Following My Bliss

Things have been so insanely great lately!!!

Louise told me last Monday that I would be ending my internship on the 30th with her because she has exams the following week and is taking her vacation time then to get that stuff out of the way.
So I emailed Mom telling her this.
Last Wednesday during volunteer night I checked my phone during a break and found a text from her that simply read 'So what do u think if I came to visit the first week of May? Luv Mom'.
Needles to say I FREAKED and immediately called her. And she was totally serious. Everyone at work was sooo excited for me and I'll admit, I got a little teary. That night she sent me her itinerary.

On Friday we were talking and she asked me if I were to go to London how many days would I need? And I said three or four. Her reply? 'Well look in to some hotels & flights and we'll do it'.

ARE.YOU.SERIOUS?!?!?!?!

So I spent the rest of the night researching and organizing and figuring it all out. Mom basically put her week plans in my hands and I went to TOWN.

Our itinerary reads as follows:
She'll arrive the 1st. We will stay in Waterford from then till Tuesday morning in a hotel by the Quay. (Monday is a Bank Holiday and the bus doesn't go to Dublin, which messed up my original plans but I adjusted).
On Tuesday morning we will take the bus up to Dublin and then fly to London. We will stay in London from Tuesday night till Friday early morning. Our hotel is right by Hyde Park and within a couple miles of every major site (Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, ect.). It's also right by the Paddington tube station which makes it easy to get to from Heathrow (there's a 15 minute express train every 15 minutes!).
Friday morning we will hop an early flight back to Dublin. We're going to site see Dublin for the day and stay the night in a hostel before she flies back to NY on Saturday. I will return to Waterford for the weekend (having found out changing my flights is not a financially smart decision) and will myself fly home on Wednesday.

Every time I talk about going to London I shake a bit and can't stop perma-grin. I've dreamed of this since I was a kid. I would buy out of date travel books from used bookstores on London and scour them for hours. I have been fascinated with British culture for just as long. I used to watch the BBC Channel on TV for goodness sake!
This is just...absolutely insane. I won't honestly believe I'm there till we land in Heathrow. Any and all pictures I take will feature the biggest damn smile I can manage, promise.
London, I can't wait to embrace you and love on you for three days. Cannot.WAIT!!!!

Aside from London, I was stoked to just know my mom was coming to visit. I wasn't sure what we were going to do for a week in Waterford (I was planning some crazy Irish travel instead) but just to have her here means a lot. My brother's really upset he can't come out (can't afford it) and I feel bad for him. But he also doesn't know my mom plans on taking us on a cruise for my Grad school present soooo shhhh...his is coming!!! Haha!





On the internship front, I'm sad it'll be ending a week earlier than I thought in a way. I have my hours in, so that's not a problem. I guess I just need to prepare myself to cut ties. Some of these kids I have generally come to really like and become attached to (it was bound to happen!) and to say goodbye will be sad. I know they're in good hands though, and even though I wasn't here long I like to think I made an impact in some way. Maybe something so simple as teaching them something about what it's really like in America; just opening their eyes a bit. I'll take it. I want to come in like four years and see where they're at. Especially some of the boys who are definitely very tough. I'd love to see them as respecful, decent young men with future plans. I'll always hope for them, always.

My coworkers said we need to go out as a goodbye. They want to take me to some place called Jack Mead's (sp?). Apparently it's a kickass restaurant/bar/club out in the middle of no where. It has killer land around it, with like ponds and stuff. We're gonna go the Saturday after my last night, so my mom will be with us too. There will be BBQ for dinner and then a DJ at 9 or so. I plan on having a few drinks and having a lot of laughs. I'm going to miss the coworkers. They've been so nice to me, and so much fun. I always have at least one good laugh at work each day, usually due to Katrina (that woman is pure hilarity I think). Louise has been so sweet and wonderful as my supervisor, and soooo helpful. Same for Maggie, who although not my real supervisor has taught me a lot as well. I really feel I've gained some useful knowledge and skills while at SHY.





On Friday I noticed my leg foot/ankle was swollen twice the size of my right.

