Following My Bliss

Past Adventures:

The title of this is a little jingle Kate & Garrett made up to Supermac’s, the fake McDonald’s of Ireland. As in, they were sued by McDonald’s for infringement but won the case and thus still are doing business.

We gave them a try Tuesday night seeing as they were the ONLY place open past 7PM (and I wish that was a joke. Even McD’s was closed. Stupid move on their part). The burger was good, the fries were great. I ordered a medium Coke and was given a can of Coke to pour in to a provided cup with ice. Really guys? Really?

This whole no-24 hour stores and everything closing by 7PM deal is in no way easy to adjust to. America, I miss your overindulgent personality.

I still say we should market the theme song to them though. I wanted it to be ‘supermactacular’ but they voted me down due to too many syllables. Whatever. I think it’s a good make-believe word.

Internship:

I have requested to get a new one. Monday will be my last day and Tuesday the search will commence.

I have a conscience and hate letting people down or upsetting people, so these last two days have been hard for me there. Niamh (the director) asks me how I’m doing each day and I have to scramble to tell her how I’ve learned about this or that. The girls have been super helpful, asking me if I have any questions about ABA process and are willing to explain everything and anything to me.

Tomorrow I have to tell Miriam (the supervisor) that I’m taking the weekend to consider if I’ll continue (though I know I’m leaving on Monday). Niamh doesn’t work Fridays (something that I blanked on) so she’s in for a shock come Monday when she comes in and is told by Miriam that I’m planning on leaving.

The reason it’s going down Monday is because that is when Joe has a meeting with myself and Niamh/Miriam to discuss how things are going and how we feel about me being at their school. We actually set up this meeting on this past Monday (my first day) because it’s better to know progress potential sooner rather than later. In my case, it’s not much potential.

I guess Monday will be good and bad. I just hope they don’t take me leaving badly and/or I don’t say something rude/offensive in explaining my reasons for not wanting to be there.

It’s not them; it’s me.

I respect the heck out of what they do; it’s just not for me on a lot of levels. Too structured, too small, too education major and not enough social work major.

While waiting for the bus today (because it was late, shocker) I talked with a girl from Slievrue whose best friend used to work at TJP. When I told her I wasn’t feeling it so much, so said her friend loved it. I said it didn’t fit me as I’m in social work and she asked wtf I was doing there because it’s definitely for education majors.

Just another sign that I’m not crazy or overreacting I guess. But I know that deep down I’m neither because I know myself and I know when things need to change, and this needs to change.

I did have fun today though shadowing (the first day I wasn’t bored to tears at multiple points). I even was talked in to trying out the slide on the playground. It’s not a normal slide. It’s simply two railings, spaced about 1 1/2 feet apart. You set one leg over each bar and slide down on your thighs. It’s actually really fast and the landing is a beeyotch (sooo much pressure on your ankles). It was wicked fun tho, I have to admit. Gives any other slide I’ve ever been on a poor rating by comparison. (I tried Googling for an image of what it looks like, but I’ve had no luck finding anything.)

One last good thing from work today: one of the boys keeps messing up my name and calling me Dane-yuh. One of the boys back at ASI definitely every time calls me the exact same thing. Made me miss home and made me laugh as well.

Differences:

And now it’s time for an Irish English lesson (things I learned from the girls at work today).

Rubber=eraser. You do not erase something, you rub it out. (Anyone else think of sex and the Mafia immediately? Only me? …OK.)

Full stop=period. This was a fun one to learn as neither of us had ever heard of the other’s term for ending a sentence before. We found each other’s both weird and funny. .=full stop=period (Somewhere one of my high school English teachers is rolling their eyes.)

Tipp-Ex=Wite Out (Ah, a battle of the most popular brand names in their respected countries.)

At the weekend=on the weekend

In the playground=on the playground

(Seriously, we really need to just change the directives? And why does America love the word ‘on’ so much?)

Programmes=shows (be they television or radio).

Crisps=potato chips (I refuse to say it their way).

Chips=French fries (I refuse to say this too).

Pitch=field (and while we’re on football=soccer terms, kit=uniform).

They also say the ‘th’ realllyyyy weird on their words. Bathroom sounds like batroom and thirty sounds like tirty. It’s like the ‘h’ doesn’t even exist. I honestly giggle on the inside each time.

One last thing on the language differences: what is up with the random ‘u’s in words and making ‘er’ turn in to ‘re’? Pretty sure it’s centER not centRE when you pronounce it. And making favorite in to favourite is seriously not  much cooler.

