ADVENTURE TIME!

I wanted to blog yesterday, but nothing exciting really happened. I was just happy the whole day which was cool. This weekend, in about twenty minutes actually, I am going on my first trip. TO CORK!! It is some town/county in Ireland. woot woot.. here is the Itinerary from the international student network

"it's time for one of the main events of our society nd that is our weekend trip away to Cork with 100 other students from both Ireland and across the globe!!!

Were sure you need a 'study' break by taking you out to one of Ireland's most cultural cities and perhaps one of Europe's hidden gems renowned for having one of the most beautiful cities in the world as well as one of the best party and student nightlife in Ireland!!!

The trip will take place on Friday February 4th and coming back to UCD on Sunday evening on February 6th.

The Highlights

DAY 1
Pick up from THE MONTROSE HOTEL @ 10AM and then driving to Cobh (a small seaside village and location of the last departure of the Titanic) and spending the evening in Cork with a few drinks and meal with your friends and then off on a pub crawl around the city.

Day 2
Spend the whole day in the city, where you get the chance to explore it on your own. A Trad Festival is going on during the week if you wish to check out local Irish music or join your fellow ESN committee and watch the 6 nations rugby Ireland vs Italy down at the local! In the evening we'll head back to the hostel and then head out to one of the best clubs in Cork

Day 3
Time to head home but before we do we'll make a pitstop at the the fishing village of Kinsale for lunch and the Blarney Castle (to kiss the Blarney Stone!) and then finally making our way back to UCD and much needed rest after the weekend!! WE WILL ARRIVE BACK AT 19:00

The cost for this trip is set at €83 for ESN members and €90 for non-members and will be on sale on Refresher's Day (Wednesday 26th January) between 10am-4pm at the ASTRA HALL AT THE STUDENT CENTRE on. If you are still not a member come down and sign up for €2! Do arrive as early as possible because these events sell out very quickly!

That includes 2 nights accommodation at a central location in Cork City, breakfast for 2 mornings, return coach transfers, entry fees to the sights and tour guides!

That's a bargain compared to getting a Bus Eireann coach and the hassle of organising the trip yourself (we checked - it would cost €150 individually!) but your ESN team were able to bargain it down as much as possible to ensure that it doesn't hurt your wallet as well as offering the same benefits during your stay in Ireland.

Because of accommodation is limited on weekends in Cork, we can only take 100 on board but if the demand is high we have the option to extend to a extra 50 so make sure you confirm your place fast!!

This is one of the best trips you can do in Ireland and one you simply can't afford to miss and it will be legen......wait for it.....dary!!!"

xoxox Have a good weekend everyone!!

You've got mail

Got a care package from mi madre today! Thanks so much mom!! The slippers are sooooo adorable and comfortable, and I can't wait to smother everything I eat with the (actually spicy) spices you sent me! :) xoxox so ps. If anyone wants to mail me anything, it will find its way here. ;)

10 Things I love

My favorite blogger does a segment each week called "Ten Things I love Sunday" and I've decided to copy her. At first I kind of figured I would only write Ireland, travel related stuff in this blog, but it has become a bit more random and segmented than that. So I am just going to keep it that way. Ignore this entry if you'd like, but here are ten things I'm obsessed with right now.

These illustrations, Etsy is a never ending supply of adorable!

Glitter in general, but also the idea for these oxford inspired heels, I want to make my own pair!

This beautiful and creative way to jazz up your hair, now I just need an occasion

How long my hair is getting, I'll look like Blake Lively in no time! ;)

This look. I used to do this occasionally in Seattle, but I've noticed everyone here wears shorts with tights. I counted eight girls just coming out of one lecture.

My new lipstick. Not nearly as elaborate as any of these, but I never thought I could pull lipstick off in general. 

LOST. I can't stop. It's an addiction. 

This soda. It is so refreshing and deliscious

Tea! I have had like six cups today.

These heels. I want them so bad but they are way too expensive. 

Self Control, chyeah...

