So I've been home now for a few days and am house-sitting for these two dogs. (Well, actually for the people, but I am taking care of two dogs...) I really enjoy house-sitting but I always feel a little weird about sleeping in someone else's bed or using their shower. I tend to overthink things like "You usually use this and now I am...should I bring my own shampoo?"

Anyway.

I had a traumatic incident at a holiday party the other evening. I was filling my coffee cup with hot coffee when BAM, the bottom of my ceramic mug just dropped out onto the floor. Like, the WHOLE thing just went away. There was this perfect circle crack all around the mug where the bottom had just decided it didn't want to be attached anymore. (P.S. this is a ceramic mug. Like, legit. Not even paper!) Also, the cup happened to be full of hot coffee, which then spilled all over me and my cute dress.

I feel like I had one of those moments, when I was standing there covered in scalding coffee, where I really wanted to cry but couldn't cause I was in public. So instead I asked for a blowdryer to dry my dress. It was sad. And hot.

Now I am going to buy some Christmas presents and my mom is reminding me to water my plants. Ciao!

awkward is the new cool!

So I have been reading a lot of literary blogs lately, and have run across Good Reads. Anyone heard of good reads? For a read-y type person like me, it is basically awesome, since you can find books and rate them and see what other people are reading. Basically, I go on and rate YA books and snigger when I see that lots of people rated Twilight really low.

Yeah. that's right. I said snigger.

I was having this conversation with roommate J. last night and we were talking about blogging and how basically its a cool forum to write all your awkward thoughts, but its okay because now awkward is "cool" and "trendy." In the old days, dudes who wore suspenders, glasses and plaid were nerds. Now, they are sexy and we want to date them. When did this happen?

Personally, I love awkward/nerdy people. I think it's because I identify with them. Besides, many awkward people have gone on to do great things. Like publish books, or own multi-billion dollar corporations, or invent the theory of relativity (okay, so I don't KNOW if Einstein was awkward and nerdy, but he TOTALLY looks like he could be!!)

So in conclusion, I hope nerds don't go out of style. Or good books.

All mimsy were the borogoves

I have a confession. Today I went to Sur la Table to buy my mother a Christmas present. As always, I was charmed by the vast array of kitchen supplies that clearly I DESPERATELY need. Four types of whisks? Yes. I need them.

Anyway, as Sur la Table is right across from Anthropologie, I thought, why not pop in for a bit?

Mistake.

I forget sometimes that I don't really have any money, but I like clothes that rich people wear. I knew the minute I tried on this lovely striped top that I was doomed. It's just hard sometimes to strike that balance between looking cute and not spending $68 on a stripey shirt. Ugh. I hate fashion. Let's all just wear paper bags.

On another (completely unrelated) note, seeing how my blog's title was inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I thought I would talk a bit about the "Alice" miniseries I watched on Syfy yesterday. OMG. It was brilliant! It reminded me of "TinMan" and "Tenth Kingdom" and was all awesomeness and full of love plus Andrew Lee Potts who I love from Primeval. Also, it has that guy from Magical Legend of the Leprehchauns...so it's pretty much guaranteed to be good.

Also, made spice cupcakes the other day. Turned out good, but a little hefty. The frosting was good though...I think I have the hang of making caramel syrup!

Love on the Internet

This morning I was eating Life cereal and listening to Eric Clapton, which made me seriously think about my life (the real thing, not the cereal). I have been fighting this horrible snuffling cold thing and have basically been sleeping my life away (I took a two hour nap yesterday and woke up and thought it was the next day. It was really confusing).

So here is a story. I have been thinking a lot about love languages and how people communicate and it has been really fascinating. Personally, I like words of affirmation, quality time and physical touch. HOWEVER, I decided to take the test online, just to confirm this. Little did I know that by taking this test I was accidentally signing up for a personals website.

Oops.

So, if you are online and see a profile for sexycupcakegurrl88...(just kidding, I didn't actually fill out the profile).

So that's my story for the day. I also made caramel cupcakes this week but I think the frosting turned out better than the actual cake. Plus they had green sprinkles!!

Art for art's sake?

I have been researching all this Holocaust art for my research paper, but I got distracted by Albrect Durer, who apparently inspired one of the artists I am writing about. I am a big fan of things that are nature-y, that whole outdoor but its indoor thing, and I am also in love with this owl picture!

I might order it and hang it on my wall.

On another completely unrelated note, had a delightful conversation at breakfast about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I for serious love this book like so so much, and this is really strange for someone who doesn't normally love novels written in letter form (which I have discovered is called epistolary. An utterly delightful word if ever there was one). So anyway, every time this book is mentioned, someone says like "Oh, that's a good book," and I basically interrupt them with "OMG it's like the bestest ever!!!"

So yeah.

That's all. I'm going to write my paper now.

I'm working...kinda

This issue of the newspaper there are like a billion articles about time management and procrastination. They give tips about what to do and how to basically be a better person.

Okay.

Here's the thing.

I am a procrastinator. Like, big time. These things do not work for me. Cause making lists and stuff...just another way to put off doing things you know you should actually be doing. Like now? I should maybe be researching Chestnut blights. Nope. I am blogging. (Also looking at this excellent LJ site called Abandoned Places, where people take pictures of abandoned buildings and houses.)

See, my wrists hurt from typing, and my brain hurts. Also my eyeballs. Do people take these things into consideration when telling me not to procrastinate? Besides, we all know that THIS is what I am really thinking about...and blogging. This done, I guess I should go back to finding pictures for my powerpoint.

The turkey is really just an accessory...

I am starting to think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. I do love christmas, this is true, but Thanksgiving manages to combine two wonderful things: family and food. Also, there really isn't a way to commercialize Thanksgiving (notice how we skip from Halloween to Christmas?) Thanksgiving is one of the only holidays where you actually talk about how grateful you are for what you have already, instead of talking about things you want. Plus, HELLOOOOO....pie? Pie is just great. Always.

SO...in homage to a lovely holiday, here are my favorite things about 2009 Thanksgiving
1. Cooking with my mother- I love this. I even took pictures.
2. Family walks- Mom, Dad, Me, Jackson and Thumpy (Haley is sadly in Nashville, but it is most of the family!)
3. Singing along with Dad while he plays the guitar.
4. Homeade whipped cream- seriously, this is good ALL THE TIME. it is better than ice cream. fo' sho'
5. Discussing politics and the economy with my parents and grandparents.- Three generations...we have the best discussions...Also, my grandpa's story about training his brother to fight Fat Schwartz...hahahaha.

So. I say up with Thanksgiving and Down with Materialism. Cause seriously, does anyone NEED to be at JC Penney at 4am??

Wanna know a Secret... Promise not to tell?

Here's the thing... I am generally a moral person. I obey the law, respect authority and don't cheat on my taxes (an easy thing to do when you don't make any money).

HOWEVER...last night...we ran out of toilet paper in my apartment. This is a problem when you live with three other people. My roommates and I all live pretty busy lives, and so there never seemed to be a good time to refill our toilet paper supply...until suddenly it was nearly midnight.

