1 down..and i still haven't found what im looking for..

I've been thinking a lot recently about needs and wants. how do you know the difference at times? Can't a need and a want be the same thing? And at what point does something become something you need?

Everywhere in Dublin there are signs for "Ireland Needs Europe" and it makes me wonder.. what kind of message does that send? To tell an entire group of people that they need another group of people. That doesn't really seem to send a message of empowerment or does it? Doesn't that send the message of the opposite? That they aren't able and in turn wouldn't that just cripple them? The very idea that a group of people wouldn't need another.. doesn't that make or sound like they are lacking without that other group? I have no doubt in my mind that the situation in which Ireland has to vote Yes or No for is probably complicated behind belief.. everything in the news is complicated nowadays. But at the root of the problem.. shouldn't Ireland want to make it on their own? Shouldn't you make your society has strong as it can be on its own and then bring in other forces?

And on a more personal level.. at what point do you become too needy? What is the limit to a fair amount of need? What is the barometer for a person being needy? At what point do you begin to ask too much of the person/people you love. Is it needy to want a phone call everyday? Is it wanting to see them a few times a week? If this idea of being needy is so universal then at what point are you classified as needy? I guess in every relationship its defined differently but as all these questions swirl in my mind there just seems to be no easy answers..

I've been in Ireland for about a month and I feel like Ive learned more about myself in these past 4 weeks then I have in a long time. I know it sounds kinda crazy but I feel like there is a gentle force behind me pushing me in the directions inwhich i need to go.. even when I want to go in the opposite direction. I've been working on this paper for pagan celts (the bane of my existance at this point) and I was assigned a God, Teutates. Mr. Teutates doesn't have much information written about him and every source I find has the same 4 things.. 4 things on a person doesn't get you 1000 words easily. So when I went to the library on Saturday I realized that I had no idea how to look up a book in the Gen section since there were like 1000 different sections.. and since there wasn't any one working the desk.. I left and put it off. Monday, Tom and I went to the library, since he is an english major I figure if there is one thing he should know its books. We found that every book I wanted/needed was not in its place. So yesterday, I went to the library alone and not only found books on my own.. but I found some books with information. And as I was photocopying the pages (yes, I figured that out on my own too) I turned around to find a lone book sitting on the table. I took a glance at the binding and it said "The Celtic World/Green." It was the exact book I had been looking for. Yea, obviously I was being rewarded for my independence. When I went to check it out of the library.. I was told it was a short loan book and shouldn't have been out of the short loan section. I would have never looked in the short loan section of the library. Just saying.. someone or something is looking out for me.

I booked my tickets for London, I'm going Nov. 6 to the 8th. I'm very excited! We are going to book a trip to Paris in Oct and Edenburgh in Dec. As I start to book trips, its just starting to settle in how short of time I have here. Hopefully, I can make the best of it.. Good Morning Ireland and Goodnight America.

immigration.. cough syrup and rugby.

Wednesday night I found myself tired as hell but not able to sleep. I had this incessant cough that would not stop.. and soo when Stephanie called me at 7am the idea of getting out of bed to go stand in the cold at immigration wasn't really where I wanted to be. But, since I really didn't have any other day to go.. I threw on whatever was on the floor and ran out the door. We waited for our ticket for about 15 minutes.. I was number 124 out of 400.. that was at about 8:30. We were told to get lost until 10:30. Soo we set off to walk around downtown for 2 hours. We stopped at the pharmacy to get me something to stop my cough at night.. much to my dismay this country doesn't believe in medicine like NyQuil.. soo instead of giving me something to supress my cough at night.. the guy gave me something to keep me coughing. We finally settled on this nice little place for breakfast and I ordered a full Irish breakfast. It was kind of being back in America because I ate until I was stuffed and it still looked like the plate hadn't been touched. But God was it good. I'm a big fan of this stuff they call pudding here..though its prolly one of those things that you don't really want to know what it is that your eating. soo I am going to remain ignorant. 2 cups of coffee, orange juice and a full Irish breakfast later, we ventured back to Immigration around 10:10. They were on number 89 or so and so we found a nice place next to a window and sat down. I think I was finally seen around 11 or 11:30 or so.. It was quite a painless process except for the 150 euro they took from me (aka $300). We were finally walking out of there by 12:30 with our immigration cards and being totally legal immigrants.

Since I got hardly any sleep the night before I decided that I was going to skip class at 2. Instead I made my way to the student health center. I've been horrible at doing my physical therapy soo I decided that it was time to find a physical therapist who would make me do it. Good news they have some on campus.. woohoo! I also found out that inorder for me to get some cough medicine that will help me at night I needed to see a doctor (which of course was booked till the next week). If there is anything I have learned in the past couple of years.. it is that if I am sick a lack of sleep isn't going to help me get any better. So I went home and looked up a doctor in town who took my insurance. I got an appointment for the next day.

