Ireland

At last.....

2005-03-28T15:19:00.000+01:00

Hello again....

No, my parents didn't send me home when they saw this crazy life I'm living, and no I didn't fall into a pitcher of green beer on Paddy's day. I'm still alive and kicking, and life couldn't be better.

Mom and Dad's visit was "brilliant", as the Irish say. Luckily they made it out of London Gatwick alive, which is actually quite a feat. Myself, my parents, and Rachel all just barely made it out of that place in time to catch our flights to Ireland. So tip for the day... avoid Gatwick during your travels, and switching airports in London altogether if possible.

I did my very best to meet my parents the moment they got off of the bus from Dublin in Galway... but no such luck. A slight miscommunication, and I was eagerly waiting at the wrong bus station for an hour and a half in the cold, petting a stray dog I befriended. I was beginning to get pretty worried by the time they called me and informed me that they were outside my house in a taxi! I sprinted home in 3 minutes, heartlessly leaving behind the gimpy dog. It was so wonderful to see them! It had only been two and a half months, but I felt like I hadn't seen them in a year! After a nice tea by the fire in 120 Bohermore, and meeting just a few of my housemates, we wandered down the street to find the Bed & Breakfast they were staying at. I hadn't actually been there, but knew where it was and made the mistake of telling them it should just be a 10 minute walk.... the catch is that in Galway I've become the most excellent of power-walkers without my handy little Hyundai. It's a different story in the dark with your freezing cold parents lugging their suitcases after 12 hours of flying, 6 hours of riding a bus, hours of sleepless layovers, and lots of running around to catch elusive connections. So by the time we reached the Lima B&B it seemed like an oasis in the desert.

The next morning, Saturday, we walked around Galway a bit. I showed them the UCG campus (yes I do know where it is, and I even go there for class sometimes!!) and then we walked downtown to the market. On the way back to my house we stopped at a pub where Dad and Mom experienced their first Irish Guinness. Mom didn't think it was too bad, and Dad, who I've seen drink maybe three beers in my entire life, actually thought it was quite tasty. For those of you who don't know, it's not carbonated so it goes down really smooth and tastes almost creamy. It sounds disgusting for beer, but it really grows on you (literally). There were a few lads watching one of the Six Nations rugby games on the telly, so Mom and Dad were also exposed to their first rugby match, also quite enjoyable! We believe, in comparison to American football, that these boys are one hell of a lot tougher than our football players. There are no offensive and defensive teams so the boys play the entire game, there are no pads, and after you get tackled the play isn't over - you just get back up and keep playing. It's absolutely brutal, and I love it!

Sunday we walked around town a bit more... Mom has fallen in love with the bakeries here, and Dad and I have come to believe that she has a bakery beacon in her nose... if there's one with in 5 blocks she'll find it. Monday I had to go to class, so the parents took a little journey over to the Aran Islands, a short ferry ride from Connemara, north of Galway. (I just finally went there last weekend, so I didn't know what they were in for, but they had a good time.) Mom treated herself to an original hand-knitted Aran sweater, and it's a good thing she did because that silly girl came all the way to Ireland without a heavy coat. But I dont think it matters how many layers she had worn, it takes a month to get used to the humidity here. She was cold the entire time... to put in her words... "My bones are wet!"

All right, well I know that's just a tiny bit of the mass of information that's way overdue to everyone, but the computer lab is about to close down, weird Easter break hours. Also, mom is going to forward a couple entries for me to add in here to get things from her point of view. (Probably moreso to defend her driving on the right/wrong side of the road...) I have so much to say, and so much to tell about the Aran Islands last weekend. Life has been absolutely wonderful, and I think someone up above is spoiling me rotten with the best possible experiences. I love and miss you all and promise to write lots more tomorrow. Til then...

-sas

Quick note...

2005-03-11T14:29:00.000Z

Hey everyone!

Sorry, this is going to have to be short, I'm on my way to class but was just thinking that you all probably think I fell into a pint of Guinness and couldn't find my way out! On the contrary, mom and dad have been here for a couple of weeks so I've been making tracks all over this beautiful island with them! They leave tomorrow, but have really enjoyed their time here. They rented a car and mom chauffeured us around. She's done brilliantly well driving on the "wrong" side of the narrow roads, from the "wrong" side of the car with dad's back-seat driving and my amateur map-reading. It's been quite an experience; I've got gobs of pictures to upload and stories to tell. Unfortunately if I get into it right now I'll be here all day so you'll have to get comfortable on the edge of your seat for a few days until I can write more. My friend Rachel is arriving tomorrow just hours before my parents leave, so there'll be no break in the excitement. I hope everyone is doing well, and sorry I can't say more now... Until later...

sas

22 on Tue. 2/22

2005-02-23T15:54:00.000Z

Hello everyone! First of all I want to thank everybody for the massive influx of emails! I checked today and I had 21 unread messages and gobs of kind birthday wishes! Thanks so much, it made my day!!

Well the last week has been full of ups and downs. Mostly a lot of ups and one fairly significant down... Yes, the impressively long 2.5 week Colm saga ended on Sunday. Supposedly he liked me so much it scared him and doesn't want to get into a major relationship right now. (I think we all know that's the nicest way to tell someone to get lost!) I will admit that living with someone makes it very hard to get over them, but I know it will probably be for the best in the end. My friends were unbelievably supportive. I needed to get out of the house Sunday so I went down to Nine's; it was perfect timing, she had just baked a Dutch version of apple pie! Mmmm! So that made me feel considerably better, then my friend Chad called and said he had an extra ticket to the cinema so that was another good distraction. I got home at midnight and Alex, Daniel and Simona were still up. I didn't even say anything but the minute I sat down Alex gave me a backrub, Daniel brought me a beer, Simona brought me chocolate and they reassured me that there's a reason the devil is depicted as a man. (Sorry if this offends any guys, but it was temporary comic relief.) Of course then I burst into tears like girls do, but it was very nice of them to be there for me. Rachel gave me good advice... that this is MY time in Ireland and don't share it with anybody, be selfish with it! :) By the way Rach, that email was so nice and cheered me up so much I think I'm going to print it out and hang it on my wall!

Given the drama that commenced on Sunday, I was thinking that my "golden birthday" on Tuesday was going to be quite tarnished. But I should have known better, my housemates made it so special for me. I can honestly say that I celebrated my birthday from the moment the day began until the moment it ended, all darn 24 hours of it! Artur and I were talking in his room on Monday night when Daniel came in and informed me that my presence was requested in the living room. I came out to an Italian cake complete with lit candles, and a sign hanging off the Italian flag, and I quote, "Happy Birthday Sarah, Bigtime!!" (It seems like all foreign students find one English word they really like and use it all the time, Simona's word is "bigtime," but with the Italian accent it sounds like "beega-tieema") So that was really great, I almost cried! I think this is the only birthday I'll ever have where "Happy Birthday" was sung to me in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, and German. It was brilliant!

Later on I treated myself to a haircut which sounds really lame to guys, but you girls know how much you can appreciate that. As soon as I got home Noemi, Artur, and Simona were going down to the College Bar, so I joined them. Now I have to explain something completely Irish... this week is Rag Week, and no it has nothing to do with the female tendency to become a raging madwoman one week out of every month. Every university here has a Rag Week which basically means no one except grad students are really expected to go to class (I've been going anyway to get in good with the profs, since I'll be gone while my parents are here). Every pub in the city has live bands and drink specials and there are all kinds of things going on. For example, there's a guy spending five days in a glass box outside of the College Bar. They let him out every once in a while for bowel movements, but other than that he eats, sleeps, and entertains himself with play-dough in this glass box. So of course everyone gawks at him on display and some of us more generous peers toss our spare change in the bucket for charity. Most of the money made off of Rag Week goes to charity, but it is almost as shallow as it sounds... basically it's an excuse for university students to get locked for an entire week. Thus, we went to the College Bar. After a while we went down to a pub near home called The Hole in the Wall and danced the night away. We arrived at 6:00pm and didn't go home until 2:30. So I'm not lying when I said I celebrated every minute of my birthday!

The weather here is getting better all the time. We did have a drenched day on Monday, but the sun is becoming a more and more familiar sight. It has actually dried out enough for people to mow their lawns, and the daffodils are in full bloom everywhere. It's still chilly, but so long as it's dry I'm happy! I can't even imagine how beautiful Galway must be in the summer.... maybe I'll stick around and find out...

Of course I'm tickled pink to see my parents, but I'm also really excited to travel with them and see some of Ireland. They're going to rent a car for about a week, so it will be great to get out of town. At NUI they have a Mountaineering Club and they take trips every Sunday and the bus ticket is just 7 euro. So Sunday morning I went down and tried to join, but they informed me that I have to invest in real hiking boots to be allowed to go on the trips. So I was bummed that I couldn't go, this week they were going to Mayo which I've heard is beautiful, but I'll see it soon enough. Elena just got back from Scotland last night and is raving about how gorgeous it is... big mountains and tons of lakes. She went to Loch Ness but unfortunately the monster was shy that day and she didn't report any sightings. Nine is going up over Easter break so I think I'm going to join her if I can get a cheap ticket. Elena found one for just 30 euro.

