Begin at the Beginning.

Since I completely disregarded my blog and loyal followers for the first 5 weeks of my amazing trip to Ireland...I have quite a lot to catch you all up on. My time here is going so quickly that I have no desire to waste any time, so I feel like I'm constantly going downtown and exploring, catching up on work, or you know... jetting off to various countries all over continental Europe (which I promise you will hear about). But regardless! That's no excuse for me to neglect everyone back home so I'll just get started!


Arriving in Ireland I felt at home straight away, even taking the bus from the airport to my apartment complex in Galway, I felt as though my heart lightened. I was finally here, the place where my family originated (some, at least) and where my family still remained (I'm beginning at the beginning, if you will). All this may sound corny, but it really is an amazing feeling to feel so connected with a place that you have never been before. 


My first night here I had already compiled a list of reasons to love Ireland in my journal (which I have been using as my proverbial "blog" while traveling):

• the cows graze literally right next to the highway
• all the shades of green you could possibly imagine
• the accordion player on the sidewalk that plays happy Irish music and grins widely with gap-teeth
• nearly everyone is friendly
• they make everything smaller here, which, consequently, makes life a bit easier for those of us standing at a mere 5 feet
• I don't get carded!
• the stores close early. This may seem like an inconvenience at first and I'll admit that at times, it is, but it's a nice reminder that the people working can go home to their families for dinner 
• the weather can be shite, but it can also be the most beautiful days you've ever seen in your life...complete with rainbows.
• the style here is an eclectic mix of vintage and trendy, which I am all about, and am getting increasingly confident in dressing myself better
• last but definitely not least...THEY LOVE BOSTON PEOPLE. (and automatically assume you have Irish heritage if you say that's where you're from...most of the time they're right)

There are more reasons than just these few, but those will pop up as my blogs are posted. 

I also would like you to see where I'm going to school, so here are some photos of my campus. And no, it's not Hogwarts (though I did try to get there this past weekend, check out my next post to hear about that!)

These are ruins across the street from my school.

The King Fischer Gym on campus.

These are photos of the quad on campus. Apparently if you sit on the grass you will fail your exams. And since there's no continuous assessment and everything depends on exams...no one sits there.