Baby It's The Weekend I'm About To Have Me Some Fun

Hey everybody. Three weeks down. Weeks are turning into days over here. Crazy.

I finally got my debit card and credit card. It was cutting it close there for a while, but all is good money wise…at least for the time being.

We’ve been pretty busy this past week with school work. Sunday was homework and then most of us went out to the pub. I met some guys from the Woodworking College in Letterfrack. They seemed like really cool guys so I’m sure we’ll run into them again. I found out that they serve coffee at both pubs. SCORE. Even though it’s not nearly as good as anything back home, I’ll take what I can get.

Monday we were supposed to hike Diamond Mountain, but the weather was kind of iffy. It has changed from sunny all day every day to cloudy and windy for the most part with some rain. Traditional Irish weather. Instead, we went for a walk around Tully Mountain, the mountain that we will all hike Easter Morning. Then, some of the guys and I decided to head to Letterfrack for something to eat. We made our way back toward Tully Cross and worked on homework for the night.

Tuesday we worked on homework for most of the day and had our Lit class. We finished reading The Tain; it’s Ireland’s epic. After that I spent the night in and watched some Scrubs and called it a night.

Wednesday we learned that there was a Disco at Sammons. So I spent most of the day working on homework so I could head out to the Disco later on. Before the pub, we had our culture class and we learned about the north for our trip next week. After that we went to the pub, where the DJ kept shouting “Aquinas 2011 put your hands in the air!” It was humorous. He tried to play the American National Anthem, but it didn’t work. So then he tried to play the Glee Version of Don’t Stop Believing, which also didn’t work. So we got the Journey Version. Overall it was a good night. We ran into the guys from the Woodworking College there too. Might have a place to watch the Super Bowl with them, hopefully.

Thursday was spent reliving the night before and getting reading done for our History Class that evening. The rest of the night was relaxing as we were getting ready to head to Galway the next morning.

Friday we woke up at 6:30 in order to walk to Letterfrack by 7:30. At 7:34, the school bus drove by and picked all of us up. BEST MORNING EVER. We got on the bus to Galway and were off on our adventure. We arrived in Galway and worked on getting Mike a phone, which still doesn’t seem to be working. Whoops. After we got the phone we found a restaurant called Couch Potato. It was so delicious, think of it like twice baked potatoes but with anything that you wanted in them. It was the biggest meal I’ve had so far since being here. After that we wandered around for a while. I found a Starbucks in the Galway University Cafeteria. Best Discovery Ever. Got myself a Mocha. Yum.

After that we headed to our hostel and rested for the night ahead. Some people weren’t feeling too well so some ended up staying in, but most of us made it to a pub to start off the night. We hopped to various pubs and clubs. The nightlife in Galway is a lot of fun, I can definitely see us heading back there sometime soon. Hannah and I went to the SuperMac afterward, the Irish version of McDonalds. We finally made our way back to the hostel, which was an interesting experience. Definitely a good way to break us all in for our Spring Break trips, but maybe next time we’ll get some private rooms.

Saturday we made our way back to Tully Cross. Once we were back I slept for four hours and woke up just in time for dinner. Our cottage went over to cottage six and played cards for the rest of the night and called it good.

Today will probably be uneventful. We went to church this morning and some of us are about to grab lunch at Sammons. Then we are all packing for the north. We leave tomorrow morning around 10 to go to the Inch House. I’m excited.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Pictures next time!

Peace. Love. Ireland.

Rob

Weekend Update

This is Weekend Update with...Rob Abid? Yeah yeah, I'm no Seth Meyers.

I can't believe it’s been two weeks! Unbelievable.

This past weekend was a much needed weekend for all of us. We finished with class for the week on Thursday. I’m not sure if any of us have done as much studying in our college careers as we did this past week. The amount of time we have on our hands is unreal.

Thursday night the guys in my cottage and I hung out with Brittany and Hannah and played some games and shared some stories. I’m learning a lot about these guys. Haha. It was a good, relaxing evening.

