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MONDAY February 23, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 23, 2003 Ashlander in Ireland finding a vastly different world Staff Reports Ashland resident Logan Steinfeld is a high school junior studying abroad this year in Galway, Ireland. He is participating in a foreign-exchange program with the Center for Cultural Interchange, C.C.I. He will return to Ashland High School next year as a senior. In preparing for his year abroad, Steinfeld wanted to go to an English-speaking country, so he researched exchanges in South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland. He chose to go to Ireland because that's where his cultural roots are. We asked him to give us an idea about what it's like living in Galway and tell us how he plans to spend his Christmas. Here's what he wrote. Ireland is a country that can go through so much hardship and still laugh. It's a country that can build you and make you strong. I have been living here in Galway, Ireland for four months and I've really been enjoying it. I've met so many new characters - some good, some bad and some just a little bit crazy. It's not like Ashland where the crime rate is low and the only thing kids fear are cops. Here kids fear traveling folk, "knackers," who will take your money and beat you down. But as I have learned this is not just an Ireland thing it's common all over Europe, pretty much everywhere outside of Ashland. I wear a school uniform everyday. I think it's kind of classy, though. School lasts six and a half hours and I have nine classes a day. On the weekend I mostly skate with the locals or find my way into some pub where I'll strike up a conversation with total strangers. We mostly end up laughing. They will give you advice like "keep that lighter, some pretty gal will ask you for a light and if you don't got it, they'll just move on to the next guy" and will defend you when the pub manager asks if you are 18. My host family has been nice. I have an Irish brother and sister and then another sister from Spain. There is always something to do. For Christmas I am hoping to go to a relative's house, but if that falls through I can always go swimming with a bunch of old, naked guys in the ocean. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: A new improved archive search is coming! Look for it in mid-February! .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams