Arthur's Day

So as many of you may know, Arthur's Day is the celebration of Arthur Guinness and his famous Irish Stout, the Guinness. They day started as any other, going to class, blah blah blah, then I got out of my last class at 6 and headed to a friend house to have a casual pint with Zach, Jordan, Charlie, Brian, and Kelly. We then headed over to The Stables to check out the celebrations that were going on there, before heading into Limerick City. As expected, The Stables was bumping, but we just grabbed a pint, and headed into town before it got too late.

We started off at a pub called Flannery's; initially we thought it was the pub where Mumford and Sons was supposed to play at, but quickly realized that there were many Flannery's throughout Limerick. This Flannery's turned out to be a quaint, local pub with a local family playing live music for us. It was great craic there, and we ended up having the chat with a couple older couples, just chatting about anything and everything. Kelly got to go behind the bar and learn how to pour a Guinness correctly. The Guinness was delicious. Later on, we decided to meet up with two other girls, Lukas and Michelle, at a place called the Sin Bin. We only went to the bar section, since the club section was already full. We danced around and had a bunch of fun, before we grabbed some food, and a quick cab back home.

To say the least, it was a great success. It was great to talk to the local's and just listen to their stories, tell them some stories about us, and listen to the local band play Irish music. Everyone here is very outgoing, and willing to talk to you and listen to you.

Luckily for me, I did not have class on Friday so I went grocery shopping and prepared some dinner for the other Minnesotan's (Kelly, Brian, and Charlie). We had a casual Friday night in preparation for an early departure to the Aran Islands the following day. Check out the next post to hear all about that; it was a class time.

Slán!

Foam Party/Galway

The foam party was last Wednesday, and it was way overrated. It was in a bigger area, but still outside, so it was freezing cold. Some of us left early. It would be way more fun if it was inside in a warmer climate!

But enough complaining, this weekend I went to Galway with Kels, Moira, Kiersten, and Greg. We left early Saturday morning, but Kels and I missed the first bus and had no idea where we were going at first. Luckily, we figured it out and hopped on the next bus and made it to Galway around half 12 (12:30). Galway is an amazing city on the coast that has beautiful views. We walked around in and out of some small shops, got coffee at a delicious place called Elle's, walked down the coast and down a path to a lighthouse. Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed, but the views were still amazing. We checked out the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, which is huge, and very peaceful. A lot of walking and just looking around, which is exactly what I wanted to do. We went to the square and listened to some authentic music; one of the guys in the band played the guitar, irish bagpipe, some sort of flute, and a banjo. We then checked into our hostel which was located right in the middle of the walking areas, and went out on the town. We explored a couple different pubs and were led into some sketchy bar where they were offering us free shots if we came with them? We went there, but the atmosphere was lame and too American, so we went to The King's Head, which I apparently have already been to with my family. Crazy!

Sunday we woke up and got some breakfast at Elle's again; I would highly recommend going there for their breakfast. Strawberry hot chocolate is a MUST! It has real strawberries in it. We went to a market where me and Kels bought four friendship bracelets for the two other Minnesotans that weren't able to make the trip. The weather was as expected, on and off rain all day. I honestly don't mind it as of right now, but I may have a different opinion in three months. 

Exhausted, we found our way to the bus station and headed back to Limerick. Some crazy guy on the bus was screaming at his child because he was crying; the dad was much louder than his child was; what a dick. 

Dinner last night was over cooked rice and spiceless chicken; probably the grossest dinner thus far, but the people made the dinner better...haha cheesey. We then met up with others and started looking into planning trips outside of Ireland. I ended up booking a flight to Barcelona for October 19th this morning with Charlie and Kelly. We're urging some other people to join, but we just wanted to book it before it gets too expensive. 

That's all for now! Below are some pictures from Galway; check out my Facebook for all the pics.

Slán!

Paint Party

Today's the third day of classes, and it is just a lovely day outside. The weather changes rapidly, so it may turn out to be less lovely later, but right now it's wonderful. We had another "family dinner" with some girls from Creighton yesterday; it was an amazing lasagna dinner with salad, cheesey bread, and some wine. To say the least, it was the best family dinner we've made os far. Last night I took it easy and just got some hot chocolate with some friends and hung out at the Scholars club, which apparently is known for their hot chocolate (it was delish). I'm glad some of my better friends actually go to Minnesota so I will be able to see them often when I get back. But I'm not thinking about that right now, just enjoying Ireland.

