I've been home for basically a week, so I think it may be time to update this blog with my thoughts from the trip. I've had a whirlwind time of it since being back in NC, activities including work with my parents, meeting up with friends, graduation, and my coming home/grad party. Since this blog is mainly about Ireland, I'll try and stick with the related stuff.
I'm still readjusting to living in NC, and in the US. Just like I didn't imagine Ireland would be so different to live in, I didn't anticipate the amount of adjustment needed to reaclimate to living here. But it's been a challenge. Everything from food to driving to my wake-up and bed times are requiring extra attention. But I can say it is so good to be home.
When people have been inquiring "How was it?" and "Did you have fun?" the best answer I can come up with is that I really would have enjoyed visiting or vacationing in Ireland, but I did not like living there. Why? I couldn't tell ya. A bunch of things really, that conglomerated to spur my temporary misery. The weather, the attitudes, the education system.. all exhausting after a semester. "But we read your blog and looked at your pictures, and it seemed like you had so much fun!" they would say. Well, yes, I did have fun on those trips, but those traveling experiences were vacation for me. They became the norm only because my group of friends forced ourselves to take advantage of the area around us, and we didn't waste time sitting at home; if we were going to live in Ireland, we were going to live it up in Ireland.
Do I miss it? Sure, sometimes. I miss sitting at the dinner table with Ruben and talking about life and what surprised us about the Irish culture. I miss walking around City Center, or running in the countryside. I miss all of my friends there. I even miss going to the pubs (sometimes). But mostly, I take the experience for what it was- a good opportunity to see the world around me- and I leave it at that. It's good to be home, in the chaos of the holiday season, baking goodies and wrapping presents and taking advantage of cheap American gas prices and even cheaper greasy American food. It's so interesting that most people come home from study abroad experiences, and they always wish they could go back. Frankly I'm glad I didn't love it that much, because then it would be even more unbearable to stay in my parents' house until I could be hired on somewhere.
Speaking of jobs, I am still looking, still interviewing and whatnot, but nothing solid yet. I imagine I won't get into the knitty gritty of it until after Christmas. Who interviews over the holidays anyhow?
Because of my tight schedule, I wasn't able to unpack until yesterday. Crazy, right? Fortunately, I had done my laundry immediately after discovering that Ireland has a very distinct smell. It's not exactly a pleasant smell either. My mom smelled it on me immediately when I got off the plane, and I caught wind of it later in the car. Whew! Needless to say, even my clean clothes were tossed in the washer. When I told Elyse about it, she said she noticed the smell on her clothes when she flew back from Ireland a few weeks ago. Maybe it was the fumes from the heaters in my apartment? Who can know...
There's not much else to say about the great ol' Land of Eire. The Heritage department emailed me one of my class projects, and I have to get on it as soon as possible so I can send it back to be graded. Things are still so busy though, I hope I can find the time to get it all done! Though I will no longer be writing on this blog regularly, please stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for updates... I'm sure I'll come up with more to say.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Finally back!
I will type big entries later, but I wanted to let you all know that I made it home safely last night, after 19 exhausting hours of travel. Thank you for all the prayers!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
I guess I'm physically ready to leave...
My first hint was that I just packed all of my stuff in a sickening hour and a half.
15 hours...
I'm on my 15-hour countdown until I catch my bus to Dublin, where I will then catch my flight back to the States. Don't worry, in the next few days I'm sure I'll be reflecting quite a bit, but not just yet...
Wow, yesterday was quite a day. Classes were supposed to be cancelled because of a church holiday, but I had to sit through 3 hours of archaeology presentations anyway. I guess it wasn't that bad. After, I had made plans to see Tiffany, my friend from back home who is living in Castlebar. Since I had some time, I walked to town for the last time instead of taking the bus. It was cold, but oh well. When I got into town, I walked to some of the places I'm going to miss the most- the Charlie Byrne's bookstore, the library, the Anmesty International coffee shop, up and down Shop Street, in and out of art galleries. I was really trying to make myself realize I would never be here again; to be honest, I don't think my brain "gets" it. Anyway, I met up with Tiffany and her friend Ruth, and we went to La Salsa for a goodbye burrito and some catching up. I haven't seen Tiffany in months, so it was good to just hang out. We decided to walk to Quay Street Restaurant, where Ruth works, so she could pick up her paycheck. The place wasn't actually opened, but of course they'd let her in. We hung out at the bar because her boss wasn't there yet, and while we were waiting, Ruth went behind the bar popped open a bottle of white wine. All of a sudden, it's ladies' night at Quay Street. Haha. Not really, but we had fun. They had to run a few errands, and then their ride offered to drop me off at Gleann Na Ri. It would have been wonderful EXCEPT her car broke down on the way. Now it's ironic, but last night it was just annoying. I hopped out of the car and walked the rest of the way home.
It's been planned for weeks that a bunch of us would go out last night because it was sort of like my "last night" in Galway. Sure, I'm here today, but tonight is dedicated to packing and getting my 2 am bus. When I got home, I had messages like crazy on my Skype, and Ruben told me a few people had stopped by looking for me. Oops. I ran around, telling everyone the plan, stopping occasionally to edit a paper or tell a story. We eventually did make it out last night. The plan was to go places we had never really been, so we started at Taaffe's for traditional music. There were ten or eleven of us, I guess, and we usurped a few tables to play cards on. After a few hilarious games of BS, we moved on to get crepes to eat on the way to Roisin Dubh. Roisin Dubh (pronounced "russian dub") is such an interesting place; I think the weirdest people in Galway go there. We stayed there until it closed, all the while people trailing off as they needed to go. Mike, Nick and I were the last three (apparently four people left while I was getting hit on by some 18-year-old), so I paid for a taxi back home.
I woke up this morning to the typical grey skies of Galway. I have class at 2. I need to print and turn in my papers to the Heritage office before or after that. Since I'll be stuck in my room and the airport for the next 24 hours, I'm sure I'll be posting again at some point.
Wow, yesterday was quite a day. Classes were supposed to be cancelled because of a church holiday, but I had to sit through 3 hours of archaeology presentations anyway. I guess it wasn't that bad. After, I had made plans to see Tiffany, my friend from back home who is living in Castlebar. Since I had some time, I walked to town for the last time instead of taking the bus. It was cold, but oh well. When I got into town, I walked to some of the places I'm going to miss the most- the Charlie Byrne's bookstore, the library, the Anmesty International coffee shop, up and down Shop Street, in and out of art galleries. I was really trying to make myself realize I would never be here again; to be honest, I don't think my brain "gets" it. Anyway, I met up with Tiffany and her friend Ruth, and we went to La Salsa for a goodbye burrito and some catching up. I haven't seen Tiffany in months, so it was good to just hang out. We decided to walk to Quay Street Restaurant, where Ruth works, so she could pick up her paycheck. The place wasn't actually opened, but of course they'd let her in. We hung out at the bar because her boss wasn't there yet, and while we were waiting, Ruth went behind the bar popped open a bottle of white wine. All of a sudden, it's ladies' night at Quay Street. Haha. Not really, but we had fun. They had to run a few errands, and then their ride offered to drop me off at Gleann Na Ri. It would have been wonderful EXCEPT her car broke down on the way. Now it's ironic, but last night it was just annoying. I hopped out of the car and walked the rest of the way home.
It's been planned for weeks that a bunch of us would go out last night because it was sort of like my "last night" in Galway. Sure, I'm here today, but tonight is dedicated to packing and getting my 2 am bus. When I got home, I had messages like crazy on my Skype, and Ruben told me a few people had stopped by looking for me. Oops. I ran around, telling everyone the plan, stopping occasionally to edit a paper or tell a story. We eventually did make it out last night. The plan was to go places we had never really been, so we started at Taaffe's for traditional music. There were ten or eleven of us, I guess, and we usurped a few tables to play cards on. After a few hilarious games of BS, we moved on to get crepes to eat on the way to Roisin Dubh. Roisin Dubh (pronounced "russian dub") is such an interesting place; I think the weirdest people in Galway go there. We stayed there until it closed, all the while people trailing off as they needed to go. Mike, Nick and I were the last three (apparently four people left while I was getting hit on by some 18-year-old), so I paid for a taxi back home.
I woke up this morning to the typical grey skies of Galway. I have class at 2. I need to print and turn in my papers to the Heritage office before or after that. Since I'll be stuck in my room and the airport for the next 24 hours, I'm sure I'll be posting again at some point.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Erasmus Party
If there's one thing I can say about international students, it's that we fall in love with each other real fast. I'm not exactly sure which student was responsible for organizing the affair, but last night all the Erasmus students gathered together for a goodbye party. At first, I wasn't really looking forward to it. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the location, maybe it was the fact that I'm not great friends with some of the international kids, maybe because I thought no one would show up. But I talked to about 20 people over the course of the day yesterday, and everyone said they were going, so I figured I would too. Attendance took a little while to pick up, but eventually, almost every foreign kid in Galway was there. Turns out that I am actually the first student PERIOD to be going home, so there was an unspoken "say goodbye to Katie" agenda. It was completely endearing. I know I've mentioned that I'll miss these people, but last night while I was watching everyone hugging and the girls crying and groups toasting to how we've changed each other's lives, I was struck with this sudden emotion of pre emptive nostalgia. Not only will I never be able to do this with these people ever again, but I'll never really be able to do it again at all. I'm leaving college, and for someone who loves being a student, this is really unsettling. But! I know that I'm moving on to "bigger and better things," haha, and I have to trust that with that will come people like these. Maybe I'll keep up with these people; there have already been talks about a reunion, and some of the Europeans are already planning trips over to see us, like Ruben and Stephan.
After the party last night, I walked home with Darin, my across-the-hall neighbor. We chatted for a while, and that chat ended up with us sitting on the floor in the hallway between our doors at 6 am, talking about memories and life and school and how he had changed this whole experience for me, and how we were going to miss each other. For as long as I live, I will never ever forget that conversation. Along with the foreigners planning trips, I've also made rough plans to go up to UW-Platteville and see all these guys again (if you remember, there are 8 Platteville men that I'm friends with). But who knows if they'll carry through. It's a possibility that we're just saying it to make each other feel better, when it's really like signing yearbooks "Keep in touch!" or saying "We should hang out sometime" to people you secretly know you'll never contact again. But the friends I've made here- Darin, Mike, all three Nicks, Carolin, Stephan, Stephanie, Ruben, Anso, Garrett, Derek, Charlie, James, Fabien, Trevor, Brett, Brandon... I've fallen in love with them, and for the girl who doesn't easily give her heart away to strangers, I don't know how I'll ever repay them for that gift.
After the party last night, I walked home with Darin, my across-the-hall neighbor. We chatted for a while, and that chat ended up with us sitting on the floor in the hallway between our doors at 6 am, talking about memories and life and school and how he had changed this whole experience for me, and how we were going to miss each other. For as long as I live, I will never ever forget that conversation. Along with the foreigners planning trips, I've also made rough plans to go up to UW-Platteville and see all these guys again (if you remember, there are 8 Platteville men that I'm friends with). But who knows if they'll carry through. It's a possibility that we're just saying it to make each other feel better, when it's really like signing yearbooks "Keep in touch!" or saying "We should hang out sometime" to people you secretly know you'll never contact again. But the friends I've made here- Darin, Mike, all three Nicks, Carolin, Stephan, Stephanie, Ruben, Anso, Garrett, Derek, Charlie, James, Fabien, Trevor, Brett, Brandon... I've fallen in love with them, and for the girl who doesn't easily give her heart away to strangers, I don't know how I'll ever repay them for that gift.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Birthdays, birthdays everywhere!
I meant to mention yesterday that both birthday celebrations went well! We took Stephen to La Salsa and then to the Quay's. "We" included about 15 people, and "we" took up almost all the seating on the upstairs floor. The French girls made him a little cake, and we were gifted with cinnammon churros by the ladies working at the restaurant. After we had hung out long enough, to the Quay's we went for Steve's official birthday drink. Since everyone is absolutely swamped with work, no one stayed out too long. We all attempted to hang out in the birthday boy's apartment, but I had to get home to do some work.
Yesterday was Stephanie's birthday celebration. She actually won't turn 21 until Sunday, but she's flying back to Hamburg this weekend, so the party had to come early. Stephen and Stephan ended up having to work or something, so it was just Stephanie, Caro, and me who went to the aquarium in Salthill. It wasn't the best aquarium I've ever been to, but we had fun anyway. I love aquariums, and Stephanie is studying marine biology here at GMIT, so we all bugged out like little kids seeing fish for the first time. Hilariously, I ordered salmon and Caro ordered monktail at dinner later. Hahahaha. Speaking of, we had reservations at The Huntsman Inn, a swank little restaurant that Stephanie first tried when her mom was visiting last month. The guys joined us for a night of laughter, reminiscing, and great food. If you're interested in looking at pictures (not like I haven't posted enough recently), here's the Facebook link!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070361&l=c0b29&id=44104357
Yesterday was Stephanie's birthday celebration. She actually won't turn 21 until Sunday, but she's flying back to Hamburg this weekend, so the party had to come early. Stephen and Stephan ended up having to work or something, so it was just Stephanie, Caro, and me who went to the aquarium in Salthill. It wasn't the best aquarium I've ever been to, but we had fun anyway. I love aquariums, and Stephanie is studying marine biology here at GMIT, so we all bugged out like little kids seeing fish for the first time. Hilariously, I ordered salmon and Caro ordered monktail at dinner later. Hahahaha. Speaking of, we had reservations at The Huntsman Inn, a swank little restaurant that Stephanie first tried when her mom was visiting last month. The guys joined us for a night of laughter, reminiscing, and great food. If you're interested in looking at pictures (not like I haven't posted enough recently), here's the Facebook link!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070361&l=c0b29&id=44104357
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Itinerary change
I will be back in NC this time next week! How cool is that?! Tonight I was sitting across the hall talking to my WI neighbors, and they just happened to check their flights back home, only to find out that one of their flights has disappeared and now they're having a bit of a mess figuring out how to get home. Listening to all of this, and remembering back to last weekend when we missed our flight to Germany, I decided to check my flight, too. I am so glad I did. I'm not sure if my flight was changed, or if I somehow initially misread my departure time, but I'm actually leaving Dublin at 8:55 am, not 11:55 am like I thought. Soooo, the original plan was to hop on the 6 am bus from Galway to Dublin airport and then catch my plane. NOW I have to get the 2:15 am bus, which puts me in Dublin three and a half hours early. Geez. That gives me plenty of leeway in case my bus is late or something goes wrong, but I am not looking forward to going that early. I could get a hostel on Tuesday night, but then I'd have to pay for that and a taxi to the airport, so I'm saving a bunch of money by leaving early on Wednesday morning. Anyway, not that big of a deal, I'm just glad I checked!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Belfast pictures
I should have posted these before Germany, but here are the pictures from Belfast!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070205&l=de6d8&id=44104357
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070205&l=de6d8&id=44104357
An international Thanksgiving and learning German in 3 days
It's been a week, I know, but I've been so incredibly busy. Last week was our Thanksgiving celebration. Because I had to catch a plane to Germany on the actual Thanksgiving day, we decided to celebrate the Wednesday before. I was in charge of making one turkey, the gravy and the pies, and my friends Stephan, Carolin, and Derek all masterminded the other turkey. My roommate Ruben and Garrett made a honey-glazed ham, and then everyone else chipped in the mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce, rolls, and beer and wine. We ended up having about 20 people at our celebration, both Americans and internationals kids. Everything turned out sooooo delicious. It was the first time I'd ever made a turkey on my own, and I decided to sort of wing the basting liquids, and I really wanted to brown-bag it (my mom has done it this way in prior years). I ended up laying it on a bed of carrots and onions and using lemon juice, butter, garlic salt, rosemary to rub it down, and then stuffing it. At the suggestion of one of my Irish friends, I roasted the bird upside down so the drippings would make the breast really moist. It worked, let me tell ya! I spent the majority of Wednesday cooking, with the aide of my neighbor Darin; neither of us had class. When it came time for dinner, the food disappeared in front of our eyes! Haha. We all had so much fun. I can't believe we pulled it off. Like one of my friends said, "If we can't have Thanksgiving with our families, we might as well have it with our friends that have become our family." Check out the "family photo":
I was up way late with everyone on Wednesday, but I got a few hours of sleep before having to catch the bus to Dublin so we could fly to Germany. My German friend Stephan was taking me, Stephen, and Derek back to his home in southern Germany. Thursday, however, was as mildly depressing as Wednesday was wonderful. For whatever reason, our Bus Eireann bus was almost an hour and a half late to Dublin. When we finally did get there, we had to take another shuttle bus to the airport (we didn't know we would have to do that). Realizing we had the potential of missing our flight, we got off the shuttle and hailed a taxi. No luck, we still missed the flight by ten minutes. Everyone was so upset, not to mention mentally blaming any and everyone and thing we could to excuse our tardiness. We spent the next three hours at Dublin airport researching our options. At the end of the day, we got a hostel in Dublin and decided to take the next Ryanair flight on Friday morning. So, we lost some money and a day in Germany, but the trip was worth it.