Thursday happened to also be Authors Day and Guinness's 250th birthday or something. Being sick I didn't really partake in much of the drinking activities but I did go out on the town with Erica, JP and Steph. We pub hopped for a couple of hours and ended up at Fitzgerald's. There was live music and it was pretty fun. Tom, Brooke, Mike and company ended up meeting us with us there and we all sang along to our American songs like true tourists. I was home and in bed by 12 or so.

Yesterday, Steph and I woke up and ventured into the city to find my doctor. It was deemed a success. She told me it was just a virus and gave me some cough syrup with codeine. Needless to say, I am a big fan of codeine. Mike and I ended up going to Dun Drum the huge mall to find him a new water bottle to replace the one he left on the train last weekend. We got a little confused on the bus routes but we managed to get there and back relatively painlessly. Then I took some cough syrup and crawled into bed and watched the new greys anatomy episodes. After seeing a 5 minute teaser the other day I realized if I have to live without tv for 4 months.. there is one show I must be able to watch and soo I bought the Itunes Season Pass of Greys Anatomy. I believe it was $25 dollars well spent.

Around 5:30, Tom told me everyone was going to a rugby match.. thats one of those things I wanted to do while in Dublin soo I was excited to join. We went to the game around 7. I didn't really know how the game worked other then one side was trying to get the ball to other side. But I wasn't really pay much attention because the players were like eye candy. It was too bad we were watching the 20 and under group because none of those guys looked younger then 20. I swear if you want to turn a boy into a man just have him place rugby. The team we apparently wanted to win lost soo there was no celebration afterwards. I didn't mind though because by the time the game as over I was freezing and the only thing I wanted to do was getting in my sweatpants and get in bed. I ate some cheese and crackers in bed and turned out my lights at 10:30. Thanks to the codeine I didnt wake until 10:30 this morning. I already did some laundry and I am planning on going over to the library. Alrighty Im off.. Good Afternoon Ireland and Good Morning America.

it feels like school has started...

generally speaking every semester I have one day that feels like its a marathon.. wednesday is that day this semester. I have 4 or 5 classes depending on the week.


This week all my partying and lack of sleep decided to catch up with me and I woke up tuesday with a killer cold. I spent most of tuesday in bed.. and deciding its too early in the semester for me to skip because I don't feel good.. i still went to class. The only thing that sucks worse then making yourself go to class when u feel like crap is that when ur sitting there not paying attention.. you realize you just wasted about an hour sitting in a room not paying attention to a word that was said and you would have been better off in bed.

Oh well.. I had some soup and a nap after class. I managed to get myself to my free Irish language class. I took it mainly for shits and giggles. thinking I could impress the kids at home with it. man, its a language that sounds nothing like it looks. also the teacher must think we are all language geniuses bc he moves through stuff like a lightening bolt. For a brief moment I was taken back to sitting in french class in 7Th grade where I would totally butcher the language in front of all my friends. ugh.. speaking different languages isn't my strong suit. But while I sat there my Mothers voice kept replaying "Its ok to look stupid.. they won't expect much from you." Ah yes, well I decided to give myself 3 classes and decided if its for me. I read once that you should try something at least 3 times before you decided to quit doing something.

After class, Anna gave me some cough medicine because all of the stores class here at like 5. I hate to say my country is better then the other but if there is some stuff America seems to have done better it would definitely be the business hours. The last couple of times I have wanted to do something like get a snack or something after 5.. all the shops have been closed. Its like farmington but 10x worse. Soo this time it happened to be that I needed a pharmacy and it was closed. Anna gave me some medicine and after watching 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy.. I was out like a light at 11.

I woke up feeling about 60 percent better.. but being a wednesday it kind of killed my spirit. Its another day that I have to sit through Pagan celts.. to be honest that class has become the bane of my existence. The woman just doesn't have a clue that she doesn't make any sense. Whenever someone asks a question she does this little giggle/laugh thing. It just kinda puts me a bad mood. I also found out that I have a 4 page paper to do for Pagan Celts due in a week and a half. Not cool. I just have to keep telling myself..I only have to pass.

