More Procrastination

Today's post: I'm crazy tired after a weekend of traveling and over 16 hours of bus rides, so I'll post real stuff and pictures tomorrow. I promise.

I hate being lazy, but there it is. Good night.

My First International Trip

Well, technically it is...although I didn't have to show anyone my passport or go through customs or anything. Northern Ireland is part of the U.K., which I forgot when I packed Euros to pay for the trip. Needless to say, I soon made a trip to the ATM for some sterling notes.

Alice and I are still in Belfast, but there are several computers at the hostel that we can use, so I decided to go ahead and write on here anyway even though I won't be able to put up any of my crazy amount of pictures until tomorrow night when I get home. I took fewer videos this time, but several of them are me narrating a site--for instance, one of them I took as I walked across a rope bridge to an island. Let's just say that I soon realized how scary that was and held on to both hand ropes on the way back to combat the wind.

But anyway...Belfast is a pretty nice city. It isn't too big, but it is a lot more spread out than Galway, which I am actually missing. I'm so used to being there and knowing my way around its three little main streets. It's really easy to find my way around here, but it's not as cozy. Last night when we got here a little after 9 p.m. the streets were empty and everything was closed. Tonight, when we got back from our tour, it was only 6:15, but the stores had all already closed and the empty streets were filled with drunk middle schoolers. It was pretty unappealing. Alice and I had planned on wandering through the shops tonight, but instead just went up on the ferris wheel and are now in the hostel for the night to avoid the sloshed teenagers.

We have to check out of the hostel tomorrow morning by 10:30, so we're going to find a bakery or coffee shop and hang out there until the shops open at 1:00, then shop for a couple hours before catching a bus back home to Galway. Alice especially wants to find some fancy clothes here, and I found a music store with a trombone in the window, so I think we'll have plenty to do...

Our trip today on the tour was pretty fun. It started out bad, since the tour had booked us to be picked up in Dublin, but a man at the tour office steered us to the right bus lane to be picked up in Belfast. The driver/guide was pretty funny, and the three places we visited were quite beautiful. We also stopped for photos in the middle of the road on the north cliffs of the island, where the ruins of a castle still stand. It was built on this amazing site, right on the cliffs, but that was a bad choice ultimately...apparently, during a banquet one night, the kitchen and the cliff beneath collapsed into the ocean. That certainly put an end to the party, not to mention the usefulness of the place.

The other three places we visited I will save for tomorrow when I can show you pictures and videos. The tour was a bit different than the ones we've taken from Lally's: more driving to specific places, fewer opportunities for photos and stops, and fewer stories from the driver. But it was still fun and worth it.

Belfast is nice, but I would not want to live here. Or go to school here. It's a nice weekend trip, though. I'll put up a full post tomorrow.

Good night!

Going to Belfast

I'm writing really early today because I'm about to leave to find a bus to Belfast, in Northern Ireland. I won't be able to post again until Sunday night, so I figured I'd show you what's happening this weekend now.

So Alice, possibly Courtney, and I are going to find a bus to Belfast. There are several routes, including one from Galway to Belfast (with a couple bus changes), or one from here to Dublin Airport, then straight to Belfast. We're not sure yet how it will work--just as long as we get there!

Once we're there, we have two beds booked in The Linen House Hostel (which we will hopefully be able to find in the dark!). The bus will be a bit expensive, so this is the cheapest hostel we could find (7.50 euros a night).

For Saturday, we booked a tour through Paddywagon's Tour Company that will take us around some famous sites in the area. Since we don't know our way around the city or countryside up there, we figured getting a tour would be nice.

Sunday, however, we're just going to wander around the market and find some of the famous sites within the city before we have to catch a bus back down to Galway. Again, we'll have to figure that out on the fly...so cross your fingers!

I'm a little worried about the bus part, but otherwise I think this weekend should be lots of fun. Technically, we're going to a different country, so we can finally say we've gone somehow besides western Ireland! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, don't worry, and hopefully have some funny stories to tell.

So that's the plan! I'll let you know how it turned out on Sunday!

Good...afternoon!?

Roisin Dubh

Ugh...it's so late--well, really it's very early in the morning. I went to a pub, the Roisin Dubh, with Alice and Courtney, and we finally finally finally got back.

