The Legend of Finn McCool

This weekend was finally a weekend where we got a chance to go somewhere. We had our day trip! Saturday morning we woke up way to early, got a cab (3 of us that is, the others who like the morning walked) and got to the coach buses at around 8 30am. It was a whole Arcadia trip and included students studying in Dublin, Galway, Maynooth, Cork, and Belfast. There were three huge buses that we all loaded on and started our 1hr and half ish drive to Giants Causeway.

I fell asleep on the bus on the way there in a very uncomfortable position but it made the trip pass quickly. when we arrived we all split into different groups so we were managable for the tour guides. Our guide was Colin. He was an elderly man who used to be a teacher and was hilarious and just brilliant at tell the legends. this is him below to the right in the red. Right away we became aware of the intense wind of the North Coast and the north Atlantic. But lucky for us it ended up being a very sunny beautiful day. Even though I still ended up being all bundled up.

After our quick introduction to Colin and the legend my handy dandy geology knowledge became very useful! I answered more then one question right about the rocks of the Causeway. One, that they are all Igneous rocks, and Two, that the red coloring is caused through oxidation. Go me!
The legend of Fynn McCool is kinda a silly one but it makes sense as you walk along the park. It starts off by telling you that he was a huge giant, they know this because they have found his boot, which has been scientifically measured to be a size 16 i think is what he said. maybe 18. im not sure but BIG. See above. Anyways, all of the legends match with some feature of the landscape. like he had a camel, and that was how he got back to his wife, and that he had dog that kept watch over his camel, which is perched on the overlooking cliff. There is also a legend about his grandma, and his house, where you can still make out the chimney. Clearly, I am not a great story teller, but Colin was and it was super fascinating and beautiful. here are a couple more pictures just so you can see the pure beauty of the coast:




























The rocks on the right is the main reason this place has become of the one historically recogonized national sites that fits in the same category as the Grand Canyon. All of the rocks are basalt, but are shaped with perfect sides, in either 6 or 8 sided octagon type shapes. with some having either more or less. But this is the one place in the world that has the most of these type of rocks that was caused by a specific type of slow cooling lava however many million years ago. Its pretty awesome though and is IDEAL for rock hopping. which i did and had a lot of fun with. The last legend ill mention is that there is a "wishing chair" which is a stone much like these thats set in a higher stack that makes it look like a thrown. The legend is that you sit in it, make a wish and shake your butt 3 times. no more and no less. then your wish will come true! It famous for actually working :) here is me sitting in the thrown

After we went through the park he had to hike up a TOWER of stairs where i thought i was going to maybe pass out since i got so hot, considering the number of layers i has on, and you can kinda tell from this picture. We went to the gift shop, i got some postcards, and then we got back on the bus to go to this small coastal town for lunch.
Got there, wondered around until we found a place pretty far away because we were told to spread out for food. Problem, we only had an hour, and this place was definitely on Irish time. aka slow and Late. we didn't even get our food until we were supposed to be back at the bus. We ended up making the whole bus wait for us and we got there 23 minutes past when we were supposed to. oops. At least we got food. After being stuffed from shoveling food, i passed out again on the ride home. We got dropped off at the hostel and had to walk the 30 minutes back to our housing and when i got home i passed out again for a close to 5 hour nap.

After that the weekend was pretty uneventful and consisted of watching Mulan with Clarissa after i woke up from my nap, then sleeping in Sunday until 2pm. Got super motivated and cleaned my whole room, organized, sanitized, and did laundry including my sheets! It makes me feel quite happy but also still only kinda productive. I am hoping to go to trampoline tomorrow, they had a competition this weekend in Scotland and I look forward to seeing how they did. Other then that I am looking forward to the weekend because Makenna is coming to visit me from WALES!!! I am SO EXCITED TO SEE HER!! its going to be wonderful to have her here and i cant wait to show her around the few places i know about and just have an old friend around. :) Thats it for now but I will keep you posted. Also, check facebook for more beautiful pictures of the Giants Causeway. Facebook was being dumb so i couldn't load them all, but I am working on it so keep checking back <3 miss everyone!

