My past two weeks here have been quite busy and jam packed with fun and friends. Last weekend was probably one of the best weekends of my life, as I embarked on an EPIC surf trip. Heading North up the Irish coast, I rode up with some friends I met through the Surf club, to a really cool surf county called Bundoran. After a short 3 hour drive, we were amongst the first to arrive of the Surf club, thus we were given the option of which house, of the 5, we wanted to stay in and ‘first dibs’ on everything there. The Surf club had rent out 5 massive, mansion like, beautiful houses for the 60 kids that all went up that weekend. One of the craziest parts to the weekend was that we had one of these giant houses all to ourselves, the 4 of us. We all picked our own rooms, had our own bathrooms/showers and lived like kings the whole weekend!

Having the place to ourselves was so nice because we didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing or messing with our stuff/boards, and we were able to get in and outta there without any drama or problems. It was so convenient too because we were just next to the designated “party house.” It seemed like the Surf trip, for some, turned into a party weekend instead of a surf weekend. I did both. It was so nice driving up with these guys I met because they were pretty committed to surfing and we were able to drive and check out every spot before we surfed.

Another great part to the weekend was that I went there with no gear, no wetsuit or board or any surf gear. I actually got hooked up with everything there, and was able to bring it all back and KEEP it for the semester! I was able to borrow/have this kid oisheen’s old wetsuit, a 5mil xcel suit, with a built in hood, and I ended up buying booties and gloves. The surf club had ghetto foamy boards, which I ended up surfing on for the weekend, and am holding on to for now. We were able to surf 3 times, 2 decent sessions, while the other session was probably the worst surf I’ve been in. This storm session was almost scary, with strong winds, currents, onshore, rainy, stormy, surf. Haha it doesn’t sound too fun, but we made the best of it, and it ended up being fun as I realized how fortunate I was to be surfing. The water was freezing, but with the boots, gloves, hood, and 5mil suit, only your face went numb!

The whole Bundoran Surf Trip weekend was filled with surf, partying, friends, and good vibes all around. I met a bunch of friends and they are the kids I am now hanging out with and going out with. I’m getting pretty excited for next weekends surf trip to Strandhill down in County Clare. This surf trip should be a little more serious, as it is the intervarsities universities surf competition! I am stoked to say that I will be competing in the Longboarding division and Expression session representing and riding for my Irish university NUIG. I’m really looking forward to this, and have been praying to the Surf gods that they will bring us nice waves, weather, and conditions.

Hockey has been going good as well, I’ve met a bunch of people from the club and have been out with a few from them. I put my order in for my NUIG hockey club jersey that should say BEAR #50. I may also order the Galway Bay lightning, club city hockey jersey, as I’ve been playing a bunch with them. I finally got my hands on a decent pair of skates that don’t tear my feet apart, and with these I plan to get out and play more. There is a hockey tournament up north, Belfast I believe, coming in March, which I will have to take part in! Pretty excited for that!

School has been going well, I have only missed 1 lecture so far, due to the surf trip, but that is really good considering how many kids miss/skip there lectures. All my housemates can’t believe that! My macroeconomics class is probably the hardest, my professor speaks and lectures in a whole different level than the rest of the class. Gerard Turley, my prof., has written and published multiple economic books and articles, that its second nature to him. While the rest of us are just trying to follow him, one concept at a time, he goes off on all these wild economic tangents that few can comprehend!

As with school, the gym has been treating me well also. I’ve been going literally 5 days a week, I think these past 2 days have been ones that I’ve missed, but other than that, I’ve been pretty good about working out and swimming. In between classes and while I am over on campus monday thru friday, I figure I can get some sort of workout in! Although, I don’t know if I’m helping my workouts by going out every other night! I’ve been going out a bunch, best place to meet people, to the pubs and clubs. I still cannot believe how expensive EVERYTHING is. It’s been a good reminder that I will be needing a job when I get back to the states!

