Rainy Day...

You may think...of course it's rainy, it's Ireland! However, we have had a really good amount of nice days. But today it has been raining really hard all day. Actually...I'm not really sure if it has ALL day, but it has been the whole time I've been awake. The cold medicine I have been taking keeps me feeling really groggy all day long. I have slept a lot today and even though I think it has a lot to do with being sick...I'm kind of wondering if I'm not still a bit jet lagged. I don't know how long it takes to get past the time difference but I still find my sleep schedule to be off. It's been a drink tea and wear sweats kind of day and I'm definitely not complaining!

I've been thinking about Paris...I am still going to go but I'm rethinking doing the group tour there. The group tour is a great way for me to travel to Amsterdam because I've never been and so I will want to see everything I can while I'm there. I've been to Paris and so some of the places the group tour takes us are the Louvre and Notre Dame...as amazing as those places are I don't NEED to go back and see them. I really would like to just go spend a relaxing weekend in Paris. I do want to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but that's really the only touristy thing I want to do. Anyway....that's my rant of the thinking I've done today and we'll leave it at that.

I'm watching Bee Movie on tubeplus.me and it's soooo cute!

Ok too funny I can't go just yet...have to tell you something. So, the international students are chatting on facebook under a chat for all of us so I can read it. One girl just said her birthday is the 21st and another guy replied that his is the 18st....tee hee....when English isn't your first language sometimes funny things get said. :P

Cheerio!

Survived 1st Week of Classes!

I ended my first week of class with my last first day of class which is my Management and Leadership class. It's way different than my other two classes! Sociology and Intro to Government and Politics are both "fresher modules" (or as anyone in the states would understand...freshman classes). They like to take words and make them cuter is the way I would explain it. A fresher is a freshman a fiver is a five pound bill...and the list goes on. Anyway...since those two are fresher modules they are big lecture classes (We do have seminars that are smaller groups of those classes...but those don't start til next week) that meet three hours each week. My Management and Leadership class only meets for two hours every other week. Also, we only have ten people in the class! I really enjoy the professor, she is very nice. This class will be my easy class...which is nice. There are no tests...our grade comes 30% from a "reflective learning log" which is like a journal we keep of what we've learned in the class and how we've grown and changed and whatnot. Then, the other 70% comes from taking what we learn in the class and then choosing an organization to describe and critique them on the things we've learned in this class. We will be learning about organizational culture, organizational structure, group dynamics and leadership. This seems like it will be a fun and interesting class. :) One thing I don't like about Northern Ireland classrooms...no clocks. I like to keep track of how much longer I will have to sit there...tee hee. :)

After I was done with class I came back to my room and have been spending practically the rest of the day planning the trips that I want to take traveling on the weekends. I have two big trips I want to take and one is completely planned. I want to go to Paris and Amsterdam! Through the program I came here with I have learned of a group tours company that I could travel through for both places! I have my Amsterdam trip all planned for the weekend of November 3rd to the 6th!!! Then I want to go to Paris the weekend of November 10th to the 13th...but I have to talk to one of my professors first because I have a tiny conflict with my schedule. November is going to be a busy month... They had other weekends that you could go on group tours to these places but those two worked the best. I have two weekends that I'm doing things with my program. The weekend of October 7th to the 9th we will be going on an "adventure weekend" to Killary which is on the west side of Ireland and then the weekend of November 18th to the 20th they are going to take us on a trip around Dublin (I'm going to email them and find out what is going on the weekend in Dublin though...I don't want to do it if it's the same things I did for orientation which should have been in Belfast for me). Then, I also didn't want to travel the weekends of Thanksgiving or Halloween because those will be fun with my friends! :) So yes...hopefully will have a very busy November ahead of me!

Tomorrow starts my weekend. No plans yet...looks like some spontaneity is in my future!

International Potluck!!!

This morning I had my second Sociology lecture...which was juuust about as boring as the first. After class I went to the Ulster Bank on campus to open an account which didn't take very long and I was able to change over a bit more of my American Dollars so I have cash again! It won't be nice to have an Ulster Bank account for a couple more days until I get my debit card and my mom can wire me money to that account and life will be a lot more simple. :)

Once I was done on campus I came back to my room and hung out until Ally got out of class so that we could go on our adventure to Belfast. It was the absolute perfect day for our adventure because it was stunning out today. All of the Irish are telling us that this weather is not showing us actual Ireland weather but you don't see any of us (or them) complaining about it! We took a taxi to the Victoria Center Mall and first went and got Ally's eyebrows waxed (the actual reason we chose to do this adventure). They really really really tried to sell her on getting her eyebrow's threaded instead of waxed but she wasn't for it. I did get to watch a girl get hers done and it was so cool to watch! Apparently...if you wax your eyebrows it makes the wrinkles that form around your eyes happen faster? Then, we went around to a lot of the different shops and looked at the fun clothes and walked down the streets of Belfast gawking at the gorgeous buildings and taking pictures!

                     This is the City Hall building in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

When we got home from Belfast we had just enough time to get back to our places and get ready for the International Dinner (which was amazing). We had tons of food from all of the different countries people were from and it all tasted great! My food even touched on my plate and it was actually ok! ;) We got all of the food set out and all went around to get food and sat down to eat and chat. For most of the dinner we were serenaded by the guys from France and Spain on their guitars, which was so fun. Also, it was one of the French guy's birthday and so a lot of the countries took turns singing happy birthday in their languages and we had a cake for him. 

Clockwise from the top...let's see how well I do. USA (Mac and Cheese), Spain (Potato Quiche?...it's hard to see between the mac and cheese and spoon), Ireland (Ham), USA (Chocolate cake/brownie?), Austria (Tuna Pasta), France (Ham Quiche), China (sausage?), China (Chicken and Potatoes), Indonesia (Spicy Meat...between chicken and potatoes and spoon) and last I don't remember where but it was meat and the dark thing on top is a fig!

Apparently there was a BBQ planned for tonight in the student village (which is where I live). Too bad we filled ourself's up on international food! So now I am hanging out in my room with music from the BBQ blaring through my windows.

