St. Patrick's, Carlow College, Ireland
September 10-11, 2004--Katie left for Ireland Friday evening with her suite mate since freshman year, Katie F. They arrived Saturday morning in Dublin.
St. Patrick's, Carlow College, Ireland
September 10-11, 2004--Katie left for Ireland Friday evening with her suite mate since freshman year, Katie F. They arrived Saturday morning in Dublin.
September 13, 2004--Finally a call! She sounded like she was in the next room. She's doing fine, no surprises for her though Katie F. is having some problems adjusting. I'm sure it helps that Katie has been to Ireland a couple times so knew what to expect. It doesn't help though when one is cold, hungry, tired, and a long way from home.
The house they live in also houses students from India, Poland, and France. She said they are 24-29, so they treat her like a little kid and won't let her go out of the house by herself. As a mom, I'm thinking that's good for a week or two!
The house is cold; weather is cold and rainy with some sun occasionally. She bought another blanket and a vest to stay warm. The weekend was expensive since no grocery stores were open, but they received their food money Monday so they can shop at Aldi or SuperValu. When the student caneen opens next week, she will have an option of inexpensive hot food.
She also told us they had to buy light bulbs and toilet paper--none provided! I've heard that two years ago everything was provided; last year no sheets, pillows, or blankets; this year something else gone! That's the adventure of living in a different place.
Since classes don't start until next week, this is a week of informal orientation. They've had a tour of the town and college campus now. Soon she will get a chance to use the internet at the library.
Amelia who is on the college faculty has been very helpful and offered to let the two come along to Dublin on the train Tuesday. Katie knows Dublin, so once she gets there, it will be familiar territory.
Next week they will get to sit in on classes before they decide what to sign up for. What a great option!
September 16--Katie left a message on the answering machine yesterday that her wisdom teeth surgery is infected again. She had them out August 23. A week later she was full of infection and had been taking penicillin. We thought everything was ok, but apparently not. She then emailed us that she's going to see a doctor (20 Euros) and have to pay for medication. As long as it's taken care of, I don't care!
Last night we packed a box with her goosedown jacket, Halloween socks, some silly costume and decoration stuff, and trick or treat goodies. She loves Halloween!
September 20--Katie finally wrote a long message. She doesn't do punctuation and stuff in email...
"today is our first day of school really. at 2:00 we have a meeting with all the first year students. we've already had a tour and what-not so it should only last an hour. last wednesday we had a meeting about writing the papers here.....i really don�t know what to think about it. an english teacher talked to us. he said since I�m in history it shouldn�t be that hard for me, then he had us take turns reading about how to write a paper. we take turns is wrong it went like this;
he would read a paragraph then me, katie, me, him, me, him, me, katie, me, me, him, me."
"it lasted two hours and only ended because he was late for a meeting. it reading out loud and everytime it was YES i can sit back cause its katie's turn NO it was mine again. we laughed over it while we walked home. we can�t figure out why i had to read so much. he would read and say "ok right, now............kathryn you read the next." everytime katie and i would look at each other and i would just be like, not me, not me, not me!"
"oh maura the housing lady said we could only turn on the heat when we do laundry so our clothes dry. there's a Polish gal we talk to a lot and she told us everyone pays 6 euros a week for water, heat and whatever...... I bought a heater about 6 days ago anyway. katie and i have already realized we're not going to be warm till we come home. and i havent really called josh cause the pay phone is at the end of the street and for 3 days someone has been breaking the windows so we've been waiting for someone to clean it up so we can use it. i keep telling him im going to call but a window keeps being broken. also the medicine the doctor has me on has been making me sick. he said they're normal but i just sleep all day."
"we went to the bars saturday and met a really nice guy at tulley's, well i guess i had already met him. we sat at the bar and there was a drink in front of me and i asked "is this yours?" and he turned to his sister and said "I TOLD YOU THEY WERE AMERICAN OR CANADIAN!" he saw my id........cause you know I GOT STOPPED AT THE DOOR! i guess he didnt think i looked 18. but anyways it turns out he's from new zealand and lives here now. he was living in australia and met someone from ireland and followed him here."
