Goodbye Galway!

Four months, two max-ed out credit cards, lots of new friends, and one great experience. It seems like quite a bit, but we still can't believe it's over. 

The rest of Eurotrip 2k9 went smoothly. We opted for a day train to Munich, for obvious reasons, and remained wide awake for the entire journey. When we arrived, we had a nice, clean hotel room all to ourselves. Erin's parents very generously reserved a room for both of our nights in Munich. It was wonderful- no loud roommates, our very own bathroom, and, most importantly, a ceiling. Later, we met up with Erin's Aunt, Uncle, her cousin Jill, and Jill's fiance, Mike and did the only logical thing: found a beer garden. Dinner was delicious. Erin discovered her new favorite food kaiserschmarren- a shredded pancake dessert (or in our case, dinner) served with powdered sugar and apple sauce. I had a great spaetzle noodle dish. Turns out we love German food. Who'da thought?

The next day, Jill, Mike, Erin, and I did a free bike tour throughout the city. We saw a few old buildings (though there aren't many left; most were destroyed during WWII), visited some important historical sites, and learned about Hitler's incredible influence on the city. Today, any kind of nazi references are taken very seriously. A man was arrested and imprisoned last year for doing a "Hail Hitler" salute in a city plaza. Halfway through the tour, we stopped at a beer garden and made some friends from Tennessee and Florida. After a liter or so of beer each (bad idea?), we hopped back on the bikes and finished off the tour. The whole fam (yes, I am now part of the fam) reunited for dinner at the famous Hofbrauhaus. Erin's other cousin, Julie, and her husband, Charlie, had made it to Munich at that point, so we had a nice sized group. We spent that night out and about in Munich, but somehow ended up at an Irish pub. We just can't get away!

The next morning, we woke up early for a sobering trip to Dachau concentration camp. The original gas chambers and crematoriums were still in place along with the barracks, watch towers, barbed wire fences, and an ironically beautiful landscape. We had all learned about the Holocaust since grade school, but nothing compares to visiting the camp- the place where the depths of human cruelty and human endurance were tested. We spent some time in the museum and then had to catch a strain to Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of two great men: Mozart and Uncle! 

Erin and I were definitely spoiled at the end of our trip because another hotel room was awaiting us in Salzburg.  (Thanks Aunt and Uncle!!) We had a great dinner at the Augustiner Brewery and walked around Old Town. 

I loved Salzburg. It's like the Galway of Austria- small and friendly with lots of character and culture (and a serious love of beer!). Like Edinburgh, the city surrounds a large castle. There are mountains in nearly every direction, and the city center is contained to a pretty small area.

The purpose of our visit was to attend a service for Oma, Uncle's mother who passed away a few months ago. Erin was really glad she could be there for it. 

After some more food, exploring, and beer, we called it a night. Very early the next morning, we began the last leg of our trip- Salzburg to London and London to Shannon. Lenny and Mick picked us up from the airport. As soon as we saw them, it felt like we were home. We spent the hour car ride back to Galway telling them all about our travels and making plans for that night. We decided to check out the docks. The Volvo Ocean Race currently has a stopover in Galway, so the docks were full of people, food tents, music, etc. It reminded me of the Taste of Chicago!

When the sun went down around 10:30, we headed to a bar where spent the remainder of the night. Before we walked back to Forster Court for the last time, we had to make a stop at Charcoal Grill for our favorite fries and red sauce. And so began the goodbyes. Mick was the first to go home, and I was the first to cry my eyes out. Lenny, Lizzy, and Dermot walked back with us and those those goodbyes were just as bad. We even woke David up for one last hug. It was really hard to say goodbye, which only proves how lucky we were to make such good friends- lifelong friends, I hope. 

Three hours later, we were on a bus to Dublin airport. Other than the hour delay, our flight back to Chicago was great- we had our own TV screens and got to choose which movies or TV shows we wanted to watch. Erin even played virtual hangman for awhile! Everything at home was exactly as we remembered it. It felt like we had never left. 

This is our last post for now, but it certainly isn't the end of our travels. Europe can count on another visit from us and you can count on more adventures!

Bumps in the Road

Hey everyone! (if anyone is still reading this...)

We are in Vienna, Austria right now and it is pouring rain! Milan was really cool, we met up with Katie's friend Giovanni who lives in Como (yes, the same Lake Como where George Clooney has a house!) and he showed us lots of Milan and then met us in Como and showed us all over there the next day! We got lots of sun and gelato, mmm! The Cathedral there was amazing and we could even see the small gold Virgin Mary on the very top of the Cathedral from a light house in Como over an hour away! We went up the mountain in Como and could see snow capped mountains in the distance- Giovanni told us we were looking at Switzerland!! Then we got a train to Venice and were very surprised to step out of the train station and be looking a canal! There are no streets really, only canals and boats instead of cars! We had to call the hostel lady to meet us with the key, but the directions she gave me were in a really thick Italian accent and when I sounded confused she just said "And-a then-a you just-a ask-a the Italian people", haha. We did ask the Italian people, every 2 minutes for a half hour and finally found the piazza we needed. We got the key, checked in, and then finally went to eat. I was feeling a little under the weather so after a few glasses of wine we decided to call it a night.

The next day was the easily the most beautiful day we have seen n Europe! Warm sunshine, cool breezes, and not a cloud in the sky. We walked around Venice and LOVED it. I wish we had another couple nights there, but we definitely don't have any complaints! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures...

That night we got on an overnight train from Venice to Vienna. We were in a compartment with 6 seats but it was only us and one other girl so we thought we were golden. Then at one of the stops these 2 other (very loud) people got on and had actually bought the ticket for the night before so they were going to have to move cars, but we jumped up and volunteered to move because we knew there were empty compartments and wanted to get away from them! I didn't sleep much, maybe 2 hours, but at 5am there was a knock on our door: another ticket check. I groggily sat up to get it out of my bag and realized my bag was not at my feet anymore... And thus begins the last 2 days from hell. Someone had stolen my bag, we're pretty sure around 4 am because there was a stop in Salzburg at that point, so they probably took it and jumped off. It had my passport, credit card, debit card, mine and Katie's Irish debit cards (and we each just got paid that morning!) my jewelery, and my travel journal that I have been writing in the past 4 months, among some other smaller things. We did not know what to do, basically had no money, I had no ID, thankfully Kate had our Eurail passes and my camera... I filed a report with the train people and checked every garbage on the train, finding only someone else's purse :( Next we spent an hour at the police station, who thankfully spoke English, and canceled all of our cards. Whoever stole my bad didn't waste much time: there were already charges on my debit card from somewhere in Salzburg! The next couple of hours we spent at the American Consulate getting me an emergency passport. Thank goodness for kind people like the lady who runs our hostel. She let us pay by credit card and forgave a whole night that we should have paid for because we booked the hostel for the wrong date!

After an exhausting day we met up with Katie's friend Maureen who is studying here and she made us dinner! Today it is raining but Maureen is going to show us around Vienna so it is not a total loss. I am still bitter about everything being stolen but Katie made the best point last night: for that one really terrible person we have encountered on this trip, we have met SO MANY more good people. And it is for realizations like that that I know I could not have done this trip with anyone but Kate. It will be fabulous to see the Wenninger clan tomorrow but we just can't believe our trip is really coming to an end!

Whirlwind Tour of Spain

Our stay in Granada was great, but quick. Sheila flew in on Wednesday with her friend Erin, and we all shared a room at Hostal Nevada. The old Spanish man at the front desk was wearing a shamrock tie that he got in Ireland and told us that we were ¨muy guapas¨(very pretty girls) every time we left. Needless to say, we liked it there.

On Wednesday we walked around the city, ate ice cream, drank sangria, and introduced the girls to Spanish nightlife. A typical night out in Granada usually starts with tapas around 10pm (tapas are free mini-meals that come with each drink you order), bars at midnight, and then a discoteca from 2 until sunrise. We got back to the hostel around 6am and spent most of the next day laying in the sun, sleeping off the previous night.

Erin and I had to catch an early bus to Alicante on Friday. We opted for the 2am bus so we wouldn´t have to pay for a hostel that night. Six hours later, we pulled into the Alicante bus station where our friend Visa was waiting. We met Visa in Galway back in February. He was living at Kinlay Hostel at the same time as us and taught us how to make tortilla española. He drove us to his house in Benissa, a small town outside of Alicante. His apartment is really cool, and we each had our own bed in his guest room! He took us all over Benissa and the surrounding towns. We saw a ton of beaches, some with sand others with stones. Visa showed us some of his favorite places- beaches where he and his friends make paella, listen to music, and even sleep under the stars!

That night, we went out for a very spanish dinner- all kinds of seafood, pelotas (bread and pork wrapped in cabbage and boiled), tortilla española, bread with anchovies, a big plate of roasted vegetables for me, sweet wine, and espresso. After dinner, we met about 15 of Visa´s friends at a nearby bar. The beauty of a small town is that everywhere you go, you´ll find friends! We got a lot of practice speaking Spanish.

On Saturday, we drove to a pueblecito (little town) in the mountains called Guadalest. There were beautiful views of the mountains and a museum of miniature art- intricate paintings on grains of rice and sand, seashells, pieces of hair, etc. You had to look at everything through a magnifying glass!

We were all pretty tired from the night before and from all the walking we had done in Guadelest, so we opted for a drive-in movie instead of a bar. First, we saw a Spanish movie called ¨Al final del camino¨(To the End of the Road) and then ¨Angeles y Demonios¨(Angels and Demons).

Today, Visa drove us to Valencia, the capital city of the Valencian community. We walked all over the city, saw a ton of cathedrals and ate mini-sandwiches for lunch. He just dropped us off at our hostel and headed back to Benissa. The worst part of travelling is all the good-byes!

Tomorrow, we take a bus to Barcelona and then a plane to Milan on Tuesday. My friend Giovanni, who studied at U of I as an exchange student, lives outside of Milan. He´s going to meet up with us in the afternoon and hopefully show us around a little. We´ve been looking forward to gelato for weeks now, so we´ll definitely have to work some gelaterias into the schedule!

¡Hasta pronto!

