more pictures by popular demand...

there would be more, but blogger seems to be experiencing difficulties

#1 a restaurant near Blarney castle. its color-- and the way it contrasted the neutral colors of its surroundings-- attracted me



#2 a cathedral in Cork. I'm pretty sure it was either Christ Church or St. Patrick's, but there was no way to find out for sure because to cross the busy road between us and the church would probably have equaled death

#3 standing downtown, looking up the hill. there's a big church at the top, in the center. I think this picture would look cooler if it were bigger







tonight I watched a live video conference with Noam Chomsky-- NUIG had 4 panelists who talked with him via video phone for about an hour. topics covered included the meaning of 'true democracy', the US political elections, freedom of speech, and more.

honestly, he wasn't as radical as I was expecting, nor was he as eloquent. I saw a lot of holes in his arguments, and he often didn't speak directly to the point, but rather in tangents. when the only female panelist took him to task for his apparent misogynistic disregard for hillary clinton, he completely evaded the accusations.

at any rate, it was pretty cool to "see" Noam Chomsky.

tomorrow (and every Wednesday from here on out) I'm in class from 9AM until 7pm. it's currently 1:17AM, but insomnia has finally discovered my new location, and has once again settled comfortably in my brain (or whereve insomnia settles).

this weekend I'm headed to Tuam for my homestay. though it was pegged as a chance to experience "traditional" "rural" Irish life, I'll be staying with a Sales Associate and her husband the Technician. "they have no pets". this is the extent of the information that I've been given. I'm excited.

in search of Blarney

#1 the obligatory castle photo










#2 one of many stunning photos taken from the top of the castle


#3 in Rock Close. I thought this was so cool, because it's literally hard to tell where roots end and rocks begin




#4 DAD!! After eating most of my lunch, the words on my plate were revealed: "Hi! I'm Larry. I'll be your plate for this course." (YOUR name is Larry!!)


#5 final shot of Cork-- like apparently all of the big cities in Ireland, it's got a river running through it. our hostel was on the left side; the city center is on the right














this weekend four of us went to Cork, Ireland's second- largest city. I took 87 pictures. I am worn out (but not from the picture- taking)

At any rate--

the higlight of the trip was-- by far-- visiting Blarney Castle on Saturday morning and, as is required of all tourists, kissing the Blarney Stone. I hadn't planned on making actual contact between the stone and my lips-- since I really didn't know much about it prior to visiting, it seemed that to kiss would just be a random hookup, devoid of a meaningful relationship and knowledge of the character behind the kiss. but everything about the climb to the top of the castle charmed me so much that by the time I emerged on the open roof I couldn't say no. so I made out with the stone, and then (after tipping the man who holds people's legs so they don't plummet through the hole that you have to hang over-- backwards-- in order to kiss the stone) took a ton of photographs from the top of the castle. we went at an awesome time-- relatively early morning in January, so there were very few other people there

after we left the castle, we walked through Rock Close, which is full of Druidic history and temples and is the site of a lot of folklore and general beautiful-ness. I climbed down and then back up the Wishing Steps with my eyes closed while holding a wish in my mind-- and according to the stories the Witch will now help my wish to come true within the year.

we took a bus back to Cork, walked through the traditional English Market (but didn't really pay attention because we were so damn hungry), and then got lunch at a small, cheap restaurant with an attitude that I appreciated-- displayed via funny little plaques on the wall, with sayings like, "why am I so brilliant and amazing?")-- this was the only meal we ate out the whole time, having invested in several loaves of bread and jars of PB & J-- surprisingly, I'm still not sick of the stuff

we went to a few other sites in Cork, but sadly found ourselves out of things to do by 4 o'clock (in the words of Emily's boyfriend's sister, "When you think you've seen all of Cork, you have"). so we chilled in the hostel, which proved to be a multicultural experience that concluded with our drinking ridiculously cheap wine and cider (from a nearby liquor store) with a dude from Holland, two guys from Dublin, a guy from Kilkenny, about 8 French people, a few Spaniards, and a dude from Finland. around 10:30 or so we went out on the town, and we had better luck than we did on Friday-- we found a big, traditional pub down a little back alley that had a cool DJ and a NON-club atmosphere, so we danced until sometime after 1, then walked back to the hostel and crashed before catching the 10:25 bus back to Galway

ps

unrelated to Ireland, but still worth posting:

via some blogs that I read on a regular basis, I discovered Jordan Matter's "Uncovered: Busting Out in the Big Apple". From his website:

