How Gross Can You Get?

Many of you know about my gross living situation with two girls from Spain. I just wanted to share some additional, recent photos of their filth. I finally got them to agree to pay the 80 euro per hour cleaning charge for everything wrong with the apartment when they move out. This was a small feat but still great. Below is a picture from before and after I cleaned the microwave (the only thing my american flatmate and myself have ever used in the kitchen or living room). The microwave looked like the top picture since we moved in on day one.

The before and after of our microwave. 

When I was done cleaning the microwave, I moved it over and found this. So I thought I'd write them a few notes to remind them of their responsibilities, seeing as they cook five meals a day. I mean, really, what is this?!

Look cleaning the microwave led to? Finding more filth.

My American flatmate has been asking for over a week for the two Spanish girls to clean the oven so she can make brownies. It is full of burnt baked on food, crumbs and pieces of human hair. Obviously, the oven needed a sign too.

You can see how dirty the outside of the oven is. Just
imagine the inside. 

The two Spanish girls have moldy foods in the fridge but they also have left things in the fridge that have leaked out onto the floor in front of the fridge and around the side of it. This was the third thing that needed a friendly reminder sign. 

Here is a picture of one of the kitchen cabinets filled with spilled cooking oil and crumbs of food. I hope you girls have a bunch of cleaning products or deep pockets. The cleaning bill for the kitchen and living room is going to be pricey judging by what you think is 'clean'. 

The spilled layer of cooking oil can be seen in this picture. Good
luck cleaning that!

The Countdown Between Countries

As my days in Ireland grow to a close, I find myself looking back on my last four months. I've traveled many places and learned a lot about myself. Here are a few of my personal thoughts about my growth while studying in Ireland.

Before moving to Ireland, I'd only been to two countries. Ecuador and my homeland, the United States of America. However, since arriving, on various weekends and the extended breaks DCU granted me, I traveled to seven countries. This is not including the traveling I've done in Ireland and Northern Ireland. These trips included: Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Krakow, Poland; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy;  London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. That's a pretty impressive list to have created in less than 121 days. I am extremely fortunate to have gotten to see so many famous places and landmarks during my time abroad. The cheap traveling also helped. For example, my flight to France only cost me 10 euro which is less than $15 USD. Who could turn that down?

After working as resident assistant for the past three years at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I have become accustomed to being in an authoritative role and receiving the respect that comes with it. It has been hard for me to tell my roommates from Spain, 'No, you can not smoke in the apartment, 'READ THE RULES ON THE DOOR,' only to have them continue to do so. Their lack of cleanliness has also bothered me. They spill cooking oil all over the counters and in cabinets. They also leave rotting food in the fridge. Needless to say, when I move back to the states and in with my fiance, at least I know we share the same values, especially on cleanliness. Even so, the task of living with people so different from myself has taught me what I can handle and can not tolerate.

The act of repacking has put parts of my life into perspective. Even though I have eight days left in Ireland, I have everything packed into my two suitcases and backpack that I won't be using between now and May 22. This has left my room completely naked except for eight shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, eight pairs of underwear, my laptop, camera, hair straightener, bathroom towel, flip flops, make-up and shampoo/conditioner.

The things I have missed most about being away from home haven't been material things. They have been my fiance, my mom, my cats and my goldfish. All of these things will be moving to the apartment with me, expect for my mom of course, but those are the only things I have actually sat here missing, therefore the only things I really need to be happy when I get home.

My kitty, Hunter. 

My five-year-old goldfish. 

My fiance and I. 

I find it hard to believe that I successfully lived in this tiny apartment on only these two suitcases and a backpack for four months. But the fact that I have, has help me split the things I think I need to live successfully and the things I actually need to live successfully into two different categories. I know myself in a different way because of my limited lifestyle (no TV, radio, cellphone, very limited clothing, etc.) It has taught me to appreciate the little things. I already know there are a lot of things I will be giving to the Salvation Army or Goodwill instead of packing when my fiancé and I move, because I don't actually 'need' them like I thought I did.

The entire reason I moved to Dublin was to finish my undergrad and get my international journalism degree. However, my only true 'purpose' here took up the least amount of my time and has taught me the least about living in a different country and my future profession. My classes didn't talk about journalism. They spent hours talking about democracy, government and super conglomerates like Disney.

The occurrences that reinstilled my desire to be an international journalist were the things I did on my own time. Some of these things were my travels, meeting new faces, interacting with people from other parts of the world and taking pictures that lead others to promise to see those places for themselves. These are just a few of the things that have inspired me to keep moving forward, doing what I love.

To me, journalism is an experience and a privilege. Confucius once said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." For me, journalism is that perfect job. I can not wait to return to the US to look for a job that will keep me guessing and busy doing something new every day. 

I am leaving Ireland in eight days with a deeper knowledge of myself. I am a true journalist at heart and I am proud of that. 

The 'Natural' Order of Life

Who ever said a person should go to college, graduate, land their dream job, go to grad school, then start a family didn't live in today's times. Sometimes life happens out of order. I believe being happy outweighs any lifestyle order. I have always believed nothing else mattered as long as a person was happy. A year ago I found out John Lennon and I shared the same philosophy. Life is simple, people just like to make it complicated.

