Blue room > Orange room

New address.

It is the same as before but now the numbers are House 19 Room 6...

:]

Stablesss

So, this girl Rachel (my super twin as they call us) and I have planned to go out and have fun here in Ireland, but tend to fail each time because we don't want to drink, do not want to pay to drink, do not want to dress up like the Irish girls do or by the time we make up our minds everyone is already belligerent and it would be no fun and we end up staying in (or just walk around campus). But tonight we went to International night at Stables, the pub on campus. It was so much fun! We thought we should stand by the bar to see what happens, immediately these two guys were like choose the shot -anything but tequila- and Ill buy us each one because I need someone to take a shot with. We were like how bout something Irish. So he ordered each of us a Baby Guinness. It was adorable and literally looked like a shot sized Guinness, it was a shot of Tia Maria with Baileys on top to make it look like the foam of Guinness. It was tasty.

Then Irish music started playing and Diggy (yeah, that's his name) pulled me from the bar and attempted to teach me to jig... moral of that story: I need lessons.

I am for sure staying in that Irish music and dance class just so I do not look soooo ridiculous in front of these Irish boys. It was a failed attempt but the most fun I have had dancing like a tard in a loong time- actually ever. It was really fun tonight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lcnvd8BNFE&feature=fvst   Love this song too!

I got called baby Shakira by 2 different guys and pint-sized Shakira by another. I heard people callin' me Cali, Chicago (?) and boom-shaka-laka.  They all rubbed my hair too when they would walk by as if I am a dog or something, not really sure how to read into that gesture, so I just threw my hair up since it was getting increasingly larger as the night went on.

Melanie and I are planning out spring break trip to Sweden and Greece, and I could not be more excited! (Jess, or anyone- if you are coming to Ireland for my spring break, you better let me know ASAP before I buy tickets!)

I would say it was a successful night. Diggy (also one of the coaches? I guess for that Gaelic football team) got on one knee in the middle of the Student Union quad and asked if he could take me to the Irish cinema or if that would be a bad thing...  [adorable] Then he went on to explain that some girls make guys go over little bumps to get to them,others small hills, some mountains and so on.  He said that there are bumps, hills, mountains, mt Everest, mt Kilimanjaro, the Dali Llama's hut in Tibet and then the moon to get to me.... I think he said that because every time he tried to talk to me I just laughed because I can not understand him at all. Oops. I feel bad, but I only understand only every 3rd word maybe. So I laugh and nod and just have to hope he isn't asking me any questions. I hope I only agreed to the Irish Cinema now that I think of it...ha (just kidding family!)

Move in day... :] Going with the Blue Room!

Shasta-Fasta-Bo-Basta

Sooo this is not about Ireland at all- this is about my Bestestttt Friend in the whole wide world. Shasta. Most of you reading this know her personally and if you don't, you have heard all our stories, and want to get to know her personally. You do not have to read this- a lot of it is a recap of our trip when she was here. I wont take it personally if this does not have many views. It is okay. And this might be the longest entry to date- forewarning you. [[this is for Shasta, it is kind of annoying and tacky and, well, it's Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, so don't listen to it]] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csnTfdfnU5Y )

When I told her I was coming to Ireland she said with no hesitation, oh me too then! What kind of best friend does that? A year later we were in San Francisco getting on planes to come to this lil' Country.

Her San Francisco experience was a lot worse than mine. Her money was stolen, she had to run frantically around the airport trying to figure out where it all went before her plane took off. We all know how airports are, she went through security about 5 times and back again, she barely made her plane. But eventually it all worked out.

Once we arrived here in Ireland we felt a little better and had a plan, for the most part. Thanks to the Taxi driver our plans were switched. We ended up 30 minutes out of the way of where we were going and we were staying in places we didn't intend to visit initially, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

We started realizing that the places we ended up seeing were cities and our vision of Ireland was countryside and cute pubs. We were misguided a lot while over here, and ended up having the most fun in a bar with Americans- not what we were expecting-at all. We were spending money that we did not need to spend, and had nothing to show for it. We were backtracking the country, basically paying for a bus ride and a hotel and a meal. No sightseeing was really even happening.

But eventually it all worked out.

We had a long talk about how Ireland and being out of the country did not give her the experience she wanted and that she missed being home with her family, her mama specifically because she is ahhmaZing and they go on all of their trips and such together.  There was a lot of culture shock, home-sickness and frustration happening. We were in tears talking about how this has not turned out like we had hoped. Shasta- is a rock. She does not cry. This was her second time breaking down in less than 10 days thanks to the United woman that jacked her dough. (I blame her and taxi man for the frustrations and anxiety had on this trip)

So that night we sat down and planned. We looked at where we were on the map and made a plan. We found out what was financially the best route to get back to my school and what stops to see on the way. We both knew we definitely wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher- so off we went. The Cliffs were gorgeous. The bus ride there had us worried. Although we checked the weather we found the country was covered with dense fog. Once we got closer to the ocean, it cleared out, and was so gorgeous. It was the countryside we were looking for slash expected of Ireland. The cliffs were breathtaking. It was so pretty up there, and definitely the best thing we had done. We got back that night both raving about how Ireland was getting better, and now that we saw "real" Ireland, things were starting to get better. We had the next 2 days planned (one of the days I had orientation) but we were going to kiss the Blarney stone (which I have since learned that the locals pee on), we planned to see castles and gorgeous country in Southern Ireland in the next few days. It really was all working out!

We were feeling good and talking about our plans and how we should not be so negative about the country and just realize its not permanent. We stopped in for some Chinese food-partly because it would give us a sense of familiarity, but mainly because in the city everything is closed by 5 and it was the only thing open at 7pm. It was like the only place in the city that offered WiFi as well- score!

I jokingly Kik'd (its like a text message from smart phone to smart phone that I can use here for free-add the app if you have not already) her mom and said at 7:14 "The Cliffs were gorgeous...Shast might like Ireland and little bit more now, maybe." Oops. (Que something bad happening)
After a few minutes talking and ordering she received a Kik from her sis, "call me right now." 

Uh oh.