Besos,
Katie

Tours, tiles, and tapas

We made it to Granada! It´s just like I remember it- the tile sidewalks, the purr of mopeds around every corner, the smell of dry air and stale cigarette smoke, and the carefree lifestyle that I so badly want to take home. We arrived last night after a full day of traveling (Edinburgh to Malaga, Malaga to Granada) and headed out for tapas. After two pitchers of sangria and a delicious tortilla española, we were ready to crash. We spent today reaquainting ourselves with the city, showing each other our favorite places, and reminiscing about our time living here.

Before our homecoming to Spain, we spent a long weekend in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It´s currently competing with London as my favorite city in the world. There is a charming combination of history and modernity in Edinburgh that I´ve never experienced. The old castles and graveyards could illustrate any fairytale storybook, while the high fashion and public transport are similar to any other Euopean city.

The city sits on a hill, with Edinburgh Castle marking its highest point. We saw most of the city on a three-hour walking tour. Our guide was an animated Australian man who explained every major site in the city, acting out stories of love, war, and thievery. Apparently, Edinburgh used to be body-snatching capital of Europe (lots more of those little anecdotes to come in a future post). We also did some exploring on our own and stumbled upon the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, which were absolutely gorgeous. We did a pub crawl on Sunday night and made some friends from England who will be visiting Chicago this summer!

Our hostel was not quite as charming as the city. It was in an old, converted church with all of the original stained glass windows and stone walls. Sounds cool, right? Well, it would have been if our bedroom had a ceiling, but it did not. The sanctuary of the church housed 16 dorm rooms with 6 people in each and none had ceilings. I don´t know if the vaulted ceilings of the church were too tall to allow proper walls or if they wanted us to appreciate the gorgeous stained glass. Either way, I´ll sacrifice the beauty for some peace and quiet!

Well, the Spanish sun is calling. We´re off to have lunch in our favorite park, Garcia Lorca. We´ll be thinking of all of you while we sun bathe!

Katie

Our last days in Galway :(

Hi everyone!
We´re in Granada, Spain right now but I wanted to fill you in on our last couple days in lovely little home away from home. Thursday Katie and I both went to work, I had to say goodbye to my amazing boss Donna, which was actually really hard! Katie had just started to realize that people at work actually liked her, so we were both getting pretty sad! After work we did a few errands and headed home to get ready for the big night out. All of our friends had planned on coming out with us for a last hoorah on Thursday so we were excited, but kind of dreading it because that really meant the end. Everyone started coming over and the wine drinking began. As usual it eventually led to David bringing out the guitar and everyone hanging out and singing for hours. Of all the things about Galway I will miss, I´ll miss these nights the most. We finally got out to the bar and everyone had a great time dancing and not thinking about the fact that we´re leaving! Later at home we stayed up until 5 am with David on the guitar, Mick on the drum, and me on the tambourine! It was so much fun again that no one wanted to go to bed, but our last day of work was tomorrow so Kate turned in and then everyone else followed.

The next morning everyone was hurting from the night before so we all went our for lunch. Well, everyone except Katie. You may be wondering how I was able to go to lunch in the middle of the day. Turns out I skipped my last day of work! I didn´t mean to, I meant to go in late, but I just didn´t want to leave the party and it´s not like they could fire me! I felt really bad so I rang later and explained everything and it was fine. You´ll find that Ireland is a fabulous country which accepts "severely hungover" as a reason not to come to work! After lunch Katie and I went home to help David clean for some people who were coming to look at renting our rooms :( Lenny and Mick promised to come later that night to see us off to the bus station.

Friday was a gorgeous day. We cleaned and hung out with Dave all day, and he suggested we all have dinner together, which sounded great to Katie and I because we were getting really sad about leaving, me especially. It hadn´t really hit Kate yet at this point. Turns out David and his friend Christian, who is from Italy, made us this big, Italian, DELICIOUS dinner! After dinner we all got ready to go out again and headed to Monroe´s for the last time :( The band that David used to be in was playing so we hung out there for a while and Sheila, Dermot, his friend Eddie, and Mick came to meet us there. After that we headed to Bar 903 again for some dancing and had a great time. Katie and I had to take the 3:30 am bus to Shannon airport so around 2:30 we all went home to grab our stuff and everyone came to see us off at the airport! Lenny didn´t leave work in time but Mick, Eddie, Dermot, and Sheila walked with us in the rain to the bus station. I was alllll tears, as was Sheila. We are leaving behind some really amazing people here and I just hope that not much time passes before we can see them again.

Since then we have spent 5 hours in the Shannon airport, short flight to Edinburgh (pronounced Edinborough), Scotland where we spent 3 days, a handful more buses, another flight, and now we´re in Granada!!! I´ll let Kate catch you up on those adventures, but we miss you all and are so excited to see you!! Although, if you could all move to Europe we would really appreciate it, because we seriously LOVE it over here.

Ha Luego!!
-Erin

Biker Bar

Our most interesting days in Galway always seem to start with a phone call from Mick- climbing mountains, nights in Ballinrobe, road trips to Cork. Thursday it was a text message that went something like this: "Have you ever been to the biker bar? You have to go. Cultural experience." Well, you know Erin and me- can't pass up a cultural experience. 

So, off we were to Sally Long's, a bar in the heart of Galway that we never knew existed (after a night there, I realized that the regular clientele probably like it that way). At first glance, it was sort of a dive bar, full of guys with long hair and leather jackets. The bar staff looked like they had seen their fair share of rough nights. We had a few pints, and the place started to grow on us. Well, most of us. I think Erin was a little uncomfortable the whole time we were there. The coolest part of the bar was a mural that depicted the Last Supper. Don't worry, it didn't compromise the edginess of the bar; the heads of Jesus and his disciples were replaced by those of rock n' roll icons- Van Halen, Elvis, etc. There was a good rock band playing, and the bartender gave us vouchers for 1 euro off each of our drinks (possibly because we were among the only females in the place, but we'll take it). 

After witnessing a surprisingly subtle drug bust, we decided to call it a night. The wind practically carried us home. It was really bad that night; our curtains blew all night even though our windows were locked shut. 

Friday and Saturday were girls' nights out. Erin, Sheila, and I went to Monroe's to see David's band play. I suppose I should stop calling it David's band since he's no longer a member... Nights like Saturday help us realize why Americans tend to have a bad reputation in Europe. We spent a good portion of the night watching girls from Florida make complete fools of themselves. We decided to claim Canadian citizenship for the night. After the show, we hung out with the band for awhile until the bar staff made us leave. At the next bar, we met some Irish boys. One was from Donegal and the other two were from Dublin and Tiperary. When the bar closed, we all went to McDonald's where the conversation turned to, of all things, the American welfare state. That's when we knew it was time for bed. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed home. 

It was still windy on Saturday, but Sunday was the most gorgeous day yet. It was about 70 degrees and sunny all day long. We sat out in the backyard, got bagels, and walked around the city. 

Our time in Galway is winding down quickly. We are both going to quit work on Friday, and we leave for Scotland Saturday morning. I'm lucky to still be working- I was pretty sure I'd be fired last Thursday. I was on Men's Floor talking to a couple of my co-workers about our managers. We discussed our opinions of them for a few minutes- one uses her pregnancy as an excuse not to do anything and another is the reason no one likes working there, among other things- when I heard someone on my walkie talkie saying, "Hello? Men's floor?" I said, "Go ahead," and Aisling responded, "Turn your radio off. We can hear everything you're saying." 

Our jaws dropped and cheeks turned an unhealthy shade of red. We stared at each other with our hands over our mouths for a solid minute. It was almost 5pm, and just about time for the change in shifts, so everyone was leaving, but I had to stay on until 6pm. I walked downstairs to lady's floor, where everyone looked at me. "You ALL heard me?" They just nodded, and I laughed uncomfortably. I was positive that I would be fired.

Luckily, all the managers were having a meeting in the office upstairs. I guess they turned their radios down because no one mentioned it after that day. I guess I learned my lesson: don't gossip... and if you do, make sure your radio is off.

We don't have much time left in Galway, so we'll have to pack a lot in this week. You can count on some adventures over the next few days. Hopefully they'll involve more calls from Mick and less radio mishaps!

Meeting the Fam

Hola everyone! Well this weekend was GORGEOUS here! So much sun I got a mini sunburn on my chest and loved it :) Saturday we spent eating bagels by the river and then soaking up the sun in the yard. That evening when it started to rain we met Sheila at the internet cafe to plan Eurotrip. It's all booked, exciting huh?!

Sunday morning we woke up and caught a bus to Ennis, which is about an hour and 20 minutes from Galway, to meet my Grandma Clark's cousin, Sean, and his family! I was so excited to meet family here and it could not have been a better day and night. Sean's daughter, Kathy, picked us up from the bus station and as soon as we pulled up Margaret (Sean's wife) said I looked just like Andy Fahey (my dad's uncle)! There were tons and tons of kisses and hugs and welcomes, it was great! We went inside and had tea and coffee and biscuits and talked a lot about the family. I learned so many new things about my Grandma's side of the family and I really enjoyed talking to Sean about it. Turns out my grandparents were sitting in that exact house when I was born! I also learned that Grandma's family originated in Partry, which is in County Mayo, and which happens to be about 5 minutes from Ballinrobe! (where David, Lenny, Mick, and Lizzie are from...weird huh???)

After tea and coffee we had dinner, at like noon! It was a gorgeous feast: potatoes, carrots and parsnip, a roast, and it was all so delicious. After dinner we again had tea and coffee and chatted, it was a lot of Fahey/Staunton history for Katie to take in, but it was so interesting! Sean and Margaret have 5 kids and we got to meet 4 of them. After dinner Orla and Maria came over with Maria's son Ian, who is 10. Maria had a wedding that night so Orla was watching Ian and they were going to come with Kathy, Katie, and I on a driving tour of County Clare! We started out in Doolin, this small, like teeny teeny town on the coast with beautiful views. We stopped in Gus O'Connor's pub, which is famous, for a pint, and then continues up the coast to the Cliffs of Moher! Recall the first time we went we got to see about half of one cliff because of the fog, so it was amazing that we got to see them again! Ireland's coasts are spectacular...From there we went to Lahinch, this beach that Ian loves and goes to weekly in the summer. Who knew Ireland had such great surfing?! We got ice cream at Enzo's, which apparently has the best ice cream ever (I would have to agree..) and sat on the beach wall for bit. Ian gave us lots of info and pointed out the rich people's houses where he would one day live (I was invited to visit, as was Katie :) ). Next stop was Milltown to meet their brother John and his family in their mobile summer home. John and his wife, Fiona, have four kids who would be my 3rd cousins we decided (though for the day everyone was just cousins, and we were the American cousins!), Owen who will be starting college in the fall, Aiofe (ee-fa), who is 15, Niamh (neve), who is probably 12 or 13, and Gerald, 6? Anyhow they were so welcoming and showed us the beach where they lived for the whole summer. They wake board, body board, fish, wind surf, everything! It reminded me of Lake Como before the TV, DVD player, huge outdoor toys, etc.. They had no TV and no electricity, by choice! So cool...

After our driving tour we went back home, where Margaret had prepared a dozen home made scones, a rhubarb tart, and an apple tart, delicious!! I couldn't stop eating, so luckily she sent us home with lots of everything :) Ian's sister Roisin (ro-sheen), 5, came home from her friend's home to meet us and showed me that she had just lost a tooth. She was a little nervous but very sweet. When Orla took the kids home for the night Kathy asked if we would like a glass of wine, but before we could answer Margaret said "O yes they would, they would, yes, get them a glass, yes..." So we had some wine and chatted some more, took a few pictures, and then Kathy really had to get to sleep. She works for Continental Airlines at Shannon airport and had to be there at 6 am! I think I should look into that job because she flies for free, as do Sean and Margaret!! I promised I'd try to plan a big Chicago reunion because she said they could come at the drop of a hat! Sean dropped us off at the bus station the next morning since I had to get to work and gave us lots of hugs and kisses goodbye, he told me to give Grandma a big kiss too. It was such a great day and I'm so happy I got to meet and learn so much about my family. I'll post the pics soon, sorry for everyone who was super bored by this post; we'll be going out like every night now because we have so little time left, so I'm sure they'll be more exciting ones soon!!!

Love you all, less than a month now!!
-Erin

Cark!

Hello everyone!
I'm sure most of you are disappointed that it I'm writing instead of the ever-poetic Katie, but you'll have to deal with it until next time she writes :)

We had another great weekend, this time in Cork! We have been wanting to go to Scotland but the tickets are pretty expensive, so we decided to take a bus to the south of Ireland and go to the 2nd largest city in the Republic of Ireland (Belfast is 2nd largest on the whole island), Cork! We knew the accents were going to be pretty crazy down there, so I was nervous about understanding people because I still have trouble here in Galway! Last minute we found out that our friend, Mick, was going to Cork that weekend to visit his brother, Pat, who we had met last weekend in Ballinrobe. Mick offered to drive us so we were pretty excited about not having to take a bus! We got to Cork and checked into our hostel where we met this girl from Spain! She was from Madrid and didn't speak lots of English, so we got to use our Spanish which we always love. She is here in Ireland with her boyfriend looking for work and to improve their Spanish; they are even planning on living in separate apartments to force them to speak English! She was really sweet and it was nice to speak Spanish again.

We got ready pretty quickly and met Mick and Pat on Patrick's street in the city centre, which was conveniently located 5 minutes from our hostel. Pat took us to a bar called Scott's for dinner and drinks. I had a chicken fajita and it was DELICIOUS! I love real food from real restaurants... After that we went to a bar I can't remember the name of, but there was a band playing and they were really good! We had lots of pints (I just got paid on Friday for a whole month of work, so we were feeling pretty rich for the first time haha) and danced as much as we could because it was pretty crowded. As usual Kate requested a song after a couple pints, and as usual, they said they didn't know how to play it! She has the worst luck with that..

After that bar we went to another bar, which I also can't remember the name of, and had some more pints, followed by some fabulous french fries at the chipper. I was getting really annoyed because we had just bought all these fries and the guys were trying to tell us they were closing! Anyhow Mick and Pat walked us home and then in the morning we tried to decide if we should stay in Cork or drive back with them that day. It was rainy so we were leaning toward going home, but decided that we really wanted to see more of Cork than just the pubs (impressed??) so we decided to stay. We walked all around the shopping area of Cork and also got some great weather in the afternoon! We loved all the cafes and buildings: Cork is a strange but adorable mix of Dublin and Galway, and seems to cater less to the tourists. We both agreed that had we seen Cork in the beginning of our trip we would have chosen to live there instead of Galway, but we still love our cute little home-city!!

After losing Mick's car in the car park (don't get me started) we went to the hostel to book another night, but then decided we didn't want to pay so we'd leave that night. After NOT going to Shandon and climbing up a steeple to play the church bells, which would have been awesome, we began our drive home. All was going smoothly until the windshield wipers stopped working, which is about as dire a circumstance as if the entire car just wouldn't start because we absolutely could not drive. We would pull over and wait out the rain while Mick attempted to fix the wipers and almost became road kill a few times, and then drive as much as we could during the breaks. Took a little longer to get home but luckily there was wine waiting.

A bunch of people came over that night for some wine and David broke out the guitar as usual so we had a good time singing and chatting. I even discovered my secret musical talent: the tambourine!! I was very good at it, Dad would be proud :) Sunday everyone woke up massively hungry and of course we had a terrible time finding somewhere to eat: one place just simply had no bread that day! Finally we went to the old reliable Quays and had a fabulously filling and satisfying meal. We ended up staying for like 5 hours for coffee and beer even though I looked like crap! It was a really nice lazy Sunday filled with good friends and grocery shopping and lots of lounging :) A plan was hatched to convince our friend Lizzie to move to Chicago for a little while! Crossing our fingers for that...Sheila finally came back from her week-long trip so we caught up a bit last night and finally headed for bed. Today we'll hopefully get our EuroTrip 09 plans nailed down, though I'm completely terrified to travel ANYWHERE with this pig flu and will insist on wearing surgical masks while on planes, buses, or trains.

Katie sent her Georgetown deposit in so I'm also trying to come to terms with having my best friend (and current Siamese twin) living across the country, but I'm not liking this idea very much. We miss you all and can't wait for an amazing summer!!
-Erin

PS: updates on your life are encouraged!!

Conquering Croagh Patrick

This weekend started like any other. We went out on Friday night for Sheila's friend's 21st birthday. The big 2-1 is not quite as exciting in a county whose drinking age is 18, but we celebrated nonetheless. The night ended, as it usually does, at Charcoal Grill. I'm pretty sure those fries would be just as delicious at any other time of day, but I've never tested the theory.

We woke up Saturday morning intent on finding bagels. There is a great bagel vendor at Galway's Saturday street market, and we had made a date with Sheila the night before. It was the perfect morning- girl talk, sunshine, and bagels on the River Corrib. Little did we know, that it would not be a typical lazy weekend in Galway. 

About a half hour into our bagel date, we got a phone call from our friend Mick. Erin answered, and Sheila and I heard, "You're what? You're climbing a... he's climbing a mountain! Well, yeah, that's great Mick. Have a great time. [pause] Oh, you what? You want us to come with?" After convincing Sheila to blow off her 10-page paper, which was due Monday, we agreed to go.

And so began our adventure. Mick drove 45 minutes from Mayo to pick us up and 2 hours later we were at the base of Croagh Patrick. It is the mountain where Saint Patrick spent 40 days and is scaled on a regular basis by reverent Catholics in their bare feet. Being less devout than most Catholics and more willing to torture our feet with heels than jagged rocks, we opted for gym shoes. 

The whole climb took about 3 hours. It was very steep at parts, as evidenced by the large bruises and scrapes on Sheila's backside. Each person that passed us on their way down assured us that "this was the hardest part." One woman even offered us fruit (in our haste, we had forgotten quite a few things, including food.) Turns out, the whole mountain was the hardest part. When we finally made it to the top, it was well worth the trek. The view was magnificent. We had started our climb relatively late, so we shared the peak only with a few sheep. As we stared over the ocean, it was impossible not to feel insignificant. The sun was just setting behind mountains in the distance, and the water looked like a blanket of silk. What struck me most was the absolute quiet- the kind of consuming silence that you can only find in a place like that.

Our love of Croagh Patrick quickly dwindled as we made our way back down. The steep mountainside seemed even steeper, and it was starting to get cold. When we had almost reached the base, we came across three women huddled together on a rock. One had broken her ankle and they were somewhat stranded. Mick gave them his sweater and phone number. When we made it back down, he arranged for a "mountain rescue." They called him the next day to say they were ok and would mail him his sweater back.

That night, we stayed in Ballinrobe at Mick's house. Our roommate David and friends Lenny, Dermot, and Lizzy are also from Ballinrobe. It's a very small town where everyone knows everyone. We went to a nice dinner (dressed in our sweatpants and t-shirts) and then out to the bars. We met Mick's twin brother and sister and a bunch of their friends. The night ended at a night club called the Valk (I think- they just laugh every time we try to pronounce it). 

On Sunday, Mick gave us a mini-tour of the area, and we made a stop at Ashford Castle. Erin had been there once before, but it was the first time for Sheila and me. It was gorgeous- you can check out a few pictures in the last album. We made it back to Galway late in the afternoon. Sheila scrambled to the library to get her paper done. I'm pretty sure she was up all night. 

It was an action-packed weekend, but one of the best so far. 

Yesterday, Erin and I finally figured out our travel plans. Drum roll please... we'll be in Europe until June 5! After a few hectic phone calls and being informed that the good ol' CPD had lost my application for the third time this year, we were told that we didn't have to be home until mid-June. We discussed our options and our intense feelings of guilt for extending the trip and decided to book new tickets home. Erin was thrilled because that meant we could meet her Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in Salzburg. Her Uncle is from Austria, so we'll have our very own tour guide! The tentative plan is to quit our jobs on May 15, do a week in Spain, a week traveling other parts of Europe, and then a few days in Munich and Salzburg with Erin's family. We're both really excited!! We'll keep you updated as the plan develops. 

Stay tuned for some cool pictures!

Katie

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter! Today is a Bank Holiday in Ireland, so most things are closed, and I have the day off. Last week was River Island's mid-season sale, so I had to work 10 hours most days. It was complete chaos. I was ringing people up non-stop, and the queue was at least 10 people long for most of the day. They talk a lot about the recession here, but I'm not so sure...

