You are not going to believe what I'm about to tell you.

Are you ready for this? Hold on to your butts, folks, because your entire world is about to get flip-turned upside down.

I am the least messy person living in my apartment right now.

I know.

Take another deep breath.

This is not to slight my roommates in any way -- we'll get to explaining them in a minute. It's just that I'm the most recent move-in, and a combination of circumstances has landed us here: I'm the least messy person living in this apartment right now. I'M the least messy. I'm the LEAST MESSY.

I know. Weird.

So basically my room is so small that there's no ROOM for me to be messy. It's really very irritating, because I've generally always lived in places where I could make a mess, but at least have a path from the door to the bed to wade through. Here, though, not possible. There is only one chunk of floor, and it IS the path from the door to the bed.
What I'm saying here is that I'm being forced against my will to be clean. It physically pains me to put my clothes in the laundry hamper when I'm done with them, but I'm doing it.

Also, ever since I lived in a house with 15 other people and shared a kitchen with 8 of them, I've realized that I've become one of those people who actually washes their dishes immediately after using them. It makes me sad just thinking about it: I used to MOCK those people. Those people were never the kind of people I wanted to be! I had dreams, I had goals, I had aspirations. But now, I just have clean dishes. Ugh. I've become one of those dads who used to say he would never drive a minivan but once the kid was born faces a life in the mom-mobile.

Tragic, I know.

Anyways, I have an apartment, which is the real news here. I'm living in Louvain-la-Neuve, which is the town where my university is located. It is SERIOUSLY a university town -- on the weekends, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) goes home to do their laundry and mooch of of their parents (because nothing is too far from anything else in Belgium), so it's a big change from living in Dublin, for sure.

Anyways, that's my update for this week. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures. :)

This is the view from one of the big squares down on the city.

This is La Grand Place in Brussels, which is like the big touristy-square with really cool, gothic-y looking buildings. I'd give you more information but I'm not an architect. 

In which Stephanie learns to let go (...or tries, anyway).

When I moved to Dublin, the light in the bathroom flickered on and off like a strobe light for the whole first weekend.
This was the worst thing that happened to me in the first few weeks after I left the US: it's a pain in the ass to shower in a rave, but it's done easily enough.

When I moved to Dublin, I was absolutely terrified. Well, I would say less than terrified now. I was excited-with-an-edge-of-panic. (All of my best and worst moments are tinged with a bit of panic, I think. Usually because either something horrible is happening or because I'm pretty sure it's about to.) So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was the worst thing to happen to me at the time (all bed bug jokes aside).

And now, a week and five months later, I'm leaving Dublin. I'm packing (and by "packing" I mean "doing laundry and I have an empty suitcase lying open on the floor") up and getting ready to go. The exams have all been taken, the papers have all (mostly... still got one left. But it's due on January 31st, so why not wait till then?) been written, the bars have all been visited.

I'm flying to Brussels on Friday. I get in at 3-something in the afternoon. And once that plane lands, that's pretty much where the plan ends. So if you think I was afraid on my trip to Dublin... this is like a whole new level of panic.
My program has been less-than-helpful in the apartment hunt (actually, the program in Belgium has been entirely less than helpful in all aspects, but that's a whole different blog post), and when I thought I'd found a place it turned out to be a scam.
Cue Stephanie freaking out.

I am extremely Type A. I'm a planner -- I like to know things, and I like to plan for things. (My penchant for preparation is based on a long history of being a complete disaster.) So this whole not-having-a-plan thing kind of makes my little Type A heart have palpitations.

But then in a conversation with a certain adult-y figure in my life who I had previously assumed had no wiseness in his life whatsoever (three guesses who that person is), I was reminded that the whole point of doing this was to get out of comfort zone (Also, you know, to learn. But whatever). And he's kind-of-sort-of not wrong. The point of moving was to get new experiences (although excuse me if I'd prefer that those experiences occur without the presence of bed bugs). Having everything prepared ahead of time may take away worries, but it keeps me in my comfort zone. And, especially after this recent apartment scam, I know that I want to be in the country to actually check the place out before I sign any contracts or put down any deposits.

Anyways this is all a long-winded, Stephanie-way of saying that I'm basically going to go with it. I have a few options for a place to stay in Brussels (couchsurfing with friends of friends or strangers). And it'll all work itself out eventually either way. So even if I have to sleep in an airport, it's not like I haven't done that before, right? :)
Besides, those are the kinds of things that make the best stories.

So keep your eyes on this blog, because this time when I say I'm going on an adventure, I'm actually going on an adventure. Maybe not a Hobbit-y adventure, but hopefully one with some pretty good stories.

This is our last goodbye from Ireland, y'all. See you on the other side. :)

Now we're getting to crunch time

Hello friends and family!

