One week to go

I haven't posted since Thanksgiving! O how many times I said I would be a regular blogger!!

Here's what I've been up to since turkey day:

Fri. Nov. 27 Aaron arrives for an epic 50 hour visit. I showed him around town, my neighborhood, Rathmines (he didn't believe that I was actually spitting distance to Aldi, very impressed). DIT, Stephen's Green and Grafton Street, Trinity College. Had Lunch at my 2nd favorite Dublin pub, the Porterhouse Central. Spent the rest of the afternoon around the house. Dinner at JoBurger, the coolest resturaunt in Rathmines. Then hit up my 1st favorite pub in Dublin, our local, Rody Boland's. Which is where my roommate Marie-Therese tends bar. She's amazing!

Sat. Nov. 28 We visit Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced jail) which is an old prison. Lots of Irish history happened here, including the event that, arguably, led to Irish Independance. Watch a little Rugby, meet up with Rachel at Fefie's Creperie, another Sarah Jay fave, for crepes. AMAZING!! Such a great place, thats actually really French. Then dinner at Mel and Hilary's. They were having a "murder mystery dinner party" called Death By Chocolate. Way fun. Aaron, playing American boxer Mike Byson, was the the guilty party!! We stayed up and chatted with them till pretty late, then home, and stayed up even later, because he left the next morning!! So sad :-( he couldn't stay longer. The next morning (sunday) was typically Irish, lashing rain and cold wind. It was probably the worst weather I've experienced in Ireland. We ran into Rachel on her way to church, Aaron's bus stop is right by our church, Methodist Centenary. Aaron got on the bus (tears, hugs, kisses) Then I went to church.

The next day, Monday Nov. 30, I left for Edinburgh Scottland!! With my Purdue friend, Britt and another UCD int'l student, Mariel. Britt did all kinds of posts on the trip, here's her blog...

part 1
part 2
part 3

After 3 awesome days in scotland, I returned to Dublin hell bent on making the most of my last 2 weeks in here. So I've been trying to do some Dublin things I hadn't done, and spend as much time as possible with my friends.

Some Irish Christmas traditions:

Mince Pies and Mulled Wine, not made with mince meat, fruit and other similar good stuff mulled wine is like sangria but served warm.
Kris Kindling, known as Secret Santa back in the States
Carol Services, these are going on all. the. time. I'll have done like 3 before I head home. We had one at church on Sunday afternoon, I was in a little drama about spreading Jesus' love at Christmas. I was complimented on my reading skills by all the church ladies. Rachel sang O Holy Night, she was complimented on her singing skills by all the church ladies. The little kids played around the Christmas tree. They were complimented on their ornament throwing skills by all the church ladies. I had my first mince pie, Amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Going to miss football today! The parade I can live without, but not being able to watch the Green Bay beat up on Detroit is a tough one. Plus, Kyle Orton is playing today... But I think my Thanksgiving will be complete w/out American football. We'll see...

The DIT Christian Union is hosting a Thanksgiving meal tonight, and in all their wisdom, assigned me to decor... Obviously they don't know me very well. It's fine, though, cause Dunnes was full of pretty orange things. Love Dunnes, it's a target-ish Irish owned store.

As can be seen from my previous post, I'm a little bummed that this is my last month here, but am thankful for this experience. I can't believe how blessed I've been to be able to come to Dublin. I've been trying to take advantage of everyday, knowing how few I have, and to praise God for his blessings.

1 Month Left in Dublin

All the planning and all the people and all the stress it took to get here. All the drama and all the confusion and all the frustration of being in a foreign country. All the money. All the friends and all the travel and all the tea and all the good times of the past three months. It's nearly over. I don't want it to end.

But Christmas is coming. And as green as the grass is in Ireland, seeing frozen hoosier corn fields is gonna be the best Christmas gift ever.

Strabane and Other Ramblings

Spent the weekend with my friend Rachel in Strabane. Strabane (Pronounced Stra-Ban, rhymes with fan) is in Northern Ireland, which is in the UK, so I was technically in a different country. No passport stamp though, seeing as the border with the Republic is an open one. I was prepared though, just in case!

