update!

Helloooo all,

Ok so I haven't updated in awhile because nothing terribly earth shattering has occurred but I will do my best to come up with something interesting to say.

I think it's safe to say that at this point we all know the city pretty well. At least our area of it. We walk pretty much everywhere which will hopefully abate the beer weight to some extent. I'm starting to get into a running schedule finally. I never used to run outside but I like it a lot. There's a lot to look at here obviously so it makes the run go by pretty quick.

On Tuesday I had to make myself legit in the country of Ireland. I walked like 30 minutes to the Garda office to register myself with immigration. I didn't need to buy a visa because I'm staying less than six months, but I did need to pay some bullshit 150 euro fee. It was much like an experience with the DMV, except a little bit more pleasant because the Irish are generally always more pleasant. In that vein - today Ainsley and I went to have lunch at this place we've gone to a few times so the owner has started to recognize us. He looks like guy Victor Lang from Desperate Housewives/whatever his name is in Mad Men - pretty good looking for an old dude. I ordered soup which was a little different from what I thought it was going to be so I didn't finish it so when I paid he said "You didn't like the soup, did you? I'm only going to charge you half the price because I feel bad. If you ever don't like something, bring it back no questions asked we'll give you something else." Could you imagine that happening at home? Me either. Hot older dude and nice, pretty sweet. But the soup was served with Irish soda bread, which is bangin no matter what the quality of the soup it accompanies.

Anyway, Wednesday has started to become my favorite night of the week. We all don't have class until four on Thursday so we go extra hard. We wanted to try out the College Bar. Thats right, a bar, on campus, supported by the university. Blows my mind. We had lunch in there the other day and there was some cat just drinkin' a beer, on campus in the middle of the day. It's so different here. Anywho, it was a little bit quiet, even though we heard that it was bumpin on a Wednesday so after a few cheap pints we left to go back to town. Where we live is about a 25 minute walk from campus so Eileen, Ainsley and I decided, in a fairly shitfaced state, to make the trip more interested by belting out Katie Perry's "Firework". Good times. Until Ainsley tripped and literally dragged us down like dominoes on the slippery path that hugs the river. It was hysterical. They love Katie Perry. And Rhianna, Kings of Leon and The Killers. It's comical. We went to Monroes and ended up at Quays as usual. I lost a little sweater which I'm fairly disappointed about, but whatever. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but alcohol in Ireland doesn't have preservatives - so I NEVER FEEL HUNGOVER. Like literally never. I'm getting spoiled here.

Other than that, I'm settling into classes and getting into the grove of a life that doesn't include 12 hours of school work a day. It's nice to have lots of free time, but a control freak like me sort of needs to be doing something all the time. I'm working on being able to actually relax.

I can't imagine leaving here. I'm forcing myself to just focus on every day at a time because looking into the future just terrifies me. It's a new thing I'm trying, I'll let you know how it goes.

We booked our first trip! We're headed to Brussels and Amsterdam February 3-6th. First of many trips, I hope.

Love and miss you all quite a lot. Please anyone who is even sort of thinking of maybe visiting, let me know. I can't imagine how happy I would be if all of you were here =).

Good luck to the Hawks this week in all the Big 5 games. I'm following from thousands of miles away. Git at it Boosters, miss you!

Love,
Kel