After class we went to find some really cheap food store. I was told it was the walmart of Ireland. I got to the check out and the women told me they didn't take visa (clearly it was no walmart). I never thought that a place wouldn't take a major credit card. I went to find a ATM but it was broken. Soo that was a fail. We went to tesco instead and found wine for 4 euro a bottle. I bought two. Tomorrow is Arthur Day.. Guinesses 250 birthday. I figure if I could drink for 4 euro tomorrow.. I could sleep soundly that I wasn't being overcharged anywhere. After this first month I wont be able to chalk all my frivolous spending to the fact that I was in a new city/new country and needed to buy supplies. I will have to start paying attention to what I buy..my liver will most likely benefit the most.

tomorrow Steph and I are off bright and early to Guarda (the immigration offices) we have heard nothing but horror stories about lines and tickets and waiting hours on end. Soo I'm tackling this place like DMV. I am going to be waiting when they open their doors. I don't mess around with stuff like that.. get in/get out.. hopefully they let me stay in the country. God knows I'm helping their economy. Ill let you know how it goes. Goodnight Ireland.. Good Evening America.

see that mountain over there... I climbed it.

To say that I have learned in the past week that I am spoiled and high maintenance would be somewhat of an understatement. I suppose ever since I was young I learned very quickly that the people around me didn't seem to be quite so bothered by the things I was or didn't spend as much time crying over hurt feelings as I did...and thus realizing this I suppose I have spent a great deal of my time on Earth trying to learn what worked for me and what didn't. A girl as sensitive as me living in a world like the one we are living in today, must always be prepared. So if that means I carry a sweatshirt when its 90 degrees outside or I generally only wear cotton clothes because anything that has the possibility of itching me isn't worth the money or making sure I have at least 3 different types of medicine on hand at all times.. then its just something I have to do.. because to be in a situation without those things would just be less then acceptable. And after watching a baby for a year and half.. you learn very quickly that you have to be prepared for anything at anytime. oh god help you if you don't have a BaBa or some goldfish. Moving on, but I have realized that in the past couple of years I have grown accustomed to things just being the way they are and liking things a certain way. I wouldn't say being closed minded is the right turn of phrase but just knowing that there are things I can live with and can't live without. And it wasn't until recently that I was able to honestly accept that there are going to be people who come into my life who think I am just completely mad and making something out of nothing or they may not understand why something isn't bothersome to me. (I hope that made some sense) but anyways.

I started off last week with the printing situation. it was Tuesday that i went and bought a printer with Mike because I realized that at this point there isn't much I have control over. I have been put into this world that I have very very little control over, and when you are as sensitive as I am, it can be overwhelming and over stimulating. So I feel I have been trying to grasp onto whatever I could get my hands on. thus my printer situation, I decided that if I could only have my own printer I wouldn't have to rely on a printing system that seems oh so very confusing and totally above my head. But of course Tuesday night (when I had a paper due on Wednesday @ 9 am), I realized that my generally tech savy self could not seem to make my printer work and get a "Printer Faulty" message. I'm not going to lie.. I lost it for a bit. There were tears.. there were im's to my mother..it just appeared as if I couldn't catch a break. Of course the voice in my head was saying "this is what you get for trying to take the easy road out of a problem" yea, my internal voice is sooo funny. Soo anyways, I ended up going with Annabelle at 8:30 to learn to print, like a big girl. I managed to figure it out. How it worked or why it works is beyond me. When I later went back to print some reading material for women's studies... I managed to print on paper the size of a small poster board. Hi, My name is Meg Bush and I am printer challenged.

Thursday evening was a bit rough. We had an international student dinner, UCD likes to tell us they are giving us dinner and then serves us sandwiches and wine. I'm tired of sandwiches and Im pretty sure they just recycle them. Ew. Anyways after another embarrassing run-in with the guy from the bar.. and a lack of food.. I ended up desperately needing to hear the voices of people who love and understand my madness. As rule, I always thought that when I miss people it was better if I didn't hear their voices because then I couldn't be reminded that I missed them and therefore I wouldn't make pathetic crying phone calls. But I think I learned my lesson Thursday night. Of course, I ended up crying on the phone with everyone I called.. but after hearing their voices the world wasn't as daunting as I felt like it was. I also didn't want people to get the impression that I wasn't having a wonderful time and loving every minute in Dublin. That's the funny thing about homesickness.. you can be having a wonderful time and still feel like there is a part of you that is missing. And while I have friends here who I'm sure are more then willing to listen to me when I'm upset and feeling a little lonely.. but like I said to Kate "sometimes you just need to talk to people who love you." I feel like when your homesick everything you say sounds like your hating the experience and you are totally not seeing how lucky you are to be having the experience at all.. but really you can be having a wonderful time and still feel not quite right. its a very hard emotion to describe. None the less.. I decided that I was going to lay off the alcohol for a bit.