We arrive in Karlsruhe airport, which is really outside Baden-Baden. From there, Stephan's girlfriend Anika picked us up in her brother's car and we drove to the Black Forest. Major picture oppotunities! Piles of snow covered all surfaces, and as we advanced to higher and higher altitudes, we were astouded by the beauty that surrounded us. We hung out in the Black Forest until it got dark, and then drove to Stephan's parents' home. Mrs. Hezel made us the best meal I've had in, oh I don't know, about four months, barring Thanksgiving. I really need to find out those recipes... Anyway, Friday night we went out with Stephan and Anika and two of their childhood friends to this tiny little bar in the next town. No one spoke English (and we don't speak German), except the bartender, who was SO excited to have Americans in his bar that he kept coming over with shots and suggesting drinks. We even did a German beer tasting! Haha. When we left, we stood in the freezing cold and had a snowball fight. How great it was to feel snow!!! But Derek and I agreed that it was a little different, it had a different texture or something.
Saturday was jam-packed and fast-paced. After a delicious German breakfast of bread, meats, cheeses, and coffee, we hit the icy road and headed to Stuttgart, home of Mercedes-Benz. We hung out in town for a little bit, did some shopping and walked around their Christmas market (where I tried roasted chesnuts for the first time! yumm), before getting back in the car to go to the TV tower. From Stuttgart's TV tower, you can see almost all of southern Germany. Stephan oriented us by showing us where we had flown in, where we were going, where our other German friends live, and the country's borders. After the tower, we ate a great lunch and then went to the Mercedes-Benz museum. I'm not much of a car person, but the musuem was really interesting. German and world histories were intermingled with the history of the cars. Did you know that the tri-star symbol for Mercedes-Benz was developed as a reflection of their incentive to build air, land, and water vehicles? Yeah, I didn't either. The museum was our last stop in Stuttgart, so we rushed to drive to Ludwigsburg a few miles away. There we caught the last English tour of the Ludwigsburg castle. It was dark by the time we finished, so we headed to Anika's parents' house. As I listened to Stephan recount our missed flight experience, I realized I basically knew what he was saying. I can't explain it, I don't know how to speak German, but I guess being immersed in it for two days gave me a better understanding of the language. Weird. We put down our stuff in our room and had a little break before going to the Ludwigsburg Christmas Market. Their market is well-known, and is famed for being one of the largest, I think. The rest of our night was spent sipping mulled wine and hot chocolate, bartering in German for crafts, and enjoying the pleasant holiday air. I was so beat that night that I decided to stay in and go to sleep early instead of going out with Stephan and Anika and their friends.
Sunday morning we enjoyed another great German breakfast (and coffee) before embarking on our Autobahn journey back to Karlsruhe airport. It didn't take as long as we had alotted time for (it WAS the Autobahn after all), so we all sat down for another coffee before going through security. We were very pleased to be early this time, though. If we had missed our flight, I'm not sure what I would have done. Be even more exasperated, I guess. We all said goodbye to Anika, who is the sweetest girl ever and was so gracious to us the entire weekend. Stephan will head back to Germany in about three weeks, but Stephen, Derek, and I don't know when we'll see her again. Stephan mentioned coming to NC this next summer to visit us; we'll see! If you're interested in pictures, here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070213&l=df21e&id=44104357
A cold and icy Germany bled into a cold and icy Ireland. Apparently the dawn of December and Advent brought with it December and Advent weather. I almost wiped out a few times yesterday on patches of black ice. My professor was late to class because he crashed his van into a wall. Yikes! But I braved it all to do my Christmas shopping yesterday. I've been putting it off for so long hoping the dollar would regain some strength. But I'm running out of time, so I bit the bullet and spend a few hours after class in the city center. Fortunately, I knew what I was getting, and I sped around like a little worker bee. I will finish off my shopping this weekend at Saturday market. I bought another piece of luggage, too, to get everything home. It's not that I have so much, it's just that I'm pretty sure I'd go over the weight restriction if I put everything in my one suitcase. I'm trying desperately to wind everything up here as far as classes and schoolwork, but I am thrilled to get home as soon as possible. And then it's graduation! I'm not sure I've honestly thought about what that means. I will no longer be a student. That makes me sad. I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll head to grad school at some point. Hmm...
This post is getting pretty long, so I'll wrap it up with this. Today is Stephen's 22nd birthday, so we're taking him to a burrito place tonight, and then I'm celebrating Stephanie's birthday tomorrow night at the aquarium in Salthill, then dinner afterwards. This week is going to fly!
I was up way late with everyone on Wednesday, but I got a few hours of sleep before having to catch the bus to Dublin so we could fly to Germany. My German friend Stephan was taking me, Stephen, and Derek back to his home in southern Germany. Thursday, however, was as mildly depressing as Wednesday was wonderful. For whatever reason, our Bus Eireann bus was almost an hour and a half late to Dublin. When we finally did get there, we had to take another shuttle bus to the airport (we didn't know we would have to do that). Realizing we had the potential of missing our flight, we got off the shuttle and hailed a taxi. No luck, we still missed the flight by ten minutes. Everyone was so upset, not to mention mentally blaming any and everyone and thing we could to excuse our tardiness. We spent the next three hours at Dublin airport researching our options. At the end of the day, we got a hostel in Dublin and decided to take the next Ryanair flight on Friday morning. So, we lost some money and a day in Germany, but the trip was worth it.
We arrive in Karlsruhe airport, which is really outside Baden-Baden. From there, Stephan's girlfriend Anika picked us up in her brother's car and we drove to the Black Forest. Major picture oppotunities! Piles of snow covered all surfaces, and as we advanced to higher and higher altitudes, we were astouded by the beauty that surrounded us. We hung out in the Black Forest until it got dark, and then drove to Stephan's parents' home. Mrs. Hezel made us the best meal I've had in, oh I don't know, about four months, barring Thanksgiving. I really need to find out those recipes... Anyway, Friday night we went out with Stephan and Anika and two of their childhood friends to this tiny little bar in the next town. No one spoke English (and we don't speak German), except the bartender, who was SO excited to have Americans in his bar that he kept coming over with shots and suggesting drinks. We even did a German beer tasting! Haha. When we left, we stood in the freezing cold and had a snowball fight. How great it was to feel snow!!! But Derek and I agreed that it was a little different, it had a different texture or something.
Saturday was jam-packed and fast-paced. After a delicious German breakfast of bread, meats, cheeses, and coffee, we hit the icy road and headed to Stuttgart, home of Mercedes-Benz. We hung out in town for a little bit, did some shopping and walked around their Christmas market (where I tried roasted chesnuts for the first time! yumm), before getting back in the car to go to the TV tower. From Stuttgart's TV tower, you can see almost all of southern Germany. Stephan oriented us by showing us where we had flown in, where we were going, where our other German friends live, and the country's borders. After the tower, we ate a great lunch and then went to the Mercedes-Benz museum. I'm not much of a car person, but the musuem was really interesting. German and world histories were intermingled with the history of the cars. Did you know that the tri-star symbol for Mercedes-Benz was developed as a reflection of their incentive to build air, land, and water vehicles? Yeah, I didn't either. The museum was our last stop in Stuttgart, so we rushed to drive to Ludwigsburg a few miles away. There we caught the last English tour of the Ludwigsburg castle. It was dark by the time we finished, so we headed to Anika's parents' house. As I listened to Stephan recount our missed flight experience, I realized I basically knew what he was saying. I can't explain it, I don't know how to speak German, but I guess being immersed in it for two days gave me a better understanding of the language. Weird. We put down our stuff in our room and had a little break before going to the Ludwigsburg Christmas Market. Their market is well-known, and is famed for being one of the largest, I think. The rest of our night was spent sipping mulled wine and hot chocolate, bartering in German for crafts, and enjoying the pleasant holiday air. I was so beat that night that I decided to stay in and go to sleep early instead of going out with Stephan and Anika and their friends.
Sunday morning we enjoyed another great German breakfast (and coffee) before embarking on our Autobahn journey back to Karlsruhe airport. It didn't take as long as we had alotted time for (it WAS the Autobahn after all), so we all sat down for another coffee before going through security. We were very pleased to be early this time, though. If we had missed our flight, I'm not sure what I would have done. Be even more exasperated, I guess. We all said goodbye to Anika, who is the sweetest girl ever and was so gracious to us the entire weekend. Stephan will head back to Germany in about three weeks, but Stephen, Derek, and I don't know when we'll see her again. Stephan mentioned coming to NC this next summer to visit us; we'll see! If you're interested in pictures, here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070213&l=df21e&id=44104357
A cold and icy Germany bled into a cold and icy Ireland. Apparently the dawn of December and Advent brought with it December and Advent weather. I almost wiped out a few times yesterday on patches of black ice. My professor was late to class because he crashed his van into a wall. Yikes! But I braved it all to do my Christmas shopping yesterday. I've been putting it off for so long hoping the dollar would regain some strength. But I'm running out of time, so I bit the bullet and spend a few hours after class in the city center. Fortunately, I knew what I was getting, and I sped around like a little worker bee. I will finish off my shopping this weekend at Saturday market. I bought another piece of luggage, too, to get everything home. It's not that I have so much, it's just that I'm pretty sure I'd go over the weight restriction if I put everything in my one suitcase. I'm trying desperately to wind everything up here as far as classes and schoolwork, but I am thrilled to get home as soon as possible. And then it's graduation! I'm not sure I've honestly thought about what that means. I will no longer be a student. That makes me sad. I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll head to grad school at some point. Hmm...
This post is getting pretty long, so I'll wrap it up with this. Today is Stephen's 22nd birthday, so we're taking him to a burrito place tonight, and then I'm celebrating Stephanie's birthday tomorrow night at the aquarium in Salthill, then dinner afterwards. This week is going to fly!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I wish someone would pay me to do what I want to do
Today makes the fourth Tuesday in a row that I haven't had class. If you recall, my professor had surgery a while ago, and he was supposed to be back last week and wasn't, and then he was supposed to be back this week, but he isn't back today either. SOOO no class for me. Where a few weeks ago I was frustrated and I little lost about how to kill time, now I am thankful for the extra hours. I'm writing essays, looking for jobs, and pulling things together for when I get home.
I'm still looking for work, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet. There are two Salvation Army jobs I think I'll apply for: one in Ohio as a spiritual coordinator/youth ministries person, and one in MA as the Assistant to CRD Director for donor relations operations. Elyse just sent me one from idealist.org (fantastic site for NGO jobs, by the way) for a Development Coordinator of Marketing and Communication for a non-profit in MA. Ha those are all so different.
If anyone has any suggestions or knows of job openings, please let me know! I'll move just about anywhere in the country! I would LOVE to find a job in the next few weeks. Preferably before I leave here, but that's highly unlikely at this stage in the game. Hohum.
I wish I could fast-forward for a sneak peek of how my life turns out. I don't really want to know how I get there, because life is an adventure, and there are many ways God gets us to our destinations. I just want to know what I'll be doing. Not how, not why, not where, just WHAT. Will I end up proving myself wrong and get married and have kids? Will I ever find a job that suits me? Will I be influential and respected? To get to my end, I have to begin somewhere. And that somewhere is most likely with a full-time job. I am willing to go (both physically and otherwise) wherever I need to go to continue down God's path for me. There are just a lot of blank canvases and question marks at this point. But what's new?
I'm still looking for work, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet. There are two Salvation Army jobs I think I'll apply for: one in Ohio as a spiritual coordinator/youth ministries person, and one in MA as the Assistant to CRD Director for donor relations operations. Elyse just sent me one from idealist.org (fantastic site for NGO jobs, by the way) for a Development Coordinator of Marketing and Communication for a non-profit in MA. Ha those are all so different.
If anyone has any suggestions or knows of job openings, please let me know! I'll move just about anywhere in the country! I would LOVE to find a job in the next few weeks. Preferably before I leave here, but that's highly unlikely at this stage in the game. Hohum.
I wish I could fast-forward for a sneak peek of how my life turns out. I don't really want to know how I get there, because life is an adventure, and there are many ways God gets us to our destinations. I just want to know what I'll be doing. Not how, not why, not where, just WHAT. Will I end up proving myself wrong and get married and have kids? Will I ever find a job that suits me? Will I be influential and respected? To get to my end, I have to begin somewhere. And that somewhere is most likely with a full-time job. I am willing to go (both physically and otherwise) wherever I need to go to continue down God's path for me. There are just a lot of blank canvases and question marks at this point. But what's new?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Belfast Bonanza!
Hello all! About two hours ago, I got off Bus Eireann bus #261 across from GMIT, finally back in the Republic of Ireland after spending the weekend in Belfast, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland. There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the trip and the unrest in that part of Ireland, and no one was really sure what to expect. I went with seven guys, Stephen and the rest UW-Platteville men. We got there in the evening on Friday, immediately greeted by rain that the forecast didn't predict. Sweet. We walked around and saw all the lights and City Hall, which was all decked out in Christmas decorations, and got our bearings. The town is really quite lovely. One of the Erasmus students went a few weeks ago and didn't bring back a good report of Belfast, but I instantly loved it and knew I would probably like it better than any other big city I had been to here. Our walking around got us a little lost, but we eventually found the hostel.
Hostels are always a huge question mark until you get there. Even though you can get details online and stuff, you're always blind-booking. It could be a nice place, it could have rats crawling around, but you won't know until you get there. I wasn't immediately impressed when we walked in to the Linen House Hostel, but the guy at the counter quickly proved apt, exceeding my expectations. Over the course of the weekend, all the staff were helpful. We paid up, got the key, and made our way upstairs. We got a private room for the 8 of us, so we had a big room with bunk beds and a sink, and we were right next to the bathroom- good move, especially since we stole the showers both mornings.
Anyway, after unloading our stuff, we started walking again, and eventually walked into what I think is the coolest mall ever. It was an indoor/outdoor one. Basically, you came into the complex, and could walk around, but all of the stores were connected by crosslinks that were, for the most part, exposed to the elements. I guess if you took a regular mall and removed all of the entrances, it'd be like that. There's even an observation deck on the top floor, where you can see all of Belfast. I went up twice, once that night and once today. After climbing back down, we immediately spotted our dinner outing- Chili's. Hah! It's been such a long time since I've had Chili's, and we were all so excited. After a few hours, we cleared out and went back to the hostel to sleep.
