thursday!!!

Thursday, September 22nd: Today I had class at 9am (Finance) in which one brave student asked the professor if we could change the date of our first test to Tuesday the 4th instead of the 27th. Thank God he said yes!! Now, while my parents are here I have to go to my Finance classes (to learn for the test) and my Marketing class; but now I don't have a test while they are here and this means I only have class on Tuesday and one hour on Thursday while they are here! YAY!

After class Elizabeth and I both had appointments with Irish Immigration to get our Irish Identification cards (because in Ireland you don't need a Visa so instead you register with the country once you get here). We knew they Immigration office was hard to find so we left after our 9-10am class even though our appointments weren't till 12 and 12:10pm (but they also said you could come early). We found the general area but the actual office was almost impossible to find, mainly due to the fact that the two business the University told us the office was in between were both closed down and out of business so they essentially didn't exist. However, once we found it, it was a breeze and they asked us some random questions, looked at all our paperwork, took our picture, and gave us our cards.

Next I had to go to two more classes that were pretty boring and then I went back to the apartment to relax before we were celebrating Arthur Guinness Day.

Not actually my picture, nor was I there. But this was taken in Galway today.

Emily, Elizabeth, Tonya and I all went out in order to celebrate. We began with The King's Head because it has become our go to pub; in my opinion it looks the most Irish and the drinks are cheaper than other bars. We hung out there for a while before venturing to another spot. We tried The Front Door but it was insanely packed so we went to went to a different place that I didn't catch the name of. The streets and all the bars were absolutely insane due to the holiday (even though they only started the holiday 3 years ago). In the end we ended up back at The King's Head to finish out the night before heading to our new Thursday tradition: Turkish Thursdays. Last Thursday we found a fast food type place that is technically Turkish and serves everything from lamb pitas to cheese fries to fried chicken to fish and chips. We have no made it our tradition to go out every Thursday and make sure we ended the night with Turkish Thursday. Overall a great night. Cheers to Arthur!

The week before my birthday week!

Monday, September 19th: Got up, went to class, nothing exciting to report here.

Tuesday, September 20th: Tuesday was a very long day. It's the day where I have both my two hour classes and another class. I started off with Finance for two hours at 9am, in which he told us we would be having a test the following Tuesday (while my parents are here and even though we've only had two classes) but I was just happy it wasn't on Thursday because having a test at 9am after my 21st birthday....bad news! Afterwards, Elizabeth and I hung around campus until I had my class from 3-4pm and then another class from 4-6pm. After that it was just a normal night with nothing really exciting going on.

The Comedy Club: The name means Black Rose in Irish

Wednesday, September 21st: Wednesday was a very lazy day where I basically did nothing but read finance and watch TV...because of this my class from 6-7pm did not seem like a good idea so I skipped haha. Then my apartment and I went to a comedy show. First we ate at a place called Vinny's (which was food that would only be acceptable when drunk because it was a little sketchy...unfortunately we were sober but ate the food anyway). The comedy show was surprisingly good (I didn't know if I would get Irish humor). The first comedian was really funny, the second was pretty funny, the third was hilarious! And then, the main performer came on and he was awful.... one of those comics that just screams and yells really loud and then all of his jokes were completely pointless with no punchline and we went for awkward (I'll laugh because this is so not funny) type of stuff. Just bad. But the other three performers made up for it so that was good (and tickets were only 5 euros so not bad at all). Wednesday marks the start of my last week of being 20. CRAZY!!!

The King's Head and Trad on the Prom

The King's Head

Sunday, September 18th: Today, the girls and I decided to go to The King's Head to watch a rugby match. However, when we got there we realized that they were actually showing football (soccer) not rugby. Since we we didn't have our hearts set on any specific game we decided to stay. I ordered the fish and chips again (the King's Head's fish and chips are the best I've had so far) and as we watched the game the pub got pretty rowdy. When Irish people have a game they are excited about they start drinking long before the game so by the time the game even starts most of them are blackout. Because of their drunken state whenever something happens in the game the pub erupted with "f*** you" "f*** that" "f***ing sh*t" and to my slight disbelief, "f***ing c*nts". It was both hilarious and sort of alarming but when in Ireland... As the game wrapped up and we finished our meals we were getting up to go when a table of all Irish people started talking to us. They realized we were from America and then things like Jay-Z and Beyonce, New York, Billie Jean, etc... started being thrown around. The best part I've found out is when they ask us where we are all from (Emily = New York...well Long Island but ya, and Elizabeth = Pittsburgh) and I go on to say Utah, most of the Irish just stare at me. Not sure if I made it up or if that is a real place. Then I usually follow with "Its where the 2002 Olympics were" and usually they just nod their heads and pretend to know what I'm talking about it. Over all it's pretty funny. So after we talked to the Irish for a little while we decided to go get coffee before Emily and I met the rest of our apartment for a performance.

