Hi, my name is Morgan Wall & I am addicted to Nutella.

That's right...Nutella is cheap here and I often find myself unconsciously grabbing the jar and spoon that are conveniently located next to my bed. Next thing I know, I've been through 5 jars in 3 weeks...wait, WHAT?!

In other news, I went to a cute church today called Galway City Church. Everyone was so sweet and friendly and a cute old couple gave us a ride back to our apartment after church. At church I met some ladies from Kenya and we were speaking in Swahili and I was totally reminiscing on life in Africa...I really miss it and know for sure that a part of me is still there...the ladies invited me to come stay with them for free in Kenya and they would even get me a nice Kenyan man to marry so that I could stay there forever. haha. I might go check out a traditional African-protestant service next Sunday cause I miss those church services so much. Also, I went to the Christian Student Union tonight/ this week and met some super awesome people, including a girl that I met at the airport on the way to Ireland. I have also been involved in the Ultimate Frisbee Club and have met some super awesome people there too. I am stoked that I am starting to get plugged in and am meeting a lot of Irish locals.

Yesterday I went to Coole Park, a place where famous poets, such as Yeats and Shaw, went and wrote poetry. I want to write a new blog just on this because it was one of my favorite days so far, so I will, but my computer unfortunately currently won't let me upload pictures so I am going to wait to post that blog until I can post pictures with it. Stay tuned!

Random Irish facts: 1) Ketchup is called "Red sauce", mustard is called "Yellow Sauce", and I'm not quite sure what the "Brown Sauce" is...; 2)Instead of getting a "ride" with someone, you get a "lift" from them

East Co. Clare (Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee Caves, & the Burren)

Yesterday we went with our program, API (Academic Programs International- about 40 of us, from the states) to East Co. Clare (Cliffs of Moher,  Aillwee Caves, & the Burren). The Cliffs of Moher were huge and beautiful. They might soon become one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. There was also a small castle there. We also stopped at another couple castles and an old Abbey on the way to the cliffs of Moher. I loved the ancient ruins. After the Cliffs of Moher, we went to the Aillwee Caves where we took an underground tour and saw a bunch of stalagmites and stalagtites etc. After that we went to the Burren, a national forest region. In the Burren, we saw a 6,000 year old burial grounds. There were a bunch of cows, rocks, and fig at the Burren. We also saw a Fairy Fort, an old sacred place of nature surrounded by a a wall of grass and a moat. The fairies that were believed to make this fort were the type of fairies you would see in the Lord of the Rings, not Tinkerbell fairies. The people who lived in that area long after were very superstitious once they found this old "fort" and so they would walk around the fort 3 times in a clockwise direction in order to have a wish. If they walked around it in the counterclockwise direction they believed they would be cursed. Naturally, I walked in the counterclockwise direction =] And I am fine. All in all, it was a wonderful day for sightseeing and the sun was even shining.

Castle

Cliffs of Moher

My roomate Justina(left) and friend Kelly(top)

Ancient tomb at the Burren

Inside the old Fairy Fort

Random Irish Fact: The word "cheers" is commonly used as a word of expressing gratitude

A Spontaneous & Adventurous Weekend

Last weekend, me and some friends went to the bus station, got on a random bus to a random place in Ireland, and off we went....I have ALWAYS wanted to do this! =] We ended up going to Sligo for a day/night and Strandhill for a day/night. The first person we met in Sligo said, "There are no strangers in Sligo, only friends that you haven't met yet." We had a long conversation about politics and religion (The Irish love to talk about these two topics). Everyone was so friendly in Sligo and the owner of the hostel the we stayed at (The Railway Hostel) told us it was a safe town to hitchike in. So, we decided to hitchike to the beach; however, this wasn't very successful seeing as how there was 4 of us and we were all wet from the rain. We did hitch a short ride to the bus station which was awesome and then caught a bus to the beach (The beach town was called Strandhill). We got a "typical Irish breakfast", consisting of an egg, rasher(bacon), sausage, & pudding(kind of like sausage). At Strandhill, once again, everyone was very friendly and talkative. We went for a hike in the pouring rain and got absolutely drenched...but it was awesome. We then went to a lodge where we dried our clothes and got warmed up. We went to a pub that night and listened to music and played cards. I also showed a family some card tricks and we ended up talking to them for a long time and they gave us tips/advice for places to go and cheap buses to take. We had a great night and then went back to the lodge and played cards for another couple hours. The next day we started walking back to Sligo and saw all of the beautiful countryside of Ireland. Eventually we got a taxi so that we wouldn't miss the bus going back to Galway. It was definitely an unforgettable weekend where we had some good memories and made some good friends =] I made a video recapping the highlights for you  =]