Perplexed and desperate, we resorted to an old trick I learned during my time at NUIG. We borrowed some from the library. This involved nonchalantly sauntering into the girl's restroom and filling a handy bag we'd brought full of toilet paper (after we discovered we couldn't actually make off with the entire roll).

Now before you leap to judgment calls, let me explain myself.
Number one: I pay lots of money to CBU every year, and thus I should be allowed to use as much toilet paper as I want.
Number two: The library denied me a job, and quite frankly, they weren't very nice about it.

Conclusion: I should be allowed my toilet paper.

The creamer and sugar packets I've been "borrowing" from the caf...I'm still working on excuses for those...

I'm on a Roll...

So here's the thing...

Sometimes I think I'm easily obsessive. Sophomore year of high school, it was Lord of the Rings. I seriously loved that series. I had plastic elf ears. And I wore them in public. It was, in short, a phase that involved far to many Gimli quotations and sighing over Legolas and Aragorn.

Then my senior year arrived and I was introduced to new friends and by association, Harry Potter. Wizards plus potential for unrequited love. Delightful.

I thought I was safe from obsessing when I entered college (we'll gloss over current boba tea phase...) but then came Saturday night, and ROLLER DERBY.

I think I am in love with this sport. Like, to the point where I am looking up skate prices online and thinking up derby names for myself. It was defs in the top evenings of my life. The sad thing is, when I try to explain to people who weren't there, they just can't understand the EPICNESS that went down. I just want to be friends with these people and skate all cool and knock people down and...*sigh* It was SO cool.

Being for the Benefit of Journalism

I am sitting here before chapel, enjoying my daily cup(s) of coffee and reading an article about the Berlin Wall in USA Today. I am also thinking about my journalism blog...specifically if the government should give money to papers (Which I know...whoa...heavy stuff for morning coffee).

So here is what I think. One: this outwardly seems like a good idea: Yay! Our tiny paper which could almost go out of business is now getting money and stays alive! We are happy!

HOWEVER...this leads me to think Two: Soon government may say "We give your paper money, and we don't like some things you print. RETRACTION FOOLS!" Paper suddenly has become like fascist state and therefore defeats purpose of journalism, that is, exposing truth to masses, especially exposing governmental secrets. For example...Watergate. Where would we have been without journalists? More terms for Nixon? No thank you.

Now, I realize this is probably a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, realistically, the government probably isn't going to keep tabs on every little newspaper it funds like some creepy Big Brother-esque organization and say things like "Well, the Fargo North Dakota paper is printing some pretty inflammatory things...let's get 'em!" BUT...the government could feasibly introduce a caveat of rules that is mandatory when accepting federal funds for a paper.

We read newspapers for opinions and facts the government won't tell us (even though admittedly there are some skewed papers and journalists...) Although the idea of government funds intitally seems like a good idea, the interference of government goes against the fundamental principles of journalism. The End.

In other news, I'm getting a fish. I am thinking of calling it Tina. Or Bubbles.

Play it Sam...

So at my house, my dad has this record player, and sometimes (when it isn't broken) I really enjoy listening to albums. I go up there, stick on Toto's IV album, and sit there like one of those old hippie people thinking, "Yeah...let's bring back the album. Those were the days, man." (The fact that I was not actually alive when the album came out does not really occur to me...) I think that sometimes I would really like to be one of those people who are all "RESIST THE TECHNOLOGICAL MUSIC REVOLUTION!! STICK WITH THE CD!!"

However...this star-studded shiny-eyed idealism is REALLY difficult when you want to buy a CD and flipping B&N and Borders and all the independent record stores don't carry it cause it isn't THE latest CD by a particular band, and it's like six dollars more expensive on Amazon than it is to just download the thing on itunes.

So...here is my conclusion. I think I would like to be all cool and alternative. But I am probably not. I just want to listen to some music. The end. I am going to lunch now...

"Her majesty is one verb short of a sentence"

Well I have decided to revive my blog from its lonely existence in cyberspace and have even given it a shiny new layout to celebrate (complete with picture!)

So, on to this blog assignment deal. I tend not to get super angry about a lot of things, so I’m going to focus on what I am passionate about. Anyway, I am generally incapable of being passionate about just one thing (the world, I am convinced, is a wide and wondrous place and there are just too many things to love) so I narrowed it down to my top three:

Books. It’s no secret (to anyone who has ever met me, like ever) that I’m pretty passionate about literature. I tend not to read books so much as inhale them. Like we are talking 5-10 a week if I can. Whatever book I’m reading at the moment is usually “The best book ever” (if I like it) or “Seriously, the lamest book ever written,” (if I don’t). I have definite opinions in the Borders vs. Barnes and Noble debate and talk about Hemmingway and Fitzgerald as if I know them personally. I love talking to people about books and I sort of act like a kid in a candy store when people ask me for book recommendations. I love that e.e. cummings writes words like “puddle-wonderful,” and that writers like Jasper Fforde can actually make me laugh out loud. Essentially, I am one of those people who REALLY love books and just really want everyone else to love them too.

Music. My dad and sister are both musicians, and our family has basically grown up singing and writing songs together. One of the most important things this has given me (besides the fact that I know about guitars, but can really only play about 5 chords) is a deep and abiding love for music. One of my favourite junior high memories is going to a bluegrass festival and being unable to sleep due to an impromptu banjo-fest taking place (very loudly and very badly) outside our camper. I remember my sister Haley turning to my mom and me with huge eyes and whispering “Is this what Hell is like?” My love for bluegrass music may have taken a brief detour around that point, but as I’ve grown older, I have grown to appreciate folk, Americana and bluegrass bands more and more. I love music like the Wailin’ Jennys, Nickel Creek, Mountain Heart, the Duhks, Old Crow Medicine Show, and other bands of that ilk. Not only are they excellent musicians, but they are also associated with family memories. Woo-hoo for music!!

Cooking. I have recently become obsessed with fresh cooking (i.e. roasted beets, homemade pizza, butternut squash lasagna…the list goes on…). I think that cooking is one of the lost arts in college and am trying to remedy this. Many people regard cooking almost like Harry Potter magic, but it is actually much easier than they realize. I generally have 4 main cooking rules.

1. Follow the recipe, and it usually turns out okay. (This is actually true! I never realized this, but if you pay attention to the recipe, mostly the food turns out the way you want it to.)
   
2. If it tastes weird…add salt…or olive oil…or flour…or rosemary
   
3. When in doubt, roast some vegetables with salt, pepper, olive oil and rosemary. It’s like rule number two…only better, cause you add VEGETABLES. (yeah, I capslocked that.)
   
4. Everyone likes cupcakes. Seriously. Cupcakes are like the über-dessert because they are like cake, but mini and in a cup. Imagine you are having a bad day, and then someone comes up to you and hands you a homemade cupcake. Yay! Day is better. Just look at that guy. He is the cutest. I think I will end it there, without going into kittens, fingerless gloves, boots, plants, Ikea and other similarly exciting subjects...
   