Friday I awoke and immediately began packing for my first weekend away traveling in Ireland. A small group (there were 6 of us) took a trip to Killarney. There was a big Irish football game on Sunday and Saturday we were going to take a hike in the Killarney National Park. I ended up having to buy a pair of sneakers b4 the trip because my box of stuff from home still hasn't arrived yet. I tried to forewarn the group that hiking wasn't really my bag but if it wasn't too strenuous I was pretty much game for anything.. especially since Im not really a city kinda girl and the idea of being in the Irish hills and seeing the green Vallie's was totally enough of a reason to go. So this was my first hostel experience.. not bad.. i wasn't eaten or killed by any serial killers. All 6 of us slept in 1 room.. and thanks to Mike's illness I think we all feel a bit more sick then when we started to trip but O well. We woke up bright and early around 8:30 and were having breakfast by 9. We had a stop at tesco for some lunch stuff.. and when I asked if there was going to be toilets along the way and everyone laughed at me and said no.. I kinda felt like I might be in over my head. I then of course, asked if any one brought any toilet paper. They all looked at me like I had like 8 heads.. I think its fair to say I don't do the whole "roughing it" thing well. Indoor plumbing, Central heat and ac.. and cable are generally my bare essentials when "roughing it." Even after the giggles and comments of me being "high maintenance" were over, I walked myself to the toilet paper aisle and bought myself a 6 pack of little tissues. There was no way you can ask me to pee in the woods and do it without toilet paper or napkins. They then asked me what I was going to do with the toilet paper after it was used and I simply decided I would cross that bridge when I came to it (after all I was just praying that I wouldn't have to find out).

So we embarked on our adventure. It became clear in the first few hundred feet that I would be the one at the back of the line.. lucky I wasn't alone. Tom was willing to walk in the back with me..and we had a grand old time. Maybe he was just being nice.. or maybe he was just as out of shape and under prepared as I was.. no matter the reason, he certainly kept me laughing the entire day.

The last time I went hiking, it was in 7th or 8th grade with Mandy and Marta, and we went on a hike with a bunch of weirdo boy scouts who didn't know how to talk to girls. It ended up being an entire day of the three of us telling the boys where the best route was and them telling us to go another way and later finding out that we were right all along.

I found myself in kinda a similar situation. I decided that since I was in the back and had no idea as to where were going or how to get there that I would simply hang in the back and go along for the ride. Not trying to worry about getting lost or anything.. plus the less I said to the entire group the less chance of them wanting to leave me in the middle of the woods alone. But of course there were a few moments where the group wasn't really quite sure which way to go and me from the back would say why not this way? or hey that's a trail.. a couple of times I happened to be right. (silent pat on the back for myself) but of course profit is without honor.. and my genius sense of direction in the woods was just chalked up to nothing but "o well"..

At one point our group of 6, split to a group of 3. the more adventurous members of the group took one look at a mountain and decided they were able to hike it within a reasonably small amount of time. Tom, Steph and I all looked at the mountain and decided we were down for the count. We had already followed them through woods without a trail and barbed wire. We decided we were going to stick to the already beaten path. I'm proud to say that we not only stuck to our own path but we found the actual path to the top of the mountain. The view from the top was amazing. As soon as we got to the top the sky cleared and it was the gods or universe whatever you want to call it and was smiling on our achievement. Im not sure there was any point in my life where I was more proud of myself. My body hurt, I was hungry, I had to pee like a race horse, I was wet, and totally out of my element, but there I stood looking over this amazing land and not only was I able to stand there but it was something I did all on my own. If you had told me I would have been standing there on that mountain 2 years ago I would have prolly told you that you were crazy and out of your mind. But I was and its something Ill never forget. The mountains of Ireland were everything I imagined and more. And while I may have complained a little and I may have not gotten there as fast as everyone else.. sometimes its more important just that you get there and not about how fast it takes you. I did it my own way and had some amazing friends along the way with me.

By the end of the day, I was walking like a 95 year old woman. The feeling of euphoria had warn off and after I came down the mountain and realized there was still about a 2-3 mile walk home, I can honestly tell you that my feet have never hurt or been soo angry with my body in my entire life. I made it.. that's all that matters. In the end, we walked about 15 miles.

I rewarded myself with some seafood chowder and fish and chips for dinner. The real reward came Sunday when I took myself shopping. I was still walking a little funny from all the pain in my legs but nothing stops me from shopping, obviously. I ended up buying a shirt, an amazing green jacket, a dress that looks like something Victoria Beckhem would wear and 2 belts (they don't look right with the dress I bought them for.. sorta disappointing). We also went to a place called the Dessert House. They had Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream. The best ice cream ever made. whoever decided to combine my two favorite things (ice cream and baileys) should be given an award for brilliance. they have the ice cream somewhere in dublin, Steph and I are one day going to set out to find it again.