"This is a collection of photographs featuring bare-breasted women in public around New York City... The informal and humorous nature of these images celebrates women without sexualizing or objectifying them, while creating the illusion of a tolerant world in which shirtless women go casually about their lives. Uncovered represents just one aspect of what America could look like if we were free of shame and liberated from moral judgment."

Other than that, let's let the photos do the talking:

http://www.jordanmatter.com/exhibits/default.asp?name=nudes

left behind

one of many...
public trash cans are literally brimming with broken umbrellas. the wind here is crazy. I am watching my own umbrella die a long and painful death. It has been flipped and pulled in so many directions that one of its bones pokes through its flesh. But we keep a good sense of humor about it-- despite its frequency of occurrence, I still laugh every time the wind flips my umbrella inside out.


the ruins that I pass every time I walk to campus. apparently it was an old castle, strategically located just a few yards from the river




basically the only pretty building on campus.

cool sculpture between campus and downtown, entitled "equality emerging".
















this weekend I'm headed to Cork, which will hopefully prove a good time. every weekend the whole way through March is full, either with trips or with visitors. time is going to fly by.


and now, a random list of comparisons:

1. the stalls in public restrooms have doors that extend from the ceiling to the floor. one Irish student who had visited the US told my friend that she felt so exposed in US public bathrooms that she just learned to hold it until she was back at her apartment

2. pedestrians do not have the right of way

3. "score" means "make out with", not "have sex with". still, it can be fairly disconcerting to hear someone talking about scoring with 4 people in one night. similarly, craic (pronounced "crack") means something akin to "good fun"-- so "are you goin' to have some craic?" means something far different than it would in the US

4. very few people use shopping carts in the grocery stores. this is perhaps because you have to pay 1 euro to do so (it's refunded to you when/if you return the cart)

5. I did not realize just how much I take a large variety of choice for granted. take, for example, the grocery stores: you will find far fewer brand options to choose from than you would in the US. for some items, you may only have one choice: shocking!

6. I've been keeping a whole long list in my head, but now I'm blanking (likely due at least in part to tiredness)

7. oh, I remembered one other thing-- packaging is at a minimum, as is processing: foods are contained by a minimum of packaging, and they go bad fairly quickly because they aren't injected with bizarre chemical preservatives

more pictures!

so these were simply too ridiculous not to post.

first of all: while passing time in the grocery store, I discovered a frozen chicken (rapidly thawing) amidst the Special K. hahaha!

second of all: that is a cake that I'm holding against my chest. a cake in the shape of boobs contained by a black brassiere. just sitting on the shelf, in all of its boob-cake-ness.

first official weekend

#1 the drink I ordered Friday night. I didn't want to be the obnoxious person taking photos, so I opted not to use the flash even though without it the photo doesn't convey the pink juiciness of this deliciously strong cocktail








#2 what we almost convinced ourselves was the Spanish Arch. ha!



















#3 the actual Spanish Arch. really not that much more impressive.







#4... but the seagulls certainly got a kick out of it. my camera doesn't zoom out enough to show that there were seriously at least 30 seagulls lined up, apparently just staring at the arch (that's the River Corrib in the background)








#5 an art installation in the Galway City Museum. this picture really doesn't do it justice, but I thought it was awesome and wanted to share it at least in some way. I can't imagine the amount of time and thought that went into stringing up all of those balls (make perverted jokes as you must)












it's true what they say: most of the Irish students go home on the weekends. As a result, the apartment complex is almost deserted, and it becomes incredibly quiet for being so.

it.is.awesome. being alone in the common room! sleep!