"on wednesday katie and i ate at the bar and i had to go to the bathroom. the men's and women's signs are in irish so i stood in the middle of the hallway till someone came out. a guy came out and saw what i was doing and we laughed about it, and turns out it was this guy at the bar. he was just like its ok when i first got here i thought mna was man. i dont know i just thought hey it has an m maybe they spelled it wrong and walked right in........i was wrong. and thats actually what i did. i thought hey m is for man but ill just stand in the middle and make sure. he also used to work at the bar last summer so is always there and told us anytime we come he'll be here. so there you go we met our first friend."
"did i also tell you we saw ambrose students in dublin? it was at the book of kells. it's actually kathleen flanagan's boyfriend who is studying in wales and happened to be here sightseeing with some students from his school. he didnt believe it was me till he saw my sau hoodie that i was wearing. he took a picture of the three of us so he could show everyone that he wasnt lying he really did see someone from ambrose."
"so thats it for now i guess."
Katie writes: "how long did marie say she was coming? josh is also coming in november....she said she was coming the 11th and 12th i think. that would mean josh would have to come at the end of november i think. i really wish he could come in october like said because we just found out yesterday we have a midterm break 24-29 of october. that would be much more easy for me to show him the country. right now katie and i are planning to go to EVERY class and when guests come miss a couple. of course this year they have new really strict rule that you MUST come to classes. so just wondering how long she was coming?"
September 23--We also received a post card from Katie on Tuesday that was sent on the 15th.. She writes, "I've never been so cold. Everyone keeps saying it was very warm the week before we came. The staff at the college are very nice and helpful. They offer us many things. Father Conn took us to lunch today and tomorrow Amelia offered to ride the train with us to Dublin. I'm very cold though. Katie"
I went out and bought her Cuddleduds last night!
September 27--(Happy 22nd birthday, Andy!)
Katie wrote this morning. Here's what she says about going out to the pubs. I had to edit the graphic details!--"Bars are so different from america. first the girls dress like hookers. like last night katie f. and i saw a girl with her bra on the outside of her shirt and asked one of our roommates here what the heck she was doing. she said that thats normal here. also the guys are jerks. total and complete jerks..... thats another thing all the 18 year-olds look our age and the ones really our age look like they could be our dads.... katie F. made the rest of the guys mad by finding out they were 18. she laughed in their faces and said youre my little sister's age! so yeah in conclusion if i take Josh to the bars he has to swear to not get in a fight.
"so yeah thats a normal night out for us. the end."
September 28--Father Conn responded to a thank you that Mike and I sent. He says--"Katie is doing well. She attends my History lectures and also the Irish Experience programme that I teach."
October 3--I was really missing Katie today. I took her first Mullane "school dress" to lessons and sold it within minutes. It was good to see a girl wear it and a happy mom! (Katie has a new one though I don't know when or if she'll ever wear it.)
In the middle of the afternoon I was in Hy-Vee getting grocieries when my cell phone rang. Katie was calling! She was in the phone booth down the street from the house and watching a drunk fall down in the street. One of the Irish girls living at the house had invited the two Katies home for the weekend. Of course, they arrived in the dark Friday night so Katie had no idea where they were. She woke up the next morning to find a beautiful lake outside the window. When she asked Lorraine where they were she was told the house is on Glendalough. It's one of Katie's favorite places! We were there in 1999 to visit St. Kevin's Monastery ruins. Glendalough is in between Dublin and Carlow.
They had spent Saturday night in Dublin probably walking around Temple Bar, the pub-nightclub area. Sounds like they had fun.
October 14--I emailed Katie about her bank account. She had been shopping so I asked her what she bought. She wrote, "it was ireland vs france in soccer. katie and i went and bought ireland jerseys. ive been looking at madrid and manchester jerseys and when i went to buy the ireland one they had doubled in price so i just bought them then in case the get more expensive."
October 18--Katie wrote that she found a job and has to buy clothes for work. No idea what her job is!
October 22--I wrote to Josh and finally got some information! Here's part of his note--
"I hope it [soccer] continues as well. Our last game of the season is on Saturday, and honestly im kinda glad. I cant wait to get my birthday present, im so excited.[He doesn't know we got him an Irish flag with his family coat of arms and an Irish soccer t-shirt.] I actually talked to Katie on wednesday. She got my package that I sent, it was a nice little note and my sisters senior pictures as well as a 2lb. bag of candy corn ( thanks for the tip) I also sent her some flowers. She is working for a nightclub. From 9-11 she and another employee walk around town handing out flyers for the club, then from 11- close she collects empty glasses around the club, she said she is having a lot of fun.....so she finally has some time alone, even if it is with 50 drunks in a nightclub. My plane leaves in less than one month and I cant wait. I am flying from Omaha to Chicago and the chicago straight to Dublin. I just cant wait to see her. Well its time to go to practice I hope to hear from you soon.