Well I better head out, I need to go check a couple of Bed & Breakfasts for mom & dad and make sure they are cat-free. (Sorry, kind of an inside joke...) I'm sure I'll have tons of great adventures to tell you all about for next time! I'm in need of inspiration, typing about getting dumped just isn't so fun! Love you all, miss ya.

-sas

Happy Valentine's Day!

2005-02-14T15:29:00.000Z

Wow, I didn't realize it'd been 10 days since I last wrote a post, oops! Happy Valentine's Day to those of you who celebrate it! Yes, they celebrate it in Ireland too, but just like at home it's more or less a commercialized excuse for couples to buy eachother lovey dovey stuff, and for single women to watch chic flicks and cry over a bucket of chocolate ice cream. Our house is having an anti-Valentine's day dinner tonight, but.... two of us have been banished because we broke the anti-Valentine's day spirit... I guess you could say I found a boyfriend. However he wasn't very hard to find because he lives acrosss the hall from me. Yes, the mystery man is none other that Colm, my housemate. Now, now, don't worry I'm not going to pull a Britney Spears shotgun wedding and never come home. It's nothing serious at all, we just have a lot of fun together.

It seems like yesterday that I moved into the new place, but it feels like I've been there for a year! (That made more sense in my head than it does on the computer screen...) I couldn't possibly be happier! Everyone in the house is so unique but our personalities come together to make quite a group. In the last week I feel like I've hardly left the house, but have never been bored or lonely. There's always a housemate around to talk to, or friends of housemates coming over. I may have mentioned it before, but I can't stress enough how much 120 Bohermore feels more like a family than a random group of 8 people from 6 countries. At the end of the day I really look forward to going home because you know your housemates genuinely care about you. For example... Last Tuesday Simona had to catch a bus at 2 in the morning to Dublin, to fly to Rome for her brother's graduation. Four of us stayed up with her, walked her down to the bus stop in the rain, and waved her off. And she was only going to be gone four days! I can't imagine how it's going to be when I leave in May, I know I'll be bawling my head off.

I'm trying to think back over the last ten days and pick out the highlights, but am finding it difficult. I've had so many conversations with so many people, and now random fragments are flying in and out of my memory with no rhyme or reason. So that's how it's going to come out here... Last week Tito, a friend of Elena & Simona's from Spain came to visit. He's living in the Aran Islands, just off the coast of Galway, and was in town for the weekend. Saturday night we all walked to a party at about three in the morning and during the whole half-hour walk I just spoke Spanish with him. My Spanish was exremely rough and Tito had to fill in a lot of blanks for me, but it amazed me that I could actually say a few things - I guess class paid off! :) Maybe if I go to the Aran Islands with my parents we could meet up with Tito...

The party that we went to was a dud, but by the time we left we had everyone chanting 120 Bohermore! 120 Bohermore! Only the 8 of us knew what it meant, but it didn't matter because the 8 of us were the only ones having a good time anyway! It doesn't even matter where we are, as long as 120 Bohermore is all in one place it's grand!

This last Saturday Noemi and I wound up being the only ones home for most of the evening, so we had some wine and chatted. I really like this girl, she is such a kick in the pants! Her sense of humor is a lot like mine, so it's nice to be able to say the cracks that come to mind, and at least she knows I'm not way out in left field. We talked a lot about the elements of our personalities that will be different when we get home, and how we're worried that people we've known our entire lives won't be able to understand how and why certain things have changed. I remember at home listening to people who'd studied abroad and how at the time I didn't understand their enthusiasm for certain things, and sometimes darkened views of American things. I think now I'm beginning to understand those thoughts, but am longing for the ability to portray them to people back home...

As I mentioned before, Simona was only gone about four days but was sorely missed. She is one of the most happy-go-lucky people I've ever known, always smiling and laughing. I talked with her as well about the change that studying abroad brings about. It's so nice to be around people who are going throught the same things. The girls have all been here for a semester already though, so they're more settled in and used to the change. Last night Simona made us real Italian pizza, it was to die for, but very different from the American version of course. I'll have to get her recipe! She put potatoes on one which was fantastic, also green olives, whole tomatoes, and and onions. Mmmm Mmmm good!

I still haven't travelled at all in the last few weeks, and I feel like people are going to think I'm being really lame over here not seeing something new every day. So I'll try to explain my logic... Dad & Mom are coming in just eleven days (yay!) and most of the time they're here we'll be out and about all over Ireland. Then a week after they leave Rachel comes (yay again!) and we'll hit the road again. Then a month later Nana and possibly more family are planning a trip to Ireland, which will again be wonderful. I'm really looking forward to each of these visits, however I know it's going to make time fly by at the speed of light. Plus at the end of all this I'd like to head over to Italy & maybe Spain for a couple of weeks. So, knowing that all this excitement and travel is coming up, I don't mind taking it easy for a few weeks. But just talking with people in class, at vollleyball, and staying at home with the people I've met has taught me so much already. I have enjoyed talking with people from Ireland, Spain, Itlay, Belgium, Morocco, Algeria, Holland, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Poland... and it seems like I meet someone from a new country every day. As much as I really like Ireland, I think what will turn out to be my favorite part of this experience is getting a taste of this global buffet, if you will. This sounds strange, because I could have done the same thing at home in Bozeman. All over MSU you see foreign students, but when you're already caught up in your group of friends you never think about inviting foreign students along to do things. I think I had to be forced out of my element to embrace opportunities that have always been right in front of me.

Well there is so much more I want to say, but I really should go to class! I'll try to organize my thoughts a little better for next time. And I'll send pictures tomorrow! I've got a few good ones from the weekend but will take a few more tonight. I really wish I could be there for Grandma Smith's 80th birthday bash! Maybe in the Smith spirit I'll cook my housemates wenies & tomato juice and we'll have a sock-wrestling tournament.... Love you all & miss ya!

-sas

ps - Alison I did get your Christmas card, thanks so much! The wedding picture is gorgeous, hanging on my wall!

Lucky me!

2005-02-04T15:57:00.000Z

I came to the computer lab to express the sheer jubilation that was bursting out of me this morning, but I think this post is going to wind up a little more somber... I just received an email from one of my best friends who recently found out that her sister has been diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. I've met her sister and she is an absolutely wonderful girl with a heart as big as a barn. I have no doubt she'll fight right through it, but please keep her in your prayers. Despite being humbled and feeling as though my news is completely insignificant, I'll continue on with the attitude that we should celebrate the little things in life...

So what am I celebrating? Having moved into the absolute best possible place in Galway that I could ever hope for! This seems a little invalid considering I've lived at 120 Bohermore for only about 22 hours, but sometimes you just know when something is right. A few months ago I never would have thought living in a house with eight people from 6 different countries could ever work out. Yet the situation is perfect... I believe in 4 months I'm going to come away from this little thatched-roof cottage with invaluable knowledge of other cultures, good memories, and life-long friends. A quick rundown of the housemates:

Daniel (Irish) - I've known Daniel almost as long as I've been in Galway and I can tell you you'll never find a more open-minded, compassionate person. He's from County Letrim (which tends to be the butt of a few Irish jokes) and is so appreciative of the people around him. I believe he's currently working on his master's in geology... I'll get back to you on that one.

Hassan (Algerian) - He said his name very quietly so I had is name wrong for a couple days, oops! He's Muslim and very conservative, and doesn't socialize with the rest of us as much. But I talked to him for a while the other day and he is very nice. Did anyone else know in Algeria they speak Arab French... interesting... I never would have guessed... And he's cooked some amazing food for us.

Colm (Irish) - Colm (pronounced like the word column) is from Clifden which is just north of Galway. He's currently looking for work in Galway, an elusive task. He's got a great sense of humor & makes a mean dessert that I've forgotten the name of. He knows how to do the traditional Irish dances, so I'm going to have to learn in exchange for jitterbug lessons.

Artur (Polish) - So far there's been no mention of the first time we met... no more offers to take pictures! He's been very friendly though. Last night he burned CD's of Polish folk music for all of us, it's really great stuff! I believe he's managing a Petro station (gas station) which is great because every night he brings home a bag of briquettes & lights a nice fire.

(I feel like I'm writing personal ads... John Doe is a rich doctor, likes long walks on the beach, and is looking for that special someone...)

Noemi (Spanish) - From Barcelona, we all call her Naomi because it's much easier to say, but apparently it's supposed to be pronounced No-amy. She seems to be somewhat like the mother of the house who keeps everyone in line but has a priceless sense of humor. Last night we had a small party and this morning she was up light-heartedly cracking the whip to get the place back into shape. Hopefully I can slightly improve my Spanish by speaking it with her.

Simona (Italian) - From Rome, she is very outgoing, sassy and energetic. This girl cracks me up. She's the most kind-hearted person, definitely a hippie, and believes everyone in the world has the best of intentions. She's here studying English literature and French. We have a class on postmodern literature together.

Elena (Italian) - She's also studying English literature, and like me is plodding through the Joyce/Yeats class. I can't imagine reading Ulysses in your second language, brutal. She's a little more reserved, but so kind. I always thought it was a mafia-movie stereotype that the Italians pinch their thumb and two middle fingers together and shake them at you when they talk, nope. It's true. They really do talk with their hands, a very animated bunch!

