Today's Killer Workout

Still no rain today- and I was counting on wearing my rainboots! I've heard I should enjoy the nice weather (even if the skies are gray and overcast). Today's weather was similar to the past few days: gray sky, some sun, and windy: 10 degrees Celsius, or 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It's more difficult to get up for class here, as the sun doesn't come up until around 8:30am. And the sun doesn't always come out, even when it does it's normally not until the afternoon. Sunset's around 4:30pm, similar to home but still too early for my liking.

After Irish Society and History today, I spent a solid two hours reading for class. I guess I wasn't expecting to have as much reading as I do, and I've got an chapter to read yet. It is interesting, and I feel like I'm learning a lot about the country everyday.

Tonight, two of my suitemates, Marion and Jack, and I took a class at the sport center called "Core Attack." I should have known just by the name of the class that it would've been challenging. The class was 30 minutes long, and consisted of seven different stations with different abdominal exercises. With mats set up in a circle, there were probably about ten of us total in the class (3 of us being Americans). Some of the exercises were familiar: plank-style positions while lifting a weight with one hand and raising the opposite leg, a v-style sit-up held in position, and another plank-style position while balancing your forearms on a stability ball. Some different exercises that I've never hear of before: the spiderman crawl (similar to an army crawl, but without touching your stomach to the ground) and the burpee (a combination of an up-down and a star jump). Let's just say I hope we didn't embarrass ourselves among a class of Irish who've probably done the class or these exercises all of their lives. It was a great workout- I'm exhausted tonight because of it!

Two more classes tomorrow, and then it's the weekend. Many of the people in our group will probably head into the city tomorrow night for some fun, and to celebrate Casey's birthday and the end of the first week of classes. My friend Ashley, who is studying in London for five weeks is coming to Dublin this weekend with some of her friends. I'm so excited to see her and walk around the city all day.