Feb 29th-Mar 3rd R.A.G. week and The Gathering

R.A.G. week stands for raise and give week and is an infamous week for many eurpoean universities. it is a week where the main focus of thousands of students is to raise loads of money for different organizations and to drink large amounts of alcohol...i dont think i can emphasize enough their love of drinking (also known as having a good craic. craic meaning night/drinking/social experience in general). most of the time rag week is full of concerts and different events happening throughout the week. this year was different though. apparently these rag weeks were getting absolutely out of control. students were treating it like a spring break at school. the drinking would start at noon, meaning no lectures were being attended, and go on well into the night when a concert would be. school boards decided this was too much (surprising considering they were irish). our entire rag week was condensed into one night and was called The Gathering. lectures for this day were cancelled, the drinking started at noon, and a car park was set up for a day of concerts. here is a video from one of the concerts (oh, and first time for me using my video camera, thank you daddy!):

in this video is my roomie aoife (blonde hair), her sister breege, and her boyfriend barry...(oh, and this would be described as "a very good craic!")



overall i felt the week in general could have been a little better. i guess i had been a bit let down after the hype of it all. the gathering was a great day though. at this stage i began to realize just how close aoife and i were getting and it was nice. my roommates thoughout my college experience have always been my closest, most dearest friends. the kind of friends who you realize will be in your life forever. it was beginning to become clear that this semester would be no exception :)

Feb 27th: visa and dublin again!

another weekend had rolled around and like clockwork the roommates were gone and i was ready to head back into dublin. jordan had called and asked if i wanted to go get some mexican food with her and a couple of friends. now i dont want to sound like a fat ass who's mouth was watering by the thought of a taco, but i nearly jumped for joy. i was more than ready for chips and salsa to be a substitute for sausage and potatoes. thank you god!!! the only thing that was stopping me from this savory hispanic heaven was my appointment to get my visa at the guarda station. it was at the same time that they were planning on grabbing lunch. i decided to go in earlier than my scheduled appointment and try to make it happen. not at all to my surprise, i had made it all the way to the station and had forgotten my passport. with beans, rice, and margarita's on the brain i ran to my apt and back up to the station. sweating and panting from my little excursion, if you will, i busted through the station doors nearly ramming the family of 5 from nigeria who had conveniently walked in seconds before me. an hour later (yes, a FULL hour of listening to 4 nigerian children whining for mcdonalds) i received my temp student visa. needless to say i missed out on lunch and wanted nothing more than a large pint of anything containing alcohol.

ended up meeting jordan anyway to watch a rugby match (sidenote: i love rugby!!!)i then went to watch a play at the abbey theatre with a friend (very good play and strange to hear such strong irish accents). after the play i met back up with jordan for a night out in dublin followed by another 4am nightlink :)

Feb 22nd-26th: galway

this particular week i decided to take it easy. and by that i mean keep off the drink like i had planned. one night during the week and once on the weekend and in return make it to more lectures. the most exciting part of the week was wed. went to galway with the volleyball club. the bus ride was fun and kind of eerie. fun because we did "team" things. played some cards, joked around a bit, shared ipods...the usual bus routines. and eerie because it was the first time i had been on a bus with a group of people besides my vball team. this may or may not have brought a tear to my eye :) i guess it just made me realize the small things about vball and being on a team that i will miss very much. it was kind of humorous though. when we were pulling away from the school i went through my checklist...kneepads, ankle braces, shoes, warm-ups, both jerseys...wait. this was not fmu and not serious vball...didnt know falling into old mental habits was so easy.

but the bus ride was fun...the actual playing part however, was literally excruciating. i think...wait let me rephrase that...i know i could have had more fun passing and setting the ball to myself. here is a picture that describes the match:

thats right...i served, served, and served some more. after giving a girl a facial off a serve, which to my amazement was actually possible, i tried to find the one girl on the team who could at least kick it over. this failed as well. needless to say we won and celebrated on the bus ride back like most irish people would...with some drinks!! they really do find any excuse to drink.

the most exciting part was getting to see galway though. a beautiful little city that i will definitely need to revisit!

