=)

Helllooo,

So the first week of classes are done. I'm definitely starting to get the hang of it here. Classes are really different - no structure AT ALL, so I'm a little lost and confused without PowerPoints, but I think we'll be okay. I haven't written in two days, so I'll fill you in on the details...

Wednesday night we went to this placed called the Roisin Dubh. It's not pronounced that way at all and I absolutely hate saying the name because I know it's wrong. At home with all of you, I'm considered really Irish - not so much here, I'm a complete poser. But we all don't have class until 4 on Thursdays, so Wednesday nights are going to be a bit of shit show. Ok wait I lied, we started at the Quays (you can see how hard I pregamed). There, we ran into that semi-creepy Canadian guy named Steven. Now those of you who know me well know that when I'm really drunk, I get quiet. So I was sitting in my seat observing, but as soon as I saw Steven I immediately turned my head, leaving poor Ainsley to deal with him. Which I suppose at first she did not mind because he has information on her soon to be Irish lover. His name is Gabriel, but we call him Declan because thats what the Irish mens names are in all of our fantasies. What does he do, you ask? He's in advertising. Okay okay, back story: in Galway a very popular form of advertising is to stand along the road with these huge signs pointing the pedestrians to their place of business. Most times it's a restaurant or a clothing store. Shop Street in Galway is for pedestrians only, so these sign holders are pretty visible. So one of the first days we were here we passed an incredibly sexy guy holding a sign for a Chinese place. It was love at first sign for Ainsley. The we continued to walk past him about 5 or 6 times, blatantly staring and laughing, causing him to stare and laugh - without any words being exchanged. Turns out Steven knows the dude, because he was an actor in Canada...? Seriously I don't want to know about him, but it would be nice to know about Declan with the sign. But anyway Steven left soon enough and THEN we went to the bar whose name I cannot pronounce. That was a blast and we ran into a bunch of different groups of Irish kids who we've met so far. There was lots of dancing and of course we all freaked out every time the band played an American song. It's funny, I always identified myself at home as being Irish and while taking pride in my American nationality, never really thought much about it since I was among Americans all the time. Here, I'm reppin the U.S.A (when appropriate) as much as possible. Being away from home, as much as I'm freakin in love with his place, as made me realize how much I do love where I come from. But it was such a fun night with everyone dancing and drinking and just completely letting loose. Definitely one of my favorite nights here so far.

Thursday we went to an international students society meeting. It's gonna be awesome because the society plans trips for us around Ireland, so we don't have to plan them ourselves. I also think that we get relatively discounted prices as the school has an account for the society. They also plan parties and nights out for us - pretty sweet. So after that we had to wait until four for our class, so we sat around in the cafe drinking Starbucks. Then Molly got a text. Okay, I don't know if it's just this kid, or all Irish people, but they text HYSTERICALLY. Like crazy words and phrases. Things like "hold her tight and keep her steady!" and "so what's the craic skin?" and my personal favorite "until then I'm (insert name here) and you've been...fantastic!". For those of you, probably all of you, who don't know what "craic" means, it's like a reeeaally good time in Gaelic. We laughed so hard for like an hour, then went to class. After that I may or may not have hung out with the aforementioned really freakin cute Irish boy, walking around Galway and getting to know a pretty cool person =). He had never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Aaand since it's all I actually eat in my apartment, I quickly rectified that situation. I'm starting to miss random American foods that they don't have like graham crackers, pretzels, marshmallow fluff and 5 gum. Well worth missing out on them though =).

Anywho, I am now lying on the couch, praying to the sweet infant baby Jesus that my wash turns out okay and defrosting the fifth of vodka I bought yesterday (apparently Irish vodka freezes? Who knew). I think we're going to Connemara tomorrow. It's a touristy spot I think but sure to be beautiful. I'm excited to see more of the area around here, since last time I was here I saw mainly the south east and west. But anyway, I'm finally settling in and so happy to be here. Miss you all and wish you were here!

Love you,
Kel