more pictures

#1 have I mentioned this yet? during the famine, the government decided that they couldn't give aid 'for nothing'-- because then people would always expect 'free' aid. so the government decided to make people 'work' for the aid. this work consisted of building random fences and roads that led nowhere and had no purpose other than to fill people's days. the fences and roads ended whenever all of the workers had died. this fence-- leading up a mountain-- is one such fence. I have also come across roads that simply... end
#2 this castle is unique in that it has big, fairly open windows-- most castles in Ireland have the little slit-windows required for adequate protection from arrows. the residents of this castle must have liked to flirt with danger. badass.
#3 atop the cliffs, I found this field. the cows are less than a couple hundred feet from the edge of the cliff, and it's always windy-- I can't believe how serene they are; I'd be pretty pissed off if someone asked me to live up there all the time
#4 on the way back from the cliffs. this is called the "moon or lunar area", because theoretically the rocks look like the surface of the moon. the area is formed by glaciers, and is more than 15,000 old
#5 sheep! more specifically: baby sheep! awwww

Cliffs of Moher!

well, today was awesome. took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher, and the weather could not have been more perfect. it was absolutely stunning-- both the landscapes during the drive and the cliffs themselves.

also, fun trivia! the Cliffs of Moher are the "Cliffs of Insanity" featured in The Princess Bride. I ask you: how cool is that?

#1 thatched cottages on the drive to the Cliffs. apparently, each thatcher has a trademark finish-- the pattern at the very top of each roof is unique to the person who did the thatching

#2 we stopped at the Dolmen. apparently, there are around 30 bodies under here. in "the olden days", when people died their bodies would be placed on this slab. once the flesh had been picked from their bones by birds and wild animals, the (still living) people would tip the slab and dump the bones into a pit beneath the structure
#3 (some of) the cliffs. they stand about 700 feet above the water. it is so windy up there-- as in, people have literally been blown off into the ocean. we had to shuffle a bit, because if you picked your leg up very far the wind would grab it and try to throw you off balance

#4 (almost positive that these are) THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!! I am now even more impressed by Fesig's strength
#5 more cliffs. the man on the right is my new friend Niel, who, immediately after I took this picture, pitched a huge clod of dirt over the edge. the wind grabbed it within seconds, and blew it back against the rocks

procrastination +weird weather

so technically I should be studying models of Pain and Bereavement and Other Depressing Shit, but I've pretty much reached my boredom capacity for the evening. instead, I bring you my(pretty much failed) attempt to document the latest in Galway's bizarro-o weather: hail, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. torrents of it. what was cool is that I could hear it start on one side of the roof, and slowly move across the house. it came from the east.

#1 look reaaaallllly closely. closer! there! in the gutter! you can see the hailstones piling up!
#2 view looking out of my bedroom's window, down onto our balcony below. that's not speckled stone-- those white dots are hail bits
#3 since I had my camera out in my room, I decided to take a picture. this is where I live. it's a 'realistic' image, because I didn't' straighten up at all before taking it. please note the book on the bed: "The Starter Wife". yes, it has come to this: shitty novels are what is keeping me going through exams period (but it's okay-- I didn't pay money for it). and actually, it's not all that bad. also, I don't drink nearly as much as the collection of bottles above my desk would suggest. lastly-- yes, I did paint that painting on the wall. thank you for asking.

Godfathahs and Lighthouses

this Friday realized the awesomeness that was "Godfather Night". naturally, it included Italian food, Italian wine, and the movie-- which completely lived up to all of my expectations. "Leave the gun, take the cannolis" was an alternate title for this post

on Saturday, we walked through market and then onward to the lighthouse that sits on the tip of a big concrete walkway jutting out from the promenade. we walked past three signs saying "no pedestrians beyond this point" before a man in a fluorescent vest ran at us waving his arms. so we didn't get to touch the lighthouse, but we got closer than most.

#1 the spread. note the bruschetta in the middle of the table-- homemade by yours truly. you can't see it, but I made a four- leaf clover out of basil leaves as a garnish (though it may have been Italian themed, I saw no reason not to bring a little Irish to the table). and Emily found the Godfather recipe for pasta sauce (the one used by the dude in the movie), which is officially delicious

#2 end credits. I get chills just remembering it
#3 downtown, almost at the market. the streets are getting so much more crowded these days
#4 walking toward the lighthouse. you can see the lighthouse a little to the right of center; its top is a bit below the mountain's. also, note how frickin' cool the clouds are
#5 after being chased away from the lighthouse, we decided to walk back via the promenade beside the bay. this picture has two points of focus:
1. the palm tree on the right. there are tropical plants randomly growing throughout the city (and Ireland, in general), and I am still freaked out by their presence, four months later. but since the climate is so temperate, and rarely reaches freezing on a consistent basis, theoretically they can survive here.
2. the MASSIVE pile of trash dominating the backdrop of the image. I want an explanation.

Tuesdays with Laura

on Tuesday, I decided to take a walk along the river. I've been on this path before, but have never followed it to its end. so that was my plan: to walk to the end of the path that runs alongside the river.

