Following My Bliss

Gosh I’m behind on updating. Whoopsies? Just haven’t been motivated. No one has been really as of late. I think we’re hitting the mid-point lull. I’m only going to highlight important stuff instead of going on about stuff that is trivial at best.

Kirsten & Kerri Visit, March 5-12, 2010:

Fabulouusssss!!! They got in early Saturday morning and after a nap, we made tacos for dinner. Went to Doolan’s that night to listen to the Irish band. Gotta say, I’m beginning to learn the words to songs and can sing along. Pretty fun. Left there and tried to go meet up with everyone else at Ruby’s. Went in and it was PACKED. The worst I have ever seen it. Literally body to body crushed together packed. Took us ages to get across the bar and to Woodman’s, which was equally packed. What the hell?? So we left there and decided to go to Mason’s for the first time. Compared to Ruby’s, the place was empty. Had a drink or two, talked with some guys, and danced to ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. I’d say it was a good night. :D

On Sunday we went to Tramore beach. It was really, really cold out but sunny and well hell, we were on a beach so can I really complain?? We even made lunch to sit and eat while looking out over the water. Awwww. Tried to walk and find a castle but no dice. Ended the day sitting in the diner drinking tea and talking. Good times. Stayed in that night and Kerri made us chicken parm & spaghetti. DELICIOUS. Way to go on the cooking thing Kerri, way to go.

The girls spent Monday in Cork/Blarney/Midleton while I spent it at work. They enjoyed their outing, kissed the stone, drank some whiskey, and had fun (or so they told me).

Tuesday we spent all around Waterford. First we headed down to the Waterford Crystal building only to find it CLOSED. WHAT? I swear to God when we got here the visitor center was still open! (Later on I went on the website and it quite literally just closed a week prior, and a new center is opening in June just after I leave. Of course it is!) We went on a crazy shopping spree in Penny’s, picking up tons of stuff from dresses to jewelry for really cheap. I’m talking like 14 pieces for like €75. I could NEVER do that back home, ever. The girls loved it, which was probably the most important. Headed over to Doolan’s for pub lunch. Good stuff. Shopped around a bit more, finally finding a place to buy Waterford Crystal. I got mom a shamrock and Kerri got her sister a wedding present. Did some more walking around a shopping at Dunne’s (three more items for like €25, holla!). Finally went to meet Diane (my social work advisor from Brockport that was over on vacation/’visiting’). Met her and her daughters at the Granville Hotel and shared a drink and a chat. Afterwards, headed back to the apartment.

Wednesday & Thursday I worked while the girls spent one day in Dublin and another in the room catching up on schoolwork. Good deal. We spent one night sitting in my room reminiscing about high school and sharing current gossip on people from high school. We realized that we can name like 7 guys who turned out to be gay from our class (not saying that in a bad way, just an odd realization). Also waaaay too many people getting married or having babies (rarely do they do both). We decided by still being in college, without babies and without husbands, we are the normal ones.

Friday the girls went off to Kilkenny while I went off to work. Unfort their bus would get back while I was at work, keeping them locked out of the apartment. So when I got back at 10, I figured maybe they’d be waiting, but they weren’t. I kept going downstairs and outside every 15-20 minutes until about 1AM with no sign of them. Finally I decided to go to back, and just hope for the best.

Not fifteen minutes later do they come stumbling in. And I mean stumbling. They were TRASHED. Apparently they decided to have a couple drinks while waiting for me, which turned in to meeting some Texans, and having people buy them lots of drinks (beer to shots). Any attempts at telling me things (including stuff about buses?) was against their better judgment because neither of them made any sense. I did get out of them that Kerri “puked all over Waterford” and Kirsten “spoke Spanish for a while”. Kerri pretty much just passed out on the floor. Kirsten got changed and attempted to write an email on my computer, all the while falling every which way all over the room. At the time I was more upset because I had been so worried about them, but now it’s effin’ hilarious the state they were in. Holy sweet baby cheese & rice were they drunk!!!

Next day the girls weren’t as in rough shape as I thought they’d be. However they did (finally) manage to explain to me that because they were flying out of Shannon and buses don’t run frequently on the weekends, they’d have to leave today and stay the night up there because there wasn’t an early enough bus on Sunday. Pretty bummed out we weren’t able to go horseback riding then (which we had booked for 2PM and their bus to go to Shannon was at 4PM). Instead we went out to Sumatra cafe for breakfast (soooo good and cheap and I can’t wait to go back) and then came back to pack up everyone’s stuff. My souvenir suitcase was full :)!

