The banshee. And cute Irish kids.

We watched this video in my Irish Folklore class and I thought it was so cute that I couldn't resist sharing. The video is a collection of school kids telling different scary stories that have been passed down through generations and have affected friends of friends. There are subtitles because the kids' accents are so strong. So cute!!

PS. In case you are like me before taking this course and have no idea what a banshee is, it's a ghostly woman figure who comes out only when people die. Not like an angel. Not like casper.

A weekend filled with cereal and peanut butter sandies.

Over the weekend me and my friends Courtney, Laura and Susie went on a trip to Glendalough, Ireland (a town just south of Dublin) with the Outdoor Pursuits Club (OPC) and the International Society.

On Friday night, between 120 and 140 (mostly International) students filed onto three buses waiting outside our campus. We left around 6:30 then drove, and drove, and drove - stopped at a grocery store (with no public restrooms) so that people could grab some snacks and alcohol for the weekend - then continued to drive until we arrived at our hostel at about 10:30/11 p.m. Our group was so big that we had the whole place to ourselves!! And me and my three girl friends lucked out and got a private room to share between the four of us; bathroom and all!

Exhausted from the bus ride, we decided to call it a night once we got settled. The rest of the group, however, partied until about 3:50 in the morning. At least that's when the hallways got quiet...

The next morning, when we filed in for breakfast I was beyond stoked to see that they had a freshly brewed pot of coffee!! The other food - toast, peanut butter, cereal, and nutella. I poured myself a bowl of cereal, ate with my friends, then we got ready to hike.

The group had the option of going on a hike or going on a bus tour around the city. So sick of buses, and nostalgic for Squaw Peak hikes, it was an easy choice for me. After a little convincing, the three other girls were on board too! I put on my tennis shoes and was immediately in giddy, gym-mode Megan (Kylie, this is a reference for you since you've pointed out how I become weirdly peppy in my sneakers). We packed our lunches - peanut butter, cereal bars, and apples - and were on our way.

When we headed out, we were all a little worried because it didn't stop raining on Friday. But we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for a hike! The sun was shining and the grass was so green! I even felt something I didn't think I would experience until I arrived back in Phoenix for the summer -- I was sweating while being outside!

Susie, me, Laura, Courtney

The hike lasted from about 11:30 till 4. We took a ton (too many if you ask me) of breaks so that everyone had the chance to catch up/take in the beautiful scenery. Once we got back to the hostel, we showered and took naps until dinner.

SIDENOTE: Showering in a hostel isn't as easy as it sounds -- even with a private bathroom. The four of us ran back to our room to make sure we'd get some hot water before everyone got back and stole it all. The water, which apparently started off freezing, soon turned scorching hot, didn't have a temperature gauge, and only stayed on for increments of about 10 seconds. 


Dinner was a nice effort. A pretty good vegetable soup as the first course, a heap of some sort of ground meat on top of overly cooked soba noodles as the main dish (don't even ask me what was in my veggie option...), and wine for everyone. Not huge fans of the dinners we were just served, Laura and I headed back to the room for something different -- almonds and cereal for me, and a peanut butter sandwich for her. Note the trend in food for the weekend?

That night was the "Valentine's Ball" so we put on dresses and heels, karaoke-ed at the hostel, then went to a pub down the street to dance the night away.

Breakfast made of nutella toast (they were out of peanut butter) was not hitting the spot, so we were thrilled when our group walk around the lake stopped at a place that was serving chicken nuggets and "chips"! Ketchup was an extra 50 cents. Rip off... but so worth it!

Overall, the weekend was a success! (Minus my new aversion to peanut butter sandwiches.) We met a lot of new people who came from literally all over the world. All of my roommates are part of the OPC and five out of the six of us went on the weekend trip, so hopefully we'll all go on more club outings together! When the weather is nice, it is a fabulous way to see the beautiful countryside!

My newfound feelings toward peanut butter sandwiches

:)

...I've a horse outside

Supposedly, the fact that I drive a Honda Civic makes me the type of girl who wears Nike Air.  There's an Irish word for it but it's slipping my mind. The fact that my car is black makes the stereotype even more intense... Not sure why this is or exactly what it means, but I have a feeling it's somehow correlated to a song we hear literally EVERY time we go to the pubs. It's called "Horse outside" and is by a group called The Rubberbandits. Listen closely to the lyrics (if you can understand them). Warning: The music video is really weird!!

Week 3.

The constant rain of the past week or so is proving to be worth it, as I've noticed the grass growing greener each day. The morning drizzle today faded by late afternoon and the sun finally came out! I can't even explain how much I have missed feeling the sun's rays on my skin (although these are not nearly as warm as the ones I'd be feeling in California or Arizona, the feeling is still fabulous).

I've spent little time blogging about my classes because they have turned into such the norm, but they are going wonderfully. My grade for each of my classes is only based off of one to three assignments, so I have little to no work during the semester except for taking notes. However, taking notes is not as easy as it sounds. Irish teachers speak very fast, don't spell out names, and typically have thick accents because their schooling included them learning and speaking the Irish language. Today in my geography class, for instance, I wrote down "Labrador and Newfoundland form problems together." When I glanced over at my neighbor's paper, she had written "Labrador and Newfoundland form a province together." Major difference!!

