Missing Dad's Cooking

Well I have been in Ireland for a little over two weeks now and one of the things I am missing the most from back home is Dad's cooking. My first two weeks here I was living off pasta, ham sandwiches, apples, lettuce, and peanut butter. I was so sick of having sandwiches and pasta for dinner! So when I went grocery shopping this last Sunday the majority of my basket was filled with meat! At home I am so use to having some sort of meat every single day; either beef, chicken, pork, or venison (which I think I miss the most cause I know I can't get any of that here). Needless to say I think I was suffering withdrawals from not having enough meat in my diet. So I bought myself some chicken breasts, pork chops, hamburger meat, and beef tips. I was so excited that I would finally get to make some meals with my favorite food group in them-meat. So Monday night I made myself some mashed potatoes with beef tips and gravy. It looked just like something dad would make. Then Tuesday I made rice and chicken, which was delicious. Last night was tacos and tonight I'm making mashed potatoes and a pork chop. None of it so far as been anywhere near as good as Dad's cooking but I'm trying and I'm thinking I may need to have a skype date with Dad soon so that he can give me some tips on how to make some things.
Other then being excited about finally getting some good meals, I am also now into my second week of classes. My Irish folklore class seems interesting, we learned about a festival that just took place yesterday called the Festival of Brigid. It signifies the beginning of spring and planting season for the farmers. I'm kinda excited about my Irish music class cause I'm going to get to learn how to Irish dance, which is cool. My Global Economy class however is not exciting. I have a feeling I'll struggle in that one just cause I don't really care all too much for economics, but it's a class I have to take for one of my general education requirements back at St. Norbert. I'm still loving my equine and Ag classes. In equine we are learning about some diseases that horses are affected by. And in Ag we are learning about animal welfare and will be moving onto nutrition soon.
Besides classes I haven't been up to much. I did find out that we get free membership to the gym here so me and Marlo went and worked out in the fitness center on Tuesday. It felt good to get a workout in, although I had to use the eliptical machine which I don't care for too much but I can't run due to my shins so I'm stuck using that. I hope I'll get over there at least once a week if not more to get some sort of workout. Although the smell isn't too pleasant in there. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet or not but I don't think the Irish are users of deodorant, it can be found in the stores but apparently they don't know how to use it.
We've made really good friends with the group that I'm neighbors with. We go and hang out at their apartment a lot. We all get along really well and have lots of fun together. The other night we sorta had a girl's night. We played some cards and Marlo tried teaching us all how to dance. Oh and on Tuesday night we all went to a pub on campus where an Irish band was playing. I think they were just some students that had a band, but they were really good. It was the first time I really felt like I was in a Irish pub.
Ok I think that's all I've got for now. We might be taking a trip down to Cork this weekend so if we do I'll be sure to post an update after that with some pictures.