I’m just saying. :P hahaha…

Future Plans:

This weekend will be spent exploring Waterford’s sites and history. Originally we had planned on a weekend in Cork but the hostel is full so that will happen next weekend. Instead we are going to track down the (supposed)Waterford Castle and do some site-seeing around here. Maybe find an ice cream shop or a Chinese restaurant? (I miss you 716, I miss you.)

Next weekend in Cork will be killer though. Blarney is nearby so we’re obviously traveling to the Castle and to see the stone. Also nearby are other legit castles and even a fort!! Pretty pumped to see some good ol’ European history. (Why wasn’t class ever this fun in school? I would have actually liked history if I could have walked through a castle every weekend, seriously.)

Due to the fact that I have yet to have an entirely 100% good experience on a bus, I’m terrified for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cork. Thus I’m looking in to motion sickness medicine. Apparently Dramamine was taken off the market in Ireland. Fantastic. Tomorrow on my way home from work I’m going to stop in at a pharmacy and get the names of the drugs they do have and give them to mom to look in to.

An alternative that Elizabeth found out about is this bracelet made of metal that apparently uses a pressure point in your wrist and eliminates the nausea. I’m not one that’s all for hippie methods of healing (AKA hand me the medicine and be quiet) but it’s something to think about.

Side not: I have never in my life until I turned 21 experienced motion sickness. I noticed it last fall a few times when I would ride in the backseats of cars but thought nothing of it. Apparently I should have because now busses and planes are not my friends anymore. And that really bites because I love traveling! Oh well. I will remedy it someway, somehow. This will not stop me.

Randomness:

I ride a bus made by Mercedes-Benz to and from work. Can you say you take a Benz to work every day? :)

I’m trying to upload pictures to a Photobucket or Flickr account so you all can see SOME evidence of what I’ve been up to, but with this awful internet connection, it’s going to take quite some time. I’ll let you know when it happens (like four months from now when I’m back in the USA lol).

There are a TON of round abouts in Ireland.

Factoid: I L-O-V-E roond aboots (you have to say it in a bad Canadian accent or else it loses a certain something). Thus, Ireland and I are cool.

One of the girls at TJP is from Niagara Falls, Ontario (I keep forgetting to ask her how she ended up here because it seems she’s been in Ireland for years.) We agreed Canada wins when it comes to NF. The American side is just sad at this point.

We may have found a nearby coin laundry place to use instead of being charged 10 euros per small load here at our apartments. (It’s definitely a way to scam money from the international students as 99% of the Irish kids go home each weekend and can do their laundry there. Oh,and it’s also BS and we’re not happy about it.) If I’m here for four months with limited clothes I am not paying a ridiculous amount to wash them like every other week.

We had pork chops and French fries (or I’m sorry, chips) for dinner. We've totally got this group cooking dinner thing down to a T.

I miss you all!!! Stop having so much fun without me lol

Shout outs to all who read and leave me comments (be there here or Facebook). Feel free to leave more. I love hearing from you all.

I’m done.

El fin.

Supermactacular,

Dana

Miserable today.

That's not even a strong enough word. Like try unimaginably miserable.

It's becoming clear to me that my internship is not what I want.

I don't think I can even call it social work. They want me to essentially (and eventually) take on the teacher role, which is heavily based on being a speech therapist (in my opinion at least). I want to be more involved in policy change and service coordination and helping families find places like The Jonah Project to help their children. I'm not getting a degree in education for a reason. (And can I just say, I understand the idea of reinforcement but giving a child a 'crisp' continually after they do something right and praising them as 'Good boy' constantly is DRIVING ME MAD!)

Homesickness has definitely set in as well.

I was definitely that girl sitting by herself at the end of the day on the city bus trying to nonchalantly wipe away tears. Also when woken up in the middle of the night by ragging drunk loud assholes in the building, I cried then missing my room and my silent suburbia.

What really broke me today was the bus situation.

Yes, I am the only student who has to take the bus to their internship. The morning bus was supposed to arrive at 8:45; it got there at 9:05 and subsequently made me late by five minutes. The afternoon bus to come home was supposed to arrive at 4; it arrived at 4:45. The morning bus cost me 1.50euros and the afternoon bus cost 1.70euros. This is not something I budgeted for, nor do I find it fair, and I definitely do not enjoy it.