We spent the later part of the afternoon watching rival Irish football teams (Kerry and Cork) play. We were cheering for Kerry because we were in a Kerry area. It was pretty cool.. the game just seems like a missmatch of American sports. It can get pretty intense. I ended up trying some irish coffee while watching the game. it was pretty strong and didn't wake me up at all. If anything it just made me and steph more sleepy. After Kerry won the game, we packed up all of our stuff and began our journey back to Dublin.

Overall it was a fabulous weekend. While I was totally out of my element, I still had a great time and had lots of good laughs. If you can just keep laughing then you can pretty much do anything.. Good Evening America and Goodnight Ireland.

they put corn in things I normally wouldn't...

The past couple of days have been filled with sight seeing. on saturday we decided to take a trip down to Houth and it was amazing. We had fresh seafood chowder and calamari from a vender and ate it while watching sealions swim. There wasn't really much of a beach but it was certainly nice just being by the water. We then walked around town and tried to find the castle. It turned out to be a private home soo there wasn't much that we did there but take some pictures. We saw a wedding party getting ready on our way down the hill which was lovely. When we returned from Houth, we had a family pasta dinner. It was soo nice to have a feeling of eating with large numbers again. it was kinda like being at home. We took a late night bus into the city and had a few drinks at Doyles and came home.

Sunday, Erica and I went sight seeing together. It started out a bit rocky when we nearly missed the bus. It was 10am, I was a bit hungover, and I was running for the bus. Just imagine it, I'm sure it was very amusing to those watching. We took the hop on/hop off bus around the city. I picked up some stories and some nice tid bits but realized that most of the tour was my normal bus route and soo minus the commentary I paid 13 euro to pay for a ride I take nearly every day. But o well. We went to phoenix park and trinity college and places like that. We finished our day at Marks and Spencers' and I managed to buy myself some actual food. I got a couple of hamburgers and chicken cutlets with seasoning already on them. I had the hamburgers and they were quite good, I'm going to try the chicken the next two nights. I also managed to clean my apartment and do some laundry. I'm sad to say that the dryers are sub-par. Most of my clothes were still damp after 6 euro and 3 hours of drying. Its amazing how the most insignifcant thing can make you miss home.

Monday, I was a bit down in the dumps. I have a feeling Monday's may be the hardest days while here. Not because I'm hung over or tired but merely for the fact that i have Pagan Celts..twice. I have this feeling of stupid while sitting in this womens lecture. She just doesn't seem to have any direction or objective to anything she says. Its like a million random facts in 1 hour that I'm supposed to know. And the tutorial after is just painful. I havn't needed a study buddy..since never. and I'm not sure why now in my 4th year of college I need a women to ask me what I learned in class today. Soo as I walked back from class fighting the tears that I knew would eventually come after being away for 2 weeks and being overwhelmed with this class.. I did what any other smart college student would do. Nope, I did not drowned my sorrows, I emailed my advisor in the states and put that fucker on pass/fail. Its just simply not worth me stressing over a class that is clearly disorganized. Later Stephanie and I went to see 'The Importance of Being Ernest' They were wonderfully talented and funny. Also we got free wine at the end. I joined dramasociety if nothing but to get some tickets for their shows. Its been 2 weeks since I've watched any sort of tv and well if I can't watch tv anymore then I'm going to watch it performed live I suppose. We also met some more Americans, that I think we are going to be goign away together this weekend. And they also invited us to a family dinner on Wednesday. Which over course at this point anything beats eating alone, since my roommates have been locking themselves away in their rooms.

Anyways.. today I have to do a bunch of reading and writing and printing. I think I'm going to cave and just buy my own printer. Sending my work across campus to just print a sheet a paper seems like soo much more work then I'm willing to give. Call me spoiled. Call me lazy. Call me both. haha.. it doesn't matter.. once the rain starts I have a feeling I'll get the last laugh. Alrighty I gotta get dressed.. Good Morning Ireland, Good Morning America.

drinks..dreams.. and sleep.

Thursday I only had one class so Stephanie and I decided a nice trip into the city for some shopping would be nice. So we filled our wallets with money and off we went. We were on a search for some boots because Stephanie's didn't seem to make the trip to Dublin very well. And in the process, I realized 4 shirts and nice pair of European boots later just how much I love shopping and it made the little pang in my stomach go away. Ahhh.. Retail Therapy. Clearly the cure for everything.