...at least, that was the plan. in actual fact I've spent almost the entire weekend outside of my apartment, and I didn't get to bed until way late last night-- but it was by my own doing.

last night a couple of us watched Superbad (thanks for that, Dad!). all of the high school party scenes put us in the mood for drinkin' (I'm not sure how, since most of them involved puking and/or some character making an ass of his or her self), so we decided to take a cab downtown around 10:30 (splitting the cab fare five ways was worth not walking the 15-20 minutes in the dark, cold, rain).

we selected a pub which I think is my favorite in the city-- classy, but not pretentious, with incredibly awesome architecture and a ridiculously large drink menu. I ordered picture #1, which included about 4 different kinds of alcohol and cost more than I'd care to mention-- definitely a one-time thing. after the pub started closing down around 12:30, we decided to make use of the free-entry passes we'd received to one of the clubs. a word on this: clubs are pretty much never my scene. but I didn't think it fair to condemn them until we'd experienced them, and here was a way to experience for free. my companions felt the same way, so we walked the 1/2- block to Karma.

we stayed for all of 8 minutes. we walked in-- totally under-dressed, and snubbed for being so-- we looked at the sweaty drunk people dancing, and I'm pretty sure we all had a collective flashback to high school and college parties in the US. I decided that it didn't count unless I actually partook in the club experience, so I dragged Emily onto the dance floor, where we swayed to one song. Then I whispered, "I think I'm done. You done?"

she was done. so we walked off the dance floor and out of Karma, and I have officially experienced what will likely be my only excursion into a Galway City nightclub.

we walked back, and I slept until close to 11 this morning. today was gray and rainy-- the perfect day for staying indoors and cooking/reading/generally partaking in indoor activities. so naturally we decided to spend the day outside. emily, jeanette, and I walked downtown with the initial goal of seeing the Spanish Arch. first we wandered through the market that forms every Saturday, and regretted having already eaten lunch because there is some good- looking food there. then we walked down to the water, followed a sign pointing to the "Spanish Arch", and spent ten minutes trying to figure out where the hell it was. I'm too tired to explain how funny this experience it was-- suffice it to say that we almost convinced ourselves that a tiny wall of stones near a row of modern residences was the historic structure which draws tourists from all over the world. then we realized that the real thing was behind us, on the other side of the road. so we walked over there and took the obligatory pictures, but I laughed the whole time because it is hardly an impressive structure (as is made obvious by the picture), and it's hilarious that it's such a big deal.

we were tired of the rain by this point, so we located the Galway City Museum and spent a couple hours there. around 5 o'clock we decided to go in search of a restaurant. we weren't famished yet, so we took our time and basically read every menu in the downtown area, learning in the process that there is some expensive food downtown. we finally settled on a dinky little place with ridiculously cheap burgers (including a veggie burger!), which hit the spot nicely. then we killed time comparison - shopping in the grocery store until about 8:30, when we were going to see a movie. but when we learned that it cost 9 euro (ridiculous!), we decided just to hang out at Emily's and watch her copies of 30Rock.

so that's my weekend so far. the freedom of authorship allows me to write in such a way that makes it sound as if every experience is imbued with wonder and joyful satisfaction. it's really not that flashy, or that blindingly life- affirming. but it is generally good.

and then I remember that I have 90 pages of reading due on Monday, and the only way to access the books is to walk to the library during its ridiculously limited opening hours and sit there with the books because I'm not allowed to check them out.

beginning of the sunset near Galway Bay




view across the river (out of the frame, on the left- hand side of the picture, is a short bridge that I crossed over) -- beyond the row of houses the Bay starts to open up

yesterday I experienced my first taste of homesickness. I can largely attribute it to the beginning of classes, which brought up general negativity as I realized how much I was enjoying not being in school and how much I don't feel like going back. but hopefully I'll get into the groove. anyway, my not wanting to be in school, and my being in school in Ireland, led me-- through one of those math properties-- to temporarily not want to be in Ireland. surrounded by tons of people I don't know, speaking all funny, and not smiling back-- why is it that college students so often stick their noses in the air? It seems to be a universal trait, and it pisses me off and makes me feel lonely.



class scheduling is proving a mess, and the entire system is full of red tape. on the plus side, my walk to school yesterday (20 minutes, most of which are spent on the edge of a highway) was set to the background of a double rainbow spread over the River Corrib-- it's hard to stay too cranky when presented with that kind of magnificence.