Some Random things about Ireland: 

          - It's very cute how most of the taxi drivers tend to call you Love.

          - You know they drive on the opposite side of the road...but they also walk up the other side of the staircase and on the other side of the hall...I'm always almost running into people....good thing I'm not driving!!!

Friends With Benefits ;)

Today was a good day! Started off by sleeping in (Cold Medicine worked very well!) until it was time to get ready to go to class (Not gonna say what time my class started because my mom will give me crap for how late it was...*cough*1:15*cough*....Hey. I'm sick. I need my rest.) Went to class and it's going to be a bit of a snoozer...but I knew that heading into a class with the title "Introduction to Government and Politics." (believe me I did not choose it...I need a PoliSci credit to graduate and this is my ticket to being done!) Had class for two hours and then came back to my room to make a shopping list.

My aunt wrote me out the recipe for my pie so I made a list of the ingredients I didn't have (most of them) and a few other things like a rolling pin and pie pans...and more toilet paper (going through mine like no other with this cold). The pie pans cost 7.5 pounds a piece...and they had "flan pans" for 3.5 pounds a piece...which do you think I bought? So I now have pies in flan pans. :) Anyway...made my list and called a taxi and went to Tesco's. My shopping went fairly smooth until I ran into a problem with the shortening. I searched the store high and low trying to not have to ask but eventually I gave in. I asked a lady where the shortening would be and she looked at me like I was nuts. So I tried other words like fat, lard, also explained it had the consistency of butter but was white...no light bulbs came on. So she went and asked someone else and they didn't know either so I gave up. Either shortening does not exist in Northern Ireland...or I was talking to some people who have never baked. So...I bought some extra butter hoping google could help me out on doctoring a different crust recipe that didn't include shortening and headed for check out.

Once I was done shopping I took a taxi home and I would just like to mention...if you want to learn things about where you're at...take a taxi. The taxi driver's always have fun facts and ideas of where to go. This taxi driver told me of a place called Newgrange and said I MUST go there. It is between here and Dublin and he said that it is the oldest building in the world. He said if I could go around December 21st...which is perfect because that's about the time my parents and I will be in the area!

When I got back I went on google and found some help for my recipe. It mentioned that butter has a lower fat % than shortening so I should use a little more butter and also that there is more liquid in butter so I should take out a little of my wet ingredients from the recipe. I did this and it worked fine!!! Well...I haven't tasted it...but the crust looks the same as it has before...

Next I cut up a BAJILLION apples to finish off the pies and they look pretty good :) The top of the first one got a little on the dark side...but it will still be amazing!!!

After I got done baking.. my flat mates, LP and I went to the movies. We went and saw Friends With Benefits and it is now my favorite movie. I will be purchasing it eventually. Love. Now I'm back in my room with a cup of tea and a pizza in the oven (I will soon be getting over pizza....it's just such an easy fix to hunger...). Also...I learned today that I am apparently breaking the rules. I guess we aren't supposed to cook after either 11 or 11:30 at night. They're CRAZY about fire safety here and apparently it's more dangerous to cook at night...? Whatever. :P

An amazing thing about Northern Ireland. Everyone gets my name right the first time. AND they can even spell it. Not an Irish name...I'm just guessing American's don't listen as well as the Irish.

Oh! So that fire alarm yesterday that woke me up from my nap...? Yeah...apparently one of my flat mates was showering with the bathroom door open (we have our own bathrooms to ourselves in our rooms...not strange) and apparently the steam set her fire alarm off. Glad to know that could happen before it happened to me!!

Ninight! :)

1st Day of Class

I started my day off with my Sociology lecture. Every Monday that follows I will also have Sociology seminar (small group)...but there are no seminars the first week of classes. Class started at 9:15...I left earlier than I will have to most days because I wasn't positive of where the classroom was but I got there and found it quite easily so I had plenty of time. It is a fairly large class so I'm glad there are seminars because I'm guessing that is where I will get to know some of my classmates. The class is made up of two in class exams each worth 20% of our grade and one final exam worth 60%. That scared me at first until the professor's (we have two) pointed out that we have print outs of the two in class tests in our syllabus and they will be exactly the same. So I will really only need to worry about the final but I'm not too worried about this class. :) I was incredibly relieved to find out that both of the professor's have very clear and easy to understand accents, which will make my life a little less stressful (That was my biggest fear...to get a prof I couldn't understand).

I found out they grade tests way different here than they do back in the states. So first...you don't really get multiple choice...all the tests are essays. In the states you pretty much start off with a 100% and get marked down as you do things wrong. Here, you start off with a 0% and get points as you do things the prof likes...we'll see which I end up liking better. The percentage system is way different too!
68-100 = A
63-67 = A-
58-62 = B+
53-57 = B
48-52 = B-
43-47 = C+
39-42 = C
33-38 = C-
29-32 = D+
27-28 = D
0-26 = F
Apparently it's harder to get high points when you go from 0% up.

After my class I came back up to my room to settle into my bed and watch a movie. This cold is starting to kick my butt already. I didn't sleep half the night from not being able to breath and it's making my body pretty exhausted. But I am prepared to kick back! I went to the little store in the student village and purchased some pills similar to NyQuil and some decongestants for the day time. Anyway...I came back from class and turned on Monster's, Inc. (Oh!!!! Forgot to mention! I was informed of a website called tubeplus.me and it is amazing...tons of movies and TV shows to watch online for free! I went and read the rules for a TV license and you don't need one if you are using your laptop for DVDs or TVprograms that have already aired on TV...so I'm set!!!) Back to Monster's, Inc....I'm watching for a bit and then I doze off for a couple seconds and get a startling wake up from the fire alarm. So..I get up and head outside to where we are supposed to go and it's only me and Ally, who lives on my bottom floor. We sit there and talk for about five min, the alarm gets shut off, and we go back in. I got back in bed and finished watching Monster's, Inc.

After finishing the movie I checked my Facebook, which gave me some fun news! I had an invitation to an International Dinner on campus for this Wednesday. It's like a potluck so everyone is supposed to bring a dish representing their country to share! What better to represent America than a couple apple pies?! I emailed my aunt and she wrote me out her AMAZING apple pie recipe (thanks arlene-poo!!). Now I just have to go to the store tomorrow and get the stuff to make it...figure out the conversions for my measurements and temperatures...and then get to baking!!!! I'm beyond excited.