I'm not quite sure yet how my personality fits into this bunch, but they've welcomed me with enthusiastic open arms and hugs and kisses on the cheek. So far I think they perceive me as the laid back Montana girl whose only drawback is that she heartlessly shoots gophers as they flee for their lives. (Three of the crowd are vegetarians so the idea of hunting for sport generally goes over like a brick). As a group we mesh together splendidly, everyone is very respectful and genuinely interested & concerned about eachother. Honestly it feels much more like a family than a group of 20-25 year old housemates. Last night Daniel cooked curry for us, which was spectacular. Later on Nine & crew showed up from down the street and we all sat around drinking wine by candle-light & listening to The Beatles until 4:30 in the morning. The girls, whose English is very good - they've been here a semester already, have promised to introduce me to all their Erasmus friends. (Erasmus students are basically European students on exchange). I don't mean to go on for days, but I can't express how happy I am where I'm at. I met three other people last night (while I was downtown for an hour with the volleyball crowd) who have either been to or heard wonderful things about 120 Bohermore. I've really been blessed to meet and be included in this lively crowd.

Well I'll sign off for today. Should have some great stories after this weekend! Oh, and a couple of you asked for my new address...

120 Bohermore Road
Galway City
Ireland

My old housemates have promised to forward anything they might receive so no worries there. And Angie, thanks so much for the Tex/Mex offer! I'd gladly take you up on it if you feel up to it! How nice of you... We've all decided to, one night a week, take turns cooking dinner to give eachother an idea of what we eat at "home"wherever that may be. In the next two weeks it's Irish roasted lamb (tough luck vegetarians!) and real Italian pizza! Mom you're going to have to make some posole while you're here, and I'm going to have to learn how to spell it. (Why do I always end my posts talking about food???) Anyway. Love & miss you all. Thanks for keeping in touch! :)

Sas

Hiya!

2005-02-02T17:43:00.000Z

I think mom and Nana put it best, like my family I was born with sand in my shoes... born to roam. I'm moving again! There's nothing particularly wrong with where I live now in Laurel Park, but there's just nothing going on. My housemates are very nice, but just not exactly a ball of fire. I'm only here for four more months and I want to live up every minute of it! Laurel Park is a 25 minute walk from town which doesn't bother me at all, but it's really not a good idea for me to make a habit of walking home alone that far at 3 in the morning. Anyway, I really lucked out and was mentioning this to my friend Daniel... turns out that as of today one of his roommates is moving out. He lives on Bohermore which is about 3 blocks from Eyre Square, 15 minutes from NUI, and practically next door to Nina, Peter, and two other houses full of people I know. The location is perfect!

Now, the next part is going to sound a little iffy, but bear with me. I'll be living with 7 other people. Yes, 7. I guess the turnover rate in this house has been historically high, but in the last couple of months the group has kind of meshed together and Daniel, who's been there the longest, says everyone who lives there now gets along amazingly well and will probably stay for the next few months. The other quirk... remember Artur? The Polish guy who wanted to "take my picture" for a magazine... yes, he lives there as well. But Daniel has reassured me that he is very sincere and isn't creepy. My ultimate goal when I got to Galway was to live with people from all over; mission accomplished. In this house there are two Italian girls, one Spanish girl, two Irish guys, one guy from Algeria, one Polish guy, and me the American. Crazy! I've heard from several people though that this house is the place to be, they've always got something going on and there's usually a list of people wanting to move in. They don't think the Algerian will stay too much longer though, he's Muslim and very conservative... when they asked him about having a party at the end of the month he asked, "Why?". Not exactly the mentality of the rest of the crowd. At the same time thought, the place is very clean and cozy. Ironically it's on the street that I took a picture of in my last album, only it's the single house on the street with a thatched roof. When you walk into the kitchen/living area you feel like you're in the 1800's. The walls are made of enormous stone, which makes it sound like a cave, but in the center of the ceiling there's a huge skylight that lights the whole room during the day. Last night when I was there they had a fire burning in a little pot-bellied stove and candles lit everywhere. It really looks like something out of a folk tale. Of course there's always got to be a downfall; my room is the one right inside the front door, so it's right on the street. It's pretty noisy but a minor tradeoff for finally having a busy social life! I'm moving in tomorrow so maybe by the weekend I'll send some pictures...

Last weekend was a good time. Friday night we all went to Cuba's to contribute to the tsunami fund. They had several live bands all imitating someone famous... there were "The Beatles", "No Doubt", "Pink Floyd"... but the band that did U2 was out of this world. The lead singer even looked like Bono. For those of you who don't know, U2's home is in Dublin so they are like gods over here. They'll be in Dublin in June; I'd give my left arm to go to that if I was going to be here. After Cuba we all went to the Living Room and danced the night away. It was great "craic"! Saturday night Nakul had a couple of Indian friends over so we all sat around and smoked Cuban cigars and played poker... was nice to just have a night at home. Sunday night was Mark's, Andy's and Ronan's birthdays so we all went to karaoke at Blu. (The Irish probably think all American men are named Mike and John, but I swear I've met fifty men all named Mark, Ronan, Cormack, Aaron, Shane or Paddy). Somehow I was elected temporary camera-woman and was to go around and conduct interviews to all of their friends... now that was interesting, I won't even go into the details! :) Monday night was volleyball, so a temporary distraction from the pubs. But Tuesday night we were back at it, I was wrangled into going to DeBurgo's pub which was again raising money for the tsunami. (I don't know what's going on at home, but Ireland has gone to unbelieveable lengths to help out in Asia.) It was a pretty relaxed night, no outrageous stories, but I just had to provide one more example of Irish humor. You go downstairs into this cave of a pub that's lit by candlelight (I half expected to see bats on the ceiling) and everywhere are these signs advertising the night's entertainment. The name of the event was Heart Strings; the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation was sponsoring several bands to play for the event. I picked up a flyer and checked out the bands... Paddy Jordan, Fionnan Nestor, Larry Beau... and Triple Bypass. I'm not making this up. I'm not sure whether Triple Bypass lived up to the expectations of the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, but the other bands I listened to were great. One consisted just of African drums, very neat!

A lot of you are probably wondering when I'm going to get out of Galway and do some travelling around the country. There are a lot of things, like the Aran Islands, that I'm really looking forward to and are right at my fingertips, but I'm going to wait until Mom & Dad, Rachel, & Nana come. I'm sure we'll be doing plenty of travelling! Next weekend the geology club is sponsoring a trip to Kerry, on the southern tip of Ireland, so I may take part in that. My schedule is filling up as fast as I can flip the pages. Volleyball every Monday and Wednesday, there are always house parties on Thursdays (Nine & Peter's this week) Fridays and Saturdays are a given, Sundays my friends that work at pubs usually call since they finally have a night off. My Irish friend Laura and I have filled up every Tuesday in the near future... pancake night, poker night, Ghettopoly night (the ghetto version of Monopoly - I didn't even know they made it) bowling night... plus a camping trip to Donegal and a Superbowl party. These nights we usually decide to host to show eachother something the rest of us know nothing about. Nobody plays poker here and they're dying to know what real pancakes are like... I'm determined to leave a little bit of Montana in Ireland, and bring a lot of Ireland back home!

Well at this point I'm getting so hungry I don't think my words are really making sense anymore. If I type anymore I'm pretty sure it's all going to involve food. So off I go. Love & miss ya'll.

-sas

-(Don't ask me where the southern ya'll came from... since I've been here I've picked up a few Irish influences in my speech, but somehow it's really brought out the North Dakotan/Canadian elements of my accent, I fully blame Derrick & Alison for this. All the Americans I meet think I'm Canadian and all the Irish think I must have been in the movie Fargo.)

Language Barriers

2005-01-28T17:11:00.000Z

Hola! Como estan? Estoy cansada pero muy bien. Mi clase de espanol es muy interesante...

Sorry, I've kind of been stuck in a cheesy quasi-spangirelish dialect today. For Spanish class I have three different teachers; two of them are simply Irish and I'm beginning to separate the Irish accent on the English language from the Irish/English accent on the Spanish language. Oh you think that's confusing?? Once a week we have a spoken lab where 8 of us just sit around and speak Spanish. (Today was the first time I went to this lab because of some registration confusion and I was happily surprised to find that my Spanish speaking abilities are actually well above average in the class.) Our professor, however, is something to write home about. Her nationality and first language are Japanese, her second language is English, she's picked up an Irish accent, and she's teaching US how to speak Spanish! You can't even imagine a Japanese/Irish/English accent applied to the Spanish language. And on top of that, the Spanish language here is spoken quite different than the Mexican Spanish I learned at home. Let's just say that I'm glad I've got the basic pronunciations because I don't think I'll be learning too much more in this lab! She had us read Spanish out loud today and the guy next to me might as well have said, "I'm-o going to el store-o without-o mucho dinero-o" and she'd have said... "Perfecto!"For her, any form of Spanglish will do.