When we got back we ended up at Stephanie's apartment where Erica had invited over some friends. We really didn't have much of an idea on what to do soo we ended up playing "fuck the dealer." I suppose I should mention that I told everyone I wasn't going to be drinking that much because I hadn't really been eating all that much recently. Well it came to be my turn to be the dealer.. lets just say prolly about 30 minutes later I was in Steph's bed under the covers passing out. The next events are kind of fuzzy but a guy that I had met at the bar a few nights ago and had had lunch with earlier in the week, called me. He came over and brought me back to my place and took care of me while I got sick. What a great impression I made. To be honest I haven't been that drunk since my 21st birthday. Getting extremely intoxicated and not remembering parts of the night is definitely not my goal. But it happened.. I guess I can't change it. In the morning, I woke up to find a brownie left on my desk by the boy who will prolly never talk to me again. soo embarrassing.

Needless to say I spent Friday in bed until about 3 or so. I didn't have a hang over or anything but I didn't have class and if anything I was just tired. Erica, Mike, Steph and I went on a walk around St. Stevens Green yesterday afternoon and walked around the city just looking around. The weather has been so nice the past couple of days that I've found times to take some good pictures of the area. Finally putting my camera to good use. We went to Fitzgeralds for dinner, I got the lasagna thinking it would be nice balanced meal and have some beef in it. As Mike nicely reminded me "You paid $18 for Cafeteria food." It was gross. there was like no sauce, no cheese and the beef looked microwaved. and of course it cost me my arm and leg. Dublin I'm not impressed with your food. btw. Yes Mom, I know what you are thinking.

We came home and realized there wasn't much going on because everyone leaves campus on the weekends to go home. Soo Steph and I ended up finishing Adventureland and then headed over to the Student bar for about 20 minutes. I wasn't drinking and therefore it got boring really fast. So I ventured home and was in bed and asleep by 12:30. I woke up today at 11. Thank You Jesus for the full night of sleep. Its about time. I also had a dream last night that I was pregnant. I didn't want it and was really upset. I know that dreams about pregnancy are about growth. So I'm guessing that the part of my that has to die inorder for me to grow and change may be not so happy about it. well isn't that some food for throught.

Today we are going to take the dart to the coast. I've always been close to water. I remember once my Mom had a feng shui lady come over to take a look at the house. Apparently she said I was a wood person and I needed to be around a lot of water for balance. I generally don't listen to things like that but as I look back on my life I have always had a body of water very close to me. Ocean City, Pond House, Lifeguarding. The water has always provided me a place where I could swim and forget the problems and just be. Since swimming laps is still out of the question because of my shoulder, I think just sitting on the Irish Coast could be some good therapy.

In the words of the Eels : "It's saturday morning, And this ain't the place for me
I'm giving you warning baby, We got a whole big fat world to see."


Good Afternoon Dublin, Good Morning America.

Tummy Bugs and Irish Sunshine.

The last couple of days I seem to be dealing with a tummy bug. I'm not quite sure if it's something I ate or if its just some strange form of homesickness. No matter what I do I can't seem to make my stomach happy.

I had a little freak out yesterday because I came to the realization that I was taking a bunch of courses that I really didn't have much interest in. I managed to drop history and pick up a women's studies class on feminism. Today I had women studies and I am pleasently suprised that I enjoyed the class. I got one of those "O I can actually learn about this kinda stuff in school?" moments. Not that I don't find Irish culture and history oh so interesting. but 3 classes of it was seeming to be a bit too overwhelming. I did figure out that I will have to take a winter course when I return to the states, just to make sure I can graduate on time. I also managed to make it possible for me to have Friday's off which was again a pleasent surpise. In my 3 plus years in college, I learned that the less I have to go to the class the more I am willing to go.

Today was a beautiful day. the sun was out the entire day and it was warm. If only we could have 1 day like that every week. I think I could deal with 6 days of rain if I was promised 1 day of sun. So after I found out I had the afternoon off.. Steph and I took a couple of towns down to the field and laid out with tea and pretzels. It was a good time. Goodnight Ireland and Good Evening America.

throwing babies out of the bath water...

firsy day of classes was an experience. my first class was sociology of education, the one and only class that can be considered close to my major, was taught by a little old irish man named Patrick Clancy. I'm not sure you can get anymore irish then the name Patrick Clancy. I guess the class was ok.. it was little dry.. and especially for 10 in the morning when I've been sleeping till 12:30. im hoping that class will become more interesting because if not then im in serious trouble. then there was Pagan Celts which I'm taking with Steph(which happens to be its only redeeming quality). the class didn't come with a syallbus or any instruction on which book to buy or required reading. infact we didn't really go over much except the 20 minute rant about why we should come to class (im going to assume that they have a problem with students not coming to class) though im not quite sure why i would need a talk on why to come to school, when im sitting in class. seems silly to me. then she went on to start talking about the celts for 40 minutes. now i wish i could enlighten everyone with some interesting information but i was totally lost and had no idea where we were starting, where we were going, or what we were actutalling talking about. let me remind you its a 1000 level class. first class in the area. the one thing I got from the lecture was she kept saying "we wouldn't want to throw the baby out of the bath water.." i don't know about anyone but im generally not in the business of throwing babies or anyone out of the bath. needless to say Steph and I found this comical through out all our confusion.