BAM. paper done. Editing tomorrow morning. That was actually a lot easier than expected, let's hope it makes sense. Would not have occurred without the knowledge of the GREATEST program for procrastinators of all time. OF ALL TIME. A lovely free program for macs called Self Control. Maggie told me about it, and I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. You set up a "blacklist" of all the sites you generally procrastinate on and then set a predetermined time that they are blocked from your computer. It can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 hours. No matter what you do you can't access them from your computer, not even by shutting the thing down! No more refreshing facebook fourteen times a minute, no more reading my tumblr dashboard for what I think is ten minutes and turns out to be an hour. I have been saved from myself!

However I still managed to procrastinate a bit, as my mom has said "we used to manage it before the internet too!" Here is a list of things I felt were more important than my paper;

• making coffee
• dancing on my bed to Grace Kelly by Mika
• peeling my nail polish off
• brushing my teeth
• changing my shirt three times
• drawing this picture of a cat
• stretching
• Three "mental breaks" to sing We Used to Vacation by The Cold War Kids 

Check out this song, it is awesome and reminds me of all my beautiful friends back home.

oops...I did it again

That awkward moment when you realize you apparently have a four page paper due in the ONLY CLASS THAT MATTERS tomorrow at 10am.

Got my red bull and my notebook. Here we go.

Credits

Looking at my classes, and my traveling schedule/general lack of motivation (Study abroad isn't real life, right?) I have been kind of stressed about my grades for this semester. I will just be traveling so much and the grades are, for most of my classes, based on just one paper and one final test. Anyways I have been a little worried about doing well in them, my gpa doesn't matter too much but I don't want it to take too hard of a hit. I looked at my DARS this morning, that is degree audit reporting system for those who don't go to UW, and it tells you based on all the graduation and degree requirements what you have and have not completed. Not counting any credits I may get this semester I need

• 41 more credits total
• 10 credits in upper division sociology courses
• leaving me with 31 elective credits

Which means, I can apply for my classes (except the sociology ones) to count as S/NS, satisfactory or non satisfactory credits. Since they only need to count as electives anyways, basically I just need to get at least a 2.0 and then I get credit, but it won't affect my gpa. 

Crisis averted!

"How Thoughtful"

I hate talking to people in the morning. Unless it is a I've slept on your couch and was expecting it sort of situation. If I am in my own element, my room, my apartment or whatever the morning is my time to sort of gear up for the day. I would almost consider myself a morning person, I can be cheery and bright and lovely at 6am, in fact it is more likely than if I tumble out of bed at noon. However, I need to have my routine. I like to be able to take my time getting ready, do my makeup, listen to whatever song I want, even if it is just Mika's Love Today on repeat for half an hour. When that routine is thrown off, I get grumpy. It doesn't matter what side of the bed I wake up on, before I've gotten ready and had breakfast/coffee/tea my mood is liable to switch at any second. I woke up today feeling alright, not really well rested as I tossed and turned most of the night, but determined to have a good day. Almost every day I have gone downstairs and gotten my breakfast to go so I don't have to make small talk with people. 8:30 am is too early for small talk, don't you agree? Anyways so today I sat down with these two girls I know, and there was this other girl I don't. I'm not sure if it was exacerbated by her accent, but every word out of her mouth dripped with pretension and the idea that she was superior to me in some way. I made some comment about how I was excited for my trip to Cork so that I would get to see a little more of Ireland, as Dublin wasn't really as foreign as I was expecting. She questioned me and I said merely that the differences just weren't as significant as I was expecting and especially being 25 minutes away from the city center and stuck on campus many days. I got a strange look and then "what club did you go to for the create on your wrist?" (thinking it was a stamp) and I said, 'oh no, its a tattoo' to which she rightfully asked what the meaning was. I said they had much more elaborate backstories but the short of it was reminders to be creative in everything you do and make the world more beautiful in any way you can, and to go with the flow, take a moment, breathe and then live life the best you can with what you have. To which she replied with a sort of hmmph sound and what came off to me as a sarcastic "how thoughtful". Then after asking what year I was in school, I said I was sad to be a third year as that means I have to go into the real world in a year, and she was like, "oh, it's not that bad, I've taught english in Hong Kong for the last two years". Like I said, nothing she said was particularly rude but the way she said it was very much a tone that said I do not take you seriously, you hippie tattooed fool.  Maybe she meant well, but at 8:30 in the morning, I don't need that nonsense.

Here is the Mika song, if you've never heard it I suggest you give it a listen. Great song to get you pumped up for the day!