hi everyone! ok so where to begin. So much has happened in 4 days that i feel like ive been here for 2 weeks already.

we met our first roommate on Wednesday! He's really nice, his name is pronounced Yonis, but im not sure of the spelling. He's from germany but has lived in ireland for 15 years now and is studying law. he speaks german, irish, and i think he said french as well as english since that's whats mainly spoken here. Everyone that is born in Ireland must take/learn irish as a, what one lady said, a first/second language. So they all know it. but barely use it. So a lot of students feel annoyed i guess having to take it because they feel like its useless. i guess you could compare that to how American students feel in high school when we have to take 2 years of a language.

So tuesday night Tara's cousin Ian and his friend Mark took us to Mollie's, a night club that they have here. Ian said it wsa kind of shitty but me and tara had a great time. even though the bouncer gave me a hard time about my ID. i tried using my ISIC student/study abroad ID and he said i bought it for 3euro on the street. so i guess a lot of younger studnets buy fake ID's that look similar. but it was fun once we finally got let in by a different bouncer. I ordered a sex on the beach and i though they were just going to hand me a drink and they handed me a pitcher!! ahh! and they didnt take credit card which was all i had because i didnt get a chance to cash my travelers checks yet, so ian so kindly bought it for us all to share. I danced a lot haha it was really fun.

The next day, Wednesday, was BEAUTIFUL out. i woke up with one of they keys from my luggage stuck to my leg hahah i had to like peel it off and then i had a key imprint on my leg. Later that day Tara and i went to campus, just us two and explored a little and looked around. To get to the university (even though our apt is considered on campus) its a pretty good walk. we have to walk over a bridge that goes over the Shannon river (the longest river in Ireland) They have sidewalks here but to get to school they have a seperate walking street that had a dotted line down the middle that literally looks like a mini street. its for bikers and walkers. We ended up going for a late lunch at the pub on campus called Stables. Theres 2 pubs on campus, Stables is one then the other is Scholars, scholars is a little nicer i believe but i havent gone in yet. When we ate at stables though the lady asked if i wanted chips and i said no bc i really wasnt in the mood for chips.. but then later when we sat down i realized chips are french fries! and i was sad bc i did want french fries! haha

That night we went back to Stables with Ian and Yonis for a casual beer, i got a glass of white wine, which i need to stop drinking because im pretty sure im allergic, my face gets all red and i usually get hives then lol but it stinks because thats my favorite kind!! but that was nice beacuse we got to know our roommate a little. then we left around 12 becuase they were closing.

Yesterday was orientation. we had to get up at 7:30am! ugh haha and it literally went alllllll day until when at 8 we were supposed to meet at stables for a thing organized by the international student org called "fast friends" haha tara and i went late beacuse i wasnt sure if i wanted to go because i was SO TIRED. i didnt get to bed till like 4 the night before so got NO sleep. but we went and we had dinner, i got fish and chips! it was yummmmyyyy. Our tour guide further explained that they call "fun" here, "crack" hahaha so theyre like "want to go have some good crack?!" but they mean good fun! hahah its funny

and when they want to say like, "no way! or are you serious" they said fuck off haha so theyre really not cursing at you, they mean like "no way i dont believe it!" kind of thing. They curse a lot here haha i hope i dont come home with their mouths lol

The students my age all listen to the same kind of music we do in America. because they said they start to get tired of the irish music after a while. Mostly all the Irish say that you can just know an american when you see one. but i cant tell the difference. ALLL the girls wear boots here. and they all dress really nice. i thought it was going to be like primitive clothing and no make up haha but they all have the designer bags and cute boots with heels and nice clothes.

Theres several trips planned for the study abraod students so i plan to go on all of those.

well id like to write more but i have to get to the bank before it closes! miss you all love you family and friends!!

byyyyye

Classes start the 25th so that should be new and exciting.