Before I start with my trip, I'd like to ask for some prayers. Back here in Dublin, the DIT Christian Union is doing an event I'd like y'all to pray for. Next Thursday, 26 November, we'll be putting on a Thanksgiving dinner. We're inviting all of campus to the event. Pray that the logistics go well so that we can share Jesus with DIT's campus.

Strabane is next to the Sperrin mountains, absolutely beautiful country! Even in the somewhat dreariness of autumn, there's hundreds of shades of green. Although the city of Strabane isn't much of a tourist attraction, Rachel's mom was happy to drive us around the area. We spent Saturday in Derry, or Londonderry, (depends on where you stand on the unionist/nationalist spectrum) walking the walls of the city. From the walls we could see most of the city. It's another great example of Ireland's old-meets-new. We could see 300 year old churches and 10 year old shopping centers from the same spot. The walls were built in the 1600s, and have played a part in the city's history ever since. From early English-Irish conflict in the 17th century to the Troubles in the 70s. It was so odd to read info plaques on the walls about these terrorism type events that happened only 30 years ago, some even more recently.

Also on the itinerary for the trip was a visit to to Asda and its travelators. Asda is a Wal Mart owned supermarket, so I felt a bit dirty being there, but the travelators were worth it! What's a travelator you ask? It's an escalator without stairs! It's a moving sidewalk that goes up an incline! I've never seen one in the US. Although, I'm sure they're someplace, just not in Indiana. Asda wasn't much like Wal Mart though, from the looks of it. It took me to realize why it looked so different. Then in hit me: WINDOWS the whole front wall of the store was glass, there was natural light! You could see what the weather was from inside the store... such a foreign concept. Also, the whole 2 floors thing and the clothes looked like they might last more than a week. Being Wal Mart and in the UK means Asda has some of the best prices around, so the locals swear by it. There's so many ad campaigns in the Republic telling folks to "shop local" "shop Irish" etc because so many folks make the quick drive North to do their shopping. Even all the way from Dublin, because of tax differences and the Pound falling to the Euro. You can buy more sterling with your Euro and then pay prices that are lower anyways. Although, from what I can see, prices in the Republic have been falling with the recession.

That's a lot about economics and walmart, I'll put up another post soon about some more adventures from my weekend.

Avoca Manor, a Weekend with TCDCU in the Wicklow Mountains

Avoca Manor is a retreat center in the Wicklow mountains.

I went there for a "Weekend Away" this past weekend with the Trinity College Dublin Christian Union. It was incredible. I was welcomed 100% by the Trinners. I knew a few people already from going to a few things, but I was definitely a newbie. My original plan was to go to Avoca with the CU from DIT but my schedule didn't allow it. I think that was a God thing, not that going with DIT would have been bad or anything, but I was supposed to be there this weekend.

We talked about being transformed by God. I think God has done some transforming in me over the last few years, and He has done a lot in me these last few months in Dublin. I've really learned, I think, to appreciate how blessed I am. I'm a country bumpkin from Indiana living in Europe, Europe!! How is that even possible? I have a great family who've allowed me to go on this adventure even though they don't quite understand why I want to spend 4 months an ocean from home.

The whole situation of coming to Dublin the first time, and then coming back; I see God's fingerprints all over it. I think he has some plans for my last month and a half in Ireland.

The Academic Life

I've heard that some of y'all are concerned that I'm not actually in college here in Dublin, but I promise you, I am.

