I know I haven't written in a while, but I haven't had much going on!
It's so hard to believe that I will be home in 5 weeks!!! Where has the time gone?
I don't know where to begin, so I guess I'll just start with Mandy and Mary Alice visiting me. It was so good to have them here and to see a face form home and to hear a southern accent again haha! All of my Boston and Irish friends loved their accents! Once they finally got here, after their very eventful trip over, I took them around the city center and showed them my apartment. We also went to Galway Bay and walked around. I really liked having them here because I was able to eat out and get a real meal for once haha! It was much better than my bread, pasta, cheese, and nutella diet! They were able to see what my life has been like over here, which pretty much consists of going to class and going out. It's been a hard semester haha. It was nice to have them meet my friends here so that when I come home and start telling stories, at least 2 people will know who I'm talking about!
Then 2 weeks later, this past week, my mom and my cousin came to visit. It was so great to see family and have them here for Easter with me. On Easter Sunday, we went to a United Methodist and Presbyterian Church. It was not the kind of church we were expecting...the service started at 11:30, so we got there around 11 and the door was locked! Then about 15 minutes later, this lady and a bunch of kids get out of a cab and unlock the door. This lady was wearing a very interesting outfit! She had on this long, yellow, African, looking dress with a huge yellow headdress hat thing, it was hilarious! And as more people came in, the women were all wearing the same kind of clothes! Before the service started the preacher came up to us to ask us where we were from and to say that the service lasted about an hour and a half...As the service started, they turned on an overhead projector to show the words to praise songs, not hymns... We sang a few songs and then the preacher had all of the visitors stand up and introduce themselves and say where they were from haha! We finally sang 2 hymns and then when we went to take communion, the bread was just cut up white sandwhich bread! It was not the kind of Easter service we had hoped for, but an interesting one none the least! That night, my mom cooked Easter dinner for my friends and me. They were all really excited to have a real home cooked meal for once! It was delicious! Then on Monday, we rented a car to start our travelling around Ireland. Mom drove for the week and she actually did a pretty good job driving on the other side of the road! We first went to the Aran Islands and we stayed on the island Inis Mor. It was really windy, rainy, and rough going across Galway Bay by ferry to get to the island. Once we got there, we got settled in our B & B and then went to get something to eat. We ate in this little thatched roofed cafe. They still speak Irish on the island on a daily basis, so pretty much every sign and name of building was in Irish. Then we went on tour of the island and saw lots of thatched roofed houses, an old lighthouse, some heads of some seals! The next day, the weather had finally cleared up, and we walked up to Dun Aegous, which is a really old fort built in like 1100 or earlier. It overlooks the Atlantic and the view was absolutely amazing! You could see the water splashing up against the cliffs and you could see almost all of the island. The island was so quaint and really beautiful place! I want to go back for a day with my friends and rent a bike and ride around. Then we headed to Clifden, in Connemara, where we spent 2 days. On our way there, we ended up stopping at Kylemore Abbey, which is an old castle that a man had built for his wife. It was beautiful. Then we headed to Cfifden and settled in our next B&B. Then we went and walked around to explore the town. It was such a cute town, with buildings that are all different colors and all look different. The next day, Wednesday, we walked along the coast and then we came back and got the car and drove out to the Atlantic on the Sky Road. The view form this road was amazing! We had the mountains on one side and the water on the other, it was gorgeous! On Thursday, we were back in Galway and dropped off the car. We went shopping around town and went down to the bay and the Spanish Arch. Then on Friday, we took the bus to Ballyvaughn. This was also a really cute quaint town, but it was the smallest town we had been to. We spent the whole day walking around by the water and watching sheep and looking at the country side. Again, we had the rocky mountains surrounding us along with water, it's beautiful! Then mom and Issy left at 6 am today to get to the airport and I headed back to Galway.
Now I get to get back to doing school work. I have 2 essays and exam to do. It's not much, but it's hard getting back into the swing of things after I have done nothing all semester haha!! I just need the motivation to get it done. And there are still things I want to do! I want to go horseback riding, got to Cork and kiss the Blarney stone, and go see the Ring of Kerry. Hopefully I'll have the time, and the money haha, to do all of them!
I can't think of anything else at the moment. I miss you all!!

Hard to believe it's already March!! Time is just flying by was too quickly! I don't like it! Now I actually have to start thinking about all these papers I have to write by the end of the semester. No fun...