The rest of my classes are going well. In one lecture we've breached the tip of the iceberg that is Ulysses. For those of you that avoid literature, I imagine Ulysses is a prime example of WHY you avoid it. Written by the infamous Irish author James Joyce, it is mostly known for its ability to confound even the most snobbish intellectuals. So getting through this book could be a wild ride. Seminar classes started this week; this is the class that I had to stand in line for an hour and a half to register for. I wound up with my first choice which is unheard of, considering I wasn't among those who camped outside the Registrar's door after a long night at the pubs to be first in line. My class of choice was the "English Language in Ireland," or as our prof refers to it, Hiberno English. I'm really excited about this one. It's a small class with about 25 people so there should be some great discussions. There are only 3 Americans, phew, and also 5 Spanish and one Italian student - the rest of course being Irish. There are two girls whose first language is Irish, a rarity, so it will be great to have their input as well. Our prof, Ms. Frances McCormack, is young and very energetic. The overall scope of the class is to look at how Hiberno-English (basically the way the Irish speak English) emerged, what historical events contributed to the evolution of the language, and the main differences between Hiberno-English and the English that the rest of the world speaks. I'm sure some of you are snoozing by now, but it's something I'm thrilled to learn more about.

Last night Will, Noel, and Laura called saying they needed a fourth team member for a pub quiz that was taking place downtown. I guess they have these "pub quizzes" frequently just for kicks and you can win a few prizes. There is a 24 euro charge per team and the money goes to help the tsunami victims, so I thought why not? Much to our chagrin the quaint little pub quiz idea turned out to be a bit more uppity than we had expected. The four of us were by far the youngest competitors in the room. The rest of the 150 people were mostly above 40 and among the crowd were several local authors, editors, publishers, critics, and bookshop owners. We were intimidated but we set out with the goal not to come in last, another mistake believe it or not. There were about 38 teams of four and the questions were insane... There were quite a few Irish-based questions that I wouldn't have had a prayer of knowing, but my three Irish teammates even struggled with those. The questions were very obscure and I walked away feeling that even if I had read every book on my "to-read" list I still wouldn't have contributed much. After 10 rounds of 10 questions each I had pitched in just a few answers for my teammates... I identified Anne Frank by photo and knew that Loretta Lynne was the coal miner's daughter. In less than a year I'll have an English Literature degree... kind of frightening. We reached our goal of not coming in last (I believe we were third to last) but we may have been better off last because that team won a bottle of wine! We also should have been more crafty with our guesses... When asked what the follow up book to Tuesdays with Morrie was, the team next to us received a smart-ass prize for replying Wednesdays with Morrie. Now that's the Irish for you.

I'll tell you something that's not Irish... spicy food! Salsa dancing is popular, but apparently the dance is the only meaning for that word here... they only have mild salsa in all the places I've searched, and the "salsa" is just no good. Craving something to really set me on fire, I bought a jar of jalepenos... I ate a fork full and my eyes didn't even water... I was extremely disappointed. The jar was gone in two days. However their reputation for potatoes has not been a disappointment. They are really serious about their potatoes in this country. They are a crucial part of every meal; even the fries (they call them chips) that come with the meal at fast food joints are not little shreds of tators like at home, they're slabs of grease the size of pickles. I love it!

I've had a few girlfriends at home keep asking, "So what do the men look like over there?" Well lets hope no Irish people see this site, but I'm going to commit a blatant stereotype here... Collin Farrell, Will Ferrell, Frodo and a few Travis Lulays... I'm not kidding, I've met loads of guys who really do resemble Elijah Wood. (No, not a bad thing at all!) There aren't as many redheads as people think, but they're not rare. Blondes are actually pretty rare. It's such a relief to not see the little Brittany Spears look-alikes everywhere. There are a few of the typical trendy types running around in their 4 inch Paris Hilton ruffle skirts, but they get made fun of every time they turn their backs. It seems that the men here, in general, are a bit taller. But this may be my eyes playing tricks on me because everyone here is so thin! They've got to be, they walk everywhere! I think I've lost almost 10 lbs (at least half a stone!) since I've been here. Most of the few overweight people I've seen are American, no joke.

Speaking of men... no I don't have a boyfriend, but I will say that one young man made quite a bold move last night. Let go of everything you're thinking right now because you're WAY off... I was minding my own business walking down the street on my way to Noel's at about 7:30. I was walking past the soccer fields by my house and saw a few little boys playing Gaelic football. Of course I'm innocently thinking, oh isn't that cute, some nice young boys in touch with their heritage playing Gaelic football. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, WHACK! I feel this stinging slap on the butt! Before I could even comprehend what was going on this boy, about 10 years old, ran past me and back up the hill with his little conspiring friends, who were of course cheering him on. I may have hollered something after him, but I was so shocked I don't even really remember what I said. For the next 5 minutes I was thinking I should have grabbed him and made him apologize, but then again boys will be boys... Did that really just happen? It was shocking, but admittedly comical. Kids these days... I tell ya what...

Well unfortunately that's about all the exciting news I have for today. We'll see what this weekend holds in store... I thought I was going to be playing in a volleyball tournament in Dublin. I was good, but not good enough - kind of the story of my life with volleyball huh? :) Wednesday night a bunch of us were playing and the guy in charge was making mental notes... It's a co-ed tournament so they had 4 spots for guys and 4 for girls... There was one really great setter so she was guaranteed a spot, and another girl from last year, so 4 of us girls that were all pretty good were competing for two spots. I was bummed, but it was a great time just to play 5 on 5 with some hard hitting. It's been so long since I played really intense volleyball, I forgot how much I love it! There are more tournaments coming up that are all-girl & I'm sure I can get into those. We'll see.

Tonight Nine, Peter, and crew are going out. Cuba's has been selling 10 euro tickets all week to raise money for tsunami victims so we bought some. I guess it's my week to do the charity thing! Those poor people in Asia... wow. How can you even begin to explain the atrocities?

Oh, a couple of you (Rachel!) hinted that I should call... Just so you all know I'm working on it. I tried to buy a phone card the other day and really had the feeling that I was getting swindled into over a euro per minute so I temporarily gave up. But I'm still looking I promise! Thanks everyone for all the emails, it really meant a lot, especially this week - I kind of had a temporary 'bout of homesickness. Love you all & miss ya!

-Sarah

A little heavy stuff...

2005-01-21T18:10:00.000Z

Hello again from Ireland, the land where the rain never stops! Ever. In Ireland there are two things you absolutely cannot lose or you will pay the consequences... your umbrella and your house key. You're probably thinking well duh your house key, but this is more serious than it sounds. I have yet to enter one house whose front door has a door knob. Just a little keyhole. So you can forget about leaving your door unlocked. And if you lose your key once you get inside the house you can forget about leaving the house; some homes don't even have a latch on the inside, you have to have your key to get out! Hanging on to your umbrella, literally, is also not as easy as it would seem. Everywhere you go in Galway it seems like every 3rd tree has claimed some poor soul's umbrella. People are slowly walking along trying their very best to brave the gale force winds and sideways rain. These "gusts" of wind not only make the walker's series of steps look like that of a drunk's, but also frequently suck the umbrella right up out of the person's hands and into the nearest tree or bush. Walking to school the morning after a storm, it looks like the land of massacred umbrellas, there are enough strays lying around to build a roof over Galway, which isn't a bad idea.

I guess I have to retract one of my previous statements... a few days ago it did stop raining, but it started hailing. It was very slushy kind of hail that can be mistaken for snow and the people were out in the streets going crazy! Snow is a precious novelty in Ireland, some people have never experienced it before. Not five minutes after it started "snowing" they were already playing "Let It Snow" on the radio. I was downtown with some friends, the bars had just closed and the street was crawling with people (typical Monday night in Galway). It wasn't too long before a massive snowball fight broke out in the street which we joined in on. Unfortunately it didn't last too long because after about 5 minutes we had used up all the snow!

I think I mentioned this earlier but I really cannot get over the bar scene here. I thought maybe I had just been downtown on the right nights or maybe everyone was out because they'd just come back from Christmas break. Nope. Nearly every bar is almost packed every night of the week. I haven't been out on a Tuesday, but judging by Mondays and Wednesdays I'd say it's about the same. And I'm definitely not in Montana anymore Toto... there's no such thing as an Eagles type bar that has random pictures of the ladies bowling club on the wall. Everything is tastefully done. The clubs look like something straight out of Night at the Roxbury. These places must be making a fortune! You walk in and pay about an 8 euro cover charge. (I guess I've been with the right people because all of them work at other bars and have VIP passes to get in free, I've only paid one cover charge in three weeks). Then you walk up the stairs and come to the coatroom where they'll hang your coat for 2 euro. Like Karma, that we went to last night, you walk in and there's immediately a bar where pints are about 3.50 (remember that's about $5) and mixed drinks are at least 5 euro. There had to be 350 people in this place last night; there were 3 floors of people dancing, and 3 different bars packed with people buying drink after drink. I'm thinking about going into the night club business... My family in California is probably hysterical that I've never witnessed anything like this... but really - this is incomparable to anything you'd ever find in Montana.

Most of the student bars play all popular American music so that's made me feel right at home. However I've never been without my good 'ol country music for three weeks before and I think I'm starting to go into withdrawl. You don't realize the dumb little things that are such a huge part of you until you're away from them. Maybe I just haven't found the right places yet, but over here they think country consists of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks, and that's it. That's all well and good but you can only hear Dolly's 9 to 5 so many times before you really miss all the other stuff. There are 6 radio stations that I can get with my little phone on loudspeaker in my room. One of them is in Irish, which is interesting to listen to but doesn't do much in the way of curing wistful sentimentality. I did find a station that announced the country top 20 of the week but that just made it worse because I knew what I was missing. They played the number one song Awful Beautiful Life which I'm not even crazy about but I nearly cried I was so happy to hear something familiar.

