Cue Torrential Downpour

Today started off nice enough - a little on the chilly side, but it was tolerable. Sarah, Dani, and I biked to work and started on our projects. I got into PCR and running gels, so it was a nice change of pace. Our PCR worked (yay!), and we found 3 isolates positive for a tetracycline-resistant gene (tetracycline is a common antibiotic). There was a bit more people at tea break today, so that was fun. Sarah and I also helped Dani get adjusted to more aspects of the job. For lunch, the three of us walked down to Subway, which was a good 10 minutes, but worthwhile. Good, cheap meal. After lunch, I set up another PCR to run over night, and went down for tea to celebrate Niall's graduation (he just got his PhD) with tea and cake. Yum!

It had rained pretty harshly while we were at work (a first for me since I've been here), and it drizzled quite a bit on the bike ride home. After I checked my email and such, I finally got a call from Shelby saying that she and the other LSU kids had made it into Galway and were at a pub off Shop Street. I took a shuttle down there and met up with her and Amanda Glinky, and saw a bunch of other kids I knew. It was pretty cool. I even ran into Caitlin Hill (my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Wilburn's daughter). Gotta love OS kids.

I took Shelby and Amanda to Finnegan's (the Irish pub I've been to twice for food), and they both had an experience with a full Irish Breakfast. Lots of fun. From there, I walked with them for a bit around town in the rain before we caught a cab back to their apartment. We did some shopping at Dunnes for Shelby, and then I toured their living area. It's so much nicer than ours. I'd be so much happier if I had a broadband connection like they do, instead of crappy wireless. Lol. Ah well...maybe I'll just go bum some internet off them for a few nights. :)

They were both pretty exhausted after that, so I headed back to Eyre Square alone to meet up with my roommates at Taafe's - the same Irish pub I went to on the first full program day (after our Galway City tour). They had live Irish music playing, which was lots of fun. We headed home in the hurricane-like rain and caught a taxi to stay dry. I didn't think it rained like that here! But we made it safely and semi-wet. I just feel bad for the LSU kids...having that be their first introduction to the Emerald Isle when mine was gorgeous, 80-degree weather.

I'm really glad to have seen people I know from home today. I miss it a lot...but this makes me less homesick. Hopefully other people will get the idea to follow suit and come see me. I can be optimistic, right? Haha. Well, I think I'm going to watch another episode of Top Chef and get to bed. Cheers!