One of my favorite quotes. 

Helpful Hostel & Travel Tips

For anyone who is planning to travel and stay at hostels here are some helpful tips:

1. Always carry 2 locks. One for your luggage and one for a locker. You can never be too safe.
2. Make copies of all of your credit cards, passport and any other important documents you're traveling with. Always keep one with you and one in a safe place.
3. If you're traveling with someone else, help keep an eye on their things. Two eyes are always better than one.
4. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Don't be afraid to talk to someone in charge of your hostel/hotel. 
5. Be aware of your surroundings. If something does happen, you will want to be able to recall it to the proper people. 
6. Stay away from political demonstrations. If you don't know anything about their country or politics it can be easy for them to get upset at you for not sharing their views or being educated. 
7. Stay out of alleyways. Even if there is some really beautiful graffiti that would make a great shot, it's better to stay safe. 
8. Even if you're lost, walk around like you know where you are going. 
9. Take public transportation as many places as possible. Taxi drivers have a tendency to over charge the obvious 'tourist'. There almost always is a form of transportation from an airport to the city center. 
10. Don't eat or drink food from strangers. It could be drugged. 
11. Put your name, address, phone number and email inside each piece of luggage you travel with. 
12. Know the numbers to call to cancel your credit cards/report your passport stolen if it happens. 

For more helpful travel safety tips check out some of these websites:

U.S. Department of State: Travel.State.Gov

USA.gov: Americans Living and Traveling Abroad

Rick Steves: Travel Tips

Protect your passport & cash when you travel.

The Hunted American

I recently traveled to Berlin, Germany for five days. The hostel we stayed at was the biggest and cleanest one we'd ever been to. It operated with swipe cards (like a hotel card) and had lockers in the rooms. The staff was amazing and instantly my roommate and I were in love. Berlin was the last place we planned to visit before heading back to the United States. Everyone says 'go big or go home' so it only made sense that when we arrived at this particular hostel it grander than any we'd stayed at in any country in Europe. We felt we deserved it, especially after some of the not-so-nice ones we'd stayed at previously.

Everything was great about Berlin. Our first night, we went out and had a great dinner at a little Italian place down the road from our hostel. A delicious salad was much in order and tasted more scrumptious than I could have imagined. I can't described to you how much I have been missing cucumbers and grilled chicken.

Maybe the best chicken salad I've ever had. Thank you Germany. My taste
buds love you.

After this lovely dinner we went back to the hostel and went to bed. We were the only ones in our six bed room and slept wonderfully. We got up the next morning and went sightseeing and shopping. After seeing some of the beautiful sights of Berlin and shopping for a few hours we were exhausted and hungry so we chose to go back to the hostel. This is where some strange things happened.

Like I said previously, we needed swipe cards to get to different places in the hostel. One of those places is the main stairwell and elevator that takes you to all of the bedrooms from the ground floor. When we got to the door, I had to get out my card to open it. As I was going through my purse to get it out, a Hispanic man came up behind us, waiting to get into the stairwell also. He was alone and very giggly, which was strange. I just figured he was drunk (our hostel had a bar on the ground floor) or high. He followed us through the door and to the elevator.

I pushed #2 which was where our room was. He didn't push anything. This wasn't strange to me, I've gotten on lots of elevators before and had the other people on it going to the same floor. Once the three of us were in the elevator he started to giggle uncontrollably in a really high pitch, unnatural way. He asked us where we were from. We told him we're from the USA. He looked at my roommate and told her she was a 'sex pot' while continuing to laugh uncontrollably. This was starting to get not only odd but also uncomfortable.

For those of you who don't know what a 'sex pot' is, here is the
definition from straight from Urban Dictionary.

We quickly got off the elevator and went to our room, which we also needed the key card to get into. When we opened the door, the hyena-laughing-Hispanic man followed us into our room. There were two other people in our room already, so we figured he was staying in the room also. We unpacked our purchases from the day. While we did this, the hyena man walked around the room looking at different things before pulling up a chair. From this chair he sat, giggling, watching me repack my suitcase. This made me very uncomfortable. While shopping earlier, I bought letters that spelled my fiance's last name and was arranging them on the floor to take a picture to send him. As I was doing this, he said the last name to himself and asked me if it was my name while giggling. By this time, I was very ready to leave the room and go down stairs.

The letters I got my fiance for our apartment. 

I locked my suitcase and put it in my locker along with my purse and camera. I then locked the locker with a large padlock. This guy gave me the creeps. After leaving the room, my roommate and I both made comments about how uncomfortable he made us. We hoped his bed wasn't one of the bunks above either of our beds and that he would be out late partying and passed out when we had to get ready in the morning. After a half hour downstairs, I was cold and asked my roommate to come back upstairs with me to get my sweatshirt. 

When we got to our room, it was empty but when I went over to my locker, something wasn't right. The top of it was bent outwards. I quickly unlocked my padlock to find my purple wallet unzipped and laying open on top of my purse. My heart dropped. I quickly grabbed my wallet and looked through it. All my money was gone! My next thought was oh shit, my camera. I grabbed my purse and my camera was amazingly still there. Thank God. My camera, a Canon, which cost me over $1,200 would have ruined my year if it had been missing. I then thought about my credit cards, all three of them, and my bank card, which I'd just used an hour earlier to take out the money from an ATM which was now stolen. All of my plastic was still there. I didn't understand, why would someone only take money, especially not the camera?

