Not long now!!!

T minus 3 days and counting till I leave for Ireland. I'm looking forward to it, which probably seems crazy to some people. It's gone very quiet over here as the guys who i'm living with have gone north to visit some friends in San Fran before they leave in August. I have the whole bedroom to myself which is actually quite strange. I've gotten used to sharing a room with 5, or sometimes 6, other fellas. They don't get back till Friday so we had our emotional goodbyes yesterday after watching the LA Galaxy vs Chelsea match (very disappointing by the way!!).

Its gotten fairly humid over here due to some monsoon thing further south but it's still manageable. I'm in a bit of a Harry Potter mode at the minute. We went to see the new movie a few nights ago and I just got the book today. Can't wait to get stuck into the book, all 759 pages of it. I've been avoiding the media as much as possible just in case some hateful newscaster or journalist lets something slip. There'd be hell to pay!!!

Anyway, i gotta run so i'll try and post again before I leave but if not you'll be hearing from me from Ireland!! Later

Tijuana

I went to Tijuana in Mexico last night for a night out. By night out I mean get over the border and straight into a taxi to the club, stay for the night and get a taxi back to the border. I didn't linger too long outside because its not the safest place to be. Wednesday night is Irish night in a club called Safari(*might want to turn your speakers down if you click that link!!*) where you pay $15 in and your drink is free for the night (a students dream!!). The place is an absolute dive but you dont really mind when you're been given free drink. We arrived around midnight and left around 6 and made it back to the apartment around half 7. The trolley/tram goes all the way to the border so its cheap and easy to get to. It was just like a night out at home to the point where I actually bumped into people I knew from home that i didn't realise were in San Diego.

I had my worries about going because you hear the stories and the even one of the guys in the apartment got a bad viral infection and was bed ridden for a few days after his first visit. You also need your passport and visa documents to get back in to the US so there's the hassle and worry of that as well. But it was defintiely worth the trip and its something i'm not gonna forget too quick.

In other news, I called USIT (my travel agent) to change my flights to ome home early and was told that all the flights in August were taken so I booked mine for the 25th of July, just under a fortnight from today. I know thats a bit early, considering that my original flights had me home on the 2nd of Septmeber but with going to Berlin in September and having to repeat exams its the safest thing to do. Because of that I've decided not to look for a job as by the time I get it I'll be going home so its just a waste of time. I've done pretty much everything I want to do over here and I still have the two weeks to do whatever else I have to do.

Other than that its been pretty quiet over here. Still have to go to Seaworld etc but i'll get round to that tomorrow hopefully. I'm gonna run and get some food so i'll post again soon.

Update

I'm still waiting to hear about my interview with Abercrombie on Tuesday. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. I turned up about 15 minutes early and stood around waiting to be called. I could see the other candidates waiting and got talking to a few. Just after 4, we were all met by a lady and asked to follow her. So we all followed her as she led us out of the shop and towards a public square in front of the store. None of us had any idea what was going on as we all expected the usual kind of interview at a desk. We sat down on some steps and the interview began. I was competely thrown as I had prepared myself for a one on one interview. So this went on for an hour or so with the usual questions "Why would you suit Abercrombie and Fitch?" and "What is your defintion of diversity and do you think it's important?". It was really annoying becuase when you answered, you had to listen to everyone elses answer and curse as you thought "I should've said that!!". So when it was all over I asked how many hours we would be working and was told that they could only offer us two five hour shifts a week for minimum wage, working out around $70 a week, before tax. I haven't heard back from them yet and i'm still not sure if i'll take it if offered. I'll wait and see. I've applied to a few other places but by the time I get interviews and induction days it'll be the middle or late July. All the quick fix jobs have mostly been taken.

At the minute i'm toying with the idea of coming home early. I have to repeat exams in September and most of the people in the apartment are leaving at the start of August for different reasons. It hasn't really worked out the way any of us thought it would. It'd be nice to have a few weeks at home before I head onto Berlin, instead of the rushed plan I have at the minute where i'll have about 2 weeks to repeat exams, repack and leave again.

I'll have to think it through a bit more but i'll keep you posted.

Hollywood: The sequel!!

So the next day in Hollywood we went and did the tour of the sights and the stars homes. We got a crazy tour driver called Brian Donnelly who, surprise surprise, is of Irish decent and wanted to know if we knew anyone called Donnelly from Wicklow. Guess what our answer was!! He was a great tour guide and it lasted well over the time it was supposed to. Looking back at it now though it was a bit pointless because all I have is lots of pictures of gates. And I cant remember who owned the gates either. After that was over we wnet to see the new Die Hard movie in that Chinese cinema where the premiers are held. The girls did a bit of shopping and we all headed back to the motel and crashed for the evening. It was the first time in a while that any of us had seen a TV so there was great excitment.

The next day we went to Ripleys Believe or Not Emporium which suited us all as it wasn't to taxing on the brain. We walked around for a while after that and eventually headed for the bus station. The bus journey home was incredible as we got to watch the sun set over the pacific.

In other news, I finally got my Social Security number so i can get a job. i have two interviews tomorrow, one in Abercrombie and the other in Blockbuster movies. Fingers crossed. I found a web cafe that lets me upload pictures so expect some in the next few days.

My time is about to run out so i'll post again as soon as something else happens.