Some high and low points:

Yays

*Yay to Irish people in general who help you with directions.

*Yay to good food. My host mother makes great dinners.

*Yay for the weather being extremely nice. All of June and this week has been sunny and warm. The only storm we’ve gotten since I have been here was at 3:30 in the morning.

*Yay to having nice people at work and other interns to meet up with.

*Yay for two hour conversations on Switzerland, Italy, America and their differences. I feel so much more informed!

*Yay to the word “gotcha.” For some reason it is well-liked by non Americans (and I didn’t realize how many times I say it in a day).

*Yay to Noriko, the Japanese exchange student that I live with. It's more fun to tour Dublin with people, and she has been great!

*Yay to being exceptionally well-informed in world news due to reading and rewriting it five hours a day.

*Yay to eating at Subway today. Smelled like home!

*Yay to accents. Love the accents.

*And Yay to only working from 10-5. It’s great.

Yucks

*Yuck to having to always try and convert Celsius and military time in my head.

*Yuck to not really knowing if I have a curfew or trying to remember which key and what alarm. Living with a host family is great, but confusing too.

*Yuck to trying to figure out the buses. I know my usual one and a few important stops, but there are no bus maps ANYWHERE, including online. There are a few guides, but I need something like the New York subway map.

*Yuck to the lack of air conditioning. I know they really don’t need it when it’s only warm maybe 3 months out of the year, but this heat wave has me sleeping on top of my covers.

*Yuck to cellphones. No double yuck to “mobile phones.” That is a long story I am not even sure I want to talk about.

*Yuck to the hot and cold, bipolar shower that I’m still not sure if I am supposed to turn off and on in between shampooing and conditioning.

Overall, yay to Ireland.