"Being American is hard! It's hard work!" - GW (That's for you mom & dad.)

Hey everyone,

Well I'm finally back in touch with the world, I haven't had computer access for a few days. Sorry to keep all of you avid readers hanging on the edge of your seats, (I'm sure there are scores of you). It's been driving me nuts that I haven't been writing because I know there are things that I'm going to forget, but such is life.

Thursday night I moved into my place out in Laurel Park, and for a while there I was thinking maybe my post called "Flat Sweet Flat" was a load of BS. I turned the oil on but the heat didn't come on til the next day, there was an awful stench fermenting in the kitchen, and my bed... well lets just say I'd probably be as comfortable sleeping down in Co. Clare in The Burren. (That's the area with all the rocks...) But I've since realized that the heat works very well and usually I'm so tired that the springs in my back are hardly noticeable. As for the stench... in stead of having a garbage disposal there is a section in the kitchen sink where the boys just throw all food scraps... and they just collect there until someone wraps them in newspaper and puts them out. (The waste system here is very conservative, you have to sort and recycle everything - one of many ideas that the US should but never will adopt). I have a feeling I may be the one doing this a lot, which is fine it takes 2 minutes, but the collective stink is not so great. The good thing is that all the rooms in the house are completely closed off from one another so the smell is only in the kitchen. I spent a good couple of hours cleaning inconspicuously before my roommates arrived so that I could stand it, but not offend them. Sometimes I think I have OCD...

Nakul came back on Friday so that night we hung around at home talking & getting to know each other. He's originally from Bombay, India and has been in Ireland for 4 years studying hotel management. He's a very nice guy and interesting to talk to. He then introduced me to a British show that's popular here called "The Office." I don't know if there's any way to see it in the states, but I would highly recommend it. It's about these people at work everyday with a boss who thinks he's just swell when really he's the butt of every joke. You know it takes a lot for me to really rave about a TV show... it's absolutely hilarious, and there's no laugh track which is refreshing. Rachel and Murph I especially thought of you... I might have to send a few episodes home on DVD. And by the way you would not believe how popular The Simpsons is over here - everyone quotes it constantly. Anyway, enough about TV... My other roommate James got home last night but I left a few minutes later so I didn't talk to him much - he seems nice as well. Overall the place is just fine, the only thing I'm contemplating now though is the location. It doesn't bother me that it takes 25 minutes to walk downtown, but it's really not a good idea to walk home alone in the dark, the buses don't run past 10 and cabs are spendy. Also the area by the shopping center that's 5 minutes away is very sketchy. I've had 4 people tell me never to walk alone there and I can see why - it's not exactly Beverly Hills. I think it's ok as long as it's light out though. I may keep my eyes open for another place, but I think this one will work out fine. Mark told me yesterday that if you work downtown late, the place of business has to provide a cab home by law. So maybe I could work somewhere that would do that.

Thursday night Nine, Peter (both Dutch) and I went out with Noel and his friends Will, Daniel and Alex. They took us to The Crane which had very traditional Irish music. It was really a good time. (I say that a lot, don't I?). Later we went to a dance club that was pretty strange, it looked to me like a bunch of meth heads to put it bluntly. I was talking to a guy named Artur from Poland who came and sat with us. It was really loud and his accent was almost impossible to understand. As Daniel put it, "I talked to him for 20 minutes about either chess or jazz... I'm still not sure which." Anyway, he was so difficult to understand that apparently I agreed to go to dinner with him the next day, unbeknownst to me. I certainly had no intentions of doing such because at one point Artur mentioned something about taking pictures of me for a London magazine... that's usually never a good sign. For the last three days he's been calling and texting me about dinner. As Mia says, there are times when a woman will just break down and go for the free food, but this is not one of those times...

Friday there was a very helpful international student orientation from 10 to 5:30. I finally have answers to questions I've been asking for 6 months about class selection, etc. I still won't know what exact classes I'm taking for a couple of weeks. I guess for the first couple of weeks you kind of attend the classes you're thinking about taking and just try them on for size. Then later in January they have a registration day where aparently people camp outside the night before to get in line for the classes they want. From what I here the scene is similar to lining up for the last 100 Cat/Griz tickets or something. Obviously everything is quite laid back here, a lot of students don't even come back until the 21st when classes "really start." I sat with Nine and Peter (who have begun introducing me to others as "the good American" because apparently I'm not loud, rude, ditzy or obnoxious) all day through this orientation which consisted of different lectures from officers of different departments. Boring as it sounds it actually was quite entertaining. I'm going to make a really general statement here, but the Irish are so darn funny! Some of the lectures were more like comedy hour than speeches, and they're not even trying - they just have a great sense of humor. And when I say laid back, I really mean it. Everyone is on top of their game, but nonchalant at the same time. I can sum this all up by example; at the end of the day there was a "wine reception" which was at the Student Bar, a central point on campus. If you really can't get through your day without a pint, rest assured that there is always one close by.