Erin and I had a great weekend. Good Friday is one of two days when the entire country shuts down (the other is Christmas). Pubs and bars were closed, so we were forced to stay in. My friend Jameson sent us West Wing, Season One (my all-time favorite show), so we watched a few episodes and went to bed. 

Saturdays in Galway are great. We had wonderful weather and spent the day wandering the city. Erin bought red heels for 8 euro at a street market, and I bought Romeo and Juliet (the one with Leonardo DiCaprio) on VHS for 2 euro! We were both very excited about our purchases. 

We finally made it to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon. We had been living on peanut butter sandwiches for about a week because we hadn't had time to go shopping. We're still staying pretty true to our 6 euro/day budget (as long as we don't count beer or coffee).

On Saturday night, we did a little Galway pub crawl, red heels and all. I didn't want to feel left out, so I broke out the pumps and skinny jeans. I think we made it to about 5 bars, after which that eight euro heel purchase didn't seem so great. Walking on these cobblestone streets is hard enough as it is, but when you try balancing on three inch torture devices, it becomes a lot more difficult. Needless to say, my heels have gone back into retirement, and I've reaffirmed my commitment to Converse.

After sleeping unreasonably late on Sunday, we laid on the couch, ate ice cream and Easter candy, and watched the West Wing for hours. Luckily, our friend Dermot, who lives down the street,  saved us from a day of complete uselessness. He invited us over for a game of Monopoly, which lasted about 4 hours and got pretty heated. I think I'm the only person in the history of the game to own both Park Place and Boardwalk and still lose. By the end of the game, it was 1 AM and Sheila had more money than the bank. 

Erin is working today, but she's off at 4. It's been raining off and on, but it's so warm out the rain doesn't even bother me.

Quick law school update: I have to make a commitment in the next two weeks. I'm still leaning toward Georgetown, but Berkeley keeps creeping back into my head; it's hard to pass up that California weather. I've yet to hear from Stanford or Harvard, which I can nearly guarantee will be no's. I'll let you know when I decide (if I don't completely lose my mind first)!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Katie

Galway Gossip

Hey everyone!
Of course the weather is gross again, but that's OK because yesterday was beautiful! My friend Anne came in to visit on Sunday from around St. Louis (different Anne, obviously) and she had 2 beautiful days in Galway. Kate works a ton of hours and is usually exhausted by the time she gets home which stinks, it'll be good money but I think she is going to start taking less hours. Work for me is good, I finally feel like I really work there because I am wearing the store's clothes! The past 2 weeks I had to dress all in black so I kind of stood out.

So in Galway there is this comedian named Tommy Tiernan who is supposed to be really good. I was going to go see him one night in one of the clubs but then I couldn't justify PAYING for Irish humor...Anyhow, this weekend he is trying to set a world record for longest stand up comedy act, he will go for 36 hours! He wants to donate all the money that is raised from tickets to an organization here in Galway that helps homeless youth. This is big news right now in Galway: the higher ups in the organization are refusing to accept the money because Tommy's set runs from Good Friday until dawn on Easter Sunday. They said Good Friday is the most solemn day of the year and they can't accept money raised from a comedy act on Good Friday. It's pretty unbelievable to me, but the radio DJs are having a field day, they are urging everyone to come out and support it and buy tickets because apparently Tommy Tiernan is still hell bent on getting the money to the org. I realize the significance of Good Friday but this is really hard for me to understand. Anyhow, just thought I'd let you in on some of the Galway gossip :)

Last night we went to The Quays and there was a pretty good band playing. This woman from Belgium grabbed Kate to dance and later she was talking to me very intently. Apparently her son is studying in Galway so she demanded my phone number but asked me to please not fall in love with him. She said I would be a lovely daughter in law, but America is just too far away. When I asked if she spoke French or Flemish she made a face like she just smelled rotting eggs and waved her hand at the thought of the Flemish haha

Travel plans are still up in the air; no matter what we're going to go to Spain for one week and are really hoping to make it to Scotland. If we stay as long as we possibly can then we'll be taking a train through Spain, then to Milan, Zurich, Munich, Vienna, and finally meeting up Aunt, Uncle, Julie, Charlie, Jill, and Mike in Salzburg! That would be amazing, but right now we're waiting to hear when we have to be home in order to keep our summer jobs, which Chase Bank knows we need! That's about it from us I think, I am going to take a much needed nap!
Hasta pronto!
-Erin

A Beautiful Day in Galway

Hi everyone!
Not too much report, although the weather is definitely worthy of mentioning, it's gorgeous today! We're hoping it stays but our fellow Galwegians (?) are skeptical. We're enjoying it while it lasts anyway. We went to Salthill and got some ice cream and picked up my pay check from Coco (yay money!) I am even more in love with Galway when the sun is out :)


Tonite Katie and I are going to Sheila's because her apartment is actually clean! We're going to play a little flippy cup and beer pong, bring some America to Ireland :) After that we'll go out and find a bar. I've been feeling very nostalgic lately so I'm going to consider tonite a small pity party. I am just realizing again that there is no college to go back to when I come home. I don't like to think about it often but at this new job of mine I don't talk to anyone during the day which allows me way too much time to think! I was looking at some old pictures on Facebook and just really miss my apartment and ISU and friends...O well.

This week at work was apparently Charity Week, so Tuesday night I DRAGGED Katie to a "table quiz" at this really cool bar called Busker Brown's. My work was sponsoring this quiz, which is basically teams of 3-5 people answering trivia questions and there are prizes. It's 5 euro per person so that's where the money came from. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun! We knew all the American trivia questions (names of Obama's kids...) and our team kept saying "Thank God for the Yanks! We actually came in 2nd place! We got a 20 euro voucher to "Be A Diva" which the rest of the team just gave to us since we were visitors! These girls were so nice, I really love the girls I work with. Friday was supposed to be Pajama Day at work, which apparently is mortifying to the girls I work with, though Kate and I thought it was a great idea, as any Resite would agree with I'm sure :) Turns out I left work Thursday fully planning on wearing PJs the next day but ran into a girl from work that afternoon and mentioned it, and she told me it was cancelled! I would have been the only one there in pajamas...which, to be honest, I actually would not have minded haha

I just found out Col got into Northeaster, YAY!!!! I'm so excited for her...

Keep your fingers crossed for this weather to stay! I love you all, and miss you more than you know!!
Lots of love,
-Erin

Keep your fingers crossed for our weather to stay

Boring Update :)

Hi everyone!
You should be so impressed, we are getting better with posts! I know Dad said there was starting to be more and more time in between posts and we realllly are sorry, but we're working on it!

Well this was my first week at the new job. I now work at a women's clothing store on Shop Street called Monsoon. It's literally a 4 minute walk from Katie's store :) I work in the stock room and it's just me in there so I handle all the deliveries everyday and hang the clothes, security tag them, etc. Everyone I work with is (again) soo nice, I lucked out twice! I also get to listen to whatever music I want because I have a radio and can't hear the store music, so Katie is pretty jealous about that. I had a great first week- it's so nice getting out of work while it's still light out! I only work 24 hours a week now, instead of 40, but I get paid more so it's not too shabby!

Last night we changed our clocks, so we are once again 6 hours away from everyone at home. Isn't it weird how countries can just choose when to do that?! Anyway, last night we went to our friend Dermott's house which is just around the corner from us, with some of David's friends and David's band and just hung out. Around 3 we realized we had to spring ahead so it was really 4! The crowd started slowly breaking up after that haha It's so nice though to be able to sleep late and still get so much done during the day, I love weekends now that I have them off! Katie and Sheila and I have been thinking about traveling and have started piecing together a possible trip so that is really exciting.

In other news I hear it's snowing in Chicago and ISU...Sorry guys!! I do love missing Chicago spring 2 years in a row though, the rain doesn't seem so bad compared with snow! I do hope it clears up soon for you though. Tonight I think we're just going to watch a movie and take it easy, work again tomorrow! Being "off the drink" definitely has its perks though, I could really get used to this!

I hope everyone at home is doing well, please take care!! Love you all,
-Erin

Up North

Today is our first day in a month with no guests. It was an exhausting few weeks, but SO much fun. Jameson came last week. He and I went to Connemara on Friday, which was gorgeous. He had a pretty short trip. Erin and I headed back to Dublin with him on Saturday, where we met Lauren. Her plane had just landed, but her traveling wasn't finished. We hopped on a train to Belfast (the capital of Northern Ireland) that night.

Belfast was a very interesting place. The city itself wasn't very impressive- sort of dirty, lots of graffiti- but the history was amazing. It still feels somewhat war torn, and there is evidence of the Protestant/Catholic hostility everywhere.

The first night, we got to our hostel and were informed that it was overbooked. So, they took us to the overfill house, which we had completely to ourselves. It was nice and quiet, but kind of creepy. We went out to a bar nearby that night. The next day, after switching to a different hostel and illegally claiming a private bedroom for ourselves, we walked ALL over the city. We saw the political murals on the West End (which were incredibly anti-Bush), the wall that separates the Protestant and Catholic sections of the city (whose gates are closed every night), a few cemeteries, the Belfast Hospital (which is world-renown for its treatment of gunshot wounds), and City Hall. It was truly sobering to see how the violence has affected the city and its inhabitants. A few things really struck us- a street named RPG, for "Rocket Propelled Grenades" (it was the clearest shot the IRA had when launching weapons against the security forces), a tall apartment building where security forces monitored activity in the city until 2005, and police cars that were literally tanks.

That night we went to a great bar called Muriel's where we sat and talked for awhile. It closed early and several people pointed us in the direction of "The Kremlin," which they described as "90% gay and a lot of fun." We made friends with some boys there and danced all night to American pop music. It was TONS of fun. Our new friends told us that the hostility of the past few decades is hard for them to identify with. They didn't seem to care much about it. Most of the bitterness is felt by their parents' and grandparents' generations. I guess that a good thing- progress?

The next day, we headed out of the city center to Belfast Castle. We took a beautiful walk through the woods to get there. The castle sat on a hill where you could see the ocean and the whole city of Belfast.

That night we took the 2 1/2 hour train ride back to Dublin and then a 3 hour bus ride home to Galway. We were so tired from all the traveling, but we were all really glad we made the trip.