You know you're a DeeGee when...

On the beach at night

We got to the performance a little early so we ended up walking along the beach which was beautiful at night!The performance we decided to go to was a traditional Irish music and dance performance. It was actually really, really cool. They have 5 people playing everything from Celtic drums to guitar and bass to keyboards to fiddle to the Irish version of the bagpipes called the elbow something. Anyway, the music was awesome and all of the people had tour internationally and were extremely talented. They also had an extremely good female singer and dancers. There were 6 dancers. 3 girls that did soft and hard clogging that was amazing! One girl who was a national champion or something who did some serious tap; and two boys. One boy (well man) was the guy who took over for the original Lord of the Dance when that guy retired, he was so so so good! And the other guy was probably in his 20s and was the current 5 time national clogging champion (or something like that), he had the highest high kick I had ever seen! It was amazing!! And then best part about the whole thing was that the place where the performance took place only held about a hundred people so we were in the 2nd or 3rd row and could see everything! It was great!!

The Market (for real this time)

The King's Head Artwork

Saturday, September 17th: Today we woke up and decided to go to the market. The market here happens every Saturday and Sunday as long as the weather isn't too bad. When we got there is was much, much more packed than the week before where there were only three booths. This time there were at least 20 maybe more. As we started walking through the tents, there was jewelry, hats, delicious food, random crafts, etc... I hadn't eaten yet so I decided to first find some food before I got caught up in things I might like to buy. There were a lot of pastries, a crepe stand with an extremely long line, and a lot of bread and cheese vendors. However, I settled on a freshly baked asiago cheese bagel. It was sooooo good! Then we continued to shop around. Elizabeth bought a ton of fresh veggies and Emily bought some anchovies and cheese. Then, we found a man who was selling framed prints of different Galway artwork. I found one of my first pub in Galway and the same pub we go to for lunches, dinners, and almost any time we go out called the King's Head. Also, my uncle Mac's 70th birthday is coming up and I won't be able to be there for it but I found an awesome gift that my parents will be able to take to him. I won't describe it on here in case he reads this but it has to do with wine so....Mac has to love it!

Later, after the market we had a bit of a lazy Saturday before Elizabeth and I decided to go to a movie. The movie was called Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. She had heard about it before and it was only being released in the UK so we decided to go. This movie ended up being the most confusing two hours of my life. First, it was about the Cold War; something I know nothing about. Second, all the actors were old men, except two younger guys which looked exactly the same; so I could not figure out who was who and I couldn't keep track of what was going on. Third, there was a lot of dialog which was a major part of the story and between the fact that I was eating popcorn and that I was tired and that they had accents....I missed a lot. Haha, regardless it was entertaining but afterwards Elizabeth and I tried to figure out what the hell was going on as we walked back to the apartment.

The beach??

Coffee!

Chips!

Friday, September 16th: Today we decided to get up and go out to the beach which is about a 20 minute taxi ride away. However, we got a late start and as we were walking to the city center to get a taxi it started to pour rain!!! Like an unusually large amount of rain so instead we decided to get a late lunch/dinner, however when we got to shop street the rain started to let up a little so we went into a few shops and jewelry stores before going to eat. We decided to go to a pub that we had walked past a lot called the Front Door. We all got coffee and Emily and I shared a bowl of chips (fries) and each got the seafood chowder with brown bread and Elizabeth got the Sheppard's Pie. It was all delicious! I am definitely going to miss being able to eat seafood as often as I do here! I really, really like it!

Time flies when you're in Ireland

Wow I haven't written in about a week! Ok let's see...

