Now For A Bit Of A Stroll

After sleeping for a wonderful 14 hours last night, I was ready to explore. Unfortunately, for the last three hours of my sleeping session I was missing my orientation. Whoops. Luckily, Kelsey (my roomie) and I caught a later campus tour and Finn (our advisor) was totally fine with it.

Kelsey and the quad

Outside of the Quad

Then we took a walk around the city to explore all the nooks and crannys.  First we found the cathedral and it's the prettiest thing I've seen in a while in terms of religious buildings.

I felt so peaceful inside, and there was a feeling of serenity around the entire building that made me almost wish I was religious.




After the church we wandered onto Ireland's version of Church Street, except on steriods.




We spent a long time wandering about and going up and down streets. Kelsey bought a claddah ring from the official store. I think I prefer mine, because it's much thinner and unobtrusive which I love. Plus someone I love gave it to me. :)

My favorite part (though I didn't go in) was finding this store:

The candy store even has a wonka hat

Galway is a neat city, and full of little stores that are way too expensive. But Kelsey and I needed a blow dryer desperately and so we went to the one store that we could recognize. We found a TJMAX...except in Ireland it's:










It's funny how many American brands and shops are over here, and it takes effort to find real Irish culture. This morning in the grocery store I went to buy some white Zinfandel and all the bottles and brands were from America....guess I'm gonna have to start learning to like beer.

It's about 6:45 now, and we're meeting Finn for dinner at 9, so I have some time to kill, hence the full blog post.

I'd love to know how Moretown is doing, so if you read this and wanna shoot me an email I would love it.

Forever yours,
k

The Luck Of The Irish

So I'm sure everyone knows that the storm only got worse and my driveway ended up looking like this :)

But miraculously I managed to find my way to the Burlington Airport and fly out!

Landing in Shannon, Ireland was just like being in Vermont...green and cow filled.

I'm officially settled into my room and very happy with my roomie Kelsey :)

My bed and desk are my own nooks and I love it that way.

I'm off to orientation and then to explore my new city.

Love Always,

K

Rain Rain Go Away

So there's this super sweet storm going on right now. That's actually not sweet at all, it's been devastating to many people. We went for a walk down to the end of the road and our neighbors road has already washed away. The weather report says the worst will hit at 5:00 tonight, and I don't really want to see what it will bring.

Danny and I are adventurous, even though we might not always be happy about it.

I hope you all are safe and warm and most importantly dry on this wet wet day.
Peace,
k

T-Minus 3 Days

It's hard to believe that by this time next week I'll be across an ocean in a whole new country, not even living in the same time zone as Vermont. I think I'm ready for it, granted I have yet to locate my raincoat...

On Wednesday I went to visit my grandparents and talk with them about my trip, and my Grandpa drew me a map to help me get by in Ireland. I'm sure it will help me find my way when I get lost. Thank you Grandpa, I will keep it with me always.





It's really hard for me to rationalize this trip is happening, and so soon at that. I've never really travelled on my own, especially not lived on my own, so it'll be interesting to see how I feel once I get there. I'll keep you posted for sure :)

Love Always,
k

P.S.- I can't believe I'm leaving this behind.