This week, we went out with the UIC Rugby Team. We met them at a bar on Tuesday night and had a ton of fun, so we made plans to meet up again. They're touring Ireland and playing various Irish rugby teams. Small world, huh?

Erin and I decided that we might take after our friends, Lenny and Mick, and go "off the drink" for awhile. Our livers could use the break!

I know I promised pictures last time, but we haven't had much time to upload them. I'll really try to do it this week.

Katie

London and St. Patrick's Day

Hi everyone! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. So far, we've had 5 visitors: Anne, Colleen, Tyler, Dustin, and Stacy. I worked 9-6:30 everyday last week, so I didn't get to do all the fun day trips, but Erin will tell you all about those. They packed a ton of stuff in- Ashford Castle, the Aran Islands, Connemara. I think (hope) they all enjoyed the trip.

In other travel news, London has shot to the top of my favorite cities list. Stacy and I spent last weekend there and had a blast. We flew in late Thursday night and made our way to Smart Russell hostel. You'd be smart not to stay there. Our room slept 26 people in two rows of bunk beds, stacked three high. We didn't get much sleep with people coming and going all night. Luckily, London was cool enough that we forgot how tired we were.

Before we left Galway, I had contacted the Dean of Georgetown Law School's Center for Transnational Studies asking for a tour of their London campus. Dean Foster wrote back and offered to give me a tour himself, so that was our first stop on Friday morning. He was a really nice guy and the law school was great. Seventy five students from law schools all over the world (30 from Georgetown) study there every semester. They live in London and have access to King's College library and facilities. 

After that, we walked along the River Thames, drank some tea, saw the changing of the guards, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and various other attractions. The British aren't known for their cuisine, so we opted for an Italian dinner. We had a few drinks at a pub called Brewmaster's, and then headed back to the chaos of our hostel.

The next morning, we had to switch hostels since Smart Russell was booked. The second hostel, Globetrotter's, was WONDERFUL. It was clean and quiet, and the people working there were really nice. We did some more touristy stuff on Saturday (Tate Musuem for Modern Art, Millenium Bridge, etc.). We also stumbled upon a really cool neighborhood. My friend, Brian (who goes to Georgetown Law and is studying in London) lives in the area, so he recommended it. There was a great antique market in the winding back-streets of the neighborhood, and we ate dinner at an English pub. That night we bought tickets to Zorro, the musical. It was great, definitely the highlight of the trip. There was flamenco dancing and great music. Totally worth the 25 pounds.

Sunday was London's St. Patrick's Day parade, and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. The sun was shining, and the streets were packed with people waving Irish flags (I kept forgetting which country I was in!). The day started going downhill when we tried to make our way back to the airport. After being pointed in about 5 different directions, we learned that the bus we planned on taking does not exist. The alternative was a train, which was not running. So, we had to take an hour bus ride to a different train, a half hour train ride to the airport, and then a shuttle bus from the coach stop. We ended up arriving 35 minutes before our flight, only to be informed that check in closes 40 minutes before the flight. We begged and pleaded, but they refused to let us get on the plane. We had to pay 71 pounds each (about $130) to take a flight from a different airport back to Ireland. So, we got on another bus (which cost 12 pounds), rode an hour and a half to Stansted airport, and found out that our plane was 45 minutes late! Of course. We finally made it back to Shannon airport, and an hour bus ride later, we were back in Galway. We ended up laughing about it in the end, but you better believe that RyanAir will be receiving a letter from me.

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. We thought Rag Week was crazy, but it doesn't hold a candle to St. Paddy's. The day started with a parade and lots of sunshine. The streets were completely packed with people, and almost everyone was carrying a beer. Every bar was full all day. We walked up to Salthill for some of the day (Erin had left her wallet at work, so we had to go get it), and then bar-hopped for the rest of the day. We found a great band at a pub called the Spanish Arch (Erin and I can't escape our love of Spain), so we stayed there for most of the night. Stacy had to catch a bus at 2am, so we called it quits sort of early. Great day overall!

Today, my friend Jameson is coming to Galway to stay with us. We don't have any plans yet, but I'm sure we do some sightseeing. Lauren comes Saturday, and we're thinking of making a trip up north to Belfast (in Northern Ireland). 

Erin was offered a new job today. Remember her first interview at Monsoon? It's a women's clothing store. They loved her when they interviewed her, but couldn't afford to hire her at the time. They called today and offered her a position that pays 10 euro/an hour (1.35 more than she's making). I think she should take it. It's way closer to home and involves fewer hot plates and screaming children. Although, I will miss the discount she gives me when I eat at Coco! She hasn't decided yet, but we'll keep you updated.

Well, my computer is about to die, so I gotta run. Love you all! We'll try to be more consistent about our posts in the future. Expect more pictures soon!

Katie

Some Pictures!

Hey everyone,
I don't have time right now to write a proper blog because the internet cafe I'm in is closing, but here are some pics from my Facebook album to hold you over...I hope you like them!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2300874&id=22914517&l=505b0

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2300883&id=22914517&l=97d9a

Each of those are an album with pictures from the whole week of visitors. I have one more album to put up but if you look at both of those you'll be caught up as far as I am!

Love you all,
-Erin

Galway is the REAL Windy City

Hey everyone! So sorry it has been so long since we have written, and this will only be a quick one because we have company! Nothing really happened last week. We both worked a ton, Kate has been getting lotssss of overtime, and we didn't really go out to save money for when our friends got here.

Anne and Colleen got here Friday morning and we got a quick lunch and I let them sleep. We went out for a bit to Monroe's Friday and met some hilarious Israeli guys and then turned in early. Saturday we went to the CLIFFS OF MOHER!! (You can Google image that) It was soo foggy we actually couldn't really see the cliffs which was disappointing, but the wind was absolutely unreal, you could barely take a step without it blowing your foot out from under you! It was funny to try and even talk. I know what you're thinking: Cliffs on the windiest day of your whole life? Is that smart Erin? Well, no it's not...but rest assured we were safe and clung to the slabs of rock that protected us from the cliffs and only jumped to see if the wind would throw us into the ocean once :) On the day tour we also saw a castle and some mini cliffs, which we got to as the fog was rising so we have GREAT pictures from those. It was absolutely gorgeous, and to have my roommates with me for a trip like that was amazing. We have really great pictures and lots of fun memories!

Saturday night we went to a bar called The Living Room where all my work friends were. It was a cool bar with much better music than any we have experienced so far (with the exception of the 2 Q's who we are seeing tonite!) There was tons of dancing and lots of pints, so all around a great night. Sunday I had to work but Tyler and his brother Dustin got in from Dublin so everyone came and visited me at work! As I tend to do without permission I gave them all a huge discount on lunch and they really enjoyed the view. (By the way, Tyler is my friend from college and his brother is studying abroad in Amsterdam right now so that's where they're headed next.) Today we are showing them around Galway, everyone has a few things they want to get (Claddagh rings and such) and they all had a Traditional Full Irish Breakfast (which includes Black Pudding--Google it). Tonight it's back to King's Head for 2 Q's and tomorrow is the much anticipated day trip through Connemara. I will explain Connemara better in a later post, but get excited!!

Sorry again for the wait, just know it means we're having a great time! Love and miss you all TONS,
-Erin

Sunny Day

It's a rare sunny day in Galway. Erin had work at noon, so I took the bus with her to Salthill. There's nothing like that view, especially on a day like today. I ate lunch at her cafe- it was delicious! However, I now understand Erin's intense dislike for small children at work. Some of these parents should be required to take a class or something- their kids were out of control. Poor Erin has to dance around the place with scalding hot beverages and avoid spilling them all over a bunch of brats. She works until 7:30, which is never fun on a weekend but especially tough when dealing with a bunch of stupid people. 

We're starting to get really excited for our visitors! Anne, Colleen, Tyler, and Stacy all come within the next week. At one point, when Tyler's brother comes to Galway, we'll have five house guests! Luckily, David will be in the U.S. touring with his band for half of March, so we won't bug him. We haven't seen Wash Wash in over a week, so we're not too worried about him being bothered. (We are a little worried about whether or not he is alive...) After that group, my friend Jameson comes and then Lauren. We can't wait; we already have tons of plans: Connemara, the Aran Islands, Donegal. Things were so crazy when we first arrived that we haven't done any Irish tourist stuff yet. Stacy and I are also planning a trip to London. Sheila's family is coming to visit this week too, so there will be lots of sightseeing done this month. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures to post!

Last night, we went to Monroe's, one of our favorite pubs. We happen to catch "Two Queues," which is the two-man-band we talked about earlier. They play the exact same songs every time we see them (including "Galway Girl" at  least twice), but they haven't gotten old yet! We met a bunch of rugby players from New Zealand too. The Irish rugby team defeated rival England yesterday, so the pubs were full of rugby fans celebrating the victory. Erin and I are trying really hard to understand rugby. It's a really cool sport... the parts that we've figured out anyway. Our plan is to buy jerseys, hang out at the pubs on game days, and eventually catch on.

Work is still, well, work. We're both working about 40 hours a week, which isn't as bad as we thought it would be. We figure the more we work now, the earlier we can quit and travel! Our current plan is to do Spain and a couple of other countries for about two weeks and return to the States on April 28. It kind of stinks that we have exact opposite work schedules (I work 9-5 Monday thru Friday and Erin works 12-7:30 three weekdays and weekends), but I think it's preventing us from driving each other crazy. We finally registered with immigration and applied for our PPSNs (the Irish equivalent of social security numbers). So we're legal, and, more importantly, we can get paid!

On an unfortunate side note, I heard back from Yale Law. It was a no, which didn't come as a huge surprise and was almost a relief. Now it's off my mind, and I can start weighing the pros and cons of the other schools. I'll have to officially make the decision by mid-April. Barring my acceptance to Stanford, I think Georgetown in Washington, D.C. will be my home next year! (Sorry, Dad.)

Well, until next time, I hope all is well! Thanks for all the comments and emails. It's great hearing from home! We love you all.