I know, I know, I'm in a new country and I need to immerse myself in the culture. I have been listening mostly to the unfamiliar music that's from Ireland and have taken a liking to a lot of it. There's a BBC type station that I was listening to where a woman was interviewing Irish old timers from out in the country. It was really fascinating to hear their stories. Some of them were 75 years old and their only means of getting to a town was walking or cycling 3 or 4 miles to the nearest bus station. Then of course if they bought things in town they'd have to carry it all back. A lot of them were elderly widows who, in the abscence of their husbands, are still taking care of their small farms by themselves. One lady had 9 sheep, a milk cow, and a few chickens and was just as happy as could be living out there alone. It was very interesting to hear them talk about "the good 'ol days" and the way things have changed. You would think you were hearing these stories from older generations of Montanans; it seems every nationality I've talked to has made the comment that things aren't like they used to be. One man talked about the pace of life and how people don't take time anymore. (One Irish saying is "God gave us time and he gave us plenty of it!") He said it used to be that he and a couple friends would have to walk into town to get things and it might take half a day, but they weren't in a hurry and that was fine because the company and the conversation were grand. The Irish really value good company and just sitting around chatting over a pint. I think traditionally it was a much more laid back kind of life.

Above I mentioned that people from everywhere say "things aren't like they used to be." This is something I've been a little surprised to find outside of the US. A group of us were sitting around last week talking about globalization (believe it or not we are all in our 20's). Among us there were 6 Irish, 1 American, 1 Australian, and 2 Dutch (Holland). We were all in complete agreement that big corporations have moved into our more rural areas and have put the little man out of business. While you want to support local business owners, as students we can't afford to pay the higher prices to the local businesses. Nine was mentioning too that since joining the European Union, Holland seems to be losing some of it's culture and traditions. You could maybe say the same thing for Ireland. While there are great benefits to banding these nations together to help with things like infrastructure, the downfall is that they do not want their nationalities to be blurred. There is a reason Holland is not the same country as Poland or Germany, etc. The languages and traditions are completely different even though they are next door to each other. Not to mention the hundreds of years of strife between them. We all agreed also that it is so important, yet very difficult, to preserve individual cultures while making technological advances. In Ireland there has been a huge push in recent years to change British city names back to their original Irish names, print all public documents in Irish as well as English, etc even though only about 1/4 of the nation is actually fluent in Irish. Irish students have to take Irish language courses from the time they enter school until the time they graduate, but most my friends say they don't even remember enough of it to be able to hold a conversation. So who cares if every last word is printed in Irish if no one can read it? The preservation of culture becomes superficial, and in effect pointless. There seems to be a catch-22 in most cultures that traditional aspects are taught to the youth, but at a young age kids and young adults are more excited about the shiny new things going on in the world and have less interest in the value of history. By the time we appreciate where we came from and want to learn more about it, we go back to find many of the older people who could explain these things and share their stories are gone. These are things I've always thought were mostly just happening in America; it is reassuring to know we're not the only ones suffering from the epidemic, but also disheartening that other nations are not immune either.

This topic is fascinating but exhausting because you can talk yourself in circles and never come to a conlusion. I promise most of the conversations 20-year-olds have over here are not that frighteningly mature. Last night we were discussing sewage around a game of pictionary... and at one point I wound up drawing a diagram of a septic system and explaining how they work. I think I started the whole thing by asking why in Ireland the bathrooms are always upstairs and was it traditionally for gravitational purposes? (It's not that crazy of an idea if you think about how old the buildings are). And how do they deal with septic issues in Ireland at sea level? Dad you've permanently warped my mind. Luckily I knew this group of people well enough they didn't think I was too weird.

I'm at the school at 6pm on a Friday night, no matter the reason that's borderline insanity by Irish standards. I'd better get out of here before I'm cast out as an overachiever. Thanks to those of you who reached the end of this post, I commend you.

-sas

A little homesick, but mostly just sick...

2005-01-17T13:27:00.000Z

Hey everyone!

Well I know some of you have begun to wonder whether I'm still alive & kickin over here. Yes I am, but barely! This weekend I came down with some sort of cross between what feels like strep throat, the flu, and one heck of a migraine. I told mom if there's anything that's going to make me homesick this is it! I just want to curl up by the fire in Lincoln (where it's not raining!) with a bowl of mom's chicken noodle soup. Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad to be here! I just think my body's having a hissy fit with the constant cold humidity.

There were a couple of times last week that I sat down in the computer lab here and tried to write something but had complete writer's block. Really there was nothing too terribly exciting going on last week. Most of my time was spent running around from office to office asking questions about classes, credit transfers, visas, yada yada ya. Tomorrow I'll officially know what classes I'm really in. I went to my Spanish class today and was relieved to find they are exactly where I left off at home. We had a past tense verb quiz and I only got a few wrong out of about 45. This is a huge relief because I have 6 hours of Spanish every week and to be behind would be a nightmare.

I feel really guilty that a whole week has gone by and I haven't really gotten out and seen anything new. Nine & Peter took a weekend trip to Cork but I couldn't go because I had class until 4 on Friday and they left in the morning. I guess I did walk around downtown Galway a little more Saturday afternoon, I know where the ocean is now! That sounds like a very ditzy thing to say but really I'm used to being able to look up and see mountains to orient myself. But here there are no mountains and even if there were you wouldn't be able to see past the buildings because you're standing in such narrow streets. Plus I don't think I've walked down one straight street the whole time I've been here so it's very easy to get turned around. It's taken me two weeks to realize that I have to use the buildings to find my way around, not the Irish street signs that I can't read, the mountains that don't exist, or the sun that never shines!

One thing I've been surprised to find is the size of the classes here. Most of my classes are in lecture halls with at least 250 students. I wasn't expecting this because the student population is similar to MSU's, around 12,000. I haven't checked the stats but the faculty to student ratio must be a lot smaller here. Another factor is probably that European students are usually on a three year program plan, and of course you can pump a lot more students throught the system in less time with lectures. Every English student gets to pick one seminar per semester where the group size is about 20, with three or four lectures in addition. The teachers are great so far, but I already have a greater appreciation for the small class size at MSU where English classes are never over 40 students. This allows for more engaging discussions, and I believe more thought-provoking classes. As I said before, I won't know which classes I'm taking for certain until tomorrow, but there is one lecture on James Joyce and WB Yeats that I know I'll get into and am very excited about. The teacher has promised by the end of the semester we will have read and understood Ulysses, which seems like a daunting task but a rewarding one. I'm so excited to study these two Irish authors that I've always admired.

Well I honestly don't have too much more to say that's very exciting. I promise to come up with better reading material for next time! I think I'm going to go home and try to sleep off some of the ants inside my head who are desperately trying to fight their way out with sledgehammers. Thank you all for keeping in touch. Miss you!

You say potato, I say pototo...

2005-01-10T14:39:00.000Z

I started thinking about all the goofy things they say over here, the way they talk and what Americans get made fun of for saying. So I decided to keep a little running tally for those of you (Rachel) who may be interested in imitating an Irish accent, or having a clue what people mean if you plan on ever coming here.

-As they see it, Americans say "a zillion" and "awesome" and "you guys" way too much.

- As I mentioned in one post, they constantly say, "What's the craic?" (different spelling I found out, sounds like crack though) meaning what have you been up to, do you have any good stories, what's the news, etc. You can also have craic, (Kelsey I know what you're thinking here) meaning that you have a great story or something really funny happened. Ex: "Living at 39 North 25th was great craic."

-The Irish use the word "like" even more than we do, but it's always at the end of a sentence. It's not a ditzy sounding thing like it is in the states. Ex: "He's very athletic like."

-A common way to say "Hello" or "How are you?" is "Howya now" or "Hiya!"

-If they're not using "like" at the end of a sentence, it's "so" instead. Ex: "Howya gettin' on so?"

-Their T is not a hard sound like ours. They almost roll their tongues a little with it. This sounds like a load of BS because I've only been here a week but I've actually started doing it a little without even noticing.

-They describe everything with the word grand, lovely, mighty, or brilliant.

-There are countless words for drunk: locked, pissed, snookered, and about 100 more that are suddenly slipping my mind.

-Yes they do say "arse" and "shite" and if you go to Ireland never under any circumstances say "fanny"- trust me it does not mean "butt" like it does in the states.

-When drinking a toast or cheers they sometimes say "slainte" (like it says on the Bennigans coasters) but I've heard so many people pronounce it wrong at home... it's pronounced sloncha with stress on the short o sound.

-People refer to weight sometimes, often their own weight, in terms of "stones". A "stone" is about 14 lbs. I was reading the paper and there was an ad that said, "Ladies! Lose half a stone!"

-So far I've not heard one Irish person make a "th" sound. It's always a "t" sound.

......."If ye could loose tree stone by ta turd o March tad be just grand like."

- I've been making the mistake of talking about my "roommates," who are both guys. Apparently "roommate" in Ireland means you are literally staying in one room together, and most likely the same bed... Oops! I've been desperately trying to replace the word with "housemate" or "flatmate" like everyone else says. But I can tell by the raised eyebrows when I've used the wrong word...

