Hello hello wonderful friends and family! I think I will take the lead of my fellow study-abroad friends and send out updates to a mass email list rather than attempt to personally contact everyone on a regular basis.
So...my semester abroad thus far: it's been pretty fun i guess. ha! only joking...where do i begin! I suppose Amsterdam is the most logical place.
Back in September, my adventurous pal from home, Anna, and I started making plans to travel together for a few weeks before classes started for me in Ireland. Amsterdam became our destination of choice...so plane tickets were purchased and that was that. We spent 8 days in/near Amsterdam experiencing its nightlife, walking along canals, making friends with locals and other travelers, hiking in a national park, confusing trains for trams, buying food at grocery stores and eating on public benches. I think we would both agree that the highlight of our stay there was New Year's Eve--which consisted of putting our luggage in storage at the train station and pulling an all-nighter. We did this merely to save money, but by 6 am it was apparent that the rest of Amsterdam was doing the same thing just for fun
Then, it was off to Ireland on Jan. 4th. We left Dublin by bus and headed south for a quieter atmosphere in Wicklow County where we stayed in a hostel and spent our time hiking in the national park and reading our books. it was a nice change from the hustle bustle of amsterdam and dublin. Next stop...Galway. My home away from home for the next 5 months.
So that brings me to my apartment on the west side of Galway, where I share a room with Katie from New Jersey and my apartment with Laure from France. They're both really great, and we've gotten to know each other well already. My second weekend here was spent in a little town called Letterfrack in Connemara National Park. I stayed in a hostel that used to be a monastery (the place has quite a history...involving monks abusing young boys to the point of death) with a few friends. This weekend...we'll be traveling to Kilkenny...another smaller town in Southeast Ireland.
Classes started last week, most of which are history, political science and literature. They are all very interesting...and should give me the cultural overview of Ireland I came here for. My celtic civilizations professor is pretty dry though...my friend, Derek, described the class best by comparing it to a filibuster. Otherwise, my instructors have that stereotypical charming and witty Irish personality!
Alright, I promised myself I wouldn't let this turn into a novel, so I think I'm going to cut myself off here. In summary...my travels with Anna and time in Ireland have been incredible. This country is beautiful, and the people are so chummy.
If you didn't get my first email, my pictures are all posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos
Please check them out...because I can't even begin to accurately describe what I'm seeing here.
I hope you're all doing well, keep me updated on what's going on with you too! I'll try to write again in a few weeks. My photo webpage will probably be the best bet for seeing what I'm up to though.
Take care everyone!
Colleen (ps-I've found out that only "American tourists" are named Colleen. haha--it means little girl in gaelic...so they see it as a pretty silly name. oh well! i am an american tourist...so I don't see a problem with it! I usually get little smiles when I introduce myself though)
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