Saturday, we had booked a tour to the Giant's Causeway and Derry. Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage Site in N. Ireland. It's a huge collection of basalt deposits on the coast, and they create these magnificent shapes and cliffs that are breath-taking and awesome. (I'll let you know when I get pictures posted.) We spent hours climbing up these cliffs and then back down and then walking out onto these deposits. It was absolutely freezing, and crazy windy. In fact, there were advisories to not go up on the cliff paths because of the wind, but did you really expect 8 crazy American college kids to listen?? Of course not. I can't adequately describe how gorgeous this place was, hopefully pictures will help.
Our last stop was in Derry, Co. Ulster-aka the Walled City. All of a sudden, the scary stories we heard about Northern Ireland became true. This place wasn't the friendliest-looking, and some of us were a little creeped out. We didn't stay for long, just enough time to walk around, get a bagel, visit the market, and get back on our bus. When we got back in Belfast, six guys wanted to eat and hang out, and Darin and I went to watch a hockey game. The Coors Belfast Giants played the Edinburgh Capitals. We were a little late, but our tickets were in the second row, and the fun we had that night dissolved any regret for missing the first few minutes. The Giants KILLED the Capitals, 5-2. We had so much fun. We walked back to the hostel and arrived just minutes after the rest of the gang. We attempted to go out to see some live music, but we couldn't find the bar, so 5 of us came back to sleep, while the other three tried again.
This morning we slept in, checked out at 10:30, and then tried to find some breakfast. Being Sunday, it was not the easiest task. We grudgingly settled on McDonald's. Last night we had discussed getting a Black Cab tour, and our guy was picking us up at 12:30. The tour was supposed to take us to some of the places in Belfast you really shouldn't go to on foot. And boy, did it. This was the most somber experience I might have ever had. Our driver took us through the divided Protestant and Catholic communities in Belfast. We saw the murals and peace gardens commemorating those who had died in the struggles since the '20s, some as recent as the past few years. We saw the graffitied "peace wall"- the gated, barb-wired wall that runs in between the two communities to reduce violence. It's called the Berlin Wall of Belfast. And it really is. Our cabbie told us vicious stories of bombs, shootings, terror and the attempts of peace in the past ten years. All of the stories we'd heard about the Republic of Ireland v. Northern Ireland/ Catholics vs. Protestants/ Nationalists vs. Loyalists, materialized in those moments. I was stuck in a period of complete silence. This conflict was something I could loosely identify with, considering my family's history (Armenian genocide). We all hear so much about civil conflicts in other countries and we feel removed and safe, but there I was, I was in it. I fought back fear even though I knew I had nothing to be scared of. I'm still shaking my head now, trying to sober up from the monstrosity of it all. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would have ever been able to "get it" without having been to Belfast; I walked down Bombay street where bombs put 7,000 Nationalists out of their houses, I read pleas of peace painted on the dividing wall, I stood underneath a mural of a gunman who pointed his rifle at my face, meaning to inspire terror in the onlooker. It was unreal.
We were dropped off in City Center, and the only way we could all get out of our collective slump was to get some food and burn off energy before getting back on the bus to go home. The Christmas Market just started in Belfast this week, but it was in full swing today. We bought cups of mulled wine and hot chocolate and browsed stall after stall of candies, meats, crafts, and gifts. I bought some black licorice from Holland and shortbread cookies to share on the road. OH! And a kangaroo burger, which is.. exactly what you think it is. A burger made from kangaroo meat. It was impressively good. :)
We boarded the bus around 4, not expecting to get back in Galway until 10:30 tonight. But no one expected the events of the trip home. Leg #1, from Belfast to Eniskillen, was sleep time for everyone. Leg #2, Eniskillen to Sligo, was short and was perfect for reading and light conversation. But Leg #3, from Sligo to Galway, was... well... I can't think of an adjective. Brett came to the back of the bus to talk to me about philosophy. All of a sudden, half of our group came to listen to me talk about the basics of good, truth, and beauty, three of the most debated concepts in philosophy. Then, of course, it got into God talk. I was a little uncomfortable, because I knew something potentially crazy could happen with our varied backgrounds. But the problem wasn't with anyone I knew, but with the older man who jumped in! Haha, he was sitting nearby, and I could see him shifting in his seat a little before he turned around to contribute to our discussion. His intention was to get me riled up, I think, but I kept a level head and tossed ideas back and forth like I did everyday in my philosophy classes. (I was later congratulated by my friends, I guess they were impressed with what I had to say.) It was a regular hot-potato debate for a while, before he trailed off into something I couldn't hear. Then Brett finished off the conversation by changing the topic. I never mind when people hop in, but his input (and rebuke of our "Christian American" beliefs) sparked way more talk after he got off the bus. The next couple of hours contained nonstop discussion of religion, philosophy, psychology, evolution, theology, time travel and everything in between. I, the philosophy major, was considered to be the answer box for most of the posed questions, and I did my best to field what I could. It didn't take long before all the guys moved from their seats in the middle of the bus to where I was in the back. We all deep-thought together and expressed opinions and saw sides of each other we didn't know existed. They posed some of the hardest theological questions possible, and the discourse that followed was intelligent and well-spoken. Before we got off the bus, I thanked all of these guys for taking part. Seeing their confusion, I added that I had been feeling so lost without someone to TALK to, and I had been lamenting to God about it. Well, he heard my heart murmurs, and used these guys- all of them tough athletes who talk mainly about drinking and women, studying to be businessmen, engineers, and contractors, rarely showing any passionate emotion for anything other than sports or the political race- to directly answer my prayer. What was even better was the satisfaction all of them got out of it, as well. I got off that bus, the happiest I'd been since I got here. And seeing how well we all talk together, there is suddenly interest in having "Philosophy Night" where we can all just hang out and 'philosophize'. Ha. I am surprised and so honored to be a part of all of this, but I was also struck tonight with a deep sadness of having to leave them all so soon.
This was my last trip with that group of guys. Stephen and I are going to Germany next weekend, but I won't be traveling anymore with the WI guys. Not in Ireland at least. However sad I will be to part ways with them, I will forever be grateful for how these friends have enriched my life. I really hope I can figure out how to see them again. I might call my uncle and see if I can get a beach house for their Spring Break- they said they would come down. Hmm. Anyway, the whole point is that Belfast was great, and I loved it all. This may have been my favorite trip so far, but there's always Germany next weekend!
Hostels are always a huge question mark until you get there. Even though you can get details online and stuff, you're always blind-booking. It could be a nice place, it could have rats crawling around, but you won't know until you get there. I wasn't immediately impressed when we walked in to the Linen House Hostel, but the guy at the counter quickly proved apt, exceeding my expectations. Over the course of the weekend, all the staff were helpful. We paid up, got the key, and made our way upstairs. We got a private room for the 8 of us, so we had a big room with bunk beds and a sink, and we were right next to the bathroom- good move, especially since we stole the showers both mornings.
Anyway, after unloading our stuff, we started walking again, and eventually walked into what I think is the coolest mall ever. It was an indoor/outdoor one. Basically, you came into the complex, and could walk around, but all of the stores were connected by crosslinks that were, for the most part, exposed to the elements. I guess if you took a regular mall and removed all of the entrances, it'd be like that. There's even an observation deck on the top floor, where you can see all of Belfast. I went up twice, once that night and once today. After climbing back down, we immediately spotted our dinner outing- Chili's. Hah! It's been such a long time since I've had Chili's, and we were all so excited. After a few hours, we cleared out and went back to the hostel to sleep.
Saturday, we had booked a tour to the Giant's Causeway and Derry. Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage Site in N. Ireland. It's a huge collection of basalt deposits on the coast, and they create these magnificent shapes and cliffs that are breath-taking and awesome. (I'll let you know when I get pictures posted.) We spent hours climbing up these cliffs and then back down and then walking out onto these deposits. It was absolutely freezing, and crazy windy. In fact, there were advisories to not go up on the cliff paths because of the wind, but did you really expect 8 crazy American college kids to listen?? Of course not. I can't adequately describe how gorgeous this place was, hopefully pictures will help.
Our last stop was in Derry, Co. Ulster-aka the Walled City. All of a sudden, the scary stories we heard about Northern Ireland became true. This place wasn't the friendliest-looking, and some of us were a little creeped out. We didn't stay for long, just enough time to walk around, get a bagel, visit the market, and get back on our bus. When we got back in Belfast, six guys wanted to eat and hang out, and Darin and I went to watch a hockey game. The Coors Belfast Giants played the Edinburgh Capitals. We were a little late, but our tickets were in the second row, and the fun we had that night dissolved any regret for missing the first few minutes. The Giants KILLED the Capitals, 5-2. We had so much fun. We walked back to the hostel and arrived just minutes after the rest of the gang. We attempted to go out to see some live music, but we couldn't find the bar, so 5 of us came back to sleep, while the other three tried again.
This morning we slept in, checked out at 10:30, and then tried to find some breakfast. Being Sunday, it was not the easiest task. We grudgingly settled on McDonald's. Last night we had discussed getting a Black Cab tour, and our guy was picking us up at 12:30. The tour was supposed to take us to some of the places in Belfast you really shouldn't go to on foot. And boy, did it. This was the most somber experience I might have ever had. Our driver took us through the divided Protestant and Catholic communities in Belfast. We saw the murals and peace gardens commemorating those who had died in the struggles since the '20s, some as recent as the past few years. We saw the graffitied "peace wall"- the gated, barb-wired wall that runs in between the two communities to reduce violence. It's called the Berlin Wall of Belfast. And it really is. Our cabbie told us vicious stories of bombs, shootings, terror and the attempts of peace in the past ten years. All of the stories we'd heard about the Republic of Ireland v. Northern Ireland/ Catholics vs. Protestants/ Nationalists vs. Loyalists, materialized in those moments. I was stuck in a period of complete silence. This conflict was something I could loosely identify with, considering my family's history (Armenian genocide). We all hear so much about civil conflicts in other countries and we feel removed and safe, but there I was, I was in it. I fought back fear even though I knew I had nothing to be scared of. I'm still shaking my head now, trying to sober up from the monstrosity of it all. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would have ever been able to "get it" without having been to Belfast; I walked down Bombay street where bombs put 7,000 Nationalists out of their houses, I read pleas of peace painted on the dividing wall, I stood underneath a mural of a gunman who pointed his rifle at my face, meaning to inspire terror in the onlooker. It was unreal.
We were dropped off in City Center, and the only way we could all get out of our collective slump was to get some food and burn off energy before getting back on the bus to go home. The Christmas Market just started in Belfast this week, but it was in full swing today. We bought cups of mulled wine and hot chocolate and browsed stall after stall of candies, meats, crafts, and gifts. I bought some black licorice from Holland and shortbread cookies to share on the road. OH! And a kangaroo burger, which is.. exactly what you think it is. A burger made from kangaroo meat. It was impressively good. :)
We boarded the bus around 4, not expecting to get back in Galway until 10:30 tonight. But no one expected the events of the trip home. Leg #1, from Belfast to Eniskillen, was sleep time for everyone. Leg #2, Eniskillen to Sligo, was short and was perfect for reading and light conversation. But Leg #3, from Sligo to Galway, was... well... I can't think of an adjective. Brett came to the back of the bus to talk to me about philosophy. All of a sudden, half of our group came to listen to me talk about the basics of good, truth, and beauty, three of the most debated concepts in philosophy. Then, of course, it got into God talk. I was a little uncomfortable, because I knew something potentially crazy could happen with our varied backgrounds. But the problem wasn't with anyone I knew, but with the older man who jumped in! Haha, he was sitting nearby, and I could see him shifting in his seat a little before he turned around to contribute to our discussion. His intention was to get me riled up, I think, but I kept a level head and tossed ideas back and forth like I did everyday in my philosophy classes. (I was later congratulated by my friends, I guess they were impressed with what I had to say.) It was a regular hot-potato debate for a while, before he trailed off into something I couldn't hear. Then Brett finished off the conversation by changing the topic. I never mind when people hop in, but his input (and rebuke of our "Christian American" beliefs) sparked way more talk after he got off the bus. The next couple of hours contained nonstop discussion of religion, philosophy, psychology, evolution, theology, time travel and everything in between. I, the philosophy major, was considered to be the answer box for most of the posed questions, and I did my best to field what I could. It didn't take long before all the guys moved from their seats in the middle of the bus to where I was in the back. We all deep-thought together and expressed opinions and saw sides of each other we didn't know existed. They posed some of the hardest theological questions possible, and the discourse that followed was intelligent and well-spoken. Before we got off the bus, I thanked all of these guys for taking part. Seeing their confusion, I added that I had been feeling so lost without someone to TALK to, and I had been lamenting to God about it. Well, he heard my heart murmurs, and used these guys- all of them tough athletes who talk mainly about drinking and women, studying to be businessmen, engineers, and contractors, rarely showing any passionate emotion for anything other than sports or the political race- to directly answer my prayer. What was even better was the satisfaction all of them got out of it, as well. I got off that bus, the happiest I'd been since I got here. And seeing how well we all talk together, there is suddenly interest in having "Philosophy Night" where we can all just hang out and 'philosophize'. Ha. I am surprised and so honored to be a part of all of this, but I was also struck tonight with a deep sadness of having to leave them all so soon.
This was my last trip with that group of guys. Stephen and I are going to Germany next weekend, but I won't be traveling anymore with the WI guys. Not in Ireland at least. However sad I will be to part ways with them, I will forever be grateful for how these friends have enriched my life. I really hope I can figure out how to see them again. I might call my uncle and see if I can get a beach house for their Spring Break- they said they would come down. Hmm. Anyway, the whole point is that Belfast was great, and I loved it all. This may have been my favorite trip so far, but there's always Germany next weekend!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
It finally happened...
You know, I started to have my doubts, but while I was running today, I suddenly looked around me, and what did I notice? All of the leaves have fallen off the trees. Ok, maybe not ALL, but most of them. So that means what I was told is true- the leaves don't turn pretty colors and float off the trees for weeks. No, one day, they just all die and fall off. So there you have it. I had to admit, it was completely and utterly depressing.
Going to Belfast this weekend with some friends. Since it's farther north, I KNOW all the leaves will be dead there. Sad times.
Going to Belfast this weekend with some friends. Since it's farther north, I KNOW all the leaves will be dead there. Sad times.
Monday, November 17, 2008
What a dismal day!
All day, we were plagued with rain, wind, and cold. Seriously, it was dreadful. But what can you do? I hiked to classes in it, and hiked back. And then took a nap, because what else is there to do on a day like today? I should be used to it by now, haha. I am over my previous cold, but I'm now afraid that I'll get sick again. Better bulk up on echinecea.
Recently, I've been talking with people about how much we don't like Ireland. Haha. There are only a handful of exchange students that actually like living here. We're all taking advantage of this great opportunity to learn everything we can, but...I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag- I don't like it here. I'm not sure I ever really did. There were nice points, sure, you've read about a lot of them. But when we strip away the occasional weekend retreats or the few fun city outings, I'm left feeling absolutely stranded in this country. I just don't like it. And I have a suspicion that Ireland doesn't like me either. It's been rather hostile towards me in the past three months, and I'm frankly tired of putting up with it. I can push through for another 22 days, of course I can. But I will be so glad to return home, to normalcy.
Perhaps you find it sad and a little strange that I am rejecting this adventure. It's certainly not in my character to turn down a good challenge, to admit defeat, to come home with my tail between my legs. But the first of many lessons I've learned here is that there's a place for everyone. Ireland is not my place. The second of many lessons is that I can create an adventure anywhere I am, it's up to me to determine how and where. There is nothing extraordinarily interesting or exciting about living in this green country. I thought this would be a great way to kick around before graduation. I'm afraid Disillusionment has been a bitter friend. I'm not going to rant and rave about it. As I've told many people who have witnessed my gruelling journey here (emotional, psychological, and physical), there is only so much you can complain about, I might as well just suck it up and get through it. So that is exactly what I will do, I'll continue to wade through all the crap until I reach my final destination: Clemmons, NC. Or really, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where my lovely parents will hug me and welcome me home.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of this through hindsight.