I'm a little over half way through the semester here at DIT. The work load has been pretty light so far, a few things due each week. Mostly lab reports. For my Irish Culture class, I have an "information packet" due next Friday. It's sort of like a lot of small reports in one, I guess. It's a lot about the Irish language. Did you know Ireland had it's own language? I didn't until I came to Dublin last year. Part of the report was to speak with someone born/raised in Ireland about their opinion on the language; my friend Rachel was glad to help. She also gave me some more of the Irish language info I needed. Things like the Irish word for prime minister (Taoiseach). So after about 20 minutes of that, I'm half way done, yay! She's a fluent Irish speaker, and pretty much awesome all-round. Rachel was one of the first people I met in Dublin when I came for a week last year, and gave me my first tour of the city. She's been a great friend while I've been here and got me plugged into the Christian Union at her college, Trinity. While I'm on a tangent might as well keep going, I'll be on a retreat with the Trinity CU this weekend, to Avoca, a lodgeish thing in the Wicklow mountains.

On the engineering side of things... all is going smoothly, 2 pretty straight forward classes, and 2 not so straight forward. I have one class, Instrumentation, which is all lab based learning. I'm in a group with 3 other people and every two weeks or so we start a new project to build some sort of measuring device. It's proved to be challenging. Me and the boys (of course, I'm the only girl in the class) get along ok, but the tasks we're given don't always match the time and hardware we have available. We did fairly well on our first presentation, on a gas flow measuring device, a few weeks ago. This week's project is a formal report, no presentation. We're to build a strain gauge, I'm actually going into finish that up after I post this. I have one class, controls, which has been really math intensive. I've had to brush up on my calculus and do a lot of reading on my own, which is good for me, I think. The other two classes, Digital Communications and Computer Architecture, are more straight forward. I'm learning a new programming language in CA which has been interesting, I'm actually a bigger fan of it, Assembly, than C, which is what I used last year. In DC, I just finished a report on a voice scrambler. It was all simulation, but we'll be using some hardware in that lab soon, I think.

The atmosphere in DIT is more laid back than Purdue. The lectures are more concerned with you learning the concepts than with you doing a bunch of assignments and reports. It's a double edged sword, though, because it makes me a bit complacent. When I get back to the Purdue EET world of weekly lab reports and daily homework, I'll be in for some culture shock.

Meat Balls and Occasional Tables

What do meatballs and occasional tables have in common?  IKEA of course…  Today is the October bank holiday, so all the offices and banks and colleges and schools are closed. Yay!!  Its kind of like Labor Day or Memorial Day or President’s Day or MLK Day.  Except they don’t name it.  My big plans for today are a pilgrimage to the Swedish furniture store, IKEA, that just opened in Dublin.  It was a very big deal to the city.  Means almost as much to Dublin’s status as a “European” city as passing the Lisbon Treaty.  To join in my IKEA fun, take this quiz:  the ikea game

This is also the 6th week of classes at DIT which is what they call “Review Week”  every department does their own thing, for me in electrical engineering, it’s a week to catch up on labs and take a break from lecture.  A guy in my year said his plan was to show up Tuesday and see what’s going on.  I’ve learned that at DIT, that’s the best way to get info.  So I guess that’s my plan too.

Galway Pictures I Forgot to Post

The only oysters I saw at the oyster fest.

 

Except for these kids in the parade, with crepe paper oysters on their heads.

 

The spanish arch

   

America’s oyster shucking competitor.

Lots of sail boats around the bay

  

The Atlantic Ocean

 

 

These last 3 are from Lough Corrib in Connemara.  It’s the second largest Lake in Ireland.  And yes, Dad there’s fish.  Very famous for it’s fishing!!  You’ll be glad to hear that skiing, tubing, jet skis, etc aren’t very common in Ireland, too.

Tipp, Tipp, Tipperary

Hey y'all!

I have to start with a quick story of something that just happened.

I'm sitting on my bed on a nice sunny Saturday afternoon.  Enjoying the breeze coming through my open window, finally logging in to blogger to update everyone.  When all the sudden, a drop of water falls on my laptop screen and then I feel it on my face.  I look out the window, the sun is still shining, but, of course, it's raining.  A few minutes later, the breeze has turned into wind, the sky gets darker, and the rain keeps coming down.  Another typical day in Ireland.

Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled program.