Above I mentioned how Nine and Peter were referring to me... let me go into this a bit. In the last few days I've really been contemplating a lot of aspects in relation to what it means to be American. Nearly everywhere I've been it seems there is always a group of Americans there. I don't mean to accuse every single one, but it's difficult not to stereotype when time and again I see them in their cliques, only talking to eachother except when they speak up and ask a dumb question just to hear themselves talk (I'm not being snooty, trust me, you know the type). Surely every nationality has their own bunch of these types, but it reallly seems to me that we Americans have plenty more in comparison. In light of this, I've been avoiding Americans at all costs, intentionally finding Nine and Peter in a room (which luckily they told me doesn't bother them). These two are so nice and I really get a kick out of them. They're teaching me a bit of Dutch as well and I think it cracks them up to hear me butcher their language. Anyway... not only have I been hanging out with them for their great company, but it seems once you get out and away from the Americans, the Europeans - and really most other nationalities - kind of flock together as well. I think they feel a little left behind because a lot of the lectures were directed toward coming here as an American, and specific measures that need to be taken for visas, etc. The exact statistics are 90% of international students in Galway are from the US, so there are roughly 500 Americans - maybe more. So there seem to be plenty of unaddressed, unanswered questions for non-American students. (I'm getting around to a point eventually, I promise.) It's great that I've made friends with a few European students because once you meet a few it kind of snowballs. However by the end of the day I was starting to get just a tiny bit perplexed that with each new person I felt like I had to work at it to earn a clean slate. Everyone was very nice and polite to me, but as I watched these other nationalities interact and meet eachother, you can tell they don't have such strong presuppositions as they do when meeting Americans. None of this is too surprising. Before I came I expected to find some bias from people when first meeting. What is frustrating though is striking a balance between several planes: trying not to be associated with the hoards of Americans that are here, not acting like I think I'm better than the Americans here, putting a disclaimer on many things our country has done, while at the same time wanting it to be known that I am patriotic and do love my country despite our downfalls. When I sit down and talk with people and explain my views, they have so far always agreed that the US has reached a level where it is destined to fail pleasing everybody. We feel that we need to do something about everything, which is often false, but if we don't do anything we'll be criticized as well. And I feel it is extremely important for people to separate the American people from the American government, ironic as that may seem. Once we reach that point I feel home free to talk about things and not seem pompous, but it is often exhausting to reach that common ground. Amid all of this, I've gained respect for listening to and considering foreign theories about my home country, but I gained equally as much respect with a comment I made yesterday to a few people. We were talking about where we want to be in 10 or 15 years and I mentioned that even though there are tons of things I want to do and see, eventually I just want to live a peaceful life in Montana. I think people everywhere can relate to frustrations with their own nations, but sentimental ties that bind at the same time.

While criticizing and defending my country daily, I never have any trouble passionately trying to persuade everyone to come to Montana. And while I am here I'm doing my best to leave a bit of Montana in Ireland. To most of you this will mean nothing, but Rachel I've taught a few people the phrase "Sack up Sally!" and convinced them to spread the word. (The phrase just came out one night, and then of course I had to explain it.) They thought it was a very Irish ideal to sack up sally, but that it needed an Irish twist. So they changed it to "Sack up Sinnead" (pronounced Shinade). The phrase might even make it to Holland through Nine who's now saying it. Look what you started Rach! Everyone keeps asking what it was like to grow up in Montana. They can't believe everyone has guns. They do some hunting here and massacre rabbits and marmots like we do to gophers. (The call spotlighting "lamping"). But it seems odd to them that people just drive around with a rifle in the back window of their pickup. Which reminds me - I have yet to see even one pickup while I've been here... not one! I think I've seen 2 SUV's. Anyway, back to me spreading the Montana fever... something they hadn't heard (I keep saying they as if I've talked to everyone in Ireland, sorry) was the idea of floating the river. Here the rivers are like class 5 rapids, in January anyway, so the idea of 20 people floating down the river on tubes with a keg is quite foreign, but they think it sounds like a fantastic idea! (As well as tailgating). I attempted to explain the Testicle Festival but the idea went over like a brick. I don't think they quite realized the significance of the calf nuts... but we had a good laugh anyway. I'll probably wait a while before I introduce them to Smith traditions like sock wrestling and weenies and tomato juice. They might deport me...

Well I have 30,000 more things to say but I have to stop at some point. I'm heading off to my first class, should be interesting. Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments, opinions, questions, ideas, advice, whatever for me on American issues or otherwise feel free to post a comment below. My ears are always open! Love ya all.