Katie

Rag Week

Every college town in Ireland is currently celebrating Rag Week. Though it started as a fundraising initiative, with college kids collecting money for charities the entire week, Rag Week has developed into a week of heavy drinking. For all you Illinois-ers out there: think 7 days of Unofficial. My introduction to Rag Week was Monday at work. I was working at the till and heard yelling from outside at about 10am. A huge group of guys, probably 17 and 18 years old, were walking (staggering) by, singing, yelling, and playing drums. Each one had a can of beer in one hand and were dressed from head to toe in Hawiian apparel. One of my coworkers informed me that they were on their way to a foam party (a bar fills one entire room with soap foam and people dance and play in it). Later on, during my break, I sat in Eyre Square and watched hundreds of kids chug beers, yell to each other, and make rude comments to passers-by.

So, in the spirit of Rag week, Erin and I went out that night with Sheila and our friend Eimear (who also went to Res and currently lives with her family outside Dublin). Every bar was packed with a line down the block. We stayed out until about two, and then found a GREAT late night food place called Charcoal Grill (our roommate, Wash Wash, used to work there and recommended it). Unfortunately, Erin spilled our fries all over the street. (Nice job, Er.)

Eight A.M. came REAL fast the next morning. I worked for five hours, came home and napped, and then we went out again. We feel obliged to go out every night of Rag Week. Ya know, experience the youth culture. We made our way to The Quays, my favorite bar yet. There was a band doing covers of American songs, a lot of Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day kind of stuff. We LOVED it.

This morning, when I got to work and felt like death, my boss said, "Kathryn [they call me Kathryn], we need you to work until close today. Is that alright?" Ummm NO that's not alright... but with the rapidly shrinking booze budget in mind, I agreed. I am currently on my lunch break and not looking forward to an additional six hours at River Island. They STILL haven't changed the soundtrack. One full week of Lady Gaga songs is driving me crazy.

In addition to Rag Week, yesterday was a national holiday called "Pancake Day." It coincides with Fat Tuesday, and every restaurant in the country (that might be an exageration) serves pancakes. People get really into it. The Irish TV station had pancake recipes scrolling at the bottom of the screen all day. Erin and I did not have pancakes. We were very disappointed in ourselves, but after a long day of work, neither of us felt like going out to buy the ingredients. So, it was another pasta night (surprise, surprise).

I'm not sure if our bodies can handle another night out, but we'll certainly try! It's Rag Week- we owe it to the country, right?

Katie

Working Women

Hey everyone!
Today I am off work which is amazing. I though my schedule was the same every week, but apparently is changes! So I worked the past 4 days and then this week I get today, tomorrow, and Friday off! I'm hoping this means they are flexible for when the visitors finally get here :)

Work is going much better, I got the waitress thing down, and I'm fine at the register. It was a lot easier working with Euros than I thought, I don't think I've messed up anyone's change yet! But they have 8 coins in their money system where we have 4, so it's weird. They have 1 and 2 euro coins, 50, 20,10, 5, 2, and 1 cent coins! It's a lot to get straight but the only mistake I really make is calling them dollars haha I get corrected a lot. I just laugh because I never realize it, but Kate said when she calls them dollars she corrects herself immediatly by saying, "I mean Euros, this is not America" haha The other day at work I went to wipe off a table where people had just sat down, and this little girl barely spoke English but she goes, "You miss here" and told me I had missed a spot! I laughed and wiped it. Then later I brought her her hot chocolate and went back to get her marshmallows and she says, "You so slowly!" Her dad apologized but I was cracking up, I don't move that slow! Work is always busy, I'm not kidding I don't stop. Between delivering drink and food orders, wiping tables, taking orders, dishes....It's insane. But the girls I work with are all soo sweet so it's not too bad. Also I get to eat the food for 50% off the price so I always grab a coffee or something for break...I have yet to pay for anything, woops!!

We went out a whole bunch last week with our roommate David and his friends and Sheila. We really like just going to a pub and getting a couple pints while listening to the trad music. We also really love staying in with some wine and movie! The music at clubs here is really weird, think bad American 90's music set to techno. And they all kind of dance like hippies so we tend to stay away haha

I think the countdown is something like 11 days til visitors now so we've been trying to get all the dirt off our walls and make our house presentable haha Today is my sister's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAN!! And Kate got s surprise when she walked in to work what she thought was a 5 hour shift....she will be working a 10 hour shift! haha Other than that not too much, except I must comment that the weather has been amazing here. It has seriously not rained at all! Apparently that's unusual, but I'll take it! I hope you are doing well and we definitely miss you all tons.

Last thing, I finally have our address for anyone who cares to send a card (or raisinets :) ):
85 Forster Court
Galway Ireland
Love you all!!
-Erin

Home Sweet Home (and pictures!)

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a few days since we've written. This week flew by. I started work on Monday and Erin started Sunday. It feels like we've been here for months! We're both getting used to our jobs and working 40 hours a week. It's starting to become normal having our names yelled twenty times a day, and we're screwing up less (or becoming better at covering it up). But I don't think I'll ever get used to the five songs that are played on repeat ALL DAY at River Island. I hear them in my sleep. I'm still amazed at how much money Irish women spend on clothes. There's no evidence of recession in the fashion industry!

We're all settled into our house now. After quite a bit of cleaning, it's finally starting to feel cozy. I spent about an hour scrubbing walls, and Erin had to go at the toaster and refrigerator with a knife to scrape off the scum. David turns the fireplace on every night, so we usually sit in the living room and chat for awhile before bed. His friends come over sometimes too, and they all play guitar and sing. Cute Irish guys singing in the living room... doesn't get much better than that! Wash-wash (our other roommate who we call Tony) cooks all the time. He's a chef for a living, so he's teaching us a thing or two about the kitchen. Every time he shows us how to do something or saves our food from burning (which is more often than you'd think) he says (in somewhat broken english), "What is going on here? Who is the woman here?" And then laughs really hard. 

Last night, David's friend Tara came in from Dublin and we all went out dancing together (we can add dancing to the list of things the Irish aren't great at... it falls right after "cuisine"). It's funny how big of a language barrier can exist between people who speak the same language! 

With all the "Irish" words we don't know, the heavy accents, and the loud music at bars, Erin and I get lost pretty fast. Sometimes we would prefer Spanish!

PICTURES ARE UP! On the left side of the screen, you should see a slide show. If you click on it, you can see the large version of the pictures with captions. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!

-Katie

A Few Pics!

Good morning!

Well yesterday was my day off so I had a lot of internet time and then went grocery shopping. Back home I ate some lunch and then started to clean- I think it's safe to say there is a thick layer of dirt or grease on nearly every surface. Boys have always lived there and while it's STILL better than many other apartments we saw (believe it or not) it really needs some elbow grease. I realized I forgot paper towels so today will be one of many cleaning days. Our roommate Antonio came home and we were talking for a long time. I found out he works at the internet cafe I know the owner of, but when I asked the owner, Mixer, he said no Antonio worked for him. So I ask Antonio and he says "Yes no one call me Antonio, everyone call me Wash Wash." Huh?! haha so I ask him what he wants us to call him, and we settle on Wash Wash. Now I had already started calling him Tony in my head and to my friends, but I tried Wash Wash for a whole day. It doesn't work. From this day (and blog post) forward, our roommates are David the Irishman and Tony the Algerian, k? 

We had a nice long conversation about him being a practicing Muslim and what that entails. I told him I know a bunch about it but he explained anyway and told me how everyone always thinks it's strange how he prays and follows the religion. Then we talked about American politics, which is never fun over here. He is very intelligent though- how many of you could tell me the political parties of Algeria or their presidents from the 1960's? Yea, me neither. He's seriously a character, always joking! So Kate got home and we made pasta and then went out to King's Head with Sheila to stalk the "duo" (can you call it a band when it's two guys with guitars?) we had seen last night, they're really good! The duo started singing "I come from the land down under" and all of a sudden this huge group of people jumped up and were singing (screaming) and dancing. We were like, "Hmm, from Australia maybe?" haha Anyhow Sheila is in love with the guitarrist we call Bob the Builder but won't talk to him. Fun night :)

We're getting more and more excited about our visitors by the day, 2 weeks and 1 day now!! OK uploading pictures takes forever but I did a whole bunch on Kodak because all of the blogger programs were taking even longer. The link takes you to our Kodak album. Hopefully we'll learn how to get them on here, but until then, enjoy! (just copy and then paste)

http://kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=18ic034z.3w95dk1n&x=0&y=v1w9o&localeid_US

-Erin

Workin Hard for the Money

The last few days have been a whirlwind. Sunday morning we woke up early and took a cab out to Salthill for Erin's "interview" at Coco Cafe. Salthill is an absolutely beautiful area. You can look straight across the Galway Bay and see rolling green hills. It's what you picture when you think of Ireland. We'll try to post pictures later today. We found the cafe and it turns out that by "interview," they meant "first day of work." Erin walked in, they threw her an apron, and she worked for 7 hours! I waited around in Salthill for a few hours, still under the impression that this was some kind of interview, but when I walked by the Cafe and saw Erin sweating, red in the face, and carrying dishes, I figured I should head back to the hostel. She came back around 7:30 and looked like she had just been punched in the stomach. They gave her ZERO instruction and just kept yelling orders at her. "Wash the dishes!" (There's no soap.) "Bring this to table five!" (The tables are not numbered.) "Maam, please bring me some cutlery and a serviette." (A what?) "It's under the till!" (What the hell is a till??) Needless to say, she was spent, but the day wasn't over.

That night, we moved into our new house. We each have a very small single room, and we share with two guys. One is a little Algerian man who really, really likes to talk and tell (off-color) jokes. He said his favorite thing to do is tell Americans that he's their neighbor. They ask if he's from Candada. No. Mexico? No. Colombia? Nope. He says, "I'm from Afghanistan. You have 150,000 troops there, so we're like neighbors." He really cracks himself up (and no, he's not from Afghanistan). The other roommate is an Irish guy named David. He's a lot more normal. His band is actually touring in the states soon. He'll be in Chicago in March! (www.withoutgeorge.com)

That night, we finally treated ourselves to a good dinner. It was our first meal out in Galway (we've bought and cooked everything so far), and we went to a pub called An Pucan where there was live Irish music. The food was delicious and we both had a much-deserved glass of wine.