Last Friday I went home with one of my roommates, Clodaugh, to County Tipperary.  Tipp isn't really known for its tourist attractions, but their hurling team was All Ireland champs. It's set in a valley, and stepping into Clo's backyard, you're surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. 

Her parents were  so great to have me.  We had a home cooked meal and I tried to explain where Indiana is.  I was also asked why American TV has so many ad breaks (I had no good answer).  I learned a bit about the Gardai, the Irish police force.  Clo's dad is a Garda and teaches at the national garda college, which is in Templemore. 

Clodaugh was teaching swim lessons that night, so I stayed home and took the dog, Fetch, for a walk with her mom.  That night we watched the late late show, an Irish institution. The next day I had lunch with Clodaugh at the restaurant she  works at, and took some pictures of the town, Templemore. In the park where we walked Fetch there's a really old church, which is  where the name Templemore comes from. 

 

Clodaugh's friend Roisin and I had made plans for her to show me Thurles, a bigger town next to Templemore. Thurles's claim to fame is all about GAA.  The Gaelic Athletic Association was born at a meeting in a local hotel, and there is 55,000 seat stadium in the town.  I got a Tipperary scarf at the GAA shop to mark the trip.

We got the train back to Dublin Saturday night.  This wasn't the most exciting trip, but I met some really great folks, and got a glimpse of "real" Irish life.  The differences are subtle.  The relationship between Clodaugh and her parents is different than mine or anyone I know back home.  The downtowns of tiny Templemore and Thurles were bustling on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  In small town Indiana you'd have to go out to the Wal Mart to see anyone after the breakfast rush at the one local diner was over.  My Irish friends always tease me about how I'm fascinated by the smallest things.  This is why I'm here for a whole 4 months.  I want to see ruins of a church or cute book shop or discuss the fact that Indiana living rooms don't have doors.

Lisbon Treaty

Can you tell I’m trying to play catch up, my dear readers?

On Friday, 2nd October, more than 50% of Irish voters went to their local schools and community centers to “check yes or no.”  It wasn’t quite like this,

Check Yes or No

But, it was more important.  The Irish were voting on whether to allow their government to sign the Lisbon Treaty, which sets up a constitution for the European Union. 

This is the second time the referendum was put to the voters, in 2008, about 16 months ago, they voted it down.  This time around, over 60% voted Yes.  My whole time here in Dublin, I’ve seen the signs and been handed flyers.  I’ve had to tell people I wasn’t Irish so they wouldn’t waste their time trying to convince me of the Treaty’s merits or faults.  Most of my Irish friends are Yesers, so my limited information is a bit skewed. From what I learned, the treaty does give the EU more power and more well defined roles in foreign and economic policy, and it does proportion the parliament according to population, taking away some of Ireland’s votes.  But the EU is the reason for Ireland’s prosperity and the Celtic Tiger.  Had they voted down Lisbon, it could have meant Ireland was on a different tier of the EU, having to ally itself more with the UK, and after centuries of fighting to get out from under Britain, that’s really not a good alternative. 

I went with a friend to check out a polling place, very underwhelming.  No signs, no protestors, nothing.  I later found out that it’s illegal to do so.  The news can’t even have on going coverage.  Such a different atmosphere from when I voted for President last year.  I walked through demonstrations on campus and about 6,000 signs outside my polling place.  Is Ireland the better for that?  I don’t know, but it did make the polling place less crowded. 

Howth, Rhymes with Both

Just drop the W.  Nobody knows why. 

Last Friday, I went with my dear friend Rachel and some of her friends, old and new, to Howth head, a peninsula just north of Dublin city.  The views were amazing!  The sky was typical Irish gray, but the weather was great for a day out. Lots of hills and cliffs and views of the city and the bay.  It’s quite a change to go from the city where all you see is buildings and cars and people, to the country where all you see is God’s amazing creation.  After the walk around the cliffs, we got fish n’ chips and Maude’s ice cream.  Maude’s is a Howth landmark.  All the Irish kids have fond memories of stopping at Maude’s after walking ALL that way around the cliffs.  Rachel swears the place has shrunk since she was a kid.   

