But in thanking Ireland and company, my friend Holly does justice on her facebook note, and I can't help but quote her because I couldn't have said it any better.
(I've made some edits in brackets so it applies to myself and not to Holly)

"Thank you for being as green as everyone says you are. I will never forget looking outside my plane window and seeing patchwork landscape below. Thank you for all the rain, even though [it was the reason for all my mold]. Thank you for Beamish, Carlsburg, Guiness and all the other wonderful beer. I can’t think of a better place than Ireland to learn how to drink. Thank you for being my homebase for when I traveled to London and [Paris] because it was always nice to know that I was coming home to you. Thank you for UCC and its unorganized ways. If anything, the school made me appreciate mine even more... Thank you for Cork with its unpredictable river and teeming English Market that spoiled me with its fresh products. The city’s streets were narrow, the night life was crazy, and I will always love it. Thank you for all the new slang and ways to express myself. My retorts will now be more colorful. Thank you for the drunken nights but also the nights were we just stayed in and ordered Dominos just for the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Thank you for 12 wonderful channels of cable TV that constantly played Simpsons episodes and had a channel just in Gaelic. Thank you for making me walk everywhere and [keeping the candy and beer from showing]. Thank you for Limerick, Dublin, [Galway] and all the other cities I visited. Thank you for Digestives, Nutella, [and Mini Rolls]. Last of all but not the least of course, thank you for all the people I met. Thank you for some of the best housemates I have had the pleasure to live with, [Nicky and Serena]... Thank you for [all my non-American friends Sirpa, Donie, Laura, Serafiina, and Dougie.] Most of all, thank you for my three girls, Nicky, Serena, and [Holly]. Our friendship began with an "H" and ends with an "olly" joke because someone couldn’t remember [Holly's] name. Us girls had some really fun nights together and some really hard ones, but in the end it was one hell of a ride. Thank you ladies. I will love you girls always and it was some great craic.

Slan"

Sleep now,and dream
of the ones who came before.
They are calling,
from across the distant shore.

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see.
All of your fears will pass away.
Safe in my arms,
you’re only sleeping.

What can you see,
on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea,
a pale moon rises.
The ships have come,
to carry you home.

Dawn will turn,
to silver glass.
A light on the water.
All souls pass.

Hope fades,
Into the world of night.
Through shadows falling,
Out of memory and time.

Don’t say,
We have come now to the end.
White shores are calling.
You and I will meet again.
And you’ll be here in my arms,
Just sleeping.

What can you see,
on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea,
a pale moon rises.
The ships have come,
to carry you home.

And all will turn,
to silver glass.
A light on the water.
Grey ships pass
Into the West."

~Annie Lennox

Tought rise at 8:30 to rush to 9am aquatic biology. At UVM, 9am class no problem. But here, for the first time in my life, I hit the snooze button.

Find a surprise waiting for me outside the apt door, rain! It hasn't rained in a while. Usually when it does it's only drizzle. But when it rains here, it rains. When a professor told me back in August that the rain can come at you horizontally, I didn't believe him. Let's just say, If there was ever a day to wear my wellies, it would have been today.

The wind whips around the rain so that even with an umbrella, you get soaked. Well I do. Forget if I mentioned my theory in an earlier entry, but the Irish have evolved invisible water repelling shields that allow them to stay dry. But I exaggerate... no.

Had to go to the music building twice, which is bad. The music building is the most hard to get to class ever. Thirty (pronounced "tirty" here) minute walk from home. *Across the river and up the hill to the music building we go!*

On the way home from class finally at 4, avoided a flooded road and counted the number of broken umbrellas abandoned in disgust on the roads.

Advice: Buy a huge sturdy fecking umbrella, hold onto it with two hands, wear your wellies, and wish you had been born Irish.

RIP - 12 umbrellas

And I really want to do a good job on this report! But I can't concentrate.

God feck it all.
>_<

So I may as well spit out an entry:

Got all my classes for next semester back at groovy UV:
Ecology, Ecosystems and the Environment
Social Proc and the Environment
Environmental Problem Analysis
Intro Orgo Chem
Chem of Soil and Water
Ornithology

That's a full load of six science pretty hard core science classes. And it's gonna be that way till I graduate.

Irish Fashion:
boots worn over pants
uggs
Jansport backpacks
scarves

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edit

Some random photos to enjoy!

Fall colors in Eire:

What I do in my remote sensing pracitical:
here

Skyping for the first time with Emily:
here

Ugh, and I can't stand how my roommates ALWAYS WATCH THE FUCKING SIMPSONS. I hate it so darn much. I understand if they're homesick and want a taste of home, but god, couldn't you choose a better show?! I've always hated the Simpsons and now, even watching at least an hour every night during dinner, I STILL HATE IT. Can't stand their retarded voices and the stupid music. Lately I've been trying to put on other shows. Anything. Not just because I hate the Simpsons, obviously with a passion, but also because I want to watch anything non-American. We can watch American tv shows and movies at home. But when will you ever be able to watch an Irish soap opera or even the Irish channel, where they only speak in Irish? I don't know, guess we just have a different taste in tv. >_<

At least I have my Finnish/Czech friends!!

