Mmm..I'm cuddled up in my flat, hiding from the typical Irish weather: rain.

Life is good my friends, life is good.  The best part of this past week was SURFING.  I signed up to try to my uni's "Surf Club", and the first day was on Wednesday.  I am not lying when I say that it was up there with some of the best days of my life.  Picture the sun shining and the skies are blue. I get picked up by a couple Irish surfer 'dudes' and arrive in Portrush (town on the coast) and I am given a full body wetsuit. Uh oh. Myself and 25 other beginners make a huge circle on the beach and our kind instructor Carl proceeds to teach us the in's and out's.  Then we all run into the water and are pushed around by the waves, falling haphazardly from our boards, pitifully face-planting, splashing and all the while trying not to kill everyone. I got up again (I surfed once in Hawaii as well), and it was a most successful day! I am seriously considering joining the club and going every week. Gnarly bra!

As far as a class update: uhhhhh. I don't know what to say.  My classes actually require a lot less work than Whitworth, and my only true work to be turned in are the mid-term and final papers. It's hard to get motivated school-wise even though my professors are passionate and interesting.

What I am motivated about are my upcoming trips: October's will be Dublin! Galway! Barcelona! and Scotland! When we plan our traveling adventures, I am a kid in a candy store! I have found a true passion for making travel plans and figuring out the little details like transportation, housing etc. Who knew?

This past Saturday a bunch of us international students went to the 'Glens of Antrim'. It is a national park that has pretty much the only trees in the area. It looked soooo much like Portland and the westside, that I felt like I was home again! We hike about 7 miles total and got to see some pretty waterfalls and breathtaking scenery of a valley and the ocean. Some pictures are up on Facebook if you want to see them.

Also---at the Christian Student Union worship service this week, we sang Phil Wickham's "You're Beautiful" and it made me cry a little bit. It was such a nice gift from God to have one of my favorite songs.  It reminded me that God is the same everywhere; whether I am here, home, or the ends of the earth. He is with me and he will be my portion forever :)

Take care everyone!