Belfast

Okay, so I finally made it on Tuesday (4 days ago) and time has been a whirlwind since then! There's so much to see and do here, and I've been very busy! I stayed with Lyndsay's parents for Tuesday night, and they brought me to Queens on Wednesday. I moved my measley two suitcases in and was lef all alone in a big city...but I'm doing fine, and I've had a very exciting time so far! On Wednesday, the weather was really nice and the sun was out...I haven't seen it since...

We had international students orientation on Thursday and Friday and I met a lot of people from all over the world. On Thursday we had boring stuff and then we went on a bus tour of Belfast. We visited the Parliament house as well as Malone House which is a southern-style plantation house. We also visited a few other places, but they weren't as pretty so I don't remember them :)

Also, on Thursday, we had a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee). This is a tradtional celtic get-together. They played traditional Irish music and taught us how to do certain dances. The dances are similar to the dances you would see in a movie showing an older time period in which the music would start playing and people would do line dances, etc. It's a great way to meet people, and everyone there had such a good time! I also got quite the work-out because we danced for 2 hours!

On Friday, I was getting pretty tired, and the weather was AWFUL! The highlight of the day was getting back to my room and watching a movie with a girl I've met here!

Today, me and my new friend (lol) went to the city center and did some of the shopping we needed to do. We needed bed linens, grocery items and other random little things you discover you need.

So now, I'm just going to list some stuff I've found very interesting since I've been here, and I hope you all enjoy!

~The bathroom door on my floor has a sign reading "W.C." which is short for Water Closet (I had to google that one!)
~The toilet is always in one room and the shower is always in a seperate room.
~A lot of people actually know where Oklahoma is!
~I have a radiator with a control knob, but the heat gets turned off during the day :(
~I have to walk briskly for 15 minutes to get to campus and will need to walk 20 min to get to my classes...bummer
~"Chips" are actually fries
~The UK is not part of Europe
~Ireland is part of the UK
~The Republic of Ireland does not get along so well with the UK
~I miss Wal-Mart, because I have to go into several different shops to find everything I need
~Toothpaste is really inexpensive here! lol...I don't know why it's so much cheaper here than it is in the states.
~A traditional Ulster Fry is a breakfast dish which has beans, soda bread, potato bread, a sunny-side-up egg and a sausage link (and no, I didn't eat one!)
~Irish stew is amazing, and so is fish and chips...but most everything else I've had is disgusting
~The students drink a lot during the week, but not on the weekends.
~The city center is about a 30 minute walk...ugh
~I've been told that to tell what the weather is going to be like, then I need to look toward the hills; (we are surrounded by beautiful countryside) if you can't see them, then it's raining and if you can see them, then it's going to rain :) lol
~It's not really that cold here, just rainy and cloudy
~The Irish have less personal space than we do
~They have one pound and two pound coins...not paper money
~They LOVE to drink tea here. When you order it at a restaurant, they serve it to you in a silver little pot with another silver little creamer dish with milk in it. Even at fast food restaurants they will serve it like this!
~They only drink warm tea, and nobody knows what iced tea is!!

Well that's it for now, I hope you all enjoy! There will be plenty more to come!

O. M. Gee!

So, today is the 10th, and I leave on the 26th, so I only have 16 more days!!! I'm so excited! I got a plug adaptor the other day and my computer and my new camera battery charger can run on 220v. So I think I'm set as far as stuff that plugs in goes... I am going to order some currency next week, and I have my passport, and my entry clearance ready. I will also need to show Customs a bank statement so they know I will be able to support myself while living there...it's so weird that they have to know all of this personal stuff! Well, that's it for now! I'm just really looking forward to going, and I'm getting super anxious!

So, as of today, I have 43 days until I leave for Ireland! All of my paperwork has been done (I think), and Sydney and I are anxious to leave! I picked out what classes I want to take, but I'll find out when I get there exactly what my schedule will be like. I have also found out where I will be living. Other than that, I'm just getting ready to go!

Ugh, I haven't been on here in forever!! I'm slowly getting through the stacks of paperwork required for studying abroad! Good thing it's not due until October!! I'm still really looking forward to going, and I'm officially going to Germany for Easter Break! I can't wait!

The paperwork I have to do is for Lyon and Queens. They each have to have all of their own stuff filed away. The funny thing is that I sat down to fill out the Queens paperwork and had no idea what it was asking for because it was like in a different language! And then, come to find out I may or may not need a student visa...but I'm going to get one anyways, 'cause I don't want to have to stress out about it. I figured I might like it there and stay for another semester anyways (j/k...I'll come home!).

Well, so I'm just working on boring paperwork and trying to decide what classes I want to take. Over there, they have modules. Typically, students take 3 modules a semester, with each module consisting of approximately 5 US credit hours. So I will be taking 15 hours, but only 3 classes basically. I am trying to take American Politics, Marine Ecology and Irish Literature. I thought those sounded fun. Especially the politics class, since that will be right after the election and all!

I guess I'll try to write on here more often. I've been super busy with Alpha Xi stuff as usual. I'm trying to get a new website up and running. Please go look at it so you can see what we're up to! It's rather blank right now, but it should be full shortly!! Go to lyon.alphaxidelta.org

Love you guys!!

I'M GOING TO IRELAND!!!!

Okay, so this is my first blog!! I found out on Thurs. March 20, 2008 at approximately 9pm that I got accepted into a program to study in Ireland for the Spring 2009 semester!!! I was so excited!!! I have A LOT of planning to do between now and then, not including all the money I need to make!! I have always wanted to study abroad, and now I have the chance of a lifetime and I'm so happy. My best friend Sydney also got accepted but we will be going to different schools. I will be going to school at Queen's University in Belfast, the capital of Ireland, and she will be about an hour train ride away at the University of Ulster. We are so ready to go!!!