Dublin!

(If this blog has any huge grammar or spelling mistakes, sorry! I'm running on little sleep :p )

It's officially been over a month that I've been in Ireland! Time has flown by..
This week I finally feel like I'm settled here. I know my way around town and school. I'm finally registered for classes. I'll probably (we'll see) be putting more focus into school rather than travel soon, haha.

It snowed this week! Not enough to cover the ground.. but it was still pretty. The Californian in me was pretty excited--my friends from the Midwest  not so much. I'm really glad I was forced to get up early that morning to register for classes because I would have missed it otherwise! But I'm sure it will snow again. February is the coldest month of the year here.

This week I scoped out a little bit more of Galway with my friend Anne. It's really funny because Anne and I went on a trip to France/England when we were sophomores in high school and now we both picked the same school in Ireland.. small world! We ended up at a used book store called Charlie Byrnes. I found the most amazing book called Superworm. Superworm is this really cool earthworm that helps his friends & just a stand up dude but he ends up getting kidnapped by a lizard wizard. The lizard wizard had a hat, just wanted to note that. I wanted to buy it but it was 13 euro.... so maybe I'll buy it if I'm not completely broke in May. It was my favorite part of the day. We also tried to learn how to palm read and I shopped for future coffee table books. We met up with another friend, Eris, and went to get hot chocolate at this chocolate café called Butler's. The hot chocolate there is so good! You also get a piece of chocolate with it.

Going full creep for this one people.

We went to Dublin this weekend! There was eight of us together and we stayed in a hostel in the city. The ride there is about 3 hours from Galway (on the west coast of Ireland) to Dublin (on the east coast of Ireland). Dublin is an awesome city. We stayed for 2 days but you really need 4 days to do everything!
On Friday we ate at a Japanese restaurant. I had NO idea what to get--if you know me well, you know I don't like any seafood :( but the group helped me and I got a really good beef and noodle dish. Everyone else really enjoyed their meals as well.

Saturday we explored the city a bit. We visited Trinity College and the Old Library and Book of Kells on campus. The Book of Kells is a manuscript containing parts of the New Testament that were written by Celtic Monks around 800 AD. They had 4 pages on display. Side note, I wish my handwriting was as good as the monks. But the art in the display was incredible. What was even better was how amazing the Old Library was. It was a gorgeous room filled with books and books and books. So pretty! That afternoon a few of us went to the Natural History Museum and looked at dead things. The security guard was showing us the best stuffed animals to take pictures with. All jokes aside, it was a pretty neat exhibit. After that, we went to a park where we watched people feed the birds. The park was gorgeous, especially since it was sunny outside! We ended up finding a traditional Irish music festival where people were performing old Irish songs mashed up with Rihanna. It was actually really entertaining and fun to watch! After a delicious pizza dinner, we went back to meet up with the rest of the group.

Trinity College Old Library, Dublin

Trinity College Old Library, Dublin

St. Steven's Green, Dublin

The Temple Bar, Dublin

That night we went out on a pub crawl. During a pub crawl, a tour guide takes you around to a few different pubs and you get to hang out in each one for an hour or so. They encouraged the teaching of American drinking games to foreigners, which was pretty funny. We ended the night at a club and celebrated my friend Kelly's birthday! The tour guide ended up hanging out with us, so we went to Supermacs (Irish equivalent to McDonalds) after the club. Cheese fries!

Today we were all pretty worn out. I zoned out in the lobby while watching the Djokovic/Murray match with a few friends and an English guy who was sitting with us. We finally decided to try to be touristy soon after. I ended up going shopping and picked up a dress for the Commerce Ball! Commerce Ball is coming up this Wednesday or Thursday. So that is something to look forward to this week!

Time to finally sleep! I'll post more pictures this week. x

America.. y u no have these anymore?

More creepy for you.

Awesome doors in Dublin.

Channeling our inner moose.

Bringin' a little SB to Dublin

Mmmmm Doughnuts..

Hello again!

Hope you all are enjoying my blog! I decided that Sunday is going to be my upload day. So look out for future posts on Sundays :)

It has been a great week! The temperature has stayed around 2-4 degrees Celsius (about 30-ish or so degrees Fahrenheit) but the sun came out a few times! You really do appreciate the sun after you haven't seen it awhile. There was some rain this week, but at least it wasn't every day! It's expected to snow this week and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Snow would be awesome, but then I will probably end up getting sick again or I will be forced to walk long distances in it. I'm sure it is pretty to see, though.

Class has been going well. I finally finalized my schedule and I think this is about the happiest I'm going to be with it. I get to register for classes tomorrow and that will allow me to view all the homework and readings online. Guess I'll finally have to start doing schoolwork.. I really like my archaeology class, and I start two more archaeology classes in February. I'm also taking a class on the history of the Roman Empire and two Celtic Studies classes. Kind of glad that I didn't get into the Irish language class because the study guide looked horrible, haha.

I'm currently trying to transfer money from my American account to my Irish account and it is not easy whatsoever. It's a bit sketchy... you know, transferring money and hoping it ends up in the right place. Apparently if I figure it out by the end of January and am able to fit in 5 transactions, the bank will give me a free flight. Maybe I will get to use it to go to Madrid?!