So the rest of my day has been pretty uneventful given I don't feel like doing anything... I went to a "kitchen meeting" which was a mandatory meeting for all students in Dalriada (where I live)...which they pretty much just read us back the handbook they gave us and told us to read (which I did) when we moved in...a bit pointless if you ask me.

Now I'm watching Titanic because I found it on tubeplus.me and just learned the Titanic was built here so I thought...why not?!

*Cough* *Sniffle* *Cough*

Starting to catch a cold... Not gonna be much of a blog for today because I haven't done anything. Stuffy nose...sore throat...plugged up ears...took the day to get some needed down time to be hopefully all ready for my first day of class tomorrow! Monday is just sociology lecture from 9:15-10:15 and then it is supposed to be sociology seminar (smaller groups for more question/answer than lecture) but we don't have our seminars the first week. So I just have to wake up early to go to one hour of class and I will have officially started my last semester as a college student! :)

New Friends From New Places! :)

The plan for this morning was to sleep in because I really had no plans for today. Doors started getting closed quite loudly around 8:30 so my sleep in idea did not really happen. So I decided to watch a movie and stuck in Revolutionary Road. Hadn't really heard anything about it before so I didn't know what I was about to watch at all but it ended up being pretty good. Mostly it was a good time waster which is what I was looking for! So...last night I messaged one of the girls that I met on the field trip we went on to Carrickfergus and explained that I haven't really gotten to know anyone and that if she ever wanted someone to hang out with or anything I was pretty much always available. She said she was in the same boat so I said we should hang out this weekend. She messaged me on Facebook today asking if I wanted to go with her and some other girls to Tesco's to go shopping and I took her up on the offer!

The girls are all very nice and I'm hoping that we can become closer friends than it seems like me and my flat mates are going to get to be. Ally is from Arizona, Andrea is from Austria, Jenn is from Indonesia and Jing is from China! It's really a lot of fun to get to know people from such different places. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to make a group of Irish friends but I am definitely thankful for the International students who all know what each other is feeling and what we are going through. I feel lucky when I'm with Andrea, Jenn and Jing because I feel like I'm having a hard time but then I feel very thankful that the language here is my first! We had a good time at Tesco's. It's a grocery store and I didn't need any groceries but it was fun to go along. I did get something because I HAD to! It's too funny...one of the things that they have at all the grocery stores here is pre-made pancakes! I thought the idea was funny so I had to get some. And everyone knows...when you get pancakes you also need syrup and peanut butter! (But I forgot milk! I always drink milk with pancakes! But it's ok...I just went to the little grocery store in the student village here. It's a bit more expensive than the grocery stores but you are glad it's there for emergencies..and yes..milk is an emergency!)

When I got to Ireland and was in Dublin talking with my advisors they were saying how there are differences that we will just have to deal with. Maria said, "We don't do mac and cheese and our peanut butter tastes different...get over it people!" Haha...don't care about the mac and cheese, I can do without for 3.5 months. However, the peanut butter thing worried me! But at the store I found skippy and was excited because I figured you couldn't go wrong! Got home and it tastes just the same. :) (I don't now if she was speaking for just Ireland and not N. Ireland, or if she meant not normal mac and cheese but they do have something called mac and cheese here. Scary looking though...it's in a can...like I said, I can go without for 3.5 months!)

Tonight the flat mates are going to a house party so I've got the flat to myself to indulge on my pre-made pancakes. ;) Planning on skyping Robert a little later today which I'm excited about! Tomorrow is my last day of my over 4.5 month long summer...and it's my last summer while I'm still in school...that's a bit crazy.

One of the things I noticed when I was at Tesco's that I didn't notice last time was that the checkers have office chairs to sit in while they are checking groceries. Why don't we do that in the states?

Carrickfergus Field Trip Day!

I started my day pretty early considering I didn't go to bed til 3:30am this morning. Eh...whatever! I got up at 8:30 this morning and left my place at about 9:30 since my appointment with my studies advisor was at 10:00. It doesn't take anywhere near half hour to get there since I live on campus as it is...but I wasn't 100% on where to go and the last thing that I wanted was to be late. I also wanted enough time to get in a picture of the campus so that I could show you all back home where I am studying. It's a lot different setup than WSU. I'm used to lots of different buildings spread out over a large campus. This campus isn't particularly small...but it is practically one big building. Everything is connected by corridors and other than the student village where I live everything is connected. 

This picture doesn't help show the size of the campus building but I first just wanted to show the entrance. The next picture is trying to show the size...but you can't fit the whole thing in one picture...so I guess just use your imaginations! :)

So I got there and found the office and still had a little less than 20 min to waste..oops :P I sat on a bench next a little cafe that people walk by and just people watched for that time. I love to people watch so I wasn't bored at all. A bunch of high school students kept walking by (you can tell they are high school because they have on their school uniforms). Most of them were wearing sweatshirts that said Ulster University Step Up...I could only assume that "step up" is their way of saying "running start." Another thing that I noticed is, you know those handy cap buttons you can push to have to door open for you? EVERYONE in Northern Ireland pushes those things to get through every door. I always feel like those are a waste of time if you don't actually need them because then you just end up standing there long enough for it to open enough to get through haha.

When it was time to go to my advisor I was a little nervous. From others I had heard that enrollment and registration is a complex process of trying to find people offices for stamps and signatures and approvals. I walked into my advisor's office with my paper with the correct codes for the classes and back up classes I was looking at and a sketched out table of the class times to show no over laps were there and she said I was now her favorite student. Most students she said come in with not even an idea of what they want to take let alone all the info I had. My guess is that the advisors get fed up with unhelpful students and don't feel like taking the time to help them figure out the enrollment and registration process. Because my advisor walked with me to every office and introduced me to everyone and the whole thing went very smoothly and I was able to get into every class I needed without a problem! :) (With how helpful she was to me I felt badly that I couldn't round up the courage to let her know she still had the store tag on her skirt...)