So many of you have been asking whether I actually go to classes. The answer to that is YES. We just finished our last day of classes on Friday -- which didn't really count as "class" because we did Geopolitics presentations that are worth 30% of our grade. Basically, we each got assigned a continent and we had to talk about the geopolitical issues of that continent, whether natural or man-made. I was in the group that did Australia and New Zealand, and while they aren't really a hotbed of civil war or war of any kind, really, right now, they do have a TON of natural hazards and disasters. Um, did anyone else know that New Zealand gets upwards of 20,000 earthquakes a YEAR?
Granted, most of those are less than a 3.0 on the Richter scale, but still. TWENTY THOUSAND. That's like more than 50 earthquakes A DAY.

Anyways, so now I know a bunch about natural disasters in New Zealand and Australia. Because it's not enough that all the animals in Australia want to kill people, so does NATURE.


In answer to your question, yes I do actually go to classes. Or, I did when we were still having them. The next two weeks are our exam weeks. We have two exams a week and studying for them is really doing a number on my brain. Each professor gave us a list of 10-15 essay questions; they'll pick 8 of those to put on the exam, and we get to pick any 4 of those 8 to answer in two hours.

It's not super complicated, it's just a matter of there being SO MUCH INFORMATION. So a few of us have banded together to split up the research for the questions, creating a big pool of information for two of the classes (Geopolitics and Management). These two exams will be the hardest, I think, so the studying has been under way for a while now.

Other than that, we're just wrapping stuff up here. I've been listening to Christmas music obsessively, since I didn't have Thanksgiving here (which was weird, actually). It's kind of motivating and at the same time the only thing I want to do is watch Christmas movies.

I'm done with exams and stuff on December 11th, and I'll be home the night of the 16th. So get excited, y'all -- I'm coming home!! Miss you all and can't wait to see you! (And Happy Birthday again, Aunt Jan!)

Went to Scotland aaaandd...

It turns out I am SUPER allergic to bed bugs.

Scotland was beautiful. Well, we were in Edinburgh specifically. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous, sunny (and FREEZING) and perfect for wandering around the Christmas markets that opened this past weekend. And my friends and I took a tour to Stirling Castle and Loch Loman, which was GORRRRGEOUS.

But the problems began later that evening. At first I just thought I'd been bitten by some mosquitos or something. Then I heard about highland midges, which are like our noseeums and apparently lots of people have bad reactions to them.

THEN THE BADNESS HAPPENED.

I was pretty itchy on Saturday, and I noticed that some of the bites on my ankle were really red. Wore some boots to the Scotland vs. Australia rugby match (Also, I know that it sounds like all I do is go to rugby matches and travel. NOT the case.) because it was suuuper cold out, and then when we got back to the hostel to get ready to go out I noticed that I had a blister on the back of my leg. Gross, but not a big deal.

WRONG. 

We went out on the town and got back around 4 am. At around this point, I went to change into my pajamas and realized that the blister was LITERALLY (and NO, for once in my life, this is NOT an exaggeration. I know I am prone to them but if you want I can show you photographic evidence) the size of a golf ball on the back of my leg.

Luckily, one of the friends who was with me is a nurse (shoutout to Rosie, for being a lifesaver) and she handled the situation.

Oh but it gets so much worse before it gets better (I'm still not really at the getting better part). 

So now all of these bites that I have are starting to blister. None of them are as bad as the one on my foot (although my ankle is still so swollen that it's twice the size of the other one), but I look kind of like I have leprosy. So there's that. And I'm itchy like I have the chicken pox except that apparently scratching makes the ones that aren't that bad much much worse. So I'm kind of just writhing around trying not to touch anything.

And I have to go see a doctor to make sure that I don't have/get an infection. FUN FUN.

2013 has been crap, basically.

Other than that, Edinburgh was lovely. I didn't get to climb Arthur's Seat because my foot was too swollen to walk around much/the bug bites on my feet itch every time I put on shoes. But we went up to the castle on the hill in the city, went to the cafe where JK Rowling wrote parts of Harry Potter (!!!!!), saw some dude with an owl in the street (he OBVIOUSLY isn't following the Ministry of Magic's decrees about showing off pets to Muggles), watched the Christmas light show, rode in the ferris wheel at the Christmas markets, DIDN'T EAT ANY HAGGIS, learned that Band-Aids are called "plasters" in Ireland and Scotland, met some cool Scottish people, and saw some highland cattle.

In conclusion, Scotland was wonderful but bed bugs are THE DEVIL.

Connemara! (But still no dragons)

It has been far too long since I last updated my blog, so here you go!

Yesterday I went to Connemara, which is a beauuuuutiful stretch of mountains and hills in County Galway, with two Canadian friends and two Irish friends. Connemara's pretty remote, for Ireland -- about 1.5 hours away from the city of Galway -- and although there are houses in the area, we actually saw more sheep than people. And according to one of my Irish friends (although I can't remember which at the moment), people out there still use DIAL-UP TO GET ON THE INTERNET.
Seriously. Talk about dark ages.

