Observations

Observation number one that I've made of Ireland is the most irritating, but certainly not the most life-threatening. There is a serious lack of reasonably priced internet cafes in this country. They have free wi-fi all over the place, in almost every hostel I've stayed in, but if you don't have a computer it costs upwards of €5 an hour. This is going to be my excuse for never writing to all of you.

2. At this point of cycled both main and back roads throughout Southern Ireland and I've come to one very important conclusion. The only difference between a primary and secondary road in this country is the posted speed limit. The actual speed of the cars is rarely less than 100km/h no matter what the condition of the road. This is where the life-threatening comes in, as, in addition to this, the roads tend to not have a shoulder to cycle on. This, in conjunction with observation the third, is why i refuse to cycle at night. But I haven't been hit yet, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Third, people drink A LOT here. You see, I always thought that was just an exaggerated stereotype, but it really is almost a way of life. I was talking to a fisherman I asked for directions about this and I think he summed it up nicely with some advice he gave me. First of all he pointed out that Guiness isn't an easy drinking beer that you sip. He told me that when you go to the bar you can tell if a man is worth your while by how he drinks his Guiness. If he finishes it in 3-4 sips he's a good guy and you should go over and say hi. Anything more than that and he's probably either foreign or not much of anything really. And anything less than 3 and you should run out of the bar, preferably screaming. Words to live by ;-)

d) People are incredibly friendly in this country and have gone out of their way on numerous times to make me feel welcomed and at home. I've had people go out of their way to give me directions both unasked and when I've knocked on the door of their little farmhouse in the middle of no where (who would have thought there could be a middle of no where in a country so small?). Whenever I tell people about my trip they seem genuinely concerned about my safety, giving me good advice about places to go and the occasional phone number of a long lost relative up north. The whole country has the feeling of a large interconnected community or family. They may not always get along, but most of the teasing is good natured and filled with love.

And finally (for now), they spell my last name right! There are lots of ways to spell Connolly and in North America they usually spell it Connely, which drives me crazy to no end. I'm still not used to this strange peace of mind though; whenever I'm asked for my surname I immediately spell it after saying it and people give me funny looks as if to ask if I know where I am. But I think the best part of my last name is that when people ask what it is (and the Irish usually ask...probably to do with that very large community feel of the country), they become very excited to realize that I am (even if just a little) Irish :-)