Once I got done with all of that I headed up to the International Students office to get a letter made up saying that I was enrolled and registered to take to the Bank next week so that I can get a bank account. I would think that if I was arranging a college I would put the international office right at the front in an easy place to find it...it's a complete maze to find this office!!! I have a new found respect for international students that come to WSU...it's more challenging than you could ever know until you experience it. However, I was able to find the room and get my paper. I had just enough time to get out to the front of the building to meet up with the International Group going on the field trip to Carrickfergus.

We had two stops in Carrickfergus...first we went to the Carrickfergus Castle and then we went to the Carrickfergus Castle Museum. The Castle is an old Irish Castle and we learned all about it on a walking tour. Our guide gave a very good tour and also told us some ghost stories about the castle! At the top of one of the towers they have a video room for visitors to watche videos on the castle. He said that every night they straighten the chairs, turn off the dvd player, lock the door to that room and lock the door to the front of the castle. Random nights they will come back the next morning to the dvd room with the dvd playing and the chairs thrown about! He was convincing too.. ;)

Our second stop was the museum which wasn't very exciting lol. The exciting part was that we got to meet the mayor of Carrickfergus, Jim McClurg! He stood there and talked to me and a girl named Carina who is from Switzerland for awhile asking us questions. On our way back to the bus to go back to campus Carina told me that we were pretty much famous now lol.

Then we went back to campus and I came back to my room. My flat mates have formed a pretty strong bond already that they have easily shown I am not a part of...Good thing classes start next Monday so I will get the chance to make some friends hopefully. :) I'm still a bit sad that I don't have a good group with my flat mates...they put international students together for a reason and that's so that we will have a support group of people who know what we're going through and mine just pushed me out...talked to mom on skype a lot today because she stayed home sick from work with a nasty cold. She was trying to cheer me up with these different things on skype:

She might hate me for adding these but I'm just showing how great of a mom she is. She made me smile when I was sad. :) Took an unplanned nap while I was waiting for it to be late enough for Robert to get off work for a skype date...and now we're skyping! :)

Favorite part of today...the view from the castle...it was a beautiful Irish day. :)

Cheerio!

HAPPY ARTHUR'S DAY!!!

Today was a go go go day and that made me really thankful for my down day yesterday. Started off early with a little orientation and walking around campus buildings to try to find things for my flat mates and their registration stuff. (Mostly walking around...only went to orientation to sign up for tomorrow's field trip...yes terrible I know). This is when I met one of my flat mates other friends that is through the same program as Renee and Rachel and her name is LP (Stands for Lauren Patrick). LP is pretty funny...she was telling us about how people always look at her funny when she says certain things because growing up her dad made up funny names for everything. One she told us was that he calls pajamas wammer faddles hahaha. Anyways...after we found the rooms they needed to go to really quick we went to the campus gym and signed up for memberships for the time that we will be here. We had to do an induction to learn the gym and what there is and how to use the machines. They have really cool machines!! 

After we went and did all that up on campus we came back down to our flat to pretty much get ready for Arthur's Day. For those of you who don't know what that is...Arthur Guinness is who created Guinness and in honor of him on the 22nd of September at 5:59pm everyone raises their guinness pints to him. A lot of the Irish were calling it Alcoholics Day lol... 

But anyway...since you celebrate at 5:59pm and we planned on going into Belfast to celebrate (there aren't really any good places to go in Newtownabbey) we planned to leave our flat at 4 and got back from campus at about 1:30. I ran to the Abbey Centre (and by ran I meant got a taxi) to get a blow dryer, straightener and a nice shirt and boots. While I was sitting waiting for my taxi to get there to bring me back home I realized that, even though the accents of the people here are very cool, it is incredibly adorable to hear that accent on the little kids! By the time I got back I had just enough time to get ready and we headed out. It was me, Renee, Rachel, Jessi, Jessi's friend from here who's name is Ashleigh and LP.

We started off at a pub called The Botanic Inn and that is where we celebrated at 5:59. We each had a pint of guinness, cheersed to Arthur, danced a bit and that was about it for The Botanic Inn. The DJ was giving away free pints of guinness to people who would do different random things. He kept asking, "Anyone fancy a free pint?!" The way that he chose one girl and told who was to come up was by stating, "the girl with the nice cleavage and blonde hair," hahaha. Arthur Guinness was even at the pub we were in! ;)

Alright...so maybe a guy with a white wig was in every pub we went to...maybe...

When we left that pub you realized really fast just how incredibly loud the music was inside. Walking out of the pub and down the street my ears felt like I was under water. We decided we were hungry so we went to this little place just across the street from the pub. I got a cheese burger and fries (I know...a bit American). It wasn't anything fancy at all...but we were starving and didn't care. After we got some food into us we headed to another pub called The Ye Old Eglantine Inn where we had some vodbull's (Vodka and Redbull) because we were already wimping out on getting tired... This pub was a bit on the boring side so we didn't stick around long before heading off to the Odyssey to go to a club called Box. We had a couple more drinks at Box...I had a thing called a Granny Smith...Ashleigh who is from here recommended it so that's what I had and it was very good! We did some dancing and then decided we were pretty much done for the night and here I am back in my room and done for the day. 

Some things I've realized today...

          1) Riding in a car makes my heart want to stop sometimes...still not used to the other side of the road.

          2) I love that Northern Ireland is not like a lot of Europe where smoking is a huge thing. It isn't as much here and it's illegal to smoke in a public place...even a pub. LOVE that!

          3) Learned a knew word...here they call khakis...chincos!