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

2005-01-10T13:05:00.000Z

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.

Flat Sweet Flat

2005-01-05T23:38:00.000Z

Today was challenging but very rewarding. I think I found a place to live but for a while there was stressing out a bit.

This morning I helped Nine carry her luggage down the street to her new apartment because there was still an open room there. The landlady was very nice and the place was good and clean, but no one had moved in yet and it seemed depressingly desolate. Plus I wasn't sure what kind of roommates were there and, strange as it may sound, I absolutely do not want to live with Americans. But the place was a decent price and kind of new on the inside, and so far it was my only option. I really just didn't get a great feeling about it.

Nina and I planned on walking to the school from there to go get our registration forms but by the time we'd gotten as far as the hostel we were 100% soaked from head to toe by the rain. (Thanks for the umbrella mom, it helped a little bit.) So we took a taxi from there. After all the problems I've had with this application process I was extremely relieved to see my name was actually there on the list at the school. I then went to the Accomodation office where they printed me a map and list of about 60 places available to let (to rent). I started looking at this stuff, and I admit I had my first breakdown. I locked myself in the nearest bathroom and bawled for about five minutes. I could barely read the map, street names don't sound like they're spelled, there are no street signs on the actual streets so it's confusing to get around, it's darn expensive to call during the day, nobody was answering their phones, and even if I could figure out how to get to these places it was going to take me all darn day to walk all over town! The initial panic got to me but I started thinking, ok, what good is this doing me? I'm just going to have to start somewhere. So I crossed off the expensive ones, the ones too far from school, and ones looking for multiple people. The remaining list was actually manageable. I left about 8 messages and got a hold of one lady, Margaret. Later we met at the bus station and rode out to the house.

The house has three bedrooms and two of the rooms are taken by a guy from India named Nakul (pronounced Na-cool) and an Irish guy named James, both students my age. They weren't there and I was a little worried about not meeting them, but Margaret seems very honest and she said they're both very nice, trustworthy guys. And, considering they were guys, the place was reasonably clean. It's up in the neighborhood called Newcastle in Laurel Park. It's on a hill so yes dad I'll be out of tsunami-prone areas! The view out my window is gorgeous, you can look down on the whole city. Downstairs there's a little living room with a fireplace, TV, couch, etc. Just a couch made me happy because the other place was completely barren of furniture and had no living room. The kitchen is large with a small fridge, but still bigger than the first place's. There's a very small back patio and a little shed that has a washer and dryer in it. Yes, strange, but at least they're there. (These are probably more details than you all want to know.) Upstairs are the three bedrooms and one fairly clean bathroom. My room has a bed and armour in it and lots of shelves so that's great, and its own sink! The whole house inside is painted a cheery yellow and has neat molding. It's really kind of cool in a European way. It's only a 15 minute walk to NUI and 5 minutes from a shopping center. The only downfall is that it's about a 25 minute walk to downtown Eyre Square (where most of the pubs are) but I decided that my priorities should probably be that I'm closer to the school that the pubs! I called Margaret back tonight and left a message so I should be moving in tomorrow!

You would not believe the hoards of American students at this hostel. It's unbelievable, everywhere you go there are bunches of them.... but that's the thing... bunches. They've all come over in groups, which isn't such a bad idea, but they never seem to break out of their safe little groups. A lot of Irish have told me that the Americans come over here but then live in houses together and hang out together and never really break in to the Irish culture. This really blows my mind. As I said above, the last thing I want to do is hang out or live with Americans, I can do that for the rest of my life! (No offense roomies!) How are they really going to get an understanding for life in general over here if they don't step out of the box a bit? For me, the fact that the roommates were an Irishman and an Indian were big selling points. I'm really looking forward to learning from them.

As I was cooking a frozen pizza (ok, so I still eat some American food) in the oven at the hostel today I overheard some girls sitting around complaining about everything over here, but being happy that 'at least they have eachother' and thank goodness their housing and everything is already all set up for them. Though I may not have argued about the housing part a few hours earlier, I found myself thinking, darn it I'm glad I'm here all by my lonesome and am having to figure things out on my own. I think it's a liberating experience that more people should have to go through - I really have a new found confidence in myself. Even though I was a little panicked, I worked through it and figured it out. And too, why sit around and complain about things. First, there is no easier way to alienate yourself from the locals if you come over here on your high horse pining away for your SuperWalmart. Of course things are going to be different. Yah, I'll be glad to go home and have my own car, shoulders on the road, and hot and cold water coming out of one faucet in the sink. But I can do without those things and don't see any reason in wasting my time missing them. OK, I'll step off my soapbox, but really, do you see my point?

Earlier today I was thinking of more things I wanted to say here, but my brain is shot at the moment. I'm sure if it's important it will come back to me. Hope everyone is doing great. Until next time....

Finally... here's another one

2005-01-04T19:20:00.000Z

Sorry this one took a while to post. I had nearly 45 minutes worth of typing and pushed the wrong button on something and it all vanished into thin air. So I refrained from physical abuse of the computer and went to bed.

Last night Guy gave me his brother's phone number and said they were going "hill-walking" tomorrow and would I like to come? So this morning I ran down to the 02 store and finally got a phone. It cost 99 euros but with that they give you 60 euros worth of minutes - on the plans here you can just buy a certain number of minutes so you only pay for what you use. Kind of a nifty little phone, camera & all. Anyway... So I gave Guy's brother Cian (pronounced Kee-in) a call and basically said, "You don't have a clue who I am but mind if I tag along today?" (What did I have to lose?) He was extremely nice, saying that would be "grand." So by noon I was in this little Saab with Cian, Guy and their friend David once again heading off to the unknown. I sure do have a lot of faith in people don't I???

The car ride unexpectedly miserable. I've never had motion sickness in my life, but the circumstances here are different; Josh you wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes! First of all, everyone drives tiny little cars so you're about 2.5 feet from the ground. No big deal right? I drive a Hyundai for crying out loud. But the kicker is everywhere you go, (maybe instead of guardrails?) there are 3 foot high stone fences lining the road. There are so many rocks in this country they basically HAVE to build stone fences just to put the rocks somewhere. Where there are not stone fences there is a high bank of dirt with 2-inch thorned briars growing up (this stuff looks nastier than barbed wire) intertangled with bright green vines that creep up and overtake entire trees. The cumulative effect of all this really looks kind of neat... from a distance. However it is not appealing from 2 feet away when you're in a deathtrap car going 65 down a very narrow road as smooth as a series of cattleguards with cars wizzing by you on what seems like the wrong side. I think my face was as green as the countryside by the time we got out of the car. In retrospect though, I would have ridden there in a paint shaker to see what I was fortunate enough to see.

The city of Galway sits on the north side of Galway Bay, and where we had driven was basically around the mouth of the bay and down a ways and along the coast of County Clare. In Ireland you know you've arrived at your destination when people basically stop in the road and shut the car off. There is absolutely no shoulder to park on most of the time and in the city they just crank the car up onto the sidewalk. It's quite comical. So we got out and Cian, who was quite the tour guide, informed me that we were at Blackhead. If you've looked through pictures of Ireland, this is the hilly area that is absolutely covered in rocks. On my previous post I said from far away it looks like entire mountains covered in cantelope size rocks, well I was wrong. A closer look shows that certain areas are covered in huge boulders, and others are more slate or shale-like rock, good material for stacking walls, etc.

We started up the slope which was kind of terraced in a way. You'll walk for about 100 yards and then come to about a 15 foot rock face, after which there is another slope. Some of the lower slopes have a lot of loose rock, but as you near the top you start to realize that the whole mountain is really one large rock with cracks in it that look like they delve way down into the earth's core. From a distance the surface looks like an ancient city with large flat squares of weather-smoothed stone separated by nearly straight, perpendicular cracks. Here and there are deposits of soil deep enough to grow marshy grasses. As we climbed higher and higher you really had to watch your footing because the wind at your back was blowing so hard that you had to keep up a near jogging pace, meanwhile you had to place each step carefully to avoid spraining an ankle in the rock cracks. You couldn't just step on the grassy parts though because occasionally you'd hit a boggy spot and you're foot would sink down about 18 inches. It was very interesting ground.

As we climbed over one of the cliff faces, a stone (go figure) structure of some sort came into view. Cian believes it may have been built by shepards as protection from storms blowing in. The place was nearly perfectly round and the stones used were so large I've no idea how someone got them into place so long ago. You can tell the walls used to be higher by the stones piled around the bottom, but they were stacked so well that most of the walls still stand firm up to 10 feet high, despite the lack of any kind of makeshift mortar. The diameter of the structure was about 20 yards so it wasn't exactly small either. We went inside through the opening for the door and right about then you could see a storm rolling in off the ocean. We sat down against one of the walls and waited out torrential gusts of rain. Even without a roof the building provided great shelter from the rain and howling wind.