Prague and Belfast

So today is my last official day in Ireland. Tomorrow I am taking a 3:30 (am!!!) bus to Shannon and will be arriving back in CA at about 1pm. It is SO weird to be going home. On the one hand, I am ecstatic to see friends and family again (plus actual warm weather will be really nice) but on the other hand, I will definitely be missing Ireland. I feel like I have had so many experiences here that really can't be duplicated, and it will be so odd not to be able to walk down to Salthill in the afternoons, or go to the market on Saturdays.

On a lighter note (all the reminiscing makes me kinda depressed...) I just got back from a trip to Prague with my friend Jenni. We also spent a night in Belfast since neither of us had been to Northern Ireland before and wanted to go there before we left. Prague was GORGEOUS. The weather was fantastic, and we actually could walk around at night without being cold ( a novel concept!!) One thing I noticed is that is there are so many more people there who spoke English than in Germany, which was kinda funny, but also nice. We stayed at a hostel and were booked for a 7 person dorm, but by some accident, no one else was in our room the entire time, so we had a huge room to ourselves, which was nice.

When we were actually in Prague, we went and saw Prague Castle, which was really beautiful (we rented an audioguide...but since we were poor, we only got one, so I narrated it, and we learned all about the amazing cathedral and surrounding area of the castle, including this story about a saint whose tongue miraculously re-grew in his mouth after he died...only it was really his brain.) and the Charles Bridge, and the astronomical clock, and basically just wandered around taking pictures of everything.

One of my favorite things that we did was go to the opera. Le nozze de Figaro (the marriage of Figaro) was playing at the Prague National Opera and we decided to splurge (since center box seats were actually really cheap) and go. It was SUPER. My favorite part was seeing Figaro army-crawl under a blanket of leaves, and the characters have a cake-fight onstage. It is a great opera.

In Belfast, we'd booked a 22 person dorm because it was only 5 pounds to stay there, but in an oversight, someone had taken my bed, so we got moved to a smaller room with only 2 other people for the same price! I think God definitely had our backs in the living situation! Belfast is fun, but more like a big city. The accents there are so crazy...and kind of hard to understand. We mostly just walked around there...we saw the St. George's market, The Belfast Wheel (very similiar to the London Eye), The Botanical Gardens and Queens University, because at this point we were basically broke. Still it was a cool trip.

So now I am back in Galway, packing things up. I hope to continue blogging (probably under a different title) but will probably add another entry about my last night here. Town is crazy now though because of the Volvo Ocean Race being here...Cheers!

Deutschland Adventure!

So I have just returned from my EPIC adventure in Germany with my friend Alecia. We spent I think nine days in Germany, seeing Berlin, Munchen (Munich), Fussen, Augsburg, and Heidelberg. Alecia speaks German, so we were able to navigate fairly well, and got to see:

The Berlin Zoo: OMG...so many animals! I felt a little like an excited kindergartener, running around and saying things like "Look! A gorilla! Look! A camel that has two humps! Look! Penguins!"
The Brandenberger Tor: We found this whole area kind of by accident, mainly using Alecia's memories of a children's book she read when she was little.
The University of Munchen, Frauen Kirche, and the Englisher Gartens in Munich
Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau...We walked like 10 miles that day, but it was totally worth it...those castles are AMAZING...one actually has a tiny grotto in it!
Heidelberger Schloss, which was totally cool and run-down, unlike most of the Bavarian castles, which are so incredibly opulent and decorated, it is almost distracting.

Germany is really different from Ireland, not just weather wise (I actually got sunburnt!) There were actually very few people who spoke English to me, and I mainly had to ask Alecia what to say, since it was a new experience being in a country where I literally didn't understand anything beyond "Hello" and "Thank You." The people were really nice, although much more reserved, and I also noticed an unsettling tendency of the young men to wear capris, or man-pris, as Alecia and I termed them.

Some favorite memories: Making dinner in Berlin and walking down the street holding Wurst, apple rings and spatzle (definitely got some strange looks from that one!)
Riding the bus to Fussen and sitting next to a seat with a half-eaten candy bar. A man sits down next to me and asks if the candy is mine. I say no. About 15 minutes later, I hear some rustling next to me. Man is eating candy bar. This probably wouldn't have been so funny if he hadn't been wearing one of those German hats with the feather.
Being harassed by an old man in Lederhosen at the bus station at 9:30 in the morning. I didn't know people actually wore those, but apparently they wear them all the time!!
Exploring the Heidelberg Schoss and climbing down this strange German recreational playgound thing.
Playing a forbidden temple kingdom board game in German at 1:30 am while waiting for out flight

So...in conclusion, I would highly recommend visiting Germany as soon as possible. It is a country of excellence for sure! I am going to post pictures of it soon, but my camera is out of batteries right now, so I will have to save it for later. As they say "auf deutsch" (in German) "Ciao!" (Yeah...I know...not German...but everyone says it!)

A singer in a smoky room...

So last night was one of my friend's last night in Ireland, so we went out to give her a going away party. I did not know this, but Wednesday nights are apparently classic rock nights, since everywhere we went, they played the most excellent music.

Case and Point: one place, we walked and they are playing "piano man," complete with harmonica (while this is not necessarily "most excellent music" per se...we are getting there)
then, another place, it was eighties night, and we got to dance not only to MC Hammer, but also Wham! and Oh! What a Night (which are two of my favorite songs!) Then the last place we went they had an eighties cover band (complete with a guitarist who looked just like Ron Weasley) and they totally played "Don't Stop Believin'" and there was one of those moments where every person was on the dance floor, singing along, united in the gloriousness that is a Journey powerballad. (Unfortunately though the guitarist couldn't play the solo, but it was the thought that counted). My friend and I had totally been talking about that song earlier cause we had heard someone playing it and she mentioned that it was awesome, and I agreed.

Anyway, I digress. The main reason for this post is because I am re-posting some of our family trip photos, including some never before seen shots of my father driving on the left side of the road.

Here is the link: http://www3.snapfish.ie/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=413258010/a=158696412_158696412/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink

Enjoy!!

As promised...

Okay, so after buying a new computer cable at PC World, I am back with a longer (and hopefully more awesome) post about adventures with the family (and a little about My Sister the Boy Magnet)

So... The best things about traveling with my family are the little memories I have collected of our time in Ireland. For example:
-Me and Haley having an 80's powerballad medley in the backseat of the car, featuring Video Killed the Radio Star, Livin' On a Prayer, Don't Stop Believin' and Wannabe by the Spice Girls
-Eating really big breakfasts and Mom and Dad making jokes about it. Dad: "We didn't really like it." Mom: "We are eating our way through Ireland." Waitress person: blank look. Me and Haley: Laugh under our breaths.
- Stalking some sheep at the Rock of Cashel
-Yelling at our GPS lady like she can actually understand us.
-Meeting the singer in Kenmare who dedicated a song to us while Mom and Dad met some new Polish friends
-Listening to the awesome accordion guy
-Haley's first clubbing experience and being semi-stalked by the dudes we met that night
-The cute guy making faces at us
-Walking in the rain though gardens
-The experience with the tiny lane and the truck
-The cliffs of, as Dad says, "Mo-herr"

Mainly I remember getting to see gorgeous parts of the countryside as we drove through extremely narrow roads and prayed that other cars wouldn't come because there would be no way that we could fit two cars in the lane. An excellent time was had by all!

