Greetings from Ireland!

So sorry it has taken me so long to post an update, but time has just FLOWN by. On Jan 2nd I left the US on a group flight from Newark. Our flight left at 7ish EST for Dublin without any major problems. It is a good thing we left when we did because the next day all of terminal C (the terminal we were in) was evacuated due to a security breach. Everyone had to exit the terminal (even if they were already on a plane) and be re-screened by security. That would have been a major pain. But, lucky for us we missed it.

We arrived at our hotel in Dublin for orientation at around 9:30am Ireland time (around 4:30am US time) and were EXHAUSTED as you can imagine. Much of that first day was spent sleeping and recovering, and at 5:00 the group met in the hotel restaurant for a nice dinner. After dinner we decided to go out, because it WAS our first night in Ireland. We went out to this pub that was down the road from our hotel. It was called Crow and was very cozy. I shared my first pint of Guinness with one of the other girls (still not really a beer drinker) and discovered Bulmers, an Irish Cider beer that is actually pretty good. That first night we made it to 10:30pm before we were way to tired and went to bed. I got a good nights sleep and pretty much kicked the jetlag and the following day we began orientation.

We got up at like 9:15 (on Monday) and went down to the hotel's breakfast and then we all met in this big room and talked about cultural differences, introduced ourselves, and had a police (called Garda) officer talk to us about safety. After that, we got bus passes and went into Dublin for lunch. We ate lunch at this nice restaurant called the Exchequer and had little sandwiches and really good soup (I have discovered that they really like to puree soup here). After lunch we went to the Guinness Factory, which was pretty cool. They have such a specific way to make the beer, its like an art form to them.

The next day we had more orientation talks which included a cooking demonstration and student services talk. After that we had the rest of the day free so I went with a few people into Dublin to the Dublin Writers Museum. That was really interesting, there are so many books and authors that I didn't know were Irish. They really do have a long, impressive history of writers for such a small country.

After the Museum, we got our Irish cell phones and explored Dublin before returning to the hotel to hang out and have a relaxing night. The next day (Wednesday) we left Dublin for GALWAY. It was about a 3 hour drive by bus, and we finally got to see some of the beautiful Irish countryside. We got to Galway and were dropped off at our accommodations to relax, unpack (which I still haven't done) and get things set up. I am living in an apartment in a double room which I share with Nicole, a girl from my program. My apartment has two double rooms and a single, and we live with 3 guys who are also IFSA- Butler students.

The next day, Thursday, was our first day of orientation with our university- National University of Ireland Galway. We basically sat in a room from 9:30-1:00 while they talked to us about various stuff. We got information about classes, registering with the Garda (for immigration purposes) and various other things. After that I got lunch and then we went for a campus tour. Our tour guide, James, was a second year irish student and was very funny. It was our first full day here, but more importantly it was my 21st birthday!!! That night, a bunch of people came over and hung out before going out to a Pub. My roommate made me birthday cookies (because we couldnt find cake icing in the store) and overall it was a pretty good birthday. It was strange not being with my family or friends, but It was a good night.

Friday was pretty light on orientation activities. There were individual sessions for different subjects where you were given the information you need to register for classes. After those sessions I came back to our apartment and relaxed for a bit and then a few of us went to a fruit stand to buy some cheap fruit. We came back and made dinner and then went out to a pub.

I have almost been here for a week and so far its been a blast. Going abroad is definitely not something within my comfort zone, but I know it will be worth it and I will grow a lot from this experience. I cant wait to get in the swing of classes and such and eventually start traveling!

I will now leave you with a few observations I've had since being here:

1) IT IS FREEZING! And they totally do not know how to handle it. Every Irish person we have met has made some comment about how cold it is and how it is never this cold. Its also very icy because they have run out of salt and sand to put on it (like literally there is none left in the country. It makes walking places quite an adventure.

2) The girls are very scantily clad when they go out.

3) They are much more laid back about everything than we are in the states.

4) Things are expensive.

Thats all for now... Thanks for reading! Love and miss you all!