Emily, Elizabeth, and me: Picture #1

Tuesday, September 13th: I wrote last Wednesday about how one of my marketing classes was way more intense than I thought it was going to be so I dropped it. Well today I went to my first Financial Management class. It is technically I post graduate class but my friend Elizabeth is in it and I was able to get it approved from Richmond. It doesn't seem nearly as bad as I assumed a post grad class would be and basically all the professor did was read this packet of notes that he handed out so I think that class will be just fine. Then I had to wait around for 3 hours before my next class. During that time I watched Hamlet (with Mel Gibson) online because that's what we are reading in my Shakespeare class. Then I went to my Shakespeare class and then I went to my two hour Marketing class. My marketing professor is very big into group activities so I paired with my Irish friend Kiera (who I sit next to in that class but don't know her outside of class) and then we also paired with an Irish boy named Keven. While doing the group work we were talking about brands. For example, we had to think of a category and name the first brand that came to mind. We chose athletic clothing so I said Under Armour and they said Adidas and Nike. Kiera didn't know Under Armour. Then we had to name the top brands in Ireland...I could think of Guinness and some cell phone companies but that was about it, while they thought of milk, bread and soda brands. I am also getting used to the words they use to describe things; like crisps = chips and chips = fries and biscuit = cookie. Its really funny. After class I basically did nothing except stay up later than I wanted to for no reason at all.

Wednesday, September 14th: I was starting to feel sick on Tuesday, just a stuffy nose and potentially a sore throat so I thought it best to rest and watch movies since I didn't have class until 6pm. Then I got up, got ready and went to the most boring class ever which is my Psychology class because the professor literally just reads what she has written on the PowerPoint and doesn't elaborate or anything. It will get more interesting later when we learn about Schizophrenia but currently we are learning about cells and axons and action potential and things I really just don't care about. After class I tried to go to bed early but of course I stay up doing nothing haha.

Thursday, September 15th: Today I had class at 9am (Financial Management I) So Elizabeth and I got up and went to class only to find out that the room the class was supposed to be held in had a class already in it so as an administrator (not our professor because he is brand new to the school) ran around trying to find us a new venue, the class just

Picture #2

sat around doing nothing for about 5 minutes before our teacher told us to just leave and that he'd try to figure out something for next Thursday. This is now the second time (out of the two times the class has been taught on a Thursday) that I have woke up at 9am only to have the class be cancelled. So, Elizabeth, her friend from college and I went to the library (because neither of them brought their computers) and then later we went and got lunch before our classes at 2pm and 3pm. I then went to my Psychology class again but this time I brought my computer so I typed the Power Point notes (event though it will all be on blackboard) just to give myself something to do. And then I went to my Saints and Sinners history class where the professor literally just talks about nothing and I have no idea where she is going with any of it. Hopefully I'll figure it out eventually. However, I have decided to start recording my classes on my iPhone's voice recorder. I have been recording my Shakespeare classes because I'm afraid I'm going to miss good information ,and my Psychology class because it's so boring I zone out really easily and am probably missing things, and my Saints and Sinners class because I have no idea where she is going with anything and she bounces from topic to topic so often that I can barely keep up so hopefully having the classes recorded will come in handy later. After class (since I don't have class on Fridays) Elizabeth, Emily and I decided to go out to a bar. We left around 11 and went to a bar called The Kings Head. They had local live Irish music and it was really fun just to hang out.

Picture #3

 I also found a drink I like that is not hard alcohol (which is all I drink at Richmond) and is not wine (which is all I've been drinking here); I like a hard cider called Bulmers (which unfortunately I don't think they distribute to the U.S.). They also make a Berry Bulmers which is really good and very sweet which I like. Later, after the Kings Head and before we went back to the apartment we stopped to get food. Everyone in Ireland likes to go to a place called SuperMacs after the clubs and pubs (kind of how in America everyone goes to Taco Bell...except me, gross.) But we definitely did not want to go there so instead we went to a Turkish fast food place that literally had everything. Emily got a lamb pita thing and I got fried chicken hahaha it was delicious! 

Just another day...

Monday, September 12th: I don't have class until 3pm on Mondays so most Mondays consist of waking up late in the day and going class. First I had my Saints and Sinners history class in which the professor tends to ramble the entire class with little to no rhyme or reason as to what she is talking about. The only grade in that class is a final essay at the end so I have next to no idea what we are supposed to be learning. Then I went to my Shakespeare class, which is really a very interesting class but it is hard to keep up with that the professor is saying while taking notes. Then I had the brilliant idea of breaking out the iPhone and seeing if the recorded on it works which it does! Now I don't feel as stressed if I feel like I missed something. After class I went back to the apartment and read for homework and cooked dinner and did mindless procrastination techniques so I didn't have to read Hamlet. Over all very unproductive and basically just another day. :)

Market, Freshies Fest and Friends with Benefits

Yummy!