Recently, I've been talking with people about how much we don't like Ireland. Haha. There are only a handful of exchange students that actually like living here. We're all taking advantage of this great opportunity to learn everything we can, but...I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag- I don't like it here. I'm not sure I ever really did. There were nice points, sure, you've read about a lot of them. But when we strip away the occasional weekend retreats or the few fun city outings, I'm left feeling absolutely stranded in this country. I just don't like it. And I have a suspicion that Ireland doesn't like me either. It's been rather hostile towards me in the past three months, and I'm frankly tired of putting up with it. I can push through for another 22 days, of course I can. But I will be so glad to return home, to normalcy.
Perhaps you find it sad and a little strange that I am rejecting this adventure. It's certainly not in my character to turn down a good challenge, to admit defeat, to come home with my tail between my legs. But the first of many lessons I've learned here is that there's a place for everyone. Ireland is not my place. The second of many lessons is that I can create an adventure anywhere I am, it's up to me to determine how and where. There is nothing extraordinarily interesting or exciting about living in this green country. I thought this would be a great way to kick around before graduation. I'm afraid Disillusionment has been a bitter friend. I'm not going to rant and rave about it. As I've told many people who have witnessed my gruelling journey here (emotional, psychological, and physical), there is only so much you can complain about, I might as well just suck it up and get through it. So that is exactly what I will do, I'll continue to wade through all the crap until I reach my final destination: Clemmons, NC. Or really, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where my lovely parents will hug me and welcome me home.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of this through hindsight.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Visit from Elyse
I know my posts have been lacking recently, but I had the pleasure of hosting my friend Elyse on her visit to Galway. She rounded out her European excursion in Ireland. She was in Galway from Wednesday night until this morning, and she caught a bus to Dublin, where she will stay until Tuesday morning. And then she flies back home! I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. I am so sad I'm missing Thanksgiving with my family. Fortunately, we'll be celebrating it here, so hopefully it will be a nice stand-in.
I've got lots of homework to take care of this week; the plan is to go to Belfast over the weekend. Hopefully we get to go, and hopefully I can finish my stuff! I'm pretty sure I'll be fine, I'm good with managing my time. It's the motivation that's a little lacking.
I can't believe I'll be home in less than a month. At one point it seemed like this trip was never going to end. According to my paper chain, I have 23 days left! Wow. Elyse said something interesting to me when she was getting ready to board the bus today, she said that she thinks there's still something in store for me here, like everything I'm supposed to get out of this trip hasn't happened yet. Maybe in Belfast, maybe in Germany, maybe on my last day here... that's an interesting thought. I can't let myself get too anxious for home that I forget to soak up everything I can here. Whatever it is, I'll get there, in due time.
I've got lots of homework to take care of this week; the plan is to go to Belfast over the weekend. Hopefully we get to go, and hopefully I can finish my stuff! I'm pretty sure I'll be fine, I'm good with managing my time. It's the motivation that's a little lacking.
I can't believe I'll be home in less than a month. At one point it seemed like this trip was never going to end. According to my paper chain, I have 23 days left! Wow. Elyse said something interesting to me when she was getting ready to board the bus today, she said that she thinks there's still something in store for me here, like everything I'm supposed to get out of this trip hasn't happened yet. Maybe in Belfast, maybe in Germany, maybe on my last day here... that's an interesting thought. I can't let myself get too anxious for home that I forget to soak up everything I can here. Whatever it is, I'll get there, in due time.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Job Application #1
After much searching and consideration, I applied for what I see as my first choice for job opportunities- a writer/editor position at the Habitat for Humanity, Inc office in Americus, GA. I feel confident that I am qualified for this job, and we'll just have to see what happens! A major bummer is that my internet connection screwed up and wouldn't let me get through the entire online application. I guess if they want more information, they'll contact me. I THINK my resume, cover letter, and contact details were submitted, but if I don't hear from anyone in the next week or so, I'll email to make sure everything went through.
I will obviously be applying to other jobs than this one; stay tuned for updates!
I will obviously be applying to other jobs than this one; stay tuned for updates!
Oops
So, I locked myself out of my room last night. At our apartment, we have key cards to get into the buildings (which are never locked) and our apartments (always locked unless you prop the door open). I ran across the hall to give Mike his stickers from London (and propped our door open), and I guess Ruben left the apartment and closed the door behind him, because when I walked back the door was locked. I didn't have anything with me, no shoes, no jacket, and no key. The guys were really nice and just let me hang out with them until Anne-Sophie got back a while later. Carolin even tried calling security for me, but I would have to meet him at the front office with my ID. That wasn't going to happen- no ID and no shoes, remember? And it was wicked cold last night. Eventually I got back into my room when Darin heard someone call my name; Anne-Sophie and Stephen had come to find me. Life lesson: always carry your key, even if your roommates are home, because they are quite obviously unreliable.
Elyse flies into Galway late tonight! That means I need groceries.
Elyse flies into Galway late tonight! That means I need groceries.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I'm back from London!
Hello all! It's a beautiful sun-shiny day here in Galway, Ireland. Which is appropriate because the sun was nonexistent in London. Let me tell you about it.
I was supposed to have a morning class on Friday, and then I was going to catch my bus to Shannon after that. I showed up for class, but no one else was there. My assumption is cancellation due to graduation ceremonies. I guess I missed the memo about not having class; you would understand my confusion if you too saw the posted sign all week that read "Heritage students will have classes as normal on Thursday and Friday". Whatever. So I caught a bus downtown to kill some time before my bus left at noon. When I finally got to Shannon airport, I was antsy. I so badly just wanted to already be in London. My flight arrived around 5:30. It took me a slightly stressful shuttle ride and 40-minute train to the appointed meeting spot, but it was all worth it when I finally found Elyse. We were both absolutely thrilled to see each other. Friday night was chill, we walked around for a while before stopping to get dinner and then heading back to our hotel. We caught up and exchanged traveling stories. I heard fireworks outside, and Elyse told me it was Prince Charles' 60th birthday.
We ate breakfast on Saturday and then got ready for the day. There were no set plans, but we eventually decided to go to the Tower of London and London Bridge. We knew it wasn't far from us, a few miles. The underground was helplessly crowded, so Elyse suggested we walk, and I was fine with that. Well, I was fine with it until it started to pour rain. Already wet, we just kept at it, finally reaching our destination an hour and a half and about 4 or 5 miles later. On the way we saw St. Paul's Cathedral, a circus, a Remembrance Day parade, and lots of fun buildings and statues. Once at the Tower, it stopped raining for a little while, and we happily spent the rest of the afternoon in that part of London. When the sun went down, though, we quickly became cold and miserable, two deterrents to staying out much longer. We caught the underground back to our hotel, took hot showers, and I went out to find dinner and bring it back. We were exhausted, and neither of us felt like going 'out on the town', so we stayed in again, talking and goofing off and loading pictures on her computer.
Sunday was our only planned excursion. We got up early, grabbed food from the breakfast buffet, and walked to the pick-up spot for our guided tour to Windsor, Stonehenge and Oxford. Windsor castle was huge, and gorgeous, and slightly grotesque in its opulence. We grabbed sandwiches before getting back on the bus for the long ride to the middle of nowhere and Stonehenge. I had been there before, but it was cool to be there while Elyse experienced it for the first time. It was literally cool, or should I say cold, due to the whipping winds and the clouds rolling in. The rain didn't hold off much longer, and our tour group walked around Oxford with umbrellas and rainjackets. But what an experience! Oxford! THE Oxford! I bought a shirt-I'm wearing it right now- haha. I was totally thrilled. I know that makes me a nerd, but I don't care. Like I told Elyse, I appreciate everything academic. What I mean by appreciate is 'drool over'. Yeah, oh well. The day had been so long, and so once again, we got back to the hotel late that night and just sat. Eventually, we ate fish and chips for a late dinner, but then more hanging out. There was no pressure to go out and do anything; Elyse and I used to entertaining ourselves, just the two of us; we've been doing it for years.
Monday morning we took our time, getting breakfast, taking showers, repacking all of our madness, checking the train times, searching for a sticker to bring to my friend Mike. (By the way, stickers don't exist in London. In such a touristy town, you would THINK that you could easily find a sticker. Not true- not even at the airport!) To avoid more rain, we sat in Starbucks for a while, sipping coffee and talking about college, our future plans, our travels, and the lessons we'd learned from it all. More than London itself, the whole weekend was such a comfort to me just because I was with one of my best friends. She knows me, she gets me, and she loves me anyway. She knows how stubborn I can be (she is too, after all), she knows my habits, and how I view life. We can laugh together and be stupid and evaluate the world around us. It would have been hard to leave her at the airport yesterday, but I'll see her again very soon when she comes here to Galway!
I haven't unpacked yet, and I'm pretty sure I need groceries and to do homework. There are a few London pictures on the slideshow to the left, but check out all of them at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068884&l=49955&id=44104357
I was supposed to have a morning class on Friday, and then I was going to catch my bus to Shannon after that. I showed up for class, but no one else was there. My assumption is cancellation due to graduation ceremonies. I guess I missed the memo about not having class; you would understand my confusion if you too saw the posted sign all week that read "Heritage students will have classes as normal on Thursday and Friday". Whatever. So I caught a bus downtown to kill some time before my bus left at noon. When I finally got to Shannon airport, I was antsy. I so badly just wanted to already be in London. My flight arrived around 5:30. It took me a slightly stressful shuttle ride and 40-minute train to the appointed meeting spot, but it was all worth it when I finally found Elyse. We were both absolutely thrilled to see each other. Friday night was chill, we walked around for a while before stopping to get dinner and then heading back to our hotel. We caught up and exchanged traveling stories. I heard fireworks outside, and Elyse told me it was Prince Charles' 60th birthday.
We ate breakfast on Saturday and then got ready for the day. There were no set plans, but we eventually decided to go to the Tower of London and London Bridge. We knew it wasn't far from us, a few miles. The underground was helplessly crowded, so Elyse suggested we walk, and I was fine with that. Well, I was fine with it until it started to pour rain. Already wet, we just kept at it, finally reaching our destination an hour and a half and about 4 or 5 miles later. On the way we saw St. Paul's Cathedral, a circus, a Remembrance Day parade, and lots of fun buildings and statues. Once at the Tower, it stopped raining for a little while, and we happily spent the rest of the afternoon in that part of London. When the sun went down, though, we quickly became cold and miserable, two deterrents to staying out much longer. We caught the underground back to our hotel, took hot showers, and I went out to find dinner and bring it back. We were exhausted, and neither of us felt like going 'out on the town', so we stayed in again, talking and goofing off and loading pictures on her computer.
Sunday was our only planned excursion. We got up early, grabbed food from the breakfast buffet, and walked to the pick-up spot for our guided tour to Windsor, Stonehenge and Oxford. Windsor castle was huge, and gorgeous, and slightly grotesque in its opulence. We grabbed sandwiches before getting back on the bus for the long ride to the middle of nowhere and Stonehenge. I had been there before, but it was cool to be there while Elyse experienced it for the first time. It was literally cool, or should I say cold, due to the whipping winds and the clouds rolling in. The rain didn't hold off much longer, and our tour group walked around Oxford with umbrellas and rainjackets. But what an experience! Oxford! THE Oxford! I bought a shirt-I'm wearing it right now- haha. I was totally thrilled. I know that makes me a nerd, but I don't care. Like I told Elyse, I appreciate everything academic. What I mean by appreciate is 'drool over'. Yeah, oh well. The day had been so long, and so once again, we got back to the hotel late that night and just sat. Eventually, we ate fish and chips for a late dinner, but then more hanging out. There was no pressure to go out and do anything; Elyse and I used to entertaining ourselves, just the two of us; we've been doing it for years.
Monday morning we took our time, getting breakfast, taking showers, repacking all of our madness, checking the train times, searching for a sticker to bring to my friend Mike. (By the way, stickers don't exist in London. In such a touristy town, you would THINK that you could easily find a sticker. Not true- not even at the airport!) To avoid more rain, we sat in Starbucks for a while, sipping coffee and talking about college, our future plans, our travels, and the lessons we'd learned from it all. More than London itself, the whole weekend was such a comfort to me just because I was with one of my best friends. She knows me, she gets me, and she loves me anyway. She knows how stubborn I can be (she is too, after all), she knows my habits, and how I view life. We can laugh together and be stupid and evaluate the world around us. It would have been hard to leave her at the airport yesterday, but I'll see her again very soon when she comes here to Galway!
I haven't unpacked yet, and I'm pretty sure I need groceries and to do homework. There are a few London pictures on the slideshow to the left, but check out all of them at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068884&l=49955&id=44104357
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Taking a break...
I won't be posting for a few days while I'm in London. Have a great weekend, and I'll let you know how my trip goes! Don't worry, I'll be safe and I won't die.
PS. I never went on my run part 2 because it rained awfully all evening. Sad.
PS. I never went on my run part 2 because it rained awfully all evening. Sad.
What a strange day
Today started out awfully strange. First of all, the dreams are back. I went about a week and a half without having a single strange dream or nightmare, but last night and the night before marked the return of my restless sleeps. Pretty bad timing, if you ask me, considering how busy I'll be in the next month and a half (Why? I'll discuss that later in this post). Even though I wasn't really asleep, I was rudely awoken this morning by a maintenance man who came to check ALL of our smoke detectors (we have 6). So there was no going back to sleep after that mess. I ate breakfast, watched a little TV, and then geared up to go run. As soon as I stepped outside, I knew it was going to be a great run. Perfect temperature, the sun was vaguely shining through the thick cloud cover, a nice breeze. My body was feeling good despite my bad night's sleep and I was eager to get going, seeing as how I haven't run in a few days. I get moving, and after about the first mile of my 3-mile run, I know I need to stop. I walked a little, eventually sitting down on a little stone step, and then it hit me. This wave of nausea washed over me, my head began to pound, and I start seeing black spots. I'm going to pass out or throw up, maybe both, but definitely one of them. I probably sat there for 8 minutes ( I know it seems strange that I know exactly how long without looking at a watch, but when I'm running, my body can feel time. ) before I finally got up. My run was over. I knew it. My brain was so angry; I knew I should be able to keep running, but my body refused. Dejected and a little embarrassed, I turned around to walk/jog the mile back to my apartment.
This has happened to me once before, back after I ripped up my ankle and I was swimming a lot. I don't know if it's dehydration or if I just didn't eat enough, but I carried around hard candy with me a long time after that just in case I needed sugar immediately. Well, I didn't have anything this time. So slowly, carefully, hesitantly, I made my way back home. Worse that the confusion my body was feeling was the shame I felt for not being able to make it through my entire route. Seriously? I'm not a walker. Ask my mom, whenever I go walking with her, I'm always 'casually mentioning' that I'd rather be running, much to her annoyance. :) Oh well, I guess I can't win them all. I may try going again tonight after class.
Speaking of class, I haven't had any in the past two days. As I mentioned in a previous post, my professor had surgery and will not be taking his classes for the next two weeks. Rumor has it that John Tunney, resident early Irish history professor at GMIT, is taking over, but because I don't have any other classes with him, I have no idea if this is true. Instead, I just stayed home the past two class periods. Don't worry, I've still been doing work. I knocked out one paper, one HUGE project, and finished reading a book. I only have one paper left to finish in the next two weeks, and a quiz. I think. Unless something else gets assigned. I need to start figuring out how to do my finals. I've talked to my professors and they both assured me we'd get it worked out. Today is the 6th, and I have about 1 month left here. We better start working it out soon!
I have a lot of things taking my free time in the next month. As promised, let me tell you about my Nov/Dec schedule:
I leave tomorrow for London to see Elyse, and we will be there until Monday night. Immediately when I get back to Galway, I'm meeting Anso's parents who are visiting from France until Tuesday morning.