Immediately I thought something happened to Skye, her dog, her Boyfriend (yes I said boyfriend :]) Mike or one of her Grandparents. I ruled out her Grandma because she would have collapsed on the floor instead of struggle to find air. That rock received the phone call that crushed her: her Grandpa died. She was in a country she hated, having a terrible time and one of her closest most loving family members had died (unexpectedly) and she was not there.

You see Shasta is not only a rock to me, but she is the strongest person I know mentally (I guess physically she is up there too!). Her mother needed her. Her Grandma needed her. Her Aunts needed her. But most of all I think she needed them. I sat there feeling helpless as I tried to find out what was being said on the phone. I waited patiently and shot rude looks at the people staring at her showing raw emotion in that little Chinese restaurant. I gave them that "realllly? take a picture, or turn around...This is real life, she does not have to act polite and keep her composure" -look.

I was trying to console her in every way. I gave her the hug her mother couldn't, I cried with her in the Chinese place, I stole all the napkins from the tables within reach to wipe her mascara, but I did not tell her everything was going to be okay. Who wants to hear that "it's alright" when you lose someone, when everyone knows at that moment, alright is not the word to best describe the situation? I felt helpless watching her and experiencing that with her.

We went through all the stages of grief together. There was the immediate shock that happened. She could not breath, immediately started bawling, holding her chest, trying to grasp what she just heard. Then there was the yelling and anger. It was not real, that could not happen because she just saw him and he was doing better than her Grandma. It was not real life, she was in Ireland, and it just could not be real.

Then we laughed, and laughed and laughed. It felt so good. We laughed because it went perfectly with the theme of the trip, and because we did not expect that to happen, it made sense. We laughed at our luck, we laughed at the "farting ketchup," we laughed at the good times, and the bad. We laughed at the ridiculous Mariah Carey throwbacks that were playing in the restaurant, that ironically were about losing someone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVAMaoIwRRQ
Well played to whomever deserves the credit for those situations. (The first song I heard after Grandma passed away was Diamond Rio's One More Day)

She called her mom. More crying. The whole time Shasta was most worried about not being there for her Grandma, her Aunts and her Mother. She lost her Grandpa and was so afraid that everything was going to fall apart because she was not there to be strong for her family. That, shows a lot of character.

Shasta attended school in Montana her first year, and her Grandpa was not doing well and she came home to be with him and her family in preparation for his death. It never happened, but shows how important and close they are for her to leave school abruptly to be there with him. It also breaks my heart that she did not have that opportunity this time- granted no one knew, as he went in his sleep- but she was not even in the same country.

Shast and I have been through deaths and broken hearts together, and we know what works for the two of us. Disney movies, cookies (or dough) and our boys, Ben and Jerry :]

We set off in search of a Dunnes (previously pronounced dunes by yours truly). Of course the locals directed us to one in the opposite direction, and by the time we found it they closed. We literally saw them closing their doors, and they would not let us buy some Ice cream. Bad customer service. We caught the next bus we saw and told him to take us to a 24 hour Dunnes. We found it he was off route but said he would be there the next time around to pick us up.

 Luckily, we were in Limerick and could stay in my room. We did not however know what ingredients were in the apartment for cooking so we looked for the pre-made roll of cookie dough---Fun fact: it doesn't exist in Ireland.

We stayed up for the larger part of the night stuffing our faces with ice cream and cookie dough watching Aladdin and looking up flights. Pointing out that Shast has cried more in that week than she had in her last 10 years.

She was able to talk to everyone on the phone in the living room... Around 3 am she said she got a flight out at 9am and was going to leave at 6 to make sure she got there on time- and to allow for problems.

We got a little shut eye, woke up saw her off and just like that my Best friend was gone. My heart hurts for her and her family. Death is not fair at all, I do not understand it, I never have and I never will.  

I asked my mom to do me a favor and go to the newspaper store downtown to get Shasta the "grandpa coins." I gave my Jeep Grandpa a coin it says "grandpa and me" on one side and the other reads "together is the best place to be". I wanted Mom to get a set for Shasta to put with her Grandpa and for her to keep the other one...they do not have anymore, so if anyone knows where we can find a set it would b so greatttttllyyy appreciated and mean so much!

The service will be held this Thursday. Shasta wrote her Grandpa's obituary. She also wrote a poem for the pamphlets that will be handed out and they also want her to give the opening speech at the service. Shasta, I regret not speaking at my Grandma's service at her house...You are one of the only people that live without regrets and I know you will rock it girl, don't be afraid to show emotion and vulnerability like you did in the restaurant. Everyone feels and everyone hurts...you are so strong and I admire that, and I know your family does as well. It will mean so much to your Grandpa if you give the opening speech. 

I did not tell you in the Chinese place that it was alright, because it wasn't, but Shast, It.will.be.alright. It will be hard, and that is why we are here for you, your family, my family, your friends and Skye too!  "...no matter how much pain we're in, there is something inside of us stronger than the pain.." You will have good days and bad days. Some days it will hit you harder then the last, but that is what Ben and Jerry are good for! I wish I was home this Thursday to be there for you, and I hate that I am not even in the same country, but I love you and your family very much and hope that everything will start to make sense, and calm down there at home for you. I am always here for you.

 It will eventually all work out...

<3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I35_B_5htnI 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UWx-shGM0g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E88RUqyjts

annnddd this one to get you laughing Shast... [[might be annoying to everyone else, but this goes wayyyy back for us!]]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NOToTrjG98&feature=related

 light in the glow girl!

I think this spells it out...

NEW                                                       OLD
Pros                                                         Cons
Warmer                                                    Alaska

Upperclassmen                                          Freshmen (first years)

Blue Room                                                Orange Room
Clean                                                        Filthy

International students/Irish                         Just Irish

6 people                                                    8 people
Don't go out and party                                Partied every night
 

Cons                                                         Pros

I don't know any of the roommates            They're all so nice
but the one German girl

Kilmurry village Apt 15, aka Alaska.

I will start this off by saying thank you to everyone that reads this (511 views-only 14 comments tho!), and for letting me know how much you enjoy it; I just hope I can meet the expectations you (or your co-workers...Aunt Mikey) have. I did not realize that when I do not blog how much it is missed. Dad even went as far as Facebook messaging me asking where the next entry was because he "lives for my blog" :] I really do appreciate it and the compliments. I just hope that now that I have addressed them, it does not stop you from sending them my way ;)

I think I left off telling you about my first day of class- which was Monday- Oops.