Saturday February the 13th, a group of us went on a Connemara tour. Basically it's a huge national park. The scenery and landscape was absolutely beautiful! We drove through ridiculously windy roads up and down the sides of mountains and we had several stops at Ross Errily Abbey, Cong Village, Lough Nafooey, and Kylemore Abbey.
On Mardi Gras day, I brought out my Mardi Gras package my aunt sent me and introduced everyone, Americans and Irish, to serpentine! Everyone was confused on what it was a first, but once I showed them, they all thought it was great! In Ireland on Fat Tuesday, they have pancake Tuesday. They said for at least one meal, you have to have pancakes. All of us Americans were very quick in celebrating this holiday haha! But, their pancakes are more like crepes, but we were able to find some American pancake mix and had our own.
The weekend of the 19th through the 21st, we had our big group trip to Paris! Paris was as amazing as before! But, I was glad I had already been, or else I wouldn't have been able to see and do everything I wanted to. We had 2 hour bus tour of the city and then an hour and a half tour of the Louvre. Then we were able to whatever we wanted. A group of us decided to go to the very top of the Eiffel Tower right after sunset. We were trying to make it for sunset, but the queue was absolutely ridiculous! We waited in line longer than we spent at the top, I think! But, the view was definitely worth it! It was absolutely breathtaking!
This weekend, the 27th through the 2nd, 6 of us went to Edinburgh, Scotland. I loved the city! It was still very medieval looking with stone buildings, cobblestone streets and sidewalks, and tiny alley ways that were kinda like shortcuts to get to other streets. There were kilt shops everywhere! I looked for my mom's family name, but had trouble finding the right clan, but I was able to find the Young's for my grandmother. One day there was a guy playing the bagpipes on the street in a kilt. Papa, I thought of you and how much you love those bagpipes haha! We took a 3 hour free walking tour of the city and were able to see all of the hot spots we wanted to see like: Greyfriar's cemetery, the Grassmarket, Edinburgh castle, the Scott monument, Princes Street Gardens, St. Gile's Cathedral and so much more! That night we went on a pub crawl, which was a lot of fun! The next day, we walked down the other half of the Royal Mile and went to the Holyrood Palace, where Scotland's royalty lived. Along the way we saw John Knox's house. Right beside the Holyrood Palace, are a bunch of mountians you can climb and we decided to climb up to Arthur's Seat. We started hiking, and there were no signs telling you how to get up there, so we were blindly following random paths, and since it had rained the day before, all of the paths were so muddy and we were all slipping as we were climbing! But, we finally found some dry grass and the right path to take us to the top. It was an interesting climb up the mountain because there weren't really any defined paths, just a bunch of random ones. Once we made it to the top, the view was spectacular! You could see the water to one side, snow capped mountains on another, and the city on the other. The day was gorgeous, so we were able to see so much! Then we just spent the rest of the day just wandering around and soaking up the town. That night the other girls went on a ghost tour, but I stayed back at the hostel because I have a really bad sore throat and didn't want to be out in the cold with a really bad sore throat. They said it wasn't too scary, but there were a few stories they told that were pretty scary. While we were eating dinner one night, we met some people from Dublin and it was funny how excited we got because we felt like we had something in common with them since we're studying in Galway haha! They asked where we were from and when I said Alabama, they asked if I had a gun and then they started singing "Sweet Home Alabama" haha! Lately, when I've told people where I'm from, they all start singing that song! It's actually really funny!
This Friday night, we are all going to our first rugby match. It's supposedly a really good game and between 2 rivals. I'm interested to watch a match because it seems to be so different from any sport I know.
Mary Alice and Mandy are coming to visit me in 13 days, and I can't wait to see a familiar face form home and to hear southern accents again!! I heard some ladies at the airport today and they had a southern accent and I didn't realize how much I missed it haha!

I don't think I have anything else to update you on. I miss you all!!

I know it's been a while since I've updated, sorry!



As of yesterday, the 5th, I have been here a whole month!! That absolutely blows my mind! Time has flown by so so so fast. It's sad to think I only have 4 months left. I don't really have much to update you on, but here it goes...