Sunday, September 11th: Today I woke up and it was pouring rain. So even though Elizabeth, Emily and I planned on going to the market around 1 we waited out the rain until about 2 when it had all but stopped. At 2 the three of us walked into town to go to the market that happens every Saturday and Sunday. Once there, we realized that due to the weather only the brave vendors were there aka all three of them. So, we looked at some jewelry one woman was selling and we bought some pastries a man was selling. I bought this delicious apple strudel (yay sweets for lunch!), Elizabeth bought amazing looking cheese cake, and Emily bought rhubarb pie. Then we decided to head to campus because they were having a freshman festival and although we aren't freshman there was supposed to be a lot of free stuff and games. Once we got there is was a little over whelming and they had a stick contest where you ran around campus doing activities (putting your hand print on a mural or learning to juggle or the best one ....testing your alcohol level and the bar). Anyway, we decided to bag the sticker idea and just do whatever we wanted to do. So we put our hand prints on the mural and then we went to the Starbucks because if you bought a coffee you got a free cookie (who would pass that up?)

Friends With Benefits

and while we were there they had a band playing so we sat and listened to them for a while. They were actually really good with kind of a rocker jason mraz feel. Then it started to pour rain again sooooo we listened to the band a little longer. Finally we left and went to the grocery store and then went back to the apartment. Later, we decided to go see a movie because there is a movie theater 10 minutes walking distance from our apartment. We decided to see Friends with Benefits because even though in America that movie came out on July 22nd, in Ireland it came out September 9th. It was actually a really really cute movie and I liked it a lot! XO

Pat the Leprechaun on the head and politely ask for good weather :)

On the Tour Bus

The Tour Mascots

Saturday, September 10th: Today, we woke early and had the Galway Tour Company pick us up at 9am for the Cliffs of Moher tour. I knew I wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher because everyone told me it was a must while I was in Galway, but then I started reading the brochure and I found out that the Cliffs of Moher are also the Cliffs on Insanity in The Princess Bride, which is my favorite movie of all time! I was so so so excited!!! As the tour began our driver/tour guide introduced himself as Desmond and gave us all his phone number in case we got lost or needed a recommendation for a great pub or needed a guide for the next time we were in Galway. Desmond was about 75 years old and turned out to be the cutest and funniest old man ever!

The Amazing Lunch Place

So, the tour started and as we drove Desmond told us more about the surrounding area and what we were driving past than I thought would be possible. He told us history, stories, myths, jokes...it was great! Our first stop on the tour was a really, really monastery/cemetery. It was beautiful with this big giant church and all these old, old graves. Then we traveled on to what used to be an Irish military fort. Now all it is is a little fence you have to walk through and then this really pretty meadow(y) area with trees and clovers and Desmond told us that's were fairies and leprechauns now live and if you didn't believe in them then they would come and play tricks on you and climb up your pant legs haha. Anyway, it was really beautiful! Next, we stopped in the limestone covered area where there were really old above ground tombs. The limestone was awesome to look at and made the landscape really interesting and the tombs were awesome!

The Cliffs of Moher

Aka The Cliffs of Insanity!

Then, normally on the tours (Desmond had been doing this tour for 18 1/2 years) they would take us to the Cliffs of Moher and we could get lunch, see the cliffs, go to the visitors center/museum etc... But, Desmond said that once you go to the Cliffs and once you had lunch you had no time to see the Cliffs before the tour had to leave. (Oh and btw even though we were being followed or were at the tail in of at least 4 other tours, Desmond knew when do drive slow or speed up or skip things that he didn't think were worth it or take us to things that would waste a little time but were cool (like the old fort). So that way every stop we got to we were either the first to get there and were just about to leave when the other tours arrived, or we were just arriving when the other tours were leaving. It was awesome). So, normally they would make you eat at the super touristy place at the Cliffs but instead Desmond took us to this cute little town on the way and we stopped at a very Irish pub and had lunch there. Desmond had menus on the coach so we just had to go in, order at the bar, and then they brought us our food within 5 minutes. I had this unbelievable seafood chowder with salmon, cod, muscles and crab. It was SO good!!    
Then we got back on the bus and drove to the cliffs! The cliffs were absolutely amazing!!! They are bigger than I expected and so beautiful! We had great weather the entire day! Blue skies for part of the tour but no rain (expect we were sitting on the bus and it didn't matter)! The Cliffs were not covered in fog which apparently happens a lot. We could see them really clearly! The place was not packed and over crowded. All in all it was perfect and I can't wait to go back!!