Elyse and I will meet back up when she flies into Galway late Wednesday night (12th), and she will stay until Sunday (16th) or Monday (17th). Also here next weekend is Oliver, Anso's boyfriend.
The next weekend (Nov 21-23) is the semi-planned trip to Belfast.
Wednesday Nov 26 is the American students' observed Thanksgiving Day, for which I'm in charge of a lot of the food. We're celebrating early because...
Nov 27-30 I will be in Germany with Stephan, Stephen, and Derek.
Dec 1-5 is my last week of classes.
Dec 2 is Stephen's birthday and I'm sure we'll do something fun.
Dec 7 is Stephanie's 21st birthday and I KNOW we're doing something fun.
Dec 9 (or maybe the 8th) I'm throwing a big party as my "Going Away/Graduation" party, which means..
Dec 10 I catch an early bus to Dublin, and I fly back to Charlotte!!!
Oh, but it's not over yet. Dec 11 I'm doing a sleepover with the girls back home, Dec 12 I drive to Boone to pick up Chelsea, then will continue on to Cullowhee where I'll reunite and celebrate with WCU friends. Dec 13, graduation morning, I have rehearsal, and then it's GRADUATION! Dec 14 is my party at home, and then I'm possibly getting graduation pictures taken on Dec 16. Ri-dic-u-lous. But you know, I'm so excited about it all. I love feeling like I'm doing something.
I don't have class until 4, and in the meantime I've got a P31 devotional to work on!
This has happened to me once before, back after I ripped up my ankle and I was swimming a lot. I don't know if it's dehydration or if I just didn't eat enough, but I carried around hard candy with me a long time after that just in case I needed sugar immediately. Well, I didn't have anything this time. So slowly, carefully, hesitantly, I made my way back home. Worse that the confusion my body was feeling was the shame I felt for not being able to make it through my entire route. Seriously? I'm not a walker. Ask my mom, whenever I go walking with her, I'm always 'casually mentioning' that I'd rather be running, much to her annoyance. :) Oh well, I guess I can't win them all. I may try going again tonight after class.
Speaking of class, I haven't had any in the past two days. As I mentioned in a previous post, my professor had surgery and will not be taking his classes for the next two weeks. Rumor has it that John Tunney, resident early Irish history professor at GMIT, is taking over, but because I don't have any other classes with him, I have no idea if this is true. Instead, I just stayed home the past two class periods. Don't worry, I've still been doing work. I knocked out one paper, one HUGE project, and finished reading a book. I only have one paper left to finish in the next two weeks, and a quiz. I think. Unless something else gets assigned. I need to start figuring out how to do my finals. I've talked to my professors and they both assured me we'd get it worked out. Today is the 6th, and I have about 1 month left here. We better start working it out soon!
I have a lot of things taking my free time in the next month. As promised, let me tell you about my Nov/Dec schedule:
I leave tomorrow for London to see Elyse, and we will be there until Monday night. Immediately when I get back to Galway, I'm meeting Anso's parents who are visiting from France until Tuesday morning.
Elyse and I will meet back up when she flies into Galway late Wednesday night (12th), and she will stay until Sunday (16th) or Monday (17th). Also here next weekend is Oliver, Anso's boyfriend.
The next weekend (Nov 21-23) is the semi-planned trip to Belfast.
Wednesday Nov 26 is the American students' observed Thanksgiving Day, for which I'm in charge of a lot of the food. We're celebrating early because...
Nov 27-30 I will be in Germany with Stephan, Stephen, and Derek.
Dec 1-5 is my last week of classes.
Dec 2 is Stephen's birthday and I'm sure we'll do something fun.
Dec 7 is Stephanie's 21st birthday and I KNOW we're doing something fun.
Dec 9 (or maybe the 8th) I'm throwing a big party as my "Going Away/Graduation" party, which means..
Dec 10 I catch an early bus to Dublin, and I fly back to Charlotte!!!
Oh, but it's not over yet. Dec 11 I'm doing a sleepover with the girls back home, Dec 12 I drive to Boone to pick up Chelsea, then will continue on to Cullowhee where I'll reunite and celebrate with WCU friends. Dec 13, graduation morning, I have rehearsal, and then it's GRADUATION! Dec 14 is my party at home, and then I'm possibly getting graduation pictures taken on Dec 16. Ri-dic-u-lous. But you know, I'm so excited about it all. I love feeling like I'm doing something.
I don't have class until 4, and in the meantime I've got a P31 devotional to work on!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I can feel the patriotism over the ocean...
I can't believe I'm not home for the election. The American students here have already sent in their FWABs, some of us weeks ago. It's a little anticlimatic. Oh well, I'm thrilled so many (young) people Stateside are participating in this election. Today is a day of change. YOU can be a part of it!!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
What a God-filled day..
Like I mentioned last night, we went to church this morning, Nick, Stephanie and I. There's a pretty old church down off Shop Street that we pass all the time, and we decided to go and check it out. Everyone was ready on time, even though we still had to run to catch the bus. We found ourselves EARLY actually (which is an impossible feat for me), so we ate breakfast and then went to service. Turns out that there was a baptism too; I've never seen a Catholic baptism. It was precious, and while I don't agree that a baby should be baptised to cleanse original sin, the symbolism of the dedication was cool. The Church rising up as a whole body, promising to uphold the child in his walk with God. My thoughts at first were confusion and a little bit of shame; who am I to promise to help this child in his faith? I don't know him or his family. But then I realized, I don't have to know him. That child represents my brothers and sisters in Christ, his parents represent every other married couple I know, the kid's godparents represent my elders. When I promised to be a part of that kid's faith, I was promising to participate in the Church, to be a part of the faith lives of everyone I know. If I was being trusted to care about a child that I don't know, then I was also being trusted to care about the people I do know. It was a refreshing point of view.
Today, God was everywhere I looked. Not only in church, but in the conversations afterwards, in having to extend patience and love to people who trust me. I found him in cleaning, in sweeping and taking out the trash. He was in my incense, in the music I've had on all afternoon. He proved himself when Elyse's mom offered to pay for our hotel in London, when I was able to help Elyse figure out her new plans after a scheduling blunder. He surrounded me on a walk with Carolin, in the secret paths we found that wound through the woods behind the hospital, in the conversation that took place during, and in the brisk autumn air. It is so comfortable being enveloped by his presence.
Today, God was everywhere I looked. Not only in church, but in the conversations afterwards, in having to extend patience and love to people who trust me. I found him in cleaning, in sweeping and taking out the trash. He was in my incense, in the music I've had on all afternoon. He proved himself when Elyse's mom offered to pay for our hotel in London, when I was able to help Elyse figure out her new plans after a scheduling blunder. He surrounded me on a walk with Carolin, in the secret paths we found that wound through the woods behind the hospital, in the conversation that took place during, and in the brisk autumn air. It is so comfortable being enveloped by his presence.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Party time!
Last night was insane!! I mean, out of my realm of anticipation insane. I'm not sure if all of the Erasmus students work on the same brainwaves or if we just have a complex communication system that I'm not aware of, but it seemed like every foreign student I know went to The King's Head pub last night for Halloween. After hanging out with my neighbors for a bit, we traveled to the city center to see if we could throw our own Halloween celebration. I knew that a few of my friends were at The King's Head, so I suggested stopping there first to see if they were still there. (I don't have a cell phone, and while I LOVE that, it can be challenging to find people without one.) They ended up being there, and like I said, tons of our other friends were too. The pub was buzzing with activity. There was a costume contest, a very accomplished Lance Armstrong-lookalike DJ was spinning tunes, and lots and lots of dancing! Even the guys danced! We definitely 'cut a rug' (as my WI friend Mike put it). I think we boogied from 11 pm until 3 am. Whew! Oh, and I got a free hat. Ha. Minor detail. Afterwards, we continued tradition with none other than a crepe stop. Most of us agree that last night was one of the best nights we've had here in Galway, and I think a fair amount of that is due to these fantastic people.
Today Mike, Carolin, Nick Bower and I headed down to the Saturday market to buy veggies and hang out. We explored gift shops and I gave an extended tour of the little-known areas of Galway that I have discovered in my wanderings. After watching a movie with Stephanie, I hunkered down and finished a project that's due on Thursday. I have a few papers I need to write too, but I have at least two weeks before I need to turn them in. (They're due whenever my professor returns from leave; he had surgery last week.) I need to finish a book for one of them.
Going down to church in the morning, then I think we're going to try and go on the "Haunted Galway" Ghost Bus Tour, which will be perfect for my nightmares. :)
Oh! I'm so excited! I'm heading to see Elyse this coming weekend! She's making a stop in London on her European adventure, and I'm flying there to meet her for a few days. She will then continue to Edinburgh before heading to Ireland to see me again! She and I have been keeping up quite a bit since we've been gone (both of us since September), and I am stoked to see her smiling face! Hopefully we can provide a sense of normalcy for each other. I fly out after my class on Friday and will be there until Monday night. Yay!!!
Today Mike, Carolin, Nick Bower and I headed down to the Saturday market to buy veggies and hang out. We explored gift shops and I gave an extended tour of the little-known areas of Galway that I have discovered in my wanderings. After watching a movie with Stephanie, I hunkered down and finished a project that's due on Thursday. I have a few papers I need to write too, but I have at least two weeks before I need to turn them in. (They're due whenever my professor returns from leave; he had surgery last week.) I need to finish a book for one of them.
Going down to church in the morning, then I think we're going to try and go on the "Haunted Galway" Ghost Bus Tour, which will be perfect for my nightmares. :)
Oh! I'm so excited! I'm heading to see Elyse this coming weekend! She's making a stop in London on her European adventure, and I'm flying there to meet her for a few days. She will then continue to Edinburgh before heading to Ireland to see me again! She and I have been keeping up quite a bit since we've been gone (both of us since September), and I am stoked to see her smiling face! Hopefully we can provide a sense of normalcy for each other. I fly out after my class on Friday and will be there until Monday night. Yay!!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween!
The Irish really do love this holiday. They love it from 12:00 am to 12:00 pm, and even a little more on either end. It's a little ridiculous, actually. None of us had plans to go into town last night, but all of a sudden we were being informed left and right that city center is the place to be for the night before Halloween. So out we went. I have never seen so many costumes in my entire life! Every person between the ages of 16 and 22 was sporting a costume (except for some of us foreign kids). We saw people dressed like crayons, monsters, movie characters, and things we couldn't determine. It was hilarious to see all of these people running around. I, of course, was surprised at this display of enthusiasm for a holiday that folks my age generally don't celebrate in the States. I mean, sure, there might be a party with your friends, you might take your kid siblings trick-or-treating, but there is no Halloween celebration like the Galway celebration.
And TODAY is Halloween!!! Last night was just the day before!! We asked the Irish about this, and we were told that because most of the students go home on the weekends, Thursday night is the real celebration. I'm still trying to decide if I want to dress up in a costume tonight. Probably not. Halloween is globally the excuse for girls to dress a little more, ermm, scandalously? Not my thing, not even for a holiday. Not too many plans as of yet, but due to their success on Saturday night, crepes will most certainly be eaten. :)
And TODAY is Halloween!!! Last night was just the day before!! We asked the Irish about this, and we were told that because most of the students go home on the weekends, Thursday night is the real celebration. I'm still trying to decide if I want to dress up in a costume tonight. Probably not. Halloween is globally the excuse for girls to dress a little more, ermm, scandalously? Not my thing, not even for a holiday. Not too many plans as of yet, but due to their success on Saturday night, crepes will most certainly be eaten. :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Four days of fun!
Sleep I did. I feel like my body was hit by a truck, I'm so tight. I probably fell asleep and stayed in one position. That may have been the best night's rest I've gotten thusfar. Now I'm writing this post while staring out my window, killing time to see if those grey clouds are going to split open. If so, I'm not running. It's too cold to run in the rain. Crossing my fingers that they'll pass! Anyway, let me tell you about my weekend. Yesterday was a bank holiday in Ireland, so no classes. Instead, we took a little trip. But let me start from the beginning.
Friday: Carolin started off the evening by asking if I could cut her bangs before we went out. Sure, no prob. We gabbed about what had happened in the past two days, future plans, vacations, and of COURSE, boys. :) Whatever. Then we met up with Stephanie in town and walked to the Quay's, our quickly-becoming favorite Friday night pub. This excellent band plays there at 10:30 every week, and last week we introduced them to Stephan. Well, Stephan's girlfriend Anika just happened to be here this Friday, and he wanted to bring her. The five of us grabbed a table and hung out for a while, then eventually walked upstairs to enjoy the tunes. And by walked, I mean we pushed our way through a mass of people and claimed our spot on the banister. We stayed until 11:30, I knew I'd be having a long weekend and I wanted to get some sleep, and the girls decided to just come with me. End of scene 1.
Saturday: IT RAINED ALL DAY. And not like the soft misty rainy, but a persistent heavy rain that blew horizontal because of the wind. I woke up early and went to breakfast with Stephanie, where we had a beautiful conversation about life, troubles, and God. The coffee was a bonus, too. Neither of us wanted to do much, so we watched movies all afternoon. In the evening, we went to the Great Irish Beer Festival with my neighbors, Darin and Mike. We had a blast. The 'festival' was a big venue where people could walk around at their leisure, sampling beers and ales from around the world. Grab a beer, grab some food, and grab a seat on the floor. The four of us did nothing more than hang out on our floor spot. We stayed until the festival was over, and then walked back into the city center. No one really wanted to go home yet, so we found another bar with live music and stayed there until we lost interest. THEN Darin was hardcore about getting late-night crepes from this place we discovered when we were in town last week. Actually, I knew it was there, but he had never had a crepe before in his life. Poor guy. Anyway, this creperie was open late, and we all got food and made our way home, but not before stopping to play at the public playground! Haha. That was my fault, admittedly, but I couldn't help myself- I am forever a kid at heart.
Sunday: Unbeknownst to me, Sunday was the end of daylight-savings time in greater Europe. I woke up early to get ready to catch the 7:05 am bus to the jazz festival in Cork, only to find out from my computer's clock that I was up an hour too early. After a stilted effort to tell the rest of my traveling party about our error, we all eventually got the bus at the correct time. Going with me were Darin, Derek and Nick M (the last two are from WCU). A bunch of our friends were already in Cork, including Stephen, and we would meet them there. After a four hour ride, we arrived to a sunny day in the southern city. We grabbed a bite to eat and then went to listen to, duh, jazz music at what I can only assume is some kind of conference center. I was enthralled. The first big band I listened to played four of my favorite songs right off the bat, and two of them were sung by a guy who sounded like Michael Buble. In love. After enjoying jazz, Darin, Derek, Nick M and I took a bus to our B&B; we hadn't checked in yet. We hiked literally off the beaten path to a quaint yellow house tucked into the landscape. The reservation was for three people, but Darin decided to come too, so Derek and Nick M asked if they could accomodate us. After an initial "no," they agreed to put a mattress on the floor. The couple who owned the B&B were so good to us. The guys crashed out for a little while; I went downstairs to write and read. Then David, one of the owners, took us in his cab back into town. Shortly after, we ate dinner and found Brett and Nick B (my other neighbor) and headed to hear more music. It wasn't a jazz band this time, but they were still good, and good enough for us to go back later to hear their second set. In between, we walked to the bar across the street where another jazz band was playing upstairs. Throughout the night, the rest of our friends came and went, and new friends joined the group. Since we started early, the evening was long and full of interesting people, drama, music, dancing, conversations, and me giving the guys a play-by-play on girl body language. Hilarious. We caught a cab back to our B&B, hoping to get some sleep.