Boats, a little bigger than the ones found at Lake Webster.  I was surprised there weren’t more boats out on the water, but what do I know about sailing?

 

 

Rachel and James, discussing the Lisbon Treaty or something. 

 

 

 

 

And we’ll end with me, being my usual dorky self.

Into the heart of Dublin

Took these shots on my way into the city center the other day. It was a crazy good day for weather, notice the BLUE sky. It's usually at least a little cloudy. I've had a couple bad days of rain and such, but really not a whole lot. Rachel, an Irish friend, says I bring good weather to Ireland.... Can't argue with her on that one.

This church is great. Not only pretty, but I use it as a landmark too. Lost? Look for the green dome, my house is about a block down from it.

This graffiti is all right in a row on Camden St.


Says "FOES" not sure what that means, hopefully nothing bad...

This one says "crime doesn't pay, graffiti does"

That's part of what I see every morning. It's a great walk, always people out walking to work and living their lives. Moms and Dads taking kids to school. I always try to smile and say good morning to the lady passing out the free papers. There's a French bakery I walk past, but I make sure I don't walk on that side of the street, or I could be sucked in by the smell. :)

Greetings from Galway

Arrived in Galway yesterday morning via the train. It is the oyster "festival" but I didn't put together that in Ireland "festival" doesn't mean, "put up tents and close streets" it means, "hey! there's oysters at the pubs for a little less money than usual." I didn't try any oysters, which made me very sad, but there's still another day here in the West, so maybe for lunch. There was the oyster opening competition, but I couldn't find it. Did see the parade though!
Marching band made up of school kids playing fife (or some kind of flute/recorder like instrument) and drums. And Glockenspiels! Smaller kids with Oysters on their heads.
Old cars.
Northern Ireland adult marching band.

The shucking competitors.

Walked around Galway, a cute little town with quite alot of shops and pubs and galleries. It's right on the atlantic coast; they've built a park area near Galway Bay with some foot paths to take in the views of the ocean. It was raining a bit, so the water was quite grey, but I was still very awe struck. "I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean..." Thank you, Lee Ann Wolmak. (funny bit of trivia an Irish pop singer, Ronan Keating, recorded that song too...) While I was feeling small, I met a sweet Italian guy called Luca. He is in the process of starting his violin making career (how cool is that?) here in Galway. We had some coffee, both agreeing it was too weak, and just chatted about life and Irish culture and the cost of cigarettes (he's the smoker...). Luca and I checked out the city museum, mostly because it was free. Met back up with my friends from DIT at the hostel, and met some more really cool people. Irish kids here from Dublin for a girl's weekend. A Texan travelling around Europe after a year teaching English in Spain. Brothers from Wyoming backpacking their way through Europe. We swapped traveling stories and college stories. Luca and the backpackers gave us some very good tips on traveling and where to go. All in all, "great craic"

Galway report and pictures to be continued.... I know y'all're sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation!!

Dublin Up?

As many of you know, I pretty much bleed Black and Gold. If I drove a VW van, I'd have the entire back door covered in "Damn right, I'm a Boilermaker" and "Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God" bumper stickers. As such, I find Mrs. Tiller's cheer, Boiler Up! very appropriate in almost any circumstance. Like, at freshers induction when the DITSU guy says, "hey lads, whats the craic?" my gut response is to yell, BOILER UP! Or at the pub, when everyone has gotten their pints Cokes, and decide to toast, I feel the need to throw in a BOILER UP! along with the Irish, "slainte." And finally, when walking down the street, and the kids from Kerry are celebrating their win in the All-Irelands, what could be more appropriate? Boiler Up, Kerry!! So I've decided one of my goals for this semesters is to come up with a DIT cheer to use at these oh-so-important times.

Possibilities:

Dublin Up!
Rolls off the tongue, but it doesn't differentiate between the 15,000 other colleges in the city. It could work, but, I think we can come up with something better.