On Wednesday, Courtney and I went shopping with an Irish girl we had met at a party a few weeks earlier. Alanagh, a first year, took us to a mall called "The Crescent" where they had an H&M and a Zara amongst other places. Her friend drove us there - our first experience in a car since arriving - and the girls made the trip eventful by blasting music, honking the horn at people walking/waiting at bus stops, and yelling (or as Alanagh called it,"roaring") different things out the window at pedestrians. Alanagh has great fashion sense and kind of resembles a cuter version of Taylor Swift. She also loves the fact that we're American and from California!

"Isn't she just the cutest thing in the world?" she remarked after I made the stupid mistake of referring to some euro as 'coin dollars.'

A majority, probably around 95 percent, of the Irish people go home every weekend. So Alanagh threw out the idea that Courtney and I come to her home in Clare, about 20 minutes away, so that her mom can make us a home cooked meal one weekend. (I'm assuming her mom is a fantastic cook because Alanagh mentioned to us that, because she's the baby of the family, her mom cooks meals then freezes them so that Alanagh can just defrost them and eat them when she is at school.)

Most of our study abroad friends are traveling this weekend so Courtney and I are having a nice, relaxing couple of days! Tomorrow we plan to go to a yoga class at the massive gym on campus, then head to the Milk Market in the City Centre, and end the day by cooking dinner together, baking something sweet and watching a chick flick.  The Milk Market is like a farmer's market but has knitted goods and jewelry as well as food. I've never been but have heard wonderful things about it so I'm excited!!

Everything else is going great! My roommate Jorge, from Spain, is cooking us dinner tonight. I am loving how many different cultures my roommates come from! We are all learning so much from each other. I absolutely adore my roommate Christina!! She is from a "small willage" in Austria that sounds a lot like Colorado from the way she has explained it. She is super athletic since she grew up in an area that is associated with skiing. She's also a fantastic cook and is opening me up to a bunch of different types of food, like German Rye bread - YUM! I hope some of her characteristics rub off on me because she is very sweet, always seems happy and is up for anything!

Going abroad is definitely teaching me more about myself and who I want to become - something I kind of assumed would happen but not to this extent. I am so blessed to have an opportunity like this!!

The Irish Language

Part of the reason I decided to go to Ireland was the fact that there's no language barrier. Little did I know how different their way of speaking is. Here are a few "Irish-isms":

Lashing -- Heavily raining. "It's lashing outside, I should have brought an umbrella."
Beour -- Girl friends. "I'm having a night out with my beours!"
Shift -- Make out. "Did you see them shifting on the dance floor?"
Craic (pronounced crack) -- Fun. "I went to the club last night, it was massive craic."
Off License -- A liquor store. "Let's go to the off license to get some beer."

The Irish also have a very colorful language. AKA they all have sailor mouths. But they also curse in different ways... 'Shyt' is the friendly version of shit. And 'feck' is the friendly way to say f*ck. However, my music teacher told my class that he'd rather say 'f*ck' instead of 'improvisation'. During orientation he also told us he hopes his class comes to the 9 a.m. lecture as hungover as he will be most of the time... If only teachers in the states were that forgiving!

My classes have been pretty good but the Irish teachers are sometimes hard to understand. I've come to realize it's because of their lack of diction. I am slowly picking up on what makes an Irish accent so I'm hoping by the end of the semester I'll be able to imitate it. "Are ye going to da cinema to see a fil-um?"

I tried to teach an Irish boy how to say the word 'Thursday' the other night because he was making fun of my accent - um, excuse me... I don't have an accent - little did I know how difficult it would be...
"TH-URS-day" - me
"Turrrrsday"- him
"No, Tthh."- me
"Thursthhday"-him
"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, THurssssday"-me
"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Tursday"- him
"THURSday"- me
"Monday, THusthday, Wednesthday, Thursthday.... I sound like I have a lisp."-him
After trying for a sold 15 minutes, he still didn't get it.

Galway Getaway

After missing a bus on campus, taking a bus to the city, then another two hour bus ride - my friends and I arrived in Galway at about 8pm Friday night. We were pleased to find out that our hostel was right next to the bus station so we had a short distance to walk with our bags. I got mercilessly made fun of because I was the odd man out in our group, which was filled with backpackers, but I was perfectly content wheeling my carry-on suitcase behind me :)

 After getting settled in our rooms - the girls in a private 8-bunk room, the boys down the hall - we ventured to an "off-license" (liquor store) to pick up some drinks for the night. Courtney and I separated from the girls and stayed in the hostel a little longer to play King's Cup with the boys and two Canadians we met in the common area then we ventured to Kings Head where there was a live band. We had a fun and successful night, ending it with a belly full of beer and fresh fish and chips!

We woke up early Saturday morning to explore Shop Street and the well-known weekend market, where I bought a handcrafted ring to replace the one I lost in the ocean this summer. We found the original Claudaugh ring store, stumbled upon a museum, ate delicious wraps in a warm cafe for lunch and had baked potatoes with crazy fillings at a restaurant called Couch Potato for dinner.

Saturday night consisted of:
-finding the one gay bar in Galway (and possibly crashing a lesbian's birthday party??)
-a few of our friends riding a mechanical bull at the smelliest bar I've ever been to
-randomly running into my UL roommate
-midnight meal at Supermac's

Another successful night.

We took a private bus tour on Sunday through the countryside and ended in Connemora at Kylemore Abbey. It was a beautiful but exhausting trip! I can't wait to see all of the country when the grass is a little greener because I'm sure it will be even more breathtaking!

One of our stops on the way to Kylemore Abbey

Galway is definitely colder than Limerick because it is by the bay, so I got good use out of my handwarmers.