My First Week Here

Wow. So much has happened. I'll try not to write a novel.

So, I am here. In Ireland. Galway to be exact, which happenes to be on the west coast. I realized this week that I never mentioned where exactly in Ireland I would be studying. Now I've told you! I flew into Dublin on Sunday where I spent the next few days with the other IFSA-Butler (the study abroad program through which I'm ... studying abroad) kids who were also going to the National University of Ireland (NUI) at Galway for our orientation. Then on Wednesday, we drove from Dublin to Galway which took about two and a half hours. We basically crossed the country in the time it takes me to eat five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (It really does take me 30 minutes to eat a sandwich - it's been timed.) The last half of the week has consisted of mostly NUI orientation. There weren't any orientation events today, but there is a historical walking tour of Galway on Sunday that I want to go to.

There you have it! An overview of my first week in Ireland. But have no fear, I have plenty more to write about! Such as ...

First impressions! Always a good place to start. I can't decide if Ireland is really as different as I expected it to be. Or I guess there are more similarities than I originally thought, to put it differently. Temple Bar in Dublin and Shop Street in Galway most definitely cater to the Irish stereotypes in terms of what the store fronts look like and the general atmosphere of the area, but those seem to be the tourist-y areas so it would make sense that they come off as Irish. But as we were driving to Galway, the countryside didn't seem that different from what you could find in the Midwest. They do use stone walls as fences though which I'm pretty sure you can't find in the Midwest. It also surprised me (although it shouldn't have, being a farmgirl myself) how many people owned livestock. The horses and cattle were SO big! Or at least super leggy and tall. It was a gorgeous drive. Most of the people that I've interacted with (cashiers, ... actually, that's about it, random university staff) have been really polite and helpful. I know that's their job, but that's usually not a guarantee that you'll be helped out by someone who seems to be enjoying themself. I've heard a lot of people say 'Thanks a million' which makes it seem like what you did matters that much more to them. I know it's just a colloquial  phrase, but I like it!

It's all been a little overwhelming, to be honest. There is still a lot of administrative stuff that I have to do for school (silly stuff like figuring out class schedules) and for the bank. I've been making daily trips to the store for things like hangers and tupperware and food. Food! - feeding myself is now one more thing I have to worry about. I started to panic after my first attempt at cooking myself a decent meal ended up in the trashcan, especially since I only tried to make cous-cous. However, I think my main problem was not following a recipe (which, if you know anything about making cous-cous, is incredibly pathetic because all you do is add water). I did bring a cookbook with me from home and have proved to be capable of correctly following recipes in the past, so I will now only eat from my slightly embarassing I Can't Believe It's Not Fattening! cookbook. The recipes looked good, ok?

The people on my program have all been really friendly. I'm getting along with my roommate, and she even told me she loves having me as a roommate. She had been talking about the people she's glad she wasn't stuck with, but yay me! My suitmates are also really nice, (All of the girls in my apartment are American but there is an apartment full of Irish boys right next door. Do you know how I know? They're really loud when they're drunk. And they hopped the dividing wall between our patios and hung out with us last night.) and there are two girls in an apartment a few doors away that graciously let me tag along with them. One of them looks like Mimi from Rent and is refreshingly blunt.

Anyways, I hope that's enough information for you! This upcoming week is the first week of classes so I'm sure I'll have loads to tell you next weekend. I promise to have pictures up by then too. Thanks for reading!

I love and miss you all!