Last night I went over to a friends from the surf club, where she cooked up some good ol’ traditional irish stew with potatoes! I then convinced her to play the fiddle and I felt like we were in a pub with live music! It was great, and of course, we ended up in a pub, the Roishin Dub, afterwards.

Well I am off to watch the Six Nations rugby championship here on t.v. I think it’s like the superbowl of Ireland, Ireland and Italy are facing off as I write this. I best be off!

First surf in Sligo, Ireland, beautiful!

Although my feet went numb, it was a blast! Check on the crazy/heavy fog on the water!

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. (1865-1939) Here his grave lay, Drumcliff Churchyard, Sligo, Ireland

Surfing in the snow in Bundoran!

Everything is going well here, time is flying and I am having a blast. I need to start looking at what I really want to do and see while I am over here! There are cheap flights everywhere throughout europe, so I really need to start planning some weekend trips and/or trips over easter break and at the end of the year! I am thinking I would like to see, within reason, scotland, wales, england, france, italy, belgium, netherlands,germany, switzerland, and hopefully get a cheap flight down to portugal to visit jesse! Today I went to the immigration office in galway, that was a pretty interesting experience, it was really busy, smelly, and stressful. I wasn’t able to get in and register in time because we had arrived too late and they had given out all their tickets, maybe tomorrow.

Last night, around 10:30pm, I went over to two friends house that I met from the Surf club. Why so late? Well they were hosting a Superbowl kickoff party, kick off was at 11pm here! I ended up watching the whole game, between the Saints and Colts, and was let down around 2:30 a.m. to see that the Colts had lost. Luckily I could care less between the teams, and I found that watching the big game with 9 other Irish lads was the most interesting part. Being the only American of the group, it was real interesting and awkward at times to see and hear their perspectives of the big game and the American culture. They had me rolling with a few laughs, as they cracked innocent and clever jokes about the whole ordeal. It was so funny to see how they viewed the Superbowl through their eyes and how different it was to us fellow Americans. Even the Irish announcers covering the game were pretty clueless as to what the game entitled and how it was played. I was glad I made it over to their place for the game, because I have never been in a situation like that and it was a great example of how one culture can differ from another.

Today, February the 11th, I finally registered with the Garda, or police, and no longer became an illegal immigrant. It had been almost 2 weeks since I was suppose to register, but never got around to it. I am quite relieved to get that done and over with. I woke up at 5:30am this morning and was out of the immigration office by 9am. That was an experience in itself, the first person I tried talking to and meeting was a quiet and scary looking guy. I asked him where he was from, pakistan he replied, and our conversation quickly ended, I am glad he didn’t ask where I was from! An hour and a half later, when the office actually opened, there was a nice que of people, probably about 20, all waiting in hopes of registering. Probably about half of them we not able to be seen because it is a long process and the office is only open tell 2pm. When it was my turn, everything went smoothly and I was brought into a back room. In the room there was a fax/scanner machine for finger prints, etc. Here the immigration officer took scans of all 11 of my fingers and was pretty strict and serious about it. I have never had my fingerprints taken that seriously! It was nice to get out of there by 9am, just in time for my 11am lecture.

After my lecture, I went to the campus bank, Bank of Ireland, to do some currency exchange…
This was another experience, as I witnessed a few kids, dressed in suits and tyes, drinking beers inside of the bank. It had looked like they were hung over from a ball, and later I had found that they were, and the Engineering/Nurses ball was the other night, and it’s tradition to continue the party and drinking into the next day at the college bar. I assumed that some of the students had run out of cash from the bar and made a quick trip to the bank for more. It was so weird to see these kids, going up to the tellers with beers in their hands and making transactions. It was quite funny really.

I ended up exchanging 100 US dollars, and got a mere 70 euros back. Everytime I walk in there, I leave with less money, and start to question why and how it all works. I figured it’s the price you pay for living and traveling abroad in another country, esp. one of the wealthiest, with high inflation rates, government taxes, and small economies of scale. Known as the 4th most expensive country in the world, ever since their switch to the Euro, they have been in a constant economic struggle. However, the Irish have began to realize and understand their financial struggles and they have slowed their spending, thus have brought down inflation rates, causing businesses to compete and drop overall prices and costs. Everyone is saying Ireland is getting better, but it’s been a slow process, esp. with their current recession in place.

