Long time, no blog.

Sorry for the silent week (Mom). It's been busy getting adjusted to daily life in Waterford, but I've had an insane amount of fun every day of it! Wednesday was our first day of classes. We are in class from breakfast until dinner. It's a long day, but definitely made easier by the photo classes and free meals all day. Tuesdays and Thursdays are field trip days and Thursday we toured Waterford. First stop was the Waterford House of Treasures which was just filled to the brim of cool stuff. Next we did a walking tour around the town with a world-famous historian who cracked us up the whole time. Finally, we went to THE Waterford Crystal Factory and oohed and aahed at everything. One of the amazing things about that company is if at any point during the process a flaw is found, the piece is simply smashed and melted down to start over. This rule also applies to if someone accidentally breaks something in the store! That didn't stop me from being extremely nervous while looking at all the expensive pieces, however.

The special tools used are so safe that craftsmen aren't required to wear gloves or goggles!

A 30,000 euro crystal grizzly bear!

Friday and Saturday were spent enjoying the festivities in downtown for the Tall Ships Festival! We steered clear of the gimmicky tourist stuff, but still had a great time seeing all the boats and listening to the live music. Taylor and I also found our official favorite restaurant in Waterford! It's called The Gingerman and is just beyond comparison, even for Irish food. Best of all, it's only about 12 euros for a HUGE meal and a pint. We've already been twice and I'm sure we'll be back soon. 

I miss it already.

Saturday evening we were headed downtown for crepes when we found several hot air balloons being set up on our campus! So, we stayed back and watched the whole process from start to finish and it was AMAZING. I was geeking out the entire time. In downtown, we stopped by the crepe stand and I had the lemon sugar crepe which was literally sugar with lemon juice and it was just divine. I could go on and on about the food here! What a difference it makes when you're using nothing but REAL FOOD and none of that random crap that everyone else has decided is necessary. Later that night we went to Mason's (bar/nightclub) and enjoyed the free entry and "3 Bulmers for 10 euro" deal. We had a grand ol' time making friends with just about every Irish person who overheard our American accents and being taught the lyrics to traditional Irish tunes. It was also finally decided that the Irish talk too fast and we Southerners talk too slow. I'm not sure where the middle is, but the combination of Georgia girls and Irish guys sure does make for interesting conversation (most of it being laughter at me for asking "What did you just say?" about 3829874 times).

Today I finally caught up on sleep and have just been relaxing at the apartment. I cleaned house, worked on some Photo homework, and ordered Irish Pizza Hut with Taylor. Yes, even the Pizza Hut here is SO. MUCH. BETTER. I honestly don't know how I'm going to ever be satisfied with the food back in America.

Beir bua!