On the way down to the bus station, Kerri and I went in to McDonald’s to get our first Shamrock shakes of the year. While in Ireland. It was yet another one of those moments that made me go ‘Yea, coming here was in fact a great idea Dana, good call’. Elizabeth & I saw them off, and I was definitely sad to see my little slices of Americana go (as I took to calling them).

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2010:

Got up and ready. Decided to wear my Ireland ‘Pub Crawl’ t-shirt I bought in Galway (been dying for an excuse and today seemed like a good one). Went up to Jen’s room and opened my bottle of wine at 10:30AM.

Garrett showed up and the drinking games started a bit. Learned and played Asshole and King’s Cup. Pretty fun/funny. By about noon/noon-thirty Marlee and Chris finally arrived. Eventually headed off to the parade with a decent buzz going on (I didn’t finish the bottle of wine, but came pretty damn close, and had a Bud to cap it off).

The parade sucked. My coworkers told me it would, but I still wanted to go cause, oh yea, we’re in Ireland and it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m going to take part in the festivities!! But seriously, it sucked. It was pretty much just every children’s sports team or organization marching along. A couple bands. Like two floats. Some cars that were supposed to be vintage but definitely weren’t. And did I mention no one was throwing candy to us??? I wanted a tootsie roll, dammit!

After standing there for a bit, we started to walk down a ways towards the quay. When the parade finally finished we decided to go get lunch at a pub. And apparently so did everyone else. After checking out three separate places, all which were packed, we went to (surprise) Doolan’s! And of course we got a table right away. Hanne met us here and we got lunch. I got bacon and cabbage (though it was more like ham & potatoes), and it was awesomeeee. Not Grandma’s corned beef & cabbage, but I’ll take it because it was made in Ireland and it was St. Paddy’s Day.

We left and headed over to Wacky Apple’s, picking up cards on the way. Did a shot of Baby Guinness before going upstairs. Ended up sitting in Wacky’s for at least two hours playing drinking games and acting like fools. After a bit decided to head back to the Manor hoping to make it to a party in Manor Two, but missing it by a bit. Instead went back to Jen’s room and continued drinking & playing card games with her roommates. I played DJ with iTunes (and I'll brag, I was great at it).

I decided to go to back to my room at 9:30 or so once some drama started and it became apparent despite what they were saying no one was going out to the bars. Instead changed clothes, put on Boondock Saints, and fell asleep.

St. Patrick’s Day was good by me.

Truly bizarre part of the day though was children in pubs/bars. WTF? At Wacky’s a woman quite literally had a baby in a stroller a mere five feet from the bar. What.The.Hell??? Also while we were upstairs her older child was up there yelling at a group of lads for moving a table saying she was going to tell her mother on them. It was insane!!! Apparently the law is children can be in the bars till 9PM on St. Paddy’s Day but no one really follows it? Or something? I don’t know. It’s really fucking weird all around.

Nothing else major to report. We’re planning a trip at the moment to go away for Easter weekend to Doolan, Cliffs of Mohr, and the Aran Islands. Assuming the ferry is running, we have it all good to go with hostels and the like. Really excited to get out of Waterford for a few days and just relax in one of the most gorgeous areas of Ireland. Though to be fair I haven’t really found a part of Ireland I haven’t found gorgeous just yet. Probably because it’s all new to me.

Traveling so much here, and talking to coworkers, has actually given me a better appreciation for America. A lot of the places we visit here in Ireland the people who have lived here for decades haven’t been too. They talk about visiting this and that in Europe or in America. And I realize through this that there are a TON of places in America that I’d like to see and appreciate. I’ve been to a few cities and such, but I want to do more. I want to go to New York City or Down South or to the Mid-West. Chicago? Nashville? Dallas? Seattle? Yes, please, all of the above.

I tried beans on toast today (a “staple” Irish food). Didn’t taste bad, but wasn’t amazing either. However, though my taste buds allowed it my insides are not agreeing with it. Not.Good. In fact, feeling reeeaaaaallllyyyy shitty (double meaning, anyone?). Ugh. The things I do for my kids at work, seriously.

Who am I kidding, I love those little shiests to bits. :D

Love,

Dana

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

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