This happened once before sophomore year. I ended up in the ER and mom ended up driving up at like midnight to be with me. They did a scan on my leg and found no blood clot and sent me on my way. I went to my ortho not too long after and they put me in this good-awful half-leg walking boot. I only wore it for a couple hours. The swelling went down on it's own. After this, some other stuff happened with my knee and leg and such and it culminated with me having knee surgery Spring Break 2008.
Since then, it's been golden (for the most part). My knee still hurts in cold/rainy weather, which is pretty common. I can run again though and bend and it doesn't wake me up in the middle of the night. My ankles are still looser, and my calf muscles are still too tight at times, but all is much better than it was.

Anyways, on Friday my foot/ankle blew up. I called mom in a bit of a panic because it hadn't happened in a while. She wasn't sure what to do with me, and considering I couldn't find any urgent care clinics online around here we decided to wait until I went the ER route. She said if I was home she would have taken me right away but being a country away I was hesitant to just go (health care isn't like it is back home, trust me). She's convinced I have rheumatoid, if not something else. Her main concern was that this time it was a blood clot which could go to my heart and then it'd be 'Bye Bye Dana'. But because the pain was only in one exact spot in my calf and there wasn't much redness, we decided to give it some time.
So I made a make-shift ice pack (wet towel in a bag in the freezer) and elevated my leg. It didn't really go down too much but I didn't really feel like calling Elizabeth at 11PM for a bonding experience to the ER. So we agreed I'd just say a prayer, go to bed, and hope it was better the next day.

Her phone call woke me up the next day. The swelling had gone down, but my ankle was still big. Throughout the day it blew back up, not as bad as the night before, but still bigger than my right foot. Fabulous. Elevated it some more and just whatever. By Sunday my foot was no longer bad, but my ankle joint is still swollen to this day.

For the past month or so when I walk to work after about 15 minutes my calf/shin start to tighten/hurt. I just assumed it had to do with walking too fast and cramping up. But now with this, I dunno.
Currently there's one spot in my calf that still really f#ckin hurts. Like right in the middlel pure sharp pain as I sit here. It feels like a knot almost, but when I touch it it's not. It don't know what to make of it at this point.

Can't wait to go to the doc when I get home! Gonna be good times, I tell ya!

Also on the schedule for when I get home will be wisdom teeth removal. It will at least be the bottom ones. I've put it off long enough, and now they're starting to come through, and something needs to be done. Sigh. Gonna be great fun on that one too!!




I'm currently working on my papers. I have the WIT portfolio half done. It is sooo easy by comparison to Bport. The sections are 2000 words each, which is like 5/6 pages. That's a JOKE compared to the 20 pages I'm supposed to do for my Comprehensive Case Analysis. Of course I should probably do the Evidence-Based Research paper first, which was due a week and a half ago. It's just hard to be in internship 4 days a week and do papers. When I come back from work at anywhere from 7-10PM the last thing I want to do is write. And I do spend Tuesdays (my off day meant for working on papers) doing them, but one day isn't enough to get all my errands and papers in.
Tonight I'm skipping Roomie TV Night to keep working. Shitty. I feel bad missing Grey's & Desperate Housewives. But I have to get my portfolio to Louise on Monday for review and technically the Comp Case is due then too sooo... Time is certinaly of the essence right now!!

Love & miss you guys!
(I'll try to get stories up from Lehinch/Doolin/Inishmore sometime soon. I know, they happened a couple weeks ago now practically but I've been busy, OK? haha)

New Dana Life Rule: When feeling odd/homesick/PMSy/out-of character, I will not drink and go online to talk with everyone and their brother. I will EITHER drink OR go online. These two things from here on out are mututally exclusive to one another.

Good news is I am out of said weird funk and hindsight is totally 20/20. Mmmm, clarity. I was a dramatic, over-emotional mess. I said uncertain things to waaaaay too many people. I was looking to manifest emotions in the wrong way in the wrong people. Of course, my real friends will know to take everything I said with a grain of salt if it was about a 'serious' topic. Was I sloppy, fall on my face drunk? Negative. But I was just in a happy/emotional/loose place where the filter was broken and my head was all 'Oooo, shiney!!!'. In all honesty, the way I felt Friday night I do not feel whatsoever today. I think about Friday night and go 'Really, Dana? You're an idiot'. I let myself get the better of me, no doubt.

