Galway Girl

Headed to Galway October 9th for the weekend  with Vanessa, Feli, Marie, Caterina, Irene, Denise, Julian and Jeff. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and there were seven of us in one room. Quite the experience. I suggest using hostel world to find hostels, then calling them up yourself. We got a good deal, one night stay + full day tour for 30 euro. Saw the Cliffs of Moher, again, St. Gale's Cathedral, and the beautiful town of Galway.  Almost got kidnapped by a Scotsman wanting an American girl for ransom, sadly it was not Gerard Butler. Doesn't he know we're in a recession as well? And speaking of Scotsmen, great song starring my favorite fake Irishman, Galway Girl - Steve Earle. Above is Michaela (she's from Germany attending NUI Galway as a ta), me and Denise at the Kings Head. Took us out to a nice pub with great rock music. Below is a picture from the hostel.

Here are the rest of the photos from the trip: Gorilla Marketing

Volunteering

Getting involved by volunteering was definitely something I wanted to try while here. It was easy enough to join as well. This particular day we did some gardening with a few of the kids at the community college (not to be confused with an American 'community college', the students were about 13-15 yrs old). They didn't do too much work though, just "supervised". It was fun enough, got a free lunch, and met some of the locals. Here is a link to our work being feautured on TCD's website: Trinity News, photo courtesy of MUAH. Also, here's the before and after. The kids get to do the planting.

Oktoberfest

Traditionally Oktoberfest is held in Munich, Germany but it's celebrated in many other cities. Yesterday I went and celebrated with friends from school. We got there early, only to use the bathroom in the mall and then realized there was a one hour line to get back in... yes we aren't the brightest ones. It was still so much fun! Nice beer, yummy treats, and great music!

Arrival

I arrived in Dublin on September 6th. It was cold, wet, and rainy.. as expected. Kathleen, my host mom, picked me up and it was a 15 minute ride to Malahide. I slept the rest of the day because I was soooo tired. Three 14 year old Italian girls from Venice are also staying with the family for 2 weeks studying at an English learning school.. After much searching for an apartment, I've decided to stay with my host family for the rest of the term. They're absolutely amazing people, and the food is great.

Malahide is beautiful with the long walks on the beach and Malahide Castle.  I take the train into Dublin which is about 20 minutes. It's a nice suburb of Dublin. Kathleen and her family have lived there for about 8 years, and before that they lived in Tokyo.

I met friends that are going to Trinity through facebook. They're from Spain, Italy, Germany, and California. We all went out to Temple Bar in Dublin for my 21st Birthday! We had a great time, also consisted of 7 Irish Boys singing happy birthday to me ;]

Orientation starts on Monday and classes don't start for another week, but I can't wait to get into a routine!
Tips: Look on daft for apartments/house shares. Set up your bank account ASAP (go with AIB, they offer a free student travel card and snacks, I got a can of tuna fish!? haha) Penny's is a great and very cheap store to buy clothing and shoes. I got a nice pair of shoes for 7 euro! Use google talk/google voice to call home, it's COMPLETELY free and you can call mobiles/landlines (haha I said mobile). Also, use the UF VPN client if you want to listen to pandora of watch shows on hulu. Cheers!

I have a facebook album of pictures you can see here.

Accepted!

I've been accepted to Trinity College under the Trans Atlantic Science Student Exchange Program. I was also awarded the Gilman Scholarship! Trinity took about 2 months to reply, I was really scared! I was probably one of the last students accepted because I was so late turning in my forms! It's that Irish in me - though,  I don't suggest you do this, or give them that excuse either. 

So I booked my flight on Aerlingus.com for $711. Five days later wachovia is charging me an extra $25 international fee, when I paid is USD! Apparently there is a 3% fee on all foreign transactions, no matter what the currency.

I am going to be staying with a host family that I found on homestayweb.com

Tips:
Book as early as possible
Try Orbitz/Hotwire to avoid foreign transaction fees
Check with your credit/debit bank co. about their outrageous extra fees

A Bumpy Road

This is my first blog entry, and I hope it won't be my last! After much confusion with applying to a scholarship program that will hopefully partially fund my study abroad experience, the application has finally been completed! Now all that is left, is to be accepted to the program! In the mean time I will keep my eyes open for Utrecht University in the Netherlands.  (Picture to the right is Trinity, and below is Utrecht... really can't go wrong with either!)