Workout Classes, Backstreet Boys, and Going in to the West

Ok, here is a post about life at UL and TRAVEL. After reading my last post, my sister Erica told me "I think you've seen too many movies." Haha. Which probably is true. :)

This past school week was normal for the most part. I feel so lazy though, because I have at most 2 assignments per week for my sociology classes, but I didn't have one this week because we didn't have our Social Inequality tutorial. And sadly, I was relieved because it meant less work. I can tell already that going back to UWEC in the fall will be difficult after this insanely light workload this semester. I don't have any tests in my classes except for finals, which makes me nervous, because I haven't really sat down and gone over my notes that much. I have a couple essays to write in the next few weeks, so that will actually require being productive. And my dance tutorial is so fun for the Traditional Music Class, but overall, the lecture is superboring. It's kind of weird because we have had a lot of different lecturers for that. There's one main girl, but she's given like 2 or 3 lectures so far this semester and the other times it has been other people.

On Tuesday night, I went to a workout class with Katie, Kathleen, and Kaitlyn. It was a lot of fun. I was in the beginner's section, which is where I'd like to permanently stay haha. It's led by the Irish equivalent of Richard Simmons, and oddly enough his name is Richie. He's got a fro, too. He's a lot less flamboyant though and slightly more attractive than Richard. Thursday morning I went to the gym again and must have had some pent up energy because I went on the elliptical for like 20 minutes and then did 3 miles on the treadmill which is a lot for me! My hips were SO Sore later. I don't know if it was still from the class or a combo of both workouts because I usually don't get sore after going to the regular gym.

I was really excited for Friday because the Stables was having 90's Night. I LOVE 90's music to this day. Friday afternoon I was really hungry because I didn't have much food left and I suddenly really wanted McDonald's which was weird because I don't eat much McDonald's anymore, unless the situation is desperate. Katie and I walked to the closest McDonald's to satisfy my craving. I'm interested to see though come March (tomorrow actually) if they have Shamrock Shakes here!!

We went over to Lily, Amanda, and Liz's house before we went to the Stables to pregame and play some cards. When we got to the Stables at around 9:30, I was shocked to see no one was dancing, but that's because they were playing 90's grunge, which some of it is ok, but seriously...that is not what I think of when I think of the 90's. For me, it's NSYNC, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, etc, etc. We decided to go get drinks (they had yummy cocktails for only 2.50. Sadly the Blue Lagoon turned my lips and teeth blue) Amanda and I went up to request some Backstreet Boys, but I ended up backing off because I felt like I was 10 years old requesting a BSB song. According to Amanda, the DJ argued with her and said BSB was not from the 90's. Worst. 90's. DJ. EVER. She finally convinced him and he played "I want it that Way" which got things going. The best songs of the evening that I danced to (I actually didn't dance much that night because I was having the infamous boy anxiety) were Ice Ice Baby, TubThumping by Chumbawumba, and Wannabe by the Spice Girls.

Yesterday was our first school sponsored trip. It was called Into the West. It only cost 5 Euro! It started bright and early by leaving around 8:30 AM. First stop was Bunratty Castle, then Cliffs of Moher (sooo beautiful!)

Bunratty Castle

Cliffs of Moher

The weather was gorgeous luckily. It's actually nice to have to expect rain on a daily basis in Ireland, because when it doesn't rain, it's wonderful to have your expectations exceeded. After the Cliffs, we ate lunch at a place called Fitzpatrick's Pub. I had peppered chicken, veggies and it came with three kinds of potatoes: French fries, roasted and mashed.

After we started heading out to the Burren, the bus in front of us started breaking down. There was a problem with the electrical system. We all made it to the Burren, which is a big rocky area. I saw my first Irish rainbow! I took a picture, but it didn't turn out the greatest because it was starting to go away. Before we left the Burren, they decided to combine the buses. I was on a shorter bus so we couldn't squeeze too many other people on, and I think they ended up leaving some people behind for our next stop to Ailwee caves, and then came back for them.

The Burren

Next stop: Ailwee Cave. It was discovered in 1940 by a man walking his dog. The cave was cool, but a relatively short tour. The coolest part was when they turned all the lights off in the cave. It was PITCH black. After the tour was over, we looked around the gift shop, then went outside to enjoy the magnificent view, as the cave was up on a hill.

Inside Ailwee Cave


The Gorgeous View

Our last stop of the day was Portal Tomb, which according to Wikipedia, dates back to 4200 to 2900 B.C. and houses between 16 to 22 adults and 6 children.


Portal Tomb

On the bus ride back, we listened to a rugby game on the radio (Ireland wins!) I was listening to my Ipod at the same time, but the announcers were super excited and I heard them shout things such as "Knocks him out of the way like a bouncer at a night club!" We got back to Limerick at about 6:30 and I was dead tired. I made a grilled cheese, watched the Simpsons, caught up on Facebook and was in bed at about 8:30!

