Today I went into the city for no real reason -- I just wanted to wander. I never made it past O'Connell street. In the back of my mind, I knew the real reason I went down there was to shop at Penneys. I discovered the wonders of Penneys in Galway when I bought a new outfit for not much money.

Penneys in Dublin is a different experience than Penneys in Galway. Perhaps it could be due to the fact that its almost tourist season, but almost every person who I walked past or overheard, were not speaking english. Or Irish. Most of the people were from the east -- Eastern Europe, Asia, etc. It's a good test-case for just how multi-ethnic Ireland has become since opening its job market to the East.

Also, I love Ireland. I'm really going to miss it when I return home.

Click the above image for more photos from my trip to West Ireland.

This weekend in Galway was a crazy one indeed. Tons of photos were taken, plenty of good times were had, and more than a few pints drank.

Photos forthcoming!

Click on the image for more photos from this past weekend.

Today was the first day of my internship with NewsTalk 106. Overall I think it went pretty well. My tasks are fairly simple, so it won't be an overly stressful position.

As part of my job, I answer the phone in the studio while the show is on air. What happens is a topic is chosen for discussion, typically gleaned from the day's headlines. From there, the host of the show has on between two and four guests to discuss the topic. One of today's topics was on workplace bullying.

And it was quite a lively topic.

Over the course of the show, I had a number of people call in to comment on the topic. Among them were:

- A man who claims workplace bullying gave him cancer

- A woman who is being bullied by her pastor

- A woman who was aparently bullied so bad she had to take leave from work

- A man who claimed to have been bullied by his mother, causing emotional distress

I was told early on that I would encounter a number of strange people and that in doing so, I should not feel bad about cutting the conversation short if what they are saying doesn't contribute to the topic in a constructive manner.

I suspect this internship will be both fun and educational.

Click on the image to view the rest of the photos.

I just booked my flights and my hostel for a 5 day stay in Brussels, during which time I will be seeing Belle & Sebastian. I'm going alone, due to a general lack of interest on the part of everyone I'm here with. Perhaps it's for the better. This way, I'll be able to do all of the things I want to do, when I want to do them.

As some of you may already know, this afternoon there was a riot in Dublin city center.

I was nowhere near the scene, so I had to keep up via the radio and what I could scrape together online, but it seems to have been a pretty incredible event. I wrote a column about the riot and the events surrounding the riot for CM-Life. With any luck, they'll publish it in Monday's paper.

Nothing much else to report at the moment. I should find out on Monday what my internship schedule is, and now that I have my class schedule finalized, I'll be able to settle into a bit of a routiene for the remainder of the semester.

At the momemt, most of my newly aquired Irish friends are all from the campus newspaper College View. It works a lot like CM-Life in that at any given time during the day, there's someone in the office to chat with.

That's all I've got. More next time. Promise :-)

I recieved word tonight that the column that I submitted to my school paper at home will be running tomrorow. The Editor-in-Chief liked it a lot, and aparently wants more.

Also, earlier in the week I learned that I have been offered an internship at NewsTalk 106 in downtown Dublin.

Now all that's left is to find out if I got the internship at The Oakland Press. I don't expect to hear about that until at least April, though.

Cross your fingers for me!

So far things have gone rather smoothly. I've been having some trouble befriending people who aren't Americans (no offense to them, but I would also like some Irish friends as well). I find that I've sort of become the black sheep of the group. Much like life at home, I'm not usually the one interested in all-night pub-a-thons like most of those I am here with. It's just not my scene.

I had a conversation with my mother yesterday about trips -- I wanted to spend the first weekend in March in Paris. She asked who would be coming with me, to which I replied that no one at the moment would be with me. That struck her has odd. I suppose it is odd, though my reasons for going to Paris are to do things that I would like to do. The same could be said for Amsterdam, which to no-one's surprise was a top priority locale to spend a weekend. Personally, I'd love to visit Amsterdam, however I'm not sure our motivations would be quite the same.

I'm not being anti-social; I'm making a conscious effort to avoid being something I am not. I'm sure I'll make trips on my own, though I don't know when or where. Two locations I am planning on visiting during my time in Europe is Geneva and Brussels. At last I heard, neither of those cities were at the top of anyone's to-go list.

Last night I attended a debate on campus, directed by The European Movement: Ireland, a sort of informational session for those interested in learning more about the EU. I found it very interesting, as I'd never been a part of a debate where the European Union was the subject being discussed. The proposition being argued was that the European Union is big enough; that before more countries are allowed to join, the Union should first reign in its current members. One of the speakers was the Polish ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador Witold Sobkow.

The resolution was soundly defeated, with all audience members except one voting against it.

Tonight is a concert by Rodrigo y Gabriela. I hadn't planned on attending, but after a trip to their website and viewing a video of a live performance, I was intrigued enough to buy a ticket.

A brief explanation of their sound:

As an upbeat, ultra-accessible alternative, Rodrigo and Gabriela play a melodious riff-based sound influenced by the lamentations of southern Spain but not restricted to - or really rooted in - them. Instead, they aim to entertain, delight and make feet tap. Like the music of virtuoso guitar giants José Feliciano and Paco de Lucia, this is picking for performance, with some impressive, impossibly fast fretwork and lots of mutual, competitive emoting. Their live show went down a storm at WOMAD this year and the hooks are as addictive as they are seductive - R&G appeal way beyond the usual World Music specialist circuit.

Tomorrow is yet another concert, by the Dublin-based band The Chalets. I made a post in my normal journal with their full-length album, so the fact that they're playing here is just more awesome than I can stand. If you're interested, they put up a new music video on their site.

It feels like I've been here a lot longer than two and a half weeks.