Last night I went out to the student bar for the first time. It is also known as the “forum”. Notably it is a bar, not a pub, perhaps because the inside is commodious and not at all homey. It sort of looked like a dive bar to me! We did discuss forum-appropriate topics: politics came up a fair amount. Especially of the American variety. All the Irish students seem to care more about American politics than all Americans..

I also attended the “international students tea/coffee”. I hardly got any tea, and only one person showed up in my “buddy group.” But, I crashed a couple other groups and had a wonderful time. Met two french boys with ze vurst axcents aye hav evar herd. They were my height, and had to leaf urly for ze rugby! Too bad. Apparently they like Americans after all, so much for stereotypes. We all moved on fairly quickly to the bar, where I saw a bunch of EAP students for the first time since our orientation session in Edinburgh. AND, I had had my first pint of Foster’s, which to my undiscerning tastebuds tasted good.

Cooking here has been really fantastic. I’ve been cooking full meals for myself every night, and for the most part, they’ve been turning out well thanks to all the training I’ve been getting in the co-ops! What is disappointing, however, is that I haven’t been baking. It is VERY disappointing especially after this summer and the recipe book I compiled. I’m not baking because I don’t have any baking tins. I shouldn’t let that hold me back!

This weekend I must do laundry, only have 5 days of clothing left. Well, 5 socks. I could last a little longer if it were anything but the socks. Speaking of cold, the apartment below us hasn’t had any hot water in a week. They have been coming up to use our shower; our bath mats haven’t had a chance to dry out and it’s DISGUSTING. By the time I actually got to take my turn at the shower today, there was no hot water left…

Other exchange students keep wondering why I would want to come here from California. I still don’t have a good response. It doesn’t help that I’m not enjoying the class work very much and the library is far more restrictive than I’m used to. You can only check out 10 books out at a time, and 2 of which are due within 48 hours! I’ve only made a couple friends and most people here seem interested in doing the same things American college students like to do.