Anyways, I go some incredible pictures. We went to the Connemara National Park, which was GORGEOUS. It was so bizarre to be in a place without power lines! We hiked most of the way up a mountain (I say most of the way because we kept getting to points that we thought were the top and then we'd look up and realize the path kept going up. So we finally decided that NOPE we'd done enough hiking). Here's a shot:

That was absolutely LOVELY. However, it wouldn't be a day in the life without some mishaps. Don't worry! The adventures keep coming. 

Long story short, we had some car trouble on the drive back to Dublin. As soon as we got back on the highway, my friend's car started making a loud beeping noise: the parking brake alarm wouldn't stop going off. So we pulled over to check that out, and even when she turned the car off and back on again, it just stayed on. 

Obviously, the next step is to call an adult. Her dad met us out on the highway to save the day -- turned out the car was out of brake fluid! -- and we eventually got back on the road (with a few minor bumps, bruises, and laughs along the way) and made it back to Dublin.

I've posted a bunch of pictures on facebook -- although not even half of the ones I'd taken because there are a lot of pictures of just mountains and then I was sweaty from hiking and you don't want to see any of THOSE, let me tell you. Anyways, check out facebook for more pictures. And I'll try to get better at updating.

Love you all!

-Stephanie

Homesickness is starting to kick in, guys.

This is not a drill. You read that right. I repeat, homesickness is starting to kick in. This is not a drill.

Ha okay, so it's really not that serious. And it's nowhere near as serious as my homesickness was in France. It's just that it rains like 300% of the time and while that was cute and romantic at the beginning (because EVERYTHING was cute and romantic at the beginning of moving to Ireland. Even stepping in dog poop. Even getting locked out of my house at 4:30 in the morning.), it's starting to get a little annoying now.

Especially because the only thing I forgot to pack was my raincoat. So I am currently raincoatless. And for those of you who will ask (because I know you will, because everyone has asked me) why I haven't bought a new one, the answer is simple: because I spent like $55 on the one I have at home and I don't WANT to  find another one. I want mine. (PS Mom could you please send that soon? xxx)

Anyways, in other news, I'm writing this update to let you all know that I miss you. I am officially coming home for Christmas (cue the song...) and it's made me start thinking ahead to all of the things I'm excited for at home. Mostly actual Mexican food and the JICP Christmas lights show. Yes, I am aware that it's October and that even if I was home I wouldn't be able to go. I don't care.

That is the major downfall to living in Ireland (other than the rain thing... which I knew going into it so there's really no excuse): the complete and utter lack of good Mexican food. I could really go for some La Ha right about now.

BUT that's enough whining. And since I haven't actually talked about the classes and the studying that I'm really here for, here's your chance to learn all about the things you don't care about.
Just kidding. I'm too lazy to tell you everything on my blog. Suffice it to say that this program is really exactly what I wanted to be getting out of a Master's degree. I'm taking Public Health, Management, Anthropology, and Geopolitics this semester, and learning a lot more than I willingly would have at any other stage in my life. Geopolitics is proooobably my favorite class (I like to argue; what can I say?) but it is a little uncomfortable for me at times, being the only American in the room. Even the Canadians are like, "Hey, we may be close but at least we're not America."

SPEAKING OF WHICH (and in case you were looking for a logical thread in this blog update, sorry to disappoint but have you met me?), AMERICA, WHAT IS GOING ON?
Could you all try to keep it together over there? I realize that you're upset that I'm gone but SERIOUSLY, GUYS, you didn't have to shut down the government in protest! It's making it much easier for everyone over here to make fun of me... and I didn't really need much help with that.

Well, this has been a big pile of Stephanie's thoughts with no discernible connection. I'd better leave it before you all start to understand what I'm talking about.
And COMMENT, people! I can't tell who's been here and who's reading this. Hopefully you're not all random internet stalkers. :)

Today was probably the greatest day in the history of days, ever.

And I am going to be ridiculously sore tomorrow. I only have one thing to say: the people who participate in the Tour de France are IDIOTS.

Today, my friend Sophia and I took a bus to Galway, where we rented bikes and rode around the Galway Bay area for a few hours. We took some awesome pictures, got plenty of sun (is this even IRELAND? THE SUN WAS OUT, PEOPLE.), and had a really, really ridiculously good time. Like, the kind of adventure that you see in movies. Only without the camera crews. THAT kind.

Here's some photo evidence (and yep, these are all already up on facebook):

So you know how in movies you think that they dramatize how green everything is here? IT'S ALL TRUE. EVERYTHING IS SO GREEN. This is grass that I am actually willing to get dirty just to lie in it. 

Anyways, we spent like 4 hours biking around and I'm already sore. Can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow! 

GUYS. It's like all my dreams are coming true!!