And if i thought lectures couldn't get any worse, i definitly didn't see the tutorials coming. i was finally told which book to buy but was quickly told that it was a hard book to come by.. how convienent. we spent the tutorial going over the roman gods and goddesses. im not quite sure what they have to do with what we went over in class but im sure its supposed to make sense to someone. hopefully someone got it bc it was totally lost on me and steph. With this excellent start to the next 4 months of education, Steph and I decided the best way to deal with this minor set back would be to drink some wine. lots of wine. and thats what we did.

I came to the realization that I am signed up for classes that really have nothing to do with my major and therefor its my mission today to correct that. As my Mother always says "its easy because you like to study it" well if i can't get any classes close to my major then studying here is going to be quite difficult.

a sweet serenade..

I met my cousin Aideen today. She was very nice and welcoming. She showed me where the mall was with a movie theater..WOOHOO!! haha.. I got the watch her daughter play irish football. It was interesting.. it was kind of like soccer but they were allowed to touch the ball and dribble. the girls were only 11 but man were they intense. maybe its just me but I never understood the idea of fighting over ball. Aideen also showed me these pre-seasoned meals that just need to be heated and they are fresh too.. soo it looks like the peanut butter sandwiches are coming to an end.


Last night was prolly the most fun I've had since I got to Dublin. We went to Temple bar again and went back to Fitzgeralds because there was live music. Surprisingly enough they played mostly American music. Songs like: American Pie and Sweet Home Alabama and Living on a Prayer (i swear since its my and steph's anthem we hear it every time we go out)Gauthier even told me I was a Human Jukebox because I knew every song. When the band started playing "I love you baby" one of the guitarist started walking around the bar and stopped and sang the song to ME! Ever since I saw Heath Ledger in 10 things I hate about you, I wanted someone to sing that song to me. Clearly I can check that off my list of things I want to have happen in my life. When we were leaving the bar the guy came out of where the band was playing and gave me a hug. (well really he gave everyone in my group a hug.. but I was the leader)haha. We later went to another pub, I forget the name, but it was really cool. we finally found some people who weren't 17. We meet up with a group of kids who are also international students..they all seem really cool and fun to hang out with. Its kind of ironic..I seemed to have travels to Ireland but have only really met french, American, and Canadian peoples.

I have to get to sleep though because classes start tomorrow at 10am. wish me luck! Good Evening America and Goodnight Ireland.

welcome to dorm living.. rude awakening next exit.

Yesterday we ventured out to buy pots and pans for the apartment. I manage to learn how difficult it is to get everyone together to do one task. Especially when everyone has their agenda's and plans.. needless to say im learning to only worry about myself and get what I need.

The other day at orientation my advisor said something that struck me. She said "I know you'er worried about not having all your classes finalized but we are more lax about it here..we don't really worry about it because we know everything will eventually work itself out" I sat there feeling like a little bit of enlightenment was just sprinkled on me and I thought to myself "wow, thats so true, maybe thats the lesson in all of this." I feel like in America we are always rushing around trying to get the best result the first time and if everything isn't done in order we freak out. I guess sometimes it just takes a little faith.

Last night was interesting to say the least. We set out to go into dublin with a large group and then before I knew it Stephanie and Gauthier and myself were being wisked away in a taxi with 3 other Irish girls to find a irish pub. The taxi driver took us to this street where we were promised would be a "happening" place and have lots of students. Maybe he wasn't a local but he dropped us off in a place that had no students and was definitly not happening. Soo in another split second decision Steph and I decided we were going to temple bar. Finally we had come to a place where there were people and pubs. We went to a place called thunder something or other. I provided the most entertainment for the night when we were leaving and I walked right into a clear door. No Joke. True Story. It was like that windex commercial. Just walked right into it. I had had only 1 drink too. I just didn't see it. O well, it was funny..haha. We found a nice pub called fitzgeralds. by the time we got there it was dead but they promise live music tonight and it is cozy like your stereotypical irish pub soo we are going there tonight. We also tried a irish dance club. my intuition was confirmed that night clubbing isn't really my crowd. but I tried which is all that matters.

Stephanie and I have a theme song, Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. We heard it twice last night. it just happens to be a fitting song for the next couple of months. and we obviously break out into song whenever we are heading into a unfamiliar place.