The Castle on the other side of the Cliffs 

After the cliffs we started headed back to Galway with a few little stops on the way, one of which was a beautiful old castle with swans in the water below it! So pretty! But mainly I started to fall asleep on the ride back until Desmond decided to play the song Galway Girl over and over until everyone was singing along haha.Once home I made a kick butt grilled cheese sandwich with turkey and it was perfect!

Over all it was an awesome day and one of the best tours I have ever been on! I can't wait to see the Cliffs of Moher again!! xo

My very first cookbook!

Amazing Grilled Cheese with Turkey

Friday, September 9th: Today, I woke up and went into town with Elizabeth. We had a few errands to run and first went to campus (although neither of us have class on Friday) so I could buy a text book from the student union. Unfortunately they had run out of the used book so I have to buy a new one so I decided to wait until Monday when I could just buy it in the bookstore. Then we went past the beautiful cathedral in town and to shop street where we went to a book store. Elizabeth bought a book on Irish culture and I bought a cook book called "Easy Cooking". I have learned (even though I already knew this) that I have no idea how to cook anything and that I really need to learn. The cookbook chapter titles are "fast and fabulous", "5 ingredients or less", "one pot cooking", "fast, fuss free sides and extras" and "no cook"; basically all of these sound easy enough and hopefully soon I will be quite the homemaker! Next Elizabeth and I went to Dunnes (the grocery store) where I bought way to many groceries and seriously struggled with carrying it all back to our apartments. Once back, I put everything away, skyped with my mom and then laid down to watch TV on my computer where I accidentally fell asleep for a little bit. Luckily, I woke up right as Elizabeth was coming over to my apartment so she, Emily and I could go out to dinner.

The River

We walked into town and went to a little restaurant Emily had found. It was a really good little fish place. Afterwords we wandered Galway and went down to Spanish Arch and then back to the main area in search of a coffee and dessert place. Unfortunately, Galway is not the same as other European countries in that they don't really do late dinners or after hours coffee. But we decided that it was probably for the better and walked back to our apartments. Tomorrow we are going on a bus and walking tour to the Cliffs of Moher! We are all really excited and the bus is going to pick us up at 9am. I can't wait!

My first Irish sweater, dropping classes, and waking up early for a cancelled class

Eyre Square

Tuesday, September 6th: On Tuesday I woke up and met my friend Elizabeth and we walked into town to go to lunch. Our plan was to go to a place I read online that had the 8th best fish and chips in the world. However, they didn't open until noon and it was 11:30. So instead we wandered around town and went into cute little shops and went into the original Claddagh ring store. They were the first to create the Claddagh ring and the only ones allowed to produce and sell the original mold. In the back of the store they have a small museum that we looked around in until 12 when we could go to lunch. At lunch the fish was really good but the mushy peas and "chips" were not as good as I had had at other places so I would not rank them as high as the website did. But regardless, it was still a great lunch! Then we went back to one store we had been in before lunch because they had a wool Irish sweater I really wanted. After spending 20 minutes trying on sizes and styles I finally chose my sweater :) I am very happy with my purchase. Afterwords, I had class from 3 to 6pm. First my English Shakespeare class, where the professor lectured the entire time and we just took notes. And then my Marketing, Media and Communications class where we had a quiz on the first day of class which freaked out all the Irish students. Irish students are used to extremely easy classes where they don't actually go to class and instead they just download all the notes and then cram for the final. Overall I really good day!