Last weekend, the 29th-30th, we went to Dublin for the weekend. It was really fun, but it's definitely a big city. The kids from Boston kept saying it was like an Irish version of Boston. We left early Friday morning and took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Dublin. When we got there, we found our hostel, which was actually really nice! We ended up having a room to ourselves with our own bathroom. Once we got settled there, we just decided to go walk around. We were about a 10 minute walk from the center of town, called the Temple Bar area, and we just explored a little. That night, we met up with a friend of one of the girls who was with me. He had been there all semester and was leaving the next day. The next day we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. It was a great to the city because it went all around the main areas and you could get off whenever you wanted and get back on the next bus that came by when you were ready. We were able to see Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Dublin Castle, and the Guinness Factory. The Guinness factory was really cool! The inside is shaped like a Guinness glass and throughout the factory, they show you how they make the beer. They also have a 9,000 year lease on their property. Once you near the top of the factory, they have a tasting room where they give you a half pint to try. With you ticket into the factory, you get a free pint of beer. They have an area where they teach how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. First, you pull the tap towards you and tilt your glass at a 45 degree angle and fill it up to the bottom of the word Guinness on the glass. Once you get there, you tilt your glass back up and fill it until it reaches the bottom of the harp on the glass. Then it has to set for exactly 119.5 seconds. Once it sets, you push the tab back instead of forward, and fill it up the rest of the way. Once you have poured your perfect pint, you get a certificate with your name on it and can drink your pint. At the top of the factory, they have a Sky Bar that gives you a great view of the city. That night, we met up with another friend of one of the girls with me, and he took us out to a fun pub. On our last day, we went to the Dublin National Gallery Museum and afterwards, we caught our bus back to Galway. The whole time we were there, we kept saying how much we missed Galway and how much we liked it so much better! We didn't realize how attached we were to Galway and how quickly we became attached to it!
The weekend before that, my whole study abroad program took a tour to East Co. Clare. We went to Bunratty Castle and took a tour inside the castle. They had a dungeon that had stairs leading down to it, but the last stair was a 15 foot drop into the dungeon. Around the castle were a bunch of thatched roofed houses that you could go inside and they had them set up like they would have been back in the day. After that, we went to Coole Park, which has the autograph tree which is signed by lots of famous authors, including W.B. Yeats. Our leader showed us a natural fairy ring and told that once you enter the fairy ring, you make a wish and then leave the ring. Once you leave, you cannot come back in and you cannot enter a ring at night. After that, we went to see the Round Tower of Kilmacduagh and some more Celtic crosses.
Last week, we went bowling with the Irish kids who live in our apartment. Apparently, every Tuesday, if you buy a drink, you get a free round of bowling, so that's what we did. It was a lot of fun until a bowling ball got pushed off the rack by another ball and landed on my toe! It was bleeding profusely. For all you sister squirrels reading this, think rush sophomore year and the heel I took to my toe haha!
On Monday, the 1st, we had a cultural event where we learned how to make St. Brigit's crosses. We made a bunch of crosses out of reeds and there is a certain way you have to "weave" them together.
I don't really have anymore interesting things to tell you. I have finally gotten into a routine with classes and such and am now getting used to everyday life over here. Yesterday was one of the Irish guys birthday, so we made him cake and then we all went out afterwards to celebrate.
Classes are going well, I'm finally staring to feel comfortable at school, because I see people I know haha, like the Irish kids who live with us and other Americans I've met. All of the American girls have noticed that the Irish girls get so dressed up for class and wear a full set of make-up! We hate not being able to wear sweatpants and such to class haha!! We are always so shocked to see a girl in sweatpants...we didn't think they existed for girls haha! We even asked the Irish guys who live with us about it, and they said they all know how much make-up Irish girls wear and how dressed up they get for class and they think it's ridiculous, too haha!!
Hmmm, what else to tell y'all... I can't think of anymore, but I will try to be better about updating! Miss y'all!!!

I can hardly believe that I have actually been in Galway for 2 weeks!! Time has gone by so quickly. I was finally bale to register for classes, but who knows if I'll actually get those classes. The classes I registered for are the Development of the Castle in Medieval Europe, Celtic Mythology, Religion, and Folklore, Literature of the American SOuth and Gothic Literature, and Ancient Celtic Myths. I'm finally starting to feel comforatble here now that I am slowly, but surely, getting my bearings. My Literature of the American SOuth class is going to be really interesting. It was so funny to hear the teacher explain what states made up the south and talk about the Civil War, plantations, southern belles, and "Mammy." In my castles class, we actually get to go on a field trip to see a castle!! I'm really pumped for that!