After composing myself, my roommate and I went downstairs to ask how many people were staying in our room. The desk worker checked and said only two. A man and a woman. Instantly we knew it was the couple who'd been in there earlier. We told him what had happened and he said he would call the police. About an hour later, two German police officers came to the hostel, went through all of the details with us and came up to the room to photograph the bent locker door. 

The police report that I can't read.

This was all very unsettling for me but it only got worse. The next morning the hostel owner came in to review the security cameras with us. He wanted to make sure we could identify the man who had broken into my locker. After viewing the tapes, I have never felt so stalked or violated in my life. What the security cameras showed us was the Hispanic man sitting off screen. At one point, after the desk worker walked away from the desk, the Hispanic man got up, looked around, looked over the desk to see if there was anything he could steal and then went back and sat down. He was sitting off screen until my roommate and I got back to the hostel. As soon as we came through the main doors, he got up and followed us to the stairwell door and into the elevator. 

How creepy is that?! I wondered how long he'd been sitting there? How many people came and went that he didn't think were good enough targets? He wasn't even a guest at the hostel! I've never felt so invaded in my life. Even after all of the predator shows I have watched in my lifetime I never accurately imagined what it would feel like to be watched and targeted until it actually happened to me. And for all of you who are reading this, I hope it never happens to you. It feels awful and gives you a whole new dislike for the human race.

Lucky for me, the hostel has theft insurance. The owner said the insurance company usually doesn't bat an eye at anything stolen under 100 euros and will compensate the victim. I hope this is the case for me as well. 

If you're traveling abroad anytime soon and want to protect yourself, read my other blog post: Helpful Hostel & Travel Tips to protect yourself while packing, unpacking, traveling and getting around in your destination. 

Cinco de Mayo Delivers Dublin a Legend

Today, Jeff Dunham, the greatest comedian of all time, will be in Dublin, Ireland. I was lucky enough to score tickets to see him. Actually I would have paid any price, probably even sold my soul to get a ticket  to his show but the point I am making is that in less than five hours I will be sitting in front of him watching him work his magic! Today is a dream come true for me. Duhman is the comedian I watch every time I'm in a shitty mood, every time I have downtime, every time I don't want to do my homework and every time other opportunity I get.

I really have nothing else to say other than I AM THE HAPPIEST PERSON ON EARTH TODAY! Yes, that is all. If you haven't been introduced to this man of wonder, let me do the honors. Here are a few of his stand ups thanks to wonderful world of YouTube. 

'

You should now all know why I am so excited to be seeing him on this wonderful day of Cinco de Mayo. This man is a God and I will finally get to be in his presence. What more could a girl want?  

Me before the show started. The happiest day in my life? Probably.

Some People Should Never Leave Home

I am writing this entry today after having a wonderful five day vacation to Krakow, Poland. After spending only five short but amazing days there, I've decided the city is in my top three favorite places in the world only second to the Galapagos Islands and Rome. It is a simple and beautiful city overflowing with history.


We had the opportunity to visit both concentration camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau. After visiting both, I feel everyone should have the opportunity to visit these camps or places of similar catastrophes. They offered a very humbling experience that I don't expect to feel again anytime soon.


Visiting Poland also brought to my attention why some people should never leave their houses or be allowed to travel. I'd like to take a few minutes to share in my rant with you. These are my top five annoying experiences which I've dealt with numerous places around the world, including my home country, but were personified in Poland. 

1. Parents taking children on airplanes-On the way to Poland (a 2.75 hour plane ride between Dublin and Krakow) there was a couple sitting across the aisle with a smaller boy. I don't know how to judge ages but he was no more than 3 feet tall and was sucking on a nook. Hopefully for you child lovers, that will give you a better age range than it does for me. This kid cried and screamed the entire flight. Yes, the whole 2.75 hours. If sitting next to that isn't birth control, I'm not sure what is. There should be an age limit for flying your children or maybe a child friendly sleeping pill. I bet that market would be HUGE. 
2. 'Photographers' aka just people with expensive cameras-I've found if you're in a foreign country and you want someone to take your picture it's usually good to look for someone in the general area who has a camera similar in quality/price as your own so they don't run off with yours. However, I've also found just because someone has a fancy camera, that does NOT mean they know how to use it. Some great examples of this in Poland were having a 'photographer' cut off half of the statue I asked him to take a picture of me in front of and having another man take a picture of my friend and I with a wall instead of us with the view behind us on the balcony. 
3. Overweight people standing in lines-This is one of the worst things for me. At Auschwitz, Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine we were surrounded by people who were overweight and though the world was ending if they didn't get into the attraction first. This meant pushing by everyone else or literally pushing us out of the way. This category also includes a VERY over weight woman and her 90 pound husband who boarded the airplane behind us on the way back to Dublin. As we were going up the stairs to the airplane she was right on our asses pushing her very large stomach and breast into our backs trying to make us walk in to the people in front of us faster. 
4. People who don't own deodorant-Do you know how miserable you make other people's lives? One example was a man in his late 40s to early 50s who stayed in our eight bed room at the hostel in Krakow. He showered daily and squirted himself with lots of cologne but never put on deodorant. The whole time we were in Krakow, the weather never got below 85 degrees and there was no air conditioning. B.O. combined with lots of cologne is one of the worst smells to wake up to. I would have to hold my breath every time he walked past the fan, which he wanted to keep turning off! 
5. Pesky people you don't know who end up in your pictures-I can't express how many times people walk in-between a camera and the subject or how many times you're clearly having your photograph taken and they come and stand next to you pointing at something or have someone else take their picture. Some day I just want to be like, 'Umm, excuse me, do I know you? No, okay, then get out of my shot!' 

