My First Post (Old E-mails Unearthed)

Greetings all,

Well, in the vain of so many of my friends, I decided to start an online blog while abroad here in Ireland, and who knows, maybe I'll have it beyond this time as well. Right-o, I guess I'll start with a summary of my experiences abroad thus far by reposting some e-mails I sent out earlier...and then things will get more "up-to-date" as they happen ;).

Hey there all. I'm sending this from G-mail because it's faster andnicer. You can still feel free to e-mail me at fitzpant, I'll just usethis account to send pictures.Took a trip to the Burren, which is just across Galway Bay to thesouth. It was a bus tour, so we stopped at all the good spots, and anamazingly sunny day. The Burren is the 2nd largest Limestone formationin Europe (forgot where the largest one is.) Anyway, this firstpicture is from outside the Caves of Alweh on a mountainside lookingnorth across the bay to Galway (which you can just make out in thedistance.)The second picture is from the Cliffs of Mohrer, also limestone, andthe fort you see on the hillside was made by the British to defendagainst France during the Napoleonic Wars, apparently the Frenchmanaged to take that fort over, crazy French.Picture three was on the return leg of our voyage and those threehumps you see in the distance are the Aran Islands. While looking likeone lump mass, they're actually three separate islands. The one on theleft is the closest and the smallest, Inis Oirr (pronouncedInisheer...in Irish Gaelic it means "small island"), Inis Meain(Inishmann...medium) and Inis Mor (inishmore, "big island.") Theseislands are very traditional and the people there speak Irish Gaelic,not English. I should be taking a side-trip there soon.There you go...take it easy all. Hope all is well.-nate

Hey all,Well I'm finally into the "swing of things" over here. Had a jobinterview today and got a part-time, pretty loose job for consumerpromotions work. Basically if you've ever been to Costco and seen theguy making the smoothies or something, I'm doing the same thing, onlyin pubs and generally with alcoholic beverages. Work is whenever theyneed us, so we call ahead of time and say "I can work then"..in short,the perfect student job. I'm stoked.I'm also excited because my flat-mates and I are planning a trip toLondon a week from today. We'll take the train to Dublin, then fly outof Dublin on Thursday for London..spend a couple of days there andspend Sunday in Dublin touring the Guinesse Brewery and, in my case,stalking U2. You can rest assured that pictures and stories willfollow this epic trek.Now...onto the pictures:Picture number 1 is a rather dimly lit picture of the mainadministrative building on campus, the Aula Maxima. Basically it'slike Memorial at Whitman, only bigger and all European looking. It'sdefinately the prettiest building on campus though, so I thought I'dinclude it.Next up is another picture of the Cliffs of Mohrer in the Burren ofIreland..and for those of you who have seen the PrincessBride..yep..the Cliffs of Sorrow. This picture shows them a littlebetter.The third picture is my host family and my flat-mate Dan. Now you maybe asking "Hey, where's Nate?" I took the picture, and the one Dantook of me turned out blurry, so sadness there. The homestay was veryrelaxing: I spent a weekend in Castlebar eating good stew, drinkingtea, and sleeping. Can't ask for a better weekend. They're names arePaidrag (pronounced "porrick"...don't ask me ;) and Mary Lyons. Verynice people.And picture number four is the building I live in...Corrib Village.Our flat is the second story on the right of the building facing thepicture (not the other building off to the right.) The three guysstanding in front are Dan, Will, and the tall guy is our friend Mike.All of us are going on the London trip together.There you go. More pictures to come, I promise.Hope all is well. Feel free to send your monetary donations to 172.3Corrib Village, Galway, Ireland, or just write a check to my mom.Kidding :)-Nate