I have really been trying to figure out my plans for travel while ticket prices are low. It's a bit difficult because I do not find out when my exams are until April. I'm used to knowing when finals are right when I sign up for a class. But I'm planning to go to Madrid, Spain for Spring Break to meet up with one of my best friends, Alex. We are then HOPING to travel to Italy (Who knows?!)! I have a lot of planning to do.

On Wednesday morning, my roommates and I woke up at 6:45am and went to stand in line to buy tickets for the Commerce Ball. These tickets did not even go on sale until noon, but people had been standing in line since 5am that morning! Commerce Ball is one of the biggest events of the second semester. It's a dance put on by the business society. I'll be honest, that morning I did not know ANYTHING about it. But I trusted my roommates then and now I'm really excited to go! The next task is to find a dress and find some heels.

This Saturday I went to the Farmer's Market. At the market, I met up with a few people that I had been hanging out with and also made a few new friends! The market is located right near St. Nicholas' Church (a really pretty church in town). They have some of the most interesting stuff for sale! I found a ton of things that I want to buy for everyone. There was a lot of produce I wanted to buy, but it would never fit in the tiny fridge I share with 5 girls at my house :( so looking at it will have to suffice. There was an entire store full of cheese that looked delicious .. but it smelled horrible, haha. I did get to try my first doughnuts from the "doughnut man". It was so good--melt in your mouth kind of good. My friends Eris and Kelly ended up picking up ingredients for dinner and they were nice enough to share with me and another girl from my college named Olivia. We closed off the night with a Nutella and banana pizza at Fat Freddie's in town. Two thumbs up.

Doughnuts nomnomnom, Galway

Close up of all dat goodness, Galway

Duck eggs?! Market in Galway

Not grown in Ireland, but delicious looking.

Stuffed Olives, Galway

Next weekend we are planning to go to Dublin! I'm really excited!
... In other news, so excited for the puck drop for the Sharks/Flames game tonight. This is one of the only games I get to watch, hence why I noted it. This is my blog so I shall write what I wish :p
See you next weekend! x

Green stuff!

Hello again!
I've just come home from a busy day (and a pretty busy week, actually).
The first week of school was interesting to say the least. This pretty much describes me:

Pretty much.

Yeah.... it definitely had its highs and lows. Monday afternoon I found out that my Irish language course got cancelled, so I was rushing around trying to add new courses. Silly me already finished my general education back at UC Santa Barbara, so pretty much whatever I take is going to have to be for the fun of it. Inside I'm silently freaking out, you know me. That night someone mentioned to me that they didn't have their timetable (classes) figured out at all. And then I find out that pretty much everyone else is in the same boat as me as well. I wouldn't call the school system disorganized.. but if you compare it to the UC system--they seem like dictators because it's so strict, haha. I really need to stop comparing the two schools since they are completely different!

Beautiful scenery in town, Galway

Bouncing off from that point, it's A LOT more relaxed when it comes to class in general. Class is scheduled on the hour, but it doesn't start until about ten after the hour. You can easily spot the Americans because they are the ones crowding the doors ten minutes BEFORE the hour. We're pretty easy to spot in general, but this is like a red target. Northface clothing and arriving ten minutes before class, American tendencies right there. In my first class, I pulled out my laptop to take notes. I guess that is an American thing too because everyone was staring at me. No one was using a computer. I went to the uni bookstore to inquire about a notebook, but everything is wide ruled here. I need my college ruled (*cough* paper snob). Speaking of America, there is a Starbucks on campus! That's kind of exciting since I expected the closest one to be in Dublin (about 2.5 hours from Galway). You still won't catch me in McDonald's though. ;)

House for the next 5 months

I think I mentioned in my last blog that I moved into my new house last week. It's been good! My roommates are super sweet. They're all here for the week and usually go home on the weekends to work. This works out well since I'm going to try to travel around Ireland every weekend as well. Hi guys! (I know you're reading this...). My house is right across the street from school. I walk across and BAM, campus. It's pretty convenient. But it's not convenient when you're in town and have to take a taxi back home since it's scary to walk in the dark. Thankfully, a taxi only runs about 6-8 euros to get from town to my house. The kind of bad thing about the house is it gets super cold inside. So cold that you can see your breath :( . In order to have hot water you have to turn on this switch called the immersion. You have to heat the water for an hour+ in order to take a shower. Definitely different, for me at least, haha. But it's okay! It's all part of the experience. Just wish my body would adapt the climate faster. I still have a cold, booo.

Old Church in Co. Clare, Ireland

Today we visited different sites around Ireland and most notably, the Cliffs of Moher! We (meaning myself and 4 others) took a day tour that left from Galway and made various stops. Our first stop was at a castle called Dunguaire Castle. It was super muddy and I could have fallen to my demise at any point while exploring.. since if there is mud, I will usually fall in it. But I made it out unscathed!