The paint party Monday night was a riot. In the afternoon I went to a store called Penneys to get super cheap clothes to wear to the party. I got 6 shirts and a pair of pants for 26 euro...AMAZING deals there. I went to the Stables club with a white shirt on, and came back covered in different colors (pink, green, blue, etc. etc.). The music was crazy and when I was in the middle of the group I got pushed around; I literally could not control where I was moving, I just went with the flow of crazy Irish people. It was a great time, but I lost all of my friends I went to the party with. 

I have also been able to get to know my Irish roommates a little more since we have had more time around the house. All of them play soccer and are a part of the soccer club, which I will be joining later today. From 5-8 there's a recruitment for the different clubs and societies for UL; I'm planning on joining soccer, tennis, international society, and outdoor pursuits. I don't know if I'll have time for all of them, but we'll see.

Off to class again now! 

Slán

P.S. Here's a link to the song that's the theme for the trip thus far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGghkjpNCQ8

First Day of Class

Today I woke up thinking I knew what my schedule was going to look like, until I met up with my friends this morning and realized I scheduled about half the classes I needed to go too...

Ended up fixing my schedule, but just in time to miss my first class. Great way to start the year eh?

So far I only went to Marketing Comm and some literature class, both of which seem to be fairly manageable. It's weird actually enjoying going around campus feeling like a froshie, getting lost and asking everyone where the room is. Only two classes today, and one tomorrow, but later into the semester I guess we have more classes. I went downtown with some ladies and found a store called Penneys; they sell super cheap clothes, which is what I needed since I only brought over four T-shirts?

Tonight there's a big "Paintglow UV Paint Party", which should be interesting. Another fascinating factoid I learned about UL is that they all go out Tuesday-Thursday and go home on the weekend...where does homework fit in?

Time to go make a sandie and soup with the lads before the big night, but I'll be back tomorrow for more info on this paint party.

Slán!

Last Day of Summer

The day has finally come that I will actually have to go to class again in the morning and I am not looking forward to it. No idea where my classes are so it should be interesting. But today was a pretty remarkable day; Kelly, Charlie and I got to learn how to play hurling and gaelic football, two of the most popular sports to play in Ireland. Hurling is similar to lacrosse except there is no basket to catch the ball in and you can use your hands; gaelic football is a mix of soccer, rugby, basketball, and volleyball. Both of these sports are played on a much bigger field than any fields used in the US.

Later on we met up with all the fellow hurlers at the Sports Pub to watch the hurling championship between Kilkenny and Galway, unfortunately it ended in a tie, which means they will be playing again in a couple weeks to find a winner.

Other than that, a couple of us went to the library to set up our e-mail and get school stuff ready for tomorrow, met up with some others to cook some dinner, and now I am getting ready for a wonderful day tomorrow.

Also today was the first day it rained since we got here...what happened to it raining every day??

First Week

Finally found the time to sit down and start blogging! I figured I would blog instead of journal so I can always have access to the stories from anywhere, and everyone else can know what I'm doing too.

I arrived on Tuesday in Shannon with a fairly large group of students from all over. A lot of them were surprisingly from the midwest. We hopped on a bus and rode into Limerick; it was very surreal, most of us were still in a daze from the flight and couldn't wrap our heads around the idea that we were ACTUALLY in Ireland! We all moved into our "houses" and got acquainted with the area. I met up with the people we met on the bus ride and we went to get our phones and other essentials from city center; the downtown area was awesome! We had our first beers and chatted with the locals, super nice and super talkative/drunk.

Later on that night we went out to grab dinner and met up with more people that were from Chicago. They somehow convinced us to go out to the bars that night despite the jet lag and walking around the entire day.

The next couple days we did a bunch of orientation stuff which was very interesting and useful, but boring to write about. Night life here is awesome; there's a bar on campus that most first years go to, which has been sufficient for us these past couple nights. I'm hoping that we meet some upper class locals that know the off campus places to be. People here are unbelievably friendly and easy to talk to; I've already met a ton of new people that love to do the same stuff I do...Drink! Just kidding; they love to travel, meet new people, etc. etc. I think I am going to like this place!

I'll try to keep updated on a more day-to-day basis, depending on how interesting the day is. I'm really tired now and going to take a nap, even though its 1pm...

Until next time, cheerio