Oops Its been a week

I fail. I have not written on my blog for the longest amount of time yet this trip. I last posted a week and 1 day ago. My apologies. Not a whole lot has happened considering life is becoming more of a routine and seeming less worthy to write about. However I will give you a condensed recap if I can remember anything interesting.
Wednesday of last week was fun as I managed to be ambitious and go out on a weeknight. Not only that, but I was able to convince Clarissa to join me and we left Elms around 11 45pm. Pretty late to be starting out night. I met up with one of my new friends from Trampoline Club, Matt. He was the real reason we went out so we could meet other Irish men and friends. It was Mardi Gras theme... A day late. I couldnt help but laugh since I didnt know what to wear and the thought of mardi gras in Ireland is just worth a chuckle. We ended up meeting these random older guys (30yrs old or so) since we stole their seats while waiting to find Matt and then they started chatting us up (thats Irish for hitting on ). But they were actually very funny and interesting people so it was still worth it. I like random conversations, one of them was one of the first to enjoy my politicalness. We went to home at close which is like 1 am sometimes 1 30. which is kinda annoying and seems way to early.

The rest of the week is honestly a blur. I have no idea what I did or how it passed. This last weekend was a pretty chill weekend though where we just hung around. Sabrina, Colleen and I watched Now and Then to relive some childhood moments which was a lot of fun and ordered a Dominos Pizza. Yes Dominos. Saturday rolled around and after sleeping in sufficiently the three of us went into the city to shop. It was originally meant to just get Colleen her bus card and for me to return something but we ended up actually shopping. I finally bought a pair of boots (super cute!) and some tennis shoes!!! thank god. There not the cutest and the verdict is still up on how much i like them but they sure do beat all the other ones i currently have and cant wear.

Sunday again I dont really remember but I do know that I officially booked a flight with Clarissa from Porto, Portugal to Marseille, France for part of spring break! That was pretty exciting. Were still working on figuring out the final details of getting to Portugal, probably tonight actually and the rest is still to be planned but its exciting to start actually realizing were going places! YAY!

In school news my classes are going well. I had my first and only tutorial presentation yesterday (Tuesday) in my Negotiations class, which apparently it was really good. so go me! I can facilitate a group conversation and make a room of quiet people answer me. We also had a rough draft paper do that I did and then it ended up being pushed back till next week. I only got 3 hours of sleep trying to prepare for this class and therefore slept in today Wed, until after 2pm to make up for it. Last night we also went to Comedy Night at the Empire! It was so much fun! it was a 6 pound cover charge but it was so worth it. I laughed a ton and usually stand up comedy can suck. Granted, one of the 4 guys did suck but 1 out of 4 is a decent ratio.

Finally, today itself has been a very relaxing day. I woke up late like I mentioned, then went and found this adorable small Free Trade coffee place called Common Grounds. Its adorable and delicious. Sat with my friends for multiple hours, aka the whole afternoon and also got the chance to meet up with Ned McGinley senior. (For all you from Oly town, Ned from the Blue Heron, his dad!) He is a wonderful man, had a great talk, hes willing to get me in to meet like all the politicians up here that are all involved in Northern Ireland politics which is awesome! Im very excited and it was quite fun.

The one small hiccup today was walking home from the coffee place I realized my library books were late and being charged by the hour. Luckily I got home, asked a flat mate who has a car to drive me down there, and was able to turn them in and only owe 4 pounds. Now I plan to watch a movie and relax more. This weekend Arcadia has a day trip planned for us to Giants Causeway! It should be tons of craic and absolutely beautiful, so check back on Sunday for an update and pictures :)

25 days in

Today I have officially been in the Country of Ireland for 25 days. Nearly a month. I am starting to actually settle in and possibly find a routine. Classes are still changing on me randomly which makes it kind of difficult but I'm actually super excited for this last change. I now have no class on Wednesdays at all! Thats very exciting because I was the only one out of my group that had classes everyday. It will be nice to have one day, hump day non the less, to gather my thoughts, catch up on reading and whatnot.