Tomorrow is the first of March! At the end of the week, Ellen will be here!! I'm so excited for visitors!! My mom will be here St. Patty's day. March will also be an exciting month of travel..the weekend of the 12-14 I'm going with the International Society to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland, and at the end of the month I'm going to Paris for Spring Break! This has truly been the experience of a lifetime! Cheers!

P.S. I Like You

Ok, this post is more life related than travel related, and I feel silly for doing it, but I'm in a writing mood and just want to get it out. So here goes.

I've spent most of my life thinking I don't know how to talk to boys, and I've had a bit of self-esteem issues when it comes to thinking a guy could possibly ever be attracted to me. But, since coming to Ireland, and getting hit on by a substantial amount of guys, I've realized that yes, I am attractive in my own way, and it is possible. But still when boys have approached me, I've gotten so nervous and felt like I couldn't think of anything witty enough to say to keep their interest, and I think even the possibility something COULD happen scares me too. Probably the sweetest thing that happened was at the end of Famous Couples Night, this boy named Paddy asked me if I had a boyfriend and when I said No he seemed genuinely shocked and told me he couldn't believe it. I guess my dance moves must have actually been somewhat decent.

And there's NO WAY I could ever approach a guy and start a conversation, especially in a loud pub as I learned the other night.

A couple weeks ago at Stables, I was slightly intoxicated, and was feeling pretty good and noticed Colleen was talking to this guy and he had a friend who is SOOOO cute. So I just jumped in and was like "Hey what's up" and we talked for a little while. It was so loud from the music, but I think he said his name was Dave. But I thought he was really really cute but it got hard to talk because I had to like literally shout at him, and eventually ran out of things to say and kind of just scampered off to see what everyone else was up to. I waved to him later when we made eye contact. He was there the next night too, when we went back for Famous Couples Night. I was pretty sure there was mutual checking out...but I didn't talk to him and he didn't talk to me. But I started to think that maybe he could be my Gerard Butler...minus the future brain tumor. . I had this fantasy for almost the entire time preparing to come to Ireland that I'd meet a buy and bring him back to the States for my sister's wedding. I mean, I wasn't realistically expecting the whole get married part, but I just mean in the sense the hot guy I meet in Ireland. I had an epiphany that Saturday that I was finally going to stop being afraid to approach guys and that when I saw him next I'd strike up a conversation. But like many of my epiphanies, the feeling has worn off.

Well, the next time I saw him was about 2 weeks after we met. He was there at 90s night this past Friday. And he kept looking in my direction. The self-confident part of me said "hey he's looking at me" but always in the back of my head is the modest "don't be so full of yourself" part that says he is just looking in my general direction. I REALLY wanted to talk to him, but I was afraid a) he didn't remember me or b) he remembered me but had no interest in seeing me again. I kept trying to get closer and hoping he'd talk to me but he didn't say anything so was afraid I was just looking like a creepy stalker. I thought maybe if I had more of my liquid courage I'd finally get over my fear, so I ended buying more drinks than I planned to. But the alcohol had no effect since I was already nervous. Kathleen could tell something was up with me, because I was starting to say to myself "You're not going to talk to him and you're going to blow another opportunity to meet someone." She kept telling me I should talk to him and she'd help me, but the idea of actually doing it made me all giggly and stupid. We finally got towards and I finally just said "Hi how are you?" all casually as we walked by. I felt really stupid. He did reply, but he didn't come over to talk to me later either. I went home feeling really crappy and stupid. I do have my excuses I suppose: I hate trying to talk in a loud bar, he was with his friends and it is hard enough for me to impress one guy, but to walk in on a whole group....

I realize I get too worked up about it and it's not the end of the world, but I keep telling myself I'm in Ireland! I need to take more chances and want to possibly have some kind of romance. I guess what is going to work for me best though is to not necessarily meet that guy in a dance club or bar...somewhere where we can actually have a conversation without shouting at each other? If anyone who is reading this has ANY input whatsoever and has experience with guys, please tell me what to do. My mom always tells me Boys are just as shy too, and I kept telling myself that hey, maybe he WAS too shy to talk to me, even though I honestly don't find myself that intimidating haha. And he WAS mainly only talking to his friends, like he was for the most part the last Friday night I saw him and the night I met with him. So he doesn't seem like too much of a ladies man. Unless he has a girlfriend he's in a long distance relationship with. Or just spends his Friday nights with his buddies. Or he's possibly gay. But then...I think I listened too intently to the movie He's Just Not That in to you and kept hearing Justin Long saying "If a guy wants to be with you, he will make it happen." So I was starting to take his not-talking to me as a sign of no interest. Which maybe it was. I just need to not beat myself up and thinking I missed out on something. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.