Feb 20th-21st: first weekend in dublin!

first of all i would like to point out how painfully depressing it is that it is april and i am updating my blog on events that happened in february. ummm...oops :)

this particular weekend had started off like normal. my roommates had literally sprinted out the door at about 3pm on friday anxious to get home. like i said before it is now april and this dissapearing of the roomies happens like clockwork every weekend. i still find this to be somewhat strange. back at fmu we were happy to be away from home. we missed our families and friends from home, yes, but weren't aching to get to them weekend after weekend. i can recall countless christmas breaks talking to my friends and the whining was resounding. a month at home seemed like an eternity. we were used to our parent-less freedom full of doing what we wanted without answering to anyone. its different here though. i have a couple theories (none of which are based on facts, at all) but nonetheless here they are. one is that people seem so much more family oriented here. my roommates are constantly talking about to members of their families and going to visit them. whether it be cousins, aunts, uncles, ect. and so many children still live at home after or during college. its normal and the parents actually like it. i just learned this past week that divorce wasn't legalized here till 1997 (i think). that seems crazy to me. another theory i have is that because its such a small country so many families live within a close distance of each other. regardless of what it actually is, all of this seems to empasize the importance they place on family here. and while it seems strange to me...its nice. definately a quality of the culture i find admirable.

well that was one hell of a tangent. back to the weekend of 2/20-2/21. so my roommates were gone and i still hadn't made too many close friends. i decided that i would not let this keep me in my room watching movies online! thats right! i decided to go into dublin and do something really productive and "touristy". yep, you guessed it...shopping!!!!

so i took the dart in (the train here) and got off at connally station. aofie had informed me that if i got off here i could find henry and o'connell street, two major shopping streets in the city. long story short, i fought the directionally jessica that told me to turn right, no left, ahhhh, and found these two streets. i also ended up running into a group of american girls that i some classes with (ireland is that small. it gets better though). did some shopping with them, had my first official fish and chips, and then grabbed a couple pints at a local bar. it was at this bar that we ran into another american who happened to be from ohio, who happened to know and go to highschool with one of my best friends, jackie, from fmu. yes, it really is a small world after all. her name is jordan and she is a nanny for a family here in ireland. couldnt find work after school and decided to come over here for a year. pretty amazing. we ended up staying out all night and having a blast. caught my first nightlink back to maynooth. left the city center at 4am...oh ireland how i love your nightlife.

I'm back and really doing it this time!!!

i guess i lied before. as you could tell i failed miserably in updating my blog. however, after reading my friend amy's blog i realized...if she can keep this blog thing up so can i!!!! thanks for the inspiration haus :) so to keep it simple and kind of on a timeline i will title the next couple blogs with the dates they happened. more like a diary style i guess. here goes nothing....

Uneventful, typical week

so the last time i "blogged" was on valentine's day. aka, worst fake holiday ever. now i know i sound like your typical cynical v-day hater...and that's because i am. but i did receive my first cards and package in the mail on this gloriously commercialized day. my grandparents sent me a card and some money and my dad sent me a card and a giant, heart-shaped box of turtles. finished those in two days. which brings me to my next discovery here in maynooth...the gym!!! I've started running again and love it. got on the treadmill and just started running. a couple minutes later i looked down to see how much i ran. shit. kilometers. at that point i had no idea what the conversion was. so i just kept running. (alright...sorry. but I'm ending this story on the account that i now feel like Forrest Gump which means that this story is shit or is about to be shit. you're welcome).

as you can tell its probably going to take me a couple blogs to realize what is interesting and what is not. sorry about that in advance.

so the week after v-day was pretty much uneventful. just the usual nights out and school. I've stopped going out Mondays and I'm happy about that. i mean don't get me wrong, starting the week off by drinking an excessive amount and waking up with a hangover was fun for awhile. but I've decided that one night out during the week and then one on the weekends is good enough for me. as much as i hate to admit it i am getting older. and while i may sound like I'm 22 going on 80 right now i really am getting older in regards to school and my responsibilities as a student. (blah, blah, blah. keep in mind this blog will be turned into my school later...i feel i must put some things in here like that :))

Its been a while...

wow. so its been about a month since my last update. apparently in blog world this is not a good thing. i have the worst memory of anyone i know (with the obvious exception of my mother)and should keep a journal/diary of my life. however, i am incapable of doing this. and if anything is a testament to that it is this blog. i apologize to those who are attempting to follow this although i am sure by now you have moved on. for those of you left...sit down, grab a coffee, maybe a little snack. ok. all I'm saying is I'm about to update this thing on whats been happening in my life for the past month. i had to make a legit outline...that's just sick in the head. but I'll start as far back as i can remember and hopefully end at tonight :) enjoy!

