Hey everybody!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. It was a loooong night, and I didn't get in until like 2 or what not, and then was way to tired to write.


Ok so I guess I'll get you caught up on what's been happening. Yesterday, I had 3 classes. They started at 10. So I woke up at 9, got ready, and headed out to my first class. I had my European Society and Governance tutorial. It was a pretty good class. The teacher is a pretty cool guy. Probably like mid 30's early 40's. He understands that some of us are foreign exchange students and may not care too much about school work this semester. Haha. It was also pretty cool how he stood up for the USA. We were talking about countries being policemen of the world, and he said that the USA got a bad wrap for taking control. But he said, someone has to do it. Decisions need to be made, and there needs to be a country that takes control and shows leadership. However, many mistake this as us just trying to take over the situation and do whatever we want. So that was pretty cool, to hear someone not American stand up for America.

After class I went to the Paddock to get breakfast. I wanted a rasher sandwich. Just rashers, on a white baguette, with ketchup. That's it. So I got my sandwich, and then the guy asked me if I'd like anything else. So I said sure, I'll take 2 poached eggs. He proceeds to put the eggs on the sandwich. I was not expecting this at all. Definitely a lack of communication. So, he puts them on the sandwich and I go to my seat. I have no idea how this is going to taste. It was delicious. Who would have thought putting basically dippy eggs and rashers in a sandwich would be good? But it was amazing. I guess it isn't so weird over here though. The guy in front of me got rashers, sausage, a hash brown, eggs, and mushrooms on his baguette. So pretty much everything can be a sandwich over here.

After breakfast I had my European Society and Government class. The teacher is cool, so it wasn't too bad. I did notice something during the class however. I've been picking up on this a lot recently. You'll be sitting in a class, and it will be like 10-5 minutes before it ends. People who have class in the same room right after, will walk into the class and sit down and wait. It's so weird. People just walk in with 10 minutes left and sit down and chill there. You would never do that in America. It's not as weird seeing it happen anymore, but at first it was really strange.

So after class I returned home and just chilled out for the afternoon. I had class again at 4, so I didn't have much time to do anything for 2 hours. I touched up some photos but that was about it.

At 4 I went to Irish Folklore for the first time. I missed it last week due to my immigration appointment. The class is supposed to be 2 hours, but it only went about an hour and 20 minutes because our professor said it was just too long. Haha. The class itself wasn't bad though. It's pretty interesting. We learned about Irish funerals. They are pretty much just huge parties. The body sits at the house for 3 days and they have a huge party around it. They stop all the clocks, don't go to work, etc. It's a grand time. They find it disrespectful if people don't fight either. If you go to one of these wakes the family expects you to get drunk, fight, play games, etc. They also smoke pipes in honor of the dead because in Irish folklore, the Virgin Mary apparently smoked a pipe at her parents funerals. How bizarre is that? Only in Ireland.

So after class I hopped over to Subway with Jess quick and grabbed a bite to eat. We then decided that we were gonna go to the Stables later because it was a late bar. So instead of it only being open until 11:30 pm, it was open until 2am. So I went home and chilled for a little, and then went over to the Slippery Rock girls' place before we went out. There we listened to random songs on Youtube including, "Say La Vie" by Bewitched and of course Justin Bieber. Haha. So after that we walked to the Stables. It was a pretty good night. I just drank rum and coke all night because I didn't feel like drinking beer. I was hanging out with my buddy Kobe from Belgium for a little and then I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was this guy I met at the gym earlier in the week. Haha, it sounds gay, but it's true. I was doing some type of lift he never saw before and he asked me what muscle group that worked. I said triceps and he was like oh cool, and then he said, "Are you from America?" I think I mentioned something about this guy before. Anyway, we got to talking about Ireland and stuff and he was a nice guy. So when I feel this tap on my shoulder I turn around and it was him and his buddy. The guy's name is Eddie, and his friend was Ger. They were cool guys. We ended up talking all night about what I thought of Ireland, differences between America and Ireland, etc. It was also pretty cool because Ger and Eddie would buy rounds for the three of us every time our drinks got low. The guy I sat next to on the plane to Ireland told me guys always buy rounds for their buddies when they go out. This was the first time I ever experienced it. Every time our drinks got low, one of the two would ask what we were drinking and they'd go up and come back with a new one. It was great. I also found out that Ger is a far decedent of William Wallace from Braveheart. For one his last name is Wallace. And secondly, he can trace his family back to Scotland 4 generations ago. Haha it was pretty cool.

Eventually Jess wanted to leave with our friend Andrea, and I decided to leave as well. So I said bye to my buddies and headed back to my apartment. The walk back was pretty comical, as Jess ended up tripping and falling. It was quite the site. Once I got back to my room I went online and watched a live streaming of a movie channel. I ended up watching "New York, I love you." Shia Lebouff is in it, as well as a couple of other big name actors and actresses. It was actually pretty good. I definitely want to get it on DVD.

Today was a boring day. However, it was beautiful again. High 40's, sunny, getting a little bit warmer. It's great. The sun stay up until about 6:10 now, so it's just starting to feel like the beginning of Spring. I can't wait for it to get warm here. It's gonna be great!

So today I woke up at around noon, and immediately started editing photos. I did that until about 1, tried to get a shower and didn't because it was freezing. So I hopped over to Spar and grabbed a hot chicken roll, and a Snickers and Mars bar. I am starting to love Mars bars. They are delicious. So I got back, ate my sandwich and played with my photos. I finally finished editing my photos from Saturday in Galway, and posted them online. One hundred and sixty six photos. Wow. That's a lot. Haha, but I know I have even more from day two.

At around 5 I went to the gym. I lifted for an hour and then ran for a half an hour. I got back just as Jeremie's girlfriend Flora, who is visiting for the weekend, made us some awesome Rissoto. It was great. She didn't like it, but I thought it was amazing. As she cooked, we talked about our studies and where we live. She said she is studying law, and she said the American legal system is very hard to learn. Haha, she didn't get how each state can have different laws. She said it was such a pain. I had to agree. Over dinner we talked about Paris and her studies some more. Theo joined us for dinner too. Wearing the same shirt as always of course. After dinner I did the dishes and Flora presented us with a fruit salad her and Jeremie made earlier in the evening. It was so good. Apples, bananas, kiwi, peaches. It was great. Around that time Jess and Kara stopped by and ended up staying until we went out at 10.

Tonight we just went to the Stables for international students night which is every Friday. Tonight they had a Valentine's Day theme. There were red balloons everywhere, and hearts on the wall. We didn't get there early enough, but tonight they played a networking game. When you walked in the door you were given a name tag with a famous persons name on it. Then throughout the night you had to find your celebrity match. So they had like, Carrie & Mr. Big, David Beckham and Posh Spice, Barack and Michelle. It was pretty neat. So we just hung out for an hour or two and then returned home.

This morning I am getting up at 7, and then catching the bus with the group into the city at 7:30. Then at 8:30 the bus leaves for Dublin for the weekend! We are only going to be there until at the latest 6:30pm Sunday, but I'll be back there at least 4 more times so I'm not worried. I'll get a day and nights worth of Dublin in. It'll be fine.

Alright, It's 1:18, I have to go to bed if I'm gonna get up soon.

Goodnight everyone! Have a good weekend, I'll update you on Sunday night!