London

Hello everyone!

I have another update for you! Hooray! Well this last week was RAG Week at NUI Galway. It is a week for the campus to raise money for charity, and there are a few events put on for this, but they are not publicized at all. It somehow turned into an excuse for Irish students to drink all week long. They don’t go to class at all and if they do, they bring drinks to class with them. There were foam parties during the day, and people drinking outside everywhere you looked. It was absolutely crazy! Irish kids really know how to party… They started on Sunday afternoon and pretty much didn’t stop until Friday. I went out a couple of times, but I cannot keep up with them ☺ It was definitely interesting to watch though!

On Thursday, Melissa and I left for London. We took the train from Galway to Shannon, flew out, and landed in the Stansted Airport, took a train into the city, then got on the subway tube to get to where we were staying. It was so much traveling, but we finally arrived around 8:30. We stayed with one of Melissa’s childhood friends who is working an internship in London this semester. She was really nice and living in an international student-housing complex with a lot of people from Wisconsin. It was nice to hear some familiar accents ☺ We went with them to Karaoke on Thursday night, which was a lot of fun.

Friday, we took a double decker bus tour of the city. We saw pretty much the entire city: Big Ben and the houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Globe Theater, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and lots in between. Friday night, we went out for fish and chips…delicious! Then we saw Spring Awakening. It is a new musical based in the 1800’s but the songs are song like rock songs. It’s about teenagers going through school and trying to understand sex, and death and dealing with their parents. It’s very different, and the music is amazing!

Saturday, we took the bus tour to some of the places we didn’t get to see the first day, just random buildings and parks, but we got to learn about the history behind things. Melissa and I went to Billy Elliot for the matinee. It’s a story about a boy who wants to dance, but his father wants him to box. The boy was like 10 years old and danced so well! The show was so amazing! The set was unbelievable… I loved it! Then we went to dinner and saw Wicked at night. It’s the story of the two witches from the Wizard of Oz. I read the book last summer, and the musical is very different, but so good! The singing was amazing and the special effects were so great! It was such a good day. I’m so glad I got the chance to see these shows. I don’t get a lot of chances to see shows back home, so it was fun to take the opportunity to see them while I could.

Sunday, we took a boat cruise along the Thames River and ended up in Greenwich. We walked through the park there and saw the Royal Observatory. I got to stand on either side of the Prime Meridian! It was so cool! Then we went to the British Museum, ate lunch, went to mass, and then went on the London Eye. It’s the big ferris wheel type thing. It was very high up, but we got a great view of the city at night. I got some great pictures! After, we went out to dinner, then hung out at Angie’s apartment and went to bed.

We left early Monday morning on the subway, the train, the plane, and the bus, and I made it back in time for my class at 5. These weekends are so much fun, but I miss Galway when I’m away. It’s so nice to get away sometimes, but now Galway is really feeling like home. I also missed having a good skype connection. Because all of the Irish students go home on the weekends, the Internet gets much faster, so I try to take advantage of that when I can ☺

Here’s the link to my pictures on snapfish. It wasn’t letting me delete some of the duplicates, so I’m sorry if there are multiples of some pictures. And some of the buildings were insignificant; I just thought they looked cool, so I took a picture. Enjoy!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=254600963/a=157881010_157881010/t_=157881010

Other than that, not much is new here. I got a little cold over the weekend, so I’m hoping that will be gone soon. I have a presentation in my Irish Short Stories class on Thursday, so that will be what the rest of my week consists of. I have to present on an author and make handouts for the class. It’s so hard for me to get back into the flow of doing homework because I hardly have to do anything. It will take some getting used to when I get back to SNC in the fall ☺

I hope you are all doing well! Please keep the e-mails and letters coming! As much as I love being here, it’s hard to miss out on things happening at home. I miss you all so much! Have a great week! Love you!!!