Volleyball

Something huge that i am so happy to tell you guys about. I am playing volleyball now. I'm not sure if i mentioned it before but during the first week i joined the vball club here. At first i hated it. Not the vball part but the joining of clubs part. Not to sound like a snobby college athlete...but i'm a snobby college athlete. I knew that long ago but was surrounded my fellow snobby college athlete friends and we were perfectly fine being that way. You know...making fun of sororities and fraternities. I believe the joke always went that they were paying for friends while we were getting paid to have friends. That still makes me laugh...i'm sorry. And you would probably never catch any of us joining clubs or societies unless it was intramurals and we would put together a team of athletes just to dominate and get free t-shirts. And you most certainly would never find us at an organized school function unless there were going to many atheltes present and free food. Hahaha. I'm sorry this is really making me laugh thinking about the ways of an FMU highschool student-athlete. But moving on. I am now a normal student. The only thing that sets me apart is that i am an international but people only know that by either my accent or the fact that i'm a girl and occasionally wear sweat pants to class...thats a dead give-a-way and i could care less. I still choose comfort over freezing and am not afraid to admit it!

And now that i have completely gone astray from the point of this blog i will return to topic. Volleyball. We practice on tuesdays and thursdays. Tuesdays is practice for the traveling team and for those with "skills". Considering i have been playing all my life i have been fortunate enough to make this team. The only bad news is i am on the girls team...and they think i am a hitter. I only recently told them that i havent properly hit in 7 years and if my FMU girls and Haus could see me now they would be having the laugh of a lifetime. Luckily simple placement for these people seems to be scoring so i will continue to "amaze them with my skills". But the way they see it because i am taller than most of the girls in this country i am a hitter. Oh well. I will be able to travel with both the girls and the guys team to a couple different places in Ireland and for free! I consider myself sooooooo lucky for this opportunity. The first trip we are making is to Galway at the end of the month and we are getting there really early to have a proper meal together and sight-see in the city center. We'll then play our match and come home. When the time comes i will let you know how it all goes.

Thursday practices are quite different. These are the recreational practices where we set up two nets and everyone that has is part of the club may come and play. About 70% of these people think catching the ball and throwing it over the net is funny...you can only imagine the agony of these two hours for those of us with more experience. But we go to appease and help with Matthew (the club coach) and to get our hands on the ball for a while. And in fairness even in the last week most of the players have improved.

Now for the good stuff. Matthew invited me to come play with a couple of them on fridays. On these nights just the "best of the best" show up. I was a little nervous cause he said the numbers are usually pretty small but this past friday it was amazing. There were six of us total and we had (well at least I did) so much fun. We were actually playing and i got to set!!! It was here that i informed them that back home it would be a joke if i were hitting. They found this comical as well after seeing me on a mens net and appreciated my wilingness to set most of the time. We ended up playing about 6 legit games to 25, 3v3. Again, i know for those of you who dont play vball this blog might seem boring. But for those of you who do and love it like i do can only imagine the pure bliss of friday night for me. Legit play for two hours of moving and diving and blocking and on and on. As lame as it sounds considering that i am in a different counrty this was one of my best nights here so far. I know i'm supposed to be experiencing new and exciting things and i will and have been. But nothing beats the comfort of doing something that you've been doing for 12 years, something that truly makes you happy. Especially at a competitive level like that.

Oh and a side note...anyone that feels gracious enough to send me a pair of knee pads be my guest. I'm still trying to look cute on a night out and black, gray, and blue bruises covering both of knees is somewhat of a turn off if you catch my drift. :)

STUDY abroad???