Basically, I have cried more in the last 24 hours than in the last 24 months. Whether it's from being too tired or frustrated or unhappy or longing for back home, I don't know.

I think it's a mixture of it all just being TOO much.

I should have seen this breakdown coming. I thought I knew myself better than this.

It doesn't help how supportive and wonderful my mother is being either (she sent me an email last night telling me to get sleep because things look better then and to have Elizabeth hug me for her). She told me to take till the end of the week to decide on staying at TJP or asking for something different (which works well because Joe is meeting with me & my supervisors there on Monday to discuss such things).

I just don't know what I was thinking by (almost)blindly packing up and leaving home for four months.

I'm happy when I'm with my friends and when we're traveling about, but this is only at night and on the weekends.

I don't want to spend five days a week, some seven hours a day, being unhappy or just getting by.

I want to enjoy this experience and learn something relevant. I want to go out and see Europe and not just do it to escape being in Waterford. I want to smile more and cry less, and laugh more and sniffle less. I want this to be the best decision I ever made and not the biggest regret I'll ever have.

I want these four months to be everything I said they would be when I got accepted last summer.

Writing this all out definitely helped.

Now it's off to the Garda and Immigration to be officially registered. Not sure if we're going shopping for food after; I hope so because I need stuff to bring for lunch. And also, I'm really hungry right now.

Love,
Dana

I survived.

Bloodied, exhausted, and overwhelmed. But I lived. (The blood would be the awful blister on the back of my foot compliments of new shoes, the exhaustion is due to the fact I didn’t sleep, and the overwhelming feeling is just because it is in fact a whole new world for me).

Considering I barely slept, I still got up on time, got ready (wore nice pants, nice top, did my make-up) and met up with Elizabeth to begin this journey for real this time.

Joe dropped her off first at her place and then took me to mine (about a five minute drive apart in Slieverue).

The Jonah Project.

It is located in an old, old pink building without even a sign marking it. They don’t keep the heat on during the weekends so Monday is the coldest (let’s just say I kept all three layers plus my coat on the entire day), though I have a feeling the rest of the week won’t be much warmer because like I said, old building (and Ireland just seems to be COLD all the time). It’ll be better when I’m not in flats but in my boots with socks (keeping my feet warm in this country is proving impossible however).

The director and supervisor were very nice to me upon meeting me. We decided I’d spend the week observing and getting my bearings. We have another meeting on Monday with Joe to check on comfort/fit of me being there, and then from there, things will get real. My objectives and goals for this internship will be set, and we’ll be off to the races on completing my Bachelor’s degree. Essentially it seems I’ll be working towards actually executing being a ‘tutor’ (more on this below).

I spent today in the room of the younger three kids. They’re ‘tutors’ (also known as teachers) were all super friendly with me and answered my questions as they came. Now, when I say tutor/teacher, I mean they are fully TEACHERS. They work on math, reading, vocabulary, listening skills, life skills, vocational activities, occupational activities, etc..

These tutor/teachers do it all, quite literally. And they don’t just work with one child all the time either. They have a child they work with 3 days, and then another they work for 2. Or in some cases, 2 days, 2 days, and then 1 day (it depends on people’s attendance/availability). A far cry from having a strict one-on-one at ASI. I see the upside to their method (as they are a tiny school and knowing each child can be easy) but I also see the upside to the method I’m used to back home (familiarity and consistency).

Also, a few of their kids are partially integrated at local schools (spending the morning only on some days). This makes me very happy because it shows that early intervention works (in my opinion at least). I have a feeling if these kids weren’t receiving the services they were at TJP they would not be able to be at ‘normal’ schools in any capacity. I know if some of my kids back home had had early intervention services, they would be further along then they are now (as in, all of the kids at TJP are at least partially verbal; none are completely non-verbal).

Something to note is that at TJP they truly practice ABA (applied behavior analysis). Constant reinforcements (mainly food & tokens towards desired activities/items) within a highly structured schedule. There’s no ‘do as you feel’ here. It is very intense, very involved, and rather fast-paced. The students have goals, and these goals are constantly being worked towards. Each student has a schedule, and this schedule is followed without question. The overwhelming part for me is that these tutors are responsible for it all. And they track EVERYTHING. There are sheets and charts to monitor progress in all areas of learning for these children. That may be the craziest part for me; the constant documentation.