Who Knew a Fork Could Make Me Wonder Woman

After living in my not-so-high-class flat in Dublin for over three months my shower decided to stop draining completely. Let's start off with the fact that my shower has never, not since day one, drained properly. However, in the last 3 weeks it has become much worse. Lately, I've had to turn off the water in the middle of a 10 minute shower to let the water drain down. Otherwise, I'd have a flooded bathroom.

Recently, I complained to my mother, who lives in the US, about this issue. She insisted I talk to my landlord about the slow shower or fix it myself. Knowing how things get 'fixed' around here, I decided I would try to fix the issue myself before inviting the handyman into my apartment.

Being the clean freak, a neat freak, and a germaphobe that I am, I walked around my apartment for 15 minutes trying to figure out what I could safely (safe meaning that I wouldn't have to touch anything) shove down the drain to pull hair out. Unfortunately, I don't have any wire coat hangers here, or the situation would have been easy. There was no way I was going to stick my fingers down the drain, not even with the rubber gloves I didn't have.

My first attempted included a straw from McDonald's which I found in the back of one of the kitchen cabinets. It was wrapped which made me trust touching it and shoving it down the shower drain. However, being a straw, and a bendy one at that, it didn't work very well. I needed something that could grab, and pull hair up the drain tunnel.

I went back into the kitchen and opened up the silver wear drawer. I found a whisk but after five minutes of trying to bend the metal to break off a piece of it, I gave up, throwing it back in the drawer. The knives were too wide to fit down the six little sections of the drain but then I had a new idea. Maybe I could use a fork to pull the drain cover off. I didn't care if I bent the fork. I never use them anyways, since I have my own set of silver wear. With my new shower cleaning weapon I headed to the bathroom.

My drain and the attack method.

It only took two pulls with the fork underneath one of the holes and the middle section of the drain came right out. This was a good start! I'd never seen a drain made like this before but obviously I chose the right tool to combat it with.

At this point, I was already feeling very accomplished.

Here I go! Who knows what I'll find down there...

Now that I had the drain cover off, there was another strange form of plastic in front of me. I was now looking at a cylinder shaped tube-thing which had a propeller-looking hat on top of it. After using the fork to take off the top of the drain cover, I knew what I had to do. I shoved the fork around the propeller-like-thing and pulled it up...and BAM! 

Quite possibly the grossest thing I've ever seen.

I pulled out what looked like a dead animal from my shower drain. It must have been close to a pound of hair because it kept coming up out of the drain canal. I shed, yes, but there is NO WAY all of this was from me after only three months of living here. I quickly scraped the hair off of the fork into my trash bag, gagging the whole time. 

My wonderful multipurpose weapon.

After successfully removing what might as well have been a New York sewer rat from my shower drain, I felt pretty accomplished. Who knew a handy-dandy kitchen utensil could transform a college girl into wonder woman? And for any of you who were wondering, my shower later that morning was wonderful. 

My floodless shower. Perfection. 

Is This a Joke...Oh Wait, It's Just My Life

Tomorrow is Friday and my last reason to go to campus before my only final on May 21. I have to turn in a paper which is due before I come back from Poland next week. Being the good student that I am, I braved the rain and winds to walk to the library to print my paper at 8:30 p.m. on a Thursday night, wearing sweatpants and fleece.

On the way to the library I came upon something that looked just like this. Only there were two people walking towards me with umbrellas this size. Due to their overwhelming size, I assumed the people with the gigantic umbrellas would move over so I wouldn't have to step into the puddle filled street to avoid them. Seeing as there was two of them and only one of me I thought the one closer to me would move over but did she? Of course not. The Chinese girl, who I was making eye contact with, walked straight into me. I had to duck to not get my eyes poked out by her massive umbrella and quickly jump into the street, splashing my sweatpants with muddy water. Obviously, some people have no manners or umbrella etiquette. Someone needs to teach a class on this.

I continue walking towards the campus library with my now cold, soaking sweatpants. Finally, I arrive and log in to a computer on the first floor. The mouse doesn't work. I figure OK, I can put up with this, I just need to print my paper and a few other things and I'll be out of here. Once everything finally loads, I go to print the document and Microsoft Word crashes. Ugh. I go to open the document again but Word is now telling me my document won't print. The mouse is pissing me off. This computer sucks. I get up and move to another computer.

