Tons of Giant, Ugly Crows

We took our laundry into town the other day. It felt like I was pampering myself when I shouldn't be, but it really is cheaper just to take it into town. Otherwise it costs 6 Euro per load plus detergent... Anywho, we rolled our suitcases through town, dropped them off, and picked them up a few hours later. And my towel was warm when I took a shower that night... gotta love that feeling.

Yesterday was fairs day where all the clubs and societies from the university set up tables in the sports complex and you can go sign up to be a part of them. It costs 2 Euro for each club-- not a bad deal. I signed up for choir, drama society, and SVP (Saint Vincent de Paul-- it's a volunteer group... Elizabeth and I are hoping to get involved in a tutoring opportunity through SVP; I'm not sure I could make it the whole year without being around kids). I really wanted to do "Playdough," an arts, crafts, and photography club, but I don't want to be involved in too much.

Our first drama society meeting was last night already, and I'm really excited about it! There were 330 kids that signed up, and they do about 7 plays and 1 musical every year. This year they are doing a series of one-acts just for first years, so that will be a really great way for us to make friends. My friends Jackie and Katie signed up too. They also put on workshops through the Gaiety School of Acting, which apparently is a pretty big deal. I'm really excited to get involved in all of that!

After our drama meeting I went to Beth's apartment to do her roommates' make up for the Moulin Rouge Ball. I did a pretty fabulous job, if I do say so myself. They looked pretty hot :) Then we watched the first few episodes of the first season of Grey's Anatomy in Beth's room. It's really annoying that Irish DVDs are different than American DVDs, so you can't watch American DVDs on the Irish DVD players, or vice versa. Dumb.

Also, I've been meaning to say that there are TONS of giant, ugly crows here and they gross me out.

It's really sunny and beautiful outside right now, so I'm sitting in my windowsill with my window open writing this. Just thought I'd mention that because we don't get that a lot. It's not that we never get sun, it's just that we don't get whole days of sun. The weather literally changes every five minutes. It could start raining any minute right now, even though it's really nice at the moment. Oh well, it just makes me appreciate the sun even more.

So my roommates basically just ignore me when I walk into the common room. Sometimes they say hello, but that's about as far as it goes. What the heck? If I was back at Saint Mary's and I had a foreign roommate, I would be totally curiuos to know all about them, and I would certainly try to make them feel as welcome as possible. I guess I haven't been making a huge effort, but I'm really not in here very much anyway, and when I do come into the common room, they're usually deep into some Irish or British soap opera and I don't want to interrupt them with "so, where are you from again?" THEN, my new roommate Rachel who just came last Thursday is in the common room when I walk in yesterday. She goes "oh, Kelsey, I've been meaning to ask you: sometimes I like to smoke out the window... does that bother you?" What the heck, right? YES, it bothers me! Everyone smokes here, and it's so disgusting. I just want to yell: "Don't you know that that can KILL you and that it STINKS?!?" Every time you walk out of a building here, you walk into a big cloud of smoke from the sick cigs outside. Anyway, I said to her "yeah, actually it does bother me." After an awkward silence, I said "oh, no, now you're going to hate me." Rachel replied: "Oh, no, it's okay. I might still do it when it's really rainy outside, but I'll try not to."

TRY? How can you TRY not to smoke inside? First of all, it's illegal to smoke inside... second of all, it ALWAYS rains, so basically that means she's going to smoke in here all the time. And third: why did she even ask me if she was going to do it anyway? Ugh.

Oh well, things will get better, I think... but clearly we aren't going to be life-long friends.

I've tried to like alcohol, but I just can't. I don't know HOW people can drink it! It's disgusting and it burns my throat. I've had sips of beer and wine and mixed drinks and they all just make me want to puke. I guess I'll have to stick with the fruity drinks that don't taste like alcohol. Or maybe I'll just go with a Coke next time... if I'm going to spend the money, I might as well get something I really love, right?

They don't have screens on the windows here... I'm kinda scared that I'm going to fall out of it... or that a bird will fly in or something... that would be scary.

Tuesday nights are officially pasta nights with the SMC girls, and this Tuesday, yet again, we had a delicious meal of spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and this delicious carmel chocolate icecream cake that Mary got. MMM! Tuesdays are good days!

I think Elizabeth and I have decided that we're going to Germany for fall break... Johannes (the German exchange student at my high school senior year who said I could come stay with him) said he's going to be home the same week as us! I can't wait! We also might meet the other girls in Paris for a few days and go to EuroDisney! Yay!

That's all the exciting news in my life thus far, I guess. Things get better every day!