Good thing we were tired when we got back because it was probably the most uncomfortable night of our lives. Neither of us had pillows, since we'd been staying in hostels. I slept on a folded towel and Er slept on a balled up sweatshirt. Our mattresses are basically a bed of springs covered by a thin layer of fabric. David hasn't bought oil in awhile, so there's no heat for the time being. Luckily, it doesn't get too cold in Ireland. The next day, Erin made a point of educating David about rheumatoid arthritis with the hope of guilting him into buying oil.

Yesterday was my first day of work at River Island. For a country that's in recession, the women here sure do like to shop. They threw me on the till (cash register), and I was checking people out for seven hours. No joke. There was a constant line of women purchasing clothes, and this place isn't cheap! By the time I left, my head was spinning. I had to learn a different procedure for every transaction- cash (euros!), credit cards, gift cards, vouchers, credit slips. It was exhausting. Erin worked seven hours yesterday too, but she says it was a lot better than the first day. They had her on till and she got to do some waitressing... still no instructions though!

Last night, we went out for a beer and some pizza (I know, we're really splurging this week) with our friend Sheila (from Res). It was delicious. There were two Irish guys playing guitar and singing old Irish folk songs. After a long day, it was exactly what we needed. We bought pillows and Erin found a fleece blanket, so we slept pretty well!

I start work in a half hour and Erin is off today. We don't have internet at the new place, but we met a guy who owns an internet cafe (Mixer Dooley), and he gives us free coffee and internet. Our posts will be more infrequent, but we'll try to be on a few times a week. We love you and miss you all tons.

-Katie

We're going to try to give you a google image of something we're talking about every post so it's a little like you're seeing what we see. This is the Salthill Promenade along the Galway Bay, it's what my cafe looks out onto allll day :)
http://www.crookhaven.net/images/galway/prom.jpg
Love you!!
-Erin

Things are Coming Together...

Hey everyone!
This morning we met with David, our new roommate, to give him the security deposit and get the keys to our new apartment! We move in tomorrow! So it's me and Kate, and then 2 guys in their 20's, I would guess David is 26. We haven't met the other one but David says he is in his room most of the time. They are very clean and they work during the week, from what we can tell they are totally normal and we're really excited. David is in a band called Without George and they play at Monroe's every Friday so we're really excited to be groupies! haha It took my mom a couple explanations to get this, but each have our own room in this house, we share a bathroom, living room, and kitchen, and we pay rent.

Thursday night I went out for Sheila's birthday, Kate wanted to get some sleep. That day we had met 3 guys from Canada at the hostel: Connor, Ryley, and Matt. They are hilarious. Two quick stories that might paint you a picture. First of all, the reason they are in Europe is that 2 of them got real drunk one night and bought tickets to a Kings of Leon concert online...in Amsterdam! So the third got his ticket and then they got plane tickets and decided to make a tour of it. So they have 17 days and no plans, clearly our kind of people. While waiting for their flight out of LA, Connor and Ryley took Matt's passports and decided to write (this is illegal) on the last page. They swore that if either one got married before he was 30, he would have to pay the other $1,000, and then signed it. So going through Immigration the officers stopped Matt and he didn't know why! He now has a sticker that says his passport is damaged or something... They were very nice and we hung out last night too, they were buying rounds of drinks for everyone around them! We found out that Matt knows how to say "You have beautiful eyes" in 5 languages! haha But when he tried it on the Spaniards he butchered it so everyone got a laugh.

Also on Thursday Katie and I tried making a meal we love from Spain and it did NOT turn out. We are probably the two least domestic people ever. But Friday our friend Vicente walked us through the whole process and it came out perfectly! We have pictures of each of us doing the dreaded flip! Last night we went to a bar called King's Head and there was a cover band that was good, we were dancing quite a bit! It was some good craic :) Last night when we got back to the hostel there was a guy with Coke in one hand and a bottle of Rum in the other; he was possibly the most obnoxious person I've ever met. He insisted on singing the 50 states song over and over, and I swear he didn't get past Connecticut for at least a half hour. He kept getting right in my face singing and I definitely almost punched him. I just kept saying "THIS IS TOO CLOSE, GET AWAY FROM ME" haha We didn't get to bed until around 5 and so today has completely dragged.

Kate and I were sitting in the lobby and the phone rang, it was a guy calling to ask Katie to come in for an interview. She said she already had a job but that I was still looking so I went and brought my resume, missed the manager by like 2 minutes. As soon as we got back to the hostel he called! He wants me to come in tomorrow to his new cafe in Salthill and try it out for a day! No interview, no nothin...I've never made coffee so I hope this goes well!

We have 4 new roommates tonight and we are so ready to get out of this hostel. We love it and we love a lot of the people here but we just need our own space now. I can't take much more, every weekend this huge tour bus called the Paddy Wagon pulls in and unloads a million kids to stay for one night. They take over the kitchen and get all loud and dressed up and drink a ton and leave the place a mess. Then in the morning when they have to leave early they are super loud. It will be so nice to have our own place!!

I'm really sorry we haven't posted any pictures yet but honestly we haven't taken many at all! We have been so busy running around for jobs and apartments that we haven't seen much. We'll post the few we have soon, mostly going out pictures and a few of the Galway Bay. Just let us get moved in and settled :)
Love you all!! Hugs and kisses.
-Erin

Hostel Life

Yesterday was an all-around good day. After hearing that I got the job, we were in pretty high spirits (see, I'm picking up on the Irish lingo). The hostel was starting to fill up for the weekend, and we were determined to make new friends. Turns out that if you spend more than 5 minutes in the kitchen (which was our average food prep time), you meet a ton of people! First, we started talking to a girl named Julia. She's from Canada and traveling alone. She's only 18, and she's taking a "gap year" to do exactly what Erin and I are doing- a "working holiday." (Dad- aren't you glad we at least waited until we were 21?) She came grocery shopping with us, which was probably an interesting experience for her, as Erin and I spent most of the trip arguing about how to spend our 6 euro. 

We finally settled on Tortilla Española for dinner, a pretty daring feat for two girls with very little culinary talent. It's basically an omelette with potatoes and onions. They serve it cold in Spain, either as a pie slice or on bread as a sandwich. While we were cooking, we met a kid named Lucas from France. He was also on a break before going back to school. He decided that Erin and I were going to teach him English and that he was going to teach us French. After a few failed attempts at "talking from our throats," we said we were happy to help him with his English, but we were set as far as languages go- we can barely handle Spanish. Erin liked him because he shared his steak with her. Six euro doesn't allow for much meat! Another girl was cooking in the kitchen, named Kristen, and she was also from Canada. 

After preparing a somewhat mutilated Tortilla Española, we met a man from Spain! Bad timing, but he said if we try again tonight, he'll help us out. Erin talked to him in Spanish for awhile and LOVED it. We met a few other people too- a man named Carl from Sweden who is going to med school in Galway (although, I don't think I'd want him to be my doctor; he told us that abbreviations in English mean the opposite of what they do in Swedish...), a man from France who is traveling around Ireland, and a really nice Egyptian girl named Amel. 

Our favorite new friends are two guys from Canada- Riley and Connor. They're on a 17 day tour of Europe that ends in Amsterdam for a Kings of Leon concert (and started in Los Angeles..?). They were hilarious. They've gone out every night for the last 10 days. They're just working guys on a vacation, so they are determined to have a great time. 

Of course, the day that we make tons of new friends is our last day in the hostel. We had been booking this place one night at a time because we weren't sure when we'd be leaving. We didn't realize that weekends book up really fast, so our room was reserved for this weekend, and the only rooms they had available were double the price (about 20 euro- $26- per night, per person). So, being on a budget, we booked a hostel down the street for 12 euro. After a glass of wine and some serious consideration, we decided to splurge and stay here another two nights. If you're familiar with our stinginess on this trip, you understand how much we love this place. If anyone's ever in Galway, Kinlay House is the way to go. 

In other news, I guess they call Friday the 13th unlucky for a reason- Erin heard back from the clothing store today. Donna, the super nice Irish woman who interviewed Erin, called this morning and said that she was unable to recruit at this time. But she really, really loved Erin (I mean LOVED her, I'm pretty sure she was ready to adopt her), so she said she'll keep her resume on file and call as soon as she has an opening. We'll be out again today trying to find something! Wish us luck! 

Also, as a sidenote, Erin has led some of you to believe that I hate emoticons. I do not hate emoticons. I like a smiley face at the end of an email just as much as the next guy. I hate OVERUSE of emoticons- like 10 different types of smiley faces in one email. Just thought I'd clear that up. So you can all stop apologizing every time you express yourselves via a colon and parentheses.   :)

THIS JUST IN!!

KATIE GOT THE JOB!! It's a men and women's clothing store called River Island and she works Monday thru Friday from 9-1, so 25 hours a week at 8.65 euro an hour means we can get the apartment!!!!!!!! Still hoping to hear back from my lady because now I'll be here alone doing nothing all day haha but this is just the hugest relief you can possibly imagine. 'Tanks a mil' for all the good thoughts!!

(that's another Irish saying, you can figure it out :) )

Top o' the marnin!

I have to start this out by saying that we LOVE all of your comments. I know I've said it, but I want to make sure you all keep commenting :)

I forgot a funny story about the other night, and I'll try to make it as concise as possible. When we were at Monroe's we met a whole bunch of Irish guys and when the bar was closing, we were all going to go somewhere else. So Sheila, Mike, Katie, and I start to leave and this old, drunk Irish man grabs my arm and starts talking to me. It caught me off guard so I'm not sure of everything he said, but then he started saying "See the lad behind the bar? He's been wanting your number all night". I told him that clearly this was a lie, and he insisted. So we keep trying to leave and he turns around and screams "CONAN!" So here comes Conan shaking his head like "How long has he been harassing you girls?" Old man says "Isn't that right you've been wantin the girl in the long white coat's number all night?" And Conan says something like "Let's just get this over with", kind of apologizing for the old man. Me and Kate and Sheila didn't really know what was going on, they talk so fast! Whether that was a big scam to get my number or just a crazy old drunk man having fun, Conan got my number and we moved on to the next bar haha

So Katie's interview went really well! The woman was interviewing a bunch more people, but she said if Katie hears from her tomorrow (Thursday) then she got the job and if not, than no. So it's nice to know definitively that she'll have it or she won't by today. We've had some really great weather as far as Ireland goes, even some sun! Lauren keeps us up to date with weather at home (thanks, girl) so we know whether or not to be jealous! We called David back about the apartment and it's so crazy, there are no leases here, no signatures or anything like that. You just pay some money and, as David said, "When we're all just hanging out and settled in, I'll be happy". It's soo incredibly laid back, I've missed Europe!

