Thirsty Thursday

My whole house is out at the pubs and clubs tonight--so I'll leave it at that. I'm sure you've all gotten the idea by now that people here like to drink.

I discovered a vending machine in my apartment block about an hour ago, which means that rather than having to walk to the grocery store every time I'm hungry, I can just go two seconds away and get some funky candy! That'll be bad in the long run...for my waist... :)

So far, almost every time I go to the grocery store, I've tried to buy a candy bar that I've never seen before (although I sometimes resort to Kit Kats). I have tried several so far, but just when I was at the vending machine I happened to think that I should take a picture of the wrapper so you all can see. Some of the brands here are just renamed versions of ones we have here, but some are really different. I'll try to keep a log from now on!

So here's the one I just ate. No lie, it was quite delicious. It was a chocolate wafer with caramel on top, all covered in chocolate-bar chocolate.
I think it's funny that the slogan is "The Wispa you love with a cheeky caramal layer." I'm so intrigued! I really want to find the original, un-cheeky Wispa and see why its descendant got so rude.

Alice, Courtney, and I met tonight and were trying to plan a trip to the Aran Islands this weekend. However, since we want to stay overnight at a hostel, we think it would be easier to wait and plan it for two weeks from now. Instead, we're going to Lally Tours tomorrow (they have an office in Galway) and are going to book their tour of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren for Saturday. I'm excited to start getting out and doing stuff! If you'd like to see what the tour offers, here's the site. We're thinking that if this tour group is good, we'll use them to book a tour for the Aran Islands.
This is what we're going to do Saturday (if they still have free space). There is an additional entrance fee to get into the Castle and the Caves, but it'll be worth it because we won't have to pay for transportation or housing, since it's included (well, no housing, since it's only a day trip).

Descriptions for some of the places include:

• Dunguire Castle: The ancient fort of Guaire, King of Connacht, overlooks the picturesque village of Kinvara.
• Doolin Village: We stop for lunch at the home of Irish traditional music.
• The Cliffs of Moher: Awesome natural spectacle towering 210 metres above the ocean.
• Poulnabrone Dolmen: 5,000 year old megalithic burial tomb. (I'm so excited about this one!!! And the castle too...)
• Aillwee Cave: A 30 minute guided tour will take you through its chambers, chasms and weird rock formations.

There are several other stops on the way, and overall it should be a fun 7 hour day. We'll be back in time to start cooking for the potluck supper on Sunday! I still have no idea what I'm making...

Today I went grocery shopping, and, being naive little me, tried to find hot dogs. There were two aisles of sausages...but no hot dogs. So I bought some potatoes with the sausages and made bangers and hash instead! (We'll just ignore the fact that it's exactly what I was going to make with hot dogs, except sausages in their place.) I bought Heinz ketchup today, and although I was dubious, it was almost the same as at home. It turns out that it's Alice's favorite food too, and she did actually bring a bottle with her from home because she was so worried about it tasting different. Mom and Dad, you tried to get me to, but I'm surviving!

I don't have any classes tomorrow, although I do have to go to school to pick up my student ID, so I can stay up late reading in this empty house and sleep in late too. It was so horrible getting up this morning cause the partyers kept me up; the only way I managed was by telling myself that I could sleep in tomorrow. I could get used to this 3-day weekend thing!

Martha, the apartment manager, came in today with a maintenance man to look at the washing machine. After partially flooding the floor again, he decided that he would have to order the parts to fix it, so it'll be a while yet. But at least there's some attention to the problem now! My roommates haven't done any laundry yet, and are starting to wonder when/where they can. Hopefully the laundromat across the street will let them!

All right...I think I'm done for now. Be prepared for lots of pictures if I go on the tour this weekend! I can start checking items off my list already. Good deal!

Good night.