Sunday was that dreaded holiday called Valentines Day, but it was actually quite a nice evening in comparison to other years. Including last year when I lost my cat. But this year was fun. It started off wonderful by a knock on my door and a delivery of a beautiful full bouquet of flowers. I finally figured out that I was right about who sent them (ordered all the way from the states nonetheless!) and I was extremely flattered and they make my room smell fabulous. Following that morning wake up, later my group of 8 friends all got together and did a potluck style dinner. We all cooked something and came together to eat it! I made Cornbread and roasted potatoes. Funny story - Ireland doesnt believe in Cornmeal.... So i had some serious improvising to do. I used cornflower which i realized is more like cornstarch then anything else but it kinda worked. Also, I bloody suck at conversions. Again cursing the American system and the lack of knowledge that would help in the rest of the world. I didnt have any measuring tools either, soo there was a lot of guessing and hoping that went into it. Tesco (our grocery store) also did not have loaf pans. again improvising, i made little cornbread muffins. They ended up turning out OK but definitely not the highlight of the delicious meal. Some of the other items on the menu were, homemade veggie chili, 7 layer bean dip (with homemade guac), lasagna, spinach salad, burgers, quiche, then cookies, lemon squares and banana peanut butter chocolate chip bread. As you can see, there was tons and it was fabulous.

Monday rolled around and unlike in the States, we dont celebrate Presidents day in Ireland obviously. But it was sad either way that I had to go to class when everyone else got an extended holiday. Although, this is only my second week of school so I probably shouldnt complain. Besides, Monday was a good day. I tried Trampoline Club!!! I finally got up the nerve to go and check out a practice. I took a run down to the rec center, but got super lost. The only way they taught us how to get there was through the Botanic Gardens. However, they close at dusk and I went running down there at like 5 15 which means it was closed. I ended up running behind the school into some weird ass housing and finally found a main road about 20 minutes later and 15 minutes in the pouring rain. Luckily I found it, paid and got to work out. It was SO MUCH FUN! Ahh i felt right at home. Serious way to relax and let go of tension. I ended up being one of the better people there considering all my years of gymnastics but I didnt care. It was so much fun. and the coaches are awesome and can teach all levels so I was getting help on learning how to twist. Since thats my biggest enemy. Anyways, I am going back tomorrow (Wed) and I can wait. I'm sore but its so worth it.

Today, Tuesday was uneventful in the events of the day except i was running late and had to take a taxi to class and left my room at 10 45 and didnt get home until after 5. I also was able to buy a couple posters from the super cheap poster sale to help decorate my room even more. see pictures below. Thats all so far for this week. Miss you all at home!

Saturday night!!

YAY!! SO i have finally officially gone out ! This is pretty epic because I have been really lame mostly since i got here just because iv been tired, busy or had other things to do. But tonight we went out! I made an executive decision that I didnt want to stay in and watch movies and that I was sick of walking by and hearing about great places to go and saying "we'll have to go there sometime" and then walking away. After buying my ticket home for July I have started to already panic about the thought that my time here is going to go by way to fast. Solution: i googled "Belfast, saturday night" and went off of what popped up. Basically it listed some of the best bars around. I got Colleen and Jason to go with me and we literally just headed into the City hoping to run into this bar. Totally didnt know where we were going so we just wondered around and took random turns. Ended up in Victoria Square which is like an outdoor shopping center thats pretty cool and on the corner was this bar, i think it was called "the Kitchen Bar" or something like that. went in, liked the vibe, Jason got first round and we found a seat. There ended up being a live band that played some great traditional irish music that i absolutely loved. it was a lot of fun. then we were going to wonder to The Crown Bar which is a famous bar, but it got too late by the time we got around to. On our way home we came across a KFC that was open until 2!!! I couldnt have been happier. Love popcorn chicken. We met these wonderful Irish people in line and they ended up giving us their numbers. they were fabulous. Got home, realized I didnt have my ID and had to talk to the guards and tell them i really lived here. they laughed at me and let me through knowing i was clearly a dumb american. Overall a really grand evening that I am very excited I helped initiate. More to come.