Wednesday, September 7th: On Wednesday I had a class at 11am till 1pm. I went to the class Marketing Research for the first time and found out that the class was double the credits I thought it was and that it was 4 hours a week with class on Friday (meaning I can't travel), that is was supposed to be for seniors about to graduate, that we would be doing a giant group project with a major research paper and basically that it was going to be a lot more work than I thought. So I sat for two hours stressing about what class I was going to take instead and if the new class would clash with my schedule and how screwed I felt. Then once the class was over I met Elizabeth and we walked into town and I told her my whole dilemma and how without that class I wouldn't be a full time student at Richmond and how I couldn't have class on Friday and she listened and then mentioned that she was taking a Financial Management I class. When she told me the times I knew it would work with my schedule so I felt much less stressed. Then we walked into town and tried to go to the Galway Tour Company to buy tickets for a tour on Saturday to the cliffs of Moher that Elizabeth has to take for school and I want to take because it sounds awesome, but the place was closed until 2pm so instead we went to a little cafe that I had been to before and I got my second new favorite food (a bagel with cream cheese and salmon) and coffee. It was delicious! Then we went to the tour company and bought our tickets. After, I came back to my apartment and emailed about the Financial Management class and skyped my mom, who made me feel much less stressed! Then I had to walk back to campus because I had my Biological Psychology course from 6 to 7pm. The course was in a huge lecture hall and the teacher seems very relaxed and like she cares a lot about her students. At the end of the lecture she asked all the Erasmus students and US students to come and talk to her and she asked us all about our backgrounds in Biology and Psychology. Apparently the first year Irish students have had a 8 week course on Biological Psychology and she wanted us to make sure we had some background in it. I feel completely confident that I can handle the course (background or no background haha)

Thursday, September 8th: Today, I woke up and my friend Elizabeth and I walked to campus to take my new and Richmond approved Financial Management I course at 9am. But when we got there the class had been cancelled for today. So we decided to go to the campus bar and get breakfast and then we went to the bookstore and bought the text books that we knew we needed. The textbooks here are at least $100+ than the US is was really nice! After that we got coffee and then headed to our classes. I had the Psychology class again which was a lecture about cells (what I learned in Honors Biology in 9th grade and again in AP Psychology my junior year of high school). And then I had my Saints and Sinners of the Celtic World class, where the professor rambles about random history and language and stuff and basically has no rhyme or reason or organization to her lectures. Thank God the final is just one essay that I'm sure I can give her multiple rough drafts on. After that I cam back to my apartment and took a freezing shower because apparently I have to turn on the water heater at the end of the hall (I guess I have been lucky that someone else has done it every other time?) Anyway, that's about it. I need to get better at writing every day. It's hard to remember all the random little stuff when I write 3 days at a time (I'll get better at this whole blogging thing). BYE!

First day of Junior year!!! (With class starting at 3pm)

NUI Galway Quad

Monday, September 5th: Today was the first day of classes of my junior year! I slept in till 1pm because I didn't have class till 3pm. I got up, got ready and made my way to campus (a 20minute walk...in the pouring rain). My first class was Saints and Sinners of the Celtic World which counts for a history class at home. The class was really interesting and we learned about how St. Patrick was probably not the first person who brought Christianity to Ireland and it was actually other Saints before him. Then I had an hour before my next class so I found my roommate Emily and we had lunch before finding our other roommate Siel and heading to class. At about 5:10 (the classes here always start about 10 minutes late) the professor came and said that if we were home students (Irish students) we should go to a different lecture hall to learn about how these English classes would fit into their major and whatnot but if we were visiting students we could go home. So my second class of my junior year lasted all of 10 minutes. Then we walked back to our apartment and hung out for a while before I went to my friend Elizabeth's apartment and met her two Irish roommates, Sara and Ashling. They are both really pretty and really nice. They taught us Irish things like how instead of saying hello on the phone they say "well" when they answer and craic means fun and that they say "thats dear" meaning that something is expensive, or "that's dear enough". Then we played kings cup and it was funny to learn that not only to Irish people play kings but that their rules are exactly the same as ours. All in all it was a really fun night!

My first real Irish experience: Watching Hurling in a Pub!

