Here we go again

I never really stopped doing my blog, but I'm going to start writing a little more regularly now (hopefully!) Although I won't be the Galway Girl anymore, the Dublin Girl does not have quite the same ring to it so I will be sticking with this title. :)
I am about 3 months out from flying to Dublin to start grad school! It seems so close and so far away at the same time. Currently, my preparations for Ireland consists of working at the Baker Archives and the Walmart in Lawrence. I've started a savings account at home entitled "Ireland fund" (much safer than my envelope all the money was in! Now I can't access it anytime I want Taco Bell!) Other than saving, I can't really do much in preparation until I receive all the official stuff from UCD. For some reason they think graduating is a prereq to grad school (lol) so my official transcript is en route to Dublin, then they'll send me a packet via snail mail in return. This is when I really hate how slow overseas mail is.
Once I receive my packet, my 'to do' list is sure to grow. Right now it merely consists of scholarship search, graduation thank yous, and Ashley's Christmas gift (yes, from last Christmas - she'll get it eventually!) I still need to find a job in Dublin, find a place to live, and buy a plane ticket. I was hoping my unused Italy ticket would be able to be changed, but the tour company said that they can't do that. :( Sad day.
At least while I play the waiting game I have plenty of reading to keep me busy! I just brought home two books my parents borrowed from one of the Sisters in Concordia called Absolution by Murder and Suffer Little Children by Peter Tremayne (both mysteries of Ancient Ireland), I have two from the Baker Archives entitled How the Irish Saved Civilization (love this title) by Thomas Cahill and A History of Ireland by Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, and I have two from my advisor, one of which I've had since January (senior sems pretty much took care of any free reading time this past semester) called The Twilight Lords by Richard Berleth which is, surprise, about Ireland during Elizabeth I's reign. Hmmm....all of these books are about Ireland. I'm sensing a theme. The other one from my advisor is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke which is about fairies, but takes place in England so a little different. I also have another book given to me by another professor called South of Broad by Pat Conroy which is actually not about Ireland! So needless to say, I have plenty of reading material for the summer! Oh - I almost forgot the book I'm currently reading! It's called Delaying the Real World by Colleen Kinder. It basically tells you how to put off an office job and do something fun that gives you a unique life experience - pretty much the best book ever!
Well, this became a longer post than I thought it was going to be! I think I'm going to start ending these posts with unique pieces of Irish wisdom. Here's the first:
The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke. The Scots still haven't figured it out.