Also, I now know what friends I should take advice from and which ones I should ignore with my fingers in my ears going 'La la la la la la!'.

I just need to grow up. Plain and simple.

That being said, I'm going to pretend Friday night just didn't happpen. You can either do the same or not, your choice, but I'm telling you right now, I pressed the delete button on that shitshow yesterday. It meant nothing and therefore will recieve the nothing treatment of nothingness.

No more country music for Dana for a long time. That stuff brings out the worst in me! LOL ;P

New topics: Only working two days this week. Next week two definitely, maybe three. Friday & Monday are bank holidays (Good Friday, Easter Monday) so my week is automatically shortened.

We moved the groups to the day time because the young people are on Easter break for the next two weeks. Tonight's group wasn't moved (the older girls) so I'm working 5-9. Also with tonight's group we're going to hopefully get the other side of last weeks discussion where the girls that did come told us their group isn't fun anymore and they feel like it's losing it's purpose. It was seemingly out of nowhere and the leaders (who've worked this group for ages) were really hurt by it (understandable). Maybe it was just an off week for them? Maybe it's JUST them? We'll find out.

As for this week, we're leaving Thursday for Doolin/Aran Islands(Inishmore). Going to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Also going to watch the sunset and drink beers with Elizabeth and write down my thoughts and read my book and just BE. Cannot wait to just go and see and be and relax. I'm really excited to see these gorgeous places and take too many pictures and just laugh. Hopefully, we'll just laugh that is. Really sick of the drama that doesn't go away for some people.

They're doing kitchen inspections this week as well. Usually our stuff happens on the first day but still they haven't shown. It's spotless out there (I made sure of it and the boys surprisingly cleaned a ton before they left Fridaay. I was impressed for real). I'm giving them another half hour to get here then I'm making my dinner and they can get pissy at me for 'leaving dishes in the strainer', even though that means their clean and isn't that better than them sitting on the table dirty and getting moldy? Somethings just don't make sense in these apartments. Actually, a lot doesn't make sense in these apartments.

Enjoying the 2 weeks to have the apartment to myself though, not gonna lie. I like being able to watch what TV I want to watch whenever I want. It's nice to not feel like I'm intruding on Emma and her boyfriend (who mind as well just be called roommate #4 in apartment 118 at this point).

I need to go dry my hair, prepare for work after the hellacious Friday night DVD-drop in, and make dinner.

Peace, love, and learning ya'll!!

EDIT: Home from work. Was asked/told not to be in group tonight because the other leaders are obviously taking this very seriously and I'm still the new girl and my presence may effect how open the girls/leaders can be with each other. A little sad but totally understandable.
Instead spent an hour and a half with Louise bitching about DVD night from Friday and going through old pictures of those in the SHY. Best part? I'll get to write I spent 8 hours in today for that! Boom baby!
Now I will make spaghetti & sauce and watch Mythbusters, complete with announcer redubbing of a British man.
Passed kitchen inspection. They appreciated the effort. Good deal.

Oh Grey's Anatomy. Even though I knew what was going to happen (because Ireland is wicked behind) I still cried like a baby.
"Bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. Good dreams, good dreams, here to stay."
"You have to do it 3 times or it doesn't work."
Callie & Arizona are the best. I love torturing Emma a bit by reminding her I know what's going to happen and she doesn't. :D Also, Sloan's daughter needs to appear ASAP because I've been holding that one over her head since I got here.
I have to wait 2 weeks for another episode though because of soccer. Ah, just like America!! Except it's never soccer that interrupts our programming schedule.

We're going to Galway this weekend!!!! It appears to be only be myself, Elizabeth, and Garrett. I am OK with this. Kinda wish it would be more people but at the same time not? Elizabeth tells me there's a castle. And we all know how much Dana loves a good castle.