Friday during the day, the hiking class went for a hike down near Kylemore Abbey. It was at least a six mile hike round trip. There was a mountain across the road from Kylemore Abbey that we went up. Three guys made it all the way to the top, I stopped about ¾ of the way of and enjoyed the view. It was so peaceful. I loved it.

That night was a birthday party for one of the bartenders across the street. Basically, everyone in Tully was at the pub. Before we went out, we all met up at cottage six and started our night off right. Then, Ken and I visited Dr. Dawson for a little while and eventually made our way back to our cottage where the party had moved. We had a few more drinks and finally made our way to the pub. The students were the only ones dancing on the dance floor. I’m sure the locals got sick of us crowding the floor. Haha. After that, I helped Kenny back to our cottage where Hannah and I attempted to take care of him. It was a sight, if only I had video footage.

Saturday was spent reliving Friday night for the most part. I went into Letterfrack for groceries and all of the students had a potluck dinner in cottage six. We also invited another American student, Emma, from New York who is staying in Clifden by herself. She’s here studying as well, so I’m sure that we will be seeing her and hanging out with her often. After the potluck, it became a game night in the cottage and then some people went out to the pub.

Today has been spent mostly doing homework. Tonight will be another night out at the pub; it’s a bachelor and bachelorette party tonight. Whoot whoot.

The weekend has been gorgeous, all sun all day. I know that by bragging about it, I’m going to curse us for the rest of the trip, but I don’t care right now. This weather is awesome and the next week is supposed to be pretty nice as well. Tomorrow we are hiking Diamond Mountain. I can’t wait. I’ll definitely have pictures of that. The rest of this week will be spent on homework I’m sure. Friday is Gretchen’s birthday, one of the AQ students, so we are all heading to Galway this weekend for her birthday and then we head up to the north for next week. A couple of weeks after that is our Spring Break.

Here are some pictures for you guys of the past few days.

The view from the top of the mountain near Kylemore Abbey.

We saw a rainbow outside the other day. Right in our back yard. Best way to wake up.

I'll have more last this week!

Peace. Love. Ireland.

-Rob

Sunny Days Sweeping The Clouds Away

What up people? I hear that Michigan is getting hit from every direction by mother nature right now. That’s sad. It’s been sunny here for the past three days and it looks like it will be sunny with little chance of rain for the next 5 or so days. Just so you guys know. J

The past few days have been low key. Not a whole lot to report. As I said before, Sunday evening was the official welcome dinner/party. I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten so much food in my life. Lots of mashed potatoes, (as there should be), and some other good eats. There were so many left overs too, which the students got to take back to the study cottage and have again the next night. Two free dinners, SCORE! After the dinner, it became the party, where too much fun was had and too many drinks were served. I met some more locals, taught a few people how to swing dance to some traditional Irish music, Brittany sang the songs she did at AQ Idol last year, and the rest of the night is history.

Monday I took a walk down to the beach and sat there for an hour. I’ve found that walk to be extremely relaxing and a good way to simply think. Like I said, the weather has been gorgeous here lately, so it really is a nice place to go and sit. I came back and read for the rest of the day for the most part. I think this is the most studious I’ve been in my college career, ever.

Tuesday the group walked to Letterfrack together. It took us about 45-50 minutes to walk the three miles. It’s the nearest town and has an ATM, and has a bigger grocery store, so I’m sure that I’ll be walking there a lot too. We toured the Wood Working School in Letterfrack. It’s a college for students who are going into carpentry. A lot of the students come to the Pubs in Tully Cross so we’ll see them a lot.

After that we got a tour of the community projects that are taking place in Letterfrack. Part of Connemara West, the area that we are staying in, is that there is a drive for community projects. The cottages we are living in were a community project for example. Another project is the radio station in Letterfrack, which we can volunteer at if we want. I’m going to look into that.

Tuesday night we went to a concert in Clifden, composed of Traditional Irish music. It was way different than anything I’m used to, but I enjoyed it. The flutes and violin together with the guitar sounded awesome, and the lead had a great voice. After the concert we went back to the cottages, continued to read and hit the hay.