It started okay--we got there in time to catch the last few songs from the band, then we went upstairs so they could get drinks. While we were sitting there, some random Irishman who looks like Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo came over to sit with us for a while. He started to tell us a story about some 6 foot tall baby Irishman whose son was the size of two bulls, then lapsed into an argument about how Hercules' real parents were Sean and Maeve, the Irish couple, then continued on about how he used to play rugby and how America sucks/is amazing simultaneously.

After that, Alice's friend from Art Club, John, came over, who is from Donnegal (it's the most northern county, and has a very distinctive accent). He's a talker, and gets sidetracked by tangents every ten seconds, so we didn't leave the pub until 2:35 a.m. That was also partly because his parents own a pub, so he said that we were allowed to stay that extra half hour after it officially closed.

Other than that, today was pretty uneventful. Alice and I planned a trip to Belfast for the weekend, so we're going to find a bus to get us there tomorrow and we've got a hostel booked for two nights and a tour around the Belfast area for Saturday. We don't know if Courtney is going yet, but I'll find out eventually after I sleep in tomorrow (getting up early sounds like a horrible idea at this point in time).

I'm sorry for the short post again, but you've got to understand how tired I am! I'll be sure to bring back lots of stories from the weekend, although I may not be able to post for the next few days.

Good night.

Learning Irish, Take Two

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh...that's basically how the Irish language makes me feel.

Sure, it's beautiful to listen to and all, but wow it sucks to learn. Every time I try to say something without looking at my notes, all I can think of is either the English or some random Spanish translation that I learned in high school. And apparently we are speaking it at half speed, even though it's faster than any of us can get our tongues around.

Like I said before, I wouldn't mind coming out of the class with just a basic understanding of a couple phrases and such. But going through this class is torture. I think I would actually quit, except it was 80 euros and I might as well suck it up. I've just got to get used to the professor going 8000 miles a second and not remembering anything I learn.

Besides that class, though, today was normal. Tuesdays are horrible, and Wednesdays are busy until Irish finishes. Once it's over, though, it signals the end of the stress of the week. Tomorrow I only have two classes: one at 9 a.m. and the other at 4 p.m., giving me lots of time to run errands in the city and work on internships and plan trips with Alice. And possibly rock climbing...if someone drops out of a spot so I can sneak in.

Lately I've become a clutz. I broke my toenail playing soccer on Monday and today burned the pad of my finger trying to get my chicken out of the oven. I'm scared to find out what'll happen tomorrow...

I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight. Cheers. Good night!

Gotta Love Cold Showers

Ah, Tuesday. The busiest, although not necessarily the worst, day of my week. I got up early today so I could get a computer in the library (there are so few for so many students--competition is brutal), which means I left the house by 8:30. Then I had class from 10-11, 12-1, 2-4, and 4-5, and an uninspired chorus rehearsal from 6-8. It actually ended at 7 today since we were so disorganized (random pages from the music were missing...), so we went to the bar on campus and got free drinks and snacks. For me, that meant I took a sip of my complementary beer, commented on how disgusting it was, and then gave it to some guy at my table so my hands were free for the french fries.

Basically, though, today was long. Very long. And almost over, thank goodness. Tomorrow will be scary only because I have Irish class again--and I don't know much more than I did going in brand new last week. Hopefully the professor will be okay with that and let me look at my notes when I talk to people. Alice, Courtney, and I had the best intentions to speak only in Irish on Sunday and do all of these things to learn it, but, as with most good plans, it fell through. They're getting lessons from one of their roommates, but I'm just working off of some beautiful flashcards I made last night. Oh well! Even if I'm not remotely fluent by the end, I still will appreciate knowing some of the language. It really is beautiful.

After that long day, I wanted to come home and take a hot shower before bed, but, as usual, my roommates used all the hot water getting ready for clubbing tonight. It's amazing how quickly I've learned to wash my hair upside down so the least amount of water gets on me. It's just so cold!

Oh--so I forgot to mention this yesterday. When I was in the library basement yesterday, and then a couple minutes later when I was near the college bar/Student Union, I ran into this big group of drama students, all dressed in emerald green and sequins, holding signs for "The Wiz." I think they were inviting people to go to their performance of it. The funny part was as I was leaving the library, they starting running along behind me, singing "Ease on Down the Road" in perfect harmony. If Gabe had been there, he would have been so excited--I didn't think many people knew about the movie! It was completely random and thus really funny.

