The Squad

cuddling in the cold

    I never thought I would find myself in a group of students with absolutely nothing in common but yet so tight that people may feel threatened when seeing a group of 17 American students.  At the beginning of this adventure, I found myself a tad worried that I would not fit in with any of these students. However, little did I know that each and every one of them would inspire me to be myself rather than just a copy of who society wants me to be.
    Several of us have had some things go on back at home with family members that we each had to deal with, but we were not dealing with these problems by ourselves as we had 32 arms for hugs, 16 hearts for healing, and 32 ears for listening.  There never has really been any drama, or mad bashes of fights, however, when eating, sleeping, traveling, hanging out and going to class with the same people, tensions can happen and tiny annoyances will occur, and even though at the end of these three months I am ready for a change in people, I know that not two weeks will pass and I will be missing these students.

Regans 21st surprise party

My birthday dinner

My birthday dinner continued..

studying together

family football 

Fun Adventures

walk to Spiddal

Climbing crew

Miranda's surprise hen party

However, one thing that most definitely changes the mood is weather. On the one day where the sun shines and the skies are deep blue, more smiles and laughs are present.  Some of the unique activities we all have done as a group together, include surprise birthday parties, potlucks, deeps sea fishing, surprise Hen party,  football and frisbee, walking to the ocean at night,  movie nights and going out on the town together.  One night Kendra and I decided to walk to Galway and back which was a 5 hour walk in total.  Well having long tangly hair at the time, I got fed up wit it, so we stopped at a local store on the way home, bought hair cutting scissors,bread and fancy cheese.  That night, I handed the scissors to Kendra, and 3 minutes later I  had short hair.  The biggest key with these students is including everyone and no matter what, have fun, even if plans fall through.  Without these amazing people, my study abroad experience would have been very different.