#1 I'm pretty sure that this was Yeats' Norman Keep. it's pretty and covered in ivy. note the swans in the river-- these guys are always around.

#2 it was so warm! I took a picture of the fact that I was wearing short sleeves. (please note the muscle in that bicep. that's right-- and I wasn't even flexing)
#3 I realize that this picture is sideways. but I don't feel like going back in and changing it right now. so just imagine it flipped rightside up. at any rate, this is what I came to at the end of the path: a fence. it was that or curving to the left so as to swing back the way I'd come. so I climbed the fence.
I found myself in someone's fields. being careful not to tread on the daffodils growing there, I walked the length of the field, then walked back.
#4 when I got back to the fence, I noticed this awesome root system. totally worth the fear of being shot by an angry farmer (though I think that's a fairly 'American' concern-- in general, people don't shoot each other quite so impulsively here.)

time in Galway

so. life right now consists of writing papers, applying for jobs in Boston, getting excited for this summer/going home, and trying to savor my last month here. I was going to write a long and rambling post exploring my thoughts on all sorts of topics, but instead I got hungry. so I'm going to leave it at these pictures for now, with the plan of coming back to ramble at a later date

#1 I've started taking lots of walks, which is made possible by... Kellogg's All- Bran Flakes! no, actually-- corporate sponsorship has not yet seized control of the weather; mother nature is still to thank for the fact that it doesn't rain quite as constantly any more. also, it stays light out until about 9:30pm. these sunset shots were taken sometime around 8 (just a week or so ago, it got dark around 8. now it's up to 9:30. apparently the sun stays up until 10:30 in the summer) on one of those aforementioned walks


#2 more sunset, through the gates of someone's house
#3 sunset over the horse pasture
#4 my new friend. I was just trying to take some pictures, but this lady came up and shoved her head over the barbed wire fence. she was quite demanding. we hung out for ten minutes or so (it took her about 3/4 of the to finally accept that I didn't have treats), just chatting and watching the sun. when I walked away, she followed me along the other side of the fence, whinnying. it made me feel loved.
#5 this past Friday, Jeannette and I set out on an adventure: we were in search of another castle, which was apparently home to Yeats for a while and is covered in ivy and very pretty. we never found the castle, but instead: we provided entertainment to these cows-- they were entranced by our presence along the road (don't be fooled by the white one on the left, who appears to be grazing nonchalantly-- s/he was actually staring at us just moments before I took this picture); we climbed a fence and walked around in the greenest woods I have ever seen-- everything just dripping with moss-- until we came across a tent and started having visions of every horror movie ever created, and decided to slip out of there, quietly; we wandered through a random housing development; we climbed through a gate (someone had conveniently ripped out one of the bars before we came) and wandered through someone's fields for a really long time, until we came to a creek and, after some searching, could find no way to get across; we climbed another gate and cut through some neighborhood before finding ourselves back on familiar ground. it was epic, and nice way to spend an afternoon (minus the 5 minutes of torrentially downpouring HAIL at the beginning of our adventure)

Raiding the Castle

today a group of us walked an hour to the grounds of a hospital, on which rests an old castle that is in no way protected or access- restricted. we simply walked right in the front door, poked around, and walked out. then I ate a PB & J on a big rock in the sun. Ireland is a different place when the sun is shining

ALSO- on the way to the castle, I had my SECOND celebrity citing in a week!! (the first one went a little something like this [cross-posted]:

a couple days ago I stopped by a "fruit & veg" stand to buy some... fruits and veg (whaddaya know). there was a dude paying in front of me, so I waited until he had paid and walked away from the register, and then I stepped up to pay for my goods.

and THEN the cashier was like, "do you know the band snow patrol?"

and I was like, "yes!"

and he was like, "that was the lead singer." [and his friend/bandmate was hanging around too, waiting for him to pay]

and I was like, "no way! I didn't look at his face. are they playing around here?"

and he was like, "I don't think they're on tour at all right now, and they wouldn't be playing in Galway. I guess they just needed some fruits and vegetables."

as you do.


SO. today's celebrity sighting was perhaps even cooler: we're walkin' along, on our way to raid the castle...

and I see...

the lead singer of the Frames! who was also in the movie "Once", which I very much enjoyed. and his co- star in that movie, and a singer herself: Markita Ingsomethingorother! just walkin' out of a building, shaking hands with some dude. I saw them, recognized them right away-- and they saw me recognize them, but I don't believe in running up to celebrities and gushing, so I just shot 'em a big smile and kept on walkin'.

what are the odds. I'm like a magnet or something.

#1 the castle
#2 came out way darker than I'd hoped-- was trying to show how cool the ceiling is. I can't quite wrap my mind around how big 'ol stones can be suspended in the air, if you just lay them against each other right
#3 we climbed the spiral staircase up to the top remaining floor. then I took a picture. I love moss growing on old stones-- you can see it faintly, along the top edges of the walls
#4 perhaps the highlight of the trip (at least for me)-- on the way back, we came across Bathroom World! we strained to fathom its truly awe-someness