About 15 minutes later we continued our quest for the elusive top of the mountain. Remember our climb up Mineral Hill girls? This was similar, you think you're near the top and then you come up over a rock face and see more cliffs far in the distance. But I truly enjoyed every minute of it. When we finally reached the top the wind was blowing so hard you could not stand still. I'm not very good estimating these things but I would say it was at least 60mph, plenty hard enough to lean into at a 45 degree angle, stronger than the wind at the Cliffs of Moher. On the top plain there were dozens of rectangular piles of stone all around, Cian believes they were some sort of graves. That makes sense because there is absolutely no way you could dig into the ground up there to bury someone. There really isn't any ground, it's just rock! In the midst of all these there is one solitary sheep hearder's monument on the highest point. (Mom I've got to take you here when you and Dad come.) The most amazing part was the view from the top. To the North you could see Galway Bay and the little villages along the coast. westward was the ocean which is a stunning shade of blue/green, I expected it to be more black that far north. To the southwest you could spot bright green patches of farm land and the Aran Islands out in the Atlantic. Directly south the Cliffs of Moher loomed in the distance, and eastward was miles of cliff faces down below.

The hike down was more challenging than the hike up. At times you absolutely could not move forward because of the wind. We went down in a different direction and saw a few little Shetland ponies with some serious dreadlocks from the wind. Cian was kind enough to feed one a Chicklet for minty fresh breath. Back on the road, we drove a few miles south to a little fishing town called Doolin, and stopped in a pub for the best darn bowl of seafood chowder I may ever have. We drove a different way home that had a few lower fences and more chances to see out, so I was happily nausea-free.

Back at the hostel I was (not too difficultly) persuaded to go downtown with two girls from my room. One girl, Nine, (pronounced Nina) was from Holland and the other, Patricia was from New Zealand. We had a great time talking about little differences in our countries with language, etc. Nina is still learning English so we filled her in on a few phrases like "it cost and arm and a leg" and "holy cow!" In New Zealand if you've had a rough day apparently you've been "hard done by." After sitting in a pub where the pints were only 3 eruos (because the volume of the soccer game was 12,000 decibels) we moved on to Tig Coili, which I still cannot pronounce. I was pleasantly surprised to walk in and see three people that I "knew." This is a great little pub that always has different groups playing traditional Irish music. The atmosphere was priceless.

We girls met three guys from Ireland and wound up talking to them for the rest of the night. And I am proud to say I won over my first skeptic. A guy named Noel (pronounced Nole) was with two other two that were very outgoing, but you could tell Noel was kind of hanging back not saying much, not unfriendly, just quiet. (At times you can just tell that people are observing your American opinion, waiting for you to say something like, "Well America is the World Police and we have the right to bomb the hell out of anyone who doesn't agree...) He and I finally started talking about politics, cultures, etc. after his friend told me that Noel really doesn't like George Bush. Like the people from the other night I explained that for every person that worships Bush you can probably find someone who hates him in the states, but that overall most people are fed up with the whole scene and not really knowing the facts about things like Iraq. I told him generally a lot of people are embarassed about our reputation because of the Iraq situation, but are behind our troops 100% and understand that we've started something that we can't simply abandon now without making people more angry. Personally I feel that if the Muslim and American cultures had a way of breaking the language barrier and communicating directly with tolerance, without governments involved, I think we would find that we are very similar people that both just want our friends and family home safe and a quiet life without conflict. Hopefully I'm representing people in the things I say, but the best I can do is just give my own views of things.

Noel opened up a lot more and explained some of his ideas. He, and a lot of Europeans, believe that though we claim to have a right and a left wing, our left side still seems very right wing to them. He personally believes in a lot of socialist values. We talked a lot about how Bush shifted the focus away from Osama bin Laden to Sadaam and Noel didn't realize that a lot of Americans are skeptical about that as well. He mentioned an interesting theory to me that I hadn't heard... The general idea was that on the video of Sadaam being captured there are fig trees in bloom, yet at the time we captured him fig trees were supposedly out of season. Some are wondering if we captured him earlier and didn't say anything. I guess you never know. It's just interesting because you probably wouldn't hear that theory on American TV. I also learned that a lot of Irish are raising a brow at their own government because they are a neutral country, but are letting American troops stop over in the Shannon airport. Just some food for thought.

Well that's enough politics for one lifetime. I'm sure there will be times I'm so tired of talking about it I'll just pass myself off as a Canadian. But it was good practice to discuss with someone. I really don't mind it, I think people need to understand that many Americans are much more tolerant and open-minded than we are often perceived to be.

Thank you all for your emails, etc - and Brynn for calling - yay! Brynn mentioned that she heard there were international calling cards at Costco for a decent price, I know the rates are killer. That's probably what I'll wind up doing too here soon. Oh, and believe it or not text messages are fairly cheap to send internationally. It seems that texting is a very popular way to communicate over here, just 7 cents a message. Oh - and just in case you were wondering when I was going to get around to it... my phone number is 011 353 863549653. The 011 part is the international code, 353 the area code. I'm 7 hours later than you guys in Montana so a good time to call is early morning or around noon your time. Afternoon is all right, but if it's too late here I may be in a pub where I can't hear my phone. Love ya & miss ya all!

Cheers. (Here 'cheers' means everything, hello, goodbye, thank you, here's your change, see you later... )

Today brought new meaning to the word 'cliff'...

2005-01-03T20:28:00.000Z

Well today I had intentions to buy a phone and look at apartments but wound up on the Atlantic coast with two Italians. No I wasn't lost. Ireland has decided that Christmas and New Years are just not enough holidays in a row, so they added the Monday after New Years just for the heck of it. So no stores were open and all that little change adds up when calling scores of people to look for a house. Just as I was about to walk back to the hostel I spotted an Italian couple that looked as astray as I was. As we started talking I found that they were staying in the same hostel and they were looking for the bus station. Having nothing better to do, (I love that phrase) I decided to go with and just see where the buses went to.

It turns out that the Cliffs of Moher, something I've been dying to see, were about an hour away so we bought tickets and away we went. The Italian guy's name is Marco, and the girl's name was (no, not Polo) too hard to pronounce. A-something. The bus ride was longer than we thought but that was fine, it really gave me a chance to get out in the 'country' and see some ground. And what did I see you ask? Stone fences, sheep, green grass, palm trees!, cows, more sheep, more stone fences, ocean, little concrete houses painted very bright colors, (I've come to find this to be the typical home), and hills covered entirely with cantelope size stones. Let met tell you, these people will never run out of rocks! Oh, and here and there you'll see a random castle. No big deal. I've never felt like such a hoaky tourist, taking pictures through the bus window of practically everything. But oh well.

An hour and a half later we reached the cliffs. There's a little tourist trap shop and then you walk up the hill, past a little Irish man playing a pipe, and you walk out on this other cliff where if you look to the left you can see the Cliffs of Moher. The only thing I've seen that could possibly make you feel smaller is standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. In some places these cliffs are over 700 feet high... not quite like the ones in Lincoln, or the 50-footer I flung myself off of this summer on the Jefferson. They are absolutely magestic, rising out of the seafoam they make 10 foot waves at their base look like splashes in a bathtub. I had heard rumors that Ireland 'loses a few tourists' each year to the Cliffs, and I can see why. The wind up there puts eastern Montana to shame. You can just stand and lean into it at about a 45 degree angle (obviously not if you're standing next to the edge). There is a rock wall about 4 feet high to keep the crazy foreigners from being blown off, but there were of course a few geniuses that just had to have their pictures taken from the other side of the wall. Near the top of the path there is a little lookout tower, that looks like it's been there since the dawn of time, but was actually built in 1835 (practically brand new by Ireland's standards). O'Brien's Tower was built to be an observation point for scores of tourists that visited even back then. From the cliffs you can look out and see the Aran Islands; Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer. (Inish is the Irish word for 'island'). You can ferry out there and hike around, there are plenty of old forts, etc. that date back to the 6th & 8th centuries - definitely something that I'll do later. 'A-something' and I hiked up one little trail that there are warning signs for... it's not rude to do, plenty of people go up there - the owners basically just don't want to be liable if someone is blown over the edge. We of course stayed in the area behind the rock wall where it would be near impossible to go over. Some people though were hiking up to the top where there is no rock wall and the trail is basically on the edge of the cliff... a death wish in my opinion. Overall the experience was somewhat surreal. For that past semester I had a picture of these cliffs on my computer screen as a motivation of what was to come next semester, but nothing can compare to standing up there with the wind blowing water all the way up from the foot of the cliffs in amounts that feel like steady rain on your face. In one area there were snowball-size puffs of sea foam swirling around in the air. Looking at the sedimentary layers within the cliff you can't help but wonder what these magnificent faces have witnessed in their time.