On Sunday I wandered downtown around 2 o'clock and got myself (intentionally) lost for about 2 hours-- I found the Bay and watched the sun begin to set (see picture above), then used the top of the huge cathedral (I still haven't figured out its name) to navigate my way back to campus and locate the buildings in which I had classes yesterday.

There is a huge expanse of ludicrously green grass stretching alongside the Bay, and on Sunday (which wasn't rainy!) it was covered with people-- people running, couples holding hands, people chatting on benches, kids playing soccer ("football", I suppose), and lots of people flying kites. and I thought, of course they're flying kites. in general, the lifestyle here works with the weather: it is windy, so go out and fly a kite. it's inspiring to see so many people remaining "un-cowed" by natural weather patterns

last night, after 5 hours of classes, Arcadia held a group meal at a ritzy restaurant downtown. it was some of the best food I've ever tasted, and a couple of us followed it up by locating a pub on the outskirts of town where a band started playing traditional music around 9:30.

I'm going to make it a goal to start cooking actual meals for myself while I'm here, at least a couple of times a week

I think this semester is going to fly by-- February is already pretty much booked: the first weekend is the homestay with the traditional Irish family, on the third weekend we're taking a day trip to the Aran Islands, and we're spending the last weekend in Belfast, where we're going to be given an introduction to the so-called "troubles" in Northern Ireland. I'm particularly excited for this last one; 20 euros gets me transportation, three- days' worth of housing, and guided tours.

the Irish students are essentially crazy, but I just realized that I've pretty much written a novel, so I'll save that topic for another post. I feel kind of odd keeping a blog; it seems very self- involved. but if you don't want to read it, feel free to click the "X" in the upper- right-hand corner (or the left corner, if you are unfortunate enough to be using a Mac)

initial observations

I'm still learning how to do formatting, so I can't post the pictures at the end as I'd wanted to. so here are just a couple of the many pictures I've taken thus far, followed by a few preliminary observations

picture #1= arch of Christ Church





picture #2= view from the sky bar at the original Guinness factory in Dublin. the city is much bigger than I'd originally thought, and the views from the bar were amazing (if a bit blurred by the glass of the window)


picture #3= a big- ass cathedral in Galway






















picture #4= meringues in the window of a bakery in downtown Galway


1. they [much as I loathe that term] drive like maniacs. until the 1950s, a test was not required in order to obtain a driver's license. it shows. the "Circle of Death", as it has already come to be called, is an unavoidable terror that must be braved to reach downtown with any means of efficiency.

2. it is cold. and gray. and windy and usually raining. as a result, the weather is not an acceptable excuse for staying indoors. you suck it up and you go about your business.

3. the Irish have developed a grounded sense of humor (probably to compensate for #2). it is down-to-earth, realistic, and all in good fun. however, they can dish it out but they can't take it: "slagging" of the Irish people is not taken well in this patriotic community

4. at least within the academic circles that I have encountered, close attention is paid to gender duality-- it is "his and hers", not just "his"

5. nothing starts on time, nor does anyone get disgruntled over the lack of puntuality. in general, precision is not of the utmost importance

6. opening hours are leisurely, as is the overall lifestyle-- at least a full lunch hour is a given

7. meals really do center around meat, bread, and potatoes. yogurt is also ridiculously popular, resulting in not one but two or even three full walls of choices in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores-- I had to tear myself away. I have also been able to contradict the stereotype that the food is not good-- I have enjoyed every meal I've eaten out thus far.

in somnambulance I discover a waking dream