I choose an available computer three spots away from the first one. I enter my login information and wait. Wait...wait......finally another box pops up, making me reenter my information. I do this, only to have the computer tell me I don't have a valid login. Obviously, I do have a valid login since the machine three computers away allowed me to log in without any issues.

With increased annoyance, I move across the room to another wonderful PC. This computer says it is hooked up to a scanner. This leads me to the assumption that it will work since only important people scan things in college and important people need their computers to work. I log in quickly and successfully. I think to myself, okay this is good. I open Word and bring up my document only to have it crash again. I take a deep breath and think okay, if I reopen it maybe it will print now that it has its stupid kinks out of the way. I reopen Word and click print, but Word just reloads my document, over and over and over and over again.

DCU, what is wrong with your campus??!

By this point, I am fed up with the downstairs computers but really need to print this paper so I can turn it in, in the morning. I go upstairs. The log in goes very quickly. I open my email, open Word, download my document and click print. And what does this computer choose to do? It does the same thing the other computers did down stairs. Crash and then refuse to print my document! WHAT IS WRONG WITH DCU AND THEIR STUPID COMPUTERS??!

This is seriously a joke. I look around at the other people who are working on papers and think to myself, how do you put up with this university?! I think even if I didn't come from a different country, having a preconceived notion of how things work and should work, I would know that someone was screwing with me.

After wasting almost 40 minutes by this point, I go down stairs to complain to the library lady at the 'help and info desk'. I gave her a frustrated run through of my life over the last 40 minutes. After stressing that my paper is due early tomorrow morning, the library helper offered to print it for me. She asked if I'd ever had any issues with the library before.

At this point, I told her about the last time I tried to print something at the DCU library and had nothing work. (For the background story read my previous blog post: Where Did My Tuition Go) She asked me if I'd talked to the IT guys at that time. I told her no, they weren't there and coincidentally they weren't here now either. She told me I should come back and talk to them about the issues I'd been having. I wanted to tell her maybe if they ever worked during hours when students were using the library there wouldn't be any issues with their crappy 10-year-old PC computers. However, I bit my tongue and thanked her for printing my pages for me, especially since it didn't cost me the usual eight cents per page, like it normally would.

On the way back to my flat, it was raining harder and I encountered another peculiar incident. After crossing the road to turn onto my street I saw a man stumbling all over the place screaming profanities at the top of his lungs in the pouring rain. Who does this? Sometimes I feel like my life is a joke...

We Draw the Line at Two Bags

As many of you know, my roommate and I from the United States have been struggling with our two female roommates from Spain. Over the past three months it has become a war of moving miniature Santa Claus figures, trying to wash dishes over their dirty pile left in the sink, hiding dish soap, garbage bags and most recently, tin foil. The list goes on and on. I have pictures listed from some of the other incidences on one of my other posts: Things I've Come to Miss About the USA. 

The thing that draws me to my computer today is the fact that they're now leaving their full, stinking, rotting bags of garbage in our living room. My roommate from the United States can't figure it out either. Why on earth would you want to live with your own filth? Her and I do not use the living room or kitchen other than the fridge and microwave but it's hard to ignore the site and smell of bags of trash left in the apartment. 

Week old garbage? The newest sent for Glade?
I think not...

Last night I was in the living/kitchen area briefly and one of the Spanish girls asked if the other American girl or myself would take out the garbage. I stood there in shock before I looked at her and replied 'no'. I then went on to tell her why. 'My roommate and I have talked about it and we decided against it since you two are the only ones who are ever out here. We have garbage bags in our rooms that we use for our own garbage. Since we only use the fridge and microwave and you cook 4-5 meals a day we thought you'd take out your own trash and we'd take out ours.'

Even though I said this calmly, I was screaming in my head. Like really? How can you be serious right now? Why would either of us take out your trash? After going back to my room, I told my American roommate what they'd just asked us to do. After laughing about how crazy they were to think that is our responsibility, we decided it would be practical--and funny--to make a tiny garbage bag with our names on it, placing it next to the bigger one to show how much garbage we've actually throw into the kitchen bin.

Our solution to prove how much trash we dispose of in the
kitchen. 

This morning we also decided to contact the landlord about the grossness of our apartment since it has been going on three months and we're beyond sick of it. We might as well be able to live in a clean place the last month we're here, right? After sending him pictures and telling him what we've been dealing with, this is what he emailed our roommates.

Maybe it is just me but the bolding on his part really adds
to the message, don't you think?

About an hour after he sent the message, Kelsey and I both had very obnoxious knocking on our doors and a very angry Spanish roommate looking at us. She called us into the living room only to yell at us about how clean the two of them are, how 'messy' we are and how we never take out their trash. Kelsey and I just stood there. Obviously, we have different opinions of 'clean', responsibilities that come with being an adult and living with other people. Next time they leave trash bags in the living room, I'm going to suggest moving it to their own bedrooms. Just because they want to live with trash, doesn't mean I have to. 

Why the Unpredictable Weather of Dublin Ruined my Day

I've been looking forward to today since Wednesday of last week. Today is the first day I didn't have any classes because my senior year of college is OVER until my one final on May 21. My roommate and I had made plans to go into the city center of Dublin to go shopping and get sushi. This whole situation was made more glorious because yesterday I bought a pair of shoes that I had been fantasizing about for over for a month. Today's mission was to find the perfect dress to match them for a wedding I'm getting dragged to in October.