So it just occur ed to me that I've been writing mostly about my social life and my thoughts on certain aspects of that but never about school. I mean i am studying abroad...emphasis on the studying part of that cause eventually i will have to do some of that :) For those of you that are going to school and the last thing you want to read about is school go ahead and skip this post cause I'm getting ready to update on my classes here. You have been properly warned!

Like i mentioned before i am only taking 4 classes here. And the scheduling of classes here is amazing and my load is pretty light. (Do keep in mind before you judge that I'm a slacker that i am taking my senior research right now as well via email with a professor back home and still applying to graduate schools which is stressful enough). But because of my light load i have one hour of classes a day with the exception of 3 on Thursdays. That's a beautiful thing. Wake up for one hour of class and i have the rest of the day. And even though Thursdays may seem a bit more busy than the rest it passes fast due to my absolute favorite class of all time. The class is called the Sociology of Popular Music. This class was sent from Jesus himself directly to me! I love it. The whole two hours we talk about music in our generation and the paradox that entangles it. Bands, concerts, festivals, industry corruption, and the love of music in every way is what you could expect to hear about throughout the lecture. Aside from the PowerPoint's we most frequently visit YouTube and the music/album charts. I seriously can not express the pure joy i feel sitting through these classes so far and it is precisely what gets me to Thursday and sends me off happy into the weekends. I think you catch my drift. But to my closest friends who share this love of concerts and music i wish nothing more than for you to join me in one of these lectures. You will feel the same.

As for my other classes...they are alright. I am taking Irish Studies and we discuss the Irish revolution and literary revivals. I can see how this could be a dreadful class for most students here but for me its interesting. I know nothing about Irish culture or history (well lets be honest, its like that for me with America too but I'll pretend i didn't just share that). So everything i learn in this class is new to me and quite interesting. Its such a small country compared to the states and i really like that. Its more of a compacted and passionate history that is more like a story than facts. At least that's my take on it and so far I'm enjoying it.

The other two classes i am taking are much less interesting so i will be done with this particular discussion. But just like i have gotten into a social routine, so the same is with school. Before i was annoyed with this change from FMU. Having to learn a new school system and deal with professors who don't know and favor me like the ones back home was somewhat scary. But now i like it. I like the change and challenge of it and i feel like throughout the semester it will help me mature as a student and maybe even a professional individual...ugh. Haha. Just looking back and rereading what i just wrote makes me sick. And if you couldn't tell i am currently writing essays and what not for grad school. Luckily for me i have the ability to change from blog/diary writing to professional writing. But not so lucky for this boring blog.

Already a weekly routine

After a long weekend of drinking and rugby i was ready to chill this week and get my act together with classes and what not. So i told myself minimal drinking this week. Maybe one night instead of two...nope. But i did do better!!! Monday night gags and her friends and i went to the student union to watch some jello fighting and have a couple 3 euro drinks. The set up was so poor that we didn't get to see much jello due to the swarm of immovable drooling Irish lads. But neither of us seemed to mind. The night ended early (about 12:30am) and i actually got to bed at a decent hour. Despite my greatest efforts we went out again Wed night :) This was just another night at Brady's (the usual Wed nightclub/bar). So I believe this Mon/Wed night out is slowly becoming a routine but i think it will be fine. Especially if i continue to be a good girl and leave my notes and debit at home and take the cheap drinks from the lads thank you! And this routine will also be fine if i have chill weekends like this present one. Spent Friday night catching up on homework, laundry, cleaning, and grad school applications. Then sat was more being lazy and watching tv. Oh and also Gags (here, sorry. that's my roommates nickname) returned from home early this weekend so we hung out. Thanks to the most annoying holiday ever chick flicks every where were on sale and in box sets! So we purchased a couple and had a girls movie night (cause i love movies more than francis - inside joke that was needed, sorry for those not on the "inside").

Time to back-track...