On another note, I am v. excited about my apartment next year with Corinne, Rachel and Justine...it is going to be super fun! More later, as it is raining and I am contemplating going for a walk in my rainboots...

And after an extremely long hiatus...

Hello again!! It has been quite awhile since I last posted on this thing, but I figured I should provide a little update. For starters, my computer is about to die in approximately 1:59 hours. This is because there is something wrong with the power cord and it broke. And also sparked. I am going to take it to PC World tomorrow (Like Ostrich World...only not as cool...as Haley said) but I have a sneaking suspicion that I will probably have to get a new one. Sad Days! Luckily one of my friends has one that I can use to charge this baby.

In other news, my family left today (they have been visiting for Spring Break). I was extremely sad to see them go...it has been so much fun having them here! We have been traveling all over the country, from County Wicklow to County Kerry and seeing the beautiful countryside (also driving on these extremely narrow roads and yelling "left!!!!!" whenever cars come at us). I definitely enjoyed seeing places like the gardens at Powerscourt and the Killarney National Forest....so pretty! Plus, Haley and I had some excellent adventures involving crazy irish boys and also sheep (although the adventures were not at the same time!!)

I have an exam tomorrow, so I will post more later, now I have to brush up on my knowledge of the Banshee, Lug, the Dagda and the rest of my mythological friends!

Break!

So for all intents and purposes, I am finished with school (except for 2 finals which occur on the 23rd and 28th of April, respectively) so I have been detoxing from too much caffeine and essay writing as well as planning trips and excursions for the remainder of my time here. One month seems so short!

One of my friends and I are planning a week-long trip to Germany and Prague. She speaks German, so that will be handy. We are planning to go to Bavaria to see castles, and also the Berlin zoo. We are kind of ridiculously excited about the zoo. I am also planning on going camping with some friends when my lease runs out and they kick me out of my apartment.

Last night, I celebrated Seder for the first time with some of my Jewish friends. It was pretty fun; we ate latkes and I tried chicken liver (which was actually pretty good). Nice time hanging with friends, and it is always a fun experiencing traditions different from your own.

Speaking of traditions, I am excited to see what Easter will be like here. I have a feeling it will be geared a lot more toward religious celebration than it is in America...Although Tesco has been selling very large chocolate eggs...my family is coming to visit me (yay!) and we are going to be in Dublin for the holiday, and apparently there is going to be a Messiah festival...so hopefully we can catch that!

Anyway, I am going to make a cup of tea and read some Women in Love by the fantastically verbose DH Lawrence (I love that I have time to finish all those books I meant to finish during the semester!!)

My Most Excellent Day

So the reason I have been absent for the past few days is because I have pretty much been living in the library of NUIG...a horrible soulless place with no nooks and only long tables, sweaty people, and if you arrive after 8:30am, there is pretty much no chance of getting a computer plug...anyway, I have been writing my final essays, and am now 3 for 5...yay!!

Back to my excellent day. I finished an essay this morning (Literature of the American South) and with a glow of accomplishment, decided to visit my friend Melanie. Melanie was in dire straits, however, and needed someone to help cohost her indie/folk radio show. I'd never hosted a radio show before, but it was a fun experience...and I kinda want CBU to have a radio station so I can become a radio DJ! Then Sheila and I cleaned our apartment, for reals. We mopped and reorganized and made everything super-beautiful. Which meant it was time for me to make a cake for my roommates!

On another note, I went on a CEA excursion last weekend to the Aran Islands. At first it was fun...we took an amazing bike ride along the coast and saw the cliffs, which were incredible! Then after a little mixup at dinner (during which our group director was telling us what we reminded him of, and he informed me that I looked like a mafia wife and would marry a "psycho cokehead." Others in our group were "cute gremlins" and "the victim in silence of the lambs," just to give you an idea). We decided to go out for awhile.

After some CEA bonding time, we planned to leave the next day on the noon ferry since we all had to get back for various tests and papers. However, while at the pub on the island, we were informed that there was no noon ferry, only an 8am and a 5pm. When we call our group director, he says "I know." We all end up having to get up at 7 am to get the early ferry. Luckily, it is also the day of the time change, so it is really 6am. It is also pouring rain. We manage to convince our director to get us breakfast once we get back to Galway, since we missed the hotel breakfast and we also missed showers. Our director leaves us to find our way back to our apartments. Needless to say, I don't get any studying done. However, the first day was fun, so the Aran Islands do have merit...

So, it is late, and I still have two more papers (on Clockwork Orange and Modern Irish Drama, respectively) so I've gotta sleep.

Exhaustion's a curious thing

The funny thing about getting no sleep is the things you end up doing instead of what you should be doing. For example: I should be sleeping right now...which I am going to do in about 5 minutes...but I decided to find some articles for my essay first. Did I find any articles? Of course not. Instead, I ended up watching this fanvid a friend posted of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Mulan dubbed over it. Productive? I think not.

Later, when I am feeling more coherent, I will blog all about my weekend CEA excursion to the Aran Islands that started off fun and then took a dramatic right toward the almost comically awful. Until then, I am actually going to bed now. Promise.

Liverpool and its Diversions

So this weekend I went to Liverpool with my friend Leah, which was pretty darn fun. Liverpool is basically just an awesome city (the accents are AMAZING!!) but it is more like they were just a regular city until the Beatles showed up and everyone was like "Hey...let's turn this city into a tourist destination!!" Anyway, we stayed in this cute little guesthouse, where the guy who ran it basically fed us lunch and breakfast all weekend (good for broke college students!) He also hooked a TV up in our room so we could watch the 6 Nations championship.

For those of you who do not not run in the rugby circle, the 6 Nations is a rugby championship featuring England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy and Ireland. This year, Ireland was basically the undefeated champions, and the final game was between Ireland and Wales. We tuned in at the second half...and Ireland had no points at all. However...in a SPECTACULAR turnaround, Ireland came back to be the champions, and the game literally came down to the last few seconds and the final kick. Even if you are not really into sports, I highly recommend rugby. It is made of the win. Especially the game. Youtube this. Or Brian O'Driscoll. His run was awesome.

Anyway, now that I have waxed on about a sport no one really cares about...more about Liverpool. We spent most of the time going to museums, since Liverpool apparently is a huge cultural center. We saw the Tate, the Walker Art Museum, and the World Museum. They were so cool, but I missed Haley and her art history knowledge ;) I got to see the little dancer by Degas, and Picasso's weeping woman, and a whole bunch of other famous works. It boggled my mind.