The people in my group and I have made friends with the Irish kids in our apartment. They are absolutely hilarious! We made them mac'n cheese last night because they don't have it over here. They were all kind of hesitant at first, but they all said they liked it. We then spent the rest of the night talking about the differences between America and Ireland. We talked about ouor schooling (their public schools are all boy and all girl schools, they take a year off during high school to work or travel, they don't raeally have homework or tests, just one big essay at the end that counts as 100% of your grade), we talked about how they call fries chips and chips crisps, and the spell aluminum, aluminium, the Irish go out during the week because they all go home on the weekends. We even talked about how things are taxed and how we tip and they don't. It's still hard to adjust to them driving on the other side of the road. I don't know which way to look when I'm crossing the street, haha! When they go grocery shopping, they only buy things they need for the week, because things don't lasst as long as tehy do at home. So it's reaally hard to have to keep going to the store every week. It was really interesting with all the differences we came up with!
Last week, I was talking with some Irish people and they asked me where I was from. When I said Alabama, one of them asked me if I played the banjo!!! It took me a good while to stop laughing.
On Saturday, we went to the market and got crepes and then made our way down to Galway Bay. It was so pretty! The beach is so rocky, I don't even think I saw sand. There were tons of seagulls flying around and there were also lots of swans floating around!! We waked out to the point and when we got there, there was double rainbow! My first Irish rainbow.
On Sunday, we went on a tour the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. We had called the tour company the day before and they said they would pick us up at 9:10 at our apartments. SO, at 9:10 we're waiting outside and a man pulls up in a van and he ushers us over to his van and assks us if here for the tour. We say yes and he tells us to get on. Meanwhile, a bigger bus had pulled up. He starts taking up our money without telling us a price and I'm trying to ask him what tour this was because I thought we might be on the wrong one. The man just takes our money and starts driving awaay. The other tour bus driver called the girl who made the reservations, and told us we needed to get off and this guy was a scam. So, we tell him to stop the van and he doesn't !! We keep assking him to stop and he won't. We all stand up and are yelling at him to stop and asking for our money back. He kept asking us why and what's the difference and we kept telling him this wasn't the tour we wanted. Luckily, another big bus pulls in and blocks this guy in. he starts to doing 3 point turns and still won't let us off! Another girl and I were trying to open the door and we couldn't. One girl was finally bale to yank the money from his hands nad he fianlly stops the van. He had to get out and go around the van to let us out. We couldn't get out from the inside!! We all run off the bus and go up to the big bus and the guy asks if we're ok and he says that he was the one who called. We all thanked him and got on the correct bus. It wouldn't have been bad if had just scammed us, but it was the fact that he wouldn't stop when we were all yeaalling at him to. Once we were on the right bus, we made our way to the Cliffs. We left at 9:30 in the morning and we back by 6 at night. ALong the way, we stopped at Dunguaire Castle, Corcomroe Abbey, Ballyban Fairy FOrt, Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb, Poulnabrone Dolmen, Kilfenora Cathedral and Crosses, the Cliffs of Moher, and the area called the Burren. Our tour guide was amazing! As we were driving to eacch place he would give us a little history about each place and then he would stop and let us out to look around. We even stoppped to pet some horses on the side of the road! For lunch, we stoppped in a town called Doolin and ate a pub. One of the girls has relatives who live in that city and she went up and asked the bartender if she knew her relative. Turns out, the relative she was asking about was her mother!! It was crazy! When we made it to the Cliffs, it was gorgeous outside! Our guide told us to be careful and that we could go past the walled off areaa if we wanted, but ot be careful because people had been blown off the cliffs before. The wind was SO SO SO strong, it was very easy to see how that happened. We decided we would go a little past the walled off area and I'm glad I did. The view was amzaing! We all took a picture of us laying near the edge. It was so cool! We then made our way back to Galway. The guide stopped in the Burren and we got out so we could see the sun set on the Atlantic. It was beautiful! All of the beaches here are very very rocky. The castle we went to was so neat! We were able to walk all around it and peak inside through the holes in the wall. Pictures will be coming soon!
Next weekend, we have our first API excursion. We're going to East Co. Clare. I'm so excited!!
The weather is finally warm (compared to the freezing ice from last week!) It's finally in the mid 40's and we haven't had too much rain. Knock on wood! It's been so nice out.
That's all I can remember for now, but I miss you all!!

It's hard to believe I've been here for 6 days!! The days have flown by! This week we had a bunch of International student orientations. I didn't reaalize how many Anericans were studying abroad here, there are a ton! I feel like a freshman in college again...I have no clue where anything is and I don't know how things work. During these orientaions, they told us about registering for classes and about clubs and societies on campus. They also gave us a tour of the campus. The campus is fairly small but the buildings are a more modern than I thought they would be. I was thinking more along the lines of Harry Potter, haha! But, there is one really reaally old building on campus that loooks like I thought it should. Registering for classes here is different than at home. Nothing is online. We have to get timetables from each department that have the times all of the classes for that department. So, I had to go to 5 different departments just find out the times. This week, we can go to as many classes as we want and try them out to see if we like them. Then on Monday the 18th, we officially register for classes. I'm slowly starting to figure out my way around the city. The city is cool because you have the old downtown city center, but then as you get away from downtown, there are more shopping centers, malls, grocery stores, electronic stores, and movie theaters. It's pretty easy to find what I need.
