The Spire

Okay.  Let me try to explain this hideous contraption in front of your eyes this very second.  This is the Spire.  It's in the middle of O'Connell Street.  A very popular place here in Dublin.  And yea, they put this thing in the middle of it.  I mean, I think it's supposed to be innovative and exciting and all, but really, nobody likes it.  Nobody.  The locals.  The tourists.  Nobody.  It's basically a needle in the middle of the road.  It's not that cool looking or anything of the sorts.  Crazy Ireland.

Class. FHE. Package.

January 22, 2015 – Thursday

I showed up to my marketing class this morning and after about 15 minutes there were only 5 of us there.  And we were all exchange students.  So we figured there had to be something we didn’t know.  And sure enough, there was.  We found out eventually by going to the office that the marketing class starts the first week in February!  So that’s exciting of course!  Wahoo!

I met up with Stephen about 4 pm and we went shopping!  We got stuff to send Sarah a package!  She had a really rough week this past week and so Stephen came up with the idea to send her a package!  Yahoo!  So we got some chocolate (of course) and found a super cute Irish teddy bear and a few other random things!  It turned out really great!  We’ll mail it tomorrow with some letters and such also!  So excited.  I think she will love it!  Of course! 

Tonight I had family home evening with the YSA. 

Boojum Burritos. Tayto vs. King.

January 21, 2015 – Wednesday

I had lunch with Soes and Jacob today.  We had boojum burritos!  Haha.  I’m telling you, these people just plain love this place.  It is tasty!  I will give them that.

Went to the Fineglas church building for a little cottage meeting activity tonight.  We played chair soccer (or football as they say here).  It was fun!  I was in church clothes though, which made it all the more adventurous!  It’s a great group of people.  I’m so glad I have gotten to meet them.  

After the activity my friend Stephen drove me home and on the way we went to a little overlook of Dublin City!  So gorgeous!  It was kind of a misty night and it was late at night and the lights were all lit up in the city and it was just plain gorgeous!  There was a really special spiritual aspect to it also.  Another one of those moments where I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that I am here.  In Ireland.  In Dublin.  Surrounded by great people.  Having a blast!  Loved it.  A great way to end the day!  

I also tried Tayto and King crisps tonight for the first time.  Crisps here are like chips in the states.  And Tayto and King are the two big rival brands here.  Their crisps are different than American chips, but still so tasty.  I can't decide which ones I like better.  I think I like King better though.  But they are both super yummy.  I think I need to try more flavors.  Then I'll make a final decision.  And I tried this lemon orange drink thing, also super tasty!  Yum! 

A Day Off

January 20, 2015 – Tuesday

My schedule here rocks!  I have class on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  No class Tuesday or Friday.  Can you believe that?  So basically I have more days off in a week than I have with classes.  Crazy sauce.  I love it!  So today was a no classes day.  So I went for a run this morning around our apartment.  It was so freaking cold!  So cold and my knee was hurting super badly, so I did more walking than running, but I did find this beautiful park and walked around there for a while and took pictures and just enjoyed the Ireland air!  It was incredible.  I have so many moments where it just hits me that I am living in Ireland and I just can’t hardly believe it.  It’s crazy.  It’ll hit me at random moments, just walking down the street, or riding the bus, or sitting in class or the library.  It’s amazing.  It just hits me that I have moved across the world to a foreign country, namely Dublin, Ireland, and it’s better than I ever could have imagined.  I had no clue I would love Ireland as much as I do.  No clue.  But I’m in love with this place.  It’s a beautiful country and I’m so thankful to have landed here.  

Institute was really great tonight!  There were about 40 people there!  Which was amazing!  And it’s a super social group of people and everybody talks with everybody.  It’s amazing!  I’m really impressed by them.  I had tons of people coming around and talking to me and everybody was being social.  It’s impressive to see.  

