Requirement #1 to being Irish: wait 5 hours in a hard plastic chair

<<<>

Well Corrib Village life has settled down since I have last written. The town was a little quiet this weekend, as most Irish students go home for the weekend…I would too for a nice hot Irish breakfast (blood sausage and all!). However my weekend was anything but settled down, as I had another guest come to visit for the weekend! Sybil, another friend from UW, has been traveling all around Europe this entire summer, and is attending school in Vienna (the place I promised to go back to!!) for the semester. So for the last 5 days or so, she has been here with me and has actually entertained me more than I have her! She is always full of energy and fun, and so I never go to a place with her and not have a great time. The weekend we spent just walking around, making fun home meals with my roommates, and of course going pubbing (Sybil even scored a date!), then on Sunday we took a tour of Coonemara, which are basically some beautiful mountain ranges that I hope to go hiking around sometime! There is also this place called the Kylemore Abby, which is this gianormous castle in the middle of the mountains – its now a monastery, inhabited by just a handful of old nuns. However I think the best part of the tour was my new friend Desmond, the bus driver who had been doing tours of Coonemara since 1956 (you can’t drive a car until age 18 – so you can imagine how old he was). He repeated everything he said 3 times, drove wildly over the road, all while singing Irish folk songs at the top of his lungs! However, he was very nice and even gave me his number and told me to call him anytime! So was this my turn to score a date?

So this week, while Sybil got to go on her date, I got to wake up to go to the Immigration Office to avoid getting deported! Thinking that I was going to avoid the long wait by getting there at 7:30 (when the office opened), I was greeted by 36 other non-EU citizens thinking the same thing! So we all waited together outside until 8:15 (when someone FINALLY came to open the doors), grabbed number 37 and waited until just before noon to be served….luckily I had a good book with me, and the Dunnes store was nearby, so I entertained myself well! Now I am officially a legal visitor of the wonderful country of Ireland! To celebrate, I spent the night playing card games and beer pong with a bunch of USA pals I have met…luckily I made up for being completely American by taking Sybil out to McDonaghs famous fish and chips for lunch – greasy and delicious!!!

So tomorrow Sybil leaves me =( and I will be having one of my first weekends without my pals by my side – what will I do? Originally I had plans to go with my roommates to Belfast, but we have decided to rent a car for the next weekend and drive up there! So I will certainly be spending my Sunday saying my prayers in hopes we don’t die driving on the other side of the road. You all should do the same..!
>>>sybil and I at the Kylemore Abbey ( its the big giant castle behind our goofy faces!)

xoxoxo