Dunguaire Castle, Ireland

After some a few different stops, we stopped at a pub in Doolin, Ireland. I chose to go with the chicken goulons (chicken fingers) and chips. It was quite tasty and probably the best chicken fingers I've ever had. Our next stop was the Poulnabrone Dolmen. This was a neolithic tomb, so it has been around for quite some time. There are 16-20 bodies buried inside--they believe. They do not know the exact amount because most bodies were cremated at this time. Stone age people must have been super yolked to even get all those stones on top of each other. Sorry, maybe it's just an anthropology major thing? Haha.

Poulnabrone Dolmen, Ireland

And for the main event... The Cliffs of Moher!

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

The cliffs were absolutely amazing. It's really something you have to experience in person because pictures taken with an iPhone do not do it justice. We explored and took awesome pictures. It wasn't raining (!) so the cliffs were visible. This is actually where the horcrux scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was filmed. I'm not going to get into Harry Potter (you don't want me to) but I was fangirl-ing a lil' bit. You can see the giant rock that Dumbledore and Harry stood on in the movie. Moving on now... haha.

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

"Baby Cliffs" Co. Galway, Ireland

We ended our day at the "Baby Cliffs". They took us to see these so we could get close to the edges of the cliffs. Too many people have died falling off the Cliffs of Moher, so they put walls up. I looked over the edge and then backed up, that's all the risk I'm taking, haha. It was really windy, as you can tell. But beautiful scenery! I felt like I was travelling through postcards the whole day.

Alpaca party on the Irish countryside, Galway

Here's some cute alpacas for you.Well I have school tomorrow. Let's hope I don't mess this week up as much as the last. Thank you for reading! x

Preparation.

Hello!

National University of Ireland, Galway

I had three days of orientation this week. The first day was with people from my program in the UC system. The next two orientations were with the university itself. There's 8 of us from the UCs and about 300 American students from other schools. So there will be a lot of Americans around still. We have to take 30 units worth of classes here--so 6 classes??! Each class is worth either 5 or 10 units. The thought just makes me die inside a little bit. I'm used to taking 3 or 4 classes. But I'm going to take a 10 unit Irish language class (let you know how that goes.. haha), a class on King Arthur, and three archaeology classes. My schedule is actually looking pretty good, right now I have Mondays off.

Signing up for classes is a lot different here. Instead of an online system, you go to each class and try them out to see what you think. Two weeks later you add all of the classes you want. It makes me a little bit nervous since I'm not sure how impacted the classes are. I'm used to stalking the internet until a spot opens up in a class. It's definitely a lot more laid back here!

It's been a little over a week since I've been abroad & I'm already sick!! Yesterday no sound was coming out of my mouth. It's hard to be sociable when you can't say anything. Today I'm a little bit better, but I have a really bad cough and raspy voice... still hard to be sociable. I am really glad that I arrived a week early because navigating the city with a sick haze is kinda rough.

I've moved out of the hostel and into a house, yahoooooo! I'm currently by myself, but my 5 roommates arrive tonight! School starts tomorrow.

Also rainy day count: 9/10. It has rained 90% of the time I've been here. Still acclimating, haha.

Swan chillin' in town

Happy New Years!

Eyre Square

Happy 2013 everyone!

It's been a fun weekend! I've been exploring the city with some people I met in the hostel. It's been interesting because most of them do not speak very good English, so it's funny trying to communicate sometimes. But I've learned a lot about some different places in Europe--shame that I can't visit them all. They all want to visit America at some point. A few people have brought up the show The O.C. Apparently it still plays in Europe and they love it here. But the hostel has been really fun! I was initially worried because I'd never done something like this before, but you meet so many awesome people. I'd stay in the hostel the whole time if it wasn't so expensive and so far from school.

I have been trying to balance my time looking at houses and for doing fun things too. The city of Galway is grand (vocabulary enhancement) and I'm really excited for the next 5 months! The only thing is it rains so much! And it's not just rain, it's also horrible winds that make your lips and phalanges want to fall off. But I will suck it up, because the city itself is worth the pain.

We ended up going to one of the pubs called King's Head last night and they had live music. They played WeeEEEEEee are never ever ever ever getting back together and it was wonderful because it made me think of my housemates back in IV. Met a lot of cool/nice people. Found out that the Irish lads (vocabulary enhancement) really do sing loud pub songs. I need to learn at least one before I leave the country. Also learned that Americans need to tone down their dancing and dancing in Europe is a lot more fun. 90 degree angle is lame, America.

The King's Head

I believe that I finally have a house to live in for the semester! Yahoo! It's a room share (not like I've ever had my own room in college anyways...) and I will be living with 5 Irish girls. The house is located really close to the university and about 15 minutes from all the shops downtown. So, it's not too shabby. I actually have washer and dryer for clothes. Talk about an upgrade. I can't wait to be able to wash my clothes without going to the laundromat..

Anyways, that's all for now. I will check in a few days from now. I have orientation tomorrow where I get to meet the rest of the UC students who will be going to NUIG. And now it is time for dinner.. where I will try not to go to Subway. I swear it smells 10x better here than it does in the states...