Monday: We woke up and ate a home-cooked breakfast at our B&B, which was amazing. After taking turns for the shower, we checked out and walked to Blarney, where we met 7 of our friends. On the agenda for the day was a tour of Blarney castle and kissing the Blarney stone, but no one planned on how much fun we were going to have in process. We explored every nook and cranny of that castle (there were plenty), took a million pictures, climbed to the very top of the castle, and goofed off. Kissing the stone was an interesting experience. We quipped about getting herpes or other diseases from the stone, but when it came to it, we all leaned backwards to kiss it in hopes of receiving the famed gift of eloquence said to be rewarded to those whose lips touch the stone. Let me tell you, though, the man who stands there moves everyone along so fast, we barely had time to snap pictures. After that, we walked the rest of the castle, and then set out to walk the grounds. Blarney castle has a beautiful landscape around it, including a lake, gardens, something like a lagoon, caves (I don't know why, but they were very muddy), and the Rock Close, an 'enchanted' area of the castle grounds. More pictures, more exploring, more fun. Highlights were the wishing steps, the witch's kitchen, and the faerie grove. In the places where you could leave money for wishes, we observed coins from all over the world, including quite a few American pennies and nickels. After we killed all morning and early afternoon at the castle, we went back into Cork for lunch and to catch the bus home. Our bus was very crowded, but we all managed to find and keep our seats. After another four hours, we were back in Galway!
Of course, I can never accurately convey how much fun we had, and most of the fun stemmed from random circumstances or the people I was with. There are stories upon stories from the trip, and if you want to hear more, just let me know!
Friday: Carolin started off the evening by asking if I could cut her bangs before we went out. Sure, no prob. We gabbed about what had happened in the past two days, future plans, vacations, and of COURSE, boys. :) Whatever. Then we met up with Stephanie in town and walked to the Quay's, our quickly-becoming favorite Friday night pub. This excellent band plays there at 10:30 every week, and last week we introduced them to Stephan. Well, Stephan's girlfriend Anika just happened to be here this Friday, and he wanted to bring her. The five of us grabbed a table and hung out for a while, then eventually walked upstairs to enjoy the tunes. And by walked, I mean we pushed our way through a mass of people and claimed our spot on the banister. We stayed until 11:30, I knew I'd be having a long weekend and I wanted to get some sleep, and the girls decided to just come with me. End of scene 1.
Saturday: IT RAINED ALL DAY. And not like the soft misty rainy, but a persistent heavy rain that blew horizontal because of the wind. I woke up early and went to breakfast with Stephanie, where we had a beautiful conversation about life, troubles, and God. The coffee was a bonus, too. Neither of us wanted to do much, so we watched movies all afternoon. In the evening, we went to the Great Irish Beer Festival with my neighbors, Darin and Mike. We had a blast. The 'festival' was a big venue where people could walk around at their leisure, sampling beers and ales from around the world. Grab a beer, grab some food, and grab a seat on the floor. The four of us did nothing more than hang out on our floor spot. We stayed until the festival was over, and then walked back into the city center. No one really wanted to go home yet, so we found another bar with live music and stayed there until we lost interest. THEN Darin was hardcore about getting late-night crepes from this place we discovered when we were in town last week. Actually, I knew it was there, but he had never had a crepe before in his life. Poor guy. Anyway, this creperie was open late, and we all got food and made our way home, but not before stopping to play at the public playground! Haha. That was my fault, admittedly, but I couldn't help myself- I am forever a kid at heart.
Sunday: Unbeknownst to me, Sunday was the end of daylight-savings time in greater Europe. I woke up early to get ready to catch the 7:05 am bus to the jazz festival in Cork, only to find out from my computer's clock that I was up an hour too early. After a stilted effort to tell the rest of my traveling party about our error, we all eventually got the bus at the correct time. Going with me were Darin, Derek and Nick M (the last two are from WCU). A bunch of our friends were already in Cork, including Stephen, and we would meet them there. After a four hour ride, we arrived to a sunny day in the southern city. We grabbed a bite to eat and then went to listen to, duh, jazz music at what I can only assume is some kind of conference center. I was enthralled. The first big band I listened to played four of my favorite songs right off the bat, and two of them were sung by a guy who sounded like Michael Buble. In love. After enjoying jazz, Darin, Derek, Nick M and I took a bus to our B&B; we hadn't checked in yet. We hiked literally off the beaten path to a quaint yellow house tucked into the landscape. The reservation was for three people, but Darin decided to come too, so Derek and Nick M asked if they could accomodate us. After an initial "no," they agreed to put a mattress on the floor. The couple who owned the B&B were so good to us. The guys crashed out for a little while; I went downstairs to write and read. Then David, one of the owners, took us in his cab back into town. Shortly after, we ate dinner and found Brett and Nick B (my other neighbor) and headed to hear more music. It wasn't a jazz band this time, but they were still good, and good enough for us to go back later to hear their second set. In between, we walked to the bar across the street where another jazz band was playing upstairs. Throughout the night, the rest of our friends came and went, and new friends joined the group. Since we started early, the evening was long and full of interesting people, drama, music, dancing, conversations, and me giving the guys a play-by-play on girl body language. Hilarious. We caught a cab back to our B&B, hoping to get some sleep.
Monday: We woke up and ate a home-cooked breakfast at our B&B, which was amazing. After taking turns for the shower, we checked out and walked to Blarney, where we met 7 of our friends. On the agenda for the day was a tour of Blarney castle and kissing the Blarney stone, but no one planned on how much fun we were going to have in process. We explored every nook and cranny of that castle (there were plenty), took a million pictures, climbed to the very top of the castle, and goofed off. Kissing the stone was an interesting experience. We quipped about getting herpes or other diseases from the stone, but when it came to it, we all leaned backwards to kiss it in hopes of receiving the famed gift of eloquence said to be rewarded to those whose lips touch the stone. Let me tell you, though, the man who stands there moves everyone along so fast, we barely had time to snap pictures. After that, we walked the rest of the castle, and then set out to walk the grounds. Blarney castle has a beautiful landscape around it, including a lake, gardens, something like a lagoon, caves (I don't know why, but they were very muddy), and the Rock Close, an 'enchanted' area of the castle grounds. More pictures, more exploring, more fun. Highlights were the wishing steps, the witch's kitchen, and the faerie grove. In the places where you could leave money for wishes, we observed coins from all over the world, including quite a few American pennies and nickels. After we killed all morning and early afternoon at the castle, we went back into Cork for lunch and to catch the bus home. Our bus was very crowded, but we all managed to find and keep our seats. After another four hours, we were back in Galway!
Of course, I can never accurately convey how much fun we had, and most of the fun stemmed from random circumstances or the people I was with. There are stories upon stories from the trip, and if you want to hear more, just let me know!
Cork/Blarney castle pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067670&l=75446&id=44104357
I will tell of my grand adventures after I get some sleep in my body.
I will tell of my grand adventures after I get some sleep in my body.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
"Como ça va?"
I meant to publish this post yesterday, but time got away from me, and I find myself writing it now because I'm sure I'll want to look back on it someday and remember it! Anyway, it needs to be said: I. Love. My. Flatmates.
Afternoons at the Frendutchamerican House is one of my most favorite times, especially when all of the residents come out of our rooms. Yesterday happened to be one such afternoon. By some stroke of luck, Ruben, Anne-Sophie, her friend, and I all ended up in the kitchen at the same time, all of us attempting to make lunch at the same time.
Afternoons at the Frendutchamerican House is one of my most favorite times, especially when all of the residents come out of our rooms. Yesterday happened to be one such afternoon. By some stroke of luck, Ruben, Anne-Sophie, her friend, and I all ended up in the kitchen at the same time, all of us attempting to make lunch at the same time.
That's our kitchen. Imagine trying to fit more than one person in there at a time, let alone four. Well, Ruben and I chilled at the table, telling funny stories about a drunk Anso from the night before while the French mademoiselles made food. It's a little difficult to explain unless you had been there, but from those stories came lessons in basic French and basic/advanced English, so we were all bouncing around the kitchen trying new phrases on for size. And before you know it, we are all tickled and laughing at ourselves and each other.
There's a movie I watched a few weeks ago called "Pot Luck," and it's the incredible adventure of a French grad student who travels to Spain to study under the Erasmus program. When I watched it, I thought, how true is that movie; I imagine any exchange student who has seen it would agree that almost everyone's journey has been similar to that film. In the movie, the guy moves in with a motley crew of international students, and they had intercultural experiences that mirror the experiences Ruben, Anso and I have shared... attempting to carry on a conversation with a parent that doesn't speak your language, silent fights over space in the fridge, sharing the peculiarities of our different cultures. I think I may make my family watch this film when I get home, no doubt I'll stop it every thirty seconds to tell a story.
In the past 24 hours, I've had conversation upon conversation with different friends about Ireland and home and what will happen when people leave and how sad it will be and who will come visit when and scheduling vacations together. It's October! Surprising because I've only been here 7 weeks, and I won't be leaving for another 6.
I may miss home, but how will I ever be able to leave these people?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Cork trip
Funny how things happen. My buddies and I wanted to go to Cork this weekend for the Guinness Jazz Festival, but we couldn't find a place to stay (everything is town is booked); so I made other plans for the weekend to go to the Great Irish Beer Festival. I just got home from class and saw a Skype message from one of my friends saying they went ahead and booked a B&B for us for Sunday night. Soooo it looks like I'll be doing the festival on Saturday, and then Sunday and Monday I'll be in Cork. Whew! What a weekend it will be!
Monday, October 20, 2008
The end of the road...
PS I was so sad to hear that the Sox lost last night. I thought it would be a Cinderella dream come true if they got to the Series; that fairytale turned out to be just that when I awoke to the worst news... Boston lost Tampa Bay in the decisive Game 7. ::sad face:: I told Ruben that Ireland was mad that they lost (because Boston has so many Irish, duh), hence the awful winds hahahahahaha. I think he almost believed me.
Hurricane weather?
Horrendous winds are ripping through Galway yesterday and today. Yesterday, it was accompanied by bouts of rain and thunder; the storm actually killed our power at one point. Today, it's just wind, but LOTS of it. The noise made it hard to sleep last night. This morning, some gusts were so hard that they would push you to the side, and Ruben and I had trouble walking in a straight line on our way to the college. (Dad, these are the kind of winds that you have nightmares about as far as yardwork goes haha.) Trying to be brave, I headed out for a run after class. Besides the hurricane-like wind, the weather is actually pretty mild. Well, I highly underestimated how hard it would be to pace normally while running into the wind. It was also my first run since I've had this awful cough. So really, it wasn't the smartest decision, but I fortunately was fine. The wind isn't supposed to let up for the next few days, so we'll see.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Photo connection
Dublin pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066872&l=ad35a&id=44104357
Sadly, there's not much else to say. I'm trying to plan a little vacay for November, but so far it's just been research. But I think it will be England or Sweden. Who knows.
Sadly, there's not much else to say. I'm trying to plan a little vacay for November, but so far it's just been research. But I think it will be England or Sweden. Who knows.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Snippits
I'm stuck in a creative rut. There are these little tricklings of imagination that manage to find their ways into the pages of my class notes or abandoned in the back of my notebook, but I can't materialize anything significant. I wish I could. Now would be a great time to write for the Girls' Retreat or to write for P31, or to start writing my book ;) But I got nothing. Well, that's not true. I've begun to write about what my imagination and dreams are telling me, in hopes that I can figure out what in the world they mean. I'm starting to think that my need for adventure is being personified into these people and circumstances, like my brain is trying to shock me awake and push me back into existence. It's making it hard to stay here and just be still. Who knows what these dreams will drive me to do...
I made hot wings last night for a bunch of friends, including the my three American neighbors. I cooked for hours, making 80 wings and a few pounds of pilaf. Everything was a smashing hit, and I was happy to be supplying new treats for the internationals, and a little bit of home for us Americans. I like making people happy. My mom's hostess gene rang true- I did you proud, Mom!
I'm starting to get my continuous assessment assignments from my classes. I won't bore you with details, I'll just say that I'm sure I'll be fine. The expectations here are much lower, not just for us internationals, but for the Irish students too. They aren't even required to type their papers- handwritten ones are totally acceptable. What?? And they complain about 3 page papers. It's a little silly. Anyway, I have a slight temptation to just do the bare minimum, but this over-achiever knows that won't last very long.
Our apartment will be full tonight! Matt (another guy from WCU who is in school at Castlebar) is coming down with one of our Irish friends, plus Anso has a visitor here from France. It's a zoo!
I made hot wings last night for a bunch of friends, including the my three American neighbors. I cooked for hours, making 80 wings and a few pounds of pilaf. Everything was a smashing hit, and I was happy to be supplying new treats for the internationals, and a little bit of home for us Americans. I like making people happy. My mom's hostess gene rang true- I did you proud, Mom!
I'm starting to get my continuous assessment assignments from my classes. I won't bore you with details, I'll just say that I'm sure I'll be fine. The expectations here are much lower, not just for us internationals, but for the Irish students too. They aren't even required to type their papers- handwritten ones are totally acceptable. What?? And they complain about 3 page papers. It's a little silly. Anyway, I have a slight temptation to just do the bare minimum, but this over-achiever knows that won't last very long.
Our apartment will be full tonight! Matt (another guy from WCU who is in school at Castlebar) is coming down with one of our Irish friends, plus Anso has a visitor here from France. It's a zoo!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Book of Kells
I can't believe I forgot to mention the best part of my trip to Dublin. Saturday evening, we all visited Trinity College, one of the older Irish studies universities in Dublin, and also the home of the Book of Kells. Don't know what that is? Let me give you a crash course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells
So anyway. It was beautiful. No one else wanted to pay the entrance fee into the exhibit, but I literally live for this kind of stuff. I am such a nerd, I know, but I don't care. It was amazing. There were videos playing on how the book was probably written and illuminated and bound, plus interesting historical details about the authors and the time period when the scripts were developed. And then, there were the manuscripts. For me, seeing a religious artifact makes my stomach jump. It normally brings me close to tears. When I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in Charlotte a few years ago, I thought my heart was going to stop. It's like I have this corporeal connection to religion. I get the same way when I visit cathedrals or any old place or worship, and that's probably the same reason why I'm never anxious sitting through Mass, even though I'm Protestant (the only ties I have with the Catholic church are through my grandfather and my mother, who was raised Catholic). It's a mind-numbing, bone-shaking pleasure for me to be a pious witness to the labors of God's people, who only want to use themselves for his glory. It's intense, and very very cool.
So anyway. It was beautiful. No one else wanted to pay the entrance fee into the exhibit, but I literally live for this kind of stuff. I am such a nerd, I know, but I don't care. It was amazing. There were videos playing on how the book was probably written and illuminated and bound, plus interesting historical details about the authors and the time period when the scripts were developed. And then, there were the manuscripts. For me, seeing a religious artifact makes my stomach jump. It normally brings me close to tears. When I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in Charlotte a few years ago, I thought my heart was going to stop. It's like I have this corporeal connection to religion. I get the same way when I visit cathedrals or any old place or worship, and that's probably the same reason why I'm never anxious sitting through Mass, even though I'm Protestant (the only ties I have with the Catholic church are through my grandfather and my mother, who was raised Catholic). It's a mind-numbing, bone-shaking pleasure for me to be a pious witness to the labors of God's people, who only want to use themselves for his glory. It's intense, and very very cool.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Some Americans, some Germans, and one French guy
I did manage to get to sleep Friday night, but only for about 4 hours. Then it was up and off to Dublin! At first intake, I wasn't so sure I would like it. Truth be told, I'm not a city girl. I really don't like the congestion of people and cars and pollution and big business. So I guess it makes sense that I feel so at home in the mountains of Cullowhee, and also that a big city like Dublin would make me nervous. I headed off to Dub-vegas with Carolin, Stephan, Charlie, and Fabien. (Stephen, Nick, and Derek were already there.) The weather was great both yesterday and today, so we took full advantage of it by staying outside as much as we could bear. At first we just walked around the city, stopping at various monuments and cathedrals. There was an open-air market that hosted some of the most beautiful fresh fruits I've ever seen, and we couldn't resist. We even popped into Dublin City Art Museum, which was nice and quiet. The night before, Carolin had convinced me to get my hair cut, so after the museum she and I split off to see what we could find as far as available hairdressers, which was nothing, by the way. Sad times. So we wandered, walking in and immediately out of stores because we found that even our sheer determination to shop wasn't getting us anywhere. We simply couldn't handle it. Eventually, we met the guys back by the river and wandered over to the hostel. We stayed at the Avalon House in Dublin 2; it actually wasn't bad at all. Our room was clean and tucked away in the corner. Except for the two guitar-playing hippie chicks next door, it was quiet. Once we checked in, we took advantage of our down time by getting coffee, checking email on the computers downstairs, or getting horizontal. It was nice just to hang out. Later, we met up with the other guys to go to Dublin's 1st Annual Oktoberfest. Haha. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far. In fact, we didn't even get in. There were too many people already inside, so we had to queue, which we patiently did for about 20 minutes before hunger ravaged our stomachs and we got German sausages and decided to pub hop.