Like I said, if anyone reading this, whether you're a "Follower" or not, and you have any sort of advice and can give me any chance of meeting a guy before May 19, please dispense it.

The Most Westerly Point of Europe

Oh my gosh....This weekend was fantastic! I don't even know where to begin. Well, I guess I can tell you that we went to Dingle, which is on the coast, and is a peninsula. We left Friday at 11:30. We almost thought we may not make it to our bus, because when waiting at the bus stop outside of Plassey, the first one to come just let one guy off and then drove away before we could get on! We were like "What the hell??" So then the cheap bus came, and we got on that and it took the MOST roundabout way ever to get to city centre, hence why it must be cheaper. We scrambled over to the bus station, but we made it with plenty of time.

The drive to Dingle was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It was the Ireland I had always imagined seeing....huge, rolling green pastures. A lot of the drive was thru County Kerry, which is a renowned county for being beautiful. But oh man, even though this trip was a little more pricey by bus (about 25 euro) it was so worth it. some of my best pictures this weekend I took from the bus window! I was freaking out at how beautiful it was. We drove up big, winding roads through the mountains. It was phenomenal. We took about a 2 hour or so bus ride to Tralee, the county seat of Kerry. We waited about 20 minutes for our bus to Dingle, which was another hour. Oh, this brings me to talk about the weather of Ireland. I have learned that weather forecasts do not apply to Ireland, at least in my experience. It might say it will rain, but maybe it won't. You just have to look to the sky. We had sun for awhile, drove through a small rain shower, and then were back to sunny skies during our drive through the mountains. However, when we pulled in to Dingle, it was like, hailing sort of. Luckily, the shuttle van to our hostel (oh so convenient!) was waiting for us at the bus stop. Bob, one of the owners of the hostel, let us pick up some groceries and then we were off to the Rainbow hostel, which was owned by Bob and his wife. They didn't have a tour guide dog like Holly in Cashel, but they did have two friendly cats who enjoyed going in and outside as they pleased, and they also had a baby son who ran around in a cruiser thing and enjoyed crashing in to our feet. He was so cute! We unpacked, made a late lunch, and then headed outside back in to the town of Dingle. Bob (who reminded me of a young Robin Williams) suggested we take a back road that led right in to the main street of Dingle, and was less busy with traffic. We got some great pictures of the hills. When we got in to town, we walked around the harbor, scoped out some touristy stuff we wanted to do the next day, and found a pub we wanted to go to. Afterward, we went back to the Rainbow, made more food, and then headed out to the pub, as we were promised some traditional Irish music, finally! It was dark out by the time we left, and we were wary about taking the back road and we didn't have a flashlight, but Bob had seen us leave, so he fired up the van and drove us in to town. The pub we went to was called An Droicead Beag, which means "A Small Bridge" in Gaelic. We went in and got drinks (except Katie who gave Alcohol up for Lent!) and I was slightly irked to find the Bulmers was more expensive than at Stables. We sat and enjoyed the music, which was 2 guys playing an accordion and some type of guitar-like instrument. We stayed for an hour or so, and then headed back, this time without Bob to drive us. The walk back down the dark road was a little creepy, but at least we had each other! Our room that night was a bit chilly, but Bob brought us extra duvets which helped.

My cold will just not quit! I woke up with a clogged nose. I looked out the window and it looked rainy, and I was bummed, but then I went back to sleep. When we finally got up, it was sunny out! We ate breakfast and then walked to town. We were going to take a boat tour out to see Fungi the dolphin, which is a dolphin that has frequented the Harbor since the early 80s. The price was 16 euro for an hour tour, but we wouldn't have to pay if we didn't see Fungi, but it's never happened. However, we inquired about land tours in the tourist office/gift shop, and called around and found a guy who would drive us around the entire peninsula for 10 euro an hour! We ended up doing about a 2 1/2 hour tour and it was AMAZING.
Things we saw:
*A Beehive hut
*The field where the opening of the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman film "Far and Away" that I watched in 9th grade history was filmed. That movie was pretty corny, but I was pumped to hear about it.
*The Great Blasket Island, which used to be inhabited by people, but they were moved to the mainland in 1953 because it just became too hard to live there with no immediate access to health care, and bad weather conditions. A young man had appendicitis on the island, but died because they couldn't get a doctor in time.
*The beach where the film "Ryan's Daughter" was filmed. I have yet to see it, but it won 2 Academy Awards back in the day. Robert Mitchum stars in it; I have since learned it came out in 1970. It (the beach) was beautiful. It was a little cloudy when we got there, but the sun started peeking out.
*Then we went to another area where we could see a beach, and there was a big, rocky, hill type thing. We hiked to the top of it, which took a good chunk of time, but it was absolutely beautiful. We could see the ocean as far as the eye could see. This was the closest I've been to North America since January 18! By the time we got back to the van, Sean told us our tour was over if we only wanted to pay 20 Euro. We did want to see more, but wanted to keep the price relatively low. It was still an amazing tour so far, and definitely my favorite part of Ireland so far. I want to move there!! We were very blessed to have good weather, because Dingle is probably a better place to go to in the warmer months, but it was sunny for the most part during our tour. It exceeded my expectations.
After the tour, we ate at Murphy's Pub. I had roast beef and mashed potatoes and veggies. It was deeelicious and hit the spot after hardly eating all day. Then we went to a few shops. I bought some postcards and a present for my grandmother. It started to rain, and I suddenly realized I didn't have an umbrella with me. I had sworn I had brought it along, but thought maybe I left it in the tour van. I decided to buy another at a grocery store for 5 euro, because I knew I'd need one for the rest of the semester. However, when we got back to the hostel, we found I had left it in the bathroom!! At least I'll be extra prepared now. Maybe.