Moving on..last night I was awoken by the sound of some canadian guy puking in my bathroom. needless to say it was nasty and one should never had to be awoken by a stranger making violent noises like that. im sure you can use your imagination. Hopefully that was a once in a lifetime kind of occurance.. but im guessing it won't be.

This afternoon my cousin Aideen will be picking me up and taking me to one of her childrens games (not quite sure which kind) I was told its near the coast and Bono lives in the area. Yes, Bono. And then after she is going to show me around Dublin and stuff like that. I'm excited.. I gotta go shower and maybe go into the city. Good Morning America and Good Afternoon Ireland.

Just follow the red line..

Today I went to orientation. A bit boring but some info was shared. I did learn that all of my classes are in one of the most confusing buildings known to man. Apparently it was built during the 60's when Ireland was having alot of protests. So in order to make sure the students didn't rally together they made this maze of classrooms where its organized by section and apparently its possible to be stuck on the 3rd floor in the history tower and need to get to the 3rd floor of the arts tower. Something of that nature.. sounds kinda crazy to me.. I mean I get lost in a bulding thats got 1 floor. I cant imagine what will happen if Im trying to navigate a building thats purposely trying to get students lost.**fingers crossed** Next Monday should be interesting..I'm probably going to take my schedule over and walk around b4 Monday. I have a little Rory Gilmore in me I suppose.
Yesterday was very successful in getting stuff done. I managed to get a bank account, a student card, and a free travel card. ++Random intersting fact: Cotton Candy is called Candy Floss in Ireland++ Anyways.. I hear there is a small collection of bed that have bed bugs in them.. not a big fan of that. I'm pretty sure I dont have any but its certainly makes you look twice at the little black lint pieces.
Last night we had one of our first random Dublin adventures. We got lost (apparently in the rich part of Dublin)but lost none the less. We were told that there was pub that was a 15 minute walk away from campus soo Annabelle, Steph, Ana, Gaulthier and Myself sent out on foot to find this pub. Well after about 20 minutes of walking we stopped and asked a nice Irish lady in a pharmacy and she told us it was about another 25 minutes. And I guess we figured we had come that far why not continue on our journey.. needless to say either the Irish have no sense of time or they walk really fucking fast.. but it was like 35 minutes b4 we actually found the place. It had good fish and chips(much better then in the US..sorry) for like 7 euro. We then had to find our way back in the dark and Annabelle (who is an excellent navigator took us through neighborhoods that were like right out of Harry Potter movie I swear). Don't worry Mom, I'm still in one piece but if you could send money that would be lovely.
Crazy but I've only been here for 4 days and I already hear the words in my head with an Irish accent. I just might come home with one. haha.. I'm off to do some errands. Good Morning America and Good Afternoon Ireland.

first days in the home land..

This morning I awoke to find that I am infact in Ireland and getting home isn't really an option. I finally met my roommates (Annabelle and Caroline) Annabelle is from New Zealand and Caroline is from Paris. Annabelle seems to be an expert is navigating the city and knowing what has to be done and how to do it soo I feel like she is going to be a great asset.
I have come to realize that these first couple of days in Ireland are quite ironic.. everyone told me I would be able to meet a boy but every Irish guy here is 17? Its kind of like a cruel joke. Lets put Meg next to hundreds of attractive irish accented guys and make them all the perfect age for Libby. Its clearly a cruel world. Haha.. Anyways.. I went into the city for the past two days..I feel like Im that stereotypical country girl in the big city. There is just so much to look at I feel like if I focus on just one thing I might miss something. I have found that there doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done..but today I'm going to try and be a little more successful. Stephanie and I are going to try and tackel the bank and student card and travel card situation. My first lesson while in Dublin besides how expensive this city is, the bus is just a money pit. I would say its more expensive then having car. But of course I have found my way around this 3 dollar expense everytime I need to go somewhere..a free travel card for opening a bank account. o snap! I'm not really sure I know what the travel card does but if its free then I am all over it. I hear that they are also giving away bread too which Im going to be all over. I have some to the realization that I might be coming back to the US 15 pounds lighter.. I haven't decided if thats a plus or a minus. I had my first guinness last night and I found myself pleasently surpised. I kind of got more of a coffee like taste then a beer one.. maybe I've lost it. But anyways it was good stuff. Thick though, soo I'm sure too much of that would make me blow up like a balloon. Note to self: don't drink alot of guinness.
I was invited to have dinner with my cousin Aideen. I think she is my cousin.. some type of family member.. Aideen. haha.. I am going to call her today and make some plans. Alrighty I am meeting Stephanie in 40 minutes and I havn't showered yet soo I'm off.. Good Afternoon Ireland and Goood Morning America.