singing. also, chilli.

So I did something that scared the crap out of me today: I auditioned for the musical here on campus. It's "The Wedding Singer", a.k.a. my favorite movie of all time.  I've been debating trying out since last week or the week before, when I found out that's what the Musical Society was doing this season, but I just wasn't sure; Caitlin, Katelyn, Ellie and Talia really encouraged me though, so I went.  And to be honest, I'm really glad I did!  There were about 200 people auditioning, so I doubt I'll even get a callback, but regardless, it was fun to sing and dance for an hour and a half.  I did a scene where I was Julia's mom, Angie, and it was a total blast. I sang "Float On", by Modest Mouse because I couldn't think of anything else to sing, in all actuality.  Then we waited in this hot hallway for about fifteen minutes before we went into this REALLY hot room where we danced for about forty or forty-five minutes. I was really dreading it, given my propensity for tripping over my own feet but it actually went really well.  The dance was simple, but a lot of fun and very stereotypically ''musical", with the big hands and everything.  I felt okay with it, and when the choreographer was handing back our sheets he told me I did a "great job" and wasn't saying it to everyone, so I'm hoping that bodes well. 
It was super sketch walking back, so I tried to look very purposeful and not totally freaked to be walking home by myself in the dark with a dead cell phone.  It was SUCH a relief to get back to my apartment and start chopping veggies for chilli, which I made tonight. I used two sauces, tomato/chiles and sweet onion/rosemary and then browned about a pound or maybe 3/4 pound of this fantastic beef I got at the market and added a can of corn, two red peppers, six beefsteak tomatoes, half a head of broccoli, about 2 cups of golden raisins, three shallots, a handful of sweet basil and about a handful of thyme, and salt and pepper.  It was mind-blowingly good.  I still have tons left, which is of course the point to making chillies and casseroles and soups, and the like.
Two big accomplishments today :)

week three

I finally got my class schedule set in stone this week--FINALLY! I'm taking:

Literature and Culture: Romanticism
Victorian Literature--The Bronte Sisters
Modernism/Postmodernism
Studies in Renaissance Literature
Stories of Medieval Wales
Irish for Beginners

which seems like a fairly good schedule to me.
This week's been pretty intense, as far as taking care of important schoolish stuff goes, but that was thankfully remedied by piles of time spent with my favorite people here, as well as with "Friends" and Uno.
I think I'm finally getting a rhythm to this place, and to my schedule in general. I have all my books for classes, I have some jeggings, and I have a container of instant coffee.  I think I'm ready to handle week four.

two weeks in

So I thought it'd be best to start posting one of these, as I don't get much of a chance to talk to people back home with my crap pre-paid phone.
I arrived in Dublin two weeks ago, and at first was slightly disappointed.  We drove through this construction area that was totally tragic and awful looking, and I wasn't really talking to anyone yet.  Then I saw the bridges and the river and it totally changed; it became somehow lovely. 
The hostel wasn't too bad.  I was in a room with five other girls which was very cramped, but the place was pretty clean and I didn't leave anything there (knock on wood.).  I had a chance to explore Dublin, and I did some.  We went to Temple Bar (the neighborhood) quite a bit.  The people in the Arcadia group all seemed very nice, and I met Maggie on the tour bus on Monday, which was wonderful to the extreme.  Then I met up with Hallie, Ellie, Talia and Katelyn who Maggie'd been hanging with and found my niche, fortunately.  We saw a deeply depressing play, The Plough and the Stars.
The ride to Galway was fantastic and gorgeous and deeply green.
I got to Galway and met Bridget, my roommate, who is perfectly lovely.  Maggie left for the Burren and Caitlin joined the gang.  We went to more orientation, explored Galway some and it is fantastic, utterly fantastic. Linda moved in later in the week and is perfectly nice as well.
Classes seem fine-ish.  I'll be glad to be on a regular schedule starting next week.
This weekend was spent on homestay in Tuam (pronounced chume) with a wonderful family--Leigh and John, and their children Paddy and Eilidh (whose name I totally fell in love with).  They made me feel so welcome, something I need being so far from my own siblings and parents. They took Liz and me to the ocean and to a mountain.  It was my first time at the sea, and I fell in love with it completely; also my first time at a mountain, and it was equally incredible.
That's really the best part of this trip so far.  I understand the "homeland" and "roots" thing now--my feet feel comfortable walking here. I don't have a shell-shocked feeling at all: I feel at home.  It's as if there was some part of me that always knew that I belonged by the sea and the mountains and the grass; it was just an inkling in the States, but here, this past weekend, it burst open. The breeze coming off the Atlantic made me feel fresh and prickly, in the best way; on the mountain today, I just wanted to run and climb and let the mist cling to me--it was extraordinary.  The blackberries we picked tasted sweeter than any I've ever had.  I get "roots" now, I think.
Excluding the sense of a homeland that feels, logically, too far removed to be real, the other best thing here has been the quick and amazing friendships.  I've really bonded with this group of girls--Caitlin, Ellie, Katelyn, Talia and Hallie--and it's just really nice to have a group again, something I've been missing since high school, when my formerly large group condensed basically to just me, Austin and Des. 
I miss everyone at home, and will try to update this as much as I can think of (within reason) so that both home and I can feel connected.