Some more random pictures from Ireland so far...

 All the girls from Linfield.

 Amanda and I

 Flower stand in Dublin, Ireland.

 Bridge in Dublin. We had beautiful weather the first day in Dublin!

 St. Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin

 Christ Church, Dublin

 Also Christ Church, Dublin

 This used to be a church, but is now the tourist center in Dublin

 More of the tourist center in Dublin

 Cool door just outside the Dublin Castle

 Amanda and I drinking our free Guinness at the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin

 Our second hike to the Twelve Bens - cold and windy, but at least no rain that day.

 Kylemore Abbey, where our hike ended at the Twelve Bens

 Kylemore Abbey from across the lake.

 Amanda and I

 Cliffs of Moher in the pouring rain!

 Cliffs of Moher

More Cliffs of Moher

Some of the girls from Linfield

Paris, Amsterdam and Belgium?? Check.

Spur of the moment decision yesterday night: booked a flight to Paris.

Yesss, Brenna Patterson (another student from Linfield) and I will be going to Paris Thursday March 3rd - Monday March 7th!

Any suggestions on what to do, where to go, what to visit, or where to stay would be greatly appreciated!


Also: my roommates and I booked our trip to Amsterdam and Belgium for the following weekend as well. Audrey Germer is finally going to start traveling around Europe. So exciting! We will be in Amsterdam and Brussels from Friday morning, March 11th - Monday evening, March 14th!

Any suggestions about things to do, see, where to stay, etc. for Amsterdam or Belgium would be much appreciated as well!

More Pictures

 This is my bedroom. There's also a little desk and one tiny closet.

 Here's our family room and our kitchen table.

 Here's part of our kitchen.

A sign in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin :)

Another Life Update

Hi All:

Been a little while since I've updated the blog. Nothing extraordinarily exciting to report about my life these days. School is in full swing, and I actually completed my first academic endeavor in nearly two months: yes I successfully wrote my first research paper in Ireland since I've arrived. Clearly, I've been spending the majority of my time on academia over here. Not.

Actually, I have been spending my time reading books, walking, shopping, walking, napping, walking and catching up on every episode of Friends ever made. We have approximately 10 channels on our "cable" TV, and Friends is on at least three times a day, every single day. Weekends are no exception. Three or four episodes play in the morning, early evening, and late evening.

Here's the highlights of Ireland of February so far:

1) We are finally getting our travel plans all figured out! We booked our roommate trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands and Brussels, Belgium for early March. We will have almost four full days to explore two new countries! Amanda and I will also be visiting Spain and Portugal in April during our Easter break. Brenna and I will most likely be visiting France. And then, when my cousin, my mom and my brother come visit, we will see France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Greece. Can't wait!

2) Amanda and I visited the Cliffs of Moher. Unbeknownst to us when we signed up, the tour was an entire day. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible! It rained the entire day, and we were soaked. We smelled like wet dogs when we got back to our apartment.  Our bus driver was awkward and despite his best efforts, humorless. Although, during one of our very random stops at a local family farm, we did see a calf that had been born only two hours prior to our arrival, so that was exciting.

Also, for any of you who have seen the movie Leap Year, at one point they have to stop driving and wait for cows to cross the road. Beware: that actually DOES happen in Ireland. Who knew? During our tour, our bus was stopped for a good few minutes waiting for the lovely cows to slowly cross the road.

Despite the poor weather and even worse tour guide, the Cliffs were phenomenal! Because it was raining, it was a bit foggy, and the cliffs had an almost mystical look. Breathtaking, really.

3) I've been volunteering at a homework club at a local elementary school one day a week. The kids are always fascinated that we're American. They say we sound just like the people on TV do. They laugh at the words we use that are different from them, and they ask us every single time about Sylvester Stallone (aka Rocky Balboa) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. There is a very apparent obsession with these two American movie stars. Of all the famous people in America, why the little boys in Ireland are so stuck on  Rocky and "Arnie" (as they affectionately call him) is completely beyond me.

Nonetheless, it has started becoming almost a game. Everytime I go in, they ask me about Rocky or Arnie, and everyday I make up a new story and see how much they believe. One week I told them I dated Arnie, another time I told the boys I babysat Rocky's dog, another time I told them I was Rocky's neighbor, and every week Arnie and I went out to dinner. Just another average day in the life of Audrey Germer, no big deal. Eventually, they catch on that I might not be telling the complete truth, and then I tell them they should focus more of their attention on their homework instead of Rocky and Arnold, and we all move on with our lives.