Tuesday was a prettyyy good day. I did my grocery shopping at the German grocery store called Lidl. It is pretty cheap, and since my last shopping adventure, I have learned to bring a euro coin (for the cart), not to exit through the entry, and to bring my bag for bagging my own groceries. I am like a local now :] I cleaned the kitchen, ran on the treadmill and did 40 minutes on the elliptical after our body pump class. Let me tell you, Body Pump is such a fun class. At first I was cracking up at how ridiculous I felt and how serious our instructor takes it, but once I got rid of my silly giggles, it was a really fun and challenging class. 

Then we went out to the club here called trinity rooms.

Oh my gosh. I will not go to an irish club again. Wow. The guys are totally uncalled for and too touchy-feely. There ended up being about 5 of us celebrating my friend Danielle's 22nd birthday, and I think we were the oldest ones in the club. It was such a totally different experience than what any of us expected. I do not see myself venturing back into a dance club here in the next semester. 

Pubs > Clubs.

Lets see, Wednesday was good. I had my second module of the week- Irish Folklore. I am hoping it is Irish fairytales, but do not worry, I will not be too disappointed if the class strays away from fairytale time during lecture. The class was pretty much all study abroad students and I know, or can recognize all the people in there. 

I did not get to take any fitness classes but yours truly got herself on that treadmill and ran at a prettyyy solid pace for 25 minutes, straight. Such a big accomplishment for me, I usually have to do increments of ten in the 5 speeds. But I was in the 6s for the entire length and the last five minutes I increased from 6.8 to 7.4. I felt pretty prouddd.  After that, I went back to my place, made some food and bundled up for a bit before I had to go into town.

I had to go to my Immigration appointment at the Garda (police office).

We had to take some pictures, post all our fingerprints and basically agree that we would not seek out employment or take federal funds while we are staying here. I also am required to leave by my birthday or I am in 'big trouble'. Oh, and I am not allowed to break the law either- kind of puts a damper on my whole reason for being here, but I can deal.
When I got my immigration card back I kind of laughed (along with everyone else who laughed when they saw their respective ID Cards). She said all you girls hate your pictures; and I said it's just funny, not bad nor good and she looked at me and said "well that's you." 

 --Now I am here to tell you, I do not know what I did to receive these rude comments, but I hope they are just that Irish humor I have yet to understand...first the passport woman at the airport now this...geesh...We all kind of laughed it off though because she had a comment for each of us.

Wednesday night is Karaoke night at Stables (pub on campus). It was hilarious! We all had such a great time...let me just say, I underestimated these Irish boys. I took them for drunks that cant sing a tune, orrr sweet since they are all so vulgar and forward, but danggg, they CAN sing and they choose the cutest songs too. One guy dedicated his version of Jason Mraz's I'm Yours to a girl of his liking, other boys sang Oasis: Champagne Supernova, and there were other cute boys singing cute songs, it was enjoyable for us. 

Karaoke is different here too (who woulda thought thattt...) Everyone -okay mostly everyone- that gets up on stage can actually sing. You can tell which ones were Americans by the show they put on for the pub. It was amusing to see the brave American souls that hopped upthere to embarrass themselves against the Irish.

Thursday I had two classes. It was really colddd and of course, my classes were on the opposite side of the campus! Yeee!  I have noticed that when anyone in Ireland tells you one thing, they mean the total opposite. I asked about 4 people where the Schumann building was. I had an array of answers and once I finally found it I realized they were all wrong. I really don't think it was intentional though because they took the time to draw me maps in the air and stop their friends to ask...maybe I am naive, either way, I ended up finding it. Once I got in the Marketing, networks and relationships class I took a seat got my little notebook out and was ready. People started filing in around me. Once the class started I took a look around the room and out of 10 rows of chairs, 9 were full- like every seat was filled, besides my row. I was that girl yesterday. Sitting all by my lonesome. At least I was not in the front row so everyone saw that I was alone. 

Of courseeee the teacher made us choose groups of 4 to work in yesterday for the rest of the year. I will email her and say throw me in whichever group has 3. I am excited to say that this class only has 3 tutorial classes I have to attend instead of one each week. I think this class will be fun, the lecturer is bubbly and kind of makes it enjoyable and easy to sit through for 2 hours.

 Then I had a 2 hour break- not long enough  (by long enough I mean not worth it because it was so cold) to go back to the room- so I went to the library to figure out my email address and other school related things. Then back to the Kemmy School of Business building for my innovation and entrepreneurship class. I immediately saw a familiar face. Yes!

I am very excited for this class. The lecturer is awesome, she let us out pretty early, made the time fly, and it is a fun topic, so I am pretty happy to be in that module.

 I signed up for the International sports group, other wise known as Gaelic football [not gay football, mom and scott], because I do not think they do any other sport, but it should be fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAbWrdB9XU (I am trying to talk them into letting us play to the background music at all times)

I also bought my ticket to Dublin for St. Paddy's day to tour the Guinness Factory (they will be having green beer) and the parade. That should be fun!

Irish music and dance is a class I attempted attending today, but I do not see myself continuing with it this semester. I learned right quick last year that dancing is not for me, and I am on the fence with learning to play the penny whistle or guitar, but the penny whistle sounds so lame, its like almost as cool as a recorder (which I played in 4th grade)..and remember i said 'almost as cool'. The guitar would be awesome since it is on my to do list (which can be found in my about me on facebook) But someone already snagged their loaner Guitar, so I would have to purchase my own....debating :] (not totally ruled out) Open for opinions...

to move or not to move...?

Okay, before my favorite line to hear was, "ahh ye live in stab city? Sorry 'bout yer luck." now it is "Taylor, Don't look in the kitchen!" or "I swear we are not this bad; we are not this gross; we do not drink this much; it will be better next week. Promise" Honestly, I do not know which is more annoying to hear.

My roommates moved in Sunday night- and were out of the apt within an hour of arriving-and we have gone through 5 rolls of toilet paper in the 'girls' bathroom. That is an entire roll a day. Those guys better cough up some Toilet Paper for that bathroom if they are going to continue to use it. 