As I'm here longer, I'm starting to make more friends (they're all American, but hakuna matata). Tonight, Barrett, Alice, and I met up at the campus bar after chorus (well, Alice had been in art club) for the free food. Barrett is a girl from several of our classes, and has a boyfriend back home in CA. Alice and I kind of got shafted off to the side while Barrett chatted up two guys (one American, who's a creep, and one Irish). We spent the hour watching the two guys vie for her attention and try to be subtle about it. Every time one got up, the other got his chance, but then one came back with a pizza, so he won that round. Then that guy left, so the Irish one got to move over. The whole thing was ridiculous, and eventually we decided that the poor guys should find out that Barrett has a boyfriend. Of course, it took us ten minutes to decide what to say to introduce that so it wouldn't be completely obvious...I'm sure you can imagine how crazy we must have looked. Well, then that started a war between us and Barrett, who was mad that we stopped her flirting. Aah! My point here is that even in Ireland, when we should all be playing nice, people are still people and do things without thinking. It was fun at the time, though...

It appears that uploading the videos is working better tonight, so here are some more from the weekend:



I think they should be pretty self-explanatory...or I hope!

Good night!

Pure Skill

I finally got a book in the mail today! But of course it's not the first one in the series, so I have to wait until that one comes in. But it's good news--it means my address is viable! If you want me to tell you the address, shoot me an email (I'd rather not post it).

I know Mom and Dad wish there were more pictures with me in them, so here's a lovely one from my bathroom. I should wash the mirror...


Oh my goodness--an hour later, and one video uploaded. It may take me all week to show you the trip!



Today was the last day to drop classes, so my schedule is official! I like the classes for the most part, although I'm not sure what to expect in terms of final papers and grading. Not much I can do about it, though, so I'm just going along with it.

API sponsored a "culture event" tonight, where we all visited Pure Skill, an indoor sporting place a couple miles away. It was pretty fun. When I came home and discovered that I broke my toenail playing soccer (which I only noticed after an hour because my socks turned red), I figured out why everything hurt so much to do. Even my feet are proof that I'm horrible at sports.

On the other hand, Gabe is apparently planning on taking this semester to work out and get in shape (since I'm not there to hog his time, I guess), so we agreed to run a road race this summer. He's not good at distance running, and I have bum knees, so it should be good laughs for all.

I had to buy stamps and groceries today, and I also picked up a NUIG sweatshirt so I can stay warm.

It's very warm, and it's got that wonderful new-sweatshirt softness on the inside. The logo on the hood and the bottom (it's not showing here) is in both Irish and English, which is neat.

And that's most of what happened today! This post was very sporadic, but that's how I'm feeling! I'll keep trying to post videos throughout the week.

Good night!

Foggy Connemara

Today was the Lally's tour to Connemara, which I mentioned yesterday. We saw our old guide, PJ, but we ended up with Martin for this trip. He was nice, if a little more subdued. The biggest stop of the trip was two hours at Kylemore Abbey, so you'll notice that most of the pictures are from there. With that said, it's late so I'm just going to explain the pictures (and once again, sorry for the random order)! Ask for stories tomorrow...

A pretty tree at Kylemore Abbey that reminded me of Canada.

Random waterfall.
Stream at Kylemore Abbey.
Random stream.
A peat bog, where people cut out hunks of peat, let it dry for several months, then burn it like coal in the winter.

The Gothic Church at Kylemore Abbey. It's beautiful and light inside, and there's a crypt underneath.

Group photo...take two. Someone always looks away the first shot (cough cough...Alice).
The Gothic Church that Mitchell built for his wife at Kylemore Estate.
An explanation of the church.
The landscape on the way to the tour was very pretty. And green, even in January.

The church ceiling.
The marble in the church and throughout the estate is Connemara marble, famous for its vibrant green (and other) color.
The one stained glass window in the Gothic Church.



A bit out of order: at Kylemore Abbey, the husband also built a mausoleum for his wife. They're both buried here.

The town where we had a mid-morning snack.
The wind gets the better of Alice.
Courtney looks cold.
The pub where we stopped for scones and tea (or something stronger, if you wanted to get started earlier). We ate lunch at Kylemore Abbey later. Well, if you weren't Alice and I, who brought our lunches and ate them here, that's what you did. Gotta love PBJ sandwiches.