Yet another obsession of the elementary school aged boys is, of course, Michael Jackson. They know every song. Even better, though, they can dance like MJ! This one kid actually jumped out of his seat to demonstrate said dance moves. And he was good! He did the signature MJ spin/dance move, and he moon walked about half the length of the classroom. Never a dull day in homework club.

4) I'm finally getting the hang of the differences between here and home. Just some really random stuff I've noticed:

-EVERY female in Ireland wears boots - almost nobody except international students wear tennis shoes or flats or VANS or any other type of shoe.

-The girls here wear high heels whenever they go out to pubs or clubs. Unfortunately, since most of the streets downtown are cobblestone, their heels get stuck in the ridges when they're walking, making their walking look almost like constant stumbling. Hence, they are often nicknamed "baby deer" since they stumble along as they walk, just like baby deer do.

- No female here wears any type of jean besides skinny jeans. Literally every single girl that wears jeans has on skinny jeans and either ankle boots or knee high boots, or heels. And yes, wearing heels to class is not uncommon at all.

- There is no macaroni and cheese to be found anywhere in Ireland. I have now checked just about every single grocery store in Galway. Also, there is no pre-made cookie dough. And, nobody in Ireland eats peanut butter or sugar cookies. Most Irish kids have never eaten a peanut butter and jelly in sandwich in their lives (I'm not sure how they've survived without this college student diet staple either) or tasted a sugar cookie.

-Cars do NOT yield to pedestrians.

- Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister are the coolest brands here. And it's the most conspicuous, bright colors with big white stitching on the shirts declaring the brand that are popular. It's apparently a sign of status if you can afford these brands because you have to buy them online and ship them to Ireland from the States, as there are no branches of either of these stores anywhere in Ireland.  Totally different from America, where most people over the age of 15 start to move away from these brands.

5) Just some new vocab I've learned while I've been here:

- students say "rubber" instead of eraser - the kids at homework club actually had no idea what I was talking about the first time I said eraser

- almost everybody here says "hiya" or "hallo" instead of "hi" or "hello"

- everybody says "you are all very welcome" whenever they meet you or greet you - it took me a long time to realize this was not in response to somebody saying thank you, they just mean "welcome"

- not many people say thank you - they say thanks a million

- people say thanks wayyy more here than in America. Whenever you visit a store, even just the grocery store, the sales people say thanks at least four times while you're checking out.

-instead of "check marks" people say "ticks" - as in, they make a list of things to do, and when they have completed a task, they say that they can "give myself a tick" and then they check off that task

-"Craic" is the cool word in Ireland - it means fun, or a good time, but is used in many different ways. People might say "what's the craic?" when they see you (aka what's up?), or "that's good craic" (aka that's great fun), or say "we are having a craic" (aka we are having fun, or having a great time)

-nobody says line, instead, they say que. As in, "get in que" or "que up"

That's all for now, dinner's almost ready. Miss you all!

Update: The Life of Audrey Germer A-Z

Time for another update I suppose. The life of Audrey Germer has been...

Abundant - seems like there's endless things to do, people to meet, places to visit, and foods to try! There's also an abundance of rain, wind (I'm on my third umbrella already), and rock walls. The only thing we don't have an abundance of here is hot water!

Busy - school is finally in full swing, and although we don't have a lot of small assignments, the papers we have require much research and reading and are worth hefty portions of our grade. Who am I kidding...two or three papers or tests are worth our entire grade.

Confusing - although almost everyone here speaks English, it's still taking some time to adjust to the new culture, slang vocabulary, and new customs. I'm enjoying learning the ways of the Irish, but I often still get lost or find myself confused.


Delicious - have I mentioned the food here? I know this isn't a food journal, but if it were, I would have much to say. Pastries and bread (particularly chocolate croissants, baguettes, and cheese rolls) are now my main food group, as is chocolate. Cadbury chocolate to be precise, and although the caramel chocolate bars are my favorite, the milk and dark chocolate bars tie for a close second.

Exciting - SO exciting! It's exciting living in a new place, learning new things, and seeing places I've only dreamed about.

Fun - it's fun to be on my own, in such a beautiful place, with so much to do.

Green - Ireland is sort of like Oregon in that there is so much green space everywhere, even in the cities. Not as many tall trees, but still lots of green.