So far I have met about 10 extended roommates. We have had at least two new people sleeping on the couches a night, eating our food, making huge messes then dippin' out the next morning. Not to mention the excessive noises and banging that they insist on doing between 3-6am each morning upon arrival from wherever they go (okay, I had to mention it). Somehow they also figure out a way to completely turn off the heat in this apartment, so one day I will be comfortable in my room, then next I'm dressing like I am going to visit Kell in Alaska (which I want to do still!).

When I wake up -about 4 hours before anyone else in the house- I find myself feeling as though I need to tiptoe around and be quiet because they asleep- or passed out in the kitchen. But then I remember wait, they kept me up last night and had no regard for me trying to sleep, so why should I be overly conscious..? I am not going to lie, I have purposely not held the door a few times and let it close loudly- oops.

I feel really bad because they are always apologizing and saying we are not this bad, people always come in and say we are so clean, and compliment our house...yeah well I find it reallly hard to believe. They are all really nice though and I enjoy how sweet and welcoming they have been so far (besides the obnoxiousness, filth, smells, immaturity and loud noises). I know that sounds really bad, but I almost would miss them I think.

I have looked at the two other apartments that have open rooms, and am going to try to get a key here soon to see the individual rooms. There are 6 people in each house, 3 guys and 3 girls. They are upperclassmen, and quiet. They seem to be clean, I just want to check and see what the individual rooms look/smell like. My room smells like smoke every time I open it. Apparently the girl smoked in here that moved out. I even spray Febreeze before I leave and am going to invest in a candle. If she can smoke, then I can burn a candle. The other apartment was noticeably warmer as well. Once I meet all of the housemates in the other apartment- I just met one German girl, but her English is fabulous, and the rest will be Irish I think.

My housemates go home for the weekend, so if I decide to move I will do it this weekend so it is not as awkward. I just fear that If I move I will have nothing to blog to you about.

Here are pictures. I am about to go on a walk around the Shannon River.

 These are all from when I arrived, I think the dishes on the counter should have given me fair warning that it wont always be clean...

 Morning 2 or 3 ^^^

This is from today, AFTER they cleaned.... ^^^^

My first class...

Hahah, so I wasn't meaning to write two blogs in one day, but today I did a lot and figured I'd write a little bit down.

After I woke up and smelled the apt and saw the living room, I was hoping it was not an indication of how my day would turn out. I walked to the foundation building my marketing class was to be held in. Normally there are supposed to be numbers on the doors of the classrooms. I was looking for FG061... I could only find FG060- which was the women's bathroom- and I was prettttyyy positive I did not sign up for a lecture style classroom in a "toilet". So I walked around a little, opened a door, went down a little hallway and BAM, I found it, not only did I find the classroom, but an entire class already in it. Yes, I am that girl. I walked in on a class and turned right back around. It's not like I was embarrassed, I am pretty used to everything going wrong this trip so far, and I do not really know anyone enough to care yet...Honestly, I expected to do that once in my college career, figured it would go with the theme this semester I am having so far. No better time than now I guess. 

Once MY class was able to find our seats and get situated the professor walked in and opened up YouTube. I found it odd, not many teachers do that... He played ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long music video, then he said, well that should have woken ye up...lads ;) Then he went on to tell us that in his class it is mandatory to be on time...yada yada yada...and that he expects everyone to sit in the bottom section of the theatre...he made anyone who chose to sit in the top half of the lecture hall move to the bottom section (front rows were all that were left) so that was pretty funny too. Then he explained that in his class he would like people to have questions, and since he expected us to have questions, but not ask them and talk during his class he expects us to have a twitter account. (I'm serious, its mandatory) The twitter account is so we can tweet our questions to the main screen during class so he can address them. The only problem I found with that is that we need a wireless internet connection, and there is no WiFi in the lecture hall...I told him after class, so maybe he will have that fixed by Friday. Then after explaining that he would like us to be on our smart-phones or laptops tweeting during lecture, he made it clear that he does not like texting or phone calls in class. And as you would expect it, his phone went off with a text message. Ironic. We all laughed then he kind of gave an example of marketing ideas and examples of what we would be going over in the class....here is the link he had us watch.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwluk1jT5B0 ... Needless to say, I am pretty excited for this class, it will not be the typical lecture class I was worried about...

He told us about the group project we would be doing, we have to basically choose any entity to market- our choice-can be 'anything our hearts desire'; we are assigned to make a Facebook page promoting whatever we choose, as well as a YouTube video- Any ideas? Arnolds for Awards...Need a marketing campaign? Want to be on YouTube or Facebook? (haha...but really- I am open to ideas)

Oh yeah, he also said "so and so has a multi-million pound business selling jam..." Thought it was funny to hear him say pound instead of dollar...

He left us with this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3RWKyUouQ and said "be imaginative"

It was then that I wanted to tweet and say, this one is more creative.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8LAvlmOUus  ...If only there was WiFi...

After class I took my first Pilates class (stepping out of my shell), I was just glad the instructor didn't call me out and point out to the class that "it was just impossible with someone of Taylor's body type to do some of these stretches" like my yoga teach so kindly pointed out my frosh year. It was actually fun, Melanie, Danielle, Meagan and I enjoyed ourselves. Then around 3pm Danielle and I went back for an hour of cardio (Coach I hope you are reading this...)- Tomorrow we are planning on doing Body pump and Beginners spin class, then later in the week a spin/Ab class and a body and mind fusion class (?). Going to be interesting, one of these days I will post a video of how funny I look when I walk because I am sure I will be sore come Saturday.

I came back to my messy kitchen and did the dishes and swept, then told my roommates how I felt about the situation (yeah, I'm that girl...) and they totally agree. They said the boys had random guy friends over last night and that it doesn't ever happen that way and that they were so sorry, they are trying to be more strict with the guys. (They're all freshmen...joy) We got it a little bit cleaner, but same thing happened tonight after dinner...Oh well...

Hahaha oh yeah and about 10 people have told me they loveeee my accent... "I wish I sounded so cute like you; your accent is adorable", "aw, are you from the country, your accent is so southern" and my favorite,  "You sound so American", --- and the Irish do not think they have an accent by the way.