We headed back to the hostel. Katie stopped at an ATM but it ate her card. She called the ATM help number, and they told her it reported fraudulent activity. So she just has to cancel the card and get a new one, which will be a bit of a hassle, but there's no way to get the card back so she at least knows no one will get a hold of it! We also ate at Murphy's ice cream. After sampling half of the flavors (they had Guinness, which didn't taste too bad! I'd probably throw up from a pint though, haha) I got chocolate whiskey (which didnt seem to taste much like Whiskey) and Bailey's. Yumm.

We laid around the hostel for awhile, made dinner and hung out with Bob, who was getting a little bit drunk. He knew the heat in our room wasn't working so we changed rooms to a 12 bed dormitory that was really warm! We headed back in to town to go to John Bennie's for more music! Liz had bought a CD by a female duo group and one of the members is the wife of a guy who works at John Bennies and was going to be performing that night! So again, we took the creepy road in to the night (no lift from Bob!) The music was really nice! Liz got her CD signed by the singer, Pauline Scanlon. I got a glass of Bailey's for 4.20 euro. Cheaper than Bulmer's at the other pub, but I didn't get a whole lot in my glass. I wanted to try something new, though.

Sunday morning we checked out and went to Mass at a church in town. The entire thing was spoken in Gaelic, which was a little frustrating but cool at the same time. I'm not Catholic, so I didn't fully participate, but it was an experience. We had like 2 hours to kill before the bus, so we went to one of the only cafe's open in town at that time. I had a chicken sandwich (it was one of the cheapest things on the menu) and a can of diet coke. We got back on the bus around 12:30 and after transferring, we back in Limerick at around 5:00. It was a weekend I will never forget. I don't think I left too many details out. Ireland is beautiful. I recommend it to everyone to visit, especially Dingle! It's fantastic. I will now post some pictures.

Cheers! One of the pubs we went to





awwww :)
yum :)
Great Blasket Island


The Beach where "Ryan's Daughter" was filmed

Closing in on 1 Month!

Good morning, everyone! I'm writing to you while recovering from my first cold on a different continent. This one has been worse than ones I've experienced. However, I will spare you the details!! I went to a drugstore called Boots downtown yesterday, and they keep all the medicine behind the counter. The lady asked me to describe my symptoms and if I smoked and a lot of other ?s. It was strange to not just be able to go grab the medicine myself! I ended up buying a cough syrup that was supposed to help me sleep, too.

But, now, I will back track to report what happened the previous week, Feb 8-12. To be honest, it was a fairly average week for the most part. Tuesday I had my immigration appointment! We had to go to the Garda (po po) station and meet with an immigration officer. I went with Katie. It was funny finally showing the woman the forms I had prepared almost a year ago when I first got accepted to study abroad. We had to show our passport, some sort of proof of financial support (i.e., bank statement or in my case a notarized letter from my parents saying they won't let me become a financial burden on the country) and a letter from UL saying that I was an international student. We got our pictures taken and then they scanned our fingerprints! So I best not find myself a suspect in a criminal case ;) For some reason, my prints weren't going on and I had to redo it a few times. My picture on my card is actually pretty nice. After that, we walked back to the bus stop and passed a group of unsupervised middle-school aged children and one of the boys was chasing the others with a binder and hitting them with it. I was afraid for my life! The children here are scarier than some of the adults. I have had quite a few interesting experiences with children already:
1) when we were pulling in to the bus station when getting back from Galway, a boy threw a piece of food at the window right at my face!!
2) I was walking to class one day and looked over to where a school bus was driving and probably about 5 children were giving me the finger. I was amused and horrified at the same time.
3) I was walking to the fitness center with Amanda and Liz Friday and I made this noise imitating myself drunk, and a kid walking by imitated me, in a very mocking way. To which I finally said to Liz and Amanda, "The children here are such little shits!" I sounded like my Grandma.