In case anyone was wondering, our 72 cent pizzas tasted really good! We were skeptical but we're just rockin this budget! 3 weeks from today our guests start: Colleen, Anne, and Tyler come first, followed by Stacy, then Jameson, and hopefully Lauren! We can't wait, we've already started making plans for tours of the countryside and we've got a good idea of bars we like to take everyone :) Not much more to report, but I have been wanting to share a little Irish slang we've managed to pick up...Enjoy!

~Eireann--how my name should be spelled, it's everywhere!
~craic--pronouned "crack". "Where's the craic?" "That was a great bit of craic!" 'fun' or 'good time'. commonly confused as a hard drug by Americans!
~quay--pronounced "key". 'street'
~feeking-- 'kissing'
~grand-- "You're grand." "That bar's grand." it means 'OK' or 'average'. commonly used after "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me", like "no, it's fine." I would compare it to "no pasa" in Granada :)

I'm sure we'll think of more but those are a few we hear often. Please think some good thoughts about these jobs for us :) I'd also like to pass this on, courtest of Colleen, it's pretty hilarious. Have a great day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs&feature=channel
-Erin

Job/Apt Hunting: Day 2

So much to update! Well my interview went really well and yesterday we woke up to a phone call asking for Katie to come in for an interview! It's for a store just down Shop Street (the main street in town) from mine! Her interview is in a few hours so cross your fingers! I mean, it's probably way too perfect to have any chance of working out, but it's definitely keeping our spirits up, which we really needed after our apartment viewings...

So Monday night we completely crashed and then Tuesday tried to get up and do it all again. Our first stop was to the internet place to alter our resumes... I had planned on doing a lot of lying when we got here ("O yea, I've been a bartender, waitress, coffee maker, etc...") but damn that Catholic guilt. It did become necessary to embellish a little about waitressing experience, it's clear that's one of our best bets. According to me resume I worked at Tully's Diner (put in a good word for me, Tul!) for 2 years waitressing haha Anyhow, we didn't do much before both our bodies were dunzo. We walked around for a bit and ended up coming back here to lay down. We had actually hit pretty much everywhere in the immediate area so we were kind of unfocused and tired.

We did some grocery shopping and decided to allow me 2 slices of turkey since meat doesn't exactly figure in to our 6 euro budget but I loove meat! And then we got veggies for a dinner salad because Kate was craving them, but hey, produce is expensive! haha Still stuck to budget with a handy 72 cent pizza :)

After that we saw another apartment, fairly close and DEFINITELY affordable: 75 euro per week (YAY! today's conversion is $1.29, so figure $96 a week). It was liveable, better kept than ANYTHING we saw yesterday, but we didn't love it. Later that night we saw another one which we did love. A little more expensive but it's sooo close, sooo clean, and in a really safe area. We're nervous to commit without having jobs but it's really either that or live in our hostel...which is not bad since all the French moved out!

Finally, Sheila and our new friend Mike, who we met at orientation in Dublin, came over to our hostel for some wine before going out. We went to a bar called Monroe's, which is right on the river, for some traditional live Irish music. It was so cute because a bunch of couples (young and old) were Irish dancing in the middle of the bar the whole nite! I wished I knew how because it looked like so much fun. We met a bunch of Sheila's American friends and then a bunch of Irish guys trying to get us to do a triathlon for Rag Week (more on that later, at it's most pure it's the colleges raising money for charity. Also turns into a drunken, crazy week). When that bar closed to we went to a later bar (remember nothing is really late here, we were home by 2) and chatted for a little while longer. It was a really great nite and everything is going really well here so far!

We loooove your comments and look forward to them every post! Miss you all and we will put pictures up soon (we haven't taken many so we're waiting til we have a few more) :)
Love ya!
-Erin

Job Hunting: Day One

I found my black socks this morning and knew it would be a good day. Let me explain. We have been sharing a hostel room with 3 French people who speak no english (bummer, we were hoping to make friends). Erin and I woke up really early to start our job search and the roomies were still asleep (of course, the ONE day they sleep in is the day we get up early). As we were getting ready in the pitch black room, I realized that I hadn't set out my black dress socks the night before (yes, we got dressed up- gotta make a good first impression, right?). I reached into my suit case and, miraculously, happened to pull out my black socks. Even Erin, who was REALLY nervous, knew that was a good sign.

We ate our breakfast and tried to mentally prepare for a day of rejection, and rejection was what we got- at least for the first hour. But, to our surprise, everyone was soooo nice! Even as they rejected us, they all smiled and wished us luck in our search or made small talk about our travels! Then came the most exciting part of the day- ERIN GOT AN INTERVIEW! At about 11am, when our feet were forming blisters and our spirits were starting to sink, Erin walked into a women's clothing boutique (Kris- think New Prospects). The woman behind the counter greeted her enthusiastically and asked if she was available for an interview. She went back that afternoon and was told that her interview was "stellar." The lady says as soon as she gets the green light from her higher-ups, she'll hire Erin! She happened to be wearing my black dress socks...

Job hunting wasn't the only thing on our plates today. This afternoon, we started calling around for apartments. We looked at several, but none of them were very nice, and trust me, our standards are not high. We looked at one yesterday that we're both in LOVE with, but it's a little pricey and out in the suburbs, so we'd have to take a bus to work. After seeing the quality of some apartments in this town, that bus ride isn't seeming so bad.

Tomorrow we're planning on hitting the other side of the river. There are a lot of restaurants over there we can apply at. We're also going to a bar with our friend Sheila (who went to Res and is studying abroad here) to a bar to see live Irish music tomorrow night.

Our 6euro/day budget has been successful so far, except for the 10 euro taxi ride we had to take today. We ate frozen pizza again last night (Kelly- it was chicken pesto with red pepper- you're a genius! Grazi's needs this on the menu... and one without chicken for me), cereal for breakfast, PB sandwich for lunch, and now we're eating pasta for dinner. It's a bland diet, but cheap! We might splurge on the candy machine tonight. The Snickers talks to me every time I walk by.
We've met a few people from Chicago over the last few days. The guy at the hostel desk moved here from Chi-town 7 years ago, a girl working at one of the restaurants I applied at was from the Southside, and a girl at the bar on Saturday was from Western Springs and goes to U of I! Small world, huh?

Well, I guess that's it for now. We would tell you about how great the weather is in Galway, but we heard it was 60 degrees in Illinois! We love you all and miss you TONS.

-Katie

Movin on to Galway!

Hey all!
So Dublin was snowy and cold and we were super tired, but we still managed a few good stories for ya. First of all, we never checked our kitchen at the hostel so we went out and bought a frozen pizza...too bad there was no oven! We microwaved it and it was pretty soggy but food's food I guess! I tried to fry mine in a pan with some oil (thanks mom!) and that was decent... I've been dying to write about the character who shared our hostel room in Dublin (it was us and 4 other people in the room). We never got any of their names, so we'll call the man South Africa and the girl Germany. The other two we never saw, but it's safe to say that all 3 guys were LIVING in the hostel, one of them for 9 months! So anyway, South Africa was very chatty and didn't smell good but the funniest thing was he was laying in his bed, maybe 9pm? We were getting ready to go to sleep and all of a sudden we hear this awfulllll techno music. I look next to his bed and he's got a 90's style Sony Discman plugged into 2 speakers playing 90's songs set to techno, for example "Rock Until the Broad Daylight". Slad and Veder commercial anyone?! Also under his bed is milk, eggs, and mayo...I'm not sure why people don't refrigerate those... So then South Africa and Germany (who we didn't think could speak English or was just real shy) start talking about going out to some disco club. So they're getting ready, and South Africa puts 5 sprays of on cologne under the armpit of every shirt he tries on! It smelled pretty bad and the whole room was already musty... Next, he looks at Germany and goes, "So you're wearin that shirt hey?" (he said hey after almost every single word. obnoxious.) And she just nodded but he clearly did not approve. He goes, "And those shoes hey?" I'll make it short but basically he did not approve of anything she was wearing and it was the most awkward 10 minutes of my life, Kate was brushing her teeth trying not to laugh! Last story about South Africa: I took 2 Tylenol PMs because I really needed a good night's sleep to get over the jet lag and he goes "O you've got drugs hey?" and comes right up to me. We explained they were $4 Tylenols but he told us we could sell them and then he sniffed the bottle. He said that Irish people were addicted to sleeping pills because they couldn't afford heroine! He said if we couldn't get a job we could always sell them haha Interesting guy...

So Friday we had orientation with the company we came through and that was slightly depressing. They told us that Galway really does not have many jobs, but that if we work hard enough there was definitely a possibility. We caught our bus for Galway and then Sheila McNair (my dad's longtime friend's daughter, also went to Res) met us at our hostel! She is studying abroad here and lives about a 25 minute walk from us (we are in the city centre and she is at the University). So she took us to a bar around us to meet her friends which was fun, it's sooo nice knowing someone here who already knows the city. Our hostel here is realllly nice, and it's so cheap! Breakfast is included and then we steal bread for lunch with our peanut butter :) You would all be so proud of how cheap we're being! We made a budget for ourselves and we are determined to live on 6 euros a day for food, total not each! We have been looking for apartments and tomorrow we will start "hitting the pavement" to pass out our resumes and ask about jobs.

Yesterday we walked around a bunch, down by the Galway Bay, Galway is so cute! It hasn't been bad weather lately, but I probably just jinxed that. We also got our cell phone up and working which is so nice. Shoot us an email if you'd like to call, free for us! haha Let's see, o then we went to Sheila's apartment and made dinner, her friend from Limerick was in for the night so we went out to this hippie bar and just talked for awhile and then came back and went to bed. Most of the bars here close at 12! Even on weekends...there are a few late bars that close at 2. Definitely different then what Kate and I are used to in Spain! Nothing there got going til 2 and didn't stop til 7am! I guess this is already pretty long so I'll stop so no one gets bored :) Kate says I write like I talk so I hope it's enjoyable and not just rambling! We miss you all so much and we'll post again soon!
-Erin