Alright- I just realized this is a realllly long entry again. Oops.

Night (for me)

I have a new email account, I just do not know how to log into it on my computer, I made my password on an Irish computer and think the keys are different then my own, so I can not remember what I have to type exactly to log back in... I'll find out tomorrow and give you the new email, since I can not open my Guilford emails (again, Coach, I hope you are reading this...)

OMG the roommates...

Well, I do not know how to put this any other way, but wow they're crazy wild. I met Marie and Jess yesterday in the kitchen, they were cooking fish sticks I think...and they seemed especially nice and fun. Then I met the third girl, no idea what her name is.. oops. She is wild to say the least. They came home, unpacked their bags. By unpacked their bags I mean they found their sheets and mini dress/skirt/huge heels. That is all. They got ready to go out to the Lodge. Tanked already upon arrival. Then left as quickly as they came. They returned back around midnight, and then again at 3 and started banging on my door and other doors of the girls asleep. There were so many guy voices, and yelling and just crazyness. I got a little worried, hopped out of bed to try to lock my door...it was perfect timing because someone definitely tried opening door and I was holding it shut- definitely awkward. They did not stop having a mini party in the hallway right outside our bedroom doors until about 5am.I fell back asleep and kept waking up throughout the night, but it wasnt too bad.

I woke up this morning and wow, the living room is a disaster, there are shoes all over the hallways, sweatshirts thrown in random places, dirty dishes all over the kitchen. I am less than thrilled about how this will go, hopefully it gets better (tidier) and they were just excited to get back.

The orientation leader wasn't joking when she said the Irish just don't/wont go to class. The one girl that I cant remember her name, is supposed to have class from 9-6pm tonight. It is currently 9:05 am and she is in her jammies talking to a boy in her room. I take it school is not their primary reason for being here at UL.

Just a hunch...

I am off to my first class as a third year here at UL. I only have one class on Mondays from 10-11- not too bad :] heading to do pilates and body pump work out classes after :]

My address

I will keep this one short and sweet, most of you have read about the different bits and pieces of the apartment already. My mailing address is

Taylor Phillips

House number 15. Room number 5

Kilmurry Village
Castleroy
Limerick
Ireland

That is the address they gave me, I don't have any 'zip codes' or anything- at this point though, I'm not surprised.

oh the stove...

So for those of you that know me, or maybe you do not, you probably know my potato story from last year in the new apartments at Guilford. Since that day I am afraid I will be "that girl" that sets off the fire alarms and makes the whole apartment complex (or in my case, living village) evacuate. Yesterday I was really looking forward to making the chicken that I bought (during that awesome grocery store experience). I went into the kitchen to see what I had to work with. Beside some (clean) dishes left out by my Irish roommates before they left for break, and a few mystery layers of food stuck to the counters and floors, it does not look too bad for a college apt with Irish inhabitants (apparently they're dirty people-great!) I was looking through the cupboards to look for pans and such utensils that I would be needing. I made sure to wash them before I cooked with them. I really wanted chicken but figured it would be safer to make a grilled cheese-given my cooking background and the fact that I was unfamiliar with the kitchen and its capabilities. I turned the stove on (or thought I did actually) and found out that after 5 minutes it wasn't even warm. So I turned another knob. Soon enough I had turned all the burner dials one way or another. What-do-ya-know, ALL of the writing on the knobs has been wiped off, therefore I do not know which way is on or off, medium or high. Great. Good thing none of them turned on though-for my sake. I tried turning them back to how I found them, but they turn the opposite way here so I was all confused already.... I had already buttered my bread and placed the cheese on the bread though, so I had to figure this out. 

I started looking around some more and found a switch behind the microwave. It was bright red switch but I figured I would try it anyways. I did, it worked, go me! But I quickly found out that I had two burners in the off position and two on high, so now there was smoke everywhereeeeee from the remnants of whatever my irish housemates left in there to burn. I tried opening the windows, naturally they are the kind that you might find in a minivan, you know, the ones that open about an inch or two at best. Beautifulll!

At this point I'm panicking--images of the potato and smoking out the entire apartment at Guilford are running through my head..."don't be that girl, don't be that girl, don't be that girl!" I flipped that big red switch off hoping that would cut all the power to the stove, even if the burners were turned to on...luckily it worked and I noticed a great decrease in the amount of smoke filling the stove area. I turned the above fan on, it blew dust out, onto the burning hot burner- so that was a failed attempt as well. I do not understand Ireland to say the least- this is an adventure for sure!

I turned the dials in a half circle in hopes that it went from HOT to off. After I waited about 25 minutes for the burners to cool down enough to tell, I tried again. This time with one. I kind of figured it out, except when I thought I was turning the heat higher, I was actually turning it down so it took about 40 minutes to make a grilled cheese. Either way, I think I have this sucker mastered now :] I am going to get a sharpie and put a dot on each knob just so I know when it is on and off, high or low. A few hours later I was hungry for like real food. So I got those chicken breasts out.

Apparently the freezer is on extra frozen because anything inside is hard as stone. Awesome. So I left the chicken out another hour on the kitchen table. Still not thawed. I really was trying to avoid the microwave defroster...for personal reasons-similar to the potato experience. But I gave in. The microwave, you see, is not a normal microwave- imagine thattt. It has like 4 buttons and a turn dial, there is no simple 'popcorn' button or 'defrost' option or anything that Americans rely on (or maybe just me). There is a little cheat code (not rubbed off, luckily) and it says AC107- defrost poultry- bingo! Go to press a button, and nothing is on. the cord had fallen behind the stove, so I am like on the counter trying to find this stupid thing -this is when I am glad I don't have roommates. I am sure you guys are getting a visual though of how ridiculous I look climbing on kitchen counters, reaching behind the oven, it was a disaster, I was cracking up though. I found the plug-plugged it in obviously. So after going through the options I found the defrost poultry one. Instead of pounds its in kg or something i put it on the lowessssttt option because it was only one itty bitty titty- haha jk- it was a small chicken breast, not even a lb back home. well my options were 1.2-1.6 I chose 1.2 and it put it in the microwave for 35 minutes! 

