I will write a short blog this week, even though nothing really “eventful” has happened, my life is Galway is continuing to settle and pick up in speed. This week was very fast. Since last Wednesday, I have written a paper and given a presentation. I continue to immerse myself in my studies, as always, as it is what motivates me and keeps me busy. This weekend I spent my last relaxing weekend in my apartment doing nothing, MANY adventures are coming up! Here is a taste of my schedule for…the rest of my stay? Perhaps…

Tomorrow I have classes from 2-8pm and then myself, as well as many others are taking an “overnight” (3 hour) bus to Dublin. We all have trips planned for the weekend! Some groups are going to Paris, some London, some Spain, myself and 4 others are traveling to Rome. Ciao Roma!

Even though I am lucky enough to have already been to Rome, I am most excited to visit my friend Luis Marcelino, an architect major from Penn State. He is living is Travestere, Rome, and I am excited to spend some time with him and see a familiar face from home. It’s Rome; I would go there 100 times! I am hoping to do some sightseeing, eat some pasta, gelato, drink some wine, and enjoy the nice weather. It’s suppose to be high 50s and low 60s, AWESOME!

I must mention that this week, I experienced REAL Irish weather….. 60-75 mph winds, or should I say 100-120 km ph winds. Today I walked to class and physically could not thrust forward the wind was blowing so hard, not to mention the rain! We were blessed the first couple weeks to have calmer weather, now I certainly appreciate it. The wind is so loud it wakes you up at night. When you think your roommates are once again coming home in the middle of the night, have no fear! It’s just the wind. This is quite an adjustment.

Back to my schedule, after my Rome excursion, next Friday my mom and Yiayia are coming! I am so excited to see them; we are going to have a blast! I have many plans for them, including multiple day tours, multiple restaurants and pubs, a music festival, and so much WALKING! I will make sure they see Galway. Good thing they both were fitted with new sneakers from my fitness walking class in Penn State last semester!

On February 13^th, the day my mom and Yiayia leave, I will be attending the Arts Ball 2013. The Arts Ball is a function of the Arts Society and is a huge, must go to event that everyone looks forward too. It is being held at the Salthill Hotel in Galway, and includes a night of food and multiple bands and late night entertainment. Every society has a ball during this time, so we, the international students are pretending to be a part of various organizations in order to attend them! For the Irish, this is their “prom” except they do not bring dates, which I found interesting. I am excited to attend with my other girlfriends and take lots of pictures! We are all in sororities, so this is our “spring formal.”

The next weekend, February 15-17, I am attending a trip through my study abroad provider to Killarney and County Kerry for the weekend! This area is in southwestern Ireland and is suppose to be beautiful. The group is staying in a hostel and they have tours and events planned for us, so it will be nice to go on an organized trip.

The weekend of February 22-25, myself and my friend Katie and hoping to go to London to visit my friend studying abroad there, Lizzie, and her friends as well from University of Kentucky. We have not made reservations yet, however we thought this would be a good time to go to London because of its convenient location and cheap flights.

The next weekend, March 1^st, Reilly is coming! I am so excited for him to come and experience what I tell him about all the time. I count down the days and try not to drive him crazy!

The next weekend, March 9^th, my girlfriends Lizzie and Katherine are coming to see me, mainly as the end of the week which brings me to my next weekend, St. Patrick’s Day (March 15-17) in Dublin. I am expecting Dublin to be a hectic weekend, it is already nearly impossible to get reservations for a hotel room. So this way, I am thinking I should take a trip down to Limerick on Saturday and perhaps take the train back and forth for the day to Dublin on Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day. I have already heard from almost all of my friends studying abroad in various countries that they are going to be in Dublin that weekend.

The remainder of March will be dedicated to doing SCHOOL WORK! I know, can you believe that still exists? I am very good at staying on top of school. Monday-Thursday I have a lot of free time during the day and have made good use of the library and various resources. Thank God I have my own room! For half of my classes, I have papers due in the first two weeks of April, our spring break (April 1-15^th). Because I am hoping to travel for those two weeks, it’s really important I finish my final papers before I leave the country…which I plan to chip away at as February gets rolling. My final exam schedule (April 15-May 15) will not be released until Match 8^th. I will only have 3 days in which I will have to take exams and it can be anytime over this period, so I am hoping to get them done early so then I can play some golf and travel…some more!

Spring break is starting to formulate as follows: Barcelona or Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Paris! Finally after exams, I am hoping to go to Munich for Spring Festival and then take the train to see Prague, followed by Switzerland. Is this real life?

For weekend trips, there is a 3 day Portugal Cruise that my Irish roommates are interested in. We are really becoming good friends. I know a girl that did the cruise last year as well and said it was awesome…maybe we can pencil that in somewhere?

Finally, it is still really important to me to golf while I am here and I am hoping to travel to Scotland.

Of course, this is all hypothetical and coming from an ambitious girl who is constantly surrounded by thoughts of, “what should we do for Spring Break?” Every day it changes hundreds of times. However, tonight I am taking the advice of my mom this weekend and “remaining still.” Ireland is full of necessary energy I need at this point in my life and it is up to me to control that intake.

I suppose this short blog became long, it is hard to sleep when such an exciting weekend awaits. I hope everyone feels more up to date with my travel plans now. I look forward to posting pictures from Rome and blogging about my experience next week. Ciao!

Location: Galway, Ireland