"She's crazy, isn't she?" "I wish I could put a warning flag on her."

So I left off on the weekend. So I shall pick back up on Monday Funday.

Monday, 2-1-10:
Went to Jonah knowing it was going to be the end. Niamh came to me and told me to begin writing up my goals seeing as our meeting with Joe was later. I told her actually I wanted to talk to her about all that. So we went in her office and I just told her I wasn't going to continue. We talked about it for about five minutes and she was totally understanding. She agreed it's very school-based and if that's not what I want, that's not what I want. It was really nice and really good how it went. Like Niamh said, social care in Ireland is much, much broader than in America.

So I just sat around for the following hour or so until Joe came. Then we met with Niamh & Miriam and it went really quickly. They wished me the best, I thanked them for letting me be there, and that was that. I left with Joe after that.

Did some shopping on the way home, picked up a couple books, strolled around town. It was nice to just be solo with no real direction for a bit.

Tuesday, 2-2-10:
Absolutely no recollection if anything important happened; I'm gonna go with no. Pretty sure I slept late and read books and did nothing of significance in any shape or form.

Not gonna lie, loved it.

Wednesday, 2-3-10:
Spent the day doing nothing with my life. Awesomeeeee!!!!

Decided to go out that night with everyone. And by everyone I meant my Americans, the other Americans, the Belgians, and an Austrian. Um yea, holla to the world!! I didn't plan on drinking but just going out and not being in this four walled white room any more.

First stop, Wacky Apple where we met up with everyone. Definitely sat on hobbit stools around a long table with everyone. Pretty legit and felt like right out of a movie. Realized pretty quickly to get through the night I was gonna need a drink. So I had a Heineken (my first one mind you). Yea, I'll allow it and keep going with that. Definitely toasted in Jamaican and Irish. We're so eclectic. WA closed down at midnight-ish so off we went.

Right to Ruby Lounge, everyone's favorite club. The same cover band was playing as last week; fuuuuuuuuuuuun!!! Had a couple more drinks. May have been pulled in to a 'walk-off/strut-your-stuff' party with some strangers to the cover of 'Express Yourself' (N.W.A, not Madonna). We all pretty much cat-walked across the floor showing our best Zoolander and ass-shaking moves. The band even applauded us at the end. I love this country!!

Definitely saw and lost a lot of people throughout the night. We're not very good at staying in one spot it seems. Alcohol makes us wander around in various pairings/groups. Hanne is also my new favorite person in the world; constant fun. There's never a dull moment when we're all together, that's for sure.

Side note: why is everyone here a Giants fan (be they American, Irish, or Belgian)? WTF??? Chris and I tried to hold our own for the Bills but no luck. We all did rally however when one of the girls said she was a Patriot's fan. Good to know anyone can get along to hate on Tom Brady. It all came down to the fact that Chris and I were bummed we couldn't be watching the Sabres at that moment. Also we realized we were both at the same Pens game in December; too crazy.

Anyways, I eventually went to the bar next door to see people and ran in to Dean, Paul, and Alex, the boys we met our first night here in Elizabeth's room. I definitely spent the rest of the night sitting and talking with them. Hilarious stuff. Compared notes between America and Ireland. They asked me a lot of questions; kinda ridiculous. Their idea of America is kinda skewed on some levels. Paul (who I was told to not believe a word from anyways) thinks we're racist as well as saying he thinks America is like the movie Van Wilder. Killed those ideas pretty fast, even if he was joking.

They totally call snaps 'clicks'. Like snapping your fingers. They tried all night to get me to do the 3 snap thing all ghetto style and also the whatever hand. WTF is wrong with America that this is how the world see us?? Marlee and I did end up doing the snaps only because they kept doing it wicked wrong. But we kept telling them no respectable person actually does that in a serious manner. It's all jokes. We also really miss Jersey Shore and the fact they don't have it here.

That bar eventually closed down and off I went with four boys.

Apparently their drunk food is kabobs. The fact I had never had one was beyond them. And no, it's not a shiskabob, much to my disappointment. It's like an Indian kabob, which is really a wrap with stuff in it. Also the fact I've never had curry was not OK either. I did try a bite of a kabob but it seemed too spicy for me at the time. Knowing how my body has taken to food here I was not about to make that mistake that late at night. I wanted a garbage plate. I explained to the boys what that was; awesome reactions of disgust ensued.

Met a boy who said he was American in said kabob place. Apparently he was born in South Carolina? However, he definitely had an intense Irish accent and called it 'South Caroline' at first. I called him out on it. He told me some life story about parents moving and a brother still being there or something. I don't remember. I don't think I really cared at that point. Still don't really.

Eventually headed back towards the building with the boys. Alex and Paul live here so we went in while Dean and Joey (I think that's his name anyways) went off to their own place. They like to do this drunken goodbye thing where they say goodbye multiple times, calling out to each other. Kinda weird, definitely hilarious. They thought they were awesome so I went with it.