Normally I would call mom at this point and say hey, how long should one piece of chicken defrost in microwave for (I cant just set like a minute, or 30seconds on this microwave btw) But since I am in the 'land of ye Irish' I cannot simply call anyone. She was not on skype, or facebook either, no one was yesterday. So I let it go a few minutes then opened the door, my chicken was like starting to cook! (I hate cooking!- I take that back, I hate microwaves and having to use them) So now I have this chicken that is turning white from the microwave, a crazy stove with a mind of its own, and all I want to do is eat. I found some oil (that in itself was interesting to find), poured some in the pan, turned the funky knob and waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing was happening.  DUH, in order to use an oven or stove in this country you have a light switch to turn first, how could I forget such an obvious thing? So I moved the microwave from the wall again and flipped the switch on. I was timid about the level of heat I turned on, because first I had to remember which way was high, which was low, and how to turn it back off in case I went the wrong way and started burning the chicken/oil. After a lot of stress, and a lottt of time, I finally had my chicken, found some of that sweet chili sauce we have on the Rubicon, and had a great little dinner around 10:30 pm. I can say I feel extremely accomplished with how I am learning and getting through this all on my own :]

American Idol was on TV, yes! Too bad it was the episode I already found on YouTube, so I already knew how it was going to go. I did find a website that I can watch TV shows and movies on, finally! It is a great website and has new releases and such on it as well.  

I am going to go find out where my classes are tomorrow, since when we had our campus tour it was covered in dense fog, and I literally had no sense of direction and could not tell you where I went, or even where I was standing and if I had been there before or not. The class schedules are crazy to try to figure out. I could blog about that experience as well, but long story short, the classes I chose a few months ago aren't offered in the spring- even though I found them in the spring module (classes) handbook they sent me. Only four of the 10 are offered and of course those four all overlap so I might be taking Irish folklore and Irish dancing/music class. Joy. 

I also am joining the photography society and volleyball club, maybe even water polo, not too sure. But I am going to check out the list of clubs and societies today and try to decide :]

 That's what I have to work with...

 Notice, NO markings (besides old food) to indicate anything on these 'HOBS'

This is in the 'off' position- in America, that would mean on...I'm telling you it's the little things I miss

it's the little things...

So, it has been a while since I updated this, but basically I have been busy meeting people and doing the orientation stuff. Nothing special.

I miss the little things though that I never expected to even notice, but apparently I take advantage of them. I miss crest whitening toothpaste, I'm a Crest girl, not Colgate. I also miss turkey, it like doesn't exist here unfortunately. I now know that I have taken advantage of baggers in grocery stores all my life; we have to bag our own groceries here, not a big deal right? Well, it wouldn't be if they told us prior to walking 10 minutes to grocery store that they don't even have grocery bags. You have to buy bags in the store or bring a bag to put your groceries in. We also have to pay a euro to use a cart in the store, and can not go out the door you walked in. I realized there were no hand baskets in the store so I went to go outside to get a cart for Rachel and I, and (as if I didn't stand out already) sirens went of and an automated voice started yelling at me to not go out the in and to see the store manager...good thing I don't get embarrassed toooo easily. I learn everything in this country the hard way...but its all fun.

Still no roommates here yet, just me and my lonesome in this apartment. They should be arriving soon. I bought a different bed spread so I could reduce some of the orange-ness in the room.

I have met a lot of cool girls, the 2 I seem to click the most with are from California, go figure. I didn't even know that until about an hour after we were all talking.

The heat situation is getting a lot better, I don't find myself freezing anymore, and I am not sure if I have acclimated to the room temperature or if the heat has just started to stay in the room. Now instead of sleeping with a few layers on, I can just sleep in my normal 'jammies'.

I have not had a chance to cook yet, because I do not know how to turn the oven or stove top on. Just turning the dial for the burners does not turn them on unfortunately, all the more reason I want another roommate to move in soon. 

I start school Monday, and most of the Irish people will be back tomorrow, so hopefully we will all get to experience what Ireland is really like.

I miss Shasta, she left on the 20th :( She was supposed to leave today, but got some devastating news while she was over here that her Grandpa had died. My heart hurts for her and her family, I am definitely glad she was able to leave so soon so she could be home with them. Sad my besty had to go through that and leave, but I am glad she is home. 

I think I hear movement downstairs I am going to go check it out!!

Tootles.

Oh Dublin...

I left off saying it was after midnight last night, and we were heading up to our room. Well the room we rented in this bed and breakfast was room #420. the rooms stopped in the 300's so we were like greattt, now what? We finally found our way to the room after looking down every hallway on the "4th" floor, which only listed rooms starting with 300. We were literally in the attic. The B&B owner's Christmas decorations were stored up there along with an old couch and old set of kitchen chairs. We were sharing a room with 6 other girls. I slid my key card and pushed the door and it didn't open, so I did it again...still it would not budge even though the light had turned green each time. We were about to go downstairs after each of us tried a few times to get in the door. Then Shasta decided to knock, come to find out, the other 'room mates' had locked us out! it was only midnight-ish, but I guess they were all asleep because the room was pitch black, and she looked less than thrilled to be answering the door for us. We got our bags and went into the bathroom and got ready for bed, trying to be quiet, but it was really hard in the attic since it echoed and made funky noises. We each found our beds (the only two left), and fell asleep.

We were up at 7, again trying to be quiet in the pitch black room. We made it to the breakfast, luckily it was more than corn flakes and warm milk (and Shasta did not spill this time!). They had beans, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cereal, fruit, coffee, juice and toast, traditional Irish breakfast they claim. It wasnt too bad.

We bundled up and started walking toward the Dublin Zoo. A bar tender in a pub we stopped into last night for some traditional Irish music told us it was about a 15 minute walk. Wrong. It was about an hour and a half, I don't know if by run he meant sprint, but no human being could have walked there in 15 minutes, not even 30. Oh, and I should mention that it was -5 degrees Celsius, so about 23F this morning. Once we got to the zoo we quickly learned that the animals didn't like the weather either so they were all hiding. We saw some monkeys, flamingos, California Sea Lions, a lion, a few tigers, penguins, giraffes and elephants basically all in their little houses, and we had to try to see them through the frosted over windows. It was an adventure to say the least, but still fun. All the animals woke up about the time we were leaving because we could hear all of the monkeys like talking to one another, it was so funny!