However, as cool as all that was, I especially enjoyed the World Museum, which had an aquarium, a planetarium, a British music through the ages exhibit, and all sorts of other delights. Example:
(In the World Cultures section, while examining samurai armor and cannibal forks)
Leah: So Molly, what is on the fourth floor?
Molly (consulting the handy free map): ummm...we have the Ancient Egypt exhibit and...oh...dinosaurs!!
Leah (slowly): did you say dinosaurs?
Molly: Yes. Yes I did.
Leah: What are we still doing here? (speed walk toward the stairs)
It was certainly an excellent museum. We did get to see mummies as well, and we got to try on some Eskimo clothing, and do Beatles karaoke.

Speaking of the Beatles, we also saw Penny Lane, which was very cool, and also the Cavern Club, where the Beatles had their first show. We also saw the most amazing cathedral (The Liverpool Cathedral). It was an Anglican one, and we went to a service there on Sunday, which was UK mothers day. The singing was SO beautiful, really almost indescribable. They call it "The Great Space" which was pretty appropriate. We also saw the Roman Catholic Cathedral, but it was more modern, and definitely not as pretty. Well, this is an insanely long post, so I will wrap it up now and go write some essays!

Lovely Weather and Epic Cinema

I have finally recovered from my bout with the mumps (Thanks for all your prayers and concern!) so I no longer resemble a mutated woodland creature...a fact for which I am extremely grateful. The weather here has been freakishly wonderful, and my friends and I have been spending all our spare time outdoors, basking in the sun. We had a reading session on the dock the other day, and it was fantastic! Life has been rather quiet lately...We are all preparing for the end of classes, which is in 2 weeks (crazy! So many essays coming up!) I will really miss all of my lecturers, like the one who says everything like it is the most epically important statement we will ever hear. Today he informed us (very seriously) that the people in T.S. Eliot's "Waste Land" were either "Soulless Ghouls" or "Bland Businessmen" but we couldn't be sure.

In my Irish language class, we watched some excellent Irish movies. One was titled "Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom" or "Yu Ming is My Name" which was about a Chinese man who is dissatisfied with his life in China and decides to move to Ireland. He learns Irish, but when he moves to Dublin, no one speaks irish anymore (and he doesn't know English). Poor Yu Ming!! He finally meets an old man who helps him get a job in a Gaeltacht (which is an area where irish is spoken). It was very heartwarming...and actually better than the other film, which was about a housewife who decided to go live in a treehouse because she felt unappreciated, but ended up reparing her relationship with her huband through staying in the treehouse...So that was that.

I am heading to Liverpool this weekend (the flight was cheap and my friend was going and wanted company!) so I am looking forward to seeing some sweet Beatles attractions. Hopefully I will have more exciting news soon!

Oh, P.S. Apparently, my friend saw on the news that the mumps outbreak at NUIG is the worst it has ever been. They have never had this many people with the disease!

On Sickness

So for the past few days I have been lying like a useless lump in my bed, catching up on reading, sleeping, and watching Castle (awesome show!!) on my laptop. Why is this? Because I have the mumps. Yes, it is an actual disease, that apparently, people (like me) actually get. I didn't really think people actually got the mumps anymore, but ha ha world, I have proved you wrong!! (despite being vaccinated against it, which the doctor told me can sometimes not work effectively, especially if there is an outbreak, like there is currently at NUIG). Basically, I got a fever and get headaches, plus my face has swollen huge so I resemble a mutant chipmunk version of myself. Yay!

The disease first manifested itself during my weekend excursion to Scotland, which was pretty excellent. Edinburgh is the most beautiful city! (plus, they have the largest monument to any writer in the world...Go Sir Walter Scott!) I saw several bagpipers and a castle! I also found out that Edinburgh is much like the Mid State Fair, because you can buy deep fried Mars bars (which I did not sample, but it is a testament to the city's awesomeness that they are there in the first place...) I did sample some Scotch whisky at a cool folk music bar (It is famous in Scotland, along with butter tablet, which is basically butter flavored candy...yeah...I know...why?)

Anyway, it was fun, and I got to take a lovely train ride as well, but I spent a lot of it feeling really sick and avoiding hard foods. Luckily, I am finally getting a little better, and hopefully will feel good by next week or so, since apparently most cases of mumps only last a week to ten days. I've been keeping count.

I love the lions!

(For some reason, I have become a posting fiend lately)
So I am sitting here, working on my paper, (only 500 words to go...and I don't even have citations yet!!) and this lion documentary comes on.

Okay, huge admission: I LOVE nature documentaries, especially ones about lions or the ocean. I have this secret dream of maybe one day joining a documentary film crew in Africa and following some lions around for a month or so, and every time one of these documentaries comes on, I always google documentary job openings just to see what's out there.

Right now, after a devastating dry spell, the rains have finally come to the plains, and according to the highly British narrator "It's not just the wildebeests the predators have come to eat. Many of Africa's antelopes are here as well, and the tribe is getting ready to enjoy a time of plenty." I am always entranced by the slow motion camera, especially when we find out that one of the lionesses that we were sure had died in the summer comes back to the tribe. "The pride is still together!!" the narrator rejoices, his voice full of barely suppressed exultation. Yessss!!! I think to myself. The music is swelling, triumphant, and the lions are going to take down a warthog. I think you see why I love these so much...

In conclusion, you may keep your "Friends" and your "Scrubs" (the shows that play on continuous loop here), because I will be inwardly cheering when rains come to the plains and the lions learn to hunt!

On Writing...

Do you ever have one of those times where you are just coasting along, doing laundry in the rain, eating deliciously addictive Crunchy Nut cereal, checking your e-mail...and then all of a sudden you receive an e-mail reminding you to turn in your paper on Tuesday? (This is, of course, the paper that you thought was due in APRIL, and is supposed to be written about Ulysses, a humongous novel that you have not actually finished yet.)

Panic, my friends, pure and unadulterated panic.

So, I have been frantically gathering resources about the linguistically and stylistically creative Mr. Joyce...and will most likely be a hermit until noon on Tuesday...whereupon I will emerge, like a butterfly. Ahhh...the college life.

I have actually missed this kind of work, to be completely honest. All of my other classes have an essay due at the end of the class (and they are all only 1200 to 1500 words...so not bad) or an exam, and so other than that, I only have to read about the Dagda eating porridge, or listen to my professors sing to us in Irish, or practice my Irish language class, or toss around literary slang with my friends. So, as ashamed as I am to admit it, the frantic "write a paper in 3 days and finish roughly 500 pages as well as share a somewhat meaningful insight on Molly Bloom's soliloquy" feeling is a little invigorating!

Happy Castle Day!