Did I mention they don’t practice SCIP? Yea, apparently physical interventions are rather hard to get approved in Ireland. However, none of their kids are quite as aggressive as the ones I’ve worked with, so there’s really no reason to know how to do a three-person supine anyways. The first child I met they said may pinch and/or bite, and when they told me that’s the worst he does, I almost felt relieved(?). Their way of dealing with any aggressive behavior is essentially planned ignoring. It’s amazing/baffling to me in many ways. Although, it may be safe to say from what I saw today their children simply do not have the same severity of autism that some of the kids back home do, and thus are simply less aggressive by nature. It may be nice to not come home with bruises every day. (None of the kids appear to display bolting behavior either and so my incredibly amazing sprinting capabilities may be taken down a notch or two. Boo.)

It’s actually going to be hard for me to adjust to the tininess of the place I think. They have two classrooms, and barely use the old kitchen at all. The kids are split between the rooms (younger & older, making it 3 and 4 respectively in each). There’s no speech rooms, no OT or PT, no gym or art or music (which, honestly, thank God for because I really hated music at ASI) and there’s definitely not any sensory rooms (which I may be more sad about than anyone. I’ll miss you red/yellow comfy chair!).

The only complaint I have is that I have to take the bus (two actually; one to get from home to the waterfront, then one to my internship).

Joe was so sure for Elizabeth & I (the two with placements the furthest away) someone would offer us a ride from the agency. For Elizabeth, this is true. For me, not so much, as everyone lives in the opposite direction of where I need to go apparently.

I’m quite ticked off about this bus situation as it means I’ll have to spend (supposedly) some 3 Euros per day on it. And seeing as I’m the only one who has to do this, it makes me even more mad. I’m going to talk to Joe about it as I find it just plain unfair. I don’t mind taking the bus (though I’ve yet to have a non-nausea experience on one), it’s the fact that I have to spend my own money for it that bothers me. I wish the college would reimburse me, but I think we can all agree no matter what country you’re in, that’s just wishful thinking.

I honestly don’t know how I liked my first day. It was a first day. I went in to something I knew nothing about; I can’t make judgments on it quite yet. I do know I didn’t hate it so much I never want to step foot there again. I just am not sure if I’ll love it as much as back home. I want to, I really do, but I might not be cut out for ABA/tiny agencies (to be determined at a later date).

None of the kids here seem as cuddly as some of the kids at ASI. This girl is really gonna miss her hugs & sitting on laps. (And from that one lil cute boy, kisses on the cheek.)

Like I said, it was the first day of many.

Who knows how I'll feel in a week, let alone ten.

Know what I really wish though? That I had a TV in my bedroom and we didn’t share one in the common room. I really just wanna lay in bed and watch crappy MTV shows right now, but not happening. Also, not having hockey/football is seriously getting hard. Spooorrrtttsss!!!!

TV shows and movies are weeks behind the US here so I’ll be able to catch up on Grey’s and finally see ‘Youth in Revolt’ soon. :P

Trying to upload pictures to Facebook for everyone is proving impossible. Beginning to become clear to me that it’s my room that’s crappy for electronics, as apparently according to Elizabeth my cell phone cuts out a lot when we’re talking as well. My room may or may not actually be a nuclear bomb shelter.

On one level it’s been nice to be disconnected but on the other, I like to know the current happenings in my world. Toss up.

I think I’ve babbled enough.

Love,

Dana

So, here I sit. Should be in bed. It’s 10 minutes to 1AM here. Elizabeth & I are meeting Joe at 9.25AM to go to our internship tomorrow.

But I am much too wired to sleep.

And my feet are cold.

But really, I’m just nervous/anxious/scared/excited.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the real reason we’re all here in Ireland; social work(care) internships.

I’ve spent the past year and a half working with children with autism, from ages 5 to 21 years old. On many occasions, I interacted with well over 20 kids in a day.

This school only has 7 TOTAL, ages ranging from 4 to 13 years old. Each kid has a one-to-one (or rather tutor, which I will be doing), then there’s the supervisor, and finally the director of the school. To clarify, this is as big as two classrooms at my old agency (which had about a dozen total).

I’m scared they’re going to run their school so much different than mine and thus I’ll have to relearn everything I thought I knew in a short time. I’m scared I’m going to do something that was acceptable at my old agency but isn’t acceptable now. I’m scared that they’re going to run their school in an awful manner and I’m not going to be able to deal with it. I'm scared I'm going to have no where to get back to the apartments (Joe's giving us a ride in, but my placement is over 3 miles away. I may have to take a bus, which I know nothing about.)