Galway is still very, very icy! It's actually nspowing as I write this!! I was walking down a hill the other day and completely busted. I figured it was only a matter of time before that happened to me! The walk to the university is about 20 minutes from my apartment, but the scenery along the way makes the walk better. Everyone here is so nice and so helpful! It kinda reminds me of home in the way people interact and the pace of life. All of the kids in my group from Massachussettes, New Hampshire, and Vermont cannnot believe how nice people are here. They all keep commenting on how people back at home are never this friendly, haha! Someitmes if we're all walking somewhere, they'll ask me how I'm handling the cold and they call me Alabama when they do it. They also said that I have a nice accent, that it's not that annoying country accent haha! And they all laugh when I say y'all but at the same time they say they want to say it because it's so much easier to say!
The people in Galway say that they have not had a winter this cold since 1963 and that they don't know how to handle this kind of cold! I totally understand how they feel!!
I did stay up until 5:30 in the morning on Thursday to watch the championship game and I'm so glad I did, Roll Tide!! The kids all laughed at me when I told them what I was doing haha!
I think once I get my classes figured oout and get in a routine, I'll feel more comfortable and the time will fly by! I'm still loving Galway every day and it's still weird to think I'm finally here. I love you and miss you all!!

Well, I finally made it to Galway!! I left New Orleans on the 4th at 9:30 and landed in Newark, NJ around 1:30. I had a 5 hour layover so I went ahead and went to my gate. I had to change gates, but no big deal. I did, however, have to sit in an airport 5 hours and just sit there and people watch because I couldn't get the internet to work. It was loads of fun. As is got closer to my departure, more and more college age kids began to fill up my gate. As it turns out, the majority of them were going to Galway. It was nice to fianlly have people to talk to, haha! Luckily, I met one other girl who was doing the same program as me, API, and it was nice to have someone to go through customs and immigration wiith! We left Newark at 7:30 and landed in Shannon, Ireland at around 7, we were supposed to land closer to 6:45. Once we got through customs and got our bags, we were supposed to wait in the arrivals area for our a lady holding an API sign and we were supposed to leave around noon. So, once we got through with everything, the other girl and I, went to freshen up and get soehting to eat since we thought we had plenty of time. As we were sitting and waitimg, we noticed one group of people leave around 7:30, but wew didn't think anyhting of it, since we were supposed to leave at 12. SO we kept waiting and waiting for more people to walk out of the baggage area and noone came. We kept waiting and waiting for someone to walk in with an API sign, but noone did. It got to be 11 and we still had not seen anyone! Luckily, the other girl had a cell phone and we were able to call the lady who wsa supposed to pick us up. Turns out that group we saw was our group leaving! She said that someone had emailed and said our flight was iced in and was delayed, so they left without us and we did not seen an API sign when tey walked by. So, we had to find a bus to Galway by ourselves and make our way to Galway alone. We of cousre had NO idea where we going! But, we found a bus to Galway and made the 2 hour drive there. When we got off, we had to call the lady again and she told us we ha to take a cab to our apartments. Well, we both are livinng at different places, so we had to separate. Around, 2:30, I fianlly made it to my apartment but had no way of getting in because you needed a code an noone was in the office to help me. Luckily, a girl who happened to also be in API, and she let me in showed me where my apartment was. Now, I am all settled in and have taken a shower and feel SO much better. I am exhausted though, because I hardly got any sleep on the plane.
Despite the stress of being left, the ride to Galway was AMAZING!! It is a stereotypical as you think. It is so, so, so green with rolling hills and shrubs, rocks, and wooden fences fencing in pastures that have sheep, cows, and horses grazing in them. All of the houses have such character. It also flurried a little during the drive!! That was exciting haha! Galway has a bunch a cute little shops and appears to be a fairly busy city. The bay is really rocky and some of it was frozen. I haven't seen the universirty yet, but we have a meeting tonight and have a tour tomorrow.
Our apartment is nice but very European small haha!! So far, all of my roomates seem to be very nice!
I'll post pictures of my room and apartment and the city later!
Miss you all!!