So from this day onwards, I will officially be celebrating Castle Day every 21st of February in order to commemorate the awesomeness of this day (More on how in a minute...) To recap:

Today I went with my friend Leah's (actually said Leia...like the princess) archaeology class on a field trip around County Galway to see some castles. That sounds pretty cool in itself, but I could not have predicted how much fun the day would actually be. At first I was a little skeptical, since we went to a Fortified House, which kind of looked like an English manor house (which is was actually modeled after). Found out it was called Portumna Castle. Afterwards we went to a Towerhouse, which was where things began to get more exciting. It was called Pallas castle, and we got to go all the way to the top and look out over the countryside, which was AMAZING. We had so much fun climbing all over the ruins, and up the stairs and all around the old walls. It is incredible to think that people actually lived in fortresses like that.

Next we went to another towerhouse, but were unable to actually go inside due to an angry bull that was in front of the castle...so we just admired it from afar. Next they gave us lunch, which was at pub and consisted of sandwiches, delicious soup, chips (fries), and coffee. Feeling very refreshed, we continued to Clonmacnoise. The main attraction there is actually the monastery, but we looked at the ruins of an Anglo-Norman Castle that was on the grounds. According to Leah's professor, there is a lot of focus on the Gaelic tradition, and early Celtic history, and so many of the Anglo-Norman things get ignored since they are not really "Irish" (This was evidenced by the fact that we all had to crawl under a fence to get to the castle...there were about 50 of us plus the professors!) Then we wandered around the monastery for awhile. It has several chapels, towers, and a cemetery. It is crazy to see crosses and castles that were built in the 8th century. I don't think we have anything that old where we live!

On the bus ride home, Alecia and I were talking about how cool castle day had been (we got to climb around on stone castles and the weather was fantastic!) and we came up with the idea of building our own castle to celebrate. We mentioned this idea to Leah, and so when we got back to Corrib Village, we built a model castle out of cookies to celebrate Castle Day. We used Nutella as glue, and made a fortified wall, arrow slits, watchtowers, an inner keep, and all the rest of the official castle markers. We decided that this will have to be a Castle Day tradtition, since we had so much fun making it. We are planning on sending some of the pictures to Leah's professor since we were so proud of it! (There are pictures on my Facebook of this glorious event... as well as pictures of all the castles I saw! Also, here is a link to my snapfish account of the same photos...http://www3.snapfish.ie/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=279901344/a=158696412_158696412/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink) Hopefully you can all incorporate Castle Day into your schedules as well...since they are an extremely interesting piece of history!

Balls, Bands, and Valentines

Quite a few people have been asking me if the Irish celebrate Valentine's Day. Did you know that the original St. Valentine is buried in Dublin? His remains were actually right across from the hostel we stayed in a couple of weeks ago! (True story.) This year for the world's day of love, I got together with some friends for homemade dessert night. My contribution was lemon-scented blueberry cupcakes, courtesy of cookinglight.com. Anyway, ten girls plus desserts always equals a fun night! Some people went out to a dance club afterward, but a couple of my friends and I decided to go to this Irish place called Club Aras n Gael, which had Irish dancing (and also Spanish dancing, which was really fun to watch...I want to go back and learn how to salsa now!) so that was pretty cool.

Last night I attended the NUIG Arts Ball, which is basically a formal dress party for all the students in the arts program (i.e. anything that isn't science, law, or commerce...called business in America...they already had their balls.) You are allowed to go though even if you aren't an arts student, but most of the people were Arts students. They were also mostly Irish. We may have been the only Americans there! It was a lot of fun; kind of like prom actually. We all got together at my friend's apartment to get ready beforehand, just like before a high school dance! Everyone was dressed up all formal, and there was an excellent band at the beginning, and later a DJ (not as excellent). I totally got to dance to my new favorite song here (no, not "Disturbia", but "December 1963, Oh, What a Night"...it's really popular here...along with that oddly catchy song by Kings of Leon...you know the one...) and I'd forgotten how much fun it is to just hang out with a bunch of friends and dance! People definitely don't dance as much to bands here, except apparently at balls.

Well, that is it for now...I am currently in trip planning mode, and I need to summarize the 2nd Battle of Moytura for my Celtic Myths class...

Goin' to the Ceili

This week is Muscailt at my school, which is basically a week dedicated to plays, music, films and concerts (i.e. week of AWESOME). On Monday, I went to a Ceili, (said Kay-lee) which is like a traditional Irish music and dance party. I was lucky, since I got to dance with one of the guys who does Irish dancing as a hobby and he knew exactly what he was doing! It was quite fun. For those on the Central Coast, my Civil War Ball dance skills came in handy, since we did one of the dances I learned (The Waves of Tory) only it was way faster (so much fun faster!!) and more twirly! Who knew my mad skillz would serve me so well?

Then last night, I went to Battle of the Band, which featured band like "Pelican was Taken" (Taken where??) and Savage Henry. Bless their little hearts. I think Haley would have a real chance at making it big here, since some of the guitar stuff was..interesting (But I'm not really a fan of the "I paint my nails crimson with the blood of lovers past" kind of stuff...) One of the guys had a nice Ibenez though. It was pretty fun though, and I'm glad I went.

Personally, those of you who know me know that I'm really looking forward to the LOTR triathalon on Friday (you know you're jealous...). I actually don't think I can go for all three...but I am probably going to see the Two Towers. Thursday is also my roommate's birthday, and we are making her a fajita dinner, and maybe going to hear a band...so that should be fun. No Valentine's day plans as of yet, although I am hearing rumors about a dessert night (just what I need...but I get to dress up!!)

Birthdays and Trips

I've decided that I should probably update my blog, since I've been shamefully neglecting it. Sorry blog.

As many people know, Wednesday was my 21st birthday, so I am officially legal in all countries! (although legal age in Ireland is 18, so it doesn't really make much difference here...) The birthday was a fun one; I made a delicious carrot walnut spice cake with one of my friends, and then a big group of us had a party and made pizza. I definitely had a birthday crown. We went out afterward, which was fun! It is always an interesting thing, going out in Ireland. In America, we tend not to see it as a weird thing if a big group of people go out together, but here, the groups are usually smaller (about seven at the most), so it is strange when a group of ten or eleven people go somewhere together...especially American girls!

Then this weekend, I went to Dublin with some friends, which was really fun. There was a rugby match this weekend against France, so our entire hostel was full of French people, an interesting experience...especially when you walk out in the morning to brush your teeth and are confronted by a French guy in his underpants. They didn't even seem awkward embarrassed about it, so we just said "Bonjour" back to them! I got to meet some other CA people (although they usually got to Brown and are studying at Trinity) and we had a good time wandering around St. Stephens Green (A park in Dublin). They knew some of my friends, so we went over to their apartment and made breakfast at around noon. Good times. I also got to hang out with some cool Dublin musicians, which was fun! It was snowing a little in Dublin, which sort of confused the whole city. It was gorgeous and sunny most of the time though. If we ever go back, one of my friends and I are going to try and get a free night at the hostel by performing a 40 minute set at their open mic night!