Tomorrow is when I finally get to enroll and register and all that good stuff. I have an appointment with my studies advisor at 10:00am when I will CALL to her office. ;) Eating some toast and drinking some tea before I call it quits. :)

Lazy Day :P

Today was a catch up on sleep day. I didn't sleep in too late...I woke up around 10. Then I watched one of the movies I got yesterday, Life As We Know It, it took me a couple extra hours to watch it because I took a nap in the middle of it...tee hee. :)

Although it was a lazy day it was the first day that I made a meal for myself. Since I got here it's either been microwave meals or going out to eat or pizza delivery. What I made was either going to be gross or good and it ended up being pretty good! :) I made spaghetti and so I had noodles, a jar of garlic tomato sauce and then the iffy part which was a can of minced beef and onions. It was a little difficult to open the can since we definitely didn't think of buying a can opener yesterday...but I McGyvered it. So I cooked the sauce and meat together and then poured it over my cooked noodles and had myself some pretty tasty dinner. :)

I've also spent a good portion of my day trying to figure out my classes that I will be taking and trying to fit a schedule together. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have Friday classes because it looks like, so far, that I shouldn't. That means I will have three day weekends to travel!!! I'm hoping to get into BMG306 (Core Management and Leadership Skills), SOC102 (Introduction to Sociology) and either POL112 (Introduction to the Study and Practice of Politics) or PUP105 (Introduction to Politics and Government). We'll see soon...I enroll tomorrow and then register for classes on Friday.

I figured out a problem I've been having the past couple days that has to do with my registration and it was pretty funny. I got a letter from Ulster a while back saying that when I get here I need to call in to my studies advisor for an appointment. So...I've been calling for the past couple days leaving messages and no one has gotten back to me. Today I received an email from a lady saying to call in to my studies advisor for an appointment on Friday at 10:00am. Then I figured it out...I emailed her back saying what I'd been doing and then said...I think our phrasing is getting me confused. I thought you meant to call her from my phone but I think you meant to go to her office on Friday at 10:00am. She emailed me back and said that, yes, she meant that I already have an appointment for Friday. Being an international student can be harder than it seems!

Tomorrow I've got the morning free...and then the parts of orientation that I am attending start at noon. Before that I'm going to try to go figure out how to enroll...wish me luck!

Content With Life :)

Today was the first day of the International Students Orientation...I was hoping to get a lot out of it but it wasn't what I expected but that's ok. My flat mates and I went to it together and the first part of it was telling us information about how we will go about registering for our modules (their word for courses) and introductions of the people that work in the international department. I think the main reason they have the orientation thing is just to give us the opportunity to get to know the other international students. The next part was the part that I was looking forward to, which was a tour of the campus. But then it turns out the tour of campus was just them giving us an hour break to look around for ourselves. I could do that anytime and my flat mates agreed so we decided to ditch (found out orientation is not a requirement). I had other things that I really needed to get done today. Tomorrow's stuff for orientation is nothing important so I am going to be a rebel and skip out. :P Before you get upset mom...the list for tomorrow is CELT (Centre for English Language Teaching (I already speak english...this is irrelevant for me), student fire safety (I believe I can do a good job at not catching anything on fire), chaplaincy (I might go to this part...I think it would be interesting), Accommodation (this part has to do with where we're living...I think it will be boring). The last part of tomorrow's orientation is a shopping trip to abbey centre...as you will see later in today's blog I have been there twice today. So tomorrow is pretty much a skip out on the orientation for me but then I plan on doing parts of Thursday and Friday. On Thursday they will be taking us on a walking trip around Belfast. Then, we will finish around 5pm and go to a local pub to celebrate Arthur's Day. Friday we will be going on a trip to Carrickfergus castle, Andrew Jackson cottage and Carrickfergus museum! Sounds like fun to me!

I DID find out some interesting facts about Northern Ireland today at the Orientation though:
     -  The Titanic was built in Northern Ireland (and actually in Newtownabbey where I'm living). 

     - Northern Ireland has 6 counties...I live in Antrim County
     - There are 2 Universities...University of Ulster (where I am) and Queen's University
     - The DeLorian was manufactured in Belfast, Northern Ireland
     - Liam Neeson is from Northern Ireland
     - They do celebrate halloween...which I did not know!

So like I said...went to the first part of orientation and that went from 9:45 until about 11:45...then I went to the campus bank, Ulster Bank, to get my traveler's checks cashed out for pounds (FINALLY HAVE MONEY)!!! After that I came back to my flat to put some things away and got a taxi to take me to the abbey centre (I've learned it is too far of a walk). At the abbey centre I got a mobile (they don't call them cell phones) and also found a 1 pound store (which is slightly less cool that our dollar stores...because it's the same stuff but costs like 1.7ish dollars if you convert it from pounds). At the one dollar store I found lots of good stuff! I got laundry detergent, a shower curtain, a floor mat for my bathroom, some storage things, a loofa, toilet paper, highlighters, tape, crisps (chips), cereal, milk and candy (had to!). After shopping I came back to my flat from the abbey centre and finally spent some time getting my room fully unpacked. 

This is my cute new little UK mobile. :) The cheapest one they had but I actually really like it! Very different phone number that I doubt I will remember...07926387964 (don't call...just thought I would show how different it is. International is super expensive). Oh! And there is my Excedrin bottle replacement in the background! :)

And here is my no longer boring bathroom. It was all just completely white with a white shower curtain, white sink, white toilet and white walls...now it's pretty. :)

Then, I found out that my flat mates wanted to go back to the abbey centre to get stuff for our kitchen like dishes and pots and pans and go grocery shopping so I went back again with them. When we were in the cab talking two of my flat mates found out that Jessi's mom was Renee's kindergarten teacher. How crazy is that! Anyway...we went back to the 1 pound store for the kitchen stuff. We got silverware, tupperware, napkins, sponges, a pot and a pan, cookie sheet, measuring spoons, a noodle strainer, and probably other stuff that I just can't think of (oh..interesting thing that we learned...you have to be at least 21 to buy knives in Northern Ireland...even butter knives!....Can drink at 18....but can't buy butter knives?). Then we went grocery shopping which took a very long time. It is so hard to shop when every brand seems to be different and they have things we don't have but don't have things that we are used to...and when you spend 10 min looking for the sugar in the baking isle and then finally ask and they show you it's buy the tea (duh..lol). It's really fun that the chips say crisps on them and the cookies say biscuits on them...I mean I know that's what they call them...but it's still fun!