Mostly I’m just excited though. I’m excited for this new opportunity, to experience something I think I know in a whole new light. I’m excited to honestly just go in headfirst into an agency I know little to nothing about and meet new people and have new experiences.

Also, my kids back home make me melt on a daily basis. These kids will have Irish accents, so that means they’ll make me double melt probably.

I hope I love this place and the people in it. I hope my eyes are opened to new ideas and theories. I hope every moment, good or bad, I take in. I hope that this school allows me to take away experiences I will never be able to duplicate, or would want to.

I hope I come out tomorrow at 3PM in one piece, but with a lighter heart and even more excitement for the future.

To all my friends back in Brockport, enjoy starting back up classes tomorrow. Remember, for many of you it is your last semester at the college; there’s no going back now. May 15th will be here before any of us can even realize it.

If I could go back in time,
Wouldn't change a damn thing in my life,
Love the dumb things we do when we're young;
But the best is yet to come.

Oh! Go for it, run toward it, dive in headfirst!
Live life with no regret!
Put your heart out there, don't be scared, you might get hurt,
But it's all worth it in the end!
'Cause the best is yet to come.
[Hinder – The Best Is Yet to Come]

I think this about wraps it up for me.

Love you all,

Dana

Dia dhuit (that would be 'hello' in Irish Gaelic!). Here's the recap of the last few days. Decided to try and keep this journal at least semi-regularly updated while I'm in Waterford, Ireland for four months. I want to have some memories to look back on, in my own words.

Tuesday/Wednesday, 19/20-01-2010:
Day o' travel. Left Buffalo at 11:41AM. Definitely cried at goodbye with Mom (she started it). Arrived to JFK. Met up with Elizabeth, Garrett, and Jenn. Wandered about and got to our plane.
Left about 5:45PM. Hottest flight ever (never been so uncomfortable on a flight). Wicked cute baby in front of us that loved Elizabeth and I. Played trivia with Garrett, watched 'The Ugly Truth', and watched (some of) '500 Days of Summer' all on our in-flight TVs. Ended up feeling incredibly nausea and ill with about an hour or so left on the flight.
Arrived in Dublin about 5AM or so local time. Still pitch black & was misty rain (as we expected). Immigration guy was super helpful & we had no problems (which we had been prepared to have). Got on our bus to go to Waterford. Started to not feel so great again about a half hour in. The bus ended up getting filled with high school students (no school buses over here!). Waited till they got off to get sick. Definitely vomitted more than once in plastic bags. Awful, just awful. The most winding, twisting, bumpy, up/down/all-around roads are in Ireland and definitely felt every move of the bus.
Arrived in Waterford at about 11AM or so? Don't really know. Met Joe who is our college supervisor while here. Good guy. Gave me a ride to our housing because I apparently looked like death (and felt like it too). Cute apartment building (all students). Went to our rooms (we were all in different ones, which we won't stoked on then but are OK with now). Took a few hour nap (I wanted to sleep off the nausea; didn't happen).
Met back up with Joe & the other four at about 4PM. Got the low down on our school-related work (papers, internships, expectations, etc.). Then set out to explore a bit of the city. The city centre has TONS of shopping/food and is prety awesome. Had a sandwich with just ham & butter with water to drink for dinner, much to scared to try and eat anything else (especially not the greasy stuff all around).
Came back to the building and went up to Elizabeth's room. Met her roommates (Sinead & Dan). Both are super, super fun. Ended up hanging out there for the night. They had friends come over who got high (weed & many other drugs are completely legal here) and were soooo entertaining. Elizabeth & I were dying laughing at them/with them. Good guys. Went to bed (finally) at like 1AM.