Now, what you read next may surprise you. I'm giving you a fair warning. Since we couldn't get into the fest, we started to walk around Dublin, sure that we'd find a pub or bar or restaurant where we could chill. We ended up in the famous (or infamous) Temple Bar district. So, where did we go? That's right, Temple Bar. So that's where we started, but it turns out that you have to be 21 or older to get in. This is very strange, since the Irish drinking age is 18. Anyway, Fabien (who is only 20) couldn't get it, so a few of us had a beer and then we left to find a more suitable location. We ended up in another bar that at first glance seemed pretty sketch. But actually, we had a lot of fun. Then we moseyed to another bar, where they were playing incredible music, so we danced the night away, everyone feeling loose and happy to be among friends and strangers who act like they want to be your friends. Stephen and Derek ducked out after this bar, but the rest of us decided to do just one more. Right after midnight, we struggled to find a place where the party was still hoppin' but wasn't getting too sloppy. We sent Nick on the mission to find a place, and did he ever! The next bar wasn't as chokingly crowded, so we celebrated by taking shots and dancing some more. I am proud to say that was my first ever bar-hop. I've only been 21 for a few months, and I'm not much of a drinker. However, the music, the atmosphere, and the energy of my friends played into a great night in Dublin. Don't worry, we were all very safe about getting around and getting home; no one got sloshed or sick (I only had three drinks over the course of 4 hours); the guys made sure Carolin and I were protected (and we made sure they were good, too); no one's clothes came off. We were all very smart about it. Trust me, I am not magically and suddenly transforming into a party girl. But.. it was fun. That's all.
The only reprieve from my dreams last night was that they were presented like short stories. The upside: they were very short dreams. The downsides: there were a lot of them, and all the normal-length drama was compacted into those short episodes. I can't remember the content, but I do remember waking up often and feeling either scared or anxious. So I have to conclude they were more nightmares. All in all, I figure I slept about 4 or 5 hours. Four hours the night before, and 2.5 before that. At least I'm able to sleep longer? Hmm... At any rate, if I can't rest for longer periods of time, I'm going to get sick. I already have a bit of a cough going.
Because I couldn't sleep last night, I got up earlier than I had planned on doing. I walked around the hostel, sat on the floor in the room, and eventually got dressed and woke Carolin to eat breakfast with me. Stephan and I went to Mass and then met everyone else at the coffee shop to begin our day plans. We went to Stephen's Green, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and walked around some more in search of entertainment and food. Then, we came back to Galway. On the screen, it doesn't appear that we were too busy, but we saw a lot while keeping a steady pace so that no one would be stressed out. And now I'm home, having cleaned the apartment for inspection tomorrow, unsuccessfully attempting to watch Grey's Anatomy online, and unpacking from the weekend. My two classes are cancelled tomorrow because my professor won't be in Galway, so I have a free day to relax. Who knows what kind of trouble I'll find?
Now, what you read next may surprise you. I'm giving you a fair warning. Since we couldn't get into the fest, we started to walk around Dublin, sure that we'd find a pub or bar or restaurant where we could chill. We ended up in the famous (or infamous) Temple Bar district. So, where did we go? That's right, Temple Bar. So that's where we started, but it turns out that you have to be 21 or older to get in. This is very strange, since the Irish drinking age is 18. Anyway, Fabien (who is only 20) couldn't get it, so a few of us had a beer and then we left to find a more suitable location. We ended up in another bar that at first glance seemed pretty sketch. But actually, we had a lot of fun. Then we moseyed to another bar, where they were playing incredible music, so we danced the night away, everyone feeling loose and happy to be among friends and strangers who act like they want to be your friends. Stephen and Derek ducked out after this bar, but the rest of us decided to do just one more. Right after midnight, we struggled to find a place where the party was still hoppin' but wasn't getting too sloppy. We sent Nick on the mission to find a place, and did he ever! The next bar wasn't as chokingly crowded, so we celebrated by taking shots and dancing some more. I am proud to say that was my first ever bar-hop. I've only been 21 for a few months, and I'm not much of a drinker. However, the music, the atmosphere, and the energy of my friends played into a great night in Dublin. Don't worry, we were all very safe about getting around and getting home; no one got sloshed or sick (I only had three drinks over the course of 4 hours); the guys made sure Carolin and I were protected (and we made sure they were good, too); no one's clothes came off. We were all very smart about it. Trust me, I am not magically and suddenly transforming into a party girl. But.. it was fun. That's all.
The only reprieve from my dreams last night was that they were presented like short stories. The upside: they were very short dreams. The downsides: there were a lot of them, and all the normal-length drama was compacted into those short episodes. I can't remember the content, but I do remember waking up often and feeling either scared or anxious. So I have to conclude they were more nightmares. All in all, I figure I slept about 4 or 5 hours. Four hours the night before, and 2.5 before that. At least I'm able to sleep longer? Hmm... At any rate, if I can't rest for longer periods of time, I'm going to get sick. I already have a bit of a cough going.
Because I couldn't sleep last night, I got up earlier than I had planned on doing. I walked around the hostel, sat on the floor in the room, and eventually got dressed and woke Carolin to eat breakfast with me. Stephan and I went to Mass and then met everyone else at the coffee shop to begin our day plans. We went to Stephen's Green, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and walked around some more in search of entertainment and food. Then, we came back to Galway. On the screen, it doesn't appear that we were too busy, but we saw a lot while keeping a steady pace so that no one would be stressed out. And now I'm home, having cleaned the apartment for inspection tomorrow, unsuccessfully attempting to watch Grey's Anatomy online, and unpacking from the weekend. My two classes are cancelled tomorrow because my professor won't be in Galway, so I have a free day to relax. Who knows what kind of trouble I'll find?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Sleep deprivation is not my friend
I'm posting this now because there is no telling when I will again see the light of day. It's 1:20 in the afternoon, and I need a nap. Why? Let me tell you. So, last night was Erasmus student party night at The Library, the student bar just up the road. All of the international students (the European exchange program is called the Erasmus program) from both NUIG and GMIT came out to enjoy some free food, table quizzes, and alcohol (well, it IS a bar), with the hopes of hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. The bar was packed. From wall to wall, in chairs, sitting on the stage, leaning against doors and against each other/ I don't know what the legal capacity is for the bar, but I'm sure we were over it. Regardless of how jam-packed it was, I went up around 10 pm with a bunch of my friends to mingle in the knotted crowd. I had early classes today, so I left with Carolin and my neighbor Darin around 11:30. I was definitely feeling tired, but I managed to stay awake long enough for my evening prayers and my typical mental replay of the day. I nodded off to sleep around 12:30, until I awoke suddenly about an hour later. I didn't hear any noises that woke me up or anything. In fact, all I could hear was the incessant rain. I rolled over, but couldn't fall back asleep. I was still awake when Anne-Sophie came in from the bar. I got up and ate a sandwich with her in the kitchen. Then, I thought I might read for a bit, just to calm me down and get me back in 'sleep mode.' No luck. I tossed and turned for another hour before I got up to light some incense and open my window. When that didn't work an hour later, I grabbed my headphones and turned on some music. Then I turned off my music. Then I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I got out of bed again and stretched and did yoga and pushups. Then I put my headphones back on. Then I counted sheep. Around 5 am, when I still couldn't sleep, I finally got up and went into the living room to watch TV. Around 6 am, I wandered back to bed for one final attempt at what would now be a nap. I think I dozed from about 6:15 until my alarm went off abruptly at 7:45. Time for class! I have NO idea why I couldn't sleep. Sure, my brain rambles on and on occasionally, [and it did last night because a certain someone, who has captured my most recent attention, was occupying my thoughts.] But I can even turn that off at will, and I did. The first half of the night, I lifted up prayers of "God, please help me fall asleep." The second half of the night, I was just angry. Now, it's funny that I had such a hard time with it. Though getting a restful sleep has been a task recently (because I keep having these vivid and/or nightmarish dreams), the actual getting to sleep part has never been an issue. I think if it happens again tonight, I'm going to have to find some sleeping pills. Just when I thought things had rounded a corner... Haha. Fortunately, I did make it to class, even on two and a half hours of sleep. For now, I'll try to get some Z's in so I'm not knocked out tomorrow when we leave for Dublin. Fingers crossed. Cheers!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Lucky number 4?
On my fourth trip to immigration today, I finally was able to register! Well, it had to happen at some point, and I'm so glad it did! I explained to the officer what had happened with our insurance cards and whatnot, and he apologized that I had to come back so many times. He joked with me and made me feel better about the whole experience. So, now I'm legal. :) Hooray.
After immigration, I had a list of things to do. It's really nice out today, so I took advantage of it and walked to the city center, about a half hour or so. I hit up the bookstore to buy a text for class, returned a book at the public library, bought postcards and stamps, bought butter and bread, and was even able to get to the bead store to pick up new hooks for my earrings. I was strolling down Shop Street, humming to myself and dodging passers-by, when all of a sudden it hit me... Ireland said yes. Ireland has agreed to be my friend. Maybe things are looking up...
After immigration, I had a list of things to do. It's really nice out today, so I took advantage of it and walked to the city center, about a half hour or so. I hit up the bookstore to buy a text for class, returned a book at the public library, bought postcards and stamps, bought butter and bread, and was even able to get to the bead store to pick up new hooks for my earrings. I was strolling down Shop Street, humming to myself and dodging passers-by, when all of a sudden it hit me... Ireland said yes. Ireland has agreed to be my friend. Maybe things are looking up...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A thought from an email I received:
"Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday... and all is well."
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A simple request...
At the JFK airport, where I connected for Ireland, I got Chinese food (surprise, surprise). My fortune was "There appear to be many clouds, but they quickly pass." I apparently stuck it in my pocket, because I found it when I was unpacking one month ago. I had taped it to my laptop as an encouragement. Well, yesterday, in good ol' Irish fashion, it poured rain all day- ALL DAY. It was incredibly depressing. After a rousing tournament of Uno at Derek's last night, I was walking back to the apartment with Ruben, and of course we were complaining about all the rain, when he mentioned that maybe the water cycle had brought me water from the coast of North Carolina. That warmed my heart, just a little. Today, I woke up to a sky full of sunshine. Eager to take advantage of the nice weather, I met two friends in the city center, one for lunch, one for walking around. When I was waiting for the second friend to get her smoothie, I opted to sit outside. I settled into a little whicker chair outside the cafe and waited. I watched the people walk by, the kids that were chasing pigeons, people lugging suitcases back from the bus station. I listened to laughter and chatter and the nearby street performer singing Johnny Cash. And I realized that Ireland, although seemingly unfriendly to me, isn't all trouble. So with a deep breath, I closed my eyes, lifted my face to the cloudless sky, and asked a simple request- "Ireland, can we be friends?" Let's see how it goes.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Deportation part 2
Well. As if this whole immigration thing couldn't get any worse, the saga now continues. After my second rejection, I complained to Helen O'Reilly, the international officer at GMIT. She promised to call and figure something out. I talked to her yesterday and she told me she had spoken to a man there who was willing to bend a little for us, but we needed to go in before we expired just to show our faces. I woke up at 6:30 am to walk down to registration with three other American students from UW-Platteville. After getting a little turned around, we arrived only to see that 50 other people were in front of us in line. So, we grabbed a ticket and waited for a few hours.
When it was my turn, I explained to the man what Helen had told me regarding her conversation with the immigration guy. Well, long story short, I was turned down a third time! The officer basically told me he thought I was lying and refused to look at any of my documents. Well, he did look at one piece- the document with all of my health insurance information. He immediately handed it back and told me that they didn't take copies. Calmly, I tried to tell him that the black and white card WAS the original, sent to me by the insurance company. He looked at me like I was stupid and repeated that they wouldn't accept a copy. Greeeeat.
So for the big question: Could I still go to Venice? For once, I couldn't get a straightforward answer from him. He told me he couldn't tell me if I could or couldn't, it was up to me to risk leaving the country and trying to get back in. But when I refused to get up, he leaned in a little and told me that even though he wasn't sure, he wouldn't chance it. Sweet. So anyway. I, your daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, and student, will be an illegal resident of Ireland tomorrow at midnight. What are the repercussions of being an illegal alien? Well, I could be arrested or sent home immediately. Feeling really good about that one. I would also like to note that if I am sent home, I cannot graduate in December.
Though I highly doubt I'll be sent home, I also never thought I'd ever be an illegal resident anywhere. I never thought I'd have to cancel Venice. Of course, I'm angry, frustrated, sad, and at my wit's end. I have written emails to my health insurance company, the immigration office, the US Embassy here in Dublin, and ISP back at Western. Oy. To make me even more angry, I got word today that three of the American guys got through immigration today, two of them are Western guys who have the same insurance (and B&W insurance card) that I do. I know all of this will work itself out, but I am really unhappy right now. In light of recent events, I felt that I sort of needed to run away from here and have a nice weekend outside of my own head. Oh well. I'll keep you posted! In the meantime, I will have to be extra-careful not to break any laws!
When it was my turn, I explained to the man what Helen had told me regarding her conversation with the immigration guy. Well, long story short, I was turned down a third time! The officer basically told me he thought I was lying and refused to look at any of my documents. Well, he did look at one piece- the document with all of my health insurance information. He immediately handed it back and told me that they didn't take copies. Calmly, I tried to tell him that the black and white card WAS the original, sent to me by the insurance company. He looked at me like I was stupid and repeated that they wouldn't accept a copy. Greeeeat.
So for the big question: Could I still go to Venice? For once, I couldn't get a straightforward answer from him. He told me he couldn't tell me if I could or couldn't, it was up to me to risk leaving the country and trying to get back in. But when I refused to get up, he leaned in a little and told me that even though he wasn't sure, he wouldn't chance it. Sweet. So anyway. I, your daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, and student, will be an illegal resident of Ireland tomorrow at midnight. What are the repercussions of being an illegal alien? Well, I could be arrested or sent home immediately. Feeling really good about that one. I would also like to note that if I am sent home, I cannot graduate in December.
Though I highly doubt I'll be sent home, I also never thought I'd ever be an illegal resident anywhere. I never thought I'd have to cancel Venice. Of course, I'm angry, frustrated, sad, and at my wit's end. I have written emails to my health insurance company, the immigration office, the US Embassy here in Dublin, and ISP back at Western. Oy. To make me even more angry, I got word today that three of the American guys got through immigration today, two of them are Western guys who have the same insurance (and B&W insurance card) that I do. I know all of this will work itself out, but I am really unhappy right now. In light of recent events, I felt that I sort of needed to run away from here and have a nice weekend outside of my own head. Oh well. I'll keep you posted! In the meantime, I will have to be extra-careful not to break any laws!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Deportation?
