Sorry to keep you all waiting.

A lot has happened the last couple of weeks and I studies have been very busy which did not really give me the opportunity to write something.

In the beginning of October René came by to visit me for the weekend. We went sightseeing in Dublin center and saw/ heard a few good street bands. That is something I really love here. In The Netherlands you have a lot of street musicians which can't play music but here the musicians are very good in general. I have uploaded 2 videos of the bands.

In the middle of October I went to Cork with the international student society (ISS) for one day. We went to Cobh where the Titanic had past and there was an exhibition about it. Cobh has not a lot to offer but is a nice and historical city. Next to that, we went to Cork itself which was just a big but nice shopping/ city center. In the end we went to the Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone which is supposed to give you the ability of speech. It was a very good day with some fellow classmates as you also can see in the pictures. The next day I went to Howth with Rose which is not really special but just nice to see as it is sort of in Dublin.

Last weekend I went to Derry in the north of Ireland (Great Britain) with the ISS. A friend I met during the introduction was the only girl I knew so I met a lot of new people. I especially loved the Giant's Causeway, it is a wonderful bit of nature and it was great to walk around there for a couple of hours. Derry has a very interesting history about the fight between the Protestants and Catholics however this fight is still going on, it is not as aggressive and physical as it was years ago. Next to that all, we had a nice Whiskey at Bushmills after an interesting tour around the brewery.

On Saturday evening in Derry we had a Halloween night out and we went to a Halloween fashion show. I bought a Joker costume which I also wore at the Halloween party at the University on the 31st which was Halloween night. First Halloween ever and it was a good one! Here Halloween is a real big deal but it sort of feels like carnival like we celebrate it but then also with scary costumes.

This weekend I will be busy with projects and other study activities as I have 2 presentations coming up and my parents are coming by next weekend. I guess with all the work still coming up this last month will fly by.

However Dublin is well developed there is a water shortage in the South. For that reason we don't have water between 8 P.M. and 7 A.M. As we have a reservoir here we have some water to spill during the evening/ night. The electricity was also gone this afternoon. I don't really know what was happening but currently it is working fine again. So hopefully it will be just fine for the rest of my stay here but I guess that I just have to wait and see.

Hugs and kisses from sweet Dublin!