Thursday, 21/01/2010:
Had planned to meet up with everyone to go out. Without a cell phone or alarm clock, ended up getting woken up at about 1:30PM by Elizabeth. Got ready. Headed out to immigration to get registered. After a bit of wandering & asking for directions, found the Garda station. Turns out the guy couldn't do our papers then. Sad.
Went back to the shopping district. Picked up cell phones from Meteor (one of the popular companies here) and they have decent plans (we get free calls/texts to others on Meteor, and have 25c text to US & 50c per minute calls to US. However, Mom edited her Verizon plan back home so she calls me and it's cheaper for her while not charging me anything). Also got a cute rain coat & soft purple blanket from Penneys (not JC Penny's, just Penneys). Did a tiny bit of grocery shopping at Dunne's (just enough for the night).
Came back to the building. The five of us got together and made pasta with alfredo & chicken for dinner. Delicious. Split up a bit and then Elizabeth, Garrett, and I decided to go back out on the town. It started with wanting to buy alcohol (which they stop selling at 10PM here, yea! yea!) and ended with us deciding to go to bars/pubs.
First stop was Wacky Apple. Awesome joint. Dark, relaxed, laid back, cool bartender. First drink in Ireland? Coors Light. Yea, you read that right. Second drink was Bulmers (Irish cider, like a sweet champagne taste almost). After WA (which closes at midnight, yea! yea! Brutal here!) we went to some little bar. Met an older drunk Irish man who had us try Power's whiskey (sipping whiskey) and who also had a wicked thing for Elizbathe (HILARIOUS to Garrett & I). For the record, Dana does not do whiskey. Made it through maybe 3/4 of it, cringing the whole time. Ended up leaving that bar and going in to the lounge next door (which we later found out was connected from the inside as well). This lounge had a live cover band and it was pretty fantastic. At one point in the night met a boy from Amherst, NY and found out he too is here for the semester and staying at the same place as us. Insane. The guy he was with also developed a thing for Elizabeth and is now trying to ask her out on a date via text. Funny.
Story of the night. Went to the bathroom the first time we were at the bar/lounge. Drunk girls were singing Sarah McLachlan in it. When I went back the second time, approxmiately 40 minutes later with Elizabeth, they were still in there. And had recruited strangers to sing with them. I wish this was a joke but it is not. Fantastically hilarious.

Friday, 22/01/2010:
Woke up not feeling so hot. Possibly due to the alcohol, more than likely due to the odd sleep pattern/lack of sleep. Got ready and met up with Kate, Jenn, and Garrett to go to the other WIT campus to get our international student papers. A bit of a walk, but was super fun. Went past Waterford Crystal as well as a multi-sport complex. Beautiful area; not as consumer driver as the City Centre, but what you expect of Ireland (hills, green, quaint houses).
Made it to the campus to find the office closed for lunch. Awesome. Hit up the student cafe/restaurant for our own food. Tried a ham sandwich & some spring onion and cheese chips. Bad. They like to put shredded yellow and white cheese on stuff here, and it is STRONG. Do not like at all. The chips were a bit too onion for me. Probably ate only a 1/4 of my entire lunch. Still had time to kill so hung around on campus (I napped, they played games on cell phones). Finally went to the office only to have to fill out a 3-second paper. Fantastic. Found out we can't get our student ID cards because no one knows our registration information (we're only partially/temporarily registered so that's just great(not)).
Began to walk back towards the city. Ended up back in the shopping district to finally pick up converters for our wall plugs (need to go get another one as 1 is just not cutting it with all the stuff I have to plug in). Went to Spar, a mini mart type place right by the apartments. THERE WAS TIM HORTON'S!! Well, OK, it was only a little section disply (like the mini one's at Top's) but still, holy crap! IN IRELAND!!! Made my day, can't stop talking about it. Garrett & I decided to finally eat again (seeing as lunch was a bust) and got meatball subs thinking they'd be OK. Yea, not so much. It's not marinara sauce but instead like a sweet sauce. They once again used yellow and white cheese which was nasty. Also, there were strips of onions on it? WTF? Barely ate 1/4 of it as well before putting it in the fridge and pretending it wasn't there.
Hooked up with Garrett & Elizabeth to finally go real grocery shopping at Lidl (a German version of Aldi's is the best way to explain it). Good times in the store. Ended up getting a lot of bulk food to split amongst ourselves, and thus save money all around.
Decided to do group taco night. All got together in Elizabeth's room again and went to town. Once again, delicious. However, the shredded cheese was once again nasty and sorta ruined the taco for me (thankfully I put only a tiny bit on because I had a feeling it wouldn't end well).
After dinner, proceeded to plan the trip for Saturday to Kilkenny. Originally booked a hostel (which we had been told was the best) but then found out the bus line doesn't run on Sunday's back to Waterford till amost 11PM. Considering we start internships Monday morning, not the best plan. So ended up deciding on the 10AM bus in and the 6PM bus back.