Beautiful Morning

The Park I Found On My Run This Morning

Beautiful Park

More of the Beautiful Park

More Lovely Facts About This Grand Place

Okay.  I just walk around every single day and all these crazy and different and super fun things happen!  And it's so much fun to live in and experience.  So, in Ireland they speak English.  Kind of.  I mean, it's their own special kind of English really.  They use words so differently and use some really unique and funny statements.  One example is the word "mad".  When something is "crazy" they will say "that's mad", instead of "that's crazy".  It's super funny!  I love it.  They also use the words "grand" and "lovely" a lot!  They are both very common words around here.  People will say them a lot in retail situations especially.  If you order something to eat and they ask you a question, they will respond by saying "grand" or "lovely" as a response to your response.  Grand.  Grand.  Lovely.  Lovely.  Such a proper people!  :) They use the word "posh" when talking about rich or wealthy people or areas.  When you are new to something, people will say "you're very welcome".  For example, at church, when I introduce myself as "Samantha, I'm from Utah, out here for six months going to school".  In America they will say "it's good to have you" but here in Ireland they say "you're very welcome".  The first time I heard it, I was thinking "what?, that makes no sense."  And it kind of still doesn't to be honest.  Every time I hear it, it still takes me by surprise and I laugh a little inside. Funny stuff.  A random fact is that Irish people watch a lot of American TV.  They don't have many of their own programs out here, so most people are very familiar with American culture, because of the movies and TV shows that they watch all the time.  So of course they have this "magnified" and a little extreme perception of a lot of cultural things in America.  It's hilarious when people pretend to understand something and you can totally tell it's because they've seen it on TV.  So priceless.  Irish people are afraid of snow!  If it snows even a centimeter here, they lock themselves inside, a taxi driver won't drive, they shut down schools, etc.  They don't know how to react to it!  I think it's funny!  All us international students get a kick out of it, especially since most of us come from snow climates.  The final random thought for now is about police man.  Irish people think that Americans are so "gun crazy and gun happy".  In Ireland the police man (called the GARDA) don't have guns.  Their "weapon" is pepper spray.  Yep.  That's all the cops carry here.  No guns.  I've been explained to that because the GARDA don't carry guns, the criminals just leave them alone, because they know they don't have guns.  So Ireland people think us Americans are crazy because our cops have guns.  And I honestly think it's crazy that their cops don't have guns.  They only have pepper spray.  Haha.  Life In Ireland!  It's so lovely and so grand!  

The First Official Day of School

January 19, 2015 Monday

Well, it was the first official day of classes today!  So great.  I got up this morning and rode the bus into town and showed up ten minutes early for a 10 am finance class.  Nobody was there.  So I went to the library to try and figure out my schedule for classes.  And found out that here in Ireland you have to wait until about 10 after the hour for people to show up for class and such!  Bahaha!  It's basically like Mormon Standard Time, but in Ireland with the Irish!  Crazy people.  So I worked on stuff in the library for while and then went to my microeconomics course.  Which I actually really enjoyed.  We had a general overview of the topic today and it was quite interesting.  I like it.  After class I met up with Jacob and Soes and we chatted it up for a little while until our 4 pm Irish Cultural Studies class!  That class was awesome!  The whole class in international students and the professor is one of a kind.  When I said I was from Utah, he said "oh the dry state! (as he put his hand up to his mouth in a drinking alcohol motion) and girl you have come to a very wet state.  Here, we like to drink.  Do your parents know you are here?"  Haha!  Too funny!  So funny.  He's very loud and opinionated, which makes the class super fun and interactive!  It's a good time.  After class I rode the bus home, went to dinner with Nikki (which was great fun) and then worked on some stuff at home and went to bed.  It was a good day.  I really love being here in Ireland.  And even when things go a little wrong, it's no big deal, because I am IN IRELAND!  Which is a blast!  It just makes things so bearable and I'm more relaxed about it all.  It's grand.  So grand!  The school here is pretty chill about things, which is kind of frustrating for getting stuff done, but it's nice!  I'm used to being independent anyways, so it's fine that they aren't much help with anything.  Bahaha!  Good times.  Such good times.  I'm loving Irish life.  :)

Girl With White Hair

January 18, 2015 Sunday

Well today was another lovely Sunday here in Dublin! Church was just plain amazing.  It was my second Sunday in this ward and when I walked through the doors of the church, a handful of people greeted me by name.  I was impressed they remembered me and was so thankful for their kindness in reaching out.  It really does make a big difference.  I love this ward and I couldn’t be more thankful to be a part of it.  It’s full of some really great people!  I got to say the closing prayer in sacrament meeting.  So that was fun!  As always.  And I was officially welcomed as a new member to the ward also.  Good day.  I also got to meet with our Bishop and just kind of introduce myself and such.  He’s a very nice guy.  Good stuff!  

We had a lesson on agency in church today.  It really got me thinking about how powerful our choices are here on earth.  They really do make such a big difference and God really has given us a lot of his trust to do what is right.  It was a really good lesson.  Got me thinking, which is sometimes bad, but today it was good!  Haha!  

Funny story from church today!  This little girl, named Lilly, who is probably about 4 years old I would guess was sitting behind me in sacrament meeting.  She kept kind of walking around the room and was just plain adorable and so of course she caught much of my attention!  After sacrament I turned around and got chatting with the family behind me and made friends with this little adorable girl!  I later ran into her mom in the hallway of the church.  Her mom stopped me and said that when she dropped Lilly off to class, Lilly turned around and told her mom “that girl with the white hair is soooo nice”.  Haha!  Love it!  I have white hair!  And I’m nice.  Out of the mouth of babes.  Priceless!  Made my day.  

I worked on setting up my class schedule the rest of the night.  It’s different the way they do it here.  Basically when you come in your first year of college you choose a course track to study and then you stay with the same group of kids for all four years and you all take the same classes together.  All day, every day, for four years.  So they all know each other.  And so we come in as international students and we basically pick classes from all these different tracks and timetables and mix in with these pre-formed groups basically.  It’s really confusing to be honest.  And didn’t make a lot of sense.  But it’ll come together somehow!  Yep, it will.