Lately I've come to the realization that I'm dreading going home. Of course, I can't wait to see my family and friends and gourge on Annies mac/cheese and Reeses peanut butter cups. But I've just been having so much fun lately. Feel like I've only just gotten into the swing of things and now I have to go back home. I could stay an extra semester, but that would put me so far behind in coursework at UVM. The only way I can explain it is to imagine that you've been in University for only one semester of your freshman year...then go back to high school. I feel like I've moved on. I went from LHS, to UVM, and now UCC. Going back to UVM feels like I'm taking a step backward.

When that plane lands in Logan in 6 weeks it will be the quite the mix of emotions.

P.P.S.The weekEND really was great.

Tonight, after a short day of one class (flute), I'm meeting Sirpa and Serafiina for some music at the Far Side Pub.

Tomorrow, after a looooong day of classes, I'm making myself a chicken nuggets and semi-mac and cheese dinner (reminds me of home) and going to an Irish house party! The house belongs to Doug, a 33 year old that Nicky and Holly met...in Berlin! Get this, he lives two blocks from us... It's a small world. Hopefully will meet lots of new Irish people, keyword Irish. Believe it or not, I haven't actually made any Irish friends! It's been aggravating. All my music classes are international and my two science classes only meet once a week so it's been hard making acquaintances. Sure you meet the occasional Irish lad at the pub, but that always feels like it's gonna be dating, not friendship. And I'm not looking to score here like some of my friends already have!

Saturday maybe get treated to lunch from a friend that owes me. Then maybe some shopping downtown... Maybe that cup of Gloria Jeans with another friend... And dinner with my Finnish friends! We're gonna share our photos from Galway, so instead of my 400 photos, I'll probably have three times as many! Then we may go bowling, Sirpa has never been!

Sunday I plan on staying in and doing some homework. Homework Sunday!

Hopefully my plans will work out and be enjoyable. Well I'm off to take a shower, spray some mold, eat some chips for lunch, and head out into the world!

Cheers!

Still on my to do list:
Red Beamish
Baby Guinness
Harp

Also had cup of coffee at Glorai Jeans, which we apparently have in the states, but I've never noticed. It's amazing! I had an oreo cookie frappuchino drink. It was like a milkshake, I'm sure just as fattening. :-p Next time I go, I'm having their white oreo cookie drink frappuchino ^_^

Click here to watch or right click to download

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Wednesday night went to a Ceili dance at Club Aras on campus. It's like Irish style contra dancing and it's great fun. Afterwards watched people from the WARPS club (war gaming and role playing society) fight with plastic swords.

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Thursday night went out with NIcky, Serena, and Holly to the Freshers Ball at Cubins. Somehow they convinced me to wear a skirt (Nickys skirt) and Holly let me borrow her shirt, plus Serena did our makeup. So the only thing that I was wearing that were mine were my shoes. All right... The four of us had a nice time. It was "brilliant" as they say here. Somehow the three hours of dancing went by in a blur. A good blur. Haha, that's what happens when you combine alochol and techno. Don't worry Mom, I don't know if you read this, but don't worry Mom. :-)

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Friday woke up with my first hangover in Ireland! Come on, pretty good. More than a month without getting real drunk, IN IRELAND. I'm a good girl. ;-)
Then I spent the afternoon with Casi at the 24hr Tescos mall. Totally got this awesome knitted hat/scarf combo, they're knitted TOGETHER. We also got ice cream, of course. Afterwards, we sped over to the gym for the first Ultimate Frisbee meeting. Two hour practice, yeah I'm sore now. It was fun, gonna try to keep with it. What else, had fun with Nicky coloring with crayons in a coloring book I bought. She colored in a page with sheep, then I made it radioactive by making it glow yellow. Then we hung up our masterpieces, decorating the apartment ^_^ Yay for art with roommates...

After the art session went to the UCC Foreign Student Society's first meeting at the Qube, with free pints. I got Murphys, not a fan of the dark and thick. We danced a bit, but I think we were partied out from the night before and the disco lights were giving us seizures.

At home definately skyped with my sister for two hours till 4am. GOD WHY.

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TODAY I met with some friends for lunch at SuperMacs (btw they have the best sundaes). We also met for dinner later, haha. AND afterwards we went to the TG4 Awards at the Cork Opera House. It was Irish traditional music awards and recorded for tv, so I might be on Irish tv! I pretty much liked all the music, all four long hours of it. The Chieftans performed at the end too!

