To Be Continued......

I've been trying to write this post for ages. Maybe two weeks. Every time I sit down to write, I seem to get distracted. But no more I say! So here goes.

As some of you may know, I'm no longer in Ireland. Shock. Yes. I really wish I could have stayed longer but even if I did it would have only been for one more month probably. In the long run, I'm better off here in the states at the moment. I had an opportunity I really couldn't pass up. A job working with my family. Wait. Did I say job? As my friend Sharon said, it'll probably be like indentured servitude. But it saves me from having to find a real job. Ewwwwww to real jobs. So. I'm back in NYC and getting to see all my friends I haven't seen in ages. It was also super duper cool to be back in NYC for the Fourth of July. I went to my friends place in Park Slope for a BBQ and watched the fire works from his roof. That was one of the highlights of being back. I better soak it up because I'm not going to be here for long. And lord knows when I'll be here next.

Most people I've talked to for some reason think either I'm going back to Ireland or I'm staying in NYC. Not so. Like the hobo that I am, its off to sunny Boca Raton for me. Where my indentured servitude will take place with my family. I really miss Ireland and the friends I made there. But, if anything, this trip kinda lit a fire under my ass to finish school so I can move back and get a decent job. In Ireland, the UK or who knows where else. All the chicks I worked with were Australian and I really hit it off with one of them in particular so maybe Australia isn't too far off even.

Ireland. I miss you. I miss the fact that I could walk anywhere and everywhere. I miss the great weather we had in Galway. I miss walking to Salthill and chilling on the beach with a beer. I miss hanging out and drinking in Eyre Square and getting bothered by random drunken people. I miss walking down Shop Street and watching the fire dancers and buskers. I miss the fun boys. I miss (dare I say it) Temple Bar. I miss Crunch Nut Bites. I miss the kittie in my back yard that the Canadian girls named Oliver. I miss my housemates. I miss sitting by the Spanish Arch. I miss the way everyone ends sentences with "so" and "like". I miss how everything was brand new. I miss working in the hostel and meeting cool people. I miss the girls I worked with. I miss a certain special someone. I miss Ireland.

You drive on which side?!

So for my mini road trip last week I drove in Ireland for the first time. I drove from Tralee to Limerick. Weird is not even the word. It totally fucked with my head for the first 20 minutes but then I somewhat got used to it. What was freaky was driving down those really narrow and curvy roads with the locals driving oh so fast and annoyed that you're driving the speed limit.

When we spend the night in Limerick, we ended up having to drive my friend Dave out to catch his bus to go to Dublin but since we were all drinking the night before, he woke up late and he eventually missed his bus. On the way back my friend was too tired to drive back to Limerick so she asked Dave to drive. In theory this seems like a good idea only Dave had never driven an automatic car in his life. Once behind the wheel, he asked, where's the clutch and what to do I do with this bit? Referring to the gears. He insisted he'd be able to drive it and said to me, you work this bit and I'll work the accelerator. Though amusing now, it was a bit unnerving at the time so we booted him from the drivers seat and I drove back to Limerick.

Yesterday.

Completely random but yesterday as I was sitting in The Quays bar on Shop street in Galway. I was sitting at a sidewalk table having a beer when this lady asked to sit at the free seat next to me and my friend. We started chatting and she asked the popular "where are you from?" question. I said New York and she said, "Oh I loooove NYC. I'm from Roscommon but used to live in Brooklyn." I say, "No shit! Me too. Where did you live?" She then said "Bay Ridge" and I had a fit. I used to live in Bay Ridge. I was just talking to my BFF Sharon telling her I missed Bay Ridge. Turns out she only lived a couple blocks from me. Small fucking world ehh? That I'd move to Galway to meet an Irish lady that lives in Galway but used to live in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. We chatted for ages and it was nice to have that common ground so far from home.She used to be a bartender in a bar in the neighborhood and we talked about that for a while and how we loved Bull McCabes on St. Marks place. Lovely chat. I live for randomness like this.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

It's been quite a while since I last wrote a proper entry. I was actually busy doing things last week. Strange, isn't it? First. I joined this website called couchsurfing.com. Check it out, its pretty cool. Basically, its a website that you set up a profile and you either request to stay on someones couch or they request to stay on yours. You don't have to say yes if someone asks you, you have the option to say no and its totally up to you. Hopefully if/when I travel to mainland Europe, I'll be requesting to stay with people. So I got this request from a chick from California. I read her profile and she seemed super cool plus she was a nurse and I totally wanted to pick her brain about that. So I agreed to let her surf my couch. Turns out she was one of the coolest people I've ever met. She was so sweet and fun and best of all she was nice enough to take me on her roadtrips along the west coast of Ireland. We drove down the roads along the west coast of Ireland through the Burren and onto the Dingle Peninsula. Some of the most beautiful sites I've seen in my life. It was so awesome. Mini water falls along the road, they too were awesome.




