My first full day in Ireland

I have slept 14 hours since the last time I wrote. I slept from 9:15pm-11:15am. It was wonderful and very much needed. Hayley and I are sitting here together on my bed. She likes to hang out, and I love it too. She's so sweet. She just said, "American students type so fast."

I didn't have to go to school today because they had some sort of a convocation for a sports event. Diane's mom, Eileen, took me out all day. Steve's sister who is here from England joined us as well. She was so kind to take me to run some errands. I got a SIM card for a cell phone my host family is allowing me to use. I also was able to get some shampoo since I had to throw mine away at the airport. She took me all around a neighboring city called Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary). She also took us up a beautiful hill called Killiney Hill (pronounced Kill-eye-nee). Killiney is a very "posh" area. The view from the hill was just beautiful. I could see a very large part of Dublin. There were a group of students rock climbing there, I told them the only place I've ever rock climbed was at Galyans, haha!

Walking through Dun Laoghaire

Walking through Dun Laoghaire. Eileen used to take Nola and Diane to swim here when they were young.

Top of Killiney Hill

Top of Killiney Hill

Walking up Killiney Hill

We also went to the "4o foot." It's an area where people swim in the sea. There is a 40-foot rock people jump off. There were actually people swimming today, even though it's rather cold. The men just change into their "tods" (bathing suits) right in the open! I saw a man take his pants off, he was just standing in his whitey-tighties like it was nothin! Then they put a towel over themselves and put their tods on. Funny.

Then Eileen took us to a really nice hotel for a bite to eat. It reminded me somewhat of a Country Club. We sat at couches to eat! We ate at a coffee table, it was very interesting. I ordered a chicken sandwich. It came with butter spread on the bread which I found interesting. It tasted fine. I also ordered a pot of tea. It was wonderful. Eileen and Shirley ordered lattes after their meal. They came in tall glasses with lots of foam on top and a "biscuit" on the side (cookie). We sat and talked for quite some time. It was a nice experience.

Where we ate lunch

After we got home Eileen took me to Nola's spend the afternoon with Steph. Eileen drove us to the shopping center. Steph got herself a SIM card for her phone, and we did some grocery shopping. That was a sight. We had no idea what to get. They definitely don't have as many choices as we're used to. I can't seem to find any Nacho Cheese Doritos and I'm TOTALLY craving them! Maybe at another grocery store, fingers crossed. We took the bus back to Nola's house. We were a nervous wreck because we weren't really sure where we were going. We managed to find it though! I spent a few hours at Nola's afterwards. We ate some leftover lasagna and banofee. I decided to try some apple "fizzy" (soda). I didn't know it had been recently dropped and when I opened it there was a massive explosion of apple fizzy ALL over the kitchen. It was the biggest pop explosion I've ever seen. I think they'll be finding sticky spots in their kitchen for weeks.

I'm getting used to the accent and I'm finding myself using some of the terms and words they use. As I'm typing and deciding how to word things right now I keep thinking to myself, "How would I say this at home?" or "Would I really word it like that if I were in the states?"

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, other than going to school for my first day. I'm very excited. Steve is going to take me because Diane didn't get a chance to drive me to explain the bus route yet. It should be a great day!