Sunday, September 4th: Woke up and went with my roommate Emily, my next door neighbor Elizabeth and my across the hall neighbor Amber into town for lunch and to watch the hurling game. First, we wandered around the city of Galway for a while and went into a jewelry shop and looked at traditional Celtic jewelry before finding a pub to watch the hurling game. The pub we went to, The Kings Head, was super Irish with stone walls and an awesome atmosphere. We all ordered fish and chips with the mushy peas (our waitress asked if we were brave enough to try the mushy peas and we all said yes!). The fish and chips were amazing and just what I was craving and the mushy peas were surprisingly good! I really liked them! Then the game started on the big screen TV in the pub. Hurling is the major sport in Ireland and the game we watched was a qualifying game for the finals. Hurling, we figured out, is like a cross between field hockey and lacrosse where the goal is to get the ball (basically a baseball) down the field and either into the goal (three points) or through the field goals (like football = 1 point). But you can pick the ball up with your hand and smack it down the field (like baseball/lacrosse...while running) or you can hit it like field hockey. Regardless it is a very high contact sport so much so that the Ref got in the way of a fight between players and got hit in the nose and it broke his nose!

Hurling at The King's Head

Overall the game was really fun to watch but around half time we left the pub and wandered Galway again going to sweater shops and a mall. Then we made it to the grocery store before heading back to the apartments in the rain. Later that night we had a quite night in and watched dirty dancing :)

A giant waste of time turned into a wonderful day in Galway! And then a lazy day of catching up on sleep.

Friday, September 2nd: I forgot to post yesterday but I'll write about both today and yesterday now :) Yesterday the 2nd was our second day of orientation where we were told about exams, registration, classes, etc... It was pretty much a huge waste of time but that's ok. I learned that Irish classes start 10+ minutes late so I shouldn't be on time and that technically teaching starts on Monday the 5th, however freshman don't arrive till mid next week and the rest of the Irish students don't arrive till the week after that. And registration is on the 18th, so from the 5th to the 18th we basically go to classes without really knowing what we are taking. It's quite bizarre. Then during the day we finally went into the town of Galway and had lunch at a really cute cafe and I had the most beautiful coffee. Then we wandered the streets for a while, it is SUCH a cute little town. All I wanted to do was stare at the buildings and streets and people, I couldn't get enough. Then we got lost but finally made it back to campus where I went to the Business information session which was a HUGE waste of time and the professor said at the beginning of the session "Well since it's such a nice day out and its not raining yet, I want to get you out of here early so you can get to the pub before the rain hits"...it was like 4 in the afternoon haha. Oh Ireland. Later that night we had some apartment bonding which was fun and that was that for yesterday.

Beautiful Cathedral in Galway on the way to campus

Saturday, September 3rd: Today we all slept in really late and caught up on sleep. Then we went to a different, better grocery store than we've been going to and people bought food and such then we hung around the apartment and had a lazy day until this evening when we met our across the hall apartment neighbors and our next door apartment neighbors. They are all really great girls and I'm really excited to be expanding the amount of people I know here. Tomorrow should be a fun day so I will definitely blog tomorrow! Thanks for reading! Night!

Holy head ache, jet lag at its finest...

The NUI Galway on campus College Bar 

Thursday, September 1st: Of the 10 (now 11) countries and the many time zones I have flown in and out of I have never experienced jet lag. Usually, I get to a country take a quick nap if needed and then go about my day or night as though I have lived in that time zone my whole life. Well apparently that was not going to work for me in Ireland. I woke up this morning, late because for some bizarre reason my local phone was off by an hour and some minutes, as I rushed to get ready (we had orientation at 9:30am) I realized that not only was I tired but I had a pounding head ache. Not a normal occurrence for me. Then I went to 4 hours of the most boring, inefficient orientation ever where they talked about clubs, societies, things to do around campus, language courses, and a tutorial on blackboard...ugh. Once that was over we received our student ID cards and we walked back to our apartment. Once back I had some cereal (that a nice apartment mate let me have because I had yet to buy groceries) and then we went to Dunnes or "Target" as I like to call it. There I finally got groceries and more hangers and then we came back to the apartment. I then proceeded to read my book which turned into a two hour nap which I obviously needed. However, when I woke up even after drinking a lot of water I still had the head ache. So I ate dinner and my apartment and I went out to karaoke night at the college bar. Even though we didn't get on stage and sing it was a blast! I had no idea I knew all the words to Like a Pray and I loved singing Spice Girls and The Backstreet Boys! Even though we are in Ireland all the music is very American. Some poor souls even tried to sing the Macarana...It didn't end well but at least everyone was dancing. Overall it was really fun and even getting soaked while walking back to our apartment in the rain was fun (but I was smart and brought my rain coat!) Well, the headache as subdued a little but its still here so I am off to bed now. Good night!