My room is decorated!!
With wet t-shirts and damp underwear. They’re donning my windows, armchair, desk, and radiators because the laundry was finally installed in our dorm, but my exceptionally large load of laundry was not sufficiently dried in one dry cycle.
I honestly might go frontier-style and start washing my clothes in the sink and air drying them, since laundry will be at least 4.50 euros each time. Yikes.
These past couple days:
Wednesday
We had an orientation for our internships that will start in November, and one thing that the presenter said that struck me was, “It’s not always about what you do on the job. It’s about who you are and how you are.” In other words, in Ireland at least, it is just as— if not, more— important to be social and interactive with your coworkers as it is to be constantly diligent and focused on your tasks. Forming good relationships can be more valuable in your work experience than merely doing what needs to be done.
I know I can get so caught up in doing my job that I forget to talk to people or even refuse to go to social functions. But there’s so much more to a work/learning environment than burying your nose in the work, and I’m excited to really allow myself to do that here and find that balance between work and “play”.
I get it, universe. It’s not all about “just doing well.”
In other news, look at these bathrooms on campus.
The vibe is, like, Hulk meets hospital. It also smelled strongly like Skittles, which was pleasant.
Lunches recently have been eggs in some form with butter and carbs in some form.
Thursday
One of my new friends, Kendall, woke up (semi-)early to work out with me before our morning class. It was a fabulous morning too, so we did it outside. YAY. We did a 30 minute HIIT:
- 10 burpees
- 20 reverse lunges
- 30 plank jacks
- 100 high knees
- 10 pushup to T
- 10 broad jumps
- 20 spiderman planks
- 20 air squats
- 10 side plank side crunch each side
- 10 side lunge to knee twist each leg
- 30 mountain climbers
- 20 split jack lunges
- 10 in and out pushups
- 20 sumo squat hip looseners
- 15 plank to ankle taps each arm
The project manager on campus told us as we walked back to our dorm, “You know you’re making all of us feel guilty right?”
I wish I had answered, “JOIN US NEXT TIME!” But that would have been weird, so we just laughed.
Another Ireland lesson: Milk and yogurt expire much more quickly here than in the States. I almost poured curdled milk into my oatmeal yesterday and then I finished my extra sour Greek yogurt last night.
Lunch was 100% safe though.
peep the potatoes with kerrygold butter, salt and pepper ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎
The strawberries from the local grocery store here are also 5x better than Costco strawberries.
The most frustrating moment of my Thursday was walking 45 minutes somewhere to pick up a bus card, but finding immediately upon walking into the office that the card machine was out of order. *heart drops to stomach* I hated the thought of wasting 90 minutes, but I loved the walk, and I even got to stop into a beautiful church to pray for a bit!
This photo doesn’t do it justice. I walked in and froze for a couple seconds because I was in such awe.
We had our first Irish language lesson last night too. The professor is the sweetest and most joyful woman I’ve met in a while. The language still eludes me a bit, but it’s cool to learn about it!
Leftover beef burger for dinner!
split in half and eaten on top of toast with BBQ sauce, mustard, greens, white cheddar, and caramelized onions
This burger thing was the best culinary idea I’ve had in my 1.5 weeks living in Ireland (which isn’t saying much, given I’ve been living off oatmeal, chicken, and eggs).
Later, a few of us went out for dessert at Restaurant 104. They had “proper bread and butter pudding” on their menu, so I knew we had to go. And that’s just what I ordered!
WITH raisins @Rachel
I also tried some of my friends’ sticky toffee pudding and [unpictured] “Death by Chocolate” cake.
Everything was divine. When we all finished, Megan announced:
Dessert rejuvenates me. It’s my life source.
I’m so excited to be traveling Europe with this gal.
Now it’s Friday morning and I’m typing up this blog post! I need to do some schoolwork before going on a cliff walk later today. I did Blogilates’ Extreme Abs 3 (never gets easier) just ate some PB&J banana egg white oatmeal porridge to fuel the day:
Have some good craic* this weekend!!! 😉
*craic is pronounced “crack” and means “fun”
So tell me:
What kinds of produce are much better abroad than at home for you?
What is a recent frustrating experience for you?
What are you eating for breakfast this morning?
Do you like bread pudding?
Daily Moves and Grooves 
I love that perspective for your internship! I totally agree that how you interact with people is sometimes even more important than the actually work!
Strawberries this time of year in this part of the world are 😀 😀 😀
Those potatoes look divine – wish I had some in front of me right now (though I am snacking on some apples with a lot of pb… more like pb with apples, so life is a-okay)
BREAD PUDDDINGGGG ahhh love it (and guilty of making it for breakfast once in a while!)
I interned for 10 weeks this summer and definitely found that certain other interns didn’t have a good a time as I did because they didn’t click with their teams as well as I!
“Pb with apple” ← story of my life lol. Glad you had a great summer at your internship! It’s always a blessing to be able to get along with everyone on your team 🙂
This is going to sound weird, and it’s not really “abroad”, but it IS the furthest I’ve been from my home, and it popped into my head when you asked the question, but the apples I encountered in California tasted way better than most apples we have in Washington. Now, there are some times and places we can get good apples, but at the time, all the apples we had at home were just blah, but the ones in CA were quite good! And they were just from the grocery store; nothing special. My only explanation is that all our good apples are exported and we get the dregs. Blegh. Although like I said, we can sometimes get good apples, and there’s only one place we get apples that I will eat, and it’s from a local fruit “stand” (it practically a mini outdoor store now 😮). I’m so picky, haha. 😂
I loved the little word lesson! Hope you have craic this weekend as well!
Ahh too bad that all your apples are exported 😦 What a shame!
I had a bowl of PB oatmeal this morning. Yes, I thought of you. I feel like American food has a 100 year shelf life, hahaha.
We don’t really have any MTN produce… nothing food-like grows here. Ummm… a short ways away, corn is in season and pretty good right now!
I’m so jealous of all the Kerrygold butter you get to eat. I don’t think we have it in Canada!
Thanks for thinking of me 🙂 Ahh have you tried Kerrygold butter?? I don’t think I can go back to regular when I’m home.
Knowing what to pack for college AND making sure that you’re prepared for everything is SO frustrating! 😦 It stresses me out so much–it’s unreal as to how soon moving in is–EEK! But ahhhh I loved bread pudding, especially during the holidays!
Good luck with move in and the start of your semester, Cassie!! You’re gonna kill it 🙂
Can we talk about the apples there in Europe? IF you go to mainland Europe, the APPLE variety is AMAZING, and they are absolutely huge.
There in Ireland, it seems like the butter and the local produce was so abundant! And when I was in Ireland and in Uganda, I usually just hand washed clothes every night, so I would have a constant supply. They dry, not as quickly, as dry Colorado, but depending on how heavy they are they will usually dry in 12 hours or so (overnight.)
I will be on the lookout for apples in Europe then!! Thanks for the tip 🙂 It’s really amazing how quick and easy laundry is in the states, isn’t it??
this morning I actually slept in until 11:30 which is like… a HUGE first for me. But for lunch I had a sweet potato with all the pb and some other goodies!! A recent frustrating experience for me has been trying to find an ebb and flow.. sometimes I feel like I’m all over the place with my schedule!
YAY for sleeping in! I hope it felt awesome. And I hope you find that rhythm in your schedule! Beginning a new semester is always hard for everyone, don’t fret!