I'm in Dingle, Ireland. I'm living with 8 other girls in a cottage, next to 2 other cottages filled with people in our painting program. We paint the landscapes that surround us: rolling hills covered in grids of various greens. Cattle and sheep dot the landscape. Bulls lie in the front yard of our cottages. I've no phone and can only know the time when I'm near a clock or with somebody with a watch. I can only communicate with people not around me when I walk 25 minutes into town and get to the library (closed on weekends) or sneak some time in on a roommates laptop.

This kind of living takes time to get used to when I'm usually texting about 4-5 people regularly. It's very different and I'm very glad I've done it. Convenience is a whole different ball game for me now. I can't drive, I can't always get the groceries I want, I've only like 4 changes of clothes, etc.

Life in Europe is entirely different than life in the states. This is country living, here. The shops have lunch breaks and will close for various reasons (aka i'm sick today, sorry). People actually talk to you and are interested in your story. They say sorry, they wait for you to cross the street, they give you a book of funny quotes while you wait for your fish sandwich.

There's no real trespassing, no privately-owned land. Socialist capitalism, in my mind, is perfect. If you are an artist, regardless of how much money you make, you don't pay taxes. No one tips here, because it's included in prices. Things are expensive because they are luxuries, not necessities. This is how all life should be. Treat yourself to something once in a while, but otherwise just live. Just live.

Music is huge. There's live music in the pubs almost every night. There's also 57 pubs in this town which is basically the size of Purchase College's campus. I feel like little kids start learning instruments, mainly guitar, accordian, violin, at a very young age and just play, almost the way American students always play sports, always have gym class.

I can't do this though, this traveling thing, without a companion whom I really need. It's hard for me because I miss these imperative people from home so badly. 17 more days.

Who else is too concerned with the way people see them?

Who else's #1 priority in life is to be seen as a good, considerate, genuine person?

Who else has lost their mind a few times?

Who else has emerged out of a pile of garbage?

don't plan for the future any more than 5 hours from the present.

Brief recap of craziest week:

Tues: last day of school, stood show and show/party in alumni

Wed: came back to jersey i think, or was it thursday?

Thurs: awesome night at Bardis with jersey friends

Fri: rode bikes with Perrelly, went to the city with him met cam & dru, went to a party in harlem, weird, went to brooklyn, stayed over

Sat: hit garage sales in Jersey with perrelly & cam, drove to ny, met tara&denis, drove to pleasure beach, CT, watched movie at my house all together

Sun: Lenny's bagels, rye beach, chilled all over port chester all afternoon/night/morning

Mon: run errands in white plains w/ cam, then drove to jersey

tonight going out to dinner with friends. i need to find hiking boots for Ireland. I leave in 13 days. oh my lord. i've been having the absolute time of my life this summer so far and i can only imagine it getting better.

the past few weeks my life has been more crazy than i'd expected

some people live all over the place like this, i never have but am trying to, it's difficult, when you feel like there's no ground under your feet

i think i feel great right now. i think

leaving for Ireland May 31, coming back June 30. i'm really nervous.

i'm living in the attic of my house now, it's awesome.

i'm super excited for this summer (in purchase), my roommates, and visiting friends all over.

i just got back from north carolina, for my mom's wedding. it was nice. my family is insane.

i'd like to recap some events from culture shock weekend, because it may have been the best weekend in a very very long time and i don't want to forget most of it:

friday - going by tara's apt w/ cam, seeing space ghost in the stood! seeing surfer blood on mainstage w/ cam and arielle, seeing the shakes, beer tent w/ adri and matt, stopping in the studio with graber and chris, seeing bayside (ahah), going to cam's a few times, going to the hub and eating pizza and then later going again seeing rachel & ty, i don't remember what else between this and seeing Andrew wk, during which we were all on the stage i fell like 3 times it was just insanity. foot got badly bruised. stayed overnight in the fort.

saturday - going to tara's again with everyone there, seeing turbo fruits at the stood which i loved, meeting steph somewhere and going with her to w2? racing in the blow up snake thing, going down the big slide, perrelly tim and dru come, eat at the hub, tara's, tickle fight with perrelly cam arielle and dru for like half an hour in the grass - maybe best time of my life -sangria, a bike wheel was stolen at some point, beer tent with steph, tara's, seeing the books who were pretty awesome and good for the atmosphere at the time, uuhhhhhhh i don't know what else until the show in the olde duplex with the shakes, sex gods and terror pigeon, and soooo much crowd surfing, hot bodies, beer poured on my head, and udder chaos. chilled outside of there a while, saw melissa riling and rachel, perrelly lost his keys, then got a ride back to my house.

i'm sure there's things i've forgotten about. it was a longggggg 2 days of crazy.