Yesterday was a wonderful day, mostly spent at the Graveyard Beach just outside of town. I finally got the chance to go swimming, which proved to be much more difficult than one would anticipate. The water was both very cold and very salty, but let it be known that this was the first time I have ever swam in the ocean! So a couple of us swam out to a rock that was sticking up. On the way there, I swear that the under-water rocks jumped up out of nowhere. We, unfortunately did not see them and are now a little worse for the wear. A few knuckle and leg scrapes, and a bunch of bruises later, we made it to the rock that we had intended to make it to. As we sat on the rock, we watched the beach flood with teenagers from the Colaiste Samhradh beside the Acadamh. Great, the one say we decide to take a trip to what is usually a rather secluded beach the kids have their field trip. Ah well. We sat there so a bit and then swam back, a journey about which we were much more careful. One other girl and I then walked along the beach to a more quiet location and played guitar and sang. And then the others came looking for us as everyone else had left and we had to call our taxi to get home soon. And that we did.

We ate dinner, which was wonderful as per usual. Julie (Bean an Ti) then drove us back into town to go to Mass. After Mass, we sat down by the pier and had a couple of drinks as we watched the sun set over the water. What a wonderful way to spend the evening. We joined the others at Ti Se’s later in the evening, but were no there long, as they were all planning on going to a very sketchy ridiculously expensive night club that we wanted no part in. So, we went home. A grand day out, indeed.

Today, myself and another housemate walked back to that beach, as she had not yet had the chance to go. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. We stayed for around forty-five minutes and then walked back into town, called a taxi, and went home. I needed to study, but I knew that I was not going to be able to sit at home all day and read, so I thought I would get the restlessness out of my system early by going for this walk.

My house mates and I were sitting around the dinner table after having finished our Sunday dinner. We, for some reason, began talking about American Folk songs. We then burst out into a lovely rendition of My Clementine, She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain, and Home on the Range. One of the girls then asked Tasha and I if we knew any Canadian Folk songs. Now, I am sure there are, but being put on the spot, all I could remember was I’s the By. Then Tasha asked, “Hey, do you want to learn to Mill?” Milling, my dear blog readers, is one of the most fun things people can do together on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I, of course, enthusiastically responded that milling would be a great idea. The other girls looked at us like we were crazy, but I can assure you that we are not. They quickly learned that milling is great fun. We get a blanket and milled to a few songs, and then our arms got sore, so we stopped. But please, check out the video! Also, note that Milling is a Nova Scotia thing. Great craic, for sure! After this great event, one of my housemates affectionately commented, “We’re not drunk, we’re just eccentric.” While everyone else is at the pub doing crazy things because they have been drinking, we are sitting at home doing crazy things entirely out of our own free will.

For the rest of the day, I studied. However, at one point, I decided to get a grammar book out of my room to practice. I got to my room, laid down on my bed, and re-emerged three hours later, grammar book in hand. Obviously I was tired.

While playing Uno the other night at the pub, I put a card down on the pile and knocked over the other pile. I did this a couple more times over the course of the game. The term “Canada Slam” was born out of this and now I have decided that when telling people how my knuckles got all cut up, I am going to tell them that I wrestled a moose to the ground with my bare hands. The going was tough, but I used my Canada Slam and took it down!