Ireland has what is known as an "oceanic climate," temperate and with very few extremes. This is quite different from Michigan, which is quite extreme, temperature-wise-- well below freezing all winter, above 80° F most of the summer. Ireland, on the other hand, rarely gets down to freezing at all. I can count the number of times I've seen snow here in the last two years on one hand. And even then, it has always melted away by the end of the day. Of course, it also rarely gets above 70° F in the summer; I can also count the number of times I've worn shorts or short skirts in this country on one hand.
This is both the feature I love and hate the most about living in Ireland. My wardrobe year-round has very little variation, which gets rather monotonous. All summer, I miss the hot Michigan weather... I would much rather be too hot than too cold, and where I grew up I could just drive down to the beach any time I felt like it. Even when I was in college, I could either run down to the athletic center and use the pool, or drive up to Lake Lansing and take a swim there. Of course, all winter I love it here, because I don't have to deal with the horrible bitter cold. I never, ever miss the snow. I would be perfectly happy to have a completely green Christmas and never see the stuff at all. (Jim once described me as being "allergic to snow.")
As of this month, Ireland has finally swung into the time of year when I'm happier with the weather here and not jealous of my friends and family in Michigan. Galway has been almost unseasonably warm for the last two weeks-- on Wednesday this week, it was probably around 65° F! Today it is a little colder and rainy, but altogether it has been a very dry autumn, with only a few really rainy days.
Autumn used to make me feel a little depressed, because it meant that summer was dying away and that winter was creeping in. Here, I don't mind it so much, because even though winter is creeping in, that isn't so bad! I feel like I can enjoy the smell of fall leaves and the fresh produce, apples and pumpkins, much more in Ireland because I know they aren't harbingers of snow. Just more rain, which I can deal with.
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Other than enjoying the nice weather, I have been very busy. Mostly, with doctoral stuff-- I have to write a chapter of my thesis by Christmas, so that is eating up most of my time right now. Also, I have a 5,000 word paper due November 2. Which I haven't started. And, to top this off, I have had a surprisingly busy social life as well! I have had dinner with friends five times in the last two weeks. Last night, my friend Bri had a housewarming party, which ended up being fairly small but also fairly convivial, because everyone who attended brought both wine and food. And for some reason, most people brought some type of Cabernet and some type of dip, myself included! Which, really, is everything a housewarming party needs.
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