Hair - who knew hair color was such a big deal around here? There are a lot of fake blondes, and a lot of red heads here, both real and fake. Whoever said red hair was going to become extinct should just come to Ireland, I bet they would change their mind. Here's some new vocab for you all since apparently not all red heads like to be considered just a boring ginger: a Bringe is a red head with more of a brown/red shade, while a Blinge is a red head with more of a blonde/red shade of hair.


I can't think of any words that start with I besides iceberg lettuce, ice cream and Ikea, and none of those words really apply to my life right now since I haven't seen a Cold Stone here yet.


Jersey Shore deprived - self explanatory for all the guidos and guidettes out there :)


Kold - i know that's the wrong way to spell cold, but I needed a word that started with K, and I'm cold around here most of the time. Probably because it's rainy, and windy, and the middle of January and we have to walk everywhere, but even with our heaters on as high as they go, seems like I am perpetually cold!

Lovely - just because lovely is one of my top five favorite words. I suppose my life is lovely here too.

Missing everybody- I'm enjoying my time and experiences here, but I do sincerely MISS everybody at home, and I think about you all the time.


Nutella - Yes, nutella gets it's own category. If I could eat only one food for the rest of my life, I'm almost positive I'd pick Nutella.

Outdoorsy - I spend much of my time outdoors when the weather is not terrible. Many of the tourist attractions in Ireland are scenic, outdoor locations. We also joined the Mountaineering Club at school, so every Sunday we go on hikes to unbelievable places in Ireland. So far, I've hiked The Burren National Park in County Clare, and part of the mountains in The Twelve Bens in Connemara, which ended at the Kylemore Abbey - stunning.


Parties & Pubs- the Irish LOVE to party. It's completely socially acceptable to party here any and every day or night of the week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the huge party days for pubs, although people party whenever and wherever they see fit. And the girls dress up, I'm talking serious dress up, when they go out. Heels, skimpy dresses, sequins, lots of make up, and lace seem to be the hits around here. They make Jersey Shore attire look pretty standard. I think that's why it's so easy to tell the difference between American and Irish girls when we go out - we just don't look anything like Irish girls.


Quite an experience - it's everything I imagined, and nothing like I imagined.

Rainy - lots of rain here, just like Oregon. It just seems worse because we walk everywhere.


St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church, Temple Bar District, the play Aladdin at the Gaiety Theatre, first hostel experience ever, St. Andrew's Church, Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, Grafton Street, Ha'penny Bridge, Dublin Post Office, National Gallery of Ireland, The Four Courts, Customs House, Dublin Castle, and Guinness Storehouse were all places we visited or things we did when we took a trip to Dublin for the weekend!


Temporary - although I'm here for almost half a year, living out of suitcases reminds me this is only temporary, and I'll be home catching up with friends and family, eating refried beans (they don't have those here), watching American TV, and missing Ireland before I know it. Hard to believe it's already February.


Unexpected - we went to Dublin two weekends ago, and decided on sort of a whim to see the play Aladdin. Guess we should have suspected something was different when we walked in and the majority of the audience was under the age of 10, and holding light up toys in the air. Little did we know (and little did our ticket seller tell us!) this was a "modern rendition" of Aladdin, complete with required audience participation, cheesy jokes, and modern American songs by artists such as Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Journey, and the like. The song for the love scene was "True Colors" - if that doesn't say classy, I'm not sure what does. At that point, I started laughing so hard I cried. Nobody else except Amanda and I thought it was funny. Although unexpected, I think the play was my favorite part of the trip.

Very impressed if you're still reading by this point!


Walking - we walk everywhere! The good news: I'm going to have the best legs ever since we walk so much. I'd say on a slow day, I walk a minimum of 4 miles. Most days I walk around 5-8 miles, and on days where we travel or spend the majority of the day out, we walk well over 8 miles!

X is an awkward letter, so I'll just pick F again instead. Here's your Irish Fun Fact of the day: everybody knows Guinness is a huge deal in Ireland, to put it moderately. But, did you know that drinking a pint of Guinness is almost as nourishing as eating a loaf of bread, and in 1794, Arthur Guinness (creator) signed a 9,000 year lease for the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin at an annual rate of £45. Smart lad.


Yikes, 26 things is actually a lot of things to come up with, even with the couple times I've cheated.


Zoo, zebra, zest, zit, zero, and zilch are the only words I know that start with Z...and none of those apply to my life at the moment, so I guess this is the end of the update for now!