After being in Ireland for about a month now, I have realized that it is a lot more like home than I thought.  Obviously there are differences; driving on the other side of the road, terminology, and the fact that I had a fair bit of difficulty understanding people for the first week.  But overall people wear the same kinds of things, talk about the same kinds of things, listen to mostly the same music, and go out and do the same kinds of things (only here when I go out I can drink), and I think that the fact that I can relate to most of what I see on some level, has stopped me from experiencing a big wave of culture shock.   It is the insignificant differences of day to day that I love discovering.  Cadbury chocolates will be the death of me, they have never been so available and that was probably a good thing for my health.  Apparently red solo cups are unheard of here and all of us American people are very confused about what to drink out of at parties.  And I am still not quite accustomed to being the one with the accent, I have never been asked where I am from so frequently after only saying hello.  I have really enjoyed my month here so far, it is just enough the same that I am comfortable, and just enough different that every day is interesting.  Once out of Dublin things are not quite as alike.  On a weekend trip to Westport and Galway we ran into a little bit of trouble finding taxis, assuming that things will be open later than they are, and thinking that everything would stick to a very on time strict schedule like we are used to.  The little bit of trouble we ran into though was well worth it, the parts of the country we saw were beautiful and now I feel like I have experienced a little of the ‘real’ Ireland and not just another city.  I love that the people I have met here are all willing and eager to go on weekend trips and travel on the slightest notice, that is new to me (apparently I hang out with a rather unadventurous bunch at home).  But I suppose we are all here to go out and see things, and experience as much as we can while we are here.  And I don’t just mean experience Ireland, though even that would be fine.  I am probably a little overexcited about how easily I can get to other parts of Europe!  I have a trip booked to London in two weeks and am ecstatic to start feeding the travel bug that has been living inside me for so long.  I know that won’t be the end of it and as soon as I get back I am going to start looking for somewhere else to venture to.  Hopefully my need to travel won’t interfere with my schoolwork too much, but I tried to plan my schedule to accommodate that.  No classes on Friday, nothing early on Monday, and the difference in how classes are led here (I have much less weekly work than I am used to…for now at least) should leave me with plenty of time for weekend adventures.  I know that being here will be a great growing experience for me.  I can already notice myself being more open to people, adventurous, independent, and much less shy thankfully because that was something I had feared would get in the way of my experience.  I can’t wait to learn more about Ireland, and begin to see some more of the world!!!