Current Mood: Content

So I nearly went to Cork this weekend, but ended up staying in town, and it is surprisingly nice to have the apartment to myself (Everything is clean...I can use all the hot water...life is good!) I went to Farmer's Market this morning and bought some beets which I am going to roast later this week. They were only 50 cents!! It is so much cheaper to buy root vegetables here than anything else. Tortilla chips on the other hand...don't exist. Really. I love wandering around downtown Galway. I went by a music store today and thought of my family!

Anyway, tonight for dinner I was tired of my usual yogurt and pasta diet, so I was looking around in our kitchen (we have quite possibly the most random collection of foods) and realized that I had the ingredients to make cinnamon pancakes. At first I tried to use our grill, but they stuck and burned, and I ended up using our skillet, and they turned out magnificently! Let me just say, there is nothing like cinnamon pancakes and a cup of tea on an overcast evening. I wish you were all here having pancakes and tea with me!!

I am getting excited for my birthday next week, it should be quite a lot of fun. I was originally planning to go to Scotland for my birthday weekend, but I think I am going to go on a date instead ;) I hear that Scotland is mostly cold this time of year anyway, so I think I will end up going in the spring. More soon!

What happens when Iceland breaks??

(I know this isn't exactly about Ireland...but it is only one letter difference) Has anyone else seen this?? I was just happily checking my e-mail, when I saw this article (Belgium...what?? We were planning on Bruges for Valentines day!) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012600531.html?wprss=rss_world. Apparently, Iceland's economy has gone downhill, and now their PM has resigned, and their whole government completely collapsed!! I never would have suspected that Iceland would be a country to be in a state of political disorder...you just generally think of them as bathing in Hot Springs and going to the Opera. (Amy C. and Melissa, what will this do to our plans of going to Reykjavik?) It just shows that even though we tend to treat the recession lightly, it has a much greater global effect than we think.

On another note, I saw Slumdog Millionaire with my friend Melanie last night. For those of you who haven't seen this movie...it is completely brilliant. I can see why it has won so many awards. I would highly, highly recommend it.

So I pretty much love Dublin...

I have just returned from our first CEA excursion to the city of Dublin, which was all kinds of epic win and wonder. First of all, it was sunny and lovely, which put everyone in a good mood. Second, we stayed in a fantastic guesthouse in St. Stephen's Green, right across from a beautiful park. After my somewhat dreary apartment, having a huge, light-filled hotel room with as much hot water as I wanted was practically heaven! It also had a blow-dryer in the room, an almost completely foreign tool to me these days (I've been rocking the ever popular "lion's mane" look since I've been here...I think it's going to make a come-back...).

We got to see Dublin Castle, and Christ Church Cathedral, as well as the Guinness Factory. (The coolest part is the atrium at the top; you can see the entire city, and they have James Joyce quotations on the glass that desribe the areas you are seeing). My personal favorite sightseeing experience was at Trinity College, where I saw the Book of Kells, and the Long Room, which was pretty much one of the most gorgeous old libraries I have ever seen. If pictures had been allowed, I would have shown some....but they were strictly forbidden. (Just imagine vaulted ceilings and rows upon rows of old books with those old sliding ladders like in Beauty and the Beast, and you may have a tiny picture...).

Last night we ventured into the Temple Bar district and went to the Porterhouse Pub where there was a fantastic band :), and we had a great time dancing to such classics as "Vertigo" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (For an expanded version of this particular adventure...please e-mail ;) ) We ended up staying awake until 4:30 a.m, but it was totally worth it. It was so much fun to get to know the rest of the CEA people, especially since we are all so incredibly different. I need to get some rest now, since I am exhausted...but still starry-eyed!

Singing and Inaugurating

So today I attended a party at the Kingshead Pub in honor of the Inauguration of Barack Obama. It was a really trippy experience in the first place that it was such a big deal here...I saw Irish people wearing Obama shirts and everything. I enjoyed the John Williams piece. Also counted the number of times Obama said "hope." Lost count after 3. Was this as big of a deal in America as it was here???

I also attended a choral society meeting. I know I said I wasn't going to join, but during societies day, the little red headed director guy was so earnest about his choir that I was compelled to visit. We are singing a small collection of song that he arranges himself. He seems very serious about his craft, but also nice. One, I believe, is in Hungarian. The other is from O Brother, Where Art Thou. We sound pretty dang good for only one rehearsal too!

I have also reached the point in my Ireland adventure where I'm starting to see people that I know...only I don't really know them. For example, in choral society today, I saw Merrick. I mean, I nearly said "Hey Merrick" to this totally random stranger before realizing that I was a.) in Ireland, and b.) in choir. (He was not, obviously, Merrick, but an uncanny look-alike.) I also saw someone who looked like my friend Amanda, and it always takes me a minute to remember that these people are not actually people I know. It is just a very weird sensation to be somewhere and realize that you actually have almost zero chance of seeing someone you know since they are all an ocean away.

In other news, I will be going to Dublin this weekend with CEA, so that should be loads of fun!
For those of you who asked about my mailing address, it is
Apartment 473'
Corrib Village
Newcastle Road
Galway, Ireland
That's all. Just put that on the letters and they will get to me!

Epic Weather Adventure!

Last night my friends and I decided that since it's the weekend, and ALL of the Irish kids go home on the weekend, it would be the perfect time to do our laundry, go to Farmer's Market, and maybe explore the town a little more. We agreed to meet at noon and go to breakfast (since for some reason I am hungry like 90 percent of the time here...I think it is because I walk so much, but seriously, I want to eat like ALL the time...) Anyway, it sounded like the perfect plan, right??

Not Right.

Woke up this morning to howling winds, pouring rain, and freezing temperatures...Ahhhh! However, Erin and Maggie and I decided that this was not going to interfere with our breakfast plans (because we be serious about our breakfast here) and it wasn't raining too hard...so we set off. About halfway to town, it starts POURING, and the wind is nearly blowing us off our feet. By the time we get to the restaurant, we look kinda like those guys on "Deadliest Catch" (you know, the ones who spend all their time out on a boat in the middle of a storm, i.e. soaked through, and our hair is all whipped around and crazy). We did have an awesome breakfast (I am so addicted to tea here, it's not even funny), but we ended up taking a cab back because the weather was so miserable. Since I've been back at the apartment, it has rained, winded, and hailed. Yes, hailed.

On the flip side, I went on a crazy cleaning spree and cleaned our apartment, so it is all nice and sparkly clean now...Yay! That's all for now, I am supposed to be reading Ulysses...so I should get a move on cause that book is flipping huge!!

Classes!!!

So today is Thursday, and I have finally begun my classes, which all seem very interesting. I have had Modern and Postmodern Literature (where our lecturer said everything as though it was the most epically important statement ever said...I really liked him) and also Gothic Literature (which is WAY cool), Literature of the American South, and Celtic Mythology, Religion and Folklore. They all seem to be very exciting, but the classes are all so HUGE!! After a class of 15 to 30 people, sitting in a lecture hall of 200 people is quite a change!