Came back to my room and decided to drunkenly IM. Um, Carter/Drews/Al: WTF was I even talking about?? I think Carter got the most win in his conversation but Drews got a couple good moments too. Here are some excerpts to show what I mean:

xoxAmIWrongxox (3:53:48 AM): me and my 5 litre of water are PUMPED UP
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:53:55 AM): arnold schwagneger style
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:53:59 AM): i hope i spelled that wrong
d4rksabre (3:54:17 AM): you did..excellently
d4rksabre (3:54:32 AM): in fact, it's even better that way
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:54:55 AM): hahahahaha
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:55:04 AM): holla at ya drunk irish girl and what she can do drunk
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:55:54 AM): shiest
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:55:57 AM): i need to stop laughing
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:55:59 AM): this is loud
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:56:03 AM): emma will not be pleased
d4rksabre (3:56:06 AM): seriously though, im laughing so hard at schwaganeger
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:56:56 AM): at least i didn't spell negro or worse
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:01 AM): also, americans are racist
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:02 AM): btw
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:17 AM): the irish judge us based on the movie 'van wildler'
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:19 AM): wtf man
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:19 AM): wtf
d4rksabre (3:57:26 AM): hahaha
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:27 AM): there was a lot of alcohol involved in that discussion tho
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:30 AM): so it may not be accurate
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:35 AM): they tell me paul's kinda BSer
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:38 AM): he looks like overholt
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:57:40 AM): it's insane
d4rksabre (3:57:50 AM): lol paul?
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:07 AM): WHAT
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:09 AM): HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:18 AM): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:23 AM): o
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:24 AM): wait
d4rksabre (3:58:25 AM): you just said his name...
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:25 AM): i said it
d4rksabre (3:58:28 AM): lol
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:29 AM): hahahahahahaah
d4rksabre (3:58:35 AM): apparently you = more drunk than me
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:40 AM): haahaha
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:41 AM): that's not good
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:44 AM): my liver hates us
xoxAmIWrongxox (3:58:46 AM): hahahahaah


xoxAmIWrongxox (4:02:16 AM): btw drews laughing at me right now
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:02:21 AM): def showed him my moment about paul just now
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:02:22 AM): lol
d4rksabre (4:02:34 AM): lol i think we're all sort of laughing at you a little bit
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:01 AM): shhhhh
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:09 AM): this is the bes tnight so far in ireland
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:11 AM): lemme indulge ok
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:15 AM): geeeeeezzzz
d4rksabre (4:03:24 AM): i'm the last person that would stop anyone from indugling lol
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:33 AM): lol come here
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:34 AM): seriously
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:36 AM): omg carter
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:39 AM): you'd be a friggenng HIT
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:51 AM): did i mentioned i cat-walked in a bar tonight?
d4rksabre (4:03:55 AM): hahahaha
d4rksabre (4:04:01 AM): no, but now you have lol
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:29 AM): lol
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:32 AM): i totes did
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:39 AM): this guy just grabbed me and various friends
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:42 AM): and shoved us forward
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:47 AM): i def shook my s#!t
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:50 AM): i was applauded
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:53 AM): it was grand
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:58 AM): they say that a lot, 'grand'.
d4rksabre (4:05:02 AM): f#ckin grand
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:21 AM): no
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:23 AM): just grand
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:31 AM): but when they say f#ck
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:33 AM): it's hawt
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:35 AM): :-)
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:05:37 AM): hahahahaha
d4rksabre (4:05:53 AM): yeah i bet it is ya f#ck
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:06:28 AM): hahahah
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:06:36 AM): i did tell them tho that the accent is lost on me already
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:06:38 AM): they were sad
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:06:44 AM): i told them to go to america to get laid via accent
d4rksabre (4:06:52 AM): it's true
d4rksabre (4:07:05 AM): it works on guys too
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:07:23 AM): you're gay
d4rksabre (4:07:30 AM): gimme a spry irish chick and i'm done
d4rksabre (4:07:35 AM): no homo dana
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:07:40 AM): oooookkkk surrreeee
d4rksabre (4:07:57 AM): i know it's a long shot, but ya gotta trust me here lol
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:08:52 AM): ok


dfdtrumpet (4:03:39 AM): so what time/day is it there?
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:03:55 AM): 4AM
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:03 AM): thursday
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:07 AM): the time i would normally be leaving a bar
dfdtrumpet (4:04:10 AM): ok, so you're like 5 hours ahead
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:13 AM): yep
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:20 AM): tho mat hisn't my forte right now
xoxAmIWrongxox (4:04:23 AM): it's 5
dfdtrumpet (4:04:35 AM): lol
dfdtrumpet (4:05:10 AM): i like how you managed to spell forte right in that sentance


Yea, pretty much I was that ridiculous and it still makes me laugh. (Also Drews, I like how you managed to spell 'sentence' wrong in that sentence. Hahaha!)

Moral of the story: I rock.

Thursday, 2-4-10:
Um, who was woken at 930AM by a fire alarm?

Oh right, this girl.

NOT AMUSED MANOR VILLAGE, NOT AMUSED!! Definitely tried to sleep through it (as many students have advised us to do). I almost did pull it off but after ten minutes I texted Elizabeth and asked what to do. She told me to go outside. So I went in the courtyard, still half asleep and somewhat hung-over and what did I do? Stepped in a HUGE puddle soaking through my slippers. Everyone (i.e. strangers) laughed at me. It was not cool.