Wednesday I had my dance tutorial again. I got better at the lesson she taught us last week, and she actually turned on some Irish music, and it was fun to actually dance to music! However, then we tried partner dancing, and I then got lost again.

Thursday I actually had homework to do. I wrote up the answers to an article my Social Inequality teacher wanted us to read. I went to my tutorial that afternoon and actually participated, mostly because our grade depends on us actually saying something while we are there. I wanted to just get it over with right away so when he first asked a question I started to slowly raise my hand, but then some guy just started talking. I felt silly. I just like raising my hand for some reason as opposed to just launching in to my own monologue.
Thursday night I went out to the Stables for the first time in about 2 weeks! Thursday is Late Bar- they're open till 2 AM. Usually it closes at around 11:30. It was a lot of fun. I tried a new beer, even though I wasn't crazy about it. I did a lot of dancing and even talked to a few cute guys!

Friday I went to my 9 am lecture, did my assignment for my Irish Contemp. Issues class, went to work out with Liz and Amanda, and then despite being pretty tired from Thursday night at the Stables, ended up going again for Famous Couples Night, which was put on by the International Society. Basically, a girl gets a name tag with a famous woman on it (i.e., Marge Simpson) and a random guy would get Homer Simpson, and you have to work your way around the pub to find your match. I was Britney Spears, and I was supposed to find K-Fed. I ended up finding him. He was nice, but sort of shy. I can't remember his name, but I had my picture taken with him so I can always treasure that memory haha. I did a lot of dancing that night too, and by the time I left, I could tell I was definitely getting sick. I ended up going back to Amanda and Liz's. Katie, Liz, and Erin were making chocolate chip cookies.

Saturday, we explored more of Limerick. We saw St. Mary's Cathedral, which was absolutely gorgeous inside. We didn't get much time, because they were about to close it up for the day, but it was so raw inside, like with stone-like walls inside. It's my favorite church/cathedral so far.





After that, we went to King John's Castle. We'd already seen it from the outside when we got a bus tour of the city when we first got to Limerick, but that day we went to the visitor's center. It was definitely the most touristy of the castles we've been to so far, but it was really interesting and cool. We went up the stairs of one of the towers, and when we got to the top, we had a magnificent view, and as luck would have it the sun came out!



We explored a little more, then went to the gift shop.I found a present for my mom, and I also got my Claddagh ring! It's not an original, but I really like it. It's sparkly. It is a little big because I have ridiculously tiny fingers, but I love it!


The hands are for friendship, the heart is for love, and the crown is for loyalty. It is used as wedding rings a lot in Ireland. I wikipedia-ed it and found that Jim Morrison of the Doors exchanged Claddagh rings when he got married. It is called Claddagh because of the town near Galway it originates from.
Saturday night, went back over to Liz and Amanda's and ate pizza and cookies and watched TV. We discovered this hilarious, outrageous show called Benidorm. I think I may have been overtired, but it was cracking me up. I really do like British humor. I love Simon Pegg movies, and Ricky Gervais, and now this show. It's too crazy to explain, but Amanda and I were in tears practically.

Yesterday, we were going to go to Mass at St. Mary's, but I decided to skip it because I woke up feeling horrible. I did want to meet up with the others though, but it turns out the bus doesn't start running till about 11:30 Sundays. Katie and Liz decided they wanted to go back to bed, but I still wanted to run out and get a few things, especially since I got ready and everything being sick and all. So Amanda, Erin, and I went downtown and went to Dunne's, the Wal-Mart esque grocery store. Last night my house celebrated Kathleen and Leona's birthday, which is today, but I was way too sick and tired to participate. My medicine made me very sleepy, but I felt like I was only half asleep and could hear quite a bit of the party. When my alarm went off for my 9 AM class, I was too tired and my throat hurt, so I decided not to go. I am feeling a little better now, but I'm still pretty stuffy. I plan to go to my 4 PM class.

This weekend we are planning to go to Dingle, which is on the coast! I've seen a lot of pictures and it looks amazing!

On Thursday, it will be a month since I left America. That's insane! Time has flown by, and I've been loving pretty much every minute of Ireland so far. I'm honestly a little surprised I didn't experience that much homesickness. I can't wait for next month when I get visitors :)

Arts and Crafts FAIL

Today in my Irish folklore tutorial, we made crosses for St. Brigid's Day, which was February 1. We were supposed to make them last week, but as I think I mentioned in my last post, the teacher mixed up which classroom we were supposed to meet in. St. Brigid's day is for St. Brigid, an Irish nun, and now, well, a saint. The day is to honor her and feast, and typically marks the beginning of spring in Ireland.