However, Dublin didn't seem to agree with my excitement because from my bed this morning I could hear the wind roaring outside my window and thought to myself, this is probably a bad start. After grabbing my iPhone, it was confirmed, without even opening my curtain. There would be no girly-bonding-shopping trip into the city today, no perfect dress found and no sushi devoured.

The weather doesn't want me to go shopping.
This is more than depressing. 

After accepting defeat, I got out of bed and looked out my window only to see tsunami like weather happening in full force. Hmm, yeah, my shopping trip wasn't going to happen today. So naturally, I grabbed my computer and what does every girl do when she first gets on her computer? Check Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, her blog and e-mail of course! After logging into my Gmail account this is what I saw:

The weather in Dublin is so shitty today, even Gmail understands my sadness.

Even my Gmail account is sympathetic. Why does the world hate me today? All I wanted to do was partake in some seriously needed retail therapy with my roommate from the US! So now, instead of finding the perfect dress to compliment my perfect shoes, I am blogging, tweeting and Facebooking about my sulky day.

The pictures below are what I can see from my window. This girl would much rather be shopping than looking at the gloomy garbage dump and listening to her Spanish roommates yell in the living room. 

The rainy view from my window.

The pathetic little tree I have outside my window
between my flat and the garbage dump.

I'm Living Proof: Retail Therapy Works

Today was a shitty day all around. There's no need to go into detail because my roommate and I decided to go to Tesco (yes, the same Tesco I complain about all the time) on a wine mission. For a little bit of background info on the situation read my previous blog post: My New Dislike for Tesco of Ireland  and you will understand why we don't like Tesco.

The Santry Tesco is located in a shopping mall called the Omni only a ten minute walk from our apartment. The best thing about the mall is that as soon as you walk in the door, to your left, is the store New Look. This particular store has become my favorite store since arriving in Ireland. It's kind of like H&M meets Forever21, meets Kohl's. It's kind of hard to explain but I love the store. 

Over the last month, every time we go grocery shopping I always go in there and look at all of their sale dresses and shoes. In the last month, I have fallen in love with a beautiful pair of iridescent, gold and pink, snakeskin heals. Since I was having a shitty day today I decided, screw it, I would get them even though they were priced at 30 euro (about $39.60). When I got to the check out the girl punched them in and they rang up to be only 12 euro which was only about $15.80 and VERY much worth it. For any of you that doubt the science of retail therapy I am living proof that it works, wonderfully.

My new FAVORITE pair of heels.

After leaving New Look in a way better mood, Tesco only made it better. The only good thing about the store is their discount sections at the end of some aisles. This is where they place marked down because it will expire soon. Today, I picked up two chicken Cesar wrap packages for 38 cents each and some weird fish pie thing to try--also 38 cents. I grabbed a head of broccoli and a jar of Nutella from the Spar by my apartment after class for 3 euro, which left me with a delicious meal and dessert.  

Healthy & under 1 euro. Perfect meal? I think so.

The funniest part about our trip to Tesco was our checkout process. This was the first time we'd been there since our catastrophe last week with Yvonne, who we actually saw working (much to our disappointment she was not fired), so we went to the furthest lane from her. The check out woman we had today did not ask to see an ID or refuse my roommates credit card, because it wasn't signed like Yvonne did, when she purchased her bottle of wine. Apparently, Tesco is still doing a great job at 'always enforcing their policies'. Good job, Santry store. We're so proud of you!

How Pinterest Scrambled My Wedding Plans

Why does getting married have to break the bank?

Before my sorority girl roommate told me I had to get a Pinterest account I had no desire or any intention of ever joining the Pinterest community. However, after accepting her invite, I got sucked in and am now an addict of the virtual Pinterest world. The website is a big time waster but has come in handy while getting me through some of my classes. Aside from helping me get through really long lectures, where the professor reads straight off a PowerPoint, Pinterest has made me question almost everything I previously felt about getting married. 

You're probably thinking What? How could that be? Well, let me tell you, having a deep passion for photography doesn't make the situation any better. The Website makes it possible to view thousands of pictures of everything wedding related: dresses, cakes, shoes, hair accessories and styles, nails, reception ideas, places to get married, photo shoot ideas, honeymoon get-a-ways--you name it and it's on Pinterest. 

Before making my Pinterest account, my fiancé and I had talked very much about having an extremely small wedding on a remote island in the Caribbean. Afterwards, we would come home and have a larger reception where we'd get together with all of our other friends and family to celebrate. This way we wouldn't be getting sucked into all the 'have to dos' of the wedding world and would have plenty of money left over for buying a real house after our honeymoon. This is where my inner turmoil sets in and where I blame Pinterest.

After looking at tons of pictures of wedding ideas, green receptions, DIY (do it yourself) themes, outside wedding setups and dresses I now am having a very hard time with my decision. My wedding, as of today, is still 460 days away but I have a lot on my mind and now a million more ideas than before to consider and talk about with my fiancé. 

