a beautiful sunset in carraroe - photo courtesy of donall

now that I have a decent internet connection (hurrah for the shannon airport), I can post some pictures...

only three days...

aaaaahhhh!!! it's so crazy that I'll be leaving on friday! even though there are some irritating people in the course (when are there not irritating people?) I'll miss the whole experience. fortunately I'll get to come back and visit the family during the year, and some of the people in the course will be at nui galway next year.
the most amazing part of this has been meeting karen. the two of us are soul mates, in a platonic way. we like the same subjects (irish, history, latin, etc), we enjoy the same movies, and we're able to communicate without speaking. karen was talking to this guy and he asked if we had known each other before the course. she said no, why? and he replied that it looked like we had known each other for years. we're dancing partners, since dance classes tend to be short on guys. we've been going blackberry picking for the past two days, and it's amazing how something so simple can be entertaining for the both of us. she goes to school in ohio, and even though I've only known her for a month, I know that she's the kind of person who I'll be friends with forever. kindred spirits, that's what we are.
anyways, even though I'm sad to be leaving, I'm also excited because I'll be meeting with my parents in London and then we're going on a cruise on the baltic! I can't wait for russia. but for now, I have to go. blackberries are calling my name.
slan
kate

only one week left :(

I know it's silly to be thinking about the end of the program already, but I've so used to be here that now it's hard to imagine leaving.
We had a bit of a hectic weekend, since our house mother was in new york for a wedding everything was pretty chaotic. there were also boat races (the particular type of boat that they use here is called a hooker) on both saturday and sunday.
there was a pony show on monday (with the famous connemara ponies) and I decided to walk down to the football pitch over my lunch break to check them out. it was drizzling a bit when I started to walk, but by the time I was half way there it was all out pouring. I only had my black sweatshirt, since it hadn't been raining when I left in the morning, and I was literally drenched by the time I got to the pitch. the guy at the front gate probably felt sorry for me, because he let me in for free. I was there for about fifteen minutes, and there were a bunch of trucks in the way, so I wasn't really able to see much, but I did see the ponies. I started walking back to school, still soaking wet, when this car pulls across the road and stops next to me. it was noel, my house father. "get in the car," he said. "you're going home and taking a shower, then you'll go back to school. otherwise you'll catch your death of cold." I saw no reason to argue, so I went back to the house, cleaned up, put on some dry clothes, and made it back to school an hour after our lunch break had ended, just in time for our afternoon break. then we went to the nearby hotel, where there was going to be a puppet show. I really had no intention of going, but karen wheedled me into it. of course, when I finally decided that I would stay, the power went out. they delayed the show for forty-five minutes, and had just announced that they would have to cancel it when the power came back on. so they did there thing, and it was entertaining even if I didn't understand any of it because it was in irish. (an amusing addendum to that story: today in class we were watching an irish language video, and one of the guys from the puppet show was on the video).
I don't remember tuesday very well, although I think it was a nice day. might even have been hot.
Yesterday we went to Spiddel and to Galway. we ate at La Salsa in Galway, and I must say that it was the best mexican food I ever had, maybe that's because it wasn't really mexican.... then we went to the shopping center where I bought some socks. we went to two bookstores, and while karen was digging through all the irish language books, I was searching for something in latin. I ended up finding books xiii and xiv of ovid's metamorphoses, both printed before 1900. they only cost 22 euro, so I was hooked.
tonight is the variety show for the school, so there will be drinking and carousing and drinking and singing and drinking and dancing and, did I mention, drinking? apparently the head of the program ordered 48 bottles of wine, and there are only 50 people in the program...
oh! I remember tuesday, we went dancing! karen and I dance together, and what we lack in skill we more than make up for in energy. the best part is lusca-ing, or spinning around in a circle many times. I can't do any of the fancy footwork stuff, but I'm ok at remembering the order of steps and all.
besides that...joy's twin sister, hope, is getting in town today, and supposedly she is bringing peanut butter for us. I love her already. karen and I were contemplating going somewhere out of town on this our last weekend, but we haven't heard back from the friend whom we were going to try to stay with. that's about all I can think of for now.
slan!
kate