After another dreadful trip to immigration, I can't be 100% sure I won't be deported by the end of the week (before I got to Venice, I might add). Everytime I show up there, we find out another piece of information that delays the process. First, we find out that we needed to have more money in our bank accounts than we were told, AND we had to have an official statement from our banks proving we had this money. "Official" means no copies, no faxes, but a mailed letter from the US. So I'm crossing my fingers that the statement my parents sent will be here by Wednesday afternoon, at the latest. Tomorrow would be better. Today, my new piece of information was that I needed to have documentation proving I'm actually taking residence in the apartment where I'm paying rent. Whattttt? It was easy to get, but it seems a little ridiculous. Anyway, I take comfort in knowing that I'm not the only student having problems getting registered, but if you find out that I'm suddenly back in the States, you'll know why.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Limerick day trip
I went to Limerick today with the three Germans, Carolin, Stephanie, and Stephan. We caught a bus there at 10:30 this morning, arriving just before lunch. We immediately headed across town to St. Mary's Cathedral (built in 1168), which ended up being closed to the general public on Sundays. Oops. But after that we headed to King John's Castle, this amazing castle/ museum on the Shannon River. It was really gorgeous, and we had great weather, making the exploration that much more pleasant. They had even opened the archaeological dig site underneath the castle. Archaeologists excavated the area under the east (?) wall back in the 90s, uncovering old houses and such. It was incredibly exciting,at least to me. The excitement was soon overtaken by hunger. Our stomachs were eating themselves by the time we went through the castle, so we headed back towards the center of town. Just as we approached the bridge over the river, we noticed a pub that had outdoor seating. Since it was such a nice day, we thought we would like to sit outside. Turns out, they had an incredible lunch special, piles of Irish food for 5 euro. We were very happy eaters. We moseyed around town some more, watching street performers and looking at churches and art museums, and we made our way back to Galway around 6. I really liked Limerick. The town itself has a different feel than Galway, but it was really... easy. Almost comfortable. Is it possible that I'm getting used to life in Ireland?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Finally!
I knew the day had to come at some point. Yes, I finally had Chinese food. After a few nights of not getting much sleep (I'm having these absolutely awful dreams), I finally gave in and headed to Shop Street to get some beloved Chinese to make me "feel better." Haha. I have to say, though different and a little pricier, it was really really good. Nick, Derek, and Stephen came with me, and I think we all enjoyed it. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up there again. Anyway, I thought that was note-worthy. Tonight our friend Stephanie from Germany is making dinner for all of us from WCU and two other Germans, and then my apartment is having a little house party. That should be fun. :)
Monday, September 22, 2008
Here's how I know
Here's how I know that my life must be a dream... I just planned a last minute trip to Venice! In two weeks, six people and I will fly from Shannon, Ireland to Venice, Italy for a four-day exploration! Who DOES that?! The airfare wasn't even expensive because I booked through Ryanair.com, a super cheap airline in Europe. Not only am I going to Venice, but plans are in the works to go to Germany at the end of November, and possibly to Portugal or France or Spain at the end of October (we have a long weekend that we are trying to exploit). I am absolutely exploding with excitement! Before I left home, I imagined jet-setting for another country for the weekend, but now I actually have the luxury of doing that!!! We have yet to decide where we're going to stay, but it doesn't really matter, as long as we sleep at some point. The only hesitation for me is that I only know one of these other six people- my friend Tiffany from the States. The others are her friends from Castlebar. But I am going to be taking my day off (Wednesday) and heading up there to see her, so maybe I'll meet some of them then. Anyway, if anyone's been to Venice, let me know!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
17 days in...
So, anyway, I promised to answer some of the questions I had been asked from all of you... here goes.
1. Is the Irish drinking reputation really true? Yes, yes it is. It's not out of the ordinary to go out every night to a bar or pub or club (or all three). In fact, drinking may start around 3 pm and extend way into the night. The drinking age is 18, and most Irish youths "pre-game" before going out, that is, they have a mini house party and they drink and chat before leaving for town. There are numerous bars, pubs, and clubs in Galway city. Most students say they come here for university because it's considered to be the best city in the country for partying and student life. I assure you, I believe that to be true. When students come back in the fall, the Galway city population swells; 20% of the people are students. Therefore, much of the life around here is focused on making students happy, meaning the clubs and parties and whatnot. The alcohol is expensive, but the longer you're here, you get used to the schedule of specials and who has the better prices which night and so on. I think most new students go crazy without initially realizing how much money they're spending. I'm not used to going out that much, so I've been trying to play it cool, which means I've also not been spending as much money. But I have to say, the Guinness is much better here than in the States.
2. How are the accents? At first, the accents were impossible to understand. But after making considerable effort to hear it as much as I could, it's normal now. Most of the international students agree that we are no longer surprised when someone starts talking in an Irish accent. Ladies, the Irish brogue is only attractive when the guy is 1) attractive and 2) saying something attractive. If he's cursing up a storm or drunk or whatever, not as hot as you'd think.
3. Does everyone have red hair? Actually, we aren't seeing an odd amount of redheads here. Most women dye their hair, so what might naturally be red is now no longer. Two of my classmates explained the Irish look like this- there are three types: the tall and red haired, the shorter, thinner, and dark haired, and the short squat folk who probably aren't 100% Irish. So far, this is generally true. A sub-question here would be: Are the guys cute? Some are, some aren't. It's just like in every other country; there are some amazingly cute guys, but more aren't particularly eye-catching. What is attractive about the Irish is that they are so friendly and helpful, which makes walking up to that one cute Irish guy much easier. :)
4. What are some of the first names? My family joked about meeting people with traditional Irish names like Liam, Ian, Conor, Ronan, Patrick, etc. And though the older people might still be named like that, the younger men and women have been named differently. Now they're Sean, David, Tom, Andrew, James, Patrick, Maureen, Bridget, Ray, Alex, Kathleen. However, I finally met my first Ronan in class the other day!
5. What's the weather like? The Irish have been plagued with their second unusually-wet summer. So since I've been here, it's been pretty overcast and rainy. The temperature hovers around 55-60 degrees. And the wind can be pretty fierce, considering we're right on the water. Every once in a while, like yesterday and today, we get sun.
6. How is school? Classes here are in full swing. I have four- one literature class, one Irish linguistics class, and two archaeology classes. The mentality here is much more laid-back, almost to the point of apathy. So when my professor didn't show up to teach one day, without notice, none of the students seemed to mind. But the lectures have been interesting so far, and I think the work load will be manageable.
7. How is the food? Meat and potatoes is, like you would think, very commonplace here. But the Irish put spins on things so that you don't realize you're eating meat and potatoes, like cooking everything as a stew, or offering fries (what they call "chips") or chips (what they call "crisps") or even mashed potatoes ("potato smash" or "mash"). But most food here is good. We've been trying new things and have liked what we've had so far.
This week will mark the third week of living in Ireland. It's had its ups and downs, but mainly its ups. I'm learning a lot about other people, and also about myself. The last time I was traveling in Europe, I was about to begin eigth grade. I was gone for about three weeks then, too; about this time, I was so ready to go home. Ruben asked me last night if I missed home. The truth is, yes I do miss home. Mainly I miss my family and all the busyness of life. There, I craved alone time with nothing to do; here I'm struggling to appreciate all the time I'm getting. At home, I was never bothered for not going out at night; here you are tormented if you decide to stay home. I miss family dinners and playing games and going to see my aunt at work and stopping at my gramma's for a cup of coffee. It will continue to be hard as the weeks wear on, but let me assure you, I have little pieces of home everywhere, here. I made rice pilaf within three days of being here. I put together the paper chain my little sister helped me cut. As much as I miss the mountains, nature is still surrounding me. I even had a soda the other day that tastes exactly like Fresca! Haha. And I have so many wonderful friends here. Even though those of us whose native tongue is English are a minority, we are so enjoying teaching and learning from the others around us. We are very fortunate to have each other. I think that's good for now. If there are more questions, or you want to share something with me, just drop me a comment! Thanks!
1. Is the Irish drinking reputation really true? Yes, yes it is. It's not out of the ordinary to go out every night to a bar or pub or club (or all three). In fact, drinking may start around 3 pm and extend way into the night. The drinking age is 18, and most Irish youths "pre-game" before going out, that is, they have a mini house party and they drink and chat before leaving for town. There are numerous bars, pubs, and clubs in Galway city. Most students say they come here for university because it's considered to be the best city in the country for partying and student life. I assure you, I believe that to be true. When students come back in the fall, the Galway city population swells; 20% of the people are students. Therefore, much of the life around here is focused on making students happy, meaning the clubs and parties and whatnot. The alcohol is expensive, but the longer you're here, you get used to the schedule of specials and who has the better prices which night and so on. I think most new students go crazy without initially realizing how much money they're spending. I'm not used to going out that much, so I've been trying to play it cool, which means I've also not been spending as much money. But I have to say, the Guinness is much better here than in the States.
2. How are the accents? At first, the accents were impossible to understand. But after making considerable effort to hear it as much as I could, it's normal now. Most of the international students agree that we are no longer surprised when someone starts talking in an Irish accent. Ladies, the Irish brogue is only attractive when the guy is 1) attractive and 2) saying something attractive. If he's cursing up a storm or drunk or whatever, not as hot as you'd think.
3. Does everyone have red hair? Actually, we aren't seeing an odd amount of redheads here. Most women dye their hair, so what might naturally be red is now no longer. Two of my classmates explained the Irish look like this- there are three types: the tall and red haired, the shorter, thinner, and dark haired, and the short squat folk who probably aren't 100% Irish. So far, this is generally true. A sub-question here would be: Are the guys cute? Some are, some aren't. It's just like in every other country; there are some amazingly cute guys, but more aren't particularly eye-catching. What is attractive about the Irish is that they are so friendly and helpful, which makes walking up to that one cute Irish guy much easier. :)
4. What are some of the first names? My family joked about meeting people with traditional Irish names like Liam, Ian, Conor, Ronan, Patrick, etc. And though the older people might still be named like that, the younger men and women have been named differently. Now they're Sean, David, Tom, Andrew, James, Patrick, Maureen, Bridget, Ray, Alex, Kathleen. However, I finally met my first Ronan in class the other day!
5. What's the weather like? The Irish have been plagued with their second unusually-wet summer. So since I've been here, it's been pretty overcast and rainy. The temperature hovers around 55-60 degrees. And the wind can be pretty fierce, considering we're right on the water. Every once in a while, like yesterday and today, we get sun.
6. How is school? Classes here are in full swing. I have four- one literature class, one Irish linguistics class, and two archaeology classes. The mentality here is much more laid-back, almost to the point of apathy. So when my professor didn't show up to teach one day, without notice, none of the students seemed to mind. But the lectures have been interesting so far, and I think the work load will be manageable.
7. How is the food? Meat and potatoes is, like you would think, very commonplace here. But the Irish put spins on things so that you don't realize you're eating meat and potatoes, like cooking everything as a stew, or offering fries (what they call "chips") or chips (what they call "crisps") or even mashed potatoes ("potato smash" or "mash"). But most food here is good. We've been trying new things and have liked what we've had so far.
This week will mark the third week of living in Ireland. It's had its ups and downs, but mainly its ups. I'm learning a lot about other people, and also about myself. The last time I was traveling in Europe, I was about to begin eigth grade. I was gone for about three weeks then, too; about this time, I was so ready to go home. Ruben asked me last night if I missed home. The truth is, yes I do miss home. Mainly I miss my family and all the busyness of life. There, I craved alone time with nothing to do; here I'm struggling to appreciate all the time I'm getting. At home, I was never bothered for not going out at night; here you are tormented if you decide to stay home. I miss family dinners and playing games and going to see my aunt at work and stopping at my gramma's for a cup of coffee. It will continue to be hard as the weeks wear on, but let me assure you, I have little pieces of home everywhere, here. I made rice pilaf within three days of being here. I put together the paper chain my little sister helped me cut. As much as I miss the mountains, nature is still surrounding me. I even had a soda the other day that tastes exactly like Fresca! Haha. And I have so many wonderful friends here. Even though those of us whose native tongue is English are a minority, we are so enjoying teaching and learning from the others around us. We are very fortunate to have each other. I think that's good for now. If there are more questions, or you want to share something with me, just drop me a comment! Thanks!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Pictures
There are new pictures on the slideshow on the left side of this page. To see them bigger, just click on the show and it will open the actual photo album.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Dilemma
I can't quite figure out how I'm supposed to do my laundry here without spending 9 euro (around $14) for one load. Hmm. Apparently there is another laundrette down the road that could be cheaper, so I'll just have to see.
Monday, September 15, 2008
"Do they sell sunshine in Ireland?"
Today was the first official day of classes for all students at GMIT. As exciting as that sounds, it was pretty uneventful. However, it was another great day in Galway, Ireland. I walked out of my front door, only to run into Darin, my neighbor and classmate. He said he didn't have class at nine like I did, but he had to go in anyway to talk to a professor. So on we went. We got outside, and lo and behold, the SUN WAS SHINING! "Quick, take a picture!" "Do they sell sunshine in Ireland?" "And package it for tourists?" "Can we keep it?" As silly as our exclamations were as they rang out over the parking lot, we were surprised to see solar rays. It's been raining so much here, it's depressing. But the natural light set the mood for a pleasant day.
As it turns out, my professor for both my 9 and 11 o'clock classes was out today (incidentally, we didn't find this out until 9:45). So even though I had technically gone to class, I didn't exactly have class. I did find out my schedule for my other classes, so the trip wasn't a total bust. As promised, I have nothing on Wednesday (as it is reserved for "field" trips). My other classes are a little spread out, but that will give me a chance to do some studying and get coffee or lunch in between lectures. I have two two-hour classes; the rest are one hour. Four classes total, three hours each per week = 12 hours of classtime total. Not too shabby. This semester will have the fewest number of hours I've ever taken in a semester. I'm a little nervous about keeping busy, but I also realize that I don't have to be busy. This is vacation, after all.
I came home and ate a little something before heading out for another run. I went farther this time, confident of my route. Turns out that my path heads straight out into the country- sheep, pastures, and all. It was very different from running in Clemmons, or even in Cullowhee. But I liked it. Except that I ran about a quarter mile too far; towards the end, I did something to my knee that forced me to stop running and to walk back. It's pretty sore, but I don't know what I did. I didn't twist it or anything. Oh well, it'll be fine. I'll just take an anti-inflammatory- that's what my mom would tell me to do. :) Two classes tomorrow, playing cards tonight with the WCU guys.
As it turns out, my professor for both my 9 and 11 o'clock classes was out today (incidentally, we didn't find this out until 9:45). So even though I had technically gone to class, I didn't exactly have class. I did find out my schedule for my other classes, so the trip wasn't a total bust. As promised, I have nothing on Wednesday (as it is reserved for "field" trips). My other classes are a little spread out, but that will give me a chance to do some studying and get coffee or lunch in between lectures. I have two two-hour classes; the rest are one hour. Four classes total, three hours each per week = 12 hours of classtime total. Not too shabby. This semester will have the fewest number of hours I've ever taken in a semester. I'm a little nervous about keeping busy, but I also realize that I don't have to be busy. This is vacation, after all.
I came home and ate a little something before heading out for another run. I went farther this time, confident of my route. Turns out that my path heads straight out into the country- sheep, pastures, and all. It was very different from running in Clemmons, or even in Cullowhee. But I liked it. Except that I ran about a quarter mile too far; towards the end, I did something to my knee that forced me to stop running and to walk back. It's pretty sore, but I don't know what I did. I didn't twist it or anything. Oh well, it'll be fine. I'll just take an anti-inflammatory- that's what my mom would tell me to do. :) Two classes tomorrow, playing cards tonight with the WCU guys.
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