And back to the real world... This evening I met Mick's friends Guy and Mark, that I met Saturday night, downtown 'for a pint'. They kept asking me, "What's the craic?" (pronounced crack). I could not for the life of me figure out what they meant, finally I asked. That's basically the Irish way saying what've you been up to, or what's the news. We got into a discussion about politics, etc. and differences in our countries. They were curious about Indian reservations in Montana and weren't quite sure whether they still lived in tepees. And of course they asked me my opinion on George Bush. I explained that I'm kind of middle of the road when it comes to politics and that a lot of people have a hard time deciding in America because you're never sure if you really know the facts. They said that it's really the same way over here, choosing the lesser of two evils. I didn't realize that they had so many political parties, there are several to choose from. They run into the same sorts of problems with people simply voting by party and not actually researching the issues. I guess in America if people vote by party, at least roughly half of people are somewhat satisied since we have essentially two parties. They also explained their views on religion, abortion, and divorce. Divorce was just legalized over here in '95 so it's relatively hard to get one... I guess you have to have been married for so long, separated for so long, etc. They've made it legal to leave the country for abortion (I don't believe they practice them within the borders) but your reason has to be approved ie. rape, young age, etc. Guy also said religion isn't as strong anymore as most people believe it is here. He said maybe roughly 3 in 20 people attends church. Of course all these views are coming from a small handful of people and opinions vary in different groups. We talked for hours but now it's hard to remember everything, I need to take notes! It's also still a little hard to understand every word. I'm getting more used to the accents every day, but like America there are different accents from different regions. In the hostel there are girls from Jersey, Michigan, and Texas and it's amazing just to listen to those different accents side-by-side. When Mark introduced himself I thought he was saying Marrick. I was also introduced to their friends Cormac, Ronan (who bought me my first Guiness in Ireland, and no they don't drink it warm - it's the exact same as the States), Aaron, Frank, and Myra. I'm repeating these names mostly so I'll remember myself! They're all very nice people, Guy and a few others are already planning on coming to Montana for the summer to work with Mick, (who they call Mike).

Well I better wrap this up, it's about 9am here and just finally light outside. I'm going to run downtown and get a phone squared away, I'll post a message tonight with my new number hopefully. I'm pretty proud of myself, I'm really getting to know my way around town fairly well. It's a lot like Bozeman, if you know a couple main streets you'll get the gist. And I can tell you exactly where McDonald's, Subway, and Supermac's (the Irish version of McD's) are at. Speaking of food, I need to go grab my second round of the continental breakfast. All they have to offer is toast and orange juice, so I get up early (I'm wide awake at 7am since that's 12 US time - when I'm usually doing homework) and go through the line three times with breaks in between. Nothing like 6 slices of toast for breakfast! Yes, I'm still a tightwad, but the way I see it I would rather spend money on bus tickets to go see things.

Thank you all for reading, and writing! I was so happy to see 9 messages in my inbox this morning - made my day! Oh, and I adjusted some settings on this website so if you were trying to post a comment before and couldn't, you should be able to now. Love & miss you all, let me know what's happening over there!

You know the world must be flat, because when people leave town they never come back.

2005-01-03T01:12:00.000Z

Hello from the other side of the world!!! I would just like to confirm that there actually is another side of the world. As we flew into London I said to the man next to me, ¨Wow, there it is, Europe. It´s really over here.¨ Profound, I know. But cut me a break, I´m from Lincoln. When most diverse thing you see in your hometown is an albino elk you really start to wonder if all those people and places on TV are really out there. (I have Lucinda to thank for these thoughts, her theory is that maybe the rest of the world is fake like the Truman Show).

It´s kind of amazing that I´m here, just about everything that could have gone wrong on the way over did minus missing a flight or taking a swim in the Atlantic. I nearly missed my flight out of Missoula because I was chomping on toast. Dad said a cloud of black smoke was coming from the plane. In Minneapolis, Amber Hutson and I went out for sushi, a first for me. I have to say it´s not bad, but little squishy. London was an absolute wild goose chase from the moment I landed. I went off in a sketchy hallway trying to find a bathroom and this security guard must have thought I was up to no good. All of a sudden I hear, ¨You there! What are you doing, miss?¨ (English accent implied). He was practically running after me as visions of me in jail in a foreign country flashed through my head. He seemed embarassed when I told him I just have to pee! So anyway I went off to find my next gate so when my plane took off in 6 hours I´d know where to go. But first I had to go reclaim my baggage, which didn´t make sense until later. So I grabbed one of the little trolleys and loaded up my two huge bags that look like bags with dead bodies in them, and are about as heavy, plus my two carry ons. The signs in the airport are pretty insufficient so I just started following everyone else. Picture hundreds of people pushing carts whose wheels have a mind of their own up and down ramps and through a maze of hallways, trams, and elevators. No joke, there were elderly, fragile looking people digging their heels in like mules to keep their carts from having a serious runaway down these ramps. Anyway after 15 minutes of pushing my little cart every way it didn´t want to go I finally got to the North terminal, where someone told me to go. Nope, now someone else says Aer Lingus is at the South terminal. So I sweat through another round of cart pushing and finally get to the south terminal. No Aer Lingus. I was seriously beginning to think this was a big joke everyone was playing on the dumb American girl who had more luggage than entire families. It turns out my plane was taking off from a completely different airport 30 miles away. So I pushed my little cart all the way out of the airport, transferred money to pounds, bought a bus ticket and rode to the other airport. This part wasn´t so bad, minus the fact that it cost £17, becasue I got to see some of the English countryside. It was so green it nearly hurt my eyes - absolutely gorgeous. And all the houses look like little gingerbread houses. So anyway after following terminal signs up 8 escalators only to find myself on the roof of the parking garage in search of my gate, and problems at the baggage check, I arrived at my gate to find my plane had been delayed two hours. Please don´t judge, I know I blonde but at this point I´d been awake for roughly 20 hours. (You can´t sleep when you get the only seat that doesn´t recline during a 7 hour flight.) But the cherry on the top was yet to come. We finally flew out of London to Shannon, which was basically an hour of the kid behind me kicking my seat, and landed.... and then took off again... It was so windy that we barely touched down and were being blown all over the runway so the pilot pulled it back up and we flew around for 15 more minutes. Meanwhile the kid behind me in his little Irish accent says, ¨Daddy I need to go pee.¨ Well the stewardess wouldn´t let them get up because the air was so rough, so for 15 minutes this kid is screaming at the top of his lungs that if his dad doesn´t let him get up he´s going to pee in his pants. The poor dad was trying to coax his son to pee in a cup, meanwhile the plane is jolting all over the place and I´m convinced that I´m going to arrive in Ireland damp, and not from the rain. It would have been funny had I not been slightly uneasy about whether we were going to land safely. Obviously I made it but I could have done without some of the drama!

Mick and his friend Guy picked me up at the airport as promised and we drove to Galway. I was dog tired having been up for some 30 hours but I was so excited I knew I wouldn´t be able so sleep. We went to Mick´s brother´s and then eventually went ´downtown´. Galway is about the size of Bozeman but as far as the bar scene goes you would think you were in downtown LA. The bars (of which there are over 600 in County Galway alone, no joke) are all smoke free and mostly have kind of an R Bar feel to them. And everyone is so dressed up! Most of the girls were wearing skirts, etc. (Mom you don´t have to say I told you so.) And yes, Guiness is everywhere. We went to a dance club called Cuba which is like KO´s minus the trashiness plus 300 people dancing. It was really a good time. I met tons of people, and a couple guys that I think will turn out to be good friends. As if I hadn´t been up long enough, at 2 we all went to one of these guys´ house and hung out for a while. Everyone is so nice!

I told mom that flying into Ireland in the dark was like a big mysterious present, and waking up (today at 2) was like opening that present. I looked out the window and was just blown away. Not only is it green as can be but every single building is so old! I figured there would be some places that looked more modern but there really aren´t hardly any in the main downtown area. The vegetation is what really gets me. It´s just so different. (I need to get some pictures uploaded, I´m in the process of figuring that out.) And absolutely everything is made of concrete or stone, stone fences everywhere. The weather is a little chilly but only really cold when the wind picks up. The rain is more of a mist and just comes & goes. The streets downtown are extremely narrow, where there are sidewalks you can barely fit two people side by side. People drive like maniacs, and it's amazing how instinctive it is to look left, THEN right at a crosswalk, and here you have to look right first - I´ve come to terms with the fact that I will probably be hit by a car at some point. I don´t know why, but I haven´t seen one car, in London either, that is over 10 years old.

The hostel that I´m staying at is pretty nice. The rooms are clean, so are the bathrooms, and the water is good. The shower is kind of goofy, you push a button and the water comes on for about one minute so you have to keep pushing it. Downstairs there´s a TV room, computer room, a huge lounge and kitchen. I stay in a room that has 4 bunk beds, so 8 girls altogether. Tonight a bunch of us went downtown and listened to a live band of old Irishmen, they were hilarious.

My thoughts are kind of random.... the accents aren´t that bad, I can understand most people but it helps to read their lips. Everything is pretty expensive, it´s about 4 or 5 euros for a drink, a little less for beer. I promise mom & dad, I´ve only bought two. : ) I think it won´t be hard to find a job, practically everyone I´ve met works at a bar. At the hostel there are a bunch of ads up for rommates wanted so I´m going to start calling those tomorrow, after I get a phone. It´s like completely starting a new life over here. I feel like I just dropped out of the sky (which I guess I did) and have to make a life. No job, no school yet, no phone, no friends, no home, no family, no nothing! Just a pile of clothes and a debit card. I really love it though. No obligations! -for the time being. I´ve had little spurts of loneliness, or kind of what-did-I-do-ness. But I just push them aside and think about everything I´m experiencing. I´m really looking forward to finding roommates and starting class, starting a little niche. Well I better get some sleep. I promise the next entries probably won´t be so long and boring. Thanks for reading, and please please please keep in touch. I live for email right now! Oh, and you can post comments below here... Love you all.