One good thing about all of us though is we're all procrastinating our papers back home. Or more like struggling to write them. Things just aren't as structured here as in America. These aren't social work agencies really, they're social care. They run under the management of a few people, not an HR Department and a Finance Department. It's busy and chaotic and everyone's holding on by their fingernails.
I wouldn't change it for a second. OK, well maybe I'd wish them all a bigger budget. Everyone could use that these days.

GMa's care package made my day. More easy mac, my favorite Keibler cookies, my favorite chocolates, and real hot chocolate packets that you make with hot water and not with milk in the microwave. She also included a thing of Jif smooth peanut butter. Even though we have peanut butter here, it's just not Jif. You all know what I'm talking about.
Hershey's, I have missed you!!!

Of course today was my day off and I wanted to go in to the city centre to shop and it had to rain. Wonderful. Thanks a lot Mother Nature. Real cute. Just get it out of your system before this weekend please.

Kirsten & Kerri arrive next Friday. Wooooo!!!! Trying to figure out what we'll be doing but around my internship schedule. A little tricky but we'll make it work. I really hope I can show them a good time. I'm going to feel bad if they're bored here or something. Also, nooo idea how we're going to pull off the sleeping situation but that's a battle we'll win when they get here.

Dave randomly sent me a text Monday morning to see how I was. Completely made my day and possibly my week. My brother is too awesome.

Pretty much wrote this just to put off my paper a little longer. Guess I should get on that. Tomorrow's my early day at work (11AM) so I actually have to go to bed before 2AM. Bummer.

Hope all is well with everyone. Take care.
<3
Dana

It's been a while.

We didn't have internet from Saturday night to yesterday so I'm going to stick with blaming that and not my own laziness for my lack of entries.

My new internship is stellar. The workers/volunteers are all super fun and amazing. The kids are interesting and fun and keep you on your toes. It's so different from anything I've done before and I think that's why I love it even more. I get to work with girls and boys from ages 8 to 16 (or there abouts). It makes me happy to know I may be able to positively impact them and help them make good decisions in their lives. I have learned the little things truly do matter and anything can be made in to a learning experience.

During my first supervisor meeting on Friday, Louise told me I'm doing really good. She can't believe I've never worked with kids before like this. She praised me for just being like 'Here I am, deal with me' (AKA not being shy and having no shame) and not being afraid to converse with the kids. I take what they throw at me in stride. It's good to know I'm fitting in well and not messing up anything too badly.

This morning I attended a 'training' session with other area youth workers. We learned a bunch of group games we could play with the kids. They are meant to be fun, but there's more to them like learning about one another and instilling trust in each other. It was so, so much fun and I really enjoyed being a part of it. I hope to some day be able to take what I learned here and apply it in America.

Another small world moment: Maggie (the other worker at SHY) and I realized today that her family (I can't remember who specifically) lived in the town near where my brother used to live in Virginia. Absolutely crazy.

Not being able to watch the Olympics is killing me. The coverage is limited here (as the TV stations are even more limited) and online isn't working (NBC said I can't watch because I'm international). This isn't funny anymore.
Dana.Needs.Curling!!!!
Side note: Senior year of high school we had senior study hall which was held in a cafe style room with tables and TVs. During the Winter Olympics, we put on curling on the TVs and I swear mostly everyone ended up watching and getting in to it. 2nd period senior was the best study hall ever. So this whole watching curling thing is a big deal/tradition, if you will.

Tried to go out Saturday night with the crew only to be denied entry to a 'dance club' because I was wearing a hoodie. Are you serious? Seeing as I didn't know this was the place we were going I wasn't wearing a shirt I'd wear in public underneath said hoodie (as in a small white tank top). So I went back to the apartments. Whatever Waterford, the night life in Buffalo is better anyways!!!

I've had a lot of fun lately comparing notes between Ireland and America.