Well, I had already experienced a wee bit of anxiety last week, because in the past I haven't had the best experiences with arts and crafts. At a Circle K event in October, we were making cloth pumpkins and used a roll of toilet paper as the base, and had to wrap some of the TP around the roll to make it look rounder, but mine didn't turn out quite like everyone else's. It's such a sad feeling to look around and see everyone's looking like they are supposed to while yours is different in it's own pathetic way. :)

I was determined though to make a cross because I thought it would make a good present for my mother. I watched intently as the lecturer performed the first few steps. We were making them out of reeds she had picked on campus. I tried bending mine and then wrapping them, but it wasn't staying together very well. Then we had to keep turning it and wrapping the reeds in different places, but I think there's something wrong with my brain that can't think artistically sometimes, or it's just my fear of screwing up that blocks that part of my brain from performing correctly, if that makes sense. The thing was not staying together and I was getting super frustrated and I was ready to just throw the reeds in the trash. It was sad looking around the room and seeing people plow away on their crosses. Katie got finished with hers and held on to my reeds while I wrapped them around. I don't have very strong fingers apparently. So, in the end I got my cross, another Katie Andrist original, and it's waiting for my mom when she comes to visit :)

The Boring Day-to-day Stuff

Woooa. Two posts in one day. I feel like writing, though.
Today is 3 weeks since I left Wee-scan-sin. I honestly feel like I've been here forever. It feels like home in a way...no offense to the fam. It probably helps that the EC group was so big. If I had came by myself, things might be completely different. But I have spent quite a bit of time with my Irish housemates, and I genuinely really like them. They definitely have their loud, drunken, messy moments, but ha...so have I once or twice already! I've also heard far worse stories about Irish roommates from other people I know. My friend Amanda had an Irish roommate who didn't like living with just Americans and was a jerk to them, but he ended up switching houses with our friend Liz.

Well, I think I will now describe highlights from last week, and talk a little bit more about my classes, because I think my parents are probably curious about what they are paying so much money for.

We have lecture and "tutorial" which are like lectures split up in to sections and it is like a discussion panel.

Mondays I have my 2 Sociology classes: irish contemporary issues at 9 and then Social Inequality and Exclusion at 4 PM, which means naptime in between! Irish Contemporary Issues is basically...well...I guess you can tell by the name of it. So far we have discussed how society has changed over time. The lecturer (they are not professors here, but they love American students because calling them that is a promotion) is named Patricia Neville and she is very passionate about the subject.

Social Inequality is pretty self-explanatory too. We are going to be discussing demographics that are typically excluded from having the full rights of the rest of society: homosexuals, the homeless, etc. It is almost just like the class I took last semester at UWEC called Human Behavior and Social Environment, but this will obviously focus on the problems in Ireland. Despite not getting social work credits, I think that these classes will look good on a resume and make me more well-rounded.

Also, I have Irish Folklore. The teacher's name is pronounced Moy-rah. The class is huge and meets in a small lecture hall that is really warm. And it's 2 hrs long. She didn't show up to our tutorial last week when we were supposed to make crosses for St. Brigid's day (Feb 1) but she told our section we could make them this week, because she screwed up and couldn't remember what room we were meeting in. The scheduling system here is way different than Eau Claire. Unlike having MWF Friday classes, you can meet pretty much any day. Like my Contemporary Issues class meets Mondays and Tuesdays, Mondays at 9:00, and Tuesdays at 11:00. And the classes are held in different rooms. I have Social Inequality at 4 PM Monday in 1 room, and then don't have the lecture again till Friday at 9 AM in a different room in the main building.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have Traditional Irish Music. It is learning about the actual music, but at the end of the semester the class is putting on a performance (not a major one, we just have to invite friends) For our tutorials for that one we had to sign up for something: playing/learning an instrument like the tin whistle or flute...singing...or dancing. I signed up for dancing. I figured it was my best shot. I don't want to learn to play an instrument haha, and I'm not much of a singer in public, so dancing it was! We had our first tutorial last week. The tutor is a dance student. I struggled with the first part of the lesson, which involved jumping and switching legs. I can't seem to coordinate my left leg with the rest of my body. Then we tried sidestepping, which I did better with. I had "Hop, two, three! Hop two three" in my head the rest of the day!

We don't have much homework except for preparing answers for the tutorials each week. No major tests except for the finals. A couple essays here and there but nowhere near as much work as at UWEC.

I have been trying to reduce my amount of going out to the clubs and pubs...at least for a little while. Going to the clubs is pricey because some have admission fees and if they are far from campus, then you have to get a taxi. But hey, I'm going to be here for quite awhile yet, so I will still have time to go out and live it up. Last week I went to The Lodge with Kathleen, Colleen, Kaitlyn, Amanda, my roommates Gearoid and Sean, and Colleen's roommate Sean. Sunday is Ladies Night, but we spent so much time pregaming that we missed the cutoff time and had to pay. It was INSANE. The dance floor was insanely crowded and you could hardly dance. I was pushed around...it was like a fight. Skeezy guys were in every direction. Colleen was awesome though at pushing them away, and our guys tried enclosing us in a circle. When we weren't on the dance floor, guys kept coming up to us and talking, or trying to talk, but between the accents and booming music I couldn't hear a thing they were saying and they lost interest. What a shame. I'm sure I lost my potential Gerard Butler that night. I was able to finally figure one guy was asking me "If I fucked off, would that make you happy?" to which I was unsure how to answer. Awwwwkwaaard. So no more Lodge for me.