After my road trip along the west coast, we stopped in Limerick for the evening to meet with my friend Dave I'd met in Dublin. That was pretty cool because if you know me, then you know my favorite book is "Angela's Ashes" and my favorite writer is Frank McCourt. He's from Limerick. We went into the bar that the movie was filmed. I'm not a big fan of the movie and just for the record the book's always better. My camera battery died so I couldn't get a picture but on the door to the bathroom, for the men's room it says Frank and the ladies room says Angela. I thought that was pretty cool. So "stab city" wasn't so bad. Even if it is the murder capital of Ireland and I think Europe. Lol. So says Dave anyway.

After that we went back to Galway and did fuck all. My lovely couch surfer who we'll call Ms. X invited me to go to the Cliffs of Moher with her and I said yes of course. We were going to spend the night in Limerick with Dave and then go to the Cliffs the next day. We had so much in Limerick. Photographic evidence below. We got so drunk. Clearly I'm not as hardcore with the drinking as I used to be.






We certainly did have fun. So much fun we were all so hung over the next day. We made it to the Cliffs though. That was gorgeous! Its the most impressive touristy thing I've done so far.





I also went on a job interview last Thursday. It went well but who knows. I may be going home sooner or later becasue my aunt emailed me a proposition I may take her up on. But of course she wants me to come home ASAP for it. Not sure where I'll be for the entire summer now. Everything's up in the air. Maybe here in Galway, Maybe NYC and maybe Florida. Jesus I really am a fucking hobo. Shut up Sam! Where Oh where will hobo Jody end up next?

Road Trips and Limerick

I've been busy so I haven't blogged in a bit. I'll go into detail later but I went on a road trip with my new BFF Ms. X. She's so kick ass and we had a great time. I'm in Limerick right now, we spent the night here and went drinking with my other new friend Dave. Got drunk. Very drunk. The Powers got the best of me. Any who. I had a job interview on Thursday and got so lost trying to find it. It didn't matter though. Hopefully I'll get it. Bah. Here's a pic from my travels. More to come!

Panic in the streets of Galway!

Sorry Morrissey but London's not the only place there's panic on the streets. I seriously need to find a job ASAP. The state of my bank account is quite worrying. I will be home sooner than I plan to if I don't. One of my house mates is trying to help me, she's so sweet. She suggested I give English lessons or tutor English students. Seems there are quite a few here for the summer. I should know because one of my other housemates is here from Spain to do just that. I made some flyers and I'm going to putt them up around town. Send me positive vibes people!

In other news, my friend who I worked with in Dublin came to visit me on
Friday. It was lovely. She's steadfastly becoming one of my favorite people. We drank wine and ate pizza by the Spanish Arches. It was getting a bit cold so we didn't stay out for long. We chatted all night and it was just really nice having a friend come visit. I mean I've made friends here but I don't see them very often even though I live pretty close to them. Partly my fault though. I tend to be a bit of a shut in at times.

In more other news, I gave my name and info to the Galway SPCA to sign up as a volunteer. I happened to go in there the other day and heard the lady talking to someone else about a new volunteer and how nice she was. I then decided to ask if they still needed volunteers because no one ever called me. She said that they do but there's a waiting list for volunteering because there's so many people that volunteer. Because so many people don't have a job and that, they take to volunteering she said. Something to do. Seriously........seriously???!!! I can't even get a non-paying job?!

Oh well, positive vibes and energy man. Positive vibrations!

Weekend Randomness

Here's a couple photos I completely forgot I took when Martha and I went out bar hopping.

Here's two guys from Cork. We stole their pizza and I stole their hat.


Me (in aforementioned stolen hat) and Martha sitting in front of Apache Pizza. This photo tells me I'm not as sober as I thought I was. Clearly.


What the hell am I doing with my tongue? Again, clearly not sober.


Boys are easy, all it took was some coaxing with free pizza. Ha! No really. These guys tried to steal our pizza that we stole fair and square. In exchange for a bite of our pizza, we got hugs. Gotta love Galway.


He just had nice boobs. And he let me touch 'em.