Yesterday was spent working on last minute homework and in our history class. Today, we saw one of the nearby schools perform a show for us including Irish Music, Irish Dance, and an Irish play about a fishing tragedy in 1927.

Not too much else is happening until this weekend. There’s a birthday party on Friday at one of the pubs and a lot of people are thinking about heading to Galway Saturday to Sunday. Should be a good time. There's a baked potato restaurant in Galway which is supposed to be really good, so I want to check that out.

I'll have more pictures next time!

Peace, Love, Ireland.

-Rob

The First Week

I’ve been here one week already. Woah.

It’s not quite real yet that I’ve been here for that long, or that I’m here at all, ya know?

The past few days have been interesting to say the least.

On Thursday we started classes as I said before in the last post. I was VERY mistaken when I thought it would be an easy day. We have a lot of reading to get done this week, and this semester in general. Good thing I’m a History and Literature person!

Thursday was also the first day of our hiking class. We hiked back down to the beach where my roommates and I went earlier that morning. That class will definitely help me work off the Guinness from the pubs. We are planning to hike Diamond Mountain soon I think. I can’t wait. That’s going to be awesome. It’s a legit hike and when you get to the top, the view is supposed to be spectacular. I know I’ll be hiking that more than once.

Thursday night was pretty low-key. Most of us are realizing that our bodies are going to start hating us (and our wallets) if we keep going out at night, so we had a game night in Cottage Six, which was pretty interesting.

Friday we did a walking tour of the Renvyle Peninsula (the area where Tully Cross is located) with Dave Hogan, an Irish Professor. For the AQ people, think of him as Professor Biedeman basically. He knew EVERYTHING there is to know about the land surrounding us. I was really impressed; the way he respected the land and the way that all of the Irish seem to respect the land reminds me of how Native Americans respect the land in America.

After that, a lot of my time was spent on homework so I could head out to the pubs with everyone that night. I just want to say how thankful I am that I’m a guy, and not a girl here. All of the Irish men are hitting on all of the girls which is funny for the guys to watch, but I can’t imagine it’s too fun for the girls. I ended up being people’s “fake boyfriend” that night and saving them from awkward situations. Dr. Dawson had a “How To Say No To Irish Men” talk with them the following morning.

Saturday was spent quickly doing homework that was due that day and heading to class. Yeah, we had class on Saturday…Whatever. The History is actually really interesting. We’re learning about the Easter Uprising right now, and the Literature we are studying is surrounding that period as well. It was the time in 1916 that the Irish decided to Rise Up against the British Rule while the British were in the midst of World War I. The Uprising lasted only six days and the Irish were unsuccessful, but it gave the country a sense of unity and nationalism, which is what Ireland had been in need of for a while.

Anyway, enough with academics. I just wanted to prove that I’m learning something other than the Pub Life. The rest of the day was spent doing some more reading and watching some movies with some of my classmates. It’s now Sunday and we went to church across the street. The mass was interesting; there was no music included in the mass, and it was the fastest mass I’ve ever been to. Started at 11, was done at 11:30. Not too shabby. After that we had brunch with the girls next door. They have been helping to feed us and make sure we have a decent diet going.

After brunch, Ken, Jake, Beth, Brit, Hannah and I went down to the soccer field behind our cottage and played soccer. It was so wet, but a lot of fun. I officially realized I have lost a lot of whatever athletic abilities I once had. We’re hoping to make that a Sunday tradition, rain or shine.

Tonight is the official “Welcome” dinner from the Tully Cross community to the Aquinas program. They are serving us dinner which I’m super excited about since the food in our cottage sucks. We’ve been living off of pasta and grilled cheese. After the dinner, it becomes a party for the whole community so we’ll get to meet more people and basically just have a good ole time.

That’s all for now. Here are a few pics and more will be on Facebook later.

My team after our soccer match. Notice the mud all over my jeans. Fail.

Peace, Love, Ireland.

-Rob

And So It Begins...

My study abroad experience has begun!