We left the zoo, and headed toward the Castle. Of course it was closed for a meeting for 3 more hours, so we snapped some pictures and then headed back through random streets of Dublin. We made it to the bus earlier than we planned and made it to Limerick in time to catch some dinner (good ole Mc Donalds). Then came back to the school, unpacked all of the clothes and made it a little homier in here than it was. The heat has turned off so of course it is freezing in here already. Time for bed...

Cliffs of Moher tomorrow! (finally)

Welcome to Limerick...

To start off, I'll describe my room for the semester..

It is orange. If you follow me on facebook you already know this, but if you know me at all, you know why I keep bringing it up. I hate the color orange, oranges, orange juice, orange flavors, basically anything orange. I show up to my room and the walls are orange, the carpet is gross, and an awful shade of orange, and the duvet they provided is... you guessed it, orange as well! I hate to be so negative, but the room is going to be my home for the next four months and I already cant stand to be in it. I signed up for a double bed, and got a twin. Keep in mind I have been used to a twin XL my last 5 semestes of college, and believe it or not, a twin is a lot smaller than a twin XL even tho I am 5ft tall, I noticed the difference. Maybe because the duvet doesnt cover the whole thing or because I had to share with shasta, but either way it felt ridiculously tiny.  (I am definitely going to add some 'taylor' to my space to make it a little bit more enjoyable :]

When I got into my apartment It felt like I was in Alaska. Granted they did not have anyone living in the village for an entire month. So I politely asked for them to turn the heat on. They said it automatically would come on at 17:00 (5pm). I smiled and said thank you until I realized it was only 15:00 (3pm). So shast and I bundled up in jackets, tube/fuzzy socks, sweat pants, leggings, gloves, sweatshirts, and layers of shirts to keep warm. By the time the room finally heated up, the radiator type heater in the room turned off. So shasta and I were wide awake and freezing again at 3am. Luckily CSI was on the 12" tv screen in the living room. 

Then I heard my computer receiving a skype call, it was grandma, totally shocked I was up at 3:30 in the morning. Kevin, Grandpa and Morgan came in to say hi on the screen as well, but mainly they wanted to rub it in my face that grandpa was making his ribs... Thanks guys! 

By this time all the birds in Ireland posted up outside my window and started to chirp and sing and fight with one another, I have no idea how but, somehow we fell asleep around 5am. neither of us set our alarms of course. We woke up at 11am and booked it to nearest bank (one in the student center on campus, yes!) before they closed for lunch from noon to 13:30 (1:30pm).

We made it on time only to find out that the exchange rate in Ireland is worse then back home (opposite of what Wells Fargo at home told us it would be- go figure, right?) But we needed to exchange our Dollars to Euros. 

Sounds simple right? Wrong... In Ireland they do not take $100 bills. So we are stuck with hundreds of dollars in American dollars that we can not put back into a bank or atm machine or anything to transfer into about 68euro. 

Neither of us were in any type of mood after that so we met a girl named Katy from Dc that will be attending UL also, and had lunch inthe student center. It wasnt too bad, but I did learn that there is no such thing as Ranch dressing in Ireland, awesome.  I got a pretty good laugh after I looked in the corner of the pub/bar/food place we were in (they are all seemingly bars that offer sandwiches or something, there is so much alcohol here!) anyways- in the corner, there was a dispenser that you can pay like 25 cents into and get candy at home, except in ireland it spits out a mini package of pringles. I am serious. it spins and everything like the ones you see with peanut M&ms, m&ms, mike n ikes and that kind of stuff, but it was like 5 different flavors of pringles. Then next to that was a machine for cigarettes. Welcome to Ireland.

Katy, Shasta and I hopped on the city bus for 1.50E to go to the regular bus station in "stab city" (Limerick's nickname- comforting, right?) ...Shasta and I didnt believe the bank lady on campus so we went to find out for ourselves in the Bank of Ireland if they really did not accept/convert $100 bills. They did, and so we got the problem figured out.

Once we got to the Bus Eirann station, we purchased tickets and headed to Dublin, originally to go to the zoo. Although the itenerary said it would take about 2 hours to get there, they forgot to mention all the stops in between making it last 3 hours and 40 minutes long. It was dark and the zoo was closed by the time we got to Dublin. Katy purchased a round trip ticket this morning and basically got off the bus, got a quick bite to eat in the station and got right back on the last bus back to Limerick. She had bad luck.

Shast and I walked around a lot and ended up finding a great bed and breakfast here. We are going to go to some castles in the area tomorrow, hit up the zoo and be back in Limerick before nightfall (17:00...aka 5pm) ((by the way, I am getting way better at my adding and subtracting between converting the Ireland time to normal time then back to cali time and nc time as well!)). 

I think we are going to get off the computers and go to sleep so we get up on time tomorrow to get everything done like we want it to (for once!). I am also really frustrated with the Irish keyboards. The space for a 'y' is actually a 'z', the @ symbol is where our quote signs are and the "s are where our @ sign is at home. The left shift key is actually the size of a normal letter key, so I keep hitting the \ instead of the shift key, or I hit caps lock.... so if I have typed something with a \ before it, just ignore it. Sorry!

This will take a lot of getting used to!

Shasta decided she does not like leaving the country, she hates being away from home and realized Ireland isn't like the movie Ps. I Love You, go figure. She might be coming home a few days early :[ Hopefully the castles tomorrow will convince her otherwise... I don't want my best friend to leave me so soon yet! (I am pretty sure her experience with the United check in lady stealing her money before leaving San Fran really set the mood for her trip experience before she even left :/ )

Miss you all 

<3 

Tay

PS pictures are coming soooooon! I havent had good internet yet to upload them, and when I do get good WiFi (like right now) I am in a bed and breakfast without my personal laptop. I will post what \i have soon, Shasta made an album on facebook already that you might get to check out!

Night (my computer says 00:15...how funny!)

PSS we have yet to hear someone say "top of the mornin' to ye" or see a leprechaun or any red heads for that matter. Gerard Butler is obviously hiding from us too!

this is what I have learned so far...