When I got back from my second trip to the abbey centre I got everything put away and then spent some time texting Robert from my email and just hanging out in my room. Oh! I didn't say about what I got at the grocery store...most is just food but I did get some irish tea (I'm really liking that part of Ireland...I love tea!) and a couple movies. I got Life as We Know It and then a three movie dvd that has Revolutionary Road, The Kite Runner and Babel. In Northern Ireland to be able to use your computer to watch things like netflix you have to buy a TV license. I have a thing that explains it and it says, "The Communications Act (2003) says that you have to be covered by a TV Licence to watch television programmes as they're being shown on TV - whether that's on a TV set, a laptop or, well, anything." So I thought, alright, let's buy a TV license...they're 150 pounds! That's almost 300 dollars! I'm not spending 300 dollars to have TV for 3 months so dvds it is. :)

My flat mates have gone out to go to a pub in Belfast. They invited me but unfortunately I turned down the invitation. I don't have anything to wear to go out...and I have nothing to use to do my hair. They were getting very fancy and doing their hair and make up all nice. I have jeans and long sleeve nothing fancy shirts. I didn't even consider wanting to dress up. But it's no big deal. There will be many more nights...I will just need to go buy some fun night out Irish clothes! Also I need to go purchase a straightener and a blow dryer asap! Our program informed us that it would be less expensive to purchase those things here that already have the proper plugs than to buy converters and adapters for ours from home...alot safer too. Makes sense.

So now I'm just hanging out in my room drinking some tea...I'm thinking about grabbing a bowl of cereal because I have the munchies and that sounds delightful. Messaging my mom, Robert and Kay right now and I'm content with life as the title shows. :)

Day 4 in Ireland...100 days til the States.

Of course I did a count down to see today...that won't really surprise anyone who knows me and my fixation on having countdowns for everything. :P

So...yesterday started out on a good note and ended on a bad note. Today was the opposite. I am so incredibly glad that I saved that pack of fruit snacks from last night for breakfast...I would have saved everything from my goodie bag if I would have known how today was going to go. I woke up this morning and ate the fruit snacks and drank some water from my Excedrin cup and also chatted with Kay since it was midnight for her when I woke up and she was still awake (fyi...anyone who has texting and wants to chat I can...all you have to do is text my email address, audra.mcdaniel@email.wsu.edu, and I can reply to the message and it will go to you as a text...pretty nifty if you ask me!) and that was about my whole morning.

I found out that there was a small grocery store type thing right next to my building and so I went in there to buy some food for myself for a little more breakfast and the rest of the day. I went through and found some different things and got up to the counter and the lady informed me that they don't take cards...only cash (I still have no cash at this point). So, I asked her where the campus bank is and she told me directions and I headed that way, I can't open a bank account until I register for classes but I could still change over the traveler's checks I have to pounds and go buy those groceries. So I walked up campus to the bank to find that it isn't open on Monday's. No food for me. I got excited at one point when I remembered you could order pizza online (as I don't have a phone yet either)...but then when I started to and got to the part where you still have to put in a phone number for them to call you when they get there I realized that wasn't going to work either. At this point it was around 3 o'clock and I was very frustrated and very hungry. And then I met my flat mates.

First one I met was a girl named Jessi. She is in the room right next to me and is from North Carolina and has a fun southern accent. (Even though I'm living with people from the states...I still get to here an accent of a sort tee hee). We talked for a bit and she is very nice. She has a cell phone and so we ordered a pizza together and shared it. YAY FOOD! :) I also have two other flat mates. Rachel is from New Jersey and Renee is from Texas, we all seem to get along pretty well having just met each other and they all seem to be very nice. More travel plans starting with them for the prospects of Spain and Italy as some chosen destinations. We also came up with the plan to have at least one night a week that we have dinner together in our kitchen that we all help make. :)

Tomorrow is my first day of orientation at the university. The international program at the university is putting on the orientation for all the international students to help us get to know campus and eachother. My flat mates and I are going to head to it together in the morning. It starts at 9:45 and right now it's one in the morning so I better get to bed!

IFSA Orientation in Dublin (Didn't have internet...copies from my journal).

Friday Night September 16th
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My day of travelling ended up a success. My mom dropped me off at the SeaTac Airport at around one, which gave me plenty of time to get through security, find my gate and have time to get a snack before boarding at 3:00pm. (I didn't even have to do the body scan!) That flight was about 2.5 hours long. It didn't seem like it took that long even because I sat with two people who were good at keeping up conversation. The man was a Seattle Police Officer and he recognized Robert's brother-in-law Eric's name (he is also a Seattle Police Officer). He is also a former coug and that is where a lot of our talking stemed from...he was headed to San Diego to see the coug's football game (too bad we ended up losing...).

The first flight landed me in San Diego. It went as smoothly as I thought it could have gone in the airport. Once again had plenty of time for security and snacks prior to boarding the plane. (And once again did not have to succumb to the body scan). I couldn't have asked for a better 10 hour plane ride. The seats were 3 across and I sat by the window, a lady sat in the isle seat and our middle seat was empty! We were both able to be very comfortable and I would say I was easily only awake for an hour of the whole trip! (Also...small thing that made me giggle...the pilot's name was Benjamin Franklin).

However, next comes Heathrow airport which is where I had issues. We got off the plane at 3:30 from San Diego and my next flight left for Belfast at 5, which meant the gate is supposed to close at 4:30. This gave me an hour to go to baggage claim, find my bag, go through immigration, recheck my bag, and get through security and to my gate. So to start off, every place I had to walk to was practically the farthest from where I was. By the time I got to where I had to check my bag they told me I couldn't check anything this late. When I finally got them to check it, it was 4:35...fine min after when my ticket says they close the gate. So then at security I was asked to step aside for a random body scan (either to make up for the two I was able to skip over...or my nervous look at possibly missing my plane made me look suspicious). They did that and they had to then find a girl TSA because then they decided they needed to do a pat down (I'm wearing sweats, not sure why they needed a pat down after the body scan). I ended up practically running to my gate and thankfully everything worked out and I was able to make the flight. I was a little disappointed at first by my seat (the middle seat) but I wasn't even awake long enought to see us take off, and our landing is what woke me up so I guess it didn't matter where I was sitting. :P

The plan was that I was getting to Northern Ireland a night early. So my parents booked me a night at the same hotel I would spend a couple more nights at in Belfast for my programs orientation. I knew I needed to get a taxi to the hotel, so when I got off the plane and got my luggage I went to stand in line at ingformation to ask about a taxi. While I was standing in line a man came up to me with a paper with my name on it. Very confused I asked how he knew to get me and who set it up. He informed me that he set it up and introduced himself as one of the IFSA staff. They had changed plans and instead of staying in Belfast, Northern Ireland he would be taking me to Dublin, Ireland to do orientation with the 3 students going abroad at the Trinity College in Dublin since apparently I am the onlly Jordanstown University of Ulster abroad student for IFSA this semester. (They didn't think it strange not to tell me any of this)?

