Giving Thanks in February :)

I know its not November and Thanksgiving is now months away, but I keep thanking God everyday for how fortunate I am.

I’m thankful for my family and that they are safe and healthy.

I’m thankful that my family is full of such unconditional love, happiness, and support.

I’m thankful to have been raised the way I was.

I’m thankful for my health.

I’m thankful for having this wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and for all of the people in my life who have helped me and sacrificed for me to be here.

I’m thankful that there are good people in this crazy world and that for the most part I manage to surround myself with them.

I’m thankful to be in this beautiful country and to be exploring the world.

I’m thankful to live in California.

I’m thankful for being able to go to Chapman, for all the doors it has opened for me, and for all of the positive people who have come into my life.

I’m thankful to have a roof over my head and food on my plate (even if its poorly made, thanks to my lack of cooking skills)

I’m thankful for my friends, because, for the true and genuine ones, we’re always there for each other.

I’m thankful for my Gamma Phi sisters who have given me 3 of the best years of my life. They haven’t allowed me to be homesick because of how much they’ve reached out to me even though I’m thousands of miles away.

I’m thankful for all the little things in life.

I’m thankful for each and every day.

Have I mentioned how thankful I am for my family? :)

In conclusion, life is wonderful and I could not be happier. I'm having the time of my life and learning something new about myself and about the world every day. Thank you all for your love and support, I miss you terribly and wish you could be here to share this experience with me.

Week 2!

Last weekend we ventured to Galway for our first weekend trip! A group of 12 of us spent two nights in a hostel. Since there were 8 girls we were lucky enough to have a whole room to ourselves, but the boys had to share theirs with a bunch of randoms. The people were definitely interesting and pretty typical of what you would expect to find in a cheap hostel.

We explored the city and got to experience the Saturday market and the many sights in the Connemara area. Our tour guide was kind enough to grace us with his singing in Gaelic, so I attached a video of it for all of you :) In all, it was a great weekend and most importantly we made it back safe and sound!

This past week classes started picking up in intensity. I'm currently taking 5 courses, 2 for my business major, 1 for my communications minor, and 2 just for fun! I'm enrolled in a Marketing module called "Interactions, Relationships, and Networks", an Entrepreneurship module, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, and Irish Folklore and Intro to Irish Music and Dance. I have only one class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but my Tuesdays and Thursdays are brutal. I'm in class from 9am-6pm with only about an hour break throughout the whole day.

This weekend we went on a day trip that was set up through the study abroad office. They took a group of 155 international students to The Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, The Alliwee Caves, and Bunratty Castle. The Cliffs of Moher were absolutely stunning, I felt like I was on top of the world. It's definitely a place I would love to visit again when I'm not with a ton of other students. For lunch we stopped in a town called Lisdoonvarna where there is a huge matchmaking festival held every year for the entire month of September. People come from all over to see if they can find a little romance. When we stopped there, however, it looked like a complete ghost town and only two restaurants were open in the entire town. You can imagine what that was like with 155 hungry students trying to order lunch. Toward the end of the trip we unfortunately weren't able to go inside Bunratty Castle, but by the end of the day we were all too exhausted anyway.

Overall it was a great week and weekend! We went into town last night and experienced the Superbowl Ireland style. It was quite the experience to say the least. We had to make our way home at the end of the halftime show though. By then it was already 1:30am here and all of us were pooped.

Also, as of this week I am now a proud member of the Outdoor Pursuits Club and the International Society. With the Outdoor Pursuits club we get to go on caving, hiking, and rock climbing trips throughout the semester. Our first trip is coming up in February!

The weather has been pretty much what you'd expect in Ireland. Cold. Rainy. Windy. Did I mention cold? Megan and I are definitely having California sunshine withdraws. The other night I was woken up from a dead sleep by the wind. I got a video of it so hopefully you can hear the howling noises that woke me up!

Besides that things are pretty low key! We're taking full advantage of the Tuesday on campus farmers markets and the huge gym at the university. I continue to meet people from all over the world and every day is a new exciting adventure. The group of 12 people that I've been sticking with has formed a sort of family. We all look out for each other, can start a dance party wherever we go, and manage to have fun no matter what. Take a look at the picture album on facebook if you're interested! Pictures are up from our Galway weekend and our day trip this past Saturday. Love and miss you all!