Time is a funny thing.

I have now been in Northern Ireland for exactly two weeks. But time is a funny thing, because I feel as if I have been here for more than a month already! So many trips and parties and new friends have been compacted into such a short time period, it makes my life feel dense. It’s as if before now, my life’s surface area to volume ratio was much larger than it is now.

My modules (classes) just started on Monday, but my learning experience definitely started awhile ago. If you want me to expand on anything on this list, let me know and I will, but here is what I have learned so far:

1.       The grass really is greener in Ireland

2.       Sheep really are EVERYWHERE

3.       Windmills are beautiful things and we need more of them in America

4.       Making new friends is not difficult if you smile and make a joke

5.       Tea time is constant

6.       Rain is constant and the sun should never be taken for granted!

7.       Curse words are much funnier when used by old Irish men

8.       School buildings are called blocks, and that makes getting directions around campus very confusing when they tell you to go toward the “Tar Block”

9.       Speed bumps are called speed humps

10.   30 kilometers per hour is VERY different than 30 miles per hour

11.   European boys know how to dress  ;D

12.   Kelly’s is a wonderful place on Wednesday night

13.   Alcohol is allowed just about everywhere in Northern Ireland

14.   The University bus drivers are excellent tour guides

15.   The Giant’s Causeway should be one of the wonders of the world

16.   The Germans probably speak the best English (even above some of the Irish with their accents)

17.   Germans are also better at drinking than the Irish

18.   The strand is the beach

19.   Guinness is just okay, but the ciders are excellent

20.   The market in Coleraine’s city center is fabulous! America would be a better place if all of our small towns did something similar. Support your local businesses!

21.   Thrift stores are the same everywhere you go

22.   The Queys Pub is pronounced Keys Pub

23.   Surfing is so much fun!

24.   A wetsuit is the hardest piece of clothing I have EVER tried to put on, yet it kept me unexpectedly warm

25.   James Nesbit (an actor in the Hobbit) is the Chancellor of the University of Ulster and he is very nice to talk to

26.   Belfast is a fabulous city with lots of charm and surprisingly, a big city feel

27.   When your genetics and anatomy modules overlap, they don’t care if you attend them every other week

28.   Cleats are called studs

29.   Dandelion and Burdock is a disgusting grape drink

30.   The kindness of strangers here gives me hope for humanity. So far, I have always been able to rely on them for assistance

31.   Poundland is like Dollar General… Except not, because it is more expensive. 50 cents more expensive, which adds up

32.   Bringing the movie We Are Marshall was a good decision. I love having a glimpse of home

33.   Irish food is good, but bland. I could really go for some Rio Grande on 5^th Ave right now!

34.   Karte nummer 10 bedeutet oberbegriff

35.   Card number 10 means category, now formally known as oberbegriff

36.   Chocolate cake is very good when shared at midnight on the street corner without utensils

37.   Kaesespaetzle is absolutely fantastic

38.   Real caramel lattes do not come pre-stirred

39.   The mention of America still puts a sparkle in people’s eyes

40.   Shampoo will hold posters on the wall

41.   And I didn’t just learn this, but rather it has been reinforced, that God must truly love us an awful lot to give us such a grand place to live