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.