The Smelly kid in class...

Its funny how when you start doing one of these blogs, trivial and unimportant everyday things suddenly become worth writing about. I think its because since I cant experience these everyday things with the people close to me, it seems that writing about it makes it that much more real. I say this because something that happened yesterday was something that originally I wouldnt share, but as I was telling my friends the story last night I felt like it was worth sharing on here to.

I was sitting in my Religious and Secular class, I sat close to the front as the room is very small and holds like 25 people exactly. I was all prepared with my laptop to take all the notes i needed that day. Right as the lecturer begins to talk however, a kid comes in late. Now I am not very punctual as many of you know but I do what I can, and usually if you come in late you try and sneak in quietly in the back. Not this kid. He chose to sit directly in front of me. Now in the moment that he sat down I kinda wrinkled my nose at an unpleasant odor. After about 10 minutes I fully realized the stench filling this small area of the room is from this kid. He was a boy by the way. I was trying so hard to concentrate on the lecture about Machiavelli but this smell just kept interrupting my thoughts. I didnt want to be rude so nearly every breath I took into my arm and then held it for as long as possible.... Finally this wasnt working well enough so i put my northface back on zipped it up and typed my notes with my nose in the collar. It was the most painful hour of trying not to breath that I have ever experienced. I will also stand by the fact it got worse the longer i sat there and every baby breath was nauseating. I wanted to look around and see if anyone else was having this aversion or not, but A i was scared the cute guys behind thought it was me, and B we were told that many of these kids go through all their years together, therefore there was a chance he could have been their friend and I didnt want to offend anyone. The moment the lecturer stopped talking I nearly jumped out of my seat, held my breath the rest of the way out and couldnt have been more happy to breath the outside air even if someone was smoking near by. Moral of the story? Stay the heck away from that kid again by surrounding myself further in the back with everyone else in the room. Also, shower more.

Ending week 2

Today is Thursday and I cant believe another week is almost over. This was the first week of actual lectures so its been interesting. I already feel behind because of the amount of reading they expect you to have finished by your tutorials, but once i figure out how to find all the readings i dont doubt ill be alright. Nothing very exciting happened this week besides on wednesday I got up and power walked to my first Irish Politics tutorial, got there sat for 10 minutes and then the office lady came and told us he wouldnt be making it in that day. That was all I had to do for the day so I was kinda annoyed id had to jump out of bed for that... oh well.

Also, in news from home, I got my Lease agreement sent to me for my apartment for next year with my best friends! That was pretty exciting, except the fact that reading the damn thing was tedious and dull, but necessary. I did have quite a fun mission trying to figure out a way to fax it to the people. Apparently there isnt a single place on campus where students can fax. awesome. Luckily the people at the Student Guidance Center felt bad for me and offered to print and fax it for me for free. YAY! now i just hope it got to them since I cant call to ask until nearly 5pm here...

Also yesterday I finally went to see Avatar! I loved it. I agree that some of the acting was cheesy and dumb but overall I really enjoyed it. Also on Monday, a group of just us girls went out for the day, did some shopping and then went to a lovely dinner. It was a very nice evening. however, we are all adjusting to this concept that stores and businesses close super early here. Like 6 o'clock they start ushering you out the doors and by 7 everything is locked down. Makes it hard to plan shopping trips, especially if you have class. I am still on a mission to find some good shoes.. its becoming more of a problem. One pair hurts my heels, my new boots make a blister form on the bottom ball of my foot, my flats give me blisters on the top of my toes and my other new ones are so thin i can feel the ground through them.... Finding a decent store has been hard though.

Anyways thats pretty much the update, like I said nothing too exciting this week. hoping to finally start having a schedule that makes sense. Planning on running again today to!

The Homestay...