Turns out Elizabeth overslept and was out front. Um, she's kinda supposed to be at her internship at 9AM. Wut-woh. Heard from her that she was out there with Marlee who was the last to see me the night before (along with Meghan) and was concerned how I got home. They didn't know that I had actually previously met the boys I was with and they weren't strangers I was just gallivanting around with.

Eventually we were allowed to no longer be standing in the rain and I promptly crawled back in to my bed. Definitely did not awake again till 1PM. How anyone managed to go in to their internships after that night was beyond me. Elizabeth, Jenn, and Hanne all said they were falling asleep throughout the whole day though. So thankful I didn't have anything to do till 5PM.

I did however head out in to the crap weather in the late afternoon to get some shopping done. Picked up Kwells, the motion sickness medicine that shall get tested this weekend. Also new Band-Aids for the awful, awful blisters I have that won't go away. Not fun, new shoes. Why must you be so cute yet so painful?

Definitely started to downpour and there was a lot of wind. AWESOME. I knew this sun and stuff was too good to last. Stereotypical Irish weather finally reared it's ugly, ugly head. I trucked on and headed to the grocery store to pick up meat and taco stuff for dinner that night.

Hung around for a bit till 5PM when I went to campus to meet with Joe for my interview at S.H.Y. Project.

It went sooooooooooo well. The girl who will be my supervisor, Louise, is also 21 years old, finishing up in college, and I'm the first person she's 'supervised'. The other worker, Maggie, has been there for a while and will be my other less-supervisor. They are the only two paid workers; the rest are all volunteers, like 50 or so. Amazing.

Louise is super cool and nice. Basically SHY is a place for kids to come to talk and hang out and be in a safe, fun environment. They cook, play sports, have a 'homework club', watch movies, and all that good stuff. They run various 'groups', depending on age and gender. They don't like to run mixed gender groups and I'm OK with that.

Basically I will never start work before 1PM and I'll spend my days with kids making sure they're in a good place. Sign me up! I got to meet one of the girls' groups. They actually requested to meet me because they've never met an American before. They were rocking aviators as they'd just had a fashion show and were playing Twister when we came in. Too precious. So excited to hug kids and support them. This is what makes me heart happy.

I left the interview with Joe with perma-grin. I told Louise this felt really good and she agreed, meaning she liked me as much as I liked her. Even Joe said he wanted to come back and do my internship (Louise sold it that well essentially).

I start Monday at 4PM, an hour before the first boys' group. Kinda nervous, really excited, and can't wait to dive right in.

Came back to the building and had tacos with the crew. Made tentative plans for this weekend. Blarney and Jameson Distillery on Saturday for sure, the old Gaol probably on Sunday.

Back in my room that night I was just getting comfy in bed when Mom called. Um, are you ready for this??

I GOT ACCEPTED TO UB!!!! I will start my social work Master's on May 17th and in one year I will be done with it. Pardon the language but F#*K YEA!!!!!!!!!!!! So pumped, you have no idea. (Side note: 99 days till graduation from Brockport. Woo!!)

Best. Thursday. Ever.

Today, Friday, 2-5-10:
Finally got the laundry situation sorted out. It sucks.

We had tried to find a laundry place outside of here that would be cheaper to do our own at but no dice. So we have to use the laundry service in this building. It's 9.50euro per 5kg. Because this was our first time and I was clearly unsure of the process the lady was really nice enough to not weigh our loads, though she did tell me we'd be over if she had. We had one of whites and one of darks (Elizabeth and I combined our laundry). So a filled laundry basket, a normal load to me back home, is too big here. It really sucks that each week we'll have to spend 19euro to do laundry basically. Totally bogus.

The hostel we're staying at this weekend in Cork does 5kg loads for 5euro so we saved clothes to do there. Sucks we have to lug a suitcase there but we need to save money where we can. Even if we have to do two loads in Cork, it's still the price of one here.

Why did I come to the dirty country that doesn't understand clean clothes and using deodorant?? (Jokes people, mostly jokes.)

Attempted to make plans to go to the movies to see Avatar today. Chris unfortunately had to go to the health office on campus and the plans got cancelled.

So here I sit.

We leave for Cork at 7:30PM tonight. Super excited. Cannot wait to go exploring this weekend.

Before we go Elizabeth is moving rooms. She cannot spend the next three months in a room of people who have their friends over every night to smoke weed and do nothing but keep her up till 2AM. I refuse to go to her room anymore because of the smell. It's not good when you have to reserve clothes to only be worn in said room so not all your clothes smell. Live and learn, right?

When we return on Sunday we'll be heading over to Paddy's apartment to watch the Superbowl. That is going to be so much fun!! Can't wait for some American sports. Heck, I just miss sports altogether. We keep finding random soccer games but it's never ManU. Ah well, I'll take what I can get!

The next blog will hopefully be full of amazing stories of exploring a city we're told is one of the best.

Peace and Love,
Dana