An interesting read

My mom forward this article from the New York Times to me and it I think perfectly sums up my Irish experience. The first time I was here I found it extremely difficult to make friends with the Irish in classes or through clubs and found myself hanging out primarily with Americans. Then like the author, I just kinda gave up and decided to just enjoy the culture on my own. This is when everything began to fall into place. It was interesting to read that someone far more traveled than myself found a similar situation and overcame it in much the same way.

Some highlights

Some highlights from my first few weeks. The Corrib princess, site of an epic boat party. The beach, some cows (which I was very excited about) and Sam and I in Roundstone.

Photos of my house (finally)

Some photos of my house! FINALLY! Sorry about the long delay.

Update!

Hello to everyone! Winter has arrived (again). It was wonderfully warm last weekend, t-shirt weather! Now it is foggy and freezing, but at least it isn't raining! I am in the midst of working on my paper. One of my sources is 1,100 pages long! I know that is standard, but it came as a bit of a shock to me. So lots of reading ahead of me, lots of writing as well! Went kayaking again on Friday. I am not particularly good at it. Can't keep my kayak going in a straight line. The embarrassment is worth it, however. Such a great group of people and a great work out. Archery is going well. I am still too much of a weakling to comfortably use a 30 lb bow. Hopefully in a few more weeks I will used to it. My shoulders are currently killing me between kayaking and archery. This weekend some friends had a patio party which was good fun. I ended up leaving around 12:30. I am such a party animal right? Haha. No matter how hard I try I am waking up early and need to go to bed early here. I guess I'm growing up :) Last night Sam and I went to a concert, Mount Kimbie. A band neither of us had ever heard of. DJ Society had cheap tickets though so I figured mind as well check it out. I enjoyed it and Sam really enjoyed it so that was well worth it. A new Asian market opened up right next to my street. They sell baby bok choy (or Pok Choi as they spell it here). So Monday, I made a delicious Japanese Sukiyake and it turned out surprisingly well. This is all thanks to the cook books my parents sent me over with :) I have to head off to archery and hopefully hit some bulls eyes. Hope all is well!

Kayaking and Mars Bars

What a wonderful week! My classes are getting progressively more interesting. I am actually really enjoying my Public International Law class. We are starting to think about out paper topics. I will be doing mine on the use of force by Georgia in the South Ossetia conflict in 2008. So far have just started the research...it's all a bit overwhelming. But, I am pleased as pie that I am able to do it on my area of interest. My other course are going well. Economics could be a bit more exciting, but I love the professor. Introduction to Human Rights Law changes lecturers every week, this last week we had an excellent lecturer talking about Social, Cultural and Economic Rights.
Last weekend I tried my hand a print making for the first time. Galway culture night was last week and Sam and I went to free print making classes for it. We got to use the huge gelatin rollers and a big press. So fun and definitely something I would like to try again.
This week I went kayaking with kayak club. It was freezing, wet suits really don't keep you nearly as warm as expected. It was great fun though! I am trained to use my spray guard so should be a bit more warm and dry this time. I couldn't have asked for better weather, sunshine, blue skies. It was a wonderful day to be on the water. The true test will be whether I can stick with it once it gets cold and rainy :)
Went out last night with Lean. It was really nice to get out and about. It was really nice to have a bit of a girls night.
Today Sam surprised me with my first ever proper bouquet of flowers. They smell absolutely amazing! I can smell them all over my house and they really brighten up my room.
The weather was beautiful again today so we went for a stroll down along the water and watched the swans for a while. Learned today that apparently it is extremely bad to feed swans white bread. There are signs up down by the their hang out in Polish, Russian, English and Irish saying that feeding swans white bread can kill them!

I had my first ever deep fried Mars bar today! It was killer and amazing. Apparently they are fairly common in Scottish fish and chip shops. I had never seen them before in Ireland. I always assumed the deep fried phenomena was an American creation.

Big news! Chris, a friend from Olaf who is working in Germany, is coming to visit me towards the end of October. I have a house guest! I am excited about getting to do some touristy things with him. Definitely take a trip to the Aran Islands and maybe Cork or Dublin. I am so hoping the weather can keep it together!
Hope all is well with everyone!

Test photo

The view from my bedroom window. I can just barely see the canal.

Internet and Euronews

Well I finally have the internet! It appears to be super fast, but Skype will be the true test of this. Even more exciting than this development is that our tv gets Euronews Russia. I am fairly certain they may have given us more channels than we signed up for so I need to check on that. Until I figure it out though I get to enjoy Russian news! I am actually enjoying even more the ads for extremely swanky hotels and restaurants. I am beginning to think my Russia experience was a bit lacking.
And we have the Irish equivalent of tivo. This is the cheapest internet/cable package out there and I am so far pleasantly surprised. To add to my astonishment the men came to install it ON TIME! This is almost unheard of by American standards, and even rarer by Irish standards.
There is a down side to all this joy, however. I cannot for the life of me locate my camera cord. I am (almost) positive I packed it. The hunt continues...
Hope all is well with everyone!