Kelsea in the UK: No Longer Kelsea in the UK...

I'm waaay over-due for a name change, Monday marked the end of my first month living in Ireland. I've gotten all settled in with my new host family and have had my hands full watching their four lovely little girls, Cassidy (9), Elora (7), Jenna (4) and Odessa (2). I'm staying with the family on their farm in County Galway, complete with cows, narrow winding roads, and rolling hills greener than anything I've ever seen- it's unreal. The nearest town, Athenry, is a 10 minute drive (I've been driving...on the left!), and has a population of something like 3,000 so this is definitely different for me. Luckily we're also a short drive/train ride from Galway, one of the biggest cities in Ireland, where there's lots of shopping, clubs, cinemas and even a small airport so I'm not totally cut-off from civilization. (The red marker is Athenry:)

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Regardless of where it is I'm living, I'm so happy just to be over here. When I was 13 I read Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes telling about his childhood in Limerick in the 1930s and 40s and I absolutely fell in love with the idea of Ireland; I definitely never thought I'd end up here someday. So far it's been everything I expected: endless rain, charming (hard to understand) accents, cozy little pubs, a general dislike for the English, and lots of Catholicism, potatoes, and Guiness. Here's a few things I didn't expect:

1. The island is ITTY BITTY: I knew it wasn't massive or anything but just to give you an idea, the state of Kansas is a little over 82,000 sq mi and the entire island of Ireland is just over 31,000 sq mi. The drive from Galway to Dublin, west coast to east coast, is 130 miles!

2. The official language isn't English: I had an idea that they spoke Irish (no, not Gaelic) in some places here but its actually a really big part of their culture. Pretty much any signs in a public area (street signs, signs for bathrooms, etc.) will be in Irish first with English below it. The first time I heard it spoken was over the loudspeaker on the train from Dublin to Athenry on my first day here and I must've pulled the weirdest face- I swear it sounds like they're talking backwards. The best is watching cartoons like Spongebob Square Pants with Irish voice-overs on the Irish channel...hilarious.

3. They absolutely LOVE American county-western music: They even have a country radio station! The amount of Garth Brooks on the pub juke boxes around here is enough to make you think you're in Texas, but at least they understand my love for Johnny Cash...

Since my last update I've gone on some lovely trips...June was so amazing for travel. Here's some pictures of Portugal and Italy, and of course some pictures from my first month here. Since my laptop is broken I can't make them look super pretty like I used to but its betta' than nothin':

This is right across the road from the house, the cows are always making the weirdest noises! Maybe they're speaking Irish...

Moooooo

Galway bay and the Atlantic

Galway, Saturday afternoon shopping

A good depiction of a Saturday night at one of the Pubs in Athenry...hehe. The girl to the left of me is my neighbor Paula, she's been my buddy since my first night here and is really good about giving me the low-down on everything and introducing me to people.