Speaking of music, SO happy I'm taking Irish flute and tin whistle lessons. Almost didn't get into tin whistle because it was full. But SO happy I'm in it! I bought a whistle weeks ago and can play pretty good. Same fingering as the saxophone. Figured out the Lord of the Rings Hobbit theme and some of Boondocks Saints... Definately would be awesome to come back to UVM and find another student who plays like fiddle or guitar and jam together. :-)

After the concert we grabbed McFlurries like fat Americans. Now I'm home online and listening to Accapella, and feeling very happy that I was able to study abroad.

It's now 2:40am here. I am done for the night.

CHEERS

Tescos fairtrade tea

...what did YOU think? :-p

No seriously:

Kilkenny
Gaelic
Heineken
Miller light
Bulmers (Irish cider)
Kopparberg (Swedish cider)
Jameson
Baileys
Bacardi (Tropical orange)

Haven't had any darker ones yet like Guinness, but Murphy's is actually more popular here in Cork because it's brewed here.

Stripes. Stripes are in. Horizontal stripes on shirts. Wide ones, small ones, all colors. Even better, a V-necked horiztonal striped shirt. Yeah.

Slippers. Like those Chinese slippers except not just toes but all the way around the foot. They look funny. (edit: I found out they're called flats)

Headbands. I kid you not.

Long plain beaded necklaces. With plastic beads like I have from when I was a child.

Also, seems like more girls part their hair to one side. Not sure if I just didn't notice this back in the states.

That's all I got and that's all you're getting until I come home dressed like a European!

Anways! Classes just started yesterday. After a month here of getting used to an empty campus, it is slightly overwhelming to walk through a sea of students. Aaah... So many people. And don't get me started on classes. Aaah... I feel like a freshman again!

So I think regular students at UCC (University College of Cork) choose a degree and then all they have to do is look at one timetable (schedule). So they don't really have a choice in what they take, no general education requirements and such. SO we visiting students can choose pretty much ANYTHING we want which is amazing. BUT that means we have to swim through dozens of timetables and keep referring back to the book of modules (course catalogue) and SOMEHOW fit our classes together. AND we only have a week and a half to figure out what we want to take. One of my classes was cancelled and the syllabus for the chem class I wanted for specific credit won't be available till NEXT week, which means I have no time to forward it to UVM and see if it can be approved.

I've only taken five classes so far, but lectures are pretty much the same as back home. Two of the lectures were so slowly paced compared to UVM. Granted they were the first lectures. Somehow I feel like classes here are even more laid back to back home. No attendance except for in practicals (labs I think) and tutorials (discussions). Pretty much all my classes seem at least 50 people, so there's no weekly homework assignments I don't think.

BESIDES classes...
The first week of class is called Fresher Week (aka Week of Welcome) and the most interesting part of the activities the UCC student union hosts are nights out at the local bars/clubs. Last night was preparty at the Thirsty Scholar and a pirates themed party at Redz. Some friends and I were pysched about it, I even made us cardboard swords! But you needed a ticket to get in. So we couldn't get in. And we were bummed. It was 7 euro chrage though, so I guess we saved ourselves money for an extra drink. :-p Instead we went to An Brog (Irish for "The Shoe") which is a pretty popular student pub. It was fun, Nicky made out with some drummer, this drunk guy talked to us and later got kicked out for, well, being too drunk. And we met these nice four Irish guys! All in all a good night.

Tonight the party is School Uniform Disco which sounds great, but we're gonna pass. 12 euro ticket is a major ouch. But I'm really looking forward to a Ceili dance Wednesday night. Went to one last week, and it was AMAZING.

But yeah.

Very decent and heart stopping. Saturday night dinner was delicious. A meal she learned from friends in France, chicken in an onion soup with rice pilaf and peaches. Mmmm.

Erin and I also got a driving tour of Carragaline, plus a trip to the beach with the kids! Laoise and Conor totally pulled me into the water, it was fun and the waves were huge! To top off the trip, all Ireland hurling finals! Cork vs Kilkenny! Apparently a big rivalry. See it's a big deal if a team wins three years in a row. And four years ago, Kilkenny was going for their third in a row, but Cork beat them. This year, it was Cork up for their third in a row, but Kilkenny beat them. It was my first hurling game and it was very exicting. Why don't we have that in the states?!

All in all it was a great weekend. Learned that the school system is a little different. Got lectured to in Gaelic by Laoise, who was showing off :-p And played soccer with the kids.

I really miss my family and friends. Bummed picturing what I'm missing back home! At UVM, my friends have moved in, and classes have started. Back in Mass, Mom and Dad are going to help Emily move into school. And stuck here trying to make new friends and aimlessly wandering around the city trying to find a notebook that's college ruled! I feel like a freshman again!

But I'm looking forward to classes, even though I'll probably have to stay another semester at UVM because of it, enjoying the city, even though I don't know where anything is, and looking forward to seeing parts of Europe, even though traveling scares me.

It's weird how such change can affect you. I realize that my friends and family make me who I am. They help myself identify who I am. I know that's probably terrible grammar.

It is hard to check email or go on AIM. Reading away messages, talking with people occasionaly, and getting loads of UVM emails about events and club things...