My Mommy Loves Me

Today I got a PACKAGE!!! Forcey (Crossroads) sent me one of their awesome care packages which I'm certain my mommy told them I was in Ireland :)

Let us point out the three things I'm absolutely positive are only in my box because of my most fantastic mother.
Cheetos. 2 bags of wonderful fake cheesey goodness that I'd just told my mom I was really really missing!! (They don't apparently make them in Ireland :( )
Second thing was Bleu Cheese. ANOTHER thing they don't make in Ireland. She knew, and put it in this awesome package.
Lastly there was a tea bag that was pomegranate raspberry. This one may not inherently be from my mom but she knows I loooove Pomegranate but ah sure we'll attribute it to her anyway.

So thank you mom!!!! I love you so much!
You're the best!

Saturday Market

So I've been quite lax on blog posting but here is one about seriously one of the coolest things in Galway:

St Nicholas Market - Saturday

Alrighty, well we all know one of my favorite things is craft fairs and particularly craft fair food. It's like having the ColorFest every weekend!!! Though it lacks pulled pork, pit beef, and kettle corn, it has crepes, falafel,  fresh bread, and the worlds BEST Doughnuts. For real, they are the greatest things ever. I'm actually friends now with the doughnut man since I've been so many times. I went back 3 times the first weekend I saw the market! 

What makes these doughnuts so wonderful, you ask??

1. They are fresh made before your very eyes
2. The Doughnut Man remembers us and tells us that he's been waiting all day when we don't get there early in the morning
3. The doughnuts are rolled in sugar then either cocoa or cinnamon is sprinkled over the top
4. Last but not least, they aren't expensive!

So doughnuts are primarily the reason we go down there but there are so many other stands! I'll list them for you. 

• Jewelry stands that almost always have Claddagh rings  - One stand to note is this woman who makes copper/silver burnt jewelry. Berry got the most perfect necklace from here with swirls that is circular. The lady that owns the stand makes all of the jewelry by hand and the pieces are all unique because they don't always come out the same. I found the most awesome necklace that really fit my personality but I couldn't justify spending about 40 euros on it.
• Clothing stands - we found a Jayne hat down here which was a fantastic and very exciting find. (Joss Whedon fans be jealous) They also have hand made shirts/sweaters etc that are so cool looking. 
• Purses - some of the clothing stands sell purses as well which are really really cool. Again hand made, they are somewhat hippy looking but look so cool and chances are I'll be getting one before the end of the semester. 
• Kitchen utensils - Last week I bought a lemon juicer from one of these stands that's hand made and is super awesome and wooden. There are really awesome cutting boards (wooden and in cool shapes), spoons, hot plates etc. If I didn't have to then ship/carry everything back to America I'd be getting many more things for my eventual kitchen. 
• Art - 
• Toys/odds and ends - There are a few stalls that have children's toys/key chains and whatnot. Thankfully unlike at the Colorfest there are NO popguns or whatever noisemaker that is always so popular every year.
• OLIVES - Ok there is this HUGE stand that's all large barrels of olives, hummus, and spice mixtures. The whole way down the aisle you can smell the olives and it's just wonderful. I got a free test olive one Saturday and it was just lovely.
• The food stalls themselves really just need their own bulleted list but here we go anyway: seafood, oysters being sliced and served, raw meat stands, huge vegetable stands with food so fresh the carrots and potatoes still have dirt on them, fresh eggs, kebabs, multiple bread stands that smell amazing, fresh cheese, crepe cart, cider, a vegan stall (never been there haha), coffee cart, and of course doughnuts.

So a trip to Saturday Market is not complete without walking up Shop Street a bit to get to "The Chocolate Box". This shop has the BEST hot chocolate ever. You watch them pour the chocolate pieces into the bottom of the cup and just steam the milk right on them, and top it off with marshmallows and cocoa powder. (Most epic thing ever). 