So I know I haven't had a chance to update this in a couple days and I apologize. The main reason being that I was gone all weekend and didn't have my computer with me. Our program set up through another program this thing called a Homestay. For those of you who don't know, this is when you go and stay with an Irish family or whatever the established time is, to experience what real everyday life is like outside the college world. Well we were taken to a town called Navan. Moderate kinda small size, quite cute actually, with many pubs and cute streets with lots of little shops everywhere. Granted by the time we discovered these things they were all closed but let me start with Friday and tell you all how my weekend went.
(sorry for this photo, its taken the wrong way and i cant get it to rotate)

So Friday we were told to be picked up out front Queen's at 4:30pm to be transported by bus to our town. However, after standing for a good 35-45 minutes we finally all realized there was some confusion and called our program. Basically, no one told the bus driver that the location of the pick up had been changed and he had been waiting for us at Elms since 4... awesome. Now before we figured this out I got too freezing and decided to wait inside the Student Union while the rest of the group figured it out. My toes were numb. Anyways, got on the bus, its about a 2 and half hour drive or so. not bad. Got dropped off at the Round O pub. (yes its called round-o) where of course the single pair that doesn't get picked up is myself and Clarissa (we were in a pair together). The lady didn't want to come get us and was under the impression we were supposed to be dropped off. After everyone else was met by happy moms, we got in the car of the lady who was the daughter of the person who was supposed to meet us. (basically she was doing her mothers job it seems) and drove us literally down the road. Took us a little while to figure out where the house was, finally did and went inside. First impression-iffy. Our lady was a wonderful women super hilarious and crass, a bit....nontraditional. We had barely said our names when she tells us our options are to go out with her son to the rugby club or sit at home and be bored. Hence, we choose to go out. It was a lot of fun. We met a ton of people, drank some, well I did at least. Pathetic Coors light to be honest... yes how American of me. I tried Heineken...tasted like pee... so yes met lots of nice lads, two of which we found out were 16 and 18..haha funny. Good times. I even got up and danced around a little which is a huge accomplishment.

We ended up going to bed that night at 3 30am which was super early considering everyone else who came back to the house with us didn't leave until 6 am... Saturday was pretty uneventful. Her 30 something year old daughter made us breakfast and i tried Blood pudding, it was disgusting but I can say that I tried it.. go me! Then we sat around and had some pretty good conversation. Politics, rugby, books, traveling, places to go when were on spring break, all that. We also sat and watched the big Ireland Rugby match that was on TV that day. Finally we decided to walk into town, a little late as everything was closed, and she told us we were on our own for dinner. Being adventurous, and after experiences bad food all over the place when we try to get "safe" American food, Clarissa and I decided to try this Thai restaurant that looked really yummy and classy. We walked in, asked to see the menu and thought it seemed reasonable and sat down. Then we were handed another menu... this menu had prices that were DOUBLE what we had just read and out of our budget. When the waiter came over to us she told us that the cheaper menu was just for take away. That's what they call take out here. We politely told her we would rather do that so we left to the waiting area so we could pay the mere 8quid verses 15.

At this point, we had realized that our phones didn't work because since we weren't in the UK our free minutes and texts didn't apply and both our money balances were too low. However, we received a text from our fellow American friends telling us to meet at McDonald's at 8 30. Since we had gotten take away we now needed somewhere to eat... our solution: the back of Micky Ds so we would be there waiting for them. We felt super guilty eating Thai there... then Clarissa went to get drinks and utensils... however when she asked the lady for utensils she looked at her like she was absolutely bonkers. just considering that not a single thing on their McDonald's menu requires utensils... Again we were faced with adversity and we problem solved to using out fingers like kids. Lucky for me tho! I had a random spoon in my purse. that helped at least move it around to make it less hot. Finally we finished and were waiting for our friends who never showed up. We asked some random hansom Irish guy next to us to use his phone and it took half the store (ok only him and two other people) to help us figure out how to call UK phones from the Republic. Super confusing, country code, plus area code but drop the zero if its a cell phone....etc etc you get the point. Got through to Sabrina who told us the pub they were at and we eventually met up.