I do really want to meet a guy. Well, sort of. It'd be fun to have a bit of a fling, but I don't know how it will work when it's time to leave. One of my "goals" despite thinking of it as somewhat of a joke, is to bring an Irish lad back home for my sister's wedding in June. However this will require A) finding a guy who likes me enough to do that and B) finding a guy who has a passport and could afford that.

Ok. I've got a wee bit of a headache, so that is all for today! Goodnight :)

Ireland = Love

This past weekend I went on my 2nd weekend trip out of Limerick, and I ended up coming back and truly feeling a sense of nostalgia and wanting to go back. I am in an incredibly beautiful country.

Katie, Liz, Amanda, and Erin and I booked another bus ticket. This time, after doing a decent amount of research, we landed on Cashel, a smaller town about 40 miles south of Limerick in Tipperary County. After the bus driver was a major jerk to us about booking our tickets online (because it's SO hard for him to look at our confirmation e-mail and then print us a ticket. Seriously. it takes like 30 extra seconds) our bus left Limerick at 9:30. Saturday it was quite foggy again, but hey, in Ireland, it's a blessing to just have a day with no rain sometimes! We had to get off in Cahir, another small town to switch buses on a different route. We had read that Cahir had a castle, and were hoping we'd have enough time to find it before our next bus came. Well, little did we know...the castle was right across the street from the bus stop!! We had about an hour to kill, so we hurried over to the castle, paid the 1 Euro it took to get in to the place (yay for student discounts!) and began exploring. The castle was beautiful, and a little sinister in a way, because it had a "murder hole" and places where prisoners were obviously kept. One area on the stairs was so dark and scary I kept expecting a skeleton or some creature pop out around the corner. Or even worse--A BAT. It was definitely one of the best ways I've ever killed time. I think the Cahir Castle Association (haha I just made that up) would do themselves and everyone else a great favor if they promoted that it's right across from the bus stop. We had a pretty good laugh at about how easy it was to find.