So this is our Saturday routine when we're in town: Doughnuts and Hot Chocolate out in the open air and looking around a market we've already seen everything at multiple times but still entertains us. 

The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne

The Chocolate Box storefront

Some of the cool nerdy knick-knacks 

Pictures for My Grandparents!

River Corrib - behind my house Gort na Coiribe

On Being Homesick

Home Sweet Home

This weekend was my first real homesick experience being gone this semester. It started while I was in Paris. For those of you that don't know, I grew up right outside of Washington D.C. which happens to be planned after the city plans of Paris. The first pangs of wanting to be home came when we were on a tour bus around the city. We came to an intersection that I double-took because it looked extremely similar to not only just an intersection in DC but also a JBG building. It hit me pretty suddenly and took me definitely by surprise.

Here are my theories on why I got so homesick:

1. Paris reminds me a LOT of DC
2. I was consistently tired this weekend from lots of traveling and very long days of tourism
3. I missed the Extravaganza up at school (only the greatest dance of the entire year)
4. Superbowl Sunday without a big party, and NO American commercials!!! (we looked them up online to get our fill)
5. Hormones
6. Just a general missing of everyone
7. Lack of puppy

Not to mention next Friday is my Mother's birthday and I miss my family greatly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!

Shaveblocking Shenanigans

I have recently been blamed for not only the lack of shaving of a friend of mine, but also for his missing college. I'd like to publicly say these are FALSE accusations. I did nothing of the sort.

And besides, how could you have been a good Braveheart on Tuesday if you were all clean shaven?? Precisely. I am not responsible for it, but you're welcome for that.

Wouldnt he look better with facial hair??

Here are good reasons to have a beard

So I'm a Horrible Blogger

Needless to say, I don't blog all that much. How is it that it's been about 2 weeks since my last post?! I've done a whole bunch of the tourist stuff and had some great craic and crazy times. I made some more great friends and came to absolutely LOVE my housemates Kailey and Monique even more than I did before :)

In picture view, here's what I've been up to::

Ya know, like ya do :P

Now for what's happening this weekend: I'm going to PARIS!

It's a crazy thing to think I'll be in that city as of 10am Paris time Friday morning!

The plan::

7pm Leave Galway

9pmish Arrive in Dublin

4am Leave for Airport

10am Arrive in PARIS!

traipsing traipsing Eiffel Tower traipsing Louvre traipsing Versailles traipsing Notre Dame

Sunday afternoon- Fly to Dublin

Bus to Galway

730pm Home Sweet Gort Na Coiribe <3

then......

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

yup. Not exactly caring as much about the game, but it's tradition and it'll make me feel like home :) Gotta get the chips, salsa, queso, and plenty of Coke!

Well. All for now.

Dancing in Ireland

Dancing is so wonderful I'm dedicating a whole blog entry to just that. Yesterday I went to 2 Irish dance classes: the beginner and the intermediate.

In a nutshell the beginner is almost too easy, but I don't have near enough of the basic knowledge for intermediate.

(Though my limited knowledge provides for great entertainment when hanging out with Irish friends who also dance, 7's in the kitchen don't ya know)

For those that don't know, the only dance class I've ever taken has been Ms Sally Sherman's Tap/Jazz course the Spring semester of 2011. So as much as I love dance and enjoy it, I really don't have all the fundamentals down, I just learn choreography decently. This semester I plan on changing that.

I'll be continuing with both the beginner and the intermediate courses.

The beginner class meets the hour before the intermediate class so I'll use it as an hour work out that gets my confidence up a bit more to then have my butt kicked in the intermediate course the following hour. Hopefully by the end I'll really be able to dance well. I intend on choreographing for Orchesis for Fall 2012 which I've already started working on down at a pub called Tig Coili while they're playing trad music. :P

(and yes, I go to pubs just to hear music and dance in my own head)

One of the groups that we've seen play down on Shop Street in Tig Coili

Well that's all for now. I'll try to keep up with this slightly better this coming week :P