Hey all,Sorry I haven't written to all of you in so long. The time in Galwayhas gone by very quickly and classes are rocking and rolling. It'sbeen great fun thus far, with many nights out and me experimentingwith "budget" drinking, ie, ordering water in pubs ;). It works prettywell.The biggest event between the past e-mail and this one has been mytrip to London this past weekend. It was awesome, I went with myfriends Will and Dan (flat-mates) and Mike and Casey, who are alsogood friends and cool guys (these were the same guys that went on theBurren trip with me as well.)We left on Wednesday and got into Dublin that night, staying with oneof Will's friends and sleeping on the floor of their lounge. We thenflew out of Dublin the next day, and got into London around 6 thatnight. From there we really weren't sure where we were staying, butonce again Will came through and called a friend of his who had a flatin South Kensington, right near downtown. We stayed there, once againon the floor of a lounge, this time with 11 girls! (they lived in theapartment, not the lounge ;).After two nights in London and cramming as much as we could into thosenights, we flew back to Dublin tired and drained physically andfinancially, and thus another night in Dublin was not in the cards. Wetook the last bus back from Dublin to Galway and slept like champs.So..on to the pictures:-The first one is "the needle" in Dublin on O'Connor Street. That'snot really it's name, and I'm not sure of the official one, but itstands in the place of an old British made spire of much lesserheigth.-Number 2 is me in front of the Tower of London. Funny story here: wepurchased tickets for the "Big Bus" tour company, which meant we couldhop on and off whenever we wanted on a guided audio tour bus. We gotoff at the Tower, and there was a guy there trying to sell tickets tothe Tower. We asked him what the prices were, and he's like "so five
why the f*** did you ask me then?".....Mike (who\'s also an ice-creamman during the summer) replied "Because it\'s your job."...he lookedabout ready to fight us..it was pretty funny. Guess you had to bethere. Moving on...-Numero tres is me, on a boat, in front of Big Ben and the ParliamentBuilding. Here\'s a factoid I picked up: Big Ben isn\'t the name of theclocktower, but rather the bell inside of the tower (rumored to becracked.) The boat tour was also part of our tour bus ticket, so itended up being a good value tour. Way to go us.-And lastly, me in front of Buckingham Palace. The last day of ourLondon trip was spent there. They no longer have guards outside thegate, apparently they got abused too much.Yep, three out of the four pictures feature me, but hey, you don\'tmind do you? For those of you at home and at Whitman: don\'t worry,I\'ll probably force you through a power point presentation of my tripwith full naration once I get home *evil laugh.*Hope all is well, and, as always, feel free to forward this e-mail tothose you deem appropriate.Cheers,",1]
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tickets then right?" We said "no" and he got mad and asked us "wellwhy the f*** did you ask me then?".....Mike (who's also an ice-creamman during the summer) replied "Because it's your job."...he lookedabout ready to fight us..it was pretty funny. Guess you had to bethere. Moving on...-Numero tres is me, on a boat, in front of Big Ben and the ParliamentBuilding. Here's a factoid I picked up: Big Ben isn't the name of theclocktower, but rather the bell inside of the tower (rumored to becracked.) The boat tour was also part of our tour bus ticket, so itended up being a good value tour. Way to go us.-And lastly, me in front of Buckingham Palace. The last day of ourLondon trip was spent there. They no longer have guards outside thegate, apparently they got abused too much.Yep, three out of the four pictures feature me, but hey, you don'tmind do you? For those of you at home and at Whitman: don't worry,I'll probably force you through a power point presentation of my tripwith full naration once I get home *evil laugh.*Hope all is well, and, as always, feel free to forward this e-mail tothose you deem appropriate.Cheers,-Nathan

Hey all,It's been awhile since my last e-mail. Hope all is well and thatSpring is starting to bring some warmth. Over here it's beenrelatively nice, the weather fluctuates from relatively sunny torainy, and alot of times by rain I mean this misty-type substance thatreminds one of going into a shower.Anyhow, I'm officially employed for a local restaurant: Eddie Rockets(the European version of Johnny Rockets.) I wait tables, makemilkshakes, and wear a cool uniform while listening to 50s music.Shouldn't be a bad gig, and the income supplement will be very nice.On the other hand, it'll cut down on travel time, but it's a realisticsacrifice. As my new saying goes: You have to have money in order tospend money.I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet or not, but I've also joined anacapella group on campus here in Galway. We sing barbershop music andthere are 10 of us, so it's like being in the T-tones, only with musicthat I don't like as much. It's still a blast, and we got to sing atthe "Arts Ball," basically a prom for students majoring in an "Arts"subject (such as History, English, etc.) We got in for free, sang ourpieces, and had a great dinner and wine. I'm including one picturefrom that event in this e-mail for you. Otherwise I've been takingthings relatively easy now that paper deadlines are looming for myclasses. Galway's a great town with lots of fun bands playing, solately I've been going to different pubs to see different bands play.I've also been hanging out with my flat-mates and their guests (all ofus have friends and/or family coming during the course of our studieshere, so it's always nice to meet new people and take them on thetour.)Oh, and to all of you Whitman students, I've started posting pictureson whitties.com, so feel free to check out my ever-expanding album on
That\'s all for now. Enjoy the pictures.Cheers,-NatePicture 1: Here are my friend Thomas and I at the Arts Ball. Ouroutfit was a black shirt, black slacks, and black shoes with whiteties. This was after our gig and good times were to be had by all.Picture 2: This is a picture of Galway looking towards the citycenter. Lots of swans hang out around here and I\'m not sure why. Itwas a beautiful day, and if you look closely, you can see Galway\'sfamous "Spanish Arch," the squarish brick structure with a gate. Thiswas part of the old medieval town wall and was where Galway tradedwith Spanish merchants.Picture 3: This is from Salthill, a town about a 30 minute walk fromwhere I live. It\'s right on the water, and absolutely magnificentduring sunset. The land in the background is the Burren, where I spentsome time taking a tour about a month ago. Great area.",0]
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there.That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures.Cheers,-NatePicture 1: Here are my friend Thomas and I at the Arts Ball. Ouroutfit was a black shirt, black slacks, and black shoes with whiteties. This was after our gig and good times were to be had by all.Picture 2: This is a picture of Galway looking towards the citycenter. Lots of swans hang out around here and I'm not sure why. Itwas a beautiful day, and if you look closely, you can see Galway'sfamous "Spanish Arch," the squarish brick structure with a gate. Thiswas part of the old medieval town wall and was where Galway tradedwith Spanish merchants.Picture 3: This is from Salthill, a town about a 30 minute walk fromwhere I live. It's right on the water, and absolutely magnificentduring sunset. The land in the background is the Burren, where I spentsome time taking a tour about a month ago. Great area.