One GIANT'S Step

Greetings to all of my loved ones back in the States!

     I know it has been way too long since I have updated you all, and I am so sorry about that. It has been a lot harder than I thought to get on a schedule here! But now that I am getting good sleep, exercise, and have a homework schedule and budget for groceries and travel, everything is finally smoothing out :)

     Let's see, I don't even know where to start because so much has happened in the past couple weeks. How about I start at the most recent activities and work backwards . . . that way I can give you the past few days in detail (while I still remember lol!). After that I will just tell you about a few of my flat mates and fellow international students, give you some tid bits about my academics and then tell you some new slang and popular items I have discovered here in Ireland.

     Alrighty, so this last weekend was actually a very eventful and productive one for me! (Those are few and far between haha) On Friday night it was Ivar's 21st birthday!!! Ivar is from Holland and is about 6'3". He has dark, shaggy hair and a really good sense of humor. All the Holland boys make weird, funny noises, which I can totally relate to . . . needless to say, we get along GREAT!! While turning 21 in Europe is not a big deal, since there are a lot of us American's here, we made his 21st a big deal. We went to the Botanic Inn (We call it The Bot), which is a classier Pub/Dance Club and had a Pre/Post Party at his flat (which is right next to mine). The night was full of stories, laughter and of course Spirits! I met two guys from Holland that were visiting Ivar. Jasper was 6'5" with shaggy blondish hair and Bob was 6'6" with short, dark hair. Both were crazy guys, but super cool and lots of fun to hang out with. I ended up going to bed around 5 am! Yikes! Ok, that was Friday.

     So, I woke up Saturday morning around 7 am to get ready to go on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the Northern Ireland coast with Donald (Maryland), Robert (Germany), Stephan (Germany), Martin (Germany), and another guy (France) . . . I don't remember his name (whoops haha). It was the best day ever!! Even though every single one of us was sleep deprived (and some of the boys hungover) we were energized and excited all day long! We saw all the Glenn's of the coast (and salmon farms), walked the rope bridge, hiked our butts off at Giant's Causeway, went to the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery (oldest licensed in the world, since 1608!), and saw a very old castle! We were on the tour from 9 am - 6 pm . . .  can anyone say LONG DAY!!! Hahaha But the boys couldn't have picked a better day. Jesus was shining beautiful sun on us all day long!! In fact, all weekend long. Which is a big deal considering the last two weeks has been solid rain and hard core wind (not even kidding). So, I got my testosterone fill this weekend, which was actually a relief from the amount of estrogen I've had to deal with from all the girls hahaha!

     In between my last post and this weekend my outings have been minimal, pretty much just going to a few pubs/clubs here and there. Also every Wednesday me and my flat mates go on an outing together, so a couple weeks ago we went into Belfast and went on a black cab tour of the Murals and Peace walls of the city and got a great history lesson from it all. It was awesome! After that we just went to the Victoria Center Mall and hung out for a bit.

    Now to tell you a bid about school. I am studying Advertising, Interpersonal Communication and Communication in Groups. All three courses are very interesting and I am enjoying them tremendously. I must give a shout out to my Whitworth professor Ron Pyle for helping me prepare me for theses classes through my Theories of Human Communication Course I took last semester. I know almost 90% of what the professors are talking about already which makes the work a hundred times easier to keep up with! Thank you Ron!!! In our advertising class we are working on a campaign for Glayva, which is a Single-Malt Scottish Whiskey . . . so I have begun designing a billboard, Adshel (bus stop ad), and online ad for that. It is kind of hard doing group work here, even more so than at home, because the Irish are Polychromatic (time is not considered important). In the states we are more Monochromatic, time is an entity, we are all about schedule and being prompt, so to be here where people don't answer their emails, or meet for group work . . . is a little beyond frustrating for my Type A personality . . .  let's just say God has a sense of humor in teaching patience :) haha

     I have discovered a few things a lot of Europeans know nothing about from the states that I was actually surprised to find out. For example, since the drinking age here is legal at 15-17 years old, they can sneak into the Pubs at age 13 and so they had no idea what a house party was! That's like a teenager's party existence before 21 in the states. They also didn't know what beer pong or flip cup was . . . I've never drank before I came here and I still knew what those were! And the grand daddy shocking thing the Europeans hadn't tried . . . SMORES!!!! None of them have had smores! Craziness!!!!

    Some fun facts about Ireland . . . all my Irish girl friends and flat mates call me Darlin, how cute is that?! It has taken some adjusting to since I would never have figured that as a term of endearment for myself but it's grown on me, especially because it sounds even cuter with their accents! Nutella is HUGE here, everyone eats it . . . I mean EVERYONE!!! And Cadbury chocolate here is the equivalent of Hershey's in the States. Also, Lucozade here is the equivalent or Gatorade at home. As for fashion . . . I definitely don't fit in with my constant wearing of jeans and sweats. The girls here are all about tights, and leggings and jeggings (bleh!) and skirts/shorts with tights underneath. Pretty much anything I wouldn't normally wear :) hahahaha

     Slang!!!! Ok, Graham Crackers are called Digestives (don't even get me started on this because it still is weird and freaks me out a little haha). If someone offers you a buiscuit, take it. It's not a breakfast roll here, they are referring to cookies. If you ask for chips with your sandwich you aren't going to be getting any cheeto's, you will receive a plate full of french fries. If you do want chips you need to ask for crisps, it makes me laugh every time I ask. And everyone here calls jeans or pants trousers!

     Well that is my update since the beginning of February! Tonight, all of us girls are cooking dinner and enjoying spirits to celebrate Valentine's Day (boy free!) haha You can look forward to hearing about a few things: Next weekend a trip to Dublin, going to Rugby and Hurling matches, meeting with the volleyball coach who wants me to play (coolness!) and the celebration of another birthday!!!

     I love hearing from people via facebook, email, and my favorite MAIL!!!!!! Go ahead and leave me post's below of what you think of my blog posts or email me at bmoser12@my.whitworth.edu. I do have skype and my skype name is easybreezybeautifulcovergirl (just remember I am 8 hours ahead of you) Or even better, send me a letter at:

Breezy Moser
14.3 The Courtyard
University of Ulster at Jordanstown
Shore Road
Northtownabbey, BT 37 OQB
County Antrim
Northern Ireland

I love you all and wish you all a Happy Valentines Day and a fantastic week! I hope to hear from you all soon!!!!

Love Always,
Breezy