But whatever! I'm in Dublin, Ireland tonight staying at the O'Callaghan Monte Clare Htoel. I got here and spent about half hour in the dark trying to figure out how to turn my lights on (felt like it would be too rediculous of a thing to call the front desk for in my opinion). Turns out this is how they work...

You have to take the key card that you use to open your hotel room and stick it in this little slot. I'm actually kind of impressed that I figured this out on my own...really?!?! Never seen anything like it.

So I went down to the front counter to ask where the closest place to get something to eat was and the lady at the front desk ordered me in a pepperoni pizza from downtown. (When she asked me for my credit card to pay for it she just read it out loud in the lobby of the hotel to the pizza place...something that wouldn't happen in the states). I didn't even think about the fact that I wasn't in America anymore until the pizza arrived. It looked very similar to any pizza I'd had before just with a very thin and quite dry crust. It didn't taste like normal pepperoni and overall the whole thing reminded me of how spaghetti-o's taste. I ate the whole thing (and whish I'd ordered bigger than a small) and now I'm settling down with a cup of tea and getting ready to go ninight. Alarm is set for 9 so even though I slept most of my flights and am not really tired I have to sleep!

Saturday Morning September 17th
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I may have thought I wasn't tired because I slept most of my flights but I don't even think I remember my head hitting the pillow last night! I slept like a rock until my alarm went off this morning. I just got done having breakfast in the hotel which was bangers (sausage) and scrambled eggs with a banana and break and jam. It was very tasty! Now I am back in my hotel room with a little less than an hour to get dressed and ready for my first day of orientation. This is what my schedule for today says:
          11:00am - Meet in the hotel lobby and walk to our office (IFSA).
          11:15am - Welcome to Ireland. We will discuss some of the major cultural differences between Ireland and the U.S.
          11:30am - Academic Talk. Tim will discuss the best ways to navigate the differences between the Irish and US academic systems.
          12:15pm - Student Services meeting with Geoff and Maria.
          1:15pm - Lunch in The Blarney Inn on Nassau Street.
          2:30pm - Safety talk with Garda Paula Moran, a member of the Garda Siochana (Irish Police Force).
          3:15pm - We will bring you for a self-guided tour of The Guinness Storehouse, the home of Guinness.
          Following this talk you are free for the remainder of the afternoon. If you need any suggestions on what to do, please don't hesitate to ask us.

Saturday Night September 17th
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After a very loooong day, I am finally back to my room for the night after taking a taxi back from the other IFSA students apartments in Dublin (they had the option of moving in today so they did). Today was a lot of fun, the group of us get along really well and had a great day! We started off this morning by finishing watching a really important game of Rugby for Dublin. Maria was at the hotel to pick us up, but the game was on in the lounge and she wanted to finish the last couple minutes so we did before heading off. It was really funny because it was me, Catherine, Jess and Maria and 3 guys and 1 woman watching the game and every time something good happened for Dublin it sounded like there could have been 50 people cheering in that room! Dublin ended up winning! So to introduce those names I mentioned...Maria is another IFSA staff just like Tim and Catherine and Jess are two of the girls studying at Trinity. Catherine came here from Massachusetts and Jess from New Orleans. They are both very nice! We then walked to the IFSA office with Maria and that is where we met the other student, Matt and he is here from D.C. There is also a girl from South Korea who is pretty much studying at Trinity on her own but is partly using IFSA butler...I didn't really understand but I think she is just with IFSA butler to do her housing while she is here. She is very sweet though.

At the office we did the first couple things on the schedule I posted which were pretty much just good information to have. No need to really retype any of it...it wasn't much that I didn't already expect. But after we talked we went out to lunch at The Blarney Inn and I had the Irish Stew with brown bread and it was very good. The stew had potatoes, lamb, carrots, celery and onions in a broth and it was very tasty. After we went to lunch Maria and Geoff took us to the Guinness Storehouse and gave us maps and told us to find our way back after the tour! The tour was pretty interesting...it explained how they make Guinness and a lot of the history behind it. Your ticket for the tour gets you either a free chance to learn to pour your own glass of Guinness or a free pint of Guinness on the top floor in their Gravity Bar that has mirror walls with a 360 view of Dublin. We did the pints up in the Gravity Bar. Matt finished mine off (which was all but the one drink I took) because I kinda thought it tasted like shoe. :P But I already knew that I wasn't a beer drinker.

We got a bit lost trying to figure out where to go to get back...but Irish people are incredibly nice and very willing to help if you just ask. I forgot to mention that by this point we moved the others stuff into their apartments in Dublin. So we were trying to find our way back to their apartments and not the hotel. When we got back to their apartments we decided it was time for dinner so we went out in search of a restaurant. We ended up going to a place called The Village and I ordered the homemade Lasagna and Chips which was very good! Irish lasagna more tastes like meatloaf with noodles because they use way less sauce than Americans but it was still really good food. It had a lot of cheese on top too which always makes things better.

After dinner we went back to their apartments and hung out chatting for a bit and around midnight I got a taxi back to my hotel which is where I am now. I'm chatting with people on email...and I'm completely not tired which is a problem but hopefully I will get some sleep.

On a side note the only people who have laughed at how I talk have been the other Americans that I am with which is pretty funny. I'm the only one from the West Coast and so they looked at me very funny when I said "pop" and informed me that it was "soda." Then, one time I said "hella" and they told me that they either use "wicked" or "mad." Just thought that was really funny.