Hmmm… Well tonight I am staying in because it has been a busy week, full of partying, school, and working out! Ireland has been treating me ‘grande’ and I am finally settling in. School is going great and seems to good to be true. I only have 6 lectures throughout the week and have Wednesdays completely off! I am taking a consumer behavior course, a macro-economics, global marketing, and a information systems management course! Four business classes, all which will transfer back to my college in Colorado! I am still looking into adding another course for an elective credit.

This week of class was a lot different from last, as most of my lectures filled up with irish students. It was wild to see a lecture hall,
completely filled with about 200 students all doing the same thing, trying to listen and digest the professors wisdom. I have never experienced such a huge lecture hall, and it really made me appreciate my small class sizes back in Colorado, where you are a name and not a number!***

As for extracurricular activities, I have been keeping up with my work outs and drinking my protein ‘muscle milk’ powder haha. I have a lot of free time and I find working out is a lot more productive and healthy than sitting on the couch watching the idiot box. I have found that a bunch of Irish kids love the television and don’t make it out too much because of the rainy weather and the hang overs that follow from the night on the town before.

I have been playing a bunch of hockey, I had no idea I would be out here, but it’s great. It is really cool to be playing hockey with some of the pioneers of the sport, because no one out here knows what it is. The Hockey Club here at NUIG was founded only last year, and there are only a select few that play. The sport is so young and new here, it’s really cool to see it starting to take off! There are only 2 hockey rinks in Ireland, because the sports of gaelic football, rugby, soccer, and hurling seem to overshadow everything else.

I went out to play with the Galway Bay Lightning Hockey Club the other night and couldn’t believe how “ghetto” and different it was. Here I thought it would be a legit and big club, with a decent rink or basketball court to play on, but I was dumb founded. As I took a bus 10 minutes out of the city to the Mervue community rec. center, I met the 7 other kids that founded and participate in the club. This was a great experience, because before we even played, I really gained an appreciation for what I have and what I was brought up skating on. As my friend Casey, who I met from the college hockey club, and I entered the dark and run down building, we knew that we wouldn’t be playing on any sort of rink or court. Inside the old community meeting area, there were two “ghetto” locker rooms, a bathroom that hasn’t been cleaned in years, and a small rectangular cement slab, nearly half the size of a legal basketball court, which we ended up playing hockey on.

From the moment we walked in I had no idea what to expect, the place was so beat down, with every other light missing and paint coming off the walls, I felt that we were gonna get mugged. The court was so small we could only play 3 vs. 3 hockey, with the 1 goalie we were fortunate to have. The goals were indoor soccer sized, and the place was definitely not meant to play hockey on. Although the venue was beat to shit, I would say that was one of the wildest, eye-opening experiences I have been to. All of the kids were so stoked to be able to pass around a puck, and to be invited to play with them was a treat. We played for a solid hour, before the local rec center guy shut off the lights on us. With such little resources and equipment these kids are really pioneering the hockey revolution in Ireland, and I am stoked to be taking part in it!

Besides that Hockey tangent, I am actively involved with the Surf and Mountaineering Club. I am going on a surfing trip next weekend, and I cannot wait! There are over 50 kids going, all to share the same passion for the ocean, partying, and exploring! Last weekend I went on a 8 mile hike through “The Burren” in County Clare with the mountaineering club (See Link Below). This was really great to finally get out of the city and explore the country and “Real Ireland.”

The internet has been treating me welll, as it has allowed me to keep in touch with family and friends through online chatting and video sessions! I purchased a cheap phone and plan out here so I can contact any local friends I meet, now the next thing is trying to remember my phone number.