Week 1 -School and Exploring Galway

This week was my first week of school. We basically have 2 weeks to audit courses here so technically classes haven't started yet. We go to classes and take notes and check out the material/professors and see if we are going to enroll in them or not. My favorite teacher so far is probably my statistics teacher because he is very funny and when I went in to his office he invited me and a friend in for tea & crumpets! The classes here are pretty big, about 50 to 75 people. I've met some really sweet and friendly Irish people so far that go to NUIG (National University of Ireland, Galway), but mostly in coffee shops and pubs. I have also met some awesome Americans in my program from all over the U.S. My roomate is awesome and I feel like I am getting pretty close pretty quick with the people from my program so that's great. We also all have memberships to the on-campus gym so I plan on working out there in between classes. Oh, did I mention that we walk EVERYWHERE here? I definitely am thinking that this semester will be full of exercise. They also have a "TK Maxx" instead of TJ Maxx and an "Eddie Rockets" instead of Jonnie Rockets which I thought was funny. I also went to a mass service at the St. Patrick's catherdral which was a cool experience. Oh, and a fire alarm went off in our building at night and only the Americans came outside of the building (I don't understand why no one else came out because it was SO loud). Don't worry though, there was no fire. Also, I signed up for a bunch of clubs and societies at NUIG and will take part in as many as I can. I signed up for Business, Irish Music, ALIVE(a voluneer one), Dance, Christian Student Union, Drama, Juggling, Mountaineering, Volleyball, Equestrian, Kayaking, Archery, Softball, and Ultimate Frisbee. Now there is no way that I will be able to do all of these but I am def going to try to try them out! Also, this week was followed by an AMAZINGLY adventurous and spontaneous weekend which I will blog about soon! =]

My Beautiful School




On the walk to school...



A green field nearby



Exploring Galway =]


Random Irish Fact: The word "ye" is used very often as a plural form of the word "you", as in "all of you"

A guy on the street in Ireland

 

I have met so many awesome people here so far!...Including someone who had traveled to San Jose and San Diego(shout out to you guys! =] ) and a lad whose dad is a sheep doctor and delivers sheep for a living! How cool is that?! Well, school starts on Monday and I'm sure I will be meeting a lot more cool Irish people then too. =] Today we also went to the famous Spanish Arch, a place where Christopher Columbus prayed on the ground when he landed here. This city is so small but so cute. I am ready and wanting to venture out into the farmlands of green and sheep.

Random Irish fact: To say, "thank you," people always say, "thanks a million."

A Series of Unknowledgeable Events

Day 1 in Ireland:

• Airport, met the other API(Academic Programs International) students, & got on a shuttle to Galway (& saw fields of GREEN and SHEEP and heard ACCENTS!)
• Spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the shower(turned off all the electricity accidentally in the process) and then called other random apartments asking whoever answered if they knew how to use the phones/showers
• Spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the heater
• Spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of the apartment complex doors (there are random switches for everything here & I am scared to press them in case they are the wrong thing)
• Walk/meeting with the API director and group
• Went to the grocery store and got lost about 5 times on the way back (in the little woods with fog and a marsh carrying a bunch of bags haha...Don't worry mom it's not as bad as it sounds! This is a safe place =] ). Anyways, now we know the area a little better so thats good! haha

 ....Basically, I am LOVING Ireland so far!

Random Ireland Facts: They use military time here, respond to "thank you" with "no bother", and they don't have grocery bags at the store(it is a state law that you have to use a reusable bag or none at all-very sustainable!)

The Eagle Has Landed! Over.

Well, the adventure has really begun. After a couple days of travel, I have finally landed at the airport in Ireland. I met up with my group and am sitting here now in the airport waiting for the shuttle. A local mentioned on the plane that there might be an Irish Farming class...I am definitely looking into that! I am also loving all the Irish accents =]