Why did I buy a new umbrella...

...when I don't even bother to look out my window to see if it's raining? I've been so spoiled for the last two weeks because it has not rained at all. It was basically a drought in Ireland. This morning when I went to class it was a little colder than usual but dry. This afternoon when I left for my evening class, I got wet. And I hadn't even chosen my raincoat today so I was wet in my North Face. Luckily it wasn't too bad and everything is dry now. I will have to be more careful in the future so I can actually use that umbrella I paid 12 euro for.

In other news, tomorrow is my first choir rehearsal and we get pizza! It will be my first pizza in Ireland so I am very excited. I'm sad though because the first choir concert is in Sligo for the weekend of October 17-19 but I'll be in Paris. I guess I should just be happy that I'll be in Paris, haha.

I'm trying to make it to Thursday without going to an ATM because last week was an expensive week (did some hardcore shopping in town and Eyre Square mall...my closet was happy, my wallet was not). I've been collecting all my loose change in a pile and today I just noticed that it was getting to be a pretty big pile. So, I counted it and it was 15 euro! All right, gotta love those 2 euro coins that look like quarters. I also like looking at the coins because there's always a chance I got one from a different country. For some reason we get a lot of Spain's coins up here but I've also seen some from countries who, oddly, don't put their name on the coin. What's up with that? This weekend in Scotland I'll be using the pound which puts a lot of fear in my heart because, as terrible as the US dollar is against the euro, it's absolutely killed by the pound. That is another reason we have not planned a trip to London...it's really depressing on our debit cards.

A pile of euro change. The 1 euro and 2 euro coins are two tone and the pennies are very tiny and cute. There are: 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, 1 euro, and 2 euro. Glad I don't have to teach first graders to distinguish from among all of those types of coins!

Gonna go make some dinner now. We're having sausage and vegetables and maybe some potato wedges tonight. Yum.