D-I-T *clap* D-I-T *clap*
Would be great if there's need for a defensive stand, but I haven't even been to DIT's basketball court yet, so not so sure if the need will arise.

So that's all I've got so far... any ideas, dear readers?



Irish translations and pronunciation:
craic "crack" yes, like the drug

slainte yeah, idk how to spell that one phonetically, just check out the link

lads = guys, but not quite as gender neutral as "guys" has become in the US. If the group leaned a little more to the female side, he might not have said lads, but I was one of maybe 10 girls in the room. Oh, and, "girls", is used to refer to anyone female under the age of, like, 30, and is used as a term of endearment for the fairer sex.

ditsu = "dit-sue" Dublin Institute of Technology Student Union
If you took the Purdue Student Union Board (PSUB), the Purdue Student Government (PSG), and Pablo, and painted them in bright blue, neon green, and pink AND gave them Irish accents, you might get ditsu.

Long week

It's been a long week of errand running and queue (they don't call them lines here) waiting. On Monday, I moved into a new house. The flat I was in earlier was just temporary. The new place is pretty swanky. Its on 3 floors with a really nice kitchen, and 3 balconies and 2 patios. It was built in the last 3 years, I think. I'm living with 2 other Americans and 3 Irish girls right now. One more girl will be moving in soon. There'll be 7 of us in total, that'll be interesting... But we're getting on so far.
On Wednesday, I had to go to the GNIB, the Garda National Immigration Bureau, to register. They gave me a resident card which allows me to leave and re-enter the country. It cost a cool 150euro. But now I'm free to go where ever for the time I'm here.

I also went to the freshman electrical engineering induction at DIT Kevin St, not a whole lot of new stuff there, but I got my DIT id card, and my class schedule. No classes on Friday, so far!! Their schedule is up in the air for like the first two weeks, so anything could happen. No 7:30am classes at DIT either! My earliest class is 9am, 9am!! back at Purdue I'd have 1.5 lectures by then. Classes start tomorrow, and I'm excited and nervouse all at the same time. I hope I don't go to the wrong room like I did my first day at Purdue.

Glendalough

Last Saturday, the 17th, I went to Glendalough ( pronounced glen-da-lock) as a part of the DIT international student orientation. Here's some pictures from it, the rest are on my picasa page, http://picasaweb.google.com/boilerbugle.
It was a great trip with the group. There are 2 lakes on the sight which I didn't get to see because of time. Lots of hiking and things can be done around the lakes.
Glendalough is in county Wiclow. The Medieval monastic settlement was founded in the 6th century by St Kevin and destroyed in 1398 by English troops.

Picutures!

These are from Friday's walking tour with DIT int'l students. I start registration tomorrow, meeting with my advisor to settle what classes I'll be taking. Classes start next Monday, the 21st.

This is the bell tower at Trinity college. Trinity is the oldest college in Ireland and the most prestigious. Trinity houses the Book of Kells, an Illuminated manuscript of the Bible. I saw it last year, and it's amazing. The monks who made it most have worked forever. It also houses the oldest harp in Ireland.

My tour group, we had people from six different countries in our group.

More Trinity.

Dublin castle.

Atop one of the buildings at the castle. Note she's not blindfolded.

More castle

A cat we saw on the grounds. It looks like a cat a friend of mine had when we were growing up.

the great shower drama of 2009

First, I have to start with the fact that I forgot I needed to bring towels (not that they'd fit anyway), and had to beg the landlady to borrow some. The ones they gave me were like Super 8 towels, get the picture? I go to turn on the water, and it comes out of the faucet, nice and slow. I pull the little nobby thing water starts coming out this hand held shower head thing I hadn't noticed. Turn water off. How does this work? I look up and notice another dial with handle behind it and numbers. Ahhh, maybe that controls the shower! But of course, I was only halfway there... Turning nob and handle produces no results. Then I brush against this string hanging from the ceiling. I fearlessly pull that string!! Noise begins eminating from the linen closet... Confused, I have a sit and try to think this out. Maybe the combination of string and top nob will turn on the shower. BREAKTHROUGH!! A steaming rainfall of smell removing liquid fills my bathroom! I've made this pictorial guide for those of you who encounter weird showers in the future.

