Come Dance With Me In Ireland...

October 4^th, 2010

Happiness is just outside my window…

Last time I left you was the day before classes started, I feel like that was so long ago. Being the person I am I was so excited to start class. Not only because I love going to school but also because it was a new kind of school. I only have one lecture on Mondays and it is only for one hour. Classes are very different from anything I have experienced. The lectures are huge and I was intimidated by this at first. I have found that I do much better in large lectures than I thought I would. I also have one seminar class and two other classes. I am only in class three days a week; yet again something that is totally new to me. I have to say that I do love having small classes where I know the students and professors on a more personal level but I am enjoying going to a “big” school much more than I thought that I would. I am in Irish History, The Languages of Ireland, and Language, Culture and International Communication. All the classes so far have been very interesting. It is fun to take classes outside my major, I am really enjoying school so far.

In addition to my three classes I will also be working with a nonprofit organization while I am here. I had an interview last Tuesday with a organization called Young Social Innovators. The organization works with students in secondary school (which is kind of like high school) and helping them realize their potential to influence their community and the world. They help get students involved in the community through projects and events. I do not know a ton of details about how it all works or what exactly they do with the students but hopefully I will learn when I start working with them. The interview went very well and was so encouraging. I will be working with YSI the two days a week that I am not in class. YSI is located in the city centre, which is about a 15-20 minute bus ride from school. I am so excited to be working in the city centre because I feel like I will get a better feel for day to day life for a person who lives in Dublin. I have found that a lot of aspects of college life in Ireland are the same as at home, there are a lot of differences too. So I am really excited to get out of the college bubble, if you will, and get involved in the community of Dublin. My first day is tomorrow, Tuesday, and I am really looking forward to the work I will be doing.

One thing that is very different about college here is that close to all of the students go home on the weekend. So from Friday afternoon until Sunday night campus is like a ghost town. It is so bizarre. I was the only one in my apartment all weekend. It is backwards from home. Here, everyone goes out on week nights and leaves on the weekends. Whereas at home people for the most part stay in on the weeknights and go out on weekends. It was a relaxing weekend.

On Saturday three of my American friends and I went to the Guinness Storehouse. This was one of the things that I felt like I just had to do while I was here. We got a little lost on our way there, which is not surprising at all. It was a great tour all about how Guinness is made and about Arthur Guinness. I really enjoyed the tour. We then ate in the restaurant there, which happened to be delicious. As we were on our way back we found a milkshake shop (there are several in Dublin) that served 150 different kinds of milkshakes. It was truly overwhelming trying to decide what to get. One of the girls I was with is a vegan, but luckily for here they had vegan milkshakes. It was the first one she had in over two years. Overall it was a fantastic day.

One of my favorite moments so far happened this past week. I was enjoying my favorite snack, an apple with peanut butter, while talking with my roommates and their friends. They thought that the combination of apple and peanut butter was absolutely bizarre. They do not eat peanut butter very often here. Two people in the room had never tried peanut butter ever. What I thought was a perfectly normal and delicious snack turned into quite an interesting discussion of peanut butter. It was very entertaining.

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day filled with laundry and I also locked myself out of my room for the first time. I am sure this will happen again. I also had the great joy of skyping with my family. It was so exciting and good to talk with them. I was able to talk to Adam and Lisa in Charleston and my parents and Chad in Buena Vista. It made my day to get to catch up with all of them. I miss them very much.

I look forward to another exciting week. Dublin continues to amaze me and I cannot wait to only explore more. My friends and I are starting to plan all of the traveling we are going to do. Yeah!

Hope all is well back in the U.S.! Miss you all!

Cheers,

Keely