We arrived in Ireland early Tuesday morning, around 7 a.m. But let me back up to Monday morning.

My parents and I arrived at the airport in Grand Rapids and after successfully checking in my one bag at 48 pounds, I said my goodbyes and also successful

ly made it through security with no problems…until I realized I left my Debit Card at home. I quick called my parents who were driving back and asked them to mail it to Ireland ASAP. It still hasn’t arrived, but hopefully soon. I only have about 60 Euro left…whoops.

We landed in Cleveland and somehow there was a mixup with my carryon luggage that had to go underneath with the rest of the luggage (It couldn’t fit…I mean it did weigh 40 pounds.) So I had to go to baggage claim and get my carryon, go back through security in Cleveland which was a mess, have them ask me dumb questions about my carryon, and finally I made it back through. Needless to say, the first 4 hours of my trip were not off to the best start.

From there the rest of the flights were fine. Once we got to Shannon, Ireland Drs. Dawson and Duncan were awaiting our arrival. We got on the bus, stopped in Galway to get acquainted with the city, which I’ll definitely be making visits to in the near future. It’s a lot like downtown GR, a kind of big city with some good shops and a lot to do at night; it’s only about a two hour bus ride.

Anyway…we got into Tully Cross and got settled in the cottages. I have a room to myself with the biggest bed. SCORE. The roommates are a lot of fun, it’s me, Mike, Jake, and Ken. It’s going to be a good semester.

The first night we went out to the pub, Salmons. Right across the street. There’s two pubs, a hotel that’s closed right now, a church and a small shop that’s closing soon. Another town, Tully is down the road and Lettergesh is three miles the other way. Salmons was a lot of fun. Had a Guinness right to start. So much better over here than in America. Everyone was out and we got to meet Patrick, the pub owner. All of the locals are extremely welcoming.

The second day we went into Clifden and bought groceries. Clifden is about half and hour away and the biggest town nearby. I spent WAY too much money there; but I’m hoping I won’t have to make a stop back in too soon. That night was another night at Salmons where we got to meet more locals and attempt to get more immersed in Irish Culture.

Today is just getting started. The roommates and I went for a walk down past Tully to the ocean. We are basically two miles from the shore. It was awesome. Classes “start” today. I say “start” because it’s a syllabus day so I’m not really counting it, but I could see Duncan and Dawson pulling some fast ones.

Overall it has been great. The weather hasn’t been too terrible yet. We’ve seen sun, rain, and wind, but it’s been fairly warm at night. We’re not turning the heat on in our cottage. I’m sitting here in my coat and a hat, with my wool socks and slippers on. Nice and cozy.

Here are some pictures from the first few days. I’ll have more on Facebook when I have more time to post them.

Translation - Welcome to Tully Cross

In front of a mountain on the bus ride in. The reflection on the lake in the background was awesome.

My three roommates from left to right: Ken, Mike, and Jake.

We're going into Clifden next week sometime for a concert I've been told. The end of the month we go up to the Inch House which I'm extremely excited for. I'll have more updates soon!

Peace, Love, Ireland.

-Rob

Packing and Preparations

Hey! This is my Ireland Blog, where I'll write about my adventures, mishaps, and everything in between. Thanks in advance for checking in on what I'm sure will be a mostly boring reflective journal of my study abroad experience.

I am three days away from embarking on what I'm sure will be one of the best decisions I've ever made with my life. It's totally bizarre to think that I leave that soon. It feels like just yesterday I was talking about applying to Ireland with Chelsea, and then I turned in my application on whim the day before and managed to get references within a day. Talk about last minute.

Speaking of "last minute"...I've JUST started packing today. You could say that for a while, I was in denial of leaving, or I just like to procrastinate. I'm clearly realizing that was a mistake as I'm going through everything that I don't have and wish I did. Oh well...I think I may be at the point where I can do one piece of luggage and my carry on backpack, which is a beast (Thanks Lex).

And with that, I'm back to packing. Next update will be with pictures and will be from Ireland. :)

-Rob