Saturday, 23/01/2010:
Woke up and got ready to meet down in the lobby at 9 to walk to the bus station. Ended up seeing the American boy I met in the bar again with a girl. Turns out they, along with 2 other Americans and a Canadian (the rest of the North American students here) were also going to Kilkenny. So crazy/funny. Finally got all four of us together (Kate, Elizabeth, Garrett, myself) and headed across town to the bus.
Got on said bus and went for another long, windy, up/down/all-around drive. Began to feel awful about 30 minutes in. Not cool. And then it happened. We missed our stop because I had counted how many away it was. Ended up in Carlow, but thankfully a bus going back was only 5 minutes away. The nice man let us on for free, understanding the situation. And thus, we made it to Kilkenny.
According to Kate's Ireland book, the best restaurant in town was Langton so we went. And it was AMAZING. I had a grilled chicken panini (chicken, mozzarella, and honey mustard mayo). DELIIOUSLY AMAZING AWESOME!!! It was the first meal (outside of the ones we cooked ourselves) that I a) liked the taste of entirely and b) my body did not reject later. Perfect start to the day. Everyone else loved their meals as well, and I definitely agree it's the best eat in town.
First stop, Kilkenny Castle. A CASTLE!!! I SPENT THE DAY IN A CASTLE!!! It's soooo cool. Toured it for a bit, asking questions and reading up on history. It blows our mind so much history is all around here (when in America we think things from 1910 are old, try 1500s!) and so beautiful. Beautiful gardens/grounds. Also they had on display large angel statues that were painted (sorta like the Buffalos painted around the city). We got to sign one, the Kilkenny Angel, which is also apparently going to be moved around Ireland on display.
After the castle, decided to explore the town. Asked a women in a shop places to go and she suggested the old churches. Checked out two of them (Catholic and Dominican). So insane. The Catholic church had a crazy old cemetery on it's grounds and the Dominican church had wicked awesome stained-glass windows. Very beautiful, traditional, old, and awe-inducing.
Explored the town all day. Went in shops. Bought some postcards to scrap book with. Kate began her pint glass collection. Got an eclair from an actual pastry shop (insanely perfect in my mouth). Stopped in at a local pub for a drink (well, Garrett tried the local beer which he said was good and the rest of us did not).
Hopped the bus home and slept the whole way back practically. Woke up just as we reached Waterford. Got back to the building and decided to have grilled cheese & tomato soup. Elizabeth (thank God) had bought white cheese which turned out to taste just like American yellow (though it's not called that) so I could enjoy a sandwich. Seriously, the cheese here is so not right most of the time and it makes me really sad because I LOVE cheese.
Everyone else decided to go out at 10PM but due to exhaustion I opted out. Everyone else so far as taken a day/night off somewhere, and tonight is mine.
So here I sit, uploading pictures, writing this, watching Comedy Central, and just being.

Here's some general things that are spread across many days:
All our roommates go home on weekends. They live anywhere from 1-4 hours away, but they all go home. It's odd. Also, I've only briefly met one of my roommates (Emma) and have not met the other at all (Damien).
Heat & hot water. Oh god. My room sucks for heat as my heater does not work well, if at all. The building itself is not well heated and thus hallways are freezing too. It is NOT fun, at all. Now, to get hot water you have to set a timer thinger. I (thankfully) got a hot shower on the first try, but no one else seems to be able to work it properly. I'm scared it may have just been a fluke and I will later on tonight finally experience the freezing cold shower that everyone else has had. It's just so weird to us because we're used to these things just happening/being there. But no, because they use sooo much electiricty here (as in all outlets have on/off switches) you have to turn on things/preheat them all.
The internet is awful. Have to plug in to the walls, no wireless here. It is as slow as dial-up in my opinion. Apparently it's just the way the building's internet is, as Sinead said back at her house her broadband is wicked fast. It really sucks. I tried to Skype with mom and grandma last night but the calls kept getting dropped after 30 second. I could hear mom's voice a bit but I never once got her video up. Apparently video chats are just too much for the internet to handle here.
The style here clothing wise is much different. VERY rarely see any girls in jeans & a hoodie (besides us). Very much in to knee high boots over pants/leggings. Always with accessories (especially scarves or headbands). Not necessarily dressed up, but always put together.
They serve their beer cold just like us. Also, they have a big selection of beer and liquor. Have no idea where the myths of the opposite came from.
The weather is doable. Today was chilly for sure and foggy. Have had a couple sunny days and only one truly rainy day (one was misty at best). Should have packed more hoodies, have no idea why I didn't.

Till next time,
D