First day rundown

This is my first 18 hours or so in the big D, all times local.

8:00am Land in Dublin Airport, get in queue for passport check
8:15am fear for deportation because I forgot my return flight info, but I charmed my way into the country
8:45am all luggage in hand, meet Prof. Hayes (he had a sign with my name, how cool is that?) we drive back to the city in his Volvo.
10:22am arrive at lad lane apartments, meet landlord, drop luggage
10:24am back in Hayes's car, heading to DIT Aungier St. for international student orientation
10:25am check in to orientation
11:15am stifle a "boiler up" at tea break, feel that might be way too hard to explain
12:20pm starving, begin wondering if this orientation is worth the free lunch
12:45pm bite into chicken curry and rice, lunch was worth it
1:55 pm begin counting how many times people say, "you could start your own society or club"
2:17pm "you could start your own society or club" count: 3
2:44pm "ycsyosoc" count: 4
3:15pm "ycsyosoc" count: 6
3:40pm outta there, exhausted, walk back to apartment
4:15pm arrive at lad lane apts, only got lost once
4:16pm chat with landlord, gives me info on a cancellation for a house with some Irish and American girls, tell her "I'll think about it, but need shower and bed for now"
4:25pm finally can relax after moving my luggage from one flat to another, turn on TV, "Friends" is on, want bed
5:03pm Decide I can't sleep if I smell, the great shower drama of 2009 ensues
5:50pm Face moisturizer leaked, need sleep....
11:56pm wake up and post this

This post may sound a little debbie-downer, but so many things went well, meet some cool international students from all over, including tons of Americans, and 2 people from Kazakhstan! Just really needed a shower and sleep.

Only one suitcase??

I leave for Dublin TOMORROW!! I'll be spending the day packing, on the phone with Purdue financial aid, and (hopefully) taking pictures. The family was here this weekend; it was good to see them. My aunt and uncle gave me a great gift: real Euros. Gretchen is so creative! Here I go to give the Purdue University financial aid a call, wish me luck!

18 Days Out

Welcome to my Dublin Blog. This is set up to help me share my experience at Dublin Institute of Technology with all my friends and family. I'll try to post stories and pictures from my life in Dublin and any traveling I do. I leave for Ireland on Sept 9. Until then, I'll keep you updated on my last few days on Hoosier soil. So, here's the first post on Sarah's Dublin Blog, please, please, put name suggestions in the comments!


This has been an unusual summer for me. I lived at home full time for the first time since 2005, I had a "real" job, and I went to three concerts.

Having a regular 9-5 job allowed me to go to concerts this summer, something I've really never done. I'll post some thoughts and pics from these when there's no time or nothing better to post.
July 10, No Doubt w/Paramore, Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
July 14, Billy Joel and Elton John Face2Face, Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
August 11, Green Day 21st Century Breakdown Tour, Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO


Living at home was interesting... Mom doing (some) of my laundry was nice, but the lack of 20-somethings and all the free time I had was jarring. I worked at Epworth Forest (a senior high church camp) for the last 2 summers. My usual day there was 10 hours of work spread over 16 waking hours. This summer, the typical day was: wake up and work 6-8 hours then go home and do... what? I struggled with the regimen, I longed for the days of camp where work consisted of of stress, but was relieved by the 12+ people who shared it, and the 200+ people we were sharing Christ with each week. I had an awesome internship at a small manufacturing plant. The experience was invaluable, I found that the working world is a place I might struggle in. The feeling of not getting enough done in a day still hasn't gone away. I now understand the mindset of a workaholic-- there's always more to do, it never stops.I felt lonely a lot; I never realized how much I'd become accustomed to constantly being around people who live a life similar to my own (college students, camp staffers). Don't get me wrong, getting more acquainted with my parents' life again was good, and strengthened our relationship, but I wonder how I'll react to the feeling of being the only American in Dublin.