Right. So that last blog was kind of filling you in on my thoughts as of lately but now I'll try to fill you in on the actual events that have been going on since i last chatted with you all. Alright...i think I'm gonna start with last Friday. Which was the last time i can remember (love my acute memory). It was sunny. Legit sunny. I was on the south campus which is the historic part, equipped with old churches and buildings, sculptures, and green grass. So pretty and on this particularly unusual sunny day it was breath-taking. I remember thinking that this must be the days they filmed movies like "P.S. I Love You" that make all us Americans fall in love with this normally cloudy/rainy country. Nonetheless it was a beautiful day and the first moment i had realized i had made a good decision coming here. Lovely! That evening i took my first train into Dublin. Read the whole way in and switched stations and all. For a pretty naive, directionally challenged individual i was proud of myself. And it was nice to get out of college-town maynooth and get into a bigger city. My fist time into Dublin! Amazing! Andy picked me up at the station and we walked through Trinity College which is in the heart of the city. For any of those who still have time to study abroad and in Ireland go there! Well we walked through the city then and met his brother and friend for a couple of drinks. Ended up going back to Mallahide and drinking too much (very unlike me :) Woke up the next morning and watched the Six Nations. This is a rugby tournament between six nations, hence the title. Ireland was playing Italy and beat them pretty easily. It was my first rugby match and i was lucky to have andy and his friends there to explain the game to me. They didn't even seem bothered by my question-master ways (but no doubt they probably were). That night we went out to their local bar/club and actually met a couple of the Italian players from the match. Holy hugeness!!!!! So funny and so much fun. The next day was followed by greasy sausage and chips. Chips, chips, and more chips!!! Aka fries. They really do love their potatoes here...I'm afraid my idea of becoming a skinny cute European might go down the toilet with this love of starches :)

Finally!!!!

ok so its official...actually I'm official. Officially the worst blogger ever. I haven't updated since i met my roommates which could possibly be well over a week ago. So my apologies to all who were trying to stay updated in my life and were unable to. But i am back and am going to try to stay on top of this. I think i just got to a point though where i felt like i was updating more than experiencing. And if that was happening then there was actually nothing to blog about. But due to my complete neglect of this web page for far too long i have something to write about now! And it actually might get a little long. As many of you know my short stories turn into epic novels with way too much information along the way. I will do my best to keep out unnecessary information or thoughts but already i am writing too much about nothing. ahhh. moving on. I'm going to attempt to start as far back as i can. I think the last time i thought about updating this thing was when i was hating it here and truly thinking that i had made a bad decision by coming here. Wrong. I love it now. I'm pretty sure i love most everything about it with the exception of the weather. I love my roommates (mostly aoife who has made my transition a million times easier). I love nights out here and staring at people for ages cause they're too drunk to notice, perfect!!! I like walking around everywhere. Walking into town, walking to the train station, walking to class, and blah blah blah. Anyway i think you get my point. I'm happier now. While i miss my family and friends dearly that point has passed where i feel i need them right right now or i might melt. I'm happy i made this somewhat frightening move on my own for my last semester. I have just passed the two week point of being here and already i feel as if this semester abroad will be an eye-opening semester for me.

Finally roomies!

upon return last night and this morning i finally have some roommates. i have 4 of them and so far have met 3. they are all really nice and helpful so far. i now know a lot more about life at the university. more about classes and where buildings are and also the social aspect. apparently they go out mon, wed, and thurs and then everyone goes home for the weekends. so even though i have no desire to get all dressed up, drink and go out tonight i guess i will. i feel like if i miss out on these first nights i'll really screw myself over socially but we'll see.

on that note and after looking at how late its getting here i must go. hopefully i will have good stories for tom!

My first week

so seeing how its monday i've already spent almost an entire week here. classes started today. no worries (especially for you mom) cause registration for internationals isnt till wed. i have my classes picked out though and as long as i've done everything right, which is near to impossible, then these are my classes...
PSY 205 - Personality and Intelligence
PHIL 306 - Humes Philosophy
ENG 254 - Irish Studies I
SOC 220 - Popular Music

i think that should be a pretty nice schedule. but in all honesty i have no idea how anything that has to do with school here works. i believe that will come...eventually...i hope. but so far the week has been grand. we had orientation for all the internationals wed, thurs, adn fri and that was mind numbing. i felt like a first semester freshman again and decided right then and there that i had to fall asleep through most of it. on the afternoon of the campus tour the wind was ridiculous and i had the lovely opportunity to experience ireland's renowned weather. was it raining? no. was it even drizzling? i dont know. but i did know one thing, that no matter the circumstances it is always "damp" here. thats what people here say. i was confused but by day three i was used to walking into town with some sort of wetness piercing my face.