Our bus to Cashel (population 2,936 according to wikipedia) came at 11:20. It only took another 15 minutes to get there. However, finding our way to the hot spots in Cashel (primarily the Rock of Cashel, another castle) was a bit of a challenge. We looked at a town map outside of the tourist office, and unfortunately the office itself was closed. We stopped and asked some people on the street, but they were Irish out-of-towners so they didn't know where it was. We called the hostel we were staying at, because that was where we wanted to go first to drop our stuff off, which is owned by an Irish couple, but Katie had a bit of a hard time understanding him. I'd like to quote the book "I never knew that about Ireland" that my sister Erica gave me for Christmas about Ireland. This is from the preface, and it's a fair warning:
"One warning: nothing in Ireland is straightforward. Every name has two or three different spellings and myriad pronunciations. Every story has different endings and every legend a different setting."
We definitely agree that nothing is straightforward! We then stopped in a Hallmark store and asked the lady working and she was able to get us where we needed to go. We found the Rock, which was located at the top of a hill. It was spectacular. We couldn't see it for as amazing as it is that day because it was foggy, but Sunday we went back because the fog lifted. While we waited for a short informational film to start in the "theatre" we chatted with a young married couple from Chicago. They had been in Ireland for the past week. They said they were going to spend the next 2 nights in Dublin and then fly out today, Monday. It sounded like they managed to go all over the island in that short amount of time! Hopefully I can say that..and I will have had 4 months! I think I'm doing pretty well so far. I've been farther north for Galway, and now farther south than Limerick. But anyway, after that We explored the graveyard outside of it. We then asked for directions to Hore Abbey, because Tom O'Brien (one of the owners of the Cashel Lodge where we stayed) called and said that should help us find the lodge. We ate lunch in a small pub (yummy chicken paninis and chips..which here means french fries) and the owner and waitress told us where to go. We took the Path of the Dead past the castle, which goes downhill and out to the countryside. Once we got to the road, it was only a few minutes before we found the lodge! It was so cute...a 200+ year old farmhouse that had been renovated. We stayed in a dormitory style room for only 20 euro. The O'Briens had a small dog named Holly who was really friendly, and as we set out to see the Hore Abbey (and yes we joked about the name, being the ignorant Americans that we are) she raced ahead of us, like she knew where we were going. The Hore Abbey was breathtaking. It was built in the 1200's...(?) if I remember correctly. It blows my mind that stuff that old is still standing today. I mean, it is basically ruins now, but it really makes you realize that what we think of as the "old days" like the 1700s, when America started, is not THAT old in the grand scheme of things. After we got done at the Abbey, we hung out at the lodge for a bit, and then walked back in to town (only about a 15 minute walk to the town center) and picked up a few groceries to make dinner in the lodge's kitchen. I made a can of minestrone soup I'd brought from Limerick. After that we did a little "pre-gaming" with 5 euro wine that Katie bought at Spar, a popular convenience store in Ireland. I had bought the same wine back in Limerick, but I'm not a wine expert, so to me it tasted alright, but Katie quickly informed me it was crap. I figured it was, considering it was only 5 euro, the cheapest in the store. We then headed to find a real Irish pub to go to. A guy working at the rock of cashel recommended Chief's. We walked in and the room was thick with cigarette smoke, and the guys who were there were SO quiet. So we left and went to Dowling's. There were a few older Irish men there watching a rugby game. It had a good enough atmosphere, so the 5 of us pulled up a chair at the bar. I got a bottle of Bulmer's, my beloved cider, Amanda had vodka with lemonade, Liz tried the Guinness, Erin also had Bulmer's, and Katie had Bailey's on the rocks. I still need to try Bailey's. I still didn't get what I am imagining to be the real Irish pub experience that I have built up in my head, but hey I still have time. We left Dowling's and went to SuperValu, a grocery store. We pitched in for some Bulmer's and Druid's, another type of cider and headed back to the lodge and played some drinking games well in to the night. We went bed around...gosh I don't even remember. I had packed my sweats and a long sleeve shirt but I woke up sweating in my bed. I ended up stripping down to my underwear and sleeping in that, which I was teased for the next day. :) The next morning we got up around 10:30 and were delighted to see the fog had lifted. We ate breakfast, showered, checked out of the Lodge, and headed back to the Abbey. I took a couple pictures without the fog, but I didn't mind it being somewhat foggy in most of my pictures. We took a stroll down the rest of the road, hoping to find a good Irish farm (Katie and Amanda both grew up living on dairy farms) but to no avail. We headed back to the rock, which we had a perfect view of from the Lodge. The place couldn't have been more conveniently located. Good find, Katie! We were walking back up the Path of the Dead when we noticed there was a gate to the hill at the bottom of the castle. We ventured out there and this was one of the first moments of my experience here so far that I was at a loss for words for a moment. You could see the Abbey from up above, you could see the roads going out of town, you could see the hills in the distance. You could see a herd of sheep in a field nearby. It was awesome. We hiked back up to the rock, took some pictures, and then ended up hiking around the other side. I felt like an amateur explorer. With 2 hours to kill before the bus still, we walked around the other side of town and stopped at a very old, very beautiful church. We talked to a priest and he gave us a brief history. We saw even more graves, and the oldest I found this weekend was from 1796. I couldn't believe I could even read it still. Some of the graves were just worn down and had no words on them. We went to another cathedral, but we couldn't get in. However, a very nice cat came over and let us pet him. We got back on the bus and stopped back in Cahir. We ended up eating a late lunch at Supermacs, which is like McDonald's but worse. Then we went to a gift shop, and I toyed with the idea buying a knock off of a Claddagh ring. The original is in Galway and they are 40 Euro. I want one, but I don't necessarily care if it's not an original. I just like the design. However, the bus came before I paid for it, and I just decided maybe another day. After the perfect weekend of breathtaking buildings and real Irish countryside, material possessions just didn't matter as much. We finally got back to Plassey about 5 PM and I was beat.

When I was back home, daydreaming of my experience in Ireland/Europe, I admit, I sometimes forgot I was actually going to Ireland and started envisioning all the other places in Europe. I mean, I was really excited for Ireland, but I figured I'd see some of it here and there, and that would be good. I was picturing Paris, Italy, Greece, London, places I've always wanted to see but never thought I'd have a chance to go to. But Amanda and I were talking one day about traveling around Europe, but she put it in to perspective for me, and I totally agree. While it would be awesome to see the other big cities like Paris, Rome, Athens, London, I'd rather actually EXPERIENCE Ireland and feel like it was as much of home as the USA. It seems obvious and I feel stupid for even saying that, but I think at the start I had travel fever and just wanted say "I want to go here, here, and here." But I definitely feel after Cashel that I am getting a good variety of the Emerald Isle. I've been to Limerick (obviously) and Galway, two of the bigger cities in Ireland, but I've also now stayed out at a lodge in the country side, right under a castle. Back home, I always got sick of living in the country because I felt there was nothing to do and I wasn't anywhere special, but the Irish countryside changed that.
And one other thing that has changed...walking is my new favorite way of getting around. That might be because if I did have a car here, I'd be terrified to drive because of all the roundabouts and being on the other side, but so far on our journeys-by-foot, we've always found our way.