Don't ask anyone for a ride, in Ireland, it does not mean anything related to taking someone in a car from one place to another. (hint: its a sexual offer)

When they ask for a place with good crack, they just want to know where the party is at where they crack good jokes (not looking for drugs)

Chips are fries and they eat them with their forks.

Irish eat freakishly fast

I am glad I do not have a car, they drive on wrong side of the road and steer from opposite side of the car as we do

Off-Licenses are liquor stores and they are like every 3rd store along with hair/nail salons, pharmacys and pubs.

Don't take a taxi.

when asked, for example, if you want turkey or chicken, do NOT say "I'll take the chicken: or "I'll do the chicken". That (to the irish) means I want to have sex with the chicken.

Irish guys will openly make sexual comments towards you and try to touch you if you get close enough.

I have never seen so many pink houses, red or royal blue doors in my life.

If you are ready to go somewhere, you're kitted up. For example I got my scarf and jacket on, I'm 'kitted' up to go outside

They do not sell turkey here

Nor do they have crest whitening toothpaste

Light switches are opposite here- up is off, down is on?
 

If your shower is too hot and steamy- you will blow a fuse (I heard that, hasn't happened to me)

There are no plugs near mirrors- good luck to the girls trying to straighten and curl their hair- also no plug in the bathroom anywhere

If they say one thing, they mean the totally opposite.

They serve potatoes with everything

They had to search through allll of Ireland to find the only two attractive guys in Ireland to cast them in PS I Love You

Grocery stores suck- you have to pay for a cart, can not go out the in door without an alarm going off, you have to bring your own grocery bags, or purchase them at the checkout counter (that is for allll stores btw, even department stores) and you have to bag your own stuff, or awkwardly stack them in your hands if you did not get a bag.

Galway :]

We woke up the next morning almost late for our free breakfast (corn flakes and brown toast). We ran downstairs, I looked like a lioness with my hair and she looked like she had a long night, but we did not really care, no one was around. We got into the guest kitchen and I put some bread in the toaster and shast headed for the cereal. All of a sudden the corn flakes were ALLL over the ground, counter and over flowing in her bowl. I looked over and the lid to the 'stay-fresh' container the cereal was in had come off, and so she spilled it all. We were cracking up as we were trying to scoop it back into the container and our respective bowls before anyone saw us (not the flakes off the floor of course). 

After all of that we packed up our junk and headed 20 minutes to the bus stop. Harmmony bought us tickets online with a 10% discount, and we paid her in euros. We planned to go to Galway since we were halfway there now (thank you Michael the Taxi driver!) We wanted to go the the cliffs of Moher, but it was pouring of course, so we decided we would see the city of Galway first, then go to the Cliffs the following day. We got to the bus station after an entertaining walk on cobble sidewalks that seem to be made for one person at a time. We waited for 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. We handed the driver our receipt that Harmmony printed out for us, and took our seats. All of a sudden the driver yelled "ladies! ladies! ye've got a problem, ohh noo!" Come to find out Harmmony bought us two tickets for February the 15th instead of January the 15th. We had to get off the bus and beg his supervisor to approve of it. He did and we made it to Galway and booked a 4 room dorm in the Galway Hostel, right by the bus stop. The bus cost each of us just 8 euro- the drive was an hour long and cost a sixth of our 20 minute taxi ride, disappointing. We lugged our bags up three flights of stairs (no elevators), unpacked and headed into town. There were a lot of shops, and we just window shopped until it rained pretty good. We found ourselves in a tattoo parlor, and got shamrock tattoos on our feet.  We learned that the clover (3 leaf, or 4, is British and the Irish don't like the British) So we got the Irish shamrocks-when in Ireland... :]
Then we headed back to our Hostel. I felt sick and Shast was tired so we laid down a little until we realized were were shivering in our room. 

The window was broken open and the heater didn't work either. We told the guy at the desk downstairs, and he attempted to fix the window and ended up putting a pillow over the crack to stop the wind since he could not fix it. After another hour of being cold we told Lucas at the desk that it was still cold, and maybe he could fix the heater while we were at dinner. We went to a little restaurant two doors down and shasta had an irish dish,bangers and mash, and I got and Irish minute steak. We each ordered a drink as well. I got a hot chocolate with baileys and she had a coffee with baleys in it...so good! It was all good!

Then we went back to the room for a little bit before heading to find a bar or pub to see what Galway was like at night. We ended up going to the bar the Lucas suggested he called it coy-oats. What he reallly meant was Coyote, as in Coyote Ugly. The bar was totally American. There was a mechanical bull, license plates from all over the US, a huge picture of the coyote ugly girls, and 2 huge American Flags on the ceiling. It was pretty dead at 10pm, so back to the room we went. We ran into (literally) some Irish guys outside our hostel and they suggested going to Fagan's bar later that night, and it was only a block away from the hostel so we went for it. How lucky we were to go in there!

Once we walked in and were like wow, attractive guys! Then we noticed that the Ravens vs. Steelers game was on! We felt right at home! Once we got to mingling and talking we realized the guys were a rugby team from Baltimore, and demanded that the Ravens game be turned on. It was so much fun, there were more Americans in there last night than anyone else! It was such a blast! Half of the bar was American and the other half were the Irish celebrating two 21st birthdays. We asked why they celebrate the 21st b-day since they are legally allowed to drink at 18, and they said they really weren't sure? (I think they are copying us?) The music in Fagans was Michael Jackson, Journey, Queen, Garth Brooks, Black-Eyed peas, Rihanna, so still no Irish pub experience for us! (so much fun tho!) Don't get me started on how the Irish people dance, or treat women. One guy trapped shasta in the corner, and we had to save her. Then the same guy found me on the dance floor, hip thrusted once or 5 times and smacked my booty three times, Shasta got proof on her camera! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1802000&id=1540090910

We had a good time and then planned to come to Limerick Today, so we are here in Limerick, my room was pretty cold when we got here, but it is getting better now, Shasta and I got a free month trial with netflix so we are going to watch lost or something for a bit, I'll blog soon about our trip to Dublin tomorrow and the Cliffs of Moher as well.