It is cheaper to buy a standard transmission car here than an automatic. As in, it's standard to drive standard. You cannot be licensed to drive both either. You choose what you'll drive and that's the license you have. They also do not have cruise control, hence the title of this post. My 'supervisor' couldn't believe the concept when I explained it to her. Of course, Ireland also doesn't have the highways/thruways like America does so it's a little less usable.

Irish pancakes are not American pancakes. Theirs are thinner, more like a crepe but not that thin. I had my first one on Monday (we're making them all week for Pancake Tuesday). They do not in fact have IHOP here (who knew International didn't actually mean International!) and pancakes are really a once a year deal. I've also begun to understand the love of Nutella. Of all the toppings I tried on their pancakes, it was my favorite.

Mac & cheese really isn't a big deal here at all. When I made Easy Mac in front of Nieve & Louise they about near died (and not in a good way) to see cheese in powdered form. I kept telling them to not judge it because it's the poor college kid version of m&c. Wait till I get some Velveeta or Kraft, they won't be repulsed then (I hope).

They do not have Milk Duds or Twizzlers here. Apparently those that have visited America love them both very, very much. So weird that something so basic to us is a treat for them. Today Maggie got surprised with a pack of Twizzlers. I watched Lindsey (the community drugs worker) and Louise have them for the first time. They kept calling them licorice before eating them (which I wouldn't allow) and understood afterwards that they aren't at all like licorice. They seemed to like them OK enough.

Also on food (what the hell, I must seem so fat with all this food talk!) they do not have graham crackers here like we do. While talking with my one girls' group they asked about smores and if I love Hershey's (something else they don't really sell here because Cadbury is a big deal). They only knew how to make smores because they'd seen it on Hannah Montana!!! That is just NOT acceptable in my view!!
I've asked my mom to ship over some crackers and chocolate so one night with the girls we can make proper smores. Of course, they won't be truly proper because there's not a place to build a fire to roast marshmellows so they'll have to be microwave style. But at least they'll have the real, right crackers and chocolate.

They don't have Pam cooking spray (at least that I've seen). They use something that looks like butter but definitely isn't as cooking grease. Because they don't have Pam, I wonder if the joke in the movie Baby Mama about 'spraying a little Pam down there' isn't as funny to them?
Yes, I think about these things. And I'm a role model for kids! :P Haha!

Topper=pencil sharpener.
Press=cupboard.
Bin=garbage can.
Prom=stroller (for babies).

When you sneeze, no one says 'Bless you'. Ever.

I have my first big paper due to Brockport on Monday. Agency Profile. Thankfully, SHY has folders of info I was able to go through yesterday. They actually have folders called 'Agency Profile' and 'Community Profile'. Of course they weren't nearly as up to date as I would have liked so on Friday I have questions for Lousie to tie up loose ends. Even though it's a longer paper, I can't find it in me to complain because it's technically only one class I'm doing. My internship hardly feels like work 90% of the time but I'm definitely learning.

I am wiped out. Off to reading and bed I go.

Love you all,

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

The last American standing, right here. Bam baby, bam!!!!!

Drunkest I've felt in the past two weeks but not pass out drunk. Kinda proud, kinda sad. Oh Ireland, how you and I don't see eye to eye is amazing.

Spent the night comparing notes with Irish boys. Things are just not the same here. Totally hilarious, only sometimes awkward.

To say you've 'met' someone means you've made out with them. Who knew. Won't make that mistake again, I assue you.

Some people are just crazy. I hate having to apologize for other people's actions by association. Just don't want this drama; we're big kids now.

Have an interview at 5PM tomorrow with the SHY Project, a part of the Waterford Youth Services whatever it's called. Sounds more social work related than Jonah. Hope it goes well.

Hope I can drink away any impending hangover with water, haha!! Nah, I'm not that bad. Still managed to take off my makeup, change my clothes, and get in to my own bed. That's what I call a successful night.

The boys I was with tonight are funny/nice. Definitely hope to see them out more if only because the conversation flowed better than with anyone else I've met thus far.

I am the traitor America; no shame. Decode as you wish.

Night beeyotches!!!! Those Heinkikens were for you (yea, I switched it up tonight, wha wha!!! Still hate you Guinness lol).

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