Loved this pub. It was for sure an old mans pub. We were easily 40 years the junior of anyone in that bar. At one point they even played BINGO! but the bartenders were funny and wonderful, the drinks good, and the atmosphere cozy and cute. We stayed a pretty long time. Got in a cab to get us back home, told the driver where we were going and got so turned around. He took us to the wrong place, ended up costing like 9.75 euro plus 4 euro for all of us passengers. It turns out we were a 5 minute walk away.... awesome. Once home we just got in bed and read our books and talked since we didn't have much to say to the lady and it was late. Sunday was the same, we slept in until 2, ate toast for breakfast, talked some, then got ready and were dropped off again at the Round O. Bus ride home, got here, I finished my book I have been reading, Dear John by Nicolas Sparks, then watched the Superbowl and skyped and stayed up way too late to start this week a little shaky.

Overall, the weekend was memorable to say the least. In comparison to my friends families I feel slightly jipped because we didn't get a tour, or taken to a castle or a homemade meal cooked for us.. But then again, not every family is like that and its ignorant to assume so just like in America not all families have 4 kids, live in a cookie cutter house and bbq...I am very glad to be back in my own room with my own bed and no smoking, but I'm happy we got the chance to go. Now that I have posted the longest update ever I am going to bed as I am running on not enough sleep for a Monday. This is the first week of real lectures also...stay tuned

My Address, how its supposed to be written

Thea Price
Elms Village
Ash Avenue Apartment #6
Room 203
78 Malone Road
Belfast
BT9 5BW
Northern Ireland, UK

out. of. shape.

Today was my Friday. I had one last class, the Religious and the Secular in modern political thought, that basically focuses on how we have become a secular society and the minimizing role of religion in our world today. Seems super interesting and its a very very small class which is nice. That was from 12-1 but we got out early, and I wondered home listening to my ipod. Somewhere between class and here I got super motivated and wanted to work out. However, I do not want to pay 50-75 pounds for a gym membership at our rec center here. Solution: go for a run in the rain, something I used to love to do. I bought some underarmor the other day so i was all prepared and set out on my run.

Now I definitely did not realize just how long it has been since I have done ANY physical activity. Not only have i been feeling like a fatty but my lungs were very unhappy. I dont smoke, obviously, but I was wheezing like I did. I barely made it out of the student living before I had to walk to breath, sharp pain in my lungs and chest. ouch. so unpleasant. However, instead of deter me this made me realize how lazy I have been and to keep going. I took some random roads, ended up lost a couple times and was unsure if I would make it back again for a while but ended up finding a park, seeing a parallel busy street with lots of shops on it and coming out right at the entrance to Elms (where I live). Got home, was still feeling motivated so I continued my workout doing 50 of all my ab workouts-im going to kill tomorrow. Again, big awakening to how fat and lazy I am. Cool down stretch was painful to, first time my splits have been that tight since...ummm i dont know when. Pathetic. Finished workout, made a healthy sandwich with apples on the side and now am still wheezing and coughing because my lungs cant seem to recuperate. (stupid doctors say i dont have asthma every time i ask but i still think their wrong) Hopefully that gets better by tomorrow because I am determined to continue this routine and get back to where I was during the summer when Jamuna had me eating like a rabbit.

No Class and the Art of Showering

So today I didnt have any class.. Very weird since I am used to having class everyday for multiple hours. Usually I will have a tutorial on these days but those dont start till next week. The solution to not having class? Be very unproductive and lay in bed literally all day. I read my book I bought in the airport forever ago in Seattle, that one By Nicolas Sparks, Dear John. I want to see the movie but I figured I should read it and it doesn't come out here for much longer. Started getting really into it when i realized around 2 that i hadnt eaten anything. Got up for some toast (like 5 pieces actually) then came back and read more.