Sunday morning but still Saturday Night Really Late September 17th/18th
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So...it's 6am and I haven't been able to fall asleep all night and have my alarm set for 8am. Still not on Ireland time I'm afraid. I'm going to regret not being able to sleep but I am beyond wide awake. Hopefully that will make me really tired tomorrow night and I can get closer to the right sleep schedule. I still have a week before my classes start so that's good.

Sunday Night September 18th
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Today wasn't a good day. It was definitely my first "I'm freaking out because I'm really far away and just want to go home" day. Well, the first part of it was fine. I had breakfast in the hotel again and had rice crispies with a banana in it. I also tried the black and white pudding which is a very common thing in Ireland. Look it up...you will be amazed that I tried it...knowing full well what it was. But really it didn't taste that bad. The white pudding I would explain as tasting and having the same texture as a vegetarian chicken nugget. The black pudding tasted very similar but had a different texture. It was a lot more dense and kind of reminded me of the texture of liver a little?

After breakfast Maria met me in the lobby and Geoff met the others at their apartments and then they brought us to where we got on the Viking Splash tour. Pretty much the same thing as the Tour the Ducks in Seattle but you wear viking hats and going around Ireland yelling YYYAAARRRRRR at people. Pretty fun. Saw some cool stuff and learned some cool things.

The best part by far of the tour was the guide. He was so funny. He told us so many people take his picture that he thinks he must look like Beyonce.

After the tour the others got to do a Food, Cooking and Health thing with a lady named Jess Keane, a nutritionist and cook. She was giving them some guidance on cooking for yourself and keeping healthy while you are in Ireland. She also was going to show them how to prepare some simple and nutritious meals and then go out to lunch. When I thought I got to go I was really quite excited about it...but then Tim informed me that we would need to do an earlier lunch and head off to Newtownabbey and get me checked in to my dorm.

So after the Viking tour we headed up North around 12:30. It takes about two and a half hours to get to my place from Dublin (wait...where's my lunch? yeah...apparently Tim forgot). Then, we got here and he helped me get my keys to my place and then just left me! The others staying in Dublin got an entire weekend of introduction to their town and a map and tours of everything. I got dropped off, given my keys and I was on my own. I didn't have bed stuff or even toilet paper and they advised us not to go out on our own but I didn't have a choice because I have no one. I'm the only one moved in to my flat even. I walked to the AbbeyCentre to buy bedding because someone told me it was close. I walked straight there without a problem finding it...spent no more than 15 minutes in the store...and walked straight back and it took me from 3:50 and I didn't make it back until 6:15! I would NOT say that is close. On top of just walking that far...on the way back I was carrying a blanket, a duvet, a sheet set and a pillow. I'm sore...I'm lonely...I haven't eaten since breakfast...I'm going on 1.5 hours of sleep from the night before...and I'm using the wet wipes my mom bought me as toilet paper because I didn't want to spend the time to find a store with toilet paper and not make it back to my place before it got dark. On a slightly funnier note (because I...probably unlike you...don't find the toilet paper situation to be funny) am using my emptied out Excedrin bottle as my water cup because our kitchen is apparently not stocked. But I'm hoping that this means that with how bad today has been...it can only get better from here.

I guess I could tell you about my place...first if anyone is curious this is my address:
                    Audra McDaniel
                    Room No. 13.3.1 University of Ulster
                    Jordanstown, NEWTOWNABBEY
                    Co Antrim, Northern Ireland BT37 0QZ

It's pretty much a hall of single dorm rooms and we share a common area that has some couches and a table and a full kitchen (minus any dishes) so it has a fridge, stove, oven, microwave, sink, cupboards and counters. My room isn't very big but it doesn't really need to be. It has a bed, cove to put clothes in with two shelves and a hanger wrack. Desk, chair, lamp and shelving for books and such. I also have my own bathroom in my room with just a toilet sink and standup shower. The best part about my room is the view.

That water is the Belfast Lough and across from it you can see more of Northern Ireland.

We had goodie boxes waiting for us in our common room so I got something (sort of) for dinner. Dinner consisted of a little bag of ritz crackers, a little bag of kellog's krave's which are these little crispy cereal shells with chocolate in the middle and they also gave us a little bag of fruit snacks that I'm saving for the morning.

Ten More Days!!!

I've told a few people that I would make a blog to keep them updated on what I'm up to while I'm gone and I'm just getting it set up. I'm down to the ten day count down and I'm getting pretty excited/nervous/anxious all at the same time. I'm almost completely ready to go...all I have left is to buy some essentials like more toothpaste and hair stuff (just incase they don't have the same stuff over seas...those are two things I don't feel like changing) and a few more goodbyes.

My flights are as follows:
Departure - Sept 15th @ 3:30pm from Sea-Tac
Arrival - Sept 15th @ 6:06pm in San Diego

Departure - Sept 15th @ 8:05pm from San Diego
Arrival - Sept 15th @ 2:25pm (6:25am US time) in London/Heathrow

Departure - Sept 16th @ 4:00pm (8:00am US time) from London/Heathrow
Arrival - Sept 16th @ 5:20pm (9:20am US time) in Belfast, Northern Ireland!!!!!!

From what I know at this point I will be getting to Belfast a day earlier than I have to be there. So, I have a hotel room booked for the night of the 16th and will meet up with someone (or multiple someones) from IFSA-Butler (the program I'm studying abroad through) and I'm guessing some other students traveling abroad to the same university as me at the same hotel I'm staying at around 1:00pm (5:00am US time) on the 17th. We are staying at that hotel for a couple days to go through IFSA-Butler's orientation and then heading to the University of Ulster - Jordanstown campus in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland to move in to where I will be living for the next couple of months! I don't start classes until Sept 26th so I will have a little over a week to get situated.

I don't know my address yet but as soon as I do I will let everyone know. I know that I will be staying in the university's idea of dorm rooms which is more like an apartment with 5-6 people. I will be taking 3 classes while abroad, not signed up for anything specific yet but I know that I will be trying to take a sociology class, a political science class, and a management/leadership class.

This blog is early, like I said, just trying to figure out the thing and let you know what's coming!