Through Pinterest, I have discovered I have a trend in my wedding taste. After looking at all the pictures I've pinned to my album Wedding: Thoughts & Inspiration, I have made some very clear judgements about my style. I love peacock related cakes, dresses and shoes. The color scheme that goes with the peacock feathers encompasses all my favorite colors (blues, blacks, greens and purples) and would make a vibrantly colored reception. I want color on my dress (I think black) and I want some sort of colored piece of jewelry in my hair. I want a low cut dress that is sleek and flows out at the bottom but with no train. I don't like veils or fake fingernails. Lastly, my accenting jewelry will have color on it, probably blue or green or maybe even both. 

Viewing all these pictures has also made me think I want people to be there to watch me get married, which means a more expensive local wedding. I am going to look fabulous after all, why not have everyone else see me at my best? Hell, I have even concerned inviting the people I don't like to have them be jealous of how beautiful my special day is. It is worrisome, however, that getting married in your own state costs at least double that getting married in Barbados. Who would have ever thought...and thank you Pinterest for making me seriously ponder these ideas. 

So, like I said before, I blame Pinterest, in the nicest way possible, for scrambling my wedding ideas and making me re-question my entire wedding planning process. I am now addicted to your photographic pin board of lovely wedding ideas and home options for after I move back to the United States in a month.

A peacock inspired hair piece. How can you
not love this?

One of the beautiful peacock related cakes
 I found on Pinterest.

You Know You're an American in Ireland If...

After living in Ireland for three months I've decided it's pretty obvious I'm not from Dublin or anywhere in this country. Here are my top 21 observations that have led me to this conclusion. 

1. I don't smoke
2. I wear flip-flops
3. I come to class on time
4. I wear a jacket when it's 40 degrees and colder
5. I don't know where every pub is in the country
6. I think the Spire is pretty
7. I don't wear work man boots with skinny jeans or leggings 
8. I wear pants instead of skirts or shorts when it's below 50 degrees
9. I wear shorts that cover my ass cheeks and don't go up my crack
10. I don't wear leggings or tights under every outfit 
11. I wear make-up
12. I don't wear my hair in a bun on the top of my head
13. I don't own any over sized grandma sweaters
14. I don't gob on lipstick 
15. I own jeans
16. I have no idea what the 'DAA' is 
17. My hair is dyed blond not a variation of red, orange or purple 
18. I don't wear heels to class
19. I don't wear lingerie with converse high tops when I go out 
20. Upon arrival, I had no idea the saying 'lets have some craic' had nothing to do with getting high
21. I do not think wearing vertically striped jester looking pants is okay

My New Dislike for Tesco of Ireland

Today, shopping at Tesco was a disaster. Let me just start off by saying, my roommate and I have been shopping at Tesco one to two times a week since we moved to Dublin, Ireland on February 1, 2012. We have NEVER had anything like this happen before today, even though, it is apparently "policy". Our whole shopping excursion was going great until we got to the check out lane. My roommate picked up a bottle of wine while shopping and since it was in the top of her bag, it was the first thing to get put on the check out conveyor. As she continued to put her other groceries on the conveyor the woman just stared at her instead of starting the transaction. I should have known this was a bad sign, seeing as there were people behind both of us in line.

The checkout woman, Yvonne, asked my roommate for her ID. This was a first for either of us at Tesco. We are 21 and 22. In Ireland the drinking age is 18 and believe me, neither of us looks younger than 18. My roommate provided her drivers license which Yvonne told her was not acceptable. She offered to provide her visa card which we got when we moved to Dublin, which was also not acceptable. Apparently, we were expected to carry our passports around with us in order to buy alcohol. Of course, we didn't do this because, like responsible American college students, we leave them locked in our flat so we don't lose them or have them stolen. 

Yvonne then told Kelsey she was absolutely not allowed to purchase the alcohol. To the two of us, this was completely ridiculous seeing as we have bought lots of wine from Tesco and never had any issues. The real kicker was, Yvonne actually told us, 'you look over than 18 but not 25'. Apparently the Tesco chain has a rule if the purchaser doesn't look over 25 you must ask for ID. I don't understand why when you say we look OLDER than 18 (the actual age to purchase alcohol) it has to become an issue OR why we'd never been questioned before. To put her rudeness into perspective, my roommate and I have not met another person disrespectfully rude since we've moved to Ireland in the last three months. So of course, Kelsey asked to speak to a manager. 

The woman who Yvonne provided as the 'manager' did not have a 'manager' tag on her name badge and was as equally as rude as Yvonne was. She informed us that we would have never been able to purchase alcohol without our passports at the Santry Tesco. Naturally, we told her we've been doing it since February which she informed us DID NOT happened. Okay lady, what ever helps you sleep at night. After being graced by this so called manager, since neither of us had our passports, the wine was taken away from us (literally). At this time, my roommate produced her credit card to pay for the rest of her food. Let me point out, this is the same credit card she has used EVERY time we've shopped at Tesco, once a week, since February. 

Yvonne took one look at the card and said 'we don't take those here'...what??! She told us because the card said 'ask for ID' on the back instead of having a signature the store would not accept the card. Ha, really? Kelsey immediately pulled out every form of identification she had on her but none of them were good enough for this control freak, Tesco employee. Yvonne said no one would accept those at Tesco, however, very clearly everyone else but Yvonne accepts this card at Tesco. Luckily, Kelsey had enough cash on her to pay for the rest of her groceries.