October 27--Katie writes:i just spent 40 minutes writing an email to you then got kicked off. i cant write it again becuase i only get an hour on the computer. just ing call me today, tonight it doesnt matter. i need help and cant call you.
There were two problems--Katie had never registered her new Microsoft program so it locked up after the grace period ended. Mike called MS and all was solved with registration and some passwords.
The second problem took more phone calls and emails. Katie was to register for next semester on-line from Ireland, but she never got a new password to do that. More seriously, Carlow went on break, so the on-line computers were locked up. She doesn't have access to a computer for email or anything right now.
Dr. Dye at SAU solved the registration problem by getting the list from Mike of what she intended to register, and he did it for her.
Dr. Stauff wrote that the President of Carlow and one of the professors visited this week: Kevin and Conn said that "Kathryn and Kathleen" are just doing fabulously. "They do love our students."
Josh will leave November 14 from Council Bluffs for Dublin to visit. I'm not sure who is more excited--him or her.
November 8--Late last week Katie emailed a research paper for proofreading, so she's back in classes and has computer access again. Haven't heard anything else from her though.
November 10
Katie writes about her St. Ambrose food credit--
no we havent got the money yet. we were planning on going this week [to get it]. josh and melissa are coming next week so we need the money. i took out 50 yesterday because the machine made me take out mutiples of 50, but i bought medicine with it. i have a cold again and josh has a viral infection so im sure the whole time we'll be together we'll be sick. the money i get from work i pretty much spend on food every week and save some of it for when josh is here. i spend at least 40 a week on food and try to save 20.
November 12--Two theology papers arrived to proofread. I actually enjoyed reading them!
November 20--Josh arrived on the 15th, Monday. Katie called Thursday needing information to fly to Glasgow for the weekend because she couldn't get to an internet computer. A good lesson in planning ahead--tickets to fly from Dublin to Glasgow roundtrip are almost $400! I looked into the ferries, but the seas are rough this time of year, so I couldn't find a connection. Maybe their friend Stewart flew to see them???
Later today her dad got a text message that they made it to Scotland yesterday and Glasgow today. She says it's really neat and will send pictures next week. I'm so glad they got to see even a little of Scotland! I wish they'd get to Edinburgh since it's not that far.
November 27--We got a message yesterday at about noon to call Katie, but that she was leaving for work, so this morning at 8am I talked to her. It was apparently her late lunch time as she was eating a blueberry muffin and making Ramen noodles. I think it would have been about 2pm there.
She said that Josh left yesterday, so she wondered if we had heard from him. She was worried that he didn't have a ride in Chicago. They had a wonderful time in Scotland she said though it was cold so they didn't go to Edinburgh. The first night they were there, Josh and Stewart went out together, and she stayed in with Stewart's mum and sister. They were so nice to her. The sister is 14 and dances for the Royal Ballet, just took a test to become an instructor.
She commented about Glasgow being very "americanized" but she liked it a lot. Stewart's mum found them tickets on Aer Lingus going over cheaper than I found. They flew back on Ryanair--Katie said "plastic seats, Mom!" No frills, plastic seats that didn't recline, but they got back to Dublin and that's what's important!
Amelia warned the girls about black mold growing in the house, so Katie wanted a doctor's appointment when she returns to check that she's ok. I told her use bleach to kill it. There's always something!
December 7--We haven't heard anything from Katie lately, but Josh wrote that his trip to Ireland was "magical."
December 9--Katie called that she had no money in her account. It ended up through a couple mistakes that money we'd transferred went into her brother's instead. Hopefully, she now had money again.
We called her back to tell her and had a long conversation. Of course, she's excited about coming home, but has had a positive experience for the semester. On Friday Father Conn will take "Kathryn and Kathleen" to Glendalough. It's one of Katie's favorite places, so she was excited. For the weekend she's going to Galway--a great place for college students!
Shopping hasn't been a big priority, but she did say she's bringing some neat things home.
Now that it's almost time, we are anxious to see her.