Our tour bus this time around.
This donkey and his buddy off to the right thought we were quite odd.
The water is beautiful here. If you ignore the trash everywhere.
The Connemara area is beautiful. This lake is in the only fjord in Ireland, left by a glacier. There will be a glacier up about that soon.
A creepy Jesus statue way up in the hills above Kylemore Abbey. When I first saw it I thought it was a real person, then a sheep, then I figured it out. I freaked out for a while before I realized it was fake and in no danger of falling.

Shots from the Kylemore walled garden. It's famous in Ireland for being one of the best-kept walled gardens in the country.





The brick remains of the 11 original glass greenhouses that housed exotic plants. Two have been rebuilt.

A banana tree! In the greenhouse, of course.




The head gardener's house.





Oh yeah--I got to sit next to the emergency hammer, just in case the bus tipped or anything. I felt like a nervous carpenter.
The garden at Kylemore Abbey.
Mussel and oyster chains hang down below these buoys. The creatures attach to them and grow, then fishermen take them off to sell. It apparently brings in a lot of local profit.


Kylemore Abbey.

The landscape is beautiful. Lakes around Connemara are quite numerous and beautiful, especially in the fog.
Apparently the owners fell in love with the landscape and decided to build here so they could keep visiting it. They certainly made their mark.

From a distance, you can glimpse the Gothic Cathedral, which Mitchell, the husband, built in memory of his wife. After building the main estate for their honeymoon...I think he was build-happy.
Outside of the main building, which is now the Abbey.



More of the library.
An amazing ladder for the bookshelf in the library. Although it's really not that tall...and this is the only bookshelf...
The woman for whom the Estate was built as a honeymoon present. It's a shame people don't give gifts like that nowadays!
An explanation of the Estate. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge.
This angel watches you walk in to the Abbey.
A lovely statue in the Abbey. He looks like he's shrugging down a good supper.
The dining room table, laid out all fancy.
The founding Benedictine nun.
The fireplace in the dining room.
The layout of the estate.
My handy dandy camera bag for the day. My lunch fit in too...and six extra batteries. Needed them, for sure.
During a photo opportunity, we got lazy and just stayed on the bus, taking horrible pictures of each other.
A waterfall somewhere in Connemara.
A really cool chair at Kylemore.
The ceiling in part of Kylemore Abbey.

Some stone walls in a village.
A stone wall up close and personal.
AND...more stone walls.
A traditionally thatched roofed house. Apparently they're not too popular anymore partly because the insurance premium is so high...there's a high risk of fire.
Some candy wrappers that I have been hoarding to put on here. This is randomly placed, I know, but there you are.


AKA a Mounds bar...Paula would love them.
Connemara. It's even more mysterious and medieval with all of the mist and fog.
Look closely at the middle of the fog and you'll see the Quiet Man bridge, where part of that John Wayne movie was shot.
The bottom left of the screen: the Quiet Man bridge is slightly visible through the fog.
We didn't get out to take pictures of the bridge used in the film "The Quiet Man," but here's the sign! The video where the guide talks about it isn't up today, but I'll put it up tomorrow. The bridge used to be named something else, but was renamed after the movie got famous.
Once again, there a stone fences everywhere here, even surrounded by power lines and modern houses. The fields look like they're growing stones, not plants.

We also had our weekly potluck supper tonight. I made macaroni and cheese, Alice brought bread, Courtney bought a caramel cake, and Jackie and Miriam made chicken parm (and hosted). There wasn't enough room at the table, so we ate at the couches while watching Dancing on Ice.
The graceful art of eating on your lap.
Jackie gets ready for food.
The cake looks so amazing. Alice went into shock (there was a funny picture of her, but somehow it deleted itself...).
Courtney, Miriam, and Jackie work on dessert.Before I go, I finally am remembering another funny Irish saying! At Dunnes Stores, which is kind of like Wal Mart and where I do most of my basic shopping, they run commercials for the store's daily discounts over the intercom. They always end with, "The difference is--we're Irish!" I find it quite amusing. There is no real difference in their product...except their country of origin. Good deal. On your receipts they even add up how much of your purchase was Irish products each time so you feel good for supporting the country.

So that's all I have time to put up for tonight--it's quite late at this point! I'll add videos tomorrow and put up some more stories. Good night!