After leaving, we were so upset by how she treated us we decided to contact the Tesco headquarters and make a formal complaint. In America, someone would easily get fired for the way Yvonne treated the two of us. Our formal complaint resulted in a 5€ (about $6.60) gift card for each of us as an apology for Tesco's lack of company wide policy enforcement and customer mistreatment. I think we were worth at lest 20€ but hey, apparently we're not that valued in this country. 

The apology letter Tesco sent me with a 5 euro gift card. 

Where Did My Tuition Go?

You'd think with a library this big they'd have enough computers for students...WRONG.

Today is the 18th of April. It is a Wednesday and five weeks before exams start. Apparently at Dublin City University (DCU) April is known as 'hell month' for the large amounts of papers and projects that are expected to be turned in at the end of April.

After my last Global Communications seminar I headed over to the library to print off boarding passes for my upcoming trips to Germany and Poland. I had also emailed myself the final copy of my Global Communications paper so I could turn it in and cross it off my list.

This is where my day became unproductive. Upon entering the library and scanning the computer area on the first floor I saw many computers with students sitting at them. I also saw many computers with no students sitting at them. However, those computers had Websites up like Facebook or book bags and food 'saving their spots'. This was annoying because it meant I needed to go to the second floor to try to print the things I needed.

Please keep in mind, the last time I needed to print something on the second floor it took 55 minutes to print 1 sheet of paper. The quality of the computers are so low (yes, they are PCs) and everything takes forever to open and load ONLY to freak out on itself, freezing and close again. So here I am going up to the second floor to find the same situation with computers. So, I make the executive decision to try the third and final floor of our wonderful campus library.

The third floor brought false hope. There were open computers with nothing saving the cubicles but those computers were broken or wouldn't let students log into them. On the way back down to the first floor me and my other roommate from the United States asked some Irish boys sitting at the 'Help & Information Desk' if there was any computers in the whole library that were strictly for printing. The answer was of course, no.

I ended up leaving the library in disbelief and disappointment with this school because they obviously don't know what to spend their students tuition money on. Maybe they should invest in a 'take a number' system. I would have personally been willing to throw the Facebookers off & clear the food saved seats for other students who actually need the computers, like myself.

I am really hoping the next time I go to the library on campus and TRY to print my assignment that I am able or I might throw a fit. What if I'd NEEDED my boarding pass because I was flying out later in the afternoon or NEEDED to print my assignment because it was due in a few hours. I am sorry my fellow students of DCU. I am pretty sure I need to use that computer more than your sandwich & crisps do. 

Things I've Come to Miss About the USA

1. Having One Faucet. This makes it possible to have hot, cold or WARM water. I hate having only scalding hot water to wash my face at night or to do dish with. It hurts my skin. 
2. Having Hot Showers in Hotels. It seems to be a gamble anywhere I've been in Europe and the UK if I will or won't have a hot shower from the start or even half way through. 
3. Continental Breakfasts. This seems to be a nearly nonexistent feature in Europe. However, there was one hostel in Belfast, Ireland that made you eggs, bacon, beans and toast for breakfast. They get 2 thumbs up. 
4. Getting to Talk to People in Real Time. Being six hours ahead of Wisconsin makes it very hard to talk to anyone for long periods of time, let alone at all some days. 
5. My Cats. Once you get used to waking up with your legs asleep from them sleeping on you, you will understand. 
6. Driving. It's been weird having to try to remember which side of the road cars will be coming from when I travel. I can't even imagine how stressful it may be to drive again after four months. 
7. Buffalo Wild Wings. I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory. If you have ever eaten here you should understand. 
8. Cooking Meals. The kitchen I share here with 3 other people (really only like 2 because my American flat mate doesn't spend time in there either) makes it impossible to do anything. The girls from Spain leave their dirty dishes all over the counter, in front of the microwave and in the sink. They leave oil in a bowl next to the stove and don't clean the stove when they spill the oil all over it. It is nearly impossible to do anything but use the microwave and my one shelf in the fridge which is only a 4.2 cubic fridge in the first place. They also never take out the trash so the kitchen smells awful. (see pictures below)
9. Talking to People on the Phone. I feel like the first time I go to class someone it's going to be so bizarre, my head may explode. Skype is my only form of communication now days. 
10. Real Dishes. The first week I was here I bought a set of plastic silver wear, dishes, cups and bowls that little kids would use. I miss using forks that poke lettuce and knives that cut food instead of just moving it around the plate. 
11. My Closet. Its hard to go somewhere and look 'nice' when you're entire wardrobe for 4 months and every weather option possible (and yes I have seen rain, snow, hail, sunshine all in one day in about an hour) all needs to fit into one suitcase. 
12. Getting Mail. I don't even get bills or junk mail here. It's depressing.
13. Squirrels. I think they're extinct here. Seriously. All I have seen is murderous, large, ugly birds.

The stove which never gets cleaned






The garbage in the kitchen, which my
roommates never take out even though
99% of it is theirs.



Our sink which is always full of their
dishes so I can't clean mine.