At 4:30pm I finally decided it was a good time to shower and get up for our Arcadia dinner at 6:30. I got in the shower like normal and did all showery things, but in the midst of it the little knob that decides the temperature fell off. Trying to put it back on kept making the water cold so i thought id wait until i was done. Here is the art i am referring to in my title. My shower is set up so that you cannot move the nozzle, it is also very small and leaves little room to turn around or hide from the water. The art is trying to perfect just how to turn the water off without freezing your arse off. Because its a round knob and the hot is whole circle around to the right, and the cold is always where you start and finish around to the left. Unfortunately, the knob does not spin very quickly and therefore ALWAYS and i mean ALWAYS gets stuck right on the coldest part before turning off. SO I have been trying to master a way to avoid the cold. Option 1: use the shower curtain as a shield- half works but you can still feel through it. Option 2: physically step out of the shower while the hot water is still going, turn it all the way off then step back in to dry off. As you can see neither are very good. But on this particular day i used option 1 so i could fix the knob. Water off, i began to force it back into place. Right before it clicked it suddenly spurted ice cold water out right on top my head making me scream and jump all at once and have to turn the knob again, almost breaking it. After i got over the shock ill admit i laughed at myself, but i was officially freezing until i was completely dry. Moral of the story? there isnt really one except Irish shower still gets the best of me, and hopefully in the 4 months of living here ill figure out a way to conquer it.

Nothing else exciting happened all day, Arcadia dinner was delicious at this Italian place called Villa Italia i think, i ordered this seafood linguine and two desserts because I couldnt decide and they were paying the bill. So yummy. Got to skype some of my favorite people and now I am heading to bed at almost 2! woo! Last first class tomorrow at noon :)

lectures and pain

Sorry everyone, I havent written for a couple days now and thats mostly due to the fact that there hasnt been anything too interesting happening and I keep running out of time before I just pass out and go to bed. Basically today is Tuesday and it was my second day of classes. Yesterday I had Irish Politics, which seems interesting enough. Its the one class i have been debating dropping for War and Visual Culture, but I am unsure what I want to do. The professor was good but spoke old person. Which I mean this no offense to anyone but there is no other way to describe it. He speaks english, very clearly, but its that old people voice where you have to focus and concentrate on not zoning out due to the way he talks and occasionally mumbles or looks away... I could deal with it though if I decide to stay in that class. Then today I had Negotiations and Conflict Resolution which is probably the class i am the most excited about. It deals with all the things im fasicnated with including using other case studies of sectarian violence and divided societies to analyze such as Greece/Turkey, Iraq, Canada, Northern Ireland, and Yugoslavia. I cant wait. The lecturer is from Cyrpus. Which I found extra interesting since i did a huge project on Cyprus in like 9th grade.

Besides classes there really hasnt been anything that exciting since my shopping trip of spending too much money. I have met more of my flat mates in the common kitchen room but if i mentioned earlier, many of them are PhD or Masters students and tend to be 23+ in age. I still havent mustered the energy to go out and drink but I am feeling it will be soon... However, a recent downturn to my bliss, I was walking around city center the other day to go print off pictures to help make my room more homey and all the sudden my right heel started to hurt. within like 15 min i was in serious pain and full on limping. I thought it was my shoes. So today I wore my running shoes, felt like a fool with big floppy feet. Not to mention there white so I felt like they screamed "look at me!" I was obviously exaggerating in my head and likely no one noticed, but regardless, even with the change in shoe my foot was killing me. I have no idea what it is, but it hurts, and it only happens when i have shoes on. I can even push on where i think it hurts when my shoe is off...nothing. strange i know.

Apart from the minor foot problems I am still loving it here. I really need to get on my social kick and go meet some new friends or at least go out with the ones I have already made. Today actually, I stopped by the social apartment, #3, where a group was pre funking playing beer pong, (SO excited to see this btw, yay American college students! The Irish have no clue what it is) and I met another girl from WSU. Shes a senior architecture student and has one other friend here with her to. so sweet, Cougs representing in NI.

That is about it for the update though. When something else comes up worth writing about I will be sure to post, but I am super tired yet again. This time its 12:30 though... which is way past my new old person bed time. I dont have class tomorrow because usually it will just be a tutorial, but we dont have those this week, then Thursday I have my last class, The Religious and the Secular in modern political thought. I am looking forward to it but for now, goodnight