Pretty stoked, I talked to the head distributor of Roaring Lion Energy Drink in the UK. Alan Boyd, gave me a call and we chatted a bit about delivering some product out here to me in Galway. Their distribution center is up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but he said he will send a bunch of cases and product for me to distribute and market. It is cool to see how much marketing is involved in town, as there are local pub and club reps that will harass you with stamps to ‘free access’ to their special club deals. The other night I was in a pub till midnight when they were closing, and two cute girls ran in and around the pub with promotional stamps, telling us to go to Club K when we were done with our drinks. The marketing, or manipulating business is quite prevalent in and around town, and so is the Taxi business, for all the drunk kids not willing to make the trek home in the rain.

Well that is all I can think of now, all is good here, I’m looking forward to upcoming club events and sporting activities. I’ve been meeting people from around the world and it has been a great eye-opening experience so far! I am off to eat my leftover pasta and then head to bed early for one night! Good night all and hope everyone is grande!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

After staying in two sister hostels in downtown Dublin and Galway, I was a finally able to move into my apartment here at Gort Na Coiribe!
I have been living in the apartment for just about a week and it has been great! I have met 2 of my 5 girl roommates and they are both really fun and cute. I was hooked up in the apartment with a nice double size bed on the 2nd floor of the apartment, with the first floor being the living room/kitchen, bath, and a single room. On the second floor lye 3 rooms (1 of mine) with a bath and the 3rd floor has 1 room (2 twin beds) and a bath. The apartment is pretty nice, but seems to get real cold as Ireland is experiencing some record breaking snow and icy weather.

This week Europe has experienced unprecedented lows and icy conditions which has delayed and caused several accidents transportation wise. I can’t believe how icy these roads get, just walking out of the apartment you start sliding like you are on a frozen lake! Temperatures have breached the negatives (in celcius) and many locals say they haven’t seen this weather in 30 years.

Besides the frigid temps and apartment descriptions, my overall Irish experience has been great so far! I have met so many people from all around the world, and I know that this semester abroad will be one of the best trips college experiences of my life! Everything has gone smoothly so far and I am very thankful to be over here.

This week I have been swimming a bunch, as I purchased a gym membership to stay fit this semester! The facility is great, with indoor basketball courts, squash and racquetball courts, volleyball, indoor soccer, indoor arena, 3 multi purpose fitness studios, a high performance gym, a large pool with a sauna and steam room, and it is the largest gym in Galway. I plan to spend alot of time here and meet a bunch of people.

Some of the biggest differences I have noticed so far are the crazy drivers and the dangers of the roads (when crossing them), I don’t know which way to look! Also the proportions and sizes of everything, from the cars, food, and even bed sheets and covers, everything is smaller. I don’t know if they are set for little leprechauns, but it seems to me that either America loves its extra large fries and cars, or Europe is living healthy and are alot more conservative then Americans. Going to the grocery store, you can’t buy anything in bulk, and everything from the milk to the jars of peanut butter are alot smaller. Maybe it is just the fact that I am comparing the prices and converting them from Euros to US dollars and finding out how expensive everything is. The sunrises at 9am and sets at 5pm, meaning the days are short and it seems the irish like to sleep in and get started later.

I have figured out the classes I will be taking, which start on monday, and I cannot register for them until a week after I go to them. My earliest classes start at 11am, and I have them about once or twice a week (at most). This academic system should be interesting as it is very different from the U.S. Keep you updated on that. As for extracurricular activities, I am looking to do alot of them, by joining several clubs and societies (international club, surf club, mountain club, snow club, rowing club?, etc.)

Well it is getting late here, I am heading off to bed early tonight as tomorrow will be interesting, the 3 other irish roommates of mine will be moving in and all of the irish kids will be getting back in time for school on Monday.

I will try to keep this blog updated weekly, not only for interested web visitors, but for my self to refer back to when I am in the states, writing up reflections and papers of my Study Abroad experience. Cheers!

Dublin Castle with Garda (police)

Christ Church Cathedral Dublin

Galway Cathedral, it was huuuge!