fri was the last day of our orientation and that night i got out of lonely maynooth for the weekend. andy picked me up and we went to dinner and then to see Avatar which was amazing in my opinion. well done james cameron. after that we decided to suck it up and meet his friend, Ollie, out for a "drink or two". by half one we were at some new night club and the jd and cokes were going down just fine (sorry grams and gramps). walking into this place was truely a shock and awe moment. i've never seen anything like it. imagine walking into a night club in the states. everyone seems to be having a good time. and occasionally you look around and see some crazy group of girls in blackout mode trying to look cute but ultimatley they're a hot mess. or you might even see a random couple who need to get a room and you stare in slight disgust wondering how much these people have had to drink. well here in this gem of a country...thats everyone. and i love it. (haus, andi, gale, jackie, jlo, jenna...lets make it happen).

being a psychology major and your one-of-a-kind stare freak i took this all in happily. the girls were dressed to impress. the shortest dresses i've ever seen and almost all of them trying to distinguish themself with some sort of accessory. the guys were loving every minute of it. after this club ollie, andy, and i decided to head back home for a quiet night...with more jd and coke. my first night out in ireland was a success.

the next day andy and i reflected on the night before and he told me that the irish will find any excuse to drink. this i find to be 100% true. so keeping in tradition we drank a little the next night. slightly more chill this time around and i got to meet all of clara's friends (andy's sister). had so so much fun with them and cant wait to hang out on future occasions. on sunday andy brought me back to maynooth and i had to get back to school mode, blah blah blah.

Move-in Day!

So today is my first time writing for my blog. Feels odd. Like a journal for the world...we'll see how this goes. See I'm supposed to be writing in an actual journal for back home. One of the requirements to study abroad was that we have to document our experiences and how this experience is different from our own culture and everyday life. Well I started that journal and 5 minutes in my hand began to hurt so here I am with my own blog. Although, due to the fact that my computer is shit here, I may have to resort back to the ol' pen and paper. (and that last sentence is the end of me capitalizing by the way and i apologize in advance for the informality of this blog).

i would have written earlier but havent much felt like it i guess. settling in here and getting used to this transition has taken me longer than expected. i have yet to speak to my dad and have only spoken to my mom and sis once. needless to say i miss them and getting in touch with people back home is harder than i thought. anyway, i guess now i will start my official journal and fill you all in on whats happened so far.

so...i'm in ireland! crazy i know. i felt as though it was something that was exciting but only something to talk about. more of a conversation starter if you will. but as my days in florence began to grow smaller i started to feel anxious. however, after some reassurance from my parents and friends i was fine. so the day came and jen drove me to the airport. an emotional drive to say the least. florence was easily the best 3 and half years of my life. but all our time at fmu has to eventually come to an end and we must move on. which brings me back to ireland. my first time out of the states and i found the plane ride and time change to be brutal. my friend andy from school (was on the golf team at fmu and lives near dublin) picked me up from the airport. my first thoughts...why are the cars and car parks so tiny??? i nearly had to carry my luggage over my head to get between cars. then there was my first time in a car here. it only took about 30 times before i stopped freaking out thinking andy was driving or turning in the wrong lane or being confused why everyone was in the passenger seat.

we came out to maynooth to drop off our things and get into our apts and realized something else that was strange about this country. nothing opens earlier than 9 or 10am and everything closes at 4 or 5pm. oh then of course there's the one or two hour break in between there for lunch. haha. the irish know what they're doing thats for sure. anyway we were too early so andy took this time to drive us around and help us get familiar. we picked up most things we needed for the apt and went back to his home to relax for a while. later that night we came back and set up everything. this is my first time living on campus at any university so i made the best attempt i could to try to make this cold, white, box of a room look and feel "homey". when i get my camera from mom i'll upload a pic. the anticipation is killing you i'm sure.

well thats all for this blog i guess. my next one will update on all that has happened since move-in day and it is sure to be more exciting than this...but dont hold me to it.