There was also a societies fair yesterday that I attended, which was all kinds of fun. Here in Ireland, clubs are called "societies" and sports are referred to as "clubs," which can be a little confusing. I basically signed up for a whole bunch of clubs since they were free to join and I figured that I might as well join as many things as I could. Plus, I really like it when people try to recruit me to their societies. It makes me feel special.

In other news, I am getting quite used to the weather here, which goes from rain to sun to cloudy in about five minutes. I have even gotten over the horror of wearing my stripey sweater with my plaid rainboots. No one really seems to notice anyway. The fashions here are so interesting! People get really dressed up to go out at night, and one of the big fashion is wearing shorts (non-denim ones) with black tights and heels (or boots...oh man I have the worst boot envy here...There are literally hundreds of cute boots everywhere you go!!). It sounds crazy but actually looks really cute! I think that's all...I really need to do laundry....

Rain Shopping!

Our period of really "good" weather has ended and it has been raining for the past few days. I went on a grocery shopping adventure yesterday, which was surprisingly fun. Here, you have to pay for your grocery bags, so I basically loaded everything up in my backpack. I felt a little like a wilderness adventure girl with my pack o' supplies. I love all the different products they have here, but it makes me want to buy everything! I've noticed that everything, from the cars to the cereal boxes, is so much smaller here than in America. Even the refrigerators are smaller. Sometimes it feels like I am in a mini country, but I like the idea of minimizing. It reminds me that we don't really need as much as we think we do.

While I am on the subject of food, I also discovered the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I was ridiculously excited. The produce here is really pretty, all the carrots and potatoes were freshly dug and there was fresh fish that had basically been caught and then brought to the market. You can hear people buying and selling in a mixture of Irish and English, which is really cool.

After finding the Farmer's Market, I got to see James Joyce's Wife's house, since apparently she grew up in Galway. Her name was Nora Barnacle (No, I am not joking) and I pretty much think that is the best name EVER! I also went to a mass at the Galway Cathedral, which according to my Catholic friends was disappointing since it was spoken. We are planning to go to the 11:15 service next Sunday since I guess they have an AMAZING choir that sings, and I really want to hear them!


P.S. I am really sad that this thing absolutely REFUSES to let me put up pictures. I had a really nice one of the top of my University that I really wanted to put up...but it is all for naught. All I have to say is Why Irish internet, Why????

Oh that crazy dancing man...

So last night I went to see this band called Kif at the King's Head Pub...(a step up from International Students' Karaoke at the College Bar) Karaoke basically consisted of really drunk college boys wailing "Like a Virgin" in falsetto voices, although the German students' rendition of "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles was pretty decent, as was this Irish guy's "Mustang Sally." Anyway, a bunch of us were sitting there, bored out of our skulls, and so we decided to leave and head into town, where we ended up at the King's Head, and hence the discovery of Kif, a pretty decent cover band with a good guitarist (BTW dad he plays a really awesome vintage looking baby blue fender strat, so he's at least somewhat legit...) and the vocals are pretty good. I liked their cover of "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" and am considering learning it myself. Plus...THEY DID A COVER OF "AFRICA"!!!!!! yeah. It was a good night indeed.

The most hilarious part of the evening was this HUGE drunk Irish guy who kept trying to get my friend Maggie to dance with him (Maggie is only 5 feet) and whenever she went up to the bar or to the restroom, he would grab her hand and try to twirl her around, and when the band played an up tempo song, he would point at her and nod his head. It was really funny.

Today we went to a meeting about our classes, which cleared things up, since they have been really vague about what exactly is happening. Apparently, classes start next Monday, but we just show up to the ones we think we want to take, and then officially register for them the 17th through the 21st. If we don't like a class, we just switch to another one during this week. It's like a trial period. Our finals are (get this...) April 6th. I'm not really sure what we do after that, but that is our last meeting for classes and when our final essays are due. I guess we are just supposed to travel or hang out or something.

I am still working on getting an address here (It is surprisingly difficult to find!) So far, all I know is that I am in apartment 47, room 3 (or 473, as it is called) in Corrib Village, Newcastle Road, Galway, Ireland. That's pretty much all I've been able to figure out. We don't have proper post boxes or anything anyway. I think they just deliver mail to the front desk, and then I'm not sure how it gets to us.

That's all for now. Here is a sweet link (if it even works; the internet here is really touchy and weird) for the band I saw. They sounded a lot better than they do in this clip, but at least you get the idea...and remember, if you're going to get "knackered" as our taxi driver told us, stay away from the fat dancing men!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6bvfJ9Xpus

In Ireland...

So this is going to be a ridiculously long entry...since yesterday I was all jet-lagged and exhausted. The flight to Galway was great...I sat next to a man from Kerry who talked to me about how his aunt lived next door to Bono. I'm not sure if he was lying or not. Then I got lost in the Dublin airport but saw a couple with matching mullets which totally made up for the getting lost part. Upon arriving in Galway, I made some friends with other people in my program and we were directed to our prison cells...I mean, apartments. It is very tiny, with cinderblock walls and metal shelving. Since I bought these really bright pink sheets and cranked the heat up it isn't so bad though. After buying sheets and a towel I pretty much just crashed since being up for thirty hours is a little taxing. It is pretty much freezing here in the morning and evening. I didn't actually know it could be so cold.

This morning a few of us decided to explore the town, which went very well since we are all more alert and up for actual walking and talking at the same time. Our apartment complex is about twenty minutes from the actual center of town, which is totally gorgeous. The buildings here are nothing like in America since they are all squooshed together with old painted signs and made out of stones. Plus, there are ruins everywhere. On the drive in to Galway, you'd be passing a little sheep farm and there's be a random castle in the backyard. I can't imagine living somewhere where it's like "Oh yes, those are my sheep and..oh that? that's just a 2,000 year old castle."

We ate at this cute little pub that served soup and brown bread. There were these old Irish people there and their dog and they were very nice and also asked us what we thought about "Barack." Then we basically just wandered around looking at all the stores and shops. We saw Galway Cathedral (so pretty), and also an ice-skating rink, which we are planning to visit. Tonight everyone wants to go out and drink at a pub...woo hoo. I will try and post pictures soon but for some reason the picture thing isn't working right now...

Leaving...

So...I am sitting here on my bed after weighing my suitcases about fifty times...(I used those totally cool space bag things that suck all the air out of your clothes and I am really amazed by them!!)

I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow. Literally. Even though I've talked about the trip multiple times, it still hasn't become a reality. When I actually consider it, all I really know about Ireland I've basically gleaned from watching "Waking Ned Devine" and "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns."

For those of you who don't know, "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns" is this totally awesome movie which features Whoopi Goldberg as the "Grand Banshee." Also some butter spirits. In fact, here is a picture of one of the fairies from the movie (it is Roger Daltry...from The Who) I know...run, don't walk to your local Video Palace and pick up this classic!

So that's all. I have no idea what to expect when I fly halfway around the world tomorrow, not knowing a soul...with my bag of trek mix. However, I did find this excellent quotation by Helen Keller that says "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Well said Helen, well said.